The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

II. King and Bicheno Look to French Revolution

When the French Army entered the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, on February 15, 1798, and took Pius VI prisoner- sending him off to die in exile in France—a whole group of men began to assert that that very year, 1798, marked the end of the 1260 years ¹² PFF4 114.1

1. KING ANNOUNCES CLOSE OF 1260 YEARS IN 1798

One of the first so to declare was EDWARD KING, Cambridge University graduate and attorney, whose Remarks on the Signs of the Times was thrice published in London in 1798 and 1799, with an American reprint at Philadelphia in 1800. Expressly maintaining that the long papal period had ended in 1798, and that the closing date thereby fixes its beginning as of 538, the date was thus established from which to calculate the time of this special period in the “ECCLESIASTICAL PONTIFICAL POWER” of the pope ¹³ Here is King’s statement: PFF4 114.2

“And now let us see;—hear;—and understand. THIS IS THE YEAR 1798.—And just 1260 years ago, in the very beginning of the year 538, Belisarius put an end to the Empire, and Dominion of the Goths at Rome. PFF4 114.3

“He had entered the City on the 10th of the preceding December, in triumph, in the name of Justinian, Emperor of the East; and had soon after made it tributary to him: leaving thenceforward from A.D. 538, NO POWER in Rome, that could be said to rule over the earth,—excepting the ECCLESIASTICAL PONTIFICAL POWER.” ¹⁴ PFF4 114.4

This was definitely calculated on the basis of the specifications of the prophecy. Was not the fall of the Papacy, he asks, or “Great Babylon,” to come “at the END of 1260 years” of Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, or “at the end of a time, times, and half a time? which computation amounts to the same period.” King later observes, “Surely, the End, prophetically spoken of in Holy Scripture, approacheth,” and on the next page he solemnly adds, “We approach unto the latter days!—I tremble whilst I write! ... I have not the least presumptuous idea of intending to prophecy [prophesy].—The word of Prophecy is sealed forever ¹⁵ So impressive were these statements by King that four decades later they were quoted in the Boston Signs of the Times, and the readers urged to “weigh every word ¹⁶ Various other works of that period made essentially the same declarations concerning the ending of the 1260 years ¹⁷ PFF4 114.5

2. BICHENO ENDS 1260 YEARS IN 1789

Another oft—reprinted work was by James Bicheno, dissenting minister and schoolman of London, entitled The Signs of the Times: or, The Overthrow of the Papal Tyranny in France. This was published at London in 1793. And it not only went through five editions in England by 1800 but was also reprinted in America, the first time in 1794 ¹⁸ The popularity and the influence of such an extensively circulated book here in America can be envisioned by its unusual circulation. Bicheno took much the same position as Fleming on the prophetic numbers, only he dated the 1260 years of the power and prosperity of the papal “antichristian beast” from 529 to 1789—from the first publication of Justinian’s Code to the year when the French Revolution broke out. And he wrote while the Revolution was actually under way. PFF4 115.1

He also thought that the 2300 years extended from 481 B.C to A.D. 1819, in the nineteenth century, when the sanctuary would be cleansed, thus ending them synchronously with the 1290 years ¹⁹ The supplemental thirty years, completing the 1290 years, ending in 1819, would see the overthrow of the Papacy, the Turk, and other tyrannies. And the remaining 45 years, to the close of the 1335 years (in 1864), would witness the gathering and conversion of the Jews, the purification and unification of the Gentile church, the conversion of the heathen, and the appearance “of the Lord” (citing Zechariah 12:8-14; 14; Ezekiel 38, 39, and probably Revelation 20:9). PFF4 115.2

Bicheno held the standard view on the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 and 7-as Babylonia, Persia, Grecia, and Rome—followed by the division of Rome, with the Little Horn as the spiritual tyranny of the Papacy. In Revelation 12 the dragon likewise stood for pagan Rome and its despotism, while the ten-horned beast of Revelation 13 represented the spiritual tyranny of the Papacy. He thought, however, that the two-horned beast from the earth was to be identified with the kings of France. But on the great fundamentals there was essential agreement. PFF4 116.1