"What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed on the back with seven seals?"
"We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, mysteries, and works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence."
"What are we to understand by the seven seals with which it was sealed?"
"We are to understand that the first seal contains the things of the first thousand years, and the second also of the second thousand years, and so on until the seventh."
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"What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Revelations?"
"We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth; even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels, are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years;—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming."
Whether or not these seven periods are looked upon as gospel dispensation, it is interesting to consider them as covering the same ground, paralleling, or extending through, the same mighty stretch of duration, and dealing with events, epochs, personages and principles connected with those dispensations.
The World's Real History.—Concerning "the book which John saw," the Prophet says in effect that it represents the real history of the world—what the eye of God has seen, what the recording angel has written. The seven thousand years, corresponding to the seven seals, are as seven great days, during which Mother Earth will fulfil her mortal mission or probation, laboring six days, and resting upon the seventh, her period of sanctification. We are not to understand, however, that these seven thousand years include the time during which the earth was in process of creation and of preparation for man. The phrase "temporal existence" shows that the reckoning began, not before, but after, time had been decreed.
Earth Obedient to Law.—That this planet is indeed upon probation, and capable of obeying law, is plainly taught in modern revelation: