Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy [Himes], vol. 4
October 26, 1842
Vol. IV.—No. 6. Boston, Whole No. 78
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
AND EXPOSITOR OF PROPHECY.
Joshua V. Himes & Josiah Litch, Editors. Office No. 14 [Terms—$1 per Vol. (24 Nos.) in advance.] Devonshire Street, Boston
Letter of Dr. Pond,
Of the Theological Institution, Bangor, Me., with notes in reply to his objections against the doctrine of the second advent in 1843. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.1
When the writer of this reply to the letter of our esteemed correspondent first commenced the investigation of Mr. Miller’s theory, he looked with no little anxiety to the position taken, and the verdict given, on the subject, by those who stood at the head of affairs in the church, and its literary institutions. But the efforts made by those who occupied these towers of Zion, while the question was before his mind, surprised him by their weakness and inappropriateness, and certainly prepared him to think more favorably of Mr. Miller’s views. But he had then no idea that productions like those which have appeared from the above sources, could have been given to the world. He would scarcely have been more surprised by the abandonments of protestation, or even the public avowal of some of the modern powers of infidelity. To him it has appeared, from the first, that it could be no difficult thing to overthrow the calculations of Mr. Miller, if they are so evidently false and absurd: for, 1st. If the events on which the theory rests can be disproved, that would destroy it at once; or, 2nd. If it could be shown that the prophesies are improperly applied to these events, that would settle the question; or, 3rd. If it can be shown that there is any portion of prophesy which is to be fulfilled before the coming of Christ, the fulfilment of which renders his views inadmissible, that would put it to rest. It was this view of the subject which suggested the questions presented to Dr. Pond. The considerations which led to their presentation were, in part, as follows.—1st. No writer in the opposition had fairly met the question.—2nd. It was the writer’s desire that it might be fairly and thoroughly examined.—3rd. The candid and respectful treatment shown us by Dr. P., together with his office and reputation, inspired the expectation that he would take up the subject in a christian and critical manner; and that, as the result, he would show us the objections which must overthrow the system, or we should infer that it could not be overthrown. And, as the Dr. may suppose, from the long delay of any notice of his letter, that the system is not demolished, in our estimation; we offer, as an apology for the delay, that we have been pressed with other calls,—and for continuing to hold on to the system some of our reasons may be found in the following remarks. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.2
To present the subject more clearly before our readers, we have divided the letter according to the topics to which it refers; and interwoven our remarks and extracts in connection with the corresponding portions of the letter. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.3
The questions referred to in Dr. P’s letter, may be found in the “Signs of the Times,” Vol. 3rd. page 132. But for the benefit of those who may not be able conveniently to refer to the paper, we insert the questions below. The first, which refers to the facts on which the theory is based, is as follows. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.4
1st. Have not the events, which lie at the basis of Mr. Miller’s theory, (which, so far as it is peculiarly his, consists of these two points, viz., that the time of the end of all things is revealed, and that time is 1843,) taken place as he states, and at the time he states? HST October 26, 1842, page 41.5
In presenting the first question, no catalogue was given of those events which ought to be considered as fundamental to Mr. Miller’s theory; it is known, however, that his lectures include portions of prophecy, the application of which, whether correct or not, does not affect the truth of its ground and peculiar features. Dr. P. has noted the principal events included in his lectures, some of which are fundamental, others are not. However, they shall be noticed in the order in which he has named them. His letter is herewith introduced. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.6
Bangor, Aug. 1st. 1842.
Rev. and Dear Sir.—In your favor of July 19th you propose the three following questions. “1st. Have not the events,” etc., (I need not quote the questions, as you have them before you.) In reply to the first of these questions I feel constrained to say that at least some of the events referred to by Mr. Miller, have not “taken place, as he states, and at the time he states. For example. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.7
[1st. Event—Setting up of Popery.]
I do not think that the Papacy was set up, A. D. 538. There were the germs of it much earlier. Stephen, Bishop of Rome, began to act the Pope, in good earnest, as early as A. D. 257; and it is remarkable that 1260 years from this date brings us down to 1517, the very year in which Luther published his theses against indulgences. The Popish power grew up gradually in the church, it did not come to maturity till long after the date of it, as given by Mr. Miller.” HST October 26, 1842, page 41.8
We have before us a work on The Apocalypse, by Rev. George Croly of England, published in 1827, and dedicated to the Right Rev. Thomas Lord, Bishop of Salisbury, in which he gives the detailed history of the acts from which the supremacy of the Pope is to be dated. We give an extended quotation from his work, with the references and original extracts, which we consider decisive testimony, not of the time when the “Bishop of Rome began to act the Pope in good earnest,” nor when the “Popish power came to maturity,” but when Popery was “set up,” that is, when the saints were formally and publicly given into its hands. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.9
See, also, “Prospects of the Church of Christ,” by Hon. G. T. Noel, p. 100; “Political Destiny of the Earth,” by Wm. Cunninghame, Esq. p. 28. Mr. Croly, pages 113—117, says, HST October 26, 1842, page 41.10
“A. D. 533. The Pope was declared Head of all the Churches, by the Emperor Justinian. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.11
The circumstances of a transaction, so pregnant with the most momentous results to the Christian world, are to be found at large in the annals of Baronius, the chief Romish Ecclesiastical historian. 3 HST October 26, 1842, page 41.12
Justinian being about to commence the Vandal war, an enterprize of great difficulty, was anxious previously to settle the religious disputes of his capital. The Nestorian heresy had formed a considerble number of partizans, who, conscious of the Emperor’s hostility to their opinions, had appealed to the bishop of Rome. To counteract the representations of Cyrus and Eulogius, the Nestorian deputies, the Emperor sent two distinguished prelates, Hypatius, bishop of Ephesus, and Demetrius, bishop of Phillippi, in the character of envoys, to Rome. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.13
Justinian had been remarkable for taking an unkingly share in the dubious theology of the time: he felt the passions of a disputant; and to his latest day enjoyed the triumphs of controversy with the delight of a zealot, as he sometimes signalized them by the fury of a persecutor. On this occasion, whether through anxiety to purchase the suffrage of the Roman bishop, the patriarch of the west, whose opinion influenced a large portion of christendom; or to give irresistible weight to the verdict which was to be pronounced in his own favor; he decided the precedency which had been contested by the bishops of Constantinople from the foundation of the city, and in the fullest and most unequivocal form, declared the bishop of Rome the chief of the whole ecclesiastical body of the empire. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.14
His letter was crouched in these terms: “Justinian, pious, fortunate, renowned, triumphant, Emperor, consul, etc. to John the most holy Archbishop of our city of Rome, and patriarch. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.15
“Rendering honor to the apostolic chair, and to your holiness, as has been always and is our wish, and honoring your blessedness as a father; we have hastened to bring to the knowledge of your holiness all matters relating to the state of the churches. It having been at all times our great desire to preserve the unity of your apostolic chair, and the constitution of the holy churches of God which has obtained hitherto, and still obtains. HST October 26, 1842, page 41.16
“Therefore we have made no delay in subjecting and uniting to your holiness all the priests of the whole earth.” 4 HST October 26, 1842, page 41.17
“For this reason we have thought fit to bring to your notice the present matters of disturbance; though they are manifest and unquestionable, and always firmly held and declared by the whole priesthood according to the doctrine of your apostolic chair. For we cannot suffer that any thing which relates to the state of the church, however manifest and unquestionable, should be moved without the knowledge of your holiness, who are the Head of all the Holy Churches, 5 for in all things, as we have already declared, we are anxious to increase the honor and authority of your apostolic chair.” HST October 26, 1842, page 41.18
The letter then proceeds to relate the matter in question, the heresy of the monks and the mission of the bishops, and desires to have a rescript from Rome to Epiphanius, archbishop of Constantinople, giving the papal sanction to the judgment already pronounced by the Emperor on the heresy. It further mentions that the archbishop had also written to the pope, “he being also desirous in all things to follow the apostolic authority of his blessedness.” HST October 26, 1842, page 41.19
