Memoirs of William Miller ..

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Class Book

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Preface

The name of William Miller, of Low Hampton, N. Y., is too well known to require an extended introduction ; but, while well known, few men have been more diversely regarded than he. Those who have only heard his name associated with all that is hateful in fanaticism, have necessarily formed opinions respecting him anything but complimentary to his intelligence and sanity ; but those who knew him better, esteemed him as a man of more than ordinary mental power, — a cool, sagacious, and honest reasoner, an humble and devout Christian, a kind and affectionate friend, and a man of great moral and social worth. That the impartial reader may be able to form a just estimate of one who has occupied so conspicuous a position before the public, the following pages are compiled.

To see a man as he is, it is necessary to accompany him through the walks of his daily life ; to trace the manner in which he has arrived at his conclusions ; to follow him into his closet and places of retirement ; to learn the various workings of his mind through a long series of years, and to scan closely his motives. A knowledge of these can be arrived at only by a simple collection of facts and documents illustrative of his history. By full extracts from his unstudied correspondence, by his published writings, by narrations of interviews with him, by the free use of his papers and memorandums, and by the testimony of impartial witnesses respecting his labors in various places, in addition to a long personal acquaintance, his biographer has been enabled to embody much important information respecting him. It has not been deemed necessary to eulogize him, nor to apologize for him. His acts and life are permitted to stand forth, divested of the veil of partiality, or of prejudice. His opinions on all subjects are expressed in his own language, — having himself narrated the workings of his own mind, at the various periods of his life. His

IV PREFACE.

biographer has not felt warranted to omit opinions on any prominent question, or to modify the phraseology in which they are expressed, to meet the views of those who dissented from him. Such a course would have been unjust to Mr. Miller.

However his public labors may be regarded by a majority of the community, it will be seen, by a perusal of his life, that these were by no means unproductive of great good. The revivals of religion which attended his labors are testified to by those who participated in them; and hundreds of souls will ever refer to him as a means, under God, of their awakening and conversion.

His erroneous calculation of the prophetic periods he frankly confessed; and those who regarded his views of prophecy as dependent on that, may be surprised to learn that he distinguished between the manner and the era of their fulfilment.

It is believed that the influence exerted by Mr. Miller will not prove evanescent in its results. The attention which was given to his arguments caused many minds entirely to change their preconceived opinions respecting the millennial state, who have since remained devoted Christians, ardently looking for the Nobleman who has gone into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. — Luke 19 : 12. As the public learn to discriminate between the actual position of Mr. Miller and that which prejudice has conceived that he occupied, his conservativeness and disapprobation of every fanatical practice will be admitted, and a much more just estimate will be had of him.

These Memoirs were commenced by Elder Apollos Hale, who prepared the first three chapters. Other duties having interfered with his progress in the work, its completion has devolved on another. No labor or expense has been spared to give a full and impartial history of his life, the principal incidents of which, as here recorded, were originally related by him. Desiring " nothing to extenuate, nor to set down aught in malice," these incidents of his history, and this embodiment of his views, I here present to the Christian public as an act of justice to Mr. Miller.

JOSHUA V. HIMES.

Boston, January, 1853.

Contents

PAGE.

Chapter II. His Marriage — Independence Hymn — Politics — ■ Worldly Prospects — Deistical Sentiments — Position, &c 17

Chapter III. His Military Life — March to Burlington — Recruiting Service — Sickness — Campaign of 1814 — Army Discipline— Battle of Plattsburg — Of Champlain — Letter to Judge Stanley — To his Wife — Close of the War, &c 31

Chapter IV. Removal to Low Hampton — His Conversion — Study of the Bible — Rales of Interpretation — The Teachings of Prophecy — His Creed, &c 63

Chapter V. Interval between his Conversion and Public Labors

— Letters — His Dream . — Acrostic — Letter from Elder Hendryx

— Dialogue with a Physician, &c 80

Chapter VI. Commencement of his Public Labors — Publishes

his Views in Pamphlet — Interview on the Hudson River Boat

— His Regard for the Bible — Correspondence, &c 97

Chapter VII. Becomes a Licensed Preacher — Visits different

places — Letter to a Universalist — Poetical Letter — Memorandum of his Labors — Sketch of a Discourse, &c 108

