“Prof. Stuart, however, dissented from this ‘almost universal custom,’ and claimed that the prophetic days—the 1260, 1290, 1335, and 2300—indicated only days. Of the 1260 he said: ‘The very manner of the expression indicates, of course, that it was not the design of the speaker or writer to be exact to a day or an hour. A little more or a little less than three and a half years would, as every reasonable interpreter must acknowledge, accord perfectly well with the general designation here, where plainly the aim is not statistical exactness, but a mere generalizing of the period in question.’—Hints, p. 73.
“Again he says: ‘A statistical exactness cannot be aimed at in cases of this nature. Any near approximation to the measure of time in question would, of course, be regarded as a sufficient reason for setting it down under the general rubric.’
“‘By the 1260 days,’ he said, ‘no more than three and a half years literally can possibly be meant’ (p. 75); and of the 2300: ‘We must consider these 2300 evening-mornings as an expression of simple time, i. e., of so many days, reckoned in the Hebrew manner.’—p. 100.
“Prof. C. E. Stowe, D. D., of Andover Mass., in his ‘Millennial Arithmetic,’ claimed that ‘day does not mean year in the prophecies any more than elsewhere and that ‘a definite designation of time was not here intended, but only a general expression.’—p. 13.
“Prof. Chase agreed with Prof. Stuart respecting the 1260 days; but said of the 2300: ‘The period predicted is not two thousand and three hundred days but only half that number—1150.’—Remarks, p. 60.
“Dr Dowling agreed with Prof. Chase that the 2300 were half days; but differed both from him and Prof. Stuart respecting the 1260, of which he says: ‘I believe, as Mr. Miller does, and indeed most Protestant commentators, that the 1260 years denote the duration of the dominion of the papal Antichrist. After comparing these passages, and the entire prophecies to which they belong, with the history and character of papacy, I cannot doubt that this is the mystical Babylon, whose name is written in Rev. 17:5; and that, when the 1260 years are accomplished, then shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.’—Reply to Miller, p. 27.
“Prof. Pond, D. D. (of Bangor, Me.), in his ‘Review of Second Advent Publications,’ was in doubt whether the periods of Daniel could be proved to be years; but was willing to cut the matter short by conceding the point that it may be so.—p. 22.
“Dr. Jarvis, Mr. Hinton, Mr. Shimeal, and Prof. Bush, sustained Mr. Miller respecting the significance of the prophetic days.
“In speaking of the application of the 2300 days to the time of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, Dr. Jarvis says: ‘This interpretation would, of course, be fatal to all Mr. Miller’s calculations. It is not surprising, therefore, that it should be eagerly embraced by many of his opponents. But, with all due deference, I think there are insuperable difficulties in the way of this scheme, which makes Antiochus Epiphanes the little horn.’ ‘I make no difficulty, therefore, in admitting the evening-morning to mean a prophetic day.’—Sermons, p. 46. He further says that Daniel was told to shut up the vision, ‘because the fulfillment of it should be so far distant; a strong collateral argument, as I understand it, for the interpretation of 2300 prophetic days.’—Ib., p. 47. And ‘The vision is the whole vision of the ram and he-goat.’—p. 45.
“Prof. Bush, in writing to Mr. Miller, said: ‘I do not conceive your errors on the subject of chronology to be at all of a serious nature, or in fact to be very wide of the truth. In taking a day as the prophetical time for a year, I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Faber, Scott, Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to substantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John do actually expire about this age of the world; and it would be strange logic that would convict you of heresy for holding in effect the same views which stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent divines.’ ‘Your results in this field of inquiry do not strike me as so far out of the way as to affect any of the great interests of truth or duty.’—Ad. Her., vol. 7, p. 38.