CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

BOOK I.

PRELIMINARY MATTER. p. 1.

CHAPTER I.

Respecting the figurative and symbolical language of pro-

phecy p. 3.

The origin of the symbolical language of prophecy. p. 3.

I. Such phraseology, as is constructed on abstract ideas, is

purely metaphorical. p. 15.

8. The resurrection of the dead. p. 16.

9. The lying unburied for a short time. p. 16.

10. The being not only dead, but buried. p. 17.

11. The exposure of dry bones, from which all the flesh

is wasted away. p. 17.

12. Ascension to heaven. p. 17.

13. The day of judgment and the coming of the Lord in

glory. p. 17.

14. Blasphemy. p. 17.

15. Hatred succeeding to love. p. 17.

16. Mensuration. p. 17.

17. Sealing or setting a mark upon a person. p. 18.

18. Devouring the flesh of a person. p. 18.

19. Eating a prophecy. p. 18.

20. Sealing up a prophecy. p. 18.

II. But, when prophetic phraseology is constructed on palpable

symbols, those symbols typify at once things tempo-

ral and things spiritual, provided the matters thus

typified have a mutual relation. Symbols of this

description may be arranged in various classes, gene-

rically and specifically. p. 18.

1. The natural world. p. 19.

(1.) The natural world, viewed temporally, includes

the three grand divisions of the heaven, the

earth, and the waters. p. 19.

(2.) The natural world, viewed spiritually, still in-

cludes the same three divisions of the heaven,

the earth, and the waters. p. 23.

2. A beast of prey. p. 25.

(1.) A beast of prey, temporally considered, with its

dependent symbols. p. 25.

(2.) A beast of prey, spiritually or ecclesiastically con-

sidered, with its dependent symbols. p. 27.

3. A beast of any other description. p. 28.

4. A city. p. 29.

(1.) The great city of the Apocalypse with its subor-

dinate symbols. p. 29.

(2.) The holy city of the Apocalypse with its subordi-

nate symbols. p. 33.

5. Symbols which cannot be regularly classed. p. 35.

(1.) A woman with her dependent symbols. p. 35.

(2.) A garden with its dependent symbols. p. 36.

(3.) A vine with its dependent symbols. p. 36.

Respecting the proper mode of computing the prophetic num-

bers of Daniel and St. John. p. 39.

Let the right mode of computing one prophetic number be esta-

blished, and the right mode of computing all the others

will be equally established. p. 39.

I. The latter 1260 days are not 1260 natural days, but 1260

years of some description or other. p. 44.

1. Proved from analogical homogeneity. p. 44.

2. Proved by the express warrant of Scripture. p. 47.

3. Proved from the nature of the circumstances ascribed

to the period. p. 47.

4. Proved from the specification of the time, about

which the period in question must have commenced.

p. 50.

II. The latter 1260 days are 1260 natural or solar years. p. 52.

1. The argument to prove, that they are years of only

360 days each, shewn to be inconclusive. p. 54.

2. The argument to prove, that they are natural solar

years, admitted as conclusive. p. 55.

III. The general result, therefore, is, that each prophetic day,

in the numbers of Daniel and St. John, is equal to a

natural or solar year. p. 58.

CHAPTER III.

Respecting the principal events and characters comprehended

within the great period of seven prophetic times, and

especially within the latter half of that period or the

three times and a half mentioned by Daniel and St.

John. p. 61.

The sacred calendar of prophecy comprehends seven prophetic

times or the duplicate of three times and
a half: and

these seven times are the times of the Gentiles or the times

of the four great Gentile Empires. Now they must have

commenced, at some point between the years before

Christ 658 and 646. Hence they will expire, at some

point between the years after Christ 1863 and 1875: and

hence they will be bipartited, at some point between the

years after Christ 603 and 615. p. 61.

I. The actors and events comprehended within the first

moiety of the seven times, as they are set forth in his-

tory. p. 66.

II. The actors and events comprehended within the second

moiety of the seven times, as they are set forth in

history. p. 68.

1. The Papacy in the West. p. 68.

2. Mohammedism in the East. p. 72.

3. Infidelity as specially developed in the spirit of the

French Revolution. p. 74.

III. The principal actors and events, which history testifies to

be comprehended within the period of the seven

times, must inevitably be the subjects of any pro-

phecy which respects that period. p. 75.

CHAPTER IV.

Respecting the character and revelation of the man of sin, and

the nature of the Apostasy out of which he arises and

over which he presides. p. 77...

The two predictions of St. Paul, relative to the man of sin and

the great Apostasy, stand immediately connected with the

prophecies of Daniel and St. John. p. 77.

I. The prophecy relative to the man of sin. p. 79.

1. Both Papists and Protestants agree with the early

Fathers, that the man of sin must be identified,

with the little horn of Daniel's fourth wild-beast,

and with the two-horned wild-beast, and the false

prophet and the harlot of the Apocalypse; how-

ever they may differ in the application of the cha-

P. 81.

racter.

2. The true application of the man of sin has been so

fully established, that it is superfluous to go over

the ground afresh: but the chronological interpre-

tation of the prophecy has not been quite so well

conducted; though, without a just chronological

arrangement, it will be impossible to make the pre-

diction of the man of sin to quadrate with the pre-

diction of the little horn. St. Paul specifies the

precise time of the revelation of the man of sin to

be marked by the removal of an impediment;

which impediment he had verbally declared to the

Thessalonians. p. 86.

(1.) The unanimous persuasion, that the verbally de-

clared impediment was the Roman Empire,

led to the notion, that the man of sin would

not be revealed until immediately before the

end of the world: but, in this, the Fathers

reasoned inconclusively. p. 87.

(2.) The tradition, as managed by Mede and Newton