Alexander Hugh Macmillan - Macmillan's Proclamation of 1914

Macmillan's Proclamation of 1914

See also: End time and Eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses

In the decades prior to 1914, Watch Tower Society publications claimed that Armageddon would take place in 1914. As the year approached, their publications stated that October 1914 would mark the "end of the Gentile Times" and the beginning of Christ's kingship. Many Bible Students believed they would be sent to heaven in 1914. At a convention at Saratoga Springs, New York, on September 27–30, Macmillan, believing that "the church was "going home" in October", he announced that "This is probably the last public address I shall ever deliver because we shall be going home soon."

This is probably the last public address I shall ever
deliver because we shall be going home soon.

A.H.Macmillan, September 30, 1914
Faith On The March, page 46

Following the convention, at a meeting at the Brooklyn headquarters, Russell announced: "The Gentile Times have ended; their kings have had their day," and added that, "At 10:30 Sunday morning Brother Macmillan will give us an address." Those present laughed about Macmillan's previous announcement of his "last public address"; in the subsequent talk, Macmillan acknowledged, "some of us had been a bit too hasty in thinking that we were going to heaven right away". Despite his expectations for October 1914, Macmillan remained committed to the Watch Tower Society.

In 1919, The New York Times characterized Macmillan's address to a meeting of Bible Students as proposing a "new date for the Millennium" in the year 1925.