BENGELIUS^
INTRODUCTION
T O H IS
Expofition of the Apocalypfe:
WITH HIS
PREFACE to that WORK,
And the greateft Part of THE CONCLUSION OF ITl
... And alfo his Marginal Notes on the Text,
WKICH ARE
A Summary of the whole Exposition. Translated from the High-Dutch
By JOHN ROBERTSON, M. D.
LONDON:
Sold by J. Ryall and R. W^'^hy, at Hogarth's Head and Dial oppofite to Salifbury-Court, Fket-Jireet^
M.DCC.LVII,
THE
TRANS LAT 0 R's
PREFACE.
TN the Propofah for printing the enfiiing Treatife I declared my high opinion of the merit of the Author^ and the Grounds of it 5 and my Defgn in piiblijhing in our la^iguage this Specimen of his Works ^ that as a tafte // may whet the readers appetite after the reft of them : of which therefore it will be proper to give here afjort Account.
The pious Author propofed to himfelf one. principal Defign in his Studies -, in the Exe- cution of which he employed moji a?id the bejl years of his life^ and laid out on it the talents God had enriched him with — a great Saga-* city, ^/J^/W Judgment, and an indefatigable Induftiy, and all thefock of ujefid Knowlege he had acquired by the prudent ufe of thefe. This Defign was^ to illuftrate the New
iv. PREFACE.
Testament, not barely by Jhewing thefenfe mid meaning of thofef acred writings , but alfi the grandeur andmajejiy of the Sentiments, and the dignity afid beauty of the Expreffion in a Stile venerably fimple a?id delicately affeBing.
For this pw'pofe^ he judicioufiy obfervedy a correifl Copy of the f acred writings was necef- fary in the fir fl place: which he accordingly prepared for himfelf, by 7nany years fiudy in examining and digefting into order (which he has done with a clearnefs and hcility that could fcarcely have been hoped for) the vafi colleBions ofhispredecejjors, efpecially Dr, MilVs, and his own from MSS, which they had notfeen 5 and publiped it for the benefit of others at Tubing A\ 1734, in %%j!^ pages in 4'° (of which the "text takes up ^t^ii) 'with the following title :
I. H KAINH AIA0HKH. NovUM Tes- TAMENTUM GR-3iCUM, ita adomatum ut Textus probatarum editionum medullam, Margo variantium leftionum in fuas clafles diftributarum, locprumque parallelorum de- le6lum, Apparatus fuhjunBiis crifeos facrse, Millianac prsefertim, compendium, limam, fupplementum ac fruftum exhibeat; infer- yiente fo, Alberto Bengelio.
PREFACE. V.
The fame year he publified, at Stiitgardy an 8'° Edition of the Text and marginal VARIOUS READINGS and parallel places^ but without the critical Apparatus : which I have not been able to procure^ though dejirous to have it as a Curiojity in its kind, as having but one error of the prefix viz^ a wrong accent on the word i^ocKs^onxvy I Cor, xvi. 5, vid. Gnom. in locum. He had alfo begun a fecond S''*
edition^ entirely the fame ^ in the Text, with the two former y but a little different in the Margin as to the Greek letters oi, p, y, ^, £, one of which in all his editions he puts after each various reading to fgnify his approbation or difapprobation and the degree of it f^ the hefty £ the worjl, y doubtfid) ; fome of which are here alter d^ efpecially y into |3 or ^, after 1 8 years time for farther enquiry. He did not live to fee this finifbed. It came out at Tzibing^ A\ 1753, in ^g 5 pages. In the preface
to this 3'' edition he mentions a I'reatife he had by him ready for the prefs and would foon pub- lifhy viz. CLAvifcuLA N. Test. Grjeci ex iteratd hacce recognitione editi^ quae et generalia fundamenta crifeos N. T. ita repe« tit, ut noviflimas exceptioncs prascidantur, t^.
vi. PREFACE.
ad mxAt^fngidatim loca N. T. refiduis unius alteriufve eruditi viri oppofitionibus fafisfacit, alienafque corrediones, meafque curas ulte- riores adjicit. / am but very lately informed that this trcatife is printed^ and has been fold at London : fo that I have not yet had an oppor^ tunity offeeijig a work the title of which and the charadler ofifs Author raife my expeBatiort high.
The next tlmig to be done was to comtnuni-^ cate the Obfervations he had for many years been making on the Scriptures of the New Tef tament, But^ in order to avoid interruptions and digrefions in that work^ and to attain in it the utmoji Brevity^ of which he is ever ftudi- cus that the attention of the reader may not be diverted from the I'ext itfelf \ he put the ge^ neral things^ that related to many particular texts^ into two fmall Treatifes ; the iirft of which is a new Harmony of the Evangeliftsy which he wrote in High Dutch a?id publifed at T^ubing A\ 1736, in 'i()o pages in 8'* with this Hitle
II. JoHANN Albrecht Bengels richtige Harmonie der vier &c: /. e. An exacl Har- mony of the four Evangelists, in which the
P R E F A C E. vii.
Sijioryy the Works and the Words of Jesus Christ our Lord are difpofed in their proper natural Order, for confirmation of the truths and for exercife and edification in piety : by John Albert Bengel. With a Preface &c.
The fecond of thefe two is the Chrono- logy, not only of the New^ but alfo of the Old T^efiamenty nay of all ages ^^Sifrom the Cre- ation^ and future //// the end of time : afingu- lar and furprifing work, and well worthy of the Attention both of the pious and of the learned; which was printed at Stutgard A\ ij^iy in /^^i pages in 8'*, entitled
IIL ]q. Albert! Bengelij Ordo Tempo- rum, d Principio per Periodos oeconomiae divinse hiiloricas atque propheticas, ad Finem ufque ita deduftus ut tota Series & quarumvis Partium Analogia fempiternse virtutis ac fapientiae cultoribus ex Scripturd veteris et novi T'efiamenti^ tanquam uno revera docu- mento, proponatur.
But before this lafi mentioned book he thought it proper to publijh his Expofition of the Re- velation, becaufe in the Introduction to it (which is the enfuing I'raB) he had eftablifhed a main principle of his Chrofiology^ efpecially
vlii. PREFACE.
of future times : which he did accordingly y A", 1740 at Stutgard in 1 162 pages in 8'" under the following T'itle,
IV. Erklarte Offenbarung &c, /. e. An Exposition of the Revelation of. St, John, or rather c/' Jesus Christ, tran- i[2.ttdi from the original 'Text revifedj opened l?y means of the prophetical Numbers ^ and offered to the coniideration of all that regard the Work and the Word of the IjORB, and defre to he rightly prepared yir thofe Occurrences that are near at hand: by John Albert Bengel.
The Author himf elf (in §.177 of his Abrifs^ ^c, to be fpoken of by and by) 77ientions a 1^ edition of this work^ A"' 1 746 ; in which he has brief y confuted the Moravians Mifapplica-^ tion of the excellent things f aid of the Church of Philadelphia to the Church of the Brethren as they call it^ and the perfevering cppofition they make to the right ufe of the Revelation^ in p. 1163— 1172. But thefe i o pages feem^ by their numbers following im?nediately after the laft (viz, the 1 162V page of the Booky to be a feparate Appendix not interwoven into the body of the work 'y the 2^ edition of which y as it con- fijis of the fame number of pages as thefirf^ one
PREFACE. IX.
*would think JJdOuld not differ from it but in that Appendix, Yet I was wiUi?ig to fee it^ and it is near a twelvemonth ago that a German Book- feller at Lofidon was employ d to get it for me : but I have not feen it yet, I had patience with another of them two years in procuring me fome other of our Authors works-, and at lajl had them by other means. This diffculty or ncgli'- gence I cannot account for : but it accounts for fome defeBs of my narrative.
The laft Fart of the Work, and to which the reji were preparatory, was a continued Se- ries of Obfervations or Annotations on all the books of the New Teftament. It was printed at Tubifig A\ 1742, in 1208 pages in 4'% with the following Title y
V. Gnomon * Novi Testamenti, In quo, ex nativa verborum vi, Simplicitas,
B
* The Author's Defign being to point out in the briefeft manner the Emphafis, the Beauty, the Method of the Text, without taking off the reader's attention from the Text itfelf ; he would have called it an Index of the N. T. But being pre- vented the ufe of a metaphor taken from that Jinger with which we point at any thing (common ufage having affixed a different meaning to Index when fpoken of a book) he bor- rowed one from that part of a Sun-Dial that points out the Hours, and from thence call'd his work a Gnomon to the N. Tcft,
X. PREFACE.
Profunditas, Conclnnitas, Salubritas fenfuum cseleftium indicatur, o^tviJo^AlbertiBengelij.
These are the fever al Parts of his princi- pal Work, viz^ That oiz the New T'eflamejtt: of which I have given no larger an account than jufl to inform the Reader of the general defign of them ; having reflrained my firong inclination to give them fever ally their due praife, that I might not anticipate his pleafiire in finding them of much higher value than he can conceive from any thing I have f aid of them.
As to his fmaller Works: — he publifhedy before any of tlie above-mentioned^
1. St. Chrys OS Tom's Dialogue on the Priesthood, in Greek and Latin, with Notes, at T^ubing, A\ 1725, in 518 pages in 8'°. In the preface to this is his Prodromus Novi Teftamenti GrtJeci re6te cauteque adornandi, or Propofals for printing the above-mentioned critical edition of the Greek N, Tefiament, And
2. Gregorij Neoc^sariensis Pane- gyric u s : which I have not feen.
As // is impofjible the fame work fJooidd uni- verfally pleafe men of oppofite opinions andtafles-y our Author was, after puhlifhing the N. Tefi. attacked by two different forts of writers, fome
PREFACE. xi.
nccujing him of over-caution a?id timidity in admittifjg the various readings of the MSS, which differ from the common editions^ and o- thers of too great forwardnefs and temerity in receiving them : a good proof that he really went in the right middle way avoiding both ex- tremes. He vindicated himfelf againji both in two Dissertations. I can add nothing to what he fays himfelf concerning fome occa- sional Pieces, iii §. iv of the eiifiiing Pre- face : nor can I tell whether his German Translation of the N. Test, mentionedin §. III. of the fame has been publijhed. And
it little concerns our piirpofe that in \yi^ he gave an edition of fome Part of "Tullys works. 3 . B u T ^ fmall Piece which he had written y >4^ 1743, at the requeji of feveral friends who were earnejlly defirous to have his opinion of Coimt Zinzendorf and his Herrnhuters^ vizy XX Remarks on the Church of the Bre- thren fo called — this fmall Piece ^ I fay^ is more worthy of our Notice ^ as it gave occafion for his publijlnng afterward a more confiderable work, vizy a larger a?2d fuller account ofthefe people. 'T'he Remarks were not inte?tded for
xii. PREFACE. the piiblick view; kit the Leaders of the Mo- ravians (for the Count and his people pretend to that Name^ and are commonly fo called among us) having got a Copy of them^ at a Synod which they held at Marienborn^ the Count wrote his Obfervations on them^ and publijhed both together, Bengelitis^ otberwife uf fully employ^ ed^ and ever averfe to the dif agreeable ofice of difputing [that is, mofly of laying open that chicane which many difputants artfully make vfe of in order to prevent a controverfy from being determined) declined publifhing any thing more about the Moravians, 'till a fcandalous report being propagated that he approved the New-mor avian Scheme, or at leaf had engaged himfelf to publip nothing more concerning ity and finding the frequent Variations and new^ modellings of it were in a continual progrefsfrofn had to worfe^ he determined to digefi in order his obfervations and reflexions of many years on the Moraviajis and their Caufe, and lay them before the world. Accordingly he publijhed them at Stutgard A\ 175 1, adding as an Appendix, the afore-mentioned Remarks with the Count's Obfervations on them and his own Reply to
PREFACE. xlii. tbefey andfome other occaiional Papers relat- ing to the fame fubjedt, The whole is contained in 550 pages in S''' (whereof the Appendix makes 96) under the following Title :
Abriss der fo genannten Bruderge- MEiNE, in welchem &c. i. e, A Draught OF THE Church of the Brethren as they call it, in which their Do&ine is ex- amined and their Caufe tried, the Good and the Evil diflingidfhedy and particidarly Span- genbergs Declaration and the Ordinary's fliort and peremptory Thoughts are fet in a clear lights by John Albert Bengel. The Count was no fir anger to the CharaBer of our Author^ and, even when he wrote his Obferva- tions on the xx Remarks, prof effed a great Re- fpeB for him, faying among his Frieiids, * O
* that this beloved f7tan woidd go on in this Ipirit
* to give a cenfure of my writings and princi- ^ pies \ to which our Docility might perhaps be ' a better anfwer than an explication by words* He has now gratified this defire ; requiring, he
fays, no fubmifjive Docility, but earneflly wifld- ing to be uffid, and ferioifly protefting that he writes this Draught in the fame fpirit, of
XIV. PREFACE.
charity and loije of the truth, as he wrote the Remarks, T^he Idea Bengelius had early form d if the Ordinary, and in which many years obfer- vationfill confirmed him, was, T'hat of a man who had a mind to do our Saviour afervice i?i fome extraordinary manner, and in whofe opin- ion a good defign and meaning well made ^11 forts of methods lawful and fair. He believed that the young Count began in the fpirit: whether he believed the Ordinary ajtd his Bre- thren went on foy or in a new way ef their ewn, will plainly appear to the readers of this Draught : in the file and manner of which he expeBs that thofe who are throughly acquainted with the whole affair, and are impartial, will think he ought to have dealt more fharply with the Moravians -, and that thofe who are not, will judge he might have treated them more gently : and to the tafte of thefe lafi, who are hy far the greater number, be declares he has adapted himfelf though many of them may per^ baps think otberwife.
Thus much may fuffice to give my reader a general Notion of the Nature of thofe Writings 'which I would recommend to him, I hope to bis
PREFACE. XV.
great benefit. As to the outward Circum^
Jlances of the Authors life^ I cannot gratify the reader s curiofity [for I have not been able to gratfy my own) with ajiy account of them.
As to the prefent Work: f?ice the Revela- tion contains a Prophecy of the ft ate of the Chriftian Church through all ages ; it nearly concerns every Chriftian rightly to underftand ity in order to conduct himfelfin a manner fuit- able to the particular time he lives in, and to know in what part of the Prophecy that time isfpoken of ^he whole Exposition of
the Apocalypfe is a very clear and well-fupported Interpretation of the Meaning and Senfe of the Prophecy^ and the enfuing Introduction to it fettles the proper Time of every event foretold in it : and from thence it appears that within 54 years from this prefent time^ many and great Events'' and of the utmoft Importance to every living Soul^ efpecially to Chriftians and Jews, are to be expelled: fome of which cannot be far off, if they are not already begun. Let the People of thefe Nations take a fiber view of the prefent ft ate of their wordly affairs, and a fad andforrowful one of theftate ofK^-
^ Sec §. VII. of the lad Seftion of the Condufion.
wi. PREFACE.
ligion among us, where open and avowed Infi^ delity^ and its necejfary confequence a general Corruption of Manners, is daily fpreading : and then let them ferioujly bethink themf elves (thofe of them who are not fo intoxicated as to make a jeji of all ferious thinking) whereabout they are, and what they have to expedt.
My looking upon thisfmall Treatife as a very feafonable Admonition to the prefent and to the rifing Generation, determined me to the choice of it as a proper Sample of the ufeful and edyfying Works of its Author. And lam there- fore the more forry that it Jhould come out fo much later than it was expelled and than I hoped and believed it would. I folemnly declare that I did not delay the publication of it fo much as one day in order to increafe the number of Sub^ fcriptionSy after there werefo many as to anfwer the purpofe mentioned in the Propofals, viz, to fecure me from being a lofer by the undertaking, I was indeed ready to put to the prefs all that I had promifed in my Propofals [viz, the Preface, the Introdudlion and the greater part tfthe iii^ SeBion of the Conclufion; which J computed would amount all together to 24*
PREFACE. xvii.
p^g^s] early in the Summer : but the Printer
was obliged to wait more than four months for
a new Letter (that I might exceed rather tbaji
falljljort of what I had engaged for) thd ex-
peBing it week after week. When at lajl the
work was begiin^ an accident in his affairs^
for which he is no ways to be blamed^ occafioned
a very fow prcgrefs in it at firjl, and much
Jicknefs retarded it after.
But perhaps the reader may have little caufe to complain of the Delay : fnce I have employed the leifure it gave me in adding (I hope^ for his benefit) a T^ranfiation of the V\ IF, remainder of the Iir, the IV^' andMlV" SeBions of the Conclufion, as alfo the Author sfhort marginal Notes on his new Tranfiation of the Revelation from the original T'ext revifed^ prefixed to his Expofition^ ofwhich they are a Summary, exhibit- ijig a general View of the Scheme andOeconomy of the Apocalypfe 3 all which bring the Book to the bulk in which it now appears, Aftd here I beg leave to take notice, fnce printijig by Subfcription has often been abufed to mean andfelfifhpurpofes, that this voluntary Addition is an incontefiable proof that no lucrative mo- C
xviii. P R E F A C E.
tive /ay concealed under the pretence ^publick benefit which I gave as my priJicipal reafonfor puhlijlnng this T'reatife. Much lefs was I moved by any defire of Reputation : for in England no kind of writing does a man lefs credit than tranfating^ and in a work of this nature a faith- fid reprefcntation of the fenfe of the Author (which I hope I have given) in plain language is all that is necejfary ; oryiaments of ft He, the chief ground of a tranftators claim to honour, being moft wanted where the Senfe is of leaft Value,
Pit COMB, in Somerfetfl/ire, April 1 8, 1757.
ERRATA.
Page X. line i. for intrude, read obtrude . — p. xxiii. I. 14. for has gone, r. has yet gone. — p. li. 1. 14. for cafe, r. caufi. — p. 85. 1. 19. for C. xviii. r. C. xvii. — p. 179. 1. 2. for left between them, r. left o-ver andabo"je them. — p. 227. 1. 8. for again, with, r. again. With. — p. 283. 1. 2. for ■ Revelation, r. relation. — p. 294. 1. 21. for Dr. Emiliane's, r. D'Erniliune's.—^. 305. 1. 16. for this, r. hii, — p. 324. for Though, r. Through.
BENGELIUS's
PREFACE
TO HIS
Exposition of the Revelation,
The Contents.
I. nr'h.
§ I. ^ / 'HE Importance of the Re- velation*
II. "The Occafion of this Illuftration
of it.
III. The Parts of which it confefls.
IV. Tloe Difference between this ajtd
fome other wofks of the Author.
V. The main D^iign of this, -
A
("• )
§ VI. Six Sorts ^/Syftems of the A- focalypfe.
VII. An Admonition concerning the
Expojitiom that prevail at this Day.
VIII. Hoe Ground of this prefent Ex-
pojition. •
IX. It's FuUnefs, and it's Relation to
our Times, efpecially with regard ta the Roman Papacy •
X. Ihe Author s Orthodoxy; parti-
cularly as to the thoufand Years.
XI. Concerning the Determination of
the prophetical Times.
XII. Of praSiical Ufes.
XIII. A necejfary hAmomtiony and an
Anticipation of o\y]tdiiomthat might be made hereafter.
XIV. 0/ /y6^ Stile.
( iii. )
S XV. 72^ Conclufion, That the time
IS AT HAND.
O LORD JESUS,
* Deal boimttfully with thy fei'-vantSj that we may live and keep thy "word.
Open thou our eyes^ that we may be- hold wondrous things out of thy Revelation.
* PSAL. CXix. 17, 18.
( iv- )
DEAR READER,
p'^rS'^UR Lord and Saviour Tesus ^ )^ Christ, both before his Paf- fion and after his Refurrec- tion foretold many things to his Dif- ciples, and they again, in quaHty of his Apojiles^ to the faithful after our Lord's Afcenfiion; as may be feen in feveral places of the Holy Scriptures of the new Teftament, But among thefe we have only one Book that is wholly and expreffly prophetical:, which, for that very reafon, becaufe it Is the only one of the kind, is fo much the more confiderable. This is the Revelation of St. John^ or ra- ther the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which he fent to his Servant John, Rev. i. i. This Prophecy
( V. )
(however little it may be regarded) requires the particular attention of the men of the prefent and rifmg generation. If any one then under- takes to contribute, to the right un- derftanding or the falutary ufe of it, fomething that has not perhaps been obferved before, he ought, whoever he be, to have one fair hearing, if not preferably to others, yet equally with them ; 'till it appears whether, with God's help, he can make good his Preteniions. I will explain myfelf on this head with Simplicity, Up- jightnefs, and Perfpicuity.
II.
After I had fpent a confiderable time on the Criticifm and Expofition of the Greek New Tejlamenty and, in the year 1724, was come as far as to the Revelatio7t\ I took in hand thi^
{ vi. )
part of Scripture very unwillingly, and my only motive for undertaking of it at all vi^as, that the work might not come out deficient in a principal part, having no Defign or Expedation of making any extraordinary difcovery. When I was come near the intended Conclufion, there opened unexpect- edly to my viev^ a Refolution of the prophetical numbers contained in the xiii'^ and xxi'' chapters, and of the great things there fpoken of. Now as I had not in tlie leaf!; before then been in fearch of this, fo I had no reafon to fhut my eyes againft the arifing light; I went on therefore in this track, and frequently found that one thing after another laid itfelf open to me. The Importance of the fubjeft and regularity of the work, ' and my earneft defire to draw up a
( vii. )
fatisfaftory Plan of the agreement be- tween the Prophecies and the Events (to the confideration of which I was awaken'd by the notorious tragical doings at JThorn, which fell out even in our own time, by which the quan- tity of blood formerly fpilt on the ground has been fomewhat increafed anew) induced me to communicate fome part of my thoughts to thofe who might in one way or other be affiftant to me, or whom I might ex- cite to a further purfuit after the truth.
Now the thing having fpread far- ther than I had thought or apprehend- ed; many perfons, learned and illite- rate, artful and iincere, Clergymen and Laymen, pious and vicious, peo-
X The Maffacre at Thorn happened in the year 1724, of which a fhort account may be feen in Salmon's modern Hiftoay in the prcfent ftate of Poland, Chap, y.
( viii. )
pie of leifure and of buHnefs, acquaint- ances and ftrangersj experienced and unexperienced, thofe who had before embraced other opinions, and thofe who began but now to enquire, of both fexes^ of all ranks and ages, imparted to me their thoughts (which were very various, partly favouring my Scheme, and partly oppofing it) moftly by word of mouth, often by writing, and fometimes too in print. This proved very ferviceable to me by putting me upon confidering many things more maturely, guarding them more carefully, and expreffing them more clearly. So, tho' the moft con- iiderable objedions ftruck not at me in particular, but in general at the fiudy of the Revelation, nay at the Revelation itfelf\ I continued to ad- here purely to the Word of God^ and
(ix. )
went on without being difcouraged in meditating on it (I hope not fruit- leffly) as I do ftiil. Some friends though they did not mean that I Ihould delifl from this ftudy, yet de:- fired to reftrain me, and in a manner conjur'd me that I would pubUfh no part of it; but others urged me to publifh it refolutely and without de- lay. Thefe laft, as they found op- portunities, have imperceptibly pufh'd me on and even drawn out of me one thing after another before the Plan was come to due maturity. It was, I may prefume, the will of God that it fhould not be buried in the earth; and I adore his providence, who, by the courfe the thing has now taken, has eafed me of the bur- thenoffoUicitQUsdeliberation,whether
I ihould fpeak out, or keep filence* B
(X. )
In the mean time, as I intrude no- thing upon any man, fo neither do I decHne the labour of difcovertng what I know of thefe things, to thofe who hope for any benefit from them ; nay at hi^That became almoft indif- penfible, in order to obviate thofe no- tions which people afcribed to me con- trary to my fentiments. They have on this occafion had various conjedlures; but I affiire them that I know nothino; of any cabbala, of any divination, of any aftral influence, or any ghoft or apparition. The fource of fuch and fo very different opinions concern- ing a new difcovery of a7tcknt Truth is this, — that many do not underftand, or do not confider, how rich a trea- fare the Holy Scriptures are. I am nothing •, and if somewhat of the Truth has fallen to my lot, I found it in the
( xL )
common way or high road to heaven, by fearching the PFof^d of God with fimphcity, and w^ithout any option of mine. This I diHgently laid up, and now exprefs it confcientioufly in proportion to the degree of Certainty I have of it, (which in the circum- ftantials is often fmall enough, but in the fubftantial part is, thro' God's grace, ftrong and clear) and modejlly offer it to examination. By fuch re- ftridions as thefe, by the affiftance of the Truth of God, I fhall limit myfelf in all that I advance, and therefore hope I Ihall not be reproach- ed, either before or after my death, for any thing that I fhall fay. III. In this manner there is here pro- pofed to all who are willing to receive it. (i.)The wholeTEXT o^xhtRevela-
( xii. )
tlon in the German tongue, tranllated from the Greek, revifed in the way I did the whole New Teftament-ffome time fince, according to the moft approved Manufcripts. [Many
people do not like new tranflations of all the New Teftament or all the Holy Scriptures; but allow a new tranflation of fingle books for an Ex- pofition of them, as for inftance Ghebard's twelve 7ninor Prophets: and this Tranflation oith.^ Revelation may ferve in the mean time for a fpe- cimen of a German Tranflation of the whole New Teftament which I have written a confiderable time ago, but don't think to publifli unlefs there appears a reafonable expedlation of more benefit from it than con-
t Publiih*d 1 734 at Tubing in quarto, with critical notes; arid at Stutgard in oftavo, without them.
( xiii. )
tcntion about it: in which cafe it jtiight come abroad accompanied with the neceffary Explanation of thofe turn$ of expreflion that will fometimes occur different from the German Idiom, l>ut efpecially with ufeful Illuftrations of the moft diffi- cult places, and edifying Annota- tions.} Why we Ihould read after this ot that manner in the ori- ginal Text, I have ihewedj:elfe where; and what great ftrefs ought to be laid upon a carefully revifed Text, eipe- cially in the Revelation^ may appear from its being in many places the principal foundation of the explana- tion. A fhort § Abftraa of the Ex- pofition is given on the margin of the text. (2.) The Exposition
% In the quarto Edition mentioned in the laft note. § See this after the Introdudlion,
( XiV. )
at large, which confifts of three parts, Firft, in the IntroduSiio7t there is an 'A7iaJyfts of the Prophecy in general, and that both of the Things and the 'Times contained in it. After that follows a continued Expojition from beginning to end of the text; every verfe of which is repeated before the rcmarks upon it. In the Concluji- en will be added fome points that concern the Expolition in general. IV. In my Latin Annotations on the New Teftament, entitled the:}: Gno- mon, which will be publifhed in due tim.e, there will be Notes on the Apocalypfe too : but this prefent Ex-
X The Author In his Preface to the Gnomon (which was printed in quarto at Tubing 1742) gives a prudent reafon for his ufing fo uncommon a name, which it will be much to the |!)enefit of the rea^ders of that Book never to forget.
( ^^- )
pofition is almoft every where different from them. As fome things f were more proper to be expreffed in Latin
for the ufe of the learned in the lan- guages, and yet the fubftance of the matter might as well be deUver'd in the vulgar language for the ufe of thofe that are not fo ; I have accordingly difpofed of my Remarks in the one or the other of thefe Treatifes : each of which is indeed an entire one in its kind, yet it will be moft profit- able to read them both together. I have alfo heretofore publifhed in Literary yournals fome things relating to thiii Subje£t ; particularly, in the i oth part oi Alien und neicen aus de^n Reich Gottes^ what I call'd a J Plan or Draught : in the 23d part of Geijl-
t Such as Criticifms on the Signification of the Origina! Words, the Phrafeology, ^vC. t Grund-Rifs.
( xvi. )
Ikhen FamUj A |i Caution for good men : and in fome of the former |).arts, one or two § Declarations^ &q. for which tjie Editors of thofe Col- ledlions had given me occajG.on. But jToow in this German and the other Latin Treatife, all thefe are brought together, explained and compleated. After pubHcation of thefe two trea- tifes, I muft, and wilHngly do, fub- mitmyfelf to the Judgment of all that are fkilled in difcerning of Truth. V. The principal Defign of this Ex- pofition is this, — that That <?;^/k which is contained or implied in the Words of the Prophecy may be pointed out and clearly deduced to Edification ; biit not that every fort of Dodrineand Kefleciion wMch liich and fuch words
Ij Yerwahrung guter Seelen. % Anzeige.
( xvil. )
might fuggeft fliould, on occafioii of them, be produced, tho' good in itfelf. An over-eurious Inquifitive- nefs is not proper here, as it might feem to be to men of a warm imagi- nation, but only a becomingly accu^ rate fearch, which will approve itfelf to the attentive reader by the con- ftant harmonious agreement of all the points and all the manners of ex- preffion.
VI. In what manner the Interpretati- ons of xSx^AfQcalypfe have varied from the earlieji times of the Chriftian Church to our days; and hoWj amidft the frequent enlargings of the limits of the Time in confequence of thefe variations and of the manifeft mif- ^reckonings, the Truth, like the Heart- blade or Spire in a plant^ has remained C
( xviii. )
unhurt; and how even the Fibres and Shoots of the right fenfe, that were torn off and fecreted, are found all together in an Interpretation now at length growing up to maturity ; this, I fay, is deduced and laid before yoa in the ""' Condujion. I prefume alfo that I am not fo unacquainted with the principal modern writings on the Revelation that it will be any great difadvantage to our Subjeft. All
the Syftems we have of the Apoca- lypfe may be divided into thefe jix Clajfes:, of each of which I will fub- join one Example.
I, Some go in a metaphyjical and theofophical way ; for inftance Tmo- theus Philadelphus.
* Part 4th which is an hiftorical account of the feveral Ex- pofitions of the Apocalypfe, from the earlicft ages to the prefent times.
( XIX. )
2. Most proceed in a htjlorical manner; and of thefe again fome reft in Generals^ as Mr. Chancellor Pfaff pf Tubingen*
3. Some come X.oP articular s^ and refer moft things either to theHiftories of the Jews and Romans of tlie firft ages, as Herman von der Hardt ;
4. Or have a view to the times of the Reformation^ as Jac. Koch ;
5. Or they ftill wait for things to tome^ fo that according to therii even xh!tfeven Churches are only typically fulfilled, and of the reft not fo much as the Jirji Seal in any manner ; as Dr. Joachim Lange-^
6. Or they interpret the Prophecy concerning all thofe things, one after another, which have come to pafsy?//r^ Si. Johns time to this Day and what
( XX. )
fliall farther come to pafs from hence
to the e?id of the worlds as § Luther.
Among fo many Expofitions as we
have, it will be hard to find one that
has in it but a fingle article of any
confequence by which it is as different
from thefe fix clafies, as they are from
one another. In all of them, fome
lay afide all Reckoning of the Times
or Chronology^ and thus negledl a
neceffary Datum for the Analyfis;
others build their Analyfis on the
prophetical Day, which they very
erroneoufly take for a whole Year\ an
Error that has of a long time been a
great hindrance to many Proteftants,
nptwithftanding their otherwife good
caufe, yet is ftill very common in
§ This mull be the Perfon meant by an ambiguous Expref- fion in the Original. At leaft, both Luther anfl Bengdius him-^ felf, are of this 6th Clafs.
( xxi. )
England and Holland ; on the con- trary, many in Germany begin now to take the Times too fhort, and for the moft part according to the com- mon acceptation of the words, trowd almoft all, frqm the 4th even to the 19th chapter, into the narrow fpace o{ three years a7ida /^^^ of calamitous times; and make the ipace before and after them fo large, that they would be at a lofs to refute any per- fon that would be fo extravagant as to put off thofe better days which they acknowledge and hope for, 'till feve- jal generations hence.
VII. In other points I dp not Ipend much time in refuting falfe opinions; only I look upon it as neceffary to examine the moft commonly read, moft celebrated and ncweft Interpre-
( xxii. )
ta,tions5 and efpecially that which lays fo much ftrefs oti the lately mention'd three years and a half^ — as the prin- cipal Texts they are built upon come in our way: which is done with all modefty and fobriety % in the Intrg-^ DucTiON § XL, Lv, Lvi, lu the Com- mentary or Expojition on Chap. v. i. vi. 2, II. viii. I, 7. xii. 12. xiii. 1, (under the loth Thefts) 15. xvi. i, xvii. 8, ^c. See alfo the 11 1 and I v*^ Sedions of the Canchifion^
VIII.
Both Extreams, one of which is grounded on the Day o{ ?iyear longy the other on a day of 24 hours^ with all the difficulties they lie open to, I avoid by the Calculation command-
+ The Citations in the Original are not of the Texts, as here, butofthePagesof the book, [wit..] p. 104. 150. 318. 345* 369, 408, 425. 619. 68-7. 734. ^12. 857. &c.
{ xxiii. )
cd in the Text and not hitherto pradifed by others. This will, in the "f Or do Temporumy appear to be the chief Foundation of the whole Chro- nology of the Scriptures, and lead us on through all in the right (viz. well nigh in the middle) way^ chiefly by the Refohition of the Apocalyptical Times^ Of confequence the true in- terpretation of the things themfelves goes on likewife in the middle wav, between the other interpretations, in a direft and fure road in which no body has gone wrong, and where we fee ourfelves at no great diftance from others on both fides of us. The prin- cipal Mean indeed in rightly interpret- ing the Holy Scriptures, and elpecial-
t Or do Temporum{a. fmallbook 0^ Chronology f of 440 pages Oftavo in Latin) was publilh'd at Stutgard, 1 741 . This and the Author's Nei': Tejiam^ and Gnsmm may be had at London.
( xxiv. )
ly the prophetical parts, is the gift of the divintGrace. Yet, under that, the Knowledge of Languages, Hiftory, and the hke is of fervice. Many have a little of one of thefe and nothing of the other ; and truly one may obferve a kind of antipathy between thefe two forts of perfons ; but that is not the fault of the thing, but of human Im- perfedtion. 1 am contented to be efteemed inferior to every one of ei- ther fort; yet hope withall that in both together I fliall not be found utterly fruitlefs. For in the way we are in, we may confider iitvijible things, both good and bad, and alfo the- vtjible (or natural, civil and church hiftory) and regularly difpofe of, both what is paft and what is to come, not only in general but circum- ftantially, in its courfe through the
( XX¥, )
fcveral centuries one after the otlier. For which reafon it is to be hoped that thofe who make themfelves well acquainted with the prefent Expofi- tion, will be able to pick out of all others the beft parts, and alfo reduce to its proper place in the Prophecy every thing that occurs in Hiftory and aftually has come to pafs fince St» John's Days, as fome part of the ihittgs that Jhould be thereafter^ chap. i. 19.
IX. Some perhaps will think I ought to iiave explained at large and circum- ilantially only what belongs to the frefent time and not have faid much about the reft\ that fo the former might the more readily have catch'd the -eye of the reader. But in the manner I have proceeded, T^at fart
D
( xxvi. )
will be eafiily found out by any body that will turn to the xiii'\ xvir' and xviii''' chapters. But then thefe chap- ters are clofely conneEiedwixh the reji: the Analysis therefore muft take in the whole. Befides, what has no beauty to one may be very ufeful to another. At an Entertainment, one is not to accommodate himfelf wholly to the palate of any fingle gueft, however worthy; and therefore he provides Variety, and leaves every one to chufe what he likes. However it is indeed in a particular manner neceflary for thefe our times that men regulate their conduct by the contents of the im- portant Chapters juft mentioned. At leaft the hitherto openly maintained Apocalyptical Teftimony of the Re-- formers againft xhdPapacy and Romey ftands firm and unfhaken: and by
( xxvii. )
rlrtue thereof, on mature conlidera- tion of the Thefes in the Expojition of c. xiii. I, of the laft remarks on c. xvii. 3, and thofe on ven ii, &c, this matter may be moft evidently de- cided, with the approbation of all men of folid fenfe in the following manner ; viz, — They are wrong in this matter i, Who eagerly interpret every text, if it but founds frightful- ly, of the Pope and Rome. 2,''^ Who make no diftindlion between xhtBeaJi and theWhore of Babylon. 3 ,^^y Who interpret the Beafi to be Ibme invifible power that is an enemy to men. 4,'^'^^ Who thereby underftand either the Heathenipy or the antient Chrijlian^ Romany or the Roman-German Em- pire. 5,''^' Who begin the times of the Beaji fo far back that they include in them the moft excellent Bifhops of
( xxviii. )
Rome in antient times. 6/^^'' Who fo fix their eye on the Papacy in its pre- fent ftate, as if what is prophefied of that fingular Antkhrifi^ fo called, were not yet wholly to come hereaf- ter. 7/''' Who do not difcern that the right expofition of the Prophecy miakes a decifive Difference between this Papacy and the Proteftant Churches, in which though in other lefpedts, alas! too much divided, ne- verthelefs they enjoy many privileges. On the other fide the three following Pofitions are agreeable to truth, i. The Beafi rifing out of the fea is the Hildebrandine Papacy \ and Babylo?t i« the City or State of Kom^^ and con- fequently, in and along with that, the Church of Rome now fo degen-- erated from her antient purity. The difference between them is great, fee-^
( xxix. )
mg many Catholicks are zealous for tie Church of Rome and it's plaufible pre-eminence, who yet bear no good will to the Papacy, ii, The Beafi riling out of the bottomlefs pit is that lingular Antkhrifi fo called, an In- dividual, under whom the Papal pow- er, which owes it's growth to fo ma- ny innovations, will be more mif- chievous than ever, in, Not only a- gainft them who worfhip the Beaji out of the bottomlefs pit^ but alfo ia- gainft them who before that time worfhip the Beafi out of the Sea^ is That Threatnifig pronounced, which is the greateft in all the Scriptures, and w^hich Ihall refound powerfully from the mouth of the third angel, Revel, xiv. 9, 10, ii»
( XXX. )
:^nD tl)e tl)iri) ange! foUotbeD t\^tm, fapins tuitl) a louD t)oice, ^f anp man toorfliip tl)e beafi anD })ts image, anU receilje Dis mailt in !)is; foreJ)taD, or in i^isi !)anij, X^e fame Cball Drinfe of t!)e tBtne of ti)t toratl) of (Boh, lD!)ic!) is poureD out t»itl)out mixture into tl)e tup of l)is im tjignatton; anb \tt ftall fte tor- mented toif]^ fire anD brfmttone int{)e prefence of t|)e!)olj>ansel0> anU in t))t prefence of tl)e 5lamb : ZnU t\)t fmoKe of t!)eir torment afcenOeti) up for eijer anD ei}er : anD tl)ep |)at)e no reft Dap nor nigl)t, t»t)o toorftip tl)e ijeafl anD f^is image, anD toljo- fot^er receiijetl) tl)e marfe of i^is name.
( xxxi. )
I MAKE it my ftudy to keep dole to the plumb-line, as it were, of the Truth, not only in the articles of Faith, but alfo in all the other points that are prophetical, even in my Ex- preffions : and particularly I have, in the Expofition of the xx'' chapter, declared the foundnefs of my fenti- ments with regard to the true and the falfe notions of the Millennium. The bare mention of a Millemnu77t now no longer raifes horror or aver- fion among men of underftanding. In the fourth Sedion of the Conclufion will be adduced ten Pojitions long fince eftablifhed ^ the laft of which, concerning the prefent fubjeft, has an indiffoluble connexion with the former nine. 'Tis true human au- thority has little weight in the Cafe ; but whoever relifhes old better than
( xxxii. )
n€W things, let him here conlidcr ferioufly that the firft nine of thefe PojG.tions are to be found all together in the excellent Luther \ and the tenth was unanimoufly acknowledg'd in the moft antient times, and even at this day does not meet with any confiderable oppofition, though there are here and there fome few who will be the laft to affent to the truth in this point. My whole Expofition is conformable to and guided by thefe Fofitions fo that no Expofitor is Icfs liable than I am to be fufpefted of Novelty^ if any ftrefs is laid upon that.
XL
In a difquifition of this nature one cannot leave out the Chronology or Determination of the times without being deficient in a principal point ; t>iat he can never be too caudous in
( xxxiii. )
his manner of propoiing it. If I had not already let fo much of that mat- ter come abroad, and yet could have forefeen how few make a right ufe of it ; I would have dealt more fparing- ly in it. Now I cannot draw back : but I have all along fo often pro- tefted my Caution and Modefty, that I am afraid it will be irkfome to can did Readers; and on the other fide, J hope that whatever happens no man fhall be able to reproach me juftly with having mifs'd my aim. Three different Parts then concur here to make a complete Expofition ; i. The literal or hifiorkal Interpretation it- felf ; 2. The Refolution of the pro-- phetical "TimeSy where is fhewn what is the proper length of each of them; 3.. The ConneBling of determinate K
( xxxiv. )
parts of the hiftory of paft times and of future occurrences with particular Years, Months, &c. This third part will be deemed the moft liable to miftakes, . efpecially in what we look upon as foon to come. But if thofe times, for example, w^hofe end we have deliberately and of purpofe not exprefTed '//// the Conchijion of this Ex- pofition, and ^^then but conjeSiurallyj fhould end later, or even fooner • iieverthelefs the wholo, Jirji Point ftands firm, namely the hijlorical Expofaion of the xiii'' and xvii'' chapters ; and t]i^fecond point will alfo remain un- hurt, viz. The Refolution itfelfx£ the prophetical "Times^ and confequently the whole of the I NTR O D U C- T I O N ; in which I have taken great care to treat of the times wholly in the AbJiraSi^ and do not in the leaji refer
( XXXV. . )
any of them to any certain Year, nor fo much as in one inftance to any part of Hiftory. Now, he who, becaufe fome one co?tjeBure may fail, fhould haftily and eagerly drive on, and rejeft not only that part of the Conclujion^ but alfo every thing elfe both in the Expojition and IntroduSiion^ would do violence and wrong to the truth, to his own lofs. Some may fay, Would it not havebeen better to have let alone all Conjec- tures, and ftuck only to Certainties ? To which I anfwer. He that can \vl this cafe take precifely the one with- out ajiy part of the other, fhall have my full Approbation. ' But could the Fathers under the old Teftament ex- ercife their Faith and longing Expec- tation of the MeJJiah in fuch a man- E 2
( XXXVl. )
ncr that they muft t i^t alone all Coniedures about the Time when f Let one only promife a child fome- thingj prefently comes the eager quef-
'X We know from \?et.\. \\^ that they did not. ; The Reader AVill, I hope, indulge me in a ihort DigrefTion to point out an Inference which feems naturally deducible from the Words of the Text now fallen in our way, i Pet, i. lo, 11,12; as I am not aware that it has been obferved, and it relates to a Queflion of great Importance, To the Prophets fwho prophejied of the Grcfte of GoD towards the Chriftians, it was REVEALED that thefe Blefiings did Tiot belong to their own Times but to a then future Time. But nvhat Time nvasfg- mfed by the Spirit of Chrift in them teftifying before -hand the Sufferings 0/ Chrift a- J the Glories after them^ was not REVEALED to them ; elfe they needed hot to \i2cvtfcarched for jt. Now "Mhere could they fearch but in the njcry Wc^-ds of the Prophecies delivered by themf elves from the Spirit 'f Chrift in 'them tefiifingt ^cJ But if thefe IVords were of their oiutz chujhig to expref^ the Ideas or Notions they were infpired with ; it was in vain to fearch for any Notions, implied in or deduci- ble from them, other than what they tiiemfelves intended to convey by them and which confequently v/ere revealed, be- cante well knonvn to them. They knew then that the Words they /poke or it'>-c/f had a more extenfive Meaning than they themfelvesj^^:/ apprehended, and implied things ^f/ unkn-nxj» to th^m and likely to be found out by fearching. Therefore the Words were fiot theirs ^ but thofe of the Spirit of Chrift in t^tm teftifying, ^c. that is to fay. The very Words, in which the infpired Writers fpoke qr nvrote their Revelations, were divinely inspired.
