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Review and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 15

The Sermon.
Earlier text: The Sermon.

WILLIAM MILLER.

By James White

All Seventh-day Adventists are interested in the life, faith, and labors of Wm. Miller. Of these, those who have recently embraced the truth must have the deepest interest. And it may be necessary for them to know much of this good man and his labors, that they may be prepared to meet the general odium that is cast upon his name and work. We have decided to give shorter chapters upon Life Incidents, and make room for a small slice of interesting facts selected from the Memoir of William Miller, by Sylvester Bliss. The following, relative to his Christian experience and study of the sacred Scriptures, is from pp. 64–70 of that work. JAMES WHITE.

HIS CONVERSION AND STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

In 1812, Elisha Miller, an uncle of the subject of this memoir, was settled over the church in Low Hampton, N. Y., and a small meeting-house was afterward erected. On Mr. Miller’s removal to Low Hampton, he became a constant attendant, except in the absence of the preacher, at that place of worship, and contributed liberally to its support. His relation to the pastor, and the proximity of his house, caused it to become the head-quarters of the denomination, on extra, as well as on ordinary occasions. There the preachers from a distance found food and shelter; and, though fond of bantering them on their faith, and making their opinions a subject of mirth with his infidel friends, they always found a home beneath his roof.
In the absence of the pastor, public worship was conducted by the deacons, who, as a substitute for the sermon, read a printed discourse, usually from “Proudfoot’s Practical Sermons.” Mr. Miller’s mother noticed that, on such occasions, he was not in his seat, and she remonstrated with him. He excused his absence on the ground that he was not edified by the manner in which the deacons read; and intimated that if he could do the reading, he should always be present. This being suggested to those grave officials, they were pleased with the idea; and, after that, they selected the sermon as before, but Mr. Miller did the reading, although still entertaining deistical sentiments.
The time had now come when God, by his providence and grace, was about to interpose to enlist the patriotic soldier in another kind of warfare; when to his mind, so fond of those departments of truth which appealed only to reason and sense, was to be opened a more inspiring field; when the persevering and delighted student of history was to see and appreciate the connection between the most stirring scenes and mightiest revolutions in this world’s affairs and God’s great plan of redemption, to which all the events of time are made subordinate.
Detecting himself in an irreverent use of the name of God, as before related, he was convicted of its sinfulness, and retired to his beautiful grove, and there, in meditation on the works of nature and Providence, he endeavored to penetrate the mystery of the connection between the present and a future state of existence.
As a farmer, he had more leisure for reading; and he was at an age when the future of man’s existence will demand a portion of his thoughts. He found that his former views gave him no assurance of happiness beyond the present life. Beyond the grave all was dark and gloomy. To use his own words: “Annihilation was a cold and chilling thought, and accountability was sure destruction to all. The heavens were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my feet. Eternity!—what was it? And death!—why was it? The more I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclusions. I tried to stop thinking, but my thoughts would not be controlled. I was truly wretched, but did not understand the cause. I murmured and complained, but knew not of whom. I knew that there was a wrong, but knew not how or where to find the right. I mourned, but without hope.”
He continued in this state of mind for some months, feeling that eternal consequences might hang on the nature and object of his belief.
The anniversary of the battle of Plattsburg—September 11—was celebrated in all that region, for some years, with much enthusiasm. In 1816, arrangements had been made for its observance, by a ball, at Fairhaven. The stirring scenes of the late campaign being thus recalled, Captain Miller entered into the preparations for the expected festivities with all the ardor of the soldier. In the midst of these, it was announced that Dr. B. would preach on the evening previous to the ball. In the general gathering to that meeting, Captain Miller and his help attended, more from curiosity than from any other actuating cause.
They left Captain Miller’s house in high glee. The discourse was from Zech. ii, 4. “Run! speak to this young man!” It was a word in season. On their return, Mrs. M., who had remained at home, observed a wonderful change in their deportment. Their glee was gone, and all were deeply thoughtful, and not disposed to converse, in reply to her questions respecting the meeting, the ball, &c. They were entirely incapacitated for any part in the festive arrangements. Other managers of the ball were equally unfitted for it; and the result was that it was indefinitely postponed. The seriousness extended from family to family, and in several neighborhoods in that vicinity, meetings for prayer and praise took the place of mirth and the dance.
