A Scripture Line of Time, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 1
SECT. I.
Of the Ninefold Repetition of this Line, and its ſeveral Characters; ſhewing, 1. That Time, Times, Half a Time, muſt each ſignifie, firſt Years, then Years of Years. 2. That Days muſt ſignifie, either firſt, Days of Years, in the 1260 Days, and then each of the three Days, a Year of Years, and proportionably in the Half Time, and Half Day. 3. The Months can be no other than Lunar Months, and ſo muſt ſignifie ſuch Months of Lunar Years, as are proportion'd to the 1260 Days, as Lunar Time is to Solar.
THE Great Line of Time, in the Eye of Prophecy, Poſition.and upon which it is moſt intent, as drawn for the latter Times, and approaching ſo near the final Accompliſhment of all Prophecy at this very Time, is the Time, Times, and Half Time, call'd alſo, Three Days and a half, Twelve hundred Sixty Days, and Forty two Months; All of which, even as each of them concurr, though in different manner, as ſhall be ſeen, into One Line of Twelve Hundred and ſixty Years, and are coeval to the ſpace of the ſix firſt Apocalyptical Trumpets.
That this Line may be better underſtood, and Apprehended, It is firſt to be well obſerv'd: in theſe following Grand Heads, or Generals of Diſcourſe.
This Line of Time is nine times to be found in Sacred Firſt General.Prophecy; Twice in Daniel it is called Time, Times, Half a Time; once 1260 Days, though concealed ſomewhat by Dan. 7. 25. and Dan. 12. 7. Dan. 12. 11.joyning it with Thirty more; for twelve hundred and ſixty are made to lye in the complex of Twelve hundred ninety Dayes, In the Apocalyptick Prophecy, it is firſt made known by Forty two Months*, then by Twelve hundred ſixty Days*, Apoc. 11. 2. Apoc. 11. 3. Apoc. 11. 9. Apoc. 12. 6. Apo. 12. 14. Apoc. 13. 5.then by Three dayes and a half*, then again by Twelve hundred ſixty Dayes*; then is again reaſſum'd, the Time, Times, Half a Time*; and laſtly, the Forty two Months are the ſecond time aſſign'd; the obſervation of which Repetition, and Variation, and Order of both; in giving this ſpace of Time, is of great Inſtruction (as we ſhall ſee in its proper place) for the underſtanding Prophecy.
That then, which I ſhall firſt addreſs our Thoughts unto, ſhall be to conſider every Character of Time, given us in Prophecy, by its ſelf, with its Signification and Extent, and the Aſſurances it is of ſuch ſignification and Extent; then the Balances of the Characters one with another; and laſtly, their ſeveral Epochs and Periods.
The firſt Character of Prophetick Time, is Time, Times, Half a Time, or if tranſlated exactly, either according to the Character firſt.Originals of the Old or New Teſtament, and according to the very Deſign of Prophecy, it is Appointed Time, Appointed Times, Appointed Half Time, or, Seaſon, Seaſons, half a Seaſon; and ſo in that firſt Diſtribution of Time according to the Motion of the Sun, and the Moon, the great Luminaries of Heaven, it is uſed Geneſ. 1. 14. for Deſign'd and Appointed Times; and this is very neceſſary to be layd in the Foundation; For accordingly it will follow, The meaſures of this Seaſon, Seaſons, half a Seaſon, muſt be found out by obſerving the meaſures of the other Notes of Time wherewith they are joyned; for that Character of Seaſon it ſelf ſpeaks high, and notorious Deſignation of this Time, Times, Half a Time; and that moſt remarkable Seaſon (of which after-uſe is to be made) ariſes from ſuch a Deſignation, and not an immediate Definition of the Space.
