A Scripture Line of Time, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 11
SECT. XI.
Of the Number 666. Shewing the certainty it gives to this whole Line of Time, both as to the Nature and Time of the Beaſt, upon a true and right Explanation of it, Revel. 13. v. 15, 16, 17, 18.
I Cannot move farther upon the Mahometan Time, or from the Fifth to the Sixth Trumpet, until I have conſider'd that famous Number in this Prophecy, Six hundred ſixty ſix, which I have affirm'd to be a Pillar erected within Intimate Time or Seaſon; to which Anterior, outward Time is but an Ante-Room, or Portico.
This appears to us about 103 Years after the Mahometan Hegira, and ſo early within the Period of the Saracens; viz. at 725. According to the order therefore I have propos'd, I muſt ſettle that ſo illuſtrious Notation of Time.
For by it the Divine Prophecy hath girdled this Tree of the ſpiritual Babyloniſh Monarch, and given its meaſure from its Conception to its Akme, its Top, or Height; and from thence till it ſhall be hewed down, although the Stump ſhall continue ſome time after, till it is rooted wholly up, and caſt to the Flames.
It could not riſe higher, although ſince then it hath ſpread its Roots every way to confirm it ſelf, and dilated its Boughs to enlarge its Shade and its Authority.
Now becauſe this Number 666, as it rolls in the whole ſpace of the Apocalyptick Prophecy, is incertain and fugitive, and apt to be laid hold upon here or there, according to variety of Apprehenſions concerning it; It muſt firſt be fix'd, as Prophecy deſign'd it. Now to do this, Prophecy it ſelf hath enabled us theſe two ways to take it.
1. It muſt be taken from its Height to its Root, and from its Root back to its Height; and ſo we ſhall certainly find where it riſes to 666, and from whence, and how far it can ſpread.
2. It muſt be endeavour'd by obſerving the prophetical delineation of the whole intimate Time or Seaſon, to make a Judgment where this Pillar of it can be only juſtly, and with due proportion fix'd, ſo as to find from it the whole Longitude both of intimate Time, or Seaſon, Seaſons, half Seaſon, as alſo of Time, Times, Half-time, or time at the utmoſt extent of 1260 Days, and the twice forty two months. And this by ſolid Reaſons from this Prophecy.
For the firſt Prophecy hath admirably enabled us, and to Head 1 very great purpoſes, to meaſure from its Height to its Root, by ſhewing us, we are to do ſo according to the general Wiſdom of a man, that is, of a man of Reaſon. It ſtyles this Number the Number of a man.
For as much then, as the numerative Faculty, and the notion of Number ſpringing from it, is peculiar to Man, as a Creature of Reaſon, and a Beaſt can be ſuppos'd to have nothing of it; and becauſe men of more acute and excellent Reaſon treat Number otherwiſe than men of vulgar Apprehenſion doe, the counting of the Beast's Number is call'd Wiſdom; and He that hath that Wiſdom is call'd in a peculiar manner to count it, as by ſtones, the ancient way of numbring; foreign.and ſo he ſhall find the Number of the Name of the Beast, and the Number of his Time.
As Moſes then was skill'd in all the Learning of the Egyptians, ſo this myſtical Book is pleas'd to make uſe of the Pythagorean Learning in myſtical Numbers, and of the wiſeſt knowledge of Arithmetick.
And as the Pythagorick Philoſophy found out Proportions by reducing Numbers to their ſquare Root, ſo to adjuſt all things in mathematical Science; and then gave the nature of things in the Hieroglyphick of Number, ſometimes from the Congruity they have imagin'd couch'd in Number, with ſuch and ſuch Natures, as Ten was call'd the Number of the World, Four of Juſtice, &c. ſometimes from any chief Action in Time, or Times, of ſuch a numeral Denomination, as the very mention of ſuch Years wherein any Potentacy ſtood higheſt, or fell loweſt, is a Cypher for thoſe very things famous at ſuch Times.
Juſt in the ſame manner Divine Prophecy muſt be ſuppos'd to remand us to the Root of the Beaſts Number, to find both his Name, that is, his Nature, as Name in Scripture ſignifies, and his Times by both the Top and Root of his Number, and what was moſt memorable at each.
