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Chapter Eighteen
An American Reformer
An Upright, honest-hearted farmer, who had been led
to doubt the divine authority of the Scriptures, yet who
sincerely desired to know the truth, was the man specially
chosen of God to lead out in the proclamation of Christ’s
second coming. Like many other reformers, William Miller
had in early life battled with poverty and had thus learned
the great lessons of energy and self-denial. The members of
the family from which he sprang were characterized by an
independent, liberty-loving spirit, by capability of endurance,
and ardent patriotism—traits which were also prominent in
his character. His father was a captain in the army of the
Revolution, and to the sacrifices which he made in the
struggles and sufferings of that stormy period may be traced
the straitened circumstances of Miller’s early life.
He had a sound physical constitution, and even in
childhood gave evidence of more than ordinary intellectual
strength. As he grew older, this became more marked. His
mind was active and well developed, and he had a keen thirst
for knowledge. Though he did not enjoy the advantages of
a collegiate education, his love of study and a habit of careful
thought and close criticism rendered him a man of sound
judgment and comprehensive views. He possessed an
irreproachable moral character and an enviable reputation,
being generally esteemed for integrity, thrift, and benevolence.
By dint of energy and application he early acquired a
competence, though his habits of study were still maintained.
He filled various civil and military offices with credit, and
the avenues to wealth and honor seemed wide open to him.
His mother was a woman of sterling piety, and in childhood,
he had been subject to religious impressions. In early
childhood, however, he was thrown into the society of deists,
whose influence was the stronger from the fact that they were
mostly good citizens and men of humane and benevolent
disposition. Living, as they did, in the midst of Christian
institutions, their characters had been to some extent molded
by their surroundings. For the excellencies which won them
respect and confidence they were indebted to the Bible; and
yet these good gifts were so perverted as to exert an influence
against the word of God. By association with these men,
Miller was led to adopt their sentiments. The current
interpretations of Scripture presented difficulties which seemed
to him insurmountable; yet his new belief, while setting aside
the Bible, offered nothing better to take its place, and he
remained far from satisfied. He continued to hold these views,
however, for about twelve years. But at the age of thirty-four
the Holy Spirit impressed his heart with a sense of his condition
as a sinner. He found in his former belief no assurance
of happiness beyond the grave. The future was dark and
gloomy. Referring afterward to his feelings at this time, he
said:
“Annihilation was a cold and chilling thought, and
accountability was sure destruction to all. The heavens were
as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my feet.
Eternity—what was it? And death—why was it? The more
I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. The
more I thought, the more scattered were my conclusions. I
tried to stop thinking, but my thoughts would not be
controlled. I was truly wretched, but did not understand the
cause. I murmured and complained, but knew not of whom.
I knew that there was a wrong, but knew not how or where
to find the right. I mourned, but without hope.”
In this state he continued for some months. “Suddenly,”
he says, “the character of a Saviour was vividly impressed
upon my mind. It seemed that there might be a being so
good and compassionate as to himself atone for our transgressions,
and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin.
I immediately felt how lovely such a being must be, and
imagined that I could cast myself into the arms of, and trust
in the mercy of, such a one. But the question arose, How can
it be proved that such a being does exist? Aside from the
Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of the existence
of such a Saviour, or even of a future state. . . .
“I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour as
I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired book
should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the wants of
a fallen world. I was constrained to admit that the Scriptures
must be a revelation from God. They became my delight;
and in Jesus I found a friend. The Saviour became to me the
chiefest among ten thousand; and the Scriptures, which
before were dark and contradictory, now became the lamp to
my feet and light to my path. My mind became settled and
satisfied. I found the Lord God to be a Rock in the midst of
the ocean of life. The Bible now became my chief study, and
I can truly say, I searched it with great delight. I found the
half was never told me. I wondered why I had not seen its
beauty and glory before, and marveled that I could have ever
rejected it. I found everything revealed that my heart could
desire, and a remedy for every disease of the soul. I lost all
taste for other reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom
from God.” —S. Bliss, Memoirs of Wm. Miller, pages 65-67.
Miller publicly professed his faith in the religion which he
had despised. But his infidel associates were not slow to bring
forward all those arguments which he himself had often
urged against the divine authority of the Scriptures. He was
not then prepared to answer them; but he reasoned that if
the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be consistent with
itself; and that as it was given for man’s instruction, it must
be adapted to his understanding. He determined to study the
Scriptures for himself, and ascertain if every apparent
contradiction could not be harmonized.
Endeavoring to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and
dispensing with commentaries, he compared scripture with
scripture by the aid of the marginal references and the
concordance. He pursued his study in a regular and methodical
manner; beginning with Genesis, and reading verse by verse,
he proceeded no faster than the meaning of the several passages
so unfolded as to leave him free from all embarrassment.
