An upright, honest farmer, who sincerely desired to know the truth, was the man chosen of God to lead out in the proclamation of Christ’s second coming. Like many other reformers, William Miller had battled with poverty and learned the lessons of self-denial.
(HF 198.1)
Even in childhood he gave evidence of more than ordinary intellectual strength. As he grew older, his mind was active and well developed, and he had a keen thirst for knowledge. 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. He filled civil and military offices with credit. Wealth and honor seemed wide open to him.
(HF 198.2)
In childhood he had been subject to religious impressions. In early manhood, however, he was thrown into the society of deists, whose influence was strong from the fact that they were mostly good citizens, humane and benevolent. Living in the midst of Christian institutions, their characters had been to some extent molded by their surroundings. For the excellencies which won them respect they were indebted to the Bible, and yet these good gifts were perverted to exert an influence against the Word of God. Miller was led to adopt their sentiments.
(HF 198.3)
Current interpretations of Scripture presented difficulties which seemed to him insurmountable; yet his new belief, while setting aside the Bible, offered nothing better, and he remained far from satisfied. But when Miller was thirty-four, the Holy Spirit impressed his heart with his condition as a sinner. He found no assurance of happiness beyond the grave. The future was dark and gloomy. Referring to his feelings at this time, he said:
(HF 199.1)
“The heavens were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my feet.... 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.”
(HF 199.2)
“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.... 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... .”
(HF 199.3)
“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.... 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 wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, and marveled that I could have ever rejected it.... I lost all taste for other reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom from God.”
(HF 199.4)
Miller publicly professed his faith. But his infidel associates brought forward all those arguments which he himself had often urged against the Scriptures. He reasoned that if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be consistent with itself. He determined to study the Scriptures and ascertain if every apparent contradiction could be harmonized.
(HF 200.1)
Dispensing with commentaries, he compared scripture with scripture by the aid of the marginal references and concordance. Beginning with Genesis, reading verse by verse, when he found anything obscure it was his custom to compare it with every other text which seemed to refer to the matter under consideration. Every word was permitted to have its bearing upon the text. Thus whenever he met with a passage hard to be understood he found an explanation in some other portion of the Scriptures. He studied with earnest prayer for divine enlightenment, and 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.
(HF 200.2)
With intense interest he studied Daniel and the Revelation and found that the prophetic symbols could be understood. He saw that all the various figures, metaphors, similitudes, etc., were either explained in their immediate connection or defined in other scriptures and were to be literally understood. Link after link of the chain of truth rewarded his efforts. Step by step he traced the great lines of prophecy. Angels of heaven were guiding his mind.
(HF 200.3)
He became satisfied that the popular view of 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 peace before the coming of the Lord, is contrary to the teachings of Christ and His apostles, who declared that the wheat and the tares are to grow together until the harvest, the end of the world, and that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” 2 Timothy 3:13.
(HF 200.4)
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. 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 led many to neglect preparation to meet their Lord.
(HF 201.1)
Miller found the literal, personal coming of Christ plainly taught in Scripture. “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God.”“They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”“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.”“The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him.”“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; Matthew 24:30, 27; 25:31; 24:31.
(HF 201.2)
At His coming the righteous dead will be raised and the righteous living changed. “We shall not all sleep, 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.”“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 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
(HF 201.3)
Man in his present state is mortal, corruptible; but the kingdom of God will be incorruptible. Therefore man in his present state cannot enter into the kingdom of God. When Jesus comes, He confers immortality upon His people, and then calls them to inherit the kingdom of which they have hitherto been only heirs.
(HF 202.1)
These and other scriptures clearly proved to Miller that the universal reign of peace and the setting up of the kingdom of God upon the earth were subsequent to the second advent. Furthermore, the condition of the world corresponded to the prophetic description of the last days. He was forced to the conclusion that the period allotted for the earth in its present state was about to close.
(HF 202.2)
“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.... Events ... once only a matter of prophecy, ... were fulfilled in accordance with the predictions.”
(HF 202.3)
When he found chronological periods that 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. “Those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.” The Lord declares 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 confidently expect to find the most stupendous event in human history clearly pointed out in the Scriptures.
(HF 202.4)
“I was fully convinced,” says Miller, “that all Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable; that it ... was written as holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost, and was written ‘for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.’ ... 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.”
(HF 202.5)
The prophecy which seemed most clearly to reveal the time of the second advent was Daniel 8:14: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Making Scripture its own interpreter, Miller learned that a day in symbolic prophecy represents a year. (See Appendix) He saw that the 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.
(HF 203.1)
Miller accepted the general view that in the Christian age the earth is the “sanctuary,” and 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 the correct starting point could be found for the 2300 days, he concluded that the time of the second advent could be revealed.
