the marks which they supply to us of their historical truth, the unity of design which prevails through their successive revelations, and the deep wisdom with which they have been suited to the wants of the Church, and to the practical object of enlarging the understanding, quickening the hopes, and sustaining the spiritual desires of the people of God.

CHAPTER X.

ON THE GENERAL DESIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE.

THE inquiry pursued in the former chapters has been confined to those parts of Daniel's prophecies, and of the discourse of our Lord, which relate to events before the fall of Jerusalem. The historical accomplishment of these passages might, in previous controversies on prophetic subjects, be generally assumed as common ground, on which all parties were agreed. But in the present instance the rent has reached to the foundation. That school of exposition which has arisen of late, by its bold rejection of truths all but universally received, has compelled us to submit every part to a fresh examination, in order to obtain a sure basis on which to rest, in every step of our further progress. This scrutiny has at least the advantage of leading us to detect relations of mutual harmony in these prophecies, which might else have escaped our observation.

The true meaning of these earlier predictions has now, I trust, been established on solid proofs. The view which has prevailed, in substance, in all ages of the Church, has been vindicated from those numerous, but hasty or superficial objections which have lately been brought against it. The course of inquiry now leads to a more difficult branch of the main subject-the prophecies which belong to the Christian dispensation. Here fresh obstacles arise, and stronger prejudices are brought into play. The other parts of Daniel, the predictions of St. Paul and St. John, involve ecclesiastical

questions of the deepest interest; and their exposition has a most important and practical bearing on the past history, the present state, and the future prospects of the whole Church of God. The discordance of judgment thus begins to be more general and serious. The utmost caution becomes doubly necessary, with a prayerful and devout humility of research, to preserve us from error, and guide us to a right and true decision. On this account it was desirable that the first elements of prophetic truth, on which the rest depend, should be placed beyond the reach of doubt, that they might lend a secure foundation to our inquiry into truths which are more controverted and obscure.

But there are still two great questions which form a needful preface to the discussion of the remaining prophecies, and yet, from their general nature, may be conveniently ranked with those which have been already examined. These are like a transition series, from the primary axioms of fulfilled prophecy which have now been unfolded, to the whole range of secondary and dependent truths. These are the general design of the book of Revelation, and the internal evidence, favourable or adverse to the year-day theory. These will complete the list of topics examined in the present work.

The views held, till of late, by the main body of Protestant divines on these two subjects, have been rejected with great unanimity by the Futurist writers. On the first, indeed, they stand almost or quite alone; but on the second of them they have the countenance of nearly all the early writers, and of many Roman Catholic and some Protestant divines. It seems, therefore, very desirable to submit them both to a distinct and cautious examination.

The book of Revelation, by general consent from the earliest times of the Church, has been viewed as one

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comprehensive prophecy, which extends from the days of the apostle through all the times of the Gospel. No exception, of which I am aware, can be found among the writers of fifteen centuries, unless we distinguish those who turned the book into moral or spiritual parables of doctrine only, and thus deprived it of all prophetic character. But, at the close of the sixteenth century, a school arose, of limited extent and influence, who confined nearly the whole to times adjoining on the fall of Jerusalem. They are still represented by one or two expositors of no weight at the present day. The vast majority, however, of interpreters continued to adhere to the general principle which had been held sacred from the first days of the Church.

This principle, however, which has been so generally received, and made, by most interpreters, a fundamental maxim, has of late been abandoned and renounced by several authors. The discordance of previous expositors has been thought a conclusive proof that all their interpretations are equally and entirely groundless, and that the whole prophecy remains yet to be fulfilled. In the first and second chapters of this volume some general remarks have been offered on this and kindred objections. But the importance to the Church of this holy prophecy, and the serious perplexity of many thoughtful and candid minds on the first principles of its interpretation, justify a distinct and fuller inquiry. It seems the preferable order, first, to remove the chief objections which have been urged against its application to past events; and next, to exhibit those scriptural and internal arguments, which establish the wider and more extensive range of the prophecy through the whole course of the Christian dispensation. The objections urged against the common view of the Apocalypse are most various in their nature; and some of them have,

at first, a very plausible aspect. Some of the most popular shall now be carefully examined.

I. The first objection, and that which has the most weight of all on a hasty view, is the disagreement and variety of existing expositions. This has been considered already, as it is sometimes urged in a more extensive application to all the prophecies of Daniel and the New Testament; but it applies with most force to the book of Revelation, and therefore calls for a distinct and full solution. Perhaps the most complete and effective exhibition of it is in Mr. Maitland's "First Enquiry," pp. 43, 54, to which the reader must be referred, as the passage is too long for an extract. But the same argument is of constant recurrence in all the writers of the same school.

I have shown already that this objection rests mainly on a false and unreal basis-the opinion that every fulfilled prophecy becomes at once clear and self-evident. This notion, however general, is disproved by many passages of Scripture. The objection, therefore, is greatly blunted in its force, and resolves itself into the following inquiry: are the differences of interpretation so great, as to make the hypothesis of a past fulfilment clearly unreasonable and unnatural?

Now, first, it must be observed, as a truth admitted by the Futurists themselves, that the Spirit of God has ever designed the Church to be in the attitude of expectation of the second advent. And this would clearly forbid an early revelation of the whole course of Providence still to elapse, while the time was really distant: But if the Church in early times had known certainly the arrangement of the prophecy, and seen distinctly what parts were fulfilled, this revelation would have been prematurely made. The law of proportion, in visions so remarkably symmetrical, would have shown