1874 is the date of Christ's presence on earth

1879 ❧

1880 ❧

1890 ❧

1891 ❧

At the first movement disappointment was predicted, and waiting for the 1335 days was necessary; but the second was not a disappointment, and a waiting was no longer necessary, for it came exactly at the close of the 1335 prophetic days - in October 1874. It was just following the close of the 1335 years, the period of "waiting," that the fact of our Lord's presence, as taught by the foregoing prophecies, began to be recongnize. It was very early in the morning of the new age, but it was the "midnight" hour, so far as the deep slumbering of the virgins was concerned, when the cry went forth, which is still ringing, "Behold the Bridegroom !" - not Behold the Bridegroom cometh, but Behold he has come, and we are now living "in the [parousia] presence of the Son of man." And this has been the character of the present movement, from then until now, -a proclamation of the Lord's presence and of the kingdom work now in progress. The writer, and co-laborers, proclaimed the fact of the Lord's presence, demonstrating it from prophecy, and on charts or tables, such as are used in this book, until the fall 1878, when arrangements were made for starting our present monthly publication, ZION'S WATCH TOWER, and the Herald of Christ's Presence." By the Lord's blessing, millions of copies of this publication have carried the tidings that the Time is fulfilled, [...]

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 92 & page 93

A faithful few were thus instructed in the World of truth and filled with its spirit, purified and more fully separated from the world, purged of pride, and brought to more humble reliance upon God, through the discipline of the disappointment of 1844; and the foretold tarrying of thirty years, developped patience, humility, and loving submission in the holy ones, until the watchers at the end of "1335 days" (1874, harvest time), receive, and were sent forth to announce to all the sanctuary class, the glad message, "Behold the Bridegroom !" And all of this class who hear, when they recongnize it, lift up their voices also, saying, "Behold the Bridegroom !" And this harvest message to the saints continues to go forth, and will, until it has reached all the consecrated and faithful. This intelligence is not for the world now, but for the prospective bride specially. Our Lord is not the Bridegroom to any other class. The knowledge of his presence will come to the world in another way, and at a later time. None are prepared to receive this truth, except the consecrated, the sanctuary class. To the "host" of nominal Christian, as well as to the world, it is foolishness; nor will they be disposed to test the proofs herein set forth.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 123 & page 124

The typical Jubilee cycles pointed out 1874 A.D. as the date of our Lord's return; and yet the date was herein son ingeniously hidden, as to make its discovery impossible until the "Time of the End." And this testimony was made doubly strong by proofs from two standpoints - the Law and the Prophets - the two being entirely independent of each other, and yet equally clear and convincing.
The wonderful parallelism of the Jewish and Gospel dispensations, taught us the same truth with additional features. The second advent of our Lord in the end or harvest of the Gospel age, occurring in the fall of 1874, proves to be at a point of time exactly parallel to the time of his first advent, in the end of the Jewish age. (See Table of Correspondencies, Vol. II, pages 246 and 247.) As every prominent feature of the Gospel dispensation is marked by a corresponding parallel in that typical dispensation, so we find that this most noteworthy event taught by the jubilee, has it corresponding parallel. Our Lord's presence is shown in both dispensations as Bridegroom, Reaper and King. [...] Again, we have found the second advent of our Lord indicated by the prophet Daniel (12:1) [...] And having traced the 1335 days of Dan. xii, down to their ending at this same date, we can understand now, why the angel who thus pointed out the date, referred to it in such exultant terms - "O, the blessedness of him that waiteth [who is in a waiting or watching attitude] and cometh to the thousand three hundred, five and thirty days!" - A.D. 1874.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 125 & page 126

Thus we found the time of our Lord's second advent clearly proven to be 1874-in October of that year, as shown in Vol.II, chap.vi.
But this is not all. Certain reasonable obstacles to faith in Christ's presence might yet appear to the minds of even careful students, and we wish to see these all removed. For instance, it might reasonably be inquired, How is that the exact Bible Chronology points to October 1872 as the beginning of the seventh thousand years, or Millennium, while the Jubilee Cycles show October 1874 to be the date of our Lord's return and the beginning of the restitution times ?
This apparent inharmony of the date of the second advent with the beginning of the seventh years seemed at first sight to indicate "a srew loose" somewhere in the chronological reckoning, and led to careful re-examination of the subject, but always with the same result. Closer thought, however, proves that God is an exact time keeper, and that this point is no exception to his mathematical precision.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 127

