The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

V. Frere-Champion of 2400 Rendering of Septuagint

On the opposite side of certain of these questions was JAMKS HATIEY FRERE (1779-1866), controversialist writer on prophecy, born at Roydon, Norfolk, in England. His prophetic interpretations stirred considerable discussion on the part of expositors like G. S. Faber, William Cuninghame, and later by S. R. Mail-land. He was likewise interested in educational questions, and about 1838 introduced a phonetic system for teaching the blind to read, and on which he wrote three books. He also devised an inexpensive method of stereotyping books, which was rather widely adopted. ¹¹² Frere first began the study of the historical prophecies of Daniel and John about 1798, and to discuss the question with others in 1813. ¹¹³ This eventuated in his first book in 1815, A Combined View of the Prophecies of Daniel, Esdras, and St. John. (Title page reproduced on page 278.) PFF3 385.2

He was a gifted and logical writer, and author of eleven works, six of which were on Biblical prophecy. These, in addition to his Combined View, were On the General Structure of the Apocalypse (1826), Eight Letters on the Prophecies (1831), The Harvest of the Earth (1846), The Great Continental Revolution (1848), and Notes, forming a Brief Interpretation of the Apocalypse (1850). Though differing sharply from Faber and (Cuninghame on certain features, lie shared with them the view that the seventh trumpet had begun to sound in the French Revolution and that the seven vials were included in it-and that all this was in preparation for the imminent advent. PFF3 386.1

Frere was the leader of that school of interpretation holding that the correct number of Daniel 8:14 is 2400, on the basis of the Vatican Septuagint, instead of 2300. This 2400 years lie dated from the alleged time of the vision, in 553 B.C., and therefore extended it to A.D. 1847. ¹¹⁴ The one seeming advantage of that end date was that it. was in practical agreement with the 1843, 1844, and 1847 termini of the proponents of the 2300 years. The great disadvantage, on the other hand, was that the dating from the giving of the vision, was without regard to their relationship to the seventy weeks. The differences on these points opened the way for years of controversy, and ultimately led to uncertainty and disastrous abandonment, by many, of tin-whole prophetic scheme. PFF3 386.2

Attentive watch needs therefore to be kept of the unfolding conflict between advocates of the 2400-year school of exposition, and those of the 2300. Though the two reckonings ended at approximately the same time, 1847-because some of the adherents to 2300 years missed the B.C. 4 factor, and began them in 453 B.C., and so ended them similarly in 1847 - there were, nevertheless, basic differences. Though not original with Frere, the concept spread from him to Drummond, Wolff, and Irving. From the time of the 1826 Albury Conference onward, it came to symbolize a divergent wing - the Irvingites, who before long lost their prophetic bearings. PFF3 386.3

As noted, Frere’s greatest acquisition was the winning of Edward Irving, one of the most celebrated preachers of London. Irving’s studies with Frere opened a whole new world to him, with prophecy becoming the central theme of his thoughts, speech, and writing. This is frankly stated by Irving in the preface to his Babylon and Infidelity Foredoomed (1826). ¹¹⁵ (Facsimile reproduced on page 378.) Frere was a participant in the Albury Park Prophetic Conference discussions and was instrumental in forming the Society for the Investigation of Prophecy, in 1826. PFF3 387.1

1. SEALS IN THE WEST; TRUMPETS IN THE EAST

Holding the usual interpretation of Daniel 2 and 7 - the four empires, the ten divisions, the little horn as the Papacy, and the kingdom of God ensuing ¹¹⁶ - Frere believed that the seven seals of the Apocalypse depict the history of the Western Empire of Rome, while the seven trumpets parallel chronologically in the Eastern Empire. ¹¹⁷ The “Little Book Opened” he understood to be the history of the church. ¹¹⁸ He defines the prophetic symbols in a “Symbolical Dictionary” section. ¹¹⁹ PFF3 387.2

Frere followed the wake of Galloway in holding the Two Witnesses to be the Old and New Testaments, with their death and resurrection fulfilled in the French Revolution, with its renunciation of Christianity and its Toleration Edict of 1797. PFF3 387.3

2. 1290 AND 1335 EXTEND BEYOND 1260

Basing his position on the year-day principle, ¹²⁰ Frere likewise placed the 1260 years from 533 to 1792, the 1290 years from 533 to 1822-23, terminating with the close of the seven vials, and the 1335 years from 533 to 1867, when he believed the millennial kingdom of Christ should begin. But the 2400 years, as noted, Frere allocates from 553 B.C. to A.D. 1847, when the sanctuary of the Eastern church should be cleansed from the corruption of Mohammedan superstition. ¹²¹ The ram and the he-goat are, of course, Medo-Persia and Greda, ¹²² but Frere held the exceeding great horn to be Mohammedanism. ¹²³ PFF3 387.4

