Name, or the Number of the Name of the Beast. And we fcarce find the first Beaft doing any thing confiderable, but in concert with the fecond; who must therefore in the main be contemporary with him.

5. To Conclude, As thefe two Beafts are fuch great Companions while they live together, fo 'tis certain that their final Period is at one and the fame time, and that they perish with the fame common Destruction. And the Beast was taken, and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him; Apoc. xix. 20. with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beaft, and them that worshipped his Image: Thefe both were cast alive into a lake of Fire, burning with Brimstone; and so in St. Paul of the Man of Sin; whom the Lord fhall confume with 2 Thef.ij. 8. the Spirit of his mouth, and fall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

with

Corollary 1. Since therefore it now appears that the Little Horn, Second Beast, or Man of Sin, is in the main contemporary the first Beast; or that tho' he be later in his Original, it is by no very great space of time; and fince we have above proved that the Conculcation of the Outer Court of the Temple, the Witnesses prophecying in Sackcloth, and the Woman's abode in the Wilderness are all intirely contemporary with the Tyranny of the firft Beaft; they must also be in great measure contemporary with that of the Second: and so all five Prophecies will be nearly parallel, and contemporary one with another. And indeed, all thefe diftinct Prophecies are so much of a piece in the general, and do fo plainly relate to the duration of a fad Antichriftian Tyranny, and are fo naturally connected and link'd together by their feveral agreeing Circumstances; that one cannot easily avoid the belief of their belonging in general to one and the fame State of Things, and the fame Period of Duration. For when can the Church or Woman be fuppos'd in the Wilderness, or in ObScurity and Affliction more naturally than when the Court of. the Temple, or the proper place of her Worship and Abode was troden down by the Gentiles? Or when can the two Witneffes, the publick and open Affertors of the Purity of Religion, be more properly fuppos'd to be in a Sackcloth condition, in a State of Depreffion and Misery, than when the Church her jelf

is

is in the Wilderness, the Gentiles tread down the Holy City, or Court of the Temple, and both the Antichriftian Beaft's domineer without control in the Church? And fo of all the rest of thefe Connections. And how can we suppose, that any one of thefe fad Periods fhould be over, and the rest not fo; or at least not in great forwardness to be fo very quickly? Thus, how can we imagin the Gentiles caft out of the Court of the Temple, and the true Worshipers restor'd; and yet the Little Antichriftian Horn ftill wearing out the Saints of the most High, or the first Beaft warring against the Saints, and overcoming them at the fame time? How is it poffible that the Kingdoms of this World fhould be become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, as they were at the first found of the seventh Trumpet, on the afcent of the Witneffes; and yet the unhallowed Gentiles fhould still trample down the Court of the Temple, the proper place for the Divine Worship? Or the power of the Antichriftian Beast's fhould Still tyrannize over the Chriftian World? and fo of all the rest of thefe conjoined Prophecies. So that not only the neceffity of Chronological Synchronisms, but the evident force of common reafon obliges us to acquiefce, and to esteem these five feveral Prophecies in the main Collateral and Contemporary; and especially that their Conclufion is at or near the fame period of time, viz. just before the Commencement of Chrift's glorious Kingdom.

Corollary 2. The Restoration of the Jews to their own Countrey, and the rebuilding of their City and Temple belong to the fame time with the conclusion of these five foregoing Prophecies, or rather are quickly to fucceed them upon the founding of the Seventh Trumpet. This Epocha for the Jews Restoration, feems probable to me for the following Reafons. (*.) This time exactly agrees with our Saviour's own exprefs Words of this matter. Luk. xxi. 24. They fhall fall by the edge of the fword, and fhall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerufalem fhall be troden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, i. e. Fill the Time, Times, and half of the Gentiles treading down the outward Court of the Temple, or the Holy City be fulfilled. Or rather till the times allotted by the divine Providence, for the the Dominion of the four Gentile and Idolatrous Monarchies be fulfilled: Either fenfe coming all to one and the fame grand Period

Apoc. xi. 2.

of

Apoc. x. 7.

of which we are now speaking. (2.) This appears alfo by the parallel Oath of a mighty Angel in the Revelation, who Swears that at the very beginning of the founding of the feventh Trumpet, or rather when it is ready to found the mystery of God fhould be finish'd, as he had declar'd to his fervants the Prophets,.e. That after he had caft down the four Monarchies, which vid. Brightbad domineer'd over his own People the Jews, He would advance man: in Lothat People, and restore them to their own Land, and govern them, cum. and the rest of the World by their King Melliah for ever. (3.) This is ftill farther confirm'd by the Expreffions of the founding of the fame feventh Trumpet; when there were great Voices in Heaven, faying, The Kingdoms of this World are already become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Chrift, and he fhall reign for ever and ever. When the time was come for the dead to be judged, and rewards to be diftributed. Now we never meet in Scripture with any other glorious Kingdom of the Meffiah, but that over his ancient people the Jews, and from them to all the ends of the Earth. And this purport of the feventh Trumpet agrees exactly with the expreffion of the Prophet Ifaiah, concerning the Restoration of the Jews upon the blast of this concluding or great Trumpet. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, Ifa. xxvij. 13. that the great Trumpet fhall be blown, and they fhall come See Zech. ix. which were ready to perish in the Land of Affyria, and the 14 outcafts in the Land of Egypt, and fhall worship the Lord in the holy Mount of Jerufalem. (4.) This feems also to be plainly intended in that famous Evening-Morning Vifion here- See Schol. after to be explain'd; where, upon the question, How long fhall after Part 3. be the Vifion concerning the daily facrifice, and the trangref- 4. infra fion of the defolator, to give both the Sanctuary and the Hoft to be troden under foot? It is answered, Unto 2300 EveningMornings [No] Then fhall the Sanctuary be cleanfed. What can these words directly refer to, but to the Time when the Temple at Jerufalem is to be rebuilt, and hallowed again after this tong Captivity of the Jews? and if fo, This will belong to the Time immediately following that Grand Period we are now upon. For we shall prove hereafter, when we 'come to interpret thefe Vifions in particular, as we are now only stating their Order; that this famous Number 2300,

Νυχθήμερα,

3.

