out before the sound of the sixth trumpet has ceased: I believe even the sixth, but the seventh phial, which is the phial of consummation, will therefore concur with the beginning of the seventh trumpet, which is also the trumpet of consummation.

SYNCHRONISM IV.

Of the Thousand Years in which the Dragon or Satan is bound, with the Seventh Trumpet, or the Interval from the Destruction of the Beast.

That this account of the binding of Satan. may be better understood, it must be premised for a demonstration that it is said in the text, Satan was not only cast into the abyss, but shut up there, and that the angel set a seal upon him, that he might no longer seduce the nations until the 1000 years were completed. For it was the custom of the Hebrews and neighbouring nations, when they wished to have a door firmly secured and barred up, to affix a seal to it.

Thus king Darius sealed with his signet and the signet of his nobles, the stone which was placed over the den of lions into which Daniel was cast. In the story in the Apocrypha, the servants of Daniel shut the doors of the Temple

of Bel, and sealed them with the king's seal. In like manner the Jews secured the sepulchre of our Saviour," sealing the stone and setting a watch;" or made it sure by sealing the stone, where it is to be observed that the Greek words ἀσφαλίζειν and σφαγίζειν mutually explain each other. It is one thing then, and far different to be cast down from heaven, (which many accommodate to this place), and another to be bound, shut up in an abyss, and sealed. The former did not deprive him of his power of wandering about and doing mischief, the latter does not suffer him by any means to come out of his prison. Nay, I dare to affirm that not one of those things which are related in the 20th chapter is to be found in the 12th, nor, on the other hand, is there one word to be found in the 20th of what is related in the 12th. So far from truth is the supposition that the same event is represented on both occasions. Let us, however, examine a little. In the 20th chapter four things are related of the dragon: first, that he was seized by the angel who descended from heaven; secondly, that he was bound; thirdly, that he was cast into the abyss; fourthly, that he was shut up and sealed there.

You will find none of these things in the 12th. On the other hand, of what alone is narrated in the 12th chapter of the casting down the dragon

from heaven to earth, not even a trace is to be found in the 20th. Nay, from the very context it is easy to collect that no such transaction then took place. For there it is said, that the angel who came to bind the dragon, came down from heaven. Therefore the dragon was already on earth; for otherwise why should the angel have descended to lay hold of him? Hence, Michael did not descend from heaven, but had an engagement with the Devil in heaven itself. These things being premised, let us proceed to the exposition of the synchronism.

Argument 1.-Under the first six seals the dragon, or Satan, was free and at large, and also under the first six trumpets of the seventh seal. It follows, therefore, that the 1000 years for which Satan is bound, are brought within the seventh trumpet. That Satan or the dragon was not bound while the first six seals were yet running their course, is plain from this circumstance, that in all that interval, as a red dragon with his seven heads and crowns, he was contending with Michael about the offspring of the woman, as was just now demonstrated. But neither did this take place under the first six trumpets of the following seal; for this is the period of the woman in the wilderness, and of the domination of the ten-horned beast, as appears from Synch. I. of this Part. In truth,

while the woman was living in the wilderness, it was very unlikely that the dragon could be considered as bound, who, when free and precipitated from heaven, in the first place attempted to overwhelm her with a flood of waters which he cast out of his mouth, as she was preparing to depart; and afterwards, when this attempt did not succeed according to his intention, (the earth having absorbed the flood, and the woman having withdrawn into the wilderness,) inflamed with wrath and fury, he went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Are these proofs of Satan's being bound? But let us see likewise (what is said of him) respecting the beast, and hear how the dragon was bound under his reign: Namely, the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority, and all the world wondered after the beast, and worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast. But could Satan perform all these acts while he was in prison? Certainly in one shut up and sealed it was not possible. But that there may be no room for subterfuge, and that it may clearly appear how far the dragon was still free, and at liberty to perform such deeds, from those into whose custody he is said to be committed, in order to be restrained, behold his other pupil, the false prophet, the inseparable

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companion of the ten-horned beast, and the minister of the bestial power, of whom power, of whom you have it written expressly, that he should perform great wonders, and deceive the inhabitants of the earth by the miracles which it was given him to perform. Now, who can readily believe that while these beasts were in possession of authority, the dragon, or Satan, was cast into the abyss, and a seal put upon him, that he might not deceive the nations any more? But from the trumpets themselves, (of the intermediate time at least,) there is not wanting an argument of the devil's being free and unbound. For is not that king of the locusts of the fifth trumpet, who is called the angel of the abyss, to whom the Hebrew name of Abaddon is applied, and the Greek of Apollyon, and whom John points out as him who had long since fallen to the earth, that very dragon himself and Satan whom Michael, before the trumpets had begun to sound, had cast down from heaven to earth? For in the whole Apocalypse, I do not remember to have read of any other besides him who fell to the earth, nor do I know any one else to whom those titles of the angel of the abyss and Abaddon could apply. However that may be, Satan was certainly not bound at that time; the bottomless pit (as it is there called) was not closed upon him and sealed, but open to that degree, that