?^:-m^.^'. 
 
 :a» 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 I'njycKToy.y. ■'■ 
 
 No. Shclt\ ^ ggcti 
 :^No. Book, 
 
A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 PROPHECIES, 
 
 WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR INTERPRETATION AND 
 FULFILMENT, AND TO PERSONAL EDIFICATION. 
 
 BY THE REV. EDWARD BICKERSTETH, 
 
 RECTOR OF WATTON, HERTS. 
 
 '• We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take 
 heed."— 2 Peter i. 19- 
 
 FROM THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION, ENLARGED. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 ORRIN ROGERS, G7 SOUTH SECOND STREET. 
 
 E. G. Dorwy, Printer. 
 
 1S4L 
 
The paging of the London edition is preserved in this reprint in brackets. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface to the Sixth Edition, - - - - 5 
 
 Chap. I. General Observations, - - - - 13 
 
 II. Practical Rules and Cautions, - - - 20 
 
 III. The First Coming of Christ, - - - 38 
 
 IV. General application of Promises in the Prophecies, - 41 
 V, The Second Coming of Christ, - - - 49 
 
 VI. The Period of the Second Coming, - - - 62 
 
 VII. The Literal Interpretation of Prophecies, - - 70 
 
 VIII. Prophecies respecting the Jews, - - - 85 
 
 IX. Countries connected with the Jews, - - 98 
 
 X. The Christian Church, - - - - 101 
 
 XI. Antichrist, ----- 109 
 
 XII. The Scriptural meaning of Time, - - - 126 
 
 XIII. Chronological Prophecies, - - - 132 
 
 XIV. Varied Interpretations of Prophecy, - - - 148 
 XV. Judgments connected with the Coming of Christ, - 157 
 
 XVI. The Harvest of the Church, - - - - 176 
 
 XVII. The Millennium and First Resurrection, - - 183 
 
 XVIII. The Kingdom of Christ, - - - • - 203 
 
 XIX. Practical Reflections, - - - - 220 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Suggested Plan and Axioms for the Interpretation of the 
 
 Apocalypse, - - - - - 239 
 
 II. Scripture Chronology, - - - - 246 
 
 III. List of the Principal Books on Prophecy, - - 255 
 
 - IV. The Jewish Civil Disabilities' Bill, - - 285 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 V. National Sins, - - - - - 288 
 
 VI. The French Revolution, - - - - 290 
 
 VII. The consuming of Popery, and its boastfulness, - 293 
 
 VIII. Drying up of the Euphrates, ... 296 
 
 IX. Restoration of the Jews to their own land, - - 299 
 
 X. Plan of a course of Lectures on Prophetical subjects, 391 
 
 INDEXES. 
 
 I. Scriptural Index, - - - - - 303 
 
 II. Bibliographical Index, - - - - 335 
 
 III. General Index, - - - - - 307 
 
PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 The original design of this work (first published in 1S23, 
 under the title of "Practical Remarks on the Prophecies,") was 
 to answer objections made to missionary exertions from par- 
 ticular views of prophecy, and to show that all Christians had 
 a clear title to the spiritual promises of the Old Testament. As 
 subsequent editions have been called for, the Author has been 
 led on to a more extensive study of the subject of Prophecy 
 than he anticipated, and has endeavoured to take a general 
 view of the whole of that important part of divine truth. 
 
 The earnestness of the prophets, enquiring and searching 
 diligently what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ 
 signified, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11; and the weeping much of the 
 favoured apostle when no man was found worthy to open the 
 sealed book. Rev. v. 4, reprove that neglect and indifference 
 with which too many Christians have hitherto regarded this 
 truly scriptural and edifying subject. The Author cannot 
 but hope that this neglect is passing away, and giving place to 
 an increased attention. 
 
 He has read as far as he had opportunity, and considered 
 what has been published on prophecy since the former edi- 
 tions of this work, and especially has sought to weigh any re- 
 marks on the side opposed to his own views. The result, 
 without weakening his assurance of the piety of those from 
 whom he differs, has been an increasing conviction, with slight 
 modifications, of the substantial truth of his own views. The 
 signs of the times are indeed so remarkable, as powerfully to 
 call all to earnest attention to this subject, and to give increas- 
 ing evidence of the very important character of the events 
 before us. 
 
 Farther research has convinced the Author that but a small 
 part of the full scripture testimon}^ to the pra^-millennial advent 
 has yet been brought out from the sacred volume, and but a 
 small part of the full historical proofs of prophecy already ful- 
 filled, has yet been brought to illustrate, by the providence of 
 God, in past events, the predictions which had been previously 
 given. In many of the additions made, the author has been 
 much indebted to the suggestions of a dear friend with whom 
 "he has the happiness of being intimate. Believing the views 
 
^^ PREFACE. 
 
 which he has here set forth to be God's truth, it is to him a 
 subject of thankfulness to find that Christian ministers, in con- 
 tinually increasing numbers, through our country, acknowledge 
 and testify that blessed hope, "the glorious appearance of the 
 great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 It is cheering also to think that in these eventful times God 
 is reviving old truths: the hearl of the children is turning to their 
 fathers. JVlal. iv. 6. The author's conviction was expressed 
 many years since, that we had too much neglected, in modern 
 times, the fathers of the ciuirch, and while sensible of their 
 serious defects, and how they may be overvalued, to the 
 disparagement of the fulness and sufficiency of scripture, yet 
 the conviction of their real use and value, as witnesses of God's 
 truth, has increased by the farther search into them, to which 
 he has been led by this subject. How full and beautiful, for 
 instance, is the following simple statement, or summary, of 
 divine truth, as given in an early creed bylrenaeus! (Lib. i. 
 ch. 2.) "The church, though scattered over the whole world, 
 even to the ends of the earth, receive from the apostles and 
 from their disciples that belief which is in one God, the Father 
 Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and the seas and all 
 things in them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who 
 became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Ghost, 
 who proclaimed by the prophets the dispensations of God, the 
 advent, birth of a virgin, passion, resurrection from the dead, 
 and bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, and his coming again from heaven in the glory of 
 the Father, to restore all things, and to raise up all flesh of all 
 mankind: that to Jesus Christ our Lord, and God, and Saviour, 
 and King, according to the pleasure of the invisible Father, 
 every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
 and things under the earth; and that every tongue sliould con- 
 fess him, and that he should do just judgment upon all, and 
 consign to everlasting fire the spirits of wickedness, the angels 
 who transgressed and became apostates; and amongst men the 
 impious, and unjust, and lawless, and blasphemer; and that to 
 the just and holy, and to such as kept his conimandments and 
 remained in his love, some from the beginning, but others 
 after repentance, he should give freely life and immortality, 
 and bring everlasting glory." He then, in a following chapter, 
 speaks of this as the one voice of the church over the whole 
 earth, whether in Germany, Spain, Gaul, the East, Egypt, 
 Libya, or in the middle of the world; comparing the unity of 
 the "truth, enlighlening all who come to it for knowledge, to 
 one and the same light of the sun over the world. 
 
 The author cannot but entertain the hope that the attemjMing 
 
PREFACE. Vii 
 
 to break up everytliiiig, ancient and established, In the present 
 day, though meant by the enemy for destruction, and bringing 
 judgment on those engaged in evil works, will in the result 
 be overruled of God, through tiie zeal of the church of Christ, 
 to the spreading of truth in an unity of doctrine, and the 
 spreading of love in an union of heart, far beyond what 
 Irenceus mentions, or the church has ever yet seen: and with 
 that to a general oneness of real Christians before all men, 
 (John xvii. 21.) that may be eminently blessed in the day of 
 the world's tribulation. (Isaiah xxvi. 9.) When we look at 
 what both providence and prophecy now manifest to be before 
 us, how infinitely to be desired is that, union! truth alone is to 
 be sought before it; and, blessed be God, his truth is the very 
 way to it, provided it be spoken in love. If any word con- 
 trary to that love should, through his infirmity, have escaped 
 from the Author in this work, it is perfectly contrary to his 
 better feelings; for he desires to breathe only love to every 
 human being, and especially to the household of failh, his beloved 
 brethren in Jesus. While testifying what he believes to be 
 God's own truth, he would wish also to do it with the con- 
 sciousness of being himself encompassed with infirmity, and 
 through ignorance, sin, and unbelief, through negligence and 
 carelessness, liable constantly both to error in his views and 
 statements, and wrong feelings in his heart. Let everything 
 then be searched with prayer to God, and everything tried to 
 the utmost by that sure standard, the infallible word of God, 
 The grand foundation of protestantism, eminently op- 
 posed to uncertainty and doubtfulness, both of Popery, mere 
 formal churchmanship, liberalism, neology, infidelity, and 
 every other false system, is not the right of private judgment, 
 but THE CERTAINTY OF God's WORD. In the language of 
 Luther, "it ought to be a principle most firmly maintained 
 among Christians, that the holy scriptures are a spiritual light 
 far brighter than the sun, especially in those things which 
 relate to salvation, or are necessary." If we fail of what is 
 true and right, it is not through the darkness of scripture, 
 but tlirongh our loving darkness rather than light, because our 
 deeds are evil; and we have all need, therefore, both diligently 
 to search the holy scriptures, and earnestly to pray for the 
 promised Spirit of Christ our Lord, by which alone wc can 
 be guarded fr 
 and godliness. 
 
 Though prophetic interpretation may be despised by the 
 world, and be neglected as a chaos by one part of the church, 
 and perplex another part who may not now have light enough 
 "to rescue it out of its apparently chaotic state; yet there is solid 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ground to walk upon: and there is also light to show that 
 ground; (2 Peter i. 19.) and to leave those inexcusable who do 
 not take heed to that light till that fulness of time arrive, when 
 the day will shine out, and the day-star arise in our hearts. 
 
 The bearing of prophecy on the present state of the world, 
 and of our country; on the visible church of Christ, and the 
 true church subsisting in that visible church, is deeply inter- 
 esting to the Christian patriot. 
 
 Amidst the present shaking and rocking to and fro of the 
 political heavens, every principle is trying to the very utter- 
 most; nothing but what is divine will remain immoveable: 
 our Lord's words must be fully realized, every plant which my 
 heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Matt. xv. 13. 
 Nothing will stand the shock of these days, but that which is 
 above nature, and has infallible truth, Almighty power, and 
 divine grace for its origin and support. And surely the Chris- 
 tian, while conscious of all the evil which is abroad, and that 
 it is often evil, overcome by the mercy of God, that produces 
 good, must rejoice from the heart in every really good result. 
 God has greatly honoured Religious Societies. A venera- 
 ble friend, in his S7th year, wrote to the Author lately thus: 
 "For my part, on the review of what God has wrought through 
 their means within the last forty years, I am filled with grate- 
 ful astonishment. Let us dread an impatient unthankful- 
 ness: He that believeth shall not iiiake Jiaste.'^ The abolition of 
 slavery, the diminishing of systems of bribery and corruption, 
 any beneficial reforms in jurisprudence, or in the outward 
 church, and the growing faith and devotedness of the churcii, 
 must and will interest and gladden the Christian. He will 
 be aware however, still, that all changes are not improvements; 
 and how much bad principles may have been at work in ac- 
 complishing outward changes; and of the danger, amidst these 
 things, of men crying, Peace, peace, -when there is no peace, Jer. 
 vi, 14; and of the growing wickedness of the wicked; and of 
 the tendency of things [in Europe] in our day to give supreme 
 power to the people at large. 
 
 If the wicked go on casting away all the restraints of divine 
 and human laws, unaffected by all the increasing light and love 
 of the gospel, manifested in the revival of the church, and 
 hardening their hearts from the very forbearance of God; and, 
 one side, high-minded and trusting in riches, and the other, 
 lawless and ungodly, seeking only to overturn every thing 
 established; the clashing of their opposing interests, and the 
 growing zeal and piety of the church withstanding more and 
 more all that is evil, and maintaining more and more boldly 
 all that is true and righteous, and holy, must produce an en- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 crgy and intenseness of conflict, and bring out God's truth in 
 a degree far beyond any thing yet witnessed; and call for that 
 divine interposition prophecy so distinctly leads us to expect. 
 We see all the preparations for those tumultuous last scenes in 
 which every thing shall be shaken, (Psa'.m xlvi. 2, 3; Ileb. 
 xii. 27.) But in that day God is in the midd of his people; 
 t}ieir citij shall not be moved; and the chorus of their song shall 
 be: The Lord of hosts is zvilh us, the God of Jacob is our refuse. 
 Psalm xlvi. 5, 11. The state of Britain is eminently such as 
 to strengthen those holy directions which St. Paul gives to the 
 Gentiles at large, Be not high-minded, but fear: For if God 
 spared not the natural brandies, lake heed lest lie also spare not thee. 
 Behold, therefore, the goodness and severilij of God; on them zchich 
 fell, severity; but torvard thee, goodness, if thou continue in his 
 good/iess; otherzcise thou also shult be cut off. Rom. xi. 20 — 22. 
 To neglect prophecy is to neglect our surest light, and the pro- 
 vision which God's love has made for the wants of his church 
 in these times. 
 
 Our clearest duty and interest is quietly, yet firmly and 
 zealously, to promote to the utmost, every good work; be dili- 
 gent, that ye may be found cf him in peace, without spot and blame- 
 less. 2 Peter iii. 14. We cannot be better employed, wlien 
 our JMaster comes, than in doing his work; nor in a better state 
 of mind than icaiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus, (1 Cor. 
 i. 7.) Our enemy would, if possible, separate these things as 
 inconsistent; but they are not only harmonious, but necessary 
 also to each other's right attainment. The waiting expecting 
 state of mind for such an event, should ever be accompanied 
 by entire deadness to the world, the most diligent improve- 
 ment of present talents, and the most zealous labours for meet- 
 ness for the heavenly Inheritance. And those who are the 
 most actively engaged in the work of benevolence, and in the 
 carrying forward of Religion's Societies, so far from finding 
 any real damper of the sacred flume of zeal, will obtain a ipost 
 powerful reviver in the assured hope of our Lord's, speedy 
 return. It does indeed tend to check and quench all unholy 
 fires of human applause, self-congratulations, magnifying hu- 
 man institutions, dependence on man, exalting the creature, 
 and it takes away hopes that have no real foundation in scrip- 
 ture. But there is an am])Io return for all this, in giving mo- 
 lives and hopes of a far superior character, that strengthen the 
 soul to persevere in the midst of all the difliculties of doing 
 good, and save it from all the discouragements arising from dis- 
 appointments in our fairest expectations; failure of our best laid 
 plains, and the certain mortification of every desire and 
 HOPE that is not according to the word of God: motives 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 too that arc effective to raise man so above this world, as to 
 enlarge to the uttermost of his ability, all efforts for the glory 
 of Christ and the good of man. The treasury of this 
 world's riches has never yet been fully opened in the pro- 
 fessing CHURCH, for the service of our Heavenly Master. 
 (Isaiah Ix, 9.) The hope of his coming is the key to open 
 that treasury. 
 
 JMany have supposed that views of the pre-millennial advent 
 of Christ, and the first resurrection of his glorified saints, are 
 necessarily connected with tiieir constant, personal, and visible 
 residence on our earth, and being thus generally intermingled 
 with men living in the flesh during the Millennium. It will 
 be seen that whatever may be the manifestation of the sons of 
 God, (Romans viii. 19,) the view here taken of that reign does 
 not require this; it being here considered that its nature has 
 not been so revealed to us as to justify us in coming to such 
 conclusions. We must believe what is written, but not a step 
 beyond. Perhaps the difficulties, which some have felt in ad- 
 mitting the pre-millennial advent and first resurrection may 
 thus be removed. 
 
 The author commends the subject with affection and humi- 
 lity to the attention of his beloved brethren in the ministry, 
 and fellow-Christians of every denomination. He trusts that 
 his mind is open to conviction, on being shoum a more excellent 
 way. But may we all remember that nothing is more dan- 
 gerous than groundless expectations of peace. The encourag- 
 ing of them is very much condemned in the scripture (Isaiah 
 XXX. 10; Jer. xiv. 13, 14; vi. 14; xxiii; Ezek. xiii.) May we 
 so act that the reproach of the Lord (as given in Lam. ii. 14,) 
 may never have to rest upon us as ministers of Christ; Thy 
 prophets have seen vaiti and foolish things for thee, and they have 
 not discovered thine iniquity to turn away thy captivity. And may 
 we rather obtain that promise, Jer. xxiii. 22; But if they hud 
 stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my xk07\Is, 
 then they should have turned them from their evil n-ay, and from the 
 evil of their doings. These directions may also show how im- 
 portant it must be to have just and spiritual views of the future, 
 not only for our own acceptance by our Lord, but for the good 
 of all over whom we have influence. 
 
 The author has been the more induced to give an enlarged 
 list of works on Prophecy, as from his having but little turned 
 his attention to the study of Prophecy, when he published his 
 "Christian Student," he said but little on the subject in that 
 work, and has given a very scanty list of works upon it; and 
 this publication, on that point, may now be considered as sup- 
 plementary to the List of Books in the Christian Student. lie 
 
PREFACE. ^i 
 
 has endeavoured to omit no work of importance that lie was 
 acquainted with, because it opposed his own views. 
 
 it has been a material object with the author, to avoid as 
 much as possible a controversial spirit; his main object being 
 the edification of tlie reader. 
 
 The sum of the author's views, and in which sum, so gene- 
 rally and scripturally is it expressed, there are iew Christians 
 who cannot concur, may be given in the words of a praver used 
 at the most impressive and afiecting season, in the church to 
 which he belongs. IVIay every reader heartily and fully pre- 
 sent this prayer at the throne of grace. "That it may please 
 thee shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to 
 hasten thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed 
 in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our perfect con- 
 summation and bliss both in body and soul, in thy eternal and 
 everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 May the gracious Redeemer bless this little effort, to the in- 
 crease of scriptural knowledge, the benefit of his own church, 
 and the good of every one who reads it. 
 
 E. BiCKERSTETH. 
 
 JFatlo?i Rcclonj, August 17, 1S39. 
 
A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 PROPHECIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Next to the moral and experimental evidence of God's 
 word, the evidence of prophecy is, of all others, the most 
 convincing, satisfactory, and even overwhelming, to a wise, 
 learned, and candid mind. There is such an accumulation of 
 proof upon proof in a vast multitude of improbabilities, there 
 is such a chain of evidence for thousands of years, there is such 
 an impossibility in the very nature of things of any forgery; 
 there is such a growing strength in the evidence, from age to 
 age, to our own times, there is such rich spiritual use in the 
 prophecies themselves, that the moral conviction is conclusive; 
 we cannot but say, when the subject has been calmly and com- 
 pletely investigated, the finger of God is visible in this — it is 
 his own word. 
 
 [2] And this evidence, arising from the past and the present 
 fulfilment of prophecy, is connected with the most elevating 
 and comforting hopes as to all that is to come; the great things 
 that most concern us as individual believers, and that most con- 
 cern the church of Christ, are set before us with the distinct- 
 ness of history, leading us to the full hope of the richest and 
 most enduring blessedness. The past completion, also, of 
 prophecy furnishes us with the best rules for understanding 
 what is yet unfulfilled. If it be said, tiiere are serious differ- 
 ences among Christian interpreters; these, though stumbling 
 to a beginner, are not such as at all materially to weaken our 
 conclusions. The differences are rather, as to the modes or 
 lime in which the result shall be accomplished, and the exact 
 
 VOL. n. — 51 
 
14 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 nature of that result, than concerning the result itself. Nor 
 are they so great as in many of those sciences which men still 
 pursue with the greatest ardour and with many beneficial con- 
 sequences. If there were but the same earnestness in pur- 
 suing this heavenly science, as stimulates in pursuing earthly 
 sciences, the difficulties and diflferences, instead of stumbling 
 men and turning them aside, would only increase the zeal of 
 investigation, and the ardent thirst for divine knowledge. 
 
 Whosoever considers duly how much of the whole Bible is 
 of a prophetic character, and tiiat our God did undoubtedly 
 design that this part of his word should be studied, and be 
 profitable to his church, cannot but be sensible tiiat the right 
 understanding of the prophecies is a valuable gift to the Chris- 
 tian, and greatly to be esteemed. To understand not only the 
 past, but the present, and the general character of the future 
 according to the Divine Mind, raises [3] us above the petty 
 scenes of this transient world and its little conflicts, into com- 
 munion with the Divine Being; and our minds open to those 
 larger views by which God would lead his people to the dis- 
 covery of his wisdom, power, and love; and, while on earth, 
 to have their conversation in heaven. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that prophecy is only useful as an 
 evidence of inspiration; it is equally useful as a warning of 
 evil to come, and a support under present trials. Thus Noah 
 was preserved from the deluge, and Lot from the destruction 
 of Sodom, and the first Christians from that of Jerusalem; and, 
 had the Antediluvians, and the inhabitants of Sodom, and the 
 Jews, attended to prophecy, they would have escaped destruc- 
 tion. Caleb and Joshua believed in the promised possession 
 of Canaan, and entered in; while the children of Israel in 
 general perished in the wilderness; Rahab regarded the pro- 
 phecy (Josh, ii. 9; Heb. ii. 31.) and was saved, while the men 
 of Jericho perished. 
 
 The preaching of prophetic truth is also an important duty, 
 as we see in the cases of Noah, Daniel, and Jonah. The 
 preaching of it to Nineveh was attended with a national bless- 
 ing, and a consideralile delay of judgment. 
 
 Nor must the revelation of prophecy be confounded with 
 the secret ih'wgs v/hich belong to God, but rather placed among 
 those things which are revealed and belong to us and our childreii. 
 Deut. xxix. 29. 
 
 It is most desirable not only that ministers but that Chris- 
 tians in general should give serious attention to this subject. 
 I would not have you to be ignorant concerning a most important 
 future prophecy relating to the second advent of Christ, is the 
 apostle's statement [4] to the Thessalonian Christians. 1 Thess. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 15 
 
 iv. 13. how infinitely more worthy is this of our attention, 
 than most of those works often of polluting fancy, or mere 
 controversy, in which so much of modern literature consists; 
 where the principles of this world, and the littleness of man's 
 doings and glory, fill the page, and spread a debasing and 
 earthly influence over our understanding and our afiections: or 
 the imagination and the feelings are excited without being 
 brought out into really good actions, and so the best powers of 
 men are deadened and stnpified, when real cases of distress, 
 and the self-denying work of the Christian life come before 
 them. There is a n-illino- i<rnorajice (2 Peter iii. 5.) respecting 
 the day of Ciirist which is much condemned by the Spirit of 
 God. 
 
 Nor is there any obscurity in the subject that siiould hinder 
 laymen, ignorant of the learned languages, from acquiring 
 most profitable knowledge. 
 
 Bishop Ilorsley, well competent to speak on such a point, 
 gives these two rules of exposition founded on 2 Peter i. 
 20, 21. 
 
 "(1.) Every single text of prophecy is to be considered as 
 a part of an entire system, and to be understood in that sense 
 wliich may best connect it with the whole. (2.) The sense 
 of prophecy in general is to be sought in the events which 
 have actually taken place." 
 
 Bishop Horsley then goes on to say, "To cjualify the Chris- 
 tian to make a judicious application of these rules, no skill is 
 requisite in verbal criticism — no proficiency in the subtleties 
 of the logician's art — no acquisition of recondite learning. 
 That degree of understanding with which serious minds are ordi- 
 narily [5] blessed — those general views of the schemes of Pro- 
 vidence, and that general acquaintance with the prophetic lan- 
 guage, which no Christian can be wanting in, who is constant, 
 as every true Christian is, \h his attendance on public worship, 
 and gives that serious attention which every true Christian 
 gives to the word of God, as it is read to him in our chuiches, 
 and expounded from our pulpits; — these qualifications, accom- 
 panied with a certain strength of memory and quickness of 
 recollection, which exercise and habit bring — and with a cer- 
 tain patience of attention in comparing parallel texts — these 
 qualifications will enable the pious though unlearned Christian, 
 to succeed in the application of the apostle's rules, so far at 
 least as to derive much rational amusement — much real edifi- 
 cation — much consolation — much confirmation of his faith — 
 much animation of his hopes — much joy and peace in believ- 
 ing, from that heedful meditation of the prophetic word which 
 
15 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 all men would do well to remember, an inspired apostle has 
 enjoined." 
 
 It is a beautiful remark of Roos's — "By the study of the 
 prophetic word, tlie heart is weaned from the world, placed 
 upon celestial objects, and prepared for entering on the enjoy- 
 ment of pure, uninterrupted, and eternal bliss." 
 
 If the -word of Christ be to dzvell in us richly in all spiritual 
 ■wisdom and understanding; — (Col. iii. 16.) if we are ?iot to despise 
 prophesyings; (1 Thess. v. 20.) if we are to take heed to them as 
 a more sure tcord; (2 Pet. i. 19.) if they tend to illustrate Provi- 
 dence in dangerous times, to confirm our faith, to stir up prayer, 
 to excite hope, to make us patient in affliction, to bring conso- 
 lation, and to beget in us the fear [G] of God,* then is diligent 
 meditation in the prophetic scriptures a plain duty. 
 
 Taking heed to the sure word of prophecy being a duty re- 
 quired in the word of God, no man is justified in neglecting 
 it. However there may be, and are, prior duties that require 
 our first care and attention, this too must have its due share of 
 regard. There may, indeed, be an exclusive and excessive 
 attention to it, which is wrong. The study, when once the 
 mind and heart are truly interested in it, is so attractive and 
 engrossing, that persons in such circumstances, need a caution 
 not to have their thoughts too much occupied with one part of 
 divine truth, and to be told how ver_y possible it is to have the 
 mind wholly filled with the subject of prophecy, and the heart 
 unconverted to God, and the whole man dead in trespasses and 
 sins. Nothing can be more awful than for a man to have a 
 clear view of judgments impending and glories ready to be 
 revealed, and yet take no practical steps for his own personal 
 escape from the wrath to come, and his own personal attain- 
 ment of the promised blessedness. 
 
 Yet we must not, because of such a case, despise prophesyings. 
 Nor must we do this, because we have seen another evil very 
 distinctly in our days: many attending with eagerness to pro- 
 phetical study, and running at the same time to excesses and 
 wildness in things by no means necessarily connected with this 
 study. Satan has never failed to join serious error [7] with 
 revived truth. By this means he sought to discredit the early 
 Protestants, and if men had yielded to this artifice, we should 
 never have had the glorious Reformation. We must separate 
 
 *Scripturarum propheticarura diligens meditatio necessaria est, quia (1.) 
 Sunt pars veibi Dei; Col. iii. 16. (2.) Sedulo nobis commendatur a Paulo. 1 
 Thess. V. 20, et a Petro, 2 Pet. i. 19. (3.) Conciliant Providentiam in tem- 
 poribus periciilosis, confirmant fidem. piovocant preces, excitant spem, snadent 
 patientiam, afferunt consolationem, gignunt nuiiiini.s timorem. Gurlleri Sys- 
 tcma Theologioe, 7G1. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 17 
 
 the precious from the vile, Jer. xv. 19; we must try allthitigs, and 
 hold fast that u-hich is good. 1 Thess. v. 21. 
 
 Though the suliject of Prophecy has recently, from the re- 
 markahle state of the world, and the rise and progress of Reli- 
 gious Societies, justly attracted much attention, yet, some think 
 it attended witii so many difficulties, that it had belter not 
 be considered at all. But the sacred writers so urge us to this 
 consideration, that St. John declares of the most dillkult book 
 of proj)hecy. Blessed is he that readeth, a/id thei/ that hear the 
 Tvords of this prophecy, and keep those thi/igs wttich are uritten 
 therein, for the time is at hand, Rev. i. 3. It is, however, very 
 needful to study this subject with a holy awe on the mind, re- 
 membering, that we are considering that which was given by 
 the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 More or less obscurity attends all predictions previous to 
 their fulfilment; and, even when they are fulfilled, and illus- 
 trated by the facts of history, it is allowed that the obscurity 
 of the language in some degree remains. This has been suf- 
 ficiently accounted for. Bishop Sherlock remarks, "No event 
 can make a figurative or metaphorical expression to be a plain 
 and literal one: to inquire why the ancient prophecies are not 
 clearer, is like inquiring why God has not given us more rea- 
 son, or made us as wise as angels. He has given us, in both 
 cases, so much light as he thought proper, and enough to serve 
 the ends which he intended." 
 
 Besides, we are living in the dispensation, which, [S] con- 
 sidered as comprising the glory of the latter day, is the great 
 theme of prophecy. As the predictions, then, are admitted to 
 be more or less obscure, till after they are completed, and ])er- 
 liaps, in some cases, till some considerable time after their 
 completion; the true explication of those which may have 
 their incipient or commencing accomplishment in our own 
 time, must be left to postefity. If the whole course of events 
 belonging to any particular prophecy be not before us, we are 
 not adequate judges of the subject. 
 
 There is a moral advantage in this obscurity, similar to that 
 which there is in many of God's dealings with us, in a world 
 where, in an important sense, we are in a state of probation. 
 Light enough is afforded to guide and cheer, quicken and ex- 
 cite the humble and sincere; and darkness enough is left to 
 check the pride of human speculation, and to try the spirit; 
 so that the character of those who do not choose, from the love 
 of sin, to see the truth, will be manifested. They will make 
 this o!)scurity a plausible excuse for rejecting a system of 
 .divine truth which the uj^right mind gladly and gratefully wel- 
 comes. The minds of men are thus exercised, strengthened, 
 
13 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 and enlarged, by the necessity of studying this solemn subject 
 in that frame of mind which can alone make it a source of 
 genuine edification. 
 
 The scriptures frequently allude to the state of mind and 
 heart, as greatly affecting our understanding of divine truth. 
 Dan. xii. 10. Matt. xi. 25. To furnish a test of the moral state, 
 seems to be one reason of the obscurity of scripture. Psalm 
 XXV. 9. Isaiah xxviii. 9. Prov. xi. 2. 1 Cor. iii. IS. 
 
 Prophecy is not designed, then, to gratify mere [9] curiosity 
 respecting futurity; but while it tries and exercises Christian 
 graces in the view taken of it; it encourages the hopes, and 
 refreshes the hearts of Christians; prepares them for times 
 of suffering; and increases their patience and their zeal by the 
 general assurances of the ultimate triumph of the Church of 
 Christ over all its enemies. It is therefore written just in suf- 
 ficient obscurity to answer these ends, without our becoming 
 prophets, or perfectly comprehending the predictions pre- 
 viously to the occurrence of the predicted events; and yet it 
 becomes adequately plain, immediately or more remotely after 
 the events may have taken place, to every candid mind, that 
 the God, revealed in the scriptures, had foreseen and foretold 
 them. These things have I told ijou, that wheti the time shall 
 come, ye may remembe)- that I told you of them. John xvi. 4. 
 
 Future things are not, however, to be pryed into, beyond 
 what God has revealed; so far as he has revealed them, it is 
 our duty and privilege to search into them: Secret thi?igs belong 
 unto the Lord our God; but the things ivhich he has revealed, imto 
 us a7id to our childreji. Deut. xxix. 29. Many of those who have 
 attempted particularly to describe future, or even passing 
 events, have, in some particular or other, been found to fail; 
 and have, if they have lived, had to retract their assertions, 
 and re-state tlieir views. These things have helped, though 
 most unjustly, to bring the sacred subject of prophecy into 
 contempt: there is no knowledge, human or divine, which may 
 not be rejected, if such a ground of rejection were admitted; 
 — the children of this world are much wiser in their studies. 
 Still we should remember, that though the Apostles and sacred 
 writers in the New [10] Testament, speak of passing events as 
 then accomplishing prophecy, an inspired writer might with 
 authority and propriety say. Then rcas fulfdled that xiihich zcas 
 spoken by the prophet, when the matter would require a far 
 greater degree of circumsjjection in any but an inspired teacher. 
 Let us be content to rest in such general statements as the 
 word of God authorizes, till events have been so completed as 
 to shew what God intcndeil; and let us contemplate the future 
 prospects of the church with that waiting spirit which leaves to 
 God the unfolding of his own will and purpose. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 19 
 
 The late Mr. Davison speaks thus of the structure and use 
 of Ancient Prophecy: — 
 
 "I. The character of Prophecy is not simple and uniform, 
 nor its light equable. It was dispensed in various degrees of 
 revelation, and liiat revelation adapted by the wisdom of God 
 to purposes which we must explore l)y studying its records and 
 considering its capacity of application. 
 
 "II. 'V\\Q principal ui^e of prophecy is from Samuel to Mala- 
 chi. From the fall to {hejlood, and from thence to the call of 
 Abraham, its communications are few. In the Patriarchal 
 age they are enlarged. During the Bondage in Egypt they are 
 discontinued, but renewed with the Law. A pause of them 
 during 400 years follows the Law, and a pause of the like 
 duration precedes the Gospel. 
 
 "III. The subjects of prophecy are varied. Whilst it was 
 all directed to one general design, in the evidence and support 
 of religion, there was a diversity in ihe administration of the 
 Spirit in respect of that design. In Paradise, it gave the first 
 hope of a Redeemer. After the deluge, it established the [11] 
 peace of the natural world. In Abraham it founded the double 
 Covenant of Canaan and the Gospel. In the age of the Law it 
 spake of the second Propiiet, and foreshadowed in types the 
 Cliristian Doctrine, but foretold most largely the future state 
 of the selected people who were placed under that preparatory 
 Dispensation. In the time of David it revealed the Gospel 
 Kingdom with the promise of the Temporal. In the days of 
 the later prophets, it pre-signified the changes of the JNIosaic 
 Covenant, embraced the history of the chief Pagan Kingdoms, 
 and completed the annunciation of the Messiah and his vvork 
 of Redemption. After the Captivity it gave a last and more 
 urgent information of the approaching Advent of the Gospel. 
 
 "The Holy Jesus and his Religion are the one principal ob- 
 ject of Prophecy, the beginning and the end of the elder reve- 
 lation of God. St. Paul has intimated the varied form and 
 different degrees of light under which prophecy was succes- 
 sively dispensed, when he says of it, that God, in sundry par- 
 titions of his truth, (Troh-jixifon;) and in divers rnuniiers, spake in 
 times past unto the Fathers by the Proplicts.'" 
 
 To this must be added the blessed fact, which we see every- 
 where, that the grand result of Prophecy is the ultimate and 
 everlasting triumph of Christ, and his kingdom over all the 
 earth — the head of the serpent bruised, and all nations blessed 
 in the seed of the woman; the love of (iod, while it developes 
 the stubbornness of evil, finally triumphs over it, to the praise 
 of the glory of his grace. 
 
20 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PRACTICAL RULES AND CAUTIONS. 
 
 [12] The following Rules for the investigation of Prophecy, 
 may, it is hoped, assist the student, and guard him against being 
 carried away by mere speculation: for several parts of the di- 
 rections here given, the author has been indebted to the last 
 chapter of Vitringa's work. (Typus Doctrinae Propheticse.) 
 
 "The interpretation of Prophecy (2 Pet. i. 19, 20,) consists 
 in ascertaining the events to which predictions allude, and in 
 shewing the agreement between the images of the prediction, 
 and the particulars of the history. The original word imwa-it 
 expresses this particular sort of interpretation, that exposition 
 which renders the mystic sense of parables, dreams, and pro- 
 phecies."* 
 
 1. To GAIN THE TEACHING OF THE HoLY SpiRIT, is the first of 
 
 all requisites with reference to a due understanding of prophecy, 
 whether fulfilled or unfulfilled. This is clear from our Lord's 
 statement, (John xvi. 1 3,) "when He the Spirit of truth is come, 
 he [13] will guide yoy into all truth: for he shall not speak of 
 himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and^ 
 he will shezv you iJmigs to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall" 
 receive of mine and shall shew it unto you." No doubt, this 
 promise was in it highest sense realized in the inspired writers 
 of the New Testament, and in the predictions recorded in 
 their writings; but the same spirit is required to give us un- 
 derstanding of the words of the Spirit. Even the inspired 
 writers needed prayer for this teaching, as we see by the con- 
 stant prayers of David for divine teaching, and the inquiring 
 and searching diligently of the prophets, and the practical and 
 personal revelation to them of the design of their prophecies. 
 (I Peter i. 10—12.) 
 
 We must not expect, we need not, that extraordinary illu- 
 mination of the Spirit which inspired the sacred writers. The 
 ordinary guidance of the Spirit, is however promised to all. 
 (Luke xi. 13.) He removes prejudices which hinder the fi- 
 culties of knowledge and judgment from attaining even the 
 historical and literal sense of prophecy, and leads men to sub- 
 mit to God's truth willingly. The teaching of the same Spirit 
 is specially needed in things of a spiritual character, relating 
 * See Bishop Horsle}'. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 21 
 
 to Christ and his Idngdoin, and its blessings and privileges. 
 None can perceive the true and interior sense of these things, 
 but he who is in the faitli — a spiritual man — endued both with 
 the understanding and experience of the benefits. If we humbly 
 and earnestly ask the aid of the Holy Spirit, with confession 
 of our ignorance and weakness, and even stupidity, he will 
 succour us with his grace, and remove the veil from our eyes and 
 from the things themselves. The record, Zech. [14] iv. 5, 13, 
 14; Dan. vii. 16; Rev. xvii. 7; and the inquiries there made as to 
 the prophecies being understood, with the answers given, may 
 shew us how willing God is that we should understand his 
 revealed purposes. 
 
 3. A BELIEVING, PRAYERFUL, HUMBLE, SUBMISSIVE, AND 
 
 OBEDIENT STATE OF HEART is Very ueedful to give effect to 
 every other rule. We must bring to this study a pure and 
 sober mind, free from erroneous anticipations; not thinking 
 slightly of, but reverencing God and his Word, and prepared 
 to admit every part of his revealed will, with the obedience of 
 faith. Eyes single, harmless and simple towards God and his 
 word, are required; not distorted and turned back by men's 
 opinions. This, too, is a benefit coming from the divine 
 bounty. The aid of the Holy Spirit is to be implored, to work 
 in us these good and holy affections of mind, and to preserve 
 them when wrought; so that he may enlighten the mind, re- 
 move the veil, direct us aright, and keep us from things to be 
 avoided. The saints have in all ages acknowledged this to be 
 the work of the Holy Ghost. (Psalm xliii. 3; cxix. IS, 27, 66.) 
 Certainly, in the light of God zee see light. Psalm xxxvi. 9. He 
 who wants this is in darkness, though he may appear to him- 
 self to be especially wise. 
 
 3. Commence this study with the Word of God. This 
 is the fountain head; the whole source of all prophetical know- 
 ledge; nothing is of any vaJuc, but as it is founded on, and 
 illustrative of, the divine testimony. It is, therefore, of espe- 
 cial importance to read first, and carefully, God's own word: 
 beginning with the earlier predictions, and going on to the 
 close; such easy books as Brown's Harmony of [15] Scripture 
 Prophecies, or Simpson's Key, or Newton on the Prophecies, 
 will shew you that rich stream of Prophecy which runs 
 througli all the word of God. In forming your sentiments on 
 expressions, take an enlarged view of the whole of a prophecy, 
 before you determine the meaning of a particular sentence in 
 it: for some have taken a single sentence, and applied it to 
 quite a dilTerent purpose than to its original use: mark what 
 the prophet himself or other scriptures testify respecting the 
 trme and circumstances of the prophecy; in what year he 
 
 VOL. II. — 52 
 
22 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 wrote, under what kings, for Judah or for Israel. This may 
 sometimes be ascertained from the things stated; at least, 
 as far as to point out before, or after, what time they were 
 spoken. 
 
 4. Take the plain literal meaning op the expres- 
 sions, where they are not evidently symbolical. Few things 
 have occasioned more perverted views than figurative inter- 
 pretation of plain expressions. It has thrown away much of 
 the prophetical use and instruction of lengthened and impor- 
 tant predictions. There is, indeed, in almost all the prophe- 
 cies, and especially in the Revelation, a mixture of sym- 
 bolical and literal expressions, but the figure or synibol may, 
 generally, be easily distinguished from the plain letter, which 
 must as little as possible be departed from. This rule may be, 
 and has been abused; but it is still important to bear it in 
 mind, lest, for instance, without scriptural authority we apply 
 to the Gentiles what God intended for the Jews; and to the 
 awful destruction of Jerusalem, the much-desired blessing of 
 the second coming of Christ for the salvation of his people. 
 In most cases, what is symbolical is manifestly so; and there 
 is need only of the ordinary [16] judgment of a sober mind so 
 to interpret it, though the meaning of the symbol may be more 
 difficult. The literal meaning, as expressed in the text, must, 
 where there is no adequate necessity for leaving it, always be 
 primarily attended to and made out, and adhered to; and this 
 iS only to be departed from when necessity, the context, or 
 subsequent inspiration directs us to a symbolical, or enlarged 
 meaning. Thus the book of Revelation has, by applying the 
 name Babylon to Rome, and by varied uses of expressions of 
 the Old Testament, led us to expect in subsequent events of the 
 Roman empire, a fulfilment in the symbolical Babylon, of those 
 predictions that have not been yet fulfilled in the history of the 
 literal Babylon.* 
 
 5. Diligently compare one part of Scripture with 
 ANOTHER. No rulc is more important for the right investiga- 
 tion of prophecy than this. One scheme, one argument, runs 
 through, not only the more prophetical parts, but the whole 
 volume of scripture. They are parts of the entire work of a 
 single mind — God himself. They all proceeded, as Horsley 
 observes, from one author — the Holy Ghost: "that omniscient 
 mind to which the universe is ever present, in one unvaried, 
 undivided thought! — the entire com])rehension of the visible 
 and intelligible world, with its ineffable variety of mortal and 
 immortal natures; that mind in which all science, truth, and 
 knowledge is summed up, and comprehended in one vast idea?" 
 
 * This rule will be further noticed in a distinct chapter. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 23 
 
 Moses and Ellas, and we may add, Isaiali, Jeremiah, Ezckiel, 
 David, and the whole choir of propliets, (as Vitringa puts it.) 
 liere confer together between themselves and [17] Christ. 
 (Matt. xvii. 3.) Thus shall we be taught the entire harmony 
 and agreement between them; and tiiat each speaks nothing 
 but what the whole speaks. God has also graciously given 
 links or clauses in one proj^het, parallel with those of another, 
 the combination of which throws light on the connection of 
 one proi}hecy with another, just as the comparison of one state- 
 ment of doctrine with another, throws light upon the general 
 truth revealed. For instance, the Revelation is full of refer- 
 ences to former Prophets, and contains a concentrated index, 
 and an analytical view of the chief substance of those prophe- 
 cies which were unaccomplished when it was written. 
 
 Bishop Plorsley, in his four Sermons on 2 Peter i. 20, 21. 
 has many striking remarks illustrative of this rule, and shew- 
 ing that no prophecy of scripture is made its own interpreter, 
 or of self-interpretation. He remarks, "the maxim is to be 
 applied both to every single text of prophecy, and to the 
 whole. Of any single text of prophecy, it is true that it can- 
 not be its own interpreter, for this reason: because the scrip- 
 ture prophecies are not detached predictions of separate inde- 
 pendent events, but are united in a regular and entire system, 
 all terminating in one great object — the promulgation of the 
 gospel, and the complete establishment of the Messiah's king- 
 dom. Of this system every j)articular prophecy makes a part, 
 and bears a more immediate, or a more remote relation to 
 that which is the object of the whole. It is, therefore, very 
 unlikely that the true signification of any particular text of 
 prophecy should be discovered from the bare attention to the 
 terms of the single prediction taken by itself, without consi- 
 dering it as a part of that system to which it unquestionably 
 [IS] belongs, and without .observing how it may stand con- 
 nected with earlier and later prophecies, especially with those 
 which might more immediately precede or more immediately 
 follow it. Again, of the whole of the Scripture prophecies, 
 it is true, that it cannot be its own interpreter. Its meaning 
 never can be discovered without a general knowledge of the 
 principal events to which it alludes. Every particular pro- 
 phecy is to be referred to the system, and to be understood in 
 that sense which may most aptly connect it with the whole, 
 and the sense of prophecy in general is to be sought in the 
 events which have actually taken place." 
 
 6. Carefully mark the scriptural interpretation of 
 PROPHECIES. There is much that is symbolical and figurative, 
 but you will find few symbols of the meaning of which the 
 
24 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 word of God does not give an account. This is often imme- 
 diately connected with it; like a key tied by a string, close to 
 the lock, that you may have every help for the interpretation; 
 at other times it is given in other parts of the scripture. The 
 New Testament frequently also furnishes a divinely inspired 
 interpretation to the Old Testament prophecies. (See Isaiah 
 Ixi. 1, 2, and Luke iv. 21.) This will give you not only a 
 clear guide to such prophecies, but a help to the right interpre- 
 tation of similar predictions. It is a just remark of Mr. Allix: 
 — "The later prophets having always added some new light to 
 those who prophesied before them, it is a good and sure method 
 to expound the old ones by the new, who illustrate the thoughts 
 of those who went before them, and who lay them open in a 
 larger view and brightness. Thus, for example, we find the 
 right sense of several [19] Psalms concerning the return of 
 the Jews from the captivity at the second coming of the Mes- 
 siah, by what is said in Isaiah, chapter xii.. wherein he gives 
 the sense of several Psalms."* 
 
 7. Note, as accurately as rou can, the like between 
 
 WHAT has been FULFILLED AND WHAT HAS NOT. If we do 
 
 not this, we may weaken the strong clear evidence of divine 
 inspiration from fulfilled prophecy. Yet distant events are so 
 intermingled in almost all the prophecies, as to require careful 
 caution and discrimination in the application of this rule. The 
 passage which our Lord read from Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2, in the syna- 
 gogue at Nazareth, Ldke iv. 16 — 21, is a striking lesson. He 
 readjust as far as it had l.-'een fulfilled, and then dosed the book, 
 and said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears;" 
 what follows in Isaiah, I'he day of vengeance of our God, 
 had not then arrived. It is a remark of Irenasus, very useful 
 to keep in view, though too generally and strongly expressed, 
 "All prophecies before they are fulfilled, are enigmas and 
 ambiguous to men; but when the time arrives, and the event 
 predicted is accomplished, then they have a clear and certain 
 exposition." This principle may be extended to the whole 
 scheme of prophecy, which will, indeed, not be fully de- 
 veloped, till God's purposes are accomplished in the events 
 foretold. 
 
 The PARTICULAR explanation of unfulfilled jjrophecy, is 
 either not to be attempted, or stated with the greatest humi- 
 lity. The GENERAL meaning may be clear, when we go quite 
 beyond our province in attempting to point out the particular 
 mode of its [20] fulfilment. Let us rather attain Ilabakkuk's 
 spirit, I zvill zcatch to see what he nill say unto me. (Hab. ii. 1.) 
 
 8. Attend to the prophetic meaning of the Psalms 
 
 * See Allix on the Psalms, p. 25. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 25 
 
 AND Parables. We have been so accustomed to use them 
 merely for devotional, practical, and moral jjurposes as almost 
 to lose sight of their character as prophecies, full of the expe- 
 rience of Christ, and the glories of his kingdom. Mr. Allix 
 says, ''I am persuaded that the hook of Psalms has in it a 
 greater number of prophecies than any book of the Old Testa- 
 ment, There are well nigh fifty Psalms quoted several times 
 in the New Testament which shows how properly our Lord 
 made use of that book to instruct his disciples that he was 
 the Christ. (Luke xxiv. 44.) It i,s therefore with great reason 
 that the book of Psalms is, and has been, constantly read in 
 public by the church, there being no one in the Old Testament 
 where the faithful may find so much comfort, and so high rap- 
 tures of devotion, as those with which the Holy Spirit moved 
 David and his fellow prophets concerning the redemption of 
 mankind, and the diflerent stages through which the church, 
 the mystical body of Christ, was to pass before she came to 
 everlasting glory." 
 
 "I am persuaded," continues Mr. Allix, "that it is not at 
 all possible to understand them unless one has always an eye to 
 the various conditions of the church, (L) As it consisted of 
 the Jewish nation till the coming of Christ. (2.) As composed 
 chiefiy of the Gentiles since Christ's coming. (3.) As being 
 persecuted both under the Roman empire, and under the king- 
 dom of Antichrist. (4,) As intended to be delivered from that 
 oppression by our Saviour's [21] second coming. (5.) As it 
 shall be formed anew by the conversion of the Jews to the 
 gospel. (6.) As it shall be augmented by the general conver- 
 sion of all the nations who have not yet owned Christ for the 
 true JNIessiah, (7.) As being governed during a long time, 
 viz. ten centuries, by Christ. (S.) As it shall be attacked by 
 Satan when he shall be loosed in the latter days, after which 
 the final judgment is to follcrw." It adds much indeed to the 
 power and blessedness of the Psalms to view them as they may 
 so largely and properly be viewed, as the words of Christ, 
 touched with afetling of our ivfirmilies. 
 
 Many of the parables of our Lord are most important pro- 
 phecies. Tlie remarks of Mr. Greswell respecting this j)oint, 
 in his valuable work on the Parables are instructive. He dis- 
 tinguishes them into two classes, (1.) moral parabolic examples, 
 and {2.) allegorical prophetical histories. Of the latter he 
 enumerates these: — 
 
 1. The sower, Mat. xii. 5. The leaven, Mat. xiii. 
 
 2. The tares, Mat. xiii. G. The hidden treasure, Mat. xiii. 
 .3. The seed growing, Mark iv. 2G. 7. The pearl, Mat. xiii. 
 
 4. The mustard seed, Mat. xiii. 8. The draw-net. Mat. xiii. 
 
 52* 
 
2(J A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 9. The good shepherd, John x. 15. The labourers, Mat. xx. 
 
 10. The servants waiting, Luke xii. IG. The pounds, Luke xix. 
 
 30. 17. The wicked husbandman, Mat. 
 
 11. The Steward, Luke xii. 42. xxi. 33. 
 
 12. The barren fig-tree, Luke xiii. 18. The wedding garment. Mat. xxii. 
 
 13. The great supper, Luke xiv. 19. The virgins. Slat. xxv. 
 11. The prodigal, Luke xv. 20. The talents. Mat. xxv. 
 
 These he considers historical and prophetical vehicles of 
 facts, rather than doctrines, and that in all these there is either 
 clear or presumptive indication of their being in general alle- 
 gories, and each in particular prophecies, and that it is a farther 
 confirmation of this truth, that to ten of the number recorded 
 by Matthew and Mark, the phrase 'the k'aigdom of God,'' [22] 
 or ^heaven is like,' is prefixed, and that to the 13lh and 16th, 
 recorded by St. Luke, it is virtually prefixed. The subject 
 matter of the parables consists of a series of prophecies; the 
 mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of God;, the concealment 
 of which for a time was wise and necessary. (Mark iv. 11, 12.) 
 The great danger in such views of the parables is lest our 
 mind should be diverted from the all-important personal appli- 
 cation in our search after a supposed prophetical meaning. Let 
 the reader be on his guard against this.* 
 
 9. Study and compare the best Interpreters of pro- 
 phecy. Sir Isaac Newton said most justly, tiiat among the inter- 
 preters of the last age, there was scarcely one of note who had 
 not made some discovery worth knowing, and this observation 
 is true to the present day. This may much encourage search- 
 ing books of an established character on this subject, [23] and 
 comparing different opinions and systems, you will see, indeed, 
 more of the difficulties, but you will have more materials for 
 forming your own judgment. Only it is needful to remeniber 
 
 ♦ There are some remarks on our Lord's seven parables. Matt. xiii. (as de- 
 scriptive of a connected series, indicating progressively the several stages of 
 advancement of the mystical kingdom of Christ,) in the words of Alexander 
 Knox just published. " See vol. i. p. 407 — 426. These views may be consi- 
 dered in connexion with those sentiments of prophetical writers, like Coc- 
 ceius, Gurtler, Viiringa, and Venema, who have legarded the history of the 
 Christian under seven periods, and the epistles to the seven churches as de- 
 scriptive of these periods. Mr. Knox considers (1.) The parable of the soiccr 
 as described in the commencement. (2) 77<e tares, \he mixed state of the 
 church. (3.) The mustard seed grown into a tree, its expanded state. (4.) The 
 leaven, the hidden state of piety in the darker ages. (5.) The treasure hid in 
 Me/c/r/, the varied awakenings with its accidental adjuncts. (G.) The pearl, 
 vital Christianity in its purity. (7.) The net, like the seventh scat and the seventh 
 trumpet, marking the final close. Without entirely concurring in the view, 
 and especially in the particular illustrations of it as given by different writers, 
 the author submits it to the consideration of the diligent student of scripture. 
 Mr. Knox gives some interesting illustrations of these parables. He is an 
 original writer; but with some fanciful things on Jusiification: the reader, who 
 is disposed to be carried away by Mr. Knox's genius, learning, and piety, 
 would do well to consult Bishop Barlow's Letters. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 27 
 
 that there is a broad difference between a human interpreta- 
 tion, and an inspired prophecy. JFhat is the chaff to the -wheat? 
 The prophecy will stand for ever, and become brighter and 
 clearer as years roll on, tiie human interpretation may be 
 weakened or confirmed, strengthened and increased, or over- 
 thrown, just as it accords with the infallible mind of God. 
 This is eminently true in the interpretation of mystical num- 
 bers, and their commencement and termination. 
 
 However desirable it is first to study the simple word itself, 
 yet to expect to understand the more difficult parts of pro- 
 phecy by our own meditations on them, without the help of 
 others, is a vain thing. The Ethiopian Eunuch needed a 
 Philip to understand the prophecy respecting Christ's first 
 coming; and we need the aid of the lengtliened and patient 
 studies of learned and pious men, as well as our own deep 
 meditations, to understand the predictions of his second com- 
 ing. Such men have not laboured, prayed, and written in 
 vain. 
 
 But do not make a mistake on the other side. It must not 
 be imagined, fiom the long list of books at the end of this 
 Treatise, that such an extended study of human writings is re- 
 quisite to a right understanding and use of the prophecies in 
 general, much less of any part of them. It is convenient to 
 have such a list, and it may assist in pointing out works to 
 those pursuing any particular branch of this study; but it is by 
 no means necessary, in order to read the prophecies with ad- 
 vantage, to have such an [24] apparatus. They who keep the 
 mystery of faith, in a pure mind and conscience, and, with 
 holy purposes, humbly set about the meditation and search of 
 this word, may, though not learned in hunian knowledge, draw 
 from it necessary instruction, moral discipline, comforting 
 hope, and assured faith. They will every wlieremeet the tes- 
 timony of Jesus, nor can they overlook those prophecies which 
 describe his person, character, history, kingdom, and its. pri- 
 vileges. And if they attain not all tiic meaning of other pro- 
 j)hecies, and cannot demonstrate their fulfilment from history, 
 they may yet collect from them, general statements for their 
 edification, nor will they doubt of their fulfilment; thus all 
 kinds and degrees of men believing and loving the name and 
 w^ord of God, may receive solid advantage from reading the 
 prophetic word. 
 
 10. Attain historical knowledge. This is not so diffi- 
 cult with regard to the interpretation of prophecy as might be 
 imagined. The historical knowledge here wanted, is not the 
 hi_story of the human race (though that is glanced at and com- 
 j)rehended), but the history of nations connected with the 
 
23 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 church of God. Dean Woodhouse observes: — "When the peo- 
 ple of God were to become subservient to the four universal 
 monarchies, the character and succession and fates of these 
 monarchies v/ere predicted; but the main object, continually 
 kept in view, was their deliverance from these successive yokes 
 by the superseding dominion of the Messiah. This supreme 
 and universal dominion gradually and finally to prevail, ap- 
 pears to be the grand object of all sacred prophecy; and revo- 
 lutions of worldly power among the gentiles, seem to be no- 
 ticed only at those times when they impede or promote it." 
 Historical knowledge, therefore, [25] is not of importance to 
 that extent which some imagine, and which would render it 
 impossible for an unlearned Christian to pretend to know the 
 meaning of plain predictions in the Bible. Prophecy deals 
 not in minute and recondite things, but in large, broad, com- 
 prehensive features. A comparatively slight knowledge of 
 history, such as Josephus, Milner, Mosheim, Fox, Prideaux's 
 Connection, Rollin, Gibbon, a history of the Jews, of Turkey 
 and Modern Europe, and of the French Revolution, furnish, 
 will go a great way in throwing historical light on the word of 
 prophecy. It is a remarkable Providence that the infidel his- 
 torian Gibbon should furnish the chief historical light to inter- 
 pret the books of Daniel and Revelation.* 
 
 Prophecy is the narration of things to be done, history that 
 of things done: prophecy cannot therefore be complete with- 
 out history, for its fulfilment must be sought in history; his- 
 tory is not only the light of the times, but the light of pro- 
 phecy. But still it should not be supposed that no one can 
 read the prophetic vvord profitably, unless accurately instructed 
 in history. This is the attainment of very fevv, and if so, few 
 would attain the advantage of the study of prophecy, and this 
 most noble study would be confined in a narrow compass. It 
 is sufficient, therefore, for ordinary students to have some more 
 compendious knowledge of the greater changes which have 
 happened in the state of the world, and especially of the church. 
 But in a public interpreter of the prophetic word, a more 
 accurate knowledge of [26] history and greater skill is re- 
 quired.t Geographical knowledge should be added toliistori- 
 
 * Mr. Davis published an examination of part of Gibbon's History, and a 
 reply to his Vindication, 8vo. 1778-9. See also Bishop Watson's Apology for 
 Christianity. 
 
 t There is in some of the modern expositions of the books of Daniel and the 
 Revelation, a mass of historical and ecclesiastical information, that repays the 
 perusal of those expositions, thouo;h it be too often misapplied to the particu- 
 lar prophecy. But it is to be regretted that tiiere is no little manual of history, 
 (as far as the author knows) something on the plan and scale of Edward's His- 
 tory of Redemption, or Bos.^l's Universal History, for the express purpose 
 of illustrating prophecy. In such a history, illustrating prophecy as is here 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 29 
 
 cal. Reland and Wells, with good scriptural maps, will be 
 valuable helps to us. 
 
 11, Kekp in view the great end of all Prophecy, 
 Christ Jesus. "To testify concerning Christ as the Messiah 
 and Saviour of the world, was the one grand purpose of the 
 Scripture Prophecies, to which other topics were only colla- 
 teral and subordinate. Many of these relate to his personal 
 character and oflicc: others to the establishment and progress 
 of his spiritual kingdom. Divines have accordingly arranged 
 the ])rophecies concerning Christ under two general heads, di- 
 viding them into such as relate to his first coming, which had 
 their full and entire completion in his person; and such as re- 
 late to his secofid coming, comprising a long series of events 
 preparatory to that final close of the Christian Dispensation, 
 some of which are already accomplished, others are now ful- 
 filling, whilst others are still awaiting their completion at some 
 distant period. The prophecies respecting the rise or fall of 
 particular persons, families or states, have reference [27] in 
 most, if not all, instances to the same object."* Whatever is 
 told us of one to come, not named, but emphatically glorious, 
 which cannot be shewn to be fulfilled in any other, is to be 
 viewed as belonging to Christ. Deut. xviii. 18; Psalms viii., 
 xvi., xxii., xl., Ixix., Ixxxviii., cxviii. 22, 23: Isaiah iv. 2, vii. 
 14, 15, xlii. 1, liii. 1, 2; Zech. iii. 8, xii. 10. The same scrip- 
 tures declare also his sufferings and humiliation mingled with 
 his glory. Psalm Ixix.; Isaiah liii. The scripture turns on 
 this point, his sufferings and his glory; its lines meet in this 
 centre, and this makes the study of it so sweet and delightful 
 to one who loves his Saviour. It all relates to his beloved 
 Master's person, coming, return, kingdom and glory. The 
 predictions of scripture may, in fact, all be comprehended in 
 one view: they arc the unfolding of the first prophecy, "I will 
 put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
 and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
 his heel." This contest goes on through all ages; and the pre- 
 dictions, while they almost invariably include the crisis and 
 close of the warfare and the full triumph of the Redeemer, are 
 given in such comjirehensive wisdom, as to be constantly in- 
 structive and applicable in all the varied parts of that war 
 
 i^uggested, the lesser events are not the things to be dwelt upon, but the greater 
 and more deciding changes which have controlled and overruled the history 
 of nations, and those that are more immediately connected with the church of 
 God. A friend suggested the idea that a Religious History of the French 
 Revolution is a work to be desired in this view. Alison's History gives His- 
 torical information. 
 ♦*Bee Van Mildert's Sermons, vol. ii. 353, 354. 
 
30 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 which is ever raging between the seed of the woman, Christ 
 and his church, and the seed of the serpent, Satan, and the 
 children of that wicked one. 
 
 12. Remember one great use of prophecy is the sanc- 
 TiFicATioN of THE HEART. It is not the mere Understanding 
 of the meaning of the prophecy, that is valuable, unless it has 
 a holy and edifying [2S] influence on our life. It is not 
 merely, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the 
 words of this prophecy — but there is a farther end — and keepeth 
 those things that are written therein." (Rev. i. S.) The design 
 of the prophecies is not only instruction and consolation, but 
 also being made holy. The varied times and circumstances of 
 the Church described in the prophets, teach us the peculiar 
 duties suitable to those times, and strongly bind us to the per- 
 formance of those duties. Thus we are taught how we may 
 stand in the post of observation as faithful watchmen — steadily 
 regarding the steps of Providence, and looking to the glorious 
 end and issue of all the griefs and afflictions of the church, and 
 of our own also, if we are steadfast in faith and hope, breath- 
 ing out the ardent desire and hope of the church, even so come, 
 Lord Jesus! 
 
 We speak not as if prophetical knowledge and an expecta- 
 tion of the near advent of Christ were necessary to our salva- 
 tion. A great difference must be made between what is ne- 
 cessary and what is profitable. What is necessary, is simply 
 faith workitig by love. Gal. v. 6. But things may be very help- 
 ful, and profitable, and quickening to our souls, that are not 
 needful to the existence of spiritual life. And in this view it 
 must be remembered how much the promises of salvation are 
 connected vvith lookifig for Christ, (Hebrews ix. 28; Titus ii. 
 13; Phil. iii. 20; 2 Pet. iii. 12;) and loving his appearing. (2 
 Tim. iv. 8.) A practical expectation of the coming of Christ 
 has many special promises, and is a peculiar character of those 
 who will be accepted of him in the day of his appearing. And 
 this is the more important to us now, when so distinct and ex- 
 tended a testimony has [29] been borne to this truth by the 
 servants of Christ. By not attending to and keeping the say- 
 ing of prophec}^, you lose also a blessing which God has pro- 
 mised. Rev. xxii. 7. And who is so spiritually rich as to be 
 willing to lose one blessing? 
 
 Prophetical, however, like all other parts of divine know- 
 ledge, may only puff up; and we should be sensitivel}^ alive to 
 this danger. There can hardly be imagined a more subtle 
 snare of the enemy than that a man should become acquainted 
 with an important part of divine truth, obnoxious even to 
 Christians in general, — that he should "have the gift of pro- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 31 
 
 phecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge," (1 
 Cor. xiii. 2,) — that he should confess the truth and suffer re- 
 proach for it, and all the while have merely the system and 
 theory, and he without the grace of the truth. What a prayer 
 is that of our Lord, Scmclifi/ them by thy truth! John xvii. 17. 
 Truth applied to the heart hy the Holy Ghost, is sanctifying. 
 It should be our desire, that our religion may not be merely 
 that which nature can attain, but that which by its fruits is 
 proved to be supernatural and divine; thus shall vve now be 
 "the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
 works; ^'(Eph. ii. 10.) and so shall we be found at the last to 
 have "oil in our vessels with our lamps when the Bridegroom 
 cometh." Matt. xxv. 
 
 To these practical Rules the author would add a few CAU- 
 TIONS. 
 
 1. Do NOT BE STUMBLED AT THE VARIOUS AND OPPOSING 
 INTERPRETATIONS OF LEARNED AND GOOD MEN. In eVCUtS, 
 
 whether fulfilled or yet to be fulfilled, where we have no infal- 
 lible interpreter, this was to be expected. It is so in all sub- 
 jects human [30] and divine. Even the inspired prophets them- 
 selves, (1 Peter i. 10,) "who prophesied of the grace that 
 should come, inquired and searched diligently, searching what 
 or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in 
 them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
 Christ, and the glory which should follow." If they had to 
 inquire and search diligently to ascertain dates and periods, and 
 only obtained a general knowledge "that not unto themselves, 
 but unto us they did minister the things zohich are now re- 
 ported unto you;" no wonder that human writers come to dif- 
 ferent conclusions. But do not imagine on that account that 
 the search is vain for you, and the study hopeless and unpro- 
 fitable. Far, very far from it. Leading views you may ob- 
 tain of the utmost value. 
 
 Bishop Van Mildert justly remarks "those who duly consi- 
 der the prodigious extent and complicated nature of the plan 
 of prophecy, will not only be convinced that to devise and 
 execute it, is far beyond the power of man; but will be pre- 
 pared to meet with something of intricacy and even obscurity 
 in the detail of the plan, wiiich the limited powers of the hu- 
 man understanding may not be able completely to unravel. 
 They will perceive that a scheme of divine wisdom, to be car- 
 ried on through all ages of the world, and embracing an infi- 
 nite diversity of times, persons, and places, must recjuire means 
 to conduct and unfold it, of which it is impossible that man 
 should be a competent judge. Hence they will be led to ex- 
 amine the subject with humility and reverence. — But whatever 
 
32 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 shade of doubt and difficulty may still hang over some particu- 
 lar predictions (concerning which the most learned and saga- 
 cious may continue to entertain some difference of opinion), 
 [31] it is nevertheless impossible for any unprejudiced persons 
 to deny, that there is a prodigious mass of solid and incontro- 
 vertible evidence to be collected from history in verification of 
 the scripture prophecies." 
 
 They are excellent remarks of a very able modern writer, 
 "Justice is to be exercised in judging of the opinions and state- 
 ments of others. This constitutes candour. It consists in giv- 
 ing a fair hearing to their opinions, statements and arguments, 
 and weighing fairly and honestly their tendency. It is there- 
 fore opposed to prejudice, blind attachment to preconceived 
 opinions, and that narrow disputatious spirit, which delights 
 in captious criticism, and will hear nothing with calmness that 
 is opposed to its own views: which distorts or misrepresents 
 the sentiments of its opponents, ascribing them to unworthy 
 motives, or deducing from them conclusions vvhich they do 
 not warrant. Candour accordingly may be considered as a 
 compound of justice and the love of truth. It leads us to give 
 due attention to the opinions and statements of others; in all 
 cases to be chiefly solicitous to discover truth, and in state- 
 ments of a mixed character, containing perhaps much error 
 and fallacy, anxiously to discover and separate what is true. 
 It has accordingly been remarked, that a turn for acute dispu- 
 tation and minute ancl rigid criticism is often the characteristic 
 of a contracted and prejudiced mind, and that the most en- 
 larged understandings are always the most indulgent to the 
 statements of others; their leading aim being to discover 
 truth."* The only danger [32] in this is, lest any thing of a 
 doubtful and sceptical spirit should creep upon us. It is to be 
 guarded against by the deepest reverence for the word of God, 
 and entire submission to all its plain statements. 
 
 2. Remember an important distinction between the 
 
 FACTS predicted, AND THE TIME WHEN THEY SHALL TAKE 
 
 PLACE. Respecting the facts predicted, we may attain a much 
 greater degree of knowledge and confidence than we can re- 
 specting the time. The history of the interpretation of pro- 
 phecy shews this. Tlie most able expositors! have anticipated 
 events. Their works are not useless on that account, indeed, 
 for the explanation of the event may be correct, when that of 
 
 * Sec that truly valuable work, The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings, by 
 John Abercrombie, M. D. p. 57, 58, a book well calculated to undermine and 
 overthrow may false principles of modern liberalism or infidelity. 
 
 1- This is remarkably the case with the writings of Brightman, Mede, and 
 Cressener. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 33 
 
 the time is wrong;. I deny not also tliat it is our duty to 
 search into the lime and to slate our conchisions modestly, espe- 
 cially as we come nearer the end, when there are special pro- 
 mises of light and knowledge. (See Dan. xii.) Jiut as Gurt- 
 ler justly remarks, "we siiouid not rashly or confidently define 
 the moments of future time, in which those remarkable works 
 of God, wjiicii are to take place in the world, and in the church, 
 are to be accomplished. (Acts i. 7. Mark xiii. 32.) To hold 
 the thing revealed tends to piety and comfort; the time of 
 that which is future, if scripture shews any thing concerning 
 it, it is right and proper to meditate upon; but accurately to 
 fix the time before it arrives, is a fruitless attempt."* 
 
 The chief triumph of those who would discourage the stud}^ 
 of prophecy, has been the failure of many [33] who have spe- 
 cified particular times; and it may be asked, Wjiy has God, 
 who promised such a blessing on the study of prophecy, per- 
 mitted this? Not merely to humble the pride of human wis- 
 dom, nor merely to make prophetical writers more cautious, 
 but also with regard to his people, to try their ^aith in the 
 clearly predicted event, notwithstanding the uncertainty of the 
 time; and with regard to his enemies, who hate him and his 
 word, that they might be stumbled and hardened; and so their 
 wickedness manifested, and the divine justice in their everlast- 
 ing condemnation be made clear. "t 
 
 3, Do not be offended at the reproaches to which 
 
 THE PROFESSED EXPECTATION OF THE COMING OP ClIRIST 
 
 EXPOSES rou, from all classes of men. It is the generation 
 truth, that is, the one which is peculiarly important in this 
 generation, and opposes the whole stream and current of men's 
 opinions by the simple testimony of God's word, and there- 
 fore it is the truth every where spoken against. A well- 
 instructed Bible Christian will not be stumbled at this, and 
 when he has carefully searchpd the foundations, and is perfectly 
 satisfied that he has the word of God to rest upon, will hear 
 with the utmost calmness the charges of the Millenarian epi- 
 demic, dangerous novelties, fanciful schemes, and a- thousand 
 other names by which men will endeavour to swamp all these 
 truths without coming to the plain statements of scripture. 
 The most painful thing is, when [3!] the tridy pious join in 
 these things, and, like Peter to his Lord, say, (iMatt. xvi. 22.) 
 Be it far from thee; but he who has once himself been thus pre- 
 
 * See GurtlerV Systema, p. 55. 
 
 t If the mistakes as to particular times of Mede, Lloyd, Aliix, Jiiricu.Cre.s- 
 sener, and others, had deterred men from pursuing these studies or from avail- 
 ing themselves of their works, we should never have had the valuable re- 
 searches into Prophetic times of Prideaux, Sir I. Newton, Vilringa, Bishop 
 I^ewton, Woodhouse, not to speak of living expositors. 
 VOL. II. — 53 
 
34 . A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Judiced, and has seen in his own painful, past, personal expe- 
 rience, that "prejudice has neither eye nor ear," will readily 
 make allowances for such a state of mind, and by patient for- 
 uearing, and loving manifestation of the truth, commend it to 
 the consciences of all men. 
 
 4. Guard against human systems. It is very observable 
 how much some men have been carried away by a favourite sys- 
 tem, so as to think that it is entwined with every part of the 
 word of God, and explains every difficulty. They seem to 
 suppose, that one key will turn all the locks, and open every 
 door of every room and every cabinet in that room. There 
 are many locks in scripture; outside locks and inside locks, 
 and we must take the particular key which will open, first, the 
 general lock, and then the one we want to have opened; or we 
 shall only wrest the scriptures. But here is our comfort — the 
 Bible itself contains the keys for its treasures, and the Holy 
 Spirit will guide us (if diligently sought for), into all truth. 
 
 Each human system also is more or less connected with some 
 error, and those who pursue prophetical studies, and hold the 
 .speedy coming of our Lord, have special need to be on their 
 guard against those errors wnich the enemy has contrived to 
 associate with that truth. Some of these errors are more seri- 
 ous than others, but the tendency of all error is to famish the 
 soul. We may see hence persons hold the highest and newest 
 flights of doctrine, and yet proud, censorious, dogmatical, severe, 
 covetous, [35] worldly, lovers of pleasure, and sunk in earthly 
 lusts. how offensive this must be to the pure, holy, and 
 heavenly Saviour! It is a great preservative against such 
 things, to keep constantly before us the spirit which our Lord 
 commends in the beatitudes, and practical epistles like those of 
 St. James and St. Peter. "To ask also for the old paths, where 
 is the good way, and to walk therein, is ihe means to find rest 
 for our souls." Jer. vi. 16. 
 
 If we are indebted to another for the first views of divine 
 truth, we are greatly in danger of leaning upon him, and being 
 carried away with all his views. This is to lean on an arm of 
 (lesh, and not on the Lord, (Jer. xvii. 5.) and to refuse to fol- 
 low the beautiful example of the Bereans, who went no farther 
 with the Apostle himself, than a diligent search of the scrip- 
 tures justified. Acts xvii. 11. 
 
 5. Be not afraid to suspend your judgment about more 
 obscure and hidden things. Vitringa applies Isaiah xxviii. 16, 
 here: Ik that bclicveth shall ?iot make haste; he v/ill resign to 
 the Deity the scope of executing his vast designs. It is thus 
 our blessed Saviour taught his disciples to wait the event of 
 his prophecies, In your pat iefice possess ye your souls, Luke xxi. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 35 
 
 19. Where the completion is still future, we must not indulge 
 our conjecture, but as becomes the faith and moderation of 
 Christians, those things which are spoken indefinitely, and arc 
 not determined by parallel prophecies, we should consider as 
 reserved in the hands of God, with respect to the mode and 
 persons, times, places, and other circumstances of their com- 
 pletion. Whether Christ and his saints f^hall personally be 
 visible in their reign over the earth; what may be the precise 
 nature of [36] his kingdom, or of the destruction of his ene- 
 mies which precedes its establishment; these and a thousand 
 similar questions may, without any damage to the soul, be 
 left in the hidden state in which they seem now to be left 
 by the scriptures, till God shall throw more light upon them 
 by the researches of his servants, or events shall fully devclope 
 them. 
 
 6. Neglect not prophecy because of the errors, con- 
 troversies and misinterpretations of those who have inter- 
 preted IT. It is perfectly clear, by events, that those who 
 have written on this subject have made great mistakes; we 
 have the advantage of living in a later period, and of having 
 these mistakes manifested. Some, in these days, prominent in 
 their prophetical statements, have, in the Author's view, fallen 
 into doctrinal errors; an unchristian spirit of judging, and con- 
 demnation of others, or even serious delusion; or a rash spirit 
 of throwing aside all preceding labourers. Was it not the arti- 
 fice of the enemy to destroy the power of those weighty truths 
 which prophetical writers have distinctly brought forward, 
 and esjicciall}^ to turn the attention of the church from the 
 prophetic word? There is, however, a plain direction, (1 
 Thess. V. 20,) Despise ?iol (/u>i e^a^i.^ni, do not set at nought, or 
 count for nothing,) prophesyings. The same thing took place 
 at the time of the Reformation, and Gurtler has some valuable 
 remarks upon it. He says, Uiat, "After the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, the gospel being recovered from anti-chris- 
 tion darkness to light, many interpreters employed themselves 
 in the Exposition of the Prophecies; but at the end of that 
 century the ardour for this most [37] divine study began to 
 cool in the churches and schools," and he states one principal 
 cause of this lamentable issue to be, the unhappy disputes 
 which arose among Protestants; in Germany between the Lu- 
 theran and Reformed; and in Holland between Remonstrants 
 and Contra-Remonstrants: from the origin of these disputes, 
 controversial volumes were sent forth, rather than Commenta- 
 ries on the Sacred books. Afterwards another thing arose, 
 from which the study of prophecy was not only despised by 
 irreligious men, but also by learned and even pious persons. 
 
36 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Some came to treat of it with unwasiied hands, and an unsuita- 
 ble mind; for enjoying riches of genius, and facility of writ- 
 ing, and blandishments of language, they promulgated the 
 fulfilling of prophecies in that immediate nearness of time and 
 place, which inconsiderate hope, impatience under undeserved 
 calamities, and too great love of their country dictated. Gurt- 
 ler shews also how others failed in their predictions of an im- 
 mediately happy state of the church; and adds, "books of this 
 kind were eagerly read, translated into difi'erent languages, and 
 filled the minds of the curious; but, by and bye, the event not 
 ansvvering to the promises, where only the vanity of the wri- 
 ter was to be reprehended, the holy prophetic Theology was, 
 after the manner of the age, carped at, and despised; and the 
 wisdom of the prophecy of the supreme King of Kings, know- 
 ing, determining, and foretelling all things, was given up to 
 oblivion." He then shews how God rescued, by his Spirit, 
 the church out of this slate, by raising up such men as Bright- 
 man, Mede, More, and Ilofman. 
 
 Gurtler then, after giving the system of Mede and [38] 
 others, had these interesting reflections: — "I will not carp at 
 the structure delineated by these learned and pious men, or 
 subject it to my censure, for I had rather congratulate them on 
 that eternal blessedness in which they now enjoy God, and 
 more thoroughly and entirely know his works. In this life, 
 zve know in part, and ue prophesy in part, but rchen that which is 
 perfect is come, then 'that which is in part shall be done azcay, (1 
 Cor. xiii. 9, 10,) and we shall clearly see these things which 
 we now conjecture, or inquire into with much labour; or alto- 
 gether are ignorant of. As the human mind of the Son of 
 God, which with the angels knew not on earth the day and 
 hour of judgment, (Mark xiii. 32,) in heaven, had given to 
 him, and perceived the whole history of the world and the 
 church. Rev. i. 1 — 3." 
 
 May we learn lessons from past experience, and especially 
 the lesson of not neglecting any part of God's word, and being 
 turned aside by the enemy to despise prophecyings from the 
 faults of those who have studied it. God has given increased 
 light, age after age, to his church on this subject, and should 
 even some material parts of the views of the leading modern 
 interpreters turn out to be pre-anticipations, or unfounded 
 interpretations of what God has foretold, may we, notwith- 
 standing such stumblii:)g-l)locks, lake heed to that which is still 
 the more sure zoord if prophecy, (2 Pet. i. 19,) the light shining 
 in the dark place, and only pray the more earnestly that our 
 love may abound yet more and more in hioidedge and in all judg- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 37 
 
 7ne7it, that zve may try things that differ {c-nu/uis^wrA a-M^^ovnt) afid be 
 sincere and u-ithout offence till the day of Christ. Phil. i. 9. 
 
 Plan of Study of Prophetical Writers. 
 
 [39] The author havins several times been requested to give 
 a little plan of study, subjoins the following: — 
 
 Older Works. 
 
 FlurJ's Introduction to the Study of Bishop Newton on the Piophecie>. 
 
 Prophecy. Cressener's Demonstration of the Re- 
 
 Medc's Key to the Apocalypse, and velation. 
 
 Letters. Cressener's Judgments on the Romish 
 
 Sir I. Newton on Daniel and the Church. 
 
 Apocalypse. Home's Millennium, new edition. 
 
 Modern Works. 
 
 Brooks' Elements of Prophecy. Cuninghame on the Seals and Trum- 
 
 Keith's Evidence of the Christian Re- pets. 
 
 ligion. Faber's Reslorationof the Jews,2 vols. 
 
 Myers on the Prophecies delivered by 8vo. 
 
 Christ. Fry on the Second Ad vent, 2 vols. Svo. 
 
 Woodhouse on the Apocalypse. Greswell on the Parables, vol. i. 
 
 Abdiel's Essaj-s. Habershon on the Prophecies. 
 
 Cuninghame's Premillennial Advent. The Investigator, a (Quarterly Peri- 
 
 Faber's Sacred Calendar, 3 vols. Svo. odical. 
 
 Cuninghame's Answers to Wanllaw, White's Practical Reflections on the 
 
 Faber, and the Theological Maga- Second Advent. 
 
 zine, and his Political Destiny. 
 
 Latin Books. 
 
 Vitringa Typus Doctrinal Piophe- Vitringa Anacrisis Apocalypseos. 
 tica*. Yenema; Dissertationes in Daniel. 
 
 It will be easy to enlarge this list from the books in the list 
 at the end. The translation of the "Typus Doctrinae Prophe- 
 tical" of Vitringa would be very useful to the English student 
 of Prophecy.* 
 
 The purpose of Cocccius in his prophetical studies will be a 
 good guide for us in ours. He says — -"We [40] therefore, with 
 the blessing of God, will so act, as to attend to the scriptures 
 (as lucid, and having clear and by no means twisted or forced 
 significations, conformed to itself in all its parts, and shining 
 through the whole body of the sacred oracles according to the 
 sincerity of the Divine Testament, and the truth which is in 
 Clirist Jesus) until a most clear sense, satisfying the conscience 
 througli the words of the Holy Spirit, shall rise up to relresh 
 us. In which these things shall minister help to us. 1. The 
 proper meaning of words. 2. The conformity or proportion 
 of phrases and sentences. 3. The scope and series of ante- 
 
 * "The most imporiant parts have been, since this was written, translated and 
 printed in the Investigator, vol. iv. 
 53* 
 
38 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 cedents and consequences. 4. Remarkable exannples of the 
 meaning of expressions shewn by the events fultilling them. 
 It cannot be that the words themselves should fully and ex- 
 actly, in a series of examples, and in a consistent harmony of 
 prophecies be verified, witliout its pointing out the mind of the 
 Spirit." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 [41] On that point which especially concerns our highest 
 interest, even our eternal salvation, and which is the grand 
 theme of all the prophets, from the beginning to the close, 
 there is no obscurity of any moment; the first coming, the 
 atoning death, the perfect righteousness, the resurrection and 
 ascension, the supreme power, and the constant intercession, 
 of our Divine Redeemer; the gifts of his Spirit; the subjuga- 
 tion of his enemies, and his certain return. On these points, 
 the predictions are, in the main, clear as the noonday. Even 
 those who deny their application to Jesus Christ, still refer 
 them to the Messiah. Let it ever be remembered, then, that 
 
 THE PROPHECIES OF SCRIPTURE CHIEFLY BEAR ON THIS ONE 
 
 POINT, OUR Lord Jesus Christ. Their great design is to do 
 honour to him, to manifest the sufFicienc}' of his atonement, 
 and the riches and fulness of his grace, and the nature and 
 glory of his kingdom; that thus we may be led to believe in 
 him, to the salvation of our souls, and be tilled with joy and 
 peace [42] in believing; and all the glorious ends for which he 
 came might be accomplished; to deliver a world from ruin, to 
 abolish sin and death; to purify man and make him a partaker 
 of the divine nature, and finally so to bless the human race, 
 that God's will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
 
 It is expressly said, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of 
 jn'ophecy." Rev. xix. 10. "To him give all the prophets wit- 
 ness." Acts X. 43." 
 
 There are many plain, express, and literal prophecies refer- 
 ring to Christ and his kingdom, which have no other applica- 
 tion, and cannot be expected to have any other fulfilment than 
 in him. The following instances have been selected as prov- 
 ing this:— Mai. iii. 1; iv. 5, 6. Haggai ii. G — 9. Zech. ix. 
 9; xii. 10. Dan. ii. 44; vii. 13, 14; Yx. 24—27. Micah v. 2. 
 Isaiah liii.* 
 
 ♦ A full table of the chief prophecies respecting Christ is given by Mr. 
 Iiorne in his Introductiun. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 3gr 
 
 The due consideration of the many minute circumstances 
 respecting our Lord's lirst coming, literally and expressly de- 
 scribed so long beforehand; the many improbable and appa- 
 rently contradictory events respecting him, which were fore- 
 told successively, for nearly four thousand years, connected 
 with their exact accomplishment, as related to us by eye-wit- 
 nesses who laid down their lives in confirmation of their testi- 
 mony; and corroborated as that is by the actual state of the 
 world at present; — such a consideration is peculiarly calcu- 
 lated to strengthen and establish our faitli in Christ. 
 
 Especially, when we remember further, tliat those very pro- 
 phecies are now in the possession of the [43] Jews — the avowed 
 enemies of Jesus of Nazareth. They thus become unsus- 
 pected and unexceptionable librarians, living witnesses, testify- 
 ing to all ages t!iat the predictions have been preserved unal- 
 tered. If it be asked how it is that they are not themselves 
 convinced, the answer is sufficient; multitudes were convinced 
 by this very evidence, when the events had taken place, and 
 the hardness of heart of others, and their rejection of Christ, 
 were expressly foretold in the very same writings, and form 
 an actual part of those prophetic records of which they are the 
 depositories. 
 
 The exact literalness with which many of the minutest cir- 
 cumstances of our Saviour's life and death were foretold and 
 then accomplished, the very town where he was to be born, the 
 place where he was to begin to preach, his riding on an ass and 
 a colt, the various kinds of sufferings which he was to endure, 
 scourging, spitting upon, and casting lots for his vesture, his 
 hanging on the tree, dying and not a bone broken; the rejec- 
 tion of him by his people; the union of them and the Gentiles 
 and their rulers against him, these things are not only confir- 
 matory as an evidence, but instructive as an interpretation of 
 prophecy. If the shame and rejection have been minutely 
 fulfilled, so shall the glory'and future welcome of him: if the 
 humiliation has been literally realized, so shall the coming 
 kingdom. 
 
 There must doubtless have been many things, however, 
 though now we distinctly see the literal fulfilment of the pre- 
 dictions respecting the first coming, which were extremely 
 confounding to the Jews. Even the disciples of our Lord were 
 staggered again [44] and again at the shame, the cross, and the 
 sufferings of our Redeemer. The prediclions of these were 
 so brief, conipared with the predicted glories of his kingdom, 
 that the two disciples going to Emmaus after his resurrection, 
 still only venture to say "we trusted that it had been he which 
 •should have redeemed Israel," and need the Saviour's exposi- 
 
40 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 tion of the things concerning himself. Till divinely taught, 
 they were disajDpointed at the mysteries of the cross and the 
 delay of hope, and had to learn that lesson of faith and patient 
 waiting which God is still teaching his church, with regard to 
 the glories of his second coming. <'But blessed were they 
 who were not offended iti him in all the lowliness of his first 
 coming," (Matt. ii. 6.) and "blessed are all they that wait for 
 him," (Isa. xxx. 18.) and "blessed is that servant whom his 
 Lord when he cpmeth shall find dilige?itly employed in his 
 service, a?id ready for his comitig." Matt. xxiv. 44 — 46. 
 
 Let it also never be forgotten that our Saviour is now spirit- 
 ually present with his church, "Lo! I am with you alvvay, 
 even to the end of the world." Matt, xxviii. 20. "Where two 
 or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them." Matt, xviii. 20. This his spiritual coming 
 and presence is of unutterable moment to us, <'He that loveth 
 me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and 
 will manifest myself unto him." John xiv. 21. may we 
 enjoy it continually; it will especially make us long for the 
 happy time when we f-hall no longer "see through a glass 
 darkly, but face to face," (1 Cor.\xiii. 12.) visibly meet and 
 ever be zcilh our Lord. 1 Thess. iv. 17. 
 
 The disregard by the Jews of the prophecies respecting our 
 Lord's humiliation, and their consequent national rejection, is 
 also full of instructive warning [45] to us."* If the neglect of 
 those more obscure and less frequent propliecies which con- 
 cerned his sufierings was attended with so fearful an issue, 
 may not we Christians be justifying the Jews in their unbelief, 
 and adding thereto fresh unbelief, if we disregard and disbe- 
 lieve those far more numerous and clear prophecies which con- 
 cern his future coming, kingdom, and glory. His spiritual 
 presence is a blessing to his disciples; tiiey experience, they 
 enjoy it, but the world understands it not and cares not for it. 
 His future visible coming does, however, speak directly to the 
 fears and comprehension of all men. Our Lord tells his dis- 
 
 * The prophecies of the Jirst advent have been trented of frequently and at 
 length, and, with the New Testament to guide their interpretation of them, 
 Christians have in general professed agreement in their views respecting 
 them. Yet there is much room for fuller research even on these prophecies. 
 The scope of the context in the original writer of each quotation; the reason 
 of their dispersed form; the distinction of those parts oi' the prophecy which 
 belong to the first advent fiom those relating to the second; the spiritual signi- 
 ficance of the varied events of the life of our Redeemer, — all these give a wide 
 field of thought and instruction little explored. Prophecy mayjustly be com- 
 pared to a very deep, rich, and extended mine. Little of it is known on the 
 outside, especially to the careless observer. We must enter into its hidden 
 chambers, and go through it with diligent investigation, even to discover its 
 treasures; and to be enriched by it, requires patient labour and appropriating 
 faith. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 41 
 
 ciples of his spiritual presence, (Matt, xxviii. 20.) he tells the 
 high priest and all the council of his personal and visible com- 
 ing in the clouds. Malt. xxvi. 64. 
 
 It is one great practical benefit of studying the prophecies, 
 that we thereby grozv in grace atid in the knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ. All the prophecies are parts of the testimony of Jesus; 
 they shew the fulness and extent of his propitiation; the free- 
 ness and completeness of his salvation; the safety of the peo- 
 ple given to liim; the amazing love which he bears to them; 
 [46] the joy which he has in their bliss, and his purpose to 
 glorify them for ever in his happy kingdom. The prophecies 
 set before us all the gracious titles which he bears for ihem, 
 and the ofliccs which he sustains in their behalf. The most 
 touching expressions of his care, faithfulness, and love abound 
 in them, and iiot one jol or little shall pass till all be fulfilled. 
 
 Now, in the patient, prayerful reading of these, the soul is 
 raised to sweet communion with our beloved Redeemer, and 
 to delightful anticipations of a day when, freed from the body 
 of sin and death, and with bodies fashioned according to his, 
 we shall be like him, and see him as he is. <'0 when shall it 
 be? when," says the soul of the believer, "shall I cease to 
 grieve and dislionour him by my sins who has so loved me — I 
 groan, being burdened, for that I ivould be clothed upon, that mor- 
 talily might be swalloiced up of life!" 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL APPLICATION OF^ PROMISES IN THE PROPnECIES, 
 
 [47] The prophetic writings should be carefufly read, not 
 merely for the future events which they foretel, but as every- 
 where bearing the rich treasures of divine truth; and furnish- 
 ing noble displays of the glory of God; and clear manifesta- 
 tions of the way of salvation, of the duties of the creature, 
 and of his dependance on the Creator. They are full of deep 
 doctrines; sweet promises; holy precepts, and heart-stirring 
 motives to follow the will and to live to the ))raise of the great 
 and eternal Jehovah. Their holiness speaks their divinity 
 even before their fulfilment has made it a demonstration; their 
 present usefulness declares the wisdom and loving-kindness of 
 the Lord, even before their accomplishment has displayed his 
 
42 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 omniscient eye, his omnipotent arm, his perfect equity, and 
 his boundless grace. 
 
 Prophecy is like a richly-freighted vessel returning from a 
 distant land, and conveying those on board it safely to their 
 home. It contains all needful provision and comfort for the 
 use of the crew during [48] the whole length of voyage, and 
 besides this, it has a stiil more valuable cargo to be enjoyed by 
 the owners, when the perils of the sea, and all its storms and 
 tempests have been passed through. Though the passengers 
 may be distant from their own land, they are gradually ap- 
 proaching nearer and nearer, and while they are sailing day 
 and night homewards, every present want is supplied by the 
 abundant stores which the vessel contains for their use: but 
 the chief riches of the vessel are reserved for the end of the 
 voyage. Let us look, then, now for a moment at the daily 
 provision made for our immediate and personal wants. 
 
 In the Prophecies of the Old Testament are contained pro- 
 mises of the richest spiritual blessings. These belong to every 
 Christian, through faith in Jesus, and thus have a fulfilment in 
 reference to Christian believers, beyond their first fulfilment 
 in reference to Israel and Judah, the children of Abraham, 
 after the flesh. 
 
 The promises at any time made to the church of God, com- 
 posed of true believers, belong to them in similar circumstances 
 at all times. They display the will of Him who is the same 
 yesterdaij^ to-day, and for ever, and who has given and revealed 
 these promises as revealing his mind towards his people, and 
 for the benefit of the church at large. The promises of spirit- 
 ual blessings made originally to the Old Testament church, are 
 now properly applied to, and really inherited by the Christian 
 church, and will only be inherited by any as they believe in 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 This is so important a part of divine truth, that it calls for 
 particular proof and illustration. 
 
 [49] The Jews derive their right to the promises of the 
 blessings of the Messiah from the covenant made with Abra- 
 ham: that covenant included promises that he should be a 
 father of many nations: that his seed should be multiplied 
 as the stars of heaven, and as the sand zvhich is upon the sea-shore; 
 and that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall he blessed. 
 Gen. xxii. 17, 18. Abraham was a father of many nations, 
 literally; but the apostle shews in the 4th of Romans, that he is 
 the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised. 
 There is a seed not only which is of the law, but that also which is 
 of the faith of our father Abraham, as it is written, I have made 
 thee a father of ma?iy nations. Rom. iv. 11 — 17. These are the 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 43 
 
 children of the promise, as zcell as the children of the Jlesh.* Rom. 
 ix. 8. 
 
 Jesus Christ is the uniting corner-stone of the Jewish and 
 Gentile churches, ''who hath made hoth one — an holy temple 
 in the Jjord." Ej)hes. ii. 11 — 23. He was the promised seed 
 of Abraham in the fullest sense. Gal. iii. IG. By faith in him 
 we are united to him, and become one witii him; and in this 
 way alone are either Jews or Gentiles true children of Abra- 
 ham. Gal. iii. 25—29. Rom. ix. 6— S. 
 
 The Apostle speaks to the Hebrews of the superior privi- 
 leges of the Christian Dispensation in these terms — "Ye are 
 come to Mount Zion, and unto the city [50] of the living God, 
 the heavenly Jerusalem;" Heb. xii. 22. plainly intimating, as 
 the context sufficiently sliew^s, that the Gentile Christians par- 
 took of the privileges of Mount Zion and the Jerusalem on 
 which the blessing of God rested. St. Paul tells us, "there is 
 a Jerusalem which is above, which is free, which is the mother 
 of us all, in contradistinction from the Jerusalem which now 
 is, and is in bondage with her children. Gal. iv. 25, 2G. It 
 is evident that the Apostle includes in the Jerusalem which 
 is above, (typified b}'- Sarah) the whole church which has its 
 origin from heaven, is espoused to Christ, and is the mother 
 of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, who are born of the 
 Spirit by means of the word and ordinances which are dis- 
 pensed in the church. It is plain, therefore, that following 
 the Apostle, we are warranted in considering the promises of 
 spiritual blessings to be conferred on Jerusalem, as belonging 
 to the universal church of Christ. 
 
 Our Lord assured tlie Jews, that those who do not the 
 ii-orks of Abraham, diYQ not the true childre?i of Abraham, though 
 lineally descended from him. John viii. 39. 
 
 The Apostle shews at length, in Rom. iv. ix. x. xi. and Gal. 
 iii. iv. that those who had not •Abraham's faith had no interest 
 in the spiritual blessings which he obtained. He shews that 
 the promises of the Old Testament belong only to the true 
 church, and will only be realized to each true believer. While 
 he excludes the literal Israel, not believing in Christ, (Rom. 
 ix. 7, S, 31; xi. 7.) he expressly says to the Gentiles, "If ye 
 be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according 
 
 * Bishop Hall uses far too strong language. He says, "Whosoever shall 
 ha\'e duly digei.tecl this distinction, will easily find how wild a paradox it is to 
 tie those frequent and large promises of the prophets made to Judah, Israel, 
 Zion, and Jerusalem, to a carnal literal ity of sense, and to make account ol 
 their accomplishment accordingly, which were never otherwise than spiritu- 
 ally meani.'' We may take all the benefit of promises of spiritual blessings, 
 and still l<now that the prophecy has a yet more extended literal interpreta- 
 iion,"and that pregnant also with far more extended spiritual blessings. 
 
44 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 to the promise." Gal. iii. 29. See also Rom. ii. 2S, 29; iv. 
 11, 16; ix. 6—8. 2 Cor. [51] xi. 22. Gal. iii. 14, 26—28; 
 iv. 25, 26. Eph. ii. 1 Peter ii. 9. 
 
 In this way the Apostles continually use the prophecies and 
 promises of the Old Testament. The oath sworn to Abraham, 
 (Gen. xxii. 16, 17.) is applied to all believers, the heirs of 
 promise. Heb. vi. 13 — 20. The promise given to Israel, 
 (Deut. xxxi. 6.) "he will not fail thee nor forsake thee," and 
 repeated to Joshua, (Joshua i. 5.) the Apostle quotes (Heb. xiii. 
 4, 5,) as belonging to believers in general. Is it not clear, 
 therefore, from the Apostle's application of tlie promise, that 
 believers under the Christian Dispensation may rely on the 
 promises made to the faithful under the Jewish? Jerusalem, 
 Zion,and in fact the whole Mosaic Dispensation, were in some 
 important respects types of the spiritual church of Christ, and 
 we may be well assured that the promises and prophecies 
 which concern the types have a yet more important reference 
 to the antitype. Nor can we suppose that the many spiritual 
 promises belong only to the inferior or antiquated dispensation, 
 from which believers under the belle?- covenant established upon 
 better promises, are altogether excluded. 
 
 The prophecies in the 2d of Joel are quoted by St. Peter in 
 the first instance as fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, in the 
 gifts of the Spirit to the Jewish church: while a promise there 
 mentioned is also adverted to by St. Paul as belonging to all 
 believers. Rom. x. 13. 
 
 The prophecy in Isaiah liv. 1, which, at first sight, might 
 appear simply to belong to Judah, is thus applied by St. Paul 
 in the Gallatians, (iv. 26 — 28.) to the whole church of Christ 
 — '^Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of 
 us all: for it is [52] written. Rejoice, thou barren that bearest 
 not; break forth and cry,tliou that travailest not, for the deso- 
 late hath many more children than she which hath an hus- 
 band. Now we, (that is, who believe in Christ, whether Jew 
 or Gentile,) as Isaac was, arc the children of the promise." Gal. 
 iv. 27,28. 
 
 We might think that Hosea i. 10. and ii. 23, applied only 
 to Israel; but the Apostle applies them more extensively — "to 
 us whom he hath called; not of the Jews only, but also of the 
 Gentiles, as he saith in Hosea, I will call them my people 
 which were not my people, and her beloved which was not 
 beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where 
 it^was said to them. Ye are not my people, there shall they be 
 called the cliildren of the living God." Rom. ix. 24 — 26. 
 