The Emperor’s letter must have been sent before the 25th March, 533. For, in his letter of that date to Epiphanius, he speaks of its having been already despatched, and repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the church shall be referred to the Pope. “Head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics.” 6 HST October 26, 1842, page 41.20
In the same month of the following year, 534, the Pope returned an answer repeating the language of the Emperor, applauding his homage to the See, and adopting the titles of the imperial mandate. He observes that among the virtues of Justinian, “one shines as a star,” his reverence for the apostolic chair, to which he has subjected and united all the churches, it being truly the head of all; 7 as was testified by the rules of the fathers, the laws of princes, and the declarations of the Emperor’s piety.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.1
The authenticity of the title receives unanswerable proof from the edicts in the “Novella” of the Justinian code. HST October 26, 1842, page 42.2
The preamble of the 9th states that “as the elder Rome was the founder of the laws; so was it not to be questioned that in her was the supremacy of the Pontificate.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.3
The 131st, on the ecclesiastical titles and privileges, chapter 2. states: “We therefore decree that the most holy Pope of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood, and that the most blessed archbishop of Constantinople, the new Rome, shall hold the second rank after the holy apostolic chair of the elder Rome.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.4
The supremacy of the Pope had, by those mandates and edicts, received the fullest sanction that could be given by the authority of the master of the Roman world. But the yoke sat uneasily on the Bishop of Constantinople; and on the death of Justinian the supremacy was utterly denied. The Greek, who wore the mitre in the imperial city of the east, must have looked with national contempt on a Pontiff whose city had lost the honors of the imperial residence, and whose person was in the power of the barbarians. Towards the close of the sixth century, John, of Constantinople, surnamed for his pious austerities the Faster, summoned a council and resumed the ancient title of the See, “Universal Bishop.” The Roman bishop, Gregory the Great indignant at the usurpation, and either hurried away by the violence of controversy, or, in that day of monstrous ignorance, unacquainted with his own distinctions, furiously denounced John, calling him an “usurper aiming at supremacy over the whole church,” and declaring, with unconscious truth, that whoever claimed such supremacy was anti-Christ The accession of Phocas at length decided the question. He had ascended the throne of the east by the murder of the Emperor Mauritius. The insecurity of his title rendered him anxious to obtain the sanction of the patriarch of the west. The conditions were easily settled. The usurper received the benediction of the Bishop of Rome, and the Bishop in 606 vindicated from his rival patriarch the gorgeous title, that had been almost a century before conferred on the papal tiara by Justinian. He was thenceforth “Head of all the churches, without a competitor,” “Universal Bishop of christendom.” 8 That Phocas repressed the claim of the Bishop of Constantinople, is beyond a doubt. But the highest authority among the civilians and annalists of Rome spurn the idea that Phocas was the founder of the supremacy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian as the only legitimate source, and rightly date the title from the memorable year 533.” 9 HST October 26, 1842, page 42.5
And referring again to these transactions, pages 8 & 9, he says: HST October 26, 1842, page 42.6
“On reference to Baronius, the established authority among the Roman Catholic annalists, I found the whole detail of Justinian’s grants of supremacy to the Pope, formally given.—The entire transaction was of the most authentic and regular kind, and suitable to the importance of the transfer. The grant of Phocas was found to be a confused and in perfect transaction, scarcely noticed by the early writers, and, even in its fullest sense, amounting to nothing beyond a confirmation of the grant of Justinian. The chief cause of its frequent adoption by the commentators, seemed to be its convenient coincidence with the rise of Mahometanism.” 10 HST October 26, 1842, page 42.7
But these provisions of the Justinian code could not go into effect in favor of the Bishop of Rome at the time they were issued, because Rome and Italy were then in possession of the Ostrogoths,—who being strongly attached to the Arian faith, were as violently opposed to the religion of Justinian, as they were envious of his imperial wealth and power. It was not till the conquest of Rome, in March 538, that the catholic bishop could exercise the power with which he had been clothed by the Emperor. The Vandal war, which commenced in 533, and the Italian war, which terminated in the conquest of the Goths in 538, were prompted by the same spirit, as they were a part of the same object, which gave existence to the ecclesiastical provisions of the code. Even during the reign of his uncle, Justin, “assumed the powers of government;” and “already meditated the extirpation of heresy, and the conquest of Italy and Africa, (chap. 39.) And that for proof we refer to Gibbon, the most minute historian, in our language, of the events of those times. He tells us that Justinian, on receiving the news of the success of Belisarius against the Vandals in Africa, after he had “celebrated the Divine goodness and confessed in silence the merit of his successful general, impatient to abolish the temporal and spiritual tyranny of the Vandals, proceeded without delay to the full establishment of the Catholic church.”—Decline and Fall, vol. vii. page 150. HST October 26, 1842, page 42.8
And again, in speaking of the conquest of Italy, he says: “When Justinian first meditated the conquest of Italy, he sent ambassadors to the kings of the Franks, and adjured them, by the common ties of alliance and religion, to join in the holy enterprise against the Arians.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.9
This war commenced in 534. On the approach of Belisarius several cities forsook their Gothic and heretical sovereign, who retired before the armies of the Catholic Emperor, and after deciding in council to delay the “offensive operations of war till the next spring,” allowed Belisarius without opposition to enter Rome. While he was on his way to the city, the “Romans furiously exclaimed, that the apostolic throne should be no longer profaned by the triumph or toleration of Arianism.” “The deputies of the Pope and clergy, of the senate and people invited the lieutenant of Justinian to accept their voluntary allegiance, and to enter the city, whose gates would be thrown open for their reception.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.10
“Belisarius entered Rome December 10th, 536.” The first days, which coincided with the old saturnalia, were devoted to mutual congratulation and the public joy, and the catholics prepared to celebrate, without a rival, the approaching festival of the nativity of Christ.” “But the senate, the clergy, and the unwarlike people trembled, as soon as they understood that he had resolved, and would speedily be reduced, to sustain a siege against the powers of the Gothic monarchy.” The Goths commenced the seige in March, 537.” In the extremities of the seige, Belisarius apprehended the most fatal results from the “despair and treachery” of the citizens. “On the proof or suspicion of treason, several senators were banished, and the Pope Sylverius was despoiled of his pontifical ornaments, and embarked for a distant exile in the east. At the Emperor’s command, the clergy of Rome proceeded to the choice of a new bishop, and after a solemn invocation of the Holy Ghost, elected the deacon Virgilius, who had purchased the papal throne by a bribe of two hundred pounds of gold.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.11
“The whole nation of the Ostrogoths had been assembled for the attack, and was almost entirely consumed in the seige of Rome. If any credit be due to an intelligent spectator, one third at least of their enormous host was destroyed in frequent and bloody combats under the walls of the city.” Vitijes, king of the Goths, being informed that another detachment of the Roman army, under “John the Sanguinary,” was spreading devastation through other portions of his kingdom, “before he retired made a last effort either to storm or to surprise the city.” This effort was fruitless, and in the month of March, 538, the Goths ended the seige, and retired from the city. HST October 26, 1842, page 42.12
“One year and nine days after the commencement of the siege, an army so lately strong and triumphant, burnt their tents and tumultuously passed the Miloian bridge.” 11 HST October 26, 1842, page 42.13
Our respected correspondent says that “the Popish power grew up gradually in the church.” True, but if it ever had an organized and visible existence, there must have been a time when its visible organization was effected. That is the point to which we are directed by the prophetic hand, and that is the point we wish to establish. We think the reader will see, by the above quotations, that it could not have been earlier than 533, nor later than 538. The quotations from Gibbon will give our reasons for commencing it at the latter date. HST October 26, 1842, page 42.14
[2nd. Event—Fall of Popery.]
