CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.
Mr. Miller is not the first expounder of
prophecy that has attempted dogmatically to decide upon the very year of the coming of
Christ. I will not occupy these pages by relating the individual histories of the
wise and positive interpreters of prophetic times, who have preceded Mr. Miller in fixing
the year of the Judgment. Their histories were all alike. They succeeded as
Mr. M. has, in awakening a degree of alarm in the bosoms of some simple people, who forgot
that Christ has said "of that day and hour knoweth no man" -- the time
drew on -- the year passed by, and the prophet and his doctrine were forgotten.
One great evil, however,
resulted from these presumptuous speculations. Many would identify the correctness
and veracity of these prophets with the truth of the scriptures themselves; because, like
Mr. M., they professed to build their calculations upon the Bible. Hence, when the
appointed year passed by, and no unusual event occurred, many would reject at once the
pretensions of the man who had deceived them, and the claims of the Bible upon which he
professed to base his calculations, and thus a new impulse was given to the cause of
infidelity. It is impossible to calculate how widely Mr. M's lectures may contribute
to the spread of infidelity (though undesigned on his part) unless their inconsistency
with the Bible is exposed. This is the chief reason why I felt it my duty to show
that Mr. M. is not sustained by the Bible in his calculations, and that he has entirely
mistaken or perverted the meaning of the prophecies, upon which he builds his
theory. Let not the advocates of infidelity triumph, though time should speedily
expose (as it undoubtedly will) the absurdity of Mr. Miller's waking dreams.
Some readers of the
following pages, after being informed of the gross inconsistencies and egregious
blunders, to be found in Mr. M.'s lectures, may be disposed to question the necessity of
replying to a book, which it is plain, to every person acquainted with history, confutes
itself by its own absurdity. Though it would be sufficient to reply to this
objection that all persons are not acquainted with history, I would remind such of the
anecdote of Christopher Columbus challenging his friends to make an egg stand on its end;
the moral of which is, that it is very easy to do any thing when another has shown us
how. Many -- deceived by the boldness with which Mr. M.
challenges a reply, and says he has done so for seventeen years -- declare the
work to be unanswerable.
Mr. M. enters into an explanation of various prophetical periods
which in his view point to the end of the world, all of which he makes to fall in with his
doctrine of the coming of Christ in 1843. The reader but partially acquainted with the
history of the world, and not aware of the manner in which Mr. M. continues to make
his calculations all meet in the year 1843, thinks upon perusing the book that there are,
to say the least, some very striking coincidences, and feels considerably staggered, if
not convinced. The writer of these pages is not unwilling to allow that such an
effect might as probably have been produced upon his own mind, as upon those of others,
had he not been prepared to see, at once, the absurdity of Mr. M.'s starting point (viz.
the argument drawn from a comparison of the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel) by having
twice in the course of his ministry (once in Newport, R.I. and once in the city of
New-York) delivered a course of lectures upon the prophecies of Daniel, and consequently
been compelled to bestow a somewhat minute attention both upon the prophecies themselves,
and upon the history and chronology of the great events which they so remarkably foretell.
In reference to the prophecy of the 2300 days, or years,
as Mr. M. understands them, which is the foundation of his whole system, I have presented
rather a full and minute exposition. It has been my aim to present, not merely a
confutation of Mr. M.'s theory, but a correct exposition of the principal prophecies
examined in the work, to the best of my ability, and to render this exposition as instructive
and interesting to the general reader, as the nature of the subject will admit,
so that the present work might retain its value even when time shall have shown the
falsehood of Mr. M.'s doctrine.
I cannot concur with those who seem to think that the lash of
satire, or the sting of ridicule, is the best weapon with which to assail the doctrine
advocated by Mr. M. This will not relieve the mind of the honest inquirer after
truth, who has felt perplexed by what appeared to him the plausible statements and
singular coincidences in Mr. M.'s book. It is necessary to use argument and fact to
knock down the foundation upon which his theory is based, and nothing else will satisfy a
candid and inquisitive mind. Besides, the doctrine of Mr. M., that in less than four
years "every eye shall see" the Judge seated on his "great white
throne," (however weakly supported,) is too solemn a subject to be trifled with;
hence it becomes us to approach it with feelings of seriousness and solemnity.
The truth or falsity of this doctrine is a consideration in which
the enjoyments, the hopes, the fears, and the prospects of the whole human family are most
deeply involved. An intelligent and pious member of my church lately remarked to me,
"Sir, if this doctrine is true, we certainly ought to know it; and to whom are the
Christian community to look for instruction on this subject, but to those who are
appointed as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, to sound the note of alarm when the day of
evil approaches, and to blow the blast of triumph when the glorious Jubilee dawns.
Were the doctrine of Mr. M. established upon evidence satisfactory to my own mind, I
would not rest till I had published in the streets and proclaimed in the ears of my fellow
townsmen and especially of my beloved flock,
'THE DAY OF THE LORD
IS AT HAND!'
Build no more houses! plant no more fields and gardens! forsake
your shops, and farms, and all secular pursuits, and give every moment to preparation for
this great event! for in three short years this earth shall be burned up, and Christ shall
come in the clouds, awake the sleeping dead, and call all the living before his dread
tribunal."
It is not, therefore, in a captious spirit that the following
pages are sent into the world, but in order to vindicate myself, as a Minster of the
gospel, from what would be a most criminal neglect in not sounding such an ALARM,
were this doctrine true; to counteract the tendency which Mr. M.'s book possesses (in the
way I have named) to promote the cause of infidelity, by showing that the truth of the
Bible is not identified with the truth of his theory; and because I believe that the
tendency of all error, especially upon a subject of such vast importance, is to
destroy the happiness, paralyze the moral strength, and abridge the usefulness of such as
imbibe it. I do not believe this doctrine. It is based upon shadows.
And therefore duty commands me to show its absurdity.
CHAPTER II.
THE PRINCIPAL
GROUNDS OF
MR. MILLER'S BELIEF.
Mr. M.'s first proof. --
A comparison of the prophecy of 70 weeks, and the prophecy of 2300 days.
Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end
of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,
and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.
-- Daniel, 9 : 24, 25, 26.
Then I heard one saint
speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall
be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression
of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And
he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed.
-- Daniel, 8 : 13, 14.
The former of these passages declares that seventy weeks of years,
or 290 years, reckoning a day for a year, shall elapse from the time of the going forth of
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, which was then in ruins, in consequence
of its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, till the cutting off of the expected Messiah, which,
says Mr. Miller, was exactly fulfilled; that command having been issued B.C. 457, and
Christ having been crucified at the age of 33, which numbers added together, make 490.
The latter passage declares that 2300 days, that is, as Mr. M.
supposes, 2300 years, should elapse between the commencement of certain calamities
expressed by giving "the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot," and
the termination of those calamities, promised in the words, "then shall the sanctuary
be cleansed."
