I proceed, then,

II. To the SECOND, and more confiderable cause of the obfcurities, found in this prophecy, the METHOD, in which it is compofed.

The other prophecies have, doubtless, their difficulties, arifing from the abrupt manner, in which, agreeably to the oriental genius, they are delivered: But then, being fhort and unconnected with each other, the apparent disorder of those prophecies, has rarely any fenfible effect in preventing the right application of them. The cafe is different with the prophecies, contained in this book. For, having been all delivered at once, and refpecting a series of events, which were to come to pass fucceffively in the hiftory of the Chriftian

indeed, has been commended for making the oppofite declaration: And, it may be, with good reason: For (not to derogate in any refpect from the character of this great man) the language of the Scriptures, and especially of the prophetical scriptures, was in no degree so well understood in his time, as it was in that of Dr. S. Clarke.

Church, it is reasonable to expect that fome certain and determinable method fhould be observed in the delivery of them; and the true fecret of that method, whatever it be, must be investigated, before we can, with fuccefs, apply any fingle prophecy to its proper fubject.

The first, and moft obvious expectation of a reader is, that the events predicted in this prophecy fhould follow each other in the order of the prophecy itself, or that the series of the visions should mark out and determine the fucceffion of the fubjects, to which they relate. But there is reason to think, on the face of the prophecy, that this method is not observed.

A fecond conclufion would, then, be haftily taken up, that there is no regular method at all in thefe vifions, but that each is to be applied fingly, and without any reference to the reft, to fuch events as it might be found, in fome tolerable degree, to fuit: And then it is plain, that fancy would have too much scope afforded

her

her in the interpretation of these vifions, to produce any firm and fettled conviction, that they were rightly and properly applied. Yet, as this idea of the Apocalypfe would favour the laziness, the precipitancy, the presumption, and, very often, the malignity of the human mind, it is no wonder that it should be readily and eagerly embraced. And, in fact, it was to this preconceived notion of a general disorder in the texture of thefe prophecies, that the little progrefs, which, for many ages, had been made in the expofition of them, is chiefly to be ascribed.

But then, laftly, if neither the order of the prophecy be that of the events, nor a total disorder in the construction of it can be reasonably allowed, the question is, By what rules was it compofed, and on what ideas of method is it to be explained?

This question, as obvious as it seems, was not presently asked; and, when it was asked, not easily anfwered. The clear light, indeed, which the Reformation had let in

on

on fome parts of this prophecy, and a spirit of inquiry, which sprung up with the res vival of Letters, excited a general attention to this mysterious book. But, as each interpreter brought his own hypothefis along with him, the perplexities of it were not leffened, but increased by fo many dif cordant fchemes of interpretation: And the iffue of much elaborate inquiry was, that the book itself was difgraced by the fruitless efforts of its commentators, and on the point of being given up, as utterly impenetrable, when a fublime Genius arofe, in the beginning of the last century, and furprized the learned world with that great defideratum, A Key to the Revelations.

This extraordinary perfon was, JOSEPH MEDE: of whofe character it may not be improper to give a flight sketch, before I lay before you the fubftance of his difcoveries.

He was a candid, fincere man; difinterested, and unambitious; of no faction in religion or government (both which be

gan

gan in his time to be over-run with factions) but folely devoted to the love of truth, and to the investigation of it. His learning was vaft, but well chofen and well digested; and his understanding, in no common degree, ftrong and capacious.

With thefe qualities of the head and heart, he came to the study of the prophecies, and especially of the Revelations : But, with fo little bigotry for the scheme of interpretation concerning Antichrist, that, as he tells us himself, he had even conceived fome prejudice against it [1]: And,' what is stranger ftill in a man of his inventive genius, with fo little enthufiafm in his temper for any scheme of interpretation whatsoever, that, when he had made his great discovery, he was in no haft to publifh it to the world [m]; and, when at

[] "As for me, I am confcious of my weakness and unworthinefs; being, when these kind of thoughts first poffeffed me, looking another way with a prejudice incompatible to this." General Pref. to Mede's Works, p. 20, from a MS. Letter.

[m] He printed only a few copies of his Clavis Apo

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