Sketches of the Christian life and public labors of William Miller : $b Gathered from his memoir by the late Sylvester Bliss, and from other sources
John Stuart Mill · en
“‘DEAR BRN. HIMES AND BLISS.—I cannot sit down to write
without the reflection that this letter may never reach its
destination. Yet I believe in occupying until Christ shall
come. Therefore, I still feel it to be my duty to occasionally
drop you a line, to let you know how my soul prospers, and
how my faith holds out. As it respects the soul, I have never
enjoyed more calmness of mind, nor more resignation to the holy
will of God, and patience of spirit, than I have within a few
weeks past. My soul, I think, is stayed on God and I enjoy
peace like a river. For years past I have often had a spirit of
impatience for Christ to come, and I have felt grieved in soul
because I found in my heart so much of what I called a spirit
of fretfulness and a mind full of impatience. But I bless God I
have had but little of that recently. I have had great reason
to thank God for his abundant goodness in this respect. My
_faith_ is stronger than ever; and this is somewhat remarkable,
when I reflect on the disappointment I have met in my former
expectations. But here, too, I see the good hand of God in my
strength of faith.
“‘I have read with much interest and great satisfaction your
“Address to the Adventists.” And I am perfectly satisfied it is
the right ground for you to take. I believe the ground we have
formerly stood upon, as it regards the chronology of prophecy,
is the only ground we can take; and if the defect is in human
chronology, then no human knowledge is sufficient in this age
to rectify it, with any degree of certainty; and I see no good
that can be accomplished by taking a stand for any future
period, with less evidence than we had for 1843-4. For those
who would not believe, with the evidence we then produced, we
cannot expect will now believe with much less testimony.