173 174 ib. His mouth speaking great things, and his power to continue forty-two months.... of life .... has reference to his destruction at the great day of the Lord.. The faith and patience of the saints shall then be peculiarly exercised . 175 ib. 176 ib. CHAPTER XIII. 177 The second beast is an ecclesiastical character and the same as is afterwards called the false prophet.. 178 This beast is the papacy He grows up out of the earth silently and unheeded ib, He exerciseth the spiritual power of the first beast before him How this was fulfilled . ib. He causeth the earth to worship the first beast 179 He maketh fire to come down from heavenThis denotes the fire of persecution, which comes down from the symbolical heaven... ib. He causeth the inhabitants of the earth, to form an image to the first beast 180 Under this hieroglyphic is described the degeneracy of the visible professing church of Christ, once the chaste spouse of Christ, but now so corrupted, as to become an image of the beast .... ib. How this image was formed ib, How life was given to it 181 The image is both an image of the beast, and an image to the beast ib. The image is a symbol of the same corrupt church, afterwards exhibited to us as a woman, the barlot Babylon the Great .... 182 Wby two different symbols are employed to denote the same object ...... ib. Passage quoted from a writer in the British Review, illustrative of the foregoing interpretation.. 183 What is meant by the beast causing men to receive a mark, that no man might buy or sell, unless he had the mark or name of the beast, or the number of his name 185 The number of the beast explained - It is contained in the Greek letters of the name Latinus-Passage quoted from Mr. Faber on this point.... 186 This part of the prophetic description, was fulfilled by the decrees of different councils, forbidding men from holding communion with the Albigenses and Waldenses in buying and selling .... 187 CHAPTER XIV. ON THE PROPHETICAL PERIOD OF TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE SUBJECT-SIX SCRIPTURAL PROPOSITIONS LAID DOWN. In chapters xi. xii. and xii. of the Apocalypse, there is frequent mention of a certain mysterious period, during which the enemies of the church were to triumph over her ..... 192 Seven passages of Daniel and the Apocalypse cited, wherein is mention of that period ib. Two other texts wherein the same period is alluded to.. 193 A time, times, and half a time, forty-two months, and twelve hundred and sixty days, are different forms of expressing one and the same number, and that number is twelve hundred and sixty days ib. Protestant writers on prophecy, almost universally agree that these days stand for years, and that the true prophetical number is 1200 years 149 Three arguments stated to prove this... ib. The scriptures attach a very solemn degree of importance to this prophetical period 195 A careful inquiry into its commencement and termination, is therefore necessary for elucidating the prophecies of Daniel and St. John The mode in which it is proposed to proceed in this inquiry stated 196 Six scriptural propositions laid down, comprehending the various internal scriptural marks, of the commencement and termination of the foregoing period .. ib. ib. PROPOSITION FIRST CONSIDERED. The commencement of the 1260 years is to be marked, by giving the saints, and times, and laws, into the hand of the little horn 197 That the little horn is the papacy, has been proved by former writers on prophecy... The giving of the saints into the hand of the papacy, must be by some formal act of the secular power 200 Such an act was accordingly issued, in the reign of Justinian, ib. whereby the Roman Pontiff was solemnly acknowledged to be the head of the church 200 That emperor promulgated a severe edict against heretics at an early period of his reign ib. A second edict of the same nature was issued in March 533, and on this occasion, he formerly addressed the pope as the ac knowledged head of the church, for his approbation of his acts 201 The answer of the pope was also published with the other docu ments, and it shows that he understood the reference to him as a formal recognition of the supremacy of Rome .......... ib. From the date of Justinian's epistle, in March 533, the saints were formally delivered into the hand of the papacy, and this consequently is the true era of the 1260 years... ib. No other recorded act of the secular power exists, conferring a greater authority on the pope... ib. The supposed grant by Phocas of the title of universal Bishop rests on no evidence . ib. The year 533 being the true era of the 1260 years, it is requisite next to determine on what principle their termination is to be computed 203 Two modes of computing time have obtained, the one by com plete or past, the other by current time; the last is used in Asia, and in the scriptures 206 Reasons for adopting the last mode, in computing prophetical time..... 209 Following this mode of reckoning, if the 1260 years commenced in 533, they must have expired in 1792. ib. This therefore is the