01-24-2021, 04:00 PM
THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK
There are gathered together between the covers of this book a number of Scripture texts. Some of them certainly and others probably refer to the latter (but not necessarily the last) days of the world. To these have been added many sayings of saints and sages which bear on things to come after their day, yet apparently before the appearance of Anti-Christ.
The author has divided the prophecies used herein into two groups: the public prophecies (Scripture and the Fathers) and the private prophecies as found in the Apocrapha and the works of pious or learned men. The whole collection quotes over 200 seers. The extracts are arranged more or less chronologically so that the development of the ideas concerning the latter days may be more apparent. The prophecies are prefaced by an exhaustive topical index and the author's concordance of them.
With this in mind the gentle reader will realize that the author possesses not the gift of prophecy, nor does he profess even reasonable certainty for his own interpretations or correlations. On the contrary, he furnishes his texts to the reader and reminds all that where the Universal Church is silent each may draw his own conclusions provided he draw with caution.
The prophetic texts recorded are of certain divine origin only in the instances where they form parts of Sacred Scripture or Tradition, and the interpretations of these are matters of faith only in those few instances 'where the Church has given the meaning.
All other oracles found herein are to be classed as private. Some of them are said by their authors to have been revelations from God either to the author himself or to one or other pious or saintly person known to the author. Others of them have come down in the tradition of one or other nation and no doubt represent what the national bards were given to understand by the early national saints. The remainder are rather commentaries on oracles. They are by authors who do not profess to have had revelations, but who were wise men and who based their ideas of the future on Scripture, the Fathers, the saints and an intimate knowledge of history, the effects of evil and the capabilities of human ingenuity.
Without going into the various arguments in favor of, or against the authenticity, either of the present documents which contain these private oracles, or the oracles themselves the writer has felt justified in using all those quotations which seem not to contradict the teaching of the Church, and which, at the same time, have merited acceptance in the works of other authors better equipped than he to pass on their merit. L,et us say this: they are (unless otherwise noted) oracles which have for generations intrigued the children of earth.
SOME NOTIONS ON PROPHECY
In our day it is common, even among some men of faith, to pay little or no regard to any prophecy and to consider one who does pay heed, a relic from a dark age. Such an attitude is to some extent unreasonable as well as quite unchristian. Human reason teaches that God, and He alone, knows the future and that He can and may reveal it to His intelligent creatures. It is an article of faith, as well as historically established, that God did make certain revelations about the future to man and that some of them have not yet been fulfilled. Scripture teaches that there is a gift of prophecy which the Creator may bestow and has bestowed on whomsoever He pleases. A time limit was set and is passed for public revelations but none exists for private. No man may refuse to study public oracles, and, while a reasonable person may shut his ears to any particular private prophecy, he may not deny the value of all.
There are certain characteristics of prophecy which it is well to know. For example, events are portrayed as it were in a deep mist. Thus a prophecy may be in process of fulfillment before one's eyes and he may not be aware of it. Christ's birth, life and death are clearly forecast in the Old Testament; yet, in all Judea scarce a hundred of His contemporaries recognized Him.
Then too, a prophecy often reminds one of an Egyptian picture. There is no perspective. Events centuries apart may be forecast in one vision with divine disregard for time. The reason for this is to be found in a certain nontemporal relationship of spiritual events. One that happened in one century may be the type of another to come a thousand years later, or again an earlier may be the sign of a subsequent one. Thus St. John the Baptist was both a type of Christ and a sign of His near approach, whereas the destruction of Jerusalem was a type of the destruction of the world. In this connection it must be remembered that one prophetic utterance can portray even several types of a great spiritual event, as well as the event itself. The prophecy in the Apocalypse concerning Babylon refers to ancient Rome, its emperors and its fall, but the text is not exhausted with this. For a certainty the civil government of Anti-Christ is also spoken of and there is reason to believe that the words foretell the future of all cities or governments which substitute materialism for true Christianity.
This peculiarity of prophecy makes the oracle credible by virtue of reason. as well as by virtue of faith. for when the type or sign is verified it is reasonable to expect the main event.
On the other hand. one momentous event is often forecast by many separate prophecies. from various angles and often over many centuries. In these instances. as the generations go by and the individual utterances increase. man gradually gets a more recognizable picture. Yet even here the event may have come and gone before all of these separate references are recognized as facets of one majestic gem. This feature is best noted in the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah.
Prophetic ideas are often conveyed in visions. The recipient may not understand the meaning of the picture which passes before his mind. Sometimes further divine aid enlightens his mind. This aid may come immediately after the vision, later on in his life or not to him at all but to some one else. The "someone else" may be a contemporary or may not come into being till hundreds or even thousands of years later. In some instances only the incomprehensible vision proceeds from God. Actual history. probably centuries later, gives the first inklings as to what the picture means. The seer may give his personal opinion as to the meaning of one of his visions but such remains merely his opinion. In scripture divine inspiration guarantees that the revelations and their interpretations. when given. are free from error. We have no such guarantees in the case of the private prophecies.
Prophecies are sometimes conditional. Such usually contain or imply "unless penance be done" such and such will follow. True prophets may be saints or sinners as is evident from the Old Testament. False prophecies are easiest detected by the false doctrine they contain or their failure to materialize. The devil and his votaries cannot forecast the contingent future. but some writers contend that the devil can bring to pass sometimes one or other forecast of his servants. Such events. however. may be curious but must be unimportant. Propagandists, necromancers and astrologers are often authors of false prophecies, nor would God use them for truth without manifesting His presence as He did in the case of the Witch of Endor.
In this regard it must be remembered that the phenomena of the subconscious is sometimes truly remarkable and that this psychological character differs greatly in different individuals. It is almost certain that there are persons who by purely natural means. for example. mental telepathy, can know what others have in mind and therefore can foretell what will happen if those persons carry out their plan. Such persons also in their sub-conscious minds work on all the information they have, and often not knowing whence their conclusions come. nevertheless draw them and find out in time they have been very accurate. These phenomena however are easily distinguished from genuine prophecy, for the latter deals also with a future unknown to any human (even thus hypothetically) and must be accurate in all its parts. Phenomena of the subconscious are sometimes correct, more often incorrect, and always related to an unknown but actual present or future event which is already in the process of unfolding.
In cases of doubt one should presume that phenomena are to be explained rather by natural means than by the preternatural or supernatural.
All true prophecy is from God for His glory and the sake of the "elect." As it becomes fulfilled it establishes its own divine origin and the reliability of the documents which convey it. It is a consolation to the faithful for it warns them what to expect as individuals and members of society, and at the same time assures them of the means for their personal salvation, the perpetuation of their Church, and the ultimate triumph of Christian civilization. Then, too, it instills into the hearts of sinners a salutary fear of divine vengeance.