Ubi fuprà. 14. Reign of Antichrift, till the commencement of Chrift's Corollary 1. Since therefore we know the Epocha of this Vifion to be A. D. 33. and the duration of the first Interval to be 280 years, and of the last Interval to be 1260 years, and shall hereafter find that the fecond Interval is 142, or 143 years; we may hence determin. the times of each Period by the years of the Chriftian Era. Thus if we add 280 years to A. D. 33. we have the end of the laft Heathen Perfecution, and the Conversion of the Emperor to Christianity A.D. 313. Thus if we add to that number 143 years, we have the Interval of the Churches ProteEtion under Chriftian Emperors till A. D. 456. And if we add to that last number the 1260 years of the Churches Affliction under the Antichriftian Powers, we shall, as before, have A. D. 1716. for the time of the Commencing of Chrift's Kingdom, upon the first fall of Antichrift. Which exactness in the Coincidence of fuch large and express numbers seems to me not a little remark-. able, and worthy of more than ordinary confideration. Corollary 2. Since we find the very fame duration of the Woman's abode in the Wilderness express'd in one Verse of this Pro Apoc.xij. 6. phecy, by an eafy Phrafe of St. John, to be 1260 days; and in another, by a hard Phrafe of Daniel to be a Time Times and an half; We hence learn the importance of that Phrafe in Daniel, where it belongs to the grand Period, wherein the great Wonders be had heard were to be finish'd; and are fecure, not only that these great Wonders in Daniel belong to the time of the Woman's affliction in the Wilderness in St. John, on account of their both being the Jame Time Times and an half; but also that by a Time is meant at Year, by Times two Years, and by an half Time half a Year; which Phrafe otherwise we had never fully understood; or at least. not with any degree of that certainty which we now have concerning it. And this admirable repetition of the fame thing in St. John in different Phrafes, and that in the fame Prophecy or Vision, deServes particularly to be remark'd, not only because of its great usefulness, but of its fingularity also. A parallel Inftance not Dan.xij. 7. Is decies fenos ter centum & quinque diebus Ovid. Faft. lib. 3. being, I think, to be produc'd in the whole Prophetical Scripture befides. Corollary 3. Hence also we may learn what fort of years are made ufe of by Daniel upon all occafions. For fince we know that three years and an half in him amount to no more than 1260 days; 'tis evident that a single year is just made up of 350 days, and no more. Which therefore is to be fuppos'd to be made use of by him on all occafions relating to his own time in Hiftorical Matters; and in all Visions belonging at all to, or at all taking date from his Times, or those of the fame Empire fucceeding; till the change of the Year introduc'd a new Computation afterward. And this Corollary is also to be exceedingly taken notice of, and valu'd by us, as without which we should be so far from being able to underftand the other more difficult and remote Visions of Daniel; that even that most famous of them all, which is known by the name of Daniel's weeks, and determins the Year for the Meffiah's Death, had not fully been understood by us : As we know by the obfcurity it has been in for fo many Ages, till our excellent Chronologer and Scripturist the Lord Bp of Worcester, made this Obfervation,and fo laid a firm Foundation for the clearing of it: A full Difcourfe on which Subject the Learned World has fo long impatiently expeEted from him. XV. The Six firft Seals, and the six firft Trumpets of the feventh Seal are all Over before the End of the 1260 years of Antichrift's Reign: and the seventh Trumpet, or feven Vials contain'd in it follow immediately after that time; and are contemporary with the first Ages of our Saviour's Kingdom fucceeding to it. This Propofition includes the main, and almoft only Connexion between the two Systems of the Prophecies of this Book, [excepting what may be gather'd by the Comparifon of the double Series of the State of the Undefil'd contain'd in both the Books;] and feems to me the greatest inftance of and ix. Apoc.x. Divine Art, and furprizing contrivance in the Compofition of this Book of all other. For when the Contents of the Seal'd Book had been brought down by this Infpir'd Penman Apoc. vj. and through the fix firft Seals, and the fix firft Trumpets of the vij. and viij. feventh Seal; and when One would moft naturally have expected the founding of the feventh Trumpet, with the account of its Vials fucceffively, as the Order of the Sealed Book did certainly require; all this is moft wifely fufpended for a while. And a mighty Angel comes, and after he has affur'd us of the certainty of the fucceffion of the feventh Trumpet, and that God would no longer than till that should begin,permit any other Monarchy in the World but that of his Son; and after, as it were by the by, he has hinted to us the coming of the feven Thunders, tho' without declaring what they included; after all this Preface, I fay, a Mighty Angel introduces the other Systems of Visions contain'd in the Open Codicil; and as foon as he has brought down its famous Vifion of the Two Witnesses in Sackcloth, to the fame point of Time which the Seal'd Book ended with before; he connects them both together, and fixes them fo moft firmly, by affuring us that upon the great Earthquake on the afcent of the Witneffes, at the end of their 1260 years Sackcloth-condition, the fecond Woe, or Apoc.xj. 12- fixth Trumpet was already past; and that the third Woe or feventh Trumpet was to come quickly: And now, and not till now, does the Angel of the feventh Trumpet blow; and bring on the effects of that Trumpet. And yet what is ftill very obfervable, Becaufe this feventh Trumpet is here out of its place; In the Open Codicil, and not in the Seal'd Book, to which it belong'd; As foon as this Connexion of thefe two Books is fufficiently fecur'd by the general founding of the feVer. 