THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS The Historical Development of Prophetic Interpretation by LEROY EDWIN FROOM VOLUME I Early Church Exposition, Subsequent Deflections, and Medieval Revival ----------------------------------------------------- VOLUME I Contents FROM THE AUTHOR TO THE READER 1. THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2. THE BOOK OF DANIEL AND THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3. THE RELATIONSHIP OF DANIEL TO THE APOCRYPHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 4. THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON . . . . . . . . . . 86 5. FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 6. PROPHETIC PEAK REACHED IN APOSTOLIC AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 7. PRE-CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATIONS OF DANIEL . . ...................... . . . 167 8. THE BRIDGE TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA . . ...................................... 181 9. SECOND-CENTURY WITNESS OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS . .. ......................... 205 10. THE PERIOD OF THE APOLOGISTS . . . . .................................... 219 11. IRENAEUS OF GAUL AND TERTULLIAN OF AFRICA . . . ......................... 241 12. HlPPOLYTUS AND JULIUS AFRICANUS ......................................... 268 13. NON-,CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES ON CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . 283 14. ATTACKS ON THE ADVENT HOPE AND ON PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 15. CYPRIAN, VICTORINUS, AND METHODIUS ..................................... 331 16. THE TRANSITION HOUR OF THE CHURCH ..................................... 349 17. POST-NICENE REVERSAL ON PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . . . 373 18. VARYING VOICES IN DIFFERENT PLACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 19. HERALDS OF THE NEW FULFILLMENT . . . . ................................. 433 20. REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPT OF THE MILLENNIUM INTRODUCED . . . . . . . ... . . 465 21. GRADUAL EMERGENCE OF THE PAPAL POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 22. ANTICHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE DENOUNCED BY CHURCHMEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 23. GRADUAL REVERSAL OF TICHONIUS TRADITION .................................. 544 24. ANTICHRIST COLORS MEDIEVAL THINKING ...................................... 569 25. BRITISH EXPOSITORS EXHIBIT GREATER INDEPENDENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 26. Two MOVEMENTS THAT STRENGTHEN THE PAPAL POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628 27. THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED . . . . . . . . . ................. . . 664 28. JOACHIM OF FLORIS NEW INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 29. STRANGE TEACHINGS AMONG THE JOACHIMITES AND SPIRITUALS . . . . . . . . . . 717 30. VILLANOVA A PHYSICIAN'S CONTRIBUTION . . . . . . ........... .. .. . . . 743 31. THE SECOND GENERATION OF SPIRITUALS . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . 763 32. ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 33. HERESIES AND EVANGELICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 34. ANCIENT ROOTS OF THE WALDENSES OF ITALY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829 35. WALDENSIAN DEFIANCE OF ROME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860 36. SUMMING UP THE EVIDENCE OF VOLUME I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 ---------------------------------------- ABBREVIATIONS In the footnote references certain large collections of source materials have been abbreviated as follows: AN.F, The Ante-Nicene Fathers. MBVP, Maxima Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum. MGH, Monumenta Germaniae Historica. NPNF, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. PG, Patrologia Graeca (Migne). PL, Patrologia Latina (Migne). ------------------------------------------ VOLUME I Illustrations and Charts TRANSMITTING THE LUMINOUS TORCH OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION . . . . . 2 PROPHETIC PORTRAYALS AS RECOGNIZABLE AS RUSHMORE FIGURES . . . . . . . 22 THE GREAT PROPHETIC DRAMA IN THREE MAJOR ACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 INSPIRATION'S ANIMATED CARTOONS OF THE NATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S BABYLON: ARTIST'S RECONSTRUCTION BASED ON ACTUAL REMAINS . ............................................ ....... . 48 EXAMPLES OF COMPOSITE BEASTS FAMILIAR TO THE BABYLONIANS . ...... . . . 50 THE LION AND ITS ADAPTATION IN BABYLONIAN ART . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 APPROXIMATE TIMING OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS SYNCHRONIZED WITH SUCCESSIVE WORLD POWERS (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58, 59 COMPARATIVE LISTS OF OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS, SHOWING SEPTUAGINT AND ROMAN CATHOLIC ENLARGEMENTS (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78, 79 PANORAMIC VIEW OF FIRST CENTURY, WITH CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS (CHART) . . . . . . .......................... . . 98, 99 PROPHECIES EMPLOY COMMON NATIONAL SYMBOLS . . . . . .................... . 129 GOAT SYMBOL A FAMILIAR FIGURE ON GRECIAN COINS . . . . . ............... . 130 THE GRECIAN "GOAT" SMITES THE PERSIAN "RAM" . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . 132 THE PALATINE, ONE OF ROME'S SEVEN IDENTIFYING HILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 ROMAN COINS REFLECT ROMAN HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 TEXT OF VATICAN MANUSCRIPT OF DANIEL 8:14 READS "2300" . . . . . . . . . . . 179 COLISEUM, SCENE OF EARLY CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 THE CATACOMBS SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN DEAD . . . . . . . . 228 WHEN ROME RULED AS FOURTH PROPHETIC POWER . . ............................ . 230 PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION (CHART 1) . . . . . 238, 239 PROPHETIC SYMBOLS FIND COUNTERPARTS ON ROMAN COINS . . . . . . . . .... . . 259 HIPPOLYTUS, BISHOP OF PORTUS ROMANUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 THREE NOTED MOLDERS OF PROPHETIC OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . 327 RUINS AT DIOCLETIAN'S HOME CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN AT ROME, POSSIBLY BUILT BY CHRISTIAN SLAVES . . . . . . 350 CONSTANTINE PROFOUNDLY CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY . . . . . .......... . 360 PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION (CHART 2) ........ 370, 371 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT DOMINATES THE FOURTH CENTURY . . . . . . ..... . . . 384 CASTING DOWN OF PAGANISM MEMORIALIZED ON ROMAN COINS . . . . . . . . 387 PROPHETIC EXPOSITORS ON FRINGE OF EMPIRE ................................. 400 JEROME LAST OF THE EARLY PROPHETIC EXPOSITORS . . . . .................... 438 EARLY CHURCH PERIOD: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF DANIEL (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................... 456, 457 EARLY CHURCH PERIOD: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS ON REVELATION (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458, 459 AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO, OUTSTANDING LATIN FATHER . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 TRIUMPHAL ARCH AND JUDICIAL BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 EPOCHAL COMPILATION OF JUSTINIAN AND THE EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT . . . . . . . . . 506 THE CROWNING OF CHARLEMAGNE BY LEO III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 CHARTING OF THE TICHONIAN INFLUENCE FOR SEVEN CENTURIES . . . . . . . . . 545 EARLIEST ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS EXTANT . . . . . . . . . . 576 SELECTED DRAWINGS FROM BEATUS' WORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 ILLUSTRATED BAMBERG APOCALYPSE OF ELEVENTH CENTURY . . . . . . . . . . 592 FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS FROM BAMBERG APOCALYPSE . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 THE VENERABLE BEDE DICTATING TO His ANAMUENSIS . . . . . . . . . . . 610 MATTHEW PARIS, ENGLISH CHRONICLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 MANUSCRIPT AND PRINTED TREATISES OF JOACHIM OF FLORIS . . . . . . . . 684 THREE GREAT MEDIEVAL FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685 PSEUDO-JOACHIM MANUSCRIPT ATTRIBUTED TO MONK OF BAMBERG . . . . . . . 718 ESCHATOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF ARNOLD OF VlLLANOVA . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 EMPEROR AND POPE WHO EXCHANGED PROPHETIC EPITHETS . . . . . . . . . . . 794 EBERHARD II, FIRST TO APPLY LITTLE HORN TO HISTORICAL PAPACY . . . . . . 797 WALDENSIAN MISSIONARY TRAINING SCHOOL IN PIEDMONTESE ALPS . . . . . . . 828 WALDENSIAN COLLEGE, TORRE PELLICE, AT ENTRANCE TO VALLEYS . . . . . . 838 MILAN CATHEDRAL AND PANORAMA OF WALDENSIAN VALLEYS . . . . . . . . . . 850 MILTON, THE BLIND POET, DICTATING TO His DAUGHTERS . . . . . . . . . . 857 WHERE THE WALDENSES LIVED AND SUFFERED FOR THEIR FAITH . . . . . . . . 864 WALDENSIAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE REFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF DANIEL (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 894, 895 EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS ON REVELATION (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896, 897 SECOND ADVENT PAINTING, HIDDEN FOR CENTURIES, RESTORED . . . . . . . . . 900 TABULATION OF SOURCES ON WALDO AND THE ORIGIN OF THE WALDENSES . . . . . 944
From the Author to the Reader THROUGHOUT the ages godly men have seriously sought to understand and to interpret the prophecies recorded in God's Holy Word. They have sought to know where they were in the unfolding of the divine plan of the ages and what was coming hereafter in God's scheme of things. An earnest endeavor has here been made to trace this quest of man back through the centuries by systematically gathering and analyzing the essential records of all leading expositors of Bible prophecy from apos- tolic days down to the twentieth century; yes, beginning, in fact, with Jewish expositors prior to the Christian Era. Bearing of Prophetic Interpretation on Church History Even the best of historians and biographers have usually overlooked, or at least underrated, the influence of prophetic interpretation in the religious thinking of past centuries. There is customarily an extensive treatment of dogmatic and organiza- tional problems in church history. These issues were often highly disturbing, and have left their marks and often their scars upon both church and state, as well as upon the records of the times. But this oft-forgotten element of Biblical prophecy has frequently exerted an even greater influence than some of the commonly emphasized factors, not only upon the leaders of the people, but also upon the masses as well. It has often arrested the attention and gripped the imagination of men. And not infrequently it has stirred whole groups to important action. It has at times shaped the very course of empire, and materially affected the welfare of the church. This recital, then, is in a sense a phase of church history, and proffers a key that will unlock scores of otherwise baffling mysteries in the record of the years. It is therefore a valid and vital field of study. The interpretation of prophecy has not been simply a by-product of Bible study. It has been not merely an occasional interest but a remarkably constant one over long periods of time. Nor has it been attempted chiefly by obscure and ignorant men. Instead, the expositors of the years have usually been men of prominence, learning, and influence, whose lives and teach- ings not only have molded their own generation, but often have lived on, influencing other generations to come. Very frequently these expositors were the key men of their times. They were fearless men, many going to the stake for their faith. And they represented all walks of life churchmen, statesmen, teachers, historians, scientists, mathematicians, physicians, philosophers, discoverers. They included Jewish rabbis, Catholic clerics, Christian ministers, dissentients, prominent laymen, and even monarchs on the throne. They constituted a remarkable cross section of humanity, and were usually the intellectual leaders of their day. These facts have necessitated a study of the men themselves, that the character of their exposition might be evaluated hence, the biographical approach and emphasis that has been followed. Impelling Motive Back of This Search The challenge of a great need was the impelling motive back of this really huge undertaking the obvious need for a thorough work of this sort, and the lack of anything of its kind extant in any language. The history of past interpretation should have a direct bearing on prophetic interpretation today. But the sheer inaccessibility of many of the thousands of source documents required for a work of this character, the prohibitive costliness of extensive travel and of acquiring them, the excessive time required for such a task, and the need of expert assistants to overcpme the multiple language barriers, all combine to place a task of this kind utterly beyond the range of most students, no matter how competent they may be or how desirous of undertaking such a study. The proffered provision, then, of the facilities and the means necessary for carrying through such a tremendous task, was regarded by the author as a summons to undertake such an investigation. Difficulties Involved in the Quest In order to present the development of prophetic inter- pretation in its proper historical setting, it was necessary, of course, first to collect, so far as possible, all the available books, manuscripts, and other materials bearing on the subject, for study and evaluation. It was no small task even to discover many of the rarer items. Prophetic interpretation has for, decades been a neglected study, and all too many of its source materials have been untouched for a long period of time. Many a gem of prophetic interpretation has been reposing for scores of years, if not for centuries, on the dusty shelves of the great book collections of the Old World and the New. These jewels of prophetic exposition are scattered among the extensive holdings of great national libraries and large universities, the archives of smaller colleges and old theological schools, and the libraries of ancient churches and monasteries, as well as notable private collections. Some, indeed, are in the possession of rare book collectors, or, perchance, in quaint old bookshops. It was to seek out these expositions from among the musty tomes that clutter the crowded shelves of the world's great archives, and to make them available to all students of prophecy in usable, documented form that three research trips to Europe were undertaken in 1935, in 1938, and again in 1948. This search for the prophetic interpretations of the centuries was consequently undertaken in the favoring lull between the two world wars. And fortunate or providential, it would surely appear to be was the timing. Such unhampered research is no longer possible today on the continent of Europe, and there is no assurance concerning the future. Moreover, many of the libraries from which these materials were secured have been damaged or destroyed by the ravages of World War II, along with many of the almost irre- placeable originals of these rare prophetic treasures that they housed, but many of which are now in our possession in micro- film or photostatic form, in extract if not in entirety. The photo- stat copies are therefore the more valuable, and in the case of certain manuscript materials they may be the only copies now in existence. Meanwhile the seemingly endless bookshelves of the New World have also been combed for significant prophetic materials. And we are happy to report that the results of this extensive quest, on both sides of the Atlantic, have far exceeded all earlier hopes and expectations. One is reminded of the apt expression in Ezra 6:1: "Search was made in the house of the books, where the treasures were laid up." (Margin.) The materials assembled, forming the bulk of the source documents for all four volumes of The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, com- prise what is known as the Advent Source Collection, the largest in its field ever to be brought together in one place. It is housed in a special vault in the Seventh-day Adventist Theo- logical Seminary at Takoma Park, Washington, B.C. Matches Findings of Archaeologist's Spade The archaeologist's spade has restored the long-lost or at least long-unknown supporting evidence of secular historical testimony in vindication of the Biblical record. In like manner, in the field of prophetic interpretation this systematic quest has brought to light these interpretations of the past. We believe that their issuance in this documented form will make a definite contribution to Christian evidences and apologetics. And as the revealing clay tablets and papyrus rolls of old, and the priceless carvings in stone, had to be deciphered by the archaeologists in order to read their treasured messages, so have INTRODUCTION 13 many of these rare expositional treatises been locked away in old medieval Latin, in unvoweled Hebrew, or in the early forms of German, French, and English. Some medieval manu- scripts were written with almost unseparated words, and many of these in the difficult abbreviated forms of the Middle Ages. Many of these treatises had, therefore, to be translated by experts. The Safeguards of Group Endeavor This search for the prophetic expositors and their writings has never been a one-man quest. Through approximately sixteen years of endeavor there have always been associates, first in searching out and finding the sources in the various libraries of Europe and America, and then in the reading and the analyzing of the materials collected. It was also necessary to have the help of competent translators from the Latin, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Scandinavian, and other foreign languages in which many of these sources are found. So always it has really been a group project, with the safeguardings that the application of various minds of investi- gators, linguists, historians, consultants, and verifiers would bring. Often these have been the most eminent men in their fields. Due credit to such appears in the Acknowledgments at the close of each volume. Earnest endeavor has been made to present these materials accurately and to evaluate them fairly. The undeviating purpose has been to present all the essential facts, that the reader may weigh and evaluate for himself. To this end, comprehensive tables, charts, and covering statements, at the close of each major epoch, epitomize the principal interpretations of the leading expositors within the period. Thus the combined evidence of the period is made available at a glance. The author and his colaborers recognize that, despite all the safeguards thrown around the procedures, there is still the possibility of error or inadequacy in some phase of the presentation. The Author's Viewpoint Set Forth Any author must necessarily have a viewpoint. His opinions of his subject matter are bound to be visible to some degree, if only in the choice and treatment of the materials, though he reserves the direct expression of these for his summaries and conclusions. This author is an evangelical Christian 'a Protestant con- servative' who believes first of all, and without reservation, in the divine inspiration of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16), and the fundamental provisions of the gospel; second, that the "sure word of prophecy," written by the prophets of old as they were "moved by the Holy Ghost," was divinely given to man as "a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn" (2 Peter 1:19); and third, that "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private [idios independent, isolated, personal, solitary] inter- pretation" (2 Peter 1:20). The author believes, further, that according to His promise, "God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. He also believes that God has declared "the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand" (Isa. 46:10); further, that the "path of the just" is designed of God to be "as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. 4:18); and finally, that prophecy has been given unto us to establish sound and sub- stantial faiththat "when it is come to pass, ye might believe" (John 14:29; cf. 13:19 and 16:4). Incidentally, the only direct command our Lord ever gave to understand the Word was directed to the understanding of the prophecy of Daniel. (Matt. 24:15.) This, then, is the Biblical justification for the study of prophecy, and consequently of the propriety of man's honest and reverent attempt to understand its meaning and to read its lesson. God's Witnesses to Recognized Fulfillments Extensive research such as this, with its voluminous find- ings, which have been carefully analyzed and organized, inevi- tably develops certain definite conclusions or convictions by the time the author rounds out his work, and comes to the task of recording his findings in systematic form. For example, your investigator has been brought slowly but irresistibly to the conclusion that prophecy has been pro- gressively understood just as fast as history has fulfilled it, step by step, down through the passing centuries. And, further, that always at the time of fulfillment of each major epoch and event of prophecy there have been numerous men of eminence and godliness, widely scattered geographically, who have recognized that a fulfillment was taking place before their very eyes. They have sensed where they were on the timetable of prophecy, and have left the record of that recognition. Such is the evidence. These men we shall denominate God's "witnesses" to a recognized fulfillment, and their writings as constituting their "testimony" to that understanding. They bear a confirmatory testimony to the inspired character of Scripture and the fore- knowledge of God, through attesting the recognized historical fulfillment of the divine predictions of Bible prophecy. They are the expositors, or interpreters, of prophecy, who have held aloft the luminous torch of truth through the centuries, as pictured in the frontispiece. Mankind Needs the Light of Prophecy Mankind greatly needs the beacon light of prophecy, for there is a divine purpose and blessing in prophecy. Mankind needs its guiding rays, and its inspiring hope and steadying assurance, in order to find the harbor of eternity in safety. Without the light of prophecy the future is a vast and im- penetrable unknown, a trackless desert, an uncharted sea. But prophecy is God's index finger pointing the way out for a world engulfed in growing confusion, disillusionment, and despair. The general quest for knowledge and certainty con- cerning the future of the world, the church, and the individual is pathetic. Prophecy is God's answer to man's anxious question- ing. Yes, mankind needs prophecy and the reverent interpreta- tion of the centuries. Only thus does the darksome journey across the years become the lighted way. In a time of frustration, fear, and uncertainty, it is good to know that there are some things that are sure and steadfast. The inspired apostle Paul assures us, "Nevertheless the founda- tion of God standeth sure." (2 Tim. 2:19). These certainties of God are disclosed in Holy Writ, particularly in its inspired prophecies. And they stand fast, unmoved and immovable, in a world that is crumbling, because they are rooted in the mind and purpose of God. They are therefore foundational in God's scheme of things. The title chosen for this work, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, was selected because it would appropriately embrace the prophetic faith of the fathers of the early Christian church, the fathers of the Reformation church, and of the colonial American church, as well as of those of more modern times. The results of this quest are here presented to the Christian church at large as an aid to sound investigation of this important phase of Holy Writ, with the earnest hope that they will prove to be as inspiring and faith-building to the reader as they have been to the author. LEROY EDWIN FROOM. Washington, D.C.
THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS VOLUME II Pre-Reformation and Reformation Restoration, and Second Departure ----------------------------------- PROPHETIC FAITH - VOLUME II Contents INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1. REVIVAL OF INTERPRETATION IN ITALY AND BOHEMIA . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2. WYCLIF EXPANDS EXPOSITION OF LITTLE HORN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 3. LOLLARD POSITIONS MOLDED BY PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . 66 4. COLLECTIVE EXTERMINATION OF ANTICHRIST OPPOSERS . . . . ..... . . . . 102 5. CUSA APPLIES PROPHETIC TIME MEASUREMENT TO 2300 DAYS . . . . . . . . 124 6. DEATH FOR APPLYING "BABYLON" TO PAPACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 7. COLUMBUS IMPELLED BY PROPHECIES TO OPEN NEW WORLD . . . . . ...... . 159 8. JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE . . . . . . . 184 9. PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES MEDIEVAL JEWISH EXPOSITION . . . . . . . . 203 10. CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION IN CENTURIES SIXTEEN AND SEVENTEEN . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 11. THE REFORMATION BORN OF A TWOFOLD DISCOVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 12. LUTHER SETS PATTERN FOR REFORMATION INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . 266 13. LUTHER'S CO-REFORMERS STRESS PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION . . . . . . 283 14. GRADUAL CLARIFICATION OF HAZY POINTS CONTINUES . . . . . . . . . . 307 15. Swiss REFORMERS PARALLEL GERMAN INTERPRETATIONS . . . . . . . . . . 333 16. ENGLISH MARTYRS NERVED FOR STAKE BY PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . 350 17. EMPHASIS CENTERED ON PAPACY AS PROPHESIED ANTICHRIST . . . . . . . . . 373 18. ANGLICAN LEADERS CONTINUE THE PROPHETIC EMPHASIS . . . . . . . . . . . 395 19. CALVIN CLEAR ONLY REGARDING ANTICHRIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 20. KNOX AND NAPIER NOTABLE SCOTTISH EXPOSITORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 21. ROME'S COUNTERATTACKS ON PROTESTANT INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . . 464 22. JESUITS INTRODUCE FUTURIST COUNTERINTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 23. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY BEGINS WITH BATTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 24. KING JAMES I TURNS PROPHETIC EXPOSITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 25. SIMILAR EXPOSITIONS IN VARIOUS PROTESTANT GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 26. APPROACHING END OF PAPAL PERIOD PREDATED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580 27. GERMAN EXPOSITORS PARALLEL BRITISH POSITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 28. FRENCH HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 29. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MARKED BY CONTRASTING DEVELOPMENTS . . . . . . . . 640 30. ADVANCES IN EXPOSITION; LISBON EARTHQUAKE NOTED . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 31. PIETISM'S ADVANCES COUNTERBALANCED BY RATIONALISM'S INROADS . . . . . 696 32. PREDICTIONS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION AND PAPAL OVERTHROW . . . . . . . . . 723 33. FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 34. THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749 35. END OF PERIOD RECOGNIZED AND PROCLAIMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765 36. SUMMING UP THE EVIDENCE OF VOLUME II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847 ------------------------------------- VOLUME II - Illustrations and Charts THE DRAGON'S PURSUIT OF THE SYMBOLIC WOMAN ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 DANTE'S PORTRAYAL OF PAPAL APOSTASY BASED ON PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . 26 CATHEDRAL TAPESTRY ATTESTS INTEREST IN PROPHECY . . . . ................... . 38 WYCLIF SENDING FORTH His ITINERANT EVANGELICAL PREACHERS . . . . . . . . . . 50 VITAL SCENES IN WYCLIF'S LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE CHURCH DECRY CORRUPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 PROPHETIC VISTA OF THE FUTURE . . . ......................................... 84 CHARTS VISUALIZING PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION ................................:................. 96, 97 HUSS ON TRIAL FOR LlFE FOR IDENTIFYING ANTICHRIST . . . . . . . . 108 Huss FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH FOR PROPHETIC FAITH . . . . . . . . . . . 120 CUSA APPLIES YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE TO 2300 DAYS . . . . . . . . . . . 134 SAVONAROLA MARTYRED FOR IDENTIFYING ANTICHRIST . . . . . . . . . . 148 MAJOR EXPOSITIONS OF THE LEADING PRE-REFORMATION WRITERS (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156, 157 COLUMBUS PRESSING His CASE BEFORE FERDINAND AND ISABELLA . . . . . ... 164 COLUMBUS CONSIDERS HIMSELF THE "MESSENGER" OF GOD . . . . . . . . . . 172 LATERAN CHURCH IN ROME, SCENE OF EPOCHAL COUNCILS . . . . . ......... . 182 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF JEWISH INTERPRETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 MAIMONIDES AND ABRAVANEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 JEWISH EXPOSITOR OUTLINES THE FOUR KINGDOMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 LUTHER PRESSES THE CHARGES OF PROPHECY AT WITTENBERG . . . . . . . . . 242 TETZEL INDULGENCE BRINGS FORTH THESES AND BULL . . . ................. . 250 HISTORIC SCENES IN LUTHER'S EARLY LIFE ................................. . 260 GRAPHIC GERMAN REFORMATION ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PROPHECIES . . . . . . . 276 REFORMATION EXPOSITION CARVED IN STONE AT NURNBERG . . . . . . . . . . . .292 THREE STALWART REFORMERS WHO EXPOUNDED PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . ..... . 303 TIMING AND RELATIONSHIP OF SEVENTY WEEKS STUDIED . . . . . . ............ . 310 ILLUSTRATED EXPOSITIONS MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 SMITHFIELD MARTYRS DIE FOR PROPHETIC FAITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 POWERFUL FIGURES IN REFORMATION CONFLICT IN BRITAIN . . . . . . . . . . 388 PRINCIPAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS (TABLE) . . ............. . 430 REFORMATION SCENES IN SWITZERLAND, SCOTLAND, AND FRANCE . . . . . . . . . 444 DISTINGUISHED EXPOSITORS IN THREE GENERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 COUNCIL OF TRENT - ROME'S ANSWER TO THE REFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472 PAPAL MEDAL COMMEMORATES ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S MASSACRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 JESUIT COUNTER-INTERPRETATIONS PARRY REFORMATION EXPOSITION . . . . . . . . 494 ANTICHRIST SHIFTED EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD (DIAGRAM) . . . . . . . . . . 508 FIRST PROTESTANT WORKS ADOPT PRETERIST COUNTER INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . 524 REFORMATION ERA: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF DANIEL (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528, 529 REFORMATION ERA: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS ON REVELATION (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530, 531 KING JAMES I, OF BRITAIN, EXPOUNDS THE PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 MEDALS MEMORIALIZE PAPAL CLAIMS AND ASSUMPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 CRESSENER FORECASTS BLOW TO STRIKE PAPACY ABOUT 1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 COMING FRENCH REVOLUTION PREDICTED THROUGHOUT CENTURY PRIOR . . . . . . . . 644 FRENCH EXPOSITORS PARALLEL BRITISH AND OTHER CONTINENTALS . . . . . . . . 648 DANIEL WHITBY LAUNCHES His POST-MILLENNIAL THEORY . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 WHITBY PLACES MILLENNIUM PRIOR TO SECOND ADVENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS CONSPICUOUS EXPOSITORS OF PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . 664 LISBON EARTHQUAKE (1755) RECOGNIZED AS HARBINGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 WESI.EY AMONG THE PROPHETIC EXPOUNDERS OF His DAY . . . . . . . . . . . 690 PETRI AND WOOD BEGIN 2300 YEARS WITH 70 WEEKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714 THE BURSTING STORM OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736 FRENCH ULTIMATUM RESTRICTS PAPAL AUTHORITY IN 1798 . . . . . . . . . . 754 END OF 1260 YEARS IN 1798 ATTESTED BY MANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768 POST-REFORMATION ERA: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF DANIEL (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784, 785 POST-REFORMATION ERA: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF REVELATION (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786, 787
THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS VOLUME III PART I Colonial and Early National American Exposition PART II Old World Nineteenth Century Advent Awakening ----------------------------------- VOLUME III Contents INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME III PART I - COLONIAL AMERICAN AND EARLY NATIONAL WRITERS ON PROPHECY 1. PROPHECY'S KEY PLACE IN COLONIAL AMERICAN THOUGHT . . . . . . . . . . 19 2. EARLIEST COLONIAL WRITINGS INCLUDE PROPHECY . . ...................... 33 3. FIRST Two SYSTEMATIC COMMENTARIES APPEAR . . . . . ....... ... . . . . 60 4. PHYSICIANS, LEGISLATORS, AND HISTORIANS CONTRIBUTE" . . . . . . . . . 78 5. LAYMEN, GOVERNORS, AND EDUCATORS EXPOUND . . . . .................. . 98 6. PROPHETIC TERMS PERMEATE SECULAR LITERATURE . . . .................. . 115 7. HIGH-WATER MARK IN COLONIAL EXPOSITION . . . ................. . . . . 124 8. SEVENTH-CENTURY POSITIONS AND TRANSITIONS . . ........... . ......... 138 9. THEOLOGIANS, SCHOOLMASTERS, AND POETS JOIN . . ....................... 145 10. HARVARD LECTURES ON ROMANISM INAUGURATED . ........................... 168 11. LISBON EARTHQUAKE AND THE CELESTIAL SIGNS .. .. . . . . . . .. . . .... 187 12. EMPHASIS UPON TURKISH WOE TRUMPET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 13. DAYSTAR OF PREMILLENNLAL HOPE REAPPEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 14. SUMMING UP OF THE WITNESS FOR NORTH AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 PART II - NINETEENTH CENTURY OLD WORLD ADVENT AWAKENING 15. NINETEENTH-CENTURY REVIVAL OF PROPHETIC STUDY . . . . . ...... .. . . 263 16. PANORAMIC PREVIEW OF DEVELOPING INTERPRETATIONS . . . . .............. 283 17. CATHOLIC WITNESS STIRS Two CONTINENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 18. PROTESTANT INTERPRETATION GATHERS MOMENTUM . . . . . . . . . . ....... 327 19. GROWING EMPHASIS ON THE LAST TIMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 20. TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED YEARS FOCAL POINT OF DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . 364 21. AMERICAN WITNESS INJECTED INTO DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 22. JEWISH SOCIETY AND JOURNAL LAUNCHED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 23. CONTINENTAL SOCIETY AND ALBURY CONFERENCE . . . . .................. 435 24. WOLFF: AMBASSADOR OF THE COMING KINGDOM . . . . . . . . . . . ....... 461 25. MEDLEY OF VOICES IN SWELLING CHORUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 26. PROPHETIC SOCIETY AND THE MORNING WATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 27. IRVING'S CONTRIBUTION MARRED BY "UTTERANCES" . . . . . . . . . . 514 28. FUTURIST INTERPRETATION ENTERS THE PICTURE . . . . . . . . . . . 533 29. SABBATARIAN NOTE SOUNDED IN PROPHETIC CIRCLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 30. IRISH HERALDS LAUNCH PROPHETIC JOURNAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 31. PROPHETIC INVESTIGATOR AND DICTIONARY OF WRITERS . . . . . . . . . . . 599 32. BISHOP WILSON ENDS 2300 YEARS IN 1347 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 33. A FEMININE TOUCH ON THE PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640 34. THE FUTURIST FOUNDATION OF THE OXFORD MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . 655 35. CHILD PREACHERS OF SWEDEN WARN OF JUDGMENT . . ..................... . 671 36. EFFECTIVE EXPOSITORS IN SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, AND GERMANY . . . . . . 687 37. PASSING OVER THE TIME OF EXPECTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 38. OLD WORLD ADVENT AWAKENING COLLAPSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 39. A SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791 -------------------------------------- VOLUME III - Illustrations and Charts FROM HEAD OF GOLD TO FEET OF IRON AND CLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 TWO CONVERGING BACKGROUNDS FORM SETTING FOR SECOND ADVENT MOVEMENT (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 ROGER WILLIAMS PREMISED His PLEA ON PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 EARLY COLONIAL STALWARTS EXPOUND PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 COLONIAL AMERICAN WRITERS ON PROPHECY (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PIONEERS IN FOUR FIELDS EMPHASIZE PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 FAMOUS NEW ENGLAND PRIMER INTERPRETS SYMBOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LEADERS CONTINUE PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . 144 LEADERS IN ALL WALKS APPEAL TO PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 JUSTICE DUDLEY INAUGURATES HARVARD LECTURES ON PROPHECY . . . . . . . . .. . . 174 LISBON 1755 EARTHQUAKE RECOGNIZED AS FULFILLMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 CONSPICUOUS COLLEGE PRESIDENTS EXPOUND PROPHECY . . . . . . . . .......... . . 206 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY WRITERS STILL STRESS PROPHECY . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 232 LEADING VIEWS OF THE PRINCIPAL AMERICAN WRITERS ON PROPHECY (17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES) . . . . (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 THE ALBURY PARK PROPHETIC CONFERENCE OF 1826 . . . ........................... 262 CLIMAX OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION (CHART) . . . .......................... ... 266 OLD WORLD INTERPRETERS OF PROPHECY IN THE 19TH. CENTURY ADVENT AWAKENING (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 270 TWO DIVERGENT SCHOOLS OF INTERPRETATION DEVELOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 EARLIEST OLD WORLD EXPOSITIONS ON END OF 2300 YEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 LACUNZA'S REVOLUTIONARY EXPOSITION PLACED ON INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 LACUNZA'S "LA VENIDA" PRINTED IN MANY LANDS AND LANGUAGES . . . . . . . . . . 316 PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . 330 GRAPHIC PORTRAYALS IN PICTURES POPULARIZE PROPHECIES . . . . .................. 357 PROPHETIC EMPHASIS APPEARS IN VARIOUS LANDS AND LANGUAGES . . . . . . . . . . . 378 UNIQUE EVIDENCE FOR YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 ENTIRE JOURNALS DEVOTED TO PROPHETIC INVESTIGATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 LEWIS WAY DECLARES THE JUDGMENT HOUR NEAR . . . . . . ......................... 420 PRINCIPLES AT THE ALBURY PARK PROPHETIC CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . ........ . . 434 SUNDRY ORGANIZATIONS STUDY THE PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 WOLFF PENETRATES INNERMOST RECESSES OF ISLAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 ROMAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE OF PROPAGANDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 OLD HEADQUARTERS OF JANSENISTS IN FRANCE . . ................................. 483 LONDON'S FAMOUS REGENT SQUARE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH . . . . ................ . . 515 FUTURISM ATTACKS YEAR-DAY AND EXPLAINS ANTICHRIST . . . . . . . . ...... . . 540 OTHER TYPICAL BRITISH EXPOSITORS OF 2300 YEARS . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 550 MILLER TREATISE MATCHED BY WILSON EXPOSITION . . ........................ . 618 SWEDISH CHILD PREACHERS HERALD JUDGMENT HOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 670 GAUSSEN LEADS PROPHETIC EXPOSITION IN SWITZERLAND . . . . . . . .... ....... 688 LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF PROPHECY IN 19TH CENTURY ADVENT AWAKENING (CHART) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS VOLUME IV New World Recovery and Consummation of Prophetic Interpretation ----------------------------------------- PROPHETIC FAITH - VOLUME IV Contents FROM THE AUTHOR TO THE READER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 PART I - AMERICAN 19TH CENTURY REVIVAL OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION AMONG MEN OF ALL FAITHS, (1800-1844) 1. THE BACKGROUND OF THE AMERICAN DENOMINATIONS . . . . . . . . . . 15 2. THE GREAT REVIVAL AND THE CAMP MEETING . . . . . . . . . . . .... 36 3. LIGHT DAWNS ON THE LAST DAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4. PROPHECY ASCENDANT AT TURN OF CENTURY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 5. BRITISH EXPOSITION REPRINTS INFLUENCE AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . 108 6. PERIODICALS BECOME FORUM FOR PROPHETIC DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . 134 7. PROPHECY EXPOUNDED BY OUTSTANDING LEADERS . . . . . . . . . ... . . 153 8. FULFILLING SIGNS OF TIMES EMPHASIZED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 9. 2300 YEARS BECOME NEW POINT OF EMPHASIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 10. 70 WEEKS CONSIDERED KEY TO 2300 YEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 11. PROPHECIES DOMINATE DEBATES AND PERIODICALS . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 12. MEDLEY OF VOICES SWELLS PROPHETIC CHORUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 13. METEORIC SHOWERS SEEN AS HERALDS OF ADVENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 14. INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER OF EMPHASIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 15. CONFLICT CENTERS AROUND MILLENNIALISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 16. PREMILLENNIALISM RALLIES STALWART DEFENDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 17. SCHOLARLY TREATISES STRESS EXPECTANCY OF TIMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 18. THE STATUS OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 19. BREAKDOWN OF HISTORIC PREMILLENNIALISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 PART II - PROPHETIC EXPOSITION THE FOUNDATION OF THE MILLERITE PHASE OF THE SECOND ADVENT MOVEMENT, (1831-1844) 20. TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 21. PREVIEW OF THE AMAZING ADVENT MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 22. THE FOUNDING FATHER OF THE MILLERITE MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 23. FROM INITIAL SERMON TO FULL-TIME PREACHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476 24. FROM INDIVIDUAL EFFORT TO GROUP ENDEAVOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 25. EARLIEST MINISTERIAL RECRUITS JOIN THE CAUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528 26. SUCCESSIVE CONFERENCES SOLIDIFY THE MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 27. MOMENTUM INCREASES AS CONFERENCES PROGRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 28. CONFERENCES MAKE IMPRESS ON GREAT CITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 29. UNRIVALKD BATTERY OF MILLERITK PERIODICALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 30. CAMP MEETINGS BRING MIU.KRISM BEFORE THE MASSES . . . . . . . . .......... 642 31. CLOSE-UPS OF MILLER'S LESSER-KNOWN ASSOCIATES . . . ...................... 663 32. MILLER'S POWER IN THE PULPIT . . . . . . . . ............................. 681 33. AMERICAN BASE EXPANSION AND OVERSEAS EXTENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699 34. MILLERITE CHARTS EPITOMIZE THEIR INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . ...... . 719 35. INCREASING ATTACKS BY PRESS AND CLERGY . . . . . . . . ................... 738 36. RISING OPPOSITION LEADS TO SEPARATION . . . . . . . ..................... 761 37. TRANSITION FROM SPRING TO AUTUMN, 1844 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784 38. SEVENTH-MONTH MOVEMENT LAUNCHED AT EXETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 39. THE PARTING OF THE WAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 PART III - COMPLETING THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CENTURIES BY RETENTION, RESTORATION, AND ADVANCE, (1844-1875) 40. THE AFTERMATH OF THE BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855 41. CLARIFYING LIGHT DAWNS ON SANCTUARY'S CLEANSING . . . . . . . . . . . . 877 42. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY EMERGENCE OF SABBATH ISSUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 43. THE SABBATH PENETRATES THE WESTERN WORLD . . . . . . . . ............. . . 918 44. THE RISE OF SABBATARIAN ADVENTISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . 941 45. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY MANIFESTED . . . . . ............................ 964 46. TESTING THE VALIDITY OF THE MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989 47. SABBATH CONFERENCES CONSOLIDATE EMERGING MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 48. RAISING UP THE FOUNDATIONS OF MANY GENERATIONS . . . . . . . . . .... . 1049 49. STUDIES CLUSTER AROUND THIRD MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 1070 50. THE TWO-HORMED BEAST OF REVELATION 13 . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . 1093 51. A SYSTEMATIC HARMONY OF THE PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . 1109 52. THE LARGER ASPECTS OF PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 1138 53. PROPHECY'S PLACE IN THE MASTER PLAN OF GOD . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . 1152 EPILOGUE - PERSISTENCE OF PREMILLENNIAL SECOND ADVENT EMPHASIS IN AMERICA AND BRITAIN, (1878-1952) 54. THE PREMILLENNIAL EMPHASIS PERSISTS . . . . ........................ . . 1177 55. BRITISH EXPOSITION PARALLELS AMERICAN INTERPRETATION . . . .... . . 1186 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... . . 1209 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... .. . . . . . . . 1277 -------------------------------------- VOLUME IV - Illustrations and Charts THE MASTER'S PARTING PLEDGE TO RETURN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 THE GOVERNOR BRADFORD HOUSE AT PLYMOUTH . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . 19 COLUMBUS REPORTS TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 24 PRESIDENT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS' CALL TO PRAYER IN 1798 . . . . . ............ . 61 APOCALYPTIC SYMBOLS ON PLAQUE AND PLATTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . 76 THREE NOTED EXPOSITORS OF PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 MARIE ANTOINETTE ON THE WAV TO THE GUILLOTINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 SCOTTISH INTERPRETER WILLIAM CUNINGHAME AND RESIDENCE . . . . . . . . . . 142 SYMBOLIC ANGELS BELIEVED NOW FLYING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 PETRI'S HOME AT SECKBACK; PETRI'S CHURCH IN GERMANY . . . . . . . . . . 209 EARLIEST EXPOSITORS OF 2300-YEAR TERMINUS IN 1843 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 WIDELY SCATTERED EXPOUNDERS STRESS APPROACHING PROPHETIC CLIMAX . . . . . . . 227 ALEXANDER CAMPBELL USED PROPHECIES IN WINNING DEBATES . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 ORBITAL PATH OF THE LEONID METEORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 INDIAN ANNUAL CALENDARS NOTE 1833 STAR SHOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 MEXICAN JURIST CITES STAR SHOWERS AS HARBINGER . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 PROPHETIC INTERPRETERS APPEAR IN ALL FAITHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 HERALDS OF SECOND ADVENT ARISE SIMULTANEOUSLY IN [THE] OLD WORLD AND [THE] NEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 DANIEL AND REVELATION CHART REPRINTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392-401 19TH. CENTURY ADVOCATES OF 2300-YEAR PROPHECY TERMINUS IN 1843-1847 PRIOR TO WILLIAM MILLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404, 405 YEARS OF INTENSIVE STUDY LEAD TO STARTLING CONCLUSIONS . . . . . ..... . . 460 TREASURE CHEST OF MILLERITE SOURCE DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 SCENES OF MILLER'S EARLIEST SERMONS ON THE IMMINENCE OF THE [SECOND] ADVENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 487 INITIAL MINISTERIAL LICENSE GRANTED TO MILLER IN 1833 . . . . . . . ...... . 495 SAMPLE ENTRIES IN MILLER'S FIRST TEXT BOOK . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . 497 MILLER PREACHED IN CHURCHES OF ALL FAITHS . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . 511 PROGRESSIVE PRINTINGS OF MILLER'S VIEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 SUNDRY BUILDINGS WERE SCENES OF ADVENTIST MEETINGS . . . . . . . . . . . 523 MILLER AND EARLIEST QUARTET OF MINISTERIAL RECRUITS . . . . . . . . . . 529 CHARLES FITCH - ADVENT HERALD ON WESTERN OUTPOST . . . . . . . . . . . 542 MILLERITE GENERAL CONFERENCES FILL LARGE AUDITORIUMS . . . . . . . . . . 556 COVER PAGE OF FIRST GENERAL CONFERENCE REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 DR. HENRY DANA WARD . . . . . . . . . . . . ...................... . . 570 FAMOUS "1843" CHART USED BY ALL MILLERITE HERALDS . . . . . . . . . . 616 COMPOSITE VIEW OF LEADING MILLERITE JOURNALS . . . . . . . . . . . . 622 SECOND ADVENT MOVEMENT PERIODICALS (CHARTS) . . . . . . . . . 624, 625 CAMP MEETINGS BRING MILLERISM BEFORE THE MULTITUDES . . . . . .... . . 644 CONTEMPORARY DRAWING OF MILLERITE BIG TENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656 MILLERITE MINISTERS HAD PASTORED THESE CHURCHES . . . . . . . . . . 671 WILLIAM MILLER - EFFECTIVE PREACHER OF THE PROPHECIES . . . . . . . . . 684 TRIBUNE "EXTRA" FAILS TO STEM RISING TIDE OF MILLERISM . . . . ........ . 746 (VOLUME IV. - PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS) SCURRILOUS CARTOONS RIDICULE THE MILLERITES . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . 758 MILLERITE CALCULATION OR STRUCTURAL DATES OF [THE] BASIC 2300-YEAR PERIOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790 CIVIL EQUIVALENT OF DAY OF ATONEMENT IN 1844 . . . . . . . . . . . . 792 LEADERS IN THE VIRILE SEVENTH-MONTH MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . 801 WAITING FOR THEIR LORD TO COME ON OCTOBER 22 . . . . . . . . . 825 THREE INDEPENDENT TEACHINGS MERGE INTO ONE . . . . . . . . . . . 845 DANIEL: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL MILLERITE EXPOSITORS (1831-1844) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846, 847 REVELATION: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL MILLERITE EXPOSITORS (1830-1844) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848-851 TRIO OF HEAVENLY MESSENGERS Now UNDER FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 HIRAM EDSONKEY FIGURE IN EXPANDING SANCTUARY STUDY . . . . . . . . . 878 PLEADING FOR LIGHT ON THEIR DISAPPOINTMENT . . . . . . . . ....... . . . 880 LIGHT ON THE SANCTUARY FLASHES INTO EDSON'S MIND . . . . . . . . . 882 CROSIER'S SANCTUARY POSITIONS GIVEN WIDE PUBLICITY . . . . . . . . . 902 NOTED ENGLISH COURT PHYSICIAN A PIONEER SABBATARIAN . .. . . . . . . 914 TWO 1729 SABBATH TREATISES PRINTED IN PHILADELPHIA . . . . . . . . . 919 PALATIAL HOME OF ARGENTINEAN FRANCISCO RAMOS MEXIA . . . . . . . . . 922 HISTORIC SCENES ENACTED IN WASHINGTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE, CHURCH . . . . . . 946 WILLIAM FARNSWORTH PLEDGES OBSERVANCE or THE SABBATH . . . . . . . . . 950 THE BRIDGE THAT MADE SABBATH HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 ELLEN G. WHITE, PROLIFIC WRITER OF THE SABBATARIAN ADVENTISTS . . . . . . . 977 MOMENTOUS OCCURRENCES IN PORTLAND (MAINE) CHURCHES . . . . . . . . . . . 979 STREAMS OF LIGHT TO ENCIRCLE THE GLOBE . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . 998 PHENOMENAL SPREAD OF SPIRITUALISM PREDICTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000 LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A WORLD-ENCIRCLING MOVEMENT . . . . . ... . 1020 YOUTHFUL ELLEN WHITE URGES HUSBAND TO WRITE AND PUBLISH . . . ....... . 1024 PRAYER CIRCLE FOR SUCCESS OF FIRST PERIODICAL . . . . . . . . . . 1026 HERALDS OF A WORLD-WIDE MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 1034 LEADERS OF THE DEVELOPING SABBATARIAN MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . 1050 JAMES WHITE - STALWART ADVENTIST LEADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 TWO EARLIEST PROPHETIC CHARTS ISSUED BY SABBATARIAN ADVENTISTS ......... 1072 HISTORICAL EXPOSITORS OF THE 2 BEASTS OF REV. 13, AND THE 3 ANGELS OF REV. 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091, 1092 DISTINGUISHED PIONEERS IN NEW EXPOSITION OF REVELATION 13 . . . . . ... . 1094 OFF FOR EUROPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095 URIAH SMITH MAKES MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION . . ...... . 1110 DANIEL: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL SABBATARIAN ADVENTISTS (1844-1875) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118, 1119 REVELATION: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL SABBATARIAN ADVENTISTS (1844-1875) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118, 1119 EXPOSITORS OF THE TRUMPETS AND THEIR TIME PERIODS . . . . . . . . . . . 1124, 1125 COMPOSITE PICTURE OF INTERRELATED PROPHECIES OF SACRED SCRIPTURE . . . 1128, 1129 THE FAITH OF JESUS AND THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD . . . . . . . ......... . . 1158 THE DOMINANT NOTE OF THE LAST DAYS OF TIME . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . 1170 ASSEMBLY HALLS OF LATER PROPHETIC CONGRESSES . . . . . . . . ....... . . . 1176 NOTED LEADERS IN THE 1886 PROPHETIC CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . ......... . 1187 DR. HENRY GRATTAN GUINNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ . . . . . 1195 PERIODIC CONFERENCES ON PROPHECY - (1878-1952) . . (CHART) . . . . . . . 1204
VOLUME I
CHAPTER ONE The Scope and Purpose of Inspired Prophecy
The succession of the four World Empires of History