25.

Deut.vij. 6. &

Dan. xij. 7.
Apoc.xij. 6, 14.

Dan. xij. 7.

Noxwe, ends at the very fame time with the Conclufion of the Five foregoing Prophecies. (5.) The Little Horn is to Dan.vij.21,22, wear out, and make war with, and prevail against the Saints of the moft High; who, in Daniel's phrafe, certainly include, xiv. 2. & xxvj. if not fingly mean the Jewish Nation, (which was from the 18, 19. & beginning an Holy Nation, or fanctified and fet apart for God,) xxxiij.3. Pfal. Until a Time, and Times, and a Divifion of Time; i. e. as 50.5. Jer. ij. we have feen, till the Conclufion of that Grand Period we have 3. Exod. xix. been treating of: when therefore the Kingdom, and Dominion, 5.6. Dan.xij.7. and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven fhall be given to the People of the Saints of the moft High, or to the Jews at Jerufalem, in conjunction with the rest of God's faithful Servants, which shall be joined unto them, agreeably to our prefent affertion. (6.) The Conclufion of the Time, Times, and an Half, or of the 1260 Days allotted for the Dominion of the Antichriftian Powers, for the afflicted State of the Church, and for the End of the correfpondent Wonders, is not to be expected till God fhall have accomplished to fcatter the Power of the Holy People; or, as 'tis commonly expounded, till He fball have finish'd and put an end to the grand difperfion of the Jews, by their restoration to their own Land. Which feems to me a remarkable Defignation of the affigned Date of the Jews Restoration. (7.) This alfo feems to me to be hinted in the Apocalypfe at the account of the entrance of the Vials, which have been prov'd to be the contents of the Seventh Trumpet; and at the first fort account of the Trumpet it felf also, where 'tis faid, The Temple of God was opened in Heaven, or the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Teftimony in Heaven was opened, and the feven Angels came out of the Temple, having the feven Plagues. Why has the Temple been all along fhut hitherto, and is now opened? And why do the feven Angels, with the feven Vials alone, and not with the feven Seals, or seven Trumpets, proceed out of the Temple, thus opened? I will not be pofitive in the cafe; But I think 'tis a probable account of this matter, that hitherto the Jewish Temple had been defolate, or fhut up from them: But that now it was re-built, and open again; and that these last feven Plagues proceed from Chrift, as he is enthron'd in the Holy of Holies at Jerufalem, after the Refto

Apoc. xi. 19. xv. 5, 6, 7.

them.

ration of that his ancient People, and his refettlement among
See Ezek. 43. 1-5. and Pfal. 79. 12. Only I must defire the
Reader to obferve, that I speak only of the Restoration of the Jews
at this time, but not of their Converfion to the Chriftian Faith;
Because I think that is not, according to the Prophecies, to come to
pass till fome confiderable time afterwards.

719,720.

Scholium. Upon this occafion it will be fit to fet down Old Tobit's most famous Prophecy, or rather Interpretation of the more ancient Prophecies relating to the prefent grand difperfion of the Jews, and to their fo much expected future Restoration; which Prophecies have been fo often mifunderstood by our later Chriftian Commentators. And this paffage is the more remarkable,becaufe of its great Antiquity; being written fome time before feveral Books of the Old Teftament; and because in the Vulgar Greek Copy the most material Point is omitted, and can now See Mede p. only be reftor'd from a moft ancient Hebrew Version, made from the Original Chaldee, which is ftill extant. The Paffage Tobit. xiv. 4 is this: As to our Brethren the Ifraelites, who dwell at Jerufa- &c. lem; they shall all be carried captive, and Jerufalem fhall be laid Deut. xxviij. in heaps, and the house of God shall be defolate for a small time. 64. Then fhall the children of Ifrael afcend, and rebuild the City, and Ifa. xxiv. & the Temple; but not according to the former building. And there xxix. 1, &c. they shall inhabit many days, until an Age be compleated. And Hofea iij.4. then fall they depart again into an exceeding great captivity. But there afo fhall the Holy Blessed God be mindful of them, and fall gather them from the four parts of the World. Then shall Fe- Ifa. xxxv. 2. rufalem the holy City be restored with curious and stately buildings. & Lij. & Liv. And the Temple alfo shall be magnificently built, never to be deStroyed again for ever and ever, as the Prophets have foretold. Amosix.11.-15. Then fhall thofe Nations be converted; they shall worship the Lord, and shall cast away the Images of their Gods; and by a confeffing of him, fhall give praise to his great Name. He also shall exalt the horn of his people before all nations; And they shall praise and glorify his great Name, even all the feed of Ifrael. Then shall all his fervants which ferve kim in truth rejoice; and all that work Rightoonfness and Godliness shall rejoice and be glad.

& v. 5, 6.

11, 12. & LX.

10, 13, 17.