Although therefore I ſhall willingly allow any uſe that can be made of the numeral Letters of the Name, ſuppos'd moſt proper to the Beast, as foreign, or any that can be with truth made of any 666, with the Millenary omitted; as ſome ſuppoſe 666 with the Millenary omitted, as accounted in the preſent Century, not from the Incarnation, but from the Reſurrection, which will be 1699: yet, becauſe theſe things are too ſlippery and incertain, and may be adapted ſeveral other ways; I lay no ſtreſs upon them: nor do they ſo much require a man of Wiſdom in Numeration, to count them (which is a Portal to convey us into the true ſenſe of this Number,) as any kind of conjectural Skill.
Agreedly then among all Arithmeticians, the neareſt to the ſquare Root of Six hundred ſixty ſix, is Twenty five, as that excellent Apocalyptical * Arithmetician hath elaborated Mr. Potter.it.
And that this may be better underſtood, and more confirm'd, it is made moſt certain by the oppoſite Number Twelve, and 144 conſtructed upon it; the Import of this Number Twelve, is pure Iſraelitiſm, and perfect Apoſtoliſm. It riſes to Rev. 21.its perfection at 144, in the New Jeruſalem, when that Number comes to its cubical, ſolid Perfection; and it riſes evenly and juſtly, till it comes to be not only the meaſure of a Man, but even Angelical and Divine: the meaſure of a Man, that is, of the Angel. Twenty Five is uneven, fractional, out of ſquare, ſur'd, both from Twelve and from it ſelf. Aſſoon as ever it becomes the Baſe, the Root, and pretends to be the Square of another Number, It becomes a Variation from the pure Iſraelitiſm, and the perfect Apoſtolical Doctrine, Worſhip, Diſcipline, and Converſation, and in every Progreſs, as it mounts higher, ſo retaining all along a likeneſs and pretenſion to it, it varies yet more from it, till it attains its compleat Number 666. and is Antichriſtianiſm and Beſtianiſm at the full ſtature or number of a Man in this ſenſe, that is, at manly Age, and fully oppoſes the true Evangelical Meaſures, and comfounds them ſo much the more, as it pretends to them. Till this Time it is trac'd as between 25 and 26. Its ways are till then moveable, and not ſo well to be aſcertain'd and known.
This being ſo far adjuſtable in Nature, is alſo as adjuſtable in Time; for from Twenty five after the Reſurrection, the certain Apocalyptick Epoch, it riſes to its Top at 666, from that Twenty five, and then appears at its true Elevation, as we ſhall ſee preſently. Now that it ſo began at Twenty five or ſix, we have a threefold Teſtimony; Of the Apoſtle Paul, that the Myſtery of Iniquity, viz. the Apoſtacy, as a Womb, in which the Man of Sin was curiouſly form'd, as in the lower parts of 2 Theſſ. 2. 7. 1 John 4. 3. Revel. 2. 4.the Earth was then at work, that it might bring forth the Man at his full growth, at 666. The Apoſtle John aſſures us, Antichrist was then in the World, and the ſupreme Apocalyptes, Chriſt, tells us, Epheſus, the Image of the Apoſtolical Church, had even in the Apoſtles Times left its first Love; when therefore Apoſtolical Time had doubled it ſelf from Twelve to Twenty Four, and was moving onward, as at a preciſe Time from Conception; the Myſtery of Iniquity began to work at 25 or 26.
And it is no wonder, the Man of Sin, beheld by the Apoſtle in Spirit, when no Eye ſaw him in this his Embrional Condition in his firſt Principles, was thus remark'd by him; For then every thing receives its nature; Even as Jacob in the Womb, as John the Baptist, as our Lord in his Conception is celebrated; ſo this Man of Sin is dated from the conceiving of Sin, as well as from the manly State, from the Conception as well as from the grown Man, till then Iniquity fully accompliſhing its Time brings forth Death. This Pſendo Abrahamite, this ſpiritual Edom, and Eſau, ſtruggled as another Nation in the Womb of the Apoſtacy, while the pure Iſraelitiſm, without guile, lay in the Womb of true Chriſtianity; to both which, the outward Profeſſion was a common Womb. This prophane Eſau is he that ſold the Birth-right of the Goſpel for a Meſs oſ Pottage, and the Heavenly Kingdom for an Earthly Dukedom; and wherein he got the ſtart.
