Key of prophecy

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

KEY OF PROPHECY

Introduction

In this Key and the accompanying Chart, are embodied the results of the thought, study and research of over thirty years. The Scheme of prophetic interpretation herein presented is not a sketch wrought out by flashes of imagination, but is the slow growth of a most laborious analysis of all the prophetic scriptures, during years spent in collocating the prophecies with each other. The author makes no claim to inspiration in the interpretation of prophecy; though there is a mental illumination which God gives in answer to aspiration and prayer. He only claims to have bestowed more labor upon the study of prophecy than he believes any one has hitherto done. Daring more than thirty years of active laborious life, in whatever other work engaged, his mind has always been turned toward the prophecies of the Sacred Scriptures, with an earnest desire to comprehend them, and a fixed purpose to make an exposition of them the great work of his life. This aspiration has modified his entire life, directing his studies, and shaping all his life plans.

This fixed habitude of mind was not an aimless aspiration, but arose out of

I. A DISCOVERY CONSTITUTING A NEW DEPARTURE IN PROPHETIC EXPOSITION.

Thirty years ago, there was an universal interest in prophecy. The System of Exposition known as the Theory of Mede was then generally accepted by the Christian world. Mede was a pious English minister who lived some two hundred years ago. The starting point of his System was his interpretation of the Sixth Trumpet, which he believed symbolized the conquests of the Turks, who were then the great conquering power of Europe. This led him, furthermore, to interpret the Fifth Trumpet as symbolizing the conquests of the Saracens.

He stated that, if his theory were correct, a great upheaval would occur in Europe at a future time, which would be the fulfilment of the Seventh Trumpet.

Little attention was paid to Mede's system of interpretation until the outbreak of the French Revolution. This profoundly impressed the minds of English students of prophecy, and they declared that the French Revolution was the upheaval foretold by Mede, and w r as the Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet and the pouring of the First Vial. As vi KEY TO PROPHECY.

the grand series of Napoleonic Wars ensued, they interpreted those events as the fulfillment of tne next three vials under the Seventh Trumpet; the Filth Vial they interpreted as fulfilled in the fall of Napoleon; and the Sixth Vial they held fulfilled in the Greek Revolution, which began the downfall of the Ottoman power. After the Greek Revolution was over, prophetic expositors looked for but one more grand event — the pouring of the Seventh Vial. From the received calculation of the Prophetic Times, this was expected to occur in 186b'; when the Christian world expected the downfall of the Tope, the overthrow of despotism, and the beginning of a new order of things. Many expected the Second Coming of Christ in 1866, to overturn the old order of things and to establish the new, in His personal reign upon the earth.

In 1855, when the Author's attention was first directed earnestly to the study of prophecy, the mind of the Christian world was turned toward 1866 with reverent expectation. lie started upon the study ofprophecy from a new stand point. He had accepted the idea that the United States is represented by. the Stone in the First Vision of Daniel, and by the Man child of the 12th chapter of Revelation. He accepted this idea, and nothing more, from "Armageddon," the work of Baldwin, a man of vivid imagination, but of little judgment and no research, who put his piece of new cloth as a patch upon the old garment of the received System of Mede.

1. First Step in the progress of Discovery.

The author at once saw that the new wine could not be put into the old bottle. The System of Mede, as then universally held, had in it no place for this idea of the prominence of the United States in prophecy, but was wholly incompatible with it. According to that System, all the prophecies were then fulfilled, except the pouring of the Seventh Vial, which was expected in 1866. But it was evident, if the United States be the Stone, that the Stone smiting the Image upon its Feet symbolized a great war between the Republic and the despotisms of Europe.

But if there shall be a great future war between the United States and Europe, then, according to prophecy, that war must be the War of the Seventh Trumpet and the Seven Vials, which the prophecies represent as as the Great Final Conflict of the earth. Hence, the Seventh Trumpet and the first five vials do not symbolize the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, but a conflict yet future. The United States being the Stone involves the idea that the grand career of our country is only beginning. Instead of our being almost at the end of the world, with nothing before us but the pouring of the Seventh Vial, to close up the old dispensation and introduce the Millennium, the last and grandest era of the world's history — the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet — the conflict between the Old Age and the New — is yet in the future.