15-19 venth Trumpet, and its Summary Account; the Contents themselves of that Trumpet, which, as we have shewn, are the feven Vials, are delay'd till the rest of the Open Codicil is over; and then they are immediately introduc'd, and powr'd out in order, in that continu'd Series of the hitherto interruptApoc. xv. and ed Syftem of the Seal'd Book, to which they belong; as 'tis eafy to obferve in the perufal of thefe Chapters. And indeed the first part of this Obfervation is the principal joint, or most 15. 16. eminent eminent hinge on which the whole Order and Series of the Vifions of the Apocalypfe does depend; and which the incom parable Mr. Mede firft took notice of, and thence was firft able, See Pag. 529, in great meafure, rightly to ftate the Order of the Prophecies 530, 592,697. of this Book. And if he had been fo happy as to have made the other part of the Obfervation above, viz. That as the Sealed Book was interrupted to bring the Open Codicil down to the fame point of time; fo when that was done fufficiently to connect the two Books together, the Particulars of the Seventh Trumpet were alfo fufpended till the end of the Open Co licil; and then the Sealed Book proceeded with them: If, I fay, that Great Man had obferv'd this alfo; I believe a great part of my prefent labour had been prevented, and himfelf had been able alone to determin almoft all the other difficulties about the Order of the Vifions; and fo would not near fo often have fail'd of the Interpretation of them alfo, as, for want of it, he was forc'd to do. But to leave this digreffion, and proceed. The proof of the connexion of the end of the Sackcloth-condition of the Witneffes on their Afcenfion unto Heaven, or that which is connected therewith, the end of the Reign of Anti- See Prop. 9. chrift and its Contemporaries in the Open Codicil, with the End prius. of the fixth, or rather juft before the Beginning of the feventh Trumpet in the Sealed Book, is in thefe words. And the Apoc.xi.12-50 Witnesses beard a great voice from Heaven, faying unto them, Come up hither: and they afcended up to Heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. And the fame hour there was a great Earthquake, and the tenth part of the City fell: and in the Earthquake were flain names of men 7000; and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of Heaven. The fecond Woe is past, and behold the third Woe cometh quickly. And the feventh Angel founded, and there were great voices in Heaven, faying, The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. From which great joint of the two Syltems of Prophecy, the Propofition before us is fufficiently plain, and the fix firft Seals, with the fix firft Trumpets of the feventh Seal, are certainly over before the End of the Reign of Antichrift; and the feventh Seal or feven Vials therein contain'd, are not to come till after the fame time, in the Apoc.xiij. 5. Verf. 7. the first Ages of our Saviour's Kingdom. But fince we have no other direct connexions between thefe two Books; we cannot join them together elsewhere, till in the Expofition we find other hints hereafter. XVI. The conclufion of the Tyranny or Reign of the Beast is before the beginning of the feventh Trumpet: But the End or Deftruction of the Beast himself, not till the End of the fame Trumpet, or the conclusion of the Vials. Or in other Words, the Fall of Babylon, the great Harlot that is carried by the Beast, is twofold; the first Partial, and the other Total: the first just before the Commencing, the second at the End of the feventh Trumpet, and at the first Resurrection. This eminent diftinction between the end of the reign, and of the life of the Beaft; or between the firft and the fecond Fall of Babylon: tho' perhaps not abfolutely and formally deny'd, has not however been hitherto enough consider'd nor regarded by any; and therefore stands in need of a particular proof and enforcement in this place. And the Arguments for it are thefe following. 1. That Power of the Beaft, which was to end at the Conclufion of his 42 months, was only the power of making War against the Saints, and overcoming them. The Original words are these in many, if not most of the Copies of the Greek Teftament; Καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἐξεσία πόλεμον ποιήση μήνας τεσσαράκοντα δύος Power was given to him to make war 42 months. And that this is the true Reading, appears by the Repetition of almost the fame words in the next Verse but one, as a particular Explication of these before us, which in all Copies are thefe: Kal in auto πόλεμον ποιήσαι με τα αγίων καὶ νικῆσαι αὐτὲς: and it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them. So that the End of thefe 42 Months, only puts a Period to the Reign or |