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Mr. Cradock in his paraphrase, God by his all wife * providence permitted it so to be.' To the fame purpose Mr. Brightman. Whatsoever the kings of the earth ' aimed at, God's fecret providence shall so guide and ' over-rule them, that whatsoever deftruction they devise and intend to bring upon others, it fhould fall upon 'themselves.' It is worthy of remark,' fays Mr. Bicheno, ⚫ that these foul Spirits are to go forth unto the kings of the earth, and not to the people, which feems to indicate that it will be a war, in which kings will be more inte⚫refted than mankind at large.' The prophet fays of them, that they are the fpirits of devils working miracles. No one supposes these to be real miracles. This figurative • language is used to set forth the impoftures, lies, and frauds, with which they deceive men, and draw them into their deftructive measures 31.' They are reprefented under the emblem of frogs. Now the fymbolic meaning of frogs we learn from Artemidorus, whose words I fhall cite as tranflated by Daubuz. • Frogs fig. * nify impoftors and flatterers, and bode good to them that get their living out of the common people 32.'

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31 Signs of the Times, p. 50.

32 L. II. c. 15.

CHAPTER XVII.

ON THE SYMBOLIC HARVEST AND VINTAGE.

THE

HE fixth rule, which Dr. Lancafter lays down in his Abridgment of Daubuz's Preliminary Difcourse, as an aid in the interpretation of prophecy, is thus expreffed: when the things to be prophefied of in

the

the Revelation are to be confidered in feveral views, there is a change of fymbols.' The reason is, says Dr. Lancaster, that as the fymbols of prophecy must bear a certain analogy to each other, and must preserve throughout a certain decorum, it is impoffible, that the fame ftrain of fymbols fhould reprefent all that variety of circumstances, which it is fometimes expedient to introduce. And therefore, when the matters require that they should be confidered under another aspect, 'the strain of the symbols must change, and the scene of 'the visions alters; so that many symbols may be used to ' denote the fame thing in different refpects. Now there are placed fuch inward marks, which belong to every ' part of a vision; that we may thereby discover how the ' matters of that vifion are related to the reft. Thus we * find what is antecedent and confequent, or what is only ' collateral; and fo it appears what vifions and their parts 'fynchronize, and what do not. By this method what was before treated of fuccinctly is enlarged upon, and more fully demonftrated. So that the Revelation is not wrote in the way of annalifts, who, being content ' to reduce all matters to a chronological feries, only re'late briefly what happens every year, without enlarging ' upon the intrigues or caufes of the events, and omitting for the most part the confequences; but in the way of * the more judicious hiftorians, who endeavour to give a full account of every matter as they take it in hand, ' in order to make a complete system of the whole; interpofing digreffions, and then returning to the principal matters, by giving fuch hints and tranfitions, as fuffice to let us underftand to what they belong, and 'how, as to point of time, they come in or end with the 'reft. And this is the method, not only of the most

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exact hiftories and difcourfes, but in a special manner

⚫ that of all the infpired writers; in whom the conjunc

⚫tive particles do rather import, that one paffage comes

to be related after another, than that it was really transacted after it*.'

Thus the wars, in which the tyrants of the European world are to be fubdued, with their widely scattered partifans, being of fuch mighty influence in deciding the condition of the human race, are foretold, in feveral parts of the apocalypfe, and under different emblems. Such appears to be the import of THE HARVEST and THE VINTAGE, defcribed in the xivth chapter.

It is faid in v. 15 and 16, the harvest of the earth, or the antichriftian part of mankind, is ripe. And he that fat on the cloud thrust in his fickle on the earth: and the earth was reaped. An harvest in feveral places of * fcripture denotes,' fays Dr. Lancaster, fome destroying judgment, by which people fall as corn by the * fcythe.' It is fometimes metaphorically used,' obferves Mr. Lowth, to fignify an entire destruction, be⚫ caufe the harveft makes a clear riddance, and leaves the * fields empty and bare".' And Vitringa, speaking of the words juft cited from St. John, fays, the cleareft argu'ments demonstrate, that the harvest is to be explained * of fome judgment of God of a general kind, by which 'he would take a fevere vengeance on the enemies of the church and the adverfaries of his people.'

