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Exod.ix.13-35.
Apoc. xi. 19.

& xvj. 18.

was otherwife, and if the Voice, as of a Lion roaring, was utter'd at the very fame time with the Voices of the Seven Thunders, it must fure have hinder'd St. John from hearing of them fo diftinctly, as we find by what follows he certainly did. So that probably the Thunders were introduc'd after the mention of the Seventh Trumpet; and therefore probably belong to its Conclufion, or the last Vial.

3. The Seventh Vial, befides other Remarkables, chiefly taken from the Seventh of the Plagues of Egypt, has alfo within it, agreeably to that Plague, Bogra, Thunders, as we find both in its general intimation, and particular defcription alfo. And this is the more to be obferv'd, because this Seventh Vial is, I think, the only particular Plague or Judgment in this Book which has any Thunders mention'd in it. Now then, fince we find in general that Thunders, in the Plural, are certainly included in the Seventh Vial, and in no other diftin& Plague or Judgment in this Book; and fince we elsewhere find a particular mention of Seven Thunders, without any clear hint where they ought to be plac'd; it is certainly not improper to fuppofe that they belong to the fame Vial, and are no other than those Seven particular Thunders which in general are mention'd as included therein. And this feems to me the proper Connection between thefe Thunders, and that Vial to which they appertain.

4. This is alfo mightily confirm'd by a parallel place, tho' not under the laft Vial, yet contemporary therewith, where at that point of time belonging to this Vial, or the destruction of Apoc.xix. 6. Babylon, St. John Heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as an Bportür ixugar, as the voice of mighty Tunders faying Alleluia; For the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth; what fhould the voice of thefe mighty Thunders be but that of the 7 famous Thunders we are now upon? And if fo, it may further deferve by the way to be confider'd whether these Seven Thunders, which are more emphatically refer'd to here in the State of the Undefil'd than in the feventh Vial it felf, ought not to be esteem'd of a fomewhat dif ferent Nature from the Judgment of the Vial, which is compleat without them; and indeed whether they be not rather Eucha

Euchariftical or Prophetical than Judicial. Efpecially since not only the parallel Event in Joshua, as we shall fee prefently, was a joyful Acclamation of the People; but principally fince in this very place they are defcrib'd as faying, and that in the Hebrew Language, Alleluia, because the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.

5. Which is also confirm'd by the likeness of the expreffions us'd in Exodus, and in all thefe cafes in the Revelation. In Exodus we find the Thunders call'd Voices, or Voices of God. Exod.ix.23,28. Under the Seventh Vial we find mention not only of Thun- Apoc.xi. 19.& ders, and their attendants, Lightenings, but of Voices alfo, xvj. 18. Καὶ ἐγένον φωναί, & βρονταὶ, καὶ ἀραπαί. And when the Mighty Thun- Chap. xix. 6. ders are mention'd, it is their Voice which is particularly taken notice of. Accordingly when the Seven Thunders are brought

in, they are introduc'd not alone, but uttering their Voices alfo ; Chap. x. 3, 4. Ελάλησαν αἱ ἐπεὶ βρονταὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν φωνάς. All which agrees very well with the other expreffions before-mentioned.

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6. This Hypothefis agrees particularly with the Nature and Place of the Seventh Vial, which was poured into the Air; Apoc.xvj. 17. and therefore might naturally produce Thunders, with their Concomitants; which are the most remarkable of all the ufual Effects or Phanomena which proceed from that Region.

7. Laftly, This correfponds very well with that remarkable Hiftory in Joshua, to which, as we have before obferv'd, the Prophecy of the Seven Trumpets, with the Vials of the laft of them, does directly refer. For as there the Seventh days work was peculiar and Sevenfold, as the Seventh Trumpet was peculiar, and to contain Seven Vials: So was the last part of the Seventh days work, belonging to the Seventh Vial, peculiar alfo: For then only were the Priests to make a long blast with the Rams horns, or Trumpets of Ju- Jol.vj. 5, 20. bilee; and then only the People were to fhout with a great fbout, till the Walls of Jericho fell down flat before them. Which long Blaft with the Seven Trumpets, and mighty Shout of the People, feem to me correfpondent to these Seven laft Thunders, with their Voices; and as they were juft previous to the Fall of the City Jericho, the principal Obftacle to the Jews paffage into the Land of Canaan; fo are these alfo to be juft previous to the Fall of the

Great

Apoc. x. 3,4.

Great City, or Mystical Babylon, the principal Obstacle to the fame Jews Converfion to the Chriftian Faith, and to the Commencing of that Millennium of which the Land of Canaan was a Type under the Old Teftament..