 We are not here contending against a further fulfilment of 
 such prophecies, but making as clear and as manifest as we 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. .|5 
 
 can, the all-important point of the propriety of tlieir applica- 
 tion to Christians. SLip|)osiii<i; that these arc prophecies wliich 
 may be yet more literally and extensively fuUilled in a primary 
 sense respecting the Jewish nation, yet the promises which 
 they contain are every day fuUilled to real Christians, and are 
 justly applied to them. Thus the promises of the new cove- 
 nant, in the prophecy contained in the 30th and 31st of Jere- 
 miah, are applied by the Apostle, in the Sth of Hebrews, to 
 believers under the Christian dispensation, and belong to all 
 real Christians. 
 
 These examples of the New 'i'estament application of the 
 Old Testament prophecies, must not be overlooked when we 
 speak of any future literal accomplishment respecting the Jews. 
 
 In this general application of the sacred writings [53] there 
 is neither Greek nor Jezc, circumcision ?ior imcircumcidon, Barba- 
 rian, Scythian, bond, nor free; but Christ is all and in all, (Col. iii. 
 11); in this general view, all .scripture is profitable for doctrine, 
 for reproof, for correction, for insiruction in righteousness. 2 Tim. 
 iii. 16. 
 
 The Bible thus remarkably adapts itself to the wants of 
 mankind, and becomes the statute book and the great charter 
 of salvation for the whole world. Thus the accumulating and 
 enriching blessings of the various divine dispensations belong 
 to every living soul believing in Jesus Christ, and shall, in the 
 fulness of time, flow to, pervade, and bless every nation, kin- 
 dred, tribe, and tongue. Some have endeavoured to shew that 
 no such passages as we have quoted, ought to be applied to the 
 Christian church, except where we have the authority of Christ 
 and his apostles; but surely the way in which they apply the 
 prophecies is rather given as an example of the way in which 
 we may do so. 
 
 It strengthens these considerations when we remember that 
 the scriptures speak so muph of the Jewish rites and ordi- 
 nances as being of a typical character, and as prefiguring future 
 and heavenly things. Heb; viii. 5; ix. 9; x. 1; 1 Cor.- x. 1 
 — 11. It was temporary and preparatory to the full establish- 
 ment of a more permanent system. licb, viii. In the Epistle 
 peculiarly addressed to the Jewish nation, the apostle, instead 
 of giving any intimation of a re-establishment of their particu- 
 lar dispensation, shows that it was to be removed, that that im- 
 moveable kingdom, Which he calls lho>e things zohich cannot be 
 shaken, may remain. Heb. xii. 26 — 28. This, however, we 
 must remember the apostle teaches, is [54] a kingdom yet to 
 be established after the shaking of the things that are made, 
 which Is yet to take place. There are good things to come. Heb. 
 -VOL. 11. — 54 
 
46 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 ix. 11; X. 1, of which Christ is the priest; a 7oorld to come, Heb. 
 ii. 5; vi. 5, which we have not yet witnessed. 
 
 Having given this scripture illustration of the subject, many 
 human authorities need not be added, Mr. Lowth's remark in 
 his preface to the commentary is perfectly just — "All the pri- 
 vileges appropriated to the Jews in the Old Testament, as God's 
 peculiar people, do, in a more eminent manner, appertain to the 
 church of Christ, which is the true kingdom of God, the Jeru- 
 salem coming down from heaven, of which the earthly Jeru- 
 salem and the temple there, was only a t)'pe and figure." 
 
 This view of the subject is important to be thus fully esta- 
 blished, as it not only respects the full interpretation of pro- 
 phecy, but the right of Christians to all the promises of the 
 Old Testament. Hereby "all the promises of God in Christ, 
 are yea, and in him, amen: unto the glory of God by us." 2 
 Cor. i. 20. 
 
 In this view, the Psalms are appointed by the Church of 
 England to assist the daily devotions of her worshippers. Bi- 
 shop Heme's introduction to his Commentary forcibly shews 
 the truth and solidity of this mode of interpretation; and the 
 Commentary itself, without defending every particular, in gene- 
 ral wisely and beautifully illustrates and exemplifies it. 
 
 It shews how judiciously and how piously, and with what 
 edification, the promises of the Old Testament may be thus 
 expounded, and how easily and naturally they express the de- 
 vout feelings of the Christian believer.* 
 
 * It may be interesting to the reader to see the way in which the above view 
 js, in the main, confirmed by different writers; though we allow that several 
 of the quotations go much too far, and would exclude the literal interpretation 
 of prophecy altogether. Investigation and events have thrown a light around 
 prophecy, which these authors did not possess in their day, and would now 
 thankfully improve. Augustine shows, in his Treatise on the City of God, 
 (Book 17, chap, iii.) that the promises concern partly the bond-woman bring- 
 ing forth into bondage, that is, the earthly Jerusaleni, and partly the free city 
 of God, the true Jerusalem, eternal and heavenly, whose children are pil- 
 grims on earth in the way of God's word: and there are some which belong to 
 both, properly to the bond-woman, and figuratively to the free; for the pro- 
 phets have a triple meaning in their prophecies, some concerning the eartUy 
 Jerusalem, some the heavenly, and some both. As I think it a gVeat errorin 
 some to hold no relation to things done in the Scripture more than raeie his- 
 torical, so do I hold it a great boldnos in them that bind all relations of Scrip- 
 ture unio allegorical reference, and therefore I avouch the meaning in Scrip- 
 ture to be triple, and not tvvo-foid only." 
 
 Bishop Hall, writing against those who had, in his days, carnal notions of a 
 Millennium, speaks in much too sweeping a way; he says, "their general fault 
 is that they put a merely literal construction upon the prophecies, which the 
 Holy Gho.^t intended only to be spiritually understood. Hence it is that those 
 frequent predictions which we meet in every page of the prophets concerning 
 the kingdom of Christ, the re-edifying of the Jewish cities, the pomp and 
 magnificence of restored Israel, their large privileges, and marvellous achieve- 
 ments, are altogether drawn to a gross, corporal, and syllabilical sense; which 
 the judgment of the whole Christian Church, seconded bv '^le event, hnili 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 47 
 
 [55] The wisdom of God is thus wonderfully seen in so 
 foretelling future events, that while they confirm the divine in- 
 spiration of the scriptures, and answer other important ends, 
 as PREDICTIONS, accomplished or [5G] accomplisliing; they 
 
 upon good grounds, ever construed, not of the letter but of the spirit. The 
 truth is, these propliecies have their reference either to God's mercifol deal- 
 ings Willi Jerusalem on their return from the Babylonish captivity; or by an 
 usual allegory, express his gracious purposes to the church under the Gospel.'' 
 See Bishop Hall's revelation Unrevealed. The Author, as it will be seen, by 
 no means concurs in the restricted view of Bishop Hall. 
 
 Dr. Owen says on this subject, "Those promises which we find recorded 
 concerning Zion, Jerusalem, the seed of Abraham, Jacob, Israel, respect the 
 elect of God called to the faith of Abraham, and worshipping God according 
 to his appointment, of what people or nation soever they be." See Dr. Owen 
 on the Hebrews, Exercitations vi. and xviii. 
 
 Mr. Lowih, the author of the Commentary, observes, in bis directions for 
 reading the Scriptures, — "A particular, very observable in those prophecies 
 which relate to the times of the Messiah, is the mystical sense of several pas- 
 sages in them contained under the literal, of which we may assign several ex- 
 amples. As (I.) When the prophets describe him under "such characters as 
 have a more immediate aspect upon .some eminent person in or near their own 
 times. 2 Sam. vii. 13, &c. Psalm ii. G, 7; xlv. and Ixxii.; Ixxxix. 2G, 27. 
 Haggai ii. 23, &c. Zech. vi. 11,42. (2.) When they represent the redemp- 
 tion of mankind which he was to accomplish by such expressions as do in their 
 first and primary sense allude to some temporal deliverance which God had 
 vouchsafed, (Psalm Ixviii. 22, 23.) or would vouchsafe to their own nation. 
 Isaiah xl. 3, &c.; xlix. 8, &c.; lii. 7, &c.; Ix. 1, &c. Or, lastly, when they sei 
 forth the benefits of the gospel by phrases taken from the forms of divine wor- 
 ship prescribed by their law." Isaiah Ix. G, 7; lxvi.23; Zech. xiv. 16, 20. 
 
 He further shews, that "these providential congruities between the times of 
 the Old and New Testament, as a learned writer styles them, do very much 
 confirm the authority of both Testaments. From hence we learn that the 
 Scriptures comprehend one entire scene of Providence, which reaches from 
 one end of the world to the other: and that God, who is the beginning and 
 end of all things, by various steps and degrees pursues one great design, viz. 
 the setting up the kingdom of his Son, through the several ages of the 
 world, and will still carry it on by such measures as seem best to his infinite 
 wisdom, till the great day of the consummation of all things. Such a gradual 
 opening of this wonderful scene of Providence is a new argument of that infi- 
 nite wisdom which contrived it, and so fully justifies this mystical way of pro- 
 pounding it." , 
 
 Bishop Lowth also remarks in his Lectures, that, "In the sacred rites of the 
 Hebrews, things, places, times, offices, and such like, sustain as it were a 
 double character, the one proper or literal, the other allegorical; and in their 
 writings these subjects are sometimes treated of in such a manner as to relate 
 either to the one sense or the other singly, or to both united. For instance, a 
 composition may treat of David, of Solomon, of Jerusalem, so as to be under- 
 stood to relate simply either to the city itself and its monarchs, or else to those 
 objects which in the sacred allegory of the Jewish religion are denoted by that 
 city, and by those monarchs; or the mind of the author may embrace both 
 objects at once, so that the very words which express the one, in the plain, 
 proper, historical, and commonly received sense, may typify the other in the 
 sacred, interior, and prophetic sense." He afterwards illustrates this by apar- 
 ticular consideration of the 2nd and 72nd Psalm. 
 
 Bishop Hurd has many valuable remarks on this subject. He says, "The 
 same oracles which attest the first coming of Christ, as if impatient to 
 be confined to so narrow bounds, overflow as it were into the future, and 
 expatiate on the principal facts of his second coming. By this Divine artifice, 
 if we may so speak, the two dispensations, the Jewish and the Christian, are 
 
4g A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 cheer and comfort every individual believer, as promises in 
 which he has a personal interest. 
 
 At the same time, tlie way in which the promises [57] are 
 assured to Christians, furnishes a most tender motive for the 
 kindest consideration of the Jews. We can claim none of the 
 promises of the Old Testament without being reminded of the 
 lost sheep of Israel, and of our connection with their father 
 Abraham as the channel by which the blessings flow to us. 
 With such views, how inexcusable is contempt of, or indif- 
 ference to the Jews! "Boast not against the branches: but if 
 thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.'^ Rom. 
 xi. 18. But while we thus [58] take the present good of the 
 promise, let us not be, like Esau, contented without our birth- 
 right, our new birthright if we may call it so, (John i. 12; iii. 
 5; Rev. xxii. 14,) and all the glory to come, infinitely richer 
 in literal and spiritual glories than anything that the church 
 has yet seen or enjoyed. 
 
 W'e are now, through faith in Christ, '■^grafted in among the 
 Jews, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the 
 olive-tree. Rom. xi. 17. All the promises are literal to the 
 Jews; they are received by us i?! spirit now, the}^ will be ful- 
 filled manifesthj, and openly hereafter. But we now anticipate 
 by faith the glories to come. In Isaiah ii. 2 — G, we have the 
 predicted glories of the earthly Jerusalem, and of the nations 
 of the earth through it. And in Rev. xxi. 23 — 27, we have 
 the glory of the heavfenly city, and of the saved nations walk- 
 ing in its light; and in Pleb. xii. 22 — 24, we have the way in 
 
 closely tied together, or rather compacted together, into one harmonious sys- 
 tem. The events which both these prophetic schemes point out, are so dis- 
 tributed through all time, as to furnish successively to the several ages of the 
 world the means of a fresh and still growing conviction." 
 
 Bishop Home's introduction to his Commentary on the Psalms, as noticed 
 above, dwells at considerable length on this mode of interpretation. He says, 
 "The writers of the New Testament shew us that there is another Israel of 
 God, other children of Abraham and heirs of the promise, another circumci- 
 sion; another Egypt from the bondage of which they are reileemed; another 
 wilderness through which they journey; other bread from heaven for their 
 support; and another rock to supply them with living water; other enemies to 
 overcome; and another land of Canaan, and another Jerusalem, which they 
 are to obtain and possess for ever." 
 
 It is allowed on all hands, that wisdom is needful in this application of pro- 
 phecy. The literal meaning should ever be first attained, where the sacred text 
 will "evidently bear a literal sense. It has pleased the Holy Spirit also to 
 reveal things in a variety of diiierent ways. "Sometimes," says Bishop 
 Lowth, "the obvious or literal sense is so prominent and conspicuous, both in 
 the words and sentiments, that the remote or figurative sense is scarcely per- 
 mitted to glimmer through it. On the other hand, and that more frequently, 
 the figurative sense is found to beam forth with so much perspicuity and lus- 
 tre, that the literal sense is quite cast into a shade, or becomes indiscejnible." 
 Let us not lean on our own or any other man's wisdom, so much as upon the 
 • •onstant teaching of the Holy Ghost and comparing scripture with scripture. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 49 
 
 which we now by faith anticipate those glories, and of the 
 heavenly conversaMon to which our hopes tend. In these 
 varied views, then, the promises of the Old Testament have 
 a most important application to us Christians. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD CHRIST. 
 
 [59] The second coming of Christ to be the Saviour of the 
 world has ever been the hope of the church. A Saviour to 
 come was its hope for 4000 years before he personally appeared 
 on earth; and after he had lived and died "and put away sin 
 by the sacrifice of himself," (Heb. ix. 2G,) a similar hope of 
 his return was set before the church, as its great subject of 
 expectation, in that explicit declaration of the angels, recorded 
 Acts i. 11, "this same Jesus which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go 
 into heaven." This was the great hope of the primitive church, 
 and it is gratifying to see that this hope is revived in our day, 
 especially when we remember the promise, that "unto them 
 that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin 
 unto salvation." Heb. ix. 28. 
 
 The last words of our Saviour and the last prayer of his 
 churcli recorded in the scriptures, bear directly on this point, 
 "he which testifieth these things saith. Surely I come quickly. 
 Amen. Even so come. Lord Jesu.s." Rev. xxii. 20. Our 
 blessed Master here seems, _[60] before he leaves us, to turn 
 and look back once more with infmite tenderness on his church, 
 conflicting here below, in order to give to his people the .part- 
 ing assurance to support and encourage them amid every trial 
 and difficulty, Surelij I conic (juickly; and the church, then, 
 turning as it ever should, a gracious promise into a fervent 
 prayer, re-echoes the sound. Amen, Even so cotne, Lord Jesus. 
 
 The whole history of the church of Christ had been testi- 
 fied in the jjreceding book of the Revelation. The sum of that 
 testimony, however, was to declare, the varied trials through 
 which his church should pass, the final overthrow of all the 
 enemies of Christ, the full triumph of his kingdom at the last, 
 the general judgment of all mankind: the everlasting misery 
 o& the wicked, and the complete and eternal happiness of his 
 saints. 
 
 54* 
 
50 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 The coming of Christ has been viewed, either as it relates 
 more generally to tlie manifestation of his secret Providence, 
 by open judgment, or of his grace to individual Christians 
 spiritually, or more particularly with reference to his personal 
 and final coming to save his people and judge the world. It is 
 this last which is eminently his appearijig the second lime with- 
 out sifi unto salvation. Heb. ix. 28, 
 
 The open manifestation of his secret Providence may be 
 called indeed a providential coming, such as was his coming to 
 destroy Jerusalem,* or such as is [61] his coming to an indi- 
 vidual at the hour of death. There is also a spiritvcl coming, 
 John xiv. 18, 23, to his people, largely enjoyed through the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and revi- 
 vals of religion in any particular period, and daily experienced 
 by the devout believer. The context of the passage, the mode 
 of expression, or the circumstances of th,e writer will suf- 
 ficently point these out, and distinguish them from his final 
 coming. 
 
 Thus a person may be present by energy and invisible 
 power. God is every where thus present. Our Lord Christ 
 is thus always present with his church, (Matt, xxviii. 20.) and 
 manifests this presence spiritually to his people. But this does 
 not preclude him from having place and abode with reference 
 to his human nature. The expressions used to denote the 
 second coming imply our Lord Jesus Christ, in his human 
 nature moving from one place to another. Our God uses no 
 deceptive language, his word is the word of truth and sim- 
 plicity, and he leads us to expect a personal visible appearance 
 
 * See note in the Author's Chief Concerns of Man, page 246. There are 
 some expressions on the coming of Christ, which not only Anti-Millenarians, 
 but Mede also, with others who take his views, have applied to the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, such as John xxi. 22. James v. 7—!). Heb. x. 37.— (See 
 Mede's Works, p. 701.) But let it be remembered that whatever might be the 
 private opinion even of the apostles who expected a speedy establishment of 
 Christ's kingdom in their own days (Acts i. G,) and were left in ignorance of 
 the real time of his return, the expressions of the Divine Spirit, while ifiey are 
 infallibly true, are also adapted to that largeness of view which marks the 
 eternity of God, (2 Peter iii. 8.) comprehends the whole of his Dispensations, 
 and suits his revealed word to the wants of his Church in every age. In this 
 view the passages in James and Hebrews may refer only to this second coming; 
 the term vr^fouiTut, James v. 7, 8, signifying personal presence. Some have 
 suppo.sed. Matt. x. 23, to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, but it seems 
 rather an illustration of the general principle, that if one place reject the 
 gospel, it must be [)reached in another. They were not to be cast down and 
 di.-^appointed if all Israel were not converted, and a large part of the nation 
 rejected the gospel, but to goon preaching it elsewhere. All Israel should not 
 be thus complete till Christ come again : ov /xn TiKinTi you shall not complete 
 or finish the conversion of Israel till ()ur Lord's return. Thus there was a real 
 help to the great duty of waiting for Christ's coming, a gracious guard against 
 despondency, light on the future purposes of God, and a clear guide to duly. 
 Events also have corresponded to this view. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 51 
 
 [62] of our Lord Christ, in such passafrcs as Acts i. 11. Matt, 
 xxiv. 29 — 31. John xiv. 2, 3. 1 Tim. vi. 13 — 16. with very 
 many others, some of which will be subsequently noticed. 
 The distinction between ihe appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 to be visibly s/iexcn by the blei-sed and oidy Potentate; and the 
 invisible (iod dwelling in the light zi-hich ?w maji can approach 
 unto, zvhoin no man hath seen nor ca7i see, is very explicitly stated 
 by St. Paul. 1 Tim. iv. 12 — 16. The distinction between 
 the visible coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the spiritual 
 fellowship his people have with him now in his absence is also 
 clearly displayed. 1 Cor. i. 7 — 9. They were zcaitingfor his 
 comi/ig, but they had been A\reaidy called into his fellozcship. 
 
 The event to which the New Testament mainly refers is his 
 future personal coming. An event unspeakably terrible to his 
 enemies and infinitely desirable to his people; they are de- 
 scribed as "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious 
 appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 Titus ii.^3. 
 
 The references to this event in the epistles to the Thessa- 
 lonians are very frequent,* and the practical uses made of it are 
 very diversified. It seems from the expression of St. Paul to 
 the Corinthians, ye come behind in no gift, wailing for the coming 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ; 1 Cor. i. 7. as if waiting for this com- 
 ing was the posture of mind in which it was peculiarly desira- 
 ble that the Chiistian should ever be found. 
 
 And if we consider that tlie glory of God in the scheme of 
 redemption will not be fully displayed, nor the happiness of 
 the church completed, till that event takes place, we may easily 
 conceive how desirable that event is. 
 
 [63] The church of England teaches her members, in the 
 Funeral Service, to pray that "God would shortly accomplish 
 the number of his elect, and hasten the coming of his king- 
 dom," and this leads us to one blessed result of Christ's coming. 
 The church is a corporate body — tliat is, it is one body, and 
 will not be completed till all the members of that body are 
 gathered together. Nor will each individual member of that 
 church be fully glorified till his own body is raised in glory 
 and le-united to his spirit along with the whole church. The 
 admission of the spirits of the just at death into paradise, is a 
 joyful and desirable event; but we leave many beloved mem- 
 bers of the church on earth, and the whole body of the church 
 is also incomplete till the resurrection. Admission into para- 
 dise at death is then only a step onward to a yet more desira- 
 ble event — the coming of the Lord, when the whole church 
 
 ♦ Did the reader ever notice that each chapter of the first epistle closes with 
 -uch a relerenccl 
 
52 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 will be assembled, the bodies of the saints raised in glory, and 
 all his people will ever be with the Lord. Death is gai?i to a 
 believer, (Phil. i. 21.) it is among his privileges; but it is the 
 resurrection at the coming of Christ that completes his happi- 
 ness with that of the church of Christ at large. 
 
 The great points of controversy among Christians are not 
 with reference to the actual and personal coming of Christ — 
 all who believe the Bible, believe that he will thus come, for 
 ever to bless his servants and punish his enemies. The ques- 
 tion is rather when this second coming shall take place* — pre- 
 viously [64] to the Millennium, or subsequently to it; or, as 
 some believe, without any Millennium yet to come on earth. 
 The Author after lengthened consideration of the subject, 
 believes that our Lord will come before the Millennium;! but 
 he desires to view the subject more in the practical application 
 than in minute anticipated declaration of fulureevents. Though 
 there may, through our ignorance, be difficulties that have not 
 yet been cleared up; there is no difficulty at all in the general 
 truth, and in its practical application. 
 
 On the second coming of Christ, the scriptures speak both 
 fully and distinctly. 
 
 Of this coming the Apostle says, (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.) 
 <'The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
 with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, 
 and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive 
 and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the 
 clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever 
 with the Lord." Our Lord himself tells us "the Son of man 
 shall come in his glory and all his holy angels with him, and 
 then shall he sit on the throne of his glory, and before him 
 shall be gathered all nations." Matt. xxv. 31. 
 
 The world in general mock at this, and say, "where is the 
 promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all 
 things continue as they were from the beginning of the crea- 
 tion." The apostle calls such, scojfers, walking in their own 
 lusts, and ignorant of God's former dealings in the destruction 
 of the world by the deluge, and says, "the day of the Lord 
 will come as [65] a thief in the night, in the which the heavens 
 shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt 
 
 * Mr. Faber's view of a spiritual instead of a personal advent before the Mil- 
 lennium, is well met by Mr. Cuningliame in his critical examination of Mr. Fa- 
 ber's Work, p. 118, &c. See also Mr. Cuninj2;hame's answer to the Edinburj^h 
 Theological Magazine, and his reply to Dr. Wardlaw, and also liis premil- 
 ennial advent. At least, let one of the ablest advocates of the premillcnnial 
 [)ersonal advent be heard, before the doctrine be condemned, lest unconsciously 
 men be found fighting against the truth. 
 
 t See his work on '•Preparedness for the day of Christ." 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 53 
 
 with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein 
 shall be burnt up." He then adds the practical improvement of 
 such immensely important events, saying, "Seeing that all 
 these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought 
 }'e to be in all holy conveisation and godliness, looking for and 
 hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the 
 heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
 melt with fervent heat, nevertheless we, according to his pro- 
 mise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for 
 such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, 
 without sj)ot and blameless, and account that the long-suffering 
 of the Lord is salvation." 2 Peter iii. 3 — 14. It is very 
 affecting to consider that even professing servants of Christ, it 
 is foretold shall say, Ah/ Lord c/elayelh his com'nig. Luke xii. 
 45. May we be kept from so great a snare of the enemy! 
 
 It is evident that this event is one of stujiendous, over- 
 whelming, and incalculable importance, and, one which the 
 scripture ever, by its statements, leads us to consider as near 
 at hand, and for which we ought to be prepared. It is con- 
 sidered to be before the Millennium, because (I) there seems 
 no adequate reason why the word coming (a-a/jouj-za) signifying 
 personal presence, (1 Cor. xvi. 17; 2 Cor. vii. 6, 7; Phil. i. 
 26,) should not mean personal presence in the various passages 
 where it refers to our Lord's coming; (as Matt. xxiv. 3, 27, 
 37,38,39; 1 Cor. xv. 23; 1 Thess. ii. 19; iii. 13; v. 23; 2 
 Thess. ii. 1, S; 2 Peter i. 16; 1 John ii. 28. (2) The man of 
 sin, it is generally admitted, shall be destroyed before the [p^^ 
 i\Iillennium,and that is satted (Dan. vii. 11 — 13; 2 Thess. ii. 8,) 
 to beat the coming (mfouTi^t) of the Lord, a coming previously 
 described in terms that identify it with his personal coming, (1 
 Thess. and 2 Thess. ii. 1.)* (3.) The numerous expressions of 
 the surprise with which this .coming will take the world, as a 
 snare and as a thief, its comparison with the deluge and the 
 destruction of Sodom, and the directions to be ever looking 
 for it, and the ground on which that direction is given, our 
 ignorance of the day and hour when he comes, seem incon- 
 sistent with tlie idea of any certain intervening period of 1000 
 years. (4.) The express assertion of our Lord during the 
 pouring out of the sixth vial, (which has been almost generally 
 referred to the decay of the Turkish empire,) Behold, I come 
 as a thief — connected as it is with all those passages which 
 
 * The word TrdLf.uTix is applied, 2 Thess. ii. <», to the comin? of Antichrist, 
 and tliis may lead »s justly to expect a personal, visible Antichrist heading 
 the last apostacy, as well as that spiritual Antichrist which has so long been 
 openly developed in Popery. 
 
54 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 thus speak of his personal coming, leads us to the same conclu- 
 sion. (5.) A spiritual advent has ah'eady taken place, and is 
 already given to the church, (Matt, xxvii. 20; John xiv. 18, 
 23.) it seems therefore groundless to apply these passages to 
 what already exists; our lord is to come again in the same 
 way he ascended in the clouds. Acts i. II. (6.) We read, 
 (Psalm ex. 1,) The Lord said unlo my Lord, sit thou at my right 
 hand, milil I make thine enemies thy footstool, our Lord will there- 
 fore remain there till that period; that is, as explained by 
 Daniel, till the Ancietit of days, sit in judgment on the beast (Dan. 
 vii. 9 — 14.) and then he comes ivifh the clonds of heaven to 
 receive his kingdom: [67] His coming thus is after his ascen- 
 sion, and before his kingdom. (7.) We read (Acts iii. 19 — 
 21.) Repent and be converted, that your sins maybe blotted out, 
 whe?i (oTTO);, so that, Rose's Parkhurst, see Hosea v. 15.) "the 
 times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, 
 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached 
 unto you; whom the heavens must receive until the times of 
 the restitution of all things, which (of which times) God hath 
 spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world 
 began." It is evident that "the times of refreshing," and "the 
 restitution of all things" are to begin with the sending of Jesus 
 Christ. (S. ) It is in the time of hope of relief failing on the 
 earth, (without any statement of an intervening Millennium,) 
 that our Lord comes: When the Son of ma?i cometh shall he 
 find faith on the earth? Luke xviii. 8. He is revealed when 
 men are full of earthly mindedness, (Luke xvii. 26 — 30; his 
 coming therefore cannot be a spiritual coming of gradually 
 increasing holiness. (9.) Jerusalem is trodden down of the 
 Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled: then follows 
 the distress of 7iatiotis, and the So7i of man coming in a cloud, and 
 with these things <Ae drawing nigh of redemption. Luke xxi. 
 24 — 28, whether we apply this to Israel's redemption, (Isaiah 
 li. 11; Ixiii. 4,) or the redemption of the saints, (Rom. viii. 
 19 — 23,) it is the kingdom of God nigh at hand, (Luke xxi. 31,) 
 the personal coming of Christ before the Millennium. The 
 general testimony of scripture on this subject will be however 
 considered more at large in the next chapter.* 
 
 * The author has read, among other works, two recent ones against the 
 praemillennial advent, and ihe lileral interpretniion of prophecy. The first is 
 entitled, "Millenarianism Unscriptural, or a Glance at some of the conse- 
 quences of that Theory." There is doubtless valuable scriptural truth in it, 
 and a desire to be candid; but he can by no means agree in many a statement 
 of the supposed opinions opposed, or of the arguments against them. It is 
 easy to raise and overthrow imagined enemies. The compatibility of our 
 views with our Lord's sacerdotal office may be seen fully in Mr. Cox's inte- 
 resting work, "Our Great High Priest." There is too much vagueness, and, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 55 
 
 [68] When Christ says, Surely I come, he, who is eminently 
 the truth; and whose word, though heaven and earlh pass away, 
 shall not pass away, (Malt. xxiv. 35,) strongly intimates the 
 general disregard and unbelief of man. The almost general 
 despair of this among his people in the days of the last tribu- 
 lation, is implied in his saying, (Mark xvi. 8,) "when the Son 
 of Man Cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" In few 
 things is our practical unbelief more evident than in the great 
 disregard of this in all our calculations. Men of the world 
 altogether put it out of consideration. They scheme and plan 
 tor generation [69] upon generation here, but they plan not 
 with reference to this overwhelming, approaching, and most 
 certain event, which shall control evei'y human scheme, set 
 aside for ever all that God forbids, and introduce another era 
 for the human race. 
 
 The coming of Christ is the leading subject of the Prophe- 
 cies, both of the Old and the New Testament, either as it relates 
 to his first or his second coming, and these are often intimately 
 connected together, especially in the Old Testament. It may 
 be useful, however to subjoin a summary of some principal 
 passages which chiefly relate to his second coming, inter- 
 mingled indeed with predictions of his first coming, but with 
 larger events and promises, than have ever yet been realized. 
 
 The passages in which it is expressly treated are such as 
 Psalms 1. Ixxii. xcvi. to cii.; Isaiah ii. xi. xxiv. to xxviii. and 
 the xl. and remaining chapters. Jeremiah xxx. to xxxiii.; 
 Ezekiel xxxvi. to the end. Daniel vii. viii. xii.; Haggai ii. ; 
 Zachariah xii. toxiv. ; Matt. xiii. xxiv. xxv.; Mark xiii.; Luke 
 
 may I add, notwithstanding its ingenuity and. talent, want of information in 
 the work here noticed, materially to affect what the author believes to be the 
 truth. 
 
 The second work is by Dr. Urwick, and entitled "the Second Advent of 
 Christ the blessed Hope of the Church," in which the prcemillennial advent is 
 opposed with more skill and knowledge; but the author cannot consider with 
 more real success. The grounds, for instance, taken in the following chapter 
 furnish a complete scriptural answer to many imaginary difficulties. How 
 would Dr. Urwick, who spiritualizes Micnh iv. 1—4. spiritualize the connect- 
 ing ver.'^es at the close of the preceding chapterl No doubt the passing away 
 of 1800 years would not of itself shew the nearness of our Lord's coming; and 
 here those who reject the year day may learn the need of the Chronological 
 Prophecies to bring us to a waiting state of mind for our Lord's coming. The 
 Chronological Prophecies were to be unveiled at the time of the end, on pur- 
 pose to bring simple and candid minds to a due expectation and preparation, 
 when delay had made these duties more difficult. Fully to answer these and 
 other writers, would, however, require larger works even than their own. It 
 is, however, really grateful to feel that attention is more directed to this sub- 
 ject. The coming of our Lonl is now brought forward. The main and sav- 
 ing truths of the gospel are also earnestly pressed in both these publications, 
 and though prophetical truth would be, he believes, an additional safeguard 
 against the errors of these days, the author n-joices in that large ground of 
 union and walking together as brethren, furnished t>y those primary truths. 
 
56 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 xii. 31, &c. xvii. 20, xxi. ; John xiv. 3; 1 Thess. iv. v.,; 2 
 Thess. i. ii.; 1 Cor. xv.; 1 Tim. vi. 13, &c. 2 Tim. iv. 1— S; 
 Romans viii. 18, &c. xi. Jude; 2 Peter; Revelation generally.* 
 [70] This is a uapidly approaching event; I come quickly 
 is an expression repeated four times in the [71] last chapter of 
 the Revelation. Quickly indeed did the Lord begin toaccom- 
 
 * The following summary (partly taken from a tract on the subject) may 
 also assist the reader, in referring to passages relating to the coming of our 
 Lord. 
 From whence does he cornel 
 
 From heaven. Acts i. 10, 11. Acts iii. 20, 21. 1 Thess. i. 10; iv. 16. 
 How will he come? 
 In splendour and glory. Mark xiv. 62. Matt. xxiv. 30; xxvi. Ot, xvi. 27. 
 Suddenly, when he is not expected. 
 
 As a thief. Matt. xxiv. 43, 44. 1 Thess. v. 2. 2 Peter iii. 10. Rev. xvi. 15. 
 As a snare. Luke xxi. 34, 35. Rev. iii. 3. 
 As the lightning. Luke xvii. 24. Matt. xiv. 27. 
 As the flood. Matt. xxiv. 37, 39. Luke xvii. 26. 
 As the destruction of Sodom. Luke xvii. 28, 30. 
 For what purpose did he cornel 
 To destroy his enemies. Psalm ii. 9; ex. 5— 7. Isaiah Ixiii. 6. Mai. iii. 5: 
 
 iv. 1. 2 Thess. i. 7—10; ii. 8. Jude 14, 15. Rev. xix. 11—15. 
 To raise the sleeping dust of his saints. Job xix. 25, 26. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
 23. 1 Thess. iv. 14. 
 To change and glorify the living saints; 1 Cor. xv. 51. 52. 1 Thess. iv. 17. 
 
 1 John iii. 2. 
 To bring mercies to Israel. Rom. xi. 26. Isaiah xi. 11, 12. Dan. xii. 1. 
 
 Psalm cii. 16. 
 Tojudge the earth. Jude 14, 15. Psalm xcvi. 13. Rev. xix. 11. 
 To take possession of it and reign over it with his saints. Psalm ii. 8; viii. 
 
 5, 6; cxlix. 5—9. Isaiah xxiv. 23. Daniel vii. 13, 14, 18, 22, 27. Zech. 
 
 xiv. 9. Luke xxii. 29, 30. 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12; iv. 8. Rev. ii. 26, 27; iii. 21: 
 
 V. 10; XX. 4. ICor. vi. 2,3. 
 When will he cornel 
 During the shaking of the powers of heaven. Luke xxi. 25 — 28. Matt. 
 
 xxiv. 29, 30. Mark xiii. 24—26. 
 In a time of peace. Matt. xxi. 37 — 42. Luke xvii. 26 — 30; xxi. 34 — 36. 
 
 1 Thess. V. 2, 3. 
 Soon after the pouring out of the 6th vial. Rev. xvi. 15. 
 When unfaithful servants say in their hearts, "My Lord dclayeth his com- 
 ing." 2 Peter iii. 3, 4. Jude 14, 15, 18. 
 When the everlasting gospel shall be diffusing over the earth. Rev. xiv. 
 
 6,7. 
 When judgments shall have been poured on the 4ih empire. Daniel vii. 
 
 9—1.3. 
 When the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke x.xi. 24 — 27. Acts xv. 
 
 14—16. Romans xi. 25, 26. 
 What is our diity iii leference to his cominiil 
 Watchfulness. Liike xii. 37. Matt. xxiv. 42. 
 Prayer. Markxiii. 33. Luke xxi. 36. 
 Waiting. 2 Thess. iii. !3. 1 Cor. i. 7. 
 Expectation. Titus ii. 13. Phil. iii. 20. 
 Preparation. Luke xii. 35, 3(), 40. Matt. xxiv. 44. 
 To gain oil in our vessels. Matt. xxv. 1 — 13. 
 
 To lay out our talents for our Master. Matt. xxv. 14—30. Luke xix. 12 — 17. 
 To be thoughtful for his afflicted people. Matt. xxv. 31 — 46. 
 To have on the wedding garment. Matt. xxii. 11. 
 
 Mr. Fry's Work on the second Advent is designed purpo.^ely to bring ihc 
 prophecies together on this subject, and to illustrate them. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 57 
 
 plish that which he had testified, and rapidly is the course of 
 events advancing along. (See the note, p. 24G,in the Author's 
 Chief Concerns of Man, on this topic.) Notliing can stop the 
 progress of hinn whose very title is c s/!;,^5>6V5f, the coming one: 
 JNIatt. xi. 3; Luke vii. 19; Heb. x. 37. Any delay thac may seem 
 to take place is owing to his infinite compassion. "The Lord 
 is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, 
 but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9. It 
 will come unexpectedly, sooner than the wicked think; soon, 
 in comparison of eternity, and therefore quickly to all. 
 
 If this difficulty be felt; the promises of coming quickly 
 were made to the church nearly eighteen centuries since, and 
 how could it be true in their case, that he should come quickly, 
 when it is clear that his coming must have been thus distant. 
 We may reply, the whole of the case is not before us. For 
 instance, we know that departed spirits are with Christ, and 
 happy in him, but we know not how periods, long to us, may 
 be rapidly passed through by a disembodied spirit. But more 
 especially the simple and full reply is, the Eternal Spirit speaks 
 according to the vastness of his own mind: 2 Peter iii. 8: and 
 chronological prophecies are given, to assist us in discerning 
 the times. Dan. viii. 13, 14; xii. 6, 7. 
 
 The practical inference that we may most profitably gather 
 from the apparent delay of this great event is rather this: if 
 they had to expect his coming quickly, much more should we 
 who are so obviously much nearer the time. The Apostle 
 says, [72] only a few years after the resurrection of Christ, 
 "now is our salvation nearer than when we believed: the night 
 is far spent, the day is at hand." Rom. xiii. 11. In these days, 
 after seeing the events which the church has witnessed, accom- 
 plishing so many of the prophecies of Revelation; — after see- 
 ing the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, so large a por- 
 tion, if not the whole, of thfe 12G0 years; after seeing the 
 pouring out of the vials, (Rev. xiv.) and the wasting of the 
 Papal and JNIahommedan Antichrist, the general preaching of 
 the gospel, and the stir among the Jews; the infidelity that is 
 so widely diffused and so openly avowed; and all the agitating 
 events of the present day, thickening as they are upon us, — 
 every Christian has seen enough to say, "I will stand upon 
 my watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will watch to see 
 what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am 
 reproved, Ilab. ii. 1 — 3,) and to listen to the admonition, "the 
 vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak 
 and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely 
 come, it will not tarry." 
 
 No Christian can tell the day nor the hour when the Son of Man 
 
 VOL. II. — 55 
 
5g A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 cometh; and on this very ground every one is called to watch- 
 fulness and prayer, and to be like one waiting for the retur?i 
 of his Lord. Matt. xxiv. 42. It" even it be thought that pre- 
 viously to his coming, there should be a millennium, or thou- 
 sand years of blessedness on earth, it must be remembered, 
 that our God repeatedly and constantly exhorts us to be watch- 
 ful, and prepared for his coming suddenly: any view of a 
 future millennium that would make this impracticable cannot 
 be scriptural. 
 
 Have we not too much been accustomed also to [73] view 
 the future coming of Christ as a solitary fact, rather than as a 
 period, full of important events? Tlie first coming of Christ 
 occupied above thirty years, and varied events took place in it. 
 May not his second coming also be a lengthened period? may 
 it not also include a great variety of important events? On the 
 order of future events, our knowledge must be in a measure 
 obscure. And was not the very obscurity' designed to have, 
 among other advantages, this practical effect, that the church 
 may never be without the privilege and duty of waiting for and 
 expecting the quick return of its beloved and adored Head. 
 
 Let it then be remembered that all Christians agree that our 
 Lord Christ shall come, and come suddenly, quickly, and u?i- 
 expcctedly. His own statement is express on this point — Behold, 
 I come as a thief We must then lay aside all confidence 
 
 IN VIEWS THAT WOULD PRACTICALLY INTERFERE WITH IMME- 
 DIATE PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING, and Seek to attain the 
 blessing connected with the announcement of his coming: 
 "Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he 
 walk naked, and they see his shame. Rev. xvi. 15. 
 
 The varied ways in which the coming of Christ is explained 
 tend to shew that a spiritual coming does not accord with the 
 simple declarations of scripture. Some, in order to meet the 
 numerous expressions of the suddenness of our Lord's com- 
 ing, deny that the Millennium is to come, and yet the order of 
 the Apocalypse, and the conformity of this hope with innu- 
 merable promises both of the Old and New Testament, make 
 this view so unsatisfactory that it is by no means generally en- 
 tertained. Others think [74] coming may mean death; but this 
 will not apply to the varied descriptions of his coming, and 
 would make that which is the grand theme of prophecy an 
 hourly and momentary event; coming after an apostacy, com- 
 ing after the great tribulation, coming as the deluge, coming as 
 the destruction of Sodom, coming as lightning, coming with 
 the sound of the trumpet, coming with his holy angels, ap- 
 plies not to death. Others think that it can only be a spiritual 
 coming before the Millennium in judgments and mercies; 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 59 
 
 founding this on Daniel's giving the expression, the Sou of Man 
 coming in the clouds, in the symbolical part of his prediction, 
 the Ancient of Days sitting symbolically in judgment, and the 
 Son of Man's coming in the clouds not being mentioned in the 
 literal explanation. Dan. vii. 9 — 27. But God is essentially 
 invisible; the Son of Man is visible, and the kingdom given 
 to him is literally mentioned in the symbolical plan of the pro- 
 phecy, just as it is in the literal explanation. His coming per- 
 sonally to establish his kingdom rests not on that passage alone, 
 but on other passages that cannot be so escaped. 2 Tim. iv. 1, 
 S; 1 Peter v. 4. 
 
 The great diversity of these opinions, and the different plans 
 for escaping from the force of plain expressions, may at least 
 lead us to suspect that the mind naturally desires any thing 
 rather than yield to the unwelcome fact of such an unparal- 
 leled interference with and disturbance, not only of all its pre- 
 conceived notions, but of the whole present system and course 
 of this world. Let us yield to the plain meaning of the words, 
 and believe that coming means coming, the Son of Ma7i's com- 
 ing, means the Son of JMufi's coming; his coming in the clouds, 
 (Acts i. 11.) [75] means his coming in the clouds, and our igno- 
 rance of the time and the suddenness of it, makes it impossible 
 that there should be an intervening certain period of 1000 
 years yet to come; and we shall find consistency and rest in 
 plain words. Thus we shall be enabled to yield up our minds 
 with comfort and satisfaction to the obvious meaning of innu- 
 merable expressions throughout the word of God; without any 
 jarring between our opinions, and the apparent statements of 
 the Divine Record. 
 
 It is objected that death is the same to us as the coming of 
 Christ. The practical duty of constant preparedness for this 
 great change is clear. In the way of Providence, death comes 
 suddenly to all: and though <iot with the same blessed hope, 
 nor with the same purifying power, yet the shortness and un- 
 certainty of life (James iv. 14; 1 Cor. vii. 29) is a quickening 
 motive for deadness to the world and preparedness for meeting 
 our God. That state of mind which is a due preparation for 
 the awful change that death makes, prepares us also for the 
 coming of Christ; death is a decisive day to us as individuals, 
 fixing our state for ever. But, while a lively view of the 
 coming of Christ is a great help to right preparation for death, 
 it gives us also the enjoyment of a blessed hope, instead of the 
 dread of an evil, all our days. 
 
 Though the practical use of a doctrine is not the ground on 
 which we can prove it, as we are hardly competent judges on 
 tHat point, yet it being often objected to premillennial views, 
 
60 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 what is the real importance of them? does not death answer the 
 same end in practice as the coming of Christ is expected to 
 answer? It may, in addition to what has [76] ah-eady been 
 said, be farther observed in reply: Death in itself is the wages 
 of sin, and the dissolution of the body undesirable, (2 Cor. v. 
 4,) and an object of terror, rather than of hope; Christ's coming 
 is from a covenant of love, terrible indeed to the wicked, but 
 a blessed hope to the righteous. Death does not ordinarily come 
 without some previous notice and time of preparation; our 
 Saviour comes quite by surprise. We think we can ward off 
 death by skill, and care, and medicine for a long time; there is 
 no warding off the irresistible coming of the Lord. Death 
 does not take away our possessions from our family and friends, 
 and therefore does not effectually separate us from the love of 
 the world; but our Saviour's coming is the entire destruction 
 of all worldly plans, hopes, and prospects; takes away estates, 
 mortgages, funds, titles, earthly reputation, dnd every thing on 
 which the carnal heart builds, not only from us, but from our 
 children, and leaves us and them nothing but the heavenly in- 
 heritance, and the promised glories of the Redeemer; and that 
 zuhe7i he shall appear we shall be like him, for zee shall see him as 
 he is. Hence it is he thai hath this hope i?i him purifeth himself 
 even as he is pure. 1 John iii. 2, 3. The coming of Christ is 
 then far more effectual to wean us from the world, and to lead 
 us to bring up our children separated from it and dead to it, 
 and living only for the kingdom iJtat cannot be moved. lieb. 
 xii. 28. 
 
 There are unhappily but few among real Christians whose 
 faith and hope excite them to a holy desire to depart and to be 
 zcith Christ. Phil. i. 23. There are very many, who from 
 weakness of faith, and perhaps careless walking with God, 
 through fear of death, are all their life-time subject to bondage. 
 Heb. ii. 15. The [77] fears of such spring from this cause: 
 they are afraid that they are not true disciples of Christ, and 
 shall not be accepted by him; and though this state of heart 
 probably arises from a sinful want of faith in and submis- 
 sion TO ALL HIS TRUTH, and is comfortless and unsatisfactory, 
 yet if such are indeed born of God, their great desire is to zcin 
 Christ andbe found in him, Phil. iii. S, 9; and could they be as- 
 sured that they had an interest in Christ, and would be gathered 
 with his sheep into the heavenly fold, they would look at 
 death without terror. To assist such, I would direct them as 
 the sacred writers do, not to look merely at death, but to look 
 also at the coming of Christ. Death, though in one view a 
 privilege, in another is the wages of sin, and a terrible enemy; 
 but the return of Christ is a blessed hope full of joy, (Titus 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. (51 
 
 ii. 13.) A lively faith in the coming of Christ, (1 Cor. xv. 23, 
 52 — 57) gives us the victory over death and all its sting. 
 
 Weigh much then the glories and hlessedness of his return, 
 till holy desires he kindled in your heart, and you have no 
 hesitation in joining in the desire of the church, cvcji so, come, 
 Lord Jesus. Rev. xxii. 20. These words are, as if the church 
 with ardent desire exclaimed, "Oh hasten thy coming, — let sin 
 be abolished for ever, perfect holiness be given to thy people 
 in glory, thine elect be gathered, their bodies raised, thyself 
 admired in thy saints, and the transient glimmerings of this 
 distant glory issue in seeing thee as thou art, and being ever 
 with thee, Lord. Jesus, thou King and Saviour of thy 
 church, accomplish the number of thine elect; finish the days 
 of conflict; destroy the works of Satan; swallow up death in 
 [78] victory; manifest thine own glory, and may we soon be 
 with thee in that glory for ever and ever." 
 
 Such is the second advent of Christ, which is before his 
 church. It is full of terror to all his enemies, for "he shall be 
 revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 
 taking vengeance on them that know not God and obe}^ not the 
 gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with 
 everlasting destruction from the presence cf the Lord, and from 
 the glory of his power." 2 Thess. i. 9. reader! be not, 
 for all that this world can give, among those enemies. It is 
 full of consolation to his people, for he shall come to be glorified 
 171 his saints and to he admired in all them that believe, ver. 10. 
 reader! may you and I be numbered among his believing 
 saints. 
 
 Desire for Christ's coming is the very spirit of every Chris- 
 tian who truly loves him. The last sound of the church in the 
 book of God, in reply to the promised quick coming of our 
 Saviour, is. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The last note in the 
 richest expressions of love to.Christ abounding in the book of 
 Canticles is, "Make haste, my beloved, arid be thou like to a 
 roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices." The 
 prayer our Lord himself has taught us ever to use is. Thy king- 
 dom come. If we love our Saviour we must long to behold him. 
 If now seeing him only by faith, toe rejoice with joy unspeakable, 
 how infinitely desirable must it be to see him as he is, and 
 dwell with him for ever! 
 
 55* 
 
62 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PERIOD OF THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 
 
 [79] It will be generally allowed by all who believe the 
 word of God, that there is a time of universal peace, righteous- 
 ness, and blessedness, promised to the church of Christ on 
 earth; the question we would now consider is whether this 
 time precedes or follows the coming of our Lord, in glorified 
 humanity, to our earth. All real Christians know that he will 
 thus come; but in these latter days many have thought, not 
 only that this period of rest is yet to come,' which we believe 
 to be the truth, but that it is to come before our Lord's return. 
 What then say the scriptures? We can only rest on scripture 
 testimony. God will be found true, though cverij ma?i healiar; 
 and of what is to come we can literally know nothing certainly 
 but that which he has revealed. The subject is too large to 
 introduce the full testimony of scripture; only specimens can 
 be given. 
 
 There is a remarkable distinction which may be observed 
 between the testimony of the Old and that of the New Testa- 
 ment, on this point. The old Testament [SO] is very full of 
 statements respecting a season of rest and glory, every where 
 introduced by the coming of Christ. .The New Testament, 
 when our Lord had come, speaks of afflictions and sorrows 
 and a mingled state of his people till a future coming, and then 
 of a kingdom and a season of rest. The point of harmony be- 
 tween these statements will lead us to the scriptural view of 
 the period of our Lord's return. 
 
 When the Old Testament prophecies were given, both the 
 first and second comings of our Lord were future: it will 
 prevent mistake respecting which of these is intended, first 
 to consider the New Testament statements bearing on 
 this subject, and then harmonize them with those of the Old 
 Testament. May our God enable us to discern his truth! 
 
 1. The New Testament is quite silent as to any period 
 OP REST before the second coming; nor is there any passage 
 that can justly be construed to support this view. The only 
 passage on which men have rested (the 20th of Revelation,) 
 may, it is believed, be fully proved to relate to the state of 
 glory after his coming. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 53' 
 
 2. The New Testament everywhere represents the Church 
 as in AN AFFLicTKD STATE till our Lord's return. As in per- 
 secution, tribulation, suflering;, reproach, &c. Matt. v. 10 — 
 12; xvi. 24, 25; xix. 29. Luke vi. 21, 22; ix. 23—26; xiv. 
 25—29; xviii. 1— S; xx. 16—19. John xii. 24—26; xv. 20; 
 xvi. 33. Acts xiv. 22. Rom. v. 3; viii. 17 — 35: xii. 12 — 
 14. 2 Cor. iv. 8- IS. Gal. v. 11; vi. 12—16. Phil. i. 28- 
 30. 1 Thess. ii. 14; iii. 4, 5. 2 Thess. i. 4—7. 1 Tim. iii. 
 12. 1 Peter iv. 12—19. 1 John iii. 12—14. The whole 
 past history of the Church and the [SI] experience of faithful 
 Christians accords with the statements made in these passages. 
 
 3. The New Testament every where represents the world 
 AT LARGE AS ABOUNDING IN WICKEDNESS during the present 
 dispensation and till it ends. Alatt. vi. 32; vii. 13, 14, 21, 22; 
 x. 16—25, 34—36; xi. 25—27; xiii. 24—30, 47; xviii. 7 — 
 9; xxiv. 12, 48-51. John iii. 17—20; vii. 7; xv. 18, 19; 
 xvi. 20; xvii. 9, 12 — 21. Rom. viii. 36. 2 Tim. iii. 13. 1 
 John V. 19. The actual state of the world is a painful but 
 living commentary on this in the sight of all men. 
 
 4. The New Testament every where represents the Church 
 OF Christ as an elect body gathered out op the evil 
 WORLD — a chosen generation, a peculiar people, separate and 
 distinct from the world. Matt. xx. 16; xxii. 14. Mark xiii. 
 20. John vi. 37,45; xiii. 1,18; xiv. 17 — 19; xv. 19; xvi. 20; 
 xvii. 9. Acts XV. 14; Rom. viii — xi. Gal. v. 14. Ephes. i. 
 4—6. Heb. xii. 38. 1 Peter ii. 4—9. 1 John iii. 1; iv. 5, 6. 
 
 5. One glorious hope is set before the Church in the 
 New Testament. This hope is set before us collectively and 
 in common. It is not to be given separately, at dijf'ere?it peri- 
 ods, but it is a glory belonging to the Church, to be given to 
 it as a corporate body at a particular period, the coming of our 
 Lord; and, while it is to be the one object of hope of all the 
 church in every age, it is to, be enjoyed together as one body. 
 For this all are to be looking. Matt. xvi. 27; xxv. Acts 
 xxiv. 15. Rom. v. 2; viii. 1 Cor. i. 7; xv. Gal. -v. 5. 
 Phil. iii. 20. Col. i. 23—27. 1 Thess. i. 10; iv. 13; v. 8. 
 2 Tim. iv. 8. Titus ii. 12,13; iii. 37. Heb. ix. 28. 1 Peter 
 i. 8, 13. 2 Peter iii. 12. 1 John iii. 3. 
 
 [82] 6. The coming of the Lord is ever represented as un- 
 certain IN the time, but near at hand. This does not 
 exclude the possibility of even a long previous period, as in the 
 days of the Apostles, — for the scriptures speak of time with 
 the largeness of the Divine mind; but it docs exclude a fore- 
 known certain period of any consideralile length: for then we 
 could not be in a state of expectancy for it. Matt. xxiv. 48, 
 51. Luke xviii. S; xxi. 35. 1 Thess. v. 1—3. Phil. iv. 5. 
 
54 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Heb. X. 37. James v. 8, 9. 1 Peter iv. 7. 2 Peter iii. 10, 
 12. Rev. xvi. 15; xxii. 7. 
 
 7. In several of the Epistles we observe a statement of a 
 GROWING FORM OP EVIL, increasing till the coming of Christ, 
 and not closed till then. The Epistle to the Romans depicts 
 the Gentile church as growing in the pride of spiritual privi- 
 leges and warns them against the danger of being cut ofi'. (ch. 
 xi.) The Epistle to the Corinthiafis depicts the church resting 
 in its external privileges, gendering strife, divisions, and envy- 
 ings, and warns them of the danger of falling. 1 Cor. x. Ga- 
 latiafii manifests the leaven of human merit corrupting the gos- 
 pel. Those to the Thessalo?iia?is bring out the future apostacy 
 distinctly. The 1st Epistle to Timothy shews the corruption 
 of the Papacy; and the 2nd that of lawlessness in the last days. 
 James shews us the inroads of worldliness, heaping treasure in 
 the last days. Peter and Jude gives us the full particulars of the 
 Infidel Apostacy, and one bids us look for .the new heavens 
 and the new earth, and the other for the mercy of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ unto eternal life. The Apocalypse under three'dis- 
 tinct streams of prediction, those relating to the seals, [83] 
 trumpets, and the church, with the seven vials, brings before 
 us a series of growing evils, closed by the coming of the Lord. 
 
 The whole current then of the New Testament writers flows 
 in one direction — that there is no time of blessedness and 
 peace and general holiness on earth before our Lord's return. 
 Even in their day — though the Lord as to his immediate 
 appearance was not at hand, (bscTTJiwv) 2 Thess. ii. 2. Yet were 
 Christians to be patientl}^ waiting for him, (2 Thess. iii. 5) and 
 he was in the eye of God at hand, or near {k6 f to; \yyv;) Phil. iv. 
 5. And if this was to be their state of mind much more is it 
 to be ours. 
 
 The testimony of the Old Testament respecting the second 
 coming of our Lord has now to be considered. The remark- 
 able feature of the Old Testament is that it is full of predic- 
 tions of outward rest and glor}'^ at the coming of the Lord. 
 But there is this difficulty in interpreting its testimony, that 
 both the first and the second coming being future, we want 
 clear tests to discriminate between these two, that we may 
 rightly apply the passage to its appropriate events. These tests 
 the New Testament furnishes. 
 
 (1.) The distinctive features of the first coming are grace 
 and SALVATION, and of the second coming righteousness and 
 JUDGMENT. Thus our Lord says, (John xii. 4, 7,) of his first 
 coming, I came not to judge the world, but to save the rvorld: but 
 of his second coming we read, he is ordained of God to be the 
 judge of quick and dead. Acts x. 42. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. C5 
 
 (2.) There are various signs given in the New Testament op 
 THE SECOND COMING applying only to that. The sign of the 
 Son of Man in the heavens, [S4] the darkening of the sun, 
 moon, and stars, the sounding of the trumpet, the restoration 
 of Israel, and the gathering together of his elect: when these 
 signs are mentioned as taking place in connection with predic- 
 tions in the Old Testament, we may then conclude that it 
 relates to the time of the future Advent. We may observe 
 farther, that the words that day, used absolutely, point out 
 in both Testaments the Second Coming. Isa. ii. 11; xxiv. 
 21; xxvi. 1; xxix. IS; Hi. 6. Ezek. xxxviii. 19; xlviii. 35. 
 Joel iii. IS. Zech. xii. S; xiii. 1; xiv. 4, 9. Mai. iii. 7. 
 Matt. vii. 22; xxiv. 3C. Luke x. 12. 1 Thess. v. 4. 2 Tim. 
 i. 12, IS; iv. S. 
 
 The evidence from the Old Testament is so very large that 
 only a few passages can be referred to. 
 
 Psalms xciii — xcviii. inclusive, form one connected series of 
 predictions to the same effect, representing a time of blessed- 
 ness, a happy reign ushered in by judgments. The Lord 
 comes to judve and reign over the earth, and the whole crea- 
 tion rejoices in the blessedness which he then brings. The 
 restoration of Israel is predicted, Psalm xcviii. 3. 
 
 Psalm cii. clearly predicts mercy to Zion, — the heathen 
 fearing the Lord, — and connects Zion built up, with the Lord 
 appearing in his glory. 
 
 Isaiah chap. ii. connected with Micah iii. 12; iv. 1, shews 
 a future personal coming, in which there are judgments on the 
 nations and a glorious rest for the church. Chap. xi. 4, com- 
 pared with 2 Thess. ii. 7, S, shews a time of judgment and 
 then peace following, with the restoration and union of the 
 Jewish tribes. Chap, xviii. gives the restoration of Israel with 
 the sign of the Son of Man and the trumpet, verse 3. Chap- 
 ters xxiv. — xxvii. are a serie^ of predictions, [S5] and a careful 
 comparison of them with parallel expressions in the New Tes- 
 tament, will abundantly prove that tiiese predictions have re- 
 lation to the second coming. Chap, xxxiv. describes judg- 
 ments on all the nations coming down upon Idumea (the type 
 of God's enemies, Isa. Ixiii. 1 — 3,) and then in chap. xxxv. we 
 have the following season of blessedness, our God coming xc'ilh 
 vengeance ayul v:ilh a recompense. In chap. xlix. we have (verse 
 4) a delay intimated in the conversion and restoration of Israel 
 to bring in the Gentiles. The fiftieth chapter shews the first 
 advent and our Lord's rejection, and the fifty-first chapter 
 (ver. G) the sign of the second, and (ver. 1(3) the new heavens 
 and new eartii, with the preservation of Israel while they are 
 pla'nting. Chap. lix. ver. 20, is applied by the apostle to the 
 
66 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 future conversion of the Jews; and this introduces the glories 
 of chap. Ix. But it is impossible to enlarge. The sixty-third 
 chap, should be conpared with Rev. xiv. 19, 20, and Rev. xix. 
 The sixty-sixth chap, contains the fullest description of the 
 state of the Jews before our Lord's second coming and their 
 being occupied in building a temple in self-righteousness. In 
 verse 5, we have the appearance of the Lord; in verse 15, his 
 coming in fire; and in verse 22, (he Tiew heavens and the new 
 earth, with the judgments on the transgressors. The voice of 
 Isaiah is uniform that the time of peace and blessedness is at 
 the Lord's coming to punish his enemies and reign over the 
 earth. 
 
 Jeremiah accords with Isaiah. In chapter xxiii. there is 
 first a woe pronounced on unfaithful pastors, and then the 
 righteous branch, the King is to reig7i and prosper aiid execute 
 judgment — not display grace [86] which he now dispenses, but 
 judgment, and this is connected with a second Exodus greater 
 than the first from the land of Egypt. In chap. xxx. we have 
 the great day of tribulation, ver. 7; the raising up of David 
 their king, ver. 9; and a Governor proceeding out of the midst 
 of them, ver. 21. In chap. xxxi. the resurrection of the in- 
 fants slain by Herod, ver. 15, the new covenant, ver. 31, and 
 the glory of Jerusalem, ver. 38 — 40. In chap, xxxiii. we 
 have the restoration of the Jews and the branch of righteous- 
 ness raised up to execute judgment and righteousness, a Son of 
 David to sit on his throne. (See Rev. iii. 21.) 
 
 EzEKiEL bears a like testimony. Among other proofs may 
 be brought chapter xxxiv. where is first the reproving of the 
 shepherds for scattering Israel, and then the promise — I will 
 judge between cattle and cattle, and set up one Shepherd over 
 them — David — a Prince, and then a state of peace follows. In 
 chapter xxxvii. we have a clear promise of the re-union of the 
 tribes in Israel in such a form as clearly excludes any refe- 
 rence to any of the tribes of Israel being restored with the two 
 tribes from Babylon, and shews a larger return, "Take thee 
 one slick and write upon it for Judah, and for the children of 
 Israel his companions; then take another stick and write upon 
 it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of 
 Israel his companions." There is then a promise of David be- 
 ing their king, and their having one shepherd over them, and 
 of their restoration to their own land; a king according to 
 Deut. xvii. 14 — 20. This king at his first comi:ig they re- 
 jected, when they said we have no king but Caesar. In the 
 thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, and follovving chapters we have [87] 
 the full and final glory of restored Israel, closing with the re- 
 markable title of the city — The Lord is there. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 67 
 
 The book of Daniel is very full and explicit. He lived at 
 the time of the rejection of the kingdom of Israel, and was 
 brought into the highest station in connection with the first 
 great empire, to shew its monarch the true God, and teach him 
 his duty towards Him. In ciiaptcr ii. we learn tl^at after the 
 division of the fourth universal empire into the ten European 
 kingdoms, the stone smites the image on its feet, and tiiey are 
 broken to j)ieces, which is interpreted to mean the kingdom 
 of the God of heaven, finally prevailing over all others. In 
 chapter vii. we have a similar prediction, and the Son of man 
 is described as coming in the clouds of heaven, after tlie de- 
 struction of the fourth beast with its ten horns; and then we 
 have the establishment of Christ's universal kingdom over all 
 the earth: the proof here is decisive that the Lord comes be- 
 fore the time of full blessedness on earth. 
 
 Joel, though a short prophecy, contains a striking descrip- 
 tion of events to take place at the coming of the Lord. Com- 
 pare Joel ii. 10, 30, with Matt. xxiv. 29. Mark xiii. 34. 
 Luke xxi. 35, and Rev. vi. 12, 13. In the third chapter we 
 have the gathering of the nations against the restored Jews; 
 the reaping of the harvest of the saints, and the treading down 
 of the vintage of the wicked; the shaking of the heavens 
 (Ileb. xii. 27.), and the acknowletlging (Matt, xxiii. 39.) of the 
 dwelling of the Lord in Zion, with the emphatic term that 
 day, the day of the Lord,\n which they are to take place. 
 
 In Amos ix. S. the sinful kingdom is destroyed, [SS] and in 
 that duij the tabernacle of David is raised up, and the residue 
 of the heathen call on the Lord.* 
 
 In Obadiah 17, the triumph of Israel, and 21, the judgment 
 and kingdom of the saints are predicted. 
 
 In MicAH ii. 12, 13, we read of the restoration of Israel, 
 and the breaker, their King and Lord, at the head of them. In 
 chapter iv. verse S, the first dominion and kingdom, it is pre- 
 dicted, shall return to the daughter of Jerusalem, after the 
 desolation predicted, (iii. 12.) The closing chapter of his'pro- 
 phecies relates to mercies yet to be given to Israel, according 
 to the days when he came out of the land of Egypt, and the 
 utter confusion of opposing nations from the fear of the Lord 
 their God, for whom they had been wailing. 
 
 Habakkuk predicts distinctly the coming of the Lord. In 
 the second chapter, it is said, "The vision is yet for an ap- 
 
 * The quotation of this by Si. James (Acts xvi. 16, 17,) and his comment 
 upon it, with the variation of expression, shew that it refers to times yet to 
 come at the return of the Lord. After this I vrill return, &c., that is, alter this 
 dispensation of grace to the Gentiles, thai (he residue of meii, on whom my 
 name iTriKiKXurxi, hath been called, might seek after the Lord. 
 
gg A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 pointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though 
 it (or he) tarry, wait for it: (or him) because it (or he) will 
 surely come, it (or he) will not tarry:" — a direction applied, 
 Heb. X. 37, to our Lord's coming, and full of practical use to 
 us. In the third chapter we have a sublime description of his 
 coming and punishing the heathen, and saving his people with 
 the signs in the sun and moon. Luke xxi. 25. 
 
 Zephaniah bids Israel rejoice, "for the Lord hath taken 
 away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the King 
 of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; [89] thou 
 shall not see evil any more." Hardly could there be more 
 explicit statements of our Lord's being personally present with 
 his people in days yet to come! 
 
 In Zechariah, — the eleventh and following chapters relate 
 to events yet to come, and contain the clear predictions re- 
 specting our Lord, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the 
 Mount of Olives before Jerusalem — the Lord my God shall 
 come and all the saints with thee, and the Lord shall be king 
 overall the earth in that day;" and this is followed by days of 
 general blessedness and holiness. 
 
 Malachi appears also in his fourth chapter to refer to judg- 
 ments yet to come, a discrimination by fire, and the Sun of 
 Righteousness yet to shine, and victories yet to be given to 
 those that fear God's name over the wicked. 
 
 Thus the whole current of the Old Testament concurs with 
 the current of the New. The prophets clearly predict a per- 
 sonal coming of our Lord in awful judgments on his enemies, 
 to restore the Jewish state and introduce the universal and glo- 
 rious kingdom of our Divine Redeemer; the coming to pre- 
 cede the kingdom, and the judgment connected with that 
 kingdom, or as it is stated by St. Paul, "The Lord Jesus shall 
 judge the quick and dead at his appearing and kingdom." 
 
 Oh how important it is, then, that we should be ready for 
 his appearing! what a littleness it puts upon what the world 
 calls great, and with what a magnitude it invests all that 
 God sets before us as our duty with reference to his return, 
 and our acceptance in his sight, and our reward in that day! 
 Now we have the privilege and happiness allowed us of con- 
 fessing our absent Lord amidst those who deny him, with the 
 [90] cheering assurance that he will confess us before the holy 
 angels in that day when all those things which are now only 
 objects of faith shall be visibly manifested in all their magni- 
 tude and unutterable glory. 
 
 We have hitherto only considered the period of our Lord's 
 coming with reference to the promised blessedness, and proved 
 that it precedes that blessedness. The nearness of that com- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. QQ 
 
 ing to us personally in tliis age, is another point of deep mo- 
 ment. JNIany considerations will be brought forward in the 
 following chapters that may lead us to see that the church has 
 now special reasons to be looking for iiis coming, and attending 
 to all those directions which lead men to be always ready for 
 its suddenness and surprise. 
 
 What a blessed hope then is this now before the church! The 
 richest blessing that our God ever gave was the gift of his own 
 Son. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
 Son." But when he first came, though the zoorld luas made by 
 him, the world kiieio him not, and his own received him not, and he 
 was despised and rejected of men, and cut off out of the land of the 
 living: and thus, through the unbelief of the Jews, the world 
 lost the greatest blessing which God ever gave to it, — the pre- 
 sence of its true Lord and King. But the God of love has 
 overruled even this. He has taken a people to his name out 
 of the Gentiles; and though now the Gentile churches have in 
 similar unbelief, disregarding his promises, extensively fallen 
 away, yet God's designs for our fallen world are still full of 
 grace and truth; and mercy shall return to Israel, and through 
 them to the Gentiles; and we who now trust in Jesus and con- 
 fess him, shall yet see our King, the [91] acknowledged Head 
 of all the earth, reigning King of kings, and Lord of lords. 
 
 And what holy joy should fill his people when they dwell 
 on these glorious prospects! "Sing and rejoice, daughter of 
 Zion, for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith 
 the Lord; and many nations shall be joined to the Lord, and 
 shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and 
 thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee." 
 
 Christian reader, have we not too much lost the joyful hope 
 of the earth's fullest glory by refusing to believe so large a 
 testimony as God's word has given to it? and thus have not 
 we and the church at large sunk into similar unbelief with the 
 Jews, and also into the low state of the world, so as hardly to 
 be distinguished from it? Rom. xi. 30 — 33. Oh let our affec- 
 tions be set 071 things above, looking thence for the Saviour, (Col. 
 iii. 1 — 4.) and our conversation be in heaven cheered with the 
 glorious hope of his return and our then being made like him. 
 Phil. iii. 20, 21. 1 John iii. 3. 
 
 The Lord himself fill us with these high and holy hopes, and 
 quicken us and raise us up together, and make us sit together in 
 heavenly places in Christ Jesus! 
 
 VOL. II. — 56 
 
70 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OP PROPHECY. 
 
 [92] Clear views of the principles of interpretation of scrip- 
 ture prophecies are of great advantage towards a well grounded 
 faith in their testimony. A simple, teachable, child-like spirit, 
 and next to this, an acquaintance with the word of God, are 
 indeed most important guides, in this as in every other part of 
 divine truth. The application of the promises in the prophe- 
 cies to the Christian church has already been pointed out. A 
 few farther remarks are needful to shew that this by no means 
 sets aside the literal interpretation, and may help to clear away 
 part of the doubt, which many feel, from the frequent and con- 
 fused mention of literal, figurative, symbolical, allegorical, and 
 other modes of interpretation. 
 
 All scripture prophecy may be classed under three heads, 
 direct prophecy, parables or visions, and the explanations of 
 these. It is the second class which render distinctions need- 
 ful to see clearly the warrant for our faith. 
 
 In prophetic parables or visions, just as in doctrinal parables, 
 the literal sense only carries us thus [93] far, that the parable 
 was uttered, or the vision seen. The letter is a history, — the 
 prophetic meaning is to be learned by the explanation adjoined, 
 and by comparing scripture with scripture, and thus expound- 
 ing the symbols with the help of divine wisdom. The last 
 twenty chapters of Ezekiel, Dan. ii. iii. vii. viii. and Zech. i — 
 V. with the Revelation, are of this kind. Among the reasons 
 why it has pleased God to reveal part of his prophecies in this 
 form, these appear the chief. To veil the truths contained 
 from the careless or profane. Matt. viii. 1; xiii. II — 13. Dan. 
 xii. ,10. Rev. i. 2. To allure the curiosity and reward the dili- 
 gence of his servants. Eccles. viii. 1. Prov. i. 5, 6. Rev. i. 1 
 — 3. To express more vividly, by symbols, objects of pro- 
 phecy, which could scarcely be expressed in common lan- 
 guage, as empires and dynasties, with their spiritual character 
 and varied forms; — lastly, to lead our thoughts more deep into 
 the events of God's providence, by setting forth the fixed and 
 lasting features of the changes it unfolds, and the analogy of 
 nature with all spiritual truth. But all these imply that to pa- 
 tient, prayerful search, its meaning will be more and more re- 
 vealed, that certain light is even here attainable, — llic u-ise shall 
 
to" THE PROPHECIES. 7X 
 
 ii7iderslamJ; and that the explanations which are mixed with the 
 visions, are for the end of guiding us to the full meaning, and 
 arc themselves to be taken in their simple and literal sense. 
 Such are the passages, Kev. i. 7, 11, 17 — iiO; ii. iii. v. 9, 10; 
 vii. 14, 17; ix. G, 20, 21; xi. 17, IS; xiii. 9, 10; xv. 15; xvii. 
 I, 7 — IS; XX. 5, 6; xxi. 3 — S. 
 
 Setting these apart, propliecy, like all other scripture, is to 
 be literally interpreted. By this it is not meant that figures 
 are excluded; but only that [94] that sense is to be allixed, 
 which would first and at once suggest itself to a simj^le mind, 
 and that figures exist only where the context makes their 
 presence clear, as in passages not prophetic. And this rule 
 springs from the reflection, that God's words were given to be 
 understood. Though, as the messages of Infinite Wisdom, 
 they ma}' contain a further and deeper meaning which the wisest 
 men, and angels themselves (1 Peter i.) can but in part com- 
 jM'ehend, they must at least have that meaning which they con- 
 vey at first to the simplest mind. They would otherwise be 
 more like heathen oracles, than revelations of Divine truth: 
 neither would men be so often charged with the sin of slow- 
 ness of heart to believe their sayings. 
 
 To confirm this, we have only to reflect further that Old 
 Testament prophecies were given to Jews, before the time of 
 the Gentile dispensation. They could not then have under- 
 stood them but in the letter, that Jerusalem meant Jerusalem 
 the city of David, the chosen seat of God; — Zion, the mount 
 where tiie temple stood; — Israel, the nation separated from 
 other nations to the name and worship of God. Yet the truth of 
 these promises was to be the anchor of their souls in the midst 
 of trouble, and in times of darkness. Surely then he who 
 marked as iniquity the spoiling of Naboth's vineyard, though 
 with the ofl'er of a better in exchange, would never disappoint 
 the hope of the faithful Jewg, though he may graciously add 
 to the promise thus given, a farther and larger blessing. Our 
 Lord warns us expressly against such a view, saying, "Think 
 not that 1 am come to destroy the law or the prophets;" Matt. 
 v. 17. His reproofs to his disciples, or the pharisees, are never 
 drawn from their [95] belief in their Messiah's kingdom on 
 earth and their nation's glory; but for their disbelief, thi'ough 
 carnal pride, of prophecies, alike plain, of the Messiah's suf- 
 ferings and Israel's desolation. 
 
 It has indeed been shewn that the Christian is entitledto 
 apply to himself the ))romises of spiritual blessings made to 
 the Jews of old. They are to him "all yea and amen in 
 Christ Jesus." But this has led to a great mistake in the in- 
 tC4'pretation of the Old Testament prophecies — (a mistake in 
 
72 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 which the author long partook,) of confining their meaning 
 simply to the Christian church, and not taking their literal 
 application to the Jewish nation, in a fulfilment which, we 
 have so much scriptural reason to expect, will take place here- 
 after. St. Paul explicitly applies Isa. lix. 20, to a future fulfil- 
 ment (Rom. xi. 26); Isa. xxv. 8, to the time of the resurrec- 
 tion (I Cor. XV. 54); and Hag. ii. G, to a future shaking of the 
 heavens and the earth, (Heh. xii. 26); and tliereby distinctly 
 teaches us that there will be a future fulfilment of the pas- 
 sages. There are statements in the prophecies that cannot, 
 without the greatest force upon words, be applied merely spi- 
 ritually,- or be viewed as already literally fulfilled, c.nd which 
 we may therefore expect will have a literal accomplishment 
 hereafter.* 
 
 The right combination of the literal interpretation of a pro- 
 phecy, as to its past or future fulfilment, with the present per- 
 sonal application of its promises to the believer's individual 
 use; and the right union of the interpretation of the predic- 
 tion by historical facts, with its personal use in the way of com- 
 fort, example, warning, direction, and hope for the future [96] 
 glor}', give us the full advantage of the prophetic word. These 
 things have been too much disjoined. t Having therefore now 
 considered the practical application of the promises to our- 
 selves, we must also notice the literal interpretation of the 
 prophecies as they concern more immediately those of whom 
 they speak. 
 
 The privileges and blessings of Christians under the gospel 
 are truly great, and the present enjoyment of spiritual mer- 
 cies are of incalculable value: "Blessed be the God and the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all 
 spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus," (Eph. i. 
 3,) may every Christian say; but ihe mlierilayice to which we 
 diVe predestined is yet to come. We are now sealed with that Holy 
 Spirit of promise which is, however, only the earnest of our in- 
 herita/ice, iwlil the redemption of the purchased possession unto the 
 praise of his glory. Our present privileges still leave ns groan- 
 ing within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, ihe redemp- 
 tio7i of our bodies. (Rom. viii. 23; 2 Cor. v. 4.) 
 
 This may teach us, that any application of the glorious pro- 
 phecies of the Old Testament to the church now militant, 
 though the Jews are scattered over the earth, and the witnesses 
 
 * See Mr. Piatt's Thoughts on Old Testament prophecies. 
 
 t On the Psalms, Allix, Horsley, and Fry, give us their views of the pro- 
 phetical meaning. Amesius in Psaimo^, Dickson, and Home, give lis their 
 spiritual, practical, and devotional use; but both views are needful to attain 
 the full benefit of the Psalms. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 73 
 
 proplicsy ill sackcloth, must be vastly short of their full mean- 
 ing; they belonj^ to Clu'istians, indeed, in such foretastes and 
 earnests as the Divine Spirit may now impart, and in the joy- 
 ful anticipation of Christian hope; but not in the present pos- 
 session and enjoyment of the predicted [VI] glories. We 
 might here turn Bishop Ilail's remark, varying the a|iplication; 
 "to tie those frequent and large promises" to a mere spiritu- 
 ality of sense, which Christians have never yet enjoyed, is 
 limiting the Divine |Dromises where we have no right to do it. 
 There may be a much larger literal fulfihiient, as well as more 
 extended sj^iritual blessings in the future state of tiie chui-ch 
 of Christ, consisting of Jews and Gentiles dwelling on earth, 
 and in the bliss of the glorified saints, dwelling with Christ 
 their Lord in the heavenly Jerusalem. The scrijjl teres camiol be 
 broken, (John x. 35,) should be to us an axiom in their inter- 
 pretation. "Heaven and earth shalt pass, but onejotorone 
 tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." 
 (]\latt. V. 11; xxiv. 35.) However we may, for illustration, 
 accommodate them to the Christian church, their real meaning 
 as prophecies has not, as far as we can judge, had an adequate 
 fulfilment in events that have yet taken place, and therefore we 
 may consider that they are to be realized in a more blessed 
 state than this world has ever yet witnessed. 
 
 Let not any imagine that the glow of eastern imagery, and 
 poetic imagination, led the prophets to give what may to us 
 appear exaggerated views of the state of the church of Christ. 
 It is not really so. The Parables of our Lord, and the pre- 
 dictions of the book of Revelation, shewing us the trials of the 
 church and the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, may guard 
 us against such a perversion: and the closing chapters of that 
 book, may lead us to a fuller view of the prophecies of the 
 Old Testament. It is also a most unworthy idea of the words 
 of the Divine Spirit, to think that they are [98] swelled out 
 beyond the just meaning; Odd is able to do exceeding ahinidanlUj 
 above all zee u^k or think, (Eph. iii. 20;) and it is perfectly clear 
 that the promises to the patiiarchs were not realized. to them 
 individually, and yet wait for their full accomplishment. {iS^is 
 viii. 4, 5. iJeb. x! S — IG, 39, 40. 
 
 It is necessary to a consistent interpretation, and it throws 
 great light on the Old Testament predictions, and on the future 
 purposes of God, to. take them first, and generally, in their 
 plain, literal, and obvious meaning: — Zion meaning Zion— 
 Judah meaning Judah — Israel meaning Israel — and Jerusalem 
 meaning Jeru^^alem. INIark how far they were accom[)lished 
 when Christ first came, (as in Isaiah liii.; Dan. ix. 25, 2G,)and 
 then consider what has yet been unaccomplished, and may be 
 56* 
 
74 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 realized in the future restoration of the Jews. Let us inter- 
 pret the unfulfilled on the same principle, and in the same lite- 
 ral way as we do the fulfilled. 
 
 May we not (the author must include himself,) have per- 
 verted the scriptures; have wronged the Jews, have obscured 
 the future glorious kingdom of Christ; have misdirected the 
 church, and hidden from it the judgments yet to come on the 
 ungodly, by attempting to spiritualize that which God intended 
 not to be spiritualized, but to be literally understood? 
 
 It is allowed that there is much figurative and symbolical 
 language in the scriptures, and especially in the prophetical 
 writings. Some prophecies are plain and literal, and others 
 symbolical; it should be considered, therefore, whether the 
 prophecies be symbolical, such as are Daniel ii. and vii. and 
 much of the book of Revelation; or simple and literal as [99] 
 many prophecies in Isaiah. Figurative language in the sym- 
 bolical prophecies is frequently "taken fiom the analogy be- 
 tween the world natural, and an empire or kingdom considered 
 as a world politic.*'* The rules which Sir Isaac Newton 
 gives, and the examples of Daubuz, on the prophetic language, 
 are valuable; though probal^ly no rules of interjDretation yet 
 fixed on this point are altogether unexceptionable. Much scrip- 
 tural and heavenly wisdom is requisite for fully understanding 
 the right interpretation of the language of the varied prophe- 
 cies. Dan. xii. 4, S — 10. 
 
 A difference between a symbol and a figure may be noticed. 
 All language is full of figures which convey the meaning quite 
 as accurately as plain expressions, and much more forcibly. A 
 symbol is an emblematic or allegorical sign; a purposely de- 
 signed picture, using things universally known to convey 
 knowledge to our minds; and thus concealing and yet illustrat- 
 ing; hiding from the careless, and yet speaking more expli- 
 citly than words, which have a variable meaning, and could not 
 be so exactly translated, to the diligent searcher of scripture. 
 The meaning of symbols is, however, made yet clearer by 
 literal explanations. Thus we are informed that Candlesiicks 
 mean Churches, Rev. i. 20. The ivoman means the great city 
 rotnch rcigneth over the kings of the earth, (Rev. xvii. 18,) the 
 DragoJi a?id Old Serpent means the Devil and SataiJ. Rev. xx. 2. 
 
 The distinction between symbolical and literal prophecies 
 may be distinctly seen in those of Daniel. The first part of 
 the prophecies, chap. ii. from 31 — 35, is symbolical: then 
 comes the literal explanation, verse 36 — 45. The first part 
 of ch. vii. verse 1 — 14, [100] is chiefly symbolical, the latter 
 part, (verse 15 — 27,) is the literal explanation. The eleventh 
 * See Sir I. Newton on Daniel chap. ii. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 75 
 
 chapter is literal prophecy, called ihe scripture of truth, (Dan. x, 
 2,) the truth, (Dan xi. 21,) in opposition to figure and symbol. 
 From the latter part of this remarkable prophecy, many ex- 
 pect a future developement of Antichrist. Mr. Faber con- 
 siders that the Antichrist predicted by St. John, is'the same 
 enemy as the wilful king in Daniel, (chap, xi.) and he views 
 the actions of Antichrist os mainly constituting the third woe, 
 (Rev. xi.) the fulfilment of which he considers as conuncncing 
 with the French Revolution. The Author cannot see that the 
 latter part of Daniel xi. refers only to that whicli is supposed 
 to be emphatically and exclusively the Antichrist. J\];iny par- 
 ticulars have had a remaikable fulfilment already in the history 
 of Antiochus, of the Saracens, and of the Turks, as developed 
 by Brightman, in his Exposition of Daniel xi., Mede, Newton, 
 Keith, &c.; the prophecy is not, however, yet fully accom- 
 plished, and when that which remains unfulfilled is accom- 
 plished, it doubtless will make the whole clear. The change 
 in the description of the beast, (Rev. xvii. compared with Rev. 
 xiii.) leads us to expect that change in the Roman empire be- 
 fore its destruction, which will more remarkably manifest the 
 workings of every Antichrist previous to the final overthrow 
 of Christ's enemies. The third woe appears to be the day of 
 judgment. Rev. xi. 13. 
 
 The symbolical character of much of the chief book of pro- 
 phecies in the New Testament, the Revelation, is obvious. 
 It is full also of literal and plain expressions. The application 
 of expressions, originally adajjted to the Jewish Dispensation 
 [101] throughout the apostolic writings, to the use of the 
 Christian church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, and their 
 enlarged meaning, in this use, has been sufliciently explained 
 and justified. =^ The Revelation has many Jewish ideas, cha- 
 racters and expressions, but they are applicable to the Gentile 
 Christian churches, and fulfilled in their histor}-. The term 
 Babt/lu/i is so explained in 'the Book, and, by the course of 
 events, that it cannot be applied to the literal Babylon; nor the 
 term Jerusalem, merely to the literal Jerusalem; nor the term 
 Jew to the literal Jew only, (Rev. ii. 9; Rom. ii. 28, 29); nor 
 the Lamb slain, to the literal lamb sacrificed in tlie temple, 
 (Rev. v. G); nor \\\e golden vials full of odours, (Rev. v. 8,) to 
 the incense oflered in the temple. This consideration is deci- 
 sive in the Author's, mind, to shew that events of the Christian 
 church fulfil the Apocalypse, and that we need not, and ought 
 not, because no literal fuliilment has yet taken place, to ima- 
 gine that these may not have been a fulfilment of the symbols, 
 
 ♦ See Mendham's Clavis Apostolica for many useful remarks on the New- 
 Testament application of Old Testament language. 
 
7(5 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 after the manner in which Protestants generally concur, though 
 they may not yet clearly see or fully agree in particular appli- 
 cation. It is generally admitted that the Jews are included in 
 the later triumphs of the cliurch foretold in this book: but it 
 would be here a false literalness to apply words taken from 
 the Jewish dispensation, merely literally, or exclusively to the 
 Jews.* 
 
 It strengthens these considerations when we remember [102] 
 that the four beasts of Daniel, (chapter vii.) refer to the four 
 universal kingdoms of the earth; and it is generally admitted 
 both by Protestants and Romanists, that the fourth beast of 
 Daniel is the same as the beast described by St. John, and that 
 both point out the Roman empire. Cressener shews this at 
 length in fourteen different particulars, and concludes, "it is 
 therefore unquestionable, that the fourth beast in Daniel is the 
 same with the beast in the Revelations." He brings extracts 
 from the Romanists, Viega, Alcassar, Malvenda, and Ribera, as 
 concurring in this view.t The learned Romanist, S3'lviera, iden- 
 tifies too the beast of Revelation with that of Daniel, and brings 
 forward many Romanists and Fathers to support this interpre- 
 tation. | 
 
 Mede thus states his view: ''I conceive Daniel to be a con- 
 tracted Apocalypse, and the Apocalypse Daniel explicate, in 
 that where both treat about the same subject, namely, what was 
 revealed to Daniel concerning the fourth kingdom, but sum- 
 marily and in gross, \yas shewed to John particularly, with the 
 distinction and order of the several fates and circumstances 
 M^hich were to betide and accompany the same. And that 
 therefore Daniel's prophecy is not terminated with the first, 
 but reacheth to the second coming of Christ, as appears b}' that 
 description of the glorious coming, and of the great judgment, 
 (Dan. vii.) and his prophecy of the resurrection, (chap, xii.) 
 This has been the constant tradition of the church, from the 
 apostles' da3-s to this last age, and was of the church of the 
 Jews before, and at our Saviour's time. And if the apostles 
 had ever [103] taught the church otherwise, it could never 
 have been so fully forgotten." § 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton also says — "the Apocalypse of St. John is 
 written in the same style as the prophecies of Daniel, and has 
 the same relation to them which they have one to another; so 
 
 * In lliis view the radical defect of Brown's "Tlie Jew, the Maslcr-Key of 
 the Revelation," apptyins: it mainly to the Jews, and of iVIr. Burgh's "Revela- 
 tion Unfulfilled," may be seen. See the Review of Mr. Burgh's book in the 
 Dublin Ciuistian Herald, vol.iii. p. 270. 
 
 t See Cressener's Demonstration, p. 82—89; See also p. 8, 9. 
 
 t See his work on the Apocalypse, vol. ii. p. 121, &c. 
 
 § See his Works, page 787. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 77 
 
 that all of them togetlicr make one complete prophecy, and an in- 
 terpretation thereof. The j)roj)hecy is tiistingiii.shed into seven 
 successive j)arts by the opening of the seven seals of tiie Book 
 which Daniel was commanded to seal up, (Daniel xii. 4, 9.) 
 and hence it is called tlie Apocalvjjsc or Revelation of Jesus 
 Christ."* 
 
 But during that fourth empire, the Jews, though there be a 
 rcm/iuu!, are, as a people, fallen, and iliminished, cast aicuij, a?id 
 broken off, (Rom. xi. 11 — IS.) that the Gentiles might be grafted 
 in, reconciled f einiched and saved; a people being taken out of 
 them for the name of God, at the Saviour's return he uill build 
 again the tabernacle cf David, but not till then. Acts xv. 14 — 16. 
 
 The predictions of Daniel (chap. ii. and vii.) and of St. John, 
 relate to the times of the Gentiles. St. John takes up that 
 j)art of Daniel's predictions, which was left unaccomplished, 
 and gives a more minute and full detail,! for the use of those 
 who were God's servants in general, and assuring them the thi?igs 
 7rould shorlli/ come to pass. To apply, then, the prophecies of 
 Revelation jjrimarily, mainly, and almost exclusively to the 
 Jews, is to carry literal interpretation too far, and to go on a 
 fundamentally erroneous [104] principle. To consider also, 
 as some have done, tiie Revelation as wholly unfulfilled, is to 
 suppose nothing taking place of things which were said shortly 
 to come to pass, and to leave the servants of God, for ISOO 
 j-ears, without the light of particular prophecy. The painful 
 fact of many differences, or mistakes, of interpreters, will not 
 remove an improbability whicli must be considered great. Let 
 us remember, also, the explicit statements of the value of pro- 
 phecy, as a light to the church; (Amos iii. 7. John xv. 15. 
 2 Peter i. 19.) and the large concurrence of laborious, patient, 
 and deeply learned, and pious Protestants; and the important 
 fact that one grand instrument of effecting the blessed Reforma- 
 tion, was the uniform testimojiy of tiie Reformers, adopted by 
 the Protestant church every where, that Popery was the Man 
 of Sin, and Papal Rome the Babylon of Revelation. But for 
 this interpretation of prophecy, we might still have been in 
 the darkness and infatuation of that awful perversion of the 
 gospel. 
 
 The importance of chronological prophecy to aid us now in 
 preparedness for the day of Christ, is great, and the general 
 interpretation has been the chief means of strengthening and 
 confirming, if not of exciting attention to this. An wholly 
 unfulfilled Revelation leaves us without any guide on this most 
 important point. 
 
 ♦ See Newton's Observations, p. 2.54. 
 
 t-See Mr. Habershon's Work lor the illustraiion of this, p. G, 7. 
 
Y3 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 A vast variety of puzzling as well as important questions 
 may be asked; and very many difficulties presented quite over- 
 whelming at first sight. Bishop Newton says, "folly" (I would 
 rather say ingenuity) "may ask more questions than wisdom 
 can answer." This is the case with everv subject. Even 
 with those prophecies that have been obviously, and in a large 
 [105] part fulfilled, there are sentences which have not appa- 
 rently been realized, and which we therefore conclude, yet 
 wait for their fulfilment, or for farther light respecting them. 
 Difficulties do not overturn a system of interpretation; the 
 human intellect is strong to pull down, but weak to see God's 
 will, and the fulfilling of his purposes, and to build up his 
 truth. This is not stated as an objection to the pointing out 
 of difficulties, but as a reason why, though there are real diffi- 
 culties, and we cannot see the whole of the case, we should 
 not on that account disregard and set aside a system of inter- 
 pretation which in many of the most important particulars, 
 meets the terms of the prophecy, and allows subsequent events 
 that may complete the whole. The course of investigation may, 
 and the course of time will, assuredly, clear up all the difficul- 
 ties of God's word; and xve shall -knorv as rce are known. 1 Cor. 
 xiii. 12. Nor can we expect perfectly to comprehend any 
 part of divine truth, till that which is perfect is come, verse 10. 
 
 It may serve very much to weaken the force of these ob- 
 jections, to look at similar difficulties in prophecies which our 
 Lord and his apostle^ notice as fulfilling in their day, and the 
 obscurities attaching to them. Compare for instance the refe- 
 rences in Matthew with the Old Testament Prophecies, and 
 see whether there be not scope for an able mind to make diffi- 
 culties. Far also, is universal consent from being a necessary 
 test of truth. Some of the Jews, enlightened by prophecy, 
 (Luke ii. 25, 38.) cordially received Christ; but the great body 
 of the Jewish nation rejected our divine Lord, (Acts xiii. 27.) 
 because they shut their eyes to predictions which had [106] 
 real difficulties, but still light enough to guide them, and which 
 we are assured were actually fulfilled. May those, then, who 
 are staggered at the varieties of opinion, and the ditficulties in 
 the Protestant interpretation of the Revelation, duly weigh 
 this! The Jews still reject even the most plainly fulfilled pro- 
 phecies of Christ; and even the most attached disciples of our 
 Lord were long in understanding the prophecies that were ful- 
 filling before their eyes. (Luke xxiv. 21.) A prophecy may 
 be fulfilled, though professing and even real servants of Christ 
 dilFcr about it, and do not think that it has been accomplished. 
 If we wait till all are agreed, before we are influenced by pro- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 79 
 
 phetic truth, we must wait till the day of grace be passed, and 
 Christ be come in his j2;Iory. 
 
 It appears to the author that most of the materials of a true 
 interpretation of the Apocalypse have been s;alhered together 
 by those who have trodden in the steps of Mecic; but he feels 
 doubtful whether these materials have yet (valuable as the 
 writings of Vitringa, Cressener, Newton, Woodhouse, Faber, 
 Cuninghame, &c. are,) been so selected and classified, as to 
 furnish that which will be found to be exactly true in the end. 
 But let none wait for farther light before they are influenced 
 by them to preparation for our Lord^s coming. Whether it 
 may please the Lord, or not, to give to any of his servants be- 
 fore his coming, the true interpretation of the whole, who can 
 tell? More understanding, however, in the last days, is ex- 
 pressly promised to the wise, (Dan. xii. 10;) and enough is 
 clear to answer one great end of prophcc}', and to impress upon 
 the whole church the solemn duty of diligent preparation lor, 
 [107] and lively expectation of the day of Christ. When that 
 glorious Being who alone was found zvortfnj in heaven and earth, 
 to take the hook and open the seals thereof, (see Rev. v.) returns 
 again, he will unfold what are now difficulties in the full ac- 
 complishment of predictions, and realize his own promise; 
 JVhat J do, thou knoicest not noic, but thou shall know hereafter. 
 John xiii. 7. As the Revelation was given by him to be a 
 present light to the church militant in a dark world: so its 
 accomplishment may be opened by him to display his full glory 
 to the church triumphant in the heavenly kingdom. 
 
 The tendency of the new view of an Apocalypse wholly 
 unfulfilled, is to throw men off from a state of watchfulness 
 and readiness for our Lord's coming. If once men can be 
 brought to think the great book of prophecy of our Lord's 
 coming to be yet unaccomplished, a vast variety of events have 
 then previously to take place without any preceding clue as to 
 the time. It has the same effect as a spiritual coming before 
 the Millennium, making it more difficult to realize the coming 
 as a thief and as a snare, to us at the present time; and so im- 
 practicable, to be always in a watching and waiting spirit for 
 that blessed, though most tremendous day. 
 
 The remarkable prophi-xy of our Lord, (recorded Matt, 
 xxiv. and xxv., Mark xiii., and Luke xxi.) is almost wholly 
 literal.* That this prediction cannot throughout be intended 
 to point the destruction of Jerusalem, (as Bishop Newton and 
 many others have imagined,) though generally also consider- 
 ing it [lOS] typical of Christ's second coming. Bishop Horsley 
 
 ♦ See Myers' "Prophecies delivered by Christ himself," for some valuable 
 thoughts in illustration of this prophecy. 
 
§Q A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 has sufficiently shewn in his sermons upon it. That the ex- 
 pression 'Uhis generation shall 71 ot pass till all be fulfilled,'^ need 
 not be limited to the then existing generation, has been proved 
 in various ways.* If >£V5i were rendered ?mtio?7, the expression 
 would be parallel to Jer. xxxi. 35, 36. It may describe simply 
 an evil and adulterous generation, as Matt. xii. 39. [109] 
 Psalm xxii. 30, giving a deep lesson that the infidel and self- 
 righteous generation should not passs away till all those solemn 
 judgments had taken place. Our Lord, however, apparently 
 here uses ymi as a note of time; but he distinguishes between 
 these thi?igs, and that day, and the interval is called by St. Luke, 
 the times of the Gentiles. These things, as far as related to the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, were fulfilled in that generation; for 
 his coming we wait the close of the times of the Gentiles, upon 
 the continuance of which we have light in other prophecies. 
 The order of expressions in St. Luke, shews us that the signs 
 in the sun shall be ahev Jentsalem shall be trodden of the Gentiles, 
 and at the close of the times of the Gentiles. Luke xxi. 24, 
 25. St. Luke leads us thus to see that St. Matthew's, imme- 
 diately after the tribulation of those days, refers to the expiration 
 of the times of the Gentiles, and the tribulation to an extended 
 
 * See Made, p. 75-2; Hersley's Sermons, Investigator, vol. i. 53, 376; Cuning- 
 hame, p. 312. The remarks of Malclonatus, an able Romanist, upon it are 
 curious, and to this effect: "The mure recent interpreters of the heretics, (i. e. 
 Protestants,) and even of some Catholics who are wont to follow them too 
 much, expound this "age" as if the sense were, before that age of men who 
 then lived, had passed awiiy, Jerusalem would be destroyed. There were also 
 formerly, most ancient authors who so explained it, but Origen calls them 
 simple men; and truly this will not appear to be the sense when we oppose to 
 it another better sense. Chrysosiom, Theophylact, Euthymius, &c. interpret 
 it a generation of faithful men, as if Christ said, although so many and such 
 great calamities should come, yet the church should not perish till the end of the 
 world; but Jerome understands the generation of all men, as if our Lord said, 
 — before the human race passed away, all the things which he had predicted 
 would happen. To me in this place, all the world seems to be called genera- 
 tion, as the whole begotten — as elsewhere the creature is called because it is 
 all the created; therefore the true sense appears to be, that so certain were the 
 things which Christ predicted, that the world should not perish before they 
 happened. This is manifestly to be collected from the following sentence. 
 Heaven rmd earth shall pass mcay, &c.; therefore they who translate age for 
 'generation,' do injury to the sentence.'' The opinions of Chrysostom, The- 
 ophylact, &c. are calculated to shew how little Greek writers felt that the ori- 
 ginal Greek word confined the meaning to a living generation. See a sensi- 
 ble letter in the British Magazine, vol. xiv. p. 790, shewing that the word 
 yiyi± is not always used in its chronological signification: see Luke xvi. 8. It 
 may mean (Matt, xxiii. 36; Mark viii. 38; Luke xi. 31) a class or kind of per- 
 sons of which the persons then existing were the living representatives, but 
 which included their fathers (Matt, xxiii. 32.) equally with themselves, and 
 of which the discriminating feature was, not contemporaneousness of exist- 
 ence, but community of character. Psalm xxii. 30; cii. 18; xii. 7. The idea 
 in our Lord's mind would thus be, this generation arc the men of this world, 
 as distinguished from the >«vs* « 6o;^^(5yMff« of the new heavens and new earth. 
 They are the Jew after the flesh, in contradistinction to the Jew after the 
 Spirit. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. Ql 
 
 period, sliortencil as to their severity, (mutilated n'^xa^mo) with a 
 paroxysm at its ijcginnin^, (Matthew xxiv. 21, 22,) and at its 
 close. (Matt. xxiv. 29; Dan. xii. 1.) The expressions in J^uke 
 xxi. 25, 26, the "signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the 
 stars, and upon the earth, — distress of nations, (eSvav, Gentiles) 
 with perplexity; the sea and waves roaring, and men's hearts 
 failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which 
 are coming on the earth, (c<x::/,Msv^)," are larger than to be limited 
 to the land of Judea. The lifli/ifr up of the head, (Luke xxi. 28) 
 is inconsistent with the stale of Jews or Christians, at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem. 
 
