The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3
VI. Dialogues-Composite View of Prophetic Emphasis
As previously noted, the three-volume Dialogues on Prophecy (1828, 1829) contains the views of the participants of the Albury Park Prophetic Conferences, beginning in 1826, as drawn from their conversations and writings. 91 All who were present had written on, or had been engaged in, the discussion of the prophecies. At the close of the sessions “perfect unanimity was ultimately found to prevail” 92 upon a number of points. These are the more significant for our quest because they now represent a united group view. And the premillennial advent was the primary issue at the root of their controversies with others. PFF3 455.4
1. UNITED ON SIX-POINT PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION
Their clearly defined six-point platform needs to be noted: PFF3 456.1
a. That the present Christian dispensation is “not to pass insensibly into the millennial state by gradual increase of the preaching of the gospel; but that it is to be terminated by judgments, ending in the destruction of this visible church and polity.” PFF3 456.2
b. That “during the time these judgments are falling upon Christendom” the Jews will be restored to their own land. PFF3 456.3
c. That the “judgments will fall principally” upon Christendom. PFF3 456.4
d. That the “termination of these judgments” will be succeeded by the millennium. PFF3 456.5
e. That the second advent “precedes or takes place at the commencement of the Millennium.” PFF3 456.6
f. That the 1260 years “commence in the reign of Justinian and terminate at the French Revolution,” the seven vials then begin to be poured out, and the advent is therefore soon at hand. 93 PFF3 456.7
Fictitious names appear in the colloquy. But their identity is disclosed by J. W. Brooks in his Dictionary of Writers on the Prophecies, 94 and a list of the participants also occurs in Miller’s History and Doctrines of Irvingism. 95 PFF3 456.8
2. JUDGMENT-HOUR MESSAGE FREQUENTLY CITED
How ever, the statements were not always made by the person just at the time or in the order presented in the Dialogues. Various religious magazines charged that the positions taken at the conference were “novel,” “heretical,” and a “modern invention.” But others, equally prominent, joined in certain of their conclusions; so the critics contradicted one another. 96 The names of the great expositors of the past are frequently cited in the Dialogues-such as Mede, Newton, Cressener, Whiston, King -as well as contemporary opinion, like that of Cuninghame, Frere, Bayford, Brown, etc., 97 several of whom were present. Frequent reference is made to the angelic message of Revelation 14, “Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come,” and its contemporary fulfillment by the various societies-Bible, Jewish, Continental, etc. 98 The church at large, however, is declared to be “in a state of practical unbelief” on the premillennial second advent. 99 PFF3 456.9
3. SUNDRY SYMBOLS-FRANCE, TURKEY, AND PAPACY
They said that Daniel 11 is obviously a literal prophecy of a “succession of individuals,” but has not yet had an exposition that has received “the general consent of the church.” 100 But the four empires of Daniel 2 are frequently mentioned as having an established interpretation, with Rome as the fourth world power, and the ten divisions still in existence. 101 The termination of the 1260 years at the French Revolution, or earthquake, is another generally accepted axiom. 102 A “new era” clearly began with the French Revolution. The fifth vial had been poured out on Rome, and the sixth is the drying up of the Turkish Euphrates. 103 The symbolic little horn of Daniel 7 is always “the papacy.” 104 PFF3 457.1
4. 2300 YEARS TO END IN 1843 OR 1847
The controversy over the 2300 years, or 2400 as Frere contends, was taken up, and defense of the 2300 is made by Sophron (Cuninghame), and the number 2400 is shown to be “nothing but a misprint.” 105 Philalethes (Lord Mandeville) then asks how the 2300 are to be dated. Anastasius (Drummond) answers by citing the various Persian decrees, and declaring for that of Artaxerxes Longimanus, with 453 B.C. and A.D. 1847 as the beginning and end years. 106 But he also notes Mason’s advocacy of 457 B.C., which would end the period in 1843. The 1290 and 1335 years are set forth as ex tending thirty and seventy-five years, respectively, beyond the close of the 1260 years, with which they are started simultaneously. 107 PFF3 457.2
Crito (Frere) also mentions the five months, or 150 years, of the Saracenic woe, and the Jubilee of jubilees, or 2450 years, from B.C. 603 to 1847, while Anastasius speaks of the “seven times,” or 2520 years, of the Gentiles. 108 PFF3 458.1