When he found anything obscure, it was his custom to
compare it with every other text which seemed to have any
reference to the matter under consideration. Every word was
permitted to have its proper bearing upon the subject of the
text, and if his view of it harmonized with every collateral
passage, it ceased to be a difficulty. Thus whenever he met
with a passage hard to be understood he found an explanation
in some other portion of the Scriptures. As he studied
with earnest prayer for divine enlightenment, that which had
before appeared dark to his understanding was made clear.
He experienced the truth of the psalmist’s words: “The
entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding
unto the simple.”
Psalm 119:130.
With intense interest he studied the books of Daniel and
the Revelation, employing the same principles of interpretation
as in the other scriptures, and found, to his great joy,
that the prophetic symbols could be understood. He saw that
the prophecies, so far as they had been fulfilled, had been
fulfilled literally; that all the various figures, metaphors,
parables, similitudes, etc., were either explained in their
immediate connection, or the terms in which they were
expressed were defined in other scriptures, and when thus
explained, were to be literally understood. “I was thus satisfied,”
he says, “that the Bible is a system of revealed truths,
so clearly and simply given that the wayfaring man, though
a fool, need not err therein.” —Bliss, page 70. Link after link
of the chain of truth rewarded his efforts, as step by step he
traced down the great lines of prophecy. Angels of heaven
were guiding his mind and opening the Scriptures to his
understanding.
Taking the manner in which the prophecies had been fulfilled
in the past as a criterion by which to judge of the fulfillment
of those which were still future, he became satisfied that
the popular view of the spiritual reign of Christ—a temporal
millennium before the end of the world—was not sustained
by the word of God. This doctrine, pointing to a thousand
years of righteousness and peace before the personal coming
of the Lord, put far off the terrors of the day of God. But,
pleasing though it may be, it is contrary to the teachings of
Christ and His apostles, who declared that the wheat and the
tares and to grow together until the harvest, the end of the
world; that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse;” that “in the last days perilous times shall come;” and
that the kingdom of darkness shall continue until the advent
of the Lord and shall be consumed with the spirit of His
mouth and be destroyed with the brightness of His coming.
Matthew 13:30,
38-41;
2 Timothy 3:13, 1;
2 Thessalonians 2:8.
The doctrine of the world’s conversion and the spiritual
reign of Christ was not held by the apostolic church. It was
not generally accepted by Christians until about the beginning
of the eighteenth century. Like every other error, its
results were evil. It taught men to look far in the future for
the coming of the Lord and prevented them from giving
heed to the signs heralding His approach. It induced a
feeling of confidence and security that was not well founded
and led many to neglect the preparation necessary in order
to meet their Lord.
Miller found the literal, personal coming of Christ to be
plainly taught in the Scriptures. Says Paul: “The Lord Himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the Archangel, and with the trump of God.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16. And the Saviour declares: “They shall see the
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory.” “For as the lightning cometh out of the east,
and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.”
Matthew 24:30, 27. He is to be
accompanied by all the hosts of heaven. “The Son of man shall
come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him.”
Matthew
25:31. “And He shall send His angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect.”
Matthew 24:31.
At His coming the righteous dead will be raised, and the
righteous living will be changed. “We shall not all sleep,”
says Paul, “but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.”
1 Corinthians
15:51-53. And in his letter to the Thessalonians, after describing
the coming of the Lord, he says: “The dead in Christ
shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
Not until the personal advent of Christ can His people
receive the kingdom. The Saviour said: “When the Son of
man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and
before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right
hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto
them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world.”
Matthew 25:31-34. We have seen by the scriptures
just given that when the Son of man comes, the dead are
raised incorruptible and the living are changed. By this great
change they are prepared to receive the kingdom; for Paul
says: “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
1 Corinthians
15:50. Man in his present state is mortal, corruptible; but the
kingdom of God will be incorruptible, enduring forever.
Therefore man in his present state cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. But when Jesus comes, He confers immortality
upon His people; and then He calls them to inherit
the kingdom of which they have hitherto been only heirs.
These and other scriptures clearly proved to Miller’s mind
that the events which were generally expected to take place
before the coming of Christ, such as the universal reign of
peace and the setting up of the kingdom of God upon the
earth, were to be subsequent to the second advent. Furthermore,
all the signs of the times and the condition of the world
corresponded to the prophetic description of the last days.
He was forced to the conclusion, from the study of Scripture
alone, that the period allotted for the continuance of the
earth in its present state was about to close.
