was filled with smoke, and that no man could enter into it until the plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled; not that the temple remained shut during the fulfilment of them, and was only opened after their fulfilment. This will be abundantly evident, if we attend to the plain statement of the Apostle. The order of the circumstances is, as follows-The seventh trumpet sounds, and the temple is opened. From the temple thus opened seven angels come out. To these seven angels one of the four living creatures gives seven golden vials full of the wrath of God. The temple, although opened, is nevertheless so filled with smoke, that no man is able to enter into it until the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled. The angels, having now come out of the opened temple, and having received the seven vials, proceed forthwith to pour them out *. Hence it appears, that Mr. Mede's denial of the premises is groundless; and consequently that the argument decidedly proves all the seven vials to be introduced by, and therefore to be comprehended under, the seventh trumpet.

*

Rev. xi. 15, 19-xv. 5, 6-xv. 7-xv. 8-xvi. 1. Mr. Mede, by way of yet further extricating himself from this difficulty, observes, that, according to the reading of the Complutensian edition, the angels do not come out of the temple, but out of heaven. This however, even if it be the true reading, will by no means warrant his gloss; for St. John.. beholds the temple opened, before the seven angels even receive the vials from one of the four living creatures, and therefore yet more before they pour out those vials.

VOL. I

C

ii. Having

ii. Having now established the proper arrangement of the vials, I proceed to deduce from it at what precise point of the Apocalypse the period of 1260 years begins, and at what precise point it ends.

The four first trumpets, as our best commentators agree (with some slight varieties in their particular exposition of them), relate to the incursions of the northern barbarians and the consequent downfall of the western part of the Roman empire. Now St. Paul teaches us, that the revelation of the man of sin, who is clearly the papal little horn described by Daniel, should be preceded by a great apostasy; and that it should moreover be prevented, until a certain determined time, by a power then in existence, which power should be taken away previous to such revelation of the man of sin. What this power is, St. Paul does not directly specify; but, according to the universal tradition of the ancient Church, a tradition most probably received from the Thessalonians to whom the Apostle (as he himself unequivocally intimates) had verbally declared the power*, the western or original Roman empire. was intended by him. The western Roman empire however was finally taken away under the fourth trumpet. Therefore the open revelation of the man of sin, which synchronizes (as I have elsewhere observed t) with the commencement of the 1260 years, must be subsequent to the fourth trumpet';

2 Thessal. ii. 5, 6.

+ Dissert, on the 1260 years, C. 1.

because

because the power, that prevented it, was not completely taken away until the sounding of that trumpet. Consequently, the 1260 years must have commenced subsequent to the blast of the fourth trumpet.

After the four first trumpets have finished sounding, St. John evidently points out to us the beginning of some new and remarkable period; for he specially styles the three last trumpets threë woes. Now, since these trumpets by being thus designated are plainly more or less connected with each other, since the preventing power has now been removed under the fourth trumpet, since therefore we may expect the speedy revelation of the man of sin, and since it is highly improbable that so remarkable an epoch as his revelation and the commencement of the 1260 years should not synchronize with the beginning of some one of the great apocalyptic periods; we are naturally led to expect, that the man of sin is revealed, and that the 1260 years commence, at the beginning of the first woe-trumpet. This, I say, we are naturally led to expect a priori; but we have no right to conclude that our expectation is well-founded, unless the chronological era of the beginning of the first woetrumpet will correspond with the mark by which Daniel teaches us to ascertain the commencement of the 1260 years. The mark is the delivering the saints into the hand of the papal little horn: and the chronological era of the beginning of the first

wve-trumpet, according to the general consent of our ablest expositors, is the commencement of the Mohammedan imposture. But this imposture commenced in the year 606: therefore the first woetrumpet began to sound in the year 606. Now in this very year the saints were given into the hand of the little horn by the grant of universal episcopacy to the Pope therefore we have reason to conclude, that the 1260 years commence at the beginning of the first woe-trumpet *.

So much for their apocalyptic commencement: we must now endeavour to ascertain their аросаlyptic termination.

Mr. Mede, as we have seen, makes the beginning of the third woe-trumpet to synchronize with the beginning of the seventh vial; and he assigns, as one reason for this arrangement, the taking place of the completion of God's mystery equally at the beginning of them both. On the same ground he maintains, that the 1260 years terminate. equally at the beginning of them both: because (he argues), since the finishing of God's mystery must mean the expiration of the 1260 years and the consequent introduction of Christ's kingdom upon earth, and since this mystery is alike finished at the beginning both of the third woe-trumpet and of the seventh vial, the

* Other arguments are adduced, in my Dissertation on the 1260 years, to prove, so far as matters of this kind are capable of proof, that I here assign its true date to that great prophetic period.

1260 years must alike expire at the beginning both of the third woe-trumpet and of the seventh vial*.

This argument of Mr. Mede would be perfectly conclusive, if its premises were well-founded. I think it clear, that the finishing of God's mystery means the finishing of the 1260 years and the consequent introduction of Christ's glorious millennian kingdom; and I think it equally clear, that the finishing of this mystery is alike spoken of by the great angel who announces the future sounding of the seventh trumpet †, and by the great voice from the throne which, upon the effusion of the seventh

'

"Fore

"Hæc est illa consummatio mysterii Dei per prophetas evangelizati, quam sub septime tube clangorem angelus supra (cap. 10.) futuram prædixerat; quando nec bestia "menses, nec testium lugentium dies, nec omnino aliquid de periodo temporis temporum et dimidii temporis supererit amplius" (Clav. Apoc. Pars ii. Synchron. 5. p. 429.) "nimirum, cum angelus iste clanxerit, ut bestia Romana, "finitis novissimi capitis temporibus, delata, mysterium Dei consummetur" (Com. Apoc. iu Tub. vii.). "The time, times, “and a half, are of the tyranny of the little horn with eyes; "at the expiring of whose blasphemous tyranny the scattering of the holy people and the great mystery shall be finished' (Works. B. iii. C. 4. p. 590). "Ad clangorem tube septima "aboletur penitus, quicquid bestia supersit. Ut phiala septima "consummationis phiala est, proindeque effusa hac phiala pro“dit vox magna è throno dicens Tɛyovɛ; ita et tuba septima consummationis tuba est" (Works. B. v. C. 11. p. 910), Bp. Newton, Mr. Brightman, and Mr. Lowman, agree with Mr. Mede in referring Tey to the mystery mentioned in Rev. x. 7.