But then ſecondarily, Becauſe a Year, and a Day, are the moſt natural and ready Meaſures of deſigned Time, and ſo may in that forenam'd Scripture be the Explanation of Seaſons, Gen. 1. 14.or remarkable and ſignaliz'd Times, as they are immediately added to Seaſons: and becauſe in all probability, ſeven Times paſſing over Nebuchadnezzar under his Delirium, Dan, 4. 23.mean ſeven Years, ſince they cannot mean Days or Months, or leſs than Years, nor more, we may firſt conſider Time, Times, Half a Time, as three Years and a half, and that with Authority, becauſe they are diverſifyed into other ſuch Extents of Time or Spaces, as we ſhall ſee, that point to ſo much.
So then the ſignification of Time, Times, Half a Time, is taken from that firſt moſt known and honourable Account of Time, the Suns Motion from Point to Point in its annual Circle: This is a more honourable Circulation than that of a Day, becauſe the Sun more knownly varies every day from the Point from which, and the Point to which it daily moves, which makes the change of the Year to thoſe ſeveral Seaſons; ſo that although, as Solomon tells us, The Sun riſeth and goeth down, and haſteth to the place where he aroſe, diſtributing Day and Night to the World; yet he neither ſets nor riſes two Days together at the ſame exact Point, but veres towards one of the Tropicks; although therefore a Day of the Suns being with us is the moſt noble meaſure of Time next to the Year, yet it cannot deſerve the Name of a Time, of a ſignaliz'd Time, as a Year doth; both becauſe it is not ſo exact to a Point of Revolution, and becauſe it is not ſo full; a Year excelling a Day in being the greater and ampler, and ſo the moſt perfect, known, and generally obſerv'd Circle for a Seaſon, comprehending that of a Day above three hundred ſixty five times within it ſelf; and is the Suns perfect Emenſuration of its way from one end to the other end of the Heavens, and of its Viſitation of the whole Earth with its Beams.
A Year muſt yet more excel a Month than it does a Day, becauſe the Sun hath the Government of the Day, and of the Year; but the Moon, the much more ignoble Planet, and Governeſs only of the Night, gives to the Months their Character and Meaſure; and tho there are twelve Points of the Space the Sun emenſurates in a Year, viz. the twelve Signs in the Zodiack, and the Suns firſt Touch upon Aries, to its gliding off from it to the next Sign, may be call'd a Solar Month; yet neither is it the proper Month, which is defin'd by Lunations, nor is it any Circulation of the Sun with it ſelf, or with its own Motion, or with its great end of encompaſſing the World with its enlivening Beams: there is no ſpace therefore that can properly merit the Name of a Time or Seaſon in the firſt place, but a Year firſt, and then a Day.
Times, abſolutely ſo call'd, muſt needs alſo be moſt properly two Times, for the firſt Plurality, or more than one is two; and the more ſo, becauſe it is ſet betwixt one Time, and half a time; for that Number, which exceeds, and removes from Unity firſt, is two; and that which is bounded by half a Time in its remove from one Time, can be no more than two; for if it had proceeded to more than two, and had not been ſtop'd or cut off, as the Hebrew ſignificantly, It had been three Times.
Half a Time therefore, as it refers to the Beaſts Time, muſt be Time decurtated, or cut off at the middle, (as the Garments and Beards of David's Servants, half'd by Hanun in Diſgrace and Diſhonour) to the Beaſts eternal Infamy, and in recompence to his ſurpriſe of the Churches Peace, and Purity, at its half Hour, as ſhall be noted.Apoc. 8. 1.
Time then, as One, denotes Beginning, as One is the beginning of Number; Times, as Two, denotes Increaſe and Conſiſtency, as it is a progreſs of Time from One, and ſettles in the firſt even Number; Half ſpeaks an endeavour of Motion to be continued, but ſurpris'd, and cut off at its middle.