5. MIDNIGHT CRY FROM A HUNDRED PULPITS
Volume 2 of the Dialogues, likewise appearing in 1828, continues the discussion of Turkey’s predicted disintegration, and again notes the signs which presage the second advent, especially how Europe has been torn by the wars following the French Revolution. Then comes this impressive declaration by Sophron (Cuninghame), on the extent of the “cry” at that time: PFF3 458.2
“The midnight cry which awakens the virgins, can be nothing but a company of preachers, proclaiming the coming of the Bridegroom, and that cry has been made. PFF3 458.3
“Philalethes.-How can it be said that that cry has been made by a company of preachers when so few of them believe it? PFF3 458.4
“Sophron.-I could name, nevertheless, above one hundred pulpits in London, and various parts of England, in which the cry has been clearly and loudly made; and there is scarcely an individual in the kingdom that has not heard of it.” 109 PFF3 458.5
6. MESSAGES OF Revelation 14 BEING GIVEN
Aristo (Irving) states: “All agree that the thirteenth [of Revelation]relates to the Papacy. The twelfth chapter describes the Dragon, or Pagan period of the church’s history; and the fourteenth gives the state of the true church in opposition to the two former.” 110 The favored band of Revelation 14:1-5 is comprised of those “not defiled with papal harlotries.” The successive angels do not simply follow after the preceding has ceased, “but rather going along with, like waves rolling on each other,” and so may be “nearly synchronical.” 111 There is reference not only to the Continental Society in London but to its auxiliaries in Ire land, France, and Prussia, together with Reformation Societies then all over Ireland, as well as a society of clergymen in London established “on purpose to preach against popery.” 112 PFF3 458.6
Almost incidentally, in another connection, the impressive suggestion is dropped by Valerius, who has not been identified: PFF3 459.1
“The High Priest coming out of the Holy of Holies, having changed his robes and put on the shining garments, can represent nothing but Christ coming out of heaven in glory, without the sins of the people.” 113 PFF3 459.2
This position became predominant in the American Ad vent Movement in 1844, as will be seen when that is discussed. PFF3 459.3
7. LIVING IN TOE PERIOD OF IMAGE
Aristo (Irving) rehearses Daniel’s famous prophecy of the colossal image, naming the four world powers and referring to the “ten Gothic Kingdoms.” He adds: PFF3 459.4
“This statue is now in the toes; and in the battle of Armageddon, these, and all the rest of it, are ground into dust, by the smiting of the stone cut out without hands.” 114 PFF3 459.5
And Daniel 7 represents “the same fourfold succession of brutal power.” But with it the restoration of the Jews is pressed, as they are identified with the kings of the East, to come as the symbolic Euphrates is dried up. 115 PFF3 459.6
8. OMINOUS SILENCE ON ADVENT BROKEN
The bulk of volume 3 of the Dialogues, published in 1829, which closes the series, has little on prophecy. Nearly thirty pages are devoted to the Day of Atonement and the attendant Feast of Tabernacles. 116 The world outline of Daniel 2 is repeated, with particular emphasis on the geographical location of each of the four kingdoms, and how for centuries “papal iniquity,” Mohammedanism, and now infidelity have raged. Anastasius (Drummond) adds that 5,768,900 infidel volumes had been circulated within twelve years, 117 and the vengeance of the Papacy is on. 118 But now, “all on a sudden, in so many parts, He [Christ] has made His church to break the ominous silence, and speak of His Appearing. It is not for nought, nor is it for disappointment, that He opened unto us His prophecy, and given [gave] us to speak of His kingdom.” 119 PFF3 459.7
9. EARLY CHURCH MADE LOVE TO KINGS
The early church “could not bear the prosperity of being established over the Roman Empire.” Then it was that she “forgot that she was a widow; she forgot that her husband was absent in the heavens, and was to appear again for the justification; she made love to the kings of the earth and gave herself to them.” 120 But God has raised up witnesses concerning the coming destruction of the “Antichristian papacy” at the second advent, when the great Judge will come to redress these wrongs. But now Protestantism has ceased her protests, and the majority neither look nor pray for that coming of the Son of man. 121 Such is the tenor of these Dialogues on Prophecy, representing the discussions at the Al bury Park Prophetic Conferences. PFF3 460.1