The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

VI. Faber-Blends Faulty Applications With Sound Principles

Of much prominence was GEORGE STANLEY FABER (1773-1854), “controversialist” prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral. He was born at Calverley, Yorkshire, the son of a minister. Educated at University College, Oxford, he received a B.A. in 1793, an M.A. in 1796, and a B.D. degree in 1803. Bampton lecturer in 1801, he was curate at Calverley from 1803 to 1805. He later served at Stockton-upon-Tees, Durham, and at Long Newton, where he remained twenty-one years. In 1830 he was made prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral. He was a stalwart advocate of the evangelical faith and the sole authority of Scripture as the rule of faith. PFF3 338.3

Faber belonged to the Historical School of prophetic interpretation, but brought the reinstated Napoleon of 1815 heavily into his scheme. Of profound learning, he was an uncompromising advocate of his convictions and conclusions. He was author of forty-two works, spanning a period of fifty-five years-from 1799 to 1853. He was the most voluminous religious writer of his generation, few having written so much or so long, ⁵⁰ five columns being devoted to his works in the British Museum catalogue. His writings on prophecy were numerous and were the center of vigorous discussion for nearly half a century. One of his interesting books was An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses (1838). PFF3 339.1

Many of his works were answered in print. Among those who wrote against him were Thomas Arnold, Shute Barrington (bishop of Durham), Christopher Bethell (bishop of Gloucester), George Corless, William Cuninghame, James H. Frere, Richard H. Graves, Thomas Harding (vicar of Bexley), F. C. Husenbeth, Samuel Lee, S. R. Maitland, N. Nisbett, Thomas P. Pantin, Le Pappe de Trevern, and F,. W. Whitaker. So he was the center of continual controversy. The burden of his writing is indicated by the progression of titles: PFF3 339.2

Two Sermons before the University of Oxford, an attempt to explain by recent events five of the Seven Vials mentioned in the Revelations (1799); A Dissertation on the Prophecies ... Relative to the Great Period of 1260 Years (1804); Supplement to the Dissertation on the 1260 Years (1806); A General and Connected View of the Prophecies, Relative to the Conversion ... of ... Judah and Israel; the ... Overthrow of the Antichristion Confederacy in ... Palesline; and the ... Diffusion of Christianity (1808); Dissertation on the: Propliecy Contained in Daniel 9. (1811). PFF3 339.3

Another group continues the general theme: Remarks on the Effusion of /.lie Fifth Apocalyptic Vial and ... the Restoration of the Imperial Revolutionary Government of France (1815); The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy: or a Dissertation on the Prophecies ... of the Grand Period of Seven Times., and Especially of Its Second Moiety, or the Latter Three Times and a Half (1828); The Difficulties of Romanism (1830); Eight Dissertations on Prophetical Passages of Holy Scripture (1845); Letters on Traclarian Secessions lo Popery (1846); and Napoleon III, Man of Prophecy (1852). PFF3 340.1

In the Introduction to his Dissertation on the Prophecies ... Relative to the Great Period of the 1260 Years, Faber maintains that “the interpretation of Prophecy knowledge is undoubtedly progressive,” having been “gradually opened partly by the hand of time and partly by human labour undertaken in humble dependence upon the divine aid.” ⁵¹ And as the “time of the end” comes, we may expect that “many will run to and Fro and knowledge will be increased.” In his first chapter Faber maintains that the persecutions of pagan Rome have nothing to do with the 1260 years, which are “the period of the dominance of the great Apostasy, and of the reign of the two little horns” of Daniel. ⁵² PFF3 340.2

1. MAINTAINS STANDARD VIEW FOR Daniel 7

The stand and historical position on the lour kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome is held For Daniel 2 and 7, with the ten horns of the division, and the Little Horn as “the papacy,” ⁵³ or spiritual kingdom of the Bishop of Rome.” Faber Follows Machiavelli and Bishop Lloyd For the listing and dating of the ten kingdoms. ⁵⁴ The three horns plucked up to make way For it are tabulated as the Heruli, Ostrogoths, and Lombards. ⁵⁵ PFF3 340.3