Mr. Miller believes that both of these prophetic periods begin at
the same time, that is, that the commencement of the 490 years is identical with the
commencement of the 2300 years. He has consequently, upon this supposition (which is
shown in the following work to be entirely erroneous) nothing to do but to subtract 490
from 2300 to know the date of the completion of the 2300 years.
Thus,
2300, whole duration of the prophecy,
490, before the crucifixion of Christ,
-------
leaving
1810, after the event;
to which add
33, the age of Christ when crucified.
--------
Making
1843,
the year when Mr. Miller thinks the prophecy is completed, and which he consequently
believes will be the year in which Christ will come to judgment.
The above appears to be the foundation stone upon which Mr. M.'s
doctrine is based. How firm that foundation is, will be seen when we come to examine
the passages from the prophet Daniel, above quoted.
As my design, for the present, is merely to state the grounds of
Mr. M.'s belief, I shall proceed to mention
Mr. Miller's second proof. -- The punishment of seven times.
And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk
contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven
times for your sins.
-- Leviticus, 26 : 23, 24.
His argument is as follows:
The "seven times," mentioned in the above text, are to be
understood as seven prophetic years. Alluding to Nebuchadnezzar's being driven among
the beasts of the field, Mr. M. says (page 261)
That being a matter of history and of sample only, was fulfilled in
seven years; but this, being a prophecy, will be only fulfilled in seven prophetic times,
which will be seven times 360 years, which will make 2520 years.
Fixing the commencement of this punishment of seven times in the year BC 677,
when Manasseh, one of the kings of Judah, was taken captive, he proceeds as before, and
subtracting 677 from the whole number, 2520, brings us again to the year 1843.
Seven prophetic times,
2520 years.
Manasseh's captivity,
677 BC.
------
Leaving, as in the former case,
1843
as the date of the accomplishment of this prophecy. Mr. M. believes that
when these seven times are accomplished, Christ will come to judgment. His own words
are (page 262)
Take 677, which were before Christ, from 2520 years, which includes the
whole "seven times," or "seven years"prophetic, and the remainder will
be 1843 after Christ, showing that the people of God will be gathered from all nations,
and the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most
High; mystical Babylon will be destroyed by the brightness of his coming; and sin, and
suffering for sin will be finished to those who look for his coming.
Mr. Miller's third proof. -- The three prophetical periods --
1260, 1290, and 1335.
And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was
upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these
wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of
the river, when he held upon his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by
him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and
when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things
shall be finished.
And from the time that the daily
sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there
shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that
waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
-- Daniel, 12 : 6, 7, 11, 12.
Mr. Miller concludes from verse seven, above, that the "time, times, and
half a time" denote the 1260 years of the continuance of the Papal power, which so
far is the opinion of most of the commentators. He supposes the 1290 days or years,
in the eleventh verse, to end at the same time as the 1260 years, by beginning 30 years
sooner; that this time was completed in the year 1798, when the Pope was conquered by
Napoleon Bonaparte, and by reckoning back 1260 years before 1798, he concludes that
"the little horn," or Popery, began his reign in the year AD 538, and that the
1290 years commenced in 508. From the 12th verse, "Blessed is he that waiteth,
and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and thirty five days," he concludes that
the second coming of Christ will take place 45 years (the difference between 1335 and
1290) after the fall of Antichrist, in
1798,
add the difference of the two numbers,
45,
-------
which brings us to the same date as before, 1843.
Mr. Miller's fourth proof.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number
of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three and
six.
-- Rev. 13 : 18.
If Mr. Miller can establish one of his dates above mentioned, he of course
confirms the others. Hence from this text, he attempts to establish the above date,
508, as the time when Paganism ceased, which is what he understands by the commencement of
the 1290 years in Daniel, 12 : 11, "The time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken
away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up.
This he attempts to accomplish by the following singular process:
The "beast" he concludes to be the Roman government; the year 508,
one of the dates in the last calculation, the time of its dissolution; and by reckoning
back, the year 158 BC as the year of its commencement. If this date is
established, he has only to add to
508
The difference between the two numbers,
30
The time, times and half a time,
1260
The 45 years to follow the fall of Babylon,
45
------
As before,
1843
The above are Mr. M.'s principal reasons for fixing the end of the world in the
year 1843. It is the intention of the writer to devote one chapter of the following
work to an examination of each of the above supposed proofs of Mr. M.'s theory.
Mr. M. imagines, indeed, that he can discover a confirmation of his doctrine,
in the epistles to the seven Churches in Asia, which he considers prophetical of the the
state of the church in seven different periods; and also in the parable of the ten
virgins, which he also regards as a prophecy of the state of the world and the church in
the last days.
He fixes the commencement of what he terms the Laodicean state of the
church, in 1798, and says it will continue 45 years, till 1843. But inasmuch as he
does not pretend that either the seven epistles, or the parable of the Virgins, furnish
him with any dates in confirmation of this theory, though he himself supplies them, these
two particulars will be but briefly noticed.
CHAPTER III.
EXAMINATION OF THE
FIRST PROOF, VIZ.:
The Comparison of the Prophecy
of the Seventy Weeks
and the 2300 days.
Every reader of Mr. Miller's book has doubtless noticed the stress which he lays
upon his interpretation and comparison of the visions of the 70 weeks, and of the 2300
days. This is the key to all his other dates. From the strange supposition
that these are two prophetic periods which begin at one and the same date he
fixes upon the year 1843 as the end of the world. Having obtained this date, nothing
is easier than to fix the time of his other prophetic periods, by simple subtraction or
addition.
This is the foundation of the whole system; and Mr. M. himself seems so to
regard it. Accordingly, in his closing lecture (page 297), referring to his
exposition of these two visions in former lectures, he says,
Then I inquired, if 490 years of the 2300 was fulfilled when our Saviour
was crucified, how much of the vision remained after his death? I answered, 1810
years. I then inquired what year after his birth that would be; and the answer was
in the year 1843. I then begged the privilege, and do so now, for any person to
show me any failure of proof on this point, or where, possibly, according to
Scripture, there may be a failure in the calculation I have made on this vision. I
have not yet, by seventeen years' study, been able to discover where I might
fail.
I shall endeavor to comply with this request of Mr. M., and to show his "failure
of proof" on this point. And as it is only necessary to expose the
weakness of a foundation, in order to prove that of the superstructure raised upon it, I
shall enter into the examination of this principal prop of Mr. Miller's theory much more
minutely and at length than any one of his other positions.
I shall divide this chapter into seven sections.
First, the vision of the seventy weeks.
-- Dan. 9 : 24.
Second, the vision of the ram and he-goat.
-- Dan. chap. 8.
Third, the little horn. -- Dan. 8 : 9, &c.
