WILLIAM MILLER AND THE RISE OF

WILLIAM MILLER AND THE RISE OF ADVENTISM

George R. Knight

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Knight, George R. William Miller and the rise of Adventism / George R. Knight. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (pp. 291–321) and index. ISBN 13: 978-0-8163-2432-3 (pbk.) ISBN 10: 0-8163-2432-8 (pbk.) 1. Miller, William, 1782-1849. 2 Millerite movement. 3. Adventists—History. I. Title. BX6193.M5K65 2010 286.709—dc22 2010034678

10 11 12 13 14 • 1 2 3 4 5 Contents

A Word to the Reader...... 7

PART I: Moving Toward the Year of the End

Chapter 1: Millennial Passion...... 13 • Revival of the Study of • and the Second Great Awaken- • Millennial Conflict ing

Chapter 2: The Making of a Millennialist: William Miller’s Early Years...... 21 • Not Always a Rebel • An Enthusiastic Bible Student • The Deistic Years and the War of 1812 • To Preach or Not to Preach • Back to

Chapter 3: Miller’s Mission to the World...... 38 • A Profile of Miller the Man • A Profile of Miller’s Results • A Profile of Miller’s Message

Chapter 4: Enter Joshua V. Himes: Mission Organizer...... 56 • Meet J. V. Himes • Organizational Strategist • Himes Meets Miller • Himes Under Criticism • “The Napoleon of the Press”

Chapter 5: More Millennial Missionaries...... 78 • Joins the Adventist Mission • Additional Millerite Leaders • The Millerite Camp Meetings • Black and Female Lecturers • The Zealous

PART II: The Year of the End

Chapter 6: Entering the Year of the End...... 105 • Progressively Focusing on the Time • Non-Millerite Responses to the • A Year of Expectancy and Arrival of the Year

Chapter 7: Coming Out of Babylon...... 119 • “Boundary Crisis” • Toward Millerite Separatism • Growing Resistance to Millerism • “Babylon Has Fallen” Chapter 8: The Spring Disappointment...... 134 • A “Final” Evangelistic Thrust • But Christ Did Not Come

Chapter 9: The Tarrying Time...... 141 • Persevering in “the Work” • Fanaticism in the Ranks

Chapter 10: The “True Midnight Cry”...... 159 • A New Message • “Real” and “Perceived” Fanaticism • New Leaders in the Seventh Month • Older Leaders Join the Seventh-Month • Moving Toward October 22 Movement

Chapter 11: The October Disappointment...... 184 • Immediate Reactions • The Shut Door and the Forming of • A Leadership in Turmoil the Battle Line • The Scattering Time

PART III: Moving Away From the Year of the End

Chapter 12: Adventism’s Radical Fringe...... 209 • The Rise of the Spiritualizers • The Shaker Temptation • Aberrant Adventism • “Who Is We? ”

Chapter 13: The Albany Reaction...... 228 • Up to Albany • From Albany to Miller’s Death • Albany • The Albany Denominations • Immediately After Albany

Chapter 14: The Sabbatarian Disentanglement...... 251 • Born in Confusion • The Third Angel • New Personalities • The Gathering Time • New Doctrines: The Answer to Confusion

Chapter 15: Millerism at 170...... 277 • The Changing Shape of Adventism • And What of the Passion? • The “Why” of Success

NOTES...... 291

INDEX...... 327 A Word to the Reader

illiam Miller has been called “the most famous millenarian in Amer- ican history.”1 Between 1840 and 1844, his message that Christ would W come “about the year 1843” swept across the United States and beyond. Although seen as a harmless aberration at first, by 1843 Miller’s teaching polarized individuals and churches as they faced the year of the end of the world. After the passing of the year of the end, several Adventist denominations arose out of the ranks of the disappointed Millerites. The most significant of those denomina- tions were the Advent Christians and the Seventh-day Adventists. William Miller and the Rise of Adventism provides a historical overview of Miller- ism. Part 1 deals with the personalities and ideas that shaped Millerite Adventism as it approached the time of the expected . Part 2 examines the events and tensions of that climactic year. And part 3 treats the development of Adventism after the passing of the expected time for Christ to come. Thus a first purpose of this book is to set forth a comprehensive overview of Mil- lerism. While several books have appeared on the topic, none thus far have sought to be comprehensive. William Miller and the Rise of Adventism seeks to fill that gap. A second purpose of this volume is to explore possible reasons for Millerism’s surprising success. Beyond the usual sociological explanations that highlight external factors for that success, the present work argues that the vital internal dynamic that thrust the Millerites into the flow of history was a deep certainty, based upon concen- trated study of the apocalyptic of and the Revelation, that Christ