“And sure I am that Popery did not fall in A. D. 1798. It is not fallen yet. In some of its branches, it is green and flourishing, boasting of its triumphs, and threatening, ere long, to take possession of the earth. Nor did Popery cease to be a persecuting power in 1798. Its persecutions have been various and cruel, since that period, in France, in Spain, and in the East. The protestants would now be persecuted with fire and sword, were they to attempt to carry the gospel into some portions of the Catholic world.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.15
On the Fall of Popery we refer again to Mr. Croly, p. 100. He says— HST October 26, 1842, page 42.16
“On the 10th of February, 1798, the French army under Berthier, entered Rome: took possession of the city, and made the Pope and the cardicals prisoners. Within a week Pius VI. was deposed: Rome was declared a Republic; the tree of liberty was planted; and the city and the states were delivered up to a long series of the deepest insults, requisitions, military murders, and the general injury and degradation of the feelings and property of all classes of the people. Pius VI. died in captivity. Pius VII. was dragged across the Alps to crown Napoleon, was held in duress, and was finally restored only on the fall of the French Empire. The papal independence was abolished by France, and the son of Napoleon was declared King of Rome.” See also Their’s French Revolution, Vol. 4. p. 246. HST October 26, 1842, page 42.17
Mr. Miller does not assert that Popery fell in the sense of its being utterly destroyed, in 1798, but that its dominion was taken away; nor does he assert that it ceased then “to be a persecuting power.” He says, (Lectures, p. 47) on “Daniel 7:21, 22. In these verses we are taught clearly that antichrist will prevail over the church of Christ until the first resurrection.” But he does state that Popery, on its restoration, was so modified, in its form and power, that it has not since been the deadly persecutor it was prior to 1798. On this point Mr. Cunninghame remarks, (p. 101) “at the fall of the French monarchy in 1792, a series of events began, which have, in the space of twenty five years, shaken to its foundation the spiritual power of the papacy throughout the greatest part of the western empire. The monastic orders have been annihilated, the property of the Church confiscated, the tithes abolished, many spiritual principalities have been secularized, and in France, the Netherlands, and every part of Germany, the Protestants have, by the new constitution of these kingdoms, obtained not only a complete toleration, but an equal admission to affairs of public trust with their Catholic follow-subjects.” HST October 26, 1842, page 42.18
Mr. Croly, p. 170, in speaking of the Inquisition, the grand instrument of papal vengance and cruelty, says, “The power of the Pope has been annulled by the events growing out of the republic of 1793. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.1
P. 169. “In the overthrow of the Inquisition in Rome and Spain, Christianity was not the impulse. The decree of Napoleon, issued from his head quarters near Madrid, declared that “the tribunal was an encroachment on royal authority. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.2
“A. D. 1814. The tribunal was revived by Ferdinand at the request of the clergy corporations, etc. But it has not committed any public atrocities. A remarkable change in the papal councils has virtually completed what the French Revolution began. Plus VII. had scarcely returned, under the sanction of the allied sovereign, when it was declared that the use of torture in the holy office was abolished, that the papal decree on this head had been communicated to Spain and Portugal. In March, 1816, the Inquisition was stated, in a letter of the Porteguese ambassador to the Papal court, to be thenceforth formerly suppressed in Portugal; and in the same year the Pope annulled a sentence of the Inquisition of Ravenna; and pronounced that in all trials for heresy, the accuser shall be confronted with the accused; and the trial be so conducted as not to involve death.” [Llorente, Hist. Ing.] HST October 26, 1842, page 43.3
On the rise and fall of Popery, there are several points particularly worthy of remark. 1st. It became a persecutor, “the abomination that maketh desolate,” before “the first authoritative effort to give supremacy to the See of Rome.” It is to continue to make “war with the saints,” after its dominion is taken away, and to previl against them, until the Ancient of Days shall come, and judgment shall be given to the saints of the most high, and the time shall come that the saints possess the kingdom.” HST October 26, 1842, page 43.4
2nd. The efforts which resulted in its actual supremacy, by placing the haughty Vigilius in full possession of the See of Rome in 538, were commenced as early as 533: so in its fall, the first shock of the earthquake which prostrated its throne in the dust in 1798, was given in 1793, when the Republic of France “declared that death was an eternal sleep; that Christianity was an imposture; and that there was no God!” (Croly, p. 61.) The rise of Popery must be dated somewhere within the period of these transactions, the writing of the letter of Justinian to the Pope, the issuing of the “Novella,” and the conquest of the city of Rome So its fall must be dated within the period of the corresponding transactions,—The laws of the Republic which abolished Popery in France, and the captivity of the Pope in his ancient capital by the republican armies. Mr. Miller adopts the date in both cases when the events were completed. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.5
[3rd. Event—Conversion of the ten Kings.]
“Again: the last of the ten kingdoms into which the Western Roman Empire was divided, did not become Christians, even in name, so early as the year 508. The Anglo Saxons, for instance, were not converted before the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh century. While the Huns in Hungary did not embrace Christianity before the eighth or tenth century.” HST October 26, 1842, page 43.6
We hardly know what to make of this section of the Dr’s letter. If he had referred to the statements of Mr. Miller, against which his objections are intended to apply, it would have been quite a relief to us. But most certainly he cannot find any enumeration “of the Ten Kingdoms into which the Western Roman Empire was divided,” which supposes that the “Anglo Saxons” or “Huns” were “christian even in name,” so early as 508, and of course it cannot be fairly demanded that we prove what never has been asserted. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.7
There are four cases in the prophecies in which the ten kings or Kingdoms of Western Rome are referred to. 1st. They are undoubtedly the divisions of the fourth kingdom, and correspond with the ten horns of the fourth beast, Daniel 7:23, 24. 17—20. 2nd. Three of these “first” divisions, or horns, were to be plucked up by the roots, to make way for the little papal horn, Daniel 7:7, 8. 3rd. These ten kings are said to give their power unto the papal beast, Revelation 12:13. 4th. They are spoken of as the agents by which the desolation and consumption of “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” was to be effected, Revelation 17:16. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.8
In giving a list of the divisions of the Roman Empire, for the purpose of illustrating the first two cases named above, Bro. Litch, and not Mr. Miller, gives a list of these kingdoms, as found in the works of Newton (p. 210,) and many others, on the prhphecies, which includes the Huns and the Anglo Saxons. Mr. Miller, also, in his remarks upon Daniel 7:19, 20, (Lectures, p. 46,) says, “In these verses we learn that the fourth beast would be diverse from the others. This was true with Rome; that the kingdom first arose from a small colony of adventurers settled in Italy. We learn that it would be divided into ten kingdoms, and afterwards there would arise another power, which would swallow up three of the ten kingdoms; this was all true with the Roman government. In A. D. 476 the Western Empire fell, and was divided into ten kingdoms, by the Goths, Huns, and Vandals. “France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Naples, Tuscany, Austria, Lombardy, Rome, and Ravenna,—The three last were absorbed in the territory of Rome,” (E. Irwin) and became the states of the church, governed by the papal chair.” But surely neither of these cases has any thing to do with 508, or the time of the conversion of the ten kingdoms of Western Rome. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.9
If “the Anglo Saxons were not converted before the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh century,” the English were, and the latter were not conquered by the former till after 508, or a history of England now before me which says, that says “Arthur gained a great battle at Bladenhill, near Bath, over the Saxons in 511,” is not correct; and England, not the Anglo Saxons, is the only one of the ten kingdoms which can be fairly included in Mr. Miller’s catalogue of the Western Empire. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.10
As nothing is said by Mr. Miller about the conversion of the “Huns in Hungary,” it is hardly worth the while to devote any time to that which is of no importance in the present case. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.11
[4th. Event—Captivity of Manasseh.]
