4. And they shall fee his face; and his name shall be in their forebeads.

5. And there fhall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the fun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they fhall reign for ever and ever.

6. And he faid unto me, Thefe fayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets fent his angel to fhew unto his fervants the things which must shortly be done.

7. Behold, Icome quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

8. And I John faw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and feen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the an gel, which fhewed me these things.

9. Then faith he unto me, See thon do it not: for I am thy fellow-fervant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the fayings of this book: worship God.

10. And he faith unto me, Seal not the Sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy ftill: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous ftill: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12. And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work fball be.

13. Iam Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the firft and the laft.

14. Bleffed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15. For without are dogs, and forcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

16. 1 Jefus have fent mine angel to teftifie unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning ftar.

17. And the spirit and the bride fay, Come. And ter him that heareth, fay, Come. And let him that is athirst, come : and who foever will, let him take the water of life freely.

18. For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the

prophecy

prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God hall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God fhall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book,

20. He which teftifieth these things, faith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even fo, come Lord Fefus.

21. The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift be with you all. Amen.

And thus, to conclude the whole, I have, by the Divine Affiftance, finish'd my Effay on the Revelation of St. John: and at parting, I must here publickly own the affiftance I have receiv'd from feveral Worthy and Learned Friends, fome of whofe Names I have already mention'd. But above all, I muft acknowledge my felf chiefly indebted to one Industrious and Learned Friend for the conftant Affiftance, and great Improvements this work has all along receiv'd from him; I mean that Perfon to whom I formerly own'd my Obligations on account of his Review of my Chronology of the Old Teftament, and of the Harmony of the four Evangelifts. And tho' I name him not here, all who either know me and my Studies, or have look'd into that Chronology and Harmony, cannot fail of dif covering him by fuch a defcription.

Mar. ij. 25. 26.

PROPOSITIO N. I.

ABIATHAR, and not AHIMELECH was the High Priest of the Jews when DAVID eat the Shew-bread.

THI

The ARGUMENTS follow.

HIS is exprefly afferted by St. Mark, or rather by our Saviour himself, whofe words the Evangelift is there relating; Have ye never read what David did when he had need and was an hungred; he and they that were with him ; how he went into the houfe of God, ἐπὶ ̓Αβιάθαρ τῇ ̓Αρχιερέως in the days of Abiathar the High-Prieft, and did eat the shew-bread ? Thefe words are fo exprefs, that unless the contrary reasons be exceeding cogent, the Propofition ought not to be difputed. For as to that Evafion that may only denote in general about the time of the High-Priesthood of Abiathar, or a little before it; 'tis fo difagreeable to the ordinary use of that Particle, and renders our Lords way of fpeaking fo strange and unaccountable, that nothing but full evidence ought to be allow'd for fuch a Singular Expofition. Our Lord is faid both in the Apostles Creed, and by St. Paul himself also to have fuffered or П i. e. moft unquestionably under or during Pontius Pilate's Government of Judaa. Neither if we should allow that the phrafe might poffibly be capable of fo large an acceptation can any account be given why our Lord, when he was affigning the time of this action of David, fhould wholly pass over the then High Prieft, and name him only who was afterwards to be fo. It is very proper and ufual in the dates of Events, to mention under whofe Reign or Government whether Civil or Sacred they happened: But it can never be prov'd that the like was done to their Succeffors, who at the time of fuch Events, and perhaps a good while afterwards, had no concern with fuch Government or Adminiftra

tion. This is almoft as if our Saviour fhould be faid to have fuffer'd ini Magxíms about or before the Procuratorship of Marcellus; without the leaft mention of Pilate; whole Name and Actions were much better known, and in whofe Procuratorship he really fuffered. Surely if Abiathar the Son was to be mention'd because he afterwards was the High-Prieft; Ahimelech the Father, who was actually fo at that time; who alfo was alone mention'd in that Hiftory; and who continued High-Priest for fome time afterward, was by no means to have been omitted.