( xxxvii. )
tion, When? and if this queftion is iiot anfvvered, many conjedlures arife, and no body thinks it needful to reftrain him. Let us only propofe and receive the Truth as the Truth, and Conjectures as Conjedures. If any of thefe don't fuit, in That Par- ticular \^tx\\^Co7ttraryof it be received as a Truth : which however would not have fallen (o readily under our obfervationj if it had not been for that fame Conjedure. And this I think is a fair apology for Conjectur- ing. But if any one of them {hould prove to be right, let That be reckoned as a Truth; and thereby the Truth will be greatly confirmed in other points too. I intreat my Reader to remember this faff age here- after^ wherever there is occafw7t ; that if any body piakes objedions that arc
( xxxviii. )
iiereby anticipated, there may be no need every now and the7^ to refer him hither again.
XII. . If any one is in great expedation of pradical ufes, he will not be entire- ly difappointed ; tho' I am not very copious on that head. A Phyiician cures his patient not by talking, but by doing. We may pj^opozmd the Word ot God to one another profita- bly in ptiblick difcottrfes or writings ; but apply it particularly only in clofer converjatioit : nay, one that is watch- ful over his foul can beft apply it to his own ufe in private, by the aid of the Spirit of Grace. Every one ought to propound for the common benefit what is given him ; and that too, juft as it is given him, Rom. xii. 6, 7, 8. I defire not to impart to others any
( xxxix, )
thing of 7ny own\ but to point out td them only what is contain'd in the. Scripture itfelf, and That is alv/ays accompanied with a falutary power. An Expofitor, as an Expojitor^ ('tis another matter when one is proving or exhorting) is Hke a man digging a well, who needs not himfelf throw any water into the fpring, but only contrive that it may run thro' a chan- nel and pipes into the veffels, without wafte, ftoppage or foulnefs : and thus he and others come at plenty of wa- ter. Many make a wrong ufe of a multitude of pradical Obfervations : they grow weary of them, and then let them all pafs unheeded : When a reproof or a comfort is particularly fuitable to any one, his confcience will be awakened or his heart fortified by it, when propofed to him in a ge-
( xl. )
neral manner. Faith, Hope and Clia-^ rity, when there is any food for them on the way, quickly find it out. It would be in vain to prefs a full Soul to eat and drink ; that would only tend to deftroy his appetite altogether: but a hungry and thirfty man is glad when fgmething is fet before him, and takes to it prefently. Likewife tho' what in reading we apply to our- felves may not ftrike fo fenfibly and forcibly as a pailionate difcourfe that is immediately direded to us ; yet both are efficacious, each in it's own way. I don't mean by this to dero- gate from any man : I only inform you of my manner of writing. Yet fometimes I come in unexpededly with something roujing : let him that is foUicitous about pradical Ufes of a right fort, carry this along with him
( xli. )
till he comes to fuch another pafTagCo If in the interim he meets with many- things that appear to be leaves with-- out fruit, let him but wait till he has got a comprehenfive view of the whole and he will find the fruit
XIII.
I WISH every man might take all things juft as they are offered to him, and in the moft important places would alfo weigh the words with ex- actnefs. Thus the whole would be profitable to every one, and do no man any harm. Sometimes I make a Remark that riiay appear obvious and indilputable, and therefore fu- perfluous ; yet it may be put there to obviate an error, or prevent a mif- take. Thofe that have x^^A fever al Expofitions will often perceive the F
( xlii. )
reafon for fuch or fuch an Admonl-^ tion or Caution; others may fafely kt it alone. Sometimes I propofe in cautious expreflions Thoughts not yet full ripe; which however by be- ing difcovered, may give a fair oc- cafion the fooner and more adequate- ly to bring to light the falutary Truth that is near at hand, but ftill hid. See for example C. ii. 25. xv. 3, 4. I cannot afk every one to read the whole : every one is welcome to judge of what he reads in a right manner, and underftands. To him that ca- fually glances his eye on fome one Thelis or other where there are fome unexpeded Particulars, which yet are confequences from the entire difcuili- on of the Point, it muft needs appear a little ftrange. But if he is a pru- dent man he will forbear, not only to
( xliii. )
contradidjbut alfo to give his afTent. He, that contrary to St. Ja7nes\ Ad- vice,(C. i. 19) but after the way of fo many learned men, cannot conde- fcend to hear^ to read (where there is much to be read) to learn \ and is only fwift to f peak ^ to write^ to judge y or perhaps too, to Wrath ^ to Heat ; has here Materials enough to work upon : but let him be alTured there lies alio a Humbling block in his way. I do not afk my reader to be prefently of my mind in things where I myfelf went through many doubts before I could attain to Certainty : but let him alfo not be poUtive that where he is as yet doubtful no man elfe can be certain. A great many objedlions, as I have mentioned above, have come to my hands, enough with the anfwers to them to make a pretty
( xliv. )
large Volume : fo that this work is by no means finifhed in a hurry ; but is fo contrived as to include all fuch objedions with their anfwers, in reali- ty, tho' without exprefs mention of them. Some few will be expreffly anfwered in the following /;^/r<;^//f^/^;^ § LIU. Every point will be proved in it's proper place, altho' it may be al^ ledged or cited elfewhere without proof. On fuch occafions one muft be well acquainted in the firft place with the Text^ and then with the^r^- fer place of the hitroduEimt and Ex- fofittoft on each point : otherwife he may in due time be obliged to own that his objeilion proceeded from miftake and precipitancy. What is contained in this Expolition or can be fairly inferred from it, that I abide by. On the other fide let no man
{ xlv. )
fufFer liimfelf to be drawn in to be- lieve that I have any where faid, or given ground for faying, any thing that has no relation to or connexion with this Expolition : but rather, if any one will charge me by word or writing with any thing abfurd, fcan- dalous, ufelefs, high-ftrained &c, contain himfelf fo long only as 'till he fhall have informed himfelf of my real fentiments; which I declare fo much the more freely, as I have found by experience that no caution is fufficient to prevent idle imputa- tions. I muft obferve one thing for the benefit of the publick. There is many a man that can find in his heart thro' ignorance, thro' vain glo- ry, out of wantonnefs, without the fear of God, without refped to the publick, to blacken his neighbour,
( xlvi, )
aiperfe iiim, curtail his expreflionsj pervert his meaning, in a word, lye and calumniate, in his Remarks, Ob- fervations. Reviews, &c. and all this only becaufe he lives near a Prefs: He that is attacked in this manner, often knows nothing of it, or for certain reafons does not anfwer, or his an- fwer does not come out fo foon, or is not difperfed fo far. In the mean time others letthemfelves bebiafs'dby thofe v/ritings, extoll them, bawl and write after them, inflame yet others, un- happily oppofe the truth under a fa- natical conceit of Zeal for it, and de- molifli more than perliaps themfelves build in mxany years : and yet would be coniidered as Heroes and Pillars. O vainly learned World ! take Warn-^ ing my Reader ! I am content if thou believeft no good that any one fays of
( xlvii. )
me, only beware alfo of admitting evil Infmuations. Hear what I my- felffay; and infpire others with the fame Caution. From them who fpeak in the fpirit of Truth, I accept of e- very corredlion or improvement with refpecft : yet nobody, I hope, will charge me with wilfulnefs, if I do not immediately, in complaifance to other people, retrad: this or that fen- timent which has oftner than once undergone an Examination and Re- finement in the long time it has lain by me. When I was attackt on oc- cafion of my Revijion ofth^ original facred "Text itfelf, I was oblig'd to make a fhort Defence more than once: but as to Expojitions (which people may form a right Judgment of when once they have a corredl Text) I jQiall fpend my time much
( xlviii. )
more fparingly in Apologies and Vii>- dications ; efpecially if my opponent conceals his name, and befides pro- duces no Objedion but what is here anticipated or anfwered before-hand. On a neceffary Occasion I may give a fhort Anfwer, and perhaps publilh it in the "Tubing literary News.
XIV.
As toPerfpicuity; Unce my man- ner of Writing has appear' d to fometo be deficient in that refped, I have not only taken great care about it myfelf, (as I have already explained myfelf in the Preface to the Har- mony oftheEva?tgeliJls § ii. 35.§viii) but alfo every now and then laid the parts of the work, as I fmifh'd them, before fkilfuU Friends^ and profited by their advice.
( xlix. )
Obscurity may arife from a vari- ety of Caufes, i/' from the Nature of theSubje&'s being fuch that the Illuf- tration of it depends more on labori- ous fearches and arguments of tedious deduction than on propofing of well known and already cultivated parts of learning, ii/'"^ From a Writer s Inability to exprefs himfelf clearly -y tho' for my part I am not ignorant of the requifites for Perfpicuity, and m reality I do^ I hope, moft times, and even this Moment, write clearly : and confequently can write clearly, iii/^^ Vvomxhtmoreorlefs clearKnow^ ledge and Certainty in an Expoiitor j who ought to ufe Exprejftons propor- tioned thereto : by which means he will likewifc give occafion to the ftarting of new Queftions in the minds G
of his Readers, the Solution of which, however, both he and they muft wait for 'till God pleafes. iv,'''^ From the honeji Carefuhefs of an Expofitor, who when any DifHculty falls in his way does not decline the labour of unravelling it; whereas he might have filently paft it over, without any per- fon's taking notice of it. v,'''' From a Loathnefs to detain himfelf with a a Multitude of Words andExpreflions, when a Multitude of Thoughts flow in upon him. vi,'^'^ From putting too muchtruji in the diligence and ability of every reader, vii,'^'^ From the Indolence of the reader^ who perhaps would fain take the thing at a Glance, and can fcarcely allow himfelf fo much time, to apprehend the mean- ing, or even to publifh a Recenfton or critical Review of a book, as he
( li- )
muft fpend in reading or writing a paragraph in a News-paper : whereas a difcourfe whofe parts have all a clofe connexion with one another, let the method of it be ever fo plain and the expreflion ever fo clear, will yet re- main a very Riddle to every one that does not read the whole^ or does not read it right ^ or does not read it oftner than 07Ke. As to the above mention'd Plan or Draughty which appear'd fo difficult to fome (tho' not to all) there was,(viii,"''')a farther particular cafe of obfcurity. It was a fketch of an cxtenjGive and in fome degree new defign, whofe parts were varioufly in- terwoven w^ith one another ; and be- jGides, on mature conlideration I chofe not to give it in p7^int fo clearly as I had before imparted it to others in G 2
( lii- )
writing in the Eajier-Thoughts fo Called. It was then high-time to publifli fomething for a teftirilbny in cafe of what might happen afterwards; but it was not proper to difcover allj lior is it yet ^ as to fo??te Points; but in the reji I have now made it, I pre- fume, plain enough, nay fometime^ plainer then many will like. He that is not fatisfied with all this, is at li- berty to read this Expojition or to let it alone. If he reads, he is iritreated to have patience with me, as I wa^ obliged to have patience while I wa^ labouring for his fervice. If any man has the gift of greater Perfpicliity, and can exprefs in an eafier mannei: thele very things which I lay before him ; I {hall, far from being difguft- fed, look upon it with pleafure. But^ to fpeak the truth, we are grown too
( li"- )
nice, and delicate. Where there fe Poverty of Spirit and an Appetite for Truth, where This is regarded not only as food, but alfo as a Medicine ; there people- will not require every- thing to tafte fo fweet and prefently to melt upon the tongue, but will alfo fometimes receive and fwallow that which is even four, or bitter, and not ferved up in a lordly difh, and has liothing befides to recommend it but its wholefomnefs. How far thole who are fond of the mathematical method will find their account here, I cannot fay. I have made it my Bufinefs to bring cogent Proofs : tho' itisnotneceffary to put the fignatures of the feveral pofitions, throughout the whole courfe of the work, like the letters of the A. B. C. on the Keys of
( "v. )
a Spinet. But enough of thefe ar- cumfiantial matters.
XV.
An enlarged Heart, purified from fubtile Self-will, and v/hich acknow- ledges God in all his gracious Gifts, and praifes him for th^m, is not every man's Portion : yet it is particularly and highly requifite, 'till the uncom- mon but yet true, variegated and yet fimple Illuft ration of this incompara- ble Book, and which tho' not plaufi- ble, is yet fuitable to the divine Wif- dom, fhall make it's way thro' fo many Obftacles as it will meet with. Thofe that have been longeft exercifed about fuch things will be moft at a lofs when they meet with any thing uncommon. There may be two Per- fons fo different in their opinions, that it is impoffible they can both be in the
( 1^- )
right ; yet both are convinced of their' being fo. Now each of them prefcnt- ly runs away with fomething (as it falls in his way) that he imagines he had made out before, gives fcarce any farther heed to the truth that v/ould awaken him, and falls afleep again over his formerly belov'd opinion. For the reft, fuch People will think it fufficient to fay, this or that remark (namely, where I do not differ from them) is a good one enough; but as to the main point they are greatly at a lofs. — IVew TVtne requires new Bot- tles. I do not mean by this to ob- trude myfelf upon any one. God hath taught me, from my youth up- ward, to have a view to him only ; and in the mean time I have under- gone fo many and (o various Judg- ments of Men, that as to matters of
( Ivi. )
Confclence 'tis all one to me whether God andMa7i^ or God alQ7Wy approve of my doings. A thing is neither good nor bad in reality for meeting with the ready affent of many or few. A greater degree of knowledge av/aits Pofterity. To them much, that is now made little account of, will ferve for a foundation on which to build more ; much, that is now current, will no longer pafs ; and many proofs that, to moft mxcn, feem not fufficient now, will then be more than enough. In the mean time, if thofe who love the Appear aiice of Jefus Ghrijl find here veftiges of the Truth, they will join with me to praife the name of God, and help to procure the fupply of all my defedts out of the fuUnefs of Grace and Truth which is in Jefus Chriji^ for their own benefit and mine.
( Ivii. )
The fame will be done by thofe who examine what is here laid before them with fervent Prayer, afliduous Medi- tation, and attentive Refleftion ; who bring it to a greater maturity by means of a greater light or more exacl know- ledge, and turn it to their own Ad- vantage with regard to Fait h^ Patience and Conjlancy.
Here is now before you the Re- velation ILLUSTRATED, Men may pay what regard to it they pleafe ; but that Warning is ftill in Force, and at prefent in an emphatical fenfe,
The Time is at Hand,
Cati'vent of Denkendorfy Sunday, Sept. 4, 1 74Q.
H
(59)
GENERAL ANALYSIS
Of the Revelation,
BEING
Bengelius's Introdudlion to his full Expo- fition of That Prophecy.
THE CO NTENTS.
Part I. Confiderations on the Reve- lation by itfelf.
§. I. ^HE Book op a IS or cxplatm iff elf. II. A Table ^r Summary of it,
III. We miifi not lay a?iy arbitrary Foimda^
tion to build an Expofition upon,
IV. l^he Confideration of both vifible and in-
vifible things mujl enter into a right Expoftion,
( 6o )
§. V. VL Of the Centre a?2d Circum-
ference in the main Vi^
Jion: T^hat many I'hings
are propofed in a twofold
Manner,
VII. VIII. Of the Septenary or niim-
her feven, efpecially as applied to the ChiircheSy Seals, "Trumpets ajidVials.
IX. X. XI. The Beginning of the En- quiry, with the Trumpets, particularly with the three Woes under the three lajl Trumpets,— -and chief y the third Wo.
XIL The Meaning of the feven
Epifles, Seals, Trumpets andVials, asfiewn in § ii.
XIII. That thefe are not feven Pe-
riods of Time:
XIV. XV. — but fourCircles or Spheres:
XVI. -"—each of which has its in^
t7'vduBory Preparation.
XVII. XVIII. The Order of the Text and
the Completion of if, is fingle, or but one :
( 6i )
§. XIX. — /ind /jeref beSimultzncum
is occafionally €xplai7ied.
XX. XXI. XXII. "The Divifion of the Sevens into Fours and Threes : and to isjhat the Foin'i and the threes relate.
XXIII. A Gradation cr gradual
Advance is difcernibk^ throughout the whole :
XXIV. ^^particidarly at each fe-
venth ;
XXV. ^-Which therefore has ifs
peculiar Preparation,
XXVI. TheUk^nds, and yet Dif-
ference, of federal Paf- fages of the "Text :
XXVII. '^-from whence the fuitablc
meaning of homonymous * Words is to he deduced,
XXVIII. Of the Afpea or View which
this Prophecy has to IfraeL
Part II. Of the Application of the Prophecy to Hijlory^ in general.
XXIX. This Application to hiforical
Events is necefaiy,
* Words having feveral flgnifications; as, AngeJ^ Heaven, Star, Sea, Head, Horn, Sec.
|
( 62 ) |
|
|
§. XXX. |
— and has fe'^jeral Ufes in |
|
feveral Ages. |
|
|
XXXI. |
The Toints that ought to be |
|
C07ijidered by us at this |
|
|
prefent Time. |
|
|
XXXII. |
Four Conclujions deduced |
|
from them. |
Part III. Chronology; or, theReck- cning of the Times.
XXXIII. XXXIV. This aljo is neceffary.
XXXy. Great variety of Times
mentioned i?t the T^exts^ luhich is a'Thifig of great Importance^ andon which much depends,
XXXVI. 7he Numbers that accom-
pany them muji be taken precifely.
XXXVIL The Beginning of the Re-
folution of thcniy viz,, at the three Woes a- gain (fee § ix J
XXXVIII. XXXIX. /// thein ^the prophetical DAYisnoiacommo?2Tear:
( h )
§. XL. — nori'sk a commonDzy. ^bhrb^ ly iiccejjary Caution concerningDr. Pete?^fe?is Syjiem,
XLI. The Source of th Errors of the
greatejl part ^Expoiitors.
XLII. T^he "truth lies in the Middle, or between the Extremes,
XLIII. By taking to our AJftJiance the Num- ber of the Beaft, we come to know nearly what the 42 pro- phetical Months are:
XLIV. — and moreover ^ what a Chronos, a Kairos, Gff. are^ nearly.
XLV. By the Help of the 1000 Tears they are more exadly deter7ni7id'^ and /'^r^ ^Proportion rtm?ii?2g thf^oiigh the whole ^ and alfo the Number feven are obfervable,
XLVL Hereby we come fome^vhat nearer yet to the true length of the prophe- tical I'imes,
XLVIL The 42 Mofiths and the Number of the Beaji are of the fame Le?igth, The Number Seven is obfervable in the Moiiths alfo.
( 64 )
§. XLVIIL Jhe prophetical Month is proportion- able to a folar Months \being the 1 2 th Part of a prophetical Tear] : and the 1260 Days of tlje Woman are prophetical Days,
XLIX. T^he precife Lejigth of the threeWoes determined: as alfo that of the 1260 Days of the Woman,
L. A Septenary obfervable in the for-
mer^ and a round Number \and alfo a Septenary] in the latter,
LI. T!he Coincidence of Hifory with this
Refohition of the T^imes is to be feen in the Expofitlon of the Text,
LII. The near Determination [in §. xliii.
xliv.) of the Length of a fingle prophetical Day, Month, Hour and Year maintained -, and the true precife Length of them is alfo fully fiewn : The Septenary and the Rotundity arifmg out of ity a7id the fo oft occur7'i?2g Num- ber 666 f are taken Notice of,
LIII. An Objection aiifwered,
LIV. The remaining Periods of Time are to he refohed in the Expoftion,
( 65 )
§k LVi T'he above-mentioned four Spheres (in
§. xiv. XV.) are hereby further con^
firmed : LVI. — and an Interpretation 'which is at^
prefent gaining ground^ farther op-
pofed. LVIL I'ranfition to the Expofition.
PART FIRST. L
^kjJ^^HE Prophet Dajiielw^z commanded jm{ '^ k ^^fi^^^ ^^P i^^ "^^ords fpoken to him, k./«^"*5jtt{ and to feal the Book 'till the lajl Times, Ch. xii. 4. 9. On the contrary St. fohn, 2l long time after, v^-^^ forbidden to feal the words of the Prophecy revealed to him. Rev* xxii. 10. Accordingly the Revelation, not- withflanding the wide Extent of its prophe- tical Contents, is yet fo contrived that the other Prophets ar^ not neceffary for the un- derftanding of itj but it is rather neceffary for the underftanding of them. This very re- gularly difpofed Syftem brings it's Key along
with it; having, tho' uncommonly difficult
I
66 Introduction.
in it's Subjeft, a fingularly eafy Method, being provided with Variety of Partitions, Paufes, Forms of Expreffion, and fucb helps to an Analyfis of it. IL
The whole Contents of the Book at firft fight appear to be naturally divided into three Parts: of which we will at prefent draw up a Table and bring the rQquifite Proofs of it hereafter in their proper places.
They are / I. The PRELIMINARIES:
\, The Title of the Book C. i. 1-3.
2. The Addrefs or Direction of it 4—6.
3. The main Point and Summary of the whole — — • 7, 8.
^4. The glorious Appearance of Jefus Chrtjiy at which He
1 . gives John his Commiflion, and orders him to write 9—20,
2. excites the Angels of the Seven
ChllrcheS"Q{Y.^^\yzi^x% and Smyrna
and Pergamus ^ of Thyatira and
Sardis and Philadelphia andLa-
odicea, — to prepare themfelves
worthilyfor his coming; and pro-
mifeth to him that overcometh
great things • — C. ii^ iii.
i
Part i. §. n. ,67
II. The DISCOVERT of things to ccme. Here are reprefented in one only and continued Viiion^
J. in general and at once, ALL POW- E R ^ in Heaven and on Earth given by Him that fitteth on the Throne to the Lamb^ by the opening of the Seals of the Sealed Book C. iv. v. The four firft Seals take in alhoijihle thiiigs to eaft and weft, fouth and
north C. vi. 1—8^
And the laft three ^ the inviJJble: g&c. ^hcfeventhy being the moft impor- tant^
I., has its proper Preparation —
— — C. vii.
2. exhibits the Silence in Heaven,
the feven Angels with their
Trumpets, and the much lur
cenfe — C. viii. 1—6.
[2. The particular EXECUTION ' of
it 5 in which under thefefe'ven Augeh
a This is a Reprefentation of the fohmn INAUGURA- TION of Jesus Christ into his Mediatorial KivgJum.
^ This is the ftoperly prophetical F^krt of the book; con- taining//^^/'ro/»/^f-//V«/HisTORy of CZtZ/^'s Ai>mimstrai ion of this Kingdom, from the Time of his RefurreBion or Afcen- fan till he delivers it up to the Father ; or, the royc.l M A- NIFESTOof Jesus, declacing how he will deal wiih hi* Subje^s as they are rebellious or obedient.
i
68 Introduction.
and their Trumpets one after a- nother, the Kingdom of this world is gradually broken, till it reverts to and becomes the Kingdom of God and his Christ ; where are to be confider'd
!i . the four firft Angels and their Trumpets — 7—12.
.2. the three \iL{\: Angels with their Trumpets, together with the three Woes by the Locufts, the Horfemen, and the Beafl.
13. ix. I &c. The Trumpet of the Seventh is of all the moft important, and with regard to it there is to be obferved
/^i. the antecedently fworn Limitation of time, and the circumftantial ac- count of the certainly- future converlion of the great City, under the Trumpet of this Angel about the end of the third Wo. C. x. xi. ^2. the Trumpet itfelf^ and
Part i. §. ii. 69
(i, 'Si Summary of the contents of it — C. xi. 15.
2. the previous Thankfgiving of the Elders on account of the Completion 16—18.
3. the Completion itfelf 19. And here .1. the Birth of the manly
Son and theCafting down of the Arch-fiend from. Heaven xii. i— 12.
the Oppofition on Earth, namely that hideous third Wo : and
^ I . it was brought on by mea^is of
1 . the Dragon xii. I2i>(
2. the two Beafts xiii. 2. Men in the meantime
were
I. warned by three Angels xiv. 6 &Ci
z. cut off by the Har- vell and the Vin- tage 14 &c. chaillftd and ftir- red up to Repent tancc by the feven
^3
70
Introduction.
Plagues or ViAts
^— — XV. xvi.
1^3. the great Whore along
with theBeaft increafe
the Calamity xvii.
3. the Royal Vidory, by
which thefore-mentioned Enemies are removed ; and that in an inverted Order, viz.
/i. the great Whore is judged and the King- dom of God gets the upper Hand xviii. xix. 2. the Beaft and the falfe Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire — — xix.
\3. Satan is bound and Tmprifoned — xx-
4. the Government of Chrijl without oppofition: For after the advances made at feveral times (partly before the Trumpet of the Seventh Angel C. vii. 9. but moftly under it C. xiv* I. 13. xy. 2.) his
Part i. §. ii. yx
Reign goes on now in it s full Sway: For /i. The Nations are no longer feduced by Sa- tan but have Chrijl for their Shepherd xx. 3.
2. Thofe of the firft Re- furredtion reign with Chriji — 4*
3. Gog and Magog are deftroyed, and Sata?i who had been let loofe for a little while, is caft into the Lake of Fire — 7*
4. The dead are judged — — II.
15. A new Heaven; a new Earth; anewjerufa- lem, the everlafting. Kingdom xxi. xxii.
4ll, The CONCLUSION: which has a Relation to the Preliminaries above, and exaftly anfwers to them. xxii. 6-2 1 ^
The Reader would do well to make him- felf throughly acquainted with this Table ;
72 Introduction*
for in the Expofition we fhall not give argu-^- ments or contents at the beginning of the; feveral Vifions or of the Chapters -, but han- dle the Text plainly and diredly in the Or- der of the chapters and verfes; The Con- tents of the whole will be beft comprehend- ed by means df the Seftions in the T'aik ; as they are properly diftributed in it accord- ing to their real P art s^ it being framed with a farther view then merely to be a help to> the Memory. It may alfo be ufeful to com- pare with this^ ajiother TCablc which is to fol- low in the firft SecSion of the Condiifion.
III.
There has been for a long time much Talk and much Writing about Hypvthefes, as they call them, widi regard to the Expofition of the Prophets; as many Interpreters want fuch Grounds to build their Interpretations upon. But thefe are commonly the Produdl of an arbitrary choice, dnd people fo twift and bend the Word of God to fait with them, that they deduce from it any thing that they would fain find in it. Nothing that is right can be fettled oh fuch a bottom: and I ear-
Part i. §. iii* 73
ncftly entreat that no one will afcribe to me any particular Hypothecs, We may (nay, we muft) begin with fuch Remarks as the text clearly points out; afterward we inay advance farther and farther by means of right deductions and inferences. In making re- marks we ought to rely on the words of the text, without furmifmg, that perhaps the Fervency of Spirit in which St. John wrote, may have fometimes difcompofed him, and that thereby his difcourfe may be disjointed and out of order. The utterance of weak and frail me?i may be fomewhat difturbed by jtheir earneftnefs : but it is not fo with the holy meit of God» We ought then to receive what lies before us with the ?rverence due to what iswRiTTEN. In a difcourfe wherein your own profit or lofs, your own honour or diflionour is concerned, felf-kve will move ycu to weigh exadly every w^ord : in like manner the Love of God will not fufter us to be contented with a fuperficial view of the words, in a prophecy in which the honour of God is fo nearly concerned, K
74 Introduction.
IV.
Some interpret almolT: all the Prophecjr e^vifibk things, from civil and ecclefiaflical hiftory : and others moftly of the invifibk. This laft may be called a theofophical and philadelfhian or pneumatical, and the other a hiflorical and emblematical expofition. Writers of either ki?id are apt to overdo in fheir own way and fo come fliort in the other ^ #^^will not prefcribe to our Lord Jesus Christ, what he ftiould oi* fhould not have made known to us in his revelation; but Feeeive juft what he jQiews us with thankful- nefs, fimplicity and reverence. All Power not only o?i Earthy but alfo in Heaven^ is gi- ven to the Lord Jesus, as he himfelf tef- tifieth after his refurredtion : At his Name cvejy knee bows-, of things in heaven^ of things on earthy and of things under the earth. His Name is above every name that is named in this world and in that which is to some: He hath the keys of death and hell. This Power of his, and how by little and little he brings all into SubjeBion to himfelf, is the Principal THING defcribed in this precious book*
Part i, §. iv. 75
^Jobi is informed fometimes by the Lord Jesus himfelf, fometimes by Tan Angela now by cnc of the four ccleflial linji?ig Creatures^ then by one of the twenty four Eiders: and hence it is plain that thefe laft were not pil- grims or fojourners upon the earth, but in- habitants of thf )ther world, in which the liturgy and divine fervice is celebrated, Mi- chael fought his battle &c. C. iv. v, viii. ix. xii. xiv. XV. &c. Now as all that comes to pafs in the vifible world fprings from the in- vifible: thither aifo it flows back after it is done. Thus wonderfully are they inter- woven : and we muft adhere purely to what we find writte?;, Invifible things are more noble and important : but we, flrangei-s on the earth, more eafily underftand vifible things, and by thefe arife up to the others. All hiftory civil and ecclefiaftical ferves for a proof that Jesus Christ hath allPcrwer on 'Earth : but his Fewer in Heaven is incom- parably more extenfive. Now whoever fixes his eye on the one or the other only^ will look upon our conclufions as jejune and fcan- ty; but he who, v/here St. John treats of in- vifible and heavenly things, attends to invlil-.
y6 Introduction.
ble things too; and again, when St. John points to vifible things of this lower world, in iimplicity follows him, will in this middle ivay rightly underftand the whole.
The Throne, and He that fits upon it, and the Lamb, is, as it were, the Center 5 near to which ftand the four living Crea- tures, the twenty-four Elders as priefts, and the Angels ; the Circimiference is all the in- vifible and vifible Creatures, Pfalm Ixxvi. 3 I . All that be rcitnd about kim. Hence this book has often a diJlinSl and yet intimately connefted reference to God, and to Christ ; and after them to the Angels, and to the Saints : and in confcquence of this, m.any things are propofed in a twofold manner : C. X. 7. xi. 3. and C. xiv. i — 5. and C. xiv. JO. and C. xviii. 20: 21 — 23: 24. and C. xxi. I, 2 — 9, 10. Many things are ex- plained and cleared up by the help of thi^ Obfervatioji : and therewith agrees what fol- lows in §. xix. and xxvi.
Part i, §. vi, vii, vm. 77
VI.
* Sometimes the motion is from the Cen- ter to the Circumference, viz. when the word of commatici concerning ihmgs to be done is iifued out and pubhfhed, C. v. 9 : Sometimes again from the Circumference to the Center, namely when the thing is cc- tically executed :md. fulfilled, C. xix. 23 both of them chiefly exprelTed in fongs of praife and thankfgiving. He that attends to this wdll duly conne(^t thofe things that have a coherence, and rightly feparate thofe that are difcin6l,
VII.
The facred number of Seven occurs of- ten 3 and even thofe Seveiis or Septcnaries that are the moft briefly and tranfiently mention- ed, are in themfelves very profound, myfle- rious and w^eighty : as the fevcn Spirits of God, the feven Eyes and feven Horns of the Lamb, and fo the feven Thunders, yea the feveh Heads of the Drao-on too.
o
VIII.
But the feven Churches in Jfia widi their Angelsj the feven Seals, the fevcn Angels
yS Introduction.
with their T^rumpets^ and the feven Angels with their Viahy are defcribed at full length. Concerning the feven Heads of the Beaft we will fay nothing yet : and only obfervc that both in good and evil things the invifi- ble and vifible worlds agree in the Septenary Number; T^hat being reprefented and fet forth to us by this, as T&V is (as it were) a- nimated and ruled by that.
IX.
In our difqulfition concerning the above- mentioned exiaifive Septenaries, the fureil and eafieft way w^ill be to begin with the feven T^rumpets^ and of them the three lajly under which are the three Woes. Here we find manifeftly three periods of time diiliinguifhed from one another by determi- nate intervals and breaks, and accompanied with a great many plain characflers and to- kens; fuch as are not to be found either with the trumpets of the four firft angelsi or the churches and their angels, or with the feals or vials. In all difquiiitions cer- tain particular data are neceffary, to ena- ble us, by fettling them firft, to determine
Part i. §. x. 79
afterwards concerning generals^ which are not fo prccifely characterized. Whoever thinks he can dij-petife with fueh data in his refearches, may take ^hat^ if he v/ill confi- der of it, as a token that he has not taken the thing by the right handle. A lock on the door of a well-fecured room or cabinet has, to be fiire, its own proper key, with- out which there is no opening of it, but by violence,
X.
THE^r/? wo has its indiijDiitable limits^ in C. ix. I — II. Thcfeccndis defcribed irk C. ix. 13 — 21 ; and the tkh'^d in the whole xiii^^ C. Let us diftindly examine the prin- cipal parts of thefe texts neceflary for our purpofe*
I. The whole paffage from C. x. i. to C xi. 13. has a manifeft relation to the trumpet of the feventh angel. The fum €f the paffage is this : ^hat it potdd not be a full Chronos' more^ til!, in ths
*= X^oyc? (CJjronos) fignifies Time in general : fo that \vc fay properly a long Chronos, ViJ/:ort Chronos, or Time. But «^ben the word is ufcd without ar.y rdlriclive epithet or
8 O Ln T R O D U C T I O N .
days of the voice of the fevcntb angel ^ivheH he Jhould begin to found ^ the myftery of Go jy JJ:cidd be finifoed^ as he hath declared to his fcr- vants the prophets. But this paflage conlifts of two parts which run parallel to one ano- ther. The firft is C. x. 5 — 7 ; and the fe- cond, C. X. 8 — xi. 13. The contents of both parts begi?! indeed before the end of the fecond wo, with the Non-Chronos and the many Kings : but in the connedted Se- quel do not end under the trumpet of the fixth angel, but rather reach into the trum- pet of the feventh angel, nay under that quite on to beyond the end of the third wo; and that in fuch a manner that the whole IS infeparably connected. Thus the paffage confifrs not of fuch things as were all paji before the trumpet of the feventh angel ;
name of any meafure, it figniiies in the beft Greek writers, a long time; as, oict x^ov^, after a time, is .the fame as ^ja iraTO^s ^povs, after a long time. Here however Chronos is fufpofed, and farther on in this Introduftion it will be pi o^ved^ to fignify in this prophecy a certain determinate meafure or fpace of time (and that a long one, more than a thoufand years) as Kairos, &rc. rendered a Time and Times and half a Time C. xii. 14. is vniverfally acknowledged to figivify. This Space of not a full Chrovds is for brevity called a Non'^ chronos.
Part i. §. x. 8i
but of a declaration of fuch things as^^A kw^ partly before, but moftly under that trumpet. Confider the following clear proofs of it, (i.) The Pofture of the an- gel, fetting his right foot on the Sea, and his left on the Land, and lifting up his hand to Heaven, concurs to declare that, under the trumpet of the feventh angel, the Enemies, notwithftanding all that they fhould attempt, as yet in Heaveriy and af- terwards on the Sea and on the Land^ muft however be driven out of Heaven, the Sea and the Land, and give way to the finifb- ing of the myftery of God. (2.) The Beaft does not arife out of the bottomlefs pit twice, but only once toward the latter end of his time ; and the proper place in the prophecy of this ariling is in the defcription of the beaft, namely, in C. xviii. where it is fpoken of in v. 8. as yet to come ; whereas in C. xi. 7, this arifing is only mentioned beforehand by the by^ but however for a ve- ry neceflary purpofe, viz. the declaration of the Time of the two Witnefles. (3.) It is in one and the fame great City that two
L
82 Introduction.
Earthquakes happen : now the firft of them falls out under the Vial of the feventh an- gel, and the other afterwards under the two witneiTes. The firft is general ; but the great city was not fo greatly hurt by it, be- ing only divided into three parts. The fe- cond is not general, but falls on the great city in particular, but then fo much the more heavily ; for feven thoufand people were killed and the reft put into a falutarjr fright. Certainly the Divifion of the city into three parts did not fall out after their being thus converted ; for (4.) In general the dreadful accomplifliment of the holy wrath of God comes firft, and after that follows the long'd-for finiftiing of the myf- tery of God. (5.) There are not two fuch finifhings of the myftery and words of God, but one only: the proper place of which is in C. xvii. 17. at the deftrudion of the enemies : but in C. x. 7. this joyful end is beforehand promifed. Thus all that is mentioned C. x. xi. concerning the Myf- tery of God, as alfo concerning the holy City and the two Witneflis, plainly reaches, cs to the Execution of it, far into the trum-
Part i. §. x. 83
pet of the feventh angel, under which it will, at its proper feafon, be fpeedily finifh- ed. For this reafbh there is alfo a remark- able difference in the expfefilon : before and after this palTage the prophecy is ex- preffed moftly in the preterfenfe, but iii C. X. xi. moftly ih the future : where the certainty of the thing, the time how long it fliall be to the accompli fhment, its whole courfe, the place where it will be, and the inftruments to be employed in it, being all defcribed before-hand, the way is cleared that the defcription of the Raifer of the third wo and of his overthrow, under the trumpet of the feventh angel, may go on without interruption,
II. The phrafe, ^e fecond wo is pajl^ behold the third wo cometh quickly C xi. 14. very well agrees with this, that much of what Is mentioned before it in C. X. xi. ihould be fulfilled, noturi- der the trumpet of the fixth> but that of the feventh angel. There are three important phrafes In C, viii, 13. ix, 12. xi. 14, The firft, Wo, Wo,
84 Introduction.
Wo^ to the inhabitants of the earth : the fe- cond, ^hejirjl wo is pajl^ behold there come two woes more hereafter : the third, Tl6^ fecond wo is paft^ behold the third wo cometh quickly* And to this third phrafe refers that iterated declaration, Wo to the earth and the fea C. xii. 12. But no fuch fourth phrafe is to be found afterwards, that the third wo is pajt &c. Hence it follows that all thefc phrafes are principally denunciations or de- clarations of future miferies (juft as future good things are foretold by fimilar phrafes, C. xiv. 7. xix. 7. I^he hour of his judgment is come: the marriage of the Lamb is come) and that in the fecond and third phrafe the prin- cipal thing intended is the Coming of the fe- cond and third wo, and not the firft and fe- cond wo's being paft. Wherefore alfo it is not faid, the two woes are pajl\ but, the fe- cond wo is paji : whereby the iirft wo is as it were forgotten. On the contrary, the phrafes always have an equal regard to all the woes that are comings viz. Wo^ Wo^ Wo: ^wo woes are coming ^ not, the fecond wo is coming. Likewife in the denunciation of the yet future fecond and third woes \\% faid.
.Part I. §. x. '8:5
hereafter y and, qiiickly-y and in both, behold. If therefore it fliould be objedled that, in the prophecy, the End of the fecond wo is not mentioned 'till after the death and refurredlion of the two witnefles and their being taken up into heaven, and that therefore all thefe things happen under the trumpet of the fixth, not the feventh angel: the proper anfwer would be, that in the above-mentioned fe- cond, and fo alfo in the third phrafe, the paft wo is juft taken notice of merely as paft, the t\\mg principally in view is that which is to come.
Hence it plainly appears, i, That the third wo muft follow in the text very foon after the words, T'he fecond ivo is pafl^ behold the third wo cometh quickly. Accordingly there follow immediately after thefe words in an infeparable connexion (i.) the Sound- ing of the feventh angel, juft as the found- ing of the fifth and fixth angel follows after the firft and fecond phrafe; (2.) the Summa- ry of the contents of this fingular and fo im- portant trumpet, which contains in it fuch a variety of matters; (3.) the Execution of th.efe fame contents, and particularly the Oc-
86 iNTkODUCTION.
cafion the Dragon takes to raife the third wo> together with the third wo itfelf ; jitft as in the trumpet of the fifth and fixth angel the Source of the firfl: and fecond wo and thefe two woes themfelves are mentioned. Now as the phrafe concerning the quick coming of the third wo could not be rightly feparated from the three juft mentioned points, to which it chief y relates, and be fet farther back ; fb neither again could it have a place before that paflage C. x. i — xi. 13. For under the trumpet of the feventh angel there fall out good, then bad, and again good things: now it was very fuitable that tlie contents of the trumpet in general fhould be propofed in that place, viz, fooner than the immediate propofal of the third wo^ w^hich makes but a party and indeed a fmall part, of the things contained under that trumpet. An- fwerably to which, from C. x. i. to C. xi.13. there is nothing faid about the third wo, and civen in C. xi. 14. it is not faid the third wo is come ; but, is coming. So then, neither was it the proper place before the beginning of the x'^ chapter to make this declaration. Beheld the third wo cometh quickly. Yea evea
Part i. §. x. 87
the words, the fecojid wo is pajl^ would have come in too early at the end of the ix'^ chap- ter, where neverthelefs the defcription of the fecond wo is fully completed: for the fo oft mentioned paflage (C. x. i— xi. 13) adually begins, as to both it's parts, before the end of the fecond wo. Thus it is quite proper that in the third phrafe the lefs emphatical part, the fecond wo is pafl^ [fince it was not to be feparated from the principal part, Behold^ the third wo cometh quickly y tlie proper place of which is in C xi. 14, viz. juft before the founding of the feventh trumpet] fhould (palling over what comes in as it were in a parentheiis about the two witneffes &c.)have a retrofped: to the conclufion of the ix''* chapter.