“Another kind of evidence that vitally affected my mind,”
he says, “was the chronology of the Scriptures. . . . I found
that predicted events, which had been fulfilled in the past,
often occurred within a given time. The one hundred and
twenty years to the flood (Genesis 6:3); the seven days that
were to precede it, with forty days of predicted rain (Genesis
7:4); the four hundred years of the sojourn of Abraham’s
seed (Genesis 15:13); the three days of the butler’s and baker’s
dreams (Genesis 40:12-20); the seven years of Pharaoh’s
(Genesis 41:28-54); the forty years in the wilderness (Numbers 14:34); the three and a half years of famine (1 Kings 17:1) [see
Luke 4:25;] . . . the seventy years’ captivity
(Jeremiah 25:11); Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times (Daniel 4:13-16); and the seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and
the one week, making seventy weeks, determined upon the
Jews (Daniel 9:24-27), —the events limited by these times
were all once only a matter of prophecy, and were fulfilled
in accordance with the predictions.” —Bliss, pages 74, 75.
When, therefore, he found, in his study of the Bible, various
chronological periods that, according to his understanding
of them, extended to the second coming of Christ, he
could not but regard them as the “times before appointed,”
which God had revealed unto His servants. “The secret
things,” says Moses, “belong unto the Lord our God: but
those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our
children forever;” and the Lord declares by the prophet
Amos, that He “will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret
unto His servants the prophets.”
Deuteronomy 29:29;
Amos 3:7. The students of God’s word may, then, confidently
expect to find the most stupendous event to take place in
human history clearly pointed out in the Scriptures of truth.
“As I was fully convinced,” says Miller, “that all Scripture
given by inspiration of God is profitable (2 Timothy 3:16);
that it came not at any time by the will of man, but was
written as holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter
1:21), and was written ‘for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope’
(Romans 15:4), I could but regard the chronological portions of
the Bible as being as much a portion of the word of God, and
as much entitled to our serious consideration, as any other
portion of the Scriptures. I therefore felt that in endeavoring
to comprehend what God had in His mercy seen fit to reveal
to us, I had no right to pass over the prophetic periods.” —
Bliss, page 75.
The prophecy which seemed most clearly to reveal the
time of the second advent was that of
Daniel 8:14: “Unto two
thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed.” Following his rule of making Scripture its own
interpreter, Miller learned that a day in symbolic prophecy
represents a year (Numbers 14:34;
Ezekiel 4:6); he saw that
the period of 2300 prophetic days, or literal years, would
extend far beyond the close of the Jewish dispensation, hence
it could not refer to the sanctuary of that dispensation. Miller
accepted the generally received view that in the Christian age
the earth is the sanctuary, and he therefore understood that
the cleansing of the sanctuary foretold in
Daniel 8:14
represented the purification of the earth by fire at the second
coming of Christ. If, then, the correct starting point could
be found for the 2300 days, he concluded that the time of the
second advent could be readily ascertained. Thus would be
revealed the time of that great consummation, the time when
the present state, with “all its pride and power, pomp and
vanity, wickedness and oppression, would come to an end;”
when the curse would be “removed from off the earth, death
be destroyed, reward be given to the servants of God, the
prophets and saints, and them who fear His name, and those
be destroyed that destroy the earth.” —Bliss, page 76.
With a new and deeper earnestness, Miller continued the
examination of the prophecies, whole nights as well as days
being devoted to the study of what now appeared of such
stupendous importance and all-absorbing interest. In the
eighth chapter of Daniel he could find no clue to the starting
point of the 2300 days; the angel Gabriel, though
commanded to make Daniel understand the vision, gave him
only a partial explanation. As the terrible persecution to
befall the church was unfolded to the prophet’s vision, physical
strength gave way. He could endure no more, and the
angel left him for a time. Daniel “fainted, and was sick
certain days.” “And I was astonished at the vision,” he says,
“but none understood it.”
Yet God had bidden His messenger: “Make this man to
understand the vision.” That commission must be fulfilled.
In obedience to it, the angel, some time afterward, returned
to Daniel, saying: “I am now come forth to give thee skill
and understanding;” “therefore understand the matter, and
consider the vision.”
Daniel 8:27,
16;
9:22, 23, 25-27. There
was one important point in the vision of chapter 8 which had
been left unexplained, namely, that relating to time—the
period of the 2300 days; therefore the angel, in resuming his
explanation, dwells chiefly upon the subject of time:
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy Holy City. . . . Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built
again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
Himself. . . . And He shall confirm the covenant with
many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.”
The angel had been sent to Daniel for the express purpose
of explaining to him the point which he had failed to
understand in the vision of the eighth chapter, the statement
relative to time—“unto two thousand and three hundred days;
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” After bidding Daniel
“understand the matter, and consider the vision,” the very
first words of the angel are: “Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy Holy City.” The word here
translated “determined” literally signifies “cut off.” Seventy
weeks, representing 490 years, are declared by the angel to be
cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews. But from what
were they cut off? As the 2300 days was the only period of
time mentioned in chapter 8, it must be the period from
which the seventy weeks were cut off; the seventy weeks
must therefore be a part of the 2300 days, and the two periods
must begin together. The seventy weeks were declared by
the angel to date from the going forth of the commandment
to restore and build Jerusalem. If the date of this commandment
could be found, then the starting point for the great
period of the 2300 days would be ascertained.