7 William Miller and the Rise of Adventism was coming soon and an impelling con- saw the publication of five significant viction of personal responsibility to warn studies on the history of Millerism: Clyde the world of that good yet fearful news. E. Hewitt’s Midnight and Morning In short, the Millerites were mission driven (1983)4; David L. Rowe’s Thunder and because they saw themselves as a prophetic Trumpets: Millerites and Dissenting Reli- people with a message that the world desper- gion in Upstate , 1800-1850 ately needed to hear. That certitude appears (1985)5; Michael Barkun’s Crucible of the to be the internal mainspring that led the Millennium: The Burned-over District of Millerites to dedicate their all to their New York in the (1986)6; Ruth Al- task. den Doan’s The Miller Heresy, Millennial- Such a deeply held conviction seems ism, and American Culture (1987)7; and to be a precondition to success in all types the volume edited by Ronald L. Num- of millennial movements. Without that bers and Jonathan M. Butler entitled The prophetic certainty and its accompanying Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarian- sense of urgent responsibility, millennial ism in the Nineteenth Century (1987).8 movements begin to atrophy. With their My own work on the topic was first mainspring absent, they lose their dy- published in 1993 as Millennial Fever namic for vitality and growth. and the End of the World: A Study of Mil- Scholars largely neglected serious lerite Adventism.9 I was indebted not only study of Millerism until the 1980s. For to those scholars listed above, but also to decades that study was largely frozen be- the unpublished work of many other stu- tween the poles of Clara Endicott Sears’ dents. Of special value were the unpub- Days of Delusion (1924)2 and Francis D. lished research of David Arthur10 and Nichol’s The Midnight Cry (1944).3 While Everett Dick.11 Two other informative the first of those books was anecdotal and studies have been P. Gerard Damsteegt’s critical, the second was scholarly but ad- Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist mittedly apologetic. In spite of its defen- Message and Mission12 and the fourth vol- sive flavor, Nichol’s work did much to ume of LeRoy E. Froom’s The Prophetic correct misconceptions about Millerism Faith of Our Fathers.13 While those last in scholarly works touching upon the two focus more on Miller’s system of pro- topic. phetic interpretation than on the history The 1980s witnessed a flurry of book- of Millerism, they provide students of length studies in this neglected area of Millerite history with an abundance of in- American religious history. That decade sight unavailable in other secondary works.

8 A Word to the Reader Needless to say, the volumes and re- the doctoral dissertations of Alberto search listed above have greatly increased Timm19 and Merlin Burt.20 The Advent- our knowledge of both Millerism and the ist Classic Library sponsored by Andrews world in which it developed. The present University Press has also made several book not only builds upon previous pub- additions to the study of Millerism and lished and unpublished research into the rise of Adventism. Included in that Millerism, but it endeavors to extend and series are republications of Isaac Well- enrich that research. I have indicated my come’s History of the Second Advent Mes- many other scholarly debts in the notes. sage with an introduction by Gary Land,21 As noted above, the original title of ’ Memoirs of William Miller this book was Millennial Fever and the with an essay by Merlin Burt,22 Joseph End of the World. Outside of editorial Bates’ Autobiography with an essay by changes and the updating of statistics Gary Land,23 and James White’s Life In- and some of the bibliographic entries, the cidents with an essay by Jerry Moon.24 In content remains largely the same. I have, addition to those works, my 1844 and the however, corrected those factual errors Rise of Sabbatarian Adventism repub- that have come to my attention. lished many of the most important Mil- Since the initial publication in 1993 lerite and early Sabbatarian Adventist several works dealing with Miller and the documents along with introductory es- rise of Adventism have come off the says.25 press. Foremost among those especially My appreciation continues to go out dedicated to Millerism have been David to the many libraries and archives that Rowe’s God’s Strange Work: William Miller provided me with documents during and the End of the World 14 and the doc- the fifteen years of my initial study of toral dissertation by Tommy L. Faris on Millerism. Foremost among those li- William Miller as a man of “common braries and archives were those at An- sense.”15 Another valuable contribution to drews University, Aurora University, the field is Gary Land’s historiographical Oberlin College, Cornell University, the essay on Millerism.16 New works especially Historical Society, and the helpful on the post-disappointment rise American Antiquarian Society. Ongoing of Sabbatarian Adventism include Ger- gratitude for my early study of the topic ald Wheeler’s James White: Innovator and is also extended to Sandra White of the Overcomer,17 my : The Real interlibrary loan department of Andrews Founder of Seventh-day Adventism,18 and University, to Louise Dederen and Jim

