GENESEE EVANGELIST.—WhoIe No. 715.
For the American Presbyterian.
BISE, JUDA.
IV J. 0. BLYTHE.
Let Jttda tift her harps of gold,
From off the willows now,
For Jesus reigns, her mighty King,
Amt glory crowns His brow.
The battle lingered all the day,
And through the night and on;
But when the Sabbath morn drew nigh,
The victory was won.
0! what a shout was that went up,
From off the field of war,
Like thunders rolling through the sky,
And sounding every where.
It was the triumphant voice of Him,
Who died on Calvary,
In greatness of resistless strength,
Proclaiming victory.
Like ligbtnlngsmn his flashing eyes,
Through all the fleeing hosts,
And scorched and crushed them down to hell,’
In spite of all their boasts.
The hearts of God’s angelic sons,
Were startled when they flew;
And saw the flaming thunderbolts
Consume ’th apostate crew.
Hail! holy Jesus, flaming King!
The victory is thine,
Accomplished by thine own right Arm,
That Arm above divine.
Rise, Juda, rise! Shake off the dust,
Tby King is on the throne —
Hear how the ransomed captives shout,
Hark, how the demons groan.
Rise, Juda, rise 1 no slavish yoke
Is on thy bended neck:
When Jesus swept the field of foes,
The Iron yoke He broke.
Rise, Juda, rise! no foes are here,
Why longer then lie down?
Put on thy garments beautiful,
And wear thy princely crown.
Go forth in songs and dances now,
. To meet tby glorious King;
Let every harp and every heart,
Be swept in every string.
Rise, Juda, rise! He is thy King,
And worthy so to be—
Seel where ’th Eternal Throne is set,
He sits in majesty. '
Rise, Juda, rise I why sit supine, '
When Gentiles throng the way?
In blood he bathed the field of war,
To wash thy shame away.
Rise, Juda, rise! Behold thy King,
He cometh thee to meet!
O, haste thee, Juda, hail thy King,
And worship at His feet.
For the American Presbyterian.
HEAVmitISIC.
“ There is a strain sweeter than my sister’s song, at
even-rholter than my mother’s prayer.”
There is a name, a major name,
Sweeter than any other;
More precious than the voice of fame,
Hearer than thine, my mother.
It fell upon my listening ear,
This holy starlight even,
Anti then I knew we stood anear
The golden gates of heaven.
1 knew It was the angels there,
So softly, sweetly singing;
And that within those portals fair,
Heaven’s holy harps were ringing.
In blessed tones of joyful praise
Sod- like in their completeness;
Dear earth! thy softest strains would raise
But discord mid that sweetness'
Yes 1 E’en thy thrilling words of love,
So passionately spoken 1
The sighing of a wounded dove—
A lute whose chords are broken!
But oh 1 That name the angels sing,
My soul! That glimpse of glory;
I hear again heaven’s arches ring
With that glad wondrous story*
This name—is Jesus! Lowly now,
In deepest adoration,
Here at thy cross I humbly bow,
And bring a heart’s oblation.
Thine! Thine ! In life and death the same,
Naught from Thy love shall sever;
The precious music of Thy name,
My song, Oh Christ 1 foreverl
For the American Presbyterian.
THE UNION PE AYEE MEETING.
Within the last two years a new feature has
arisen in our religious services, namely, the daily
Union Prayer meetings.
The whole Christian world hasexperienoedthe
benefits of these means of good.
Of those meetings held in other cities, we every
day either hear or read, so I will not speak of
them, nor even of those held in different parts of
our own eityj but I wish to write particularly of
the meeting held every day, from four to five in
the afternoon, in the Presbyterian Church (New
School) in Green street. It seems to me. that if
there is any hour of the day more suitable for
social prayer, it is just at the close of the day.
When the day is passing away, we feel so much
our need of forgiveness for the ills of the past
hours, and our great need of fresh supplies of
grace to carry us through the night and coming
morn. Oh! happy, happy, hour. How many souls
will thank God for it when they join that great
assembly above, where no more prayer will be
needed j but where onr voices will all unite in one
eternal song of praise without one note of discord!
How many a weary, tired pilgrim will praise
God for allowing them in the wilderness of this
world such quiet Elim spots, beneath whose palm
trees’ shade and beside whose gentle streams they
pitched their tents, before they onward went.
We are in a dry and thirsty land, and need
daily supplies of grace from the great well of sal
vation, from the ever-flowing fountain of life.
How blessed is it then in company with others,
who serve under the banner of King Jesus, no
matter what might be their sectarian differences,
around one common altar, to offer our daily sacri
fice of praise and prayer 1
To the unconverted, this daily meeting has had
a blessed influence. To those who scoff at holy
things, the simple fact of seeing Christians, day
after day and week after week, going to the Prayer
Meeting,-induces them to go in and see what
, draws people there. And often the sword of the
. Spirit, by the instrumentality of some God-directed
| word of prayer or exhortation, has entered their
• hearts and brought them to the feet of Jesus,
i t^ oBo who are not scoffers, those who for
l years have stood just without the walls of salva
tion, almost persuaded to be Christians, these
meetings have been God’s means of making them
make the great decision, we will serve God. And
to poor, perishing souls who have never felt what
happiness it is to have a Saviour,' how blessed to
be told here what they must do to he saved. Told
in simple language, fettered by no doctrinal dis
course, told simply of Jesus and the story of the
Cross. Yes, that is the great subject, the Gross,
the Cross, the Gross I
And oh I how can any soul leave the room ene
mies when they might be reconciled to God, when
they are told that Jesus is waiting, with out
stretched arms, to welcome them to him!
Oh! what a fearful account those that die in
their sins, who have attended these meetings, will
have to render at the bar of God for these mercies
they scorned. God forbid any should die so!
