Vol.13 No.6

Small, but Big…Weak, but Strong
The role of children in the Second Advent Movement of the 19th century.
By Alina Pop

Fear God, and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come! Give your hearts to Jesus, He is coming soon!”

In 1843 this proclamation was heard throughout Europe, but it did not come from the lips of gray-haired men trained in theological seminaries. It came from the lips of little children.

THE LITTLE PREACHER FROM SWEDEN

“That boy is just filled with the Bible!” said the surprised parishioners. “Did you hear how many verses he quoted? How could he memorize so much without any education? We should talk to our priest about this.”

But the priest from Karlsky, Sweden scowled as he listened to reports about this “child preacher.”

“I need to expose him,” the priest responded. “Bring the boy before me!”

When the little boy arrived, the priest opened a hymn book, then asked, “Young man, read this hymn for me.”

“I cannot read,” the boy answered.

But, as the audience watched, the little lad turned his back to the priest and sang perfectly the entire hymn. Shaking his head in amazement, the priest opened the New Testament and instructed the boy once more, “Read this.”

With childlike sincerity, the boy again replied, “I cannot read.”

“What do you know about the Bible, anyway?” the priest asked.

“I know where there is a text that has the word ‘and’ in it fourteen times,” the boy replied.

“No!” scoffed the priest. “There’s no such text.”

“Then please read Revelation 18:13 for me?” requested the lad.

While the priest read the text, the audience counted each use of “and.” It appeared exactly fourteen times—just as the boy said.

“There, there!! The boy knows more about the Bible than the priest!” the people shouted.

Finding no way to prove this child wrong, the chagrined priest gave up and left.

THE ADVANTAGE OF CHILDREN

In the 1840s Europe faced a great religious awakening. Many hearts were touched by the message of the soon return of Jesus. The Bible became the most desirable book for study. The movement became great in many places, but it did not come from the established churches. Countries like Sweden, Germany, Norway, and France had laws forbidding the preaching of anything contrary to the established church. This law, it seemed, silenced the voices of the adults. But the Second Advent message was too important, and God prepared children to carry it.

The movement took place mainly among the lower class; the child preachers were poor and without special education, but God saw something special in them: “Some of them were not more than six or eight years of age; and while their lives testified that they loved the Savior, and were trying to live in obedience to God’s holy requirements, they ordinarily manifested only the intelligence and ability usually seen in children of that age.”

The summer of 1843 brought major changes in many European families. In Eksjo, Sweden a little five–year-old girl surprised her family by singing correctly a very long, Lutheran hymn.

“This must be something supernatural, she has never learned to sing,” said her amazed mother. Then turning to the family, the little girl spoke with great conviction and power: “The hour of His judgment is come. Jesus is coming soon! Get ready!” Such young children could not be brought to court, so the spread of Jesus’ Second Advent and the judgment messages of Revelation 14:6, 7 continued.

“These little ones preach with great power. But after the meetings they act again like innocent children.” This was a common response from the adults who began searching their Bibles in amazement.

Finding that the children were correct, the adults grew more confident and came in large numbers to hear them. God even pointed out hidden sins in some people’s lives through these children. Sometimes meetings were held day and night, and those present made powerful confessions.

FAITHFUL TEENAGERS

“We need to stop all this child preaching. This is like a virus and many are infected. If we apply some painful punishment to some, the zeal of all will be diminished,” declared the church magistrate.

In Orebro Laen, Sweden, two zealous teenagers, Erik Walbom, eighteen, and Ole Boquist, fifteen, felt compelled to preach. Boquist wrote: “In the year 1843 a religious movement occurred among the people in Karlskoga Parish…The leaders in this movement were

children and young men…These preached with divine power, and proclaimed before the people, with great decision, that the hour of God’s judgment had come.”

Walbom and Boquist were arrested by the authorities, beaten on their bare backs with birch rods, then thrown in Orebro prison. After their bloody wounds healed, the young men were brought before the authorities who demanded, “Will you cease preaching this doctrine?” The young men answered firmly: “We will preach the [message] the Lord bids us.”

They were imprisoned and beaten again, re-opening their first wounds, but their answer was the same. Finally, a prominent lady parishioner appealed to the king to “let those boys out of prison.” On the day of their liberation, these two brave teenagers sang this hymn:

“Make strong, yea, strong

resistance, O my soul!

To all that come between thee and thy goal.

Gainst every hindrance fight. Stand firm! stand steady!

For those who forward press the crown is ready.

If you the joys of heaven would ever taste,

Press forward past each hindrance. Be in haste;

Leave, leave, o leave the wiles of all the world,

Thy banner of resistance still unfurled!”

Some who preached the Second Advent message realized that by educating the children about these prophecies, they could also reach the hearts of the parents. In Geneva, Switzerland, Gaussen published his instruction in books for the children, commenting that their parents often neglected to study such material under the false pretense that it was obscure. To these excuses, Gaussen responded, “How can they be obscure, since your children understand them?”

REWARDS

Because the children’s preaching brought repentance and confession, this showed it was from God and a fulfillment of prophecy. “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts…” Isaiah 8:18.“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams…” Joel 2:28.

The Holy Spirit will be poured out only on clean, obedient hearts. God has shown through these historical events the importance of godly education for children and the need of sowing in their lives pure religious seed. They looked small, but they were big; they looked weak, but they were strong.

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27.

Sources:

• J.N. Loughborough, The Great Second Advent Movement, pp. 140-145.
• Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, “A Great Religious Awakening,” pp. 355-374.

Alina Pop is a Christian Publications Management major at Hartland College.