though the holy of holies is opened before the effusion of the vials, yet in chap. xv. ver. 8, it is emphatically declared, that "no man was able to "enter into the temple (or holy of holies) until the seven plagues of "the seven angels were fulfilled."— Now this intimation, when connect, ed with chap. vii. ver. 15, where it was said that the palm-bearing maltitude worship in the holy of holies, is to be understood as a declaration by the Holy Spirit himself, that we are not to look for the triumphant condition of the Church, signified by the vision of the palm-bearers, until after the conclusion of the vials, i. e. until the Millennium. In reviewing my Dissertation, you have allowed some degree of weight to the foregoing argument, by terming it "an ingenious conjecture*." I am not without hope that on considering it again, and what has now been advanced in aid of it, and also the great authorities by whom the point to be proved by it is supported, you will join me in thinking that it is perfectly conclusive in fix ing the millennial sense of the vision of the palm-bearing multitudet. Considering this point, therefore, as established, I proceed to reason from it accordingly. The last part of the sixth seal being thus exclusively appropriated to the Millennium, the former part of it, viz. the great earthquake, must necessarily relate to the final revolution which takes place at the fall of Antichrist. On the authority of Vitringa, I shall add, that this was an ancient exposition of the earthquake advanced by Victorinus, Andrew, and Arethas. It is adopted by Vitringa himself, whose work on the Apocalypse I had not seen when I Christ. Observ. March 1814, p. 174. I have quoted the authority of Mede, in aid of this conclusion. To this I have to add, that Daniel Lawenus, a foreign divine,, who wrote some severe strictures on Mede's system of synchronisms, to which Mede published a reply, completely concurred with Mede in the identity of the vision of the palm-bearers with the New Jerusalem state. CHRIST. OBSERY, No. 156, published, my Dissertation; but have- The sixth seal is therefore to be considered as wholly referrable to the events of the last times: and it must follow that the usual application of the five prior seals to the events which preceded the age of Constantine is entirely erroneous, unless indeed we are to admit a chasm of more than fourteen cénturies between the fifth seal and the sixth. But I presume that neither Vitringa Anacrisis Apoclapsios, p. 230. Amsterdam, edit. 1719. The symbol of the four winds here alluded to is mentioned in Rev. við. 1.- 5 G you, Mr. Editor, nor any sober in terpreter will plead for such an undue violation of the unity of time, and that too in defence of a scheme of interpretation which, when it is narrowly investigated, proves itself to be utterly unworthy of our recep. tion." In reference to this scheme, let me ask you, sir, and your readers to open the Apocalypse at chap. v. and to mark the deep and solemn importance which is attached to the sealed book. It is first seen in the hand of God the Father. The voice of a mighty angel is next heard proclaiming, Who is worthy to open the book? And no one was found in heaven nor in earth worthy even to look thereon. We behold next an apostle weeping much at the bitter dissppointment; and when at length the Lamb approached, and took the book out of the hand of Him that liveth for ever and ever, all heaven is filled with a rapturous burst of adoration and praise. Observe again the solemnity with which the seals are opened; and, as if the Holy Spirit had en it meet to put most honour upon those very seals which have been most unhallowed by the sys tems of modern interpreters, the opening of each of the four first seals (not of the subsequent ones) is so lemnly announced to the Apostle, and he is invited to come and be hold their contents by one of the four living creatures or cherubim that are nearest to the throne of God. seen Having contemplated these mighty preparations, I ask you next to turn to the pages of Bishop Newton, and you will there find, that the first four seals are supposed to relate to certain not very impor tant changes in the condition of the secular Roman Empire during the three first centuries! I shall select a passage from the Bishop's exposition of the third seal, as a fit specimen of the manner in which this Divine prophecy is brought down from its sublime elevation in the regions of uncreated light, and is as it were constrained to breathe the gross and tainted atmosphere of this earth, and to imbibe the sordid and grovelling spirit of worldly objects. After some remarks respect ing the capacity and price of the chænix of corn mentioned in this vision, the Bishop proceeds; "But whatever may be the capacity of the chanix, which is difficult to be determined as it was different in diffe rent times and countries, yet such eare and such regulations about the necessaries of life imply some want and scarcity of them. Scarcity obligeth men to exactness in the price and measure of things. In short, the intent of the prophecy is, that corn should be provided for the people, but it should be distributed in exact measure and proportion. This third period commenceth with Septimius Severus, who was an Emperor from the South, being a native of Africa. He was an enactor of just and equal laws, and was very severe and implacable to offences. He would not suffer even petty lar cenies to go unpunished; as neither would Alexander Severus in the same period, who was a most severe judge against thieves, and was fond of the Christian maxim, 'Whatsoever you would not have done to you, do not you to another,' that he commanded it to be engraved on the palace, and on the public build. ings. These two emperors were also no less celebrated for procuring of corn and oil, and other provisions, and for supplying the Romans with them after they had experienced the want of them." I will not, sir, enter into any re-; futation of the above exposition. In the present state of prophetical knowledge, it carries within itself its own confutation, as being totally. unworthy of the Divine Prophecy which it professes to illustrate. I request you to read again the simple but t elevated exposition of Archdeacon Woodhouse, and to compare. it with that of the Bishop and Mede I shall only observe further, that it was not to reveal matters of an earthly, but a heavenly nature, that the Apocalypse was given to the Church. But I here foresee an objection. It will be said that I myself expound the trumpets as having reference to the secular fortunes of the Roman Empire, and that, therefore, I cannot consistently object to a similar interpretation of the seals. I have two answers to this:-The first is, that the symbols of the trumpets are entirely different from those of the first four seals, and therefore may fitly be supposed to relate to distinct objects. The second is, that in the trumpets I consider the great mutations only of the Empire to be predicted, and not those minor changes which Mede and Bishop Newton suppose to be referred to in the seals. And I consider these great mutations to be the subject of prophecy only because of their connection with the fortunes of the Church and the spiritual concerns of mankind. The Roman Empire, in short, is the subject of prophecy as to its greater mutations, because, while it exists (as it still does), it is the last great enemy of the Church; and when it is destroyed, it is to make way for the triumphant reign of the Messiah. One or two observations more, and I shall conclude. It has been objected to my scheme of interpretation, that even if the principle of retrocession be admitted (as it confessedly must be) to exist in the Apocalypse, yet it does not follow that this principle can legitimately be carried so far as to assign to any period of prophecy numerically posterior to another, a place anterior to it; i. e. to give to the seventh seal a place in time anterior to the third or fourth, or the fifth or sixth.