as we fee the half hour in the 8th. Chapter, and the five Months in the 9th. Chapter, to be taken; which he says, are an Instance in the Prophecy, to direct us to the Mystical Ufe of Time in all other places of it. And to take the Days and Months in their literal sense, he fays, Is not at all fuitable to an Ænigmatical Style. 6. Dr. Hammond upon those words, chap.1. v.1.Apoc. Things which must fhortly come to pass, fays, That those Words were to him the Key for the whole Prophecy, and thence does confidently determine, That the Vifions of the Apocalypfe, were to be fulfilled very shortly after the Delivery of the Prophecy. Not to mention the inconfiftency of this with the Doctors Interpretations of the Ten Horns 200 Years after, and of the 1000 Years after that in the 20th. Chapter, together with his Application of Gog and Magog to the Turks after thofe 1000 Years; See what fmall Account Ribera makes of the ground of this confidence upon those very fame Words: (m) Ribera in cap. 11. v. 1. Apocal. Numer. 5. Id quod incipitur jam fit. Cum ergo ille Perfecutiones, &c. cito incipi deberent, recte ait, Quæ oportet fieri cito, etfi non cito effent finienda. Ita probat Communis confuetudo Sermonis, & confuetudo Scripturæ. He fays, (m) It is a common ordinary way of Speech, and the Custom of Scripture, To Say of Things that were fhortly to begin, that they should shortly come to pass, tho they were not shortly to be finished. This fharp and fevere Cenfure of all the main Foundations of the Grotian Way from the Mouth of that Party, whom it does moft oblige, does fufficiently juftifie the fame kind of Sentence, that has been pafs'd upon it by the most fagacious of the Proteftant Interpreters, who cannot but look upon Grotius in most of the obftrufe parts of Prophecy, as most affectedly fingular; and to that degree in fome places, as to make him one of the most apparent Inftances of of that old obfervation, Nullum Magnum Ingenium fine mixtura. I will therefore now venture to conclude, That the Authority of Grotius, and Dr. Hammond will not much. prejudice any Proteftant against the Suppofitions, which are at firft laid down as the Baíis of these Interpretations. But if the Predictions before mentioned be shortly fulfilled, they will be a moft confiderable confirmation of the Suppofitions upon which they rely. Whatever may be the Iffue of these particular Applications to these prefent Times, the main Body of the Interpretations ftands fecure upon another Bot tom, viz. Their paft Accomplishment. And that long Train of Divine Judgments, which through the Courfe - of fo many Ages has always run down Parallel with the violent Practices of the Roman Church, is expeperience enough to affure all the divided Parts of the Reformation, That the biting and devouring one another for their Religious Differences, are the next Caufes of most of the Judgments of God that come upon them. March 25. 1689. THE rally allowed by Proteftant Interpreters, upon which the whole Difcourfe relies. The Party of the Beast, a corrupt part of the Christian Church. The Roman Church, an Object of the Plagues of all the Trumpets. The Saracens and Turks the first Chap. II. The great Tribulation, and great Multitude, chap. 7. 9. applied: The rest of the Brethren and the Vengeance promised,chap. 6. 11. The matter of the fixth Seal. The Object of the Plagues of the Trumpets. The Hoftilities of the Saracens, and Turks, further evinced to be the business of the first and second Woe. bounds of the first four Trumpets determined Chap. III. The four first Trumpets applied. The fignification of a third part in the Trumpets fcrupulously enquired after and deter- Chap. IV. The particular Application of the Matter of the first four Trumpets, according to the Notion of the third part mentioned in them. The reafon of the difference betwixt the four first and the three laft Trumpets. What Provocations were the cause of the Judgments of the Trumpets. How they were the Vengeance pro- mifed to the Martyrs under Rome Heathen Chap. V. The Plagues of the Trumpets parallel to the encrease of the degeneracy of the Church. An Analysis of the Prophetical Schemes from the first Trumpet in the Eighth Chapter, up to the fifth Seal in the fixth Chapter. And the neceffity of their Appli- cation, firft from the fignification of the Schemes, and the order in which they are placed. And then from the remarkableness of the Events, which required fuch a PropheticalScene to reprefent them. F p. 65 The direct order of the fame Application from the fifth Seal to the firft Trumpet. The Schemes before the time of the rife of the Beast in the Twelfth Chapter parallel'd with thofe in the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Chapters Chap. VI. The fignification of the Characters of the Two Witnesses demonftrated. Their Death fixed to the Suppreffion of the True Church in the Dominions of the Beaft only. The Death of the Witnesses no general Massacre. Two generál diftinct Suppreffions of the True Church not poffible. The Bodies of the Witnelles kept from being buried, an Act of Friendship. This attributed to Peoples, Tongues and Nations, denotes the Affiftance of Proteftant States p. 82 Chap. VI. The Refurrection of the Witnesses is the Recovery of the True Church, where it was totally fuppreffed; It is fixed to this prefent time. Objections answered. The Refurrection of the Witneffes, the Recovery of the Proteftant Churches. And to begin in 1689, or at fartheft in 1690 Chap. VIII. The time of the Refurrection of the Witnesses confirmed from the Expiration of the time affigned to the fecond Woe. The fecond Woe is the Turkish Empire. The Explication of the Hour, Day, Month, Year, affigned to the fecond Woe. The first Date of that time ག་ p. 93 P. 110 Chap. 9. The particular Date of the Hour, Day, Month and Year, ftated. The end of the second Woe, or of all Turkish Wars just at -band. And therefore the recovery of the Proteftant Churches by the Refurrection of the Witneffes to be be very shortly expected. The Parallel in the Twelfth Chapter of Daniel with this of the Refurrection of the Witneffes, and the end of the Second Woe.p. 1 2 3 Chap. X. The luft Slaughter, and firft Refurrection of the witnesses confined to the Kingdom of France, and its Neighbourhood. From thence it difpreads it self over all the Roman Jurifdiction. Why the paffing away of the Second Woe deferred till the Account of the Beaft and Witneffes was interrupted, Chap. II. The rifen Witneffes the Executors of the third Woe.The third Wee of fome confiderable duration. TheWestern Empire the only Object of the third woe P. 135 Chap. XI. The Trumpets and Vials have different Objects. The first date of the Vials not before the Proteftant Reformation P. 177 Chap. XII. Objections against the date of the Vials from the Reformation answered p. 193 Chap. |