The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

X. De la Flechere-2300 Years Expiring; French Revolution Impending

JEAN GUILLAUME DE LA FLECHERE, or John William Fletcher (1729-1785), associate of Wesley, was born in Nyon on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, removing to England while he was still young. Soundly converted, he joined the Methodists, and became vicar at Madeley, where he labored in close association with Wesley. He was author of several works. ⁷² Of La Flechere, Southey says, “No church ever possessed a more apostolic minister. ⁷³ In one of his remarkable letters, with all probability addressed to Wesley in 1755, concerning the “impending Revolutions,” appears this serious declaration: “We are come to the last times, the grand catastrophe of God’s drama draws near apace. ⁷⁴ PFF2 687.1

1. IRON DIVISIONS; MINGLED WITH PAPAL CLAY

As the basis for such a conclusion, La Flechere cites the four empires of Daniel 2, and the division of the fourth-the Roman Empire “divided into ten kingdoms, these were still united together by the Clay, i.e. the Pope’s erroneous religion and idolatrous worship.” The next event, then, is the coming of the stone kingdom. Next, from Daniel 7, he presents the same four kingdoms, the division of the fourth, and the divisions’ names—with the Little Horn as the obtruding Papacy, uprooting Lombardy, Burgundy, and the Vandals. His persecution and his allotted period, soon to expire, ends with his destruction. ⁷⁵ PFF2 687.2

2. CLEANSING OF SANCTUARY TO END DISFIGURED WORSHIP

Third, La Flechere presents Daniel 8, with its Persian, Macedonian, and Roman powers—the bishop of Rome waxing exceeding great, casting down kings and emperors, and taking away the daily sacrifice, that is he “abolished or quite disfigured the true worship of God and Jesus, and cut down the truth to the ground, with his army.” To the question, “How long the church should be thus corrupted and desolate?” the answer was, “Till the end of the 2300 days, and then the sanctuary should be cleansed. ⁷⁶ PFF2 688.1

3. 2300 YEARS END IN PRESENT OR NEXT GENERATION

Stressing the importance of this number that fixes the beginnings of things to come on the earth, La Flechere insists that the 2300 are prophetic days, signifying whole years. He then states that they must start with the time of the vision, about 550 B.C.—giving considerable data in behalf of this year—and so leading to A.D. 1750, when the cleansing of God’s church should take place; then he expatiates on the pollution of the sanctuary by the Papacy’s doctrine of justification by works and outward performances. ⁷⁷ And, noting the variation in chronologies, he adds and puts down 1770, with this impressive word: PFF2 688.2

“Chronologists may mistake in a few years, but cannot err upon the whole; and as God is true and faithful, so it is manifest, that the prophecy of 2300, must be fully accomplished in our days, or those of the next generation. ⁷⁸ PFF2 688.3

4. YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE APPLIED TO ALL TIME PERIODS

Denying that this cleansing had anything to do with the time of Judas Maccabaeus or Antiochus Epiphanes, or even the time of Luther, he applies it to the time of the “end”—“the word end signifies plainly, the catastrophe of God’s drama, the last act of the wicked tragedy men have been acting for near 6000 years. ⁷⁹ He then argues that the “latter days” of Daniel 10 and the “end” of chapter 8 mean the same; the 2300 days form a “compleat proof.” But he surveys the 1260 years, under the three and a half times, forty-two months, and 1260 days—putting 360 days to the “prophetic year,” and touches the 1290 and 1335, and the time of their reckoning. ⁸⁰ PFF2 688.4

5. LUKEWARMNESS PARALYZES CHURCH OF LAST DAYS

La Flechere then comes to the luke-warmness that is to paralyze the church in the last days. PFF2 689.1

” ‘As the love of many will be cold,’ and there will be, comparatively, no faith upon the earth, the apostacy foretold by all the prophets will soon take place; begin, in all probability, by the Lutherans in Germany, and follow in all the Protestant countries. Here cruelties unheard of since the beginning of the world, will be the refining fire of our decayed Faith; part of the reformed Christians will be destroyed by the sword, or by famine; part will be carried into captivity, part will remain to serve their cruel conquerors, who (notwithstanding their falling away from the pure, outward worship) will treat them in a most terrible manner. ⁸¹ PFF2 689.2

6. FORSAKING OF PAPACY FOLLOWED BY CLIMAX OF AGES

With this he couples the death and resurrection of the Two Wit nesses, the fall of the tenth part of the city, and the call out of Babylon; Rome will be destroyed amid revolutions, and the grand climax will be the second glorious advent of Christ. ⁸² The ten kings will rebel and forsake the whore, as pictured in Revelation 18 and 19. The climax comes when the thousand years end, and Satan is again loosed to—“seduce two powerful nations Gog and Magog; but this second almost Universal Rebellion will be quenched, as prosperously as that of Antichrist. How long the world shall last after this, no one knows, not even the Angels of God; but it is certain that all those things must come to pass before the Conflagration of this Globe, spoken of by St. Peter, as well as before the Second Resurrection and Judgment. ⁸³ PFF2 689.3

7. FRENCH PROTESTANTS AWAIT FRENCH REVOLUTION

La Flechere brings this remarkable letter to Wesley on prophecy to a close with the general expectation of the Protestants of France for the predicted Revolution: PFF2 689.4

Picture 2: WESLEY AMONG THE PROPHETIC EXPOUNDERS OF HIS DAY
John wesley, distinguished founder of methodism (inset); his well-known London city road church, where He included prophetic exposition in his preaching (Left); and prayer room, in His home next door, the secret of his piritual Power (Right)
Page 691

“I know, that a good part of an hundred thousand Protestants, scattered in France, expect some great revolution, that will turn at last to their good, and re-unite them to the children of above 200,000 of their brethren, that were either expelled the kingdom, or forced to leave it, because they ‘would not take the mark of the beast in their hands or on their fore heads.’ ⁸⁴ PFF2 691.1