 There appears a mixture of figurative and literal expressions 
 in Luke xxi. 25,26, but tiiere may be peculiar commotions in 
 the sea to fulfil literally tliat part [HO] which seems most figu- 
 rative, and also a literal fulfilment of signs in the sun, and in 
 the moon, and in the stars. Yet we would not be positive 
 that these parts of this truly magnificent prophecy, reaching 
 from the first to the second coming, bearing as they do the 
 appearance of a mixture of literal and of symbolical expressions, 
 are only to be literally realized, lest we be waiting for tokens 
 of our Saviour's coming, which may not be really promised. 
 
 The whole discourse seems to have three leading parts — 
 1st. The preparation for the desolation of Jerusalem, INIatt. 
 xxiv. 4— 14; Mark xiii. 4— 13; Luke xxi. S— 19. 2nd. The 
 time of war and the lengthened desolation. Matt. xxiv. 15 — 
 21; Mark xiii. 14 — 19; Luke xxi. 20 — 24. 3d. The events 
 of the time of the end, including the coming of Christ, Matt, 
 xxiv. 22—31; I\Iark xiii. 20—27; Luke xx. 25— 2S. The 
 things relating to the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled 
 before that generation passed away. Matt. xxiv. 34; Mark 
 xiii. 30; Luke xxi. 32. These were both a type of, and a step 
 onward to the coming of Christ. Of that event the day was 
 unrcvealed. JNLatt. xxiv. 36; JNLark xiii. 32; Luke xxi. 34, 35. 
 There is an analogy between'the Jewish tribulation at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem and the Gentile tribulation at the coming 
 of Christ. St. Luke, written later, anil more directly for the 
 Gentile churches, furnishes a key for the interpretation of parts 
 of this discourse. 
 
 This wonderful prophec)' sets before us with the plainness 
 of history the destruction of Jerusalem, its lengthened deso- 
 lation, and the prolonged tribulation of the Jews; the false 
 teachers that should arise in the Christian church; the revolu- 
 tions preceding [111] the coming of Christ, his sudden com- 
 ing, the mourning of all the tribes of the earth, and the 
 gathering together of his people, and practically im|)rovcs the 
 sojemn subject by many practical lessons: by the warning 
 
 VOL. II. — 57 
 
32 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 example of the deluge to the wicked; and by four parables, 
 the first three relating to his professing church — the servants 
 expecting their Lord's return, the ten virgins and the talents; 
 and the last, the sheep and goats, relating apparently to the 
 judgment of all the nations of the earth.* 
 
 The lessons which it speaks to us, after the revolutions which 
 we have been witnessing in the last forty years, (which proba- 
 bly have commenced fulfilling, Luke xxi. 25, 26, )t are pecu- 
 liarly impressive-. They are the lessons for this gene- 
 ration. May our God lead his ministers and people every 
 where diligently to study these lessons !."]: 
 
 [112] But we return to the more direct consideration of 
 literal interpretation. In a remarkable part of this prophecy, 
 there is an express declaration, "Then shall they see the Son 
 of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." 
 Mark xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 27; Matt. xxiv. 30. To suppose 
 that this is a spiritual coming at the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 appears to me contrary to Matthew xxiii. 39; Luke xxi. 28; 
 and the regular course of the whole prophecy continued in 
 Matt. xxiv. and xxv. The term coming in the clouds is in 
 other passages viewed by most interpreters as a personal com- 
 ing, (Daniel vii. 13; Acts i. 9 — 11; 1 Thess. iv. 17; Rev. i. 
 7,) and to give it here a spiritual instead of a literal interpre- 
 tation, would be to my mind, (the author speaks for himself,) 
 a wresting of the scriptures wholly unjustifiable. The angels 
 addressing the apostles seem to have specially guarded us 
 against this (in Acts i. 11,) by the strength of the expression, 
 shall so come in Ukemanner, o'.tieQ 'fXiia-iTitt ov Tpi7r:v. This also meets 
 that class of objections which considers the coming of Christ 
 
 * A farther explanation will be given of these in the chapter on the Millen- 
 nium. 
 
 t The Revolution of France seemed to terminate when Bonaparte was de- 
 throned, and 'peace was established; yet the events of the twenty-five years 
 since have abundantly proved, that though there was an interval in the shocks 
 of the earthquake, there has been nothing to lead us to conclude that the judg- 
 ments on papal countries have ceased. Look at the troubled course of Eu- 
 rope since that time. It is striking, that Charles the Tenth of France was 
 compelled to resign his throne in the castle of Rombouillet,, the lawful inherit- 
 ance of a Protestant family, whom his ancestors had driven from their home, 
 as if to mark more the hand of God. And what has been, and is still the 
 state of the European kingdoms; but distress of nalions uitk perplexity? Yet 
 with all the outward evidence of peace, they did eat, they drank, theybovght, 
 they sold, they planted, they builded, they married wives, they v)ere given, in mar- 
 riage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and de- 
 stroyed them all — so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. Let the 
 Christian discern the signs of the times! 
 
 t See the interpretation of this remarkable prophecy, given in Abdiel's Es- 
 says, page 1'21 — 201; and see Sirr's answer to Mr. Gipps, p. 89 — 113, on the 
 two last Parables. Mr. Begg's letter on the subject answers many of the argu- 
 ments by which the common system of interpretation has been defended. 
 
TO "THE PROPHECIES. §3 
 
 to be only a spiritual coming to establish his spiritual king- 
 d m . '•■ 
 
 [lis] A mixture in the same passage of figurative and lite- 
 ral exj)icssion is not uncommon. We see this, Isa. xliv. 3 — 5; 
 wjiere we have first the figure, and then the explanation, and 
 tlien again an enlai"gcment of the figure, and an enlarged ex- 
 planation. Almost all figures difficult of comprehension are 
 literal!}^ explained in the scriptures, and often in the same pas- 
 sage where the figure occurs. See John vii. 38, 39; many- 
 instances of such explanation occur in the book of Revelation. 
 
 * Arch:>i?hop Newcome, Daubuz, and Bishop Newton, all held the idea of 
 a literal fir>t resurrection, and personal coming of Christ before the Millen- 
 nium. As Newcome's Translation of the New Testament is scarce, one or 
 two E.xiracis are subjoined from his notes. He says, on Matt. xxiv. 39. "This 
 may be fuIfiUed at the future restoration of the Jews, see Luke i. 32, 33." On 
 Malt. x.Nii. 34, "I think that our Lord's words do not refer to the destruction 
 of Jeru.salera, but to his future state of glory." 
 
 On Luke i. 3-2, 33. "Compare Isaiah ix. 7. Dan. ii. 44; vii. 13, 14. The 
 spiritual kingdom of the Messiah will be everlasting, and when the Jews as a 
 people shall believe in him, and be restored to their own country, there will 
 be a magnificent display of his royalty. See Ezek. xxxvii. 24." 
 
 On Rev. xx. 4. " The souls of those, that is those. Arid (hey lived again. I 
 understand this not figuratively, of a peaceable and flourishing state of the 
 Church on earth, but literally of a real resurrection, and of a real reign with 
 Christ, who will display his royal glory in the New Jerusalem. "This is the 
 great Sabbatism, or rest of the Church." Barnabus, in Daubuz. Lived not 
 again. Medc, Daubuz, and others, argue, that as a real resurrection is meant 
 here, a figurative cannot be meant in the foregoing verse." 
 
 The sentiments of Bishop Newton are so well known, and his book so com- 
 mon, that it is needless to quote from him. 
 
 Dalevz, in his work on Revelation, chap. xix. 11. "This i.s Christ himself, 
 who rides ujion his white horse; as appears by what is said hereafter. He is 
 to act therein him^elf visibly, without deputies, at least such as he has already 
 employed .... Christ comes now to settle himself in his kingdom, with his 
 saints, who are now to be gathered lo him." 
 
 On Rev. xx. 4, he is equally express as to the literal resurrection, and gives 
 these reasons why the persoiis of the martyrs are denominated souls: "The 
 first is, that -l-:/;^« is said of a dead man upon the accotint of the shedding of his 
 blood, which' is as his soul; the second is that ■^■jx,>i signifies « dead body, (he 
 here refers to passages in the Septuagint and Targum, and to Schindler in 
 proof of this); and in this sense on? may also understand that place of Rev. 
 vi. 9. Now these souls thus shed or dead, are to lr\-e and reign. It being 
 therefore reriain that these very souls are they which must be understood thus 
 dead and living, and that it is not possible to understand it of any other sort of 
 men but of the primitive martyrs — it is now as certain that in this Millennial 
 state they revive again, and reign with Chri.st. This I arn sure of, that these 
 words can only be understood of such as have been slain, not of any other 
 sort of men, and so cannot denote any collective body of men, in a mortal state. 
 The whole tenor of the prophecy leads us to understand this of a proper resur- 
 rection of the dead martyrs. Is it not, therefore, a sad thing, that some di- 
 vines shonld presume so much upon the penetration of their wits as to pretend, 
 from the single consideration of this place, without having any other know- 
 ledge of the economy of this prophecy, to determine negatively, and against 
 such a proper resurrection." 
 
 Lancastkr abridges Daubuz, and follows him in his views. I am disposed 
 to think that the prevailing views of those who have diligently studied and 
 written upon the prophecies, are those of pre-millennial, personal advent, and 
 fir54 literal resurrection. 
 
84 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 If figurative language be interpreted not fancifully, but agree- 
 ably to the scriptures, there will be [ew cases where humble and 
 prayerful Christians will differ. Hooker's rule is here of great 
 value, "I hold it for a most infallible rule in expositions [114] 
 of sacred scripture, that where a literal construction will stand, 
 the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst. There is 
 nothing more dangerous than this licentious and deluding art 
 which changes the meaning of words as Alchvmes does or 
 would do the substance of metals, makes of any thing what it 
 lists, and brings in the end all truth to nothing." 
 
 The extracts from varied authors in the note in a former 
 page (especially those from Bishop Hall) will shew to what 
 great lengths able and good men have gone in that spiritualiz- 
 ing S3'stem, which, especially where it is exclusive, has been 
 far from a harmless perversion of the words of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Every passage of God's word should be interpreted literally 
 where the predictions can be literally fulfilled, unless there be 
 a necessity from the subject or the context, to the contrary, or 
 an absurdity by doing so, or a scriptural authority to justify 
 another interpi-etation. Dr. John Smith justly remarks, <^A1- 
 tiiough the prophets use words so frequently in a figurative or 
 metaphorical sense, yet we ought not without necessity to de- 
 part from the primitive and original sense of the language." 
 We must not forsake the proper meaning, without an evident 
 reason and necessity. David Levi justly [115] reproaches 
 Christians, "Can anj-- thing be more absurd than to explain the 
 prophecies which foretell the calamity which is to befall the 
 Jews in a literal sense, and those which speak of their future 
 felicity in a spiritual and mystical sense!" In the literal in- 
 terpretation, however, there is a peculiar need of exercis- 
 ing that waiting spirit, which is the characteristic posture of 
 a believer's mind in the interpretation of prophecy. Hab. ii. 
 1—1. 
 
 Vitringa gives this important rule — "We must never depart 
 from the literal meaning of the subject mentioned, in its own 
 appropriate name, if all or its principal attributes square with 
 the subject of the prophecy." A farther rule of Vitringa's 
 may assist us where a literal interpretation will not stand: "If 
 the attributes by no means agree with tiie subject expressed 
 by its own name, we must think of another parallel or corre- 
 sponding subject, which is mystically called by this name, on 
 account of the agreement between the type and antitype. 
 There are instances in the case o( Ellas, Mai. iv. 5; David, Jer. 
 XXX. 9. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24: Solotnon, Psa. Ixxii. 1; Edom, 
 Isaiah Ixiii. 1." 
 
 Gaussenus (quoted by Vitringa) thus illustrates the subject: 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. §5 
 
 ''The whole of tlic Old Testament, with the exception of a few 
 places, has a meaning suiliciently suited for those times, and 
 some way or other adapted to the circumstances of the Israel- 
 ites; but the unalterable wisdom of God shewed itself in this, 
 that he superinduced upon it a more exalted meaning; and 
 while the apostles open this out by the secret skill of the Holy 
 Spirit, we are struck with astonishment at such great things, 
 and praise our heavenly Father, who has revealed to his chil- 
 dren [IIG] those things which he has hidden from the wise 
 and prudent.'' 
 
 Tiiere are but few predictions of scri])tures that have re- 
 ceived their full accomplishment. Even those relating to na- 
 tions connected with the Jews have not in all their parts 
 been fuHlIlcd. A list might be drawn out of particulars un- 
 fulfilled, as well as of those which have been fulfilled re- 
 specting Babylon, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and other coun- 
 tries. When God foretells things, he takes that large view 
 which comprehends the whole of his dispensation, and fre- 
 quently passes rapidly from a commencing to a completing 
 accomplishment. We shall thus find the first and second com- 
 ing of Christ so intermingled, that only the result can shew us 
 the fulfilment of the whole. The name Babylon given to the 
 Roman church seems to intimate that there may be a farther 
 fulfilment in it of those predictions in the Old Testament 
 which were first pronounced against Babylon of old. 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE JEWS. 
 
 [117] Many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, as far 
 as they regard the Jews, have already been literally -ac- 
 complished. Let us, when we have to consider a prophecy, 
 first inquire after this point, and endeavour to ascertain whe- 
 ther it may not have received a literal accomplishment. The 
 value of sucli a prophecy still remains. It marks the constant 
 and particular foreknowledge and providence of God, illustrates 
 his dealings with his creatures, and furnishes a most solid evi- 
 dence of the divine inspiration of the holy scriptures. The 
 actual accomplishment must, therefore, never be overlooked, 
 especially that which regards the first coming of our Saviour 
 in the flesh among the Jews, and the difl'usion of his gospel 
 among the nations of the earth, through the labours of apostles 
 57* 
 
86 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 selected from the Jewish church. The first advent of Christ 
 was the greatest event which this lower world has hitherto 
 witnessed, and the confirmation of it affects the faith and hap- 
 piness of the whole human race: and no wonder, therefore, 
 that it is so much dwelt upon, both in prophecy and in the his- 
 tory of tlie New Testament, [US] where the fact is confirmed, 
 and the truth and inspiration of the prophecies are established. 
 
 In order rightly to interpret other prophecies, we must no- 
 tice the time when they were delivered. There are, generally, 
 express statements, in connection with every particular pro- 
 phecy, which discover this important circumstance. All the 
 prophets of the Old Testament, except the last three, flour- 
 ished before the return from the captivity in Babylon, Zecha- 
 riah and Haggai also prophesied at the time of the return of 
 the Jews under Zerubbabel, and seventy years before the re- 
 turn of a large body under Ezra. It appears, from various 
 expressions, that some of the ten tribes also returned at the 
 same time. Ezra vi. 17 — 21; viii. 35. The prophecies, there- 
 fore, foretelling their return to their own land, received a com- 
 mencing, though only partial, accomplishment in their return 
 from captivity, yet by no m.eans adequate to the fulness and 
 largeness of varied predictions. Indeed Ezekiel xxxvii. IG, 
 and Hosea i. G — 10, point out the difierence between Israel 
 and Judah, and include God's dealings with both. 
 
 It is evident that a variety of events may fulfil in a regular 
 series the same prophecy. The first promise of Christ, (Gen. 
 iii. 15.) and the prophecies respecting Noah's sons, shew this. 
 Hence many events in successive ages may be but as parts of 
 one full sense in which a prophecy shall ultimately be fulfilled. 
 Hereby the divine foreknowledge, and the inspiration of the 
 holy scriptures, are in the result most remarkably displayed 
 and illustrated. Thus there may be a growing accomplish- 
 ment of prophecy through many ages.* 
 
 [119] Many prophecies respecting the land of Judea have 
 received already a remarkable and literal fulfilment; as Mr. 
 
 * Lord Bacon's statement on this subject is in the usual style of that great 
 man, who takes original and comprehensive views of all that he considers. It 
 occurs in the first section of his Work, "De Augmentis Scientiarum," and is 
 as follows: — "The history of prophecy consists of two relatives; the prophecy, 
 and the accomplishment: whence the nature of it requires that every scrip- 
 ture prophecy be compared with the event, through all the ages of the world, 
 for the better confirmation of the faith, and the better information of the church, 
 with regard to the interpretation of prophecies not yet fulfilled. But here we 
 must allow the latitude which is peculiar and familiar to divine prophecies; 
 which have their completion not only at stated times, but in succession, as par- 
 ticipating of the nature of their author, with whom a thousand years are but 
 as one day, and therefore are not fulfdled punctually at once, but have a 
 growing accomplishment through many ages, though the heighth of fulness of 
 them may refer to a single age or moment. 
 
TO- THE PROPHECIES. §7 - 
 
 Keith has ably sliewn in tlie fil'tli chaptei' of his work on pro- 
 phecy: others remain unaccomplished. 
 
 But let us confine our attention more particularly to the ex- 
 pectations which we may justly entertain respecting the fu- 
 
 TUKE STATE OF THE JEWS. 
 
 There are many expressions in the Old Testament which 
 may lead us to expect not only the conversion of the Jews, but 
 their national restoration fro.m. their present disper- 
 sion to their own land. The late JMr. Scott thus summed up 
 his own views on the subject, in his work on the Restoration 
 of Israel. He says: — 
 
 "It is now becoming more and more the opinion of serious 
 Christians, that when Israel shall be converted to their long- 
 rejected Messiah, they will be gathered from their dispersions, 
 and reinstated in tlieir own land; which being rendered as fer- 
 tile as in times past, (perhaps much more so,) and extended to 
 the utmost limits of the grants made to the Patriarch, will 
 yield them in rich abundance, all things [120] needful and 
 comfortable for this present life. It is also thought that they 
 will live in this land under rulers of their own nation as the 
 vicegerents of the Messiah, of David, or the Son of David, in 
 entire peace and security, free from invader or oppressor, 
 and from the fear of any: and that, along with all spiritual 
 blessings in rich abundancd, they will be voluntarily regarded 
 by all other natioos, then truly converted, with peculiar love, 
 and gratitude, and honour, as the source of all their spiritual 
 blessings, and especially as most nearly related to their com- 
 mon Messiah and Saviour, who is the light of the Gentiles, 
 and the glory of his people Israel."* 
 
 * The author has given a full reference to all the prophecies on the conver- 
 sion and restoration of the Jews, in his Occasional Wt)rks, p. 134 — 140. A 
 collection of promises concerning the calling of the Jews and the glory which 
 shall be in the latter days: taken from Powel's Concordance, published in 
 1G73. It is referred to by Doddridge in his Lectures on Divinity, and is as 
 follows: — 
 
 "I. The Jews shall be gathered from all parts of the earth where they are 
 now scattered, and brought into their own land. 
 
 For this see Isaiah xi. 11; xxvii. 12, 13; xliii. 5, G; xlix. 11, 12; Ix. 4. Com- 
 pare Jer. iii. If^; xvi. 14, 15; xxiii. 3; xxx. 10; xxxi. 7, 8, 10; xxxii. 37. So 
 Hos. xi. 10, 11; Zeph. lii. 10; Zech. viii. 7. 8; x. 8, 9, 10. 
 "II. Tiiey shall be carried by the Gentiles to their place; who shall join 
 themselves with the Jews, and become the Lord's people. 
 Isaiah xlix. 2-2; xiv. 2; Is. !); Ixvi. 18. 20; and ii. 2, 3, 4. Compare Jer. iii 
 17; xvi. 19; Ez. xlvii.S2, 23; Mic. v. 3; Zee; ii. 11; viii. 20 to 23. 
 "III. Great miracles shall be wrought when Israel is restored as formerlv, 
 when they were brought out of Egypt — viz. 
 
 1. Drying up the river Euphrates. Isa. xi. 15, IG; Zee. x. 11; Rev. xvi. 12; 
 Hos. XI. l.'r, Mic. vii. 15. 
 
 2. Causing rivers to flow in desert places. Isaiah xii. 17, 18, 19: xlviii. 20, 
 21; xliii. 19, 20. 
 
 -3. Giving them prophets. Isa. Ixvi. 18, 19, 20, 21; Hos. xii. 9, 10. 
 
§3 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [121] It may be useful to remember, when we are forming 
 an opinion respecting minute particulars of unfulfilled pro- 
 phecy, that the utmost caution, forbearance [122] and reve- 
 rence become us, lest we intrude upon the glories and peculiar 
 attributes of Jehovah, and go a step beyond what he has au- 
 thorized or revealed. For instance, any interpretations which 
 would refer the main promises concerning the Jews eiliier 
 to any state of mere worldly, or of mere spiritual glory and 
 splendour, may fall far short of the event, just as their expecta- 
 tions respecting an immediate temporal kingdom of the JVles- 
 siah were disappointed by that spiritual kingdom, which he 
 established, and which is righleousiiess, and peace, atid joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. Rom. xiv. 17. 
 
 It appears, however, from a careful consideration of the 
 
 4. The Lord Christ himself shall appear at the head of them. Isa. xxxv. 4; 
 lii. 12; Iviii. 8; Hos. i. 10, 11; Mic. ii. 12, 13. 
 
 "IV. The Jews,bein^ restored and converted to the faith of Christ, shall be 
 formed into a state, and have judges anil counsellors over them as formerly: 
 the Lord Christ, himself being their King, who shall then also be acknowledged 
 King over all the earth. 
 
 Isa. i. 2G; Ix. 17. Compare Jer. xxiii. 4; xxx. 8, 9, 21; Hos, iii. 5; Ezek. 
 
 XX xiv. 23, 24; xxxvii. 24, 25; Isaiah liv. 5; Obad. 21; Zee. xiv. 5, 9; Psalm 
 
 xxii. 27, 28. 
 
 "V. They shall have the victory over all their enemies, and all kings and 
 nations of the eaith shall submit unto them. 
 
 For which see l.saiah xi. 13, 14; xiv. 1,'2; xli. 14, 15, 16; xlix. 23; Ix. 12; 
 
 XXV. 10, 11, 12; Joel iii. 7, 8, 19, 20; Obad. 17, 18; Micah iv. 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 
 
 13; v. 5, 6,7; vii. 16, 17; Zech. li. 13; ix. 13, 14, 15, 16; x. 5, 6; xii. G; Num. 
 
 xxiv. 17; Isaiah Ix. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; Ixvi. 19, 20. 
 
 "VI. Tlie Jews, restored, shall live peaceably, without being divided into 
 two nations, or contending with one another any more. 
 
 Isaiah xi. 13, 14; xiv. 1, 2; Jer. iii. 18; !. 4; Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22; Hos. i. 11. 
 
 2. They shall be very numerous, and multiply greatly. Isaiah xxvii. 6; xliv. 
 3, 4; "xlix. IS, 19,20,21; liv. 1, 2, 3; Ixi. 9; Jer. xxiii. 3; xxx. 18, 19, 20; xxxi. 
 27; Ezek. xxxi. 37, 38. 
 
 3. They shall have great peace, safety, and outward temporal prosperity. 
 Isaiah xxxii. 16, 17, 18; xxxiii.24; liv. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; Ix. 18,21; Jer. xxiii. 
 3, 4, 5, 6; xxx. 10; xxxi. 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40; xxxiii. 6, 7, 8, 9; 1. 19, 20; 
 Joel iii. 17, 18; Micah vii. 18, 19, 20; Zcph. iii. 13; Zech. iii. 9, 10. 
 
 4. They shall be very glorious, and a blessing in the whole earth. Isaiah 
 xix. 24, 25; Ixi. 9; Jeri^xxxiii. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 26; Zeph. iii. 19; Zech. viii. 
 13. 
 
 "VII. The land of Judea shall be made eminently fruitful, like a Paradise; 
 or the Garden of God. 
 
 Isaiah xxix. 17; xxxv. 1, 2. 7, 9; li. 3. 16; liv. 11, 12, 13; Iv. 12, 1.3; Ix. 13,17; 
 
 Ixv. 25; Ezek. xxxiv. 26, 27; xxxvi. 36; Joel iii. IS; Amos ix. 13, 1-1. 
 
 "Vlll. JiTM^.ilciii sliall be rebuilt, and after the full restoration of the Jews, 
 shall never h;' d'-ii nycd, nor infested with enemies any more. 
 
 Isaiah Iii. i; xxvi 1; Ix. 18; xxxiii. 6; Joel iii. 17; Obadiah 17; Zech. xiv. 
 
 10, 11; Jer. xxxi.^S, 39, 40; Ezek. xxxviii. 11. 
 
 "IX. A little before the time of the Jews' call and conversion, there shall 
 be great wars, confusion and desolation throughout all the earth. 
 
 Isaiah xxxiv. throughout; Joel iii. 1—10; Zeph. iii. 8, 9; Ezek. xxviii. 25, 
 
 26; Haggai ii. 21 , 22, 23; Jer. xxx. 7, 8, 9, 10; 2 Chron. xv. 3, 4, 5, 0, 7. 
 
 "So that we may say, as Balaam did, prophesying of that very time: Alas, 
 v:ho shall live when God doelh this! Num. xxiv. 23. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. SQ 
 
 whole series of prophecy in the Old Testament, that, of the 
 prophecies deiivercd belorc tlie c;i])tivity, many have even a 
 chief reference to a yet future return of Ju(hih and Israel to 
 their own land. The returns from liabylon, both of Judah 
 and Israel, were ver}' limited, but especially those of the ten 
 tribes, so as not to meet the promises in any literal fulfilment. 
 The exjiressions in Deut. xxx. 1 — G, (following that remark- 
 able prophecy of their dispersion among all nations) naturally 
 lead our minds to a return from their pi^esent dispersion to 
 their own land.* ' The declaration, (Isaiah xi. 11,) that "the 
 Lord will again put foith his hand a second time to recover the 
 remnant of liis people that remaiiieth, from Assyria, and from 
 Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cnsh.and from Elam, and 
 from Shinar, and from Hanalh, and from [12.3] the islands of 
 the sea," received not, as far as we are informed, a full literal 
 accomplishment in the return from Babylon: neither did that 
 recorded in Jeremiah, chapter xxx. and xxxi. where the dis- 
 tinction made between the captivity of Israel and of Judah, 
 (xxx. 3.) leads us to expect the return of Israel,! [124] an 
 event which appears yet to be accomplished. The apostle 
 
 * Josepbus saj's, (Book xi. chap. .5.) "The entire body of the people of Israel 
 remaincLl in that country [where they were carried cajilive]; wheielbre there 
 are but two tribes in A.-.ia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten 
 tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an iminen.^e multitude not to 
 be estimated bv numbers." 
 
 t In the Quarterly Review of Burnes' Travels into Bokhara, the following 
 remarks occur respectins: tiieten tribes — "It has been for some time past a cur- 
 rent opinion in the East, that the offspring of the lost tribes of Israel survive 
 among the Afghans. Mr. Burnes, after shewing some anachronism in the 
 genealogies, and that there are similar corruptions in those of Greece and 
 Rome, &.C. says: — 
 
 "The Afghans looks like Jews; they say that they are descended from Jews, 
 and the younger brother marries the widow of the elder, according to the law 
 of Moses. The Afghans entertain strong prejudices against the Jevyish na- 
 tion, which would at least shew th^t they have no desire to claim without a 
 just cause a descent from them. Since some of the tribes of Israel came to the 
 East, why should we not admit that the Afghans are their descendants, con- 
 verted lo Mahomedanism. I am aware that I am differing from a-high 
 authority — W. Elphinstone. [Mr. E. declined the investigation, but thought 
 the accounts of their origin fabulous,] but I trust that I have. made il to appear 
 on reascmable grounds." Vol. I. page IGl. 
 
 The Baptist -Missionaries Carey and Marshman, quote a learned Afghan, 
 as saying, "his nation arc Beni Isreal, but not Yahood;" sons of Israel, but 
 not Jews; and inform us that in the Pushtoo or Afghan language, there are 
 more Hebrew words than in that of any other Indian nation. 
 
 Mr. Wolff, the Jewish missionary, lakes an opposite view. He says, "Hav- 
 ing ascertained the total unlikeness of the Afghans to the Jews, in iheir phy- 
 siognomy, and also the total discrepancy of their language from the Jews, I 
 think I have demonstrated that the Afghans arc in no wise descendants from 
 the Jews. The assertions of a few of them, that they are of the children of 
 Israel, does not prove anything, for they themselves, as well as all the Ma- 
 homedans, m;ike a great distinction between the Jews and children of Israel. 
 I Kave shewn that the idea of the Jews of Bokhara that the ten tribes are 
 
90 • A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 (Rom. xi. 26.) quotes Isaiah lix. 20, as referring to their future 
 conversion, and thereby justifies our taking such a view of that 
 prophecy, and others of a similar kind. The whole series of 
 chapters, Ezekiel xxxvi. to xxxix. inclusive, with several other 
 instances, might be added, as prophecies that have yet, as far as 
 we can at present judge, to receive their chief accomplishment. 
 
 The REJECTJON OF THE JEWS is forctold in language so plain 
 and literal, and has been so minutely accomplislied, and they 
 have been so widely scattered, that nearl}^ all men that dwell 
 on the face of the whole earth have sensible and visible wit- 
 nesses before their eyes of the truth of God's word, the purity 
 of his law, and the certainty of his judgments. 
 
 And can we suppose that the judgment and righteousness in 
 the threatening shall be so literally accomplished, and the 
 mercy and loving kindness in the promise not be also fulfdled 
 literally and exactly? This is not the method of him whose 
 name is Love. The very sight of their present scattering 
 and degradation, may be to us who believe God's word, a pal- 
 pable evidence of the reality of their future restoration and 
 honour, and shew us how to interpret the innumerable plain 
 predictions which foretell this their future glory. 
 
 The extraordinary fulness of scripture is most wonderful. 
 [125] When do we seem to get wholly at its unsearchable 
 riches! Oh how like it is to the divine mind as manifested in 
 the works of creation! There are inexhaustible treasures of 
 grace in its sacred contents to enrich the humble and ])atient 
 inquirer from age to age! 
 
 Many of the prophecies of the Old Testament shew a very 
 important, humbling, and afflictive course of dealings with the 
 Jews, on their return and before their final glory. Zech. xii. 
 — xiv. Joel ii. and iii. Isaiah Ixvi. 
 
 The New Testajment brinjis before us divine truth in its 
 
 around Lassa and in China is liighly probable." — See Wolfl"s Researches, 
 p. 521. 
 
 Mr. Vs^'uitT, however, records thus the opinion of Capt. Riley, whom he calls 
 "the best Arabic scholar in India," (residing at Nusseerabad, as given in Au- 
 gust, 183-J,) "I concur in opinion with those who aver the Afghans to be of 
 Jewish descent, though these people now, as might be expected-, are indifierent 
 about acknowledging it; dissenting in this idea, as I do, from Mr. Elphinstone, 
 who, in part of a work on Kabool, slights that conjecture, and in another, (vol. i. 
 p. 309,) tells us of a genealogist among them who traced his origin to the Baby- 
 lonish captivity. They have a great number of Hebrew proper names in their 
 appellatives, and their dialect still retains the genitive sign of the Chaldeans 
 and Syrians, and other marks of cognate aflinily." He .says, in a subsequent 
 letter, I suppose in answer to Mr. WolIT's doubts, "I think enough has been 
 advanced to connect their origin in some way or other with the house of 
 Israel." 
 
 A work of much useful information, of Mr. Simon, connecting the Ameri- 
 can Indians with the Jews, may be also read on this point. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 91 
 
 spiritual character. The object of our Lord's first coming, 
 however, was not, we are told, lo destroy the law or the prophets 
 hut to fulfil (or complete tkkcctui). Without, then, setting aside 
 the prophecies of the Okl Testament, the New adds to them 
 those spiritual elements which aie the highest glories of the 
 whole church. This view accounts for its comparative silence 
 on the literal glories of the Jewish nation. 
 
 In the New Testament, therefore, little is said on that sub- 
 ject; but there is nothing to throw doubt upon our hopes re- 
 specting the Jews; and two strong passages, in oblique hints, 
 however, rather than by positive assertions, confirm this hope. 
 Both proceed from our Lord. One is, "Jerusalem shall be 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles 
 be fulfilled," Luke xxi. 24. The other is his reply to the in- 
 quiry of his disciples, "Wilt thou, at this time, restore again 
 the kingdom of Israel! And he said unto them, It is not for 
 you to know the times, or the seasons, which the Father hath 
 put in his own power." Acts i. 6, 7. The book of Revela- 
 tion, being for the use of the [126] Gentile churches, says little 
 directly on the Jews, but the seventh chapter seems to include 
 both the literal and spiritual Israel, and the Kings of the East, 
 (Rev. xvi. 12,) apparently refer to the Jews; and they unite 
 in the songs of praise at the close, in chapter xix. The gene- 
 ral tendency of what we read in the New Testament is to lead 
 our minds from the temporal kingdom and the earthly glory, 
 to that spiritual kingdom which belongs now to Jew and Gen- 
 tile, as a preparation for possessing an heavenly inheritance; 
 but still with this is clearly predicted, in harmony with Old 
 Testament prophecies — a kingdom which shall one day uni- 
 versally prevail, — for a day is coming when it shall be said, 
 "The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our 
 Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever:" 
 Rev. xi. 15; and the inherita/ice of this kingdom is our great 
 reward in the day of Christ. (Matt. xxv. 34; Rev. iii. 21; v. 
 10.) Every book almost of the New Testament contains- ex- 
 pressions which shew that God has not cast away his people 
 Israel. 
 
 Respecting the future conversion of the whole Jewish na- 
 tion, as distinct from their national restoration, the prophecies 
 are clear and decisive. "For the children of Israel shall abide 
 many days without a king, and without a prince, and without 
 a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and 
 without teraphim. Afterward, shall the children of Israel re- 
 turn, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and 
 shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." IIos. 
 iii^4, 5. 
 
92 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 The New Testament does not hei-e speak obscurely. As 
 when JVIoses went in before the Lord he took the veil ofi', Exod. 
 xxxiv. 34, so shall it be with the [127] Jewish nation; ''Never- 
 theless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken 
 away." 2 Cor. iii. 16. If they have in part now fallen, their 
 fulness shall hereafter come in. Rom. xi. 12. If they are now 
 cast awai/ the}^ shall be received; (ver. 15.) if they have been 
 broken off, they shall be agaiti grafted i?}; (ver. 23.) and so all 
 Israel shall be saved, ver. 26. How cheering are such promises! 
 and they are accompanied with the delightful assurance that 
 their recovery shall be a blessing to the world, even as life from 
 the dead. 
 
 It is to be feared, that some who are warm friends to missions 
 among the heathen, have not sufficient faith with regard to efTorts 
 among the Jews, and think it almost a hopeless undertaking. 
 But is not this directly contrary to the plain argument of the 
 Apostle on this very point; "God is able to, graft them in. For 
 if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, 
 and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree, Aotu 
 much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted 
 into their own olive-tree?" Rom, xi. 23, 24. 
 
 The promised future conversion of the Jews, with its effects 
 on the world, should both encourage our hopes and excite our 
 labours for tiiem. This duty is brought before us in the state- 
 ment of God's design in their present unbelief — "They have 
 now not believed in your mercy, that they also may obtain 
 mercy." Rom. xi. 31. The progress of recent events respect- 
 ing the Jews has been peculiarly interesting. The establish- 
 ment of a British episcopal church on Mount Sion, the depu- 
 tation of the Scotch church to the Jews, and the appointment 
 of a British vice-consul at Jerusalem, are remarkable signs of 
 these [128] days. See the author's 'Time to Favour Zion,' 
 just published. 
 
 There are other points respecting this subject on which 
 Christians iiave been more divided, and to wliich it may be 
 desirable briefly to advert. 
 
 The PRIORITY OF THE GENERAL CONVERSION OF THE JeWS 
 
 to that of the Gentiles, has been much discussed. They ap- 
 pear to be closely connected events: if we only considered the 
 vastness of the scene of labour, and the immense work to be 
 accomplished, we should see how easily both may be advanc- 
 ing at the same time, and mutually promoting each other. 
 Vast as arc the hopes and means of the real church of Christ, 
 the progress hitherto made in its purification, and the conver- 
 sion of the world, is very limited. The work is so large that 
 it may advance yet very much more, and quite enough be left, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 93 
 
 after the conversion of the Jews, to realize the assured hope, 
 that ihat event shall be as life from the dead to the world. 
 
 The supposition that the Jews will hereafter be the emi- 
 nently honoured instruments of good to the Gentiles, and 
 that, in connection with their restoration, we may hope for the 
 UNIVERSAL conversion of the Gentiles, appears to the author 
 to have a truly scriptural foundation. It is true in past history. 
 Undoubtedly the Evangelists sowed the first seeds of Christi- 
 anity in many kingdoms now nationally professing the Chris- 
 tian faith. Though the Christian nations were not in general, 
 nor exclusively, probably, in any particular instance, brought 
 to that profession by the means of Jewish missionaries, the 
 effects of the labours of the apostles, the wa}' in which their 
 writings have been and arc blessed, and [129] the fact that all 
 the knowledge of true religion, that is now in the world, came 
 originally through the Jewish nation, have remarkably com* 
 menced the fulfilment of such predictions on this point in the 
 Old Testament, as Isaiah ii. 1 — 5; Micah v. 7; Zechariah viii. 
 23. These facts by no means, however, shut out hopes of yet 
 more extended blessings from this people. Indeed, who can 
 but feel a joyful hope when he looks at the whole history of 
 the Jews and their present state, and the promises connected 
 with their conversion? Who can but rejoice in the blessed 
 anticipation that they will be again, as in the first days of the 
 church, most enlarged blessings to the Gentiles? See them 
 scattered in every country knowing almost every tongue, valu- 
 ing every where there original scriptures, marked as a pecu- 
 liar people by all nations, and a city set on a hill in every land. 
 Consider yet further, that the New Testament is translated 
 into their beloved original language, circulated among them, 
 and received and read by them. Then look at their restora- 
 tion, and the cheering promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
 Zech. xii. 10. Observe thenj, thus penitent and believing, 
 going back to the land in which their fathers dwelt, Ezek. 
 xxxvii. 25, and thus becoming witnesses above all exception 
 to the veracity of God; and who can but hope, both from the 
 providence and prophecy of God, that such marvellous events, 
 attracting the altcntion of the whole earth, will be a spiritual 
 blessing beyond calculation to every nation, and that the con- 
 verted Jews shall thus most effectively aid the general conver- 
 sion of the Gentiles.* 
 
 * The author once thought it most probable that the Jew? would betlic chief 
 missionaries to the Gentiles; but he has been led to think that tfirn^e that escape 
 who are sent to the nations, are Gentiles spared from the last judgments and 
 not Jews, and that the general aspect of the prophecies is the Gentiles cona- 
 ing to Jerusalem to learn, rather than the Jews going to the Gentiles. Isa. ii. 
 2, 60; Zech. xiv. 
 VOL. II. — 58 
 
94 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [130] Yet it becomes us to speak of unfulfilled prophecy 
 with reserve and humility; while the general result is clear, 
 the particular mode of accomplishment is left in obscurity for 
 the most important practical purposes — the exercise of faith, 
 and hope, and humility. Let us then be satisfied with gene- 
 ral views, without being anxious to understand or state the 
 exact mode in which God will accomplish his purposes, and 
 explain the various minute particulars connected with them; 
 about wliich after all, we may entirely mistake, for we are not 
 prophets, and should not speak as if we were. While we 
 search the prophets diligently, let us be willing to suspend our 
 judgment concerning such deep subjects as the various particu- 
 lars of God's purposes, till it shall please him to make them 
 manifest by the event. Surely there is much wisdom in the 
 saying of one of the fathers — 7nelius est dubilare de occiillis qtiam 
 Uligare de hicaiis. 
 
 Having given these general remarks, w^e need not pursue 
 the subject much farther as to particular prophecies respecting 
 the Jews in the Old Testament yet unfulfilled. 
 
 The following rules have been given to assist in ascertaining 
 whether prophecies respecting the Jews are yet to be fulfilled. 
 1. When Judea and Israel are both included in the promised 
 blessings, as Isaiah xi. 12; — 2. When permanent blessings are 
 promised to them, as Ezekiel xxxix. 29; — 3. When the time 
 for the fulfilment is designated by the "latter [131] days," as 
 in Ilosea iii. 5; — 4. 'When they are accompanied by predic- 
 tions of universal peace, as in Isaiah xi. 
 
 We would not enter into a particular examination of these 
 rules, which would lead to a lengthened discussion; but only 
 observe generally, that it is well, in interpreting any particular 
 prophecy, to consider whether it may not have received its de- 
 signed first accomplishment as it regards the Jews, — or be now 
 in a course of spiritual accomplishment, — or be hereafter to be 
 accomplished in a higher and more extended sense. It is not 
 quite clear that the term "for ever," annexed to promises, 
 necessarily implies perpetuity. The statutes and ordinances 
 of the Jews were said to be for ever, (Exod. xii. 17; xxxi. 16.) 
 when they appear only to have been given while that dispen- 
 sation lasted: though we know not so distinctly the purposes 
 of Jehovah respecting the Jews, as to speak without hesitation. 
 
 Two or three instances may illustrate the subject. In Isaiah 
 ii. 1 — 5, there is a promise of the extension of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom, by the going forth of the law out of Zion, That it 
 was in some degree fulfilled in the apostolic times will be 
 generally admitted; we ai"e now also come to Mount Zion, 
 Heb. xii. 22, and a fuller literal accomplishment will doubtless 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 95 
 
 yet take place. In like manner, Isaiah Ix. 1 — 5, began its 
 couri'e of accomplishment on the clay of Pentecost, and will, in 
 the fulness of time, through the converted Jews,* he more 
 abundantly [132 ] and literally fulfilled, and all be realized. The 
 prophecy of Zechariah, (viii. 23.) that "ten men should take 
 hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew," was remarkably accom- 
 plished in the preaching of the word by the apostles, though 
 we would not preclude a further accomplishment hereafter. 
 
 For a particular explanation of the various prophecies, the 
 reader is referred to the writings of those who have deeply 
 studied this su!)ject; especially Mede, Bishop Newton, Wood- 
 house, Cuninghame, &c. Scott's Answer to Rabbi Crool con- 
 tains also much information. Expectations of a mere earthly 
 kingdom, and worldly splendour and glory, as they arc far 
 below the promised glory, so also they seem inconsistent with 
 our Saviour's declaration, John xviii. 36, " JNIy kingdom is not 
 of this world;" but this declaration must be taken in connexion 
 with those which shew that a universal kingdom of Clirist shall 
 be established on the ruins of all others, Daniel ii. 44; vii. 27, 
 and Rev. xi. 15. The special blessings which Christ bestows 
 on his people, in his kingdom, are holy, spiritual, and 
 heavenly; whatever be its outward glor}'. 
 
 The glory of the Jewisli nation when restored and converted, 
 and the blessedness from this to the whole earth, is the theme 
 of many a glowing prediction of scripture, which our former 
 statements will shew remain yet to be realized. The author, 
 in a sermon before the Jews' Society, has dwelt at some [133] 
 length on this subject. See the Sermon in the xVuthor's 
 Occasional Works. He stated his views thus : — 
 
 The salvation of Israel is connected with the coming of 
 THE Saviour. St. Paul shews, that " all Israel shall be saved; 
 as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer." 
 Rom. xi. 26. So Isaiah declares, <' Behold, your God will 
 come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will 
 come and save you," Isaiah xxxv. 4; and in his eleventh 
 chapter, he connects the restoration of Israel with the reign of 
 Christ. Daniel also foretells, "At that timesiiall Michael stand 
 up, the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy 
 
 * Archbishop Leighton, in a sermon on Isaiah Ix. 1, applies the text to the 
 whole church of Christ; yet thus speaks ol'il with reference to the Jews : — '• Un- 
 doubtedly the people of the Jews shall once more be commanded to arise and 
 shine, and their return shall be the riches of the Gentiles, and that shall b.e a 
 more glorious time than ever the church of Christ did yet behold." Nor is 
 there any inconvenience if we think that the high expressions of this prophecy 
 have sonrie spiritual reference to that time, since the great doctor of the Gentiles 
 applies some words of the former chapter to that purpose. (Rom. xi. 29.) 
 They forget a main point of the church's glory, who pray not daily for the 
 conversion of the Jews. 
 
96 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 people; and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was 
 since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that 
 time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be 
 found written in the book," Dan. xii. 1. So in the Psalms it 
 is predicted, '< When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall 
 appear in his glory. Psalms cii. 16. The precise period of our 
 Lord's return is nowhere, I apprehend, revealed to us; but 
 whether it precedes, or accompanies, or follows the return of 
 Judah and Israel to their own land, varied expressions in God's 
 word lead us to the conclusion that it is immediately connected 
 with that event. In Micha ii. 13, a passage applied by Lowth 
 to the general restoration of ihe Jewish nation, v.'e have this 
 statement: "The breaker is gone up before them; they have 
 broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out 
 by it, and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on 
 the head of them," Micah ii. 13. We read in Zechariah xii. 
 9, 10. " It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to 
 destroy all the nations that come [134] against Jerusalem; and 
 I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they 
 shall look upon me wliom they have pierced; and they shall 
 mourn for him." And again: " Then shall the Lord go forth, 
 and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of 
 battle: and his feet shall stand upon Mount Olivet," Zecli. 
 xiv. 3; and presently afterwards, "the Lord my God shall 
 come, and all the sdints with thee." And so, in the closing 
 book of Revelation, it is declared, " Behold, he comelh with 
 clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which 
 pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because 
 of him." Rev. i. 7. 
 
 These varied quotations all bear to one point, that the Lord 
 Jesus will personally and visibly come, not only for the de- 
 struction of his enemies, but also in mercy to his people Israel. 
 
 That announcement, which the angel made to Mary before 
 his birth, "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of 
 his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob 
 for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end," Luke i. 
 32, is still to be fulfilled: our Lord Christ has never yet had 
 the throne of David, nor reigned over the house of Jacob, 
 which includes the twelve tribes of Israel. 
 
 Their future history is to be the very contrast of their pre- 
 sent state. They are all to be sought out, gathered together, 
 and restored to their own land. God himself will take this 
 work especially under his own care. Ezek. xxxiv. 11 — 13. 
 The nations of the earth are described as assisting in it, Isaiah 
 xlix. 22; Ixvi. 20. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 97 
 
 When thus gathered from all lands, and re-assembled [135] 
 once more in their own country, they will be placed under the 
 care and government of our Lord Clirist. " I will set uj) one 
 shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant 
 David." Ezek. xxxiv. 23; Luke i. 32, 33, Who can con- 
 ceive the joy of that Shepherd, who wept over their desolation, 
 in the recovering again of these his lost sheep; or, who can 
 imagine their joy after all their wanderings, tenors, dangers, 
 and miseries, in being thus sought out and restored, governed 
 and forever blessed by Him? 
 
 In that l\ill and minute description given by Ezekiel of the 
 latter-day glory, of the city, the temple, and the promised 
 land, the prophet closes all by stating, "The name of the city 
 from that day shall be, the Lord is tliere. Ezek. xlviii. 13. 
 Again, " Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not for- 
 saken," (Isa. Ixii. 12.) is a part of their promised glory. The 
 very expression, citij, shews gathering together, and national 
 restoration, both union and a kingdom. And when Zion is 
 thus a cilij not forsaken, that prediction will be realized, 
 *' Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man 
 went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a 
 joy of many genei'ations." Isaiah Ix. 15. 
 
 Great are the blessings to be bestowed upon Israel: and 
 what shall be the issue of all this? Glory will be given to 
 God in the highest, and universal joy difiused among all holy 
 beings. 
 
 Tlie conversion and salvation, the restoration and glory of 
 Israel, will eminently display the honour of the triune Jehovah. 
 What riches of forbearance, patience, long-suflering, and faith- 
 fulness will itmanifestin our heavenly Father! How wonder- 
 ful [13G] the glories of his electing lovo in once rebellious, 
 and then recovered Israel! What efficacy in our Redeemer's 
 blood! What a prevalency ,in his intercession for his worst 
 and bitterest enemies! What omnipotent energy and grace in 
 the Holy Ghost, by his overcoming all their infidelity, pre- 
 judices, and obstinacy! Oh, what a bright and valuable jewel 
 in the Redeemer's many croznis, (Rev. xix. 12,) at the latter 
 day, will be converted Israel, holy and joyful in their own 
 land! 
 
 What joy also in heaven! If the angels joy over one iiniur 
 that repents, (Luke xV. 10,) what will be their joy over the 
 restoration of the long-lost, the ancient people of God? 
 Heaven itself is filled with patriarchs, and kings, prophets, 
 apostles, and martyrs, the very ancestors of these Jews. They 
 cannot be uninterested in the remnant to be saved. Oh! how 
 win hallelujahs afresh resound through all the heavenly man- 
 *5S 
 
gg A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 sions, when their own descendants, after so many ages of 
 delay, at length return to the Saviour, and yield themselves 
 to him! 
 
 Nor will the nations of the earth be without their share in 
 this general joy. " The Gentiles are to rejoice with his 
 people." Deut. xxxil. 43. Songs of glory will at length 
 burst forth from every land to the Divine Redeemer. When 
 we are told, " He has remembered his mercy and truth towards 
 the house of Israel," it is added, " And all the ends of the 
 earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful 
 noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise, rejoice 
 and sing praise." Psalms xcviii. 3. And so " the earth shall 
 be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the 
 waters cover the sea." Hab. ii. 14. 
 
 [137] The whole history of the Jewish church* foretold and 
 illustrated by prophecy, presents many a striking lesson. It 
 shews us the sovereign, righteous, and merciful government of 
 Jehovah: the fatal consequences of unbelief; the infinite im- 
 portance of knowing the day of salvation, and rightly improv- 
 ing our spiritual privileges. It holds forth many an afiecting 
 illustration of the wisdom and power, the forbearance and 
 loving-kindness, the justice and compassion of the great Lord 
 of all. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PROPHECIES RESPECTING NATIONS AND COUNTRIES CONNECTED 
 WITH THE JEWS. 
 
 [138] As all the prophecies bear on Christ and his church, 
 whether Jewish or Christian, but little is said about nations 
 
 * The R.ev. H. Howarth, in his Hulsean Lectures, "on Jesus of Nazareth,'' 
 speakingof the influence of the Jews now, says, "The world's wealth is their's 
 — the wheels of the mightiest governments of modern days have been moved 
 by their assistance. Wars are proclaimed and treaties guaranteed not with- 
 out their potent intervention; and although still an humbled and unobtrusive 
 race, none are ignorant of their real sway, nor of the almost omnipotent con- 
 trol which they can exert over the destinies of states." In his notes he refers 
 to a Memoir of N.M. Rothschild, in the Metropolitan Magazine, 1836, which 
 speaks of the continental wars as redncitig the inferior princes of Germany to 
 a state of painful obligation to the leading members of the Hebrew persua- 
 sion, who had so long been treated with scorn. 
 
 The journal du Commerce states that the five brothers the Rothschilds have 
 taken part in most of the great financial affairs of France, of England, and 
 almost every country. Their power was at one time such that they were free 
 10 make either peace or war. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 99 
 
 and kingdoms while Ihey have no direct concern with the 
 church. The reason is obvious. The scriptures were written 
 for the use of" those who receive tlieni. Prophecies would be 
 useless to tliose who have no connection with the church of 
 Ciirist, and either reject or are ignorant of the Sacred Writ- 
 ings. Yet the prophecy of Noah, respecting his three sons, 
 (Gen. ix. 25 — 27,) is an epitome of the histoi-y of ail nations. 
 Tiie prophecies of Daniel too, contain an abridgment of the 
 history of the four great empires tiiat have prevailed in tiie 
 earth. 
 
 These empires are foretold in the second chapter of Daniel, 
 under the figure of a golden image, and in the seventh chapter 
 under the figure of four wild beasts; representing the Babylo- 
 nian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman empires.* 
 
 [139] In considering the fulfilment of prophecies respecting 
 nations connected with the Jews, we have a most striking evi- 
 dence of the inspiration of the holy scriptures; an evidence 
 that is obvious to every sincere inquirer, and every candid 
 mind. 
 
 For the full proof of this the reader is referred to the follow- 
 ing works: — liisliop Newton's Dissertations, Davison on Pro- 
 phecy, and Keith on the evidence of Projihecy. 
 
 The prophecies respecting Dabylox are recorded — Isa. xiii. 
 xiv. xlv. — xlvii. Jer. 1. li.: resj)ecting Nineveh, by Nahum, 
 and Zephaniah ii. 13 — 15: respecting 'I'vre, Isaiah xxiii. Ezek. 
 xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. Egypt, in Ezek. xxix. xxx. — xxxii.^ 
 Ammox, Ezek. xxi. 28 — 32; xxv. 1 — 7. Jeremiah xlix. 1 — 6, 
 Edom, in Isaiah xxxiv. Jer. xlix. Ezekiel xxxv. Obadiah. 
 MoAB, in Jer. xlviii. Ezekiel xxv. 8. The Philistians, Amos. 
 i. 6 — S. Zephaniah ii. 4 — 7. Jer. xlvii. And the Arabs in 
 Gen. xvi. 10—12. 
 
 It is most strengthening to our faith to know, from the uni- 
 versal, though often unconscious, testimony of all historians 
 and travellers, Christian or fnfidel, that these prophecies have 
 been fulfilled, if not wholly, yet in a vast variety of particu- 
 lars, in the sight of all men at the present hour. 
 
 * A clear and plain illuslralion of these prophecies will be found inCuning- 
 haine's Political Destiny of the Earth. 
 
 t The situation of Egypt, at the present moment, cannot but be one of much 
 interest to the Christian; not only from its ruler having now possession of the 
 Holy Land, but also from the "peculiarly vigorous, active, and enterprising 
 spirit of the pacha and his son, and the poweiful army and navy that they have 
 got together, connected as these are with the state of Turkey and Russia; and 
 with the predictions in the latter days, respecting Israel, Assyria, and Egypt, 
 (Isaiah xix. 18— 2.'^.) Bishop Lowth considers Isaiah xviii. as referring to 
 Egypt. Bishop Horsley and Faber refer it to a maritime country, meaning 
 Great Britain. America may po.ssibly be intended. A Imle time will more 
 fuily dcvelope these remarkable prophecies. 
 
JOQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [140] There is a further use and application of these pro- 
 phecies made by our Lord (compare Isa. xiii. 10, and Matt. 
 xxiv. 29, &c.) and his apostles, on which Dean Woodhouse 
 makes the following remarks: — 
 
 "Throughout the whole of the prophetical scripture a time 
 of retribution and vengeance on God's enemies is announced. 
 It is called the day of the Lord; (Mai, iv. 5,) the day of urath 
 a7id slaughter: (Rom. ii. 5,) of the Lord's anger, (Zeph. ii. 3,) 
 visitation, (Mic. vji. 4,) a/id jiidgment, (Matt. x. 15,) the great 
 day, (Jude 6,) and the last day, (John vi. 44.) At the same 
 time it is to be observed, that this kind of description, and the 
 same expressions which are used to represent this great day, 
 are also employed b}^ the prophets to describe the fall and pun- 
 ishment of particular states and empires; of Babylon, by 
 Isaiah (ch. xiii.) of Egypt, by Ezekiel (xxx. 2 — 4; xxxii. 7, 
 8,) of Jerusalem, by Jeremiah, Joel, and by our Lord, (Matt, 
 xxiv.); and in many of these prophecies the description of the 
 calamity which is to fall on vtny particular state or nation is so 
 blended and intermixed with that general destruction which 
 in the final days of vengeance will invade all the inhabitants 
 of the earth, that the industry and skill of our ablest interpre- 
 ters have been scarcely equal to separate and assort them. 
 Hence it has been concluded by judicious divines, that these 
 partial prophecies and particular instances qf the divine ven- 
 geance, whose accomplishment we know to have taken place, 
 are presented to us as types, certain tokens, and forerunners 
 of some greater events which are also disclosed in them. To 
 the dreadful time of universal vengeance they all appear to 
 look forward, beyond their first and more imn)ediate object. 
 [141] Little indeed can we doubt that such is to be considered 
 one use and application of these prophecies, since we see them 
 thus applied by our Lord and his Apostles." He then refers 
 to Isa. xiii. 10, and xxxiv. 1 — 6, S, and compares them with 
 Rev. vi. 12 — 17, and states, that though Idumea is mentioned 
 by the prophet as the particular object of vengeance, yet it has 
 a more sublime and future j)rospect, and in this sense the whole 
 world is its object. Such prophecies "have all of them been 
 typically fulfilled in the fall of those nations whose after-ruin 
 they prefigured; but a more perfect completion is reserved for 
 them, with which their grandeur of design and sublimity of 
 expression more exactly accord: for they seem to unite with 
 the apocalyptic prophecy in pointing ultimately and emphati- 
 cally to the great day of the Lord's wrath. 
 
 But even out of the great tribulation (the tribulation, even 
 the great one, T«c8x4saif T»;^<s>a>.M, Rev. vii. 14) a great multitude 
 which no man can number are to be saved (ver. 9). And when 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. JQl 
 
 it is ended the Jews are to be a blessing to all nations: Jcr. 
 xxxiii. 7 — 9. Ezek. xxxiv. 26. Zcch. viii. 13. Rom. xi. 13 — 
 15. It is this concluding of all (Gentiles as well as Jews) in 
 unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, that made the apostle 
 cry out — the depth of the riches both of the ivisdom and /enow- 
 ledge of God! 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 [142] There are many prophecies that have been ful- 
 filled in the state of the Christian church since the coming of 
 Christ, and that are now manifestly fulfilling. We may refer 
 to Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, in proof of this. A con- 
 siderable jxut of the book of Revelation has, in this way, been 
 made sufticiently clear by the event. 
 
 The statements given by St. Paul respecting a falling away 
 of the Christian church, are very striking. He tells the Thes- 
 salonians, (second Epistle, chap. ii. verses 3, 4.) that the last 
 day should not come, "except there come a falling away first, 
 and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who 
 opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
 that is worshipped; so that he, as God, silteth in the temple 
 of God, shewing himself that he is God." All history shews 
 how exactly this, with the following j)art of the description 
 (verse 6 — 12.) marks the Pope of Rome, arrogating the title 
 of His Holiness, claiming infallibility, dispensing absolution, 
 restraining the scriptures, exalting his own decrees above [143] 
 them, usurping a right to d'epose kings, and the like. The 
 same falling away is described again, (1 Tim. iv. 1.) "Now 
 the Spirit speakcth expressly, that in the latter tinries, some 
 shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and 
 doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their 
 consciences seared with a hot iron: forbidding to marry, and 
 commanding to abstain from meats." The apostacy of the 
 Roman Catholic church is here again distinctl}' marked — their 
 multitude of mediators — worship of saints — legends, and pre- 
 tended miracles — the celibacy of their clergy — and the nume- 
 rous fastings from particular meats, are clearly foretold.* 
 
 ♦God liaving promised a blessing on the study of the prophetic word; and 
 many of the most eminent and honoured of God's servants, after lengthened 
 
102 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Now these very predictions are in the keeping of the Ro- 
 man Catholics. They, like the Jews, are unexceptionable 
 librarians of the prophecy. And if it be asked, why they do 
 not renounce popery, we have the very same reason to give as 
 we had respecting the Jews; thousands and tens of thousands, 
 and millions and tens of millions, when the holy scriptures 
 were fully laid before men at the reformation, on this very 
 ground forsook the Roman church; and the perseverance in 
 corruption of the rest, till the entire destruction of this fallen 
 church, [144] is foretold in the very same writings which pre- 
 dict its fall from primitive purity. 
 
 There are similar jirophecies respecting the Mahomedans 
 given in the books of Daniel, chap. viii. 9 — 25, and Reve- 
 lations, chapter ix. which have also been remarkably fulfilled. 
 
 In considering the future state of the church of 
 Christ, let us first look at the peculiar design of God in di- 
 recting the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles. The gospel 
 was to be preached to every creature, and the promise was 
 added, " he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;" and 
 the threatening annexed, "he that believeth not shall be 
 damned." Mark xvi. 15. Though "God will have all men 
 to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth," 
 (1 Tim. ii. 4,) yet it does not appear by the scriptures or by 
 facts, that he purposed by the present preaching of the go'jpel 
 to save all men. Matt. xxiv. 14. The most extended preach- 
 ing of the gospel is the hour of God's judgment. Rev. xiv. 6. 
 St. Paul leads us to this idea, that through the fall of the Jews, 
 salvation came to the Ge?itiles; that the Gentiles by unbelief, high- 
 mindedness, and not continuing i?i his goodness may be cut off; 
 and that the natural branches shall be grafted into their own olive- 
 tree. Rom. xi. 11, 20- — 24. St. James gives us the same view 
 of the design of the gospel, (Acts xv. 14); God graciously 
 visiting the Gentiles to take out op them a people to his 
 name; and then building again the tabernacle of David, that 
 the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the 
 Gentiles. Our Lord says to his disciples; "ye are not of the 
 world; but I have chosen you out of the world." John xv. 19. 
 There are, as we have seen, clear predictions of a [145] falling 
 
 study, having for centuries come to the conclusion, that the Mnn of Sin de- 
 scribes the Pope, and Babylon, Papal Rome, it is in the highest degree impro- 
 bable that this interpretation should be erroneous. Whatever farther fulfil- 
 ment may take place in the close of the mystery of iniquity, and in its final 
 destruction, the past fulfilment has been such as to satisfy the general body of 
 Protestants that tliis is a true interpretation: indeed Cressener, in his ''De- 
 monstraiion of the Apocalypse,' has shown that Roman Catholic writers them- 
 selves furnish many testimonies that help this Protestant application of the 
 prophecy. See farther remarks on this subject in following chapters. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 103 
 
 away in the Christian cliurch, (1 Tim. iv. 1 — 3; Dan. vii. 25.) 
 and this falling; away, in the sight of all men, has largely 
 taken place. Judgments also on the professing church of 
 Christ are clearly foretold. The falling away is connected 
 with awful consequent judgments (Dan. ii. 44; vii. 9 — 11, 
 2G; 2 Tiiess. ii. S — 12.) which we dare not overlook in con-' 
 sidering the future state of the Christian church. 
 
 From all these things we may gather, that the present dis- 
 pensation of the gospel, till the Jews are restored, was not 
 designed for the universal conversion of the whole Gentile 
 world; but to gather a church out of the Gentiles.* It is after 
 the punishment of God's enemies, that his glorious kingdom 
 is 10 be fully established; though there be indeed a full 
 harvest yet to be gatliered in the previous day of tribulation, 
 as shewn in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 In considering the punishment of those enemies, we may 
 first notice that the destruction of Popery is an event clearly 
 predicted. "The mystery of iniquity doth already work: 
 only he who now letteth (or hinders) will let, until he be 
 taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be re- 
 vealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his 
 mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 
 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8. The voice shall yet be heard, " Babylon 
 the great is fallen." Rev. xviii. 2. The pouring out of the 
 vials, (Rev. xvi.) is probably already in progress, and the fall 
 of the mystical Babylon must follow. May God's people 
 everywhere obey their Saviour's direction, " Come out of her, 
 my people, that ye be not [146] partakers of her sins, and 
 that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. xviii. 4. The 
 destruction of the imposture of Mahomet is equally clear; " he 
 shall be broken without hand," Daniel viii. 25. "The sixth 
 angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and 
 the water thereof was dried, up'," Rev, xvi. 12. The pre- 
 diction is plain, " And the beast was taken, and with him the 
 false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which 
 he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, 
 and them that worshipped his image. These botii were cast 
 alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Rev. 
 xix. 20.* 
 
 A continuance of the servants of Christ intermingled with 
 the ungodly till the end, and then a separation, and the 
 punishment of the ungodly, is also clearly foretold. Well 
 
 * The author refers with satisfaction to Mr. M'Neile's Sermon on the times 
 of the Gentiles, as conclusive to his own mind. 
 
 t The application of the prophecies to Popery is noticed in a subsequent 
 chapter. 
 
JQ4 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 does it become us, diligently to search the scriptures re- 
 specting this separation. See Matthew xiii. 36 — 52; xxv. 
 Luke xvii. 20 — 37, and various other passages. There is no 
 intimation in these passages of a previous Millennium, and 
 there are expressions in them that seem inconsistent with the 
 idea of an interveningperiod of universal righteousness. That 
 glorious millennial kingdom follows the coming of Christ and 
 the punishment of his enemies; that coming is also the blessed 
 hope of the believer. 
 
 The Christian, though now surrounded with dilBculties, and 
 with a probability of a temporary increase of those difficultes, 
 may yet lift up his head full of expectation and hope. His 
 Saviour is *' King of kings, and Lord of lords. He must 
 reign till he [147] has put all enemies under his feet." 1 
 Cor. XV. 25. The agitations of the present time should only 
 lead him to those views and feelings which David so beauti- 
 fully expresses in the 4Gth Psalm, "God is our refuge, and 
 strength, a very present help in trouble." Whatever may be 
 the precise and exact meaning of the promises, the general re- 
 sult is clear; the full triumph of Christ over all his enemies. 
 How rich are the promises! " The earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," Isaiah xi. 
 9; "the kingdom and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom 
 under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the 
 saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting 
 kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him," Daniel 
 vii. 14; Satan shall be " bound for a thousand years," and the 
 saints be "priests of God and of Christ, and reign with him a 
 thousand years," Rev. xx. Our hopes cannot but be raised by 
 these and multitudes of similar promises, to a far happier scene 
 than this lower world has ever yet witnessed — a scene which 
 must now be fast approaching. 
 
 In what aspect, then, shall we regard those blessed exertions 
 which are now making by religious societies, and which fill 
 the heart with hope and joy ? Let us mark first the extent 
 and success of those exertions. 
 
 Unquestionably we live in a remarkable day of the church 
 of Christ. There is a peculiar shaking of the nations and 
 larger efforts are making by faithful Christians to diffuse the 
 gospel, and the word of God has been circulated to a greater 
 extent, than in any former era of Christianity. 
 
 The success in modern missionary exertions has been indeed 
 supposed by some to be inadequate to [148] the ineans used, 
 and to the expectations reasonably excited by them; and it has 
 been thought that the cause of this has been the neglect of the 
 Jews as the great medium for the conversion of the world. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 1()5 ' 
 
 But is not the supposed fact itself really unfounded? Look- 
 ing at the miraculous gifts and at the fervent piety of the 
 primitive church, and especially looking at the large outpour- 
 ing of the Holy Spirit, we need not be surprised that the gos- 
 pel spread then as it did. National conversions, however, did 
 not then take place in a few years. The Christian church was, 
 during the whole of the first three centuries, more or less per- 
 secuted and despised, and consisted of individual churches. 
 A person at first sight may be apt to suppose, that, when the 
 apostle wrote the epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, the 
 whole of Rome and Corinth were Christians: but it need 
 not be proved that this was far indeed from being the case. 
 Though it is freely allowed that the gospel then spread with a 
 rapidity unexampled in any age since; yet we apprehend that 
 the reason for this, in subordination to the divine wisdom, must 
 be looked for, not in the neglect of employing men of any 
 particular nation, but in the sins of Christians; in their luke- 
 warmness and coldness; in the want of a missionary spirit in 
 the church at large; and especially in the want of a general 
 and enlarged spirit of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy 
 Ghost; in the small extent to which the doctrine of Christ 
 crucified has been preached; and in the defect of a spirit of 
 union and love among real Christians. 
 
 Passing by Roman Catholic IVIissions, as not needing here 
 distinct consideration, it may justly be said that the success 
 which has been already [149] given to efforts to spread the 
 gospel, is larger than some seem to think; especially when we 
 consider the few instruments employed, the short space of time 
 in which they have laboured, and the difficulties which they 
 have had to encounter, before they could simply and fully de- 
 clare to the heathen, in their own {ongue, the imsearchnble riches 
 of Christ. Eph. iii. 8. It was long in general after the forma- 
 tion of their societies, before the missionaries went forth to 
 their work, and long after they landed, before they could preach 
 to the natives. There are even now very few Europeiui or 
 American or Native missionaries preaching fully to the. heathen 
 in their native tongues; probably the number but a few years 
 since fell short of the seventy disciples whom our Lord sent 
 forth, and foreigners could not, from the very necessity of the 
 case, speak with the ease and fluency of a native; many of 
 them spoke with that broken and foreign accent, and those 
 hesitating expressions, which necessarily greatly hindered the 
 power of their statements. 
 
 And notwithstanding all difficulties, the gospel has spread, 
 and is spreading, more extensively every year: thousands and 
 tens of thousands are converts and communicants; and all 
 
 VOL. II. — 59 
 
jQQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 these things are doubtless preparing the way for the church's 
 full glory. Look at the effects of the labours of Swartz and 
 others. They began in great discouragement; and now there 
 are, as the result of those labours, upwards of twenty thousand 
 native Protestant Christians in South India. Look at t!ie state 
 of the colony of Sierra Leone, where the author witnessed 
 the negroes in the greatest degradation, as naked savages and 
 miserable idolaters, and of whom a competent and unexcep- 
 tionable [150] witness, a few years afterwards, said, that their 
 spirit and conduct were such that he was persuaded there 
 was not to be seen upon earth a community of equal size so 
 truly exemplary. Look at thousands of Christian negroes in 
 the West Indies, blessed by the gospel, imparted in modern 
 times through the labours of the various Protestant Missiona- 
 ries. Look again at the South Sea Islands, emerging from the 
 lovvest barbarism and idolatry to i)iety and civilization, through 
 the persevering efforts of Christian Missionaries in our own 
 day. Every where, in proportion as the gospel of Christ has 
 been fully and faithfully preached, it has been the poicer of God 
 to the salvation of the heathen. 
 
 The promise then still abides faithful. My ii-ord — that goeth 
 forth of my mouth — shall not return unto me void: Isaiah Iv. 11; 
 and the extent to which that word is going forth, concurs with 
 the cheering light of prophecy to strengthen our hopes, that 
 however dark the clouds now, and however severe the storm 
 that we previously expect, may be, the dawn of the millennial 
 day of glory cannot be far distant. 
 
 For we are not left in doubt as to the aspect in wh.ich all 
 this is to be viewed. In the 14th of Revelation, we haA'e a 
 prediction of three angels going forth with distinct voices. 
 The first angel flies "in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
 lasting gosjiel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and 
 to every nation, and kindred and tongue, and people, saying 
 with a loud voice. Fear God, and give glory to him; for the 
 hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made 
 heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountain of waters." 
 The second angel declares the fall [151] of Babylon, and the 
 third angel the wrath of God on all who worship the beast and 
 his image. Here we see predicted the dilfusion of the gospel. 
 Dr. Cressener, in some discussions on this part of the chapter, 
 endeavoured to shew that the time of the patience of the saints is 
 the fiercest persecution of the true church by the beast. It 
 may however relate to the approach of the season of reward; 
 as that is the great scope of the chapter. Amidst a severe con- 
 flict, there is a rising triumph of the truth, from the procla- 
 mation of the first angel to the treading of the vintage. In 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. JQ?' 
 
 the course of these events — is tlie coming of tlie Son of man 
 on the cloud, and the reaping of the Iiarvest, or tlie gatliering 
 of God's saints (Mark iv. 26—29. JNIatt. xiii. 24 — 30; xxiv. 
 31. John iv. 35 — 38,) and then the treading of tlie vintage, or 
 the punishment of his enemies, Rev. xix. and Isa. Ixiii. 1 — 6, 
 The j)ast history of the church, and the continued exertions of 
 religious societies, shew that at least the first angel, with his 
 warning voice, commencing probably at the Reformation, has 
 already taken his flight: the other angels follow, and soon the 
 Son of man appears' in the clouds to establish his glorious king- 
 dom, Dan. vii. 13, 14. 
 
 Mr. Cuninghame, on Rev. xiv. 14, observes, "It is jjlain 
 that the vision does not belong to the first moment of the ad- 
 vent: for that is described by the one like the Son of Man 
 coming in the clouds (Dan. vii. 13; INIatt. xxiv. 30,); here on 
 the contrary, John sees him sitting on a cloud, which implies 
 not the action of coming, but that he is already present." On 
 this he makes this just reflection, "The moment of our Lord's 
 first approach is, in this fourteenth chapter, as ever}'^ where 
 else, sedulously concealed [152] from us. How unspeakably 
 awful and awakening is this thought!" 
 
 We must contemplate and meditate upon the future glory of 
 the church, as revealed in the prophetic pages of scripture. 
 The study of this, though yet unfulfilled, is not to be neglected; 
 for it is connected with important practical duties. "Daniel 
 understood by books the number of the years whereof the 
 word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet," (Dan. ix. 
 2,) and he began to seek the Lord by prayer and supplication 
 uilh fasli?}g. The first Christians, warned by the prophetical 
 intimations of our Lord, fled from Jerusalem, and escaped the 
 tremendous visitations which came upon its inhabitants; and 
 so there are still duties arising from the expected fulfilment 
 of future prophecies. "Behold, I come quickly! Blessed is 
 he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." 
 Rev. XX ii. 7. 
 
 We cannot indeed fix any precise time as to n-Jteti future 
 events are to happen. There are several important periods 
 named in scripture, and especially the great era of 1260 pro- 
 phetic days or years, and these will be noticed afterwards; yet 
 we cannot certainly tell, till events make it more clear, xclieti 
 that era commenced. The whole chain of prophecy mani- 
 festly leads us to expect that we are on the verge of remarka' 
 ble events. Even if it be admitted that the 12G0 years have 
 not closed (as many think that they did in 1792), and will not 
 come to an end for some years, they must obviously be has- 
 teuing to their close. But a short period can then elapse before 
 
jQg A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 the coming of Christ for the general establishment of Christ's 
 kingdom. Daniel intimates two further brief periods of thirty 
 and forty-five years; [153] and then says, "Blessed is he that 
 waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five- 
 and-thirty days." Dan. xii. 12. The servants of Christ then 
 may well lift up their heads, enlarge the preparatory work, 
 and anticipate, first indeed, intervening trials and awakening 
 judgments on his enemies, and then happier and more prosper- 
 ous times than the church has ever yet enjoyed. There is 
 enough of clear prediction to animate us to the moss strenuous 
 and self-denying exertions for the conversion of Jew and Gen- 
 tile, the one cause of our Lord and Saviour Christ. 
 
 The subject of judgments connected with the coming of 
 Christ will be distinctly considered afterwards. In that time 
 of judgment, however, many passages lead us to expect a great 
 ingathering to the church of Christ. Rev. vii. 9, 14; Isaiah 
 xxvi. 9. And the preparation for this by the Religious Socie- 
 ties of the present day is unspeakably important. 
 
 But do not the most wise and judicious Christians differ 
 much in their view of these things? It must indeed be con- 
 fessed that it is so. Yet in practical results there is a great 
 agreement. Though real Christians differ, in some respects, 
 about the order in which the latter-day glory of the church 
 shall be brought on, and, in some particulars, as to the means 
 by which it shall be accomplished, there is no difference on 
 practical points. There is no question but that the preaching 
 of the Gospel, whether by the diffusion of the Hol}^ Scrip- 
 tures, or the faithful ministry of devoted Missionaries, is a 
 great and divinely appointed duty. There is no doubt but that ■ 
 more earnest prayer for the larger outpouring of the Holy 
 Ghost is an imperative obligation. There is no [154] obscu- 
 rity in the truth that it is our duty to seek the conversion of the 
 whole world, whether Jewish or Gentile. There is one general 
 expectation, by all who believe God's word, of preceding trials 
 and of the full triumph of our Lord Christ, however they may 
 differ as to the way in which God will bring it to pass. The 
 duty is plain and admitted by eacii intelligent Christian; the 
 encouragements are great and felt by all; and all difficulties in 
 the way of establishing Christ's kingdom, however to be re- 
 moved, shall all ultimately be surmounted. Isa. xl. 4. 
 
 That great event, the future coming of Christ, predicted in 
 the scriptures, has an all-important bearing on the hopes of the 
 church; yet the precise nature and the time of his coming, 
 and its influence on the conversion of nations, and tiie bless- 
 edness of our earth, are yet involved in the obscurity of un- 
 fulfilled prophecy. Let not this, however, be any impedi- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 109 
 
 ment to nctive exertion in the cause of Christ. The views 
 of the Apostolical writers were remarkably vivid and distinct 
 respecting the coming of Christ. It is perpetually brought 
 forward by them, and we may see that in their lives and 
 labours, it was attended with a most practical and holy influ- 
 ence. None were more devoted in their cfl'orls to spread the 
 gospel. Those therefore must be grievously mistaken who 
 rest in the speculative part of this subject, and on whom it has 
 the effect of hampering and crippling exertions to promote the 
 advancement of his spiritual kingdom. Whatever be our views 
 of the coming of Christ, as it is an infinitely desirable sera for 
 the church, and since there are events previously to take place 
 in the accomplishing of the number of God's elect, well may 
 we labour by [155] means of Religious Societies thus to 
 "hasten the coming of his kingdom." If he be speedily com- 
 ing, surely we sliould desire to be found among those labour- 
 ing to make the day of grace known before it be too late, (2 
 Cor. vi. 1, 2.) and hastening the coming of the day of God. 
 2 Peter iii. 12. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ox ANTICHRIST. 
 
 [156] It must always be a painful and distressing subject to 
 a Christian, to have to dwell upon the apostacy of Christians, 
 and the rising up in the Christian church of opposers and ene- 
 mies to our Divine Redeemer. Phil. iii. IS. It is indeed an 
 unspeakable mercy that God lias given to his church such plain 
 and full warning of these enemies, that his people may be 
 effectually guarded, and their faith in his word greatly strength- 
 ened by such a clear display of Omniscience; and thence it 
 becomes a duty to set forth this warning; but in doing so, 
 may we have David's feeling, ''Rivers of waters run down 
 mine eyes, because men keep not thy law." Psalm cxix. 13G. 
 May we be among "those who sigii and who cry for all the 
 abominations." Ezek. ix. 4. 
 
 Anticlirist means an opposer of Christ. The name in the 
 scriptures occurs only in the writings of St. John. He says, 
 "It is the last time, and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall 
 come, even now are there many Antichrists; whereby we 
 know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but 
 59* 
 
110 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 they were not of us. [147] Who is a liar but he that denieth 
 that Jesus is the Christ. He is Antichrist that denieth the 
 Father and the Son." And again, "Every spirit that con- 
 fesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God; 
 and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have heard that 
 it should come, and even now already it is in the world." 1 
 John ii. 18, 22; iv. 3. Again, in his second epistle, verse 7, 
 he says, "Many deceivers are entered into the world, who con- 
 fess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a de- 
 ceiver and an Antichrist. 
 
 That this is a matter of vast importance will be evident by 
 the strength of the apostle's expressions. It may be gathered, 
 I think, that there is a growing form of Antichrist, from the 
 change of the apostle's expressions: a change which should 
 lead us to tremble at the idea of in any way denying a future 
 coming of our Lord to our world in the flesh. The remark- 
 able variation in the 1st and 2nd epistle of John (not noticed 
 in our translation) respecting Christ's coming in the flesh, 
 seems to mark two stages of Antichrist. In the 1st epistle 
 (iv. 3.) it is, evenj spirit thai confesseth iiol that Jesus is come 
 {iKuKv^oTci already come) is not of God, and this is that spirit of 
 Antichrist, &c. In the 2nd epistle, verse 7, it \s, many deceivers 
 are entered i7ito the world, zcho cojfess not that Jesvs Christ is come 
 (ipx,o/j^ivov is coming) in the flesh; this is the deceiver and the Anti- 
 christ. Denying the coming Saviour is one mark of the last 
 Antichrist. 
 
 Mede first applies these predictions (fixing the date of the 
 epistle previous to the destruction of Jerusalem) to tliose who 
 should come in the name of Christ, saying, lam Christ, and 
 the false prophets who rose before the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 (Matt. xxiv. 5, 11.) and says, "John thence gathered that it 
 was [158] the last times of the Jewish polity." He supposes 
 him first to refer to Simon Magus as the first heretic, and then 
 to Menander, Saturnius, Basilides, Carpocrates, Ccrinthus,* 
 &c. understanding by the name of Antichrist, not merely a 
 single man, but an heretic faction; and many false prophets. 
 "But," Mede says, "though I have thought that John, in these 
 places, speaks of false prophets who corrupted the doctrine of 
 Christ before the destruction of Jerusalem, yet may also that 
 little sum of the doctrine of Antichrist, by which it is denied that 
 Jesus is the Christ, be accommodated to that great Antichrist, 
 who having substituted his saints as little Christs to be wor- 
 shipped, by that denies that Jesus is the Christ, as they who 
 worship many gods, deny that Jehovah is God. Even from 
 this epistle (v. 21.) something like this may be collected: for 
 
 * Sir Isaac Newton takes the same view. See his Observations, p. 256: 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. m 
 
 when he had said of Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eler- 
 iial life, he immediately adds, Utile childreii keep yourselves from 
 idols, intimating a fatal future afterwards, that Christians should 
 worship idols in the place of Christ, that is, false Christs and 
 saints as mediators." 
 
 It will be observed that our Lord, at a later period of his 
 discourse respecting his coming, says, "there shall arise false 
 Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and won- 
 ders, insomuch that if it were possible, they should deceive 
 the very elect. Matthew xxiv. 44. 
 
 The sentiments of the Fathers on the nature of Anti- 
 christ furnish no decisive and conclusive guidance to interpre- 
 tation. They lived before history [159] could have developed 
 the main principles of Popery or Mahomedanism, and had not 
 therefore historical illustrations to guide them; and we as Pro- 
 testants receive no traditions as decisive authority for the in- 
 terpretation of the word of God.* Yet the general testimony 
 of the church in any age should not be disregarded, there is at 
 least a partial truth in it; a few extracts, therefore, containing 
 some of their sentiments are iiere given. 
 
 The early Fathers of the church held generally, that there 
 would be a personal Antichrist, born of a Jew, to be developed 
 shortly before the second coming of Christ, and to be destroyed 
 in Judca. Irenoeus, while holding that view, suggests that his 
 name might be Lateinos, because the Latins then bore rule, 
 and that name contained the number G6G. 
 
 Justin JNLautyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, referring to 
 Micah iv. 1, &c. speaks of those as "destitute of just reason 
 who did not understand that which is clear from all the scrip- 
 tures, that two comings of Christ are announced. One in 
 which a suffering, inglorious, dishonoured, and crucified Sa- 
 viour is to be preached; but another in which he shall come 
 with glory from the heavensy, when also the man of apostacy, 
 speaking great words in the earth against the highest, will dare 
 to do wicked things against us Christians, who, since we have 
 known the way of worshipping God by the law and the doc- 
 trine going forth through the apostles of Jesus, from Jerusa- 
 lem, fly to the God of Jacob. "t 
 
 [IGO) Fulke quotes Tertullian as saying, on 2 Thcss. ii. 
 G. "Who shall be taken away, but the Roman state, whose 
 departing, being dispersed into ten kings, shall bring in Anti- 
 
 * See Daille'is, Whitby's;, and Barbej-rac's Works on the Fathers as Inter- 
 preters ol' Scriptures. 
 
 t Bishop Kay speaks of Justin Martyr as viewing the appearance of the 
 Man of Sin as immetliately connected with tlie second coming of Christ in 
 glory, and his appearance as the prelude of severe persecutions against 
 Christians. —See Bp. Kay's Justin Martyr, p. 103. 
 
JJ2 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Christ," of which Fulke goes on to say, "By ten, according to 
 the custom of the Scripture, are meant many, and so was there 
 many kingdoms made of the Roman empire, before the Pope 
 openly usurped Antichristian tyranny." Irenjeus (in his 5th 
 book against Heresies, ch. 30.) says, "When Antichrist, reign- 
 ing three years and six months, shall have laid waste all things 
 in this world, and have sat in the temple of Jerusalem, then 
 shall the Lord come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory 
 of His Father, casting him, and those that obey him, into the 
 lake of fire; but procuring or bringing with him, unto the just, 
 the times of the kingdom; that is a rest, the seventh dav, 
 sanctified; and restoring to Abraham the promise of the in- 
 heritance, in which kingdom, says the Lord, "Many shall 
 come from the east and from the west, and sit down with AbVa- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob." Matt. viii. 11. 
 
 The opinions of Jerome may be gathered from his com- 
 mentaries. He applies, for instance, such expressions in the 
 Psalms, as Psalm ix. 19, thus, "The voice of the church sounds 
 against antichrist, rise to judgment, let not man prevail, that is 
 the man, antichrist, the sinner." He continues the same ap- 
 plication to Psalm X. In a similar manner he applies Daniel 
 xi. to antichrist; and in Daniel vii. he speaks of the little horn 
 of the fourth beast of Daniel thus, — "Therefore let us say 
 what all the ecclesiastical writers have delivered, that at [101] 
 the end of the world, when the kingdom of the Romans is to 
 be destroyed, there \\'ill be ten kings, who will divide the Ro- 
 man world among themselves, and an eleventh will arise, a 
 little king, who will overcome three kings of the ten kings; 
 that is the king of the Egyptians, and of Africa, and of Ethi- 
 opia; as we may say, will be more manifest in what follows: 
 Who being slain, the other seven kings will submit their necks 
 to the conqueror. And behold, he says, i?i litis horji n-ere eyes, 
 like the eyes of a man. Let us not suppose him, according to 
 the opinion of some, either to be a devil or a demon, but one 
 of the human race, in whom all Satan shall dwell bodily, and 
 a mouth speaking great things, for he is the man of sin, the son of 
 perdition, so that he dares to sit m the temple of God, making 
 himself to be as God.'"* Jerome afterwards applies that pas- 
 sage, (Daniel vii. 13.) to the personal coming of Christ, con- 
 
 * The reader mn)' like to see his stntoment in liis own words: "Ergo diea- 
 mus quod otniies Scriptores Ecclesia.stici tradiderunt; in consinnmatione nmn- 
 di, quando rejrnum destruendum est Roinanornm, decern futures reges, qui 
 orbem llomanuin inter se dividant, et undecimum surrectiirum esse, regem 
 parvulum, qui tres reges, de decern regibus superaturus sit: id est Egyptio- 
 rum regem, el Aphricas, et jEtliiopice: sicut in consequentilms manifestius 
 dicemus. Gluibus interfectis etiam septem alii reges, victori colla subniiltent. 
 Et ccce ait oculi quasi oculi hommis erant in cornu isto. Ne eum putemus, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 113 
 
 necting it with Acts i. 11. Jerome's views of the ten kings, 
 and the three kings, are what might have heen expected from 
 one living as lie did in the 4th century, hefore the division of 
 the Western, or proper Roman Empire into the European 
 kingdoms. What is called a king in the 17th verse, is called 
 a kingdom in the 23d. There appears, then, sufficient [1G2] 
 reason for thinking the ten kings to mean ten kingdoms. 
 
 The opinions of one or two modern writers may he added. 
 I\Icde a]3plies the prediction of the little horn, Daniel vii. 8, 
 11, 20, 21, 25, to the Papal antichrist, comparing it witii the 
 description of the Beast, Rev. xiii. 5, 6, 7, 14. He thence 
 judges that the horn of Daniel's Beast is altogether the same 
 as the antichrist of John, in the Revelation. And since both 
 were to endure to the perfecting of the kingdom of Christ, he 
 gathers, that the Roman kingdom, of which the last part is 
 antichrist, is the fourth kingdom of Daniel. In his Treatise 
 on 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, &c. on the apostacy of the latter times, 
 JNIede discusses, at length, the application of that prophecy to 
 Papal Rome, as the antichrist of the last times, and shews how 
 completely and exactly it applies to Popery. 
 
 It will have been seen how generally the fathers, as indeed 
 almost tiie whole church of Christ, have identified the Man of 
 Sin, of 2 Thessalonians ii. 2, with antichrist. 
 
 The predictions respecting the Assyrian, frequently men- 
 tioned in the Old Testament, not having been fully realized in 
 the history of the Assyrian of old, have lead many to think 
 that there is a further reference to the antichrist of the last 
 days, in his history. See Isaiah xiv. 25. Vitringa has a length- 
 ened discussion on this application of the Old Testament pro- 
 ])hecies, in his Commentary on this passage. See also Lowth, 
 Bishop Lowth, Horsley, and Fry. 
 
 Cocceius, in his Treatise on Antichrist, discusses the follow- 
 ing passages as applicable to this subject. [163] 2 Thessa- 
 lonians ii. Matt. xxiv. Dan'el xi. Isaiah. xiii. xiv. Ezekiel 
 xxiii. xxviii. Rev. xii. xiii. xiv. xvii. Daniel vii. and 1 John i. 
 
 The Rev. H. McNeil, in a very valuable sermon just pub- 
 lished, entitled "Antichrist," has given much sound instruc- 
 tion to the church on the projihecies and character of Anti- 
 christ. He applies these prophecies, (Matthew xxiv. 9 — 13; 
 1 Tim. iv. 1—3;* 2 Thess. ii. 3— S; Daniel vii. 24—26,) to 
 Antichrist. He fully establishes its character, as developed in 
 
 juxta quorundam opinioncm, vel diabolum esse, vel da^monem, sed unum de 
 hominibus, in quo tolus Satanas habitaturus .-iit Corporaliter. El os loque7is 
 ingcntia. Est enim homo peccati," &c. 2 Thess. ii. 
 
 ♦ See the author's Sermon, "The True Church and the Apostacy," fully 
 applying this passage to the Roman Antichrist. 
 
114 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Popery. (1.) By blasphemous usurpation, 2 Thess. ii. 4. (2.) 
 B}^ claiming supremacy. (3.) By exalting himself above earthly 
 rulers. (4.) By forbidding to marry, 1 Tim. iv. 3. (5.) By 
 denying the atonement, 2 Peter ii. 1. This is firmly fastened 
 on Popery by their doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ in the 
 mass; see Heb. ix, x. and our 31et Article. (6.) By the mer- 
 chandise of masses, 2 Peter ii. 3. (7.) By the denial of the 
 incarnation, 1 John iv. 2. 3. This also is fully established by 
 the use made of, the Virgin Mary in Roman worship, setting 
 aside the sympathy of Christ. 
 
 The scriptures which have been quoted from the epistles of 
 St. John and Matthew xxiv. 44, seem to me to justify our 
 viewing the name of Antichrist generally, or in spirit, as de- 
 scriptive of the veiled and mystical opponents of Christ, and 
 PARTICULARLY, or in person, as descriptive of an open and 
 avowed enemy to be put down at the coming of our Lord. 
 
 Tlie two forms of Antichrist seem clearly set before us in 
 2 Thess. ii. We see there a double withholding and a double 
 revealing; a man of sin and a lawless [164] one (ctvcu-.;) and 
 each have their appropriate character. This by the descrip- 
 tion, the So?i of perdition , verse 3, is connected with Judas, John 
 xvii. 22, who sustained this double character; first a thief, 
 though concealed and pretending to honour Christ, and then at 
 the close an avowed traitor, openly betraying him. The first 
 withholding I would apply with the fathers to the Roman 
 power, used by the divine Spirit for this end; and the second 
 withholding (u K^Tf;^;w a^T/ «<»; sK/xitroy jsv^Ta/) to the morc direct I'e- 
 straint of insubordination and lawlessness by the same Spirit, 
 which he will at length righteousl}^ give up. The first, the 
 Man of Sin, I tiiink has fully been proved to apply to Popery; 
 the second, the Lawless One, applies to the speedily to be de- 
 veloped Antichrist. In various other parts of the New Testa- 
 ment we find the same growth of evil marked. (Compare 1 
 Tim. iv. 1—3, with 2 Tim. iii. 1—9: 2 Peter ii. 1—9, with v. 
 10—22.) 
 
 In viewing Antichrist generally, or in spirit, I consider 
 it descriptive especially of Popery and Mahomedanism. 
 
 There has been much discussion, whether the name or 
 Antichrist be justly ascribed to popery; and whether 
 the Man of Sin (2 Thess. ii.) be also rightly ascribed to Pope- 
 ry, 'i'he author is convinced that the great corruption of 
 Christianity in Poper}^, has, in its whole spirit, the distinguish- 
 ing marks of an apostacy, and is properly called Antichrist. 
 It was the general sentiment of the fathers, that xdiat rcith- 
 holdelh, (2 Thess. ii. 6.) referred to the restraining power of 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 115 
 
 the then Roman dominion,* and [1G5] when that was removed, 
 Antichris^t would be revealed, and this removal clearly made 
 way for the establishment of Pap..l iisurj)ations. The mijslcnj 
 of miquilij worked in the days of the ajjostles, so that St. John 
 says, cveji noiv there are maruj anlichrists. The whole tendency 
 of PojDcry is adapted in every part to set aside the Father in 
 his love, and the Son in his humanity, mediation, grace, and 
 offices. 1 John ii. 18, 22. The worship of the Virgin Mary 
 is a virtual denial of the coming in the flesh of our Lord Jesus, 
 and leads men to view Christ only as a severe Lord and Judge. 
 The system of masses is a practical denial of the Lord having 
 bought us. 2 Pet. ii, 1, Their assumption of power over 
 kings is setting themselves above all that is called God. Ps. 
 Ixxxii. 6; John x. 34; 2 Thess. ii. 4. The name antichrist 
 seems most scripturally to be given to that apostacy. Thus 
 the apostle calls, (Heb. ix. 7,) the succession of High Priests, 
 the Higli Priest; and (2 John 7.) many deceivers, o avT;;t/i<3-Tor, 
 the antichrist, and so justifies the ascription of the name, to 
 many and successive individuals. The reformer, Bernard Gil- 
 pin, thus argued (assuming Babylon and Antichrist to be the 
 same,) "If the pope be antichrist, I see not only probable, but 
 even necessary causes to depart from the Popish church. But 
 if the pope be not antichrist, I see no sufficient ground for such 
 a departure. It is not lawful to make a separation from the 
 church. But we are not only e"njoined to come out of the 
 church of antichrist, but we see the fearful anger of the living 
 God, and hear his dreadful threats thundered out against those 
 who shall remain [166] in Babylon, that synagogue of anti- 
 christ. Rev. xvii. and xviii.t 
 
 It will be clear, from the expressions of St. John, Ye have 
 heard lliat the antichrist shall come, (1 John ii. 18.) that the name 
 refers to an opposition to Christ, which had been previously 
 foretold; and hence the ancients generally connected various 
 prophecies in the Psalms, in iJaniel, and in. St. Paul's epistles, 
 as well as in the Revelation, with antichrist. But the appli- 
 cation of any particular prophecy, which is, or has been sup- 
 posed to be, descriptive of Poperv, to that apostacy, must rest 
 on the just interpretation of that prophecy, and its connection 
 with other prophecies, and not on tiie verbal term antichrist, 
 which occurs only in the epistles of St. John; the words of St. 
 John, describing antichrist, being so general, as to lead us to 
 
 * See Tertullian, Chry«ostom. Jerome, &c. There are valuable notes on 
 this subject in Fulke's Te>iament, on 2 Tliess. ii. Cyprian calls all heretics 
 "the precursors of that one and special antichrist which i3 to come at the last 
 end of the world." 
 
 t Bishop Carleton's Life. 
 
IIQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 give the name to whatever opposes Christ: especially may we 
 apply it to the system of Popery which has perverted the gos- 
 pel of Christ for so long a period, virtually subverts his main 
 doctrines, and sets aside his offices as Prophet, Priest, and 
 King of his church, while it professes to hold them. Satan is 
 here especially traiisformed into cm angel of light, 2 Cor. xi. 14, 
 supplants the truth by lies, and corrupts by flatteries, and does 
 by consequence deny the only God and Father.* 
 
 [167] It has been noticed already, that some modern writers 
 on prophec}'- (whose powers of mind, established piety, and 
 acuteness of remark, are such as to entitle their works to con- 
 sideration) have endeavoured to set aside the Protestant appli- 
 cation of the Man of Sin to Popery, and Babylon to Papal 
 Rome. The author has read some of these works, he hopes 
 not without edification, from their practical character; nor 
 without increase of caution in the views which he holds, but 
 with no conviction that they have overturned the great mass 
 of argument by which the Protestant church had established 
 that application. When we consider how explicitly our God 
 has begun and closed, (Rev. i. 3; xxii. 7,) the book of Reve- 
 lation with a blessing, promised to those who read and hear 
 the words of that prophecy, it is surely improbable that the 
 general result to which Protestant writers have, for several 
 centuries, with a great unanimity, come, should be erroneous. 
 The expressions of the apostle, (twice also repeated, Rev. i. 
 1; xxii. 6,) lead us to think, that what he foretold would begin 
 shortly to come to pass. God greatly honoured this view as a 
 mighty means of confirming the Reformers, supporting them at 
 the stake, and thereby extending the blessed Reformation. 
 Cressener, in his valuable works, has shewn that Roman 
 Catholic writers themselves furnish many testimonies [16S] 
 strengthening the Protestant application of leading parts of 
 these prophecies to Rome. As it is very improbable that the 
 church should be left to struggle through eighteen centuries of 
 conflict, darkness and sorrow, without such a lamp as the Reve- 
 
 * The author cannot forbear quoting the following extracts (from duiroga's 
 Index, Lib. Expnrgat. published in IGOl) of gospeftruths to be obliterated in 
 a book of Anselm's entitled Ordo Baptizandi cum modo visitandi. 
 
