Apollos Hale

A Voice That Helped a Movement Speak

Apollos Hale belongs to the public-facing edge of the Advent awakening: a lecturer, editor, writer, and visual teacher. His name appears beside Charles Fitch in the story of the 1843 prophetic chart, one of the great teaching tools of the Millerite movement. The chart gave audiences a single visual field for Daniel, Revelation, the prophetic periods, and the approaching Advent hope.

Hale's surviving work shows a man drawn to making an urgent message understandable. Herald of the Bridegroom appears in Second Advent Library, volume 6, published by J. V. Himes in 1844 and digitized from Harvard University's copy. Its title catches the mood of the movement: an announcement meant to wake readers, turn them toward Scripture, and press the question of readiness.

Read the accompanying Satan, Fallen Angels, Counterfeit Sunday Worship, and Sabbath PDF for the complete source file.

With Charles Fitch, Hale helped design the 1843 Prophetic Chart. This was practical ministry: a large visual aid for explaining prophetic chronology in public meetings. The chart captures Hale's instinct for communication - taking a sweeping prophetic argument and giving people something they could see, follow, and discuss.

That work placed Hale within a larger circle of preachers, editors, and organizers including William Miller, Joshua V. Himes, Josiah Litch, and Fitch. Their message moved by lectures, periodicals, correspondence, camp meetings, and charts. Hale's contribution was to help the message travel in forms that could be carried beyond a single sermon.

The 1843 Prophetic Chart: a visual Bible study made for a waiting people.

Explore the 1843 ChartDownload 1843 Chart PDFDownload 1843 Chart KeyExplore the 1850 ChartDownload 1850 Chart PDF

“And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

— Habakkuk 2:2-3 (KJV)

For Hale and Fitch, a “table” became a teaching chart. It let a reader follow the numbers with the Bible open: Daniel's kingdoms, the seventy weeks, the 2,300 days, the cleansing of the sanctuary, and Revelation's messages. The charts continue to reward slow reading. The time from October 22, 1844 to today now reaches beyond 180 years; Habakkuk's words invite readers to keep the vision before them and live with watchful hope.

Two Tables, One Covenant Story

The two tables of stone written by the finger of God carried the Ten Commandments - the covenant law given at Sinai (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10-11). In this study, the two great prophetic charts of 1843 and 1850 stand as a second pair of “tables”: visual covenant witnesses that make the prophetic vision plain for readers of the last-day message. The stone tables set forth the law of God; the prophetic tables gather Daniel and Revelation around the sanctuary, the judgment hour, the Sabbath, the three angels' messages, and the hope of Christ's coming.

Together they form a powerful marriage-covenant picture: the law written on the tables of stone, and the Bridegroom's prophetic call written plainly upon the 1843 and 1850 tables. The 1843 chart points to the prophetic foundation; the 1850 chart carries forward the sanctuary and sealing light. Study the two chart keys beside Exodus 20, Daniel 8:14, Habakkuk 2:2-3, and Revelation 14 to follow this covenant thread from Sinai to the New Jerusalem.

Ellen G. White wrote: “I was shown that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them; that His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, and that it would not be seen until His hand was removed. Then I was shown that the 1850 chart was directed by His hand, and that the figures were correct.” — Early Writings, p. 74. Explore the companion 1850 Prophetic Chart and its key of explanation.

A Simple Guide to the Chart's Main Numbers

• Daniel 2 - the succession of kingdoms, ending with the stone cut out without hands and the kingdom of God that fills the earth with its glory through The Present Truth.
• Seventy weeks / 490 years - Daniel 9's period connected with the decree to restore Jerusalem, the coming of Messiah, and the gospel's movement beyond Israel.
• 2,300 days / years - Daniel 8:14, counted by the Millerite interpreters from the 457 BC decree to the autumn of 1844.
• 1,260, 1,290, and 1,335 days - Daniel's further prophetic periods, placed on the chart for comparison with the wider Bible chronology.
• Revelation 14 - the three angels' messages: worship the Creator, Babylon's fall, and steadfast faithfulness in the final conflict.
• October 22, 1844 - understood in the post-1844 sanctuary study as the beginning of Christ's final phase of ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, a study developed by Hiram Edson, O. R. L. Crosier, Joseph Bates, James White, and Ellen G. White.

The 1843 Key of Explanation

The chart key is the best companion for first-time readers. It identifies the chart's visual symbols and directs attention back to the passages from which the chart's claims were drawn. Read it alongside Daniel 2, 7, 8, and 9 and Revelation 12-14.

A Later Doctrinal Milestone

At the 1980 General Conference Session in Dallas, the denomination adopted a statement of Fundamental Beliefs whose No. 2 is titled “The Trinity.” Its official wording begins, “There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.” That 1980 statement is a dated denominational record; readers can compare it directly with the pioneer-era 1872 Fundamental Principles and the 1843 chart.

The site’s historical-study reading of these later developments connects the April 15, 1904 incorporation record with Ellen White’s warning against a “new organization” and her statement: “Our religion would be changed. The Protestant form would be retained, but the spirit and power would be gone. It would be a Protestant in name only.” Read the April 15, 1904 Incorporation Record, the History of the Seventh-day Adventist Name, the Loud Cry study, and the 501(c)(3) church-state study to examine the quotations and documents in full.

The KJV describes Israel's call to covenant loyalty in these words: “They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.” — Deuteronomy 32:16 (KJV). In the Matthew 25 study application, the wise virgins represent those who keep the oil of Scripture, test every teaching, and follow the light they have received; the foolish virgins represent an unprepared Laodicean condition. The enduring invitation is to test every teaching by Scripture, hold fast to what is true, and keep the hope of Christ's appearing before the heart. Follow that thread into New Jerusalem, The 144,000, The Sanctuary, and The Loud Cry.