Thus the Number of the Name of the Beast, and the number of the Beaſt, or the time of his adult and man-like Beſtianiſm, ſo cloſely related, ſo cloſely joyn'd, as not poſſible they ſhould lead two ſeveral ways, both being the Time of worſhipping the Image, receiving the Mark, the Name, and the Number of the Name, aſſure, beyond all doubt, that they are both one Nature, appearing manifeſtly at one and the ſame Time; and by both mathematical and prophetical Certainty, if the Top of the Number be 666, Twenty five muſt be the Root and Bottom; and if the Root be Twenty five from the Reſurrection, the top muſt be 666, from that twenty five, viz. 725, or 726; and ſo both from the nature counter-Apoſtolical, under the pretence of Apoſtolical, as alſo the Root and the top of Time being compar'd, It can neither be Mahometan, not ſo early up, as twenty five; nor Pagan that did not live ſo long as 725, but muſt be Antichriſtian, or the Beaſt.
And by this wonderful Hieroglyphick of Number, God hath ſurpris'd all defence from Antiquity, out of the hand of Antichriſt, that is not built upon his Word, Truth, and ſolid Reaſon; for ſeeing the Myſtery of Iniquity wrought ſo ſoon as 25, from the Reſurrection; all Proof from Antiquity only, is but proof for Antichriſt, taken from the Mystery of Iniquity, beginning to work, and ſo not to be for that cauſe allowed.
I come therefore now to the ſecond point, viz. To ſee Head. 2 where this Pillar of intimate Time, this ſix hundred ſixty ſix can be only, duely, and proportionably plac'd; And we ſhall find evidently where it is thus to be plac'd.
That we may then underſtand this, we muſt conſider, that there is in Time, Times, Half Time, an intimate Time or Seaſon ſignified to us 3 ways.
1. By the force of the Words us'd in the Chalde, in the Dan. 7. 25. Dan. 12. 7. Rev. 12. 14.Hebrew and in the Greek Originals to expreſs this Line; It is indicted, appointed Time, or Seaſon, Seaſons, half Seaſon. Now Seaſon is the moſt virtual, lively point of Time; for though all Seaſon muſt have Time to ſupport it, yet Time is only Seaſon to thoſe things, whereunto it is eſpecially appointed, and gives advantage; the very words therefore import Seaſon within Time; and thus the Apoſtle ſays, The Man of Sin is reveal'd foreign, as it were in the ſame Words with that of the three Seaſons and half, in his own Seaſon.
2. The intending and elevation of the Events ſpeak the ſame; for as much as Prophecying in Sackcloth is tranſcended by lying dead, as much as being in the Wilderneſs, ſo as to be hid from the face of the Serpent, exceeds being in the Wilderneſs only in general, as much as changing Times and Laws, and wearing out the Saints, and ſcattering the holy People by the Antichristian Prince himſelf, exceed the rude Gentiles, trampling the holy Court, or the Beasts mere Power of Continuance; ſo does the intimate Time, or ſeaſon of ſeaſons., ſeaſons, half ſeaſon, tranſcend the Time at large, and in general; and therefore all theſe Notes of Time are firſt given, and then Inward time with this Exaltation of the Effects.
3. The Three times and a half pointing and propending towards, though not rigidly denoting three years and a half, (even as twelve hundred ſixty days do, and as forty two months of Lunar years do) they have two great Paralels; one of Years, the other of Days; and both fitted to the very 1260 days of the Witneſſes.
The firſt of years is that of Elijah, declaring that there 1 Kings, 17. 1.ſhould not be theſe years Rain nor Dew, but according to his Word; Now the Time of this Drought is moſt expreſly affirmed twice, that we might take the more notice of it, to be three years and ſix months; once by Chriſt himſelf, a ſecond Luc. 4. 25. Jam. 5. 17.Time by the Apoſtle James.
