IV. Local Freewill Baptist Conference Endorses “1843”

In 1842 a group of sixteen clergymen in New Hampshire went on record by formally adopting a series of eight forthright resolutions on the prophecies. They met in the Freewill Baptist Meetinghouse, of Pittsfield, September 21, 1842, in response to a published call printed September 14 in their church paper, the Morning Star of Dover. At the stated time this local assembly of ministers met in conference to investigate the issues in the current controversy over the prophecies, induced by the published strictures of two well-known clerics—one of whom was Prof. Moses Stuart—directed against the widely held Historical School of interpretation. After three days of careful study these Freewill Baptist ministers made their report, which was formally adopted. This recorded group “opinion of the conference” was so comprehensive and so completely in line with the convictions of many individual expositors of various other faiths which we have been surveying that we here quote them in full. They are compact and pointed:PFF4 359.4

1. STANDARD VIEW ON Daniel 2

“1st. That the four parts of the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, and the four beasts seen by Daniel in his vision, represent the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman Kingdoms.”PFF4 360.1

2. STONE KINGDOM NOT ESTABLISHED IN EARLY CENTURIES

“2nd. That the Kingdom of God is to be set up during the divided state of the Roman Kingdom, in which state it was not when Christ commenced his ministry.”PFF4 360.2

3. LITTLE HORN NOT ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES

“3rd. That the term man of sin used by Paul, 2 Thessalonians 2 chap. 3rd verse, and the term little horn, used by Daniel in the 7th chap, of his prophecy, refer to one and the same thing; and that as that man of sin, had not been revealed A.D. 54, when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Thess. and that as Antiochus Epiphanes, died B.C. 167, 218 years before Paul wrote the above epistle, the terms, man of sin and little horn cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes.”PFF4 360.3

4. 2300 YEARS TERMINATE IN “1843.

“4th. That the term 2300 days in Daniel 8:14, is used to designate 2300 years in the accomplishment of the events referred to. That the 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24, are the first part of the same, and that the entire vision terminates in the year of our Lord 1843.”PFF4 360.4

5. SANCTUARY TO BE CLEANSED Is PALESTINE

“5th. That the sanctuary to be cleansed, Daniel 8:14, means Palestine, or the land of promise.”PFF4 360.5

6. No MILLENNIUM BEFORE WORLD’S END

“6th. That the 7th chap, of Daniel teaches plainly that the little horn there spoken of will make war with the saints and prevail against them until Jesus Christ appears personally at the judgment of the great day; consequently that there can be no millennium prior to that day. And that the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13th chapter, teaches as plainly the sentiment that there can be no millennium prior to the end of this world.”PFF4 360.6

7. STUDY QUESTION OF ADVENT IN 1843

“7th. That we recommend to our brethren a candid and prayerful examination of the subject of the second advent of Jesus Christ, A.D. 1843.”PFF4 360.7

8. PROPER TO PREACH JUDICIOUSLY ON SUBJECT

“8th. That it is safe and right for all Christian ministers who believe that the second advent of Christ will take place A.D. 1843, to preach or lecture upon the subject of the second advent at such times and places as they deem proper, provided nevertheless that such discourses do not interfere with their regular pastoral duties and conformity to the vows under which they are placed to the several denominations with which they stand connected.” ^{33Morning Star (Dover. New Hampshire), Oct. 12, 1842, p. 99. (Italics in the original.)}PFF4 361.1

Then, having adopted the series, the conference instructed the officers to sign and forward it to the Morning Star and Signs of the Times for published record. The signatures are of Peter Clark, chairman, and Jesse Meader, secretary, and are dated September 26, 1842. And this, be it remembered, was the voice of a Freewill Baptist group, not that of an individual minister, and therefore having greater weight and significance.PFF4 361.2