HIS APOLOGY AND DEFENSE—DEFINITENESS OF PROPHETIC
TIME—ERRONEOUS VIEWS CONNECTED WITH THE DOCTRINE, ETC.
“After the Boston Conference, Mr. Miller accompanied Mr. Himes to
Portland, Me., where he gave discourses in the afternoon and evening
of Sunday, June 1, to crowded audiences. Many of those present,
doubtless, were drawn to hear him by motives of curiosity, because of the
disappointment in time. The necessity of patience and of watchfulness
were subjects on which he discoursed.
“He returned to Boston, and from thence went to a camp-meeting at
Champlain, N. Y., on the 10th of June. After this, he returned home, in
the enjoyment of good general health, but somewhat afflicted by boils.
“As the author of a movement which had resulted in disappointment, and,
in some respects, disaster, Mr. Miller deemed it proper that he should
make a personal statement to the Christian public, show the motives
that had actuated him, and disavow any sympathy with the extremes into
which some had gone, contrary to his earnest remonstrances. His growing
infirmities made him shrink from the labor of writing, and caused him
to desire an amanuensis. For this purpose, the writer of this visited
him in the month of July, 1845, and Mr. Miller dictated his ‘Apology and
Defense,’ a tract of thirty-six pages, which was published by Mr. Himes,
in Boston. It was addressed ‘To all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity,’ and commenced with:—
“‘As all men are responsible to the community for the
sentiments they may promulgate, the public have a right
to expect from me a candid statement in reference to my
disappointment in not realizing the advent of Christ in A. D.
1843-4, which I had confidently believed. I have, therefore,
considered it not presumptuous in me to lay before the
Christian public a retrospective view of the whole question,
the motives that actuated me, and the reasons by which I was
guided.’
“He then proceeded to narrate his early history, and gave an account
of his ‘deistical opinions,’ his ‘first religious impressions,’
his ‘connection with the army,’ his ‘removal to Low Hampton,’ his
‘determination to understand the Scriptures,’ his ‘manner of studying
the Bible,’ the ‘results arrived at,’ and his subsequent labors; all of
which have been noticed at greater length in the foregoing pages. He then
summed up his labors as follows:—
“‘From the commencement of that publication, I was overwhelmed
with invitations to labor in various places, with which I
complied as far as my health and time would allow. I labored
extensively in all the New England and Middle States, in Ohio,
Michigan, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and in Canada
East and West, giving about four thousand lectures in something
like five hundred different towns.
“‘I should think that about two hundred ministers embraced
my views, in all the different parts of the United States
and Canada; and that there have been about five hundred
public lecturers. In all the sections of country where I
labored,—not only in the towns I visited, but in those in their
vicinity,—there were more or less that embraced the doctrine
of the advent. In some places only a very few, and in other
places there have been a large number.
“‘In nearly a thousand places, Advent congregations have been
raised up, numbering, as nearly as I can estimate, some fifty
thousand believers. On recalling to mind the several places
of my labors, I can reckon up about six thousand instances of
conversion from nature’s darkness to God’s marvelous light,
the result of my personal labors alone; and I should judge the
number to be much greater. Of this number I can recall to mind
about seven hundred, who were, previously to their attending
my lectures, infidels; and their number may have been twice
as great. Happy results have also followed from the labors of
my brethren, many of whom I would like to mention here, if my
limits would permit.
“‘In all my labors I never had the desire or thought to
establish any separate interest from that of existing
denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of another. I
thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Christians would
rejoice in the prospect of Christ’s coming, and that those who
could not see as I did would not love any the less those who
should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would
ever be any necessity for separate meetings. My whole object
was a desire to convert souls to God, to notify the world of
a coming judgment, and to induce my fellow-men to make that
preparation of heart which will enable them to meet their God
in peace. The great majority of those who were converted under
my labors united with the various existing churches. When
individuals came to me to inquire respecting their duty, I
always told them to go where they would feel at home; and I
never favored any one denomination in my advice to such.
