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little value, but were spread over districts which ancient writers represent as extremely fertile, and which at present are highly cultivated.......Muratori adds, that during the eighth and ninth centuries, Italy was greatly infected by wolves, and other wild beasts, another mark of its being destitute of inhabitants. (Murat. Antiq. vol.ii. p. 163.) Thus Italy, the pride of the ancient world for its fertility and cultivation, was reduced to the state of a country newly peopled, and rendered habitable.”

There is one thing which I have left untouched in the interpretation of the last two seals, and but adverted to in that of the first two, because I felt that, in order to say any thing to the purpose, it was necessary first to have the whole interpretation before us. This, to me, most difficult point is, why these four cherubim should, in the order of the lion, the ox, the man, and the flying eagle, connect themselves severally with the first, second, third, and fourth seals. For I do not doubt that there is something, and that no mean thing couched under this order which they take. These cherubim symbolize the church beyond all question; and that not the church outward and ostensible, but the church real and spiritual; the very members of Christ's one and indivisible church, partly in the body, and partly out of the body. Now, in the first seal I understand how the form of the lion should be assumed, because it is the symbol of Christ taking possession of his dominion and inheritance, and roaring against his prey and terrifying them. This we shewed when discoursing of the name of Christ, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah." In Constantine's time, the church did take her right to the throne of the earth, with a majestic and lion-like confidence; and the saints of God had a great and glorious triumph; and began to feel their dignity as the heirs of the world. With this interpretation I feel tolerably satisfied. And so do I with that of the oxcherub, which takes the word in the days of Theodosius. For whether you regard the ox as the treader and trampler down of its enemies, or as the symbol of Ephraim, the tribe whose martial achievements are so wrought into the tissue of future prophecy, or as the beast by which the precious corn was trodden out from the stalk; it answers well to the action of the church in Theodosius' time,

ox.

which both by arms and arguments prevailed against its natural and ecclesiastical enemies, when the truth was, in a very remarkable manner, separated from the chaff and straw with which it had got mixed and confused, and all heresies were oppressed and borne down to the ground. To render an account of the third seal, upon principles homogeneous with these, we should be able to exhibit the church, in the reign of Honorius, acting a part which may as fitly be symbolized by the reason of a man, as the others by the majesty of a lion, and the oppression of an But how is this to be made out? I confess that 1 am yet unequal to it, as also to explain how the action of Justinian's time should be compared to a flying eagle. There are some hints towards an interpretation which I can suggest. The judgment of the third seal was brought by swarms of men, not by any embodied empire and their religion was the worship of a man; for they denied the Divinity of Him whom they honoured as their Lord, and by whose name they were called. The period from Honorius to Justinian was also that in which the church employed the force of human reason in defending the truth, in which appeared the great defenders of the orthodox faith. For certain, the church in these times had neither the lion-like majesty of Constantine to overawe, nor the strength of hand of Theodosius to beat down her enemies; but was fain to have recourse to the strength of reason, to depend upon man's natural resources in maintaining the cause of truth.-Whether there be contained in these hints the elements of a solution of this very difficult question, I will not take upon me to determinę. There is perhaps a still better key, both to this and the next symbol of the flying eagle, to be had from the xii th chapter of this book, which presents the church first as in labour with the man child, and next as having given to her the wings of a great eagle. Now, the latter certainly signifies her flying from persecution into the wilderness from the dragon, and abiding there during the period of the fifth seal, the time, times, and half a time of the Papacy. This answers at once so exactly to the time and description of the fourth cherubim, as to leave. no doubt upon our mind that the flying eagle of the fourth cherubim represents the church in the state of escaping

for her safety into the place which God hath prepared for her. This she began to do in the time of Justinian, whose edict, preparatory to his wars, gave to the pope of Rome that power of tyranny and persecution which he exercised against the church, and which forms the subject of the next seal, whereon we enter not in this Lecture.

Upon reviewing this interpretation of the first four seals, I cannot refrain from expressing my conviction, that it is the true one; and that, whether as respects its perfect coherency with the meaning of the sealed book, and the opening of it, its full and fair interpretation of the symbols, its exact accordance with the historical facts, its view of the great retribution of God for the blood of so many martyrs as were shed by Paganism and Arianism, it hath a moral dignity and truth about it, which, I think, can hardly be gainsaid. It requires a very calm, circumspect, and judicious mind to take in all the bearings of such an interpretation as hath been given above. That which is prized in our schools, especially in our Scottish schools, under the name of acuteness, and practised in the way of argumentation, is so much the property of a barren knowledge, and the accompaniment of a feeble conscience, as to be utterly incompetent to questions of this kind. And so also do I find critical nicety and ingenious refinements; that lawyer-like form of mind which is ever looking for differences, and arranging itself on this or on that side. A solid and sound judgment, a catholic spirit, sufficient knowledge of history, and learning in the language and forms of Scripture, are the natural gifts for inquiries of this sort. The evidence for such an interpretation as we have just concluded, is of that cumulative kind, which an impatient or schismatical mind cannot take the trouble of collecting and considering; which a mind untaught in the predictions of holy Scripture, and unaccustomed to read the providence of God, will not entertain: a love of God's word, and a reverence of his hand in human affairs, meditation, and reading, and thought, are the elements which I ask of those who peruse these discourses, and would give verdict upon these interpretations. I feel that I am writing for the believers of God's word, and not for the speculators upon it; for those

ministers who compare Scripture with Scripture, not for those who compare notes with the leaders of the public taste and opinion; for those students in the schools who are patient of thought, and desirous of interpreting God's word, not for those who love to dispute and strive for vain glory. And I have the assurance in my own mind, that these Lectures upon the Apocalypse will be made by God serviceable to recal the church from abstractions of theology, to historical and real truths; from fictions and fallacies of mere terms, to the substance and the nourishment of a present and progressive redemption of this created world. Theology is become hypocrisy, from not having under it a body of moral and historical truth: I seek to make it sincerity, by putting under it that body which is no where to be found but in the person, and offices, and work of the Son of Man. I seek to bring the spiritual into the real, and to give it the dominion over it. I seek to shew the confused mass of terrestrial events as an orderly system of Divine government. Whether these things be worthy our pains or not, let all wise and good men judge. That it should meet with stern and stout opposition from those who think themselves to have sealed up the sum of knowledge, and occupy the place of first, second, or third-rate leaders of public opinion, delighting to give and to receive honour of one another, must be: it is the cross which, in this service, we have to bear. Let us not seek to be a stumbling-block in their way; but if God should make us so, it is only what He who would have been a sanctuary, was made of his heavenly Father, to that house of Israel which he loved so well, and for whose salvation he gave himself to die. Let no one think the less of us, that all parties should unite to speak evil of us; and that our name should be cast out as an offence to pious ears; but remember Him whom Sadducees and Pharisees combined to persecute, and did destroy as a blasphemer, because he told them the truth, and said that he was the Son of God. Oh it is a sifting time! there are things taking place, and things about to take place, which will shake the church to its centre; and if it will not receive the truth, will shiver it to pieces. No man can stand longer at the helm: He only who hath the winds in the hollow of his hand can steer the ship.

I feel for myself, that I know not what a day may bring forth, and that it is the duty of every man in office under the king, to have his department ready, his accounts prepared to give in. O God, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom; and not me only, but all those who love thine appearing.

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