“Mr. Miller represents Manasseh as having been carried into captivity in the year 677 B. C. also, that the ten tribes were carried into captivity at the same period. But I think it impossible to determine when Manasseh was carried into captivity. He reigned above fifty years, in the course of which he was taken and carried to Babylon; but in what year this event occurred, we are not informed. The ten tribes were carried captive, and ceased to be a nation, some fifty years before the captivity of Manasseh, during the reign of Hezekiah.” HST October 26, 1842, page 43.12
“Mr. Miller represents.” Indeed! Has our learned friend ever known any author, who “represent” the captivity of Manasseh to have taken place, at any other time than “677 B. C.?” If he had referred us to a single history, commentator, Bible margin, or chronological table, as authority for fixing, or even supposing, any other date, he would have done something towards showing that this event did not take place at the time Mr. Miller “states.” If it be “impossible to determine when” it did take place, it is certainly impossible to prove it did not take place at the time when all, of whom we have any knowledge, who say any thing about it, inform us it took place. However we will give an extract or two from authors who cannot be suspected of any partiality or incompetency in the case. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.13
Prideaux’s Con vol. i. pp. 149—151. “In the eleventh year of Manasseh, B. C. 688, died Tirhakah, king of Egypt, after he had reigned there eighteen years, who was the last of the Ethiopian kings that reigned in that country. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.14
The same year that this happened in Egypt, by the death of Tirhakah, the like happened in Babylon, by the death of Mesessimordacus. For, he leaving no son behind him to inherit the kingdom, an interregnum of anarchy and confusion followed there for eight years together, of which Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, taking the advantage, seized Babylon; and adding it to his former empire, thenceforth reigned over 3 both for thirteen years,—in the canon of Plotemy, called Assar-Adinus. And in the scriptures he is spoken of as king of 12 Babylon and Assryia jointly together. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.15
In the 22nd year of Manasseh, B. C. 677, Esarhaddon, after he had now entered on the fourth year of his reign in Babylon, and fully settled his authority there, began to set his thoughts on the recovery of what had been lost to the empire of the Assyrians in Syria and Palestine, on the destruction of his father’s army in Judea, and on that doleful retreat which thereon he was forced to make from thence, and being encouraged to this undertaking by the great augmentation of strength which he had acquired, by adding Babylon and Chaldea to his former kingdom of Assyria, he prepared a great army and marched into those parts, and again added them to the Assyrian Empire. And then was accomplished the prophecy which was spoken by Isaiah, in the first year of Ahaz, against Samariah, 13 that within three-score and five years, Ephraim should be absolutely broken, so as to be from thenceforth no more a people. For this year, being exactly sixty-five years from the first of Ahaz, Esarhaddon, after he had settled all affairs in Syria, marched into the land of Israel, and there taking captive all those who were the remains of the former captivity, (excepting only some few, who escaped his hands, and continued still in the land,) carried them away into Babylon and Assyria, and, to prevent the land from becoming desolate, he brought others from 14 Babylon, and Cutha, and from Ava, and Aamath, and Sepharvaim, to dwell in the cities of Samaria in their stead. And the ten tribes of Israel, which had separated from the house of David, were brought to a full and utter destruction, and never after recovered themselves again. HST October 26, 1842, page 43.16
Esarhaddon, after he had thus possessed himself of the land of Israel, sent some of his princes, with parts of his army, into Judea, to reduce that country also under his subjection; who having vanquished Manasseh in 15 battle, and taken him, hid in a thicket of thorns, brought him prisoner to Esarhaddon, who bound him in fetters and carried him to Babylon. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.1
Archbishop Usher, after referring to the above facts in the history of Egypt and Babylon, stated by Prideaux, in reference to the points in question says: HST October 26, 1842, page 44.2
“Year of the world 3327. Julian period 4037. Before Christ 677. This year also was fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, (chap. 7:8,) in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, “within sixty and five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces so that it shall be no more a people.” For although the greatest part of them were carried away by Salmaneser 44 years before, and the kingdom utterly abolished, yet among them which were left, there was some show of government. But now they left off to be any more a people by reason of the great multitude of foreigners which came to dwell there. New colonies or companies were sent out of Babel, Cuth, Hara, and Sepharvaim; and this was done by Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, as is easy to be understood by the confession of the Cuthites mentioned Ezra 4:2, 10. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.3
At which time also, as it should seem, and in the same expedition, whereby these things were done in the land of Israel. Some of the chief commanders of the Assyrian army made an inroad into Judea, and then took Mannasseh the king as he lay hid in a thicket. After binding him with chains of brass carried him away to Babylon. Jacobus Capellus hath noted in his Chron. that the Jews in Sedar O la Rabba, and the Talmudists, cited by Rabbi Kimchi upon Ezra, chap. 4th, do deliver that Mannasseh 22 of his reign, was carried away captive into Babylon, and that he repented him of his sin 33 years before his death.” Usher’s Annals of the world p 75. Lond. 1658. See also Newton on Prophecy pp. 98, 99. Rollin, B. iii. chap. 2. A. Hale. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.4
The Dark Day.—The 19th of May, 1780, was a remarkable day. Candles were lighted in many houses; the birds were silent and disappeared, and the fowls retired to roost. The legislature of Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. The House of Representatives being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the Council was under consideration. Abraham Davenport, of Stamford, was then member of the legislature; and his opinion being asked, he answered, “I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not; if it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty; I wish, therefore, that candles may be brought.” HST October 26, 1842, page 44.5
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
BOSTON, OCTOBER 26, 1842.
Salem Camp-meeting. -This meeting closed on Friday morning the 14th inst, after a session of eight days. It was truly a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. That its results have been glorious beyond the most sanguine hopes of its friends, thousands with joy can testify, and scores of poor sinners, without hope and God in the world, at the commencement of the meeting, at its conclusion, with joyful hearts and streaming eyes, could say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” The exact number of conversions, eternity alone can reveal, but there is reason to believe that between one and two hundred have been led to praise the Lord for the riches of his redeming love, who 15 days since, were strangers and enemies to the cross of Christ by wicked works. “O that men would praise the Lord for his wonderful works to the children of men!” HST October 26, 1842, page 44.6
The meeting was characterized by a union of feeling and effort, and by a spirit of harmony and love rarely seen among a congregation so large and diversified. Here were representatives from almost every denomination and [original illegible] extant, having laid aside all sectarian prejudices and peculiarity of sentiment, mingling together their prayers and supplications, and their songs of praise and thanksgiving, for the salvation of souls, and the glory of God. Oh precious, blessed spectacle! Where is the soul that witnessed the joy and happiness, which in loud hosannas dwell upon a thousand tongues, that cannot say, “It was good to be there?” HST October 26, 1842, page 44.7
Owing to ill health Bro. Miller was unable to meet with us, as we had hoped. But the brethren, who were present, had great liberty in declaring the mighty truths of God to the perishing multitude who came out to hear. Brn. Himes, Litch, Fitch, Hawley, and Starkweather, were the principal speakers; and the manner in which the great subject under contemplation was presented, as well as the spirit manifested by those to whom utterance was given, wielded a most powerful and persuasive influence upon the immense audience who listened to them. The attention given to the word preached was serious and all-absorbing. A stranger entering the “Great Tent” during time of service, would have been struck with the deep and marked solemnity which reigned throughout that vast assembly, and which at times could not have numbered less than six or seven thousand souls. Scenes like this are peculiar only to these last days. History furnishes no precedent of a similar character. The popular mind is aroused. The great waters of human thought are stirred by the breath of the Almighty! The solemn conviction is pressing down upon the world with more and more weight every day that the Judgment! the Judgment is near!! HST October 26, 1842, page 44.8
There is great cause for thanksgiving and praise to God for the glorious results of the Salem Camp-meeting. The Lord was there; and his Almighty arm was made bare in the salvation of souls! Glory be to his holy name! Never, in the history of the last century, has old Salem and its vicinity been thus mightily shaken. It is like life from the dead. The moral slumbers of that community have been broken. The midnight cry has rang with thunder tones in ears that were closed; and tongues are now tuned to sound the high praises of God which before were wont to profane his holy name. Immense good has been accomplished in the name of Jesus. Verily, it is the Lord’s work, and it is marvellous in our eyes. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.9
At the close of the public services on Thursday evening, the presence of the Lord was signally manifest. In the prayer meetings, in the small tents, many souls found deliverance from the shackles of sin and death. The great burden of prayer seemed to be, as indeed it had been daring the whole meeting, for the blessing of entire sanctification—perfect freedom from sin. A great number of professing christians, who before had not conceived it possible to be perfectly holy in heart, were, to their inexpressible joy, made to feel and to testify that they were wholly sanctified to God. The doctrines of perfect holiness, and the Second Advent nigh, are twin sisters, so closely blended, interwoven and intertwined together, that they are one and inseparable. Praise the Lord for the clearness and prominence with which this glorious truth is beginning to shine forth. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.10