Many a poor wanderer from his father’s house
has been brought back here, and like the poor
prodigal, been received, and with a father’s tless
mg. How many a toil-worn saint, borne down by
afflictions, has been comforted, as such words of
sweet consolation as these,
“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, ail sufficient, shall be tby supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design
Thy drOsS to consume, and thy gold to refine,”
come to tbeir hearts as the words are sung. Or,
perhaps, a homeless Wanderer has felt that he, too,
has a home, when those sweet words of Mont-
gomery—
full on his ears.
Often, often, have I felt as if my feet were al
most treading the heavenly hills, and earth far,
far below, as we have sung, as with one voice and
one heart—
Joyfully* joyfully, onward we move,
Bound to the land of bright spirits above.* 5
May God’s blessing, “which maketh rich and
addeth no sorrow,” rest upon those few watchmen
on the walls of Sion, who have done all in their
power,by prayer and othefiheans to keegup these
meetings! r ’~‘ ‘
And, more especially, may it fall on that one,
who amid all his laborious duties as pastor of a
large congregation, can find time to spend this
hour qf social prayer with us. He, who in a ser
mon on this same subject, was too modest to say,
what all, who have attended these meetings will
acknowledge, that by God’s help, his presence,
prayers and pious, earnest exhortations have done
more than anything else in continuing these meet
ings. May God grant him' many souls for his
hire, and though almost the only one of our clergy
men who meet us, may his owu soul be refreshed,
While asking mercy for others! A. G.
Baltimore, January 16th, 1860.
J. H. B.
A beautiful and interesting meteorological phe
nomenon appeared at Wyoming, lowa, on the
night of December Sflth. The sky was clear, the
air cold. In the morning the thermometer stood
at twenty degrees below zero, and at sixteen
during the day. .
At ten o’clock in the morning-there was a circle
of soft white light around the moon, intersected
by a horizontal and perpendicular diameter, and
forming a perfect Lunar Wheel. The lower edge
of the wheel rested on the horizon, and the upper
edge was about forty-five degrees from the zenith.
At the intersection of the radii with the peri
phery there was an elliptical enlargement as if to
give strength to the felloes. <’
Various explanations might be given to this
phenomenon, but the most probable Is, that it
was produced by minute crystals of ice floating in
the atmosphere, and at certain angles reflecting
the light of the moon to the eye as if they Lad
been ten thousand little prisms.
The production of hales may be illustrated ex
perimentally by crystallizing various salts upon
plates of glass, and lookingfhrough the plates at a
luminous body. D.
THE SCHOOL OF THE PEOPHETS*
There has arisen, daring the stirring years
which still run their course, a very wide-spread
attention to the study of unfulfilled
Books on the subject are in great demand, and
the supply apparently meets the demand. It is
not unnatural to expect this. The last ten
years, dating their beginning at the great Eu
ropean convulsion of 1848, have, without doubt,
witnessed so many national complications, so
cial changes, and individual sufferings, event
has so -rapidly thundered on event, and scene
flashed on scene,—so altered , have the face of
Europe and the relations of Cabinets become,
and so unsettled is the European sky at this
hour, that intelligent and sober-minded men,
with no spice of fanaticism in their nature, have
begun to conclude that the sublime predictions
uttered on the Mount 1800 years ago, are being
daily translated into modern history. Students
of prophecy allege that they see the apocalyptic
“vials” pouring out, and hear the “seven trum
pets” uttering their voices and pealing in rever
berations through Christendom.
From the earliest times there have been stu
dents of prophecy. Bishop Newton, Bishop
Horsley, Mede, and others, are names familiar
to every reader. In recent times the authors
of Boras Apocalypticae, The Great Tribulation,
and many others, have at least awakened an in
* terest on this subject in the popular mind. The
last, and not the least noteworthy, student is
Lord Carlisle, the present Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland. He has translated, or rather turned,
a whole chapter of Daniel into metre, but evi
dently with the intention of introducing, under
this disguise, learned and elaborate notes and
opinions. Substantially Lord Carlisle concurs
with the writers whose names or works we have
referred to. In his preface he expresses his be
lief that we are now on the verge of stupendous
events, and “in all probability approaching the
close of this dispensation.” This conviction his
lordship draws from his own well-ascertained
coincidences between the prophecies in the
Apocalypse with the book of Daniel, and the
phenomena recorded in history and in the daily
jonrnals.
Many people denounce alhprophetic investi
gation as a priori unnecessary and injurious.
This is hardly fair. On the assumption that
these persons are Protestants, it strikes us that
they must abjure the Protestant rule of faith,
which is not, as we understand it, the Bible with
out the books of Daniel and Revelation, but
with these books as integral parts of it. These
books are entitled to study in virtue of the cha
racter they have in common with all Scripture,
*l. Hon* Apocalyptic*. By the Rev. E. B. Elliott
A.'M.j late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 4
vols. 'Seeleys.
2.. Remarks oh me : Eighth Chapter op Dahiel.
By Lord Carlisle. Longman.
3. Tjje Great Tribulatiok ; or, Things Coming on the
Earth. By Her. Dr. dimming. Bentley.
“Jerusalem, my happy home,
Name ever dear to me,” .
A LUNAR WHEEL.
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JAM 1 ARY 26, 1860.
and which is declared to be “profitable,” antl, T of
the special blessings pronounced in them on
those that read and understand them. We do
not think that rational interpreters of prophecy
do in fact or of necessity set up to be prophets.
They foretell what is written, rather than at
tempt to foretell what is about to come to pass.
They state their conclusions as inferences from
the inspired record, accepting it alone as their
only premises, and leave’to their readers to ac
quiesce, or otherwise, in their deductions.
