Two More Days
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Two More Days TWO MORE DAYS A Millerite family waits expectantly for the Second Advent. - 0oOO00 - Cyrus Parnsworth Daniel Farnsworth John Farnsworth I'atty Farnsworth S:~llyFarnsworth William Farnsworth Willis lluntley Mrs. I Iuntley Newell Mead . llelight Oakes IZacllel Oakes John Slowell Frederick Wheeler Two More Days Synopsis of TWO MORE DAYS What was it like to be a Millerite a day or twg before the expected return of Christ on October 22, 1844? Wf~atwould be your feelings if you believed that you had only two days left on planet Earth? It is Sunday morning, October 20,1844, and young Cyrus Farnsworth has arrived early at the little white church in fhe woods near the town of Washington, New I-Iampshire. He has lit the fires which will warm the room by the time the worshii>ersarrive for their last Sunday service together. Christwill return onTuesday, just two days from now! Cyrus is overwhelmed by its imminence, and its imp1ic;ltions for him, a young man with tender feelings toward a certain yonng lady in tlie comlnunity! We hecome his audience as he reflects aloud on tlie remarkable events which have affected this Millerite community during the past nine months. As Cyrus rnuses, we are taken back to tlie early spring of 1844 when Mrs. Rachel Oakes, a Seventh Day Baptist, arrives in Washington to he near her daughter, Delight, who teaches school locally andstays in the Farnswortli home. One of Rachel'svisits at the Farnsworth home coincides with a visit fro111 the Methodist-turned-Millerite pastor, Elder Frederick Wheeler, whosoon finds himself in an argument over SahhathversusSundayworship. But Rachel herself is convicted about the "Advent Near" and joins the Millerites who await the imminent return of their Lord. Christ does not come in the spring of 1844 as had been expected, however, and tlie Millerites become discouraged and clisillusioned during the long hot summer. We look in on William and Sally Farnswortli one August afternoon as they share their feelings of spiritual ahandonrnent. But their mood of despair changes dramatically to excited anticipation when they have a surprise visit fro111 their friends, the I-luntleys,just returned from a Millerite camp meeting at Exeter, The lluntleys tell of a camp electrified by a scriptural discovery that the long period of waiting will end on October 22, less than two months away! The mood of exhilaration in the Farnsworth home is quickly tempered, however, by tlie sounds of rocks thrown onto their roof hy a mob of taunting youths outside. Cyrus Farnsworth's musings conie to an end as the Millerite believers arrive at the church on October 20th for their last Sunday service. Elder Wheeler is there to give a brief final message of restrained joy, hut the tone of the gathering is one of reflection as the believers share memories of good and had times leading up to this anticipated day of triumph. With the singing of a hymn, the believers tlisperse, and there we leave them, their faces aglow wit11 the expectation of Christ's coming in just two days! Two More Days IIISTORICAL BACKGROUND The early Advent believers sincerely looked forward to the coming of Christ during their lifetime. The preaching of William Miller and his associates led them to expect the return of Christ in 1843, and then in the spring of 1844. The failure of the Lord to appear at that time caused widespread disappointment, and some believers abancioned the Blessed Hope. Many, however, clung to the certainty of the scriptures and waited through the summer of 1844. Then sucldenly, in mid-August, Samuel Snow appeared at a Millerite camp-meeting at Exeter, New Hampshire, and delivered the message that the Lord was expected on Tuesday, October 22. The excitement at this prospect spread quickly through the towns and villages of New England, asMillerites prepared to meet their Lord. But the final weeks and days of waiting were not easy for them. Their neighbors ridiculed them for selling property, and for failing to harvest their crops. Some believers suffered persecution and violence. Yet it all seemed worthwhile since there would be no sorrow in heaven. In hundreds of cc~mrnunitiesthroughout New England, Millerite believers prepared for the second coming of Christ on October 22,1844. It was indeed 0 bitter disappointinent when He did not return. List of Sources: j Maxwell, C. Mervyn. Tell it to the World: The Stoty of Seve~zth-clayAd~~efitists. Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1976. Miller, Mabel Robinson. CWiarn arid his Twenty-two. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1959. Spalding, Arthur W. Origin and Histoty of Sevetztli-day Advetzti.