THE LAST PROPHECY: BEING AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE LATE REV. E. B. ELLIOTT'S HORiE APOCALYPTICJE. TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED HIS LAST PAPEB ON PROPHECY FULFILLED AND FULFILLING. By H. E. E. THIRD EDITION A3 REVISED BY THE LATE REV. E. B. ELLIOTT. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. MDCCCLXXXIV. THE LAST PKOPHECY. BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON 16DEC84 10 JAMES BATEMAN, Esq., M.A., F.K.S., &c. A FRIEND LONG ESTEEMED AND 10VED BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HORM APOCALYPTICM, SFfji'a abtfosmmt of fr's larger OTarfc IS INSCRIBED, AS A TRIBUTE OF SINCERE REGARD BT H. E. E. PREFACE. The Fifth Edition of the Horce Apocalypticce being almost exhausted,1 it has been suggested that now is a proper time to send out a Third Edition of the Abridgment. It has no merit as to originality or research, being only intended to bring before those persons who have not access to the larger work the views which it con tains in a simple form. Omitting the learned and elaborate arguments, the writer has kept almost ver batim to the text in Mr. Elliott's work. Not many months before his lamented death he looked over the little book, and expressed an approval of it similar to that in his preface to the Second Edition, which is subjoined. 1 Scarcely above a hundred copies remain now with the publishers, Messrs. Seeley & Sons, Fleet Street, London. viii PREFACE It was his express wish that the views he held as to future events should be but briefly touched on in the Abridgment. For references and authorities the reader must be referred generally to the Horce Apoca- lypticce itself, no fact being stated in the smaller book which is not fully verified there. The Postscript — giving his latest thoughts on the unfulfilled portion of the prophecy — is placed at the end of the volume. It expresses his views as to how the events then passing verified his historical explana tion of the Apocalypse, and furnished a key to the meaning of those prophecies yet unfulfilled. To James Bateman, Esq., the writer is indebted for an interesting paper in the Appendix ; and to the Rev. Christopher Bowen, late Rector of St. Thomas', Win chester, for having kindly edited this Abridgment ; which — if it shall please God to bless to the directing to further inquiry into prophetic truth, and the fuller study of those portions of His Holy Writ — the purpose designed by its publication will have been attained. H. E. E. RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE BY THE AUTHOR OF THE "HORJl APOCALYPTICjE." Having been requested by the writer of this Abridg ment of the Horce Apocalypticce to revise it preparatorily to the issuing of a Second Edition, I have done so. I can recommend it as faithful, correct, and well calculated, I think, to bring usefully before the minds of the young, for whom it was chiefly intended, those lessons in Church History, as well as in Prophecy, con tained in the Horce Apocalypticce. The former — I mean the history of the Christian Church — is that which, now-a-days more especially, must be considered an essential in education. E. B. ELLIOTT. n Lewes Crescent, Brighton. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. ' TAOS Rev. i. i-20, ii. and iiL— St. John in Patmos. View of the Infant Church, a.D. 96. — The Seven Churches of Asia Minor 1 LECTURE II. Rev. iv. and v. — View of Scenery as it appeareD to St. John 17 LECTURE III. Rev. vi. 1, 2. — The Fiest Seal. Prosperity and Triumph of the Roman Empire, a.D. 96-185 27 LECTURE IV. Rev. vi. 3-8. — SeconD, ThirD, anD Fourth Seals. Military and Civil Oppressions. — Mortality, &c, A.D. "85-303 33 LECTURE V. Rev. vi. 9-1 1. — The Fifth Seal. Persecution of the Church, A.D. 303-31 1 .... 48 LECTURE VI. Rev. vi. 12-17. — The Sixth Seal. Dissolution of the Pagan Firmament. — Constantine estab lishes Christianity 56 xii CONTENTS. LECTURE VII. PAGE Rev. vii. 1-8.— The Sealing Vision. An Election.— The Faithful Distinguished amid Increasing Apostasy, a.D. 300-400 64 LECTURE VIII. Rev. vii. 9-17. — The Palm-Bearing Vision. The Final Salvation of the Elect.— The Doctrines of Au gustine 79 LECTURE IX. Rev. viii. 1-5.— The Seventh Seal.— The Incense Vision. Saint-Worship begun, a.D. 324-395 89 LECTURE X. ■ Rev. viii. 6-12. — The First Four Trumpets. Irruption of the Goths, &c., a. D. 395-565 . • • 99 LECTURE XI. Rev. viii. 13. — Forewarnings of Coming Woe, a.D. 565-612 111 LECTURE XII. Rev. ix. 1-11. — The Fifth Trumpet. Mahomet and the Saracens, a.D. 612-755 . • • • 120 LECTURE XIII. Rev. ix. 12-19. — The Sixth Trumpet. The Turco-Moslems, a.D. 1063 134 LECTURE XIV. Rev. ix. 20, 21. — The Unrepentant State of Western ChristenDom, a.D. 1057-1500 146 LECTURE XV. Rev. x. 1-3. — Intervention of the Covenant Anoel. The Epoch of Antichrist's Triumph, a.D. 1 5 13 . .160 CONTENTS. xiii LECTURE XVI. PAGE Rey. x. 1-4. — Intervention of the Covenant Angel. The Epoch of the Reformation. — Discovery of Christ the Saviour.