ECF were on the whole YEC

[DignifiedResponse]

John Cumming (10 November 1807 – 5 July 1881) -

 

"... In order further to show you the bearings of what I have stated, let me add there is an almost universal opinion expressed by ancient Jewish literati, by Patristic writers, and by many modern Christian writers, that the six days of creation are typical of 6000 years of the world's working week; that as God took six days to make the earth, he takes 6000 years to work the earth; that as the six days ended with a sabbath, the 6999 years will end with a thousand years' rest or the millennium. This is somewhat confirmed by what St. Paul says, "There remaineth a sabbatismos," that is, "a great sabbath-keeping for the people of God." To show, however, that the opinion is not mine only, I will read one or two extracts additional to others quoted in my previous work which strikingly confirm it. Rabbi Eleazar, quoted by Whitby in his learned [page 185-186] comment, refers to the common opinion of the Jews that the world shall continue 6000 years, and then a perpetual sabbath begin, typified by God's resting on the seventh day, and blessing it. Another Rabbi in the gloss of the Talmud, says: "The world will continue 6000 years." Elias, an ancient Rabbi, says: "There will be 2000 years before Christ; the world will last 6000 years as it is now; 2000 void, 2000 under the law, and 2000 days under the Messiah;" that is, years, or 6000 years. The author of the Cespar Mishna, in his Notes on Maimonides, says: "At the end of the world will be the day of judgment, the resurrection of the dead; and after that the world to come, of which we often read in the New Testament. These things are intimated to us by the six days' work; on the sixth day Adam was created, and perfected on the seventh. This is the beginning of the world to come, and the sabbatical years and the year of jubilee are the same thing." I turn to Christian writers. Barnabas, the earliest of the Fathers, in the first century, thus writes: "The Lord God will finish all things in 6000 years; in six days, id est, 6000 years, shall all things be consummated." Lactantius, the most eloquent and classic of the Fathers, whose Latin is distinguished for classic purity and idiom, says: "Because the works of God were finished in six days, it is necessary that the world should remain in this state for six ages, that is, 6000 years." Cyprian, the celebrated Bishop of Carthage, says: "In the creation of the world seven days were spent; and in those seven days 7000 years were figuratively typified." And Bishop Latimer, the great Reformer, says: "The world was ordained of God to continue, as Scripture and all learned men agree, 6000 [page 186-187] years." Now these testimonies, to which many others might be added, are at least remarkable for their extent and unanimity; when we connect with this the constant use of the number seven, as, for instance, six days' creation, culminating in a seventh, the sabbath; seven weeks, or seven times seven, the year of jubilee; the seven lamps, the seven candlesticks, the seven stars, the seven angels, the seven seals; seven being the symbol, the numerical symbol of perfection. Confirmatory of this we read that Adam was a figure of Christ; and there we have the key to this interpretation, and so far an evidence that it is not a fancy, but a very solid and just interpretation of Scripture; and lastly we have a hint of it in the passage; "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years;" which also has been adduced.

 

Supposing, now, that Daniel's great period should end in 1867, or the beginning of 1868, you naturally say, But the world has not nearly exhausted its 6000 year, because in 1860 it is nearly 140 years to the close of the 6000. But it has been ascertained since the author of the common A.D., and Usher, and other chronologists wrote, that there was a great mistake made in the computation of the patriarchal periods; and that our Christian era, that is, our 1860 years, began not when the world was 4004 years old, as is said in our bibles, but when the world was 4132 years old, when Jesus was born.

 

The learned Clinton gives 4138, as the time when our Christian era began, and 4132 as the year of the birth of Christ. According to this, the 6000 years end about the year 1862, that is, two years hence. Our Lord's birth took place a year before Herod began [page 187-188] his reign; that is, five years before Clinton's date of the Christian era. But Shimeall of New York, in his recent elaborate work on the "Chronology of Scripture," and the Rev. B. Saville, in his valuable compilation called "The First and Second Advent," have shown that the date of the Christian era, or A.D., and the true year of the birth of Christ synchronize in anno mundi 4132. If so, the 6000 years run out in 1867. ..." - The Great Preparation; or, Redemption Draweth Nigh. by The Rev. John Cumming, D.D., F.R.S.E., Minister of the Scottish National Church, Crown Court, Covent Garden; Author of "The Great Tribulation," Etc. First Series. New York: Rudd & Carleton, 130 Grand Street. London: Richard Bentley. M DCCC LX. (1860) ; pages 185-188 - https://books.google.com/books?id=cWtLAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

