Millerism

Millerism was a nineteenth-century Protestant religious movement known for its steadfast belief that the second coming of Jesus Christ was imminent. The movement was named after its founder, Baptist preacher William Miller, who predicted Christ’s return would occur in the early 1840s. The rise of Millerism was part of the Second Great Awakening, a period of religious revival in the United States. Its tenets were based on Miller’s extensive study of the Bible, especially the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Revelation. Miller preached across the northeastern United States, accumulating thousands of followers who likewise believed the end was near. When Christ’s return did not occur as predicted, many of Miller’s followers became bitter and abandoned Millerism. The movement soon fell apart, although one branch of his followers reorganized to form the modern Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Background

William Miller was born into a devout religious family in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1782. His mother was the daughter of a Baptist preacher, and his father was a farmer who had served during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). After moving to upstate New York as a young boy, Miller went on to marry in 1803 and eventually became a sheriff in nearby Vermont. During this time, Miller backed away from his strict Baptist faith and embraced the concept of deism, a philosophy that believed God created the universe but did not interfere in the day-to-day concerns of humans.

During the War of 1812 (1812–1815), Miller joined the Vermont militia and later served with the regular army. In 1814, he took part in the Battle of Plattsburgh, a decisive naval encounter in which outnumbered American forces defeated the advancing British fleet. Some accounts claim Miller was changed by the battle, seeing his survival and the American victory as a direct result of God’s intervention. After the war, he moved back to New York to become a farmer and lay minister in the Baptist church. He became obsessed with the Bible, scouring it for clues about God’s intentions and hints about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Overview

Miller spent much of his time trying to decode the Old Testament book of Daniel and the New Testament book of Revelation. Both are works of apocalyptic literature, a genre of religious writing that claims to foretell events coinciding with the end of the world. Miller was especially focused on a passage in the book of Daniel in which the archangel Gabriel states, “Unto 2,300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Miller interpreted this to mean that the world was the “sanctuary” that would be cleansed by the second coming of Christ.

Based on these and other Biblical clues, Miller became convinced the “days” in the passage actually represented years, and the starting point of the countdown could be traced back to 457 BCE. He believed the date was significant because scholarly evidence of the time marked it as the year Persia’s emperor ordered the holy city of Jerusalem to be rebuilt. After adjusting his calculations based on another passage from Daniel, Miller arrived at the year 1843. By using the idea of biblical “days” equaling years, he confirmed this as the date of the second coming by interpreting another passage from Revelation.

Miller arrived at his prediction between 1818 and 1822 but waited until 1832 to make his discovery public. At that time, he began preaching at a local church and published articles on the subject in the Vermont Telegraph, a regional Baptist newspaper. His views soon developed a growing number of believers, and he began preaching to a wider audience throughout New England.

Miller’s ideas flourished as part of a widespread religious fervor that was taking hold in parts of the United States at the time. The period, known as the Second Great Awakening, saw the birth of several new religious movements, including the Shakers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Church of Latter-Day Saints. A similar period of religious revival called the First Great Awakening occurred in the American colonies in the mid-eighteenth century. Miller’s religious movement became known as Millerism, and its followers were referred to as Millerites.

As the 1840s approached, Miller’s views began to attract even more followers across New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. In 1838, he published a book on the expected second coming, and he partnered with a Boston newspaper publisher who promoted his teachings in two prominent religious journals. Miller combined his publicity efforts with an extensive lecture tour, preaching at hundreds of churches and revival meetings across the region. His speeches drew crowds of enthusiastic followers as well as hostile critics. Miller was accused of promoting hysteria, and his followers were often described by skeptics as deluded. At some lecture stops, audience members even pelted Miller with eggs or rotten vegetables. Still, the criticism did not deter his message, and by the early 1840s, the number of Millerites had grown to more than fifty thousand.

In early 1843, Miller adjusted his predictions to account for the differences between Western calendars and the Hebrew calendar, the system that would have been used in Biblical times. He set a new date—March 21, 1844—for the apocalypse but cautioned his followers to be patient if the date was slightly off. When nothing happened on March 21, Miller again recalculated his estimation, using Bible passages that called for a “tarrying time” of seven months and ten days. He set a new date for the second coming of October 22, 1844.

As the date approached, accounts from the time claim that some Millerites sold all their possessions or neglected their homes or farms with the expectation they would soon be taken up into heaven. Others climbed to the tops of mountains or trees to be closer to heaven when the time came. However, when October 22 came and went without the promised apocalypse, many of Miller’s followers became disillusioned. They referred to the event as the “Great Disappointment” and most abandoned Millerism for other faiths. Miller himself still believed the end of time was near and continued preaching, although his credibility and reputation were irreparably damaged. He died in 1849.

However, one group of Millerites believed that Miller’s predictions still held significance even if he was wrong on the specific details. One faction of the group eventually split off and formed the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863. The Seventh-day Adventists believed Christ’s return was imminent, but the date was impossible to predict. Instead, October 22, 1844, was meant to signify the day Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary and was not meant to be the end of the world.

Bibliography

Aveni, Anthony. “Episode 1: October 22, 1844.” Apocalyptic Anxiety: Religion, Science, and America’s Obsession with the End of the World. University Press of Colorado, 2016, pp. 15-64.

McNamara, Robert. “History of the Millerites.” ThoughtCo, 13 May 2019, www.thoughtco.com/millerites-definition-1773334. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.

Numbers, Ronald L., and Jonathan M. Butler, editors. The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century. University of Tennessee Press, 1993.

“Seventh-Day Adventist Church Emerged From Religious Fervor of 19th Century.” Seventh-day Adventist Church, 4 Feb. 2013, www.adventist.org/en/information/history/article/go/-/seventh-day-adventist-church-emerged-from-religious-fervor-of-19th-century-1. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.

Taylor, Andrew. “The Origins of Millerite Separatism.” Aurora University, aurora.edu/documents/library-archives/origins-of-millerite-separatism-andrew-taylor.pdf. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.

Wait, Gary E. “The End of the World.” Dartmouth College Library Bulletin, www.dartmouth.edu/~library/Library‗Bulletin/Nov1993/gewait.html. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.

“William Miller.” Christianity Today, 8 Aug. 2008, www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/william-miller.html. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.

“William Miller Convinced Thousands of Millerites the End Was Near.” New England Historical Society, 2023, www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/william-miller-convinced-thousands-millerites-world-end. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.