John  Dowling

1840
  



 


Ellen White   --   Early Critics
 

     Lucinda Burdick       O. R. L. Crosier Snook & Brinkerhoff       H. E.  Carver
      Miles Grant       Charles Lee       H. C.  Blanchard       Norwich Tract
       


Ellen White and the Men of Battle Creek
 

      A. T. Jones - 1       A. T. Jones - 2 "To those...perplexed"       David Paulson
      William Sadler       Dr. Chas. Stewart       A. T. Jones       JHK  -  Interview
      Merrit Kellogg       A. T. Jones - 3    


Ellen White  --  Later Critics
 

      A. F. Ballenger       E. S. Ballenger    


William Miller and 1844
 

An Exposition of the
Prophecies, Supposed
by William Miller to
Predict the Second
Coming in 1843

(1840)
Miller Overthrown:
Or, The False Prophet
Confounded
By a Cosmopolite
(1840)
Canright on
Wm. Miller
(1889)
.
.
.
.
.


The Shut Door
 

  The Camden Vision
  Genuine
 
(1979)
    .
.
.


The Sanctuary
 

Canright on the
Sanctuary doctrine

(1889; 1919)
Cast Out for the Cross of Christ
A. F. Ballenger

(1909)



.
.
.


The Sabbath
 

   The $200 Text:  A
   Written Discussion
   of the Sabbath
    .
.
.

 

 





AN

EXPOSITION


OF  THE


PROPHECIES,

 

SUPPOSED  BY  WILLIAM  MILLER  TO  PREDICT  THE

SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST,  IN  1843.

 

------------------------
By  JOHN  DOWLING,  A. M.
Pastor  of  the  Pine-street  Baptist  Church,   Providence,  R. I.
------------------------


It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.  --Jesus Christ.

Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.  --Paul.


P R O V I D E N C E :
PUBLISHED  BY  GEO.  P.  DANIELS.

CROCKER & BREWSTER:  BOSTON.
M. W. DODD:  NEW-YORK.
BENNETT, BACKUS & HAWLEY:  UTICA.


1 8 4 0.





The following is an abridgement of Dowling's 1840 book.
                               Gary Gent
                               1999



 
 

E X P O S I T I O N .


---------------------------

 

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 howMany -- 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