— Discovery of Antichrist the Usurper, A.D. 1513-1521 174 LECTURE XVII. Rev. x. 5-7.— The Angel's Oath. Chronological Notice of the Reformation . 1S7 LECTURE XVIII. Rev. x. 8-1 1, and xi. 1, 2.— The Covenant Angel's Com mission. Re-formation of the Ministry, and of the Church . 194 LECTURE XIX. Rev. xi. 2-6. — Retrospective View of the Two Witnesses. Early History of the Eastern and Western Lines, A. D. 600- LECTURE XX. Rev. xi. 3-6. — Retrospective View of the Two Witnesses. Middle- Age History of the Joint Lines, a. r. 1000- 1 200 . 228 LECTURE XXI. Rev. xi. 7-12. — Retrospective View of the Two/Vitnesses, Papal War against them. — Their Death and Resurrection, A.D. 1 163-1530 241 LECTURE XXII. Rev. xi. 12-14. — Ascent of the Witnesses. — Great Earth quake! Political Establishment of the Reformation. — Separation from the Papacy, a.D. 1552-1790 252 LECTURE XXIII. The British Church amongst the Witnesses . 265 xiv CONTENTS. LECTURE XXIV. noa Rev. xii. i- 1 7.— The Great ReD Dragon. Supplemental History of the Adversaries of the Church. — Satanic Agency of Pagan Rome . 278 LECTURE XXV. Rev. xiii. and xvii. — The Beast from the Sea, &c. — The Lamb-like Beast. — The Image of the Beast. Supplementary History of the Adversaries of the Church continued. — The Papacy. — The Papal Hierarchy. — The Papal Councils 287 LECTURE XXVI. Rev. xiv. 1-20. — The Song of the 144,000. Supplemental History of the True, as Distinguished from the Nominal Reformed Church 303 LECTURE XXVII. Rev. xv. andxvi. 1-12. — The Seventh Trumpet. — The Vials. Era of the French Revolution, a.D. 1789-1830 . 312 LECTURE XXVIII. Rev. xi. 15, 19, and xiv. 6, 7. — The Temple OpeneD. — The Angel with the Everlasting Gospel. Religious Revival. — The Era of Evangelic Missions, A.D. 1789-1852 329 LECTURE XXIX. Rev. xvi. 13, 14.— The Three Frogs. The Spirits of Infidel Lawlessness, — of Popery, — and of Priestly Tractarianism, 1830-1852 .... 33S LECTURE XXX. Rev. xvii.-xxii. — ConcluDing Visions. The Future.— Our Duty 350 APPENDIX 365 LECTURE I. ST. JOHN IN PATMOS. VIEW OP THE INFANT CHURCH — THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR, A.D. 96.1 What is the Church ? Where was the Church of England before Luther ? Where was the Church in the Middle Ages, &c. ? These are the sort of ques tions by which some may be perplexed, and, for want of a little knowledge of the history of former times, may be silenced. I propose therefore to give a course of lectures on Church History, connecting it with the prophecies of St. John in the Book of Revelation, and so with early Roman history. I begin from the Apostles' time : and hope to outline the principal events (such at least as may suit my purpose) down to the present day. One object I wish to bear specially in view, viz., to prove that the Reformation in England was not a 1 Elliott's Horal Apocalypticce, L 5 1. It is to the fifth edition of the Ilorce Apocalypticce that these leferences are made. A 3 ST. JOHN IN PATMOS. schism ; that Popery was not the first religion of Eng land, but rather a system forced upon her, grafted on to our ancient Apostolic Church, and only pruned away by the Reformers. Would that not a fibre of doubtful origin had been left ! In the Acts of the Apostles we have the history of the Churches which they founded, as Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, Colasse, &c. " The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." The Churches were congregations of faithful men gathered together, whether in public buildings,1 in the open air,2 or in private houses.3 Amongst these, the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper were faithfully administered, and men ordained as pastors — bishops, elders, and deacons.4 To these ordinations various allusions are made in the Epistles. Mention is also made of several persecutions of the infant Church raised by Pagans, and of errors which early infected the congregation. It was during one of these early persecutions that St. John, the only surviving Apostle, was banished by Domitian, the reigning Roman emperor, to Patmos, an island in the Archipelago, now called Patino. There it pleased God to reveal to him the future destinies of the Church in a series of visions. This series is called the Apocalypse, or Revelation. It is upon these visions I propose to comment.