| William Miller |
William Miller |
| Born |
February 15, 1782
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United
States |
| Died |
December 20, 1849
Hampton, New York, United States
|
| Occupation |
Author,
Teacher,
Minister/Preacher,
Military officer,
Farmer |
| Spouse |
Lucy Smith |
William Miller (1782 - 1849) was an American Baptist preacher, whose
followers have been termed Millerites. He is credited with the beginning of the
Adventist movement of the 1830s and 1840s in North America. Among his direct spiritual heirs
are several major religious denominations including Seventh-day Adventists,
and Advent Christians. Later movements which found inspiration in Miller's
emphasis on Bible prophecy include Bible Students/Russellites and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Early life
William Miller was born on February 15,1782 in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His parents were Captain William Miller, a veteran
of the American Revolution, and Paulina, the daughter of Elnathan Phelps, a Baptist
preacher. At age 4 his family moved to rural Low Hampton, New York. Miller was
educated at home by his mother until age 9 when he attended the newly established East Poultney District School. Miller is not
known to have undertaken any form of formal study after the age of 18; though he continued to read widely and voraciously. As a
youth, he is known to have accessed the private libraries of Judge James Witherell and Congressman Matthew Lyon in nearby Fairhaven, Vermont and that of Alexander Cruikshanks of Whitehall, New York. (Memoirs of William Miller, Sylvester
Bliss, p. 13).
In 1803, Miller married Lucy Smith and moved to her home town, nearby Poultney VT where he took up farming. While in Poultney, Miller was elected to a number of
civil offices, beginning with the office of Constable. In 1809
he was elected to the office of Deputy Sheriff and at an unknown date was elected
Justice of the Peace. Miller served in the Vermont militia and was commissioned a lieutenant on July 21,
1810. By this time he had become a relatively wealthy man, owning a house, land and at least two
horses.
Shortly after his move to Poultney, Miller rejected his Baptist heritage and became a
Deist. In his biography Miller records his conversion: "I
became acquainted with the principal men in that village [Poultney, NY], who were professedly Deists; but they were good
citizens, and of a moral and serious deportment. They put into my [hands] the works of Voltaire, [David] Hume, [Thomas] Paine, Ethan Allen, and other deistical writers." (Apology and
Defence, William Miller, p.24).
Miller's Masonic beliefs
Miller was also an active Freemason: "It was here [Poultney, Vermont] that Mr Miller
became a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which his
perseverance, if nothing else, was manifested; for he advanced to the highest degree which the lodges then in the country, or in
that region, could confer." [1] Little is known of Miller's
Masonic ties other than this statement by his biographer Sylvester Bliss. The majority of subsequent authors either ignore this
statement or list it without comment. Whitney R. Cross specifies that Miller was a Royal Arch
Mason but gives no further details or sources. (The Burned-over District: A Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic
Religion in Western New York, Whitney R. Cross, p. 288) H. Y. Smith and W. S. Rann, editors of the 1886 book History of
Rutland County Vermont with Illustrations & Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men & Pioneers show "Rev.
William Miller" as one of fifty-one individuals listed by a Mr Clarke as "those who have been prominent in the Order in this
county [Rutland]." [2] Miller (listed as Capt. Miller) is later given as one of the early masters of Morning Star
Lodge, No. 27. This lodge is said to have been "organized in Poultney prior to 1800,
though the exact date is not known." [3] In a letter
written to his friend Truman Hendryx, dated November 17, 1832,
Miller rejoiced when Antimasonry died in his locality. (Quoted in The Burned-over District: A Social and Intellectual History
of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, Whitney R. Cross, p. 123) Miller’s statements concerning Antimasonry are dated
well after his conversion in 1816, and seem to indicate that Miller saw no contradiction between his Baptist religiosity and his
Masonic beliefs. It doesn’t seem likely that Miller was an active Mason following his licentiation as a Baptist minister by the Low Hampton Baptist Church on September 12, 1833; the Poultney
lodge-and most other lodges—had closed in 1832 during a time of Anti-masonic fervor. In addition, Miller had moved back to Low Hampton in 1815. However, as shown previously, evidence suggests that he at the very least, retained sympathy for the Masonic
movement until 1834, and possibly later. [4]
Military service
At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Miller raised a company of local men and traveled to
Burlington, VT. He transferred to the 30th Infantry Regiment in the regular army of
the United States with the rank of lieutenant. Miller spent most of the war working as a recruiter and on February 1, 1814, he
was promoted to captain. He saw his first action at the Battle of Plattsburg,
where vastly outnumbered American forces overcame the British. Miller came to view the outcome of this battle as miraculous and
therefore at odds with his deistic view of a distant God far-removed from human affairs. He later wrote, "It seemed to me that
the Supreme Being must have watched over the interests of this country in an especial manner, and delivered us from the hands of
our enemies....So surprising a result, against such odds, did seem to me like the work of a mightier power than man." (Memoirs
of William Miller, Sylvester Bliss, p. 52-53).