They pretend to no interior inspiration. They
may be mistaken, but certainly they are not fa
natics.
There are three schools of interpreters. A
few—and these are very few and feeble—believe
that the book of Daniel was exhausted and ab
sorbed in the book of Revelation, and that the
book of Revelation was all fulfilled in the days
of Nero, This theory is discarded by every ra
tional writer, from the days of Bishop Newton
. and the learned Joseph Mede to the laborious
Elliott. A second class—far more numerous,
learned, and intelligent-incline to believe that
the Apocalypse has not yet begnn to be fulfilled,
and that in a very short time all its prophecies
will develop themselves in portentous propor
tions on the stage of European Christendom.
This system, which is going out, or receiving
many modifications, assumes that the whole pe
riod of 1800 years, replete with moral, and so
cial, and religions phenomena of no ordinary
nature, is wholly overlooked and ignored in
a prophecy written in the first century, and
proclaiming itself to be the record and history
of “things that are” and “things that are to be
hereafter.”
The most able and laborious school consists
of those who believe that the Apocalypse is a
continuous prospective history of Christendom
from the days of St. John to the close of this
present ’mat, or dispensation, of course necessa
rily not so clear as history. These divines hold
that the Seven Seals, already broken and done
with, are a history in symbol of the fourth great
kingdom, or Roman Empire, in its pagan and
persecuting character, down to the conversion
of Constantine; the depression, if not entire an
nihilation, of Paganism; and. tKe elevation of
Christianity to national plaee and power. The
, “ horse,” which is the basis of each seal-symbol,
as sacred to Mars, is regarded as the representa
tive of the Proles Mayortia, just as in Daniel
the Persian Empire fs represented by a ram,
and the Macedonian by a he-goat; and the co
lor of each horse denotes the material condition
of the empire in historical succession; the
“white” describes the prosperity of the empire
from A.D. 96 to A.D. 180; the “red " blood
shed from A.D. 192 to 284; the “black" de
noting famine; and the "palehorse” represent
ing piugue, and pestilence, and death. It would
be impossible, within a short space, to show the
very remarkable coincidence between this inter
pretation and the historic facts recorded by
Gibbon. The one almost seems the literal trans-
of the other. The infidel but brilliant
historian is made the unconscious amanuensis
of Providence, writing out the historic facts that
respond to the inspired prophecy, as echo to
sound. Be the system true or false, the coinci
dence is striking.
The second series of symbols consists of the
Seven. Trumpets. Those writers whose inter
pretations appear beyond comparison the most
plausible say, the first trumpet was fulfilled when
Alarm the Gdth burst upon the’ Roman Empire
amid. “hail and blood;” that the second after
Alaric was Genseric, meetiy represented by a
“mountain burning with fire east into the sea,”
and so on to the sounding of the last trumpet.
Here, again, the historic facts, too numerous
for our space, in date,, and character, and suc
cession, are so parallel, that one is almost driven
to accept the interpretation.
The last of the three great divisions of apo
calyptic symbols are the Seven Yials, there be
ing in all twenty-one great symb'ols from Pat
mos to Paradise Regained. The Rev. E. B.
Elliott and Dr. Gumming believe that these be
gan to be pointed out—that is, that their effects
began—in 1792. Passing over the illustrations
of the first five, we read in the sixth that when
it was poared out “the waters of the great river
Euphrates were dried up.” Lord Carlisle, in
common with the writers we have quoted, refers
this symbol to the Turkish Empire, which, from
1821 to the present hour, has been manifestly
in a condition of steady decadence, or national
evaporation,—the old Turks crossing the Bos
phorus every day to find graves, and all that is
characteristic of Mahommedanism waning, and
“Turkey dying from want of Turks.” The
Times’ correspondent, writing in 1859, states:
“ The alarming state of the Ottoman Empire,
which country seems going through a succession
of financial somersaults, from which, however,
somehow or, other, it manages to alight with
only an additional contusion, renders the ac
counts from the provinces truly deplorable; ex
tra taxes being levied on the unfortunate popu
lations, to be redeemed by the imposts of future
years, while hordes of Albanian Irregulars ren
i der the provinces bordering on Greece insecure,
and expose the poor inhabitants to every spe
cies of extortion and injustice. It is not to be
wondered at that the old feeling of hatred to
the Turkish yoke, which dates from the day that
Mahomed 11. took possession of Byzantium,
should be as much alive as ever. The Chris
tians are replacing everywhere in the East, by
a constant and unperceived effort, the Mahom
medans, who are disappearing; and, under these
circumstances, those of the Christian elements
which offer some guarantee for the future must
naturally attract the attention of Europe.
Owing to their religion'the Christian popula
tions of the East consider themselves specially
placed under the protection of Russia, and the
influence of that power with the Greeks has been
generally considered all-powerful.”
There, seems to.be a very general belief in the
application of this symbol and the accuracy of
this view. From the battle of Navarino to the
present war with Morocco, the Crescent has un
interruptedly waned,—-the sick man has died
down, and in the words of Lamartine, already
.quoted, “Turkey is dying from want of Turks.”
It is said in the sacred passage that this eva
poration of the Moslem nationalities from their
channels is in order to prepare the way for
“Kings of the East,” literally
“from the sun-risings.” These royal person
, ages, Elliott, Bickersteth, Camming, and others,
understand to be the Jews, the ancient nation
of “kings and priests,” and that the recent sym
pathies felt towards the Jew, his gradual emer
gence from oppression, and the growing interest
which be and we cherish in regard to Palestine,
are the stirring of national life in the heart of
that raee. As soon as the Moslem recedes from
Palestine, the best writers on this subject be
lieve that, under a supernatural inspiration, the
sublimest exodus of the Jews will begin, and
Jerusalem be again their capital and “the beauty
and the joy of the earth.”