I. The Torch of Prophecy Illuminates the Centuries The profound influence of the Bible prophecies on the vital concepts of mankind, and hence on the welfare of the church and the course of empire, stretches across the centuries. The testimony of an unending procession of competent exposi- tors of prophecy and its fulfillment is found in every major epoch, and appears at every important turning point of history. Bible prophecy may aptly be likened to a flaming torch, lighting up the darksome highway in the passage of the cen- turies, illuminating the unfamiliar surrounding scenes, and identifying the advancing time and place of mankind in its march across the pages of history ever onward toward the goal of ages. From generation to generation the lighted torch of prophecy has been passed on from one hand to another, and from one group to the next sometimes flaming high, some- times burning low. But always there are hands to transmit it to the next in line. And never has the prophetic torch gone out completely. Always there has been at least a flickering ray to disclose the path to those who have sought its guiding light. 1. PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED THE JEWISH ATTITUDE. The molding, energizing force of Old Testament prophecy was already evident in Jewish history long before the dawn of the Christian Era. The Messianic hope of the Jews, and their national aspirations, which were based on prophecies, pro- foundly affected their fundamental attitude toward other nations. It permeated their entire thinking and action, and it often determined, in turn, the treatment that the Jews them- selves were accorded by the Gentile world. An early example, although perhaps traditional, may serve to indicate the influence of Biblical prophecies even in the pagan world the story of how Alexander the Great was induced to spare Jerusalem after hearing himself described from the Jewish sacred scrolls as the "first king" symbolized by the notable and victorious horn on the head of the Grecian goat, which was one of Daniel's symbolic beasts of prophecy. It is, of course, well known to all that Christ applied many Old Testament predictions to His own life and death, and that the popular Jewish misconception of those very prophecies was the cause of His rejection by His own nation. Nevertheless, the Messianic hope continued to play a dominant part in the life and aspirations of the Jews during the later centuries of the Diaspora. And various pseudo-Messianic movements, spring- ing up among them, gave false courage and strength to many for a time, while others led to definite disaster and setbacks. 2. JESUS THE STAR WITNESS OF ALL TIME. Jesus' state- ments .concerning His own ministry that He came just as "the time" was due to be "fulfilled," that He was the long-foretold Anointed One who was to preach deliverance to the captives, and His many other references to the prophecies of the Old Testament reveal only too clearly the importance that Christ assigned to inspired prophecy. He was the Star Witness of all time in the field of prophecy. He ennobled and elevated sacred prophecy and prophetic interpretation, putting the seal of divine approval upon it. 3. PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON THE EARLY CHURCH. The development of the early Christian church was definitely based on the prophetic hope of the Saviour's speedy return at the end of the age, with its tremendous events the rolling back of the heavens as a scroll, the appearing of the Son of man, THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 19 the resurrection of the dead, and the fearful yet glorious judg- ment scenes followed by the eternal heavenly kingdom to come. In ardent expectation of this glorious future the early Christians were constrained to spread the gospel of salvation with zealous haste. And it was this concept that nerved them to withstand the terrible agonies of mutilation by wild beasts and an ignominious death in the amphitheater, the searing flames of the martyr's stake, and all the other manifestations of the wrath of the pagan Roman "dragon," warring upon the church. Thus it was with Justin Martyr, of the second century, in his famous Apologies to the pagan Roman rulers. Their under- standing of the times caused these Christian stalwarts to pray repeatedly for the continuance of the restraining Roman Empire, lest the dreaded worse times of Antichrist, expected to follow upon its fall, should overtake them in their day. Prophecy was a beacon light guiding the church of the centuries following, showing them where they were in the march of timeas they first awaited and then apprehensively watched the fateful breakup of the Roman Empire. 4. A CHANGE IN EMPHASIS. When hope of a speedy return of the Saviour grew dim, because several centuries had rolled by, a revolutionary view of prophecy was introduced which resulted in a new orientation and a new ideology. It started the church off in another direction. Did not prophecy speak of a glorious thousand-year reign of the saints? Perhaps this period was not heavenly but earthly. Perhaps, after all, it was not future but present, beginning with the first instead of the second advent. Augustine, in his treatise, The City of God which molded the concepts of the Christian West for a thousand years there- afterdefinitely placed the accent upon an earthly fulfillment of those age-old prophecies. On the assumption that the millen- nial reign had already begun on earth, and that the church was God's only true exponent and representative, the Roman Church soon asserted power over body, soul, and spirit, as well as over peasant, king, and sage. It claimed to be the sole guardian of truth and the only custodian of salvation. 5. TORCH AGAIN UPLIFTED IN MIDDLE AGES. It was the uplifting of the prophetic torch again, after A.D. 1000, that illu- minated the winding pathway through the Middle Ages. Under such men as the Venerable Bede, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Joachim of Floris, within the Roman church, prophecy came again into the thinking of many. (See frontispiece.) The fires of enthusiasm for the crusades, kindled among the masses, were kept aflame through asserting that the Sara- cenic "Antichrist" had taken possession of God's holy city, and that God had definitely directed the Christians to rout these diabolic hordes of Gog and Magog. But the church had grown vain and arrogant. Earnest, spiritual-minded souls were dis- tressed and aggrieved. They were disgusted with what they saw of sin, pride, and gross corruption in high places among those who administered the holy sacraments, and now claimed to be on a level high above the simple laymen. 6. PRE-REFORMATION PATHFINDERS GUIDED BY PROPHECY. And when the common folk came into possession of the Bible they found in its prophecies the portrayals of "Babylon," the great courtesan, and of "Antichrist," the oppressor of God's truth and people. Could it be that these were allusions to the church, fallen from its high calling and place? Whole move- ments sprang up, which found their invincible strength and consolation, despite peril and persecution, in the prophecies that spoke of the final glory of God's loyal little band and of their acceptance in the councils of heaven as those clad in white robes, and with palms of victory in their hands. The irrepressible Waldenses were fortified for the stake and the sword by their study and application of prophecy. Prophecy inspired some of the trenchant poems of Dante and soul-searching sonnets of Petrarch in the early Renaissance. Prophecy soon after guided Wyclif in his epochal contest with THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 21 Rome. It was prophecy that fortified Huss and Savonarola for the flames of the martyr's stake. It was prophecy that Columbus, faithful son of the Roman church, cited as foretelling his voyages to the New World, as he rejoiced in the thought of helping to bring about the preaching of the gospel to all before the end of time. He considered his astonishing discoveries but a fulfill- ment of Bible prophecy, a subject that occupied his thoughts to such an extent that, famous discoverer though he was, he even wrote a treatise on the prophecies. 7. FLAMES HIGH IN REFORMATION TIMES. And it was by the flaming torch of prophecy that Luther sought to identify his mortal foe, and was encouraged to make his epochal break with Rome. Prophecy definitely molded the aggressive course of the Reformation in Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Scan- dinavia, and the Low Countries, and even penetrated to France and Italy. The influence of the prophetic note on the Reformation is well-nigh incalculable, though largely unrecognized and unheralded by historians and biographers. When Luther saw the hopelessness of reforming the church from within, he began to think of her as apostate from God a body from which he must separate. When he burned the pope's bull as the bull of the prophesied Antichrist, he sounded the battle cry to with- draw from her communion and to fight against the Antichris- tian system. This clarion call soon echoed throughout all Europe with tremendous effect. Its repercussions were felt everywhere. So it was not merely the medieval mind which stressed prophecy. The highly educated Reformation leaders used prophecy as one of their mightiest weapons in calling upon the faithful to separate from Babylon, the fallen church, and to break with the Antichrist who had usurped the place of God, and who sat enthroned in the temple of God. But they did not stop there. They wrote a veritable stream of tractates and commentaries, and made the common people familiar with the interpretations of the four world powers of PROPHETIC PORTRAYALS AS RECOGNIZABLE AS RUSHMORE FIGURES Inset Shows Figures of Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln in Process of Carv- ing. In Early Stages Identity of Each Could Not Be Determined Until Sufficiently Developed. So With the Prophesied Nations Time and Historical Development Identified the Predicted Four World Powers of Daniel. The Washington Head Is Sixty Feet From Forehead to Chin; Nose, Twenty-one Feet High; Mouth, Eighteen Feet Wide Daniel and the phrasings of the other prophetic symbols of the book. From the Reformation stems a long line of prophetic expositions which molded Protestant thinking for centuries after their day. These were based on what came to be known as the Historical School of prophetic interpretation the pro- 22 THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 23 gressive and continuous fulfillment of prophecy, in unbroken sequence, from Daniel's day and the time of John, on down to the second advent and the end of the age. It was these established principles of prophecy that nerved the English Reformers for the cruel fires of Smithfield, in the days of "Bloody Mary." The key prophecy of Daniel 7 furnished the text for Knox's powerful first sermon, which moved all Scotland. And it was actually the force of prophecy that King James I of England invoked in his astonishing appeal to the other potentates of Europe in 1609, based on the premise of the prophecies of the Antichrist in the Apocalypse. All the leading Protestant scholars wrote on the principal prophecies of the Bible as a matter of course, just as they wrote on the rest of the Bible. And among these commentators were often names not usually connected by us with prophetic exposi- tionbrilliant scientists and mathematicians, for example, like John Napier, Sir Isaac Newton, and William Whiston. All walks of life were, in fact, represented. (See illustration in frontis- piece.) 8. OLD WORLD WITNESSES PARALLELED BY NEW. At the same time the Old World witnesses were paralleled by vigorous writers in colonial America. Familiar names appear in a new role John Cotton, the Mathers, Jonathan Edwards, and Timothy Dwight, to name but a few as effective expositors of prophecy. Prophecy held a key place in the thinking of colonial leaders in all vocationsphysicians, legislators, governors, judges, teachers, college presidents, historians, and poets, as well as the theologians. All were gripped by the force of fulfilled prophecy, and gave utterance to remarkable expositions that have become unknown today to the vast majority. Prophetic terms were woven into the speech and literature of the times, as, for example, the famous New England Primer. Not only did Harvard College have a lecture series based on Bible prophecy, but also several of her earlier presidents wrote on prophecy. In the struggle for religious freedom in the American colonies, Roger Williams was, of course, the outstand- ing figure. He too considered religious intolerance a heritage from the persecuting "beast" of prophecy, and this he boldly published and pressed upon Parliament. 9. PROPHECY AND THE COUNTER REFORMATION. But if prophecy was a forceful weapon in the hands of Protestants, it was also turned to effective account by the Catholics. Forced to the defensive by the uncomplimentary prophetic symbols and epithets applied by Protestant expositors to the Papacy, the , Jesuits produced two counterinterpretations of these selfsame prophecies, called Futurism and Preterism. These were designed to parry the force "of Protestant Reformation teachings and to shift the application of the Antichrist and similar prophecies away from the pope and out of the Middle Ages. And these systems left their indelible mark upon history. They have pro- foundly influenced multitudes, not simply within the Catholic Church, but, strangely enough, outsidein the very ranks of Protestantism as well. In fact, they have split Protestantism as regards prophecy. 10. FRENCH REVOLUTION ANTICIPATED. Moreover, it was prophecy that led a line of men for more than a century before the French Revolution to look for a violent upheaval in France shortly before 1800, and to leave the record of their considered expectation of the time and the nation involved. So the search for the understanding of prophecy has been the pursuit of some of the greatest minds this world has ever known, and in all epochs and areas of the Christian Era. That has been its unde- niable influence. 11. PRODUCTS AND BY-PRODUCTS OF PROPHECY. In other fields, such as art, literature, pedagogy, and even medicine and statecraft, we can trace the same telltale marks of the prophetic influence. Noted teachers, like John Wyclif, Joseph Mede, and even Johann Comenius, drew inspiration from the prophecies. Martyrologists, like John Foxe, were engrossed with the pro- phetic picture painted by the lives of their martyred dead. THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 25 Artists like Rembrandt and Michelangelo wove the prophetic scenes into their canvases and murals. Certain aspects of prophecy have made their influence felt in quarters only indirectly related to prophecy and its inter- pretationfor example, the Fifth Monarchy movement and the politics of Cromwell's day. It might be even less apparent on the surface that a belief in the restoration of the Jews induced political repercussions in the history of England in the seven- teenth century. Yet this was the case. Manasseh ben Israel, leading Jewish rabbi of Amsterdam, influenced some of the English Puritan leaders through his prophetic interpretation. As a result Oliver Cromwell gave protection to the Jews in England. And the Puritans took an interest in mission work among them, and even gave credence to the strange concept that there were Jews among the North American Indians. Indeed, it is a fact that John Eliot, colonial New England apostle to the Indians, thought he was evangelizing the descend- ants of the "ten lost tribes" of Israel. And, for that matter, when the well-known European missionary and traveler Joseph Wolff came to America, he too inquired after the lost tribes of Israel among the Indians. The awakening of interest in the prophecies in England during the early nineteenth century caused considerable effort to be put forth to convert the Jews, and it is not improbable that public interest in their behalf hastened the relief of English Jews from civil disabilities. Certain it is that one of these English missionary enterprises resulted in making Lewis Way's influence felt in obtaining a measure of emancipation for the Jews of Russia. In more recent years the strong support Zionism has found in numerous Christian circles is based mainly on the belief that the return of the Jews to Palestine will fulfill their interpreta- tion of certain prophecies. Coming to our day, current secular writing boldly borrows the terms of the Apocalypse. To note but one, the very word "Armageddon" has become a household term in recent years, though its prophetic connotations are but vaguely understood. But that is outside the range of our present quest. 12. AN UNSUSPECTED MOTIVATING FORCE. Prophecy has therefore been vastly more of a motivating and guiding force in the lives of men in the leadership of the church and the nations than has been recognized. This conclusion has been clearly borne out by the dust-covered evidence available in the archives of both the Old World and the New. This photoflash picture of the past here presented glimpsed fleetingly as the curtain is briefly drawn aside gives an idea of the fascinating path across the centuries that we shall traverse through the pages of these four volumes of Prophetic Faith. Here will appear, in documented form, the long-neglected and largely unknown evidence concerning the prophetic faith of our spiritual forefathers. Here this rough sketch will be filled in, and the picture completed. We shall view the past that we may better understand the present, and in turn, may discern with greater confidence the grand outline of the future in the light of prophecy. That is the ample justification of this extensive quest. II. Prophetism Its Nature, Scope, and Method In Old Testament usage the term prophet had several shades of meaning, and included various functions. These functions involve not only foretelling but forthtelling as well guiding and counseling, admonishing and warning, as well as predicting. A prophet is one inspired,1 or instructed by God, to speak in His name, often to announce future events. His office is to deliver a message. The word prophet is derived from Hebrew words meaning "a seer" or "speaker." The old term for prophet, seer, is usually translated from the Hebrew roeh, meaning "to see." (1 Sam. 9:9.) Another word, chozeh (to see), is used less frequently. ____________________ 1 Inspiration is that influence of the Spirit of God upon the mind of the prophet by which is conveyed knowledge of religious truth or future events, and which is also guarded against error in delivery. THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 27 This involved visions from God, conveyed through pro- phetic symbols and other appropriate and adequate means.= A prophet, then, is primarily one who "sees," who "pierces through the veil that hides the world of Divine things, or one for whom this veil is lifted occasionally so that he obtains an inner knowledge of the realities beyond." 3 And what the prophet sees, of these divine realities, is to be declared to others. This further part of the prophet's respon- sibility is expressed in the most common Hebrew word for prophet, nabi, literally to speak forth. So, a prophet was a man of inspired speech, one who "giveth forth" words from God. The difference between these two Hebrew words is thus clear and consistent. One expresses the manner of receiving his message; the other, the transmission of the message he has received. Prophecy is therefore a divine idea imparted by God to men through His chosen instrumentality. The two thoughts involved in the two Hebrew words unite in our one English word prophet, which is itself taken from the Greek, meaning not only "foreteller," but "for-speaker," or "forthspeaker" i.e., one who speaks for God. Hence the word prophet has the twofold meaning of "seer" and "pro- claimer" (Eze. 3:17, 18), or the proclaimer of a revelation. These two distinct phases of the prophetic gift are clearly set forth in the experience of the prophet Daniel: "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." Dan. 7:1, 2. Daniel was a prophet. The Lord appeared to him in a vision and spoke to him in a heaven-born dream, and what he saw and heard lie wrote in a book. In this way he made known what was revealed to him, and functioned as a prophet.4 This ____________________ 2 Arthur P. Stanley, Lectures on the History of the "Jewish Church, vol. 1, p. 380. 3 Andrew C. Zenos, "Prophecy, Prophet," Funk and Wagnallt New Standard Bible Dic- tionary, p. 739. 4 This same twofold concept is boine out in Ezekiel 40; 4. central idea, therefore, of the word prophet, is clearly one to whom God reveals Himself and through whom He speaks. This revelation may or may not relate to the future.5 The prophet is a jorthteller, not necessarily a foreteller. The essence of prophetism is "immediate intercourse with God." " The prophet is consequently one who is lifted up by the Spirit of God into communion with Him, so that he is enabled to interpret the dwine will and to act as a medium between God and man. He is a channel of communication, and not the source thereof. He is a speaker, or spokesman, for God. His message is not his own, but comes from a higher source. He is a seer, seeing things outside the domain of natural sight; a hearer, who hears things beyond the range of the natural human ear.7 He is a chosen messenger, who communicates the revela- tion he has received from God. God's declaration is specific: "I the Lord \vill make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." Num. 12:6. So Daniel, Jesus, Paul, and John, whose prophecies we are soon to trace, were pre-eminently among the prophets. The prophets of Israel were the moral and religious 'teachers of their nation. They were the authoritative preachers of righteousness. They guided the religious life, which lay at the foundation of the nation's welfare. They were the coun- selors of kings, the revivalists and reformers of the nation, who awakened the religious sense of the people and forewarned of the certainty of divine judgment on sin. They proclaimed the divine plan of the ages, the goal toward which the nation was to move.8 The prophet was the mouthpiece of God, His ambassador to man, informing him of the divine will not ascertained by human wisdom or experience. ____________________ 5 Revelation is a disclosure of something that was before unknown. And divine revelation is the direct communication of truths, before unknown, from God to men. (M'Clintock and Strong, Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 8, p. 1061, art. "Revelation.") 6 Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1. pp. 325, 326. 7 C. von Orelli, "Prophecy, Prophets," The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 4, p. 2459. 8 Peloubef's Bible Dictionary, p. 532, art. "Prophet." THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 29 The term prophetism may be said to include four particular functions: 1. REFORMATION AND GUIDANCE. The major burden of most of the Hebrew prophets, especially the earlier ones, was that of reform and spiritual guidance the aspect that receives the major emphasis among theologians today. Samuel, Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Jeremiah functioned largely in this capacity, denouncing individual, social, and political sins, uttering admonitions to righteousness, and sustaining the true worship of God against idolatry. (See 1 Samuel 15; 1 Kings 14, 18, 20, 21; 2 Kings 6, 7, etc.) 2. PREDICTION OF IMMEDIATE EVENTS. These were gener- ally specific, immediate, and short range, and were often employed in addition to, or in connection with, the reforming message, such as the outcome of a war or the fate of a wicked king. Samuel, Nathan, and even Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Jonah exemplify this function. (See 1 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 7, 12.) 3. FLASH PICTURES OF THINGS TO COME. Scattered long- range predictions like those uttered by Joel and Zephaniah on the "day of the Lord" (Joel 3; Zephaniah 1, 2), the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah 7 and 9 and Micah 4 and 5, the utter desolation pictured in Jeremiah 4, and the triumph of right- eousness in Habakkuk 3 form this third category. 4. COMPREHENSIVE OUTLINE PROPHECIES. Then there are the long-range, comprehensive, apocalyptic prophecies. Such prophecies, largely symbolic, extend to the end of the age, and involve the various aspects of eschatology or the "doctrine of the last or final things" as death, the resurrection, the judg- ment, the future reward of the righteous and final destruction of the wicked, the end of the age, the second advent of Christ, and the like. These are most fully exemplified by Daniel in the Old Testament and by John in the New Testament. The main points are laid down by Jesus in the so-called "synoptic apocalypse," and are touched upon by Peter and Paul. III. The Scope of This Treatise 1. DANIEL AND REVELATION THE PRINCIPAL FIELDS. In tracing the historical development of prophetic interpretation through the centuries, it will be necessary to limit the study to certain main lines of prophecy of the so-called apocalyptic or eschatological prophecies. We shall therefore trace, princi- pally, the unfolding exposition of the two books of the Bible which present the most outstanding prophecies of the end of the age, and the events leading thereto the books of Daniel and the Revelationand also of the great prophecy of Jesus concerning the last days, and of certain related passages, such as Paul's discussion of the Man of Sin. Again, the organization of the subject matter of these various prophetic interpretations will be centered on five principal topics that will be found to be the key factors which have conditioned the prophetic outlook of the Christian church through the centuries. These are: (1) the outline prophecies, (2) the resurrection, (3) the millennium, (4) the Antichrist, and (5) the visible kingdom of God. It will be pointed out that these five factors, influenced, of course, by the historical and spiritual background of the church, reacted to exert strong influence on the thinking and development of the church through the ages. 2. THE PLAN OF THIS WORK. Pursuant to this plan of studying the unfolding interpretation of the books of Daniel and the Revelation, it is essential at thewery outset to under- stand the relationship of Daniel's prophecy to the other writings of the Old Testament, which together constitute the Jewish canon of Scripture, as well as its relationship to the great epochs and events in Israel's history, and to the dominant Neo- Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires under whose control the Hebrews lived in Daniel's day. It is equally desirable to have a clear grasp of the relationship of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, and especially of the apostle John's book of Revelation, to the historical timing and circumstances of the THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 31 apostolic writings which comprise the New Testament canon of the Christian church. To aid in obtaining this over-all perspective, chapters two, three, and four will deal with the book of Daniel and its relation to the Old Testament canon and the Apocrypha, and then the Apocalypse in its relation to the New Testament canon. An understanding of this is fundamental. After this background material of the first four chapters, the next two will give a brief survey of the content of these prophetic scriptures, as a basis for the study to follow of the successive interpretations of the prophecies that will form the body of this work. These preliminary chapters may seem rather expansive. However, they are not unduly extended for an introduction to a four-volume work of this character. They cover a relatively brief space in which to sketch the significant and illuminating background for the development of major prophetic interpretation through the centuries. Indeed, the entire four volumes of this work afford space for only a survey of the subject of prophetic interpretation as it has ebbed and flowed through the ages, from the time of Daniel on to approximately the middle of the nineteenth century. And the ramifications of the numerous varieties of eschatological beliefs from the later nineteenth century to the present must be passed by; they would require several more volumes, but their taproots can be seen in the early nineteenth century. The present work is therefore primarily a survey of the past of the historical antecedents of current views rather than a study of present-day exposition. IV. Definition of Prophetic Terms Employed Certain terms pertaining to prophetic interpretation, which will occur with increasing frequency throughout the four volumes of The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, should be defined at the very outset. Especially should the following expressions be clearly understood: 1. OUTLINE PROPHECIES. First, there are what may be called the outline prophecies, by which is meant a long sequence of epochs and events spanning the centuries, such as the four commonly recognized successive world powers of prophecy Babylonia, Persia, Grecia, and Rome as found in the great metallic image of the kingdom of man outlined in Daniel 2; or in the same four world empires portrayed by the four beasts in Daniel 7. These are commonly recognized as covering the centu- ries, and reaching to the same great climax of the ages. A similar outline of epochs and events is several times repeated in the Revelation. Here the seven churches, the seven seals, and the seven trumpets cover long stretches of time in chronological sequence, and each leads to the same final climax. These we shall consistently denominate the outline prophecies. 2. TIME PROPHECIES. Prophetic time periods appear fre- quently in Daniel such as the seventy weeks, the 1260 days, the 1290 and 1335 days, and the 2300 days and there are paral- leling time periods in the Revelation (the five months, forty-two months, three and a half times, three and a half days, ten days, et cetera). These are connected, of course, with definite events and activities, and their beginnings or endings are often marked by significant occurrences. These predicted time periods will be referred to as time prophecies, though they are tied inseparably into, and form a part of, the sequence of events depicted in the grand outline prophecies. They are the inspired measuring lines of prophecy. They constitute the inspired timetable of the centuries. 3. BEAST. Another term, common to symbolic Bible prophecy, is that of "beast." Nations were effectively cartooned or portrayed by various well-known or unknown beasts, just as some are today: the British lion, the Russian bear, or the American eagle. In Daniel's day a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fearful monster without an earthly replica appeared in Daniel 7, and the ram and he-goat of Daniel 8 are expressly explained by the prophet as symbols, respectively, of "Media and Persia" THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF INSPIRED PROPHECY 33 and "Grecia." (Dan. 8:20, 21.) Similar "beasts" are pictured in the Revelation. These terms are not epithets of derision; they are simply the divine method of cartooning nations and their careers through the centuries. So a prophetic "beast" merely means a kingdom or nation, no more and no less. 4. HORN. "Horn" is likewise frequently used to symbolize divisions,' or nations, that develop out of a great parent king- dom. Thus the ten horns appearing on the fourth beast of Daniel 7 (compare the paralleling beasts of Revelation 13 and 17) are expressly stated to be ten kingdoms, or divisions, that would arise out of the territory of the fourth world kingdom. 5. WOMAN. Still another term, sometimes causing per- plexity, needs explanation that of a symbolic "woman," which occurs frequently in the Revelation. It is used by the prophet to symbolize a church, true or false. The intent is obvious a chaste woman, arrayed in pure white (Revelation 12), indicat- ing a pure church; and a fallen woman, garbed in suggestive scarlet (Revelation 17), portraying a fallen or apostate church. In logical harmony with the figure the impure woman is called a "harlot," or a "whore." Her illicit, compromising relations with paganism and with the nations of the earth are denomi- nated spiritual "adultery" or "whoredom," after the similar Old Testament reference to the lapses of Israel and Judah into idolatry and national sins. (Jeremiah 3; Ezekiel 16.) These opprobrious terms refer to spiritual adultery, or an unholy mingling of the sacred and the secular, churchly apostasy and illicit union with the world. They therefore refer not to personal impurity but rather to departure from God. 6. MILLENNIUM. Basically, the millennium is the reign of the saints with Christ during the thousand years of Revelation 20. The term "millennium" is given in the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary, second edition, as: ___________________ "1. A thousand years. . . . 2. Specif., the thousand years mentioned in Revelation xx, during which holiness is to be triumphant. Some believe that during this period Christ will reign on earth." This is a more exact definition than that generally given, as, for example, in The New Schaff-Herzog, limiting it to the concept of an earthly kingdom: "The term millennium denotes in theology the thousand years of the kingdom of Christ on earth referred to in Rev. xx. 1-6. Millenarian- ism (or the corresponding word of Greek derivation, chiliasm) is the belief in the millennium; more specifically, the belief that Christ will reign personally on the earth with his saints for one thousand years or an indefinitely long period before the end of the world." 9 The only specific millenarian passage in the Bible is in Revelation 20, where, however, there is no mention of the saints' reigning on the earth. And not all Christians so interpret it. Therefore the first definition being less specific than the second, is more accurate and Biblical. According to the Webster dictionary, "premillennialism" is "the doctrine that the second coming of Christ precedes, and ushers in, the millennium," in opposition to "postmillennial- ism," the theory that the second coming of Christ will be after the millennium, which is to come as the result of the Christiani- zation of the world, presumably without miraculous interven- tion," and to "amillennialism," a more recent term, used some- times of the view which eliminates the thousand years entirely, but more often regards it as the Christian age in general, or the supposed reign of the departed saints in heaven during this time in either case throwing emphasis on the personal coming of Christ at the end of the age, followed immediately by the general resurrection and judgment and the eternal state. So, after this statement of the scope and purpose of the present work, the next step will be to consider the Biblical background of the prophecies primarily the books of Daniel and the Apocalypse in relation to the canon of Scripture. ___________________ 9 Clarence Augustine Beckwith, "Millennium, Millenarianism," The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. 7, p. 374.
CHAPTER FIVE Foundation Laid in the Old Testament I. The Long-Range View of Bible Prophecy The central theme of the Bible, from Genesis on through to Revelation, is the redemption of man. The lofty purpose of all Sacred Scripture, from the first whisper of hope in Eden to the last triumphant note of the Apocalypse "They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads" is the restoration of the image of God in the soul. This is its dominant note and undeviating provision, about which its many prophe- cies cluster. And all this is wondrously wrought out through Christ, the center and circumference of man's hope, the source of all grace, the desire of all ages, and the hope of the world. The story of Christ's mysterious incarnation at the first advent, His sinless life on earth, followed by His atoning, sub- stitutionary death on Calvary, as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," then His triumphant resur- rection and ascension, His priestly mediation in the courts above, and finally at its fateful close His second glorious advent to redeem His saints and destroy sin, runs like a golden thread throughout all Scripture, and gives us the full sweep of the glorious plan of salvation. 1. CLIMAX OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION. The foretelling of it all, and its glorious climax, and often the unfolding sequence and relationship of part to part, is the burden of the prophets; and the eschatological prophecies that we are about 110 FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 111 to trace, embodying the doctrine of the last things, are simply concerned with the last phases of the redemptive plan of the ages. Prophecy discloses God's creative and redemptive energy in action, for the restoration of man and the "restitution of all things." (Acts 3:21.) The first and second advents of Christ are the two grand foci around which this entire redemptive plan of God revolves. All history moves toward these two transcendent events. And the events of the latter days, that cluster about Christ's second coming, have long been looked to by the expositors of prophecy through the centuries as the climactic features of all prophecy and promise. 2. THE TWIN CENTERS OF PROPHECY. For ages astrono- mers studied the star-spangled heavens to find the secret of the movements of the spheres. They pondered the millions of suns sweeping through boundless space, and the planets wandering among them without confusion or conflict, swinging on with intricate precision in their ceaseless cycles. Even after men discovered that the earth and the planets moved in orbits about our sun, they tried in vain to calculate the path of their orbits on the basis of circles through the heavens. Their thought was fixed on a single center for each orbit. But such calculations would not work out. They led only to confusion, conflict, and chaos. Finally Kepler found that these celestial orbits are ellipses, therefore having two centers, as it were, or foci. Then astronomical calculations of the courses of the planets became harmonious and exact. This basic law of the solar system had been found. There is a striking parallel in contemplating the plan, or orbit, of salvation. Multitudes have sought to fathom the provi- sions of God's great redemptive movements, but have thrown the orbit around a single center the first coming of Christ nineteen centuries ago. Redemption, however, has two foci. It circles around the second coming, of Christ as well as around the 'first. These twin points the tragedy of the cross and the triumphant return of Christ are inseparable. Only thus does 112 PROPHETIC FAITH the plan of salvation become complete and harmonious. Only in the light of this sublime truth can we understand otherwise confusing and seemingly contradictory lines of prediction in the Old Testament concerning the coming Messiah some telling of His coming in weakness and humiliation, in sorrow and grief, with visage marred and hands pierced; others pro- claiming a glorious and resistless sovereign, purging the earth of sin and sinners, delivering His people and inaugurating everlasting peace. But once grasp this mighty truth of the two comings, and one possesses the key to the divine movements of the ages past, present, and future; the solution of a thousand confusing problems, and the rational basis of the only true philosophy of history. Around these two events revolve the issues of time and eternity. 3. ABRAHAM AND THE "LONG-RANGE VISION." The Hebrew prophets of old, God's special messengers of the time, not only called for a return to God in their own day, but also spoke concerning the final restoration to come. Often their earlier prophecies were but fragmentary flash pictures, as it were, of vital events along the way. The sequences were not always clearly given, and the relation of part to part not always expressly revealed. But they set forth one aspect or another of this funda- mental purpose of God for the restoration of man. However, Daniel and, later, John give us full outlines in chronological sequence which furnish the setting and locate in time some of these earlier fleeting glimpses. Prophecy is therefore a means to a glorious end the disclosure of the plan of God in opera- tion, that men might recognize its unfolding fulfillment, that they might believe and accept the Christ of the gospel. (John 14:29; Acts 10:43.) Abraham was an early prophet, though not understanding the full significance of his own message. (Gen. 20:7.) Partial and restricted views have been frequent along the way. It has been here a little glimpse of the plan of God, and there a little FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 113 further unfolding of His redemptive purpose. Abraham thought of Isaac as the divinely promised "seed," and looked at first for an immediate, literal, fleshly fulfillment, though later he did look for, and rejoice in, Christ's day. (Gen. 12:1-4; 15:13; 21:12; John 8:56.) But the apostle Paul was shown by inspiration that, when speaking to Abraham, God's promise was not to the literal seed but to the spiritual "seed" to come, even Christ. (Gal. 3:16, 29.) So Abraham is plainly the father of spiritual Israel those who individually choose to be governed by God. This was the larger, "long-range vision," as it has aptly been called, that clarifies many an otherwise baffling prediction con- cerning Israel and its restoration. Because Abraham obeyed Him, God made an oath that He would bless all nations through him, and that Abraham would lead the royal line to come from every kindred. But because the descendants of Abraham lost sight of this spiritual- nation concept, Moses sought to correct their self-complacency and perverseness. (Deut. 7:7-9; 4:32-40; 8:3.) However, this attempt was also largely in vain. So Moses was a prophet-spokes- man, who because of his voluntary, self-sacrificing love for Israel, thus became a type of Christ, and was the leader of spiritual Israel. (Ex. 32:30-32.) And to him it was granted to appear with Christ on the mount of transfiguration. (Luke 9:28-36.) 4. CRISIS IN DAYS OF AHAB. The tendency to localize and materialize the great prophetic promises of God was the bane of Israel all through the years, and ultimately proved her undoing. But prophetic guidance in material things, during the early days of Israel's occupancy of Palestine, was given with the primary thought of illustrating and assuring God's guidance in spiritual things. (Hosea 12:13; Judges 10:10-14.) Note three crises in the years of the divided kingdoms that illustrate this principle. And mark the large group of the prophets raised up to meet each issue. This indicates God's concern for His ancient people. 114 PROPHETIC FAITH First, the issue which culminated, in the days of Ahab, was: Who is GodJehovah or Baal? Many prophets Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29), Shemaiah (1 Kings 12:22-24), Hanani (2 Chron. 16:7), Jehu, son of Hanani (1 Kings 16:1-7; 2 Chron. 19:2), and Micaiah (2 Chron. 18:7-16) had borne messages from God which, if heeded, would have helped to give the answer. But Elijah was the pre-eminent spokesman who, by his teaching and his living, did most to bring a revival of true worship, and to give the people the true concept of the restoration of the image of God in man's heart. (1 Kings 17 ff.) His part was so marked and so vital that he, like Moses, was recognized and honored by association with Christ on the mount of transfiguration. (Luke 9:28-36.) From this period, however, we have no prophetic writings. 5. SECOND CRISIS AT DESTRUCTION OF SAMARIA. The second crisis was in the closing period of the northern kingdom of Israel, preceding the destruction of Samaria. The issue was their independence of God. During the reigns of Amaziah, Jeroboam II, and Uzziah, Israel and Judah had extended their borders up through Syria to the Euphrates country, and had become very wealthy. In their self-sufficiency they laughed at Hezekiah's entreaties to return to the Lord. (2 Chron. 30:5-10.) Selfish materialism characterized the day. And the second group of prophets that appear about this time Jonah, probably Joel, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah likewise seek to correct this gross materialism. And each has likewise the long-range vision, which was constantly emphasized.1 6. THIRD CRISIS IN DAYS OF JERUSALEM'S DESTRUCTION. And finally, in the days of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile, rebellion against God was the grave issue. Evidently because the prophecies of Isaiah were not immediately and literally fulfilled in their day, Judah rebelled against God's leadership, rejected His spokesmen, and refused allegiance ___________________ 1 See, for example, Jonah 2:7-9: 4:11; Joel 2:32; 3:18-21; Amos 9:11-15; Hosea 14:1-9; 2:14-23; Isa. 35:3-10; 7:14-16; 9:6; Micah 6:8; 5:3, 7, 8; 7:18. FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 115 to the Creator. Jeremiah complained of their obstinacy. (Jer. 25:1-11; 36:1-30.) The prophets of this time Nahum, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel similarly sought to get their fellow Jews to accept the long-range plan of God for them,2 and the coming day of God. But again this endeavor was largely in vain. II. Eschatological Emphasis of Old Testament Prophets Now let us turn briefly to these Old Testament prophets, other than Daniel, and see their emphasis on the long-range plan of redemption, especially its eschatological, or last-day, phase. Brief surveys must suffice, our fundamental objective being to trace the full outline prophecies revealed through Daniel and in the Apocalypse. (On the chronological place- ment, or sequence, of the Old Testament prophets, see pages 58, 59.) As noted, we find in the book of Daniel the most compre- hensive eschatological and apocalyptic prophecies in the Old Testament. That is the reason for the marked emphasis upon it in this work. But there are other prophecies of a similar character some very much earlier in the messages of the prophets of Israel and Judah who were known chiefly as re- formers. Yet along with their burden of religious, political, and social reform for their own times, they also gave definite eschatological messages concerning the latter day. Some would make a distinction between "prophecy" and "apocalyptic," and between "ethical" prophecy and prediction; but these are unjustifiable distinctions. When "the burden of the Lord" came upon a "son of the prophets" or a priest, a plowman or a gatherer of sycamore fruit, he spoke for God. His "thus saith the Lord" might rebuke idolatry or injustice in the palace of the king or in the lowly market place. It might predict the fall of a city or the coming of the Messiah. It might ___________________ 2 See Nahum 1:3-15; Obadiah 15-21; Zeph. 1:7-18; 2:1-3; 3:2-16; Hab. 2:1-14; Jer. 50:17-20; Eze. 28:24-26. 116 PROPHETIC FAITH herald the time of the end or the resurrection of the body at the latter day, or perchance the punishment of the wicked. But whatever the emphasis, the ethical and moral element is constantly there. "Thus saith the Lord" therefore amend your ways. Ezekiel was summoned by the vision of the wheels within wheels to the task of calling a rebellious people back to obedi- ence to God. (Ezekiel 1, 2.) Daniel's interpretation of Nebu- chadnezzar's second dream was followed by the admonition, "Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor." (Dan. 4:27). The essence of the teaching of the prophets on the "day of the Lord," and the future kingdom, was definitely ethical. First note some of the typical expressions. 1. "DAY OF THE LORD," AND ITS INVOLVEMENTS. Many Old Testament prophetical books contain passages describing "the day of the Lord," "the latter day," or "that day." This day of the Lord is the day of divine, supernatural intervention by which God overthrows His that is, Israel's foes, and intro- duces the era of future blessedness for His people. Certain of the tremendous events connected at different times with this day-o£-the-Lord concept may be listed thus: (1) The coming of Jehovah in power and glory. (2) Convulsions of nature. (3) Fire and destruction (a) on Israel's enemies; (b) on the unfaithful in Israel. (4) Desolation of the land. (5) Judgment, or punishment for sin. (6) Resurrection of the righteous. (7) The kingdom of blessedness. (8) The new heaven and the new earth. Many of these concepts, and the very phrases describing them, are later used by Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John, to an extent FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 117 that surprises many readers of the New Testament when they find such typically gospel expressions coming directly out of the Old Testament. They are tied inseparably together, as a survey will disclose. 2. ESCHATOLOGICAL TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS. The sins that the prophets combated revealed the popular belief of the day. The Israelites, who were continually going astray after other gods, neglecting or corrupting the worship of Jehovah, and disregarding His moral code, were all too frequently inclined to think of Him chiefly as a national God, after the pattern of the various patron gods of the heathen. They often offered sacrifices in the expectation that in return He would prosper and protect them, and they were looking for a glorious day of the Lord merely in the form of a day of triumph over their enemies. The prophets, along with their appeals for repentance, and for social and individual righteousness, tried to replace this distorted, nationalistic view of the future kingdom with ethical and spiritual concepts. They presented Jehovah as the righteous Judge of all the world; and the future kingdom came to be conceived of as a regenerated nation.composed of true Israelites and representatives from other peoples. In some cases the Messiah was thought of as the visible head, but was not always included in the picture. Doubtless the popular conception of the masses remained rather materialistic and nationalistic, but the spiritual leaders maintained the higher view of the Messianic kingdom to come. Charles says: "According to the prophets, this kingdom was to consist of a regener- ated nation, a community in which the divine will should be fulfilled, an organised society interpenetrated, welded together, and shaped to ever higher issues by the actual presence of God." ' 3. JOEL, AMOS, AND HOSEA SPEAK. It has been mentioned that the Old Testament prophets seem chiefly to have been sent with special message in times of crisis. Let us note them. ___________________ 3 R. H. Charles, A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, pp. 82, I 118 PROPHETIC FAITH JOEL, who does not tell us when or where he lived,' pictures the day of the Lord in vivid terms: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness." "The day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" (Joel 2:1, 2, 11). He exhorts to repentance, if perchance the doom may be averted, and the Lord may drive away the northern army and restore the bounties of nature which have been withheld. Then he looks forward to the latter day, when "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," and when there will be "wonders in the heavens and in the earth," "before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." Verses 28-30. Then the remnant will be delivered those that call upon the name of the Lord. The nations will be judged, and "the Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake." Then a holy, cleansed Jerusalem will be God's dwelling place forever. (Joel 3.) AMOS, a native of Judah and one of the earliest prophets who can be dated, was a shepherd and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. He denounces the .sins of the surrounding idolatrous nations, likewise those of Judah, and especially those of Israel, whose iniquities he enumerates and whose captivity he foretells. God is not to punish Israel's enemies and let that apostate nation go free. "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light." Amos 5:18. Thus he attacks the popular conception of the day of the Lord as a day of the triumph of Israel's God over Israel's foes. But God is "the God of hosts" (Amos 4:13; 5:27), who, "in that day . . . will cause the sun to go down at noon, and . . . will darken the earth in the clear day" (Amos 8:9). The day of the Lord is to vindicate not Israel but righteousness. Yet, in spite of the dark picture presented, the last verses of the book give hope of a restoration from captivity. __________________ 4 Unless Joel is to be considered very late, he must, it is generally agreed, be placed early, probably contemporary with Amos. FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 119 HOSEA, probably an Israelite, also pleads with Israel to repent, and draws a beautiful picture of the forgiveness of God. He predicts the Assyrian captivity of Israel, and mentions pun- ishment for Judah, but says nothing specifically about the day of the Lord as such. However, he holds forth the hope of a future state of righteousness and happiness which, if taken as literal rather than poetic language, depicts something like the Messianic kingdom. (Hosea 1:10, 11; 2:16 ff.; 3:5; 14:4-9.) Hosea furnishes one of the relatively few Old Testament statements of the hope of the resurrection: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy de- struction." (Hosea 13:14). 4. ISAIAH PORTRAYS GLORIES OF NEW EARTH. ISAIAH directs his warnings sometimes to Israel and the various sur- rounding nations, but particularly to Judah, and in some passages the judgment of Judah broadens into a general world judgment. (Isaiah 2, 24, 26, 34.) The resurrection is clearly taught in chapter 26: "Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead." - Verse 19, A.R.V. This passage appears in connection with a reference to the "strong city" into which "the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." (Isa. 26:1, 2). The second section of the book,6 beginning with chapter 40, changes the theme from doom to redemption. It looks beyond the captivity, and tells of Cyrus, of the return of the exiles (Isaiah 44, 45), and of the coming of Christ. The mission of Christ at His first advent, His role as the suffering servant, and His final triumph are all foretold. (Isa. 61:1, 2; 42:1-6, 19-21; 49; 50; 52:13 to 53:12.) The book of Isaiah transcends Jewish nationalism. Its sublime prose-poetry, with its promises of forgiveness, of _________________ 5 Only the eschatological content of the book is under consideration; consequently, the question of authorship raised by critical scholars is not relevant to our purpose and need not be discussed here. 120 PROPHETIC FAITH redemption, of resurrection, and of the new heavens and the new earth, not only has lent color to the New Testament writings, but has continued to inspire the church down through the centuries, furnishing comfort and hope for the Christian war- fare, spiritual food for personal devotions, and themes for uplift- ing religious music as witness some of the best-loved gems from Handel's Messiah. There are many prophecies of the redemption of regener- ated Israel, and of a future state of happiness, couched in poetic terms and described by vivid figures of speech. This is not the place to go into an analysis of them, or to attempt to separate those which were fulfilled in the return, after the Babylonian captivity, from those which refer spiritually to the Christian church, or from those which point to the last days, or to the new heavens and the new earth and therefore to the future age, or from those possibly regarded as conditional.6 Inasmuch as Jesus applied some of these with an obviously spiritual mean- ingto the kingdom of grace established at His first advent, extreme caution may well be observed to avoid applying these kingdom prophecies of Isaiah, and others as well, to a temporal, earthly state centered in an earthly Jerusalem. It was for that very materialistic reason that the Jews rejected their Messiah. They hated Him for saying, "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness." Matt. 8:11, 12. And the Pharisees and priests sought to lay hands on Him when He trapped them into pronouncing their own sentence in the parable of the vineyard, and then came out with the open declaration: "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Matt. 21:43. They refused to accept His spiritual kingdom of the righteous of all nations although they could have read it in Isaiah (Isa. 26:2; 14:1; « See page 122. FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 121 49:1-12; 56; 60; 66:18-23) in place of their expected kingdom of fleshly Israel. And the same sort of misunderstanding marred the extreme Christian chiliasm which the early church rejected. 7 5. MICAH, NAHUM, AND HABAKKUK SPEAK. MICAH bears messages to Samaria and Jerusalem of approaching destruction and restoration and points out Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah but he does not include much along eschato- logical lines. NAHUM, who pronounced the sentence of doom upon Assyria's proud capital, is concerned principally with the punishment of Nineveh, except as the Lord's vengeance on His people's enemies can be considered typical of the general punishment of the wicked. And HABAKKUK warns of the coming of the Chaldeans (Hab. 1:6) and rebukes sin, but he rises to a new height in his glimpse of the great truth that "the just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4). He sees the time when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (verse 14), but he gives no hint as to how or when this is to come to pass. Chapter 3, the prayer of Habakkuk, is full of poetic imagery which pictures the punishment of the nations and the salvation of God's people. 6. ZEPHANIAH'S AND JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES. ZEPHANIAH, contemporary of Jeremiah, prophesies the desolation of Judah (Zeph. 1:1-13), which serves as the theme for his warning of the approaching day of the Lord, "a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness," in which "neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them" (verses 14-18). But after God's indignation is poured out upon all the nations, when "all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy, . . . then will I turn to the people [A.R.V., "peoples"] a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." -p. 121- See pages 301-308. 122 PROPHETIC FAITH Zeph. 3:8, 9. In preparation for this great day God calls for heart preparation, in the surviving remnant who will "trust in the name of the Lord" and "shall not do iniquity." (Verses 12, 13.) He designates them as "all ye meek of the earth," and invites them to seek the Lord and righteousness so as to be "hid in the day of the Lord's anger." (Zeph. 2:3.) This prophecy definitely applies the future kingdom to a spiritual, not a racial, Israel, and places it after the fiery judgment on the whole earth. 7. JEREMIAH, INTRODUCER OF TIME PROPHECY. JEREMIAH, the king's counselor who both prophesied and witnessed the fall of Judah, denounces the apostasy of Israel and the idolatry of Judah. He trumpets the warning of the foe from the north 8 (Jer. 1:14, 15; 4:6, 7; 10:22; cf. 25:9) who would depopulate the cities of Judah. Although the book deals principally with the captivity and the restoration after 70 years (Jer. 25:9-12), there are several passages which obviously go beyond immediate fulfillment to the Messiah's kingdom (chapters 23 and 33, for example). Jeremiah lays down a principle concerning the conditional fulfillment of prophecies which should throw light on some of the controversy in the early church, and in modern times as well, over certain material details which were never fulfilled literally in postexilic Judaism. He quotes God as saying: "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." (Jer. 18:7-10). The spiritual lesson of the relation of God to the individual heart (in the new covenant, Jer. 31:27-34) emphasizes each ________________ 8 Not necessarily the Scythians, as some think. Palestine was on a. north-south corridor between Egypt and Syria. To the east lay the barren desert, circled by what Breasted calls the "Fertile Crescent." All invaders from north and east followed the northern course down through Syria to Palestine, whether Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, Macedonians, or Seleucids. Hence. => reference to invaders from the north does not require a people from the far north, but could just as well mean the Chaldeans. FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 123 soul's final responsibility, which has a bearing on final rewards and punishments, but there is no mention of the resurrection as such. 8. EZEKIEL ON INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD. EZEKIEL, a priest, was himself an exile in Babylon before the final fall of Jerusalem. He seeks to warn and encourage his fellow exiles and their countrymen still in Judah just preceding the end of the kingdom. This book is in the "apocalyptic" form, that is, in symbolic visions, such, for example, as a wheel within a wheel (Eze. 1:16; 10:10); the winged creatures with the faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle (Eze. 1:10); the personifi- cation of Israel and Judah as faithless wives (Ezekiel 16). The prophet also acts out some of his messages in object-lesson demonstrations his portrayal of the siege in miniature on a tile (Eze. 4:1, 2), his lying on one side and then the other for so many days, representing so many years (verses 4-6), and his dramatizations of the privations of the siege (verses 9-17), and of the departure of the exiles (Eze. 12:3-7). Ezekiel goes even further than Jeremiah in teaching the individual responsibility of the soul to God: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. And he surpasses Isaiah's brief declaration of the resurrection of the body in his graphic por- trayal of the vision of dry bones which are reclothed in flesh by the Lord's command and filled again with the breath of life. (Ezekiel 37.) This can be applied both to the spiritual resurrec- tion of Israel's hopes, and also to their resurrection from the grave, after which their restoration to their homeland is to take place. (Eze. 37:11-14.) Looking for a return from the Babylonian captivity, he outlines elaborate plans in the vision of the restored temple, plans which, because of the failure of ancient Israel, were never carried out in full detail after the Exile. Once or twice he speaks of the future kingdom under the shepherd, or "My servant David" (Ezekiel 34), and of the moral restoration the giving of hearts of flesh for hearts of stone (Eze. 11:19; 36:26), 124 PROPHETIC FAITH a figure reminiscent of Jeremiah's new covenant (Jer. 31:33). Most of his messages, however, seem to be directed primarily to the exiles of his own day. 9. GLOOM AND GLORY OF LATTER DAYS. ZECHARIAH pre- sents his message after the first return from Babylon. In several symbolic visions the judgments of the Lord upon the heathen are presented. Zechariah looks forward to the Messianic era, in which he expects many Gentiles to become converted and share in the joys of the kingdom (Zech. 2:11), which is to be established "not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). Moral uprightness is required as a condi- tion of the Messianic kingdom. (Zech. 7:9-14; 8:15-17.) Chapter 9 contains a beautiful description of the Messiah's dominion; its spiritual character is manifested in the fact that the New Testament applies it to the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. (John 12:14, 15.) Thus there is a blending of gloom and glory for the latter days. MALACHI rebukes the wrongdoing of priests and people, comparing their polluted offerings unfavorably with the offer- ings of the heathen. (Mal. 1:7-11.) The Lord whom they seek, the desired Messenger of the Covenant, will "suddenly come to His temple," but He will come in judgment. "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appear- eth? for He is like a refiner's fire." Mal. 3:1, 2. God is coming in judgment against evildoers and oppressors of the poor but He offers forgiveness if they will return to Him, and blessings if they will be faithful with the tithe. (Mal. 3:5, 7, 10.) The final chapter describes vividly "the great and dreadful day of the Lord," the day "that shall burn as an oven," consuming all the wicked, like stubble, to ashes, leaving them neither root nor branch; after this, "unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings." Such are the eschatological glimpses of the "last things" as given by the various prophets of old. Let us now turn to the more complete and comprehensive prophecies of Daniel. 125 FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT III. Daniel Projects Principles of Prophetic Interpretation The book of the prophet Daniel is much more than a prophecy; it contains symbolic prophecy, literal and prophetic interpretation, and historical accounts of events. It is inspired history, for it contains sections that explicitly record the histori- cal fulfillment of events and epochs foretold earlier in the prophetic portions. It likewise includes parts that expressly set forth the inspired interpretation given by Daniel, explaining many of these symbols in simple, literal language that cannot be misunderstood. This marvelous threefold record was penned by inspiration for all subsequent time. Some of these immediate fulfillments were assuredly under- stood and attested by men living at the time. And these clear interpretative declarations of the book, which have been read and understood by the discerning through the years, form the foundation of all subsequent fulfillments that have been recog- nized as they have come to pass. Daniel stands unique among all Old Testament prophecies in scope, comprehensiveness, and repetition for emphasis and clarity. A grasp of the basic outline of Daniel is vital to the understanding of the hand of God in history, and His control of the affairs of His church and of the nations. 1. SUMMARY OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. Chapters 1 through 6 give the narrative of Daniel's contacts with the court of Babylon. Then come the long-range prophecies. God's symbolic pictures, given through Daniel the prophet, portray the nations and the people of God in sequence, relationship, and conflict. The metal image and the shattering stone in chapter 2, the four beasts rising from the sea in chapter 7, the ram and goat battling in chapter 8, are God's portrayal of the rise and fall of nations. It is His charting of the course of empire. Then there are the prophetic time periods. In chapters 7 and 12, the "time, times, and an half" of the persecution of God's people lead up to the time of the judgment and the king- dom of God; in chapter 8, the 2300 days extend to the mystic 126 PROPHETIC FAITH cleansing of the sanctuary; and in the angel's explanation of the vision, in chapter 9, the best-known of the time prophecies the "seventy weeks" points out the time of the first advent of the Messiah and predicts the time of His death for the sake of others. In chapter 11 there is a long historical prophecy beginning with the Persian kingdom and continuing with the Macedonian kingdom and its division. In chapter 12 there is mention of 1290 days and 1335 days, and the admonitions to seal the book until the time of the end, at which time "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." - Verse 4. In these chapters the prophet plainly declares that there will be a series of four world powers from the Neo-Babylonian Empire onward. He adds that the fourth world power is to be broken up into ten smaller kingdoms that would spring up within its territory and supplant the unified parent empire. Then he declares that a different type of kingdom, which would war against God and His saints, would press its way up into the partitioned empire, and do exploits and dominate for a certain allocated time. But God's judgment would sit, and the accounts of the nations and churches would come into review. Thus all injustice and usurpation would be brought to an end, and the kingdom of God would triumph forever. 2. BABYLON DECLARED FIRST OF A SERIES OF EMPIRES. Portions of Daniel were understood contemporaneously such as the first two phases of the great metallic statue spoken of in chapter 2, which was to span the ages, clear through to "the latter days." (Dan. 2:28.) In this prophecy, which pertained to the removing of kings and the setting up of kings (verse 21), Daniel first brings back to the remembrance of Nebuchadnezzar the dream-image of a man, representing the kingdom of man in the world an image composed of four different metals of decreasing brilliance and value, but of increasing strength, with the fifth and final anatomical division, of non-adherent metal and clay, demolished finally by a stone that smote the FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 127 image on the feet, and then grew to fill the whole earth (verses 31-35). Daniel then gave the king the interpretation (verse 36), which has been discussed already in chapter 2." He explained the four metals of the image as representing Nebuchadnezzar's brilliant kingdom of Babylon and three succeeding world powers, the fourth later divided in a multiple-kingdom period (verses 39-45), and finally the demolishing stone as symbolizing the kingdom of the God of heaven, which was to be established on earth "in the days of these kings," and which was to stand forever (verse 44). (Pictorial representation on page 38.) This basic panorama of the successive world powers of prophecy has always been recognized as the ABC of all outline Bible prophecy. Of this explanation Daniel says, "The inter- pretation thereof is sure." Verse 45. And this grand outline of the empires was repeated by Daniel under a different set of symbols. In the parallel prophecy of the four beasts (Daniel 7), which are likewise interpreted as a series of four successive world powers, to be followed by the kingdom of the saints, Daniel gives additional revealing details about these kingdoms. We have - already seen in chapter 2 that the first king, or kingdom for he calls the last of the "four kings" the "fourth kingdom" (Dan. 7:17, 23) is most appropriately pictured by a lion with eagle's wings; that in the historical setting of Daniel's time this symbolism would have been as readily understood of Babylon as was the gold representing the first kingdom in the prophecy of the image.10 3. KINGDOM OF GOD TO END THE SERIES. In neither of these two prophecies the metal image and the four beasts does Daniel name the second, third, or fourth kingdoms, but he interprets the first as the contemporary Neo-Babylonian Empire.11 And in both series he sees the succession of earthly ___________________ 9 See pages 35 ff. 10 See page 41. 11 From Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's time forward. Previous powers, such as Egypt, old Babylonia, and Assyria, are not under consideration only "what should come to pass hereafter," (Dan. 2:29.) Nor does the prophecy say that there would be no world powers in the future out- 128 PROPHETIC FAITH dominions superseded by the eternal kingdom. Daniel pictures this kingdom as coming, not by natural growth, but by the direct intervention of the God of heaven; in the second prophecy he adds that the kingdom is given to the Son of man and the saints. (See Dan. 2:37, 38, 44; 7:17, 18, 27, 13, 14.) He does not expect this final kingdom to follow immediately the last and most powerful empire of the four, but after an interval after the fourth has been divided into the weakened iron-and- clay stage of the feet and toes. Or, in the more detailed sym- bolism of the fourth beast's ten horns, the fourth kingdom gives way to the ten kings, or kingdoms, among whom arises the presumptuous Little Horn power, diverse from the rest, uproot- ing three of its fellows, speaking against the Most High and persecuting the saints, thinking to change times and laws, and being allowed to hold sway "until a time and times and the dividing of time" 12 (Dan. 7:25). Only after that is the Little Horn finally destroyed in the judgment, which ushers in the eternal kingdom. (Pictorial representation on page 46.) 4. MEDO-PERSIAN KINGDOM FOLLOWS BABYLON. It is in- teresting to note that the sequence of three of the four world powers can be determined from other parts of the book. Daniel himself announced the transition from the Babylonian Empire to the second phase on that fateful night of Belshazzar's feast, when he interpreted the handwriting on the wall. The aged seer told the trembling Chaldean ruler that "God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it," and that it was henceforth "given to the Medes and Persians." Dan. 5:26, 28. That very night Belshazzar's life ended with his rule, and the Babylon-Persia sequence was established as a historical reality. So the identity of the second kingdom in the prophetic series, the Medo- Persian Empire, is here placed beyond all rightful challenge _________________ side these four, but it outlines this series of consecutive empires from Daniel's own time there- after, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, and says that the cluster of smaller kingdoms which end the series will last throughout the world's history, but will never succeed in reuniting the fragments of the fourth kingdom into another empire.
