And the four and nty elders which fat be

and art to come; becaufe thou haft taken to thee thy great power, and haft reigned.

18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou fhouldt give reward unto

fore God on their feats, fell thy fervants the prophets,

ས

On their faces and wor-
Pped God,

7 Saying, We give thee

and to the faints and them that fear thy name, fmall and great, and fhouldst dethe earth.

Banks, O Lord God al- ftroy them which destroy mighty, which art and waft,

We are now come to the feventh and laft trumpet, or he third woe trumpet, and the feventh trumpet as well As all the trumpets being comprehen led under the feventh feal, and the feventh feal and all the feals being conftituent parts or members of the fealed book, it is evident that the feventh trumpet cannot any way belong to the little open book, but it is plainly distina from it, the lit tle book being no more than an appendage to the fixth trumpet, and the contents all comprehended under it, or at leaft ending with it. The forty and two months of the Gentiles treading the holy city under foot, and the 1260 days of the witnefes prophefying in fackcloth' are 1260 fynchronical years, and terminate at the fame time with the fall of the Othman empire or the end of the fixth trumpet or fecond woe-trumpet. And when the fecond woe is paft,' it is faid, xi 14. 'behold, the third woe cometh quickly. At the founding of the seventh

trumpet, ver. 15.

'the third woe' commenceth, which

is rather implied than expreffed, as it will be described

more fully hereafter.

The third woe' brought on the

inhabiters of the earth' is the ruin and downfall of the cording to the heavenly chorus, the kingdoms of this Antichriftian kingdom: and then, and not till then, acworld will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Chrift, and he shall reign for ever and ever.' St John is

wrapt

wrapt and hurried away as it were to a view of the hap py millennium, without confidering the fteps preceding and conducting to it. At the fame time the four and twenty elders, or the minifters of the church, ver. 16, 17, 18. are reprefented as praifing and glorifying God for manifefting his power and kingdom more than he had done before: and give likewife an intimation of fome fucceeding events, as the anger of the nations,' Gog and Magog, xx. 8. and the wrath of God,' displayed in their deftruction, xx. 9. and the judging of the dead,' or the general judgment, xx. 12. and the rewarding of all the good, fmall and great,' as well as the punishing of the wicked.' Here we have only a fummary account of the circumstances and occurrences of the feventh trumpet, but the particulars will be dilated and inlarged upon hereafter.

And thus are we arrived at the confummation of all things, through a series of prophecies extending from the apostle's days to the end of the world. It is this feries which has been our clue to conduct us in our interpretation of these prophecies: and though fome of them may be dark and obfcure, confidered in themselves, yet they receive light and illustration from others preceding and following. All together they are as it were a chain of prophecies, whereof one link depends on, and fupports another. If any parts remain yet obfcure and unfatisfactory, they may perhaps be cleared up by what the apotle himself bath added by way of explanation.

M

XXV.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE REVELATION.

PART II.

OST of the best commentators divide the Apocalyps or Revelation into two parts, 'the book' Picafealed with feven feals,' and 'the little book' Biagido as it is called feveral times. But it happens unluckily, that according to their divifion the leffer book is