It is during the action of the “sixth vial”
that “three unclean spirits like frogs go out to
deceive the nations, to gather them'” to a great
1 and sanguinary battle, which, when it comes is
1 the alarm-bell of the close of this economy. ’ it
would be impossible to enter minutely into this
matter here. The prophetic writers before ns
understand by these “unclean spirits” one or
: other of Infidelity, Popery, Lawlessness, Trae
-1 tarianism, Mormonism, Spirit Rapping, and
every other “ism” except Calvinism, to which
most of them incline. Mr. Elliott fixes the cha
! raeter of each “spirit ” from the character of .his
sonrpe, and does not heajfete la name them as
Romanism, Skepticism, each
frog comprehending ia,pts bosom many tad
poles. These systems g&theredfforce from the
first French Revolution, or rather from'lB2l
down to the last revolution in 1848. The dregs
of them still exist. Occasional spasmodic strug
gles prove alike their vitality and their dying.
It is a singular fact, on ||ich -Mr. Elliottpar
ticularly dilates, that the sneient arms of France
were not the or the tri-color, bat
three frogs, and on this ground it is argued that
France is to be most conspicuous in gathering
the nations of Europe IS- thii great war, add
hence the writers before ps daily expect a Eu
ropean war kindled by odr . ally across the chan
nel. No man, whether he accepts these pro
phetic interpretations or. not, can fail to mark
the stormy nature of the political sky, or to ex
pect, from existing complfdatidns, some gigantic
outburst-. Every Cabinet in Europe is agitated.
Every king has his hand : on his sword-hilt.
Statesmen’s hearts literajlyfail them, for fear
of the things coining on the .earth at the present
hour. '
Dr. Camming states, ip&js recent 5
Great Tribulation —th«#stße seventh vial was,
inwall probability, pouredkout in -1848; that its
being “poured into the air,” denotes the uni
versality of its influence—affecting ,physical, so-
and moral interests—-its physical effects
manifesting themselves in the morbific miasma
prevalent during the last ten years, in unprece
dented intensity and are% and* showing its force
in the potato,,the vine-eholera, and an altered
normal condition of human health and disease.
He also regards the “Great Earthquake,” with
which it begins its action, as that “shaking
(nnr/iei) of the nation's” which has spread
over India, China, Russia; the Crimea, France,
Spain, and Austria, andithat each new compli
cation, issuing in a new confljct, is another shock
of the same earthquake. He also thinks that
the great panic in the commercial world in 1857,
called at that date by the Times, “ a commer
cial earthquake,” when houses, old and prudent
as well as rotten, fell, and hank exploded after
bank in overwhelming crashes, was another heave
or shock of the same earthquake. He thinks
England, for reasons it pr unnecessary here to
enumerate, is to emerge from the “great tribu
lation,” and, her sun not to disappear tilblost in
the greater splend.or in ivhieh“ there will be no
need of the sup.” *
The leading article Times of Thursday,
Oct ST, records an actual and visible fact which
students of prophecy have been expecting for
years:
“Is ours a condition of profound peace? Cer
tainly not. We have not done with India. In
China all our work is to be done again; we have
stumbled on a new race, und, for anght we know,
on foreign and morh civilized auxiliaries. No
one may pretend to plaeedimits on the war which
has broken ont, or on itg bearings upon our Eu
ropean alliances. A fraction of the Americans
is, as usual, provoking a quarrel, which their
Executive may not be able to avert. There is
something amiss going' bn opposite Gibraltar.
We are called in to assistin restoring peace to
Italy, disturbed,, by our .good- neighbors. •At
home ten thousand poor simpletons are strug
gling and perishing, with their wives and chil
dren, for an 'idea.’ There are some other un
comfortable things which, like distant thunder,
are felt rather than : heai&ygr seei: We talk,,
and talk, and talk aboflt rifle, corps, manning
the navy, coast defences, new guns, and floating
batteries. Of course the talk Is not without
occasion, but the things are not done. On the
whole, it must be said there is an uncomfortable
feeling, something like the distress of nations,
men’s hearts failing-themtfor fear.”
It is, then, a very general belief, that we are
pn the very vergeofa gigantic struggle,- that France
is to originate, ride, and if able, overrule the storm;
that England, because of her* tree thought, free
speech, and free press, and -Protestant religion the
spring of them all, is to have directed on her the
concentrated fire of Europe; and we must do them
the justice to add, they patriotically urge, on their
ground, and from their point of view, what sane
politicians uphold on theirs, an instant and power
ful preparation on our part, at any expense,'to
defend Old England's shores. In The Great
Tribulation the writer observes
“France, the great actor in the prophetic outline,
flushed with her Italian Sttnquests, is reposing in
her short bivouac, in order to enter on -the. arena
refreshed and strong as a giant to‘fulfil her des-
Austria, furious at defeat,and disappoint
ment, longs to avenge her wrongs, ’ and tries by
sacrifice to conciliate Hungary. Italy is one huge
volcano, still, perhaps; making ready to receive
into her fiery bosom, the Papacy, with all its spoils
of plundered nations, and injured kingdoms, and
violated rights, and all its sins and its crimes in
expiable forever.
Our own beloved land may soon be girdled
with a belt of fire. Her freedom, her faith, her
prosperity, ner accessible-asylum for the refugee
and the oppressed, her gigantic power, her out
spoken independence, her treasures, and her tri
umphs, are the hate of despots, the en vy of courts,
and the provocatives of hostility on the part of
nations that remember her past superiority, and
long to measure swords with her once more. No
ordinary events are looming up from eveiy point
of the European horizon, like strange birds of eyil
omen. All'the ten years that have passed away,
and the seven that still remain of the era of the
‘Great Tribulation/ will-cover a time of trouble
unprecedented since there was a nation. It is the
time when there ‘ shall be great distress of nations,
with perplexity/ political, social, commercial, and
moral—the disintegratioa«*f political party, the
distrust of trade, the defection of moral obliga
tions, confusion of principles, and collision of
passions, ‘the sea and ;the waves roaring/ There
also shall be fulfilled and felt what is written.