Fourth, proofs that the little horn referred to Antiochus Epiphanes;
with a narrative
of the cruelties and death of that violent persecutor of the Jews.
Fifth, meaning of the 2300 days, or evenings and mornings.
-- Dan. 8 : 14.
Sixth, this time shown to have been literally fulfilled, in the
duration of the taking away the daily sacrifices by Antiochus Epiphanes.
Seventh, examination of Mr. Miller's date for the commencement of the
2300 days, or, as he understands them, 2300 years.
SECTION 1. -- The Vision of the Seventy Weeks.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and anoint the Most Holy.
-- Daniel, 9 : 24.
[ I omit this section in its entirety inasmuch as Dowling is here
in agreement with his opponent. He and Miller both believe that
the 70 Weeks began with the decree of Artaxerxes, in the year
BC 457. --ed. ]
SECTION 2. -- The vision of the Ram and He-Goat. -- Dan. chap.
viii.
The vision of the ram and he-goat contained in the eighth chapter of Daniel,
was seen by the prophet in the third year of Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon, about
14 or 15 years previous to the vision of the seventy weeks.
Relating this vision, the prophet says (verses 3 and 4)
Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, there stood before the
river a ram, which had two horns, and the two horns were high;
but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the
ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before
him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did
according to his will and became great.
We are not left to conjecture the meaning of this part of the vision, for
Daniel was informed by the angel (verse 20)
The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and
Persia
and every reader will immediately recognise the description as a most graphic
delineation of the renowned Cyrus and his successors.
As the prophet was considering (verses 5, 6, 7)
A he-goat came from the west, on the face of the whole earth, and
touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the
river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the
ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns;
and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground,
and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
In the 21st verse the angel says,
The rough goat is the king (or kingdom) of Grecia, and the great horn
that is between his eyes is the first king.
If, however, the angel had not so plainly explained this vision, the mere tyro
in history would at once perceive in this description the remarkable history of the
Grecian conqueror Alexander the Great, and his rapid career of conquest issuing in the
overthrow of the Medo-Persian empire, and the death of Darius, the last king, in the year
BC 331.
I wish the reader to take particular notice that the kingdom of the he-goat,
that is to say, the Grecian empire, was founded by Alexander the Great not until the
year before Christ THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE; because
this one simple historical fact, in its influence upon the explanation of the remainder of
this prophecy, is sufficient of itself (as we shall presently perceive) to overturn Mr.
Miller's entire theory of the coming of Christ to judgment, in the year 1843.
The vision proceeds (v. 8)
Therefore the he-goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the
great horn was broken; and for it, came up four notable ones towards the four winds of
heaven.
In explanation of this, the angel says (v. 21, 22)
The great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now
that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kings shall stand up out of the
nation but not in his power.
Alexander by his victories became very great. By the breaking of the
great horn is to be understood the death of Alexander, which occurred in the flower of his
age, and in the midst of his conquests. By the coming up, in the place of the great
horn, four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven, we are to understand the vision
of Alexander's kingdom among four of his captains after his death, viz.:
1. Cassander in Greece and the west.
2. Lysimachus in Thrace and the north.
3. Ptolemy in Egypt and the south.
4. Seleucus in Syria and the east.
Mr. Miller mentions Persia (p. 49) as one of the four divisions. This is
entirely erroneous, for all the conquered territories to the east of Syria, as far as the
river Indus, which of course included Persia, were comprised in what was called the
kingdom of Syria, and which fell to the share of Seleucus.
This error, whether it spring from ignorance of inadvertence, is not of any
very great importance. It may, however, be worthy of remark that a man who
undertakes to explain prophecy by history should be very careful of the accuracy of his
historical facts.
SECTION 3. -- The Little Horn.
After having thus shown the divisions of Alexander's dominions into four parts,
the prophecy proceeds to say that out of one of these four kingdoms (v. 9 to 14)
came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great, toward the south,
and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even
to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the
ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince
of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his
sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily
sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and
it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said
unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning
the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two
thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
The angel explains the meaning of this little horn in v. 23, 24, 25.
In the latter time of their kingdoms [that is, of the four kingdoms
which succeeded Alexander's] when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce
countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall
be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper
and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his
policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in
his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the prince of
princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
It is evident the power here spoken of was to arise out of one of the four
kingdoms above mentioned, and that the calamities and persecutions which he should bring
upon "the holy people" were to continue for the time mentioned in the 11th
verse, viz. 2300 days. Various have been the solutions which have been given to the
problem -- who or what are we to understand by this little horn? Those most
worthy of attention and study are the following three.
1. Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria, and cruel persecutor of the
Jews.
2. Others have considered this little horn to be Pagan and afterwards
Papal Rome. This is the opinion adopted by Mr. Miller.
3. Others within the last century have supposed that it refers to the
Mohammedan delusion.
SECTION 4. -- Proofs that Antiochus Epiphanes was the little horn.
That Antiochus Epiphanes, that cruel tyrant and persecutor of the Jews, was
intended by the little horn, appears to me by far the most probable supposition of the
three above named.
Let any one read the explanation of the angel (v. 22, 23)
Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation;
and in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the
full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,
shall stand up
and then decide whether it is not at least probable that this KING
was a person, and not a government. It is true that in some places the word king is
put for kingdom, but in this place it seems to mean an individual monarch. The four
horns which stood up in the place of that which was broken, says the angel, are "four
kingdoms,"and "in the latter time of their kingdom, shall stand
up," not another kingdom, but a "king of fierce countenance.
That this little horn which "waxed great," and by which "the
daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary cast down," this
"king of fierce countenance, who should destroy wonderfully, and prosper, and
practise, and destroy the mighty and the holy people"; but should be broken without
hand was, in truth, this same Antiochus Epiphanes, I think will be evident to all who
peruse the following brief account of the cruelties and death of this tyrant.
NARRATIVE OF THE CRUELTIES AND DEATH
OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES.
Antiochus, who assumed the title of Epiphanes, or the illustrious,
but who, as many have remarked, was more worthy the title of Epimanes, that is, the
raging madman, which some people gave him, succeeded his brother Seleucus on the
throne of Syria in the year BC 175. At that time the good Onias was high priest at
Jerusalem. Scarcely was Antiochus seated on the throne, when the profligate Jason
formed a design to supplant his brother Onias in the office of the high priesthood, which
at that time was one of great dignity and emolument. With this view, Jason offered
Antiochus about half a million of dollars. He succeeded in his negotiation, and was
appointed high priest; but Menelaus offering a higher price, Jason was afterwards deposed,
and the former appointed in his place. The scandalous ambition of these Jews, was
the commencement of those calamities with which Antiochus overwhelmed their unhappy
nation.