Religious views
After the war, and following his discharge from the army on June 18, 1815, Miller returned to Poultney. Shortly after his
return however, he moved with his family back to Low Hampton, where he purchased a farm[5] (now a historic site owned and operated by Adventist Heritage Ministry). Throughout this time
period Miller was deeply concerned with the question of death and an afterlife. This reflection upon his own mortality followed
the recent deaths of his father and sister; and his experiences as a soldier in the war. Miller apparently felt that there were
only two options possible following death: annihilation, and accountability; neither of which he was comfortable with.
Soon after his return to Low Hampton, Miller took tentative steps towards regaining his Baptist faith. At first he attempted
to combine both, publicly espousing Deism while simultaneously attending his local Baptist church. His attendance turned to
participation when he was asked to read the day's sermon during one of the local minister's frequent absences. His participation
changed to commitment one Sunday when he was reading a sermon on the duties of parents and became choked with emotion.[6] Miller records the experience: "Suddenly the character of a
Savior 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 an One." (Apology and Defence,
William Miller, 5).
Following his conversion, Miller was soon challenged by his Deist friends to justify his newfound faith. He did so by
examining the Bible closely, declaring to one friend "If he would give me time, I would harmonize all these apparent
contradictions to my own satisfaction, or I will be a Deist still." (Apology and Defence, William Miller, 17). Miller
commenced with Genesis 1:1, studying each verse and not moving on until he felt the meaning was
clear. In this way he became convinced firstly, that postmillennialism was unbiblical;
and secondly, that the time of Christ’s Second Coming was revealed in Bible
prophecy.
Basing his belief principally on Daniel 8:14: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed," and using an interpretive principle known as the "day-year
principle"; Miller concluded that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the earth's purification by fire at Christ's
Second Coming. For Miller, and other users of this principle, a day in prophecy was read
not as a 24-hour period, but rather as a calendar year--365 days instead. Further, Miller
became convinced that the 2,300 day period started in 457 B.C. with the decree to rebuild
Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of
Persia. Simple calculation then revealed that this period would end—and hence Christ’s return occur--in 1843. Miller records, "I was thus brought… to the solemn conclusion, that in about twenty-five years from that time
1818 all the affairs of our present state would be wound up."(Apology and Defence, William
Miller, 11-12).
Although Miller was convinced of his calculations by 1818, he continued to study privately until
1823 to ensure the correctness of his interpretation. In September 1822, Miller formally stated his conclusions in a twenty-point document, including article 15: "I believe that the
second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years,--on or before 1843." (Memoirs of William Miller, Sylvester Bliss, p. 79) Miller did not however, begin his public
lecturing until the first Sunday in August, 1831 in the town of
Dresden. (Apology and Defence, William Miller, 18)
In 1832 Miller submitted a series of sixteen articles to the Vermont Telegraph--a Baptist paper.
The first of these was published on May 15, and Miller writes of the publics response: "I began
to be flooded with letters of inquiry respecting my views; and visitors flocked to converse with me on the subject."(Apology
and Defence, William Miller, 17). In 1834, unable to personally comply with many of the urgent
requests for information and the invitations to travel and preach that he received, Miller published a synopsis of his teachings
in a 64 page tract with the lengthy title:Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, about the Year
1843: Exhibited in a Course of Lectures.
Millerism
From 1840 onwards, Millerism was transformed from an
"obscure, regional movement into a national campaign." The key figure in this transformation was Joshua Vaughan Himes--the pastor of Chardon Street Chapel in Boston MA, and an able and experienced publisher. Though Himes did not fully accept Miller’s ideas until
1842, he established the fortnightly paper Signs of the Times on February 28, 1840, to
publicize them. (Apology and Defence, William Miller, 5).
