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Scriptures, which before were dark and contradictory, now became
the lamp to my feet and light to my path. My mind became settled
and satisfied. I found the Lord God to be a Rock in the midst of the
ocean of life. The Bible now became my chief study, and I can truly
say, I searched it with great delight. I found the half was never told
me. I wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, and
marveled that I could have ever rejected it. I found everything revealed
that my heart could desire, and a remedy for every disease of the soul.
I lost all taste for other reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom
from God.”—S. Bliss, Memoirs of Wm. Miller, pages 65-67.
Miller publicly professed his faith in the religion which he had
despised. But his infidel associates were not slow to bring forward all
those arguments which he himself had often urged against the divine
authority of the Scriptures. He was not then prepared to answer them;
but he reasoned that if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be
consistent with itself; and that as it was given for man’s instruction,
it must be adapted to his understanding. He determined to study the
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Scriptures for himself, and ascertain if every apparent contradiction
could not be harmonized.
Endeavoring to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and dispensing
with commentaries, he compared scripture with scripture by the aid of
the marginal references and the concordance. He pursued his study in
a regular and methodical manner; beginning with Genesis, and reading
verse by verse, he proceeded no faster than the meaning of the several
passages so unfolded as to leave him free from all embarrassment.
When he found anything obscure, it was his custom to compare it with
every other text which seemed to have any reference to the matter under
consideration. Every word was permitted to have its proper bearing
upon the subject of the text, and if his view of it harmonized with
every collateral passage, it ceased to be a difficulty. Thus whenever
he met with a passage hard to be understood he found an explanation
in some other portion of the Scriptures. As he studied with earnest
prayer for divine enlightenment, that which had before appeared dark
to his understanding was made clear. He experienced the truth of the
psalmist’s words: “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth
understanding unto the simple.”
Psalm 119:130
.
With intense interest he studied the books of Daniel and the Reve-
lation, employing the same principles of interpretation as in the other