“‘But my brethren began to complain that they were not fed
by their ministers, and wanted expository preaching. I told
them it was their duty to interest their ministers in the
prophecies; but, if they could not receive the teachings under
which they sat, they must act in accordance with their own
sense of duty. They then began to complain that they had not
liberty in the churches to present their views freely, or to
exhort their brethren to prepare for the Judgment. Those in
the neighborhood of advent preaching felt that, when they
could listen to these glorious truths, it was their privilege
so to do. For this, many of them were treated coldly. Some
came out of their churches, and some were expelled. Where the
blame lay it is not necessary here to inquire; there was,
doubtless, wrong on both sides. The result was, that a feeling
of opposition arose, on the part of many of the ministers and
churches that did not embrace these views, against those who
were looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’
“He then spoke of various points as follows:—
“‘DEFINITENESS OF PROPHETIC TIME.
“‘I had never been positive as to any particular _day_ for the
Lord’s appearing, believing that no man could know the day
and hour. In all my published lectures will be seen, on the
title-page, “about the year 1843.” In all my oral lectures I
invariably told my audiences that the periods would terminate
in 1843 _if_ there were no mistakes in my calculation; but
that I could not say the end might not come even before that
time, and they should be continually prepared. In 1842, some
of my brethren preached, with great positiveness, the exact
year, and censured me for putting in an IF. The public press
had also published that I had fixed upon a definite day, the
23d of April, for the Lord’s advent. Therefore, in December of
that year, as I could see no error in my reckoning, I published
my belief that some time between March 21, 1843, and March
21, 1844, the Lord would come. Some had their minds fixed on
particular days; but I could see no evidence for such, unless
the types of the Mosaic law pointed to the feast of tabernacles.
“‘During the year 1843, the most violent denunciations were
heaped upon me, and those associated with me, by the press
and some pulpits. Our motives were assailed, our principles
misrepresented, and our characters traduced. Time passed on,
and the 21st of March, 1844, went by without our witnessing the
appearing of the Lord. Our disappointment was great, and many
walked no more with us.
“‘Previously to this, in the fall of 1843, some of my brethren
began to call the churches Babylon, and to urge that it was
the duty of Adventists to come out of them. With this I was
much grieved, as not only the effect was very bad, but I
regarded it as a perversion of the word of God, a wresting of
Scripture.[86] But the practice spread extensively; and, from
that time, the churches, as might have been expected, were
closed against us. It prejudiced many against us, and created
a deep feeling of hostility between Adventists and those who
did not embrace the doctrine; so that most of the Adventists
were separated from their respective churches. This was a
result which I never desired nor expected; but it was brought
about by unforeseen circumstances. We could, then, only act in
accordance with the position in which we were thus placed.
“‘On the passing of my published time, I frankly acknowledged
my disappointment in reference to the exact period; but my
faith was unchanged in any essential feature. I therefore
continued my labors, principally at the West, during the summer
of 1844, until “the seventh-month movement,” as it is called.
I had no participation in this, only as I wrote a letter,
eighteen months previously, presenting the observances under
the Mosaic law which pointed to that month as a probable time
when the advent might be expected. This was written because
some were looking to definite days in the _spring_. I had,
however, no expectation that so unwarranted a use would be made
of those types that any should regard a belief in such mere
inferential evidence a test of salvation. I therefore had no
fellowship with that movement until about two or three weeks
previous to the 22d of October, when, seeing it had obtained
such prevalence, and considering it was at a probable point of
time, I was persuaded that it was a work of God, and felt that,
if it should pass by, I should be more disappointed than I was
in my first published time.
“‘But that time passed, and I was again disappointed. The
movement was of such a character that, for a time, it was
very mysterious to me; and the results following it were so
unaccountable that I supposed our work might be completed, and
that a few weeks only might elapse between that time and the
appearing of Christ. However that might be, I regarded my own
work completed, and that what was to be done for the extension
of these views must be done by younger brethren, except an
occasional discourse from myself.
“‘As time has progressed, I have been pained to see many
errors which have been embraced, in different sections of the
country, by some who have labored in connection with myself;
errors which I cannot countenance, and of which I wish to
speak freely, although I may lose the fellowship of some for
faithfully doing my duty.
“‘I have been pained to see a spirit of sectarianism and
bigotry, in some sections, which disfellowships everything that
does not square with the narrow prejudices of individual minds.
There is a tendency to exalt individual opinions as a standard
for all to submit to; a disposition to place the results of
individual investigation upon a level with solemn conclusions
to which the great body of brethren have arrived. This is very
wrong; for, while we are in this world, we are so short-sighted
that we should never regard our conclusions as infallible,
should bear with the imperfections of others, and receive those
that are weak in the faith, but not to doubtful disputations.