12 Daniel defines "times" as "years" in another chapter. On the phrase "after certain years" in the A.V., the margin reads, "Heb. at the end of times, even years." (Dan. 11:13.)
FROM BRITISH MUSEUM AND B1BLIOTHEQUE MATIONALE. PARIS
PROPHECIES EMPLOY COMMON NATIONAL SYMBOLS The Prophetic Portrayal of Persia. Under the Symbol of a Ram, Was Evidently to Identify, Not to Conceal Its Identity. The Prophecy Simply Used the Emblem of a Ram, Frequently Appearing on Persian Seals (Left). Coins Such as that of Alexander ihe Great of Macedon (Right), Did Not Come Into Common Use Until the Time of Darius Hystaspes
or misunderstanding. Those present understood the clear intent of Daniel's words, and saw their speedy literal fulfillment. Josephus relates that Cyrus, when he was come to the kingdom, understood his place in divine prophecy, and intelli- gently sought, as God's instrumentality, to fulfill his inspired commission. "For He [God] stirred vip the spirit of Cyrus and caused him to write throughout all Asia, 'Thus says King Cyrus. Since the Most High God has appointed me king of the habitable world, I am persuaded that He is the god whom the Israelite nation worships, for He foretold my name through the prophets and that I should build His temple in Jerusalem in the land of Judaea.' These things Cyrus knew from reading the book of prophecy which Isaiah had left behind two hundred and ten years earlier." 13 Although Josephus' story may be only a tradition, it should not be considered at all improbable that Daniel, who was given high honors under the new regime, would speak to Cyrus about prophecies to be fulfilled in his reign. We know that soon after the fall of Babylon, Daniel was thinking of Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years' captivity, and praying for the return of his people to their homeland and for the restora- tion of the temple. (Dan. 9:1, 2, 16-19.) 5. GRECIAN EMPIRE SUCCEEDS PERSIAN. Daniel outlined the first empire of his prophetic series, and so his book records as historical narrative the beginning of the Persian phase. But Daniel had already, in the third year of Belshazzar, predicted Persia's successor in the vision of the ram which battled with ___________________ 13 Josephus, Antiquities, book 11, chap. 1, sees. 1, 2, in Loeb Classical Library, "josephus, vol. 6, p. 315. CASTS FROM COIN DIV. OF BRIT. MUSEUM
GOAT SYMBOL A FAMILIAR FIGURE ON GRECIAN COINS Again and Again the Figure of a Goat, in Whole or in Part, Appears on the Reverse Side of Macedonian Coins Preserved in the British Museum. The Symbol of the Goat, for Grecia, Was Obviously Chosen by Inspiration Because It Was a Common Symbol of the Macedonian Power, and Hence Was Given to Identify and Not to Clothe With Inscrutable Mystery
the goat and fell before the speed and violence of its onslaughts. These two prophetic beasts need no further identification, for they are explicitly named in the prophecy as representing the Persian and Greek empires. (Dan. 8:20, 21.) Thus the first three in the series Babylon, Persia, and Greece are clear. But there are yet additional clues which offer highly interesting evidence that the prophetic goat was a singularly appropriate symbol in view of the use of that animal on Macedonian coins.
6. THE GOAT A FREQUENT MACEDONIAN SYMBOL. A survey of Macedonian coins is highly revealing. Barclay V. Head, in his authoritative illustrated coin catalogue covering this section of the great British Museum coin collection, reveals that Mace- donian coins bearing various likenesses of the goat were minted in different places," ranging in time from c. 500 to 146 B.C.," under the names of such famous characters as Alexander I, Perdiccas II, and Archelaus I." Sometimes the goat is pictured Greek Coins FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 131 as standing, sometimes kneeling on one knee. In other instances only the forepart of the goat appears, or just a goat's head, or perhaps two goats kneeling or fighting. It is an impressively significant series. (Reproductions appear on page 130.) Personal examination of these ancient coins in the cases of the British Museum, from which plaster-of-Paris casts were secured for reproduction here, deeply impresses one with the fact that this prophetic symbol employed in the prophecy of Daniel 8 the goat indicating Grecia was chosen because this figure was commonly used in the Macedonian period, just as the ram had sometimes been employed on the seals of Persia as its identifying emblem. (See page 129 for illustration.) The singular aptness and fidelity of these portrayals are thus lifted beyond challenge. The prophetic choice obviously was not an arbitrary or unrelated one, but was deliberately designed so that identification of the second and third of the great world powers in the prophetic series might be simple and clear. 7. THE GREEK EMPIRE DIVIDED. Then, continuing chap- ter 8, the Grecian goat's notable horn-king is superseded by four horn-divisions. "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas . four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and under- standing dark sentences, shall stand up." Dan. 8:20-23. Grecia, then, was the third in the series of Daniel's empires, and after its fourfold division17 rose that remarkable Horn power that became exceeding great and spread in three direc- tions, did exploits even against the Prince of princes, and con- tinued until it was "broken without hand." (Verses 3-12, 23-26.) And a mysterious number was mentioned 2300 days unto the cleansing of the sanctuary. (Verse 14.) But the identity of that fourth "fierce" king, or kingdom, was not yet disclosed. That ________________ 17 See page 69. FOUNDATION LAID IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 133 was yet future, and was still unidentified to Daniel. After being- informed that the time feature of the vision would cover "many days," Daniel was instructed to "shut up the vision" this time portion, and the last things. (Verse 26.) While Daniel was praying and interceding for understanding, the angel Gabriel finally came to him with the message: "I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." - Verse 22. 8. SEVENTY WEEKS INVOLVE CUTTING OFF OF MESSIAH. Seventy prophesied "weeks," declares Gabriel, were set apart for the Jews, to accomplish certain momentous events and to seal the identifying time-key of the prophecy of Daniel and anoint the most holy. He enumerates "seven weeks, and three- score and two weeks," and "one week," totaling seventy; after the seven and sixty-two have passed, the remaining "one week" sees the cutting off of the Messiah for the sake of others, and the end of the system of sacrifices in efficacy, at least in the midst of the week. (Dan. 9:24-27.) Deeply troubled over the coming sorrows of his people, Daniel is once more visited by Gabriel, who outlines in detail the literal events of the centuries, beginning with the immediate future. This outline covers the closing portion of Persian rule, the introduction of the Macedonian period (Dan. 11:2-4), the coming of that mysterious fourth kingdom though still un- named and finally the "time of trouble," just before the end (Dan. 12:1). In the latter days the seals of mystery would be removed from these later events. Men would search to and fro for the full meaning of the prophecies, and understanding would result. (Verse 4.) But meantime these mysterious latter- day events pertaining to the end were, by angelic declaration, "closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Verse 9. Such was the amazing portrayal of God's panorama of the centuries, left by Daniel for all succeeding generations, with certain clear explanations amid many hidden aspects. The clearly interpreted spots are like glowing lights among the som- ber shadows of the hidden background of prophetic mystery. 134 PROPHETIC FAITH The immediate events were clearly identified, whereas distant events were discerned in general outline, with those portions re- lating to the latter days sealed until those fateful times should be reached. Such is Daniel's sacred introduction to outline prophecy and its interpretation. It was given to be understood by reverent students of the Word when progressively fulfilled, part by part and epoch upon epoch. It was given to illuminate the path of man across the centuries, that he might know where he is in the divine plan of the ages and the general course of events to come.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED I. Three Medieval Builders of Papal Destiny In the previous chapter our attention was focused upon two of the most important factors molding medieval life monasticism and scholasticism. At the same time we realized how, in spite of their divergencies and their internal struggles, both were utilized to strengthen the crystallizing structure of the Papal Church. We now turn specifically to ecclesiasticism and to the three great architects of the medieval Papal edifice, and consequently of the growing power of the Roman Catholic Church. They are Gregory VII (.1073-1085), Innocent III (1198- 1216), and Boniface VIII (1294-1303). Despite the turbulent times, these three Popes, whose Pon- tificates were spread over a period of more than two hundred years with each separated about a hundred years from the other succeeded in erecting the enduring structure of the Roman Church as it stands to the present time. It is true that the Roman Church existed before Gregory VII, but it had a materially different physiognomy. Through Gregory its face was altered, and it became the Roman Church, the world power. Gregory left his indelible mark upon it. 1. TREMENDOUS TRANSITION HOUR IN EUROPE. The period of these two hundred years was filled with most momen- tous events. It was a time of deep religious fervor, the era of the crusades, and the establishment of the Latin kingdom in Con- 664
THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 665 stantinople. It was a period of mighty kings and emperors, as William the Conqueror and Frederick Barbarossa, Richard the Lion-hearted and Frederick II. It was the age of the first awaken- ing of nationalism. Philip the Fair of France is one of its repre- sentatives, and it marks the rise of the cities and the decline of the knights and feudal barons. It was a period when recourse was had to the notorious ecclesiastical forgeries, but also a time when, dissatisfied with the existing institutions, many started out in imitation of Christ (imitatio Christi) as mendicant friars. It was the time of a new spiritual awakening under Joachim, and of a very real end-of- the-world expectancy, around 1260, and of fearful apprehen- sions regarding the terrible times to be experienced by the coming of Antichrist and the loosing of Satan. It was a time of strange fanaticism, which flared up suddenly, when thousands of penitent sinners marched through the towns lacerating their naked backs with lashes and chains. Strong lay movements started, attempting the return to apostolic simplicity, oft inter- mingled with erroneous notions like that of the Albigenses. It was a time also when the Inquisition the first organized spy system and man hunt started in the name of Christ. It was a time when the plague visited Europe several times, decimat- ing its population, while hunger stalked the land. During these two centuries there climbed to the throne of Peter three men who proved entirely capable of facing the challenge of their times, of mastering the circumstances, and of shaping the destiny of the Church and, indeed, of the whole Western world for centuries to come, for better or for worse. 2. GREGORY'S GRANDIOSE CONCEPT OF CHURCH. The first, as noted, was Gregory VII. known as Hildebrand, .the monk of Cluny, Pope-maker and power behind the throne long before he himself took the reins into his own hands. Born near Florence and said to be of humble parentage, he went for a time to Cluny, the monastery where gathered the restless spirits who longed for a reformation of the Church. There in the solitude of the dark 666 PROPHETIC FAITH forests and in the seclusion of the cloister he dreamed his dream of the Church as the bride of Christ the King, of the Church as the executor of the divine will, the visible representative of God on earth. Therefore the Church should be recognized as the highest social order in the world higher than princes and dukes, higher than kings, higher even than the emperor. The Church, in short, should rule the world. 3. CELIBACY FIRST OF THREE RADICAL "REFORMS." But Hildebrand was not only a daydreamer; he was a practical builder. He was stern and austere, frugal in his habits, with unbending energy, and having conceived his goal, no obstacle could cause him to swerve from his objective. If the church should ever fulfill this postion on earth, she must be reformed, he reasoned. She must become a unified body, with officers worthy of this high calling. She must become an ecclesia militans, a fighting church. She must become an army, and every soldier in it must be free from the encumbering burdens of ordinary life. Therefore, as soon as Gregory was raised to the seat of Peter he began with his three great reforms. In March, 1074, at a synod in Rome, he opened the battle. He decreed strict celibacy for the priests, prohibited all future sacerdotal marriage, required mar- ried priests to dismiss their wives or cease to read mass, and ordered the laity not to attend their services. 1 Enforced celibacy is, of course, anti-Biblical, but celibacy had from ancient times been considered higher and more praiseworthy than marriage. Gregory aimed to separate the clergy more definitely from the world, to withdraw them from family squabbles and dis- putes, to disentangle bishops from the state of private warfare, and to detach every minister of the Church from all earthly bonds, so that he could give his sole allegiance to that one great spiritual body, the Church. When this decree became known throughout the Western world, a storm broke out all over Europe. In Germany, Gregory was called a heretic, and a mad- __________________ 1 David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 1. p. 40 THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 667 man. In France his legates were beaten and spit upon. In Spain he found very strong resistance, and even in Rome the decree could be enforced only with the greatest difficulty." But Gregory remained unperturbed. With an iron will he enforced his decree. When princes and bishops were unwilling to enforce it, he roused the laity against the married clergy until they were driven out from their parishes, often tortured and mutilated, and their legal wives branded as harlots and their children as bastards.3 Gregory's will prevailed; celibacy became an established fact in the Roman Catholic Church, and the priest's sole attach- ment thenceforth became God and His representative on earth, the Church. The priest became a pliable, willing instrument in the hand of whoever wielded the power in the church. 4. SIMONY AND LAY INVESTITURE ATTACKED. His second reform was directed against the evil practice of simony; that is, selling church offices to the highest bidder a practice against which many popes had fought in vain. Closely connected with this was Gregory's third reform, the abolishment of lay investi- ture. In this way Gregory thought to eradicate simony forever, and at the same time to emancipate the Church from the bond- age of the secular powers. According to the feudal system, which was built upon land tenure and mutual obligation of lord and vassal, the church, which often owned a considerable portion of the land, was bound to bear the burden which such land tenure entailed. Kings and secular lords considered themselves as patrons of the church, and claimed the right of appointing and investing its officers. Thus the bishop became the vassal of the lord, had to swear allegiance to him, had to serve at the court, and had to furnish troops for the defense of the country. In those appointments the king was often influenced by political, financial, and family considerations. And often men not at all fit for the priestly office were made bishops and abbots. __________________ - Flick, op. cit., pp. 453. 454. 3 David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 1, p. 42. 668 PROPHETIC FAITH Many churchmen before Gregory considered this state of affairs deplorable, but it was for Gregory to snap these fetters and free the church from the bondage of the state, to make bishops and clergy subservient to the popes alone, and to claim the property of the bishoprics as the property of the Church. From this it was only one step to proclaiming that the land is God's, and there- fore the representative of God on earth should invest kings and emperors with their divine prerogatives. II. Classic Example of Pope's Overbearance This question of lay investiture quite naturally led Gregory into a head-on collision with the emperor. But Gregory was pre- pared for it. We all know what followed. Henry IV of Germany flatly refused to acquiesce to this papal demand. He pronounced the deposition of Gregory at the Synod of Worms in 1076. How- ever, he did not have the power to follow up his threat, as he was himself excommunicated by the pope, and all his subjects were absolved from their allegiance to him. Here are the proud words of the "vicar" of Christ:
"I now declare in the name of the omnipotent God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that Henry, son of the Emperor Henry, is deprived of his kingdom of Germany and Italy. I do this by thy authority and in defense of the honor of thy Church, because he has rebelled against it. He who attempts to destroy the honor of the Church should be deprived of such honor as he may have held. He has refused to obey as a Christian should; he has not returned to God from whom he had wandered; he has had dealings with excommunicated persons; he has done many iniquities; he has despised the warnings which, as thou art witness, I sent to him for his salvation; he has cut himself off from thy Church, and has attempted to rend it asunder; therefore, by thy authority, I place him under the curse. It is in thy name that I curse him, that all people may know that thou art Peter, and upon thy rock the Son of the living God has built his Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." 4 As the German Diet decided on the forfeiture of the throne, if Henry could not clear himself by February, 1077, he was forced to capitulate. Hearing that Gregory was on his way to
__________________ 4 Ogg, op, cit., p. 273; text in Michael Doeberl, Monumenta Germaniae Selecta, vol. 3, p. 26; see also Hardoum, op. cit., vol. 6, col. 1566; and Migne, PL, vol. 148, cols. 74, 75.
THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 669 Germany to force the issue, Henry hurried over the mountains with his wife and infant son, in one of the coldest winters, through a hostile country, and waited three days bareheaded and barefooted within the walls of Canossa, in Tuscany, Italy, before he was absolved. Gregory then revoked the ban of excom- munication, and Henry took an oath fully acknowledging the Papal claims." Gregory remained the victor, yet he too had overstepped his actual powers. Rebellion was rife against him, kings and barons turned away from him, and he had to flee from his eternal Rome. A counter-pope was proclaimed, and Gregory died in exile, a bitter man. But in spite of his personal misfortune, the idea he had proclaimed and for which he had fought was never lost; it became the guiding star for the Roman church ever after. III. Assumptions Expressed in "Dictatus Papae" Gregory's conception of the nature of papal power and of the Papacy's destined place in the world is expressed in the Dictatus Papae, or the Dictates of Hildebrand. This was based on the premise that if the temporal states were too weak to be capable of rendering justice, the church should assume the management of Civil government, with the right to coerce or to depose sovereigns.6 These pretentious points were not written by Gregory himself, as their date has been fairly well established as 1087, but in spite of the uncertainty of their authorship, they represent Pope Gregory's views as accurately as if they were written by his own hand. Here are some of the amazing claims and assumptions: "1. That the Roman Church was founded by God alone. "2. That the Roman bishop alone is properly called universal. "3. That lie alone has the power to depose bishops and reinstate them. "4. That his legate, though of inferior rank, takes precedence of
_________________
5 Gregory's own description of the episode; translated into English, is available in Hender-
n, Selected Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, p. 385-388
Ogg. op. cit., pp. 275-278
6 Ogg, op. cit., pp. 261, 262.
670 PROPHETIC FAITH all bishops in council, and may give sentence of deposition against them. "5. That the Pope has the. power to depose [bishops] in their absence. "6. That we should not even stay in the same house with those who are excommunicated by him.... "8. That he alone may use the imperial insignia. "9. That the Pope is the only person whose feet are kissed by all princes. . . . "11. That the name which he bears belongs to him alone. "12. That he has the power to depose emperors. "13. That he may if necessity require, transfer bishops from one see to another. . . . "16. That no general synod may be called without his consent. "17. That no action of a synod, and no book, may be considered canonical without his authority. "18. That his decree can be annulled by no one, and that he alone may annul the decrees of any one. "19. That he can be judged by no man. "20. That no one shall dare to condemn a person who appeals to the apostolic See. . . . "22. That the Roman Church has never erred, nor ever, by the testimony of Scripture, shall err, to all eternity. . . . "26. That no one can be considered Catholic who does not agree with the Roman Church. "27. That he [the Pope] has the power to absolve the subjects of unjust rulers from their oath of fidelity."* IV. Innocent III, the Master of Christendom One hundred years had to pass before another pope of equal caliber to Gregory VII ascended the papal throne. He was a young man only thirty-seven years of age from the illustri- ous family of the Count of Segni, and named Lothario. He was destined to become Innocent III, the most powerful of all the pontiffs and the achiever of that daring goal of theocratic rule over all the world which Gregory VII had envisioned. Under him the Papacy reached its culmination the peak of control- ling power. He had been ordained a priest but a single day prior to the placing of the tiara upon his head, having previously ________________ 7 Dictatus Papae, in Ogg, op. cit., pp. 262-264. Text in Doeberl, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 17. 18. NOTE: It should be observed that Justinian's recognition of the Roman bishop s headship of all the churches is here reiterated in (2); also, the exclusive use of the imperial insignia, based on the "Donation of Constantine" in (8) that this is the first claim to exclusive right to the use of the title Pope, once applied to all bishops (J. H. Robinson, Readings in European History, vol. 1, p. 274},, in (11); and that claim is explicitly made to authority over the highest temporal power, in (12). THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 671 served as cardinal, archdeacon, and chief adviser to the Pope. Innocent III ruled from 1198 to 1216. He had studied law in Paris and Bologna, and was not only a conspicuous scholar, but a man born to rule. It has been said that Gregory was the Julius Caesar, but Innocent III was the Augustus of the Papal empire. The ambitious scheme that Gregory VII had projected, Innocent actually brought to realization. In fact, in sheer audac- ity he surpassed Gregory. Under him the see of Peter became the throne of the world, and from his chancery letters to kings and rulers, cardinals and bishops went forth almost daily. He brought all Europe under his heel. "Order, method, unswerving resolution, inexorable determination, undaunted self-assertion, patience, vigilance, and cunning, all co-operating to the accomplishment of a single well-defined object and that object the unlimited extension of the political power of the Pontiff of Rome had achieved a signal triumph over the irregular, the selfish, and the impulsive political opposition of the secular powers." 8 He contended that not only the whole church was entrusted to Peter ° but the whole world as well. That is, the Pope was not only the vicar of Christ, but even the vicar of God on earth 10 thereby meaning that through Christ spiritual power over souls was bestowed upon him, but as Vicar of God, who is the ruler of the universe, temporal power as well was vested in him. And to enhance this claim he used, with tremendous effect, two terrible weapons at his disposal. One was excommunication; the other, the interdict. 1. TERRORS OF EXCOMMUNICATION AND INTERDICT. Ex- communication meant that a private individual who came under its condemnation was thereby made a social outcast. None was allowed to give him shelter, and he was not only excluded from all legal protection but was likewise deprived of the sacraments of the church. And as life eternal, according to medieval belief, was possible only by partaking of the sacraments, the person ex-
________________
8 Greenwood, Cathedra Petri, vol. 5, pp. 321-368, quoted in Flick, op. cit., p. 566.
9 Innocent III, Letter to Patriarch of Constantinople, in Migne, PL, vol. 214, cols.
759, 760.
10 Innocent III, Letter to Bishop Faventin, in Migne, PL, vol. 214. col. 292.
672 PROPHETIC FAITH communicated was thereby consigned to perdition. By now the life of the layman, whether king or serf, was completely in the hands of his father confessor. The other weapon was the interdict, which was directed against a city, a region, or a kingdom. It was used to force a ruler to obedience. All religious rites, except baptism and confession, were suspended. It practically stopped all civil government, for the courts of justice were closed, wills could not be made out, and public officials of all kinds were forbidden to function. It lay like a dread curse over the land or the city. 11 Under Innocent it began to be employed for political purposes as well. This is illustrated in the well-known Papal conflicts with Philip Augus- tus of France and John of England, both of whom were brought to submission through interdicts, the latter being deposed and forced to surrender his kingdom to the Pope and receive it back under annual payment as a feudal fief held in vassalage to the Pope. 12 2. SUMMONS FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL (1215). But even more important than his almost unrestricted political sway over Europe, were his unceasing endeavors to increase the religious power of the Latin Church. In this field the crowning event of his life was the summoning of the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215, the most splendid gathering of its kind held for many centuries. Four hundred and twelve bishops and eight hundred abbots and priors attended, as well as a large number of delegates representing absent prelates. Representatives of Em- peror Frederick II, Emperor Henry of Constantinople, and the kings of England, France, Aragon, Hungary, and Jerusalem, and other crowned heads were likewise present. 13 3. TRANSUBSTANTIATION ESTABLISHED. Among many other actions two of utmost importance were taken. One was the exact definition and canonization of the dogma of transubstantiation. Thenceforth any divergent definition of the dogma of the _______________ 11 Flick, op. cit., p. 578. 12 Ibid., pp. 551-555; Ogg, op. cit., p. 380. 13 David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 1, pp. 174, 175.
THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 673 Eucharist would be heresy. The other was the legalization of the Inquisition." Transubstantiation means that the actual body and blood of Christ are truly contained in the sacraments of the altar, under the mere forms of bread and wine, the bread being tran- substantiated into the body and the wine into the blood of Christ by divine power exercised by the priest. 15 This is not the place to enlarge upon the subtle reasoning of the churchmen over the fine points of this dogma. However, the end result stands out clearly it increased the power of the priest to its utmost limit, and made him the sole mediator between God and the people. This was because his ministering hands alone were regarded as able to work this supreme miracle, to transform the bread- and the wine into the real body and blood of Jesus Christ, re- creating, so to speak, the Son of God in order that the faithful might partake of His real body, without which there was no salvation. Thus, in reality, the "keys" of heaven and hell were placed in the hands of the priest. That is precisely what the church has been teaching ever since. In the works of St. Alphon- sus de Liguori, of the eighteenth century, we read: "The dignity of the priest is also estimated from the power that he has over the real and the mystic body of Jesus Christ. "With regard to the power of priests over the real body of Jesus ' Christ, it is of faith that when they pronounce the words of consecration the Incarnate Word has obliged himself to obey and to come into their hands under the sacramental species. We are struck with wonder when we hear that God obeyed the voice of Josue. . . . But our wonder should be far greater when we find that in obedience to the words of his priests Hoc est Corpus Meum. God himself descends on the altar, that he comes wherever they call him, and as often as they call him, and places himself in their hands, even though they should be his enemies. And after having come, he remains, entirely at their disposal; they move him as they please, from one place to another; they may. it they wish, shut him up in the taber- nacle, or expose him on the altar, or carry him outside the church; they may if they choose, eat his flesh, and give him for the food of others. ... " 'Never [ here he quotes St. Laurence Justinian ] did divine goodness give such power to the angels. The angels abide by the order of God, but _________________ " Flick, op. cit.,p. 564. 15 David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 1, p. 714.
674 PROPHETIC FAITH the priests take him in their hands, distribute him to the faithful, and par- take of him as food for themselves.' " M 4. THE INQUISITION ESTABLISHED BY COUNCIL ACTION. The action second in importance taken by the Fourth Lateran Council, under Innocent's guiding hand, was the canonical es- tablishment of the Inquisition, or the systematizing of perse- cution of heresy by council action, the work of extermination being denominated "sacred," for the prosecutors were called the "Holy Office." The fight against heretics had been a long-estab- lished practice in the Roman Church. But now it was thor- oughly fixed by the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council. Previously the Synod of Tours in 1163 had introduced the be- ginnings of inquisitorial methods, and had forbidden Catholics to mingle with the Albigenses. But it was left for Innocent III to institute the "Holy Office," as the Inquisition was called. In his famous opening sermon at this notable council of 1215, Innocent employed the vivid symbolism of Ezekiel 9 the man clad in linen applying to the Pope passing through the church and seeking out the righteous, to set a mark upon them. And the six men, with the slaughter weapons, were the bishops who punish all not thus marked with the ban and with death. 17 Having thus clearly indicated the action he wished taken, Innocent III opened the third canon adopted with an anathema upon heretics of all names. It enjoins princes to swear to protect the faith, on pain of losing their lands. The same indulgences were proffered to those taking part in the extermination of here- tics as for those participating in the Crusades. Bishops were in- structed to make the rounds of their dioceses at least once a year for the express purpose of searching out heresy.18 Although presumably acting upon the principle of keep- ing the faith pure, the Church assumed a power which did not belong to her. She set brother against brother. She invaded the sanctity of the realm of conscience, and set in motion a move- ______________ 16 Alphonsus de Liguori, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, pp. 26, 27. 17 Innocent III, Sermon in the 4th Lateran Council, in Migne, PL, vol. 217, cols. 676-678. 18 Fourth Lateran Council, canon 3, _in H. J. Schroeder, Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils, pp. 242-244: see also Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal, A Source Book for Mediaeval History, pp. 208-215; David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 1, p. 520. THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 675 ment that resulted in the indescribable agony of countless mil- lions, and the shedding of veritable streams of blood. The very result as became evident in subsequent times was extermination of the Albigenses, to be followed by the slaughter of unnum- bered Waldenses, of the Moriscos in Spain, and later of thou- sands of Protestants over Europe. And all this in the name of Christ, the most compassionate! 5. LEAVES CHURCH AT PINNACLE OF POWER. Shortly after the close of the council Innocent died, being only fifty-six years of age, but leaving the papal church at the very summit of her power, and having strengthened her foundations as far as earthly wisdom could devise. Thus by the time of Innocent's death the theocratic principle was fully established. It was then generally conceded that the bishop of Rome was the representative of God on earth, that the Pope and priesthood really constituted the visible church, and that the title of the church to its possessions was invulnerable. It was likewise conceded that the Pope is the ultimate judge in all spiritual matters, and the dispenser of temporal honors, the sole guardian of the faith and the supreme judge of secular matters, with power to repress and extirpate gainsayers." "No other wearer of the Papal tiara has left behind him so many results pregnant with good and ill for the future of the Church. Under him the Papacy reached the culmination of its secular power and preroga- tives. The principles of sacerdotal government were fully and intelligently elaborated. The code of ecclesiastical law was completed and enforced. All the Christian princes of Europe were brought to recognise the over- lordship of the successor of St. Peter. All the clergy obeyed his will as the one supreme law. Heresy was washed out in blood. The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals and the dreams of Hildebrand had been realised. Yet in this very greatness, wealth, and strength, were the germs of weakness and disease which were eventually to overthrow the great structure reared by Innocent III. and his predecessors." 6. INNOCENT'S INTERPRETATION OF "BEAST" AND "666." A word as to Innocent's pontifical interpretation of prophecy ________________ 19 Milman, Latin Christianity, book 9, chap. 1, vol. 5, pp. 168-175; David Hume, The History of England, vol. 1, chap. 11. M Flick, op. cit.. pp. 566, 567. 676 PROPHETIC FAITH is in order. In his Convocatory Bull, to this Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, Innocent gave new impetus to the crusaders by stating that Mohammed was clearly the Man of Sin, and that his kingdom would last 666 years. Here is Innocent's interpre- tation: "There has arisen a certain son of perdition, the false prophet Mahomet [Machometus], who by worldly allurements and carnal pleasures has turned many from the truth; and though his imposture still continues to flourish, yet we trust in the Lord, who has already granted us a sign for good, that the end of this Beast is drawing near; for his number, according to the Apocalypse of John, is limited to 666, and will soon be brought to an end by the operation of the sevenfold Spirit, who, with the flame of charity, will rekindle the hearts of the faithful, now growing cold: for of that number nearly six hundred years are now elapsed." 21 Quite apart from the truth or error of interpretation in- volved, two points should be noted in passing: First, Innocent spelled Mohammed's name Machometus, showing that he was not trying to derive the name from the numerical value of the letters as did others with "Maomet" after the revival of Greek learning but made the 666 mean years. Second, he interpreted the Beast not as an individual of brief duration, but as a power and empire, both secular and spiritual, already in existence some 600 years contrary to the usual Catholic teaching con- cerning the Beast as Antichrist, conceived to be a single indi- vidual. And, third, Innocent places the beginning of the Beast's period back in the seventh century, instead of wholly in the future for three and a half years, as had then become customary. Such is an interesting interpretation of the Papacy's most power- ful pope. Thus the age of Innocent III ended. He was never sur- passed by any of his successors. Perhaps Boniface VIII surpassed him, although not in greatness, but only in sheer audacity. This was the peak of papal achievement in world affairs, which very attainment drove men to a restudy of inspired prophecy to find the meaning of it all. ___________________ 21 Enelish translation in Charles Maitland, op. cit., p. 325: for the original Latin Innocent III, Regesta, book 16, year 1213, Letter 28 in Migne, "PL, Vol. 216, col. 818 THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 677 V. Boniface VIII Sets the Capstone of Presumption Nearly another century had passed since the reign of Inno- cent III. Papal power was at its culmination point, the church of Christ virtually ruling the world with a rod of iron. But that very assumption of world rulership made many wonder whether it were still the true church of Christ, or whether another power had taken possession of the church, and was now ruling under a pious guise. Movements like those of Joachim of Floris, the Spirituals, and the Waldenses had sprung into prominence, looking and earnestly hoping for a new age, or a reformation of the church, or a new beginning in simplicity and purity. Finally, on April 4, 1294, the hermit Peter di Murrhone was raised to the papal throne and occupied it as Celestine V. Clad in his monkish habit, and riding on an ass, he proceeded from his mountain retreat to Aquila, where he was crowned.22 He was a person of simplicity and of great humility, his sole desire being the salvation of the souls of men. All the spifitually- minded at this time hoped that now the longed-for papa angeli- cus had appeared. But, alas, Celestine was unable to cope with the wickedness of the world and with the intrigues and machina- tions that always surrounded the see of Rome. He soon sensed his incompetence, and thinking that he might even lose his own soul, he abdicated, an unheard-of step for a pope to take. 1, BONIFACE MOUNTS PAPAL THRONE IN SPLENDOR. The one who followed Celestine V was an old man, nearly eighty years of age, yet full of vigor, assumptive and vainglorious, over- bearing and implacable, and destitute of spiritual ideals. He was from the house of Gaetani, and carved his place in history under the name of BONIFACE VIII (1294-1303). He rode to the Latcraii not on an ass but on a white paltrey, with a crown on his head, robed in full pontificals. - Two sovereigns walked by his side the kings of Naples and Hungary. The festivities were of unusual splendor." ________________ 22 David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 1, p. 208. 23 Ibid., part 2, p. 10. 678 PROPHETIC FAITH Putting forward claims that surpassed in arrogance those of either Gregory VII or Innocent III, he found it impossible to make them good. Citing Jeremiah 1:10 as authority for disin- heriting kings and transferring kingdoms, he claimed to be the final arbiter of the disputes of Christendom. In the "preamble of a Bull giving away the island of Sardinia," Boniface states: "Being set above kings and princes by a divine pre-eminence of power, we dispose of,them as we think fit." " 2. PAPACY'S MOST PRESUMPTUOUS BULL. His were the most presumptuous claims ever made by any pontiff, not so much that these were substantially new, but never before were they set forth with such clearness and actual bluntness as appears in Boniface's famous bull, Unam Sanctam. In it, says Schaff, "the arrogance of the papacy finds its most naked and irritating expression." ^ This bull was issued by Boniface on November 18, 1302, during his historic struggle with Philip the Fair, of France, though the struggle had begun back in 1296. And although it was written in powerful phrasings, it did not have the desired effect upon the stubborn king of France, as will be noted shortly.26 3. UNPARALLELED CLAIMS OF UNAM SANCTAM. This bull, in fact, establishes the authority of the Papacy over princes in its extreme form. It gives her the full right to wield both swords, and it proclaims everyone outside the Roman Church to be a heretic. Here are some of those high claims given verbatim. The Unam Sanctam begins thus: "Unam sanctam ecclesiam catholicam et ipsam apostolican urgente fide credere cogimur et tenere, . . . extra quam nec salus est, nec remissio peccatorum." "Urged on by our faith, we are obliged to believe and hold that there is one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. . . . Outside of her there is no salvation nor remission of sins." 27 ____________________ 24 Decretals of Gregory, book 1, title 33, chap. 6, translated in Salmon, Infallibility, p. 461. 25 David S. Schaff, op. cit., part 2, p. 26. 26 Oswald J. Reichel, The See of Rome in the Middle Ages, pp. 275-278. 87 The Latin, as well as the English translation, is taken from David S, Schaff, op. cit., part 2, pp. 25-28 (see also Corpus Juris Canonici, Extravagantes Communes, book 1, title 8, chap. 1), THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 679 The seeond paragraph of the English translation continues: "That in her and within her power are two swords, we are taught in the Gospels, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword. For when the Apostles said, 'Lo, here,' that is, in the Church, are two swords, the Lord did not reply to the Apostles 'it is too much,' but 'it is enough.' It is certain that whoever denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter, hearkens ill to the words of the Lord which he spake, 'Put up thy sword into its sheath.' Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword; the latter is to be used for the Church, the former by the Church; the former by the hand of the priest, the latter by the hand of princes and kings, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest. . . . "But this authority, although it be given to a man, and though it be exercised by a man, is not a human but a divine power given by divine word of mouth to Peter and confirmed to Peter and to his successors by Christ himself. . . . Whoever, therefore, resists this power so ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God, unless perchance he imagine two,. principles to exist, as did Manichaeus, which we pronounce false and heretical." 28 And then comes the final climactic statement: "Porro subesse Romano Pontifici OMNI HUMANAE CREATURAE decla- ramus dicimus, definimus et pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis." "Furthermore, that EVERY HUMAN CREATURE is subject to the Roman Pontiff, this We declare, say, define, and pronounce to be alto- gether necessary to salvation." 29 4, CLAIMS CHAMPIONED TO THIS DAY. Through the issu- ance of this bull the guiding principles of the church of Rome were fully set forth. It was not merely an outburst of medieval" pompousness in bombastic grandiloquence, but a bull that the Roman church is proud to claim as declaring her basic principles to this very day. In the Catholic Encyclopedia we find: "The question has been raised whether it be lawful for the Church, not merely to sentence a delinquent to physical penalties, but itself to ____________________ 28 Ibid., pp. 26, 27. The Latin is on pages 27, 28 as follows: "In hac eiusaue potestate duos esse gladios. spiritualem videlicet, et temporalem evangelicis dictis instruimur. Nam dicentibiis Apostolis: Ecce gladii duo hic [Luke 22:38], in ecclesia scilicet, cum apostoli loquerentur, non respondit Dominiis, nimis esse, satis. Certe qui in potestate Petri temporalem gladium esse negat, male verbum attendit Domini proferentis: Converte gladium tuum in vaginam. [Matt. 26:52]. Uterque ergo est in potestate ecclesiae, spiritualis scilicet gladius et materialis. Sed is quidem pro ecclesia, ille vero ab ecclesia exercendus, ille sacerdotis, is manu regum et militum, sed ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis. . . . "Est autem haec auctoritas etsi data sit homini, et exerceatur per hominem non humana, sed potius divina potestas, ore divino Petro data, sibique suisque successoribus in ipso Christo. . . . Quicunque igitur huic potestati a Deo sic ordinatae resistit, Dei ordinationi resistit, nisi duo. sicut Manichaeus, fingat esse principia quod falsum et haereticum jndicamus," 29 Ibid., pp. 28, 27. (Small capitals not in the original.)
680 PROPHETIC FAITH inflict these penalties. As to this, it is sufficient to note that the right of the Church to invoke the aid of the civil power to execute her sentences is expressly asserted by Boniface VIII in the Bull 'Unam Sanctam.' "30 5. CLAIMS PREROGATIVES OF CAESAR. Boniface had his legates all over Europe, and in his political deals he sought to carry into practice what he had set down in writing. When the ambassadors of Albert I, the newly elected German emperor, requested the papal sanction, Boniface VIII is said to have received them, seated on a throne, having a crown on his head and wearing a sword. He exclaimed, "I, I am the emperor." 31 Is it to be wondered at that the prophecy of Daniel concerning the Little Horn speaking great things was already finding a new and ready explanation? 32 6. ANAGNI BECOMES COUNTERPART TO CANOSSA. But in the conflict with Philip the Fair, of France, Boniface went too far, and met his match. Philip was not disposed to give way to the papal demands. Before Anagni, Boniface's native city to which he had withdrawn with his cardinals to escape the sum- mer heat of Rome Philip's keeper of the seals appeared at the head of a troop of armed men, and the cry resounded, "Death to Pope Boniface! Long live the King of France!" The people sided with the soldiers, and the cardinals fled in terror. Boniface, however, put on the stole of St. Peter, placed the imperial crown upon his head, and with the keys of St. Peter in one hand and the cross in the other, planted himself on the papal throne. The people soon reversed themselves, the French were driven out, and Boniface was again at liberty; but never again did he have such extensive sway over the earthly rulers. 33 So the decline of the medieval Papacy as the supreme ruler and arbiter of Europe really began with Boniface VIII. Could his ambitious claims have been made good, the power of the empire would have shifted over to the Papacy, with supremacy _________________ 30 G. H. Joyce, 'Pope', The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12 p. 266 31 David S. Schaff, op. cil., part 2, p. 13. 32 See pages 796 ff. 33 Reichel, op. cil., pp. 272-278.
THE SUMMIT OF PAPAL POWER ATTAINED 681 over the state system of Europe. But it was not to be. Anagni was the dramatic counterpart to Canossa.34 In 1300 Boniface had also established the jubilee year, in which heaps of gold and silv.er were brought in by the pilgrims in the hope of gaining indulgences. This abuse was aggravated by the frauds that were soon introduced into the traffic. VI. Papal Exploits Induce Prophetic Application It was during these epochal centuries of the Middle Ages, when the power, of the Papacy was mounting ever higher and higher, its spiritual claims more extravagant, its rule more intolerant, and its audacious assumptions more and more daring, that a new concept of its character began to dawn on an increas- ing number of clerics in different lands. The papal theory that made the pope alone the represent- ative of God on earth, the overlord of emperors, was claimed through succession from Peter,35 and supported by arguments fioin the power of the keys, the forged Donation of Constantine, the coronation of Pepin and of Charlemagne, and from such figures as sun and moon, body and soul. "It was upheld by Nicholas I., Hildebrand., Alexander III., Innocent III., and culminated with Boniface VIII. at the jubilee of 1300 when, seated on the throne of Constantine, girded with the imperial sword, wearing a crown, and waving a sceptre, he shouted to the throng of loyal pilgrims: 'I am Caesar I am Emperor.' " 34 It was this unveiling of the Papacy's real character and obvious aims that caused spiritually-minded monks and abbots, as well as bishops and archbishops, to cry out, one after another, against these unconcealable papal departures from earlier sim- plicity and purity. It was these that impelled strong men to protest her advancing encroachments upon the rights of men and the prerogatives of God, and eventually to apply increas- ingly to her those propiietic symbols such as the Mystery of Iniquity, Man of Sin, Beast, Babylon, Harlot, and Antichrist. ________________ 34 Ibid., pp. 409, 410, 277. 35 James T. Shotwell and Louise R. Loomis. The See of Peter, pp. xxiii, xxiv. For the early development of the Petrine theory, see the source documents and discussions comprising the whole volume. M. Flick, op. cit., p. 413.
682 PROPHETIC FAITH It was during this peak of the Papacy that we shall find Eber- hard calling the see of Rome the fateful Little Horn of the prophet Daniel, in chapter 7, which is described as overthrowing kings, treading down the whole earth, wearing out the saints, and speaking "great words against the most High." One after another among the most learned and godly of her sons with hearts breaking because of her unconcealable departures, and minds horrified by her bold trampling of the right and her relentless drift from God not only spoke out against it all, but wrote it down in searing words, that all men might read and heed their application of those vivid symbols and epithets to the now clearly corrupted church of Rome. These increasing voices we shall note with considerable fullness in the remaining chapters of this volume and still further in Volume II. Furthermore, this rising tide of protest was found not only within the church scattered all the way from Britain in the north down to Italy in the south, and from France in the west clear across the expansive face of Europe but outside, among such dissentients as the Waldenses, who had about the clearest perception of all, as will shortly be seen. And even among the Jews the conviction came to be expressed by one famous Jew, Don Isaac Abravanel, before the Reformation had formulated its clear position, that the Little Horn of Daniel 7 was none other than the "rule of the Pope." 37 Such was the threefold cord of testimony to the prophetic significance of the Papacy. So it was clearly the audacious acts and mounting arrogance of the Papacy herself that drew forth these indicting applications of prophecy to her ambitious career. It can therefore be sum- marized that it was the cumulative effect of the Pontificates of Gregory VII, Innocent III, and Boniface VIII that brought about a new phase of prophetic interpretation, which now cen- tered in the identification of the Antichrist of prophecy under its multiple names, which were all alike applied to one and the same power the Roman Papacy. _________________ 37 See Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, pp. 223-229.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO The Antichrist a System, Not an Individual The preceding four chapters have carried the survey of Joachimite writers to the peak of development in the second generation of Spirituals, who around 1300 were proclaiming the fulfillment of Apocalyptic prophecies in their own day and the near future. The reversal of the Tichonius-Augustine tra- dition was complete in the Joachimites, the historical view of prophetic interpretation was in the ascendant, and the finger of prophecy was being pointed at the worldly Church, the monastics, and even the Popes. But this chapter must pause for a backward look before going on to consider the attitudes of certain groups outside the main body of the Church the reforming and anti-sacerdotal heretics and schismatics who had gained momentum and were increasingly clashing with ecclesiastical authority by the thir- teenth century, and who, driven underground, would never- theless seep later into the springs which were to feed the Reformation. We must turn back to look at some aspects of ecclesiastical and political development which had a bearing on both the Joachimite movements and the schismatic tenden- cies of the time. Even as the maturing power of the Papacy neared its peak, as Rome was perfecting its organization, its canon law and its Inquisition, and fastening the supreme control of its priest- hood, through spiritual penalties, on all Christendom, there 786 787 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL emerged a titanic struggle for supremacy between the popes and the emperors. 1 This struggle, with first one and then the other antagonist in the ascendancy, formed part of the back- ground of the Joachimite prophetic exposition, and at the same time it gave rise to still another development in prophetic in- terpretation one which, along with the Joachimite emphasis on the year-day principle, pointed toward the later pre-Refor- mation and Reformation views regarding the historical Papacy. I. Papal Departures Awaken New Suspicions In previous chapters we have observed how the Roman church consolidated her positions, and how she came very close to attaining her ambitious aim of transforming the Christian world into a close-knit theocracy, ruled by the Pope. When, however, in the course of political events and general develop- ments, the national states of Europe deprived her of her final victory, she had, nevertheless, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, established well-defined guiding principles for all her future activities. Her attitude toward all problems con- cerning church policy became fixed, and has since that time undergone only very minor changes. 1. FORGERIES PERMEATE CANON LAW. Mention should be made, in this connection, of the famous Decretum Gratiani (Decretum of Gratian). This work of the Benedictine monk, Gratian, was issued about 1150 from the University of Bologna, Europe's leading law school. It thenceforth became the stand- ard textbook, or manual, for the guidance of Roman Catholic theologians. For six centuries it was the court of appeal on all questions of canon law, just as Protestants appeal to Holy Scrip- ture. The growth of canon law extended over centuries, and its sources are as multiform as are those of Roman civil law. These embrace the Scriptures, the early pseudo-apostolic writings, the
_____________________ 1 See chapter 27.
788 PROPHETIC FAITH traditions of the primitive Christian community, the writings of the Fathers, together with ecclesiastical customs and most important of all, the decretals of the popes and the decrees of the councils. Hrst, these collections were assembled in historical se- quence. Then, in time, they were brought into topical arrange- ment. And after the time of Charlemagne gaps were often filled with citations from forged documents. The two best known among such forgeries were the 'False Decretals' of Isidore of Seville and the 'Donation of Constantine'. Beginning with the tenth century, many such compilations of canon law had been made, but all were superseded by the famous Decretum Gra- tiani, which accomplished for canon law what Peter Lombard's Sentences have done for theology.2 Gratian's work was soon supplemented by various compi- lations, and these in turn were superseded by the codification made under order of Gregory IX, in 1234. This codification preserved Gratian's Decretum intact. Arranged in five books, it became the Corpus Juris Canonici (Body of Canon Law). A new and authentic edition, decreed by the Council of Trent, and completed in 1580, was introduced by these words of Pope Eugenius III, in a Papal bull: "It shall not be lawful to make any addition to this work, or to change or transpose anything in it, or add any interpretation to it; but as it is now printed in this our city of Rome, let it be preserved uncorrupt for ever." 3 No single book has exercised greater influence in the Roman Church, its system of laws constituting the Papacy in essence. Yet Pennington shows that of 107 alleged decretal epistles of Popes of the first four centuries, eighty-four were forgeries, with only twenty-three genuine. Gratian has quoted as authority sixty-five of the forgeries and one of the genuine epistles, basing 324 canons on the forgeries and 11 canons on __________________ 2 David S. Schaff, The Middle Ages, part 1, pp. 765, 766; G. K. Brown, Italy and the Reformation to 1550, p. 10. 3 Pennington, Epochs, p. 71. 789 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL the genuine!' 4 Such is the amazing picture presented by this Decretum. 2. PAPAL ARROGANCE BRINGS NEW PROTESTS. The per- sistent assumption of the Roman Church of being the su- preme force in ruling the world, and the highest authority in deciding not only spiritual but purely worldly matters brought the Church, by the very nature of the case, into con- flict with her own primitive positions. The higher she rose in worldly power, the farther she departed from her earlier spir- itual inheritance. And men in all walks of life began to see the vast discrepancy between the teachings of Jesus and His sim- ple life dedicated to the service of humanity and pulsating with the divine stream of love and the pompous behavior of the professed Vicars of Christ, who used political devices of all de- scriptions to enhance their power, and employed fire and sword to annihilate opponents and dissenters. The more courageous of these men spoke out loudly against the abuses of the hierarchy and yearned for a reform of the Church or for a new age to come. These movements in the church we encountered in the preceding three chapters. This entire development likewise definitely shifted the accent in prophetic interpretation of certain of the figures in Daniel and the Apocalypse, especially those referring to Antichrist. We have noticed that all through the earlier part of the Middle Ages, almost without exception, Antichrist was antici- pated to be the personification of all satanic powers. He was also expected to come from the East, to rule for three and a half literal years. Under him the most gruesome persecution of the church would finally occur, with his destruction at the ushering in of the great judgment day. 3. GUIBERT OF NOGENT ON ANTICHRIST. The early Cru- saders, for example, strongly believed that they were fulfilling a divine mission by establishing a Christian kingdom in Jeru- salem, and thereby hastening the coming of Antichrist, and
