threeſcore days clothed in ſackcloth #. * ow wn i There hath been a.great Diſpute amongſt . godly and earned Men, who theſe two Witneſles ſhould be : Some have thought them to be Enoch and Elias, who, though long fince glorified, they have thought ( with no great probability, as. I ſuppoſe any indifferent Perſon will judge ) ſhall come again, and. be killed on the Earth; yet this is the general Notion of the Popifh Writers, Others would have them the tio forts of Goſpel-Churches, *one of which was made up of Native Fews, the other\ of Gentiles proſelyted to the Ciirifiian Faith, Others have interpreted it-bf the Ola Teftarnent and the New : Others, of ſome two eminemt"Divines ; and as to- them there have. been, various gueſſes : Others,.:of the Miniſters whom God imployed upon the Reformation: Others of a- Chriſtian Magi- firacy and Miniſtry. For my own part, ths name of Witneſſes 1s fo often applied to the firſt Miniſters of the Goſpel, Affs 1. 18, 22; & 4+ 33. & 22. 15. & 26:16. 1 Pet. 5.1. Affs 2.22. \&'3:15. & 5.32. & 10. 41. that Icannot but underſtand | it -of that faithful” parf of the Miniſtry, who preach the Goſpel: faithfully” duting the” Whole Reizn of Antichriſt, Neither do I think that the Number -#w7-at all
relates to their Number, but to their Witneſs-hearing : Two bein
the Number which God ordained as: ſufficient to eſtabliſh :all'Civi Things, Deut. 17.6. & 19.15. Matth. 18.16. Heb, yo. 28. "unleſs there be a regard had: to. thoſe pairs, which all'along the Old 'Tefia- ment bare Teſtimony for God ; Moſes and” Aaron,” Caleb arid Foſhua, Elnah a1d Eliſha; and after the Captivity of Zcrobabet and Foſhva, and the two Olive-trees mentioned, Zech. q. 11, 14. to which plain- ly this Text hath Relation, verſe 4 To which ſome alſo add: Abraham and Lot, Ezra and Nehemiah, Haegai and Zechariah, Paul and Bar- rabas, Peter and 7ohn : And note, that when Chriſt firſt ſent 'out his Apoſtles, Matth. 10. He ſent them out 2woby two, þ- We read before, that the holv Ciry, that 1s, the true Church, fhould be trod- den under foot by the Gentiles forty and two Months ; we read here
REVELATION.
——_—_—
that 1s, 1260 years. ( that 1s, the Church ) was in the Wilderneſs juſt this time, 1240
that the Witneſſes ſhould prophefie in Sachcloth 1260 days ; it 1s ap- parent, that in the Prophetical ſtyle- a Day fignities a Year. Num.
' T4. 34. forty Days, each Day for a Tear ſhall ye bear your Iniquities,
even forty Tears. So Exeh, 4.6. T have appointed thee each Day for a Tear; ſo Dan. 9.24, the 70 Weeks muſt fignifie 490 years, ( for in 70 Weeks there are 490 days) or elſe the Promiſe as to the Coming of the Meſſiah, failed. So the Prophetical Year contains 360 Years, 'and the Prophetical Month 3o Years ( tor they did count 30 Days to each Month ) ſo 42 Months are juſt 1260 Days, We ſhall find, chap. 12. 6, that the Woman
Days, and in chap. 13. 5. This was alſo the time of the Beaſt that roſe up out of the Sea, having ſeven Heads, and ten Horns, and upon his horns ten Crowns : By which it appeareth, that theſe four things ran all parallel at the ſame time ; the Beaſt ariſing, and exerciſing his Power, the New Gentiles trampling upon the Church, the holy City ; the Woman's abiding in the Wilderneſs, and the Witneſſes propheſying in Sackcloth. | If we could'find out where any one of theſe began, we ſhould find out the time of all the reſt. Thoſe who tix the riſe of the Beaſt in or about 400, muſt add to this 1260. Then in 1560, Antichriſt's Reign ſhould have determined, and a!- ſo the time of the Churches Perſecution, and the time when faith- ful Miniſters ſhould prophefie in Sackcloth' : but if tlie Riſe of the Beaſt were in the Year $500, the Expiration muſt be 'in 1769; if it be fixed jn 600, all theſe things will determine 1860; for the ſame Number of Days being affigned to all the four, it is manifeſt that all four began together, and ſhall end together, and that at the end of Twelve hundred and ſixty Years after the beginning of them. For my own part, I look upon it as very hard to determine; but the Difficulty Iyes in finding out the time when . the B-aF firit aroſe; for that being once found out, it is eafic. to-conclude from Scripture, when both the Popedom! ſhall have an. cnd, and the calarni- tous time'for the Church, eſpecially the Miniſtry of it, ſhall ceaſe. That which God ſheweth Fobn in this Verſe, is only, That his faith- ful Miniſtersthat ſhould truly reveal his Will, ({ which. is here called Propheſying ) ſhould have a mournful time. for. 7welve hundred ard threeſcore Tears. ; |
4 Th#ſe are the two olive-ttees /, and the two can- dleſticks ſtanding before the God of the earth m7.