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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 that are not within the influence of other men.” “His preaching
is 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 the result of his preaching. In many places Protestant
churches of nearly all denominations were thrown open to him; and
the invitations to labor usually came from the ministers of the several
congregations. It was his invariable rule not to labor in any place to
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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 sec-
ond 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 the most abandoned
profligates were reformed—some of whom had not entered a house
of worship of years. Prayer-meetings were established by the various
denominations, in different quarters, at almost every hour, business
men assembling at midday for prayer and praise. There was no extrav-
agant 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 principally to the New England and Middle States. For
several years his expenses were met wholly from his own private purse,
and he never afterward received enough to meet the expense of travel