2. APPLIES LITTLE HORN OF Daniel 8 TO MOHAMMEDAN ISM

The usual interpretation of: the Medo-Persian ram and the Grecian goat is given, with Alexander as the great horn. ⁵⁶ But the little horn that became exceeding great, he avows, “relates to Mohammedanism.” ⁵⁷ PFF3 340.4

3. EXTENDS 1260 YEARS FROM 606 TO 1866

Faher seeks to apply the 1260 years to the “appointed hour” of both the papal and the Mohammedan powers, and fixes upon 606 as the most probable date that synchronizes for the two, as “the year 606 is the most proper date of the Mohammedan imposture,” when Mohammed retired to the cave of Hera. ⁵⁸ Likewise with 606 for the papal horn-“when the Pope was declared Universal Bishop and Supreme head of the Catholic Church, it became a mighty ecclesiastical empire.” ⁵⁹ This Mohammedan aspect ex plains his insistence upon the period 606-1866, rather than the period from Justinian to the French Revolution. PFF3 340.5

4. TERMINATES 2300 WITH 1260 IN 1866

Faber holds, further, that the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14 and the 1260-year periods both reach to the “time of the end” and “terminate- together in the selfsame year.” This he believes to be 1866. ⁶⁰ Expounding this, he adds: PFF3 341.1

“It necessarily follows, that, since the. period of 2300 days, and the period of 1260 (lays, both equally reach to the time of the end, or to the end of the period of the wonders, they both exactly terminate together. Thus it appears, that the period of 1260 days is in fact the latter part of the greater period of 2300 days.” ⁶¹ PFF3 341.2

Faber alludes to the variant readings of 2300 or 2400 but does not argue for the merits of the 2400. ⁶² However, he does say that the sanctuary was “the spiritual sanctuary of the Christian church, not the literal sanctuary of the: Jewish temple. (See Revelation 11:1, 2.).” ⁶³ And Mohammedanism, in its spread, “took away the daily sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; polluted the spiritual sanctuary; and presumed to magnify itself against even the Prince of princes.” ⁶⁴ The latter part of Daniel 11, Faber applies to infidelic France. ⁶⁵ PFF3 341.3

5. EARLY TRUMPETS REMOVE “LET” TO PAPAL DEVELOP MENT

In volume 2, Faber deals with the first four trumpets as preparing “the way for the man of sin” by taking away the power which “prevented the revelation of the man of sin.” ⁶⁶ These include Alaric and the Huns, Genseric and the Vandals, and the “extinction of the line of Western Caesars.” ⁶⁷ PFF3 342.1

6. FIFTH TRUMPET SARACENS; SIXTH Is TURKISH

The fifth, or first-woe, trumpet, “in the East,” is applied to “Mohammed with his Saracenic locusts,” ⁶⁸ for “five prophetic months or 150 years. ⁶⁹ And the sixth, or second-woe, trumpet refers to the four sultanies of the Turkish horsemen “loosed from the river Euphrates” ⁷⁰ for 391 years and 15 days. ⁷¹ This period he terminates in 1672, at the siege of Cameniec. ⁷² PFF3 342.2

7. LITTLE BOOK THE RECORD OF APOSTASY

Faber comprehends in the “contents of the little book” the “history of the Western Apostacy” in Revelation 11 to 14. ⁷³ He does not believe that the Two Witnesses are the Old and New Testaments, but says that they are Christ’s witnesses of the centuries. ⁷⁴ The woman of Revelation 12 is “the spiritual Church of true believers.” ⁷⁵ PFF3 342.3

