The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

June 15. 1905ZION'S WATCH TOWERHezekiah's 'sicknewunto death."followed by( 1 ) Alliance withBabylon ;(2) Supply ofwater t.O Jerum1em.-Isa38, 39; 2Chron. 32 : 30.Final overthrowof the typicalKingdom.- 2Chron. 36: 11-21 ;. Ezek. 21 :25-27.B.C.There seem, however, to be some deeper meanings in thisarmngment. (1) The commencement of the Jubilee year onthe day of atonement pointed forward to the time when theantitypicnl Jubilee mould begin on the antitypical day ofatonement, the end of the Gospel age. (2) Brother Hemeryof London mentioned to me eome time ago that he had noticedthat events which occurred in the Spring foreshadowed blessingsfor the church, while those which occurred in the Autumnforeshadowed bleesings for the world. This appears to me tobe a natural arrangement, aa Spring is the beginning of thewclesiasticnl year, whereas Autumn is the beginning of thecivil par. Applying this thought, we find that the Passoverand Pentecost, etc., foreshndowed blessings for the church,whereas the Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Jubileeforeshadowed blessings for the world.I am, with love in the Lord to you and to all the dear onesin Christ Jesus.Yours faithfully,JOHN EWARA LATEE LETTEBDEAR BBOTHEU RUSSELL:-The Lord has guided me to the discove of another confirmationof the Chronology as set forth in I&LENNIAL DAWN.In studying the Parallel Dispensations, I noted that the 70thweek of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. 9:!24-27) from 29 till 36 A.D. had its parallel as regards both time and events in the GOBpelage from 1874 till 1881 A. D. (DAWN =., p. 219). Thinkingthat the events at the beginning of the 70 weeks might alsohave parallels in the Gospel age, I noted your mgumenta inA.D.Division of Ki 999 1521 Division ofdom of Flea8 "Christe n do m"Ierael into Judah into ProteatantandEphraim.-2ism and PapacyChron. 1O;ll:l-4.at Diet ofworms.731 1789The French Rev-7dution, followedby( 1) Alliance with-paw.(2 &pt!f&fBible Soc~eties.608 1914Final overthrowof NominalChristendom.DAWN II., p. 67, proving that the 70 weeks dated from Nehemiah'swmmission to build the walls of Jerusalem in the 20thyear of Artaxerxes (Neh. 2: l), whereas usually they are reckonedae beginning at the time of Ezra'e commission 13 parsearlier (Em 7:T). I noted also your proofs that the formermust have been in the year 454 B. C. Accordingly the lattermust have been in the year 467 B. C.Rollin, in hie Ancient Hietq of the Medeu md PG~8km8,agrees with this. In Book 6, sect. 18, he sap that Xems diedin 473 B. C. and quotes as authorities Ctealas, c. ii; Diodorua,Book xi. p. 52; Justin, Book iii, ch. 1. He wys Xerxesreigned 12 yeare; and in Book 7, sect. 1, etatee that Artaxewaecrowned in 473 B. C., and reigned 49 yme. In accordancewith this, he mentions in sect. 6 of Book 7, that Ezra's cummissionwas in 467 B. C., and Nehemiah's in 454 B. C. Regtsrding the latter he states: "Artaxerxes immediately causeda decree to be drawn up that the walls and gates of Jerusalemshould be rebuilt, and Nehemiah as Governor of Judea was appointedt.O put this decree in execution. It is from this de.Cree, communicated by ArLrtaxel-see in the 20th year of his reifor the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, that we date %beginning of the 70 weeks mentioned in the famousC36 753Daniel, afkr which the Messiah was to appear m~r$~'p,"~to death."By deducting 490 years from 1881 A. D., we get the year1391 A. D., corresponding with 454 B. C. The year 1378 A. D.,13 yeslg earlier, will, therefore, correspond with 467 B. C.I. EZRA'S COMMISSION IN 467 B. O.On consulting books on the Reformation, I was not long indiscovering that the year 1378 A.D., corresponding with theyear 467 B. C., is a very important date indeed. It is the yearof the Great Papal Schism, when Wycliffe came out as the Reformer.Workman, in D m of tha ReformcrtM4a, p. 172:-"Wycliffe'sspiritual earnestness was shocked, his theory destroyedby the spectacle of two Popes each claiming to be the sole headof the church, each labelling the other as Antichrist. To WycliEe,the year of the Schism, 1378, was the crucial year of hielife. He first urged that both Pop should be set aside ashaving little in cummon with the church of the Holy Cod.From this position of neutrality he quickly passee into one ofantagonism to the Papacy itself.''Archbishop Trench in Medieval Chsch History:-"GregoryXI. died on 27th March, 1378, and the Papal Schism brokeout. The year 1378 marked the turning-point in Wycliffe'scareer. Hitherto he had concerned himself with matters ofmixed ecclesiastical and political import, but henceforth hedevoted himself exclusively to doctrinal matters and came outas the Reformer. He began in earnest the translation of theBible into English, and took the next decisive step by an openattack, forced upon him by his stiidics of the Bible,Transubstantiation. The effect wns immediate. The Univer-sib itaelf turned against him. He WES forbidden to teach.Ever afterwards he did, in nearly all his writings, intrudurc ineome way a statement of his views upon Trnnsubstantiation."Can anything be more conclusive than that we have here aparallel, not only in time, but also in the events recorded betweenEzra's commission in 67 B. C. and Wycliffe's acts in1378 A. D.? Ezra in leading back from Babylon many of theIsraelites, and bringing with him the vessels for the service ofthe house of God (era 7:19, 20) did for the literal templewhat Wycliffe by his doctrinal reforms, especially by his attackupon the doctrine of Transub~tantiation, did for the spiritualtemple.11. NEHEXUZX'S OObWdISSION TH 454 B. C.Tbe year 1391 A. D. corresponds with the year 454 B. C.when Nehemiah received his commission to rebuild the wallsof Jerusalem. Wyeliffe died in 1384, before he could pereonallycarry into effect all that 11e llnd longd for, but h1a worksfollowed him. It waa John Hus of Bohemia who more particularlytook up the work of reform after Wycliffe's death.Tb011gh it mas in the early years of the 15th century, up tillhis martyrdom in 1415 A. D., that his work attracted generalnotice, yet it was in 1491 that Hue might be said to have receivedhis commission to rebuild the walls of Spiritual Jerusalem,for it wm in that year that he becnme acqwinted withthe works of Wycliffe (Blackie's Modem Cyclop6dia, Vol. m.,p. 484 ).Th~teher and Srhwill in Europr in the MSdb A~e.9. p. 530.-"Politic%l considerations, the alliance between Henry V. ~ndthe Papacy, led to repeated persecutions of his followers, andso all of Wycliffe's efforts at &form came to nothing. But thecr;v for the reform of the church was never again hushed inEurope. Through one of 11is pupils, John Hua of Prague, histeachings were carried to'Bohemia, where they also oanaed a