Millennial Harp; Second Advent Hymns Designed for Meetings on the Second Coming of Christ

In the midst of the 19th-century religious revival in the USA known as the Second Great Awakening , William Miller, a New England farmer whose studies led him to believe that Christ’s coming was imminent (1843-1844) began preaching and writing in the 1830s. This preaching, coupled with the organizational skills of Christian Connection minister Joshua V. Himes and other disciples, spurred thousands to study the Bible more closely and to look for Christ’s return. Millerites initially stayed with their original churches and therefore sang from those hymnals, but by the time of the 1842 ‘Great Tent’ meetings, the movement began to publish small song books: Millenial Harp, or Second Advent Hymns; Millennial Musings: A Choice Selection of Hymns Designed for the Use of Second Advent Meetings; Second Advent Hymns: Designed to Be Used in Prayer and Camp-Meetings, and others. While these books drew on hymnody familiar to Millerite followers, the primary purpose was to provide new hymns supporting the messages of the preaching: the judgment, second advent, reward of the saints, and the midnight cry. In 1843 a young Millerite preacher, James White, held crowds spellbound by singing as he entered places where he was to preach, the popular Millerite hymn ‘You will see your Lord a-coming in a few more days’.