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to arise from the obscurity of the terms which are made use of. It is especially remarkable, that as seven thunders in the Apocalypse are "sealed up, and not written," so seven days "were fulfilled" during the plagues of Egypt, in which days no infliction is recorded. And thus, as on the morning of the third day the Redeemer rose, as on the third day God will raise up his people, when they" shall live in his sight," and as at the beginning of the last thousand, the waters of Ezekiel shall have fully risen, and Satan, according to the Apocalypse, shall be bound; so also, after the midnight of the twentieth day, the people are represented to have departed from Egypt "with a high hand."

I have annexed, in a tabular form, the instances of that correspondence to which I have alluded, and shall now pass on to inquire what results will be obtained from considering the numbers indicated by Daniel, and in the Apocalypse, to be fractional portions of an appointed period of two thousand years. These results will also be found in the same table, the construction of which I will endeavour to explain in the following pages.

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2000 Millennm. 3000

2000

2000

2000

2000

2000

2000

2000

2000

2000

Last day of

Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. Millennm. tenth week 3000 3000 3000

3000

3000

3000

3000

3000

3000

A.D. 3000

Since the Scripture can neither encourage us to attempt what is impossible, nor absurd, I assume that the command given in the Apocalypse, to" count the number of the beast," is neither beyond our power of fulfilment, nor unworthy of our most careful attention.

On the supposition, therefore, that this number may be declared to us, as an index or key, by the use of which the Apocalyptical synchronisms may most correctly be observed, I have constructed the table which I am about to describe, in order to show by it, that the hypothesis by which the appointed duration of the Gospel dispensation is limited to two thousand years, is not without confirmation from the coincidences which arise from its use. The thousands mentioned by Ezekiel, and the days occupied by the plagues of Egypt, which have been already referred to, being placed in the first and second columns, the third contains the six seals of the Apocalypse, which in agreement with other commentators, and especially with Vitringa, I assume to occupy the whole period from the first coming of Christ till in the days when the seventh angel shall

begin to sound, the " finished."

mystery of God shall be

In order to explain the principle upon which a certain duration has been assigned in this table, to each of the seals; it will first be necessary to inquire whether any such order appears to be observed in the prophecy of the Apocalypse, that we may from thence infer, how the several spaces contained therein, may be measured, on the supposition that their total amount is two thousand years. Of the seven seals, which as I have already stated, are assumed to reach from the commencement to the end of the prophetic scheme; six are consecutive periods of preparation under the present state of things in this world, for the seventh period, under a better state of consummation as to good, and abolition as to evil. Thus Grotius has remarked *, that "Senarius numerus res hujus mundi signi"ficat, ut septenarius, res sæculi melioris."— Whether indeed it were derived from the days of the creation, or from any of those traditional sources which I have already indicated, there

* Crit. Sac., vol. vii., p. 4185.

can be little doubt that this reference to the seventh number was universally acknowledged among the Jews.

So many commentators have decided, that the seventh seal is to be considered as contemporaneous with the seventh thunder, trumpet, and vial; that it will be sufficient to refer to them, and particularly to the commentary of the learned Vitringa, for proofs of this coincidence. While, therefore, the six seals occupy the whole space previous to the seventh; there is sufficient proof, which is so well known that I need only refer my readers to it in the several works on this subject, that the trumpets, thunders, and vials, occupy smaller spaces of time. But if the orderly arrangement of this prophecy has any meaning, or if the accuracy of its divisions, where they are known to us, may lead to the inference, that all the divisions referred to are equally exact; it will be probable, that these eighteen periods, which must occupy nearly the whole space of the prophecy, are equal as well as consecutive. I assume this fact, therefore, in the following calculations.

Thus we have, in the first place, six greater

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