THE MIDNIGHT CRY by Churchill, Rev. Castle - 1858

Sycamore (Ill.): Printed by O. P. Bassett, "True Republican" Office, 1858. First Edition. Soft cover. Collectible Poor. 1ST edition. Printed wrappers. 96pp. A series of expositions on Bible texts to describe doctrines of the Millerites. From Wikipedia: "The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1831 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843-1844. Coming during the Second Great Awakening, his teachings were spread widely and grew in popularity, which led to the event known as the Great Disappointment." The "Great Disappointment" was that their fervent expectations were dashed. It was believed and calculated that Christ would return on various days that came and went, with October 22, 1844, being one of the last ones. Followers sold property and gave up other worldly possessions to prepare for the event. When Christ didn't come, apologetic (defense of) reasons for the error arose as per all failed religious, political, and other earthshaking predictions. This virtually unknown book appears to be one written as part of that defense, although a close reading by an appropriate scholar would likely find other useful information. In tiny print on the back cover is a paragraph describing the contents of the book. In the middle of this paragraph is a statement by Rev. Churchill saying that Miller was correct in his teachings, but made a mistake regarding the Advent of Christ. "William Miller Correct in all his Prophetic Numbers; Mistaken in calling the Cleansing of the Sanctuary the End of the World." We found, not unexpectedly, but nonetheless eye-popping, a gematria (when letters of the alphabet are assigned numeric values) on page 77 where the Latin title of the pope, Vicarious Filii Dei, is translated as the "number of the beast," 666, from the book of Revelation. Quoting from an article by historian Robert McNamara, "The world did not end, of course. And while some followers of Miller gave up on him, he went on to play a role in the founding of the Seventh Day Adventist Church." The origin of the title, A Midnight Cry, is from a 1692 discourse by Cotton Mather, "An Essay for our Awakening out of that Sinful Sleep To which we are at This Time too much disposed." Castle Churchill, born in New York in 1813, was in the 1860 census listed as "Ministry of 2nd Advent. Ch." He married Patty M. Crossett in 1840 in DeKalb County, in which Sycamore is located. In the 1850 census he was listed as a "laborer." Many years ago a bound copy or two of one volume of the Millerite newspaper, The Midnight Cry-after which Churchill's book was named-came on the market. In 1965, an 1844 Millerite broadside issued a week before October 22 was sold. But we find no record of this book ever being offered for sale. We find only one original copy in a library, and four more copies appear to be in microform only. Fair copy. Missing pieces from front cover; back cover chipped. Limited foxing. Dog-ear lower page corners. Exceedingly rare.