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thee:" And then a promise is made to fuch as "had not defiled their garments," that they fhall "walk with him in white;" that is, they fhall be particularly honoured and distinguished by him upon that occafion.

Should not therefore the confideration of this awful threatening, and of God's judgments upon the difobedient Jews, "whofe carcaffes fell in the wildernefs," together with the deplorable condition of our poteftant brethren in Germany and Poland, who have been fo long in the furnace, make us tremble on account of our fins? We cannot think that theirs have beengreater. And, tho' we may have fome reason tohope, that we or our pofterity fhall be employed to propagate the chriftian religion in its purity, into thofe places of the world with which we are connected, especially on the vaft continent of America; yet, it is too, too evident, that we are not as yet fit inftruments for effectually promoting fuch glorious purposes. For, what through the prevalence of hypocrify and formality on the one hand, and of profaneness and open wickedness on the other, it is much to be feared, that the number of the truly good, is comparatively small. God, indeed, ftill bears with our fins, and waits for our repentance. O may it be our happiness, to be drawn to our duty by the gentle cords of love, rather than to be beaten to it by the fcourge of a defolating war!

But, before we conclude this chapter, it will be proper to answer fome objections which have been made against the above explication of the vials *.

Some have imagined, that because the seven seals were firft opened before the feven trumpets began to found, that therefore, in analogy to this, the íeventh trumpet must sound before the firft of the feven vials fhall be poured out. But fuch ought to confider, that no fingle argument from analogy

can

See these objections in Newton's Differtations on the Prophecies, vol. 3. p. 254. 255. 256.

can poffibly infer the abfolute certainty of any fact. All that it can prove is only, that fuch or fuch a thing is poffible, or fomewhat likely; but it can be of no weight at all, when it is oppofed by ftronger proofs to the contrary.

Now, to me it appears evident, that fince, Revelation 11th chapter, 8th verfe, papal Rome is typified by Egypt, and fince, verfe 6th of that chapter, the witneffes are typified by Mofes, infomuch, that they are faid not only to "have power to turn the wa-ters into blood," but also to fmite the papal earth with all other plagues, fimilar to thofe which Mofes inflicted upon the Egyptians; and, fince the vials in the 15th chapter, ift verfe, are exprefsly called the feven laft plagues, and the firft five vials, recorded in the 16th chapter, have a plain respect to the Egyptian plagues; to me, I fay, it therefore appears evident, that the first five vials must be poured out by the witneffes, before they have finished their teftimony; becaufe, when once their teftimony is concluded, the character of witneffes no longer continues; and it is clear, from chapter 11th, 12th, and 13th veríes, that their teftimony will be finished at the founding of the feventh trumpet.

Befides, can any person reasonably conclude, after the various revolts of fo many powerful kingdoms in Europe from the jurisdiction of the papacy, and the dreadful wound which it hath received by the reformation, that no plague hath, as yet, been inflicted upon papal Rome?

Farther, fince, according to the most judicious interpreters of the Apocalypfe, the conclufion of the fecond woe, mentioned Revelation 11th chapter, 14th verse, is a prediction of the overthrow of the Ottoman empire; and alfo, that the drying up of the Euphrates, by the effufion of the fixth vial, is a prediction of the fame event, namely, of the overthrow

of

of the Turks, (who, from that river made their first irruption into the Greek empire, and ever fince have kept poffeffion of the countries adjacent to i), and, fince it evidently appears, from chapter 11th, 14th and 15th verses, that this overthrow muft happen before the feventh angel fhall found his trumpet; it therefore follows, that the firft fix vials must be poured out before the feventh trumpet fhall be founded; and alfò, that the founding of this trumpet will perfectly coincide with the effufion of the feventh vial.

If it should be objected, that the defcription of the vials immediately fucceeds to the prediction of the fall of papal Kome, mentioned in the 14th chap. and the feven vials are faid in the 15th chapter, 6th verfe, to be the feven last plagues; that therefore it is reasonable to think, that the feven vials do not contain a full enumeration of all the plagues which were to be poured out upon the papacy, but only of the feven laft calamities, by which it was to be overthrown. In antwer to this, I would obferve, that there is a twofold series of plagues denounced against the empire of Rome in this prophecy: The firft feries is denounced againft its temporal empire; and thefe are particularly defcribed by the foundings of the feven trumpets; (the first beginning with the invasion of Alaric, and the feventh concluding with the overthrow of the pope's temporal government, and of the fecular princes who fhall then fupport him;) the laft feries of plagues is denounced against its fpiritual empire; and these are particularly defcribed by the effufion of the feven vials, which are juftly called the feven laft plagues because they have a reipect to the laft ftate of the Roman empire, namely, its fpiritual government; and to the last series of calamitics, by which the empire of Rome fhall be humbled, and at length deftroyed. Now, fince in the firft feries of plagues

Z

defcribed

described by the trumpets, there is, (according to the explanation of the beft interpreters), a full enumeration of the particular calamities by which the temporal empire of Rome was brought fo low as at prefent; and, fince the last series of plagues (which were to fall upon its fpiritual empire), is reprefented in the vials by the very fame figures*, have we not then reason, from such a strong analogy as this, to conclude, that, in the feven vials, there is as full and particular an enumeration of all the plagues, from firft to laft, which were to fall upon papal Rome, as there was of those which happened to its temporal empire, by the founding of the trumpets? efpecially when we confider, that it was not the principal defign of the Apocalypfe to describe the temporal ftate of Rome, but its fpiritual. And feeing the fall of the papacy had been predicted in the 14th chapter, was it not natural to fubjoin, in the two following chapters, a particular defcription of the various gradations of this fall?

If, after all, it should be urged, that the foregoing explication supposes, that, in the prophecy, the events figured by the trumpets, and thofe reprefented by the vials, are confounded together; I aniwer, that the explication fuppofes no other confufion, than that which the nature of things doth allow, and which a full and faithful narration of dif ferent facts, happening at one and the fame time, doth neceflarily require.

A

* Compare the calamities mentioned Revelation 8th and 9th chapters, at the found of the trumpets, with those mentioned in the 16th chapter, at the effufion of the vials, and you fhall find them reprefented by the fame figures,

A Calculation of the 2300 prophetical Days or Years mentioned Daniel chap. 8th, ver. 13. 14. from which it will appear to be highly probable, that the overthrow of the Turkish Empire by Chriftian Powers is at no great distance.

IN the above paffages of the book of the prophet Daniel, we have these remarkable words." Then I heard one faint fpeaking, and another faint faid unto that certain faint, how long fhall be the vifion concerning the daily facrifice, and the tranfgreffion of defolation, to give both the fanctuary and the hoft to be trodden under foot? And he faid unto me, Unto 2300 days, then shall the fanctuary be cleanfed." That, by the fanctuary, we are to understand the temple of God at Jerufalem, is evident from the 11th and 12th verses of this chapter, and it is foretold in the ift verfe that he had this vifion in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar. The temple of Jerufalem then being the fanctuary, that, according to ver. 11. and 14. was to be polluted and caft down, and continue in a state of defolation and pollution for 2300 prophetical days or years: The first question to be folved is, When thefe 2300 years commenced? Now it muft appear plain to every fincere inquirer, that they either must be dated from the vifion, or from the deftruction of the temple by litus Vefpafian. For they cannot be fuppofed to have commenced at the polluting of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, fince this pollution did not continue to many natural days before the temple was purified by judas Maccabeus; befides he did not, according to the prophecy in the 11th verfe, caft

down

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