Joshua V. Himes
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Joshua Vaughan Himes was born May 19, 1805, in North Kingston, Rhode Island. His father, a man of some means, was a West India trader and a prominent member of the Episcopal Church. It had been the plan of the elder Himes to educate Joshua for the Episcopal ministry at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. When Joshua was still a lad, however, a great financial disaster overtook his father. In 1817 he sent a valuable cargo to the West Indies under the charge of a ship captain who proved unfaithful to the trust, sold the ship laden with goods, and disappeared. The disaster ruined the father financially and was destined to change the whole life of Joshua, who was obliged to give up going to college. Mr. Himes was convinced his son should learn a trade, and accordingly apprenticed him to a cabinetmaker in the vicinity of New Bedford.

While there, during the years of his apprenticeship, Joshua attended the meetings of the Christian Church held in New Bedford. He united with that group at the age of eighteen. Exhibiting talent, he was encouraged to develop his aptitude. He conducted evangelistic services in neighboring schoolhouses, where success crowned his efforts. By the time he had completed his apprenticeship he had developed into a full-fledged minister. At the age of twenty-two he raised up a church of 125 members at Fall River, Massachusetts; and in 1830, while still in his twenties, he went to Boston as pastor of the Christian church there.

Like Joseph Bates, Himes was a reformer by nature and found his greatest satisfaction in crusading against the prevailing evils of his day. He was an energetic temperance reformer and had associated with Joseph Bates in the great crusade against liquor. He was one of the outstanding assistants of William Lloyd Garrison in his spectacular battle against slavery. Indeed, the Chardon Street Chapel, of which Himes had become pastor, was the birthplace of William Lloyd Garrison's New England Anti-Slavery Society.

On the eleventh day of November, 1839, William Miller began a series of meetings at Exeter, New Hampshire. On the twelfth, a conference of Christian ministers convened there, and during their session, prompted by curiosity, they in a body called on Mr. Miller. Mr. Himes had previously written a letter inviting Mr. Miller to give a series of lectures in his church. He now made the acquaintance of Mr. Miller and renewed the invitation in person. The meeting that November day was an eventful one in the lives of both men, for Miller, who had worked so untiringly in the rural sections and small towns for six years, was introduced to the world by the indefatigable Himes. And Himes gave up his other reform activity and became the publicity agent for Mr. Miller. At this time Mr. Himes was not quite thirty-five. He was described as pleasant, urbane, and congenial. His neat dress, charming personality, and entire manner and bearing begat confidence and the assurance that he was an honest, sincere young man. One who knew him declared critically that only with the greatest difficulty was an interview obtainable, for he could not be kept still long enough for a person to obtain much satisfaction on any point. Although this criticism was no doubt overdrawn, there is little question that this minister who espoused Miller's cause was a restless and energetic crusader.

Mr. Miller stayed at the home of Mr. Himes while he gave his first series of lectures in Boston. The two men had many talks about the Advent message, Mr. Himes's plans for the future, and his responsibilities. Although at this time not fully in accord with Mr. Miller's views, Mr. Himes was convinced of their general correctness in regard to the soon coming of Christ, and he felt a deep interest in getting this great truth before the people.

Mr. Himes, in relating his experience later, reported the following conversation with Mr. Miller:

"'But why have you not been into the large cities?'

"He replied that his rule was to visit those places where invited, and that he had not been invited into any of the large cities.

"'Well,' said I, 'will you go with me where doors are opened?'

"'Yes, I am ready to go anywhere, and labor to the extent of my ability to the end.'

"I then told him he might prepare for the campaign; for doors should be opened in every city in the Union, and the warning should go to the ends of the earth! Here I began to 'help' Father Miller."

Miller had greatly felt the need of a medium of communication to the public that would give his views and act as a shield against abusive stories circulated in other journals. Mr. Himes immediately offered to start such a paper, and shortly afterward, on March 20, 1840, the Signs of the Times began its regular appearance. Mr. Himes made an arrangement with an antislavery firm in Boston whereby he would furnish the editorial matter and act as editor free of charge and the establishment would take all pecuniary risks and receive the proceeds. This arrangement was continued for one year, at which time Mr. Himes bought the paper for one hundred dollars and the promise to give the firm the printing. Ten years later one of the members of the firm, in commenting on the transaction, said they had never had reason to regret their bargain, for Mr. Himes had done all he had agreed to do and had given them a large job of printing, paying them as often as they desired.

The paper grew steadily. By July 15 the circulation list had grown to 800, by October l it stood at 1,000, and at the end of one year it had climbed to 1,500. The announced policy was to make the paper a medium for the discussion of the condition of the church and the world in reference to Christ's second coming, with the hope that the paper would promote prayer, Bible study, revivals, and entire consecration among the church members.