Now theſe Time, Times, Half a Time, might ſignifie only the three Years and a half they firſt import; but that they muſt ſignifie more, we ſhall find very full aſſurance: when therefore we ſhall have reaſon'd that it muſt be more than three Years and a half, it will then appear moſt reaſonable, that each Time ſhould have its moſt perfect Circle: And if a Year be the perfecteſt Circle of Time, then a Year of Years muſt be the moſt perfect and full Circle, beyond which there can be nothing, but a Repetition, or Multiplication of the ſame again and again: ſo then the Time muſt be a Year of Years, the two Times muſt be the ſame Circle twice told, and the Half Time the ſame Circle attempted the third Time, and clip'd off at the Semicircle; which is the Account of this Character of Time, Times, Half a Time, and which is the firſt, and, as will appear, the moſt comprehenſive of the Characters of this Line: and tho there may be other Revolutions of the Heavens, and of the Sun, particularly known to learned Aſtronomers, containing greater numbers of Years, and there is a more perfect Number alſo of Years, viz. the thouſand Years given us in this Prophecy, as we ſhall ſee afterwards; yet there is none ſo fit to the preſent Purpoſe as Days and Years, nor ſo full as a Year of Days, and then a Year of Years, or of prophetical Days, moſt agreeable to Prophecy every way.
I come now to the ſecond Character of Days: A Day then Character the Second.is the firſt moſt known and obſervable date of Time, as it was firſt in uſe to meaſure Time by; The Evening and the Morning were the first Day, aſſoon as Time began: A Day Gen. 1. 5. &c.then is the Time in which the Sun performs his Motion (ſpeaking as the Scripture does to general Apprehenſion, without regard to ſtrictneſſes of Philoſophy, whether the Motion be of the Sun or of the Earth) from East to West, and gives Light to one of the Hemiſpheres, and then from West to East, and ſo haſtens to the Place where he aroſe as near as the aforeſaid Variation will allow, and gives Light to the other Hemiſphere, as Lord of the Day to the World of both Hemiſpheres.
As then on this Account Days are in all Languages expreſſive of length of Time, ſo one Day was by God made choice of to ſignifie a Year, and one Day by Moſes, Pſal. 90. and by the Apoſtle Peter is ſingled out to parallel with a thouſand Years; and Man's Day, by the Apoſtle Paul, is us'd to expreſs the whole courſe of Man's time of judging, in oppoſition 2 Pet. 2. 8.to the Day of Judgment: and the whole courſe of 1 Cor. 4. 3.Judgment is call'd frequently the Day of Judgment, as one Day; and as it is taken a Day for a Year in this Line of Time, ſo we ſhall find in the three Days and a half it is taken for a Day of Years, equal to a Year of Years.
Day threfore is a Standard of Time fairly to be accommodated to any Meaſure of Time, the Conjunction it hath with ſuch Meaſure otherwiſe given requires: when therefore three Days and a half are joyn'd with twelve hundred ſixty Days, with twice forty two Months, and all theſe within Time, Times, Half a time, there is a fair Reaſon to underſtand them of the very ſame Tenor of Time with what they are ſo conjoyn'd.
But as for the accounting a Day for a Year, that reſts upon that Divine Inſtitution of a Day for a Year, firſt in a Caſe near and parallel; of the Forty Years Commoration of the Church of Iſrael, Numb. 14. v. 34. (to omit Jacob's old Stile of Time, a Week of Years) in the Wilderneſs, and after that by the ſolemn Inſtitution, as of a prophetical Key, Ezek. 4. I have appointed a Day for a Year; ſo that when there is a concurrence of Prophecy, and Things to be tranſacted, that cannot be tranſacted in ſo ſhort a ſpace as of Days litterally and naturally underſtood; they muſt be ſo underſtood, as we are directed by Prophecy to underſtand them; viz. a Day for a Year, even as without Heſitation we compute into Weeks of Years Daniel's ſeventy Weeks, and ſo into 490 Years.
Now we ſhall find ſuch Tranſactions, fitted to the twelve hundred and ſixty days, that cannot poſſibly be ſuppos'd to have their Motion in three years and a half, ſo that they muſt be Prophetical days, or days for years.
And thus we have ſettled the two firſt, and moſt noble Characters of Time; A year ſignified by a time, and a day, as it is uſed in the three dayes and a half, and in the twelve hundred and ſixty days, with their moſt truly Prophetical Indications, viz. three years and a half of years, in the three times, and three days and a half, and twelve hundred and ſixty years in the 1260 days.
Let us then proceed to the third Character of Months, or the forty two Months.
