Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-03-04

that instant theuight express would have
ground them into powder! f79
And the white stripe came into my hail
upon the night; of that fearful snow storm
That's hOwit happened ,1s.r.
1917 = ~ .4N-s->u.- - -
d, The Great Year 1887.
From the Lexington tva.) Gazette.l
An article circulating through the news
papers recently processes to give predic
lions Of Prof. Grimmer, of Kingston, ia
maica; 9tatat the Star of Bethlehem, il it,
periodic revolution of about 315 years, will
reappeaf as 3 bright star. in 1887; and
that the earth will then undergo convul
sions. physical and moral, with civil strife
notably in North a mafica. Taxing the
literal account in the "a chapter Of St.
Mathew, it, is questionable whether thu
star which guided the wise men of the
East, can be identified with any since ap.
pearing. For we are told that .sthe stal
went before them till it came and stood
over. where the young child was . Under
ordinary, natural laws, only meteor, such
as comet, would answer to this descrip-
ton. A planetary orb might indeed pass
apparently from the eastern horizon to the
zenith in the course of several months:
but such is not Prof. Grimmer's star,
which is located. as quasi fixed, in the con.
stellation Cassiopeia. Herschel's work on
Astronomy informs us that Tin the years
945, 1854 and 1872, brilliant stars appe AIRED
in the region of the heavens between c.
pheus and Cassiopeia; and from the imper.
feet account we have of the places of the
two earlier, as compared with that of
the last, which was well determined
as well as from the tolerably near coin
cidence of che intervals Of their appear
ance, we may suspect them to be one ami
the same star. with period of about 300,
or. as Goodricke supposes. $50 years. The
appearance of the star of 1872 was so sud-
den that Tycho Brahe. celebrated Dan
ish astronomer, returning one evening 1.-THE
18th of November) from his laboratory to
his dwelling house, was surprised to find a
group of country people gazing at star,
which he was sure did not exist half an
hour before. This was the star in ques-
ton. Itwas then as bright as Sirius, and
continued to increase till it surpassed Ju-
piter when brightest, and was. visible at
midday. 1t soon diminished, and in
March. 1874, had entirely disappeared
Altogether the Scripture narrative seems
irreconcilable with Prof. Grimmer's Star
of bethlehem.
However, the general idea of great phys
ical convulsion. at least. in 1887, does not
wear an air Of improbability. The magnet
ic condition of the sun is affected by the
position of the greater planets and by ul-
ira planetary influences, and each mag
netic change IN the sun finds immediate
in this earth, as one may learn
from Richard Proctor's s'Other Worlds
Than Ours"
AS to the year 1887 specially; this is not
the first time that it has been pointed out
as momentous epoch. In the early part
of this century. there lived IN Tennessee
an unpretentious but learned Presbyterian
divine, Abel Pierson by name. To his
theologic lore he added no mean attain
ments in practical astronomy. He calcu-
lated for himself the astronomical cycles
to determine the times of the wonders of
The prophet Daniel. Publishing work
on theology. after the Socratic method,
which those skilled in Pauline, Augustin-
ian formula of faith, pronounce to be of
great ability. he appended thereto mod
est dissertation on the Interpretation of
Prophecy. He makes "the cleansing of
the sanctuary Daniel s. 14) to commence
on April Goth, 1918, and says that the one
year in which the plaques came and over
turned the Beast was the first year of
cleansing the sanctuary; that the Sanctu-
ary would be cleansed slowly during the
80 prophetic years, from April 10th, 1918;
but every year more than the preceding
the 1890 years of Daniel -. II
1.-THE days of Daniel are years., begin with
the 1850 and end with the 80 years after
them. Those 80 prophetic years were out
a little before the 10th day of November,
1912. In As prophetic years more, from
that date, the millennium IS to begin. For
the 1885 years of Daniel ~, IL, begin with
the 1850 and end As years after the 1890,
and rs years after the 1850. which end the
Beasts reign. The 1850. the 1890 and the
1885 years. all begin together, $50 prophet
ic years after and from the Saviour's
death. The Millennium is to begin at the
end of the 1885 years of Daniel ~. IL,
which will be about the 9th of March, 1884;
and this will be rs prophetic years from
April Goth, 1873. during which period the
Sanctuary must be cleansed, slowly for
the first 80 years, and much faster for the
next As prophetic years This rs years is
that curious day that shall be neither clear
nor dark (Zechariah IA, 6-s). 1t will be a
kind of twilight between the darkness Of
the Beasts reign and the light of the Nil.
lennium, becoming more and more light
as it comes nearer to the Millennium.
Such is the brief analysis from another
pen than the present writer 81 Of Mr.. Pier
son 3 views. He is the only interpreter of
it is believed, who has fixed up
on the year 1887 as the millennial dawn;
and this he did 70 years ago.
A remarkable fact is related of him,
vouched for BY parsons Of great intelli-
genee, az we'll authenticated. He identi-
fled Napoleon the Great, in some manner
with the reign of the Beast, and predicted
his fall at a specific time, One morning
be saluted his friends on the street Of his
village home with congratulations. be-
cause that day s'the tyrant would fall. -
When sufficient time had elapsed for news
to travel from France to Tennessee, it
was found that on the day designated by
Mr., Pierson, Napoleon the Great had sign