While Antiochus was besieging Alexandria, in Egypt, where he was making rapid
and extensive conquests, a false report was spread of his death. Jason, the deposed
high priest, thought this a favorable opportunity to recover his lost authority, marched
with rather more than 1000 men to Jerusalem, drove out Menelaus, and made himself master
of the city.
When Antioch head of this, he concluded that the Jews had made a general
insurrection, and highly exasperated at the great rejoicings of which he heard among the
Jews at Jerusalem, upon the report of his death, he hastened to take vengeance upon their
devoted city. He besieged Jerusalem, took the city by storm, abandoned it for three days
to the unbridled fury of his soldiers, and caused 80,000 men to be inhumanly murdered.
Not content with these barbarities, he added sacrilege to massacre; forcibly
entered into the temple, and even polluted by his presence the most holy place. He
also plundered the temple, of golden candlestick with seven branches, the altar of
incense, table for the shew bread, and several other utensils, vases, and gifts of kings,
all of gold. This horrible massacre and profanation of the temple took place in the
year BC 170.
Two years afterwards, Antiochus, baffled in his ambitious designs against Egypt
by the power and firmness of the Romans, wreaked his vengeance once more against the
defenseless Jews. He sent his general, Apollonius, with 22,000 men, with orders to
destroy the city of Jerusalem, and to massacre all the men, and sell the women as
slaves. These cruel orders were too faithfully executed. On the Sabbath day,
while the people were assembled, peacefully, in their synagogues, all the adult men were
most cruelly butchered, so that the streets literally streamed with blood. After
setting fire to several parts of the city, they placed a strong garrison of solders in the
holy temple itself, to awe the whole Jewish nation. This garrison fell on all who
came to worship Jehovah in their venerated temple, and shed their blood on every part of
the sanctuary itself, and polluted it by all possible methods.
A stop was thus put to the "daily sacrifices," which had been offered
by the Jews every morning and evening in the temple, as none of the servants of God dared
to come to adore him in that sacred, but now polluted place.
While in these mournful circumstances the author of the Maccabees thus
plaintively describes the condition of the holy city.
Now Jerusalem lay void as a wilderness, there was none of her children
that went in or out: the sanctuary, also, was trodden down, and aliens kept the strong
hold: the heathen had their habitation in that place: and joy was taken from Jacob, and
the pipe with the harp ceased.
(1 Mac. 3 : 45)
Antiochus, soon after, issued an edict, commanding all the nations subject to
him, to renounce all their ancient religious ceremonies, and to worship the same gods, and
in the same manner that he did. This decree, though expressed in general terms, was
aimed principally at the Jews, whose religion he had determined to extirpate. In
pursuance of this determination, he suppressed all the observances of the Jewish law;
polluted the temple in such a manner that it was no longer fit for the service of God;
burnt all the copies of the sacred scriptures that could be found; and even set up the
statue of the god Jupiter upon the very altar of the temple. Thus, the abomination
of desolation was seen in the temple of God, and the daily sacrifice was taken away.
These events took place in the year BC 168. Now, let us read the words of this
remarkable prophecy, delivered 385 years before, that is, in the year BC 553, and I think
we shall not only be satisfied to whom this description of the little horn applies, but
shall perceive in the remarkable fulfillment of the prophecy a striking proof of the
divine inspiration of the scriptures.
But this application is still further confirmed by the intimation of the death
of this "king of fierce countenance," contained in the emphatic expression
(verse 25) "but he shall be broken without hand." This expression seems to
denote that he should come to his end without the intervention of the hand of man, but by
the immediate judgment of God. How well does this agree with the awful end of this
monster of cruelty! He had gone to Elymais, in Persia, for the purpose of levying
the tribute imposed upon that portion of his dominions. While at Ecbatana, a
neighboring city, he heard of the defeat of his generals Nicanor and Timotheus, by the
brave and patriotic Judas Maccabaeus, and resolved to set out immediately for Jerusalem,
in order to make the nation of the Jews feel the dreadful effects of his wrath. It
was while on this journey that he came to a miserable end, which is described in the
following words by the historian Rollin.
In the violence of his rage, he set out with all possible expedition,
venting nothing but menaces in his march, and breathing only final ruin and destruction.
At the news of the defeat of his general Lysias, which reached him on the way, his
fury increased. Immediately he commanded his charioteer to drive with the utmost
speed, in order that he might sooner have an opportunity of fully satiating his vengeance;
threatening to make Jerusalem the burying place of the whole Jewish nation, and not to
leave one single inhabitant in it.
He had scarcely uttered that blasphemous
expression, when he was struck by the hand of God. He was seized with incredible
pains in his bowels, and the most excessive pains of the colic. But still his pride
was not abated by this first shock; so far from it, that suffering himself to be hurried
away by the wild transports of his fury, and breathing nothing but vengeance against the
Jews, he gave orders for proceeding with all possible speed in the journey. But as
his horses were running forward impetuously, he fell from his chariot, and thereby bruised
in a grievous manner every part of his body; so that his attendants were forced to put him
in a litter, where he suffered inexpressible torments. Worms crawled from every part
of him; his flesh fell away piecemeal; and the stench was so great that it became
intolerable to all; being himself unable to bear it.
At length he acknowledged that it was the
hand of the God of Israel that struck him because of the calamities he had brought upon
Jerusalem. In order to calm the wrath of the Almighty, he promised to exert the
utmost liberality towards his chosen people; to enrich with precious gifts the holy temple
at Jerusalem, which he had plundered; to furnish from his revenues the sums to purchase
the sacrifices; and even to turn Jew himself, and to travel every part of the world to
publish the power of the Almighty. But it was now too late. Says the author of
the Maccabees, "this wicked person vowed unto the Lord, who now, no more would have
mercy on him."
Thus miserably did Antiochus perish by
the immediate judgment of an insulted God. Thus was this "king of a fierce
countenance broken without hand."
He died BC 164.
SECTION 5. -- Meaning of the two thousand three hundred
evenings and mornings.
Then I heard one saint
speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall
be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression
of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand
and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
-- Dan. 8 : 13, 14.
With this narrative fresh in our minds, let us turn our attention to the above
question: "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the
transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under
foot?" In the original, there is no such word as "concerning,"
as the reader may see by its being in italics, and Mr. Lowth rightly observes that the
words may be rendered more agreeably to the Hebrew thus: "For how long a time
shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of
desolation continue, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?"
In the same manner is the question translated in the Arabic version, the Septuagint, and
the Vulgate Latin. The answer to this question is "Unto two thousand and three
hundred days."
It would seem scarcely necessary to add, after what we have seen of the
sufferings of the Jews at Jerusalem, under Antiochus, that the meaning of this answer
evidently is, that the taking away of the daily, that is, the evening and
morning sacrifice, and the profanation of the temple, should continue so
long a time as is indicated by this reply when properly understood. Mr. Miller
contends that we are to understand in this place 2300 years, a day for a year.