 Fol. 34, ad mcdhcm ddcaniur ilia verba. "Credis non propriis meritis, sed 
 passionis domini nostri Jesu Chrisii virtute et merito, ad gloriam pervenireT' 
 
 Ibid: paMo post, ddcaniur ilia verba. "Credis quod dominus noster Jesus 
 Christus pro nostra salute raortuus sit; et quod ex propriis meritis, vcl alio 
 modo nullns possit salvari nisi in merito passionis ipsiusl" 
 
 fol. 35, •//( vltiina lin.ca deleanlur ilia verba. "Non erit desperandum, vel du- 
 bitandum de salute illius, qui supra positas petitiones corde crediderit, et ore 
 confessus fuerit." 
 
 What an explicit denial of Christ is there here! Bonaventura's Psalter ap- 
 plied to the Virgin (which has been republished at least as late as 1823, at 
 Rouen,) shews a similar denial of the Father, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 1]7 
 
 lalion, giving a light on its path, (yet allowedly a feehle light, 
 shining in a dark place, 2 Peter i. 19,) so, in point of fact, de- 
 voted Christians, during those centuries, from age to age, have 
 found great su])port and comfort from the rays of light which 
 this book shed on their course. 
 
 It is, however, an advantage to be led to reconsider the 
 ground on whicli the Protestant interpretation rests, and fresh 
 light will be tiirown, not only on fulfilled, but also on unful- 
 filled prophecy. In this view the works of such writers may 
 be eminently useful. But whatever farther fulfilment may 
 take place in the close of this mystery of iniquity, and in its 
 final destruction, the past fulfilment, in many leading particu- 
 lars, has been such as to satisfy a large body of the Reformed 
 church of Christ. 
 
 And let not the Romanist, nor the Infidel, glory over Pro- 
 testants, in their divisions of sentiment. What truth is there 
 that occasions not divisions, and the word of God, under the 
 teaching of the Spirit, is the guide, and the only infallible 
 guide to that truth. What sentiment does the Romanist hold 
 peculiar to his creed, on which there have not been divisions 
 in his church? What human science is the infidel acquainted 
 with, resj)ccting which there are not varied opinions? Nor let 
 the true Christian be discouraged by these divisions. Every 
 doctrine wiiich we hold, from the debusing full of man, to the 
 glorious mystery of the Trinity, has occasioned almost endless 
 [169] discussion and differences: but the truth is worth strug- 
 gling for through all these difficulties, in patient meditation 
 upon the scriptures, in fervent prayer, and in diligent study of 
 the works of those who love the truth, wherever it is to be 
 found. A Christian will be thankful to any one who will help 
 him to discover the truth of God. And let him not be easily 
 shaken out of the truth, when he has once got it; Buy the truth, 
 and sell it. not.* Prov. xxiii. 23. 
 
 The grounds on which the IProtestant church have come to 
 its conclusion have been so often discussed and are so ably 
 
 ♦ May the Author be forgiven for the following practical remarks. Greatly 
 is it to be dosiretl, that in all the discussions between Ciiristian brethren, on 
 the very difficult subject of unfulQlled prophecy, not only that any sarcasms, 
 severe reflections, and bitter retorts, but that any thing like self-complacent 
 satislaclion in our own views, fancied superior discernmenf, and greater skill 
 in argument, and all undervaluing the sentiments of others, should be avoided. 
 The absence of the expressions of Christian humility and love, even where 
 real love is not absent, is painful. Lei not earnest conienti(m for our own in- 
 terpretation of prophecy, in our own spirit, be mistaken for coiitcndinu earn- 
 estly for Ike fiii.Lh once delivered lo Ike saints. It is easier, however, to see what 
 is wrong in" others, that to avoid it in ourselves; and where a system that has 
 cost us years of lengthened study and patient investigation lo work out, and 
 has commended itself to many, is opposed by new views, with much plausi- 
 bility and acuteness, it must be peculiarly tryinjj to our Christian graces, in 
 VOL. II. GO 
 
jjg A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 stated by those who have discussed it, that it is vain to attempt 
 to go over the reasons for this application again; especially 
 where there is little fresh to ofter, after what has been said by 
 Reformers generally, and the varied writers of the Protestant 
 churcii who take this view, such as Mede, More Cressener, 
 Bishop Newton, Hurd, Halifax, Cuninghame, &c. Mede's 
 remark may govern us [170] here: "Though I can reasonably 
 well persuade myself of many things I believe, yet had I never 
 so much confide,nce in me, as to be able to persuade another 
 man of a contrary judgment, if he were once studied and set- 
 tled therein; which made me so unwilling at the first to enter 
 the lists with you in this kind, where I could expect no other 
 fruit, but the loss of much time and pains to no purpose. The 
 wit of man is able, where it is persuaded, to find shifts and 
 answers, until the day of doom, as appears in so differing opi- 
 nions held amongst Christians, with so much endless pertina- 
 city on both sides. It is sufficient, therefore, for a man to 
 propound his opinion with the strongest evidence and argu- 
 ments he can, and so leave it. Truth will be justified of her 
 children. But these reciprocations of discourse in writing, 
 wherein you place so much benefit for discovery of truth, I 
 have often heard and seen truth lost thereb}', but seldom or 
 never found."* 
 
 In the British Magazine there are some letters of Bishop 
 Hoi-sley's, striking from his bold and forcible style, rather than 
 conclusive from thei weight of his arguments. He inveighs 
 against Mede's Interpretation, and calls it "an unwarrantable, 
 monstrous supposition that Christian Ronie is Antichrist." 
 The very term Antichrist may be delusive, as being a general 
 rather than a particular term; but that Rome is the Man of 
 Sin and Babylon of Revelation, has, I still think, been proved 
 by the writers above named. The history of Popery has been 
 such as to shew that the very spirit of Antichrist was, in a 
 long series of ages, remarkably developed in its whole [171] 
 system; and this has been proved at very great length by Pro- 
 testant writers of every age since the Reformation. t 
 
 answering: the objections, to answer them with the meekness and gentleness oj 
 Christ. May our God give his spirit more and more to writers and readers, 
 ir/dh all lou-lincss and meekness, vnl.h long-suffering, forbearing one another in 
 love, endeavonring to keep the unii.y of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 
 
 * See Mede's Works, p. 748, 749. 
 
 t The publications establishing the Protestant view of Antichrist arc very 
 numerous. It is the general interpretation of the Protestant commentators on 
 the Scripture. (Sec Commentaries.) Gnaltar, Frith, DanoEus, Fox, Wliitakcr. 
 L^ulke, Downamc, Abbott, Beard, Marcsius, (wiio answers Grotius taking an- 
 other view,) Keach, Halifax, Hurd, Cuninghame, as well as the more gene- 
 ral statements of Made, Warburton, Bishop Newton, &c. &c. maybe con- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 119 
 
 The author has given, in his Tract on <'The Progress of 
 Popery," the testimonies of the churches of England, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland, and the British Government, and the testi- 
 monies of our Reformers, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Brad- 
 ford, Jewell, Hooper, Frith, Tintiale, and FulUe: he has also 
 given testimonies of the Alhigenses and Waldenses, and of the 
 Foreign Reformers, Luther, Zuinglius, Melancthon, Calvin, 
 iEcolampadius, Martyr, and Musculus, The suhject is so im- 
 portant tliat he adds here, in a note, a few additional witnesses. 
 Those BEFORE THE REFOK^MATioN arc neccssarily limited, the 
 Pope having then nearly complete power to suppress all testi- 
 mony. But it will be seen that they are not without consider- 
 able weight. It is curious to see that the Protestant advocates 
 had difficulties to contend with in Papal opponents, similar to 
 those with which we have now to contend in Protestants. * 
 
 suited. But for one wishing to come shortly to the conclusion, the Roman 
 Missal, and the Decrees, and Canons, and Catechism of the Council of Trent, 
 compared with 1 Tim. 3; 2 Thess. ii.; and Rev. xiii. xvii., will furnish ample 
 evidence. 
 
 * Bishop Jewell in his Defence of the Apology thus sums up the testimony 
 of the Fathers. 
 
 "But to come near the matter, and to .speak of the thing that most mislikelh 
 you — St. John saith — 'Antichrist shall sit in a city built upon seven hills,' (and 
 so is the city of Rome.) Ireneeus saith: ^ The number of AntichrisCs name shall 
 be expressed by this u-ord, Laliyms,' whereby it is likely is meant the Bishop ol 
 Rome. Sybilia saith: 'The greatest terror and lury of his empire, and the 
 greatest M-'oe that he shall work, shall be hy the banks of Tiber.' And there 
 is Rome. These circumstances seem plainly to point out the city of Rome. 
 St. Hierome saith: "Antichristus sedebet in templo Dei, vel Hierosolymis, ut 
 quidam putant, vel in Ecclesia, ut verius arbitvamur.' Antichrist shall sit in 
 the temple of God, cither at Jerusalem, as some think, or else in the church (of 
 God) itself,"which we take to be the true meaning. St. Gregory saith: 'Ego 
 fidenter dico, quod quisquis se Universalem Sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari de- 
 siderat, in elatione sua, Aniichristum proecurrit.' I speak it boldly, v-kosoever 
 callcth himself the Universal Priest, or dcsircth so to be called (as doth the Pope) 
 in the pride of his heart, he is the forerunner of Antichrist. 
 
 "And when John, the Bishop of Constantinople, had first entered his claim 
 unto this title, St. Gregory made answer unto the same: 'Ex hac ejus superbia 
 quid aliud, nisi propinqua jam esse Antichristi tempora dcsignaturl' By this 
 pride of his, lehat thing else is signified, bnt that the time of Antichrist is even at 
 hand.. 
 
 "Again he saith, upon occasion of the same: 'Rex Superbiae prope est, el, 
 quod dici nefas est, sacerdotum est prajparatus exercitus.' The King of Pride 
 (that is Antichrist) is coming to us, and an army of priests is prepared, which 
 thing is vicked to be spoken. St. Jerome saith: 'Antichristus oninem Rcligio- 
 nemsusG subjiciel potestati.' Antichrist shall cause all religion to be subject to 
 his poiver. 
 
 "I will not here take upon me to descry either the person or the dwelling- 
 place of Antichrist. Whoso hath eyes to see, let him see. These circum- 
 stances agree not unto many. St. Paul saith: 'Antichrist worketh the mystery 
 or secret practice of iniquit}-.' Whereupon the Gloss saith: 'Mystica est im- 
 pietas Antichristi, id est, Pietatis nomine palliata.' The v:ickcdncss of Anti- 
 christ is mystical, that is to say, (it is not plain and open, or ea.sy to be espied of 
 every body, but) cloaked under the name of goodlincss. And your Gloss upon 
 St.Taul linto Timothy saith thus: 'Habeiites speciem Pietatis, id est, Christi- 
 
120 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [172] Though the national protest and testimony, in our 
 country was greatly weakened by the Roman Catholic [173] 
 Relief Bill, yet even that bill requires that before voting, the 
 members of both houses swear that [174] "they will never 
 exercise any privilege, to which thy are, or may become enti- 
 
 anse Religionis.' Having a show of godliness, that is to say, a show of the reli- 
 gion nf Christ. So mystical shall Antichrist be in all his dealing. And for- 
 asmuch as M. Hardiiig thinketh that we misallege these writers, and violently 
 force ihem to our side, whether they will or no, St. Bernard sailh thus: 'Bestia 
 ilia de Apocalypsi, cui datum est os loqucns bJasphemias, et helium gerere 
 cum sanclis, Petri Cathedram occupat, tanquam Leo paratus, ad predam; The 
 Beast that is spoken of in the book of Revelaiions, unto which Beast is given a 
 mouth to speak blas2>hcviies, and to keep war against the saints of God, is now 
 gotten into Peter's chair, «.<! a lion prepared tohisprey. Behold, Mr. Hard- 
 ing, St. Bernard telleth you, that Antichrist is possessed of Peter's chair. 
 Howbeit ye may soon find a salve for this sore. For ye will say, "Bernard 
 wrote these words against Petrus Luna, an intruder and usurper of the see of 
 Rome, and not against Innocentus VII. that was pope indeed.' This is true, 
 M. Harding, and not denied, nor any way prejudicial to our purpose: for here- 
 by ye may see, by Bernard's judgment, it is not impossible, but either by elec- 
 tion, or by intrusion, by one one way or by other, Antichrist may sit in Peter's 
 chair. Mark well his words: thus he sailh: "Bestia habens os loquens blas- 
 phemias occupat Cathedram Petri." But if you, M. Harding, or any other 
 friends, shall hope tostartout of this poor hole; what will you then say unto Ar- 
 nulphius that saith, "The very pope himself, notwithstanding any, his canoni- 
 cal election, if he want charity, is Antichrist sitting in the teniple of God!" 
 What will you say to Bernardhimself, that callelh the popes of his tiine, trai- 
 tors, wolves, Pilales, devils, and the darkness of the woildl Tell not your 
 friends, M. Harding, that Bernard spcaketh these words of intruders. This 
 shift will not serve. He speaketh them of very popes indeed, of Christ's 
 vicars, of Peter's succes-fors, and of the heads of the church. Joachimus 
 Abbas said, above three hundred years since: "Antichristus jumpridem natus 
 est Romas et altius se extollet in sede apostolica:" Antichrist is already born in 
 Rome, and shall advance himself higher in the Apostolic Sec. 
 
 Arnulphius in the council of Remes saith thus: "duid hunc reverendi Pa- 
 tres, in sublimi Solio residentem, veste purpurea, et aurea radiantem, quid 
 hunc, inquam esse censetis'? Nimirum, si charitate destituilur, solaque scien- 
 lia inflatur, et extollitur, antichristus est in Tempio Dei sedcns. et sese oslen- 
 dens, tanquam sit Deus: What think you, reverend Fathers, of this man (he 
 meaneth the pope) sitting on high in his throne, glittering in purple, and 
 cloth of goldl What think you him to bel Verily, if he be void of charily, 
 and be blown up and advanced only with knowledge, then he is antichrist sit- 
 ting in the temple of God, and shewing out himself as if he were God. The 
 bishops in the council at Reinspurg sny thus: 'Hildebrandus Papa sub specie 
 Religionis jecit Fundamenta Antichristi.' Pope Hildebrand under a colour 
 of holiness (by forbidding priests' marriage) hath laid the foundation for Anti- 
 christ. Dante, an Italian poet, by express wortls called Rome the Whore of 
 Babylon. Franciscus Petrarcha'likewise saith: "Rome is the Whore of Baby- 
 lon, the Mother of Idolatry and Fornication, the Sanctuary of Heresy, and 
 the School of Error." I know these words will seem odious unto many. 
 Wherefore I Avill stay, and spare the rest. The Pope himself, for that he saw 
 to whose person and credit the.sc things belonged, therefore, in his late coun- 
 cil of Lateran gave straight commandment to all preachers, that no man 
 should dare once to speak of the coming of Antichrist." 
 
 Thus striking is the testimony gathered by Bishop Jewell even before the 
 Reformation. The whole address of Arnulph, is given by the Magdeburgh 
 Centuriators, cen. X. p. 2G3. In one part he breaks out: "O lugcnda Roma! 
 qua? nosiris majoribus clara Patram lumina pra^buisti; nostris temporibus, nion- 
 .strosas tenebras, futuro seculo famosas, fudisti." 
 
TQ THE PROPHECIES. 121 
 
 tied, to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion or Protestant 
 government in the United Kinj^dom;" and tliey abjure also 
 any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment. 
 That Establishment, in the English Articles, Homilies, and 
 Liturgy, and in the Scotch Confession of Faith, and the Irish 
 Articles, furnishes a living protest against the Antichristian 
 spirit of Popery. Britain still then yet has a Naiioxal 
 Testimony against Popkuy as Antichrist. INIay the Lord 
 enable us to maintain this testimony to his truth, and thus may 
 the Protestant Church of Britain ever concur with the testi- 
 monies of the Protestant churches at large. Some of these 
 testimonies ' " . - - . 
 
 note below, 
 
 • Confession of Saxony. 
 
 After" reciting many oiihe errors of Popery, it is i^aid— "These things, see- 
 ing they be altogether heathenish and idolatrous, it is manifest that the main- 
 tamers thereof are not members of the church, but rule and have sovereignty, 
 as the Pharisees and Sadducees did." 
 
 Confession of Augsburgh: — 
 
 ''Our adversaries would not have the idolatry of the Mass, nor praying to 
 the dead spoken against, because they cannot bear that their gain should de- 
 crease. 
 
 The French Reformed Church, in their acts at the Synod of Gap, in 1603, 
 directed the following article to be inserted in their confession of faith. 
 
 "Whereas the bishop of Rome has erected for himself a temporal monarchy 
 in the Christian world, and u>urping a sovereign authority and lordship over 
 all churches and pastors, exalts himself to that degree of insolence, as to be 
 called God, and will be adored, arrogating to himself all power in heaven 
 and earth; and to dispose of all ecclesiastical matters, to define articles of 
 faith, to authorize and expound at his pleasure the Sacred Scriptures, and to 
 buy and sell the souls of men — to dispense with vows, oaths, and covenants, 
 and to institute new ordinances of religious worship. And in the civil state 
 he tramples under foot all lawful authority of magistrates, selling up and })ui- 
 ♦ing down kings, disposing of kings, and of their kingdoms at his pleasure. 
 We therefore believe and maintain that he is truly andproperly /Ac An</cAmt, 
 the Son of perdition, predicted by the holy Prophets,— that great -svhore clothed 
 with scarlet, sitting upon seven mountains in that great city which had do- 
 minion over the kings of the earth; and we hope and wait that the Lord, ac- 
 cording to his promise, and as he hath already begun, will confound him by 
 the spirit of his mouth, and destroy him by the brightness of his coming."— 
 See Ciuick's Synodicon, vol. i. 22G, 2-J7. 
 
 The article offending the French Govei'nmeT\\, the printing of it was super- 
 seded — Daille, however, the moderator of the Synod, in ltj'5i>, told the king's 
 commissioner, "As for those words Antichrist, in our Liturgy, and idolatry 
 and deceits of Satan, which are found in our Confession, the}- be words declar- 
 ing the grounds and reasons of our separation from the Romish Church; and 
 doctrines which our fathers maintained in the worst of times, and which we 
 are fully resolved as they, through the aid of divine grace, never to abandon, 
 but to keep faithfully and inviolably to the last gasp." — Vol. ii. 513. 
 
 The Synod of Gap slated, "That this was the common faith and confession 
 of all ourchurches, and of ihispreseni Synod — and one of the principal caus«?s 
 of our separation from the church of Rome; and that this confession was con- 
 tained in and extracted out of the Holy Scriptures, antl had been sealed with 
 the blood of a world of martyrs. Thei-efore all the faithful, be they pastors oi 
 private Christians, are exhorted constantly to persist in the [rofession of it, 
 and.openlv and boldly to confess it." Vol. i. 231. 
 60* 
 
J22 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [175] However, in some countries, particularly in our own, 
 Popery may be making an outvvard shew of [176] progress, 
 its real dominancy, wealth, and influence, appears to be de- 
 clining into infidelity. The state of things in France, Spain, 
 and Portugal, and on tlie continent generally, shews this abun- 
 dantly.* 
 
 While the Reformers universally applied Antichrist to the 
 Pope, and Babylon to Rome, it appears from Fox's Book of 
 Martyrs,t that several of the predictions which we now more 
 generally applied to Popery (such as 2 Thess. ii. ; Rev. xiii. 18,) 
 were applied by him also to the Turks, and the rise and 
 course of Mahomedanism, and he questions whether Turk or 
 Pope is the greater Antichrist. In the general view which St. 
 John gives of the term Antichrist, it indeed well includes, in 
 its spiritual character, Mahomedanism, which de?iieth the Fa- 
 ther and the Son. He denies the Father under the pretence of 
 honouring his unity, denying his revealed glory, as Father, 
 Son, and Holy Spirit; and he denies the Son, by asserting that 
 "Jesus is no other than a servant whom God favoured with the 
 gift of prophecy," (see Koran, chap, xliii.); and explicitly re- 
 jecting his Godhead, (see Koran, chap. 5 and 9,) and putting in 
 his place an impostor and false prophet. [177] Other prophecies 
 clearly set before us the destructive ravages and awful extent 
 
 Bohemian. 
 
 "That mischievous and wicked Antichrist shall sit in the temple of God, to 
 wit, in the church; of whom the prophets, Christ oiir Lord, and the apostles 
 have foretold us, and warned us to take heed of him, that the simple sort 
 among the faithful might avoid him, and not suffer themselves to be seduced 
 by him. Now in Antichrist we are to acknowledge a double perverseness— to 
 wit, dishonesty and deceiving. The first is a perverseness of the mind, or 
 meaning, or a bringing in of false doctrine clean contrary to the meaning of 
 Christ our Lord and of the Holy Scripture, whereof the apostle speak's, 2 
 Tim. iv. 3, 4; 2 Peter ii. The other evil or ofience we are to consider in 
 Antichrist is, a corrupt and nanglity life, giving unto others a very ill example, 
 and is full of horrible sins, hurtful filthiaess, and all kind of vices which in 
 the Antichristian church are openly practised, and that freely without any 
 kind of punishment. 2 Tim. iii. 1—5; Matt. xxiv. 10—13." 
 
 Bclgimi. 
 
 "The FALSF. church doth always attribute more to herself, to her own decree? 
 and traditions, than to the word of God, and will not suffer herself to be subject 
 to the yoke of Christ, neither administers the sacraments so as Christ has pre- 
 scribed, but at her own will and pleasure adds to and detracts from them. She 
 always leans more to men than to Christ, and whoso leads a holy life, accord- 
 ing to the rule of God's word, whoso rebukes and reproves her faults, as her 
 covetousness and idolatry, those she persecutes with a deadly hatred." 
 
 * "The bill for the sale of church property in Portugal has passed into a 
 law. The amount of the national and church property together, which is thus 
 to be disposed of, is calculated at considerably more than twelve millions ster- 
 ling. Such a dilapidation of the funds of the Romish church has had already, 
 it is said, a sensible effect on the revenues of the Romish see, since both Spain 
 and Portugal, long the most faithful of its supporters, have also been the 
 largest contributors to the Papal coffers." — Record, June 1, 1835. 
 
 + See his full account of the Turks, p. 675—710. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. ] 03 
 
 of this apostacy, in the very seat of those countries where 
 Christianity arose in its primitive beauty. Daniel viii. 9 — 25; 
 Rev. ix. The wastino; of this power in our day is very striking. 
 
 The spirit of Antichrist is to be found working its way to 
 its last consummation by infidelity in Protestant, as well as 
 Papal ami IMahomedan lands. It is greatly to be feared that 
 the infulel form of Antichrist is now the pi-evailing form, and 
 that among all classes of Christians. The Roman, the Eastern, 
 and the Protestant churches, in all their varied divisions, how- 
 ever reformed externally, have all the mark of the last days, 
 the form of godliness uilhout the pozcer. Theij ivho follow the Lamb 
 zvhilhcrsoevcr he goelh, are a little flock in the midst of the world 
 opposed to him, whatever the creed professed by that world 
 may be. The wheat and the tares are every where growing 
 together. It is not the nominal Christian, whether high church 
 or Evangelical, Dissenting or Established, Reformed or Luthe- 
 ran, Romanist or Greek, that does by his name and profession 
 exclude Antichrist; we must carefully mark the spirit of An- 
 tichrist, as given in the scriptures, and come out and be sepa- 
 rate from it, wherever or under whatever names it exist. In 
 some professions of Christianity it seems externally embodied, 
 and faithfulness requires an outward as well as an inward sepa- 
 ration, (Rev. xviii. 4.) as in Papal if not in Eastern churches/^ 
 
 [178] The growth of this spirit of infidelity, driven by de- 
 grees, in the last days, out of all the refuges which Satan has 
 
 ♦ The symptoms of growing infitielit}' become too apparent in our country, 
 by our public and national proceedings. On May 31, 183(5, one of our leacl- 
 ers is reported to have said, "The more religion governed their hearts, and 
 the less it directed their hands, the better:" and on the following day, another 
 of our public leaders is reported to have said: "An ecclesiastical establishment 
 was not instituted for the propagation of a doctrine but for the instruction of 
 the people." The self-contradiction of each of these statements in themselves 
 is evident, and the effectof both in union is to remove altogether both Christian 
 practice and Christian principle from the world. The maintainance of Papal 
 bishops and clergy in our colonies^ and the varif)us governinent measures 
 favouring Popery, bring the nation into the false position of blessing and 
 cursing, proceeding out of the same mouth. Tlie Socialists, or avowed 
 Atheists, are rapidly spreading through our own land, as similarly-minded 
 men are on the continent. Oh how painful was it to observe at the dueen's 
 Levee, held June 26, 1839, that leader of the Infidel school— Robert Owen, 
 presented to her Majesty, from the Congress of the Delegates of the Univer- 
 sal Community Society of National Religionists, soliciting the government lo 
 appoint parties to investigate measures which the congress proposes, to ameli- 
 orate the 'condition' of society!!! Blessed be God that he is giving to his peo- 
 ple also a greater simplicity in testifying to his truth. The elements of the 
 three parts into which the great city is to be divided (Rev. xvi. 19.) seem form- 
 ing in our leading parties: 1. Those who fear God above cverv thing. 2. Those 
 who would preserve things as they are as far as possible. .1. And those who 
 would change every thing to bring about their own fancied improvements, 
 apart from God and his will. The first, though now the smallest, is the only 
 safe, happy, and ultimately triumphant party, for a Christian to join with all 
 his^eart and soul. 
 
124 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 been inventing for 1800 years, will probably issue in the par- 
 ticular or PERSONAL Antichrist, an avowed and open op- 
 position to the Lord; the Man of Sin in his fulness, and ga- 
 thering under his banner all that wickedness which has hitherto 
 been working in secret. 
 
 We see now how infidels and Papists have united together; 
 liberals contributing to the erection of Roman Catholic cha- 
 pels, schools, and nunneries; Roman Catholics, with the added 
 strength of liberals, ejecting the Bible from the schools, and 
 seeking to divert the property of the Established Church to 
 other purposes, and to remove remaining vestiges of our na- 
 tional acknowledgment of Christ. 
 
 [179] Abroad Popery unites with infidelity as well as with 
 despotism, to accomplish its objects. The Paris correspondent 
 of the Record, March 12, 1S36, says, "The whole liberal and 
 radical press seems no longer to object to the restoration of the 
 Papal power, now that the Pope's Belgian, Irish, and lastly 
 French policy, indicates a transference of confidence on the 
 part of his holiness, from crowned heads to the democracy and 
 its leaders." 
 
 Every where we see an open advance in the expressions of 
 infidelity. The growth of piety will more and more call forth 
 the enmity of Satan, and that enmity will become more marked 
 and more vivid, till it assumes its last shape and its highest rage. 
 The ten horjis, or kingdoms of the Roman empire, shall hate the 
 whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, 
 and burn her rvith fire. This seems to imply the progress in that 
 wasting of Papal dominance and wealth, which we now wit- 
 ness, till it be exhausted. We are also told that the ten horns 
 have one mind, and shall give their pozcer and strength to the beast 
 (Antichrist in his last form). "These shall make war with 
 the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord 
 of lords and King of kings. Rev. xvii. 13 — 16. 
 
 The author sees then considerable ground for the opinion 
 entertained by some, that there may yet take place a heading 
 up, as it were, of the Propliecies in these last days; a concen- 
 trated and combined exhibition of the apostacy, of short con- 
 tinuance, under avowed Infidelity, in a more glaring and blas- 
 phemous defiance of God, and ])ossibly under some individual 
 person, and accompanied with bitter [ISO] suOerings of the 
 church.* After these statements let us say, however, with 
 
 * The author jrivcs the following: extract of a letter I'roni the able corre- 
 spondent of the Ileeord, dated Paris, Oct. 2, 1838. 
 
 "So utterly in fact has the Christian faith been abjured in this country that 
 an Editor of one of the most popular journals here, and a distinguished author, 
 declared to rae a few days ago, in conversation, that he was strongly of opi- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 125 
 
 Irenffius, "it is more certain, and without danger, to wait the 
 fulfihnent of the prophecy, than to guess at it." Whether there 
 be any farther exhibition of Antichrist or not, the very uncer- 
 tainty leads us still to be in the posture of looking and waiting 
 for our Lord's coming. 
 
 In the mean while our duties are perfectly clear, to come out 
 of the Antichrist already exhibited, whether in its more open 
 manifestations of Popery and of infidelity; or in its more sub- 
 tle workings oiaform of godliness, hid demjing the power thereof. 
 2 Tim. iii. 5. The spirit of antichrist is in the natural heart 
 of all men: we are all opposed to entire self-renunciation, sim- 
 ple dependence on the righteousness and strength of our di- 
 vine Redeemer, crucifying the flesh with its atfeclions and 
 lusts, and hearty confidence and trust in the love of our hea- 
 venly Father, and devotedness to him, and it is dislike [ISl] 
 to these things that is the root of Antichrist: we have there- 
 fore within our own hearts the very seeds of Antichrist. 
 
 May we also be prepared for whatever assaults and tempta- 
 tions may yet come u])on the church, in these last days, so as 
 to be faithful to our divine Lord. May we pray much for 
 grace to standfast in the Lord, a direction given by the apostle 
 in immediate connection with looking for the Saviour. Phil, 
 iii. 20, 21; iv. L) 
 
 The final destruction of Antichrist, and of all opponents of 
 the Lord Christ at his coming, is the burden of many a pro- 
 j)hccy through the sacred volume, and is made palpably clear 
 in the apostolic statement, "Then shall that wicked be reveal- 
 ed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, 
 and destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thess. ii. 8. 
 
 nion that the world was travailing to the production of a new relipjion, which 
 would finally abolish Christianity. I told him that I agreedwith him thus far: 
 that new doctrines, which might be called a new religion, might at no distant 
 time overspread many nations to sucH an extent as to blot out over wide tracts 
 all who believe in the Christian Revelation; but that far from looking forward 
 to the consummation with hope as a promise of good to mankind, I ;inti- 
 cipated it with the utmost horror, as the most dreadful darkness and delu- 
 sion that could fall upon the human race. 'Oh! then,' said he, 'I perceive you 
 are a believer in that absurd fable abotit Antichrist^' 'And you also,' I replied; 
 'the religion which you have described and which you tell me you are expect- 
 ing — what is but Aiitichrist'?' I relate to you this anecdote, because it affords 
 a striking example of the utter ignominy into which Christianity has fallen in 
 the estimation of highly intellectual, and in every worldly sense respectable 
 Frenchmen." 
 
126 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF TIME. 
 
 [182] The scriptures distinguish between time in the reck- 
 oning of man, and time in the account of God, and it is very 
 important in the interpretation of prophecy to keep this dis- 
 tinction in view. Thus Psalm xc. 4, "A thousand years in 
 thy sight are but as yesterday." We are especially charged, 
 "Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord 
 is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day, (2 
 Peter iii. S.) There are set before us man's day, avfif,a,7nm i^ijufxi; 
 (1 Cor. iv. 3.) comprehending the whole , period of the ab- 
 sence of our Lord; the day of suhalion, (2 Cor. vi. 2.) the ])re- 
 sent season of grace; the day of vengeance (Isa. Ixiii. 4.) a period 
 of wrath; and the day of the Lord, (1 Cor. v. 5; 2 Cor. i, 14.) 
 comprehending a period yet to come, when our Lord shall be 
 manifested. There is also tJie day of eternity, »//s/)«y aiwoc, (2 Pe- 
 ter iii. IS.) Thus, in God's reckoning of days, Adam died in 
 body, as well as by immediate spiritual death, on the day in 
 which he sinned; nor has any son of Adam every reached that 
 one thousand years m man's reckoning, which is but as [183] 
 one day in the view of God. This very first threatening in 
 the Bible may lead us to see that there is a deeper view of time 
 than appears on the surface, and we may get into a false lite- 
 ralness by confining God's words in one part to the letter, 
 without taking in view those further discoveries of his will 
 which shew a fuller meaning and design. 
 
 It is manifestly God's ])urpose, with regard to some of his 
 j)redictions, that the period of their accomplishment should, at 
 the time they were given, be in a great degree hidden. There 
 were many wise and holy ends in this, especially that the 
 church might be kept in a waiting, hoping posture. It could 
 not have been profitable to have had them opened till the time 
 of the end. Daniel xii. 9. Besides this, knouledge was then 
 to ^e increased, vcr. 4. We may then presume that a mystery 
 was to be unfolded. Our Lord himself, when expressly asked 
 by the apostles, declines telling them Ihen those times and sea- 
 sons (Acts i, 6.) which the Father had put in his own power. 
 St. Peter, alluding apparently to Daniel's inquiry, "What shall 
 be the end of these things?" (Dan. xii. 8.) says, "the prophets 
 have inquired and searched diligently .... what, or what 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 127 
 
 manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in tlicm did 
 signify. ... to wliom it was revealed, that not unto themselves 
 but unto us they did minister the things which are now re- 
 ported unto you." 1 Peter i. 10, 11. The answer given to 
 Daniel illustrates this. i)an. xii. 9 — 13. The prediction was 
 explained in some measure, but still sealed up — so that here- 
 after there would only be needed the unfolding of the truth 
 already given. 
 
 The times mentioned in the Book of Daniel arc as follows: — 
 [184] 1. Seven times, (Dan. iv. IG.) which were to pass over 
 Nebuchadnezzar, when he was driven from men and a beast's 
 heart was given to him. As Nebuchadnezzar is expressly 
 called the head of gold, this seems plainly to denote the season 
 during which the Gentile dominion of the four monarchies 
 should be corrupt and worldly, as afterwards exhibited in the 
 four beasts coming up from the sea. 
 
 2. 7'i/nc, times, and drciding of times, (Dan. vii. 25; xii. 7.) 
 This is the half of the larger period. 
 
 3. Tico tliousand three hundred, a numeral which stands by 
 itself and might be equally applied to days or years, since the 
 term evening and morning appears to apply to the whole, 
 when compared with the reference made to it at the close of 
 the chapter. Dan. viii. 14, 26. 
 
 4. Seventy zceeks, seven n-eeks, sixtij-tico zoeeks, and one week, and 
 the dividing of a iceek; where the term week in itself may de- 
 note days or years. Dan. ix. 24. 
 
 5. A thousajid two himdred and ninety days. Dan. xii. 11. 
 
 6. The thousand, three hundred, and Jive and thirty days. Dan. 
 xii. 12. 
 
 The terms in the first four instances are in themselves quite 
 ambiguous and general. There is nothing to determine, re- 
 specting the number 2300, and the seventy weeks, whether 
 years or days be intended; but analogy would lead us to sup- 
 ])Ose that all were to be interpreted on a common principle. 
 
 In the law we have many analogies which may help us in 
 the interpretation. We have six days followed by a sabbath day, 
 and six years followed by a sabbatic year of rest, (Lev. xxv. 4); 
 seven sabbaths were to be numbered from the Passover, [185] 
 and the fiftieth day was the feast of Pentecost, and seven sabbaths 
 of years, and then the fifty years a Jubilee year. Lev. xxv. 8, 
 9. The spies searched the land forty days in unbelief, and a 
 ])enalty of forty years wandering in the wilderness was in- 
 flicted, a day for a year. Numb. xiv. 34. Ezekiel was ordered 
 to lie on his side 390 days to bear the 390 years iniquity of 
 Israel, and forty days for the forty years iniquity of Judah, 
 eacji day for a year. Ezekiel iv. 5, G. The seventy sevens of 
 
128 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Daniel are by common consent, weeks of years. The period 
 of 2300 consists of two parts, one of the daily sacrifice, re- 
 stored in part, and the other of desolation, and it is so con- 
 nected with the seventy sevens as to lead us to interpret both 
 of years. 
 
 The word ijear tro; in symbolical prophecy seems purposely 
 avoided, till the close of revelation, and time given instead, to 
 shew us it is not a mere year. The days are also reckoned in 
 a way quite unusual when days exceed the length of a year, if 
 only literal days were meant: 1,260 instead of three years and 
 a half; 2,300 instead of six years and so many days. 
 
 The seve?i limes have a correspondence with the three times 
 and a half, being their double; now the latter terminate with 
 the kingdom of Christ, and the former seem evidently to com- 
 mence with the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, and to denote 
 the whole season of the bestial debasement of the corrupt Gen- 
 tile kingdoms. The seven times would then answer to the 
 times of the Gentiles mentioned by our Lord, (Luke xxi. 24.) 
 and the latter three and a half to the latter times mentioned. 
 1 Tim. iv. 1. 
 
 It appears from Dan. xii. 7, that the close of the three times 
 and a half is closely connected with the [1S6] gathering of the 
 Jews; and from Zech. i, IS — 21. that the power of the four 
 Gentile monarchies is then broken: and this confirms the ex- 
 tended meaning of both. God looks at the whole course of 
 this world's historyias but a fevv days. 
 
 Daniel, when he heard the period of the times and a half 
 announced by the angel, understood not, and on inquiry re- 
 ceived the answer, llie zoords are sealed to the time of the end: 
 and an intimation is given that even when unsealed, only the 
 zvise xvould understand. We thus learn that the meaning couched 
 under this expression was purposely concealed for a time, but 
 w^s afterwards to be unfolded to the wise. The promise is 
 not of a fresh revelation, but of an explanation of a period 
 already given. And there seems to have been a wise end in 
 this veiling of the time, as it would have been staggering to 
 the faith, and deadening to the hopes of the Israelites, if the 
 whole of the interval had been openly and explicitly declared. 
 
 The last chapter of Daniel compared with the tenth of Re- 
 velation, gives a still clearer warrant for the enlarged or Pro- 
 testant interpretation of the times. The prophet writes thus: 
 "And one said to the man clothed in linen which was upon the 
 waters of the river. How long shall it be to the end of these 
 wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was 
 upon the waters of the river: when he held up his right hand 
 and his left hand unto heaven, and swore bv Him that liveth 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. J 29 
 
 for ever, that it shall be for a time, times and a half, and when 
 he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy- 
 people, all these things shall be finished. And I heard, but I 
 understood not: then said I, my Lord, what shall be the end 
 of these thinii;s? And he said, Go [1S7] thy way, Daniel: for 
 the words are closed uj) and sealed till the time of the end." 
 It is here plainly implied that at the time of the end, the words 
 should be unsealed. Have we then any jj;uide to teach when 
 this unsealing should begin? The tenth of Revelation supplies 
 this. There the angel of the covenant, who had appeared in 
 the vision to Daniel, appears afresh with a little book opeii in 
 his hand. He repeats the solemn oath, but with the marked 
 variation that there shall he time 710 lo?>ger, but he then gives 
 the book to the apostle to eat, as a token of the insight into 
 its meaning, now granted, (Amos ii. 7. Ezekiel ii. S; iii. 10.) 
 and then adds the commission, "Thou must prophesy afresh 
 before many people, and nations, and tongues and kings." 
 Now to what season does this refer? It immediately fol- 
 lows the two woe trumpets of the ninth chapter; and these so 
 clearly relate to those two scourges of the church, the Saracens 
 and the Turks, that they have been the great land-marks in 
 which almost every interpreter has agreed, however widely 
 their schemes have diverged in other respects. The vision 
 of the tenth chapter must, therefore, relate to the time of the 
 Reformation, the next great event of history, and accordingly 
 from that i)eriod the unsealing began, and the enlarged mean- 
 ing of the prophetic times was unfolded to the church of God.* 
 
 Other intimations are given us in the scriptures that may 
 lead us to the same view of a day, in symbolical prophecies, 
 pointing out a year. 
 
 Our Lord told Herod, "I do cures to-day, and to-morrow, 
 and the third day I shall be perfected," [ISS] (Luke xiii. 32,) 
 where he seems clearly to refer to years. The ten days of 
 Smyrna's tribulation have been, with strong reason, referred 
 to the ten years of persecution under Diocletian, immediately 
 before the exaltation of the church. 
 
 It is allowed that the evidence is not of a nature to convince 
 an unwilling or captious mind. The Lord frequently does not 
 give that evidence on very important facts and doctrines. But 
 there is evidence that is weighty and important, — and, may I 
 not add, satisfactory to a mind humbled to receive truth in the 
 way in which it pleases the Lord to give it, and willing and 
 glad to discern the sigtis of the limes. We greatly need the en- 
 
 * The period of three limes and a half, and its variously expressed mean- 
 ing as 12()0 days and 4'2 months are mentioned in Revelation, but the periods 
 of 1280 and 1335 are not mentioned. 
 VOL. II. — 61 
 
130 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 larged mind of God, to whom all things are present, in form- 
 ing a judgment of times and purposes revealed by him zcho 
 i/ihabitelh eiernily. Amoral preparation is stated as a requisite, 
 in the expression, none of the nicked shall understand/'^ 
 
 [189] A merely mechanical settling of dates in accuracy of 
 numbers has a very injurious effect on the mind — but a moral 
 and spiritual view of the times, arising from an enlarged per- 
 ception of God's mind and glor}', and the victories of his truth 
 and love over all evil, and in harmony with all his revealed 
 character, is exceeding profitable to the soul. A mechanical 
 system will be found often to clash with other parts of truth; 
 but the spiritual view is both edifying and harmonizes with all 
 truth. An exact knowledge of the times does not appear to 
 be designed; but a general knowledge of times, taking us out 
 of an endless uncertainty, may be looked for in the use of 
 means. 
 
 It has been noticed that there are many, wise and holy ends 
 connected with the concealment of the time. Its being given 
 under mystical periods was essential to its concealment. This 
 is an instance of tiiat general truth, "I have many things to say 
 unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." John xvi. 12. There 
 
 * The author has read with some care the objections that have been made, 
 as far as he had an opportunity of seeing them, to the interpretation which 
 Avould make a prophetical day to signify a year; especially those of Mr, Mait- 
 land and the late Bishop Horsley; but he abides by the long maintained expo- 
 sition of the chief Prot'estant expositors of Prophecy, and of some in the 
 Jewish as well as the Christian church, that in the prophecies, the time of the 
 fulfilment of which was not intended to be made clear to those to whom they 
 were delivered— a day means a year. But he has been led to think it probable 
 that there may be a concentrated farther literal fulfilment, in part, at the close 
 of the times of the Gentiles, according to the general expectation of the 
 Fathers. Some of the reasons why a mystical number is used, are given 
 above. He refers to the writings of Mede, Faber, Holmes, Cuninghame, and 
 others, for farther proofs of this. The time of the commencement of the sera 
 is more hidden in obscurity. 
 
 Some remarks of Benglius may remove difiiculties in our minds, as to the 
 consideration of dates. He observes, in his Gnomon on Rev. i. 3. " There 
 are some who, through unquiet curiosity, miserably handle this most holy book; 
 whence others, falling into an opposite extreme, hear unwillingly even the 
 name Apocalypse, which ought of itself to allure them, and mistrust the book 
 Itself from the singular number of rash interpretations and conjectures void of 
 truth. Hence, while they wish to know all things, they reject the knowledge 
 of those only which the Lord declares will come to pass, and account the at- 
 tempt to discover the truth a weariness; sloth lobe modesty; silence to be pru- 
 dence; and care for and enquire into any thing sooner than this, as if it had 
 been written. Blessed is he that readeth not, and they that hear not, &c. Let 
 them beware, lest while they invent all excuses for refusing the heavenly gift, 
 they weary God (Isa. vii. 12, 13.) and be I'ound thankless toward Jesus Christ. 
 Nay, blessed is he that readeth, and they who hear and keep, especially in our 
 limes, which, as we shall see, border, upon a great change. It is better in 
 searching out the times, if only faith, hope, and love rule in the heart, to at- 
 tempt to the utmost, and to be ridiculed, than with the frecthinlccrs in this 
 world, to despise warnings as paradoxes, and be crushed by the events." 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 131 
 
 is an extent of light and truth whicli would be prejudicial to 
 us, and confound by its very brightness. The cluirch was not 
 in a prepared state when Daniel [190] wrote, nor when the 
 Revelation was given, for the full discovery of the times. We 
 see Daniel earnestly inquiring for further light. It is in a 
 measure given; and tiien he is content with that measure. We 
 see the apostles asking the time of the restoration of the king- 
 dom to Israel, and they are still told, "tlie Father hath put in 
 his own jDOwer the times and seasons;" and content with this, 
 they enter on their arduous work. The hiddenness is good, 
 while we so perfectly know the times and seasons, that we 
 are looking for the Lord as a thief in the night. But when, 
 in the lapse of the ages, in the time of the end, as Daniel speaks, 
 or, as Peter speaks, in the last days, xchen scoffers rise up, and 
 say, Where is the promise of his coming? and the servants of the 
 Lord are saying, JIij Lord delai/eth his cominn-; then the Lord 
 has provided that the words shall be unclosed and unsealed. 
 Dan. xii. 4, 9. 
 
 We may learn hence the duty of searching to the utmost, as 
 the prophets did, what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, 
 which was in them, did signify; (1 Peter i. 11,) yet still re- 
 membering that the great olDJect of such a knowledge is prac- 
 tical, and refers to preparedness for the day of the Lord. 1 
 Thess. V. 1, 2. 
 
 The first command with a tlireatening, was, not to eat of the 
 tree of knowledge of good and evil. Where knowledge is 
 kept from us, hid under divine mysteries, let us abstain; where 
 it is given to us, let us use it to the utmost. 
 
 But great humility is essential in all scriptural studies. The 
 meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he leach his zcay. 
 It may be well supposed that the last book, of scripture (Reve- 
 lation) is the most [191] deep, instructive, sublime, and mys- 
 terious; as all God's works and ways rise in beauty and glory, 
 from their beginning to their close. Need we wonder, then, 
 at mistakes in the study of that book, anil imperfect elucida- 
 tions of its wonderful contents: especially if there be either 
 the spirit of lurking unbelief, or the pride of systematic human 
 wisdom. 
 
 How little could the church of God, or Daniel himself, have 
 borne all the development of the history of his people, had the 
 the desolation of 2520 years been openly revealed! IIow little 
 could the primitive Christians have borne such a delay of their 
 hopes, as ISOO years have manifested! but the Lord has done 
 all things well, in mercifully veiling the trials of his church, 
 and giving more and more light as the time of glory draws 
 nearer. 
 
132 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL PROPHECIES, 
 
 [192] Chronological Prophecies have an important use. 
 Though they may not be designed to enable us absolutely to 
 fix the precise time in which such prophecies shall be accom- 
 plished, yet they are manifestly intended to guide the church 
 in looking out and preparing for the event predicted. It was 
 thus that Daniel, in the first year of the reign of Darius, un- 
 derstood the accomplishment of the seventy years' captivity, 
 (Daniel ix.) and thus the devout Jews were waiting for the first 
 coming of Christ. Luke ii. 25, 38. 
 
 It would be a grievous error in the church to disregard such 
 prophecies. Because many in past ages have made serious 
 mistakes respecting the dates, we must not, therefore, in the 
 spirit of infidelity, refuse to consider them, as if they were 
 full of danger and evil. The mistakes of others should lead 
 us to more caution, and diligence, and prayer, in our researches, 
 and more diffidence in our conclusions. But having now the 
 advantage of a more lengthened manifestation of God's mind, 
 from the past history [193] of the church, we have with this, 
 greater light for the true interpretation. Because men, hun- 
 dreds of years back, said, the coming of Christ was near to 
 them, do not let us now say it cannot be near to us. The roll- 
 ing away of 1800 years must have brought it much nearer. 
 Because they anticipated the event before the time, do not 
 think it will not come suddenly, and cannot be at the doors, 
 and that it is not your duty to look for it and expect it. 
 
 Oh unhappy perversion of preceding mistakes! by which 
 Satan gains this immense advantage; that wise and holy, that 
 cautious and good men, are brought into a state either of 
 neglect of that word of prophecy, which is a light shinivg in 
 a dark place milil the day daim, and to which God has ex- 
 pressly COMMANDED US TO TAKE HEED: or of hampering it 
 with sucli rules as almost to shut out the study from the gene- 
 ral body of the church. Oh, deep design of Satan! by which 
 lie accomplishes that predicted dangerous state of men in gene- 
 ral, before the day of the Lord come: "as a snare shall it 
 come on all them that dwell on the face of the u-hole earth," 
 Luke xxi. 35. "When the Son of man cometh shall he find 
 faith on the earth," Luke xviii. S. Let us not be "ignorant 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 133 
 
 of his devices," 2 Cor. ii. 11. IIow perfecll}' contrary is this 
 to the mind of the holy prophets! 1 Peter i. 10, 11. 
 
 The first prophetical period brought before us in the scrip- 
 tures, is 120 years, (Gen. vi. 3,) when "once the long-suffering 
 of God waited in the days of Noah:" (1 Peter iii. 20,) the 
 more affecting to us in these last days, a.s the world then was, 
 in general unbelief and worldliness, in a similar state to that in 
 which it is to be before the coming of Christ. Luke xvii. [194] 
 26, 27. Matt. xxiv. 37 — 39. Boothroyd's translation of the 
 passage in Genesis is striking, Jehovah said, "My Spirit shall 
 never pronounce judgment on men unwarned. They are but 
 llesh. Their days therefore sliall yet be 120 years. 
 
 Many of the predictions of scripture have a mark attached 
 to them, of the time in which they were to be fulfilled. Such 
 are the 430 and 400 years of the Israelites being in Egypt. 
 Gen. XV. 13; Exod. xii. 40. The 65 years predicted by Isaiah, 
 in which Israel was to be broken. Isa. vii. 8. The 70 years 
 of Judah's captivity. Jer. xxix. 10. The 70 weeks, or 490 
 years, in which JNlessiah was to be cut off. Dan. ix. 24,25. 
 The 2300 days or years, at the end of which the sanctuary is 
 to be cleansed, and no longer trodden under foot. Dan. viii. 
 14. Tlie period of 1260 days or years, of the dominion of 
 the papal power, predicted under tlie varied terms of time, and 
 times, and half a time, (Dan. vii. 25. Rev. xii. 14;) 42 months, 
 (Rev. xi. 2; xiii. 5.) or 1260 days, (Rev. xi. 3, and xii. 6); 
 the father periods of 30 days and 45 days, included in the 1290 
 and 1235 days or years. Dan. xii. 11, 12. The mystical period 
 of an hour, a day, a month, and a year, which is interpreted 
 either as 396 years, or as 391 years and a month, or as 390 
 years by those who consider tlio hour and day as denoting 
 rather the season than a specific part of the time, has had 
 several different dates assigned for its commencement: this 
 period is reckoned by Mr. Ilabcrslion from the capture of Con- 
 stantinople, when artillery vx-as used (Rev. ix. 17.) with such 
 success by JNIahummud II. in 1453; the termination of the 
 Turkish woe would thus be brought down to 1844, or 1843. 
 
 [195] One of the most important chronological prophecies 
 is that of the 70 weeks op Daniel. The interpretation 
 which most satisfies the author's mind from its simplicity, and 
 following the order of the text, is this — The 70 weeks of v. 
 24, is a definite period of 490 years ecclesiastically complete, 
 from the decree of Artaxerxes given to Ezra, 15S, to the death 
 and resurrection of our Lord in a. d. 33, which makes ex- 
 actly 41)0 years. The period from which this era is to be 
 reckoned, is to be gathered from the vision (v. 23.) of which 
 it is the explanation. In that vision Daniel asks the question, 
 
 " 61* 
 
J34 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 (viii. 13, 14.) *<Hovv long shall be the vision concerning the 
 daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both 
 the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" and he 
 is answered, "unto two thousand and three hundred days, then 
 shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The first renewing of the 
 sacrifice, as we find, (Ezra vii. 12 — 23.) was under the decree 
 of Artaxerxes, 458 years before Christ. That decree was 
 directly connected with the building of the temple and the 
 restoration of worship and the sacrifices. Of the whole period 
 of 2300 years, 70 iceeks of years icere deternmied nnna or cut off, 
 from the restoration of the daily sacrifice to the completing of 
 the perfect sacrifice of Christ, when the spiritual temple was 
 raised up, (John ii. 19 — 21.) and the most holy was anointed. 
 Heb. i. 9; ix. 24. We have here then the ecclesiastical period 
 of 70 weeks, or 490 years distinct and perfect. There is 
 another period of seventy weeks, however, brought before us 
 in verses 25, 26, and 27. As the 70 years' captivity had a 
 double commencement from the first captivity to the decree of 
 Cyrus; and from the second captivity under Zedekiah to the 
 decree of [196] Darius: so this longer period of 70 weeks 
 appears to have a double commencement. The second com- 
 mencement is stated to be from the going forth of the com- 
 mandment to restore and build Jerusalem. The date of Nehe- 
 miah's commission from Artaxerxes was 446. But it appears 
 very clearly that the period mentioned by Daniel is to be 
 reckoned in complete weeks and not in parts of weeks; hence 
 as in the period of our Lord's burial, parts of time are reckoned 
 for the whole. The commencement of a perfect week there- 
 fore, in that course of weeks which had begun to run with 
 Ezra's commission must be taken, or the year 451. There 
 are three periods, (1) seven weeks, (2) sixty-two weeks, (3) 
 one week. From 451 to a. c. 33 is just 483 years, or 69 
 weeks. For 7 weeks or 49 of those years, constituting a jubi- 
 lee, (a sacred measure of time,) there are predicted, troublous 
 times, as we may judge by the history of Nehemiah there 
 really were, till the Jewish polity was settled. This seems to 
 be one reason mentioned for the separation of the first seven 
 weeks from the 62; though it is probable there may be other 
 reasons. Then follow the sixty-two weeks which will reach 
 till A. D. 33, when the Messiah was to be cut ofl', and (as it is 
 in the margin) the Jews were to be no more his people. We 
 have then, in v. 26, an indefinite period, the events of which 
 are, the destruction of the city and temple by the Romans, 
 and the Jewish desolation. This desolation was to last, as we 
 learn by other prophecies, till the times of the Gentiles should 
 be fulfilled. Matt, xxiii. 38; Luke xxi. 24. In v. 27, we have 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 135 
 
 the additional week at the close of the times of the Gentiles 
 when the people of Israel are again taken into covenant as 
 pointed out, Ezek. [197] xx. 33—38; Roai. xi. 25—27. This 
 week is divided into two parts. The character of the first half 
 week seems to be set out, Isaiah Ixvi. 1 — 3, where the Jews 
 are represented as, in a self-righteous spirit, re-building the 
 temple and otfering sacrifices; and the character of the second 
 half or dividing of the u-eek, answers to Isaiah Ixvi. 4 — G, where 
 they are represented as under the terror of the infidel Anti- 
 christ, who causes the sacrifice to cease; and at the close is the 
 consummation in the destruction of that Antichrist, as set 
 before us. Isaiah x. 23 — 25; 2 Thess. ii. S. 
 
 There is a period called by our Lord, the times of the 
 Gentiles. On this Mede remarks, "I make no question but 
 these "times of the Gentiles," (Luke xxi. 24,) with which the 
 Jews' tribulation shall end, are either the times of the four 
 monarchies in general (that is the times of that prophesied 
 dominion of the Gentiles; or, which is all one in event, those 
 last times of the fourth kingdom, of a time, times, and half a 
 time, at the fulfilling whereof Daniel prophesies of the same 
 appearing and coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of 
 heaven, (Dan. vii. 13, 22,) as St. Luke does in Luke xxi, 
 27."* The period of a time, Mede has shewn, signifies a 
 year, and times two years, and half a time half a year: the 
 Jewish year consisting of 3G0 days; three years and a half 
 make 1260 days. The grounds have been already stated which 
 justify the large body of Christian interpreters, in considering 
 the prophetical day to intend a year, and viewing 1260 days 
 as 1260 years. But three prophetical times and a half are 
 but the half of the whole Jewish dispersion. There is a 
 remarkable prediction of [19S] their troubles for their sins, in 
 Lev. xxvi. in which they are told again and again (see verses 
 IS, 21, 24, 28), that they shall be chastened seven times, or 
 sevenfold, for their sins. The frequent repetition of seven 
 times, or sevenfold, connected with their lengthened suffering 
 under the Gentile monarchies, seems to point out a. special 
 design, and may intimate the length of time which these 
 chastisements should last. Ii would make, interpreted as we 
 do the times in Daniel, a period of 2520 years, from their 
 being carried into captivity. The same period of seven times 
 or 2520 years is brought out, as has been noticed, in the dream 
 of Nebuchadnezzar. These times were to pass over that king 
 (who seems a type of the Gentile nations) in a state of bestial 
 derangement, and after them he was to be restored. Dan. iv. 
 25. Possibly if these times are connected with cycles, they 
 * See Mede, 753. 
 
I3G A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 denote a period something shorter, as 360 days are less than 
 the length of a natural year, or the seven limes may be current 
 only. But if reckoned as 2520 years, they would terminate 
 earlier, or later, according as we reckoned the commencement 
 of the captivity of Israel, or of Judah. If we reckon the 
 captivity of Israel as commencing in 727 before Christ, Israel's 
 first captivity under Shalmanezer, it would terminate in 1793, 
 when the French Revolution broke out: and if 677 before 
 Christ, at their captivity under Esarhaddon (the same period 
 when Manasseh, king of Judah was carried into captivity, 2 
 Kings xvii. 23, 24. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11,) it would terminate in 
 1843. These periods may have a reference to corresponding 
 events at their termination, and are worthy of serious at- 
 tention.* 
 
 [199] The whole of this period of seven times, as it regards 
 those countries with wliicli the church of God has been con- 
 nected, has been marked by the prevalence of four empires. 
 Mr. Mede, in his Apostacy of the latter tim'es, has remarked — 
 "For the true account of times in the scripture we must have 
 recourse to that sacred calendar and great almanac of 
 PROPHECY, the four Kingdoms of Daniel, which are a pro- 
 phetical chronology of times measured by the succession of 
 four principal kingdoms, from the beginning of the captivity 
 of Israel until tlie mystery of God should be finished; a course 
 of time during which the church and nation of the Jews, to- 
 gether with those vv|iom, by reason of their unbelief in Christ, 
 God should sui-rogate in their room, were to remain under 
 bondage of the Gentiles and oppression of Gentilism; but those 
 times once finished, all the kingdoms of the zcorld sJiould become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ: and to this great calen- 
 dar of times, together with that other, but lesser calendar of 
 seventy weeks, all mention of times in the scripture seems 
 to have reference." A Jewish Rabbi, Saadias Gaon, in the 
 tenth century, stated, on Dan. vii. 48: — "Because Israel had 
 rebelled against the Lord, their kingdom shall be taken from 
 them and given to these four monarchies, which shall possess 
 the kingdom in this age, and shall lead cnptive and subdue 
 Israel to themselves in this age, until the future age, when Mes- 
 siah shall reign." See Mode's Works, p. 536. 
 
 The four kingdoms are, 1. Babylo7nan, Dan. ii. 32, 38. 2. 
 Medes and Persians, Dan. ii. 39; v. 26—28. 3. Grecian, Dan. 
 viii. 20, 21. See 2 Mac. ii. 1—4.* [200] 4. Roman, John xi. 
 
 * See Habershon on the Prophecies, for many valuable observations on this 
 subject. 
 
 t Some have supposed that the Grecian empire did not fulfil the predicted 
 description of Dtin. ii. 39; the account given of it in 3 Mac. ii. 1 — 4, in the 
 author's view removes this dilliculty. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 137 
 
 4S; xix. 15. It might at first sight be supposed that the ten 
 kingdoms should be formed out of the whole Roman empire, 
 both eastern and western. '^I'he reason why it is not so, is thus 
 stated by Sir I. Newton, in his remarks on the prediction of 
 Dan. vii. 11, 12. '<The rest of the beasts had their dominion 
 taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and 
 time." "The four beasts are still alive, though the dominion 
 of the three first be taken away. The nations of Chaldea and 
 Assyria are still the first beast; those of India and Persia are 
 still the second beast; those of Macedon, Greece and Thrace, 
 Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, are still the third; and those of 
 Europe on this side Greece, are still the fourth. Seeing, there- 
 fore, the body of the third beast is confined to the nations on 
 this side the river Euphrates, and the body of the fourth beast 
 is confined to the nations on this side of Gi-eece, we are to look 
 for all the four heads of the third beast among the nations on this 
 side of the river Euphrates, and for all the eleven horns of the 
 fourth beast among the nations on this side of Greece. And, 
 therefore, at the breaking of the Greek empire into four king- 
 doms of the Greeks, we include no part of the Chaldeans, 
 INIedes, and Persians in those kingdoms, because they belong 
 to the bodies of the two first beasts. Nor do we reckon the 
 Greek empire seated at Constantinople, among the horns of the 
 fourth beast, because it belonged to the body of the third." 
 
 In the raising up of Greece to a distinct kingdom in our day, 
 we may now see in Turkey, Persia, [201] Greece, and the ten 
 European kingdoms, all these empires in existence. 
 
 The inquiry then comes, What are these ten kingdoms? 
 Dr. Cressener has observed that "the number ten is usually 
 taken in scripture for an uncertain multitude of those things of 
 which it is said to be the number; and in such a long succes- 
 sion and change of kingdoms as it is here joined with, and 
 where there is no other circumstance to shew it to be a definite 
 number, it ought in all reason* to be taken in that sense; that 
 is, for an uncertain multitude of kingdoms that were to be set 
 up with the beast in the bounds of the Roman empire."* The 
 reason is hardly satisfactory, and it is hoped that more certain 
 light may yet be attained on this point. 
 
 It is singular that Machiavel, a professed member of the 
 church of Rome, has given a list of the Gothic tribes which 
 overthrew the Roman empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, 
 making them ten in number.f It is painful also to us, of this 
 long-favoured land, to find that Britain is included in almost 
 
 * See Cresscner's Demonstration of the Apocalypse, paa:c 21t. 
 
 + See Chandler's Vindication of the Defence of Christianity, vol. i. p. 24G 
 
138 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 every list of the chief interpreters of Revelation, (as JMede, 
 Lloyd, Sir I. Newton, Bishop Newton, Hales, Ciininghame, 
 &c.) among these ten kingdoms.* 
 
 [202] The following are considered by some as the ten king- 
 doms as they now subsist. I.Ravenna. 2. Lombardy, S.Rome. 
 4. Naples. 5. Sardinia. 6. P'rance. 7. Austria. S. Spain. 9. 
 Portugal. 10. Britain. Another list gives these: — 1. Rome, 
 with Ravenna and Lombardy. 2, France. .3. Spain. 4. Por- 
 tugal. 5. Savoy. 6. Naples. 7. Austria. S. Bavaria. 9. Venice. 
 10. Tuscany. If Rome be consideied as an 11th horn, Hun- 
 gary, part of which at least was included in the Roman empire, 
 might be added. In the natural animal, horns plucked up 
 may grow again; and so tlie place of the three horns plucked 
 up before the 11th, may be supplied by fresh kingdoms, which 
 seems proved by the number being 10 at the close, Rev. xvii. 
 16, 17. The term in Dan. ii. 43, of the iro?i mixed zrith the 
 miry clay, explained, "they shall mingle themselves with the 
 seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as 
 iron was not mixed with clay," may have been given to pre- 
 pare us for the difficulty of identifying distinctly ten kingdoms, 
 though that has generally been about the number. 
 
 The author confesses that he is not fully satisfied with any 
 list yet given; he trusts that the farther investigation [203] of 
 students may throw more light on this important part of pro- 
 phecy. On the lists as might be expected, there are difierent 
 opinions — some being left out, and others added; and if ten be 
 not a definite number, we cannot expect a concurrence of view. 
 The symbolizing and uniting with Popery and its issue, infi- 
 delity, is the darkest mark for any nation which has once been 
 a part of the Western Roman empire. In every case, the moral 
 
 * Prophetical writers have differed in opinion wljether Britain be included 
 among the ten kingdoms of the Roman Empire. From the expressions — They 
 receive power as Kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and s/ui'lt 
 give their power and strength unto the beast; it lias been concluded, that as Bri- 
 tain, before the rise of Popery, was separated from the Roman Empire, and did 
 not become papal at the beginning of Poper3% and separated from it at the 
 Reformation, it cannnot be among the ten kingdoms. See the Christian Guar- 
 dians for 1S30, p. 135, and Whiterby, p. 79 to 88. Rejoiced, indeed, would a 
 British Christian patriot be. to see his country not included in the last judg- 
 ments on the Roman Empire. Daniel ii. 35; vii. 11. But it has seemed to some 
 interpreters of Revelation, that there are changes in the Roman Empire re- 
 vealed under the terms Dragon and beast; Rome Pagan, ch. xii., Rome Papal, 
 ch. xiii., and a third in chapter xvii., which may be called Rome Papal, Infi- 
 del, Republican. The differences of the beasts of ch. xiii. and xvii. are dis- 
 tinctly pointed out by Woodhouse, p. 359, 3G0. It is in the last form that the ten 
 kingdoms have one mind with the beast, and are cast into perdition, and no time 
 is allotted for the duration of this beast. If it be so, what an argument is 
 here furnished for contending with Papacy, and Infidelity, and Lawlessness, 
 the three evils of the last days! See Mr. Cuninghame's remarks on the last 
 form of the Roman Empire, in his Dissertation, page 446 and 493. The state 
 of our country cannot but occasion much anxiety. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I39 
 
 and spiritual character of a country, is that which will really 
 decide its state in the day of the Lord. 
 
 In the description of the fourth hkast, as given by St. 
 John, in the Revelation, the beast is said to have seven heads, 
 and these are interpreted to mean the seven mountains on ivhich 
 the woman silteth, and that there are seven Icings, of which Jive 
 are fallen, and one is, and the other is yet to come. The con- 
 lirmation of the application of this to Rome by the unconscious 
 testimony of Pagan poets and historians, is very striking.* 
 The grouping together of the first five heads removes all ob- 
 jections from tlie irregularity of ordei- in which they rose, and 
 fell, and rose again, liy this grouping of the five together, 
 the order is not more marked in the prophecy than it was in 
 the history. The five forms of government, according to the 
 Roman historians, were Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, 
 and Tribunes. The Imperial Government was the one exist- 
 ing at the time of the apostle. 
 
 The importance of these prophecies to us, will be [20 1] more 
 clearly seen when it is known that these ten kingdoms are to 
 be destroyed at the coming of Christ, (Dan. ii. 44, 45; Rev. 
 xvii. — xix.); and that it is during their continuance that he ap- 
 pears in the clouds to establish his own kingdom on their ruin, 
 (Dan. ii. 44; vii. 13, 14, and 27, 2S: Rev. xix. 11;) his being 
 the sole kingdom then left, (Dan. vii. 27, 28; Rev. xi. 15; xx. 
 — xxii.) 
 
 The termination of the times of the Gentiles is also the more 
 important, as it is so continually represented to us as the time 
 of the separation of the wicked from faithful professors. Look 
 in this view at the parables of the tares and wheat; the net cast 
 into the sea, the ten virgins and the talents. See the striking 
 statements of our Lord, Luke xvii. 26 — 30, and of his Apos- 
 tles, 1 Thess. iv. 15—18; v. 1—11. 2 Thess. i. 5—10 and ii. 
 The author was long satisfied to refer these to the general judg- 
 ment after the Millennium, But a more full consideration of 
 scripture leads him to think that the whole of the scrijitural 
 testimony can only be harmonized by applying them to a sepa- 
 ration to take place previous to the Millennium. 
 
 When shall these things take place? Who can answer this? 
 The precise time is probably yet hidden from us; but the signs 
 of the times are to be discerned, and the approach of the time 
 may be expected to be known, as was the time of the first ad- 
 
 ♦ The Testimony, as given by Cressener, in his Demonstration, to the title 
 of Rome as the seven hillM city, includes Varro, Virgil, Ovid, Prupertius, 
 Martial, and Lucan; (see page 9;) and as to the five forms of government, it 
 includes the two principal historians, Tacitus and Livy, Cassiodorus in his 
 Chi;onicon, and Onuphrius Panvicinus. See page 135, 13G. 
 
140 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 vent to Simeon, Anna, and otliers. Sir Isaac Newton, in his 
 day, speaks of the time approacliing, but adds (page 252) "the 
 time is not yet come for understanding these prophecies per- 
 fectly, because the main revolution predicted in them is not 
 yet come to pass." It has appeared to many that the French 
 Revolution, [205] in 1793, is that main revolution which meets 
 these anticipations. 
 
 On the COMMENCEMENT OP THE 12G0 YEARS, there are con- 
 siderable differences of opinion amongst Protestant interpre- 
 ters. The most common modern opinion (that of Mr. Cun- 
 inghame, Mr. Gisborne, Mr. Frere, and Mr. Irving,) gives A. 
 D. 533, the date of Justinian's Edict in favour of the Pope; 
 Mr. Faber's commencement is GOl; Bishop Newton's 727; 
 and Lowman's 756. In the year 584 mentioned by Mr. 
 Brown, Pope Pelagius claimed infallibility, and was assisted 
 in maintaining it by the troops of the empire, and then Rome 
 was abandoned by the eastern emperor. This period would 
 terminate in 1S44. The Magdeburgh Centuriators name the 
 year 666 as the time when Pope Vitalian would have service 
 in the church in Latin. 
 
 The year of our Lord 60S, exactly 75 years after 533, is 
 remarkable by the Pantheon being dedicated afresh to the 
 Virgin Mary and other saints; and the same, or following year, 
 Mahomet's preaching began. This date of 75 years is im- 
 portant, as being the interval (divided into two parts of 30 and 
 45 years) given by Daniel between tiie close of the 1260 years, 
 and the years of blessedness. On this view the first term of 
 30 years terminated in 1822. The events which distinguished 
 the year 1822 were the declaration of independence by the 
 Greeks, and the restoration thus of the seat of the third em- 
 pire to political power. The gospel was then also again 
 preached to the Jews in Jerusalem. 
 
 In the author's view the most probable of the periods is that 
 of the year 533, ending in the French Revolution. It tended 
 to shake this, while there [206] was reason to think that part 
 of Justinian's Letter in favour of the Pope was a forgery of 
 the Romanists, as stated by Comber in his Forgeries of the 
 Councils, p. 251. In the part which Comber admitted to be 
 genuine there is much respect and honour given to the Pope; 
 but not what could of itself be considered as putting the saints 
 into his hands. But Mr. Cuninghame has, since this was writ- 
 ten, investigated at some length the doubts thrown out by 
 Comber, and has, I think, satisfactorily removed them. See 
 his preface to the Fulness of the Times. Page 11 — 22.* 
 
 * The identifying of the Letters to the pope with the civil law, and em- 
 botlying his primacy in that law, was a remarkable way of accrediting the 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 141 
 
 There arc other expressions in Justinian's Novels, makinj^ 
 the Pope pre-eminent, to vvliich Comber has notaliudecl, (Nov. 
 131. ch. 2.) "Sancinuis sanctissimum senioris Romae Papam 
 PKiMUM ESSE OMNIUM SACE RDOTUM. "* Tlie passage in Daniel, 
 on which the commencement of the 12G0 years is chiefly 
 founded, is thus translated by Wintle, "He shall speak [207] 
 words against the IMost High, and shall wear out the saints of 
 the Most High, and shall presume to alter appointed seasons 
 and the law which shall be given into his hand, until a time 
 and times and the division of a time." Daniel vii. 25. On 
 which Mr. Wintle says, "Either the saints shall be subject to 
 his power or, as seems more agreeable to the versions, his 
 influence shall prevail over the solemnities of the law. Pos- 
 sibly both might be intended to be included in the usurpa- 
 tion." 
 
 From whatever dates we reckon, we cannot but consider 
 that the time of the end is drawing near, and that awful events 
 of judgment and of mercy are before us. The time of con- 
 demnation and salvation as concerns the professing Christian 
 church at large, as well as each individual believer, is hasten- 
 ing on. This should lead every Christian, on his own part to 
 special watchfulness; on the part of a perishing world to the 
 utmost exertions and prayer; and on the part of the church 
 and the world to come, to peculiar hope and gladness of heart. 
 When these evil times are passed away, the day of millennial 
 glory dawns on the world; (2 Peter i. 19.) or in the words of 
 St. Paul, speaking of the loving-kindness of God, in choosing 
 his people out of the world, God's pur])ose is "that in the dis- 
 pensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in 
 one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which 
 are on earth, even in him." Ephes. i. lO.t 
 
 pope, and making prominent his dignity. Gibbon says, "The vain titles of 
 the victories of Justinian, are crumbled m the dust, but the name of the legis- 
 lator is inscribed on a fair and everlasting monument'. Under his reign and 
 by his care, the civil jurisprudence was digested in the immortal vvoiks (>f the 
 Code, the Pandects and the Institutions, the public reason of the Romans 
 has been silently or studiously transfused into the domestic institutions of 
 Europe, and the law.-, of Justinian still command the respect or obedience of 
 independent nations." They did indeed soon after ihey were published, fall 
 into neglect and oblivion till about the year 1130; when a copy of the digests 
 was found at Amalfi in Italy: which accident concurring with the policy of 
 the Roman Ecclesiastics suddenly gave new vogue and authority to the civil 
 law." See Encyclopaedia Britannica on "Law." The novels are full of 
 directions about Ecclesiastical matters, and the primacy over the Christian 
 church through the Roman empire is given to the pope in the body of them. 
 
 * See Mr. Cuninghame's able statement on this subject, with the original 
 extracts, in his Apocalypse, p. 260—273, and his reply to Mr. Fuber, p. 27, 
 &c., and his Fulness of Times. 
 t Bengelius ob.serves in his Gnomon also, on Rev. x. 6: — 
 "There is a great doubting concerning these periods, and many say that 
 VOL. II. — 62 
 
J42 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [208] Connected with the subject of Chronological Prophe- 
 cies is that of Cycles and Jubilees, It is striking that some 
 chief Prophetical and Chronological dates should be Astro- 
 nomical Cycles, as 1260 and 2300, and the difference between 
 them 1040, the most perfect cycle known. The aeras of Jubi- 
 lees rnay also yet be found much to illustrate the Chronology 
 of Propliecy. This subject has been brought forward by Mr. 
 Cuninghame in several of his latter publications with much 
 application and extended research. Difficulties and mistakes 
 in so intricate and perplexed a subject may be expected; but 
 though pushed too far, there is valuable thought in these works 
 and tiie increasing importance of the subject fully ju'^tifies great 
 attention to it. 
 
 The author in his Sermon before the European Missionary 
 Society, published in his Occasional Works, has thus stated 
 his view of the course of events yet to take place. 
 
 The beginning of the day of the Lord seems to be the 
 breaking up of the visible Gentile kingdoms and churches, 
 (Rev. xvi. 19) on account of their apostacy and wickedness, 
 by a series of desolating judgments [209] foretold distinctly in 
 Dan. ii. 34, 35, and strengthened by the vision of the four 
 beasts (Dan. vii.) as well as by many similar predictions. This 
 is explicitly interpreted by the angel as pointing out Christ's 
 k'wgdom breaking in pieces all the previous kingdoms, and then 
 standing for ever. Here is the complete overthrow of Popery, 
 Mahomedanism, Infidelity, and every opposing kingdom. This 
 is the time of trouble, such as ?}ever was since there was a nation, 
 fven to that same time, but the scriptures lead us to the hope 
 that vast multitudes of the unevangelized Gentiles may be con- 
 verted to Christ, (Rev. vii. 9 — 14.) and that the Jews shall be 
 tlelivered (Dan. xii. 1.) in this eventful period. 
 
 When the times of the Gentiles are passing away (Rom. xi. 
 25 — 32. Luke xxi. 24, 25.) the Jews are visibly recalled into 
 
 nothing can be known before the accomplishment; by which the martyrs and 
 witnesses of the truth, in the Reformation, and before and after, who relied on 
 the Apocalypse, especially its thirteenth and seventeenth chapters, are for- 
 saken; and the main I'ruit of the prophecy, in warning and guarding us 
 against approaching evils, is made void. Ceitainly to unseal the Apocalypse, 
 either all the events are required, or a good part, is sufficient. If the whole 
 is necessary, the Apocalypse will never be understood before the end of the 
 world; for events reach so far, and even into eternity itself. If a good part is 
 sufficient, let ns use that part, so as to measure future things by the past, and 
 not rush into the midst of the events unprepared. He is ra^h who sleeps in 
 the danger, not he who looks out beforehand. We ought not, -ndeed, to be so 
 confident in fixing things to come, as not to leave those to be explained by the 
 event which the text has not defined, or, at least, the interpreter does not yet 
 distinctly see. But those who avoid everything special, are ignorant what to 
 observe, even in the events themselves. Spiritual docility and sobriety agree 
 well with each other." 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES 143 
 
 the church of God (Dan. ix, 27; Ezek. xx. 32 — 44; Isa. xlix. 
 9 — 12; Ixii. 1.) — partake of his renewed favour, — are restored 
 to their land (Ezek. xxxvi. 1 — 3S; xxxvii. 20 — 23; Psalm 
 XXX vii. ; Isa. xi. 11,12; Ixii. 4: Ix. 21 ; Jer. xxxi. 1 — 6; Gen. 
 xiii. 14—18; xv. 18—21; xvii. 7. 8; xxvi. 3, 4; Exod. vi. 2 
 — S; Lev. xxvi. 40 — 44; Deut. xxx. 4 — 6; xxxii. 43,) — and 
 become peculiarly exposed to the wrath of the apostate Gen- 
 tiles, who, under the last Antichrist, come against restored 
 Israel. Isaiah Ixvi. 1 — 4; Jer. xxx. 1 — 9; Isa. x, 20 — 27; Dan. 
 ix. 27; Isa. xxxi. xxxiii. 1 — 10; Ezek. xxxviii. 1 — 16; Dan. 
 xi. 41—45; Joel ii. 1—20; Mic. iv. 8 — 10; Dan. xii. 1, 2. 
 Then the signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars 
 are manifesteil. Mat. xxiv. 20—29; Luke xxi. 24— 2G; Heb. 
 xii. 26 — 28; Hag. ii. 6, 7; Isa. xiii. 9 — 11; xxxiv. 1 — 4; Joel 
 iii. 12 — 15; ii. 31, 32; Mai. iv. [210] 1 — 6. Soon the sign 
 of the Son of Man himself appears in the heavens (Matt. xxiv. 
 29, 30; Luke xxi. 27, 28; Isa. xviii. 3 — 7;xi. 12 — 14; xxxi. 
 6 — 8; Dan. vii. 13, 14; Mat. xxiii. 39; Luke xvii. 24); he raises 
 his dead, he changes his living saints; they rise to be with him 
 in the air (Mat. xxiv. 31; Rev. xi. 15, 18; 1 Cor. xv. 51 — 54; 
 1 Thess. iv. 15 — 17; 2 Thess. i. 7; Isaiah xxvii. 12, 13; Rev. 
 iii. 10; Isaiah xxvi. 19 — 21; Mai. iii. 17, 18); the beast, the 
 kings of the earth and their armies gather together, in their rage, 
 enmity, and blindness, to make war against the Lord, and the 
 armies which follow him (Mat. xxiv. 30; Rev. xi. 18; xvi. 14; 
 Isa. viii. 8 — 10; x. 24 — 26; xxiv. 21, 22; xxvii. 4; xxxi. 4; 
 liv. 15; Ixvi. 18; Joel iii. 1,2; Mic. iv. 11 — 13; Zeph. iii. 9, 
 9; Zech. xii. 2 — 5; xiv. 1 — 5: Rev. xix. 19); he pours his 
 judgments on Antichrist and his adherents, pleading with all 
 flesh by fire and sword. Matt xxiv. 36 — 39; Rev. xv. 1; xvi. 
 1: Daniel ix. 27; Isa. x. 24,26; xiv. 24-^26; xxiv. 21 — 23; 
 xxxiv.; Ixiii. ; Rev. xix. 10—21; Joel iii. 11 — 16; Nah. i. 9 — 
 15; Isaiah xxx. 27 — 33; Ezek. xxxviii. 17 — 23; Dan. vii. 9 — 
 14: Mai. iv. 1, 3; Matt. iii. 12; 2 Thess. i. 8; ii. 8: Rev. xix. 
 15, 20; Isaiah ixvi. 16; Rev. xix. The character of the dis- 
 pensation is discriminating, punishing, and purifying. 1 Cor. 
 iii. 12—15; Mai. iii. 3; Zech. xiii. 9; Mark ix. 42, 50; Jer. 
 XX. 9; xxiii. 29; Psalm xcvii. 3; 1 Peter iv. 12; 2 Peter iii. 
 10 — 13; Rev. iii. 18. I{)very man's work shall be made mani- 
 fest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by 
 fire. The Jewish nation have a special promise of preserva- 
 tion. Isa. Ii. 16. The progress of that fire accomplishes the 
 predicted passing anay of the hcavejis, melting of the elements, 
 [211] and burning up of the works of the earth, in the day of the 
 Lord; but, like the Jewish tribulation, this fire seems to have 
 a crisis in the beginning (Ezek. xxxviii. 22: xxxix. 6; Isa. 
 
J44 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Ixvi, 15, 16), and again a crisis at the close (Rev. xx. 9) of the 
 millennial kingdom. (Matt. xxiv. 21; Luke xxi. 22 — 24; 
 Daniel xii. 1; Jer. xxx. 7; Rev. xix. 20; xx. 9.) Soon the 
 Lord descends visibly on Mount Olivet, with his glorified 
 saints, (Acts i. 11; Zech. xiv. 4, 5; Isaiah Ixiv. 1; Ixvi. 15; 
 Ix. 13; Ezek. xliii. 7 — 9,) in the sight of his people Israel, 
 (Isaiah Ixvi. 18, 19; Zech. xii. 10—14; Isaiah xxv. 9; Matt, 
 xxiii. 29; Rom. xi. 26; Isaiah lix. 20; Zech. ii. 10—12.) 
 These, humbled at length by their great affliction, and brought 
 to penitence by beholding their pierced Saviour, welcome his 
 return. Zech. xii. 10 — 14; Jer. xxxi. S — 12; Actsiii. 19 — 21; 
 Isaiah xii. 2, 4; Psalm cxvii. cxviii. xcviii. ; Rev. xix. 1, 3, 4, 6. 
 Oh glorious consummation of the Divine patience and faithful- 
 ness! How amazing the riches of his loving kindness to them! 
 How fearful too his judgment, when his fire consum.es his ene- 
 mies! Satan is then bound, and our Lord, rewarding all his 
 faithful followers for every loss and sacrifice made for him, 
 begins his glorious millennial reign, willi his saints over the 
 earth, and over the nations who have escaped those awful 
 judgments which have consumed his foes. Isaiah xxxii. 1; Dan. 
 vii. IS, 27; xii. 4; Luke xxii. 28 — 30; John i. 51; Rev. xi. 
 18; XX. 4, 6. But, though the spiritual blessedness of this 
 reign far exceeds that of any former dispensation, and the new 
 heavens and earth begin in the heavenly reign of the saints, 
 and the glory of the land of Israel (Isaiah Ixv. 17 — 19,) yet 
 the spirit of rebellion still secretly lurks among the [212] 
 nations (Zech. xiv. 17 — 19), which, after ripening for a time, 
 is at length permitted to display itself, by the loosing of Satan 
 for a little season, that it may then be put down for ever. 
 Rev. XX. 9. Our Lord reigns till he shall have completely put 
 all enemies under his feet; Satan himself is cast into the lake 
 of fire; the final judgment of all the dead takes place, and 
 then death and hell, and whosoever is not found written in the 
 book of life, are cast into the lake of fire. Rev. xx. 10 — 15. 
 The new heavens and the new earth, being now perfected, and 
 there being no more sea (Rev. xxi. 1.) the Holy City descends, 
 and the happiest state arrives, when Christ surrenders the 
 mediatorial kingdom, and God is all in all, and his saints reig7i 
 for ever and ever. Rev. xxi. xxii. 5. These are some of the 
 immensely important events which are connected with the 
 coming of our Lord. Though the details of them may be 
 more hid in obscurity, the events themselves are clearly re- 
 vealed. And if these events are before the church and the 
 world, they ought to be made known, that men every where 
 may be awakened from their present slumber, and Jlee from the 
 zcrath to come. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 145 
 
 In the close of this chapter it may be useful to refer the 
 reader to certain specific dates which have been supposed 
 TO BE NEAR THEIR CLOSE. The circuixistance of so many 
 scriptural dates havin<5 probable tenninations about the same 
 time, and tiie possibility that these terminations may be near, 
 both calls for attention, and, in proportion as we see they have 
 a real foundation, they are well calculated to impress our minds 
 and increase our watchfulness. Yet the author would be far 
 from dogmatising on such dates. 
 
 1,260 ijears. — Rev. xiii. 5. 
 
 [213] This date occurs frequently, and in three different forms. 
 Dan. vii. 23 — 25, time, limes, and dividing of a time. Rev. 
 xii. G, 1,2G0 days; Rev. xiii. 5, forty-two months. All, after 
 the length of the Jewish year and month, point out 1,260. 
 This date refers to the duration of Popery, 
 
 If we take its rise in 533 it reaches to 1793, when Popery 
 began to fall; if we take its fuller establishment (Rev. xi. 2; 
 xiii. S.) in 60S to its final fall, it reaches 1S6S. The interval 
 is 75 years. 
 
 666. — Rev. xiii. IS. 
 
 This, by the Lutheran expositors, has been considered as a 
 name of date, as well as of person and character. 
 
 Three words seem specially intended to be set before us, as 
 having Greek letters that make 666. 
 
 Aartivjc — The king who gave name to tb.e Latin empire. 
 
 ATi.-TaT^c. — The character of the power ruling it. 
 
 H KATiw (ii.<rim^. — The only Greek name of an empire among 
 two or three thousand that has the number 666. 
 
 If taken as a dale. — We have before 1,260 days, a date veiled 
 under a m3'stery, and afterwards an explicit 1,000 years. In 
 666 the mystery begins to break: the number of a man counted 
 by human reckoning. 
 
 If taken as a period both of rise and fall. — In its rise from 
 533 — 666 brings us to 1198 — 9, the time of Innocent III. 
 Popery was then at its height, tiie inquisition was established, 
 there was a crusade [214] against the Albigenses, and the num- 
 ber was applied by tiiat Pope to Mahomedanism, as expected 
 to be then near its enOi from the time of its rise. 
 
 From 1198 — 9, 666 brings us to 1864, just before Daniel's 
 lime of blessedness, leaving us only a period of half a week, 
 mentioned in Daniel ix. 27, for the infidel persecution, from 
 which the Philadelphian church was saved (Rev. iii. 10; xviii. 
 20,) but the Laodicean part left in it to be purified, and to be 
 the last gathering of the church to the marriage supper, 
 s 62* 
 
146 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 2,300.— Dan. viii. 13. 
 
 There are two things in this number, the restoration of the 
 daily sacrifice, and the time of desolation. The first, the re- 
 storation of the daily sacrifice, was to be determined, or rather 
 cut ofl' (nnna) Dan. ix. 24, from the 2,300 years to the complet- 
 ing of the perfect sacrifice of Christ. 
 
 If this 2,300 years be taken from Ezra's decree, 457 years 
 before Christ, it will bring us to 1S43, the beginning of the 
 cleansing of the sanctuary, and of the restoration of the Jews, 
 and of the approach of the great tribulation. If taken from 
 Nehemiah's completed cleansing in 433 — 4, it will bring us to 
 1867 — 8, the completed Jewish restoration. 
 
 390. — Ezek. iv. 5; Rev, ix. 15. 
 
 This might be rendered (Rev. ix. 15,) The four angels pre- 
 pared against (««) the hour and day (the hour of judgment and 
 the day of wrath,) were loosed for a month and a year {mcturov), 
 that is 390 years.* 
 
 If this 390 years commence in 1063, the beginning of the 
 Turkish power, it will bring us to 1453, the height of their 
 power in the fall of Constantinople. [215] And if taken on- 
 ward, it will bring us to 1843, the time of the fall of the Turk- 
 ish empire. 
 
 1,290 and 1335.— Dan. xii. 11, 12. 
 
 These years date fi-om the time that the daily sacrifice shall 
 be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set 
 up. This is connected also with the time, times, and a half, 
 verse 7. It is the spiritual aspect of, and the counterpart to, 
 the interruption of the temple service and the daily worship; 
 or the rise of Popery in the Christian church, a. d. 533. 
 
 From 533, the period of 1290 would bring us to 1822, which 
 is remarkable for the separation of Greece from Turkey; the 
 pouring out of the sixth vial, and the preaching of the second 
 advent. 
 
 From 533, the period of 1335 years would bring us to 1868, 
 as the commencement of the full blessedness of the earth. 
 
 A time no longer, or not 360 years. (;:f^ovo;oi/K sirra/sT/) Rev. x. 6. 
 
 The oath in Revelation is in many respects similar to that in 
 Daniel xii. The speaker the same; shewn to be the Redeemer 
 by the rainbow round iiis head and his face as the sun. It does 
 not mean time should end — events occur after; and delay no 
 longer; seems too vague: but, it may be taken there should be 
 * See addendum, page 440. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I47 
 
 a time no longer, in the same sense as time, times, and a half. 
 Formerly ihe angel had said, there were three times and a half, 
 (Dan. xii. 7,) now not a single time. Rev. x. 6. This is quite 
 in accordance with the spirit of propiiecy, seeking to produce 
 an impression of the nearness of the time. As soon as the 
 times of the Gentiles are within the verge of one [21G] time, 
 lest men should think the end was indefinitely prolonged, the 
 angel swears there shall be a lime no longer. 
 
 The era of this chapter (Rev. x.) is supposed to he that of 
 the Reformation. It follows the two woe trumpets of the Sa- 
 racens and the Turks, and is the next great event of history. 
 It was then that the little book, or the Bible, in contrast with 
 the larger scaled book of all God's Providence, was first fully 
 opened to the church, and light dawned upon Europe (his 
 countenance as the sun). 
 
 If the date of the Reformation be 1517, a time, or 360 years, 
 carries us to 1S77, the period within which the mystery of 
 God should be finished. This mystery is described in other 
 parts of scripture. The mystery of the blindness of Israel, 
 and the consequent reception of the Gentiles. Rom. xi. 25. 
 The resurrection of the dead saints, and the change of the liv- 
 ing saints, and their being caught up to Christ. 1 Cor. xv. 51; 
 1 Thess. iv. 17. The union of Jew and Gentile as fellow-heirs 
 and of the same body, and partakers of the promises in Christ. 
 Ephes. iii. 4 — 9. The marriage union of the church to Christ. 
 Ephes. V. 31, 32; Rev. xix. 7. 
 
 These events, the appearance of our Lord, and the first 
 resurrection of the saints, would in this view take place within 
 3G0 years from the Reformation 1517, that is before 1S77. 
 
 Mr. Clinton, one of the ablest chronologers of the present 
 times, gives an additional period of 132 years to the interval 
 in the time of the judges, on the ground of St. Paul's state- 
 ment (Acts xiii. 20). If this be correct, it would bring the 
 year 1864 to the close of the 6000th year of the world, or the 
 6th Millennium: 1864 is the 'date [217] when the 666 years 
 close above, and assigned by Mr. Faberfor the time of the end. 
 
 If these periods, (except the last, the close of which is less 
 definite.) be correctly commenced, without fixing precise dates 
 for each event, they point out tliat, witliin the next thirty 
 years, Popery shall fall, the Jews shall be restored, the Turk- 
 ish empire shall perish, the time of great tribulation will take 
 place, our Lord Jesus Christ will return to our earth, the saints 
 shall be raised, and the time of their full blessedness, and the 
 kingdoms of this world becoming Christ's kingdom shall have 
 arrived. ■ 
 * The time of the rise of the Papacy materially aflecls prophetical dates. 
 
148 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ON VARIED INTERPRETATIOiSS OF THE MORE OBSCURE 
 PROPHECIES. 
 
 [218] The subject of prophecy, in one important respect, is 
 brought at. present, in an unfavourable, not to say erroneous 
 aspect, before the public mind. The mass of clear prophecy 
 that has been remarkably fulfilled, is very great. This having 
 been fully developed in former works, to the general satisfac- 
 tion of men's minds, many modern authois have given com- 
 paratively little attention to the plain prophecies that have been 
 c/ea//// fulfilled; but chiefly discuss the more difficult predic- 
 tions. 
 
 Hence a bystander may be ready to think that the whole 
 subject of prophecy is full of nothing but difficulties; but the 
 reading of such books as Keith's first work, and Bishop Nevv- 
 tons's Dissertations, may shew that this is by no means the 
 case, and that there is evidence, irresistible by a candid mind, 
 of God's foreknowledge, and the inspiration of his word, in 
 prophecies, unquestionably written long before the events took 
 place, and already fulfilled in corresponding history. 
 
 [219] It is important, however, to remove this stumbling 
 block from the differences of eminently pious and good men 
 on obscurer prophecies, and to lessen the impediment which 
 this presents to the pursuit of so deeply interesting and prac- 
 tical a subject. As it is greatly to be desired that these dif- 
 ferences should never be discussed in a spirit that may ])ain a 
 
 The mystery of iniquity was even at work, we know, in the apostolic age 
 (2 Thess. ii. 7; 3 John 9.), but Popish errors began to be sanctioned by autlio- 
 rities in the 6th and 7th centuries. vSpanheim mentions these innovations in 
 the 6th centum; prayers to saints, public use of imases, veneration of relics, 
 purgatory, Litanies to the Virgin Mary, canon of mass. And in the "tth cen- 
 tury; the dedication of the Pantheon to the saints; tonsure and celibacy of the 
 clergy were commanded by Pope Martin, and the .service iri Latin by Vitalian; 
 prayers for the dead and abstaining from meats. 
 
 Mr. Lathbury gives the following dates, as the times when Popish errors 
 were made articles of faith by general councils. 
 
 700 Invocation of saints 154:7 Seven sacraments 
 
 787 Iniase worship Apocryphal books 
 
 107() Infallibility Priestly intention 
 
 1215 Transubstantiation 15G3 Sacrifice of mass 
 
 Supremacy Venal sins 
 
 1415 Half Communion Indulgences. 
 
 1438 Purgatory 
 
TO. THE PROPHECIES. 149 
 
 Christian brother, or excite unholy feelings in his mind, so is 
 it desirable also that they should not be unduly magnified; the 
 cifects of wbich will be to raise an insuperable obstacle to the 
 study of prophecy, or to weaken that evidence of Divine in- 
 spiration wliich it has furnished, or to set aside the labours of 
 learned and holy men, in which the Protestant church has rested 
 for centuries. 
 
 There are some great points in which all who have deeply 
 and seriously studied prophecy aie agreed; and especially as 
 to those great objects of prophecy, the near coming, in some 
 way, of our Lord, (in which Mr. Faber is not an exception,) 
 and tbe judgments connected with it, there is a remarkable 
 uniformity of testimony among all the most diligent students 
 of prophecy. Even where a spiritual Millennium only is ex- 
 pected, a coming distinguished by preceding judgments, and a 
 subsequent blessedness, is anticipated. By some who deny a 
 personal coming of Christ to reign for a thousand years, (as by 
 our own Lightfoot, Bishop Hall, and Mr. Gipps, or the foreign 
 divines, Mastritcht, Turretine, and Markius,) the Millennium 
 is supposed to be past, and the Saviour's coniing to judgment, 
 to be near. Where the Revelation is supposed to be fulfilled, 
 (as by Mr. Burgh and Mr. Maitland) tiie Saviour's speedy com- 
 ing is expected. Even where, as by Faber and Vint, a [220] 
 personal premillennial coming is denied, an awful intermediate 
 coming, in judgments on the wicked, and blessedness to the 
 righteous, is declared. The voice of prophetic writers is here 
 harmonious to a surprising extent. May these great truths 
 then, — approaching awful judgments, and approaching incal- 
 culable mercies, attract the minds of Christians, — and lead all to 
 the holiness, and spirituality, and blessedness of a waiting, pre- 
 pared, and joyfully expecting state of mind: may we throw 
 off all slumbers, and trim our lamps for that which the concur- 
 rent voice of Prophetic interpreters states to be near! Behold 
 the Br'ule^roorn comelh; go ye Did to meet him. Matt. xxv. 6. 
 
 The varied interpretations of Prophecy, and especially of 
 the book of Revelation, it must be allowed, however, are, to 
 careless or superficial observers, exceedingly distracting and 
 confusing. Of the Apocalypsk, some say nearly all has been 
 fulfilled, some say none has been fulfilled; some give one part 
 of the book, and others a totally distinct .series, to the same 
 facts. How shall we gain a guide to our path? 
 
 Let us remember that we are yet in the midst of God's dis- 
 pensations; the building of his temple is not completed; the 
 scafiblding is about a large jjart of it, the rubbish is not re- 
 moved, many parts are unfinished, and those that are in a state 
 of forwardness, want that entire completion which will show 
 
150 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 their full and appropriate use, and their perfect beauty, when 
 the magnificent temple is altogether complete and furnished. 
 
 Now the Revelation is a plan of this building in its varied 
 parts, and in its completion: and human writers are not like 
 the great Architect, who has all [221] in his mind; but like 
 lookers-on, having indeed a hope of partaking hereafter of the 
 worship, and obtaining a residence within the courts, but yet 
 having little architectural skill to discover its state, and pro- 
 gress, and ultimate glory. 
 
 Let us then imagine these different lookers-on coming to this 
 building from time to time in its progress. They have cast 
 their eye over the plan; but perhaps cursorily, perhaps misled 
 by false explanations, or confused by varied accounts of it, 
 and thus they look on what has been doing in past years. To 
 some it seems a heap of confusion; the ground broken up in 
 all directions; heaps of soil in one part, of materials for build- 
 ing in another, a large and extensive erection indeed before 
 them, but no beauty or harmonious proportion, and they say 
 at once, this is not the building that our plan points out. Our 
 temple is not yet begun. 
 
