From St. Paul too we may collect, that the great power of the Roman empire hindered the appearing of the man of fin; but when that power fhould be diminished and taken out of the way, then should the man of fin be revealed in his time. St. John alfo refers thefe events to the fame æra. Not only the general order and the whole feries of his prophecies point to this time, but there are befides particular intimations of it. He defcribes the beast as fucceffor to the great red dragon, in his power, and his feat, and great authority: but if the great red dragon be, as he is generally understood to be, the perfecuting power of Heathen Rome, then the perfecuting power of Heathen Rome must be removed, before the beaft can take his place. The beaft hath alfo ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns; so that ten complete kingdoms must arise out of the Roman empire before the appearance of the beast. Of his feven heads it is faid, Five are fallen, that is in St. John's time five forms of government were paft, one is and the other is not yet come, and the fixth which was then prefent being the imperial, it neceffarily follows that the feventh or last must be some form of government which muft arife after the imperial; and as St. John saw the one, we fee the other.

It appears then that this Antichriftian power

was to arife in the latter times of the Roman

3

empire,

empire, after an end fhould be put to the imperial power, and after the empire fhould be divided into ten kingdoms: and it is not only foretold when it fhould prevail, but moreover how long it should prevail. Here we cannot but obferve, that the very fame period of time is prefixed for its continuance both by Daniel and by St. John. Wonderful is the confent and harmony between these infpired writers, as in other circumstances of the prophecy, so particularly in this. In Daniel (VII. 25.) the little horn was to wear out the faints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and it is faid exprefly, that they should be given into his band, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time; or as the fame thing is expreffed in another place, (XII. 7.) for a time, times, and a half. In the Revelation it is faid of the beast, (XIII. 5.) to whom in like manner it was given to make war with the faints, and to overcome them, that power alfo was given unto him to continue forty and two months: And the holy city (XI.2.) the Gentiles fhould tread under foot forty and two months: And the two witneffes (ver. 3.) fhould prophesy a thousand two hundred and threefcore days cloathed in fackcloth: And the woman the true church of Chrift, who fled into the wilderness from perfecution, (XII. 6, 14.) should be fed and nourished there a thousand two hundred and threefcore days, or as it is otherwife expreffed in the fame chapter, for a B b 4 time,

time, and times, and half a time. Now all thefe numbers you will find upon computation to be the fame, and each of them to fignify 1260 years. For a time is a year, and a time and times and the dividing of time or half a time are three years and a half, and three years and a half are 42 months, and 42 months are 1260 days, and 1260 days in the prophetic ftile are 1260 From all thefe dates and characters it may fairly be concluded, that the time of the churches great affliction and of the reign of Antichrift will be a period of 1260 years.

years.

To fix the time exactly when these 1260 years begin, and confequently when they will end, is a matter of fome nicenefs and difficulty; and perhaps we muft fee their conclufion, before we can precisely afcertain their beginning, However it appears to be a very great mistake of fome very learned men in dating the commencement of this period too early. This is the capital error of Mr. Mede's fcheme; what hath led him, and others who have followed his example, into fubfequent errors; and what the event hath plainly refuted. For if the reign of Antichrift had begun, as he reckons, about the year 456, its end would have fallen out about the year 1716. The truth is, these 1260 years are not to be reckoned from the beginning of thefe corruptions, from the rife of this tyranny, for the mystery of iniquity began to work even in the days of the apoftles; but from their full

growth

growth and establishment in the world. Of the little born, who was to wear out the faints of the moft High, and to change times and laws, it is faid that they fhould be given into his hand, which can imply no lefs than the most abfolute power and authority over them, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time. In like manner the holy city, the true church of Christ, was to be trodden under foot, which is the lowest ftate of fubjection; the two witneffes were not only to prophesy, but to prophefy in fackcloth, that is in mourning and affliction; the woman, the church, was to abide in the wilderness, that is in a forlorn and defolate condition; and power was given to the beast womoa, not merely to continue as it is tranflated, but to practise and profper, and to do according to his will; and all for this fame period of 1260 years. These 1260 years therefore of the reign of Antichrift are not to be computed from his birth, or infancy, or youth; but from his coming to maturity, from his coming to the throne: and in my opinion their beginning cannot be fixed confiftent with the truth of history either fooner or later than in the eighth century. Several memorable events happened in that century. In the (3) year 727 the pope and people of Rome revolted from the exarch of Ravenna, and shook off their allegiance to the Greek emperor. In

(3) See Sigonius, Spanheim, Dupin, &c. &c.

the

(4) Ita

the year 755 the pope obtained the exarchate of Ravenna for himself, and thenceforwards acted as an abfolute temporal prince. In the year 774 the pope by the affiftance of Charles the great became poffeffed of the kingdom of the Lombards. In the year 787 the worship of images was fully established, and the fupremacy of the pope acknowleged by the fecond council of Nice. From one or other of these transactions it is probable, that the beginning of the reign of Antichrift is to be dated. What appears to be most probable is, that it is to be dated from the year 727, when (as (4) Sigonius fays) Rome and the Roman dukedom came from the Greeks to the Roman pontiff. Hereby he became in fome measure a born or temporal prince, though his power was not fully established till fome years afterwards: and before he was a born at all, he could not anfwer the character of the little born. If then the beginning of the 1260 years of the reign of Antichrift is to be dated from the year 727, their end will fall near the year 2000 after Chrift; and at the end of the 6000th year of the world, according to a very early tradition of Jews and Christians, and even of Heathens, great changes and revolutions are expected both in the natural and in the moral world; and there remaineth, according to the words of the apoftle, (Hebr. IV. 9.) a fabbatifm or holy reft to the people of God.

IV.

(4) Ita Roma, Romanufque Ducatus a Græcis ad Romanum.

pontificem