And yet by the Hiſtory we cannot find, that the Drought was any longer than a part of the three years, and a part of 1 King. 18. 1.the ſix months; for it is ſaid, in the third year Elijah appeared to Ahab, and Rain enſued; accounting then from the latter end of the firſt year, to the beginning of the ſix months after two years, there might be no Rain, a part of the firſt year, the whole of the two years, nor till the ſix months began; and yet it might be in the third year, according to preciſe account of years; as may be eaſily underſtood. For there may be three full years within a part of the firſt of the three years, and of the ſix months, viz. the latter part of the firſt year, and the beginning of the laſt ſix Months, comprehending two whole years in the middle.
That of Days is the inſtance of our Lords three days in the heart of the Earth; which by the full evidence of the Evangeliſts, we know, was but a part of the firſt day, the whole of the ſecond, and a part, or the firſt part only of the third.
Now theſe three days both lay as an intimate part of Time within the three full years and half of our Lords Miniſtry; and alſo a part of the three days of his Death, was an intimate Time, within the three days at large of his ſtate of Death or dying.
According then to theſe paralels, but eſpecially that of our Lords three days of Death, to which the Death of the Witneſſes is more eminently paralel'd, we may find the intimate part of Time, Times, half a Time, we are upon.
Obſerving then our Lords three days, we find the half Matt. 28. 1. Marc. 15. 1. Luc. 22. 66.day of the firſt of the three began early in the Morning, with Proceedings againſt him; which were as Legal, Judiciary Proceedings by the Prieſts and Elders in Council; they had by a private way examined him in the Night; in the Morning as ſoon as it way Day, they held the Council Eccleſiaſtick and proper to themſelves, and condemned him as guilty of Death. About the third Hour they led him to Pilate, that he might be legally and juridically condemned by him, as the Roman Governour, like delivering over to the ſecular Power. At the ſixth hour they began the actual Crucifixion; viz. about twelve; but after the ninth hour, that is, our three in Matt. 27. 46. Marc. 19. 34.the Afternoon, our Lord died as a Sacrifice between the two Evenings, and before that day ended, which was the firſt of the three he was laid in the Earth, and there he continued the whole ſecond Night, and the Day following; which was the Jewiſh Sabbath; and till within the Night of the third Day, Matt. 28. 1. Mar. 16. 2. Luc. 24. 1.which was the firſt part of it; and was our Chriſtian Sabbath or Lords day, and the firſt of the Week.
This is now the Scripture-ſenſe of the three Days, of our Matt. 12. 40.Lords being in the Grave, or Heart of the Earth, and ſo by Proportion we are taught to underſtand the three days and half of the Witneſſes lying dead, viz. a part of each firſt and laſt, and the whole of the middle.
The very preciſe Time of the Night, at which Chriſt aroſe, is not indeed revealed; but it was a part of the Third Day 'ere he roſe. For it is well known, the Night going before, and the Day or Light coming after, according to the order of Creation, made the Jewiſh day; although therefore we know not the very Moment, yet it is moſt agreeable to believe; In the very firſt part of the Night, as ſoon as Chriſt had lain long enough to fulfill the Prediction, He aroſe; for early in the Morning, while it was yet dark, the Women coming John 20. 1.to embalm him, found him riſen.
It is very plain then, the intimate time of the dying ſufferings of our Lord Jeſus Christ entred at the ſecond half, or the Morning of the firſt of the three days, and grew more intimate, and was more fill'd with that tranſaction by the ſecond fourth part of that half; for the Evangelist Mark ſays, it was Marc. 15. v. 25.the third hour, viz. our nine of the Clock, and the Jews crucified him, intending the whole proceeding before Pilate to his Crucifixion; at the third fourth part, or the ſixth hour, which is our Noon, after ſome ſhort debate with Pilate, They led him away, bearing the Croſs to Golgotha; and then he was lift John 19. 49. Matt. 27. 45. v. 46. Marc. 13. 34.up to the Croſs, and the Heavens were cover'd with blacks, as at his Crucifixion; ſoon after the laſt fourth part, or the ninth hour, which is our three of the Clock, He gave up his Spirit, and was ſpeedily after entombed.