9 William Miller and the Rise of Adventism Ford of the Adventist Heritage Center at Timm, and Richard Schwarz for reading , and to Susan L. Craig the manuscript; to Bonnie Tyson-Flyn, of Aurora University and her staff in the who guided the book through the edito- Jenks Memorial Collection of Adventual rial process; and to the administration of Materials. For copies of the photographs Andrews University who provided finan- used in this work and its predecessor, I am cial support and time for research and indebted to the late David Arthur of Au- writing. rora University, Jim Nix of the Ellen G. Special appreciation for the revised White Estate, and Janice Little of Loma edition goes to my wife Bonnie for the Linda University. endless hours she has spent developing Additional appreciation for the initial an electronic copy of the manuscript and publication of this material goes to Bon- entering in corrections and changes. nie Beres, who typed the manuscript; to Without her dedication and patience the Heidi Bergan, who spent countless hours publication of William Miller and the Rise searching out and copying documents; to of Adventism would have been impossible. Joseph Karanja, who also assisted in doc- ument collection; to Donald Dayton, George R. Knight Ronald Knott, Gary Land, Alberto Rogue River, Oregon

10 Part I

MOVING TOWARD THE YEAR OF THE END

Chapter 1 MILLENNIAL PASSION

n 1818 a recent convert to Christianity came to the shocking conclusion that Christ would personally and visibly return to earth to set up His eternal I kingdom in about twenty-five years—1843. That conclusion filled William Miller with both joy and uneasiness. The joy stemmed from his belief that the sor- rows of earth would soon be over; the uneasiness, from both the realization that he had a responsibility to warn the world if his conclusions were true and the nagging fear that his calculations could be wrong.1

Revival of the Study of Prophecy Miller was not alone in his hope for a soon-coming millennial kingdom. “America in the early nineteenth century,” claims Ernest Sandeen, “was drunk on the millen- nium.”2 Christians of all stripes believed they were on the very edge of the kingdom of God. The frightfully destructive Lisbon earthquake of 1755 had directed the minds of many to the topic of the end of the world, but the most important stimulus found rootage in the events of the French Revolution in the 1790s. The social and political upheavals then taking place reminded people of biblical descriptions of the end of the world. Eyes were turned to the biblical prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation by the violence and magnitude of the French catastrophe.3 In particular, many Bible students soon developed an interest in the time prophe- cies and the year 1798. In February of that year, Napoleon’s general Berthier had

13 William Miller and the Rise of Adventism marched into Rome and dethroned Bible’s apocalyptic prophecies. Pius VI. Thus 1798, for many Bible A belief in the fulfillment of Daniel scholars, became the anchor point for 12:4 and the unlocking of the 1260-year/ correlating secular history with biblical day prophecy of Daniel 7:25 encouraged prophecy. Using the principle that in students of prophecy to continue their prophecy a day equals a year, they saw exciting explorations. They soon came the capture of the pope as the “deadly across the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel wound” of Revelation 13:3 and the ful- 8:14: “Unto two thousand and three hun- fillment of the 1260-year/day prophecy dred days; then shall the sanctuary be of Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 12:6, 14 cleansed.” LeRoy Froom has documented and 13:5.4 the fact that more than sixty-five exposi- Bible scholars, notes Sandeen, be- tors on four continents between 1800 lieved they now had “a fixed point in the and 1844 predicted that the 2300-year/ prophetic chronology of Revelation and day prophecy would be fulfilled some- Daniel. Some of them felt certain that time between 1843 and 1847. While they could now mark their own location there was a general consensus on the time in the unfolding prophetic chronology.”5 of the prophecy’s fulfillment, however, At last, many suggested, the prophecy there were widely differing opinions over of Daniel 12:4 was being fulfilled. Six the event to transpire at its conclusion.6 hundred years before the birth of Christ, Thus there was a sense in which Miller Daniel had written: “But thou, O Daniel, was in good company. After all, he also shut up the words, and seal the book, had come to his conclusion through even to the time of the end: many shall studying the 2300 days of :14.7 run to and fro, and knowledge shall be Miller, however, radically differed with increased” (cf. v. 9). Because of world nearly all of his contemporaries on the events, many came under conviction that concluding event of the prophecy. they had arrived at the “time of the end.” Beyond the 2300 days, the key sym- As never before, the eyes of Bible stu- bols of Daniel 8:14 were the sanctuary dents literally “ran to and fro” over Dan- and its cleansing. Through systematic iel’s prophecies as they sought to get a study, Miller concluded that the only clearer understanding of end-time events. things the sanctuary could represent in The late eighteenth and early nineteenth the 1840s were the earth and the church. centuries witnessed an unprecedented He also had come to believe that the number of books being published on the cleansing would be by fire. After all,

