Memoirs of William Miller - Sylvester Bliss

churches of the Congregationalists, etc.; while, at
the same time, it would be unscriptural to call an
association of churches the Advent church, the
Methodist church, etc. etc.
“It is again said that we have no right to be
called Adventists, because there are others who
believe in the pre-millennial advent; and that to
apply it to ourselves is arrogancy. To this I reply,
that it cannot be arrogancy if no others claim it but
ourselves. We do not claim it belongs to us
exclusively. All have a right to it who wish thus to
be designated. But those who repudiate the name
have surely no right to find fault with our use of it:
such can have no claim to it. Neither do we, when
we call ourselves Adventists, say that we are the
only Adventists, any more than we say, when we
call ourselves Americans, that we are the only
Americans. It should, however, be understood, that
words are entirely arbitrary, and that custom alone
establishes their use. Was the term Adventist in use
ten years ago? No; it is not in the dictionary; it is a
newly-coined word, made by appending an affix to
the word Advent. In the use of the word it has been
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