I do not intend to purſue this Paralel too cloſe, or too minutely, nor to rely too hard on Hiſtory, to give the motions of time exactly enough; but I reſt ſecurely on Prophecy, that there was a ſufficient agreement between that and the Event, at every juſt Time; The Idolatry and Tyranny, or Uſurpation of the Beaſt was riſen by the Morning of the ſecond 180, of the first 360, about 617, eleven years after the Ʋniverſality given by Phocas, when the Star fell, and received the Key of the bottomleſs Pit. It was further advanc'd, and ſtrengthned by the first Council of Lateran 649, againſt the ſecond fourth of this 180 years, viz. 659; To anſwer the third fourth, viz. 717, it was promoted ſo much further, that God who juſtly weighs all ſuch Motions, ſets up 18 years after, viz. at 725, or 726, the Pillar of intimate Time 666. Between the two Evenings, or within the laſt fourth part, viz. 787, at the ſecond Councel of Nice, the Beaſt overcame, the Witneſſes were ſlain, and ſo they lay dead for two whole Days, or twice 360 years, till 1517; when after the half day begun, The firſt motion to a Reſurrection manifeſted it ſelf, which could not be till they had continued dead ſuch a part of this laſt half day, as ſuffic'd to fulfill the Prophecy, that ſays, their dead Bodies ſhould lye three days and a half in the ſtreet of the great City.
And without laying too much weight upon Particles of Time, it is out of meaſure certain, the Power of the Beaſt, the Idolatry and Tyranny of the Man of Sin, within due diſtance of the time ſignified by this Prophecy, and of which Hiſtory near enough to Time, gives ſome very remarkable watch-word, or rather loud Voice, were at an elevation every way adequate to the ſuffering, dying ſtate of the Witneſſes, according to the Predictions, that went before, concerning both, in this Symbol or Exemplar of that great Proto-Martyr, the chief and ſupream Witneſs, the faithful Martyr, Jeſus Christ, and thoſe Gradations or Steps of his dying, and riſing again, ſo exactly meaſured out in time within his three days, and their three days and a half; abating only for the difference of the Paralels, our Lord was buried, they were not to be ſo, as we ſhall preſently obſerve.
Now for the further proving theſe things, I thus Argue.
Whenever the Beaſts Name, and the number of his Name began, Arg. 1 the Receiving the Name, and the number of the Name began alſo; For theſe are ſo eſſentially joyned together, as not to be divided, and indeed the Name and the Number do not come into Record, but for the receivings ſake of them, and then the Worſhip of the Image, the receiving a Mark in the Forehead, or the right Hand, began alſo. For all theſe are here of equivalent Satisfaction to the Beaſt, and they are all along through the after Prophecy joyn'd, as of equal Guilt, Sin and Danger; however then, they may denote ſeveral Poſts and Stations in the ſervice of the Beaſt, as it is indeed a great and wonderful Court, and hath a moſt ſtupendious diverſity of Offices, Miniſtrations, Subordinations, and Dependencies, and as vaſt a Populace; yet all theſe ſpeak the ſame Devotion, Subjection, Vaſſalage, to the Beaſt in one kind or other; and therefore the Priviledge of thoſe who abjure any of theſe, as therein abjuring all, is allowed equal by Chriſt: ſo that they are all indifferently and promiſcuouſly by this Prophecy uſed in all Caſes, as we may ſee. If then the Number of the Name, co-eval with the Number of the Beaſt, was at 725, all the reſt muſt be alſo at that Time. Seeing then it is evident All muſt begin together; If by Evidence from Hiſtory one was at 725, or as between 725 and 726, we may conclude All the reſt were ſo too.
But that one was, viz. the Worſhip of the Image, we have that ſo illuſtrious Icono-Claſtick Hiſtory, at that Time. Now beſides the force of the Alluſion between Worſhip of Images and the worſhipping the Beaſts Image; if we examine it well, we ſhall find both united.
For as in the worſhip of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, to which pattern the Prophecy undoubtedly refers, It ſeems the Worſhip of an Image made to his Glory, even of that Image he ſaw in a Dream, of which he was the Head of Gold; or however moſt certainly, his univerſal Power, and Monarchy commanding all Nations was celebrated by the Worſhip of the Image, he had made; and therefore the Edict runs in that Imperial Style; Unto you it is commanded, O People, Nations, Tongues, and Languages.
But beſides this, The worſhipping this Image is call'd both by Nebuchadnezzar himſelf, and by the Servants of the true Dan. 3. 14. 18.God, The ſerving of his Gods.