III. The Trumpet of the feventh angel
begins C. xi. 1 5. and to this Trumpet
belongs the reft of that xi'^ chapter,
the xii'^ the xiii'*" and fo on.
The Summary of the contents of this
trumpet is in C. xi. 15. and in ver. 17, 18.
And the Execution of it is opened in ver. 19.
and from the beginning of the xii'^ chapter.
88 Introduction.
is treated of at large. If any one ihould fancy that the Prophecy begins again quite anew at the birth of the Man-child C. xii. 5 ; this opinion will be throughly confuted by the remarkable, clear and important Parallelifm of the Voices in G. xi. 15. and the Voice in C. xii. 10. T^hofeVoiccs fay thus; T^he^king- do?n of the world is become cur Lord's and his Christ's: Afterward this Voice fpeaks; Now the fahatioriy the might and the king- dom is become our God's, and the poisoer his Christ's. The former voices belong in- difputably to the trumpet of the feventh an- gel; wherefore this latter voice muft necef- farily belong to it alfo. For the fubjed of both is entirely the fame, with this only dif- ference that in the latter voice the Execution is more particularly and precifely mark'd out by the word Now (a^'^O ^^^ ^^ ^^ following words more fully celebrated : from whence we may fee fo much the more clearly, that thofe voices were before this voice, and there- fore this belongs to the trumpet of the fe- venth angel, as certainly as thofe do. Yea the adual Breaking forth of the execution of tliis trumpet falls out in the midft between
Part i. §. x, 89
^ofe and this^ where Satan is caft out of heaven. All that follows, after this caft-
ing out, is clofely connefted.
From thefe III remarks we may draw thefe following conclufions.
I. No part of what is written from C. x. i to C. xi. 13 belongetb to the fecond wo.
This follows from the i'' remark^ and is farther confirmed from the following an- tithefis, viz. in the fecond wo things ended in a wretched impenitence, C. ix. 20, 21: on the contrary, Cxi. 1 3, (at the finifhing the myftery of God) in the converfion of a very great multitude. Only the latter end of the fecond wo, and the beginning of what is mentioned from C- x. i to xi. 13 in point of time run parallel a ^ little while,
II. T!he third Wo is defcribedat length in C. xiii, and only notice gin^en of it before-hand in C xii. 12.
This is proved in the \t^ remark. But let us more throughly confider in C. ix, xii, xiii, the following refemblances referring to M
^ Not above 40 years ; whereas the whole Non-<;hronos, C X. 6, is more than 1000 years.
90 Introduction.
one another in many particulars, and advanc-
ing by feveral fteps ;
r^ Wo.
i.T'heOccaficn'y A Star fallen from heaven, and the Pit of the Abyfs o pen'd.
2. The Leader; The Angel of the Abyfs.
'T^.neArmy-y Locufts.
4. The Perfons
plagued *y All the Men that were not fcaled. I
ir Wo.
i,TheOccafiOn'y He who cry'd out of the horns of the golden altar, Loofe the four angels on the Euphrates. 2. The Leaders-, The four An- gels that had been bound on theEuphrates. 'l,TheA?'my', Some hundred millions of Horfemen.
4. The Perforis
plagued 'y The third part of Men.
iirwo.
\,TheOccafio7i\ Michael, after whofe vidlory the Dragon is call out of heaven.
2. The Leader 'y The Dragon, who had hi- therto beenjn Heaven. '^,TheArmy\ Two horrible Beafts, and their Adhe- rents. 4. The Perfons
plagued 'y All that dwell on the Earth,
Part i. §. x
5. J'he DuraA 5. "The Dura- tion-, tion\ Five Months. One Hour, one Day, one
6. T^he Power-, To torment, without kil- ling.
one
Month,
Year.
6. 'The Power;
To kill.
91.
5. The Dura-
tion ', A fliort time,
forty-two Months, &c.
6. The Power; All Manner of Mifchief.
Here are three Columns that fland by the Jide of one another ; and in each, fix points or articles that follow one another. In the firft column is the Jirjl, and in the fecond is the fecond wo. Now let any man confider if it is poffible there fliould be 770 wo, or even not a more horrible wo, in the third co- lumn, which refembles the firft and fecond in all points ; or whether he ought not rather to difcern and acknowledge in it the third wo, and that as the greateft of the three. Add to this fome other reflexions on the third woe's having fometimes a refemblancc, either to both the firft .and fecond alike, or (for reafons that will appear in the Expofition) only to one of them, and totr.etlnics fome-
92 Introduction.
what particular to itfelf, as it is the moft grievous of them all. Let us produce thefe reflexions in the order of the fore-mention- ed articles.
I. 2. The Occajioriy ^nd the Leader.
The Occafion [of each woe] is always taken by the enemies from what is every now and then a doing by fome mighty Being who from one wo to another has a ftill higher fundtion. And the enemies come always from a higher and higher place, and are in their nature more and more mifchievous.
2. 3. The Leader y and the Army.
The Leader in the firfl: wo hath an He- brew and a Greek name, Abaddon and Apol- Jyon: and in like manner in the third, a Greek and an Hebrew name, the Devil (^c^ta^oxo?) and ^ Satan. There is not the leaft mention made of this Dragon from C. iv, where the vifion begins, to C. xi ; but fo much the more frequently is he mentioned from C. xii to C. xxs fo that on his coming down hither from heaven it is faid, Wo to the Earth and the Sea. This, this, is that third Wo, which, « i. e. the Calumniator, the Traducer. f i. e. the Enemy.
Part i. §. x. 93
as the moft horrible, is fo oittn foretold \m-
der the exprefs name of a Woy viz, firft of
all, together witli the firft and fecond wo,
C. viii. 13 ; then after the firft and along
with the fecond, C. ix. 123 again after the
fecond, C. xi. 14 ; and laftly alone, C. xii.
12; and then, almoft prefently after this
laft declaration, circumftantially defcribed in
the xiii^'' chapter. Or iliall the difafters
brought on by the Angel of the Abyfi and
the four Angels from Euphrates be reckoned
as two woes, but on the other fide the
Dragon himfelf and under him the t^wo
Beafls (in the defcription of whom the Man
of Sln^ 2 Thefl^. C. ii. 3, is alfo included)
bring no Wo by all the incomparably great
miferies they are the authors of?
4. The Perfotis plagued.
Whereas in the firft phrafe, JVo, V/o^
Wo^ mention is made of thofe that dwell on
the Earth 'y 'tis thereby fignified (compare
C. iii. 10 with C. vi. 10.) that on the whole
the three woes fall not indeed upon the
Saints, but otherwife are general. Now in
the firft and fecond wo, as the firft touches
the Jeu's particularly, and the other the
94 Introduction.
Heathejiy but more efpecially thtfalfe Chrif- tians^ and fo both of thefe are not fo gene- ral ; mention is made only of men, with- out any great emphafis 3 on the contrary, as the third wo touches all thefe forts of people, and fo is flrid:ly general, now for the firfl time is exprefs mention made again of thofe that dwell on the earthy and indeed often, viz, in a paffage that has a view, fo early as in C. xi. 10 to the latter time of the third wo ; and in the defcription of the wo itfelf in C. xiii. 8, 12, 14, 3, 7: xvii, 2, 8 : xii. 12.
5. The Diiratlcn. The marks of Time appear firft along with the trumpets. Thofe of the firft, fecond, third and fourth angel have no marks of time : but thofe of the fifth, fixth and feventh, have. Now of the woes un- der thefe three laft angels, fhould only the firft and fecond have their marks of time, and not much rather the third? The prin- cipal fcope of the times of the three woes together is our information how long it will be yet to the finifliing of the myftery of God: and he who thus fuppofes a third
Part i. §. x. 95
wo without any mark of time, in a great meafure frullrates the defign of the marks of time fet to the firft and fecond wo ; nay he will hardly be able to determine the duration of the firft and fecond wo without that of the third. Now there is no mark of time for the third wo but in C. xii, xiii. The firft wo has its duration allotted it by the Locujis^ in the vifible -, the fecond by the four Angeh let loofe, in the iwoifihle w^orld: and the third by the Dragon^ in the invifibky and partly alfo by the Beaft, the fubftitute or deputy of the dragon, C. xiii. 2, in the 'vifible world.
6. The Power,
This word Power (fS^o-i^i) is found In each of the woes, C. ix. 3, 19 : xiii. 5, &c.
So manifold a refemblance of what we reckon the third wo, to the firft and fecond, no man can pronounce to be a human fic- tion, or fliew fuch a refemblance to them any where but in the fubjedl of C. xii, xiii.
in. T'he [even Vials are ?iot the third Wo.
I. The feven holy angels with their i^vtvi vials have not the leaft Hkenefs, fo far are they from having fo manifold a refem-
^6 Introduction.
blance to the firft and fecond wo, as the miferies have of which the dragon and the two beafts are the authors. 2. In
thofe clear paflages C. viii. 135 xiv. 6, &c. there ftand in contrail ( i ) one who flies in the midft of heaven and proclaims fome- thing, and another who alfo flies in the midft of heaven and proclaims fomething : (2) The one cries Wo, Wo, Wo: the other, on the contrary, has a Gofpel (suayfixiov) or good 'T'idings. (3) The three woes have their duration exprefsly mentioned : fo alfo has the golpel or good tidings ; an everlaft- ingnefs ^ (aiwv) ig afcribed to it. (4) The three woes, and particularly the third, extend . to the inhabitants of the earth : the good tidings are to them that dwell on the earth, namely, who tho' they are upon it, do not adhere to it in their hearts. For which reafon as the whole firft and fecond wo, fo the third, as to the greater part of it, muft certainly ftand before the everlafting gofpel, and therefore much more before the
^ This word a»wv (a'ion) tevum has alfo its determinate fignification, and denotes a fpace fomewhat more than two thoufand years : as will be feen hereafter.
Part i. §. x. j^
feven vials. 3. The third wo comes
quickly after the fecond, viz, with the dra- gon, the beaft &c ; on the contrary the feven vials come long after ; for the vial of the very firft angel is poured out on them that had the mark of the beaft and worfliip- ped his image, tho* this mark and image came late, being the work of the other or fecond beaft. 4. As the iirft wo was caufed by the angel of the abyfs, and the fecond by the four angels let loofe ; in like manner the third is afcribed to the wrath of the De^cil: on the contrary, by the {<tvtxi vials the holy wrath of God is accompliihed, 5. As the third wo was checked, with re- Ipedl to them that dwell on the earth, by means of the everlafting Gofpel ; in like manner the Authors of the mifchief had their power reftrained by means of the {t\'^n Vials under the third wo ; and confequent- ly that wo was not firft brought on by the itv^n vials.
For the fame reafons the third wo can
by no means be put off till the little feafon
of Sata?is being let loofe out of the abyfs ;
though the laft deception of the nations aC
^ N
98 Introduction.
that time has a refemblance to the machi- nations of that enemy during the fiort time^ C. xii. 13*
IV. In the ^hanfgiving of the Riders the third Wo is indeed by the by mentioned beforehandy but 7iot properly defer i bed C. xi. 18.
This Thankfgiving ftands between the general contents of the trumpet of the fe- venth angel and the execution of it -, and there it is faid, toward the end of the thankfgiving, that the time is come to dejlt^oy thofe that dejiroyed the earth. If one looks here for any thing concerning the third wo, all that he will find is only the men- tioning that the eaj'th was dejiroyed. Com,- pare the places alledged in Concluf ii. Point 4, above in this §. Thofe deftroyers of the earth fhall indeed be deftroyed in their turn ; yet not by the third wo, but long after it, at the time of the Dead and of the Judgment: on the contraiy the third wo falls upon the inhabitants of the earthy not on thofe who lie in the lake of fire.
Now as all that is contained in this thankfgiving is afterwards repeated again and largely treated of 3 fo alfo are the de-
Part i. §. x, xi. 99
ftroyers of the earth defcribed at full kngth under the third wo, in C. xiii.
V. The right Determimfim of the three ivoes is a point 07i which very much depends.
He that cannot feparate from one another the fecond wo and the paffagc in C. x. i — xi. 13, will find that this is already a con- iiderable ohftacle to the underftanding of the prophecy. And he that cannot dlfcern the third wo chiefly in the xili'^ chapter will certainly find it his heft w^ay to concern himfelf no farther about this book as a Pro- phecy^ or to content himfelf with fingle paf- faees here and there. But whoever is of the fame mind with me, let him go on a- long with me,
XL
We muft alfo under the trumpet of the feventh angel accurately diftinguifli between the Dragon's refidiiig in Heaven, on Eartl\ and in the Abyfs, and, after the little feafon, in the luoke of Fire : as always after every new fatanical device he muft get down lower. For, after he had accufed the bre- thren day and night before God, he muft leave Heaven : after having raifed the third
100 Introduction.
wo upon Earth and carried it on during the fhort time C. xii. I2, he muft go into the Abyfs for a thoufand years : and after deceiving Gog and Magog, in the little fea-^ fon C. XX. 3, into the Lake of Fire, where he will be tormented for ever. Thus not one of thefe four defcents runs parallel with any other for one moment, but the one always follows the other in the order defcribed. If we invert this order, the thing will appear yet more clearly : In the Lake of Fire the Devil is tormented for ever; not yet fo in the abyfs. In the Abyfs he is bound; but not fo on earth. On Earth he raifes the third wo : but can no longer accufe the brethren before God, as he had done in heaven.
XII.
What we mentioned above in §. ii^ con- cerning the meaning of the feven Epiftles, the feven Seals, the feven Trumpets, and the feven Vials is now gradually become clearer by what we have faid hitherto. XIII.
Several men of lively imagination would have the Jpocalypfe together with
Part i. §. xiir. loi
many other texts of the fcriptures of the old and new teftament diftributed mXofeve?t Pe- riods of the Times of the New Teftament ; and that in fuch wife that to the firft period fliould belong the firft epiille, the firft feal, the trumpet of the firft angel, and the vial of the firft angel ; and fo to the fe- cond, third, and the reft of the periods one after another, the fubfequent epifties, feals, trumpets and vials : nay more, fometimes they labour to find out a throughly equal length of fuch periods, but neverthelefs in the mean time expound the epifties or vials to quite a different purpofe. Away v»'ith
fuch arbitrary fanciful devices ! which we ftiall hereafter confute more at large, after the expofition of the iii'* chapter. The three woes have their appropriate Duration, but of an unequal and always increafing length : and between them are two Inter- vals, which, tho' their length is not ex- prefled, ought to be confidered as Periods of time (as Refts are a part of a tune) as much as the lengdi of the trumpets of the firft, fecond, third and fourth angels, concern- ing die times of which no nodce is given.
102 Introduction.
not even lb much as whether one ends fooner or later, or at the fame time that another begins. On the contrary there are, under the trumpet of the feventh angel alone, many long periods of time, in the whole x^^, xi''', &c. to the xx'^ chapters. For this reafon it is not fpeaking with propriety to talk of feven Periods of '^hne^ even if it were only in refpedl of the feven Trumpets; whereas they are rather feven judgments or Vifitations^ which indeed come to pafs one after another, but have between them and after tliem divers other periods, fome more tolerable, and fome even joyful. And for what reafon fhould the Space from St. fohvh being in Patmos to the End of all things^ ra- ther than the times of the old teftament by itfelf, or than the times of the old and new teftament taken together, be divided into feven periods of time ? there is yet lefs ground for making feven periods of time of the feven churches and their angels, of the feven feals, and of the feven vials. For even fuppofing the feven trumpets were fe- ven periods of time, yet it does not follow that the churches, the feals and the vials.
Part i. §. xiii. 103
tho' there be feven of each of them too, ihould point out feven periods of time: clfe, the feven horns of the Lamb, the fcYtn thunders, &c. muft alfo lignify feven Pe- riods of time. Befides ; this w^ill appear to be a fundamental maxim, tliat all that comes to pafs as predicted in the Revelation paffes quickly y except what is exprefsly com- prifed in long lajiing periods. Thus the trumpets of the three laft angels will reach very far, partly into after-times, even to the end of all things, partly backward, far into the former centuries of the new teflament ; and the trumpets of the four firft angels, as no time is mentioned along with them, will indeed take up lefs room, but withal will reach yet farther backward : fo that the fe- ven churches, the feven feals and the feven vials, which with refped: to the whole of their contents, and particularly as to marks of time, are very different from the Trum- pets, muft needs lignify fomewhat of quite another kind tnixu periods of time.
104 Introduction.
Throughout the prophecy there are exhibited to us four diffindl Circles or Spheres of things, or by whatever more proper name you pleafe to call them.
The feven Epijiles are direfted, the for- mer part of each to the Angel of one of the feven churches in Afa, and the latter to the Univerfal Church of Christ, who pro- mifeth to him that overcometh thofe glori- ous rewards in the world to come C. ii, iii.
The feven Seals comprehend all vifiblc and invifible creatures, as they are fubjedt to the Lamb, and the Lamb opens, and fully declares to them the divine decrees that had been hidden till then C. v, &c.
' Compare this § with what is faid in the Gnomon on A- foe. V. I . Ecclefio' funt Exemplar, &C ; that is,
The Churches are a Pattern according to which the Bo» 4y of the church in all ages and nations, and the teachers and paftors of it, are to regulate their condudl.
The Seals exhibit the conferring of all Poiver in heaven and on earth upon the Lamb.
The Trumpets Ihake and harafs the kingdom of the nuorlJ^ till at laft it becomes xht kingdom of God and of his Christ.
The Vials break the Poiver of the Beaji and of all that are in union with him.
Keeping this Su^nmary always in view we fhall clearly dif- cern the genuine order in which the Apocalj'pfe proceeds.
Part i. §. xiv, xv. 105
The feven Trumpets ftrike at the Kingdom
of the World till under that of the feventh
angel it becomes the Kingdom of God and
of his Christ, C. xi. 15.
The feven Vials reprefs and check the diforders of the Beaft, &c. C. xvi. 2*- 10. XV. All this is implied in the Nature of the contents of the epiftles, the feals, the trum- pets and the vials : and peculiarly agreeable to the nature of thefe contents are thefe deno- minations of epiftles, feals, trumpets and vials, as is alfo the Chronology (§. Iv), Yea the particular fongs of praife and thankfgivings, which refound at the unfolding of each fphere, point alfo to this. That which we find in C. i. 5, 6, along with the addrefs of the epiftles to the kvtxv churches in Afia, viz. Vnto him that loved uSy and wafied us from our fns in his own bloody and hath made us kings andpriefis unto God and his Father-, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever : That, | fay, was fpoken in the name of the univerfal Church of Christ. The angciick fong ot praife> C. v. 12, Worthy is the Lamb that was O
io6 Introduction.
Jlam^ to receive power ^ a?id riches y andwifdoniy and Jirengthy and honour ^ arid glory ^ and blef- Jingy fignifies the fame as if it had been faid. It belongeth of right to the Lamb to open the book and it's feven feals, and to have all Power over things vi/ible and invijibk. Again, the angelick fong of praife C. vii. 12, Blef- fingy and glory y and wifdomy and thankjgivingy and honour y and power y and mighty be unto our God for ever and ever 3 indicates that the Kingdom belongs to almighty God, and that by the trumpets all fhall be brought into fubjedlion to him. And when, on oc- calion of the vials, 'tis faid C. xv. 3, 4, Great and inarvellous are thy works y Lord God Ahnighty 'y juji and true are thy waySy thou King of faints. Who fall not fear T^heCy O Lord, and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy: for all nations fall come andworfip before thee 3 for thy judgments are made mani- fef 'y in this the righteous punifment of the Be aft and his worfippers is praifed. Hence it appears that in this and other like places, the T'hings or reprefentations, and the JVords that accompany them, help to the fuller explanation of one another.
Part i. §. xvi. 107
XVI.
When the divine Majefty is pleafed of his own accord to difcover his fecret pur- pofes and to put them in execution, he well knows how to maintain at the fame time, in a proper manner, the holy Reverence which all creatures, and even the minifters too and the witnefles and fpecftators of his ope- rations, eternally owe to him ; and how to require the Honour due to him. John, tho* he had formerly been admitted to lean on the bofom of the Lord, muft now in his old age, juft as he had finifhed the courfe of his apoftlefliip, although he was alfo purified by his fufferings in Patmos, prefent- \y fall at his feet as dead: and the kvQn Churches^ and their angels muft prepare themfelves, by repentance and perfeverance, for what was declared and certified to them. And thus it goes on at the beginning of each fphere in the main vifion. Before the opening of the feven Seals, all creatures muft acknowledge their inability y and give honour {C. v. 8 — 14) to the Lamb, who alone was worthy to undertake it : before the fe- ven trumpets is an excellent yS;;^ ofpraife to
ro8 Intr6duction.
God ; and upon the intervening opening of the feventh feal there begins a refpeBful fdencei after which the feven trumpets pow- erfully found one after another : before the pouring out of the itw^n Vials the fong of Mofes and the fong of the Lamb was Jung: and till thefe feven Plagues were fulfilled no man cOiild enter into the temple which had been opened.
XVIL These four Spheres or Circles {land fo related to one another that, ii^ the Expofi- tion, one not only may fafely, but even mufi of neceflity abide by the Order in which the text places them. It is a miftake to divide the book in fuch a manner that this or that part ihall run out quite t6 the end of the world, and then the next fliall begin again anew at the firft times of the new teftament. Confider §. x, xiii. Firft come the AddrefTes to the i^w^nChurches and their angels : prefently after the {^wtn Seals ^y and immediately, with the feventh of them, the feven 'Trumpets y and laftly the feven Vials, but not 'till under the trumpet of the feventh angel.
Part i. §. xviii. 109
XVIIL
YeT my meaning is not, that in thi^ way of ordering or ranking, each part muft be vv\io\\Y Jtnijhed before the fulfilling of th^ following part begins : for, if it were gene^ rally fo, there would have been no need of mentioning particularly fuch ending of one before the other began, on occafion of the three Woes C. ix. 12; xi. 14. And thus it does not follow from what has been faid, that the Epiftles muft all be fulfilled before the Seals were opened ; that the open'd Seals muft be wholly fulfilled before the Trumpets begin -, and that as to the Trum- pets, even the feventh, muft be entirely over before the Fials be poured cut. Things do not go fo, ftep by ftep, from one verfe to another : but all I fay is this ; that the Be^ ginning of every one part comes to pafs before the Beginning of the next mentioned part . The epiftles begin before the feals, the feals be- fore the trumpets, the trumpets before the vials ; one epiftle begins before the other, one feal before the other, one trumpet ejpe^ daily before the other, and one vial before the other. In this manner fomething may,
no Introduction.
without any breach of order, ftand before another in the text and yet come after it in the Execution : of which we have al- ready had a fingular inftance in the begin- nino- of § x» Yea fometimes that which began later ends fooner, and that which beo-an earlier reaches alfo far beyond the o- ther. The Vials begin not till under the trumpet of the feventh angel, and are quick- ly over ; after which the trumpet itfelf be- gins to manifeft its power anew. The Seals begin before the trumpets ^ yet a long while after the feventh angel had founded, the fifth feal, for inftance, manifefts its operatipn ftill, where the defire of the fouls under the altar is fulfilled C. xix. 2. The Epiftles come before the feals, and in the firft epiftle the eating of the tree of life is promifed, which is exhibited laft of all, along with and in the new Jerufalem. All this agrees quite well with the Contents of the epiftles, feals, trumpets and vials as ftiewn in § XIV. Above all, both the Beginning and the Conclufion of the book treats of Christ, who is the/r/? and the Iq/l.
Part r. §. xix. * m
XIX.
Whoever comprehends this order will alfo rightly underftand the elegant Simulta-- neum, or that delicate manner of the text, by which the one of two things, that belong pre- cifely to the fame time, is often divided into two parts, and, as it were, fplit; and the other comes in unexpedtedly between thefe two parts, as in a parenthelis. In this man- ner concur thofe i?i the white robes^ and all the angels, C. vii. 9, 10, (11, 12,) 13 — 17: the talk of the elder with St. John, and the give- ing the commijjion to the angels, vii. i.i, 12, (13—17) C. viii. 2: th.c trwnpets of the feve?i angels, and the burning of the inceijfe by another angel, C. viii. 2. (3, 4, 5) 6: the oath of the mighty angel, and the [even thunders, C. x. 3, (4) 5: the cajling the dragon out of heaven^ and the fojig of praife in heaven, C. xii. o, ( I o — 12) 13: the voice from heaven, and the faying of the Spirit, C. xiv. 13 : thefeven a/2- gels with thefeven laji plagues, and thefong of praife on the fea of glafs, and alfo the temple filled with fmoak from the glory of God, C. xv: the aBiojis ofthefixth angel with the vial, the going out of the three unclean fpiritSy and the
112 Introduction.
warning to watchfulnefsy C. xvi. 12,(13, 14, 15) 16: in like manner the vial of the fiventh cngel to^Qihtv with its Effe^s^ and that word between. It is done^ C. xvi. 17, j8, (17): the triumph of the faints^ and that of the an- gely on the judgment of Babylon^ C. xviii. 20, (2I-— 23) 24: ^t judgment of Babylon and berfmoak^ and the Hallelujah between, C. xix. 2. (3) 3: Satan s being loofe^ and the firji re- furre^lion^ C. xx. 3. (4—6) 7: the word of St.John^ Comey and that of the Lorp Jesus, Surely I come quickly, C. xxii. 20. Under this head alfo rnay be reduced that Exprei- fion in C. ii, iii. He that hath an ear &c, as it is thrice fet before, and four times after the Promife to him that overcometh; and fo h fpoken at the fame time along with it. See alfoC. ii. 10. iii. 8, xxi. 5, 6. XX. The feven feals, the feven trumpets and the feven vials are all along divided into four and three, in fuch wife that the four firft feals, for example, have a peculiar connexion with one another, and fo alfo the three laft. For in the four firft feals 'tis always one of the celeftial living creatures that calls St. John t(>
Part i. §. xx, xxi. 113 come; and there is a horfe of a particular colour, and alfo his rider with peculiar badees : but in the three laft there is neither one nor the other. The trumpets of the three laft angels are accompanied with three woes and many other circumftances beiides (§. X.), which are not found with the trum- pets of the four firft : and thefe^ like the vials of the four firft angels, have their effed: on the earth, the fea, the rivers and fountains of waters, and the fun : but the trumpets and vials of the three laft angels elfewhere. There may be obferved alfo a divifion of the {even epiftles into four and three, or three and four : But as thefe how- ever have alfo fome Angular circumftances befides, it will not be fo convenient to con- fider them here in the Introduction as in the Expofition. This Divifion is c/ear, impor-' tant and uftfuL
XXI.
For the Fours are direfted to the four
Quarters of the world, as we fliall prove in
the Expofition. So in the four firft feals
the Lion looks toward the Eaft, the Bull
P
114 Introduction.
toward the Wert, the Man toward the South, and the Eagle toward the North. Likewife in the trumpets and vials, by the Earth is meant Afta, by the Sea Europe, by the Rivers and Fountains of Waters, and alfo by the Trees that grow near them^ Africa-^ and all thefe lie under tlie Sun, together with the Norths Eccl. i. 3.
XXII.
The T^hrees relate in fome meafure to in- vilible things. Of the Sealsy the ffth re- lates to the Souls under the altar : and un- der the feventh Seal the fehjen Angels which ftand before God, make themfelves to be heard by the trumpets given to them. On this occafion obferve, that the Angels them- felves are much more confidered than the trumpets : fince there is no mention made of a firft and fecond, &c. trumpet^ but of the trumpets (and fo afterward of the vials) of the firft, fecond, third, fourth, fifth, fixth and feventh Angela C. viii. 13; ix. 14 ; X. 7. And with refped: to all thefe trum- pets all Angels had before founded a feven- fold praife, C. vii. 11, 12. Now, with the fifth and feventh feals compare xho^fxth
Part i. §. xxir, xxiii. 1^5 that comes between them : and it will ap- pear that it cannot be undcrflocd of any thing but the hiferi or the dead that are in mifery.
Under the "Trumpets of the fifth, fixth and feventh angels, firil the Angel of the Abyfs, afterward the four Angels that were loofed, and at laft the Dragon himfelf, brings on a Wo (each tainted with a deeper malignity than another) upon the Inhabi- tants of the Earth.
The Vials of the three laft anoels are alfo much more fevere than the four former; and in the vials of th.Qfixth ^nd fevenfb there are confiderable traces that this fe verity iffues from the invifble world, as well in the Vials of the three laft angels, as in the Trumpets of the three laft angels.
XXIII.
Wonderful, and very confpicious in all this, is the Gradation in which the Evil and the Good always advance and increafe, till they come to the utmoft coiiflid with one another, and in the end the Good ob- tains the viftory due to it ; and in propor- tion to this Increafe, the clearnefs of the
ii6 Introduction.
expreffion too becomes always greater. This is to be feen iirft of all in the Spheres them- felves which we have been hitherto confi- dering : for a Book fealed and by and by opened affedts and touches one pretty fenfi- bly 3 a T!riimpet yet more fo ; but moft of all a Vial poured out. So then, even in thefe fpheres there is a gradual Advance from the Fours to the Threes^ and in the Fours from one Part to another, efpecially at the fourth part, as it in its nature includes the three preceding ; and fo it is alfo in the Threes. As to the three Woes, this gradation has been fpoken to in §. x, and xiii above, and we fhall take a yet fuller view of it be- low in §. XXIV, XXXI, Liii, and alfo in the Expofition of thefe texts C. vi. 8, 9; viii. 12; ix. 14, 15; xii. I, 4; xiv. 2; xv. i, 2; xvi. II; xvii. 3; xix. 7; XX. 8; xxii. i, 6. By this th^ pretended equality of Periods is eifec- tually confuted.
XXIV.
But efpecially the Seventh is always the moft important, or even more important than all the fix together. For under the feventh feal are comprehended the {qw^vi
Part, I. §. xxiv, xxv, xxvi. 117 trumpets : and under the trumpet of the fevcnth angel, the feven vials, along with feveral other things. So alfo the vial of tlie fevcnth angel exceeds all the former. XXV. For this reafon the Seventh is always uflier*d in by a preparation for it, as being the moft important. The preparation for the feventh »S'e'^/ confiils in the fealine of the hundred and forty-four thoufand, C. vii. The preparation for the' I'riimpet of the fe- venth Angel, in the folemn oath in C. x, xi. The preparation for the Vial of the feventh angel, in an admonition to Vv^atchfulnefs, C. xvi. 15. And therefore this Preparation cannot properly be look'd upon as any part cfthejixth leal, or of the trumpet or vial of the fixth angel. In every Sixth the aitair in hand is, as it were, broken off, and in the
Seve?2th refumed and comuleated.
i.
XXVI.
In the often-mentioned Spheres, and alfo clfev/here, one circumftance and expreffion always refers to the others, and that in fuch a manner that they have many things like, and many unlike one another. Now a re-
ii8 Introduction.
gular comparing of what is like or unlike in each is a very great help to the under- ftanding of them. This we will illuftrate by examples.
I. Every one of the {even Epiftles con- tains a glorious Tit/e of Jesus Christ, a TeJiimo?2y concerning the ftate of the Angel of the church, an Admonition fuitable to that ftate, and a Promife to him that over- Cometh. But only the Church of Smyrna had, beiides thefe, 7iotice given of a tribu- lation of ten days ; and the Angel of the fame church is exhorted to be faithful unto death y inftead of the coming of the Lord notified to the other fix churches.
II. Of the firft, fecond, and fourth liv- ing Creature it is faid, it was like a Lion, a young Bull, an Eagle : on the contrary the third had a Face as a Man.
III. The Horfeman in the firft Seal has a Bow: he in the fecond gets a Sword: he in the third has a Balance : the Horfeman in the fourth has 7io fiich Emblem^ but in- ftead of that he has a Name^ Death.
IV. Under the Trumpets of the three laft Angels very many things are doubly ex-
Part i. §. xxvr. 119
preffed. For thtjive Months of the Locufts, in the firft Wo, are mentioned twice-, as it were for a warning that in thofe that follow we fliould take notice of thefe expreffions that are lefs manifejlly double. In the fecond Wo, the Hour and the Day and the Month and the Tear of the four Angels is mention- ed but once; but this is compenfated by the Nu?nber of the Horfemen which belongs to this fame period of time. Alfo the Non- chronos and tlie many Kings -^ likewife the forty-two Months of the treading under foot of the holy City, and the one thoufand two hundred andfixty Days of the two Witneffes, and many other things, are fet over againft one another in C. x, xi. To the illuflrious Woman in labour are afcribed, firft, one thoufaiidtwo hundired and fixty Days ^ and after- ward, a Time and lUmes and half a T'ime. In the third Wo, the Beaft has forty-two Months and the Number fx hundred andfixty- fx. Hereafter come the thoufand years ^ three times doubled. The new Jerufalem mea- fures twelve thoifand Furlongs and one hun- dred and forty 7neafures of a man, that is of the angel. What all this and much more
I20 Introduction.
of the fame kind means, will be found in
the proper places.
XXVII.
From the comparifcn of fuch circum- flances we may even deduce what thofe Words and Phrafes that have often various fignifications, as Angela Heaven^ Sun, Moo?!, StaVy Sea, Earth, I'ree, Head, Horn, here- after, quickly, &c. are to lignlfy in each place. A Counter ftands without any hazard of miftake, fometimes for one value, fome- times for another, only as it is placed even with others or between the rows : and the fame is the cafe with fuch Words.
XXVIIL
This Prophecy has a "very particular vieisj to the people of IfraeL Even the reproofs of the falfe Jews are a commendation of the true, C. ii. 9 > iii. 9. One of the Elders fpeaks C. v. 5, like an Ifraelite, The hun- dred forty 'four thoifand that were fealed were of the twelve ^tribes of Ifrael; and in general the frequent mention of I'ribes points to this People. Of a piece with this is the mention m^ade of King David, C. iii. 7 5 v- 55 xxii. 16; the Prophets^ C. x. 7^ the
Part i. §. xxviii. 121
Holy City, C. xi. 2 ; the Htll of Zion, C. xiv. I; the Song of Mofes, C. xv. 3 ; Arma- geddon, C. xvi. 16; Gog and Magog, C. xx. 8. The very Greek file of the Apocalypfe agreeing fo much with the Hebrew idiom points to Ifrael'y and as in C. xviii. 13 a Latin word in the midft of the Greek text points to Rome, and Jer. x. 1 1 a Chaldaick verfe in the middle of the Hebrew text to the Chaldeans -, fo do the Hebrew words, Abaddon, Satan, Katigor, Amen, Hallelujah^ &c. in a particular manner to the Hebrews, In the old Teftament almojl all the hijiory is that of the people of Ifrael-, but fince tlie days of 'titus and Adrian it is fcarcely re- garded even as a By -work. No man has more ufe for it than an Expoiitor of the Revelation, as this Prophecy extends from the old Jeriifalem which was dellroyed by the Romans, even to the new 3 and thus this holy people of Ifrael is of fo high Diftindlion as reaches even into Eternity, C. xxi. 12, 24. The Apoftle of the Gentiles himfelf fpeaks, on all occafions, of the Gentiles as only Partakers with Ifrael In AJia in par-
Q
122 Introduction.
ticular were many IfraeliUs^ which were firft converted by St. Paul, and afterward con- firmed by St. Peter^s Epiftles, from Babylon onward, A6ts xxi. i > i Pet. i. i. Thus in thefe feven Churches of Afia the frjl Set were IfraeliteSy and belonged fpecially to St. John's infpedion» Lightfoot, in Hor. ad i Cor. p. 270, fays, much to the purpofe, V' James, Feter, and John went to the Cir- *' cumcifion, and we can fhew the diocefe " of each of them. James had Palejline " and Syria: Peter, Babylon and AJfyria -, '' and Jo/my the Hellenijis, particularly in " AJia, and farther on." Hence it is that AJia was fo proper a place for St. John to fend the Revelation to. In Patmos he had AJia and the Landoflfrael together in view.
At its proper time this will help great- ly to the Conveijion of Ifrael, when Ifrael fhall underftand what things yet avait him, by virtue of this Book. Whoever has the ability and opportunity to preis home this argument, let him do it.
Part ii. §. xxix. 123
PART SECOND.
XXIX.
?^^^'^HE Obfervations and Reflexions ^ T 5^ which we have made hitherto, and h^^^M much of what will follow after or may be inferred from them, all tlie faithful from St. John's days had the opportunity to difcern, and to ufe for their benefit, even before the fulfilling of the Prophecy began, without the knowledge which we have from hiftory of .the things which have followed fince, without a glimpfe of our times and our greatly enlarged asra : yet thefe make a very confiderable ihare of the proper medi- tations on all the parts of the Revelation. Wherefore thofe are greatly miflaken who think that one ought to make the principal point of the expofition of the Prophecy to confifl: in a ftrain'd interpretation with re- ference to the civil or ecclefiaftical hiftory of ihcprefent Times, or even in an idle fearch after what may be the nex^ thing to come,
124 Lntroduction.
that is, indeed, after premature news-, by which however a puzzled conjefturer or diviner would be as little improved, if he fliould guefs it before-hand, as if he had come to his iirft knowledge of it by the event. Tet it is right that we have an eye aifo to the Scope of the Book (which is properly prophetical) and attend to the ful- filling of it ; that we may the better ac- knowledge and magnify God in his faith- fulnefs, wifdom, juftice and almighty pov/er; and learn to accommodate ourfelves to the times according to the various patterns fet before us in the prophecy,
XXX.
This Prophecy is like a cloud richly full of frudtifying rain that fpreads over a large extent of land, which flieds fome part of its waters on e^'oery ground in its turn by ftreaks or fpots. What belongs to each particular time the believers of that age may turn to their advantage in a fpecial manner, and that too from time to time more and more fully. Thofe things chiefly that ftand foremoft in the book turned to good account to the antients^ even in the time of the
Part ii. §. xxx, xxxr. 125 completion : other things are ?2ow a fulfillingj and thefe are the moft needful, the moft confiderable, and moft falutarv for ics. The remaining part belongs principally to pojieri- ty-y and the farther the completion advances, fo much the clearer will the whole be. XXXI. Let us now confider the Prophecy with regard to our own T^irnes^ and we fhall find thefe folio v/ing points that deferve to be ferioufly confidered by us.
I. The Completion began very foon after the book was written, C. i. i.
II. The Completion reacheth even to the End of the world, C. xx. 1 1 ; yea quite in- to Eternity, C. xxii. 5.
III. The Com.pletion extends, according to the exadly coherent order of the book, from St. John's being in Patmos, without interruption, through all the remaining ages, in one range, to the end of the world, C. iv. I : at leajl, this holds true with regard to the feven trumpets , which is fufficient for our prefcnt purpofe.
IV. The things that muft come to pafs iCcme quickly znd Jpeedi/y to pafs, except thofc
126 Introduction.
that are exprefsly comprifed in determinate times of great length, C. i. i. The Prophecy is Hke a piece of mufick which goes, on the whole, prejlo (which is mark'd once for all at the beginning of the lines) but in the mid- dle goes now and then piano ^ which is figni- fied by particular marks at the proper places. V. The firft Wo ends before the fecond begins ; and the fecond ends before the third begins. For when the firft wo is paft, it is not faid there are come^ but there come or are comings yet two woes hereafter ; and again, when the fecond wo is paft, 'tis not faid the third wo is come, but behold // cometh •or is corning quickly, C. ix. 125 xi. 14. Whoever takes thefe phrafes for mere forms of tranfition (none of "which fort are to be -met wdth in the Revelation) charges the prophecy with great inaccuracy. A lad at fchool would not make ufe of the words, to pafs, to come, behold, hereafter, and quickly, to fuch purpofe in an exercife. In fa6t there are two intervals between the firft and fecond, and the fecond and third woes. The word, to come, in every place intimates fomething real.
Part ii. §. xxxi. 127
VI. In the firft of the now cited phrales^ we find the word hereafter^ and in the fe- €ond the word quickly, Thefe two words would not be fo rightly compared with o- ther paflages in this book as with one ano- ther, and mull: be interpreted from fuch eomparifon : the conclufion from which is, that the arrival of the third wo is at a much lefs diftance from the end of the fecond than it was from the end of the firft, when it was. only faid to be coming hereafter,
VII. To the third wo belongs the Jhort time the Devil, fo full of wrath, had upon the earth, C. xii. 12.
VIII. Thy. forty "two months of the Beaft make the moft part oithat fliort time,C.xiii.5«.
IX. The fecond wo lafts an hcitr^ and a day, and a month, and a year ', the firft, 7?i'^ months, C. ix.
X. In cppoftion to all the three woes to- gether is fet that Gofpel or glad Tidings which the angel proclaims before the end of the third wo : and fince this is called glad T'idings of an (a;wi/) ^ Mvum, there is
''The Englilh Tranflators unacquainted with thefe ideas render thefe words the (or better, as in the margin) an ivir- Ufiing Gof^eL
128 Introduction.
therefore, from the flying of this angel to the end of the world, yet remaining an JEiJim y which muil be a pretty ^ long pe- riod of time, C. xiv. 6.