A Month then, we know, is that Space of Time the Moon deſcribes by Night, in its progreſs through the Zodiack; Third Character.For whatever Hemiſphere it moves in, it is ſtill Night it rules in, which Motion is indeed ſo full of Variation and Incertainty in its Remove from the Ecliptick Line, the Sun's certain Path, that it is ſaid, The Sun knows its way, but the Moon does not; even as the Phaſis, or figure of the Moon is upon perpetual change, even to a Proverb, upon the unadjuſtableneſs of any ones Humour or Manners; Who can (ſaith the Proverb) fit a Coat to the Moon? and ſo is excellently adapted to deſcribe the Antichriſtian Tyranny that changes Times and Laws. Not onelyonly by reſcinding the truly Chriſtian Laws, by mens own Additions, contrary to thoſe Laws themſelves; but alſo making perpetually changeable, even the Counterfeits of them, by innumerable new Traditions; whereas the Religion of Jeſus Chriſt is yeſterday, and to day, the ſame for ever. Beſides that Judaiſme and Heatheniſme, that had ſo many dependencies on the Moon, is the Conſtitution of Antichriſtianiſm, and therefore the true Church, ſo diſtant from it, is cloathed with the Sun, and hath the Moon under its feet, and therein abdicates Judaiſm, Heatheniſm, and Mahometaniſm, (that alſo claims a Kindred with the Moon) as the Votaries of the Moon.
Now this Moon, as Governeſs of the Night, as ſo variable in its Motions and Meaſures, gives no Rule of Time by Motion from Eaſt to Weſt, but only from one Lunation to another, it denominates Months or Moons, being certain onelyonly in this, to return from one Conjunction of the Sun to another; which, becauſe it gives a new Phaſe to the Moon, is therefore called in the Hebrew Novitas, and the Lunations Novitates, or New Moons.
But I underſtand No Way that it can deſcribe the Circle of a Year, but by its Attendance on the Sun in its Motion, by ſo many new Conjunctions as will moſt agree with the Annual Motion of the Sun; and the neareſt This can be brought to by the Natural Motions of the Moon, there will be between Ten and Eleven Days betwixt the Motion of the Sun and the motion of the Moon upon twelve Conjunctions (call'd therefore Synodical Months) of the Moon with the Sun; For ſo many the Sun requires more to the finiſhing its Annual Courſe, than the Moon needs to its twelve Conjunctions with the Sun. And this be ſpoken of Months, as they are moſt properly to be underſtood of Lunations. For if we would interpret them of Solar Months, beſides another greater Obſtruction, or Caution to be entred againſt that Interpretation hereafter, they could be only progreſſive, not Circular, and ſo not agreeable with a day or a year, there being more of a Circulation of motion by that moſt Illuſtrious Prince of Time in a day than in a Month. And therefore we account a Day the firſt Circle of the Sun's motion, with Light from Eaſt to Weſt, and ſo to Eaſt again; and a Year the moſt perfect Circle of his motion, in going forth from one end of Heaven, and in Circuit to the other end thereof, with Heat and Influential Vertue; in neither of which Solar Months correſpond, as to any Complement, and therefore not ſo fit Symbols of Time as the Lunar Months, which have a circle from one Conjunction to the Sun with another.
Now theſe Lunar Months are in conjunction with Time, Times, Half a Time, or three years and a half of Years; and with Twelve hundred ſixty Days or Years; Twice Forty two Months of Years alſo, but the former coaleſcing, or falling into One within the latter, as a River that had been a River before may be ſuppos'd to do into a new Cut, or Channel, prepar'd to receive the confluence of neighbouring Waters, lying in the way of that former River, ſo near, that by the great confluence of Waters, and the more ample Channel of the new River, the old may be deriv'd into it, and ſo make the much greater River, and having made their way, as ſo united, ſome Leagues, the Old River, its Name, and Memory, are ſwallow'd up in the New: ſo are the Gentiles forty two months merg'd in the Forty two months of the Beaſt, and both coextend the Twelve hundred ſixty days, and no more.