The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-10 00:00:00

BEADS OF THE PEOPLE.

We have here three Numbers bound up together,
of that popular miscellany, Heads of the People,
which is now brought to a close. The engravings,
which are chiefly sketches of city character, are ex-
cellent, especially the portraits of a Lord Mayor
and Lady Mayoress, both of whom, as in duty
bound, seem bursting with pride and self-import-
ance. The literary sketches are by a variety of
writers, foremost among whom is Mr. Home, who
has contributed a lively and faithful etching of a
Chelsea Pensioner.

A TREATISE ON THE CHRONOLOGY
AND THE PROPHETIC NUMBERS OF
THEZIBLE. By DUNCAN MAIODJUG4L, Account-
ant and Teacher, Manchester. W. Smith, London.
This is a work.,which we cannot attempt to cri-
ticise. To perform such a task effectually-would
require years of patient investigation, a thorough ac-
quaintance with the writings of ancient astronomers,
and the Fathers of the Church, great skill in ma-
thematics, astronomy, and languagei, and, above
all, a spirit of enthusiasm in the pursuit, like that
which has carried the author through lengthened,
tedious, and difficult calculations of no ordinary
kind ; and all we can do, therefore, is to point out
some of his objects, and the results. The principal
objects he had in view are—
" To show that Geologists and Astronomers may
assign any age to this planet, and to the creation of
animals lower than man, which their knowledge in their
respective sciences may determine, without, in the
smallest degree, contradicting the account given in the
first chapter of Genesis.
" That the Hebrew text, by two streams of time,
prophetic and historic, fixes the time of the creation of
Adam prior to the birth of Christ to be 3,969 years,
and not—as our present chronology has it-4,004 years,
and as inserted in some of our English Bibles.
" That the term DAY, as mentioned in the first
Chapter of Genesis, is not understood as signifying a
day of twenty-four hours ; but it is to be received in al
prophetic sense, signifying a period of 1,000 years, and,
and, consequently, the six days' creation comprehends
the first 6,000 years of man's existence upon earth ;
and his creation and condition during that period of
time, is prefigured, or predicted, by the creation of
earth, water, grass, and trees, animals, sun, moon, and
stars, and in this light a beautiful harmony is percepti-
ble between the Mosaic prophecies, and other propheti-
cal and historical portions of the Bible.
" That the prophetic and historical numbers in the
Hebrew Bible, prove each other with extraordinary
exactness, and by manifold evidence, at the same time
that they foretell, in a sense the most unequivocal, and
fix the date of the three important periods in the his-
tory of the Messiah.
" That there is an error of 25 years too much mis-
calculated before Christ, at the beginning of the Gre-
cian empire, in the profane Chronology, and also an
error of 15 years too much in the Christian era, making
a total of 40 years too much, which has prevented many
eminent persons from calculating correctly the prophe-
tical numbers, but especially, the error of 25 years too
much before Christ. This has hindered them from see-
ing that the Apostle John's number of Beasts, 666,
commenced at the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, which,
had they discovered, would have enabled them to have
seen that the weeks of Daniel, and all the other pro-
phetical numbers, correspond with the number 666.
" That the profane chronology as at present calcu-
lated, is in error, by its showing the time that elapsed
from the death of Julius Ca3sar to the death of Antony,
to be 14 years, whereas it ought to be 27 years ; and
the period that elapsed from the death of Antony to
the death of Augustus Crosar to be 44 years, whereas
it ought to be 30 years. These errors have thrown
Christian chronologists into confusion ; because, by
adopting them in mistake they made the dates in the
New Testament appear as if they were false.
That the prophetic days by Moses, and the weeks
by Daniel, give, with a precision equal to mathematical
demonstration, the exact time of Christ's birth.
" That the Hebrew text is free from corruptions in
its chronological and prophetical numbers, because the
historical and prophetical time there, prove each other
to be correct, and, therefore, that the Jewish Scribes
become vindicated from the charge of corrupting the
chronology of the Hebrew text.
" That as the Hebrew text has been proved correct
in historical and prophetical time, it follows, then, to a
certainty, that the chronological time of the Septuagint
that differs from the Hebrew text, has been corrupted ;
and it is also shown that the corruptions in the chro-
nology must have been made about the second century
after Christ, and that in calculating the prophetical
numbers, twenty-one new discoveries have been made
by the author, These, he anticipates, will be of use to
students of the prophetical parts of the Bible, and to
future calculators."
The following are the conclusions he comes to
respecting the birth, age, and ministry of Christ :
" The prophetical numbers, to a mathematical exact-
ness, fix the birth of Christ 731 years before the daily
sacrifice ceased at Jerusalem ; and, according to Jo-
sephus, it ceased about the the 21st or 27th of June.
St. Luke gives the age of Christ, as being about thirty
years, and that in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.
Phlegon gives the time of his death, by giving the
time of the eclipse, 01. 202.4, and Jerusalem was
destroyed in the second year of the 212th Olympiad.
The Olympic Games were fixed at the full moon next
after the Summer Solstice. As Christ's death hap-
pened about the beginning of April, it would of
course be about three months previous to 01. 203.1 ;
and from 01. 203.1 to 01. 212.2, there would be thirty-
seven years and three months, being the time that
elapsed from the death of Christ to the destruction of
Jerusalem ; and the prophetic numbers show that the
birth of Christ happened 73} years previous to the de-
struction of Jerusalem. Subtract thirty-seven years
and three months from 73k, and there will remain
thirty-six years and about three months, being the time
that elapsed from the birth to the death of Christ.
“ The time, as I have calculated, shoss that Christ
did not commence his public ministry till he was thirty
years and about eight months old, and that his public
ministry lasted five years and about seven months."
From his calculations, he also states that a very
great change, both in the moral and spiritual con-
ditions of mankind, must take place before the
Millenium comes, and that the duration of that
age must be much longer than is generally be-
lieved

