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August, 1792. It is allowed also, that the seventh Trumpet sounded on, or immediately after, the 10th August, 1792; but there is no Earthquake in the first Vial, or at the commencement of the period of the seventh Trumpet: it is evident therefore that the Earthquake of the sixth Seal in the year 1792 (in which the Sun underwent a total eclipse) has no parallel in the period of the seventh Trumpet, because if it had, it would be found in the period of the first Vial; the Earthquake of the sixth Seal must therefore precede the period of the seventh Trumpet, and synchronize with the Earthquake of the sixth Trumpet, in which" a tenth part of the city fell." This (which may be considered as an additional argument to that stated in page 30) proves that the period of the sixth Seal synchronizes with the period of the sixth Trumpet, if we allow that the Earthquake of the sixth Seal and the sounding of the seventh Trumpet took place in the year 1792; and also that the effusion of the Vials is successive. It will be evident, therefore, that Mr. Cuninghame's arrangement of the Seals and Trumpets must stand or fall with the synchronical effusion of the Vials.

And here it is worthy of attention, that so admirably connected is the Apocalypse, that no part can be misplaced without deranging the

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whole. A commentator cannot make the seventh Seal to precede the second, third, &c., without discovering that consistency obliges him to make the seven successive Vials synchronical. This will produce difficulties in the interpretation, and these difficulties of interpretation will create inaccuracies in the meaning given to the symbols; so that it may be considered as a maxim, that if any material error is introduced into a system of interpretation, and if an attempt is made, as it always will be by every judicious commentator, to bring that system into form, and to render one part consistent with another, it will be found to contain in every branch of it some evident intimation of its radical error.

Before I close this subject it may be necessary to meet an objection, which I am aware may probably be made, to the period of the sixth Seal and Trumpet being considered to terminate on the 10th August, 1792, amidst the most important events of the French Revolution. I must in this place only briefly observe, that I know no medium between applying each of the Apocalyptic symbols to one great event, or otherwise to all the events connected with it, to which it may seem applicable: and agreeably to my opinion of the great precision of the prophetic language, I must consider the former as

the only method of interpretation that is admissible. If then the Earthquake was the French Revolution, and that only; the period of the Earthquake of the sixth Trumpet may properly be considered to have ceased when the Revolution was completed, or when the tenth part of the City fell; this was on the 10th August, 1792, which was signalized by the fall of the ancient Papal Monarchical kingdom of France. Again, in endeavouring to fix the precise time at which the period of the sixth Seal terminates, I know not what other correct rule can be followed than to observe the description that is given of the principal symbol: this is undoubtedly the Sun, which is said to become black as sackcloth of hair*: we conclude therefore that the period of the sixth Seal terminated when the Sun of the political system suffered a total eclipse, or was deprived of all power, splendour, influence, and regal dignity. This description again directs us to that important day, the 10th August, 1792. Had the Sixth Seal extended to a later period, the description given of the Sun, as well as of the Moon †, would probably have been that it was turned into blood; but before the death of the king and queen of France took

* Rev. vi. 12.

See Articles SUN and Moon, in the Symbolical Dic tionary.

place, the period of the sixth Seal was already passed, and the period of the seventh Seal and seventh Trumpet had commenced; for the first Vial (according to Mr. Faber) was poured out a few days after the 10th August, 1792; the description therefore given of the Sun, under the sixth Seal, as being the principal symbol, terminates with its becoming black as sackcloth of hair.

Being unwilling to leave the subject in an incomplete state, I have been led to transgress the rule I had here prescribed for myself, and to touch in a slight degree upon the interpretation of the Prophecy. The objection which I have supposed to arise in the mind of the reader, on account of the critical period at which I make the seventh Seal and seventh Trumpet to terminate, will, however, be found to be already provided for in the perfect system of the Apocalypse. For in Rev. xi. 14, after the fall of the tenth part of the City had been declared, it is said "the second woe (i. e., of the sixth Trumpet) is past, and the third woe cometh quickly.” This we are to look upon as a prophetic caution, designed to guide the interpreter, and we deduce from it that the third woe, or that of the seventh Seal and Trumpet, will follow so speedily upon the second woe, or that of the sixth Seal and Trumpet, as to require a caution,

lest it should appear to be only a continuation of the same judgment: so that we might previously have concluded, that the convulsions of the period of the seventh Trumpet would appear to be only as so many successive shocks of the Earthquake of the sixth Seal. The objection, which I have supposed to arise in the mind of the reader, therefore, is not only removed, but the arrangement by which the termination of the Earthquake of the sixth Seal is fixed upon, 10th August, 1792, is strongly confirmed; for had not the correct arrangement, designed to be pointed out in the Apocalypse, been liable to the objection, the prophetic caution given in Rev. xi. 14, would have been without an object.

Having thus remarked upon what appear to me to be the principal errors in the systems of Mr. Faber and Mr. Cuninghame, I have only further to point out, that the unity of the plan of the Apocalypse is broken by Mr. Faber's interpretation of the Silence of half an hour*; which he supposes to follow the opening of the seventh Seal, and immediately to precede the sounding of the first Trumpet. The same thing also may be observed of Mr. Cuninghame's interpretation of the Earthquake*,

*See Tables explanatory of Mr. Faber's and Mr. Cuninghame's arrangements of the Apocalypse, pages 78 and 79.

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