 Another looker-on comes, and gazing on a part that is ad- 
 vanced beyond the rest, and finding the floors laid, the win- 
 dows in, and the rooins almost ready, and looking only at this 
 part, he concludes at once the building is finished, the plan is 
 completed, what can you expect more? 
 
 Another looker-on, surveying the rising edifice, comes to a 
 part which he thinks he has satisfactorily made out, the very 
 rooms described in one part of the plan seem before him; the 
 very pillars, and length, and breadth of it, quite alike; but his 
 neighbour who comes next, shews him something which throws 
 considerable dou!)t upon this, and leads to a suspicion that the 
 room he was looking at in the plan, is quite in another part of 
 the building. 
 
 Another then comes, and says it is all too confused [222] 
 for any thing definite to be made out, — why do you perplex 
 yourself about it? An unbeliever gladly avails himself of this, 
 to persuade men to disregard alike the designs of the architect, 
 and tlie progress of the edifice, since their correspondence with 
 each other cannot be identified. 
 
 This figure may illustrate the present states of mind in which 
 many are regarding this book; yet must we "hear and read 
 the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are 
 written therein. Rev. i. 3. 
 
 The humble inquirer after truth, may, therefore, be perfectly 
 assured of the infinite wisdom and ability of the great archi- 
 tect, and that the plan which he laid down is the best that can 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 151 
 
 be devised for his end: lie maj' be assured also that the same 
 mind which devised the plan and "gave it to shew unto his 
 servant things which must shortly come to pass," (Rev. i. 1,) 
 is constantly at work, accomplishing all the parts of his own 
 design, and that it has really been going on through all the 
 years that have elapsed since the plan was first given. 
 
 To ascertain farther what parts of the building have been 
 erected, and what remains to be completed, will require much 
 careful investigation, and a very slow, and patient, and long- 
 continued search. It will not do to come at once to plausible 
 conclusions, and because of a likeness in a few things conclude 
 that there is a likeness in all. We must first endeavour to get 
 a clear idea of the plan itself; and the way in which the archi- 
 tect proposed to proceed. Wc must then get a knowledge of 
 the varied parts of the building, as far as it has already gone. 
 And here we may perhaps mistake temporary sheds [223] and 
 erections for more durable and solid parts. Our next step will 
 be a most careful comparison between the parts built and the 
 plan. 
 
 And then, remember, still our knowledge must vet be 
 very imperfect, for tlie building itself is incomplete. Dogma- 
 tism, despising of others, fancied superior discernment do not 
 become the looker-on. An architect would smile at the guesses 
 which some apparently wise lookers-on make respecting an 
 earthly building. Patient v:aitit\^ (2 Thess. iii, 5.) is then a 
 very important part of the wiser way: not careless, uncon- 
 cerned waiting: for there is a glor}^ about this temple that con- 
 cerns every human being; and to partake of its glories and 
 dwell in its courts for ever is the happy portion of those inte- 
 rested in it. What mark of wisdom is it to neglect it alto- 
 gether, when the Lord of all has promised his blessing to those 
 who duly attend to it? We shall find in so doing, many- 
 quickening motives to stir us up to gain a mectness for partak- 
 ing in the everlasting worship of the temple above. 
 
 It is therefore an important duty here to be an inquirer after 
 the truth, holding fast what is good, and patiently expecting 
 the completion; gaining help from some, in the way of guard- 
 ing against past mistakes, hints of parts already erected, and 
 of parts yet to be completed, and from others, (like Mede and 
 those who have availed themselves of his labours) in a general 
 explanation of the whole system. 
 
 And after all, let us remember the infinite wisdom, the al- 
 mighty power, the unsearchable riches, and inviolable fidelity 
 of him who is carrying on his work till it be completed, and 
 how little our wisdom is, and how certainly at length "he shall 
 
J52 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 bring forth the head-stone [224] thereof, with shoutings, cry- 
 ing, Grace, grace unto it." Zech. iv. 7. 
 
 The difficulties are indeed very needful, and very valuable 
 in this view, to restrain the pride of man's wisdom, and to lay 
 him in the dust. Man is compelled by irresistible evidence to 
 believe tiiat the plan is altogether divine and infinitely wise, 
 and yet he is unable so minutely to explain it, as to give an 
 unexceptionable view of the whole. This accords with all 
 other parts of God's glorious works, and must at least shew him 
 how ignorant and feeble his mind is, contrasted with the mind 
 that formed the plan. 
 
 And the varying interpretations are all necessary and valua- 
 ble, to bring out this truth distinctly and prominently. This 
 will also doubtless lead on ultimately to the full discovery of 
 the whole design. Those very interpretations which are the 
 farthest from the truth, may serve, not only to keep up present 
 attention to the prophecies, but also in the, result to make the 
 truth more bright and manifest, and to brin-g out parts of it 
 which would otherwise be unnoticed. This effect has indeed 
 already been in a measure accomplished, and thus no one who 
 has in a serious spirit turned his. attention to the subject, shall 
 have laboured wholly in vain. All such researches, even where 
 they have not led to a just view of the meaning, shall yet help 
 to shew the wisdom of the Architect, and the completeness of 
 his plan: and his servants will rejoice in his exaltation, though 
 they be brought low." John iii. 30. 
 
 Another valuable end of difficulties in interpretation may 
 be this; — the obscurities of prophecy keep it veiled both from 
 the wicked, and from the righteous. [225] It is to be hid 
 from the rcicked, (Dan. xii. 10,) for many reasons. Though 
 Jeremiah's divine inspiration was acknowledged, and his love 
 to his country unquestionable; yet how was he misrepresented 
 because of his plain predictions of the success of the Chaldeans! 
 Had the statements of St. John, respecting the overthrow of 
 the Roman empire, been plainer, the hatred of the Roman 
 emperors against Christians might have been needlessly height- 
 ened, and Christians needlessly harassed. As it was, they 
 attributed the decay of the empire to Christianity, and St. Au- 
 gustine had to write his vast work, "The City of God," to set 
 aside the false imputation. And as to the true servants of Christ, 
 had the period of I2G0 years of an afflicted state of the church 
 been literally mentioned, or generally known till the time was 
 nearly expired, it would have been impossible to fulfil the 
 plain direction of a waiting and watchful spirit for our Lord's 
 coming, when there was a certainty of such a lengthened pre- 
 vious tribulation. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. | 53 
 
 Do not, then, be staggered and shaken at dilTicultics, nor let 
 apparently weighty new views, entirely oversetting okler 
 schemes of interpretation, easily carry you away. Do not 
 throw the study up, and say that it is perfectly vain to attempt 
 to come to just conclusions; nor be easily turned aside from 
 long-established sentiments. 
 
 God has wonderfully providt'd for a deep and continued 
 interest being j)reserved in every part of prophecy, by giving 
 to it that largeness of aspect which comprehends the whole of 
 his dispensations, and will not be fully developed till they be 
 ended. This, which occasions one part of its obscurity and 
 the discussions upon it, does also serve to keep alive [226] 
 men's attention to it, till the very end; and manifests therein 
 the wisdom of the Father of Lights. 
 
 And the very discussions and differences are bringing into 
 day-light hitherto hidden parts of the glories of God's truth. 
 These things, with the progress of events, are all tending in 
 the result to let in the full flood of broad day-light on that 
 which has hitherto been little regarded, or view^ed perhaps as 
 obscure and unimportant. 
 
 It ma}- assist us rightly to view these differences, if we can 
 imagine the state of mind of God's servants in former days, 
 respecting unfulfilled prophecies. The Israelites in bondage, 
 in Egy])t, lost sight of the promises made to Abraham, so that 
 even when Moses was raised up, as their deliverer to accom- 
 plish them, "they hearkened not for anguish of spirit." Exod. 
 vi. 9. We may easily suppose how little they credited the 
 predictions given to Abraham, about his seed and the land of 
 Canaan. The Jews in Babylon seem also generally to have 
 disregarded the predictions of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, till 
 Daniel was led to consider them and to pray: and then the 
 Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, probably by means of 
 Daniel, to make proclamation in their favour, and raised the 
 spirit of their chief fathers id go back. Through how many 
 difficulties then had that partial return to struggle before they 
 were established, and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah had 
 to strengthen the hands of Zerubbabel and Joshua against those 
 who said, "the time is not come," (Haggai i. 2,) and to refer 
 them to the words oHhe former prophets, (Zech. vii. 7.) There 
 were differences of opinion, and yet the prediction was re- 
 alized. The prophets themselves had great searchings, <'what 
 manner of time the [227] Spirit of Christ, which was in therp, 
 did signify, (1 Pet. i. 11.) and we may suppose, though they 
 had general views that were correct, yet, where uninspired, 
 they could little distinguish the manner of fulfilment of many 
 of the predictions. 
 
 VOL. II. — 03 
 
J54 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 To come down still later. In the time of our Lord, the 
 chief priests and scribes knew where he would be born, (Matt, 
 ii. 5, G;) yet how little interest did the}^ take about his birth, 
 though their attention was so remarkably called to it. The 
 Saviour lived among them for thirty years, little regarded by 
 them. And, when he liad wrought his wonderful works, and 
 had suffered his appointed death; though the darkness and the 
 earthquake for a moment astounded, they still viewed him as 
 a Deceiver. We, may suppose the chief priests, and scribes, 
 and pharisees, and Gamaliel, and the lawyers consulting to- 
 gether, and saying, 'It is impossible the prophecies can be ful- 
 lilled: where is the glory predicted, and where is deliverance 
 from our enemies?' Or we may suppose, after his death, even 
 his Apostles conferring together; all the predictions of his re- 
 markable birth, and life, and death, had been exactly fulfilled; 
 tiiey had been witnesses of these things, and their minds 
 deeply engaged in them; and yet they then saw not their ful- 
 filment; but their mind is expressed, "we trusted that it had 
 been he which should have redeemed Israel; Luke xxiv. 21, 
 whatever different opinions and views there were among them 
 of what had passed, doubts were not dispelled, till the Lord 
 himself explained it to them. Luke xxiv. 44. 
 
 There may then be very great darkness on clearly fulfilled 
 prophecy when our minds are under prejudices, and there may 
 be differences among God's [228] children as to really fulfilled 
 prophecy, and this may even continue till the Saviour himself 
 come in his glory and dispel every doubt. Calvin distinguishes 
 between the design of Prophecy, and the minute interpreta- 
 tion, (see his notes on Zech. i. 7 — 11,) and shews that if we 
 are only desiring edification, it will be easy to collect the sum 
 of the whole prophecy. It is easy to collect, for instance, the 
 scope of the book of Revelation; — that it is given to discover 
 to us the coming again, in power and great glory, of the 
 Saviour, and till that coming, to shew to us a suffering and 
 aflHicted church; and after that coming a triumphant and blessed 
 church. How inexpressibly important have these general 
 truths been in all the ages of Christianity to the true servants 
 of Christ! 
 
 The recent publication of views tending to overthrow all 
 former interpretations, may be overruled for good, if it excite 
 the interest of many who would otherwise wholly disregard 
 the subject; and may lead to sifting to the utmost, all received 
 views, and to the ultimate establishment of truth in the minds 
 of tliose, who loving the truth, take diligent pains to search it 
 out. 
 
 It is the more to be hoped that this may be the effect, as the 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I55 
 
 ability of those who have given forth these views is sufficient 
 to enable them to delect every latent error; and their piety 
 such as it is to be hojied will jireserve thcni from willingly 
 fighting against the truth. All sincere inquiries into prophecy 
 are infinitely better than indifference. 
 
 Some instructive practical lessons may be drawn from these 
 things: — 
 
 1. The danger of disbelieving prophecy. This [229] 
 unbelief damped the hopes of the Israelites in Egypt, and 
 filled them with anguish of spirit; it made the Jews heartless 
 to return from Babylon, and slack in building the temple. The 
 Jewish rulers were, from disregard of prophecies, led to fill 
 up their sins; and the Apostles were filled with despondency 
 at their Master's leaving them, (John xvi. 6, 7,) though it was 
 needful for their best advantage, that he should go away. Let 
 us then, warned by so many varied examples, attend to this 
 sure lighl, and ascend to this safe watch-tower, and wait for 
 our Lord. 
 
 The grand danger to be feared in these varied inter- 
 pretations, is A STATE OF SLUMBER, as to the spccdy, personal, 
 and visible coming of Christ. Oh let us never forget, that not 
 merely the foolish virgins slumbered, but the wise virgin?; 
 also! The tendency of all these differences of Christians is to 
 deaden our faith in, and dull our hope of our Lord's coming, 
 and to cause our love to wax cold. Any thing that has these 
 direct effects upon our mind, cannot be the truth. 
 
 It is a just remark of Mr. Cuninghame's, that 'no mistakes 
 of honest inquiries into prophetic truth are so fatal as the error 
 of neglecting and despising the spirit of prophecy, which is 
 the testimony of Jesus. Rev. xix. 10.' 
 
 2. Again, varied interpretation ma)' lead us not too per- 
 tinaciously TO adhere to views which we have given to the 
 public, should subsequent investigation throw doubt upon 
 them. Whatever may be the correctness or incorrectness of 
 I\Ir. Faber's last views, the candour and ingenuousness, of 
 mind with which he has been willing to adopt fresh sentiments, 
 on a variety of points in which he thought [230] evidence 
 compelled him to do so, is very remarkai)le and exemplary. 
 In the same way, Mr. C'uninghame has acknowledged mistakes 
 that have been manifested to him. Such acknowledgments are 
 highly honourable to those who make them, and so far from 
 leading any to triumph in their mistakes, should rather give us 
 greater confidence that the writers are pursuing substantial 
 truth, and not a mere private system; and lead us to copy a 
 frankness truly Christian. 
 
 Q. It is also important to be free from dogmatism, even 
 
J56 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 when on the strongest grounds we think that we are right. It 
 is a large subject, full of serious difficulties, and spread over 
 vast fields of God's word and God's providence; he then must . 
 be greatly blessed indeed in considering it, who is wholly free 
 from mistake. When such men as Mede, Newton, Cressener, 
 &c. have in some things erred, (and who will say they have 
 not?) we ought surely not to be over-confident in our own in- 
 terpretation. 
 
 4. Again, varied interpretations should excite us to in- 
 creased and closer investigation; the prophecy shall be so 
 completed in the end of God's dispensation, that we may com- 
 pare it with its accomplishment, and fulfil the direction, and 
 attain the promise, "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and 
 read: no one of these shall fail; none shall want her mate." 
 Isaiah xxxiv. 16. So far from giving up the study because of 
 its difficulties, we should only search the scriptures more dili- 
 gently. It is not so surrounded with difficulties but that patient 
 investigation will clear away many, and open much invaluable 
 light. 
 
 5. The end of all shall be the full triumph op God's 
 OWN WORD, and of all who rest in it and obey [231] it. The 
 rvord of the Lord is tried — it is pure truth, it shall stand for ever; 
 things will clear up, difficulties vanish, and God's mind and 
 \v\\\ be fully developed and manifested. 
 
 A glory gilds the sacred page 
 
 Majestic a^ the sun; 
 It gives a light to every age; — 
 
 Ii gives, but borrows none. 
 
 G. Submission to God's will, however contrary to our 
 own, and deep reverence for his word, should be farther 
 results of all these discussions to those under the real teaching 
 of the Spirit. "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 
 and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, 
 and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind 
 of the Lord? Rom. xi. 33, 34. If his truth be established, his 
 name honoured, his word magnified, and his will accomplished, 
 the Christian's highest aims are gained. 
 
 7. In conclusion, I would remark, that the whole subject 
 may suggest to Prophetical Students an important caution, 
 not needlessly to multiply new interpretations; not without 
 full consideration and deliberation, to bring before the public 
 what may be a stumbling-block to the weak: and this equally 
 applies to authors and editors of periodical works. May we 
 all remember the almost closing words of the last book of pro- 
 phecy: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words 
 of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 157 
 
 things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in 
 this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of 
 the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of 
 the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
 which are written in this book." Rev. xxii. IS, 19. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ON JUDGMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE COMING OF CHRIST AND 
 THE STATE OF MIND IN WHICH THIS SHOULD BE VIEWED. 
 
 [232] It is the general opinion of those who have most dili- 
 gently studied the word of prophecy, founded on such pass- 
 ages as Dan. ii. 35; vii. 9, 11, 26, and the general burden of 
 prophecy, that those judgments which have, for the last forty 
 years, more or less, been pouring out upon the seats of the four 
 universal empires, will be continued and increased, till the 
 utter destruction of all Antichristian powers, and the full and 
 final establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom at his coming. 
 Respecting the nature and extent of these judgments, and 
 whether their full issue as it respects the seats of the Univer- 
 sal Empires, be not an overwhelming destruction like that of 
 the deluge, (only by fire) as well as respecting the nature of 
 the coming and Kingdom of Christ, and whether that coming 
 be personal and visible, or merely the infliction of these judg- 
 ments, and the establishment of his kingdom; there are great 
 differences of opinion; but assuredly there is enough of clear 
 prediction to [233] awaken the most careless mind, that does 
 indeed believe the Bible to be the word of the living God, 
 and enough of danger and excitement in the actual state of the 
 nations, and a distressing extent of wickedness and apostacy 
 actually existing, to give the Christian remarkable signs of'the 
 times, and call for a watchful and prayerful spirit." There 
 
 * It is strik'ing to observe the manifestation wliich the public press of our 
 country, witiiout an\' idea of illustrating prophetifal views, is ^ivin? of those 
 characters of the age which are delineated in the word of God. We have 
 continually brought before- us specimens of judgments on the countries, work- 
 ings of infidelity, and the decay of Mahomedanism in these last days. 
 
 It is fully admitted, that there is a considerable danger of over-estimating 
 passing transactions, but there is also a parallel danger of disregarding the 
 signs of the times. 
 
 The progress of an absolute denial of the knowledge of God m Socialism, 
 as it is lalselv called, has been painfully manifest in our own counnv, as well 
 G3* 
 
J 58 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 is an awful [234] reserve of threatened but unaccomplished 
 wrath, yet to be poured out on evil men. 
 
 The Judgments to come upon the earth, concern both the 
 church of God, and the world. As to the church, they must 
 be viewed, as far as concerns real Christians, as fatherly chas- 
 tisements, full of the seeds of future blessedness and glory, (1 
 Cor. xi. 31, 32.) It appears from various expressions of pro- 
 phecy, which we may justly suppose to refer to these times, 
 (Dan. xii. 10; Rev. xiv. 12, 13), that times greatly to exercise 
 the patience of Gbd's servants, and of sutlering to purify them, 
 are at hand. Our Lord, when announcing his second coming 
 in glory, has again and again said, (Matt. xvi. 25; Mark viii. 
 35; Luke ix. 24; xvii. 33,) U'lwsoe-cer inll save hu life, shall 
 
 as the general indifference to the Protestant truth, among large leading classes 
 in our country. 
 
 In the account given in the CLuarlerly Review for November, 1834, of "Pa- 
 roles du Croyant," a French work, recently published, we have the following 
 description of that work. 
 
 "An attempt to amalgamate revolution with religion, and to preach rebellion 
 and regicide in scriptural phraseology — has created a sensation on the conti- 
 nent, which appears one of the signs of the times." It is said that it has run 
 through 15 editions, been translated by the zeal of the Radical Propagandist, 
 into almost all the European languages,— has been answered by at least a 
 dozen pens,— denounced in Episcopal charges, and interdicted by the Pope. 
 It affects in its form and phrase to be a kind of serious parody of the prophetic 
 scriptures and more particularly the Apocalypse. It opens with a transcript 
 of some passages of Holy Writ,—" In the name of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost, Amen."— "He who has ears," &c.— "He who has eyes let him 
 see, for "the time cometh." In one part it brings in the seven men crowned, 
 drinking foaming blood out of a skull, and saying, "Maudit soit le Christ, 
 qui a ramene sur la terre la liberie." It is, in short, described as containing 
 40 chapters of impiety, sedition, jacobinism, and incomprehensible absurdity, 
 combined with religious expressions from the scriptures. What a commen- 
 tarv on 2 Timothy iii. 1—5! 
 
 The drying up of the river Euphrates (Rev. xvi. 12.) is equally illustrated 
 by the following statement from the Edinburgh Review of October, 1834, of 
 Conolly's Journey to North India: — 
 
 "A curious part of the volume before us is the vivid picture which they 
 casually exhibit of the internal disorganization— the demoralized state, and 
 want of social security, in every country of Asia in which the author travelled. 
 All other accounts tend to the same conclusion. It should seem that at this 
 moment the Mahomedan states, all over the world, are in a worse condition 
 than at any former period; and not only worse, but also more hopeless. They 
 not only have no prospect of any favourable internal change, but have given up 
 all expectation of it. They are suffering a visible and rapid decay. They 
 are ill governed and wretched within, and weak without. The star of the 
 Moslem is visibly on the descent. They are now arrived at a great crisis. 
 Turkev, so long the stronghold of the faith, and the terror of Europe, exhibits 
 every .symptom of imbecility. The states of Baibary, Egypt, Syria, Greece, 
 the country beyond the Danube, and large provinces on the Black Sea, have 
 been virtually, or really, wrested from her. The other Mahomedan stales are 
 in a similar condition. India, another Bulwark of the faith can no longer 
 yield it any support. Persia is a prey to divisions; and if it ever was as weak 
 belore, never was placed near so dangeious a foe." 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I59 
 
 lose it; and whosoever tl'HI lose his life for my sake, shall Jiud it. 
 In the words of the hue Mr. Cecil, "The churcli has enckired 
 a Papal and a Patran persecution; there remains for her an in- 
 fidel persecution, general, bitter, piirifyin'^, cementing." 
 
 It is a serious question on this subject, whether the wit- 
 nesses (Rev. xi.) HAVE VEi' iieen si.ai.v. [:235] Interpreters 
 have differed respecting what is meant by these two witnesses. 
 The most generally received opinion is, that they are the whole 
 body of faithful Christians composed of Jews and Gentiles. 
 St. John by designating them as the two olive trees, refers us 
 to Zech. iv. 8, where we have a fuller description of their 
 office. The definite number two seems to point out the testi- 
 mony of the prophets and apostles, ministering life, light, and 
 grace to that church of Christ, which is built on the foundation 
 of the apostles and prophets. The glorious company of the 
 apostles is considered as one witness, and the goodly fellow- 
 ship of the prophets as another, and both existing in the con- 
 tinued living testimony of faithful Christians.* 
 
 Some of the most able of modern commentators, as Cuning- 
 hame, Faber, and Frere, think that these witnesses have been 
 slain and raised; but they differ as to the events by which the 
 prediction was accomplished. Many different events have in- 
 deed been supposed to realize this prediction, and this neces- 
 sarily increases the doubt whether it be yet accomplished :t so 
 
 * Some have referred them to the Albigenses and Waldenses, others to the 
 Old and New Testaments, and others to individuals yet to arise. Seethe Ap- 
 pendix to -'Homes on the Millennium," recently published. 
 
 + It is singular to observe how some of the most serious trials that have be- 
 fallen faithful Christians have lasted about three years and a half. Brown in 
 his "Harmony of the Prophecies," noiices these thus: — 
 
 "After the council of Constance had laboured about three years and a half 
 to ruin them, the Bohemians, in 1418, took arms in their own defence, and 
 marvellously prevailed. After the Lutherans of Germany had lain about three 
 years and a half in a most ruined condition, Maurice of Saxony, who had 
 chiefly reduced them, took arms in their favour (1551), and procured them an 
 imperial establishment of their liberties. [To this period Mr. Cuninghame 
 applies the slaying of the witnesses.] After njost bloodv persecutions of about 
 three years and a half, the Protestants of Piedmont and Savoy have ofiener 
 than once been marvellously relieved. [Mr. Faber refers the death of the 
 witnesses to one of these from 11)80 to 1()89.] After the English Protestants 
 had been about three years and a half in a most miserable condition, they 
 were delivered by the death of Clueen Mary, 1558. After Louis XIV. of 
 France, and James of England, had for about three years concerted and la- 
 boured 10 extirpate the Protestants, they were relieved by the acce.ssion of 
 King William to the throne of Britain. It was but about "three years and a 
 half, when the massacre tif the Protestants in France, 157-2, and in Ireland, 
 llJll, were followed by remarkable deliverances to the oppressed. But as these 
 strokes and deliverances were but restricted and |iariicular, and as Satan is 
 not presently bound, nor the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of 
 Christ, we expect a far more dreadful slaughter of Christ's witnesses by 
 seduction and persecution." See his Harmony, p. 438, 439. 
 
 Mr. Fiere, and those who follow him. consider the two witnesses as being 
 
IQQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 that to others there does not appear to have occurred any event 
 in the history [236] of the church yet, on which the mind can 
 rest with unmingled confidence, as having realized this period. 
 This opinion was strengthened by the general statements of 
 Dr. Cressener in his 'Judgments of God upon the Roman 
 Catholic church,' though he applied it to the remarkable events 
 in his day. The author has however been satisfied that this 
 prophecy refers to the time before the Reformation. Robert 
 Fleming, in his Rise and Fall of the Papacy, applied it to this 
 time. Considerable perplexity has been occasioned by not 
 observing the marks of time given in the account of the wit- 
 nesses. The verses 4 — 10 are a parenthesis to explain who the 
 witnesses are, and their past history. In verse 2, the original 
 is £3-o6;i, has been give?!, (not, is given). The time of the vision 
 is that of the witnesses' resurrection. It comes under the sixth 
 trumpet in the same period as chapter x. — the time of the Re- 
 formation. In verses S, 9, the time of their unburied exposure 
 and the triumph of their enemies having been mentioned; in 
 verse 11, [237] the vision resumes with their resurrection, as 
 is marked by the change of tense. The sixth trumpet sets 
 forth the Turkish conquests by which the Christian name was 
 nationally extinguished in the third or Eastern empire. The 
 next great events were the revival of letters, and the Reforma- 
 tion, and its history gives us the key to the war against the 
 witnesses, their death, their exposure, and the rejoicings which 
 followed, and their resurrection and ascension. The beast 
 making war against them is the secular Latin empire; and the 
 conflict describes the witnesses constantly struggling by the 
 fire of God's word with the ungodliness of Christian nations, 
 till, at the season of the Turkish woe, the evil reached its 
 height, and the voice of truth was silenced; the witnesses were 
 then overcome and slain. The dead coi'pses, or the scriptures 
 alone, without living and powerful interpreters, remained, from 
 the council of Constance, when Huss and Jerome were sen- 
 tenced, to the council of the Lateran. Theij of the kindreds, 
 &c. points out a council of the Christian church. For many 
 particulars of the remarkable fulfilment of this, in the 5th 
 Lateran council, the reader must be referred to an able paper 
 in the Investigator, vol. iii. pp. 185 — 196, by my friend the 
 Rev. E. B. Elliott. The Bohemians, among whom alone the 
 truth survived, were summoned in January, 1513, at the 9th 
 
 the Old and New Testament. More liad also tliis idea, tliongh not exclu- 
 sively, (see ills works, p. 6(i2,) and it is supposed that they were slain during 
 the French Revolution. The author can neither enter irito this view of the 
 witnesses, nor of their death. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. IQl 
 
 session of the council, May 5, 1514, no witnesses to the truth 
 appeared — no whisper of living truth disturbed the triumph of 
 darkness. The pope's appointed orator applied to him then, 
 as if in its proj)er fultilment, — the prediction "all kings shall 
 worship him, all nations shall serve him," adding, "jam nemo 
 reclamat, nullus obsistit." Other parts of his address remark- 
 ably illustrate [238] the prophecy and confirm this interpreta- 
 tion. The Papal annalist Spondanus, gives us many details of 
 the congratulations and mutual presents at this very time, be- 
 tween the pontifls and the kings of the earth. 
 
 From May 5, 1514, three years and six months, or ISO days, 
 l)rings us to Oct. 31, 1517, the day on which Luther's well 
 known Theses against indulgences appeared, and the date of 
 the Reformation. Then the spirit of life truly began to enter 
 into the martyred testimony of the word of God, with a power 
 and energy long before unknown. Luther^s letters remark- 
 ably illustrate this view. But we cannot here enlarge. The 
 fact of the witnesses being a mystical body sufiicicntly accounts 
 for the death and resurrection of the two witnesses being spirit- 
 ual, while the souls beheaded for Jesus not being mystical but 
 real, the lirst resurrection, (Rev. xx.) is literal and real. If 
 parts of the Apocalypse are to have a concentrated literal re- 
 fulfilment, the resurrection here would also, in that fulfilment, 
 be literal. 
 
 The ascension of witnesses to heaven points out another 
 period of their course, connected however with the earthquake, 
 rather than with their resurrection. Our Lord's public minis- 
 try closed with his death, when there was an earthquake (^L1tt. 
 xxvii.54.); the public ministry of the witnesses continues after 
 their resurrection, till the close of the 1260 days of their pro- 
 jjhesying. and then is marked by the earthquake of the French 
 Revolution. The earthquake marks the close of the second 
 woe, and denotes that shock of popular revolution by which 
 the proudest of the ten kingdbms of the papal city fell as in a 
 moment, ail its institutions were shattered in the dust, and the 
 name of Christ nationally abjured. [239] This has more than 
 any preceding warning impressed the papal powers with the 
 conviction of coming judgment, and now from heaven the voice 
 of Providence, in the pouring out of the vials, has confirmed 
 the voice of the witnesses, which for 12G0 years had prophe- 
 sied in sackcloth. 
 
 Though the particular ti-ial of the church marked by the tri- 
 umph, in spirit at least, over the two witnesses, be past, the 
 GREAT TKiiiULATiON, both as it rcspects the Jews in its last 
 crisis (.fer. xxx. 7: Dan. xii. l;)and as it respects the Gentiles, 
 (R(jv. vii. 14) is yet to come; and we may expect that God's 
 
1G2 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 servants will be materially affected by it, however, those ready 
 for their Lord may then be delivered. The particulars of that 
 awful scene are described thus by our Lord: "there shall be 
 great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the 
 world to this time, — no, nor ever shall be. And except those 
 days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but 
 for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 
 xxiv. 21, 22. In the close and after that tribulation (verses 
 29, 30.) our Lord comes in the clouds, and the earth is con- 
 sumed in the general fire. How impressive, how elevating, 
 and yet how solemn, are the things to come, as set before us 
 in the word! There is the great tribulation, that we may be 
 prepared and ready for trials; and yet that tribulation is the 
 sure mark of our Lord's speedy coming, that we may be com- 
 forted and filled with joy even when the trials have arrived: 
 knowing how short the time is before his full return in glory, 
 and our full redemption. 
 
 The trials that come on the church, severe as they may be, 
 are short, and all for purification, honour, [240] and glory, to 
 separate the chafl' from the wheat, to prepare the saints for 
 their bliss, to manifest the reality and excellence of the grace 
 given them, and to be a blessing to all around them. Oh may 
 we only stand fast in the Lord, in the assurance of hope that 
 all his blessed promises to sufferers for his sake will be speedily 
 realized! 
 
 When the mother, of Zebedee's children, expecting the im- 
 mediate establishment of his kingdom, came with the request, 
 "Grant that these my two sons may sit one on thy right hand 
 and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom,'^ our Lord gave her 
 a question, as instructive to us as to her, "Are ye able to drink 
 of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the 
 baptism that I am baptized with?" Matt. xx. 20 — 23. If we 
 look for reigning, we must look for previous suffering, 2 Tim. 
 ii. 21. 
 
 The previous state of mind to which Christians may have 
 been brought, may most materially affect their standing in the 
 hour of trial. Hence our Lord was so anxiousl)^ careful to 
 prepare the mind of his Apostles for all the sufferings through 
 which they had to go, that they might not be stumbled when 
 called to sufler for his sake. John xvi. 1 — 4. Matt. xxiv. 9, 10. 
 
 But the judgments that come on the world, or the perse- 
 veringiy impenitent, are of a totally different character to the 
 trials of the church. They are fatal, final, and everlasting; 
 ending in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. The 
 third and final woe is that day of judgment which includes the 
 burning of the earth; and not indeed its annihilation, but its 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 163 
 
 purification and renewal. 2 Peter iii. Rev. xi. 14 — IS. Oh 
 that this might be so set belbre men as to lead many to re- 
 pentance! 
 
 [2UJ The general bearing of the prophetic word is that 
 judgments shall come on the nations of the earth before the 
 kingdom of Christ is established. However useful Religious 
 Societies have been or may be, and however clearly it may be, 
 as doubtless it is, our duty to support them, yet we are not to 
 expect through them more than a preparatory work. The 
 scriptures lead us not to anticipate a peaceful progress to a bliss- 
 ful reign of spiritual and universal blessedness. The image 
 representing the four universal kingdoms is to be broken to 
 pieces; and they lo become like the chaff of the summer -threshing 
 floor, (Dan. ii. 35.) and the xoind is to carry them azvaij, and no 
 place lo be found for them; or, as it is in the explanation of 
 prophecy, the kingdom of the God of heaven shall break in 
 pieces, and consume all these kingdoms. Dan. vii. 23. It becomes, 
 then, a most important duty for a spiritual watchman not to 
 deceive those for whom he watches, by speaking smooth things, 
 and prophesijin<r deceits, (Isaiah xxx. 10.) but honestly and plainly 
 to warn men of their danger. 
 
 Mr. Faber, who does not hold the personal pre-millennial 
 advent of Christ, has drawn the following striking statement 
 of the times in whicii we live. He says: — 
 
 "Even the most careless observer cannot refrain from notic- 
 ing and acknowledging the existence of a general fermenta- 
 tion, certainly throughout all Europe, perhaps, indeed, well 
 nigh throughout the whole world." After shewing the mani- 
 festations of this in a feverish spirit of change, contempt of 
 our more sober forefathers, and over-weening estimate of our 
 own wisdom, he goes on, "In former times the dawnings of 
 such a spirit were at least marked by [242] a strong sense of 
 religious obligation. But in its maturity this spirit seems por- 
 tentiously determined, so far'as unhallowed wishes can pre- 
 vail, to shut God out of his own world, to refuse all recogni- 
 tion of his sovereign interference, and gracelessly to ^coti' at 
 the very idea of a nationally and individually superintending 
 Providence. 
 
 "When the Spirit of innovating anarchy is thus distinguish- 
 ed by its close alliance with the blasphemous spirit of infi- 
 delity; and when, by his ominous junction with such associates, 
 the Roman Man of Sin once more vindicates to himself the 
 accurate prophetic description of the lawless one, we can- 
 not bui suspect that matters are in a state of preparation for 
 that final tremendous overthrow of God's enemies which is the 
 theme of so many inspired prophecies. The very politician 
 
1(54 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 of this world, purely in the way of cause and effect, anticipates 
 a wide wasting war of principles, and a series of political con- 
 vulsions upon a scale of appalling magnitude; and with his 
 anticipations, the devout student of prophecy, deriving his ex- 
 pectations from a higher and surer source, fully and unreserv- 
 edly concurs," 
 
 After showing, that the period of 1200 years must nearly 
 have expired, and that the Ottoman Empire in the East, that 
 "almost universally acknowledged subject of the sixth vial," 
 is apparently hastening to its dissolution, he goes on to ob- 
 serve, "When that important event shall have occurred, the 
 warning bell will have sounded, which marks the lapse of a 
 peculiarly well-defined and prophetic period, and he that runs 
 may read the remainder, as inscribed with a sunbeam." He 
 here quotes Rev. xvi. 17 — 20, and refers to Rev, xviii. and 
 xix. 11 — 21, [243] continuing, "Well, then, may we, both in 
 principle and practice, attend to that awful admonition of the 
 Saviour, which he delivered with a special reference to the 
 final overthrow of the long incorrigible, and at length politi- 
 cally united Antichristian faction, ''Behold I come as a thief. 
 Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments: lest 
 they walk naked and see his shame," Rev, xvi, 15,* 
 
 The statements of Mr, Scott respecting the judgments to fall 
 on papal countries, in his notes on Rev, xvi, 14 — 20, are strik- 
 ing. He says, "It is remarkable that 1600 furlongs or 200 
 miles is exactly the ,length of the Papal dominions in Italy, [it 
 is also the length of Palestine] and probably these will be de- 
 luged with blood in a most awful manner, which is represented 
 by language tremendously hyperbolical." 
 
 After then speaking of some who had misapplied these to 
 the French Revolution, he adds, "I cannot but think that a 
 more general and almost universal display of divine vengeance 
 on all the kingdoms of the beast, those perhaps excepted, but 
 those only who have fully and decidedly cast off his dominion, 
 is intended by the harvest, [it will be seen that the author 
 views the harvest in another light;] as well as still more tre- 
 mendous scenes by the vintage."! 
 
 It seems, at first sight, very improbable, that at the time 
 when there is an extended revival of religion, and a vast in- 
 crease of faithful ministers, and growth of all kinds of exer- 
 tion to spread the gospel, and to do good; such things should 
 be the prelude [244] and preparation for judgments and wrath 
 upon the nations. But the growth of wickedness with this 
 
 * See Faber's Recapitulated Apostacy. 
 
 t There are many very impressive remarks in Tliorpe's 'Destinies of the 
 British Empire," of the judgments tu come on the papal kingdoms. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 1(55 
 
 growth of good;* and the plain predictions of God's word 
 (Rev. xiv. G, 7; Isaiah xi. 4, 9.) and the past history of Noah's 
 preaching hefore the Deluge, and the prophets raised up before 
 the first destruction of Jerusalem, and the apostles going forth 
 from Jerusalem, before its second destruction, may lead us to sec 
 that this is the thing which God has foretold, and the past his- 
 tory of the church has illustrated. So far from checking mis- 
 sionary' exertion, this state of things, while it may well abate 
 all seli-confidence and glorying, should greatly increase and 
 enlarge our efforts, in the uncertainty of worldly things, in the 
 duty of snatching sinners from the wrath to come; in the 
 l)lessedncss of, like Noah, and the prophets, and the apostles, 
 confessing Christ boldly [245] amidst a world that denies him. 
 and in the hope that the seed now scattering may be of unut- 
 terable value as to the harvest yet to be gathered in the day of 
 tribulation. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that the number of faithful ministers 
 has very greatly increased in this country, to the author's per- 
 sonal knowledge, within the last quarter of a century; but do 
 not let us lull ourselves into a false security from this blessed 
 fact, but rather, looking also at the growing wickedness of 
 those who reject the truth, remember what is recorded not 
 many years before the destruction of Jerusalem; ''a great com- 
 pany of the priests were obedient to the faith," Acts vi. 7; 
 and but ten years before, it is said, ''Thou seest, brother, how 
 many thousands, fx-judo-^ (tens of thousands) of Jews there are 
 which believe." Acts xxi. 20. 
 
 What is it that brings down these judgments upon our world ! 
 Judgment is God's strange work. lie has no delight in it. 
 
 * Very affecting- are the statements of m}' friend, the Hon. and Rev. B. Noel, 
 in his sermon, preached Ma3'29, 1836, respecting the present state of London. 
 He states, "Where else is there such a close and dense confederation of per- 
 *sons who live without Godl Where else is there such civilization and know- 
 ledge combined with such reckless ^ensualityl Probably on the face of the 
 earth there is not a city where there are greater numbers who have thrown 
 aside the very forms of religion." In another place he says, "They have 
 more guilt than the heathen, iiecause they liave greater means of knowledge." 
 "While the number of religious persons in this city have been increasing, 
 never was there, I think, so large a mass of utterly unregarded heathenism in 
 it as at this moment." This is the state of the most favoured metropolis of 
 Christendom, the chief seat of all the religious societies that have been formed 
 for evangelizing the world! Surely while there is a strong appeal for support- 
 ing the truly beneficent plans of the Bishop of London, there is an awakening 
 warning seconding the admonition of prophecy to us Gentile Christians. // 
 God spared not the natural branches, lake heed lest, he also spare not thcc. The 
 result of inquiry into many a favoured country village would, it is feared, if 
 considered in proportion to its opportunities, display a similarly neglected gos- 
 pel and extentled growth, in evil, a,s well as in good. The author has, in his 
 sermon on the real dangers of the City of London, shewn that tlicre are 700,- 
 000 persons able to attend, yet wholly neglecting public worship, in this me- 
 tropolis of Christendom. 
 VOL. II. — 64 
 
IQQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 It is the persevering, open sinfulness of man, and the misery 
 that sin and rebellion against God, produces over our world. 
 What sins, then, bring these judgments? There are various 
 classes of sinners. There are the citize?is who hate our Lord 
 and send an open message after him, sayi?ig, "fFe icill not have 
 this ma?i to reign oxer us," who shall be brought and slain be- 
 fore him. There are those who make light of Christ, and go 
 to iheiryarms arid merchandise, who shall never taste his bliss. 
 There is the idle servant, who hides the talent; and the unmeet 
 guest who has not on the wedding-garment. 
 
 A more particular statement of the sins set forth in the scrip- 
 tures as marking the last days, may be profitable to assist in 
 self-examination. 
 
 [24G] The sins of ministers of the gospel are specially dwelt 
 upon, as among the latter day signs. 2 Peter 11. 1 — 3; Jude; 
 Ezeklel xxxiv. 2, 3; Jer. xxiii. 1 — 3; Mai. iii. 2, 3. The de- 
 claration of Luther as to the decay of Reformation which he 
 anticipated is remarkable. He says, "This doctrine which I 
 do often report, and not without tediousness do still beat into 
 your heads, and define unto you, will be darkened and defaced 
 again when we are dead, for the world must be replenished 
 with horrible darkness and errors, before the latter day comes." 
 The sins of rulers in disowning and neglecting him by whom 
 kinqs reign and princes decree justice; and by whom princes rule 
 and nobles, even all the judges of the earth; with the pride and 
 haughtiness, luxuries and prodigality of men in general, point 
 out the last days. Isaiah 11.; Jer. xxii. ; Hab. ii. 
 
 The predominating character of these days is thus graphi- 
 cally set before us, with the charge, "This know also that in the 
 last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of 
 their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, diso- 
 bedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affec- 
 tion, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers 
 of thosje that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of 
 pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness 
 but denying the power thereof." Covetousness and worldll- 
 ness mark the same times. Matt. xxlv. ; Luke xvii. "Surfeit- 
 ing, and drunkenness, and cares of this life," (Luke xxi, 34; 
 Rom. xiii. 13,) are also sins of these da3's. Sabbath-breaking 
 (Ezek. XX. 13; xxii. S; xxiii. 38.) brought down God's judg- 
 ment on Jerusalem of old, and so it will on many nominal 
 Christians now. "Scoffers at the coming of Christ," [247] (2 
 Peter ii.) and men not knowing God, and not obeying his gos- 
 pel (2 Tliess. I.) arc to abound in the last days. Knowledge in- 
 creasing (Dan. xll.4.) and love decreasing, (Matthew xxiv. 12.) 
 mark the same period. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 107 
 
 Infidelity, in varied forms, either of avowed Deism, or 
 more hidden, but perhaps more dangerous ones of Neologian- 
 ism and systems of expediency, is anotiier sin of this last day. 
 Psalm xiv. 43; Jude 15; 2 Peter iii. 2. The sins oHiii^h- 
 viindcihicss and unbelief are marked by St. Paul as the special 
 reasons of the Gentiles not being spared. Rom. xi. IS — 21.* 
 
 Before the coming of Christ, St. John testifies "I saw three 
 unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth [248] of the 
 dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth 
 of the false prophet. 
 
 Other marks of ripeness for judgment are set before us by 
 St. Peter and St. Jude, in connection with the coming of our 
 Lord. "Chiefly them that walk in the lust of unclcanness, 
 and despise government; presumptuous are they, self-willed, 
 they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." 2 Peter ii. 10. 
 *'Thesc filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and 
 speak evil of dignities." Jude S.t 
 
 The issue of this wickedness, increasing against increasing 
 light, seems to be the full-grown, open, and avowed Ma?i of 
 Sin, in his last and worst form. Driven out of all his other 
 refuges of lies, Satan now will manifest himself in declared in- 
 
 * We see in the prophecies of Malachi how it is the character of a fallen 
 church to repel every charge which God brings against it, and justify itself in 
 every thing, and lay all the blame on God. God had many charges against 
 the Jews. He begins them by stating, /Actre /ct-tfi j/ojf,- for that is the real 
 ground of all our condemnation. They question this, W herein hast thoti loved 
 lis? God clearly proves his love to them, and tells them they (Icspisc his nnvic? 
 Agaia they question it, Wherein have v:c despised thy name? If they admitted 
 this it would condemn them. He says ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, 
 again they deny it, and God proves his charges. Then they find all his service 
 bondage. Behold what a v-carincss is it! God denounces his threatening and 
 shews again their sins and tells them, he rcgardeth not the offering any more, 
 7ior reccivcth it v:ith good will at your hands. Again they justify themselves 
 and ask Wherefore? he says, ye have v-earied the Lord with your words. Still 
 they go on upon the same plan of self-justificalion. Wherein have vjc u-earied 
 him/ He shews them this sin also, and invites them to return unto me and I 
 will return unto you. They again rep^'in the spirit of self-justification, 7/;Aem?i 
 shall v:c return? He charges them ye have robbed mc, They deny tliis also, 
 v:hercin have werobbed thee? and the sin is again proved upon them. Another 
 charge is made, Your words have been stout against mc, and they repel it still. 
 What have we spolcen so much against Ihcc? And this sin is established against 
 them. What a picture does Malachi thus give of nominal religion in fallen 
 churches! And though the Lord says he hateth pulling awaii, yet the result of 
 such a contest necessarily is the punishment of evil doers; while they that fear 
 the Lord are spared, all the proud and all that do wickedly are burned up. Mai. 
 iv. 1. 
 
 t The practical working of Trades Unions and the bitter spirit fostered by 
 them against the masters is shewn in a remarkable article in Blackwood's 
 Magazine for March, 1838. It is curious that an addition was made in 182-2, 
 in the word and oath Armageddon, from Rev. xvi. IG., more vicious in its na- 
 ture than a former oath with the word Ashdod, from Isa. xx. 1. The mixture 
 of religion and lawlessness in these oaths may be seen in the speech of these 
 loaders. See p. 281, 285, of that M-ork. The progress of the Chartists since 
 has been very great. 
 
IQQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 fidelity and blasphemy, in more express and open wickedness 
 than ever he has done hitherto. Dan. xi. 36. 2 Thess. ii. 6. 
 
 These are the things which prepare the way for the great 
 tribulation, and those judgments which the scriptures set be- 
 fore us in connection with the coming of our Lord. Open and 
 avowed infidelity and rebellion must be put down by manifest 
 judgments. His day is a day of vengeance as well as of re- 
 demption; but it does not appear to the author to be a day of 
 universal destruction, even of the wicked, without giving them 
 space for repentance and calling upon the Lord. Those prepared 
 for it are eminently blessed ; [249] and many of the inhabitants 
 of the world also shall in that day, when ''God's judgments are 
 in the earth, learn righteousness;" (Is. xxvi. 9.) but, though 
 God has given many warnings, others, like Pharaoh and his 
 host, will only be more hardened and rebel the more, till they 
 bring upon themselves swift destruction. It is indeed an awful 
 day. There seem first to be fearful temporal judgments, the 
 great tribulation, (Dan. xii. 1. Matt. xxiv. 21. Rev. vii. 14; 
 xvi. 18.) before the descent of the Son of Man, and his final 
 punishing his enemies, and sitting on the throne of his glory to 
 judge all nations. Matt. xxv. 31. And thus the great God 
 will at length openly vindicate himself before men, and all 
 shall know that he is the Lord. 
 
 The world seems now ripening, by its sins, for that fearful 
 vintage uf divine vvralh, which is the subject of so many pre- 
 dictions of the word of God. Isaiah Ixiii. 3. Joel iii. 13. Rev. 
 xiv. 19, 20; xix. 15. The sun of prosperity which should 
 melt the hard heart, and convert it to God, prepares sinners 
 for destruction. Proverbs i. 32. Instead oi the goodness of God 
 leading them to repentance, tliey treasure vp zorath against the day 
 of math. Oh that these solemn truths might yet reach the 
 consciences of men, and awaken repentance in many thus sin- 
 ning against the JNIost High!* 
 
 * In considering the causes of judcrment in the last days, we must bear 
 in mind the awful scripture doctrine of men's fi/iing up the measure of the 
 aimnf their fathers, and the accumulated amount of guilt thus contracted. 
 Wrongs done to the Jews from age to age; oppressive slavery in colo- 
 nies; the cruelties inflicted by all European nations in their foreign settle- 
 ments: by Spaniards on the natives of America, by Portuguese, Dutch, 
 French, and English, in their respective colonies; the millions of innocent 
 men, women, and children we have made to perish in the course of the Af- 
 rican slave trade; unjust wars between professedly Christian nations; the 
 wrong done to God's truths by the usurpation of Popery, and by all who 
 have partaken of its spirit; the licentiousness, cruelty, and oppression of 
 Mahomedan nations; the dishonour put upon God our Saviour, and the 
 injustice done to men, by using liis name and his authority to sanction prac- 
 tices wholly contrary to his word and his love; the way in which the United 
 States of America have made encroachments on the Indians, more destruc- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 1(39 
 
 [250] From various passa<!;cs of God's word it would appear 
 that these judgments will fall with special weight upon those 
 who have been unfaithful to that high trust wliich God com- 
 mits to men, when he places them as liis own representatives 
 in the oflices of rulers, magistrates, and ministers. See Ezekiel 
 xxxiii. ; xxxiv. Jer. xxiii. 1 — 3. Malachi ii. 1 — 9. Isaiah iii. 
 11 — 17. Rev. xix. IS. INIay this awakening consideration 
 have its right influence upon our minds. 
 
 It is a dangerous delusion for the church to he anticipating 
 peaceful triumphs, prosperous days of enlarging dominion, and 
 uninterrupted successes, when wc may be on the verge of in- 
 creasing trial and conflict, sorrow and suflering. It is much 
 more safe to be counting the cost and preparing for the cross, 
 and looking to the crown, in the way of patient faithfulness 
 unto death, rather than in the way of an unmingled glow of 
 success. It is true that it is our richest privilege to fulfil the 
 work which God now [251] assigns to his church, (Rev. xvi. 
 G — 13.) and that any special success is a gracious reward lor 
 our efforts; but there is considerable danger, (and the author 
 speaks experimentally, having himself often fallen into this 
 snare) of looking only at the bright result, and disregarding 
 the intervening great tribulation, (Dan. xii. 1.) and the hour of 
 juds:mcnt. Rev. xiv. 7. 
 
 It appears from the prediction of our Lord and his Apostles, 
 that a remarkable mixture of disquietude and peace, agitation 
 and underground movements, yet with freedom from external 
 warfare, and full engagement in works of outward tranquillit}^, 
 shall mark tlie time preceding the day of the Lord. (Compare 
 Lukexvii. 26— 31; xxi. 25, 27. Matt. xxiv. 30— 39; 1 Thess. 
 V. 2, 3.) "Were it not," says Mr. Cuninghame, ''that we see 
 both sides of the prophetic picture exhibited in the events of 
 the very time in which we live, it would be difllcult to con- 
 ceive the possibility of reconcjling things apparently so oppo- 
 
 live (said an American secretary of war) to the Indian natives, than the 
 conduct of the coiujuerors of Mexico or Peru; and the retaininjr in hard 
 bondage so larfje a population as American Clirislians now do! Who can 
 survey these thinors, or look at the past history of the world, witliout seeing 
 that the nations of the earth are lyinfr under fearful arrears of guilt, for 
 wliich there has been yet no adequate repentance on the one hand, nor that 
 open and full retrihutory justice whicli sucli conduct merits from the .Judge 
 of all the earth. Penitence, weeping, and humiliation, rather than boast- 
 ing, high-mindedness, and glorying in ourselves, becomes every European 
 nation at this moment; and to this should be joined a lirefi/n'mj; ojf of our ains 
 Ity ri_^hteousruss, and our iniquiliea hij sheicing mircy to the pour, t/iat it jiiaij 
 be a Icnjxlhcniu'j; of our trarujuil/i/y. God's children are engaged in this 
 work in seeking to send his trutli through the earth, and to put away evil 
 from us. 
 
 64* 
 
2^70 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 site as a state of terror, dismay, and agitation, on the one hand: 
 and on tlie other, one of peace and anticipations of peace, and 
 of worldliness. But no attentive observer of the signs of these 
 times will deny that we see before our eyes both these states 
 of mind." 
 
 These things manifestly increase, and lead us to think that 
 this awfully important event is at hand. 
 
 What, then, is the right state of mind in which God's 
 purposes, as revealed in his word, of events yet to take place, 
 should be viewed? 
 
 Let us not view them in unbelief, because Christians differ 
 in the interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy; or because it is 
 perfectly clear that "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
 earth as the waters cover [253] the sea;" let us not lose sight of 
 the prediction that he shall previously ''smite the earth with the 
 rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay 
 the wicked." Isaiah xi. 4, 9. The two are inseparably con- 
 nected. "Behold! your God will come with vengeance, even 
 God with a recompense: he will come and save you." Isaiali 
 XXXV. 4. 
 
 Nor let us view the divine purposes, as regulating our politi- 
 cal conduct, so as to set aside any clear duty. The path of pre- 
 cept is the path of duty, and the precepts are plain as the noon- 
 day. "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers." Rom, 
 xiii. 1—4. See also Titus iil 1, 2. 1 Peter ii. 13—17. "My 
 son, fear thou the 'Lord and the king, and meddle not with 
 them that are given to change." Proverbs xxiv. 21. If the 
 Jews were directed in a foreign land, and when among ene- 
 mies, "Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to 
 be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it," (Jere- 
 miah xxix. 7.) much more should we seek the peace and vvel- 
 fare of our own beloved country in every practical way. That 
 advice of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, shews the true secret of 
 national peace: "Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine 
 iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, if it may be a length- 
 ening of thy tranquillity." Dan. iv. 27. It is the more neces- 
 sary now to insist on this spirit, as some of the peculiar fea- 
 tures of the last days are, that men are "false accusers, incon- 
 tinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady 
 and high-minded." 2 Tim. iii. 3, 4. "They walk in the flesh, 
 after the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, pre- 
 sumptuous are they and self-willed, and are not afraid to speak 
 evil of dignities. 2 Pet. ii. 16, Oh, may all professing Chris- 
 tians of every denomiation be guarded i)y [253] these divine 
 admonitions from the special temptations of these times! 
 Equally may we be guarded from a snare into which men fell 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 171 
 
 in former ages; as if private Christians had a political part to 
 take in accomplishing God's vengeance, and pulling down 
 what they may conceive opposed to his kingdom.* Whatever 
 may he the office of his saints in judging the world at the second 
 coming of Christ, (1 Cor. vi.2: Psalm cxlix.) our present duty 
 is confessing Christ, prayer, and holy influence over others, 
 till he do appear personally, and raise us to his glory; our pre- 
 sent privilege is mainly that of witnesses to the truth, and suf- 
 ferers for it; our office is now to ''shine as liglits holding forth 
 the word of life," (Phil. ii. 15,) ''by manifestation of the truth 
 commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight 
 of God." 2 Cor. iv. 2. 
 
 Again, let us not view the divine purposes in careless ix- 
 DiFFEKENCE, as if we had no concern in them; we have the 
 deepest personal interest in them; nor yet in fancied supe- 
 RiouiTV, as if we, by our clear discernment, could discover 
 what was hid from others; nor yet in a dogmatising spirit, 
 as if, having had an inspired guidance to discern, we had ihen 
 a divine commission to denounce God's judgments on the 
 world, in our own view of those judgments; nor, once more, 
 in HOPELESS DESPONDENCY, as if nothing but scenes of misery 
 were before us. 
 
 [254] God's purposes should also not be kept back and con- 
 cealed from our fellow-men, who, immersed in the business and 
 cares of this world, give far too little time to the study of God's 
 word. It is our clear duty to confess the truth, and the minis- 
 ters of God are more especially watchmen on the watch-tower, 
 and bound to discern the signs of the times, and to give notice 
 to their people of God's purposes, as revealed in his word, and 
 developing in his providence. This is the more important, as 
 these ti'Uths are very valuable in giving power to the ministry 
 of the word, and making itelTective to the conversion and sal- 
 vation of men, and to the edification of,_thc church. No- 
 thing is more calculated to Srouse men from the slumber of 
 indifference, nothing more adapted to alarm the infidel in 
 his desperate career, nothing more suitable to enable the ser- 
 vant of Christ to bear up against the scoff and banter of evil 
 men, than a firm conviction of the great truths revealed in the 
 prophetic word. The doctrine of the second coming of Christ, 
 
 * It miglit seem almost needless to give such a caution, l)ut when we read 
 llie attempts of the fifth monarchy men, the Dedicatory Epistle of even Du 
 Plpssis to our Kiiifr James, and liie defence of it hy liivetus; or when we 
 loolc at the times of the great rehellion, and even at the spirit which seems 
 to animate some who profess religion in the present day, who can think this 
 caution unreasonable^ There is an awful mixture of profession of religious 
 principles, among the Chartists in our country, with the very spirit of the 
 la^t lawlessness. 
 
272 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 is indeed exposed to the peculiar scorn of men, as it was spe- 
 cially foretold that it would be. 2 Pet. ill. 3; Jude IS. And 
 yet this doctrine is, I am persuaded, of immense value in meet- 
 ing all the difficulties through which the church has to pass in 
 these last days, and enabling her to bear the trials to which 
 she may be exposed. 
 
 The Jewish nation, we are expressly told, though the word 
 of God was read every sabbath day in the synagogues (Acts 
 XV. 21,) through ignorance of that word, crucified the Lord 
 of glory. Acts iii. 17, IS. St. Paul says, "They that dwell at 
 Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor 
 yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, 
 [255] they have fulfilled them in condemning him." Acts xiii. 
 27. Oh may we then be warned not to be ignorant of the voices 
 of the prophets; lest we make an irremediable mistake about his 
 second coming, thinking it at a distance, instead of preparing 
 for its approach. 
 
 It is remarkable, that the very command to attend to the 
 subject of prophecy, is accompanied with the forewarning that 
 it would be scoffed at, as if to arm the Christian who studies 
 this important part of divine truth, against the peculiar snare 
 to whicii he would be exposed. Just before the apostle gives 
 his awful account of the day of the Lord, he says, <'I stir up 
 your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be 
 minJful of the words which were spoken before by the holy 
 prophets, and of the; commandments of us the apostles of the 
 Lord and Saviour: knowing this first, that there shall come in 
 the last day scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, 
 Where is the promise of his coming?" 2 Peter iii. 1 — 4, 
 
 But let us consider more particularly the stale of mind de- 
 sirable for us with reference to ourselves and to others. 
 
 Notice first, the state of mind with reference to our- 
 selves. The sanctifying power of these trutlis is an impor- 
 tant part of their value; and on this the scriptures dwell much. 
 The general improvement is given in these words, by St. Pe- 
 ter: "What manner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy con- 
 versation and godliness? Seeing that ye look for such things, 
 be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot 
 and blameless: and account that the long suffering of our Lord 
 is salvation," 2 Peter iii. Our Saviour gives also most solemn 
 instruction. "Take heed to yourselves, lest [25G] at any time 
 your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, 
 and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares; 
 for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face 
 of the whole earth. Watch, ye, therefore, and pray always, 
 that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 173 
 
 shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of INIan." Luke 
 xxi. 34— 3G. 
 
 But this subject will be farther noticed in the concluding re- 
 flections. 
 
 The right state of mind, and the way in which we should 
 speak of these things respecting others, is also of consider- 
 able importance. It is beautifully set before us in two strik- 
 ing examples, both previous to judgments upon corrupt and 
 fallen churches. 
 
 The first example is that of Jeremiah. Search through his 
 prophecies and his book of Lamentations, and observe his faith- 
 fulness, his tenderness, his sympathy, his diligent attention to 
 his office, and his spirit of prayer and zeal for the good of his 
 country, and his triumphant faith in a happy ultimate issue. 
 You cannot read his prophecies without seeing his faithful- 
 ness, in distinctly announcing the divine judgments, amidst 
 tlie op])Osilion of his own kindred and neighbours. (Jer. xi. 
 21.) according to the commission given him, (Jer. i. 17 — 19.) 
 
 How expressive his feelings of tenderness! "Oh, that my 
 head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I 
 might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of 
 my ])cople!" Jer. ix. 1. "Let mine eyes run down with tears 
 night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter 
 of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very griev- 
 ous blow." Jer. xiv. 17. 
 
 How strong are his expressions of sympathy! "My [257] 
 bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart 
 maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou 
 hast heard, my soul, the sound of trumpet, the alarm of war. 
 Destruction upon destruction is cried." Jer. iv. 19. How 
 earnest are his expostulations with those who refused to re- 
 })cnt and turn to God! "Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud, 
 for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, 
 before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon 
 the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, he turn it into 
 the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye 
 will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your 
 pride, and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with 
 tears." Jer. xiii. 15 — 17. His diligent attention to his 
 office, and desire to turn ofl", if possible, the impending ruin 
 in the midst of all his expectations of judgment, is very strik- 
 ing. "As for me, I liave not hastened from being a pastor to 
 follow thee; neither have I desired the woeful day, tliou know- 
 est." Jer. xvii. 16. (See also chapters xxxviii. xlii. Ike.) His 
 SPIRIT OF prayer for his country is quite atVccting. "0 Lord, 
 though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy 
 
174 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 name's sake .... Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as 
 a mighty man that cannot save. We are called by thy name, 
 leave us not." Jer. xiv. 7, 9. Equally marked was his zeal 
 roR HIS country's good. Always ready to help them, he 
 preferred to abide with the remnant in their sufferings, to aa 
 honourable station in Babylon (Jer. xL); and sought the best 
 good of that remnant amidst all their ill usage and ingratitude. 
 Oh how certainly will a true knowledge of God's purposes, 
 produce in a mind under the teachings of his grace, a patriotic 
 as well as a holy course of conduct! To pray and labour to 
 [25S] the very last for the good of all around us, is the spirit 
 of the true servant of God. 
 
 Then, observe his joyful anticipation of future times of tri- 
 umph, as set before us in chapters xxx. to xxxiii. in the midst 
 of which we have that rich expression of God's purposes of 
 love: "I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished 
 every sorrowful soul;" with its effect on the mind of Jeremiah: 
 "upon this I awaked, and beheld, and my sleep was sweet unto 
 me." Jer, xxxi. 25, 26. 
 
 Now this is the spirit which I pray God largely to give to 
 all, who from his scriptures anticipate future judgments before 
 the day of millennial glory. Oh how contrary to this is that 
 spirit of bitterness which is exhibited, on the one hand, in re- 
 ceiving the statement of faults of our dissenting brethren, with 
 feelings of amusement and pleasure; or, on the other hand, in 
 delighting to expose the opposite faults of ministers in our 
 establishment; or in speaking bitter things against millenari- 
 ans, as enthusiastic and wild, or anti-millenarians, as infidel 
 and apostate! The faults of others are the true Christian's 
 grief and burden. We must "not rejoice in iniquity, but in 
 the truth," 1 Cor. xiii, 6; and God eminently distinguishes 
 those, not who bring railing accusations against others, nor who 
 are interested and amused by the detail of the faults of those 
 who differ from them, but who "sigh and cry for all the abomi- 
 nations that are done in the midst of our land," Ezek. ix. 4. 
 
 It must, however, be admitted, that there was a sad mixture 
 of human infirmity even in Jeremiah himself. Heavily tried, 
 opposed, and persecuted, human corruption breaks forth, (see 
 Jer. XV. 10; xx. 14 — IS,) in irritable, angry, and impatient ex- 
 pressions. [259] It is true that the ingenuousness with which 
 he lays open his own feelings is exemplary, and the very bad- 
 ness of those feelings is profitable and humbling. Let not any 
 despise God's truth because of the infirmities of his servants 
 announcing that truth. Let not any despair of themselves be- 
 cause of inward corruptions. Let us all give the glory to God 
 for the graces which he gave to Jeremiah; and let us learn Ics- 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I75 
 
 sons of humilit}' and human corruption, in the outbreakings of 
 nature amidst his excellencies. 
 
 There is another example in the scripture full also of holy 
 instruction. It is not that of the apostle Paul as set before us 
 in Rom. ix., x., xi., or in the Epistle to the Hebrews; nor the 
 plain practical faithfulness of the apostle James as set before us 
 in his Epistle; but it is one without fault; that of our divine 
 Lord himself. What a spirit was his! What peculiar and un- 
 equalled faithfulness in reproving sin! JNIatt. xxiii. What ten- 
 derness in his feelings towards the sinner! "When he was come 
 near, he beheld the city and wept over it." Luke xix, 41 — 44. 
 Again and again in the spirit of ardent love to his people, he 
 would have gathered the children of Jerusalem together under 
 his zt:i7igs, but theij zcould not. Matt, xxiii. 37. When the wo- 
 men bewailed and lamented him on his way to crucifixion, his 
 sympathizing heart turned at once from his own sufierings to 
 the sorrows coming upon them; (Luke xxiii. 2S,) and his prayer 
 when nailed to the tree, was for his murderers: Father, forgive 
 them, for they knoio not ivhut thci/ do. Luke xxiii. 34. In short 
 lie made himself one entire offering and sacrifice for the sins of 
 others, that he might procure for tiiose who rejected and cruci- 
 fied him everlasting salvation. Oh unequalled [260] love! 
 Oh glorious example! Blessed Jesus! give to all thy disciples 
 grace to tread in thy steps, and with thy faithfulness, sympa- 
 thy, love and self-sacrifice, to look at all thy purposes towards 
 thy church. But it was not merely in the dark prospect of 
 judgment that our Saviour furnishes such a lesson for us in 
 these days — but also in the bright prospect of glory yet to 
 come, he bids us lift up our heads. How sweet and rich the 
 jiromiscs which open his sermon on the mount! How enlarged 
 the spirit of prayer which he taught us daily to use — halloived 
 be thy name, thy kimrdom come, thy ivill be done on earth as it is in 
 heaven! How often did he present the richest glories of that 
 kingdom as an animating object of hope! Matt. v. 2 — 10; xiii. 
 43; xix; 28; Luke xxii. 2S — 30. And when he arose again 
 and was seen of his apostles forty days, the subject of his in- 
 tercourse during that period was the things pertmyring to the 
 kingdom of God. Acts i. 3. Oh may we never despise, or 
 slight, or neglect that glorious hope which occupied the mind 
 and engaged the converse of our divine Lord and his apostles, 
 during that most interesting period which intervened between 
 his resurrection and ascension! 
 
 Our prevailing views as Christians should be cheerful, hope- 
 ful, and joyful: — "Lift up your heads, for your redemption 
 drawcth nigh." Luke xxi. 2S. The present state of the world 
 is full of sin and full of miscrv, "the whole world lieth in 
 
1>JQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 wickedness," [or in the wicked one,] {hrZTnvyipZ) 1 John v. 19, 
 "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now;" 
 Rom. viii. 22, but this state shall not long continue; the word 
 of God leads us to anticipate, after the throes and pains of these 
 last days, "the manifestation [2G1] of the sons of God:" and 
 "the creation itself delivered from the bondage of corruption 
 into the glorious liberty of the children of God," ver. 19,21. 
 While^ then, we sigh over the sins which we witness, and 
 with all earnestness, pity, and sympathy, like Noah of old, 
 testify to the worldly and the wicked their danger, and the ag- 
 gravated condemnation of those zcho hold the truth in nnrighl- 
 eousjiess; Rom. i. IS. we cannot but rejoice in the conviction 
 that the time is short; 1 Cor. vii. 29. soon the Saviour returns, 
 and though it be first to punish the wicked, yet, beyond tbat 
 dark scene, all is light and love, glory and blessednesss, to the 
 church of the living God, and ultimately to the whole world. 
 
 CHAPTER XVr. 
 
 THE HARVEST OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 [2G2] The prese,nt state of the Christian church is, in many 
 respects, peculiar. We see two apparently quite opposite 
 things taking place, much open and daring wickedness, and 
 yet wide diffusion of the truth. With many affecting features 
 of that wickedness which marks the last days: we see on the 
 other hand a remarkable profession of truth, and extension of 
 zeal in the same country and in the same place. Just as, be- 
 fore the destruction of Jerusalem bj^ the Romans, the Jewish 
 state was ripening for judgment (1 Thess. ii. 16,) at the very 
 same time the Christian Jewish church was in its full activity 
 and diffusiveness. 
 
 This state of things was to be expected from the plain de- 
 clarations of prophecy; and it may be profitable to consider it 
 more particularly as an animating motive for increased watch- 
 fulness and zeal, and furnishing many encouragements to God's 
 servants. Two harvests are before us, a harvest of tares for 
 the burning, and a harvest of wheat for the garner. Two reap- 
 ings mark the great day of tribulation, the [263] harvest for tlie 
 Son of Man to gather to his glory, the vintage for tbe Son of 
 Man to tread in his wrath. Rev. xiv. 19. The painful part of 
 the subject we have already sufficiently noticed. Blessed be 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I77 
 
 God there is in our world another work going on; and to be 
 perfected in the day of tribulation. 
 
 The church of Christ is also ripening for its glorv. 
 From age to age God lias been gathering and completing the 
 number of his elect. There has manifestly been in the churches 
 of Christ, at large, in our day, in Britain, America, and in some 
 degree in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, &c., a blessed re- 
 vival of the church and an enlargement of exertion, that have 
 filled the hearts of believers with thankfulness; and though 
 these may not have the depth of other periods, and the nature 
 and extent of this revival and God's design in it may have been 
 misunderstood, it is a subject of richest hope and jo3^ God is 
 ripening his church for its full glory. lie has been scattering 
 the seed for ISOO years, and especially in our days, and pre- 
 paring all the materials for a future harvest to be gathered in. 
 
 We have an account in the 7th of Revelation of the 14 1,000 
 sealed and preserved from the last judgments; and in the 14th 
 we have the same company in their holy character set before 
 us. They were with the Lamb — they have his Father's 7?ame 
 071 Iheir forehead — they are undefiled by antichristian pollutions, 
 being virgins — they follozv the Lamb zchithersoever he goelh — in 
 their mouth is found no guile — they are zuithout fault before the 
 throjie of God. Here is a people prepared for the Lord. The 
 following verses connect with them the very works which we 
 now see accomplishing, of the diffusion of the gospel, and the 
 [264] testimony of Babylon's fall, and the danger of receiving 
 her mark. These arc those fully prepared for the Lord's 
 coming. 
 
 It appears from Ezekiel ix. compared with Revelation vii. 
 that this sealed class are preserved from those judgments which 
 come upon false professors. 
 
 In several of the parables we have a similar distinction. In 
 that of the ten virgins, the wise virgins, having oil in their 
 vessels, and ready for their Lord, enter in with him to the 
 marriage. In that of the servants waiting, the faithful and wise 
 servant, giving meat to the household in due season, is pro- 
 nounced blessed, and rewarded; the zvise, lurni?ig many to right- 
 eousness, are to shine as the brightness of the firmament; and 
 our Lord vcill appear the second lime zcithout sin unto salvation, to 
 those zL-ho love his appearing. These form the first-fruits unto 
 God and the Lamb. They will be completely delivered from 
 all the evil of the days of the great tribulation, (Isaiah xxvi.- 
 20; Matt. XXV. 10. ) and preserved in tliat season of temptation 
 which shall come upon all the world, (Rev. iii. 10.) though we 
 may not be able to tell the mode of their preservation. 
 
 Among professors of religion there are, however, vast num- 
 
 voL. II. — 65 
 
l^Q A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 bers in an intermediate and very dangerous state; ihelukeii'arm 
 of Laodicea; the foolish virgins of the parable; the many whose 
 love XL-axes cold, because iniquity abounds; those who have//ie name 
 to live, and are dead. They are little to be distinguished out- 
 wardly from decided Christians; they associate with them; they 
 profess perhaps the same doctrines; they think they are right, 
 that they are rich, increased rcilh goods, and have need of nothing; 
 and yet continuing in this state, they will assuredly be left 
 [265] in the terrors of the great tribulation. May all such be 
 zealous and repent. 
 
 But, as in the Laodicean state, there were those who were 
 invited to hear the voice of Christ, and to open the door to him, 
 and promised that, if they did, he would come in to them, and 
 sup with them, and if they overcame they were to sit dozen nith 
 him on his throne, so may we hope that multitudes may yet 
 hear the gracious invitations of Christ. 
 
 The analogy of the last gatherings in the Jewish dispensa- 
 tion, as recorded in the xVcts; the promises of the latter rain as 
 well as the former (Joel ii. 23; Zech. x. 1.); the literal assu- 
 rance that God will, in the last days, pour out of his Spirit 
 upon all flesh, (Joel ii. 2S.); the reason of the dela}^ in the 
 coming of the day of Christ, (2 Peter iii. 9, 10.) may well 
 strengthen these hopes. 
 
 The prediction in Rev. vii. especially brings this vast har- 
 vest, YET TO BE GATHERED, withiu the time of the great 
 tribulation. The prophecy alludes to the feast of tabernacles, 
 called the feast of ingathering, when the harvest of the earth 
 was fully completed, and which was to be observed in memo- 
 rial of the deliverance from Egypt. The passover and the 
 Pentecost have had their antitypes; that of the Tabernacles is 
 yet to be observed (Zech. xiv. 16.); and its glorious Antitype 
 will be exhibited in this extended conversion out of all nations 
 to Christ; "a great multitude which no man could number, of 
 all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before 
 the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and 
 having palms in their hands." But we are expressly told. 
 These are they zvhich came out of great tribulation. The original 
 is still more emphatic [266] (ix. riig BAi^iu; rk juiydA/A;) out of the tri- 
 bulation, even the great one. There is but one such tribulation, 
 and it is yet to come. Hence we may conclude that the great 
 harvest will then be gathered. 
 
 In his sermon before the European Missionary Society, the 
 author thus stated his sentiments: — 
 
 "It is, in my view, a mistake to suppose that God will at 
 once, and in the first instance, send exterminating judgments 
 on all the false professors of the gospel: on the other hand, it 
 
TOTFIE PROPHECIES. I79 
 
 is, in my view, a similar mistake lo suppose that we are ad- 
 vancing by a ])eaceful j)roccss oT eflbrts of real Christians, under 
 the enlarged elFusions of the Sjjirit of God, to a merely spiritual 
 millennium. IJoth these sentiments appear to me to be partial 
 views of what God has revealed. The present state of Gentile 
 Christendom is a thing which God's word has foreseen and 
 anticipated, and that word has not left us without bright hopes 
 in the very midst of the impending judgments. In the beauti- 
 ful emblem first given to Noah, he was told, ''it shall come to 
 pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall 
 be seen in the cloud." As we see in the parallel of the Jewish 
 dispensation, the richest ingathering out of that nation to Christ, 
 was just before those judgments which cut them ofi'asa nation 
 from the visible church; the fullest measure of true conversion 
 with which the nation was blessed, and of which it was instru- 
 mental to others, being very probably from the ministi'y of the 
 Baptist to the fall of Jerusalem: so may we, from various inti- 
 mations of God's word, hope that it will be, in the last days of 
 the Gentile dispensation. This seems made plain respecting 
 the Gentiles now out of the pale of the church, by the latter part 
 of the seventh of Revelation. [2G7] This also seems intimated 
 with regard to Christendom, by the messengers, in the parable 
 of the great supper, going, at the supper time, to the streets mid 
 lanes of the city, to bring in the poor, the ynaimeJ, the halt, arid the 
 blind: for such those are really, who think themselves ?7c/i, and 
 increased 7i-ith goods, and to have need of nothing. So our Lord, 
 in comparing the kingdom of heaven to the seed, tells us there 
 is "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
 ear; and when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he put- 
 teth in the sickle, because the harvest is come;" we seem to 
 have here another intimation of a full harvest in the end. It 
 is so like our God, and we see it so remarkably in his dealings 
 with his church, to make grace abound, even in the time of 
 abounding iniquity, that we may entertain scriptural and cheer- 
 ing hopes of large conversions to God before, and even duri-ng, 
 these awful judgments: "When thy judgments are in the earth 
 the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." 
 
 "Oh how little do the infidel and lawless spirits of this age 
 know of the mind of God, and the efiects of all their policies, 
 wisdom, and aj)parent triumph! They gain the recognition of 
 evil principle after evil principle, and accomplish design after 
 design, but even now the Lord's restraining hand is so upon 
 them, that all works for good to his church. They are already 
 shouting their songs of victory, but God will shew, that xvherein 
 they dealt proudly lie 7oas above them. There is a victory coming, 
 but, it is not for them, but over them. How striking are the 
 
130 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 words of the Lord! "Woe to them that seek deep to hide 
 their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, 
 and they say. Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? Surely 
 [2GS] your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as 
 the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, 
 He made me not? or, shall the thing framed say of him that 
 framed it, He hath no understanding? It is not yet a very little 
 while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the 
 fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?" Yes, however 
 dull now our understanding of the prophecies, so clear shall 
 every thing then be, that it is added, "in that day shall the 
 deaf hear the words of this book, and the eyes of the blind 
 shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness; the meek also 
 shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men 
 shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." 
 
 To this glorious harvest we would refer the fuller statement 
 given to the apostles, in Rev. xiv., as follows: — "Thrust in 
 (^s//|cv, send) thy sickle and reap: for the time is come for thee 
 to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat 
 on the cloud thrust in (s/SaAsi-, or threw) his sickle on the earth; 
 and the earth was reaped." It does not appear that the Son of 
 Man is here represented as personally coming to the earth, it 
 seems rather the gathering of a harvest before his personal 
 coming, the harvest of the church. This is a bright hope in 
 the midst of the dark judgments now hanging over us. 
 
 Most practical and awakening are these truths. May every 
 Christian diligently search to discover to which class he belongs 
 in the church of Christ, whether he will be found among the 
 first fruits unto God and the Lamb; or in a lukewarm state: 
 whether he is unprepared, like the foolish virgins, for our 
 Lord's return; or ready like the wise virgins. The Son of 
 Man is coming; "he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather 
 his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chafi" with 
 [2G9] unquenchable fire," (Matt. iii. 12;) and the practical 
 lessons addressed to us are, "flee from the wrath to come, 
 bring forth fruits meet for repentance — bring forth good fruits." 
 Matt. iii. 7—10. 
 
 These are lessons specially enforced by the signs of the 
 times in which we live, and Ijy the voice of prophecy, speak- 
 ing from the divine oracles to us in these times. And by urging 
 these truths on the minds and consciences of men, perhaps 
 many a brand vn'Ay be yet plucked out of the fire. (Zech. iii. 2.) 
 That which is impossible in nature is possible in grace; and he 
 who was by nature a child of wrath, may become through 
 grace a child of God and an heir of gh)ry. Oh that we may 
 labour in sending the gospel now as wide and as far as we can, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. Jgl 
 
 and in fervent prayer; that for many, very many precious 
 souls, we may have to give thanks to him who makes us "meet 
 to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints; who hath de- 
 livered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us 
 into the kingdom of his dear Son." 
 
 The times are very awful to those who can only see the 
 tendency and the natural effects of the principles and course 
 now in dominancy, and to those whose hopes centre in this 
 world, or in any earthly good whatever; but they are not un- 
 mingled with the richest hopes and joys to the Christian. 
 Though he is more alive to the evil and mischief now abroad 
 than others, yet they tell him of a coming Saviour, and a 
 blessed kingdom of righteousness, and a full reward: and so, 
 while those awful things which he witnesses come to pass, he 
 learns to lift up Jus head, for his redemptio?i draxL-ethnigh. 
 
 But let us in the close, contemplate that bright bow of pro- 
 mise which marks the love of God, in the impending thick 
 cloud of judgment. 
 
 [270] Amidst al! the toils, disappointments, and sorrows of 
 life, what ample grounds of encouragement and joyful 
 HOPE may we have from the views which the Bible holds out 
 of the future, full, open, and everlasting triumph of Christ our 
 Lord! There is iii keeping God^s commands a present great 
 rev.-ard: the good that is done now is done by self-denial and 
 self-sacrifice; and the only real happiness in this world is gain- 
 ed in the ])aths of love to God and love to man. But it need 
 not be said how mingled and defective all here is; now with 
 regard to the future, we may name it as Lamech did his son, 
 Noah, (that is rest or comfort) '-This same shall comfort us 
 concerning our work and toil of hands." Here is one Bible 
 ground of comfort. 1 Thess. iv. IS. 
 
 All classes who are looking for that blessed hope, (Titus ii. 13) 
 and loving Jiis appearing, (2 Tim. iv. S) may here find the fullest 
 comfort amidst their varied difficulties. The Christian poli- 
 tician, engaging with ardour in schemes of melioration for the 
 good of his country, may learn, not to cease from anywise 
 scheme of benefitting his fellow men, but to increase all self- 
 sacrificing labours, thankfully to enjoy all immediate good 
 produced, to be comforted amid the multiplied vexations of 
 sucii a course, and the exceeding wickedness through which 
 his plans have to struggle, by the anticipation of acceptance 
 with the righteous Governor of the universe, a sure reward 
 from him, and a slate of the world hereafter beyond all con- 
 ception blessed and glorious; a time when a king shall reign in 
 righteous?icss, and princes shall rule in judgment. The Christian 
 Minister conflicting with sin. and the world, and Satan, in 
 G5^ 
 
j§2 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 his parish or among his flock, seeing perhaps but [271] little 
 present fruit of his labours, and getting increasing knowledge 
 of nests of unsuspected wickedness on every side; weighed 
 down with anxiety and disappointment, may here be quick- 
 ened in all his exertions, and in his disappointments be greatly 
 comforted; his labour is not in vain in the Lord. There is a 
 present blessing, but the rich reserve of reward is in the king- 
 dom to come; then his converts shall rise up as his joy and 
 crown of rejoicing. The Christian Parent, amidst the joys 
 and comforts, and amidst also the cares and heart-aching sor- 
 rows of a family; may have his hopes elevated to brighter ex- 
 pectation than any that earth can now afibrd, and his sorrows 
 alleviated with the blessed prospect of that kingdom where 
 God shall zcipe au-aij all tears from their eijes, and the one family 
 of Christ be gathered together foi- ever. The covenant of the 
 kingdom given to his Son, the Messiah, seems to have been 
 David's peculiar consolation in the midst of his family troubles 
 (2 Sam. xxiii. 3 — 5,) and this may be our* comfort in such 
 troubles also. The afflicted every where may turn with 
 the greatest advantage to this blessed Jubilee, when, after the 
 day of vengeance on the wicked, it is the office of our anointed 
 king, "To comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that 
 mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, tlie oil of 
 joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi- 
 ness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the 
 planting of the Lord that he might be glorified." The pros- 
 perous may learn the best use of their property, not in a vo- 
 luntary humility and poverty, not required in God's word, but 
 in using the world, as not abusing it, and being rich in good 
 zvorks. 1 Tim. vi. 17. And all friends op Missions and [272] 
 all seeking to save souls, without being»cast down by those dis- 
 appointments occasioned by false and delusive hopes, unreal- 
 ized in the actual results of those efforts at present, may have, 
 in this view, large scriptural encouragement in all these exer- 
 tions, and a true hope for the ultimate success of all their 
 wishes and labours. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. Ig3 
 
 CHAPTER XVir. 
 
 THE MILLENNIU.'M AND FIRST RESURRECTION'. 
 
 [273] The millennium, means a ihomand years. It is the 
 period predicted under that name h}' St. John in the 20th chap- 
 ter of Revelation. The first resurrection is the event there 
 predicted, "I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judg- 
 ment was given unto them: and I saw tlie souls of them that 
 were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of 
 God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his 
 image, neither had received his mark upon their forehead, or in 
 their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand 
 years— but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thou- 
 sand years were finished. This is the first resurrection," 
 (verses 3 — 5.) 
 
 On this prediction there are various opinions; some think it 
 past, though they differ in their exposition of its meaning. But 
 the most general opinion of modern divines has been that it is 
 designed to point out a spiritual resurrection of men [274] ani- 
 mated by the spirit of the martyrs and a haj)py spiritual state 
 of the church yet to come. 
 
 On a subject yet, as the author is persuaded, unfulfilled, and 
 which from the early ages of the church, has occasioned so 
 many differences of opinion, modesty of sentiment especially 
 becomes us. It may be well here rather to let others, and 
 especially to let the holy scriptures speak, than to enter into 
 any lengthened detail of reasons which lead the author to think 
 that the first resurrection (Rev. xx.) is a literal, rather than a 
 spiritual one. Some of those indeed who have pleaded most 
 earnestly for ils being a spiritual resurrection, (as Bishop Hall, 
 the celebrated Baxter, and the late Mr. Gipps) consider it as 
 already past."* So that Bishop Ilall said nearly 200 years ago, 
 in his Revelation Unrevealed, one of the strongest works 
 
 * The fullest modern statements of the view that the millennium is past are 
 ^iven by Mr. Vint, in his New Illustrations of Prophecy, and Mr. Bush inhis 
 Treatise on the Millennium. Both contain manifestations of a forced con-, 
 struction and strained application of expressions, which fail — the author 
 s-peaks for himself— to carry any conviction along with them, and are painfully 
 instructive, as shewing how the mind may be led astray by its endeavours to 
 establish a particular system, and the ingenuity it may put forth to make it 
 complete. But both contain also useful incidental discussions and illustra- 
 tions.. 
 
j§4 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 against Millenarians, "For my part, I am persuaded in mv 
 soul, that the coming of our Saviour is near at hand." It 
 seems as if God would lead his church to prepare for the com- 
 ing Saviour, whatever views they may take of that which fol- 
 lows his coming. 
 
 Those who look upon Millennial views afiirmatory of the 
 restoration of the Jews, and the previous resurrection of the 
 saints, as dangerous innovations, and opening the way to other 
 errors, would do well [275] to listen to the following testimony 
 of the late Bishop Van Mildert, who, by the extent of his 
 learning, and the general sobriety of his judgment, is at the 
 farthest remove from all suspicions of wildness and extrava- 
 gance. 
 
 "Nothing is more certain than that the scriptures clearly 
 foretell the conversion and restoration of the Jews, and that a 
 most satisfactory pledge of the fulfilment of the predictions is 
 already given by what has actually been .brought to pass in 
 their dispersion and preservation. 
 
 "Respecting the Millennium, or reign of the saints on earth 
 for 1000 years after the events shall have taken place, there is 
 room for a great variety of conjecture. Whether with the 
 earlier fathers of the Christian church, and some eminent expo- 
 sitors of modern times, we are to expect, that a resurrection 
 and triumph of the saints shall precede the general and final 
 resurrection; or whether we hold with others that it is not to 
 be a reign of persohs raised from the dead, but a renovated 
 state of the church, flourishing gloriously for 1000 years, after 
 the conversion of the Jews, and the flowing in of all the na- 
 tions to the Christian faith; it is not necessary to determine. 
 The former interpretation seems to ofler the least violence to 
 the language of scripture, and is supported by great authority. 
 But our trust in the promises of God depends not on the de- 
 termination of this question; since, whichsoever interpretation 
 we adopt, the splendid predictions of the inspired writers, both 
 in the Old and New Testament, will doubtless be verified either 
 in a literal or a figurative acceptation, to their fullest extent. 
 In the mean time, the condition of the church, antecedently to 
 that its [276] triumphant state, may reasonably be expected to 
 exhibit a diversified scene of trial and victor}', of peril and 
 deliverance, of depression and recovery, similar to what it has 
 hitherto undergone."* 
 
 The sentiments also of the learned, humble and pious Mede 
 
 may well weigh with those who really know his writings. He 
 
 remarks, "I incline on the whole to the opinion founded on 
 
 the sentence of St. Paul, 1 Thcss. iv. that all the righteous will 
 
 * See Van Mildert's Boyle Lectures, pp. 450— 45b'. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 185 
 
 rise again during the course of the millennial kingdom: but 
 in a certain order, according to that of the apostle, (1 Cor. xv. 
 23,) first in the very commencement of the INlillennium, the 
 INIartyrs, then the rest according to the decree of God the 
 Arbiter, and that this is called the Jirst rcsnrreclion, or the resur- 
 reclioii of the Just. Luke xiv. 14. Afterwards, the r.Iillennium 
 being completed, the wicked will rise; the last and universal 
 judgment be completed; these to be thrust down to the fire, 
 and the saints to be carried U]) to the heavenly mansions, where 
 they will live forever with Christ. I do not indeed think we 
 are to expect two advents of Christ: but one, namely, that in 
 which he will judge the quick and the dead at his appearing; 
 but that both his advent and his judgment will be protracted 
 through the period of a thousand years."* 
 
 Some, who believe that our Lord will personally appear for 
 the conversion of the Jews, doubt whether there will be then 
 a resurrection of his saints. We must ever speak with reserve 
 and humility of events yet to take place, but the author after 
 weighing the [277] arguments on each side, though he difiers 
 from friends whom he liighly esteems and loves, is inclined to 
 think that such a previous resurrection is revealed, not only in 
 the scat of the doctrine. Rev. xx. 1 — 6, but also, in the general 
 statements that occur respecting the resurrection. At the re- 
 storation of Israel, before the JNIillennium, mamj of them that 
 sleep in the dust of the earth shall azcake. Daniel xii. 2. This, 
 the Jewish Rabbi, Saadias Gaon, thus interprets, — "This is the 
 resurrection of the dead of Israel, whose lot is to eternal life; 
 but those who do not awake, they are the destroyed of the 
 Lord, who go down to the habitation beneath, that is Gehenna, 
 and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." 
 
 The gradual light thrown by scripture prophecy on more 
 remote events is ver}^ full of wisdom and importance. It is 
 like the view of a rich and extended landscape in nature; the 
 more distant scenes arc thro\^n together, and though they may 
 be widely separated, appear as one group. Thus in the pro- 
 phecies the more distant events are grouped as it were to- 
 gether, and unfolded as the time draws near. The impressive 
 lessons taught by the future events are thus left with more un- 
 broken power on our minds. When we come to the last chap- 
 ters of Isaiah, Zecliariah and Revelation, we have a separa- 
 tion and distinct view of these distant events. Some have 
 wondered that any can think Daniel xii. 2, contains a period 
 of a thousand years; but the next verse describes eternity. 
 We want the largeness of the eye of God in interpreting his 
 word ! 
 t * See the extract in the Christian Observer for 18-28, p. 451. 
 
X86 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Some instances of this may make it plainer. Joel iii. 13, 
 groups together events in one verse which, in Rev. xiv. 14 — 
 20, are expanded and viewed in distinct [278] features, — as 
 the harvest of the church, and the vintage of the wicked. 
 Daniel xii. 2, groups together, in one verse, events which are 
 developed distinctly in the twentieth Revelation. Genesis iii. 
 15, groups, in one verse, the whole history which the subse- 
 quent Bible developes. 
 
 It is curious and interesting to know what sentiments the 
 Jews, with only Old Testament light, held on this subject. 
 Though they differed materially in their views of the resurrec- 
 tion in other respects, yet they generally identified the coming 
 of the Messiah, and a resurrection.* It is fully shewn in Mr. 
 Humphrey's account of the ideas of the Jews on this subject, 
 that they held that there were three states or conditions after 
 this life; (1) a state of incomplete happiness or misery after 
 death, till the general resurrection; (2) the reign of the Mes- 
 siah, always joined (through a great mistake Mr. H. adds) to 
 the resurrection; and (3) the world of souls; or a state which 
 succeeds the resurrection of the dead and the reign of the Mes- 
 siah. The Jewish writers generally mention together the com- 
 ing of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead, and fre- 
 quently consider them as branches of the same proposition; 
 and from the first Psalm verse 4, assert that the resurrection 
 was peculiar to the just; and on the second Psalm, Kimchi 
 quotes an ancient apothegm, "The benefit of the rain is com- 
 mon to the just and unjust, but the resurrection from the dead 
 is the peculiar privilege of those who have lived righteously:" 
 but Abarbanel [279] and Manasseh Ben Israel shew that the 
 wicked are said to have no part in the world to come, as hav- 
 ing no advantage or happiness in it, but are, on the contrary, 
 consigned over to punishment for their iniquities." 
 
 Leaving, however, Jewish twilight, let us come to the clear 
 day of the New Testament. The whole statement of the apos- 
 tle, 1 Thess. iv. 14 — 18, clearly respects the resurrection of 
 the righteous, at the coming of the Lord, and their being 
 brought with him; and when this is connected with the state- 
 ments in the second epistle (ch. i. 7 — 9; ii. 1 — S,) respecting 
 (as the Author is persuaded) the same coming, and the destruc- 
 tion of the Man of Sin at that coming, it is conclusive, in his 
 view, that the saints rise before the Millennium, — it being 
 generally agreed, (at least by those who hold a future Millen- 
 
 * There is a long dissertation concerning the notions of the Jews about the 
 resurrection of the dead in Humphrey's Athenagoras. See Manasseh Ben 
 Israel de Resurrectione JMortuorum, 1G3G) 8\'o. See also the 2d vol. of Schoett- 
 genius, and especially p. 500—591. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 187 
 
 nium,) that the INIan of Sin will be destroyed before that 
 blessed ara. According with this, is the statement in the loth 
 Corintliians, and in particular the expressions, "Christ the 
 first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming; and 
 then Cometh the end," verse 23, 24. The Author cannot see 
 why there should not be a lengthened interval between each 
 of these three events; as there have manifestly been above ISOO 
 years between Ciirist's resurrection and his second coming. 
 The statement in the 52d verse, which, as the expressions, and 
 the connection, equally manifest, relates to the resurrection 
 of the righteous; the strcngtli of the apostle's desire to attain 
 this resurrection, Phil. iii. II; and the emphatic distinctions 
 of a special resurrection promised to the righteous (Luke xiv. 
 14; XX. 35, 36. Heb. xi. 35. John vi. 39, 40,44, 54,) add far- 
 ther weight and strength to [280] these observations. Nor is 
 there any thing inconsistent with them in the expressions, 
 John V. 2S, "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
 graves shall hear his voice and come forth; they that have done 
 good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done 
 evil to the resurrection of damnation:" when the term hour 
 (*,:*) is translated time, Romans xiii. \\,s(^ason, 2 Cor. vii. S, 
 and in such a passage as I John ii. 18, as well as in the one pre- 
 ceding tiie text quoted (John v. 25.) manifestly applied to the 
 whole period of tlie Christian Dispensation.* It appears to 
 
 * See Rose's Parkhurst, under a/i*. Those who hold a personal advent be- 
 fore the millennium suppose the word apoi, hour, or season, in verse 25, to be a 
 season of near two thousand years, or the days of grace and salvation, (2 Cor. 
 vi. 2.) and in verse 28 a single thousand years, or the hour of judgment, Rev. 
 xiv. 7; the day of vengeance, (Isaiah Ixiii. 4.) and the day of the Lord. 2 Peter 
 iii. 8, 10. Those ■who reject a personal advent before the millennium suppose 
 the hour of verse 25 to be a season of three thousand years, reaching to the 
 close of the millennium, and the hour of verse 28 tabe a natural day, or per- 
 haps the moment, the twinkling of an eye, 1 Cor. xv. 52. in which the resur- 
 rection of believers, and as they conceive, of unbelievers also, is stated to 
 occur. It appcOTs to the author that, the first view is more natural, harmoni- 
 ous and consistent. In the one case we have an entire correspondence in the 
 meaning of our Lord's double declaration, but in the other a great dispropor- 
 tion. His words on this occasion could not, it is true, teach the long extent of 
 either season which is to be drawn from other scriptures. But now that expe- 
 rience has joined with unsealed prophecy to prove the extent of the first sea- 
 son, why should we shrink IVom God's express revelation as to the other. The 
 length of the day of grace, being a season of the church's sufiering and pa- 
 tience, was revealed, for her comfort, only under sealed numbers, Daniel xii. 
 to be unfolded when verging to its close at the time of the end; but the length 
 of the season of judgment being a time of the church's triumph, was openly 
 given to confirm her hope (2 Pet. iii. 8; Rev. xx.) in the express words of God. 
 It is only the popular use of the term hour which could leave doubt on the 
 mind. The word apa has no such limitation, but is commonly used for a con- 
 tinued period of time, especially in prophecy. Thus we have the hour of 
 awakenmg, Rom. xiv. 11, reaching from the apostle's time until now, and the 
 last hour, 1 John it. 18, of similar extent: the hour of temptation, Rev. iii. 10, 
 the hour of judgment, Rev. xiv. 7, which is clearly there placed at the beginning 
 
Igg A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 the author that the 20th of Revelation is, like all the rest of 
 the book, symbolic, with literal explanations. We find literal 
 explanations running through the book. See chap. i. 20; xvii. 
 15; xix. S; and so we find in the 20th chapter, the literal ex- 
 planation, -ichich is the Devil; and this is the first resurrection, a 
 similar literal explanation. The difficulties that have been 
 made on the subject are resolvable into our ignorance. [2S1] 
 How little is it possible for us to know of the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem in which the saints dwell, or of the nature and glories of 
 their risen bodies, or of their being equal to the angels, (Luke 
 XX. 36.) and how material must be the distinction between them, 
 and men living in the flesh. We may soon get into the atmos- 
 phere of Socinianism, and reject every doctrine of the Bible, 
 if mysteries and difficulties be a stumbling-block to our faith, 
 instead of producing their right effect, a believing and patient 
 waiting for the manifestation of God's will. 
 
 Mede justly remarks, 'You must distinguish between the 
 state of the New Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 2.) and the state of the iia- 
 tions zvhich zcalk in the light thereof; (ver. 24.) they shall not be 
 both one.' Therefore what is spoken of the New Jerusalem 
 must not be applied to the whole church which shall then be. 
 New Jerusalem is not the whole church, but the metropolis 
 thereof, and of the new world. The state of the nations which 
 shall walk in her light, though happy and glorious, yet shall be 
 changeable, as appears by the commotion of the nations, re- 
 duced at [282] the end of the 1000 years. But the state of 
 those who dwell in the New Jerusalem shall be beyond all risk 
 of change. Rev. xx. 6. — See Works, p. 772. 
 
