The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 376
Chap. 21 - A Warning Rejected
In preaching the doctrine of the second advent, William Miller and
his associates had labored with the sole purpose of arousing men to a
preparation for the judgment. They had sought to awaken professors
of religion to the true hope of the church and to their need of a deeper
Christian experience, and they labored also to awaken the unconverted
to the duty of immediate repentance and conversion to God. “They
made no attempt to convert men to a sect or party in religion. Hence
they labored among all parties and sects, without interfering with their
organization or discipline.”
“In all my labors,” said Miller, “I never had the desire or thought to
establish any separate interest from that of existing denominations, or to
benefit one at the expense of another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing
that all Christians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ’s coming, and
that those who could not see as I did would not love any the less those
who should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever
be any necessity for separate meetings. My whole object was a desire
to convert souls to God, to notify the world of a coming judgment, and
to induce my fellow men to make that preparation of heart which will
enable them to meet their God in peace. The great majority of those
who were converted under my labors united with the various existing
churches.”—Bliss, page 328.
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