riod 9, ch.
7, par. 3-25.)
Dr. A. T. Pierson, in an article published in the _Missionary Review of
the World_ for January, 1910, declares: "A half-century ago, China and
Manchuria, Japan and Korea, Turkey and Arabia, and even the vast continent
of Africa, were sleeping--hermit nations, locked in the cell of long
seclusion and exclusion. Central Asia was comparatively unexplored, as was
Central Africa. In many lands, Satan's long occupation was undisputed and
his empire unmolested. Papal countries were as intolerant as pagan; Italy
and Spain imprisoned a man for daring to sell a Bible, or preach the
gospel. France was practically infidel, and Germany permeated with
rationalism; and over a large part of the mission field, the doors were
shut and locked by a more or less rigid exclusion and caste system. Now
the changes, on every side, are so remarkable and so radical that, to one
who should suddenly come out of this middle period of the last century,
... the world would be unrecognizable. He who holds the keys of the
two-leaved gates has been unlocking them, opening up all lands to the
Messenger of the Cross. Even in the Eternal City, where, a half-century
ago, a visitor had to leave his Bible outside the walls, there are
Protestant chapels by the score, and a free circulation of the
Scriptures."
Page 327. PROPHETIC DATES.--See note for page 329.
Page 329. PROPHETIC DATES.--The historical and chronological facts
connected with the prophetic periods of Daniel 8 and 9, including many
evidences pointing unmistakably to the year 457 B.C. as the proper time
from which to begin reckoning these periods, have been clearly outlined by
many students of prophecy. See Stanley Leathes, "Old Testament Prophecy,"
lectures 10, 11 (Warburton Lectures for 1876-1880); W. Goode, "Fulfilled
Prophecy," sermon 10, including Note A (Warburton Lectures for 1854-1858);
A. Thom, "Chronology of Prophecy," pp. 26-106 (London ed., 1848); Sir
Isaac Newton, "Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the
Apocalypse of St. John," ch. 10 (London ed., 1733, pp. 128-143); Uriah
Smith, "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation," part 1, ch. 8, 9. On the
date of the crucifixion, see Wm. Hales, "Analysis of Chronology," Vol. I,
pp. 94-101; Vol. III. pp. 164-258 (2d London ed., 1830).
Page 335. FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.--For further details as to the
predicted fall of the Ottoman empire during the month of August, 1840, see
J. Litch, "The Probabilit
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