“‘Some have an inclination to indulge in harsh and denunciatory
remarks against all who do not agree with them. We are all
liable to err; but we should avoid thus giving occasion of
offense. We should instruct with meekness those who oppose
themselves, and avoid foolish and unlearned questions, that
gender strifes.
“‘There may be causes operating on the minds of others, of
which we know nothing, that influence them contrary to the
truth as we have received it. We should, therefore, in all
our intercourse with those we deem in error, treat them with
kindness and affection, and show them that we would do them
good, and not evil, if God, peradventure, will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken
captive by him at his will.
“‘Some are prone to indulge in a spirit of uneasiness and
disorder, and looseness with regard to church government and
doctrine. In all the essential doctrines of the Bible, as they
have been held by the pious of the church in all ages, were
given to the saints, and for which we are commanded earnestly
to contend, I have never seen any reason to change my faith.
Jesus I regard as my all-sufficient Saviour, by whose merits
alone I can be saved. No being but him, “whose goings forth
were of old from everlasting,” who should take upon himself
our nature, and bear our sins in his own body, could make an
atonement, on the efficacy of which I should dare to rely. The
Bible speaks as plainly of my Saviour’s divinity as it does
of his humanity. He is, therefore, Immanuel, God with us. The
Bible tells us plainly what the Saviour is. That should satisfy
us, without venturing beyond the Bible to say what he is not.
“‘It is in the use of terms not found in the Scriptures that
disputations arise. For instance, the difference between the
Calvinist and Armenian I often thus explain: Both are in the
same dilemma. They are like a company of men in the lower story
of a house when the tide is entering, and from which there is
no escape only by a rope by which they may be drawn up. All
endeavor to lay hold of the rope. The one is continually afraid
he has not hold of the right rope; if he was sure he had the
right rope he would have no fears. The other has no fear but he
has hold of the right rope; he is continually afraid his rope
will break. Now both are equally fearful they may perchance not
escape. Their fears arise from different causes. How foolish it
is, then, for them to begin to quarrel with each other, because
the one supposes the rope may break, and the other that it is
the wrong rope!
“‘Now I have found Christians among those who believed that
they were born again, but might fall away; and among those
that believe that, if they were ever born again, they should
certainly persevere. The difference between them I regard as
a mere matter of education; both have their fears, and both
believe that those only who persevere unto the end will be
saved. I, therefore, look on men as bigots who quarrel with
others and deny that those are Christians who cannot see just
as they do....
“‘I have thus given a plain and simple statement of the
manner of my arriving at the views I have inculcated, with a
history of my course up to the present time. That I have been
mistaken in the time, I freely confess; and I have no desire
to defend my course any further than I have been actuated by
pure motives, and it has resulted to God’s glory. My mistakes
and errors God, I trust, will forgive. I cannot, however,
reproach myself for having preached definite time; for, as I
believe that whatsoever was written aforetime was written for
our learning, the prophetic periods are as much a subject of
investigation as any other portion of the word.[87]
“‘I, therefore, still feel that it was my duty to present all
the evidence that was apparent to my mind; and were I now in
the same circumstances, I should be compelled to act as I have
done. I should not, however, have so done, had I seen that
the time would pass by; but not knowing that it would, I feel
even now more satisfaction in having warned my fellow-men than
I should feel, were I conscious that I had believed them in
danger and had not raised my voice. How keen would have been my
regret, had I refrained to present what in my soul I believed
to be truth, and the result had proved that souls must perish
through my neglect! I cannot, therefore, censure myself for
having conscientiously performed what I believed to be my duty.
