teaches us to understand him, as if he had said, (chap. xii. 14,) "For three seasons and half a season:" I say numeral illustration. For I take it to be no other than an easy example (12 and 24 and 6 are 42) to direct the sons of the prophets not yet arrived to the skill of dealing with difficult supputations of numbers not then discoverable; as Rev. xiii. 18, "Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast." By 1260 days, almost all the interpreters understand so many years; but not a year of 360 days, because they find no nation that hath so short a year. The Egyptians had a year of just 365 days; but before St. John was born, the Romans had forced them to allow 3654, as we use now in England. In au inquiry concerning Rome, it is fit to consider the length of a Roman year. (I may justly say a Roman moyed; for no city ever had their years, length and form of a calendar, determined, settled, and commanded, with so much absolute authority as Rome had.) Julius Cæsar, by an edict, commanded that number of 365 to be observed, and therefore it is called a Julian year. Three Julians and a half have days 12783. Again (instead of adding 1260,) add 1278 years, and days 118 to the year of our Lord 410, August 24. The sum shows the year of our Lord 1688, August, 142, that is, eleven days before the end of December, 1688, old style. This is the nearest or soonest that can be gathered by Apocalyptic account (reckoning from Alaric,) to point out the time of Rome's final ruin. But if it happens not, men will make no more reckoning of Alaric; but begin a new account from Attila, in the year of Christ, 453, which brings us down to the year 1731. St. Augustine writes somewhere to this purpose, viz. "That it were to be wished that some skilful mathematician would take the pains to examine and consider the mathematical parts of the holy scripture." |