XL Since the time of St. John's being at Patmos there are already paffed upv/ards of "" one thoufand fix hundred and forty years, C. i. lo. And yet
XII. Babylon is ftill {landing at this day, C. xviii ; nor is the treading underfoot of the holy City come to an end, C. xi. 2 — 13.
XIIL The Overthrow of the Beajl comes not till after the dejlrudion of Babylon^ C. xvii. 16.
XIV. The thoufand years ^ in which Satan is bound, do not begin till the overthrow of the Beaji, C.xix. x. See §. xi.
XV. After thefe thoufand years Satan is to be loofed a little feaf on, C. xx. 3.
XVI. At the beginning of that little fcafon the fouls of them that were beheaded, &c, live : and from that tim.e till the living
» Viz, for the Happinefs of it to make amends for the miferies of all the three Woes, which it is fet to counter-ba- lance; fee S- XI— XVI ; where this is plainly Ihewn.
"» Viz, A°. 1740, when this was publilhed : 'tis now 1660 years from A". 96.
Part ir. §. xxxi. jzg
again of the refl of the dead are one thoiifajid years, C. xx. 4.
XVII. The World is not to laft quite fo long after the death of Christ as it had flood (viz, about " three thoufand nine hun- dred and eighty years) before it, C. i. 3 ; Heb. ix. 26.
XVIII. The Fulfilling of the Prophecy muft not be reckoned to fall either moftly in the firft centuries, nor too much in the times that are yet to come ; but be applied, by a nearly equal partition, to the whole courfe of the times of the New Teftament, in fuch a manner that the whole body of all true hiftory of Jews and Gentiles, Chrif- tians and Turks, may concur to the expofi- tion, from firft to laft, C. iv. i : yet fo that in the mean time invifible things neither be negleded nor interrupt the other, §. iv.
The xii'^ of thefe points, on which much depends, namely, that Babylon flmdd yet be jlanding in our time, our predecefTors could not fee. So it is no arrogance in us to hope and endeavour to go beyond them R
« Exaftly, three thoufand nine hundred and feventy-one years and fix months.
130 Introduction.
in the underftanding of the prophecy, by making ufe of the great advaiitage which a view of our prefent time gives us. Whoever is in any doubt about this, or the firft, or any other of thefe points, let him turn to the paflages of the text cited after them and the expoiition of them : and whoever is in hafle prefently to have the whole compared with hiftory and illuftrated by it, may pleafe to compare it with the table in the Conclulion;, but neither admit nor rejedl what is there more nearly determined, till he fhall have examined the proofs he will find in the progrefs of thefe meditations.. XXXII.
From hence flow thefe following jull Conclufions 5
I. That the middle wo, namely the fecond, that broke out about Euphrates ^ muft be inter- preted of the power of the Saracefis, after the death oiMahomet^ under the firft and moil; per- nicious *' Caliphs. People may ftrive to place this wo higher or lower in hiflory than about the days oi Mahomet -, but then they will ru7i counter to the jufl-now mentioned points \
f So the Kings or Princes of the Saracens were titled.
Part ii. §. xxxii. 131
and befides will ?iot fold €i\htv fufficient room for the great things that, in the text, go before the lecond wo, and the yet greater things that, in the text, follow after the fecond wo, nor any hiflories of times paft to fuit them.
II. That the iirft wo, whatever it was, was over before Mahomefs, days.
III. That the trumpets of the four firft angels followed, ?20f long after the vifion of St. John.
IV. That the third wo is not yet over^ tho' it began a long time ago.
We may juftly look upon fhefe four Con- clufions as the Foundation-ftones of the build- ing of a true Expofition, as far as concerns the Comparing of the Prophecy with the Events. For whoever compares thefe Con- clulions with what has been faid hitherto in the Introdu^ion, and then reads over the text, will, it is prefumed, perceive that all the parts of the building are regularly con- nected together. People may turn and wind the thing this way and that way as they pleafe, yet they will never make out anything much different from this, tliat will hold.
132 Introduction.
PART THIRD.
XXXIII.
r^'^^'miUS far even thofe that have no ^ ^ ^ extraordinary tafte for great exad;- k-'^^j^jJ nefs in Ch?'072ology may have wil- lingly born us company; and fuch w^ill even thus go a great way in underftanding the pro- phecy, with only the help of what we have already advanced. But I fhould be un-^
grateful to the Fountain of light, if I fhould conceal that the Supputation of the Times or the Chronology has been that very track by walking in which I came to this Analyfis, though I have now, in the foregoing part of this IntroduBion^ laid it before others with- out the computation of the times. The right Analyfu of the SubjeS-matter and the triieRecko?ii?ig oftheT'inm or Chronology greatly affift and fupport one another. Hitherto we have mention'd only the party we had moft Qccafion for, of the Analyiis of the Subject- matter: now we will treat of the Chronology 7ncre at large-^ that hereafter in the Expofi-
Part hi. §. xxxiii, xxxiv. 133 tion we may not be long detained about it, but may be the more at freedom to confider the Things themfelves.
XXXIV. Now at this ftep, when we fliould prepare ourfelves for an enquiry into the prophetical times, many will be feized with a dread or averfion. But as Jesus Christ in his Re- velation has revealed T'hwgs and 'Times to- gether; though we may now and then con- fider the one without the other and reap be- nefit therefrom, yet muft we not feparate them too far from one another, fince He has not joined them together in vain. The Things are the principal, and the Times are difcovered for the fake of the things. We mufi: give each their due in a fuitable mea- fure. One that curforily picks up fomething and repeats that, ads like a traveller w^ho on coming to a ftrange city fhould content himfelf with having heard the clock ftrike twice or thrice, and never trouble himfelf to enquire after the conftitution ecclefiaftical or civil, or any other thing worthy his no- tice. Now the Revelation is like a great and elegant, magnificent and facred Tem- ple, which is not without its clock, its bells
134 Introduction.
and its dial, to give notice of the hours at which divine fervice is to be performed : but a perfon of a right difpofition not only looks at the dial on the out-fide, but rather goes into tlie temple at the proper hour. Gifts are diverfe in this refpect alfo, and, to go on with the comparifon, tho' many- leave the care of the hours to them to whom it particularly belongs, and who by their at- tention thereto are ferviceable to the church; yet fuch people are neceffary. Whoever goes upon a wrong Chronology, certainly fo far falls iliort in the Subjed-matter : but he who judges rightly of this^ will never advance any thing that will be found repug- nant to the true Chronology, even tho* he iliould be unacquainted with it. In the inean time if Ave fet aiide the conlideration -of the Times, we ihall not be able, either to nidge rightly of the Things themfelves that are included in certain determinate times (at leaft evidently and fully) — or to diftinguifh the events and occurrences of one j^ge from thofe of another, that often refemble them, and even fometimes look more plauiible ; — ^r any m.an clearly to prove to others that
Part hi. §. xxxiv, xxxv. 135^ this or that particular interpretation is right
or wrong. 'T'is the true Ch^ouclogy that
turns the J c ale at lajl.
If any one chufes to ftop here, there is no con draining him to go on. But if he has a mind to make a trial how far we may wade into this part of Chronology without going out of our depth, he will at leaft not wholly loofe his labour. XXXV.
Sometimes mention is made of T'imes in a general way^ as C. i. 3, the time is at hand', ii. 21, /pace to repent -, iii. 10, the hour of temptation^ &c. But our inquiiy is not now about thefe, but about deter?ninate^ numbered, meafured periods of t2?ne that have a relation to one another. And here let us fee how many and what variety oi fuch times prefent themfelves to us throughout the book j
( I ) ten Days of tribulation to the Church of Smyrna :
( 2 ) a Chrojios, to the fouls under the altar :
(3) about the fpace of half an Hour, in which there was filence in heav^en :
(4) five Months of the locufts, in the firft wo ; twice over :
136 Introduction.
(5) an Hour, and a Day, and a Mo?ith, and a T^^r, of the four angels in the fe- cond wo :
(6) a Non-chronos, or fpace of time lefs than a Chronos, between the oath of the an- gel and the finiihing of the myftery of God :
(7) forty-two Months, during v/hich the holy city fhall be trodden under foot :
(8) the one thoufand two hundred and lixty Days of the two witneifes :
(9) the three Z)/^jj and half of the fame:
(10) the one thoufand two hundred and lixty Days of the woman :
(11) the fhort T^hjie of the dragon, in which the third wo falls :
(12) the Hlme, and Times, and half a 'Time, of the woman :
(13) the forty-two Mo7iths of the beaft^ in the third wo :
(14) the Number of the beaft, 666: (That this belongs to this head we fliall find hereafter.)
(15) an Aion or Mvum, attributed to the good tidings proclaimed by the angel :
(16) 2ifiort Space, that the other king is to continue :
Part hi. §. xxxv. 137
(17) one Hour m which the ten kings re- ceive power with the beaft -, likewife one Hour of the judgment and defolation of Babylon :
(18) a thoufand Tears, in which Satan is bound :
(19) a little Seafon or ChronoSy in which he is to be let loofe :
(20) a thoufand Tears , in which the fouls reign with Christ :
^ [The word I'ime, in N^ 1 1 and 1 2, is put for the Greek word (j^at^o?) Kairos. In N\ 2, 6, and 19, the Greek word {x^ovoq) Chronos is retained, and in N°. 19 it may be retained, tho' our tranflation renders itfcafon. So alfo is the Greek word (^ccim) Aion, or the hatin /Evujn, which is form'd from it.
The iirft of thefe words. Time, is by means of our tranflation, become familiar to us in the fenfe of a certain determinate fpace of time. Our language has no word to ex- prefs fuch periods of time as are here meant by Chronos and Aioji.']
S
P This paragraph, concerning the TVords ofTimf ufed in this Tranjlatio?!, I fubllitute for the Author's explanation of his German Therms.
138 Introduction.
Now we h3.YC /even Naines of Parts of Time, viz. Hour^ Day, Month, Tear, T^ime, Chronos and Aion, Th^foiirjir/i are of more determinate figniiication than the three latter. Of thefe laft therefore we fhall fay nothing till we have paved our way to them by help of the former.
Whether an expofitor who dilpenfes with and excufes himfelf from 2iny Refolution of all thefe times, or looks upon them as of no concern, gives the due honour to the wifdom of God, let any man judge. Cer- tainly they muft be all throughly regarded, attended to, and treated of in fuch a man- ner as is fuitable to the majefty of God and the importance of this fhort Manifesto; not as a bare decoration^ garniture or imple-r ment, without which the book might ne- verthelefs have had its right form and faih- ion ; but as an important and necejfary part, efpecially confidering that many of thefe pe- riods are expreffed, deliberately and with great emphafis, oftner than once (Pfal. Ixii. 11). If any man cannot, for his part, fee th€ great importance of this, yet ought he
Part hi. §. xxxv, xxxvi. 139 not to be fo rafh as to feek to derogate front it, or to iet other people againft it.
XXXVI.
The above-enumerated periods confifl: of Numbers^ and of Names of Times. The Numbers many are willing to take as pre- cifely as will fuit with their fcheme ; but when they don't come right, they take re- fuge in this evalion, ' It is a certain number
* put for an uncertain, we muft not take it^^ ^ precifely: God has referved fuch knowledge
* to himfelf ?' But here, what we are talkins: of, is wbatGoD has revealed in the Scriptitres-y and in the Scriptures it is taken exadlly, precifelyy and certainly. In the Revelation, C. viii. I, you find the particle about ufed, when it might be a little more or lefs than the time there mentioned ; a token that in other places, where there is no fuch word, we may not prefume to take the time to be indefijiite. A certain round number, or in its figures refembling a round number, may fometimes be put for an uncertain, as Matth. xviii. 12, 21, 22, 24, 28 i and then an in- terpreter is not to be over-curious in his re- fearches. But where there arc uneven^ im^^
140 Introduction,
common numbers, confifting of 'various ci- phers^ and even Fraciions^ we muft not take them as we do a proverbial expref- fion. Thus there is no making one thoiifand two hundred and fifty y or one thoiifand two hundred and fe^venty^ out of the one thoufand two hundred and fixty days of the two wit- neffes: nay, not one thoufand two himd?'ed fif- ty-nine and a half or ojie thoufand two hundred fixty and a haf: hkewife neither three nor four days out of their three and a haf days j although perhaps it may be no matter for an hour or two over or under the half day. Surely when an Hour^ and a Day^ and a Month, and a Tear is mentioned, wx muft not on any account negledl the Hour, The Text is an Original, the Expofition is as it were a Copy of it. The nearer this comes up to that fo much the better it is. And now we come to treat of the Names of time.
XXXVII.
The firft in nature, of all the Names of time is a Day : for from the divifion of it arife hours, and of days are made months, years, &c. Therefore many expofitors begin their refolutions of the times with the Day r
Part hi. §. xxxvii. 141
with whofe method we muft comply while we are examining their opinions. Now whether the many periods of time extradied from the text in the order in w^hich they lie there, in §. xxxv, are all to be put on the footing of a natural day, properly fo called, or all on that of a prophetical day fo called in a figurative fenfe (which many take to be a natural year) or fome on the one and fome on the other \ is impoffible to be de- termined now^ while we are but juft entring on the refolution of the times. However there is no doubt but that in the three Woes we are to put the five months of the locufts, the hour and the day and the 77ionth and the year of the four angels, and the forty-two months of the beaft upon a like footing ; whether it turn out to be that of a natural or of a prophetical Day : for otherwife the duration of the three woes would remain an infoluble riddle, and we fhould loofe the proportion or even the gradation that is in them. Therefore we will begin "^ again
at this place as the eafieft.
^ As above in §, ix.
142 Introduction.
XXXVIII.
The queftion. What a Day /j, in the three Woes ? is not to be anfwered fo very haftily : Firft we will lay down this pofition ; A Day here camiot fignify a whole Tear-, For thofe times of the three woes toge- ther, which we have mentioned in §. xxxvii, by themfelves alone make up at leaft fixty months. Now if a Day is here equivalent to a Year, and a prophetical Month is to confift of thirty fuch days, and a Year of twelve fuch months, according to the opi- nion of many : thefe fixty months alone will take up full one thoufand eight hundred Years. And is there room enough too be- fides for the things that come to pafs before the firil wo, for the interval between the firft and fecond wo, for that between the fecond and third wo, and for all that paffes in the third wo itfelf, before and after the forty-two months of the beaft, for the ever- lajiing Gofpel which the angel announceth tov/ard the lateft times of the beaft, and laftly for the ample contents of the xx'^ chap- ter ? Or {hall we, v/hen prefs'd with thefe difficulties, take up with the fancy of thofe
Part in. §. xxxviii. 143
who of the thoufand years make but a thoufand months or the age of a man ?
If any fliould pretend that by a Day is meant a Tear in feveral places of the Scrip- tures, as Numb, xiv. 33, 34; Ezek. iv. 5, 6 ; Dan. ix. 24, 25, 26; and Z/2/>^^xiii. 33; he is to be anfwered thus, The fourth of thefe places fpeaks of natural days ; as is re- marked in the Harmony of the E'vangelijls §. 126. The third is nothing to our pre- fent purpofe ; for the word Day is not men- tioned in it, but the Week immediately be- tokens a njoeek of years. In the fecond, a Day is only to reprefent a Year. And in the firft, a year of punifliment is appointed for each day of their fm : It is not faid, Your children fliall wander in the wildernefs forty days^ that is, forty years. The word day is not any where in the Scripture put for the word year ; as Bifliop Forbes^ on the A- pGcalypfe, p. 85, has ' long ago obferved : but if it was fo put any where elfe, it does not follow that it mull be fo in St. John too;
*■ In the time of Kins: James the firfl, that excellent man was Bp. of Aberdeen and Chancellor of that Univerfity ; in which and in his Diocefe he made fuch a reformation and im- provement as make his memory to be honoured to this d?.y.
144 Introduction.
as the Meafure in RenjeL xxi is different from
that in Ezek. xl.
If one comes at firjl to the knowledge of the Times by the help of the k?20wledge he has of the Subied-matter, he will aftej-wards come to a moi'e exadi knowledge of the Matter by tlie help of that of the Times : and fo always alternately (yet no circidus vitiofiis) every fc7vner difcovery will be brought to greater exadtnefs by xht following.
Thus the prefent argument is remarkably ilrengthened by tliis confideration, that we cannot put the beginning of the fecond wo before Mahomet, For the Hour and the Day and the Month and the Year make, by the Day of a year long, three hundred and ninety one years. Now if we fliould be- gin juft at the year 622, in which the cala- mities of Maho?nctif?n broke out (for farther back w^e cannot go) it reaches to the year 1013. What fliall we reckon after that year for the Interval betw^een the fecond and third wo? Where ihall the forty-two Months of the beaft, which by this way of reckon- ing lafl: 1260 years, I will not fay end, but even begin ? Where fhall we difpofe of all
Part hi. §. xxxviii, xxxix. 14^ the events under the third wo, that happen before and after thefe forty-two months oi" 1260 years, from C. xii. 12 to C. xx. i ? And where is there room for the times men- tioned in the xx'^ chapter, together with the everlafting Gofpel ?
Again; How can (to fpeak in particular of the third Wo) the time that the enraged Devil hath, which begins a confiderable while before the forty-two months and does not end till after them, be called 2iJJ:ort oney when the forty-two months alone lafl 1^60 whole years ? Certainly the fhort time which the Devil hath, who is the more enraged on thh very account, viz. of its fhortnefs, IS fhorter than that of the thoufand years of his being bound, which comes afterwards i and fo alfo much more is the power of the beaft during his forty-two months fhorter than the thoufand years in which thofe reign who were put to death by the beaft*
XXXIX.
So then we need not go far for an anfwer to that queftion, What is the matter that hitherto nothing has hit right in e:>cpotinding this T
146 Introduction.
Book, even with thofe who value it moji highly^: and whyfo many of their Prognojiics have fail- ed? The Reformers themfelves did not, but afterwards 7nany protejlant expofitors, tho' not all thofe,. nor thofe alone, have highly cryed up this Tear-day or Day fignifying a Year 5 and tius out of the forty-^two Months, the 1260 Days, and the three and a half Times have made one calamitous period of 1260 Years. Then they pitched upon fome year in the fifth or fome earlier or later cen- tury, that appeared to be a remarkable one, and added to that the 1260 Years : the fum gave the term or end of their period. There were fo many fiich terms, that at laft fome one or other of the inventors of them fhould, one would think, have hit by chance on the right term, tho' he had ijot found out either the right beginning or the right length of that period which he made choice o£ This pretended period oi 1260 Years was like a large chefl: where every kind of heterogene- ous things (or things of different natures) were thrown in together : but the true Apo- calyptical periods are like many fmall drawers in a fine and artfully contrived cabinet, each
Part in. §. xxxix. 147
of which contains only things homogeneous or of the fame kind.
He who has once laid afide this prejudice of the Tear-Dayy will find out the root of inoft of ^Q forced interpretations : and if he knows of any inquifitive friend, will caution him agairrfl: a fruitlefs labour in which ma- ny have wafted the greateft part of their life-time.
Most interpreters have begun their ima- ginary period of 1260 years, at the year 476 and before it. But as that term is already paft, in the year 1736, without any confi- derable event : fo, fox a long time after the year 476, there arc not to be found in hif- toiy any more later Epochs- for the 1260 years in which a man might take refuge with any plaufibility. And yet there is a geiiernl ExpeBation of a 7iearly approaching Revohition^ even among thofe who obferve only the prefent conjun(!l:ure of aiFairs, with- out any view at the fame time to the word of Prophecy. This period of 1260 years, and confequently the Year-day, has yet fome patrons that have been accufto/ued to
143 Introduction.
defend it ; but it will foon totally vanifh, compare the Gnoirion on Revel, xi. 2. XL. Matters might be more eafily adjufted by thofe that fhould take a Day in the lifual acceptation of the word for twenty-four Hours, This opinion is not only very com- mon in the church of Rome, but alfo at this time much liked by many Proteftants in Germany. Peter/ens, Syftem ftands upon this footing as it interprets the birth of the Man-Child of the converfion of the people of Ifrael'y which is yet to come 5 but which according to him muft be before the fhort time, viz. three years and a half, of the diftrefles under Antichrift : which implies that the times of the three woes are to be underftood in the fenfe of common Days. Now tho* many of thofe who have a hearty concern for the knowledge of the truth, adhere fo ftrongly to this opinion, that it might be hard to perfwade them fo much as to give a hearing to another interpretation ; yet let mc in all good humour, allure them, they are mijlaken.
Part hi. §. xl. 149
These points will often fall in- our way in the courfe of our meditations : but parti- cularly the common Day will by no means fuit in the three Woes. For,
I. In the firft wo, men were not killed, but tormented. Now it is true that very great plagues may pafs over very quickly, as in the cafe of the feven laft plagues: but here, in the cafe of the Locufts, no plague, however great otherwife, which lafts but five common months, can bear any propor- tion to the contents of the whole book, and elpecially to the trumpets of the foregoing and following angels.
XL In the fecond wo, the third part of men were killed : and this looks more like a long4ajling plague of War (by w^hich the furvivors ought to have been brought off from that idolatry which had continued fo many ages, and from their other crimes) than a ravage that was o'ver in a year and a few days (as the conpnon Day would make it), and after which the remaining two thirds of men go on in their idolatry and other crimes without repentance.
15Q Introduction.
IIL In the fame wo, the Cavalry, the number of whom St. John heard, and has ^xpreffed fo precifely, confifts of fome hun- dred milhons of foldiers. Whether all the countries of the world can afford fuch a pro- digious number of men and horfe in a com- mon Hour, Day, Month, and Year, I leave to be eftimated by thofe who underftand politics and the affairs of war. Some learn- ed men have made it their ftudy to reckon the number of manldnd living at one time : the largeft reckoning might amount to a thotifand millions^ and the loweft to half the number- How is it that the number which St. John heard comes fo near to this ? How much finaller muft be the number of Adult people, how much fmaller that of the Males, how much that of Soldiers, and yet lefs that of Horfemen ! Befides that all thefe horfemcn -are diffind: from the third part of men whom they killed, and from the remaining two thirds that were not killed.
IV. In the third wo, the forty-two Months of the beaft cannot by any means be re* ftrained to three and a half common years ; reckoning, as I do, tliefe forty-two months
Part hi. §. xl, xli. 15T
to only the five firfl; heads of the beaft. But thofe who extend them to all the feven heads fucceeding one another, will find it ftill more difficult to adjuft their Reckoning. In the time of the continuance of the beaft, after the forty-two months are elapfed^ falls out the laft fhew of the pride of Babylon, and the judgment of her : and a Jl:ort con- tinuance is afcribed to only the laft of the feven kings or heads of the beaft : fo that his immediate predeceflbr, nay even the. five other kings that were yet more early, muft, by virtue of the antithefis, have a longer continuance ; and yet under the fhort continuance of the laft there happen fueh things as require a confiderable fpace of time. More arguments againft the Year-day and againft the Day of twenty-four hours wilt arife hereafter in §. xliv. N° xi.
XLI.
If the prefent Inquiry into the Times was, to fet it at the loweft, of no other ufe or advantage than this, that people may perceive on what fort of a fowidation fo ma7iy indifferent^ Jirained and irregular Epcpoftions
1^2 Introduction.
are built : tvtn That would be worth all the labour of it; Why is it that the Ro- man^catholic Expofitors of this Prophecy cannot by any means make their fcheme cbn^ fiftent with it? chiefly, indeed, by reafon of the badnefs of their caufe ; but next to that, becaufe in order to put the beft face upon it that they can, they take refuge in the com- mon Day of twenty-four hours. The Proteftants, as to their caufe, have much the better of them: but withall, thofe expo- fitors who adhere to the Tear-day are driven upon unfurmountable obflacles. On this ground then we may fettle our judgment of the expofitors of thefe two, ^ndof all the other clafTes. For example; the mgtmous Jtirieu eagerly embraced and adopted the Year-day, and confequently the antichriftian period of 1260 years.: and therefore it was an eafy matter for the eloquent Bojfuet to rebuke him, and others in the fame way, for fo many inconfiftencies. Hereupon the other Champions for the Papacy are become more fecure and bolder, and make as if they had nothing more to fear now from the Revela- tion itfelf, but had fully overcome it, and
pAitT in. §. XLI, XLII. Ij^
Were authorized to pronounce, without far- ther examination, all arguments againft the Papacy drawn from the Apocalypfe to be mere folly and madnefs. See how arrogant- ly the Editor of the "Journal de 'Trevoiix^ Apr, 1706, p. 705, enters the lifts and glories (over Vitringa no lefs than over 'Jurieu) in Grofius and his followers i But thefe people themfelves come off yet much worfe, for they ground themfelves on the Day of twen- ty-four Hours. Jurieu has managed a good caiife badly \ and the Journal has made a bad caiife ?iot a whit better, Vitringa has fet afide both the year-day and the twenty-four hour- day; and fo far departs both from Gi^otim and Jurieu, Confequently the proper Evi- dence agdnft the Papacy is not overthrown by this groundlefs comparifon of Jurieu and Vitrifiga. It is better to ufe no reckoning of times than a wrong one 3 but a right reckoning is ffill better.
XLIL
The amomnil of our reafoning hitherto is only this^-«-A prophetical Day in thfC three
V
154 Introduction.
Woes is fhorter, and even by virtue of the reafons given, conjiderably fiorter than a whole Tear ; but longer, and for the fame reafons, confiderably longer than a common Day. All the Expofitions of the Apocalypfe that are in requeft in our days tie themfelves dow^n either to the Year-day, or to the twenty- four Hour-day : and fincc in that refped; they are all of them greatly in the wrong (as we have already proved) the true Expo- fition mull, by neceffary confequence, be grounded on a reckoning of time very con- trary to the received opinions. So a lover of truth muft from this place forward pre- pare himfelf to bear with the prophetical Day, let the length of it, refulting from our arguments, appear ever fo Jirange to him : for an expofitton which has nothing un- C07nm07i on this head^ is a falfe one. The truth, as in many other cafes, lies certainly in the Middky between the two extreams, and accordingly in contradiftindlion to both thefe fo widely diffant extreams, we fhall, when there is occafion, call this the Middle Reckoning. The ftraiter and narrower the path is, which we now walk in, the lefg
Part hi. §. xlii. 155
reafon will any man have to look upon an cxpofition grounded on it as erroneous, or on his own dillruft of it as a piece of pru- dent caution. No body has yet mifs'd his way in it ; and, at the worft, a man can- not while walking upon it, mifs, his way far, I am indeed well afliired that the maintainers both of the year-day and twen- ty-four hour-day do not /pare me for calling in queftion an opinion that is become quite habitual to them. But we can do tiothwg a- gainji the truth, but for the truth -^ which, even in this affair, has already found recep- tion with more people, than could have been expedted. On the other fide, both thefe parties cut out work enough for one another, and one of them is ever driving the other by turns on fuch in-commodious confequences as the Middle Reckoning is no way expofed to. We fhall fee too, who, after this, will keep up his courage openly and fteadily to efpoufe the Year-day or twenty-four Hour-day, and charge the mid- dle Reckoning widi untruth J altho' it comes in for a (hare in every advantage that attends either the Day of only twenty-four hours or
156 IMTROPUCTIPN*
that of a whole y^ar. However, if other interpreters will needs abide by the one or the other of thefe days -, let the reader at- tend carefully whether they argue for them, ^nd upon what growids^ and whether they can fatisfadtorily difprave ,all the evidence for the Middle Reckonings or if they do not rather chufe to pafs it -over in filence, which is certainly a very tinfair ijoay. I hope fuch a reader will perceive wher€ 'tis that he can find fure footing, and leave that daflardly objeftion, ' So ma7iy have e7^red that wejljall ^ ftever attain to the truth ^ to thoie who mU think fo, right or wrong. XLIII. Now pofitiveiy^ what is a prophetical Day ? Very lately Mr. Jacob Koch has with great diligence enquired into the prophetical reckoning of times, in his Expofition of Da- 7iiely in an Appendix to which he has, a- mong other things, a fhojt Sy/lem of the Apocalypje : where, with good reafon, he cppofeth fometimes the Year-day, fometimes the twenty-four Hour-day; but hoUs that the prophetical Day is a commo?i Week^ p. ^j^ &c. p. 503, &:c. It will not be difagree^
Part iij. §. xliii. j^j
^ble either to this diligent inquirer or to o- thers, that I exaniine this opinion a little. In the calamitous periods of time mentioned in the Revelation he reckons to one prophe- tical Day feven common Days, and propor- tionably to the Month, and Year or ()c^.i^o?) Xairos,, Time. Indeed he proves that fome- times the word Sabbath lignifies a Week : but not that the word Day ever iignifies fev/:n days. But his principal argument is this; that diere is neither above the common year nor below the common week, nor between them, any other meaflire of time that will make a prophetical Day. Not o-oer a year^ not under a week^ we allow ; for the reafons given before in §. xxxviii, &c : but the fame reafons prove, §. xl, that the true length of a prophetical Day is^^r more than a Weeky and therefore muft certainly be to be found between the Year and the Week, and that in a manner that fuch Days may hold good in equal diftaiices after one another, and in a ?na?nfold Summing^ according to Mr. KGch\ fundamental populate.
Without doubt there lies fome where in this very prophecy a Track which if we fol-
158 Introduction.
low we ihall find the length of the prophe- tical Days and Months : and therefore we enquire after the Months even before the Days ; as the three Woes are for the moft part comprifed in Months, and among thefe the forty-two Months of the Beaft make the moft confiderable ihew: we muft there- fore confider alfo firft how many days pro- perly go to fuch a month. The Track juft mentioned may lie in the following re- marks. The true meaning, for exam- ple, of the faid forty-two Months, lies well nigh in the middle, between them who make either three and a half, or one thouf- and two hundred and fixty common Years of them : by, §. xlii. This middle, be- tween three and a half, and one thoufand two hundred and fixty, runs confiderably beyond fix hundred ; viz, to fix hundred thirty-one and three quarters : and a num- ber confiderably more than fix hundred comes already very near the Number of the fame Beaft that follows in the text, to wit, to the number 666. It is true even this number too will be thought a very uncouth one -y let us not however be ftartled at that,
Part hi. §. xliii. 159
but rather fince, ( i ), the Times of the continuance oi" the three Woes do not them- felves give us any handle for their more particular Refolution, and (2) on the other hand the Number of the Beaft is accom- panied with a command to calculate, ac- count or reckon, and alfo (3) every calcula- tion requires at leaft two numbers 5 let us only fee whether each of thefe two numbers, to wit, the forty-two months and the 666 as the Number of the beaft, might not, un- der the divine guidance, afford us that in- difpenfable affiftance, of which no glimpfe appears elfewhere, to fupply the very thing that is wanting in the other. It is faid; Here is the Wifdom : let him that hath under- fianding count the Number &c. Now when a hearty lover of the Revelation of Jesus Christ thinks of thefe words, he will not indeed attempt to break into the fandtuaiy, through felf-confidence, but then neither will he fhrink back under a pretence of humility, but will be allured and excited to follow, with refpedlful defire, as far as at any time he finds before him an open door and a clear path.
f6o In T R o D rr c T I o m.
Sa then I make the following remarks with all pt)ffible plainnefs and perfpicuity.
L A Number is afcribed to the Beail, and to hrs Name.
II. Whether, and how far, the Num- ber of the Beafi: and the Number of his Name are to be confidered as the fame, or as different, is not yet needful to inquire.
III. It is enough at prefent that 666 is the Number of the Beafl himfelf, which Is here propefed, and indeed injoined, not only to be numbj^ed or fold but to be reckoned or calculated,
IV. That we may have a thorough comprehenfion of a Number, two terms are requifite, to wit, an AdjeSlhe and a Subjia?7five ; for example, twelve Afojiles : Here is twelve^ the {numerus mimerans^ or) number numbring, and Apojlles, the (mime- rits mmeratus^ or) number numbred. For a while we may, to exprefs the Difference be- tween them, call the former a cipher-mwi- her^ and the latter ^fubje5l-72umbery iince it is the name of that 'which is the fubjed of the number.
Part hi. §. xliii. i6i
V. Where we have both thefe together, there is no need of calculation.
VI. But where a Calculation is required, as here; there is to be found out by that calculation either a Cipher-number yet un- known, fuitable and belonging to theSubjed:- number given or already known -, for exam- ple, when any one defigns a great building he knows beforehand that a great mimier of pounds will be required for the charge of it, but how majiy hundreds or thoufands it will take, he muft find out -, and this is called, Luk. xiv. 28, i^\y\(p^li^y) to calculate;
VII. Or elfe, to the Cipher-number known a fuitable Subjedl-number which is at yet unknown, is to be found out.
VIII. Here is the Cipher ^number exprefs- ly, 666 ; and fo that does not want to be found out by calculation.
IX. CoNSEQjJENTLY, in this prophetical enigma the Number of the Beaft is, as to what relates to our calculation of it, a Sub- jeB'tiumber,
X. And fo, to the Adjedlive 666 there muft be found a Subftantive, that we may
i62 Introductiokt.
underftand whether it be 666 Provmcesy or Men, or Heads, or Honis, or Crowns, or T^imes^ or Cubits, or P/V^r^'j of Money, or what elfe.
XL The Text itfelf demands an inquiry after fuch a Subftantive -, for the number is the number of a Man, or rather, a nwnher of Man or human number.
XII. The meafure for the wall of the new Jerufalem, viz, 1 44, is called a meafure of a Man, iichich is that of an Angel, C. xxi. 17. On the contrary, the Number of the Beaft viz, 666, is called fimply a 7iimber of a Man or human Number, that is, in com- mon ufe among men. Thefe two phrafes are intelligible enough in themfelves : and as they have an evident reference to one a- nother, and explain and give more weight to one another, they put into our hands the Key of the prophetical Numbers. Eve7y Expofition that pretends to do without this Kex^ is certainly wrong,
XIII. Now when the Number of the Beaft is called the Number of a Man, it is meant of a Subje^-^nnmhcr, not a cipher- number. For 666, abftradledly confidered, is
Part hi. §. xlih. 1*3
neither more nor lefs than 666 : and 144 is ftill 144, whether a Mafi or Angel tell them.
XIV. And fince the Subftantive, that iuits the Adjedive 666, mull: be found out by Calculation, that can be done only by the help of another number in the text ex- prefled in both its parts. No man can cal- <:ulate with one number only, but mufl have at leaft two : to be fure then we ihall find another.
XV. We ought not to think of compar- ing any one number with a?iy other, through- out the book at a venture ; but two num- bers belonging to the fame fubjex5l mull be of one kind, or have fome certain relation to one another. Therefore here in the affair of the Beall, the Subftantive that is exprefled in that other number, and the Subftantive that is not exprefled along with 666, muft be of one and the fame kind, viz, both of them, as above-mentioned. Provinces^ or T'imes^ or whatever it may turn out. If they did not agree in this refpedt they would not be of ufe, the one to refolve the other, by means of calculation.
164 Introduction.
XVI. Suppose they fhould be 7/Wx.— We may on the iirft hearing look upon that as very fuitable : for ( i ) the word Number is often ufed in fpeaking of Times : in mene^ mene (i. e. hath 7im7jbredj thy kingdom or reign) it is meant of the 'Time of his reign. (2) From the ninth chapter onward the pe- riods of Time are frequently expreffed each of them doubly^ as we have already obferved §. XXVI, Num. iv. Therefore we fhall find it fo likewije in this notable Nujj^ber of the BeaJ}.
XVII. In all the defcriptlons of the Beafl: no other numbers occur but the te?i Horns ^ the fe-ven Heads, and the forty-two Months. If the Comparifon is made with the Horjis and Heads the Beafl muft have 666 Parts that belong in fome manner or other to his Body 'y if with the forty-two Months, the Number of the Beafl mufl yield 666 Times. The former does not agree with the manner of the exprefion. Number of the Beajl -, and has no probability from the nature of the thi?ig, fince no 666 paj-ts can be found to be reckoned in the Beafl: ; which we fliall find, C. xiii. i, to be ^ Power partly fpiritual,
Part hi. §. xliii. 165
partly temporal : there remains then only the latter viz, the forty-two Months ^ which alfo, as we faid near the beginning of this §. XLIII, ftand in need of a folution, but meet with it no where but here.
XVIII. And thus we may be bold to fay. The forty-two Months are T'imes j therefore the 666 2iX^T^imes alfo. The ten Horns are all cotemporaiy about the latefl: time of the Beaft, and fo belong not to this place : but the feven Heads are one after the other ; and indeed the duration of the five firft is as long as that of the Power of the Be all: in his forty-two months and his number : but fince it is not faid how long each fingle Head lafts, we muft find out the duration of the Heads by tlie Times of the Beaft, but not the Times of the Beaft by the Heads. So it ftill comes to a Comparifon of the for- ty-two Months and the Number of the Beaft.
XIX. These two Periods of Time do not follow one another, in which cafe there could be no comparing of them together by Calculation ; but run on along with one another, like the other above-mentioned pairs or couples of periods. On this oc-
i66 Introduction.
cafion it is to be obferved that tho' in thjE defcription of the Beaft the one Mark of time is given in the Middle and the other at the End, thefe two periods neverthelefs run on together, even as the five Months of the Locufts in the middle and in the end of the defcription of them are one and the fame.
XX. The 666 then are human Times, in tommon ufe in life, as common Days, com- mon Years, &c. On the contrary the forty- two Months of the Beaft are not called hu- man or common Months, one of which contains about thirty common days : and we have already Hiewn §. xl, that they zxc pro- phetical Months.
XXI. The forty-two Months and the Number 666 are tvfo equal periods of Times: elfe we could have no fure ground for that Calculation which is fo plainly commanded. This Equality will be more fully iliewn in
§. XLVII.
XXII. Now calculate, reckon, perform fome operation of arithmetick on the forty- iwo Months and the Number 666. By N'- XIX, we mull neither add nor fubftra<ft:
Part in- §. xliii. 167
much lefs will multiplication do. It remains therefore that we muft divide. Dhide then the greater Cipher-number 666 by the fmaller 42 ; and fo they will give each other the neceffary folution above hoped for. The Quotient is 15 -|t; of which we will at prefent make ufe only of the integer or whole number 15. Behold now,
42 Months are — 666, exaftly :
1 Month or 30 Days arc 1 5 of the 666, nearly :
2 Days are — i of the 666, nearly :
J Day is — — •? of an unit of 666, nearly.
XXIII. We have proved that the Num- ber of the Beaft 666 is common Times: and the common times are either Hours or Days, or Months, or Years. Now the forty-two Months of the Beaft are longer than com« mon months 5 and the Number 666 is not fliorter than the forty-two prophetical months. Wherefore they cannot poffibly be 666 common months, much lelsdays or hours. In the Greek Original the number ^66 is either mafculine or, rather, neuter : on the contrary the words for Hour and Day are neither the one nor the other : the word for Month is indeed mafculine ; but
i68 Introduction.
that word is already appropriated to the forty-two prophetical months. So there re- mains only the Tear, This word in the Greek is both mafculine svtaulc?, and neuter, fjof. The 7i€uter will obtain the preference in §. XLV N°. XVIII and in §. liii : at pre- fent let it be eithe?',
XXIV. Still then they are Years: as Luther declares in his very valuable, but ihort, and therefore little regarded, margi- nal notes. The five firft Kings, with their long duration in \htjirjl Being (fee C. xvii. S.) of the Beaft, take up precifely thefe 666 years. That Ellipfis by which the word Year is left out, we meet with in the feventy Weeks of Daniel and pretty often on other occafions : and the reader is tacitly prepared for fuch an Ellipfis by the like de- ficiency of the words Language d.ndHorfemen, C. ix. II. 1 6.
XXV. Thus, about fifteen common Years make one prophetical month or [about] thirty days : and one prophetical Day is a- bout half of a common year : or, to adhere more clofely to the words of the text j^r/y- two prophetical Months are 666 himan years.
Part hi. §. xliii. 169
Hereby not only the prophetical month and day which we have been enquiring about^ from §. XXXVI 1 1, but belides that, the Number of the Beaft too, is in a great mea- fure difcovered. He that but now begins to enquire after the proof of both, may read over again what we have hitherto difcovered at large 5 I know not how to help him any other way.
XXVI. Tho' no man, in our times, lives to 666 Years, yet this number is very aptly called the Number of a Man or a number of man or humaji number as it confifts of human Years. For the attributes or predicates that belong to a fpecies or to individuals are often afcribed to the genus or to the colledlive noun. People fay in dealing or in common converfation, that corn, wine, cloth, wood, &c. cofts fo much or fo much ; but every body underftands it of the bufhel, the gal- lon, the yard, the load or other particular meafure. So a parcel of ants are faid Prov, XXX. 25, and conies i;^r. 26, to be 'Si people not ftrong and a feeble folk. The number of fome hundreds of millions is afcribed to X
170 Introduction.
the armies, yet is to be underftood of the horfimen, C. ix. 16. Not only each thou- fand, but every fingle follower of the Lamb, has his name and the name of his Father vmtten on his forehead, C. xiv. i. In a liail-ftorm there are many ftones and each ftone has it's own weighty yet C. xvi. 21, the ImU itfelf is faid to be of the weight of a talent. Likewife in the number of the beaft there are 666 Years, and each year by itfelf is a human year : yet the Number itfelf is called human. The word Number is as it were a fubftitute for another, for a while, 'till it be relieved or fucceeded by the word Year ftepping into its place.
