270 -
STYLE OF CULTURE NEEDED BY
AMERICAN THEOLOGIANS,
3VO I.
BY EDW. CLARENCE SMITH.
I. We suppose that the clergy, as a
mass, are rather wanting in culture than
in piety. The age seems to demand of
the American theologian that he devote
a larger measure of his time to the work of
getting for himself a muscular and well
furnished mind. Infidelityisbeleaguering
Christian faith with strong armies, and
Christianity needs to thrust through its
iron embrasures ordnance that are o,f
rifled steel and long of range. In this
belligerent work that Christianity has
on hand, no degree of enthusiasm or
emotional power can take the place of
mental strength. Enthusiasm is always
sh6wy and striking, but when not worn
by sterling qualities is in no wise better
than the bright armor and splendid
trappings of some effeminate Paris, and
will prove no safeguard against the
rough blows of a sturdy antagonist.
We wish to see the smoke and blaze of
the cannon followed by the blue steel
that will splinter the tough spar, or
shiver the hard granite.
The present stage of theologic specu
lation is unfavorable to this thorough
work in the way of culture. The fields
of orthodoxy are carefully surveyed and
staked off. We have no imperative need
to hew out doctrines and carry them
together to be compared and matched,
and built up into creeds and systems.
This hard work would strengthen us,
but our fathers have done it for us, and
we are too apt to pass contentedly into
the full inheritance of their labors If
we felt less secure in our doctrinal strong
holds, our mental life would be less inert
and indolent; and though we might spend
less time in amiably contemplating the
consoling doctrines of our faith, and might
have to pass a more sober and anxious
life amid the stern mysteries of unan
swered problems, yet, perchance, we
should be stronger men ’for all this dis
cipline. Historic induction tells us that
the dominant races, those which incar
nated the ideas of their age, and gave
them splendid and permanent utterance
wherever they fought and triumphed,
have not breathed the balmy air of
Southern climes' or made their abode in
rich valleys, burdened with the profuse
wealth which genial suns and gentle
showers have forced from a soil teeming
with fatness, but have got their nurture
in a rougher school; have gazed with
care-worn brows and saddened hearts
upon mountain crags and barren wastes;
have hadtheir hearts made brave and
self-reliant, and their wills sharpened as
the flint, and their sinews wrought and
twisted into hardness and iron strength,
by exchanging quick and rough blows
with nature; by unceasing struggles to
wrench from her clenched hand security
against want and death. PeThaps the
use of the analogy will not be denied
us. We thelogians of this country do
not find ourselves amid the sterile wastes
and mountain heights of theology. On
the contrary, we luxuriate upon the
smooth and fertile meadows of ortho
doxy, and see the fields about us waving
with the mature fruitage of creeds, and
confessions, and systems.
But to return, it would seem that our
theologians must not let their minds
lapse into a state of indifference respecting
doctrines; must not repress, but strongly
encourage a positive and forceful attitude
of mind in the matter of its beliefs. It
is an unnatural thing for the mind to
stand upon the magnet of doctrine, and
stubbornly brace itself over the point of
indifference. The alacrity with which
men adopt the sentiment of the Roman
moralist, “ in medio tutissimus ibis,’ 1 not
only in the province but in
the less practical sphere Of philosophic
and theoretical belief, is often a token,
not of the wisdom of human nature,
but of its indolence or timidity; and
these mathematical moralists, and philo
sophers, and theologists, who are for
ever factoring and radicating extreme
views, are those who may perchance
commend themselves to us as humble in
their self-estimate, and amiable in their
tolerance and liberality, but generally do
not deserve to be ranked with minds
that are active and earnest, strong and
self-reliant. Weak and fearful persons
are very apt to put on the robes of
ecclectieism, simply because they deem
it safer and easier to sit as judges than
to agitate as advocates. These ecclectic
conservatists in doctrine are always to
be looked upon with suspicion when
they are not old enough to. be wise, and
have no reputation for nerve or fire.