8. TWO-HORNED BEAST SAME AS LITTLE HORN

Faber makes the ten-horned beast from the sea of Revelation 13 the same as the fourth beast of Daniel 7. ⁷⁶ And the two-horned beast is not infidelic France but the “catholic spiritual empire of the church of Rome, considered as including both the Pope his head, and the regular and secular papal clergy his two lamb-like horns.” ⁷⁷ Latinus is a name containing the number 666. ⁷⁸ PFF3 342.4

9. IDENTITY OF SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS

The seven heads he lists as kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, Augustan emperors, and Carlovingian Patricio-emperors. And the “ten primitive horns” are the Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Sueves and Alans, Burgundians, Heruli, Saxons, and Lombards-with the Little Horn as “the ecclesiastical kingdom of the Pope.” ⁷⁹ The three horns plucked up were the Heruli, Ostrogoths, and Lombards. ⁸⁰ The two-horned beast of Revelation 13 “occupies the place of the little horn, which is not mentioned by John.” ⁸¹ However, the two-horned beast is made the same as the great scarlet whore-the “adulterous tyrannical church of Rome, or the spiritual catholic empire of the Pope.” ⁸² PFF3 342.5

10. EARTHQUAKE AND VIALS IN FRENCH REVOLUTION

Faber relegates the flying angels of Revelation 14 to the past- Lutheranism, Calvinism, and the Church of England reformations. ⁸³ The seven vials are all poured out after August, 1792. ⁸⁴ The great earthquake, or violent revolution, when a tenth part of the great Roman city fell, Faber applies to the French Revolution, breaking out in 1789. ⁸⁵ The first shock of the “great earth quake” which overthrows the “tenth part of the Roman City,” or French monarchy, struck in 1789. ⁸⁶ PFF3 343.1

11. CALCULATING AND DATING THE SEVENTY WEEKS

Faber’s Dissertation on the Prophecy Contained in Daniel 9:24-27; Generally Denominated the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (1811) is a discussion of unusual clarity and value in certain sections. It concerns not only the choice of the seventh year of Artaxerxes for the initial year rather than the preceding decrees of Cyrus or Darius, but the nature of those years- whether solar or lunar. Much confusion had existed on this point, and the principle involved all time prophecy. He begins with a broad discussion of Jewish calendation and the methods of periodic monthly intercalation, ⁸⁷ namely, lengthening the year by adding supernumerary days at the close in the mouth Ve-Adar. ⁸⁸ Arguing from (he rase of the two great Jewish festivals-the Passover fixed to the spring, and the Day of Atone =ment fixed to the autumn-Faber reaches this fundamental conclusion: “The fixed nature of the great festivals proves, that a series of such years must have been equal to a corresponding series of solar years.” ⁸⁹ This principle is basic to sound interpretation. PFF3 343.2

12. JEWISH YEARS MUST EQUAL SOLAR YEARS

This thesis, he adds, is supported by Jackson, Prideaux, Sir Isaac Newton, Blayney, and Davies. ⁹⁰ And Faber repeats: PFF3 344.1

“A series of Jewish years must have been equal to a series of solar years.” ⁹¹ PFF3 344.2

“Whence it will follow, that the 490 years of the seventy weeks must, either singly or collectively, be equal to 490 solar years.” ⁹² PFF3 344.3

13. ALL PROPHETIC TIME FULFILLED IN SOLAR YEARS

While the Jewish years perpetually fluctuated in the exact length, they always average the same number as the solar years, so that the festivals of Nisan, or Abib (first month), and Tisri (seventh month) did not circulate but were fixed. ⁹³ Stressing, then, that “the years of the seventy weeks are solar years,” he adds that “by a parity of argument we must likewise conclude, that the 1260 years and the years of every numerical prophecy are either individually solar years, or collectively solar years.” ⁹⁴ Then comes the vital conclusion: “No interpretation of the prophecy, which is founded on the system of lunar or abbreviated years of either description, can be deemed admissible.” ⁹⁵ PFF3 344.4

