The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

II. Mason-Dates Joint Beginning From 457 B.C.

ARCHIBALD MASON (1753-1831), of Wishawton, Scotland, was born in Bargody, Lanarkshire, of deeply religious parents. He was chosen to preach by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1783, and was ordained at Wishawton, Scotland, in 1787, where he ministered continuously for forty years. Andrew Symington, in his memoir, declares that Mason “longed for the glory of the latter days.” ²⁶ He was favorably known to the religious public through his eleven principal books, issued between 179’! and 1829. “In consideration of these writings” he “received in 18.’!! the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the College of Schenectady in North America.” ²⁷ PFF3 396.4

Though Mason was author of a do/en works, only four pertain to our quest. These, stretching over a period of fourteen years (1818-1827), show a definite progression in expanding interests and in accuracy of interpretation. His biographer states, “It was the very delight of his soul to preach Christ in the character of the Mediator,” ²⁸ one of his earliest books being on this theme. He constantly expounded the prophecies by word and pen. Says Symington: PFF3 396.5

“By these discourses he was brought into contact with that part of the religious community which had turned their attention particularly to the fulfillment of prophecy. While he enters with great ardour into the subject, he speaks with due submission in his calculations of times and avoids the extravagances into which not a few ran in these matters. He was invited to attend a meeting in the house of Henry Drummond, Esq. at Albury Park. on the 2Hih October. 1827 for a conference on prophetic subjects. His distance, advanced life, and other things, prevented his attendance, but he wrote remarks on the different topics of discussion and declared his sentiments about the coming of Christ at the destruction of anti-Christ, in agreement with what he published.” ²⁹ PFF3 396.6

1. PROPHETIC IDEM IKICATION OK ANTICHRIST

Mason’s first treatise to enter the field of prophetic exposition was issued in 1818-An Inquiry Into the Times that Shall Be Fulfilled at Antichrist’s Fall; the Church’s Blessedness in Her Millennial Rest; The Signs that this Happy Season is at Hand; the Prophetic Numbers Contained in the / 5. 75 Days; and the Christian’s Duty, at this Interesting Crisis in Five Discourses. ³⁰ The initial discussion pertains to the soon-coming “stone” kingdom that smites the image of Daniel 2 on the feet of iron and clay. ³¹ At this time Antichrist’s allotted reign will end, or be fulfilled. Mason cites Daniel 7:8, 21, 25, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, Revelation 13:11 if., and Revelation 17. Of the papal Antichrist Mason says: PFF3 397.1

“These are some of the predictions concerning the rise, character, and conduct of the ecclesiastic beast of Rome. The history of the Romish church, and of the Popes who have been at the head of it. clearly shews, that, black and frightful as the representations are. they have not been exaggerated. It is not necessary that every feature in this prophetic drawing, should be found in this beast at his childhood, nor that they should all prominently appear in him in his old age: sullicient certainly it must be, il they are all applicable to him, in the course of his life and actings.” ³² PFF3 397.2

These characteristics are: Rising among Rome’s ten divisions, pretended vicarship of Christ, claim to infallibility, usurped power to depose and set up kings, hatred of true church, anathemas and edicts, cruel persecutions, worldly wisdom, and blasphemous names. He adds, “So do these inspired predictions delineate the abominations of popery.” ³³ PFF3 397.3

2. VARIKD ASI’F.CNS UNDER SAMK. 1260 YEARS

Mason asserts that the “time of his existence and power shall he fulfilled,” because “those prophets whom the Lord employed to foretell his rise and reign, predict also his fall and ruin.” ³⁴ Then he quotes the words of Daniel, Paul, and John concerning the fall of the system, adding: PFF3 398.1

“Such shall be the end of the lamb-horned, but dragon-mouthed beast, which has successfully propagated error, idolatry, immorality, and persecution on the earth.” ³⁵ PFF3 398.2

The rather common concept of the two beasts of Revelation 13 is shared by Mason as “the secular and ecclesiastic” aspects involved in the Papacy. ³⁶ Their time is the same as that of the woman in the wilderness, the two witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, and the prevailing power of the Little Morn. When she is delivered from the power of the Horn, she emerges from the wilderness and finishes her sackcloth witness. All these are comprehended in the three and a half prophetic “times.” PFF3 398.3

