The Zealous Charles Fitch

January 17  The Zealous Charles Fitch

 

The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Ps. 69:9.

In 1838 a copy of Miller's published lectures on the Second Advent fell into the hands of Charles Fitch, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist of some prominence.

"I have studied it," he penned to Miller on March 5, "with an overwhelming interest, such as I never felt in any other book except the Bible. I have compared it with scripture and history and I find nothing on whcih to rest a single doubt respecting the correctness of your views."

Fitch true to his zealous and sincere character, wasn't satisfied with merely one reading. Before long he had read Miller's book six times, noting that his "mind was greatly overwhelmed with the subject."

Impelled by Miller's message, he immediately "wrote and preached to the people of Boston" about his newfound faith. Preaching his first two sermons on Miller's views on March 4, he exuberantly wrote to William the next day, noting that he desired to be "a watchman on the walls," and wanted "to give the trumpet a certain sound."

As a major step in faithfuly acting the part, Fitch announced to Miller that the very next day, March 6, he was scheduled to read a paper on the Advent doctrine before the Boston ministerial association. But sometimes zeal outruns knowledge and wisdom. And so it was for Charles Fitch on March 6, 1838. The zealous preacher, who had barely had time to examine the doctrine himself, was both intimidated and shocked by the response he received. To his ministerial colleagues it was "moonshine." "There was much laughter over the subject," Fitch recalled, "and I could not help feeling that I was regarded as a simpleton." After that he gave up preaching the Advent near. As he later saw it, "the fear of man brought me into a snare."

But not for long. In 1841 he restudied the Bible on the topic. He subsequently became one of the most prominent advocates of the movement. He would be the only one of Millerism's leading preachers not to go through the October 1844 disappointment. While in Buffalo, New York, during late September he baptized a group of believers in frigid Lake Erie on a cold, windy day. After starting for his lodging in wet clothes, he twice turned back to baptize more candidates. The extended exposure led to illness and death on October 14. But even his approaching death did not dampen the zeal of the 39-year-old believer. He knew that "he would only have to take a short sleep, before he should be waked in the resurrection morn."

God's everlasting arm encircles the soul that turns to Him for aid, however feeble that soul may be(TFMB 99).