While the time prophecies thus point to and harmonize with 1874 as the date of our Lord's second presence,assuring us of the fact with mathematical precision, we find ourselves overwhelmed with evidence of another character; for certain peculiar signs, foretold by the Lord and the apostles and prophets, which were to precede his coming, are now clearly recognized as actually fulfilled [...] The cleansing of the sanctuary was also accomplished as predicted, and at a time sufficiently in advance of 1874 to make ready "a people prepared for the Lord" - a people in devout expectancy of his coming - just as a similar work prior to the first advent made ready a people to receive him then. We find that the date 1874 is also in harmony with the prophecy of Daniel (12:1), which fixes the advent of "Michael" in the "Time of the End" - that is, somewhere between 1799 and 1914.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 129

Looking back to the type, we see that in the spring of A.D., three and a half years after the beginning of the Jewish harvest (A.D. 29) our Lord typically took unto himself his power and exercised kingly authority. (See, Matt. 21:5-15.) And the only object of that action evidently was to mark a parallel point of time in this harvest, when he would in reality assume the kingly office, power, etc., viz., in the spring of 1878, three and a half years after his second advent at the beginning of the harvest period, in the fall of 1874. [...] Such as remember that only Saul of Tarsus saw Christ's spiritual body, and that by a miracle, while others around saw it not, and then at the expense of his sight, will readily see that their not having seen the risen saints with their natural eyes is no more objection to the fact their resurrection than that they have not seen the Lord during this harvest, and have never seen angels, who have been "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heir of salvation" all through the Gospel age.-
See, Vol. II., Chap. V.
Our belief that the Kingdom began to be set up, or brought into power, in April 1878, be it observed, rests on exactly the same foundation as our belief that the Lord became present in October 1874, and the harvest began there.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 233 & page 234 & page 235

"The Times of the Gentiles," will expire with the year 1914; and that the advent of him whose right it is to take the dominion was due in 1874. [...] not only our Lord and Head invisibly present in the world, but all these holy messengers are also with him [...] Our Lord's resurrection occurred three and a half years after his advent as the Messiah, in A.D. 30; and the resurrection of his body, the Church, we have seen, was due in the year 1878, three and a half years after his second advent, in October 1874. Prophecy has also indicated the manner of our Lord's return, so that, though he is present, we should not expect to see either him or the risen saints, who are now in his likeness, except by the eye of faith -

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 299

The Scriptural time-proofs which we have considered show that this trouble was due to date from the time of Christ's second advent (October, 1874), when the judging of the nations would commence, under the enlightening influences of the Day of the Lord. This is shown in the Pyramid thus: -
The "Descending Passage," from the entrance of the Great Pyramid, leading to the "Pit" or "Subterranean Chamber," represents the course of the world in general (under the prince of this world), into the great time of trouble (the "Pit"), in which evil shall be brought to an end. [...] This calculation shows A. D. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years B. c. plus 1874 years A. D. equals 3416 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the chronological beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation-no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will IE noted that this "Witness" fully corroborates the Bible testimony on this subject, as shown by the "Parallel Dispensatidns" in MILLENNIAL DAWNV, OL.I I., Chap. vii.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 335

This calculation shows A.D. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 B.C. plus 1874 A.D. equals 3416 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the chronological beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation - no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this "Witness" fully corroborates the Bible testimony on this subject, as shown by the "Parallel Dispensations" in MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. II., Chap. VII.
Nor should any doubt the fact the forty years of judgment and trouble began in the fall of 1874 because the trouble has not yet reached an unendurable stage; and because, in some respects, the period since that date has been one of great advancement in knowledge.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 336

[...] and give the dates (a) October, 1874, (b) October, 1881 and (c) October, 1910, A.D.
This threefold endind is in full accord with what we have found taught in the Scriptures: that the "harvest, the end of the age," was reached in October, 1874, and that the "call" proper ended in Octobre, 1881 [...] Is not this a most remarkable agreement between this stone "Witness" and the Bible? The Dates, October, 1874, and October, 1881, are exact, [...] Nor is this all of the wonderful symbolism of the Great Pyramid. Its marvelous harmony with the divine plan is still further shown in another remarkable feature. We should expect that the date of the two great events connected with the close of this age, viz., (I) our Lord's second advent, and (2) the beginning of the harvest, would in some manner be marked at the upper end of the "Grand gallery," even as his death and resurrection are marked [...]

