Horae Apocalypticae - Prophecy and Reformation

Prophecy and Reformation

Reverend Elliott set himself the task which he felt had defeated others before him: how to relate the prophecies of Revelation to the historical events of the Reformation. Although the reformers saw themselves as fulfilling prophecy, Luther and Calvin shared low opinions of the theology of Revelation and did not pursue the subject. Elliott engaged in a minute examination of both the prophecies and Reformation history to show how, in his view, they were in accord. In this phase of the vision, John was to be seen as if performing prophetic acts as a representative man; a sort of Everyman. The particular chronological problem posed by Revelation 10: 5 - 7 was solved by proposing that the proper translation was not "that time shall be no longer" but rather "that the time shall be no further prolonged" - referring to the present time of evil. Thus, the mystery of God which will come to an end is the passing away of providence itself.

The reformed church wished to establish itself on precedents from an early, unsullied church. But knowledge of the subject was lacking, "covered with darkness and corrupted by innumerable fables" until Flacius Illyricus produced the Magdeburg Centuries around 1556. This established the pedigree needed to date the 1260 years of the Two Witnesses. Of these witnesses, Edward Elliott said "living confessors are intended" but, because of the long timescale involved, he referred to G. S. Faber's suggestion of two lines of witnesses which he took to mean the anointed priests and the more irregularly constituted band of prophets. He quoted Hengstenberg, "The two witnesses are ideal persons, who appear in a multitude of real witnesses."

Reverend Elliott set out what he saw as the history of "Christ's secret ones" or "the Church in the wilderness" by which the spirit of primitive Christian doctrine was kept alive during the epoch of the Beast. Witnesses listed (amongst others) were Alcuin, Claude of Turin, the Paulicians, Peter de Bruys, and the Poor Men of Christ who had originated in Cologne. Edward Elliott specifically identified these as a proto-Protestant underground. He said the prophetic period of 1260 years was simultaneous for all its manifestations; the period during which the gentiles trample the temple court, the period of the woman in the wilderness, the reign of the Beast and the period in which the two witnesses prophesy. When he first wrote, this period of 1260 years had yet to come to an end. But he wanted the murder and resurrection of the witnesses to coincide, not with the end of the period, but with the final persecution of the Waldenses followed by their resurrection represented by the Reformation. Were this to be ruled out, then the Reformation would not be marked by any special prophetic fulfillment and the period when the gospel message would be almost totally extinguished would still be in the future. This he found unpalatable. He got around the dilemma by suggesting that the sense of Revelation 11:7 would be better taken as 'when the witnesses had perfected their testimony' rather than 'when they had finished their testimony'. This meant the death of the witnesses was during their prophetic period and not at its end so there need be no hiatus to allow for the events preceding their ascension. Then, the millennium could start as soon as the prophetic period had ended which was what was required of Daniel 7: 25.

The 'great city' where all this took place was Rome. But Revelation 11: 8 described it as "where also our Lord was crucified" which seemed to point to Jerusalem. Again, Reverend Elliott preferred a slightly different wording, "where also their Lord hath been crucified" thus the witnesses were murdered in Rome in remembrance of Christ's death and the precise occasion was the Fifth Council of the Lateran of 1512. For the witnesses' resurrection, Edward Elliott quoted Pope Adrian VI, "The heretics Huss and Jerome seem to be alive again in the person of Luther." The witnesses' ascension he assigned to the Peace of Passau 1552.