The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

I. Prophetic Herald-Prophetic Interpretation Increasingly Blurred

Still another journal on prophecy, The Prophetic Herald and Churchman’s Witness for Christ, was edited by Principal Joseph Baylee, of the St. Aidan Theological College at Birkenhead, beginning in 1845. It was launched at a difficult time in exposition. In an introductory statement Baylee discloses how in 1829 he became convinced of premillennialism, ¹ about which the church knew little. The contrasting views on the Revelation are set forth as in conflict-one that the prophecies have “all but received” their full accomplishment, the other that they are as yet largely “unfulfilled.” In other words, the conflict between the Historical and Futurist schools is on in earnest. PFF3 725.1

Baylee holds to the “protestant interpretation of prophecy” -“that the apostate Popes of Rome are the man of sin and Anti christ, and that the city of Rome is the Babylon foredoomed of God, and the Roman diocese the mother of harlots; also that a day stands for a year in prophetical chronology.” ² But the new Futurist emphasis has already made its impress, for even Baylee says that certain predictions of “awful personages” will require an additional application. ³ PFF3 725.2

1. 2400-YEAR TERMINUS AND CONTINUATIONISM

J. H. Frere contributes heavily to the pages of the Prophetic Herald, ⁴ furnishing a whole series of articles which stress his characteristic 2400-year argument for Daniel 8:14, in a letter to Joseph Wolff citing the manuscripts in which they are allegedly found. ⁵ The dating of the 2400 is placed, as usual, from 553 B.C. to A.D. 1847. But Frere has now become involved in a kind of cabalistic calculation of prophetic numbers, multiplying, dividing, and sub-trading, finding the square root, etc. ⁶ He stresses Mohammedan epochs and Gentile periods, placing emphasis upon the Hegira, in A.D. 622, and the Mohammedan feature. The return of the Jews has its characteristic place. ⁷ The “continuationist idea” is strongly in the forefront-the 1260 years ending in 1792, the 1290 in 1822-23, and the 1335 in 1867-68. ⁸ PFF3 725.3

2. SOCIETIES FULFILLING DEMANDS OF Revelation 14

The formation of the Society for the Investigation of Prophecy, back in 1826, is rehearsed, ⁹ supported by such men as Edward Irving, James Stratton, Thomas White, and others. Then the story of the Reformation Society in 1827 is told, with such men as C. S. Hawtrey, Lewis Way, and Edward Irving. These were formed with the express thought of helping to fulfill Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 14:9, 11 respectively. ¹⁰ The first heralded the approaching fall of papal Babylon, and the second announced the tearful punishments to be inflicted upon those remaining in her communion, and urged the people to come out of her. ¹¹ PFF3 726.1

3. HURRICANE WHEN WINDS RELEASED

William Cuninghame contributes an article on the “order of events connected with the second advent, and the war of Armageddon,” declaring, “The key to the present state of the world, and the position of the Church of God appears to be the vision of the holding of the four winds in the sixth seal.” ¹² The convictions of secular writers are quoted from Edinburgh Review ¹³ for example. “There is a greater and more momentous contest impending than ever before agitated human society.” And from Black-wood’s Edinburgh Magazine, after a comparison of the times with the days of Rome’s decay, the statement appears, “Great changes are in prospect everywhere.” “A HURRICANE is SWEEP ING ONWARDS OF POLITICAL REVOLUTION.” ¹⁴ PFF3 726.2

4. IN PERIOD OF AWFUL EXPECTATION

The repetition of he days of Noah and of Sodom is stressed by Baylee, with a “torrent of calamity” to break forth, and “universal dismay.” ¹⁵ He tells of the “never-ending Protocols” for the “ostensible and avowed purpose of preserving the peace of Europe, while their armies continuing strained to the highest pitch of a war establishment in the midst of their professions of peace, proclaimed their deep forebodings of slaughter.” ¹⁶ It is in the midst of such scenes that Christ shall descend to raise the dead and translate the living. ¹⁷ Said Baylee, “As it seems to me, we have entered into that last period of awful expectation during which the Church is likened to the ten virgins.” ¹⁸ PFF3 726.3

5. SECOND ADVENT GOAL OF CONVERGING LINES

Disappointed because of unfulfilled promises of articles from “eminent writers on prophecy,” the editor plans to do more of the writing himself. In this connection he says: PFF3 727.1

“In examining unfulfilled prophecy, our great central point should be our blessed Lord’s personal advent. It is that upon which all the rays of prophetic light converge, or from which they diverge. This is especially true of chronological investigations. We shall never attain to a true arrangement of unfulfilled prophecy until we have a clear view of the connection of predicted events with the Lord’s advent.” ¹⁹ PFF3 727.2

This principle he illustrates by certain “prophetic synchronisms.” Thus in Daniel 2, 7, and 11 the “destruction by the stone,” the “coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven,” and the “standing up” of the great Prince is stressed. ²⁰ In the book of Revelation the great heart is “the termination of our present dispensation in judgment, ... and the subsequent restoration of the world.” ²¹ In Revelation 11 the measuring of the temple and the slaying of the Witnesses is followed by the sounding of the seventh trump, when the kingdoms of the world be come the kingdoms of Christ, and the anger of the nations, God’s wrath and judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the deliverance of the earth all converge. ²² The history of Babylon yields the same climax-Babylon’s awful and sudden ruin, ushering in the coming of the Lord, the overthrow of the assembled nations but with the restoration of the Jews. ²³ There the journal terminates. We shall take a further glance, however, at Principal Baylee. PFF3 727.3