And they shall beat their swords into periods would terminate in A.D. 1330, ploughshares, And their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; Neither shall they learn war any more." But when shall all these things come to pass? When will there be a shaking in the valley of dry bones? When will the holy temple of sanctified Israelites be erected on the foundation of prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone? And when will the holy waters that are to issue from its threshold become an impassable river, and cover the whole earth? The answer of the angel, in reference to the second question, seems to be very definite and precise. He says, as we understand him, "From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, until the many shall be purified, and made white, and tried, shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." And if these three periods are all to be recorded from the same epoch, as seems to be altogether probable from the context, then the whole question depends on the time when the daily sacrifice" was taken away, and the abomination of desolation was set up. Let us then enquire when, where, and under what circumstances, this part of the prophecy was fulfilled. In the fortyfirst verse of the eleventh chapter, "the daily" evidently refers to the daily service of the temple of Jerusalem; and the Roman army, by which it was taken away in the year 70, was “the abomination that maketh desolate." To this our Saviour clearly refers in Math. xxiv. 15. "When ye therefore see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, then let them who are of Judea flee into the mountains." If, then, we reckon for this epoch, a day for a year, according to the general law of symbolic prophecy, these three A.D. 1360, and 1405. But these were among the darkest and most superstitious times of the Christian era; and therefore we look to them in vain for anything that will correspond with the fulfilment of these predictions. But the meaning of words often changes with the lapse of years, as well as everything else. In the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the word temple was used to represent the edifice that Solomon built on Mount Moriah. But in the time of Paul, it appears to have acquired a new meaning. The Christian church was then the temple of God. So, for a period of fifteen hundred years, from the erection of the tabernacle to the destruction of the second temple, "the daily" was generally used to denote the daily service prescribed by the laws and institutes of Moses. But when the temple was consumed, and all its rites and ceremonies were abolished, the same phrase was analogically transferred from the type to the antitype; from the service of the Jewish to the service of the Christian temple. This is its obvious meaning in the eighth chapter of this same book. For "the daily" was to be taken away by the "little horn" of the goat; but, as we showed in our last article, this little horn was a symbol of Mahometanism, which had no existence when the second temple was destroyed by Titus, but which afterwards became like the Roman army, an abomination of desolation. The Romans took away "the daily" in its primary or literal sense : and the Saracens took it away in its metaphorical sense. And it is a very remarkable fact, that from that hour the services of the mosque have been substituted, in Palestine, for the daily spiritual services of the Christian temple. To this, then, the angel evidently refers as the only epocha from which can be reckoned the three prophetic periods under consideration. In what year, then, was the daily Thus says Paul (Heb. ix. 1-2.)—“Then verily the first institution had also ordinances of Divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shew-bread: which is called the sanctuary." But the Hebrew style is full of metaphors. Nothing is more common, especially among the prophets, than to transfer the name of the type to the antitype. Thus, for example, the Lord says by Isaiah in an apostrophe to the church, and in speaking of her Millennial glory : "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." service of the Christian church in Pa- | denote the holy place of the tabernacle. lestine taken away by the Mahometans? In the eighth chapter there is a reference to the victories of the Sara cens, in the South and in the East, as well as in the Pleasant Land; but in the twelfth their ravages are limited by the scope of the narrative to the conquest of Palestine. We need not, therefore, extend our inquiries to Arabia, Persia, Egypt, and other countries that became subject to the False Prophet aud his successors. It is sufficient for our present purpose to know, that according to Gibbon and other historians, these desolators of the earth began their career of conquest in Palestine in the year 632, or about 631 years A.C. If, then, from this epoch, we reckon 1260, 1290, and 1335 years, we have as the terminus of these periods, the middle of the years 1892, 1922, and 1967 of the Christian era. And hence it follows, if our premises are correct, that in about thirty-five years from this time, (July 1st, 1857) the Jews will return to Palestine; that in sixty-five years, they will become converts to Christianity; that in one hundred years they will, with the blessing of God and the coöperation of Gentile believers, carry the victories of the cross to the remotest parts of the Earth, and introduce the golden period of the Messiah's reign. His last reckoning seems to correspond very exactly with the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. viii. 13-14.) "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint who spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred days : then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The only term in this connection which requires any special explanation is the word sanctuary. There was no time when it was generally used to Here the word sanctuary evidently means the church; this, too, seems to be its signification in the passage which we now have under