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    things should continue , and which should elapse before other tilings should take place , particularly mentioned , and of what conceiveable use can the defining of particular periods be ^ If really designed to give such

    information , ought not those who are qualified by their knowledge of history , and of the figurative and symbolical language of Scripture , to give serious attention to the subject , and to use all the means in their power to ascertain the times referred to when

    certain prophecies shall be accomplished ? That many persons have misunderstood and misapplied the prophecies , and have built wild theories on , and givfcn absurd interpretations of them ,

    is admitted $ but is this any sufficient reason for neglecting to study , not to say , for totally disregarding them ? "Wlieii the extraordinary events of the present times , arid the still more extraordinarv events with which , to the

    serious and careful observer , the womb of Providence seems to be pregnant , are considered , if there be any prophecies which relate to the latter times , is it not reasonable to expect some part of them should have a reference to the as ^ e in ' which we live ?

    I am aware , that any person who pays much attention to prophecy , and in particular who attempts to explain any part of it , though it be done with modesty and diffidence , runs the risk of being treated as a visionary , and ridiculed for his supposed weakness , by not only those who are sceptical ,

    but also by many from whom something very different might be expected . I would ask such persons , do you not believe the prophecies to be of divine authority ? Are they never to be understood ? Can they ever be understood without serious

    aiid deep attention ? Is not the accomplishment of prophecy a clear proof both of the government of God , and of the truth of divine revelation ; a proof that is ever increasing ? Did not Jesus reprove the Jews for not understanding the signs of the times ? Hc > w can we know , without serious

    attention , that there are no prophecies winch have a relation to the present times ? And if there be such , will not an attention to them help us to understand the signs of the times in which i / ve live ? ( 5 an the erroneous

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    interpretations and misapplications ^ of the prophecies justify our neglect of them , anymore than the false interpretation and gross misapplication of other parts of the sacred writings will justify our neglect of the Scriptures at large ?

    The prophetic numbers alluded to above , as notes of time , respecting the accomplishment of the things foretold , are found in Daniel and the Apocalypse . A time and times and the dividing of time , is mentioned Daniel vii . 25 . A time , times and a half 0

    chap . xii . 7 ; which I believe expositors of different parties bave Understood to mean three years aud a half , not of literal , but symbolical duration . The same period is mentioned , in the same words , Rev . xii . 14 . A period of the same duration is mentioned in

    difterent words , Rev . xi . 2 , 3 ; xii . 6 ; and xiii . 5 , viz . Forty and two montlis ; one thousand two hundred and sixty days . This period , mentioned twice in Daniel and five times in the

    Apocalypse , is stated as ther time of the continuance of the things described in those parts of the prophecy , and which all will acknowledge to be matters of high interest . Writers of different parties , for reasons which appear to be sufficient , have agreed

    in considering this period of 126 Odays to be figurative , that each day is the indice of a year , and that 1260 years is the time appointed and allotted in prophecy for the continuance of the things spoken of in connexion with the above numbers .

    Admitting what I havealready stated , my inquiry is , where are we to fix the commencement of the 1260 yea ^ s ? Can we not find a date for its commencement somewhere in the reign © f the Emperor Justinian ? . At the same time , may we not consider both the commencement and the termination as

    progressive as was the commencement and termination of the seventy years ' captivity of the Jews by the Babylonians ? I have been led to this conjecture by several events which have occurred in the present sige . From

    the time that Justinian published his laws , to the time the ) French Assembly published thei r declaration of the rights of men and citizens , was about 1 S © O years : from the time the Franks destroyed the last Gs * u ! ic princes , by burying them alive in a well , to the

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    308 Inquiries concerning Prophecy *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1818, page 308, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2476/page/20/