14 Millennial Passion didn’t Peter write: “But the and one thousand years. the earth, which are now, by the same As a result, George Bush, professor of word are kept in store, reserved unto fire Hebrew and Oriental literature at New against the day of judgment and perdi- York City University, could write to tion of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7)? Miller: Miller’s ultimate conclusion was that the cleansing of the earth by fire at the While I have no question that well- end of the 2300 days represented the informed students of prophecy will coming of Christ in judgment.8 There- admit that your calculation of the fore, the Second Advent would take place Times . . . is not materially erroneous, about 1843, before the one thousand they will still, I believe, maintain that years, or millennium, of Revelation 20. you have entirely mistaken the nature At that time of the events which are to occur when those periods have expired. . . . The the dead saints or bodies will arise, expiration of these periods is to intro- those children of God who are alive duce, by gradual steps, a new order of then, will be changed, and caught up things, intellectual, political and to meet the Lord in the air, where moral. . . . they will be married to him. The The great event before the world is World and all the wicked will be not its physical conflagration,but its burnt up (not anihilated [sic]) and moral regeneration.10 then Christ will descend and reign personally with his Saints; and at the Charles Finney, the greatest Ameri- end of the 1000 Years the wicked will can evangelist of the second quarter of be raised, judged and sent to everlast- the nineteenth century, also set forth the ing punishment.9 prevailing view when he penned in 1835 that “if the church will do her duty, the Millennial Conflict millenium [sic] may come in this country The conclusion that Christ would in three years.” A few years later, Finney come about 1843, before the millennium, wrote: “I have examined Mr. Miller’s was the point at which Miller differed theory, and am persuaded, that what he from nearly all of his contemporaries. expects to come after the judgement, will The conventional wisdom of the day was come before it [i.e., the millennium].”11 that Christ would come at the close of the The Oberlin Evangelist, in combating

15 William Miller and the Rise of Adventism Millerism, noted in 1843 that “the world ment that would be as a “city upon a hill” is not growing worse but better” because to enlighten the Old World. of the efforts at reform being carried out That perspective was greatly height- by the churches and other reformers. ened by the American Revolution and its Henry Cowles could write in like manner resulting democratic “experiment.” Even that “the golden age of our race is yet to secular Americans came to have a sense come; . . . numerous indications of Prov- of millennial destiny in the nineteenth idence seem to show that it may not be century as they came to see themselves as very distant.” But, he hastened to add, “God’s New Israel” and a “Redeemer Na- “the event cannot take place . . . without tion.” Thus Ernest Tuveson can speak of appropriate human instrumentality. . . . a “secular .”13 Undergirding The Church therefore might have the such perspectives were the extremely Millenium [sic] speedily if she would.”12 positive evaluations of human nature and In summary, Bush, Finney, Cowles, a concept of the infinite perfectibility of and others were not out of harmony with humanity that the nineteenth century in- Miller on the nearness of the millennium herited from the previous century’s En- but on its meaning and the events needed lightenment. to bring it about. For them the soon- In other words, social and religious coming millennium would be a thousand leaders believed that, in spite of a rather years of earthly peace and plenty brought brutish past, recent political and techno- about through social reform, national logical breakthroughs had begun to pro- progress, and personal perfection. It was vide the machinery for the creation of that vision that fueled the multiplicity of on earth, with the United States social and personal reforms characteriz- leading the way. Based upon such ing much of the nineteenth century. One thoughts, the Anglo-Saxon world of the of the century’s most powerful ideas was early nineteenth century was filled with that the millennial kingdom could be hundreds of social and personal reform brought about by human effort. movements for the betterment of human That idea not only stood at the center society. of religious reform, but it also energized Reform societies arose in the early Americans in the political realm. From as nineteenth century in almost every con- early as the 1630s, the founders of the ceivable area of human interest. It was in Puritan commonwealth had seen New these decades that campaigns for the aboli- England as a religious/political experi- tion of slavery, war, and the use of alcohol

