rvfn ExPOSITION ~ 3·. What is withal f.1id of the Two Witne!Tes, as·woven in by the Angt! in ~ his Difcourfe of them, by way of d&ribing them, in order to the explanation of what lhould at !art befal them. T. For thefe computations of the Times, both of the Beart's Reign, and rhc Witnefies Oppreffion here mentioned ; thefe things are to be explicated about them. • I. That they are both the fame term of Time, that in the Oath in Daniel the Angel intended. This appears by Cbap.12. v. 6. compared with v. 11. for what in verf 6. is called 1260 Dap, is in the utb vtrfe of· the aforefaid Chapter, ex– prefied by this, A Time, 'fmm, and half a Time. 2. He makes this double computation of that Time, firrt by Montbs, then by Dap; (o without ambiguity to explain how much Time Wlls meant in Daniel by that indefinite Number, Time, Times, and a half Which as it is laid down in Daniel, is altogether ambiguous ; For who could tell what is meant by a Time, and Times l or who could tell but that 100 or 1000 Years might be the Time, and Joooo the Times here meant (they being only exprert in the Plural Number, and indefinitely) as well as Two of thofc Times? Therefore clearly to free it of all ambiguity, he explains this firf1: Time here by 42 Months. Now reckoning 12 Months to a Year, thefe 42 Months make three Years and a half. So then, by Time is meant a Year; by Times, rwo Years; and by half a Time, half a Year more. And yet becaufe there was fame ambiguity in that alfo, in that fome Nations reckon but 28 Days to a Month, wherea; others reckon more, ( fo the Jews reckon 28, but the Egyptitms 30 Days) therefore he reckons ·the fame T.ime by Days alfo, even [ I26o Days J; which 42 Months do make up, reckomng 30 Days to a Month. Now all thefe are not Salary Days, that is, Natural Days, confifiing of Day and Night; but the Prophetical Days, as in Daniel a Day is put for a Year, and a Week for (even Years; and fo thirty Days for thirty Years, and 1260 Days for 1260 Years. And that thus they are to be taken, appears by this, that the Wit– ne!Tes, verf 8. are (aid to lie in the view of all Nations (as being haply banifh'd out among them) for three days and an half; and their Enemies are faid to fend Gifts one to anathtr in the mean time : Which if they were but three Natural Days and a half, all this (in three Natural Days and an half) could not be done. 3· By joining together thefe two Computations here, and {l, !hewing them to be the fame, he thereby clears the mention of them, as they are apart named Chap. 12. and Chap. 13. of which otherwife there might have been a Doubt, whether the 42 Moml1s, Chap. 13· had been 1260 Days of Years. But by thus linking them together in this 111h Chapter, it is made certain that thofe Num– bers are the f.1me. 4· Though both Daniel there, and the Angel here, do mention only the Times of the Pope's Reign, who is the lafi Head of the Roman Monarchy; and not the whole Time from John's Days, but only the latter part of it for the !art I 26o y'ears under the Pope : Yet fo, as this was fufficient enough for the computation of t!.e whole Time that the Vifions of the Revelation do run through, and ferved fully enough to !hew the contemporarioufnefs of things in both Prophecies, and to !hew when the Fourth Monarchy lhould end, and fo when the Fifth fi10uld be towards its beginning. Which was his principal aim; And therefore as in the I7tb Chapter, v. 8. he explains who this Beafi was and what be lhould be at lafl; fo in this Chapter he !hews what the Time of this Beart's reigning is, and when it {hould encl. Now to demonfirate all thefe. 1. This Explication of this Time may ferve as a fufficient meafure of the Com– putation of the whole Time fpoken of in tbe Revelation. For if you know but either when this Time of the Pope's Reign begins, or when it ends ; you who live in thefe latter Days, may know how much time the Prophecy of this whole Book runs over. We know, by Story, when ']ohn began to write this Prophecy, even 94 Years after Chrifi, or thereabouts. So that it is about I 550 Years fince Jolm. Now I26o Years are to be allowed the lleafl the Pope, from his
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=