The realization that two cannot walk together except they be agreed (Amos 3:3) is the question that confronted more than fifty thousand Christians in 1844. In the years leading up to 1844, the Christians of the United States had an astounding experience. The members of various churches could not agree to pray together, but through the American Bible Society they cooperated (without praying together) in the printing and distributing of thousands of Bibles. They could not worship together, but they printed thousands of tracts and sent missionaries to rare places together.

During the years from 1840–1844 many of the churches across America hosted revivals and suddenly cooperated like never before. These churches investigated their own theology and realized that certain new ideas had crept into their churches. They repudiated these new doctrines in favor of the older, more scriptural beliefs. An interest deepened and spread in personal guidance from the Scriptures rather than moral direction coming from church administration. This dependence on the Bible led to trusting Jesus to return to earth in the spring of 1844. But He did not appear. Thousands gave up on God for “disappointing” them. They abandoned the study of the Bible as their source of spiritual guidance and turned to pastors and spiritual experts to provide them with erring, manmade concepts of salvation. They paid less attention to God and more attention to the “social gospel” of trying to help other people through good works. They rejected the idea that Jesus was coming soon and focused on gaining prosperity in this world. They determined that reason and science were more trustworthy than God through His Word. And in a few decades they started to cut out parts of the Bible, such as the record of creation, that didn’t fit with their reason and scientific conclusions.

As these religious people turned from God to a form of religion and to making themselves prosperous, they became hostile to those who still believed Jesus would come soon. They began to make fun of the people that they used to admire and spend time with. They opposed and eventually attacked their own friends and family for believing what they now rejected. This made life harder for the Advent people.

For thousands of Advent people it was already a very confusing time. They were disappointed also. They wanted Jesus to come. They expected the world to be over before those days. And they had no explanation for what didn’t happen. Yet they knew that they were part of a powerful experience. Unity, humility, consecration, dedication were fruits of God, not of Satan. Whatever happened was good. God was in it. But where was He now? Why had He disappointed them? They had questions but no answers. But giving up on God wasn’t an option. Like Job of old, they declared that they would trust God even if they died in the process.

Three Advent pastors, Joshua Himes, Sylvester Bliss, and Apollos Hale, published their own observation.

“We were not hasty in embracing our opinions. We believe that we were honest and sincere inquirers after truth. We obeyed our Savior’s command to search the Scriptures. We relied not upon our own wisdom; but we looked to God for guidance and direction, and endeavored to lay ourselves upon His altar, trusting that He would direct our footsteps aright. We examined all the arguments which were advanced against us with a sincere desire to know the truth and be kept from error; but we must confess that the varied and multiform positions of our opponents only confirmed us in our views. We saw that whether we were right or wrong, our opponents could not be right; and they had no agreement among themselves. The arguments of each were so weak and puerile that they were under the necessity of continually undoing what they had themselves done; and by their opposite and contradictory views they demonstrated that however they might regard our opinions, they had no confidence in the opinions of each other. And, moreover, there was not a cardinal point in our whole position in which we were not sustained by one or more of those who labored to disprove the immediate coming of the Lord. While we had the literal rendering of the Scriptures to sustain us, our opponents endeavored in vain to prove that the Scriptures are not to be understood literally, although every prophecy which has been fulfilled has been so in its most literally minute particulars.”1

Around this time, George Storrs’ Six Sermons became popular among the Advent believers. In these sermons the Advent preacher examined the Bible teaching about life after death. He could find no proof for the common belief that human minds exist forever, even after the bodies that house and support those minds die. Storrs was thorough. He examined the beliefs of pagans and Christians. He examined the words of Scripture and the expressions popular in his day. He compared everything to the teachings of the Bible and demonstrated that evil people are not conscious throughout eternity. The Bible plainly teaches that what we right now call death is a sleep of mental unconsciousness. It is also plain that people who love evil will lose consciousness and will no longer exist throughout eternity. Storrs made clear that in choosing to love and trust Jesus or reject Him, one was choosing eternal life or eternal extinction. During the summer of 1844, many Advent believers accepted the truth that immortality is given only to those that love God and trust Him and to no one else.