Even thus, The worſhipping the Image made to the Beaſt was both a Worſhip of the Beaſt as part of that old Image made up of Idolatry and Tyranny, a Worſhip of his Univerſal Power, commanding Nations, Tongues, and People, and alſo juſtly call'd a Worſhip of his Gods, repreſented by Images; As worſhipping his Image, in the laſt Time of the fourth Beast or Monarchy, gives ſo ſignificant an Alluſion to the Worſhip of Images ſet up at that time by his exorbitant Power, in whom the whole Image and Beſtianiſm ſhall periſh.
Of all this Leo Conon Iſaurus, and after him his Son Conſtantine Copronymus, and the Succeſſors of them, from 725 or 726, the Beaſts 666, until the ſecond Council of Nice, are a notable Indication; for although we read not of any precedent Decree by the Beast, commanding the Worſhip of Images, yet, the general uſage of ſo doing, made Image-worſhip, as an Idolatrous Coloſſus, to which every one, in obedience to this Beſtian Monarch, paid Devotion. And when the Emperour denied thus to worſhip, it was an Offence as high, as againſt that expreſs Lyon-mouth'd Command of that King of Babylon, Ʋnto You, &c.
And in that theſe Emperours were out of Rome's Dioceſe and Juriſdiction, it was a ſtyle like that, Ʋnto you it is commanded, O Tongues, People, and Languages. And the Diſobedience a Denial to worſhip the Image of Ʋniverſality made to the Beast in a Monarchy ſo univerſal, as to be above Emperours.
And if things were thus with ſo great Perſonages as Emperours, how muſt they prevail in general upon Nations, Tongues, and Languages of an inferiour Character, and what muſt the Rage be againſt them?
Whenever the Number was compleat, the War ſo often Arg. 2: foretold, that the Beast ſhould make with the Witneſſes, with the Seed, with the Saints muſt needs be alſo: for then was the Obligation to worſhip, and to receive a mark, the Name, or the number of the Name, carrying the Nature.
But the 144000 ſealed, who had not defiled themſelves with Women, of a Virgin-worſhip, and obedience to the Lamb, diſtinct from the Beast and his Woman of Fornications, he carries; The Seed, who keep the Commandments of God, and hold the Teſtimony of Jeſus; The Saints and Holy Worſhippers in the Temple muſt certainly remonſtrate to this Idolatrous Tyranny, and abominate it: They are thoſe, who neither worſhip'd the Beast, nor his Image, nor receiv'd his Mark, Name, nor Number, as is after the mention of this Number, often recorded to their Honour.
Upon this, the Beaſt riſen out of the bottomleſs Pit, who was to make War with all theſe, and into whoſe hand they were given, would in his Rage and his Fury make the War, that was given to him, to make with them.
And by wonderful Providence, without which a Hairfalls not to the ground, The Name of the high Feud in this matter is in all Hiſtorical Records call'd a War; From 725, or 726, or the Beaſts 666, Icono-Machia, or Bellum Iconoclaſticum, The War of deſtroying Images Loade's Hiſtory. And though Leo the Emperour may ſeem to be the Aggreſſor, and to have begun the War; yet becauſe the Cauſe on his ſide was juſt, it is in Prophetical Cenſure, the Beast, that made the War, and Leo Canon, is herein a Repreſentative of all the Witneſſes.
Speedily after the War muſt follow the dying of the Witneſſes; Arg. 4 for whenever the War began, it was given to the Beast to overcome and to kill: and this was, as was ſaid, ſolemnly declar'd by the ſecond Council of Nice, as alſo by the Excommunication of the Emperour, and violating his Rights in Italy from him, as in Capital Letters, Greek and Latin, as it were like the Jews Superſcription on Christ, All that worſhip not the Beaſt nor Received, &c. are damned Hereticks.
And this, according to the known Blaſt of Excommunication, was both a religious, a civil, and alſo a natural Death, as often as the Tyranny of the Beast could make it ſo. This Interdict, Proſcription, and Outlawry upon men, joyn'd with the Anathema, or Curſe of Excommunication, like caſting into the fiery Furnace, was the very dying of the Witneſſes, the diſpiriting and invalidating their Teſtimony; ſo that it was eſteem'd, not only dangerous as to worldly Concerns, but a deadly Sin to hold with them: They were curſed, even as he was, that was hanged on a Tree; All deteſted and abhorr'd them, as damned Hereticks, hated of God and Men.
