And I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation 11:3

New York Daily Tribune

The numerology of the Book of Revelation lends itself to endless speculation, and most apocalyptic thinkers busy their lives with deciphering its frequent numerological allusions. Citing the common principle of biblical interpretation that a day in the Bible symbolizes an entire year, interpreters of Revelation have been searching ceaselessly for 1260 year patterns since the book was written. One of the most famous of such interpreters was William Miller, who used the verse above to predict the end of the world in 1843 and then, somewhat reluctantly, again on October 22, 1844. Although his followers were ridiculed for dressing in white robes and climbing trees to await Christ's second coming, his movement generated mass interest and conversions in the Northeast. Popularized by a series of lectures entitled Evidence from Scripture and History

of the Second Coming and several broadsides illustrating the end of the world, the movement was even honored with an entire issue of the New York Daily Tribune devoted to its exposition and criticism. Although other millennialists such as Alexander Campbell were careful not to propose a date for the coming end of the world, his journal The Millennial Harbinger ran to upwards of forty-one volumes from its beginning in 1830. Famous enough to have earned a spot in Mark Twain's memoirs, Campbell also supplemented his journal with speculative efforts such as his Connected View of the Principles which provided Christians with various rules for interpreting the "living oracles" of prophecy. Much in the same vein, The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald was a periodical published by the Seventh-Day Adventists, a sect that emerged in the aftermath of the Millerite disappointment of 1844. Like Signs of the Times, a periodical published by the Primitive Baptist Church,The Advent Review was typical in both its

persistence and patience in awaiting the end of the world.

62. The Millennial Harbinger. Bethany West Virginia: W. K. Pendleton, 1830.

63. Alexander Campbell. A Connected View of the Principles and Rules by which the living oracles may be intelligibly and certainly interpreted: of the foundation on which all Christians may form one communion, and of the capital positions sustained in the attempt to restore the original gospel and order of things, containing the principle extras of the Millennial Harbinger. Bethany, West Virginia: M'Vay and Ewing, 1835.

64. William Miller. Evidence from Scripture and History of the second coming of Christ about the year 1843, exhibited in a course of lectures. Boston: published by Joshua V. Himes, 1842.

From the Tracy W. McGregor Library of American History.

65. William Miller. Illustrations of Miller's Views of the end of the world in 1843. [Hampton, N.Y.?]: 1843.

66. New York Daily Tribune. New York: March 2, 1843.

67. Signs of the Times. Devoted to the Old School Baptist Cause. Mt. Vernon, New York: 1836/1837.

68. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. Battle Creek, Michigan: Review and Herald: Dec 1, 1874.