In the
seventh chapter of Ezra the decree is found.
Verses 12-26. In its completest form it was issued by Artaxerxes,
king of Persia, 457 B.C. But in
Ezra 6:14 the house of the
Lord at Jerusalem is said to have been built “according to the
commandment [“decree,” margin] of Cyrus, and Darius,
and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” These three kings, in
originating, reaffirming, and completing the decree, brought it to
the perfection required by the prophecy to mark the
beginning of the 2300 years. Taking 457 B.C., the time when the
decree was completed, as the date of the commandment,
every specification of the prophecy concerning the seventy
weeks was seen to have been fulfilled.
“From the going forth of the commandment to restore
and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be
seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” —namely,
sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. The decree of Artaxerxes went into
effect in the autumn of 457 B.C. From this date, 483 years
extend to the autumn of A.D. 27. (See
Appendix.) At that
time this prophecy was fulfilled. The word “Messiah” signifies
“the Anointed One.” In the autumn of A.D. 27 Christ was
baptized by John and received the anointing of the Spirit.
The apostle Peter testifies that “God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.”
Acts 10:38.
And the Saviour Himself declared: “The Spirit of the Lord
is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor.”
Luke 4:18. After His baptism He went
into Galilee, “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
and saying, The time is fulfilled.”
Mark 1:14, 15.
“And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week.” The “week” here brought to view is the last one of
the seventy; it is the last seven years of the period allotted
especially to the Jews. During this time, extending from
A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ, at first in person and afterward by
His disciples, extended the gospel invitation especially to the
Jews. As the apostles went forth with the good tidings of
the kingdom, the Saviour’s direction was: “Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.”
Matthew 10:5, 6.
“In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and
the oblation to cease.” In A.D. 31, three and a half years after
His baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the great sacrifice
offered upon Calvary, ended that system of offerings which
for four thousand years had pointed forward to the Lamb of
God. Type had met antitype, and all the sacrifices and
oblations of the ceremonial system were there to cease.
The seventy weeks, or 490 years, especially allotted to the
Jews, ended, as we have seen, in A.D. 34. At that time, through
the action of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the nation sealed its
rejection of the gospel by the martyrdom of Stephen and the
persecution of the followers of Christ. Then the message of
salvation, no longer restricted to the chosen people, was given
to the world. The disciples, forced by persecution to flee from
Jerusalem, “went everywhere preaching the word.” “Philip
went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto
them.” Peter, divinely guided, opened the gospel to the
centurion of Caesarea, the God-fearing Cornelius; and the
ardent Paul, won to the faith of Christ, was commissioned
to carry the glad tidings “far hence unto the Gentiles.”
Acts
8:4, 5;
22:21.
Thus far every specification of the prophecies is strikingly
fulfilled, and the beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed
beyond question at 457 B.C., and their expiration in A.D. 34.
From this data there is no difficulty in finding the termination
of the 2300 days. The seventy weeks—490 days—having
been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810 days remaining.
After the end of 490 days, the 1810 days were still to be
fulfilled. From A.D. 34, 1810 years extend to 1844. Consequently
the 2300 days of
Daniel 8:14 terminate in 1844. At the
expiration of this great prophetic period, upon the testimony of
the angel of God, “the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” Thus the
time of the cleansing of the sanctuary—which was almost
universally believed to take place at the second advent—was
definitely pointed out.
Miller and his associates at first believed that the 2300 days
would terminate in the spring of 1844, whereas the prophecy
points to the autumn of that year. (See
Appendix.) The
misapprehension of this point brought disappointment and
perplexity to those who had fixed upon the earlier date as the
time of the Lord’s coming. But this did not in the least affect
the strength of the argument showing that the 2300 days
terminated in the year 1844, and that the great event
represented by the cleansing of the sanctuary must then take place.
Entering upon the study of the Scriptures as he had done,
in order to prove that they were a revelation from God, Miller
had not, at the outset, the slightest expectation of reaching
the conclusion at which he had now arrived. He himself
could hardly credit the results of his investigation. But the
Scripture evidence was too clear and forcible to be set aside.
He had devoted two years to the study of the Bible, when,
in 1818, he reached the solemn conviction that in about
twenty-five years Christ would appear for the redemption of
His people. “I need not speak,” says Miller, “of the joy that
filled my heart in view of the delightful prospect, nor of the
ardent longings of my soul for a participation in the joys of
the redeemed. The Bible was now to me a new book. It was
indeed a feast of reason; all that was dark, mystical, or
obscure to me in its teachings, had been dissipated from my
mind before the clear light that now dawned from its sacred
pages; and, oh, how bright and glorious the truth appeared!
All the contradictions and inconsistencies I had before found
in the word were gone; and although there were many
portions of which I was not satisfied I had a full understanding,
yet so much light had emanated from it to the illumination
of my before darkened mind, that I felt a delight in studying
the Scripture which I had not before supposed could be
derived from its teachings.” —Bliss, pages 76, 77.
