granted to carry the greater weight, because it is grounded upon the fame paffage, upon a portion of the xith chapter of the apocalypse; and it will be abundantly evident, from the extracts to be alleged in the subsequent pages, that it is not upon random conjecture, but upon the ground of refpectable reasoning, that the remarkable prediction in this chapter has formerly, with confidence, been applied to a future Revolution in France. But the very circumftance juft mentioned, I mean the expectation being built upon one particular paffage, however well it may be adapted to awaken the curiofity, and to gain the attention, of the judicious and confiderate, will occafion this and the two fucceeding chapters to be the lefs interefting, as it will throw over them an air of fameness. If a series of extracts be alleged, taken from writers, who interpret the fame prophecy, and argue upon the fame grounds, in those extracts much repe-tition is to be expected. Senfible of this, I have omitted many paffages of commentators, relating to France, and grounded on St. John's defcription of the witneffes and their fymbolic refurrection. If it be the primary design of the book of Revelation, as Mr. Lowman every where labours to fhew that it is, to afford fupport and encouragement to mankind amid their fufferings, and to animate them with a hope of better things to come*; the prediction of fuch an event, aş the emancipation of twenty-feven millions of people from civil and ecclefiaftical defpotism, must I think be admitted admirably to correfpond with this defign. In a prophecy, of fo general a nature as the apocalypse, and reaching to the end of the world; in a prophecy, communicated to the beloved difciple of our All prophecy, fays Vitringa, is given with this view. In Apoc. 661. G Lord, 6 Lord, and the laft of the prophets in the Chriftian difpenfation, who was empowered to predict a long feries of events with a copiousness and a degree of minuteness almost unexampled; it is far from being antecedently improbable, that fome mention fhould be made of a country fo extenfive and important as France, and that fome trace fhould be found of a Revolution, which, in its confequences, has been regarded as likely to extend its influence to the whole human race, ultimately to meliorate the condition of Europe, and to accelerate the establishment of peace and liberty throughout the world. Daniel and St. John,' fays bp. Newton, exhibit a feries and fucceffion of the most Important Events 'from the first of the four great empires to the consum'mation of all things;' and that the French Revolu.. tion is to be claffed among events, which are of the first importance in the hiftory of mankind, few will be prepared to deny. Prophecy,' fays the prelate juft quoted in the laft of his Differtations, is, as I may fay, hiftory anticipated and contracted; history is prophecy accom'plished and dilated: and the prophecies of fcripture contain, as you fee, the fate of the most confiderable nations, and the fubftance of the most memorable ⚫ tranfactions in the world, from the earlieft to the latest times. Daniel and St. John, with regard to these latter. times, are more copious and particular than the other prophets. Their prophecies may really be faid to be a fummary of the history of the world; and the history of the world is the best commentary upon their pro' phecies.' 6 6 6 He who perufes the fubfequent part of the prefent work will perhaps alfo fee reason to believe, that the French Revolution is one of those great links in the • Vol. III. p. 423. chain of events, which reach from the promulgation of the gofpel to that bright period, known indeed by the vague appellation of the Millennium, but affuredly announced by the voice of prophecy. Now if the French Revolution fhould appear, after mature confideration, adapted materially to promote that OVERTHROW OF THE ARBITRARY MONARCHIES OF EUROPE, that DESTRUCTION OF ALL SACERDOTAL TYRANNY, and that INCREASED DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANI. TY, which I regard as predicted by the prophets, and pointed out by them as antecedent to the Millennium; if, I say, it should be apprehended, that it is likely, in any great degree, to influence and to haften thofe three illuftrious events, without the accomplishment of which this promifed period of permanent felicity can never arrive; there can be little ground for furprize, fhould it be discovered, that the book of revelation contains not only fome prophetic notices of the Proteftant Reformation, but also of another mighty change in the European world, which is also destined to accelerate the arrival of that glorious æra. Did the French Revolution tend not at all to produce any of these great events, I readily acknowledge, that, however splendid it might be, confidered in itself, ftill its infertion in the apoca lypfe would scarcely accord with that general harmony of design, and that dependency of one part upon another, by which it is fhewn to be diftinguished. Indeed no mode of interpreting the prophecies can be admitted to be the true one, fhould it appear, (to use the words of bp. Hurd) that, when interpreted, they had no deter'minate scheme in view, and had, for their object, only 6 detached and unconnected events'.' 6 This I believe is the opinion of moft Proteftant commentators. See Vitringa in ch, xiv. 6—12. 7 Vol. I. p. 112. G 2 This " This will at leaft appear, that a Revolution in France, long before there was any probability of fuch an event, was fuppofed to be clearly pointed out in the xith ch. of St. John; and that this opinion, whatever foundation it may, or may not have, in the prophecies,—is 'not a conceit of yesterday, which sprung out of recent 'prejudices and novel interpretations.' The close of the fentence is the language of bp. Hurd, on applying to the Roman pontiff the predictions of Antichrift. Happy in rendering the labours of the prelates fubfervient to the cause of liberty, I fhall cite another paffage from another prelate, who was also bishop of Litchfield. One way of knowing whether the interpretation of a prophecy be true, is to learn the time when that interpretation was made. For if it particularly and exprefsly declared the event that was supposed to be imported in the prophecy, before the event happened, or could poffibly be foreseen by human fagacity and penetration, the truth of the interpretation is juftified by the success'.' To the confideration of the xith ch. a large space will be allotted, on account of its importance, and because the perfons who have hitherto bestowed much attention on it, fince the overthrow of Gallic defpotifm, are I apprehend extremely few. The prophetic narrative of the witnesses in this chapter is, as Daubuz expreffes himself, a great Episode or Parenthefis.' This will be apparent, if we attend to its fituation in the apocalypfe, placed as it is after the description of the fixth trumpet, and immediately followed by the account of the seventh. That' we are now living under the fixth trumpet,' and that the greater part of this prophecy relating to the Vol. II. p. 41. Bp. Chandler's Def, of Chr. from the Prophecies, 1728, p. 349. ⚫ witnesses ⚫ witnesses remains yet to be fulfilled,' is remarked by bp. Newton1o; and doubtless, in his time, these observations were perfectly true. In different parts of the apocalypfe, the European part of the Western Roman empire, and the great body of fpurious Chriftians who inhabit it, are represented under the emblem of a Great City; and that part of the inhabitants of this fymbolic city, who bear teftimony against the corruptions of religion and of government, are denominated witneffes. I accordingly admit, that the prophetic narrative of them in ch. xi. may reasonably be thought to have a reference to those persons in general, who bear witness in Europe, during the famous period of 1260 years, against the antichriftian ufurpations of princes and of priests: and this is principally collected from v. 2. where it is faid, the Holy City fhall the Gentiles tread under foot forty and two months. Now the Holy City, fays Vitringa, fignifies the Monarchies and Republics that profess Christianity; and this he obferves is the general opinion of Proteftants. With respect to the word tranflated Gentiles, this eminent commentator remarks, that, in the book of revelation, it constantly fignifies the corrupt part of mankind, though they may indeed be profeffedly Chriftians11. As St. John's fymbol of the antichriftian governments, which are seated in the European part of the Western Roman empire, is a Beaft having Ten Horns; in like manner, when he here employs an emblem of a very different kind, the fame number he ftill keeps in view. The Great City is confidered in the prophecy as divided into Ten Great Portions, or Ten Principal Streets. To have defcribed the witneffes, who have appeared in each of them, would have been attended with a degree of pro |