 It was Dr. Henry More's idea, that neither Christ nor his 
 saints would be visible to men on earth during the Millennium; 
 but they would "live with Christ in his immutable and ever- 
 lasting kingdom in heaven, for ever and ever." He says, "nor 
 do I think it necessary that the sons of this first«resurrection 
 should at all appear to us; their celestial bodies in which they 
 have vivicated, being naturally invisible, and therefore, a kind 
 of miracle for us to see them; and no more necessary than the 
 exhibiting those souls to view which Christ carried to heaven 
 in triumph after his resurrection, which yet he did not exhibit 
 to the sight of tlie world." The fact of the first resurrection, 
 and the full explanation of tliat fact, are totally different ques- 
 tions; as is the fact of the Trinity, and the explanation of that 
 
 of the millennium; the one hour, Rev. xvii. 1-3, of the king's confederacy with 
 the beast, the whole season of Papal corruption. Thus, besides the corre- 
 spondence between the two verses 23 and 28, the extent of both seasons is quite 
 according to the analogy of the word of God. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 1§9 
 
 blessed and most certain mj'stcr}-. Wo believe on the testi- 
 mony of revelation; we sliall hy-and-by see face to face, and 
 knozc as tec are k/ioicn. 
 
 There does appear to the author considerable evidence that 
 the Lord of glory will so dwell on earth as to be visible in his 
 glory, in a manner, however, and to an extent, that we cannot 
 adequately realize or comprehend. This is a subject of that 
 intense holiness, and there is such danger of rash familiarity, 
 that it requires us to enter deeply into the direction given to 
 JMoses, "Draw not nigh hither, put oft' thy shoes from oft' thy 
 feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.-- 
 The reasons on which it is supposed that this visible glory may 
 at times be manifested to men are the positive promises, "The 
 Lord God shall [2S3J give unto him the throne of his father 
 David," (Luke i. 3i>.) "Of the fruit of thy body will I set 
 upon thy throne. This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell." 
 Psalm cxxxii. So Jerusalem is called "the place of my throne, 
 and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell, in 
 the midst of the children of Israel, for ever." Ezek. xliii. 7. 
 The expressions are such as to imply bodily and visible pre- 
 sence. Our Lord himself calls Jerusalem the city of the great 
 King, jNIatt. v. 35, and speaks of a personal abode in a glory j'et 
 to come. John i. 5\. There was a visible glory in his former 
 dwelling in Israel. Exod. xxv. S; Lev. xvi. 2. "That which 
 was made," however, thus "glorious had no glory in this respect, 
 by reason of the glory that excelleth; for if that which was 
 done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is 
 glorious." 2 Cor. iii. 10. The heavenly things themselves 
 must far exceed the mere patterns of good things to come. See 
 Heb. viii. ix. x. There are also but two appearances or com- 
 ings of our Lord; the first, to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
 himself; and the second, for the salvation of his people and the 
 judgment of the world. We have no reason, in the account of 
 the final act of judgment, Rcvt xx. 11, to lead us to think that 
 he will be so absent after his prce-millcnnial coming, as to come 
 a third time to our earth. But, that we may regard this Sub- 
 ject with such sacred awe as well as holy joy, that we may be 
 kept at the remotest distance from all trifling and lightness of 
 spirit. The Lord, our God and Saviour, though he wears our 
 form, is infinitely glorious in liolinessand majesty: and surely 
 there is enough, both in the Old and New Testament, to check 
 all rash and presumptuous views of near approaches to [2S4] 
 his presence and glory, and all unholy and irreverent remarks 
 upon it. 
 
 Tlie earliest fathers held that a literal resurrection preceded 
 the Millennium; the later fathers, Origen, Jerome, and Augus- 
 
 VoL. II. — GG 
 
jQQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 tine, interpreted the passages, Rev. xx. 4, spiritually. Tlie 
 following account given by Lardner, an anti-millenarian, will 
 shew briefly the view of the fathers. He first quotes Je- 
 rome's Comment on Isaiah as follows: '-If we understand the 
 Revelation literally, we must judaize; if spiritually or figura- 
 tively, as it is written, we shall seem to contradict many of the 
 ancients, particularly Latins, Tertullian, Victorinus, Lactan- 
 tius; and Greeks likewise, especially Irenseus, Bishop of Ly- 
 ons, against whom Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, [this Dio- 
 nysius threw out doubts against the Revelation, as not being 
 the writing of the Apostle John] a man of uncommon elo- 
 quence, wrote a curious piece, deriding the fable of a thousand 
 years, and the terrestrial Jerusalem, adorned with gold and 
 precious stones; rebuilding the temple, bloody sacrifices, sab- 
 batical rest, circumcision, marriages, [he here adds other de- 
 scriptions of a carnal millennium] and servitude of the nations; 
 and after this, wars, armies, triumphs, and slaughters of con- 
 quered enemies, and the death of the sinher a hundred years 
 old. Him, Appollinarius answered, in two volumes, whom 
 not only the men of his own sect, but most of our own people 
 likewise, follow in this point. So that it is no hard matter to 
 prove what a multitude of persons I am like to displease." 
 
 It is striking to observe from one so averse to the doctrine 
 as Jerome, such acknowledgments of its extensive prevalence 
 in the fourth centur}-. Lardner [2S5] goes on to state, '-It 
 must be owned, th^t the orthodox millenarians do speak of 
 1000 years' reign of Christ before the general resurrection, 
 which good men, having been raised from the dead, should 
 spend on this earth, when there shall be an extraordinary 
 plenty of the fruits of the earth; when also they shall feast 
 upon them; when Jerusalem shall be rebuilt; when likewise 
 there will be marriages, and bringing forth of children; but 
 that they received marriage, and fruits of marriage, to belong 
 to any of the raised saints, does not appear to me a clear 
 point. Origen, and some others, speak as if this was the ex- 
 pectation of the millenarians, even such as were orthodox, as 
 it seems of some of them, which Origen therefore irientions, 
 with great concern of mind, being apprehensive that such an 
 opinion, if known by the heathens, might be a great reproach 
 upon the Christian religion. And St. Jerome immediately 
 after the words just cited from iiim, insinuates the same thing 
 of the orthodox millenarians of his time, for which reason he 
 reminds them of the saying of our Lord and Saviour. Matt, 
 xxii. 29, 30. Jerome writes to the same purpose, in another 
 place, of his commentaries upon the same prophet; but Ire- 
 nseus and Lactantius, who were millenarians, do not express 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 191 
 
 themselves in that manner; what they say is, that at the time 
 of the first resurrection, there will he founil some good men 
 living upon the earth, and that of them, in the space of a thou- 
 sand years, shall be born a numerous race, a godly seed over 
 whom Ukewise the raised saints are to reign, and by whom 
 they are to be served." 
 
 It must be remembered that Mede. in various parts of his 
 works, complains heavily of Jerome's perversion [286] and 
 misstatement of tlie writings of others. lie tells Dr. Twisse 
 "how wrongfully thcancicnt Cliiliasts, and Lactantius by name, 
 are charged to hold that the saints which rise from the dead 
 shall marry and get children; whereas he expressly aflirms it 
 only of those who shall be alive in the body, when Christ 
 comes, nor did any of the rest of the fathers, Justin, Irenffius, 
 JNIelito, think otherwise. From Jerome's not mentioning Jus- 
 tin Mautvk, he supposes that he was afraid of his antiquity 
 and authority."* 
 
 The doctrine of a near personal advent of Christ may be 
 traced througiiout all ages. The idea of a spiritual millennium, 
 which has not yet begun, before our Lord's return, is some- 
 times called ihe old [2S7] way, the old jjulhs, but is it not an 
 entire novelty of modern times? I believe an uncommenced 
 spiritual advent to be the real novelty. Has it any plea of 
 general antiquity whatever to urge in its behalf? I believe not. 
 Bishop Hall, in his list of varied opinions on this subject, 
 gives no intimation of it. I have not been able to trace it 
 higher than Dr. Whitby, who speaks of it as a "new hypothe- 
 
 » See Meite's Works, 812, 830. Mr. Mede and Dr. Hcnie.s have given us 
 an extract from the works of Gelasiu.-^, of Cyzicus, who flourished about 47(5, 
 and save a history of the Acts of tlieNicene Council. As this has been much 
 tjuoted, it is right" to obirerve, that Dupin throws discredit on various points in 
 this history, as does Weisman, vol. i. p. 41G, 485. But it has been inserted 
 in Binnius. the Louvre, and other editions of the Councils, and it bears on 
 the face of it marks of that cautious scriptural statement, which is the result 
 of conflicting minds stating a truth on which they diffef. The extract is taken 
 from certain forms of Ecclesiastical doctrine, according to which all teachers 
 in the church were to I'rame their discourses; and if it were a genuine' ac- 
 count, it would be remarkable as proving the general opinion of the church to 
 325. liie date of that council; but it may salely be received as Gelasius' view 
 of the subject. The extract is as follows:— The world was made imperfect 
 (^;;t::Tfp;c) because of foreknowledge, (for God foresaw that man would sin) 
 therel'ore we expect a new heaven and a new earth, according to the holy 
 scriptures, when shall shine forth the appearance and kingdom of the great 
 God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. And then, as Daniel says, the saints of 
 the Most High shall take the kingdom, and there shall be a pure earth, holy, 
 a land of the living, and not of the dead, which David foreseeing by the eye 
 t)f faith, cries out, (Psalm xxvii. I'.i,) I believe to see the goodness of the Lord 
 in the land of the living; a land of the meek and humble. For blessed, says 
 Christ, (Matt. v. 5.) are the meek, for thev shall possess the earth. And the 
 prophet say."^, (Isaiah xxvi. G.) "the feet of ihe meek and the humble shall tread 
 ujii^n ii." 
 
192 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 sis," at the beginning of the eighteenth century.'^ Vitringa, 
 [2SS] writing soon after Whitby, though in a far superior 
 spirit, and tremblingly sensitive of the danger of putting off 
 the hope of our Lord's coming, adopted his sentiments of the 
 spiritual millennium. He ably maintained the truth, that the 
 millennium was yet to come, giving the names of F. Lamber- 
 tus, C. Gallus, A Conrad Mantuanus, C. Pannonius, J. Brocar- 
 
 * The Chapters of Durham are misty and unsatisfactory, but approach Dr. 
 Whitby's view. It was soon adopted by more scriptural aulhons, as Vitringa, 
 Edwards, Hopkins of America, Lowman, and a large body of modern divines, 
 and so came to be the too generally received sentiment of the present day. 
 Many of the early fathers adopted the lengthened chronology of the Septua- 
 gint. Thus Lactantius, at the end of the third century, thought he ^vas 
 only 200 years from the end of the sixth millenary, and heexpected that after 
 Antichrist had arisen, our Lord would return, and his saints be raised to the 
 glory of reigning with him, at the close of the sixth millenary. The great 
 majority of the early fathers believed in a speedy future personal return and 
 reign of our Lord Christ. After the Emperor Constantine had favoured 
 Christianity, the predictions of its triumph and the reign of the saints seemed 
 to some to have commenced at that time. Reproach began to be cast by Euse- 
 bius on former Millenarian views. The elevation of the Pope at Rome made 
 it also very inconvenient to apply the prophecies of Revelation to Rome as 
 Babylon. After this the views of millenniimi become very diversified. Au- 
 gustine's views Avere peculiar, and are given in his City of God, lib. 20. They 
 are indeterminate, obscure, and unsatisfactory. Many who thought that the 
 thousand years commenced at the time of Christ, expected that they would 
 terminate at the end of the first thousand years after his coming. When no- 
 thing confirmed this at that period, it was thought that a definite number was 
 put for an indefinite, and that the millennium liad not terminated. Another 
 class considered that they commenced with Constantine, and terminated at the 
 capture of Constantinople by the Turks; applying to them the statement respect- 
 ing; Gog and Magog rising up at the close' of the Millennium. The Papal 
 writers naturally i'ostered these views, and sanctioned saint-worship by them. 
 See Trent Session xxv. The Reformers in general, as far as my researches 
 have gone, deprecate Millenarianism,and the Anabaptists tended to strengthen 
 their objections to it; but they appear to have generally concurred in a past 
 Millennium, and in the near approach of judgment. The non-conformists, 
 such as Baxter, and the pious Episcopalians, such as Bishop Hall, held or fa- 
 voured this view. 
 
 It was, in some respects, a clearing away of error, to acknowledge that a 
 Millennium was 3Tt to come; but in other respects it was a more serious 
 injury, when men were led to view the whole as a merely spiritual coming 
 and kingdom of Christ, yet to take place, and to extend over a lengthened pe- 
 riod. Thus a barrier of 1000 years was raised before the real coming of our 
 Lord. It became impossible for men to be waiting for his coming, and so they 
 Avere thrown oft' farther than ever from the blessed hope of our Lord's speedy 
 return, which had been in a great measure consistent with all previous views. 
 
 I have not yet discovered the idea of a spiritual Millennium iincommenced 
 before Dr. Whitby's "new hypothesis." There have been from age to age 
 those who have held the personal coming of Christ before the Millennium, 
 and in most ages there have been carnal views of a mere earthly Millennium; 
 but where is the voice of the church, as to a spiritual Millennium iincom- 
 menced, and to last 1000 years, before his real comingl The views of the Re- 
 formers, who speak plainly of the near approach of Christ's personal coming 
 and kingdom, though they thought that millenarianism was a hercsj', were 
 less prejudicial in one respect to the truth, than the modern views, as they 
 brounrht Christians to the right posture of mind, waiting for the coining of 
 Christ. But it is manifest that the present generally received modern view is 
 far from being the old tvay. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 293 
 
 clus, A. Leoniiuis, Laune, Medc, and Cotter, as supporting it. 
 One very material objection to the mere modern theory of a 
 spiritual millennium, yet to take place before our Lord's com- 
 ing, is, that this view, more than any other that the church has 
 ever iield, tends to bring all Christians to that awful and most 
 dangerous state of mind to the evil servant, Mi/ Lord dclaydk 
 /lis coniina-. 
 
 But is there not too great a dread of things that may be new 
 TO us. If they be really contained in the word of God, they 
 are still the zcaij to stand w, and the old paths. Jer, vi. 16. 
 Observe how our [289] Lord makes it the very mark of everr/ 
 scribe -ahich is imtructed unto the kingdom of heaven, ihai he is like 
 tirito a man zcho is an householder, xiliich bringeth forth out of his 
 treasure thi/igs nezc and old. Provided, then, that we forsake 
 not, but bring the old as well as the new out of our treasure, 
 the 13ible, (let both cautions be attended to,) we may be, and 
 are, instructed scribes unto the kingdom of heaven. It is no 
 jjroof of Christian wisdom, or maturity of knowledge, to have 
 remained stationary for many years in our views of the truth, 
 without either growth or enlargement. Searching the scrip- 
 tures implies an increasing acquaintance with divine truth; 
 and we are charged not only to beware, lest wc fall from our 
 steadfastness, but also to grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ; and both are connected together. 
 
 The account of the judgment, in the 25th of INIatthew, has 
 been considered as conclusive against a premillennial advent, 
 and the first resurrection. The observations already made on 
 this chapter, may shew that there is no ground for such a con- 
 clusion. The grouping together of events, distant in the eye 
 of man, only confirms the deep wisdom of that earnest caution 
 of the apostle, (2 Peter iii. S,) the neglecfof which must lead 
 to constant error. The chief end, in these varied parables of 
 our Lord, is to place in close.and strong contrast the diflerent 
 results, and those final and everlasting, of faith and unbelief, of 
 wickedness and righteousness. Details, then, are introduced 
 only so far as they bear on this end. Thus, in the first parable, 
 of the servant waiting for his Lord, (Matt. xxiv. 42 — 51,) 
 ministers are taught the importance of giving out their Mas- 
 ter's [290] food, to the church his family, in due season, on 
 account of the uncertain time of their Lord's return. In the 
 next, of the ten virgins, (Matt. xxv. 1 — 13,) the church at 
 large, in its successive generations, is taught ever to be in \x 
 state of similar expectation of that event. In the third — of the 
 talents, (Matt. xxv. 14 — 30) — its delay for some time, and the 
 account to be given by every member of the church, living or 
 dead, for the use, meanwhile of their talents and spiritual pri- 
 66* 
 
J94 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 vileges, are fully set forth. In this last — of the sheep and 
 goats — rising still in width and majesty, our Lord presents the 
 final and universal judgment, and its simple and solemn test, 
 the possession or want of works of charity, the fruits of faith, 
 and that living faith which works by love. Two opposite mis- 
 takes are to be guarded against — one which refers the whole 
 to the close, and the other to the beginning, of the millennium. 
 First, of the former, as more general. There is no notice 
 ^vhatever of any millennium previous to this judgment, nor 
 indeed any room for it. From the desolation, (xxiv, 15,) and 
 the time of great tribulation, (ver. 21,) to the appearing of the 
 sign of the Son of INIan, (ver. 30,) and the gathei'ing of the 
 elect to his presence, (ver. 31 ; 2 Thess. ii. 1,) througliout these 
 parables, to this last of judgment, all continues without interval 
 or pause. Without violence to the whole, wc cannot interpose 
 a millennium of rest. Again, all included in this judgment, 
 are tried on the ground of their treatment'of Christ, suffering 
 in the person of others. But, during the millennium, those 
 sufferings are ended. Christ, whether in letter or spirit, is 
 then confessedly reigning, and not suffering. The judgment, 
 then, can only include those who have lived [291] before that 
 time. Others, to escape from this error, have been led to as- 
 sign the whole to the judgment of the quick at our Lord's 
 coming. But the received interpretation seems here much 
 more natural and just, so far as it refers to the final judgment 
 of the dead in the great day of the Lord. The living nations 
 are not, then, all gathered outwardly before Christ, (Isa. Ixvi. 
 19,) and the sentence then inflicted on the rebellious, is death, 
 and not final judgment. Isa. Ixvi. 16; xxxiv. 2. Rev.xix.21. 
 The full power and spiritual glory of the parable seems thus to 
 be obscured. The true and full view seems to be that which 
 makes it include the resurrection of the just at the beginning, 
 and the unjust at the close of the millennial day. It is thus 
 parallel with the whole of Rev. xx., which is only a fuller ac- 
 count of the same judgment. The gathering of all the nations 
 before the Judge, appears, by comparing other scriptures, to 
 denote the resurrection. "God is not the God of the dead, but 
 of the living." Death is separation from his presence — the 
 resurrection, a recall to that j)resence. And thus, even the 
 second death, as following a resurrection, is said to be "in tlie 
 presence of the Lamb." Rev. xiv. 10. This gathering 
 answers, then, to Psalm i. 5; 1, 5. 2 Thess. ii. 1, and to the 
 Apostle's statement — "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, (or 
 company,) Christ the first fruits, afterwards they that are 
 Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end." Thus our 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I93 
 
 Lord declares, tliat "He will separate them one from another, 
 as a sheplierd dividelh the sheep from the jj;oats. ]Min<;Ied in 
 the dust hy death, wherein one event happeneth to all, they 
 that are Christ's shall rise at liis coming; and the separation 
 [292] is the blessedness and holiness of tlie fii'st resui-rection. 
 liut for the purpose of clearly enforcing the great issues of 
 judgment, our Lord brings into close contrast the acts of the 
 morning and evening (to use Mede's words, founded on scrip- 
 ture, Psalm Ixix. 14. Zech. xiv. 7,) of that great judgment- 
 day. Further details would only have broken the solemn 
 impression of the truth, taught in this account of the last judg- 
 ment. We are not to expect tlic same truths in every part of 
 tlie word of God; different parts have distinct objects, it 
 is enough that all its truths are in harmony. It is so here. 
 The work of acquittal and mercy, which is our Lord's delight, 
 is first in order; afterwards follows the sentence of wrath, 
 which is his strange work: and as scripture everywhere as- 
 signs the coming of our Lord to the beginning of the time of 
 blessedness, while the giving up of the kingdom is at the close 
 of the millennium, and thus fixes the millennium to be tiiat 
 day of the Lord in which he will judge the world in right- 
 eousness, we follow the current of God's word, as well as the 
 deep instincts of a heart and conscience renewed in love after 
 the image of Christ, in assigning the sentence of reward and 
 mercy, to the morning, and the sentence of condemnation and 
 wrath, to the evening, of that great and terrible day. (Mede, 
 Ep. 66, p. 141.)^ 
 
 » This view seems confirmed by the di>ii_nciion, usually overlooked, belveen 
 the grounds of accepiance and condemnation. The words on the former arc, 
 '■•inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren;'' in the latter 
 simply, "inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these.'" Does not 
 this omission, which cannot be without a cause, suggest strongly, that in the 
 latter case the words refer to the v\'icked themselves'? And may we not thus 
 learn, that each company as it statyls separately before the Judge, contains 
 within itself ihe full test of its acceptance and its rejection, the righteous in 
 their own mutual and brotherly love, the wicked in their own mutual hateful- 
 ness and hairedl (Titus iii. '3. Prov. viii. 30. Luke xvi. 2S.) The word 
 these recurring v. 4tj, confirms this idea. And if so, what a solemnand deep 
 view it gi\'es, even on the judgment itself, of the love of Christ our Saviour, 
 vko gat-e himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. The S(;n of Mnn, 
 the express image of his heavenly Father, who sendeth rain on the just and the 
 unjust — has taken oiU" nature upon him. and is Lord of all, both good and bad; 
 so that neglect of any human being. He regards as the neglect of himself. 
 The course of judgment \vill thus be a growing exhibition of his love, first to 
 the righteous, the brethren of Christ, and then even to the unbelieving, who 
 know not God, (2 Thess. i.) as the God of love; and will thus intensely display 
 the holy, gracious, and glorious perlections of Jehovah our Saviour. " And let 
 none conceive that the parable in general, or the above view of the closing 
 sentence, either infringes on the freeness of salvation, or sets up a deceitful 
 standard of mere outward benevolence. It is "the day in which God will 
 judge the secrets of the hearts by Christ Jesus.'' And the common test lies in 
 th(5se living works of charity which can flow only, and flow necessarily, 
 
igQ A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 [293] The order of the words in vcr. 46 has been thought 
 to oppose the above view. A little reflection \vill shew that 
 supposing that view to be just, the continuity is really less 
 Ijroken than it would be if the two clauses were inverted. 
 Besides, there is a relief to the solemn truth, by presenting last 
 the [294] blessedness of the righteous. But perhaps a simple 
 comparison with Rev. xx. and xxi. supplies the fullest answer. 
 We have first the reward of the first resurrection, answering 
 to 33 — 40: then the judgment (Rev. xx. 12. Isaiah xl. xlii.;) 
 and sentence of the unrighteous, its execution (Rev. xx. 15, 
 and 46',) and then, finally? the completed blessedness of the 
 righteous, (Rev. xxi. 3, 4,) when every trace of the curse is 
 done away, and their eyes can rest on a redeemed universe. 
 
 Let not, however, ditlerences of opinion; — let not the ob- 
 scurity of unfulfilled prophecy, or the impossibility of con- 
 ceiving how it can take place, stumble any mind. Some of 
 the prophecies, which, before fulfilment, wore dark, apparently 
 contradictory, and of inipracticable accomplishment, were, in 
 the fulfilment, harmoniously and exactly realized; and so we 
 may be sure it will be in this glorious hope of the church.* It 
 stands clearly and brightly displayed in the pages of the Bible; 
 and no part of it shall fail. Nor have any events that have yet 
 
 from a lively faith, just as the tree is known by its fniils. That faith in 
 the grace of the judge, 'is weak at least, if not suspicious, which desires ex- 
 emption frovh his judgment. Or if it seem hard to any to conceive the Lord's 
 condemnation of the wicked to rest on his love towards them, as his creatures, 
 the words of Luther may weigh with them — "The love which flows out of a 
 pure heart is of this nature— God has commanded me that I should pour out 
 my love towards my neighbour, and favour all, whether they be friends or 
 enemies; even as our heavenly Father does, who causes his Sun to rise upon 
 the evil and the good, and thus does good, especially to those by whom He is 
 blasphemed day and night. And again, He giveth rain to the grateful and 
 ungrateful. And from what molivel From that pure love with which his 
 heart so fully abounds. And this is called true, divine, right, and perfect love, 
 'Which passes no one by to choose out another, but embraces all alike. The 
 other love proceeds from a heart that seeks only its own, and is full of the love, 
 not of others, but of itself" (See Luther's Select Works, vol. i. p. 519.) The 
 testimony of one who held so distinctly God's special love and electing grace, 
 may clearly shew us that this view does not set aside these doctrines. 
 
 * Bishop Horsley has manifested the wisdom and LovrNCi-KixDNEss of that 
 obscurity in which prophecy is veiled till fulfilled. He shews, that if prophecy 
 be really of divine original, a part of the contrivance must be a mysterious 
 disguise, by which the events of remote futurity, (such at least as depend on 
 the free actions of men) are kept in a measure concealed. "Hence it follows 
 that whatever private information the prophet might enjoy, the Spirit would 
 never permit him to disclose the ultimate intent and particular meaning of the 
 prophecy in the bare terms of the prediction." The conduct of our Lord 
 towards the Apostles may illustrate tliis observation. He conversed with his 
 disciples during the forty days that he was upon earth respecting the kingdom 
 of God; but very little of those conversations are recorded. They might be 
 needful for the Apostles themselves; but were not to be revealed to the church 
 at large, except in the obscurer form given in the book of Revelation. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. I97 
 
 taken place in the <j;eneral liope of tlic cluircli, at all corre- 
 sponded to the nature and blessedness of the Millennium set 
 [295] before us in the 20th of Kevclalion, or the general pros- 
 ])erity of Christ's kingdom set forth throughout the holy scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 There are various minuter points on which there docs not 
 appear to be the same light, which there is respecting the fact 
 of a first resurrection: as whether there be a visible appearance, 
 and visible reign of Christ and his saints, or an order in the 
 resurrection of the righteous, (Uan. xii. 3; 1 Cor. xv. 23), 
 and whether there be an earlier and special resurrection of 
 those w!io have suffered for Christ, (Rom. viii. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 
 11, 12; Rev. XX. 4; Phil. iii. 10, 11;) or whether, (as seems 
 from Rev. xi. IS,) all the servants and saints of Christ, small 
 and great, have their reward together; and on the general con- 
 fl;igration, it does not appear decisively, from any thing in St. 
 Peter's account, in what part of that day of judgment , (2 Peter 
 iii. 7.) the day of the Lord, which is us a thoKsand years, 
 (2 Peter iii. S,) it may take place: or whether there may not 
 be, as some have supposed, a partial fire at the beginning, (2 
 Thess. i. 7, 8; Rev. xix. 20,) and another more complete at 
 the close of that day. (Rev. xx. 9.) About the order of 
 events foretold, and in what part of that order the new heavens 
 and the new earth will take place, there is much of that ob- 
 scurity in ^vhich unfulfilled events arc purposely left.* 
 
 [296] The 19th chapter of Revelation reveals heaven open- 
 ed, and our Lord explicitly and by name, on the white horse, 
 coming personally to our earth! He comes to take vengeance 
 on his enemies, and it is here foretold in terms similar to those 
 which had been predicted before by Isaiah Ixiii. Th.e white 
 horse revealed (ch. vi. 2) in the first seal- has no such rider; 
 but jioints out the first providential triumph of the church: 
 (comp. Zech. vi. 2 — 5.) His,pcople are as his goodly horse in 
 
 * Tlic ai.uhor has on every account felt it to be his duty, as far as he had 
 opportunity to weigh the objections made againsi ihepra^millenia! Advent- and 
 lirst resurrection, by Hall, Whitby, Vitringa, Faber, lianiilton, Gipps, &c. 
 and dithculties which have arisen "in his own mind, and he cannot but jrive 
 his testimony that there is no plain scriptural argument which he can consider 
 as conclusive, against the personal Advent of Christ, before the millennium 
 and the resurrection of the saints at his coniinjr. Many of those which have 
 been judged to be objections, do in truth, tend, in his opinion, when carefully 
 wejglied, lo confirm this sentiment; other objections only relate to peculiar 
 views of individuals. It aY>pears to him, that we have loo much disresarded 
 on tlie point, the sentiments of the early fathers, which were valuable and 
 ■worthy of attention, renouncing, however, what was merely carnal either in 
 tiie views, or reputed views, of some of ihem. The general answers which 
 have been given to Whitby, by Rudd, Fleming, &c. and the writings of Mede, 
 Cuningharne, Abdiel's Essays, Begg, Anderson, Greswell and others, contain 
 answers to the objections, that make it unnecessary for him to enter fartlier 
 intc* the controversy. 
 
J 98 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 iht day of bailie. (Zech. x. 3.) We have in Rev. vi. 2. the 
 church of God in its militant state of purity and conquest. We 
 have in Rev. xix. 1 1, the "King of kings, and Lortl of Lords/' 
 distinctly named, and going forth at llic head of his armies, to 
 the overthrow of all his enemies. 
 
 A few GENERAL REMARKS ON the passagc in Revelation, 
 chapter xx. will now be added. 
 
 The passage alone reveals expressly the exact period of 
 1000 years, separating the first resurrection of the righteous 
 from the resurrection of the wicked, and so marks more dis- 
 tinctly the pause between the work of mercy and judgment, 
 but it is only one among many for the doctrine of tr.e reign of 
 the saints. 
 
 In the first three verses of the chapter all is simple narrative, 
 excepting the key, the chain, and the dragon. The dragon is 
 explained to mean the [297] devil; and authority and power 
 is given to one of God's ministering spirits 'to bind this prince 
 of darkness and seal him within the bottomless pit, his own 
 proper abode. Those who believe the general testimony of 
 God^s word concerning angels and evil spirits can have no dif- 
 ficulty here. 
 
 In V. 4, two symbols only pass before the Apostle's eye, 
 (sc^vswc) thrones and {^-jx--^^) souls. The throne, the seat of kings, 
 admits of no vague application to the peace, purity, and en- 
 largement of the church, but is the plain emblem of judicial 
 majesty and kingly power, exhibiting a glorious economy of 
 righteous judgment and royal dominion. This accords with 
 innumerable testimonies both of the Old and New Testament, 
 (Dan. vii. 18, 27; xii. 1; Psalm xlix. 14; cxlix.; 2 Thess. i. 
 6 — 10; Isaiah xxiv. 21; xxvi. 21; xxvii. 1; Luke xxii. 29;) 
 testifying of a visible and glorious dominion of righteousness, 
 to be set up on this earth. 
 
 The persons seated on these thrones are those armies of 
 heaven mentioned in the former chapter, who, clothed in white 
 garments, have followed the Lamb to the marriage supper, and 
 now share in his kingdom, and those who are called to join 
 tills general assembly and church of the first-born. Judgmeiil, 
 which denotes receiving or dispensing rewards or punishments, 
 is given to them. (Psalm Ixxii. 1; Isaiah xxxii. 1; Psalm 
 cxlix.) This word has no uncertain meaning, but speaks of 
 the faithful, true, and righteous judgment, (Rev. xix. 11; xi. 
 IS; vi. 11; 2 Thess. i. 5 — 7,) in God's graciously giving re- 
 ward to his servants, who has suffered for his name, and exalting 
 the meek and martyred, to the office of kingly authority and 
 righteous dominion, [298j It is to wrest the judgment of the 
 poor in their cause, (Exodus xxiii. 6,) to pervert this promise 
 
TO THE rPvOPHECIES. ](j(j 
 
 from its purpose of comfort to the persecuted and suflering 
 saints of God, in favour of others who have known no perse- 
 cution and endured no sulTering. 
 
 Tlie term ^v^*;, rendered souls, seems employed by the Holy 
 Spirit purposely to fix the meaning. Three terms are employ- 
 ed to denote the constitution of man, -ni-j^uci spirit, 4=';t>' soul, and 
 and 3-4,«* body, (1 Thess. v. 23.) Where sameness of charac- 
 ter, or common principles, pervading a class or body of men 
 are intended, Tnvua, or spirit, is employed. (Luke ix. 55', 1 
 Cor. vi. 17; Ephes. iv, 4; 1 Cor. xiv. 32; 1 John iv. 1; Rom, 
 viii. 15.) It is the term employed when gifts of federal bless- 
 ing to the church, and not personal rewards to its several 
 members, are announced. Rev. xi. 11. If a figurative resur- 
 rection of principles and not of persons had been designed, the 
 word 7rvrjy.:t would Certainly liavc been used. The term -Iv^i is 
 used with the same constancy to denote what in each man is 
 distinctively personal, and therefore the subject of reward or 
 punishment. Mark viii. 36; Matt. xvi. 26,^27; x. 39; Rom. 
 ii. 9; 1 John iii. 16. We are thus assured that when the vision 
 speaks of the souls of them that were slain for the word of 
 God, it brings no message of vicarious blessings which Chris- 
 tians dwelling at ease are to receive as it were, by proxy, for 
 the saints martyred of old, but of God's faithfulness and truth 
 in rewarding with personal glory his once afilicted and suffer- 
 ing servants. 
 
 The passage in Rev. vi. 9 — 11 confirms this. In the sacri- 
 fices of the law, which were shadows of things in heaven, the 
 blood of the sin-oflcring was poured [299] out at the bottom 
 of the altar, and so the apostle in spirit here beholds the blood 
 of the martyred saints poured out beneath the heavenl}- altar, 
 and their cry for vengeance and retribution is heard ascending 
 to the righteous Judge. Though the blood be a symbol, it is 
 not a symbol, but a truth, tha^ their cry does thus ascend, and 
 that each is marked before him for reward and glory, but it is 
 delayed till the number of the sufferers be full, on the sounding 
 of the seventh angel, (Rev. xi. IS.) In Rev. xx. 4, we have the 
 same souls of tlie martyred, but their cry has ceased, and they 
 live and reign. how far is it then from the truth that the 
 martyrs and their rewards arc symbolic, to be answered by 
 their blood remaining unavenged, and a peaceful unsuffering 
 church succeeding in their stead! We want faith in the ac- 
 count of the righteous judgment which is outstanding against 
 the world, and only delayed by the long-suffering of God. 
 
 The particularity of Griesbach's readings of Rev. vi. 11, is 
 wortliy of attention; s/oSx ki/t:/.-, w«!rTa! «-T:wf >.tuK;), — there was given 
 to tjiem, to each one, a white robe. He gives each a several 
 
200 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 token of his love, and an earnest of gloiy. The term, cnmi;, 
 (Rev. XX. 4.) joined with the pronoun, avrw previously used, 
 shews that it is the slain ones themselves whom the apostle 
 stales to have lived and reigned, and that the glory includes all 
 who have escaped the brand of apostacy; it should have been 
 included in the translation thus: and ichosoever had ?iot zcorship- 
 ped the beast. 
 
 The words lived a?id reigned remar]ia.h\y correspond to those 
 of the apostle. "If we be dead with him, we shall also live 
 with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him;" and oh, 
 let us remember the annexed [300] warnings against denying 
 him, and against unbelief! 1 Tim. ii, 11 — 13. 
 
 But, they lived, and the rest of the dead lived not. The dead 
 are plainly divided into two classes, of which one was now- 
 raised, and the other after the thousand years were ended. It 
 cannot refer to the cixoittoi; of the former chapter, for those are 
 living at the time they are described asthejemnant. Rev. xix. 
 21. The two classes in Rev. xix. are described as sharers in 
 guilt and punishment; but the two classes in Rev. xx, are con- 
 trasted — one as rewarded, and the other as punished. The 
 first resurrection must then be literal. The term vw^i? clearly 
 means the naturally dead, (Rev. xx. 12,) and the same class as 
 the rest of the dead, and therefore means the naturally dead, 
 (v. 5.) The first class then again, (Rev. xx. 4) must have been 
 the subjects of a natural death and a natural resurrection. 
 
 The individuality of verse 6, "Blessed and holy is he that 
 hath part in the fiirst resurrection," also excludes a figurative 
 meaning. 
 
 These remarks furnish but a part of the proof which make 
 it, in my mind, impossible that a spiritual and figurative resur- 
 rection, or any other than one real and literal, can be here in- 
 tended by the Holy Spirit. may we more dread wresting 
 the promises of God, and slighting the great charter of the 
 hopes of the first-born, than all the taunts or mockery of men. 
 
 While some have supposed that the day of the Lord as a 
 thousand years, is an indefinite period, others have considered 
 it as symbolical of 300,000 years. But it corresponds with 
 the gracious purposes of God to guard his church from despon- 
 dency, by [301] giving the time of suffering in veiled num- 
 bers, and to animate her with hope by giving the time of pe- 
 culiar and special reward in explicit and plain statements. On 
 this ground, on the general harmony of tiie time with God's 
 Dispensations, on the express statement of St. Peter, expound- 
 ing the day of the Lord as meaning a thousand years; and 
 believing that the word jtcc is not used symbolically, or for a 
 larger period than a year (the word translated year, Rev. ix. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. OQl 
 
 15, is iviAVT.v), we may consider 1000 years to be the exact time 
 of the millennium. 
 
 Respecting the period of the creation of the new 
 HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH, a few farther remarks may be 
 made. It has been shewn, in the scriptural account of time, 
 that the day of the Lord is a period probably of 1000 years. 
 The scriptures give several testimonies to the last fire, and the 
 new heavens and the new earth, which should be compared to- 
 gether, in order to obtain a full and harmonious view of God's 
 purposes. 
 
 It appears, from Isa. Ixv. 17, that the new heavens and the 
 new earth are connected with the restoration of the Jews, and 
 their living in the flesh upon earth. It appears, from 2 Peter 
 iii. 13, that tiiis new heavens and new earth are connected with 
 the burning of the earth; and it appears, from Rev. xxi. l,that 
 there shall be ?iu more sea, is connected with this new heaven 
 and new earth; but there is a sea, both symbolically and lite- 
 rally, to the close of the millennium. Rev. xx. 8. We may 
 hence gather that these three accounts give us a view of the 
 commencement, progress, and completion of the new heavens 
 and the new earth. When completed, and not till then, there 
 is no more sea. 
 
 [302] It appears, from Isaiah 11. 16, that while God is plant- 
 ing the heavens, and laying the foundations of the earth, the 
 Jews, having his word in their mouth, will be covered in the sha- 
 dow of his hand; the saints also will, at the coming of the Lord, 
 be caught up together with him, to meet the Lord in the air. 
 It appears also that others of tiie nations, (Isaiah Ixvi. 15 — 19. 
 Rev. xxi. 21.) will escape in this fearful conflagration. But 
 let us not rest in the mere visible outside view of these things. 
 The great and spiritual change which God purposes hereby to 
 eflect is the point of chief importance. The visible, though real, 
 must be viewed as the indication of the invisible; the new hea- 
 vens, of the lieavenly things 'attained by redemption, and the 
 saints shining as "the brighness of the firmament, and as the stars 
 for ever and ever;"' and the new earth, though real, as the in- 
 dication of tlie righteous nation of Israel, and at length of the 
 universal righteousness which shall cover the world. We 
 make it little more than a matter of curiosity, if we rest in the 
 outside changes; we rise to the spiritual use and edification, by 
 seeing the lessons which that outward change is designed to 
 give us, of the real blessedness of holiness and entire con- 
 formity to God's will. 
 
 Tiiere are some original and valuable remarks on the mil- 
 lennium, in the Essays of the Rev. H. Woodward. In an- 
 swer to the objection of the impossibility of the recurrence of 
 
 VOL. II. — 07 
 
202 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 evil and opposition to God, after a long reign of righteousness, 
 he shews the force of the law of opinion, and that the peculiar 
 characteristic of that period will be that the law of opinion will 
 then be on the side of holiness and of God; it being a state in 
 which righteousness is ascendant, [303] and in which multi- 
 tudes may outwardly conform, though not reconciled in heart 
 and mincl to the hoi}' and happy order of things. He shews 
 how inapplicable the scriptures of the New Testament, written 
 for a tempted and suffering church, are to this state of things, 
 and thence draws an argument for the personal advent of our 
 Lord on earth, to open the very fountain from which the 
 scriptures themselves have flowed, by which new streams may 
 issue forth to water a renovated world, and make glad the city 
 of God. From the promises of the Old Testament having been 
 the hope of the church in all ages, he thinks it likely that they 
 who have thus hoped, in past ages, shall through the first resur- 
 rection really share in the blessed fulfilment. He observes that 
 there is a striking connection between tlie enlarged gift of the 
 Spirit and the visible exhibition of the Saviour's glor}^; the Spi- 
 rit's manifested power increasing precisely with the manifesta- 
 tions of Christ. He also slates how the doctrine of the personal 
 appearance of Christ with all his saints, clears up many difficul- 
 ties which the actual state of the world presents to the mind, and 
 gives a scheme calculated to vindicate the ways of Providence, 
 and shew that this world will not always be left without a ruler 
 and leader, whose voice none can misinterpret. From the 
 usurpation of an infallible priesthood in Popery, and from the 
 superhuman attributes usually ascribed to monarchs, he gathers 
 the general sense of mankind that their case requires some 
 superhuman power; that deep attachment of heart once given 
 to men, shall at length, as justly due, be given to the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ. 
 
 Having now, then, cleared our way through the difficulties 
 of this very important hope of the church [304] of Christ, let 
 us rise above these mists of controversy, and view the subject 
 in the way which the apostles set it before us. ''Looking for 
 that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God 
 and our Saviour Jesus Christ:" Titus ii. 13. "our convei-sation 
 is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it 
 may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;" Phil. iii. 20. 
 "we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a 
 new earth wherein dvvelieth righteousness.'^ 2 Peter iii. 13. 
 let not the differences of Christians keep us from this wait- 
 ing state of mind; this blessed hope; this heavenly conversa- 
 tion; this glorious prospect. It is a reality; there is for 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 203 
 
 Christ's waiting people a crown of life and glor}-; there is a 
 kingdom of light and love, and joy and blessedness; the Sa- 
 viour will rclurn, and that speedily, and raise his expecting 
 peojile to be with hini for ever. We shall not be ashamed of 
 our hope. It will exceed our largest thoughts. Brethren in 
 Ciirist, let us now be faithful to Christ; let us now confess him 
 in the midst of the inlidel world ! let us now be willing to suffer 
 for his sake. The day of suffering is short, the day of glory- 
 is one eternal day. It approaches, it is at the door. Let us, 
 like the racer, eagerly hasten for the prize; let us "be diligent, 
 that we may be found of him in peace, without spot and blame- 
 less." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF CIIRIST. 
 
 [305] It is a just remark of Dr. Pye Smith, that "the pro- 
 phecies respecting the kingdom of the Messiah, its extension 
 and duration, and the happiness of his innumerable subjects, 
 are in a much greater proportion than those which describe his 
 humiliation to sufferings, and his dreadful death." 
 
 Indeed the universal reign of the triumphant Messiah, to 
 the glory of God, is the grand result of God's dispensations. 
 "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which 
 is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the 
 glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 10, 11. 
 
 Tlie nature of the kingdom of Christ is a subject, then, of 
 intense interest, and calls for distinct consideration. It has 
 various aspects and circumstan'ccs; but still in all its forms the 
 nature of tliis kingdom is substantially the same in its princi- 
 ]i1e and character at all times. It is the reign of God over his 
 creature man, — his supreme ascendancy over the heart, — and 
 man's entire, willing, and joyful submission to him, and holy, 
 filial, and happy communion with him. [306] INIan is by na- 
 ture under the bondage of sin and Satan, alienated from God, 
 and at enmity with him. When a man is born again of water 
 and of the Spirit, he sees the kingdom of God, and enters into 
 it. Satan is resisted and dethroned — self is subdued, and God's 
 will is our rule, our will, and our joy. This kingdom is with- 
 in, and its blessings are ri^hleousucss, peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is, in the absence of Christ, the 
 great administrator of this kingdom. 
 
204 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 However different the extent and outward form of the king- 
 dom; however great its ultimate triumph and glories, this is 
 still its peculiar feature and character — God, the Saviour, reign- 
 ing supreme in the heart of the once alienated and rebellious 
 sinner; and all dispensations are but hastening on the more 
 fully this great result, over all the earth. 
 
 The just view of the church of Christ now is that of a king- 
 dom; and the person and character of the King gives unspeak- 
 able, universal and everlasting importance and glory to this 
 kingdom. He is God's only begotten Son, one with God from 
 the beginning, and yet he was made flesh, and dwelt among us, 
 and so has brought our nature into union with God. Thus, 
 through this King, there is restored again to a fallen race, in 
 this day of salvation, liberty of access to God, and delightful 
 communion with him, as our Almighty Father. God the Fa- 
 ther communicates through God the Son, to all that ask, his 
 own Holy Spirit, and thus gives us the unspeakable blessed- 
 ness of adoption into the divine family, enabling us to cry, 
 Abba, Father. This is the kingdom of God in its beginning 
 on earth; we are admitted into it outwardly by baptism, a 
 means and pledge of its inward blessings. [307] We partake 
 of those blessings by regeneration, through faith, and so are 
 inade meet here, in the varied dispensations of providence 
 and grace, for the inheritance of the saints in light. All other 
 kingdoms arc subject to our King, for "all power in heaven 
 and earth is given to him," and he will finally be m.anifested to 
 be "King of kings and Lord of lords. By him kings reign 
 and princes decree justice." 
 
 The names of this kingdom are varied; it is called the K'mg- 
 dom of God,^' as he is the Originator and Author, and his glory 
 its great object; the kingdom of heaven, as it is heavenly in its 
 origin and principles; it comes down from heaven, and tends 
 
 * There is a very elaborate excursus by Koppe, on the phrase the Kingdom 
 of God,, in which he goes through all the principal passages, containing the 
 phrase in the New Testament, whether spoken before the birth of Christ, or 
 by Christ himself, in his life, or his Apostles afterwards, and shews that they 
 must not be understood merely of the Christian religion or church, or of the 
 spiritual and invisible power by which Christ defends his church on earth, 
 but of a kingdom yet to be set up by the Messiah. He first states that the Apos- 
 tles adopted the phrase from the sacred writings, and the familiar discourses 
 of the Jews, and refers to Psalm ii. xlv. ex. Isaiah ix. xi. xxv. 8. xxviii. 5. 
 xlii. xlix. 6. lii. liii. Jer. xxiii. 5, G. xxx. xxxi. xxxiii. 15. Ezek. xvii. 22. xxix. 
 21. xxxvii. 24. Hosea iii. 5. Micah iv. v. Zech. iii. 8. vi. 12. ix. 9. xiv. 9. 
 Mai. iii. 1. Dan. ii. 44. vii. 1.3, 14. ix. 24 — 27. He shews that from these pre- 
 dictions, the Jews expected that the future king, or Messiah, was to restore 
 the true worship of Jehovah, from which men in former ages had all gone 
 astray; to strengthen their minds that they may keep it fast; to reform their 
 conduct, expiate the sins of his people, and to suffer much, being neglected by 
 the greater part of his nation; nevertheless that the same Messiah, sustained 
 by divine power, should with splendour and majesty truly royal and divine, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 205 
 
 to unite earth and heaven; it is the kingdom of Christ, as he is 
 the reigning Monarcli; and the kingdom of [SOS] Israel, as the 
 Jews are to have a pre-eminence arising from the glory of their 
 king, (Isa. lix. 20, 21, and Ix.); and the everlasting kingdom, as 
 the happiness of those belonging to it will endure for ever. 
 
 From the very beginning, the scri|)ture prophecies, not ob- 
 scurely intimate this kingdom, in such predictions as these — 
 "the seed of the woman sJiall bruise the head of the serpent:" 
 (Gen. iii. 15.) "in thee and thy seed shall all the kingdoms of 
 the earth be blessed:" xxii. IS. "unto him shall the gathering 
 of the people be:" xlix. 10. "out of Jacob shall come he that 
 sliall have dominion." Num. xxiv. 19. 
 
 In the Psalms of David, and in the promises made to him, 
 we have a clear developement of this kingdom. See 2 Sam. 
 vii. 10—16; Psalm Ixxxix. 3, 4, 29, 36, 37; Psalm ii. Ixxii. 
 ex. &c. &c. These promises assured the throne of Israel to 
 David's posterity for ever, by the strongest possible confirma- 
 tion; and shew that his seed would be the long-promised and 
 expected Messiah. 
 
 In the Prophets we have a still farther display of the glories 
 and extent of the same kingdom. See Isaiah xxxii. Ix. &c.; 
 and it was still assured to David's seed, "If ye can break my 
 covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that 
 there should not be day and niglit in their season, then may 
 also my covenant be broken with David, my servant, that he 
 should not have a son to reign ujion his throne." Jer. xxxiii. 
 20, 21. 
 
 But through the sins of Israel, the times of the Gentiles 
 were to come in, and a suspension of the actual reign of any 
 kings, till the Messiah should come, was foretold. When the 
 throne was overturned in the person of Zedekiah, Ezekiel was 
 commissioned [309] to utter this memorable prediction against 
 that last reigning king of Judah: "Remove the diadem, and 
 take off the crown; this shall not be the same. Exalt him that 
 is low, and abase him that is higli: I will overturn, overtui'n, 
 overturn, and it sliall be no more, until he come whose right it 
 is, and I will give it him." Ezek. xxi. 26. 
 
 When our Lord was about to be born, the promise was by 
 the angel directly applied to him as his right, "The Lord God 
 shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he 
 
 govern his people, make war against their enemies, and free them from the 
 yoke of a foreign power, and at length claim the empire of the world (in 
 which the Romans then boasted) for his own nation; along with tlie setting up 
 of the Mesisiah's kingdom, the Jews expected the end of the present condition 
 of human beings, and the resurrection of the pious from the dead. See Koppe 
 on "^hessalonians, and Investigator, vol. ii. p. 208. 
 67* 
 
206 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his king- 
 dom there shall be no end." Luke i. 32, 33. 
 
 That these promises yet remain to be chiefly fulfilled, we 
 judge from the following considerations, — 1. Christ has never 
 sat on the throne of David. — 2. He has never reigned over 
 the house of Jacob.* — 3. Daniel predicts that his kingdom 
 should be established on the ruins of the ten kingdoms of the 
 Roman Empire, (Dan. ii. 42 — 44.) — 4. The Apostles were 
 told, that the time for restoring the kingdom to Israel was re- 
 served in the Father's power. — 5. All Clirist's disciples have 
 daily to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on 
 earth as it is in heaven." 
 
 There is, however, a preparatory and spiritual kingdom 
 already established. Our Lord tells llie Jews again and again, 
 "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." He compares it to "a 
 field where tares and wheat [310] grow together till harvest." 
 Matt. xiii. 30. He warned them: "the kingdom of God shall 
 be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the 
 fruits thereof," xxi. 43. When men are truly converted, they 
 are said to be "delivered from the kingdom of darkness, and 
 translated into the kingdom of. God's dear Son," Col. i. 13. 
 We must not therefore lose sight of this spiritual kingdom. 
 It is the bud before the flower. It is the growing of the seed 
 before the harvest. It is the preparatory state of the king- 
 dom; but it is not the power — it is not the full glory of the 
 kingdom. ' 
 
 Of the origin of his kingdom our Lord speaks, when in an- 
 swer to the question of Pilate, "Art thou the King of the 
 Jews?" he replies, "My kingdom is not of this world — now 
 is my kingdom not from hence:" and when asked again, "Art 
 thou a king?" Jesus answered, "Thou sayest that I am a king, 
 to this end was I born; and for this cause came 1 into the world, 
 that I should bear witness of the truth." John xviii. 33 — 37. 
 His kingdom is not of this world, but heavenly in its origin, 
 in its support, in its end; the death of the Lord ended it not, 
 for he rose, and ascended, and reigns on his Father's throne, 
 till he returns in the glory of his Father, and proves by his 
 divine majesty visibly to all, that his kingdom is of different 
 principles and character from those of this world. 1 Tim. vi. 
 12—16. 
 
 * The Jews rejected our Lord when he first came (Luke xvii. 25.) and hi.s 
 shining as lightning from one part under heaven to the other, was to be after that 
 (verse 24). A period is predicted, when they shall see him again, and shall 
 say. Blessed is he that covielh in the name of the Lord. Matt, xxiii.39. It is ad- 
 milted, that we know little of the way in which Christ shall reign over them; 
 but we have seen nothing yet that meets the plainness and fulness of the pro- 
 mises. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 207 
 
 Of the spiritual kingdom he tells the Pliarisees, it comethnot 
 iL-ith observation, but was then in the midst of them; while he 
 tells his disciples in private, on the same occasion, they should 
 desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and yet 7iol see it, and 
 they need not go after those saying, See here, or see there, for 
 the Son of man in his day should be visible, even [311] as 
 "the lightning that ligiUenelh out of the one part under heaven 
 and shineth unto the other part under heaven." 
 
 The code of laws, as it were, regulating this spiritual king- 
 dom, were given by our Lord in his sermon on the Mount. 
 The anticipations of sufl'ering, sacrifice and self-denial are 
 everywhere set before tiie disciples, and the full recompense 
 of reward only hereafter. Sorrow and tribulation are pointed 
 out as the present path of the Christian. For the sake of the 
 world, the day of vengeance on the wicked (as well as the day 
 of glory for the righteous) is deferred. 
 
 There is a remarkable difference to be observed between our 
 Lord's statements of the kingdom of heaven at the beginning, 
 and at the close of his ministry. At the beginning of his 
 ministry he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matt. iv. 
 17.) and so when he sent out the disciples they were to preach, 
 the kingdom cf God is come iiigh unto you. Luke x. 11. But as 
 his ministry drew to its close, on his last journey to Jerusalem, 
 he checked tiieir hopes that the kingdom of God should immedi- 
 ately appear, and told them of his previous absence and return 
 from a far country, (Luke xix. 11, 12.) and that the kingdom 
 should not be 7?/^'7i till the times of the Gentiles had been fulfilled. 
 Luke xxi. 21 — 31. Thus, on his resurrection he deferred also 
 iheir hopes to a distant period. Acts i. 6 — S. Indeed, till 
 the Jews had rejected their true Lord and King, the kingdom 
 could not be said to be tar off; as their rejection became more 
 marked, the delay in the full establishment of the kingdom was 
 made more plain. Yet our Lord still left, as we may see in 
 his expression respecting John's tarrying till he came, (John 
 XX. 21.) no clear ligbt as to the lengthened delay of his return, 
 lieiigelius [312] refers this expression to his receiving the 
 Apocalypse as a manifestation of Christ.* 
 
 The opposing statcuicnts harmonized also in this — the king- 
 dom 01' God in spirit was at hand; the trials, the conflicts, the 
 sacrifices were all near, and the spiritual blessings, gifts and 
 graces, and the ho])e of glory were all to be immediately en- 
 joyed by faith, 'i'he gift of the Holy Ghost, the striving to 
 enter, the ministers, the sacraments, the translation from the 
 kingdom of darkness, the labours of Christ, the seed-time of 
 
 • See also ihe author's notes on the e-'cpression, -I come,' in his Chief Con- 
 cer<is of Man, Ith edition, p. 246. 
 
2Q8 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 glory, the righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, the 
 one bond of love, these very elements and beginnings of the 
 future glory were all brought to them at his first coming. But 
 the VISIBLE KINGDOM OF GoD was distant, the crown of glory, 
 the recompense of reward, the reigning with Christ, was, for 
 infinitely wise, gracious, and holy ends, not to come soon. 
 
 But as the Jews lost sight of the Gentile election and spiri- 
 tual kingdom, predicted by their prophets, so Christians seem 
 to have lost sight of the visible kingdom of earth, yet to 
 come. Dan. vii. 27. 
 
 So far from disregarding the spiritual kingdom, many mo- 
 dern writers have thought that it is the only kingdom of Christ 
 on earth, and that the spiritual triumphs of the gospel before 
 the thousand years, and its full and universal success during 
 that period, is the full and only establishment of this kingdom 
 of Christ in this world. This was the author's view for a 
 lengthened period, till compelled by scriptural evidence, (as 
 has been alread}^ laid before the reader, under the head of the 
 coming of Christ) to abandon it as untenable. 
 
 [313] The instructions and jjarables of our Lord lead us to 
 think that, till his return, the church will be distinct from the 
 world; and that till then, there will be no universal reception 
 of his gospel. It is impossible, in the author's view, to har- 
 monize the various statements of scripture, and the expecta- 
 tions held out to believers through the epistles, of a kingdom 
 yet to come, on the system of a merely spiritual and universal 
 kingdom. 
 
 The remarkable question on this subject, put by the apostles 
 to our Lord, deserves particular attention. After he had been 
 speaking to them (Acts i.) during the forty days that he was 
 seen of them, of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, 
 their minds were so excited, that the very last question which 
 we read of their proposing to him before his ascension was, 
 "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
 Israel?"* His reply was, "It is not for you to know the 
 times or the seasons, which the Father hath put into his own 
 
 * The connection of the kingdom given to Israel, and the kingdom of God, 
 is brought before us here and in various Old Testament prophecies, though 
 the exact nature of the connection, and the identity or difference of these king- 
 doms, is yet veiled in the obscurity of unfnlliUed prophecy. It appears from 
 Isaiah, that after the Redeemer comes to Zion, (Isa. lix. 20. Rom. xi. 2G,) and 
 the glory of the Lord is risen upon her, the Gentiles shall come to her light, and 
 kings to the brightness of her risirig. The prophet declares /Ac abundance of 
 the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come imto thee; 
 and asserts, the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish, yea. those 
 nations shall be titter ly wasted, {haiah Ix. 5, 12;) and Zechnriah connects with 
 the coming of our Saviour and his saints, (Zech xiv. 8.) living valers going 
 forth from Jerusalem; and then the blessed trutli: The Lord shall be king over 
 
TO THE PkOPHECIES. . 209 
 
 power; but ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost 
 is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me," &c. 
 
 Our Lord's answer at first seems discouraging and darken- 
 ing to their hopes, and yet, like other apparently [314] dark 
 answers, it is full of profitable thoughts. The very darkness 
 may shew that he could not mean to speak of a /ncrclij spiritual 
 kingdom; there was no reason to withhold from them the fact 
 of tlie time and season of its commencement; that liad already 
 commenced, and of the increase of that he tells them expli- 
 citly in the promise which he, in his answer, gives, "of the 
 Holy Ghost coming upon them." 
 
 The very question is instructive. When we remember that 
 he had just been "opening their understanding to understand 
 the scriptures," (Luke xxiv. 45,) and conversing with them 
 "for forty days on the kingdom of God," (Acts i, 3.); it is 
 most improbable that they should still have had a visionary 
 notion about its establishment, or if they had, that at such a 
 moment he should have left them under the power of so se- 
 rious an error. 
 
 Tiic words, however, encourage their hopes; just as he had 
 done in the whole of his discourses, from the early promise, 
 Matt. v. 3, (see Psalm xxxvii.) to the fuller glory assured them, 
 Luke xxii. 29, 30. He says, the Father hath pat in his oicn 
 pozcer, the limes and seasons of restoring again the kingdom: then 
 might the apostles justly conclude, it will again be [315] re- 
 stored. It is similar to the answer given to the mother of Ze- 
 bedee's children; that the right and left hand seats in his king- 
 dom should be given to them for whom it was prepared of his 
 Father, (Matt. xx. 23.) 
 
 Infinite wisdom marks these replies. Look back. We stand 
 on the eminence of eighteen centuries. See what those centuries 
 have been, (feneration after generation. Apostles, INIartyrs, 
 Fatlicrs, Confessors, and Reformers have lived; view their 
 conflicts, labours, sufferings, persecutions, and cruel deaths. 
 
 all Ike earth, in that day; there shall be one Lord, and his name one. Zech. 
 XIV. 9. 
 
 We doubt not, whatever first-fruits may have been given, the fulness of these 
 promises is yet to flow in at the latter-day plory of the church. In another 
 place, our Lord connects the coming of the Son of Alan in a cloud, the redemp- 
 tion of his people drawing nish, and the kingdom of God being nigh at hand. 
 Luke xxi. 27, 28, 31. 
 
 An objection has been made by Archbi.>hop Whately to the temporal resto- 
 ration of the Jews, with pre-eminence above the Gentiles, from the parable of 
 the Labourers, (Matt. xx. 12 — IG.) each receiving,' the same sum. We must not 
 set aside plain predictions by a parable we dimly understand. Earthly privi- 
 leges may be given, with a pre-eminence and visible glory to the Jew; while 
 heavenly things may be the common privilege of Jew and Gentile. 
 
210 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 See the rise of Popery and Mahomedanism; the dark ages; 
 the reviving and quenching again of light; the struggles of in- 
 fant Protestantism, and its subsequent decay, and the spread of 
 infidelity over countries professedly Christian: oh! had the 
 apostles been plainly told all this, what needless despondency, 
 what heart-sinkings, must have overwhelmed them! ISOO 
 years of deferred expectation ; ISOO years of Israel's dispersion 
 and the treading down of Jerusalem; 1800 years to come of 
 the Gentile monarchies; with what wisdom this prolonged 
 scene of darkness and sorrow was kept from them, by the very 
 obscurity of the reply! while they were shewn at the same 
 time, that the kingdom would come at the precise period when 
 God the Father, infinite in wisdom and boundless in love, 
 should see to be best. 
 
 Our Lord manifestly designed that his church should never 
 be without the lively hope of his coming the second time. 
 That his church might have a waiting Spirit, and all the bene- 
 fits of a prepared, watchful, and hopeful state of mind, the 
 times of the kingdom were not fully revealed, even when the 
 [316] sealed book was given to the Lamb, and the seals opened 
 by him; the obscurity is only to be removed at the time of the 
 end, (Dan. xii. 4, 9; Rev. xxii. 10,) that thus the church might 
 ever pour out the fervent prayer, "This kingdom come; thy 
 will be done on earth as it is in heaven." 
 
 Our Lord's kingdom is then yet to be fully established. 
 It may be well to make this still clearer; for the power and 
 coming of our Lord to establish such a kingdom, was esteemed 
 of old a aamwgly-flevised fable, (2 Peter i. 16,) and has been 
 too much lost sight of. 
 
 Our Lord tells his disciples, "The Son of Man shall come 
 in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall 
 reward every man according to his works;" language that can 
 only be applied to his second personal and visible coming. He 
 then immedately proceeds expressly to assure his disciples, 
 (Matt. xvi. 27, 28,) thai some stajidhig with him should ?wt taste 
 of death till they had seen the "Son of man coming in his king- 
 dom," or (as Mark ix. 1,) the "kingdom of God come with 
 power;" and then six days after, (Matt. xvii. 1, &c.) he takes 
 Peter, James, and John i?ito a high mountain apart, and is trans- 
 figured before tliem, — his face shines as the sun, — his raiment is 
 white as the light, — Jlloses and Elias appear u-ith him in glory, and 
 speak of his decease, his disciples witness these things, — and 
 Peter says, it is good to be here. Then a cloud overshadows 
 them, and a voice is heard from it, "This is my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." 
 
 We have here then the liveliest display of the coming of 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 211 
 
 Christ's kingdom with power, of which wc can at present form 
 a conception. This view is [317] greatly confirmed by the 
 allusion of St. Peter to it. After exhorting Christians (2 
 Peter i. 11,) to every excellence by the animating motive — 
 "so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into 
 the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ," he tells 
 them, (verses 16 — 19,) "we have not followed cunningly- 
 devised fables, when we made known unto you the power 
 and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses 
 of his majesty; for he received from God the Father honour 
 and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the ex- 
 cellent glory — This is my beloved Son, in wdiom 1 am well 
 pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, 
 when we were with him in the holy mount; we have also a 
 more sure word of prophecy, whereunto yc do well to take 
 heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day 
 dawn, (or shine out,) and tlie day-star arise in your hearts." 
 The power and coming cannot be applied here merely to the 
 iTiiraclcs of his first coming, when he came, not in majesty, but 
 in humiliation; they are connected by Peter, not with those, 
 but with his transfigured and glorious body on the Mount, and 
 the glorified bodies of Moses and Elijah appearing with him; 
 his coming, in fact, "in the glory of his Fatlicr with his an- 
 gels," (Matt. xvi. 27,) as is indeed more fully set forth in the 
 3d chapter of 2nd Peter. 
 
 Again, it is not till the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, 
 that there are great voices in heaven saying, "The kingdoms 
 of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ, and he shall reign for ever." Rev. xi. 15. 
 
 The return of our Lord is the season of the full esta- 
 blishment of his kingdom. It takes place at the coming of 
 Christ, (Dan. vii. 13, 14, with Matt. xxvi. [318] 64; 2 Tim. 
 iv. 1;) but this could not be at J.he birth of our Saviour, nor at 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, for there was no judgment in, or 
 destruction of, the Roman empire at that time, (Dan. ii. 45; 
 vii. 26.) It was to become as the chaff of the summer thresh- 
 ing-floor, Dan. ii. 35; but we know tiiat empire subsisted in 
 its glory for centuries after the (irst coming of Christ. That 
 this kingdom is not merely a lieavenly glory, but one to be 
 established on eartli, is clear also from Daniel's plain predic- 
 tion, chap. vii. 27, "The kingdom and the dominion, and the 
 greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, shall 
 be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose 
 kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall 
 serve and obey him." The exjircssed hope of the church is, 
 
212 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 "Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests, and we 
 shall reign on the earth." Rev. v. 10. 
 
 Our Lord Christ is the acknowledged, and only supreme 
 monarch of this kingdom. What may be the manifestations 
 of his glory we know not. There was a visible appearance of 
 the divine glory in the Holy of Holies under the Jewish The- 
 ocracy, and many have supposed that there will be a similar 
 appearance in the administration of this kingdom. The hope 
 of the Christian Dispensation is, however, far more excellent 
 than that of the Jewish; "if that which was done away is glo- 
 rious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." 2 Cor. 
 iii. 7 — 12. The different descriptions given of Jerusalem, one 
 in the 40th and following chapters of Ezekiel, and the other in 
 the 21st and 22d of Revelation, have led many to think that 
 there will be two Jerusalems; one heavenly, of which we know 
 that "the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it," 
 (Rev. xxii. 23,) and the other earthl}', of [319] which it is also 
 true, "the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord 
 is there." Ezek. xlviii, 35. It has indeed been said, because 
 our Lord told the woman of Samaria, "Believe me the hour 
 cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Je- 
 rusalem worship the Father," that the literal temple would 
 never be built for worship at Jerusalem. But our Lord's pre- 
 diction has already received its sad accomplishment in this 
 hour or season. In the kingdom to come, it may be far differ- 
 ent. That is of an'everlasting duration. Ezek. xliii. 7. When 
 Nathanael calls our Lord, "the Son of God, and the King of 
 Israel," (John i. 48 — 50,) our Saviour tell him, "Verily I say 
 unto you, ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God 
 ascending and descending upon the Son of man;" this has yet 
 to be fulfilled; and however we may accommodate it to spirit- 
 ual intercourse with heaven, and spiritual blessings bestowed 
 through Christ, it sets before us a communication between hea- 
 ven and earth, through the Son of Man, far more glorious than 
 anything which has yet been realized.* 
 
 [320] There is therefore a visible and glorious kingdom of 
 Christ, yet to exist on this our earth, with infinitely more holi- 
 ness, spirituality, and blessedness, than any thing that the world 
 has yet seen. The saints, raised at the coming of Christ, and 
 
 * Some statements of Mr. Mede shew that he wns rather disposed to err on 
 the side of caution than of rashness. He sa^'s, (Works pp. 603, 001,) "The 
 presence of Christ in his kingdom shall no doubt be glorious and evident, yet 
 1 dare not so much as imagine, which some ancients .seem to have thought, 
 that it should be a visible conver.'je upon earth. For the kingdom of Christ 
 ever has been and shall be Ilegnum Ccelorum, a kingdom whose throne and 
 kingly residence is in heaven. There he was installed where he sat down on 
 the right hand of the Majesty on High, (Heb. i.) and there as in his proper 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 213 
 
 changed, and made like him, (1 Thess. iv. 15, IG; 1 Cor. xv. 
 23, 52 — 51.) shall share its glories and reign with him, (Matt. 
 xix. 28; Luke xxii. 2S — 30; Rom. viii. 17, IS; 1 Cor. iv. S; 
 2 Tim. ii. 12; Rev. iii. 21; v. 10; xx. 1—4.) 
 
 The thousand years' reign of the saints, is not mentioned 
 to limit their reign for that time; it is perfectly clear that theij 
 shall reign for ever and ever. (Dan. vii. IS:) but it is mentioned 
 to shew that at the end of that jjeriod, there shall be among the 
 nations then living in the flesh, another rebellion of Satan, to 
 himself and his followers, fatally ruinous, but utterly ineffect- 
 ive to overthrow the kingdom of the saints; and that after that 
 time, he shall be for ever shut up in the lake of fire, and they 
 shall reign in un'inlerruplcd glory through eternity, (Rev. xxii. 
 5,) in that [321] kingdom where Goaf shall be all in all; the 
 millennial kingdom is but a preparatory step to the everlasting 
 kingdom. 
 
 We pretend not to describe what is meant by the language 
 expressive of reigning, or in what way our Lord may be visi- 
 ble, and sit on the throne of David, or what part the glorified 
 saints will have in the future kingdom of Christ; but it is clear 
 that God has promised that they shall share its blessedness and 
 glories, and holds this out as an animating motive to fidelity. 
 2Tim. iv. S; Rev. ii. 10; iii. U, 21; v. 10; 1 Cor. ix. 25. We 
 must not let infidelity, we must not let Satan and the world, 
 rob us of this hope. 
 
 God is, "in the ages to come, to shew the exceeding riches 
 of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Jesus Christ." 
 
 temple is continually to appear in the presence of his Father, to make interces- 
 sion for us. Rom viii. 31; Heb. ix.24. Yet may we grant that he shall appear 
 and be visibly revealed from heaven, especially for the calling and gathering of 
 his ancient people, for whom he did so many wonders in the days of old." "He 
 proceeds to prove this by our Lord's words, Matt. xxiv. and Rev. i. 7, compared 
 with and founded on Dan. vii. 13, and Zech. xii. 10. 
 
 "Those who shall be partakers of this kingdom are described to be of two 
 sorts: 1. The deceased mnrlyrs, who, (as far as I can yet understand,) shall re- 
 sume their bodies and reign in heaven: 2. Such of the livin_i;, as have not 
 worshipped the beast, nor his image, neither have received his mark, these 
 shall reign on earth, for so I construe the words. Rev. xx. 4. 
 
 "This rising of the martyrs is that which is called the first resurrection, 
 being, as it .seems, a prerogative to their sufferings above the rest of the dead; 
 who, as they suffered with Christ in the time of his patience, so should they 
 be glorified with him in the reign of his victory before the univer.sal resurrec- 
 tion of all: Blessed and holij arc they icho hace pari in the first Rcsnrrccliuu., for 
 on them the second death hath no poicer, namely, because they arc not in via, but 
 in patria, being a prerogative, as I understand it, of this .sort of reigners only. 
 Thus I yet admit the first resurrection to be corporal, as well as the second, 
 though 1 confess I have m-uch striven against it." 
 
 The presence of our Lord both in earth and in heaven is confessedly my.s- 
 terious; but John iii. 13 may shew us that there is no inconsistency in both 
 being ^rue. 
 
 VOL. II. — CS 
 
214 
 
 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Eph. ii. 7. A participation of the glories of Christ's king- 
 dom is the expressed general expectation of believers in the 
 New Testament; those who are rich in faith are, as St. James 
 shews, "heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them 
 that love him." James ii. 5. If we are now only heirs, it is 
 clear that we do not possess it. 
 
 In its services, the church of England sets before us this 
 hope, from the lirst instruction in our catechism, that we are 
 ''members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the 
 kingdom of heaven;" to the last prayer pronounced over the 
 bodies of the departed,* "That it may please thee shortly to 
 accomplish [322] the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy 
 kingdom; that we, and all those departed in the true faith of 
 thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, 
 both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory." 
 
 This, too, as has been sufficiently shewn, was the general 
 hope of the church in the first centuries after Christ. The tes- 
 timony of Justin Martyr is above all exception on this point, 
 that "as many Christians as were in every respect orthodox, 
 were assured that they who believe in Christ should rise in the 
 flesh, and for the space of a thousand years inhabit Jerusalem, 
 rebuilt, and beautified, and enlarged." Tertullian had the 
 same hope, and he connects this hope with the restoration of 
 the Jews, saying, "It becomes the Christian not to grieve, but 
 to rejoice, in the restoration of the Jew, inasmuch as all our 
 hope is joined, or ilnited with the remaining expectation of the 
 Jew."f 
 
 [323] Let us then have like Moses, respect to the recompense 
 
 * The intermediate state of the soul has occiipied much of the attention of 
 Christian divines. The place of departed spirits called in Hebrew '71N!J', in 
 Greek, aSh;, and in English Hell, means the invisible receptacle of the dead. 
 Peter says of our Lord, his .soul wa.s not left, in hell, (oSh;,) nor did his flesh sec 
 corruption; where there is a contrast between his soul being in the invisible state, 
 and his flesh in the grave. The invisible state consists of two parts, a place of 
 rest and blessedness, paradise for the righteous, (Luke xxiii. 43; 2 Cor. xii. 4,) 
 and a place of torment for the wicked. Luke xvi. 23. Gehenna is the term 
 used to describe the state of the wicked exclusively, hereafter, Matt. v. 29; 
 xxiii. 15; Mark ix. 43, &c. Respecting the conscious happiness of the spirits 
 of the just between death and ilie resurrection, such passages as Luke xxiii. 
 43; Phil. i. 23; 2 Cor. v. 8, put it out of all doubt; but of the nature of that 
 happiness, not only the silence of the scripture, but the very terms of the He- 
 brew, Greek, and English words, which name it, hMtv (a concealed state), tdiis 
 (from, not seen), hell, a Saxon, word, meaning hidden or concealed (see Park- 
 hurst,) shew us how little we can possibly know of it, and how far short it must 
 be of the promised glory which is so largely described. The opinions of the 
 Fathers on this subject are given in a note on 2 Tim. iv. 8, by Whiiby. See 
 also the Investigator, vol. iv. p. 178 — 180. There is a very elaborate discussion 
 on Hades, in the last volume of Greswell's work on the Parables, to which the 
 reader may refer. 
 
 * See tlie Bishop of Lincoln's Justin Martyr, p. 104, and Tertullian, page 
 366, 367. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 215 
 
 if rcnard. Ilcb. xi. 2G. Let us, like Abraham, ''look for a 
 city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." 
 Heb. xi. 10. Let us, like all the Patriarchs confess, that we 
 are strangers and pilgrims on the earth; desire and seek a belter 
 country, that is, a heavenly, where God has prepared for us a city. 
 Heb. xi. 13 — 16. They did "not receive the promise, God 
 having provided some better thing for us, that they, without 
 us, should not be made perfect." Ileb. xi. 39, '10. To that 
 better thing we are come now in faith, and soon shall come in 
 full enjoyment. "Ye arc come unto Mount Sion, and unto the 
 city of tlie living God, the heavenly Jerusalem;" (Ileb. xii. 
 22 — 24,) and then after enumerating the glorious comj^any 
 tliere assembled, he says, "and to the blood of sprinkling, that 
 speaketh better things than that of Abel." Let us get hold of 
 the last link of this glorious chain — let us obtain an interest 
 in the blood of sprinkling now — and all the other blessings 
 shall, in the fulness of time, be possessed by us. "God has given 
 us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; he that hath the Son 
 hath life, and he that hath not the Son halh not life." 1 John 
 V. 11, 12. 
 
 All is now disjointed, sickly, weak, and failing in its designed 
 eficct. Remedies multiply wants and defects; "that which is 
 crooked cannot be made straight: that which is wanting can- 
 not be numbered;" Eccl. i. 15. the best planned institutions, 
 the best laws, through the corruption of man and the power of 
 Satan, disappoint our hopes. The law itself teas n-cak through 
 the flesh. Rom. viii. 3. No one adequately fulfils his relation to 
 another; even the conscience of the Christian leads him con- 
 stantly to condemn himself. jMagistrates, ministers, husbands, 
 wives, parents, [324] children, teachers, learners, servants, de- 
 pendants, all fail in their relative duties in some point or other. 
 Our comforts occasion our trials, and our very joys bringsorrows. 
 But the times of t lie Restitution {aTrcK-xT^TT^Tt;) of all things is has- 
 tening on: when not by the [lolicy and wjsdom of man, but 
 by the effectual grace and loving kindness of God our Saviour, 
 they shall he restored to a state of sound health: when the dis- 
 jointed members shall be made whole, as the withered hand 
 by our Lord, (Matt. xii. 13.) or the blind eyes which were 
 restored by his goodness to perfect sight. Mark viii. 25. And 
 how the sacred writers glow with the bright anticipations of 
 such a period, we may see in Lsaiah xi. xxxv. Ix. &c. May 
 it fill our minds in the proportion in which it fills the divine 
 records; and especially may we view it as the time when holi- 
 ness and SPIKITUALITY shall be everywhere triumphant on 
 earth, (Zech. xiii. !J; xiv. 20, 21; Isaiah lii.l; Ix. 21; Joel 
 
21G A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 iii. 17.) and as a stimulating motive to the most zealous and 
 active discharge of all our present duties. 
 
 The kingdom of God, through unbelief, appears so distant 
 as hardly to be of any moment or importance to us, but real 
 faith sees in it a character and magnitude according with the 
 fulness in which it is brought forward in the pages of scrip- 
 ture. Just as a man living upon the earth, thinks every object 
 on the earth great and important, in comparison of the sun, or of 
 the stars: but supposing him to rise gradually above the earth, 
 and approach the sun or the stars: the earth would sink into 
 its pliysical insignificance, and the glory of those greater worlds 
 fill liis whole &ouI: so it is with this kingdom, its supposed dis- 
 tance makes us think it of little moment; but the day [325] 
 is hastening on, when it shall occupy every mind, and engage 
 every heart, and the knoivledge of the glory of the Lord fill the 
 earth as the waters cover the sea. Isa. xi. 9. It is the property 
 of the scriptures, and faith in them, to bring distant and unseen 
 things before our minds in their just and real proportions. 
 
 We would now refresh our minds by attempting to realize 
 the coming of this kingdom with poicer, (Mark ix. 1,) as set be- 
 fore us in varied scriptures. Think of the spirits of the just 
 in the invisible world, even now in their separate state, happ)* 
 with Christ, but expecting a far completer happiness. View 
 the saints on earth groaning under a body of sin and death; 
 having the first fruits of the spirit, but waiting for deliverance 
 from their many burdens and sorrows: to both these parts of 
 the one family of Christ in heaven and earth, his coming is in- 
 finitely desirable. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 
 at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be 
 ]-aised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv. 51. 
 The Lord himself, (1 Thess. iv. 16.) descending from heavefi 
 n-ilh a shout, in his glorious body shining, as when transfigured 
 on the Mount, with a light above the sun: the voice of the 
 al'changel speaks; and first the dead in Christ, the bodies of the 
 saints, now as seed sown in the earth, lost and covered in its 
 dust, shall rise in glory, and join their long separated spirits. 
 Quick as thought, the angels, with eager and joyful haste, catch 
 up those who are alive and remain, and take them with the 
 risen saints to the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Immedi- 
 ately each body is transfigured, changed, and fashioned like 
 unto the Lord's glorious body; "according to the working 
 u-hereby he is able to subdue all [326] things to himself." Phil, 
 iii. 21. "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption 
 — it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory — it is sown in 
 weakness, it is raised in power — it is sown a natural body, it is 
 raised a spiritual body;" it bore the image of the earthly — in 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 217 
 
 a moment it is changed, and bears the image of the heavenbj. 1 
 Cor. XV. 
 
 transporting change! imagine the weak, sickly frame of 
 a poor believer, burdened \vi*h sin, harassed by temptations, 
 worn down by labour, buffeted, scorned, and persecuted, de- 
 spised and afflicted, — in an instant, delivered out of all, and 
 raised thus beauteous, powerful, and glorious; throwing off at 
 once, all the mortal wrappings which confined him in his 
 earthly house of this tabernacle, and, as the chrysalis, that 
 striking emblem, bursting forth in the splendour of his new 
 creation to bask in the beams of the !Sun of Righteous?iess, and 
 to enjoy all the glories of the "new heavens and new earth 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness," 2 Peter iii. 13. 
 
 Who can conceive too, our meeting the Lord, and his wel- 
 come! Who can realize the purifying, exalting, enrapturing 
 emotions of him to whom the Lord says, as he comes into his 
 presence, "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast 
 been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
 many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," Matt, xxv, 
 21, There he presents his redeemed and glorified people "fault- 
 less before the presence of the Divine Glory with exceeding 
 joy." Jude 24, the unutterable bliss of seeing God as he is, 
 and beholding him, face to face, and knowing as n-e are knoicn! 
 
 Welcomed by the Lord, the glorified saints mingle with the 
 innumerable hosts of heaven, as one in the [327] blessed family 
 above, never to be separated — all being kings and priests itnto 
 God and his Father, who shall sit with their Saviour King on 
 his throne. Thus the heirs of God and the joint heirs with 
 Christ, enter on '^the kingdom prepared for them from the 
 foundation of the world." Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
 Nor are saints merely our companions there. The whole 
 family in heaven is one. glorious assembly! "the innume- 
 rable company of angels; tlie general assembly and church of 
 the first born, which are written in heaveiu the si)irits of just 
 men made perfect," (united now to their glorified bodies,) and 
 Jesus himself, (he Mediator of the A'czu Coienant. Ileb. xii. 22 — 
 24. What a gathering is this! 
 
 Among this blessed people the Saviour distributes his I'ich 
 rewards, f'tri/jo- to every man according as his icork hath been; and 
 how infinitely will the lowest rewaid exceed the largest hopes 
 of his i^eople! All \hc faithful shall have given to them a cron-n 
 of life, (Rev. ii, 10;) all that love his appearintr, wear the croxm 
 of righteousness, (2 Tim, iv. S;) the elders who were examples 
 to the flock, shall "receive a crown of glory that fadelh not away: 
 they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
 
21g A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever 
 and ever." Daniel xii. 3. 
 
 Contemplate that innumerable and truly glorious society. 
 See the righteous, equal to the angels; behold them all "shin- 
 ing forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," (Matt, 
 xiii. 43;) or in the sublime imagery of Revelation — "I looked, 
 and lo a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him an hun- 
 dred and forty-four thousand, having his Father's name writ- 
 ten on their foreheads; and I heard a voice from heaven, as 
 the voice of [328] many waters, and as the voice of a great 
 thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers, harping with their 
 harps, and they sung as it were a new song before the throne." 
 Rev. xiv. 1 — 3. 
 
 But even the inspired language manifestly labours and fails 
 in the closing chapters of Revelation, to convey adequate ideas 
 of the splendours of the "Holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
 heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light like 
 unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as 
 crystal. The twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several 
 gate was of one pearl. — The foundations of the wall of the city 
 were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The street 
 of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass: there 
 is no temple therein, for the Lord God Almightj' and the Lamb 
 are the temple of it: and the city had no need of the sun, 
 neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did 
 lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and there shall 
 be no more curse; but the throne of God and the Lamb shall 
 be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and the)^ shall see his 
 face, and his name shall be in their foreheads, and there shall 
 be no night there, and they need no candle, neitlier light of 
 the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall 
 reign for ever and ever." See Rev. xxi. 10 to xxii. 6. 
 
 And then we may conceive another part of their blessedness 
 is to be employed in making others blessed, "for the nations 
 of them which are saved, shall walk in the light of it, and the 
 kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it." 
 Rev. xxi. 24 — 26. This accords witli other promises. "We 
 shall reign on the cartli. The saints of the Most High shall 
 take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever, even for 
 ever and ever." Dan. vii. IS. 
 
 [329] Tlie blessedness of the kingdom of God, terminates 
 not merely in the glorified saints being happy in their own 
 glory, and the vision of the Lord; the whole earth, after tliose 
 ])urifying judgments which sliall come upon it, has the deepest 
 interest in it. It is sublimely represented as now waiting for 
 it with earnest longing. Rom. viii. 19 — 23. In this passage 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 219 
 
 there is a clear distinction between a blessedness to be given 
 in the inanifcstatio}i of (he sotis of God, and another blessing in 
 the deliverance of the creation at large y>ci/?t the bofidage cf cor- 
 ruption. Respecting the llnal abode of the saints, we have no 
 reason to think that it will be confined, more than the angelic 
 abode has been, to one region of God's creation. The idea of 
 a spirit locally confined is unscriptural, (Ezek. i. 20.) and the 
 saints will be glorified spirits then. The angels dwell in heaven 
 (Matt, xviii. 10. Mark xii. 25.) and yet are ministering spirits 
 also on earth. Heb. xii. 14. And so the glorified saints may 
 have their blessedness both in the new heavens (2 Cor. v. 1. 
 Col. i. 5.) and the new earth. Rev. xxi. 1. Their heaven is 
 where Christ is. John xvii. 24. There are indeed but two 
 leading distinct classes of men in the coming kingdom of Christ. 
 (1.) The glorified saints, or the heavenl)' Jerusalem, and (2.) 
 the Jewish and other nations, the Jewish having a superiority 
 over the nations of the earth at large. But the holiness, bless- 
 edness and glory of the risen saints is far beyond that of the 
 Jewish or any other nation on the earth. Rev. xx. 4; xxi. 24.* 
 how large and full [330] arc all those glowing promises, 
 which bespangle the firmament of scripture as the stars do the 
 heavens, of the latter-day glory of our Lord's kingdom on 
 earth; the animating hopes set before us in such Psalms as the 
 Ixvii. Ixxii. xcvi. to c, when knowledge, peace, holiness, and 
 universal happiness shall bless the whole world. The rich 
 treasures with which the latter chapters of Isaiah are loaded, 
 and the glories which are testified of through the sacred writ- 
 ings, have here ami)le space for their largest meaning. The 
 whole world will indeed be blessed when under the happy do- 
 minion of our Lord and his glorified saints. 
 
 Christian reader! let us thirst after this glory. Christian 
 reader! let us count every thing besides as loss — that we may 
 win Christ and be found in h^m. 
 
 What motives are here set before us, for the greatest exer- 
 tions in doing good! The future glory is eminently connected 
 with labours for Christ, (Dan. xii. 3; Luke xix. IG— 19; 2 
 Cor. X. 6.) — oh what full scope there is in this kingdom for 
 the largest rewards, and what an exciting object for hope and 
 exertion! What motives al.--o for patient endurance of suflt'r- 
 ings in this ])reseiit life! So intimately are sufferings and this 
 glory joined together, that some have thought the Millennial 
 
 * It is surprising to .sec how many still spealc against the prc-millennial ad- 
 vent, as if hostile to the Dispen.saiio'n of the Spirit and the jiriesthood of Christ. 
 See the author's answer to the first objeciion in ihe note in liis Occasional 
 Works, p. 571. And see Cox's Christ our High Priest, in answer to the second 
 objsctiuti. 
 
220 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 Kingdom was only for sufferers, (Rom. viii. IS; Acts xiv. 22; 
 2 Tim. ii. 12; Rev. vii. 14; xx. 4); but be it for all (Rev. xi. 
 18.) the sufferers are those most eminently marked by the di- 
 vine Spirit as the heirs of this bliss. May we ever be ready, 
 then, to rejoice in the cross. Matt. v. 11, 12. 
 
 When we look at these glories, no wonder that the work of 
 salvation is to be wrought out "with fear and [331] trembling:" 
 (Phil. ii. 12.) no wonder that <'the kingdom of heaven suffer- 
 eth violence and the violent take it by force," (Matt. xi. 12.) 
 and every man that really would secure it presselh i?}to it. Luke 
 xvi. 16. It is a prize worth all the ardour oHhe race that is set 
 before us, (Heb. xiii.) and all the struggle o( fghtir^ the good 
 Jight of faith: (1 Tim. vi. 12.) it is worth parting with the eye, 
 the ha?id,ov the foot, (Matt, xviii. S, 9.) or even life itself, (Luke 
 xiv. 26; Rev. xii. 11,) rather than forfeit our lot at the end cf the 
 daijs, (Dan. xii. 13,) in the heavenly kingdom and inheritance. 
 The Lord inspire all our hearts with a noble ardour and thirst 
 after this, as our best aim, our proper rest, our eternal riches, 
 glory, and blessedness; so that for the sake of this we may 
 willingly go through every previous sacrifice! 
 
 On the review of all these things, may our hearts be led to 
 offer up with fervency of desire, that prayer, "Remember me, 
 Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people; 
 visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy 
 chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I 
 may glory with thin6 inheritance." Psalm cvi. 4, 5. 
 
 CPL\PTER XLX. 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLFXTIONS. 
 
 [332] One design of the Author in the preceding remarks, 
 has been to excite a due attention to prophecy. An ex- 
 clusive and speculative regard to it leads to a dangerous shut- 
 ting out of primary and important duties, and to controversies 
 and divisions; but the subject of prophecy makes so large a 
 j)ortion of scripture, that no one can sligJil it, without disobey- 
 ing the plain direction of searching the scriptures. There have, 
 indeed, been so many opposing interpretations, and so much 
 self-confident and controversial staten^.ent of prophetic views, 
 that Christians are really in danger of contemning that which 
 God requires them to take heed to, (2 Peter i. 19.) neglecting 
 
TO. THE PROPHECIES. 221 ' 
 
 that, on the reading, hearing and keeping of which he has pro- 
 nounced a hlessing. Rev. i. 3. We gain a real help to spiritu- 
 ality by the study of the prophecies of this book. To teach 
 otherwise, Bengclius calls ''a spurious and unblest attempt at 
 spiritual reCinement." 
 
 Only let us attend to it in the spirit of prayer, huaiility, for- 
 bearance, practical application, patient research, and waiting; 
 suspending our judgment in doubtful matters, and being open 
 to conviction, and we shall find the study of prophecy very 
 quickening to [333] our souls, cheering to our spirits, and ani- 
 mating us to the diligent discharge of all our duties. We shall 
 keep as well as read the things written. Rev. i. 3. 
 
 The PRACTICAL APPLICATION of prophecv is a point of very 
 vital importance. When our Lord and the apostles inter- 
 preted the prophecies, they joined with them the immediate 
 use and practical application to the hearers. Has not this been 
 too much neglected? In our eagerness to establish what we 
 have considered the true view, have we not sometimes lost 
 sight of the important personal benefit of the prophecy? Pro- 
 ])hccy, in all its parts, is full of the most holy and varied prac- 
 tical instruction. 
 
 The leading benefit designed by the sacred writers in bring- 
 ing forward prophetic truth seems, however, to be this: by ex- 
 citing our hopes and our fears, to lead us to fly to Christ, with- 
 out delay, for an interest in his great salvation. The broad 
 letters on the sign-post of prophecy every where are "Fly to 
 Jesus;" the hand stretched out every where directs to Jesus. 
 Observe how St. Peter, after explaining the prophetic meaning 
 of various passages in the Psalms, (Acts ii. 14 — 36,) by the 
 stimulating hope of the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, (ii. 38.), and by the fear of perishing with a« untou-ard 
 generation, (ii. 40); calls them at once to "repent and be bap- 
 tized in the name of Jesus Christ." Observe how St. Paul, in 
 pleading with the Jews at Antioch, in Pisidia, after explaining 
 the voices of the prophets, (Acts xiii. 23 — 37.) comes to a 
 practical exhortation, by holding out all the blessings of ''for- 
 giveness and justificalio?i to the believers ifi Jesus, (verses 38, 
 39.), and all the terror of perishing to the iinheliever. (verses 
 40,41.) 
 
 [334] The great practical lessons of the book of Revelation 
 are intermingled with, every part. The exhortation to fidelity, 
 patience, obedience, watchfulness and circumspection, receiv- 
 ing Christ and waiting for him, are everywhere interspersed 
 with prophecy. 
 
 Oh what a vanity it is to have our minds filled with the 
 images of prophecy, and to be able to explain every varied in- 
 
222 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 terpretation of human writers; and yet to have our hearts alien- 
 ated from God, and estranged from the Saviour, and to be 
 without his Spirit! How awful would it be for a man to be 
 able to discuss prophecy with vast skill, and shew its fulfilment 
 with great talents, (1 Cor. xiii. 2.) and yet, as to real conver- 
 sion, be far off from God, and perish at the last with infidels 
 and unbelievers! May God preserve the writer and reader 
 from such fatal delusions! It is not without its most valuable 
 instruction, that our Lord represents numbers as thus deceived 
 at the time when he comes again: "Matuj shall say unto me in 
 that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and 
 in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many 
 wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never 
 knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt, 
 vii, 22, 23. He also precedes this instruction by shewing the 
 character of those who shall share his kingdom. "Not every 
 one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which 
 is in heaven." verse 21. 
 
 One of the peculiarities of the last days being "a form of 
 godliness, but denying the power thereof," 2 Tim. iii. 5, how 
 needful it is to be watchful on this point! The present 
 state of the church may be compared to those nuts which have 
 a husk, and a [335] shell, and are hanging on the trees. The 
 visible church is but a small part of the world; and when you 
 look at that churchy the larger part of it is only a husk, and 
 when you have taken off the husk, and come to the professors 
 of religion, there is still an outside shell, covering the interior 
 part: all those exterior parts, the tree, the husk, and the shell, 
 are indeed needful for the growth and protection of the inte- 
 rior kernel, which otherwise would be devoured by the fowls 
 of the air and the beasts of the field, and also for its becoming 
 mature and fit for the Master's use; but by-and-bye the exte- 
 rior things will be laid aside, and only the interior be regarded 
 and preserved. Do not be deceived by the profession you 
 make, by your contiguity to and connection with the reality; 
 by your usefulness and necessity to its preservation: the sepa- 
 rating and dividing time is coming. "Who may abide the day 
 of his coming? and who shall stand when heappeareth? for he 
 is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap." Mai. iii. 2. 
 
 How important is HEAVENLY WISDOM in this study! The 
 scriptures particularly mention this. Hosca, in the close of his 
 prophecies, says, "Who is wise, and he shall understand these 
 things? prudent, and he shall know them?" Hosea xiv. 9. 
 Daniel, in the close of his prophecies, asserts, "None of the 
 wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Dan. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 223 
 
 xii. 10. David closes one of his Psalms with a similar decla- 
 ration, "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even 
 ihcy shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." Ps. 
 cvii. 43. JNIay we pray much, then, for heavenly wisdom, to 
 guard us from error, and lead us into the truth. This history 
 of the church has shewn, that we are peculiarly exposed to 
 the temptation of precipitate [33G] interpretation of the varied 
 symbols and figures of God's word, which as Bacon observes, 
 have a twofold use, "folding up and kec])ing of things under 
 a veil, and enlightening and laying open of obscurities." God 
 thus conceals his purposes from the wicked, and illustrates them 
 to the wise. Hosea xiv. 9. 
 
 How valuable also is patiext study! There must be a la- 
 bour of mind, to get a clear understanding of prophecy. "In 
 his law doth he meditate day and night." Psalm i. 2. The 
 Prophets speak, in a forcible figure, of eating God's word; "thy 
 words were found, and I did eat them." Jer. xv. 16. The di- 
 rection, with the roll of the book, to Ezekiel was, "open thy 
 mouth, and eat that I give thee." Ezekiel ii. S. "Son of man, 
 cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I 
 give thee. Then I did eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey 
 for sweetness." Ezekiel iii. 3. So St. John is told "to take the 
 book and eat it up." Rev. x. 9. The prayer of our Liturg}', 
 'Grant that we may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest 
 them,' adopts the same idea. It implies the continued and 
 thoughtful meditation on the word of prophecy, till it fill and 
 embue our whole minds, assimilating them to itself, as food di- 
 gested is assimilated to the flesh. Prophecies which seem very 
 obscure at first, will often clear up in patient meditation, just 
 as when you comeout of the full light of day into a dark room, 
 you can at first distinguish nothing, but if you wait a little, till 
 your sight is inured to the gloom, you will begin to discern 
 things tiiat were quite invisible before. 
 
 The view of the subject talien in this \york, will, we trust, 
 serve to caution us against speculative [337] anticipations of 
 future events, as if we could unfold the purposes of Jehovah. 
 Let us guard against what St. Peter mentions, (3 Peter i. 20,) 
 any private inter prelaiion of prophecy, apart from the analogy 
 of scripture, which is one harmonious whole, and in its varied 
 parts the work of one Divine mind, the Holy Spirit of our 
 God. Prophecy will, therefore, ever be the best commentary on 
 prophecy, till the event make it plain. As liishop Horsley ex- 
 plains it, no prophecy of scripture is of self-interpretation; the 
 sense is to be sought in the events of the world and in the har- 
 mony of the prophetic writings at large, rather than in the bare 
 terms of any single prediction. Scripture prophecy takes large 
 
224 A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 and comprehensive surveys of events. Let us watch against 
 any views not according to the mind of the Spirit. 1 Cor. ii. 
 10—15. 
 
