Observations on the successful or unsuccessful anticipations of unfulfilled prophecy, dated in March, 1846, and reprinted from the Prophetic Herald of that period.

Having mentioned as an evidence of the certainty of the prophetic word, and of the truth of my system of Apocalyptical arrangement, the fact, that I had been enabled successfully to anticipate the interpretations of all the prophecies of the Apocalypse which have been fulfilled since 1813; I must not omit to notice one case of unsuccessful anticipation, which occurred at an early period in interpreting a part of the last prophecy of Daniel, viz. chap. xii. verse 7 to the end; and I shall hope to be able to make good by reference to this case, the general proposition I have laid down: That the anticipations of a systematic and judicious commentator, as derived from the consideration of a prophecy previously to its fulfilment, cannot fail, in any case, to be highly beneficial to his subject; either as proving the correctness of his system of interpretation, if it be already perfected, by the event then corresponding to his anticipation; or in the contrary case, (which can only be the consequence of the existence of some defect in the principles upon which it has been formed,) by the failure eliciting some new fact previously unknown to the Church at large, but necessary to be known in order to bring the system of prophetic interpretation to perfection.

By a judicious commentator I, of course, mean one who is capable of ascertaining what is solid and true in the works of his predecessors, and consequently of availing himself of all the real discoveries made by others previously to his taking up the subject; and when I say that the anticipations of such a one, whether the event respond to them or otherwise, will in the end form steps in the advancing progress of the science, I imply, of course, that the historical prophecies of Daniel and St. John do

form such a regular system as to be properly the subject of scientific investigation.

I need not dwell much at length upon the advantages which must necessarily have been derived from the consideration of prophecy previously to its fulfilment, in reference to the cases in which the anticipation has proved successful; but I think it may be easily understood that persons, labouring under disadvantages to a certain extent, often find these adverse circumstances, as requiring and calling forth greater exertion in order to obtain the proposed object, prove ultimately rather beneficial than otherwise; thus the finest flavoured fruits are the production of less favoured climates, where the horticulturists have had various difficulties to contend against, rather than of those which offer the greatest natural aids to their cultivation. In the same way a commentator when considering a prophecy previously to its fulfilment is, of course, placed under some natural disadvantages; but the necessity which will be thus laid upon him of comparing one part of unfulfilled prophecy with another, and of combining the whole into one general and accordant system, gathering light from every available source, will often much more than make up for his present disadvantage; so that his anticipation alone shall probably be a truer interpretation of the prophecy than those given even subsequently to the occurrence of the predicted event, by others less regular and systematic in their investigations.

I will endeavour to illustrate the above statement by the example of the prophecy of the going forth of the three unclean spirits "out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet," to gather the kings of the earth and of the whole world "to the battle of that great day of God Almighty," called the battle of Armageddon, as predicted to take place under the sixth Vial; between which prophecy, and the prevalence of revolutionary principles upon the continent of Europe, as manifested in the revolutions which took place in Naples, Piedmont, Spain, and

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Portugal, between the years 1820 and 1823, terminating the thirty years of Daniel, there seems to be no very direct and obvious correspondence; whence those of my contemporaries who considered equally with me the series of the 1260, 1290, and 1335 years of Daniel to have commenced from the edict of the emperor Justinian, and his letter addressed to the Pope, in the year 533; and that the termination of the first period in this series in the year 1792-3 was proved by the occurrence of that astonishing event the first French Revolution, and who consequently expected with me, some prophetic event to mark in like manner the expiration of the 1290, or further period of thirty years, in the year 1822-3, have conceived that no such marked event did happen; and have thus had their confidence shaken with respect to one of the most important, and best established truths of prophetic interpretation, namely, the commencement of this series of three sacred periods, A. D. 533, and the consequent termination of the first of them, A. D. 1792-3, which, if adhered to, might probably lead them on to a correct view of the whole subject; and had I neglected all inquiry into the meaning of this prophecy until the year 1823 arrived, there was indeed nothing of apparent correspondence between the event and the prediction, of such a striking and unquestionable character, as to have arrested the attention of such a negligent commentator as I should thus have proved myself to be. But I had already fully considered the terms of the prophecy; namely, in the first place that Paganism, Popery, and Infidelity, were the three evil powers which are represented in the Apocalypse, under the symbols of the Dragon, the False Prophet, and the Beast, as successively occupying the whole times of the Roman Empire, dividing them into the three periods of their special influence: whence I considered that the united influence of the three being exerted at the same period, might well describe the wonderful, or, as it is termed, miraculous, spread of "all manner of corrupt principles" throughout the Western Roman Empire.

