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of its Foundation and Structure. And this way of counting or calculating this Number (a venerable Piece of the Ancient Oriental Learning) is certainly much more agreeable to the Sublime Stile of this Myfterious Book, than the forming technical Words out of numeral Letters, which is a piece of Wisdom not fo profound as that which I believe is referred to, Rev. 13. 18. But the most probable Opinion is, that as the Number Seven is the Number of Rest and Perfection, as may be largely feen in Holy Scriptures; fo the Number Six fignifies Labour, Affliction and Perfecution: Six being the Days of Labour preceding the Seventh Day of Reft and Refreshment. So we have feen, Ezek. 9. there were Six Perfons appointed to execute Vengeance upon the Apoftate Church, whereas the Bufinefs of the Seventh was to fet the Mark of Deliverance upon those that were to be preferved from Deftruction. So as we before obferved, the Ufurpation of Athaliah lafted Six Years, when in the Seventh Year Jehoiada the Prieft made a Covenant with the Rulers of the Army, and deftroy'd that wicked Woman, and Jeboah was establish'd on his Throne. Many other Inftances might be produced to ftrengthen this Obfervation, but thefe fhall fuffice: This Number then thrice repeated, may exprefs the most defperate and deplorable State of the Church.

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Lib. de Animâ, Cap. 50.

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of the Two $22. WHILST Antichrift fhall be thus Witnelles. domineering and lording it over the Earth, God hath promised to fend forth his Two Witneffes,who fhall prophecy and bear their Teftimony against him; and not only that, but torment him and his Followers for the fpace of 1260 Days, or 42 Months, the whole fpace of the Antichriftian Kingdom, Rev. 11. That by thefe Two Witneffes are meant Enoch and Elias, who never faw Death, but were tranflated alive, was a common Opinion of the Fathers: Of Hippolytus in these Words, As John the Baptift was the Forerunner of our Bleffed Lord's First Coming, fo fhall Enoch and Elias be of his Second. Tertullian*, Enoch and Elias were tranflated and never saw Death, but are referved to the time of the End, that they may deftroy Antichrift by their Blood. St. Cyprian, in his Tract. de Montib. Sion & Sina†; Enoch was tranflated alive to a certain Place known to God, and fhall come from thence to oppofe and confound Antichrift. Ephrem Syrus, Serm. de Antichrifto; The merciful God fhall fend Enoch and Elias, who fhall C preach to the People, and warn them not to believe Antichrift, boldly crying out and faying, This is Antichrift the Deceiver, the Son of Perdition; O ye Men, let none of you believe him, or hearken to this Tyrant fighting againft God: Be not afraid of him, for he fhall foon be deftroyed, and his Power broken. St. Ambrofe upon that Paffage, 1 Cor. 4. 9. I

† P. 36. opufc. Edit.

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think that God hath fet forth us the Apostles, &c. fays, Thus Enoch and Elias, that shall be the Apoftles of the last times, muft fuffer many Perfecutions and Afflictions, for they must be fent before to prepare the People of God, and to ftrengthen the Churches. St. Jerom ; We fhall fay no-+Ep. 148. thing in this Place concerning Enoch and ad MarElias, of whom St. John in his Revelation witneffeth, that they fhall come again upon Earth and die. The fame (in fhort) is affirmed by St. Augustin, Lib. 9. de Gen. Cap. 6. by Profper, de dimid. Temp. Cap. 13. by St. Gregory, in Job, Lib. 9. Cap. 4. by Damafcen, de fide Orthodoxa, Lib. 4. Cap. 27. Aretas Cæfarienfis, in 11 Apoc. &c. And as for the Coming of Elias, the Holy Scriptures themfelves feem plainly to affert it. For thus faith God by the Prophet Malachy, Chap. 4. 5. Behold I will fend you Elias the Prophet before the great and terrible Day of the Lord come, he shall turn the Heart of the Fathers to the Children, and the Heart of the Children to the Fathers, left I come and fmite the Earth with a Curfe. In which Place the Expreffions of the great and terrible Day of the Lord, and of fmiting the Earth with a Curfe,do I think, chiefly (if not only) relate to his Second Coming; for that his Firft Appearance, in the Form of a Servant, cannot with any tolerable Congruity be called Great or Terrible; and he came not then to perform any Judicial Acts, but what were purely Spiritual, the Judging of the Earth being the grand Design of his Second Coming. To this it is objected, ཞུས་བ

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that our Blessed Lord exprefly afferted, that Elias there meant was already come, Mat. 17. 12. To which I Answer, That our Lord meant no more than that John the Baptist, the Power and Spirit of Elias, or Elias in the Spirit was come, but not in the Body; in which that he was yet to appear before his Second Coming, our Saviour himself doth not deny, but rather plainly affert. For when the Disciples taking our Saviour's Words in too large a Senfe, asked him, How then say the Scribes that Elias must first come? Our Lord anfwers, that Elias fhall come, and shall restore all Things; which Words being spoken in the future Tenfe, cannot be apply'd to John the Baptift who was already come, but had not restored all Things, which is ftill reserved to the Coming of Elias in Perfon at the End of the World, or the times of Reftitution of all Things, which God has Spoken by the Mouth of all his Prophets fince the World began, Acts 3. 21. And the Author of the Book of Eccluf. 48. 10. feems plainly to underftand the Prophecy of Malachy, concerning the Perfon of Elias, of whom he had been speaking, faying, that he was ordained for Reproofs in their times, to pacifie the Wrath of the Lord's Judgment, before it break forth into Fury; and to turn the Heart of the Father to the Son, and to restore the Tribes of Ifrael.---Thefe then are the two Olive-Trees, and the two Candlesticks, ftanding before the God

the Earth, Rev. 11. 4. Zech. 4. 3. called Olive-Trees from the Divine Unction, as

being

being anointed Kings and Priests in Chrift's Kingdom; and Candlesticks, as bearing in them the burning and fhining Light of the Spirit of Truth, who is the Light of the World; in which Sense the Seven Churches, Rev. 1. 20. are alfo called Candlesticks. And whereas Grotius upon the Place, has brought it as an Argument to prove, that hereby are not meant Two Perfons, but Two Churches, because they are called Candlesticks, which the Angel interprets to be Churches, Rev. 1. 20. we have, I think, as good a Reafon to conclude they are Perfons, because they are called Olive-Trees, which Zech. 4. 14. are interpreted of Two Perfons, Jofbuah and Zerubbabel. Many Scripture-Characters of particular Perfons being applicable to Churches (as may be fhewn at large) and vice verfâ. But to proceed, in St. John's Account of these Two Witneffes, If any Man will hurt thefe (Rev. 11. 5.) i.e. make any Attempt upon their Perfons, either by natural or magical Violence, Fire proceedeth out of their Mouth (a plain Allufion to what Elijah did, 2 Kings 1.) and devoureth their Enemies; and if any Man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. V.6. Thefe have Power to shut Heaven_that it rain not in the Days of their Prophecy; (plainly alluding to what Elijah did, 1 Kings 17.1. 18. I, 41. as in the following Words to Mofes's turning the Waters into Blood, Exod. 7.17.) and have Power over Waters to turn them into Blood, and to fmite the Earth with all Plagues as often us they will. Which Words N

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