XXVII. Whoever makes as much ac- count of the Vulgate as the Council of Trent prefcribes, cannot get off; he muft under- ftand the number 666 of Tears, For that Tranflation from the earlieft times to the prefent, has not fexce?ita &c. but fexce?2ti fex- aginta fex in the mafculine, in conftrudlion with which in latin we muft needs underftand a fubftantive of the mafcuhne gender; and it will be hard to find any other than anni^ years. If they fay there may be an error here
Part hi. §. xliii. 171
in the Vulgate; let them confider that if there is it is nojlight one,
XXVIII. The "Time^ of the Beaft ftand in contrail to the Meafures of the new J eru- falem ; which is thus defcribed : aitd the angel 7neafured the city with the reed^ 12000 furlongs \ (the lengthy and the breadth^ and the height of it are equal) and he rneafuredthe wall thereof 144, according to the meafure of a Man^ thatisy of an Angela C. xxi. 16, 17. On thefe two paffages we fliall give the Expofition and the Proof of it ; and here only take notice in how many refpecfls they refemble one another.
(i) There we find a Couple of Numbers^ viz. 12000 and 144: and here the like 42 and 666.
(2) There is an Ellipfs-, and here alfo: for Reeds are underftood with the 144 (See by all means, the Gnomon on C. xxi. 17) and Tears with the 666.
(3) In both places it is notified of what fort the Reeds and the Years are. Thofe
are angelick-human : thefe are merely hu-
^ Where this whole affair of the Meafures is briefly and clearly explained.
172 Introduction,
man. Thofe were meafured by the angel appearing in a human form: thefe were reckoned according to human acceptation.
(4) There the 12000 furlongs are not of the fame fort with the 144 angelick-human reeds, but by virtue of the antithelis (or op- pofition) only human or common furlongs : for without fuch an antithefis 144 reeds would bear no more proportion to 12000 furlongs of the fame fort, than an inch to the height of a fteeple. So alfo here the number 666 confifts of human or common times, and by virtue of the oppofition the 42 months are not human or common, but prophetical months.
(5) There, there is a Meafure, and a hikenefs: here, is a Calculation and confe- quently, in numbers a Comparfon, The 12000 furlongs and the 144 reeds are entire- ly equals the 42 months and the number 666 are alfo equal to one another.
(6) Ther E the 12000 were dhidedhy the 144: here the 666 by the 42.
(7) Th^Re an angelick-human reedc<?;/- idifis mcii^ common furlongs and here a pro- phetical month many common years.
Part hi. §. xliii. 173
(8) There is a reed of a quite iinufual length : fo much the lefs occafion have We to think it ftrange that the prophetical Day Ihould likewife have a quite unufual length.
(9) In both paiTages we have reafon to admire and rejoice for the delicate tempera- ture of difficulty and eafinefs in the prophe- tical enigma: fince in the number of the Beaft and the meafuring the holy City each couple of numbers, 42 and 666; 12000 and 144, is made partly difficult by reafon of the unufual meaning of the word Mo7itb and the Ellipjis of the words Tear and Reed-y partly cafy, by means of the phrafes human and angelick-human,
(10) Thus the Revelation^ C. xxi. agrees with Ezekiel in this, that the holy city of God, which is not confined within any number of years (Tob, xiii. 18. Ecclus,xxxvn. 25) is architeBonically meafured-, and C. xiii. with Daniel in this, that the calamities are chronologically included in limited Times, And thus we flick clofe to the text; whereas other expofitors have laboured to explain the num- bers either in both clKii^ers architectonically.
174 Introduction.
as Fr. Potter; or chronologically in both as
yob, Doelingius,
XLIV. The Times of the Beaft are interwoven with other periods of time that fall now in our way. We have obferved §. xxxviii. that the 'things and the Times, alternately are ever driving one another clofer to the point and opening or refolving one another. The fame fervice the T'hi?igs by the?nfelves, and fo alfo the I'imes by tkemfehes do to one ano- ther. Now as the force of all the precedent reafoning meets here in one point, there is thus difcovered at the fame time a principal ground of the Refolution of the Times and of the Prophecy itfelf
I. The Tiines are chiefly the following ; The angel mentions a Non-chronos in his oath whereas the fouls under the altar were directed to wait the length of a Chronos. (See the Expofition of C. vi. II.)
The Devil hath z JJjort time, ' The Woman fpends in the wilder- nefs (partly parallel with the 1260
Part hi. §. xliv. 175
days, of which hereafter) a T^ime and Ttimes and half 2. time &c.
All thefe Periods begin, one after ano- ther, in the order in which they ftand in the text; they go on along together in part of their courfe ; and end fometimes foon after one another, fometimes together.
II. The word T!ime (Kairos) has indif- putably a particular and determinate fignifi- cation, when it is faid, a T^ime and Times and half a time; and fo like wife a ihort T'ime. The cafe is the fame as to the
Chronos^ and as to the Non-chronos^ which is fomewhat fliorter. For the Chronos has a terminus a quo or determinate Beginning, viz, at the anfwer given to the fouls under the altar; and a terminus ad quern or determinate End, reaching onward 'till their fellow-fer- vants and brethren fliould be fullfilled. And fince every waiting implies a time in an inde- finite fenfe, the word Chronos would ftand here to no purpofe, if it had not a certain determinate fignification. In like manner the No7i'chronos has a determinate Beginnings VIZ, the time of the angel's oath, and a de- terminate End, as it reacheth to the finifliing
1^6 Introduction,
of the myllery of God. Farther, the word Chronos is not here to be underftood of Time as oppofed to Eternity ; as if from the time of that oath the world was not to laft a natural hour, day, month or year longer: as the oath is fworn fo long before the end of the fecond wo, and before the trumpet of the feventh angel which contains under it fo many things and of fo long continuance. Again, the word Chroms is not to be under- ftood indefinitely and in a general fenfe^ of a delay of an undeterminate length; for then the meaning would be, that the time of the oath and that of the finiihing were wholly one and the fame, without the leaft diftance between them: by which means this great and folemn oath is reprefented as a very trifling one. Confequently, the word Chro- ?ws too (as well as Kairos, Time) has here 2i fpecial and fingiilar meanings viz. of a period of time of a determinate length, to which the Non-chrcnoSy tho* no very fhort one, does not reach. Nay more ; like as the oath in Dan. xii. 7. concerns the time and times and part of a time there mentioned and limited: fo here alfo the oath properly relates to the
Part hi. §. xliv. 177
circumftance 'oftme^ a Non-chr 0710s : for the ^hmg itfelf, viz. the myjlery of God, was abundantly declared long before to his fer- vants the prophets.
III. Now what a Chronos may be we mufl difcover ftep by ftep :
(i) TuE T'imCy times aiid half-time oi the Woman are longer than the Number of the Beaft: for they begin before the riiing of the beafl out of the fea, and reach not only be- yond the number 666 but quite beyond the whole duration of the beaft, 'till the Dragon himfelf, by reafon of his being bounds can perfecute the woman no longer, C. xiii. 14.
(2) TuEjljoft time which the Devil hath on the earth, is loiiger than the time, times and half a time of the wom^n : for it ends with them, but begins before them.
(3) The Non-chronos is higer than that fame j(hort-time, and on account of it's length is worthy of fo folemn an oath: for it com- prehendeth in itfelf the third wo or fliort time, and before that, the time from the oath of the angel to the end of the fecond wo, and thence to the trumpet of the feventh
Y
178 Introduction.
angel, nay on to the beginning of the third wo. The folemnly fworn finifhing of the myftery and words of God is firft connedled with the iliort time which th^ Dragon has^ upon the earth, in C. x. 7. xvii. 17.
(4) The Chronos (C. vi. 11) is longer than the Non-chronos; as the very name imports. It begins before all the trumpets, and reaches fo far as into the times of the beaft under the feventh trumpet.
Tke proper length of a Chrojios will fhew itfelf more exaftly hereafter: what is faid of it now, concerns rather the length of the No7i-chrcnos ; which on another account alfo muft be of a confiderable length, viz. becaufe the many Kings, beyond whom the prophe- fylng with which St. John is here charged i^xtends, run parallel with the Non-chroms.
IV. The Non-chronos has iefore it the lirft wo, and the greater part of the fecond, toward the end of which the impenitency of men too preceeds the oath of the angel 3 and the periods of time in the xx'*" chapter wholly after it. And all thefe periods, following one another, certainly comprehend fo large a fpace that there is but very little of the time
Part iir. §. xliv. 179
from the date of the prophecy to the end of the world, left between them.
V. From hence it plainly appears why, not only in the title of this book but alfo in the conclufion, it is faid, that in it were fhewn the things that muft come to pafs with fpeed, Th.^ greater part of the fpace from the dat€ of this prophecy to the end of the world is taken up by thefe exprejjly hng periods 3 and the fmalleft is quite filled up by thofe other things that in general fhall come to pafs with fpeed. On this occafion we may conceive as if the whole book were one word, and fo both the ipeed and the long periods were j(poke out in one breath ; and therefore Ihould rmtfet the general declaration oifpecd^ and the periods particularly expreifed as tak- ing up much time^ in oppojition to one another hit look upon them as two parts having a re- ference to one another, and belonging to one general declaration of time running thro' th^ whole book^ take and compare them; join them and interweave them one with anotlier. The times that are expr^fled evidently fpeak for themfelves, and am£)unt to a great deal : the reft paffes with fpeed : to which kind
j8o Introduction,
therefore belong particularly the trumpets of the firft, fecond, third and fourth angels, no time being determined for them. Thus the Coming of the Lord (which is the Scope of the whole book) and the time of it, is declared partly by accelerations, partly by retardati- ons; that i3 the true 'Term of it is, in an ele- gantly varied way, fixed fiear^ but not too near; far^ yet not too far off, viz. ;2^^rand not too far, by the fpeed in general, by the oath of the angel, as alfo through the inci^ dental difcovery of the long periods : far and not too near, by the three woes and by va- riety of periods of thofe and other things.
VI. Now by all this the Non-chronos, has attained to a conliderable length ; where- fore the word Non-chronos is to be taken in a duly exteniive meaning, to fignify tantum non Chronos, that is, not indeed a fidl ChromSy but little fliort of it ; fmce a little time be- fore, in the beginning or even the midft of the fecond wo, (before the end of which the angel fwore) it was, by virtue of the cmtithefiSy a whole Chronos to the fulfilling of the myftery of God : alfo on the other hand tlie very name of Non-chronos and the
PaHT III. §. XLIV. i8i
oath of the angel, as well as the comparifon of the calamities and the good things that come after them, fliew that the former fliould not laft too long, nor the latter be too long delayed.
VII. Wherefore we muft alfo invert what we advanced in N^ iii. and fay,
(i) The Chronos is iiot much longer than the Non-chronos,
(2) The Non-chronos is not much longer than the fliort Time.
(3) The jldort time is not much longer than the time and times and half time.
(4) The T^ime and times and half time are not ;nuch longer than the number of the bcaft.
Both thefe things (that of thefe periods the one is always higcr than the other, and that always the one is not much longer than the other) is evident from the whole tenor of the text.
VIII. Thus the Non-chronos and the fhorter periods connected widi it are intend- ed for a twofold declaration, to wit, that men on earth might riot expedt the good things either too eark or too late.
1 82 Introduction.
IX. That is : the Non-chronos provides that men, when the end of the fecond wo was drawing near, fhould not fkip too quickly over the thirds nor exped the good things that are to follow after it, too quick- ly; much lefs look upon the plaufible ap- pearance of the kingdom of the Beaft as the joyful completion of the myftery of God. The Non-chronos alfo provideth that men ihould not quite give up their hopes : for (i) the fecond wo endeth^c;^ after the oath of the angel ^ (2) the third wo comes quick- ly after the end of the fecond; and (3) in the third wo the Dragon has but zjl:ort time. For this very reafon, the times mentioned between the time and half time muft be un- derftood ftriftly oit^m times : and th&fjort fimey which is longer than thefe i and 2 and ~ time, (i. e. 3 4- times) mufk be the next above it, viz. four tifiies. Thus the twofold declaration above-mentioned is part- ly hidden and in part fufficiently plain.
X. Now we have found />r^//y nearly the length in proportion to the number 666, of thofe periods that are interwoven with it,
Part hi. §. xliv. 183
and alfo of the firft and fecond wo : but we iliall foon find them out yet more nearly. XL In the mean time, when we com- pare together thefe very periods (only in this length, as thus far fettled) with the fcope of them taken notice of in N\ viii; the middle reckcmng is yet more confirmed. For Firft, by the twenty-four hours Day there is no pro- portion between the 1000 years and the o~ ther periods, as the longeft of them would come only to between 3 and 4 years : and by the Tear-day they would extend a great deal too far over and beyond the 1000 years. Secondly, if one takes the periods longer than we have hitherto made them out, and reckons them by the Tear-day -, fuch an ex- pofitor would find the fpace of time from St. John's being in Patmos to the end of the world too fhort for him, the difficulty ever increafing, and the forty-two Months ex- tended far beyond the length of the Non- chronos and even the Chronos itfelf. If he takes them jhorter and reckons them by the common Day, things will then indeed come to pzHsJhortly enough, with a pure and un- allayed fpeed, not only thro' all the unde-
184 Introduction.
termined but through the determined times alfo 'y efpecially when one interprets fo ma- ny periods in the text all of them of the 3 f years of Antichrift only. But if they are taken in that moderate middle length to which they on the one hand confine^ and on the other hand extend one another ; then in the middle of the fpeed of the other things thefc make a flop fo proportioned that all the centuries, tho' fo many, are duly filled up. Thus the complex of all the periods do the whole ftrudlure of the prophecy an important fervice, and fuch a one as no- thing elfe does it, even fuch a one as the aggregate or whole fett of the bones do to the body : that the whole machine is ena- bled to Hand handfomely ftreight and up- right, fo that when cover'd all over with veflels, fiefh and Ikin, yet it does not fink down into a lump. Again, compare
• them with Hi/yory: hy xhQ twenty-four hours^ day it makes one or more empty-gaps of many centuries 3 and by the Tear-day there is a crouding of things together that is liable to yet greater difficulties. But in the middle way all the great revolutions as they tend to
Part hi. §. xliv. 185
one only mark, proceed on in an uninter- rupted order and beautiful proportion ; and the prophetical periods, C. vi — xiii. ferve to a good purpofe, namely to point at and give notice of the good things to come in a pro- ' per manner, 'till at laft the due time for them comes.
This two-fold fcope of thefe periods like- wife particularly eftablilhes the duration of the three woes 5 which othcrwife one might have taken according to the 24 hour-day without running counter to our other pria- cipal pofitions. For the forty-two months of the Beaft are as long as the Number of the Beaft -, nay not much ihorter than the other periods num. vii: and of whatever fort the months of the Beaft are, of the fame fort arc the months of the locufts , and the hour and day and month and year of the four angels let loofe upon the Eu- phrates'', otherwife, as was obferved before, there would be no proportion between the three woes, and there would be no manag- ing of them even in other points already adjufted.
Z
i86 Introduction.
XII. The very T'itle of the book corrobo- rates the middle reckoning : for it is called a Revelation^ which implies a new grand dif- covery. Now the things themfelves for * the mofi part are contain'd before in the prophecies of the old teftament, as particu- larly the maintainers of the 24 hours-day fuppofe, when they interpret almoft every thing of the judgments upon antichriftianifm and the peaceful times of the church that follow thereupon : therefore this difcovefy muft have for its principal fcope the T'imes, by the manifeftation of which the Things are put into fo regular a difpofition that any one may know (and the nearer it draws the more exadtly) about what time it is. Now people have long enough fearch'd in vain for fuch a thing on the footing of the year- day y and by the 24 hoiirs-day they are fo far from being able to find it, that a main- tainer of that reckoning is not in a condition fo much as to prove that the 1000 years in C. XX. 2, fhall certainly begin within twelve, feven or two centuries from this time for- ward : by the middle reckoning alone there- fore we can fet every thing in order.
Part hi. §, xlv. 187
XLV.
The true length of the prophetical Times will be yet more nearly determined, and al- io farther confirmed, by comparing the 1000 years in C. xx. (which, as will ap- pear gradually but chiefly in §. liii, are to be underftood in the proper or common ac- ceptation) with the preceeding periods, fome fhorter fome longer than it. For under the trumpet of the feventh angel the various preceeding calamities are compared, as op- pofites, with the 1000 years in which Satan is bound, and with the 1000 years in which thofe of the firft refurredlion reign with Christ. And as in this comparifon the Things have a relation to one another, fo we have alfo a glimpfe of a prGportion in the times.
I. At the firft glance the number of the •beafl and the 1000 years are to one another very near in the proportion of 2 to 3 . And this excites us to fee what may be the refult of a more exac!^ calculation ; by which we have, in the firft place this proportion. 2 : 3 : : 666 : 999.
i88 Introduction.
But as this falls a whole unit, or one year, fhort of the looo years ; let us invert it : and then it comes out by divifion
3: 2:: 1000: 666 J (4) or more plainly in the expanded numbers
II. Here the quotient gives the number 666 again, and that in ^vVO v/ays, both in the integer and the fradion. Nov7 alfo we difcover fomething further to be calcu- lated, befides the number 666 expreffed in the text, which could not be feen yet in §. XLiii above.
III. A Monad or Unit of 666 is i-fy^ year ; in like manner as the cubit in Ezek. xl. 5, is a hand breadth longer than ufual.
IV. This may be one reafon among o-- thers why the word Tear is not expreflly mentioned in the text; becaufe each monad of the 666 is a few hours longer than the
folar^ or even xh^Jidereal year.
V. Nevertheless the number 666 re- mains indifputably a human number in con- tradiftindion to the much longer prophetical year in C. ix. 15. For an unit of the 666 is more than 365 but lefs than 366 full
Part hi. §. xlv. 159
days 5 and many of the years in ufe among men, i. e. the civil years of feveral nations, differ farther than this from the exad: folar year; but the fraction ~y or I amounts to httle more than half a year on the whole fum of 666. Thus they are and remain human years, not angelick-human like the 144 meafuring-reeds in C. xxi. 17.
VI. Besides the 1000 years and the 42 months there is not in all the book a third number that gives us the leaft handle or pretence for comparing it with the number of the beaft, and confequently for calculat- ing that number : whereas each of thefe two, efpecially both together, oblige us to take the 666 for T^inies^ for human Tijnes^ in a word, for Tears,
VII. At the fame time, this comparifon of the two numbers 1000 (that is 999 y) and 666 f leads us to fuch Secula or ages as are fomewhat longer than the common ones of 100 years, and therefore deferve our particular notice. The thoufand years di- vided, not into 10, but 9 equal parts, give us fuch Secula^ each of which confiils of 1 1 1 f , and 9 of which, as mentioned above,
190 Introduction.
make up 1000 years, and 6 of them the Number of the Beaft. The ancient Romans approached very near to fuch ages, who celebrated their fecular games^ not every I GO, but every 1 1 o years ; and that in fuch manner that they fell the 9'^ time on the very 1000^*" year after the building of the city of Ro7ne. So likewife did the old 'Etriifci among whom one feculum with another came to between 1 1 1 and 112 years. See FoUtiaiu MifcelL C. 58, and Gyrald, lib, de Anjih & Menfib. "T. 11. Op.f. 551 feg. This, to be fure, as many other things befides, they muft have received from the eajiern nations.
VIII. The periods from the Chroma to the Number of the Beaft are all of different, but not greatly different, lengths (§. xliv.) which are very precifely determin'd where they are mentioned; for exanlple, the times of the woman, which arc fo ftudiouily fplit into I and 2 and f .
Now as the numbers 666 J and 999 f (that is 1000) and in like manner, the i, the 2, and the -\ in the times of the wo- man, are fo proportioned to one another:
Part hi. §. xlv. 191
it will be well worth our v/hile to enquire whether the proportion of the jufl-mention- tdifecula or ages may not be a path to lead us to the determinate length of all thefe periods, and fuch a one as may not be to be found any where elfe.
IX. From hence would arife the follow^ ing progreffion :
«• mi Years are - half a Time.
^' 222 y Years — i Time.
*=• 333 g^ Years — i i- Time.
•*• 444^ Years — 2 Times.
«• 5551- Years — half a Chronos.
*■• 666 1 Years — the Number of the Bead.
«• 777-^- Years — . a Time and (2) Times and half a Time.
*• 888 I Years — the ihort Time.
»• 999 I Years — the 1000 Years.
'■•^''«V"'*'"JtheNoH-chronos.
'• iiii -i- (that is, ^
1000 and 100 and > a Chronos. I o and I i) Years 3
"»• 2222 I Years — an Aion or ^Evum.
as will appear more clearly as we proceed.
Of thefe periods, viz. from the half-time up to the JEvum^ the one (as is plain from the text) is always longer than the other in the order in which they are placed here : and the length here affigned to each of them
tg± Introduction.
has been nearly determined before from tlie text : and now we may find the exa^ length by means of the proportion.
TuEfiort time which the Devil hath up- on the earth, and the time^ times and half a fi?ne in which the Woman is obliged to flee before him, are fet in contraid to the thoiifand \ears in which Satan is bound ; as the num- her of the beaft while he makes war -on the faints, is to the thoufand years in which the faints leign. Now as the number of the beaft has a manifeft proportion to a thoufand years : the fhort time and the time, times and half a time will have the like. And a Chronos^ the thoufand years^ the Jl:)orf time^ the time^ times and haf a time^ and the 7iufn-- her of the beaft are in proportion to one ano- ther as lo, 9, 8, 7, 6. Thofe who require yet more palpable proof will iind it hereafter in our comparing of the Prophecy with Hif toiy. In the mean time there opens to our fight yet this other path to the truth, which follows.
X. Mofes and the Pr^/Z^^^ bring in the Sep- tenary, or number of 7, very frequently, particularly in Days, from the creation on-
Part hi. §. xlv. 19-3
ward, and in after or latter times in Years : but in the Revelation^ no number from i to I o is lefs mentioned in exprefs terms than 7, in the account of the times. But as it is full of that number as to the things thcnifelves^ no doubt wc iliall find it is fo in the T'imes alfo. Now when an Expojition refolves the Periods of Time in fuch a manner as plainly lays open what is fo much hidden, viz. the Sep- tenary 7iiunber both in Days and Years which are exacflly meafured by the courfe of the heavens, eftabliflied by the great Creator : this may juftly be look't upon as a good to- ken of it's being a right one. If the Ballance of accounts between an Englifi and a Floren- tine Merchant amounts to 7 Pounds Sterling, the Italians Expreflion of that fum viz. 32 Piafters and 2 Lires, has no appearance of a 7 in it, but in effect contains a 7, namely of Englijh Pounds. Juft fo in the Revela- tion the Number 7 is not expreflly mention'd in the account of the ^iines: but as Days and Tears are evidently meafured out to us, one after another, by the courfe of the hea- vensi fo they alfo plainly appear to us in the A a
194 Introduction.
feptenary form by means of the true rejolntion of the prophetical Eriigma in which they were hidden.
XL In the juft mentioned progreffion the hidden S>eptenary comes out plainly in Tears^ of the number marked ^ : and at "" and ^ fuch Weeks of Years could eafily be iliewn : but the Days are of more confequence in this matter.
XII. Resolve, for Inftance, a Kairos or Time, that is 2 22 1- Years, into Days, They make (according to the common way of reckoning 365 Days, 5 Hours, 49 Mi- nutes to a Year," without regarding the Se- conds) 1 1595 Weeks all but 44 |- minutes. Thefe 44 -f minutes need not difturb any body, as they don't amount to a whole Day in upwards of 7000 Years, and fo make no alteration, through the whole progreffion, in the number of the Duys into which the pe- riods are refolved.
" But reckoning alfo the odd 1 2 feconds (which really be- long to the year, as appears from the following N°' XIV. and XV.) there will be no deficiency; the 222 |- years multiplied by 1 2 amounting to 2666 -| feconds, that is, 44 minutes and f precifely. Compare with N^- XIV. and XV. the Author's OrdoTcmporum, page 322 and 438.
Part hi. §. xlv. 195
XIII. Thus we have a Septenary of Days in the Years marked ^ ^* ^ ''» ^> and fo on, with fufficient exadtnefs.
XIV. But as the opinions of the moft ac- curate Aflronomers concerning the true length of the Year are different as to the Se- conds : it is worth our confideration whether in the number of the Beaft, for Example, which by the common reckoning comes to 34785 Weeks, wanting 2 Hours 13 f Mi- nutes, and fo contains indifputably a Septe- nary of Days, thefe fame 2 Hours 13 ^ Mi- nutes ought not to be added to them, for the fake of the Septenary \ and fo proportionally in the whole Progreffion.
XV. At this rate the true Length of a Year is 365 Days 5 Hours 49 Minutes and 12 Seconds, or to exprefs it more briefly 365 -^Vs- Days: and fo out of 400 'Julian Years juft three Days muft be deducted (to make them equal to the fam.e number of fo- lar Years) as the Gregorian or new Style di- rects. For, by reafon of the fraction -^VV, 400 folar Years muft pafs before the odd Hours, Minutes and Seconds, come out in-
1 9"6 In»T R O D U C T I O N.
to whole Days: and at the fame Time they come to whole Weeks, There are in 1 3 3 y Jiilia72 years 48700 Days, but in as many Iblar years only 48699, and confequently 6957 Weeks. Hence this progreffion, 133 f , 266 J, 400, 533 f, 666 T, 800, &c. is to be refolved exadlly into precife Weeks, and contains in it a ?^oimd and convenient Cycle ^ ivorfky of our attentive confideration.
This length of the Year is a Medium be- tween the Opinions drawn from the moft accurate Obfervations of antient and modern Aftronomers in the eaft and wxft; nor does it any way difagree with the exad:ej[l obfer- vations that have been made by excellent mathematicians : and thus, "what human ac- curacy has not hitherto been able to fettle^ is de- termined out ofthefcriptures.
If Mathematicians religioufly difpofed, would, oiit of a regard for the prophetical Word, flirther examine this length of the year and eftablifh it, it might hereafter give a handle for determining the true, but yet more hidden length of the natural or fyao- dical Month, ;^nd for other fuch like difco-
Part hi. §. xlv. 197
veries : for in this cafe too we may fay. Here is the wifdo?n,
XVI. Thus in our progreflion "' '' ^ ^» ^ yield exadly half-weeks, and ^ '» ^^ ^ ^> "'^ exadt weeks : and this goes on, taking the now-mentioned length of the year, in iiifini- tum^ without the defe6l or excefs of one hour, minute, fecond, &c.
XVIL The antient philofophers have given various Appellations to the digit num- bers from I to 10 : that of the number y^iw/ is (v.xi^o(;^ Kairos, Time. See Franc ,P atricij Difaifs, Peripat f, i^og.
The reafons they had for giving thefe Names we fliall not enquire after : but here as a Time or Kairos confifts of precife weeks, and is the root of all periods confifting of pure weeks, it is a very lingular Coincidence.
XVIII. Many underftand a Kairos to be the fame as z prophetical Tear, And indeed they are not '-oery widely different: for the prophetical year is 190 4- r common years, and the Kairos or Time 222 -f fuch years."^
** They are in proportion to one another as 6 to 7, viz.
3 600^0 «-f« +2 coo
.198 Introduction,
But the prophetical year is in this book ex- preffed by it's own proper word (ewciulo,-) Eniautos: and Kairos never fignifies a year. The prophetical year is too fhort in this cafe; for I and 2 and f Times is longer, but i and 2 and f prophetical years are of the fame length as 42 months or the number of the Beaft. Juft ioCh7^o?ios in the modernGreek language fometimes fignifies a year: butin/foi Prophecy Chrcnos fignifies a great deal more than a prophetical year : even as much as fever al Kairoi or Times. Both thefe words have a general fignification and fo may mean a Year or any other fpace of time, like' the Chaldaic word (t*'>') Odm^ Dan, vii. 25: but in the Revelation the particular meaning is determined only by comparing of texts ^ and by that method a Chronos appears to be equal to free Kairoi,
XIX. Some may think with themfelves what reafon there can be why 222 f fiiould be the frjl number in the progrefiion that is regarded as a "whole Kairos, and the proceed- ing one 1 1 1 ^ only as half a Kairos : whereas in common ufage 100 years, the firft fi:ep, is a whole Jeci/lum or age : and 777 |- years
Part hi. §. xlv. igg
(they may think) might as well have been, called 2 and 4 and i times of 1 1 1 -^ years, each, as i and 2 and f times of 222 y years apiece. Now here we have the proper Reafon: for, as many whole weeks as there are in a Katros, fo many half weeks there are in a halfKairos, which when divided by 7 has always a remainder of 3 4- odd Days. So, the 777 I- being reckoned but 3 f not jKairots the 888 y years are very fitly called a (hort time, or rather a ""few tijnes^ as they do not exceed 7, but amount only to 4 Kairoi,
XX. The progrefiion carried farther on gives the true age of the Worlds with it's hif- torical and prophetical periods, in fuch a con- catenation as wonderfully confirms the truth of the whole holy Scripture of the old and new teftament, particularly the Apocalypfe, and lays open the admirably beautiful divine oeconomy recorded in them. This is what is intended in that important expreflion,
^ The principal and proper figniiication of the original word •Xiyo? is few in number. It is indeed ufed alfo for little in bulk or dimenfions, 5fC. but then it is (as in Lexic. Bafileenfe)
(iKiyai; prO fCix^o;, Ut fit 7rQaolr,<; uvli TrrjXtXoT/jTO-:,
200 Introduction.
Here is the Wisdom. This wifdom does not confift merely in knowing the number of the wretched beaft (which is indeed need- ful to be known for a few years, but after the deftruffion of the beaft will be forgotten as an old thing) but in our apprehending the comparifon of the prophetical numbers as the true Key in our Meditations on the divine ad- miniftration through all ages of the world. The periods of time prediBed in the Revela- tion are always fo framed that they muft be added to thofe periods that were/^ from the Creation to the date of this Prophecy. Either fett of times, thofe before and thofe after St. John's being in Patmos, taken feparately is an uncompleat thing : but they refer to one another and ought to be brought into one fum. This is the main defign of fo numerous difcoveries of times in the Revelation : and and this being well weighed will guard thofe, who in this Book coniider the times as well as other things, from all imputation of vain curiofity, will affure them of the importance of fuch a difquifition; and fupport their hopes of attaining to the truth. But the proper
Part iti. §. xlv, xlvi. ^dj place to treat of this is in the ^ Ordo Temporum; where a fober anfwer will be given to thofe who cavil and tell us that, to be fure, we fliall come at laft not to be fatisfied without knowing that Day and Hour, Matt. xxiv. 36. On the other hand, thus much is already plain from what we have now learned out of the Revelation, that we are able to refolve the prophetical Times now aftually in courfe, particularly thofe of the Beaft, more eafily than fome v/ould think who are otherwife ingenious perfons; even fuppofing there was no finding out the exa*5l number of the pail years of the world, to fay nothing of thofe that are yet to come.
XLVI.
Above, after dividing 666 by 42 the Quotient being 15 44 h we let alone the FraBion-, in the mean time We have got another FraBion belonging to the number 666, viz. 114 V- Now if this latter were alfo refolved, the better would it and the former anfwer ojie to another^ whereby the Bb
y Ordo Temporum was publiflied the next Year after thi?, viz. A° T741,
202 Introduction.
length of the 42 Months and fome other
prophetical periods might be more exadly
adjufled.
XLVII.
In every Enquiry, and particularly in the
prophetical Chronology^ one may oblerve one
defedt after another both in himfelf and
others, and always come nearer the mark,
but alfo ftill fall a little fhort of it, and yet
know that he is come nearer it. This was
my own cafe for fome time with regard to
the periods which pafs before the number of
the Beaft; but now with regard to the refo-
lution of thefe we find a more convenient
handle, fmce the perfedl equality of the 42
Months of the Beaft and the number of the
Beaft; taken notice before in §. xliii. N°.
XXI. is farther confirmed by the following-
arguments.
I. Other Periods are entirely equal. In the firft wo, the 5 months arc twice men- tioned in the fame terms 3 whereby the rea- der is prepared for the like equality of the periods afterwards expreffed in two different manners. In the fecond wo, the fpace of the hour and the day, and the month, and
Part hi. §. xlvii. 20^
the year was, as it were, adequately filled lip by the 400 millions of Horfemen. The cafe is the fame in C. x. of the Non-chronos and the many Kings. In the xx'^ Chap- ter, the 1000 years are feveral times repeat- ed ; as the five months in the firft wo. And in C. xxi. the numbers 12000 and 144 will be found to be of the fame magnitude.
IL The 42 Months cannot be longer than the number of the Beaft,. for his power, li- mited to the 42 Months, cannot fubfift with- out his Being or Exiftcnce, which is includ- ed in his number. There is, befides, in the foregoing Progrefiion, no fuitable number between JTJ ^^ and 666 ^ to anfwer to the 42 Months. Again the number of theBeaft cannot be longer than the 42 Months. For the 42 Months, ftand in the beginning of the defcription of the Beaft, before the Number 666 : fo the Number cannot be- gin before them. Neither can the fame Number reach beyond the 42 Months, fince the moft violent exercife of his Power, wiiich is limited to 42 Months, is toward the end of his number, C. xiii. 17. The very Name of Beast denotes a Power :
204 Introduction.
for which reafon it is faid of him afterward, when his number is run out, his kingdom darkned and his power broken. The Beast u not.
Both periods then are of equal length: and as the power of the Locufts and the Power of the Horfes lafted as long as the Locufts themfelves in the firft wo, and the Horfes themfelves in the fecond wo^ fo the Power of the Beaft in the third wo, lafts as long as the Beaft himfelf in hiis number.
III. Now as no reafon can be offered why we fhould rejedl this equality of thefe two periods ; 'tis therefore our fureft way to adhere to it, as the following proportion and its confequences will farther confirm us :
42 : 6663 : : i : I5lf. The thing can never be fettled any other way ; but by this it can, with certainty, and beyond our hopes ; for tho' the two Frac-- iions might to many people appear ftrange enough : yet when, in the real prophetical periods of time, they produce, by this very proportion, round and proportionable whole mimbersy they will without doubt give fatis-
Part III. §. xlvii, xlviii. 205
fadion to all, efpecially thofe who are ikil- ful in the knowledge of Numbers.
IV. By virtue of the equality of thefe two periods, in a progrefTion of months by /evens, there are
in 7 prophetical Months 1 1 1 | common Years. 14 2 fevens, 222 -I
|
21 |
•3 |
333 H |
|
28 |
4 |
444 f |
|
35 |
5 |
555 i |
|
42 |
6 |
666 1 1 |
|
49 |
7 |
777 -^ |
|
56 |
8 |
888 1- |
|
63 |
9 |
1000 (999 .;o |
|
70 |
10 |
I n I i and fo oh. |
In this progreflion, the exprefs Septena- ries of the prophetical Months, and the half and whole weeks of Days, into which the common Years are refolved in the manner we have mentioned above, agreeably co- incide.
XLVIII.
Thus 42 prophetical Months are precifely 666 V common years : and now by means of thefe Months we can come at the Year and Day and Hour in the fecond wo ; as alfo the 1260 Z)^v5 of the Woman which berin between the fecond and third wo ;
2o6 Introduction.
the determination whereof is very important, fmce there areyi inany Days.
Now it may be alked, I. Whether the prophetical Month is to be divided into pro- phetical Days according to the proportion of 30 days to a common month, which would make a year of 360 days ? or whether that divifion muft not be made in proportion to a fhorter or longer common month, confifting of fome hours lefs or more than 30 days; in both which cafes, efpecially the latter, the year retains it's natural length of full 365 days ? The anfwer is : the months of 30 days had been long before difufed; and fhort- er months had indeed been in common ufe, efpecially among the Jews: but in Afia in St. Johri^ time, longer months were in ufe, and had been for a long time, as Archbifliop Ufher proves at large in his Israel ^ de Maced. £5? Jfianorum Anno Solari, And fmce in C. xi. 2, (as will appear in the Expofition) we m.eet with this longer fort of months and no other (and fo, it is all one here whether they be common or prophetical months); we adhere to a conformity with them, A montli of 30 days, or even a fliorter, would not in-
Part hi. §. xlviii. 207
deed lead us into any wide miflakes : but after much labour things will not come out quite right, as experience has taught me; ^nd ^2 continued months, of 30 days each, without intercalation of the days requifite for 3 T years, are no where to be met with. Even the Chaldeans long before DaniePs time reckoned, not 360 but 365 days to a year. So a longer month, which is an ali- quot part oi 2i year, C. ix. 15. and indeed a twelfth part (compare C. xxii. 2) and fo confifts oi not lefs, nay more than 30 days, is quite commodious and eafy. Now 42 fuch months come to 3 f years; yet it is proper that that fpace of time fhould be called 42 months, and not 3 f years ; for the word Tear was to be underftood foon af- ter in the number of the Beaft ; fo it would not have been convenient to be ufed here too; and befides, this jiuinber is more eafily divided by 42, the number of the months. Hereby alfo the third wo gains a more ma- nifeft refemblance to the two preceeding ones, of which the fecond, befides it's hour and day and year, has it's month too, and the firft has months only, and thefe not
2o8 Introduction.
amounting all together to half a year. And the 42 months are capable of being varioufly divided (not only from the nature of the Number, but alfo in \:omparifon with the number 666) into feveral periods, which co- incide with hiftorical fadls.
It may be alked, II. Whether the 1260 days of the Woman are natural or propheti- cal days? I anfwer. They are prophetical^ For ( I ) a confiderable part of them paffes before the times of the Beaft, before the End of which the times are all figuratively expreffed. (2) 1260 common days would bear no proportion to the 3 f times in which, it is faid foon after, the Woman was to be maintained in the wildernefs, and which are of a confiderable lengthy (3) the things which come to pafs in thefe 1260 days re- quire a longer time. However, this pe-. riod of 1260 days is fhorter than the 3 f times : for the 3 4- tin^^s are longer than the number of the Beaft, and confequently lono-er than the 42 jnondis of the Beaft, and thefe amount to full J 278 prophetical days. The 3 t times come to more, and the 1260 days to kfs than 666 ; years. The lo7igeJ{
Part hi. §. xlviii, xlix. 209 of thefe periods is expreffed in Kai7^oi or Times, the middle one in Months and the Jljortejl in Days,
Bleffed be the name ^ God for ever and ever : for wifdo?n and might are his. And He changeth the times and the feafons. He removeth kijigs^ and fetteth up kingSy He giv- eth the wife their loifdom^ and to men of under- Jlanding their knowledge^ He revealeth ths thijigs that are deep and fecret^ He knoweth what lieth in Darknefs -, and Light dwelleth with Him, Dan. ii. 20 — 22.
XLIX.
It is univerfallyunderftood that 1 2 months make a year. Now a year confills of "" 365 -//t- days. A day, in contradiftinc- tion to night, contains 12 hours, particularly at the Equinoxes: but where it is put in contradiftindlion to the year, to the month, and to the hour itfelf, C. ix. 1 5, it is divided into 24 hours. And in this proportion comes out the proper length of the fo often mentioned prophetical periods, without far- ther trouble.
Co
^ Or, in Decimals, 365. 2425 days.
2IO Introduction.
Forty-two months in the common or prophetical fenfe are equally 3 - years, or 1278 ^i-l days : and the 42 months in the third wo are 666 -;- common years, or 243495 common days; and confequently
prophetical natural days
the 1260 days of the woman, are 240000
precifely, or 657 years and 46 days, the hour, day, month, and year in the 2"*^
wo, - - are "J^^i^^ [/. e, 10795
weeks] and not full 22 hours; or 207 years abating 40 days, the 5 months in the
i'' wo, - - are 28987 i [/. e. 4141
weeks and 12 hours]
or 79 f years full.
L.
All thefe periods are compofed of feveral
months, of feveral days, of an hour and a
day and a month and a year ; yet in the
now mentioned natural days into which they
Part hi. §. l, lt, lit. 211
are refolved there appears plainly either a round OY \hc feptcjtary number; for which reafon we have been more exad: in reckon- ing thefe Days than would otherwife have been ncceffary. In the firft and fecond w^o there are feme odd hours over the weeks. The 1260 days of the Woman are 180 prophetical weeks y and the number of the natural days is vifibly a round one.
LI.
By means of this refolution of times, that which we touch'd upon out of hiftory in §. XXXII. is more exadly limited and determined : but the producing hiftorical particulars belongs to the Exposition of the text; and thereby will this our Resolution OF Times, (like a fkeleton covered with •fleih and Ikin) acquire the proper form of an animated body.
LII.
Thus have we determined the periods which we find in the text, without ever once concerning ourfelves w^hat might be the proper length of one finglc prophetical day, or month, or hour, or year itfelf. And indeed fuch an enquiry is no way ne-
212 Introduction.
ceflary for our purpofe; as no one of thefe
fingle times ftand alone in the text.
In §. xLiii. we have thus far difcovered the prophetical Month and Day^ that the former i^hetwee?! 15 and 16 common years, and the latter about half a common year. Before I had obferved that important pro- portion of the number 666 to the 1000 years, the length of that hajf-year which anfwers to a prophetical day could not be precifely determined. Hence it was that the ^ Pl an? p. 26, — 45, has adjulled matters no other- wife than upon the footing of a half of a common year; but yet even in that way (by virtue of what is mentioned in the Plan it- felf§. XXII, and now in this Introduction §. xxxviii — XLii) no very wide miftake could be made. Now therefore it is to be hoped that this yet nearer determination of the prophetical day and of what depends upon it will be yet more welcome : efpecially as it is now fully fettled, and here it fhall reft. A Half-year, Semcjlre^ or ^ Six^
* See Preface §. iv.
*» A Six-month will not feem a very ftrange Expreflion to any one that refiefts on our common ufage of calling a Year a fivehe-mcnth, and faying a couple of Twelve-months, ^c.