________________ 4 Ibid., p. 71.
790 PROPHETIC FAITH indirectly the return of Christ in glory. A clear witness to this was GUIBERT OF NoGENT (1053-1124), bishop of Puy, one of the fiery preachers of the First Crusade. Hear him: "For it is clear that Antichrist is to do battle not with the Jews, not with the Gentiles; but, according to the etymology of his name, He will attack Christians. And if Antichrist finds there no Christians (just as at present when scarcely any dwell there), no one will be there [at Jerusalem] to oppose him, or whom he may rightly overcome. According to Daniel and Jerome, the interpreter of Daniel, he is to fix his tents on the Mount of Olives; and it is certain, for the apostle teaches it, that he will sit at Jerusalem in the Temple of the Lord, as though he were God. And accord- ing to the same prophet, he will first kill three kings of Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, without doubt for their Christian faith. This, indeed, could not at all be done unless Christianity w;is established where now is paganism [meaning Mohammedanism]. 5 Therefore, reasons Guibert, the Christians should conquer Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia (the three horns of Daniel 7), so that "the man of sin, the son of perdition, will find some to oppose him." The "times of the Gentiles," when "Jerusalem shall be trod- den down," means their rule over the Christians, or else "the fulness of time for those Gentiles who shall have entered se- cretly before Israel shall be saved." "These times, most beloved brothers, will now, forsooth, be fulfilled, provided the might of the pagans be repulsed through you, with the co- operation of God. With the end of the world already near, even though the Gentiles fail to be converted to the Lord (since according to the apostle there must be a withdrawal'from the faith), it is first necessary, according to the prophecy, that the Christian sway be renewed in those regions, either through you, or others, whom it shall please God to send before the coming of Antichrist, so that the head of all evil, who is to occupy there the throne of the kingdom, shall find some support of the faith to fight against him." 6 4. CRUSADES USED TO INCREASE INFLUENCE. At the same time the Papacy capitalized upon the Crusades as a means of gaining influence in the Greek and Armenian churches, and spreading the influence of Latin Christianity eastward. But, according to Harnack, the ardor of the earlier Crusades was ________________ 5 Quoted in A. C. Krey, The First Crusade, p. 38. 6 Ibid., p. 39. 791 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL the direct result of the Cluny monastic movement. The suprem- acy of the church must be established. "It was the ideas of the world-ruling monk of Cluny that guided the Crusaders on their path." 7 And Ranke states: "Now the high priest [Pope] put himself at the van of the warlike knights, who although in a different sense were still bearing the Frankish name. He crowned himself as emperor and received by their bow the twofold adoration. In like manner as the great caliphs on whose order Jerusalem was conquered, the Pope attempted to present to the world in his person also the worldly unity of the people which were bound together in like faith." 8 5. THEATRICAL PLAYS ON ANTICHRIST. The general public was well acquainted with these ideas of Antichrist. They were even propagated by means of theatrical plays, for instance, the Ludus de Antichristo, previously mentioned.9 But when the Crusades did not bring the expected results, voices began to be heard loudly disclaiming the idea of a personal Antichrist, and stressing the need for another explanation. One highly outspoken voice was that of Gerhoh of Reichersberg. II, Gerhoh ot Reichersberg Worldly Church Is Antichrist GERHOH OF REICHERSBERG (1093-1169) was born in Polling, Upper Bavaria. He received his education in various schools of learning, and was accepted as a teacher in one of the cathedral schools. Later he became Abbot of Reichersberg. Full of zeal in aiding the church to attain her rightful station among men, he fought in the forefront of the battle for realization of the ideals and demands of Rome. On the other hand, however, he was not satisfied with the laxity and worldliness of the Church, and minced no words in condemning unrighteousness. He was a friend of bishops and rulers, and liked at the court of Rome; nevertheless Popes and prelates had to put up with his severe criticisms. ________________ 7 Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. 6, p. 8. 8 Translated from Ranke, Weltgeschichte, vol. 8, pp. 84, 85. 9 See page 586. 792 PROPHETIC FAITH Gerhoh held a highly spiritual concept of the church. He idealized her as an immaculate bride, loyal to her bridegroom. Therefore the corrupted worldly Church constituted a new Babylon. And the bishops who carried on wars, and fought and meddled in worldly affairs, were bound with a twofold chain the chain of the feudal vow and the chain of fear. In reality, nothing should belong to the bishop except the tithe. And that tithe should be divided into three parts, one for the clerics, another for building churches, and a third part for widows and orphans. In 1142 Gerhoh wrote his Libellus de Ordine Donorum Spiritus Sancti (Booklet on the Order of Gifts of the Holy Spirit). Here he explains that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are the seven trumpets. Five times, now, the trumpets have voiced the victory of the church the victory of the apostles, of the martyrs, of the doctors; and now in the sixth period they will proclaim the victory over the Simonists and Nicolaitans. Pope Gregory VII has already called for a more spiritual kingdom, but the victory is not yet complete. The full freedom of the church has not yet been achieved, he reasons. Gerhoh lived in an extraordinarily agitated time. In the decades between 1140 and 1160 fell the unhappy Crusade of 1147 to 1149, the rebellion of the Romans under Arnold of Brescia,10 the schism between two rival Popes, and the schism between the two philosophies of nominalism and realism. In his time also the Antichrist was a subject of fear and apprehen- sion; the play Ludus de Antichristo had become popular. Gerhoh, however, did not approve of the latter. In his Libellus de Investigatione Antichristi (Booklet About the Investigations of Antichrist), in 1162 or 1163, he tries to prove that Anti- christ should be conceived of neither as a person nor as com- ing from Dan or from Babylon. These terms should be under- stood in a spiritual and broader way. Antichrist is the spirit of the time, the spirit of worldliness _______________ 10 See pages 812, 813, 793 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL in the church. The struggle between the emperors and the Popes, and between Popes and counter-popes (anti-popes), is the unleashing of the forces of Gog and Magog, he thought. Like Joseph in Egypt, who had been freed from the dungeon and lifted to Pharaoh's chariot, so the Church was in the same manner lifted by Constantine onto the royal horse. In the church, however, times of elation and times of sufferings alternate, and now a mingling of the two powers has taken place. The spiritual and temporal forces have been interwoven. Bishops are pastors of the flock as well as worldly judges. That is a clear indication of the workings of this unspeakable beast of Revelation, whose mysterious number is 666, a number which signifies threefold worldliness. 11 In this, Gerhoh becomes a forerunner of the later interpre- tation, pointing away from a personal Antichrist of Jewish origin to a spiritual but apostate force. To him the worldly Church is symbolized in the figure of Antichrist. But the full and revolutionary force of such a statement became understood only gradually. The Church had to make more extravagant claims before men could gain the clearest understanding as to who this dire figure of Antichrist might be. We have seen how the Spirituals arnong the Franciscans were thinking, for a time, that Antichrist might find its personification in Emperor Frederick II, which, in a way, was a return to the former conception of an individual. It will be well at this point to turn the spotlight briefly upon that life-and-death struggle between the Papacy and the Empire in the days of Frederick II (1194-1250). III. Frederick's Battle With Pope Regarding Antichrist Frederick II, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, having become an orphan early in life, was brought up under the special care of Pope Innocent III. He received the imperial _______________ 11 Dempf, op. cit., pp. 258, 259. EMPEROR AND POPE WHO EXCHANGED PROPHETIC EPITHETS Frederick II (Left), German Emperor and Outstanding Figure of Thirteenth Century, Engaged in Mortal Contest for Supremacy With Pope Gregory IX (Right), Each Hurling the Epithet of Antichrist at the Other crown in 1215. Proclaiming a universal peace in Germany, he took a vow to go on a Crusade. However, he found many reasons to delay his departure. Finally Pope Gregory IX (1227- 1241), in the first days of his Pontificate, demanded that Fred- erick depart for Palestine. For failing to go forward the em- peror was placed under the Papal ban. However, in 1228 he started on the crusade, and gained possession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth by diplomacy, and crowned himself king of Jerusalem. But Frederick faced trouble at home. Upon his return he was again excommunicated for disobedience to the Pope. In 1231 he established a real kingship in Sicily. And with Ger- many and Sicily in his hands, he gained control of the cities of Lombardy, including Milan, in 1237. In 1238 he laid claim to Sardinia. His ideal was to establish imperial might again, according to the pattern of ancient Rome. 12 Gregory, on the other hand, was just as determined to have all power central- ized in the Papacy, and he therefore sought to turn the Ger- man people and princes against the astute and learned ________________ 12 Dollinger, Prophecies, pp. 101, 102; J. C. Robertson, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 168. 794 795 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM. NOT AN INDIVIDUAL Frederick, freeing them from their oath of allegiance in 1239. 13 1. EMPEROR MAINTAINS POPE Is ANTICHRIST. Frederick was charged by the Pope with ingratitude and heresy, copies of the charge being sent to all the leading personalities of Europe. But the emperor defended himself with vigor. In a circular letter he had recourse to the Apocalypse, maintain- ing that the pope was Antichrist. It was a terrific struggle. The Emperor expostulated over the "wickedness of Babylon," while the Pope in turn called Frederick the "beast from the sea" (Rev. 13:3), with the name of blasphemy on his forehead the very forerunner of Antichrist. 14 2. FREDERICK BEMOANS WICKEDNESS OF BABYLON. In a letter to Richard of Cornwall, Frederick II calls upon man- kind to witness the "wickedness of Babylon," proceeding from the "elders of the people." "Cast your eyes around you: attend, ye sons of men, and grieve over ihe scandal of the world, the quarrels of nations, and the universal banish- ment of justice; since the wickedness of Babylon comes forth from the elders of the people, who appeared to be its rulers, in that they turn judgment into bitterness, and the fruits of justice into wormwood." 15 3. GREGORY DENOMINATES FREDERICK BEAST FROM SEA. Gregory, in a long, "invective letter" to the Archbishop of Canterbury, then castigates Frederick as the "beast" from the sea, of Revelation 13. "There has risen from the sea a beast, full of words of blasphemy, which, formed with the feet of a bear, the mouth of a raging lion, and, as it were, a panther in its other limbs, opens its mouth in blasphemies against God's name, and continually attacks with similar weapons his tabernacle, and the saints who dwell in heaven. This beast, endeavouring to grind everything to pieces with its claws and teeth of iron, and to trample with its feet on the universal world, formerly prepared secret battering- engines against the faith; and now it openly sets in array the engines of the Ismaelites, turning souls from the right path, and rises against Christ, the Redeemer of the world (the records of whose Testament, as report declares, he endeavours to destroy by the pen of heretical wickedness).
__________________
13 Dollinger, History of the Church, vol. 4, pp. 48-50.
14 Dempf, op. cit., p. 324.
15 Cited in Matthew Paris, English History (A.D. 1239), vol. 1 p. 201
796 PROPHETIC FAITH
Cease, therefore, to wonder, all of you, to whose ears the slanders of
blasphemy against us which have emanated from this beast have reached
. . . because he now aims at blotting out the name of the Lord from the
earth; but, that you may be the better able to oppose his lies by open
truth, and to confute his deceits by the arguments of purity, carefully
examine the head, the middle, and the lower parts of this beast Frederick,
the so-called emperor." 16
4. FREDERICK RETORTS POPE IS ANTICHRIST. In Frederick's
circular-letter reply he succinctly states in the introduction
that Gregory himself is in verity the Antichrist who misquotes
prophecy. Here is his remarkable statement:
"Even as there exist two lights on the heavens, the greater light and
the lesser light, so Providence has placed two ruling powers upon this
earth, the Priesthood and the Emperorship, the former to warn and guide
humanity, the latter for protection, but both to serve the cause of peace
in the world. 'But,' continues the Emperor, 'that one who sits on the
priestly chair, and who is anointed with the oil of flattery above his fellows,
that great Pharisee, the present Pope seeks to annul all that originated
under the leadership of heaven. He seeks to eclipse our majesty by trying
to accuse us of leaving our faith. He, who carries but the name of a Pope
has ventured to compare us with that beast which rose up out of the sea,
which had upon its heads the name of blasphemy. (Rev. 13.) (I reply)
And there went out another horse that was red and power was given to
him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should
kill one another. For, ever since the time of the exaltation of this present
pope he has not at all proved to be a father of mercy and compassion, but
a destroyer and an offender to all the world. He is that great dragon,
who deceives the whole world, the Antichrist of which he has dared to call
us the fore-runner, that second Balaam who is ready to betray and to curse
for money. He is the prince of darkness who misquotes prophecy, who mis-
states the Word of God." 17
IV. Eberhard Interprets Papal System as Little Horn
In the midst of this tremendous struggle between the Emperor
and the Pope, one great ecclesiastical figure towers con-
spicuously. It is EBERHARD II, Archbishop of Salzburg (1200-
1246), chief spokesman for the Emperor among the German
bishops, and one of Frederick's chief counselors.
Frederick had conquered nearly all the states of the Church
_______________
16 Ibid., pp. 213, 214.
17 Translated from Johann M. Schrockh, Christliche Kirchengeschichte, part 26, p. 373.
EBERHARD II, FIRST TO APPLY LITTLE HORN TO HISTORICAL PAPACY
Eberhard II, Thirteenth Century Archbishop of Salzburg, Chief Supporter
of Frederick II and initial expounder of the 'Little Horn' of Daniel 7
as the Historical Papacy; Aventinus' Annals of
Bavaria, in which this Remarkable Exposition of
the prophecy of Daniel 7 appears
when the Pope summoned a Council to meet at Rome in 1241.
In a summons requesting Salzburg to be represented at the
papal council a document which is still preserved in the Salz-
burg ecclesiastical office Eberhard was ignored by the Roman
Curia. As a countermove Eberhard appeared at a diet in
Verona, called by Frederick. Some clerics sided with the papal
party, but Eberhard took his stand by the side of the emperor,
though it brought him many vexations. His whole position
toward Rome was endangered, not because of doctrinal contro-
versies, but because of his fidelity to the Emperor.
1. SETTING OF EBERHARD'S "LITTLE HORN" INTERPRETATION.
His boldest statement, however, was made at a synod of Ba-
varian bishops held at Regensburg, or Ratisbon, in 1240 or
_________________
18 Josef Hirn, "Erzbischof Eberhards II. von Salzburg Beziehungen zu Kirche und Reich,"
Jahresbericht des k.k. Ober-Gymnasiums in Krems (1875). pp. 30, 31.
797
798 PROPHETIC FAITH
1241; where he gave utterance at the same time to a new inter-
pretation of some lines of prophecy. Here, during this council,
Eberhard, in a brilliant oration preserved by Aventinus, or
Turmair, in his noted Bavarian Annals,19 clearly sets forth this
identification of the prophecy of the Little Horn. In this strik-
ing presentation Eberhard not only openly calls the Pope a
wolf in shepherd's garb, the Son of Perdition, and Antichrist,
but also gives his revolutionary exposition of the Pope as the
Little Horn of Daniel 7.
Eberhard returns to a neglected exposition taught before
Augustinianism had crowded the earlier views out of the current
belief the interpretation of the breakup of the fourth kingdom
as the division of the Roman Empire among the Barbarian
kingdoms. Only now, instead of looking forward to the coming
of an unidentified individual Antichrist as the prophesied Little
Horn, Eberhard looks back over the centuries since Rome's
dismemberment and sees in the historical Papacy, as a system or
line of succession, the fulfillment of the predicted Little Horn,
coming up among the ten divisions of Rome, and uprooting
three. Such is the bold outline.
Eberhard's Regensburg Council speech, in 1240 or 1241,
came at approximately the same time that the Pope attempted
to convoke the Council of Rome, which was thwarted by Fred-
erick. And at the First General Council of Lyons (1245) the
emperor was again excommunicated by the Pope; Eberhard
was excommunicated subsequently, and died under the Jaan in
1246. Burial in consecrated ground being refused, he was buried
in common ground in an annex of the parish church in Rad-
_________________
19 Eberhard is not named in the record, but is referred to as the Archlmpsla. In the well-
known medieval Latin dictionary Glossarium . . . Mediae et Infimae Latimtatis, by Charles
Dufresne du Cange, the term "archimysta" is set forth as an expression of Aventinus, used as
a synonym for archbishop.
As to the reliability of these ANNALS, Johann Turmair, better known as Aventinus
(1477-1534), the 'Father of Bavarian history' studied at the universities of Ingolstadt, Vienna,
Krakow and Paris. After tutoring for Prince William IV, he was appointed historiographer
of the royal court of Bavaria. Thus he was enabled to gather the materials for his
Annales Boiorum, completed in 1521. Their anti-Papal tone hindered publication,
as Aventinus openly confessed sympathy for Luther's doctrines. Arrested in 1528, then
released, he lived a rather unsettled life until he died in Regensburg in 1534. (Patricius
Schlager, "Thurmayr Johannes," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14, p. 713;
Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 2. p. 794, art. "Aventinus.")
799 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL
stack. Some forty years later, in 1288, his remains were trans-
ferred to the consecrated ground of the Salzburg Cathedral. 20
In the Annals of Convent Garsten his obituary states that he was
"a man of great learning" who "ruled his see most nobly forty-
six years." 21 Let us examine the details of his statements.
2. CALLS PONTIFF A SAVAGE WOLF IN SHEPHERD'S GARB.
The hidden character of the Popes is set forth in Eberhard's
speech at Regensburg:
"Under the title of Pontifex Maximus, we discern, unless we are
blind, a most savage wolf, with the garment of a shepherd; the Roman
priests [flamines] have arms against all Christians; made great by daring, by
deceiving, by bringing wars after wars, they slaughter the sheep, they
cut them off, they drive away peace and harmony from the earth, they stir
up internal wars, domestic insurrections from below, day by day they
weaken more and more the energies of all, so that they revile the heads of
all, they devour all, they reduce all tor slavery." 22
3. GREGORY VII LAID FOUNDATIONS FOR ANTICHRIST'S RULE.
Declaring that the more powerful priests "rave with the
freedom of a despot," Eberhard adds that there is injustice,
wickedness, and ambition among the Roman priests under the
appearance of piety. They use "the covenant, consecrated by the
name of God, for deceiving men," to cheat and defraud, and to
lead men to "resist the sovereign majesty" established by God,
and thus show contempt of appointed civil government. Greg-
ory VII is then charged with laying the foundations of Anti-
christ's rule.
"Hildebrand, one hundred and seventy years before, first laid the
foundations of the empire of Antichrist under the appearance of religion.
He first began this impious war, which is being continued by his successors
even until now. They first drove out the emperor from the Pontifical elective
assemblies and transferred them to the people and the priests." 23
The apostle Paul, Eberhard continues, admonished us to
be "subject to one another in the fear of Christ," but the
Pontiff teaches that "those who lord it over the conquered
_________________
20 Joseph Rainier, "Salzburg, Archdiocese of," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, p. 412.
21 Hans Widmann, Geschichte Salzburgs, p. 351.
22 Translated from loanncs Aventinus, Annalcs Boior-itm Libri Septem, p. 683.
23 Ibid., p. 684.
800 PROPHETIC FAITH
should serve him," while, in contrast, "the Supreme Majesty as-
sumed the form of a servant that He might serve His dis-
ciples."
4. PRIESTS OF BABYLON SIT IN TEMPLE OF GOD. Connect-
ing Babylon and Antichrist with the Man of Sin sitting in the
temple of God, Eberhard reaches his climax when he connects
these symbols of Antichrist with the Little Horn and its lawless
proclivities its flouting of established law and its ordination
of its own laws all revealed in the secrets of the Holy Writ-
ings to those who will understand. Of the Popes he says:
"Those priests [flamines] of Babylon alone desire to reign, they
cannot tolerate an equal, they will not desist until they have trampled all
things under their feet, and until they sit in the temple of God, and until
they are exalted above all that is worshipped. . . . He who is servant of
servants, desires to be lord of lords, just as if he were God. . . . He
speaks great things as if he were truly God. He ponders new counsels
under his breast, in order that he may establish his own rule for himself,
he changes laws, he ordains his own laws, he corrupts, he plunders, he
pillages, he defrauds, he kills that incorrigible man (whom they are
accustomed to call Antichrist) on whose forehead an inscription of insult
is written: 'I am God, I cannot err.' He sits in the temple of God, and has
dominion far and wide. But as it is in the secrets of the holy writings, let
him that readeth understand: the learned will understand, all the wicked
will act wickedly, neither will they understand." 24
The significance of Eberhard's expression should not be
lost that men were "accustomed" in his day, to call the Pope
"Antichrist." He was but voicing dramatically what had become
a widespread conviction and open declaration.
5. PAPAL HORN ARISES AMONG ROME'S DIVISIONS. The
historical dismemberment of the Roman Empire, so strangely
ignored in the preceding centuries, not only because of Augus-
tinianism but also because of creation of the Holy Roman Em-
pire, which was meant to be its successor, is put in its rightful
place by Eberhard. The ten divisions of Rome that he listed
differ from later enumerations, as is also the case with the three
horns, but it is the first attempt of its kind of which we have
_______________
24 Ibid.
801 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL
record. And Eberhard's conclusion from the outline is, "What
is more clear than this prophecy!" Note it:
"Ten kings exist at the same time, who have divided the circle of
the earth, formerly the Roman Empire, not for ruling but for destroying.
There are ten horns, that which seemed incredible to divine Aurelius
Augustine; the Turks, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Africans, the Span-
iards, the Gauls, the English, the Germans, the Sicilians, the Italians
possess the Roman provinces and have cut off the Roman colonists in these
parts. And a little horn has sprung up under these, which has eyes and a
mouth speaking great things; he reduces to order the three most powerful
kingdoms of Sicily, Italy, and Germany, and compels them to serve him;
with an unendurable lordship he plagues the people of Christ, and the
saints of God; he mingles divine and human things, he sets in motion the
abominable and the detestable things. What is more clear than this proph-
ecy? All the signs and wonders which that heavenly teacher of ours pointed
out to us (unroll the chronicles) have been fulfilled long ago." 25
It must be apparent that Eberhard's building upon earlier
prophetic interpretation on this point of the dissolution of the
Roman Empire had an important bearing on his attitude toward
the Papacy. If the Roman Empire had not yet fallen, the Anti-
christ and the Little Horn could not have come; if, as Eberhard
said, the dissolution of Rome had occurred centuries ago, these
prophesied powers could be looked for in history.
V. The Revolutionary Implications of Eberhard's Interpretation
Why was this such a revolutionary idea? Why was the
church so slow to realize that the Roman world power was a
thing of the past? During the barbarian invasions Jerome had
cried out that the Roman world was falling,26 but he had not
lived long enough to see the accomplished fact. Indeed, long
after his lifetime men could not bring themselves to believe that
Rome had fallen. The spell of the Eternal City was upon even
her conquerors, and after a lapse of several centuries Charle-
magne made the unsuccessful attempt at restoring it. The fiction
of the "Holy Roman Empire," which, to repeat the cliche,
_______________
25 Ibid., p. 685.
26 See page 445.
802 PROPHETIC FAITH
was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, was never a
restoration, much less a continuation, of the real Roman power.
1. REASONS FOR LATE DEVELOPMENT. Although the
church after Jerome's day was certain that the fourth empire
was Rome, and that the next stage was the dissolution of that
empire, it was somewhat blinded by this persistence of the
illusory afterimage of Rome's continuance. It is doubtless true
that Jerome's influence actually operated to hinder the historical
view for the simple reason that his commentary on Daniel, which
was later enshrined in the medieval Glossa Ordinaria 27 (so often
referred to as "the common gloss") places the divided kingdoms
and the Little Horn in the future, although to him the end
seemed near; 28 and that future tense, remaining static on the
margins of the Vulgate Bible for centuries, kept prophetic ex-
position forever looking ahead for the fulfillment.
Further, the formation of a concept of the "Little Horn" or
"Antichrist" as a long growth of a religio-political empire emerg-
ing from gradual apostasy in the church would necessarily be
a late development.
(1) The conviction of the imminence of the end would
not have allowed the earlier expositors to imagine such a long
period, even if the initial stages of such a process had been
recognized.
(2) The popular traditions of an individual Antichrist
a Jew, an unbeliever, or a semi-demon ruling for a short
period as despot and persecutor, although derived largely from
non-Christian sources,20 would tend, in combination with the
expectation of the speedy dissolution of all things, to condition
the early church against an interpretation involving Antichrist's
long development in history.
(3) In the nature of things, such a fulfillment could never
be perceived until a long time after it had begun to develop,
_______________
27 Walafrid Strabo's Glossa Ordinaria incorporated Jerome's commentary on Daniel.
(See Migne, PL, vol. 114, cols. 63, 64.)
28 See page 446.
29 See pages 293-301.
803 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL
for not until its maturity could a system of that kind fill the
specifications of the prophecy.
(4) Probably the most powerful influence that would pre-
vent the earlier development of a historical interpretation of the
Little Horn and the Antichrist was the Augustinian view, which
completely changed the direction of prophetic interpretation
and dominated the Church from Augustine's time on.30 The
concept of the millennium as fulfilled in the earthly church
and of the hierarchy as rulers of the kingdom of God on earth
blinded men to the departures of the Church and made it seem
all the more unthinkable that the bishops of Rome, the most
venerated prelates of Christendom, could so depart from the
original faith as to be represented by such prophetic symbols.
2. EBERHARD SEES PEAK OF PAPACY. Not until the apostasy
and corruption in the church became more and more evident,
and the pride and power of the Pontiffs of Rome had grown
until it not only used the temporal sword on dissenters, but
even sought to make vassals of kings and emperors, could the
accusation be raised that the pope was exhibiting the traits of
Antichrist. Not until a Gregory VII had claimed to be Vicar,
of Christ with authority over kings, and an Innocent III had
set himself up as Vicar of God over the whole world, wielding
the two swords of spiritual and civil penalties over great and
small,31 did Eberhard stand forth to level his finger at the
Papacy as the Antichrist and the Little Horn "speaking great
words against the most High."
He could not have made that application in the infancy
of the Papacy. The claim to primacy, the imperious tone, and
the political influence were already growing in the time of
Gregory I, but the prophetic expositors of that day could hardly
have applied to him the epithet with which he denounced the
pride of a fellow prelate. In spite of Gregory I's denunciation
of the claim to universal bishopric as a manifestation of Anti-
_________________
30 See pages 473 ff.
31 See chapter 27.
804 PROPHETIC FAITH
Christian spirit,32 the application was not made to the Roman
popes when they afterward assumed the same dignity.
The modern conception of religious liberty had not de-
veloped, and its early gleams in the pre-Constantinian church
had been lost in the deceptive glitter of political power under
the Christian emperors; consequently the sinister aspect of the
persecution of minorities was lost on the Church. Not until the
Papal sword, after centuries, had been wielded with increasing
ruthlessness upon multiplied victims, did the description of the
Little Horn wearing out the saints become attached in men's
minds to the Roman See.
3. THIRTEENTH-CENTURY DISILLUSIONMENT. But in the
thirteenth century the corruptions of the hierarchy had long
been apparent. Men had become weary of the worldliness of
the clergy, the avarice, the simony, the injustice. The failure
of the monastic reforms to cure the corruption of the church
increased the protest of the laity against the contrast between
the life of the clergy and the Christian ideal of self-renunciation
and service, a protest which expressed itself variously, in the
voluntary poverty of various lay groups, such as the Waldenses,
in the wistful dreams of Joachim, and in the original zeal of the
Franciscan and Dominican friars. These ideals, even among
those loyal to the Pope, such as Joachim, inevitably threw the
worldly Papacy into an unfavorable light by contrast at least
for many who had eyes to see.
It was natural that Eberhard in Germany, in contact with
the emperor, saw more clearly than did Joachim in Italy the
menace of the Papacy's struggle to control both spiritual and
civil power, and doubtless there he had more opportunity to
hear the pontiff called Antichrist in the contest with Frederick.
But his "Little Horn" application was not merely name-calling.
He was not an enthusiast for voluntary poverty, for he was an
influential archbishop; nor was he a disillusioned Joachimite,
for Joachim's writings genuine or pseudo had not yet spread
______________
32 See chapter 22.
805 ANTICHRIST A SYSTEM, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL
so far. But he was in a position to see three things: (1) that
Rome had fallen long ago when her domain was divided into
barbarian kingdoms; (2) that the Little Horn rising out of the
divided successors to the Empire, growing "among them" and
coming into power "after them," was connected with the
breakup of Rome, which no illusion of a Holy Roman Empire
could push into the future; and (3) that the description of the
Little Horn, with "eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth
speaking great things," "whose look was more stout than his
fellows" a kingdom among kingdoms, yet diverse from the
rest, and at the same time a religious power, speaking "great
words against the most High," and a persecuting power wear-
ing out the saints fitted the Papacy most remarkably. And the
reader of medieval history as it is written today even allowing
for bias on the part of a supporter of Frederick can see that
the picture is not overdrawn.
Eberhard's historical interpretation of the Little Horn and
the Antichrist doubtless had less circulation in Italy, and espe-
cially in Papal circles, than, in Germany. The Joachimites at first
looked to Frederick as the Antichrist, and not until the Spir-
ituals had experienced persecution do we find the application
of the term "mystic Antichrist" to a future pseudo pope and
then an individual, actual Pope.
Eberhard was not the first to call a Pope Antichrist, for he
says that he was accustomed to that. Gerhoh of Reichersberg a
century earlier had applied the term to the worldliness in the
Church and to the contest between Pope and Emperor. But Eber-
hard was a pioneer in seeing in the Little Horn, which sprang
out of the divided kingdoms of the fourth prophetic empire,
the Roman Papacy, which had slowly emerged to world power
out of the breakup of the Roman Empire many centuries in
the past.
Both true and false concepts of the continuance of Rome
powerfully influenced not only churchmen but statesmen, but
the position taken by Eberhard in 1240 that the breakup of
Rome gave rise to a group of smaller kingdoms, among whom
806 PROPHETIC FAITH
afterward came up the religio-political power of the historical
Papacy as the Little Horn became the standard interpretation
of fourteenth-century Wyclif in Britain,33 then of sixteenth-
century Luther and most of his associates, and next of Cranmer,
Knox, and the bulk of the British Reformers. 34 Practically all the
post-Reformation writers on the Continent and in Britain and
America declared the same.35 Even the Jewish expositor Don
Isaac Abravanel of Spain, in 1496, made a like explanation. 36
This Reformation view was the sort of belief which helped
to nerve men to withstand the powerful forces under the com-
mand of the Papacy, and to go to the stake rather than yield
to her spiritual despotism; for Protestant martyrs dared not
obey her injunctions or follow in her apostasies, and thus incur
the displeasure of Heaven. Therefore they no longer feared her
anathemas.
________________
33 See Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, p. 55.
34 Ibid., chart on p. 528.
35 Ibid., p. 784. under "Little Horn": also vol. 3, p. 252, under "Little Horn."
36 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 228.
[ Excerpts from Volume I ]
VOLUME II - (Excerpts) CHAPTER EIGHT Jewish Expositors Stress Rome and Year-Day Principle The historical survey of prophetic interpretation, in Vol- ume I, began with Jewish exposition prior to the Christian Era. But from the time of Josephus onward, the tracing has almost entirely concerned Christian exposition of prophecy. This course was followed, first, because of the relative paucity of Jewish interpretation in the early centuries. And it seemed best, instead of scattering such interpretations through other chap- ters, to assemble them at this point. This was likewise desirable because the Jewish viewpoint, background, and relationship to the Messianic hope are basically different. Under these cir- cumstances, although the Jews had their hearts set simply on the long-delayed coming of the Messiah, prophecy would have quite a different connotation for the Jews from that anticipated by the Christians. I. Factors Influencing Jewish Interpretation of Prophecy In order to grasp the significance of Jewish exposition, it will be necessary first to survey the situation in Jewry in the early centuries regarding the Scriptures, the influence of Greek philosophy, and the relationship between the Jews and the Christians. It will also be imperative to define and understand certain terms that will constantly be employed or encountered the Talmud, with its Mishnah and Gemara, the Halachah, the Haggadah, the Targum, the Midrash, and others. To these we JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 185 now turn for the setting. Then we shall survey thirty remarkable Jewish interpreters of prophecy, spanning the Christian Era, and later summarized and charted on page 194. These men, and the principles they hold and the applications they make, have a material bearing on our quest. 1. DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF ALEXANDRIAN ALLEGORICAL SCHOOL.Prior to the Christian Era, two widely divergent schools of religious thought developed among the Jews. One embraced Palestine and Babylonia, zealously interpreting the sacred books according to the methods of the Talmud and its related writings. The other school and a.virile one centered in Alexandria, bent on absorbing the very lifeblood of Greek philosophy.1 This latter school sought to blend and harmonize the traditions of Hebraism with Greek philosophy, softening and explaining away the differences by allegorical treatment. This reached its .peak in Philo (B.C.E. 20-53 c.E.).2 His burden was to show that, by applying the allegorical system of interpretation to the Scriptures, their simple and obvious meaning really em- bodied everything that was wise and exalted in Greek philos- ophy. It was a struggle between Literalism and Allegorism, as Philo regarded the literal to be a concession to the weak and ignorant. To him, Scripture was ''not so much a text for criti- cism as a pretext for theory." Instead of elucidating the literal - sense, he transformed it into a philosophic symbol.3 A complete perversion of Scripture resulted, as he developed out of Moses a vivid semblance to Greek philosophy. The works of Philo, it should be added, contain no direct reference to the prophecies no Messiah, no restoration of the Jewish state, no interpreta- tion of prophecy. Living through the lifetime of Jesus, he does not even mention His name. It was this allegorizing feature of Philo's work, however, __________________ 1 Farrar, op. cit., pp. Ill, 127. 2 The terms c.E. (Common Era, or Christian Era) and B.C.E. (before the Common Era, or before the Christian Era), instead of A.D. and B.C., will be employed here in accordance with Jewish practice. 3 Farrar, op. cit., p. 139. 186 PROPHETIC FAITH that was laid hold of with avidity by one large group in the early Christian church particularly by Origen of Alexandria and with the same disastrous effects. Some resisted these excesses of fanciful allegory; nevertheless, a deep and abiding impress was left. The influence upon Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Lactantius, Jerome, and Augustine was profound.4 The unity of language brought about by the conquests of the Greeks and the political unity effected through the coming of the Roman Empire only accentuated this form of interpretation.5 The Je- rusalem Jews sought in vain to stem the advance of Hellenistic influence as Alexandria became the focal point of penetrating influence. 2. JEWISH-CHRISTIAN CONTROVERSIES OF EARLY CENTURIES. The early centuries of the Christian Era were filled with bitter controversy between the Jews and the Christians. Both groups anticipated a millennium, but the church fathers con- nected it with the second advent of Christ. The church fathers sought to Christianize the Old Testament, and the rabbis opposed it. Because of this, the Jews came to dislike the Sep- tuagint, for the Christians used it in their Messianic contro- versies with them." During the first five centuries, belief in a coming millennium was widespread, and prophecy was con- stantly employed by Christians to prove the Messianic charac- ter of Jesus, along with emphasis upon His second advent.7 As noted, with the church fathers it was the second advent of Christ that was stressed, whereas with the Jews it was just the advent of the Messiah that was anticipated. The Christian inter- pretation of Messianic prophecies led to opposition on the part of some Jews, who denied that the prophecies were decipherable, and others such as the elder Hillel (Hillel I),8 whose lifespan extended briefly into the first century, and the Tanna Rabbi _____________________ 4 Louis Israel Newman, Jewish Influence on Christian Reform Movements, pp. 6, 7, 28, 102; Farrar, op. cit., p. 156, n. 2. These men are all discussed in Prophetic Faith, Volume I. 5 Louis I. Newman, op. cit., pp. 16, 17. 6 Farrar, op. cit., p. 118. 7 See Prophetic Faith, Volume I. 8 Abba Hillel Silver, A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, pp. 196-198. JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY [PRINCIPLE] 187 Nathan in the second even denied the Messianic character of any prophecy. This conflict persisted into the Middle Ages. But the majority sought .the prophecies of Daniel with pathetic eager- ness, to ascertain the time of the Messiah's coming. 3. PROGRESSION OF EVENTS ACCENTUATES MESSIANIC HOPE. Many events accentuated the Messianic hope through the centuries the early struggle with Rome (66-70 C.E.), the de- struction of the temple (70 C.E.), the Bar Kochba uprising (132- 135), the fall of the Roman Empire (476), the rise of Islam (7th century), the Crusades (1096 onward), the coming of the Tartars, the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,9 as well as the Inquisition and the Protestant Reforma- tion. Each in its time intensified the Messianic hope and stimu- lated time speculations. The promise of the Messiah was the one hope of Israel in its often desperate circumstances. It was only natural that the Jews should have turned to the prophecies of Daniel. The golden age of Jewish prophetic interpretation is usually placed between 900 and 1500 C.E., beginning with Saadia Gaon, 10 and continuing to Don Isaac Abravanel and spreading over Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy. 11 Some of these writers were addicted to allegory and Ge- matria; others stood stiffly against tradition. Some followed the fanciful Midrash, and some sought out the obvious sense, or the literal meaning, of each individual prophecy. But with all these differences there was remarkable unity on certain prin- ciples of .prophetic interpretation. 4. EXPOSITION CENTERS ON FOUR POWERS AND YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE. Two primary phases in Jewish prophetic interpre- tation will be noted: (1) The recognition of the symbols of Rome as the fourth of the four world powers of prophecy; and (2) the application of the year-day principle to the time prophecies _________________ 9 Ibid., p. 4. 10 Farrar, op. cit., p. 461. 11 Gaon was the title of honor given to the Jewish heads of the two Babylonian academies at Sura and Pumbeditha. The first Gaon of Sura entered upon his office in 591 C.E. ; the first Gaon of Pumbeditha assumed his duties about the year 598; and the last Gaon died in 1038. 188 PROPHETIC FAITH of Daniel. Some stress only one or the other, but nearly half of the thirty expositors blend the time and symbol aspects,12 as will be noted on the accompanying chronological table (on page 194), summarizing name, date, place, and interpretation. First, the standard.ancient writings of the Jews will be noted, and then their leading scholars through the centuries. II. Talmud, Targum, and Midrash on the Four Kingdoms 1. TALMUD FIRST SUPPLEMENTS, THEN SUPERSEDES, WRIT- TEN LAW. The Talmud is that body of Jewish civil and reli- gious law comprising the combined collections of the Mishnah, or amplifications of the text, and the Gemara. or commentary, especially of legendary homiletics. There are really two Tal- muds, named from the regions in which they originated. The Palestinian, or Jerusalem, Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) con- tains the discussions of the Palestinian scholars, or Amoraim, from the second to about the middle of the fifth century C.E. The Babylonian Talmud (Talmud -Babli) embodies the teach- ings of the Babylonian scholars, also known as Amoraim, from about 190 C.E. down to the end of the fifth century the Baby- lonian Talmud being much larger, and practically superseding the former as an authority. This oral law was first exalted as a necessary supplement to the written law; then it was virtually substituted in its place. 13 The Babylonian Talmud, which fills 2,947 folios, is composed of legal disputes, stories, sermons, legends, Scripture comments, moral truths, observations, legal enactments, history, and ra- tionalism." It is a veritable encyclopedia of things Jewish, a vast compendium of Hebrew science and theology. Drawn from the promiscuous notebooks of students, as taken down from lectures _________________ 12 Heavy draft is made upon two Jewish scholars who have made extensive and authori- tative research into Jewish writers on Messianic expectation through the centuries of the Chris- tian Era, as based upon the prophetic symbols and time periods of Daniel Abba Hillel Silver, in his A History of Messianic Speculations in Israel, From the First Through the Seventeenth Centuries; and Joseph Sarachek, in The Doctrine of the Messiah in Mediaeval Jewish Literature. Showing the futility and unsoundness of such time setting, they nevertheless disclose the basis of their calculations as applications of the year-day principle, and their common understanding of the prophetic course of empire. 13 Farrar, op. cit., p. 62. 14 Ibid., p. 92. JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 189 by noted rabbis in the schools, it has been called a "monument of human industry, human wisdom, and human folly." 15 It is still regarded as a sacred book by. orthodox Jews. But one must search diligently for the gems hidden in the midst of the conglomerate mass of more than 2,500,000 words the "sea of the Talmud" the flotsam and jetsam of a thousand years. Thus it came to overshadow and supersede the Living Oracles (Sacred Scriptures), and turned its followers from the River of Life to broken cisterns. It is often so arbitrary or futile as to give radically false concepts of the sacred books. 16 2. ORAL TRADITIONS MULTIPLY LAW A THOUSANDFOLD. The Halachah, or Halaka (pi. Halachoth), meaning "rule," "law," or "decision," comprises the accepted decisions of the rabbis of the Talmud on disputed questions a general term for Jewish oral or traditional law, which supplements and runs parallel to the written law (Scriptures), embracing minute pre- cepts not found in the written law. Although written by men, it was supposed to be of inspired origin, and to serve as an adjunct to the fundamental code, the theory being that the oral law was handed down through a long line of the highest authorities. These additions multiplied the bulk of the law a thousand- fold, as all Scripture was considered capable of infinite ex- pansion. Like ever-widening, yet ever fainter circles on the broken surface of a lake, the ripples of indefinitely expanding legalism spread long after all traces of the first waves had died away. They embraced foolish questions and conflicts between schools of thought such as the disagreements between the schools of Hillel and Shammai, and whether an egg laid on the Sabbath or holiday might be eaten. Tradition was thrust between men and the Book. There was an almost limitless development of rules to meet every conceivable case. It was Scholasticism, or Dialecticism, applied to ritual. 17 The Haggadah (pi., Haggadoth), meaning "narrative," was __________________ 15 Henry Hart Milman, History of the Jews, vol. 3, p. 13. 16 Farrar, op. cit., pp. 93, 94. 17 Ibid.. DD. 85-88. 190 PROPHETIC FAITH a free interpretation or application. It embraced the illustrative sayingsstories, legends, fables, aphorisms, proverbs, allegories, and folklore 18 as distinguished from the Halachah, and was often in conflict therewith. It developed beginning with the days of Johanan ben Zakkai (1st century), when the Jews needed consolation after the destruction of the Temple and their dis- persion. These together make up the Talmud. 3. TALMUD MAKES ROME FOURTH IN PROPHETIC SERIES. The Talmud of this early periodwhich was completed by the fifth century commonly speaks of the four empires of proph- ecy, beginning with Babylonia and ending with Rome " which latter name was usually concealed under the term Edom. Thus, after the Persian bear and the Grecian leopard, the fourth, des- ignated as Edom, is explicitly explained to be "the kingdom of Rome the wicked." 20 Guttmann further discusses the Jewish use of the symbol of the wild boar, employed by the Romans themselves as the symbol of their nation. He then concludes: "The result was that it was as though it was said specifically with refer- , ence to the Romans." 21 Guttmann then turns from the common designation "Edom," as "the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of Edom-or Rome," to the Middle Age suspicion of the dominant Christian church in thinking that the Midrash and Talmud extended the application to ecclesiastical Rome. His statement is illuminat- ing: 22 ' "One more word about the view which began to be spread abroad in the Christian church of the Middle Ages, i.e. that the designation 'Edom' which is found in the Midrash and Talmud, and similarly 'the fourth king- ___________________ 18 Ibid., p. 91. 19 Sarachek, The Doctrine of the Messiah, p. 11. 20 Translated from Michael Guttmann, Mafteah Ha-talmud (Clavis Talmudis), vol. 3b, pp. 55, 62-65. 21 Ibid., p. 65. 22 Indebtedness is here expressed to Doctors Louis Ginzberg and Louis Finkelstein of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, in New York City, for invaluable service in locating citations in the Hebrew writings here used, to Dr. Joshua Bloch, chief of the Jewish division of the New York Public Library, and his associates, for making photostatic copies possible, and to Rabbi Abraham Shinedling, of the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia editorial staff, for the accurate translations from the old, unvocalized Hebrew. JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 191 dom, the kingdom of Edom or Rome,' refers to Christianity. The censor- ship, too, acted in accordance with this view, and burned many literary treasures, and in many places where it did not decree destruction, it at least deleted the source texts by placing instead of 'Edom,' 'Rome,' 'the fourth kingdom,' or 'the wicked kingdom' other names which confused the subject matter. . . . The jealous ones of the [Christian] church suspected the Talmud for something which is not contained in it. In vain they thought that they would find their name on the ancient pages of the Law of Israel. And their error rolled upon them from two different reasons: from the first side, they thought (from Jerome on) that they were the inheritors of the dominion of the fourth kingdom, and thus necessarily it had as inescapable result that in their eyes all the ancient remainder of Judaism who mentioned the name of this kingdom were referring to them." 23 4. TALMUD ON WORLD'S END AT 6,000 YEARS. Many rabbis believed, on the basis of creation week, that the world would last six thousand years and be in chaos the seventh thousand years. 24 The Babylonian Talmud records the discussion of Rab Hanan and Rab Joseph, and concludes with these words: " 'The Holy One, blessed be He, will renew his world only after seven thousand years.' R. Abba the son of Raba said: The statement was after five thousand years. It has been taught; R. Nathan said: This verse pierces' and descends to the very abyss: For the vision'is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though he tarry, wait for him; because it will surely come, it will not'tarry. Not as our Masters, who in- terpreted the verse, until a time and times and the dividing of time." 25 5. THE TARGUMIM TEACH THE FOUR WORLD POWERS. The Targum (pi. Targumini) comprises the vernacular- para- phrases of portions of the Old Testament into the Aramaic of Judea together with oral tradition reaching back to the pre- Christian Roman period, used in the synagogues of Palestine and Babylonia. When Hebrew ceased to be spoken generally, it became necessary to explain the meaning of what was read. from the Hebrew Scriptures. Only a minor part of the floating mass of oral Targumim produced has survived in written form, chiefly (1) the Babylonian Targum Onkelos on the Penta- _________________ 23 Ibid., p. 76. 24 Silver, op. cit., p. 16, citing Sanhedrin, 97a. 25 The Babylonian Talmud, English Translation, Tractate Sanhedrin, 97b, p. 658. 192 PROPHETIC FAITH teuch, (2) the Jerusalem Pseudo-Jonathan Targum on the Pen- tateuch, and (3) the Babylonian Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel on the prophets. No Targum has been found for Daniel. In the Targumim a few passages bear on the four empires. For ex- ample, in the Jerusalem Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan: "Behold, the kingdom of Babylon shall not endure, and shall not ex- ercise rulership over Israel; the kings of Media shall be killed, and the mighty men of the worshipers of the stars and constellations shall not pros- per. The Romans shall be destroyed, and they shall not gather rakings from Jerusalem [i.e., they shall not profit from the destruction of Jerusalem. Translator's note.] 26 "And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, four kings. And I said to the angel who was speaking with me: What are these? And he said unto me: These are the kingdoms which scattered the men of Judah and Israel and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. . . . These are the kingdoms which scattered the men of Judah and did not permit them to walk upright, and " these came to terrify them, to break the kingdom of the nations which lifted up weapons against the land of the house of Judah to exile it." 27 6. MIDRASH DECLARATIONS ON FOUR WORLD POWERS. The Midrash (pi., Midrashim), meaning "interpretation," "explana- tion," with the practical sense of "deeper exegesis," is a body of Scriptural exposition produced over many centuries follo'w- ing the Exile, embracing two leading principles: (1) That noth- ing in Scripture is indifferent or accidental, and (2) that all Scripture is capable of infinite interpretations. 28 This explains the strange textual basis selected to set forth the four world powers. The comment on Genesis 15:9, recording a discussion between Rabbis Eleazar and Johanan, is an example: " 'Take Me a heifer of three years old.' This is Babylon, which caused three kings to stand, [i.e. which raised up three kings. Translator's note.] Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, and Belshazzar. And a she-goat of three years old. This is Media, which raised up three kings, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes [in Hebrew, Ahashverosh. Trans.] And a ram of three years old. This is Greece. Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Johanan had a dispute. Rabbi ________________ 26 Translated from largum Jonathan, on Hab. 3:17, in Mikraoth Gedoloth im Lamed Beth Perushim (The Great Scriptures, with the Thirty-two Commentaries) Part 10, Ezekiel and the 12 Minor Prophets, p. 281; see also Charles Maitland, op. cit.,p. 83. 27 Translated from Targum Jonathan, on Zech. 2:1-4 (A.V., Zech. 1:18, 19), p. 326; see also Charles Maitland, op. cit., p. 83. 28 Farrar, op. cit., pp. 442, 443. JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 193 Eleazar said: The children of Greece subdued all jhe winds, but they did not subdue the east wind. Rabbi Johanan said to him: But it is written (Daniel 8), I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and south- ward; and no beasts could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. This is the opinion of Rabbi Eleazar,' who did not say the east. And a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon. This is Edom." 29 Similarly in Genesis 15:12, Babylonia, Media, Greece, and Edom are thrice named by Rabbi Simon in connection with various symbols, and the fourth power is declared to be the "fourth beast, fearful and dreadful and exceedingly strong" the comment closing with the expression, "the four kingdoms." 30 And finally, the Midrash on Leviticus 13:5 twice presents by name the same four powers but under the strange symbols of the camel, rock-badger, hare, and swine citing Rabbi Akiba 31 and his associates. Thus the four empires of prophecy permeate the Midrash. III. Expositors From Josephus (1st cent.) to Eliezer (9th cent.) .. The survey of prophetic interpretation, in Volume I, began with the key expositions of the Jews before Christ, which in . turn were .carried over into the Christian Era. We now trace the Jewish expositors of the Christian, or Common, Era. 1. JOSEPHUS CONCEALS VIEWS ON "BEASTS" AND "TIMES". [I] 32 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS (c. 37-c. 100 C.E.), although primarily a historian, indicates that he had a definite interpretation of both the "beasts" and "times" of Daniel. But these-he deliberately withheld, in large part, from his readers" 33 evidently from fear of difficulty with the Roman state, which he indicated was the fourth prophetic power. But the available interpretations of ________________ 29 Translated from Sefer Midrash Rabboth al Hatorah U Chammash Migloth (The Book of the Midrash Rabboth on the Torah and the Five Scrolls), part 1, chap. 44, comment on Gen. 15:9. 30 Ibid., comment on Gen. 15:12. 31 Ibid., chap. 13. comment on Lev. 13:5. 32 Figure in brackets indicates serial number of the expositor appearing on the Chronological Table of Jewish Interpreters, for facility in locating the different writers. See p. 194. 33 Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 10, chap. 10, sec. 4; Silver, op. cit., pp. 21, 22. JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 195 Josephus whose life paralleled the ministry of the apostlesare presented in Volume I of Prophetic Faith and are therefore omitted here. 2. JOHANAN DECLARES ROME THE FOURTH KINGDOM. [2] JOHANAN BEN ZAKKAI (1st cent. C.E.), of Palestine some- times called the "Upright Pillar" was one of the greatest of the pupils of Hillel. The first president of the academy at Jabneh (near Joppa, only, six miles from Jerusalem), he opposed rebel- lion against the Roman power, which Johanan recognized to be the fourth world power of the prophesied series of four. The Babylonian Talmud gives his interpretation of Daniel 7:23 thus:
"Because it is written (Daniel 7:23), 'It shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.' Rabbi Johanan said, This is guilt-laden Rome, whose influence has gone out over all the world." 34
3. AKIBA RECOGNIZES YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE AND FOUR EM- PIRES. [3] AKIBA (AQIBA) BEN JOSEPH (c. 50-132), of Palestine, one of the most distinguished Jews of. his time, was often called the father of rabbinical Judaism. 35 He systematized Rabbinism, and created a scheme of multiple interpretation that was per- fected by Rabbi Judah Hanasi, who committed the oral law to written form in the Mishnah. 36 Akiba recognized both the year- day principle and the four empires, and anticipated the world's end in 6093 A.M. (anno mundi, "year of the world," from creation). 37
This famous associate of the false messiah Bar Kochba, in the 132 to 135 C.E. revolt against Hadrian and the Romans, based his action on Messianic time expectation, and this in turn on the prophetic-time basis 38 his faith in the expectation never waver- ing. He was taken prisoner and put to death by the Romans about 132 C.E.
_________________
34 Translated from Der Babylonische Talmud (tractate "Abodah Zarah"), fol. 2a-2b,
p. 796; see also Giulio Bartolocci, Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica, vol. 3, p. 610.
35 Louis Ginzberg, "Akiba ben Joseph," The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 304.
36 Farrar, op. cit., pp. 79, 80.
37 Silver, op. cit., pp. 14, 60.
38 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 12, 17; Elliott, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 284, 285;
cf. Silver, op. cit., pp. 14, 20, 48.
196 PROPHETIC FAITH
Later the breakup of the Roman Empire in the fifth cen-
tury and the imminence of the long-anticipated collapse led to
a new hope of the appearance of the Messiah in Palestinian
quarters. 38 But the Messiah's failure to appear dampened the
ardor of interpretation for some time. As the Mohammedan
period advanced, however, Messianic expectancy began to ap-
pear again in various anonymous writings."
4. NAHAWENDI APPLIES YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE TO 1290 AND 2300 PERIODS.
[4] BENJAMIN BEN MOSES NAHAWENDI (8th-9th centuries),
the Karaite 41 with all that the name connotes
dated the 2300 year-days from the destruction of Shiloh (942
B.C.E.), and "from the time of the removal of the continual
[sacrifice] ('olath hatamid)" and likewise with the 1290 year-
days, from the destruction of the second temple (70 C.E.)
thereby arriving at 1358 C.E. as the Messianic year. 42
IV. Scriptarian Karaites Reject Rabbinical Traditions
Early in the eighth century a strong protest arose among
the Jews in the region of Babylonia, over the throttling grip of
traditionalism. This crystallized into the sect called the Karaites
(or Caraites), 43 so called because they insisted upon following
the wording of the Scripture text. They were also called Scrip-
tarians and literalists, likewise "People of the Holy Writ," and
"Followers of the Bible." The Karaites have been referred to
as the "Protestants of Judaism." 44 Rejecting the Talmud, the
oral law, and the traditions of the Rabbinites, they acknowl-
edged only the authority of Scripture, and were determined to
abide by the literal sense. 45 The impact of Islam upon Jewry un-
doubtedly had a stimulating influence. 46
__________________
39 Silver, op. cit., pp. 29, 30. 40 Ibid., pp. 36-49.
41 Heinrich Graetz, History oj the Jews, vol. 3, p. 151; Silver, op. cit., p. 55.
A sketch of Karaism appears as section IV of this chapter.