And when the Beaſt had this Victory, They then cried out, Who is like the Beaſt? Who is able to make War with him? They then in token of Triumph, ſent Gifts one to another, rejoyced, and made merry, becauſe of theſe Prophets, who tormented them, that dwell on the Antichriſtian Earth.
But tho' they died, As their Lord did, they could not, as he, be buried: His Death was to be ſo aſſur'd by Burial; but theſe Witneſſes, being a ſucceſſive Body, were to continue dying, and prophecying, as Christ did at his Death, viz. in their continual Succeſſions: Part of this first day, the whole two following days, or twice 360 Years, joyn'd therefore as two Times, till within 1517, the last half day, or 180 Years; then the firſt motion to a Reſurrection began, and could not begin ſooner. So that when that Reſurrection began, we may know aſſuredly, Intimate Time was expir'd. The laſt 180 Years, on which it was to make an Impreſſion, was come, and that therefore the twice 360 days were paſt, or the two Times; and that ſome part of the firſt 360 days or first Time, had alſo paſt, ſince Intimate Time began, ſo as to come from thence forward to 1517, and ſo to 1697; which is the Period to be prov'd.
Till that 1517 then, They lay dead in the Street, or Breadth of that Great City, which extended it ſelf over Nations, Tongues, People, as the old City Rome did. The Sons of the Church-Rome were, as the Burgeſſes and Citizens of that City every where: This ſpiritual Sodom, and Egypt, is for the ſake of this very Type call'd the City where our Lord was crucified, and lay dead, three days as the three Witneſſes three and a half, and is the very ſame City and Church.
But the Nations, Tongues, and People, furniſhing new Succeſſions of them, ſuffer'd them not to be buried; that their Prophecy might continue 1260 Years: for the finiſhing their Testimony was not the finiſhing their Prophecy, which was to laſt the 1260 Days, but their Teſtimony, as it was Teſtimony without Martyrdom, was finiſh'd, and the Teſtimony of Martyrdom and dying begun, which from its Beginning was to continue three days and a half, or the inward ſeaſon part of Time, Times, Half a Time, viz. to 1697.
And to ſhew when it began, Prophecy, beſides killing, makes uſe of the Propriety of the Interdict, Proſcription, or Outlawry of Excommunication; That none ſhould buy or ſell who did not receive, &c. whether Great, Rich, or Free, pointing on the Emperours, on whom the Interdict ſo conſpicuouſly fell; then on Small, Poor, Bond, ſignifying the univerſal Death of the Witneſſes by the extent of the Nicean Anathema's at 787. All which is ſo clear a notice of the Time, that one would think it impoſſible to be denied.
Now that the Beast might be every way mounted to the height, to compleat his Number 666 at 725 or 26; and that the Divine Prophecy is cautious in not ſetting it too haſtily, may be eaſily believ'd, when we conſider the early aſpirings of the Biſhop of Rome, who before the Year 200, in the Controverſie concerning the time of celebrating Eaſter, had by Victor, otherwiſe a good man, and Martyr, by way of Preſage began to mannage the Key of the bottomleſs Pit in the Excommunication of the Eaſtern Churches; or if we conſider what Accounts Ammianus Marcellinus, a grave Heathen Hiſtorian in the Time of Julian the Apoſtate, about 360, gives of the State and Grandeur of that Biſhop in his Time; inſomuch, that he does profeſs the ſecular Glory, Richeſs, and Splendour of it might tempt him to embrace Chriſtianity, if that Biſhoprick might be the Reward of his Converſion. And although this Greatneſs muſt needs in the calamitous State of Rome be much depreſs'd; yet it is plain, it waited all opportunities of lifting up its Head, and at this Time to that height, that by infallible Judgment of this Prophecy, the Beaſt was come to his Number at 725.
