The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3
IV. Hooper-2300 Ends in 1847; Angelic Messenger Flying
The persistent and even predominant interest in the 2300 years is attested again by the next two expositors-both rectors in the Church of England. The first is JOHN HOOPER, curate of Westbury, Wilts, and then rector of Albury, in Surrey. 66 He was author of a number of works on prophecy and the advent. In 1829 he wrote The Doctrine of the Second Advent, an address to the members of the Church of England. Then followed The Present Crisis, while he was still at Westbury. Equally stressing the imminent advent, both treatises had texts on the title pages on understanding the times, the imperativeness of prophecy, the nearness of the kingdom of God, and the soon-coming ad vent. In 1844 he wrote A Word in Season; then Apocalypsis; or, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, and The Kingdom of God in 1846, The Advent in 1847, as well as lesser items. PFF3 564.3
1. STANDARD POSITION ON DANIEL’S OUTLINES
Hooper presents a terse but clear outline of the empires of the great metallic image of Daniel 2, the feet and toes of the Western Roman Empire, “waiting the fall of that stone, which shall grind it to powder.” 67 Then follows the impressive paralleling prophecy of Daniel 7, with the Little Horn as “none other than the Pope or Antichrist.” 68 Attention is given to the message of Revelation 14, calling out the chosen ones from the “church of Rome, ‘the mother of harlots and abominations of the whole earth.’” 69 The 1260 years are dated from 533 to 1793, when the judgment upon the Papacy began. The 1290 years extend to 1823, and the 1335 years continue to 1868. 70 PFF3 564.4
2. DATES 2300 YEARS FROM 453 B.C. TO A.D. 1847
Hooper places the finishing of the mystery of God and the full establishment of His kingdom at the end of the 1335 years. 71 But his main argument concerns Daniel 8:14 and the ending of the “2300 days or years.” Hooper refers to the diversity of dates for the terminal point, owing to the difficulty in determining its commencement. The seventy weeks, he continues, “clearly specify some great public transaction, from which we are to commence dating”-the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. 72 This he dates from the complete re-establishment of the daily sacrifice, which was effected in the time of Ezra, and, according to Home, in 453 B.C. 73 This ends the period in 1847, with its climactic events: PFF3 565.1
“If we date, then, from this epoch, it will bring us to the year of our Lord 1847: ‘Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ B.C. 453, + A.D. 1847 = 2300. Now this cleansing of the sanctuary must include the seventh or last vial, which brings the great and terrible day of the Lord, when he shall come with his holy ones to take vengeance on the wicked adversary, who perishes at the battle of Armageddon.” 74 PFF3 565.2
3. MIGHTY EVENTS MARK INTERVENING TIME
If the foregoing calculation be correct, Hooper continues, “in about 18 years from the present time, (1829), the sanctuary or Jerusalem will be cleansed.” 75 And during the intervening period “mighty events” would occur-the drying up, or gradual consumption, of the Turkish power, the restoration of the lost tribes of Israel, and the total destruction of Babylon the great, culminating in “the coming of our Lord with all his saints.” 76 Thus he concludes: PFF3 565.3
“The glorious manifestation, therefore, of the Son of Man cannot be far distant! and the awful judgments, which are invariably spoken of throughout the Prophets, as preceding his advent-may be daily, yea, hourly expected.” 77 PFF3 566.1
4. SIGNS OF IMMINENT END INCLUDE TURKEY
Listing next the prophetic signs of Matthew 24-the gospel to all nations, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, distress of nations, and overturning of governments-Hooper asserts that these “began to take place at the French Revolution.” Then the luminaries of the political heavens of the Roman earth were eclipsed. The “entire overthrow of the ten kingdoms,” he believes to be at hand. 78 He thinks this will be the last sign before the appearance of Christ. The seven vials, he holds, are in process of being poured out, with the fulfilling of the sixth involving the “gradual exhaustion” of the Turkish Empire. PFF3 566.2
5. HARBINGERS OF THE SECOND ADVENT
Hooper’s second treatise, The Present Crisis, begins by commenting on the general conviction that humanity had arrived at some great crisis hour of history. The Bible presents its character, and sets forth present conditions as a sign of the “speedy and glorious appearing of the Son of Man,” involving “the restoration of the Jews the destruction of antichrist and the resurrection of the saints.” 79 PFF3 566.3
Hooper purposes to show the “striking correspondence” between the prophetic declarations and the “present times.” 80 He lists the preaching of the gospel to all nations, the abounding of iniquity, the degenerate state of the church, the scoffers at the advent, the distress of nations, the churches being admonished of the near approach of the Bridegroom, the ending of the 1260 years, the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the drying up of the mystic Euphrates. These, he declares, are among the “harbingers of the glorious appearing of the Son of Man,-of the resurrection of his saints,-and of his millennial glory.” 81 PFF3 566.4
6. PHENOMENAL MISSIONS ADVANCE A SIGN
Hooper cites the unparalleled spread of the gospel to the world-how more had been accomplished in the last thirty-five years than through out the previous Christian Era. 82 The light thrown upon the prophetic word is then stressed, as “many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased.” Never since the first advent has the prophetic Word been “so much studied.” 83 He adds: PFF3 566.5
“‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ,’ contained in the Apocalypse, shewing the coming of the Just One, with all his saints, to the destruction of the apostate nations, is now made so plain to the church, that none can, or, at least, ought to be ignorant of it.” 84 PFF3 567.1