42 Silver, op. cit., pp. 55 (citing Simhah Pinsker, Likkute Kadmoniyoth, p. 82), 208.
43 The name is derived from the Arabic Alkurra (cf. Hebrew Mik-ra, from Kara, "to
read," i.e., the Scriptures).
44 Albiruni, The Chronology of Ancient Nations, pp. 68, 69.
45 Farrar, op. cit., pp. 83, 449, note 5.
46 Philip Birnbaum, editor's introduction in Jephet ibn Ali,
The Arabic Commentary of Tefet ben Ali on the Book of Hosea, p. xv.
JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 197
1. ANAN'S REVOLT EXPANDS TO EMBRACE A THIRD OF JEWRY.
ANAN 'BEN DAVID (c. 760), the founder of Karaism, 47
having attacked the oral law, and being excluded from the
exilarchate of the Jewish community in Babylonia, went to
Jerusalem to develop his own system undisturbed. His followers
were at first called Ananites. Gathering strength and popularity,
Karaism clashed seriously with the parent faith, shook off the
yoke of traditionalism, proclaimed the right of private judg-
ment, and maintained that the original Scripture is a full and
sufficient guide. Anan gave up the system of rabbinical calenda-
tion, and made the intercalation of a leap month dependent
upon the ripened barley,48 according to Moses. By the ninth cen-
tury, with its center in Jerusalem, it-carried forward a strong
missionary propaganda in other countries.49 Its period of ascend-
ancy, especially in Palestine and Egypt, was from the ninth to
the twelfth centuries, with the flood tide in the tenth and
eleventh.
By the time of the Middle Ages, Karaism had become a
powerful factor in Jewry, possessing many able scholars. In fact,
it comprised about forty per cent of Jewry,50 and effectively laid
hold of printing, when it came into vogue. Caleb Afendopolo,
a fifteenth-century Karaite leader, summarized the points
wherein the Karaites differed from the Talmudists, or Rabbin-
ites, thus: (1) In rejecting the oral law; (2) in rejecting tradi-
tional exegesis, while maintaining the "perspicuity" of Scripture;
and (3) in denying all right to add to or diminish from the
law.51 They claimed, furthermore, the right of constant progress
without justifiable charge of unfaithfulness to their earlier
leaders.
2. REJECT RABBINICAL CALENDAR; REINSTATE MOSAIC RECKONING.
A fundamental part of Anan's reform was the
_________________
47 Jacob Mann, Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, vol. 2, p. v.;
Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 30.
48 Albiruni, op. cit,, p. 69. This will be fully discussed in Volume IV of Prophetic Faith.
49 Mann, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 4, 7.
50 Zvi Cahn, The Rise of the Karaite Sect, p. 12.
51 Farrar, op. cit., p. 449.
198 PROPHETIC FAITH
abandonment of the fixed rabbinical calendar as contrary to the
Mosaic regulations, together with reinstatement of the original
form of luni-solar calendation. With the Karaites, the new year
could fall on any day of the week, the Passover and the Day of
Atonement frequently differing from those of the Rabbinites.
This rabbinical revision or change of Jewish time (the Karaites
called it a definite perversion) began under Hillel II, back in the
fourth century,52 which departure resulted in a fixed, artificial
calendar tied to the vernal equinox, and thus the Rabbinites
disregarded the Mosaic regulations and threw the appointed
Jewish feasts usually one moon (month) too early. In the tenth
century the conflict became intense, as the Palestinian school
sought to break down the authority of the Babylonian school as
regards the calendar. The leaders in this controversy were Ben
Meir, head of the Karaite schpol in Palestine, and Saadia Gaon,
head of the Babylonian rabbinical school. 53
3. BEN MEIR SEEKS TO WREST CALENDAR CONTROL FROM BABYLONIA.
AARON BEN MEIR (9th-10th centuries) had denied
the authority of the Babylonian academies to fix the festivals,
and had won the confidence of many. He disputed the Babylo-
nian method of calculation, but he "never ventured to propose a
return to the method of lunar observation," as did "the Karaites,
who had reverted in all respects to the ancient practice of deter-
mining the time of the new moon by observation, and the inter-
calation of the thirteenth month when required-by the state
of the crops." 54 He sought, in fact, to transfer the authority from
rabbinical Babylonia back to Palestine, and to wrest the control
of calendar calculation from the Rabbinites. Saadia ben Joseph,
then in Babylonia, had far earlier defended the rabbinical cal-
endation. His opinion came to be accepted, ending in a setback
for Ben Meir, who was excommunicated by the exilarch David
ben Zakkai and the academies of Babylonia, with notification
_______________
52 Samuel Poznanski, "Calendar (Jewish),". James Hastings, editor, Encyclopaedia, of
Religion and Ethics, vol. 3, p. 118. See also Prophetic Faith, Volume IV.
53 Poznanski, "The Anti-Karaite Writings of Saadiah Gaon," in Jewish Quarterly Review,
January, 1898, vol. 10, pp. 238, 239.
54 Poznanski, "Calendar (Jewish)" in Hastings, Encyclopaedia, vol. 3, p. 119.
JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 199
sent out over the world. Saadia was rewarded by being made
Gaon of the Sura academy, notwithstanding the contrary advice
of Nahawendi. 55
The controversy continued, but in the end the Karaite pro-
test lost its momentum, and the Babylonian system of regulation
of the Jewish festival year became authority, before which the
Holy Land had to bow. This setting and circumstance will as-
sume major importance when we come later to study the pro-
phetic exposition of 1843 and 1844. 56
V. "Golden Age" of Interpretation Opens With Saadia
1. ELIEZER MESSIANIC KINGDOM FOLLOWS FOURTH EMPIRE.
[5] The Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer (The Chapters of
Rabbi Eliezer), an eight- or ninth-century Midrash (exposition
written after the rise of Mohammedanism, but incorporating
much old material),57 refers to "the four kingdoms, their domin-
ion and their downfall." 58 The second power was declared to be
Medo-Persia, signified ,by the ram of Daniel 8, the third being
Greece, symbolized by the he-goat, and the fourth beast (Dan.
7:19) Edom 59 which name is used for Rome, as the translator's
footnote indicates: " 'Edom' is the usual term for the Roman
Empire. MS. [Moses] Gaster adds: 'This is the fourth King-
dom.'" 60
Previously, the four kingdoms had been sketchily set forth
from Daniel 2 with the monarchs Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and
Alexander named. The stone kingdom is declared to be that
of "King Messiah, who, in the future, will rule from one end of
the world to the other" citing Daniel 2:35, concerning the
stone, which became a great mountain and "filled the whole
earth." 61
_________________
55 I. Broyde, "Ben Meir" The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 2, p. 677
56 This will be covered in vol. IV of Prephetic Faith
57 Silver, op. cit., pp. 37-39; The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 8, p. 541,
art. "Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer"
58 "Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer", translated by Gerald Friedlander, p. 198
59 Ibid., pp. 198, 199
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid., pp. 82, 83.
200 PROPHETIC FAITH
2. SAADIA INTERPRETS BOTH SYMBOLS AND TIME PROPHECIES.
[6] SAADIA BEN JOSEPH [al-Fayyumi] (882-942), Gaon of
Sura, famous academy of Babylonia, is called the pioneer of
"scientific Jewish exegesis." Opening the "Golden Age" of
prophetic interpretation, he built primarily on the literal sense,
and rejected the naturalistic explanation of miracles. 62 He was
a bitter opponent of the Karaites, especially of Solomon ben
Jeroham. He believed in the authority and integrity of the Scrip-
tures, but defended rabbinical Judaism, contending that there
are two other sources beside the Scriptures "understanding
and tradition." He relied on Scripture, however, in order to
fight Karaism with its own weapons. 63 He translated the Old.
Testament into Arabic.
Saadia was perhaps the first among the Gaonim to formulate
a comprehensive view upon the Messianic predictions, presented
in his commentary on the book of Daniel, the Sefer Hagalui 64
and the eighth chapter of his Kitab al-Amanat kal-I'tikadat. He
contends that both the 1290 days of Daniel 12 and the 1335 days
beginning forty-five days earlier are to be reckoned as years, 65
but he did not fix a beginning for the periods. Similarly with
the 2300 only these he divided by two, obtaining 1150. In the
field of prophetic exegesis, Saadia says that the stone of Daniel 2
is the Messianic power. He writes thus of the kingdoms
symbolized in Daniel 2:
"And after thee [Babylon] shall arise another kingdom lower 'than
thee, just as silver is inferior to gold, and this is the kingdom of Media.
Lower means weaker. . . . Another, a third kingdom. Like brass. This is the
kingdom of Greece, whose hardness is like brass and whose rulership is
over the whole land of Israel. And the fourth kingdom, strong like iron.
This is Gog." 66
The first three beasts of Daniel 7 are denominated by Saadia
as Babylonia, Persia, and Greece.67 The fourth beast he inter-
_______________
62 Farrar, op. cit., p. 461, note 1.
63 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 30.
64 See Poznanski, Miscellen uber Saadja III. Die Berechnung des Erlosungsjahres bei
Saadja, p. 2.
65 Silver, op. cit., p. 50; Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 40, 41; Elliott, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 285,
286.
66 Translated from Saadia, comment on Dan. 2:39, in Sefer Kehilloth Mosheh (The Book
of the Communities of Moses, or The Rabbinic Bible), part 4; Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 37, 38;
67 Saadia, Comment on Dan. 7, in Mikraoth Gedoloth, pp. 134, 135.
JEWISH EXPOSITORS STRESS ROME AND YEAR-DAY 201
preted as "Gog and Magog," which will crush the land of Israel.
And among the ten horns, or kings, arises a cruel king who will
destroy the Temple, enticing to harlotry in the holy of holies
for three and a half "times," which time, he declares, no one
understands except God. It is for Israel to wait and hope for
God's mercy on His people and city.68 The ram and the he-goat
are Medo-Persia and Greece, and the four horns Alexander's
generals.69 As to the seventy weeks of years, Saadia is explicit:
"Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people. We shall count and know
how many years they are. Ten times seven, amounting to seventy; behold,
these seventy weeks are 490 years. Subtract from them the seventy years
of the Babylonian exile, from the time when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the
Temple until the second year of Darius, and there remain 420 years, which
is the length of time that the second Temple existed, as if to say: Seventy
weeks he decreed upon thy people and upon thy city Jerusalem thy holy
city, which is going to be rebuilt. Behold thou hast learned: Including the
Babylonian exile and including the existence of the second Temple, is a
period of seventy weeks, which mean 490 years, seventy for the destruction
and 420 for the building, ... in order to rebuild Jerusalem, hitherto there
are seven weeks; seven weeks are forty-nine years since God announced to
them the tidings to rebuild Jerusalem." 70
3. YEROHAM CALCULATES MESSIANIC YEAR WITH YEAR-DAYS.
[7] SOLOMON BEN JEROHAM (Yeroham) (10th century), Kara-
ite contemporary and opponent of Saadia, in his explanation
of Daniel, arrived at the date of 968 C.E. He based the 70 weeks
on the third year of Cyrus as the starting point, and reckoned
the duration of the second temple as sixty-two and a half year-
weeks, with the destruction by the Romans in the midst of the
last week.71 Study and discussion of the prophecies appear about
equally divided among the opposing Karaites and Rabbinites
as to calculation.
4. HAKOHEN HOLDS 2300'AND 1290 AS YEAR-DAYS.
[8] SAHL BEN MAZLIAH HAKOHEN (10th century) of Jerusalem, like-
_______________
68 Sefer Kehilloth Mosheh, part 4.
69 Mikraolh Gedoloth, p. 145.
70 Ibid.; see also Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 36, 37.
71 Silver, op. cit., pp. 50-52; Poznanski, Mis'ccllcn uber Saadja 111.
Die Berechnung des Erlosungsjahres bei Saadja, pp. 5-7.
About a century later Albiruni, an Arabic astronomer and chronologer,
says that the Jews count 1335 years from the time of Alexander the Great, and so
terminate them about 968 C.E., looking then for the redemption of Israel.
(Albiruni; op. cit., p. 18)
202 PROPHETIC FAITH
wise a Karaite, and one of Saadia's bitterest opponents, held
views similar to those of Jephet Ibn Ali Halevi relative to the
time periods of the 2300 and 1290 year-days, and wrote a com-
mentary on Daniel. He reproved the Rabbinites and believed
that the rejection of rabbinism would hasten the Messiah's
coming. 72 He was also deeply interested in the calendrical issue. 73
__________________
72 Silver, op. cit., p. 54.
73 Schuhm Ochser, "Sahl ben Mazliah Ha-Kohen," The Jewish, Encyclopedia, vol. 10, p. 636:
CHAPTER NINE
Persecution Accentuates
Medieval Jewish Exposition
I. A Thousand Years of Jewish Oppression
Before tracing further the Middle Ages expositors in Jewry,
let us pause to envision the oppression visited upon the Jews
throughout the centuries we are traversing. The fate of the Jews
during the Christian Era is perhaps the most moving and sor-
rowful drama in all history.1 It forms the background through
which they looked and longed for the promised Messiah, and
gives the actual setting in which their great scholars interpreted
the prophecies of Daniel. They became the most widely dis-
persed of all nations. But the Talmud, like a band of iron, held
them together and separated Jew from Gentile. On the whole,
they were protected rather than oppressed by the emperors of
pagan Rome. However, when Christianity became the religion
of the Roman Empire, the synods began to forbid eating with
Jews. The earlier .tolerance passed, and with few exceptions
Christian writings introduced a hostile tone. In 439 Theodosius
II excluded the Jews from public office; pand this statute was
embodied in the Justinian Code that continued in force for
centuries in the East as well as in the West.
By the end of the sixth century attempts at compulsory
conversion of the Jews were made by the Franks, with the sup-
port of the bishops. Coercive laws were passed punishing those
___________________
1 Dollinger, Studies, p. 211. This section is based upon chapter 9, "The Jews in Europe,"
by this learned professor of ecclesiastical history in the University of Munich.
204 PROPHETIC FAITH
who relapsed. Jews were forbidden to marry Christians or to
sit in judgment upon them. It was unlawful to call a Jewish
physician. And by the close of the eleventh century the religious
wars, or Crusades, began to compel heathen and unbeliever to
embrace the Christian faith and to plunder and root out those
who resisted. This aggravated the misery of the Jews, as this
coercive program was applied to them as well. When the
Crusaders set out to war against the distant Mohammedans, they
often first murdered the Jews at home and plundered their
homes. Finally the Papacy, which at first ignored the Jews,
assumed a hostile attitude under Pope Stephen VI (885-891), de-
claring that the Jews, as enemies of God, were being punished
for the death of Christ. 2
There was little protection from the popes. Innocent III
declared that the Jewish nation was destined to perpetual slavery
because of its sins, and this pronouncement was continually
cited. The jews were compelled to wear a distinctive badge, or
garment, and there was frequent mob violence. Merciless legis-
lation was sponsored by Eugene IV. And where popes failed,
councils made up for any omissions in oppression. The Talmud
was frequently ordered burned because of its alleged anti-Chris-
tian passages. And Thomas Aquinas pronounced the whole race
condemned to perpetual slavery, with dispossession lawful. Mon-
archs, like Frederick II and Charles IV, followed up the prin-
ciple of perpetual slavery, and the Jews were often regarded
as chattels. Massacres were frequent, as in 1290. And the great
Black Plague of 1348, which depopulated much of Europe, was
often falsely attributed to the Jews. 3
Because they lent money at excessive interest, the Jews
were charged with usury. The entire principle of interest was
condemned by popes and councils, such as Clement V at the
Council of Vienna in 1311. The Jews were ostracized from
trades and handicrafts, and often debarred from the medical
profession, except in territories controlled by the Mohammed-
________________
2 Ibid., pp. 215-218.
3 Ibid., pp. 219-223.
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION 205
ans.4 In England they were from time to time subject to bloody
oppression, and bishops demanded their banishment. This was
finally accomplished in 1290 by Edward I. The maltreatment
extended into France, and in 1394 Charles VI decreed their
expulsion from his kingdom. 5
In Spain .their lot was more tolerable at first. In fact, some
rose to power and influence in the twelfth and thirteenth cen-
turies. But priests fanned the flames of persecution. Two hun-
dred thousand Jews saved themselves by receiving Christian
.baptism, though thousands relapsed into Judaism. And in 1492
a royal edict commanded all Jews to quit the country, leaving
their goods.6 Statistics vary, but between 170,000. and 400,000
withdrew into exile. Thousands perished from pestilence, star-
vation, and shipwreck. In Portugal their plight was even worse,
especially in 1496 under King Manuel, who decreed their ex-
pulsion from the land. They could remain only by turning
Christian. Jewish children under fourteen were seized and bap-
tized under compulsion. Conditions were better in Italy. Some
30,000 Jews were "converted" under the fiery eloquence of
the preaching friar, Vincent Ferrer. But it should be remem-
bered that the supposed conversions took place in conjunction
with a reign of terrorism. And when a Jew became a Christian"
he forfeited intercourse with the Jews without gaining the fa-
vor of the Christians. In Rome it was commonly said that a bap-
tized Jew almost invariably relapsed into "apostasy" (Judaism). 7
The worst of all came with the spiritual tribunals of the
Inquisition, under which, upon the merest suspicion, the new
convert was seized, .tortured, and condemned to fine or imprison-
ment for secret Judaism. This induced many to enter the
Christian church and live a life of hypocrisy. It is scarcely pos-
sible to imagine a more painful, frustrated existence than that
of the Jew in the Middle Ages nearly a thousand years of
oppression and massacre, banishment and recall. 8 Such is the
_________________
4 Ibid., pp. 224-226. 5 Ibid., pp. 229-231. 6 Ibid., pp. 231, 232.
7 Ibid., pp. 56, 232-235. 8 Ibid., pp. 235-238.
206 PROPHETIC FAITH
tragic background of their writings on prophecy, as they strove
to obtain equal rights of citizenship and protection.
II. Jephet ibn Ali Represents Iron and Clay as Romans-Arabs
[9] JEPHET IBN ALI HALEVI (Yefeth ben Ali Halevi, or
Japheth ben Eli) (10th century), of Palestine, was the most able
of all Karaite scholars. Commentator and expounder,9 he was
distinguished by the term Teacher of the Exile. Born in Iraq,
he spent considerable time in Jerusalem. He wrote a compre-
hensive Arabic commentary on the entire Jewish Bible, and his
writings were translated from Arabic into Hebrew in the
eleventh century. Stressing the importance of grammar and
lexicography in exposition, he engaged in lengthy discussions
with Saadia,10 charging him with lack of exegetical and gram-
matical knowledge.-
Jephet claimed full- freedom for the exegete, often differ-
ing from his fellow Karaites, Anan and Nahawendi. He fre-
quently cited the Talmud, Midrash, and Targum," but was
opposed to the philosophical and allegorical treatment. He ex-
emplified the difference between the Karaites and Rabbinites,
and charged the Rabbinites with changing the divine laws. He
also engaged in controversy over the Jewish calendar, and the
right beginning of the lunar month for the governing of the
Mosaic festivals. Here are Jephet's own significant words: "They
have introduced the calculation of the calendar, and changed
the divine festivals from their due seasons." 12
Jephet notes the prophetic calculations made by many
rabbis, who had counted the 1335 year-days from the third year
of Cyrus, and remarks that, as the terminal date of that calcula-
tion is past, it stands discredited. 13 He also states that the 2300
year-days are, by many Karaites, held to be dated from the
_________________
9 Graetz, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 205, 206.
10 Birnbaum, op. cit. in Jephet ibn Ali, Arabic Commentary ... on the'Book of Hosea,
pp. xxxvi, xxxvii.
11 Ibid., p. x.
12 Ibid., pp. xxvii, xxviii. This will be carefully studied in Prophetic Faith Volume IV.
13 Silver, op. cit., p. 52 (citing Pinsker, p. 81).
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION 207
Exodus, which took place according to Karaite chronology
in 1332 B.C.E., and would therefore have ended in 968-C.E."
1. TEN HORNS ROMAN, BUT LITTLE HORN MOHAMMEDAN-
ISM.In expounding the four kingdoms of Daniel 2, the fourth
kingdomfollowing Babylonia, Persia, and Greece is ex-
pressly declared to be "the kingdom of Rome, before the king-
dom of Arabia arose." Of the divided feet and toes, he holds,
"The iron represents the Romans, and the clay the Arabs." 15
The "stone" cut out of the mountain Jephet expounds as the
kingdom of the Messiah, which will never pass away. 16 Coming
to the four beasts of Daniel 7, with the earth interpreted as the
"sea," Jephet similarly declares the fourth beast to be "Rome,
the fourth kingdom," exercising dominion over all mankind;
the ten horns are the "ten thrones, belonging to Rome." 17
It is but natural that Jephet, living in Palestine when
Islam controlled the homeland of the Jews, should apply
the Little Horn to Mohammedanism, with its changing of ap-
pointed times and the law "holy-days, sabbaths, and feasts."
He stresses the fact that they had merely been changed, not
abolished. The three and a half times, he says, may be the length
of Islam's reign, or the time of its rule over Israel. 18
2. SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION OF DANIEL 8 TO 12. Jephet
identifies the Persian ram and the Grecian goat of Daniel 8 with
the notable horn replaced by four horns, as Alexander and the
four divisions into which his empire was split. He again applies
the great horn of Daniel 8 that casts truth to the groundto
the Mohammedan perversion of the words of the law and the
prophets, with Mohammedanism's ultimate final destruction.18
The 2300 evening-mornings of Daniel 8:14 are interpreted as
1150 whole days a day standing for "a year" in fulfillment. 20
_________________
14 Ibid., p. 54.
15 Jephet ibn AH, A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, translated by D. S. Margoliouth,
pp. 12, 13.
16 Ibid., p. 14. 17 Ibid., pp. 33, 37.
18 Ibid., p. 38. 19 Ibid., pp. 33, 41, 42.
20 Ibid., pp. 43, 80.
208 PROPHETIC FAITH
But no attempt is made to locate the period. Continuing with
the time prophecy of the seventy weeks, Jephet says:
"Of these seventy weeks, seven passed in the kingdom of the Chaldees
(47 years); 57 years the Persians reigned, 180 the Greeks, 206 the Romans;
these are the special periods of the seventy weeks. These include the reigns
of all four beasts; only the angel does not describe at length what hap-
pened to any of them save the history of the Second Temple during the
time of Rome. These seventy weeks are weeks of sabbatical years, making
490 years; below they are divided into periods." 21
The 434' years, Jephet calculates, reach to the coming of
"Titus the sinner"; the abomination is the "army of the
Romans." 22 And the exposition continues in Daniel 11, covering
Persia, Greece, and Rome. The running to and fro and seeking
knowledge, cited in Daniel 12:4, is a searching of God's Word
"Knowledge shall increase; knowledge of two things: (a) the
commandments; (b) the end." 23
3. ACKNOWLEDGES YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE BUT QUESTIONS
PLACEMENT. On the larger time, periods the 1290, 1335, and
2300 Jephet is distressed by the futile attempts to pierce the
"times" and "seasons," and the unjustified and disappointing
calculations that had frequently been made by both Rabbinites
and Karaites. He prays God to bring the great consummation
"near in our day and yours; not to deny us or you abundant
knowledge of His book, revelation of His secrets, and attach-
ment to His faith." 24 Though protesting the rather general prac-
tice of calculating the periods extending to the Messiah, he
bears witness to the general recognition of the year-day principle.
Here is Jephet's rebuke:
"The scholars who preceded Joseph ibn Bakhtawi explained the 2300,
1290, and 1335 as years; the Rabbanites, too, spoke of the end, and fancied
that from the third year of Cyrus to the end would be 1335 years; the term
is passed some t years since, so that their opinion has been disproved, ,and
that of their followers; similarly El-Fayyumi [Saadia] explained it years,
and has been proved false; he had however some marvellous inventions
with reference to the time and times. He was answered by Salmon ben
________________
21 Ibid., p. 49. 22 Ibid., pp. 50, 51. 23 Ibid., p. 77.
24 Ibid., p. 86; see also Silver, op. at., pp. 207, 208.
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION 209
Jerucham; whom we need not in our turn answer, since his term is past
and the end not arrived. Certain of the Karaites, too, made the 2300 years
date from the Exodus from Egypt; that term too is.past years ago, and their
prophecy not come true. Salmon ben Jerucham, in his Commentary on Ps.
Ixxiv. 9, denied that it was possible to ascertain the end; but on Ps. cii. 14 he
offered a date which is passed and falsified. He agreed with many others
in interpreting the 2300 and 1290 as days, but differed about the interpre-
tation of the time of the removal of the continual, which, he thought, meant
the destruction of the Second Temple. Benjamin Nahawendi agreed with
him in the latter point, but differed from him about the days being days
and not years. Benjamin took a separate view in believing that they were
years. Salmon ben Jerucham referred the 1290 to the three and a half
spoken of in chap. x. 27 ('for the half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice
and the oblation to cease').
"Each of the commentators has taken a different line, and all have
gone wrong in making the days years. Benjamin Nahawendi, indeed, made
the 2300 date from the destruction of Shiloh, and from the time of the
removal of the continual from the destruction of the Second Temple; this
leaves still some 400 years; but this is a delusion." 25
He speaks of one commentator who attempts to apply the
three and a half times to the three periods of 2300, 1290, and
1335, but shows its improbability. He closes his commentary
by asking God to "pardon any slips or errors." Then "the
Almighty Himself has said that the words are shut up and sealed
till the time of the end. At that time it shall be revealed by the
hand of the wise; the wise shall understand. God Almighty, in
His mercy and loving-kindness, bring near their realisation." 26
III. Similar Expositions From Rashi to Maimonides
1. RASHI EXPECTS MESSIANIC KINGDOM TO FOLLOW ROME.
[10] RASHI (SOLOMON BEN ISAAC) (1040-1105), the most cele-
brated rabbi of the French schools, is often called "The Exe-
gete," his Midrashic and legal commentary on the law (in the
Talmud) being considered standard among the Jews,27 though it
came under the ban of the Inquisition. His was the first Jewish
book to be printed (1470). 28 He witnessed the beginning of the
.
_________________
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., p. 87.
27 Farrar, op. cit., pp. 462, 83; see also Louis I. Newman, op. cit., p. 325.
28 Farrar, op. cit., p. 462.
210 PROPHETIC FAITH
period of the Crusades, terrible tragedies coming upon the
Jewish communities in northwestern Europe in their wake.
In the field of prophetic interpretation he believes the four
monarchies of Daniel 2 and 7 to be Babylonia, Medo-Persia,
Greece, and Rome, followed by the Messianic state.29 He has
Daniel 8:14 begin with the Egyptian captivity, and 12:11, 12
terminate in 1352 C.E., as the Messianic year301290.years after
the cessation of the burnt offering in 62 C.E., shortly before the
destruction.31 He interprets the seventy weeks as 490 years. 32
On Daniel 2, Rashi makes the usual Jewish application to
the four kingdoms by name,33 followed by Rome's weakness and
division. It is while these kingdoms are still in existence, he con-
tends, that the eternal Messianic kingdom the fifth will be set
up, and it will consume all others. 34 In Daniel 7 the same four
kingdoms are portrayed, the ten horns being ten Roman king-
doms, with Titus as the little horn. 35 Rashi makes the three and a
half times, however, the same as the "1335 years," reckoned from
the cessation of the perpetual sacrifice,36 when the abomination
of desolation is removed.
Rashi has recourse to Gematria,37 however, arid adds 574
to the 2300, making 2874, when the sanctuary shall be "victo-
rious" 38 dating it from the time when Israel went down into
Egypt until the "continual offering" was removed, shortly be-
fore the destruction of Jerusalem. This arbitrary date Rashi
____________
29 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 55, 56.
30 Ibid., p. 59, noting Sanhedrin 97b; Silver, op. cit.t p. 66.
31 Silver, op. cit., p. 66.
32 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 56, 57.
33 Rashi. comment on Daniel 2, in Sefer Kehilloth Mosheh, part 4.
34 Rashi, comment on Daniel 2, in Nebiim Vkethubim im Perush Rashi Uperush Mikrae
Kodesh Cha-Rav Meir Loeb Malbim. (The Prophets and Hagiographa With Rashi's Commen-
tary) and the Commentary "Mikrae Kodesh" Which is by Rabbi Meir Loeb Malbim, vol. 10,
pp. 9, 10.
35 Ibid., comment on Dan. 7:24; see also Mikraoth Gedoloth, comment on Dan. 7:4.
38 Ibid., comment on Dan. 7:25; see also Sefer Kehilloth Mosheh, comment on .Dan. 8.
37 In Gematria men sought to find numerical equivalents through the mystical value of
names, and of the letters by which they were expressed. This led to innumerable fancies, as
every name was regarded as a number, and therefore a cognate to any other name which yielded
the same number. Then there were also the sizes and shapes of letters, and computations, and
interchange of letters in a cabalistic alphabet. (Farrar, op. cit., pp. 97-107.) This often led to
letter worship and traditionalism, to exaltation of ceremonialism, and to the ignoring of the
literal intent. Bibliolatry slowly but surely undermined the Bible, and' the Scriptures came to be
buried under masses of legendary distortion. Exegesis became an art of leading astray, as the
mystic^ Cabala was devoid of any sound foundation. Thus the Word was set at nought by human
inventions.
38 Mikraoth Gedoloth, comments on Dan. 8:14, and 12:11.
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION 211
admits is without "specific proof."39 He apparently believes that
the forty-five years beyond the 1290 will yield the 1335, when
the Messiah will reveal Himself; but his statement is couched
very vaguely. The seventy weeks are sabbatical weeks of years,
and are therefore 490 years the Babylonian Exile seventy years,
and the Second Temple 420 years.40 Despite it all, the year-day
principle was acknowledged and applied.
2. BAR HIYYA SEEKS DATE OF END FROM TIME PROPHECIES.
[11],ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA HANASI (c. 1065-1136), Spanish as-
tronomer, mathematician, and philosopher, was surveyor for the
state, writer of a textbook on geometry, and interested in calen-
dation. His is the first eschatoiogical work Megillath Hame-
galleh (The Scroll of the Revealer) of a European rabbi, and
it later influenced Nahmahides and Abravanel; his is also the
most extensive attempt at Messianic calculation thus far essayed,
digesting all the literature up to his day. He sought, to determine
the apocalyptic end.41 His calculations were derived from the
date of creation, as he believed that the world would last 6,000
years, with the seventh as the millennial sabbath. 42
Bar Hiyya makes the 2300, the 1290, and the 1335 terminate
at different dates with the 2300 from the erection of the First
Temple (2928 B.C.E.), which would end these periods in 1468
C.E., with the sanctuary "victorious"; the 1290 he dates from the
destruction of the Second Temple, which he placed in 68 C.E.,
therefore bringing 1358 C.E. as the Messianic year; the 1335 lasts
forty-five years longer, for the wars of Gog and Magog. 43 He also
invoked astrology the conjunctions of the planets. 44
3. IBN EZRA TITUS LITTLE HORN ON ROMAN FOURTH BEAST.
[12] ABRAHAM IBN EZRA (1092-1167), noted exegete
with Karaite leanings, was famous for his scientific discoveries.
Born in Spain, he traveled in Northern Africa, Babylonia, Persia,
_________________
39 Ibid., comment on Dan. 8:14.
40 Ibid.
41 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 313, 314; Silver, op. cil., pp. 69, 70.
42 Silver, op. cil., p. 79; Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 316, 321.
43 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 323; Silver, op. cit., p. 72.
44 Silver, op. cit., pp. 72-74, 257.
212 PROPHETIC FAITH
India, France, and England. He was interested in philosophy,
medicine, mathematics, philology, and theology. His commen-
taries on the Old Testament developed the literal sense, dis-
trusting allegory. The writings of Jephet ibn Ali Halevi, the
Karaite, exerted a marked influence upon him, and he quoted
from Jephet more frequently than from any other. 45 Declaring
that the book of Daniel contains Messianic prophecies, he de-
plored astrological attempts to nullify them.
Ibn Ezra distinguished between the five methods of Jewish
Biblical exegesis, and chose the last. These were: (1) Verbal-
expounding each separate word; (2) subjective paying no at-
tention to tradition; (3) allegorical reading mysteries into the
sacred text; (4) cabalisticdeveloping secrets out of letters,
numbers, and syllables; and (5) literal confined to the actual
meaning of the writers. 46 Like many others, he stressed the four
empires of Daniel 2 and 7, with tke eternal kingdom of the
Messiah to follow. 47
The seventy weeks Ibn Ezra holds to be seventy septinates,
or 490 years,48 and cites Saadia in support of the year-day prin-
ciple.49 But he is not clear regarding the 2300, 1290, and 1335
numbers.60 Believing them to be literal days, he says that they
may, however, represent that number of years. 51
In Daniel 2, after enumerating the first three powers as
Babylonia, Medo-Persia, and Greece, Ibn Ezra avowedly follows
Saadia Gaon in bringing Ishmael into the fourth empire, as the
clay, mingled with the Roman iron. 58 In Daniel 7 the Persian
element is predominant in the second kingdom, and the three
ribs are the three provinces. The four heads of the leopard are
the four divisions of Alexander's kingdom. The ten horns of the
fourth, or Roman, beast are "ten kings which arose in Rome
___________________
45 Birnbaum, op. cit., in Jephet ibn Ali, Arabic Commentary . . . on the Book of Hosea
pp. xi, xliii.
46 Farrar, op. cit., pp. 274, 275.
57 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 119; Silver, op. at., pp. 212, 213.
48 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 120.
49 Ibn Ezra, comment on Dan. 9:24, in Mikraoth Gedoloth.
50 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 119, 120.
51 Silver, op. cit., p. 213.
52 Abraham ibn Ezra, comment on Dan. 2, in Sefer Kehilloth Mosheh.
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION 213
before Vespasian, who destroyed the Temple.53 The Little
Horn is "the last king."54 The words of presumption in the
mouth of .the Little Horn were spoken by Titus. 55 "The explana-
tion of these 70 weeks is very difficult," Ibn Ezra 'declares. 56
So he contents.himself with simply repeating the exposition
of Saadia Gaon that they are weeks of years, and the sixty-two
weeks are the years of the Second Temple. Ibn Ezra's curious
explanation of the seventieth week, and its midst, follows:
"It is well known that Titus made a covenant with Israel seven years,
and for three years and a half the continual offering was abolished in the
Second Temple before the destruction of the Temple, and thus it is written
in the book of Joseph ben Gorion . . . and it is written in the fourth proph-
ecy, And they shall profane the sanctuary, the fortress, this is the day on
which Jerusalem was captured in the days of Titus, and they had removed
- the continual offering before this, and set up there the abomination of
desolation, and thus it is written: And from the time when the continual
offering was removed, and the abomination of desolation was set up, 1290
days." 57
"According to their number, will be the days which Israel Will be in
great trouble before the coming of the redeemer, and behold it has been
made clear according to the explanation that when the king of the north
will go out and take Egypt after three and a half years, the redeemer will
come to Israel, but we do not know until now when this will be." 58
4. TOBIAH BEN ELIEZER MESSIANIC EPOCH AT END OF 1335.
[13] TOBIAH BEN ELIEZER (llth century), of Bulgaria, in his
Midrashic commentary, Lekah Tob, looked for the ending of the
1335 year-days of Daniel 12:12 to bring the Messianic epoch, but
did not know their terminus. 59
5. JUDAH HALEVI SETS 1358 FOR END OF PERIODS. [14]
ISAAC BEN JUDAH HALEVI (13th century), of Sens, France, in
revolt against contemporary philosophy, held that the 1290 and
1335 represent year-days. Beginning with the destruction of
________________
53 Ibn Ezra, comment on Dan. 7:5-8, in Mikraoth Gedololh.
54 Ibn Ezra, comment on Dan. 7:5-8, in Se/er Kehilloth Mosheh.
55 Ibn Ezra, comment on Dan. 7:8, in Mikraoth Gedoloth.
56 Ibn Ezra, comment on Dan, 9:24, ibid.
57 Translated from Ibn Ezra's comment on Dan. 9:24, ibid.
58 Ibn Ezra, comment on Dan. 12:11, ibid.
59 Silver, op. cil., pp. 59, 136.
214
PROPHETIC FAITH
Maimonides, Notable Twelfth-Century Jewish Scholar, Who Held
Little Horn of Daniel 7 Was Rule of Rome (Left)
AbravaneO Illustrious Fifteenth - Century
Spanish Minister of Finance, Who Declared Little Horn to Be Rule of Pope (Right)
Jerusalem, they would probably end in 1358 and 1403, respec-
tively. 60
6. GALIPAPA THROWS ALL FULFILLMENTS BACK INTO PAST.
[15] HAYYIM GALIPAPA (c. 1310-1380), Spanish rabbi who
fought against the severities of the Talmudists, sought to throw
all fulfillments back into the past; he applied the Little Horn, of
Daniel 7 to Antiochus Epiphanes. 61 In this he is unique among
all Jewish expositors a Jewish preterist in verity! and ante-
dates the Catholic preterist Alcazar by three centuries.
7. RATIONALISTIC MAIMONIDES HAZY ON PROPHECY. [16]
MAIMONIDES, or MOSES BEN MAIMON, sometimes called RaMBaM
(1135-1204), illustrious Jewish scholar, philosopher, physician,
and astronomer, was born in Cordova, Spain. After the Moham-
medan invasion he wandered, with his family, throughout Spain,
Palestine, and Northern Africa, settling at Cairo in 1165. Forced
conversions were common, and Maimonides' family had con-
formed outwardly to Mohammedanism. So Maimonides became
court physician to the reigning sultan. Called the "Light of the
West," he was the leading Jewish scholar and philosopher of
the Middle Ages, and may be regarded as the founder of Jewish
rationalism. 62 Maimonides made a profound and permanent im-
pression upon Judaism, and established the right of free investi-
_______________
60 Silver, op. cit., p. 86.
61 Silver, op..cit., pp. 215, 216; Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 218. 219.
62 Milman, History of the Jews, vol. 3, p. 160; Silver, op cit., pp. 74, 80; Farrar, op. cit.
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION 215
gation as against the principle of absolute rabbinical authority.
He was author of numerous works, The Guide to the Per-
plexed being his leading production. In this he sought to har-
monize Biblical and rabbinical teaching with philosophy, par-
ticularly Aristotelianism. However, he held that matter is not
eternal, but created, and that immortality is acquired, not in-
herent. He believed that prophecy was possible, and discussed
its nature. He applied the Little Horn of Daniel 7 to the pre-
sumption of Jesus, regarding Jesus as a false prophet, like
Mohammed. 63
He was particularly determined that no one should attempt
to fix the time of the Messiah's advent from Bible texts, and he
placed man's highest aspiration in the future world rather than
in a restored state. 64 He believed that Messiah would come upon
the termination of Rome's allotted period of prosperity; he de-
fended Saadia on the coming of Messiah, and although reluctant
about time setting, looked to the year 1216. 65 He did not hold
to the cabalistic 7,000-year theory. 66
Maimonides is remembered also for his work in Jewish
calendar science, particularly on the visibility of the new moon,
which he based on Chaldean astronomy; His system of determin-
ing the visibility of the new moon in Jerusalem, and his plan
of intercalation, appearing in his tractate, have a bearing on
some of the later interpreters who dealt with the crucifixion
date, as will be discussed in Volume IV of Prophetic Faith.
IV. Nahmanides Employs Time Prophecy in Debate
With Dominican
[17] NAHMANIDES, or Moses ben Nahman, or RamBan
(1195-1270), of Spain, was a practicing physician. In marked
contrast to Maimonides, he was a conservative, with unbounded
respect for Moses and the prophets. He fought against the ra-
tionalizing of the Scriptures and the rejection of miracles. He
______________
63 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 137.
64 Silver, op. cit., p. 214; Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 303.
65 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 140-145; Silver, op. cit., pp. 74, 75, 214.
66 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 160.
216 PROPHETIC FAITH
also rejected the exegesis of Ibn Ezra, and many Karaites at-
tended his lectures. But Nahmanides revived the mystical
Cabalism. 67
In his Sefer Hagulah (Book of Redemption), Nahmanides
seeks to harmonize the various time periods and dates so as to
deduce the Messianic year, setting 1358 C.E. for the Messiah's
coming. 68 Nahmanides believes that the six days of creation
represent six millennia,69 at the end of which the Messiah would
appear. The seventh would be the millennial Sabbath. The
seventy weeks are 490 years, from the close of the first common-
wealth to the end of the second, and involving the devastation of
Europe. As regards the 1290, 1335, and 2300 periods, when the
sanctuary shall be victorious, dated from King David's rule,
Nahmanides says, "Days stand for years." 70 He likewise had re-
course to Gematria.
1. DRAMATIC DEBATE WITH PABLO CHRISTIANI BEFORE
SPANISH KING. In September, 1263, the Dominican Era Pablo
Christiani (a former Jew) challenged the Jews to a series of pub-
lic disputations before King James of Aragon, on the differences
between Jews and Christians. The three main points were: Had
the Messiah appeared? Was He human or divine? And who
possesses the true faith? The king ordered Nahmanides to en-
gage him at Barcelona, granting the former full freedom of
speech. Four days were consumed in this spectacular dispute,
which centered on the Messianic question. 71 Nahmanides ex-
plained the 1290 days as 1290 years, referring to Leviticus 25:29
_______________________
67 Cabala; Cabbala, or Quabbala a mystical system of philosophy that
arose among the Jews at the beginning of the Christian Era,
signifying a secret system of theology, metaphysics and magic.
In the 13th century, the Zohar was the great Spanish textbook of
of medieval Kabalah, stressing the approaching millennium on the
6000 year theory. One of the branches of Kabalistic law consisted in
finding the hidden sense of the whole Masorah (the traditional Bible
text) down to verses, words, letters, and even vowel points and accents,
which they thought had been delivered to Moses on Sinai.
The numbers of letters, the collations of letters, and the transpositions,
or substitutions, were supposed to have a supernatural significance.
68 Silver, op. cit., pp. 83, 84.
69 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 166 (citing lorath Adonai, p. 32).
70 Ibid., pp. 172-176.
71 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 176, 177, 182; Elliott, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 286, n.; Rabbi Chone,
Nachrnanides. For sources see "Acta Disputationis R. Mosis Nachmanidis cum Fratre Paulo
Christiani, et Fratre Raymundo Martini," in Teia Ignea Satanae, edited by Johann Christopher
Wagenseil (1681); Nahmanides' own report in Nachmanidis Disputatio, edited by M. Stein-
schneider (1860); tie Dominican report in Raymund Martini Pugio Fidei (1687); Oz,ar Wiklt-
him, edited by J. D. Eisenstein (1928).
PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH .EXPOSITION 217
and Genesis 24:55 to illustrate the year-day principle. Pablo
contended that the 490 years reached to the "Most Holy" and
the "anointed prince." Nahmanides responded that Jesus was
born seventy years before the nation fell. In the course of the
debate he said:
"It is now 1195 years since the destruction, or 95 years less than the
Messianic figure [1335] of Daniel. We believe that the Messiah will come
that year." 72
Nahmanides was adjudged the winner, the king giving him
three hundred gold dinars and royal protection on his home-
ward journey. 73 But in 1264, by order of a Papal bull, all copies
of the Talmud in Aragon were confiscated and certain anti-
Christian passages stricken out. Nahmanides' published account
was condemned to be burned and he was banished from the
country, thus suffering under the Catholic government of Spain,
which had compelled his participation in the disputation, and
which resulted in his exile. Nahmanides looked for a resurgence
of Mohammedan power as a preliminary to redemptive deliver-
ance. 74
It is noteworthy not only that Nahmanides employed the
1290-year time prophecy in his public debate before the king,
but that Pablo a Jewish renegade, and therefore somewhat
acquainted with prophecy projects the 490 years to prove
Christ to have been the premised Messiah. But Nahmanides wins
the point from him, because Pablo, now a Catholic, was not suffi-
ciently informed rightly to place the period of the seven heb-
domads in answer to Nahmanides' rebuttal Jew and Catholic
alike acknowledging the year-day principle. Truly, prophecy
has had the spotlight in many a dramatic setting, and not a few
times before kings even in the thirteenth century!
2. OTHER RABBIS OF MIDDLE AGES APPLY YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE.
Only the barest mention can be made of five other less
_________________
72 Silver, op. cit., p. 84, citing Steinschneider, p. 15.
73 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 177. This prize would have been $1,200, probably worth about
$12,000 in present purchasing power, according to information from the American Numis-
matic Society.
74 Silver, op. cit., p. 85; see also Louis I. Newman, op. cit., p. 320.
218 PROPHETIC FAITH
prominent thirteenth- and fourteenth-century expositors of the
year-day principle. These were:
[18] BAHYA BEN ASHER (c. 1260-1340), of Spain, who held
that the 1290 and 1335, and the 2300 divided by 2 (or 1150
years), were all year-days. 75
[19] GERSONIDES, OR LEVI BEN GERSHON (RaLBaG) (1288-
1344), French philosopher, stated that the last portion of Daniel
had clear reference to Rome, with the 1290 years reaching from
the destruction to the redemption, which he placed at 1358 C.E. 76
The four beasts of Daniel 7 were explicitly declared to parallel
the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 Babylonia, with the swiftness
of a lion; Medo-Persia, with the rapacity of a bear; Greece, with
its four divisions; and the fourth dreadful, long-enduring beast
as "the kingdom of Rome." 77
[20] MENAHEM BEN AARON BEN ZERAH (1310-1385), of
Spain, held the 1290 and 1335 days as years. 78
[21] SIMON BEN ZEMAH DURAN, or RashBaZ (1361-1444),
rabbi and physician of Algiers, who had fled thither from Mal-
lorca, because of persecutions of the Jews, in 1394 became
chief rabbi of Algiers. He wrote numerous commentaries on
the Bible and Talmud, his commentary on Job, Oheb Mishpat,
giving 1850 C.E. as the Messianic year. Citing Ezekiel 4:4 as evi-
dence that prophetic days stood for literal years, he alluded,
among other discussions, to the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, which
he interpreted as so many years. Taking the final destruction of
the kingdom of Israel, about 450 B.C.E., as the starting point, he
looked for the redemption to take place.2300 years later, or in
the year 1850 C.E. Duran similarly applied the 1290 year-days
of Daniel 12:11 to the conquest of Jerusalem by the Mohammed-
ans. The end of Mohammedan rule could therefore be looked
for 1290 years after the rise of Mohammed (1290 + 622 = 1912
C.E.), and the beginning of the end sixty years earlier, in
1850 C.E. 79
________________
75 Silver, op. cit., pp. 95-97.
76 Ibid., p. 94.
77 Gersoniaes. comment on Daniel 7, Sefer Kehilloth Mosheh, part 4.
78 Silver, op. at., p. 103.
79 The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 3, p. 612.
art. "Duran, Simon ben Zemah";
Silver, op. cit., pp. 107, 108.
219 PERSECUTION ACCENTUATES JEWISH EXPOSITION
V. 16th-Century Expositors Apply Year-Day Principle
[23] ABRAHAM SABA (15th-16th centuries), of Spain, longed
for redemption but opposed calculation of the Messianic year.
He constantly referred to the four kingdoms and believed that
the redemption would take place "hard upon the fall of
Rome." 80
[24] ABRAHAM HALEVI BEN ELIEZER (c. 1460-1530), Spanish
exile and Cabalist, in his treatise on .Daniel (The Loosener of
Knots), tries to prove the Messianic year to be 1530 C.E., in close
relation to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 C.E. He placed the
beginning of the 1290 year-days not from the destruction but
from 4000 A.M., which would bring 1462 C.E. But he, too, ap-
plied Gematria, and thus adjusted all terminal points. 81
[25] JOSEPH BEN DAVID IBN YAHYA IV (1494-1539), of Italy,
in his commentary on Daniel, advanced the Messianic year to
1931 C.E. in order to discourage early anticipations and to spare
disillusionment. He terminated the 2300 years in 5691 A.M. or
1931 C.E. 82
[26] ELIEZER ASHKENAZI BEN ELIJAH HAROFE (1512-1585),
of Turkey and Poland, terminated the 1335 years in 1594. 83
[27] MORDECAI BEN JUDAH DATO (1527-1585), of Italy,
stressed the 1335 year-days from 4000 A.M., when, according to
Talmudic tradition, the 2,000 years of the Messianic epoch
were to begin.84 Dato followed the Pirke on the four empires.
He looked to 1575 as the year of expectation.
[28] DANIEL BEN PERAHIAH (16th century), reckoning on
the basis of 1335 year-days, thought that they would terminate
in 1575. 85
[29] NAPHTALI HERZ BEN JACOB ELHANAN (2nd half of the
16th century), of Germany, likewise ended the 1335 years in
1575. 86
__________________
80 Silver, op. cit., pp. 221, 222.
81 Ibid., pp. 130-132.
82 Ibid., pp. 142, 143.
83 Ibid., p. 139.
84 Ibid., pp. 135, 136 (citing Sanhedrin, 97 a,b).
85 Ibid., p. 137.
86 Ibid., p. 138.
CHAPTER TEN
>limax of Jewish Interpretation
in Centuries Sixteen and' Seventeen
I. Marranos Infiltrate the, Christian Faith
The story of the Marranos is one of the most amazing chap-
ters in all history, perhaps unparalleled in sheer dramatic pathos
and appeal. The Marrano was a Christianized Jew who professed
Christianity chiefly to escape persecution. The record of these
"new Christians," or crypto-Jews, is an inseparable part of the
history of Spain and Portugal, particularly from Inquisition
times onward, although it was a development that touched
nearly every country of Western Europe in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. It provides the explanatory background
of countless persons of highest eminence, and receives lurid il-
lumination from the flares oi the auto-da-fe. 1
Under the "Great Expulsion" of 1290, Jews to the number
of sixteen thousand had been banished from England under
Edward I (1273-1307). Similar expulsions from Spain had taken
place under Ferdinand and Isabella, resulting in Jewish colonies
all over the Levant. Some Jews, refusing to leave Spain and Por-
tugal, professed Christianity and developed this group, called
the Marranos, "to outwit the Jesuits with their own weapons." 2
These Marranos penetrated deeply into the ranks of the nations
particularly in Rome, Amsterdam, and London.
_______________
1 Cecil Roth, A History of the Marranos, pp. xi, xii.
2 Lucien Wolf, "Introduction. The Return of the Jews to England," Menasseh ben
Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell, p. xii.'
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 221
The roots of Marranism go back to the early centuries of the
Christian Era. They are tied into the Jewish teaching that a man
should save his life, if necessary, by any means except murder,
incest, or idolatry. 3 Christianity became increasingly dominant
in Western Europe from the fourth century onward. And the
phenomenon of crypto-Judaism was the common accompaniment
of forcible conversion their following of the practices of
Judaism in secret fidelity. With the coming of the Mohammedan
Arabs there was considerable toleration of Jews in Spain, but
later intolerance sprang up, and most of the Jews sought refuge'
in Christian kingdoms. 4 A minority outwardly embraced the
forms of the dominant faith paying lip service but in their
homes they remained faithful to Judaism.