“‘But while I frankly acknowledge my disappointment in the
exact time, I wish to inquire whether my teachings have been
thereby materially affected. My view of exact time depended
entirely upon the accuracy of chronology; of this I had no
absolute demonstration; but as no evidence was presented to
invalidate it, I deemed it my duty to rely on it as certain,
until it should be disproved. Besides, I not only rested on
received chronology, but I selected the earliest dates in the
circle of a few years on which chronologers have relied for the
date of the events from which to reckon, because I believed
them to be best sustained, and because I wished to have my eye
on the earliest time at which the Lord might be expected. Other
chronologers had assigned later dates for the events from which
I reckoned; and if they are correct we are only brought into
the circle of a few years, during which we may rationally look
for the Lord’s appearing. As the prophetic periods, counting
from the dates from which I have reckoned, have not brought us
to the end, and as I cannot tell the exact time that chronology
may vary from my calculations, I can only live in continual
expectation of the event. I am persuaded that I cannot be far
out of the way, and I believe that God will still justify my
preaching to the world.[88]
“‘With respect to other features of my views, I can see no
reason to change my belief. We are living under the last form
of the divided fourth kingdom, which brings us to the end. The
prophecies which were to be fulfilled previous to the end have
been so far fulfilled that I find nothing in them to delay the
Lord’s coming. The signs of the times thicken on every hand;
and the prophetic periods must certainly, I think, have brought
us into the neighborhood of the event.
“‘There is not a point in my belief in which I am not sustained
by some one of the numerous writers who have opposed my views.
Prof. Bush, the most gentlemanly of my opponents, admits that I
am correct in the time, with the exception of the precise day
or year; and this is all for which I contend. That the 70 weeks
are 490 years, and the 1260 and 2300 days are so many years,
are admitted by Messrs. Bush, Hinton, and Jarvis. That the 2300
days and 70 weeks commence at the same time, Prof. Bush does
not deny. And Dr. Jarvis admits that the former carry us to the
resurrection and Judgment. Prof. Bush, Dr. Jarvis, Mr. Hinton,
and Mr. Morris, admit that the legs of iron and fourth beast
are Rome, and that the little horn of Dan. 7 is papacy, while
Dr. Jarvis and Mr. Hinton admit that the exceeding great horn
of Daniel 8 is Rome. The literal resurrection of the body, the
end of the world, and a personal coming of Christ, have not
been questioned by several who have written against me.
“‘Thus there is not a point for which I have contended that has
not been admitted by some of those who have written to disprove
my opinions. I have candidly weighed the objections advanced
against these views; but I have seen no arguments that were
sustained by the Scriptures that, in my opinion, invalidated
my position. I cannot, therefore, conscientiously refrain
from looking for my Lord, or from exhorting my fellow-men, as
I have opportunity, to be in readiness for that great event.
For my indiscretions and errors I ask pardon; and all who have
spoken evil of me without cause I freely forgive. My labors are
principally ended. I shall leave to my younger brethren the
task of contending for the truth. Many years I toiled alone;
God has now raised up those who will fill my place. I shall not
cease to pray for the spread of truth.
“‘In conclusion, suffer a word of exhortation. You, my
brethren, who are called by the name of Christ, will you not
examine the Scriptures respecting the nearness of the advent?
The great and good of all ages have had their minds directed
to about this period of time, and a multitude are impressed
with the solemn conviction that these are emphatically the
last days. Is not a question of such moment worthy of your
consideration? I do not ask you to embrace an opinion of mine;
but I ask you to weigh well the evidence contained in the
Bible. If I am in any error, I desire to see it, and I should
certainly renounce it; but look at the question in the light of
the inspired word, and decide for eternity.
“‘What shall I say to my unconverted friends? I have faithfully
exhorted you these many years to believe in Christ. You have
excused yourselves. What can I say more? Will not all the
considerations that are presented in the Scriptures of truth
move your hearts to lay down the weapons of your rebellion? You
have no lease of your lives, and, if the Lord should not come,
your eyes may be soon closed in death. Why will you not improve
the present moment, and flee from the wrath to come? Go to
Christ, I beseech you; lay hold on the promise of God, trust in
his grace, and he will cleanse you by his blood.
“‘I would exhort my Advent brethren to study the word
diligently. Let no man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit. Avoid everything that shall cause offense. Let your
lives be models of goodness and propriety. Let the adversary
get no advantage over you. We have been disappointed; but
disappointments will work for our good, if we make the right
use of them. Be faithful. Be vigilant. Exhort with all
longsuffering and patience. Let your conversation be in Heaven,
from whence you look for the blessed hope. Avoid unnecessary
controversy and questions that gender strifes. Be not many
masters; all are not competent to advise and direct. God will
raise up those to whom he will commit the direction of his
cause. Be humble, be watchful, be patient, be persevering. And
may the God of peace sanctify you wholly, and preserve you
blameless unto the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ!
WILLIAM MILLER.’
“‘_Low Hampton, Aug. 1, 1845._’