consideration. And if so, then we might suppose that its cleansing would synchronize with the beginning of the Millennium, or the terminus of the 1335 days. For the vision of the evening and the morning is not confined to the Jews, as is the narrative of the eleventh and twelfth chapters. The cleansing of the sanctuary must be at least co-extensive with Mahometan pollution. And when the last trace of this shall have been wiped away, it is not very probable that either pagan or papal abominations will long continue to defile the church of the Living God, the pillar and the support of the truth. If, then, from A.D. 1967, we reckon back 2300 years, it brings us to the year 334 B.C.; the very time when Alexander met Darius on the banks of the Granicus; and from which, in all probability, is to be reckoned the vision of the ram and he-goat. For when Daniel first saw the ram, he was not just merging into existence, like the beasts that he saw rising up out of the sea; but in the full majesty of his power, he was standing by the river, pushing Westward, and Northward, and Southward. And just at that instant, while the prophet was admiring the prowess of the ram, he beheld the he-goat coming from the West. The beginning of the vision, therefore, seems to correspond with the first campaign of Alexander in Asia; which was in the year 334, B.C. And if from the middle of this, we reckon 2300 years, we have 1966 A.C. as the end of the vision; which exactly corresponds with the commencement of that golden age of holy joy and heavenly bliss, to which the angel alludes in the close of the twelfth chapter. This is certainly a very striking coincidence; and one which goes far to establish the correctness of both our data and our conclusions. But the evidence does not amount to demonstration. Some of the items embraced in our premises, belong to the category of mere probabilities; and, therefore, we cannot claim for our conclusions, any higher degree of certainty. There surely was a time when many of these things were closed up and sealed from the eyes of all mortals. No uninspired man could possibly understand them before the destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews, the birth of Mahomet, and the conquests of his followers. Whether we have yet sufficient data to enable us to comprehend the full import of this chapter of sacred chronology, may still be a question. But that these things will all occur in due time, we are fully persuaded. Whether our chronological calculations are true or false, there is abundant evidence to show that we are on the very eve of some mighty revolutions; that before many years the Ottoman empire will fall; that to this will succeed a time of great trouble; that Michael will then stand up in behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel; that through his agency, they will once more return to the land of their fathers; that Gog's host will be destroyed in an attempt to overthrow and enslave them; that this will providentially, if not, indeed, miraculously, lead to their conversion; that they will then be thoroughly organized as a church, and builded on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; that after this, they will send out missionaries into all lands; that these, with the aid and active co-operation of Gentile churches, will soon convert all the nations, and fill the whole earth with the knowledge of Jehovah; that Satan will then be bound, and that the Holy Spirit will be copiously poured out on all the churches of the saints, so that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, and temperance, will everywhere prevail; that all Christians will then be united in the bonds of love and peace; and that even physical evils will then be greatly alleviated, for "there will be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the child shall die an hundred years old, but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed." Blessed then, indeed, will be the portion of that man who waiteth, and cometh to the end of the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. It was at one time our intention, to extend this series of articles, so as to embrace within its scope the coming of Christ-the resurrection of the deadthe burning of the world-the final judgment-the new heaven and the new earth-the new Jerusalem--the everlasting state of the righteous-and the eternal destiny of the wicked. And to this, if in accordance with the views of the brethren, we designed to add ano ther series, especially in the Messianic has been to lead and induce others to prophecies. But, as the senior Editor of the Harbinger, has intimated his intention to write on some of these great themes, we think it best to pause here, at least, for the present. We prefer to sit at his feet, and to hear from him, the conclusions to which he has been brought, by a life of study, devoted to the Word of God. We feel grateful to our brethren, for the words of approbation and encouragement which we have heard and received from many of them. Our chief object engage in the study of this much neglected portion of the Holy Oracles, to which, even an apostle has said, that we should all take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in our hearts. May God help us all to go on to perfection, and to grow continually in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; to whom be glory both now and for ever. Amen. R. M. BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS. which there may be many degrees, rising from simple discontent up to our largest conception of actual and positive misery. Is not this a most interesting question of soul-absorbing magnitude? "O, happiness! Our being's end and aim, Good pleasure, ease, content! Whate'er thy name; That something still which prompts th' For which we bear to live, or dare to die; wise. YOUNG GENTLEMEN,-This is the | with ourselves or our circumstances, of last act in the drama of Collegiate education. To this event you have long looked with many pleasing and buoyant anticipations. It has arrived. And is it not a