CHAPTER X.

THE SOUNDing of tHE SEVENTH TRUMPET.

"AND the seventh angel sounded, and there were

great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of "this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, "and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and 66 ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat "before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, "and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, "O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and "art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy "great power, and hast reigned. And the nations "were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time "of the dead that they should be judged, and that "thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the 'prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy "name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them "which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his "temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an 'earthquake, and great hail."*

66

66

66

It is justly remarked by Mede, that "the SACRED KALENDAR and GREAT ALMANACK OF PROPHECY consists of the four kingdoms of Daniel, which are a prophetical chronology of times, measured by the

* Rev. xi. 15—19.

succession of four principal kingdoms, from the beginning of the captivity of Israel until the mystery of God should be finished;-a course of time, during which the Church and nation of the Jews, together with those whom, by occasion of their unbelief in Christ, God should surrogate in their rooms, were to remain under the bondage of the Gentiles, and oppression of Gentilism. But these being once finished, all the kingdoms of this world should 'become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 'Christ.'"'—(Works, Book III.)

In considering the earthquake of the sixth seal, we saw reason for concluding that earthquake, or revolution, to be the same with the one mentioned in the seventh trumpet. Further, it has appeared, in reviewing the contents of the tenth chapter of the Apocalypse, that the mystery of God is to be finished in the days of the seventh trumpet. It is, therefore, of great importance to ascertain what place the seventh trumpet occupies in the great prophetical calendar of Daniel; and when this point shall be made clear, we shall have advanced a considerable way in determining some of the great synchronisms of prophecy. Now, from the prophecy of the four kingdoms, in the seventh chapter of Daniel, we learn that the great enemy of the Church, in the latter ages, is the little horn of the fourth beast, or Roman kingdom, by which horn it is certain that the Papal power was symbolized. This horn, in the vision of the prophet, continued to prevail against the saints "until the Ancient of Days came, and "judgment was given to the saints of the Most "High, and the time came that the saints possessed

"the kingdom."* The coming of the Ancient of Days, and the judgment which was consequent thereupon, are thus described in the same prophecy: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down," or rather "were set ;" "and the Ancient of Days did "sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the "hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne

66

was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning "fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from "before him: thousand thousands ministered unto "him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood "before him the judgment was set, and the books "were opened. I beheld, then, because of the "voice of the great words which the horn spake : "I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. "As concerning the rest of the beasts they had their "dominion taken away; yet their lives were pro"longed for a season and a time. I saw in the night "visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came "with the clouds of heaven, and came to the "Ancient of Days, and they brought him near "before him; and there was given him dominion "and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, "and languages should serve him; his dominion "is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be 'destroyed."+

66

66

The above passage being compared with Rev. xi. 15-18, makes it manifest, that the sounding of the seventh angel in the Apocalypse takes place at

* Dan. vii. 21, 22.

† Ibid. vii. 9-14.

the same period as the coming of the Ancient of Days in Daniel.* I think no person can deny this who believes the Scriptures to be divinely inspired, and takes a comprehensive view of the subject. Let the following particulars, in which the two passages correspond with each other, be compared, and it will no longer remain doubtful that they are identical in time: 1st, At the coming of the Ancient of Days, the judgment sits to destroy the enemies of the Church; and so, at the sounding of the seventh angel, it is declared that the time is come to destroy those who destroyed the earth. 2dly, At the coming of the Ancient of Days, the time is said to be arrived when the saints should possess the kingdom; and so at the sounding of the seventh angel, the period is declared to be come when God should give reward to his servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear his name. 3dly, After the coming of the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man descends with the clouds of heaven, and receives a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; and so at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, it is announced, in the triumphant thanksgivings of the heavenly hosts, that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.

* In this synchronism, viz., of Dan. vii. 9—14 with Rev. xi. 15-18, I have the concurrence of Mede. See his Works, B. iii. pp. 661, 2, London, 1664. Also, of Mr. Faber, Sacr. Cal. vol. ii. pp. 109, and 10. It is indeed so indisputable and selfevident, that these passages correspond in time, that it may seem almost superfluous to quote any authorities for it.

But though it thus evidently appears, that the kingdom of God upon earth is to be established in the days of the trumpet of the seventh angel, yet we must not conceive that this is to be immediately after the commencement of the trumpet. It is plain, from its being called the third woe, that dreadful judgments are to be executed against the nations before the joyful part of the trumpet arrives. The same conclusion may be drawn from the expressions, "the nations were angry, and thy "wrath is come." It is also said, that "the time "of the dead (is come) to be judged, and that "thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the "prophets," &c. By these expressions we are certainly to understand, that now is come the period when the cries of the slain martyrs which we heard at the opening of the fifth seal, should be answered, and their blood should be avenged on those who persecuted them, and that the cup of blood should pass into the hand of their enemies. But as the seventh trumpet includes in it, the whole judgment of the quick and dead, the above words of the heavenly host imply, also, that this judgment is now about to begin, which it does by the resurrection of the saints, at the descent of our Lord from heaven. Dr. Cressener therefore is quite correct in his inference, that the judgment of the dead, Rev. xi. 18, is the judgment of the dead, at Christ's second coming.t

*Woodhouse, in loco.

+ Demonstration of First Principles of Protestant Applications of the Apocalypse, Lib. i. chap. ix.