Earnest,
Barbour already knew of the 1873 date. It was common in the literature, which Barbour well knew. And I think what he says in Evidence suggests he already had Elliott's Horae in mind. All of those who had already pointed to 1873 or 1874 or both dates were Anglican or Church of Scotland. The sole exception is a German Baptist clergyman. In another place he suggests that Miller pointed to 1873 as a possibility. I think that's fable, but it at least shows that the date was in his consciousness, and that it wasn't original with him.
B gave me permission to post this from Nelson Barbour: The Millennium's Forgotten Prophet. This is from the developing revisions to that book:
It would be surprising
indeed if Barbour were unfamiliar with Elliott’s Horae. He calls it a “standard
work,” which it was; it was very influential among American expositors until at
least 1900. He found in Elliott a satisfying Bible chronology which relied
exclusively on the Bible’s internal evidence and ignored secular history and
opinion and from which he could support his 1873 date. “I was looking to 1873,”
he wrote, “and when I saw this chronology supported the argument of the 1260
and 1335 days of Dan. 12, naturally examined it with interest and ... have
never seen a scriptural reason to abandon it.”[1]
The chronology was
developed by Edward Elliott and Christopher Bowen, the Anglican Vicar of
Southwark.[2]
Bowen was a prophetic student in his own right and published a pamphlet
entitled Things to Come Practically Enquired Into in 1847.[3]
He contributed a chronological table to Elliot’s Horae that was a
restatement and revision of Henry F. Clinton’s chronology, incorporating
revisions to it made by Elliot. Bowen’s table is distinctive enough to call it
a new chronology and contemporaries differentiated between the two. Daniel T.
Taylor prints the two chronologies along with others in a table. Clinton and
Bowen’s charts differ by ten years.[4]
Because Bowen crafted the table, he is credited with the chronology. In truth,
credit belongs at least equally and maybe primarily to Elliott.[5]
Barbour read John
Aquila Brown’s[6] The
Even-Tide; or Last Triumph of the Blessed and Only Potentate, a two-volume
work published in 1823, either then or earlier. Brown was of interest to
Millerites because he ended the prophetic 2300 days in 1844, and his book was
well enough known in America that the anonymous author and publisher of Watchman
of the Night and Millennial Morning[7]
and Peters in his Theocratic Kingdom[8]
could refer to it without further explanation. Matthew Habershon, an author
recommended by J. A. Seiss, referred to him.[9]
Isaac Wellcome mentions Even-Tide and connects Barbour to it, though he
says, “Barbour... terminated his time argument at the same point, but by a
different mode of reckoning, in some respects.”[10]
One would conclude that Barbour read Brown’s Even-Tide, even without
Isaac Wellcome’s statement.
Key elements of
Barbour’s prophetic scheme are found in Even-Tide, which seems to be
their ultimate source. Brown would have interested Barbour because he ended the
1290 days in 1873. Barbour wouldn’t have read far into Brown to discover this.
It is on the frontis chart in volume one and on the title page. Though Barbour
doesn’t mention Brown or Even-Tide, he admits that others had pointed to
1873. He quotes Miller as saying after the 1843 disappointment that he could
see “no light this side of 1873.”[11]
He saw Miller’s words as a seal to his own conclusions; yet, he wrote “others
have said as much or more” about 1873.
I could not locate the German language pamphlet, but a secondary source suggests that John Boger (1774-1852),
a German Brethren clergyman, promoted a similar chronology. His pamphlet’s
exact title is lost. In English it translates as The Coming of Christ so
it may be Das Kommen Christi. Unaware that Russell received the date from
others, one of the authors of a history of West Virginia wrote: “John Boger was
author of the pamphlet printed in German on ‘the second coming of Christ,’ a
treatise that fell into the hands of ‘Pastor’ Russell and formed the foundation
for the Millennial Dawnists Church.”[12]
John Fry
in Observations on the Unfulfilled Prophecies pointed to 1873.[13]
Fry ended the 1260 days in 1872-73, writing that “the arrival of the years
1844, 1872, and 1889 must be expected with feelings of the deepest interest by
all who are looking for ‘this great day of the Lord.’” W. Snell Chauncy also
pointed to 1873 in his 1839 publication Dissertations on Unaccomplished
Prophecy.[14]
In 1835 Thomas Brown suggested that the 1335 prophetic days might end in 1873,
and he felt the way was opening up for “the full triumph of the Gospel kingdom
and the final restoration and conversion of Israel.”[15]
Matthew Habershon counted the 1290 days from 583 to 1873-74 C.E. (A.D.).[16]
At least one advocate of 1873 was mentioned in The Literalist, printed
by Orrin Rogers in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1842.[17]
Closer to Barbour’s time, the anonymous British writer “S. A.” suggested in his
Apocalyptic History that at least one prophetic period might end in
1873.[18]
Though the basis for fixing on 1873 varied, there were a number who believed it
a prophetically significant date.[19]
[1] N. H. Barbour:
Chronology, The Herald of the Morning, August 1875, page 38.
[2] Burke’s A
Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland (London, 1899, page
3) contains the following brief biographical note: “Rev. Christopher Bowen,
M.A., of Hollymount, and Heatherwood, Isle of Wright, formerly rector of St.
Thomas, Winchester, b. 16 Oct. 1801; m. 17 Jan. 1834, Katherine Emily, dau. of
Sir Richard Steele, 3rd Bart, of Hampstead, d. 1890.” Dictionary
of National Biography, Supplement, Volume I, New York, 1901, page 238, says
that Bowen “was successively curate of Woolaston, near Chepatow, and of Bath
Abbey church, rector of Southwark, and rector of St. Thomas’s, Winchester.”