Next Mr. Himes took in hand the publication of a third edition of Miller's lectures at a time when it was thought it was a bad financial venture, since it was supposed that with opposition developing the demand was declining. This work, which was the progenitor of the thousands of pages of literature on the subject, was kept in print by the vigorous work of Himes. From this time forth Himes was in charge of the publication and distribution of literature. He published large charts, small charts, stationery, pamphlets, songbooks, tracts, books, and various other types of printed matter.

The distribution of literature and the preaching of the message went hand in hand, for wherever the lecturer went, there was an immediate call for literature, and wherever literature was sent, there was a demand for preachers. The scarcity of lecturers hindered the spread of literature, but the ever-ingenious Himes bundled up quantities of papers and sent them to the post offices and newspaper offices over the country. Ship and harbor workers placed publications on the ships for the sailors and bundles of papers to be left for distribution at various points.

In an effort to acquaint New York with the message, in the fall of 1842 Himes and Miller determined to launch a big campaign in that great metropolis. Himes accordingly established a daily paper, the Mid-night Cry. Ten thousand copies were printed daily and hawked on the streets of the city by newsboys, or given away. After the close of the evangelistic meetings the paper continued publication as a weekly.

This policy of starting a paper to run a few weeks in a new place while a big evangelistic effort was in progress was followed more or less consistently after this time. This policy was certainly not a money-making scheme, for the first few weeks of a periodical's existence there is almost sure to be financial loss. It was money well spent. Papers so started in connection with a big campaign held at certain vantage points, were usually discontinued when the effort was concluded, but sometimes the interest was so great that the periodical was continued.

From the beginning of his connection with the Advent message Mr. Himes held a key position. The first general conference of Advent believers met in his church at Boston, and the Chardon Street Chapel, which had re-echoed to the voices of Emerson, Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips as they planned their campaign to strike the fetters from the slave, now became the cradle of the Second Advent Movement in America.

Of all Himes's contributions to the Advent Movement, perhaps none is more interesting than his part in the great camp meetings. The camp meeting as an institution had come down to the Advent believers from the Methodists. The first under Adventist auspices was held at East Kingston, Massachusetts, in the last week of June, 1842.

Mr. Himes was the superintendent, and with his usual efficiency had arranged everything in a most satisfactory manner. The location was exceedingly favorable. The ground was only a hundred feet from the Boston and Portland Railroad. There was an abundance of pure cold water, tall hemlock trees furnished cool shade, and secluded adjacent groves provided retreats for retirement for private prayer and devotion. Although from seven to ten thousand people from all over New England attended this meeting, excellent order and harmony prevailed.

During the first general assembly of believers, at one meeting individuals were given the opportunity of telling how the message came to them. One received the light from reading part of a copy of the Signs of the Times, which the storekeeper had used to wrap a package of tea. Many other interesting means were reported. The offering in gold, silver, jewelry, and other items amounted to a thousand dollars.

During 1842 thirty-one camp meetings were held. In 1843 there were forty, and during the season of 1844 at least fifty-four were conducted. These meetings were much larger than present-day camp meetings, the reported attendance running from four thousand to fifteen thousand. Whole countrysides flocked to hear the stirring message of Christ's soon return. It is estimated that in the 125 camp meetings held during the 1844 movement between five hundred thousand and a million people were in attendance.

The Adventist camp meeting of Mr. Himes's day was different from that of the present time in a number of respects. The camp superintendent leased a suitable tract of woodland, well watered and accessible. The place of assembly consisted of an oval clearing furnished with rude seats and a platform at one end. Here under the boughs of the great trees the worshipers had their sanctuary. Surrounding this place of assembly, drawn in a huge circle, were the tents. It was not customary to have small family tents such as are used today. The entire church or believers of a given town occupied one tent. Some of these church tents were thirty by fifty feet. If rain prohibited holding the meeting in the open air, services were conducted in the several tents at the same time.

A long dining tent was pitched, where the campers could procure meals for $1.42 to $2 a week. Stable tents were erected, and horses were cared for at the rate of 25 cents a day. Scores of vehicles stood in the woods, and large numbers of horses were tied under the trees. Stages and omnibuses from the neighboring towns were coming and leaving. As the number and size of camp meetings increased, the railroads provided a tent for a temporary depot on or near the campground, and the trains stopped to accommodate passengers. Laymen rode for half fare and ministers were carried free.

At the East Kingston camp meeting it was voted to procure a large tent at a cost of eight hundred dollars. Immediately the larger portion of this amount was raised, and Mr. Himes purchased the tent. The reasons for this move were: first, nearly all the churches were closed to Adventist preachers; second, the crowds were altogether too large for the buildings, even when these could be procured. Buildings were crowded to suffocation, and many people were turned away. With the tent the lecturers had only to secure a plot of ground and raise their tabernacle.

The tent purchased at this time was said by the Newark Daily Advertiser to be the biggest in America. It was 120 feet in diameter and had a pole 55 feet high. Mr. Himes reported that there were seats for four thousand people and that an additional two thousand could be crowded into the aisles. The immense size of the tent won for it the name "the great tent," and it was heralded in the newspapers over the entire country. Everywhere people flocked to see "the great tent," and remained to hear the message. One writer in recent times has said of Himes: "He spread more canvas than any circus in America."

The use of "the great tent" soon developed a new type of meeting, the combination tent meeting and camp meeting. When "the great tent" was pitched on the outskirts of a town, people flocked in from neighboring towns, and the big tent was used as a place of assembly for the camp meeting. This anticipated the modern camp meeting. where the worshipers are protected in their meeting place by a canvas pavilion.

"The great tent" enabled the brethren to hold camp meetings as late as November. At Newark, New Jersey, stoves were placed in the tents for heating purposes. In the spring of 1843 "the great tent" was pitched at Rochester. While T. F. Barry was preaching. a severe rainstorm blew the tent over. Although a large audience was in attendance, providentially not a single person was injured. When the heavy squall struck the tent, fifteen of the guy chains and several inch ropes parted. In an instant the windward side was pressed in toward the audience, and by the pressure of the wind, the leeward side was raised up, so that the audience passed out without harm. The expense of repairing and raising the tent was so heavy that the tent company at first despaired of erecting it again in that city, but so great was the interest of the people that the public offered to pay all expenses connected with repairing it and putting it up once more.

In the Signs of the Times of January 11, 1843, Mr. Himes announced that there was such an anxiety to hear the momentous truths of the times at Boston that only a small portion of the people who desired to hear could gain admittance to the Chardon Street Chapel, and since no other place large enough could be secured to accommodate the immense crowds that nightly flocked to hear the message, the brethren of Boston had determined to build an inexpensive tabernacle. The building was in progress at the time. An elevated roof running to a point like a circus tent was built thirty-five feet high. The building, 110 by 84 feet, was capable of serving an immense congregation. At the dedication sermon, preached in May, 1843, it was judged there were not less than 3,500 present.

After the meeting at Rochester in the summer of 1843, "the great tent" was moved to Buffalo. After a short trip back to Boston, Mr. Himes returned to the West for the big offensive of the season, the tent meeting at Cincinnati. This city was the big metropolis of the frontier region. Several days before the big tent arrived in Cincinnati, the daily papers began to comment on the plans of Himes and his associates. Mr. Himes wrote: "We hope and expect to see one mighty gathering in the West." He planned on scattering two thousand dollars worth of literature in Ohio and that part of the Union, to establish an Advent library in every town, and to furnish all the ministers with literature. The progress of "the great tent" across the country had aroused the keenest anticipation, and on the opening night there was a great assemblage. People came from 150 miles around. Mr. Himes started the Western Midnight Cry in connection with this great meeting. Although it never did have enough subscriptions to be self-sustaining, it was continued for thirty-nine weeks because its strategic position seemed to warrant it.

While he and Miller had been in the West, the brethren in the East had begun to teach a new doctrine. These brethren were convinced that Christ would return to earth on October 22, 1844. It was thought that the Day of Atonement was a type of the cleansing of the earth, for the sanctuary was thought to be the earth, which would be cleansed by fire at the end of the 2300 days. About the middle of August at a camp meeting at Exeter, New Hampshire, S. S. Snow presented his view that Christ would return at the regular time for the Jewish cleansing of the sanctuary on the tenth day of the seventh month, which corresponded to the twenty-second day of October in 1844. Upon returning to the East, Himes and Miller opposed it. The papers that were in the control of Himes naturally did likewise. Cautiously the Advent Herald suggested that if one day might be looked to above others as the day of the Advent, October 22 would be the day. It was not until the first of October that the tried leaders began to fall into line. At that time the Advent Herald printed Mr. Snow's argument and advised the readers to consider the question carefully.

One writer, in speaking of this experience, said there seemed to be an irresistible power attending its proclamation, which prostrated all before it. It swept over the land with the velocity of a tornado, and it reached hearts in different places almost simultaneously, and in a manner that can be accounted for only on the supposition that God was in it. When these leaders saw the tenth-day-of-the-seventh-month message spreading over the land with the rapidity of a prairie fire, there was a feeling that the movement was of God, and that they dare not resist it further. One by one they declared in favor of it. On October 9, Mr. Himes came out in favor of the new view, confessing his imperfection, pride of opinion and self, and his slowness to receive new truths when they came to him.

