Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-21
ADDS ANOTHER VERSE TO A
CHAPTER OF MATTHEW

Los ANGELES. Dec. 14.-[Edtor
Herald. r. HIS explanation of Matt.
xiv, as given by a Letter Box con-
tributor might pass muster If the
chapter contained but thirty-three
verses. Unfortunately, however there
Is a thirty-tourth verse. concerning
which he maintains a profound silence.
verses 5-33 are simply lot Of vague,
indefinite prophecies, compared to
which the utterances of the Delphian
oracle were miracles of lucidity They
are so ambiguous and indeterminate
as to be equally applicable to almost
any period of history. Thus:
He quotes; And false Christs
and false prophets shall arise
and deceive many" etc. The fulfill
ment of this prophecy, he claims, we
have today in various cults, ties and
isms. Yes, and the apostles were ap-
plying exactly the same line of argu-
ment to their own generation q John,
H:1O: Little children, it is the last
time, and as ye have heard that Anti
christ shall come, even now are there
many AntiChrists; whereby we know
that it is the last time" Paul said:
For such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ" Also, For
they serve not Christ, but by fair
speeches deceive the hearts of the
simple
Christ refers to the desolatlon fore
told i'm Daniel ix:27 7. II. quotes
verses 26-7: And he shall confirm
covenant with many for one week,
and in the midst of the week shall
cause the sacrifice and oblation to
cease" etc. This cutting off of Mes
siah, he tells us, was scheduled for
1893, the one week of covenant being
from then till 1928. And right here
(pardon this chuckle) Brother T. H.
puts his foot in it. He interprets a
week as consisting of thirty years.
Where he finds authority for such in
depreciation | don't know, but it GER
tainly cannot be applied to this proph-
ecy. In prophetic language a "week'
means a week of years; that is, seven
years Gev. XxV:S): And thou shalt
number seven sabbaths of years unto
thee. seven times seven years; and the
space of the seven sabbaths of years
shall be forty-nine years. CEzekiel
iv:6): Il have appointed thee each
day for a year" The siXty-two weeks
mentioned in verse 26, together with
the seven in the preceding verse, and
the one in the following, comprise the
seventy weeks" of verse. 24-seventy
weeks, or 490 years, being the time
from the command of ArtaXerXes to
restore Jerusalem, to the cutting off
of Messiah (crucifiXion), but not for
himself" (for the world), in A. d. 30;
the one week of covenant with many
meaning the period OF Christ's ministry
on earth, which lasted only three or
four years, because "in the midst of
the week" he caused 1.-THE sacrifice and
oblatfon to cease (refers to rending of
veil of temple at time of crucifiXion).
If T. H. wishes 1 will send him a page
of nay Bible, with notes explaining
more fully.
Notwithstanding the only really
definite statement in the whole chap
ter proves the contrary, he contends
that the fulfllment was not meant to
come till after 1928 If that is so, why
does Christ, in verse "a, turn squarely
around and contradict himself with the
positive and unequivocal statement
that it would all be fulfilled before the
end of that generation?
Let r. II. read Mat. xvi:27-8: "For
the son of man shall come in the glory
of his Father with his angels, and then
he shall reward every man according
to his. works. Verify, there be some
standing here which shall not taste of
death till they see the son of man COM
ing in his kingdom" Take that in
connection with verses 34-5 of the
chapter discussed above, and all the
Christians in Los Angeles cannot eX-
plain it so as to satisfy an unpreju-
diced person. THOMAS.