In v. 17 an angel is represented as having a sharp fickle: and the command given unto him (v. 18) is, thrust in thy fharp fickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel (v. 19) thrust in his fickle3 into the earth, and

As it may ftrike the reader, that a fickle is not a very proper inftrunent for a vintage; I obferve, that the word in the original, Speπavov or falx, has a general meaning, and accordingly Cato takes notice (De Reb. Ruft), that there were falces both for cutting hay and corn and vines.

gathered

gathered the vine of the earth, and caft it into the great wine-prefs of the wrath of God. Of the symbols of the prophets fome were borrowed from the customs of Judæa. Thus, fays bp. Hurd, to tread a wine-prefs, 'from their custom of preffing grapes, fignifies deftruction attended with great flaughter. The wine-prefs is called great,' fays Daubuz, because this is not a 'partial but general punishment.' That this prediction of the vintage alludes to the war of Armageddon, is observed, among other commentators, by Mede' and More, by Durham, Creffener, and Peganius. Vitringa, indeed, declares it to be the opinion of all the best interpreters, that it is a prophecy of the great flaughter which is then to take place.

Nothing, fays this great commentator, is more certain, than that this apocalyptic description of the harvest and the vintage is borrowed from the prophet Joel'; and he afterwards fays, when I have, with more than usual diligence, compared this prophecy with that of Joel, in 'which both emblems refer to the fame judgment, I have seen no reason for interpreting the emblems of St. John as belonging to feparate judgments.' As the emblem of a harvest did not ascertain, whether the enemies of God fhould be cut off by famine, or peftilence, or war; he remarks, that another and kindred fimilitude, that of a vintage, was fuperadded, that it might more confpicuously be evident, that war would be the means employed. This appears to be the fimplest and most easy sense of the prophecy,' I am

4 Vol. II. p. 114.

Judgm. on the R. Ch. p. 285.

5 P. 728.

7' The Holy Spirit in the more recent prophecies refers to the more.

ancient, and often employs the fame words, diction, and figures; in or

'der to lead us to the true sense of those oracles.' Vitringa de Canonibus Verbi prophetici refle exponendi, cap. ii. can. xiv.

again quoting the words of Vitringa; although, if a diftinction be made between thefe emblems, we muft fay, that God will provide means by his providence,

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that the enemies of the church fhould receive two moft

fignal flaughters, between which fome fpace of time • would intervene, which agreeably to analogy may be reprefented by the interval, which separates a harvest ' from 'a vintage.' The fymbolic grapes are described as fully ripes That is,' fays Vitringa, the period of the divine forbearance had expired, and villanies, no 'longer to be tolerated, had arifen to their utmof height. The measure of crimes was filled up.-Punish ment therefore could no longer be deferred, but the deftroyers of the earth were at length to be destroyed, and were in their turn to meet with their reward.' Vitringa here, in imitation of the prophet, employs the past tense, though speaking of the future. This, he obferves, is the period, when our Lord's prophetic parable of the burning of the tares fhall be accomplished.

It is,' fays Daubuz (Preliminary Discourse, p. 43), the usual style of the prophets to write of things as already done and past, though they are only to happen afterwards. It is commonly faid, that this is a sign of certainty, that the things fhall as furely happen, as if they were already 'paft. But I muft' beg leave to diffent; for I think, that this rather happens from the manner of the prophecy, wherein the knowledge of fu*ture events is exhibited in the vision seen by the prophet under fymbolical * perfons and actions, which represent those that happen afterwards. Thus the prophet has really feen the future events tranfacted in the symbols: and fo the words in the time past are suitable to the cafe, the things having 'paffed in his mind,' To the fame purpose speaks Father Simon, when treating on those words relative to the witnesses, the breath of life from God entered into them. St. John fpeaks throughout his book in the ftyle of a prophet; for which reafon he frequently expreffes future events by the paft tenfe, they being prefent to him in his vifion.' His notes on the New Teft..

9 Mat. xiii. 39-43. Brenius explains this paffage in the fame way, and more at large, in his treatise De Regno Ecclefiæ Gloriose.