The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

V. Miller Becomes a Full-Time Preacher in 1834

From his initial sermon in Dresden, on August 14, 1831, up to October 1, 1834, Miller’s preaching was simply an avocation, and more or less intermittent. He still operated his farm, and still served as justice of the peace. Between his other duties he would go at his own expense, when and where invited. He still had the responsibility for his farm and his livelihood. So his preaching was something extra—a labor of love, the discharge of a moral obligation, the carrying out of his solemn vow to God, and always in response to the invitations of others. At the same time he was in the afternoon of life, without the advantage of a formal academic education, with little experience as a public speaker, and until now without ministerial papers. There was, moreover, considerable prejudice on the part of many against attempting to understand the prophecies. Yet for years he traveled extensively, at his own expense, and endured hardship and scoffing—and all the while having his family to support. PFF4 493.4

Then, in 1834, came the time when he could put his farm into the hands of his sons-reserving only one hundred dollars yearly toward his own expenses. Not till his journeys became long and expensive did he permit the people among whom he preached to pay his traveling expenses. And he received no profit from the sale of his books. PFF4 494.1

At first Miller had no authorizing papers, no churchly credentials. When he spoke he did so solely on his own responsibility. But with the issuance of a license to preach, by the Low Hampton Baptist church in 1833, the recognition of the church was now added to his own inner conviction of the call of God to preach. And so, in 1834, with both his sixty-four page pamphlet and his license to give added force to his message, he gave himself fully to what now was to him a clear mandate from God, attested by the church. In October, after the harvesting was over, he entered upon this new relationship to his task of witnessing. In one of those delightfully human letters with its refreshing candor, written to his friend Hendryx, he simply declares, “I devote my whole time, lecturing.” ³² PFF4 494.2

Preaching now became Miller’s vocation, his supreme business in life. Telling the world of his faith in the approaching advent, which he premised on the prophecies, became his one great mission. He now began a diary, or journal, of his travels, in which he listed all of his preaching appointments. This he called his “Text Book,” doubtless because in it are recorded the main texts used with each sermon preached. These texts were usually two in number, one often from the Old Testament and the other from the New. At the top of the first page the line appears, “Beginning October 1st, 1834.” PFF4 494.3

Picture 2: INITIAL MINISTERIAL LICENSE GRANTED TO MILLER IN 1833
Issued jointly by the Hampton and White-Hall, New York, baptist churches, Miller was thus given ministerial standing, and soon devoted his entire time to preaching. This was followed by a unique interdenominational credential signed by seventeen clergymen from various denominations
Page 495

It was the beginning of a new and intensive travel life. All of New England became his parish, together with Ontario and Quebec, or Canada West and East, and then gradually extending westward and southward. There was a marked expansion of his activities and an acceleration in the tempo of his lecturing. His first Text Book covers a period of “four years, six months, and nine days.” This systematic tabulation of his preaching career, to which details from his correspondence can be added (and much of which has been preserved)—along with the records of the secular and religious press, and the writings of close associates-taken together comprise a picture that is most revealing. Such is the unfolding panorama of a developing movement without a parallel in modern times, and perhaps not since Reformation days. PFF4 495.1

Through his preaching, infidelity was made to yield its iron grip on hundreds of minds, Deism was forced to confess the truth of the Inspired Word, and the sandy foundations of Universalism were shaken whenever men were persuaded to attend Miller’s whole course of lectures. And hundreds of sound, independent thinkers came to have an experimental knowledge of the blended justice and mercy of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. ³³ PFF4 496.1