3. CONTRASTS SCHEMES OF FABER AND CUNINGHAME

Frereenters into a minute study of the leading positions on prophecy, particularly the chronological relationship of the seals, trumpets, and vials. ¹²⁴ Space precludes following his details. He diagramed the schemes of Faber and Cuninghame, showing how Faber puts the seals before the trumpets, while Cuninghame synchronizes them, ¹²⁵ and capitalies on their differences. He shows how Faber puts the 1260 years from 606 to 1866, while Cuninghame places the 1260 years From 533-1792, the 1290 years (beginning synchronously with the 1260 in 533) extending thirty years beyond, to 1822, and in the same way the 1335 years reaching on to 1867. ¹²⁶ In the latter features, however, he was in agreement with Cuninghame. PFF3 388.1

4. ENDS 2400 MIDWAY BETWEEN 1290 AND 1335]

Frere holds tenaciously to the terminus of the 1260 years in 1792, the 1290 years in 1822, and the 1335 in 1867 ¹²⁷ thus making the year 1867 the focal point of his scheme, and having the 2400 years end midway between the 1822 and 1867 end dates for the 1290- and 1335-year periods respectively. He is equally tenacious following Faber-in holding that the 2400 years begin in 553 B.C., the “third year of Belshazzar,” and end in 1847. ¹²⁸ PFF3 388.2

5. SOCIETIES PROCLAIMING JUDGMENT-HOUR MESSAGE

Sixteen years later, in 1831, alter the Albury Park Conferences -FOCAL POINT OK DISCUSSION! -and after much discussion in the interim, Frere reiterates the same views of the prophetic periods and their dates in his Eight Letters on the Prophecies, Relating Lo the Last Times. ¹²⁹ Discussing the flying angel of Revelation 14:6, Frere envisions in its symbolism the contemporary Bible and other societies, with the exaltation of the Two Testaments (Witnesses) after three and a half years of the denial of their authority under the French Revolution, as portrayed in Revelation 11. ¹³⁰ This announcement of the hour of God’s judgment is designed to prepare for the awful events impending, and to bring men to repentance, though others will be hardened. ¹³¹ So there were pronounced similarities. PFF3 388.3

6. PROPHETIC SOCIETIES FOREWARN BABYLON’S DOOM

The second angel’s prophetic proclamation, Frere holds, is to warn of the judgments to be visited upon the Papacy under the outpouring of the vials, and is being fulfilled in the “particular attention” being given to the prophecies and the warnings of numerous writers, and in such discourses and writings as Irving’s Babylon and Infidelity Foredoomed ¹³² and in those prophetic societies that meet weekly for the discussion of prophecy, with special annual meetings. ¹³³ The whole earth, he continues, is to be “lightened with the glory of God through the study of his word of prophecy.” ¹³⁴ PFF3 389.1

7. REFORMATION SOCIETIES CALLING OUT OF BABYLON

The third contemporary work of the church, as signified by the third angel of Revelation 14, is, he believed, “calling the elect people of God out of the mystic Babylon.” ¹³⁵ This emphasis was particularly manifest in Britain when in 1827 the Society “To Promote the Religious Principles of the Reformation” was formed, though it started originally through the attempts of a few clergymen in Ireland. PFF3 389.2

8. TIME OF TROUBLE AND ARMAGEDDON IMMINENT

Frere held that the last great conflict will center in Judea, according to Daniel 11:45. ¹³⁶ And again Frere stresses the cleansing of the sanctuary in 1817, placing this event in the time of unexampled trouble of Daniel 12:1, which will mark the expiration of the “times of the Gentiles.” Armageddon, he therefore contends, is not far distant. ¹³⁷ PFF3 390.1

9. VIALS BEGAN WITH FRENCH REVOLUTION

In The Harvest of the Earth (1846), Frere places “the harvest” as “prior to the vintage of wrath.” He emphasizes again the three societies to prepare the world for the final judgment-the Bible and the missionary organizations, the prophetic societies, and the Reformation societies, in their order of progressive fulfillment.” ¹³⁸ PFF3 390.2

Frere still held steadfastly to these basic positions in his last work, The Great Continental Revolution., Marking the Expiration of the Times of the Gentiles, A.D. 1847-8 (1849). The 1260 years were set forth as from March, 533, to the abolition of royalty in the French Revolution in September, 1792, with the 1290 years closing in 1823 and the 1335 ending in 1867. The seven vials lead through the national profession of infidelity in France in 1792, the Reign of Terror in 1793-94, the overthrow of the papal government in Rome, 1796-98, the tyrannical reign of Napoleon, 1802-14, the army of occupation of France, 1815-18. And the sixth vial, in the Eastern Empire, involves the dismembering of the Turkish Empire, and in the Western Empire, the revolutions of Naples, Piedmont, Spain, and Portugal, in 1820-23 ¹³⁹ One section, addressed to Dr. Joseph Wolff, still deals extensively with the 2400 reading versus the 2300, on the basis of the manuscript. ¹⁴⁰ PFF3 390.3