Chapter VIII. Doors open for him to lecture — Is countenanced by the Ministers of his Denomination — His First Assistance— Death of his Mother — Incident at Shaftsbury — Result of his Labors — Testimony of a Convert from Infidelity — Letter of Rev. Charles Fitch — LTrgent Appeals to visit different Towns, &c 119

Chapter IX. He visits Massachusetts — Invitation to Lowell — Extract from the Lynn Record — Is invited to Boston — Conversation with Elder Himes — Publication of his Lectures — Lectures in Portsmouth, &c 134

Chapter X. Publication of the " Signs of the Times " — Visits to Watertown, Portland, New York city, &c. — His Sickness — Resignation, &c 144

Chapter XI. Lectures in Boston (4th, 5th, and 6th courses) — In Andover, Providence, Gralway, N. Y., Claremont, N. H.,

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Benson, Vt. —His Illness— Incident at Sandy Hill— At Worcester — The Phrenologist — Lectures in Hartford, &c. . . .154

Chapter XII. Lectures in New York, Newark, Saratoga, Newburyport, Palmer, East Kingston Camp-meeting, Brandon, Vt., Benson, Chickopee, Mass., New Haven, Ct., &c 163

Chapter XIII. Synopsis of his Views — Address to Believers in the near Advent — Interview at Waterford — Utica — Hoax at Washington — Disturbance at Philadelphia — The 3d of April — Statement of his Affairs— Is defended by the Secular Press, &c 170

Chapter XIV. Mr. Miller and his Reviewers, Doctors Dowling, Chase, Jarvis, &c. — The Fourth Kingdom — The Little Horn — Prophetic Numbers — Seventy Weeks — Coming of Christ, &c 185

Chapter XV. His Treatment of Opponents — Specimens of his

Preaching, Colloquial, Expository, &c 206

Chapter XVI. His Sickness — Visit to Massachusetts — Fanaticism — Mr. Miller repudiates it, &c 227

Chapter XVII. Emotions in View of the Advent — Home of Mr. Miller — Tour into Western New York — His Personal Appearance— Address to all Denominations — Visit to Washington, &c 239

Chapter XVIII. The Passing of the Time — His Position — The Burning Day — Lines on his Disappointment — Confession

— Visit of Elder Litch — Mr. Miller and the Methodist Ministers — Tour to Ohio — Return, &c 254

Chapter XIX. The Seventh Month Movement — Anticipations of Christ's Coming — The Derry Camp-meeting — Disappointment — The Nobleman and his Servants — Need of Patience

— Conference at Low Hampton — Easy Mode of converting Men. — Ecclesiastical Council at Low Hampton, &c 209

Chapter XX. Results of the Seventh Month — Discussion of New

Questions — Mr. Miller's Position respecting them, &c 2-93

Chapter XXI. Mutual Conference at Albany — Declaration of Principles — Plan of Operations — Address to the Brethren — Action of the Conference defended by Mr. Miller, &c 300

Chapter XXII. His Apology and Defence — Definiteness of Prophetic Time — Erroneous Views Connected with the Doctrine, &c 325

Chapter XXIH. The Value of Faith — Unfinished Letter — Visit to New York city — Philadelphia, &c. — Address to the Public

— Visit to Canada 340

Chapter XXIV. His Dream — Loss of Sight — Events in Europe

— Health Declines — Expression of Sympathy — His Reply,

Chapter XXV. His last Sickness — Death — Funeral — Letter of

Condolence to Surviving Friends, &c . 376

Chapter XXVI. Extracts from his Published Writings — The

Kingdom of God — The Times and its Duties — A Scene of the

Last Day, &c 384

MEMOIKS

OF

WILLIAM MILLER.

CHAPTER I.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE.