Part hi. §. lii. 213
month, ^x?i6i\y or nearly, is, in fome mesi- fure, an entire or whole, and indeed no jn- confiderable period of time; not indeed in every language, but however in that of A- ftronomy, the civil Law, and even in com- mon Life, ' and alfo among the Hebrews whofe new year began in the autumn, but their firil month was in the fpring, &c. Theodorit in. his Commentary on Dan. iv. 13, interprets the feven Times of fo many Winters or Summers, that is fcy^n Semejiria or feven Six-months ; and refers to other in- terpreters. Thomas Parker in Comment, Dan. expounds the 2300 days (or evening- mornings), C. viii. 14, offo many half] or 1 1 50 whole years. In a word feveral na- tions in Afia, Europe and Afiica, near to and in the midft of whom Fatnm lies, an- tiently reckoned every Six-?no72th a Tear, Thefe things however are adduced here, only to fhew that it is no fuch abfurd thing or remote from the common notions of men to reckon half a year, 7iearly\ to be the pro- phetical day: which therefore may ftill very aptly be called a Sejneftre or S.ix-?no?ith, tho* it i§ not precifely fix months ; for the num-
214 Introduction.
ber of the days in the two fix-month years of the Hebrews, and even thofe of the hea- vens from one equinox to the other, are not equal, it is fenough that the prophetical day, is not a common day^ nor a whole year^ nay neither 5 nor 7 but 6 months. Whofoever can think of a more commodious name, is at liberty to ufe it.
However, now at laft, after the refolving of the entire periods is is very eafy to find the Jingle times : but whatever appearance they mav make as to round or odd, &c. numbers, we need not to take offence or make that any objedlion 5 fince, as was before obferved, no one of them ftands alone in the text. prophetical: common Times.
I Hour - is 7 I? days.
I Day - is t year and near 8 days 5 or 190 v° days.
1 Month- is 15 I f years; or 5797 ^ days,
I Year - is 190 ff years; or 69570 days precifely.
Here there appears no feptenary number in the common days in a prophetical hour, day, month, or year ; but rather fradlions. But then it is fo maich the more worthy of
Part hi. §. lii. 215
our notice that in the progreffion as foon as the prophetical times arife to the half or the whole of the Septenaries, the common times (both thefe we meet with in the text, and in higher fteps of the progreffion) coincide with them in round numbers.
|
Common |
Prophetical |
||
|
Hours, Days, Years - |
Months or ; i |
make |
C Hours, Days, Monthj \ Years. |
|
190 |
I O" 2 r |
I. |
|
|
380 |
z 2. 2 z |
2. |
|
|
571 |
A -1 |
3- |
|
|
666 |
2 T |
3 i or half 7. |
|
|
1333 |
I T |
7- |
|
|
2666 |
z V |
14. |
|
|
4000 |
precifely |
21. |
and fo on.
Particularly the fradional number 666 Y falls once more in our way; and therefore we will here bring together all the places in which it has hitherto occurred to us.
A HALF of a prophetical week, whether 3 i years, months, days, &c. makes always 666 *- common years, months, days, &c; by this §. Lii.
2i6 Introduction.-
TriREE Kairoiy or 6half-kairoi, or 42 pro-- phetical months, make alfo 3 f prophetical years or 666 \ common years ; §. xlvii.
Five cycles of 133 '^ which contain each a precife number of natural days, make alfo 666 * common years: §. xlv. N°* xv. •
Below, on C. xxi. 17, we fhall fee that 8 Calami or angelic -human reeds make 666 3 common furlongs. So, there the number of the Beaft happens to fall in with the meafure of the new Jerufalem ^ tho' by very different fleps of the progreffions. On this occaiion one may alfo confider that fraBion which is mentioned in the laft note on C. xiii. 18.
LIIL
This middle isoay of reckoning of time feveral people cry, is very ftrange indeed ; and the decifions founded upon it are too variegated, interwoven and intangled in one another. This is indeed only mitradiBing not objeBing, He that has nothing but this to alledge denies the conclufion, but does jiot argue againfl: it. Many things that look plaufible to us are not, for that reafon, true; and many things are really true that yet are
Part in. §. lii. 2ijf
not (o plaufible. Thus we often find it in natural things j how much more may we exped: it in thofe things that depend wholly on divine Revelation and Teftimony! There we fhould hearken, not to our own under- ftanding but to the word of God. Let them fliew wherein the proofs are deficient on which this fo parodoxical refolution of the times is eftablifhed. We will here fum- marily repeat the principal points for that purpofe.
In the three woes a common day is much toojhort for a prophetical day^ and a whole year much too long. But what may be the proper length, between thefe two extremes, of a prophetical day, and that particularly with regard to the 42 months of the Beaft, cannot poffibly be difcovered any other way than by that calculation, enjoined us on oc- cafion of the number of the Beaft; and again this calculation muft indifpenfably be per- form'd by taking to us the aiTiftance of the 42 months of the fame Beaft. We follow the direftion in the text, we calculate, we find, without the leaft wrefting or ftrainin^,
D d
2i8 Introduction.
the prophetical times proceeding on regularly in the middle-Way between the afore-men- tioned extremes ; and as the number of the Beaft comes out entirely equal to the 42 months of the fame Beaft, fo it is in propor- tion to the following 1000 years as 2 to 3. Befides all this, there prefent themfelves to our view the moft beautiful proportions both as to the feptenary number and in other refpecfls. Laftly, in the completion of the prophecy the hiftorical fadls agree with our. fcheme fatisfadtorily. This is the whole of the matter: the will or wit of man makes it neither more or lefs. If any man looks, miftruftfully on this fame elegancy of pro- portions, and on the other hand, can fee nothing of a demonftration ; let him think again whether the fault may not lie in his own eyes. No other calculation can be fo natural and unconftrained ; only we are not yet enough accuftomed to this middle way > tho' feveral both antient and modern expofi- tors have fearched after fuch a way, fome in refpeft of this, fome of that point 3 for the natural times are to the prophetical of the fame denomination ' ^
Part hi. §. lii. 219
as I to I to thofe that take all the words fignifying times in the common acceptation, as I to 365 i- to the maintainers of the year- day.
They are alfo reckoned
as I to 7 by Joh. Woltherus in his Golden Ark, p. 124, 125; where he takes 1260 days of the Witneffes for fo many weeks ^ &c.
as I to 12 in the treatife called '^ Glaiihe und Gedult^ p. 156 s where the 5 and the 42 months of the Locufts and of the Beaft are propofed as fo many j^^zrj,
as I to 30 by Lud. ab Alcafar who is inclined to expound the 3 f days of the Witneffes by fo many nionths,
as I to 334 with regard to the time of our Saviour'sconverfation on earth, by Joh. Dcclingius de Antichr, prof, C. II.
as I to 50 by Chunmannus Flinfpachius.
f i. e. Faith and Patience.
220 Introduction.
as I to 84 by John Fox, who holds I
month for fe^n years, and fo
42 months for 294 years, as I to 100 ty Juftin Martyr, taking the
3 i times for 3 50 years, &c. as I to 120 by L. F. Gans, the noble Lord
ofPutlitz. * * *
as I to 235 by John Hufs, Paul Afphe,
and again by Dcelingius; who
take a month to be a cycle of
19 years.
Our Expofition comes in the middle
(viz. at the place mark'd with aftericks) of
thefe opinions, each of them the refult of a
fearch after a middle way^, and that in fuch
* From thefe diiTerent Opinions it appears that thinking nien. in all ages have feen the nccejjity of finding out a midMe length of a prophetical day between a common day and a year ; but have only gucjfed at it from an imagined equality betu^een it and fome period of common t'nne, as a week, a month, &c. prfome other remarkable period, as that of our Saviour's life- time. Whence we may learn the value of our Author's dif- covery, whoh^^ fettled xhQ proper length of it on fure grounds found in the text itfelf, fo that hiftory coincides furprifmgly with his Expofition, of which the knowledge of //^^ true length 9/ the prophetical periods is a main pillar and fupport
Part hi. §. lii. 221
a manner that it carries on all the propheti- cal periods in one conne(fted demonftration. Here the proportion of the hour, the day, the month, and the year ought in reafon to make every thing eafy and fmooth to us. The Romans divided their As into 1 2 parts j and according to that proportion ufed the denominations of Semijfes^ Dodrantes^ &c. in their taxes^ in their iitheritanceSy Sec, In Hebrew, the analogy or proportion makes iovcit Accents be called Emperors, fome Kings, Dukes, &c. In the great Image, Dan, ii. all the parts from the head to the toes on the feet, come out by virtue of the proportion. And fo it is alfo as to the hours of the day and the watches of the night in the para- bles in Matt, xx. i, &c. Mark xiii. 35. Neither is it neceflary that the prophetical day ihould, according to the courfe of the heavens, yield on divifion exadlly a round period of 24 natural hours, or by multipli- cation, 365 days full; vA\tn fun-inonths and hours, without regard to the courfe of the heavens, are fo commonly ufed and under- ftood. Therefore all times that are in pro^
222 Introduction.
portion to one another as i to tV? 3°) 3^5 * &c. may be called a day, an hour, a month, and a year; let the prophetical day (which is the monad, unit or root) be a common year, or a quarter, or any thing whatfoever. But how commodious the day of nearly half a year is, is fhewn above -, and why fhould not this be allowed, when the word Calainus or Reedy C. xxi. 15. is ufed in fo uncomm.on a iignification? but let him who ftill does not know what to make of fuch a prophetical day, either anfwer the arguments for it in §. XXXVIII, or §. XL; or elfe let him content himfelf with making the moft profitable ufe he can of the other parts of our meditations. But befides, let this be ever fo varioufly in- terwoven or ravel'd a computation; yet it /imply follows the text, which is itfelf fo va- rioufly interwoven. And how comes there
« /. e. In round numbers or in the common way of reckon- ing : which is fufficient to illuftrate, by an example, what is here faid oi proportion : for in calculating the prophetical times and reducing them to common times the author reckons to a month the precifc 1 2*** part of a year, viz. 30 days and almoft \y his day is the 365 -^-^s part of a year, which is the fame as a natural day ; and his hour is the 24^'' part of this natural and common day.
Part hi. §. lii. 223
to be fomething fo multifarious and fo fine- fpun in aftronomical calculations of the revo- lutions of the planets ? why does a day confift of T-4V-5-T 7 of a year ? and why muft tlie year come round 400 times before it and the day end at the fame time ? would not we^ if fuch a work was left to our diredlion, order it otherwife ? neverthelefs the hand of the great Creator has made it thus. How is it that the defcription of the tabernacle, and of the Temple of Solomon, and of the divine fervice in them, is fo furprifingly blended together? We are not to lead^ but to follow. After all, there appears more
difficulty at the firft view than is afterwards found in comprehending the whole of the matter. If any one cannot calculate and fo comply with the direction in the text, he may be quiet and let it alone : otherwife he may violate the truth by a rafh decifion. Without arithmetic one cannot conceive thefe admirable proportio7is^ which are like thofe of the fweeteft mufic. But arithmetic is not all: and as Ikill in that and fpiritual difcern- ment are not often found together; the truth, as to this part of it, is fo much the longer
224 Introduction.
in finding admifiion. It is not however nc- cefiary that all that would reap benefit from the Revelation of Jesus Christ, fliouldbe comoleat mathematicians, or but arithmeti- cians. It is with thefe wholefome enquiries as with the ecclefiaftical computations and the kalendar; of which every man may make feveral profitable ufes, without abufe or fuperftition s yet every man need not on that account, be fkilful in making them, or give himfelf any trouble about it ; for when there are but a few men in the world at any one time to take care of it, the bufi- nefs will be fufficiently well done. A com- pafs is what a (hip cannot be without : yet the pafl^engers may come fafely over the feas without ibeir looking on it. In all things there are diifferent gifts, offices and abilities ^ yet they turn to the benefit of the public, if they are not render 'd ineitedual by a fpirit of cppofition.
We have taken the looo years for com- mon years, and yet reckon the 42 months, for example, of the Beaft for prophetical months. Should not rather, fome will fay.
Part hi. §. liii. 525
thofe periods be taken either all in a prophe- tical fenfe or all in the common meanino-.
This ObjeBion is plaufible ; and thofe who ftand up for the year-day, and all that do not take to their affiftance the number of the Beaft as a period of time, will find it hard to evade the force of it. Hence fome of them have had a thought come into their mind, whether the 1 000 years too might not be refolved into days, and every fuch day to be taken for a year ? Which fancy is very, juftly rejeded; and would ffill deferve fo to be, if we were to take each of thofe days in the middle way. For the 1000 years are over before the end of the world, nay before. Gog and Magog: and certainly at the paffioa of Chrift the world was not in the beginning, but plainly paft the middle of it's age^ fofar is it from having more than 360, oir even 180, thoufand yearns tg laft yet. The pro- phetical year, indeed, is called by one name ^^ma.'S\oq) Enicaitos^ C. ix- I5j. and the com- Rion year by another (fiTc^) JS^c?;, C. xx. 2. (for which reafon alfo this latter word EtoSy is to be underftood with the number ^(^6, Ec
226 Introduction.
igaxofl-ta £^>1xo^7a£^, fdl, sly,.) But this we do do not offer as a full proof that fome of the times are prophetical and fome common : fince (^/Affa) bemera^ a day, and (fA»i') meity a month, are ufed both in the prophetical and in the common fignification. Yet we ihould not entirely lofe fight of this diftinc- tion of names of the year; fince two forts of years neceffarily infer alfo two forts of mo7tths and days proportionate to them. But here comes fomething much more worthy of our obfervation 'y the number of the Beafl not only confifls of human years, nearly as the loco years do; but it is alfo the Bowidary between the figurative and the common times and as it were a bridge over which we pafs from the former to the latter ; and therefore it is with great propriety that the 42 months of the Beafl are mentioned in the text before the number 666. We are not to expound the times fometimes in the prophetical, fome- times in the common meaning according to our fancy; but before the number of the Beafl is expired the Times zrt prophetical 2inA enig- matical: the number 666 itfelf is />^r/^ enig^ maiical by leaving out the word year^ and
Part in. §. liii. 227
partly common^ fince this very word, when we have once found the way to difcover it, fignifies human years : and when this num- ber is expired^ after a while come the yet remaining times, particularly the 1 000 years fo often mentioned in the text, in the com- mon acceptation.
So here is a Gradation again, with the trumpets of the firft, fecond, third and fourth angel, there is no indication of time. At the trumpet of the fifth angel begin the pro- phetical months and other times of the three woes. Under the trumpet of the feventh angel, after the expiration of the number of the Beaft, come (as before-mentioned) the times that belong to the finifhing of the Myftery of God, as C. xi. and xx, in the common meaning. Juft fo, the expreffions in the Prophecy from the iv'*" Chapter on- ward are very figurative % but afterward, when the angel gives John the open book, are much clearer. Several things under the trumpets are to be underftood more figu- ratively^ and under the vials more properly or literally, tho' expreffed in the fame terms. And when the vials are all poured out, the
228 Introdugtioi^.
fpeech is yet flainer. For this reafon the number of th« Beall, C. xiiL i8, is excepted •from the figurative way of expreffion that prevails in tlie middle chapters, as being a human number^, or in ufe among men : and •ib is alfo the human-angelic meafure after- wardv C. xxi. 17, excepted from the com- mon way of expreffion that prevails in the latter chapters. Both thefe exceptions indi- cate that the other expreffions before are to be taken figuratively, and thofe that come nfter,, properly. See alfo what is faid here- after, in the Expojitioriy on C xi. 8, and C. xvii. 5, concerning fpiritual and myftical Denominations. After this manner does this Prophecy always fhed the light of its clearnefs and perfpicuity backward from the latter to the former both Things and Times. The Wisdom comes at the expiration of the number of the Beaft (not that wifdom which men acquire to themfelves by ever fo ingenious devices of an acute underiEland- ■ing, but that which God beftows on us in the V/ord of Truth) and from thence for- ward the Wijdom will be continually more and more diicovered; and oh! what an ad-
Part hi. §. liit. 229
mirably beautiful and immenfe fum mufl that come to at laft ! Then alfo will the times defcribed by the prophet Daniel be laid open : mean time we need not be dif- turbed whatever may be the proper length of the days, ki his prophecy which belong to the New Teftament ; §. i. God has no- tified days and years in divers manners ac- cording to his free and holy Will, as Gen. xl. 12, 18. xli. 26, 27. Ifai. xxxviii. 5, 8 ! and fo the Revelation may very well be dif- ferent from iXamel in the length of the times^ as it is from Ezekiel in the length of the vie^Juring rod^ in §. xliii. N°. xxviii.
Some may fay, by way of a general Ob* jedion, you dwell too lojig upon this bufmefs of CljTOfiology : I would rather have fome- i)^mgfiivoury and edifying.
I anfwer : when heretofore in my Plan, ^ I laid down a Summary of the Chronology of the Apocalypfe^ it was thought too little ^^ now when I draw it out at large and diftindl- ly, it is too much. How then fliall this matter be adjufted ? We ought to receive thankfully whatever God gives us, or re-
^ See Preface §, iv.
230 INTRODUCTION.
veals to us. He who has already edified himfelf as he ought, in Faith, in Love, and in Hope by help of the fundamental Truths of Chriftianity, will find by refpedful at- tention, a moft gracious nourifliment of the Ipiritual life in any Difquifition concerning the holy Scriptures, be it ever fo fpecula- tive : for inftance, in meditating upon Da- niel, as well as on Ifaiah. He who is out in the Sunihine will get warm, whatever he may be employed in befides. Whoever confiders and receives every thing in a man-* ner fuitable to the Defigns of God, will in every thing not be long enquiring after edi- fication, but will adually be edified himfelf efpecially by praifing God in all his Words, his Judgments, his Ways and his Works. But whofoever flights now one thing, then another thing, under pretence of its not be- ing edifying enough, has not yet taken due care to get edification even by what he reck-- ens to be very edifying. Let a man be only right in fundamentals 5 and it will be found how rich a Kernel is contained in the fl:ell of chronological difquifitions.
Part hi. §. liii, liv. 231 In a word, if any perfon is puzzled with thefe things, and cannot fee the reafon of his perplexity, the truth of the matter is, either he goes upon other Principles, or elfe has no taft for this Way. It is to no pur- pofe to begin to deal with fuch a man, till haply he meet with the truth, upon which he now looks fo fhy, from fome other quarter. The Truth will prevail in due time: and though the Fire at iirft lighting raifes a thick fmoak, yet the Flame will break out ftrong and clear.
LIV.
The other periods of time, colledled in §. XXXV. and not yet difcufs'd fhall be treat- ed of in the Exposition, and it fhall be ihewn in each place whether they are pro- phetical or common times. And thofe pe- riods which are not fo exadlly limited but fall in between others that are, for example, the intervals between the three woes, fliall be inquired into: and laftly thofe things which fland in the text without any cha- racter of time fliall be laid open : at the ilime time the Reader mufl be referred back
232 Introduction.
to this Introduction whenever there is
occafiou for it.
LV.
In the mean time we have here a new confirmation of what was remarked in §. XIV y concerning the four Spheres or Cir- cles. For
In the feven Epistles there is no other time indicated but only the ten days tribu- lation at Smyrna, Q ii. 10, From whence it is evident that thefe feven epiftles do not mean nor point out feven periods of time that fhould extend, one after another, thro* many ages ; but have a view feverally, to the then feven churches in Afia, and all to- gether to the whole Church of Christ without diftinftion of place or time. Thus this mark of time, by its being the only one belonging to the feven epiftles, fhews us, as by a glance, what they relate to.
It is juft fo with the Seals. For with the feven feals there is no other Note of Time (excepting that of about half an hour, which is a diilerent cafe, as we fhall fee on C. viii. I,) but the Chro?ios under the fiftli feaJ. Whence it will appear that even this feal
Part hi. §. lv. 233
by itfelf extends '^from the firft perfecution of the Chrijftians to the war of the Beafl with the Saints, yea quite on to the Judge- ment of the great Whore ; and fo the other feals (which comprehend all things vifible and invifible and the Sovereignty of the Lamb over both), fiin on parallel with the fifth.
Whosoever looks for fucti periods of time under the {even Trumpets as imme- diately follow one another, mufl make fix- teen fuch at leaft, by virtue of §. xiii. Yet it is evident from the widely extended peri- ods exprelly mentioned from C. ix. to C. xx. that the feven Trumpets, which are chiefly againft the Kingdom of the World, extend through the whole fpace from the date of the prophecy to the end of all things, yea even into eternity.
F f
s Viz. the ^virtue or ej}^ of it ; for the opening of the fe* ven Seals by the Lamb being an emblemattical reprefentation of Jesus Christ the Mediator's receiving all Power in Hea^ ven and Earth, i. e. of the folemn Inauguration of Christ into his mediatorial Kingdom ; the Efe^ of it namely, the Pojfejfion and Exercife of that Poiver ; mult continue till he deliver up the Kingdom to the Father,
234 Introduction,
The feVen Vials by which the dilorderljr power of the Beaft is defeated, pafs quickly over : and therefore there is no time men- tioned in the whole xvi'^ Chapter. They begin the laft, and are the foft over.
The Viah^ the I'riimpetSy the Seals^ and the Epijiles are beautifully interwoven 3 and like the pipes and flops of an Organ, at times fome of them are iilent, at others a- gain all of them found aloud together. LVL
Hence it appears that the Opinion men- tioned in the Preface, §. vi, viz, that almofl every thing even from the firft Seal to the binding of Satan, is yet to come^ is utterly groundlefs. Whoever would not be too hafly in his decifions in fo important an af- fair, let him maturely confider the admoni- tions which will be given in their proper
Dlaces.
LVII.
Thus much is enough by way o? Intro-
duBioji: the reft follows in the Exposition 5
in perufing of which the reader is defired
ever to caft an eye backward and think o£
this InTropuction.
1 235 ]
*" :\yr:
THE
CONCLUSION
O F T H E
Expofition of the Revelation.
— ^■^^— — ■— "^^ i— ■— — — ■« 111
'^^^)S(HUS we have finifhcd the Expo- ^T y^ siTioN of tht Revelafion in the or- )f^^^)J( der of the text ; but th.ere remain yet a few things to be treated of, which could not be fo fitly brought in on occafioD of any particular text. Thefe relate either to the Eixpojition in general, or to the nearer determination of fome Times. Here there^ fore we ihall exhibit
I. A BRIEF chronological table of the prin- cipal points of the prophecy and of the completion of it.
II. A MODEST attempt of a more prcclfe determination of the times of the Beaji.
III. The marks or charaBcrs of a true ex- ffiticn of the revelation.
236 Conclusion,
IV. A DETAIL of the expedations of jnen from time to time: or, an hijlorical account of the expojitions of this prophecy thro' all ages.
V. An account of the influence wliich the cxpofition of the prophecies has had on hu^ man affairs,
VI. An exajnination of fome modern pro- phecies that are handed about in feveral places.
VII. Some wholefome admonitions,^
* The Reader is dcfired before he proceeds farther to read §ver again the xith paragraph of the preface attentively.
PART I.
An-E^^y^ofaCHRONOLOGICALTABLE
of the Apocalypfe.
V Sketch, according to the Text.
A\ M, 3940. Jesus Christ born.
3943. The V year of the Dionyflan /Era, or our ufual way of reckoning the year of our Lord y which begins three years too late.
i
Part I. 237
A. A\ Donh 30. Jesus Christ fufters, dies,
rifes from the dead, gives fome hints of his revelation (John xxi. 22, 23, Adts i. 7.) and afcends to heaven. 96. The Revelation is written by St. John — Ch. L The coming of the Lord is declared to the seven Churches in Afia and their Angels — ii, iii.
B. 97, 98. The seven Seals are o-
pened, and on the opening of the fifth the Chroma is notified — iv, v, vi. The seven Trumpets are given to the feven angels — — vii, viii,
C. The Lord cometh. John is to tarry (Jo. xxi. 22) no longer.
D. 11'' iii'^ iv'"' The Trz/z/z/^/i of the 1^'^ 11'' v''' Centuries, iii''' and iv'^ angels — viij.
E. 510— 589. The /;;y? Wo, under the
trumpet oithtfftb angel-ix,
F. 589 — 634. The Interval between the
frjl and fcovid wo.
238 Conclusion.
G. 634— 84o.The7^fcW Wo, under the
trumpet of the fixth angel
C. ix.
H. 800 — 1836. The Non-chronos and the many Kings — x, xi.
L 840 — 947. The Interval between the Jecoiid and third wo - xi. 14,
K. 864—1521. The 1260 days of the Wo- man in the wildernefs after fhe had brought forth the Man-child, or rather, man- ly So7i — xii. 6c
L. 947 — 1836. The third Wo, under the
trumpet of thefevenfb angel
xii. 12.
M. 1058 — 1836. Thc'Time and T/Wj and half aTime ofthtWoman xii. 14.
jsj/ W'it/n»theIimtsT^)^Q Times of the Beaji m
of the i^rmes, ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ j^j^ ^^^^^
tion — xiii. 5.
O.1208&1209. War with the Saints. End oixhcChronos mention'd un- der the letter B. ~ xiii. 7.
^ TVithin the limits, ^f.] a more particular determination of the time of this article, as near as it can be fettled, is the fubjeft of the ii'» part of this conclufion.
Part L 239
P. 1 6 14. The Angel with the everlajl--
ing gofpel or glad tidings for
an Aion or Mwxxm to come
C. xiv. 6.
Q^ 1836. The end of the iVb«-\
chronos and the many
Kings.
The fulfilling of the Words of God, and finijhing of the Myfiery of God.
The Repentance of the Survivors in the ^r^^/ )xix, xx, City,
The end of the poort Time and of the 3 i Tifnes.
The defirudiion of the Beaft,
The 1000 Tears of the binding ofSatanhtgm,, R. afterward, The loofing of Satan for^ a little Seajon, The 1000 Tears m which thcSaints reign,
*xx. 3.4.
|
1:46 |
Conclusion. |
|
s. |
The End of the little Seajon |
|
C. XX. 7. |
|
|
T. |
The E?id of the World xx. i i . |
|
V. |
All Things new xxi. xxii. |
This Table may be look'd upon perhaps as ufeful, perhaps as fuperfluous^ it will however be of fervice to thofe who make a proper and difcreet ufc of it. I call it but an Effay -, and mdii earne/l/y protest and enter this Caution, that I by no means pre- tend to have adapted the years to every ar-^ tide with equal certainty. I only do ?.s Geo- graphers, who often in their Maps fill up the diftances between well known parts of Boundaries and Coafts, as near the truth as they can, on account of neceffary connexion. But it is, at the leajl, adapted to iliew in what Order the periods begin and end one after another: and even when a clearer light fliall break out, there will be found but little cc- cafion for alteration, in the years, and much lefs in the length, rank, connexion and dijlances of the periods. And farther, this rough Draught will be of fervice to enable the men of thofe times to reftify what is ?iot fo exaBly adjufted; which draught (N. B.) is here laid Aownfo particidarly, only for that end.
Part I, 241
IF. Sketch, according to Hiftory.
If we take the principal hiftories of 16
centuries from St. John's days to our own,
adding the epithets which hiftorians give to
feveral of thefe ages ; we fhall find that the
Prophecy and the Hijiory of the Completion,
proceed together in order.
Cent^ 11'. The Difperfion of the Jtws by
Adrian — C. viii. 7.
III. The Irruption of the Goths and
other foreign nations — 8.
IV. The Age of Arianifm [Seculum
Ariajtiini] — — 10.
V, ThQ Extm^Ionofth^ Roman E??!"
/^/r^* under Auguftulus viii. 12.
VI. The Dijirejfes of the Jews in
Perfia -^ — ix. i.
VII. Mahomet and the Saracefis [with
their Cavalry] — 13,
VIII. The Contention about Image-
Worjhip — — 20.
IX. ThtAgeofPhothis: andalfothe
Ruler of the Natiom born x, 1 1.
2^2 Conclusion.
Cent^ X. Seculu??i irtfelix [in which the third
ivo began] — C. xii. 12.
XI. Secuhm Hildebrandimm \\kit Beaji
out of ih.t Sed\ ^— xiii. i.
XII. The papal Poie^fr begins — 5.
XIII. Crufade againft the Waldenfes [or
Vaiidois] — ■ — ■ 7.
XIV. T]\Q Age of WickUff, The middle
of the third wo. -*- 7.
XV. Tht Age of Coimcih \y\z^ at Con-
ftance, Bafil and Florence] the
middle and height of the papal
po\ver — — 8.
XVI. The Reformation — 9.
XVII. The everlafting or aeviternal golpel
xiv. 6. 8. XVIII. The Adoration of the Beafi and his Image — — 9.
The other intercurrent Points every man may add [to this Table] out of the Expofition^ according to his liking. And whoever com- pares thefe two fketches together will per- ceive the agreement of the Prophecy and the completion from beginning to end.
Part II. 243
PART II.
In which the Duration of the Beaji, and how near the E7id of it may be, is con- jeBurally affigned ; and thereby the chra- nological Table of Part I'' compleated.
§• I-
Among all the periods that are now in courfe, that of the Times of the Beafl chiefly engages the attention of men, on account of its end being expeded fomewhat fooner than that of the reft. So if an expofitor does not proceed very cautioufly with regard to theniy many may take offence and be dif- pofed to flight the Expoftion not only of the 'Ti7nes of the Beaft, but alfo of the Beajl it- felf, and even that of the other Periods too, nay of the whole prophecy. To prevent this evil and injiijlice, I judged it proper not to toucih upon this point [of the EW of the Months and Number of the Beaf] either in the Introduftion or the Expofition, or even in the chronological Table in the firft part of this conclufion .; but to delay bringing it
244 Conclusion,
on the carpet to this place ^ and fet it entirely h ^^fi!f^ fi^^^ i^ is not proper that it fhould be wholly paffed overUn filence.
Now with truth and juflice I aver^ that tho' the event fhould vary ever fo much from [what will be laid down in] this fecond part (which however will not be found egregioujly wrong) that will affed: this part only. For the connexion of this with the reft is not like that of a ftone with others in a wall, which if it falls out feveral more muft folr low; but like that of a fquare of glafs, which may be crack'd or broken without any damage to the reft of the window. Let us fee then what ufeful truth we may meet with.
11. Whatever God propofeth to us i^ his word is a proper objed: of our belief, in great or fmall matters, fpiritual or temporal, whether it be concerning things thcmfelves, or their circumftances of place, time, man- ner, &c. Infidelity is a conceited, ca- pricious quality : it chujes what it likes, and rejeBs the reft, and fometimes under plaujible pretences. But Faith does honour to Gop in every things When Sarah was pro-
Part IL 245
mifed a Son within ifhort time-^ it would not have been right in her to have believed ojiJy the promife concerning the Son^ and not the circumftance of T'ime too. When God told Hezekiah that he would prolong his life 5 if he had pleafed to conceal from him the fifteen years, it would not have become Hezekiah to enquire how long. On the o-- ther hand Hezekiah's gratitude would have been deficient, if he had acknowledged only the lengthning of his life, but not regarded the notice given him of xh^ fifteen years y un- der the pretence of modefty. Had the Ninevites believed only the threatned defiruc^ tien of their city, but not that it would come to pafs in forty days ; without doubt their repentance would not have been fo earnefl. The Samaritan Lord would not believe that mfour-and-twenty hours there fliould be great plenty ; and it coll him his life. If the Ifraelites at Babylon had difregarded the feventy years ^ they would either not have fuited themfelves to that flated tinier or they would have been fo accuftomed to Babylon that they would have longed no more for their own country. And (to give an in-
246 Conclusion.
ftance as to the circumftance of place) it was great ftubbornnefs in the Jews that they would not believe Jeremiah when he forbad their flight into Egypt, The more particu- lar the divine declaration is, the belief of it is the more difficult and the more uncommon, but at the fame time the more generous, and therefore the more acceptable to God.
Will you fay? yea, if St. John was now living and would fhew us that part of the Revelation which belongs to us, and the determination of the times and other circum- ftances ; then / would believe. I anfwer, if St. John was now alive and fhew'd all that, but was not known to be St. John: people would rejed him in per/on juft as they •do the bock he has written. Does it make any difference as to the thing, whether God <ryives it to his Church once for all or by lit- tie and little ? But in the former of thofe wavs our faith is much more generous, and more fuitable to the maturity of faith under the New Teftament. Therefore the I'imes of the horrible Beaft^ fo grandly defcribed in the Prophecy, muft not be a 7natter of indif- ference to us.
Part IL 247
III. That the Beajl is the 'Hildebrandine Papacy we have clearly proved in the Expo-
Jition^ VIZ, on C. xiii. i. from the agreemejif of the prophecy with the completion as re- corded in hiftoryj which proof alone may fully fatisfy plain and unlearned perfons. But to this we have added the fymtnetry of the whole feries of the prophecy in the ful- filling of one point after another. Both thefc proofs can be comprehended by any one, tho' he has no regard to Chronology either the true or the falfe. But the calcii^ lation of the number of the Beafl confirms all, in a manner that nothing elfe can, and ftill the more exaftly we proceed in it the ftronger is that confirmation.
IV. The whole duration of the Beajl (in its three partitions, of which we have taken a view in the expofition of C. xvii. 8.) falls certainly within the limits of the Time and Times and half Time of the Woman (which we have confidered in explaining C. xii. 14) : and
* i. e. The Power ufurped by the Popes for more than 600 years paft, which was firll claimed and violently feized by Hildebrandy a cunning and refolute man. When he was chofen Pope, A, D. 1073, he took ths name of Gregory
the vn*\
248 CONCLUSION.
very probably it goes on in the manner i'd forth in the Table which we fhall give a little below.
V. The times of the Beaft being includ- ed in the 3 ~ times of the Woman, and thefe latter reaching but to A**. 1836 at fartheft : the former cannot run out beyond that year. So that a Table adjufted to that term cannot he far from the truth.
VI. Ever fmce I difcover'd the folution of the prophetical times, I have always placed the duration of the Beaji between the year 1076 and 1836 j and do flilL But as this duration is confider ably yZ^cr/^r than the fpace between thefe two years, various confidera- tions and reflexions on hiftory kept me long- in fufpence concerning the proper term of the beginning and end of it. In this cafe I had in my view chiefly the prophecy itfelf ; and when afterward I not only found a fuller folution of the prophecy, but alfo by means of that difcovered the true fum of the years of the World notified in the Scriptures ; from thence I came at laft to this determination of the point, viz, let us reckon the firft rifing of the Beajl out of the Sea to be the triumph
Part II. 249
of Gregory over the Emperor, at Canofa, A° 10775 and iht power given to the Bea/i to be the elevation of Celejline W to the Papacy; and begin the number 666, to which the 42 months are equal, in difecondary courfe, at the rijing out of the fea^ but, in xk^t primary courfe of it at the commencement of that Power. And here we may well reft the matter, as there is no appearance of any third Epoch to arife inftead of thefe two. atitiemfement^
Since the Author has, in his Gnomon, fuhlijhed tivo years after this, on a clofer attention to the fub- jefff reduced the t'wo tables in this part to one, and made fame imtrovements on them: injiead of thofe and the refeBidns on them in this ii^ part, IJhall give the Table in the Gnomon more fully exprejfed . <ivith the principal Obfervations there made on it ; as follows.
In my Expofition of the Revelation (Part ii*^ of the Conclufion) there is an eflay to di- geft in a table the 'l^imes of the Woman after the wings were given her, and of the Beaf -, which are now more fully explained and the parts of them more exadly fitted together, by comparing them in feveral places with the
prophecies of Daniel, And here let the
H h
250 Conclusion.
reader remember what I have often protefted, oimodejty ^nA fobriety on this head, 'till the event afford us a clear Explanation concern* ing future things.
THE TABLE.
THE TERMS.
" A' 1058, Sept. 2' Wed. Thetv^o wings of
the great Eagle given to the Wo- man.
^ 1077, Sept. I'^Frid. The rifing of the
beaftoutofthefea, in the perfon of Gregory VII.
*= 1143? Sept. 25, Sat. The beginning of
the 42 months of the power of the beaft, in Celef- tine II.
^ 1810, May 21, Sat.\Theendofthe42
June 1/ N. 5. jmonths,andof the
number of the
^ AH the dates after this are according to the Neiv-Stile 5 which was £rft introduced A^- 1582, and received latdy in Britain, A^- 1752,
Part II. 251
beaft. Soon af- ter, when the vials are poured out, the beaft is noty butBabylon reigns as Queen. 1 832, Od. 14, Mon» The rifmg of the
beaft out of the Abyfs. After
one hour, viz,
^ 1832,061.22, Tuefd. The 10 kings give
their royal power to the beaft.
' 1836, June 1 8, Sund. Thedeftruftion of
the beaft. The end of the 3 ~ times, &c.
The Intervals.
The letters •' *»' ^' ^"^^ mark the ierm at which each Inter- val begins, which is underftood to end at the next letter : as the Interval ^ means that from » to *>> 19 years.
Days and Hours : Weeks and Days.
* 6938, 12 or 991, I f-
' 24i3o> 3 ttI or 3447, i fully. ' 2:43495, o or 34785^ O'
2^2 Conclusion.
^ . 8170, 22 11^^ or 1 167, 2.
*" 7, 22 |f7 or I, I almoft,
' i335> o or i9o> 5-
284077! GO or 40582 f in all.
They are alfo 5797 f fquare weeks; they are 777 1- years; they are precifely 686 of Daniel's units, of which by and by: laftly they are tV*^ part of the age of the world.
We will iirfl illuftrate the Inter- vals; and then the Terms.
The lUuftrationofthe Intervals.
Years.
^ contains 19 bating one day, "" contains 66 —- precifely. ' contains 666 |4y precifely. ^ contains 22 HI fully. * contains c —- very nearly. ^ contains 3 vfr fully, together 45 ^y^ precifely. together 1 1 1 f precifely, together yyy -f precifely. Daniel's 70 weeks confift of 70 times 7, that is, 490 units or parts; which altogether are equal to ^^^ j- years ; as we have fhewn in C. X. of Ordo T'emponm. It is very re-
Part il. 253
markable now how exadly thefe Intervals may be reduced to the Units of Daniel, For,
The Interval " contains precifely 588 fuch Units which make 1 2 fquare weeks, i. e, 7 times 7 (or 49) multiplied by 12.
The Intervals ^ and ^ together, are 78 Units and not a Day over.
The Intervals ^' ' and ^ together are 666 units, or 275795 tt ^^ys^ which do not ex- ceed the appendices of the days in thefe In- tervals full 17 hours. A furprifing agree- ment! for tht number ^f the Beajl is in fuch terms of expreffion faid to be 666, that it ^laay be fo in feveral ways. (See the Expofi- tion on C. xiii. 18.) Thus the number 666, viz. in DaniePs Units contains th^jirjlandfe- cond portions of the duration of the Beail, whereas in Tears it contains the fecond only.
The Intervals ^> '> ^ together are 20 units exadlly.
The Intervals ^> '' '- ^ ' are 98 units, which are two fquare weeks.
The. Intervals '' ''' '> '» '^ ^ together yyy z. years are 686 units precifely; or two cubical weeks, that is 7 times 7 times 7, multiplied by 2.
254 Conclusion.
The numbers (and the periods, which are equal, the' enigmatically expreiTed by. different numbers) in Daniel and in the Re- velation, are moft exadly and ealily reduced and changed into one another; which is no flight proof of the truth of our refolution of them.
The Illuftration of the Terms.
^ The wings given to the woman. Thia is alfo the beginning of her 3 4 times. See the Expofition on C. xii. 14, ' %'here JIj^ is nourijhed a time <2c!
"" CoNCEHNiNG the rifing of the beaft ou^ of the fea, and the day of it, Sept. i'\ we have treated on C. xiii, i. efpecially in; the ninth thefis,- &c.
' Of the power given to the Beaft for 42 months, and of the beginning of thefe months we have treated onC. xiii. 18, §. xii. This fp^C^ is equal to the number of the Beaft 666.
'^ Vv^KEN the 42 months of power are out, v/e muft not conclude that immediately the Beaft is not-, for he %ims even before thefo months. But, on pouring out the vial of tlie fifth angel, his kingdom becomes fo
Part II. 255
darkened that it is weaker now than before the beginning of the 42 months. Therefore it muft be obferved, at the proper time, whether that angel fliall pour out his vial up- on the feat or throne of the Beaft at the end of the 42 months ; and whether the Beaft is immediately to carry Babylon, while he him- felf is not. This Interval in which the Beaft is not, is nearly the fame as the Semitempuf- culum^ in Qrd, Temp. p. 318.
^ We take the one hour during which the ten horns receive power as kings with the beaft, in the prophetical length; becaufe it comes before the thoufand years, which are to be underftood in the common meaning. See the Introduction §. Li 11, about the middle.
^ The Beaft with the ten kings (who had juft before given up all their power to him) fliall make the Whore defolate.
Rome was founded in the 3961'^ year of the Julian period, the 2g'^ of Oftober (as Des Vignoles proves towards the end of his Chronology) on a Thurfday. From that time to A. D. 1832, the 6545''' of the Ju- lian period, the 22*^ of Odober, Tuefday,
* The Space of Z2 | Years.
256 Conclusion.
(which is the day mentioned in our table) there are after fubftrading the excefs of the Julian year, precifely 2584 years, or 1 2 6 1 8 6 weeks and almoft 5 days, from that Thurf- day to this Tuefday. What will befall Rome^ 76 years "hence, on her Birth-day, will be worth the obfervation of thofe who fhall live at that time.
These two Intervals ^ and ^ are moft in- timately conne6i:ed. iToe faints fiatl be given into the hand or power of that remark- able Horn until A time and times and HALF A TIME, Dan. vii. 25. The other King when he comes , mufi cojitinue a short SPACE, Rev. xvii. 10. On both thefe paiTages there are many conjedlures in the Expcftion on this latter place: but a third paffage helps us out, viz. T^he ten horns receive power as kings with the Beaji one Hour, ver, 12.
Now, \ht f:ort fpace is the Interval '^ and ^ taken together^ for it contains the whole time of the continuance of the other king in the third part of the duration of the Beaft: ^ is the one hour : and ^ is the remainder of
» FromOaobcr, 1756.
Part II. 257
all the preceeding Intervals and contains 1335 common days. Prefently after thefe follow the 1335 prophetical dzy^ (viz. of the length ufed in Daniel's " prophecies, and which we have fliewed, in Ord, T^emp, p. 379, to be equal altogether, to 1000 years) promifed in Dan. xii. 12 : fo that the miferable commoji days of expectation and fuifering, are impUedy and the 1335 ^^ppy prophetical days, to be come to, or arrived at, are exprejfed.
