ADVENTIST HISTORY
Tat Ellen Harmon White should equate Snow’s “Midnight
Cry” with divine light is somewhat ironic, particularly once you know Snow’s history. His biography in the online Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists says that Snow described himself as a “hardened Infidel” in his youth. In 1839, at the age of 33, he read a Millerite book and felt convicted of its truth. He joined a Congregationalist church in the autumn of 1840 but withdrew from it shortly thereaſter, when it opposed Miller’s teachings. In 1842, at a Millerite camp meeting in New Hampshire, he resolved to devote himself full time to promoting the coming advent, despite (like James White and William Miller) having no pastoral education. In December 1843, Snow was ordained to gospel ministry
and became a Millerite lecturer. Two months later, on February 22, 1844, his letter to Te Midnight Cry! presented his initial argument for expecting Christ’s return in the autumn of 1844 rather than Miller’s original spring date. Ten, he followed this up with another epistle published June 27, 1844. Only in his August article, “Behold the Bridegroom Cometh,” did he propose the exact date of October 22, 1844. Regardless of Snow’s limited skill and experience in Bible interpretation, Ellen White attributed divine qualities to his teachings, just as she had to Miller’s. Aſter the disappointment, Snow published in 1845 a new
paper, Jubilee Standard, in which he uncompromisingly affirmed his October 22, 1844, calculation. Later that year he pronounced himself to be Elijah the prophet, the messenger who would appear immediately prior to Jesus the King’s advent. His followers founded a periodical called Te True Day Star to spread his message. In 1848, Snow issued a universal proclamation declaring
himself to be Christ’s prime minister and demanded all earthly leaders to “surrender of all power and authority into my hands” or else suffer catastrophes like those described in the Apocalypse.13
Perhaps he took Ellen White’s estimation of his importance too seriously.
Current Apologetics In responding to the question posed at the beginning of this article, Pfandl wrote that a critic “may think that our pioneers were half wits, but reading their literature indicates that they were more knowledgeable than he thinks. Tey knew very well that the Jewish Day of Atonement was in September, but they knowingly rejected it and chose October 22 instead. Ellen White’s testimony
18 AD VENTIS T T OD A Y
concerning the 7-month movement confirms that God was in this movement and that they did not have to reject it.” Because of the first Millerite disappointment of March 21,
1844, our church pioneers turned from a rabbinic method of calculating the Day of Atonement to a later date, which retroactively was said to determine when Jesus moved from the holy place in heaven to the most holy place—even though there is no evidence that Karaite Jews in Palestine at that time were actually observing the barley harvest or celebrating the October 22 Day of Atonement. It is dubious whether a fundamental Adventist doctrine, which
the church proclaims the investigative judgment to be, can be grounded in an Old Testament ritual regulated by Judaism. Christians have leſt to the Jews the correct date of the Day of Atonement for over two millennia; it would be better to leave 1844 to them, too, rather than make the “authentic” Day of Atonement in that year an object of Adventist apologetics. It is difficult to imagine what difference it could make to affirm that on either September 23, 1844, or October 22, 1844, an imperceptible heavenly movement occurred.
1 “1844 Calendar,” Correspondence at
EllenWhite.org, Document 187561. 2 ibid. 3 Le Roy Edwin Froom, Te Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 4 (1954), p. 640. 4 Nathaniel N. Whiting (as “Philo”), Te Midnight Cry! Vol. 4, No. 4 (Apr. 27, 1843), p. 6. 5 Te White Estate and other Adventist writers have implied that the writer of this unsigned article, who lived in the United States, was acquainted with Karaite Jews living in Palestine who could make direct observations of the barley harvest. It’s more likely that this unsigned writer knew something about the historical practices of the Karaites—not that he was there. 6 “Chronology,” Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy, Vol. 5, No. 16 (June 21, 1843), p. 123. 7 Bob Pickle, “Karaite Calendar,” in eds. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon, Te Ellen G. White Encyclopedia (2013), p. 915. 8 George R. Knight, Millennial Fever and the End of the World: A Study of Millerite Adventism (1993), pp. 163-165. 9 Tis same post hoc revisionism was operant both with the postdiction of the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1840 and the recalculation of the fall of the papacy from 1798 to 1799—both championed by Millerite Josiah Litch. Te repeated practice of rejiggering dates and events aſter a prediction has failed in its initial form is one of the most substantial reasons for discounting their
probative value. 10
Knight, op. cit.
Te True Midnight Cry (Aug. 22, 1844). 12
13 Knight, pp. 255-256.
11 Samuel S. Snow, “Behold the Bridegroom Cometh: Go Ye Out to Meet Him,” Ellen G. White, “Suppression and the Shut Door,” Manuscript 4 (1883).
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