A
brief profile of Christopher Bowen is found in his son Edward’s biography: “The
Rev. Christopher Bowen was the eldest representative of an Irish family holding
property in county Mayo, and was distinguished by many of the best
characteristics of the Evangelical school of those days – devotion,
spirituality, a hearty dislike of ecclesiasticism, profound earnestness,
unquestionable sincerity. He was also very gentle and affectionate, full of
sympathy with the trials of others, full of compassion for their failures or
mistakes. Sir Henry Cunningham, in his memoir of Lord Bowen, has referred to
him as ‘an excellent reader, whose children enjoyed no greater treat than to
lie on the hearthrug and listen to his rendering of one of Shakespeare’s plays.’
He was, too, one whose able mind remained fresh and active with advancing
years. ... It may be added, in view of the striking poetical gifts of his two
elder sons, that he was a somewhat copious writer of verses, both humorous and
sentimental.... He died on the Riviera in 1890.” - Bowen, W. E.: Edward Bowen:
A Memoir, Longmans, Green, and Company, London, 1902, page 8.
[3] C.
Bowen:
Things to Come Practically Enquired Into, Binns & Goodwin, Bath, and
J. Nisbet & Co., London, [1847] 1849 edition. Other works by Bowen exist.
This is his only work on prophetic subjects of which I am aware. Bowen’s
chronology doesn’t appear in the booklet. The chronology seems to have been
drawn up specifically for Elliott.
[4] D.
T. Taylor:
The Reign of Christ on Earth: Or The Voice of the Church in All Ages
Concerning the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer, H. L. Hastings, Boston,
1883 revised edition, pages 538-540.
[5] E.
B. Elliott:
Horae Apocalypticae, Second Edition, London, 1846, page 254-259.
[6] John Aquila Brown
was a silversmith and a Factor or agent for one of the Sheffield silverplaters.
He appeared as a witness at the Old Bailey on April 6, 1826, in the case of
Elizabeth Wood Lloyd. He declared, “I live in Bouverie Street, and I am a
silversmith.” (Sessions Paper: The Right Honourable William Venables, Mayor.
Fourth Session, Held at Justice Hall, in the Old Bailey, On Thursday, the 6th
of April, 1826, and Following Days, London, 1826, pages 316-217.) He died
in March 1849. His birth date is unknown. His wife’s name was Ann E., maiden
name unknown. They had two sons, Daniel born March 1, 1814, and David born
January 1, 1816. Both sons were enrolled in The Merchant Taylors’ School.
Brown is occasionally described as a Church of England
clergyman. This is incorrect. Brown belonged to the Philo-Judaean Society. He
sponsored or seconded a resolution at one of their meetings and is included in
a list of “movers and seconders.” All listed are given the title “Rev.” except
Brown who is listed as “Mr. John Aquila Brown.” – The Missionary Register
For M DCCC XXVIII Containing the Principal Transactions of Institutions for
Propagating the Gospel, London, 1828, page 229.
In 1808 Brown was one of the principals at an
organizational meeting for The Church Missionary Society for Africa and the
East. He lived in Pall Mall then. - The Early History of the Church
Missionary Society for Africa and the East to the end of A.D. 1814, London,
1896, page 193.
[7] Volume 1, pages
26-32, 107, 118-119 cited by Froom, Prophetic Faith, Volume 4, page
266-267. Though Brown’s Even-Tide was printed in the UK, there are many
more copies in American libraries than in British libraries. One gets the
impression that Brown’s primary audience was in the United States.
[8] G.
N. H. Peters:
The Theocratic Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Funk and Wagnalls, New York,
1884, Volume 3, page 99.
[9] Matthew
Habershon:
A Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures Chiefly Those of a Chronological
Character: Shewing Their Aspect on the Present Times, and on the Destinies of
the Jewish Nation, James Nisbet and Co, 1834, page 197.
[10] Wellcome, Isaac: History
of the Second Advent Message and Mission, Doctrine and People, Yarmouth,
Maine, 1874, page 477.
[11] N. H. Barbour: Evidences
for the Coming of the Lord, page 34. Despite extensive research, I
cannot find the source for this quotation. It seems an uncharacteristic
statement for Miller to have made. Isaac Wellcome, questioned the quotation. – History
of the Second Advent Message, page 370.
[12] Written
by an anonymous committee: History of West Virginia, Old and New,
American Historical Society, 1923, Volume Three, page 489.
[13] John
Fry: Observations
on the Unfulfilled Prophecies of Scripture: Which are yet to Have Their
Accomplishment Before the Coming of the Lord in Glory or at the Establishment
of His Everlasting Kingdom, Printed for James Duncan and T. Combe, London,
1835, page 380. This book is in the British Library.
[14] Published by James
Nisbet & Co.; J. Johnstone, 1838, page 387. This book is in the British
Library.
[15] Thomas
Brown:
A Key to the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament, Published by the
Author, London, 1858, page 103.
[16] Matthew
Habershon:
A Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures Chiefly Those of a Chronological
Character: Shewing Their Aspect on the Present Times, and on the Destinies of
the Jewish Nation, James Nisbet and Co, 1834, page 452.
[17] The Literalist:
Elements of Prophetical Interpretation, etc., Orin Rogers, 1840, page 333.
[18] S. A.: Apocalyptic
History, S. W. Partridge and Company, Second Edition, London, 1871, page
21.
[19] Peters mentions a
Balfour who looked to 1873. This seems to be a misprint for Barbour. – N. H. G. Peters: The Theocratic
Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, Volume 3, 1884,
page 99.
