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now "manifest his power and presence by such miraculous impulses as were made on the senses, and on the minds of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles of old. He that would be benefited by his ordinary influences, must stir up the gift that is in him, and exert the intellectual and moral powers which the Author of nature hath bestowed.

Convinced of these truths, our author considered the sense and meaning of this seem-' ingly dark and mysterious book as discoverable by himself, and considered it as his duty to unfold them to the people committed to his charge. We are informed in the introduction to his work, that, in the years 1785 and 1786, he delivered from the pulpit a course of Lectures on the whole of the Revelation. These, though not committed to writing, were the result of deep thought and enlightened research. They arrested the attention of crowded audiences, and were highly acceptable and useful. He returned afterwards, with new ardor, to the important study, and, in the year 1789, formed the resolution of giving to the world the substance

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'With great attention (says he,) and,

if I know my own heart, with great can

dor, and with prayer to God for his direction and blessing, I examined all the prophetic writings in the Old and the New Testament, in order to discover whether or not there is any one peculiar idiom or fixed 'character of prophetic writings, any characteristic features in which they all agree. F soon found that two peculiar features marked all prophecies. The first, that they are written in the symbolical language; and the second, that all prophetic writings,

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any considerable length, are interspersed 'with keys or explanatory parts, written in 'alphabetical language. language. These keys are always introduced by an angel, or by a peculiar expression directing the attention of < the reader to them, such as here is wis'dom *!'

Intr. page 3.

Having thus ascertained the principle on which he was to proceed, he applied it to the sacred text, and was satisfied that the application was just in every instance: Of the pro-. phecies which he had to unfold some re-, spect events, which have taken place since John beheld them in vision. This commentator states them as recorded by authentic historians. Every reader, as he proceeds, may mark the coincidence of the facts with the predictions of the Seer of Patmos. Others of the events, for which the apostle was inspired to prepare the world, are still in the womb, of futurity. But confidence may well be reposed in principles so successfully applied, where they could be rout to the test of experience. And it were rash and uncandid to assimilate him by whom the application is made, to those commentators of whose faculties imagination is the most powerful, who have conjectured shrewdly, but are as frequently mistaken as correct.

The work before us is interspersed with practical observations naturally arising out of the subjects explained. These may be less

acceptable to the critical student, or the curious reader; but they were considered by the pious author himself as according with the great design of the book which he had undertaken to elucidate, and evidently tend-' ing, under the divine blessing, to promote the best dispositions of the heart of man.

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It is impossible to give a full analysis of the work without transgressing the limits within which this paper must be confined. It has already been favourably received by many whose' approbation is decisive of its merit. Eminent divines and private Christians in this kingdom have perused it with satisfaction and profit. An-intention of publishing an edition of it in Ame rica has been lately announced in the newspapers of the United States; and it may safely presumed that its fame will be commensurate with its circulation. By it the theological student may make a valuable addition to his library. Men given to investigations which lie out of the ordinary line of reading, or actuated by that propensity in our nature which prompts us to pry into the

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transactions of future ages, may expect to be gratified in no common degree, And they who study and would act for eternity, may hope, by the blessing from on high, that their views of divine truth will be enlarged, that their faith will increase in strength, and that their hearts will be made. better.

While the author of this work was engaged in composing it, and after he had committed it to the press, public affairs assumed an aspect unusually striking and awful. He could not be an indifferent observer of events which are to render the age in which he lived one of the most memorable epochs in the annals of the world. He had marked the progress of the French revolution, and was sensible of the danger with which this and other nations were threatened by the propagation of the principles that led to it. Whatever oppression the inhabitants of other countries might have experienced, whatever, in their. political institutions or established religions, might require reform, he saw no just reason for that discontent and love of change, which

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