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LIFE OF WILLIAM MILLER

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 15, 1873

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 41, No. 18.

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LIFE OF WILLIAM MILLER.

CHAPTER FIVE.

BECOMES A LICENSED PREACHER—VISITS DIFFERENT PLACES—LETTER ON UNIVERSALISM—RECORD OF HIS LABORS.

In the autumn of this year, Mr. Miller received a license to preach, from the church of which he was a member, as follows:
“Let brotherly love continue: the Baptist church of Christ, in Hampton and Whitehall, do certify that Brother William Miller is a member in regular standing in this church. Brother Miller has been improving his gifts with us in expounding the words of divine truth in public, for some time past, to the approbation and edification of the church. We are satisfied that Bro. Miller has a gift to improve in public; and are willing he should improve the same, wherever his lot may be cast among the Zion of God—that the name of the Lord may be glorified, and his followers edified. Done in church meeting, Saturday, Sept. 14, 1833. By order of the church. (Signed) BYRON S. HARLOW, ‘Clerk, Pro tem.’”
In a letter to his sister, before referred to, written two days subsequent to the date of the above, and dated “Low Hampton, Sept. 16, 1833,” he speaks of the above license, and of his labors, as follows:
“I have just returned from Dresden, where I have been to spend a Sabbath, and to preach to them the word of life. My texts, yesterday, were Hosea 13:1; Isa. 61:7; and Ps. 102:16. . . . I do feel anxious to come and see you; and, if the Lord will, and your people should not object, to try to speak to them of the things of the kingdom. My brethren have given me a license—unworthy, and old, and disobedient as I am. Oh, to grace how great a debtor!”
He then proceeds with matters of mere family interests, and closes with the following exhortation to his brother-in-law, respecting the doctrine of Universalism:
“Just as sure as the word of God is true, depend upon it, universal salvation is not true. Was this what David saw when he saw the end of the wicked? Enter into the sanctuary of your own conscience, my brother, and you will find, ‘NO,’ responded with appalling force. Enter into the sanctuary of God’s word, and, in every page, you will have to meet this little word, ‘NO,’ or declarations as plain. ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.’ Look at Dan. 12:9, 10;—here we have the end described. What does conscience say? Be careful, my brother; remember that eternal consequences hang on your decision; and what is the answer? ‘Many [not all] shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand.’ See Mal. 4:1–3. Where are the wicked, the proud, and all that do wickedly? Do they enjoy the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness? ‘No.’ Again, in Matt. 13:49, 50. Are the wicked permitted to dwell with the just? Is Heaven and happiness their abode? Enter into the sanctuary, and what do you hear? No! No! Again, in Matt. 25:12, 30, and 46. Do the foolish virgins enter in to the marriage supper? or are they ever married to the Lamb? No! Is the unprofitable servant ‘in light and glory?’ No! No! And are the goats enjoying the same communion with the sheep? or are they going ‘into life eternal?’ No! No! NO! Read, again, Rom. 1:18, to the fifth verse of the second chapter. Would it be unjust for God to condemn the characters there described? Your judgment tells you, No! Your conscience responds the same answer, No! Your tongue must one day answer, NO! For every tongue must and will confess to the glory of God. O my brother, enter into the sanctuary and knock while the door may be opened; seek while you may find; look while you may live; and you will most assuredly learn ‘their end.’ All the plausible reasoning of all the Universalists under the whole canopy of heaven cannot save one soul. ‘Except a man is born of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’”
During the fall of 1833, and the ensuing winter, Mr. Miller seems to have been constantly occupied in lecturing in Dresden and other towns in New York and Vermont. The very modest estimate which he had of his own abilities and qualifications as a preacher, is apparent in all his correspondence, where any reference is made to his public labors. In writing to Eld. Hendryx, under date of Low Hampton, Feb. 25, 1834, he says:
“. . . You have undoubtedly heard that I have been trying to preach (as some call it) about in this vicinity. I have been laboring, it is true, in my weak manner, in Dresden, two or three months; and the Lord has seen fit to bless us with a little reformation. I have likewise preached in Putnam, Wrentham, Poultney, and in this place. You laugh, Bro. Hendryx, to think old Bro. Miller is preaching! But laugh on: you are not the only one that laughs; and it is all right—I deserve it. If I could preach the truth, it is all I could ask.”
Being now recognized as a regularly licensed preacher, his Bro. Hendryx naturally addressed him as the “Rev. William Miller.” To a letter thus directed, Mr. Miller, under date of “Hampton, March 22, 1834,” thus replied:
“DEAR BRO. HENDRYX:—I wish you would look into your Bible and see if you can find the word Rev. applied to a sinful mortal like myself; and govern yourself accordingly. . . . Let us be determined to live and die on the Bible. God is about to rise and punish the inhabitants of the world. The proud, the high, the lofty, must be brought low; and the humble, the meek, and the contrite, will be exalted. Then, what care I for what the world calls great or honorable? Give me Jesus, and a knowledge of his word, faith in his name, hope in his grace, interest in his love, and let me be clothed in his righteousness, and the world may enjoy all the high-sounding titles, the riches it can boast, the vanities it is heir to, and all the pleasures of sin; and they will be no more than a drop in the ocean. Yes, let me have Jesus Christ, and then vanish all earthly toys. What glory has God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ! In him all power centers. In him all power dwells. He is the evidence of all truth, the fountain of all mercy, the giver of all grace, the object of all adoration, and the source of all light; and I hope to enjoy him to all eternity. What! such a sinful wretch as I enjoy Christ? How can this be? Yes, yes; through the electing love of God, the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant, and the work of regeneration, such a sinner as I may be cleansed from sin, purified, and made white, and glorified in the New Jerusalem, together with him, and with all who love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and who love his appearing. Bro. H., shall you and I appear together in that general assembly and church of the first-born? If God will, I hope we shall there meet, to part no more. How can I realize the glory that will there be manifested? And how could I bear the thought to be banished from the face of Jesus, and from the glory of his power? Forbid it, O my Redeemer! Forbid! and let grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The same devotional feelings are manifest in all his epistles, and also evince that he experienced nearness of access to God, and great religious enjoyment.
Mr. Miller kept no journal, nor any record of the places he visited, till October, 1834. Beginning at a place called “The Forks,” supposed to be “Moore’s Forks” in Clinton County, N. Y., the names of places where, the dates when, and the texts from which, he preached, are given in two small memorandum books as follows:
PLACE. TIME. TEXT. TEXT.
Forks, N. Y. Oct. 1. Luke 15:18. Rev. 8:13.
Keesville, N. Y. “ 5. Rev. 1:20. Job 23:24.
Beekmantown, “ “ 6. Dan. 8:13, 14. “ 10:14.
Plattsburgh, “ “ 8. Dan. 8:13, 14. Rev. 20:6.
Keesville, “ “ 11. 1 Cor. 3:11.
“ “ 12. Rom. 8:6, 7. Luke 15:18.
Westport, “ “ 14. Dan. 8:13, 14. “ 10:14.
“ “ 15. Rev. 20:6.
After visiting the above places, he returned home to Low Hampton, and soon after wrote to Eld. Hendryx, as follows:
“North Hampton, Oct. 23, 1834. “MY DEAR BROTHER HENDRYX:—Your favor of Sept. 17 came to hand while I was absent on a tour into Clinton County, of about six weeks. I gave thirty-six lectures on the second coming of Christ, was at two covenant meetings, attended two protracted meetings in said time, saw a number of new-born babes in Christ; and now, being at home, I shall write to Bro. H. and rest myself a little. . . .”
