In Germany the doctrine had been taught in the eighteenth century by Bengel , a minister in the Lutheran Church and a celebrated Biblical scholar and critic . Upon completing his education , Bengel had " devoted himself to the study of theology , to which the grave and religious tone of his mind , deepened by his early training and discipline , naturally inclined him . Like other young men of thoughtful character , before and since , he had to struggle with doubts and difficulties of a religious nature , and he alludes , with much feeling , to the ' many arrows which pierced his poor heart , and made his youth hard to bear .'" Becoming a member of the consistory of Wurttemberg , he advocated the cause of religious liberty . " While maintaining the rights and privileges of the church , he was an advocate for all reasonable freedom being accorded to those who felt themselves bound , on grounds of conscience , to withdraw from her communion ." -- Encyclopaedia Britannica , 9th ed ., art . " Bengel ." The good effects of this policy are still felt in his native province .
It was while preparing a sermon from Revelation 21 for advent Sunday that the light of Christ ' s second coming broke in upon Bengel ' s mind . The prophecies of the Revelation unfolded to his understanding as never before . Overwhelmed with a sense of the stupendous importance and surpassing glory of the scenes presented by the prophet , he was forced to turn for a time from the contemplation of the subject . In the pulpit it again presented itself to him with all its vividness and power . From that time he devoted himself to the study of the prophecies , especially those of the Apocalypse , and soon arrived at the belief that they pointed to the coming of Christ as near . The date which he fixed upon as the time of the second advent was within a very few years of that afterward held by Miller .
Bengel ' s writings have been spread throughout Christendom . His views of prophecy were quite generally received in his own state of Wurttemberg , and to some extent in other parts of Germany . The movement continued after his death , and the advent message was heard in Germany at the same time that it was attracting attention in other lands . At an early date some of the believers went to Russia and there formed colonies , and the faith of Christ ' s soon coming is still held by the German churches of that country . The light shone also in France and Switzerland . At Geneva where Farel and Calvin had spread the truth of the Reformation , Gaussen preached the message of the second advent .
While a student at school , Gaussen had encountered that spirit of rationalism which pervaded all Europe during the latter part of the eighteenth and the opening of the nineteenth century ; and when he entered the ministry he was not only ignorant of true faith , but inclined to scepticism . In his youth he had become interested in the study of prophecy . After reading Rollin ' s Ancient History , his attention was called to the second chapter of Daniel , and he was struck with the wonderful exactness with which the prophecy had been fulfilled , as seen in the historian ' s record . Here was a testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures , which served as an anchor to him amid the perils of
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