The parting scene which took place on Friday morning, was one which words are inadequate to describe. A large circle, encompassing the entire encampment, was formed, in which there were about three thousand souls, nearly all of whom were Second Advent believers, presenting one of the most solemn and affecting spectacles of which it is possible to conceive. Swelling hearts and streaming eyes were on every hand. Brethren and sisters from all points of the compass who had never seen each others’ faces before coming to that meeting, were there, and after an acquaintance and intercourse with each other of a few days under the most delightful and peculiar circumstances, were about to extend the parting hand to each other, to meet no more again till Gabriel shall blow the trump of God! The ceremony of shaking hands was peculiarly solemn and affecting. It was so managed that each individual had an opportunity of taking by the hand every brother and sister in the ranks of that great circle. It was done by breaking off into single file and passing around upon the inside of those in the ranks who stood facing the centre, and thus continuing to file off and pass round until each had shaken hands with all. It was a scene never to be forgotten; and one, too, which must have impressed with solemn feelings the minds of those who stood upon that ground silent spectators of the soul-thrilling spectacle. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.11
After the parting ceremonies were concluded, a short season was spent in prayer, and then the multitude repaired to the water side, where the ordinance of baptism was administered to four willing candidates, which together with those who had previously received the ordinance amounted to twenty two souls. But many scores were blessed with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, and sealed heirs of the kingdom and glory of God at the revelation of Jesus Christ. S. HST October 26, 1842, page 44.12
Be Patient.—Perhaps the above admonition at this most interesting juncture maybe serviceable to some of our brethren who expect to see their Lord, and find it a difficult task to wait his appointed time. Let Bro. James address a few words to such. “Be patient therefore brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient: stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold the Judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Oh what encouragement is here to endure, to suffer affliction for Christ’s sake. Let our united prayer be, Oh Lord do all things in thy own time, and according to thine own will. S. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.1
A New Move.—A brother in Connecticut writes: “There has been a communication read in a public congregation in this town, purporting to be from several influential men in Low Hampton, N. Y. which states that Mr. Miller is not the author of those lectures published in his name, but that they are the production of a Baptist clergyman who died a few years since, in that place. Is it so? I know that even if it is, the truth remains the same, yet the enemies of our cause make great use of that circumstance here. I stand almost alone. I hope you will pray for me.” HST October 26, 1842, page 45.2
Will the brother who writes the above give us the names both of the person who read the communication and those attached to it? It is a barefaced falsehood, come from whom it may, and only furnishes another proof of the desperate measures to which the devil and his satellites are driven to support their sinking cause. Bless the Lord, we are glad that the only weapons in the hand of our opponents are falsehood and detraction. Such miserable efforts to prejudice the public mind against the truth, cause it to shine more and more clearly, and will serve to open the eyes of the people to see who is on the Lord’s side. S. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.3
Aspect of the Old World.—“Revolution” seems to be inscribed on everything. The nations are agitated. There is a fearful looking for some signal event. There seems to be a kind of universal instinctive impression that we stand upon the verge of some tremendous crisis. If we turn our attention to the aspect of things in the old world, our apprehensions are strengthened. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.4
The difficulties in Syria remain unsettled, and the breach seems widening. Mount Lebanon is greatly agitated. The Maronites, looking toward the coast, think they see a prospect of a favorable change for themselves. In the interior, they see Shibleyel-Arien encamped amid the ruins of Balbec, with a mixed force of Arabs, Aysayries, and Druses—and at Kob Elias, a body of Druses, commanded by Ater Amed. A combined movement against Zahle being apprehended, they have sent a deputatation to Beyrout for assistance in the event of need. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.5
Throughout Turkey and the whole coast of Barbary an astonishing apprehension for the future prevails. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.6
England is agitated more and more, with her home-sufferings among the working classes. The deep and insupportable wrongs of her industrial population is carrying disaffection to her very core. Although millions on millions of beseeching petitions have been spread before Parliament, they have been going on from bad to worse. There appears to have been a conspiracy on foot for assassinating the Queen. Thus trouble is following trouble. O may God prepare us for the coming crisis. F. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.7
Duffield on the Prophecies.—This is a new work recently issued from the press of Dayton & Newman, 199 Broadway, New York, by George Duffield, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Detroit. It is a dissertation on the prophecies which relate to the second coming of Christ. The author takes the ground that Christ’s coming is to be pre-millennial, that the fourth beast is the Roman empire, that the little horn is Papal Rome, and in many other points agrees with Bro. Miller; but with regard to the restoration of the Jews, the author falls into the common error of believing that that hardened, rebellious, stiff-necked nation are yet to receive, at the hands of God, some signal marks of approbation and favor which the Scriptures nowhere warrant us to expect. How it is that all our most learned Biblical expositors overlook a fact so simple, plain and manifest, as that all the promises are yea and amen in Christ, and that no living being, neither Jew nor Gentile, has the least shadow of claim to any one of them, until he gets into Christ where they are all centered and clustered together, we are totally at a loss to understand. Why can they not see that the Jews, as a nation, have been broken off through unbelief, and that there is no other way possible for them to come into possession of a single promise in all God’s word, save by a union to the Lord Jesus Christ, by genuine living faith in him as a Savior from all sin. S. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.8
Dr. Pond’s Letter.—This letter on our first page is an important document, coming as it does from a high source. We could not give Dr Pond’s letter to the public without a full and fair review of the whole subject. The pressure of care and duties upon the reviewer, has prevented an earlier insertion. Our readers will no doubt pardon the delay when they shall have examined the historical facts and illustrations here given in support of our views. We give it in part to-day, the remainder is reserved for a future number. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.9
A more extended view of Dr. Pond’s reasoning will be found in the two last numbers of the Puritan; but the able article of Bro. Hale may be considered as a sufficient reply to it. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.10
Correction.—In the notice of the Claremont camp-meeting published in the Signs of the Times of the 5th inst, an unintentional error escaped detection. In the statement of the number of tents on the ground, it should have read six instead of sixteen. We are happy to make this correction, lest our enemies should charge us with deceit. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.11
NEW WORKS
Prophetic Expositions
Or a connected view of the testimony of the prophets concerning the kingdom of God and the time of its establishment. By Josiah Litch. In two volumes. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.12
The Appearing and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Chris, in four Letters to an Unbeliever. By James Sabine, Rector of Christ’s Church, Bethel, Vt.—Boston: Published by Joshua V. Himes, 14 Devonshire street. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.13
Review of Morris’ “Modern Chiliasm.” By S. Bliss. Published by Joshua V. Himes, 14 Devon-Shire street. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.14
A meeting in the Great Tent,
At Newark, N. J. Nov. 3
Arrangements have been made for pitching the great Tabernacle in the city of Newark, N. J. on the 3rd of Nov. 1842. The meeting to continue eight or ten days. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.15
Mr. Wm. Miller, Rev. J. Litch, J. V. Himes and others are expected to be present and will show, from the Word of God, the manner and object of Christ’s Second Coming, together with the reasons for expecting him in 1843. All who love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, are affectionately invited to rally at this feast of Tabernacles. Our time is growing shorter and shorter each day, and what is to be done must be soon done. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.16
The great object of the meeting is, like those which have already been held, to arouse both the church and the world to a sense of their peril, by sounding the midnight cry. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.17
The meeting is to be held on the corner of Mulberry and Camp-streets, in the south part of the city. Carriages will be in readiness at the steamboat wharf, and rail-road depot, to carry people to the camp-ground for 6 1-4 cents. Fare from N. Y. by steam-boat, from the foot of Barclay st., 12 1-2 cts. Fare by rail-road, 25 cts. Arrangements will be made for boarding strangers on very reasonable terms. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.18
L. D. Fleming, A. Flavel,
S. H. Waynright, C. Merchant Com
SECOND ADVENT CONFERENCE,
In Orleans, Mass. Nov. 15
There will be a Second Advent Conference held in the Methodist Meeting House in Orleans, Mass. to commence Nov. 15th. The design of this meeting, like all others of the kind, is to give the Midnight Cry, and to save souls, and build up the Church of Christ to be ready to welcome Christ when he comes in 1843. This meeting is not to be one of controversy, but to listen to the solemn truths of the gospel, and apply it to our own hearts. It will commence Tuesday morning at 10 o’clock. We invite all who attend to hear candidly this all important subject, both preacher and people, with out distinction of sect, and to come without prejudice, but with prayerful hearts, that great good may be done. James Bickwell. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.19
Oct. 14, 1842. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.20
A SECOND ADVENT CONFERENCE
Will be holden with the Second Free-Will Baptist Church in Lebanon, Me. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1842, at 1 o’clock, P. M. Brother I. W. Atkins will commence a course of Lectures on the same subject Wednesday following, at half past one. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.21
Lecturers brethren Preble and Churchill are desired to attend. The meeting will be conducted, in some respect, similar to a campmeeting, inasmuch as there will be one board camp erected, and made comfortable, where from 50 to 75 will be accommodated by the people of the place, day and night, besides those at private dwellings. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.22