John Eadie (9 May 1810 – 3 June 1876) -

 

"... And in this mercy God is rich. It has no scanty foothold in His bosom, for it fills it. Though mercy has been expended by God for six millenniums, and myriads of myriads [page 140-141] have been partakers of it, it is still an unexhausted mine of wealth-..." - A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to The Ephesians. by the Late John Eadie, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis to the United Presbyterian Church. Third Edition. Edited by Rev. W. Young, M.A. Glasgow. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street. 1883.; pages 140-141 - https://books.google.com/books?id=FqkGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

Thomas Motherwell Preble (1810-1907) (citing an "S. Bliss") -

 

"... In the Address to the "Lord's Day Convention," holden in Baltimore in 1844,--of which John Quincy Adams was President,-- we find this remark in recommending the observance of the Christian Sabbath:-- "It is a law of God, co-eval with creation. It is one of the selected few of the ten commandments, that brief but comprehensive expression of his will." {1845 TMP, TSSD 9.1}

By these extracts, we see that the fourth commandment is acknowledged to be new binding upon us. Oh! that men were consistent. Reader, will you be? God grant that you may. {1845 TMP, TSSD 9.2}

On the title page of the "Second Advent Library, No. xxxviii," written "By S. Bliss," on "The Chronology of the Bible," etc, we read thus:

"One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.--St. Peter.
"The seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.--Ex. xx. 20.
"I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them.--Ex. xx. 12.
Which are a shadow of things to come."--St. Paul.
See what an acknowledgement this is, by Br. Bliss! ..." - A Tract, Showing that the Seventh Day Should be Observed as the Sabbath, Instead of the First Day - pages 9.1-9.3

[DignifiedResponse]

John M'Clintock (October 27, 1814 – March 4, 1870) & James Strong (August 14, 1822 – August 7, 1894) -

 

"... The Almighty formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, breathed into hi nostrils the breath of life, and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures (Gen. i, 26; ii, 7), B.C. 4172 ..." - Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. prepared by The Rev. John M'Clintock, D.D., and James Strong, S.T.D.; Volume I. --A., B.; New York: Harper & Brother, Publishers, Franklin Square. 1883. section "Adam"; page 65 (right hand column) - https://books.google.com/books?id=b_NDAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

Bourchier Wrey Saville (1 March 1817–14 April 1888) -

 

"... so is the Church warranted, from the analogy of the time employed in the demiurgic creation -- from the words of St. Peter, respecting "a day with the Lord being as a thousand years" -- from the positive declaration to be found in the Epistle of St. Barnabas ... respecting the duration of the world for 6,000 years -- in believing that the six millenaries, which have elapsed since the creation, are, according to the most correct deductions from what is said in the Scripture respecting chronology, on the very eve of expiring. We have, therefore, Scriptural grounds for inferring that the end of this period will usher in that promised rest for which "the whole creation is not groaning and travailing in pain," and with it the return of Him, whom the Church of God has been so long expecting, according to the promise made to the apostles after the crucified one had ascended up into the heavens, -- "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." [2]

 

For nigh 2,000 years this promise has been the bright polar star of "the Church of God." It appears to have been a source of exceeding comfort to the early Christians, as we may conclude from the writings of Justin [3] Martyr, of Tertullian [4] before he [page x-xi] embraced Montanism, of Irenaeus, [5] and other orthodox believers, who held firmly the doctrine of the Millennium. ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); pages [preface x-xi] - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n14/mode/1up/

https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n15/mode/1up/

 

"... With regard to “the Jew." -- That the chronology of the Hebrew text is to be preferred to that of the LXX; that the chronology of the Acts of the Apostles should decide the dispute concerning the interval between the Exode and the building of the Temple; that the probable date of the creation answers to the year B.C. 4133, and that consequently, at the present time (A.D. 1858), we are about eight or nine years from the end of the 6000; ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); page [preface xx] - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n24/mode/1up/

 

"... In conclusion, the author is desirous of expressing the great comfort and happiness he has experienced in the prosecution of this work, which, he can truly say, has proved a pleasure he is at a loss adequately to express, has been a delightful task for a brief space during his pilgrimage below, and has more than ever convinced him of the truth which it was his privilege to hold at the commencement of his undertaking, viz., of the exceeding nearness of that event for which earth has been groaning for nigh 6,000 years, and the Church of God anxiously expecting more than eighteen centuries, the return of the heavenly Bridegroom to take His waiting Bride, and to reign in righteousness ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); page [preface xxviii] - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n32/mode/1up/

 

"... Jerusalem destroyed A.D. 69, or A.M. 4202

Add to the present year (1858) 1789

----

5991

----

Consequently, according to these tables, the 6000 years would terminate nine years hence, or A.D. 1866-7, which is only a difference of four or five years from the Chronology of Clinton, framed on a different system.