“With the solemn conviction that such momentous events
were predicted in the Scriptures to be fulfilled in so short a
space of time, the question came home to me with mighty
power regarding my duty to the world, in view of the
evidence that had affected my own mind.” —Ibid., page 81. He
could not but feel that it was his duty to impart to others the
light which he had received. He expected to encounter
opposition from the ungodly, but was confident that all Christians
would rejoice in the hope of meeting the Saviour whom they
professed to love. His only fear was that in their great joy at
the prospect of glorious deliverance, so soon to be consummated,
many would receive the doctrine without sufficiently
examining the Scriptures in demonstration of its truth. He
therefore hesitated to present it, lest he should be in error and
be the means of misleading others. He was thus led to review
the evidences in support of the conclusions at which he had
arrived, and to consider carefully every difficulty which
presented itself to his mind. He found that objections vanished
before the light of God’s word, as mist before the rays of the
sun. Five years spent thus left him fully convinced of the
correctness of his position.
And now the duty of making known to others what he
believed to be so clearly taught in the Scriptures, urged itself
with new force upon him. “When I was about my business,”
he said, “it was continually ringing in my ears, ‘Go and tell
the world of their danger.’ This text was constantly occurring
to me: ‘When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man,
thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the
wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his
iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it;
if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity;
but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
Ezekiel 33:8, 9. I felt that
if the wicked could be effectually warned, multitudes of them
would repent; and that if they were not warned, their blood
might be required at my hand.” —Bliss, page 92.
He began to present his views in private as he had
opportunity, praying that some minister might feel their force and
devote himself to their promulgation. But he could not
banish the conviction that he had a personal duty to perform
in giving the warning. The words were ever recurring to
his mind: “Go and tell it to the world; their blood will I
require at thy hand.” For nine years he waited, the burden
still pressing upon his soul, until in 1813 he for the first time
publicly gave the reasons of his faith.
As Elisha was called from following his oxen in the field,
to receive the mantle of consecration to the prophetic office,
so was William Miller called to leave his plow and open to
the people the mysteries of the kingdom of God. With
trembling he entered upon his work, leading his hearers
down, step by step, through the prophetic periods to the
second appearing of Christ. With every effort he gained
strength and courage as he saw the widespread interest
excited by his words.
It was only at the solicitation of his brethren, in whose
words he heard the call of God, that Miller consented to
present his views in public. He was now fifty years of age,
unaccustomed to public speaking, and burdened with a sense
of unfitness for the work before him. But from the first his
labors were blessed in a remarkable manner to the salvation
of souls. His first lecture was followed by a religious awakening
in which thirteen entire families, with the exception of
two persons, were converted. He was immediately urged to
speak in other places, and in nearly every place his labor
resulted in a revival of the work of God. Sinners were
converted, Christians were roused to greater consecration, and
deists and infidels were led to acknowledge the truth of the
Bible and the Christian religion. The testimony of those
among whom he labored was: “A class of minds are reached
by him not within the influence of other men.” —Ibid., page
138. His preaching was calculated to arouse the public mind
to the great things of religion and to check the growing
worldliness and sensuality of the age.
In nearly every town there were scores, in some, hundreds,
converted as a result of his preaching. In many places Protestant
churches of nearly all denominations were thrown open
to him, and the invitations to labor usually came from the
ministers of the several congregations. It was his invariable
rule not to labor in any place to which he had not been
invited, yet he soon found himself unable to comply with
half the requests that poured in upon him. Many who did
not accept his views as to the exact time of the second advent
were convinced of the certainty and nearness of Christ’s coming
and their need of preparation. In some of the large cities
his work produced a marked impression. Liquor dealers
abandoned the traffic and turned their shops into meeting
rooms; gambling dens were broken up; infidels, deists,
Universalists, and even the most abandoned profligates were
reformed, some of whom had not entered a house of worship
for years. Prayer meetings were established by the various
denominations, in different quarters, at almost every hour,
businessmen assembling at midday for prayer and praise.
There was no extravagant excitement, but an almost
universal solemnity on the minds of the people. His work, like
that of the early Reformers, tended rather to convince the
understanding and arouse the conscience than merely to
excite the emotions.
In 1833 Miller received a license to preach, from the
Baptist Church, of which he was a member. A large number of
the ministers of his denomination also approved his work,
and it was with their formal sanction that he continued his
labors. He traveled and preached unceasingly, though his
personal labors were confined principally to the New England
and Middle States. For several years his expenses were
met wholly from his own private purse, and he never
afterward received enough to meet the expense of travel to the
places where he was invited. Thus his public labors, so far
from being a pecuniary benefit, were a heavy tax upon his
property, which gradually diminished during this period of
his life. He was the father of a large family, but as they were
all frugal and industrious, his farm sufficed for their
maintenance as well as his own.