Despite the urging of his supporters, Miller never personally set an exact date for the expected Second Advent. However, in response to their urgings he did narrow the time-period to sometime in the
Jewish year beginning in the Gregorian year 1843, stating:
"My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same,
with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843 and
March 21, 1844. (Quoted in William Miller and the Advent
Crisis, Everett N. Dick, p. 96-97). March 21, 1844 passed
without incident,and further discussion and study resulted in the brief adoption of a new date--April
18, 1844, based on the Karaite Jewish
calendar (as opposed to the Rabbinic
calendar). (Millennial Fever, George R. Knight, p. 163-164). Like the previous date, April
18 passed without Christ's return. Miller responded publicly, writing, "I confess my error, and acknowledge my
disappointment; yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near, even at the door." (Memoirs of William Miller,
Sylvester Bliss, p. 256).
In August 1844 at a camp-meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, Samuel S. Snow presented a message that became known as the "seventh-month"
message or the "true midnight cry." In a discussion based on scriptural typology,
Snow presented his conclusion (still based on the 2300 day prophecy in Daniel 8:14), that Christ
would return on, "the tenth day of the seventh month of the present year, 1844." (Advent Herald,
August 21, 1844, Samuel S. Snow, p. 20). Again using the calendar of the Karaite Jews, this date was determined to be
October 22, 1844.
The Great Disappointment
The sun rose on the morning of October 23 like any other day, and October 22, became the Millerites' Great Disappointment. Hiram Edson recorded that "Our fondest
hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before....We wept, and
wept, till the day dawn." (Quoted in Millennial Fever, George R. Knight, p.218). Following the Great Disappointment most Millerites simply gave up their beliefs. Some did not and a viewpoints
and explanations proliferated. Miller initially seems to have thought that Christ’s Second
Coming was still going to take place--that "the year of expectation was according to prophecy; but...that there might be
an error in Bible chronology, which was of human origin, that could throw the date off
somewhat and account for the discrepancy." (William Miller and the Advent Crisis, Everett N. Dick, p. 27). Miller never
gave up his belief in the Second Coming of Christ; he died
on December 20, 1849, still convinced that the
Second Coming was imminent. Miller is buried near his home in Low Hampton, NY and his home
is a registered National Historic Landmark and preserved as a museum:
William Miller's Home.
William Miller's New York home
Estimates of Miller's followers--the Millerites vary between 50,000, and 500,000. Miller’s
legacy includes the Advent Christian Church with 61 thousand members, and the
Seventh-day Adventist Church with over 14 million members. Both these
denominations have a direct connection with the Millerites and the Great Disappointment of 1844.
Resources
The standard biography of William Miller is: Sylvester Bliss, Memoirs of William Miller (1853). It was reproduced with
a critical introduction by Andrews University Press in 2006. Other helpful
treatments include F. D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry and Clyde Hewitt, Midnight and Morning. The papers of William
Miller are preserved in the archives at Aurora College. Other papers by Miller can be
located at the archives at Andrews University and Loma Linda University. In addition some historical documents that were discovered in Miller's home
when his home was purchased by Adventist Heritage Ministry as a historic
property in 1983 and are housed in the Ellen G. White Estate vault in Silver
Spring, Maryland.
References
- ^ Memoirs of William Miller, Sylvester Bliss, p. 21-22.
- ^ History of Rutland County p29, accessed August 23, 2006.
- ^ History of Rutland Countyp30, accessed August 23, 2006.
- ^ History of Rutland County p29, accessed August 23, 2006.
- ^ Adventist Heritage: Miller Farm. Retrieved on 2006-06-08. Adapted from A. W.
Spalding, Footprints, pp. 25-27
- ^ Schwarz, Richard W.;
Greenleaf, Floyd [1979] (2000). "The Great Advent Awakening", Light Bearers, Revised Edition, Silver Spring, Maryland:
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Department of Education, 30-31. ISBN 0-8163-1795-X.
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Miller, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
|
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
, Author,, Teacher,, Minister/Preacher,, military Officer,, Farmer |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
1782 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Pittsfield, MA |
| DATE OF DEATH |
1849 |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
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