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2. The Sixth Trumpet.

But if the Seventh Trumpet be yet future, this carries with it the further consequence that the Sixth Trumpet does not symbolize the conquest of Constantinople and the overthrow of the Greek empire by the Turks, as held by Mede; for the Sixth Trumpet lasts till the sounding of the Seventh, according to Rev. XL 14; and if the Seventh Trumpet be yet luture, the Sixth Trumpet cannot symbolize an event of the Dark Ages, five centuries ago.

The question next arose, What event does the Sixth Taumpet symbolize? The author studied the symbol, and found that it clearly sets forth the conquest of Europe in an age when gunpowder is the chief arm of war.

He vainly searched history for an event that could be its fulfillment. — What does the Sixth Trumpet symbolize? — What is our present position in prophecy? — By what lines of movement is the world drifting on to the War of the Seventh Trumpet? — These questions he pondered for months. The history of the past, and his then crude conceptions of the drift of our age, threw no light on the subject.

He turned to prophecy. Believing that the clue to the mystery was to be found in the prophecies of the tenth and eleventh chapters of Revelation, concerning the Reformation Era, and the Witness Era, both of which come down to the Seventh Trumpet, he pondered long and deeply upon those parts of the Apocalypse. For some time, he felt as though he were in the midst of an untrodden forest, with no path to guide through the wilderness mazes.

THE FIRST CLUE.

At length he found one clue: the eleventh chapter of Revelation showed that the Sixth Trumpet covers the era of the Death of the Witnesses, and closes with the close of the Witness Era.

SECOND CLUE.

Turning to the account of the Death of the Witnesses, he saw that they are killed by the Beast from the Pit. This was a second ray of light.

Turning his investigations upon the Beast from the Pit, he found that all expositors agree that this power has not yet risen. Hence, the Death of the Witnesses is a future exent; and the Sixth Trumpet is also a EUTURE EVENT.

Thus was completed the first step in the progress of discovery, which led to the production of the present work. At the risk of seeming to display an egotism he does not feel, the author deems it expedient to sketch mi. THE VISION UNSEALED:

II. THE FURTHER PROCESS OF INVESTIGATION WHICH ISSUED IN THIS SCHEME OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION.

The mental processes of the Author have a value only in that they show the slow growth of the work; and also place before the reader, in the simplest and most direct form, the special scope of the System of Interpretation, and may thus induce in others a willingness to investigate it. and by comparing it with the prophecies and the facts of history, find whether it conforms to the truth.

After discovering that the Sixth Trumpet is yet future, it became apparent that we are at the dawn of a new era. instead of approaching the end of all things. Two questions next arose:

1st. What does prophecy teach respecting the New Era now before us?

2nd. If the Sixth and Seventh Trumpets and all the ^ lals are before us. what prophecies refer to the past? — The American Revolution of 1776? — The French Revolution of 1793? — the Napoleonic wars? — these grand events, the grandest in the political history of the world — what place have they in prophecy?

It was not difficult to solve the first of these questions. Guided by the prophecies of Daniel, it was easy to trace the perfect harmony of all the prophecies respecting the career of the Beast from the Pit under the Sixth Trumpet, and the course of events from the Seventh Trumpet on to the Millennium.

But in the second line of investigation it was more difficult to find a solution of questions which pressed for answer. The question what prophecies cover the ground since the reformation of the Sixteenth Century was pondered for more than eighteen months before light broke upon his mind. Knowing how prone students of prophecy are to fall under the influence of a heated imagination which blinds the judgment, he always dropped the subject when he found himself unable to make further progress, and waited until fully rested before returning to it.

