Day-Dawn

Day-Dawn was a Millerite (see William Miller) periodical initially issued as a broadside and published in Canandaigua, New York, beginning in March 1845.¹ Dr. Franklin B. Hahn (1809-1866) served as its first publisher, and the paper expanded upon the Bridegroom concepts (Matthew 25:1-13) previously presented in the Advent Mirror.²

Following the Great Disappointment, Hiram Edson (1806-1882) had a “vision” that prompted him to undertake extended Bible study with O.R.L. Crosier (1820-1912) and Dr. F. B. Hahn.³ Their collaborative study led to the conclusion that the sanctuary referenced in Daniel 8:14 referred not to the earth, but to Christ’s work in the heavenly sanctuary. The Old Testament sanctuary was thus interpreted as a type or copy of the heavenly sanctuary.⁴

Most of the content published in the Day-Dawn was an article by Crosier arguing “that the answer to the October 1844 disappointment was a correct understanding of the heavenly-sanctuary ministry of Jesus.”⁵ As Crosier put it, the mediatorial work of Christ had two parts, “typified by the two apartments or services in the two apartments of the tabernacle.” The first aspect involved “intercession for transgressors,” while the second was the work of “final atonement” begun in October 1844.⁶ This special work of atonement began on the tenth day of the seventh month, which, according to the Kairite calendar, was indeed the Day of Atonement. He later set forth his views in “The Law of Moses,” which was published as the Day-Star Extra, February 7, 1846. This exposition would become seminal to the formation of early Sabbatarian Adventist theology. Hiram Edson later reflected that it was “This number of The Day Dawn [that] opened a communication between us and these Eastern brethren [referring to James White and Joseph Bates].”⁷

The second issue of Day-Dawn was released on July 18, 1846, and sought to counter the Shaker influence of Enoch Jacobs (1809-1894). The irregular publication schedule resulted in a focus on significant doctrinal differences among post-Millerite believers. Between August 1846 and April 1847, the periodical “appeared more regularly,” with over a dozen issues published.⁸ From 1845 onward, Crosier emphasized the anticipated return of Christ in the spring of 1847. Following this period, he ceased publication and abandoned his earlier views about the shut door and seventh-day Sabbath, later predicting Christ’s return in 1877.⁹ Upon the cessation of Day-Dawn, James White (1821-1881) in 1847 cited its demise as motivation for producing the leaflet, “A Word to the ‘Little Flock.’”¹⁰ He also noted that the Day-Dawn “was the last to defend the true position of the little flock” but had died out before the Lord had revealed new light.¹¹

Currently, only the first two issues and three numbers from volume two are known to exist. In April 1995, Merlin D. Burt discovered a copy of the one-page broadside on the back page of the March 26, 1845, Ontario Messenger.¹² Prior to this discovery, Adventist historians had speculated that the publication originated in autumn 1845 and had a “small and rather local circulation.”¹³

Sources

Burt, Merlin D. “Day-Dawn.” The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia, 2^nd ed., eds. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2013.

Burt, Merlin D. “The Day-Dawn of Canandaigua, New York: Reprint of a Significant Millerite Adventist Journal.” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44, no. 2 (Autumn 2006): 317-330.

Burt, Merlin D. “The Extended Atonement View in the Day-Dawn and the Emergence of Sabbatarian Adventism.” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44, no. 2 (Autumn 2006): 331-339.

Campbell, Michael W and Edward Martin Allen. A Global History of Seventh-day Adventists. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2026.

Crosier, O. R. L. “To All Who Are Waiting for Redemption. The following is Addressed.” Ontario Messenger, March 26, 1845.

Froom, Le Roy Edwin. Movement of Destiny, Movement of Destiny. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1971.

Knight, George R. A Brief History of Seventh-day Adventists. 2^nd ed. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2004.

Knight, George R. Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-day Adventism. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2004.

Krug, Howard. “October Morn: Adventism’s Day of Insight.” ARH, October 24, 2002.

Notes

1. See publication announcement in The Geneva Gazette, March 6, 1847, [2].↩

2. Merlin D. Burt, “Day-Dawn,” The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia, 2^nd ed., eds. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2013), 758.↩

3. Howard Krug, “October Morn: Adventism’s Day of Insight,” ARH, October 24, 2002, 8-12.↩

4. George R. Knight, A Brief History of Seventh-day Adventists, 2^nd ed. (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2004), 31; Arthur W. Spalding, Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1961), 1:111-112, 176.↩

5. Merlin D. Burt, “The Day-Dawn of Canandaigua, New York: Reprint of a Significant Millerite Adventist Journal,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44, no. 2 (Autumn 2006): 317.↩

6. O. R. L. Crosier, “To All Who Are Waiting for Redemption. The following is Addressed,” Ontario Messenger, March 26, 1845, last page. For context, see George R. Knight, Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-day Adventism (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2004), 94.↩

7. Francis D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry, a Defense of William Miller and the Millerites (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1945), 459-460.↩

8. Merlin D. Burt, “Day-Dawn,” The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia, 2^nd ed., eds. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2013), 758.↩

9. James White to Leonard and Elvira Hastings, August 26, 1848. Cited by Burt, op. cit.↩

10. See introduction by James White, dated Brunswick, Maine, May 30, 1847.↩

11. See under footnote 4, bottom right column, The Present Truth, May 1850, 74.↩

12. Merlin D. Burt, “The Day-Dawn of Canandaigua, New York: Reprint of a Significant Millerite Adventist Journal,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44, no. 2 (Autumn 2006): 317.↩

13. E.g. Le Roy Edwin Froom, Movement of Destiny, Movement of Destiny, (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1971), 79.↩