In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in public
the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, the last of the signs
appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of
His second advent. Said Jesus: “The stars shall fall from
heaven.”
Matthew 24:29. And John in the Revelation
declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that should herald
the day of God: “The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even
as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of
a mighty wind.”
Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a
striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric
shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive
and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been
recorded; “the whole firmament, over all the United States,
being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial
phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first
settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration
by one class in the community, or with so much dread and
alarm by another.” “Its sublimity and awful beauty still
linger in many minds. . . . Never did rain fall much thicker
than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and
south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed
in motion. . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman’s
Journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From
two o’clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly
serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant
luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens.” —R. M.
Devens, American Progress; or, The Great Events of the
Greatest Century, ch. 28, pars. 1-5.
“No language, indeed, can come up to the splendor of that
magnificent display; . . . no one who did not witness it can
form an adequate conception of its glory. It seemed as if
the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near
the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the
velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet
they were not exhausted—thousands swiftly followed in the
tracks of thousands, as if created for the occasion.” —F. Reed,
in the Christian Advocate and Journal, Dec. 13, 1833. “A
more correct picture of a fig tree casting its figs when blown
by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.” —“The Old
Countryman,” in Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833.
In the New York Journal of Commerce of November
14, 1833, appeared a long article regarding this wonderful
phenomenon, containing this statement: “No philosopher or
scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of
yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago
foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of understanding
stars falling to mean falling stars, . . . in the only sense
in which it is possible to be literally true.”
Thus was displayed the last of those signs of His coming,
concerning which Jesus bade His disciples: “When ye shall
see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”
Matthew 24:33. After these signs, John beheld, as the great
event next impending, the heavens departing as a scroll,
while the earth quaked, mountains and islands removed out
of their places, and the wicked in terror sought to flee from
the presence of the Son of man.
Revelation 6:12-17.
Many who witnessed the falling of the stars, looked upon
it as a herald of the coming judgment, “an awful type, a sure
forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day.”
—“The Old Countryman,” in Portland Evening Advertiser,
Nov. 26, 1833. Thus the attention of the people was directed
to the fulfillment of prophecy, and many were led to give
heed to the warning of the second advent.
In the year 1840 another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy
excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah
Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second
advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the
fall of the Ottoman Empire. According to his calculations,
this power was to be overthrown “in A.D. 1840, sometime in
the month of August;” and only a few days previous to its
accomplishment he wrote: “Allowing the first period, 150
years, to have been exactly fulfilled before Deacozes ascended
the throne by permission of the Turks, and that the 391 years,
fifteen days, commenced at the close of the first period, it will
end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power
in Constantinople may be expected to be broken. And this,
I believe, will be found to be the case.” —Josiah Litch, in Signs
of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, Aug. 1, 1840.
At the very time specified, Turkey, through her
ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of
Europe, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian
nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction. (See
Appendix.) When it became known, multitudes were
convinced of the correctness of the principles of prophetic
interpretation adopted by Miller and his associates, and a
wonderful impetus was given to the advent movement. Men
of learning and position united with Miller, both in preaching
and in publishing his views, and from 1840 to 1844 the
work rapidly extended.
William Miller possessed strong mental powers, disciplined
by thought and study; and he added to these the wisdom of
heaven by connecting himself with the Source of wisdom.
He was a man of sterling worth, who could not but
command respect and esteem wherever integrity of character and
moral excellence were valued. Uniting true kindness of
heart with Christian humility and the power of self-control,
he was attentive and affable to all, ready to listen to the
opinions of others and to weigh their arguments. Without
passion or excitement he tested all theories and doctrines by
the word of God, and his sound reasoning and thorough
knowledge of the Scriptures enabled him to refute error and
expose falsehood.
Yet he did not prosecute his work without bitter opposition.
As with earlier Reformers, the truths which he
presented were not received with favor by popular religious
teachers. As these could not maintain their position by the
Scriptures, they were driven to resort to the sayings and
doctrines of men, to the traditions of the Fathers. But the word
of God was the only testimony accepted by the preachers of
the advent truth. “The Bible, and the Bible only,” was their
watchword. The lack of Scripture argument on the part of
their opponents was supplied by ridicule and scoffing. Time,
means, and talents were employed in maligning those whose
only offense was that they looked with joy for the return
of their Lord and were striving to live holy lives and to exhort
others to prepare for His appearing.
Earnest were the efforts put forth to draw away the minds
of the people from the subject of the second advent. It was
made to appear a sin, something of which men should be
ashamed, to study the prophecies which relate to the coming
of Christ and the end of the world. Thus the popular
ministry undermined faith in the word of God. Their teaching
made men infidels, and many took license to walk after their
own ungodly lusts. Then the authors of the evil charged it
all upon Adventists.
