American Reformer
277
awakening in which thirteen entire families, with the exception of
two persons, were converted. He was immediately urged to speak in
other places, and in nearly every place his labor resulted in a revival of
the work of God. Sinners were converted, Christians were roused to
greater consecration, and deists and infidels were led to acknowledge
the truth of the Bible and the Christian religion. The testimony of
those among whom he labored was: “A class of minds are reached
by him not within the influence of other men.”—Ibid., page 138. His
preaching was calculated to arouse the public mind to the great things
of religion and to check the growing worldliness and sensuality of the
age.
In nearly every town there were scores, in some, hundreds, con-
verted as a result of his preaching. In many places Protestant churches
[332]
of nearly all denominations were thrown open to him, and the invita-
tions to labor usually came from the ministers of the several congrega-
tions. It was his invariable rule not to labor in any place to which he
had not been invited, yet he soon found himself unable to comply with
half the requests that poured in upon him. Many who did not accept
his views as to the exact time of the second advent were convinced
of the certainty and nearness of Christ’s coming and their need of
preparation. In some of the large cities his work produced a marked
impression. Liquor dealers abandoned the traffic and turned their shops
into meeting rooms; gambling dens were broken up; infidels, deists,
Universalists, and even the most abandoned profligates were reformed,
some of whom had not entered a house of worship for years. Prayer
meetings were established by the various denominations, in different
quarters, at almost every hour, businessmen assembling at midday for
prayer and praise. There was no extravagant excitement, but an almost
universal solemnity on the minds of the people. His work, like that of
the early Reformers, tended rather to convince the understanding and
arouse the conscience than merely to excite the emotions.
In 1833 Miller received a license to preach, from the Baptist
Church, of which he was a member. A large number of the min-
isters of his denomination also approved his work, and it was with
their formal sanction that he continued his labors. He traveled and
preached unceasingly, though his personal labors were confined prin-
cipally to the New England and Middle States. For several years his
expenses were met wholly from his own private purse, and he never