The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-05-07
LIEUT.. TOTTEN AND THE MILLEN-
MUM.
Curious Calculations in Chronology Eased
Upon the Scriptures.

Curious Calculations in Chronology Ease
Upon the Scriptures.
New HAVEN, April 1.-THE wide
spread excitement of the North Ameri
can Indians few months ago over tn
expected coming of a Messiah for thei
race by curious coincidence had fol
lowed closely upon marked revival O
the discussion of the millennial doc
trine in various parts Of the country
Now we have an interesting contribu
ton to the subject in the calculation
just made by Lieut.. Charles A. L. Tot
ten, Fourth Artillery, which fixes the
date of the Second Advent for March
1899. Lieut.. Totten, who is detailed a:
professor of military science and tactic:
at the Sheffield Scientific School O.
Yale University, has for several years
made remarkable applications of uath'
ematical science to the Scriptures
Recently he fixed upon the exact date
when Joshua commanded the sun to
stand still and he has also made Curl
Gus calculations to show that the fun
damental dimensions OF the Great
Pyramid are founded on distances in
the solar system, and employed the
incl unit OF measure knows to our En-
glish system of long measure. He has
further made studies to show that
Americans are the lost tribes of Israel.
It is not impossible that now. in one
form or another, there may be con-
siderable revival of millenarianism.
One Of the last noteworthy agitations
of the subject was that of DR.. John
Cumming, who had fixed the begin
ming of the millennial period for about
a quarter ola century ago. But quar-
ter of a century before that far more
widespread and famous excitement
was caused IN the United States by
William Miller, who had predicted the
Second Advent for 1913. But more or
less important predictions and agita-
tions can be found during many cen
turies. The grades of belief on the SUBJ
ject have varied from that Of an ap-
preaching destruction Of the world at a
fixed hour to that of a coming in of the
Golden Age without any physical
crash. In various countries there have
been sects that have held from time to
time that the millennium had already
begun, and that they were enjoying its
opening years. Perhaps the greatest
period of modern millenarianism was
the one between 1900 and 1860, but
during the first and second centuries
it was very generally accepted tenet.
Taking together the Book Of Daniel
and the Revelations, the endeaVor TO
find in current events the fulfllment,
or a tendency to fulfillment, of the
prophecies there made, was then almost
universal.
The last decade of years of the pres
ent century, on which we have now
entered, is likely to turn speculation
anew in this direction; and presumably
the twentieth century will see it still
more rife, and gaining in intensity as
the year 1000 approaches. A learned
divine os the Dominion has for SOME
time fixed upon that datefor the Second
arguing that the greatest crises
in human history have occurred at in-
tervals of 1000 years from the creation,
assuming this last to be about 1900
years before the Christian era. The
same date has been fixed by those who
hold that the six days of creation signi-
fed or typifed six periods, of l,O0j
years each, in the worlds history, de-
voted to toll and endurance, to be fol-
lowed by a seventh of blissful rest.
But what is most singular is the variety
of texts and calculations adopted by
those who deal with this subject, Lieut..
Totten, for example, finding all the
material he needs in chapter Of the
Gospel of St. Luke and another Of the
Gospel of St. Matthew, without resting
upon the Apocalypse or the earlier
prophets.
The expectation that the last day of
the world would come in the year 1000
A. D. was widespread, as the history
of that perion shows. The approach
of the year 1000 is likely enough to see
history repeating itself in that particu-
lar. The millenarian doctrine, how
ever, is obviously quite distinct from
any such foreboding, since by its very
terms it gives the world another thous-
and years of existence, and under far
happier conditions than any it has ever
known. Lieut.. Totten, if be is correct
ly reported, does not look for the end
of the world sooner than a million
years; and in any case the conception
of a millennium, assuming, as it is not
difficult to do, that the period is not
already running, is not to be confunded
with that Of those who look for the
near approach Of the world END.
AGAINST TIME.