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CONTENTS.

VOL. II.

CHAP. X.

Contents of the little book-History of the Western Apostacy under the three woe-trumpets.

THE little book comprehends the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters of the Revelation, p. 9.-These chapters in point of chronology, run parallel to each other, p. 9.-And they form a complete history of the Western Apostacy, p. 10.-The contents of the little book may be properly divided into five sections: 1. The prophesying of the witnesses; 2. The war of the dragon with the woman; 3. The history of the ten-horned beast of the sea; 4. The history of the two-horned beast of the earth; 5. The collateral history of the true Church, of the Reformation, and of the harvest and vintage of God's wrath, p. 12.

SECT. I.

Concerning the prophesying of the two witnesses.

THE little book commences with the year 606, or with the beginning of the rst woe-trumpet, p. 12.-What is meant by measuring the temple, and not measuring the outer court of the Gentiles, p. 13.-The two witnesses are not the Old and New Testaments, p. 14.-Bp. Newton is perfectly right in the spirit, though not quite accurate in the letter, of his interpretation of their character, p. 15.—They are certainly two churches, p. 15.-Throughout the whole Apocalypse, the idea of a twofold Church of Christ is constantly preserved: the Church before, and the Church after, the advent of our Lord, p. 15.-The two witnesses literally represent these two Churches, forming jointly the faithful Church general: but spiritually they mean the mystical children of the universal Church, those that are Israelites indeed, p. 16.The circumstance of their being said to prophesy is no objection to the supposition, that they symbolize all God's faithful witnesses during the prevalence of the Apostacy, p. 17. In what sense they shut up heaven, and smite the earth with plagues, during the time of their prophesying, p. 17.-In what sense they are said to have only one mouth, p. 18.-How, and when, the two witnesses were slain by the beast of the bottomless pit, p. 21.- Our Lord was literally crucified within the limits of the great city, p. 22.-In what manner the witnesses lay dead three days and a half, p. 24.The meaning of the word Hour, p. 32.-At what period we are to divide the first woe-trumpet from the second woe-trumpet in the history of the Western Apostacy, p. 35.-At the close of the second woe, the great earthquake of the French Revolution throws down a tenth part of the Roman city, p. 40.—At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, or third woe-trumpet, the limited monarchy of revolutionary France is dissolved; and the reign of openly established Anarchy and Atheism com mences, p. 42.

SECT. II.

Concerning the war of the dragon with the woman.

THE prophecy of the war between the dragon and the woman cannot relate to the days of Constantine; both because it is contained in the little book, and because it twice declares itself to be connected with the 1260 years of the Apostacy, p. 51.-The woman is the spiritual Church of true believers, as contradistinguished from the nominal believers of the outer court, p. 58.—The dragon is the devil acting through the instrumentality of the seven-headed and ten-horned beast, p. 58.—Difficulty of interpreting the symbol of the man-child, p. 60.-What is meant by the fall of the dragon from heaven to earth, p. 64.-- The war between Michael and the dragon is the spiritual contest between the witnesses and their enemies during the whole period of the 1260 years: but the particular victory of Michael, here mentioned, was achieved at the era of the Reformation, p. 64.-In what sense the devil hath but a short time upon earth, p. 66.-An attempt to trace the steps of the dragon, after he was cast out of the symbolical heaven by the Reformation, p. 66.-The meaning of the flood, which he vomited out of his mouth against the woman, p. 73.— In what manner the earth swallowed it up, p. 74.-- How the dragon will go forth to make war with the woman and the remnant of her seed, p. 75.

SECT. III.

Concerning the ten-borned beast of the sea.

