Basic HTML Version
New Light in the New World
189
wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn
the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at thine hand.’ I felt that if the wicked
could be effectually warned, multitudes of them would repent; and
that if they were not warned, their blood might be required at my
hand.
The words were ever recurring to his mind: “Go and tell it
to the world; their blood will I require at thy hand.” For nine years
he waited, the burden still pressing upon his soul, until in 1831 he
for the first time publicly gave the reasons of his faith.
He was now fifty, unaccustomed to public speaking, but his
labors were blessed. His first lecture was followed by a religious
awakening. Thirteen entire families, with the exception of two
persons, were converted. He was urged to speak in other places,
and in nearly every place sinners were converted. Christians were
roused to greater consecration, and deists and infidels were led to
acknowledge the truth of the Bible. His preaching aroused the public
mind and checked the growing worldliness and sensuality of the age.
In many places Protestant churches of nearly all denominations
were thrown open to him, and invitations usually came from the
ministers. It was his 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. Many were convinced of
the certainty and nearness of Christ’s coming and their need of
[208]
preparation. In some of the large cities, liquor dealers turned their
shops into meeting rooms; gambling dens were broken up; infidels
and even the most abandoned profligates were reformed. Prayer
meetings were established by the various denominations at almost
every hour, businessmen assembling at midday for prayer and praise.
There was no extravagant excitement. His work, like that of the
early Reformers, tended rather to convince the understanding and
arouse the conscience than merely to excite emotion.
In 1833 Miller received a license to preach from the Baptist
Church. A large number of the ministers of his denomination ap-
proved his work; it was with their formal sanction that he continued
his labors. He traveled and preached unceasingly, never receiving
5
Ezekiel 33:8; Bliss, p. 92.