•-- - - - -
" I am of opinion," he says, " that instead of a thou-
sand years, or Millenium, as is very generally sup-
posed, Christ's reign on earth in the souls of the suc-
cessive races of mankind, will comprise a period of no
less than about 860,000 years, at the close of which
period, Satan again will be loosed a little season, as
mentioned in Rev. `2O, and will again deceive the na-
tions of the earth, after which probably the genera
judgment will take place, when the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat ; when the earth and the works that
are therein shall be burnt up.'"

CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE.-3 Vor,s.
11,7eley, London, 1840.
The chief fault of the " Clandestine Marriage"
is a want of a variety of stirring incident ; though,
notwithstanding_ this obvious defect, it is an enter-
taining story, for the character of the young he-
roine, who is constantly in the foreground, isforcibly conceived, and worked out with sufficient
skill and spirit ; and the dialogues
incidentsthrouglioutaroef
singularly light and lively. The main
the talc may be summed up in a few words. Fanny
sprightly girl of •
tte in her nature, is to
spicede
the
e lovely,col u sixteen, with a
; but the °day before tbhee
handsome
fool, her inclination, t
it is brokaenrieohflh;mar-
ried, a
wed-
dingfoal, CisapttoaintaNkeugpeinatce,
conse-
quence of the bridegro and his mother having
ascertained that she is an illegitimate child. Fanny
being thus left flee to make her own choice, selects
the friend and instructor of her childhood, Mr.
Mapleton—an eminent barrister, twice her own
age ; and the story concludes, as in bounden duty,
with
both a briefy part
r t i
es.
lowing description of the happiness
o f`With the exception of the characters

EVENING EDITION.

of the heroine, and her clever friend Ali3s Durham,
the dramatis persona want individuality. The dia-
logues, however, as we said just now, are uniformly
lively, though in places not quite so natural as they
might be ; and read not unlike one of Poole's or
Pcake's comedies.