3. CONTEMPORARY RECOGNITION OF TIMES Is SIGN OF END

The contemporaneous running to and fro in, and understanding of, the prophecies concerning the end, is stressed: PFF3 398.4

“It is a certain mark of the time of the end, when many persons are excited, in the providence of God, to employ their time and abilities in the investigation of Divine predictions, in the observation of Divine providences, and in the application of the one to the other, that they may know, and declare to the church, how far inspired prophecy is accomplished, by the things that have come to pass in our days.” ³⁷ PFF3 398.5

Mason asserts that “we are bound to consider those things as a sign that this happy season will soon arrive,” because so many are engaged in explaining these predictions.” ³⁸ n fact, he declares, nothing of such “extent” and “perspicuity” has ever appeared before, and must not go unrecognized as “a sign of the coming of his kingdom.” ³⁹ Simeon, Anna, and Joseph of Arimathaea were awaiting the first advent, and before that there was the expectation of deliverance from the seventy years’ captivity. So Mason pertinently adds: PFF3 398.6

“When there is a very general expectation existing in the minds of believers, that Christ’s kingdom, in her millennial glory, is soon to be established in the earth, we may consider it as a sign that this blessed deliverance is at hand. If the nature of this expectation, its extent among Christians, and the ground on which they rest their hope, are duly considered, it will appear to be an unquestionable sign, that the desired object is near-It is not a mere speculative opinion, or a bare conjecture; but it is a religious hope founded on the Divine promises, creating in them an earnest desire that God, for the glory of his name, and in mercy to immortal souls, would speedily send his gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth-This hope is also become very general among Christians, and multitudes of them are now looking for redemption to the church, and waiting for the kingdom of God.-The ground of their hope is the same with that of Daniel. Like-that holy Prophet, they understand by the books of inspired prophecy, that the number of the years which God would accomplish in the desolations of his church is now coming to an end. The existence, therefore, of such an expectation in those who are truly religious and well informed, is a sign that the millennial day is at hand.” ⁴⁰ PFF3 399.1

4. 1335 CONTAINS THK 12(50 AND 1290 YEARS

Coming to the 1335 days in relation to the 1260 arid 1290 contained within it, Mason holds that the 1335 days represent the gross number with respect “to the church’s low condition, and to the reign and tyranny of the Antichristian horn.” ⁴¹ To the 1260 he adds 30 for the 1290, and 45 more, or a total of 75, for the 1335 days. In this Mason begins with the 1260 days (42 months or three and a half times) “of the continuance of antichrist’s power.” ⁴² These “different representations describe a number of the same duration.” lie adds: PFF3 399.2

“The beautiful harmony of those descriptions of this number establishes the truth of this explanation of them, and shows that they describe a period of the same duration.” ⁴³ PFF3 399.3

5. TOUCHES PAPACY, JEWS, AND MILLENNIUM

Each of these days is “the prophetic symbol for one year,” according to Ezekiel 4. And the first number (1260) is the “time of the beasts war with the church, and of her depressed state,” which must continue for the “long season of 1260 years.” ⁴⁴ Then Mason’s argument continues: PFF3 399.4

“Besides, there are two other numbers, which must be added to Daniel’s 1260 years, one of 30, and another of 45 days, which must expire before the church’s happy condition will begin. The 30 days must also signify 30 years, and the 45 days must represent 45 years; and these, being added together, form Daniel’s gross number, of one thousand three hundred and five and thirty years.” ⁴⁵ PFF3 400.1

On the basis of Daniel 12, Mason connects the deliverance of the Jews with the close of the 1290 year-days-which begin with the taking away of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the abomination. ⁴⁶ Forty-five years after the close of the 1290 years-or at the end of the 1335 years-“the period of great blessedness shall then be introduced.” ⁴⁷ PFF3 400.2

“The last year of the 13S5 years, will be the first year of the blessed millennium. It cannot begin sooner; for the church is not blessed till she wait and come to that ear: It cannot be delayed till the following year; for when that year shall arrive, her blessedness shall begin.” ⁴⁸ PFF3 400.3