Plodding on in this manner — constantly engaged in historical reading ---his mind constantly turned upon the course of past events, and the drift of the present — the subject gradually took form in his mind. At last it burst upon him that the Seven Thunders, which were sealed up, symbolize the great events of the Reformation Era. The thought was like a sunburst It lighted up the whole field of prophecy. In them were symbolized the Huguenot wars in France and the Revolt of the Netherlands— the Thiity Years' War in Germany— the English Revolution of 1640 — the American Revolution of 1776 — the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars — the Revolutions of 1848 — all the grand

KEY TO PROPHECY. ix.

events of the Reformation Era.

From this point on, all was easy. The unsealing of the Thunders, in great measure removed the veil from the prophecies. The general scope of the prophecies foreshadowing events before the Reformation was not difficult to trace. In two years from the time he began his prophetic studies, the general scope of all the prophecies was fully outlined in his mind.

As soon as he comprehended the outline of the prophecies, from the standpoint that our present position in prophecy is before the Sounding of the Sixth Trumpet, he saw how perfeet is the harmony of all the prophecies; and he then conceived the idea of making a Harmony of all the prophecies, displayed on a Chart. He began this work in 1^61; and after two years of incessant toil completed, in 1863, a Chart containing all the prophecies of the Old and New Testament, respecting the Latter Days.

It involved herculean toil, and only great patience of mental and mechanical labor enabled him to accomplish it. It involved a laborious analysis of each prophecy, sentence by sentence, and clause by clause, designating by a number affixed to each clause the special event to which it roferred; and then, the further work, involving still greater labor, of combining the w T hole of the analyzed prophecies into proper order in their relation with each other.

The first Vision of Daniel was first analyzed, and each separate prediction was placed in a paragraph, and numbered in the consecutive order of events. Then, the second Vision of Daniel was analyzed in like manner; and then the two were harmonized into One. Then, the other visions of Daniel were separately analyzed, and harmonized, one by one. — When the harmony of Daniel was completed, the Book of Revelation was harmonized in the same way, scene by scene. Then a harmony of Revelation and Daniel was effected. — Then, the prophecies of Isaiah were harmonized, first with each other, and then added to the harmony of Revelation and Daniel. — And then,Jsuccessively, the prophetic Psalms, and all the other prophets; eaeh prophecy adding some new event to be numbered, and each number added involving the change of the numbers previously arranged.

III. FURTHER GROWTH OF LIGHT.

But while comprehending the general scope of prophecy, as embodied in the chart completed in 1863, there was still much he failed to comprehend. He did not understand the Structure of the Book of Revelation, as a Prophetic Drama in Seven Acts: he knew nothing about the prophecies respecting the Millennium, more than was generally held by the x. THE VISION UNSEALED.

religious world; and he knew nothing about the Dragon and the Beast from the Pit, except that they were the two allied despotic powers of the Great Final War, engaged in conflict with America and Great Britain, who were united against them. He was convinced that the Seven Heads of the Beast symbolyze the Seven great empires of the world, but was conscious that he did not understand the two allied Heads engaged in the Great Latter Day Conflict.

Light on these points dawned on his mind very slowly. In 1866, he became convinced that Prussia is the Beast from the Pit, and will, at no distant day, extend the German empire over Southern and Western Europe. He was providentially led to spend a year in England, where he beheld the workings of tne Imperialism of Capital centered in London, in the oppression of all classes of English society, though without identifying it as a power set forth in prophecy. He afterwards saw that, in some of the Old Testament prophecies, this British Money-Power is set forth, but without his thoughts taking any definite form. He dimly saw there was some mystery, but for years he groped about the truth, conscious of its existence, but failing to grasp it.

In observing the drift of our age, he saw the pre-eminence of industrial forces in giving direction to progress. This led him to the study of political economy, from the standpoint of the Age of Steam. He became more and more impressed with the despotic power attained in our age by the Imperialism of Capital. Twelve years ago, he saw that, beyond all question, the Dragon is in Great Britain, but is not the British government. But for years he made no further progress.

About eight years ago, he discovered the dramatic structure of the Book of Revelation: about four years ago he began to comprehend the millennial prophecies of the Apocalypse: and within the last three years he has been able to identify the Dragon as the symbol of the Imperialism of Capital centered in Lombard street, London. The development of the subject in his mind was like the slow dawning of the day, until at last the area of discovery was completed.

