The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

V. Doctor Gale-Student of Prophecy Awaited Near Advent

BENJAMIN GALE (1715-1790), Connecticut physician and writer, was born in Jamaica, Long Island, and graduated from Yale with an M.A. in 1733. He then studied medicine and surgery. Settling in Killingsworth, he took over his father-in-law’s practice. He also developed a wide reputation as an advocate, and had extensive correspondence with English and Continental scientists. From 1747 to 1767 Dr. Gale was a representative in the General Assembly. An ardent Bible student, he wrote A Brief Essay, or, An Attempt to Prove, from the Prophetick Writings of the Old and New Testament, What Period of Prophecy the Church of God is now under (1788). His tomb stone at Killingsworth, Connecticut, bears abiding testimony to his interest in prophecy: PFF3 215.1

“In memory of Doct. Benjamin Gale, who, after a life of usefulness in his profession, and a laborious study of the Prophesies, fell asleep May 6th, A. D. 1790, AEt. 75, fully expecting to rise again under the Messiah, and to reign with him on earth.” ³⁸ PFF3 215.2

The writer who preserved this choice epitaph comments thus upon it: PFF3 215.3

“It appears by this inscription, that Dr. Gale was a believer in the ancient doctrine of Millenarians, a name given to those who believe that the second coming of Christ will precede the Millennium, and that there will be a literal resurrection of the saints, who will reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. This appears to have been the belief of pious persons at the time of the first settlement of New England: even as late as the great earthquake [1755], many Christians were looking for, and expecting the second coming of Christ.” ³⁹ PFF3 215.4

1. ANTICHRIST’S DESTRUCTION COINCIDENT WITH ADVENT

According to Gale, the destruction of Antichrist and the antichristian world, the second coming of Christ, and the restitution of all things, will be “synchronical and instantaneously executed.” ⁴⁰ This proposition is put clearly, unequivocally, and repeatedly. PFF3 215.5

2. DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON TERMINATES PROPHETIC LINES

The seals are placed by Gale in the early centuries, followed by the trumpets, which he begins about the time of the death of Constantine. The seventh seal, seventh trumpet, and seventh vial, he believed, all “terminate at one and the same period of time, viz., with the destruction of mystical Babylon.” ⁴¹ PFF3 216.1

3. MOUNTAIN FILLS EARTH AT DESTRUCTION OF IMAGE

The stone smites the image of the kingdoms of Daniel 2, upon the feet of iron and clay, which is the last form of Roman tyranny “in which civil and ecclesiastical powers arc united and blended together.” ⁴² The lour parts of the image, which represent the four great monarchies, “receive a most compleat destruction at one and the same period of time. Then the mountain fills the earth.” ⁴³ PFF3 216.2

4. STILL UNDER PERIOD OF SIXTH TRUMPET

Gale holds the fifth trumpet to be the “irruptions” of the Mohammedan Saracens, and the sixth trumpet, the period of Turkish tyranny which had not yet ended, though its decay was under way. ⁴⁴ PFF3 216.3

“The Euphratean horsemen arc yet in being, and the Turkish tyranny and imposture still continue, and not come to a final end; I think there can be no doubt but we are still under the period of the sixth trumpet.” ⁴⁵ PFF3 216.4

5. THE BEAST REPRESENTS THE PAPACY

The Roman “Beast” and “Whore,” he stoutly contends, represent the Papacy, ⁴⁶ which will ultimately be stripped by denying her to be the head of the churches. Both the first and second beasts of Revelation 13 were, he maintained, aspects of the Papacy- the two horns of the second beast representing her civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. ⁴⁷ PFF3 216.5

6. LITTLE HORN LIKEWISE THE PAPACY

The Little Horn of Daniel 7 he believed is likewise a symbol of the Papacy. And the three horns plucked up were the Dukedom of Rome, the Exarchate of Ravenna, and the kingdom of the Lombards. ⁴⁸ PFF3 217.1

7. YEAR-DAY PRINCIPLE APPLIED TO 1260

The 1260 days, which Gale interprets as years, he applied to both the Papacy and Mohammedanism, the destruction of the two being coincident. ⁴⁹ Moreover, the numbers of Revelation harmonize with those of Daniel ⁵⁰ the 1290 and 1335 days likewise signifying years. PFF3 217.2

8. SECOND ADVENT PRECEDES THE MILLENNIUM

Dr. Gale-is similarly clear on the personal second advent as preceding the millennium. ⁵¹ PFF3 217.3