Letter from Hattie to Em, February 18, 1884

Letter from Hattie to Em, February 18, 1884

Second Advent; Prophecy--Christianity; Sabbath schools; Dresses

Harriet is replying to Emily's letter from December 24th. She tells Em that she agrees that they are living in a wonderful time because the end is near and knowledge will be increased. She is alluding to H. Grattan Guinness's "The Approaching End of the Age", which Harriet and Henry found convincing. She believes that now they interpret prophecies better; especially about the second coming. Harriet quotes the book Ezra 7, 9 in which states that the estimated arrival of Christ is 1823. Finally, she asks Em to send her plans for Sabbath school lessons so that Harriet might use them. She thanks Em for making lace for her dress.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3

Unpublished

1884-02-18

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_341

Canton China
FebY 18th 1884
My dear Em -
Your letter of Dec 24th
came yesterday. By this time
I suppose you have nearly finished
your winter's work It seems to
me a long time since I have
written to Mary. I wonder how
you managed to get to your
schools during the very cold
weather. It does seem very
strange to think of "Lucinda Gray"
as the mother of such a large
boy as Judd , If you see Eveline
you must tell her that I have been
trying to get time to write a letter
to her for [u]years[/u]. I have never
written to thank her for the
photographs of her Father + Mother
and herself and I was very
glad to get them. I am too
sorry that none of you saw
Mrs Happer and that she
did not get to our home.
I wanted you all to see her so

much and to have her spend a
little time in our dear old home
I agree with you in thinking that
we are living in a wonderful time
"[u]the time of the end" that[/u] is the time
when "many shall run to and fro
and knowledge be increased," I
wonder if you could procure a copy
of "The approaching end of the
Age" by H Grattan Guinness. I
think you would find it very
interesting. I was [u]intensely[/u]
interested in it. Henry read
it and he thought as I did
that it seems most convincing.
It is wholly different from the
vast amount of [u]rubbish[/u] that
has been written about the
Second Coming. It seems as though
at this date we ought to be able
to get some light upon the
many prophecies, about the second
coming. At any rate I am
determined to be [u]watching[/u] so that
if Christ does "come again" tonight or
tomorrow I will not be surprised
for I shall be [u]expecting[/u] Him.
It seems strange that the

idea has ever become prevalent
in the church that the world
is to be converted [u]before[/u] He comes.
I have read that it is comparatively
recent not earlier than the
seventeeth century. The opposite
seems distinctly state in many
places. "And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto
all natives and then shall the
end come" -- We certainly cannot
fail to see that many of the
prophecies are being wonderfully
fulfilled In Guinness's book he
says it is difficult to tell just what
date to take for the commencement
but interpreting by the year day one
day standing for a year system
it is very easy to estimate the
time given, I think I wrote to you
once of what he says of the prophecy
in [?Dau?] 8-14th And he said unto me
Until 2 thousand + three hundred days
(2300 years) then shall the sanctuary
be cleansed. Counting from the
[u]day[/u] that Ezra begun to go up to
Jerusalem Ezra 7 9 "For upon the

first day of the first month began he
to go up from Babylon," 2300 years
expired in March 1844 on the
[u]very[/u] day that the Turks were [u]obliged[/u]
by pressure brought to bear upon them
by the other European Powers to repeal
their law that any Mohammedans who
became a Christian should be punished
by death. So this was the visible beginning
of their decline of power. In the book
from which I am quoted the [u]outside[/u]
limit according to his estimate of the
time fixed for the return of Christ is
1823. but he thinks it may be earlier.
If we should live to be about eighty we
will see that date. But if I knew
that Christ would come then I would
not be [illegible] to live I think. It seems
as though it would be nice to have
a [u]rest[/u] first and rise with the
many friends who already sleep
with Jesus. Dr + Mrs Graves feel
as though this opinion may be the
correct one. It matter not to
each one of us if we are only faithful
for either here or there we shall
soon be "ever with the Lord" --
I have been long been wishing to ask
you to send me some copies of your
plans for SS lessons + let me see if I could
make them useful in [u]preaching[/u] to the Chinese.

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
I found a part
of one once on the
back of a paper
around the Seville Times,
Very many thanks
for the lace you
are making for
my dress. It will
be so nice to
have something
you have made,
with your own
hands. If you
have any suggestions
about making
the dress let me
have the benefit
of them.
Ever your loving
Hattie -



中国广州
1884 年 2 月 18 日
我亲爱的 Em -
你 12 月 24 日的来信昨天来了。
到这个时候，
我想你已经快完成你冬天的工作了。
在我看来，
我已经很久没有给玛丽写信了。
我想知道你是如何在寒冷的天气里到达学校的。
把“露辛达·格雷”想象成贾德这样一个大男孩的母亲似乎很奇怪，
如果你看到伊芙琳，
你必须告诉她，
多年来我一直在努力争取时间给她写一封信。
我从来没有写信感谢她给她父母和她自己的照片，
我很高兴得到它们。
很遗憾你们没有人看到哈珀夫人，
她也没有到我们家。
我非常希望你们大家能见到她，
让她在我们亲爱的老家呆上一段时间会跑来跑去，
知识会增加，
”我想知道您是否可以购买 H Grattan Guinness 的“时代即将结束”的副本。
我想你会觉得这很有趣。
我对此非常感兴趣。
亨利读了它，
他和我一样认为它似乎最有说服力。
它与大量关于第二次降临的废话完全不同。
似乎在这一天，
我们应该能够对许多关于第二次降临的预言有所了解。
无论如何，
我决心保持警惕，
以便如果基督今晚或明天“再来”，
我不会感到惊讶，
因为我会期待他。
奇怪的是，
教会中流行的想法是在他来之前世界要转变。
我读到它是相对较新的，
不早于 17 世纪。
在许多地方，
相反的情况似乎很明显。
“这天国的福音将传遍全世界，
为所有当地人作见证，
然后末日就会来到”——我们当然不能不看到许多预言正在奇妙地应验在吉尼斯的书中，
他说很难说开学典礼的日期，
但是用年日一天代表一年的系统来解释很容易估计给定的时间，
我想我曾经给你写过他所说的预言Dau 8-14th 他对我说，
直到 2300 天（2300 年），
圣所才会被净化。
从以斯拉开始上耶路撒冷的那一天算起 以斯拉记 7 9 “因为在正月初一日，
他开始从巴比伦上去”，
2300 年在 1844 年 3 月到期，
就在土耳其人被迫其他欧洲大国向他们施加压力，
要求废除他们的法律，
即任何成为基督徒的回教徒都应被处以死刑。
所以这是他们权力衰落的明显开始。
在我被引用的那本书中，
根据他对基督再来的固定时间的估计，
外部限制是 1823 年。
但他认为可能更早。
如果我们应该活到八十岁左右，
我们就会看到那个日期。
但如果我知道基督会来，
那么我想我就不会[难以辨认]活着。
似乎最好先休息一下，
然后和许多已经和耶稣一起睡过的朋友一起起床。
格雷夫斯博士和夫人觉得这个观点可能是正确的。
对我们每个人来说，
是否只忠于这里或那里并不重要，
因为我们很快就会“永远与主同在”——我一直想请你寄给我一些你主日学计划的副本课，
让我看看我是否能让它们对中国人讲道有用。
[注：信件在第一页垂直结束] 我曾在《塞维利亚时报》的一篇论文的背面找到了其中的一部分，
非常感谢您为我的裙子制作的花边。
拥有自己亲手制作的东西真是太好了。
如果您对制作这件衣服有任何建议，
请让我从中受益。
永远爱你的海蒂——

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