SUMMARY
1. Nearing the time when the signs in the sun, moon, and stars were to appear, there was seen in the heavens the fiery display of the aurora borealis, as predicted by the prophet Joel.LDT 193.2
2. The knowledge of the close of the prophetic periods announced by Daniel the prophet, remained “sealed up” till “the time of the end”-1798.LDT 193.3
3. Immediately after 1798, men in different parts of the world, independently of each other, learned that the period of the twenty-three hundred days closed in the year 1844. Thus was the statement verified that “many” would obtain “knowledge” on the great prophetic period, which had previously been “sealed up.”LDT 193.4
4. Our Saviour said of the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, that when they are fulfilled, then we may know that we are in the generation that is to witness His coming. The sign in the stars—1833 — marked then the Lord’s time for the parable of the fig-tree to be learned. He then raised up His teachers, who taught the parable to the world.LDT 193.5
5. When the sixth trumpet should cease its sounding, the time message was to increase in power to its “loud voice.” From that date-1840-the message stirred the public mind, and rapidly spread to every known seaport, and the sound went throughout the world.LDT 194.1
6. The first call to the supper, found in Luke 14, was to them that had been “bidden”-the Lord’s professed people. The message prior to April, 1844, went to the churches. In every direction the various places of worship were opened to those announcing the Lord’s near coming.LDT 194.2
7. After the teaching of the parable of the fig-tree, of Matthew 24, there would be one class of servants giving “meat in due season,” and another class smiting “their fellow servants.” After April, 1844, many of the ministers who before that date had favored the advent doctrine, now turned and bitterly opposed those who still clung to the faith of the Lord’s near coming.LDT 194.3
8. In the month of May, 1844, the modern churches introduced church festivals and various amusements for the purpose of raising means with which to pay church expenses, etc.; to these gatherings all classes, professors and non-professors, came, paid their money, and ate and drank their delicacies. Thus, as the Scriptures declared, they began “to eat and drink with the drunken.”LDT 194.4
9. When the Lord’s professed people should be found thus doing, the “kingdom of heaven”-work of the gospel-should be likened to the ten virgins of an Eastern marriage. Immediately after the disappointment in April, 1844, those who retained their faith in the near coming of Christ began comparing their own experience with the parable, and thus became convinced that they were in the “tarrying time.”LDT 195.1
10. As this people were scoffed at and taunted with jeers, they went forth to give the second angel’s message, the second call to the supper (Revelation 14 and Luke 14), which call was to be “quickly” made, to the wounded in the streets and lanes of the city.LDT 195.2
11. As the virgins in the parable slumbered till midnight, so the Advent bands, from April to July (half a year-day-night), slumbered on the matter of time. Then light being received on the true ending of the days, they went forth, giving the midnight cry of the proclamation, which aroused the virgins, and mightily stirred the people.LDT 195.3
12. At the close of the twenty-three hundred days, Oct. 22, 1844, the “little book” of the tenth chapter of Revelation-the time message-which had been “sweet” to the taste, became very “bitter.” A failure in the realization of their high hopes of soon seeing the Lord, was indeed a bitter disappointment, giving an experience similar to Mary’s in the garden, when she said, “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.”LDT 195.4
13. After the close of the twenty-three hundred days, the consecrated, praying ones began to receive light upon the position of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and to understand from the Scriptures that He had “gone in to the marriage;” and by faith they followed Him.LDT 196.1
14. As the dawning light opened the sanctuary to their view, there was seen “in His temple the ark of His testament;” and in the ark, with the other nine, was the fourth commandment intact, which led to the observance (among the Adventists) of the seventh-day Sabbath.LDT 196.2
15. Immediately after the close of the twenty-three hundred days, there were those among the leaders in the past movement who said, “We have now had the first and second messages of Revelation 14, and still a third message is to be given.” And the third call “followed,” as predicted.LDT 196.3
16. While there were those who followed Christ by faith, receiving advancing light, there were others who rejected these truths, and engaged in time movements. To the class mentioned in the parable who were not ready to go in with Him to the marriage, but came “afterward,” setting the time for His coming, He said, “Ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” From this it appears they professed a knowledge of a definite time when Christ would come. To those He said, “I know you not.” Since the close of the prophetic periods in 1844, there have been those who have been active in fixing a definite time for the Lord to come. But Christ admonishes all to watch, for “ye know neither the day nor the hour.”LDT 196.4