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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 II1.)

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 kalendar 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 generally agreed 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

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* Dan. vii. 21, 22.

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

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

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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 spoke : "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 prolonged 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." *

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The above passage makes it manifest, that the sounding of the seventh angel in the Apocalypse takes place at 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

* Dan. vii. 9-14.

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 both belong to one and the same period: 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.

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." By this expression we are probably to understand, that now is come the period when the blood of the dead saints and martyrs should be avenged on those who persecuted them, and that the cup of blood should pass into the hand of their enemies.

The eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse, which we are now considering, contains only an epitome of the great events mentioned in it, and may be viewed in the light of a sort of table of contents of what is narrated at greater length in the chapters which follow but this epitome, or table of contents, is so arranged as to contain chronological marks, which are of much use for the elucidation of the remaining parts of the Apocalyptic visions.

This chapter, therefore, being only an epitome of events more fully revealed afterwards, we are not to expect in it any detailed account either of the woful or the joyful part of the seventh trumpet. It is briefly declared, however, on the sounding of this trumpet, that "the temple of God was opened in "heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark "of his testament." The compartment of the temple, which is here opened, is, as I observed in another place,* the holy of holies; for otherwise the ark could not be seen. The opening of the holy of holies is indicative of the near approach of that glorious state of the church when the tabernacle of God shall be with men, of which state the holy of holies was a type. The opening of the temple is also of great use in determining the place of the Apoca

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lyptic visions of the seven vials of wrath, which are afterwards introduced to our view, and an unanswerable argument is thence deduced that these vials all belong to the seventh trumpet: for we find, that when the vision of these vials is presented to the eyes of the apostle, he first sees the temple opened, and then the angels, having the seven vials of wrath coming out of the temple. Now, as the temple is opened at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and not before; and as these angels come out of the temple immediately on its being opened, we may thence certainly infer that chapter xv. 5, 6. is parallel in time with xi. 19. and that the vials all belong to the seventh trumpet. The vials are evidently the constituent parts of the third and last woe, being called the seven plagues, to signify to us the dreadful nature of that woe, and to indicate the complete and utter destruction which will ensue to the enemies of the church from the effusion of the vials of wrath; the number seven being, as we have already seen, of mystical import, denoting the completeness or perfection of that to which it is attributed.

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"And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." In the language of symbols, these things denote great political commotions, revolutions, and dreadful war. Now, seeing that these events immediately follow the sounding of the third woe trumpet, they must be a part of that woe; and as they are mentioned in the eleventh chapter, which is, as we have observed, a sort of table of contents, or epitome, of what is described afterwards, we may expect that

* Rev. xv. 5, 6.

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