In this section of his early treatise on the Apocalypse, Newton compares the accounts of the Seven Trumpets with the accounts of the Seven Vials. Following some other Protestant prophetic exegetes of the seventeenth century, Newton did not believe that the Seven Vials followed the Seven Trumpets in the historical unfolding of the prophecy, but instead held that they were synchronous. At the same time, Newton does believe that the Book of Revelation presents a linear unfolding in history of God’s plan, so long as it is properly interpreted. Newton’s Proposition II encapsulates his position on the synchronic parallels between the Trumpets and the Vials:
“The seven Vials of wrath described in Chap. 15 and 16 are the same with the Plagues or woes of he seven Trumpets in Chap. 8, 9, 10, 11.”
Newton lays out the accounts of the Trumpets and Vials side by side according to their ordinal numbers to show the similar themes in each. Shown below is Newton’s comparison of the Second Trumpet with the Second Vial, with key words underlined.
[Second Trumpet]
II. Ch 8. v 8, 9. And the second Angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
[Second Vial]
Ch 16.3. And the second Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea.Synchronisms of the Seven Trumpets and the Seven Vials (1670s-1680s)
A Synopsis of the Synchronisms of the Apocalypse (early 18th century)