 

This will be further seen by inserting the years between the leading events recorded in Scripture, together with the well-known periods of A.M. and B.C. :--

 

TABLE III

 

1. From Adam to the Flood (Years) 1656 (A.M.) 1656 (B.C.) 4133 to (B.C.) 2477

2. From the Flood to the Call of Abraham (Years) 427 (A.M.) 2083 (B.C.) 2477 to (B.C.) 2050

3. From Abraham to the Exode (Years) 430 (A.M.) 2513 (B.C.) 2513 to (B.C.) 1620

4. From the Exode to the building of the Temple (Years) 519 (A.M.) 3105 (B.C.) 1620 to (B.C.) 1029

5. *From the Temple to the Captivity (Years) 421 (A.M.) 3526 (B.C.) 1029 to (B.C.) 608

6. From the Captivity to the Fall of Babylon (Years) 70 (A.M.) 3596 (B.C.) 608 to (B.C.) 538

7. From the Fall of Babylon to Christ (Years) 538 (A.M.) 4134 (B.C.) 538 to (B.C.)

8. A.D. (Years) 1867 (A.M.) 6000 (B.C.)

A.M. (Years) 6000

 

TABLE IV.

 

Another table of events connected with the history of the Jews, together with the Scripture references and other authorities in support of the following dates :--

 

(B.C.) 4133 (A.M.) 1 The Creation --- (Authorities) Gen. i. ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); page 159 - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n197/mode/1up/

 

"... (B.C.) 1 (A.M.) 4133 Common date of the birth of Christ, Dec. 25th. (Authorities) Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman Abbot of the 6th Century. ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); page 162 - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n200/mode/1up/

 

"... Our chronology gives the year A.M. 4133-4 as the date of the commonly received year of the birth of Christ ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); page 171 - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n209/mode/1up/

 

"... (Notation P (p.165)) Thus 4202 years -- 69 the date of the fall of Jerusalem = 4133, the number of years, according to this calculation from Josephus, which elapsed from the creation to the vulgar era A.D. ..." - The First and Second Advent: or, The Past and the Future with reference to The Jew, The Gentile, and The Church of God. by the Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville, M.A.; London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt, Paternoster Row & Holles Street; Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street. MDCCCLVIII. (1858); page 185 - https://archive.org/stream/firstandseconda00savigoog#page/n223/mode/1up/

[DignifiedResponse]

Henry Gauntlet (1821) -

 

"... this may allow us to fix the commencement of the millennium somewhere about the year 2000. This date will coincide with the sentiments of a great number of judicious commentators, both ancient and modern, on the subject. This world will then have existed in its present state, since the creation of man, six thousand years; and the seventh chiliad, or the thousand years that will immediately follow the preceding six thousand, will be a glorious [page 359-360] sabbatic day of rest, and peace, and joy. This view of the subject coincides with the opinion of many ancient commentators and theologians, both Christians and Jews. All, perhaps, that can be said at present respecting it is, that it appears, on the whole, highly probable that the millennium may commence nearly at this period. ..." - An Exposition of the Book of Revelation; being the substance of Forty-Four Discourses, preached in the Parish Church of Olney, Bucks, on evening services of the Lord's Day, in the Years 1819 and 1820. By the Rev. Henry Gauntlet, vicar of Olney. The Second Edition. London: Printed for L. B. Seeley, 169, Fleet Street; and J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly. 1821.; page 359-360 - https://books.google.com/books?id=9KcGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

Mrs. Matilda Smith (Missionary) (1834) -

 

"... Seven 0'clock.-- In six days God created the heavens and the earth, and rested from his work on the seventh day, and consecrated it. Neither men nor devils can abrogate that holy act, nor silence the proclamation. Generation after generation, sun, moon, and stars, have borne it witness nearly six thousand years; changed, but still hallowed by the resurrection of the Son of man, and peculiarly sanctified by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and it shall continue holy till the seven thousand sabbath years shall have performed their mighty revolutions. ..." - The Life, Religious Experience, and Missionary Labours, of the late Mrs. Matilda Smith, of Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, translated from the original Manuscripts, written by herself in Dutch, with an attempt to describe her character, and some of her works and labours of love. By a Lady.; London: J. Hatchard & Son, 187, Piccadilly; Hamilton, Adams And Co., Paternoster Row; Lewis Smith, Aberdeen; Stevenson, Cambridge. 1834.; page 265 - https://books.google.com/books?id=10NfAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