While drawing crowded houses of intelligent and
attentive hearers, Miller’s name was seldom mentioned by the
religious press except by way of ridicule or denunciation.
The careless and ungodly emboldened by the position of
religious teachers, resorted to opprobrious epithets, to base and
blasphemous witticisms, in their efforts to heap contumely
upon him and his work. The gray-headed man who had left
a comfortable home to travel at his own expense from city
to city, from town to town, toiling unceasingly to bear to
the world the solemn warning of the judgment near, was
sneeringly denounced as a fanatic, a liar, a speculating knave.
The ridicule, falsehood, and abuse heaped upon him called
forth indignant remonstrance, even from the secular press.
“To treat a subject of such overwhelming majesty and fearful
consequences,” with lightness and ribaldry was declared by
worldly men to be “not merely to sport with the feelings of
its propagators and advocates,” but “to make a jest of the
day of judgment, to scoff at the Deity Himself, and contemn
the terrors of His judgment bar.” —Bliss, page 183.
The instigator of all evil sought not only to counteract the
effect of the advent message, but to destroy the messenger
himself. Miller made a practical application of Scripture
truth to the hearts of his hearers, reproving their sins and
disturbing their self-satisfaction, and his plain and cutting
words aroused their enmity. The opposition manifested by
church members toward his message emboldened the baser
classes to go to greater lengths; and enemies plotted to take
his life as he should leave the place of meeting. But holy
angels were in the throng, and one of these, in the form of a
man, took the arm of this servant of the Lord and led him in
safety from the angry mob. His work was not yet done, and
Satan and his emissaries were disappointed in their purpose.
Despite all opposition, the interest in the advent
movement had continued to increase. From scores and hundreds,
the congregations had grown to as many thousands. Large
accessions had been made to the various churches, but after
a time the spirit of opposition was manifested even against
these converts, and the churches began to take disciplinary
steps with those who had embraced Miller’s views. This
action called forth a response from his pen, in an address to
Christians of all denominations, urging that if his doctrines
were false, he should be shown his error from the Scriptures.
“What have we believed,” he said, “that we have not
been commanded to believe by the word of God, which you
yourselves allow is the rule, and only rule, of our faith and
practice? What have we done that should call down such
virulent denunciations against us from pulpit and press, and
give you just cause to exclude us [Adventists] from your
churches and fellowship?” “If we are wrong, pray show us
wherein consists our wrong. Show us from the word of God
that we are in error; we have had ridicule enough; that can
never convince us that we are in the wrong; the word of
God alone can change our views. Our conclusions have been
formed deliberately and prayerfully, as we have seen the
evidence in the Scriptures.” —Ibid., pages 250, 252.
From age to age the warnings which God has sent to
the world by His servants have been received with like
incredulity and unbelief. When the iniquity of the antediluvians
moved Him to bring a flood of waters upon the earth,
He first made known to them His purpose, that they might
have opportunity to turn from their evil ways. For a hundred
and twenty years was sounded in their ears the warning to
repent, lest the wrath of God be manifested in their destruction.
But the message seemed to them an idle tale, and
they believed it not. Emboldened in their wickedness they
mocked the messenger of God, made light of his entreaties,
and even accused him of presumption. How dare one man
stand up against all the great men of the earth? If Noah’s
message were true, why did not all the world see it and
believe it? One man’s assertion against the wisdom of
thousands! They would not credit the warning, nor would they
seek shelter in the ark.
Scoffers pointed to the things of nature, —to the unvarying
succession of the seasons, to the blue skies that had never
poured out rain, to the green fields refreshed by the soft
dews of night, —and they cried out: “Doth he not speak
parables?” In contempt they declared the preacher of
righteousness to be a wild enthusiast; and they went on, more
eager in their pursuit of pleasure, more intent upon their
evil ways, than before. But their unbelief did not hinder
the predicted event. God bore long with their wickedness,
giving them ample opportunity for repentance; but at the
appointed time His judgments were visited upon the rejecters
of His mercy.
Christ declares that there will exist similar unbelief
concerning His second coming. As the people of Noah’s day
“knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away;
so,” in the words of our Saviour, “shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.”
Matthew 24:39. When the professed
people of God are uniting with the world, living as they live,
and joining with them in forbidden pleasures; when the
luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church; when
the marriage bells are chiming, and all are looking forward
to many years of worldly prosperity—then, suddenly as the
lightning flashes from the heavens, will come the end of their
bright visions and delusive hopes.
As God sent His servant to warn the world of the coming
Flood, so He sent chosen messengers to make known the
nearness of the final judgment. And as Noah’s contemporaries
laughed to scorn the predictions of the preacher of
righteousness, so in Miller’s day many, even of the professed
people of God, scoffed at the words of warning.