About a mile west from the centre of Pittsfield village, one of the most pleasant in western Massachusetts, there is a noble and fertile swell of land, which rises from the west bank of Pontousooc river — the western branch of the head-waters of the Housatonic — and is of sufficient extent to constitute several large farms. The summit of this fine elevation embraces what is familiarly known in the neighborhood as "the Miller farm." It takes its name from a family by the name of Miller, who came from the vicinity of Connecticut river, in or near Springfield, Massachusetts, about a hundred years ago.^

# We take the following extract from a manuscript copy of a letter addressed to one of the Miller family, in G-eorgeville, Lower Canada, dated September 27, 1830. It was written by William Miller, in answer to a request for information on his family history ; and is a curious but characteristic production :

"My grandfather, William Miller, married a respectable girl, by the name of Hannah Leonard, in West Springfield ; and moved into Pittsfield, then called Ponthoosoc, about 1747, and there had three sons and one daughter. One son died young; the daughter about middle age, after being married, and having a son and daughter, by Nathaniel Spring, named William and Hannah. The other two sons, named Elihu and William, married and had large families, many of whom are yet alive. I sprung from the youngest brother, William ."

Family tradition uniformly connects this branch of the Miller family with Obadiah and Thomas Miller, of a previous generation, undoubtedly the persons of these names who are mentioned in the history of Springfield and Westfieldj two hundred years since.

The surrounding country, as seen from the Miller farm, furnishes one of the most interesting prospects afforded by the natural scenery of New England. On the north. Saddle Mountain, the highest elevation of land in the state, towers far above all the other barriers of the valley; and while its "Gray Lock'' will ever cause it to be regarded as the venerable and natural guardian of the adjacent portion of the world, it is pointed out as the site of Fort Massachusetts, so memorable for the scenes connected with its history during the French and Indian wars. The Washington Mountains form the strong background of the view on the east; the Hancock Mountains, a section of the Green Mountain range, of which Saddle Mountain is the climax, bound the view on the west : and some isolated mountainous elevations, through which the branches of the Housatonic river and railroad pass, are the prominent items in the prospect to the south.

On this commanding spot, the family of early adventurers erected their primitive dwelling : and. although their history is unknown to the world, the strong features of their character, as preserved in the memory of their descendants, were, the most daring contempt of danger, great love of independence, great capability of endurance, and whole-souled patriotism. The head of this family was the grandfather of William Miller, whose life these pages record. The name of the grandfather was William : his son. who was born and resided here, was named William : and here also was born the one who has just passed away, and whose world-wide fame demands that his history should now be written. This William Miller was born February loth. A. D. 17S2. He was the eldest of sixteen children, five of whom were sons and eleven were daughters.

The lot of ground on which the ancient dwelling stood is designated, on the new map of Pittsfield, by the name of i; Dr. J. Leland Miller.'* The building itself is

HIS ANCESTRY. O

no more. The remains of the cellar are still visible; and the ruins are marked by an ancient gooseberry bush, a hardy specimen of the wild thorn, and an elm of the age, perhaps, of twenty years.

The period immediately preceding his birth was the most critical of any period in the history of our country ; and was, probably, the most distinguished by its perils, the sublimity of its events, the noble development of character it furnished, and its commanding interpositions of Providence, of any period since the departure of Israel from the land of Egypt. If the English colonies were the only ones that were capable of bettering their condition, and that of the world, by asserting and obtaining their liberty, the colonies of our country, now the United States, furnish the only instance of successful rebellion against the power of the English throne.

What effect the events of this period had on the fortune, the character, and the history of the subject of this memoir, we may be unable fully to determine ; but it will be readily seen, that the most fondly cherished memorials of his family, as of his country, could not fail of making a deep impression on his mind, at an early age. That the embarrassed condition of his early life was the direct result of the great sacrifices made by his progenitors, in the struggles and sufferings which they nobly shared with their contemporaries, is equally evident.

