The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4
X. Griffin-Millennium Scheduled at End of 1335 Years
EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, M.A., D.D. 51 C 1 pastor of the Park Street Congregational Church of Boston, and later a prominent educator, preached a famous sermon (“The Kingdom of Christ”) before the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1805. This eloquent appeal for worldwide missions was a landmark in the missionary movement. PFF4 103.3
(Left) Dr. Joseph Priestley, Unitarian Scientist, Historian, and Commentator; (Center) Dr. Edward D. Griffin, Congregational Pastor, and President of Williams College; (Right) Dr. Jeremy Belknap, Congregationalist Historian and Pastor of Boston. On Belknap See Page 65, and on Priestley See Page 117 PFF4 103.4
Picture 1: THREE NOTED EXPOSITORS OF PROPHECY
(Left) Dr. Joseph Priestley, unitarian scientist, historian, and commentator; (center) Dr. Edward D. Griffin, congregational pastor, and president of williams college; (right) Dr. Jeremy Belknap, congregationalist historian and pastor of boston. On belknap see page 65, and on priestley see page 117
Page 103
1. URGES CHURCH TO PREPARE FOR MILLENNIUM
Griffin’s trumpet call to the support of foreign missions sounds the millennial note. Christ is committed, he declares, to accomplishing the restoration of God’s original design for a happy, holy universe. The cause of Christ is the only cause that matters in the world, and he points to Ezekiel’s wheels of providence “rolling down the descent of time to the end of the world, “overturning everything in their course to prepare the way for the full establishment of the kingdom. After leading his listeners forward to the end of six thousand years, to the glory of Zion filling the earth—and then beyond to the kingdom of Christ, “advanced to the heavenly state”—he challenges Christians to activity for Christ, “to be instrumental in giving him the heathen for his inheritance. 52 PFF4 104.1
2. LOOKS FOR CRISIS IN 1847 OR 1848
At the dedication of the Calvinist Congregationalist Church at Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 1813, Griffin’s dedicatory address on the current fulfillment of prophecy, and on the course marked out in advance by inspired prediction, reflected the common area of interest and discussion at that time. Stressing the coming “rest of the church at the bright millennial day,” Griffin declares that the Christian world has been aroused to give “earnest attention to the prophecies.” And, noting the “remarkable agreement respecting the principal dates” of the time periods of Daniel and the Revelation, he speaks of what he believes to be the “now generally admitted” period of the 1260 years of the “continuance of the papal church,” as well as of the Mohammedan delusion from 606 to 1866, or possibly, by “Chaldaic years,” to end in 1847 or 1848 53 PFF4 104.2
3. NEW ERA OPENED IN 1792
In a footnote to the printed sermon, Griffin remarks on the identity, or oneness, of the three and a half times, the forty-two months, and the 1260 year-days as the period of the church’s oppression, after the division of the Roman Empire into ten kingdoms 54 He declares that the predicted period is fast running out, that the Papacy is nearly extinct, and the papal kingdoms are expiring. He likewise alludes to Turkey’s approaching dissolution. The vials are already so far advanced according to the consensus of the “most distinguished writers on the prophecies,” that the year 1792 evidently opened a “new era” for the world—”an era of wo to papal kingdoms, and to the countries included in the four great empires of antiquity,” which is to continue till the dawn of the millennium. PFF4 105.1
He next discusses the additional thirty years of the 1290-year period (Daniel 12:11, 12), beyond the 1260, and the final forty-five years of the 1335 years beyond the close of the 1290 years—or seventy-five years in all—which he believes lead up to the full millennium by 1941, or probably 1921 or 1922. The “time of trouble” he expects near the end of the 1260 days (near 1866 or 1847), involving the restoration of the Jews and the destruction of the power of the latter part of Daniel 11 (which he later says is probably the Turk). Then comes his startling conclusion: “It would appear from this calculation that we have already seen twenty-one years of that period of wo which is to extend to the morning of the millennium 55 PFF4 105.2
And how will it fare, he asks, with the church during the time of trouble for the world? In 1792 the “grand era of Missions” was introduced as the first missionary society of modern times was formed, followed by a “whole concourse of missionary and Bible societies” in both Great Britain and America, and the establishment of missions in Asia, Africa, and America. This, he adds, distinguishes the present time from “all former ages.” Moreover, just at the beginning of this era, after a “long drought,” copious “showers of grace” (revivals) have continued to fall upon Britain and the United States. Not only has evangelical faith been advanced, and the papal kingdoms darkened, but he hopes that “infidelity concealed under Christian names” is being stemmed at home. And he expresses the conviction that “Zion has seen her darkest hour, and that her light will henceforth continue to shine with increasing brightness to the perfect day.” And the church which he is addressing may expect to have a part in bringing in this blessed period 56 PFF4 106.1
4. EXPECTS MILLENNIAL KINGDOM ABOUT 1922
In another footnote Griffin sees the destruction of “Babylon,” of Revelation 18, fulfilled in the Roman church with “surprising exactness.” And in still another extended footnote Griffin speculates that perhaps in thirty years more the Jews will be restored, and Gog (the Ottoman Empire) destroyed in an assault on the Jews at the end of the 1260 years (about 1847 or 1848); that the thirty years thence, to the terminus of the 1290, are for the gathering and conversion of the ten tribes; and that the forty-five years remaining, till the close of the 1335 years, will bring the conversion of the Gentiles and “the complete establishment of the millennial kingdom,” about 1921 or 1922 57 Such is the publicly declared view of this prominent Massachusetts Congregational pastor and educator in 1813. PFF4 106.2