Joshua V. Himes
After conservative members forced him out of his church in Boston for his radical ideas, Joshua V. Himes (1805-1895) formed a new congregation in 1837 that historian Whitney Cross described as “the virtual center in New England of every variety of enthusiastic reform,” including women's rights, pacifism, and abolitionism. William Lloyd Garrison praised Himes as a dauntless social reformer who “has been a faithful supporter of the anti-slavery movement, never ashamed to show his colors, never faltering in the darkest hour of its history.” Himes served as the chief publicist, organizer, and publisher for William Miller, causing Garrison to also lament that he had “become the victim of an absurd theory.” Nevertheless, Garrison declared, “I still regard him as a sincere and worthy man.” Himes remained an outspoken social reformer after the Millerite movement collapsed. While attending an Evangelical Alliance convention in London in 1846 he spoke vigorously in favor of a resolution against seating slaveholders as delegates.
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