William's father, Captain William Miller, was in the army of the Revolution. At the time of the evacuation of New York by order of Washington, on the invasion of that city by Lord Howe, in August, 1776, he was confined, sick with fever, in the hospital. By rallying all his strength, and the assistance he obtained from his fellow-soldiers, he succeeded in leaving the city with the continental troops. The effort, however, proved almost fatal. When his companions, in the retiring movement, sought shelter in a barn, during a storm, he was left helpless under the drippings from its roof, until his sad condition moved the compassion of a fellow-soldier, in better health than himself, to come to his relief. This true soldier entered the barn ; he crowded together those who filled the already crowded floor, and thus made room for his almost dying comrade, Miller; and then he bore him gently to the rude place of repose he had prepared for him. Under such circumstances, the poorest accommodations are enjoyed with a soul-inspiring sense of comfort, of which those who are in health, among friends, secure from danger, and surrounded with the luxuries of life, can form no conception.

With our suffering soldier the point of danger appears to have been passed, by this timely assistance of his friend. How much he was afterwards indebted to the same, or some other generous heart, we have no recorded or traditionary testimony to inform us. He returned to Pittsfield, and was married to Miss Paulina Phelps, on the 22d day of March, 1781. The family records inform us that he was born December 15th, 1757; and that Miss Phelps was born May 1st, 1764.

Five years after their marriage, they removed to Hampton, in the State of New York, where the survivor of the dangers and hardships of the revolutionary struggle was promoted to the office of captain in the militia of that state. In the last war with England, he was a member of the company called the Silver Grays, a volunteer body, to whose protection the public stores and other property at Whitehall were intrusted, on the approach of the British army along the shores, and of the British fleet on the waters of Lake Champlain. As a citizen, the character of Captain Miller was irreproachable. He never made a public profession of religion ; but his house was often the place to which the neighbors gathered to hear the preaching of the gospel. He was taken away suddenly, with one of his daughters, by the pestilence which broke out in the army at Burlington, Vermont, and swept over a considerable portion of the country, with the most terrible fatality. He died December 30th, 1812, three days after his daughter.

Captain Miller's wife was the daughter of Elder Elnathan Phelps, a minister of the Baptist church, and well known, in his day, for the plain, scriptural character of his preaching, through the whole section of country extending from western Massachusetts, along the line of Vermont and New York, to Lake Champlain. She was one of the earliest members of the Baptist church formed at Low Hampton, then a branch of the church at Orwell,

HIS ANCESTRY. 5

Vermont, where Elder Phelps resided. We have the most convincing evidence of the sterling character of her piety; and shall find, as we progress, another instance to add to the long list, which the church of God keeps among her choicest memorials, to illustrate the power of a Christian mother's deportment and prayers, in recovering a gifted son from a dangerous position, and bringing him where his powerful natural energies, after being renewed by the spirit of God, would be devoted to the defence of the faith, and the edification of the church. Her death will be noticed m another place.

Thus were blended in the parents of William, as their strongest traits of character, the highest virtues which heaven and earth can confer on man — piety and patriotism. If patriotism became most conspicuous to the public eye, by its exhibition on the field of danger and suffering, where the husband moved, its claims on the comfort of the wife, in her retirement, were felt to be sufficiently heavy. And if the mother, by her public but appropriate profession of faith, made her piety the most noticeable, the father yielded, at least, his assent and respect to that name and service which had won the heart and added to the graces of William's mother. The soldier of the Revolution was to lead his son into scenes, and bring him under a worldly discipline, which would add to his efficiency ; and the camp, for a time, would feel as sure of his permanent attachment as it was to be proud of his soldierly honor ; but the disciple of the cross would, at last, see that son enlisted under a different banner, to become a leader of other ranks to a different warfare, and a different kind of glory !