THE seven-headed and ten-horned beast of the sea is not the same as his own little horn mentioned by Daniel, or the Papacy, p. 78.-On the contrary, he is the same as Daniel's ten-horned beast, of whom the little Papal horn was only a single member: that is to say, he is the temporal Roman Empire, p. 86.—In what sense St. John beheld the rise of the ten-horned beast, p. 88.-How the ten horned beast is said to continue or to practise 42 months, which is the same period as the reign of his own little horn, p. 88.-In what sense it is said, that this beast "was, and is not, and yet is," p. 89.-The apocalyptic ten-horned beast is the Roman beast, in his revived or papally idolatrous state, p. 90-How he is said to have seven heads, p. 91.-In what sense he was wounded to death by a sword under his sixth head, and afterwards restored to life again, p. 93.—An inquiry into what is meant by the last head of the beast, p. 101.-This last head can only be sought for among the following powers: the line of the Western Emperors; the three kingdoms of the Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and the Lombards; the Exarchate of Ravenna; the Popedom; and the Carlovingian empire, p. 107.-The last head of the beast consists jointly of his seventh and eighth heads; whence it may be termed his septimo❤ octave head, p. 107.-This septimo-octave head cannot be the line of the Western Emperors and the Papacy, p. 108.-Neither can it be the three Gothic kingdoms in Italy and the Papacy, p. 108.-Nor can it be the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Papacy, p. 109.-Nor the Papacy, considered as existing in a two fold capacity, p. 111. -But the Patriciate of Rome merging into the Carlovingian Emperorship, p. 114.While Charlemagne was Patrician of Rome, he was the seventh head: when he became Emperor, he was the eighth head; the seventh and eighth heads being then, in his person, amalgamated, as it were, so as to form one septimo-octave head, p. 114.-Three objections to this scheme of interpretation answered, p. 117.- No power has ever yet arisen within the limits of the Roman Empire, which at all answers to the prophetic character of the double or septimo-octave head, except the Carlovingian monarchy alone, p. 123. On what head of the beast the ten horns appeared to be growing, p. 124. Various points of resemblance between the beast and the revived or Papal Roman Empire, p. 125-General statement of the whole interpretation of the symbol of the seven-headed and ten-horned beast, p. 128-Accomplishment of the last part of the prophecy, p. 129.

SECT. IV.

Concerning the two-borned beast of the earth.

THE two-horned beast of the earth and the image are not Infidelity and democratic Tyranny, p. 131.-Neither are they the French Republic and the prostitute goddess of reason and liberty, p. 136.-The two horned beast is not the same as the beast of the bottomless pit-Ludovicus cannot be the name of the beast, p. 138.-The two-horned beast is not the Romish clergy, as contradistinguished from the Papacy, p. 140.-But he is the catholic spiritual empire of the church of Rome, considered as including both the Pope his head, and the regular and secular papal clergy his two lamb-like horns, or distinct ecclesiastical kingdoms, p. 141.-This spiritual empire, which at its first rise was only a small spiritual kingdom, is represented by Daniel under the symbol of a little horn springing up among the ten horns of the Roman beast: but, when the saints were given into the hand of the little horn by the Pope being constituted Bishop of Bishops and supreme head of the universal Church, the little horn became a catholic spiritual empire, and as such is represented by St. John under the symbol of a second beast co-operating with the tenhorned or secular Roman beast, p. 142.-Points of resemblance between the twohorned beast and the Papacy, p. 143.-His two horns, p. 144.-His first horn symbolizes the regular clergy, p. 147.-His second horn, the secular clergy, p. 149.-His making of an image for the ten-horned beast is the revival of idolatry by the Pope, p. 159.-Reasons why the image cannot be either the Pope, the Carlovingian empire, or the Inquisition, p. 168.-The prophetic description of the name of the beast must be carefully attended to, in order to discover what it is: for it is not sufficient merely to discover a name that comprehends the number 666, and thence to infer that that name is the name of the beast, p. 172.-The opinion of Ireneus upon this point is perfectly just, p. 174.-Latinus is the name of the beast; both because it contains the number 666, because it is the name of a man, because it is the name of an empire, and because it is the gentile name of every individual in that empire, p. 174. The mark of the beast is the cross, as abused by the secular Latin empire to the purposes of cruelty and superstition, p. 176.-The two apocalyptic beasts in short are the two contemporary Latin empires, secular and spiritual, p. 181.-To shew their close connection with each other yet further, St. John afterwards represents them jointly under one great compound symbol, a harlot or apostate church, riding upon a seven-headed and ten-horned temporal beast, p. 181.

