saw the wide-spread interest excited by his words.

It was only at the solicitation of his brethren, in whose words he heard
the call of God, that Miller consented to present his views in public. He
was now fifty years of age, unaccustomed to public speaking, and burdened
with a sense of unfitness for the work before him. But from the first his
labors were blessed in a remarkable manner to the salvation of souls. His
first lecture was followed by a religious awakening in which thirteen
entire families, with the exception of two persons, were converted. He was
immediately urged to speak in other places, and in nearly every place his
labor resulted in a revival of the work of God. Sinners were converted,
Christians were roused to greater consecration, and deists and infidels
were led to acknowledge the truth of the Bible and the Christian religion.
The testimony of those among whom he labored was, "A class of minds are
reached by him not within the influence of other men."(552) His preaching
was calculated to arouse the public mind to the great things of religion,
and to check the growing worldliness and sensuality of the age.

In nearly every town there were scores, in some, hundreds, converted as
the result of his preaching. In many places Protestant churches of nearly
all denominations were thrown open to him; and the invitations to labor
usually came from the ministers of the several congregations. It was his
invariable rule not to labor in any place to which he had not been
invited, yet he soon found himself unable to comply with half the requests
that poured in upon him.

Many who did not accept his views as to the exact time of the second
advent, were convinced of the certainty and nearness of Christ's coming
and their need of preparation. In some of the large cities his work
produced a marked impression. Liquor-dealers abandoned the traffic, and
turned their shops into meeting-rooms; gambling dens were broken up;
infidels, deists, Universalists, and even the most abandoned profligates
were reformed, some of whom had not entered a house of worship for years.
Prayer-meetings were established by the various denominations, in
different quarters, at almost every hour, business men assembling at
midday for prayer and praise. There was no extravagant excitement, but an
almost universal solemnity on the minds of the people. His work, like that
of the early Reformers, tended rather to convince the understanding and
arous