The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3
V. Austin-Papal Mother Has Protestant Daughters
DAVID AUSTIN (1760-1831), widely known to his contemporaries because of his extreme views on the millennium, was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Graduating from Yale in 1779, he studied theology under Joseph Bellamy. He was licensed to preach by the New Haven Association of Congregational Ministers in 1780. The following year he went to Europe for travel and study. Upon his return he supplied several churches. In 1788 he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown, New jersey. Here, in 1789, he edited a religious magazine, The Christian’s, Scholar’s, and Farmer’s Magazine; also The American Preacher. PFF3 239.5
A man of great energy, he was regarded as brilliant but eccentric. In 1791 he became interested in the study of prophecy and became convinced that the millennium was near at hand. Little in life mattered thereafter but the second advent. He believed, on none too sound a basis, that it would begin about 1796. He broke with Presbyterianism, and built houses for the Jews, whom he believed would assemble on their way to the Holy Land to await the returning Messiah. He preached for the Baptists and then for the Congregationalists. His published works were numerous. In his The Millennium, or Thousand Years of Prosperity, Promised to the Church of God (1794), the first two parts are based upon dissertations by Bellamy and Jonathan Edwards. PFF3 240.1
1. LOCATING TIME ON ALMANAC OF PROPHECY
Austin’s high esteem for the “Almanac of Prophecy” and his belief in the propriety of ascertaining the time in the prophetic night are forcefully expressed in his Preface to The Millennium: PFF3 240.2
If the prophetic parts of the oracles of God form what may be stiled ‘a sacred Calendar,’ or, ‘an Almanac of Prophecy,’ it is with the greatest propriety that the Watchmen of Zion are disposed, now and then, to consult this sacred calendar, in view of determining the watch of the night, and, of consequence, how long before the arrival of the long-wished-for promised day. From premises which the sacred Scriptures afford, calculations may, with a good degree of precision, be made, respecting the time of the accomplishment of the prophecies which relate to the future prosperity of the Zion of God.” 68 PFF3 240.3
2. PAPAL BABYLON’S FALL FOLLOWED BY MILLENNIUM
Identifying Babylon as the Papacy, Austin longed for the church’s deliverance from her long bondage, and saw in the developing French Revolution the divine judgments falling and the millennial day near, according to the sacred calendar of prophecy: PFF3 240.4
“The redemption of the church of God from the bondage of Papa] Babylon, as well as from the general dominion of the Powers of Darkness, is a glorious and animating subject of prophecy. The Lord hath spoken, and the decree shall be fulfiled.-If, in ancient time, the people of God believed what the Lord had spoken respecting the redemption of His people; if, from the sacred calendar they discovered the time of the promised redemption-prayed for, and actually saw the fulfilment of the object of their hopes, in Temporal and in spiritual deliverances; what forbids that, in this day of general captivity, the prophets of the Lord should look with the same faith and prayer for the fulfilment of those promises which respect the spiritual deliverance of the Christian Church, both from the bondage of Babylon, and from the thraldom of Satan?-And more especially, as we evidently see marks of the divine progress in this work, in His present judgments among the nations of the earth, and particularly on mystical Babylon; which all allow, are but a little to precede the glorious redemption and prosperity of the Church in the Millennial-day.” 69 PFF3 241.1
3. WITNESSES’ DEATH IN FRANCE AT END OF 1260 YEARS
In his Downfall of Mystical Babylon; or A Key to the Providence of God, in the Political Operations of 1793-4 (1798), 70 Austin puts the death of the Witnesses in France at the end of their prophesying in the scheduled 1260 years. 71 He holds that the Little Horn of Daniel, the Man of Sin of Paul, and the Beast of John are the same, and refer to the Papacy. 72 PFF3 241.2
4. 1260 YEARS BEGAN BETWEEN 500-553
His allotted period of 1260 years must begin sometime between A.D. 500 and 553. If the former date is accepted, it will terminate in 1760. 73 In any event, the end of the great era is approaching. The night is far spent; the day is at hand. 74 PFF3 241.3
5. CLAY AND IRON STATE AND CHURCH POWER
The intermingled iron and clay of the image, according to Austin, may represent the civil and ecclesiastical power of Rome. If the civil and ecclesiastical power of Rome forms the iron and the clay, well may its destruction be predicted by the rolling of the stone 75. 69 Ibid. 70 Charles Evans, American Bibliography, vol. 12 (no. 33340). PFF3 241.4
6. PROTESTANT DAUGHTERS OF PAPAL MOTHER
In his Prophetic Leaf (1798), Austin draws a pointed parallel between Rome Papal and Rome Protestant, calling the latter “the ecclesiastical establishments under the dominion and controul of the civil powers.” 76 These establishments were the “daughters of Mystical Babylon,” and “bear the image of their papal mother.” And as the “connexion between the civil and ecclesiastical powers of papal Rome formed the papal cup,” so “the same connexion between the protestant civil and ecclesiastical powers formed the protestant mystical cup.” 77 PFF3 242.1
7. Two NAMES FOR 666 SUGGESTED
In answer to a question as to the number of the Beast, or Rome Papal, Austin suggests Ludovicus and Vicarius Filii Dei, “the Chief Vicar of the Court of Rome.” 78 This latter title was frequently alluded to in Europe during and following the French Revolution. 79 PFF3 242.2