1 Sam. xxi.

II. This Affertion of our Saviour, in its most plain and obvious fence, is no where contradicted in the rest of the Scriptures. Is Ahimelech call'd the High-Priest any where in the Bible, or even his Son Abiathar? By no means. All that 1. 2. 4. 5. 6. we meet with is Ahimelech the Priest: and afterward Abiathar 9. &. 22. 11. the Priest the Son of Ahimelech. Are either of them mentio- Cap. xxiij. 9. ned, (as Zadoc and another Abiathar often are,) among the & 30. 7. chief Men of the Kingdom? Not at all. Do either of them ap- 2 Sam. viij. pear to have officiated as High-Prieft on the great day of expia, 17. & 20. 25. tion? So far from it, that, that day is not, I think, once mentio- King, iv. 4. ned during the times of their Hiftories. Do we find any of the Garments peculiar to the High-Prieft afcrib'd to either of them? Not at all. They are only fuppos'd in common with

1

1 Sam. xxiij.

all the Priests, and even Samuel while a Child, wearing a 、 Sam. xxij. linnen Ephod. Or, laftly, do we find either of them enquiring 18. & 23. 6. of God by Urim or Thummim, thofe Sacred Oracles deliver'd 9. & 30. 7.& from the High-Prieft's Breaft-plate? So far from this, that 2 18. we shall hereafter find that when Abiathar was with David in his flight from Saul, the Urim was with Saul and not with David: and He appears no otherwife to have enquired of God at all then by lending David his Ephod, as a Sacred Garment, in which not Abiathar but David himself enquir'd of God, and was anfwered by Him. The Father Abimelech indeed is fuppos'd in general to have prayed or enquired of God for David: But no circumftances being mention'd, it docs not appear whether it was any more than the affording David a place in the publick Prayers at the Tabernacle: or the lending vid. 2 Sam. him the Sacred Garments, and giving him proper Opportu- vi. 14. nities, (because David was a Sacred Perfon, and a Prophet himself;

9. 10. & 30.

7. 8.

himself;) for his own Enquiries of the Almighty. We find indeed a very Ancient inftance of Enquiry of the Lord long Gea. xxv. 22. before the Urim was made by Rebekka: and 'tis not impoffibie that fome fuch method might ftill obtain on great occafions, where 'twas impoflible to enquire by the High-Prieft. But becaufe all that the Son Abiathar did of this Nature in the like cafe, was the affording David a Sacred Garment, wherein not Abiathar but David enquired of God, as we have seen above, it may justly be fufpected that the Father's Enquiry was much of the fame nature. However, if there was any other Enquiry, it not at all appearing to have been by Urim, which alone was peculiar to the High-Prieft, can by no means prove that Abimelech was the High-Prieft. We indeed find Abimelech the Head of Eighty five of the Family of Elior Ithamar: We find him having the charge of the Holy Things at Nob; as a kind of a Head of a Courfe of Priefts who attended on the Tabernacle there. But was this the bufinefs of the HighPriefs? Not at all, but rather the contrary; if the Jews inform us right in their own Cuftoms: for the Heads of thofe Courses, which were foon after fetled, were always reckon'd diftinct from the High-Prieft.

III. It apppears plainly by the Series of the High-Priefts in the Old Testament that Abiathar and not Abimelech was the High-Prieft at the time we fpeak of: nay farther it appears particularly who this Ahimelech was, even no other than the High-Priefts Uncle; and therefore most certainly distinct from him and yet most fit for the Superintendence of the Priests of that Family. 'Tis ftrange that fo plain Obfervations as these fhould efcape all our Commentators hitherto. But fo it is, that feveral Obvious and Exprefs Texts in the Books of Samuel, do diftinctly determin who were the Jewib High-Priefts from Eli to the days of Solomon, during the whole Succeffion of the Family of Ithamar: and by a comparison with other as exprefs Texts it appears that Abiah the Father of the High-Prieft Abiathar, was the Elder Brother of Ahimelech the Prieft of Nob. Hear the words themselves, And Abiah the Son of Ahitub, Icabods Brother, the Son of Phineas, the Son of Eli, the Lords Prieft in Shiloh was with Sanl