 It may serve also as a guard against censuring views of pro- 
 phecy which may not accord with our respective partialities. 
 One, strongly and justly impressed with the magnitude of the 
 conversion of the Jews in its consequences on the world at 
 large, may be disposed to find fault with an application of the 
 promises of the Old Testament to the Christian church; but 
 preceding observations will have shewn that such an applica- 
 tion is made by the inspired writers, and justly adopted in the 
 judgment of the soundest divines.* Another, under equally 
 strong [338] and just feelings of the immense and innumerable 
 multitudes of the Gentiles, all having immortal souls and pe- 
 rishing yearly, the promises made of their conversion, and the 
 blessings already given to missionary efforts, may be apt to dis- 
 regard the peculiar situation and privileges of the Jews, and 
 not only to lose sight of tliose prophecies vvhich concern their 
 
 * The remarkable and lengthened delay of God's gracious purposes respect- 
 ing the Jews, oftea but yet obscurely intimated in their screre imes punishment, 
 (Lev. xxvi.) and the seueii ti7}ics of the Gentile monarchies, (Dan. iv.) in the 
 seventy weeks, and the determined desolation of Dan. ix. 24 — 27, and the 
 2,300 days of the complete cleansing of the sanctuary, (Dan. viii. 14) is calcu- 
 lated greatly to exercise the faith and disappoint the hopes to which the clear 
 promises of God's word lead us respecting that nation. This tendency of the 
 delay is met by the strongest expressions, in the whole scripture, of God's 
 faithfulness tohis promises, tenderness, and compassion to the Jews, and the 
 exceeding depth of his purposes in it. Isaiah and Jeremiah especially abound 
 ■with these statements. Isaiah xl. 27,28. xlix. 14 — 16. Ixii. 1. Jer. xvi. 14, 15. 
 XXX. 17, 18. Rom. xi. 25 — 36. Where there is a great and lasting good to be 
 produced, a long previous preparation is required. The humiliation and con- 
 viction for sin must be deep and lengthened, where the righteousness is to be 
 so bright, and the salvation as a lamp that burneth. Isaiah Ixii. 1. Four hun- 
 dred years of depression and bondage prepared the way for their iirst conquest 
 of Canaan, and their being the depositaries of God's truth for the world; be- 
 tween two and three thousand years of dispersion and judgment prepare the 
 way for their permanent possession of the land of Canaan, and their being the 
 livmg and constant exhibition of a righteous nation to glorify God and bless 
 the whole earth. Isa. Ix. 21. xxvi. 2. Besides the elect remnant gathering 
 from the literal Israel, from age to age, there is a vast election gathering also 
 from the Gentile nations, all of whom are one in Christ Jesus. When Israel 
 is restored, and when the saints are gathered together, and the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem is completed, and the Saviour returns in the glory of his Father, how 
 triumphant will be the song of the whole Jewish nation, surveying all the time 
 of its widowhood, and finding that in that very time the Lord was gathering the 
 materials of the full and everlasting glory promised to this nation. T/iou 
 shalt say in thine heart, Whn hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my chil- 
 dren and am desolate, a captive and removing to and, fro? And who hath brought 
 up these? Behold I was left alone, these, where had they been'? Oh how deep are 
 the counsels of Jehovah, and how unsearchable the riches of his love! Oh 
 how full the comfort, alter_all their afHiction, he has in store for the Jews! 
 Ezek. xiv. 22, 23; Isaiah xl.l, 2. How complete their satisfaction will be in 
 all his wondrous dealings with them! Joel ii. 26; Jer. xxxi. 14 — 26. See the 
 2nd Sermon in the author's "Time to favour Zion.'' 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 905 
 
 conversion and restoration, but to undervalue that whicli is of 
 immense moment in the future plory and blessedness of the 
 world at large, liut why should [339] the servants of Christ, 
 aiming at the same happy result, and agreeing in every essen- 
 tial point, be disunited on this, or in any way use expressions 
 that may damp any efi'ort made for the salvation of either Jew 
 or Gentile? Let us remember that Jerusalem of old, just be- 
 fore its destruction, was full of parties raging against each 
 other. JMay our spiritual Jerusalem take the instructive warn- 
 ing! 
 
 One says, 'Christ will certainly come before the millennium;' 
 anoiher says, 'He will not come till after it be passed;' a third, 
 'He will come without any millennium.' The Author has ex- 
 pressed his own views, that our Lord will visibly appear be- 
 fore the millennium; but those who see not this, agree that he 
 will come, and come unexpectedly, and that we should be 
 ready for his coming, and view it as a quickening motive to 
 labours of love; we are all united in the practical issues which 
 we desire, and let us bear and forbear with each other in love, 
 till we see eye to eye. To abound i?i love tozvnrd one another, 
 should be the effect of looking for the coming "of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ with all his saints." 1 Thess. iii. 12. "Grudge 
 not one against another, lest ye be condemned: behold the 
 judge standeth at the door." James v. 9. Oh let not our love 
 to others be in any way proportioned to their reception of tiiose 
 prophetical views which we hold; but let it be an enlarged, 
 pure, divine love, like our God's! And, especially, "if we are 
 strong, we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak," (Rom, 
 XV. 1); to seek, indeed, like-mindedness, as the apostle sweetly 
 prays, (Rom.xv. 5, G); but to receive oneanolher, notwithstand- 
 ing our mutual ignorances and infirmities,- "as Christ has re- 
 ceived us to the glory of God." Rom. xv. 7. 
 
 [340] Some of those who Ivive taken up the subject of pro- 
 phecy warmly and speculatively, have expressed tiiemsclves so 
 confidently, with such sharpness and bitterness against others, 
 with such assumption of superior wisdom, and such despising 
 of those who have differed from ihem, as not only to pain their 
 fellow-Christians, but to lead to much donhlful disputation, and 
 excite great prejudices against tlic stud}- of their favourite 
 subject. Others have been ready to exclude from Cliristian 
 communion, all who difVercd from their particular sentiments, 
 and to admit at once to Christian fellowship, as partakers of 
 divine grace, all who concurred with them. These great errors 
 are carefully to be guarded against by the true Christian. They 
 are very injurious, and corrupt "the mind from the simplicity 
 that is in Christ." 2 Cor. xi. 3. How important is it ever to 
 
 VOL. II. — G9 
 
226 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 remember — "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of 
 angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, 
 or a tinkling cymbal: and though I have the gift of prophecy, 
 and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though 
 I have all faith, so that 1 could remove mountains, and have 
 not charity, I am nothing." 1 Cor, xiii. 1, 2. Let us study 
 the prophecies as Daniel did, with prostration, humiliation, and 
 persevering prayer. 
 
 But let not these statements be misunderstood as if the 
 TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE wero Uncertain or doubtful: they are 
 MOST CERTAIN. All differences of opinion shew our own dark- 
 ness, and unbelief, and sinfulness — not the darkn^^ss of scrip- 
 ture. As Luther says, "It ought to be a first principle most 
 firmly maintained among Christians, that the Holy Scriptures 
 are a spiritual light far brighter than the sun, especially in 
 those things which pertain to salvation, [341] or are neces- 
 sary." We must not let our charity so overflow bounds, as to 
 part with truth. 'The wisdom of God is first pure and then 
 peaceable.' The exhortations to be like-minded, of one accord, 
 of one mind, are connected with the exhortation to have the 
 same love, (Phil. ii. 2.) and the only way is to bring every- 
 thing to the true test — God's word. John xii. 48; Ephes, 
 v. 13. 
 
 We may from this subject learn also the true use op pro- 
 phecy. It is not primarily intended as a rule of duty.* Pre- 
 cepts are the rule of duty. Much less should prophecy ever 
 be so interpreted as to interfere with plain duty. For instance, 
 if any one should suppose from the predicted hardness of the 
 Jews, that it was our duty not to endeavour to promote their 
 conversion; or if any one should suppose, because the con- 
 version of the Jews would be a blessing to the Gentiles, that 
 therefore we should do nothing for the heathen till the Jews 
 were converted, they would be equally wrong; for the pre- 
 cept, which is the rule of duty, is express, go ye into all the 
 7oorld, and preach the gospel to every creature. But the use 
 of prophecy is of another kind; — previously to the event, to 
 raise general expectations, and thus quicken us to duty, excite 
 our hopes, and stimulate our labours, and prove our faith, and 
 strengthen us to endure present trials; and, subsequently to the 
 event, to turn to us for a testimony, becoming an evidence of 
 the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, which may confirm 
 our own faith as to all that is yet to be accomplished, and suffi- 
 
 * Not but that duty may be gathered from prophecy, as the Apostle gathered 
 a command and a duty /r? Inrn to the Gentiles from the prediction, /^are ic^ 
 //tec to be a light to the Gentiles. Acts xiii. 47. 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 227 
 
 cicnlly answer all gainsayers, [342] and objectors to their just 
 claim to the title of the word of God. 
 
 Therefore let us not be restrained or cooled in the support 
 of such a blessed cause, as promoting the conversion of immor- 
 tal souls, by any private and questionable views of unfulfilled 
 prophecy; it rests on plain and positive precept: and on those 
 broad, solid, and cfl'ectivc grounds which cannot be shaken, 
 and on which Christians are generally agreed. The ultimate 
 success of the whole work is certain, and the present duties 
 are plain and obvious. He who neglects caring for either Jew 
 or Gentile, neglects a plain dut}" and a blessed privilege. 
 
 Let us seek to carry on every holy work in OUR SA- 
 \ lOUR'S SPIRIT, and labour to save immortal souls in that 
 union of heart for which he poured the aflecting prayer — that 
 theij may all be ojie, as thou Father art in me, arid J in thee, that 
 they also may he one in us, that the world may believe that thou hasl 
 sent me. This practical point is of immense moment. Oh that 
 we may all carefull}- and habitually maintain the spirit of love 
 in all our discussions! The kingdom of the great enemy of God 
 and man has been vigorously assailed, and he is doubtless 
 watching to divide Christians, that he may weaken and impair 
 their ellbrts. Let us not be ignorant of Ids devices. There is 
 one all-important rule that we should constantly bear in mind 
 — If hereunto ye Jiave already attained, let us -d-alk by the same rule, 
 let us mind the same thing. This will lead us rather to dwell 
 on those things in which Christians unite, than to press our 
 particular sentiments, if those sentiments are allowedly of in- 
 ferior moment. We should hail, and help, and rejoice in each 
 other's hopes and labours and [343] success in the salvation of 
 Jew and Greek, even as the apostle presses the prophetical ex- 
 hortation — Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. Rom. xv. 10. 
 
 Not that the subject of prophecy should not be fully dis- 
 cussed, or that those who have studied the subject with care and 
 attention should not state the'r sentiments freely, and firmly, 
 and at length; only let it be with humility and brotherly love, 
 of which we have seen in our days many delightful examples. 
 Far be it from any to repress a full and free investigation of 
 prophecy in a right spirit. In guarding against one evil, we 
 should not fall into another. Such writers as IMede, Sir Isaac 
 Newton, Bishop Newton, Ilurd, Lowth, Woodhouse, and 
 others, with Davison, Keith, Faber, Cuninghamc, and many 
 other living authors, have done much, notwithstanding some 
 lesser mistakes which here seem inevitable, to elucidate this 
 deep subject. It is greatly to be regretted that in some of 
 those writers, whose powers of mind and genius and research 
 are admirable, wc find not that devotion, meekness, and spi 
 
228 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 rituality, and those gracious affections, which are peculiarly 
 needful for the discovery of the divine mind. Even those 
 who have allowedly fallen into great mistakes, have yet cleared 
 up some things: and there is no writer of eminence who has 
 not shed some important light on its difficulties. Let, then, 
 the whole range of prophecy he canvassed; let mind, and re- 
 search, and piety, be cast into it: and thus ma7}y shall rim to 
 and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Dan. xii. 4. We may 
 justly expect, as we draw nearer the grand events which are 
 before the church, that there will be more light beaming on its 
 future hopes and prospects, 
 
 [344] Let the Holy Scriptures therefore be searched dili- 
 gently respecting this, as well as every other part of their in- 
 valuable contents; especially is it to be desired that the original 
 scripture should be more generally studied and understood. 
 Sacred criticism, modestly advanced, with competent know- 
 ledge, is far from being injurious to the cause of truth; and we 
 owe much to those learned men who have thus removed diffi- 
 culties by wiiich the sacred writings had been long needlessly 
 obscured. 
 
 Nor must we forbear here earnestly to press the great im- 
 portance of fervent and persevering prayer for the Spirit of di- 
 vine wisdom, the anointing which teacheth us all things. We 
 press this, not because we can expect any direct inspiration to 
 discover to us the future purposes of the Almighty, but be- 
 cause fervent prayer will keep ftir from us all dogmatism, pride, 
 and fancied superior wisdom and knowledge: fervent prayer 
 will produce that humble waiting state of mind which God de- 
 lights 1o bless; fervent prayer will obtain the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit to remove our prejudices, and will make us willing to 
 see, embrace, and profess the truth, however contrary to our 
 former sentiments; fervent prayer will keep alive in us a cor- 
 dial interest for the whole cause of Christ, with a jealous fear 
 of being biased by a favourite part; and with such tempers and 
 dispositions we shall doubtless be preserved from any material 
 error. 
 
 The interpretation of prophecy is a subject, therefore, that 
 should not be lightly entered upon, lest, instead of shewing 
 what is really the mind of the Lord, we put our own mind in 
 its place, and either add to, or take from his word. Especially 
 when our [345] sentiments contradict the general opinion of 
 the main body of Christians through successive ages, it be- 
 comes still more incumbent on us not to advance and press our 
 particular opinions but with great caution and diffidence. 
 
 Another suggestion may be allowed the writer, while assert- 
 ing the duty of confessing important truth. In our efforts to 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 229 
 
 advance the kingdom of Christ, and in our devotions, and 
 especially in published forms of prayer, those who hold such 
 views should be careful not dogmatically and ofi'ensively to 
 urge any private or disputed views of projihccy, and especially 
 of minor points; lest any who join witli us should he stumbled, 
 their zealous efforts or devotional feelings be checked, and that 
 union of desire and labour to which the special blessing is 
 promised should be hindered; and on the other hand those who 
 ditfer from these views should not be too sensitively alive to 
 slight ditlerences. Romans xiv. 1. It is perhaps a yet more 
 important point to be gained, that Christians should feel that 
 this is ground on which they may all with humility, yet freely, 
 state their views of scripture. 
 
 To view the prophecies in their large aspect, as comprehend- 
 ing the general dealings of God with mankind through suc- 
 cessive ages, enlarges and raises the mind; but exclusively or 
 mainly to confine our views of it to one particular point has a 
 tendency to narrow the mind, and lead it oiY from the great 
 intent of prophecy. 
 
 Remembering, then, that the advancement of God's king- 
 dom is peculiarly his own work, and that he will unfold his 
 own plan in his own time and way, we should watch for the 
 openings of his providence, not [34G] attempting to force our 
 own schemes, but rather leave it to that providence to inter- 
 pret his own commands. Yet we should enter heartily when 
 a great and effectual door is opened, and never was there a greater 
 door opened, and never did tiie voice of Providence more 
 manifestly call Christians to labour for the benefit of the whole 
 human race, both Jew and Gentile, than in this day. may 
 we be wise to discern the signs of the limes, and to obey the plain 
 command of our Saviour. May vve be quickened in promot- 
 ing his cause, by the cheering light of prophecy, which, when 
 accomplished, confirms our f^ith in the divine records; and 
 while unaccomplished, supports and animates the church in its 
 labours and sutierings, with the bright hope of a future triumph 
 and a final recompense. 
 
 This leads me to add some practical remarks on one main 
 improvement of prophecy, prepauation for the coming of 
 Christ. That coming leads on to the great issue of all the 
 events of this lower world, and the scriptures dwell very much 
 on our being prepared for it; may the Divine Spirit assist this 
 effort to lead the reader more believingly, practically, and con- 
 stantlv, to look forward to his coming. 
 
 If he will appear the second time u-ilhout siti unto salvation to 
 them that look fur him: — if in that day the crown of righteous- 
 ness will be given by the righteous Judge, to them that love his 
 69* 
 
230 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 appearing, (2 Tim. iv. 8,) how important is it for us earnestly 
 to look for and affectionately to desire that event! 
 
 If the warning is again and again repeated, *'Watch, for ye 
 know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man 
 Cometh," Matt. xxiv. 42; xxv. 13: If we are solemnly charged, 
 "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour [347] as ye think not, 
 the Son of man cometh," Matt. xxiv. 44; and our Lord in 
 that part of prophecy which seems immediately to relate to 
 the period in which we are now living, says, ''Behold, I come 
 as a thief! Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his gar- 
 ments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame," Rev. 
 xvi. 15, how circumspectly should the Christian now walk, 
 treading as on the borders of eternity, and in the anticipation 
 of all those events which mark the last days. 
 
 There are some important scriptural directions that we should 
 ever bear in mind with reference to this great event. 
 
 (1.) Watchfulness is the primary duty to which the scrip- 
 tures continually direct us. Some passages have already been 
 noticed which point out this duty. 
 
 Our Lord makes it a direction applicable to all his people 
 when he says, "What I say unto you I say unto all, watch." 
 Mark xiii. 37. Watchfulness has a special reference to the 
 dangers with which we are surrounded; and those dangers 
 which are now on every side of this subject peculiarly call us 
 to this circumspect spirit. The infidelity of the present times 
 is peculiarly marked, open, and contagious. Watch, then, 
 against temptations to unbelief; every jot and tittle of God's 
 word in its plain meaning is ahogether true, though the Neo- 
 logian, learned in languages even under the mask of Christi- 
 anity, and the Infidel Socialist, more openly may attempt to 
 explain it away; and though the profligate openly revile and 
 scoff at it. 
 
 The novelties of lively imaginations are also to be guarded 
 against. Be not carried away by the zeal and devotedness and 
 talents of any man, from those old truths on which the church 
 has fed from the beginning — "ask for the old paths, where is 
 the good way, [348] and walk therein, and ye shall find rest 
 for your souls." Jer. vi. 16. Satan is now specially busy. 
 "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a 
 roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 
 1 Pet. V. 8. This watchfulness expects sudden attacks, is not 
 ignorant of Satan's devices, and anticipates the activity of the 
 enemy, being always ready for him. 
 
 (2.) Occupation in our master's service is a scriptural di- 
 rection on this point — Occujn/ till I come. Luke xix. 13. We 
 have many talents committed to our charge, and we are to be 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 231 
 
 diligently laying them out for our Master — whether they be 
 property, time, ability, influence, health, strength, or any other, 
 all is to be heartily and diligently laid out for God. Matt. xxiv. 
 14 — 30. The Christian has not a moment to lose, adding one 
 grace to another, he is charged, "Give diligence to make your 
 calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall 
 never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you 
 abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Sa- 
 viour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter i. 5 — 11. Seeking to save the 
 souls of others is another most important part of our work as 
 Christians. After St. Jude had given that lively dcscri|)tjon in 
 Enoch's prophecy of our Lord's coming, and charged believers 
 to build up lliemselvcs in their 77iost holij failh, (Jude 20,) he tells 
 them with regard to others, "Of some have compassion, mak- 
 ing a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out 
 of the fire." Jude 22, 23. And doing "good to all men, and 
 especially to the household of faith," (Gal. vi. 10,) is so re- 
 markably urged upon us by the account of the last judgment, 
 that I need only refer the Christian to that animating spring of 
 occupation in our Master's service recorded Matt. xxv. 31 — 46. 
 [349] (3.) Sobriety of mind is another duty connected 
 with the coming of Christ. The apostle says, "Yourselves 
 know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief 
 in the night: — let us who are of the day be sober, putting on 
 the breast-plate of faith and love: and for an helmet, the hope 
 of salvation." 1 Thcss. v. 2 — 8. Our Lord gives similar di- 
 rections. Luke xxi. 34 — 30. Sobriety, both of mind and body, 
 is, indeed, to be greatly prized; the spirit of a soimd mind is 
 joined with the spirit of pou-er and of love, and where these go 
 together men are eminently blessed of God. A realizing and 
 scriptural, a holy and practical view of our. Lord's speedy com- 
 ing, is well calculated to make us, not wild and enthusiastic, 
 either in novelties of doctrine or peculiarity of jiractice, but 
 eminently sober. "Let your moderation.be known unto all 
 men, the Lord is at hand." Phil. iv. 5. The Christian should 
 not go into one real extravagance, but fully attend to xvhalsoever 
 things are lovfhi and xchatsoever things are of good report. His 
 principles of faith, and his corresponding practice, his confes- 
 sion of Christ, and his adherence to his truth, will expose him 
 quite enough to the reproach of the world, without courting 
 them by needless display or peculiarity. You will, in walk- 
 ing in the old paths, from the various difliculties of your course, 
 still have to attend to that direction, "gird up the loins of your 
 mind, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought 
 unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter i. 13. 
 «(4.) Readiness is another scriptural direction often repeat- 
 
232 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 ed. "Be ye therefore also ready, for the Son of Man cometh 
 at an hour when ye think not." Luke xii. 40, We assuredly 
 believe our Lord zcill come, and we must stand before him in 
 judgment, and hear [350] his sentence, Depart, ye cursed, or 
 Come, ye blessed, — and our state through eternity depends on 
 that sentence; and this may be very soon! What words, then, 
 can adequately tell the vast importance of being duly prepared 
 for this event, so infinitely momentous to us! the madness 
 of thinking any worldly concerns whatever, a reason for ne- 
 glecting these eternal concerns! True readiness has been well 
 considered as a readiness of state and of habit. A readiness 
 of state consisting in tiie pardon of all sin through ihe blood 
 of Jesus; the gift of a perfect righteousness in Christ, (2 Cor. 
 V. 21; Isaiah Ixi. 10,) and an inward meetness by the power 
 of the Spirit on the heart, (Col. i. 12.) All of which are the 
 free gift of God, to those who come to him in the name of his 
 Son, (Isaiah Iv. 7; Rom. iii. 21, 22; and Luke xi. 13.) And 
 a readiness of habit, or actual readiness, such as Simeon and 
 Anna, who were waiting for the consolation of Israel. Our 
 Saviour teaches us this duty very plainly. "Let your loins be 
 girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like 
 unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from 
 the wedding, that when he cometh and knockelh they may 
 open unto him immediately." Luke xii. 35, 36. To attain 
 this actual readiness we should deny ungodliness and worldly 
 lusts, (Titus ii. 11 — 13',) and mortify our sins, (Col. iii. 4, 5,) 
 we should abide in Christ, (1 John ii. 28,) and purify ourselves 
 as he is pure, (1 John iii. 2, 3.) Our conversation should be 
 in heaven, (Phil. iii. 20, 21,) and our afieclion set on things 
 above, (Col. iii. 2 — 4,) and we should be patient in tribulation, 
 (Heb. X. 30", 37.) Be ye also readi/, is a comprehensive direc- 
 tion which leads us to the whole course of Christian duty. 
 
 [351] (5.) Intercession for others is a duty immediately 
 connected with the study of prophecy. Daniel's example is 
 here peculiarly instructive — "1 Daniel understood by books the 
 number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jere- 
 miah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in 
 the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord 
 God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and 
 sackcloth, and ashes," (Dan. ix. 2, 3;) and then follows that 
 beautiful intercession given us in his ninth chapter. Oh! if 
 prophetical studies did but lead us as they led Daniel, to much 
 intercession for our country and our fellow-creatures, we might 
 indeed hope for the most happy issue in an enlarged know- 
 ledge of God's will, and an enlarged blessedness to his church. 
 
 ((i.) Patient waiting for Christ, — is another important 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 033 
 
 scriptual direction.* The Apostle prays [352] for his Thessa- 
 lonian converts — "the Lord direct your hearts into the love of 
 God, and into the patient waiting for Ciirist." 2 Thess. iii. 5. 
 This supposes it to be to us a most desirable event, as indeed 
 to every Christian it is. It is sui'cly a transporting hope to be 
 rescued out of all jiast evils of this sinful world, to be at once 
 changed, to put on incorruption and immortality, and after the 
 dead in Christ are raised, to be transfigured and "caught up to- 
 gether with them, to meet the Lortl in the air, and so ever to 
 be with him." 1 Thess. iv. 17. What tongue can tell, what 
 imagination conceive, the rapturous joy of the emancipated 
 Christian, in an instant freed from the body of sin, clothed with 
 a spiritual body, and for ever like his Lord, and for ever see- 
 ing him as lie is. Let us realize this hope, and we shall see 
 the need of divine grace for the patient waiting for Christ. 
 This is equally opposed to indifierence, unconcern, and neglect, 
 on the one hand; and to despondency, fainting, and weariness 
 on the other. The Christian should both desire and expect 
 the coming of his Saviour. His faith, hope, and love should 
 all be in exercise on this great truth. He desires, but he waits; 
 — he expects, but he is patient; and in due time he that shall 
 come zvill come, and icill nut tarry. Heb. x. 37. The early Chris- 
 tians had to look through the long vista of at least eighteen 
 centuries; but the bright and glowing object at the termination 
 of this vista, kept their eye of faith steadily fixed in patient wait- 
 ing for it. Enoch viewed its approach at least 5000 years before- 
 hand, (Jude 14, 15.) Let not us, as we approach nearer and 
 nearer, be more indifferent in "looking for that blessed hope, 
 and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ," Titus ii. 13; but in its nearer [353] approach, while 
 
 * The meaning of wailing for the coming of Christ may indeed he mis- 
 taken. It does imply a conviction of nearness to the time; it does not imply 
 a conviction of an instant, or immediate coming. Asainst an instant expecta- 
 tion the Thessalonian Christians were warned, (2 Thess. ii. 2,) of a nearness 
 we are assured as a motive to patience. James v. 8. The day of the JL.ord ap- 
 pears to commence with the great tribulation, when the Jews are delivered: 
 that may be close at hand, and a short period in itself, before i"he rapture of 
 the saints, and the descent of Christ to our earth. To be prepared for the day 
 of the Lord is our immediate duly, that we may be arcountrd worthu to escape 
 all those things vhich shall come to pass, and to stand fic/orc the Son of Mun. A 
 definite fixing of a date would be an obstacle to fulfilling our general duties. 
 God's exact foreknowledge of times and seasons is an ocean far beyond what 
 we are able to containor manage. Had we exact foreknowledge, it would be- 
 come to us, in our present stale, mere fatalism, and he productive of many 
 evils. We should make it destructive to ourselves and to others. We have 
 to be thankful for what he has hidden, as well as for what he has revealed. 
 The remarkable mixture of trial with nearness of joy, set before us in the cha- 
 racter of the day of the Lord, is eminently calculated to promote watchful- 
 ness and preparedness with joyful hope. 
 
234 -^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 we desire it more ardently, may we also patiently wait for its 
 full revelation and glory, 
 
 (7.) Christians comforting each other, is another duty 
 connected with the coming of Christ. Christians are now 
 "companions in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience 
 of Jesus Christ." Rev. i. 9. They have to suffer for rcell-doing, 
 they have to bear the scorn of the world, "and the mistakes 
 and misrepresentations even of brethren; but let us attend to 
 the divine direction, and let the coming of Christ be viewed 
 not as a matter of controversy but of comfort — "Wherefore 
 comfort one another with these words" — 1 Thess. iv. 19. — 
 "He died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, wu should 
 live together with him; wherefore comfort yourselves together, 
 and edify one another, even as also ye do," (v. 10, 11.) Oh! 
 if laying aside things in which we differ, we were oftener re- 
 garding this glorious hope, and speaking of it with glowing 
 expectation, surely our hearts would be more knit together in 
 love, and we should rise to a higher point of devotedncss to 
 God our Saviour. What consolatory hopes on the death of 
 our brethren, (1 Thess. iv. 13,) what exceeding joy in the pre- 
 sence of the Lord, (Jude 24,) what a gathering together of the 
 general assembly of the first-born (2 Thess. ii. 1; Heb. xii, 23) 
 does the coming of the Lord set before us! The body may 
 indeed be committed to the grave, and there mingle with the 
 dust; but that body contains the hidden seeds of a future glo- 
 rious, undecaying, imniortal body, which, at the last trumpet, 
 shall rise in glory unutterable and incorruptible, and with a 
 spirit altogether pure and perfect, and for ever dwell with fel- 
 low-partakers of the same glory, and in the bliss of the one 
 Lortl and Redeemer. Surely here is [354] the Christian's most 
 effectual topic of consolation amid all his trials and sorrows. 
 "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, 
 that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with 
 exceeding joy." 1 Peter iv. 12, 13. Exceedingly inconsistent 
 with the hope of this coming is all bitterness, wrath, malice, 
 and hard censures of our brethren, (Rotn, xiv. 9, 10; 1 Cor. 
 iv. 5; Matt. vii. 1 — 5; xxiv. 48, 49,) it should rather inspire 
 feelings of sympathy, tenderness, love and compassion towards 
 all men. 
 
 Let us JOIN THE JNIEDITATION OF ChRIST CRUCIFIED WITH 
 
 Christ glorified. The apostle tells the Corinthians — "I de- 
 termined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and 
 him crucified;" he determined not to keep back the deepest 
 part of his humiliation, while, as his Epistle shews, (ch. xv.) 
 he dwelt at large on the glories of his return and the resurrec- 
 tion of his saints. /, if I be lifted up, inll draxo all men wUo me, 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 235 
 
 has a primary reference to his death, but it has a larj^er aspect, 
 including the consequences of that death and the glorious ex- 
 altation which followed it — whekefoke God also hath hi'^hly 
 exalted him, and given him a name iihich is above every name, that 
 at the flame of Jesus every knee should boic, of things in heaven and 
 things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue 
 should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Fa- 
 ther. There is such glory in the doctrine of tiie cross, it is 
 such a display of all the divine perfections, and tlieir full har- 
 mony, in the recover}' of sinful men, that it will ever be the 
 great boast and joy of the l)eliever, and the grand ordinance 
 for the salvation of lost sinners: but the glory to come is the 
 triumphant [355] issue of that cross, displaying also most 
 abundantly the enlarged wisdom, faithfulness, and loving-kind- 
 ness of our God. We should not separate one from the other 
 in our meditations. Our Redeemer himself thought much of 
 the glory to follow, (John xvii.) and so was sustained in endur- 
 ing the cross, (Heb. xii. 2.) it may hence be seen how much 
 his followers need the same sustaining hopes in their sufferings 
 and conflicts. The confession of the name or glory of Jesus, 
 may be now an important evidence of fidelity, as well as the 
 confession of his death. Pergamos's fidelity was proved in 
 not denying the fail h, (Rev. ii. 13:) Philadelphia's fidelity is 
 proved in not denying the name of Christ. Rev. iii. 8. To 
 keep back his death, in the testimony given to him, was an 
 earlier temptation of the church; to keep back his glory may 
 be a special temptation in the testimony which we have now 
 to give. It is peculiarly opposed to the infidel character of our 
 age. Nor is any thing that God has revealed on this glory to be 
 viewed as immaterial; there will be found to be a real value in 
 everything revealed as a j^artof our future reward. The 1000 
 years' reign of the risen saints, jorevious to their final and 
 everlasting glory, and the blessedness of the new earth as well 
 as the new heavens, may well have an animating and holy in- 
 fluence on the Christian, without their pulling hini up with 
 pride, or being substituted for his everlasting heavenly felicity; 
 when we remember that suflcring is the way to this glory, and 
 holiness the all-essential meetness for it. 
 
 (9.) I would add another scriptural direction applicable to 
 all, but especially, to my brethren in the ministry, to laroi:k 
 
 FOR THE good OF OTHERS [350] WITH AN ESPECIAL REFE- 
 RENCE TO THE JOY, which it will give us in the day of Christ. 
 "Shine as lights in the world, holding furth the word of life, 
 that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in 
 vain, neither laboured in vain." Phil. ii. IG. O what a joy is 
 * before holy Paul in the almost boundless results of his labours! 
 
236 ^ PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 a measure of this joy is also before every Christian. Then 
 we shall understand something of the amazing magnitude of 
 saving a soul from death. James v. 10. How often do the apos- 
 tles advert to this! — "that I may present you as a chaste vir- 
 gin to Christ," (2 Cor. xi. 2.) "that we may present every man 
 perfect in Christ Jesus." Col. i. 28. "What is our hope, or 
 joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming, for ye are our glory and 
 joy," 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20. "Feed the flock of God, and when 
 the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of 
 glory that fadeth not away." 1 Peter v. 2 — 4. 
 
 Christians! may many a voice have to testify of us before 
 the presence of the Lord Jesus — 'It was thy holy life, thy once 
 unwelcome but patient and persevering exhortations, thy earn- 
 est entreaties, thy long-enduring love and forbearance, thy 
 consistent conduct, thy deadness to the world, and thy constant 
 testimony to the Saviour, tliat at length led my soul to seek 
 him for myself, and so the Lord Jesus saved me from everlast- 
 ing destruction, and so he brought me to this glory.' 
 
 Oh that we could but more fix our eyes on this joy as an 
 animating motive for exertion. Our heavenly Master, "for the 
 joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame," 
 (Heb. xii. 2;) and if we would tread in his steps, we must set 
 before us that gladness [357] zvith exceeding joy, (1 Pet. iv. 13.) 
 and those pleasures vvhjch are at his right ha?id for evermore. 
 Psalm xvi. 11. And among the richest and fullest sharers of 
 that joy, will be those who have laboured most for 'the salva- 
 tion of the soul. "They that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
 ness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteous- 
 ness, as the stars, for ever and ever." Dan. xii. 3. Tiie truly 
 wise in that great day which is coming, will not be those who 
 have most skilfully acquired and most securely possessed the 
 riches, pleasures, and honours of this world, nor those who 
 have most largely investigated the wonders of science, nor 
 those who have niost deeply studied even the mysteries of the- 
 ology: to have gained subjects for Christ's kingdom will then 
 be found to be the way to real greatness and blessedness, and 
 love will then be found to be the truest wisdom. He, and he 
 only, that wijitieth sotils is wise. Prov. xi. 30. 
 
 The sum of the whole is, the present life of the chris- 
 tian is to be A CONSTANT PREPARATION FOR HIS FUTURE 
 
 glory: nothing is indifferent; as every hour, every thought, 
 and every word, is ripening the wicked for eternal misery, so 
 are they to be ripening him for his heavenly home. These 
 two harvests are maturing at the same time (Rev. xiv, 14 
 — 20.) In the language of Dr. Chalmers "The great work 
 
TO THE PROPHECIES. 037 
 
 of Christ's disciples upon earth, is a constant and busy process 
 of assimilation to their Master who is in heaven. And \vc live 
 under a special economy, that has been set up for the express 
 purpose of helping it forward. It is for this in particular that 
 the Spirit is provided. We are changed into the image of 
 the Lord, even by the Spirit of tiie Lord. Nursed out of this 
 fulness, we grow up into [35S] the stature of perfect men in 
 Christ Jesus, and instead of heaven being a remote and myste- 
 ous unknown, hcayen is brought near to us by the simple e.\- 
 ])edient of inspiring us where we now stand with its love, and 
 purity, and sacredness." 
 
 Christian reader! to you let it be a delightful thought, that 
 the day is rapidly coming on, when, as to the prophecies, llici/ 
 shall fail, for they shall all, in their most glorious extent, be 
 accomplished ! Though ?ioxu zee see through a glass darkly, then 
 shall we behold Him whom the prophets foretold, yUce to face: 
 and though we now knozv in part, then shall we knoio even as also 
 we arc knoim.''^ 1 Cor. xiii. S, 12. 
 
 VOL. II. — 70 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 SUGGESTED SCHEME AND AXIOMS FOR THE INTERPRETATION 
 OP THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 [359] The Author, after considering the vast variety of in- 
 terpretations which have been given of this difficult but truly 
 precious book, most acquiesces in the view taken by a valued 
 friend, to whom he has before I'eferred, and which he gives in 
 this Appendix. 
 
 It may at least serve, with the preceding remarks, as a stan- 
 dard of the comparative approach of differing systems to each 
 other. With some modifications, the scheme, or general arrange- 
 ment, most harmonizes with JNIr. Frere's views, and the more 
 special applicatiofis with Mr. Cuninghame's. The leading ear- 
 lier Protestant interpretations are those of Brightman, Mede, 
 Vitringa and Bengelius; and the leading later interpreters, 
 who have more or less followed these, are Woodiiouse, Faber, 
 Cuninghame, and Frere. After considering their respective 
 systems, the Author is satisfied that there is more harmony and 
 unanimous establishment o/ truth, than many suppose. He 
 relinquishes as wholly untenable, all older or modern attempts, 
 that would consider the Apocalypse as accomplished in the 
 first stages of Christianity, or as yet wholly unfultilled; or 
 which proceed on an entirely new system of interpretation, 
 wholly at variance with that which has been generally ado|)ted 
 by the large body of Protestant interpreters who have more or 
 less followed the leaders just mentioned. After reading those 
 new systems, the Author is only the more satisfied that tiicre is 
 sufficient ground to acquiesce in the general Protestant inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 It may assist us first to compare the plans of former interpre- 
 ters, and shew their harmony in great points, esj)ecially the 
 
 ^SYSTEMS OF FaCER, CuNINGHA.ME, AND FrEHE. 
 
240 APPENDIX I. 
 
 [360] The views of Apocalyptic arrangement and interpreta- 
 tion, based on regular principles, which have latterly been 
 most widely received in the British church, are those of these 
 three authors. The first of them excels rather in its discursive 
 learning; the second in the justice of its individual interpre- 
 tations; the third in symmetry of arrangement. They are alike 
 based on the system and synchronisms of Mode: but the two 
 last, by their applications of the seals, approach nearly to the 
 arrangement of Vitringa; and Mr. Frere has sought to esta- 
 blish it by indications drawn from the parallel texts of the pro- 
 phecy. The present currency of these three systems, the 
 latest modification of the scheme of Mede, and with all the ad- 
 vantage of fuller historic light, will form the natural prepara- 
 tion for the full analysis of the prophecy. 
 
 First, These three systems agree alike with Mede and Ben- 
 gelius, in the following principles: The commencement of the 
 prophecy in the time of St. John; its continuance to the end 
 of all things, without intervening break or chasm; the future 
 and literal millennium; the application of the four first trum- 
 pets tojudgments in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries; the 
 prediction of the Saracens in one of the two former woes; the 
 future restoration of Israel; the application of the woman to 
 the true Christian church; the express description of the Pa- 
 pacy, in chap. xiii. ; the mystical reckoning of the times, chap, 
 xii. xiii.; the shock and rapid succession of the vials; the ap- 
 plication of Babylon to' the Roman church; its future destruction 
 by the ten kings; the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the holy city, and 
 the temple of God. All these are important truths, and it is 
 a striking evidence of the promised blessing, chap. i. 3, that, on 
 these, all the received systems, even that most defective in 
 arrangement, are in entire accordance. 
 
 Secondly, These systems agree with Mede, where he diflers 
 from Bengelius, in tiie following points: The agreement in 
 time, of the seventh trumpet with the vials; the application 
 of the first woe to the Saracens; the application of the second 
 woe to the Turks; the application of the first beast to the 
 secular Latin empire; the application of the second beast 
 to the ecclesiastical Latin empire, or Papacy; the common 
 mystical reckoning of the forty-two months and 1260 days, 
 chap. xi. xii. xiii.; the place of chap. x. and xi. before the 
 seventh trumpet; the rate of mystical reckoning, a year for a 
 prophetic day; the mystical meaning of the [361] holy city, 
 chap. xi. 2; the first death and resurrection of the witnesses; 
 the priority of the earthquake, (xi. 13) to the seventh trum- 
 pet; and the earthquake (xvi. 16,) the extinction of the Turk- 
 ish power, in the sixth vial; the retrospective mention of the 
 
APPENDIX I. 541 
 
 heads, chap, xvii.; the application of the sixth liead to the 
 imperial rule in the prophet's time; the single millennium, 
 followed by the loosing of Satan, and the judgment of the rest 
 of the dead at its close. These are also important and leading 
 truths, and, combined with tl)e former, already lead us far to- 
 wards a true and full understanding of the prophecy. Thirdly, 
 These writers agree in the following corrections of ^lede's 
 system. They place all the vials under the seventh trumpet. 
 They reject the chronological meaning of the inner court, as 
 denoting the early times of the church. They distinguish be- 
 tween the image of the beast and the beast himself, and restore 
 the uniform sense of the latter. They assign the first eflusion 
 of the vials to the French Revolution; and date tiie time, 
 times, and a half, either with the decree of Justinian, so as 
 to terminate with the commencement of the vials, or with the 
 time of Phocas, so as to terminate with their close. Lastly, 
 They make the commencement of this mystical period parallel 
 with the first woe, instead of the first trumpet. Fourthly, To 
 these elements of truth, already numerous, the interpretations 
 of JVIr. Cuninghame and jNIr. Frere, add the following, in 
 which they diverge from Mede and Faber as well as Bengelius. 
 They assign to the series of the seals, the trumpets, and the 
 vision of the woman, a parallel commencement. They extend 
 the seals througiiout the dispensation of the gospel. The_v 
 place the sixth seal parallel with the opening times of the 
 seventh trumpet. They close the time, times, and a half, at 
 the beginning of the vials. I'hey refer the harvest to an 
 ingathering of mercy, as the vintage to a season of wrath. 
 They view the vision of the Son of man, chap. xiv. and of the 
 word of God, chap. xix. as two successive stages of the second 
 personal advent in glory. 
 
 It may thus be seen that the variety of interpreters, and their 
 views, is far removed from total uncertainty; and that in- 
 creasing light has been constantly given. Of forty principles 
 whicfi exhibit the latest advance in prophetic truth, thirteen of 
 the most vital are shared by Jiengelius, whose scheme is the 
 most defective, twenty-eight were already held by Mede; half 
 of the remaining [3013] twelve are received by the earliest, and 
 the rest by the two later of the three living interpretators who 
 have been most distinguished in this field of inquiry. 
 
 The chief remaining elements that need to be combined, for 
 a more complete and full exposition, are the following: The 
 application of the four first seals with Dean Woodhouse and 
 Mr. Cuninghame; the interpretation of the symbolic opening 
 with Mr, Habershon; the meaning of the fourth part with Mr. 
 Faber; the right place of the seventh seal with Mr. Frere; 
 70* 
 
242 APPENDIX I. 
 
 the true date of the first trumpet with Vitringa; the proper 
 meaning of the second with Daubuz; of the third with Mr. 
 Frere, and of the fourth partly as the same author; the true 
 meaning of the fallen star with Vitringa; the meaning of the 
 third part, the continuity of the sixth trumpet with Bishop 
 Newton; the distinct reference of the temple, the altar, and 
 the worshippers; the time of the death and resurrection with 
 Mr. Fleming and Mr. Elliott; the earthquake with Mr. Frere; 
 the unbroken continuity of chap. xii. with Brightman; the 
 succession of the first and the second beast; the connection of 
 the eagle and the angel messages; the note of time in the num- 
 ber of the beast with Bengelius; the name of the beast in the 
 number with Clarke; the time and succession of the sealing of 
 the tribes, with their historic meaning; the distinctive character 
 of the three main visions; the connection of the times with 
 the 1335 days of Daniel; the transition from the mystery of 
 God and mystical events to the literal Antichrist and personal 
 advent; the full interpretation of the number of the beast on 
 a simple and strict principle, and in all the variety of its sig- 
 nificance. 
 
 Some have entertained the opinion that there may be a lite- 
 ral recapitulation of the prophecy respecting the Man of Sin 
 and the whole book of Revelation. That Antichrist will at 
 last assume an open and infidel form, seems plain from many 
 scriptures. And it is probable too that part of the book of 
 Revelation may link itseJf with the Old Testament prophecies, 
 and be finally realized in events more literal, at the recall of 
 the Jews. But there seem to the Author insuperable objec- 
 tions in the structure of the Apocalypse, and the nature of 
 many of its symbols, to such a re-application of the whole. 
 Tlie principles by which such parts might be distinguished 
 would require a research beyond the purpose of the present 
 work. 
 
THE SCHEME OF THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 [363] The siege of Jericho by Joshua contains a concentrated or bird's-eye view, or 
 type, of the histo'ry developed in the Hevelaiion. The sealing of the 1 11,000 is sup- 
 posed to take place during the whole pro-rress of the dispensation, and the character of 
 successive periods of the church to be typitied by the tribes successively named. 
 
 VISION OF THE CHURCHES, CHAPTERS 1. II. III. 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER iV. 
 
 [1] THE SKALS. 
 
 THK KINGDOM OK I'ROVIUKNCE. 
 CHRIST THE LAMB OF GOD. 
 
 Introdnciion, ch. v. 
 4 to 14. 
 
 Sealed Book, the Se- 
 cret Councils of 
 the World's Re- 
 demption. 
 
 Seal!, vi. 1,2. 70. 
 Victories of the 
 Church Militant. 
 
 The sealing 
 in Ezek. 
 ix.x.ltoT. 
 
 Angel ofTth 
 Trumpet. 
 
 JUDAH, 
 RELBEN. 
 
 OAD, 
 ASHER. 
 
 Seal II. vi. 3, 324. 
 Discord of the 
 
 Church. 
 Svirord sent, Mat. x. 
 
 34. 
 
 Seal III. vi. 5, 6. xaphtali, 
 Spiritual Famine of manasseh. 
 the Church, 533. 
 
 Seal IV. vi. 7, 8. SIMEON, 
 Spiritual Desolation levi. 
 
 ofthe Church, 1073. 
 [For four first seals, 
 
 see Zech. vi. 1 to 
 
 5] 
 
 Seal V. vi. 9 to 11. iss.«char, 
 Cry of the Martyrs, zebuun. 
 1138. 
 
 SealVI.vi. 12toI7. JOSEPH. 
 
 1789. 
 Signs of Wrath. 
 
 Seal VII. viii. 1. benjamin. 
 
 Pause belbre Judg- 
 ment, Irtla. 
 
 The Day of Wrath, 
 vii. 1 — 3. 
 
 Feast of Tabernacles 
 \u. 9. 
 
 Ingathering of the 
 Church, V. 11—17. 
 
 [•2] Till': TRl'Ml'r.TS. 
 
 THE KIMillO.M OF IHK WUllD; 
 
 CHKIST, THK ANGEI. OF THE COVE- 
 
 .NANT. 
 
 Introdnction viii. 2 
 to 6. 
 
 Christ the Priest. 
 
 Fire cast on the earth, 
 Luke xii. 49. 
 
 Warning Earth- 
 quake. 
 
 I Trumpet L viii. 7. Two wit- 
 
 i Gothic invasions, nesses, their 
 
 1 '250. characte."- 
 
 I and oltice. 
 I Trumpet II. viii. 8, Ch. xi. 4 to 
 
 I 9. 10. 
 Fall of Rome, 3(55. 
 
 Trumpet III. viii. 
 I 10,11,412. 
 Heresies of the East. 
 
 Commence 
 raent of 
 their pro- 
 phesying. 
 
 Trumpet IV. viii. 
 
 12. 565. 
 Eclip.se of Eastern 
 
 Empire. 
 Woe Trumpets 1-200 
 
 da vs. 
 Trumpet V. ix. 1 to 
 
 12. 608. 
 Saracen Woe. 
 
 Trumpet VI. ix. 13 
 
 to 21, 1063. 
 Turkish Woe. 
 
 Remnant repent not. Revived pro- 
 phcsymg. 
 Christ the Prophet, :i.. 
 
 I 10 4. 
 Delay no longer. Rcsurrec- 
 Prophet ri^es. turn and 
 
 Temple measured. Asccn- 
 Earihquake warn- sjun, v. 
 
 ing. 11. 1-2. 
 
 Remnant alTrighted. 
 Clo.>c of second woe. 
 
 Trumpet vii. xi. 15 
 
 to 19. , 
 
 Christ the Kins:. 
 The Temple opened. 
 
 [3] TUR CHURCH. 
 
 KIN<.D0M OK THE 
 
 SPHUr. CHRIST, THE 
 
 BO.N OK MA.N. 
 
 The Travail of 
 
 Church, -xii. 1 
 
 to 4. 
 Birth ofthe seed of 
 
 I he woman, v. 5. 
 Flight to wilder- 
 ness begun, v. G. 
 War in heaven, v. 
 
 7,8. 
 Satan cast down, V. 
 
 9 to 12. Lukex. 
 
 18. 
 Paganism over- 
 
 thrt.wn, 3-23. 
 Eagle's wings giv- 
 en 10 the woman, 
 
 V. 14, 395. 
 Protection of the 
 
 two empires. 
 Flood from mouth 
 
 of Dragon, V. 15, 
 
 16. 
 Deluge of Arian 
 ! nations. 
 Commencement of 
 
 1260 (lays. 
 I Rise of Beast from 
 
 thesca, xiii. 1 to 
 10, 476. 
 , Civil Apostacy of 
 I the West. 
 I Rise of Bca.st from 
 ' the earth, xiii. 
 1 11 to 18, 774. 
 EccleiiasiicalEm- 
 
 . pireoftheWot. 
 Sealed ones with 
 the Lamb, xiv. 
 : 1 to 5. 
 
 ! First Angel mes- 
 : sage, v. (>, 7. 
 Second Angel 
 
 message, v. H. 
 Third Angel mes- 
 sage, V. 9 to II. 
 I Fourth and Fifih 
 I AngeN, 1410 If. 
 I The harvest of 
 I mercy. 
 j SixlhandSevcnili 
 I Angels, 17 lo 20. 
 I Vintage of Wraili. 
 
244 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 [4.] THE VIALS. 
 
 Introduction, chap. xv. 
 
 The Day of Wrath, The temple opened, 
 ver. i. 7. ver. 5, 6. 
 
 Vial I. xvi. 1, 2. 
 Vial II. ver. 3. 
 
 Vial III. ver. 4, 7. 
 Vial IV. ver. 8, 9. 
 Vial V. ver. 10, 11. 
 Vial VI. ver. 12, 16. 
 Vial VII. ver. 12 to 17. 
 
 A grievous sore. 
 Sea lurned to blood. 
 
 Rivers turned to blood. 
 Scorching Heal. 
 Kingdom of Beast. 
 Euphrates dried. 
 Fall of Babylon. 
 
 The Harvest and Vintage, xvi. 
 15, 19. 
 
 Eruption of Infidelity, 1792. 
 Anarchy, bloodshed, and massacre 
 
 in France, 1793. 
 Education becomes murderous, 1795. 
 Imperial Despotism of Napoleon, 1802. 
 Retributive justice on France, 1815. 
 Ruin of Turkish Empire, 1822. 
 Battle of Armageddon, and coming of 
 
 the Lord. 
 
 [5.] Vision of First Reveal- 
 ing Angel. 
 xvii. I. to xix. 10. 
 tue fall op babylon. 
 3d woe. 
 
 [G.] Vision of Christ the 
 
 Word. 
 
 xix. 11. to xxi. 8. 
 
 THE APPEARING AND KINGDOM 
 OF CHRIST. 
 
 [7.] Vision of Last Revealing 
 
 Angel. 
 
 xxi. 9. to xxii. 15. 
 
 THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. 
 
 GENERAL CLOSE, XXII. 16 to 21. 
 
 [364] SUGGESTED GENERAL AXIOMS OF THE INTERPRETATION 
 OF THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 I.— GENERAL SCOPE. 
 
 1 The Apocalypse is a prophecy of 
 
 things future in the time of the 
 apostle. 
 
 2 It is a prophecy reaching to the 
 
 end of all things, and tlie eternal 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 3 The opening vision in the address 
 
 to the Seven Churches relates to 
 things which were then present. 
 Ch. i. 19. 
 
 4 The Angelic Vision, chap. iv. 1 — 
 
 xxii., relates to things which were 
 next to follow. 
 
 5 The prophecy is continuous be- 
 
 tween these two limits. 
 G The four Beasts, Dan. vii., denote 
 the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, 
 Grecian and Latin or Roman 
 Empires. 
 
 7 The coming of the Son of Man, 
 
 Dan. vii., is the second advent of 
 Christ. 
 
 8 The kingdom of the Son of Man, 
 
 Dan. vii., is a future visible 
 earthly and glorious kingdom of 
 Christ. 
 
 9 The Judgment, Rev. xix., is the 
 same with that in Dan. vii. 
 
 10 The vision. Rev. xix., describes 
 
 the second coming of Christ. 
 
 11 The Millennium, in chap, xx., 
 
 follows the second advent, and 
 begins the visible kingdom of 
 Christ on earth. 
 
 12 The Apocalypse, chap, iv — xix. is 
 
 contained within the times of the 
 fourth or Roman Empire. 
 
 13 The passage xvii. 7 — 18, is one of 
 
 directinterpretation, and its notes 
 of lime to be referred to the very 
 time of the prophecy. 
 
 14 Babylon in the Apocalypse denotes 
 
 Rome, or some power having its 
 seal and centre at Rome. 
 
 15 The vision of chap. iv. v. dates 
 
 from the Ascension of our Lord. 
 IG The first seal dates from the fall 
 of Jerusalem or nearly. 
 
 17 The last vial coincides in time with 
 
 the fall of Rome in its latest stage. 
 
 18 The visions, chap, iv — xvi.. are 
 
 included within the Ascension 
 and the fall of Rome except in 
 their very close. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 2J5 
 
 II.-STRUCTURE. 
 
 •20 
 
 21 
 
 The Apocalypse is composed, chap, 
 i. ll», of the ihinj^s seen, chap, i., 
 the ihiiijjs then present, chaj). ii. 
 iii., and the thinc,'s to be herealtcr. 
 chap, iv — x.xij. 
 
 The last of these alone are direct 
 prophecT, and were signified to 
 the apostle in visions by an angel, 
 ch. i. 1; iv. 1; xxii. 8, 0. 
 
 The anselic visions are seven. 
 The steals, ch. v— vii. The 
 trumpets, viii — ix. The woman 
 and her seed, xii — xiv. The 
 vials,. X V. xvi. The fall of Baby- 
 lon, xvii. 1; xix. 9. The judg- 
 ment, xix. 10; xxi. 8. The hea- 
 venly Jerusalem, xxi. 9; xxii. 7. 
 
 The prophecy is successive from 
 ch. xviii. to the close. 
 
 The ordinals in each sevenfold 
 series are strict!}' successive in 
 time. 
 
 The vision, ch. xii — xiv. has its 
 three parts continuous and suc- 
 cessive. 
 
 The events of ch. vii. are those of 
 the seventh seal. 
 
 The passage xi. 4 — 10, is a narra- 
 tive parenthesis, and no part of 
 the vision. 
 
 The vision, x. xi. 15, falls entirely 
 within the sixth trumpet. 
 
 The three first visions close with 
 the time of the last vial or after. 
 
 They date from the opening of the 
 prophecy, and are parallel. 
 
 The vials commence with the time 
 of the seventh trumpet. 
 
 The sealing is successive, and 
 reaches through the trumpets to 
 the last. 
 
 The siege of Jericho is a divine 
 type, and a full key to the Struc- 
 ture. 
 
 III.— PARTICULAR APPLICA- 
 TION. 
 
 33 The third woe is the open judg- 
 ment of God's enemies, Babylon, 
 the Beast, the False Prophet, 
 and the Dragon, ch. xviii — xx. 
 
 31 The two first woes are the Sara- 
 cens and the Turks. 
 
 35 The False Prophet is the same 
 with the two-horiicd beast. 
 
 30 The beast throughout is in the 8th 
 or revived form. 
 
 37 The 4th beast, in Dan. vii., the 
 body of the dragon, ch. xii., and 
 
 the revived beast, chap. xiii. xvii. 
 xi., are the rising Latin einj)irc, 
 the united Roman empire, and 
 the revivcil Latin empire of the 
 west. 
 
 38 Tlie False Prophet is the .same 
 
 with the liiile burn, in Dan. vii. 
 
 39 The False Prophet denotes the 
 
 Ecclesiastical Latin empire, or 
 Papacy. 
 
 40 The Harlot or Babylon in the 
 
 stage, ch. xvii., is the' same with 
 the image of the beast. 
 
 41 Babylon denotes the Romish 
 
 church. 
 
 4'2 The Woman denotes the Apos- 
 tolic church. 
 
 43 The sealed tribes denote Apostolic 
 Christians through the times of 
 the New Testament. 
 
 41 The palm-bearing multitude de- 
 notes the church in final triumph. 
 
 IV.— CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 45 The number of the beast is a mark 
 
 of time besides its other charac- 
 ters, and forms a transition from 
 the mystical to the literal reckon- 
 ing. 
 
 46 The time, times, and half a time, 
 
 the 4-2 months, and 12G0 days are 
 the same interval. 
 
 47 The lime, times, and half of 
 
 Daniel, and the Revelation are 
 the same period. 
 
 48 A prophetic day is a natural )'ear. 
 
 49 The three-and-a-half times are the 
 
 half of seven times, the whole 
 season of Gentile power, and the 
 same with the latter times of St. 
 Paul. 
 
 50 A time denotes 300 years, and 
 
 ;^/>«oc is equivalent toitw^or. 
 
 v.— DETAIL OF APPLICATION. 
 
 The following result simply-from the 
 combinaiion of the.aliove. 
 
 51 The 4 first trumpets contain the 
 
 judgments that fell on the Roman 
 empire from the 1st century to 
 the rise of the Saracens. 
 5'3 The third part denotes uniformly 
 the third or eastern empire, the 
 fourth part, the fourth or western 
 empire. 
 
 53 The first trumpet relates to the 
 
 Gothic eruptions bel'ore Constan- 
 line. 
 
 54 The second trumpet relates to the 
 
 fall of the Latin emperorship of 
 Rome. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 246 
 
 55 The third trumpet relates to the 
 
 religious feuds of the ea.'-t. 
 
 56 The fourth trumpet, describes the 
 
 decline and lon^ eclipse of the 
 eastern empire after Justinian. 
 
 57 The opening of ch. x. relates to 
 
 the revival of learning and light 
 from the fall of the eastern em- 
 pire to the reformation. 
 
 58 The re-prophesying, and the re- 
 
 surrection of the witnesses both 
 refer to the reformation. 
 
 59 The ascension of the witnesses re- 
 
 lates to the era of missions. 
 
 60 The attendant earthquake is the 
 
 first shock of the French Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Gl The four first Seals relate to four 
 steps of imperial change, and 
 four states of the visible church; 
 Apostolic, Nicene Orthodox, Su- 
 perstitious, and Papal, the last in 
 the climax of corruption. 
 
 G-2 The fifth seal relates to the height 
 of Papal power before the refor- 
 mation, and a time ;ti°=vo? inter- 
 venes beibre thesixth, while from 
 the time of the oath, ch. x. 7, a 
 time does not intervene. 
 
 63 The sixth seal describes the French 
 
 revolution. 
 
 64 The holding of the winds, ch. vii. 
 
 1, is the same with the silence of 
 half a season, and answers to the 
 time since the general pe'ace. 
 
 65 The harvest and vintage are future 
 
 and near at hand. 
 
 66 The vials relate to the French re- 
 
 volution. 
 
 67 The sixth vial is now accomplish- 
 
 ing in Turkey and Christendom. 
 
 68 The seventh vial is near at hand. 
 
 69 The mystery of God will be ac- 
 
 complished within a time, or 360 
 years from the time of the refor- 
 mation. 
 
 70 The seven epistles typically de- 
 
 scribe seven successive estates of 
 tlie spiritual church from the 
 first to the second advent. 
 
 VI.-PARTICULAR TIMES. 
 
 71 The time, times, and half, and, 
 
 1260 days of Revelation are the 
 same period. 
 
 72 The 43 months have a date rather 
 
 later, like the two dates of the 
 70 years captivity. 
 
 73 The 1290 and 1335 days of Dan. 
 
 both commence with the 1260 
 days of Revelation, or time, 
 times, and a half, of both pro- 
 phecies. 
 
 74 The 7 times of the Gentiles begin 
 
 with the subjection of Israel 
 .under Shalmanezar. 
 
 75 The three and a half times begin 
 
 with Justinian's eternal code, 
 A. D. 532—3. 
 
 76 The 42 months close nearly with 
 
 the 1335 days. 
 
 77 The 43 months begin a. d. 604 or 
 
 A. D. 607 — 8, with the reunion of 
 the ten kingdoms or the public 
 establishment of idolatry. 
 
 78 The 1335 days end in a. d. 1867—8. 
 
 II. 
 
 SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 [3G7] The six days of creation, have, from early ages, been 
 supposed to be typical of the history of the world for GOOO 
 years. The Jews, the Christian Fathers, and later writers might 
 be enumerated at considerable length, who have concurred in 
 this view, and some scriptural evidence bearing this tendency 
 might be adduced. But without dwelling upon this view, or 
 urging its importance, the following table (which was prepared 
 at the author's request by the friend mentioned in the preface) 
 may be very useful in helping the memory to retain dates of great 
 events, from its coming under that simple arrangement of six 
 evenings and six mornings with corresponding remarkable 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 217 
 
 seras in the history of the world. It will tend also to furnish 
 a key to propliecy hy connecting the events with the predic- 
 tion, and a key to history, by siiewing tiie scrijjtural character 
 of those events. 
 
 ISIost affecting is the fact that nearly six thousand years of 
 God's revealed mercy have passed by, "and eighteen centuries 
 of its last and highest form, in the gospel of Christ; and two- 
 thirds of mankind, perhaps three-fourths, are still almost stran- 
 gers to ils very sound. Even in those countries where it is 
 outwardly received, that gospel once so mighty, seems as though 
 it had lost its glory and power; and on every side the truth is 
 forgotten that men are prisoners under a sentence of death, and 
 a proclamation of mercy has been brought by God's own eter- 
 nal Son to a perishing world. 
 
 In the midst of this darkness, the light of prophecy cheers 
 our paths, and its chronological statements are especially de- 
 signed for our meditation and our comfort, and they lead us to 
 the conviction that a far happier state of things is rapidly ap- 
 proaching. 
 
 The works of creation are doubtless designed, as we see 
 manifested through the scriptures, to be visible and sensible 
 pictures of the deeper and more important works of grace, 
 that by the outward senses we may be led to the full know- 
 ledge of spiritual objects. The lights in the firmament were 
 fixed there to ha for [368] signs and for seasons, as well as for 
 days and for years. But at present our insight into these things 
 is very feeble, limited, and indistinct, and we may mistake 
 even the appearances of things, and count that which is still 
 darkness to be as the dawn. How difl'erent a light will the 
 day of tribulation bring into our fallen world! open and actual 
 judgments inflicted by the immediate hand of God upon his 
 enemies, and his manifestcch deliverance of his people, and 
 their visible glory will fully shew the real character of all 
 things, and the supreme excellence of righteousness and grace. 
 Of that day it is predicted, Moreover the light of the moon shall 
 he as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shull be seven- 
 fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindcth up 
 the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their u-ound. Isa. 
 XXX. 26. What wisdom, forbearance, loving-kindness, right- 
 eousness, and holiness, constantly at work in the last 6000 
 years, but yet hidden from us, will the day of the revelation of 
 the righteous judgment of God openly display to all intelligent 
 beings! 
 
 The chronological table, before our Lord's coming, is found- 
 ed on the Hebrew as settled by Usher, while considerable use 
 has been made of that truly valuable work, Clinton's Fasti 
 Hellenic!. The author, though he has considered what has 
 
248 APPENDIX II. 
 
 been stated by Mr. Hales and Mr. Cunlnghame, sees not ade- 
 quate evidence to convince bis mind tbat the Hebrew dates are 
 corrupted, and believes that the Jews, to whom the oracles of 
 God were committed, have really been faithful to that impor- 
 tant trust. The variations in their present chronology from 
 ours, arise not from difierences connected with the sacred text, 
 but from differences of reckoning the periods subsequent to 
 the close of the Historical Books of the Old Testament. The 
 eventful character of the present time as hastening to the close 
 of the sixth Millennium of the world, and the promised sab- 
 batism, (Heb. iv. 9.) on the principles of the Hebrew chro- 
 nology as here given, will be very obvious. 
 
 According to the order of the first chapter of Genesis, the 
 evening comes first, and then the morning: (b.) points out 
 the birth, and (d.) the death of those named; (ffit.)theage; (pr.) 
 prophecies; and (jub.) jubilee. References are also occasion- 
 ally given to that remarkable illustrator of prpphecy, the his- 
 torian Gibbon, who, though he meant not so, has furnished the 
 most striking developement of the book of Revelation. 
 
 The years of the world are given down to the Christi-an era, 
 the years of that era afterward. To reduce the year a.m. to 
 B.C., we must subtract them from 4006. To reduce years a.d. 
 to A.M. we must add 4005. The varieties of chronology, if 
 we adopt Mr. Clinton's number for the interval of the Judges, 
 affect the dates after the dedication, only by a constant addi- 
 tion, which in his chronology is 133 years. 
 
 A few eras which are cycles from the creation are noticed; 
 and where doubt was particularly felt, a query is put at the end 
 of the word or sentence.* 
 
 * As Mr. Clinton's work is less likely to fall into the hands of common 
 readers, and his extent of research and accuracy of statement are very pecu- 
 liar, and his dates bring us now (in 183G) to within twenty-six years of the 
 termination of the 6000th year of the world, some of the principal are here 
 subjoined. 
 
 B. C. 
 
 A. M. 
 
 EVENTS. 
 
 YEAR.S. 
 
 4138 
 
 
 Adam 
 
 
 2'182 
 
 1656 
 
 The Deluge 
 
 1656 
 
 2130 
 
 2008 
 
 Birth of Abraham 
 
 352 
 
 2055 
 
 2083 
 
 The Call . - . . 
 
 75 
 
 1G25 
 
 2513 
 
 The Exodus . - - . 
 
 430 
 
 1585 
 
 2553 
 
 Death of Moses ... 
 
 40 
 
 1558 
 
 2580 
 
 First sevvilm]e— Conjecture 
 
 27 
 
 1128 
 
 3010 
 
 Death of Eli - - - . 
 
 430 
 
 1096 
 
 3042 
 
 Election of Saul— Co??7Vd7/.rc 
 
 32 
 
 1056 
 
 3082 
 
 David (40 y. 6 m.) 
 
 40 
 
 1016 
 
 3122 
 
 Solomon (39 y. 6 m.) 
 
 40 
 
 <)7(; 
 
 3162 
 
 Rehoboam - . - - 
 
 40 
 
 587 
 
 3551 
 
 Zedckiah's captivity - 
 
 389 y. 1 m. 
 
 573 
 
 3565 
 
 Ezeldcl's vision 
 
 14 
 
 561 
 
 3577 
 
 First year of Evil Merodach 
 
 12 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 249 
 
 [370] SACRED CHRONOLOGY 
 
 ARRANGED BY THE 
 
 MILLENNIA FROM CREATION. 
 
 FIRST EVENING. 
 
 A M 
 
 Darkness, Fall. Gen. i. 2, 5, iii. 
 Jer. iv. 23. 
 1 Creation and Fall, b c 400G 
 Abel's death: Cain's exile. 
 131 Sethb. 
 23G Enos b. 
 32ti Cainan b. 
 39C) Mahalaleel b. 
 461 Jared b. Apostacy. Gen. vi. 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 Light, Gen. i. 3, V. 25. Pro- 
 phecy, Jude 14 
 623 Enoch b. [cycle] 
 688 Methuselah b. [perfect cycle] 
 875 Lamech b. 
 931 Adam d. Gen. ii. 17 
 988 Enoch translated. Gen. v. 24 
 Seventh from Adam,— prophet, 
 Jude 14 
 
 A M 
 
 1652 Lamech d. 
 
 1656 Methuselah d. Flood begins. 
 
 Eight saved by water, Ge£ vii, 
 viii, 
 
 1657 Flood ends b c 2350 
 1659 Arphaxad b. b c 2348 
 1694 Salah b. 
 
 1724 Eber b. 
 
 1758 Pel eg b. [cycle] 
 
 1774 Chaldean era, b c 2233 
 
 1778 Reu b. 
 
 1820 Serug b. 
 
 1850 Nahor b. 
 
 Dispersion, Gen. x, 25, 32 
 Seventy families, Gen. x, Deut. 
 xxxiii, 8. 
 
 1879 Tcrah b. 
 
 1949 Haran b. Gen. xi, 26 
 
 1997 Peleg d.— 8 Nahor d. c c 2010 
 Dispersion complete 
 
 THIRD EVENING. 
 
 SECOND EVENING. 
 
 i. 6,8, vi. 1—7, 11-13; Psalm 
 
 2007 
 
 xciii.4: Isaiah xvii. 12, Ivii. 20 
 
 2009 
 
 1042 Seth d. 
 
 2019 
 
 1057 Noah b. 
 
 2027 
 
 Violence, Gen. vi. 11. Cufse, 
 
 2050 
 
 Gen. V. 29 
 
 2084 
 
 1141 Enosd. 
 
 
 1236 Cainan d. 
 
 
 12i»l Mahalaleel d. 
 
 2095 
 
 1423 Jared d. 
 
 2097 
 
 
 2109 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 2127 
 
 Ol -,(1 
 
 Firmament, Gen. i. 6, ix. 8—17; 
 
 2169 
 
 Ezrai. 22— 28 . 
 
 2184 
 
 Waters above firmament. Gen. 
 
 2188 
 
 i,7; ix, 18; xi,9 
 
 
 1537 Ark preparing 
 
 
 Forbearance, Gen. vi, 3; 1 Peter 
 
 2-216 
 
 iii, 20 
 
 
 1557 Noah's sons b. [cycle], Gen. v, 32 
 , Founders of New World. Gen. 
 
 2260 
 
 2290 
 
 ix, 19 
 
 22U9 
 
 VOL. II.— 71 
 
 
 Land in the midst of the waters, 
 Gen. i, 9, 10; xii, 1—7; xv, 7 
 —21 ; xvii, Exod. vi, 1—8 
 
 Noah d. 
 
 Abraham b. . 
 
 Sarai b. 
 
 Reu d. 
 
 Scrug d. 
 
 Call wf Abraham, xii, 1,bc 1923 
 
 Sojourning, 430 years, current, 
 [cycle] 
 
 Ishmael b. set. 86 " 
 
 Arphaxad d. 
 
 Isaac b. [100] Bc 1898 
 
 Salah d. 
 
 Shcm d. 
 
 Esau and Jacob b. [GO] 
 
 Abraham d. [a:;t. 175] 
 
 Eber dies 
 
 Last Patriarch, Gen. x, 21 ; xiv, 
 13 
 
 Jacob's exile. Gen. xxviii, [crt. 
 
 Joseph b. [91] 
 
 Joseph's rule, Gen. xli, [30] 
 
 Descent to Egypt 
 
250 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 2370 Joseph d. [110] b c 1637 
 End of Genesis. 
 2430 Aaron b. 
 2433 Moses b. 
 2473 Moses in Midian 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 Earth yielding frnitl Lev. xxvi; 
 Deut. xi. 
 2513 Exodus, b c 1494 ' 
 2553 Entrance to land 
 2559 First year of tillage, Lev. xix, 
 23. Josh, xiii, xiv, b c 1448 
 
 Division, date of jubilees 
 25931 Othniel d. 
 26721 Ehud. Second rest ends. Judges 
 
 iii, 30 
 27121 Barak and Deborah. Third rest, 
 
 Judges V, 31 
 2751"? Gideon. Fourth rest ends, Judg- 
 es viii, 28, 32 
 
 Abimelech rules 
 2754? Abimelech slain. Jub. IV 
 2777? Tola d. 
 2799 Jair d. 
 2806 Jephthah d. Interv. 252 yrs. 
 
 Judges xi, 26 
 2812 Ibzan d. 
 2822 Elon d. 
 2830 Abdon d. 
 
 Philistines rule 
 28501 Samson d. , 
 
 2889 Eli d. Ark at Kirjath, 1 Sam. 
 
 iv, v 
 2909 Ark returns, b c 1098 
 
 Close of period, Acts xiii, 20 
 
 Samuel and Saul, xiii, 21 
 2949 David at Hebron, e c 1058 
 2956 David at Jerusalem, b c 1051 
 2989 Solomon r. b c 1018 
 2992 Temple founded, b c 1015 
 3000 Dedication, Jubilee ix, b c 1007 
 
 Height of Jewish stale 
 
 FOURTH EVENING. 
 
 Light to rule the night. Gen. i, 14 
 —18 : 2 Peter i, 19 : Daniel xii. 
 13 
 
 A M 
 
 3029 
 3046 
 3049 
 3050 
 3052 
 3074 
 3075 
 
 3080 
 
 Rehohoam, Jeroboam 
 
 Abijah 3 years 
 
 Asa 41 years Jubilee x 
 Nadab 2 years - 
 Baasha 24 years 
 Elah 2 years 
 Zimri, Omri 12 years 
 — 79, Samaria built 
 Ahab 22 years - 
 
 B c 
 978 
 961 
 958 
 957 
 955 
 933 
 932 
 
 921 
 
 AM B C 
 
 Jericho rebuilt, 1 Kings 
 xvi 
 
 Elijah pr. 1 Kgs. xvii 
 
 3090 Jehoshaphat 25 years 917 
 
 3108 Ahaziah 2 years - 899 
 
 3110 Joram 12 years - 897 
 
 3114 Jehoram 8 years - 893 
 
 31201 Elijah rapti cycle 8871 
 
 3121 Ahaziah 1 year - - 886 
 
 3122 Athaliah— Jehu 28 years 885 
 3128 Joash 40 years - - 879 
 
 Zechariah slain, 2 Ch. 
 xxiv, 20 
 3143 Jonah pr. - - - 864 
 3150 Jehoahaz 17 years 857 
 
 3108 Amaziah 29 years - 839 
 
 Elisha d. 
 3182 Jeroboam II, 41 years 825 
 3197 Uzziah 52 years - 810 
 
 3205 Joelpr.1 - - 802 
 
 3218 Amospr.1 - - 789 
 
 3231 Era of Olympiads - 776 
 
 3235 Shallum Menahem 772 
 
 3246 Pekakiah - - 762 
 
 2248 Pekah - - 759 
 
 3249 Jotham 16 years - - 758 
 3254 Era of Rome - 753 
 
 Micah pr. 
 3260 EraofNabonassar - 747 
 3265 Ahaz 16 years - 742 
 
 Hosea pr. 
 3276 Hosea 9 years - 731 
 
 3278 Captivitv of Israel - 729 
 
 3281 Hezekiah - - - 726 
 3286 Samaria taken - 721 
 
 3294 Sennacherib's invasion 713 
 
 Overthrow, Jubilee xv. 
 
 Nahum, Isaiah 
 3310 Manasseh - - - 697 
 3331 Second captivity. Is. vii, 8 676 
 3365 Am on r. - - - 642 
 3367 Josiah - . - 640 
 
 Zephan. and Habakkuk 
 3379 Jeremiah bearins to prophecy 628 
 3398 Jehoahaz— May b c - 609 
 
 Jehoiakim — August B c 
 3101 Nebuchadnezzar - 006 
 
 First Empire, Dan. ii, 38; 
 
 vii, 4 
 Captivity, first date, 2 Kings 
 
 xxiv, 2. Isaiah xxiii, 15 
 Times of the Gentiles beginl 
 
 Luke xxi 
 3404 Daniel's first vision - 603 
 3409 Jehoiachin 3 months, March 598 
 Zedekiah 11 years, June 
 
 3418 Siege of Jerusalem, Jan. 589 
 
 3419 Sabbath in siege, .Ter. xxxiv 588 
 
 3420 Jerusalem taken, June 587 
 Temple burnt, 2nd date of 
 
 captivity 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 251 
 
 A M 
 
 o571 
 
 35>s-3 
 '3'yH'3 
 oi;0'2 
 3G03 
 
 3G36 
 
 4-20 years, 70 Sabbaths, 2 
 Chron. xxxvi, '21 
 3421 Ezekiel prophes. xxxiii, 21, 
 
 January ... r,8(i 
 314G Evil iMerotlach, Jan. 501 
 
 Close of 2 Kins-s ami Jer. 
 34 IS Neriglissar 
 34ol Laborosoarchod 
 3452 Belshazzar, Daniel vii 555 
 
 3454 Daniel's second vision 5.53 
 
 34GD Babylon taken, Dan. v 538 
 
 Darius the Mede, Dan. v, 
 31, ix 
 3471 Cvrus the Persian, Dan. x; 
 
 Ezra i, 1 53G 
 
 Second, or Persian Empire, 
 Daniel ii, 32, 39; vii, 5; 
 viii, 3, 4 
 Captivity, first close 
 3478 Cambvses, first king, Dan. 
 
 xi, 2 ... 
 
 3485 Smerdis, second king, Da- 
 niel xi, 2 - - ; 
 34SG Darius Hystaspes, third king ; 
 
 3489 Haggai and Zechariah 
 
 3490 Jubilee xix, begins? Septem- 
 
 ber - - - - 
 
 3491 Second temple dedicated 
 
 Ezra vi, 15, Feb. - 
 Zerubbabel and Josh. Zee. 
 iv, 1—9 
 3497 Athens freed 
 3499 Consuls at Rome 
 
 Sec. Head of 4th Beast, Rev. 
 xvii, 10 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 Light to rule the day; dawn 
 of the gospel. Gen. i, IG; 
 Mai. iv, 2; Luke i, 78; 1 
 John ii, 8. 
 
 3522 Xerxes, fourth king, Dan. 374G 
 
 xi. 2 - - - 485 3700 
 
 3527 Thermopyla? and Salamis 480 
 
 Athenian empire. Leopard 37G1 
 first headl 
 
 3542 Artabanus - - - 4G5 3781 
 
 3543 Artaxerxes Long: Ezra vii, 3784 
 
 Neh. i, and June - 4GI 
 
 3550 Ezra's commission, Ez. vii 457 3785 
 
 Seventy weeks, first date, 37;M) 
 
 Daniel ix, 24 3802 
 
 Evening and morning, first 3805 
 
 date, Daniel viii, 14 
 
 Fresh date of jubileesl 3809 
 
 35G3 Nehemiah's commission, ch. 3811 
 
 ii, — March - - 441 
 
 Sabbath of sec. week, Neh. 
 
 viii— X 3815 
 
 529 
 
 3048 
 3009 
 
 522 
 521 
 518 
 
 3G7I 
 
 517 
 
 367G 
 
 51G 
 
 
 510 
 
 508 
 
 3084 
 3095 
 
 
 3701 
 
 
 37-22 
 3727 
 
 Sanctuary cleansed, Neh. 
 
 xii - - - - 
 Evening and morning, sec. 
 
 date, Dan. viii, 14 
 Close of sacred history 
 Peloponnesian war 
 Xerxes II. Sogdianus 
 Darius Nolhus 
 Artaxerxes Mnemon - 
 Athens taken. Lacedemo- 
 nian headship 
 Leopard, second headl Da- 
 niel vii, G 
 Close of seven weeks, Dan. 
 
 ix, 25 
 Lcuctra, Theban headship 
 Leopard, third head? Da- 
 niel vii, G 
 Ochus 
 Arses— Philip's headship, 
 
 Chaeronea 
 Leopard, fourth head, Dan. 
 
 vii, G 
 Darius,— Alex, the Great 
 First horn of goat, Dan. viii, 
 
 5; xi, 3 
 Arbela, fall of Darius - 
 Third, or Grecian Empire, 
 Dan. ii, 32,39; vii, G; viii, 
 5-7; xi, 3 
 Philip Aridaeus - 
 Era of Seleucidrc 
 Ptolemy Soler, Seleucus Ni- 
 
 cator xi, 15 
 Fourfold Division, Dan. viii, 
 
 8; xi, 4 - 
 Philadelphns, v,6 
 Antiochus Soter 
 Kingdoms of Pergamus, 
 Ppntus, Cappadocia, anil 
 Bytliinia;PyrrhusinItaly; 
 Achaean league; Gauls m 
 Greece. 
 
 Antiochus Theus, v, G 
 Euergetes, v, 7, 9 
 Bernice and Son slain, V, fi 
 Seleucus Caliinicits.v, 7, 8 
 First Punic War ends 
 Seleucus Ceraunus, v, 10 
 Antiochus Magnus, v, 10, 
 13, 15 - - - 
 Philopaior, v, 11 
 Battle of Raphia, v, 11, 12 
 Epiphanes, v, 14 
 Battle of Zama, Second Pu- 
 nic war ends 
 Battle of Panium, v, 15, 10 
 Greece declared free 
 Grrrco-Riiman Horn, viii, 
 
 9, 10, 25; Rev. xii, 3 
 Antiochus in Greece, v, 18 
 
 338 
 33G 
 331 
 
 323 
 312 
 
 306 
 
 285 
 280 
 
 2G1 
 247 
 
 21C 
 
 22G 
 
 223 
 222 
 217 
 205 
 
 202 
 198 
 19(J 
 
 192 
 
252 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 A M 
 
 3817 
 3820 
 382G 
 3832 
 3839 
 
 3845 
 3847 
 
 3857 
 38G1 
 
 3925 
 3944 
 
 3963 
 
 3982 
 4001 
 
 Romans in Asia, v, 18 
 
 Selencus Phiiopator, v, 19 
 Fhilometor - - - 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, v, 21 
 Pydna, Fall of Macedon 
 Roman Legation, Livy xlv, 
 
 11, 12; Dan. xi, 30. 
 Fourth, or Roman Empire. 
 
 Dan. ii, 33, 40; vii, 7; ix, 
 
 26; xi, 31. Nujnb. xxiv, 
 
 25. 
 Antiochus Eupator 
 Demetrius Soter 
 Alexander Bala - 
 Demetrius Nicator, 
 
 Euerg. II. 
 Carthage and Corinth fall. 
 
 Dan. xi, 31. 
 Sulla Dictator 
 Fifth Head"? Rev. xvii, 10. 
 Temple profaned by Pom- 
 
 B C 
 
 ion 
 
 A D 
 
 1 1 '7 
 
 187 
 
 X i / 
 
 138 
 
 181 
 
 161 
 
 175 
 
 
 168 
 
 180 
 
 250 
 
 162 
 IGO 
 150 253 
 
 146 303 
 
 pey 
 
 ibo 
 
 Abomination, Dan. viii, 11. 
 Caesar's death 
 
 Sixth Head, Rev. xvii, 10. 
 Temple of Janus closed 
 Birth of Christ'? e c 
 
 FIFTH EVENING. 
 
 Living creatures in the seas. 
 Gen. i, 20. Ez. xlvii, 9— 
 11. Matt, iv, 18; xiii, 47. 
 
 Kingdom of the Stone, Dan. 
 ii, 34. 
 
 Depression of Visible Clmrch. 
 
 271 Baptism of John, Luke iii, 1 
 Sixty-two weeks close, Dan. 
 ix; 24, 26 
 30 Crlcipixion, Ascension'? 
 Pentecostal Church, Rev. 
 xii. 1 
 41 Call of Gentiles, Dan. xi, 32 
 53 Council of Jerusalem, Is. ii, 3 
 
 St. Paul in Greece, Zech. ix. 13 
 02 St. Paul at Rome, Dan. xi, 33; 
 
 Gen. viii, 27 
 70 Fail of Jerusalem 
 
 First Seal. Rev. vi, 2; Dan. ix, 
 
 26 
 Literal abomination, Daniel xi, 
 
 31 
 Triumphs of Gospel, Gibb. xv. 
 Persecutions, Dan. xi, 32, 33; 
 viii, 12; Rev, xii, 4; Gibb. xvi. 
 81 Domitian — St. John in Patmos 
 9() Close of Sacred Canon 
 98 Trajan — Pliny, Bithynian perse- 
 cution 
 
 313 
 305- 
 
 324 
 
 325 
 336 
 
 361 
 
 364 
 
 Hadrian 
 Antoninus Pius 
 Marcus Aurelius 
 Persecutions, Polycarp m. 
 Commodus, Troubles in Empire 
 Fire cast on earth, Rev. viii, 5; 
 
 Gibb. vii. 
 Preparation, viii, 6; Gibb. viii, 
 
 ix, 
 Decius, persecution 
 Persian and Gothic Invasions 
 First Trumpet. Rev. viii, 7, 250 
 
 —303 
 Valerian, persecution 
 Goths in Asia, Franks, Alemans 
 Diocletian's persecution 
 Travail of church, Rev. xii, 2 
 Ten days' tribulation. Rev. ii, 
 
 10; Dan. xi, 33 
 End of Persecutions 
 Mohasticism, Rev. xii, 6; Gibb. 
 
 xxxvii. 
 323 Paganism overthrown, 
 
 Gibb. xiv. 
 Victory in heaven, Rev. xii, 7 — 
 
 12 
 Empire Christian. Constantino- 
 ple founded, Gibb. xvii, xx. 
 Second Seal. Rev. vi, 3, 4; Gibb. 
 
 xviii. 
 Help of the church, Dan. xi, 34 
 Seventh tiead, Rev. xvii, 10 
 Council of Nice 
 Death of Constantine, threefold 
 
 division, Goths and Persians 
 Exile of Athanasius 
 Julian Emperor 
 Valens and Valentinian 
 Alemans, Burgundians, Scots, 
 
 and Persians 
 Second Trumpet. 365 — 476 
 Hadrianople, Valens' death, 
 
 Gibb. xxvi. 
 Theodosius the Great, Gibb. 
 
 xxvii. 
 First Council of Constantinople 
 Close of First Trumpet 
 Arcadius and Honorius, Gibb. 
 
 xxix. 
 Separation of Latin Empire 
 Eagle wings giveni Rev. xii, 
 
 14 
 Ravenna seat of Empire, Gibb. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Mountain cast into sea'? Rev. 
 
 viii, 8 
 Sack of Rome by Alaric, Gibb. 
 
 xxxi. 
 Third part, blood, viii, 9 
 Britain revolts; Goths, Sucves, 
 
APPENDIX 11. 
 
 253 
 
 AD 
 
 Almans, Vandals, Burgundi- 
 
 A D 
 
 ans, &c. 
 
 
 412 Religious war of the East, Gibb. 
 
 
 xlvii. 
 
 m 
 
 TMnl Trumpet, Rev. viii, 10 
 
 608 
 
 431 Council ol' Epiiesus 
 
 710 
 
 451 Council of Chalcedon 
 
 728 
 
 476 Fall of Western Empire, Gibb. 
 
 
 xx.Kvi. 
 
 
 Seconct trumpet ending 
 
 7f.2 
 
 Seventh head. falls, Rev. xvii, 
 
 774 
 
 10; xiii, 3 
 
 
 Odoacer, King of Italy, Dan. vii, 
 
 
 8, -20, 24. First King 
 
 78G 
 
 Beast rising from the sea, Rev. 
 
 
 Xiil, 1 
 
 
 493 Ostrogoths in Italy 
 
 787 
 
 Second King. Dan. vii, 8 
 
 800 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 Exaltation of visible church 
 533 Justinian's Code; Empire ortho- 
 dox, Gibb. xliv. 
 
 Third Scfd. Rev. vi, 5, G 
 
 Wars of Belisarius, Rev. xii IG; 
 Gibb. xli. 
 
 Time, times and half? Dan vii, 
 25; Rev. xi, 3; xii, 14 
 
 Mystical Abomination, Dan. xi, 
 31; xii, 11 
 553 Ostrogoths overthrown, Gibb. 
 xliii. 
 
 Second Council of Constantino- 
 ple 
 
 Second King uprooted, Dan. 
 vii, 8 
 565 Death of Justinian 
 
 Fourth Trumpet, Rev. viii, 12, 
 565—622 
 568 Lombards conquer Ital}', Gibb. 
 xlviii. 
 
 Third King, Dan. vii, 8 
 
 602 Phocas, Persian War, Xiihb. 
 
 xlvi. 
 Darkening of East, Gibb. xlviii. 
 
 603 Pantheon dedicated; Mahomet's 
 
 preaching 
 Fifth Trumpet. Rev. ix, 1, 2; 
 
 Gibb. xxviii. 
 Ten Kingdoms; Beast from the 
 sea rises, Rev. xiii, 1; xvii, 12 
 Forty-two months'? Rev. xi, 2; 
 xiii. 5 
 612 Islamism begins, Gibb. 1. 
 G22 Hegira, or flight of Mahomet 
 C37 Jerusalem taken. Rev. ix, 11? 
 
 Lor.iist, or Saracen woe. Rev, ix, 3 
 G47 Saracens invade Africa 
 660 Panlicians, Gibb. xlix; Rev. viii, 
 13? 
 
 71* 
 
 860 
 93G 
 
 Papal authority in Britain 
 Latin service in the churches 
 
 pressed by Vitalian 
 Third Couticil of Constantinople 
 Carthage falls 
 Saracens in Spain 
 Greg. II, Revolt of Rome, Gibb. 
 
 xhx 
 Little horn risen, Dan. vii, 8 
 Bagdad founded. City of Peace 
 Lombards overthrown 
 Third King uprooted, Dan. vii, K 
 Rise of second beast, Rev. xiii, 11 
 Harun Al Ra>hed,2 
 Saracen Empire at height 
 Fire months end, Rev. ix, 5 
 Second Council of Nice 
 Charlemagne crowned, Gibb. 
 
 xlix 
 Seventh Head retires, Rev. xiii, 3 
 Fourth Council of Constantino- 
 ple, and last Eastern General 
 Council 
 Fall of Caliphate 
 End of Locust iroe, Rev. ix, 12 
 Conversion of Russia, Gibb. Iv 
 Christendom complete, a m, 4004 
 Height of visible church 
 
 SIXTH EVENING. 
 
 Living Creatures of the earth- 
 Christian Polities esiablished 
 Depression of true Church 
 997 The Turks, Mahmud the Gaz- 
 nevide first Sultan, a m 5003, 
 Gibb. Ivii 
 Angel of the East? Rev. ix, 14 
 1009 Jerusalem raised, Fatimite Ca- 
 liphs 
 Afigel of the South? Rev. ix, 14 
 1016 Normans in Italy, Gibb. Ivi 
 1060 Normans conquer Sicily 
 1066 Normans conquer England 
 
 Angel of the North? 
 1063 Alp Arslan crosses Euphrates 
 Armenia and Georgia lost 
 Sixth Trumpet, Rev. ix, 13 
 Month and year, or 390 days? 
 1073 Hildehrand 
 
 Power of second Beast, Rev. xiii, 
 
 11 
 Fourth Seal, Rev. 6, 7 
 1081 Normans invade East 
 1095 Council of Clermont 
 
 First Crusade, Franks and Nor- 
 mans against the Saracens and 
 Turks 
 1098 Jeru.salem won from Saracens 
 
 Days of Chivalry, Rev. ix, 14, 16 
 1123 First Lateran Council 
 
254 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 A D 
 
 1139 Second Lateran Council 
 .1147 Second Crusade 
 1179 Third Lateran Council 
 1189 ThirdCrusade. Richard I, Lion- 
 hearted 
 1198 Innocent III. John in England 
 Fourth Crusade. Height of se- 
 cond Beast 
 1203 Latins take Constantinople 
 
 1206 Mogul Empire begins 
 
 1207 Crusades against ' Albigenses, 
 
 Rev. xiii, 121 
 1209 Interdict on England, xiii, 13 
 1215 Fourth Lateran Council 
 1243 Close of Albigensian Crusades 
 1245 Council of Lyons 
 12GI Greek Empire restored 
 1274 Second Council of Lyons 
 1299 Othman invades the East 
 1311 Council of Vienna 
 1326 Prusa taken 
 1353 Ottomans in Europe 
 1370 Tiraour reigns 
 1378 Great Schism of the West 
 1396 Last Crusade 
 1409 Council of Pisa 
 1414 Council of Constance 
 
 Jerome and Huss burnt, Rev. 
 xiii, 15 
 1431 Council of Basil 
 1433 Council of Florence 
 
 Re-union of Eastern Church, ix, 
 20,21. Empire Papal, 
 
 Fifth Seal. Rev. vi, 3 
 1453 Fall of Eastern Empire, May 29 
 
 Month and year endl Rev. ix, 15 
 
 Papal despotism at height, xiii, 
 14—18; ix, 20, 21 
 
 Witnessess lie slain. Rev. xi, 7, 8 
 1492 Discovery of America by Co- 
 Iambus 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 Exaltation of true Church, Gen. 
 i, 26; ii, 21—24; Rev. xix, 7—9; 
 Eph.v 
 
 Revival of learning, 1453 — 1517; 
 Rev. X, \% 
 1514 Fifth Lateran Council, 9th Ses- 
 sion 
 
 Exposure of witnesses, Rev. xi, 9 
 
 Embassies, Indulgences, &c. xi, 
 10 
 
 A D 
 
 1517 Reformation, Theses of Luther 
 
 Witnesses revive. Rev. xi, 11 
 1521 Diet of Worms 
 
 Re-prophesying, Rev. x, 11 
 1529 Protestation at Spires, xi, 11 
 1556 Edward VI; Council of Trent; 
 Luther dies; Altar measured"? 
 Court cast outl Rev. xi, 1, 2 
 
 1552 Treaty of Passau 
 
 Time of the end? Dan. xii, 4, 9; 
 Rev. X, 8 
 
 1553 Mary, Persecution in England 
 Cry of the Martyrsl Rev. vi, 10 
 
 1558 Elizabeth; English Establish- _ 
 
 ment 
 1588 Spanish Armada 
 1648 Peace of Westphalia 
 
 Charles I, beheaded; Common- 
 wealth 
 1688 English Revolution 
 1789 French Revolution 
 
 Tenth part falls. Rev. xi, 13 
 
 First Vial, Rev. xvi, 2 
 
 Sixth Seal, Rev. vi, 12 
 
 1792 Jacobinism throughout Europe 
 Evipire Iiifidcl; French Republic 
 •Era of liberty; Infidel Calendar 
 Era of missions, xi. 12; xiv, 151 
 Close of 1260 daysf xi, 3; xii, 14 
 
 1793 French Atheism; Reign of Ter- 
 
 ror 
 Second Vial, Rev. xvi, 3 
 1795 Directory; Conscription 
 
 Italian Campaigns; French Vic- 
 tories 
 Third Vial, Rev. xvi, 4 
 1802 Napoleon Supreme; Popery re- 
 stored 
 Fourth Vial, Rev. xvi, 8 
 1815 Empire headless; Fall of Napo- 
 leon 
 Seventh Seal, Rev. viii, 1; vii, 1 
 Occupation of France 3 vears 
 Fifth Vial, Rev. xvi, 10; Ex. x, 22 
 Congress of Four Powers at Vi- 
 enna 
 Pause in Heaven, vii, 1; viii, 1 
 1822 Greek Independence; wasting of 
 Turkish empire 
 Sixth Vial, Rev. xvi, 12 
 Close of 1290 days; time of endl 
 
 Dan. xii, 11; xi, 40 
 Preaching of Second Advent, 
 Rev. xvi, 15. a m 5828 
 
APPENDIX III. 055 
 
 III. 
 
 A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT OF PIIOPIIECV. 
 
 [377] God has given, through the deep and i)rolonged re- 
 searches of his servants, much insight in the prophetic writ- 
 ings. The most valuable trutli has been attained by increased 
 investigation in the track of the older writers, with the farther 
 liglit that history has afl'urded. Even the Jewish Rabbis, as 
 well as the early writers of the Christian church, assisted 
 ]Mede, the father of modern interpretation. More, Cressencr, 
 Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Woodhouse,&c. all follow- 
 ed, asking /or the old ivays, a>id zcalkhig in them. Jer, vi. IG. 
 Some modern works have too much, however, disregarded what 
 previous writers have said, and others have set them wholly 
 aside, as groundless interpretations. 
 
 But even by the most defective works, men's minds have 
 been exercised the more to find out the truth, and a hint in a 
 very erroneous general interpretation, has sometimes led to a 
 valuable discovery; so that no candid, diligent student, need 
 be discouraged by failures in times past. 
 
 The author has given a much fuller list of writers on pro- 
 l)hecy than he intended; but it may have its advantages. Any 
 knowledge of the writings of such varied authors is calculated 
 to lead us to caution and modesty, in the explanation of un- 
 fulfilled prophecy. The great lessons taught by so many va- 
 ried interpretations, have already been -noticed. Would there 
 were more of a holy awe on all our minds, of intruding on the 
 glories of him, who takes ij as his peculiar character, io dtclare 
 things to come, (Isaiah xli. 22,) and to sheu^ the things that are 
 coming, and shall come. Isaiah xliv. 7. We cannot and should 
 not go a step farther tiian the scripture leads us, and in the in- 
 terpretations of that scripture, it is very needful to keep every- 
 thing within that scriptural limit which the comjiaring spiritual 
 things with spiritual marks out. 
 
 The difierent interpretations of the servants of Christ are 
 calculated [378] also to guard against a puecipitate judg- 
 ment, and a hasty public expression of such a judgment. The 
 first impression of fresh views arc as if a new liglit had been 
 almost supernaturally given to us; but a little lime for waiting 
 may greatly modify these views. 
 » No one can look at the names of these authors in the follow- 
 
25G APPENDIX IIT. 
 
 ing List without seeing, that questions of church govern- 
 ment and DOCTRINAL VIEWS are unconnected with any par- 
 ticular interpretation of prophecy. Though, generally, sound 
 scriptural principles are connected with the most valuable views 
 of prophecy, yet it must be admitted that members of the most 
 opposite denominations, and Christians holding very opposite 
 sentiments in doctrine, often concur in the same views; and 
 persons who are of the same denomination, or the same senti- 
 ments in doctrine, hold very opposing views of the same pro- 
 phecy. It is hoped that this may dispel the alarm which some 
 have felt, as if an attention to the subject was necessarily con- 
 nected with serious mistake in doctrines. 
 
 The error likely to arise from the great apparent plausibility 
 of some interpretations may be checked by the similar plausi- 
 bility of opposite interpretations, and we may be sure nothing 
 but the true counterpart of history will meet all the lines drawn 
 in the original Document of Prophecy. 
 
 It is by no means recommended to readers in general to at- 
 tempt to procure, or to read all the books here mentioned. It 
 would only tend to confuse and distract the mind. A few of 
 the most really useful have already been mentioned, and some 
 notices are given of others in the following list. Providence 
 often graciously puts us in the way of books, and of guides 
 really useful to us; only let us not follow a vain curiosity, or 
 self-will, but look upward for divine direction. 
 
 Those who have most usefully and successfully written on 
 Prophecy have, as it has been noticed, availed themselves of 
 the expositions given by their predecessors. Dean Woodiiouse, 
 who began simply by studying it on his own resources, unaided 
 except by Bishop Kurd's introduction, found it valuable after- 
 warcls to make free use of the stores provided by others. It 
 is the remark of another not unsuccessful writer, '-In almost 
 all authors on this subject, I have met with something that ap- 
 peared to me excellent; [379] though dilTering in numerous 
 instances from all, yet I have gathered a little from one and a 
 little from another." 
 
 The variety of new systems of the Apocalypse is a serious 
 evil, and it is hoped that the present List of Books may help 
 to check this evil. Men of talents, and imagination, and piety, 
 are in danger of forming to themselves a system of the Apoca- 
 lypse, without any careful study of even leading writers, who 
 have gone before them. With great ingenuity they turn the 
 figures of this book to their own views, and build up a beauti- 
 ful theory; parts of which may indeed be true; but not having 
 cautiously gone over the ground, nor duly considered the re- 
 searches of their predecessors, they lose the benefit of length- 
 
APPENDIX III. 257 
 
 encd experience, and tlie church loses that full benefit, which 
 their ability and piety, directed to the elucidation of this book, 
 might have imparted. Tlie warning against false projjliels 
 (Matt. xxiv. 21 — 24) may teacli both autiiors ami readers, the 
 clanger of a false interpretation of prophecy, calculated to de- 
 ceive the very elect. 
 
