LEARNING THE PARABLE
The Lord’s appointed time for the people to learn the parable of the fig-tree dates this side of 1833. Here also is seen the accuracy of prophetic fulfilment in the great advent movement. The Lord, by this prophecy, marked the time when the proclamation of His second coming should be sounded to the world, and the parable was to be learned. Having reached this date, it is evident, too, that the time for the Lord to raise up teachers to teach the parable, has come; for “how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent?” When the Lord has something for His people to learn, He will see that teachers are provided to teach that very thing. As His time had come for the parable to be learned, it was equally true that His time had come to raise up teachers.LDT 55.2
Then this side of 1833 is the Lord’s time for the people to be taught that His coming is at the doors, and that His coming is before that generation shall pass away. Thus is marked out in this prophecy the time when the great advent proclamation should be given to the world.LDT 56.1
We find that in fulfilment of this prediction, right there the Lord raised up His ministers in various parts of the world, who, from 1834 to 1844, sounded the cry of Christ’s coming near, “even at the doors;” and these taught the parable of the fig-tree, pointing to these signs of His coming, even as He had instructed. This message, either by the living teacher, or through the agency of the printed page, went to every missionary station in the world, and to every seaport on the earth.LDT 56.2
The extent of the message has been plainly set forth by the editor of the Voice of Truth, of Rochester, N. Y., January, 1845: “The everlasting gospel, as described in Revelation 14:6, 7, has been preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ No case can be more clearly substantiated with facts than that this message has been borne to every nation and tongue under heaven, within a few years past, in the preaching of the coming of Christ in 1843 [1843, Jewish time-our time, 1844], or near at hand. Through the medium of lectures and publications, the sound has gone into all the earth, and the words to the end of the world.”LDT 56.3
Some people, unacquainted with the facts, have looked upon the second advent movement as limited to a certain locality, supposing it a work connected with William Miller and a few hundred ministers associated with him in the northern portion of the United States. To such it may be a surprise to learn that the movement in America, in which Elders Miller and Himes were prominent leaders, was but a small part of a great message that, as stated above, went “to the ends of the earth.”LDT 57.1
The Lord’s time came for this proclamation to go forth to the world; and in a score or more different parts of the earth, at about the same time, men were raised up, who, without a knowledge of one another’s work, went forth to sound this message to all parts of the earth. Many of those mentioned in chapter three, who received the light on the close of the twenty-three hundred days, were afterward moved upon to engage in the proclamation of the first angel’s message of Revelation 14.LDT 57.2
Such men as W. E. Davis, of South Carolina; Archibald Mason, of Scotland; Edward Irving, of England; Hentzepeter, of Holland; Laucunza, of Spain; Rau, of Bavaria; Kelber, of Germany; and Joseph Wolff, of Asia, did not receive their message from William Miller. In fact, but few of them had heard of William Miller until his work, like that in their own countries, had so spread as to rouse the public interest. Hentzepeter, of Holland, in a letter of 1843, said he never heard of William Miller until 1842. He had then been publishing books and preaching the doctrine of Christ’s second coming in Holland for about ten years.LDT 58.1
There are individuals who have regarded this doctrine of the near advent of Christ as an American movement only, and under the leadership of William Miller. From some English writings it appears there were people in Great Britain who thought the movement was confined to Britain. An English writer said of the extent of this work: “It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers of the Word are thus preaching this ‘gospel of the kingdom,’ while in this country about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry.” Besides these of the Church of England, many of the non-conformist ministers were engaged in giving the same message.LDT 58.2
At Newark, Ohio, August 8, 1894, Elder G. W. Mitchel stated to the writer that Elder Miller told him, at McConnelsville, Ohio, in September, 1844, that he had the names and addresses of three thousand ministers in various parts of the globe, who were proclaiming, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” LDT 59.1
Of the extent of the proclamation, William Miller himself said that “one or two in every quarter of the globe have proclaimed the news; and all agree in the time. Wolff, of Asia; Irving, late of England; Mason, of Scotland; Davis, of South Carolina; and quite a number in this region, are, or have been, giving the cry.” LDT 59.2
In 1837, Elder Hutchinson was sent from England as a Wesleyan missionary to Canada. He finally settled in Montreal, where he embraced the advent doctrine. In the years 1843 and 1844, he published a paper called the Voice of Elijah, in which he earnestly promulgated the message of Christ’s advent near. He had a very extensive acquaintance in foreign countries. Having ready access to vessels sailing to those countries, and being privileged to send large parcels of his papers free, he sent large quantities of them to all parts of the earth. The Adventists in the United States, Canada, and other parts, furnished him means with which to print; and he sent hundreds of thousands of his papers all over the sea, and to the ends of the earth. He said of his own work, that he had sent the papers freely to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Constantinople, Rome, and all over the British dominions.LDT 59.3
When in South Australia, in 1908, I read in the Adelaide Register of November 23 the account of the death of Pastor Abbott, a veteran of ninety-five years. He had mentioned the advent movement of 1844 in some of his “reminiscences of the past.” Of the work in Adelaide he said, “In 1844 the preaching of Mr. Thomas Playford on the second advent made a deep impression upon me in common with many others.” Although they had a meeting-house that would hold five hundred persons, they had to take steps to construct a larger building. “There was no house in the place that would accommodate the people, when Mr. Playford would come to the place to speak.”LDT 60.1
From what we have presented, it is apparent how accurately this prophecy concerning the advent message was fulfilled. God’s time came for the parable of the fig-tree to be taught,-for the first announcement of the first angel’s message to be given; and He raised up His messengers to herald the cry to all nations, peoples, and tongues. The history of the rise of this work has now been given; but as other messages “followed” (“went with,” as some translate) the first message, in following the movement to its present threefold cry, which is widely spreading, there are other features of the work to be examined.LDT 60.2