Christian History Home > Issue 61 > American Adventism: The Great Disappointment
American Adventism: The Great Disappointment
When a New York farmer announced the date of Christ's return, thousands believed him.
Bruce Shelley | posted 1/01/1999 12:00AM
In recent years, we have almost come to expect the well-publicized reports from Bible-belt Texas and avant-garde California of a self-proclaimed prophet announcing the end of the world. He attracts a large following or triggers a near panic—and ends up wrong. The most famous case on American soil, however, took place in the northeastern United States just before the Civil War.
The prophet of doom was no bug-eyed fanatic. He was a square-jawed, honest, church-going farmer named William Miller.
A former captain in the War of 1812, Miller converted from Deism in 1816. Excited, he began to "search the Scriptures" for the truth. After two years he was convinced he understood them—especially Daniel 8:14: "Unto 2,300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
The cleansing of the sanctuary, Miller believed, could only mean the purging of the earth by fire—in short, the end of the world.
By interpreting these prophetic days as years and beginning from the date of the prophecy (placed by James ...
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