1. From the time of the commandment, 49 years were to witness the completion of the street and wall of Jerusalem. Dan. ix, 25.
2. Threescore and two weeks from this time, or, in all, 69 weeks, 483 years, were to extend to Messiah the Prince.
3. Sixty-nine and a half weeks were to extend to the crucifixion—the cessation of sacrifice and oblation in the midst of the week. Verse 27.
4. The full period of 70 weeks was to witness the complete confirmation of the covenant with Daniel’s people.
In the seventh of Ezra, we find the decree for which we seek. It went forth in B. C. 457. Much concerning this decree, and the date of its promulgation, might here be said. But a more full explanation of it may more properly be given in another place. I will say, however, that, admitting that B. C. 457, is the correct date for the commencement of the 2300 years, which is susceptible of the clearest proof, none will fail to see how William Miller came to the conclusion that this prophetic period would close in the year 1843.
| From | 2300 |
| Take | 457 |
| And there remains | 1843 |
“With the solemn conviction,” writes Mr. Miller, “that such momentous events were predicted in the Scriptures, to be fulfilled in so short a space of time, the question came home to me with mighty power regarding my duty to the world, in view of the evidence that had affected my own mind. If the end was so near, it was important that the world should know it. I supposed that it would call forth the opposition of the ungodly; but it never came into my mind that any Christian would oppose it. I supposed that all such would be so rejoiced, in view of the glorious prospect, that it would only be necessary to present it, for them to receive it. My great fear was, that, in their joy at the hope of a glorious inheritance so soon to be revealed, they would receive the doctrine without sufficiently examining the Scriptures in demonstration of its truth. I therefore feared to present it, lest, by some possibility, I should be in error, and be the means of misleading any.
“Various difficulties and objections would arise in my mind, from time to time. Certain texts would occur to me, which seemed to weigh against my conclusions; and I would not present a view to others, while any difficulty appeared to militate against it. I therefore continued the study of the Bible, to see if I could sustain any of these objections. My object was not merely to remove them, but I wished to see if they were valid.
“Sometimes, when at work, a text would arise like this: Of that day and hour knoweth no man, &c., and how, then, could the Bible reveal the time of the advent? I would then immediately examine the context in which it was found, and I saw at once that, in the same connection, we are informed how we may know when it is nigh, even at the doors; consequently, that text could not teach that we could know nothing of the time of that event. Other texts, which are advanced in support of the doctrine of a temporal millennium, would arise; but, on examining their context, I invariably found that they were applicable only to the eternal state, or were so illustrative of the spread of the gospel here, as to be entirely irrelevant to the position they were adduced to support.
“Thus, all those passages that speak of the will of God being done on earth as in Heaven, of the earth being full of the knowledge of the glory of God, &c., could not be applicable to a time when the Man of Sin was prevailing against the saints, or when the righteous and wicked were dwelling together, which is to be the case until the end of the world. Those which speak of the gospel being preached in all the world, teach that, as soon as it should be thus preached, the end was to come; so that it could not be delayed a thousand years from that time, nor long enough for the world’s conversion after the preaching of the gospel as a witness.