The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 332

banish the conviction that he had a personal duty to perform in giving
the warning. 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.
As Elisha was called from following his oxen in the field, to receive
the mantle of consecration to the prophetic office, so was William Miller
called to leave his plow and open to the people the mysteries of the
kingdom of God. With trembling he entered upon his work, leading his
hearers down, step by step, through the prophetic periods to the second
appearing of Christ. With every effort he gained strength and courage as
he saw the widespread interest excited by his words.
It was only at the solicitation of his brethren, in whose words he
heard the call of God, that Miller consented to present his views in
public. He was now fifty years of age, unaccustomed to public speaking,
and burdened with a sense of unfitness for the work before him. But from
the first his labors were blessed in a remarkable manner to the salvation
of souls. His first lecture was followed by a religious awakening in
which thirteen entire families, with the exception of two persons, were
converted. He was immediately urged to speak in other places, and in
nearly every place his labor resulted in a revival of the work of God.
Sinners were converted, Christians were roused to greater consecration,
and deists and infidels were led to acknowledge the truth of the Bible and
the Christian religion. The testimony of those among whom he labored
was: “A class of minds are reached by him not within the influence of
other men.”—Ibid., page 138. His preaching was calculated to arouse
the public mind to the great things of religion and to check the growing
worldliness and sensuality of the age.
In nearly every town there were scores, in some, hundreds, converted
as a result of his preaching. In many places Protestant

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