THE PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS VOLUME III osiitisktmtztriakeirk,7.04.:-3, © 194G. R. & H. HARRY ANDERSO FROM HEAD OF GOLD TO FEET OF IRON AND CLAY The Course of History "Traced by Colonial American Writers Against the Luminous Backgro of Prophecy. Interpreting Was the Common Order of the Day Among Civic as Well as Relig Leaders. The Nineteenth Century Revival of Interpretation Centered on the Feet and Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church 7700 Carroll Ave. Takoma Park, Maryland 20012 The . PROPHETIC FAITH OF OUR FATHERS The Historical Development of Prophetic Interpretation by LE ROY EDWIN FROOM VOLUME III PART I Colonial and Early National American Exposition PART II Old World Nineteenth Century Advent Awakening REVIEW AND HERALD WASHINGTON; D.C. To ALL Students of Prophecy Who Seek a Clearer Understanding of the Past That They May Better Discern the Significance of the Present, and More Readily Recognize the Full Meaning of the Impending Future, This Volume Is Sincerely Dedicated COPYRIGHT, 1946, BY THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING, ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON 12, D.C. Contents INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME III 9 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 PREMILLENN [AL HOPE REAPPEARS 227 14. SUMMING UP OF THE WITNESS FOR NORTH AMERICA 250 PART 11—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 6 PROPHETIC FAITH 30. IRISH HERALDS LAUNCH PROPHETIC JOURNAL 579 31. PROPHETIC INVESTIGATOR AND DICTIONARY OF WRITERS 599 32. BISHOP WILSON ENDS 2300 YEARS IN 1847 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 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 ExposmoNs 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 Introduction to Volume III ONE may easily become confused by the complex history of the centuries with their conflicting crosscurrents and eddies of prophetic interpretation. We must therefore keep the grand outline sharply before us. - And we must occasionally take a -comprehensive preview of that new portion of the path we are about to traverse. We must periodically lift our eyes from the microscopic examination of the immediate surroundings, to sur- vey the centuries with telescopic sweep. Thus we may clearly envision the relaticin of part to part in the divine plan of the ages. Each major epoch or event involves, not an isolated voice or . two, but an impressive cluster of witnesses to recognized fulfill- ments of prophecy, an inescapable chorus of voices speaking for the time. This cumulative evidence gives to the history of the advent, hope and the progressive development of prophetic in- terpretation their full force and significance. Let us, then, at the beginning of Volume 3, take such a preview and retrospect. I. A Preview of Things to Come With the passing of the French Revolution, and the ending of the 1260 years in the episodes of 1798, as set forth in the clos- ing chapters of Volume 2 of The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, we enter upon a new epoch in prophecy, with a new center of prophetic interest and study. As evidenced by Volumes 1 and 2, whenever a major epoch or event of prophecy is reached, always there are reverent students whose minds are led by the Spirit of God to special study and recognition of the fulfillment.. This is ever contemporaneous with the event. God never leaves the great fulfillments of prophecy to be acclaimed by only one or two witnesses. Rather, a whole cluster of witnesses, usually in differ- 9 10 PROPHETIC FAITH ent lands and employing different languages, announce to the world the fact that another major milepost of prophetic fulfill- ment has been, is being, or is about to be passed. Note the process through the centuries. Observe the major epochs thus far traversed. When Romel the fourth prophetic world power, ruled the world, men knew it and left the explicit record, not merely in one language but in five or six.' Then when Rome was in the process of division, another cluster of men attested it as a major fulfillment of prophecy actually taking place before their eyes—Rome's breakdown, the mingling of the predicted clay and iron of division—as they awaited with deep concern the appearance of the prophesied but as yet unidenti- fied Antichrist. Next, when the variously specified but nevertheless identi- cal Antichrist—Beast, Babylon, Harlot, or Little Horn—had developed its full powers to the point of identification, another great chorus of voices broke out in pre-Reformation and Refor- mation times declaring that the Papacy had been and then was' fulfilling this startling prophecy. Finally, in the century preceding, the French Revolution and culminating in the captivity of Pope Pius VI in 1798, a score or more of men on both sides of the Atlantic .pointed the finger to France as the coming instrument.the predicted "tenth part" of the ecclesiastical "city," Babylon—and to the approaching close of the allotted 1260-year era of the Little Horn. And at last, when the pope was taken captive and the symbolic Beast received his deadly wound, still another group of voices, in the Old World and the New, proclaimed the ending of the period and the entry upon the final epoch in mankind's prophesied history. Note particularly that following the French Revolution and the ending of the 1260 years, the greatest shift in the center of prophetic interest and emphasis recorded in history is to be found. This was from Daniel 7—with the fourth empire, the 1 This progressive development here outlined, is fully presented and thoroughly docu- mented, with precise citations translated into English, in Volumes I and 2 of The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, already written but not yet published. INTRODUCTION 11 subsequent divisions, the emergence of the Little Horn, and now the ending of that allotted period—over to Daniel 8:14, with the ending of the 2300 year-days and the cleansing of the "sanctuary" about 1843, 1844, or 1847. And with it came to be coupled the warning of the great judgment hour impending. Nothing like it had ever been proclaimed before. Simultaneously, in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Scandinavia, America, India, Northern Africa, and the Near East, a growing chorus of voices were heard, springing up independently but proclaiming the 'same message and prophetic time period.