January 15  The Napoleon Of The Press

And I saw another angel. . . saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. Rev. 14:6, 7.

The man who put Millerite Adventism on the map was not Miller but Joshua V. Himes, a young Christian Connexion minister who had learned the skills of a publicist by working with William Lloyd Garrison, the inflammatory sparkplug in the movement to free the slaves.

Himes on first meeting Miller in November 1839 was convicted by his message but wondered how come it wasn't better known.

"Do you really believe this message?" Himes asked the older preacher.
"Certainly I do, l would not preach it."
But "what are you doing to spread or diffuse it through all the world?"
"All I can," Miller replied.
"Well, the whole thing is kept in a corner yet. There is but little knowledge on the subject, after all you have done. If Christ is to come in a few years, as you believe, no time should be lost in giving the church and world warning, in thumner-tones, to arouse them to prepare."

"I know it, I know it, Bro. Himes, but what can an old farmer do?. . .I have been looking for help-I want help."

It was at that point, Himes recalled, "that I laid myself, family, society, reputation, all upon the alter of God, to help him, to the extent of my power, to the end."

With the entrance of Himes, Millerism took on a dynamic that it never posessed before. A dynomo of energy and ingenuity, between 1840 and 1844 Joshua put the movement into high gear and made Millerism a word that everyone reconized.

Nathan Hatch, a leading historian of American religion, has described Himes' publishing efforts as "an unprecedented medai blitz" and "an unprecedented communications avalanche." One of Himes' detractors styled him as the "Napoleon of the press."

Within a short space of time the constantly active Himes ahd begun The Midnight Cry and The Signs of the Times, periodicals that would take the Advent message to the ends of the earth, and sent forth a never-ending stream of books and tracts. Within a few years he had, with rather primitive technology, distrubuted millions of pieces of printed matter. Himes may have been a publicist and Miller an idea man, but it took both of them, and a whold lot of other less visible people, to make a dynamic movement. The good news is that God needs all of us. Each of us has some talent that we can use for His glory. In fact, this very day God is calling on ou to rededicate your life and your skills to Him and His work on earth.

Jesus does not release us from the necessity of effort, but He teaches that we are to make Him first and last and best in everything(TFMB 99).