The calling of William's grandfathers was entirely different ; but there was a remarkable similarity in their end. Elder Phelps was suddenly attacked, while on a journey from Orwell to Pittsfield, by the army epidemic ; he was found in a dying state by the wayside, in Pownal, Vermont, where he soon after died, and was buried by the side of their pastor's grave, all unknown to his friends at home, till these last acts of respect and affection had been completed. He is mentioned in " Benedict's History of the Baptists," (p. 485,) among " the first Baptist ministers who settled in Vermont." This took place "about the year 1780." He died in peace January 2d, 1813. Of his grandfather Miller, but little more is recollected than his escape from death at the hands of the Indians, almost by miracle, to find a grave among strangers, on his return from the wars of our colonial history ; probably from some one of the ill-advised and unsuccessful attempts on Canada, at the commencement of the Revolutionary War.

The traditionary form of his Indian adventures is to this effect : — Somewhere in the western part of Massachusetts, when every exposed white settlement was protected by a rude fort, the grandfather and several companions were going to one of them, probably to strengthen the garrison, and must travel several miles by the road, or take a nearer route through the wilderness. Mr. Miller chose to take the shorter route, alone. He had come within hearing of the fort without harm, when a sudden stirring of the bushes awakened his fears, and he started to run. At the same instant the Indians fired their muskets, and several balls passed through the skirts of his heavy coat. He had proceeded but a few steps before he stumbled and fell to the ground ; but his fall saved his life, for the hatchets of the Indians passed at the instant directly over his head. His self-command now returned ; he arose to his feet, took aim at the spot where the savages were concealed, fired, turned and fled. The report brought some of the garrison, including several friendly Indians, to the spot. These Indians had already decided that the last gun heard was that of a white man, and that he had killed an Indian, for they heard his death-yell. On repairing to the spot, marks of blood were seen ; and these were traced to a pond near by, into which it was supposed the dead Indian was thrown by his brethren.

It is thought by Deacon Samuel D. Colt, an aged, highly intelligent, and respected gentleman of Pittsfield, where he has resided since he was a child, that this incident is connected with the history of " Hutchinson's Fort," so called from the man who built it, during " the second French war." It was located about two miles west of the village. Its site is now covered by a brick dwelling-house. None of the other forts were then occu-

CONDITION OF THE FAMILY. 7

pied. The few inhabitants of Pittsfield nearly all left the place at the time, on which account there is an omission in the town records for several years. Deacon Colt remarked, on referring to the adventure, that "this Miller was a courageous fellow." Mr. Miller afterwards fell a victim to the small-pox, as before stated.

Such, then, were the family recollections and public events which were to make the first and deepest impression on the strong intellect and generous heart of the subject of this memoir.

When William's parents removed from Pittsfield. in 1786, the section which embraced what is now known as Low Hampton was an almost uninhabited wilderness,^ The village of Fairhaven did not then exist. And the town of Whitehall, now one of the familiar and important centres of trade and travel, was marked only by a few rude dwellings, the inhabitants of which were in danger of being crushed by the trees impending from the mountain sides over their heads. Half a dozen, or possibly half a score, of farm-houses were scattered over the country, between the southern extremity of Lake Champlain and Poultney, Vermont. But it was naturally a much more fertile and inviting country than the western part of Massachusetts. William was then about four years of age.

The farm selected by Mr. Miller consisted of about a hundred acres. It was taken on a lease, for which twenty bushels of wheat were to be paid annually. The farm was located near the bank of Poultney river, about six miles from the lake. After a suitable clearing had been effected, the logs of the felled trees were converted into a dwelling, and farming life in the wilderness, with its toils, privations, and hardships, was fairly begun. This was the condition of things to which young William's lot consigned him. The difficulties with which he had to contend need not all be enumerated.

In his early childhood, marks of more than ordinary intellectual strength and activity were manifested. A

# The name then applied to this section was " Skeenesborough ; " though its extent or boundaries do not appear to have been very definite.

few years made these marks more and more noticeable to all who fell into his society. But where were the powers of the inner man to find the nutriment to satisfy their cravings, and the field for their exercise ?

Besides the natural elements of education, the objects, the scenes, and the changes of the natural world, which have ever furnished to all truly great minds their noblest aliment, the inspiring historical recollections associated with well-known localities of the neighboring country. and the society of domestic life, there was nothing within William's reach but the Bible, the psalter, and prayer-book, till he had resided at Low Hampton several years. But were ever such natural scenery and such historical associations before blended together in so confined a circle ?

