The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1862-05-28
.Armageddon.

In lS54--Or six years before the COM
,mencement Of tue present extraordinary
rsvolu,ion-taere was published by S. d.
Baldwin, A. M., President of Soue Fe.
male College, a very remarkable volume
bearing the above. title. The book was
solemnly described by its au,lor-a man
of unqnes,ionabIy profound research in
the department Of sacred letters to v hich
it is devo;ed-as the result of twenty
years Of unceasing labor. reflection and
prayer. Its object was 10 fix the Qhen)
United States rs the scene of that terrific
conflict, foreshsdowed in the propletica!
writings especially, those Of Eze
.kiel, Daniel and John, under the name
OF Wine Press Battle, or Armageddou.
the means whereby this object WAS to
be attained consisted Of new discovery.
which the writer claimed to have made,
respecting the mode Of interpreting the
peculiar designations Of time, employed
IN those parts Of Scripture-such MS days,
weeks, years, times, half times, etc.-and
whose sigpihca,ion. no previous inquirer
had ever been able 10 ascertain, with any
reasonable approximation 10 absolute pre-
cIslon. Strange as it may appear, both
when collAted with the number and in
dus.ry Of prior inves,ig ators, and the time
consumed by Mr.. Baldwin himself in ma.
king the proposed discovery, this new
process OF exposition was exceedingly
simple and was embraced in the super.
ticial idea Of fixing definitely, by careful
examination OF the Scriptural context, the
meaning Of one Of the mystical terms
used, and getting, IN this way, at the pre-.
else mathematical value OF all the olhers
This he claimed to have succeeded 10 do
ing by such a certain rendering Of tb'
words Seventy weeks" which enab'e &C
him 1T once to measure the remainin:
symbolicaI dates. The proof was, in ,h
rigid historical fulfillment Of the event
predic,ed-to the very day-in the past
and, hy necessary deduction, in the fu
ture.
Having thus demonstrated, fof Nj
Baldwin Claims no less, the accuracy o
his original key Of the PropheticaIs, be
proceeded to apply it to the solution Q
the great battle Of Armageddon, and de
,termined, first, that it was to take plac,
between 1862 and 1865 secondly, tha
the combatants were to he, the United
States, OF the one hand, ard an invadin.
despo,ic power (Russis, as bo then sup
.posed,) on the other; thirdly, that The
scene Of this conflict was to he grea
plain or valley, as the term interpreted
indicated-Armageddon, or plain Of Es
drelon, or valley Of Jezreel--tbe famous
battle ground Of the Holy Land, (whicl
he naturally located in the Mississippi
Valler0 four,hly, that the battle woult
rage with unprecedented violence; and
lastly, that the invading army would b
completely defeated and destroyed.
Now, without ven,uring an opinion
for which we have neither the necessary
inclination nor ability, upon the merits
OF Mr.. ,9@ldyin's discovery. considered IN
its .scrip.ural relations, i cannot be de.
MED, that the bare fac: Of such an inter.
probation Of prophecy, as is above Sc,
forth, having been soIemnIy pubIi.hsd,
with f,ll belief in its verify, by an earnes,
and inteIligsn. inquirer. six yean before
the commencement Of the prevailing war,
is, when connected ri,h the history Of
the latter, up 70 tLs present time, and
the tssnssious evsst now impending at
Csrinih, sniuently calculated TO pique