On the Lord’s day following, it devolved on Captain Miller, as usual in the minister’s absence, to read a discourse of the deacons’ selection. They had chosen one on the “Importance of Parental Duties.” Soon after commencing, he was overpowered by the inward struggle of emotion, with which the entire congregation deeply sympathized, and took his seat. His deistical principles seemed an almost insurmountable difficulty with him. Soon after, “Suddenly,” he says, “the character of the Saviour was vividly impressed upon my mind. It seemed that there might be a being so good and compassionate as to himself atone for our transgressions, and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin. I immediately felt how lovely such a being must be; and imagined that I could cast myself into the arms of, and trust in the mercy of, such an one. But the question arose, How can it be proved that such a being does exist? Aside from the Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of the existence of such a Saviour, or even of a future state. I felt that to believe in such a Saviour, without evidence, would be visionary in the extreme. I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour as I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired book should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the wants of a fallen world. I was constrained to admit that the Scriptures must be a revelation from God. They became my delight; and in Jesus I found a friend. The Saviour became to me the chiefest among ten thousand, and the Scriptures, which before were dark and contradictory, now became the lamp to my feet and light to my path. My mind became settled and satisfied. I found the Lord God to be a rock in the midst of the ocean of life. The Bible now became my chief study, and I can truly say, I searched it with great delight. I found the half was never told me. I wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, and marveled that I could have ever rejected it. I found everything revealed that my heart could desire, and a remedy for every disease of the soul. I lost all taste for other reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom from God.”
Mr. Miller immediately erected the family altar; publicly professed his faith in that religion which had been food for his mirth, by connecting himself with the little church that he had despised; opened his house for meetings of prayer; and became an ornament and pillar in the church, and an aid to both pastor and people. The die was cast, and he had taken his stand for life as a soldier of the cross, as all who knew him felt assured; and henceforth the badge of discipleship, in the church or world, in his family or closet, indicated whose he was, and whom he served.
His pious relations had witnessed with pain his former irreligious opinions: how great were their rejoicings now! The church, favored with his liberality, and edified by his reading, but pained by his attacks on their faith, could now rejoice with the rejoicing. His infidel friends regarded his departure from them as the loss of a standard-bearer. And the new convert felt that henceforth, wherever he was, he must deport himself as a Christian, and perform his whole duty. His subsequent history must show how well this was done.
To the church, his devotion of himself to his Master’s service was as welcome as his labors were efficient. The opposite party, especially the more gifted of them, regarded him as a powerful, and, therefore a desirable antagonist. He knew the strength of both parties. That of the former he had often tested, when, in his attacks, though they might have been silenced, he had felt that he had a bad cause; and the weakness of the latter had been forcibly impressed on him in his fruitless efforts to assure himself that they were right. He knew all their weak points, and where their weapons could be turned against them. They were not disposed to yield the ground without a struggle, and began their attack on him by using the weapons and assailing the points which characterized his own former attacks on Christianity; and to this fact, under God, is probably owing his subsequent world-wide notoriety.
He had taunted his friends with entertaining “a blind faith” in the Bible, containing, as it did, many things which they confessed their inability to explain. He had enjoyed putting perplexing questions to clergymen and others,—triumphing in their unsatisfactory replies. These questions had not been forgotten; and his Christian friends, also, turned his former taunts upon himself.
Soon after his renunciation of Deism, in conversing with a friend respecting the hope of a glorious eternity through the merits and intercessions of Christ, he was asked how he knew there was such a Saviour. He replied, “It is revealed in the Bible.”—“How do you know the Bible is true?” was the response, with a reiteration of his former arguments on the contradictions and mysticisms in which he had claimed it was shrouded.
Mr. Miller felt such taunts in their full force. He was at first perplexed; but, on reflection, he considered that if the Bible is a revelation of God, it must be consistent with itself; all its parts must harmonize, must have been given for man’s instruction, and, consequently, must be adapted to his understanding. He therefore said, “Give me time, and I will harmonize all those apparent contradictions to my own satisfaction, or I will be a Deist still.”
He then devoted himself to a prayerful reading of the word. He laid aside all commentaries, and used the marginal references and his Concordance as his only helps. He saw that he must distinguish between the Bible and all the peculiar partisan interpretations of it. The Bible was older than them all, must be above them all; and he placed it there. He saw that it must correct all interpretations; and in correcting them, its own pure light would shine without the mists which traditionary belief had involved it in. He resolved to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and to receive, with child-like simplicity, the natural and obvious meaning of the Scripture. He pursued the study of the Bible with the most intense interest,—whole nights, as well as days, being devoted to that object. At times delighted with truth, which shone forth from the sacred volume, making clear to his understanding the great plan of God for the redemption of fallen man; and at times puzzled and almost distracted by seemingly inexplicable or contradictory passages, he persevered, until the application of his great principle of interpretation was triumphant. He became puzzled only to be delighted, and delighted only to persevere the more in penetrating its beauties and mysteries.
