The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

CHAPTER THIRTY: Advances in Exposition; Lisbon Earthquake Noted

I. Lowth The 2300 Years Extend to Antichrist’s End

WILLIAM LOWTH (1660-1732), son of an apothecary, was born in London and educated at St. Johns, Oxford, from which he obtained the B.A., M.A., and B.D. degrees (1679-1688). His first work was A Vindication of the Divine Authority of the Old and New Testaments (1692), against Le Clerc. In 1696 he became chaplain to the bishop of Winchester, and about 1700 rector of Buriton. Lowth wrote several highly esteemed works, the most noted being A Commentary Upon the Larger and Lesser Prophets. ¹ PFF2 670.1

1. DATES PAPAL HORN PERIOD FROM BONIFACE (606)

Lowth’s Commentary Upon the Larger and Lesser Prophets interprets the Little Horn of Daniel 7 as the Papacy, exercising ecclesiastical as well as temporal power, the three kingdoms subdued being the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Greeks in Italy, and the Franks. Daniel 7 is paralleled by Revelation 13 and 2 Thessalonians 2. The papal attempt to abrogate divine as well as human law is stressed, and the three and a half times, or forty-two months, is 1260 year-days from Boniface III, in 606. ² The papal rule will be destroyed, Lowth contends, when the destruction of the present state of affairs ends at our Lord’s coming. PFF2 670.2

2. 2300 YEARS EXTEND TO END OF ANTICHRIST

Lowth mentions the literal application of the 2300 days to the invasion of Antiochus, as about six years and four months, reckoning 360 days to a year; however, he regards Antiochus as merely a type of the Antichrist, and concurs with Lloyd and Newton in the opinion that— PFF2 671.1

“These two thousand three Hundred Days are a Line of Time that is to be extended to the End of the Times of Antichrist: taking each Day for a Year, according to the Genius of the Prophetical Writings. ³ PFF2 671.2

This year-day principle, he adds, is used in the periods of Daniel 7 and 9, and the 1290 and 1335 year days which, like the 2300, lead to the cleansing of the sanctuary. The “willful king” of Daniel 11:36, 37 is explained as the papal Antichrist. ⁴ PFF2 671.3