During the month of August of 1844, several thousand Advent believers gathered in coastal New Hampshire for a conference. Part way through the conference a minister was giving a routine sermon on prophecy, boring his audience with the repetition of what was already familiar. Suddenly a lady stood up and respectfully interrupted the speaker. “It is too late to spend our time upon these truths, with which we are familiar, and which have been blessed to us in the past, and have served their purpose and their time.”2

The speaker sat down and the lady continued, with everyone listening carefully. “It is too late, brethren, to spend precious time as we have since this camp meeting commenced. Time is short. The Lord has servants here who have meat in due season for his household. Let them speak, and let the people hear them.”3

Soon a speaker was invited to present what came to be known as the seventh-month truth. Probably a man by the name of Samuel Snow, the speaker presented details of prophecy that were previously unnoticed. He corrected the year of Jesus’ death from a.d. 33 to a.d. 31. He presented that the beginning of the 2300-day prophecy occurred in the fall of 457 B.C. Those 2300 days represent 2300 complete years. And Snow introduced a more careful comparison of the model to the reality, the type to the antitype. The national festivals of ancient Israel were not only illustrations of God and His assistance to and for the salvation of humans. They were also time prophecies, pinpointing the exact time of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the visible increase in the assistance of the Holy Spirit. So the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Weeks in the fall of the Israelite year should tell us about Jesus’ second coming. Accordingly, the cleansing of the sanctuary should take place about the time of the Day of Atonement, or about October 22, 1844.

Thousands of people left that camp meeting passionate about Jesus coming again. Confusion disappeared and even some beginnings of fanaticism among a few people were suppressed. (For example, people meaninglessly repeated “Glory to God,” or would have church services of loud shouting and clapping all night, and were constantly making decisions based only on impressions from “God,” and sometimes expecting other people to provide all their necessities while they refused to work for themselves and while they read the Bible or sang songs.)

Advent believers understood that they were now experiencing the fulfillment of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. All of the virgins slept until midnight. Part of them had light or truth that would lead people in the dark. The other group of people had been following truth but now had no truth for the moment. Late spring and early summer of 1844 seemed as a dark night of confusion to many of the religious people of America. But half way between March and October or in the middle of the night at “midnight,” truth came to light the way to the heavenly wedding.

“The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25 also illustrates the experience of the Adventist people [in 1844]. . . . The coming of Christ, as announced by the first angel’s message, was understood to be represented by the coming of the bridegroom. The widespread reformation under the proclamation of His soon coming, answered to the going forth of the virgins. In this parable . . . two classes are represented. All had taken their lamps, the Bible, and by its light had gone forth to meet the Bridegroom. . . . [Some] had received the grace of God, the regenerating, enlightening power of the Holy Spirit, which renders His word a lamp to the feet and a light to the path. In the fear of God they had studied the Scriptures to learn the truth and had earnestly sought for purity of heart and life. These had a personal experience, a faith in God and in His word, which could not be overthrown by disappointment and delay. Others . . . moved from impulse. Their fears had been excited by the solemn message, but they had depended upon the faith of their brethren, satisfied with the flickering light of good emotions, without a thorough understanding of the truth or a genuine work of grace in the heart. These had gone forth to meet the Lord, full of hope in the prospect of immediate reward; but they were not prepared for delay and disappointment. When trials came, their faith failed, and their lights burned dim. . . .

“In this time of uncertainty, the interest of the superficial and halfhearted soon began to waver, and their efforts to relax; but those whose faith was based on a personal knowledge of the Bible had a rock beneath their feet, which the waves of disappointment could not wash away. ‘They all slumbered and slept’ [verse 5]; one class in unconcern and abandonment of their faith, the other class patiently waiting till clearer light should be given. Yet in the night of trial the latter seemed to lose, to some extent, their zeal and devotion. The halfhearted and superficial could no longer lean upon the faith of their brethren. Each must stand or fall for himself.”4

As enthusiasm, clarity, and certainty returned to the Advent people, the rest of the religious community opposed them even more strongly. “The orthodox churches used every means to prevent the belief in Christ’s soon coming from spreading. No liberty was granted in their meetings to those who dared mention a hope of the soon coming of Christ. Professed lovers of Jesus scornfully rejected the tidings that He whom they claimed as their best friend was soon to visit them. They were excited and angered against those who proclaimed the news of His coming, and who rejoiced that they should speedily behold Him in His glory.”5 Many Advent believers were thrown out of their local churches for believing in Jesus’ second coming. Others left. But they did not leave easily. They only left because it would be spiritual suicide to remain with those that opposed the Bible and its truths so strongly.

