Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-07-30
NUMBER v.
Moral and Religious.
lFor the SPECTATOR
The Coming Of our Lord.

heaven as He went up, behold, two, men stood
| by them in white apparel; Which also said.
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into
heaven this same Jesus, which is taken I'D
from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. !"
| ACTS [: 10-11.
"Lord of the Prophet whose mystic revealings
-, ,Dimly enlighten all tribes but thine own,
Thine are the records of wonderful dealings,
Lost or unmarked by thy children alone;
And strangers and aliens-whilst they are for
| lorn,
Rejoice in the birthright to which they were
born.
Lift up thine eyes to this burdened horizon,
U, child of the promises what dost thou sect
Bright golden streakssgrowing wider and
Break through the darkness, and gleam up
And the shaking of nations, natures last groan
Is paving the way of the King to His throne.
By JERUsHALEME A CONVERTED JEW"
The second coming of Christ, as Lord over
all, is eliciting much interest at the present
time among. thinking and rejecting men all
over the world. 1t is our purpose in this article
to present some views to show that it is theme
worthy of all the attention that may be given to
it. One of the most serious obstacles i'm the
way OF gaining the ear of the more steadfast
portion of the christian community is the pre-
valent and deep-seated impression, that unful-
filed prophecy is not profitable for instruction
as the preceptive portions of the Divine Word.
Such passages as these are quoted to justify in
attention to the second coming of our Lord -
1t is not for you to know the times and season
which the Father hath put into His own pow
er." "Ye know neither the day nor the hour"
"Of that day and hour knoweth no man.
These are words spoken by Christ respecting
His second ooDoino h1f cfi1l fh.pl ~ % ,,Io,r
they do not discourage deep and earnest consid-
Grafton respecting the second Advent.
For what was true in the days of our Lord,
and OF the evangelists, is greatly modified in
the days OF Paul, for he writes thus, on the
same subject: 'sBut of the times and the sea-
sons brethren, ye have no need that I write
unto you. For yourselves hnoao perfectly that
the day OF the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night. This evidently means, that to those
who are looking for Him, His coming is not an
unforeseen contingency, for those that are on
theory that these words of our Saviour applied
more specially to His own time, and to that of
the writers OF the gospels, receives further con-
hrmatlon when we compare the sayings of God
to Daniel and to John on the Isle of Patmos.
To Daniel, God said, "Shut up the words and
seal the book, even to the time of the end for
the words are closed up and sealed till the time
OF the end. But" it is added, ''the soise
shall understand Now, to John, God says,
book, for the time is at hand" Furthermore.
it is said, for the comfort of the weeping exile,
The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to
loose the seven seals thereof" Now, it seems
to me, that it would be fair and truthful to in
fer from this comparison, that what was pro-
nounced impenetrable in the days of Daniel, of
II Tr,r6 ~ ~, - \
days of John writing the Book of Revelation,
ceased to be anpenetrable afterwards. Are we
not living in the Apocalyptic period of the open
ed book and broken seals and not under Dam
iel's period of the book, shut up and sealed.
Out of many reasons that may be further adj
duced to justify serious and thoughtful con-
of prophecies concerning the Re
deemer's Advent, We refer to what appears the
remarkable coincidence in the termination of
two prophetic periods.
In Daniel VIII: 1874, the period of 230O
years is given upon the year-day principle
The end OF this period begins the waning of the
bols, as the drying up ofthe Euphrates From
the history OF this power, the first signs of the
precarious condition of the Turkish Empire,
manifested themselves in 1921, Ammo Domini.
Previous to 1921, it was powerful on every side.
Soon after the Greek revolution, Egypt, Alge-
ria, Servia and Bosnia revolted and such is the
present state of decline, that the language of a
French orator has become proverbial, Turkey
is dying for want of Turks" From the best
light before us, it will be doing NO violence to to
Daniels great period, to say it terminated in
1925 and nearly all expositors agree that the
Turkish power is the one referred to by the
prophet, as holding and defiling the sanctuary.
Now to this date terminating in 1928, if we Join
an extra period of 45 years referred to in the
twelfth chapter of Daniel and twelfth verse, it
will bring us to the close of 1867, or the begin
ming of 1868. OF him who is alive then, (cIose
of forty-6ve years., whenever it may be, the
prophet says BLESSED is he that waiteth,
and cometh to the thousand three hundred and
five and thirty days." The word Blessed is
in the Hebrew and is equivalent to this, "Ohl
the happiness of the man." who lives to see
the year 1868.
The other period we have in mind is found in
Leviticus twenty-sixth chapter In different
places God speaks of chastising and Furnishing
his people seven times for their sins. By the
well-established yearday principle, we multi
ply 360-a time-by seven, then we obtain the
number 2520. The pride and power of the
Jewish people was broken under Manasseh, A.
NJ, 34So, add to this 252o, ''the seven times, y
6O0O years from the creation of the world At
that time the punishment is to cease, and the
times OF the OentlieS VIII De 1ululleQ. Are we
near the close of the 6000 years? A modern
chronologist has demonstrated that our Lord
was not born in 1904, as is stated in the margin
of our Bibles, but He was born about the year
of the world 4132 Now add to 4132 the pres
ent year 1867, and we have 5999, which wants
but one year of being 5000; one year added to
1867 makes 1868. Jewish and Christian wri-
tiers, for two thousand years, have believed that
the earth was to last In its present form 5000
years, and that the seventh thousand year would
usher in the millennium. There is something
worthy of note, that two leading prophetical
periods should point to the same year as their
close when considered in the light of history,
and computed by wellestablished principles of
computation.
These considerations should admonish us to
meet our obligations, and the relative duties
that are expected of us. Though we may not
receive them as positive demonstrations, still
they may plainly indicate the rays of the COM
ing Sun Of Righteousness. We should watch
against sin and temptation, and not sleep as do
others who fail to be the children of light, be-
cause of negligence and mere Indifference
Having our lamps trimmed and burning, and
vessels in reserve filled with oil, we shall be
ready when He comes, be that sooner or later
and all will be well.
MONTEREY. w. T. p.
The imagination divineness of mental
faculties-is Gods self in the soul. ALI our
other faculties seem to me to have the brown
..-Al -, Al, On, hut fhic ono oo rrioo