And why were the doctrine and preaching of Christ’s
second coming so unwelcome to the churches? While to the
wicked the advent of the Lord brings woe and desolation, to
the righteous it is fraught with joy and hope. This great
truth had been the consolation of God’s faithful ones through
all the ages; why had it become, like its Author, “a stone of
stumbling” and “a rock of offense” to His professed people?
It was our Lord Himself who promised His disciples: “If I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto Myself.”
John 14:3. It was the compassionate
Saviour, who, anticipating the loneliness and sorrow of His
followers, commissioned angels to comfort them with the
assurance that He would come again in person, even as
He went into heaven. As the disciples stood gazing intently
upward to catch the last glimpse of Him whom they loved,
their attention was arrested by the words: “Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
Acts
1:11. Hope was kindled afresh by the angels’ message. The
disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were
continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”
Luke
24:52, 53. They were not rejoicing because Jesus had been
separated from them and they were left to struggle with the
trials and temptations of the world, but because of the angels’
assurance that He would come again.
The proclamation of Christ’s coming should now be, as
when made by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem,
good tidings of great joy. Those who really love the Saviour
cannot but hail with gladness the announcement founded
upon the word of God that He in whom their hopes of
eternal life are centered is coming again, not to be insulted,
despised, and rejected, as at His first advent, but in power
and glory, to redeem His people. It is those who do not love
the Saviour that desire Him to remain away, and there can be
no more conclusive evidence that the churches have departed
from God than the irritation and animosity excited by this
Heaven-sent message.
Those who accepted the advent doctrine were roused to
the necessity of repentance and humiliation before God.
Many had long been halting between Christ and the world;
now they felt that it was time to take a stand. “The things of
eternity assumed to them an unwonted reality. Heaven was
brought near, and they felt themselves guilty before God.” —
Bliss, page 146. Christians were quickened to new spiritual
life. They were made to feel that time was short, that what
they had to do for their fellow men must be done quickly.
Earth receded, eternity seemed to open before them, and the
soul, with all that pertained to its immortal weal or woe, was
felt to eclipse every temporal object. The Spirit of God rested
upon them and gave power to their earnest appeals to their
brethren, as well as to sinners, to prepare for the day of God.
The silent testimony of their daily life was a constant rebuke
to formal and unconsecrated church members. These did
not wish to be disturbed in their pursuit of pleasure, their
devotion to money-making, and their ambition for worldly
honor. Hence the enmity and opposition excited against the
advent faith and those who proclaimed it.
As the arguments from the prophetic periods were found
to be impregnable, opposers endeavored to discourage investigation
of the subject by teaching that the prophecies were
sealed. Thus Protestants followed in the steps of Romanists.
While the papal church withholds the Bible (see
Appendix)
from the people, Protestant churches claimed that an
important part of the Sacred Word—and that the part which
brings to view truths specially applicable to our time—could
not be understood.
Ministers and people declared that the prophecies of Daniel
and the Revelation were incomprehensible mysteries. But
Christ directed His disciples to the words of the prophet
Daniel concerning events to take place in their time, and
said: “Whoso readeth, let him understand.”
Matthew 24:15.
And the assertion that the Revelation is a mystery, not to be
understood, is contradicted by the very title of the book:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him,
to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to
pass. . . . Blessed is he that readeth, and they that
hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
Revelation 1:1-3.
Says the prophet: “Blessed is he that readeth” —there are
those who will not read; the blessing is not for them. “And
they that hear” —there are some, also, who refuse to hear
anything concerning the prophecies; the blessing is not for this
class. “And keep those things which are written therein” —
many refuse to heed the warnings and instructions contained
in the Revelation; none of these can claim the blessing
promised. All who ridicule the subjects of the prophecy and
mock at the symbols here solemnly given, all who refuse to
reform their lives and to prepare for the coming of the Son
of man, will be unblessed.
In view of the testimony of Inspiration, how dare men
teach that the Revelation is a mystery beyond the reach of
human understanding? It is a mystery revealed, a book
opened. The study of the Revelation directs the mind to the
prophecies of Daniel, and both present most important
instruction, given of God to men, concerning events to take
place at the close of this world’s history.
To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest
in the experience of the church. He saw the position, dangers,
conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God. He
records the closing messages which are to ripen the harvest
of the earth, either as sheaves for the heavenly garner or as
fagots for the fires of destruction. Subjects of vast importance
were revealed to him, especially for the last church, that those
who should turn from error to truth might be instructed
concerning the perils and conflicts before them. None need
be in darkness in regard to what is coming upon the earth.
Why, then, this widespread ignorance concerning an
important part of Holy Writ? Why this general reluctance
to investigate its teachings? It is the result of a studied effort
of the prince of darkness to conceal from men that which
reveals his deceptions. For this reason, Christ the Revelator,
foreseeing the warfare that would be waged against the study
of the Revelation, pronounced a blessing upon all who should
read, hear, and observe the words of the prophecy.
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