“I am every day more convinced that the whole word of God is given for our instruction, reproof, and correction; and that the prophecies contain the strongest evidences of the divinity and truth of the Bible; and present to saint and sinner the strongest motives for a holy life, and repentance and faith toward God, that can be produced. When John preached repentance, he prophesied that the kingdom of Heaven was at hand, as a principal motive. The apostles prophesied that God had appointed a day, in which he would judge the world in righteousness, by that man, Jesus Christ; and your unworthy brother in Christ proclaims that the day is at hand, when ‘he that is filthy will be filthy still, and he that is holy will be holy still;’ and that Christ is now standing at the door and knocking for the last time. And, my dear brother, I can truly say that ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’ And yet how many professed ministers of Christ, at the present day, treat that part of the word with total neglect, and even laugh and jeer at those who would warn the people of their approaching danger. But God has supported me beyond my most sanguine expectation. And although they say much before they hear, yet when they do hear they seem confounded.
“The evidence is so clear, the testimony is so strong, that we live on the eve of the present dispensation, toward the dawn of the Glorious Day, that I wonder why ministers and people do not wake up and trim their lamps. Yes, my brother, almost two years since you heard the news, ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh!’—and yet you cry, A little more sleep, a little more slumber. Blame not your people if they go to sleep under your preaching. You have done the same. Bear with me, my brother. In every letter you have written me, you have promised to study this all-important subject, and in every letter you confess your negligence. The day draws near. More than one-sixth of the time is gone since my Bro. Hendryx promised, and yet asleep! O God, forgive him! Are you waiting for all the world to wake up before you dare get up? Where has your courage fled? Awake! awake! O sluggard! Defend your own castle, or take sides with the word of God; destroy or build. You must not, you cannot, you shall not be neutral. Awake! awake! Tell Deacon Smith to help wake you. Tell him, for me, to shake you, and not give out shaking, until Bro. H. will put on the whole armor of light.
“In every church where I have lectured on this important subject, many, very many, seem to awake, rub open their eyes, and then fall back to sleep again. But the enemy is waking up. In one town (North Beekmantown) I received a letter, the day after my first lecture, from some bullies and blackguards, ‘that if I did not clear out of the State, they would put me where the dogs could never find me.’ The letter was signed by ten of them. I staid, and, blessed be God! he poured out his Spirit, and began a work which gainsayers could not resist.”
“Some ministers try to persuade their people not to hear me; but the people will go, and every additional lecture will bring an additional multitude, until their meeting-houses cannot hold them. Depend upon it, my brother, God is in this thing; and he will be glorified; and blessed be his holy name! Do pray for me, my brother, that I may have grace equal to my need, and that I may always see my need, feel my weakness, and be kept humble, and that I may always declare the truth. Do pray!”
“I think, if the Lord will, I shall be in your section of country next spring or summer. Do give me a list of some brethren between here and your place, if you can. “I remain yours in Christ, “WILLIAM MILLER.”
Two days subsequent to the date of the above, Mr. M. was again in the field; and, according to his memorandum-book, gave lectures as follows: Oct. 25 and 26, at Pawlet, Vt.; Nov. 6, 8, and 9, at Orwell, Vt.; 10 and 12, Cornwall, Vt.; and Nov. 16, in Hampton, N. Y. His success in the above places is indicated in the following extract from a letter which he wrote Elder Hendryx from Low Hampton, on the 28th of Nov., 1834:
“I have had good success since I wrote you before. The Lord has been with me. I have been into a number of towns in Vermont. Some old, hardened rebels have been brought to plead for mercy, even before my course of lectures was finished. Blessed be the holy name of God! He has given me more than I should have dared to ask. How good, my brother, it is to preach, having God for paymaster! He pays down. He pays in souls. He paid the Shepherd thus, and he was satisfied: will he not payhis servants too? Yes, yes. Bless his name, O my soul, for all his benefits!”
“I find that studious Christians are the best hearers: and the reason is obvious. The more we know of mankind, the less room there is for bigotry, superstition, and prejudice. Those are evils always attending ignorance.”