True ecclectieism is admirable ; but it is
an ecclectieism which rejects extreme
views, not in that they are sharply de
fined and strong, but because it believes
them untrue. We honor the sturdy and
earnest mind that has canvassed the
whole field of speculation, and given
itself sincerely to the work of finding
agreement between doctrines seemingly
variant, but really reconcilable; but we
condemn mere indefinite, negative views,
when they proceed from sheer mental
inertness or timidity. We relish a strong
doctrine, sharply stated. We like men
to take perilous places on the outskirts
of doctrinal strongholds, provided they
have strength and valor enough to main
tain the conflict. Indeed, nothing is
more refreshing than to see a warrior
for the truth, who, in long and thorough
courses of discipline and culture, has
been forging for himself close-linked
corselets and well-tempered arms and
making himself tough and sinewy, quick
and elastic in every faculty, plant him
self squarely on the van of the conflict,
conscious, as he swings his trenchant
blade and delivers his blows, quick and
strong, that there remains so great
strength of resources and endurance in
his arm that, like Horatius Codes, be
can keep the bridge against a thousand
men. We must not be too slothful to
think positively. We must not be too
certain that extreme, or rather strong
views, are always untruthful or unsafe.
11. It would seems that the culture
of our ‘ theologians should have pre
eminent regard to the great conflict in
to which the church is about to enter.
Nothing is plainer than that Christianity
is about to fight its last battle on the
field of philosophy, and that when, by
its puissant might, it has laid in the dust
this colossal and arrogant giant, Panthe
ism, which is the last hope of the Philis
tines, and has come up against the
hosts of God with the targe of brass
and spear of iron, it will have little to
do but to make men as true and as good
in their lives, as their philosophy will
teach them they ought to be. All philo
sophies that have refused to do obeisance
to faith, as wielding a rightful sceptre
over the vast empire of mysteries, have
thus far been overthrown. Human rea
son has demolished sensualism, as a
philosophic system, and pronounced such
a curse upon Atheism that the serpent
no longer erects itself, but crawls, and
eats dust, and is abhorred. It is true
that we still meet with occasional at
tempts to solve the highest problems of
philosophy on grounds exclusively ma
terial. We have young and ambitious
Buckles, trying to pick the complicated
lock of human history with the old and
worn-out skeleton key of materialism,
but these attempts are not formidable,
and only excite the ridicule of thought
ful and scholarly minds.
So, too, pure idealism, with its scep
tical conclusions, has been rejected as
inadequate. Thus both sensualism and
idealism having been overthrown, the
world of thinking men had been satis
fied with a sort of ecclectieism, quite
humble in its mien, and living on terms
of peace with Christianity. But Chris
tianity finds in the absolute philosophy
a more sturdy opponent than it has ever
yet encountered. No other infidel sys
tem has ever armed itself with so ulti
mate and gigantic an hypothesis as is
wielded by this daring Titanic philo
sophy. What other hypothesis can
issue in so tremendous a synthesis, so
comprehensive an ecclectieism ? This
opponent Christianity has to meet.
There is no avoiding the conflict. Hu
man nature will endure no antagonism
between its religion and its philosophy.
The power of Christianity is pre-emi
nently moral, but it must make human,
reason its faithful ally before its do
minion over the world can be complete.
Men’s philosophy may be purer than
their morals, but their morals will
scarcely be more worthy than their
philosophy, provided the philosophy is
deliberately ichosen, and accepted with
a sincerity of belief.
Christianity must therefore arry itself
for the battle. It has it on hand to fight
this arrogant Pantheistic Goliath, and
smite it in the forehead. It will scarcely
need more imposing weapons than the
simple missiles of reason and revelation,
but great strength, and swiftness, and
skill, must lurk in the arm that hurls
them. Our theologians have found
that the champions of the opposing infi
delity are no mean opponents. There
is something brawny about the Teutonic
genius that makes it a dangerous foe.
The old barbaric Germans had rude
weapons, but opposed splendid bodies
and resolute wills to the horrent Spears
and blazing banners of a more advanced
civilization, and maintained a desperate
resistance. Perhaps we may learn wis
dom from the hewing which" the mailed
legions of Yarns got at the hands of
Arminius.