M. P. Hopkins,
T. Sanborn, Com.
Lebanon, Me. Oct. 12, 1842.
CONFERENCE AND LECTURES
In Brattleboro’, Vt. A Second Advent Conference will commence in the Methodist Meeting House, on Monday, Oct. 31, 1842, at 10 A. M. to Continue four days. Ministers and brethren, who love our Lord’s appearing, are invited to attend. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.23
Lectures will commence on Saturday evening, 29th, at seven o’clock, by Bro. Calvin French. HST October 26, 1842, page 45.24
Notice.—Elder Stephen D. Bickford, having recently removed to York, Maine, requests correspondents to address him accordingly. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.1
The Seven Times
Dear Brother Himes:—I have taken notice that Dowling’s argument concerning the “seven times” in Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28. Because the punishment of the people of God is mentioned four times, they must therefore be punished four times seven prophetic years, which would be 10,080 years, is in the mouth of many of our opponents. The argument was so weak and silly, I did not think any person of common capacity of intellect would be deceived by it. Yet I find to my astonishment, that many of Dowling’s satelites are reiterating his argument, from pulpit and press, and laughing as they think at the easy credulity of the common people. But I have thought such men as Folsom, of Haverhill, would not show their stupidity, or expose themselves to ridicule by using so weak and contemptible an objection. Yet I am disappointed in the man. Any thing with him to puzzle, perplex and throw darkness on the mind of the reader. This argument in amount is this. “Because God has foretold by Moses that he would punish his people, or chastise them for their iniquities “seven times.” and because Moses has reminded them of it four times, then they must be punished four ‘seven times’ making 10,080 years.” Then, by the same rule, the Divine writer of the Psalms makes God’s mercies endure 26 forevers. See Psalm 136. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.2
And Daniel makes Nebuchadnezzar four times seven years insane. See Daniel 4:16, 23, 25, 32. And Luke makes Christ lie in the grave four times three days. See Luke 9:22, 18:33. 24:7 & 46. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.3
Are these the men the church must look to for her expositors of the Scriptures? Well did my Divine teacher tell me, to “call no man master.” HST October 26, 1842, page 46.4
Do not these men know, that God in his typical law given to Moses, appointed a year of release for every Hebrew slave. Deuteronomy 15:1, “At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.” Also Jeremiah 34:14, 17. And Paul tells us, Colossians 2:16, 17, These “are shadows of good things to come.” And why will they thus treat with contempt such holy and good things? Oh! Lord God thou knowest. They are joined to their idols, let them alone. I perceive that Folsom has followed an old Roman Catholic writer, which I found in Cambridge two years ago, on Daniel, and it is an easy matter to see the bias of their minds, both ancient and modern, and I hope God will overrule all for his glory. Wm. Miller. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.5
Review of Stuart’s Hints on Prophecy.—No. VI
Commenting upon Revelation 12. Prof. Stuart admits that the woman is an emblem of the church, and the man-child is Christ, and that his being caught up to God, is his ascension to heaven; while the dragon ready to devour him at his birth, (only) “reminds us of Herod’s attempt to massacre the infant Saviour.” The only remaining figure in the chapter that he explains, is that “the flight of the woman into the desert for 1260 days at a period subsequent to this” (Herod’s attempt on the life of Christ) is a symbol of the church fleeing from the invading Romans and persecuting Jews during the subjugation of Palestine, and when this period expires then the church is freed from the desolating power in Palestine; as it was of old freed from like power in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. The similarity of events in the two cases, gives occasion to adopt the same language in respect to the continuance of both.” P. 114. Is such reasoning conclusive? Are we to receive such expositions of God’s Word? And are we to believe that the writers of the New Testament only made quotations from the Old, the same as we quote from Shakespear, because there is a similarity in the events which makes the language applicable? HST October 26, 1842, page 46.6
Mr. Miller has shown that the great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads, is pagan Rome, the little horn of Daniel, which stood up against the Prince of princes; it attempted to destroy Christ when an infant, and finally crucified him: and that pagan Rome was a complete fulfilment of the description and doings of this dragon in every particular; and yet we are told that it “reminds us” of Herod’s attempt on the life of Christ, as though that was all the meaning to be conveyed by that symbol. As the woman represents the church, is it to be supposed that only that portion of the church which was at Jerusalem is included in her flight into the wilderness? Are the churches of Rome, and Ephesus, and Corinth, and Philadelphia, etc. etc. of so much less consideration, than the church in Jerusalem? It will also be remembered that he has not shown when the Christians fled into the desert, or when they returned again to Jerusalem, or that they remained in the desert 1260 days, or that they returned at all, but he dismisses this period with the remark that “it is designated (after the manner of Daniel 7:25; 12:7,) by the expression time, and times, and half un time.” because it was so similar to a like occurrence in the days of Antiochus, that “the similarity of the two events gives occasion to adopt the same language in respect to the continuance of both.” p. 114. We, however, are not driven to such a lame subterfuge. History records that Rome, the great red dragon, continued to persecute the woman, (the church,) until in the Arian controversy, those who would not submit to the woman, (Popery) which took her seat on the scarlet-colored beast, (Rome) fled into the north-west part of Asia, and the northeast part of Europe, and remained there in the wilderness, and in the vallies of Piedmont during 1260 years, from A. D. 538 to A. D. 1798. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.7
The beast in Revelation 13 with seven heads and ten horns, he makes to symbolize “the persecuting power of imperial Rome, and especially that power as exercised by Nero.” p. 115. The seven heads he make to personate the first seven Caesars but is very careful to be silent about the ten horns. The head that was wounded to death, and whose deadly wound was healed, he applies to Nero, because, “It was predicted by the soothsayers of Nero early in his reign, that he would be deprived of his office, flee his country, go to the east and there recover his dominion, especially in Palestine.” “In consequence of this, the great mass of the community at that period do not appear to have believed in the reality of Nero’s death, at the time when he was assassinnated.” p. 117. In connection with the above, we find the following paragraph which would not have astonished us if it were quoted from “some excellent German work.” “The question is not now, at least with me it is not, whether the writer of the Apocalypse did himself participate in this vulgar belief respecting Nero’s re-appearance, I have no apprehension that he cherished such views as these; certainly not if he was (as I believe) an inspired man. My apprehension is that in describing the beast, i. e. Nero, instead of calling him by name, (which would have been in connection with what he said a treasonable offence) he has adverted to him as the person respecting whom the reports in question were current, and purposely adverted to him in such a way, in order that his readers might easily know who was meant.” p, 118. The phrase “If any man has an ear let him hear;” he interprets, “let the reader very attentively consider who is meant in this case;” and “he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity,” means, “He of whom I have been speaking is the individual who exiles christians; but mark well! he shall himself speedily be exiled.” Also the phrase, “here is wisdom,” is, “some special sagacity is needed in the interpretation of this passage.” These interpretations he adduces as circumstances which “serve to confirm this view of the case.” He supposes “John’s object was secretly to intimate to his readers who was meant by the beast; and in order to accomplish this object, he has repeated those things which popular rumour had spread abroad respecting him, or at least to them. But, as I have already noted, he has taken care in each case to give a caution to his readers how they interpret this, or what use they make of it.” p. 120. The eighth king of Revelation 17:11 he also claims was Nero, who, had he appeared after his successor died, would have been the eighth Ceasar.—he being the sixth when he reigned; for he observes, “To say that he who had been one of the seven will be an eighth is of course the same as to say that he will re-appear and stand again in his former place. This, according to almost universal report and belief Nero was expected to do.” p. 121. The absuridity of the whole of the above quotations, is so evident, that we will not do so great injustice to the intelligence of our readers, as to suppose that they need to be shown its inconsistency; and yet Prof. S. says, “So paradoxical are all other interpretations of this passage, or so arbitrary, so conjectural, so diverse, and therefore unsatisfactory, that one is consrained to wonder how critics could have ever acquiesced in them. But in the interpretation of any book where the reins are given without check to fancy and imagination, difficulties of this kind are leaped over instead of being removed.” p. 121. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.8
