15. The half hour's silence :—

Time of prayer after the seals and before the
trumpets (Elucid.; L. Apoc.)

Time of the four first trumpets (Latt. Days, p. 162).
Time of the seventh trumpet (Rev. p. 88).

16. The fire cast on the earth :

Literal fire from heaven before the trumpets
(Elucid.)

The wrath of God in the trumpets (L. Apoc. p. 77).
The descent of the Holy Spirit upon earth (Latt.
Days, pp. 163, 166).

The judgment of the last trumpet (Rev. p. 88). 17. The time of the first trumpet :—

Successive to the sixth seal (Elucid.; L. Apoc.;
Latt. Days).

Parallel to the fourth seal (Rev. p. 88).

18. The nature of the first trumpet:—

Literal hailstorm or fire (Elucid.; L. Apoc.; Rev.)
Destruction of carnal pride in the Jews (Latt.
Days).

19. The second trumpet:—

Burning mass, like a meteor, falling into the sea
(Elucid.; L. Apoc.; Rev.)

Consumption of worldliness in the Jews (Latt.
Days).

20. The third trumpet :

Electric fluid, like a star, giving an unpleasant
taste to the waters (Elucid. p. 155).

A literal star falling on the rivers (L. Apoc. p. 80).
The destruction of the works of the Devil (Latt.
Days, p. 179).

A condensed comet (Rev. p. 108).

21. The fourth trumpet :

Miraculous darkness of four hours (Elucid. p. 155).
Extinction of one third of Jewish rulers (Latt
Days).

Literal stars cast down by Satan (Rev. p. 114). 22. The star of the fifth trumpet:

An angel, resembling a star (Elucid. p. 158).
A literal falling star (L. Apoc. p. 80).
An apostate Church (Latt. Days, p. 188).
Satan himself (Rev. p. 122).

23. The smoke of the abyss :

Literal smoke, like a blight (Elucid. p. 158; Rev.
p. 126).

Spiritual darkness (Latt. Days).

24. The locusts :—

Literal locusts, bred in the smoke (Elucid. p. 158).
The human army of Antichrist (L. Apoc. p. 84).
False doctrines, or their disseminators (Latt. Days).
Demons in the shape of locusts (Rev. p. 124).
25. The king of the locusts :-

The Devil, or Satan (Elucid.)

The last Antichrist (L. Apoc.; Latt. Days). Antichrist, or perhaps Apollo (Rev. p. 126). 26. The five months of the woe :

Five literal months (L. Apoc.; Elucid.; Rev.)
An indefinite period (Latt. Days).

27. The horsemen of the sixth trumpet:

A multitude of good angels (Elucid. p. 166).

A power hostile to the Jews, from Euphrates (L.
Apoc. p. 90).

The returning ten tribes (Latt. Days, p. 230).
Demons of a form like horses (Rev. p. 132).

28. The four angels:

Four good angels (Elucid.)

Four companies of the ten tribes (Latt. Days).

29. The period of the second woe:

A literal period of thirteen months (Elucid.; L.
Apoc.)

An indefinite time (Latt. Days, p. 21).

30. The angel clothed with a cloud :—

A created angel (Elucid.; L. Apoc.)

The Church, from Abraham onward (Latt. Days, p. 238).

The Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. p. 143).

31. The little book :

A prophecy of events under the seventh trumpet (Elucid.; L. Apoc.)

A prophecy of events under the fifth seal (Rev. p. 145).

History of the Jews from the time of St. John (Latt. Days).

32. The measurement of the temple :—

A

"

particular account" taken of the temple (Elucid. p. 181).

Preservation of faithful Jews in the last time (L.
Apoc. p. 100).

State of unbelieving Jews since their rejection
(Latt. Days, p. 246).

33. The Gentiles who tread down the city :

The Turks, Egyptians, &c. (Elucid. p. 181).
The army of the last Antichrist (L. Apoc. p. 100).
True believers of the Gentiles in time past (Latt.
Days, p. 248).

34. The twelve hundred and sixty days:

The time of the last Antichrist (Elucid.; L. Apoc.;
Rev.)

Whole time of Israel's desolation (Latt. Days). 35. The outer court unmeasured :—

Jerusalem wasted by Antichrist (L. Apoc. p. 100).
Extension of the Church under the Gospel (Latt.
Days).

36. The two witnesses:

Two eminent ministers, or a king and a priest

(Elucid. p. 182).

Moses and Elijah (L. Apoc. pp. 107-109).

The law and the prophets (Latt. Days).
Elijah and Enoch (Rev. p. 159).

37. Those of the kindred and nations:

The army of Antichrist (L. Apoc. p. 111).
The Jews who cling to the dead forms of religion
(Latt. Days).

38. The resurrection of the witnesses :

Literal, of Moses and Elijah (L. Apoc.)

Spiritual revival of the Jewish Church (Latt.
Days).

Such is the boasted harmony of the Futurist system, before which Protestant interpreters of the older school must hang down their heads and blush with shame for their own discordance. The disagreement in these novel theories is not partial but universal. It extends, with scarcely one exception, to every main point on which their labour has been bestowed; to those on which the Protestant interpreters agree, as well as to those on which they differ; nay, to those in which Protestants agree with Roman Catholics, and even Infidels with Christians. The reckless fever of innovation, the shallow and sceptical spirit which is prompt at starting difficulties, and impatient of their solution, has left not one pillar standing in this temple of divine truth.

It would be easy to enlarge the list of these discordances from the later chapters of the Apocalypse; but the catalogue already given may be enough to prove that the boasted simplicity, harmony, and clearness of the Futurist interpretation, exist nowhere but in the fancy of its authors. Surely, to borrow their own words, "it is time that the common sense of the Church

should be aroused," to seek for principles of interpretation more sound than those which hurry us into universal doubt, and for expositors more sound and cautious than those who contradict each other at every turn; nay, who often contradict themselves, while they exclaim loudly against the disagreement of previous writers.