“The promises of his second coming and reign on earth were interpreted to mean simply the spread of his gospel, and the submission of a great part of the world to Christianity for a period of a thousand, or, as some thought, 360,000 years; during which mankind was to advance in the arts of civilization, and enjoy unexampled peace and prosperity. And at the close of that extended cycle, too vast for the common mind to see across, possibly some great convulsion of nature would occur, and it might be said the Lord would come and destroy the world, and call the human race to judgment. This theory was elaborated and popularized by an English commentator named Whitby [Daniel Whitby died in 1726], who, by his published correspondence, is proved to be an Arian, but whose commentaries were popular with his own class, and whose mythical millennium was received with favor by many of the orthodox pensioners and friends of the state churches of Europe, to whom it promised a long lease of tithes and honors. Through their influence it was imported into America, where it was immediately utilized as material for platform platitudes and perorations.” GSAM 75.3
Such were the theories in various portions of the earth as we approach the time when the Lord sent forth the solemn warning of his coming, even “at the doors.” GSAM 76.1