Millerite Great Disappointment

Background. William Miller, a rural New York farmer and Baptist lay preacher, studied the Bible between 1831 and 1844, particularly the prophecy of Daniel 8:14—"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed"—and predicted and preached the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. He concluded that 457 BC was the beginning of the 2,300-day (or -year) prophecy, meaning it would end about 1843–1844. When pressed by his supporters, he predicted Christ would return in "about 1843," then narrowed the period to the Jewish year 5604, stating Christ would come sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. March 21, 1844, passed without incident, but the majority of Millerites maintained their faith. Miller also briefly adopted a new date—April 18, 1844—based on the Karaite Jewish calendar, as opposed to the Rabbinic calendar.

Prediction. In August 1844, at a camp meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, Samuel S. Snow presented the "seventh-month" message. Based on scriptural typology and the 2,300-day prophecy, Snow concluded Christ would return on the tenth day of the seventh month, 1844. Using the Karaite Jewish calendar, this date was determined to be October 22, 1844.

Reaction. When Jesus did not appear by October 22, 1844, Miller and his followers were disappointed, hence the name Great Disappointment. Responses varied: some continued to look daily for Christ's return, while others predicted different dates—among them April, July, and October 1845. The source's discussion of post-Disappointment responses includes a third group, whose theology appears to have had its beginnings as early as October 23, 1844—the day after the Great Disappointment—and who concluded that the event that took place on October 22, 1844, was quite different from Christ having returned invisibly. By mid-1845, doctrinal lines among the various Millerite groups began to solidify, and the groups emphasized their differences.