His manner of studying the Bible is thus described by himself:
“I determined to lay aside all my prepossessions, to thoroughly compare Scripture with Scripture, and to pursue its study in a regular methodical manner. I commenced with Genesis, and read verse by verse, proceeding no faster than the meaning of the several passages should be so unfolded as to leave me free from embarrassment respecting any mysticisms or contradictions. Whenever I found anything obscure, my practice was to compare it with all collateral passages; and, by the help of Cruden, I examined all the texts of Scripture in which were found any of the prominent words contained in any obscure portion. Then, by letting every word have its proper bearing on the subject of the text, if my view of it harmonized with every collateral passage in the Bible, it ceased to be a difficulty. In this way I pursued the study of the Bible, in my first perusal of it, for about two years, and was fully satisfied that it is its own interpreter. I found that by a comparison of Scripture with history, all the prophecies, as far as they have been fulfilled, had been fulfilled literally; that all the various figures, metaphors, parables, similitudes, &c., of the Bible, were either explained in their immediate connection, or the terms in which they were expressed were defined in other portions of the word; and when thus explained, are to be literally understood in accordance with such explanation. I was thus satisfied that the Bible is a system of revealed truths, so clearly and simply given, that the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.”

CONVERSATIONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS. NO. 6.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Minister. Now brethren, we are prepared to go on with our investigation. The eating of meat I believe was the subject under discussion.
Bro. A. Well, I don't think for my part that I could labor as hard as I do, without such hearty victuals as pork, beef, &c.
Min. But my dear brother, you are greatly mistaken about meat being such hearty food. Graham flour, peas, beans, and such like, are much more hearty than meat.
Bro. B. Pshaw! you can't make me believe that.
Min. I think I can, if you will believe facts. The object in eating food is to supply the waste which takes place in the system by nature and by work; also to build up the system, is it not?
Bro. A. Certainly. And when it does this we feel stronger for eating. That is the reason why I think meat is so hearty, because I feel strong after eating it.
Min. But does not a man feel strong also after drinking liquor?
Bro. A. Why—yes, I believe he does.
Min. Do you therefore believe that liquor is hearty food, and builds up the system?
Bro. A. Well no, not exactly. I believe that it is only a stimulant, and it only makes him feel better for the time being, without actually building up his system any.
Min. Very well, then it will not do to go by your rule only, that is to eat everything that makes us feel stronger for the time being. May not meat have the same effect, in a great degree, that liquor does? Is it not more a stimulant than a nutriment?
Bro. A. I don't think that it does. I know meat does me good.
Bro. B. You ministers, who do not labor hard, can live on lighter food, but we farmers must have hearty victuals. It looks to me, that pork was designed for farmers and working men.
Min. But Bro. B., the Jews were farmers, and God did not allow them to eat pork. I have a few facts here which I wish to read to you, from Dr. Cole's Philosophy of Health. It is a table showing the amount of nutriment contained in vegetable and animal food. He says that 100 parts of wheat contain 85 parts of nutriment. That in a hundred pounds there would be 15 pounds of waste matter, where there would be 85 pounds which would go to nourish and strengthen and build up the system. I will read the table clear through. Barley 83, oats 79, oat meal 90, rice 90, peas 96, beans 96, potatoes 25. Animal food, beef, about 25, veal 25, mutton 25, lamb 25, chicken 22, codfish 20, oysters 13, white of eggs 20, yolk of eggs 46.
Now let us examine the table. Here is a pound of wheat and there is a pound of meat. The pound of wheat contains 85 parts of nutriment, and the meat only 25 parts, which is less than one third as much nourishment as the wheat. Peas contain nearly four times as much as the same amount of pork. Hence, if one man eats a pound of meat, and the other a pound of flour, the latter will derive more than three times as much benefit from his meal as the other does from his. Now which is the most hearty food of the two?
Bro. A. Well, it would seem according to that, that a grain or vegetable diet would be the most hearty.
