Page images
PDF
EPUB

Christ himself spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem as if of the end of the world, and this circumstance, I think, should mitigate the doubts that exist relative to the veracity of II. Esdras.

I have already shown that these visions appeared to Esdras about 400 years before the coming of Christ, and consequently, 473 before the destruction of Jerusalem, this being the remaining time which he speaks of. The twelve parts produce 3718 years from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ, and agree within 42 years with 3760 years, being the Jewish vulgar computation, to the birth of Christ.

The Jews have miscalculated the time given in their own Bible to the extent of 209 years too little. From the statement by Esdras, it appears that the extent of time from the creation of Adam to the destruction of Jerusalem was divided into twelve parts. The true time would be either a fraction below or above twelve parts; the fraction above the twelve parts is five-sixths, equal to twelve and five-sixths, which nearly square with the true time, 3969 years, that elapsed from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ.

Notwithstanding the twelve parts by Esdras, and the vulgar computation by the Jews, are less than the true time, I accept of each of them as a proof against the chronology given in the Septuagint.

There are then six proofs which I have advanced in favour of the chronology of the Hebrew text.

1. Moses' seven days of the creation, and Christ's three days.

2. The square of 50, which gives the time that

elapsed from the creation of Adam to the period the land was divided by lot; and from thence my calculations square with every Jubilean year and every Sabbatic year mentioned in the Bible, the Maccabees, and Josephus.

3. Three multiplied by three for length, three for breadth, and three for thickness, produce 81; this again, multiplied by the square of seven equal to 49, being the third great Sabbatic period, there will be a result of 3969, being the fulness of time when Christ came into the world.

4. The sum of historical and prophetical time given in the Hebrew text-as has been calculated in the preceding pages-amounts to 3969, from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ.

5. The twelve parts given by Esdras, proves that the chronology of the Hebrew text is the true time. 6. The computation by the Jews is a proof that the chronology of the Hebrew text is the true time, although they have shortened the time.

I now respectfully ask of thee, or any other who may choose to make the trial, to produce proofs in favour of the chronology of the Greek text, that will bear with the same conclusiveness upon the object of our investigation as those that have been adduced in the foregoing pages.

Rev. xiii. 18: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six," or 666.

As there were four Beasts, it follows there would be four times 666, equal to 2664, being 144 years

more than Daniel's "seven times," or 2520 years* madness of the four tyrannical Beasts or kingdoms. This shows that the commencement of the power of the fourth Beast is fixed by the prophetic numbers 144 years before the Apostle John wrote the Revelation; and the beginning of the 144 years corresponds with the time the Grecian power ended, and also squares with the year Pompey, Julius Cæsar, and Crassus formed the first triumvirate, being the date at which the Romans considered their republic at an end.

Now, when 144 is subtracted from 2664, it squares with the "seven times' madness," or 2520 years, being the prophetic period of this world's history, during which was to continue that height of beastly madness among the governing kingdoms of this world that leads them to declare and encourage war, when they receive any real or imaginary insult or provocation, thereby destroying the lives of thousands, and rendering the families of the earth miserable. This beastly principle in the human race, is in Scripture called the abomination of desolation, and the prophetic numbers show that this height of beastly madness among the nations will not cease till about 120 years from the year 1840. On the engraved sheet annexed at the end of this book, there is a calculation of the four periods of the Beast's power, and on the sheet at the commencement is shown the particulars of the first period of the number of the Beast, 666, along with the other prophetical streams of time, showing that these prophetic periods prove each other to be correct. A similar lithographic sheet, giving the solution of the

number 666, I published in the year 1834, and I have met with no reasoning or calculation that induced me to make any alteration in the solution I then gave.

Further on I shall show, that the Christian era has been miscalculated fifteen years too much, and which proves that the Mohammedan Beast or power began about the end of the number of the Roman Beast 666, and between A. D. 607 and A. D. 609, and not in A. D. 622, as stated in our chronologies. The number 666, given by the Apostle John, fixes the full development of the man of sin, and the rise of the Mohammedan power, about A. D. 609, from which date I believe the prophetic periods of 1260, 1290, and 1335 are to be calculated.

The Apostle John dates the beginning of the number of the Beast at the beginning of the captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, the golden head of the symbolic image, when he received power over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and destroyed their Temple, on account of their transgressions.

Although the Apostle John dates the beginning of the number of the Beast at the beginning of the captivity of the visible church of God on earth, it is clear that the power of the Beast commenced when our first parents obeyed the Beast, that old serpent the Devil, who is denominated a liar and a murderer from the beginning. As the prophetical numbers of the prophet Daniel and the Apostle John have resolved themselves into a mathematical demonstration, and give the three important periods of Christ on earth, that is, his birth, his baptism or anointing, and crucifixion, and they prove the errors that chronologists

have committed in calculating the time previous to the birth of Christ; in like manner, I believe, the prophetical numbers will again resolve themselves into a mathematical demonstration at the end of the last three periods of the Beast's number on earth, which may show the exact extent of error that has been committed in computing the Christian era, when it was designed and began to be used about 517 years after the birth of Christ. It appears to me that as yet there is a great darkness over the minds of Christians in general as to what the Beast prefigures in the Scriptures. The Catholics generally point to the Mohammedan power as the Beast, and sometimes to the Protestants: the Protestants again point to the Catholic power and the Mohammedan power as the Beast. Each party will be too true an evidence against the other that they have been the Beast, and that they have covered the earth with cruelty and violence. Christians in general would examine the nature of the Beast since the time he seduced our first parents, and also from the time of the shedding of the blood of Abel by Cain, and from the day God said, "Surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it," they would find that the Beast is to be looked for nearer themselves than they think; for every thing in ourselves that is contrary to the will of God, is of the nature of the Beast; and it is clear that the spirit of truth in the Scriptures testifies against that high degree of the spirit of wickedness that worketh in the children of disobedience, which sheddeth the blood or taketh away the life of his brother either by direct or indirect means, and gives it

If

« PreviousContinue »