that " Spirit of life" withdraw its interpofition and affiftance for a moment, in all probability, the great fabric of nature would tumble into ruin, if not into annihilation. This" Spirit from God," the prophet, however, affirms, fhall enter into the dead bodies of the two "witneffes, and they fhall ftand upon their feet.” The evident fenfe of which is, that, in the course of his divine providence and adminiftration of events, the depreffing restraints upon the exercise of the great truths of the two Teftaments fhall be taken off; and the people again poffefs full liberty of regulating their moral duties by them. This has literally come to pafs; for the republic has been compelled, by an invisible power, amidst the greatest uproar and anarchy in their council, to annul thofe edicts which abolished the worship of God, and to decree the toleration of all religion. Compelled, I fay, because this decree was paffed by the revolutionary council, in the very teeth of their great and favourite project, the fubverfion not only of the Chriftian religion, but of all religion, and the eftablifhment of atheism in its ftead. It was paffed when it was impoffible for them to act from any pious motive. One obfervation more remains to be made on this verfe it farther predicts, that "great fear fhall fall upon them," who fhall fee the witneffes "fiand 66 66 upon their feet." We cannot fuppofe that this fear was to fall upon the ftrictly religious: they could now no longer be afraid of being deemed fanatics, and put to death. They had great reason to rejoice at the liberty allowed for the public exercife of their religion, and to believe that the truths founded on the wisdom and righteoufnefs of God, would in time triumph over the errors and audacity of athe ifm. No; it was to fall on them that "faw" the revival of the "dead bodies" of the two witneffes, which they themselves had "killed;" and who, after having lately rejoiced at that event, never expected they would rife again on the atheistical apoftates, who had denied the exiftence of that God, by whofe Spirit the two witneffes had been revived. It was natural for thefe abandoned men now to believe, or at leaft to" fear," that truth, in the field of fair conteft, would overcome falsehood. Moreover, they faw, or thought they faw, in the decree of toleration, the hand of an offended God, the exaltation of his divine truths, and the downfall of atheifm; and with confciences panic-ftruck at the atrocity of their principles and actions, they became like the corrupt Felix, who, when he heard" of righteoufnefs, temperance, "and judgment to come, trembled*;" or like thofe demons of atheism, Voltaire and his colleagues, whofe confciences, in the hour of death, tortured their never-dying fouls with the dread of never-dying mifery. I have thus briefly brought down, from an early period, the prophetic hiftory of the church of Chrift to the prefent time, by which, if there be any truth in hiftory, or in that which has come to pafs before our eyes, it appears, beyond contradiction, that the following great and important events have been foretold near 2000 years; and either fince fulfilled, or are fulfilling at this moment; namely, 1. That, notwithstanding the oppofition and dreadful perfecutions of the heathen world, the church of Chrift fhould propagate its doctrines for a time, and " go forth conquering, and to con"quer." * Acts, xxiv. 25. + Rev. vi. throughout. 2. That, 2. That, after this, certain great apoftacies from the church of Chrift itself should rife in the world *, which fhould corrupt, weaken, and deprefs that church 1260 years. 3. That, during the predominancy of those apostacies, the truth of the Old and New Teftaments, or the "two witneffes of God," on which the church was founded, should have little weight or influence on the morals and conduct of mankind, and should remain in that inert and obfcure condition, during that period of 1260 years §. 4. That, notwithstanding the long continuance and fuperior agency and influence of thofe apoftacies, and of the languifhing ftate of the Gofpel of Chrift, it fhould be fupported by the power and providence of God, and should not utterly be loft in the world. 5. That, towards the latter end of the 1260 years, a most depraved, formidable, and deftructive defpotifm fhould "afcend" out of one particular nation, more confummately wicked than any of the preceding enemies of Christianity. 6. That this political monster should, within its own jurifdiction, prohibit, and utterly abolish all the facred principles and precepts recommended to the obedience and obfervation of mankind by the two Teftaments, thofe "two witneffes of God." 7. That this abolition of the Christian religion fhould continue exactly three years and an half, and no longer . * Rev. xi. 2. § Ibid. ver. 3. ‡ Ibid, ver. 5, 6. Ibid. ver. 9, 19. 8. That, 8. That, at the end of the three years and an half, all refraint on the profeffion, propagation, and practice of the revealed word of God fhould be taken off, and an univerfal toleration of religious opinion be allowed to the people *. Such are the general truths foretold in the latter, end of the first century; and I have stated, the events which clearly correfpond with, confirm, and, with wonderful accuracy, fulfil them: events fo extremely improbable, new, and extraordinary, that, had they been literally predicted and explained, and thereby clearly understood at the time, the human underftanding would have rejected them, as fabulous impoffibilities. They are events, therefore, which nothing but omnifcience could forefce, nothing but infinite power could bring to pass, nor any thing thort of a God of incomprehenfible wifdom and perfection could foretel. Confequently they are events which demonftrate beyond the reach of all rational doubt, THE ETERNAL EXISTENCE OF ONE SUPREME GOD, THE GREAT I AM, who created, sustains, and governs the world; and who, in his boundless mercy, and according to his own divine pleasure, has offered the means of falvation to fallen man, through his bleffed Son, and the truths of his divine will revealed by his "two witneffes," the Old and the New Teftaments. I have thus fubmitted to the candid confideration of the reader, an expofition of the first eleven verfes of the eleventh Chapter of the Revelation, explaining each important type and trope into its natural and literal fenfe, and referring it to its proper event. In an explication of the prophecies, a right understanding of the figurative expreffions is the principal clue to the events intended to be marked out by them; * Rev. xi, 11. and and the events actually come to pafs are as neceffary to a perfect understanding of the fenfe of the relative types. If tlie event be not come to pafs, it follows, that all is darknefs and uncertainty. This is the cafe in refpect to the remainder of this chapter. It points to future events, in the unfolding of which there being nothing to guide us, they are only known to Him, with whom " one day is as a thousand years, "and a thousand years as one day* ;" and whofe omnifcience extends to all: things paft, prefent, and to come. Yet a few humble and general conjectures on the fubfequent verfes, will not, I truft, be deemed prefumptuous, as they may throw a light upon the main fubject. Ver. 12." And they (the two witneffes (heard a great voice from heaven, faying unto them, "Come up hither; and they afcended up to hea "venina cloud; and their enemies beheld them." The prophet, having now foretold, in this and former vifions, the oppofition and perfecutions of pagan Rome, the Mohamedan and Papal apoftacies, and revolutionary France, with the feveral periods during which the perfecutions fhould continue (perfecutions which, from the tenour of the fubfequent part of the Revelation, are all that the true church of Chrift is to fuffer); proceeds briefly to allude to her complete reformation and final redemption in the kingdom of Chrift; of which he treats at large in the fourteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth chapters. Here he figuratively reprefents God, who had thus delivered the church from her enemies, as inviting her to "come up to heaven;" that is, to reform her life and manners, by doubling her diligence in fearching the Scriptures, for the plain and true 2 St. Pet. iii. 6. Rev, xviii, 4. meaning |