LETTER FROM REV. E. P. HAMMOND.
Dear Brother :—My last letter was
written on board the steamer Inland
City, in Chaleur Bay, lat. 48 deg., long.
66 deg. 12 min. Some account of our
journey homeward from that point may
prove of interest.
We could scarcely realize, while there,
that we had by the power of steam been
borne so swiftly away, and that one
thousand one hundred and sixty-three
miles of the salt-sea waves rolled be
tween us and the city of Boston, which
we had left but a little more than a week
before. We then bade adieu to the old
mountains which so often reminded us
of the Highlands of Scotland, and just'
as the sun was tinging their tops with
crimson and gold, rolled out into the
deeper waters where the great white
porpoises, which are only found in that
region, in their playful gambols were
throwing their milky sides above the
surface.
I shall not soon forget the thoughts of
gratitude to God which filled my heart
as I walked the deck, breathing in the
fresh cool air of that delightful evening.
It was four years almost to-day since I
passed over these same waters on board'’
the Great Western, with three thousand
souls, on our way to Quebec. It was
then my purpose, after a few months’
visit, to return to dear old Scotland.
The war in the States was absorbing
all minds, and Dr. Hopkins, of Williams’
College, whom I had met in Paris but a
few weeks before, had told me that he
thought it would be impossible to turn
the attention of Christians in numbers to
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1865.
pray for the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. But results had proved that this
war had made the hearts of many men
tender, leading them to think seriously
of the realities of eternity, and thus pre
paring the way for revivals of religion.
And my soul was filled with thanks
giving that we had not only seen peace
reigniDg throughout the world, but that
during these years many had been led
by the Holy Spirit to secure,, through
faith in Christ, that "peace which passeth
all understanding.” ;
The next morning we reached Ba
thurst, a thriving village, at the mouth
of the Nepisiquit River.
We learn that the exclusive right of
throwing the hook for golden salmon,
which crowd this river, had been pur
chased from the Government for about
$3OO, by two gentlemen from Philadel
phia. Thus we found that others had
been before us in this wild region, who
could appreciate its attractions. After
doubling Miscou Point, the tourist passes
the cod and mackerel fishing grounds—
“ a mine of wealth,” said a provincial
gentleman, “ richer than all the gold
mines of the world, and, strange to say,
worked almost exclusively by your en
terprising countrymen, at our very
thresholds.”
Passing up the Miramichi River, three
enterprising towns, Chatham, Douglass,
and New Castle, with their vast-lumber
yards and ship-buildings, and green
fields, greet the eye.
At each of these places, crowds flocked
to see the “ new steamboat.” Many of
them had never but once seen the like
before. I think it was at New Castle,
an opportunity was afforded to hold an
open-air meeting.
Seldom, if ever, did I behold such a
crowd of rough-looking men, half of them
Catholics. For the first few moments,
when the word was preached, an attempt
was made to scoff, but soon an awful
solemnity rested upon the large as
sembly. As I looked upon those hard
ened men, not a few of them listening
for their lives, with tearful eyes, I could
but think of those words in Acts x. 44 :
“ While Peter yet spake /these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which
heard the word.” ~
When prayer was offered, many heads
were uncovered. I can but hope that I
shall meet in heaven some from that
open-air meeting who, for the first time,
heard the simple Gospel of Christ.
After the meeting was through, the
Presbyterian minister of the place, who
chanced to be present, greeted’ us warm
ly, and a wealthy Scotch lady invited
the party of Christians from the Inland
City to repair to her charming residence,
to partake of a refreshing repast.
That night, after our little company
had, as usual, read the Bible and prayed
together, a young lady from Pennsylva
nia, who‘had for days been seekigg the.
Saviour, said to me, “Oh, how much I
wished that I was a Christian when I
was at the open-air meeting and hearing
of Jesus.” She now seems to be in
dulging the hope, that she has given
herself to the Saviour.
