In Great Britain a remarkable event took place in connection with the names, mentioned in that country. More than a score of these godly, learned men—mostly ministers from the various churches—had begun to study and to write upon the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation. Feeling the need of exchanging thought upon these subjects of common interest, and of counseling upon their common problems, a Prophetic Conference was called to meet in 1826, at the home of Henry Drummond, M. P., at Albury Park, Surrey. Over twenty of these expounders of prophecy were assembled there. They spent eight days in earnest study. Their conclusions were embodied in a remarkable three-volume report. They were united in expecting the Lord to come within a very few years. Representing, as they did, different denominational viewpoints on the topics under study, the united conclusions reached on the imminence of the second advent are nothing short of amazing. AGP 241.3
Following the principle of interpretation laid down by Hans Wood of Rosmead, Ireland, in 1787, they concluded that the “seventy weeks” of Daniel 9:24 were indeed “cut off” from the beginning of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. In other words, they understood them to begin simultaneously, the “seventy weeks,” or 490 literal years, comprising the first section of the full period, which they understood would terminate between 1843 and 1847. They further understood that the midst of the seventieth week—the cutting off of the Messiah for the sins of the people—sealed AGP 241.4
with divine certainty forever the beginning and, consequently, the ending of the full prophetic time period, the longest recorded in the Bible. AGP 242.1
This principle of interpretation was accepted and proclaimed by a score or more of outstanding British students of prophecy during the first three decades of the nineteenth century. Recent research has brought to light a literature remarkably penetrating and clear on the precise date of the ending of the 2300 years. AGP 242.2