inference from the first proposition, that the 1260 years commenced in 533 and ended in 1792 ... ib. PROPOSITION SECOND. ib. At the termination of the 1260 years, the Ancient of Days comes, and the judgment sits to take away the dominion of the little horn, to consume and destroy it unto the end 210 Till the French revolution, the papal power continued to hold the saints in subjection-Until then, therefore, the judgment. had not began to sit.. At the fall of the French monarchy, in 1792, a series of events began, which have shaken to its foundation the spiritual power ily: Inference thence deduced, that the judgment began, and the 1260 years elapsed at that period Remarks on the course of things, since the overthrow of Bona of the papacy 212 parte, in reference to the apparent recovery of the papal ascen. dancy 213 And on the extensive efforts for the circulation of the Scriptures, since the re-establishment of peace....... 214 Concluding remark, in confirmation of the inference, that the 1260 years ended in 1792..... 215 PROPOSITIONS THIRD AND FOURTH. When the witnesses put off their sackcloth, the 1260 years are ended ib. When the woman, the church, begins to emerge from the wilderness, that period is elapsed ... ib. The time when the witnesses put off their sackclotb, must be marked by a great revival of religion ib. The time when the woman begins to emerge from the wilderness, must be marked by a great progress of religion, and particularly by a revival of exertions for evangelizing the heathen and Jews ... 216 There have been three eras of light in the church; the third is the present period, and it bears all the marks of the time when the witnesses put off their sackcloth, and the woman returns from the wilderness ib. A short view of the late events in the church which justify this inference 217 The conclusion from the whole view is, that the 1260 years are expired .. 221 The exact apocalyptic period, when the woman begins to return from the wilderness, is at the opening of the temple, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet.. ib. PROPOSITION FIFTH. The 1260 years end at the sounding of the seventh trumpet.. 222 That event took place in the year 1792, therefore the 1260 years tben elapsed... ib. PROPOSITION SIXTA. The times of the Gentiles, or 1260 years end, when the signs in the heavens, mentioned in Luke xxi. 25, begin ... ib. Introductory remark, on the difficulty of interpreting our Lord's discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem ib. This prophecy is given by three evangelists, and to arrive at its true meaning we must compare then with each other ib. The prophecy was given in answer to certain questions of four disciples.... 223 Remarks on the opinions entertained by the disciples, respecting the kingdom of our Lord ib. The Jewish nation then expected the Messiah as a temporal deliverer 223 Our Lord did not at once shock the prejudices of the disciples, on this point, but gradually prepared them to reeeive the doctrines of the cross.. 224 Still they clung to the expectation of a temporal kingdom... .. 225 When the apostles asked the questions recorded in Matt. xxiv. 3, they alluded to the coming of our Lord, mentioned in Daniel, to establish his kingdom and redeem Israel...... ib. Remarks on the Greek word, rendered.“ World,” and its corresponding Hebrew word. 226 The questions of the disciples more particularly considered-they were three in number ... 2:27 The first part of the discourse is introductory to the rest, and was intended to correct the notion of the disciples, that the glori. ous reign of the Messiah was near at hand. ' It closes by announcing the universal promulgation of the Gospel, immediately before the end...... 228 The next part of the discourse declares the sign which shall immediately precede the destruction of Jerusalem.... 229 Our Lord warns his disciples against false Christs ib. The third division of the discourse contains the signs which shall precede the second advent 230 The signs predicted by our Lord, are in the symbolical, and not the natural heavens 231 They denote the fall of kingdoms, and the dethronement of sove reigns or princes, in the body of the Roman empire in its last state 232 The awful events which have taken place in Europe, since the beginning of the French Revolution, are the fulfilment of these signs i ib. Passage from the charge of Bishop Porteus, in the year 1794, containing remarks on these events ib. Character of these events, as drawn by a writer of the present day 234 Further description of the events which have fulfilled the signs in the symbolical heavens .... 235 St. Luke tells us, that these signs shall be attended with distress of nations, and roaring of the sea and waves 237 The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy is evident in the uni versal distress which now pervades Europe, and in the spirit of insubordination which marks the present awful period ih. Thus, has our Lord's prophecy been fulfilled, by signs in the heavens, and by the present condition of the nations of the fourth monarcby 238 d |