At Shediac, our next landing place,
we took the cars for St. John’s, a-dis
tance of about ninety miles, through a
wild and interesting tract of country,
and Saturday afternoon we caught our
first glimpse of the Bay of Fundy.
We were all anxious to witness the
remarkable phenomena connected with
the high tides of those regions, which
rise in different parts of the bay from
twenty to fifty feet.
When we arrived at St. John’s there
lay in the harbor just before our hotel,
on the full tide, a large steamer; but in
the'morning it was out of sight almost.
We could' scarce believe our eyes, so
changed was the whole appearance of
the harbor. I then witnessed a striking
illustration of the difference between
.what are called “sudden and gradual
conversions.” In some parts of the
bay where the mud is deep, as the tide
recedes the ships sink deeply. When
the water comes pouring into the bay
and rises around the sides of the vessels
which are so firmly anchored by their
glutinous surroundings, for some time
they give no signs of yielding to the
strong lateral pressure of the aqueous
fluid. While the ships only a short
distance off, that chanced to be in the
channel while at ebb tide, began gently
to rise the very moment it changed,
these, in their slimy bed, seemed satisfied
to remain just as they were. But still
as the persevering water rose higher
and higher, at length, unable to resist
its forge, these foolish vessels, as if en
dowed with wisdom, come bounding to
ths surface, sometimes rising 'several
feet at the first leap.
So it occurred to me that when God
pours out his spirit upon churches and
individuals, while some seem almost
imperceptibly to yield to its influence
and rise to “newness of life,” others
seem so deeply sunk in worldliness
and sin that a stronger and more
persistent power seems necessary to in
duce them to leave their groveling exist
ence. But when, at last, God, with such
mighty power, pours “ floods upon the
dry ground,” that none seem able to
resist, then those who had so defiantly
clung to their evil habits “ suddenly”
cry out, with Peter, “ Lord, save or I
perish,” and find at once the hand of
the loving Saviour stretched forth to
bear them up upon the flood-tide of
God’s love. Such conversions seem
more remarkable and sudden, but they
are in reality no more sudden than
those that were more gentle in their
manifestations. True, many of the best
Christians never know the time when
they caught their first glimpse of “ Christ
and him crucified ;” but if “ born again,”
there must have been such a time, and
then they were converted—turned from
the error of their way.” And as I saw
some of those ships, in the deep channel,
rising majestically at the first approach
of the flood tide, I could but pray that
not only individuals, but that whole
churches, all over our land, might be
quick to yield to the first indications of
the special reviving presence of the Holy
Spirit.
After spending a day and a half
visiting in and about St. John’s, we em
barked on board the large steamer for a
sail through Passamaquoddy Bay for
Eastport, on a beautiful island on the
eastern coast of Maine. That locality
has been somewhat famous in the States
as the “jumping off place,” but when we
arrived there we felt we were almost
home. From the time we left Boston
we had to make all our purchases in
gold, and it was a pleasant change to
get where our currency was available.
We do not wonder that we found the
majority of the people in all our travels
through Nova Scotia, Prince Edward’s
.Islands, and New Brunswick so de
sirous of annexation with the United
States.
At Portland we took the Grand Trunk
Railroad for White Mountains. The
day we ascended Mt. Washington, tower
ing six thousand two hundred feet in the
air, was said to have been the finest of
the season. It was none too cool even
at the. “ Tip Top” House, though the
the morning before the mercury stood at
the freezing point. Three years before,
on the first day of July, we stood a long
time on the same spot, waiting for the
clouds to clear away, shivering in the
cold, which was so intense that the
rocks around us were covered with ice.
But this time we could see the ships
entering the harbor in Portland, though
ninety miles distant.
But we must here close this already
too long letter. But as there is now a
telegraph station here on the “ tip top”
of Mt. Washington, if any thing remark
able transpires we can easily communi
cate.
Yours,
REV. A. M. STEWART IF'THE OIL
REGIONS.
MORAL ASPECTS OP OILDOM.
