The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Grotius First Protestant to Adopt Alcazar’s Preterism

HUGO GROTIUS, or van Groot (15831645), Dutch jurist, statesman, historian, and theologian, was born at Delft, and at tended the University of Leyden. He accompanied Johann Oldenbarneveldt to France, to the court of Henry IV. In 1G03 he was appointed to be states historiographer and later advocate general of the fish for the provinces of Holland and Zeeland. Grotius maintained that the ocean is free to all nations, the famous doctrine of mare liberum. PFF2 521.1

In 1613, at the age of thirty, he was made pensioner of the city of Rotterdam. Being one of the leaders of the Remonstrant party, or Arminians, he was condemned to life imprisonment in 1618. But after a few years, escaping from prison in a book chest, he went to Paris, where he was gladly received by the king, and where he wrote (1625) his famous De jurebelli et pads (Concerning the Law of War and Peace), which made him the Father of International Law. ⁵⁵ During that period he also wrote his Deveritate religionis Christianas (On the Truth of the Christian Religion), which was translated into many languages, including Arabic and Urdu. In his Annotations to the New Testament he applied the historical philological method. He had nothing to do with dogmatism, and tried to bridge over the differences between the warring factions. In 1631 he entered the Swedish service, under Gustavus Adolphus and became Swedish ambassador to the French court. ⁵⁶ PFF2 521.2

Extremely liberal in his religious views, he was a friend of the Jesuit Petavius. Grotius held the Reformation to be an unwarranted schism, and moved as closely as possible to Rome. His avowed aim was to bring peace out of the horrible conflict between the Catholics and Protestants which was devastating Europe (it was the time of the Thirty Years’ War), and he used his diplomacy to that end while serving as Swedish ambassador to Paris. His anonymous anti Protestant Comrnentatio ad Local Quaedam N[ovi] Testamenti Quae de Antichristo Agunt (1640) (Commentary on Certain Texts Which Deal With Antichrist) sought to remove the great prophetic stumbling block to re union. To this end he followed the Jesuit Alcazar’s Preterist interpretation. In fact, he believed the Jesuits so fully that he believed the pope was not mentioned in any of the prophecies. ⁵⁷ For example, he applied the three and a half years to Domitian, and the number 666 to Trajan. PFF2 521.3

When Grotius’ authorship of the book was detected, it turned all orthodox theologians against him. His misinterpretations so stirred Cocceius, of Bremen, that he wrote a commentary on all the prophecies relating to Antichrist, the excellence of which won him a theological professorship in 1643. Maresius (Desmarets), a Belgian theologian, in his review of Grotius’ Commenlatio, declared that not only did the united Belgic Church believe the pope to be Antichrist but all the Reformed in all the world as well. ⁵⁸ Grotiu labored in favor of the union of all Christian bodies. In his mediatory work he drew nearer and nearer to the Catholic Church, so that finally he came to the point where he counseled all Protestants to return to the Catholic faith. PFF2 522.1

This fatal change on the part of Grotius, in 1640, marked a fork in the Protestant road, as others, following the lead of Grotius, began to take the divergent path veering away from the Protestant highway of sound interpretation. His lead unquestionably had greater influence upon Protestants than did the works of the Jesuit Preterists who originated the system. Here follow the Preterist expositions of Grotius. PFF2 522.2

1. APOCALYPSE RESTRICTED TO JEWS AND ROMANS

He holds that Revelation 1 to 11 constitutes a history of the Jews and their overthrow in the early centuries, and that chapters 12 to 20 are limited to the Christian victory over pagan Rome, with the destruction of idolatry. ⁵⁹ PFF2 522.3

2. SEALS AND TRUMPETS: JEWISHROMAN CONFLICTS

The seals Grotius applies to the period from Christ to the Jewish Roman wars, ⁶⁰ and the trumpets 10 the events leading up to the historic fall of Jerusalem. ⁶¹ PFF2 523.1

3. FORTYTWO MONTHS LIMITED TO TEMPLE OF JUPITER

The forty two months of Revelation 11 are assigned from the time of the building of the pagan temple of Jupiter in Jerusalem until the revolt of Barcochba, whom he designates as the beast from the bottomless pit. ⁶² PFF2 523.2

4. BEAST: ROME WITH PERSECUTIONS UNDER DOMITIAN

Grotius holds the first beast of Revelation 13 to be Roman paganism, the deadly wound the destruction of Rome, the three and a half times as three and a half years of persecution under Domitian, and the two horned beast from the earth the cult of magic. The number 666 he applies to Trajan (53117), based upon his first name (Ulpius). In Revelation 17 the beast’s seven heads are Roman emperors, and the ten horns, or kings, who rule with the beast one hour are the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Van dals, Gepidae, Lombards, Heruli, Burgundians, Huns, Franks, Anglo Saxons. ⁶³ The seven last plagues were the tribulations that came upon the Roman Empire. ⁶⁴ PFF2 523.3

5. WOMAN OF BABYLON: PAGAN ROME

Revelation 17, the seven hills, the woman, and Babylon are all made to refer to pagan Rome. ⁶⁵ PFF2 523.4

6. 1,000 YEARS: FROM CONSTANTINE TO TURKS

Grotius begins the thousand years of Revelation 20 with Constantine’s edict of 311, and ends it with the rise of the Turkish Empire, a thousand years later, in 1311—and makes the Holy City represent Constantinople, taken by the Turks in 1453. ⁶⁶ Such was the curious Preterist interpretation of the first Protestant who went over to the camp of the Jesuit Alcazar. PFF2 523.5

Picture 2: FIRST PROTESTANT WORKS TO ADOPT PRETERIST COUNTERINTERPRETATION
Grotius of Holland (Left) and Hammond of England (Right) Introduce Alcazar’s Counterview Among Protestants, Confining Prophecy of Revelation to the Overthrow of Judaism and Pagan Rome in the Early Centuries
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