6. ENDS 133.5 YEARS IN 1866-67

Beginning the 1260 years with 533, Mason ends them in 1792 when the judgments begin to fall on the Papacy. The sequence of the three periods is: PFF3 400.4

“From 533 till 1792 inclusive of these years, we have Daniel’s number of 12GO years. The 30 additional years, and the number of 1290 years, will terminate in 1822. when the public conversion and restoration of Israel will probably begin. The second additional number of 75 years and the gross number of 1335 will come to their end in 1867. ⁴⁹ PFF3 400.5

In the Appendix to tin Inquiry Into the Prophetic Numbers Contained in The 1335 Days, he repeats the argument. ⁵⁰ This position lie never abandoned. PFF3 400.6

7. SEVENTY WEEKS FIRST PART OF 2300 DAYS

Mason’s great contribution, however, was his Two Essays on Daniel’s Prophetic Number of Two Thousand Three Hundred Days and on the Christian’s Duty to Inquire into the Church’s Deliverance (1820). It was this treatise that had such a far-reaching influence upon the advent awakening on both sides of the Atlantic, and that was cited with admiration by the Millerites a score of years later. In discussing Daniel 8:13, 14, Mason first defines the terms involved: PFF3 400.7

“The daily sacrifice, in this vision, signifies the instituted worship of God in the church; and the desolation and treading down of the sanctuary and the host, means the error, superstition and idolatry, that were established instead of that worship. The question is an inquiry into the time that must elapse from the date of this number, to the time when the profanation of the sanctuary and the host shall come to an end, and the true worship of Cod shall be restored. This question is answered in the following words. ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days.’ The answer also describes the event which will take place at the expiration of those days; and assures us, upon the veracity ol that God whose servant the angel was, of the certainty of that event, ‘Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” ⁵¹ PFF3 401.1

Mason first rejects the opinion of Magnus Friedrich Roos in Exposition of the Prophecies of Daniel, who interprets this text to mean 2300 Jewish evening and morning sacrifices on 1150 whole days.” ⁵² He takes similar exception to Bicheno and Faber ⁵³ lie then sets forth the view that the visions of the 2300 days of Daniel 8 and the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 began “at the same time.” ⁵⁴ (Title page of Two Essays is on page 290.) PFF3 401.2

8. BOTH VISIONS BEGIN WITH PERSIA

Mason contends “that the clearness of the latter number is intended to remove the obscurity of the former; that the seventy weeks are the first part of the 2300 days; and that both numbers commenced at the same time.” ⁵⁵ He adds that the 2300 days is the only number that begins under the Jewish dispensation and “extends to the time of the end.” Also, the same angel explains both visions ⁵⁶ The “reasonableness and probability” of this thesis assumes the proportions of a “certainty.” This is followed by clear reasoning on the very structure and historical demands of Daniel 8 and 9. The vision of the Persian ram and Grecian goat begins with Persia, and the seventy weeks begin with the command of a Persian king-the Babylonian kingdom having passed. ⁵⁷ And both visions refer to the sanctuary-the vision of Daniel 8 to show the desolation and cleansing of the sanctuary, and the vision of the ninth an answer to his prayer for light to “shine upon thy sanctuary.” ⁵⁸ And the 2300 days is not connected with any other period but the seventy weeks. It has to do with the popish pollutions of the sanctuary ⁵⁹ PFF3 401.3

9. SEVENTY WEEKS BEGIN WITH ARTAXERXES’ DECREE

Mason now mentions the pamphlet he had “lately seen” by William C. Davis, of South Carolina, which was first published in America, and “republished in 1818, at Workington, in the North of England.” ⁶⁰ Concerning Davis’ basic contention that the 2300 days commenced with Daniel’s seventy weeks, Mason frankly states: “In this opinion I am constrained to concur. Though there are some things in his manner of calculating them, with which I do not agree.” ⁶¹ PFF3 402.1

Mason criticizes Davis’ failure to notice the decree as marking the beginning of the seventy weeks, “but arbitrarily fixes its termination in the 37th year of the Christian era.” ⁶² On the contrary Mason insists that it should be in this wise: PFF3 402.2

