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Saviour is able and ready to save you. Be your sins ever so many, ever so great, yet you shall certain ly be saved if you do not neglect the offers of grace which are made to you. Delay, therefore, no longer to turn from your evil ways: let not your doubts and your fears keep you at a distance, but come like the returning prodigal with true repentance and faith in your Divine Surety, and I will pardon all your sins, adorn you with his righteous. ness, renew and strengthen you by my Spirit, and receive you into the number of my children.' O how kind, how gracious is this invitation! If we love ourselves and desire to become happy, let us accept of him as our Saviour, and entreat God in his name to grant us forgiveness of our sins, and to bestow on us the riches of his grace. This is the way in which we are to turn unto God, and become partakers of his grace and mercy; and if we have by the grace of God entered on this blessed way, let us take care that we do not then think we have already attained to a state of perfection. There are some who think that they need not be under any farther concern for their eternal welfare, because they have once found their minds awakened, and have shewed some sorrow for their sins; but this is a fatal thought which will ruin our souls: let us therefore take care to maintain always a sense of our sinfulness and lost condition, and endeavour to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, by our frequent addresses to him, and daily surrender of ourselves into his hands; let us strive by the grace of the blessed Spirit to follow his holy example, and adhere unto him in prosperity and adversity; let us daily hear the word of God, and lay it up in our hearts as the food of our souls; and watch and pray that its saving effects may not be frustrated, but that it may bring forth the fruits of a holy lifeThis is the way of

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obtaining the grace and favour of God; a way, though narrow to our depraved nature, which will lead us to life eternal."

The Tranquebar Missionaries mention the death of the elder Mr. Kolhoff, aged eighty-six, after fifty. three years of faithful and laborious services, and after seeing his son engaged in the English Mission, and his family well provided for by a kind Providence. Their congregation had received an increase of onehundred-and-eighty-three members, of whom thirty-two were adult Hea thens or Papists. The communicants amounted to 1170. In the schools, 197 children had been maintained and instructed.

(To be continued.)

To the Editor of the Christian Observet. I FEEL grateful for the very able Review which you gave of my Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse, in your Number for March last. Of the merits of my work, you have spoken in terms which very far exceeded my expec. tation when I gave it to the public; and I cannot but acknowledge myself greatly obliged to you for the handsome and yet delicate manner in which you have expressed your general approbation of it.

To some parts, however, of my canon of interpretation, you conceive there are very formidable objections: and, in particular, you apprehend that my exposition of the seals may open a door to a latitude of interpretation to which no limits can be assigned."-In your 177th page, you invite me to discuss this subject anew, and to convince you by arguments a priori, that my canon of interpretation does not lead to the dangerous consequences which you apprehend.

In taking up my pen to address you on this subject, I feel that I could willingly leave the fate of my theory of the Seals, to be decided by time and the gradual increase of

prophetical light and knowledge.
But as it is by the " running to and
fro of many, in conjunction with
the progress
of events, that this
light and knowledge are destined to
be increased, it seems to be my
duty to lend my humble aid to the
attainment of that desirable end, by
not declining the discussion which
you invite.

1 remark, in the first place, that no objection is made to the internal probability of my interpretation of the first six seals: on the contrary, you explicitly admit that, standing by itself, its internal probabilities are very great." You acknowledge further, that if it be established by argument, "it will be by far the most edifying of any interpretation hitherto given," as well as" more strictly in unison with the principle of homogeneity." You likewise are forward to confess, that the application of the seventh chapter of the Apocalypse to the mere temporal peace of the church, in the reign of Constantine, has always been most unsatisfactory to your mind. But to all these powerful reasons in favour of my scheme of interpretation, you oppose the apparently formidable objection of a rigid criticism, that by assuming a liberty of introducing the principle of retrogression, or, in plainer words, of carrying back the prophetical vision in an arbitrary manner, I bring disorder and uncertainty into the whole of the apo calyptic chronology †.

In giving to your objection the appellation of a rigid criticism, I beg you, sir, to believe that I am in no -degree appalled by it, and likewise, that I cordially acquiesce in the propriety and necessity of criticism the most rigid, and scrutiny the most jealous, being applied to every system of apocalyptical interpreta

Dan. xii. 4.

* In stating the objection, I have, perhaps, used stronger words than the Reviewer; but as it is an objection against myself, I * have thought it best to put it in the strongest

way.

tion, always supposing that the ori tic limits his requisitions by those principles which distinguish moral evidence from mathematical denionstration.Having made these preliminary observations, I shall proceed to vindicate my exposition of the Seals, or more properly, that of Archdeacon Woodhouse, which I have adopted.

