The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

V. Captain Maitland-French Revolution Foretold; 1260 Years Ended

CHARLES DAVID MAITLAND (1785-1865), distinguished captain of the Royal Artillery, was for the last forty years of his life minister of St. James Chapel, Brighton. He received his education at St. Catharine’s Hall, with a B.A. in 1834. ⁶¹ He was the father of Charles Maitland, author of the important Apostles’ School of Prophetic Interpretation (1849), which will be noted later. PFF3 360.4

Although Captain Maitland wrote several books after entering the ministry, such as The Parable of the Ten Virgins (c. 1830) and The History of Noah’s Day ... and the Coming of the Son of Man (1832) ⁶² his most significant contributions were written in 1813 and 1814, before he studied for the ministry, while he was still a captain in the Royal Artillery. The first was The History of the Beast of the Apocalypse (1813). The second was titled A Brief and Connected View of Prophecy: Being An Exposition of the Second, Seventh, and Eighth Chapters of the Prophecy of Daniel; Together With the Sixteenth Chapter of Revelation (1814). PFF3 360.5

1. 1260 YEARS IN WILDERNESS ENDED

In his History of the Beast of the Apocalypse the captain discusses Revelation 13-17. A frontispiece pictures the purple-clothed woman with a triple crown seated on the ten-horned, seven-headed beast. In the preface he agrees with the recently published position of William Cuninghame on the 1260 years, and his first work PFF3 361.1

on the seals and trumpets. ⁶³ Maitland asserts the Two Witnesses are the two Testaments-citing a pamphlet by another military man, General Burn, on The Resurrection of the Two Witnesses-with the 1260 years ending at the French Revolution, as “it can no longer be said of the Church, that she is hid in the wilderness.” ⁶⁴ PFF3 361.2

2. PROJECTS 1290 AND 1335 BEYOND THE 1260

Maitland deals in the usual way with the Papacy as the Antichrist of the West, refers to the Mohammedan “false prophet” in the East, and the infidel power of Daniel 11:36-39, as well as the coming overthrow of papal Babylon. ⁶⁵ Like Cuninghame, Maitland extends the 1290 years thirty years beyond the 1260, and the 1335 years forty-five years beyond the 1290, ⁶⁶ which time the millennial reign with Christ will begin. ⁶⁷ PFF3 361.3

3. FRENCH REVOLUTION FORECAST BY MANY

An extended book review of this brief work appears in the London Eclectic Review. ⁶⁸ After commending a “military man” for his active interest in prophecy, it notes that Maitland had thought his exposition original concerning France as the instrument to break papal domination, and which events would reach their climax at the end of the 1290 years in the near future. The reviewer declares that many writers had “long ago depicted the prominent events arising out of the French Revolution, “before they came to pass, “more clearly than he (Maitland) has done alter the event.” ⁶⁹ PFF3 361.4

Starting with Napier, in 1593, the reviewer quotes a whole series of statements from Goodwin in 1639, Jurieu in 1686, an anonymous French writer in 1688, Cressener in 1689, Fleming in 1701, Vitringa in 1719, Daubuz in 1720, Willison in 1745, an anonymous English writer in 1747, and Bishop Newton. All these men, solely through the prophecy, applied the stipulations to yet future developments in France-the tenth part of the city, the street of the city, and the earthquake revolution. ⁷⁰ Such were the extraordinary forecasts, the reviewer in the Eclectic Review observed, “before the event to which they point.” ⁷¹ Such statements were evidently common knowledge. PFF3 362.1

4. STANDARD HISTORICAL VIKW or- Daniel 7

In his Brief and Connected View of Prophecy, Captain Maitland holds that the four beast-kingdoms of Daniel 7 are the “exact counterpart of the image in the first vision, ⁷² the ten horns being the same as the ten toes of the former prophecy. He gives the standard tabulation of the four beasts, ⁷³ and names the ten horn-nations-Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Sueves and Alans, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Heruli and Thuringi, Saxons and Angles, Huns, and Lombards. ⁷⁴ PFF3 362.2

5. 1260 YEARS OF PAPAL LITTLE HORN (533 TO 1792)

“This little horn,” lie continues, “which is the papal power, rose about the year 533.” ⁷⁵ The three horn-kingdoms plucked up to make way he names as the Ostrogoths, Heruli-Thuringi, and Lombards, who had attempted to establish themselves in Italy. ⁷⁶ After discussing the prophesied characteristics of the Papacy, Maitland places the 1260 year-days from the Justinian acknowledgment of the pope’s headship, in 533, to 1792, when the French support of the papal power fell away and the tenth part of the city fell. ⁷⁷ PFF3 362.3

6. 2300 YEARS IN RELATION TO 1260 AND 1290

Rather oddly, Maitland places the end of the 2300 years and the cleansing of the sanctuary, or “Gentile Temple,” on the eve of the French Revolution, along with the close of the 1260 years. ⁷⁸ This cleansing will be by means of the seven vials, ⁷⁹ and will continue the thirty years, or till the close of the 1290 years and the destruction of the two abominations. Maitland adds: PFF3 363.1

“The daily sacrifice of spiritual worship was taken out of the Gentile-church, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up therein, in the year of our Lord 533. From this period the saints were given into the hands of the Papal power, and permission was granted to that power to exercise dominion and tyrannize over them 1260 years. (See Daniel 7:25; and Revelation 13:5 to 8.)” ⁸⁰ PFF3 363.2

7. DATES 2300 FROM DARIUS, 515 B.C

The 2300 years, he believes, began with the Persian Empire ⁸¹ but are dated from the time of the dedication of the temple and the setting up of the daily sacrifice. ⁸² This he simply places from the sixth year of Darius, 515 B.C. PFF3 363.3

8. HORN OF Daniel 8 PAPAL NOT MOHAMMEDAN

Maitland denies that Mohammedanism is intended by the horn of Daniel 8, and concludes that “beyond a shadow of doubt” the “Roman power is the little horn of this vision.” ⁸³ PFF3 363.4

9. HEAVENLY TEMPLE OPENED AT SEVENTH TRUMPET

According to Maitland the temple of God opened at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, ⁸⁴ when the 1260 and 2300 years are expiring. ⁸⁵ The sixth vial involves the Turkish power and the four sultanies. ⁸⁶ Such were the understandings of a military officer in 1813 and 1814. PFF3 363.5