The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-03-20
Sui Does Not Think Happy Time Near
AT Hand
VERY SLOW WORK IN CONVERTING
m All the World Is to Come to Christ
Better Progress Will Have to Ee
rlade BY Us.

.nbsided for awhile. Within my recol-
lection it bobbed up three or Iour
times and excited good people all over
the country, for good people wish it to
come and live in hope and expectation:
remember when William Miller, OF
Massachusetts, had all New England
excited. for he was very learned man
and a sincerer Christian and believco
all that he professed. For ten years ne
exhorted the people to be ready for the
coming of Christ in 1S43 and even hxeu
the day when they would see Him de-
scending from heaven in magnlhcent
glory and escorted by Moses and Eil)ah
and a retinue of angels. He had over
10000 devoted converts and the night
before the promised day they arraysa
themselves in white raiment and sang
and shouted and prayed until morning
and then climbed the high hills and the
sree tops and the spires OF the churches
to meet Him as He neared the earth.
But He dident come and 1t nearly broke
their hearts and they liked to have per-
ished to death, for they had given away
all their earthly possessions.
Next came DR.. John Cummings,
yery learned minister Of London, who
wrote a book on it and fixed the mil
lannial year at 1863. We were fighting
over here about that time and the mil
,ennium had to be postponed. The mil
ienium means the reign Of Christ upon
the earth for thousand years, when
everybody will be good and there shall
be no more death nor pain nor sorrow
and there has not been a century since
His cruciflxion that the religious people
have not been looking for His coming.
The Christians got their belief from
the prophets of Daniel and from st.
John and st: Peter and later on from
Irenaeus and Justin Martyr and they
delighted themselves with dreams OF
glory that was near at hand. Some OF
them declared there would be no more
winters. no more nights and everlast-
ing wells would run with honey and
milk and wine. Jerusalem would be re-
built and the fruits OF the earth would
be colossal and never dying. One nota-
bic writer said that every grape vine
would have 10000 branches and every
branch 10000 shoots and every shoot
10000 punches and every bunch 10000
grapes and every grape would make %
gahons Of wine. Good gracious! how
thirsty that fellow must have been. But
the millennium dident come and by and
by Origen, a very wise and good man.
came along in the third century and
declared that there would be no such
grapes, but that Christ's coming would
be altogether spiritual. Still His coming
kept on being predicted and when the
reformation of Luther and Calvin came
about they said that the pope was the
anti-Christ and the millennium was
near at hand. Next came Oliver Crom-
well. who excited his followers with a
prediction of the millenium-and so It
: goes on and on and now 1t is about
tome for another just as soon as we
have done killing off the PHILIPPINES
and England has killed out all the
Beers.
Well, now all these ruminations
about the millennium were provoked
by what have been reading about the
recent discoveries Of oil all over the
country. One thought brings on another
and II the coming Of Christ is near at
hand and His reign Is to be spiritual
one for a thousand years and there is
to be no winter or night or sickness or
pain or sorrow we won't need all this
oil. neither for fuel or light And SO
don't believe the millennium Is very
near. II all the people are to be coI
verted and become good it will he a
long time Off,, for it is a slow process
and all the coal and Oil that is in the
bowels Of the earth will be needed. 1t
wasent put there for nothing. Mission
ary work is going on more rapidly than
ever before, but it is like drop in 2
bucket OF water. We have got 10000
missionaries in heather lands and they
are aided by $4,000 native preachers
and teachers, but these 100000 will
have to convert an average for each of
ten a year to make million. and there
are over a thousand millions OF heath
ems now and more coming on. But they
do not convert half million year,
for the last report gives only 4.000.O0O
all told. Last year we.spent $4,000 900
on them and have now over 100000
children going to Christian schools and
have $4,000 churches and over 1000 sec
ondary schools besides medical colleges
and training schools and hospitals and
asylums for orphans and the blind and
the irsane and the lepers. They have
got almost everything that we have
got and now have protection in Con-
stantinople and Pekin and Beirut and
other great heathen cefters. The work
they have done in the last ten years is
amazing and the abduction OF Miss
Stone has increased their zeal. Thirty
million dollars has been promised for
this year and they say that If we can
not convert them we can at least civil