There was a general preparation in temporal matters, with merchants closing their stores, mechanics locking their shops, laborers forsaking their employ, farmers abandoning their crops, and a complete putting away of worldly things.

The newspapers of the day gave a graphic story of this period of preparation. A Brooklyn paper reported a sign in a window of that city bearing these words: "This store is closed on account of the near dissolution of all things. The articles in this store will be given to those who may call for them on Monday."

As on a deathbed, expecting soon to close his eyes on earthly scenes, a person makes preparation for the end, so the Advent believer prepared for Christ's return on the twenty-second of October. The last confessions were made, and newspapers printed accounts of criminals' giving themselves up for trial, of men making restitution for money ill gotten, and of earnest attempts to make all wrongs right.

The steam presses ran continually, turning out papers, and the messengers of the kingdom went from house to house distributing by the thousand the printed page, the final warning. Amid all of this hurried preparation, Joshua V. Himes rushed here and there directing the stirring activities. As the appointed date for the glorious appearing approached, the ministers returned to their homes and "the great tent" was furled for the last time, as they thought, never to be unrolled until the heavens were rolled together as a parchment scroll. Day and night the believers met in their places of worship to await the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God. The presses stopped running, with no provision for the publication of a paper beyond October 19. Joshua V. Himes journeyed from Boston to Low Hampton, New York, to spend the day of expectation with his beloved Father Miller.

October 22 dawned a beautiful day in New York. As the congregations met together in quiet, solemn expectancy, such words as these were on the lips of the worshipers: "The last hours of time," "On the brink of eternity," "Time will soon be over." The day wore on, and far into the night the faithful ones kept their vigil. On the morning of the twenty-third the sun rose as usual, and the worn and weary watchers wended their way homeward.

No one except those who passed through the bitter experience will ever realize the awful blow these believers suffered. Hope failed them, and stunned, they withdrew to the seclusion of their homes. When the believers appeared in public, they were greeted with scoffing and ridicule. In connection with this, persecution broke out. Mobs burned meeting places, destroyed property, and even surrounded homes where meetings were held, breaking windows and bemeaning the worshipers.

In the midst of this confusion, like a general rallying his broken columns at a disastrous defeat, appeared Joshua V. Himes. He started the Advent Herald, the successor to the Signs of the Times, once more. He also resumed publication of the Midnight Cry, changing the title of the periodical to the Morning Watch. One of the first matters he urged was that of raising funds for the destitute. Some still sat at home studying their Bibles, looking for Christ's coming. Others believed that probation had ceased, the people of God had entered into the great Sabbath, and it was therefore wrong to work. Mr. Himes counseled the brethren to prepare for another winter, and traveled about gathering funds to care for those who needed clothing and fuel for the cold season. He urged the Advent believers who still had funds to help the others, lest they become a public charge and thus bring reproach to the cause.

Little by little the leaders began to bring order out of the chaotic condition that existed for some time after the great disappointment. In April, 1845, a conference, which convened at Albany, organized an Adventist church. William Miller was chairman, and Joshua V. Himes was secretary, of this convention.

Mr. Himes never accepted the Sabbath, but continued to look for Christ's return all his long life. He continued to publish the Advent Herald for some years, and later moved to the West, where he published the Voice of the West at Buchanan, Michigan, and still later the Advent Christian Times at Chicago.

During his last sickness he went to the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where he remained for a long course of treatment for cancer. He received much help temporarily from his treatment, and greatly enjoyed associating with old friends of the Advent Movement with whom he had a bond of interest and friendship, and who never forgot his magnificent leadership in the 1844 movement.

While in Michigan he was invited to attend the regular Seventh-day Adventist camp meeting. He spoke in the large tent to an immense crowd, and although he was ninety years of age, and was afflicted with the dreadful malady that was to carry him to his grave, he spoke with the old-time fire and vigor. The old warrior, as he stood under that huge canvas, addressing that great congregation, must have been carried back in thought to the time when he held thousands spellbound in "the great tent," when he was a central figure in the 1844 movement. He died July 27, 1895.

Uriah Smith, in writing an obituary, correctly stated: "All through that movement [1844 movement] he was the leading and most aggressive human instrumentality, pushing on the cause of publishing, preaching, and organizing the various enterprises connected with that work. Mr. Miller acknowledged and appreciated his great services, and Seventh-day Adventists have always respected and honored him for the noble part he acted in that great prophetic religious awakening."

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