Bro. D. Now I think that I can convince you, Bro. A., that a vegetable diet is the most hearty food. You, living largely on meat, find that you must have your three meals a day regularly.
Bro. A. Oh! yes, I never can come to the two-meal system, I can hardly get along on three a day. I think that four would be better. If I should eat only two meals a day, I know that I should be so faint that I could not stand it.
Bro. D. Now I am a farmer as well as you, and do I not work as hard as you?
Bro. A. Oh! yes, I guess you do.
Bro. D. Very well. Now you know that I have eaten only two meals a day for a year and a half past. I do not feel faint and languid as you say you do. The reason is very obvious to my mind. I live on graham flour, corn meal, beans, fruit, &c. When I eat a meal of this, my system receives real strength and nourishment from it. This strength thus received, lasts me for several hours; hence I can easily do with two meals a day. But the meat which you eat, acts more as a stimulant than as a nutriment. It acts upon your nerves, and makes you feel stronger than you really are, for a short time, and then it is all gone; and you feel faint and weak, and need something more to eat. Are not these facts?
Bro. A. Well it does look some so, and I don't know but that you are about half right.
Min. Yes, this alone is sufficient, and is enough to show that meat is not such hearty food as has been supposed, nor so hearty as the grain and vegetable diet.
Bro. B. But we poor folks cannot afford to adopt the health reform. To carry out the health reform, we should have plenty of fruit, berries and sauce, the best of graham flour, &c. This costs a good deal.
Min. Can not afford it! Why my dear brother, you are just the one that cannot afford to do without it. Let us look at the figures a moment. We have just seen that one pound of wheat contains more than three times as much as one pound of meat. One pound of salt pork will cost twenty-one cents. This pound will contain twenty-five parts nutriment. Now for twenty-one cents, you can obtain three pounds of flour, which contains two hundred and fifty-five parts nutriment, which is ten times as much nutriment as you will get in your pork, for the same money. What do you think of that, Bro. B.?
Bro. B. I declare, I had not supposed that was so. I guess I must think of that a little more.
Min. But why should we eat meat any way? It contains nothing that the system can use but what may be found in grains and vegetables. For instance, you take the small pig that weighs ten pounds, you shut him up and feed him on milk, meal, corn and such like, and after feeding him thus for several months, he at length weighs several hundred pounds. You now kill him and put his flesh on the table and eat it. What is that flesh made of? Of course it is made of the meal and corn which he has eaten, which you now have to take second-hand, after going through what seems to me, not a very cleansing process, namely the dirt and filth of a pig sty, and swine's flesh for a filter. Now why not take it first-hand, clean and pure, just as the Lord made it. It certainly would have all the properties of nutrition that it now has. I can see no reason in first letting the hog eat our food for us.
Bro. D. But there is another good reason why we should not eat flesh, and that is, we partake of the nature of the food we eat. Hence if we live on the flesh of low, gross animals, such as the swine, we partake more or less of their nature, which is not very elevating to humanity.
Min. Yes, this is shown to be a fact by observing the natives who live on different kinds of food. The Indians, who live principally on wild meat, are savage and bloodthirsty. While those nations who subsist chiefly on vegetables, are remarkable for their mildness and humanity. The Esquimaux, who lives largely on fat, are a low, groveling race of people; so we might mention other circumstances. But one of the strongest reasons why we should not eat animal food now, is that the system takes on a greater or less amount of the disease which may be in the flesh which is eaten. We all know that it is dangerous to life to eat the flesh of any animal which has died from disease. Persons have lost their lives by so doing. Now all animals are more or less diseased; and it is hard to find a perfectly healthy creature. Animals are growing more and more diseased. Scrofula, tumors, liver complaint, consumption, and numerous other diseases are as common among animals as men.
Bro. A. But we need not eat the animals thus diseased. We can be careful to eat those only which are healthy.
Min. But you cannot always tell. A creature may look perfectly healthy, and yet have some foul disease about it. This is true of meat that is all diseased and brought into market. The parts which are directly diseased are cut off and thrown away. The meat may look fair and good, yet that disease is all through it more or less. Those who buy meat in public market, do not know what they are eating. They run a great risk. Facts show that thousands die yearly from this cause. Who has not seen gargety cows sold for beef? oxen with a wolf on the jaw? hogs nearly dead with scrofula? and all such diseases.
Bro. B. Yes, I have seen that, and I think that it is a perfect shame that men will do so.