16 Millennial Passion became major factors in American cul- citizens of the twenty-first century, who ture. In addition, there were societies es- have witnessed two world wars and in- tablished for the promotion of public numerable holocausts in the political, education; better treatment of the deaf, economic, and social realms, to grasp its blind, mentally incapacitated, and pris- power. Modern people have come to see oners; the equality of the sexes and races; that new inventions do not necessarily and so on. Beyond the social realm, one mean social and moral progress. They finds organizations sponsoring personal know that too often the technological betterment in such areas as moral reform and communicative advances of the last and health—including the American two centuries have been put to less than Vegetarian Society.14 constructive uses. Religionists and secularists generally As a result, the optimism of the early pooled their energies and resources in the nineteenth century has evaporated. On hope of perfecting society through social the other hand, that optimism was quite and personal reform. But religionists real to people 170 years ago. In fact, it went beyond their contemporaries was the mainspring that fueled their through the establishment of such enti- many efforts to bring about the millen- ties as Bible societies, home and foreign nium. If people worked harder at reform, mission societies, Sunday-school unions, the belief ran, they could have a part in and associations for the promotion of ushering in the thousand years of increas- Sunday sacredness. ing peace and plenty that would climax The first half of the nineteenth centu- with the second coming of Christ at the ry was awash in formal societies aimed at end of the millennium. individual and social perfection. Such as- It was that positive millennial vision sociations were not at the edges of Amer- and hope that Millerism challenged. It was ican society, but at its very heart. While a challenge to the core belief of mainline the roots of the reform efforts are found America that the golden age could be in the late eighteenth century, such ef- brought about through human effort. forts came to a climax between the 1820s Thus what Ruth Alden Doan has called and the 1840s. the “Miller Heresy” was not in Advent- Thus Millerism was born into a world ism’s doctrines but in its “radical super- rife with millennial expectation: a world naturalism.”15 affected by millennial passion to such an At Millerism’s very foundation was a extent that it is almost impossible for pessimism that human society would not

17 William Miller and the Rise of Adventism achieve its grandiose schemes. Instead, of a generation of Americans (including the solution to the human problem would William Miller, as we shall see in chapter come through God’s breaking into his- 2) were affected by that change. Between tory at the Second Advent. That alterna- 1800 and 1850, the percentage of church tive solution set forth in God’s Word members in the nation increased from would have at least two effects: (1) It about 5 or 10 percent to about 25 per- would make the Adventist solution im- cent.16 Beyond membership figures, mensely popular with those sectors of the Christianity saw a new birth in the life of population that were also becoming disil- the nation. One effect of that new birth lusioned with human programs in the was the millennial drive inherent in many late 1830s and early 1840s, and (2) it of the reform movements noted above. would eventually lead to a showdown in Millerism was born into a world ex- the churches between the optimistic be- cited with religion and religious themes. lievers in human effort and the pessimis- Religion was a dynamic, growing enter- tic Adventists as the “year of the end” ap- prise in the United States in the 1830s proached. and 1840s, and Millerism was well adapted to capitalize on that dynamic ex- Millerism and the Second Great pansion. Awakening Recent scholarship has repeatedly Meanwhile, the rise of Adventism pointed out the essentially orthodox na- took place during America’s greatest reli- ture of Millerite Adventism. As Whitney gious revival. That revival, known as the Cross put it, aside from Millerism’s ad- Second , did more than vocacy of the personal coming of Christ anything else in the history of the young in the 1840s, nation to transform the United States into a Christian nation. Miller achieved no startling novelty. The early decades of the nineteenth His doctrine in every other respect century saw (1) a turning away from De- virtually epitomized orthodoxy. His ism (a skeptical belief that rejects Christ- chronology merely elaborated and re- ianity with its miracles and supernatural fined the kind of calculations his con- revelation), which many had come to as- temporaries had long been making sociate with the atrocities of the French but became more dramatic because it Revolution, and (2) a turning toward was more exact, and because the pre- evangelical Christianity. A large portion dicted event was more startling.17

