This was the state of the _Apocalypse_, till the thousand
years being misunderstood, brought a prejudice against it: and _Dionysius_
of _Alexandria_, noting how it abounded with barbarisms, that is with
_Hebraisms_, promoted that prejudice so far, as to cause many _Greeks_ in
the fourth century to doubt of the book. But whilst the _Latins_, and a
great part of the _Greeks_, always retained the _Apocalypse_, and the rest
doubted only out of prejudice, it makes nothing against its authority.
This Prophecy is called _the Revelation_, with respect to _the scripture of
truth_, which _Daniel_ [41] was commanded to _shut up and seal, till the
time of the end_. _Daniel_ sealed it _until the time of the end_; and until
that time comes, the Lamb is opening the seals: and afterwards the two
Witnesses prophesy out of it a long time in sack-cloth, before they ascend
up to heaven in a cloud. All which is as much as to say, that these
Prophecies of _Daniel_ and _John_ should not be understood till the time of
the end: but then some should prophesy out of them in an afflicted and
mournful state for a long time, and that but darkly, so as to convert but
few. But in the very end, the Prophecy should be so far interpreted as to
convince many. _Then_, saith _Daniel, many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall be encreased_. For the Gospel must be preached in all
nations before the great tribulation, and end of the world.
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