“The opening, then, and unfolding of the prophetic word, is another convincing proof that we are arrived at the end of the age; the unsealing of prophecy, and the revelation of the ‘mystery of God,’ being reserved unto the time of the end,’ Daniel 12:9: Revelation 10:7.” 85 PFF3 567.2
7. THE FLYING ANGEL IN FULFILLMENT
Of the admonishing of the church he says: PFF3 567.3
“The ministers of Jehovah have proclaimed, ‘Behold the Bridegroom cometh!’ and as certainly as the cry has been made, so certainly will the Bridegroom come.” 86 PFF3 567.4
Not until the “great political earthquake” of 1792 was the church “aroused from her slumbers,” when she began earnestly to fulfill His long-neglected command. 87 Then follow these remarkable statements: PFF3 567.5
“Who cannot perceive in all this the fulfilment of the apocalyptic vision,-‘the angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the ever lasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people? Revelation 14:6. And what follows? Another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen! A third calls upon the nations to separate from her fornications,-the Son of man is seen sitting on a white cloud,-the harvest of earth is reaped.” 88 PFF3 567.6
“The fact of the wide, rapid, and almost universal spread of the gospel, is one of the signs of the present times, which is ‘a witness to the nations’ of the approaching downfall of Babylon, and of the glorious coming of the Son of man. Reader, hast thou embraced the great salvation revealed in the gospel? If not, delay no longer to seek this one thing needful; rest not till thou hast found peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ,- till this gospel, which is travelling over the world as the messenger of mercy, prove the power of God to the salvation of thy soul.” 89 PFF3 567.7
In former times the church was looking for the advent, but because of the “apparent delay,” it had “fallen asleep.” But during this “night of sleep,” Hooper says, “the church has been aroused by an alarm of the Bridegroom’s approach.” 90 PFF3 568.1
8. 1260 YEARS (533-1792) HAD ENDED
Hooper emphasizes the “expiration of the 1260 prophetic days or years,” during which the saints of the Most High had been given into the hands of the Papacy, the holy city trodden underfoot, the witnesses prophesied in sackcloth, and the church preserved in the wilderness. This is his comment: PFF3 568.2
“The events of 1792, marked the termination of this period; then the people of God were delivered from the persecuting power of the papacy; popery received its mortal wound, and could no longer trample the servants of the Redeemer under foot; the slaying of the witnesses, (viz. the Old and New Testament,) under the infidel ascendancy-their subsequent resurrection-their ascent to heaven, or the patronage they received from kingly power, proved that they had completed the number of their days, in which they were to prophecy in sackcloth, Revelation 11:7-12.” 91 PFF3 568.3
This is further confirmed, he continues, by the earthquake which took place in the same hour “when the tenth part of the papal city (viz. France) fell.” 92 PFF3 568.4
9. 1290 YEARS ENDED; 1335 SOON EXPIRING
The vials, he believes, began to be poured out in 1792, as with the ending of the 1260 years “time should be no longer.” So in the thirty-seven years since 1792, the 1290 years had expired, and entry had been made into the 1335 years. So he concludes that they are living “beyond the 1260 years.” 93 Thus he holds that the seventh trump began to sound in 1792, 94 and during its sounding “the first resurrection is to take place, and the bodies of the living saints are to be changed.” 95 Then he bursts forth: PFF3 568.5
“Oh! what a glorious sight will the manifestation of the sons of God be! each made like unto Christ’s glorified body, shining with united and eternal splendour, like the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever.” 96 PFF3 568.6
10. EXHAUSTION OF TURKEY FOLLOWED BY BABYLON’S FALL.
He says in conclusion, “The drying up, therefore, of the mystic River Euphrates, by which is signified, the exhaustion of the power and strength of the Turkish Empire, will lead to the destruction of Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” 97 PFF3 569.1
Hooper’s work on the Apocalypse simply reiterates the positions of his previous books-the imminence of the advent, the important place occupied by the 2300 years in determining the time, and by the 2300 years and the 70 weeks for the Jews beginning together in 453 B.C., and the longer period ending in 1847. 98 PFF3 569.2
11. NEW PROPHETIC ERA BEGAN IN 1793
His final tractate, The Advent. (1847), stresses the phenomenal opening of the prophetic word “from the time of that great prophetic era, 1793.” As truly as the “political earthquake” of the French Revolution shook the world, so have the people of God been awakened, as by a voice from heaven, “declaring the coming morning.” A ray of light “gleamed along the prophetic horizon,” and men betook themselves to the study of prophecy, “declaring that a new era had arrived,” the advent was soon expected, when the dead in Christ must be raised. 99 The prophetic basis for the nearness of the advent is stressed-the 1260 years “clearly terminated in 1793,” with the commencement of he “season of the Redeemer’s advent.” PFF3 569.3
12. CLEANSING OF SANCTUARY ALREADY BEGUN
Moreover, Hooper adds, the great prophetic number of 2300 years, to close with the cleansing of the sanctuary, or Christian church, “terminates as clearly at the period in which we are now living.” And he adds, “Who shall venture to say that that cleansing has not already commenced?” 100 He dates all these signs of the last days from 1793 onward, 101 believing mankind had entered the last “generation.” Then he adds: PFF3 569.4
“If the interpretation, therefore, which has been given of these signs be correct-if they really began to appear A.D. 1793-the coming of the Lord must be near indeed; for, according to this view of the prophecy, the present generation which has witnessed these signs will not pass away till the Son of Man be come.” 102 PFF3 570.1