[182] The sounding of the seventh trumpet.
[183] Ch. x. 7.
[184] Ch. xi. 15.
[185] The reader may form a distinct idea of the method, in which the whole book of the Apocalypse is disposed, by observing that it is resolvable into THREE great parts.
The FIRST part, is that of the Epistles to the seven churches, contained in the three first chapters, and is not at all considered by Mr. Mede.
The SECOND part (with which Mr. Mede begins his commentary) is that of the Sealed Book, from ch. iv. to ch. x; and contains the fates of the Empire, or its civil revolutions, yet, with a reference, still, to the state and fortune of the Christian Church.
The THIRD part, is that of the OPEN BOOK, with what follows to the end; and exhibits in a more minute and extended view, the fates of the Christian Church, especially during its Apostacy, and after its recovery from it.
This THIRD division may, further, be considered as consisting of TWO parts. The FIRST contains, in ch. xi, a summary view of what should befal the Christian Church, contemporary with the events deduced in the second part concerning the Empire; and is given in this place, in order to connect the second and third parts, and to shew their correspondence and contemporaneity. See Mr. Mede’s Clavis, p. 424; and Comment. Apocalypt. p. 476.
The SECOND part of the last division, from ch. xii. to the end, gives a detailed account of what should befal the Christian Church in distinct, and, several of them, synchronical visions.
It has been thought by some an objection to Mr. Mede’s scheme, “That the prophecy of the open book, (which contains, according to him, all the remaining visions to the end of the Revelations) is not only, for the subject, more considerable, but, for the size of the volume, larger, than the Prophecy of the sealed book; whereas, the name given to it, βιβλαρίδιον, or little book, seems very clearly to express the contrary.”