These seem very similar to that of
the camp. It is not for religion that
men come here, but for oil; men go to
camp, not for the enjoyment of Gospel
ordinances, but to fight. Should any
attention be given to such matters, the
consideration must be pressed by some
faithful evangelist. A few, who were
religious in former localities, may prove
sturdy and resolute enough to carry their
piety with them here, as into camp. A
large majority who made professions at
home, are speedily freed from such at
tentions by the fever of oil. Many who
come in hopes of a fortunate strike, had
but little thought of such matters in for
mer homes and haunts, and have less,
if possible, here. Others were about as
bad as the devil could make them, before
emigrating to Oildom, and with no signs
of improvement here.
Several denominations have either
effected or are aiming at organizations
in different localities, with, however,
irregular and often doubtful success
When, after much effort and persever
ance, a religious organization or co
operation was effected in camp, the next
terrible battle was most likely to send
one-half of it to heaven and the other to
the hospital. So here, the next locality
that may chance to get up a great ex
citement, will likely carry off to it a
large portion of the adherents some toil
ing missionary has been gathering
around him. The population floats.
The thought seldom seems to be enter
tained of arranging a habitation for a
permanent home. No marvel therefore,
if but few stakes are tightly stuck about
the church. A few on the hills around
Oil City, seem to have built houses with
the intention of living in them.
Last Sabbatb, I preached under an
old shed at Petroleum Centre. Good
congregation and attentive. Much easier
to get a congregation in such a place
than to keep it. - Interesting prayer
meeting same place in the evening.
Regular preaching has been had in this
place for the past two or three months.
Some consultation about a church
organization, yet the man on whom
most seemed to depend, told me he was
off to Pit Hole with his business on Mon
day morning
DERRICK.
The derrick in Oildom may fairly be
looked upon as an institution. It is a
strong wooden frame-work erected over
each well to be sunk, about fifteen feet
square on the ground, forty to fifty feet
high and tapering to the top. Nineteen
out of twenty wells either prove oilless
or yield so small a quantity that they
are speedily abandoned. The derrick
hardly pays to remove it, and hence in
nearly every instance is 'left standing.
The valley of the Oil Creek, and up the
side of the steep bluffs for many miles,
as well as many adjacent localities,
seem almost covered with these quaint,
sombre, unique structures. The hun
dreds and thousands of these erections
present a peculiarly desolate appearance
In some localities they almost touch
each other. Memory has been taxed for
comparisons, but refuses to yield any
fitting likeness. Imagination suggests
long irregular rows of gallows on which
might have been hung many ancient
rebel gaints—numerous Dutch fleets long
since stranded, and their cumbrous old
masts still left to bleach in sun and rain,
or a forest of enormous trees, blasted and
riven by the elements, with the dry and
peeled trunks alone left standing.
A. M. Stewart.
'Oil City, August 9, 1865.
GLEANINGS BY THE WAY.
PORTWLLE, OMAN, PE.V.V TAW, WJtE-
During a recent trip, I spent a fort
night at Olean, Cattaraugus County,
New York, and in one of my excursions,
visited Portville, the residence of Mrs.
Humiston and her three children.
Portville is six miles from Olean, and
is a neat, clean-looking village, on the
banks of the Allegheny. Learning
from Rev. Mr. Ogden, the worthy pas
tor of the Presbyterian church, that
Mrs. Humiston’s family were living in
the place, I felt great curiosity to visit
them and report to the many friends of
the dead soldier at Gettysburg. I found
a small, but very comfortable frame
house with a half-acre lot, laid out partly
in garden and partly in fruit trees, with
a small barn in her possession, and kept
in good order. This humble homestead
had been purchased through the exer
tions of Dr. Bourns, and in addition, the
widow receives two hundred dollars an
nually, as the avails of the photograph
sales, and one hundred pension from the
Government. The children are still
young, healthy, and smart, and as God
has so wonderfully interposed for their
present comfort, they may well trust
Him for the future.
The Presbyterian church in Portville
has recently received spiritual blessings.
The church in Olean, under the care of
Rev. James B. Beaumont, who is most
highly valued and loved by his people,
is also prosperous, and just now the
people are expending between three and
four hundred dollars in reparing and em
bellishing the house of God, intending,
also, to furnish it with a fine organ.
