Israel , of the tribe of Dan , . . . who expect , with the children of Rechab , the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven ." -- Ibid ., page 389 .
A similar belief was found by another missionary to exist in Tatary . A Tatar priest put the question to the missionary as to when Christ would come the second time . When the missionary answered that he knew nothing about it , the priest seemed greatly surprised at such ignorance in one who professed to be a Bible teacher , and stated his own belief , founded on prophecy , that Christ would come about 1844 . As early as 1826 the advent message began to be preached in England .
The movement here did not take so definite a form as in America ; the exact time of the advent was not so generally taught , but the great truth of Christ ' s soon coming in power and glory was extensively proclaimed . And this not among the dissenters and nonconformists only . Mourant Brock , an English writer , states that about seven hundred ministers of the Church of England were engaged in preaching " this gospel of the kingdom ." The message pointing to 1844 as the time of the Lord ' s coming was also given in Great Britain . Advent publications from the United States were widely circulated . Books and journals were republished in England . And in 1842 Robert Winter , an Englishman by birth , who had received the advent faith in America , returned to his native country to herald the coming of the Lord . Many united with him in the work , and the message of the judgment was proclaimed in various parts of England .
In South America , in the midst of barbarism and priest-craft , Lacunza , a Spaniard and a Jesuit , found his way to the Scriptures and thus received the truth of Christ ' s speedy return . Impelled to give the warning , yet desiring to escape the censures of Rome , he published his views under the assumed name of " Rabbi Ben-Ezra ," representing himself as a converted Jew . Lacunza lived in the eighteenth century , but it was about 1825 that his book , having found its way to London , was translated into the English language . Its publication served to deepen the interest already awakening in England in the subject of the second advent .
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
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