Doubtless, we are sometimes to understand in prophetic language, a day for a
year. I am willing to admit that we are so to interpret the seventy weeks, the forty
and two months, or 1260 days of the Revelations, and probably the other periods named in
the last chapter of Daniel. But I shall be asked, If you thus explain a prophetical
day in those passages, why not in this? This is a fair question and deserves a fair
and candid answer. I reply, then, that I have come to this conclusion, not from any
difficulty on any other hypothesis, but simply from noticing the peculiarity of language
employed in the original Hebrew of this term 2300 days. It would be rendered
literally 2300 evenings-mornings (Heb. a-rav bo-ker). Thus in the
Geneva version, deus mille et trois cents soirs et matins; (i.e.) 2300 mornings
and evenings; and still more to my satisfaction in the Latin version of Junius and
Tremellius, usque ad vespertina matutinaque tempora bis mille trecenta; (i.e.)
unto 2300 morning and evening seasons. Now it does not appear to me that this
compound Hebrew word evening-morning, ever means a prophetic day, (i.e.) a year,
but from the very nature and form of the word must be confined to a natural day. I
have examined the Hebrew of each of the other passages where it is admitted we are to
understand a prophetical day, or year. In Ezekiel, 4 : 6, "I have appointed
thee each day for a year," the word is yom (day); and in Dan. 12 : 11,
"a thousand two hundred and ninety days"; and verse 12, the thousand
three hundred and five and thirty days," the word is yamim (days),
plural of yom, used in Ezekiel.
Now it seems to me that the Holy Spirit had some design in avoiding this word
in the prediction of the 2300 days, and using the emphatic compound word a-rav bo-ker,
(i.e.) evening-morning, and that this design was expressly to confine the meaning
to natural days; alluding to the two divisions of evening and morning, and also alluding
to the evening and morning daily sacrifices. Bishop Newton says:
In the original it is "Unto two thousand and three hundred
evenings and mornings"; and in allusion to this expression, it is said
afterwards (v. 26), "The vision of the evening and the morning is true."
In order to understand the meaning of the question to which these words are the
answer, we are to remember that for many hundred years the Jews had offered up a burnt
offering, consisting of a lamb, every morning, at the third hour, and every evening, at
the ninth hour; and this was called the perpetual or daily sacrifice.
Now the question was, "For how long a time shall the vision last, the
daily sacrifice be taken away," &c.? (Lowth's translation.) The
answer was, "Unto two thousand three hundred mornings and evenings."
I understand the reply to allude to the number of daily burnt offerings,
including both morning and evening sacrifices, which should be omitted through the
violence and cruelty of this "king of fierce countenance," Antiochus
Epiphanes. As there were two sacrifices on each day, the number of days would be
1150 days, or three years and nearly two months.
SECTION 6. -- This time fulfilled in the duration of the
persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, at Jerusalem.
Now let us inquire whether the time during which the daily sacrifices were
taken away did actually agree with this prediction.
Dr. Prideaux informs us that in the year BC 168, when Antiochus had issued a
decree commanding all his subjects to conform to his own religion,
He sent into Judea and Samaria, one Athenaeus, an old man, who being
well versed in all the rites of the Grecian idolatry, was thought a very proper person to
initiate those people into the observance of them. On his coming to Jerusalem, and
there executing his commission, all sacrifices to the God of Israel were made to cease,
all the observances of the Jewish religion were suppressed, and the temple itself was
polluted and made unfit for God's worship. The Syrian soldiers under this overseer
were the chief missionaries, and by them this conversion of the Jews to the king's
religion was effected. Having thus expelled the Jewish worship out of the temple,
they introduced thither the heathen in its stead, and consecrated the temple to the
worship of the chief of their false gods, Jupiter Olympus, erected his image upon one part
of the altar of holocaust, and upon another part, just in front of the image, built
another lesser altar, whereon they sacrificed to him.
This image was erected on the 15th day of the month Casleu (answering partly to
November and partly to December), and on the 25th of the same month they there began their
sacrifices to Jupiter. (See Maccabees, 1 : 54, 59.)
Exactly three yeas from this time, when Judas Maccabaeus had conquered
and expelled the soldiers of Antiochus, the pious Jews having purified the temple, and
made a new altar of incense, solemnly dedicated the temple anew to the worship of Jehovah,
on the 25th of the month Casleu (see I Mac. 4 : 52), the very same day on which three
years before the sacrifices to Jupiter had commenced.
The half of 2300 days, as we have seen, is three years and 55 days. We
are not informed by any historian exactly how many days elapsed between the time when
Athenaeus stopped the daily sacrifices, and the 25th of the month Casleu, when Jupiter was
worshipped in the temple. Had we been thus informed, I have no doubt that we should
find that time to be exactly 55 days; and thus that "the daily sacrifice was taken
away" for 2300 evening and morning offerings, and the worship of Jehovah in his
temple abolished for 1150 days, or three years and 55 days.
The account given by the author of the Maccabees of the feelings of the
patriotic Jewish army, when, after their victory, they beheld their much loved temple, is
beautiful and affecting.
Then said Judas and his brethren, behold our enemies are discomfited:
let us go up to cleanse and dedicate the sanctuary. Upon this all the host assembled
themselves together, and went up into mount Zion. And when they saw the sanctuary
desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt up, and shrubs growing in the courts
as in a forest, or in one of the mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers pulled down;
they rent their clothes and made great lamentation, and cast ashes upon their heads, and
fell down flat to the ground upon their faces.
(I Maccabees, 4 : 36)
Their patriotic and pious joy when they re-dedicated the house of their God, is
no less beautifully described (verses 52 to 58).
Now on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month, which is called
the month Casleu, they rose up betimes in the morning, and offered sacrifices, according
to the law, upon the new altar of burnt-offerings which they had made. Look! at what
time, and what day the heathen had profaned it, even in that was it dedicated with songs,
and anthems, and harps, and cymbals. Then all the people fell upon their faces
worshipping and praising the God of heaven, who had given them good success. And so
they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burnt offerings with
gladness, and sacrificed the sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decked also
the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold, and with shields; and the gates and the
chambers they renewed, and hanged doors upon them. Thus was there very great
gladness among the people, for that the reproach of the heathen was put away.
After reading the above account, it will not appear surprising that Josephus,
the Jewish historian, should say in his Antiquities of the Jews (Book X, chap.
11, sec. 7), after mentioning this prophecy of Daniel's about the little horn,
And indeed, so it came to pass, that our nation suffered these things
under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision, and what he wrote many years
before they came to pass.
SECTION 7. -- Examination of Mr. Miller's date for the commencement of the
2300 days or years.
Then I heard one saint
speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall
be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression
of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand
and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
-- Dan. 8 : 13, 14.
