sider these extraordinary scenes in the light in which the protestant world ought to contem plate them. (215) Perhaps no accomplishment of any prophecy, in which God will always make use of natural means and human agency, for the greater part; will give entire satisfaction to the high expectations and warm imaginations of some. But the fulfilment of no prophecy will be brought to pass in a man, ner altogether miraculous; neither will the full effect of any one be felt under a considerable time. The consequences of this which has been recently fulfilled, have yet to unfold themselves, and fill up the interval allotted to them with deeds of direful import.

The restoration of the Jews, whenever it takes place, may not be observable to the world at large, in the preparatory movements which are to introduce it. The secret workings of remorse and shame in that people, which the prophecies describe in such affecting terms, are not of a nature to catch observation; the rising belief in him whom their

(215) Rev. xvi. 5.

fathers crucified, may even be cautiously concealed for a time, or at least will not be displayed to the world, until it has risen to an incoercible flame, and is ready to burst forth against the enemies of Christ, and their own personal destroyers. Yet meanwhile the divine acknowledgment and acceptance of their repentance, and the reward God will bestow upon it in blessings and victory, may be truly corresponding to the majesty of the prophe cies, and at the same time be the first notice of their accomplishment which the world will receive. (216)

If it were necessary to suppose that these eminent prophetical periods, or at least the

(216) This appears to me the "stream of fire from before the Lord," and the "burning flame" to which the body of the beast is to be given, Dan. vii. 10, 11.—and as explained in verses 14, 18, 22, 27, corresponds exactly with Micah. iv. 8, in application to the returning Jews, and not to the martyrs in bodies of fire, and raised from the dead. God does not thus force himself upon the senses of the wicked and unbelieving, nor make even upon the minds of the candid and wise, so strong and irresistible an impression as to exclude the exercise of a rational judgment and obediential faith. The age of miracles was in some degree an unavoidable and temporary exception to this general rule of the divine oeconomy, but such an exception cannot be admitted for 1000 years together!

last of them, the time of the end, (which according to Mr. Sharp, was the period 1260,) or the corresponding revolutions in the state of the christian world to which they refer, must be introduced by some miraculous display of the mighty power of God, yet still a considerable space of time would seem to be needful to reconcile the natural and moral world to the new situation of things, or to predispose them for the reception of it. But if all is to be brought about according to the accustomed manner and system of nature, and by the working of the unrestrained free-will of suitable human agents, seeking only the perfecting of their own private views of ambition, interest, or superstition, yet time for the full accomplishment of those views, even under a favoring providence, must be granted to the actors upon the scene. After the two next periods, or full 75 years are expired, the millennium may perhaps only date its commencement from thence, according to the prophetical accounts of time; but these acts of God's wisdom and power are not the acts of a moment; and even the reign of the saints, like the kingdom of Antichrist, may rise from

an inconsiderable beginning, and little observable at the first;-for so are the sealed prophecies of time always fulfilled. And after the long and severe contests which will precede it, and almost desolate the afflicted world (Ps. cx. 6), time must be required to sooth the irritated feelings of mankind, and gently introduce the promised habits of peace and the figurative renovation of all things.

SECTION L.

One prophetical period is past, and two more are to come.--The true character of the witnesses. They are not metaphysical but human agents.Are both witnesses to truth and liberty, and also defenders of them of great power.---Are persecuted yet chastise and torment their enemies like the Maccabees.-Their figurative miracles.-Their fall at last under persevering treachery and power.-A speedy resurrection promised.-The Jews are divinely possessed of the title of witnesses.-Are truly martyrs. And have as such, a promise also of a figurative resurrection — The three mystical frogs arraigned.—Convicted of monkery.-Great utility of the characters of this period as a premonition to the church.-The changes in the two principals, an index to the time which cannot be mistaken.-Serious consider

F

ation of these premonitory warnings, the design in the vouchsafement of them.

Ir I am justified in computing the reign of the beast, with Mr. Sharp, from the

year 548, and ending it in the year 1808, there are still