The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

II. Crandall Anticipates End of Periods in 1868

Another clergyman, A. L. CRANDALL, of West Troy, New York, in 1841 wrote A Brief Explanation of the Book of Revelations, in Chronological Order. The Apocalypse, he held, presents “a regular series of events, from the time of writing, to the end of time” in the seals, trumpets, and vials. Christ Himself opens the seals, all light for the guidance of our fallen world coming through Him. Crandall’s interpretation is not so well thought out and consistent as some, often reverting to earlier positions, by that time largely superseded. Other points are quite clear. The seals, he thinks, are confined to the first four centuries, and the close of the empire in the fifth. The Papacy arose out of the ruins of Rome, in 533, under the decree of Justinian, which made the pope the head of all the churches. And he does not begin the trumpets until 606 or 756. ³⁰ PFF4 339.4

1. 1260-YEAR PAPAL TRIUMPH, 533-1792

The 1260 years, he believes, extend from 533 to 1793, at the close of which long period the church came out of the “wilderness” and threw off her sackcloth. And the end of that twelve-century period was marked by the beginning of the great missionary era, which was simultaneous with the French Revolution and the attempt to overthrow the temporal power of the pope. The two periods the reign of the Papacy, and the Witnesses in sackcloth therefore correspond. The break-up of the empire prepared the way for the exaltation of the pope at its beginning. The third trumpet is thought, by Crandall, to be the papal inquisitors. During the fourth trumpet Mohammedanism also spread far and wide and moral darkness surged over the world. The fifth trumpet, Crandall thinks, is again Rome dealing out the tortures of the Inquisition during the prophetic “five months.” The sixth trumpet pertains to the Ottoman Turks, and their 391 years (predicted in Revelation 9:15) was from 1281 to 1672, on the same year-day principle. ³¹ PFF4 340.1

2. 31/2 YEARS OF WITNESSES’ DEATH, 1793-1797

The 3y2 year-days of the slaying of the Two Witnesses (the Bible and all true Christians) was from 1793-1797. The 1260 days, and the alternate forms of 42 months or 3i/L times, are of course years. (Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:6; 13:5.) The Papacy is the designated Antichrist, Little Horn, and Beast. The earthquake was the French Revolution. And at the end of the 3i/L year-days, the Witnesses revived their testimony, as the Bible and Missionary societies began to be formed. ³² PFF4 340.2

3. THE DRAGON, CHILD, BEAST, AND MESSENGERS

The 1260 years are rather commonly understood as from 606 to 1866, Crandall observes. But 533 to 1793 seems better to meet the specifications. In Revelation 12 the woman is the true church and the male child is Christ. The great red dragon is of course pagan Rome, but the man child is to “rule all nations with a rod of iron.” In Revelation 13 the first beast is the Papacy, and the second is believed to be the papal Inquisition. The “666” are years. In Revelation 14 Crandall oddly reverts to Reformation times teaching, that the first angel was the Waldenses, the second, heralding Babylon’s fall, is the message of the Lollards and Hussites, and the third is the message of Luther. ³³ PFF4 341.1

4. 1335 AND 2300 END TOGETHER IN 1868

Daniel 9 presents the 70 weeks of years, reaching to the first advent of Christ, and the 2300 years are to the cleansing of the sanctuary in the latter days. All the remaining periods of Daniel may be thus dated: The 1260 (533-1793), the 1290 (533-1823), and the 1335 (533-1868). And the 2300 years, it seems to Crandall, likewise reach from 432 B.C. to A.D. 1868. PFF4 341.2

“If this calculation should prove correct, then at the end of twenty-seven years from this time (1841) [that is, 1868] events will take place to answer the two descriptions. Daniel 8:14, Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed; and Daniel 12:12, Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” ³⁴ PFF4 341.3

5. SEVEN VIALS PRECEDE THE MILLENNIUM

The vials clearly come between the close of the sixth trumpet and the beginning of the millennium. And seven vials relate to evils to fall on the persecutors, and nearly all is still future. The fifth will be on the seat of the Beast. And the drying up of the Euphrates, under the sixth, involves the return of the Jews to the Holy Land. The seventh is universal war. The American Jewish Society was formed in 1820, he adds. ³⁵ And mystical Babylon is, of course, the papal church. Revelation 17 is her general description, and chapter 18 presents her utter ruin. PFF4 341.4

6. MILLENNIUM, RESURRECTION, AND ADVENT SPIRITUALIZED

The thousand years of the millennium should, according to Crandall, begin in. 1868. The physical world remains, but with marked alterations and improvements. The “chain” that binds Satan is the influence of the church. The first resurrection, at the beginning of the millennium, is not a literal resurrection. Souls, he contends, never die, so they can never be literally raised. And Jesus Christ does not personally visit our world during the millennium. Moreover, Crandall continues, the length of the period is not merely a thousand years, but many thousands of years. But Satan is loosed at its close. Then fire comes down from God, which is the final judgment and conflagration. Revelation 21 and 22 introduces the reign of glory and light for eternity. The stone cut out of the mountain becomes the mountain and fills the whole earth. ³⁶ So here again is the extreme form of spiritualization of the millennium, or postmillennialism in its logical form. Now we turn again to the other side. PFF4 342.1