It has already been remarked that the foundation stone of Mr. Miller's doctrine
of the coming of Christ in the year 1843 is his placing the commencement of the 2300 days,
which he considers to mean 2300 years, at the same time with the commencement of Daniel's
70 weeks, or 490 years.
He then brings us to the year 1843 by a very easy process, thus:
Whole time of the prophecy,
2300 years.
Prophecy commences before the crucifixion
490 years.
-------
1810
Age of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion,
33 years.
-------
Bringing us to the year AD
1843
as the date of the completion of the prophecy, which Mr. Miller supposes will be the year
of Christ's coming to judgment.
The reader is already aware that I do not regard the "two thousand three
hundred evenings and mornings" as prophetical days or years. As, however, some
of my readers may suppose that years are possibly intended by the 2300 days, I shall
proceed to show that even upon the supposition that this is the case, Mr. Miller
is still egregiously in error, in the date of their commencement, and consequently, in
that of their termination.
Let it be remembered that Mr. Miller acknowledges (p. 49) that the kingdom of
the he-goat (Dan. 8 : 8) means the establishment of the Grecian empire under Alexander the
Great, and that this event occurred in the year BC 331.
Let the reader also remember that Mr. M. acknowledges in the same page, that by
the four notable horns explained by the angel (v. 22) as meaning four kingdoms, we are to
understand the division of Alexander's dominions into four kingdoms under four of his
principal captains, and that this division took place BC 301. Now the prophecy says
(v. 23) that in the latter time of their kingdom, a king of fierce countenance
shall arise, &c. By him (v. 11, 12) "the daily sacrifice was to be taken
away, &c. In the 13th verse, it is asked, for how long a time this vision shall
last, and the daily sacrifice be taken away, &c., and the answer is, "Unto two
thousand and three hundred days."
Now let the reader observe that notwithstanding the above admission, Mr. M.
places the commencement of these 2300 days (years) in the year BC 457, that is, more than
a century before the he-goat or the four notable horns or the little horn had any
existence! Is it not the very height of absurdity to fix the date of the beginning
of these calamities (which the prophecy says were to occur in the latter time of
the four kingdoms which sprung from Alexander's) more than a century before Alexander was
born, and 126 years before the establishment of Alexander's Grecian empire? To
express this in the symbolical language of the prophecy, Is it not somewhat extraordinary
that this "little horn" (whatever was meant by it) should spring out of one of
the four horns upon the head of the goat, more than a century before the goat had any
existence?
And yet this is the absurdity upon which Mr. M. builds his whole theory of the
coming of Christ in 1843.
But the reader who has not read Mr. M.'s book will inquire, Does he place the
date so far back without a shadow of a reason?
I reply, I have read his third lecture very carefully, to discover whether he
has any reason whatever, for placing the commencement of the 2300 years at the same time
as the commencement of the 70 weeks; and I can discover none, except a most singular
inference he draws from the words in Daniel, 8th chap., 21st verse, "the man Gabriel
whom I had seen in the vision, at the beginning touched me, &c."
The inference Mr. Miller draws from the expression in this verse, "the
vision," which, for the sake of emphasis, he has printed in italics seven times
in one page (page 57) is that the vision of the 70 weeks, and the vision of the 2300 days,
are only one vision, and that the former vision of 490 years is a part of the
latter. But lest I should be supposed incorrectly to charge Mr. M. with an
absurdity, which he does not maintain, I will give his own words to show that I do not
misrepresent his views. On page 57, Mr. M. says,
We learn by the instruction of Gabriel that the seventy weeks were a
part of the vision.
And again,
We think the proof is strong that the vision of Daniel begins
457 years before Christ; take which from 2300, leaves 1843, when the vision must
be finished.
And again,
Do you believe the Bible is true? [he asks the objector]. We
do. Then if the Bible is true, Daniel's 70 weeks are a part of the vision,
and 490 years were accomplished when the Messiah was cut off; then 1810 years afterwards, the
vision is completed, which would be fulfilled in 1843.
To these sage reasonings about THE vision, it is only necessary
to remark, firstly, that the vision of the 2300 days, and the vision of the 70
weeks, were seen by Daniel at two separate times, 15 or 16 years apart; that they refer to
entirely different events, and are therefore, not two parts of THE same
vision, but two distinct visions; and secondly, that this emphatic THE,
upon which so much dependence is placed, is not in the Hebrew. It is in the
original merely "the angel Gabriel whom I had seen in vision (Heb.
be-cha-zon), at the beginning, &c." The Hebrew article hai (THE)
is not there.
If I were to bring forward any other argument to refute this absurd idea, I
fear my readers would think me like the lawyer who, in undertaking to prove that a certain
deed had not been signed by a designated individual, began by stating that he had fifteen
reasons to allege why the man in question had not signed the deed, and promising to state
them in order, began by saying, "My first reason is the fact that the man
was dead before the deed was written; my second --" "Stop,"
said the judge. "If you can prove that, you may spare yourself the trouble of
enumerating your remaining fourteen reasons.
The reader of the foregoing remarks will, I think, be satisfied that there are,
at least, very strong grounds for believing that the "little horn" means
Antiochus Epiphanes.
Mr. M. supposes it to mean Pagan and Papal Rome. After quoting Rev. 11 :
2, "the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months," he adds,
This last text only has reference to the Papal beast, which was the
image of the Pagan, but the text in consideration (viz.: Dan. 8 : 13, 14) has reference to
both Pagan and Papal.
He explains the question, "How long shall be the vision, concerning the
daily sacrifice?" by the following words:
That is, how long shall the Pagan transgression and the Papal
transgression tread under foot the sanctuary and the host? This [says he] must
be the true and literal meaning of our text.
Now supposing it were granted that the "little horn" is the Roman
government, still there is no reason for placing the commencement of these calamities in
the year BC 457.
Upon the above supposition, we cannot suppose the Roman power to spring up from
the head of the he-goat, or from Alexander's Grecian empire, before the latter was in
existence. The Roman power could only, in any sense, be regarded as a horn springing
from the head of the goat, when it should succeed to at least a portion of the dominions
of the four kingdoms into which Alexander's was divided. This took place when the
Romans at Pydna, in Macedonia, obtained a decisive victory over Perseus, the last king of
Greece and the west, and reduced that kingdom, which was one of the four that sprung from
Alexander's, to the condition of a Roman province.
So that if Mr. M. is right, in supposing the 2300 days to mean 2300 years, and
the little horn to mean the Roman power; still, the commencement cannot be dated before
the Roman power became a horn of the he-goat, or in other words, a branch of Alexander's
Grecian empire, by the conquest of Greece, BC 168.
Before passing to Mr. Miller's next position, I would remark that the
commencement of the 70 weeks, and that of the 2300 days, cannot be identical, because the
former commences at an event among the most joyful in the history of the
Jewish nation, viz.: "the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem," after their long and weary captivity in Babylon should have ended; and the
latter commences at an event among the most painful and calamitous in their
history, viz.: "the taking away of the daily sacrifice, setting up the abomination of
desolation, and giving the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot."