In Spain, beginning with the reconquest under Alfonso X of Castile
(1065-1109), after certain preliminary difficulties,
the life and culture of the Jews prospered under the Christian
rule, but later their position deteriorated. The tide of hostility
rose against the Jews. Mobs .broke loose in 1391, and the Juderia
(ghetto) was piteously sacked. Expulsion of the Jews became
common throughout Europe from England, as noted in 1290,
from France in 1394, and several from Germany. So, large
bodies of Jews accepted baptism en masse in order to escape
death. Numbers of them, as noted, were won by Era Vincent
Ferrer's impassioned appeals some thirty-five thousand in
Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth century. 5 But they continued
to observe the Sabbath, their special feast days, and their char-
acteristic food regulations. Many held high positions of state. 6
Some even became bishops, as Solomon Levi became Pablo de
Santa Maria, bishop of Burgos. 7
In the fifteenth century the Inquisition was established
and the autos-da-fe' were continued. 8 In 1482 Thomas de Tor-
quemada sped the burning of heretics. The general "conversion"
spread into Portugal. These secret Jews retained their knowledge
_________________
3 Roth, History of the Marranos. p. 1. 4 Ibid., pp. 8, 9.
5 Ibid., pp. 17, 18. 6 Ibid., p. 23.
7 Ibid., pp. 19, 24. 8 Ibid., pp. 44, 45.
222 PROPHETIC FAITH
of the Hebrew language. They believed salvation was through
the law of Moses, not through Christ. The New Testament was
neglected. Circumcision was, of course, an impossibility, for it
meant death if discovered. The Jewish, calendar gave difficulty,
with its adjustment of intercalary months. So the Day of Atone-
ment was celebrated arbitrarily on the tenth day after the new
moon of September, and the Passover was celebrated in the
period of the first full moon of March. 9
Columbus sailed on his first voyage in 1492, in the same
month that the expulsion of the Jews from Spain occurred;
several Marranos were, in fact, in the personnel of his expedi-
tion and were quick to realize the possibilities of the New
World.10 The Marranos spread throughout Mexico, but felt the
weight of the Spanish Inquisition from 1574 onward. 11 The
settlement of the Marranos in the Low Countries began in
1512; by 1537 colonies were in Antwerp, and by 1593 Amster-
dam was known as the Dutch Jerusalem. 12
Resettlement in England began later, many Marranos tak-
ing refuge in London. Their return was largely the result of
the appeal of Manasseh ben Israel, in the time of the Protector-
ate under Oliver Cromwell. The Jews had been banished from
England in 1290, and none could live there officially or
lawfully. 13 Nevertheless, many re-entered after the Spanish ex-
pulsion of 1492, until under Bloody Mary they had to leave the
country. Under Elizabeth a large colony returned, but from
the time of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 the Mar-
rano colony declined. 14 The Reformation in England had turned
the eyes of many toward England, and the increased Old Testa-
ment tendencies of Puritanism, incorporated into the Common-
wealth, revived the hope of a revocation of their banishment. 15
The question of readmission was brought to a climax by the
famous mission of Manasseh ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell
________________
9 Ibid., p. ,82. 10 Ibid., pp. 271-273.
11 Ibid., pp. 274-276. 12 Ibid., p. 236.
13 Ibid., p. 252. 14 Ibid., pp. 254, 255, 257.
15 Wolf, oft. cit., in Menasseh ben Israel's Mission, pp. xiv-xv.
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 223
(which will be noted in section III), with its appeal based partly
on Daniel 12:7 (that the final redemption would begin when
the'scattering of the Jews was complete). 16 In this negotiation
Manuel Martinez, a Marrano, represented the Jewish case before
Manasseh came to England,17 and the indispensability to foreign
trade,of the Marranos in London was an important considera-
tion in the final result a recognition of the legality of the resi-
dence of Jews in England which was not formal assent to re-
settlement of the Jews, but rather an unofficial tolerance and
avoidance of the issue, which left them unmolested. 18 After the
Restoration the Jews continued to win favor, and during the
next hundred years there was considerable expansion.19 It is
interesting to note that the distinguished Disraeli family were
Jewish refugees, of this category. 20
II. Abravanel Expounds Little Horn as Papal Antichrist
[22] DON ISAAC BEN JUDAH ABRAVANEL (Abrabanel, Abar-
banel) (1437-1508), last and most illustrious of a long line of
notable Jewish statesmen in the Spanish Golden Age, was a-
Biblical scholar as well as a statesman. Born in Lisbon of wealthy
parentage and possessing extraordinary mental powers, he be-
came master of the learning of his time, and particularly of the
Holy Scriptures. Abravanel lived in the age of discovery and
social and religious ferment. He was the contemporary of Savona-
rola, Torquemada, Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus,
Machiavelli, Erasmus, and Luther. He lived in the transition
age, at the end of the Middle Ages, when the world's horizon
was growing wider. The Inquisition against the Marranos was
under way, and the Jews were expelled from Spain. Columbus
discovered the" new world, and the simmering revolt against the
Church broke forth in the Reformation. 21
__________________
16 Ibid., p. xvi.
17 Roth, History of the Marranos, p. 263.
18 Wolf, op. cit., in Menasseh ben Israel's Mission, pp. xxx, Ixvi-lxviii;
Roth, History of the Marranos, pp. 264, 265.
19 Roth, History oj the Marranos, pp. 266, 267.
20 Ibid., p. 318.
21 Graetz, op. cit., vol. 4, pp. 337, 342; Sarachck, Don Isaac Abrananel, pp. 13-15.
224 PROPHETIC FAITH
Three kings (of Spain, Portugal and Naples) recognized
Abravanel's financial ability, and used his services. Notwith-
standing, he was at times a homeless wanderer, fleeing from
country to country, falling from honor to disgrace, and from
wealth to poverty. His father and grandfather had been finan-
ciers in Lisbon and Seville, respectively. He attended a Lisbon
college where he studied both the Bible and Talmud. He was
proficient in Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, and his
father's position gave him wealth and prestige. Abravanel's
earlier life was perhaps the most eventful and picturesque of
.that of any Jew of his age. He was the friend of scholars, phy-
sicians, church dignitaries, and officials.
(Portrait appears on page 214.)
A financial genius, Abravanel became counselor to Alfonso
V of Portugal, upon whose death he was banished by the son,
John II, and sought refuge in Toledo, Spain. Later he was ad-
vanced to the post of minister of finance to Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, which position he filled for eight years (1484-1492) 22
the crucial period in Columbus' life.
It is most probable that Abravanel met Columbus, who
was in Portugal seeking financial support for his mission while
the former was fiscal minister, and he later sought help from
Queen Isabella during the eight years, from 1484 onward, in
which Ferdinand used Abravanel as collector of the royal reve-
nues. 23
The massacre against the Jews in 1491 had begun a reign
of terror that climaxed in the expulsion in 1492. They were
forced to wear an identifying badge. Persecution of the Marranos
had grown to full proportions under Torquemada. Many of
these Jews had been financiers, judges, and legislators living
outwardly as Christians but inwardly as Jews. Then in 1492 the
Spanish expulsion came. Through his official position, and by
offering his own wealth, Abravanel tried vainly to persuade
Ferdinand to revoke the expulsion edict of March 30, 1492.
_________________
22 Graetz, op. cit., vol. 4, pp. 340-343; Sarachek, Don Isaac Abravanel, pp. 16-27, 40.
23 Sarachek, Don Isaac Abravanel, p. 29.
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 225
Failing in this, and with his property confiscated, he had to .
flee. 24
It was the breakup of Jewish life in Spain, as three hundred
thousand fled in all directions. Abravanel went first to the king-
dom of Naples, where he became treasurer to the king, but the
French invasion of that kingdom sent him to Sicily for refuge.
Later he went to the island of Corfu, then returned to Naples
for eight years. 25
The harrowing experiences of his people sent Abravanel
for refuge and hope to the searching of prophecy. Thus led to
the study of the corning deliverance of the Jews by the Messiah,
he wrote three books on the subject. 26 In 1503, at the age of sixty-
six, he came finally to Venice. Here in his commentaries, which
were delivered as lectures, he blazed a new trail in Scripture
study. Although acquainted with the history of interpretation,
he made use of earlier commentators. 27 He rose to the defense of
Literalism, taking issue with the naturalizing and rationalizing
trend of the times, and strove to revive the "forlorn hope in a
Messiah." 28
In his exposition of Daniel's prophecy he taught that the
1335 years ended in 1503 C.E., and expected the Messiah on the
basis of Daniel 8:14 and 12:4, as well as on the basis of the time,
times, and a half, of Daniel 7:25, reckoning a time as 410 years
(the duration of the first temple). 29
Sarachek assures us that "Abravanel is the only writer in
Jewish theology who alludes to the Antichrist." 30 In the succes-
sion of prophetic empires, he sees "the successive sway of the
world empires, Babylonia, Persia, Greece and Rome, and the
permanent messianic state." 31 And Abravanel was perhaps the
first Jewish exegete to envision the prophecies of Daniel as_a
whole. 32 This did not come through tradition." 33 He was unin-
_________________
24 Ibid., pp. 33, 34, 42-44. 25 Ibid., pp. 48-50.
26 Ibid., pp. 51, 52. 27 Ibid., pp. 52, 65-69.
28 Ibid., pp. 82, 83, 163. 29 Ibid., pp. 175, 176.
30 Ibid., p. 186. 31 Ibid., p. 183.
32 Isaac Landman, "Abravanel, Isaac," The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 1, pp.
33 Silver, of. cit., p. 117;
226 PROPHETIC FAITH
fluenced by .the rationalism of Maimonides, and rejected Cabal-
ism. 34 He shook off the fetters of Aristotelianism, restored neg-
lected grammatical methods, and made free use of the writings
of Christians,35 who similarly used his writings.
In 1496, during his exile in the kingdom of Naples, in the
very land of the Papacy, Abravanel wrote a remarkable exposi-
tion of Daniel, titled Wells [or Sources] of Salvation. Stressing
trie year-day principle for most of the prophetic time periods,
and listing Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome as the
four empires, Abravanel declared the Little Horn to be the first
pope of Rome. He is the first Jewish writer of whom we have
record so to do. 36 In fact, he is about the only Jewish writer in
this period who alludes to Antichrist, 37 although he himself re-
jected Jesus as the promised Messiah, 38 Of the Wells of Salvation,
which is a running commentary on the entire book of Daniel,
Silver says, of its completeness and scope, that Abravanel's
works are'"the most complete and thoroughgoing of their kind
in the whole field of Jewish adventist literature." "The content
of the book focuses itself in the vision of the Four Kingdoms"
with the fourth as Rome, following Greece, Persia, and Baby-
lonia. 39
1. CHRISTIANS INCLUDED UNDER ROME'S RULE. Well 2, of
Abravanel's commentary, shows»that the four kingdoms are the
uniform subject of chapters 2, 1, 8, and 11, with the fifth king-
dom, that of the Messiah, as the "common feature." Laying a
foundation for later conclusions, Abravanel makes this signifi-
cant observation on the "Romans":
"And the Romans and the Christians, although they have different
names, are one people, and they have one language, i.e. the Latin language.
But since Rome was the capital city with ministers in the provinces, not
only in matters of rulership and dominion and kingdom but also it became
the head in the conduct of their religion and their faith, for there seats
were set for the judgment of the Pope, and from there he pastures the
_________________
34 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 231-233. 35 Farrar, op. cit., p. 464.
36 Sarachek, Doctrine, pp. 247, 257. 37 Ibid., p. 263.
38 Ibid., p. 230. 39 Silver, op. cit., pp. 116, 118.
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 227
whole people of Edom [Rome], therefore the Christians were called under
the category of the Romans." 40
Then Abravanel observes that Rome became Christianized
under Constantine and compelled the nations to accept the re-
ligion of Jesus.
2. IRON AND CLAY ARE CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM.
Well 6 is devoted to Daniel 2, with the nonmingling divi-
sions of iron and clay as Christianity and Mohammedanism, for
"some of them accepted the religion of Jesus the Christian, and
some of them accepted the religion of Mohammed the Ishmael-
ite." It is within this latter state of division that the Messianic
kingdom is to be set up. The Christians, Abravanel states, ex-
plain it as that of "Jesus their God and his house of prayer, which
they call ecclesia." The fourth kingdom, he adds, centers in
Italy. 41
3. STONE KINGDOM NOT THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.Arguing
against the Christian church as being the stone kingdom, for it
was established centuries before Rome's division, Abravanel
says:
"The kingdom of Rome, which is the fourth kingdom, and the fifth
kingdom, which to their [the Christian] knowledge and according to their
view, was in the religion of Jesus, are one thing just as even today the
emperors do, and they are called Roman emperors and Roman Empire,
but they themselves are Christian, and therefore the fourth kingdom is
still in existence, and the fifth kingdom has not yet come." 42
4. ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF FOUR SYMBOLIC BEASTS. Well
8 deals with Daniel 7 with remarkable accuracy. Abravanel gives
the intent of the four symbolic beasts, with details explained,
such as the wings of the lion, and the three ribs of the bear, the
four heads of the leopard, and the Little Horn on the fourth or
Roman beast as the Papacy, and the accounting of the fourth
beast at the judgment day, followed by the coming of the Mes-
siah. 43
________________
40 Isaac Abravanel, Sefer Mayene Hayeihuah (Wells of Salvation), Well 2, Palm Tree 3.
41 Ibid., Well 6, Palm Tree 1.
42 Ibid., Palm Tree 2.
43 Silver, op. cit., pp. 119, 120.
228 PROPHETIC FAITH
5. LITTLE HORN THE RULE. OF THE POPE. Well 8 also deals
with the Little Horn of Daniel 7. Citing Rashi, Nahmanides,
and Maimonides as evidence for Rome as the fourth beast, Abra-
vanel comes to the ten horn-kingdoms springing from Rome,
and the Little Horn. Some Christian commentators, he says,
make them the ten kingdoms. Others, Jews and Christians, had
different views. Then comes this remarkable statement penned
in 1496, repeated in varying forms and places, in which he
differed from Gersonides:
"Gersonides thought that the little horn was that emperor who com-
pelled the world to embrace the religion of Jesus, and I do not know why
he calls him small horn, for was he not Constantine, the greatest of the
great among the emperors. And furthermore, why does he mention him
after the ten emperors, when between him and them there came other
emperors, for he was the 39th emperor, and therefore I have come to the
inner conclusion that the little horn was the rule of the Pope, who began
in Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem through a disciple of Jesus;
because the Pope in his beginning was small and tiny, not mighty, they
called it the little horn. And since its beginning was in Rome. ..." 44
Of the plucking up of the three horns, Abravanel narrates
how Constantine gave Sylvester the rulership of Rome and Italy
while he went to the East and established Constantinople, and
compelled'the kingdoms under his rule to accept Christianity.
Then Abravanel adds the following, and concludes with the
statement, "This is without doubt the true interpretation of
this verse."
"And Rome specifically became Christian, adhering to the faith of
Jesus unto this day. If so, then it was the little horn which was getting great
and spreading in the land and before which there were uprooted three
kinds of government which had been in Rome, for it no longer had the
rule of the kings or the rule of the old men and the councillors, nor the
rule of the emperors, but only the rule of the leaders and the Popes, and
these are the three horns which were uprooted from before the little
horn." 45
Of the "eyes of a man," and the shrewdness of the rule of
the Pope, his rule and government and law are "different from
_______________
44 Abravanel, op. cit., Well 8, Palm Tree 5.
45 Ibid.
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 229
those of the rest of the nations." And of the mouth speaking
' great things, after repeating more than once that the Little Horn
is the "rule of the pope," Abravanel asserts that its strength
was in its mouth. Thus:
"He confesses and puts under the ban and forbids sins and releases and
makes atonement for guilt, and it has become one of the principles of their
faith that things are done just as he says, and that everything which he
speaks on earth shall be established in heaven, and this is what is meant
when it says: 'And a mouth speaking great things'." 46
In addition to the feature of the Papal persecution, Abravanel
describes the Pope's attempts to change the law.
"He will plan to change the seasons and the religion, i.e. that the sect
of the adherents of the religion of Jesus will plan to change the festivals of
the law and to destroy the commandments of the law and to make a new
law in the land, different from the law (religion) of Moses." 47
He proceeds with a discussion of the views of Protestants,
that the Little Horn is the "anti-Christ," who was "opposed to
Jesus their Messiah," and adds:
"And three of the former horns were uprooted from before him they
are the three kingdoms of Africa, Egypt and Antiochia [Syria] which he will
conquer first, and 'behold eyes like the eyes of men', this means that the
anti-Christ will do many wonders and they will believe that he is God, and
this is not so, for he is only human. And a mouth speaking great things
that he will entice [deceive] the children of men through the words of his
mouth. I looked until thrones were cast this speaks of the words of the
coming of Jesus on the day of judgment to judge the world and to destroy
the anti-Christ." 48
After commenting on the fact that the Christians got the
Antichrist idea from their chief apostle in the Revelation, and
from Daniel 7, Abravanel says that a "time," in the three and a
half times, means'a year. 49 But he declares that this "is used with
reference to a long time," perhaps the 1335-year period.
6. 2300 YEARS ARE DURATION OF EXILE UNDER ROME
Wells 9 and 10 deal with the 2300 days, which Abravanel shows
could not mean literal days but indicate years, leading to the
__________________
46 Ibid. 47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., Palm Tree 6. 49 Ibid., Palm Tree 5; Well 11, Palm Tree 6.
230 PROPHETIC FAITH
remote future or "far-off days," at the "time of the end," and
not referring to the seventy years of the captivity. They will'
extend into, or past, the kingdom of Rome, and not end with
Greece. It did not refer to Antiochus, but had reference to
Rome, at the end of the exile. 50 This was explained in Daniel's
second vision, where the .previous destruction of Medo-Persia
and Greece was involved.
"And indeed in the second vision he [Daniel] saw the destruction of
Persia and Media through the hand of the Greeks, and also in the latter
period of things, the removal of the continual offering and the holy, and
the host trampling under foot, and the number of the two thousand, and
three hundred, and he saw in his wisdom that that number of years was re-
quired. And therefore he said that he had not understood anything of the
vision, for if it was that that exile in which they were then were to last
all that time, then the prophet's promise of the seventy years, of Jeremiah,
would not be right. And therefore he thought to himself: Perhap's because
of the wickedness of the people the exile has been extended all those 2300
years. And therefore he was compelled to pray to God to turn back His
anger and wrath." 51
So Daniel came to understand that
"thereafter there would come another exile through the hand of the
Romans, which would be long and difficult, evil and very bitter, and would
last until the conclusion of the 2300 years of the vision." 52
Adverting to the Little^Horn of Daniel 7, Abravanel quotes
Ben Gorion on the "arrogant king" as "concerning the pope
and the might of his rule," and makes this important declara-
tion concerning the stone:
"A stone will arise, not by human agency, which will smite the image
which hints to the kingdom of Rome, as I have explained above, and
it will destroy them, whether the iron, which is the children of Edom,
the Christians, or the clay, which is the Ishmaelites, and all of them will be
brought to an end at that time." 53
7. SEVENTY WEEKS EQUAL 490 YEARS. Well 10 expounds
the seventy weeks as 490 years, as between the destruction of the
First and Second Temples the forty-nine years from the de-
struction of the First Temple to Cyrus' permission to rebuild,
_________________
50 Ibid., Well 9, Palm Trees 7, 8. 51 Ibid., Well 10, Palm Tree 1.
52 Ibid. 53 Ibid., Well 9, Palm Tree 8.
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 231
the 434 years from Darius to the second destruction, and the
seven years to the period during which Vespasian offered peace
to Jerusalem. 54
8. KINGS OF NORTH AND SOUTH INVOLVE CHRISTIANS AND
TURKS. Well 11 sketches Daniel 11 Persia, Greece, and finally
Rome. (Daniel 11:31.) Abravanel has difficulty in interpreting
the kings of the north and south, believing that somehow the
Turks and Christians are involved, as is the conquest of Con-
stantinople in 1453, and that disregard of the desire of women
"refers to the celibacy of Pope and priest." 55 Then the Messiah
will appear, and the resurrection occur. Abravanel then gives
the "Christian" interpretation (of those opposing the Papacy in
1496):
"On the explanation of the rest of the portions of the vision, accord-
ing to the wise men of the Christians. The angel said to Daniel: And the
king will do according to his will, and he will exalt himself, etc., and these
verses, unto the end of the book, the Christians interpreted them as refer-
ring to the Antichrist, who would come after the world, in their view, as I
have mentioned. And they said that he is called a king because of his ex-
altedness and his rule over many kingdoms, and he would set himself up
as a god in the midst of the nations." 56
Abfavanel's familiarity with the historic controversies and
counterinterpretations in the Christian church is incidentally
disclosed by his reference to Porphyry and his rejection of the
Christian view, and his application of the Little Horn to Antio-
chus. 57
9. TIME PERIODS ON YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE. Well 11 deals
with the time periods the 1290, 1335, and 2300 days and the
70 weeks or 490 years. But by Gematria, Abravanel frequently
adds 100 to the year-day reckoning (the numerical value of the
word "days"), thus making the 1290 days equal 1290 plus 100; or
1390 years; and similarly the 1335 days mean 1435 years; he ties
the 1390 years to the 1453 date, which he believes to be the be-
__________________
54 Ibid., Well 10, Palm Trees 1 and 6; Silver, op. cit., pp. 121, 122; Sarachek, Doctrine,
p. 258.
55 Silver, op. cit., pp. 122, 123.
56 Abravanel, op. cit., Well 11, Palm Tree 6.
57 Ibid.
232 PROPHETIC FAITH
ginning of the end. 58 In supplemental books The Salvation of
His Anointed and Proclaiming Salvationhe scrutinizes mi-
nutely every reference to the Messiah and ultimate redemption. 59
With many other Jewish writers he believed that the world
would endure six or seven thousand years, and upon its disso-
lution would be reborn. 60
III. Manasseh's Exposition of Daniel 2; Illustrated by Rembrandt
[30] MANASSEH (MENASSEH) BEN ISRAEL (1604-1657), theo-
logian, prolific writer, and statesman, was rabbi of the Jewish
congregation at Amsterdam. For more than a century his ances-
tors had lived in Portugal as professing Christians. Manoel of
Portugal reluctantly banished all Jews from his realm, except
the Christianized Jews. In 1497, at the time of their Passover,
Jewish children between four and fourteen were seized, and
were to be baptized and brought up as Christians. 61
The Marranos grew. Their success was phenomenal, until
they virtually controlled the economic life of the country. They
excelled as scholars, poets, explorers, jurists, professors, and
physicians. But their Christianity was largely a mask. In the
privacy of their own homes they practiced Judaism characteris-
tically observing the Sabbath, the Passover, and the Day of
Atonement. In 1531 a Papal bull established the Portuguese
Inquisition, and in 1540 the first auto-da-fe 62 took place in Lis-
bon. This fundamentally altered the position of the Marranos.
At the close of the sixteenth century Holland cast off the
Spanish Catholic yoke. The new toleration attracted many, in-
cluding the father of Manasseh ben Israel, himself a Marrano.
The parents had gone first "from Lisbon to the Madeira Islands,
so that Manasseh was born there in 1604, and was baptized
Manoel Dias Soeiro. Thence the family moved to La Rochelle,
France, and finally to Amsterdam, where they threw off the
hitherto compulsory Christian mask and were henceforth known
_________________
59 Silver, op. cit., pp. 123, 124. 59 Ibid., pp. 125-130.
60 Sarachek, Doctrine, p. 306.
61 Cecil Roth, A Life of Menasseh ben Israel, pp. 1-3.
62 Ibid., pp. 6-8.
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 233
under Jewish names. Manoel Bias Soeiro, now called Manasseh
ben Israel, grew up to become a teacher and rabbi. 63 His linguis-
tic knowledge was phenomenal; he had facility in ten languages.
A prodigious reader, he was familiar not only with Jewish
writers but with the church fathers, and the, Greek and Latin
classics; moreover, there is some indication that he practiced
medicine. 64 Manasseh attracted notice at a time when public
attention was directed toward Biblical prophecy. 65 He func-
tioned as a printer from 1626 to 1652, establishing the first
Hebrew press at Amsterdam. This press turned out more than
sixty works, including three Hebrew Bibles. 66
Manasseh wrote in Spanish, often discussing seeming con-
flicts in the Old Testament. Four hundred of his sermons were
printed in Portuguese.
Since mysticism was in the ascendancy at the time, and
there was considerable stress, among Christian expositors, on
the imminent second advent, linked with the expectation of
the speedy conversion of the Jews, many of the English religious
leaders were interested in Jewish welfare and were friends of
Manasseh ben Israel.67 Among the Jews also there was wide-
spread hope at this time.
In 1648 the Thirty Years' War closed a year that was re-
garded by many a Jew as the Messianic, or miracle, year. Ma-
nasseh was profoundly interested in Messianic problems. It was
his conviction that the hour of redemption was at hand, waiting
only for the complete dispersion of Israel throughout the world.68
It was this that led him to petition Cromwell for the read-
mission of the Jews to England. On friendly terms with not a
few noted men, Manasseh undertook to procure abolition of
the legal exclusion of the Jews from England, petitioning Oliver
Cromwell to this end. He went to London to negotiate with
Cromwell, who appointed a commission to hear the petition
in December, 1655. As a result the Jewish question became a na-
________________
63 Ibid., pp. 9-15, 32, 33. 64 Ibid., pp. 40-42.
65 Ibid., pp.- 181, 190 195. 66 Ibid., pp. 74-77.
67 Joseph Jacobs, "Manasseh ben Israel," The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 8, pp. 282-284.
68 Silver, op. at., pp. 181, 186, 188.
JEWISH EXPOSITOR OUTLINES THE FOUR KINGDOMS
Title Page of Manasseh ben Israel's Discussions of the Prophecies of Daniel Identifying the Four
Kingdoms (Upper Left) ; Rembrandt's Portrait of Rabbi ben Israel of Amsterdam (Upper Right);
Prophetic Statue of Daniel 2 and Beasts of Daniel 7, Illustrated by Rembrandt, Signed and Dated
(Lower Left and Center); and Reconstruction of Rembrandt's Drawing (Lower Right)
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 235
tional issue for some time. Manasseh returned to Holland and
shortly afterward died a heartbroken man because the petition
was not formally granted, yet the result was that the way was
paved for the unopposed infiltration of Jews back into Eng-
land. 69
Manasseh ben Israel was opposed to Messianic calculation,
but he believed that the Messiah's appearance was nigh at hand. 70
This he averred on the basis of the Old Testament prophecies,
even in his "Humble Addresses" to Cromwell. 71
This conviction is pre-eminently set forth in his book
Piedra Gloriosa o de la Estatua de Nebuchadnesar (The Glori-
ous Stone; or, On the Image of Nebuchadnezzar), for which
Rembrandt made four etchings. 72 The fuller understanding of
the prophecies, Manasseh believed, was a sign of the Messianic
times and a fulfillment of Daniel 12:4: "Then shall knowledge
be increased."73 The four beasts of Daniel 7, he declared, are
the four monarchies of the statue of Daniel 2. The two legs, he
believed, were Romanism and Mohammedanism, the ten toes,
the ten subdivisions, and the'stone the Messianic kingdom,
filling the world. 74 He also believed that the Indians in the
Americas were possibly the ten lost tribes. 75 His book received
the attention of many Protestant theologians, who were likewise
convinced of the speedy coming of the Messiah only they
looked for the second advent.
1. The Hope of Israel CITES BIBLE PROPHECY. The Hope
of Israel is permeated with prophetic exposition. Declaring that
__________________
69 Silver, op. cit., pp. 151, 188; Milman, History of the Jews, vol. 3, pp. 363, 364: Roth,
Life of Menasseh, pp. 225-273.
70 Silver, op. cit., p. 188.
71 This pamphlet, To His Highnesse The Lord Protector of the Common-Wealth of Eng-
land, Scotland, ana Ireland. The Humble Addresses of Menasseh Ben Israel, is found in Menas-
seh ben Israel's Mission, pp. 73;103.
72 The original illustrations for Manasseh ben Israel's 259-page book were made by
Rembrandt and are in the British Museum. They are reproduced in "Rembrandt's Etchings for
the 'Piedra Gloriosa'" The Jewish Chronicle, London, July 13, 1906, p. 39. In Rembrandt's
hand, "Babel" (Babylon) appears on the head, "Media" and "Persia" on the two arms, "Grecia"
across the waist, and "Rome" and "Mohameddans" on the legs. The stone of the Messianic
kingdomis smashing the feet of the image. The etching is signed, "Rembrandt,
1654." The illustrations of the 1655 edition are patterned after Rembrandt,
but are the work of another artist.
73 Manasseh ben Israel, The Hope of Israel, sec. 36, p. 42,
in Menasseh ben Israel's 'Mission', p. 52.
74 Manasseh ben Israel, Piedra Gloriosa, pp. 209, 256.
75 Silver, op. cit., p. 191; Roth, Life of Menasseh, pp. 176-186.
236 PROPHETIC FAITH
the prophets speak of the approaching end of the age, which
Manasseh believes will bring the close of the long captivity, he
speaks pathetically of the injuries suffered by his people, espe-
cially under the Inquisition, and the long delay in the coming
of the Messiah. Then he says:
"At this day it is said, that ALTHOUGH THE MESSIAH WERE
LAME, HE MIGHT HAVE COME BY THIS TIME. Though we cannot
exactly shew the time of our redemption, yet we judge it to be near. For,
"1. We see many prophesies fulfilled, and others also which are sub-
servient to a preparation for the same redemption; and it appears by this,
that during that long and sore captivity, many calamities are fore-told us
under the four Monarchies." 76
Again stressing the "shortness of time," and fervently hop-
ing that the "scattering of the holy people" is about over, 77
Manasseh says of Daniel 12; 4:
"To these, let us adde that, which the same Prophet speakes, in ch. 12.
ver. 4. That knowledge shall be increased; for then the prophecies shall
better be understood, the meaning of which we can scarce attaine to, till
they be fulfilled. So after the Otteman race began to flourish, we understood
the prophesie of the two leggs of the Image of Nebuchadnezzar, which is to
be overthrowne by the fifth Monarchy, which shall be in the World." 78
It is to be particularly noted that Oliver Cromwell thus had
the prophecies brought to his attention through two radically
different avenues the persecutions of the Jews and the suffer-
ings of the Waldenses. Just about this time the fearful massacre
of the Waldenses greatly stirred Cromwell, who in 1655 ap-
pointed Sir Samuel Morland to investigate this bloody slaughter
and intercede for these oppressed people. Morland's published
report to Cromwell stresses the same prophetic views as those
held by the Waldenses.
2. FOUR KINGDOMS FOLLOWED BY GOD'S "FIFTH MONARCHY."
Early in 5415 A.M. (1655 C.E.), Manasseh published his
treatise on the Glorious Stone which smites the image of
___________________
76 Manasseh ben Israel, The Hope of Israel, sec. 29, p. 36,
in Menasseh ben Israel's Mission, p. 46.
77 Ibid., sec. 35, p. 42, in Menasseh ben Israel's Mission, p. 52.
78 Ibid., sec. 36.
79 See Prophetic Faith, Volume I, on the Waldenses,
CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION 237
Nebuchadnezzar. In the dedicatory letter he states that this prophecy
of Daniel 2 is the "most easily understood" and explained of all
Daniel's prophecies, manifesting the foreknowledge of God
without any ambiguity, with the four world powers followed by
the "fifth monarchy." 80 Naming the temporal monarchies as
"the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans,"
he speaks of the "Messiah (who is the stone) [who] will destroy
with temporal and earthly power all the other monarchies,"
whose dominion will be "eternal according to this infallible in-
terpretation of Daniel." 81 In this exposition the Midrash and
the Targum are cited, together with individual interpreters such
as Rabbi Simeon ben Levi, Abravanel, Eliezer, and others. 82
3. .Two LEGS OF STATUE REPRESENT ROME AND TURKEY.
The "universal history" of the world, as presented "under the
figures of animals," as the same four powers of Daniel 7, is next
brought in from supporting witness, citing the Targum Onke-
los,83 Saadia, and Meir Hakohen. Then, continuing with the
statue of Daniel, Manasseh declares: "Turkey and Rome are the
two legs of the Statue, which comprise this last monarchy." 84
4. USUAL EXPOSITION OF FOUR BEASTS, - RAM AND HE-GOAT.
Turning to Daniel 7, and the four beasts from the "sea,"
which is declared to be the "world," Manasseh quotes from
Augustine's Civitas Dei. Proceeding with the exposition, he
interprets the lion as Babylonia, citing Abravanel, then follows
with the Persian bear and the Greek leopard, this time citing .
Aristotle. The notable horn of the he-goat is Alexander the
Great, and the four divisions are Alexander's "four captains," as
supported by citations from Simon the Just, and Josephus'
record of the meeting of the Jewish high priest and Alexander. 85
5. BELIEVES LAWLESS LITTLE HORN TO BE MOHAMMEDANISM.
Declaring the fourth beast to be Rome, later divided into
"many parts," Manasseh again cites Abravanel. 86 But as regards
________________
80 Translated from Manasseh ben Israel, Piedra Gloriosa, pp. 4, 5.
81 Ibid., pp. 26, 27, 108. 82 Ibid ; pp 27, 28, 46, 47, 49.
83 Ibid., p. 46. 84 Ibid., pp. 50. 51.
85 Ibid., pp. 190-196, 203-208. 86 Ibid., pp. 209-211. -
238 PROPHETIC FAITH
the Little Horn that was against the saints, "changing the Sab-
baths and festivals," he differs from Abravanel's application to
the pope, "for the Pope is not a king," and he presents this con-
clusion:
"For these reasons I rather agree with those who suppose it to be
Mahomet, or Mohammed as others call him, who being at first a small horn,
and having been born in Arabia, formerly subject to the Romans, in
humble circumstances, in the days of the emperors Eraclius and Honorius,
attained such strength that in a short space of time he and his descendants
became lords of three-quarters of the world." 87
6. PARALLELS DIVISIONS OF STATUE WITH HORNS OF BEAST.
Of the establishment of the fifth monarchy Manasseh says:
"When the fourth monarchy ends, declares Daniel, as he saw the fifth
given to the Messiah the King, descendant of the House of David, there-
fore he (the Messiah) must succeed immediately to the empire of the
world." 88
Manasseh then parallels the climax of Daniel 2 and 7 in
these words:
"I. 'These great beasts, which are four, are four kings.' It is described
by all its circumstances, and its type was the image of Nebuchadnezzar. II.
That the fourth monarchy should be divided into two nations, of diverse
laws, whose division would bring about the little horn Mahomet, and that
they are the two legs of the statue. III. That this Roman empire would be
divided into ten kingdoms, which are the ten horns which arise from this
beast, and the ten toes of the feet of thexstatue. IV. That when these king-
doms come to their end and are destroyed, the monarchy of Israel will
follow, which constitutes the people of the saints and the stone that becomes
a great mountain that fills the whole earth." 89
IV. Sound Prophetic Principles but Fallacious Application
The pathetic eagerness with which the leading Jewish
scholars of the centuries sought to "read the riddle of redemp-
tion," and from the prophecies to discover the hour of the Mes-
siah's promised advent, must be apparent. Yet this candid sur-
vey presents a dismal procession of hopeless, disappointing fu-
tility, and fallacious application. Speculation on the time of the
Messiah's coming overshadowed all else.
___________________
87 Ibid., pp. 222, 223.
88 Ibid., p. 252.
89 Ibid., p. 256.
239 CLIMAX OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION
1. REJECTION OF Two FACTORS PREVENTS RIGHT TIME PLACEMENT.
Although the Jews clearly perceived the sound year-day
principle of time prophecy, 90 they rejected the basic
factor of the death of the prophesied Messiah in the fourth
decade of the Christian Era as the key. The seventy weeks of
years were never once rightly located by them during the
seventeen centuries surveyed. And, since they failed to connect
the seventy weeks with the 2300 year-days, from which they
were cut off, neither the true beginning nor the correct ending
of the 2300 years was ever obtained in all the Jewish attempts
to calculate their chronological placement.
The second error was this: Failing to grasp the Papal ful-
fillment of the prophesied Little Horn of the fourth, or Roman,
beast in the generally and correctly understood series of pro-
phetic world powers Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and
Rome they likewise failed to locate correctly the true time
boundaries of any one of the 1260, 1290, or 1335 year-day periods
that are related to the key 1260 and the 2300-year periods.
Passionately longing for the Messiah, they fervidly sought
some beginning date that would bring the terminus near to their
own day not to mention the Sabbatical seventh-thousand-years
element frequently brought in to determine the end, nor the
attempts of some, to lengthen or adjust the literality of the
stated time periods presented by the prophet Daniel through
employing the vagaries of Gematria or Cabala. Such has been
the pathetic story of the futility and error of Jewish application
of time prophecy. But these twin keys^-the seventieth week as
fulfilled in the death of Jesus the Messiah, and then tied to the
2300-year prophecy of the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the
1260 years of Papal ecclesiastical supremacy were the clues
that enabled Christian expositors, living in these same centuries,
to come first to be increasingly accurate, and then finally to
sound and irrefutably true conclusions.
_________________
90 Down to the Protestant Reformation, there is scarcely a Jewish expositor on
Daniel who protests the year-day principle (Elliott, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 286),
and nearly all support and apply it.
240 PROPHETIC FAITH
2. CONSTITUTE SEPARATE CONFIRMATORY LINE OF WITNESS.
Nevertheless, it was the Jews who, hundreds of years before
the cross, first applied the year-day principle to the seventy
weeks. And it was the Jews who first perceived the fourth em-
pire, in the prophetic series, to be Rome. 91 These were their two
great contributions. Such was part of the "every way" advantage
of the Jew. (Rom. 3:1, 2.) What a tragedy that with these abso-
lutely sound principles that were simply carried over into the
Christian church, there to find such successful lodgment they
failed to keep in the lead!
As disclosed by the Chronological Table on page 194, at
least ten Jewish expositors, between Nahawendi in the eighth
century and Tobiah ben Eliezer in the eleventh, applied the
year-day principle to the longer time periods before Abbot
Joachim, of Floris, in 1190, first applied it to the 1260 days. And
some seven Jewish scholars between the same Nahawendi
in the eighth century and Nahmanides in the thirteenth
applied the year-day principle to the 2300 days before Villanova
in 1297, and probably two more before Cusa in 1440.
Truly this is a remarkable record, constituting a separate but
strongly confirmatory line of competent witnesses to the funda-
mental year-day principle of Biblical time prophecy; of the same
race and language as those of the prophet Daniel himself, whom
they studied.
Furthermore, while Catholic Archbishop Eberhard II, of
Salzburg, first applied the Little Horn of Daniel 7 to the histori-
cal Papacy, the Jewish Don Isaac Abravanel, counselor succes-
sively to the kings of Portugal and Spain, similarly applied the
Little Horn to the Papacy in 1496 before the Protestant appli-
cations began early in the next century. Yet this was the climactic
point of the prophecy of Daniel 7. But here again there was
independent harmony of witness before the voices of Protestant
Reformation expositors were added. Such is the panorama of
Jewish interpretation in the Christian Era.
________________
91 See Prophetic Faith, Volume I.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
French Huguenots
Hold Prophetic Banner High
From the 1572 Massacre of St. Bartholomew onward, the
Huguenots, as the French Protestants were called, had a most
precarious time. At last, at the close of the century, Henry IV
extended religious toleration to the Huguenots, with the civil
right to hold public office, by issuing the Edict of Nantes
sometimes called the "Charter of Protestant Liberties," dated
1598. Soon after, in their convocation at Gap, October 1, 1603,
the Huguenots made this united declaration concerning Anti-
christ in their Statement of Faith:
"Not only so, but the same assembly formally resolved to append to
the 31st.article of the Confession of Faith a very explicit declaration to
the same effect, wherein the church professed its conviction that the Roman
Pontiff was the Son of Perdition, predicted in the word of God under the
emblem o£ the Harlot clothed in scarlet, seated on the seven hills of the
great city, and reigning over the kings of the earth, and uttered its con-
fident expectation that the Lord would consume him with the Spirit of His
mouth and finally destroy him with the brightness o£ His coming." 1
Before taking up the seventeenth-century expositors, we
pause briefly to note one of their writers just before the'close
of the previous century, whose life gives us a glimpse of the
rigors of the time.
I. Du Jon Holds Prophetic Day Stands for Literal Year
FRANCOIS DU JON (c. 1545-1602), Huguenot leader, better
________________
1 Henry M. Baird, The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre, vol. 2, p. 453.
623
624 PROPHETIC FAITH
known under his Latin name Junius, was tender and timid by
nature, but equipped with excellent gifts. He studied law and
wanted to join an embassy to Constantinople, but missed the
party at Lyon. He began to read the New Testament, .and re-
solved to study theology; therefore, he went to Geneva in 1562.
In 1565 he was called to Antwerp as preacher, and stood firm
at his post through all the vicissitudes of war and upheaval.
Not being of Flemish origin, he had to leave the country, and
was called to Heidelberg in 1568, where he became a collabo-
rator of Tremellius in translating the Bible into Latin. There
he published a work on the Apocalypse, Apocalypsis Methodica
Analyst Notisque Illustrata (The Apocalypse With a Methodi-
cal Analysis Elucidated With Notes) and, in 1593, a similar
work on Daniel.2 He later was called back by Henry IV and
fulfilled a mission for the king. When he passed through Ley-
den, the university urged him to become one of its members,
which invitation he finally accepted.
The year-day principle for all prophetic time was expressly
declared by du Jon thus:
"Dales is commonly taken for yeares, that God in this sort might shew
the time to be short, and that the space of time is definitely set downe by
Him in His counsaile." 3
"The daies must be reckoned for so many yeares, after the example of
the Prophets Ezechiel and Daniel." 4
He considers the best time to start the 1260-year period
with the death of Jesus in 34, which brings him to 1294, the
time of Boniface VIII.5 In this he differed from all others.
II. Revocation of Edict of Nantes the Prelude to Persecution
Picture the setting of the seventeenth century. Midway
through we find Louis XIV (1643-1715) sitting on the throne of
France, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, taking the reins in
_________________
2 Eugene and Emile Haag, La France Protestante (1st ed.), vol. 4, pp. 381-389.
3 Francois du Ion, [Jon], - The Apocalyps, or Revelation of S. John
(English translation, 1596), p. 30.
4 Ibid., p. 124.
5 Ibid., p. 125.
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC-BANNER HIGH 625
his own hands in 1661. With his mistress, Madame de Mainte-
non, by his side, and the Jesuit confessor Pere de la Chaise
behind her, the king is guided politically by the opportunist
maxims of Cardinal Richelieu. Attempting to suppress the Jan-
senists and quartering his dragoons on the Huguenots, he
deprived both of all rights. In the Piedmontese Alps the sur-
vivors of the dreadful Waldensian massacre still clung to their
ancient mountain fastnesses. In England, James II was
struggling to restore Papal domination, and to enslave the chil-
dren of the Puritans. Then, in France, came the Revocation
of the Edict of Nantes the crowning perfidy of king and court
with the wail of thousands of Protestants robbed of their
children.6 This was but the prelude to the last Papal persecu-
tion of the Huguenots, which was later to be followed by the
French Revolution with its retributive element.
1. LAW OF 1681 AUTHORIZED FORCIBLE CONVERSION. Back
in June, 1681, a terrible law authorizing the wholesale conver-
sion of all Huguenot children, from seven years of age upward,
had struck terror to the hearts of parents. It was a deadly blow
at the existence of the Protestant family. Priests and monks
could ensnare the children into confession of the Roman faith,
and tear them away from the parental home. The noted Hugue-
not Jurieu uttered his flaming protest against this outrage in
his Derniers Efforts de l'Innocence Affligee (Last Efforts of
Afflicted Innocence), and had to flee to Rotterdam. Then, as
the parents and older children still clung to their faith, the
dragoons were commissioned to convert them. 7
2. ATTEMPT TO EXTIRPATE FOLLOWED BY GREAT EXODUS.
But the statute still remained. So the Edict of Nantes was
revoked in 1685, and all gatherings of Protestants forbidden
on pain of death. Their ministers were ordered to leave within
fifteen days. If the lay people attempted to leave the country,
__________________
6 While the king is responsible before history, it is generally recognized that behind Louis
was Louvois Le Tellier, the war minister, his "evil genius," technician and spokesman of the
Church.
7 Baird, The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, vol. 1, pp. 494, 495.
626 PROPHETIC FAITH
the men would be sent to the galleys, the women imprisoned,
and their goods confiscated. Marriages were declared null and
void. All the children born thereafter must be baptized by
Roman priests. And all Protestant churches must be torn down. 8
Louis XIV decreed these stringent measures for the specific
extirpation of the Huguenots.9 And for this he was adorned
with a medal struck at Rome reading on one side 'Sacr. Romana
Restituta' (The Roman Rites Restored) 10 and lauded as a
second Constantine who had severed the head of the dragon
of heresy. 11
Then came the great exodus. Nothing could stay it. About
184,000 Protestants left the province of Normandy,, and a very
moderate calculation suggests that 400,000 left France and found
refuge in England, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and Amer-
ica. France lost by this exodus the most learned and industrious
of her citizens.12 Many other thousands, whose flight was frus-
trated by the government, died by the gallows, or in dungeons
and galleys. In 1686 Louis XIV even sent 14,000 men under
Marshal de Catinat to join the Piedmontese army in enforcing
submission of the Vaudois.13
3. CALLED THEMSELVES "CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS."
For a whole century the French Government and the Papacy
joined hands in an attempt to crush the Huguenots, who, like
the Waldenses before them, called themselves the 'Eglise du
desert' (Church of the wilderness), for they had to meet in
caves, forests, and desolate places." Even their baptismal and
marriage certificates were dated from "The Wilderness." Their
meeting places and the whereabouts of their pastors had to
be kept carefully secret. These pastors had to wander about,
separated from their families, ever watching for spies, and
_____________
8 The Edict had been partially abrogated by Richelieu in 1628, by the Edict of Alais, or
Ales.
9 Baird, The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, vol. 2, pp. 28 ff.
10 Ibid., p. 66.
11 It was hailed particularly by Bossuet, bishop of Meaux; Count Bussy Rabutin, and
Madam de Sevigne (Ibid., pp. 53, 54), but deplored by Vauban, minister of fortifications.
12 Ibid., pp. 99-107.
13 Guinness, History Unveiling Prophecy, p. 152.
14 There are wonderful vestiges in the little French village of Mas Soubeyran north of
Nimes, which was the headquarters of the Camisards for a certain period.
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH .627
constantly changing their location.15 Though Louis XIV
declared, in 1715, that the Reformed Church was extinct,
nevertheless the courageous preachers of the church in the
wilderness preached on in the place prepared of God, though
countless numbers were imprisoned and perished.
III. Pacard Opens Century With Standard Protestant Positions
GEORGE PACARD (d. 1610) was pastor of the church of La
Rochefoucould in southwestern France. After having studied
theology, probably in Geneva, he became pastor of the afore-
mentioned church. At the time of the Bartholomew Massacre
he fled to Geneva, but soon re-entered France, where we find
him as pastor of Chatellerault in 1574. In 1578 he was a deputy
to the synod of Sainte Foy, and in 1594 he was a member of the
commission charged to defend the Protestant faith against the
Catholic ecclesiastics. In 1579 he wrote a book called 'Theologie
naturelle ou Recueil contenant plusieurs argument contre les
Epicuriens et Atheistes de notre temps' (Natural Theology or
a Collection Containing Several Arguments Against the Epi-
cureans and the Atheists of Our Time).10 This contained also 'Le
traite de l'Ante-Christ' (The Treatise on the Antichrist) which
was separately reprinted in 1604 under the title 'Description
de l'Antechrist, et de son royaume' (Description of the Antichrist
and of His Kingdom). It was "gathered from the Prophecies of
the Holy Scriptures, from the Writings of the Fathers, and from
History," according to the title page. Contending that "nothing
has come by chance," Pacard cites the fate of the Jewish church,
city, and temple, and then refers to Antichrist's usurpation of
the church sitting in the temple of God, surrounded by the
kings and princes of the world, made drunk by the wine of her
fornication, and soon to be discomfited at the second advent."
_________________
15 CLAUDE BROUSSON (1647-1698), French Protestant lawyer, manifested great zeal in be-
half of his persecuted brethren. Obliged to flee to Switzerland for refuge in 1683, he practiced
law at Lausanne. Returning to France, he passed through the horrors of persecution, doing much
to organize "worship in the Wilderness" and preaching day or night in the caverns and in the
woods. A heavy price'was set on his head. After another visit to Switzerland and Holland, he
returned to his French churches, was arrested, imprisoned, and hanged before being racked. (La
Grande Encyclopedie, art. "Brousson, Claude. )
16 Haag, op. cit. (1st ed.), vol. 8, pp. 62, 63.
17 George Pacard, Description de l'Antechrist, et de Son Royaume, Preface, pp. vii, viii.
628. PROPHETIC FAITH
1. A SYSTEM SPRINGING FROM ROME'S DIVISION. It will be
well to take a survey of the expositions of this initial writer.
Chapter 3 discusses the conflicting assertions of the doctors of
Rome as to Antichrist, and in contrast contends that he will
not be a single man but a system or succession, citing ancient
writers in contrast to the "sophistries of Bellarmine." Pacard
shows Antichrist was to constitute a general apostasy in the
Church, be erected on the ruins of the Roman Empire, and
will last until the second advent.18 The Pope is Antichrist, not
Mohammed." Discussing the prophetic side, Pacard affirms that
history plainly states that Rome was divided into ten parts,
and that three were cut down, then asserting, "Daniel's predic-
tion has been fulfilled." 20
2. RULES 1260 YEARS FROM SEVEN-HILLED ROME. In chap-
ter 6 Pacard shows that Antichrist, even according to many
Roman doctors, will sit on a throne in the Christian church,
and not in the city of Jerusalem.21 In chapter 8 he proceeds to
show that the place of his seat of residence is seven-hilled Rome. 22
Dealing next with the terrible persecution inflicted upon dis-
senters,23 Pacard longs for the approaching end of the 1260
year-days:
"We are therefore "waiting patiently for the end of the 1260 days or-
dained for the great beast, after which God will deliver his people, and this
beast will feel the fierce wrath of the Lord." 24
3. MARSHALS THIRTY HISTORIC WITNESSES ON ANTICHRIST.
Coming to the historical side, Pacard cites some thirty select
witnesses the famous speech of Arnulf, at the Council of
Rheims (991), and the witness of Berenger, Bernard, John of
Salisbury, Joachim, and a dozen others as well as the Wal-
denses, Beghards, Eberhard of Salzburg, and Wyclif oiling
their statements in brief. 25
4. DANIEL'S LITTLE HORN, PAUL!S MAN OF SIN, JOHN'S
BEAST. Chapter 12 deals with the Biblical side, making the
___________________
18 Ibid., pp. 21, 27. 19 Ibid., pp. 38 ff. 20 Ibid., p. 64.
21 Ibid., p. 69. 22 Ibid., pp. 106, 115. 23 ibid., pp. 152-157.
26 Ibid., p. 157. 27 Ibid., pp. 164-177.
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH 629
argument from Daniel's 'Little Horn', Paul's 'Man of Sin', and
John's 'two-horned beast'.28 The Pope's power to change the law
of God at will is the subject of chapter 14, and the omission of
the second commandment and the division of the tenth is "
noted." Pacard charges the Papacy was corrupting the faith by
(1) false interpretation, (2) audacious additions, and (3) sacri-
legious eliminations. 28
5. THREE AND A HALF TIMES = 42 MONTHS = 1260 DAYS.
Having demonstrated that Antichrist is not a single man but
a continuing system, Pacard deals with his duration determined
by God, as featured in Daniel 7:25 and 12:5, as well as Revela-
tion 13:5 and 12:4. The three and a half times are the same as
the 42 months, or 1260 daysyears according to the inspired
prophetic reckoning. 29
IV. Cottiere Two Witnesses Are Two Testaments Prophesying
1260 Years
MATTHIEU COTTIERE (Cotterius) (fl. 1625) was a student in
Geneva in 1604, then preacher at Fringe and Tours. He was
deputy to the National Synod of Alais in 1620, rebuilt the
church of Tours, which was demolished in 1621, and was
again deputy to the Synod of Charenton in 1631. He wrote
several books, his earliest being Explicatio Apocalypseos (Expli-
cation of the Apocalypse). 30 In his Manuel ou brieve description
de I'Eglise Romaine (Manual or Brief Description of the
Church of Rome), Cottiere expounds the Two Witnesses as "the
Old and New Testaments." 31 These Witnesses extend over the
1260 years.32 This is the same 1260 years when the woman
was nourished in the wilderness, and also the three and
a half times which "means so many years."33 Cottiere takes
due note of "that famous deserter from the holy ministry and
from his religion," Ferrier, and speaks of the time of Phocas
when the see of Rome received a notable increase. 34
________________
26 Ibid., pp. 182-185. 27 Ibid., p. 230. 28 Ibid., p. 233.
29 Ibid., pp. 314-317. 30 Haag, op. cit. (Id ed.), vol. 4, col. 753.
31 Matthieu Cottiere, Manuel ou brieve description de L'Eglise Romaine, p. 88.
32 Ibid., p. 89. 33 Ibid., p. 80, 34 Ibid., pp. 96, 97.
630 PROPHETIC FAITH
V. Cappel Begins Seventy Weeks With Seventh of Artaxerxes
(457 B.C.)
