200 3. OF THE PROPHETICAL CHRONOLOGY. PROPHECY Q. WHAT is that GREAT OBJECT of instruction, of which you have just spoken? A. It is the most important that man can acquire; namely, to be able to form a sound judgment, concerning THE PRE SENT PERIOD, AND PROBABLE DURA- TION. Q. By what means are we able to form a judgment, of" the PRESENT PERIOD of "the Christian dispensation?” A. By finding the place which present time occupies, in "THE SACRED KALEN"DAR and GREAT ALMANACK of PRO "PHECY," pointed out by Mede in the PROPHECY prophecies of Daniel. Q. And how are we able to form an opinion, of "the PROBABLE DURATION "of the Christian dispensation?" A. By the same rule, For, since that SACRED KALENDAR reaches to the end of the Christian dispensation; by finding the place of present time in that kalendar, we discern, at the same view, the whole sequel or residue of time, which remains for the duration of that dispensation. 66 Q. What is that "SACRED KALENDAR? A. "That SACRED KALENDAR, and GREAT ALMANACK of PROPHECY, con"sists of THE FOUR KINGDOMS Of "DANIEL, which are, 'A PROPHETICAL CHRONOLOGY of TIMES, measured by the succession of FOUR PRINCIPAL KINGDOMS from the BEGINNING of THE CAPTIVITY of Israel, until the MYSTERY OF GOD should be finished.' 66 "A course of time, during which the PROPHECY "church and nation of the Jews, toge"ther with those whom, by occasion of "their unbelief in Christ, God should 6 surrogate in their rooms, was to re"main under the bondage of the Gen"tiles, and oppression of Gentilism. "But these being once finished, all "the kingdoms of THIS WORLD should "become the kingdoms of OUR LORD "and of HIS CHRIST.- Now these (6 FOUR KINGDOMS, (according to the "truth infallibly to be demonstrated, "if need were; and agreeable both to "the ancient opinion of the Jewish "church, whom it most concerned, "and to the most ancient and uni"versal opinions of Christians derived "from the times of the Apostles, until "now of late time some have questioned 46 it,) are, . 1. The BABYLONIAN. 2. The MEDES AND PERSIANS. 3. The GREEK. 4. The ROMAN. * Mede's Works, B. iii. p. 654. "In which QUATERNARY of kingdoms, PROPHECY "as the Roman, being the last of the four, "is the last kingdom, so are the times "thereof the last times." Q. How do we find THE PRESENT TIME in that kalendar? A. "Having found what times are "termed the LAST times in general, let us see if we can discern which are "the LATTER times of these last times, or "the latter time in special;-which will "not be hard to do. For, if the LAST "times in general, are ALL the times of "the FOURTH KINGDOM, then must OUR 66 LATTER times, as a part thereof, needs "be the latter times of that kingdom. Let 66 us therefore again to our PROPHETICAL KALENDAR, and survey Daniel's "description of the FOURTH or ROMAN "kingdom, as it is in chap. vii. from 66 verse 19; where we shall soon find the 66 PROPHECY "during which that prodigious HORN, "with eyes like A MAN, and a mouth speak"ing great things, should make war with "the saints, (that is, THE CHURCH of "GOD,) and prevail against them, wear "them out, and think to change times and "laws, until the judgment should sit, and "his dominion be taken away; and in HIM "that long-lived BEAST finally be destroyed, " and his body given to the burning flame. "For this HORNISH SOVEREIGNTY, is the LAST SCENE of that LONG TRAGEDY, "and the CONCLUSION of THE FOURTH "BEAST*.” Now, THE POWER represented by the LAST HORN, Mede, who wrote at the beginning of the seventeenth century, imagined, like most partisans of the Reformation, to be THE PAPAL EMPIRE; supposing, prematurely, that all the chief incidents of the Christian world were then come to pass. But we, who are able to trace the incidents of two additional cen |