At the commencement of the fourteenth century, the alchemist Arnault of Villeneuve announced the end of the world for 1335. In his treatise De Sigillis he applies the influence of the stars to alchemy, and expounds the mystical formula by which demons are to be conjured.
St. Vincent Ferrier, a famous Spanish preacher, gave to the world as many years' duration as there were verses in the Psalms—about 2537.
The sixteenth century produced a very plentiful crop of predictions of the final catastrophe. Simon Goulart, for example, gave the world an appalling account of terrible sights seen in Assyria—where a mountain opened and showed a scroll with letters of Greek—"The end of the world is coming." This was in 1532; but after that year had passed in safety, Leovitius, a famous astrologer, predicted it again for 1584. Louis Gayon reports that the fright at this time was great. The churches could not hold those who sought a refuge in them, and a great number made their wills, without reflecting that there was no use in it if the whole world was to finish.
One of the most famous mathematicians of Europe, named Stoffler, who flourished in the 16th century, and who worked for a long time at the reform of the calendar proposed by the Council of Constance, predicted a universal deluge for 1524. This deluge was to happen in the month of February, because Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars were then together in the sign of the Fishes. Everyone in Europe, Asia, and Africa, to whom these tidings came, was in a state of consternation. They expected a deluge, in spite of the rainbow. Many contemporary authors report that the inhabitants of the maritime provinces of Germany sold their lands for a mere trifle to those who had more money and less credulity. Each built himself a boat like an ark. A doctor of Toulouse, named Auriol, made a very large ark for himself, his family, and his friends, and the same precautions were taken by a great many people in Italy. At last the month of February came, and not a drop of rain fell. Never was a drier month or a more puzzled set of astrologers. Nevertheless they were not discouraged nor neglected for all that, and Stoffler himself, associated with the celebrated Regiomontanus, predicted once more that the end of the world would come in 1588, or at least that there would be frightful events which would overturn the earth.
This new prediction was a new deception; nothing extraordinary occurred in 1588. The year 1572, however, witnessed a strange phenomenon, capable of justifying all their fears. An unknown star came suddenly into view in the constellation of Cassiopeia, so brilliant that it was visible even in full daylight, and the astrologers calculated that it was the star of the Magi which had returned, and that it announced the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were filled with new predictions of great variety.
Even our own century has not been without such. A religious work, published in 1826, by the Count Sallmard Montfort, demonstrated perfectly that the world had no more than ten years to exist. "The world," he said, "is old, and its time of ending is near, and I believe that the epoch of that terrible event is not far off. Jacob, the chief of the twelve tribes of Israel, and consequently of the ancient Church, was born in 2168 of the world, i.e., 1836 B.C. The ancient Church, which was the figure of the new, lasted 1836 years. Hence the new one will only last till 1836 A.D."
Similar prophecies by persons of various nations have in like manner been made, without being fulfilled. Indeed, we have had our own prophets; but they have proved themselves incredulous of their own predictions, by taking leases that should commence in the year of the world's destruction.
But we have one in store for us yet. In 1840, Pierre Louis of Paris calculated that the end would be in 1900, and he calculated in this way:—The Apocalypse says the Gentiles shall occupy the holy city for forty-two months. The holy city was taken by Omar in 636. Forty-two months of years is 1260, which brings the return of the Jews to 1896, which will precede by a few years the final catastrophe. Daniel also announces the arrival of Antichrist 2,300 days after the establishment of Artaxerxes on the throne of Persia, 400 B.C., which again brings us to 1900.
Some again have put it at 2000 A.D., which will make 6,000 years, as they think, from the creation; these are the days of work; then comes the 1,000 years of millennial sabbath.