Two years ago he began to recast his Chart, completed in 1863, from the standpoint of his latest investigations. To avoid cumbrousness, he restricted it to the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, which contain the entire outline of prophecy, which the other prophecies only contribute to fill up.

The following are some of the

IV. ESPECIAL FEATURES OF THE SYSTEM.

1st. The Discovery of the Position of our Age in Prophecy, just before the Sounding of the Sixth Trumpet.

2nd. That Prussia is the Beast from the Pit; and, under the Sixth

KEY TO PROPHECY. xi.

Trumpet, an ill achieve the Re-establishment of the Roman Empire over the Kingdoms of Southern and Western Europe, which will be the dead Sixth Head of the Beast restored to life.

3rd. That the London Money-Power is the Dragon, and has now achieved a supremacy over the Nations of the Earth, and is the Seventh Imperial Head of the Beast.

4th. That the London Money-Power by its Loans will enable Prussia to put its immense armies into the field and attain imperial dominion, — the Dragon thus giving Power to the Beast.

5th. That the United States is the Great prophetic power of the Latter Days, and is destined to rule the World during the Millennium. . 6th. That instead of the World being at the end of the age of Prophecy, the last great prophetic Age is just beginning.

7th. That the Seventh Trumpet, instead of symbolizing the French Revolution, as heretofore interpreted, symbolizes the Great Final War of the Earth, in which the Old Age of Monarchy under the lead of Prussia, and the New Age of Liberty under the lead of the United States, will come into fierce collision — issuing in the overthrow of despotism, and the establishment of Republicanism throughout the earth.

8th. That the New Jerusalem, in the last chapters of Revelation, is the symbol of the Christian Church during the Millennial era.

Together with these, many other new discoveries in prophetic interpretation are presented, — the identification of the Ten Kingdoms of Europe — the symbolism of the Little Horn — the Titan Horn — the Wilful King — Michael — the identification of the Time of the End with our own age — the Symbolism of the Seven Churches— the Seven Seals— the Seven Trumpets— the Seven Vials — the discovery of the Symbolism of the Seven Thunders — of the position of the Reformation Angel— of the the close of the Reformation Era— the identification of the Two Witnesses — their career, death, Resurrection and ascension — the Entrance of Great Britain into the American Union — the Approaching invasion of the United States by Prussia--the location of the United States, in the Apocalypse, in the Lower Aerial Heaven — the Dramatic Structure of the Book of Revelation, — all these, and many other discoveries, constitute this work a new departure in Prophetic Exposition.

The publication of the Book of Revelation in dramatic form introduces a new era in the study of that great prophecy. The Author believes that the outline of the Book, as presented in Seven Acts, will be generally accepted by students of prophecy. It is paragraphed with appropriate headings, so as to show at a glance to what events each prediction and symbol refers. Figures in parenthesis are placed at the beginning of each paragraph, referring to the space in the Chart where ach paragraph belongs. The work involved great labor; but it is be xii. THE VISION UNSEALED;

lieved that the presentation of the Apocalypse in one view is essential to its full comprehension.

The revised version is generally given in the Chart, both in Daniel and Revelation. But liberty las been reserved to use the common version where its expression has been hallowed by reverent use, or where it better accords with the original. Thus in Rev. VIII. 1, 1, "I stood on the sand of the Sea," is retained, instead of "he stood;" and '-vials" is retained insteid of "bowls." In a few instances a different rendering is given where it is sancioned by high scholarship. In one or two passages of Daniel, Wiener's versLn is adopted.

V. PROPHECY ON EXACT SCIENCE.

As the result of enormous labor, the Author gives to the world A Harmony of the Prophecies, in which each prophecy has a place, and where all are arranged in perfectly harmonious adjustment. As the stones of Solomon's Temple were prepared beforehand for their several places in the walls of the temple, so the prophecies were all fitted by their divine Author for their several places in the great Temple of Prophetic Truth. Like the stoin s of Solomon's Temple, each prophecy fits perfectly in its place, and will fit nowhere else. There is no other scheme of prophetic interpretation under which the prophecies can be harmonized, into perfect adjustment with each other, and with the facts of history.

