SAMUEL OSGOOD (1748-1813), soldier and legislator, was born at Andover and educated at Harvard, graduating in 1770. He planned on the ministry, but because of ill-health joined his brother in business in 1770. In the Revolutionary War he entered the army as a captain of minutemen at Lexington (1775), subsequently attaining the rank of colonel. A member of the Essex Convention in 1774, the Constitutional Convention in 1779, the State senate in 1780, he served in the Continental Congress from 1781 to 1784, where he was on important commit tees. He was one of three commissioners of the United States Treasury, 1785-89. In 1789 to 1791 he was Postmaster General; 1801-1803, speaker in the New York Assembly; and from 1803 to 1813 was naval officer for the port of New York. PFF3 221.2
Osgood’s rather bulky and detailed Remarks on the Book of Daniel and on the Revelations (1794), was sent forth anonymously, but its authorship is clearly identified in the Library of Congress files. 76Also in Evans, op. cit., vol. 9, p. 230 (no. 26663). It was apparently written between his post master-generalship and his speakership of the New York Assembly. In the introduction he notes that Porphyry was the first who sought to prove that the book of Daniel was “not authentic.” And he cites Newton and others frequently, showing familiarity with preceding writers on prophecy in Europe and America, agreeing with some and differing from others. PFF3 221.3
He clearly delineates the four empires of prophecy, naming and describing the metallic parts of the great image. The last phase he depicts thus: PFF3 221.4
“The feet and toes may now be considered as the last political head of the image, the duration of which cannot be much longer according to the course of nature.” 77Samuel Osgood, Remarks on the Book of Daniel and on the Revelations, p. 36. See also pp. 235, 236. PFF3 222.1
Osgood de-dares the stone to be the “kingdom oL Christ,” not the “invisible kingdom which operates only on the hearts of individuals from Christ’s first to His second advent. This stone represents the second advent.” 78Ibid., pp. 44, 45. PFF3 222.2
On Daniel 7, Osgood was in contusion, believing the second beast to represent the Mohammedan power. But he held that the great judgment scene of verses 10, 26 described the millennium, which succeeds the period of the worldly nations. 79Ibid., pp. 57, 58, 257, 259, 260. PFF3 222.3
In another place, however, Osgood says, “Out of the ten, or after the ten horns, another horn arises, which we suppose designates the pope as a single head.” 80Ibid., pp. 234, 475. PFF3 222.4
The 2300 days of Daniel 8 are reckoned so many years, with this chronological placement: PFF3 222.5
“It is most probable that the 2300 days commence with the end of the Persian and the beginning of Alexander’s empire, and shall end when the image shall be broken and scattered as chaff by the wind.” 81Ibid., p. 63. PFF3 222.6
This he believed might end in 1970. 82Ibid., pp. 64, 253, 434. PFF3 222.7
The seventy weeks, or 490 years, of Daniel 9 are terminated with the death of Christ, 83Ibid., pp. 68, 460. and are dated from the seventh year of Artaxerxes. 84Ibid., pp. 70, 466, 170. The 1260, 1290, and 1335 periods are all recognized as based on the year-day principle. 85Ibid., p. 45. PFF3 222.8
Many pages are devoted to the exposition of Daniel 11 as a literal, consecutive prophecy, in the central portion of which the Mohammeans are voluminously traced. The Ottoman power is stressed in the latter part (verse 40 ff.) as the power that will go forth furiously, but come to its end at the second advent. 86Ibid., pp. 250, 251. PFF3 222.9
The prophetic “time” in Daniel is a year of 360 days, 87Ibid., p. 239. (360 year-days, p. 340.) and the 1260 years are linked to the Mohammedan power, 88Ibid., pp. 253, 323. possibly from the years 630 to 1890. 89Ibid., pp. 266, 268, 323, 470. PFF3 223.1
Passing to the Apocalypse, Mohammed is the “star falling from Heaven” of Revelation 9, 90Ibid., p. 308. with A.D. 622 as the key date 91Ibid., p. 309. -the “five months” of the fifth trumpet extending from 622 to 772, 92Ibid., pp. 340, 471, 496. exactly 150 years. PFF3 223.2
The sixth trumpet, applied to the Turks, is repeatedly keyed to July 27, 1299, 93Ibid., pp. 309-311, 317. with “the unusual exactness of the prophetic period, which is 391 years and 15 days allotted to them.” 94Ibid., pp. 310, 311. In one place Osgood suggestively places this from 997 to 1388, but with the observation that the Turks were in “full operation” in 1388, and it would therefore carry beyond that date, with 1403 mentioned as a possible terminal date. 95Ibid., pp. 471, 474, 497. But in the appendix he says: PFF3 223.3
“They are manifestly designed as scourge to wicked Christians, and seem apparently to commence with or about the time of Othman, A.D. 1299.” 96Ibid., p. 498. (The pouring out of the vials.) PFF3 223.4
The ten horns are designated as Germany, France, Spain, England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia; 97Ibid., p. 359. and the two-horned Beast is the same as Paul’s “mystery of iniquity” of 2 Thessalonians 2. 98Ibid., p. 372. The 1260 years of Mohammedanism are paralleled by the Western Empire and its 1260 years allocated from 392 to 1652. 99Ibid., pp. 464, 465. The woman in the wilderness is placed from 30 to 1890, while Rome is taken to be the seat of the Beast. 100Ibid., pp. 465, 474, 475, 477. The seven churches are spread over the Christian Era, Osgood connecting Thyatira with the papal period. 101Ibid., pp. 471, 472. PFF3 223.5
This is the testimony of the Postmaster General. PFF3 224.1