“The decree of the Persian king, mentioned in this prophecy, must be the decree of Artaxerxes given to Ezra, in the seventh year of that monarch’s reign. The decrees of Cyrus and Darius were too early, and the decree of Artaxerxes, in the twentieth year of his reign, given to Nehemiah, was too late, for answering the prediction.-Artaxerxes issued his decree to Ezra, in the 457th year before Christ. If we add to this number 33 years, which was our Redeemer’s age at his crucifixion, we have 490 years.” ⁶³ PFF3 402.3

10. 457 B.C. SUBTRACTED FROM 2300 LEAVES A.D. 1843

Discussing- the component parts of the seventy weeks and the crucifixion of Christ in A.D. 33, in the midst of the seventieth week-which began with the public baptism of Jesus-Mason comes to his climax in clear reasoning on the time feature. Having shown that the 2300 days and seventy weeks begin together he continues: PFF3 402.4

“The two thousand three hundred years began four hundred and ninety years before the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and four hundred and fifty-seven years before his birth, at which the Christian era commenced. It we subtract 457 from 2300, the remainder will give that year in the Christian era, when the 2300 years will expire. By this simple operation, we find that this number will end in 1843. In that year, the Lord’s sanctuary shall be cleansed, the church and the nations will be delivered from the abominations of the Mother of Harlots, and Popery will perish from the earth.” ⁶⁴ PFF3 402.5

11. FANCIFUL ANALOGY LEADS TO 1866

Instead of drawing upon the Day of Atonement type for the intent of the “cleansing of the sanctuary,” Mason cites 2 Chronicles 29:3, 15, 17-19 concerning the physical cleansing of the pollutions of the earthly sanctuary in the time of Hezekiah. ⁶⁵ The pollutions under Aha were taken as a type of the pollutions under Romanism. But this was clustered about the celebration of the Passover in the first month. And Mason develops another idea: PFF3 403.1

“May not those twenty-tour days, which elapsed between the cleansing of the temple and the keeping of that passover, be an emblem of the twenty four years, which will intervene between 1843, when the church will be delivered from popery, and 1867, when the blessed millennium will begin?” ⁶⁶ PFF3 403.2

12. STRANGE ALLOCATION OF “666 YEARS.”

Another curious bit of reckoning is that “from the year 133, before Christ, when the Roman Empire became an Asiatic state, till A.D. 533, when the emperor Justinian constituted the Bishop of Rome the head over all the churches, there were 666 years.” ⁶⁷ Then Mason reverts to his early formula: PFF3 403.3

“From 533 till 1792 inclusive, we have Daniel’s 1260 years, when the judgment began to sit, and the vials to be poured out. From 1792 till 1822, Daniel’s number of 30 years [1290] is fulfilled. By adding 45 years to 1822 | the 1335 years], we are brought to 1867.” ⁶⁸ PFF3 403.4

But he ends with repetition of this strong note: PFF3 403.5

“Daniel’s 2300 years, commencing with the 70 weeks, in the 457th year before Christ, will terminate in A.D. 1843, when the sanctuary will be cleansed from popish abominations.” ⁶⁹ PFF3 403.6

13. SIXTH VIAL INVOLVES TURKISH OVERTHROW

Mason’s final work, Remarks on the Sixth Vial, Symbolizing the Fall of the Turkish Empire (1827), contends: PFF3 403.7

“It is universally agreed, I believe, that this trumpet predicts the rise. the power, the ravages, the cruelty, and the conquests of the turks. 1 o no other system will the particular parts of the prediction apply; but in it every circumstance in the prophetic description has been realized.” ⁷⁰ PFF3 404.1

In both the trumpets and the vials the Euphrates is the place of origin and must refer to the same thing. Both refer to the Turkish Empire. This Mohammedan Turkish power is spoken of as the “eastern antichrist,” as the Papacy is the Western. The Turkish Empire must fall before the Man of Sin shall go into perdition, and the predictions of the sixth vial must be accomplished before the complete fall of the Papacy, Babylon the Great. Thus: PFF3 404.2

“As the fall of Turkey will prepare the way of the eastern nations, so the fall of Popery will prepare the way of the western nations, to come to the brightness of our Redeemer’s rising in the east.” ⁷¹ PFF3 404.3