The time and times and half a time in Dan. vii. 25, fall within this Interval ^5 but do not compleatly fill it : and I agree with the Rev. Langius that they are 3 f years, but confifting of 1278 days (agreeably to the length of the natural year) not of 1260, as he takes it, nor of 1333 -|-, which one might think of.
But how fhall even thefe 1278 days be reconciled with the 1335? Ifhall;zo/ an- fwer, that either number is 3 years and a piece or half, and not 4 years: as the Inter- val ^' either with or without the addition of li
" This is different from the length of the Apocalyptical
258 Conclusion.
the Interval ^' agrees with the antient tradi-^ tion, that Antichrijl is to rage 3 ^ years :— but rather this, that Daniel feems to have in view what the Beaft rifen out of the abyfs is to do in the land of Ifraehy whereas in the Revelation the Beaft has fomething to do elfewherey before he comes thither: as the deftroying of Rome, &c.
Our Table may be looked upon as un- certain in fo?ne particular articles ; but the nvhole of it, as far as it extends, is ftrongly fupported both by hiftorical and exegetical proofs. Thofe of the fix Intervals of
this period which are lefs precifely deter- mined in the'Revelation, are determined out of Daniel; as, the exiftence of the Beaft before the 42 months, his non-exiftence, and the ftiort fpace of the other kings and the 3 -\ times, which Daniel had exprefled in the proper tenns^ are in the Revelation in- cluded in mcf:ort fpace: Again the time which Daniel had exprefled enigmatically by 1335 days the Apocalypfe explains by the proper terms of 1000 years. Surely
thefe things are not accidental! We do not indeed ajjert every part with equal affur-
Part II. 259
ance : but we propofe them all, that pofterity may have notice of what they are to obferve, and may partly corredl, partly confirm them, according to the event.
[Thus far the Gnomon,']
We are not. fondly dejirous of affigning the ends or terms of the Periods : but when any period (for example, the times of the Beaft) appears from the text, to be fuch or fuch a lengthy and is found in hiftory to have begun at fuch or fuch a time ; the beginning and length of It cannot be difcovered and at the fame time the endho, concealed; which is in- deed the principal, or even almoft the only thing, fome perfons ufe to enquire after. A modeft Expofitor does not buiy himfelf much ^houtfuch terms before the time ; but rather makes the moll profitable ufe he can of the fubjedl-matter. On the contrary thofe pitch upon the term oyily^ which could not be con- cealed from them, and at firfl make too much of it, and foon after too little; and befides, flight the falutary important truth itfelf, of which that was but a circumftancc. Were it only the ftupid or intoxicated chil- dren of this world that did thus 3 it wQuld
260 Conclusion.
be nothing ftrange. But that men fearing God and therefore fearching after the dif- coveries made in the prophecies, fhould be- have in this manner is a fhrewd token that the word of God is as a ftrange language to us and that we are far from the true Ikill of fuiting onrfelves to the time, and therefore are in the greater danger. How will
the watchman warn the people, when he himfelf will not believe that the enemy is drawing together his forces and approach- ing? which of the two is the more raih an4 inconfiderate ? the man who brings certain hitelligence of the enemy's coming, and be- fides mentions the time when he co77JeBures he may com.e; or the watchman who flights the whole. Thofe are in a yet worfe con-
dition, who not only give over all watching, but rejedt, with the Expoiition, all Prophe- cy and the whole Scripture at once, making no more account of the one than the other. Thofe well deferve that they fliould fliimble at the Scripture and at both right and wrong Expofltions of it, ^;7^ fall, Ifaiah viii. 15. This is the way of the fews, and of the In- fideh too; an eafy and commodious, but an
Part II. 261
unhallow'd method. They quickly catch at any thing in the New Teftament, or in any part of the Scriptures, that feems to give of- fence, rejoice over it, turn ajide from the truth and are caft away. He too w^ho
makes this Conclujion ; There is no appearance yet that it JJmdd come to pafs this or that yeary therefore it will never happen; — or this^ It has not come to pafs this or that year^ there- fore, neither will it in tbefe following years ; therefore, an Expofitor muft not be allowed to mend his term, or prolong it a little : He too, I fay, not only deals very unfairly with an Expofitor, efpecially when he afcribes to him any opinion that is none of his, nor ever was, but alfo greatly offends even againft the word of God. The fubjedt-matter, fuppofe is certain, and the length of the pe- riod rightly determined : yet when the be- ginni?2g of the period really has a latitude in hiftory (of human compoiition, which is of- ten not over clearly written, nor the feveral fteps of its progrefs diftindlly remarked) the end alfo muft needs appear to us to have a la- titude : neverthelefs we determine this end conjeBurally^ when either the length of the
262 Conclusion.
period and its conjeBural beginning point it out to us without farther fearch ; or when we cannot attain, otherwife than by a con- jeBiiral to the true and precife determination 5 which the event at laft difcovers. Let us take for example fome paji tranfaftion 5 the fecond wo began in the VIP^ Century, as many Expofitors have rightly obferved with- out any affiftance from the fupputation of the apocalyptical times. Now it may have^ begun A" 622, at Mahomet's flight; or A* 632, at his death; or A° 634, when the Saracens conquered Arabia and Syria ; or A'' 637, when they fubdued the kingdom of Periia. From one or other of thefe be- ginnings, 207 years (nearly the duration of that wo) reach to A*" 829, or 839, or 840, or 844, &c. A man that does not know or remember the hiftory of thofe years is here in the fame fituation as to the choice of one or other of the years, as if he was to determine the precife time of fomething yet to come : fo, the event muft turn the fcales. Suppofe he finds nothing confiderable in the year 829, it is much the fame cafe as if he fhould {^t tlie term of a period that is not yet run out,
Part IL 263
too early. But he is not quite miftaken for all that : for no man can deny that foon after that time the power of the Saracens was re- duced, tho' perhaps no man to this day may have enquired into the precife year. Ap- ply this to the times of the Beafi^ which are now in their courfe. Had they begun for example A° 1073 ^'^^y "^^ft have ended A** 1739. And now that this term is part with- out any great revolution, it cannot for that be faid to be all over; only we are to advance one ftep or more, from the year 1073 to Ibme following year, or years, when the be- ginning of thofe times may moft probably be fixed according to the beft accounts hif- tory furnifheth us. The more circum-
ftantially the conjectures are expreffed, the more eafily can the fequel be obferved and the failure corredlcd. On fuch an occafion the number of the years may undergo a little alteration, yet without any change of the words. On the other hand where the event agrees with the conjedtural determination, it amounts to a ftrong confirmation of the whole matter, and is of fuch confequence with re- gard to the truth of the Gofpel, that even
264 Conclusion.
thofe that were formerly fhy and diffident, and lookt on at a diftance, will after the vidlory put in for a fliare in the booty. If an Expcfitor fettles the ternis too pojitive- ly\ a failure in any fmall point lays him open to the cenfure of raihaefs and prefumption. But if having made only a co^jeSlural deter- mination of the precife time the event does not anfwer; he is not aihamed (much lefs can he be faid to be altogether wro^g) but bears undefeiTcd reproach with patience, and only waits (if men will but let him alone) a little longer, as Noah did in the Ark. Now%
what has any man, either e7ilightenedWith the knowledge of the truth, ovfceptic, ov /corner ^ to ojbjefttpthis ? And here I once more re- feir my reader to §.. xi, of the Preface.
PART III.
The Marks and Charaders of a true
Expojition of the Apocalypfe.
Our Expolition is all along accompanied with its proofs and evidences wherever they are required. Yet it will be of ufe to re-
Part III. 265
capitulate the principal and plainefl Cha- racters of the truth of it (each of them efla- blifhed as fuch in the proper places) and to bring them into one view, with fome addition.
I. The true Exposition of the Apocalypse (in whatever it may confif!:) muft be agreeable to the original text or an accurate tranflation of it 3 and in thefe paf- fages on which the arguments againft the Roman-catholics are grounded, it muft agree with the moft approv'd copies, and efpecially with the Complutenfian° edition (which by the providence of God, was printed in the heart of Spain, before the Reformation) as alfo with the very antient Vulgate.
II. It muft adhere to the very turn and emphafis of the prophetical words andphrafes, which are fometimes figurative, fometimes proper.
III. It muft begin with fuch obvious re- marks as have an evident ground in the text,
K k
« Complutumy now called Jcala de Henarez, is an Univer- fity in New Caftile, about 20 miles from Madrid, ereded by Cardinal Ximenes ; where he finilhed, A°. 1 5 1 5, that fplendid edition (the firft of all the Polyglotts) in fix Volumes in Fol. The Greek New Teftament had never been printed before.
266 COxNCLUSION.
and are' not liable to any reafonable doubt ^ and from thefe the reft muft be deduced by juft confequences.
IV. It muft fliew the agreement of the order of the completion with the 07^der of the prophecy from one point to another.
V. It muft fix the beginning of the com- pletion at St. 'Johns days,
VI. It muft extend the conclufion to the end of all things.
VII. It muft go on through all the ages of the world between thefe two boundaries, in one continued courfe, without leaving any chafms between.
VIII. The Intervals themfelves of the three Woes are parts of this courfe, as refts are of a piece of mufic.
IX. At both thefe Intervals, as well as at the Eagle's crying wo^ wo, wo, it muft fliew from hlftory the prelude to the enfu- ing woes.
X. It muft make neither too great, nor on the other hand too little account of any point in hiftory, for example, the reforma- tion, the aftions of a King of Sweden (how- ever great a man he was) the perfecution in
Part III. 267
France, the Saltzburg emigration, or any thing elfe that may ftrike us ftrongly becaufe of its nearnefs : but take in the Subflance both of civil and ecclefiaflical hiftory ; and have a regard not fo much to the fingle parts as to the whoIc\ in the principal points, prin- cipal times, and principal places, fuch as Rome and Jerufalem.
XI. It muft afiign a reafon why the fevenfold Song of Praife in C. v. 1 2, has the ^article, the power, &c. ofily once ^ but in that in C. vii. 12, feven times.
XII. It muft let every thing pafs quickly which is not included in limited times.
XIII. It muft difpofe of the greatejl part of the times of the New Teftament in thofe periods that are determined,
XIV. It muft clearly fnew whether, and why, this or that period is to be underftood in t\\Q prophetical y or in the common meaning.
XV. It muft difcover xh^ftptenary num- ber (of which the book is fo full in other things) in the times alfo.
p It is fo in the original j tho' our Tranflators hav». over- looked it in both places.
2&8 Conclusion.
XVI. It muft not difregard as ufelefs any handle the text offers for the refolution of it- felf : and on the other hand muft difcover what is fufiicient for that purpofe, in all the data therein to be found, taking them all together : for example, it muft be able to give a reafon why the five months of the locufts are fet down twice,
XVII . In like manner, wliy we find fo many periods of time along with the trum- pets alone ; but with the churches only one of ten days, and with the feals but one, a Chro?2os,
XVIII. And why it is faid, the trumpet of the fixth, of the feventh angel, and not more briefly the fixth, the (tvcnth trumpet Sec r
XIX. Also what kind o?thh^dpart is to be found under the trumpet of the fifth angel, as we find a third part of the earth, &c, un- der the trumpets of all they^* other angels.
XX. And wliat kind of Chronoi thefe are, in contradiftindion to which the angel fwore it iliould not be a Chronos more to the fulfil- ling of the myftery of God.
"XXL It muft difcern and acknowled2:e t%i^o intervals betvv^een the three woes.
Fart III. 269
XXII. It mufl fliew a caufe, why, in C. xii. 10, it is faid, the power, not the kingdom, of his Christ.
XXIII. And why the half time, tho' con- fiderably more than a Century or hundred years, is called only half 2, time.
XXIV. Likewise, why in C. xii, it is faid only in the 14th Verfe, but 7iot alfo in the 6**'' before the face of the ferpent ,
XXV. Furthermore, why the beaft with two horns is called a heajl, only in the xiii chapter, and always afterward xho, falfe prophet.
XXVI. In like manner, why the word year is left out in C. xiii. 18.
XXVII. And why at the number of the beaft we find, "^ the wifdom, (>i o-o?>j^., y/ith the article.)
XXVIII. It muft fo follow and aeree with the pattern given in the phrafes or turns of expreffion (for example, a number of a man, a meafure of a jnan, that is of an angel) that thefe phrafes, which have a reference to one another, may be of fervice in the expofition.
•J Omitted by our Tranflators.
2J0 Conclusion.
XXIX. It muft point out to us fucli times as are near 3 from which it muft draw in- ferences, of great ufe now^ tho' not fo ne- ceffary for former ages : for this hook of the crofs W2is not given us for idle fpeculation.
XXX. It muft not extend the times of the Nev/ Teftament too far: but agree with the points fettled in §. xxxi and xxxii. of the Introduction.
XXXL Yet neither muft it fet the ei:K3 of the world too near after the time of the. flying of the angel with the everlafting gof- pel or ' geviternal good tidings.
XXXII. It muft not fearch the prophet- ical numbers with a view to fupport any proportions oi^Jymmetries of it's dvn devifizg-^
'iut attentively obferve thofe that are evident iVt, tDe L cxl .
XXXIII. It muft give a., reafon, why there are no times expreffed with the vials.
XXXIV. Likewise v/hy the word a?igel, ' is not expreily mentioned at each vial, as it
is at each trumpet.
^ .E'viternal is what lafts an JE-vutn or Alon^ viz, .z.iiz\
Years,
Part III. 271
XXXV. It muft compare the paflages in one of which patience^ in another wifdofn^ &c, is required, with one another^ and ihew \ht fuitabhmefs of them.
XXXVI. It muft not overlook the mani- feft difference there is between the Beaft and the Whore, nor their near relation to one another.
XXXVII. It muft give a reafon why the two laft of the feven heads of the Beaft are called, not the fixth and feventh, but the o?2e and the other King.
XXXVIII. It muft not make any times run parallel to one another that cannot con- fiftently do fo. For example, the Devil is bound ^.t the beginning of the 1000 years,: therefore his cafting fome at Smyrna into prifon muft be before the 1000 years. The abyfs is open when the locufts come out of it, and the angel of the abyfs is their leader :
fo likewife it is to be when the Beaft arifes out of it : therefore thefe fame '1000 years cannot begin 'till after this arifing.
XXXIX. It muft alfo be a Key to open the times, that wcrcfeard m the prophet Daniel.
* Viz, of Satan's being bourd and the abyfs Ihut upon him-
272 CoNCLUSIOxW
One may obferve more fuch fnarh in the Expofition itfelf. Among thofe which we have repeated there are fever al that may be look'd upon as fomewhat too particular v/hich yet in their confequences influence the "whole difquifition. No Expofition
that differs widely from ours can have all the now mentioned marks together. But I neither can, nor do I defire, to prejudice any man in my favour : I only propofe the truth according to my abilities. Thefe
marks may be ufeful to the inquirers after truth in feveral ways, for when one takes, for example, the forty-two months of the Beafl too long or too Jloort, and fets the be- ginning or end of them fo much the higher or lower in hiftory 3 yet he jiiay hit the mark accidentally: and on the contrary, v/hen one has got the right length of thefe periods . but fets the beginning of them too far back or two low down in hiftory ; he may mifs his mark mfome meafiire. Yet we mufl not for that leave the determination wholly to the event; but colledt together from the periods and from the marks or charaders of the truth, v/hat may amount to a clear
t^ART III. 273
j3roof. By thefe marks then our and
every Expofition befides may and ought to h^ JiriBly exajnined. And whoever can io improve this prefent Expofition that it may agree yet more nicely with thefe marks, will deferve thanks for his pains. But let eveiy one that has a mind to make any alteration in it take care that, while he ftrives to make it agree more exactly with fome one mark he do not make it run counter as much to others.
But befides all thefe marks; when we confider the foregoing Expofition, and in particular the Table we have given in the firft part of this Concluiion ; there prefent themfelves to our view fome other circum- ftances which may be regarded not indeed as neceffary requifites, but however as yery fuitable properties, and confequently as an Appendix to the marks already given. We will go on then in the lift of them.
XL. In the firft part of this Conclufion
the Table, which is compleated in the fe-
cond, ranks its feveral points or articles in
the fame order one after another as they fol-
L 1
274 Conclusion.
low one another in the texts cited over a- gainft them. And if one was to dafh out of it all the iiumbers of the years^ yet the feve- ral articles will ftand unalterably in their places. Neither the beginning or end of any one period can be fet higher or lower than the beginning or end of any other pe- riod as they nov/ ftand : and on the other hand this unalterable order of the T^hiJigs themfelves is a proof that there cannot be any great failure in the determining of the Tears paft or to come. Let us confider the articles a little more clofely.
In the Table every period has its proper length affigned according to one way of reck- cuing either of prophetical or common days, months, &c, or v/hich is equal and the fame throughout the whole prophecy. The be- ginning of each period has a diftinguifhed importance in hijlory^ as thofe that are Ikil- ful in it m.ay difcern without any view to the prophecy. And in the progrefs the pe- riods fit into one another in a manner that is worthy of our notice : thus. From the letter B in the Table to O, it is precifely a Chronos or 1 1 1 1^ years : on the other hand
Part III. 27^
'tis not a Chronos (or is a Non-chronos) from H to Q, but nearly a Chronos, i. e. lefs than iiii-J and more than 1000 years, be- tween which two there is no other ftep in the Scald Seailorzm, or Scale of ' Ages : a- gain from G to Qjthere is, by virtue of the Antithefis confiderably more than a Chronos. The very middle of each of the calamitous periods H, L, M, N, happen one after a- nother before the bleffed reformation : A\ 800— 1318— 1836 947—1392—1836 1058 — 1447— 1836 1077— 1454— 1836 In this middle time fell that horrible dark- nefs and grofs ignorance both in the eafl and v/eft, in the xiv'" and xv'^ Centuries. Now when this midnight was over, and by means of the reformation it began to dawn, at the fame time the period K ended. Hereafter there may be an EcHpfe yet, but no more any fuch long-lafting Night, and though thefe four periods were far diftant in their be- ginning, yet they end all together in o?ie great and moft defirable point, in the year 1836.
* Viz, the antient Ages, of 1 1 1~ years each.
276 Conclusion*
Thus by the whole Table every article of it, and by all ^^ fingle articles and links of it the whole compages and coherent chain is ftrengthened. It is needlefs to give the proof of each feveral article at large : if one was to compare every period with every other, it would only ferve to make the demonftra- tion the more perplexing and difficult by the multitude of dedu6lions and conclufions. A glance of the eye on the Table will do much better. It is here as in the deciphering of a writing in a fecret charadler; where there is no need of any other proof of your having found the true key, than that by it you can open and explain the whole.
But if any Perfon can after all take thisi to be a m.ere invention of human {pecula- tion; fuch a fceptical difpoiition will for ever keep him from receiving any other Ex- pofition, however true ^ if a?20ther fuch can be. Such a perfon ought to confider that God has great patience with him, and fcr that reafon to have patience with other men who, he may think, come far fhort of him in the knowledge of the truth.
Part III. 277
XLI. We will alfo bring under examin- ation the whole Sum of the apocalyptical Chronology, from the beginning of the New Teflament to the finifliing of the myftery of God.
Our Lord before his Afcenfion faid to all the Jlpojllcs together. It is not for you to know the Times or the Seafons (pc^ova? r H^iflou? the Chronoi or Kairoi) which the Father has put in his own power. Even here our Saviour does not abfolutcly rtyV^, but in fad; gives an anfwer to the queftion propofed by his Apoftles. He does not fay, you mujl not ajk-y but, it doth not belong to you ^ in quality of Apojiles, to know thcfe times : and what did belong to them as fiich he tells them im- mediately after, ye fliall be my WitJieJfes. Many of the Apoftles or almoft all of them \\2L&JiniJ}:ed this their tejiimony, before thefe Times or Seafons were revealed to St. John, not as to an Apojlle or one fent to declare thitjirfl, but as to a Herald extraordinary chofen to proclaim the fecond coming of Christ. Till then the Father had kept them in his own power ; but at that time let them be known to his Servants. The
278 Conclusion.
Difciples had in a bcdy allied^ Lord wilt thou at this time (xf®''^) refiore the kingdom to Ifrael? taking the word tijue or Chronos in the com- mon meaning : but the Times or Seafons, (the Chronoi or Kairoi) which the Lord in Iiis anfwer puts together., with an emphati- cal diftindion of the words Chronics and KairoSy enigmatically import their proper length. From the time when the Ar-
pofdes had borne the teitimony of Christ in aIlthe%corld, and particularly in the capital Cityy Rome, to the iini(hing of the myftery after which they are here inquiring, there is one Chronos and over apd above, three Kairoi or '^777^ years near about, from the year 58 to 18365 which is a Chronos and Jhme Kairoi. This joining of the fingular i2nd plural together would have look a odd- ly : therefore the expreffion is altered ; and as in I Sam. :Kxvii. 7, xxix. 3, inflead oi one year and four months it is faid thele days or thefe years, fo here for a Chj-cnos and fome Kuiroi, it is faid, Chronoi or Kairoi.
XLIL Our fupputation of Time be- gins with only refuting the moft prevailing error?, and then exhibits a prophetical months
Part III. 279
year, day and hour not very plaufible, but from whence neverthelefs, as we go on there arifeth, as to the periods actually mentioned in the text, fometimes a neat rotundity of numbers, fometimes a feptenary, and on comparing the periods one with another, an admirable proportion.
XLIII. The true Expofition goes in the middle-way, not only with regard to the computation of the times, but alfo as to the JiibjeB-matter. If others interpret too much or too little of the text of invifihle or vifMe oi pqft or o? future things ; this takes in each of them in its proper place. It avoids the difficulties and rubs, thofe Opinions are liable to, which run out too far on either hand; and has the benefit of all the advantages either fide has over the other. All that Boffuet objefts to or proves againft Jurieu, and on the other fide Abbadie againft BoflTuet, and whatever elfe pafles between fuch Interpre- ters in the way of controverfy, it can lay hold of and make to ferve as fo many argu- ments for its confirmation and firmer fupport.
XLIV. In the true Expofition the three woes go from eaft to weft in one direft track.
aSo Conclusion.
XLV. In general it is adjufted to the horizon of the Ifland o? Pafmos all around.
XLVI. It contains in it the marrow and fubjlance of all that holy men in all ages have learned out of this Prophecy (as far as they went upon folid grounds) amidft fuch a va- riety of Interpretations. But of this laft point we have fomething farther to fay".
" Viz, what immediately follows in the iv'*^ part : wherCj in §. XLii, N". II, there is fhewed a Ihort method of dif con; er-' ing the general plan of a72y Expojltion of the Revelation.
PART IV.
AN hiftorical account of the various Expositions of the Revelation: fhewing how in all ages of the New Teftament the expectations of all^ but efpecially of holy men, have been framed mainly with regard to the Revelation of Jesus Christ. I. All the prophecies of the Old Tefta-
ment pointed at Jesus Christ either at a
diftance or nearer at hand.
Part IV. 2^1
II. By his coining in the jlejJo the promifes thereto relating were fulfilled, and at the fame time the longing defires of the Old-Tejiamenf Chrijiia?is fatisfied.
III. In this Completion is immediately intermingled, in an admirable manner, the further difcovery of things yet to come under the New Teftament. Liike i. 32, 33. ii. 34* iii. 17.
IV. When our Lord Jesus Christ had brought his firft followers and difciples, and efpecially his twelve apoftles, fo far on in their knowledgeof himfelf that theyconfefs'd him to be the Son of God and the ti'ue Messiah; he immediately began to build the reft of his dodtrines on this foundation, and fhew'd them, now that he had at lafl appeared to fave the world, what was farther to befall him, and therefore talked with them concerning his fufferings, his crofs and death, his refurredlion, afcenfion, and coming iri Glory,
V. But a few days before his paflion, he alfo foretold to them the deJlruBion of the temple and city of Jerufalem ; referring, on
M m
282 Conclusion.
that occafion, to the prophet Daniel. The Difciples, and without doubt the Jews in general, were of opinion that the Wnple^ the city and the wcrld would all come to an end to- gether. Matt. xxiv. 3. But our Saviour in- formed the difciples that the temple and the city were to be deftroyed in the days of that prefent generation of men; but that the world was not to end at the fame time : and on this occafion he inftrufted the believers how they wxrc to deport themfelves, even with regard to outward circumftances, in the diftreifes that were coming, Matt.xxw, 6, 16. . VI. Between his refurreftion and afcen- fion he gave yet plainer fpecimens of his Revelation : as we have before obferved on Rev. i. I. and in §. xli. of the preceeding Part III.
VII. After his afcenfion, the two men in white apparel teffified to the Apoftles up- on the fpot, that jESVsJhotdd come in like manner as they had feen him afcend. Indeed among fo many momentuous things as intervene between his afcenfion to heaven and his comings there is no one of equal mo- ment with either of thefe : nay they are all
Part IV. 283
but fo many preparatory fteps for his Com- ing, and from the Revelation they bear to that arifeth their importance.
VIII. Accordingly from that time for- ward \k\^expcBations of thtjirjlchrijliaits un- der the direcflion of the apoftles, had that Comi?7g for its great objedt. Yet thefe, contrary to the mind of Christ and his Apoftles, reckon'd that coming much too early ; which miftake, tho' of no fuch eviV tendency as the fcoffing of the men of the world, yet proved a hindrance to the truth/
IX. Now, as our dear Saviour had inter- pofed the deJlriiBion of Jef-ufahn between his afceniion and his glorious coming : So the Apoftle St. Paul did not look with unconcern on the miftake of the Thcffalonians, that the day of Christ was at hand and to come even before the deftrudion of Jcrufalem; but poftpon'd it by an exprefs declaration concerning i\\^ApoJlacy that was to come firft, concerning the Ma7i of Sin, and him who was to withold him or keep him off: And after the deftrudion of Jerufalem, the thoiifand years and many things hefuies were interpofed by St. John in the Revelation.
.384 Conclusion.
X. By thefe means was the church of tho New Tefcament provided with the needful tcftimony concerning future things, from the times of the Apoftles to the glorious coming of Christ, But the variety
of interpretations, we feq, began even in thofe early days.
XL
With regard to future things, thefi were the th'ee mai?i poiiiU one after another, viz. Antichrist, the thousand Years, the End of the World.
On thefe three points and on the rariking of the twojirji (for it is evident the third of them muft needs be the laft) the reader is defired to keep an attentive eye in the rc-^ maining part of this difcourfe.
By the word Antichrist, which in St. Johns epijiles has a more extenfive fignifica- tion, we mean here^ in conformity to the ftyle of the Fathers, the great Adverfai'y^ or the Beaft:, who is defcribed in 2 Theffal. ii, and in Revel, xiii, &c.
XII. Men continued to exped the Eiid foon, and all that was to come to pafs before
Part IV, 285
it, was of courfe, mitraBed within as nar* row limits as they thought poffible.
XIII. We find an inftance of this con- tradion in what is called the '" fourth book of Ezra. This book (too highly valued by fome, but by moft men too much defpifed) as we have it at this day (fee Scalig. Exercit. 308. and J. Gregories Obfei-v. C. xviii.) is acknowledged by the learned to have been written in the beginning of the fecond Cen- tury, and confequently foon after the Reve- lation ; fo that the 30''' year after the ruin of the City, C. iii. i, muft be meant of the de- ftrudion of Jerufalem by the Romans, which is A. D. 100 and the 3860'^ year of the Jewifh iEra of the World. Now
when it is faid C. xiv. 11,12, that the du- ration of the world is divided into 1 2 parts ^ of which 9 ~ are paft and 2 f to come : the author added the Jewifh iEra of his own time and the apocalyptical 1000 years into one fum 4860, of which 9 i twelfdx parts are 3847 ;, and the 2 v twelfth parts are 10 12 ^ years; fo that 3860 is to
^ This is called the z^ book; of Efdras, in the Apocrypha, in our Englilh Tranflation,
16 Co-NCLUSION,
loc^o, nearly as 9 t to 2 4. On the
like ground fome among the Greeks have reckoned the age of the world to be about 6500 years, viz, adding the 1000 years to their ^ra from the Creation to the birth of Christ 5508.
'^'XiV. The firfl Chriftians unanimoufly fet Antichrijlfirjiy and the thotifand years ne:^t. Hence it was that when any adveriity or any "candal arofe, people faid pfefently this was Antichrift, or a prelude to, or the begin- iiing, or the forerunner &c, of him. He that with-hcld the myflery of Iniquity was the Reman Emperor, 2 Theffal. ii. 8. He Aood equally in the way of Judaifm and Chrlftianity and Antichriftianifm : for tlys laft they mrftook for a branch of Chriftianity, and that for a fedl of Judaifm. Some of them m/ight underftand this perfonaliy of the Emperor Claudius (fee Lightfoot's Ckro- mc(Ms p- 1^4) ^^ whofe reign St. Paul wrote to tiie Theffalonians. When Nerofucceeded Claudius and behaved fo wickedly and cruellv, they went on in the fame way and held him to be that Adverfary. The like thoughts were afterward entertained of Do-
Part IV. - 2S7
mitian, Aurelius, Severus, Declus, Callus,, Volufianus and Gallienus, by the chriflians whom they greatly diftreffed. Long after Nero^s death a notion prevailed that he would come to life again and prove to be the very Antichrift.
XV. Thus not only the Heretics, but the Orthodox alfo in general, fet the thcufand years after Antichrift^ and confequently far into the latter days^ as it is expreffly al- lowed by the learned^ even thofe who them- felves think otherwife. Rivetus de Patruin Aii^oritatc^ C. vi. obferves that the Fathers in Afia, in Gaul, in Africa, at Rome, and in other places taught this; and as moft of them lived very near the days of the apoftles, they recommended this too as an apoftolical tra- dition. Dallaeus de vero Ufu Patriim L. 11. C. iv. fays of this error, as he calls it, that it is a very antient one, and that in former times the chriftians in general embraced it; and brings this for a proof of it, that the whole Greek Church maintains it to this day, and of all the great number of thofe who in their dodlrines have a regard to the writings of th^ fathers, the Lati?Ji alone have departed
28S Conclusion.
from it, and that thefe did not avowedly eftablifh the contrary opinion 'till K", 1439 in the council at Florence. Heidegger avers that in Juftin Martyr^s days the whole Chriftian Church owned it. Diflert. Tom. 1* p. 653, &c. and p. 649 : and indeed Juftin hlmfelfhas affured us of it as to all the Or- tliodox in his time in general. See alfo Vitringa in Apocal. p. 845 &c : and Poireti Fofibuma. p. 643 : where they both without ceremony, appeal to the antient Jewijh Church: and likewifejoach. Langius's GAr/^ Chrip, Tom. I. fol. 270. So then it
does not depend on Papias alone ^ whotn people generally decry, without regarding what the antients fay to his praife,
XVI. Under thefe crofes the faithful comforted themfelves with hope in the great promifes. It may be that fomething hetero- dox and carnal was fuperadded to them* Yet we find no controverfy or difpute on that head 'till the middle of the third century 5 and then, on account of thefe bad additions there arofe gradually an mdifcreet averfion to the thing itfelf, nay even to the whole Pro- phecy.
Part IV; 289
XVII. Some however perfever'd in the ftudy of this prophetical word; but even thefe very early loft fight of the proper length of the thoufand years. And dien feveral prejudicate opinions concurred to miflead themi 1. In conformity to the feptuagint tranilation they greatly enlarged the times of the Old Teftament. 2. They received the jewifli tradition which co?2fraBs the whole duration of the world to 6000 years. 3 . They had alfo a notion that the 6000 years, though already near run out, fhould yet be fhortened toward the end. 4. They took the fmall part, as they rec- koned, that yet remained of the fixth Mil- lenary for the whole Millenium or 1000, years, hy fymecdoche, 5. They took the
whole time of the New Teftament to confift of no more than 365 years, being as it were the days of that year of grace or acceptance, Ifaiah Ixi. 2. 6. They began the 1000 years from the vtry Jirji times of the New Teftament. Such opinions brought the
laft day much nearer than was agreeable to truth : which Joh. Melchioris, with good N n
290 Con GL¥ SIGN.
reafon, looks upon as one caufe why many omitted to record the church-hiftory of thofe
times.
XVIII.
Wh e n, through Conftantine the Great, Chriftianity got the upper-hand in the world, the hope of future things decayed greatly by their being fatisfied with the prefent. At the council of Nice, however, there were yet many remaining who had gone through great fufferings for the name of Christ,, and what notion that great aflembly heM concerning the kingdom of the faints of the mofi Wgh, may be feen in Gelas. Cizicen. A61. Cone. Nic. c. 30. Yet the dread of ^7^'- tichriji, tho' men were every now and then put in mind of him by the Arian calamities, went off by degrees, and the thouf and years were by little and little given up -, paulatim^ fays Eftius; by which expreffion he indirect- ly contradicts thofe who fay that in the fynod at Rome under Damafiis againft Apollinaris the noify herefy of the Chiliafts (as Baronius exultingly fays) had its mouth flopped. A- greeable to this is what we mentioned on ,C. xi. 2, viz, That Jerufalem which had
Part IV, 291
fceen trodden under foot by the Gentiles, made fo fplendid an appearance under Con- ftantine that Eufebius was ready to take it for the new Jerufalem. At Conftantinople" particularly the Revelation was very little regarded : for among many Fathers who lived in that neighbourhood there is not to be found fo much as one citation from that book.
XIX. Some began the 1000 years(whether precifely that number or more or lefs) at the birth of Christ: others at his paffion. CaiTiodorus, in Complexiombus expreffes this plainly : Alligavitque eum &ccJ i. e. ' And * bound him a thoufajid years ^ Rev. xx. 2. ^ (This, fays he, is a Synecdoche by which •* the whole is put for the part : for the e?2d ' of them is entirely unknown to us, but the ' heginnvig of them is by common conjhit of ' the fathers placed at tk^ birth of our Lord);
" Which was then die feat of the Emperors, and the fcene of worldly eafe, pleafure and profperity.
y Alligavitque eum mille c.nnis (quod per figuram fynec- -doche a parte totum dicitur, quando ejus finis omnimodisha- betur incognitus, qui tamen confenfu patrum a nati'vitate do- mini com put ant ur) ne credituras gentes libera poteftateconfun- deret. In fine vero fecuH dicit eum ciTc folvendum, quando multi martyrfis k confeiTores i-:nicr.te aniidrifio gcrminabunUt
292 Conclusion.
' that he might not, if he had had the free ' ufe of his power, confound the Gentiles ^ that were to receive the gofpel. But he ' tells us that toward the end of the "world he ^ fhall be loofed, and then there fnall fpring ' up many martyrs and confelTors on the com-
* ing of Antichrijl! The fame doftrine was taught by St. Auguftine (whofe credit was fufficient to draw in all the middle ages into this opinion) j by Primafius (who alfo rec- koned the 3 \ times as going on along with the 1000 years, from the beginning of the New Teflament to the end of the world) and among the Greeks by Andreas Ccefarien- fis, who on this occafion lays more ftrefs on the date of the pafjioii of Christ. Scipio MafFei makes the following remark on the above cited words of CafTiodorus; "" ^tod
fiibditiir &c. i. e. what he adds, viz. ' th^t ^ in the opinion of many of the Fathers this ' fpace is to be reckoned from the nativity of ' our Lord, feems to refer to an opinion ^ held by 7?2a?2y in former times that \ooo years
^ Quod fubditur, fpatium hoc muhorum patrum fententia a fiati'vitate Z)owzW computari, ad opinionem multis ohm fub- ortam videtur referri> millejimo pofi Chrijium anno rerum univer-
• fitatem diflblutum iri & Antichrijium adventurum.
Part IV. 293
* after Christ the world lliould be dilTolv'd, ' and Antichrift fhould come/ Thus the ORDER w^5 INVERTED, '3.Vidi\}i\^thouf and years thus fliortned, ktforemoji ^indAntichriJi (who delay'd fo long) was put after them and a little before the e?2d of the world, T^hey took it for granted that the thoufand years were actually in courfe; and the coming of An- tichrift, together with the end of the world, had always been lookt upon as near. Of this opinion were Laftantius, Jerom, the author of the Opus imperf in Matth. homil. 49, Gregory the Great, and others. But as the iEra increafed without any confiderable re- volution, men began again to allow the pro- per meaning of the thoufand years to take place at the end of which Antichrift fliould come.
XX. Here indeed was a miftake, that they wrefted that 1000 years in the xx''' Ch. of the Revelation to this purpofe : but it happened luckily that they fixed upon fome- thing that chanced to be right in the main (but fiewn to be fo by other arguments) namely 1000 vears, ?2ea7'h\ from the firft
294 Conclusion.
itimes of the New Teftanient to the reign of
the Beaft.
XXL
Thus matters went on till die number of .years came to be acilually looo ; ten Cen- turies being fpent. * At the beginning ' of the eleventh Century there were fome
* (as Baronius informs us) who taught that < the time was at hand when the Man of j Sin, the Son of Perdition, the Antichrift
* fo called, fliould be revealed: and this ' was publickly declared in France (firft of
* all at Paris) fpread abroad in the World,
* and believed by great Numbers/ Now as people expected the lail day at the fame time, thev let the Churches and Monafteries go to ruin, many Princes and Lords travell'd to Rome, and many built Hofpitals for the Sick and for Pilgrims, and even Abbies, into which fome of them retired to wait for that day. Fleury's Marnier s of the ChrifiianSy Dr. Emiliane's Cheats of the Friep : T. i. p, 130 &c.
XXIL Men were greatly forwarded and confirmed in this anxious expedlation of Antichrift, by reflecting on what paffed in
Part IV. 29^
the See of Rome. In the year 1000 after the pajjion of Christ BenediB IX'\ was Bifhop of Rome from A\ 1032 to 1045: and in all appearance it was on account of l^\s>fcandaIous youngfler that the Greeks looku for the number of the Beaft in this name BENEAIKTOS, which in Greek comes pre- cifely to 666. (Compare here the Gnomon on Rev. xiii. 18. §. xii.) A plain mark of this is to be {ttw in the copies of Andreas Caefarienfis ;* in which the name Bene^didius is foifted in by the Tranfcribers, and like- wife the rubrick or lemma concerning the 1000 years which where before reckoned by him from the Birth of Christ (as may ftill be feen in Arethas^) was adjufled to his pajjioiiy that it might agree with the time of this Benedift. However all that hap-
pened under him was at mojl but a prelude to the reign of the Beaft.
* A Cappadocian Bifhop, who wrote a Commentary oa the Revelation more than 500 years before the time when Bencdift was Bilhop of Rome.
* The SucceiTor of Andreas, who about 40 yean after^ abridged or made cxtra^s from Andrews's Comment.
zg6 Conclusion.
XXIII. At lafl came Hildebrand. By his
decrees and exorbitant aBmis many began to fee, after fo many warnings, whereabouts tliey were. What people in thofe days thought of the matter may be found in ma- ny writers. But Aventinus has comprifed the whole in that v/ell-known and impor- tant pafTage: Pleriqtie omnes boni &c\ ' that ' is almoft all good, open-hearted, juft, can- ' did and undefigning men have left it on ' record that the Reign of Antichrist
* BEGAN AT THAT TIME.' HoW CXadlly
they diftinguiflied between the Reign of tke Beajl and Antichrijl himjelf is not eafy to difcern.
XXIV. All the horrible things which we read of this Gregory VIP'', are out-done by what Cardinal Benno/>?/^///27^<^ concerning him at that very time. Many, even amongft Proteftants, will not believe him, becaufe he was an enemy to Gregory. But we are not fo much to mind in fuch a cafe whether one is a friend or an enemy, as whether he
*= Plerique omnes boni, aperti, jufti, ingenui, fimplices, turn imperium AntichrilU CcepiiTe memorije literarum prodidere.
Part IV. 297
be a confclentious or, at leaf!:, an honeft' man. Virrue gams the love of men 3 and vice our hatred : and love and hatred are the motives that firft impel many a man to difcover the truth of things either very bad or very good, which otherwife he would have kept to himfelf and concealed from o- thers. Benno too reckoned 1000 years from the beginning of the New Teftament to the reign of Antichrift : and this may be one of the reafons he had for not fparing Hil-
DEBRAND.
XXV. When the difturbances raifed by Hildebrand were over, fome who had not {t^n the whole of thefe horrible doings con- tinued ftill in expecSlation 5 which as to the very Antichrift was too early, and as to the reign of the beaft was too late. Fluentius Biftiop of Florence gave out, on the appear- ance of a very great 'Comet, that Antichrift was born : on which account Pope Pafcal IP. went thither and in a Council of 340 O o
* The fame, as Aflronomers reckon, that appeared again A°. 1680, and is predided to return A°. 2255, its period being computed to be 575 years.
298 Conclusion.
Bifhops (fays Bellarmine) impofed lilence upon him A°* 1105. At this rate the birth of Christ and that of his Adverfary would have had a refemblance as to the Star and the ecclefiaflical affembly, Matth» ii. 2. 4. What attentive obfervation mull this have occafioned both at Florence and at a diftance ! Pity that there remain no fuller accounts of it. About the fame year
Norbertus affured Bernard that Antichrift would be revealed during that prefent gene- ration, and that he himfelf fhould live to fee a general perfecution of the church. (See Bernard's 56 Epiftle.) He died A^- 1134. Bernard himfelf fays [Serm. 6. i?i Pfalm xci.) Superejiy lit revektur homo peceati -^ i. e. ' All^
* that remains now is that the man of fin
* be revealed.* Many others fpeak to the fame purpofe.