Bro. A. So have I. I would not eat their flesh for anything. I am very particular what I eat.
Bro. D. But if you go to a public house, or to the house of a friend, and meat is set before you, how do you know what that meat is, or where it came from? It may come from just such a class of creatures as this.
Bro. A. Well I don't know as I could tell in that case. The safest way I believe is not to eat it.
Min. Do you then blame us who do not eat meat, who have to travel around all the time, and do not know where the meat comes from that is set before us?
Bro. B. Oh! no. I should be afraid to eat it myself.
Min. Then you must allow that we take a consistent course in this respect.
Bro. A. But you promised to tell us why the health reform was so important down here just before the coming of the Lord.
Min. Very well, we will now consider that point: In Rev. xiv, 6-16, there are three messages brought to view, which we understand to be given just before the coming of Christ, to prepare the world for that event. The first message announces the fact that the hour of his judgment is come. The second declares that Babylon has fallen, which we understand to mean the fallen state of professors of religion in the land. The third one warns us not to worship the beast nor his image, and says that all who do, shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation. This is the last message, as we believe. Hence the wrath threatened will be the last judgment God will ever bring upon the world.
Bro. A. Oh! certainly, we believe that. The first verse of the fifteenth chapter tells us what that wrath is. "And I saw another wonder in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God." This is the same as the unmixed wrath of God, mentioned in the third message. But what are the seven last plagues?
Min. They are minutely described in chapter xvi. In verse 1 of this chapter we plainly see that the seven last plagues are poured out upon the very class mentioned in the third angel's message, namely, those who worship the beast and have his mark. But what is the nature of these plagues? A plague signifies a pestilential disease that sweeps over countries, such as the cholera and small pox, fevers, &c. The first plague is a noisome and grievous sore which falls upon men. This shows that it is an evil disease which will pass over the earth and destroy men. Now the saints are to be here on the earth while these plagues are being poured out, as may be seen by verse 16. Now these diseases and plagues will sweep off and destroy the wicked, and they will not destroy the people of God. Now is it not reasonable that God's people should make some preparation to be ready to stand when these diseases come?
Bro. B. Well I had not thought of that point before, but how shall we get ready?
Min. That is what I want to show you. We believe that that is the design of the health reform. To illustrate: suppose that the small pox comes into this village. Who are those that it will attack first, and who will suffer the hardest from it? Those who have eaten most largely of flesh meats, rich food, spices, &c. While those who have lived upon the plain vegetable diet, will be the last ones to take it, and will suffer the least from it. Again, if a man is exposed to it, what is the proper course to take, that he may have it lightly? Experience shows that he should immediately lay aside the use of all greasy and fatty substances; also, salt, spices, rich food and such like, and that he should adopt a simple, plain diet, perhaps eating nothing but graham bread and cold water. By taking this course he may have it very lightly.
Bro. B. But why is this so?
Bro. D. Because there is little or nothing in his system for disease to feed upon. Thus he has it lightly.
Min. That is the way I understand it, too. So we believe it will be when the seven last plagues come. The people of God will be prepared for them, their systems will be cleansed from all impurity, so that they will not readily take on disease. But the wicked will be eating and drinking, and feasting upon all unwholesome articles of food, which will prepare them to be swept off by the plagues like diseased sheep. Talk to them about these things which will come upon the world, and about the health reform, and they will make light of it. It looks foolish to them. But the people of God know what is coming, and it is but reasonable that they should prepare for it.
Sr. C. Do you think then that we can save ourselves from these plagues by adopting the health reform?
Min. No. Noah could not have saved himself by preparing the ark. It was a miracle that he was saved after that; but he could not have been saved without having done his part of the work. So with us. We must do all we can to prepare for the time of trouble, and then God will send us help and save us. If we neglect to do this, God will not help us, and we shall perish.
Sr. C. But when we see the plagues coming, shall we not have time enough to change our diet then?
Min. I fear not; for we find that it takes several months to make the change that the health reform requires. There will be no time then for this. Hence those who put it off and neglect it now, will find that it is too late to do it then. The antediluvians could not build an ark after it began to rain.
Bro. D. The health reform is good even now; but I too understand that the great object of this reform is to prepare us for the time of trouble.
Bro. A. I had not viewed it thus before.
Min. Well that is the way that I understand it. But we have talked long enough for this time, so we will have an intermission.
No man ever sins at half-price.
Continue reading: LIFE INCIDENTS.