(HF 203.2)
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. 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, he could endure no more. Daniel “fainted, and was sick certain days.”“I was astonished at the vision,” he says, “but none understood it.” Daniel 8:27.
(HF 203.3)
Yet God had bidden His messenger, “Make this man to understand the vision.” In obedience, the angel returned to Daniel, saying: “I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.... therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” One important point in chapter 8 had been left unexplained, namely, the 2300 days; therefore the angel, resuming his explanation, dwells chiefly upon the time:
(HF 203.4)
“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.” Daniel 8:16; 9:22, 23, 24-27.
(HF 204.1)
The angel had been sent to Daniel to explain the point he had failed to understand—“unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The first words of the angel are, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” The word determined literally signifies “cut off.” Seventy weeks, 490 years, are to be cut off as specially pertaining to the Jews.
(HF 204.2)
But from what were they cut off? As the 2300 days was the only period of time mentioned in chapter 8, the seventy weeks must therefore be a part of the 2300 days. The two periods must begin together, the seventy weeks 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 2300 days would be ascertained.
(HF 204.3)
In the seventh chapter of Ezra the decree is found, issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, in 457 B.C. Three kings, in originating 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., when the decree was completed, as the date of the “commandment,” every specification of the seventy weeks was seen to have been fulfilled. (See Appendix)
(HF 204.4)
“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”—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. At that time this prophecy was fulfilled. In the autumn of A.D. 27 Christ was baptized by John and received the anointing of the Spirit. 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.
(HF 205.1)
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week”—the last seven years of the period allotted to the Jews. During this time, from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ and His disciples extended the gospel invitation especially to the Jews. 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.
(HF 205.2)
“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, type had met antitype. All the sacrifices and oblations of the ceremonial system were to cease.
(HF 205.3)
The 490 years allotted to the Jews ended in A.D. 34. At that time, through 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 was given to the world. The disciples, forced by persecution to flee from Jerusalem, “went everywhere preaching the word.” Acts 8:4.
(HF 205.4)
Thus far every specification of the prophecies is strikingly fulfilled. The beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed beyond question at 457 B.C., and their expiration in A.D. 34. The seventy weeks (490 days) having been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810 days remaining. After the end of the 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, “the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” Thus the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary—almost universally believed to take place at the second advent—was pointed out. (See chart, p. 220.)
(HF 206.1)
At the outset Miller had not 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 to be set aside.
(HF 206.2)
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.... Oh, how bright and glorious the truth appeared! ...”
(HF 206.3)
“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.” He could not but feel that it was his duty to impart to others the light which he had received. He expected opposition from the ungodly, but was confident that all Christians would rejoice in the hope of meeting the Saviour. He hesitated to present the prospect of glorious deliverance, so soon to be consumated, lest he should be in error and mislead others. He was thus led to review and to consider carefully every difficulty which presented itself to his mind. Five years spent thus left him convinced of the correctness of his position.
(HF 206.4)
“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.’ 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.” 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 1831 he for the first time publicly gave the reasons of his faith.
(HF 207.1)
He was now fifty, unaccustomed to public speaking, but his labors were blessed. His first lecture was followed by a religious awakening. Thirteen entire families, with the exception of two persons, were converted. He was urged to speak in other places, and in nearly every place sinners were converted. Christians were roused to greater consecration, and deists and infidels were led to acknowledge the truth of the Bible. His preaching aroused the public mind and checked the growing worldliness and sensuality of the age.
(HF 207.2)
In many places Protestant churches of nearly all denominations were thrown open to him, and invitations usually came from the ministers. It was his 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. Many were convinced of the certainty and nearness of Christ’s coming and their need of preparation. In some of the large cities, liquor dealers turned their shops into meeting rooms; gambling dens were broken up; infidels and even the most abandoned profligates were reformed. Prayer meetings were established by the various denominations at almost every hour, businessmen assembling at midday for prayer and praise. There was no extravagant excitement. His work, like that of the early Reformers, tended rather to convince the understanding and arouse the conscience than merely to excite emotion.
(HF 207.3)
In 1833 Miller received a license to preach from the Baptist Church. A large number of the ministers of his denomination approved his work; it was with their formal sanction that he continued his labors. He traveled and preached unceasingly, never receiving enough to meet the expense of travel to the places where he was invited. Thus his public labors were a heavy tax upon his property.
(HF 208.1)
In 1833 the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent: “The stars shall fall from heaven.” And John in the Revelation declared, “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.” Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a striking fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833, the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars ever recorded. “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.... 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.”“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.”7 “A more correct picture of a fig tree casting its figs when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.”8
(HF 208.2)
In the New York Journal of Commerce of November 14, 1833, appeared a long article regarding this phenomenon: “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.”
(HF 209.1)
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. Many who witnessed the falling of the stars looked upon it as a herald of the coming judgment.