If the last quotation was not so evidently written in earnest, we could only consider it as a sarcasm on the exposition which he has given us. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.9
Having shown, as he supposes, that this persecuting power is Nero, he proceeds, “Turn we now to the pages of history, and we shall find that Nero commenced his horrible persecution of christians about the middle, or in the latter part of November, A. D. 64. All agree that this persecution ended immediately on the death of Nero; and this took place on the day that Galba entered Rome, and was proclaimed emperor on the 9th of June, A. D. 68. Here then is the often repeated and peculiar period of three and an half years, being only a few days of excess beyond that measure of time. By this small excess of only a few days no one of course can be stumbled; for how is it reasonable to suppose, that in respect to a celebrated period, so often repeated, and already become so famous, a statistical exactness would or could be aimed at? Enough that only a few days at most can be considered as supernumerary.” p. 122. HST October 26, 1842, page 46.10
Is it, indeed, unreasonable to suppose that He who gave the sun its decree, who appointed the moon its time of changing, and marked the assumed pathway of the earth in its orbit so complete, cannot aim at statistical exactness? That He who numbers our months, and can tell our days to a hair’s breadth, and numbers the seasons at his will, cannot be exact in the measurement of time?” Shall it be said of Him who hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world, and revealeth times and seasons, that he gives only a mere general characterising of the period in question? We find that the flood came on the very day predicted; the time of the exode was fulfilled to the very day; the sojurn of Israel in the wilderness, and their captivity in Babylon cannot be shown to exceed or fall short a single day from the predicted time; and the seventy weeks of Daniel 9. were fulfilled in 490 years, to the very day that Christ hung upon the cross; and yet we are asked by a New England divine, if it is reasonable to suppose a statistical exactness could be aimed at!! Tell it not in Germany, publish it not in atheistical France, lest the infidels rejoice and the scoffers at revealed religion triumph! HST October 26, 1842, page 46.11
The persecutions of Papal Rome which continued for 1260 years, from 538 to 1798, and which caused the destruction of 50,000,000 of christians, has been shown to be fulfilled in just as many years as there are days in the period in question; and is the obvious fulfilment to be set aside by the above exposition of an excess of only a few days? HST October 26, 1842, page 47.1
We have thus gone over with his remarks upon all the prophetic periods in Daniel and Revelation where we claim that days are a figure for years; and which we have shown to have been fulfilled in the given number of years, in every instance where the full number of years has passed. And we have not only shown that the time was accurately fulfilled, but also that the history of those fulfilments accorded perfectly in all the particular minutia, with the respective predictions. On the other hand, it is claimed that those periods were fulfilled in literal days, while it cannot be shown that a single period was fulfilled in the given number of days; or that the particulars of the prophecy accorded with the fulfilment. Indeed, so obvious has been the failure of the expositions, that the majority of the most important particulars in connection with the various periods, have not been alluded to; and the attempt to show any fulfilment in time, has been such a signal failure, that in each instance it is acknowledged as he proceeds, and he is obliged to disclaim that it was ever intended that they should be accurately fulfilled. He adds, p. 124, “A statistical exactness cannot be reasonably supposed to be arrived at, in cases of this nature. Any near approximation to the measure of time in question, would, of course, be regarded as a sufficient reason for setting it down under the general rubric.” We would here appeal to every intelligent mind whether such expositions of prophecy as those contained in the work under review, are to take precedence of those truths against which it is aimed, and whether the author has not signally failed in the positions which he has assumed, that the prophetic periods were fulfilled in literal days? If we have only to show that a prophecy is fulfilled in some one particular, and in a period approximating to the predicted period; then it will be no difficult task to show as many fulfilments of every prophecy and in any age as any could desire. We, however, only ask for one fulfilment in every particular and in the given time of every prophecy. B. HST October 26, 1842, page 47.2
A few trifling articles, which were left on the Salem Camp-ground, have been picked up, and can be had by those to whom they belong, by calling at this office. HST October 26, 1842, page 47.3
What the Scriptures Teach
Concluded. HST October 26, 1842, page 47.4
BENEVOLENT OPERATIONS
If we are engaged in the benevolent schemes of the day, for the sake of honor, if we are saying in our hearts, that our name shall go down to posterity with honor, for having been pioneer in this effort, or that effort, why, then, I suppose we cannot believe. For Christ puts this interrogation, “How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? We have Christ for an example, who went about doing good, but when they would have done him honor for his good works, when they would have made him a king, he fled from them. To those then who are preaching the unrighteousness of slavery, I would say, that I have good reason to believe that it will exist until that day, of which it is said, “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:14-17. What shall we do then? Shall we cease? No! let us be preachers of righteousness as was Noah, though none repent. Some have repented; others may. If Moses did in any sense give you such precepts, we believe it was for the hardness of your hearts. For as Christ said of another relation, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh! Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” Matthew 19. So also we would say of this at the beginning to man was not given dominion over man. But to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” HST October 26, 1842, page 47.5
VIEW OF TOTAL ABSTINENCE
The Temperance cause, Total Abstinence! What is it? Why, it is the wonder of all christendom! It has succeeded the most sanguine expectations of its friends. It speaks loud! “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Malachi 4:5. This, I apprehend, has not only reference to the coming of Christ in the flesh, but also to “the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” HST October 26, 1842, page 47.6
The angel of the Lord said to Zacharias, of John, that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, and drink neither wine nor strong drink; and shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mothers womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, (Elijah) to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” And how shall we reconcile what the angel of the Lord said of John, with John’s own answer to the question; “Art thou Elias?” John 1:21, unless we understand him to say: “I am not,” all that is to be understood of Elias. HST October 26, 1842, page 47.7