A few rods behind and west of the log house, the level which began at the bank of the river was broken by one of those natural terraces which mark so often the long slopes of the outspread valleys of our country. From this beautiful elevation, a forest scene might be witnessed, at the return of every autumn, that was so rich in its variegated beauties, and covered so extended a field, that it could not fail to entrance the soul of even an ordinary lover of nature, on beholding it.

From the summit of the sharp mountainous ridge, half a mile further west, there was spread out before the eye a view as captivating by its grandeur as that from the lowlier position was by its beauty. The extent of country seen from this higher point was not less than fifty miles from north to south, while it stretched away easterly to the Green Mountains, the distant outline of which, including some of the higher peaks, seemed to rest against the sky.

Sometimes a dense, motionless sea of vapor spread over the low plain, through which the hill-tops rose up like islands, and to which the neighboring mountain sides seemed to form the coast. From the wide-spread surface of this mimic sea, the smoke of the scattered farm-houses arose, and, as it became chilled in the air above, turned and sunk into the vapory bed, very much in the form, but not with the force, of the water spouted by a whale in the ocean. Again, the rising smoke from

INTERESTING LOCALITIES. 9

the farm-house, the coal-pit, and from masses of burning wood, when it reached an atmospheric line the temperature or density of which refused it an upward passage, slowly formed itself into an upper cloudy stratum, which connected the higher hill-tops as by an extended magic bridge. And sometimes the storm clouds swept along these mountain sides in their wildest and most imposing grandeur, the sure precursors of a sudden squall or tempest ; and perhaps the spell-bound observer would not have time to reach the warm but rude cabin-door before the descending rain or snow would shut out every object but the ground beneath his feet.

Bears, wolves, and other dangerous wild animals, which had formerly abounded through the whole region, at this time usually kept among the unfrequented recesses of the mountains. But occasionally, during the severity of winter, when the wolves were pressed by hunger, their howlings disturbed the repose of the settler, if they did not inflict a more serious injury, by the destruction of his flock. And, one night, William's mother was out near their residence, and seeing what she supposed was one of their domestic animals, she approached it, and, as she was about extending her hand towards it, was very soon informed of her mistake, by the frightful growl of a bear.

From the earliest times reached by history or tradition, Lake Champlain, and the natural landing-places which open into the country on its southern extremity, seem to have been the chosen thoroughfare for the native savages in their migrations, for the savages and the French in their warlike expeditions against the English colonists on the Atlantic, and afterwards for the British in their wars with the revolutionary colonies and the United States. The scenes of savage cruelty, of patriotic daring and ordinary war, which have marked the face of the earth along that chosen highway, had wellnigh ended when William was born. But nearly every mile between Quebec and Albany had been a battleground; and many a spot, from Canada along the mountain passes of northern New York, Vermont, and western Massachusetts, was known as the scene of some terrible Indian tragedy.

Only about two miles below his fathers residence, on the river near the banks of which it stood, are " Carver's Falls.'7 one of the most romantic localities in our country. Directly below the falls is a broad, oblong basin, which connects with the lake, the precipitous sides of which were formerly hung with a thick growth of hemlocks. Some of the most fatal expeditions of the savages, against the frontier settlements of New England. were carried on by parties who ascended the river from the lake to this basin, there secreting their canoes under the dark evergreen branches of the hemlock trees : and then, threading their way secretly to the dwellings of the English, would seize their captives, or take the scalps of the murdered inhabitants, and return to their canoes. Here, in this secluded hiding-place, the danger was all over.

Just across the lake were Ticonderoga. Crown Point, and Lake George. Within the limits of the view before mentioned, to the south, were Fort Edward and Fort William Henry ; and, a little further distant, were Saratoga and Bennington. Of these names we need not speak.

This is the scenery, and these are the recollections, which entered largely into William's early education. He was not, however, entirely destitute of other resources.