The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 365
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 skepticism. 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 later years. He could not rest satisfied with the
teachings of rationalism, and in studying the Bible and searching for
clearer light he was, after a time, led to a positive faith.
As he pursued his investigation of the prophecies he arrived at the
belief that the coming of the Lord was at hand. Impressed with the
solemnity and importance of this great
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