Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-08-17

tians uf the first century believed quite generally that the end would come with in a hundred years of the birth of Christ. When that epoch had passed, they h,- gan to date from the time of the asCru- sion. and when this period was also com pleted they looked forward to the fall of the Roman empire as the critical juno ture i'll mundane affairs.
 But the empire fell and the end came not. and once again the prophets were forced 10 revise their predictions. They then fell back upon the twentieth chap ter of Revelation and taught that the church would reign for q thousand years and that then satan would be bound" for another thousand wears. after which judgment and the end would come.
 This put tho disaster far of in the flu ture and immediately found cuthusiaS- tic believers. But time moved on and the tenth century approached. to the dis may of millions who had gained but dim idea of the millcnnial doctrine and nisap- prehended its purport for the idea that the end was tO come in 1000 wears. Once moro the prophets turned loose their cl- oqucncc. once more the miSrrirs that fell upon the population of Europe seemed lIR Nllt' NNlN LAHlN'll AllStl AAlN LI''l cts were correct. and once moro the sub scqucnt prophets were able to point out the mistakes of those who had prcCcded them.
 Ever since then th,,rr havc bvcu be licvrrs in the millrnuiHl doctrine. and various dates have bttn >rt for the ''uC- romplishmrnt of the pruphy>i,'s." and still the world wa-,s on. But there have been q number uf alarms during the in tCrvcniug centuries that had no uc,'es- >ary connection with this doctrine rx- rrpt il m,ght be on the general ground that it predisp'>rd people to l." paulrky. Most uf these were but of local utlu euTe. but several became quite general. Oue IT the sixteenth century WAS uC- caSirnci hv C5- viHau astrnucmcr named Sicflirr, whr wIs also Au a> trvlozrr. lie prcdlv;vd that vu Feb. .u. | !j24. there wuuld by a svyunI dvlu-v. and not a few people hvl!,Nci him. The famous eclipse of l65I produced | another panic principally hrrauSe people did not understand eclipsrs very well | then. and the great comet of l619. which was visible for six months. occaSiuu,1l vet another. The disastrous earthquake in l155, known as the Lisbon earthquake also impressed many people with the idea that the end of the world was imminent and most of the great Quakcs since then | have produced the same effect.
 The Millerlte drluSion k still remem bered by many Itrple as an event Cl their youth and had the advantage ol disadvantage of having four different years set for its fulhllmcnt-lSi2. lS41 lS4S and lS1t. Since then various uthel times have been fixed upon by believer, ill the nillenuial theory. the latest an, consequently the most interesting by Lieutenant (. l.. A. Ttttcn of the United States army, formerly professor il Yale university, whose theory ha brought him good deal of notoriet, during the past four wears.
 | Lieutenant Tutten. however, does no believe that the end of the world Is near nor does he accept the common belief q to the day of judgment. The earth, h.
 thinks. will abide forever. and the da, of judgment is a period of seven years
 which has already commenced and vii end in the spring of lSQa. when the dawl
 of the millennium will be ushercd in
 The recent trouble i'll the financial worl,
 afforded him opportunity for his lates | jeremiad. Things will not get better.
 he says. but worse. We are approach
 ing the crisis which must precede tn
 millennium. These troubles are world
 wide. They will not down. They meal
 disaster to rotten institutions, the burst
 ing of all inflated enterprises, the expo
 sure of deceits of every description an,
 the trial ss by fire of every mans work You may can it what you will, I call Judgment.