— I reply, that my scheme does not assign to the seventh seal, as a whole, a place in time prior to any of the preceding six. It merely supposes the seventh seal to be a more detailed history with many new facts of the whole period of the preceding seals commencing not with the third (as is supposed in your Review *) t but perhaps strictly with the first †, and reaching to the Millennium. Though, therefore, the first part of the seventh seal be prior to the sixth, yet, as a whole, it is not prior to but reaches to the same ultimate period as the sixth. It may be expected that I should not close this paper without acknow ledging the errors into which I have fallen in my volume on the Apoca lypse, in anticipating the course of events. I shall feel no hesitation in doing so on another occasion, but the great length of this communication forbids my now entering on a subject which would necessarily require my going into some detail. I shall, however, briefly state, that my opinion respecting the actual expiration of the 1260 years (which I conceive to be the most iniportant conclusion in my work) remains unchanged, and that I consequently still think we are in the midst the last great earthquake which precedes the second Advent. Not withstanding the late unexpected overthrow of Bonaparte, I yet believe also with many of the ablest writers on prophecy, that the Roman Beast is finally to perish in Palestine. But whether France or Austria, or what other power will then possess the supreme authority or headship of the empire can be de clared only by the event. I shall close with a remark of a very solemn nature. There are many texts of Scripture which seem positively to predict that the appearances of the last times shall be of such a kind as to lull even the WiseVirgins into a deceitful slumber. May we, sir, be found watching, with our loins girded and our lights * Christ. Observ. for Mareli, 1814, p:176.7 the prayers of the saints, offered by the An burning, that when our Lord shall come, be it at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morn ing, we may receive the invitation to enter with Him into the marriage supper! 1 I am, &c. FAMILY SERMONS. No. LXXII, I Cor. xv. 54 57. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory. Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord land to which those of our friends WILLIAM CUNINGHAME. again; which is so liable to aches, Jesus Christ. WE frail children of men, who, for a few short and fleeting years, dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust; we, who daily see around us our friends and acquaintauce sinking under pain and infirmities; who find ourselves, ere old age comes upon us, deserted by those who were the companions of our youth, and left solitary and desolate; who feel within our own bodies the symptoms of gradual decay; who are daily expecting the dissolution of this tabernacle of the This mortal, too, shall put on imflesh, either by its own natural mortality. This mortal body, which weakness or by the assault of some now is so subject to death, shall put of those diseases which ravage the on immortality. In the glorious world, or of those innumerable acci- state above, there shall be no afflictdents by which the slender thread ing separation from friends dearer of life may be cut in a moment; than life; no sudden call to relinquish we, I say, who are thus daily be employments and duties of the most holding the sad spectacle of human important nature, to quit all that mortality, and expecting our own we here delighted in, and to enter destruction, let us come and contem- upon an unknown state; no painful plate the glory of another state; spectacle of those we love, stretched some bright beans of which pierce out as breathless corpses; no sufferthrough the gloom that surrounds ing under the melancholy feelings this dark world, and shew us afar of exhausted nature, or the distressoff a land of light and blessedness, in ing apprehension of dissolution. which there is no decay, no corrup- This mortal shall put on immortion, no sorrow, and no death-atality. Death shall be swallowed up in victory. That destroyer, whose strokes neither the wisdom nor the force of man has been able to evade, shall himself be conquered and anDibilated. There are implanted in the breast of man, for wise purposes, two powerful principles; the love of life, and the desire of happiness. Now, if we always feel the influence of these principles; if, wretched as this life often is, we still fondly cling to it; if we feel ourselves irresist ibly impelled to give up our ease, and employ our whole time, and all our talents in the pursuit of happiness; then let us reflect on the noble and important subject which the text presents to our view. Behold Life! Life immortal! Endless hap piness! Behold, a life and happiness fully able to satisfy the highest desires of an immortal soul. On the other hand, do we dread the power of death, and shudder to think that we cannot escape it? Does it at once damp our enjoyment of the blessings which surround us, to reflect, that in a short time we may be laid upon a bed of fatal sickness, and be torn from all the delights of our heart, and from our weeping friends? Then let us look to the subject which the text sets before us. We there see, the Apostle triumphing over death and the grave. Oh death, he exclaims, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? Where, O death, is there any thing in thee, when seen in this view, which a disciple of Christ should dread? Where, O grave, are thy spoils and trophies? Thy prison-doors shall be burst open, the shackles in which thou didst hold thy captives bound, in appearance for ever, shall be taken off. Thy triumphs shall be at an end. Captivity shall be led captive." veys, the arguments on which it is Such is the elevated tone in which the Apostle triumphs over death and the grave. But this language was not peculiar to him as, au Apostle, It was spoken by him as a Chrisdian. The sentiments which it con |