Miller, William (1782-1849)

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William Miller (1782-1849)

Millenarian prophet

A Skeptical Youth. William Miller provided the impetus behind one of the most intense periods of millennial expectation in American history. Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on 15 February 1782 and raised on the Vermont frontier, he grew up in the formative years of the new nation. His father was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and though his mother was the daughter of a minister, Miller himself was moved early on by the rationalistic, enlightenment principles expounded by some of the most prominent revolutionaries. He proclaimed himself a Deist and rejected Christianity as superstition. When he returned home after service in the War of 1812, however, his attitude had changed. Observing that the United States had won the war despite the failings of many individuals who participated, he concluded that God had played a direct role in his nation’s victory. He began attending revival meetings and in 1815 had a dramatic conversion experience. As he described it, “God by his Holy Spirit opened my eyes. I saw Jesus as a friend, and my only help, and the Word of God as a perfect rule of duty.” He joined the Baptist Church and began to study the Bible in earnest.

Bible Study. Within a few years of his conversion Miller had reached the conclusion that would raise great expectations in the hearts of thousands of believers: Christ would return to earth to usher in the thousandyear period of peace and prosperity known as the millennium in 1843. While expectation of the millennium (or the Advent) was common in the early nineteenth century, prediction of such a precise date for its arrival was not. But Miller had approached the Bible with the same rational mind that had once made him a skeptic. In the course of two years of intense study he had scrutinized the Bible word by word, seeking to prove the truth of its contents by demonstrating its internal consistency. He devoted special attention to the parts of Scripture that dealt with the end of the world, or apocalypse. By seemingly logical manipulation of symbolic numbers in the Book of Daniel he was able to calculate a precise year when the millennium would come. “I was thus brought,” he later wrote, “at the close of my two-year study of the Scriptures, 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.”

Public Life. Though initially reluctant to air his prediction in public, by the early 1830s Miller felt a calling from God to go out and spread the word of Christ’s impending return. He became a successful lay preacher, sparking revivals as he traveled through New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. In 1833 he was ordained as a Baptist minister. In 1835 he published a book explaining his beliefs and how they had developed. While the book was relatively well received, Miller achieved national prominence only after 1839, when he and his cause were taken up by a Boston minister named Joshua V. Himes. Himes was a skilled publicist and organizer, and he arranged meetings across the country at which Miller would preach his Adventist message. In one six-month period Miller preached more than three hundred times. To reinforce Miller’s message Himes published two millennialist newspapers, a book of millennial hymns, and numerous tracts urging people to prepare themselves for Christ’s return.

Opposition and Success. The revivals of the Second Great Awakening had already raised expectations among thousands of men and women who believed the millennium was near. Although millennial fervor had cooled somewhat after the economic depression of 1837, it was quickly revived by the popular preaching of Miller and his followers in the early 1840s. Many leaders of the established denominations took great exception to Miller’s teachings, believing it highly imprudent to place the Second Coming at such a precise time. Others simply felt Miller’s calculations were incorrect. And many felt threatened as increasing numbers of their congregants joined Miller’s movement. Miller, however, had no desire to start a new denomination and urged people to continue attending their own churches in addition to Adventist meetings. Most of them obeyed. Estimates of the total membership of the movement at its peak range from ten thousand to as many as a million. It is likely that the lower number is more representative of those who were fully committed to the movement, commonly referred to as Millerinarianism. Thousands more, however, were no doubt intrigued by Miller’s prediction, and must have felt tremendous anticipation as the year 1843 approached.

Disappointment. It was Miller’s belief that Christ would return sometime between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. When the latter date came and went without incident, Miller reported that he had been mistaken in his original calculation and named 22 October 1844 as the correct date. But that day, too, passed. The world seemed the same as ever, and Miller and thousands of other believers faced what has been called “the great disappointment.” Most of Miller’s followers abandoned the movement, some in disgust, others in despair. Yet a small group continued to believe the millennium was imminent even though an exact date could no longer be predicted. In 1845 a group of these steadfast Adventists, including William Miller, convened in Albany, where they began planning a congregational structure for an Adventist church. This marked a significant departure from the earlier nonsectarian character of the movement. There was, however, little agreement among the Adventists about what the specific beliefs and practices of the new church would be. Debates raged over evangelism, reform, observance of the Sabbath, and the very nature of the millennium itself. The movement was still torn by conflicting opinion when William Miller died in 1849. He ended his life disheartened and confused, just one of many in a generation of seekers who hoped, at least for a moment, to put a finger on the truth. Nonetheless, his legacy lives on today in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which emerged from one faction of the Albany congregants and flourished in the later nineteenth century under the leadership of Ellen H. White.