"a pious forgery, written in the spirit of insatiable

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revenge!" that it is "a compilation from the

Prophets, the theology of the Rabbins, the Pastor "of Hermas, and the more ancient Apocalypses,

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applied by the writer to the history of his own "time;" and that "Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, "must have been the author of it, because he " wrote several books, in one of which he men"tioned the ancient copies of the Apocalypse, and was also acquainted with several persons who

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figured in the history of the destruction of By"zantium 1."

Others of them, as Mr. Cunninghame, and Mr. Cooper, although the period of "a time, times, "and a half," or 1260 years, has been the space specially pointed out for the "wonders" connected with the existence of POPERY and MAHOMETANISM 2, will have that period to have expired in the year 1792; although both these systems of imposture are still in existence; and the former of them, in

1

I beg to refer, for the notice of this extraordinary work rather more at large, to Mr. Horne's learned and excellent "Introduc❝tion to the critical study and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures," Vol. II. p. 825. No. 146. Edit. 5. The date of the work is

2

1

particular, is still dragging along its serpentine length over many of the kingdoms and states of Europe, and is displaying its dracontic feats in our Sister Island, with as much vivacity and rampancy as ever.

Another of them, the present learned Professor of Hebrew in the University of Cambridge, has written a book, (happily, among the most unreadable of those that I have ever met with) which he has entitled "An Original Exposition of the Book "of the Revelation; showing that the whole of "that Remarkable Prophecy has long ago been " fulfilled.” As the showing of this was the great object the author had in view, he is compelled to interpret the great prophetical period of the one "thousand two hundred and three-score days "," the

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forty and two months," and the " time, times, and

half a time 5" in their literal, and not in their prophetical, sense; and as if these various denominations of the time in question only amounted to about "three years and a half." He could not afford them space for their generally-acknowledged duration.

1 Rev. xii. 14.

3 Rev. xi. 3. xii. 6.

2 Rev. xii. 13.

4 Rev. xi. 2. xiii. 5.

Rev. xii. 14. compared with Dan. vii. 25. and xii. 7.

viii.

But the power, which this writer possesses of condensing time, is still further most remarkably visible, in the period he has allowed for the MILLENNIUM. According to him," a thousand years" may signify any considerable period of time;" and therefore defines no particular portion of duration : this season of blessedness "must have commenced

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some time during the ministry of our Lord; for "then was Satan bound, or limited in power, and "those held in bondage by him set free:" it must have continued so long as "miraculous powers "were exercised by the Church" but, " at the "conclusion of this period, Satan was to be again "set at liberty;" and the season of his liberty "seems to have terminated with the general per"secution." Supposing then, what is manifestly implied, that the liberation of Satan took place at the time of the first general persecution under Nero, in the year 64, the whole space occupied by the Millennium, as dated from the beginning of our Lord's Ministry, will be about thirty-eight years : and this, according to the author, " may be very

6

properly termed a thousand years,' in the highly figurative language of this book."

But the elasticity of this learned gentleman's of computation are truly surprising. It has

powers

1

been seen, into what small spaces the long periods just adverted to have been condensed; and it now remains to be shown, how a short space has been amplified and extended. The "three days and a

half," specified for the dead state of the two Witnesses', with the whole context in which this period occurs, are thus explained-" When they "shall have given their testimony, completely,.... "the Beast (Roman power) shall attack them, "prevail, and cast them out for a time; and,

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during this (three days and a half) they shall be "considered as dead in Jerusalem.... This per"secution,' say the Authors of the Universal

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History, which was the tenth and last general

one, broke out on the 23d of February, A.D. 303; "and raged ten whole years, with a fury hardly to "be expressed.'

But there would be no end to an enumeration of all the inadvertencies, and inconsistencies, in the interpretation of Prophecy, which force themselves upon our notice in the present day; and which, as many of them proceed from the pens of persons held in some degree of reputation for their learning

1 Rev. xi. 11.

and research, have a manifest tendency to produce an unfavourable impression upon the public mind, -to aid, indirectly, the cause of infidelity,—and to bring the very study of the Prophecies into discredit, as the labour only of visionary and enthusiastic minds.

To allow the Prophetic Writings of Scripture to speak as much as possible for themselves, to exhibit their genuine import by means of a faithful comparison of them with each other, and to trace their accomplishment so far as they have received it by the aid of authentic history, pursuing the sacred study without prejudice and the seduction of hypothesis, is perhaps the only way to bring back the public mind to that sedateness, and awful attention, which their Divine Original, and their incalculable importance, so justly demand: and the author of the following pages will by no means consider that he has been uselessly employed, if any thing that he has written may conduce, in any degree, to this valuable purpose.

Sincerely gratified in having been indulged, through your Lordship's kindness and condescension, with the present opportunity of testifying my high respect for your Lordship's character and