JACQUES CAPPEL (1570-1624), Lord of le Tilloy and emi-
nent Protestant theologian, was born at Rennes. His father, a
judge, had to flee because of his religious convictions. But
Jacques was left in Sedan to study theology. His father died in
exile soon after, and the mother, with the younger children,
reduced to dire poverty, renounced the faith in order to receive
a subsistence for the children. Stricken by grief and remorse,
she soon followed the father into the grave. The girls and the
little brother were sent to a convent. In 1593, after having com-
pleted his studies, the first thing Jacques did was to secure the
release of his brother and sisters from the convent. He also re-
covered his paternal possessions, the estate of Tilloy. In 1596
he was called to Sedan by the duke of Bouillon to be pastor as
well as professor of Hebrew in the seminary. Here he com-
pleted his lifework.36
Cappel was distinguished as an exegete, philologist, histo-
rian, and antiquarian, and during extensive travels in Italy and
Germany formed the acquaintance of many noted Protestants.
He was the author of many theological works, most of them
written between 1611 and 1622. Among them we find In Apoca-
lypsin D. Johannis 2i>voij>ie, printed in 1605.
In 1616, taking up the cudgels against Ferrier, the apostate
Protestant minister, Cappel wrote Les livrees de Babel, ou L'His-
toire du Siege Romain (The Flunkeys [Footmen] of Babel or
the History of the Roman See), dealing with the issue of Anti-
christ. Dedicated to the prince of Sedan, now marshal of France,
who was his former pupil, the book stresses the consent of
scholars in many nations that the Pope is Antichrist. Many
chapters deal with the exposition of Revelation and Daniel;
and one chapter, with the three advents of Christ. There are
two striking characteristics of.his prophetic interpretation. The
first is his consecutive arrangement of the prophecies those of
__________________
35 Haag, op. cit. (2d ed.), vol. 3, cols. 720-726.
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH 631
the Revelation following those of Daniel and earlier, which he
ends at the Cross. Thus he completely separates Daniel's pro-
phetic periods from those of the Revelation, so that, for ex-
ample, the 1260 days of John are not the same as Daniel's "time
and times and the dividing of time." The second distinctive
interpretation is his assigning fixed time values to some of the
outline prophecies for example, fifty years each to the seals
and 150 years each to the trumpets. (Title page appears on page
648.)
1. PROPHECIES COMPASS CHRISTIAN ERA. The Apocalypse
cannot extend from John's time to the end, he insists, unless the
"1260 days make up as many years, and unless every seal and
every trumpet embraces a certain length of time." Placing the
seven churches in John's lifetime, he counts the seals, beginning
with the death of John, from A.D. 100 to A.D. 400, with fifty years
for each seal.36 The trumpets, following the sixth seal (presum-
ably, therefore, included in the seventh), are each given five
months, like the fifth trumpet, that is, 150 years the first
(400-550) being the barbarian invasions of Europe, the second
(550-700), the Lombards, Persians, and Mohammedans, and
so on.87
2. HOLDS HISTORIC POSITION ON OUTLINE PROPHECIES.
Cappel makes the first beast of Revelation 13 the old Roman
state up to the year 500, and the two-horned beast from the
earth the Papacy the two horns being the claim of spiritual
and temporal power.38 The paralleling prophecies of Daniel 2
and 7 are declared to compass Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece,
and Rome, in connection with which several supporting Jewish
expositors are also cited. 38
3. BEGINS 490 YEARS IN 457 B.C. Although rejecting the
reckoning of Cardinals Damian, Bellarmine, Alcazar, and others
who make the 1260 days literal, Cappel treats the 1290 and
1335 days as only-literal days applied to Antiochus," and the
_______________
36 Jacques Cappel, Les Livrees de Babel, ou L'Histoire du Siege Romain, pp. 863, 864.
37 Ibid., p. 865. 38 Ibid , pp. 902, 903.
39 Ibid., pp. 998, 999. 40 Ibid., p. 1013.
632 PROPHETIC FAITH
2300 days similarly;41 yet he makes the 70 weeks "a period of
490 years," starting from the seventh year of Artaxerxes, at 457
B.C., and sealing and fulfilling all the prophecies of Daniel and
of earlier times with the death of Christ. Note the clarity of
his reasoning:
"The weeks are to begin with the publishing of the edict of Artaxerxes
Longimanus, an edict obtained by Ezra in the seventh year of his reign. . . .
Therefore, from that edict to the baptism of our Lord, who by the voice of
the Father was declared the Christ and the Prince of our salvation, there
are sixty-nine entire weeks. . . . And during the seven weeks the places and
the ditches shall be rebuilt in a time of anguish. These seven weeks enclose
Ezra's and Nehemiah's government from the seventh year of Artaxerxes
Longimanus to the sixteenth year of Darius the Bastard, from the year 457
down to the year 408." 42
VI. De LaunayTrue Jerusalem Is Persecuted by Beast
PIERRE DE LAUNAY (1573-1661), Lord of de la Motte and of
de Vaufarlan, was born at Blois in 1573 and died at Paris in
1661. He had all the qualities inherent which predestined him
to the highest position in the state. But when his elder brother
died, to whom he was deeply attached, he renounced all the
positions he held and resolved to devote his- time entirely to
studies. At the age of forty he learned Hebrew and became one
of the outstanding expositors of the Bible in his time. He wrote
numerous works, of which two are of particular interest to our
study: Paraphrase sur le Prophete Daniel (Paraphrase of the
Prophet Daniel) and Paraphrase et Exposition sur l'Apocalypse
tiree des Sainctes Ecritures et de L'Histoire (Paraphrase and Ex-
position of the Apocalypse, From the Scriptures and History).
The latter he published under the pseudonym of Jonas le Buy. 43
In this work he recites the ravages of the Visigoths, Ostrogoths,
Vandals, and other barbarian nations who broke up the Roman
Empire, which empire, in turn, became the seat of the Papal
Antichrist. 44 De Launay likewise applies the Two Witnesses to
________________
41 Ibid., p. 1004. 42 Ibid., p. 1005.
43 Haag, of. fit. (Isted.), vol. 6, pp. 427-429.
44 Pierre ae Launay, Paraphrase et exposition sur l'Apocalypse, par Ionas le Buy, pp. 121
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH 633
the Old and the New Testament, their message trodden down,
and lying ignominiously wounded in the schools and universi-
ties of the "Antichristian Church of Rome." 45
Discussing the fallacies of the Jesuit Ribera, De Launay
insists that the treading of the Holy City is the violence and
oppression visited by the Beast against the church. (Revelation
13 and Daniel 7.) "Thus have the Roman Antichrist and its
supporters ravaged the church and persecuted."46 This time of
oppression, he adds, is 1260 year-days: "It also goes without
discussion that the 1260 days, according to prophetic style, mean
1260 years, each day corresponding to a year." 47
VII. Amyraut Puts Millennium After Judgment of Little Horn
MOISE AMYRAUT (1596-1664) was one of the most distin-
guished and influential theologians of the seventeenth century.
He was born at Bourgueil. First studying law at Poitiers, he was
led to enter the ministry by reading Calvin's Institutes. Study-
ing theology at Saumur, under Cameron, he served as pastor
at Saumur and Charenton, and became one of the leading pro-
fessors at Saumur, and finally rector of the school in 1639. He
was a deputy to the Synod of Charenton in 1631 for the province
of Anjou and was also held in high esteem by the Catholics.
He secured from Louis XIII cancellation of the obligation of
Protestant deputies to speak to the king only upon their knees. 48
He was a prolific writer, and published many sermons -
among them one upon the Apocalypse. He was a poet, and we
have from him 150 Christian sonnets. In his Du Regne de Mille
Ans, ou de la Prosperite de l'Eglise (On the Thousand Years
Reign, or the Prosperity of the Church) Amyraut takes issue
with the dominant Augustinian concept of the kingdom of the
saints in Daniel 2, and opposes De Launay in the latter's chilias-
tic interpretations. He maintains that the kingdom of the saints
comes only, after the ruin of the iron and clay, and in the proph-
ecy of Daniel 7 is received only, after the judgment of the Little
________________
45 Ibid., p. 299. 46 Ibid., p. 307. 47 Ibid.
48 Haag, op. cit. (2d ed.), vol. 1, cols. 186-206; La Grande Encyclopedie, art. "Amyraut."
634 . PROPHETIC FAITH
Horn. Then will come the triumphant state of the church in its
celestial abode". 49
VIII. De Mornay Says Papacy Is Prophesied Antichrist
PHILIPPE DE MORNAY (1549-1623), illustrious Protestant,
Lord of Plessis Morly, was born at Buhy. Influenced by his
mother, who had secretly embraced the new Protestant doctrine,
he openly espoused Calvinism. Finishing his education in Paris,
he traveled in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. For a number
of years he was engaged in the service of the King of Navarre,
as king's counselor, governor of Saumur, superintendent of the
house and crown, and later becoming minister of state, and the
grand diplomat of the Huguenot party, the most truly repre-
sentative Protestant of France and the most steadfast and trust-
worthy advocate of peace.50 In 1598 his book Traite de l'Institu-
tion de l'Eucharistie (Treatise on the Institution of the Eucha-
rist) brought upon him the disapproval of the court.51 He wrote
numerous other works including Le Mystere d'Iniquite: c'est a
dire, l'Histoire de la Papaute (The Mystery of Iniquity: That Is,
the Story of the Papacy). (Title page reproduced on page 648.)
1. PRESENT POPE PART OF SYSTEM OF INIQUITY. In 1611
he wrote Le Mystere d'Iniquite, under his full name and titles.
The Latin edition was dedicated to King James I of England
and the French edition to Louis XIII.62 De Mornay declares that
the present Pope, Paul V, corresponds fully to the description of
the great Antichristian system of iniquity given by John and
Paul, and shows how this power has usurped the throne which
belongs to the eternal Son of God, the sole ruler of His church. 63
Yet this great apostasy had to come, for it was predicted in the
Scriptures, even as well as the fact that the kings of the earth
_________________
49 Moyse Amyraut, Du Regne de Mille Ans, pp. 124, 125.
50 Baird, The Huguenots and the Revocation o[ the Edict of Nantes, vol. 1, pp. 16 ff.
51 La Grande Encyclopedie, art. "Mornay (Philippe de)."
52 Baird, The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, vol. 1, pp. 60, 61.
53 Philippe de Mornay, Le mystere d' Iniquite, Preface, p. xii.
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH 635
would unite in their counsels to surrender their power to the,
Beast. 54 On this he was very explicit.
2. APPLIES ALL PROPHETIC EPITHETS TO ROME. Re-
strained by pagan Rome at first, the Papacy now makes all the
nations drink from her cup. De Mornay castigates her for her
simony and similar iniquities, and her benefits which are sold for
a price.55 John called her the Harlot, Paul the Man of Sin, the
predicted Antichrist. But more than all the arguments and his-
torical statements in the body of the work, the two illustrations
given in the book rankled in the hearts of the Roman Catholics.
The one represented symbolically the approaching downfall of
the papal see, under the guise of a strong tower, like the tower
of Babel, resting on perishable wooden supports to which the
flame is already applied; and the other represented Pope Paul
V, with the most blasphemous of certain inscriptions placed on
an arch of triumph erected in Italy to his honor, as PAULO V.
VICE DEO CHRISTIANAE REPUBLICAE, by which they had unwittingly
affixed to him the exact number of the Beast. 56
IX. BourignonCourt of Rome Is Harlot of Apocalypse
ANTOINETTE BOURIGNON (1616-1680), visionary, was born
at Lille. Claiming to be inspired to re-establish the spirit of the
primitive gospel, she gave up the liturgy of Rome, emphasizing
the spiritual worship of God. Expelled from France, she fled to
Belgium, Holland, and northern Germany. She wrote numerous
volumes, and among her principal works are: Temoignage de la
Verite (Testimony of the Truth), Traite du nouveau ciel et du
Regne de l'Antechrist (Treatise About the New Heaven and the
Rule of Antichrist), Le Renouvellement de l'Esprit Evangelique
(The Renewal of the Evangelical Spirit), L'Antechrist de-
couvert (Antichrist Unveiled). 57 She comments thus on Anti-
christ:
___________________
54 Ibid., p. 597.
55 Ibid., p. 603.
56 Ibid., frontispiece and second illustration; Baird,
The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, vol. 1, p. 61.
57 La Grande Encylopedie, art. "Bourignon (Antoinette)." -
636 PROPHETIC FAITH
"People think that Antichrist will not reign on the earth until we
see him bodily. This is a great error, for he has long been reigning through
his doctrine and his spirit of error, though he is not discerned. He occupies
the throne of God, and rules over all Christendom under a false appearance
of holiness and piety, thus winning the whole world. He has spread such
thick darkness on the whole world, that he is discovered by none, and
people would think to be committing sin if they were suspecting the court
of Rome of being the Harlot of the Apocalypse, while she is that in truth." 58
Such is the witness of a voice on the fringe of Protestantism.
X. Jurieu France Considered Tenth Part of Papal City
PIERRE JURIEU (1637-1713), distinguished Huguenot leader
and noted controversialist, was born at Mer, and schooled in
philosophy at Saumur. He was the nephew of Pierre du Moulin. 59
A man of unusual scholastic attainments, he received his M.A.
at nineteen. After travel and further study in Holland and
England, and upon ordination, he succeeded to his father's pas-
torate at Mer, about 1671. In 1674 his reputation for learning
won him the professorship of theology and Hebrew in the
Huguenot Seminary at Sedan. Here for seven years he zealously
guarded the Reformation against attacks particularly from Cath-
olic Bishop Bossuet,60 with whom he held controversies, as well
as with the Jesuit Maimbourg and championed vigorously the
rights of his persecuted brethren in France. (Portrait on page
648.)
In 1681 the academy at Sedan was "desolated" when Louis
XIV deprived Protestants of permission to give public instruc-
_________________
58 Antoinette Bourignon, L'Appel de Dieu et le Refus des Homines (The Call of God and
the Refusal of Men), p. 129.
59 The caliber of some of these able French Protestant leaders and writers may be gauged
by noting that Pierre du Moulin, or Molinoeus (1568-1658), noted controversialist, was author
of some eighty different works. He escaped the Massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572). A tireless
worker, he was professor of philosophy at Leyde, chaplain of Princess Catherine de Bourbon,
who became the wife of Henry of Lorraine, and then pastor and professor at the Sedan Protes-
tant Theological school. In 1615 he went to England, where he was called in counsel to King
James I. In 1612 he wrote Troisieme livre de V accomplissement des propheties.
60 BISHOP JACQUES-BENIGNE BOSSUET (1627-1704), Catholic bishop of Meaux, king's coun-
selor, highly educated in Jesuit schools, and accomplished orator and preceptor to the Dauphin,
lauded the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Besides writing the History of the Variations of
the Protestant Church, he also employed his skill in writing a commentary on the Apocalypse
(L' Apocalypse avec une explication) based on the Preterist, not the Futurist, scheme. He sharply
attacked Jurieu's positions, declaring pagan Rome and Judaism had long since fulfilled the pre-
dictions. On the other hand, he said the Catholic Church had already brought about the mil-
lennium the period of the Church's supremacy and the Albigenses, Waldenses, numerous as
Gog and Magog, had besieged the New Jerusalem, that is, the Catholic Church. The Papal
anathemas were the fire from heaven that would consume them. (L'Apocalypse avec une explica-
tion, p. 254; see also Elliott, op. cit., vol. 4, pp. 501 ff. and 585 ff.)
HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH 637
tion. Upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685,
Jurieu went into exile at Rotterdam, where for twenty-seven
years he was a resident a pastorship and lectureship having
been provided for him. Here his ardor drew him into contro-
versy with Preterists Grotius and Hammond over the identity of
the Antichrist and the time of his reign. A prolific writer, he was
author of sixty works, one of which passed through twenty-two
French and twenty-six English editions. Jurieu's L'Accomplisse-
ment des Propheties ou la Delivrance Prochaine de l'Eglise
(Exposition of the Apocalypse or the Coming Deliverance of
the Church) was published just after the Revocation of the Edict
of Nantes. In prophetic exposition he expressedly took Mede as
his guide,61 except in those portions involving later application.
1. REFUTES FUTURISTIC AND PRETERISTIC THESES. Writing
out of conviction, and in lucid style, Jurieu is very specific. But
as he follows Mede so closely such as in the enunciation of the
seven seals, ten horns and seven heads "2 these similarities will
not be repeated and the analysis extended. Jurieu definitely
refutes with force and in detail the papal Futurist and Preter-
ist theses of Ribera, Bellarmine, et cetera. 63 He also bemoans
the lapse of vigor that had come over Protestantism. 64
2. MAKES FRANCE TENTH PART OF CITY. Concerning the
trumpets, Jurieu makes the first four the barbarian scourges of
the Western Empire, to vex and destroy it, and the fifth and
sixth the Saracens and Turks.65 He believed the last persecutions
had begun in 1655 with the Waldenses, spreading into other
lands, and in 1685 by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He
therefore thought the three and a half year-days of the Witnesses
lying dead in the street of the Papal city, or empire which he
believed refers to France might end in three and a half years.
But he adds later:
"There are as yet in France more than a hundred thousand persons
who either have not signed or have repented after their signing.
If all these
_______________
61 Pierre Jurieu, The Accomplishment of the Scripture Prophecies (English ed.), Intro-
duction.
62 Ibid., part 1, pp. 54, 160. 63 Ibid., pp. 104 ff.
64 Ibid., Preface. 65 Ibid., part 1, pp. 55 ff.
638 PROPHETIC FAITH
must fall off, there is yet a long time to tarry. Lastly who knows, whether
God will not begin to reckon tire three years and a half untill other Princes
have wholly extinguish the Reformation in their dominions? 'Tis therefore
rashness to affirm, that deliverance must exactly come in such a year." 66
"And the spirit of life from God entered into them. These words teach
us how the Reformation shall be reestablished in France." 67
" 'Tis therefore evident that God does here testify, that sometime after
these three years and a half of death, the Reformation shall be lifted up to
a great glory, but not everywhere; 'tis only in that place, which is called
the street of the great City, and is after called the tenth part of the city:
for the whole destruction of the Antichristian Kingdom must not happen
until some years afterward." 68
He also judged that the tenth of the city destined to fall, as
the Witnesses arose, would be France. 69 His thesis appears on the
title page:
"Proving, that the Papacy is the Antichristian Kingdom; and that thai
Kingdom is not far from its Ruin. That the present Persecution may end in
Three years and half, after which the Destruction of Antichrist shall be
gin; which shall be Finisht in the beginning of the next Age: and then the
Kingdom of Christ shall come upon Earth." 70
3. END OF 1260 YEARS BRINGS FALL OF POPEDOM. Com-
puting the 1260 years from A.D. 450 or 454, the death of Valen-
tinian on the year-day principle, and with 360 days to a year
would bring the fall of Popedom about 1710 or 1714. 71 The
Beasts of Revelation 13 are both the Antichristian Empire. 72
These ten kings, Jurieu held, are the continuation of the Roman
Empire under the seven heads and ten horns, the seventh head
being that of Antichrist, and the beast from the earth repre-
senting a new empire, called the 'Empire of the Church', or an
'Ecclesiastic Empire'. The vials are interpreted as the means by
which the papal empire would be brought to ruin, falling upon
it since the tenth century. The second plague, for instance, is
the crusades; the fifth, when Rome was forsaken and the popes
resided at Avignon; the sixth involving the Turks. 73 Spreading
________________
66 Ibid., part 2, p. 256. 67 Ibid., p. 258.
68 Ibid., p. 259. 69 Ibid., pp. 254 ff.
70 Ibid., title page of the whole work. See further quotations from this work in the chap-
ter on predictions of the French Revolution, p. 726.
71 Ibid., part 2, pp. 54-57.
72 Ibid., part 1, pp. 98, 136 ff.
73 Ibid., part 2, p. 87.
639 HUGUENOTS HOLD PROPHETIC BANNER HIGH
back over centuries, these will soon reach their climax. Babylon
is also the Antichristian Empire."
4. ROME'S DIVISIONS PRECEDE CHRIST'S KINGDOM. There
are frequent allusions to Daniel's four empires, the divisions of
the fourth, and the fifth monarchy, as the kingdom of Christ,
appearing after the ten divisions. 75 Daniel 7 repeats the grand
outline, with only the Little Horn added as Antichrist. Besides
these views he held strongly to the view that during the mil-
lennium the Jews will have the prominent share in governing
the earth. 77
________________
74 Ibid., part 1, pp. 171-173.
75 Ibid., p. 290.
76 Ibid., p. 291.
77 Ibid., part 2, pp. 300-310.
VOLUME II CHAPTER THIRTY -THREE French Revolution Leads to Papal Wound I. Constitutes Turning Point in Modern History Having attained the peak of its power under Innocent III, the Papacy began gradually to decline. This decline was sharply , accentuated by the Protestant Reformation, though the Papacy partially recovered itself in the Counter Reformation. But in the latter half of the eighteenth century deep hostility toward the Roman court developed on the part of numerous Catholic gov- ernments. There seemed to be no way of reconciliation. The sovereigns were making rapid progress toward "depriving the Roman See of all its secular prerogatives." 1 Lord Chesterfield, in 1753, had sensed the beginning of a great revolution in France.2 Even on the Iberian Peninsula, where Catholicism ruled supreme, movements were under way to shake off the yoke of its most energetic servants, the Jesuits. In Portugal they were implicated in the judicial investigations resulting from an attempt on the life of the king, and finally were driven out of the kingdom in 1759. Later they were expelled from France, Spain, and Naples. The Pope himself abolished and annulled the Society of Jesus on July 21, 1773. 3 Hostile elements gathered under the surface in France against the Papal tyranny. A new danger menaced'the city of ________________ 1 Leopold Ranke, The History of the Popes, vol. 2, p. 433. 2 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol. 1, p. 17; Guinness, History Unveiling Prophecy, p. 206. 3 Ranke, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 441 ff.; Hergenrother, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 456, 457. 731 732 PROPHETIC FAITH the seven hills. Infidelity seemed bent on confederating together in an anti-Christian league to consume the Papacy. The new constitution of France, declaring the universal rights of man, soon swept away all special privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church. In vain did the Pope's bull denounce it, and prohibit its acceptance by the clergy. The Janseriists watched with satis- faction as the Roman Church received this blow, and the clergy that had so cruelly persecuted them were overthrown some 40,000 priests who had refused the oath being expelled. Pius VI tried futilely to arrest the progress of the reforming spirit and to stay the advancing tide of revolution. But his anath- emas were unheeded. General war broke out that uprooted dynasties, and changed the face of Europe. France poured her legions into Belgium, Holland, the Rhenish provinces, and Aus- tria. And in 1798 she made herself master of Italy the deluge sweeping over the Patrimony of Peter. This we shall note with some detail. As the time of Justinian, in the sixth century, when the bishop of Rome achieved legally recognized headship of the churches, was a turning point between the ancient and medieval worlds, so the time of the eighteenth-century French Revolu- tion, when the 1260 years of the Papal era were closing, was similarly a turning point in the history of the modern world. It brought forth forces that made a permanent change in the thoughts and actions of mankind.4 It was indeed the complimen- tary epoch. The infidelic and atheistic became the initial key- note of the time.5 It was an era of daring unbelief, presumption, and defiance of God. It was the beginning of modern world wars, with peace gone from the world, seemingly forever. More than that, it was also the beginning of modern mis- sions, of Bible societies, of expansion of political, religious, and intellectual freedom, of liberty of speech and press, of popular education for the masses, of mighty religious revivals, of reforma- tory movements; of the development of rapid communication __________________ 4 Sir Archibald Alison, History of Europe (1789-1815), vol. 1, pp. 47-49. 5 George Stanley Faber, The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 74; vol. 3, p. 363. FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 733 and transportation. Truly, it was a turning point in modern history. II. Far-reaching Implications of the Upheaval The French Revolution was one of the momentous events in the history, not only of France, but of Europe and even the whole world. It introduced a new mode of political thinking, and released forces which are not yet spent. The ideas and con- ceptions underlying the French Revolution were of such a na- ture that they would of necessity lead to violent clashes with the ' established order. Vehement convulsions had to precede the establishment of such a social order, if ever it should be realized. In the epochal Declaration of Human Rights it is stated that all men are born free and have equal rights. Those rights are: liberty, the right to hold property, and security against all op- pression. The government that recognized these rights should be the only legitimate sovereignty. All are equal before the law; the poor no less than the rich are to be protected by it. None should be molested for their opinions and religious convictions. Every citizen should have the right to speak, write, and print what'he wishes. War should never be waged except in self-de- fense. All men are brethren. Such were the background concepts. To sense the full impact of these principles, one must vis- ualize them as proclaimed at a time and in a country where abso- lutism still ruled supreme; where the Catholic Church had long enjoyed complete sway over the whole populace; where by ruth- less persecution she had succeeded in crushing all dissenting movements; where the majority of the people, although nomi- nally free, were poverty stricken beyond belief, and held in ignorance and superstition by a relentless grip. Little wonder that these ideas were like sparks falling into dry timber, kindling a conflagration far beyond the intentions of their originators a conflagration in which the throne, the church, the nobility, the whole old social order and all for which it stood, were burned like chaff. Alas, out of its violence, terror, and streams of blood emerged a completely different form of life 734 PROPHETIC FAITH than anticipated, not so much caused by its own choice as by external pressure and the momentum of circumstances the dictatorship of Napoleon, and with it the birth of nationalism. Democracy and nationalism are two forces which are the legacy of the French Revolution two mighty impulses in the life of man, which, however, man has not been able to master even to this day. Some of the portentous events of the French Revolution will now be given in greater detail in connection with the impression they caused on serious Bible students of the time, and in relationship to prophetic interpretation. 6 III. The First Revolutionary Acts in 1789 One of the first signs of the gathering storm that would soon sweep over France was the fact that the king found himself obliged to convoke "les Etats generaux" (Estates-General) in 1788 which body was almost forgotten, and had not met in more than a century. It was made up of three estatesthe clergy, or first; the nobility, or second; and the commons, or third. Delegates were elected in 1788, and in May, 1789. Twelve hundred assembled some 300 of the fii'st estate, 300 of the sec- ond estate, and 600 of the third. At the very beginning a difficulty arose over the question of votes should they be counted by head or by estate? As this question was not resolved in a manner satisfactory to the third estate, the latter, on June 17, proclaimed itself the "National Assembly." This was the first revolutionary act. The king an- nulled this decision, whereupon Mirabeau declared that the As- sembly would not disperse, and on July 9, 1789 it declared itself to be the "Constituent Assembly." 7 On'July 14, 1789, the prole- tarians of Paris seized and destroyed the huge royal fortress of the Bastille, the grim, visible emblem of absolutism. In August the National Assembly heatedly debated the question of the _______________ 6 See Adolphe Thiers, Histoire de la revolution Francaise; Alphonse de Lamartine, History of the Girondists; Carlyle, The French Revolution; The Cambridge Modern History, vol. 8, ("The French Revolution"); A. Aulard, The French Revolution, A Political History, 1789-1804; Guinness, History Unveiling Prophecy. 7 J. Isaac, Histoire Revolution-Empire Premiere Moitie du XIXe Siecle, pp. 8-12. FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 735 tithes, or taxes, for the clergy. In the same month the Assembly adopted its "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen." And in October a mob marched to Versailles and urged the king to come to Paris to recognize the tricolor of the revolu- tion.8 IV. The Break With the Catholic Church In November the Protestants were raised to political equal- ity, with full religious freedom. On the other hand, the Catholic Church was deprived of all of its property, though the clergy was assured of receiving a reasonable remuneration. The higher clergy protested vehemently, and excited the king against the Assembly. Then followed, in July, 1790, the Decree of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, by the National Assembly. Its out- standing points are in Title I, Article IV: "No church or parish of France nor any French citizen may acknowl- edge upon any occasion or upon any pretext whatsoever, the authority of an ordinary bishop or of an archbishop whose see shall be under the supremacy of a foreign power, nor that of their representatives residing in France or elsewhere; without prejudice, however, to the unity of the faith and the intercourse which shall be maintained with the Visible Head of the Uni- versal Church, as hereafter provided." " And Title II, Article I reads: "Beginning with the day of publication of the present decree there shall be but one mode of choosing bishops and parish priests, namely that of election."10 That meant a clear break with Rome and its hierarchial and political influence, and a return to the principles of original Christianity." Many bishops and clergymen refused to accept this new relationship. And the Pope, after a period of hesitation, condemned the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. From thence- forward the bitter struggle between the Revolutionists and the ________________ 8 Ibid., pp. 13, 14; see also Edmond de Pressense, The Church and the French Revolution, pp. xxi, xxii. 9 Translations and Reprints From the Original Sources of European History, vol. 1, no. "The French Revolution," p. 26. 10 Ibid., p. 28. 11 See 1 Timothy 3. FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 737 Church began, which ended not only in the elimination of the Church in France but in the overthrow of the Christian religion and the proclamation of the Goddess of Reason in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, now converted into the Temple of Reason. V. The Break With Royalty in 1791 Louis XVI, a pious Catholic, decided to break with the As- sembly after the condemnatory bull of ,the Pope, and established secret relations with foreign countries. He tried to flee from France on June 20, 1791. Discovered, he was brought back to Paris, and now for the first time a republican movement came to the forefront, which in time gained overwhelming power and became more and more radical, although for the time being, the Assembly did not take action against the king. The general European situation became more menacing month by month, and.war was imminent. Finally, on April 20, 1792, war was declared. Under the stress of circumstances the Assembly had to enforce the sternest measures to assure the defense of France and rally the people, which led to an upsurge of political fanaticism and a purge of all so-called untrustworthy elements. Fanaticism, once loosed, is like a fury not satisfied until it is choked with blood. All these different elements finally led to the Reign of Terror, when human life meant nothing, and the heads of. royalty and nobility, of high and low, rolled into the gutter. Robespierre, the idealist and theorist of the Revolution, hav- ing reached the summit of his power, ruthlessly brushed away even his former co-workers, and the frenzy of terror reached undreamed-of heights. At the same time he, as the high priest of reason, directed a most eloquent address to that "supreme Being" whose cult he had instituted. VI. The Climax of Revolutionary Frenzy in 1793 In the latter part of 1793 the revolutionists abolished the old calendar of the week and introduced a new one, dating it from September 21, 1793, with new names for the months, and ten- 47 738 . PROPHETIC FAITH day periods for weeks and with each tenth day devoted to the new worship. Pastors who continued to observe the weekly- day of the past were to be imprisoned. 13 Liberty now became the new god. Trees of Liberty were planted in streets and squares, around which rich and poor danced. The tricolor of France, the Rights of Man, the national holidays, and the Constitution became the new ritual. Now, the great of the present having been massacred and the illustrious of former ages having been insulted, there remained.nothing but heaven itself for them to direct their fury against. Pache, Hebert, and Chaumette, leaders of the municipality, expressed their de- termination to "dethrone the King of Heaven, as well as the monarchs of earth," and prevailed upon Gobel, apostate consti- tutional bishop of Paris, to abjure the Christian faith (Novem- ber 7, 1793).13 Shortly after, Hebert and his group appeared at the bar, on November 10, and declared that "God did not exist, and that the worship of Reason was to be substituted in His stead." " In November, 1793, atheism reached its zenith, with its mockery of the rites of the Church. On the tenth of November the commissioners of the Convention dressed up an ass in sacer- dotal habit, loaded it with the symbols of Christianity, and tied the Old and the New Testament to its tail. It was then led in mock procession through the town by two sansculottes bearing a sacred cup, out of which they gave the animal sacramental wine to drink.15 Arriving at their destination, the crowd piled books of devotion into heaps, and burned them to ashes amid blas- phemous shouts. A prostitute was enthroned as "Goddess of Reason," and received adoration by the National Convention and the mobs of Paris, the populace donning red caps to show their loyalty to the new regime.16 It is to be remembered, how- ever, that this was a revolt against the Roman Catholic departure _______________ 12 De Pressense, op. cit., pp. xxi, xxii. 13 Alison, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 88. 14 Ibid., pp. 88, 89. ' 15 Joseph Galloway, Brief Commentaries Upon Suck Paris of the Revelation and Other Prophecies as Immediately Refer to the Present Times, vol. 1, p. 113. 16 Alison, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 89, 90. FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 739 from the true faith, for the Papacy was the only religion they knew. This revolt was therefore against the caricature rather than against the genuine. After incarnate reason was set up, war against fanaticism was demanded, and worship of the true God punished as a crime. "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," were the catchwords with which Revolutionaries sought to allure the French nation. "Thus on the 3rd of Frimaire of the Year II (Nov. 24, 1793) upon the application of Chaumette, the Commune of Paris passed the following reso- lution: " 'Whereas the People of Paris has declared that it will recognise no other religion than that of Truth and Reason, the Council General of the Commune orders: " '1. That all churches and temples of whatever religion or sect has existed in Paris shall immediately be closed. " '2. That all priests and ministers of whatever religion shall be held personally and individually responsible for all disturbances of which the cause shall proceed from religious opinions. " '3. That whosoever shall demand that either church or temple shall be opened shall be arrested as a suspect.' " " It was the first time in the annals of mankind that a great nation had thrown off all religious principles and openly defied the power of heaven itself.18 In May, 1794, Robespierre induced the Convention to renounce its belief in a Supreme Being, and then at a festival in June he acted as the high priest of Reason and marched at the head of a procession, with the symbols of atheism and vice. Coupled to these, there were wholesale massa- cres in Paris and throughout France. According to some, more than two million perished mock trials were held, with the people dispatching the condemned. It was the era of the holy guillotine, with the dreadful in- strument of decapitation in daily use. Not only nobles and ecclesiastics, but every class suffered. At last the revolutionary fever exhausted itself, arid reaction stayed the effusion of blood. Although war was declared against fanaticism, the Revolu- tionists tried to enforce their ideas with precisely the same fanati- ________________ 17 Aulard, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 161; see also William Holden Hutton, The Age of Revolution, p. 256. 18 Galloway, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 64-66. 740 PROPHETIC FAITH cism. Perhaps it would be interesting to note a statistical account wherein Alison gives the number of victims who fell to their mad rage. Guillotined by sentence of the revolutionary tribunal _______________________________________________ 18,603 Women and children killed in La Vendee _________________ 37,000 Men slain ______________________________________________ 900,000 Victims at Nantes _______________________________________ 32,000 Victims at Lyons _______________________________________ 31,000 19 VII. Reign of Guillotine Followed by Wars of Napoleon Following the overthrow of the monarchy and the abolition of religion in France, accompanied by their fearful massacres, came the enormous destruction of life through the wars of Napoleon. Revolutionary France had had to face armed resist- ance on the part of Austria and Prussia. In 1792 the first war broke out. In 1793 England and the Dutch Republic entered the conflict. Later, during the war against Austria and Sardinia, Napoleon assumed control of the French Army. In 1796 he crossed the Alps, defeated the Sardinian forces, and entered the Po Valley. He also defeated the Austrians, and they sued for peace at Campo Formio in 1797. Thus the reign of the guillotine was followed by the reign of the sword. With the rise of Napoleon a new era began, and France became the scourge of Europe. The armies of France were now led on an unparalleled career of conquest. Arrogant, unscrupu- lous, selfish, remorseless, ambitious, and tireless, Napoleon's military genius and administrative ability was blended with utter disregard of moral considerations. Napoleon sacrificed the lives of millions, overturned the thrones of Europe, and thought to revive the empire of Charlemagne as he strove to obtain the mastery of the Old World. Napoleon's career as ruler and conqueror divides into two periods; first, his seizure of the reins of power as first consul in ______________ 19 Alison, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 399, 400 FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 741 1799. This was followed by a victorious campaign against Aus- tria and the treaty of Luneville in 1801. In the same year Na- poleon signed a concordat with Pope Pius VII, in which it was stated that the first consul nominate the bishops, and the bish- ops the priests. All have to swear the oath of allegiance and re- ceive a salary from the state. The Pope has to recognize the sale of the estates of the Church. But, on the other hand, the Catholic clergy is recognized as an official and privileged body in the state. In the second period a third coalition was formed against France, consisting of England, Russia, and Austria, but with Napoleon's brilliant victory at Austerlitz (1805), Austria had to submit to his terms. In 1806 Prussia was crushed, and in the battle of Friedland (1807) the Russians were defeated. Not the same success, however, followed his forces in Spain. Yet in 1810 he was at the height of his power. Then followed his disastrous invasion of Russia, the rise of Prussia, and his defeat at Leipzig and finally Waterloo, which closed his career forever. By many voices in different lands and through various ve- hicles the end of the Papal period was perceived as due and under way. The sudden shock of the French Revolution sent the Protestant church back to the Scriptures for the meaning. Thus in the Edinburgh Missionary Magazine for 1796 the fact was publicized that the reign of Antichrist was hastening toward its end. Note it: "By the general consent of prophecy, the reign of Antichrist, is now hastening to an end. The aspect of providence, for some time past, has quickened our expectation of his fall. This will pave the way for the overthrow of every system by which the empire of iniquity and error has been maintained; and this again will be succeeded by the age of righteous- ness and truth." 20 VIII. Bell France Accomplishing the Fall of Antichrist In the London Evangelical Magazine of 1796 appear two illuminating articles by GEORGE BELL, on the "Downfall of ______________ 20 Missionary Magazine (Edinburgh) s vol. 1, p. 185. 742 PROPHETIC FAITH Antichrist," written July 24, 1795. He contends first that though man may not presumptuously inquire into God's secrets, it is our duty to seek knowledge of those things He has revealed. Then he asserts that God often overrules the actions of men to bring to pass entirely different objectives. He then comes directly to the time of the rise and fall of Antichrist, based on the internal evidence of the prophecy. First, its rise would not be until after Western Rome's division, and we are therefore "not to look for his appearance before the year 407." 21 1. BELIEVES ANTICHRIST AROSE ABOUT 537. Again, he would not appear until after the "subversion of the imperial government of Rome," and "this obstacle was taken out of the way in the year 476." It would appear soon thereafter, but "not instantly." 22 Bell's third point is based on the seven heads or governments, the sixth being the emperors that form falling in 476 under Augustulus. Then the Gothic kings chose Ravenna as their seat of government, but held Italy from 476 to 553 but "lost the government of Rome in the year 537."23 So the Papal was to follow the imperial. He concludes: "If this be a right application of events to the prophecy, then Anti- christ arose about the year 537, or at farthest about the year 553. He continues 42 months, or 1260 prophetical days, that is, 1260 years, Rev. xiii.5.; consequently we may expect his fall about the year 1797, or 1813." 24 2. DATING THE 1260, 1290, AND 1335 PERIODS. Turning next to the evidence from Daniel, Bell alludes to the oft-repeated 1260 years, or forty-two months, or three and a half times, dur- ing which Antichrist will "scatter the power of the holy peo- ple." 25 The 1290 years "takes its date from a time of remarkable apostasy." Of this period Bell says: "The holy city is to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles, or Papists, who, though they are Christians in name, are Gentiles in worship and prac- tice; worshiping angels, saints, and images, and persecuting the followers of Christ. These Gentiles take away the daily sacrifice, and set up the abomination that maketh the visible church of Christ desolate for the space of 1260 years. But this is a longer period by 30 years." 26 ______________ 21 The Evangelical Magazine, 1796 (London), vol. 4, p. 54. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid., p. 55., 24 Ibid., p. 56. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid., p. 57. FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 743 Then the 1335 years extend forty-five years beyond the 1290 years and seventy-five years beyond the reign of Antichrist. 27 3. 1260 YEAR'S FROM JUSTINIAN TO REVOLUTION. The sec- ond article concentrates on the Justinian date when, after the Ostrogothic withdrawal to Ravenna, the army of Belisarius ap- proached Rome, which opened its gates to the Roman- general in December, 537; tracing the transfer of the Roman emperor to Constantinople, and then the shift of the Goths to Ravenna, Bell says the Pope is left, "as it were, the governor and principal at Rome."28 Then, logically coming to the predicted earthquake, which "signifies a revolution," and France as the tenth part of the Babylonian City when "One of the ten kingdoms under the dominion of Rome would fall off, or revolt from her juris- diction" he declares, "Have we not seen, in one of the ten kingdoms, a most astonishing revolution? Have we not also seen that kingdom fall off of the Papal jurisdiction?" Bell then con- cludes, saying, "Have we not good ground to hope that the accomplishment of the prophecies, respecting the rising of the witnesses and the fall of Antichrist, is near at hand?" 29 IX. American Clergyman Anticipates Papal Overthrow in 1798 Yet another magazine declaration, in the London Baptist Annual Register, this time by an American clergyman, appre- hends the overthrow of the Papal government at Rome before his letter could reach Britain. Since it was written March 31, before the captivity of the pope could have become known in America, the significance becomes apparent. "Letter on Prophecy, with A Particular Reference to The Fall of Rome into the Hands of the French. From the Rev. Dr. **** of America Dated March 31, 1798. "We are not able so accurately to fix the meaning of those prophecies, that are now about to be accomplished, as we shall easily do a few years hence. However, I cannot help thinking, that Rome will soon fall into the hands of the French, and that the Pope will be deprived of all his _______________ 27 Ibid. . 28 Ibid., pp. 98, 99. 29 Ibid., p. 104. 744 PROPHETIC FAITH temporal dominions; that is, that he will soon cease to be a beast . . . which I apprehend is nigh at hand, and, perhaps, will be accomplished before this letter can reach Great Britain. The Pope, being deprived of his temporalities, will be nothing but a false prophet, and then the seventh trumpet will sound." 30 The editorial comment on the foregoing prediction reads: . "Dr. . . .'s conjectures respecting the speedy fall of the civil Papacy has been remarkably accomplished was so indeed a few days before he wrote, though he could not possibly know it. Many with Dr. . . . plainly foresee what the present commotions of Europe are designed to produce, and will produce, viz., the ruin of the Pope and Turk, and all the anti- christian governments that support them." 3l INSENSIBILITY OF CHURCH GIVES ALARM. Still another contributor, in the same issue, asserts his belief that the tenth part of a city signifies "one of the tenfold divisions of the great Babylonish city. . . the principal street or kingdom of Europe," or France, as plainly stated, and concludes his remarks thus: "O that men were wise to see what God is about! The general insensibility of the church of Christ alarms me more than all besides." 32 X. Priestley French Revolution Is Earthquake in Action . JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, L.L.D., F.R.S. (1733-1804), English clergyman, philosopher, and scientist, was born in Yorkshire. The friend of James Watt and Franklin, he had his preliminary .education at the Dissenters' Academy at Daventry, and through his investigation of gases, and the discovery of oxygen in 1774, he pioneered in lifting chemistry to a science. He ministered to a small congregation at Needham Market, Suffolk, and was ordained in 1762 at Warrington. In 1761 he was tutor at the Academy of Warrington, and in 1767 went to Leeds, where he became a Socinian and where he began to occupy a central posi- tion in the first period of the Unitarian Movement. In 1774 Priestley spent three months abroad with his patron, the Earl of _______________ 30 Baptist Annual Register, January, 1799, p. 144. (Italics in the original.) 31 Ibid., p. 146. 32 Ibid., n. 147. ' FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND 745 Shelbourne, but a few years thereafter he retired from Shel- bourne's service, and in 1780 moved to Birmingham. Priestley opposed the government's attitude toward the American colonies, a fact which led to his being mobbed in 1791, his house being burned, and his manuscripts and instru- ments being destroyed. Facile in French, German., and Italian, as well as in Hebrew, Syriac, and Aramaic, he was author of some eighty items, including 'The History and Present State of Electricity' (1767), and 'History of the Corruption of Christian- ity' (1782). He wrote against Paine and Volney, and upheld the Biblical faith. In 1793 he contemplated removal to America for the sake of his three sons. So he resigned his charge on Feb- ruary 21, 1794, and preached his farewell sermon March 30. The "Fast Sermon" of February 28, hereafter cited, was there- - fore preached just before leaving for America, where he resided at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, for the remainder of his life.33 1. CALAMITOUS TIMES TO AFFLICT PAPAL NATIONS.His famous sermon, titled 'The Present State of Europe Compared with Ancient Prophecies', preached at the Gravel Pit Meeting in Hackney, was based on Matthew 3:2, "Repent ye, for the king- dom of heaven is at hand." Priestley contended that "great calamities such as the world has never yet experienced," were to precede the coming of the kingdom of Christ. In this sermon, preached during the height of the French Revolution, he stated further: "These calamities will chiefly affect those nations which have been the seat o£ the great Antichristian power; or, as all Protestants, and I believe justly, suppose, have been subject to the See of Rome. And it appears to me highly probable, as I hinted in my last discourse on this occasion; that the present disturbances in Europe are the beginning of those very calamitous times." 34 2. PAPAL LITTLE HORN TO BE DESTROYED BY ADVENT. Bidding his hearers to "look back to the antient prophecies and _______________ 33 Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 16, pp. 357-376. 34 Joseph Priestley, The Present State of Europe Compared With the Ancient Prophecies, p. 2. 746 PROPHETIC FAITH compare them with the present state of things," he showed that the Little Horn of Daniel 7 was "the Papal power," to be de- stroyed when the judgment shall sit. After mentioning the awful period of trouble of Daniel 12:1, Priestley averred that the New Testament prophecies on the fall of Antichrist, such as 2 Thessalonians 1:7, corresponded with those of the Old Testament, and were to be accomplished suddenly by the second coming of Christ and not before.35 3. REVOLUTION IN FRANCE THE PREDICTED EARTHQUAKE. Citing Sir Isaac Newton, Whiston, and Clarke, on the part the "prevalence of infidelity" was to play in putting a stop to the papal tyranny, Priestley said: "This great event of the late revolution in France appears to me, and many others, to be not improbably the accomplishment of the follow- ing part of the Revelation, chap. xi.3. 'And the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men (or literally, names of men) seven thousand, and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to God.' "An earthquake, as I have observed, may signify a great convulsion, and revolution, in states; and as the Papal dominions were divided into ten parts, one of which, and one of the principal of them, was France, it is properly called a tenth part of the city, or. of the mystical Babylon." 36 4. KINGDOMS ELEVATING PAPACY TO OVERTHROW HER. "It is farther remarkable, that the kings of France were those who gave the Popes their temporalities, and the rank they now hold among the princes of the world. And it is foretold, Rev. xvii.16, that 'those kings who gave their power and strength unto the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree to give their kingdoms unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.' "May we not hence conclude it to be highly probable, that what has taken place in France will be done in other countries?" 37 The certainty, suddenness, and unexpectedness of the ap- proaching expectancy rested as a burden on Priestley's heart. XI. Bicheno 1260 Years From Justinian to Present Revolution JAMES BICHENO (d. 1831), dissenting minister and school man, of Newberry in Berkshire and of London, was author of ________________ 35 Ibid., pp. 2, 8, 9. 36 Ibid., pp. 25, 26. 37 Ibid., pp. 26, 27. 747 FRENCH REVOLUTION LEADS TO PAPAL WOUND numerous works. His 'The Signs of the Times'; or the 'Overthrow of the Papal Tyranny in France', the 'Prelude of Destruction to Popery and Despotism'; but of 'Peace to Mankind' was first pub- lished in 1793. With an American reprint in 1794, it had passed through its sixth edition by 1808. This was followed by his Restoration of the Jews (1800), and his 'Destiny of the German Empire' (1801). From the very first, Bicheno considered the awful judg- ments inflicted by the French Revolutionists as retribution upon the Papacy for her agelong bloody persecution of the saints. Falling on the royalty, nobility, and clergy, the affliction was thus visited upon the chief abettors. So strongly did he feel this that he protested the antirevolutionary writings of others. So Bicheno discussed the Papal tyranny of the past, and the judg- ments on Popery then taking place before the eyes of men rather than attempt a systematic exposition of the Apocalypse. 1. INFIDELIC FRANCE Is TWO-HORNED BEAST. Bicheno held the standard view of the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 and 7 Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome followed by the division of Rome. The three and a half times were 1260 years, and the Little Horn was the spiritual tyranny of the Roman Em- pire.38 In Revelation 12 the tyranny of the dragon was that of pagan Rome and civil tyranny, and the ten-horned beast from the sea represented ecclesiastical or spiritual tyranny of the Papacy.39 He held, further, that the two-horned beast from the earth was Louis XIV, or at least of that tyranny which the family of the Capets have exercised to the great oppression of the Chris- tian church.40 In harmony with this interpretation Bicheno sought to place the number 666 upon France, and suggested the name of Ludovicus (XIV).41 2. PROPHETIC PERIODS DATED FROM A.D. 529. In the pro- phetic time periods Bicheno extends the 2300 years from 481 B.C. to A.D. 1819, when some great event or events will take place. The 1260-, 1290-, and 1335-year periods he begins together _________________ 38 James Bicheno, The Signs of the Times (1799 ed.), pp. 10-13. 39 Ibid., p. 14. 40 Ibid., p. 17. 41 Ibid., p. 24. 748 PROPHETIC FAITH in 529, when Justinian's Code was first published, and conse- quently ends them in 1789, 1819, and 1864 respectively the final year being the blessed one. 42 3. STANDARD POSITIONS ON TRUMPETS AND VIALS. The first four trumpets are the Barbarian scourges of the Western Em- pire, the fifth is the Saracens for 150 literal years, and the sixth is the Turk for 396 years (365 + 30 + 1), dated from about 1300 to 1697.43 France is the tenth part of the city Babylon, and the earthquake is the French Revolution; the Apocalyptical city is not Rome as some understand it, but the anti-Christian states of Europe." The Turk is the king of the north in Daniel 11, and the seven vials are the great judgments of God against the Papacy. 45 4. CONSUMMATION TO FOLLOW GOSPEL PREACHING. Bi- cheno endorses in his conclusion the views of Dr. Hartley.46 He applies the climax of our Lord's prophecy of Matthew 24 to the terrible commotions of the revolutionary times, and predicts that there would speedily come the preaching of the gospel throughout the world to heathen and to Jew, that would gather God's elect maintaining that the great consummation is nigh at hand. He is completely absorbed in those portions of proph- ecy relating to events of the present, as they were unfolding be- fore the eyes of mankind. ______________ 42 Ibid. pp. 54-56. 43 Ibid. pp. 131, 138-152. 44 Ibid. pp. 127, 187, 188. 45 Ibid. pp. 165-187. 46 Ibid. pp. 114-116. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR The Deadly Wound Ends the 1260 Years I. Papal Government Supplanted and Pontiff Banished The immediate problem is to trace the overthrow of the Papacy in Italy in 1798. One of the most interesting accounts, as well as a very trustworthy one, of the overthrow of the papal government is by Richard Duppa,1 in 'A Brief Account of the Subversion of the Papal Government', 1798.2 Of this work Duppa says, "It was written with the strictest attention to truth; the facts were recorded by one who was witness to the events." And he adds, "After a lapse of nine years, no part has been invali- dated." 3 1. NAPOLEON'S GOAL WAS FREEING OF ROME. In 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte, on his way to overthrow the pope, incited his soldiers with one of his fiery speeches to the effect that they still had one offense to avenge. The hour of vengeance had struck. To restore the Capitol, to awaken the people of Rome, blunted from centuries of slavery, were to be the fruits of their victories; they would mark an epoch in history. Hearing of this, Pius VI (1775-1798) born in 1717 as Giovanni Angelico Braschi, and died in 1799 attempted to fortify his position and ________________ 1 RICHARD DUPPA (1770-1831), English lawyer, writer, and artist, studied art in Rome as a youth. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and Middle Temple, he received an L.L.B. from Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was also an F.S.A. Duppa published a dozen works, besides classical schoolbooks, travels in Europe, and biographies of Michaelangelo, Raphael, and others. 2 Third edition enlarged and more heavily documented and illustrated. London: Murray, 1807. (2d ed., 1799). 3 R. Duppa, A Brief Account of the Subversion of the Papal Government, 1798, Preface. 749 750 PROPHETIC FAITH neglected nothing that might prevent the great catastrophe. Meantime he sent an emissary to Napoleon at Milan and pro- posed an armistice, offering heavy reparations and the surrender of Ancona, Bologna, and Ferrara the northern portion of the Papal territory.4 The French Directory demanded that the Papacy revoke, retract, and disannul all bulls, briefs, rescripts, and decrees af- fecting ecclesiastical affairs in France issued since the beginning of the Revolution in 1787. This Pius VI refused, declaring he would oppose it with force, and broke off the parley. Napoleon took Imola, the Romagna, the duchy of Urbino, routed the Papal army, and made new overtures to the Pope. 2. TOLENTINO FOLLOWED BY KILLING OF DUPHOT. The Directory wished Napoleon to destroy the Papacy,5 and directed that no successor to Pius VI be elected to the Papal chair. It hoped as a consequence, to deliver Europe from the Papal su- premacy.6 But Bonaparte negotiated the Treaty of Tolentino, on February 19, 1797, by which the Pope was to abandon Avig- non, Venaissin, Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna (Peter's patri- mony), in addition to heavy indemnities.7 The Papal treasury was unable to meet the monetary demand, and the populace of Rome was showing increasing hostility to the Papal government. The Pope could scarcely appear in public without being hissed. 8 Revolution was in the air. Incendiary placards were posted on the one hand, and on the other the French were exposed to in- creasing insults. A crisis approached. Joseph Bonaparte was sent to Rome as French ambassador, and sought to quiet the situation. But on December 27, 1797, a riot threatened, and the Papal government ordered the muti- neers to disperse. Duppa records that some in the mob, "pro- ceeded to make public harangues, and pretended to shew clearly, ______________ 4 I. Bertrand, Le Pontificat de Pie VI et l'Atheisme Revolutionnaire, vol. 2, pp. 340 ff. The population of the Ecclesiastical state was given as 2,200,000. 5 George Trevor, Rome: From the Fall of the Western Empire, p. 439; Duppa, op. cit. p. 14 6 Alison, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 551 n 7 Duppa, op. cit., p. 5 8 Pius VI, Historical and Philosophical Memoires of Pius the Sixth and of His Pontificate (Translated from the French), vol. 2, pp.314 ff. THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS.THE 1260 YEARS 751 by several texts of scripture, that the time was at hand to over- throw the existing government."9 The Papal troops advanced, and the revolutionists sought refuge at the French embassy. The Pontifical soldiers followed and opened fire. Then the French general Duphot sought to quiet the melee, but was shot, and dispatched with Papal bayonets. 10 3. BERTHIER'S TROOPS ENTER ROME BY INVITATION. The killing of General Duphot brought on the crisis. The ambassa- dor left Rome in indignation. Reparations were refused, and the Directory, on January 1, 1798, ordered General Berthier,11 then in Milan, to march upon Rome and conquer it, and to establish a Roman republic. 12 General Berthier advanced, but stopped outside of Rome, awaiting an invitation to enter. Patriots invited him to do so. Thus the French troops entered Rome on February 10, 1798. Berthier immediately pledged by proclamation that the Catholic "cult" should remain untouched. 13 4. PROCESSIONAL LAUNCHED TO STAY EVIL DAY. As a last resort the church had had recourse to a vast religious processional through the streets of Rome, with venerated relics, in the hope o£ staving off the evil day. An elaborate proclamation was issued January 15, 1798, in the form of a printed poster 14 signed by the Papal secretary. The three special relics paraded were a portrait of the Saviour supposed to have been painted by supernatural agency, a miraculous picture of the Virgin Mary and the child, and the supposed chains by which St. Peter was fettered. 15 These _________________ 9 Duppa, op. cit., p. 9. 10 Historical and Philosophical Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 328; The London Packet, Jan. 19-22, 1798, p. 2. 11 Louis ALEXANDRE BERTHIER (1753-1815), prince of Wagram and confidant and associate of Napoleon, was born at Versailles. He served under Lafayette in the United States from 1778 to 1782, and at the outbreak of the French Revolution was appointed major general of the na- tional guard at Versailles. By 1795 he had risen to chief of staff of the Army of Italy, and as Napoleon's representative, proclaimed the Republic of Rome and effected the captivity of the Pope in 1798. Berthier accompanied Napoleon into Egypt as chief of staff, and aided in victory over the Directory in 1799, becoming minister of war (1799-1808). Made marshall of France in 1804, he was constantly at Napoleon's side until 1814. In 1809 he became chief of the general, staff of the grand armee, and was created prince of Wagram in the same year. 12 The London Packet, Jan. 19-22, 1798, p. 2. 13 Duppa, op. cit., pp. 34, 35, 91. 14 Invito Sagro e ffolificayone (Sacred Invitation and Proclamation); see also English translation in Duppa, op. cit., pp. 17-24. 15 Pictured in Duppa, op..cit., p. 18. 752 PROPHETIC FAITH were then placed on exhibition on the high altar of St. Peter's, and visited by the people of Rome and the surrounding country. Prayer, fasting, and penitence were urged, and liberal indul- gences promised. But the French Army came on.18 Priests went throughout the city preaching the end of the world and, as customary, calling on miracles to sustain their prophecies. They little dreamed that they were so near the close of their power. 5. ROMAN REPUBLIC IS RE-ESTABLISHED. Berthier called upon the commander of St. Angelo to open the fort. He asked two days for decision, but Berthier gave only four, hours. So the fort was evacuated, three thousand French troops taking possession, and taking over the city, with certain cardinals, princes, and prelates as hostages to ensure quiet. From that mo- ment onward Pius VI confined himself to the Vatican. Heavy reparations were exacted for the assassination of General Du- phot. Then a petition, drawn up and signed by the French parti- sans in Rome, demanding a change of government and regime of liberty, was followed by an imposing public demonstration. The Tree of Liberty was planted on the capitol hill,17 and the new government was established on Pluviose 27 (February 15), when the sovereignty of the people was proclaimed and the re-estab- lishment of the Roman Republic was effected.18 6. PAPAL ARMS AND INSIGNIA REMOVED. Berthier came to the capitol escorted, by a military band, received the acclaim of the great concourse, and gave formal recognition to the Roman Republic and its provisional government.19 He then ordered the papal arms and insignia everywhere removed. Thus the change was effected without bloodshed. Later when the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda was suppressed, their College at _________________ 16 Historical and Philosophical Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 326. 17 Duppa, op. cit., pp. 34, 35. 18 Ibid., pp. 37-39; The Times [London], no. 4141, March 12, 1798, p. 3; The London Packet, March 5-7, 1798, p. 2; The London Chronicle, March 10-13, 1798 (vol. 83, no. 6089); Duppa, op. cit., pp. 185-188. The 75-page Constitution of the Roman Republic, Translated From the Authentic Italian Edition (1798) is a "Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and of Citizens," with a tabulated series of Articles of (1) Rights and (2) Duties, followed by the text of the Roman Constitution. (Original title: Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana, adottata per acclamazione nei comizj nazionali in Lione. Anno I., 26 Gennajo 1802.) 19 Duppa, op. cit., pp. 36, 37, 40. THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS 753 Rome was closed and the building used as a warehouse for con- fiscated property, and their printing presses and type were sent to France.20 [The] Vatican Palace was stripped of its valuables, and the sacerdotal vestments of the pontifical chapels were burned for the gold and silver of the embroidery. 21 7. Pius VI DETHRONED ON ANNIVERSARY IN SISTINE CHAPEL. Meantime, on this very same day February 15 on the anniversary of his elevation to the Pontificate, Pius VI repaired to the Sistine Chapel, and was receiving the felicitations of the Sacred College of cardinals, when, in the midst of the ceremony, shouts penetrated the conclave, intermingled with the strokes of axes on the doors. Soon General Haller, a Swiss Calvinist, with a band of his soldiers, broke into the chapel, and declared that the Pope's reign was at an end. 22 (Painting appears on page 754.) His Swiss guards were dismissed, and republican, soldiers substi- tuted. Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna (Peter's patrimony) were taken over, and the Cardinals were stripped of authority and possessions. Eight were arrested and sent to the Civita Castel- lana.23 The glory, honor, and power had vanished. Soldiers were quartered in the Papal palace. Such was the stroke of the sword at Rome. It was the end of an epoch in Papal history long before predicted in the prophecies of Holy Writ. Trevor goes so far as to' say: "The territorial possessions of the clergy and monks were declared national property, and their former owners cast into prison. The Papacy was extinct: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or Pontiff; its' bishop was a dying captive in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in his place." 24 8. TREASURES DEMANDED AND BANISHMENT DECREED. The Pope's banishment from Rome was then decreed, and Haller was again chosen to inform him. Appearing on the afternoon of _________________ 20 Ibid., p. 92. 21 Ibid., pp. 59, 60; Alison. op. cit., vol. 3, p. 558: Historical and Philosophical Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 343. 22 Duppa, op. cit., pp. 43-47; The European Magazine, July, 1798, vol. 34, p. 7. 23 Alison, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 559. 24 Trevor, op. cit., p. 440.
