Catalogue Entry: THEM00052

Treatise on Revelation

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: Yahuda Ms. 9, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel

Custodial History

SL247 was bought at the Sotheby sale by Gabriel Wells for £42, and sold to Yahuda in mid-August 1936. It then seems that a substantial part of SL257 (which Yahuda bought from Maggs Brothers at about the same time) was added to it. The miscellaneous notes on religion constituting the rest of SL257 are now Yahuda Var. 1 Ms. 41, which may also contain some sheets taken from SL247.

Sotheby Lot

SL247 and part of SL257

Contents

Ms. 9.1

ff. 1-2 Fragment on Biblical prophecy, beginning missing.

ff. 3-4 Table of contents or draft outline:

[f. 3r] 'The first book. Concerning ye language of the Prophets.

The Preface

Chap. 1/ A Synopsis of ye Prophetick Figures.

Chap. 2/ Of ye world, heaven & earth, ascending to heaven & descending to Earth, rising out of ye earth or waters & falling into them moving from place to place, earthquakes, shaking & passing away of heaven & earth.

Chap. 3/ Of things celestial vizt ye Sun Moon & Starrs, light & darkness, darkning smiting or setting of ye sun moon & starrs, Eclipsing or turning ye Moon into blood, falling of ye Starrs, New Moons, , days and nights, scorching wth ye Sun's heat, burning with fire, a flaming sword

Chap. 4/ Of Meteors, vizt Clouds, riding on ye clouds, covering ye Sun with a Cloud or wth smoke, Winds, Whirlwinds, Thunder lightning, hail overflowing rain, moderate rain, Dew, living water & want of rain.

Chap. 5/ Of things terrestrial vizt dry land, Sea rivers, floods, wilderness, embittering of waters, turning them to blood, overflowing of a sea or river, drying up of waters, ffountains, Mountains, Islands, dens & rocks of mountains & hiding men in them, Cities, houses & ships.

Chap. 6/ Of living things, vizt Trees, hearbs, reeds, & other vegetables, Locusts & other insects, wild beasts, Birds & ffishes .

Chap. 7/ How several kingdoms are signified by several parts of the world, as by the heaven, the earth, the sea, a river, , a species of animals or of vegetables, or any animal or vegetable put for ye whole species, as a lyon a Goat a Dragon a Whore, a Frog a Vine a Lamb, a Seraphim, a Cherubim.

[f. 4r] Chap. 8/ Of ye parts of an animal, vizt the head or heads & taile, ye horns, ye eyes, & seeing, the mouth, & speaking & eating, ye voice loud or faint, ye hairs, feathers, wings, arms, feet, nails, teeth, serpentine taile, & bones, & of the times of their life & actions.

Chap. 9/ Of a man or woman in various circumstances, as wth a crown or on horsback, or wth a sword or bow, or wth weights & measures or cloathed in white or in other apparel or naked, or holding a cup of wine or drinking it, or with a wound or sore or in pain. or pained in child-birth, or bearing a man child & of the death of man or beast, & of worshipping them & their images.

Chap. 10/ Of ye parts of ye temple

Ch. 11/ The third Book/ Concerning the method of ye Apocalyps & the Allusions therein to ye law & history of ye Iews.

The fourth book/ Concerning the Persons & things prophesied of in ye Apocalyps, vizt ye 7 Angells two Witnesses, Whore Dragon, two Beasts & their Horns. 3 Horns pluckt up 7 Horns remaining Horns & their churches.

The fift Book/ Concerning the history of the Apocalyps.

Chap 1. The ten horns

2 The first six seals opened & six heads of ye Dragon & Beast described

3 The seventh head & seven Trumpets & Vials.'

ff. 5-51 Explanation of prophetic figures (untitled), broadly following the scheme set out in chapter headings 1 to 10 above.

Ms. 9.2

f. 1r 'The Second Book

Concerning the method & synchronisms of the Apocalyps & the allusions therein to the Law & History of the Iews'

f. 1r 'Chap. 1/ Of the daily sacrifice spoken of by Daniel & the feast of ye Passover./ The Preface./ Sect. I The Lamps drest.'

f. 6r 'Sect. II. The morning sacrifice.'

f. 11r 'Sect. III. The evening sacrifice.'

f. 14r 'Sect. III [sic] The Feasts of ye seventh Month'

f. 20r 'Sect. V The prophesying in ye ffast & ffeast of Tabernacles '

f. 24r 'The interpretation of ye prophesying in ye ffast & ffeast of Tabernacles.

f. 33r 'Sect. IV./ The interpretation of ye Prophesy of ye Seales & Trumpets.'

f. 39r 'The second part of the interpretation.'

f. 43v 'The third part of the Interpretation.'

f. 44v 'The third part of the Interpretation' [another draft].

f. 47r 'Allusions to The passing of Israel out of Egypt through ye wilderness into Canaan, to Their Idolatry in Canaan, & ye Babylonical captivity.'

f. 59r 'Sect. VIII./ The two Churches true & fals together, with the two Kingdomes whose Churches they are./ The division of the Kingdome & it's church.'

f. 62r 'The prophetical history of the division.'

f. 64r 'Of the two fals churches signified by the two-horned Beast & woman wch fled into ye Wildnernes, & that this Woman became the Whore of Babylon.'

f. 73r 'Of the two true churches signified by ye two Witnesses.'

f. 81r 'Sect. IX./ The seven Churches. .'

f. 97r 'Sect. X./ The Apostacy of the latter times described in the Prophesies of the old & New Testament.'

ff. 123r-178 'The end of ye world day of Iudgment & world to come'

Ms. 9.3

Apparently a resumption of Ms. 9.2 in Humphrey Newton's hand, though there is a section missing between the two parts which includes the beginning of Ms. 9.3 (11 ff.).

Notes

Approximately dateable since a substantial part of the manuscript is in Humphrey Newton's hand (up to Ms. 9.2 f. 45 the hand alternates between Isaac and Humphrey Newton's; from that point on the main text is entirely in Humphrey's hand but with occasional interpolations, corrections and additions by Isaac).

ff. 1-32r of Ms. 9.2 published in Goldish, Judaism, 188-218.

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Professor Rob Iliffe
Director, AHRC Newton Papers Project

Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL - newtonproject@history.ox.ac.uk

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