The lull that now exists among the nations of
Europe is very much like that of 1851. It is the
eve of more terrible disturbance, and the time of
preparation for it. Science, and art, and national
resources are tasked in all directions, in order to
make the most formidable weapons for offensive
and defensive war. The discoveries of modern
science, as embodied in the iron rail, the ocean
steamer, and the electric telegraph, will lead to
such military gatherings, such concentration of
troops, such lightning-like rapidity of action, such
shocks of armies, as never were equalled in the
history of the world. Everything seems to make
ready for no common crisis, no ordinary issue.' In
t “ e words of Daniel, ‘There shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a na
tion. In the words of St. Matthew, ‘ There shall
be great tribulation, such as was not since ■ the, be
the world to this time; no, nor ever
shall be. ’
It is under the action of Vial 7, according to
the view? we that- “(freat
Babylon, in the wordsof-the S&cred text; “comes
mto remembrance to give her the cup of indigna
tion.” Certainly this was never so intensely true
as at this moment. Pio Nobo stands shivering in
his slippers, holding in his trembling hands aeup
of no common bitterness. The waters on which
he sits, “peoples and nations,” are being literally
dried up. The extremity must be great that sum
mons, through his episcopal trumpeters in Ireland,
an Irish Brigade to his help. Never was the
“bark of St. Peter” in so troubled waters, or its
skipper in greater distress. -It is during the in
fluence of this vial, that a “great northern hail”
bursts on Christendom.. This is interpreted by the
students of prophecy as a Russian descent on Eu
rope, as indicated by collateral prbjibecibs in Eze--
kiel, and in ali-probability ihvcbiyunction with
Prance. Not a year ago,; the hest -informed ;por*.
tion of the press alluded to a secret compact he :
tween France and Russia. It is very singular, to
say-theieast; in whatever light we'regard it, that
inferen.ces-frpmtprophecy should shadow'out what
is still strongly suspected to be the fact.
. We now turn to the most remarkable and diffi
cult subject, l —the prophetic dates. In a chapter
in The Great Tribulation, headed “1867,” it is
attempted to show, and with some: success, that,
however much our best interpreters- of prophecy
differ in details, they all agree that 1867—if their
views be correct: —must prove* a great determining
crisis in the world’s history. - There are certain
dates in the Books of Daniel and the Apocalypse
expressed in various formulas. One is “Time,
times, and half a time ” —-that is, a prophetic year,
two prophetic years, and half a prophetic year, or
1260 literal years. Another form of, the same
period is forty-two months. This is a governing
period, but its commencement is the difficulty.
It describes the dominant duration and tyranny
of a great apostaey in Christendom within the ten
kingdoms, and at the running out of these 1260
years that apostaqy is steadily to begin, its decay.
The> authors of. the Emm Apocqlypticm, and The
Great Tribulation incline ’to Sate -the beginning
of this period,in A-D. 532, when Justinian gave
his vast prerogatives to the Bishop of Rome. On
this hypothesis the 1260 years run out in 1792, and
certainly at that date Romanism began its deca
dence in a baptism of blood. One remarkable proof
is the following:—Sixty years ago there Were 5000
priests in. Paris. The population has doubled
since’that time. There ought, therefore, to be
now 10,000 priests in Paris. The actual number
is 800.
To, this period of 1260, ending, as we assume,
in 1792, Daniel adds a period of thirty years.
This would bring us down to 1822. Then, also,
and that very year, was the beginning of a great
change.in Eastern Christendom, “ The drying up
of Euphrates,” or progressive decay of Mahom
uiedatiism at its fountain. , What goes far to
confirm .this is the fact that another period is given
by Daniel, called 2300 years, at the end of which
the “ cleansing of the sanctuary/’ ?', e., the prepa
ration of Palestine for its people, was -to‘begin.
Dating this period at what has been, if not clearly
at least probably assigned, B. C. 478, we find its
termination in A. D. 1822. To this period Daniel
adds another of forty-five years. This brings us
down to 1867.. Daniel says, he is specially
“ blessed” who arrives at 1867. Supposing this
correct, 1867 would be, in the words of Lord Car
lisle, “ the. close of this dispensation,” and, accord
ing to others, the restoration of all things, the
baptism of the earth, and the regenesis of nature.
. Another class of interpreters date the 1260
years at the decree of Phoeas in 607, which they
think was the real transformation of the Western
Church into a corporate apostaey. If so, they
would ehd In 1867. The same writers also hold
that Daniel’s great epoeh, ending in the restora
tion of the Jews, began B,C. 433, and will end,
therefore, in A D. 1867, and that then, as .they
believe, the crescent in the east, and the crucifix
in the west, will both disappear, and Christianity,
the light of a few, be then the glory and the glad
ness of all mankind.
What casts some light pn this subject, is the
ancient, and, as Bishop Russell has shown, almost
universal belief, that the week of Creation' was in
brief the type of the great week of the world—
that is, that the six working-days of the Creation
week correspond to -the 6000 working-years.of the
-world, and that, as the forme? onded.in the Sab
bath-day the latter will culminate in’the
Sabbath of 'a 6000 years,-—what St. Paul calls
“ c-ajSSoTi the rest that remaineth for the
people of God.”
