We have mentioned the “Millerites” quite frequently in our discussions of the emergence of the Truth They came up when dealing with George Storrs, Joseph Marsh, and Dr Thomas’ preaching efforts to the “Millerites” (See # 9 and # 13) Although this movement originated in America, somewhat surprisingly, Dr Thomas was to have his main success among them in England from 1848 to 1850 An understanding of their background can help us know more about the emergence of our denomination It will also illuminate the environment that occasioned Dr Thomas’ prolific output during this period, especially “Elpis Israel,” written in such haste at the end of 1848
Adventist expectations in nineteenth-century America
The early part of the nineteenth century was a time of great social, political, and religious change Many people were studying Bible prophecies with a renewed conviction of their literal, present-day fulfillment and were eagerly looking for the signs of Christ’s soon return Alexander Campbell was one such he is by now only too familiar to followers of this story as one of the four founders of the “Campbellites,” with which John Thomas was associated soon after his arrival m America in 1832 He had even changed the name of his periodical from Christian Baptist to Millennial Harbinger, to better tell of his expectation of the soon arrival of the millennium, Christ’s glorious reign with his saints on the earth This expectation, a prominent part of his early teaching, faded in time, but not before Dr Thomas became interested in the area, as shown by his writings in the 1834 Apostolic Advocate There were, in fact, a large number of Bible expositors presenting interpretations of Daniel and Revelation similar in outline, although not in detail, to the one Dr Thomas developed over the next 30 years Dr Thomas, as his introduction to Eureka, vol III shows, read many of them, although I suspect a few in summary only – some authors he cites are exceedingly obscure By far the most famous of these interpreters was William Miller (later to be denounced and disgraced) who greatly influenced many of Dr Thomas’ contemporaries, and whose direct influence lingers in many groups to this day
William Miller
Miller was born in Massachusetts in 1782, but was reared in a rural area of New York just south of Lake Champlain Although he lacked formal education, there were men of learning in the area who lent him books, enabling him to become a well-read, self-educated man On his marriage, he went to Vermont, where he fell among “Deists” who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior, holding he was only a good man A period in the army, however, helped convince him of the workings of a power greater than man, and in 1816 he joined the Baptist Church When a “Deist” friend taunted him about his faith in the Bible, Miller began his own detailed, reverent study of the Bible to harmonize all the seeming contradictions He was astonished to discover, at least to his own satisfaction, that the time of the Advent appeared to be revealed by Bible prophecies He based his whole analysis on the passage in Daniel 8 14 “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” He became convinced the period began in 457 B C with the decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem (Dr Thomas had a slightly different interpretation of this, expecting not the return of Christ, but rather significant political developments concerning Jerusalem) Simple arithmetic showed the prophetic period would end in 1843 It was two years from Miller’s “discovery” in 1818 before he talked of it to his friends, and only much later, in August, 1831, that he gave his first lecture on the subject Word of his new ideas spread, and he was soon in great demand among local Baptist, Methodist, and Congregational churches Wider growth, however, was quite slow, until Joshua Himes, a “Christian Connection” minister in Boston, invited him to speak there in October, 1839 By the spring of 1840, with Himes publishing the Signs of the Times, his message began to spread much more widely Thus, at the real beginning of the movement, Miller was 58 years old and in indifferent health Although Miller was still the acknowledged leader, Himes provided the active field generalship
The message spreads
The first of what became a series of conferences was held in Boston in October, 1840 Miller could not be present because of ill health, and it was not till the conference came to him, in November of 1841, that he was able to attend The message was spread by other methods as well Camp meetings became common, at least 125 were held from 1842 to 1844 Quite a number made use of a great tent, 120 yards in circumference and with a center pole 55 feet high One such meeting, in Louisville, Kentucky in September, 1844, was visited by Brother Bodenhamer, a former Campbellite and then-host and benefactor of Dr Thomas Bodenhamer had given Dr Thomas $20 to start the Herald of the Future Age, and in volume I described the event for Dr Thomas’ readers “Our Second Advent friends are again subjecting themselves to another bitter disappointment,” he wrote The other major method of spreading the word was publications many were founded, including the Western Midnight Cry in Cincinnati (to which Dr. Thomas wrote in vain in February, 1844) and the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom to Come in Rochester, NY. As 1843 dawned, the impetus of the movement again quickened, with a major campaign in Philadelphia. The followers of Miller also began at this time to build meeting halls (tabernacles), which soon dotted the East and Ohio.
The date
Miller had always been most reluctant to set an exact date, but in February, 1843, under some pressure, he rashly said he thought the Lord would come in the Jewish year 1843, that is, between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Subsequent refinement led him to push the end of the year to April 18, 1844: but when the day passed Miller wrote, “I confess my error: and acknowledge my disappointment: yet I still believe the day of the Lord is near, even at the door.” It was in this state of expectation that a camp meeting was convened in August, 1844, at which Joseph Bates presented his argument for October 22, 1844, the Jewish Day of Atonement. This new date took the movement by storm; Miller eventually accepted it on October 6, with the whole movement embracing it shortly thereafter.
When October 22 dawned, bright and clear, believers came to the meeting place early and continued to pray and testify. The day dragged on slowly – to noon, to sunset, to midnight. October 23 came on as another day and the worshippers went home, worn out and bitterly disappointed. This day has come to be known as the “Great Disappointment.”
What next?
Although many left the Advent cause, others were simply perplexed and bewildered. Miller himself died in December, 1849, worn out by years of traveling and preaching. Many splinter groups formed out of these leaderless followers, of which the most interesting are:
The Advent Christian Church maintained Miller’s interest in the imminent return of Jesus, but followed George Storrs’ teachings on the mortality of man.