Elizur Wright (1835) -

 

"... In all these cases, and in ten thousand others, the lie of the "Eternity of wicked customs"--of "the invincibility of brutal prejudices," has been swept away. In the United States, it still lingers--but it is "in articulo mortis," it is at its last gasp--it dies hard, for it has had a giants strength. But the long, long night of despotism and of prejudice, is coming to an end--the morning star has arisen--the day of law has dawned. Truth is rising with healing in its wings; and the pride, and the selfishness, and the ferociousness, and the cowardice, and the cruelty, which for nearly six thousand years have made man fatten the earth with his poor brother's tears and blood, are going to have written over them:

 

Ichabod.--Their glory (their hateful day of sin and shame,) is departed! ..." - The Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine; Volume I. October, 1835. Number I. edited by Elizur Wright; page 5 - https://books.google.com/books?id=4bI0AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

Thomas Hartree Cornish (1836) -

 

"... The World's Age. --- The World is supposed to have existed more than 6000 years. Its precise age, however, cannot be ascertained.

 

From the formation and being of Adam, to the period of the flood, it was conjectured to be 1656 years; from the year of the Flood down to the Epoch, or Birth of our Saviour, 2348 years; and from the Birth of Christ to this eventful and prophetic era of Christian history, 1835 years. The Jews, without any exception, believed a "tradition," which went to show, that as the World was made, and all the sublime and beautiful works of creative excellence completed, by ONE GREAT MASTER HAND in six days, and those six days succeeded by a seventh, or Sabbath, which was, and is, and ever shall be, kept holy, and sacred as a day of rest, by the good and faithful of the pure Apostolical Church; so the world was doomed to labour under the visible darkness consequent on the dominion of Sin, and Diabolas Apollyon, or Satan, for 6000 years; ulterior to which, the bright and illustrious reign of the GLORIOUS MESSSIAH should take place, during which "spiritual illumination" the Earth was to enjoy rest for 1000 years. I have considered it my duty to quote the texts of Scripture, which, in some measure, testify or asservate this ancient tradition of the Forefathers of the long-degraded, unhappy, and expatriated Jews. -- ED.

 

"But , beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter, iii. 8. "And I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain, in his hand. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that Old Serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the [page 7-8] bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should not deceive the nations any more, till the "thousand years" should be fulfilled: and after that--he must be loosed a little season." Rev. xx. v. 1-3. …" - The Volume of the Affections; or Bridal Offering. by Thomas Hartree Cornish, author of "The World," A Poem in Six Books; "British Melodies;" "Songs of the Loire," &c. Editor of "The Young Gentleman's Book" and "My Daughter's Book."; London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster Row. 1836.; pages 7-8 - https://books.google.com/books?id=bnoBAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[DignifiedResponse]

M. C. Best (c. 1844) -

 

"... Nearly six thousand years have elapsed since the in- [page 13-14] fluence of the sun was first felt on this terrestrial globe, since the motion of the planets began, and days, and months, and years commenced their course. For almost that space have the two great lights shone forth at their respective periods; the sun, the greater light, never filing on the return of each successive morning to gild the radiant east, while the lowly moon, attended by myriads of stars, supplies his absence during the continuation of the darksome night. In order to render the study of the celestial bodies more in accordance with the conception of my readers, we will consider briefly that bright and glorious page which the starry sky unfolds. The Sun, as the centre of the system, stands alone in his own unclouded majesty. "His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Psalm xix.6. This in few words we behold the universal action of this great luminary, dispensing everywhere light, and life, and heat. Its appearance in the heavens is as a ball of intense light, too great for the human eye to bear unless screened by artificial means. ..." - Six Thousand Years Ago: or, The Works of Creation Illustrated. by Mrs. Best, Authoress of the well-known "Tracts on the Parables," "Tracts on Old Testament Histories," &c. &c.; Bath: Binns and Goodwin. London: Simpkin, Marhsall, & Co. M.DCCC.XLIV. (1844); pages 13-14 - https://books.google.com/books?id=wdQDAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false