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Let us suppose a case 'n priori, that it may have pleased God to give unto his Church, for her instruction and consolation, a vision contained in a book consisting of vari ous sections or chapters, comprising first, an epitome of her future fortunes unto the end of time; and secondly, a more minute description of the various events and agents affecting her fortunes. I think it must be admitted, that there is no thing previously impossible or even improbable in the case here sup posed. Now, sir, if such a book does exist, it must include in it the principle of carrying back the nar rative in one or more places; because without doing so, it is impossible first to give an epitome of the things revealed, and then a more complete account of them. If the book be composed in the language of enigma and hieroglyphic, it may be expected that considerable diffculty will occur in fixing the particular places where the narrative turns back, and it will be necessary to watch with a jealous eye the attempts of expositors to ascertain these places, lest they should introduce confusion into the texture of the prophecy. But it may, perhaps, be anticipated, that certain internal marks will be inserted in the book itself, to assist us in deciding when and where we are to retrograde.

Now, sir, according to the united testimony of commentators, the Apocalypse, from the 6th chapter downwards, is such a book as I have supposed. All vexpositors agree, that as A WHOLE, it consists, not of one consecutive series of predictions but that the consecutive order is

broken or interrupted; and the narrative turns back oftener than once, for the purpose of giving a more full and perfect description of certain events and objects.

The only difference between my canon of interpretation and that of most other writers, consists in this, that I suppose the whole series of visions to be comprised in the seven rolls or sections of the original book, which was delivered into the hands of our Lord to be opened *: and I consequently introduce the principle of retrocession or repetition into the original rolls or sections; whereas the writers alluded to imagine, that besides the original book of seven seals, there is a supplementary book or codicil, in which, for the sake of greater perspicuity, the narrative turns back almost to the beginning of the original book, for the purpose of a more full description of the most important incidents of the prophecy.

It is unnecessary for me to inform you, sir, that I deny the very exist ence of the codicil; but it may not be superfluous to draw your attention to the contradictory opinions of those who believe that it exists as a separate portion of the prophecy. Mede maintains, that the whole of the Apocalypse, from the tenth chapter inclusive to the end, belongs to the codicil, thereby making the supposed supplementary prophecy larger than the original one. Bishop Newton, on the other hand, holds that the codicil is all comprised in the first fourteen verses of the eleventh chapter. Mr. Faber steers a middle course between Mede and the Bishop, maintaining that the codicil comprehends the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters, being about one fourth of the whole prophecy.

But I would ask, supposing the existence of the codicil to be admitted for the sake of argument, and that there were an entire agreement respecting its contents; still, what

Rev. v. 7.

difference is there in principle, between the violation of the consecutive order in the codicil and a like violation of it in the original book with seven seals? Or, if it be admitted in the one, what solid reason can be given a priori for denying its possible existence in the other? Surely, in this case, the onus probandi rests upon those who maintain that the consecutive order may be violated in the codicil, but is to be held sacred and inviolable in the original book.

I shall now shew, however, that neither Mede nor those interpreters who follow his system of synchronism, have limited the principle of carrying back the narrative to the little book. Mede places the vision of the palm-bearing multitude, chap., vii. 9 (as I do) in the seventh trumpet. He rightly argues, that the palm-bearing saints are the inhabi tants of the New Jerusalem *. For this profound writer, though he unquestionably was mistaken in some of his synchronisms, and his exposi tion of the seals, and likewise in disjoining the whole of the seventh chapter from the sixth seal to which it belongs, had yet too accurate a knowledge of the language of symbols to be guilty of the error of some later writers who suppose that the vision now under consideration belongs to the church in the time of Constantine. Mede, would probably have rejected with indignation such an interpretation. (if proposed to him), as calculated to secularize and debase one of the most sublime and spiritual descriptions of the glory of the church which the Sacred Volume affords us for our consolation and encouragement in this valley of tears,

Having then applied this vision of the palm-bearers to the Millennium, Mede, at the beginning of chapter eighth, when the seventh seal is opened, at once turns back to the period of the heathen persecutions in the third century; and he supposes that the prayers of all *Clavis Apocalyptica Synchron. VII.

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saints offered up by the angel on the altar of incense, denote the cries of the martyrs slain under the fifth seal, to avenge which, under the trumpets, wrath descends on the Roman empire. He places the sounding of the first trumpet in the year 395.

When I wrote my exposition of the last part of the sixth seal, and the opening of the seventh, I had not examined that part of Mede's commentary which treats of the same passages of the Apocalypse, and, in fact, I did not refer to it till I sat down to write the present remarks upon your critique. It has, therefore, proved very agreeable to me to find myself supported by that great writer, in the precise violation of the principle of succession, against which you, sir, most loudly protest. I am also happy to add, the respectable names of Dr. Henry More and Brightman, as concurring in the millennial application of the vision of the palmbearing multitude, and the consequent retrogression of the seventh seal.

Bishop Newton, by the forced and unnatural application of the vision of the palm-bearers to the age of Constantine, avoids the alternative of carrying back the seventh seal. Yet, in another part of what he deems to be the original book of seven seals (and not the codicil), viz. on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, he is under the necessity of retrograding to the first age of the church: but as you have referred your readers to the Bishop's remarks, and have observ. ed, that they are much in favour of my views, it is unnecessary for me to enlarge on his testimony.

