"'Tis therefore a part of this prophecy, that it should not be
understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it
makes for the credit of the prophecy that it is not yet
understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these
things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late
interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than
ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the
gospel be approaching, it is to us and to our posterity that
those words mainly belong: In the time of the end the wise
shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand....
'Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein.'"--_"Observations on the Apocalypse" (London, 1733),
chap. 1._

True to the word of the angel, the events of the ending of the twelve
hundred and sixty years of papal supremacy, amid the scenes of the
French Revolution, drew the attention of Bible students everywhere. It
was seen that prophecy was being fulfilled before men's eyes. It gave
great impetus to the study of the prophetic scriptures. The great
historic prophecies began to be opened up--unsealed--to the
understanding. An English historian of that period, John Adolphus,
though writing a secular history, remarks upon this awakening interest
in prophetic study:

"The downfall of the papal government [in 1798], by whatever
means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any
other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of
Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with
bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the