A Scripture Line of Time, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 2
SECT. II.
Of the two Communities, and their two-fold ſtate deſcribed, within this Line of Time, viz. The Church of Chriſt and its Sufferings, the Kingdom of the Beaſt, and its Tyranny: ſhewing alſo, there muſt be Seaſon, or intimate Time within Time, at large.
I Have thus far ſettled the General Sciagraphy, or Land-Scaph of this Prophetical Line of Time, and ſhall now endeavour to make a farther penetration into the underſtanding of it, and its ſeveral Characters, by enquiry into its ſignification, its extent in every one of theſe Characters, and the Balance of every one of them, each with the other, and that not by an over-critical reſtraint of the following Diſſcourſe to every Head, but in ſuch a communication of the Extent, the balance of the Characters one with another, that the moſt perfect knowledge of the whole may ariſe from them together, as they moſt naturally fall one into the other.
It is then to be known in the Second General;
There are two ſtates of Things, and two kinds of Perſonages; Second General.and in ſucceſſive Communities, and Incorporations, each of them are to be found; both which appertain to this Line of Time, and the Characters of Time are diſtinctly ſuited to each, viz. to the tyranny of that King, the Scripture-Prophecy calls the Beaſt, and his Gentiles, and to the Sufferings of the true Church and Servants of God, under that Tyranny.
The whole maſs of Time is therefore divided into the Time of the Night, under the Conduct of the Moon, the Governeſs, as hath been ſaid, of the Night, and into the Time of the Day, and the Light under the Government of the Sun, the Prince of the Day. And this is agreeable to that long Line of Time, Dan. 8. 14. viz. The twenty three hundred Evening-Morning; for ſo they are expreſſed in the Hebrew, that while the twenty three hundred notes by ſuch a number, the length of the ſpace, the Evening-Morning is all but one Evening, and one Morning; and ſo it is call'd, The Viſion of the Evening. and of the Morning, verſe 26.
As then it is called the Viſion of the Evening and the Morning, ſo the Evening is but One, and the Morning but One. As they are 2300 Evening-Morning, ver. 14. it is ſignified, the leſſer portions of Time are taken out of that great Number; Again, As they are One Evening and One Morning, it ſpeaks the Time, One continued Evening, with a bright Morning at the end of it; As they are twenty three hundred Evening-Morning, it ſignifies ſo many Nights and Days, or natural Nycthemers, or prophetical Years, in which the Children of darkneſs take the Evenings, or Night, under the Moon, and the Children of Light have the Mornings, or Dayes, for their portion, under the Sun of Righteouſneſs, with which the Church is cloath'd, and hath the Moon, even when it ſeems moſt to have the Aſcendent, under its Feet; but their Morning or Day does not appear in its Brightneſs, till All night's paſt, and the bright Morning-Star ſhall appear.
The whole Maſs of Time, I ſay then, or the Time, Times, Half Time, is diſtributed into twelve hundred ſixty dayes, twice nam'd, but can be but one and the ſame Twelve hundred and ſixty; and twice forty two months, which, taken as Lunar Time, and ſingle, cannot be equal to Twelve hundred ſixty dayes, or ſo much Solar Time, and taken double, exceeds it, and therefore muſt, as hath been ſaid, and ſhall be prov'd, coaleſce, and knit one into another, as a due Point, and ſo may be Two forty two Months, and this, as proper to the Children of the Night, muſt be peculiar to the Beaſts Tyranny; and the Days diſtinct to the Children of Light, and their Holy Martyry, or Teſtimony, though under Sufferings, and Death it ſelf.
The firſt of theſe, or the Tyranny of the Beaſt, is expreſſed by changing Laws and Times, and wearing out the Saints of the moſt High, by accompliſhing to ſcatter the power of the Holy People, by the Gentiles treading the Court, and the Holy City under foot, whereby the Tammith, viz. the daily, or continual Publick Service of God is taken away, by making War with the Witneſſes and Saints, the Womans Seed, and overcoming, and killing them, as may be ſeen by a compare of Dan. c. 7. c. 8. c. 11. c. 12. and Apocal. c. 11. c. 12. c. 13.
The ſecond State of Things, or the Sufferings of the Church and Servants of God, is expreſſed by the Witneſſes, and Servants of God worn out, given into the Hand of the little Horn, or Beaſt, (for he is call'd both, Dan. 7. v. 8. 12. 25. compar'd) lying dead, caſt down, ſtamped upon, ſcattered, the Witneſſes in Sackcloth, and the Woman in the Wilderneſs, ſo as to be hid from the Face of the Serpent. All which appears in the places fore-cited.
Now that we may ſee, how theſe States, and ſo the Characters of Time are Implex'd, and Enfolded one within the other;
Firſt, the Time, Times, Half Time, are the common Womb and Continent of the whole Time; And this Character is therefore given firſt, Dan. 7. 25. And that it might be the more obſervable, it is given again the ſecond time, Dan. 12. 7. And then to give a farther notice to it, it is given a third time in the Revelation, Apoc. 12. 14.
But becauſe the juſt ſpace and duration of time, times, ſemi time, cannot be concluded certainly by themſelves, they are ſlid into twelve hundred ſixty dayes, lying, as I have ſaid, in the Boſome of twelve hundred ninety dayes, as the juſt ſize, and exact ſtandard of the whole Time, ſo that in its utmoſt Extent, It, and all its Characters muſt be equal; and they can neither exceed, nor fall ſhort of Twelve hundred ſixty Prophetical Days, or Years, that is, neither the Time, Times, Semi, or Half Time, nor the three Dayes and a half, which are but other words, as we ſhall ſee, for the Three Times and a Half; Nor the twice Forty two Months can be either longer or ſhorter than the Twelve hundred ſixty Years; becauſe therefore Fourty two Months of Lunar Time (as they ought to be interpreted, as hath been ſhewn) are not equal to twelve hundred ſixty Days, or Years; and that twice Forty two Months will much more exceed, therefore the Forty two Months, twice given, muſt be two Forty two Months, which, by the Characters we ſhall be guided to, we ſhall find at an exact Point, coaleſcing, or uniting into One, as hath been already ſaid.
And becauſe Time, Times, Semi Time, are both as long, and as broad as the twelve hundred and ſixty dayes, and yet have a more pregnant Intimate part, viz. the Seaſon within the Time, in regard of which, or as referring to that Seaſon, they are call'd foreign, or Seaſons, We ſhall find the States ſuited to that Character, viz. Time within Time, or to Seaſon, which is a more pregnant intimate Time within a larger Time; ſo that they may both fill the Character at its utmoſt breadth and length, of Twelve hundred ſixty Years, and twice Forty two Months, and yet more fruitfully Impregnate it with Seaſon, within its more intimate ſpace; Every part therefore of this Character, time, times, ſemi-time, hath the full extent of Twelve hundred and ſixty dayes, and yet a foreign, or an intimate Kernel of Time within it. And that we may be led to this Obſervation, not only the words, Seaſon, Seaſons, half a Seaſon, but thoſe other words in place of them, viz. three dayes and a half, are on purpoſe choſen, as we ſhall ſee, when we compare the States, viz. of the Beaſts Tyranny, and the Churches Sufferings, with each Character of Time, which I come next to do in the Third General.