The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Unknown Writer Revives Eastern-Western Antichrist Theory

In 1719 the anonymous writer of An Exposition of the Revelations places Antichrist’s kingdom principally in the East, though duly recognizing the woman of Revelation 17 as the apostate Papacy. The two legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image are taken as the basis of East and West-the western being broken by the northern invasions, and the eastern by the Saracens and Turks, under the second and third woes; the ten toes are the resultant divisions, at the end of which Christ’s kingdom will succeed. ⁴³ PFF2 657.1

1. LITTLE HORN THE TURK; LOCUSTS THE SARACENS

In harmony with this now largely discarded view, the writer makes Rome the fourth beast of Daniel 7, the ten horns the ten divisions, and the Little Horn the Turk—and similarly brings Turkey into the latter part of Daniel 11. ⁴⁴ In chapter 8 the details of the invasion of Western Rome are set forth from the first four trumpets. ⁴⁵ Chapter 9 then presents Mohammed as the fallen star, and the Saracens as the locusts with the power of scorpions to torment and oppress. “The five months makes 150 years. ⁴⁶ for which several possible dates are suggested, but the period is not definitely delimited. PFF2 657.2

2. TURKISH TRUMPET PERIOD CLIMAXES IN 1471

The sixth trumpet is taken to symbolize the Turks, who were “to slay the third part of men in a Day, a Month, and Year, in which time (396 years) the Turkish Empire came to its height, 1471. ⁴⁷ PFF2 657.3

3. THEORY PROJECTED INTO Two BEASTS OF Revelation 13

This East and West theory is pursued further under the two beasts of Revelation 13. The first, with the ten horns, sprang up in the West—and the ten horns are France, Spain, England, Portugal, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Sicily, and Hungary; the two-horned second beast is the Ottoman Empire. ⁴⁸ The woman on the scarlet beast is the “tyranny of the Popedom’ over the western emperor and the kings. ⁴⁹ PFF2 657.4