The writer having labored with this
people during the winter of 1860-61,
on revisiting, had practical demonstra
tion of their good remembrance of those
who had preached the word among
them, and of the warm-hearted hospi
tality with which they can receive them.
It was refreshing to exchange stone
streets and brick walls . for - beautiful
meadows, a rolling river amjjfc hills of
pine and hemlock, curtained with a de
licious temperature, a scene that stood
perpetually before our eyes, which, with
the testimonials. of assiduous affection,
was enough to warm up the heart and
send it home rejuvenated for further la
bors.
E. P. H.
The same can be said of Penn Yan,
the place of former ministerial labors,
which for the few days of our tarrying
was nothing but an uninterrupted Sun
nyside. Penn Yan has much improved
during the last five years; a part of the
improvement being witnessed in the en
largement of the Presbyterian house of
worship and the increase of the congre
gation. By the removal of Rev. Mr.
Starr to. St. Louis, the pulpit is again
vacant, and I found brother Sloat, of the
Third Presbytery, filling it a couple of
Sabbaths as a candidate.
Many of the young men of the place
and neighborhood had been engaged in
the bloody scenes of the late war, of
whom the most had returned, but some
are sleeping in the soldier’s grave. One
of these was Captain Morris Brown,
once a young member of the Presbyte
rian church of Penn Yan. He was re
markable for skill, activity, and courage,
and was highly recommended for pro
motion; but after having fought “on the
line ” from the Wilderness to Petersburg,
a year ago last June, he there met an
instant death, and in such circumstances,
that the body of the gallant young pat
riot has never been recovered. In let
ters written immediately before his death,
however, his friends received his assur
ances of firm trust in Cod, of his study
of the Scriptures, and of his readiness to
meet death ; so that, like multitudes of
our noble youth, “he sleeps in Jesus,”
wherever the body lies watched and pro
tected by guardian angels.
During this journey, I fell in with mul
titudes of returning soldiers, and took
frequent opportunities of conversing with
individuals, and the gratification was
great to find that these men all knew
for what they had fought, and that the
great object of the conflict had sustained
them in their toils. They were evidently
privates, yet they could describe the
martial movements in which they had
been engaged, as if they were generals,
and were able intelligently to criticise
whatever had been done. Atjenn Yan,
I took occasion to visit "the beautiful
cemetery, to look upon’ the grave of a
friend greatly lamented.
The cemetery lies on one of the easy
slopes running down to Keuka or
Crooked Lake, and if any connection can
be imagined between the resting place
of a wearied body and that of a happy
soul, this beautiful scene will furnish the
bright link; whilst the softness and
grace of land and water, as they mingle
in rich proportion and finished relation,
cannot well be ever banished from the
memory.
On the top of a gentle knoll, com
manding all the bewitching outlines, in
a family lot richly enclosed, our friend
was laid. She was a woman of noble
character, that had shone in every re
lation of life. Among thousands of her
sex, each of whom had rivalled the de
votion of Florence Nightingale, she had
labored aB a volunteer soldiers’ nurse,
in the hospitals of New York, and the
dreadful fever there contracted laid the
foundation of her mortality. The sudden
removal of two young children completed
UfUISPOBT.
the blow, and there the three lie to
gether, the initials on the three separate
blocks lying on the ground—the ages,
respectively, two years, six years, thirty
years waiting for a happy resurrection.
The monument over these graves is
unique; of striking design and wonder
ful finish. It is made of two blocks
of marble. The first is chiseled to re
present a pile of stones, such as the Old
Testament patriarchs would heap over
a grave. On this, however, is set a
Gross, the emblem of the New Testa
ment Faith, done in white marble, like
the lower piece, made to resemble wood
work, with the grains and knots most
skilfully done.