XXVI. The farther the iEra increafed, men found it the more convenient to lengthen the prophetical times in their Interpretations • About the year 1200 flourifhed the Abbot Joachim ; and as the ^ra was now not far from being equal to the number 126a, viz^. of the apocalyptical days of the Woman, he
Part IV. 299
and many others with him conjedured that great changes were drawing near. (V, J. A. SchmidnDifs, hijior, dePfeudo-evangelio ccte?^^ 720 feciili XIII. §. VIII.) In the very year 1260 his Dodlrine was condemned by a Council at Aries. He maintained partly a?i Error, that we fhould take the 1260 days for fo many years and in general an apocalyp- tical day for a year ; and partly the truths namely that \h^JlouriJhing times of the church (we don't enquire as yet how they defcribed them) and confequently the 1000 years, muft come after the deftruftion of the An- tichrijl,
XXVIL Others were aware that the calamities had begun fome time before : for example, the unknown author who wrote concerning Antichrift, A"*' J120, cited by Vitringa in ApocaL p. 747. And as the Witneffes of the truth had {2ii& fo7y?2erly that Antichrift was to come ; they faid 720W at laft that he ixjm come, and that with a remark- able unanimity and conftancy in that main point. Confider the teftimonies according to the order of time, in feveral writers and particularly inGerhardi Confeff, CathoL L. ir.
300 Conclusion.
Art. 3. Chap. 6. Fol. 581. — 595. — 626: and take notice how they fpeak of him ei- ther as a calamity yet to come^ or ad:ually prefenf.
XXVIII. The dark night was now fully come on, and conliderate people began to re- flect and bethink themfelves by what time the day might break. Here again one term after another was pitched upon. The antient ^ Techonius had reckoned the 3 i times to be 3 f centuries, or 350 years (as the Jews did, in Juftin's dialogue with Tryphon)^ and That the Waldenfes interpreted in their own favour, and conceived hopes that in 350 years from the beginning of thofe miferable times there would be better days: Vitringa in Apoc. p. 464. From the Waldenfes the Wiclilites and Huffites took this inter- pretation: for T. Purvasus, an Englifliman, A°' 1390 compofed out of the ledlures of his mafter, Wiclif, then in prifon, an Ex- pofition of the Revelation, in which he rec- kons the 1000 years from the paffion of Christ to the year 1033, ^^^ ^^^^ thence
« Who wrote A"* 390 about a thoufand years before Wic- Jif s days.
Part IV. 301
^o A"** 1383 he affigns 350 years to Anti- chrift. That Wiclif himfelf was of this opinion appears from the 8^'' Se-lion of the Council of Conftance, where the 9'^ Article he is charged with is this : Pojl JJrbanum VI. ^&c. i. e. ' After Urban the VI"' there ' is no Pope to be owned ; but we muft be
* governed, as the Greeks are, by laws of
* our own making.' The year 1383 fell in the reign of this Urban. Rieger, in his hiftory of the Bohemian Brethren, §. 412, treats of the dodrine of the HufTites : and Byzynii^s, there cited mentions that about the year 1420 many in Bohemia were mif- led (through an opinion that the kingdom of Christ was in a little while to be fet up and vengeance poured out upon the Enemies) to fell their goods even at a low- price, to betake themfelves with their wives and children to the ^ Taborites and to lay
*■ Poft Urbanum vi. non eft aliquis recipiendus in Papam, fed vivendum eft more Graecorum fub legibus proprijs.
s Thefe were a Branch of the Huflites who had. a Caftle near the fmall City called Tabor not far from Prague, by means of which they ftood out agamft the Emperor Sigifmund and Pope Martin V''^ Crufade : and their Caftle was not taken till A°. 1544.
noi Conclusion.
their money at the feet of the priefts, in or- der to introduce a community of goods: but that from thence there quickly enfued great fcarcity and diforder, and time alone foon confuted that error.
XXIX. In the middle ages, when the Perfians under Chofroes, and after them the Saracens, but efpecially the Turks, became fo powerful and got pofTeffion of the holy grave, the holy city Jerufalem, and the pro- mifed land, many Expofitors interpreted the Revelation of thofe tranfadions. For when Jerufalem was recovered in the firft Crufadc and loft in the fecond (which was zealoufly promoted by Bernard who thought that was the time the fulnefs of the Gentiles was to come in, and all Ifrael to be faved) and the third came to nothing; in the year 12 13 Pope Innocent III. fent out circular letters to all faithful Chriftians pro fubfidio terra fanBde, for the relief or recovery of the holy land, in hopes that they ihould be more fuccefsful now that the 666 years from Ma- homet were near run out. After this Petrus Aureolus, Nicholas Lyranus, Anto- ninus Florentinus &c, interpreted each in his
Part VI. 303
Own way the 666 years and fever al other paf- fages in the Revelation of Mahomet -, to which purpofe alfo many even fince the reforma- tion, efpecially among the Roman Catholicks wreft fiich texts. When befides all
this the Ottoman Port was eftablifhed about the beginning of the XIV'^ Century, Expo- fitors of this fort took up a fancy that this was the timein which Satan was loofed (how- ever, people had an eye at the fame time, to the abominations of Popery) and fo reckoned 1000 years backward looking for thebegin- ing of them in Conftantine's time. Fox, Gerhard and Hoe cite Gualterus Brutus, Ubertinus de Cafalis, Ferdinandus del Caf- tillo and Jacobus de Teramo as of this opi- nion, which chiefly Brightman among the moderns has advanced. Others begin
the 1000 years with Calixtus II, who muft needs be the Angel, and the Emperor the Dragon whom he bound by wrefting from him the right of Inveftitures A°- 1122, 112 3: others with Innocent IIP, who eftablifh'd the Orders of the Dominicans and Fran- cifcans A""* 1215. Thus was the
3^4 Conclusion.
confufion of the times of the Beaft and of the I GOO years brought to the utmoft height: however thereby a way was opened for fet- ting them again in their right order, viz, the times of the Beaft firft, and the i ooo years after, and from hence Joannes Viterbienlis, A°' 148 1, gave Sixtus IV great hopes of vic- tory over the Turks (whom he took for the Beaft, as Innocent before did the Saracens). and_of the 1000 years. See Seb. Meyer in ApocalfoL 80.
XXX. With the Reformation there iprung up a new hght in prophetical as well as other matters ; and Luther found the Hildebrandine papacy emblematically reprefented inCh.xiii. of the Revelation. At the fame time he could not be unacquainted with the above- mentioned ^ 350 years, fmce he had caufed the faid book of Purv^eus to be printed, with a preface of his ow^n, at Wittenberg, A°* 1528: but he faw they were manifeftly too fhort, and therefore laid hold on fomething that was righter, namely the 666 years^ He was fatisfied that the xiii'^ Ch. of the
*> In the beginning of §. xxviii.
Part IV. 305
Revelation has no view to the Turk, but to the Pope 5 and in confequence of that, in his marginal notes expounds the 666 years of the duration of the worldly papacy. Bibli- ander was alfo one of the firft who acknow- ledged this 5 and among the reformed in France Jac. Capellus, and in England Tho- mas Lydyat did the fame. How Sera- phinus de Fermo and others bufied them- felves from that time to wreft fometimes one fometimes another pafTage of the Revelation that contained a defcription of any horrible thing, to apply it to Luther and the Refor- mation, is not worth mentioning. But Lu- ther's Expoiition ought in reafon to be look'd upon as a coniiderable part of this whole teftimony; tho* veiy few, even in the pro- teftant church, have hitherto duly regarded it. He held that Antichrift was now plainly revealed, and agreed with Lucas Brugenfis and others who reckon 6000 years to be the whole time that the world is to lafl. Hence he concluded that the lafl: day was not far off, and fo there was not fufficient fpace remaining for the 1000 years to couie >
pp
3o6 Conclusion.
for which reafon he could not reckon them more conveniently than from the beginning of the New Teftament to Gregory VII. This appears from his Stipputatio^ or reckon- ing of the years of the world, publiihed not long before his Death. Befides, in his
preface to the Revelation and his notes on it, there are contain'd the following Positions. I. Thtjlrji wo is great; the fecond greater ; the third the greateft of all. 2. The^^-
cond ICO began in the feventh Century, in the Saracen hiftory. 3. The third wo in C.
xiii, is the worldly papacy. 4. This be-
ean in Hilde brand, c. It will laft 666
years. 6. The third wo and the kytn
vials are under the trumpet of the feventh angel. 7. The third wo will be checked
by the vials. 8. The 1000 years are, in
the proper fenfe, 1000 years. 9. The
1000 years and the times of the Beaft can- not coincide for ever fo fhort a time. Other Expoiitors have maintained fome one, and fome another of thefe Pofitions feverally : but Luther (and to the beft of my knowledge, he alone to this day) grafped all of them to- gether in his comprehenfwe knowledge, tho'
Part IV. 307
fo long ago. Now let us add to thefe, one poiition more (which in no wife dif- agrees with the former nine, but is rather a confequence of them, and is maintained by Luther's fellow-labourer Francis Lambert in his Exeg. Apcc, p. 233, 286) namely this, 10. That the times of the Beaft go before and the 1000 years follow after; and then we have all the grounds of a true Expojition.
XXXL Andrew Osiander the elder went another way to work. He fought for the number of the Beaft in the hebrew word n"'^t2in, (Rumiit) and at the fame time gave occafion to people's gradually quitting the number 666 in reckoning the duration of the Beaft, and efpoufing that of 1 260. Ex- amine his ConjeB, de ultimis tempor. & fine jmmdiy publifhed at Nuremberg, A°* 1544; and his fon-in-law Funckius's Illuftration of the Revelation, p. 162, 203, 365 of the edi--^ tion of 1596. Some fuppofe both the
numbers,* 666 and 1260, to run on parallel, and affign the latter to the duration of the fpiritual, and the former to that of the worldly power of the Beaft ; as the Centuri- atcrs of Magdeburg, the Syntagma N. T.
3o8 Conclusion.
(which has great affinity to their work) Jo. Balasus, Raph. Eglinus, Zach. Muthefius, Melch. Kromayer, and others. But the well-grounded 666 years were overborne by the ill-grounded 1260 years, by n^'^tsi'n, and by other fuch names, efpecially in Flacii Glojfa and other Expofitions that had a great run. Bellarmine, and fuch as he, were not foriy for this : but many proteftants have ftuck to this period of 1260 years, in their controverfial writings and their Expofitions, as Hoe, PariEus, Gerhard, Cluver, Cravius, Cocceius, &c.
XXXII. Now this Year-day^ has had many troublefome confequences : ( i ) When the 666 years were little minded, the Hilde- brandine-period, which had formerly been look'd upon by all confiderate perfons as fo important, came to be forgotten, or at moft made but a part of the papal period. They were unwilling to begin their 1260 years at Gregory VII, or lower dov/n ; for that would have made the time too long for them that thought the final ruin of Antichrift and the
M. e. the taking each of the 1260 days in the Prophecy to fignify a year.
Part IV. 309
laft day were very near; and the time of their waiting for thefe future things would have been too much extended, delay'd and rendered uncertain : fo they muft needs be- gin higher, and thereby left too little ropm for thofe things which, in the prophecy, pre- ceeded the rifing of the Beaft. Many alfo of their predidlions failed one after another, efpecially in the time of the perfecution of the reformed in France, which made fport for their adverfaries. (2) Thus the length
of this period of 1260 years, when it pre- vailed, obliging them to fet the beginning of the times of the Beaft too high in hiftory, for example A°* 257, 450, 600, 800, (a wide difference !) put a ftop to all comparing of the prophecy and hiftory : and many had the affurance to reckon among the lim.bs of Antichrift the holy Bifhops of the antient church of Rome, the latchet of whofe fioes (fays Petrus Crugotius) they were not ivorthy to unloofe. (3) Efpecially, the teftimony of the truth againft Popery, in fo far as it is grounded on this Prophecy, was greatly im- peded. (4) No room could be found for the 1000 vears : fo, whereas ail the an-
3IO Conclusion.
tients had placed them either wholly after or wholly before the times of the Beaft, now men came to allow fome part of the looo years, or the whole of them, to run parallel with fome pai't of the 1260 years. Nay fome begin both the 1260 years of mifery and the looo years of happinefs together, at Conftantine the Great, as Napier 3 or both together about the timeof Charles theCreat, as Matth. Hoffman : the former of whom is nearly foUow'd by B. P. Carl, and the latter by Cafp. Heunifchius.
XXXIII. The Anabaptiftical, premature and frantick notions of the Millennium (a- gainli which the confeffion of Aufburg bears a proper teftimony) greatly contributed to bring in anew, among fome men, a great indifference about the Revelation, and a- mong ?nany about the 1000 years, efpecially as they thought thempa/l long ago. If any one but gave a hint of 1000 years yet fo come, he was fufpe6ted; and thofe were com- mended who thought themfelves not bound to make open confeffion of them. Thefe therefore took up the thing fo much the more warmly, and found means to make the very
Part IV. 311
namcof theMillcnniumor 1000 years odious. See Crameri arbor hceret. confangidn, p. 76. Yet in the year 1554 at Balle fome learned Refugees bore noble teftimony to the 1 000 years to follow after the overthrow of Anti- chrifl 3 fuch as Sebaft. Caftellio in the pre- face to his tranflation of the Bible, and Mar- tin Borrhaus on the xx^*" chap, of the Reve- lation (tho* thefe two had had difputes upon other points); like wife Coelius Secundus Curio in his Book de amplitudine regjii Deiy and Alphonfus Conradus Mantuanus in ApocaL
XXXIV. There had been a long time an expedation that in the year 1588 the world would come to an end, or at leafl there would be very great revolutions in it. Jo. Guil. Stuckius publiflied a particular treatife on that fubjedt, at Zurich, that very year 1588. Take the fubftance of what is faid by J. J. Hojffman hijl, pap, ad A, 12 19, Flacius cataL tefi, verit. §. 173, Gerhard. he, de extr.jud. §. 78, and Conrad. Brufs- ken's appendix to Beverley's chronology; and we fhall find as follows, viz, antiently people added to the rife of Mahomet the
312 Conclusion.
number of the Beaft, and becaufe of the fum of thefe two, 622 and 666, were intent upon obferving the year 1288. About tliat time the Chriftians loll what they had 'till then kept poffeiTion . of in Syria; and men deceived themfelves with this prognof- tic, ^'^ mimdo in cc/itum annisy i. e. wo to the world within thefe ico years 3 and fo made a miftake alfo about the greateft and laft antichriftian calamities, which they thought would come to an end A°* 1388. When nothing happened that year, they added another and then another 100, and fo brought it to 1488 and 1588; and made alfo aftrological calculations of them. At laft they left off this way and no longer added the 666 years to Mahomet's times, but to the year 1032, to v/hich they reckoned 1000 years from the pajfion of Christ. On this ground tliey were willing to fuppofe that in the year 1698 there would follow the de- ftrudtion of the Turk and Popery, and the fpreading of Chriftianity over all the world, Lambertus Danceus inverts this order, rec- koning the 666 years from the paffion, and then adding the 1000 years; de Antich, p.
Part IV. 313
98. 108. compare with this Dudleij Fenneri T^hcologia^ p. 172. Edit. A°' 1589. Others reckoned from the birth of Christ : whe- ther they put the 1000 years firft or laft it matters not; but a great expectation there was againft the year 1666, the treatife cal- led Romcs RuinaJiJialis goes altogether upon this fcheme, which gave a handle to Spize- lius and Artopoeus for further reflexions.
XXXV. By fearching the Scriptures men are 7iow again come near to the ancient truth. In the beginning of the laft century J. Pif- cator, and others, put the reign of the Beaft and Antichrift before the 1000 Years, and aver'd that all is not yet fulfilled that is fore- told to come before the end of all things. In like manner Dan. CrameruSj in his Bible with Notes, acknowledgeth that the 1000 years in C. xx. 2. do not begin till after the Hallelujah and after the Vicflory in C. xixi I, 1 1, but he interpreted them of the peace of the church &c, (much in the fame way as Cotterius, Zeltnerus and Mommers) and befides, as he held the end of the world to be very near, he extends the 1000 years to
314 Conclusion.
fcarcely more than the age of a man; in which Franc. Lambertus went before him, and Zach. Hogelius, Joh. Schindlerus, Nic. Mulerius, Joh. Brunfmannus and Melch. Kromayer differ but httle from him. The more conftrain'd this Interpretation is, the more clearly it fhews that thefe Expofitors were fenfible of the connexion between the xix'^ and the xx''' Chapter.
XXXVI. Afterward many were roufed anew to a diligent inquiry into this point by means of Cocceius : however, they fuifer'd themfelves to be milled, by their feveral ^ ptTiods or ages of the churchy into many oin- profitable extravagancies. XXXVII.
A WIDE Door was opened by the worthy Spencr^ w^ho brought again into view the hope J as he and others called it, of better times % and who carefully avoided all meddling with particulars, (as was very fuitable to this new beginning) but maintained his main point with great ferioufnefs and fteadinefs, and with full affurance, to his death. Ever
^ See the Introdudion, §. xiii : andN^.iii of §- xxxviii of this part of the Conclufion.
Part IV. 315
fince tlien the truth, in this point, has been making its way more and more powerfully, tho' incompafied with many errors.
XXXVIII. The writers who now meet with the moil general approbation are of three Sorts. i. Some interpret almoft
every thing of the judgments upon the Jews, or on them and the Heathen alfo, early in the beginning of the New Teftament ; and reckon the 1000 years from the afcenfion of Christ, or from Conftantine the Great. Such is the opinion of Grotius, Hammond and the Author of the Frcenotiones apocalyp- ticcc^ i^c. Here the times are taken always in the common acceptation. Boffuet takes this way of reckoning for granted, and be- fides he places Antichrifl only a fliort time before the end of the world. 2. Others
ftill abide by the year-day and the period of 1260 years : and thofe of them who place the Beaft before the 1000 years affign very different terms when the one lliould end and the other begin. Jofeph Mede was one of the principal abettors of the period of 1260 years, and was followed by Henry More, Peganlus, Jurieu and others. To
3i6 Conclusion.
this clafs belong Newton, Sandhagen, Du- rer, Schweitzer, Zeltner, Samuel Konig, Scheurman, Abbadic, Crinfon, Drieilen, Malfchius, Kohlreiffius, Stockius, &c, tho' as to the looo years they differ widely from one another. 3. Many labour to fill
up the whole ipace from St. John to us with only the feven Churches, or the figurative interpretation of them, and maintain that almoft every thing from the hrfl feal to the 1000 years is yet to come ; and fo they too take the times in the ccmmon acceptation . See §. vij VII. of the Preface, and Hedin- ger's preface to the Revelation in his Nev/ Tejftament with Notes,
XXXIX. It is ?20t to be 'wondered at that amidft fo many difficulties, and after fo many terms afligned that have paifed without ef- fedt, many men of underftanding have in a manner given up all fludy of the Revelation and confin'd all their reliedions on it to fome general and v/ell-know^n heads of docflrine viz, that the Church fliall be always frrait- ned but never fhall be crufli'd ; and have brought the reckoning of times almoil into difufe. Markius's Commentary on the Apo-
Part IV. 317
calypfe may ferve for an example of this ; for he there fkilfully confutes many wrong opinions, but as above-mentioned on C. vi. 8. rarely advances any thing himfelf.
XL. Nobody fo far as I know, has hit the mark, in thofe points that are the moft necefTary for the prefent time^ more nearly than Campegius Vitringa. He has gone back to Gregory VII. (asNic. Mulerius had alio done) and has difcovered and demon- ftrated the agreement of the prophecy and the completion in xh^faBs themfelves, without helps from the calculation of the ti772cs, for he had a miilruft of the year-day, and yet did not for that depend upon the CGmmon day. By this he has given a notable blow to both thofe erro?ieous reckojiwgs, and has not fallen much fliort of the true, which goes in the middle way between them. See his Afiacrifs apocal p. 460 &c. In this path he leads his reader through the rage of the enemies and the overthrow of them, di- red:ly to the contents of the xx'^ chapter.
XLI. Thus the true and ancient order is reftored: viz. Antichrist, the Thou- sand Years, the End of the World.
3iS Conclusion.
XLIL This may ferve for a brief History of the ExPosiTio;^^s of this Prophecy, accord- ing to ^€vl principal variations', from whence many advantages may accrew to thofe who deiire to profit by it. I. Vv'e may fee how
amidft this ftrange and manifold variety of opinions the progrefs of the truth has been re- tarded through the juflling of fo many errors; and yet glimpfes of it have been feen in all Ages, and it has made its way through them. IL Let any one, antient or modern Expoii- tor of the Revelation fall into a man's hands; he needs only to look how he explains the forty two months of the Beaft, the 7mmher of theBeaft, z.vA\h.^thoiifand years: and thereby he will prefently fee what grounds he goes upon, and fo be able to avoid x!cizfa!f\ and receive the truth and make farther profici- ency in it. III. Hence it is manifeil
that the condiiB of men in their affairs de- pends in a great meafure on the true and on thcfalfe interpretation of the prophetical word: and hereby we are admoniflied to fuit our- fclves wdfely to the times we live in. The follov/ing V'^ part treats more at large of this iubied".
Part IV. 319
XLIII. But efpecially, hereby fome er^ rors fall to the ground, either aiitient ones which in modern times hav« been plaufibly fet off, or new and lately fprung up: fuch as I. The error that the times of the
Beafl and the "1000 years run on parallel with one another. However narrow the bounds were into which the antients other- wife contracted the times, they never allowed the leaft part of thefe two periods to be co- temporary. II. The error that the 1000 years began in Conftantine's time, III. The error that a Day in the Revelation figmfiQ^ Jometimes a common Tear^ or 'e^ejy where a common Day, On the other hand we are the more feniible of the benefit oi^^ fundamental pofitiojis^ and the marks of a true Expofition which we have laid down in § XXXI, XXXII of the Introduction, in the Iir part of the conclufion, and in §. xxx of this IV part.
XLIV. The more ftriClly any man ihall examine this whole ^ ilhijlration of the Reve- lation^ the more, I hope, he will be convinced
' Viz, the introduclion, the expofition itfelf, r.nd the con- clufion.
320 Conclusion.
that I avoid air the abovementioned errors, and propofe nothing that clashes with the true principles, but rather adopt them all. As to the calculation of the times, many have p-one in the middle "way before me: "" fo I offer nothing new on that head but a pre- cife determination of the length of the prophe- tical times, which goes in that middle way. ^his is not only co?ifiJlent nviih thofe things v/hich have been formerly difccveredby others-, but alfo CONFIRMS the7n and is confirmed by them. And thus there appears again that agreement W^-\ former Expofitions which was required in the end of the IIP Part. 'Tis true the truth of the Expofition of the word of God, in prophetical as well as other points, by no means depends on the confent of men in their opinions, or on their autho- rity; yet it is of great ufe to read former wri- ters: for as every man who writes any thing now hopes to benefit others (if he does not, he would do better to let alone writing); fo he ought candidly to judge that others before him wrote with the like hopes, and con-
"* See Introd. ^. liii.
Part IV. 321
fequently to improve himfelf by help of their gifts, their labour and knowledge, and by their miftakes too. And as in every age God has beftowed on the lovers of truth fome knov^ledge of it, it is truly no eafy mat- ter to colled: it all together: but when an Expofitor does not fear ch in their writings for what has been already beftowed on them and may be found there but minds the text only^ many things may remain hidden to his eyes, and he may be long perplexed about places that are cleared already by others. For my part I have made the beft ufe of them that I could 3 and I hope I am thereby enabled to do others the better fervice.
PART VII.
CONSISTING of wholefome Ad- monitions how to avoid all abufe and miftake and to make a right and profitable ufe of the foregoing, and fuch like refledions on the propheti- cal fcripturcs.
R r
322 Conclusion.
I. The events related in hiftory from St, John's days to our times agree moft exadly with this fublime Prophecy: by which agree- mejit the truth of the word of God is moft clearly and irrefragably proved againft all Infidels \ ^^ truth oi \ki^ Chrifiian religion a- gainft the "Jews, "Turks, &c. nay the truth of the Evangelical religion 2.g2.in{i Popery.
Abbadie, not long before his death pub- liili'd a large expofition of Ch. vi, vii, viii, and ix, of the Revelation, entituled, The triumph of Providence and Religion, as a Sup- plement to his treatife of the truth of the Chrifiian religion. Now all that he ad- vanccth, in the beginning of his P' part, p. 1 6, againft the /coffers, and in the conclufion of his IV'^ part, p. 663, againft i. \ht Hea- then-, 2. the Jews y 3. \\-\Q Mahometans ', 4. the Arians and Socinians ; 5. Roman-catho- licks-, 6. Atheifis, Deifis, Sceptics and Infidels-, all this, I fay might be built ftill ?7iore firmly on the grounds of this prefent Expofition.
IL In the Revelation the holinefs of God is amply difplayed y and therefore both the expofitor and the reader of it ought to have their hearts prepared to ftiew a holy fear and
Part VIL 323
becoming reverence. Whatever God
teacheth, that we ought to apply ourfelves v^ith diligence to learn -, neither feeking for more, nor contenting ourfelves with lefs : and we ought alfo to apply it all to his glory and our falvation^ and to the exciting of our devotion ; and not waft all our labour on meer knowledge-: But many deal with the Prophe- cies as they do with an Enigma. Before it is folved, they have a tickling impatience, a longing expedlation, and an agreeable fo- licitude about it: but as foon as it is folved, they are weary oi tbis^ and want a new one. And therefore we may fairly conclude that if any man could at once give full and fatis- faftory anfwers to all the queftions among the learned, he would have little thanks from them; for he would but only fpoil their play and their paftime. But thofe who receive the truth with due thankfulnefs and refpeft, as foon as they come to the knowledge of it apply it to ufe; and that par- ticularly as well as in general.
III. Many men if they would exercife themfelves more in meditating on the word of God, his promifes, and his judgments.
324 Conclusion.
both in paft times and thofe that are yet to come, would not find their labour in the ufe of their faculties fo fmitlefs^ but would hefe/i/iikofthe almighty Power, the good- nefs and faithfulnefs of God, and find in that fenfe more ftrength to overcome them- felves and all either inward or outward op- pofition than in the reftlefs agitation of their own thoughts, Thofe Pfalms whofe begin- ning often expreffeth the fenfe of the fharpeft inward trouble and temptation, yet end in a delightful defcant on the divine Oeconomy. God has not exhibited his promiies to his Church in vain: but if no one in particular will chufe to enjoy the comfort of them, to what purpofe are they recorded in the Scrip- tures?
IV. Though our Forefathers, and th^ir refifting even to blood the Frotejiant Church has attained to the enjoyment of a liberty of confciencey the high value of which thofe fouls alone know how to prize who have with difficulty efcaped the iron furnace of Romiih fiavery. The enjoyment of this li- berty many take to be their acknowledged right and make ufe of it according to their
Part VIL 325 ikill and ability, not only for their own pri- vate eafe and comfort, but alfo openly in all their behaviour, converfation and writings; and yet thefe very men do not fcruple incon- fiderately to pronounce it ^//, one part with, another, to be one mere Babel But though, alas! there are diforders, too too many, in all places; yet there is a great difference be- tween other Churches and that which iri the prophecy is called Babylon, As depraved as Jerufalem was, yet it was no BabeL
— — __. On this head
we are taught, in the Revelation, to judge not according to appearances but to judge 7'igh' teous judgment ,
V. The times in which, one after ano- ther, holy men's lot falls, are either thofe near about the terms or boundaries^ when one period is near run out and fomewhat elfe is going to appear ; or middle times, in which one or more generations may pafs without any remarkable change. In middle times one may be in fome meafure indifferent: but the
326 Conclusion.
times near the bounds require watchfulnefs, and will make thofe watchful who are willing to be awaked. The Ifraelites were to behave themfelves, while they were in the midft of their Egyptian flavery or Babylonian capti- vity, in a manner very different from what they were to do at the time of their going out of Egypt, ^or return from Babylon.
VL Those who enterprize great, fine, fpecious and important things ought not, 'tis true, to fuffer themfelves to be difcouraged from what they are well ajjured they have a call to : but yet they ought to confider too, what is or is not practicable at this time, while there are yet fo many hellilli obftacles in the way: left they fhould be icandalized if they have not prefent fuccefs More
fach cautions are to be feen in the IV'^ and V''' part of this conclufion.
VII. We are now to expeft soon, one after another, the Calamities which the OTHER Beast brings on for the fervice of \!at firjl', the Harvest, and the Vin- tage J the pouring out of the Vials ; the Judgment of Babylon j the final Rage of the Beast, and his Destruc-
Part VIL 327
TioN; and the Binding of Satan. O how great are thefe T'hings ! how Jl:orf the Time !
What is it then we ft and moft in need of? Wisdom, Patience, Fidelity, Watchfulness. It cannot^ it mujl not be that we fhould continue fettled on our Lees.
This is no agreeable Meffage and Injunc- tion to Flefh and Blood, if it be rightly " un- derftood. The Wife^ the Mighty, the
tJoble oithis World are aftonifhed when they are told there will soon be ^ great Change. Nevertherlefs the things which Jhall be (Rev.
i. 19.) WILL BE.
VIII. What particularly the Numbers^ which in Daniel were fealed and w^ere firft opened by means of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and alfo come out fo punctually; what they^ I fay, may contribute to the con^ vi5lion of the Jews, is left to the confidera- tion and the trial of thofc who are qualified to underftand the Prophets and to deal with the Jews. See Introd. §. xxviii at the end.
IX. Many do not regard fuch thinp-s as thefe : and among others there are fo many '
f See Jerem. xlviii. u. and Zephan. i. 12.
328 Conclusion.
mifconceptions, fo many evafions and ob- jedlions againft the whole or againft iovntpar-* ticular points^ that when a Man thinks he has difpatched ten of them, a hundred ftart up in their ftead. Often indeed they them- felves deflroy one another, but are of fuch a nature that though they are eafy to be an-, fwered jingly^ yet with their multitude they would wear out any Perfon that would take the trouble to anfwer them all.
Now I have laid all open to all the World. He that cares not for it may let it alone : He that can receive it^ let him receive it.
How majiy intportant things^ O Lord, Jesus, in thy Revelation, lie open to xkiy fight ^ which my dim eyes have overlookt !
Do thou out of thy Fulnefs fupply wherein I am deficient, both for me and for others.
To thee he the Glory and the Power
for ever and ever !
SHORT
REMARKS
O R
MARGINAL ANNOTATIONS:
BEING A
Summary of the whole Exposition.
Chap. Verfe. I. I — 7. )J(^^)!^HE mamificent T'k/e jg^ T p^ of the book. 4—6. )^^^^ The adJrefs: which gives this book the form of an epi/lk. 7, 8. Kfummary of the whole book. 9 — 20. St. John relates in what manner he was appointed for deliver- ing this important prophecy. Patmos lies in the midft of thofe regions of the world in which the prophecy is ful- filled.
[2]
Chap. Verfe.
I. 13. From this majeftic defcription
of Jesus Christ are taken his titles in the following e^iftles to the feven Angels of the {Q,vtn Churches.
II. 1. The feven Churches in Alia,
and efpecially their Angels^ are exhorted to repentance and conftancy, and the com- ing of the Lord notified to them. To them that over^ come glorious things are pro- mifed. The three firft
and the four laft addrefles, > have a particular connexion with one another.
III. 20. The coming of the Lord in
all thefe addrefles (excepting only that to the Angel of the church of Smyrna^ for a par- ticular reafon) is notified as nearer and nearer in. each of them: therefore in this lafl it is faid, Behold I am fiand- ing at the door and knocking.
[3]
Chap. Verfe, IV. I. Here begins the main vision which extends to C. xxii. 5. V. I, In the feven Seals which arc opened quickly one after ano- ther, is expreffed the giving oi all power in heaven and in earth to the Lamb. VL I. The four firjl feals relate to vifible things^ and reprefent how all times of ( i.) Victory and (2.) War, (3.) all the feafons^ plenty and dearth and (4.) all general calamities are in the power of theLamb : and of each of thefe zfajft- ple is given in the reign of Trajan, in the eaft, weft, fouth and rorth. 9. The three latter feals relate to invijible things: viz, the fifth to the Saints depa?^ted 2ind the Martyrs; the fixth to the dead that are in mifery ; and the feventh to the Angelsy
[4]
Chap. Verfe.
VI. 9. particularly thofe feven to
whom the feven trumpets were given. II. This chronos reaches from A. D. 97 to A. D. 12085 when to the Martyrs under heathen Rome were added thofe under the Romijh Papacy,
VII. 3 By this fealing, the chofenfeed
from among Ifrael were preferved againft the follow- ing Plagues. 9. Here is a multitude of fuch as were gone out of this world to a happy ftate in the other. After this, more fuch multi- tudes appear. VIII. 6. Of the feven Angels, one af- ter anotherfoundstheTRUM- PETS given them: whereby the ' Brake is applied to
• A Brake is an inftrument ufed in dreffing o^ fax, by which that part of it which is of no other ufe but to be burnt is by repeated firokes bruifed and crumbled, and fo prepared to be readily feparated by the teeth of a ftrong comb from the ufeful part, whereof linnen, of various degrees of fnenefs, is made.
[5]
Chap. Verfe. VIII. 6. the power of this world, fo that at laft it muft all re- vert to the dominion of Je- sus Christ. The whole prophecy and the com- pletion of it always go on in xhQ fame order together. 7. The trumpets of the (omv Jirjl Angels have a particular con- nexion with one another, and relate to vifible things. The trumpet of the p-Jl angel was fulfilled, in the eaft, by the great flaughter of Jews in the IF century: that of the fecond in the weft, in the Iir century, by the irruption of foreign nations: of the t/jtrd, in the fouth, in the IV'^ century, by the Arian calamities: of the fourth in the northern region, in the V'*" century, by the ruin of the Roman empire.
[6]
Chap. Verfe.
VIII. 13. The trumpets of the three lajt angels have a particular con- nexion with one another, and bring with them three woes which run in a track from eaft to weft. The fe-
cond broke out about the Eu- phrates, xh^jirji farther eaft, and the third in
the weft. The Jirji was
great; the fecond yet more heavy: the third v^ov^ of all. There is always an interval between each two. IX. 4. Those that 2iXtfealed are of the tribes of the children of Ifrael: thofe therefore that had not the feal are the other Jews. Thefe were at that time very grievoufly oppreffed in Perfa^ where they had formerly been very powerful. 5. Five prophetical months are 79 Years full, from A°* 510 to 589, after which it fared
[7]
Chap. Verfe.
IX. 5. better again with the Jews in Perfia.
II. Abaddon, ApoIIyon: deftroyer.
13. The fecond wo is the killi?7g of fuch numbers of men by the Saracens.
15. A PROPHETICAL hour and a day and a month and a year make 207 years nearly; from A°- 634 to 840.
20. Scarcely was the flaughter made by the Saracens a httle abated, but the worfiip of images was firmly eftabliih'd intheeaft A''- 842. X. I.— XL 13. Here is a previous declaration of the fcope of that moji im^ port ant trumpet oithtfeventh angel. X. 6. This non-chronos reaches from the oath of the angel to the binding of fatan. XI. 2, 3. These 42 months, and thefe 1260 days are to be under- ftood in theufual acceptation,
[81
Chap. Verfe.
XL 2, 3. and mean common months and days 5 and are yet to come. Yet the mentioning them here fo long before is in no wife ^ improper; fmce the whole period of which they are a part began before the end of the fecond wo. 15. The trumpet of the feventh an- gel extends from the middle of the IX' ^century to the end of the world: and we are aBually under if. XII. I. The prophecy does not begin again anew at this place: we are only fhewn how the trum- pet of the feventh angel (the contents of which were writ- ten in C. XI. 15 — 18.) is carried on from C. xi. 19. XII. I. to C.xxii. 5; and that the execution of it reaches even into eternity. The
twelve liars are the twelve
* See Note p. 6.
[9]
Chap. Verfe.
XIL I . tribes of Ifrael at their convert fion.
3. Satan has not been mentioned from the beginning of C. iv. i. e. in all this Vifion : but now his appearance is fo much the more horrible.
6* THESEI260 prophetical days are 657 years full, and contain in them the church of Bohe- mia from the planting of the chriftian religion there A"' 864, 'till the breaking out of the reformation A°* 1521. At the end of the 1260 days the Reformation begins: and at the end of the 3 I times the thoufand years begin. The former of thefe revolu- tions was a great one and a good) the latter yet more fo: and they are the one to the other as the day-break to the rifing of the fun. 12. This Wo is that thihd Wo. B
[ 10]
Chap. Verfe. XII. 12. The angel of the abyfs had brought on xhtjirjl-^ and the four angels by the Euphrates when loofed, xhtfecond: Sa- tan himfelf T2Li{cs the third. The fhort time, or few kairoi, makes 888 y years, as after- ward the 3 4 times make 777 T y^^^s. Thefe two periods begin the one before the other, but end together. In both of them is included the number of the Beaft, which makes 42 prophetical months or 666 y years, as a Chronos is 1 1 1 1 y years, and two Chronoi or 2222 -f years anAion oriEvum, C. xiv. 6. The proof of this may befeen in the LiiroduBion. The third Wo, the 3 4- times of the Woman, and the times of the Beaft have been in their courfe a long time, are fo at present, and are hafiening quickly to theiv End.
[ " ]
Chap. Verfe.
XII. 12. Toward this end that which
was previoully declared in C. X, xi. will be fulfilled. As /o us, the xiii'*" and xiv'^ chapters require our mojlferu ous confideratioriy and NOW is the peculiar time for us to reap benefit from this pro- phecy.
XIII. I. By the fea is underftood the
weft. Here the Hilde^
hrandine Papacy is defcribed, from A°' 1077.
II. Tm^fecondBeaJiWiWi^o^ soon
break out with his horrible
abominations. Hereafter
he is feveral times called the
falfe Prophet,
XIV. 6. The voice of this Angel was
heard at the beginning of the laft century; and that of hifn who follow d himy about the middle of it. 10, II. This is the inoji dreadful lhreat?2i72g in all the holy
[ 12 ]
Chap. Verfe.
XIV. 14-20. fcriptures. See §. ix. of the
Preface. The great Harvejl and the
great Vintage are near, at the
door.
XVI. I. The Vials of the four firjt,
and fo likewife the Vials of the three laji Angels have (as was the cafe in the trumpets) a particular connexion with one another. The trum-^ pets, fetching a lo7ig compafs^ aim their blow at a third party and ftrike at the kingdom of the world : but the ^/^A pro- ceed j^^^^'^ and ftrike diredf- ly at the whole. They chiefly concern the Beaji^ as he has infinuated himfelf into the kingdom of the world or tem- poral power.
XVII. 8. The duration of the Beaft is
here divided into three por- tions : I. as he was in being in the time of his number, viz.42 months or 666 years.
Chap. Verfe. XVIL 8. 2. as he 'is mf, but on the contrary the Woman hz^fub- duedtini rides upon theBeaft: 3. as he will rage at his latter end, as the fpecial and very ma?i of Sin 2Lndi fon of Perdi- dition* What is here pro- phefied concerning Babylon, or Romey comes to pafs in the middle or fecond portion, which is yet to come. We muil be careful to obfervc the difference between the Beajl and the Woman : and alfo look for it in the proper places. 9. Each Head' of the Beaft has on/y one meani?ig; but the
-^ A Beaji (or rather n^}ild Beaft, 9>!^.o!/), both in Daniel and here, is the Emblem of a Series or Succeffion of iMen exercifmg a lawlefs arbitrary Power. Therefore when the f^iver is gone, the B^ji is in ftria propriety faid not to be.
** The Pope (meaning by that word the ^hoU Series of Popes from Bilddbrand to the Bon of Perdition, incluji've) is the H.?fl^/ of that Beaft, ox King of theSubjefts of that Power. pi|t as the Beaft is defcribed as having kvzn Heads, each iignifying ^ King and alfo a Hill as the Seat or Throne of his Kingdom ; the nvhole Series of Popes muft be divided into feiven farts, each of which particular Series is one Head, that is, one King, who reigns on his peculiar and appropriaie liiU.
[ Hi
Chap. Verfc.
XVII. 9. thing that is mea?if is a com- founds viz. a king and a hill together. The i'' head is the reign of the pope on Mount Ccelius^ in the Lateran\ the 2^ on the Vatican Mount % the 3^ on the ^irinal-y the 4*'' on the Efquiline Mount y where ftands Maria Maggi- ore. The remaining three, time will fliew us. 16. The Beast bimfe/fwith the concurrence of the ten Kings that adhere to him^ will make the WnoRB defolate : She has nothing to fear from the Pro- testants. XVIII. 4. This coming out of Babylon will be a little before her Plagues come upon her. 13. In the midft of the Greek text ftands the Latin word Rheda^ for a Chariot: which hints at Italy ', as the Chaldaic word in the Hebrew text, Jerem. x. II. does at the Chaldeans,
[ 15 ]
Chap. Verfe.
XIX. 2, Here the requeft of the Souls under the altar, repeated in their very words, is tranfpos'd into a fong of rejoicing. II. Here comes on the great flaughter, in which the Bead together with the falfe Pro- phet arc deftroyed.
XX. I. Satan had a httle before (un- der the third wo, fo late as C. xvi. 13) committed an enormous crime : and now, after beholding the defolation of Babylon and deftrucfbion of the Beaft, he is bound and imprifoned. 2. We muft carefully diftinguifh between the two-fold 1000 years; the one mentioned in verfe 2, 3, 73 and the other in verfe 4, 5, 6.
XXI. I. The new Heaven and the new Earth, together with the new Jerufalem belong to eternity, C. xxii. 5.
Chap. Verfe.
XXlL 6-21. This Conclufion of the Book aiifwers in every part to the Preliminaries. lo, 11. An Expofitor alfo fhould be fincere aftd a plain-dealer, and not be moved with either the gain-fayings of Scoffers and Hypocrites, or the ill ufe that may be made of the Myfteries. 1 8, 19. Those alfo adJ and take away ^ who oppofe a well-grounded and confcientious Revijion of the original T^ext of this in- eftimable Prophecy , and frighten away People from the ancient purity of it under the Name of a dangerous Innovation. 20. Learn, whoever you are that hear this, to fay, — and fay indeed heartily, Come.
THE END.
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