William Miller (1782 - 1849) was an American Baptist preacher, hence his followers have been termed Millerites or Millerists. He is credited with the beginning of the Adventist movement of the 1830s and 1840s in North America. Among his spiritual heirs are two major religious denominations today: Seventh-day Adventism and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Miller began to preach in 1831. Based on Daniel 8-9, Miller believed that 2,300 years would pass from the time of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the Second Coming of Jesus. The commandment was given to the scribe Ezra by Artaxerxes I of Persia in the seventh year of his reign (i.e. 457 B.C.), and is detailed in Ezra 7:12-26. Thus, 1843 became the year of Christ's return. As the appointed year grew closer, Miller first specified 21 March

Christ's failure to appear in 1844 has come to be known as the Great Disappointment. Miller recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: "Were I to live my life over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and man, I should have to do as I have done I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment." (Memoirs of William Miller, Sylvester Bliss, p. 256).

It is estimated that the Millerites, as they came to be known, numbered nearly 50,000.

External links

• Biography by Elder James White.
• Lectures by Miller.
• by John H. Martin

• Contemporary Critique of Miller. William Miller

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