' Now; the question occurs—have these 6000
years nearly run out? . According to the vulgar
chronology, they are short of their end by at least
140 years. But Fynes Clinton, followed by others,
has proved to demonstration, that there is a mis
take in the vulgar era, and that the birth of Christ
must consequently.be: put forward to the year of
the world, or A. M. 4132.. This is really brought
ont with immense force, and in all likelihood it is
correct If so, we are again brought down to
1867, as the> close of the world’s long working
week, arid the eve of its magnificent and long
predicted- Millennial Rest. Dr. Camming quotes,
in his chapter of The Great Tribulation, headed
“1867,” an array of names who concur with him
in looking forward to 1867 (not, as ignorantly
chaTged, prophesying the end of the world) as a
great crisis—-a testing crisis—intersected by the
various lines of prophetic dates.
It appears from all this, that these writers on
prophecy have handled this branch of investiga
tion: as others treat geology, chemistry, or astrOf
nomy. It is a legitimate subject of research. The
errors of geologists and chemists do not fairly
militate against their respective fields, and we do
not see why the errors of interpreters of prophecy
should be adduced as a reason for ignoring what
is difficult, but divinely commended to our study.
We do mot discover any fanaticism in : the works
on prophecy-.referred to. The writers constantly
gua-rd themselves against misapprehension, repu
diating the claims of the prophet, and accepting
only the relation of the student. Some of their
works are very learned. The Horae of Mr. Elliott
does credit to the theology of the age. - Others are
very popular. It is not, therefore, fair in: rash
and reekless writers to confound the sober, , even
if mistaken students of a grand text, with fanatics
and enthusiasts.
But, whether these interpretations be right or
wrong, there ismo doubt that the barometer of
Europe singularly—?it mayfbe accidentally—cor
responds with their deductions from, prophecy.
THE BEAUTY OF AGE,
The sacred biography of the church is full of
the most pleasing descriptions of age mellowed by
experience, sbbthed by Divine comfort, and beauti
fied with all the fruits of Christian culture.
1. It must not be overlooked that to old age,
when found in the ways of righteousness, belongs
preeminently a beauty of mental expression. The
outward tabernacle shows, indeed, the marks of
decay; l but the light from within shines with a
purer and softer splendor. The human counte
nance, whatever may be the natural cast of the
features, is more or less the mirror of the soul
within; so that beauty is not so much a mere
‘thing of contour and of lineament as it is a thing
of expression. It lights the eye with its own
heavenly glow, and suffuses the most irregular
features with an attractive softness all its own.
We see, in our everyday walks, how positively
ugly and loathsome the most regular countenance
may be, if it bear the marks of vice, or burn with
the fires of consuming lust. So that it is not true
that beauty is but skin-deep, for all true beauty is
far beneath the skin; and in so far as it gains a
mastery of the soul, will it be sure to shine out in
look and expression of the faee. Every unre
strained or ungoverned passion writes itself legibly
upon the features. .Sound moral feeling chastens,
softens, and beautifies the intellect; and the in
tellect mirrors itself in the outward feature.
Selfishness hardens the cheek; and anger darkens
the eye; and sensuality clouds the brow; and de
ceit writes its falsehood on the brazen lip; and so,
every bad passion works to the ruin of personal
beauty, and disfigures the otherwise attractive face.
2. To an old ago of piety belong, moreover, the
ripened fruits of wisdom. They who have had a
long and varied experience of human life, have
learned to estimate things according to their.wonh,
especially when that experience has been modified;
under the influence of Divine truth. They.have
lived to see the vanity of all that the world styles
pleasure. To them,, the emptiness of fame, the
ideoeitfulness of p&wer, the treachery of human
friendship, arc.demonstrated. They.have
.
learned to know'and feel that there is nothing
stable but truth, nothing good but holiness, and
no being to be loved and trusted so much as that
God who will not forsake them when they are old
and,gray T headed; for to such He has declared,
“Even to your old age, I am He, and even to hoar
hairs .will I carry you.” The aged do, indeed,
]<we the external bloom and physical vigor of their
earlier days; but for this they receive in exchange
the first fruits of that harvest of eternal light and
peace for which they are waiting. This thought
has been beautifully uttered by one of our poets:
“Fair was she anil young, when, in hope, she began
her longjourney;
Faded was she and old, when, in disappointment, it
ended.
Each succeeding year stole something away from her
beauty,
Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the gloom
and the shadow,
Then there appeared and spread faint streaks of gray
o’er her forehead—
Dawn of another life, that broke o’er her earthly ho
rizon;
As, in the eastern sky, the first faint streaks of the
morning,”
Now, jjndeed, the outward man untnis-
jßignA ofijspeedy dissolution ;, but i all that
makes the immor.tal is becoming more and more
ripened for its future state. And who that be
holds the aged Christian, as he nears the great
portal, and surveys the spirit and attitude in which
he waits for his last summons, fails to perceive
how much of heavenly life is already begun?
Even amid all the decay and infirmity that oppress
the trembling body, if the moss and the ivy are
able to clothe the walls of an old building with a
raiment of beauty, how much moire beautiful must
be the age which bears the fruits of godly living,
and only waits to be transformed into a state of
perpetual and happy life!
3. Next to the hope.of another world, a happy
memory is the best solace and fairest beauty of
age. We can imagine-nothing so dreary, nothing
so full of gloom and sorrow, nothing so much sur
eharged with the very agony of hell, as the review
and the recollection of a bad or a misspent life.