SECT. V.

The bistory of the true Church during the period of the great Apostacy-The barvest and vintage of God's wrath.

UNDER the image of 144,000 sealed servants of God standing and exulting on the mount Zion, is represented the desolate church in the wilderness, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, during the period of the 1260 years, p. 185.-The 144,000 are the same as the two mystic witnessess; and they peculiarly represent the internal state of the Church previous to the era of the Reformation, although the witnessess will continue more or less to prophesy in sackcloth to the very time of the end, p. 186. Their joy is purely of a spiritual nature, and subsists along with great temporal distress, p. 186.-After describing the 144,000, the prophet suddenly introduces an angel flying in the midst of heaven and bearing the everlasting Gospel, p. 188.By this angel Luther and his followers seem to be intended, through whose instru~ mentality the Reformation was most unexpectedly begun, p. 188.-The first angel is followed by a second, prophetically denouncing the destruction of the mystic Babylon, p. 190.-By this angel Calvin, and the different reformed continental churches of his persuasion, appear to be meant, p. 190.-The second angel is followed by a third, denouncing everlasting misery to those, who shall continue to worship the beast and his image, and to receive his mark, p. 192.-By this third angel, the third great branch of the Reformation, the Church of England, which is not professedly

either Lutheran or Calvanistic, seems to be represented, p. 198.-The great perse→ cutions at the era of the Reformation predicted, p. 193.-Having passed the opoch of the Reformation, the prophet describes in brief the events of the third woe-trumpet under the types of a harvest and a vintage; for this last chapter of the little book, like the preceding ones, extends through the whole period of the 1260 days, p. 194. The history of the third woe-trumpet however the prophet details at large in the greater book of the Revelation, dividing it into the seven periods of the seven vials, p. 196.-These vials must be arranged in three classes, in order that they may be made to synchronize with the harvest and the vintage: namely, the vials of the harvest; the intermediate vials; and the vial of the vintage, p. 197.

CHAP. XI.

Concerning the effects of the last woc-trumpet, the pouring out of the seven vials, and the restor ration of the Jews.

AT the sounding of the last woe-trumpet, the seven vials full of the last plagues are poured out, p. 198.-The seven vials are all posterior to the 12th of August, 1792, when the third woe-trumpet began to sound, and when Antichrist was revealed, p. 198. They more or less affect both the East and the West, p. 199.Though they succeed each other in regular chronological order, no intimation is given, that one shall be completely emptied, before another begins to be poured out, p. 200. The harvest comprehends the three first vials, and symbolizes the miserics inflicted upon mankind by the tyranny of Antichrist during the madness of the French Revolution, p. 200.-The vintage synchronizes with the seventh vial, and relates to the final destruction of all God's enemies in the land of Palestine, p. 200.-The remaining three vials occupy the intermediate space between the harvest and the vintage, p. 200.

SECT. I.

Concerning the vials of the barvest.

THE harvest may be considered as commencing, not merely with the first vial, but with the earliest blast of the third woe; and the downfall of the tenth part of the great city may be esteemed the first fruits of it, p. 201.—The harvest describes the miseries, both internal and external, produced by the frantic anarchy of the French Revolution; and comprehends the three first vials, p. 201.-At the pouring out of the first vial on the 26th of August, 1792, the noisome sore of atheism breaks out, or publicly makes its appearance, in France and throughout the whole Latin earth, p. 202.-At the pouring out of the second vial in the beginning of September, 1792, the horrible and long protracted massacres, perpetrated during what was called the reign of terror, commence, p. 204.-At the pouring out of the third vial, the regularly established governments of the Latin empire experienced dreadful devastation from the arms of Republican France during a series of bloody and unsuccessful campaigns, the issue of which has been a tremendous aggrandizement of that Infidel power, p. 206.--The figurative harvest having been gathered in when France once more became a monarchy, and when a general peace was made in the year 1801, the affairs of the world have in some measure returned to their old channel, p. 209.