On the way home, a few hours of
daylight were passed at "Williamsport,
where everything bespeaks thrift, enter
prise, and growth. I had the pleasure
of meeting an old and valued friend in
Rev. Wm. Sterling, the patient and suc
cessful pastor of the Presbyterian church;
and this gratification was greatly height
ened by inspecting a new house of wor
ship, rapidly rising, for the use of his con
gregation. It will be built tastefully and
grandly of stone, a hundred feet long in
the clear, with a corresponding breadth,
and furnished with every improvement;
destined, doubtless, long to remain the
birth-place of heavenly hopes. “ Be
cause of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek thy good.” W- W. T.
Philadelphia, August, 1865.
THE YEAR-DAY THEORY.
In our Review there is a notice of
Mr. Shimeall’s new book on prophecy.
In this notice, the Year-Day Theory is
spoken of as “ of Cabalistic origin and a
convenient device to sustain the wildest
possible vagaries of prognosticators and.
would-be prophets.”"
The reviewer, in attacking this theory
(which supposes a day in the prophetie
language to signify a year in actual
time), seems to think he is attacking and
demolishing the very foundation of Mil
lennarianism. He seems to think that
this theory is peculiar to the believers
in the personal Advent and Reign of the
Son of Man on the earth.
So also, in those articles which Dr.
Hatfield published in several numbers of
the Review as an argument against
Chiliasm, the same mistake is made,
and the Year-Day Theory attacked as if
it were essential and peculiar to Millen
narians.
So far is this supposition from being
true that this theory is quite as common
among anti-Miileunarians as among the
class of interperters so much despised
and hated by the reviewer. All that
class of anti-Millennarians who consider
the Apocalypse as a prophectic history
of the Christian dispensation, adopt this
theory. It is only by the aid of this
theory that they are able to stretch the
one thousand two hundred and sixty
days, and other similar periods of the
prophecy so as to find in the Apocalypse,
Mohammed and Islamism, the Popes
and the Papacy, the Irruption of the
Barbarians, and the French Revolution.
Mr. Barnes, who is sufficiently decided
in his opposition to Chiliasm, adopts
this theory—argues it- in Daniel and
applies it in the Apocalypse.
And besides adopting this theory, this
class of anti-Millennarians apply the pro
phecies to very nearly the same series
of events as those to which Dr. Cam
ming, and that the whole class of Mil
lennarians, apply them; these two op
posing classes of interperters not differ
ing in this respect much more from each
other, than the individuals of either party
differ among themselves. And further,
Mr. Barnes and that class of anti-Mil
lennarians have so usedup the prophecies
in their application of them to past
events, that there is very little yet to be
fulfilled, and according to their own
showing, if the Year-Day Theory be
correct, the millennium cannot be much
-further off than Dr. Cumming and his
party make it.
But not only is the Year-Day Theory
not peculiar to Millennarians, and com
mon to them with their opponents, it is'
also bejected as “of Cabalistic origin
and a convenient device to sustain the
wildest possible vagaries of prognostica
tors and would-be prophets,” by a large
class of the most thorough and earnest
Millennarians. To this latter class of
Chiliasts, the Advent and Personal
Reign of Christ is the motive which
shapes their daily life. It is the ever
present consideration in every plan they
make and every work they undertake to
do. It is their loyalty to the coming
King that makes them indifferent to
earthly politics and unseduced by earthly
honors. To them Millennarianism is
not merely an interesting way of inter
preting prophecy, nor a means of obtain
ing reputation.
These Chiliasts regard the Year-Day
Theory, whether held by Millennarians
or their opponents, with the same ab
horrence with which they look upon Dr.
Cumming’s worldly wisdom, his flat
tery of the mean and wicked British
Government and people, and his wrest
ing of the Scripture so as to teach the
escape of Britain from those impending
judgments which are coming on all the
world.
We hope the Review will succeed in
its attempts to overthrow this baseless
and deceptive theory, but beg its readers
to remember that its utter destruction
will not shake for a moment the founda
tions of pure Chiliasm. D.. G. M.
Thebe is a world of beautiful meaning
in the following rather liberal transla
tion from Freville:
‘,‘A S clock strikes the hoar, how often we say,
-Lime flies 1 when we that are passing away.”