Again, when our Lord was speaking of his coming in the glory of his father, and the holy angels with him, he prepared to show to some of his disciples, the power of his coming in a vision. Accordingly, “after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain, apart. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, talking with him.” And as they came down from the mountain talking of the vision, his disciples asked him, “Why then say the Scribes, that Elias must first come?” (as though they had said, if we have now seen the coming of Christ in his kingdom, why has not Elias come first, as the Scribes teach.) “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things; but I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed.” Matthew 17. What I understand our Lord to teach in this passage is, that before the real coming of Christ in his glory, (which this vision prefigured,) the spirit of Elias shall truly come, and restore all things, i. e. reform all things; a spirit of reform shall manifest itself in all things. And that such a spirit was already manifest from the preaching of John. Surely Christ did not teach that Elias should rise from the dead for this purpose, nor that he had risen in the person of John the Baptist. Well, if John went “bejore the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, so is this total abstinence voice, in the spirit and power of both Elias and John. Now these two prophets, Elijah and John, were alike, in that they had power over the earth three years and six months, and convinced the people mightily, even unto repentance, and had an appointed successor: they also were girded with a leathern girdle, which denotes a disposition to labor. Let us consider some of the similarities of John’s preaching, to that of the total abstinence reform. HST October 26, 1842, page 47.8
John said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” John 1:23. John, then, was a voice, a crying voice, (a loud voice,) “voice of one crying,” “crying in the wilderness;” and not in the land of rest. So also is this. What can be more descriptive of the advocates of total abstinence, crying all as one voice, “Repent ye.” HST October 26, 1842, page 47.9
John’s preaching was a preaching of repentance. “In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 3:1, 2. Hear what the prophet Malachi said of Elijah, that should come: “And he shall turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” If, then, the hearts of both the old and the young, are animated in this work of repentance, and thereby an unknown curse averted, it does not do away with what the prophet has said before: “For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4. This reformation that is abroad among us, is strictly a thing of repentance. We see hundreds and thousands amongst us, repenting and confessing their sins: the like, I apprehend, was never known before, since the days of John the baptist. Again, it was not faith. When John was asked, “What shall we do?” He said, do this, and do that. But when Christ was asked, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28, 29. The disciples, then, of this voice of repentance, are not all of faith, neither were the disciples of John, afterwards all disciples of the Lord. “But without faith it is impossible to please him,” Hebrews 11:6. HST October 26, 1842, page 47.10
John’s preaching became popular. “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” John 3:5, 6. Perhaps it may be said in the same sense, that the church, and all the region round about christendom, have participated in this thing of repentance, this reformation. In tracing out the similarity, I will refer to the pledge: John’s pledge which he required of his disciples, was baptism by water. 16 The pledge of the disciples of the total abstinence cause, is their signature and pledge, to abstain from all that can intoxicate. Hence they are called cold water men. And if it should be said that the advocates of the temperance cause, (before it took the total abstinence form,) were pledged: so we are told that baptism was administered to proselytes to the Jew’s religion, before John. But John said, “Bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father;” for he administered to all who confessed their sins. Hence it is called the baptism of repentance. And under the total abstinence form, this pledge is taken, not only by those who had not drank to excess, but by those who had, by all who confess and repent. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.1
John was not the Christ. “And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not.” Luke 3:15. But when they asked him, “Who art thou?” “He confessed, and denied not, but confessed I am not the Christ.” John 1:20. So also, now, the people are in expectation that a millennium is about to take place. And are musing “in their hearts,” and saying, Has not better days commenced? While they give evidence that they are not all of Christ. And saying, too, shall we not be instruments in building up the kingdom of the mountain? (while the fourth kingdom is yet standing.) When the vision is, “That a stone was cut out without hands,” (without human istrumentality,) “which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron and the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 11:34, 35. Now I ask, do we gather an idea from this passage that it was a gradual process? Or was it but a stroke. This teaches that we shall not be instrumental in this work: neither shall there remain any vestige of other kingdoms on the earth. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.2
John’s minority occupied about three years and a half, before Christ made his appearance in a public manner. This “voice of one crying” repentance, has occupied about two years. (Jan. 1842) And may we not expect that when three years and a half shall be accomplished, Christ will make his appearance in a more public and glorious manner. Then, let us heed the voice and repent, confessing our sins. Let us be warned to “flee from the wrath to come.” Let us be the disciples of Elijah, and of John, that we may be the disciples of Christ. Let us drink water with John, that we may drink wine with Christ. For “wisdom is justified of her children.” At the last supper, Jesus said, “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” This is another evidence that he will set up his kingdom on the new earth. And Isaiah, speaking of the new earth, said, “And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.” Isaiah 65. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.3
W. B.
The following paragraph is clipped from the Western Reserve Cabinet, an Ohio paper. We are glad to find one editor honest enough to admit that falsehood is one of the crying sins of the age. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.4
“Liar’s Department!”—One of our exchange papers has adopted a “Liar’s Department,” in which to record the current falsehoods of the day. But we predict that the editor will soon be obliged to abandon this department, for if he at all approves himself as a faithful chronicler, this department will soon crowd out all the rest and swallow up his entire paper. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.5
Letters
Received up to Oct.24th. From P.M. Wiscasset, Me. South Berwick, Me. Portsmouth, N. H. North Fairfax, Vt. East Calais, Me. Three Rivers, Mass. Pomfret, Ct. Richmond, Vt. New Bedford, Mass. South Chesterville, Me. Kensington, N. H. Gilmanton, N. H. Eastham, Mass. Philadelphia, Pa. Greenville c. h. S. C. Punch Rill, N. Y. Manchester, Mich. New Ipswich, N. H. Manchester, N. H. Ware, Mass. Schenectady, N. Y. East Limington, Me. Bowdoinham, Me. Colchester, Ct. Almond, Me. Rutland, Vt. Greensburg, Ind. Hingham, Mass. Mattapoisette, Ms. Burnt Hills, N. Y. Stonington, Ct. Utica, N. Y. Lancaster, Mass. New Ipswich, N. H., Shrewsbury, Mass. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.6
From H. M. Preble, W. W. Farnsworth, S. P. Cheney, Joseph Thwing, Wm. Bannon, Joseph Blanchard, H. V. Davis, B. H. Albee, Joseph Howland, R. Parker, Clement Plevell, A. Palmer, Relief Cram, H. A. Parker, C. Bullock, C. H. Stillwell, Mary F. Manter, Patron, Jacob Weston, Philo Hawks, Samuel Keith, Charles Fitch, Dan’l Tripp, A. C. Wheate, Williams Teayer, J. W. Aikens, T. F. Barry, A. Doolittle, Hannah Priest, A. Palmer, J. Wolstenhome, $5,00, D. Burgess, A. Hale, Joel Spaulding, C. French, A. H. Samson, H. B. Skinner, Geo. T. Stacy, $6,00, Darius Sessions, John Baker, and others, Wm. Freeman, James W. Shepherd, Mercy M. Naramore, HST October 26, 1842, page 48.7
Books Sent
One bundle to W. D. Tuller, care of H. S. Durand, Kensington, Ct. via Hartford, Ct.—One to William Freeman, Philadelphia, Pa.—One to L. D. Fleming, Newark, N. J.—One to Samuel Keith, Steep Brook, Fall River, Mass.—One to Rev. Charles De Wolf, Halifax, N. S.—One to C. S. Brown, Concord, N. H.—One to L. C. Collins, care of D. Burgess, Hartford, Ct.—One to Rev. James Sabine, Bethel, Vt.—One to D. Burgess, Hartford, Ct.—One to Joseph Howland, New Bedford, Mass.—One to Asaph Woodworth, North Fairfax, Vt.—One to R. Gage, Hadley, Mass.—One to Geo. Urquhart, Esq. Toronto, U. C.—One to W. B. Start, Bangor, Me.—One to A. B. Huntington, Sunderland, Mass.—One to Amos H. Sampson, Nashville, N. H.—One to A. Hale, Ipswich, Mass. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.8
Books Received
One bundle from D. Burgess, Hartford, Ct. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.9
Signs of the Times
Is published weekly, at No. 14 Devonshire Street, Boston, by JOSHUA V. HIMES, to whom all letters and communications must be addressed. HST October 26, 1842, page 48.10
Terms,—One Dollar per Volume of 24 Nos. (6 months.) HST October 26, 1842, page 48.11
dow & jackson, printers.