The man who is forced to look back upon a career
Of fraud and deceit, of falsehood and crime, of
open or concealed treachery; whose life has been
a persistent outrage upon truth, and justice, and
right; who has followed his own selfish inclina
tions, deaf to every accusation of conscience, and
every warning of God; who has hardened himself
In his iniquity, until inanity has become his de
light—the man, in a word, who has destroyed his
best sensibilities, seared his conscience, and
blinded bis judgment, by habits of open or con
cealed sin—not only finds no satisfaction in the
retrospect of life, but iu the future he has no
thing but a fearful looking-for of judgment, when
God shall arise to punish all the wicked of the
earth. We repeat, that nothing can be more
dreary or melancholy than an old age of vice, in
which every recollection is pain, and every emo
tiou a source of distress. But even where life has
not been passed iu positive vice, but has been
misspent or 'misemployed; where it has been
wasted on trifles, or fretted away in aimless la
bors; ■ where-it has been used,selfishly, for the
mere gratification of pampered appetites, or in
dreamy reveries— these, too, must inevitably be
found the material for sharp and bitter recollec
tions, iu that period of life when man may be said
to live more in the past than in the present, An
old age uneomforted by the memory of a well
spent life, is like the Bead- Sea, which is at once
the grave and the hiding-place of ruins, on which
the seal -of the Diviifee wrath* is stamped. , ,
But how enviably is the state Of thttse who,
without pride, or vanity, or self-elation, are, never
theless, able to say, on the most candid review of
their lives, that they have not labored in vain,
nor spent their strength for naught! It was iu
no spirit of self-laudation that an apostle ex
claimed, “I aim now ready to he offered; I have
fought a good fight; I have kept the faith." He
could recall his perils, and .conflicts, and trials;
and all seemed pleasant, as lie surveyed them from
that lofty height up which his all-conquering faith
led him. How consolatory to their last hours
must have been the exercises of memory to such
men as Howard, and Wilberforee, and Chalmers;
and such women as Hannah More, and Harriet
Newell, and Mrs. Winslow; and others who, like
them, were “steadfast, immovable, always abound
ing in the work of the Lord!” A bright and
happy memory weaves a halo around “the hoary
head, when found in the ways of righteousness.”
4. It adds, also, to the beauty of old age, when
graeed by piety, that it becomes preeminently
the object of domestic reverence and love. The
Greenlanders, and some other pagan nations, treat
the aged-and infirm witli’gross neglect. But the
religion of Christ, whieh inculcates kindness to all,
begets, in behalf of aged Christians, a high de
gree of reverence and respect. This reverence
rests, in part, upon those warm attachments which
the very character of a good old age inspires.
Some of the most touching passages to be found
in the varied range of biography, describe the love
and tenderness which are shown for the aged.
Such love disregards all the little weaknesses, and
irritability, and fretfulness, so common to infirm
age, and fastens only upon the real merit and ex
cellence of character.
THE RIGHTEOUS HATH HOPE IN HIS
DEATH.
. “Behold, I see the ,heavens opened, and the
Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”
—Stephen.
“ I have fought the good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth
there ;is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.”
— Paul.
“ I would rather die for Jesus Christ, than rule
to the utmost ends of the earth.”— lgnatius. .
“I bless thee,'o Lord, that thou hast thought
me worthy to have part in the number of thy
martyrs, in the eup of thy Christ. For this, and
, for all things, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify
thee.”— Polycarp.
“ 0 how I long for that blessed moment, when
this poor unworthy creature, the last and least of
all my Master’s servants, shall be called to put off
this load of sin and corruption, and to mingle with
that harmonious host above, doing homage with
them in the blessed presence of my glorious Lord.”
— Augustine.
“0 my Heavenly Father, thou hast revealed to
me thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I have
preached Him, I have confessed Him, I love Him,
and I worship him, as my dearest Saviour and
Redeemer. Into thy kandsT commit my spirit;
God of truth, thou hast redeemed me.”— Luther.
“Rejoice with me; I am going to a place of
everlasting joy. In a short time I shall be with
the Lord Jesus.”— QSeolampadius.
“I long to be in heaven, praising and glorify
ing God, with the holy angels. ’Tis sweet to me
to think of eternity. lam almost there. I long
to be there.”—Brainerd.
“ 0 what prospects are before me in the blessed
world whither lam going. Will you not share
my joy, and help me to praise, that soon I shall
leave this body of sin and death behind, and enter
on the perfection of my spiritual nature''’ Sweet
affliction, now it worketh glory, glory.” —Samuel
Pearce.
I have no more doubt of going to my Saviour
than if I were already io his arms; my guilt is all
transferred; H&has cancelled all I owed.”—lsa
bella Grahami-^>
iswell|jwell for ever. I see, wherever I
n my I liye or die, nothing but
tory. I.am'cradled in the arms of love and
mercy. I long to be at home.”— -Lady Hunt
ington. • ■ y
There is nothing at.all melaneholy in the death l
°e , Christian. I feel very happy in the prospect
S>k death. .—Sarah Lanman 'Smith.
VOL IV.—NO. 22.—Whole No. 187.
“I see, indeed, no prospect of recovery, yet my
heart rejoiceth in my God and my Saviour. Such
transporting views of the heavenly world is my
Father now indulging me with, as no words can
express.”— Doddridge.
“ My heart is full, it is brimful, I can hold no
more. I now know what that means, ‘the peace
of God which passeth all understanding/ I can
not express what glorious discoveries God hath
made to me. How lovely is the sight of a smiling
Jesus, when one is dying V—Janeway.
“ I cannot tell the comforts I feel in my.soul:
they are past expression. The consolations of
God are so abundant that He leaves me nothing
to pray for. My prayers are all converted into
praise. I enjoy a heaven already in my soul.”—
Toplady.
“ I am ready to die, through the grace of my
Lord Jesus, and I look forward to the fall enjoy
ment of the society of holy men and angels, and
the full vision of God forevermore:"— Carey.