There are some, however, who resist altogether the introduction of the principle of retrogression, in the exposition of the Apocalypse, excepting in what they term the little book. To those who hold this sentiment, I would offer the following dilemna. The gathering together of the beast and kings of the earth

to the battle of Armageddon, is mentioned twice in the Apocalypse, and not in that part of it which they suppose included in the little book. The two places are, chap. xvi. 17, and xix. 19. These two passages are therefore strictly synchronical, Now the intervening narrative between these two texts (which chiefly relates to the pouring out of the seventh vial) must be either prior in time, or posterior to the gathering together at Armageddon; let the advocates for the uninterrupted continuity of the apocalyptic visions take their choice, and say to which the pri ority in time belongs. If the ef fusion of the seventh vial and its principal events are (as I have endeavoured to prove in my Dissertation) prior to the gathering together at Armageddon, then the narrative turns back at chap. xvi. 17, and the continuity of the vision is there broken, and not resumed until chap. xix. 19. If, on the other hand, the objector shall assert that the whole contents of the seventh vial are posterior in time to the gathering together at Armageddon, which opinion it might easily be shown is replete with improbabilities; it follows still, from this view, supposing it true, that the continuity of the vision is broken, and the narra tive carried back at chap, xix, 19, to the same place in time, as chap. xvi. 17. Thus, in either case, the hypothesis is destroyed, that the Apocalypse is one continued vision; and it follows, that the principle of retrocession must be admitted in expounding it,

But you still require that some canon may be found capable of defining with sufficient clearness, how far this principle of interpretation may be carried, and where it is to stop. I answer, that the canon which you desire is to be found in the five rules contained in the Preface to my Dissertation, and par ticularly, the fifth, being the rules adopted from Mr. Frazer. shall add, that the principle of retrogression is on no occasion to be

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longs to the state of the Church in the time of Constantine is, in other words, to affirm, that the sabbatism of the Church did then begin,

In confirmation of what is here advanced, I request you to turn to the account of the New Jerusalem

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resorted to where necessity does not dictate it. If you demand, Who shall define and determine the existence and limits of this necessity? I reply, The prophet himself, or rather the Holy Spirit, has done so by those internal marks described in the rule of Mr. Frazer. I say fur-state in Rev. xxi. It is there said ther, that all sallies of imagination emphatically, as descriptive of this in the commentator are to be check- condition of the Church, ver. 3. "Beed by the exercise of a jealous and hold the tabernacle of God is with severe criticism upon your part. In men, and He shall tabernacle with short, the same means are to be used them;"―and again ver. 4; "God shall to prevent the abuse of the principle wipe away all tears from their eyes.” of retrogression as are employed to Now, sir, having read this passage, repress the exercise of an undue turn back to cb. vii, ver. 15. You will license in the interpretation of the there find it written, as descriptive symbols. For myself, Mr. Editor, of the felicity of the palm-bearers; I profess not only to be willing but "Therefore are they before the anxious to undergo the ordeal of throne, and serve Him day and such criticism in respect of my sy night in his temple, and He that stem of apocalyptic synchronisms. sitteth on the throne shall tabernaMy object is the progress of truth; cle among them." (The same words and I am willing that any one or as in chap. xxi.) And at the end more of the chapters of my Disser- of ver. 17, the whole description is tation shall, if erroneous, be em- closed with the words "God shall ployed to kindle the fire of the wipe all tears from their eyes." Now burnt-offering on the altar of Truth. this exact correspondence of ideas Having, as I hope, completely jus- and almost identity of language certified the introduction of the princi- tainly mark the complete synchro ple of carrying back the vision, it is nism of the two passages, which, as necessary for me further to vindicate I have already said, is admitted by the use I have made of that principle Mede, More, Brightman, and, I may in my exposition of the seals. This add, Vitringa. I do as follows:-The palm-bearing multitude are seen by the Apostle at the close of the sixth seal, worshipping in the holy of holies, the inmost recess of the temple, where the throne of God is placed. (See chap. vii. 15.) Now, sir, I maintain from this circumstance only (were there no other argument in support of the conclusion), that it is absolutely certain this vision can only belong to the period of the sabbatism of the Church. We know from the Scriptures that the holy of holies was a symbol of heaven, and by consequence of that glorious state of the Church, when heaven shall be brought down unto the earth by the descent of the New Jerusalem. To say, therefore, that the vision of the palm-bearers beHeb. vi. 20. viii. 5. ix. 24.

But, sir, the Divine Author of the Apocalypse has not left us to ascertain even by the strongest reasoning the point I am now, illustrating, viz. that the vision of the palm-bearing multitude belongs to the Millennium. He has added an express testimony to that effect, which I shall prove as follows:-in ebap..xi. 19, and xv. 5, the opening of the holy of holies, which had previously been shut, is exhibited to us as taking place immediately after the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and before the effusion of the vials. The synchronism of these two passages is now admitted by all interpreters as "being proved by this circumstance of the opening of the temple, and they thereupon found their argument for maintaining that the vials all belong to the seventh trumpet. But,

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