solemn and interesting scene? To-day terminates your connection with your Alma Mater, with your social relations and class-mates in the pursuit of literature and science. It is a day, no doubt, you longed to see. But has it not some painful reminiscences of scenes that shall never return, mingled with flattering hopes that will never be realized? Hope and fear, fear and hope, perpetually alternate in the human breast. There are the bright and the cloudy [days in every year— and the prosperous and the adverse scenes in every life. The great question, therefore, with every thinker, in anticipation of the future of his being, is How shall I enjoy the greatest amount of pleasure with the least conceivable amount of pain? I do not say with the least conceivable amount of misery, for that is positive evil-but with the least conceivable amount of dissatisfaction, for even this is incompatible with happiness. Happiness is neither more nor less than self-enjoyment; for unhappiness in its incipiency, progress, and consummation, is only dissatisfaction Know all the good that individuals find, Lie in three words-health, peace, and And so defined, is not the brute creation, in its state of nature, ineffably more happy than man? Shame upon the taste of the most felicitous rhymer in English verse for entertaining, and still more for publishing, in all the charms of the most alluring and felicitous rythm, a sentiment so alluring, so fascinating, and yet so superlatively tatal to human happiness-to the rational, the moral, and the religious enjoyment of our whole nature. Much, indeed, everything depends upon a proper stand-point from which, and a favourable light through which, to contemplate any external sensible object. And both these, in an intellectual and moral significance, are equally essential and important to a clear conception, and a rational enjoyment of our whole nature, in reference to the life that now is, as well as that which is to come. In order, then, to a just, a clear, and a satisfactory decision of this all engrossing question, we propose, first of all, to propound a definition of human happiness in the essence of it, and of happiness in the enjoyment of it. And what, young gentlemen, is human happiness, in your best conception of it? Is it not the full enjoyment of ourself? Whatever, then, contributes to this is an essential item of what we call human happiness. But, in order to this, we must have a just conception of the natural and necessary cravings of our nature. And as preparatory to this, another question rises in our horizon, and that is, what is human nature? Man, you say, is a compound being-possessing a body, a soul, or an animal life, and a spirit. These, then, are all to be taken into our premises. But this is too large a theme for such an occasion as the present. We, therefore, hazard the proposition: that full enjoyment of ourselves consists in the proper employment of ourselves; and, therefore, all human enjoyment, essentially consists in the proper employment of our whole personality, and this with special reference to our legitimate relations to the entire universe, so far as we come into actual contact with it, or any portion of it. God in his infinite philanthropy created man in his own image, and constituted him an actor on the stage of his parent earth. He gave him an animal, an intellectual, a moral, and a worshipful nature, in one individua! personality; and thus constituted him capable of employing and enjoying himself in every department of God's vast, and, to him, boundless universe.* * In our present English literature we have the word moral, and much said of the moral nature of man. This word moral is a Pagan word, and not once found in the whole Bible. It is a clumsy and awkward term, and had no currency in the Christian terminology even so late as the Common He also gave him a mission which calls into requisition every power, capability and susceptibility of his nature; and to stimulate all his powers of blessing and of being blessed, he ordained that his being blessed should more or less depend on his being a blessing to others. For this very purpose God created out of him, and for him, a second person, and established by a universal law, that from these two, all third persons should arise. Personal and social employment was ordained to be the means of personal and social enjoyment. Employment is therefore but another name for enjoyment; the enjoyment of every object placed within his reach, and all indissolubly connected with him who was, and is, and evermore shall be, alike the centre and the circumference of the universe of relative being. The nature, indeed, of every sentient and spiritual being in the universe, is the measure, or the capacity, of its enjoyment. There is, therefore, a maximum of enjoyment, correllate to the maximum of employment. These, under all the conditions and circumstances of human existence, are naturally, necessarily, and eternally the latitude and the longitude of all individual and social enjoyment. He is a philosophist, and not a philosopher, who favourably entertains the idea of perfect happiness, without the idea of the perfect employment of all his active powers, called by whatever name may be given them. Had man at first an animal and a spiritual nature, then his employment was necessarily animal and spiritualand his enjoyment animal and spiritual. All our faculties-the intellectual-the moral-the religious-are, without employment, no source of enjoyment whatever. And does not that Spirit that stirs within us, require a spiritual universe, infinite and eternal; and the employment of all its faculties and ca Version of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. In Rome, even in the Augustan age, it meant no more than custom. Whatever was customary was moral, be it right or wrong. The Westminster Divines, some thirty years after the Common Version was made, sanctioned the word moral-and so denominated the second table of the law. But in so doing they did themselves no honor, and the Christian religion no real service. |