A Lucknow mujtahid disputes Wolff’s 1847
interpretation
On: in the year 1847
Linked by Rainbow Watch. The letter answers Wolff’s second epistle about 1847; it does not quote the Bokhara conversation, which is Wolff’s own earlier statement of the same date.
Source quotation · Emeer Sayd Ahmed, “Mujtehed of the Sheah” at Lucknow, letter written in Persian to Joseph Wolff in 1833, as printed in English in Wolff’s Researches and Missionary Labours (1835), pp. 396–397. Opening and the points headed First and Secondly, through “which suits his own purpose.”
I have received your second epistle, and perused its contents. You say that it is mentioned in the 8th. chapter of Daniel, that Christ would descend upon earth, after two thousand three hundred years from the time of Daniel, which was 453 years before Christ; that having deducted 453 from 2300, there remained 1847; and the present year is 1833, from which the latter sum having been deducted there remained 14 years, which is the period of Christ’s coming.
First. In the above quotation the name of Christ is not mentioned, nor is Christ’s coming alluded to. On what ground have you therefore assumed, that it has reference to that event? In the first place, state fully by what arguments you bring this as a proof of Christ’s coming, and also detail fully how you prove your argument from the Ram, the He-Goat, the first high horn, the four other horns; and the country, and what the things are to which they refer, that it may be known how this is applicable to the coming of Christ.
Secondly. As to your writing that the time of Daniel was 453 years before that of Christ, we have nothing to do with the intervening period; the object is to fix the period which intervened between the time of Daniel seeing the vision, and the commencement of the Christian era. It appears from the translation of some English books which have been printed, that the distance from Daniel to the Christian era was 535 or 36 or 37 years; this is evidently not in accordance with your argument, because if the least of these doubtful periods be added to 1833, the number will be 2368; there is no ground therefore for waiting only 14 years more; for the period of Daniel’s vision being past, nay, 68 years more have elapsed; and as Christ has not yet made his appearance, it is evident that Daniel’s vision has no reference to him, otherwise he should have appeared at the end of that period, or near it; and if connexion with that period is not necessary, his coming may be at the resurrection. You say that it is written in the book of Daniel, that Christ will come in 2300 years; it is not so in the chapter already quoted; it mentions 2300 days, and not years, which makes a great difference. You mentioned at one meeting, that “days” means years; this is not the case. If such should be the interpretation in one or two places, it is of rare occurrence and metaphorical, and not as a plain fact; to assume a fact to be metaphorical, is not allowed to any but to one who is apt to make an interpretation which suits his own purpose.
Researches and Missionary Labours · Joseph Wolff, Researches and Missionary Labours among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Other Sects (London: published by the author, sold by J. Nisbet, 1835). Internet Archive scan researchesmissio00wolfrich (University of California copy), page images inspected: p. 188 (running head “Bokhara.—1832”), dialogue lines from “G. B. Do you believe in Jesus?” through “I. In Daniel vii. 5.”; pp. 396–397 (running head “Kingdom of Oude.—1833”), the letter of Emeer Sayd Ahmed from “I have received your second epistle” through “which suits his own purpose.” Speaker labels (“G. B.” for Goosh-Bekee, “I.” for Wolff) are italic in print and rendered plain; spaces before question marks, semicolons and colons closed; the letter’s opening quotation mark removed because the selection ends inside the quoted letter; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized.
Source reuse and transcription
Nineteenth-century publication, public domain in the United States.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-10-01T14:02:23+00:00
I have received your second epistle, and perused its contents. You say that it is mentioned in the 8th. chapter of Daniel, that Christ would descend upon earth, after two thousand three hundred years from the time of Daniel, which was 453 years before Christ; that having deducted 453 from 2300, there remained 1847; and the present year is 1833, from which the latter sum having been deducted there remained 14 years, which is the period of Christ’s coming.
First. In the above quotation the name of Christ is not mentioned, nor is Christ’s coming alluded to. On what ground have you therefore assumed, that it has reference to that event? In the first place, state fully by what arguments you bring this as a proof of Christ’s coming, and also detail fully how you prove your argument from the Ram, the He-Goat, the first high horn, the four other horns; and the country, and what the things are to which they refer, that it may be known how this is applicable to the coming of Christ.