This was an event calling for mourning and lamentation and tears, but that
was an occasion of heartfelt joy to the pious and patriotic Jews, as all will confess, who
peruse the account of its fulfillment in the seventh chapter of Ezra, verses 6 to 10.
In the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra went up from Babylon:
and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and
the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.
And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the
Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the
seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month,
which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day of the first month
began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to
Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his
heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and
judgments.
The commandment or decree of Artaxerxes "to restore and to build
Jerusalem," predicted by Daniel, and recorded by Ezra, was an instance of special
favor towards the Jews, such as they have too seldom experienced from the kings of the
earth. He not only permitted them to return to the much-loved city of their fathers,
and encouraged them to raise from its ruins the temple of Jehovah, but also furnished them
with silver and gold, exempted from tribute the Levites, singers, porters, and others
connected with the service of the temple, and recommended them to the especial favor of
the surrounding nations.
After recording this memorable decree, the pious Ezra bursts forth in the
joyful language of grateful thanksgiving:
Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers which hath put such a thing as
this in the king's heart . . .
I need scarcely inquire of the attentive reader, after perusing Ezra's account
of this most joyful event in the history of the Jews, from which the prophecy of the
seventy weeks is to be dated -- Can this be the date of the beginning of those
dreadful calamities predicted in the vision of the 2300 days, when the daily sacrifice was
to be taken away, the abomination of desolation to be set up, and the sanctuary and host
to be trodden under foot?
The fact that the two visions predict events entirely opposite in their
character is of itself a proof abundantly sufficient that the date of the vision of the
2300 days does not begin in the same as that of the 70 weeks. As this is the one
single assumption upon which Mr. Miller's theory of the end of the world in 1843 is
founded, it must be evident that with the failure of this proof his whole system falls to
the ground.
Every intelligent reader of Mr. Miller's book will perceive that the
commencement of his other prophetic periods is obtained simply by subtracting them from
this one, to ascertain the date of their commencement; consequently the disproof of this
is the refutation of all the rest. As this fact, however, is not mentioned by Mr.
Miller, and as many may be struck with the apparent singular coincidences arising from our
author's making other supposed prophetic periods, besides the 2300 days, end in the same
year 1843, I shall proceed in the ensuing chapters to examine his remaining imaginary
proofs of the coming of Christ in that year.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PUNISHMENT OF
SEVEN TIMES
And if you will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk
contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven
times for your sins.
-- Lev. 26 : 23, 24.
Let the reader peruse this passage and the chapter from which it is taken, and
then imagine, if he can, by what stretch of ingenuity Mr. M. draws from it a proof of the
coming of Christ to judgment in 1843. That I may not be suspected of
misrepresentation, I will state the process by which he performs this most singular
operation in his own words.
He has chosen these verses as the text of his 17th lecture. He proposes
to show,
First -- For what the people of God are punished.
Second -- Show how they are punished.
Third -- Show the time they will be punished.
Passing over his observations upon his two first heads of discourse, in which
there are some good pious remarks, let us examine what he says upon the third part of his
subject, where he proposes "to show what is meant by 'seven times' in the
text."
Seven times [says our author], in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, was fulfilled
in seven years. Nebuchadnezzar, for his pride and arrogancy against God, was driven
among the beasts of the field, and was made to eat grass as oxen, until seven times
passed over him, and until he learned that the most high ruled in the kingdom of men, and
gave it to whomsoever he would. This being a matter of history, and as an allegory
or sample to the people of God for their pride and arrogancy, in refusing to be reformed
by God, and claiming the power and will to do these things themselves -- they
too, like Nebuchadnezzar, must be driven among the beasts of the field, meaning the
kingdoms of this world (!), until they learn the sovereignty of God, and that he dispenses
his favors to whomsoever he will. That being a matter of history, and a sample only,
was fulfilled in seven years; but this being a prophecy will be fulfilled only in seven
prophetic times, which will be seven times 360 years; which will make 2520 years.
A little farther on, he remarks --
Therefore, the sum and substance of the whole is, that the people of God
would be among the beasts, or kings of the earth, seven times, i.e. 2520 years.
Having decided by this singular process of reasoning that the people of God
shall be punished 2520 years -- which period, to make it agree with his previous
conclusion, fixed upon by comparing the 2300 days and the 70 weeks, must end in the year
1843 -- our author has nothing to do but to subtract one number from the other,
to fix the time of the commencement of this punishment.
Thus,
2520, whole period.
1843 after Christ.
--------
677 before Christ.
He then looks into his Bible chronology, and finds that in the year BC 677 one of the
kings of Judah, named Manasseh, was carried a prisoner to Babylon. Here, then, says
Mr. M., must begin this punishment of seven times.
It would have answered his purpose, doubtless, much better had this subtraction
happened to have brought out the number 606 BC, the date of the commencement of the 70
years captivity of the Israelites in Babylon; but figures will not bend, and therefore,
for want of a better, this date of Manasseh's being taken prisoner is adopted, though it
was the mere captivity of an individual king, and not of the Jewish people, as the
Babylonish captivity was, 71 years after.
Mr. Miller does not inform us of this mode of calculating backwards to
ascertain the commencement of his 2520 years.
He tells us this punishment or captivity took place in the year BC 677, and
then bids us take that number from the whole number of the years,
2520
677
--------
1843
Remarkable coincidence! some may exclaim. We have arrived again at the very same
date! But does not any person of reflection perceive that the number 677 was
obtained by Mr. Miller by calculating backward, as I have before stated?
And of course he understood subtraction well enough to know that if 1843 taken from 2520
left 677, then 677 taken from the same number would leave 1843. Surely there can be
no mystery, nothing wonderful in this.
That he did not select the number 677 BC from choice, but from necessity, is
very evident from the fact that it was not a national captivity, but only of a single
king, who, after a period of imprisonment, was restored again to his throne. Besides
this, the removal of such a king, who was a most wicked and cruel tyrant, even causing
"his children to pass through the fire to Moloch," must have been a blessing to
his subjects rather than a punishment.
Mr. Miller says (page 262), in reference to his 2520 years,
The proper question would now be, when did those years begin? I
answer, they must have begun with the first captivity of the tribe of Judah, the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, in Babylon.
He then quotes Jer. 15 : 4 --
And I will cause them to remove into all the kingdoms of the earth,
because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah for that which he did in
Jerusalem.
He adds, just after,
Then if Babylon was the nation which was to scatter the people of God,
and this, too, in the days of Manasseh, I ask, when was this captivity? I
answer, in the year 677 before Christ; see 2 Chron. 33 : 9 to 13, and see also
the Bible chronology of that event.
