The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4
VI. King-Ends Both 1260 and 2300 Years About 1866
Village parsons as well as city pastors were constrained to study, preach, and write on prophecy. One of these lesser known but interesting expositors was JOHN KING, D.D. (1740-1811), Presbyterian minister of Irish ancestry, who was born in Pennsylvania 22 PFF4 93.1
1. 1260 YEARS NEARING THEIR END
Though he was long interested in prophecy, it was not until three years before his death that King wrote his Observations on the Prophecies Which Relate to the Rise and Fall of Antichrist, and which, according to his title page, “may not now be far off.” He begins by discussing the “woman” of Revelation 17, the professed church of Christ, actually drunken with the blood of saints—“the most tyrannical, oppressive and persecuting” power ever known to the world. In the footnote he parallels Revelation 13 and 17 with Daniel 7, 8, and 11, as well as 2 Thessalonians 2. The accuracy of the inspired description of this papal power, he stated, should lead many in our day to accept these Bible prophecies as a divine revelation. 23 PFF4 93.2
Its allotted time period, the 1260 days (the 42 months, or the 31/2 times) is on the basis of “a day for a year.” Men differ, King adds, as to their beginning date. Some have started it as late as 756, when Pepin bestowed certain temporalities upon the pope. But that was not the beginning of the papal reign; he had been seated long before that. Others more accurately fix upon Justinian’s extinction of the Goths in Italy, under Bellisarius, when he gave up Rome to the pope-thus giving him “his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Accordingly, Fleming—whom he quotes—dates the terminus in 1794. PFF4 93.3
But King thinks the key lies in his spiritual supremacy, as a universal bishop-the Man of Sin and Mystery of Iniquity. Thus he leans toward the grant of Phocas, in 606. He does not think the “666” stands for years from a certain date. He submits “some calculations on prophetical numbers to shew, that the fall of the Roman antichristian power may not be far from the present time,” and suggests 1795 as the possible closing date, shortly after which the pope was taken prisoner and exiled to France, with the French troops in possession of the nearby Castle of St. Angelo at Rome. Or possibly it could be in 1811 24 PFF4 94.1
2. 2300 YEARS FROM PERSIA TO PERHAPS 1867
King then turns to the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14—extending from Persia through Grecia, and on through pagan and papal Rome, during which time truth would be cast down to the ground, the church desolated, and the sanctuary polluted. When the 2300 years are ended, the sanctuary will be cleansed, he declares, the church purified, and the true worship of God re-established 25 That was the main outline. “This number” therefore includes “a line of events, in prophecy, from a certain time in the reign of the Persian monarchy, to the end of the fourth, or Roman and antichristian monarchy,” the transgression of desolation. Its beginning is clearly not from the time of the vision, because that is too early. But nevertheless it is from Persia. The fall of ancient Babylon is a type of the fall of mystical Babylon, or Antichrist-“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots”—which will be an introduction to the enlargement of the church, the conversion of the Jews, and the cleansing of the sanctuary. Then comes the key sentence as to its time placement: PFF4 94.2
“This long period then, may be supposed to begin, with the conclusion of the seventy years captivity, or with the beginning of the seventy weeks mentioned ch. 9:24. i.e. 490 years before the death of Christ 26 “King believes, however, that these “prophetic years “should be reduced to solar years 27 And he sees the 70 weeks as comprised of three parts—the 7 weeks or 49 years, followed by the 62 weeks or 434 years, “to the death of Christ,” and the 1 week, or 7 years to “confirm the covenant with many.” So he simply takes 434 B.C. as the starting point of his calculation and arrives at 1867, which would tally with the 1260 years (without reduction), ending in 1860, for the temporal fall of the Papacy. And this, in turn, would be 56 years beyond its spiritual fall in 18 II 28 The 1290 and 1335 year periods may have a bearing on this he thinks, but is not sure. Concerning his calculations on the 1260 and 2300 years, he adds, “which, though new, may perhaps deserve some note.” PFF4 94.3
3. TWO-HORNED BEAST—PERHAPS EMPEROR BONAPARTE.
King next turns from the papal first Beast to the second, or two-horned beast of Revelation 13, and suggests that “perhaps, no power has yet arisen which better answers to the Description of the second Beast, than the present emperor of the French 29 PFF4 95.1
The two horns, described by the innocence and gentleness of a lamb, were perhaps “Liberty and Equality.” The first Beast had seven heads, or forms, of government-kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, and emperors, with the second as the papal phase, which revived the Beast and extended its tyrannical dominion, with its image in the temporal authorities, and the spirit of Old Rome still persisting and inspiring. He looks upon the emperor Bonaparte as perhaps the answer. The “mark” might be his various decrees. PFF4 95.2
4. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES Now FALLING
The seven vials, manifestly the “judgments of God upon antichrist and his supporters,” and the means of its downfall, King applies to “the events of our times, since the beginning, or some time before the beginning, of the French revolution 30 The “noisome sores” were perhaps these secret, atheistical societies and the so-called “reign of reason,” as seen in the French Revolution. (The second beast is also the false prophet.) The second vial was upon the sea (the great body of mankind), with its deranging and destructive effects of atheistical principles. The third vial was on the rivers and fountains, which he looks upon as the ministers of religion—condemned or banished. The fourth was on the sun, the ruling authorities. PFF4 95.3
The fifth on the seat of the Beast, or Rome, the French “completely fulfilled” in the captivity of the pope. And so his kingdom was darkened. Thus we are brought “down to our times.” The sixth vial is evidently future—the drying up of the Euphrates, the three unclean spirits of devils, and Armageddon. Rome will be destroyed by the kings into which the Roman territory was divided, such as France has exemplified. In the “great battle” the dragon, the Beast, or Antichrist, and the false prophet are all involved. But the establishment of the kingdom of God may require many years. The seventh vial, with the great earthquake, presages the “last convulsion” of this old world, which will “make way for the peace of the world 31 Such is King’s thoughtful analysis. In the matter of the 2300 year-days he too was a pathfinder. But though he published two years before William C. Davis, he did not come to such specific conclusions 32 PFF4 96.1