slimboyfat : Isaac Newton, who was extremely into his Bible prophecy, apparently predicted the end for 2060, or, to put it more precisely, that 2060 was the latest date it could possibly be. If I recall correctly, this date was arrived at by adding 1260 day/years from Revelation to the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 AD.
Correct. In one of Newton's papers (Yahuda MS 7.3g, folio 13 verso), currently held by the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem, he wrote :
So then the time times & half a time [Daniel 7:25] are 42 months [Revelation 11:2; 13:5] or 1260 days [Revelation 11:3; 12:6] or three years & an half, recconing twelve months to a yeare & 30 days to a month as was done in the Calendar of the primitive year. And the days of short lived Beasts being put for the years of lived [sic] kingdoms, the period of 1260 days, if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end A.C. 2060. It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons wch God hath put into his own breast.
The reason 800 C.E. is important is because Newton claims that is the beginning of the Pope's supremacy, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor at St Peter's in Rome. The 1260 years corresponds to the duration of the corruption of the Church, starting from 800.
You will note from the text I have emboldened that 2060 was not the latest date it could possibly end, but the earliest. Newton actually writes in another place (Yahuda MS 7.3o, folio 8 recto) :
The time times & half time do not end before 2060 nor after