Approximately 50,000 people were left without a church. But the separation from their friends and family, as painful as it had been, was almost forgotten in the joy of seeing Jesus soon. He is coming! “Every morning we felt that it was our first work to secure the evidence that our lives were right before God. Our interest for one another increased; we prayed much with and for one another. We assembled in the orchards and groves to commune with God and to offer up our petitions to Him, feeling more fully in His presence when surrounded by His natural works. The joys of salvation were more necessary to us than our food and drink. If clouds obscured our minds, we dared not rest or sleep till they were swept away by the consciousness of our acceptance with the Lord. . . .

“The waiting people of God approached the hour when they fondly hoped their joys would be complete in the coming of the Saviour. But the time again passed unmarked by the advent of Jesus. It was hard to take up the cares of life that we thought had been laid down forever. It was a bitter disappointment that fell upon the little flock whose faith had been so strong and whose hope had been so high. But we were surprised that we felt so free in the Lord and were so strongly sustained by His strength and grace.

“The experience of the former year was, however, repeated to a greater extent. A large class renounced their faith. Some, who had been very confident, were so deeply wounded in their pride that they felt like fleeing from the world. Like Jonah, they complained of God, and chose death rather than life. Those who had built their faith upon the evidence of others, and not upon the word of God, were now as ready to again change their views. The hypocrites, who had hoped to deceive the Lord as well as themselves with their counterfeit penitence and devotion, now felt relieved from impending danger, and openly opposed the cause they had lately professed to love.

“The weak and the wicked united in declaring that there could be no more fears or expectations now. The time had passed, the Lord had not come, and the world would remain the same for thousands of years. This second great test revealed a mass of worthless drift that had been drawn into the strong current of the advent faith, and been borne along for a time with the true believers and earnest workers.”6

From hopeful excitement to disappointment, those who trusted God in 1844 had a year of extremes. They were deeply challenged. But the experience was worthwhile. The separation from their friends and family was painful but justified. It was a separation required to remain true to the central truths of the Reformation: salvation from evil thoughts and actions only by depending on God; the Bible as the personal voice of God to the believer; the understanding of the Bible by personal search of the Scripture rather than through experts and human authorities; truth as maintained by the collective conscience of the people rather than provided by the ultimatum of the clergy. The believers jumped ship from their Protestant peers. But their consciences were clear and at peace. They left the boat, not because they wanted disunity, but because they refused spiritual suicide. Departure was better than going “over the falls.”

Many of the spiritual descendants of the religious world of 1844 have no idea what their forefathers lost when they rejected God’s personal guidance through a personal understanding of His Word. They are not personally responsible for that historical choice. But they share in its consequences.

For those who remained loyal to God through embarrassment and disappointment, the road before them was difficult and often lonely. They would have to build all over again. But they could do so with God’s help and guidance.

On which side of this divide do we find ourselves today? We may adopt the Advent doctrines but have the philosophy of those who rejected God’s leading in that day. We need the doctrines and the personal faith in God of those believers. We need the personal guidance of God through His Word. We need courage to stand alone if necessary, but the dedication to be united with other believers as much as possible.

Courage and moral integrity like this means learning to trust Jesus and trust Him completely. This faith was another one of the great lessons of 1844. George Storrs described complete faith in Jesus well in one of his last articles before the great disappointment of October 22. He said that preparing for the coming of Jesus was like going to meet a great ship on its way to heaven. The advertisement stated that the ship would only pick up passengers from an island a little way out from shore. And it only picked up those passengers that pushed their little boats away after reaching the island. If you kept your little boat tied on the back of the island, just in case, the ship’s captain would refuse to let you on board. As the ship arrived at the island, many people went running to cut loose their boats. But the ship left them behind, and now their little boats were gone also. Storrs urged his fellow Advent believers to recognize that Jesus only takes to heaven those that trust Him completely. If we try to make our way of escape rather than trusting Jesus to take us to heaven in His way, we will be lost.

Let us consecrate ourselves then to trust Jesus no matter how dearly it costs us, and carry forward the work of the Advent believers as long as human civilization lasts.