“At the request of Mr. Davis, pastor of the Presbyterian church in Ballston Center, Mr. M. next lectured in his house from the 6th to the 11th of March; and, on the 12th, gave two discourses at the Spa. As usual, a large number were present, and God’s blessing was manifested.
“On the 15th of March, he delivered two discourses at Rock City, in the town of Milton, N. Y., about six miles from Saratoga Springs. He had attempted to go as far as Albany, to fulfill an engagement there; but, after getting within fourteen miles of that city, he was obliged to return to Rock City, where he was taken sick with his old complaint, erysipelas, in his right arm. He remained at the house of Dea. Dubois, where he received the kindest attention, till the 23d of March. On that day he was removed to the house of Herman Thomas, in the same place. He was carefully provided for there till the 30th, when he was so far convalescent as to be removed by his son. By short and easy journeys he reached his home at Low Hampton on the 31st, as comfortably as could have been hoped for.
“On the 6th of April he commenced a letter to Mr. Himes, in which he says: ‘I am now at home; was brought home six days since. I am very weak in body, but, blessed be God! my mind, faith, and hope, are yet strong in the Lord,—no wavering in my belief that I shall see Christ this year,’ &c. This letter not being completed on the 13th of April, his son forwarded it to Mr. Himes, adding, ‘Father is quite low and feeble, and we fear he may be no better.’
“His complaint manifested itself in a multiplicity and succession of carbuncle boils, which were a great drain on his system, and wasted his strength rapidly. On the 3d of May, when their violence had greatly abated, he wrote: ‘My health is on the gain, as my folks would say. I have now only twenty-two boils, from the bigness of a grape to a walnut, on my shoulder, side, back, and arms. I am truly afflicted, like Job, and have about as many comforters, only they do not come to see me, as Job’s did.’ Two weeks later, he was again much more feeble, and his physicians prohibited visitors from seeing him.
“On the 28th of May, his son wrote: ‘Father’s health is no better, on the whole. He continues very weak and low, confined to his bed most of the time.’ In addition to his numerous boils, he had, by a fever, been brought near to death’s door.
“About the 1st of July he was so far recovered as to be able to walk about his house, and his health continued to improve, so that, from the 6th to the 9th of September, he gave a course of lectures in N. Springfield, Vt. He lectured in Claremont, N. H., on the 11th; in Springfield, N. H., on the 12th; in Wilmot, N. H., on the 14th; in Andover, N. H., on the 17th; in Franklin, N. H., on the 18th; in Guilford, N. H., from the 21st to the 24th; in Gilmanton, N. H., on the 25th; and at Concord, N. H., on the 26th and 27th. On the 2d of October he gave two addresses at the camp-meeting in Exeter, N. H., and arrived at Lowell, Mass., on the 3d. He went to Boston on the 6th, gave three discourses, and then returned home to Low Hampton, where he remained till the 9th of November.
“During this tour, Mr. Miller was much pained by witnessing a tendency to fanaticism on the part of some who held to his views. As he had no sympathy for anything of the kind, and has been unjustly identified with it in the minds of the public, it becomes necessary to show its origin, that its responsibility may rest where it rightly belongs.
“The views of Mr. Miller being embraced by persons belonging to various religious denominations, it was impossible, from the nature of the case, for those of any particular faith to teach their own private opinions in connection with the Advent, without exciting the jealousy of those who held opposite sentiments. To avoid any such clashing of opinions, the following platform was adopted by the first conference held by believers in the Advent (October 14, 1840), in their Address unanimously presented to the public, namely:—[24]
“‘Our object in assembling at this time, our object in addressing you, and our object in other efforts, separate and combined, on the subject of the kingdom of Heaven at hand, is to revive and restore this ancient faith, to renew the ancient landmarks, to “stand in the way, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way” in which our fathers walked, and the martyrs “found rest to their souls.” We have no purpose to distract the churches with any new inventions, or to get ourselves a name by starting another sect among the followers of the Lamb. We neither condemn nor rudely assail others of a faith different from our own, nor dictate in matters of conscience for our brethren, nor seek to demolish their organizations, nor build new ones of our own; but simply to express our convictions, like Christians, with the reasons for entertaining them, which have persuaded us to understand the word and promises, the prophecies and the gospel of our Lord, as the first Christians, the primitive ages of the church, and the profoundly learned and intelligent reformers, have unanimously done in the faith and hope that the Lord will come quickly in his glory, to fulfill all his promises in the resurrection of the dead.
“‘We are agreed and harmonize with the published creed of the Episcopal, Dutch Reformed, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches, together with the Cambridge Platform of the Congregational church, and the Lutheran and the Roman Catholic churches, in maintaining that Christ’s second and only coming now will be to judge the world at the last day.