14. REASONS FOR THE SEVENTH OF ARTAXERXKS

Coming- next to the three decrees of the first year of Cyrus (536 B.C.), the third year of Darius Hystaspes (519 B.C.), and the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus (458 B.C.), as well as the verbal permission of the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, ⁹⁶ Faber asserts that no interpretation can be admitted that does not compute the seventy weeks from one of these established dates. ⁹⁷ He then presents a series of objections to using the twentieth of Artaxerxes. ⁹⁸ This method he pursues with each date, as well as citing their supporters. ⁹⁹ After thorough examination he concludes that it must be dated from the decree of the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus. “Therefore that decree must be the decree mentioned in the prophecy.” ¹⁰⁰ PFF3 344.5

Discussing the “cut off” feature, Faber notes Godwin’s rendering of “cut out,” and Mede’s “allotted,” or “cut out.” ¹⁰¹ In the Appendix he gives the astronomical canon of Ptolemy, embracing the four groups of kings covering the prophetic kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. ¹⁰² PFF3 345.1

15. PREDICTED DOWNFALL OF TURKEY

Faber’s final book let, The Predicted Downfall of The Turkish Power (1853), ¹⁰³ states at the very outset: PFF3 345.2

“With our best commentators, I consider the Downfall of the Ottoman Power to be clearly predicted in Scripture. Hence, whenever the destined time shall arrive, all the complications of modern political diplomacy will be found totally unable to prevent the Ruin of that once formidable Empire.” ¹⁰⁴ PFF3 345.3

Faber believes “its Dissolution must occur before the Close of the 1260 years,” which he thinks had not yet come. ¹⁰⁵ And this, he adds, would be marked by the restoration of the Jews. But “the Subversion of the Turkish Power will evidently occasion” the general war. Disturbed by news out of the East and North, the “Wilful Roman King” plants the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, but he will come to his end with none to help. ¹⁰⁶ Faber’s major point is that “the Downfall of Turkey will be, at once, both the signal and the cause of this terrible war,” ¹⁰⁷ and will take place under the sixth vial. ¹⁰⁸ PFF3 345.4

16. SHRINKAGE OF TURKEY TABULATED

Faber dates the 396 (391) ¹⁰⁹ years of the Turkish woe trumpet from 1301 to 1697. From this time forward, he says, there has been a gradual and steady declension, and he lists the progressive recessions: 1699 -Treaty of Carlowicz, depriving the sultan of sway in Hungary and Transylvania; 1771-Crimea taken from Turkey; 1774- Treaty of Kainatdge, securing independence of Tartars of Crimea, Bessarabia, and Kouban; 1784-Treaty at Constantinople, ending Ottoman sovereignty throughout these provinces; 1812-Treaty of Bucharest, giving Russia fortified places on left bank of the Danube; 1816-Servia detaches itself from Turkish Empire; 1821-Greek Insurrection led to independent Greek kingdom; 1829-Treaty of Adrianople, proclaiming in dependence of Moldavia, Servia, and Wallachia; 1830-the Sultan deprived of the suzerainty of Algeria; and 1840-Russia, Prussia, Austria, and England guarantee Egypt to Mehemet Ali. ¹¹⁰ PFF3 346.1

He observes, “By its exact and minute accomplishment of the prophecy of the Drying up of the Euphrates, it proves the correctness of the application of that prophecy to Turkey,” and demonstrates the “principle of Symbolization.” He adds, “We live in a period so pregnant with extraordinary events, that we may well be stirred up to no ordinary degree of seriousness.” ¹¹¹ PFF3 346.2

The entire volume is simply an unfolding of the outline given in the preface. After quoting one other point, we take leave of this final work: PFF3 346.3

“By the almost unanimous consent of commentators, the effect of the Sixth Trumpet, by loosing the Four Angels or Ottomanic Sullanies bound for a season in the region of the great river Jiuphraies, indicates the Rise of the Ottoman Power.” ¹¹² PFF3 346.4

Thus he concludes that “the Drying up of that same river indicates the Downfall of that same Empire.” ¹¹³ PFF3 346.5