Secondly. As to your writing that the time of Daniel was 453 years before that of Christ, we have nothing to do with the intervening period; the object is to fix the period which intervened between the time of Daniel seeing the vision, and the commencement of the Christian era. It appears from the translation of some English books which have been printed, that the distance from Daniel to the Christian era was 535 or 36 or 37 years; this is evidently not in accordance with your argument, because if the least of these doubtful periods be added to 1833, the number will be 2368; there is no ground therefore for waiting only 14 years more; for the period of Daniel’s vision being past, nay, 68 years more have elapsed; and as Christ has not yet made his appearance, it is evident that Daniel’s vision has no reference to him, otherwise he should have appeared at the end of that period, or near it; and if connexion with that period is not necessary, his coming may be at the resurrection. You say that it is written in the book of Daniel, that Christ will come in 2300 years; it is not so in the chapter already quoted; it mentions 2300 days, and not years, which makes a great difference. You mentioned at one meeting, that “days” means years; this is not the case. If such should be the interpretation in one or two places, it is of rare occurrence and metaphorical, and not as a plain fact; to assume a fact to be metaphorical, is not allowed to any but to one who is apt to make an interpretation which suits his own purpose.
Wolff in 1860: he gave up fixing dates and regrets 1847
retrospective response
On: in the year 1847
Linked by Rainbow Watch. The Travels speaks of the date 1847 that Wolff gave in India in 1833. It does not quote the Bokhara conversation of 1832 shown here, which is his earlier statement of the same date.
Source quotation · Joseph Wolff, Travels and Adventures (London, 1860), narrated in the third person from Wolff’s dictation: vol. I, p. 402 (three paragraphs) and vol. II, pp. 128–129 (two sentences); omission marked.
Napier made a mistake here. It was not 1845 which Wolff had imagined to be the date of a great change, but 1847; and what he had imagined, was not the destruction of the world, but its renovation, and the restoration of the Jews, at the coming of the Messiah in glory.
But here, let it be observed, that Wolff has long ago given up attempting to fix a date for the accomplishment of unfulfilled prophecies; and these are his reasons for doing so:—
First, he has a difficulty in fixing the time from which to date. Secondly, he has entirely given up considering the 1260 days as so many years, but believes them to be literal days. Thirdly, the Antichrist is not yet come. And, as long as Antichrist, or the Man of Sin, is not yet come, the words of our Lord, in the first of the Acts, are still in their full force, i. e., “Of the times and seasons knoweth no man.” And Wolff deeply regrets that he ever fell into the errors here alluded to.
…
He also talked of their friends in England, of Robert Hall and Rowland Hill; of that holy man, the Baptist, Mr. Ward; and he expounded to them his own doctrine on the personal reign of Christ, and the restoration of the Jewish nation to their own land, and their future conversion to Christianity. He also told them that those mighty events would take place in the year 1847; and if now an opponent were to ask Wolff, “Why did you fix that time?” he has but one answer to give, which he candidly gives to every one, “Because I was a great ass.”
Travels and Adventures of the Rev. Joseph Wolff · Travels and Adventures of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, D.D., LL.D., 2 vols. (London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1860). Narrated in the third person; the preface says Wolff dictated it “aloud in a family circle” with verbal revision assisted by Mrs. Alfred Gatty. Internet Archive scans b29351972_0001 and b29351972_0002 (Wellcome Library), page images inspected: vol. I, p. 402, from “Napier made a mistake here.” through “the errors here alluded to.”; vol. II, pp. 128–129, from “He also talked of their friends in England” through “Because I was a great ass.” Line-end hyphenation joined; spaces before semicolons and colons closed; whitespace normalized.
Source reuse and transcription
Nineteenth-century publication, public domain in the United States.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-10-05T15:53:51+00:00
Napier made a mistake here. It was not 1845 which Wolff had imagined to be the date of a great change, but 1847; and what he had imagined, was not the destruction of the world, but its renovation, and the restoration of the Jews, at the coming of the Messiah in glory.
But here, let it be observed, that Wolff has long ago given up attempting to fix a date for the accomplishment of unfulfilled prophecies; and these are his reasons for doing so:—
First, he has a difficulty in fixing the time from which to date. Secondly, he has entirely given up considering the 1260 days as so many years, but believes them to be literal days. Thirdly, the Antichrist is not yet come. And, as long as Antichrist, or the Man of Sin, is not yet come, the words of our Lord, in the first of the Acts, are still in their full force, i. e., “Of the times and seasons knoweth no man.” And Wolff deeply regrets that he ever fell into the errors here alluded to.
…
He also talked of their friends in England, of Robert Hall and Rowland Hill; of that holy man, the Baptist, Mr. Ward; and he expounded to them his own doctrine on the personal reign of Christ, and the restoration of the Jewish nation to their own land, and their future conversion to Christianity. He also told them that those mighty events would take place in the year 1847; and if now an opponent were to ask Wolff, “Why did you fix that time?” he has but one answer to give, which he candidly gives to every one, “Because I was a great ass.”