SECT. II.

Concerning the three intermediate vials.

THE period between the harvest and the vintage is marked by the pouring out of three vials, the last of which is the precursor of the vintage, p. 209.-At the

pouring out of the fourth vial, the sun of the Latin firmament, or the now-existing principal government of the divided Papal Roman empire, scorches men with the intolerable heat of a systematic military tyranny, p. 210.-This government is that of France, under the present despotic usurper; and the blaze of his tyranny extends not merely to France, but likewise to Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and all the west of Germany, p. 211.-The influence of this vial will probably continue to the days of the vintage, and the military tyranny produced by it be the principal immediate instrument of forming the great confederacy; p. 212.-We must not look for any further Reformation from Popery, p. 213.-Reasons for thinking, that there will be no fresh general persecution of Protestanism; or at least that no attempt of that nature will prove successful, p. 213.--All the remaining vials are as yet future. At the pouring out of the fifth vial, come great temporary calamity will fall upon the empire of the secular beast; but, what event may be alluded to, or what power will then be the last head of the beast, it is impossible at present to determine, p. 215. -At the pouring out of the sixth vial, the waters of the mystic Euphrates, which symbolize the Turkish monarchy, will be completely dried up, in order that a way may be prepared for the kings from the East, p. 217.-These waters have already begun to experience a rapid and great exhaustion; whence we may infer, that the era of the sixth vial, or the downfall of the Ottoman power, cannot be very far dis tant, p. 218.-Whenever that event happens, it will serve as a key to the right explanation of the fifth vial, p. 219.-The kings from the East are most probably the ten tribes of Israel, for the restoration of which the overthrow of the Turkish empire will prepare a way, p. 219.-Under this vial, the kings of the Latin earth will begin to be gathered together to the great battle of Armageddon by the beast and the false prophet, p. 222.

SECT. III.

Concerning the vial of the vintage.

years,

and

THE vintage is the catastrophe of the great drama of the 1260 synchronizes with the last vial, or the vial of consummation, p. 223.-At the pouring out of the seventh vial, three important events take place: the earthquake, by which the Latin city is divided in three parts; the overthrow of the great scarlet whore, or the spiritual Babylon; and the battle of Armageddon, p. 225.-The 17th, 18th, and 19th, chapters of the Revelation all belong to the last vial, or the times of the vintage, p. 225.-The war, which will be decided at Armageddon, will be undertaken by a confederacy of the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the Latin or Papal earth, p. 228.-The infidel king will be deeply concerned in it, p. 231.The confederacy will probably be made against the Protestant powers, and the converted Jews now about to be restored to their own country, p. 229.-The infidel king may possibly before this period become the last head of the beast; and thus take the lead in the expedition, as he is represented doing by Daniel, p. 230.-The four parallel prophecies of St. John, Daniel, Zechariah, and Joel, cited and compared with each other, p. 232.-These corresponding prophecies throw much light upon the events of the seventh vial, p. 238.-The battle of Armageddon will literally be fought in Palestine between the two seas, p. 240.-The particular scene of the conflict will be Megiddo; for Armageddon signifies the destruction at Megiddo, p. 249. -The war, which this battle will terminate, will, in one sense or another, be a reli gious war or crusade, p. 243.-Statement of the order, in which the events at the close of the 1260 years will probably succeed each other, p. 244.-When those years shall have expired, the Jews will begin to be restored, p. 244.-One great body of them will be restored in a converted state by some powerful maritime nation of faithful worshippers, p. 245.-Another great body of them will be restored in an unconverted state by the Antichristian faction, p. 247-Route of Antichrist to Palestine, p. 247.-Rout of the maritime nation to Palestine, p. 248.--Conversion of the unbelieving Jews, whom Antichrist had placed in Jerusalem, p. 248.-Antichrist returns from Egypt, whither he had marched after the conquest of Palestine, and sacks Jerusalem, p. 249. He prepares to attack the troops of the maritime power, and the converted Jews under its protection in the ghbourhood of Megiddo, p. 250.—He

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