“Those who have betrayed sacred trusts will be unmasked before the world, whatever may be their position, height, or reputation.”

— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 81.

Hale's charts and printed witness invite readers to keep the pioneer sources in view and to examine the later historical record with candor. Continue with the History of the Seventh-day Adventist Name and the April 15, 1904 Incorporation Record.

The 1872 Fundamental Principles provide a concise historical statement from the pioneer era. Read them alongside the 1843 and 1850 charts, then compare the language with the denomination's 1980 Fundamental Beliefs statement. This is a rewarding way to trace how Adventist teaching was expressed across generations.

Brother Miller's Dream: The Casket and the Jewels

James White's 1850 presentation of Brother Miller's Dream gives this chart study a memorable picture. In the dream, Captain William Miller opened a casket filled with “jewels, diamonds, precious stones, and gold and silver coins.” The casket had “a cross of light” within it. James White identified the casket as “the great truths of the Bible, relative to the second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, which were given Bro. Miller to publish to the world.”

The dream then pictures genuine jewels and coins covered by “dirt and rubbish,” alongside “spurious coins and counterfeit jewels.” After the dirt-brush man clears the room, the false articles depart with the rubbish, while the genuine jewels remain. A larger casket receives them, and they shine “with ten times their former glory.” Read the complete dream and James White's notes for the full narrative and the original interpretive framework.

The image offers a lively study pattern: place primary documents side by side, open the Bible passages they use, and let clear scriptural evidence illuminate the message. The 1872 principles, the 1843 and 1850 charts, and Miller's dream each invite that kind of careful, hopeful reading.

Hale was associated with Millerite publishing, including Signs of the Times and the Advent Herald, and contributed to early material connected with Sylvester Bliss and Memoirs of William Miller. His source trail invites readers directly into the printed world of the Advent awakening.

James White's July 21, 1850 letter preserves an important retrospective reference to Hale. Describing the testimonies he was gathering for the Advent Review, White wrote: “In looking over these testimonies from Miller, Brown, Fassett, Shipman, Porter, Hale, Cook, etc., I am astonished to see how they preached a shut door.” The Ellen G. White Estate's Shut Door Documents identifies this as a July 21, 1850 letter from White at East Hampton, New York. It places Hale among the remembered voices of the 1844 movement, even as the post-disappointment Advent landscape divided and developed.

Apollos Hale was born in Massachusetts in 1807 and died in Washington, D.C., on February 13, 1898. The family record connected with his Rock Creek Cemetery memorial preserves five children: Martha Rogers Hale Hampson (1837-1923), Mary E. Hale Pinder (1839-1895), Joseph W. Hale (1841-1851), Rebecca A. W. Hale Baker (1844-1920), and Charles Sumner Hale (1853-1911). Biographical references also connect his household with Rebecca Wait.

Hale rests at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., Section G, Lot 083. His memorial provides an accessible place to honor his life and follow the linked family record across generations.

Ellen G. White gave the movement-wide frame for Hale's generation: “As John the Baptist heralded the first advent of Jesus, and prepared the way for his coming, so also, Wm. Miller and those who joined him, proclaimed the second advent of the Son of God.” Read it in the 1858 Great Controversy book page, chapter “William Miller,” p. 129.

Hale's writing, lectures, editorial work, and chart design show how he joined in carrying the Advent message into public view. The passage gives readers a vivid lens for seeing the generation in which Hale labored: a company gathered around the Second Advent proclamation.

In January 1845, Hale and Joseph Turner appeared as editors of The Advent Mirror, volume 1, number 1. Their four-page tract, Has Not the Savior Come as the Bridegroom?, is preserved online in a digitized copy. The title page reads: “BOSTON, JANUARY, 1845, A. HALE & J. TURNER, EDS.”

The tract reads Matthew 25 through the themes of the Bridegroom, the marriage, the New Jerusalem, the wise and foolish virgins, and the coming kingdom. Its closing appeal is direct: “Let us hold fast, and be ready for the call to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” Read the digitized original to meet Hale's own voice on the page.

The Find a Grave memorial for Rev. Apollos Hale records his burial at Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C., and identifies the plot as Section G, Lot 083. It is a meaningful destination for visitors tracing the enduring story of a man whose printed words and chart work helped carry the Advent message across the country.

• Herald of the Bridegroom feature - an inviting on-site reader for Hale's 1843 warning.
• Second Advent Library - Google Books - the 1844 Himes volume containing the tract.
• 1843 Prophetic Chart - the visual proclamation Hale designed with Fitch.
• History of the Seventh-day Adventist Name - the 1860 name selection, organizational timeline, and primary-source record.
• April 15, 1904 Incorporation Record - the Yearbook evidence, signer block, and incorporation documents.
• The 1858 Great Controversy - Ellen White's movement-wide description of Miller and those who joined him.
• White Estate: The Shut Door Documents - source context for James White's 1850 reference to Hale.
• The Advent Mirror, January 1845 - Hale and Turner’s digitized four-page tract.
• Apollos Hale digital collection - public-domain scans of Herald of the Bridegroom and The Second Advent Manual.
• Rock Creek Cemetery memorial - burial location and connected family record.

Apollos Hale made prophecy public. His legacy shines through a body of communication work: the 1843 Herald, the chart shared with Fitch, and his place in the publishing world of the Advent awakening. He makes the history feel immediate: ideas became pages, pages became lectures, and lectures became a movement.