“All things are mine. God sustains me through
wearisome days and tedious, painful nights. Sim
ple faith in his word keeps my mind in peace, but
He generously adds strong consolation. Death
has no sting.”—David APeeli ■
“If the Lord has no more for me to do I can
cheerfully leave the world now.-, My trust is in
the Lord. I have no fear to die;.my faith is fixed
on Jesus.”— G. S. Comstock. ■_
“This is heaven begun. I have done with
darkness forever. Nothing remains bat light and
joy for ever.” —Thomas Scott.
“ Home, home—l see the 'New; Jerusalem,—
they praise him—they praise Him.” —Normand
Smith. "■
“The celestial city is fall ih my view. Its
glories beam upon me, its odors are wafted to me,
its sounds strike my ears, and its spirit is breathed
into my heart. A single heart and a single tongue
seem altogether inadequate to my wants; I want
a whole heart for every separate emotion, and a
whole tongue to express that emotion.”— Payson.
“ I am going; I am going; the cords of life are
breaking; O the pain—no, the bliss of dying!
There, is no pain. Blissful, blissful, blissful!”—
PL. M. Adams.
“ Let me die the death of the righteous, and
let my last end be like his.”
Prom a report of a sermon delivered by Rev.
Dr. Creighton, pastor of the late Washington Ir
ving,.we make the following extracts:
1 thank God that I am permitted to indulge
this one feeling—that he was sound in tie faith
of Christ erucified. I have often been asked if
our deceased friend was a believer in the cardinal
doctrines of our holy Christian faith, and I have
declared then, as I now declare, that he was. This
opinion was founded, not alone on his ordinary
language in conversation; not only in his uninter
rupted observance of the days and ceremonies con
nected with the Christian institution—and I have
■never heard a syllable otherwise from him—-but
upon a voluntary declaration for which there was
no occasion, except that out of the fulness of the
heart the mouth speaketh.—One Sabbath morning
he approached me, said Dr. Creighton, and asked
why we could not have the “Gloria in Excelsis”
sung every Sunday. I replied that I had no ob
jections, and ,there was nothing whatever to prevent
it, and at the same time inquired of him—“Do
you like it ? ” “Like it ? like it ?” said he, “ above
all things. Why it contains the sum and sub
stance of Lour feith, and -I never hear it without
feeling better, and without my heart being lifted
up.”
No.w, whoever will take the trouble to look at
this sublime confession of faith will see that it is
nothing but an adoration of Christ Jesns, our Sa
viour, as God—as the “Lamb of God which taketh
away the sins of the world,” as the Lord Christ,
and of the Holy Ghost as equal to him in glory
and in power. Therefore, when we consider the
unobtrasiveness of the character of the deceased,
we can only say that when he thus spake, the
view which "he expressed was one of the forms
of sound words once delivered to the saints. Nor
was he only sound in the faiths He was also ex
emplary in practice. He was not only a hearer,
but a doer of the word. You all know, said the
reverend gentleman,, how regular and punctual
was his attendance in this church—so regular, in
deed, that when not seen, it was at once under
stood that he was cither absent from home or de
tained by indisposition.
* * * * *
The deceased was for many years a communicant
of the church, receiving, on every stated occasion,
with contrite spirit, the emblems of the Saviour’s
body and blood. In his intercourse with his fellow
men he was always the same kind and generous
heart, and he always put the most charitable con
struction on their words and conduct. Charity
with him was not a duty, but an instinct. Every
discourse from the pulpit, or from any other place,
which set forth these things as the bond of peace,
was certain to meet the approval of the deceased.
Every measure of the amelioration of the condition
of the poor and afflicted was sure to meet his ap
probation; The relief of the poor and needy—■
the improvement of schools, of chapels and
churches—was always of the deepest interest, and
especially interesting to him. His advice and his
experience were always readily given whenever
required, and his contributions from his puree
were always of the most liberal kind. Of the ex
tent of his private charities no man shall know
until the day when the Saviour shall declare, “In
asmuch as ye did it to one of these little ones, ye
did it unto me.” He who now addresses you has
been more than twice the recipient of doable the
sum asked for, when the occasion was one that re
commended itself. In fact, he was oneof the few
on whom positive dependence could be plaeed for
a favorable answer, whenever the application was
of a meritorious e^raeter.
Workmen were recently building a large brick
tower, which was to be carried up very high. The
architect and the foreman both charged the masons
to lay each brick with the greatest exactness, espe
cially the first courses, which were to sustain all
the rest. However, in laying a corner, by acci
dent or carelessness, one brick was set very little
out of line. The work went on without its being
noticed, but as each course of bricks was kept in
line with those already laid, the tower was not put
up exactly straight, aud the higher they built the
more insecure it became. One day, when the
tower had been carried up about fifty feet, there
was heard a tremendous crash. The building had
fallen, burying the men in the ruins. Ail the
previous work was lost, the materials wasted, and
worse still, valuable lives were sacrificed, and all
from one brick laid wrung at the start. The
workman at fault in this matter little thought how
much mischief he was mating for the future. Do
you ever think what ruin may coinc of one bad
habit, one brick laid wrong, while you are now
building a character for life? Remember, in
youth the foundation is laid. See to it that all is
kept STRAIGHT.
The Age of Pamphlets.—This is truly the
golden age of pamphleteers. The organization of
the American House of Representatives is delayed
to advertise Helper’s Impending Crisis of the
South, and the Pope of Rome refuses to send a
delegate to the Congress of Paris unless Napo
leon HI. will deny the authorship of the pam
phlet entitled La Pape el le Congres! Certainly
Galileo was right, and the world does move.
We, shall probably hear before long that the Em
peror of China has been dethroned by the publica
tion in Mantchob of an astrdnomieal treatise ques
tioning the reality of his blood relationship with
the »Sun And the Moon.
IRVING’S RELIGIOUS CHARACTER.
ONE BRICK WRONG.