The Harmony embraces all the prophecies. The Author has the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments analyzed into paragraphs, and each paragraph marked by a number corresponding with the numbers in the margin of this Chart. If public interest warrants it, they can soon be published in paragrapic form, with a number attached to each paragraph designating its place in this Chart, after the manner in which the Book of Revelation is published in this Key. The Harmony is not partial: it includes all the prophecies.

The Author claims that the publication of this Chart places Prophecy in the list of the Sciences. Any branch of knowledge becomes a science when it is thoroughly analyzed and collocated into harmonious arrangement, under a system which embraces and harmonizes all the facts and phenomena.

Prophecy is the divine forecast of history. It becomes a Science as soon as it is embraced in a System which harmonizes all the prophecies into perfect adjustment with each other and with the facts of history.

Prophecy, under past systems of interpretation, has been in the same condition as Astronomy under the Ptolemaic System. Past systems of interpretation have embraced only a portion of the prophecies, and confounded those into a jumble of inconsistencies. If the Author's Sys-

KEY 10 PROPHECY. xm.

tem of Interpretation brings all the prophecies into harmonious adjustment with each other and with the facts of history, it does for prophecy what the Copernican System did for Astronomy.

It is universally held to be a scientific demonstration of the truth of the Copernican System that it harmonizes all the phenomena of the Solar System. If this System of Prophetic Interpretation harmonizes all the prophecies into perfect adjustment with each other and with the facts of history, its truth, likewise, is thereby established by scientific demonstration. And the demonstration is by so much the more conclusive, as the prophecies harmonized are more numerous and varied than the phenomena of the Solar System harmonized by the Copernican Theory.

The Harmony of Prophecy is not only a scientific demonstration of the truth of the Author's system of Exposition; it is also a scientific demonstration of the inspiration of prophecy. Prophecies so numerous — given in so many different ages and under such various circumstances — and covering a historical field so extensive — could not harmonize with each other, even in general outline, unless they were the inspired revelation of Omniscience. And when they are showed to harmonize so perfectly even in the minutest points, that every prediction fits into its place in the Prophetic System, like the stones of Solomon's Temple, such order and harmony displays the design and wisdom of Infinite Mind. If the Prophecies agree with each other in such mutual inter-dependence that they can all be arranged in a Harmony, in which each prophecy, however minute, has its place where it fits perfectly, while it will fit now T here else, then the Prophecies are a revelation from God, and the Bible which contains them is the inspired word of God The scientific demonstration of the inspiration of prophecy and the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is rendered as complete and thorough as the scientific demonstration of the physical sciences.

PROPHECY THE BASIS OF FAITH.

By divine appointment, Prophecy is made the chief corner stone of faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures and the Being of God. While the prophecies were revered, the world was filled with reverence for the Bible and the Christian Religion. Since faith in prophecy lapsed through the failure of interpretation, in 1866, the world has been overflowed with a deluge of infidelity and atheism.

The only cure for this is to re establish the public reverence for prophecy. The failure of 1866 was not a failure of prophecy, but of an erroneous System of Interpretation. Let a true System of Interpretation, which demonstrates the truth of Prophecy and the inspiration of the xiv. THE VISION UNSEALED.

Bible, be generally received, and infidelity and atheism will flee before it as the shadows of night fade before the rising sun.

The Author must state that the scope of the Work which accompanies the Chart is not what he had planned for many years, and hoped to give to the public. It has long been his hope to present his views of prophecy in an elaborate work accompanying the Chart, and covering the entire subject of prophecy. But such a work would require ample leisure for its preparation, and ample means for its publication. The Author has endeavored to acquire the means necessary to accomplish his aim; but, disappointed of this, the only hope of getting his views before the public was to first publish a skeleton outline, as is given in this Key, and afterward supplement it by several works on special departments and eras of prophecy.