18 Millennial Passion Again, David Rowe notes, “Millerites eral natural disasters of the period) made are not fascinating because they were so many wonder what had happened to hu- different from everyone else but because man progress.20 they were so like their neighbors.” Unlike Thus Miller’s message spoke to the the Mormons and and other times. It is probably no accident that en- radical groups of the period, the Miller- thusiasm for his message took a giant ites were both traditional and orthodox step forward in 1838 and 1839. In addi- in their theology and lifestyle. “In this tion, we should keep in mind the fact fact,” Rowe points out, “lies the secret of that agricultural prices, after falling their success.”18 It was easy for most sharply between 1841 and 1843, finally Americans to accept Millerism once they reached their lowest point in March accepted the premillennial return of 1843, at the very time that Millerism was Christ, since they did not need to adjust moving into its climactic phase.21 other aspects of their belief structure. In the troubled world of the late By the late 1830s, the revivalistic en- 1830s, Millerism began to make sense to thusiasm of the period between 1825 and more people. People were looking for an- 1835 was beginning to wane. Even the swers in both their personal and social Billy Graham of the day—Charles worlds. Finney—had settled into a professorship Miller had a message that seemed to at Oberlin College in , from which many to provide those answers. As a re- he still made annual evangelistic forays. sult, throughout the 1830s and early But evangelism was no longer his full- 1840s, he (and later his ministerial col- time business.19 leagues) received an unending stream of Beyond the waning of evangelistic ex- invitations to hold revivals in the churches citement, the severe Panic (or economic of the evangelical denominations. Pas- depression) of 1837 and its continuing tors found in Miller a man who could effects into the early 1840s had damp- revive the sagging evangelistic thrust of ened the optimism of many Americans the . regarding the efficacy of human effort to Millerism, therefore, has been viewed bring about the millennium. It should be by several scholars as the final segment of noted that “prices fell farther between the Awakening. Everett Dick has dem- 1839 and 1843 than between 1929 and onstrated that the “maximum point in 1933—42 percent as against 31 percent.” gains [of church members in several de- Such brutal statistics (coupled with sev- nominations] came at the exact time that

19 William Miller and the Rise of Adventism Miller expected Christ’s advent.” And economic depression and disillusionment Richard Carwardine notes that “in strictly with reform. But the phenomenon ex- statistical terms the peak of the Awaken- tends beyond those explanations. ing came in this adventist phase of 1843- The present book argues that the vital 44.”22 conviction that thrust the Millerites into The Millerite crusade, therefore,the flow of history was a deep certainty, should not be seen as a separate move- based upon concentrated study of the ment from the Second Great Awaken- apocalyptic prophecies of Daniel and ing, but as an extension of it. As such, Revelation, that Christ was coming soon Dick is probably correct in his assessment and that they had a personal responsibil- that “William Miller may justifiably be ity to warn the world of that good yet considered the greatest evangelistic influ- fearful news. In short, they saw them- ence in the northeastern United States selves as a prophetic people with a mis- between 1840 and 1844.”23 sion to present a message that the world Unfortunately for Miller and his desperately needed to hear. cause, most converts made by Adventist Just as the postmillennial churches preachers between the 1830s and mid- were thrust into social reform in the be- 1842 were probably converts to general lief that they needed to do their part to Christianity rather than to Adventism’s bring about the millennial kingdom, so peculiar premillennial doctrine. But that the Millerite Adventists were catapulted would change as Millerism approached into a “preaching frenzy” by their convic- the year of the end of the world. tion in the nearness of the Second Com- Students of American history have ing. Their mathematical demonstrations put forth several reasons for what Cross of that nearness greatly intensified that calls “the amazingly rapid growth” of burden as they sought to warn a world of Millerism.24 Part of that growth can be the rapidly approaching climactic event explained by such sociological forces as of the ages.

20