years of blessedness having expired and the confederacy of Gog and Magog having been destroyed, the heavens, at some undefined epoch known to God alone, shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up'.

This necessary distinction, between the type and the antitype, or the symbol and the thing symbolised, ought ever to be borne in mind by the prudent and sober-minded expositor of prophecy: for, with out such a key to the figurative language of Holy Scripture, he will incur no small danger of being betrayed into the wild fancies of the ancient Millennarians. The existence of a thousand years of blessedness, after the destruction of the Roman antichristian confederacy at the close of the latter three times and a half, no one, who has studied the sacred volume with even moderate attention, will be disposed to deny. But an admission of the existence of the Millennium does not involve or re quire the untenable opinion, that the Millennium itself will be ushered in by a literal or personal manifestation of the glorified Redeemer 2.

We may now inquire, what, agreeably to the arrangement of Daniel and St. John, is the true commencement of the temporal judgment of the Roman Empire: and, when this has been esta

'Matt. xxiv. 36. 2 Pet. iii. 10.

This subject will be resumed below. See book vi. chap. 8. § VII.

blished, we shall then also be able to point out that portion of our Lord's prophecy, with which it synchronises.

(1.) From the writings of Daniel we may learn the proper relative position of this temporal figu rative judgment-day, but we cannot learn its precise chronological commencement.

The coming of the Son of man with the clouds of heaven takes place, as we have already seen, at the close of the latter three times and a half, or at the expiration of the seven times of the Gentiles, or at (what Daniel calls) the end and the time of the end. Now, according to Daniel, this figurative day of judgment commences before the coming of the Son of man: for he first beholds the Ancient of days sitting in judgment upon the Roman beast and the little horn; and then afterward, when the process has continued for some indefinite space of time, he sees one, like the Son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days, and brought near before his throne'. Hence the order of events is plainly this.

The judgment of the Roman beast commences with the session of the Ancient of days: after that judgment has continued for some undefined space, the Son of man makes his appearance in the clouds of heaven, and is brought near to the already seated Ancient of days; to whom he becomes a judicial assessor: and then, at length, through the

1 Dan. vii. 9-13.

special agency of the Son of man 5(as we bare assured by St. John), the Roman beast and his little apostate horn are destroyed.cat void st

The coming of the Son of man, however, and the destruction of the Roman beast, alike take place, at the end of the latter three times and a half, or at the time of the end. Therefore, this figurative day of judgment, commencing (according to Daniel) before the coming of the Son of man, must obviously commence also before the end of the latter three times and a half. Accordingly, the angelic interpreter remarks of this judgment, that it shall sit, and they shall take away the dominion of the little horn by consuming and destroying it UNTO THE END.

Here we are taught, that the judgment upon the Roman beast sits, unto the end, or unto the time of the end that is to say, it sits unto the end of the latter three times and a half, when the Son of man comes with the clouds of heaven. But, if it >> sits unto the end of that period, it must plainly begin to sit before the end of that period. The assertion, therefore, of the interpreter exactly Jagrees with that previous arrangement of the vision, in which Daniel beheld the judgment commence with the session of the Ancient of days, before he beheld the Son of man come to the Ancient of days in the clouds of heaven. Az A

Thus we learn from Daniel, that this figurative 'Rev. xix. 11-21.

2 Dan. vii, 26.

judgment-day commences before the coming of the Son of man and consequently before the end of the latter three times and a half: but, how long before, or at what particular chronological point, > it commences, he does not teach us.

(2.) The deficiency is supplied by St. John: for awe may learn from him, not only the proper relative position of this figurative judgment-day, but likewise its precise chronological commencement. *The seventh apocalyptic trumpet, as I shall hereafter shew at large, comprehends within its Jown greater period the seven successive smaller periods of the seven vials. Hence the commence>ment of the seventh trumpet chronologically precedes the commencement of the seventh vial. But, 9according to St. John, this figurative day of judg

ment commences with the seventh trumpet, while tother coming of Christ takes place under the seventh Tovial. Therefore St. John teaches us, in strict Ji accordance with Daniel, that this figurative day of judgment commences before the coming of the onSon of man and consequently before the end of the latter three times and a half.

Hot But he does more than simply teach us, that s this figurative judgment-day commences before the coming of the Son of man: he likewise additionally teaches us, that it commences with the sounding of the seventh trumpet which introduces

1 See below book ii. chap. 4. § I. 3.

2 Rev. xi. 15-18. xvi. 17. xix. 11--16.

the third great woe. Hence, if we can ascertain the chronological commencement of the third great woe, we shall also ascertain the chronological commencement of this figurative judgment-day. Now, as we shall hereafter see in its proper place, we have abundant reason to believe, that the seventh trumpet began to sound, and that the third great woe commenced, in the year 1789. Therefore, this figurative judgment, upon the Roman Empire and its apostate little horn, must have commenced also in that same year. Such being the case, we ourselves have witnessed the commencement of the period in question: a period, during which (according to the highly figured language of Daniel) the Ancient of days sits in judgment, upon the Roman beast and the little horn, to take away his domi+ nion, by consuming and destroying it unto the now rapidly approaching end of the latter three times and a half; a period during which (according to the similarly figured language of St. John) the Lord God takes to himself great power and judges the allegorical dead of the Roman world, while the nations are angry in this peculiar time of the divine wrath.

Thus it appears, that, as the coming of the Son of man takes place, under the seventh apocalyptic vial, and at the close of the latter three times and a half which we have some reason to believe will expire in the year 1864: so this figurative judg

1 See below, book vi. chap. 2. § III.