[ ARMEE D'ITALIE Au Quartier general devant Rome le 27 Pluviose VI de la Republique Francaise une et indivisible. Le Citoyen Alexandre Berthier, General en Chef Le Peuple Romain est ... [ ??? ] droits de la Souverainite en proclament son independance en [ donnent ? ] le Gouvernement de l'ancienne Rome. Le General en Chef de l'Armee francaise en Italie declare au nom de la Republique Francaise qu'il [ reconnait ? ] la Republique Romaine independance et qu'elle est sous la protection speciale de l'Armee Francaise. Le General en Chef de l'Armee [ reconnait ? ] au nom de la Republique Francaise le Gouvernement Provisoire qui [ ??? ] est propose par le peuple souverain. En consequence toute autre autorite Temporelle emanee de l'ancien Gouvernement du Pape est [ suppresse ? ] et n'exercera plus [ ??? ] fonction. Le General en Chef [ ??? ] toutes les dispositions necessaires pour [ ??? ] le peuple Romain son independance. Pour que son Gouvernement sois bien ... Le General francais Cervoni est charge de pouvoir a la police et ( a la ??? ) de la Ville de Rome, ainsi que [d']installer le nouveau Gouvernement.(?) La Republique Romain [reconst?] par la Republique Francaise comprend tout le pays qui [ etait ??? ] sous l'autorite temporelle du Pape apres le traite de Campo Formio. Alexandre Berthier. Rome 15 Fevrier 1798 ]
FRENCH ULTIMATUM RESTRICTS PAPAL AUTHORITY IN 1798 General Haller Presenting Berthier's Ultiniatinn to Pope Pius VI, in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, on February 15, 1798 (Upper); The Declaration of the End of Former Papal Authority, With French Original at Left and Italian Translation at Right (Center), and Inset of Berthier, Who Signed the Declaration; and Pius VI, Sent From Rome to Valence, France, where He Died in 1800 (Lower) THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS . ,755 February 18, he demanded the Pope's treasures. When the Pope protested that the Tolentino Treaty had left him nothing, Haller demanded and took the two rings on his fingers, including the Fisherman's ring though only by threat. (This was returned the following day.) Haller told the prelate to be ready to leave the next morning at six. He protested his age of eighty-one and illness, Haller nevertheless insisted, and threatened force. Given forty-eight hours to settle the affairs of the church, he was to leave before daybreak. 25 (Painting of departure appears on page 754.) It was still night, February 20, 1798, and stormy with light- ning and thunder, when the carriage crossed the city, preceded by two men with torches the guards pointing out the dome of St. Peter's. Both hisses and prayers came from the crowd that had assembled. Within ten days Pius VI had been dethroned," imprisoned, exiled, his private library confiscated, his state given up to plunder, and his subjects to military control. Reaching Sienna, Pius and his party stopped at an Augustinian convent. But while they were there, an earthquake destroyed several buildings. The Pontiff was therefore housed outside the city -in a country home called Hell, a fact that elicited the sarcasm of the unbelieving. 26 9. DIES AT VALENCE, FRANCE, IN 1799. But the Pope was still in the heart of Italy. So Pius VI was transferred to Florence, constantly under guard of French dragoons. Next his transfer to Parma was decided upon, the departure to take place at 2 A.M. As the pope was suffering from partial paralysis, his guards had great difficulty in effecting the transfer. From here he was taken to Turin, and finally to the French fortress at Valence, in Dauphiny,27 arriving there July 14, 1799, broken with fatigue and sorrow. He died there on the 28th. 28 ______________ 25 The European Magazine, July, 1798, vol. 34, pp. 7, 8. 26 Bertrand, op, cit. 27 Pennington, op. cit., pp. 449, 450. 28 In the Gallery Room of Pius VI in the Vatican Museum, his life is portrayed in a series of sixteen pictures, the last in the series showing his expulsion, the coach by which he was escorted to France, his arrival at the destination, and his demise. 756 PROPHETIC FAITH II. Official Handbills Reveal Facts of Overthrow About fifty official handbills and circulars, many in parallel- ing French and Italian columns, were printed and posted in Rome during the papal overthrow and the establishment of the republic under Berthier in 1798. These constitute about the highest source evidence obtainable, and are not commonly ac- cessible. They are therefore summarized here, the more impor- tant being quoted from.29 Nos. 1 and 2 assure respect for public worship and its ministers and for ambassadors, and warn French officers of violation.30 No. 5, dated Year 1, Pluviose 27 (Feb. 15, 1798), announces that Berthier has appointed civil authorities in the six territories of the republic. No. 7 gives a pompous speech of Berthier in which he says that at the capitol, bearing an olive .branch, free Frenchmen have re-established the altars of liberty, erected by the first Brutus.31 * 1. PAPAL GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSED, REVERTING TO PEOPLE. The famous Bill No. 8, in parallel French and Italian, dated Pluviose 27 (February 15), is a formal declaration by "Citizen Alexander Berthier, General in Chief." In this he makes the announcement: "The Roman people are now again entered into the rights of sover- eignty, declaring their independence, possessing the government of ancient Rome, constituting a Roman Republic. "The General-in-chief of the French army in Italy declares, in the name of the French Republic, that he acknowledges the Roman Republic inde- pendent, and that the same is under the special protection of the French army. "The General-in-chief of the army acknowledges, in the name of the French Republic, the provisional government which has been proposed by the sovereign people. "In consequence, every other temporal authority emanating from the old government of the Pope, is suppressed, and it shall no more exer- cise any function. . . '. "The Roman Republic, acknowledged by the French Republic, com- prehends all the country that remained under the temporal authority of the Pope, after the treaty of Campo-Formio. "ALEXANDRE BERTHIER." ________________ 29 Based on complete sets in the Paris Bibliotheque Nationale and the British Museum. 30 Duppa, op. cit,, pp. 35, 180, 181. 81 Ibid., p. 37. THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS '757 "Rome, the 15th of February, 1798; first year of Liberty, proclaimed in the Roman Forum, and ratified on the Capitol, with free voice, and subscribed to by innumerable Citizens." 32 2. ROMAN POPULACE CASTS OFF PAPAL YOKE. Bill No. 9, likewise of the same date (February 15), titled "Acte du Pepule [peuple] Souverain" (An Act of the Sovereign People) certified and signed by three notaries, and confirmed by General Berthier makes this clear-cut declaration: "The people of Rome, long tired of the monstrous despotism under which they groaned have on various occasions tried to shake off this yoke. The magic of public opinion and political interests combined into a mighty force have not allowed their efforts to succeed. And a despotism of that na- ture becomes the more insulting the more its weakness and arrogance cor- responds to its misery. But at last, the people, fearing to be exposed to an hideous anarchy and .in despair to fall under even a worse tyranny have mustered all their courage in order to evade these sinister consequences and to reclaim the primitive rights of their sovereignty. "Assembled in the presence of the Eternal and the whole universe, they solemnly and unanimously declare to have had no part whatever in the crimes and assassinations committed by the government against the French Republic and her nation. They disapprove of these crimes and detest their originators and invoke upon them (vow them) eternal shame. "They further have suppressed, abolished and crushed the political, economic, and civil authorities of the former Roman government and have constituted themselves a free and independent sovereignty in taking up all executive and legislative powers which its legitimate representatives shall exercise according to the immortal rights of man based on the principles of truth, justice, liberty, and equality. "They have declared that their desire is that no attack against religion or the spiritual authority of the Pope should be made and that they reserve to themselves the right by their representatives to provide for the comfort- able sustenance [of the Pope] and to ensure the safety of his person by a national guard. "These representatives shall present themselves in the name of the Roman people. The government has also asked the following citizens [names follow] to approach the citizen Alexander Berthier, general-in-chief of the French army in Italy, imploring the powerful protection, and the friendship of the generous French nation, whose gallant examples serve them as a lesson in the task of their own regeneration. ______________ 32 Proclamation of the Establishment of the Roman Republic in the name of the French "Army of Italy" (See facsimile on p. 754), in the collection of Official Bills and Circulars Printed and Posted in Rome . . . 1798; in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Duppa, op. cit., pp. 37-39; see also The European Magazine, vol. 33, March, 1798, p. 208. 758 ' PROPHETIC FAITH "The present act has been signed by several thousand persons who, with many others, have read, approved and confirmed it by their ac- clamations on the Capitol. On the 27. Pluviose in the 6. year of the Re- public." 3. COLOSSUS OF IMPOSTURE DESTROYED. Bill No. 17, dated February 21 (Ventose 3) the day following the Pope's depar- ture from Rome is a violent charge against the old government, and is signed by five consuls, the secretary general of the con- sulate, General Berthier, and the minister of war. It reads: "The provisional consuls of the Roman Republic to the soldiers of the former government: 'Soldiers: The despotism which was afflicting humanity and which was weighing so heavily upon the descendants of the illustrious Romans; this colossus of imposture and immorality which was governing this beautiful land has just been destroyed by a sublime movement of the Roman people. Soldiers, you will wish to have a part in this grand event." 4. UNION OF SACRED AND PROFANE DISSOLVED. Bill No. 28 gives an extract from a speech by Citizen Gagliuffi on Feb- ruary 23. He says: "Already has proud and penurious hypocrisy fallen to the ground. Al- ready is this grotesque union of the sacred and the profane being dissolved. At last, are the sweet maxims of gospel morality allowing us to seek and propagate righteousness and truth. The ministers of the sanctuary may henceforth according to the duties of their sublime institution bring peace and consolation into homes and hearts. The representatives of the Republic will ever keep the trust which the people of Rome have committed to us with such piety arid universal joy. Thanks be therefore rendered unto thee, O supreme and immortal Being, on whom the destiny of all creatures depends. Touched, at last, by the woes which pressed upon us so heavily: Monopoly, Favoritism, Privilege, and alas! perhaps Religion itself, a Religion honored by the lips only and denied by the. hearts, do gra- ciously sanctify our Liberty, bless our Equality, and preserve our Republic!" 5. RELIGIOUS INTERESTS SEPARATE FROM POLITICS. Bill No. 34, addressed to the Roman people and clergy, signed by the president of the republic and five consuls, and dated February 26, stating that the government is "based on the gospel," and declaring, "God has established a gospel of peace and pardon," commends good priests and warns the evil, and admonishes: "In the pulpit, at the altar, at the confessional, give the people of both sexes to understand that religious interests are separate from poli- THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS 759 tics. O thou, benignant and generous people of Rome, be no longer led astray by infernal wolves disguised as heavenly lambs. Shun and denounce the fanatic who betrays both religion and the Republic, and who, therefore, is the implacable enemy of thy present and future felicity. Hail with open arms the righteous man, the brother or magistrate who would thee en- lighten, protect and save." 6. FRANCE FORMALLY NOTIFIED OF CHANGE. A fourteen- page tract, bound in with the bills, published in French and- Italian, includes a letter from the minister of foreign affairs in Rome to Talleyrand, minister of foreign affairs in Paris, dated February 28 (Ventose 10), giving notice that the Roman people have chosen a new government comprising all the territory for- merly under the temporal power of the Pope after the treaty of Campo-Formio. It is signed "Corona." Talleyrand's answer fol- lows, expressing the great satisfaction of the French Directory, and is dated Ventose 25. III. Code of Justinian and the Code of Napoleon There is yet another factor which was brought about by the French Revolution. The Revolution had given a totally new concept to man of his dignity, his rights, his relationship to his fellow men. There must follow, of necessity, a new concept of law. The French had long felt the need of a new and more unified law; therefore, the Revolutionists promised, among other things, a new code for the people. However, it needed the strong will and leadership of Napoleon to complete the codification of civil laws. In 1804 this task was finished and the code was ac- cepted. This became the first great codification of law since the time of Justinian. Under the auspices of Justinian, Roman law was codified by 529, and in an imperial rescript in 533 the Roman bishop was recognized as the head of all the churches, and given full authority as such. This recognition, as well as that of the canons of the first four ecumenical councils, was incor- porated into the Justinian Code. Thus the Catholic faith was recognized as the only orthodox religion of the Empire, and the 760 PROPHETIC FAITH two mighty forces of state and religion were legally united. Now, in the first general codification of law after so many centuries, a complete break between these two forces was achieved. The French Civil Code contains nothing which savors of an allegiance of the spiritual power of the Pope and the state, and is far from giving the pope any authority whatsoever. It is purely a secular code. IV. Retributive Character of Deadly Wound The retributive character of the French Revolution should not be forgotten. In its sheer destructive effects it was considered to constitute a judgment doubtless without a parallel in human history."33 It was directed primarily against Catholicism, not Protestantism, and was a reaction against her excesses. Terrible as was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, says Guinness, it sinks to secondary place when compared with the wholesale slaughter by massacre and war that first affected France, then Italy, and other nations of Europe. "If it inflicted enormous evil, it presupposed and overthrew enormous evil." 34 1. VISITED WITH PLAGUE OF INFIDELITY AND IMMORALITY. The France of St. Bartholomew of the Wars of the Hugue- nots, of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and of the sup- pression of the Jansenists was visited with a retributive plague of infidelity and immorality that was fearful. The monarchy that had banished the Huguenots was overthrown and abolished in a national convulsion of revolutionary excess and crime wherein the restraints of law and order gave way. The monarchy was brought to an end on the scaffold, the aristocracy abolished, estates were confiscated, prisons crowded, rivers choked with victims, churches desecrated, priests slaughtered, religion sup- pressed, and the worship of a harlot as the Goddess of Reason was substituted for the worship of the host on the altars of the Roman Church. 35 ________________ 33 Guinness, History Unveiling Prophecy, pp. 226-229. 34 Thomas H. Gill, The Papal Drama, p. 342. 35 The summary given by Guinness is here followed closely. THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS 761 2. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHURCH CRASH TOGETHER. France, a prey to infidelity, anarchy, and the guillotine, then communicated revolution and antiecclesiasticism to surrounding nations. Democratic revolution was succeeded by military des- potism. Italy, Austria, Germany, Poland, Spain, Portugal, and Russia were invaded by the armies of France. Many Catholic nations which had ruled for centuries were crushed by Napoleon. The Holy Catholic Church and the remnant of the Holy Roman Empire were alike prostrated the empire and the Papal crown going down in the common ruin. They had stood side by side for a thousand years. The Holy Roman Empire had risen with Charlemagne, who attempted to revive the imperial power of the Caesars. He had combined Germany, Italy, and France into a single empire, which had warred against and crushed the Hussites, and had stood against Luther in the days of the Refor- mation, inflicting on Germany the horrors of the Thirty Years War in the time of Gustavus Adolphus. Now, stripped of Italian territory, driven back from the plains of Lombardy, the Holy Roman Empire came to be totally suppressed. 3. PIEDMONT AND SPAIN REAP BLOODSHED AND MISERY. Piedmont, which had suppressed and all but exterminated the Waldenses, turning their valleys into slaughterhouses, was in turn overrun by merciless invaders. Spain, which had crushed the Reformation within her borders and in other lands, by the horrors of the Inquisition and the auto-da-fe, was now delivered over to dreadful bloodshed and misery, and during the seven years of the Peninsular War the Inquisition was suppressed. 4. CLIMAX OF REVERSAL REACHED IN ROME. In Italy the reign of the pope of Rome was ended by a Swiss Calvinist lead- ing the French military. Stripped of his possessions, and his tem- poral government abolished, the Pope was carried away captive to the camp of the infidels, to die in a foreign land, where his priests had been slain and his name and office made a mockery, with Rome given up to plunder and desecration. Even as the Pope was being hurried away from the scene of his dethrone- 762 PROPHETIC FAITH ment the Sistine Chapel he was taken, ironically enough, through a hall covered with a fresco representing the bloody massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. 36 The downfall of the Papal government excited little sym- pathy. The oppressions and the tyranny of Rome over Christen- dom were remarked upon with bitterness. Many rejoiced in the overthrow of a Church which they considered idolatrous, even though the overthrow was attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity. When news of the Papal defeat at Rome reached Paris, Director Merlin declared that for fourteen centuries there had been cumulative demand for the destruction of this power opposed to society. And in the Court of the Ancients, Bordas actually held "a funeral oration of the Papacy," on March 14, 1798. 5. BIBLE AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES HAVE BIRTH. Papal hostility had been exerted in two ways: (1) By the suppression of the Scriptures, and (2) by the torture and death of its preach- ers and converts, which were effected by means of the Inquisi- tion. The French Revolution ended both French arms abolish- ing the Inquisition in France in 1798, and temporarily in Spain in 1808. Moreover, the extraordinary circulation of the Scrip- tures began during the French Revolution. Never should it be forgotten that both missionary and Bible societies had their birth at this very time, the British and Foreign in 1804, and the American in 1816. 6. TEMPEST OF WAR GAVE IT WINGS. Begun in France, the spoliation of the fallen Church and its head had spread quickly to other countries of Europe, until the stroke of the sword struck at Rome. The tempest of war gave it wings, sweep- ing into Belgium and the Rhenish provinces of Germany, where ecclesiastical changes similar to those in France took place. In 1796-1797 French dominion, established by Bonaparte's victories in northern Italy, was similarly accompanied by French Democratism and infidelity and antipapalism. Then Rome itself ______________ 36 Pennington, op. at., p. 450. 763 THE DEADLY WOUND ENDS THE 1260 YEARS became the goal, as the French armies urged marching forward on the Papal capital. 7. LOOKED AS IF PAPACY WERE DEAD. In Rome all the cardinals were involved in the indiscriminate proscription. Eight were imprisoned, and several renounced the Roman purple and sought asylum away from Rome. It looked as if the Papacy were dead. In fact, half of Europe thought "the Papacy was dead." 37 The blood of the saints was avenged. France had for years yielded the neck to the Papal yoke, and helped to bind other nations. Now she had abolished Papal tithes, suppressed her mon- asteries, confiscated her church lands, and despoiled her priests.38 Pennington says, "The same God who visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth genera- tion had made him [the Pontifical head of the Church] the victim of His retributive justice." 39 V. Papal Establishment and Overthrow Are Counterparts The evidence is incontestable that the eighteenth-century overthrow of the Papacy, stemming from the French Revolution, was the clear counterpart of the sixth-century papal establish- ment. Justinian first recognized by law the pope's absolute eccle- siastical supremacy, and virtually gave tire saints into his hand, placing the civil sword at his ultimate disposal. And now, 1260 years later, springing from the French Revolution, the land that for centuries had been the mainstay of the Papacy, abol- ished the Pope's age-old supremacy, declared the clergy totally independent of the See of Rome, vested the election of bishops in departmental authorities; made a national profession of atheism, and then actually overthrew the Papal government. In 533 was given the notable decree of Justinian, the Pope's powerful sixth-century supporter, recognizing his ecclesiastical supremacy. And by a decisive stroke of the Roman sword at ________________ 37 Joseph Rickaby, The Modern Papacy, p. 1, in Lectures on the History of Religions, vol. 3 [lecture 24]. 38 Alexander Keith, The Signs of the. Times, vol. 2, p. 470. 39 Pennington, op. cit., p. 450. 764 PROPHETIC FAITH Rome, in the spring of 538, the way was opened for a new order of Popes and the beginning of a new epoch. And now in 1793, just 1260 years after Justinian's 533 imperial fiat, came the notable decree of the Papacy's once powerful supporter, France eldest son of the Church aimed at the abolition of church and religion, and their unholy union with the state, followed by the decisive stroke of the sword at Rome in overthrow of the Papacy in 1798 an act marking the end of the epoch begun 1260 years before. The two are clearly counterparts. In the first the supreme civil power of the time was employed for the aggrandizement of the Pope, framing laws with that special objective in view, and subjecting all spiritual authority to him. And now, in the reac- tion, the supreme civil power of the hour was bent on the pope's overthrow, and on the recovery of all the usurped politi- cal authority which he had assumed. One was the beginning, and the other the termination, of an epoch foreknown of God, and determined perhaps unwittingly by men. Amid the chaos of falling kingdoms and decaying pagan re- ligions of the early centuries, the massive plans of the Papacy occupied the central place. They formed the point of integra- tion, and constituted the principle around which the. ancient world could wrap its wracked form. Constantine realized that in the vast, unorganized Christianity within his realm lay the essential principle of unity needed by his empire, and which later became the dominating concept in the Middle Ages. Rome is thus seen to be the meeting point of all history, the Papal suc- cession filling the space from. Caesar, and Constantine, and Jus- tinian, and binding all ages into one. 40 And similarly the final events of prophecy cluster decisively around her. _______________ 40 William Barry, The Papal Monarchy, p. 428.
VOLUME IV CHAPTER TWENTY Tremendous Changes Alter World Picture I. Cracking the Constrictions of a Localized World The Western world, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, was vastly different from the modern world, with all its varied means of communication and transportation, its comforts and conveniences, its opportunities and freedoms, its inventions and discoveries. In our quest for the interpretation of prophecy in the early decades of the centurybased upon what were then considered current and impending fulfillments of prophecy we must project ourselves back to those relatively simple and rather primitive times. First of all, on the American continent there were no great cities with their teeming multitudes as we know them now for in 1800 the population of the entire United States was but 5,308,483. Even by 1840 it had reached only 17,069,453. By 1850 it stood at 23,191,867, according to the official census records. Of these only 10.8 per cent were urban dwellers, the large ma- jority living in rural areas.1 These percentages have since been steadily reversed, until today more than half of America's multi- plying millions are city dwellers. The comparative size and growth of a few of the larger, or key, cities, with which we shall soon need to deal, may be seen at a glance by this comparative table. 2 ________________ 1 Leon E. Truesdell, Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1840, Population, vol. I, Number of Inhabitants, pp. 6 18. 2 Ibid., pp. 32, 33. 429 430 PROPHETIC FAITH ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CITY 1800 1830 1840 Albany 5289 24209 33271 Baltimore 26514 80620 102313 Boston 24937 61392 93383 Cincinnati 2540 24831 46338 New York City 79216 242278 391114 Philadelphia 41220 80462 93665 Washington, D.C. 3210 18826 23361 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The world of that day was slow moving, largely localized, and very constricted. Transportation was frustratingly slow and circumscribed, and communications were tantalizingly tedious. Information was restricted in its spread and slow in trans- mission. And the populace was bound by the fetters of circum- stance and convention. There were relatively few newspapers, and these had but limited circulations, for there were no great power presses and facilities for speedy distribution in those days the first steam- power cylinder press not appearing until 1822. The great New York dailies did not come into being until the fourth decade the New York Tribune in 1831, the Sun in 1833, and the Herald in 1835, and even then in greatly simplified form. Religious periodicals were just beginning to be established. What was believed to be the first weekly religious newspaper, the Herald of Gospel Liberty, was published in 1808, the Recorder in 1816, and the Observer in 1823. Education for the masses was still markedly limited, but the first half century was a time of epochal advance in this field. In 1801 there were only 25 colleges of all kinds in the entire United States, the number increasing to 120 by 1850. The American Educational Society was formed in 1815, and the renowned Horace Mann began his career in 1837. Coeducation was as yet unknown, being introduced into Oberlin about 1833. Up to this time there had been no colleges for women, Mount Holyoke not being established until 1837. The first free public library was not opened until 1822. So, in comparison with modern times, it was a narrowly constricted world. TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE 431 1. FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES BECOME IMPERATIVE. Through the centuries the world had been locked into national and racial compartments, with long-standing hostilities ascendant. The eyes of churchmen were fixed primarily on Christendom, not heathendom, for prior to the nineteenth century there had been no general concept or vision of a world missionary program. There was neither an organized plan nor were there facilities for undertaking such a task. Quite apart from the marked lim- itations in transportation and communication then prevailing, there were as yet no general foreign or home missionary organi- zations to implement such a scheme, no Bible and Tract So- cieties to support it, and no Sunday school unions to accom- pany it. More than that, the church was still under the spell of reactionary and lethargic Protestant concepts ascendant in Europe. It was still tinctured with deistic, infidelic, and atheistic principles from England and France, and the distant heathen lands were still largely closed to entry. Then swift changes came, as within a few years multiple agencies for the spread of the gospel sprang up. The Great Re- vival, beginning just before the turn of the century, was accom- panied by aggressive efforts in behalf of the "diffusion" of the Scriptures, so all men might have the Word of God in their own tongue. The British and Foreign Bible Society was launched in 1804, others following in quick succession on the European continent. The American Bible Society was founded in 1816, and societies for the circulation of religious books began around the same time and in different lands. The Ameri- can Tract Society was formed in 1825, although small local groups had been operating since 1803. The American Home Missionary Society was likewise formed in 1816 by Absalom Peters, and the plan spread through the various denominations. Sunday school societies had already started in England, and the plan was extended to other lands. In America various local societies had sprung up in Philadelphia 432 PROPHETIC FAITH and New York, scattered over the various religious bodies. These were then merged into what became, in 1824, the Ameri- can Sunday School Union, representing the principal religious denominations of this country, though preponderantly Con- gregational and Presbyterian in complexion. When Steven Paxon retired in 1824, he had organized 1,314 Sunday schools. 3 2. PREPARATORY FORCES AND FACTORS INVOLVED. The first four decades of the nineteenth century were marked by far- reaching expansions of political, religious, and intellectual free- dom. One by one the constrictive bands of the past began to burst. A new sense of coming freedom and dawning opportunity lay at the foundation of all advances. Two words, "agitation" and "reform," compass the contemporary attitude. American independence had but recently been gained, and the Monroe Doctrine established only in 1823. America was now building on its own foundations, and was just beginning to take its destined place in the family of nations. Note the developments: There was progress in political liberty. Jewish rights were being increasingly recognized. The principle of self-determina- tion was spreading. Anti-slavery agitation was sharply on the increase. There was extension of religions freedom and moral reform, and an increasing breakdown of former barriers that was preparing the way for the overseas preaching of the gospel. There was expansion of freedom of speech and press, as religious periodicals were introduced and newspapers with booming cir- culations were established. There was growth of popular education for the masses. Secondary schools, colleges, and seminaries were increasingly established. Even the British and Foreign School Society (or Lancastrian monitorial system) of England was extended to North, Central, and South America.4 And there was develop- ment of rapid communication and transportation amazing __________________ 3 For these various organizations see Robert Baird, The Christian Retrospect Register . . . First Half of the XlXth Century, part 2, chaps. 4-7. 4 See pp. 920-936, in connection with Francisco Ramos Mexia. TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE 433 material developments and revolutionary changes, from the old turnpike and canal to the steamship and the railroad. But that was not all, as the most vital advances were neither material nor secular. 3. WORLD-WIDE MISSIONARY AWAKENING. At the begin- ning of the eighteenth century the path-finding Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts had been founded in 1701. Toward the close of the century the English Baptist Missionary Society was organized in 1792, and the London Mis- sionary Society in 1795. Then came the Church Missionary Society in 1817. Others, in other lands, were soon launched. 3 The great foreign mission movement of the Old World was under way. It was in 1810, in the very midst of this world awakening, that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions was formed among the Congregationalists as a result of the famed Haystack Prayer Meeting group, then among Ameri- can Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Protestant Episcopals, the Methodist Episcopals, and finally among several smaller so- cieties Lutheran, Reformed Presbyterian, and others. There was even a Society for Evangelizing the Jesuits and the Catholics. But it is the American Missionary Movement that is of primary concern to us here. 4. MIGHTY SPIRITUAL REVIVALS BEGIN ABOUT 1800. Prot- estantism had entered a new epoch, called the Great Revival. What were called "seasons of refreshing" had begun about the turn of the century, and continued for some three decades. These appeared first in the Eastern States, spreading thence to the South and Midwest, and even into "Canada East." The early sprinklings, if they may be so called, spread over various parts of the country, and preceded the full revival showers. The titles of a series of small volumes bear record of these revivals in many churches. One was Glorious News, A Brief Account of the Late _______________ 5 Ibid., part 2, chaps. 13-20, also p. 243. 434 PROPHETIC FAITH Revival in New England and also in Nova Scotia, by S. C. Ustick. Another was A Brief Account of the Late Revival of Religion in a Number of Towns in New England. Yet another was called A Faithful Narrative of a Revival of Religion at Bridgehampton in the Year 1800. These were typical. 6 A new era in Protestantism was dawning, designed not only to restore forsaken doctrinal and prophetic truths, but to out- line and perfect a general evangelistic missionary movement, in order to cany the gospel to all the world, with all the pre- paratory and supporting forces that such a giant task involves. And all this was believed to be a matter of Bible prophecy, or inspired prediction. While such activities had begun to appear in Europe, they were particularly aggressive here in America. And to prepare the way God began to send seasons of spiritual revival. Paralleling reformatory forces and movements then began to spring forth. Without these enabling provisions, the gigantic task of carrying the final gospel message to all the world, in answer to divine prediction, would have been well-nigh im- possible. Observe them. II. Transportation and the Colonization of the West Look down from the top of almost any American skyscraper today and you will see a fascinating world in motion, especially at night. Great lanes of automotive traffic in multiple lines stream swiftly by. Trains glide in and out of congested railway- stations. Steamships and tugs ply the bays and rivers, while air transports roar overhead. It is a round-the-clock medley of sight and sound. But it was not always so, as we shall see by a rapid review of developments from the dawn of the nineteenth century. The first national pike, or highway, was authorized in 1806 _________________ 6 In 1802 Wm. W. Woodward published Surprising Accounts of the Revival of Religion in the United States of America, a 255-page collection of 80 ''Extracts" from the letters of clergymen and laymen, rehearsing the characteristic features of the various revivals in widely scattered places. And Bennet TyJer's New England Revivals has twenty-five chapters, giving an account of twenty-five separate revivals between 1797 and 1814, as reported by twenty- five leading clergymen scattered over Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, published at the time in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, which began publication in 1800, TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE 435 by the United States Congress. Its goal was to connect the East- ern seaboard with the great Mississippi Valley. The first section, completed about 1818, was called the Cumberland Road, ex- tending from Fort Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, West Virginia. Then, in 1825, interest turned to canals, as the new Erie Canal opened a water route between the East and the Midwest. Next came the revolutionary triumph of steam, des- tined to displace the established means of transportation that had been employed without material change for thousands of years. The steamship and then the steam locomotive aptly called the iron horse began to appear, two of the latter in England in 1825 and 1826, one in France in 1827, and Ger- many's first in 1834. Robert Fulton learned of the paddle-wheeled Charlotte Dundas, modestly operating on the Clyde Canal in Scotland, and conceived the idea of the famous side-wheeler, the Cler- rnont, which made her epochal maiden trip up the Hudson in 1807, from New York City to Albany 150 miles in 32 hours! In 1811 the first regular steamboat to ply the Mississippi, the New Orleans was launched. The S.S. Savannah made her trans- Atlantic run, under combined steam and sail, from Savannah to Liverpool in 1819. But regular steamship runs across the Atlantic were not established until 1S38.7 The westward flow of population became a marked characteristic. When the settlers increased, the great bosom of the Mississippi became dotted with craft. From 1837 on to the outbreak of the Civil War, steamboat traffic was at its height.8 And this travel broke up the intellectual isolationism. The first locomotive to run in the Western Hemisphere was in 1829, on the Delaware and Hudson road. And in 1830 the Baltimore and Ohio (thirteen miles in length), and the Charleston and Hamburg in South Carolina, were opened for regular public use. Only one hundred miles were in operation ________________ 7 Frederic L. Paxson, History of the American Frontier, 1762-1893, pp. 155, 156, 158; Harold U. Faulkner, American Economic History, pp. 186, 275, 276. 8 Frederic L. Paxson, op. cit., p. 158. 436 PROPHETIC FAITH in the United States in 1832. But by 1842 the iron rails had reached the Great Lakes, at Buffalo, then Chicago in 1852, and the Mississippi in 1854." With the development of the railroad, new cities sprang up along the traveled way, with mail and express service parallel- ing as permanent institutions. West of the Mississippi large territories were assigned as Indian reserves by government treaty, and the wilderness frontier was gradually pushed farther to the West. The great Mississippi Valley boom was at its peak in 1837, and land sales were at their best. A stream of farmers and miners spread westward, and Michigan became a State in 1837. III. American Journalism Enters Era of Expansion Although the national capital was moved from Phila- delphia to Washington in 1800, New York remained the news- paper capital of the country. A new era in the expansion and effectiveness of journalism, including religious journalism, began at this time. While the total number of all printed jour- nals published at the beginning of the century was only two hundred, some twelve hundred were reported by the turn of the century.10 One of these the National Intelligencer, launched in 1800 constituted the semi-official reporter of the doings of Congress. The New York Evening Post was started in 1801, edited by William Cullen Bryant. This gave the United States the largest aggregate newspaper circulation ever attained in any country up to that time, though individual circulations were still small. In 1833 the New York Courier and Enquirer, printing 4,500 copies, had the largest single circulation in the country at that time. The first paper to install the steam-driven cylinder press was the New York Daily Advertiser, in 1825, capable of deliver- ing two thousand papers an hour. By 1832 this had been in- ______________ 9 Harold U. Faulkner, op. cit., pp. 285, 286; Frederic L. Paxson, op. cit., chap. 44; Archibald L. Bouton, An Outline History of Transportation, pp. 28, 29. 10 Frank L. Mott, American Journalism, pp. 167, 202, TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE 437 creased to four thousand an hour by the Hoe double-cylinder press. And this advance was matched by improved papermaking and better inks and by the typecasting machines of 1822.11 Growth in weekly religious and literary journals became noticeable about 1820 such as the Saturday Evening Post, started in 1821. And among quarterlies the American Quarterly Review was launched in 1827. But perhaps the largest single expansion was with the religious periodical group, as practically every denomination began to develop its own weeklies, month- lies, and quarterlies. Following the first religious newspaper, the Herald of Gospel Liberty, in 1808, there appeared the Con- gregational Recorder in Boston (1816), the Baptist Christian Watchman (1819), and the Universalist Magazine (1819), the Methodist Christian Advocate (1823), the Presbyterian Ob- server (1823), and the American Sunday School Magazine (1823). The Youth's Companion started in 1827. And the Episcopal Recorder, of Philadelphia, likewise began in 1827. Numerous other papers sprang up at this time, advocating all kinds of special reforms speaking in behalf of temperance, moral reform, food reform, educational reform, abolition, science, medicine, and law.12 The first of the numerous Millerite papers appeared in 1840 Signs of the Times, in Boston, followed by Midnight Cry, of New York City, in 1842, which was at first a daily, with some thirty other periodicals following. Penny papers increased the newspaper reading public tre- mendously. New York City (including Brooklyn), with its population of but some three hundred thousand in 1836, had a newspaper circulation of seventy thousand.13 Social reforms became part of the newspaper stock in trade. Both the concept of news and the public attitude toward news changed. Sensa- tionalism was fostered, and human interest stories became cur- _______________ 11 Ibid., p. '204. 12 Frank L. Mott, A History of American Magazines, vol. 1, pp. 472, 473, 787, 807; see also Joseph Nathan Kane, Famous First Facts, p. 516 ff; Frederic Hudson, Journalism in the United States, From 1690 to 1372; Willard G. Bleyer, Main Currents in the History of American journalism, Boston [etc.]: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927. 13 Frank L. Mott, American Journalism, pp. 241-243. 438 PROPHETIC FAITH rent. The people must be informed. Abuses in the church, society, and politics must be exposed. News must be published, irrespective of consequences. Progressive speed in communication was another aug- menting factor in journalistic advance, as sailing vessels gave way to transatlantic steamship service in 1838, and communica- tion between England and America was thus reduced from two months to three weeks. But in 1832 the horse express was still the mode on land the distance from Philadelphia to New York being covered in twenty hours by eight relays, with twenty-four horses. Pigeons were also used as couriers. And when the loco- motives came, they were at first with horse and locomotive in combination. Then, with the advance of steam railroads, tele- graphic communication appeared, which was established be- tween Baltimore and Washington in 1844. The Baltimore Sun developed the greatest speed in news transmission, because of its strategic location on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and on the first telegraph line. Such was the significance-of the times from the press angle. These revolution- ary changes in communication had their effect in molding the mental attitudes in the fourth decade of the vibrant nineteenth century. Mankind was clearly entering a new epoch. IV. Reformatory Changes in Every Channel 1. THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM OF THE FRONTIER. Frontier life in America was rugged. Great distances separated families, and the habit of churchgoing, established in the cities and com- munities of the East, was vastly different in the West. There the preachers and churches were scarce, and isolation was the rule rather than the exception. Compassing such a situation called for a different technique. Presbyterianism, which had been pre- dominant in various sections of the South and East and which insisted on a learned clergy and devotion to "closely reasoned theology" was not as well suited to frontier demands as were the Methodists. TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE 439 The Methodists and Baptists put less stress on learned dis- courses and more on practical helpfulness. For every man, woman, and child the hardy circuit rider had a message that met their everyday needs. This plan provided at least a partial solu- tion for the religious problem of the frontier, and affection for these heroic men grew in the hearts of the people. Frequently a fervent frontier preacher would set his section aflame with the fire of a religious revival. Public conversion, as well as public confession of faith and experience, was increasingly common as the Great Revival spread. Because of this the Presbyterian Church began to lose its lead." And because of the rigidity of many of its leaders, split-offs developed over these issues such as the Cumberland Presbyterians by 1810, and the Christian Church (Disciples) a little later. 15 Camp meetings were likewise a feature of the new West. The accumulated emotions of the frontier could be released in camp, under the exhortations of powerful pulpiteers. The fron- tier families, wearied with the loneliness of their routine exist- ence, welcomed the chance of laying aside their worldly affairs for a time and devoting themselves exclusively to spiritual things morning, afternoon, and night, for a week. It was intensive, and sometimes explosive, but the religion of the West was ma- terially molded by this very development. 2. AGITATION AND REFORM SWEEP THE LAND. The spirit of reform likewise began to stir the hearts of men, and the urge for action became increasingly strong. There began to be a breaking forth on every hand, affecting every phase of life and every stratum of society. A fervent desire developed to free slaves from their bondage and to deliver victims of intemperance from the great destroyer. There was eagerness to emancipate women from their social subjugations and to release nations from their ignorance and idolatry. Many wanted to proclaim a "freer ________________ 14 For a discussion of frontier religion, see pp. 41-46. See also Frederic L. Paxson, op. clt., chap. 13, and Groyer C. Loud, Evangelized America, chaps. 8-10. 15 For the origin of these churches, see U.S. Census volume, Religious Bodies, 1936, vol. 2; also current Yearbook of American Churches. 440 PROPHETIC FAITH gospel" and the "more abundant salvation" to all mankind. There must be equal rights and equal opportunity for all. Because of these impelling ideals, millions in the rising republic were filled with great expectation. A new concept of God, man, privilege, duty, and destiny came into focus. And in the spiritual counterpart to the secular changes on every hand there developed an intense conflict of orthodoxy with Unitarianism and Universalism, of Calvinism with Arminian- ism, and of Old School with New School theology. The Protestant mind at large had grown content with what had been gained under the Reformation, and had become en- cased in the creeds and confessions that were now the formal standards of the Reformed faiths. As a result Christianity had grown static and ofttimes sterile. The reaction to this was a renewed quest for truth, and the light that the Bible would shed on the situation. There was a sharp swing away from French infidelity and the spiritual deadness of rationalism. Un- touched areas of life were to feel the impact of this reform spirit. And many denominational split-offs developed about this time. Methodist Protestants came out from the main body in 1830, the Free-Will Baptists developed in 1837, True Wesleyans in 1843,16 and the major denominations Presbyterians, Meth- odists, and Baptists split North and South over the slavery issue. Many groups came to birth within a brief period such as the Christian Connection and the Church of God. Even the Shakers with their communistic settlements, Mormonism, phre- nology, Mesmerism, and the Rochester rappings appeared. Vital truths of the gospel had become hidden under false philosophies. Sin and holiness had, by many, come to be regarded as relative rather than as moral realities, and question was raised as to man's sinful nature and his ability or inability to obtain righteousness. Earnest men and women, with con- sciences newly awakened under the great wave of revival, were insisting on the new birth as a conscious experience. The Pres- _______________ 3 For these bodies, see also the U.S. Census volume, Religious Bodies, 1936. TREMENDOUS CHANGES ALTER WORLD PICTURE 441 byterians especially were shaken with discussion on the atone- ment in relation to personal experience, the work of the Holy Spirit, practical Christianity, and the gospel to the heathen. The foreign mission enterprise had now become a throbbing reality, and was commonly considered a fulfillment of inspired prediction. Agitation and reform spread all over the New England States and New York, and swept out to the great Western reserves. V. Temperance Movement Gathers Momentum In 1785, Dr. Benjamin Rush, noted Philadelphia physician of Presbyterian-Quaker background and superior scientific at- tainmentprofessor at the University of Pennsylvania, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the Con- stitutional Convention of 1787 resolutely undertook to fight the liquor traffic. He wrote his vigorous essay, An Inquiry Into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Body and Mind, which rebuked the popular drinking customs of society. In 1808 a New York State physician, Dr. Billy Clark, deeply stirred over the situation, persuaded a minister and a lawyer to join him in launching one of the first temperance societies at Moreau in Saratoga County, New York. Another followed in 1809 at Greenfield, pledged against all "ardent [distilled] spirits." Several denominational bodies took action in 1812. Then the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance was created in 1813, against the "too free use of ardent spirits." But it was not until 1826 that a cooperative plan was launched in Boston, by a group of reformers known as the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, aspiring to change the habits of the nation regarding the "improper use of intoxicating liquors," partly by establishing local voluntary societies. 17 Then various local organizations in New York, between 1826 and 1836, introduced the plan of total abstinence from all __________________ 17 August F. Fehlandt, A Century of Drink Reform in the United States, pp. 37, 52-55. 442 PROPHETIC FAITH intoxicating beverages, mild as well as strong. In the latter year (1836), the American Temperance Society, now merged into the American Temperance Union, dropping the old pledge in favor of the new "total pledge," 18 referring to all intoxicating liquors. And the Pennsylvania State Society came out for total abstinence in 1831. The New York and Connecticut State so- cieties were formed in 1829, and a paper launched by the American Temperance Society, called The Journal of Hu- manity. The first women's temperance society also came into being in 1829 in Ohio. And there were by 1829 eleven State societies and 1,000 local societies, with a membership of 100,000. The Methodists and Presbyterians took the lead in advocat- ing temperance. In 1833 the United States Congress even formed its own Congressional Temperance Society, which was re- formed on a total abstinence basis in 1842-19 The first National Temperance Convention met in Philadelphia in 1833, with 440 delegates representing 21 States. Temperance organs such as The Temperance Journal (1833) and The Temperance Recorder of Albany (1832-1843), which in 1834 claimed a sub- scription list of over 200,000, began in 1835 to advocate absti- nence from all intoxicating liquors. By 1835, in less than a decade, some five thousand temper- ance societies had come into being, with more than a million members. Many manufacturers of spirits ceased their operations, and thousands of retailers discontinued their sale. The growth of the movement was really phenomenal. But after the middle of the century this initial temperance movement had largely spent its force, and the issue became sidetracked because of the slavery controversy. And the Internal Revenue Act to finance the Civil War debts, by putting a high tax on liquor had the effect of putting the liquor business in a position of influence with the government, and set back temperance forty years.20 _______________ 18 Ibid., pp. 77, 80-83; One Hundred Years of Temperance, pp. 126-136; see also Daw- son Burns, Temperance History, vol. 1, p. 28. 19 August F. Fehlandt, op. cit., pp. 69, 218. 20 See Dawson Burns, op. cit., pp. 71, 86; Raymond W. Cooper, The Drama of Drink, pp. 56-61; August F. Fehlandt, op. cit., pp. 82, 83; The Moral Reformer, February, 1835, p. 64.
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