made

made to contain as much or more than the larger: whereas in truth the little book' is nothing more than a part of the fealed book,' and is added as a codicil or appendix to it. If we were to divide the Revelation, as they would have it divided, into two parts, the former ending with Chap. ix, and the latter beginning with Chap. x, the whole frame of the book would be disjointed, and things would be feparated, which are plainly connected together and dependent upon one another. The former part, as they agree, comprehends the book fealed with seven feals, which are all opened in order; but the feventh feal confifts of the feven trumpets, and of the feven trumpets the three laft are diftinquished by the name of the three woe trumpets;' fo that the feven trumpets as, well as the feven feals, all belong properly to the former part. Whereas if we were to follow the other divifion, the trumpets would be divided, the three laft trumpets would be divided from each other, the fixth trumpet itself would be divided, would begin in the former part of the book, and end in the latter, and the seventh trumpet would remain separated from the reft, which would be a strange interruption of the feries and order of the prophecies, and greatly disturb and confound the courfe of events. The former part instead of clofing with the feventh trumpet, would then break off in the middle of the fixth trumpet: the latter part would then commence under the fixth trumpet, and after that would follow the seventh and last trumpet, and after this the general fubject of the Revelation would be refumed from the beginning of the Chriftian aera, which inftead of coming in after fo many events pofterior in point of time, ought certainly to be the beginning of the latter part. For we would alfo divide the revelation into two parts, or rather the book fo divides itself. For the former part proceeds, as we have feen in a regular and fucceffive feries from the apoftle's days to the confummation of all things. Nothing can be added, but it must fall fome where or other within the compafs of this period; it muft in fome measure be a refumption of the fame fubjects; and this latter part may moft properly be confidered as an inlargement and illustration of the former. Several things which were only touched upon, and deli

vered in dark hints before, require to be more copiously handled, and placed in a ftronger light, It was faid that the beast fhould make war againft the witneffes, and overcome them:' but who or what the beaft' is we may reasonably conjecture indeed, but the apostle himself will more furely explain. The tranfactions of the seventh trumpet are all fummed up and comprised in, a few verses, but we shall fee the particulars branched out and inlarged into as many chapters. In thort this latter part is defigned as a fupplement to the former, to complete what was deficient, to explain what was dubious, to illuftrate what was obfcure: and as the former described more the deftinies of the Roman empire, fo this latter relates more to the fates of the Christian church.

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was feen in his temple the ark of his tefta

6

ment: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thundrings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

This laft verfe of the eleventh chapter, in my opinion, fhould have been made the firft verfe of the twelfth chapter; for it appears to be the beginning of a new fubject. It is fomewhat like the beginning of Ifaiah's vifion; vi. 1. I faw the lord fitting upon a throne,' (the ark) high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.' It is fomewhat like the beginnining of St John's prophetic vifions; iv. 1, 2. 'I looked, and behold, a door, was opened in heaven; and behold, a throne was fet in heaven, and one fat on the throne.' This is much in the fame fpirit: And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was feen in his temple the ark of his teftament; that is, more open discoveries were now made, and the mystery of God was revealed to the prophet. Lightnings, and voices, and thundrings, and an earthquake, and great hail,' are the utual concomitants and attendants of the divine prefence, and especially at the giving of new laws and new revelations. So at mount Sinai, Exod. xx. 26, &c. 'there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, and the whole mount quaked greatly.' So likewife in this very book of the Apocalyps, before the opening of the feven feals, iv.

5.

5. there were lightnings, and thundrings, and voices.' So again before the founding of the feven trumpets, viii. 5. there were voices, and thundrings, and lightnings, and an earthquake:' and with as much reafon they are made in this place the figns and preludes of the revelations and judgments, which are to follow. It is no just objection, that a new fubject is fuppofed to begin with the conjunction and; for this is frequent in the ftile of the Hebrews; fome books, as Numbers, Jofhua, the two books of Samuel, aud others, begin with Vau or and; and the fame objection would hold equally against beginning the divifion with the firft verse of the next chapter.

I

A

CHAP.

ND there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman cloathed with the fun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a'crown of twelve ftars: 2 And the being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having feven heads, and ten horns, and feven crowns upon his heads.

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of

XII.

heaven, and did caft them to the earth: and the dragon ftood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as foon as it was born.

5 And the brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where the hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

St John refumes his fubject from the beginning, and represents the church, ver. 1, 2. as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Chrift. She is cloathed by the fun,' invested with the rays of Jefus Chrift the fun of righteoufnefs; having the moon, the Jewish new

moon,

a A learned correfpondent obferves that the Jewish religion is aptly compared to the moon, as its light is not its own, but furniffed by the Chriftian religion, to which it relates, and wherein its types are accomplished.