~t.s.Vol. I. Review and Herald Publishing Associalion, 1961. Young, David M."When Adventists became Sal~bath-keepers."A~lver~fi.~t ffcritcge, Vo1.2, No.2 (1975), pp. 5-10. 'Two More Days CJIARACTERS Cyrus Farnsworth One of the sons of Daniel and Patty Farnsworth. He was twenty-one and single at the time of the 1844 Disappointment, but later married Delight Oakes. Daniel Farnsworth "Father" of the Farnsworths of Washington, New Hampshire. His home was about two miles from the church, near the shore of Millen Lake. llis sons William and Cyrus both appear in the play. John FRrnsworth Ten year old son of William and Sally Farnsworth. Patty Farnsworth Wife of Daniel Farnsworth. Sally Farnsworth Wife of William Farnsworth. Iler given name was Sarah, but everyone called her Sally. William Son c~fDaniel Parnsworth, and llimself the father of a total of Farnsworth twenty-two children. Seven had been born to him by 1844, six of whotn were then living. William was probably the first member of the Farnsworth family to accept the Sabbath in the spring of 1844. Willis Huntley A Millerite believer in the Washington area. Little is known about him. Mrs. Huntley Wife of Willis IIuntley. (Her given name is not known) Newell Meada Millerite believer of the Washington area. One of his older sisters, Sarah, was the wife of William Farnsworth. ( Delight Oakes Daughter of Rachel, who came to teach school at Washington in the winter of 1844. She lived with the Daniel Farnsworth family until her mother came to Washington. Three years after the Disappointment she married Cyrus Farnsworth. Rachel Oakes A Seventh Day Baptist who came to Washington, New I-Iampshire in the spring of 1844 to be near her daughter, Delight, who taught school there. When she tried to introduce the Sahbath to the Advent congregation in Washington, she found them so engrossed in their preparation for the imminent return of the Lord that most paid little attention to her. Later, however, several believers in Washingtc~n accepted the seventh-day Sabbath. She later married Nathan Preston, so is sometimes referred to as Rachel Oakes Preston. John Stowell A Millerite believer of Washington, New Hampshire. Frederick Wheeler A Methodist circuit preacher who included Washington, New I-Iatnpshire, in his group of churches. He became spiritual leader of the Millerite congregation in Washington, and accepted the seventh-day Sabbath truth from Rachel Oakes. IIe later became a Seventli-d:~yAdventist minister. Two More Days TWO MORE DAYS The scene is the Millerite church itt the woods neur Washitzgton, New I-Iutnpshire, or1 the morttit~gof October 20, 1844. CyrfisFurnsworth sulrttters itr oti the n~uit~floor, l)elo,v the stcrge, sit1gi11gto hitnselfrit~dseetnittgly oblivio~uof the audience. He stops ut the center front, leuning against the stage, but ignores the u~idienceas he retninisces. Cyrus: (Sit~git~g)You will see your Lord a'coming, You will see your Lord a'coming, You will see your Lord a'coming, In a few more days. (Chrlck1e.s) Guess it's less than "a few" now. (Sings uguin.) You will see your L~rda'coming In just two more days. Two more days! It's hard to believe1 Seems like only yesterday we were saying "Only trvo ttzottths till the Lord comes!" Then it was "one month to go" . "this time next week". five days. four.. .three.. and now just two days. It's kind of frightening in a way. Wonderful, yet scary. And p'raps even a teeny bit sad. Would be sort of nice to be married before the Lord comes. (Sighs) (Suildetzly he rrppeurs to hecotlre utvcrre of his aiidietlce. He tnoves u step fonvard to fuce ul~(liet~ce.) Sorry, guess I haven't introduced myself. I'm Cyrus -Cyrus Farnsworth. I'm the next to the youngest son of Daniel and Patty Farnsworth. They sent me here an hour hefore church service this morning to light the fires. That way it should be cosy ant1 warm when everyone gets here. I live abclut two miles from here, on the west wide of Millen Pond. I've lived here in Washington all of my life (all twenty-one years of it!). When my grandparents moved to tliis area over seventy-five years ago, there wasn't even a village here yet. I guess you could say the Farnswortlis were among tlie pioneers of Washington, Ilut Washington won't 1)e on tlie map for very much longer. We're looking for the Lortl to return to this earth on Octol~er22-that's two days from now. It's hard to believe it when you look around at the farm, the lake, the big maple trees, tliis little white church-all the places we know so well. They're all going to he burned up. But it's real, because tlie Bible says so: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." It's all going to happen in just two clays from now! Eighteen forty-four.