In the next place the prophecy informs us that the tendency

of the spread of these corrupt principles, during the period of the sixth preparatory Vial, will be to gather together the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, "unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon," " to the battle of that great day of God Almighty," and I had learned from the description given of this battle, Rev. xix. 17, &c., that "the kings of the earth and their armies," will be thus gathered together by a voice proceeding from the symbolical "sun," Rev. xix. 17, or the then imperial head and ruler of the Roman Empire, who is represented as "saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men," &c.; and the same fact had been confirmed to me by another Apocalyptical prophecy, (chap. xvii. 7-14, where it is stated, that the leader of the "ten kings" of the Western Roman Empire, who shall make war with the Lamb in this great and destructive battle, will be "the eighth" and last head, and sovereign, of the Roman Empire; who we are told also will be "of the seven," or will be connected in some extraordinary, and yet undiscovered manner, with the late Emperor Napoleon the Great; who, after having constituted Rome the second city of his empire, completed the seventh headship by conferring the title of King of Rome upon his son, at the hour of his birth, in the year 1811; which doubly constituted headship, after having continued, as predicted, "a short space," terminated on the 6th April, 1814, by Napoleon then abdicating in his own name, and that of his heirs, all his titles and rights of sovereignty in France and Italy.

I had also clearly foreseen, (as I conceive,) that the period when the infidel Antichrist, the successor and representative of Napoleon the Great, whoever he may be, will be raised to the supremacy of the ten kingdoms of the Western Roman Empire, as sovereign of Rome, will be upon the occurrence of " the earthquake," or great popular insurrection and revolution of the seventh Vial, when a new division of the Western Roman Em

pire takes place, and it becomes "divided into three parts," or into three co-existent states, of which Rome will be the chief.

Putting therefore these three things together, namely, first, that the nations are to be gathered together to make war with the Lamb by the Infidel Antichrist, in his capacity of sovereign of Rome, or "eighth" and last head of the empire. And, secondly, that he will attain to that sovereignty by the great popular insurrection and revolution of the seventh Vial, affecting the whole papal continent; and, thirdly, that in the period of the sixth Vial, as preparatory to that great revolution, all manner of corrupt principles were to spread and extend themselves in a wonderful manner throughout that empire, I drew from these data the obvious inference that these corrupt principles were revolutionary principles; and consequently found a satisfactory fulfilment of the prophecy when the revolutions broke out in Naples, Piedmont, Spain, and Portugal, between the years 1820 and 1823; the temporary suppression of which (also necessarily anticipated by me from the consideration that they were only of a preparatory nature) afforded a marked termination of the sixth preparatory Vial, and of the 1290 years of Daniel; which my contemporaries, though holding the same opinion with myself as to the commencement of this period, not having thus prepared their minds by a full examination of the prophecy previously to its fulfilment, in vain sought for; being unable, in consequence, to see the agreement between the prophecy and the predicted event, even when the course of time had placed the latter before their eyes.

It will not be necessary to illustrate by more than this one example in reference to cases of successful anticipation the utility of having fully considered a prophecy in all its various bearings and connexions previously to its fulfilment; and I would now therefore proceed to endeavour to make good the second part of my proposition, namely, that even should the case arise that the event should not coincide with the anticipation, which can only be expected to occur at a very early stage of the investigation,