(HF 209.2)
In 1840 another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire “in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August.” Only a few days previous to its accomplishment he wrote: “It will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople may be expected to be broken.”
(HF 209.3)
At the very time specified, Turkey 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) Multitudes were convinced of the principles of prophetic interpretation adopted by Miller and his associates. Men of learning and position united with Miller in preaching and publishing his views. From 1840 to 1844 the work rapidly extended.
(HF 209.4)
William Miller possessed strong mental powers, and he added to these the wisdom of heaven by connecting himself with the Source of wisdom. He commanded respect wherever integrity and moral excellence were valued. With Christian humility, he was attentive and affable to all, ready to listen to others and weigh their arguments. He tested all theories by the Word of God, and his sound reasoning and knowledge of Scripture enabled him to refute error.
(HF 209.5)
Yet, as with earlier Reformers, the truths he presented were not received by popular religious teachers. As these could not maintain their position by Scripture, they resorted to the doctrines of men, the traditions of the Fathers. But the Word of God was the only testimony accepted by the preachers of the advent truth. Ridicule and scoffing were employed on the part of opponents in maligning those who looked with joy for the return of their Lord and were striving to live holy lives and prepare others for His appearing. It was made to appear a sin to study the prophecies of 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 ungodly lusts. Then the authors of the evil charged it all upon Adventists.
(HF 210.1)
While drawing crowded houses of intelligent hearers, Miller’s name was seldom mentioned by the religious press except by ridicule or denunciation. The ungodly, emboldened by religious teachers, resorted to blasphemous witticisms on him and his work. The gray-headed man who had left a comfortable home to travel at his own expense to bear to the world the solemn warning of the judgment near was denounced as a fanatic.
(HF 210.2)
Interest continued to increase. From scores and hundreds, congregations had grown to as many thousands. But after a time, opposition was manifest against these converts, and the churches began to take disciplinary steps with those who had embraced Miller’s views. This called forth a response from his pen: “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.”
(HF 210.3)
When the iniquity of the antediluvians moved God to bring a flood upon the earth, He first made known to them His purpose. For 120 years was sounded the warning to repent. But they believed it not. They mocked the messenger of God. If Noah’s message were true, why did not all the world see and believe it? One man’s assertions against the wisdom of thousands! They would not credit the warning nor seek shelter in the ark.
(HF 211.1)
Scoffers pointed to the unvarying succession of the seasons, the blue skies that had never poured out rain. In contempt they declared the preacher of righteousness a wild enthusiast. They went on, more intent on their evil ways than before. But at the appointed time God’s judgments were visited upon the rejecters of His mercy.
(HF 211.2)
Christ declared that as the people of Noah’s day “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:39. When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, when the luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church, when all look forward to many years of worldly prosperity—then, suddenly as the lightning flashes, will come the end of their 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 of the professed people of God scoffed at the words of warning.
(HF 211.3)
There can be no more conclusive evidence that the churches have departed from God than the animosity excited by this Heaven-sent message.
(HF 212.1)
Those who accepted the advent doctrine felt that it was time to take a stand. “The things of eternity assumed to them ... reality. Heaven was brought near, and they felt themselves guilty before God.” Christians were made to feel that time was short, that what they had to do for their fellow men must be done quickly. Eternity seemed to open before them. The Spirit of God gave power to their appeals to prepare for the day of God. Their daily life was a rebuke to unconsecrated church members. These did not wish to be disturbed in their pleasure, money-making, and ambition for worldly honor. Hence the opposition against the advent faith.
(HF 212.2)
Opposers endeavored to discourage investigation by teaching that the prophecies were sealed. Thus Protestants followed the steps of Romanists. Protestant churches claimed that an important part of the Word, that part specially applicable to our time, could not be understood. Ministers declared that Daniel and the Revelation were incomprehensible mysteries.
(HF 212.3)
But Christ directed His disciples to the words of the prophet Daniel, “Whoso readeth, let him understand.” Matthew 24:15. And the Revelation is to be understood. “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, italics supplied.
(HF 212.4)
“Blessed is he that readeth”—there are those who will not read; “and they that hear”—there are some who refuse to hear anything concerning the prophecies; “and keep those things which are written therein”—many refuse to heed the instructions in the Revelation; none of these can claim the blessing promised.
(HF 212.5)
How dare men teach that the Revelation is beyond human understanding? It is a mystery revealed, a book opened. Revelation directs the mind to Daniel. Both present important instruction concerning events at the close of world history.
(HF 213.1)
John saw the 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 for the heavenly garner or for the fires of destruction, that those who turn from error to truth might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them.
(HF 213.2)
Why, then, this widespread ignorance concerning an important part of Holy Writ? 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 against the Revelation, pronounced a blessing upon all who should read, hear, and observe the prophecy.
(HF 213.3)