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Thy Kingdom Come (Vol III), 1st-ed, (1891), page 359 & page 360

1892 ❧

1894 ❧

1897 ❧

1906 ❧

1908 ❧

1911 ❧

1912 ❧

1917 ❧

1921 ❧

From that time forward there has been a marvelous increase of light and the inventions and discoveries have been too numerous for us to mention all of them here, but mention is made of some that have come to light since 1874, as further evidence of Lord's presence since that date, as follows: Adding machines, aeroplanes, aluminum, antiseptic surgery, artificial dyes, automatic couplers, automobiles, barbed wire, bicycles, carborundum, cash registers, celluloid, correspondence schools, cream separators, Darkest Africa, disk ploughs, Divine Plan of the Ages, dynamite, electric railways, electric welding, escalators, fireless cookers, gas engines, harvesting machines, illuminating gas, induction motors, linotypes, match machines, monotypes, motion pictures, North Pole, Panama Canal, Pasteurization, railway signals, Roentgen rays, shoe sewing machine, smokeless powder, South Pole, submarines, radium, sky scrapers, subways, talking machines, telephones, typewriters, vacuum cleaners, and wireless telegraphy.

Source : The Harp Of God (1921), page 235

("scoffers") : p.241 et p.242

1922 ❧

Bible prophecy shows that the Lord was due to appear for the second time in the year 1874. Fulfilled prophecy shows beyond a doubt that he did appear in 1874. Fulfilled prophecy is otherwise designated the physical facts; and these facts are indisputable. All true watchers are familiar with these facts as set forth in the Scriptures and explained in the interpretation by the Lord's special servant.
[…]
Since he has been present from 1874, it follows, from the facts as we now see them, that the period from 1874 to 1914 is the day of preparation. This in no wise militates against the thought that "the time of the end" is from 1799 until 1914. The period from 1799 to 1874 could not be said to be a day of preparation, but a day of increasing light.
[…]
Do you believe it? Do you believe that the King of glory is present, and has been since 1874?
[…]
Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom.

Source : The Watchtower, November 1, 1922, pp.332-337 (page 333 + page 337) DISCOURSE BY BROTHER J. F. RUTHERFORD
[This is the "Advertise, advertise, advertise" discourse delivered by Rutherford, Cedar Point, Ohio, Friday September 8, 1922]

1923 ❧

The fact of our Lord's second coming is definitely settled by the Scriptures. (John 14:2, 3; Acts 1:11; 2 Timothy 4:8) The Scriptures show that the second presence was due in 1874. (See C83-127.) Also it is definitely settled by his own words, that at the time of his second presence he would gird himself, cause his servants to sit down to meat, and would come forth and serve them. (Luke 12:37) He also firmly establishes the fact that during his presence he would conduct a harvest work [...] These points are incontrovertible; therefore must be considered by all reasonable and fair-minded Christians as conclusively settled.
By proof is meant the physical facts in fulfillment of prophetic utterances by the Lord or some of his inspired witness. This proof shows that the Lord has been present since 1874, and that he has been conducting and is still conducting a harvest work;

Source : The WATCH TOWER, March 1, 1923, page 67

1924 ❧

Then in 1924, ten years after the supposed actual 1914 return of Christ occurred, this was written in the Watchtower magazine :

1927 ❧

1929 ❧

In the Scriptures there are three different Greek words used in connection with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those words are, to wit: parousia (Matt. 24:3), which means presence; apiphaneia (2 Tim. 4:1), which means presence and shining forth with increased light; and apokalupsis (Rev. 1:1), which means the presence of the Lord shining forth with increased light and to a complete uncovering or revelation. Thus is shown the progressive unfolding of the prophecies during the presence of the Lord. That is the period of refreshing mentionned by Peter, and that refreshing is given to, and is for, the benefit of the faithful students of God's Word, because God has turned his face to them and the Lord Jesus Christ is manifesting his presence and is ministering to them.

Source : Prophecy, 1929, page 65 & page 66

1973 ❧