The Seventh Day, Adventists’ set of beliefs is built upon the visions and prophecies of Ellen White. Apart from their belief in the seventh day and the spiritualization of the 1844 date, this church generally follows the beliefs of the Campbellites, with whom many of the Millerites were associated.
The Church of God (Abrahamic Faith) grew out of an amalgam of small groups of Adventists, some of whose members were friends for a time of Dr. Thomas. Two of these were Joseph Marsh and Benjamin Wilson. Marsh had been a prominent Millerite, being converted from the Christian Connection Church, as was Himes above. They seem to have developed a set of beliefs remarkably similar to that of the Christadelphians, the only major difference, at least initially, being the doctrine of immortal emergence By the late 1880’s, the various groups were reasonably cohesive In 1921, this group split into two parts, the smaller maintained its historical doctrines and the other, known as the General Conference, accepted a much more open fellowship These two groups are still often known by the same name, which causes considerable confusion.
The British connection
The chief source of Miller’s followers, we are told, was among the few British Campbellite congregations, fueled by the American Millerite preachers who began to appear in Britain from 1841 on Prior to that, there was intense interest m Bible prophecy among many Bible students, prompted by literature carried by visiting merchants from America There were hostile comments on American activities in the British press, but this only served to acquaint British Millentes with the doings in America.
Many of the doings of the British Millentes are cloaked in obscurity, brought about by the poverty of both the preachers and the movement They looked for the return of Jesus in 1845, not 1844 as m America, and managed to reach thousands between 1842 and 1846 The main center m England was m the Nottingham area, where the local Campbellite congregation, led by James Wallis, drove out the Millentes, who formed a sizable group of their own Other major centers were Plymouth, Bristol, London, and Leeds But the numbers of Millentes in Britain was probably never more than 2,000 to 3,000, and declined after 1846, especially when the last major leader, Robert Hutchinson, returned to Canada in 1847 Some returned to the Campbellite congregations they had left, but when Dr Thomas came in 1848, he found his message of the “Hope of Israel” obtained a warm reception By the census of 1851, there were only five Millerite congregations recorded in Britain.
Dr. Thomas and the Millerites in England
By the time Dr Thomas began to lecture on his own views of the outworking of Bible prophecy, the Millerite movement had essentially disintegrated in the USA and was tiny and fragmented in England In the period when this presented the greatest opportunity, 1847 to 1851, Dr Thomas spent the bulk of his preaching efforts in Britain, so it is not surprising he had his greatest success there We can read in Robert Roberts’ biography of Dr Thomas a brief note of his success in Nottingham, Plymouth, Derby and Birmingham among the Millentes We can amplify this account from other sources All four cities saw small groups of believers come together from out of the Millerite congregations to which he preached Nottingham was the first town in which Dr Thomas actively preached on his visit to England to large audiences in early August, 1848 According to the Nottingham Journal, August 4, 1848.
Dr Thomas delivered three lectures upon The Destiny of Nations. The learned Doctor who rejoiced in the possession of a magnificent beard, attracted tolerable large audiences and was listened to with great interest The discourse consisted of fluent and ingenious applications of the prophetic portions of Scripture to history, from which he deduced the fact that the Millennium would certainly commence in 1864 It was consolatory to find that England would be the last surviving Kingdom.
In Nottingham, the largest group of followers of Dr Thomas came into being, with about 30 members initially, which increased greatly in subsequent years It remained the largest Christadelphian center in England until surpassed by Birmingham in the 1870’s (I hesitate to comment on the ecclesial situation in Scotland, confused as it was for generations by the “Dowieite” split m the 1860’s).
Derby was the next town Dr Thomas visited, but the group formed there was small and did not grow significantly for many years Plymouth saw the pastor of the Millerite church invite Dr Thomas to lecture, which soon led to a group of 17 followers of Dr Thomas In Birmingham, after a series of lectures spanning two visits, a group of Millentes separated themselves, but did little more than meet for investigation of the scriptures until a Bro Hatfield, who had heard Dr Thomas lecture in 1848, joined the group from the Methodists Even so, Birmingham remained weak and disorganized until Dr Thomas persuaded Robert Roberts to move there in 1864.
As far as I can tell, Dr Thomas only proclaimed his message to four Millerite congregations, yet he saw all four generate groups of followers –
and two of these became the largest Christadelphian ecclesias in England before many years had passed, (a fact which has some interest to me, as my own forebears were called to the Truth in Nottingham, and my wife’s in Birmingham? Indeed, in 1900 my great-great uncle, Edward Hemingray, laid to rest Bro John Pepper, “the last survivor of the small company that accepted the truth in Nottingham on the occasion of the visit of Dr John Thomas in 1848 “).
Conclusion
William Miller is one of the more extreme examples of what happens when any group directly and explicitly sets a date for the return of Christ – a danger Dr Thomas recognized But he later came close to doing the same thing, as we can see from the report of his lecture in Nottingham He remarked when visiting the Adventists m Rochester, New York in 1847 that, “They have occupied themselves too exclusively upon the moment when Christ will return This will be soon, but not so soon as they imagine” However, he found among these Adventists, especially in England, a group that was very receptive to his message, concerned as it was with the Hope of Israel and the impact he foresaw this would have on Europe Clearly, he was in sympathy with the imminent return of Jesus that Miller propounded, and lectured to the same audiences that had previously welcomed Miller’s message Whether without Miller Dr Thomas would have had the same success, or developed his own views in quite the same way, is impossible to decide.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One