Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-04-17
MONDAY, APRIL IL, 1858
The Millonnium.--1. 1t Dawning

In0 MflIcMmlumssszS 1T DaWninE
1 Rev. John Harris preached, yesterday, in
the Methodist Church Of this city, from the
following text:
81 saw in the night visions, and, behold
one like the Son of man came with the
clouds Of heaven, and came to the Ancient
Of days, and they brought him near before
! him.
i "And there was given him dominion, and
glory, and kingdom, that all people. ma
tions, and languages, should serve him: /: his
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away, and his kingdom that which shall
not be destroyed. ."-Dan vii l3, IA.
The speaker adduced calculation from
the Interpretation Of Daniel's vision, in
connection with St. Johns revelation con-
cerning the beast with ten horns, to show
that the millennium, or thousand years of
peace and prosperity to the Church, had al
ready dawned or was about dawnlng. We
shall not attempt to give his language on
the occasion, not having taken notes, but
shall endeavor to condense the substance.
The fourth beast which Daniel saw in his
vision, ssdreadful and terrible, and diverse
from all the beasts that were before it, is
universally conceded by Bible commentators
to mean the Roman empire. The sslittle
horn' which came up among the other ten
horns of the beast, and which had sseyes like
tho eyes of man, and mouth speaking
great things, 'prefgured the papal hierarchy,
which gradually rose out of the Romish en-
pire. This horn, it is said, shall s'wear out
the saints Of the Most High, and think to
change times and laws" How remarkably
has this been fulfilled in the persecution of
Christians by papal authority and the insti-
tuition of new modes Of worship, appointing
fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting
pardons and indulgences for sins, &C.! St.
John Grew. kip exhibits popery under the
same emblem of "a beast with ten horns, -
speaking the same blasphemies and acting
the same cruelties. The length of time
which this tyrannical power shall endure is
stated precisely the same by both Daniel
and st. John, though under different figures.
In Daniel, vii. Is, it is said that this power
ssshould be given into his hand for a time,
and times, and the dividing Of time;" or as
the same thing is expressed in another place,
ch. xii. Z, s'for time, times and half"
In Revelations, xiii. 5, it is said Of the
beast, to whom in like manner .'it was given
to make war with the saints, and to overcome
them, that power was also given unto him
to continue forty and two months" And
the woman, the true Church Of Christ, who
fed into the wilderness from persecution,
xii. 6, IA, should be fed and nourished
there thousand two hundred and three-score
days. According to prophetic reckoning-a
day for a year all these numbers are the
same, and each signify 1850 years. For ga
time' is year, and ssa time, and times. and
the dividing of time,'' or half time, are
three years and half, and three years and a
half are ~ menths. and AZ months are 1860
days, and 1860 days in the prophetic style
are 1860 years. This, then, is the time of
duration Of the papal authority.
| But to fix the time exactly when these 1860
years begin, and consequently when they will
end, is matter Of some difficulty. Bishop
Newton fixes it at the year 727, when Rome
and the Roman dukedom came from the
Greeks to the Roman pontif. This would
bring its conclusion, or the time for the
4 ushering in Of the millennium, at about the
year 1000 after Christ, or 5000 Of the crea-
ton, according to the tradition of the Jews,
as also the we'll founded belief of many Bible
students that as the world was created in six
days and the. seventh was day of rest, and
as the seventh year was year of release, SO
the seventh milleaary shall be period when
ssthe Lord alone shall be exalted
But the period for the commencement of
the 1860 years to which the speaker on this
occasion seemed to give most credit was that
fixed by Robert Fleming, a Scotch divine
who wrote in l70l and predicted the French
Revolution of 1894. He dates the cons
mencement of the 1860 years at COG A. D.
when Boniface III received the title Of su-
preme bishop. The 1860 years added would,
therefore, make it 1866, but deducting Is
years according to the Jewish mode of COM
putation, he brings the period for the end OF
papal power in the year lS48.
j In this year, the speaker contended, Ro.
manism actually did receive blows that shook
it's very centre, and which will yet terminate
in its utter overthrow The abdication OF
Louis Philippe from the throne Of the prin-
cipal Romish nation in Europe-the reyolu-
tionary demonstrations in Italy and Ger,
many-the subjugation of Mexico, the sea,
Of papacy on the American continent, BY the
army Of the United States were all indica-
tions that the dominion of the horn sswhose
look was more stout than his fellows should
be speedily taken away ssto consume and
destroy it to the end. ;"
The universal religious awakening of the
present day he also regarded as another sigr
} that the kingdom Of heaven shall be speedily
established upon earth.
OF course, not being thorough Biblical
scholar, we are unprepared to express any
views Of our own on this subject. We havs
simply presented it to our readers in this
light for their reflection and investigation. il
being a matter which may with some pro.
priety excite much interest at this time ol
general religious inquiry. Every Christian
should pray with more faith and zeal, Gle
i thy Kingdom come," and rejoice at ths
: prospect that ssthe stone cut out Of tht
mountain without hands shall become itseH
/, mountain and fill the whole earth.o
= DEATm--Hon. j. NJ. Scott, William Ship
! fpen, Jr., and Prof. John K. Mitchell, all EN-
!, }inent citizens Of Philadelphia, are among
those who died, week before last. Dr
! Mitchell had high professional attainments
: and at the period Of his decease held the
! ! Chair OF Theory and Practice in jefferson
: Medical College. He was also Grand Mas
-