And to conclude this matter; from all that hath been ſpoken of this Number, It cannot except by accident predict the end of the Beaſts Time; for however that Denunciation, Revel. 14. 9. intimates the poſſibility of worſhipping the Beast, and his Image, and receiving his Mark; viz. by impenitent Perſeverance in that Apoſtacy, even after not only his intimate Time expir'd, but even after the end of his 1260 Days, as I expound that Voice of the Angel; yet it is not to be ſuppos'd, that the Holy Spirit would give the Number of the Name that was to be receiv'd as a Teſt of Subjection to the Beast, as a Hieroglyphick of his End: For what ſervice were it to the Beast, or what diſhonour to Chriſt, to carry the Hieroglyphick of the Time God had determin'd to the Beast's Deſtruction? Seeing the Mark, the Name, the Number of the Name, and of the Beaſt, are, as hath been declar'd, all ſubſtantially wreath'd and wrought one into another, and import cloſe and deep Subjection to the Beaſt.
When we compare intimate Time in its beginning, and Arg. 5 ending with the other Symbol of the Witneſſes ſhutting Heaven, that it ſhould not rain in the days of their Prophecy; it is a very viſible Reſemblance of that Time with the Apoſtacy of the ten Tribes, through the Seduction of Jezebel in the days of Elijah, and of that Drought of three Years and ſix Months at his Word.
As then the Seducements of a ſpiritual Jezebel, that maketh her ſelf a Propheteſs, led away thoſe, that by the Profeſſion of Christ ſhould be his Servants, to Idolatry and Fornication, even ſo the ſame Jezebel, Rev. 17. is plainly declar'd as in the Church of Thyatyra; ſo the Witneſſes contemporary with Rev. 2. 20.this Jezebel have a power to ſhut Heaven that it ſhould not rain in the twelve hundred ſixty Days of their Prophecy, but at their Word.
But then, as we have ſhewed, Elijah's three Years and ſix Months comprehended ſuch an Intimate Time, that a part of the firſt year, and a part alſo of the laſt ſix months, and the two years whole, comprehended the whole Time.
And thus in the Parallel of the Witneſſes, we may begin the first Year near the Time of the Star falling, when the Heaven became ſhut as to any Rain or Dew of pure Evangelical truth: but we moſt certainly know, that when there was a great ſound of Rain, as of the ſeven Thunders, viz. from 1517. Although it was but a Cloud, as big as a man's hand, that then appear'd, we know, I ſay, that Intimate Time was paſt, and that there could be from thence but 180 Years, which muſt end at 1697.
Then it was, Thou, O God, didſt ſend a plentiful Rain, whereby Pſal. 68. 9.thou didſt renew thy Inheritance, when it ſeem'd as it were quite loſt, and become perfect Heath and Wilnerneſs. And had not the Thunders been ſeal'd, the Rain had been by this time as the great Ocean, ſwelling with the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea; but at the prefix'd Time, the ſeventh Trumpet ſhall ſound, as the ſeventh Look of Elijah's Servant; 1 King. 18. 33, 34.and the Rain ſhall be ſo great, as to put a final ſtop to the ſpiritual Ahab, the great Antichriſtian King.
How much farther this Pillar, erected within Intimate Time, may guide us upon the Periods of Time, remarkable after the Reformation, we ſhall have opportunity to reſearch upon that Juncture, as alſo concerning the due Application of the Number of the Beaſt, upon both that and the next diſtribution of the Line we are to entreat upon.
I conclude then this great Character of Time, viz. 666. under the Apprehenſion of its Root at 25 from the Reſurrection, to 725, with this ſhort Remark.
By this ſure Word of Prophecy we may ſee the danger of returning Remark.to Antiquity, Antiquity not Cannoniz'd, Antiquity without the Aſſurance of the Word of God, and ſolid Reaſon to bear it up in all its Beheſts. It would be to repeat over again the ſteps of the Apoſtacy, and to produce the Number of the Beaſt a ſecond Time: it would be no better than Nicodemus's returning to his Mothers Womb to be born; from whence he would certainly come with the ſame Corruption, double.
Even ſuch would be the State of Chriſtian Religion, if roll'd back into the ſame Womb of Antiquity, not keeping cloſe to the abſolute meaſure of the Word of Jeſus Chriſt. It would prove a renewed Womb of Apoſtacy; it would grow up to a ſecond Six hundred ſixty ſix.