And upon reflection, he believes that the advantages of this method overbalance its disadvantages. The cost of a larger work would have placed it beyond the means of the general public, and its bulk would have limited its study to a few students of prophetic subjects. The limits of the present work has necessitated the utmost brevity of treatment in respect of all the prophecies; and has necessitated frequent reference to future works for information on points, adequate discussion of which is entirely beyond the compass of this Key. But the present work has the compensating advantage that it is not long enough to weary the reader; and though its explanations are brief, yet it covers the entire field of prophecy, and is sufficiently clear in connection with the Chart, to enable any student to study thoroughly the prophecies for himself.

And there is the further advantage in the me hod that special works, on single prophetic subjects, with which it is proposed to supplement this Key, will allow of a breadth of tieatment and a degree of detail, inadmissible in a general work covering the entire subject. This is a great advantage in presenting a System of Prophetic Interpretation entirely new, and which needs to be fully presented in complete outline.

The Author has delivered three Lectures on Prophecy, which those who heard them, expressed a desire to see in print. They are already written, and will be published in a short time. 1. The first is "The Sixth Trumpet," setting forth in extenso our present place in Prophecy, and the Rise and Career of the Prussian Empire, the Beast from the Pit. 2. "The Great Red Dragon." 3. The United States in Prophecy."

Besides the above, the Author hopes to cover the entire field of prophecy with three other works;

1st. The Seven Headed Beast: a work covering the entire historical range of prophecy, and giving the calculations of the Prophetic

KEY TO PROPHECY, xv.

Times. A great part of this work is already written, and ready for the press.

2nd. Old Testament Prophecies of the Latter Days: the prophecies being paragraphed like the Book of Revelation in this Key, with figures attached to each paragraph locating its place in this Chart. A large part of this work is now complete.

3rd. The Millennium.

That This Scheme of Interpretation should contain no errors, is beyond expectation. The author believes that the proper order of prophetic events has been given in the Chart. But in the interpretation of prophecy, before fulfilment, in the nature of things, errors must occur which fulfilment will reveal. The discovery of the symbolism of the Seven (Sealed) Thunders and the relation of the Sixth Trumpet to the death of the Witnesses goes far toward removing the veil from the prophecies: the Time of the End has come, to which the prophecies were sealed up; — but "the Mystery of God" shall not "be finished" till "the days of the voice of the Seventh [Trumpet] angel, when he shall begin to sound." There must be errors in the interpretation of the grand events of the Sixth Trumpet now just before us. It is only at the close of the events of that Trumpet that the Mystery shall be fully unveiled.

This work is offered to the public in the belief that it is true in the Grand Outline of Interpretation it presents; and in the hope that, in presenting Scripture Prophecy from an entirely New Stand Point, it may re-awaken interest in the Prophetic Scriptures, and inspire anew in the Christian public a spirit of investigation. Whatever of truth it embodies is commended to the acceptance of the Christian public, and its mistakes and errors are commended to the charity of the Future Age when fulfilment shall have given complete comprehension of all the prophecies.

Introductory Chapter.

Method of the Harmony of Prophecy.

In all the prophecies of the Old Testament, we see predictions of a grand conflict, — The Great Final War of the earth, — which is always represented as followed by an era of blessedness aud peace.

In the prophecies of Isaiah, the predictions of the Millennium are usually preceded by prophecies of this Great Final War. In Jeremiah, this war is clearly set forth. In Ezekial, the crisis of this Conflict is most graphically set forth as the invasion of Palestine by the army of Gog. The Minor Prophets dwell upon it.

But in none of these prophesies is the War presented with such attendant circumstances as enable us to link it with the other events of the period in which it occurs. We find the outline of these attendant events very clearly set forth in the prophecies of Daniel, and with still greater detail in the Book of Kevelation. We must look to Daniel for an outline of the prophetic events, and to Revelation for the detailed representation of those events. Daniel and .Revelation are the key to the prophetic scriptures.