William Miller (preacher)

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:William Miller.jpg William Miller (1782 - 1849) was an American Baptist preacher, hence his followers have been termed Millerites or Millerists. He is credited with the beginning of the Adventist movement of the 1830s and 1840s in North America. Among his spiritual heirs are two major religious denominations today: Seventh-day Adventism and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Miller began to preach in 1831. Based on Daniel 8-9, Miller believed that 2,300 years would pass from the time of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the Second Coming of Jesus. The commandment was given to the scribe Ezra by Artaxerxes I of Persia in the seventh year of his reign (i.e. 457 B.C.), and is detailed in Ezra 7:12-26. Thus, 1843 became the year of Christ's return. As the appointed year grew closer, Miller first specified 21 March 1843 as the date. After that date passed, further study revealed that there was no year zero in the Gregorian calendar, and October 22, 1844 was the actual date.

The absence of Christ's Second Coming in 1844 has come to be known as the Great Disappointment. Miller recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: "Were I to live my life over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and man, I should have to do as I have done. I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment." (Memoirs of William Miller, Sylvester Bliss, p. 256).

It is estimated that the Millerites, as they came to be known, numbered nearly 50,000 at their peak.

[edit]