Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1839-01-15
COLUMBUS. QILJ TUEsDAY, JANUARY Is, 1850
From the Boston Courier.

The END OF THE WoRLD.-It appears
from communication in the Hampshire
Gazette, that q fanatic, a knave, or a
Ounce, by the name Of Miller, who, some
months since, at Troy, N. Y. endeavor.
ed to prove that the confagration Of the
world would take place in 1s43, is now
preaching the same doctrine, at Montpe-
lier, in Vermont. The writer states that
Miller's opinions are founded on SEINE
passages in the prophet Daniel, and the
Revelation Of st. John on those, pFoba-
bly,, that contain the prophetic numbers.
as $500 days, 1890 days, 1885 days, AZ
months, a time, times, and half a time,
&c. Every person who has paid much
attention to the writers on prophecy,
knows that the numbers in Daniel and Re.
valation may be so computed and COM
blned by ingenious men, as to show that
the commencement Of the millennium, or
the restoration of the Jews, or the de-
struction of the world, or any other i'm
portant event, will happen in such year
as they choose to select.
The notorious vagabond, the Rev. Jo-
seph Wolfe, the husband of the right ho-
norable lady Georgana somebody, when
in Washington, last winter, delivered sew
eral discourses to prove that the millenni-
UNI will commence in 1s47. The Miller
mentioned by the writer in the Hamp-
shire Gazette, is, perhaps, one whom this
Wolfe persuaded INTO a belief of his doc.
trine. We heard a very respectable
member of Congress declare that Wolfe's
argument was irrefutable. Perhaps Time
may refute, Notwithstanding.
The writer above alluded to notices the
following instances to show that the belief
that the end of the world has been many
times propagated since the commencement
of the Christian era
In the 10th century, a few years before
A. D. 1000, the priests and monks pro-
pagated the notion that the day of judg-
ment and the end of the world would be
in the year 1000. This opinion threw
the world into the deepest CONSERVATION,
and produced dreadful terror and dismay
in many countries. Prodigous numbers
Of the people gave all their treasures and
lands to the churches or monasteries, and
FASTENED to Palestine, to witness the de-
scent of Christ from Heaven. Others de-
voted themselves to tie service of the
churches, converts and priesthood, whose
slaves they became in the most rigorous
sense of that word, performing daily their
heavy tasks, and imagining that the Su-
preme Judge would look more faEorably
upon them, because they hadmade them
selves slaves of his ministers. When
there was visible eclipse of the sun or
moon, the cities were deserted, and the
inhabitants fled for refuge TO caverns,
rocks and mountains. In that ignorant
and superstitious age, the priests and
monks, who were generally corrupt and
licentious, gained immense wealth by the
terror they had excited. (See Moshe-
i'm
Some intelligent men in more eulighien-
ed ages, have entertained the belief that
the end of the world was not far distant.
Lord Napier, the celebrated inventor OF
Logaristhms, man of learning and pro-
found mathematician, published, in 1893,
a "Plain Discovery of the whole Reyela.
ton of ST. john" in which he proved to
his own satisfaction, that the latter day
would fall between 1858 and 100. He
had devoted much attention to the subject
and his book passed through many edi
tons, and was translated into most of the
European languages but the world out
lived the year ZOO, and Lord Napier, We
rifed the remark of Elihu, in the book o
Job, "great men are not always wise"