dred years. Where will room be found for all the events, which are to proceed the first woe? for the three different cessations or pauses, which the text calls for, before the first, second and third woes? for those events in the third woe, which are to take place both before and after the forty-two months of the power of the beast? and for the important contents of the xx. chapter? It would be incompatible with the express words of the prophecy, to let either of these woes run parallel to each other, for any space of time. The effects of the first woe must necessarily have ceased, at least in the church, before the second can begin; and so the second, before the commencement of the third; though they may continue in other parts of the world. Chapt. ix. 12. xi. 14.

III. How could the Devil's stay on earth be called a short time, which yet begins a considerable time before the forty-two months of the beast, and only closes some time after it is destroyed, if these forty-two months, amount to twelve hundred and sixty years? Surely, this short time of his continuance on earth, cannot be as long, as the following one thousand years of his confinement in the bottomless pit? The expression, "a short time," is certainly a comparative form of language, to which the positive must somewhere be found. And why would these two numbers, relative to the same object, be expressed in this manner; if the diminutive and undetermined number, was not to be compared to the following one settled and fixed? The very first sight of them ought to strike conviction into every mind, and no doubt, if closely examined, will prove the inconsistency of the yearly day in this place.

IV. The advocates for the yearly day, have thrown the forty-two months of the beast, the twelve hundred and sixty days of the witnesses, the twelve hundred and sixty days and the time, times and half a time of the woman, all into one calamitous epoch of twelve hundred and sixty years; for which at last they have neither a certain, nor a

suitable commencement. Before the year A. D. 1736, they mostly dated from A. D. 476, and some even before that year but since nothing remarkable has terminated that period, they have begun to change to later dates, still less remarkable on the page of history, and of course less probable to begin so important a train of events. Late writers have since adopted the dates A. D. 500, and 606, when the emperor Phocas, declared the bishop of Rome universal bishop. But the first foundation for the papal power and grandeur, had been laid before that time; the emperor's declaration gave this title little or no effect, for the Eastern churches never consented to this decree.

V. Another argument against the yearly day, is the measure used in the Revelation, chapter xxi. which is evidently different from that of Ezekiel XL. This difference grounds a supposition, that the mode of calculation here, may also be of a peculiar form, different from that in the Old Testament.

VI. He who minutely studies chap. xiii. of the Revelation, with all the attention it so well deserves, will there meet with a new key, for the computation of the prophetic times, peculiar to this prophecy; which certainly would not have been given, if the ancient mode of calculation had been used by the spirit of prophecy in this book. This key only must be employed here, and no other will verify itself on the page of history; as evinced by so many weak and inconclusive essays, where the authors, otherwise respectable, have followed an erroneous mode of calculation, and involved themselves in clouds and darkness, as well as the subject which they laboured to elucidate.

VII. The very title of this book, and the introduction to the seven churches indicate, that its peculiar contents convey something new and unknown before. It is a Revelation, a discovery of those unfathomable designs in the divine plan of government, reserved and hid from the foundation

of the world in the councils of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe. In such a work we may expect to find many things new; a new computation of time, and the promised key to the hidden numbers in Daniel; a new arrangement and method, in which important and numerous subjects are presented to the world: a new collection of the scattered rays of the Old Testament prophecies, relative to the church of Christ, more completely delineated and decked by the finishing hand, to answer the purposes of Heaven with his militant people on earth.

The Revelation contains two kinds of prophetic time, the one ordinary and methodical, and the other extraordinary; which last numbers are introduced to protract the periods of the first and methodical time, wherever they oc cur. Of the extraordinary time, that pious prelate Bengelius, has discovered the true length and duration; and the ordinary and methodical time, under which this series of prophecies arrangeth itself into one coherent system, is wholly my own. I shall first give an account of Bengelius's system, which he has rendered such eminent services to the church, and then illustrate the one I avow; since both schemes are necessary, in order to understand the Revelation, and used in the following treatise.

The prophetic times of the Revelation are either expressed by the same terms of natural time, although they are much longer as for instance, the forty-two months of the beast; or they are denominated by indeterminate terms, which yet have a certain duration here in the order of prophecies: as for instance, the time, times and half a time of the woman in the wilderness, and that period during which the souls under the altar were yet to rest, called a Chronos. But there are also natural times in this prophecy, which are not prophetic, to wit, the six hundred and sixty-six years of the power and duration of the beast, and the one thousand years of the Millenium on earth; both

are either expressly determined as such, or limited by circumstances, which will not admit them prophetic.

Now, we all know the length of natural time, and shall thereby be able to determine the periods of prophetic time, if a key be given, by which to find the proportion of the one to the other. This key must be somewhere in the Revelation. For if the true length of these times could not be, at least nearly determined, these numbers would be here to no purpose at all. The learned prelate Bengelius, found this key in the Chap. xiii. and if it is not there, it is no where else. There, the words of the fifth verse run thus: "And power was given to Him (the beast) TonsμOV INSAL bellum gerere, to make war forty and two months." According to the natural measure of time, this would be three years and a half; a time too short for this beast, to per form all ascribed to it by the prophecy. We must therefore take these forty-two months, to be a prophetic time. Now in the 18th verse of this chapter, we read these memorable words: "Here is the wisdom-let him that hath understanding ( ́o exwv Tóv võv, qui intelligentia est praeditus) count the number of the beast; for it is the number of man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six”.

i.

e. these are the years of his reign, according to the natural manner of counting. As he who has judgment, is here advised to calculate by this number-and since the text expressly directs our attention to this number: here is wisdom; this passage most assuredly contains this key. And since the Orientals counted their year by the moon, this key will stand thus:

If forty-two prophetic months give six hundred and sixtysix lunar years, what will be a prophetic hour, a day, a week, a month, a year? For this number six hundred and sixty-six, cannot be taken to run parrallel with the fortytwo months, neither can it be considered as a protraction of that time; because in either case none of these two num

bers could be compared with the other by calculation, as the spirit of prophecy here directs.

The solution of this problem produces the following aggregate, in which I shall not take notice of those divisions

The learned prelate Bengelius, has also attempted to determine the length and duration of those indetermined terms of times, found in the Apocalypse, by a profound mathematical operation, which solves some of the most critical and intricate questions in Astronomy, concerning the revolutions of the Heavenly bodies; but to me, his solutions on this head, have always appeared too far fetched, fanciful, and defective in their application to the prophecies. Those who wish to examine him on this subject, and understand the German and Latin languages, may satisfy themselves, by reading his inestimable commentary on the Revelation of St. John; his Gnomon, and notæ in Apocalypsin; and his Cyclus, or singular investigation of the great year of the world. Bengelius is without doubt the most able expositor on this important book, of all German authors; and in my opinion the first of all I have read on this subject. His profound judgment, his extensive knowledge of history, and his great proficiency in every other branch of literature, requisite in order to understand this book, enabled him, although in want of the knowledge of the ordinary and methodical prophetic time in this prophecy, to strike the true point of accomplishment in very