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But as to any Gueffes or Expofitions of Learned Men of these feven Thunders, before the time of their completion, I cannot but wonder at them. When God feems on purpose to hide the Contents of these feven Thunders from us till then, to think our felves capable of finding them out by our own abilities, feems to me not a little foolish and prefumptuous. The words of St. John are these, And the Angel cried with a loud voice as when a Lion roareth; and when he had cried, seven Thunders uttered their voices; and when the feven Thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from Heaven, faying unto me, Seal up thofe things which the feven Thunders uttered, and write them not. Upon which words the Judicious Mr. Mede fays excellently. Erunt forte Septem Tonitrua Oracula totidem fed ignoranda omnino rei; nec nifi fuis temporibus percipienda: Quod innuit Joanni, voces Tonitruum fcripturo, cœlitus facta Prohibitio; Obfigna quæ locuta funt feptem Tonitrua, & ne ea fcribas. Fruftra igitur nos inquirendo erimus que Deus occulta effe voluit, & fuis temporibus refervanda: In this place fure, if in any, God's own Admonition ought Deut. xxix. 29. to take place; Secret things belong to the Lord: and accordingly ought not, till the time of their completion, to be too boldly enquired into, or determined by us. At which Period, and not before, it will become us to expect and look about for the completion and understanding of thefe Thunders. For as they were defign'd not to be known till their fulfilling; fo, no doubt, it was defign'd they should then be obferv'd: tho' not fo much perhaps for their own fakes, as for the fake of that greater and more concerning Epocha which they warn us of, as next to fucceed; viz. either the first commencing of Chrift's Kingdom upon the conclufion of that of the Ten Antichriftian Powers, at the beginning of the Seventh Trumpet; or rather the Converfion of the Jews, and Intire Advancement of Chrift's Kingdom in the Millennium, after the Seventh Vial.

XVIII.

That Happy and Glorious State of the Church Apoc. xx. & which concludes the Revelation, and is fometimes xxj,&xxij. defcrib'd as the Marriage of the Lamb, or the New Jerufalem; fometimes as the Thoufand Years, wherein Satan is Bound; and wherein the Saints Live and Reign with Chrift upon Earth, belongs to one and the fame Period, which is ftill Future; and immediately fucceeds the Events contain'd in the Sealed Book, and in the Open Codicil, taking up the entire fpace from thence to the fecond Refurrection, or till the General Judgment, and Confummation of all Things.

That the Sealed Book does not directly contain more than the Events of the Seals, which are terminated at the end of the Vials, feems to me evident, both from the nature of the thing it felf, and from a vifible Period in the Apocalypfe au this point of Time alfo. For as foon as the final Ruin of Babylon is over in the 18th Chapter, and Hymns of Praise are fung to God for his Juft Judgments upon her, with a short hint, by the by, of the Preparation for the Marriage of the Lamb, in the beginning of the 19th Chapter; The Angel, fays St. John, as if all his prefent Bufinefs were over, faith unto me, Thefe are the true fayings of God. And I fell at his feet to Apoc. xix. 9. worship him: and he faid unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow fervant, and of thy brethren that have the Teftimony of Fefus: worship God: For the Teftimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. Which is juft fuch a Conclufion as we meet with afterward at the end of the Appendix, and fo of the whole Apoc.xxij. 6, Prophecy; and therefore appears to be a Conclufion of the 7,8. Sealed Book That the Open Codicil reaches no farther than the Sealed Book is plain, (i.) By its general Nature and Geni

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Apoc. vj. 2.

us; which is that, not of a feparate Treatife, or Book, but of an additional Codicil. (2.) By the common Period of that double Prophecy; which runs equally through both the Books from the beginning of the Trumpets till the end of the Vials, and the univerfal Deftruction of the Enemies of Chrift at that time. (3.) By the View of its Contents; which reach no farther than that Deftruction in any of its Vifions. Only it must be obferv'd that I alfo take in the latter part of the 19th Chap. Apoc. xix. 11 into the Sealed Book, as being no other than a Claufula, or Summary Recapitulation of the Sealed Book, and the fuccefs of its Judgments: introducing Chrift in the fame manner, but more Gloriously riding on a white horse to the laft great Battel of Harmageddon, as the firft Seal introduc'd him alfo riding on a white horse, conquering and to conquer; and fo at last connecting and conjoining together the beginning and ending of the Seal'd Book; affuring us thereby what was its main defign, namely an account of the feveral fteps by which Chrift would advance his Authority, and at the conclufion would Triumph over all his remaining Enemies in the last Vial. And Apoc.xiv 14 as the Open Codicilhas at its Conclufion an exactly parallel Clanfula or Period; I take that alfo into that Open Codicit, and ob ferve that there it intirely ends, without the leaft hint of the fucceeding Glorious State of the Church. It being indeed no other than an Additional Codicil relating wholly to the Sealed Book it felf, without any concern with its Appendix at all, or thofe Glorious things foretold in it. These things being thus premis'd, I come to the prefent Propofition, and Affert that the New Jerufalem, or the Marriage of the Lamb; and the Binding of Satan, while the Saints Live and Reign with Christa 1000 years, belong to one and the fame State of the Church; and are either the very fame thing, or at leaft Contemporary to each other; andas they immediately fucceed the Seal'd Book and Open Codicil fo do they contine for a 1000 years, from the first to the fecond Refurrection.

20.

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That the Holy City the New Jerufalem, and the Marriage of the Lamb are, as it were, the fame thing, is evident in the very defcription of the former; which is exprefly Apoc.xxj. 2. faid to defcend from God out of Heaven prepared as a

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