In the above extract, a passage from Jeremiah, the prophet, is quoted, in which
God says, "I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because
of Manasseh," &c., to prove that this captivity was to take place, to use
Mr. Miller's own words, "in the days of Manasseh."
I cannot believe that Mr. Miller would be guilty of deception, even to
establish a favorite date. I must conclude, therefore, that when he wrote the words
above he was ignorant of a fact of which almost any Sunday school scholar wold inform him,
viz. : that Jeremiah wrote that prophecy long after Manasseh was dead!
Jeremiah did not begin to prophesy, as any person may see by turning
to Jer. 1 : 3, till the thirteenth year of king Josiah, who was the grandson of
Manasseh, and consequently fifteen years after the death of Manasseh, who died BC 643.
Jeremiah began to prophesy fourteen or fifteen years from this date, or at the
earliest, BC 629. This time, when Jeremiah began his prophecies, was
therefore 48 years after the captivity of Manasseh in 677; and yet, who would
believe it! this writer, who tells us, more than once, how many years he has spent in
studying the prophecies, is found applying a prediction of Jeremiah, "I will
remove them," &c., to an event which took place BC 677, and consequently 48 years
before he prophesied at all, and probably many years before he was born! for Jeremiah,
when he began to prophesy, was but young in years; he said (ch. 1 : 6) "Oh, Lord God!
behold I cannot speak, for I am a child."
In the prophecy of Jeremiah under consideration, the prophet certainly did
allude to "the first captivity of the tribe of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
in Babylon," as Mr. Miller says; but unfortunately for Mr. Miller's dates and theory,
this did not occur in the year BC 677, when Manasseh was made prisoner, for the
inhabitants of Jerusalem were not carried captive with him; but in the year BC 606, twenty-three
years after Jeremiah began to prophesy, and not, as Mr. M. makes out, forty-eight
years before.
But Mr. M. finds this wonderful period of "seven years," or
"times," or 2520 years, not only in Leviticus, but in Ezekiel, in the following
words, which are found in chap. 39th, 9th verse: --
And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and shall set
on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows,
and the handstaves and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years.
"Ezekiel here gives us to understand," says Mr. M.,
that by means of the people of God being driven out of their cities, and
by the word of God, they would be enabled to destroy, or be destroying their enemies, and
to spoil those who had been spoiling them, and rob those who had robbed them; and this
too, would take seven years or 2520 days; and Ezekiel being commanded to reckon each day
for a year (4th chapter, 4th to 6th verse) then it would be 2520 years. The proper
question would now be -- When did those years begin?
Mr. M. then goes on to answer -- in the year BC 677, as before, the
date of Manasseh's captivity.
Here again our astonishment must be excited, as Mr. M is ignorant of the fact
that Ezekiel delivered this prophecy long after Manasseh was carried into Babylon, and
half a century after Manasseh was dead! Ezekiel was not called to the
prophetical office till BC 594, in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity. (See
chap. 1 : 2.) This was 83 years after Mr. M.'s commencement of his pretended
"seven times" or 2520 years. If Mr. M. did not know that Jeremiah
and Ezekiel wrote their prophecies long after the time of Manasseh, he should not have
undertaken to expound prophecy.
If he did know this fact, and yet applied these predictions:
"I will remove them, &c." -- (Jer.)
"They shall go forth" &c. -- (Ezek.)
to an event already past, as though that event were yet future when these
prophets wrote, then Mr. M. must have been guilty of a most unwarrantable perversion of
scripture, merely to serve a purpose, and establish a date. My charity forbids me to
take the latter horn of this dilemma. But whichever is true, Mr. M. cannot be a safe
guide in the interpretation of prophecy. No one should undertake to expound prophecy
by history who does not possess an acquaintance with even the alphabet of Bible
chronology. I have merely pointed out these gross and palpable blunders as instances
of the abundant proofs found in almost every page of Miller's book of his want of that
kind of knowledge essential to one who undertakes to expound the prophecies.
But there is another absurdity attached to this strange exposition of Mr.
M. Let the reader turn to the passage in the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus, and
read from v. 18 to v. 28, beginning v. 18, "And if ye will not for all this hearken
unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins,"
&c. Before he has read the verses, he has doubtless discovered what I charitably
hope escaped the notice of Mr. M., as he does not mention it, and it would destroy his
strange exposition altogether; namely, that this "seven times" is to be repeated
four times over (see verses 18, 21, 24, 28); so that if "seven times" means,
according to Mr. M. 2520 years, then the whole period must be over ten thousand
years. I leave it to Mr. M. to fix the date of its commencement, so as to bring the
termination of these ten thousand years to his favorite date of 1843.
And are these the sort of arguments by which wondering crowds of
people in their proper senses have been drawn together, and the minds of many have been
shaken or troubled as though the day of the Lord were at hand? The bare statement of
these absurd suppositions, to an intelligent person conversant with the history of the
world, would be a sufficient refutation of them; and while I write, their absurdity
appears so glaring that I am almost ashamed to employ my pen in reply to them. To
some persons, however, positive assertions, such as Mr. Miller indulges in, are mistaken
for arguments, and though their minds are not convinced by the soundness of the reasons
advanced, they are awed into submission by the confident tone assumed by the
theorist. I have adopted as my motto the words of the apostle --
"Prove all things,
hold fast that which is good."
If everybody would rigidly observe this rule, when novel theories are presented
for their consideration, there would be vastly less error in the world; and the present
reply to such a mass of error as is contained in Mr. Miller's book would have been
needless.
CHAPTER V.
THE THREE PROPHETICAL
PERIODS.
Twelve hundred and sixty days;
Twelve hundred and ninety;
Thirteen hundred and thirty-five.
SECTION 1. -- The three periods compared.
And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of
the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
-- Dan. 12 : 6.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the
river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that
liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he
shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be
finished.
-- v. 7.
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and
ninety days.
-- v. 11.
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred
and five and thirty days.
-- v. 12.
Here are three distinct prophetical periods.
1. In verse seventh; a time, times, and a half, meaning says
Miller, three and a half prophetical years, or three and a half times 360, making 1260
prophetical days, that is years.
2. In verse eleventh, twelve hundred and ninety days.
3. In verse twelfth, thirteen hundred and thirty-five days.
Mr. Miller understand the last of these three periods to end at the same time
as his 2300 years, viz.: in 1843, and the other two periods to end 45 years before, viz.:
in 1798. This 45 years is merely the difference of the two numbers, 1290 and 1335.
He has nothing now to do but to reckon back, by subtracting 1335 from
1843, to find out the beginning of this period.
1843
1335
--------
508
Mr. M. supposes that in the year AD 508, obtained by the above easy process, "the
pagan abomination" was to come to an end. Because there is a difference of 30
years between the two numbers 1290 and 1260, he concludes that "The Papal abomination