 It was the just remark of Sir Isaac Newton, a century back, 
 "If the last age, the age of opening these things, be now ap- 
 proaching (as by. the great success of the late interpreters it 
 seems to be) wc have more encouragement than ever to look 
 into tiiese things. If the general preaching of the gospel be 
 approaching, it is to us and our posterity that these words 
 mainly belong: I?i the time of the end the zcise shall understand.'" 
 Dan. xii. 9, 10. 
 
 The preaching of the gospel has taken place: "The main 
 revolution," which Newton mentions "as not yet come to 
 pass," many believe has come to pass; and the following List 
 of Books will shew how extensively the servants of Christ, in 
 the last half century, have turned their attention to prophecy. 
 The Book is sealed to the time of the end, but then it is pre- 
 dicted, Many shallrun to and fro, and knowlcdire shall be increased, 
 (Dan. xii. 4;) and this list may show that these things are now 
 taking place, and encourage every reader to a diligent study of 
 prophecy. 
 
 GENERAL WORKS ON PROPHECT. 
 
 The principal Jewish Commentators are Kimchi, Aben 
 Ezra, A berbanel, R. S. Jarchi, &:c. Schoetgen, Stehelin's Rab- 
 binical [3S0] Literature (2 vols. Svo. 174S), and Wotton's Dis- 
 courses, give information jon the religious notions of the Jews. 
 
 The views of the Fathers generally, on the subject of the 
 Prophecies, must be sought fur in the (commentaries which 
 they have left on the various books of Scripture, and in inci- 
 dental remarks in the earlier Fathers, who left no Commenta- 
 ries, as Justin, Ircmeus, Tertullian, Clemens, &c. The prin- 
 cipal Commentators among the Fathers are Origen, Chrysos- 
 tom. Eusebius,Jerom, Cyril, Ephraim Syrus, Gregory, Hilary, 
 Augustine, Theodoret, Theophylact, &c. In Origen's work 
 against Celsus, he illustrates the prophecies concerning Christ, 
 
 The incidental testimonies of the early Fathers, Latin and 
 Greek, especially those of the three first centuries, to the per- 
 sonal coming and reign of Christ, are quoted by Homes on the 
 Millennium, Burnet, in his Theory of the Earth, Greswell, in 
 
258 APPENDIX III. 
 
 the first volume of his work on the Parables, Anderson's Apo- 
 logy, and in the Proplietical periodicals. After the Roman 
 Empire became professedly Christian, and then really Anti- 
 christian, the pras-millennial coming of Christ was discounte- 
 nanced. Various testimonies to sentiments similar to those of 
 the early Fathers, from Jewish writers, and from the early Pro- ' 
 testants, and their successors, are collected and given by Mr. 
 Homes. 
 
 At the time of the Reformation, and shortly afterwards, 
 many valuable Commentaries were published on the Propheti- 
 cal Books; and though writers generally anticipated events, 
 and many thought the Millennium past, and the day of judg- 
 ment near, yet there is very much that is practical, holy, and 
 useful in their expositions, and it would have been well if more 
 attention had been subsequently paid to the system of illus- 
 trating scripture by exposition. There is a condensed view of 
 the sentiments of the principal Reformers on those books, in 
 the valuable Expositions of Marloratus on Genesis, the Psalms, 
 Isaiah, and the New Te&tament. 
 
 The Reformers generally considered Popery as the Anti- 
 christ,* [381] and this sentiment powerfully aided them in the 
 great work of Reformation. 
 
 The commentaries of the Fathers, and Reformers, and the 
 writings of Brightman, Napier, Alstedius, &c. preceded Mede, 
 but his works were eminently blessed in reviving attention to 
 prophecy. 
 
 Mede (Jos.) Works. Folio, 1677. His Clavis Apocalyptica 
 
 was published in 1627. 
 
 Invaluable Expositions of various Prophecies, deserving and 
 repaying the closest study. 
 Molince (P.) Vates. 8vo. 1640. 
 llllwghasl (John.) Generation Work. 3 Parts, 12mo. 1655. 
 
 Knowledge of the Times. 12mo. 1654. Eight Last Ser- 
 mons. 12mo. 1654. 
 
 Tillinghast is a superior writer, both in practical and Evan- 
 gelical sentiment, and in prophetical knowledge; and though 
 he prematurely applied predictions, his work contains much 
 that is useful. 
 IVillis (Thos.) A Word in season for a warning to England, 
 
 or a Prophecy of perilous times opened and applied. 12mo. 
 
 1659. 
 
 * Calvin says, "Papistae Antichristiim imaginati sunt, per tres Annos et di- 
 midium vexaturus sit Ecciesiam. Omnes notse quibus Antichristum designat 
 Spiritus, in Papa dare apparent: sed ilie triennalis Antichristus Papistas tenet 
 occupatos ne videndo videant." See on 1 John ii. 18. 
 
APPENDIX III. 259 
 
 An application of 2 Tim, iii. 1, to the times of the Author. 
 Smith (J.) Discourses. See Discourse six. 4to. 1G73. 
 Allen (Wm.) The State of the Church in Future Ages. 12mo. 
 
 1GS4. 
 Jurieu (Peter.) Accomplishment of the Scripture Prophecies, 
 
 Svo. 3 vols. 1GS7-S. 
 Beverley (Thos.) Many Works, in 4to. from 1GS7 to 1701. 
 IVitsh (lierm.) De Prophetis et Prophetia JMisc. Sacra. -Ito. 
 
 1G92. 
 Kortholl (C.) DeTrihus Impostoribus. Herbert, Ilobbes Spi- 
 nosa. 4to. 1701. 
 More (Henry.) Theological Works. Folio. 1708. 
 
 JNIany illustrations of the prophecies in these works. 
 God's Judgments upon the Gentile Apostatized Churches. Svo. 
 
 1713. 
 General Delusion of Christians touching God's way of reveal- 
 ing himself to the Prophets. Svo. 1713. Re-published, 
 
 Svo. 1832. 
 Vilri?}g a (Comp.) TypusDoctrinai Proplicticai. 12mo. 171G. 
 
 Like Vitringa's other works, rich in matter and unction. 
 JVhiston ( Wm.) The Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies. 
 
 Svo. 1708. Literal Accomplishment of Scripture Prophe- 
 cies. Svo. 1724. 
 Gurtleri (M.) Systema Theologian Phropheticae. 4to. 1724. 
 
 A large collection of Prophecies and events supposed to 
 fulfil them in all ages, arranged under periods; many useful 
 thoughts. 
 Hallelt (Jos.) Notes on Peculiar Texts of Scripture. 3 vols. 
 
 Svo. 1729-3G. 
 Chandler (Bp.) Defence of Christianity, and V^indication. 3 
 
 vols. Svo. 1725-8. 
 
 Able and useful works. 
 Bullock (Thos.) The Reasoning of Christ and his Apostles, 
 
 and Vindication. 2 vols. Svo. 1725-28. 
 Fleming {^ohX.) The Fulfilling of Scripture. Folio. -1720. 
 Bw/«d (Thos.) Theory of the Earth. 2 vols. Svo. 1728. 
 
 Some of the peculiarities of this writer have tended to dis- 
 credit other scriptural doctrines which he supported. 
 Berriman (W.) Gradual Revelation of the Gospel, 2 vols, 
 
 Svo. 1733, 
 Ttfe//5 (Leonard.) Boyle Lectures. 3 vols. 1743. 
 Sherlock (Thos.) The Use and Intent of Prophecy. Svo. 
 
 1744, 
 
 Dr. Middleton published an examination of this work, and 
 was answered by Ruthcrforth, Laurence, Jackson and others. 
 
260 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Gz7/ (John.) Six Sermons on Prophecy. Svo. 1750 — 1755. 
 
 (In his Sermons and Tracts, 3 volumes, octavo.) 
 Taylor (H.) Thoughts on the Nature of the Grand Apostacy. 
 
 Svo. 17S1. 
 Rotherham (John.) One great Argument formed from several 
 
 concurring Evidences. Svo. 1753. 
 Clayton (Bp.) A Dissertation on Prophecy, with an Explana- 
 tion of the Revelation. Svo. 1749. 
 JVezcton {Bp.) Dissertations on the Prophecies. Svo. 1754. 
 
 (Numerous Editions of this eminently useful work.) 
 Sharpe (Greg.) Argument in Defence of Christianity. Svo. 
 
 1762. 
 Bossuet (J. B.) His Abridgement of Universal History. 12mo. 
 
 1768. 
 
 His 20th chapter contains a striking view of the judgments 
 on Jews and Gentiles. 
 Worthingion (Wm.) The evidence of Christianity throughout 
 
 all ages. 2 vols. Svo. 1769. 
 Hardy (Sam.) Principal Prophecies of the Old and New Tes- 
 tament. Svo. 1770. 
 Hard (Richd.) An Introduction to the Study of the Prophe- 
 cies. Svo. 1772. 
 
 Various editions of this useful work. 
 S'/mrp (Granville.) Remarks on several Prophecies. Svo. 1775. 
 Venema (Her.) Prselectiones de Methode Prophetica. 4to. 
 
 1775. 
 Bagot (Bp.) Warburton Lectures. Svo. 1780. 
 Churton (Ralph.) Bampton Lectures on the Destruction of 
 
 Jerusalem. Svo. 1785. 
 King (Edw.) Morsels of Criticism. 2 vols. 4to. 17SS— 
 
 ISOO. 
 Lowth (Bp.) Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews. 
 
 2 vols. Svo. 1787. 
 Apthorp (East.) Discourses on Prophecy. 2 vols. Svo. 1786. 
 Fraser (Alex.) A Key to the Prophecies of the Old and New 
 
 Testaments, which are not yet accomplished. Svo. 1795. 
 Wintle (Thos.) Bampton Lectures on Christian Redemption. 
 
 Svo. 1795. 
 Whiltaker (E. W.) View of the Prophecies, relative to the 
 
 Times of the Gentiles. 12mo. 1795. 
 King (E.i\.) Remarks on the Signs of the Times. 4to. 179S-9. 
 Zouch (Thos.) An attempt to Illustrate Prophecies of the Old 
 
 and New Testament. 12mo. 1800. 
 Richards {Geo.) Bampton Lectures, Origin of Prophecy. Svo. 
 
 1800. 
 
APPENDIX III. 261 
 
 Dobbs (J.) Concise View of Predictions Fulfilled and Fulfil- 
 ling. 8vo. ISOO. 
 Broim (John.) Harmony of Scripture Prophecies. 12mo. 
 
 ISOO. 
 
 A valuable work. 
 ^elt (Henry.) History the Interpreter of Prophecy. 8vo. 
 
 ISOl. 
 JVares (Robt.) Warburton Lectures. Connected \'iew of Pro- 
 phecies. Svo. . 1805. 
 Pirie (Alex.) Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works. G vols. 
 
 12mo. 1805. 
 
 Many useful thoughts in them. 
 Bicheno (J.) Destiny of the Ccrman Empire. 8vo. 1S06. 
 Biche/io (J.) Signs of the Times. 4 parts. 8vo. ISOS — 17. 
 Etlrick (W. ) Second E.xodus, or the Prophecies of the Last 
 
 Times. 3 vols. Svo. ISU — 12. 
 Winchester (E.) Lectures on Prophecies to be fulfilled. 1 
 
 vols. Svo. 1S33. 
 
 Some of the principles unsound. 
 Simpso7i (David.) A Key to the Prophecies. Svo. 1S15. 
 
 A useful introductory work. 
 />erc (J. H.) Combined View of the Prophecies. Svo. 1815. 
 
 Structure of the Apocalypse. 1S2G. Letters 1S31 — 3. 
 
 INIr. Cuninghame has published strictures on this work. 
 Hales (Wm.) A Synopsis of the Signs of the Times. Svo. 
 
 1817. 
 Roberts (Peter.) Manual of Prophecv. Svo. ISIS. 
 Brozcn (J. A.) The Even Tide. 2 vols. Svo. 1S23. 
 
 New and questionable interpretations; but with valuable 
 hints. 
 
 The Mount of Vision. ISmo. 1823. ~ 
 Davison (John.) Discourses on Prophecy. Svo. 1824. 
 
 Much valuable instructioji in this work. 
 Pen n (Gran.) Christian Survey of Prophecy. 42mo. 1821. 
 Cooper (Edw.) The Crisis. 12mo. 1826. 
 Maitland (S. R. ) Inquiries into the Prophetic Period of Daniel 
 
 and St. John. 1820—9. Letter to the Rev. W. Digby. 
 
 1831. 
 
 An acute searcher into preceding interpretations, but in the 
 Author's view, dilTicuIties are raised on insufiicient grounds. 
 Dialumtes on Prophecy. 3 vols. Svo. 1828. 
 /m«l;Ed.) The Last Days. Svo. 1828. 
 Towers [Dv.) Illustrations of Prophecy. Svo, 1828. 
 
 Leavened with a republican spirit. See Investigator, vol. 
 
 3, p. 152. 
 \Marsh (W.) Plain Thoughts on Prophecy. Svo. 1828. 
 
 VOL. II. — 72 
 
262 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Cole (J. W.) Commentary on the Prophecies, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 1S28. 
 
 Hamillofi (Dr.) Defence of the Scriptural Doctrine of the 
 Second Advent. 12mo. 1S2S. 
 
 Drummo?Hl (H. ) Defence of the Students of Prophecy in An- 
 swer to Dr. Hamilton. 8vo. 1828. 
 
 Morning Watch. 7 vols. 1829 — 32. 
 
 Some useful Papers on the Discursive Prophecies, but much 
 
 that is peculiar to Mr. Irving in the doctrines stated in this 
 
 work. 
 
 Lee (Professor.) Six Sermons and Dissertations on the Inter- 
 pretations of Prophecy, with Exposition of Revelation. 8vo. 
 1830. 
 Founded upon the old and unsatisfactory system of an early 
 
 fulfilled Revelation. 
 
 Hales (Wm.) New Analysis of Chronology and Geography, 
 History and Prophecy. 4 vols. 8vo. 1830. 
 A very elaborate work, adopting the Chronology of Jose- 
 
 phus, but with much confusion of thought, and assumptions 
 
 without adequate proof. 
 
 Faber (G. S.) Sacred Calendar of Prophecy. 3 Vols. 8vo. 
 1830. 
 
 Much varied learning and research; but sometimes specula- 
 tive and unsatisfactory. See Mr. Cuninghame's Critical Ex- 
 amination. 
 
 Whitehf (John.) Scheriie and Completion of Prophecy. 8vo. 
 1831. 
 
 Van Mildert (Bp.) Rise and Progress of Infidelity. 2 vols. 
 8vo. 1830. 
 
 Digby (Wm.) Treatise on the 1260 Days of Daniel and St. 
 John. 12 mo. 1831. 
 
 Thorp (Wm.) Destinies of the British Empire. 8vo. 1831. 
 An awakening work. 
 
 Wood (G. H.) The Believer's Guide in Unfulfilled Prophecy. 
 8vo. 1831. 
 
 Anderson (Will.) Apology for Millennial Doctrine. Parts I. 
 and II. 1830-1. 
 
 An able writer, calculated to remove prejudices. 
 Vint(W.) New Illustrations of Prophecy. 8vo. 1831. 
 
 Piatt (T. P.) Thoughts on the Prophecies. 8vo. 1832. 
 
 Rose (Sir George.) Scriptural Researches. 18mo. 1832. 
 Some striking typical illustrations. See China and Africa. 
 Ctwinghame (W.) Strictures on Mr. Maitland's Four Pam- 
 phlets. 8vo. 1832. Political Destiny of the Earth. Jubilean 
 Chronology. 1834. Chronology of Israel. 1835. Fulness 
 of Times. 183G. Supplementary Dissertation. 1836. Chro- 
 
APPENDIX III. 0(J3 
 
 nology from Creation lo 1837. Septuagint and Hebrew 
 Chronologies. 1S3S. 
 Smith (J.P-) Sermon on the Interpretation of Prophecy. 8vo. 
 1S31. 
 
 See Monthly Lectures on Prophecy also, by P^letcher, Orme, 
 Collyer, liurder, Vaughan, Morrison, Dobson, &.c. &.c. 
 Holmes (W. A.) The Time of tiie End, on Prophetic Chro- 
 nology. 12mo. 1833. 
 Keith (Alex.) Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Reli- 
 gion. Svo. 1834. The Signs of the Times. 2 vols. 12mo. 
 1832. Demonstration of the Truth, &c. 12mo. 183S. 
 The first is a very useful work. "The Signs of the Times" 
 is less to be trusted. The work on the eviilence is on the plan 
 of Bishop Newton's Dissertations, with farther proofs of the 
 fulfilment of the Prophecies from modern and even infidel tra- 
 vellers. The Demonstration contains much condensed infor- 
 mation. 
 
 Alyers (Thos.) The Prophecies delivered by Christ himself. 
 12mo. 1836. '. 
 
 Valuable thoughts in this work. 
 England; The Sound of the Trumpet, being a Proj)hetic warn- 
 ing of Alarm. Svo. 1837. 
 
 A good deal of information gathered together; with some 
 strained exposition and confusion. 
 
 Maillatid (S. R.) Reply to the strictures of W. Cuninghame, 
 Esq. 8vo. 1834. 
 
 See notice of this writer's works in the preceding page. 
 Habershu?! (M.) A Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures. 
 8vo. 1834. Abridged, price Is. Gd. 1835. 
 INIr. H. supposes different commencements and terminations 
 of the same periods. It is written in a practical and Christian 
 spirit. 
 Prajmillennial I Iijyiws with »an Introduction by Mr. Ilabershon. 
 
 18mo. 1836. 
 Extracts on Prophecy, chiefly on the apjjroaching Advent and 
 Kingdom of Christ. 12mo. 1835. 
 Useful selections, chiefly from modern writers. 
 Bogie (B. D.) The Crisis, or the Approaching grand Religious 
 Revolution. 12mo. 1836. 
 
 Some questionable interpretations, but a good deal of histo- 
 rical information. In several of the statements the author can- 
 not concur. 
 The Seventh Vial; a connected view on the Piophccics of the 
 
 Old and New Testaments. 12mo. 1836. 
 Davies (C. N.) Lectures on Prophecy. 12mo. 1836, 
 * Brooks (J. W.) Elements of Prophecy. 12mo. 1837. 
 
264 APPENDIX III. 
 
 A work full of useful information. 
 Chauncy (W. Snell.) Dissertations on Unaccomplished Pro- 
 phecy. 8vo. 1838. 
 Dublin Christian Herald, 1830 — 1834. 5 vols. 8vo. 
 
 It is to be regretted that this work has ceased. 
 Investigator. 4' vols. 8vo, 1832 — 1835. 
 
 Much useful information in this work. 
 The Christian Observer, and the Jeicish Expositor, contain in past 
 
 years many valuable papers on Prophecy. 
 Laborde (Leon de.) Journey through Arabia Petrsea to Mount 
 
 Sinai and Petra. 8vo. 1836. 
 
 A striking illustration of prophecies respecting Edom. 
 7^50 (Joseph.) An Elucidation of the Prophecies, 8vo. 1838, 
 
 This work gives the sentiments of a variety of interpreters, 
 and renounces the year day; there are several mistakes in it 
 and in the general views held. 
 
 A vast number of other books might be added, such as the 
 writings of Addis, Bernard, R. Clarke, Cluverus, Cradock, Du 
 John, Hares, Hoblj'n, Holland, Huet, Hurdis, King, Lawrie, 
 Leys, Macleod, Marwick, Marshall, Mead, Nevvans, Pyle, 
 Reader, Townes, Thruston, Ward, &c. Vitringa mentions Gu- 
 lichus, Monuna, Heidegger, and Tillius as valuable writers. 
 
 ON THE MESSIAH. 
 
 Eusebii (P.) Demonstratio Evangelica. fo. 1628. 
 
 Guild (Wm.) Moses Unveiled: the Harmony of the Prophets. 
 12mo. 1658. 
 
 Abaddie (James.) Accomplishment of the Prophecies in Jesus 
 Christ. 1689. 12mo. 1810. 
 
 Clarke (Samuel.) Connection of Prophecies in the Old Tes- 
 tament, and application to Christ. 8vo. 1725. 
 
 Kidder (Bishop.) Demonstration of the Messiah, fo. 1726. 
 Directed to convince the Jews. Much Jewish learning. 
 
 Gill (John.) The Prophecies of the Old Testament literally 
 fulfilled in Jesus. Svo. 1728. 
 
 Gillies (John.) Essays on the Prophecies relating to the Mes- 
 siah. 8vo. 1773. 
 
 Maclaurin (John.) Essay on the Prophecies relating to the 
 Messiah. Svo. 1778. 
 
 Hales (W.) Dissertations on the principal Prophecies. 8vo. 
 1808. 
 
 Levi (David.) Dissertations on the Prophecies of the Old Tes- 
 tament. 2 vols. Svo. 1793-6, and 1817. 
 Contains the views of the modern Jews. 
 
APPENDIX in. 2G5 
 
 Cunifighnme (W.) Remarks on ])avicl Levi's Dissertation. 
 
 Svo. ISIO. 
 Robinson (Thomas.) Prophecies on Messiah. Svo. 1812. 
 
 A very practical and evangeh'cal writer. 
 
 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 Alabaster (W.) Ecce Sponsus Venit. 4to. 1633. 
 
 Duranl (John.) Salvation of the Saints by the Appearances 
 
 of Christ. 12mo. 1653. 
 
 Very spiritual and edifying. 
 Patrick (Bp.) Glorious Epiphany. 12mo. 1678. 
 Maurice (H.) An Impartial Account of JNIr. John Mason, and 
 
 his Sentiments. 4to. 1695. 
 
 The case of Mr. Mason of Water Stratford has been brought 
 forward, to shew the danger of looking for a personal visible 
 coming of our Lord, just as the derangement of the poet Cow- 
 per was brought forward to shew the danger of receiving the 
 doctrines of grace. JNIr. Mason's case is fully stated and illus- 
 trated, in the account given of him by Mr. JNLiurice, and may 
 well preserve the reader from unscriptural delusion. He was 
 in a state of extreme bodily infirmity. He had violent pains in 
 the head, and was troubled with vapours in an excessive de- 
 gree. His legs and feet were often so very cold, that two or 
 three iiours excessive rubbing could scarce procure any sensible 
 heat, and his head was so much out of order that lie could not 
 bear the least noise. Under these circumstances, and under 
 great mental excitement, he seems to have had a dream which 
 he construed into a real vision of our Lord, and the certainty 
 of his coming to his own parish, and this led, as might be ex- 
 pected to innumerable extravagances. Mr. Maurice gives seve- 
 ral just reflections, (amidst some unfounded ones,) on the wise 
 providence of God in permitting this, both for the chastise- 
 ment of some, and the awakening of others, as a guard against 
 delusion. His work is valuable to those likely to be carried 
 away by enthusiasm, and will not fail to be abused by those 
 who wish to turn men from waiting for the Lord. 
 Allix{V.) De Messiae Duplici Adventu. 12mo. 1701. 
 Gale (Th.) A Discourse concerning Christ's Second Coming. 
 
 Svo. 1673. 
 
 A very practical and useful work. 
 Nishett (S.) Coming of the Messiah. Svo. 1S02. 
 
 A laboured attempt to confine the descriptions of Christ's 
 coming and the apostacy, in the Gospels and Epistles, to the 
 first coming and 2 Thess. ii. to the rebellions of the Jews. 
 72* 
 
266 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Review of Scripture, in Testimony of the Truth of the Second 
 
 Advent. Svo. 1818, 
 
 By a Layman. 
 Fry (John.) The Second Advent, or Glorious Epiphany of 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 vols. Svo. 1822. Unfulfilled 
 
 Prophecies. Svo. 1835. 
 
 Mr. Fry's works are full of useful thoughts. 
 Jotws (J. E.) Scriptural Doctrine of the Judgment to come. 
 
 Svo. 1824. 
 
 Anti-Millenarian; answered by Mr. Bay ford. 
 Ben Ezra (J. J.) The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and 
 
 Majesty. 2 vols. Svo. 1827. Translated by E. Irving. 
 
 Much valuable thought in this work. 
 Steivarl {i . H.) Sermons on the Advent of Christ. Svo. 1827. 
 
 Eminently practical and profitable. 
 Waij (Lewis.) Letters of Basilicus: Thoughts on the Scrip- 
 tural Expectations of the Cliristian Church.' Svo. 1828. 
 
 Palingenesia, or the World to Come. Svo. 1824. 
 
 JVoel (Ger.) Prospects of the Christian Church, in connection 
 
 with the Second Advent. Svo. 1828. 
 Vaughan (K.T.) The Church's Expectation. Svo. 1S2S. 
 J)/aoWew (Samuel.) The Nature and Time of the Second Ad- 
 vent. 12mo. 1829. 
 Begg (James A.) Letters on the Coming of Christ. 12mo. 
 
 1831. 
 
 Explanatory of Matt, xxiii. xxiv. xxv. 
 Nolan (F.) The Expectation formed by the Assyrians that a 
 
 great Deliverer would appear about the time of our Lord's 
 
 Advent. Svo. 1831. 
 Maillaiid (C. D.) Sermons on the Parable of the Virgins. 
 
 12mo. 1831. 
 Noah's Day. Svo. 1833. 
 
 Practical and useful. 
 Sahin (J. E.) The Judgment of the Quick. 12mo. 1831. 
 Burgh {Wm.) Lectures on the Second Advent. Svo. 1832. 
 
 See a Review of this in the Dublin Christian Examiner. 
 This was answered by Mr. Cuninghame (with too much sharp- 
 ness, but ably) in his Church of Rome the Apostacy. 
 Reed (Andrew.) The Final Judgment. Svo. 1832. 
 
 Opposed to Millenarian views. 
 Cun'wghame (Wm.) Premillennial Advent. 12mo. 1833. 
 Sargent (F.) An Essay on the Premillennial and Personal Ad- 
 vent of the Messiah. 12nio. 1833. 
 Brooks (J. W.) Abdiel's Essays on the Return and Kingdom 
 
 of Christ. 12mo. 1834. 
 
 A very valuable work, and full of scripture illustration. 
 
APPENDIX III. 2G7 
 
 Brown (J. L. ) The Present and Future Condition of the 
 
 Church, in connection with the Appearing of our Lord. 
 
 12mo. 1S33. 
 Goofl'c' (William.) The Modern Claims to the possession of 
 
 the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit stated and examined. 
 
 8vo. 1833. 
 
 Much useful information tliat may preserve ardent minds 
 from delusion, and will be abused by the prudent in their oicn 
 sight, (Isaiah V. .21.) to keep them from the plain truths of 
 God's word. The Lord tries the spirit of men by permitted 
 abuses of his own truth, and so discerns our regard or disre- 
 gard of his testimony, while he chastises what is wrong in his 
 children, by allowing them to fall into error. 
 JM'-A'eil {lluf^h.) Sermons on the Second Advent. 12mo. 1835. 
 
 A very striking and edifying work. 
 White (Hugh.) Practical Reflections on the Second Advent. 
 
 12mo. 1836. 
 
 A very profitable and edifying work. 
 Manckville (Viscount.) Things hoped for. 12mo. 1837. 
 
 Written in a Christian sjjirit, though the Author feels con- 
 strained occasionally to difl'cr. 
 DodszL-orth {W .) Advent Lectures. 12mo. 1837. 
 
 Many valuable and practical thoughts, though the Author 
 differs from Mr. D. in some of his views. 
 Cox (John.) Our great High Priest, or the Sacerdotal Charac- 
 ter of Christ contemplated. 12mo. 1839. 
 
 A very edifying, practical work. 
 Marsden (J. 13.) The Comings of Christ. 12mo. 1837. 
 
 Practical. 
 Urwick (W.) The Second Advent of Christ. 8vo. 1839. 
 
 Antimillenarian. See note, page 68. 
 
 0;s' THE JEWS. 
 
 Jws/in (the Martyr. ) Dialogue with Trypho. Translated by 
 
 Brown. 2 vols. Svo. 1755. Republished in the Author's 
 
 "Christian Fathers." 
 Martyr (Peter.) Common Places. Fo. 1583. 
 
 See some valuable remarks on their conversion, p. 328, 599. 
 Finch (Serjt.) The World's Great Restoration, on the Calling 
 
 of the Jews. 4to. 1621. 
 The Deliverance of the whole House of Israel from their Caj)- 
 
 tivity. 4to. 1641. 
 Maton (Robert.) Israel's Kcdnnplion Redeemed, or Jews' 
 
 General Conversion. llo. 16 16. 
 
268 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Wall (Moses.) Considerations on the Conversion of the Jews. 
 1651. 
 
 Light for the Jews, in Answer to Ben Israel's Hope of Israel. 
 12mo. 1696. 
 
 Mather {IncreSiSe.) The Mystery of Israel's Salvation. 12mo. 
 1669. 
 Much learning, judgment, and information. 
 
 Ca/rcr/ (James.) Naphtali; de reditu decern tribuum, &c. 4to. 
 1672. 
 An able statement of the system that the ten tribes returned 
 
 after the Babylonian captivity. The controversy was fully 
 
 discussed in the Investigator, vol. iv. p. 31, and 208 — 225. 
 
 Burroitghes (Jer.) Jerusalem's Glory Breaking Forth. 12mo. 
 1675. 
 
 Altifigh (J.) Spes Israelis. 4to. 1676. 
 This is included in his Works, 5 vols. fo. 
 
 Fletcher (Giles.) Israel Redux, or the Restoration of Israel. 
 24mo. 1677. 
 A scarce book, tracing the ten tribes to the Tartars. 
 
 Allix (Peter.) Confutation of the Hope of the Jews, concern- 
 ing the last Redemption. 8vo. 1707. 
 
 Clayton (Bp.) Inquiry into the Time of the Coming of the 
 Messiah, and the Restoration of the Jews. 3 Parts. 1751. 
 
 Eyre (Jos.) Observations on their Restoration. 8vo. 1771. 
 Extracts published by the Rev. C. S. Havvtrey. 
 
 Chirton (R.) Prophecy 'respecting the Destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem. Svo. 1785. 
 
 Bicheno (J.) Restoration of the Jews the Crisis of all Nations. 
 Svo. 1800. 1807. 
 
 Witherhy (Thos.) Observations on Mr. Bicheno's Book. 8vo. 
 1804. 
 
 Faber (G. S.) A General and Connected View of the Prophe- 
 cies relative to Judah and Israel. 2 vols. 8vo. 1809. 
 A very valuable work. 
 
 Scott (Thomas.) Restoration of Israel, in answer to Rabbi 
 Crool. Svo. 1S14. 
 An excellent work. 
 
 Scoit (Thomas.) Treatise on the Destiny of Israel. 12mo. 
 
 Ctminghame (Wm.) Letters and Essays on the Conversion 
 and Restoration of Israel. Svo. 1822. 
 
 Stewart (John.) Two Sermons on the Past, Present, and Fu- 
 ture State of the Jews. Svo. 1825. 
 
 Hatchard (J.) Predictions and Promises respecting Israel. 
 Svo. 1825. 
 
 Simon (B. A.) The Hope of Israel. Svo. 1829. The Ten 
 Tribes Historically Identified. Svo. 1836. 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 2G9 
 
 Much curious and useful information. 
 M'Neil (Hugh.) Lectures on the Jews. 1830. 
 
 Very useful. 
 Tyso (Joseph.) Inquiry relative to the Restoration of the 
 
 Jews. Svo. 1831. 
 Prophetic Blessings of Jacob and Moses respecting tlie Twelve 
 
 Tribes. 12mo. 1831. 
 Hirschfield (Philip.) The Past History and Future Prospects 
 
 of the Jews. 1S3G. 3d edition. 
 Hancock (Yi. '^.) The Feast of Tabernacles. Svo. 1838. 
 Bialloblotzky (F.) The Chronicles of Rabbi J. J. Meir. 1835. 
 
 An interesting account of the slate of the Jews at the time of 
 the Crusades. 
 Scriptural Reasons for sending the Gospel to the Jews. 12mo. 
 
 1836. 
 Sermons preached before the Society for Promoting Christi- 
 anity among the Jews. 
 M'Caiil (Alex.) Sketches of Judaism and the Jews. 12mo. 
 
 1838. 
 Meade {Mzi.) Sermons on the Jews. 12mo. 183G. 
 Bickersteth (Edward.) The Time to Favour Zion: being 
 
 Four Sermons preached at Edinburg, in May, 1S39. 12mo. 
 
 1839. 
 Glasgow Course of Lectures, by Ministers of the Established 
 
 Church of Scotland. 12mo. 1839. 
 
 A peculiarly interesting volume, connected with the pro- 
 ceedings in the Scotch Church in 1838 in favour of the Jews. 
 
 ANTICHRIST, POPEUT, &C. 
 
 Hippoh/tus. De Antichristo, in his Works, fo. 1516. 
 
 Lut/ier (M.) De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesia?. Adversus 
 Papatum Romai a Sathana fundalum. 4to. 1545. 
 
 Gualterus (R.) Antichristus Romanus Pontifex. Transla- 
 ted 1556. 8vo. 
 
 Frith {iohn.) Revelation of Antichrist. Svo. 1829. 
 
 Gressop (Thos.) A Treatise on the Pope's Usurped Primacy, 
 by Nilus. Svo. 1560. 
 
 Danaeus (Lambert.) Traite de I'Antichrist, 12mo. 1577. 
 Translated by J. Swan. fo. 1589. 
 
 Fulke (Wm.) De Successione et Ecclesia latentc, ab Anti- 
 christi tyrannide. Svo. 15S4. 
 
 Downame (Bp.) A Treatise proving that the Pope is Anti- 
 christ. 4to. 1603. 
 
 Jibbot (Robt.) Antichristi Demonstrntio. 4to. 1603. 
 ' Vignier {Kic.) Theatre de I'Antichrist. 12mo. 1613. 
 
270 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Ferrier (Jer.) De PAntichrist et ses Marquees. 1615. 
 Sharp (Lionel.) Looking-glass for the Pope, the Image of 
 
 Antichrist. 4to. 1G16. 
 Malvenda (Thos.) De Antichristo. fo. 1621. 
 
 An able Jesuit: his work contains the opinions of the 
 Fathers. 
 
 Beard{Thos.) Antichrist the Pope of Rome. 4to. 1625. 
 S. G. Seven Problems concerning Antichrist, 4to. 1625. 
 Grotius (H.) Conun. ad loca quae de Antichristo agunt. Svo. 
 
 1640, 
 Garrett (Walter.) Discourse concerning Antichrist. Svo. 
 
 1680. 
 Maresh (S.) De Antichristo, qua refutatur Comm. H. Grotii. 
 
 12mo. 1640. 
 Hall (Edmund.) Discourse of Apostacy and Antichrist. 4to. 
 
 1653. 
 Haughion (E.) The Rise, Growth, and Fall of Antichrist. 
 
 Svo. 1652. 
 Manton (Thos.) On 2 Thess. ii. The Rise, Growth, and 
 
 Fall of Antichrist. Svo. 1679. 
 
 A full exposition in the good spirit of the author. 
 Ness (Chris.) Discovery of the Person and Period of Anti- 
 christ. 1679. Svo. 
 Heideggeri (J. H.) Historia Papatus, 4to. 1684. 
 Comber (Thos.) Roman Forgeries during the first six centu- 
 ries. 4to. 1689— 1'695. 
 Keach (Benj.) Antichrist stormed. ISmo. 1689. 
 Cressener (Drue.) Judgments of God on the Roman Catholic 
 
 Church, 4to. 1689. 
 
 A very useful work. 
 Barlow (Bp.) Whether the Pope be Antichrist. 1690. 
 Coccei (J.) De Ecclesia et Babylone; de Antichristo — in his 
 
 Works, vol. 9. fol. 1700. 
 Fleming (Robt.) A new Account of the Rise and Fall of the 
 
 Papacy. Svo. 1701. 
 Daut (J. M.) Approaching Judgments of God on the Roman 
 
 Empire. Translated from the Dutch, by B. Furley. Svo. 
 
 1711. 
 
 A visionary work; not founded on God's word. 
 Calmet (Aug.) Dis.sertalion on I'Antichrist. fol. 1726. 
 
 In his Commentary, vol. 8, p. 321, a discussion and state- 
 ments of the sentiments of the Fathers, and views of the Ro- 
 manists. 
 
 The Religion of Antichrist Discovered. Svo. 1770. 
 Halifax (Samuel.) Twelve Sermons on Warburton's Lectures. 
 
 Svo. 1776. 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 271 
 
 Taijlor (U.) Thoug;hts on the Grand Aposlacy. 8vo. 17S1. 
 
 — Farther Tlioii<i;hts. 8vo. 17S3. 
 Allzcood (Ph.) Warbiirton Lectures. 2 vols. 8vo. IS 16. 
 Fletcher (J.) Sermon on Antichrist. 8vo. hs^4. 
 Jnifig (Edward.) Babylon and Inlidelity Foredoomed to Fall. 
 
 8vo. 1827. 
 
 Many very striking and some speculative thoughts, 
 Vaughaii (Robert.) Discourse on the Pajjal Aj)o.stacy. 
 Rilatid (John.) Antichrist, Papal, Protestant, and Infidel. 
 
 12mo. 1828. 
 
 Practical and awakening. 
 Maillaiid (S. R. ) Prophecies concerning Antichrist. 8vo. 
 
 1831. 
 Cuninghame (W.) The Church of Rome the Apostacy. 12mo. 
 
 183^3. 
 
 A valuable exposition of the Prophecy in 2 Thess. ii. 
 Faber (G. S.) Recapitulated Apostacy the true Rationale of 
 
 the concealed Name of the Roman Empire. 12 mo. 1833. 
 
 Mr. Faber brings varied arguments to show that ci^nmnc is 
 the name intended by St. John. 
 JV/cJVe«7 (Hugh.) Antichrist. A Sermon. 12mo. 1839. 
 
 ON THE MILLENNIUM AND FIRST RESURRECTION. 
 
 Humphreys {BoiVid.) The Apologetics of Athenagoras. With 
 a Dissertation concerning the Jewish Notion of the Resur- 
 rection. 8vo. 1714. 
 
 jMa7iasseh (Ben Israel.) Do Resurrectione Mortuorum. Svo. 
 1636. 
 
 Cotto?i (John.) The Church's Resurrection. 4to. 1642. 
 
 Alstedius (J. Ii.) Diatriba de mille Annis. 4to. 1554. 
 
 Pelrie (Alex.) Chiliastro, — Mastix, — the Kingdom of our Sa- 
 viour Vindicated from the misrepresentations of the Mille- 
 narians. 4to. 16 14. 
 
 This was answered in Maton's Israel's Redemption Re- 
 deemed. 
 
 Amyraut (M.) Du Regne dc Mille Ans. 12mo. 1655. 
 
 TiUinshast (John.) On the Millennium. 12mo. 1655. 
 
 A Sober Inquiri/, or Christ's Reign with his Saints a Thousand 
 Years, modestly asserted from the Scripture. 8vo. 1660.* 
 
 * The agreement of Christians respcciinp: the personal cominp: ofonf Lord 
 is so interesting a point, thai I cannot forbear quoting a staicinenl of it, a> 
 given in the Preface to the "Sober Inquiry, or Christ's reign with hi^ Saints."' 
 "All agree that," — 
 
 (1) Jesus Christ will come personally, visibly, and corporeally from heaven 
 to earth, at the day of judgment, Acts i. 11. Job. xix. 25. 
 
272 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Oxendringe (John.) A Double Watchword, or the Duty of 
 Watching, and Watching to Duty. 8vo. 1661. 
 
 Multum in Parvo, or the Jubilee of Jubilees, being a Descrip- 
 tion of the Great Millennium. 8vo. 1732. 
 
 Spes Fidelium, or the Believers' Hope; a Dissertation proving 
 the Thousand Years" Reign of Christ. By a Presbyter of 
 the Church of England — supposed to be Dr. Grabe or Dr. 
 Lee. 8vo. 1714. 
 
 Sherwin (W.) Several Tracts from 1665 to 1667. In 4to. by 
 him. 
 
 Holmes (Nath.) The Resurrection Revealed. Folio. 1654. 
 Miscellanea Sacra. Folio. 1656. Republished. 8vo. 1831. 
 A valuable work. A reply was published by M. Hall. 
 12mo. 
 
 Hall (Thos.) A Confutation of the Millenarian Opinion, in 
 reply to Dr. Homes. ISmo. 1657. 
 
 Fleming (Robt.) In his Christology. Vol. 3.' A Dissertation 
 on the First Resurrection. Svo. 1708. 
 
 fVhiiby (Ban.) On the Millennium. 1718. (In his Commen- 
 tary, one of the chief writers for a spiritual resurrection.) 
 
 (2) When Christ thus comes, he will bring with him the souls of all his 
 saints, according to Zechariah xiv. 5; and 1 Thess. iv. 14. 
 
 (3) Their bodies shall be i^mmediately raised out of their graves, and the 
 souls and body joined and united together, and though the soul continues, re- 
 mains, and is in heaven without the liody, yet on earth it shall not be so. 
 
 (4) When it is thus raised in glory, 1 Cor. xv. 42; Col. iii. 4; and not thence- 
 forth subject any more to sin or sorrow, to mutation or mortality, to the want 
 of meat or drink, or clothing, or houses, or marriages, or any other comfort, 
 but shall be as the angels. Mark xii. 25. 
 
 (5) This resurrection of the saints shall be some time before the resurrection 
 of the wicked: they shall have the pie-cminence, and be the first in order and 
 time, (I say not how long) and the wicked shall not rise till some time, more 
 or less, afterwards. 1 Cor. xv. 23, 24; 1 Thess. iv. 16; Rev. xx. 4 — 6. 
 
 (6) The Lord Jesus will be some time in judging the world. He will not 
 hurry all over in a moment, but make some stay on the earth, not as though 
 he had need of time; but as he took a space of time in creation, so he will take 
 some .space of time on earth to do what he will then do to judge and conclude 
 all things. 
 
 (7) While Christ stays on the earth (let it be a longer or a lesser time) the 
 saints also must stay, and not go to heaven, until Christ goes and carries them 
 up with him. 
 
 (8) It must needs be a very glorious time, while it lasts, when Christ shall 
 have removed his court from heaven to earth, and be in his glory, attended 
 with angels, environed with all his saints, who are also all of them in their 
 glory. O how can such a time be, while it lasts, less than a glorious time. 
 
 (9) The only ditference will be in the length of time how long this day of 
 judgment or kingdom of Christ, or reign of the saints shall last.-' 
 
 It must also, however, be added, that, by the too generally accredited system 
 of 1000 years intervening before the coming of Christ, a most material difTer- 
 ence is made; so as greatly to interfere with the direct practical use of his 
 coming again. 
 
APPENDIX III. 273 
 
 Burnet (Thos.) Stale of the Dead, and those that arc to Rise. 
 
 2 vols. Svo. 1728. 
 JRudd (Sayer.) Essay towards a new Explication of the Doc- 
 trines of the Resurrection and iSIillcnnium. Svo. 1734, 
 
 Several useful thoughts. 
 Apocalyptica Cabala; a History of the Millennium. Svo. 1741. 
 Greenhill (Jos.) Several Sermons and Tracts, from \155 to 
 
 1774. Svo. 
 Harlleij (Thos.) Paradise Restored. Svo. 17G 1. 
 Bellamy (Jos.) Sermon on the Millennium. 12mo. 1787. 
 Bw^^s (John.) Scriptural V'icw of the Millennium. Svo. 1797. 
 Corrodi (U..) A Critical Ilistory of Chiliasm. Zurich. 4 vols. 
 
 Svo. 
 Bingham (Geo.) An Essay on the Millennium. 2 vols. Svo. 
 
 1S04. 
 Lambert (le P.) Exposition des Predictions, et des Promesses, 
 
 faites a FEglisc, [)our les derniers temps de la Gentilite. 2 
 
 vols. 12mo. ISOG. 
 
 A striking; testimony to the pre-millennial advent, restora- 
 tion of the Jesvs, and reign of Christ, hy a French Roman Ca- 
 tholic. 
 
 Hopkins (S.) On the Millennium. 12mo. 1S09. 
 Tajr/or (Thos.) Discourses on the Millennium. 12mo. 1S09. 
 Bogue (David.) On the Millennium. Svo. ISIS. 
 
 There are some just remarks on tliis work, in Vint's New 
 Illustration of Prophecy. 
 
 Hautrey (C. S. ) The First Resurrection, by a Spiritual Watch- 
 man. 12mo. 1S20. 
 Sheru-ood (Mrs.) The Millennium. 12mo. 1S30. The Latter 
 
 Days. 12mo. 1S33. 
 JVolan (F.) The Time and Nature of the Millennium. Svo. 
 
 1S31. 
 Jacksun (J. L.) The Holy Catholics, and Millennial Church. 
 
 12mo. 1831. 
 Pym{W.) Thoughts on xMiilenarianism. Third Edition. 1831. 
 Begg (James A.) Connected View of the Scriptural Evidence 
 
 of the Redeemer's Return and Reign. 12mo. 1831. 
 Mejanel (Pierre.) Les Derniers Convulsions du Monde Pe- 
 
 rissant. Svo. 1831. 
 Gipps (H.) A Treatise on the First Resurrection. 12mo. 
 
 1831. 
 
 Mr. Gipps thinks that it is only a spiritual resurrection. It 
 is the best treatise on that side of the question, and written by 
 a devoted Christian. 
 
 Bush{Gco.) A Treatise on the Millennium. New York. 12mo. 
 * 1832. 
 
 VOL. II. — 73 
 
274 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Written on the principle that the Millennium is past, and 
 an able modern statement of that unfounded and unsatisfactory 
 opinion. 
 Sirr (J. D'Arcy.) First Resurrection considered; a Reply to 
 
 a Treatise of the late H. Gipps. 12mo. 1S33. 
 
 An able answer to Mr. Gipps' Treatise. 
 Cox (John.) Millenarian's Answer of his Hope. 1832. 
 Cum7ighame {W .) Review of Dr. Wardlaw's Sermon. 12mo. 
 
 1833. 
 Biddulph (T. T.) An Essay on the Doctrine of the First Re- 
 surrection. 8vo. 1834. 
 
 Though the Author has come to a different conclusion, he 
 gladly records that the strength of the argument for a spiritual 
 resurrection is here stated in the meekness of wisdom and love. 
 Atidersofi (W.) A Letter to the Author of 'Millenarianism 
 
 Indefensible.' 12mo. 1834. 
 Greswell (Edvv.) Exposition of the Parables. Svo. 6 vols. 
 
 1834. 
 
 A valuable defence of the Millennium in the First Volume. 
 Short Treatise on the Millennium; showing the Reign of Christ 
 
 to be' Spiritual. 12mo. 1834. 
 Apology for J\]illenaria7iism. Svo. 1836. 
 MilleTiariainsm Unscriplural; or a Glance at the Consequences 
 
 of that Theory. 12mo. 1838. 
 
 See note, page 67. 
 Jefferson (John.) The Millennium a Spiritual State, and not a 
 
 Personal Reign. 18mo. 1839. 
 
 An unsatisfactory and self-contradictory exposition of Rev. 
 XX. not noticing former answers that have been given to the 
 views of this Author; who assumes many opinions in those 
 who hold a literal resurrection which they reject, and gives 
 insufficient answers to those they do hold. His practical re- 
 marks at the close are, however, truly good. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 Irenei (D.) Opera, folio. See especially his Fifth Book against 
 Heresies. Fol. 
 
 Lacianlii (L. C.) Opera, Svo. See Book 7 of his Divine In- 
 stitutions on the Blessed Life hereafter. 
 
 The Holy Rest of God; the Throne, Kingdom, and Glory of 
 Christ. 4to. 1641. 
 
 ./Irc/ter (John.) The Personal Reign of Christ on Earth. 4to. 
 1634. 
 
 Hammon (G. ) Truth and Innocency. On the Personal Reign. 
 4to. 1650. 
 
APPENDIX III. 275 
 
 Mellon (Robt.) Treatise of Fifth Monarchy; or, Christ's Per- 
 sonal Reign on Earth. 16G5. 
 Kiiollis (II.) Parable of the Kingdom of Heaven expounded. 
 
 12mo. 1674. 
 Baxter (Rich.) The glorious Kingdom of Christ. 4th. 1G91. 
 
 Written on the basis of a past niillennium. 
 Sterry (Peter.) The Rise, Race, and Royalty of the Kingdom 
 
 of God, and the Appearances of God to Man. 2 vols. 4to. 
 
 1GS3— 1710. 
 
 A very obscure writer. 
 JSlather (J.) Discourse concerning Faith and Fervency in 
 
 Prayer, and the glorious Kingdom of the Lord. 24mo. 1740. 
 Perry (\\.) Glory of Christ's Visible Kingdom. 12mo. 1721. 
 
 Contains an exposition of the principal texts upon the sub- 
 ject, plain, practical, and often sensible; but anticipating the 
 time. 
 llorl (Robt.) A Sermon on the glorious Kingdom of Christ. 
 
 8vo. 1748. 
 Clarke (Alex.) View of the Glory of INIessiah's Kingdom. 
 
 Svo. 1763. 
 Koppii (J. B.) Excursus in Epist. Pauli adThessalon. Svo. 
 
 1791. 
 
 Given also in the Investigator. 
 Baijford (John.) Messiah's Kingdom. Svo. 1S20. 
 Sa6m (J. E.) The Kingship of Jesus. 12mo. 1832. 
 Cox (John.) Thoughts on the Coming and Kingdom of our 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 12mo. 1839. 
 
 A very edifying and useful work. 
 Maurice (F.) The Kingdom of Christ; or. Hints on the Prin- 
 ciples, Ordinances, and Constitution of the Catholic Church. 
 
 3 vols. 12mo. 1838. 
 
 A work not directly prophetical, but with many original, 
 striking, and useful thought^ on the various opinions in the 
 church, and tending to enlarge the mind and heal divisions. 
 
 COMMENTATORS. 
 
 The Author has, in his Christian Student, given full Lists ot 
 Commentators on the Scriptures in general; and such Lists 
 may be found in Hartvvell Home, Orme's ]3ibliotheca, &c. He 
 has already also mentioned the Father.'^, and Reformers. His 
 object here is to name only such as give fuller attention to, or 
 are more useful in the interpretation of the Prophetical Scrip- 
 tures. Gill, Scott, and most other Commentators, illustrate 
 the more direct Prophetical Writings. 
 
276 APPENDIX III. 
 
 WHOLE BIBLE. 
 
 Coccei (J.) Commentarii in Sacra Scripturas. Folio. 12 vols. 
 
 1706. 
 
 "Often fanciful, bat learned, pious, and far more discerning 
 in the true scope of prophecy, than many who succeeded him." 
 Apthorp. 
 Religious Tract Society Commentary. 6. vols. 12mo. and 
 
 royal Svo. 
 
 There are many valuable extracts from modern Prophetical 
 Writers. 
 fVell^s (Edw.) Paraplirase of the Old and New Testament. 
 
 6 vols. 4to. 1711 — 1729. 
 
 Many useful hints on the Prophecies in this work, though 
 the tone of doctrine is not what could be wished. 
 Suggestions on Scripture Interpretation. 12mo. 1S36. 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Horsley (Sam.) Biblical Criticism. 4 vols. Svo. 1820. Ser- 
 mons, Svo. Twenty-six Letters in the British Magazine lor 
 1S34. Sermons, &c. 
 Bishop Horsley's works in general throw much light on 
 
 Prophecy, though he is dogmatic, and sometimes speculative, 
 
 and uses inconclusive jirguments. 
 
 Jarchi (R. S.) Commentarius Hebraicus, Latine versus a J. F. 
 Breithaupto. 1710 — 14. 3 vols. 4to. 
 
 I)urel (David.) Prophecies of Jacob and Moses. Hebrew 
 Translation and Notes. 4to. 17G4. 
 
 Augustine's remark, quoted by Keble in his Psalter, is im- 
 portant. "You will hardly find a word in the Psalms, but it 
 is spoken in the name of Christ and the Church, either both 
 jointly, or one of the two singly: and if of the Church, then of 
 each one amongst us." 
 
 Kimchi (David.) Commentarii. 4to. 1666. 
 Allix (Peter.) The Book of Psalms, with the Argument of 
 
 each, and a Prcfiice on their Interpretation. Svo. 1701. 
 Horsleij (Bp.) The Book of Psalms. Translated with Notes. 
 
 Svo. 1S24. 
 
 Many original and useful hints, but adventurous. 
 Fry (John.) New Translation of. Svo. 1819. 
 
 Containing illustrations of the prophetical character of the 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 277 
 
 Psalms, on the plan of Bishop Horsley, and Mr. Allix, but 
 much farther extended tliaii Horsley, or perliaps than can be 
 justly maintained. 
 
 CANTICLES. 
 
 Davidson (Wm.) Explanations of the Song of Solomon. Svo. 
 
 1817. 
 Alstedius (J. H.) Trifolium Propheticum. Gantici, Daniel, 
 
 Apocalypsis. 4to. 1640. 
 Brightman (Thos.) A Commentary on the Canticles. -Ito. 
 
 1644. 
 
 Viewed prophetically. 
 Fry (John.) Song of Solomon. Svo. 1825. 
 Durham (James.) Clavis Cantica. 4to. 1668. 
 
 PROPHETS. 
 
 Pocock (Edw.) Commentary on Hosea, Joel, Micah, Malachi. 
 Folio. 1691-2. 
 
 Louth (Will.) A Commentary upon the I^arger and Lesser 
 Prophets. Folio. 1739. 
 Many valuable hints on the Prophecies. 
 
 A'ezocotne (Abp.) Improved Version of the Twelve Minor 
 Prophets. Svo. 17S5 and 1S09. 
 
 .Smi//i (John.) Summary View of the Prophets. 12mo. 1787. 
 
 Drusius{J.) Lectiones in XII. Prophetas Minores. Svo. 1627. 
 
 Pick (A.) A Literal Translation of the Twelve INIinor Pro- 
 phets, with Notes from Jewish Writers. 1833. 
 
 Jfhite (Samuel.) A Commentary w-hera the Literal Sense of 
 the Prophecies are briefly cxi)huned. 4to. 1609. 
 An ultra lileralist, but not without his use; follows Grotius. 
 
 * Anions: the varied views taken of this Mystical Book, the Author most 
 acquiesces in that which considers it a.s a beautiful allegory, prophetic of the 
 state of the church, and also subverting a rich exhibition of Christian expe- 
 rience. "By the received usage of Pulygamy," says Apthorp. 'the mystic 
 King is represented as having contracted a double marriage, first, with a 
 Jewish queen, and afterwards with a Gentile princess, the daughter of ihe 
 King of Egypt, the fittest type of idolatrous superstition, and under the figure 
 of the two queens are expressed the different fortunes, the emulation, and final 
 concordof the Jewish and Gentile churches." To this statement I would only 
 add, that in the mean while, for the instruction, quickening, and comfort ol 
 all, it portrays, in a most lively way, the varied experience, feelings, and de- 
 sires of the individual believer towards his beloved Saviour. 
 73* 
 
278 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Vilringa (Camp.) Commentarius in Librum Isaise. Folio. 
 
 1714—1720. 
 Lozvth (Bp.) A new Translation of. 177S. 
 
 Various Editions. 
 Fraser (Alex.) A Commentary on. Being a Paraphrase with 
 
 Notes, shewing the Literal Meaning of the Prophecy. Svo. 
 
 1800. 
 
 Much light is thrown on passages by the principles here 
 adopted. 
 Jenoiir (Alfred.) A new Translation. 2 vols. Svo. 1832. 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 Fewema (Herman.) Commentarii ad Librum Jeremige. 2 vols. 
 
 4to. 1765. 
 Blayney (Benj.) A New Translation with Notes. Svo. 1810. 
 
 Alleine (Wm.) The Mystery of the Temple and City of Eze- 
 
 kiel described. 12mo. 1679. 
 Meade (Mat.) The Vision of the Wheels opened and applied. 
 
 12mo. 1689. 
 JVewcome (Ahp.) An Improved Version and Explanation. 4to. 
 
 178S. 
 Venema (Uerm.) Lectiones Academicae. 2 vols, 4to. 1790. 
 Slarckii (J.F.) Commentarius in Ezechielem. 4to. 1731. 
 
 A great mass of useful and practical matter in this work, 
 with doctrines drawn from each verse. 
 Penn (Gvan.) The Prophecy of Ezekiel concerning Gog. Svo. 
 
 1814. 
 Greenhill (\N .) Exposition of Ezekiel. 5 vols. 4to. 1645-58. 
 
 Very scarce. It is practical and useful. 
 Bennett {So\.) TheTemple of Ezekiel Elucidated. 4to. 1824. 
 
 Bollock (Rob.) Comm. in Librum Danielis. 4to. 1591. 
 
 Considered by Dr. M'Crie as one of the best of his Com- 
 mentaries. 
 
 Jachiadae (J.) Paraphrasis in Danielem. 4to. 1633. 
 Huet (Ephraim.) The whole prophecy of Daniel explained. 
 
 4to. 1643. 
 Brighlman (Thomas.) Exposition of the last part of Daniel. 
 
 410. 1644. 
 
APPENDIX III. .)^,j 
 
 Parser (Thomas.) Visions and Prophecy expounded. 4to 
 
 164G. 
 Canne (John.) The Time of the End. 8vo. Itj58. 
 More (Henry.) Exposition of Daniel. 4to. 1681. 
 
 There were remarks on this and his hook on the Apocalypse, 
 in 1690, 4to. More puhlished also — Answers to Remarks, 
 4to. 16S4, — Supplements and Defences, 4to. KiSo, — Parali- 
 pomena Prophelica, 4to. I6S5,— Notes on Daniel and the 
 Apocalypse, 4to. 1685. 
 WUsh (II.) Dissertatio de IV. Bestiis Danielis in Miscellan. 
 
 Sac. Diss. IV. 
 Geieri (M.) Praelectiones Academicai. Folio. 1696. 
 The Vision and Prophecies of Daniel , explained according to the 
 
 measure of the Gift of Christ. 12mo. 1700. 
 
 Many useful remarks in this hook, written hy a humble, de- 
 vout, and spiritually-minded Christian, not holding a pre-mil- 
 lennial advent. 
 
 Wells {HcnYy .) Commentary on. 4to. 1716. 
 JVewlofi (Sir Isaac.) Observations on the Propiiecies. Ito. 
 
 1733. Svo. 1S32. 
 
 Very valuable. 
 Ve?iema (Herman.) Disscrtationes. 2 vols. 4to. 1745, 1752. 
 Caverhill (Dr.) Explanation of the Seventy Weeks. 8vo. 
 
 1777. 
 Winllc (Thos.) An Improved Version and Notes. 4to. 1792. 
 Zouch (Thomas.) An Inquiry into the Prophetic Character of 
 
 the Romans; Dan. viii. 23. Svo. 1792. 
 Faber (G. S. ) Dissertation on the 70 Weeks. Svo. 1811. 
 Rous (M. F.) Exposition of the Prophecies; translated by 
 
 Dr. Henderson. Svo. 1811. 
 Eltrick (W.) Season and Time the two periods after 1260 
 
 Years. Svo. 1816. 
 JVilson (Jos.) DissertatioQS. Svo. 1824. 
 Siowar^ (John.) A Dissertation on the -70 Weeks. Svo. 1826. 
 Fnj (John.) The Epocha of Daniel's Prophetic Numbers fixed. 
 
 Svo. 1828. 
 Irving (Edward.) Discourses on DanieKs Four Beasts. Svo. 
 
 1830. 
 Cox (F. A.) Outlines of Lectures on Daniel. 8vo. 1833. 
 
 Hosea cum Comment. Jarchi, Aben l->/,ra, et Kimchi. 4lo. 
 1621. 
 
 Coddaeiis (W.) Annotationcs in Comment, trium Rabbinorum. 
 4to. 1621. 
 
280 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Horsley (Bp.) Translation with Notes. 4to. 1S04. (Included 
 also in his Bibilical Criticism.) 
 
 ZECIIARIAH. 
 
 Floyer (Sir John.) Comment on Zechariah and Malachi. 8vo. 
 
 1721. 
 Kimchi (David.) Commentary on Zechariah, translated from 
 
 the Hebrew, with Notes. By A. M'Caul. Svo. 1836. 
 Venema (Herm.) Commentarius. 4to. 1787. 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 Venema (Herm.) Commentarius. 4to. 1759. 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 (See Commentaries in the Author's 'Christian Student.') 
 Hardman (Ed.) Explanatory and Practical Comments on the 
 
 New Testament. 2 vols. Svo. 1830-32. 
 
 Several useful hints on prophetical passages: published be- 
 fore his views became warped. 
 JVezvcome (Abp.) An Attempt towards Revisino; our English 
 
 Translation of the Greek Scriptures, or the New Covenant 
 
 of Jesus Christ. 2 vols. Svo. 1796. 
 
 Archbishop Nevvcome here asserts the personal coming and 
 reign of our Lord, and first resurrection of his saints. 
 
 II THESSALONIANS. 
 
 Bradshaw (Wm.) Exposition. 4to. 1620. 
 
 Squire (John.) Plain Exposition. 4to. 1630. 
 
 Mayiton {T\\os.) Sermons on 2 Thess. ii. Svo. 1679. 
 
 Baxter (Richard.) The Glorious Kingdom of Christ Described 
 
 and clearly Vindicated. 4to. 1691. 
 
 Answering Beverley, and supposing the Millennium past. 
 
 Mandeville (Viscount.) Horje Hebraicse, and Appendices on 
 
 Messiah's Kingdom, &c. Svo. 1835. 
 
 Much learning and piety, but wanting in discriminating ap- 
 plication. 
 
APPENDIX III. 281 
 
 Knight (James.) A Discourse on the Conflagration ami Reno- 
 vation of the Earth. Svo. 174S. 
 
 Hull (John.) St. Peter's Propliecy of these Last Days. -Uo. 
 1611. 
 
 Whilaker (E. W.) Survey of the Doctrine antl Arguments of 
 St. Peter's Epistles. 12mo. 16GG. 
 
 REVELATION. 
 
 Arethae (Cjesareac.) Explanationes in Apocalypsim. At the 
 
 end of CEcumenius's Commentaries in 2 vols. fo. 1581. 
 
 He flourished about the seventli ccnturv. 
 Bale (John.) The Image of both Churches. ISmo. 1550. 
 BuUinger (Uenry.) A Hundred Sermons on. 'Ito. 1573. 
 jMarlorule (Aug.) A Catholic Ex])osition. 4to. 1571. 
 Napier (John, Baron.) A Plain Discovery. 4to. 15i»3. 
 Giffard {Geo.) Commentary. A Spiritual Work. 4lo. 159G. 
 Cowper (Bp.) Commentary on Revelation, fo. 1623. 
 Dent (Arthur.) The Ruin of Rome. 4to. 1607. 
 Alcazar (Louis.) Vestigatio Arcani sensus. fo. 1619. 
 
 He also published a Commentary on the Old Testament, as 
 connected with the Apocalypse, fo. 1631. 
 J\Iede (Jos.) Clavis Apocalyptica (in his Works.) 
 
 A translation by More, 4to. 1643, and by R. B. Cooper, in 
 
 1833. 
 Goodzvirt (Thos.) An Exposition u|)on the Revelation. 1639. 
 
 In the second volume of his works, in folio. 
 Co//o« (John.) The Pouring out of the Seven Vials. 4to. 1642. 
 
 Exposition of Revelation xiii. 4to. 1655. 
 
 Poller (Francis.) The Interpretation of the Number 666. 4to. 
 
 1642. 
 Parens (D.) Commentary by Arnold, fo. 16 11. 
 Brightman (Thos.) Revelation of St. John. Ho. 1645. 
 
 First published in Latin, in 1609. 
 Cluverus {So\\n.) Diliculum Apocalyptirum. fo. 1617. 
 
 Praised by Baxter, who thought tlie Millennium past, and the 
 Revelation chiefly fulfilleil. 
 Stephens (Nath.) Calculation of the Name and Number of the 
 
 Beast. 4to. 1656. 
 Hall (Bp.) Revelation Unrcvcaled. ISmo. 1650. 
 Guild {Wm.) On the Revelations. 12mo. 1656. 
 
 Very spiritual. 
 Hicks (V^'m.) Revelation Revealed, fo. 1659. 
 
282 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Hoffma7ini (M.) Chronotaxis Apocalyptica. 4to. 1668 and 
 
 1687. 
 Canne (John.) Truth with Time pointing out none of the 
 
 Seven Vials yet poured out. 4to. 1656. 
 More (Henry.) Exposition of the Epistles to the Seven 
 
 Churches. 12mo. 1669. 
 Durham (James.) A Commentary upon. 4to. 1680. 
 
 Very spiritual and evangelical. 
 More (Henry.) Exposition. 4to. 1680. 
 Heide^-geri (J. H.) In Apocalypseos Diatribae. 2 vols. 4to. 
 
 1687. 
 
 A valuable writer. 
 Knollys (H.) Exposition, &c. shewing the glorious state of the 
 
 Latter Days. 4to. 1689. 
 Bossuet (J. B.) L'Apocalypse avec une Explication. 8vo. 1689. 
 
 A Roman Catholic Exposition. 
 Allen (W.) A Discourse on the Occurrences represented Rev. 
 
 xi. 12mo. 1689. 
 Cressener (Drue.) A Demonstration of the Protestant Appli- 
 cations of the Apocalypse. 4to. 1690, 
 
 A work full of instruction and copious testimonies from the 
 Romanists. 
 
 Petto (Samuel.) Revelation Unveiled. 8vo. 1693. 
 Sylviera (J.) Comment, in Apocalypsim. 2 vols. fo. 1700. 
 
 A learned Romanist. Full of details of sentiments of pre- 
 vious writers. 
 Waple {K.) Book of Revelation Paraphrased. 4to. 1716. 
 
 Some useful hints in this work. He treads in the steps of 
 Mede, and holds the personal coming before the Millennium. 
 Wells (Edward.) Commentary on. 4to. 1717. 
 Vitringa (Camp.) Anacrisis Apocalypseos. 4to. 1719. 
 
 A very valuable Commentary. 
 Dauhuz (Charles.) Perpetual Commentary. Fo. 1720. New- 
 modelled and abridged, by Peter Lancaster. 4to. 1730. 
 
 Much valuable matter in this work. 
 Robertsoji (J.) Exposition. Fo. 1730. 
 JYewton (Sir Isaac.) Observations on the Apocalypse. 4to. 
 
 1733. 
 
 A very useful work. 
 Bengelius (J. A.) The Revelation Explained (in German.) Svo. 
 
 1740. See also his Gnomon in Latin. 
 
 A summary by Robertson, Svo. 1757. See also his Life by 
 
 Walker. 
 Whisloji (Wm.) An Essay on the Revelation, 4to. 1744. 
 
 Much useful information in this Essay, but fanciful. 
 Lowman (Moses.) Paraphrase and Notes. 4to. 1745. 
 
APPENDIX III. 233 
 
 Bird (John.) Inquiry into the Second Woe, showing the Tenth 
 
 Part of the City, in France. Svo. 1717. 
 fVulmsley (Chas.) Pastorini's General History of the Chris- 
 tian church. Svo. 1770 and 1S12. 
 
 A curious Roman Catholic perversion of the Apocalypse. 
 Buchanan (J.) Revelation Explained. Svo. 177S. 
 Kershaw (James.) Essay on the Principal Parts. 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
 17S0. 
 Cradock (S.) Brief and Plain Exposition. 12mo. 17S2. 
 
 Anti-millenarian, but Evangelical. 
 Vivian (Thos.) Annotations on the Revelation. 12mo. 17S5. 
 Revelation Considered, as alluding to the Temple Services. 
 
 Svo. 17S9. 
 Cooke (Wm.) The Revelation Explained. Svo. 17S9. 
 Winchester (El.) Three Woe Trumpets. Svo. 1793. 
 Pyle (Thos.) Paraphrase on. Svo. 1795. 
 Johnston (B.) Commentary. 2 vols. Svo. 1794. 
 Dick (David.) Explanation of. Svo. 1799. 
 Whitaker (E. W.) A Commentary on the Revelations. Svo. 
 
 1S02. 
 Galloicay (Jos.) Brief Commentary on Parts referrinii; to the 
 
 Present Times. Svo. 1S02. 
 Butt (Martin.) The Revelation compared with itself and the 
 
 rest of Scripture. Svo. 1804. The Divinity of the Apoca- 
 lypse Demonstrated. 12mo. 1S09. 
 Woodhouse (J. C.) The Apocalypse translated, with Notes, 
 
 Svo. 1S05. Annotations on the Apocalypse. Svo. 1S2S. 
 
 A very valuable work. 
 Thurston (PrQil.) England Safe and Triumphant. 2 vols, Svo. 
 
 1S12. 
 Clarke (J. E.) Dissertation on the Dfagon, Beast, and False 
 
 Prophet, and on Daniel's Vision of the Ram and He-Goat. 
 
 Svo. ISl t. 
 Fuller (Andrew.) Expository Discourses. Svo. 1S15, 
 Culbertson (Robert.) Lectures, with Practical Observations. 
 
 2 vols. Svo. ISIS. 
 Holmes [S. i.) Fulfilment of the Revelation. Svo. 1SI9. 
 Gauntlelt (Henry.) An Exposition. Svo. 1821. 
 
 Compiled chiefly from Scott and Faber, Practical and anti- 
 millenarian, 
 
 Murray (R.) Introduction to the Study of. Svo. 182G. 
 Culbertson (Robert.) Lectures Expository and Practical. 3 
 
 vols. Svo. 1826. 
 Brown (J. A.) The Jew and the Master-Key of the Apoca- 
 lypse. Svo. 1S27. 
 Cro/y (G.) Apocalypse of St. John. Svo. 182S. 
 
284 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Some striking thoughts, but the general interpretation un- 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Keijioorth (Thos.) Exposition of the Revelation. Svo. 1828. 
 Jo7ies (Wm.) Lectures on the Apocalypse. Svo. 1830. 
 Milner (I.) History of the Seven Churches, designed to show 
 
 the Fulfilment of Prophecy. Svo. 1831. 
 Irvivg (Ed.) Exposition of the Revelation. 4 vols. 1828. 
 
 See Mr. Cuninghame's Strictures. 
 Girdleston (Henry.) An Analytical Comment on the First Part 
 
 of Revelation. Svo. 1833. 
 
 A very valuable work. 
 Cooper (R. B.) A Commentary on the Revelation. Svo. 1833. 
 Cunitighame (Wm.) A Dissertation on the Seals and Trum- 
 pets. 1834. Third edition, Svo. 1833. 
 
 One of the most valuable expositions of this book: though 
 in some of the applications of the prophecy it will be seen the 
 author differs occasionally, 
 Bwgh (W.) The Apocalypse Unfulfilled. 12mo. 1833-34. 
 
 An attempt to set aside all preceding expositions of the ful- 
 filment of this book, in the author's opinion on very unsatis- 
 factory and insufficient grounds, yet with practical and useful 
 Remarks, 
 Ashe (Isaac.) The Book of Revelation, with Notes. 12mo. 
 
 1834. 
 Pearson (Geo.) The Prophetical Character and Inspiration of 
 
 the Apocalypse considered. Svo. 1835. 
 
 On the plan of Woodhouse and Vitringa. A useful work. 
 Roe (Rich.) Analytical Arrangement, on the Principles of 
 
 Lowth, Jebb, and Boys. 4to. 1834. 
 Hutcheson (A.) The Apocalypse its own Interpreter. 12mo. 
 
 1834. 
 
 Considerable ability, with some assumption and dogmatism; 
 but not without valuable thoughts. 
 Fysh (Fred.) The Beast and his Image, being a Commentary 
 
 upon Rev. xiii. Svo. 1838. 
 
 Much historical information, justly shewing the connection 
 of this chapter with Popery, but the force of this weakened by 
 several unsatisfactory applications. 
 Lovelt (H. W.) Revelation Explained. Svo. 1838. 
 
 See the Remarks on Croly. 
 ^rfams (R.N.) Opening of the Sealed Book. Svo. 1838. 
 
 Fanciful and unsatisfactory, 
 //ease// (Ann.) Studies on the Apocalypse. 12mo. 1S38. 
 
 Many useful remarks. 
 Girdlcsto?te (Henry.) Apocalyptical Tracts. 12mo. 1839. 
 Digby (W.) Courte Explication. Svo. 1839. Toulouse. 
 
APPENDIX IV. OQ^ 
 
 IV. 
 
 ON THE JEWISH CIVIL DISABILITIES niLL. 
 
 Among the many important measures of national legislation 
 brought forward in a late session of parliament (KS3(i), in this 
 country, there is one having a special bearing on prophecy and 
 on the state of the Jews, which seems to have gained but'little 
 attention, and yet to be fraught witii consequences of such deep 
 moment as to call for distinct remarks. In June, 1830, a bill 
 was brought in by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. 
 Baring, for admitting Jews to the same rights, franchises, and 
 privileges as Roman Catiiolics have been admitted to, on taking 
 the oatii and subscribing the declaration required of them, omit- 
 ting the words, "upon the true faith of a Christian." It has 
 had too large a support, and is too agreeable to the spirit of the 
 age, not to occasion just anxiety. 
 
 Several petitions in favour of this bill were offered. One from 
 a Hebrew Congregation meeting at Edinburgh, is much in the 
 high-minded spirit of infidelity, boasting in "the enlightened 
 spiiitof the times," and mourning "ihcir degraded situation," 
 as "resulting" not from their own sin and unbelief, but from 
 "disqualifying laws;" and claiming "from their proverbial loy- 
 alty, [40S] peaceable demeanour, and industry," an equality 
 with all other classes, "at the hands of an enliglitencd legisla- 
 ture, the representatives of a great, free, and liberal nation." 
 how different a spirit from that to which the Jews will soon 
 come. Lev. xxvi. 40 — 42; Isaiah x. 20,21. 
 
 Another petition was from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and 
 Commons of the City of London in Common Council assem- 
 bled, and it is so public and painful an evidence of the depar- 
 ture of those in high places^ from "the true faith of a Christian," 
 to use the words of parliament, that I can^lot but transcribe the 
 petition, as a most affecting symptom of that departure in lead- 
 ers of a professedly Protestant nation. 
 
 "That your Petitioners look back with lively feelings of plea- 
 sure upon the liberal course wliich has been adopted by the Le- 
 gislature during the last few years, in successively removing 
 those civil disabilities to which Protestant Dissenters and other 
 British subjects had been previously subjected on account of 
 differences of religious faith. 
 
 "That in the opinion of your Petitioners, his Majesty's sub- 
 jects professing the Jewish religion, by loyally to their king, 
 obedience to the laws, and by the observance of the various du- 
 ttics of social life, have cstabiished an irrefragable claim to a full 
 
 VOL. II. — 71 
 
286 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 participation of all the benefits, civil and political, which flow 
 from such an enlightened system of legislation. 
 
 "That your Petitioners have seen with great satisfaction a 
 Bill now before your honourable house, enabling his Majesty's 
 subjects professing the Jewish religion to enjoy all the same 
 civil rights, and to hold the same civil offices as British sub- 
 jects of the Roman Catholic faith; and as the repeal of the Test 
 and Corporation Acts, and the removal of Catholic disabilities, 
 were effected by the happy concurrence of statesmen otherwise 
 politically opposed, your petitioners earnestly hope that a simi- 
 lar spirit of liberality will again manifest itself in obtaining for 
 the said bill the sanction of both houses of parliament, and thus 
 consummating the great triumph of civil and leligious liberty, 
 by extending an equal measure of justice to every class of Bri- 
 tish subjects." 
 
 It is remarkable how difierent was the state of the nation in 
 1753, when a bill for the naturalization of the Jews, (excluding 
 them however from civil and military offices and other privi- 
 leges,) [409] was passed through parliament. Though it gave 
 them not political power, the Lord Mayor and Council of Lon- 
 don then also petitioned, but it was to express their apprehension 
 that the bill would tend to the dishonour of the Christian reli- 
 gion. Such a ferment was also excited by it through the nation, 
 that the bill was repealed the next session. 
 
 The great art of the enemy of our souls is to call evil things 
 by good names; and a most solemn woe is pronounced against 
 those doing this. "Woe unto them that call evil good and 
 good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, 
 that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." It may indeed 
 be a symptom to us of the approaching triumph of truth, that 
 our great spiritual foe is obliged to assume the mask of light, 
 liberality, benevolence, and an equal measure of justice, in 
 order even to accomplish his objects of dethroning God and 
 his truth. 
 
 What is called the liberal course really is open disbelief and 
 contempt of the truths of God's word. We make no difference 
 between giving power and showing favour to those maintaining 
 the grossest corruptions of Christianity, predicted in the word 
 of God as such, like the Papists, or denying Christianity alto- 
 gether like the Jews; and giving power and shewing favour to 
 those holding with a consistent practice, truths plainly revealed, 
 and for holding which distinctly, God has been blessing us as 
 a nation for the last three centuries beyond every other nation. 
 Political power is a trust and favour of God, and not a univer- 
 sal right; and governments, like individuals, are bound not to 
 patronize but to discountenance those who turn aside from 
 
APPENDIX IV. 237 
 
 God's word, Ps. ci. But tlie day is hastening on when the -jile 
 person shall no mure be culled liberal. 
 
 The claim to civil power is made to rest on good conduct. 
 Tlie Bible ])uts it simply on the will and righteousness of the 
 Lord. Psalm Ixxv. (J; Rom. xiii. 1, 2; Tiius iii. 1: 1 Peter 
 iii. 13. 
 
 Rejoicing in what is called an enlightened system of legisla- 
 tion cannot but remind us of that fearful prediction, ''liehold, 
 all ye that kindle a fire, tliat compass yourselves about with 
 sparks, walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that 
 ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall 
 lie down in sorrow." 
 
 The happy concurrence of "statesmen politically opposed," 
 is too like that foretold of the enemies of our Lord to give any- 
 thing [410] but pain in such a cause to a thoughtful Christian. 
 Acts iv. 25 — 2S. 
 
 The "consummating of the great triumph" is not, it is to be 
 feared, the triumph of liberty, but of licentiousness; is not the 
 triumph of religion, but of infidelity. Tiiat is *'an equal mea- 
 sure of justice," which is regulated according to the revealed 
 will of God, establishing and not setting aside the truths of his 
 word. May God preserve our country from that awful state: 
 "They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth 
 in their abominations; I also will choose their delusions, and 
 will bring their fears upon them." 
 
 One great principle of the Christian's faith is that all power 
 in heaven and earth is given to that Divine Redeemer, who com- 
 missioned his apostles to go and baptize all nations in his name. 
 When nations have received him as their Lord, they thereby 
 own their allegiance to him, antl acknowledge him as having 
 all power, and in reality profess that the power which he gives 
 to them is a trust derived from him. Faithfulness to Christ is 
 then the very basis on wUich jjower ought to be entrusted by 
 a Christian government to those ruling under it, as may be 
 seen in David's statement of his own purposes. Ps. ci. On 
 this principle our whole constitution was formed. Our king 
 is to be a Protestant, and takes a solemn oath to maintain tlie 
 laws of GofI, the true profession of the gospel, and the Pro- 
 testant reformed religion. 
 
 We have hitherto nationally acknowledged the Lord .Icsus 
 Christ, as having all power in heaven and earth, but for us now 
 to commit the power he has entrusted to us, to those whose 
 verv character it is to disown him, is not real kindness to them, 
 butinjury under the mask of kindness! is not benevolence to 
 man, or obedience to God's law of love, but ruin to our coun- 
 ' try, and treason to the King of kings. 
 
288 APPENDIX V. 
 
 The Jewish Civil Disabilities Bill appears to me so pecu- 
 liarly important and fearful a national measure, that I feel called 
 upon while there is yet time to do it, solemnly to testify against 
 it in these strong statements. 
 
 If, yielding to the falsely liberal, and really infidel, spirit of 
 the age, we adopted this bill, we should voluntarily give up 
 "as a nation" in our legislature, not only any decided profes- 
 sion of the Protestant faith, but even that of the Christian faith. 
 Under [411] what I fear may be called the hypocritical mask 
 of superior liberality towards the Jew, we should as a legisla- 
 ture renounce our Saviour Christ, and despise our peculiar 
 character and honour as a Ciiristian nation. It seems to me if 
 this measure were carried, it would be, through our unbelief, 
 the transfer back again to the Jews, though they seek not for 
 it, of that which we obtained through their unbelief, even the 
 Christianity of the country with all our religious privileges; it 
 would be the completion of our national apbstacy, and the 
 opening of the door to those last threatened judgments, which 
 it is predicted shall come on the Gentiles. 
 
 For farther remarks on the duty of a Christian government 
 to support the true religion, see Bishop Reynolds' four Ser- 
 mons on Zech. iii. 1; Hosea ix. 12; Zech. ii. 5, and Malachi 
 iv. 2, 3. 
 
 V. 
 
 NATIONAL SINS. 
 
 Among many other national sins that might be mentioned as 
 bringing down the divine displeasure on our country, the fol- 
 lowing may be particularly noticed. 
 
 The direct support of Popery. This is done in various 
 forms. The annual grant to Maynooth has now for many years, 
 and under all parties, dishonoured God, by national mainten- 
 ance of an avowed idolatrous religion. Increasing grants have 
 also been made for the support of Papal bishops and j)riests in 
 our colonies: 26 are thus appointed in India, at an expense of 
 2000/. a-year, and S3 in our other colonies, at an expense of 
 14,763/. The Government have also (July 1839) carried a 
 measure, and are proceeding with it, notwithstanding the small 
 minority of two for it, in a full House of Commons, and the 
 large majority against it in the House of Lords, sanctioning 
 national support of Papal education. How painful is it to see 
 our country thus more stamped, year by year, with the mark 
 of the beast, and worshipping his image! Rev. xix. 20. 
 
 Mr. Poynder has given the following affecting proofs of our 
 
APPENDIX V. 289 
 
 NATIONAL SUPPORT OF Pagan Idolatrv, in a letter, dated 
 June 21, 1839, to the editor of a morning paper: — «'I liavc 
 proved, in [412] open court, tliat the European oflicer of the 
 Madras government oflered a gold marriage necklace (an indi- 
 cation of the strictest union, and therefore a direct act of wor- 
 ship) to the idol Padazier, together with red silk cloth and 
 incense; and also presented scarlet cloth to llie priests, and 
 money to the heathen attendants. I then also read the go- 
 vernment order, authorizing this expenditure from the puhlic 
 treasury, for this idolatrous ceremony. I farther proved that 
 oll'erings are annually made on hehalf of the government, to the 
 idols at Conjeveram, near Madras; no similar honour having 
 ever been paid to idolatry under the rule of Mahomedan pre- 
 decessors. Also that the British Government herein incurs the 
 expense of 300 pagodas, paid from the public treasury, and I 
 named Mr. Place, as the government ollicer (the collector of 
 tlie Jaghire), from whose time the festival has been performed 
 by the India Company. I further shewed that, in one year, 
 the Rajah of Mysore lequested leave to perform this worship 
 himself, which was conceded; but in the follovving year the 
 government performed the ceremony instead of the rajah. I 
 proved that ^Ir. Place ottered to the god jewels and a head 
 ornament worth 1000 pagodas; that Lord Clive, on his per- 
 sonal visit to an idol temple, effbred an ornament of 1050 pa- 
 godas; that Mr. Collector Garrow presented a gold necklace of 
 500 pagodas; and that till this time, the collectors present to 
 the god, every year, a lace garment of 100 rupees' value. In 
 Mr. Place's collectorate, he sent for all the musicians, dancing 
 girls (or prostitutes), elephants, and horses, attached to the 
 other temples of the Jaghire, in order to increase the pomp of 
 the principal ceremony in (juestion, when he gave his personal 
 attendance, and made ofTerings to the priests who recited the 
 vedas; — and I then asked Htc court whether these facts did not 
 remind them of Mr. Burke's celebrated declaration, that "The 
 servants of the East India Company contrive to get unbaptized 
 in their outward-bound passage?" I proved further that the 
 government order issued at Canara, so late as 1S33, fully sanc- 
 tions the offerings to the idols for procuring rain, and expressly 
 allows money from the public treasury, for the maintenance of 
 this abominable superstition, and even directs the olTiciating 
 ])ricst to offei- such worship. The total money paid in that one 
 year to tiic several temples in one district, wa.s no less than 
 360 rupees. I proved further that the Hindoo goddess of 
 wisdom [413] ("the world by wisdom knew not God," I Cor. 
 i.) receives annual oflerings at the public expense, and that, as 
 Yi part of the ceremony, the account books of lire Company 
 74* 
 
290 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 were equally deified, and money gifts distributed to the hea- 
 then priests. These gifts, the music, and the fruit, all form a 
 regular item in the public expenditure." 
 
 The sins of trade and commerce are very great. The ini- 
 quities of the opium trade with China have been lately brought 
 forward; and the wickedness, folly, and impolicy of it may be 
 fully seen in a pamphlet with that title, published by the Rev. 
 A. S. Thelwall. A heathen nation sends a Christian nation 
 the means of a daily refreshing beverage; and the Christian 
 nation returns, to a larger amount, a poisonous drug, full of the 
 most deleterious injury to that heathen nation, against all its 
 laws and authorities! And that Christian nation is Protestant 
 Britain! Oh, let us not be high-minded, but mourn for the 
 abominations done in the midst of our country. 
 
 To these sins may be added our neglected poor, both as to 
 religious education and church room, and our wide neglect of 
 the Christian instruction of our vast colonies. 
 
 In the midst of all our national iniquities, there is nothing 
 like national humiliation; though all our difficulties abroad and 
 at home, and the progress of a spirit of insubordination and 
 infidelity might well awaken the fears of the most careless, and 
 lead us back to him from whom we have so deeply revolted. 
 
 VI. 
 
 ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 Mr. Alison's, the fullest history yet given of events con- 
 nected with the French Revolution, furnishes many historical 
 illustrations of the pouring out of the vials. In the opening 
 remarks, Mr. Alison finds the most natural division to be that, 
 which in truth developes by facts, in a remarkable way, the 
 meaning of the first four of the vials. The statement is so 
 striking that it is added — 
 
 "The history of Europe during the French Revolution 
 naturally divides itself into four Periods. 
 
 [414] "The First commencing with the convocation of the 
 States General in 1789 terminates with the execution of Louis, 
 and the establishment of a republic in France in 1793. This 
 period embraces the history and vast changes of the Constituent 
 Assembly; the annals of the Legislative Assembly; the revolt 
 and overthrow of the throne on the 10th August; the trial and 
 death of the King. It traces the changes of public opinion, 
 and the fervor of innovation, from their joyous commencement 
 to that bloody catastrophe, and the successive steps by which 
 
APPENDIX VI. 2\)l 
 
 the nation was led from transports of general philanthropy to 
 the sombre ascendants of sano;uiiiary ambition. 
 
 "The Second opens with the strife of the Girondists and the 
 Jacobins; and after recounting the f;dl of the former body, 
 enters into the dreadful a:ra of the Reign of Terror, and fol- 
 lows out the subsequent struggles of the more exhausted fac- 
 tions till the establishment of a regular military government, 
 by tiic suppression of the revolt of the National (luard of Paris 
 in October 1795; This period embraces the commencement 
 of the war, the immense efforts of France during the campaign 
 in 1793, the heroic contest in La Vendee, the last edorts of 
 Polish independence under Kosciusko, the conquest of Flanders 
 and Holland, and the scientific manoeuvres of the campaign of 
 1795. But its most interesting part is the internal history of 
 the Revolution, the heart-rending sufl'erings of jiersecuted vir- 
 tue, and the means by which Providence caused the guilt of 
 the Revolutionists to work out their own deserved and memo- 
 rable punishment. 
 
 "The Third, commencing with the rise of Napoleon, ter- 
 minates with the seizure of the reins of power by tliat extra- 
 ordinary man, and the first pause in the general strife, by the 
 peace of Amiens. It is singularly rich in splendid achieve- 
 ment, embracing the Italian campaigns of the French hero, and 
 the German ones of the Archduke Charles, the battles of St. 
 Vincent, Camperdovvn, and the Nile; the expedition of Egypt, 
 the wars of Suwarrow in Italy, and Massena on the Alps; the 
 campaigns of Marengo and Ilohenlinden: the Northern Coali- 
 tion, uith its dissolution by the victory of Copenhagen; the 
 conquests of the English in India, and the expulsion of the 
 French from Egypt. During tliis period the democratic pas- 
 sions of France had exhausted them.<elves, and the nation 
 groaned under a weak but relentless military [415] despotism, 
 whose external disasters and internal severities prepared all 
 classes to range themselves round the banners of a victorious 
 chieftain. 
 
 <'The Fourth opens with brighter auspices to France under 
 the firm and able government of Napoleon, and terminates with 
 his fall in 1815. Less illustrated than the former period by 
 his military genius, it was rendered still more memorable by 
 his resistless power and mighty achievements. It embraces 
 the campaign of Austerlitz, .Iciia, and Fricdiand; tlic destruc- 
 tion of the French navy at Trafalgar; the rise of the desperate 
 struggle in Spain, and the gallant though abortive efforts of 
 Austria in 1809; the degradation and extinction of the Papal 
 aulhoritv, the slow but steady growth of the English military 
 ' power in the Peninsula, and the splendid career of Wellington; 
 
292 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 the general sufiering under the despotism of France, the memo- 
 rable invasion of Russia, the convulsive efforts of Germany in 
 1S13, the last campaign of Napoleon, the capture of Paris, and 
 his final overthrow at Waterloo. 
 
 "The two first periods illustrate the consequences of demo- 
 cratic ascendency upon the civil condition: the two last their 
 eSect upon the military struggles, and external relations of na- 
 tions. In both, the operation of the same law of nature may 
 be discerned, for the expulsion of a destructive passion from 
 the frame of society, by the efforts which it makes for its own 
 gratification; in both, the principal actors were overruled by 
 an unseen power, which rendered their vices, and ambition, 
 the means of ultimately effecting the deliverance of mankind. 
 Generations perished during the vast transition, but the law of 
 nature was unceasing in its operation; and the same principle 
 which drove the government of Robespierre through the reign 
 of terror to the 9th of Thermidor, impelled Napoleon to the 
 snows of Russia and the rout of Waterloo.* The illustrations 
 of this moral law compose the great lesson to be learned from 
 the eventful scenes of this mighty drama. 
 
 "A subject so splendid in itself, so full of political and mili- 
 tary instruction, replete with such great and heroic actions, 
 adorned by so many virtues, and darkened by so many crimes, 
 never yet fell to the lot of an historian. During the twenty- 
 five years of its [416] progress, the world has gone through 
 more than five hundred 3'ears of ordinary existence; and the 
 annals of modern Europe will be sought in vain for a parallel 
 to that brief period of anxious effort and chequered achieve- 
 ments." 
 
 The historian adopts the figures of the prophet: after stating 
 that "vvithin the space of twenty years, events were accumu- 
 lated which would liave filled the whole annals of a powerful 
 state in any former age with instruction and interest," and com- 
 paring the events with those of Roman History, Mr. Alison 
 observes, "The power of France was less durable than that of 
 Rome, only because it was more oppressive; it was more stub- 
 bornly resisted, because it did not bring the blessings of civil- 
 ization on its wings. Its course was hailed by no grateful na- 
 tions, unlike the beneficent Sun of Roman greatness which 
 shone only to improve, its light like the dazzling glare of the 
 meteor "rolled, blazed, destroyed and was no more." See Rev. 
 xvi. S, 9. 
 
 So after speaking of the sudden and unexpected changes 
 producing the most disastrous consequences, he adds "the ideas 
 of men were entirely overturned, when rights established for 
 * "Le agitcnf," says Bossuct, "mais Dieu les merae." 
 
APPENDIX Vn. 093 
 
 centuries, privileges contended for by successive generations, 
 and institutions held the most sacred, were at once abandoned. 
 Nothing could be regarded as stable in society after such a 
 shock; the chimeras of every enthusiast, the dream of every 
 visionary, seemed equally deserving of attention with the sober 
 conclusions of reason and observation, when all that former 
 ages had done, was swept away in the very commencement of 
 improvement. The minils of men were shaken bv the vawn- 
 ing of the ground during tlie fury of an EAUTiUiLWKK; all 
 that the eye had rested on as most stable, all that the mind had 
 been accustomed to regard as most lasting disappeared before 
 the first breath of innovation." See again Kev. xi. 13. 
 
 The natural shining of a bright sun accompanied Bonaparte's 
 most remarkable victories. Early in the morning of the battle 
 of Austcrlitz, Mr. Alison (vol. v. p. 475.) says, "the ruddy 
 glow of the east announced the approach of day, and the lops 
 of the hills, illuminated by the le\el rays, appeared clear and 
 sharp above the ocean of fogs that rolled in the valleys. At last 
 the sun rose in unclouded brilliancy, that "sun of Austcrlitz" 
 which he so often apostrophized as illuminating the most splen- 
 did periods of his life." [417] It was striking that the face 
 of nature should thus harmonize willi that deeper lesson which 
 the Apocalyptic symbol of Bonaparte's victories had conveyed. 
 Rev. xvi. S, 9. 
 
 Bonaparte's intentions in invading England are fully de- 
 veloped in this work: he told Mr. O'Meara, "I would have 
 proclaimed a republic, the abolition of the nobility, and the 
 house of peers, the distribution of the property of such of tiic 
 latter as opposed me among my partizans; liberty, equality 
 and the sovereignty of the j)eople. I would have let the house 
 of Commons remain, but would have Tntroduced a great re- 
 form. I would have separated Ireland from England and left 
 them to themselves after having sown the seeds of republican- 
 ism in their 7nom/e." See vol. 5, p. 37S. It isalfecting to think 
 how much has been sought to be done by our own country- 
 men since the death of Bona[)arte in accordance with the 
 wishes of him who had such bitter hatred against us, and wished 
 so much for our destruction. 
 
 VII. 
 
 CONSU.MING OF POrKHV, AND ITS HO ASTKfLNKSS. 
 
 The pillage of the Papal States by the French in 17!'7. was 
 such as to drain them of its specie, and to take away all the 
 Jewels and precious stones they could find. The French Am- 
 
294 APPENDIX VIL 
 
 bassador wrote to Napoleon stating "discontent is at its highest 
 in the papal states. The payment of 30,000,000, stipulated 
 by the treaty of Tolentino, at the close of so many previous 
 losses, has totally exhausted this old carcass. We are mak- 
 ing it consume by a slow fire." The very figures of Rev. 
 xvii. 16. See Alison, vol. iii. p. 548. 
 
 The Encyclical Letter of Pope Gregory the XVI. bearing 
 date August 16, 1832, (to which public attention has been more 
 directed from the way in which what was called the forgery 
 of a feigned letter was received) is a remarkable exhibition of 
 acknowledged danger, weakness, and decay; connected also, 
 alas, with an awful developement of that state of mind, they re- 
 pented not to give him glory. Rev. xvi. 9. Were it not needful 
 to warn the [418] church of the signs of the times, and of the 
 evil spirit proceeding from the mouth of the false prophet, 
 (Rev. xvi. 13, 14.) true charity would be glad to be spared the 
 laying open of such evih This letter assunies the lofty title 
 of "our most holy Lord by divine providence. Pope Gregory." 
 It begins with mourning over a tempest of evils and disasters, 
 and the danger of being overwhelmed by them, and glories in 
 the virgin, as the Patroness and Preserver of the Pope. He 
 says, "This our Roman chair of the blessed Peter in which 
 Christ has placed the main strength of the church is most fu- 
 riously assailed." "The Catholic faith is attacked no longer now 
 by a secret undermining, but a horrible and nefarious warfare is 
 openly and avowedly waged against her." If such be the ac- 
 knowledged danger, a renouncing of all wickedness is the right 
 course to be pursued, but instead of this we see a firm adhe- 
 rence to all that which has occasioned God's displeasure on 
 Papal countries. The claims of full power of feeding, ruling, 
 and governing the universal church, of the dispensation of the 
 Canons, and of decisions on the fathers; the denunciations 
 against liberty of conscience and liberty of the press; the de- 
 scription of "the wicked ravings and schemes of the Waldenses, 
 Beguards, Wiclifiites and other sons of Belial" as "the off"- 
 scouringsand disgrace of the human race:" and the close, with 
 a prayer to the Virgin Mary as one "who alone has destroyed 
 all heresies, and is the greatest confidence, even the whole 
 foundation of our hope," and prayer also to Peter and Paul; 
 all these things shew the same impenitent spirit and hard reten- 
 tion of those evil things which have already brought down the 
 past vials of judgments on Papal lands, and are preparing 
 rapidly the way for its final destruction. Oh that they zoere 
 zvise, that they understood this, that they icould consider their latter 
 end! The delay of judgment is in great mercy and for salva- 
 tion to all that turn to God. God is long suffering to us-ward, 
 
APPENDIX VII. 295 
 
 Jiol Tcilling that any should perhh, but that all should come to rc- 
 pcfitnncc. 
 
 But though Popery be coiisumiM«r as to its resources, there 
 is a temporary revival in its cflbrts in all parts, parlicuhirly in 
 Protestant countries, anil a boaslfulness of its progiess, and a 
 going forth of its friends, quite characteristic of the preparation 
 for the last conflict. A painful specimen of its boasting and 
 exaggerated hopes may bo seen in the following extracts from 
 letters of .Mr. [41.9] Phillips, translated from a publication, 
 with authority, at Rome, in 1S39. The names of these con- 
 verts are printed in the Italian publication. I have omitted 
 them, as not wishing to stamp their rejoicing in iniquity with 
 such an appearance of truth in facts; there seems to be, at any 
 rate, very considerable exaggeration. 
 
 "LXXV. Already tiie fruits of these universal prayers (for 
 England) begin to be felt in the extraordinary spirit of research 
 respecting our divine faith, which dcvelopes itself from day 
 to day, in a manner felt by both parties to be astonishing, and 
 in two illustrious conversions, wliich have taken place lately, 
 
 that of Baron G. S , a Scotch nobleman, who possesses an 
 
 income of 40,000/. per annum, and of Mr. D , a man of no- 
 ble birth, witii an income of at least 30,000/. These conver- 
 sions have occasioned wonderful feelings. The eldest son of 
 
 the Baronet, Sir C. W , (an illustrious convert at the age 
 
 of 70, and now at Rome) has written to his father (whilst he 
 remained at Paris,) to announce to him that he has become a 
 Catholic. An apostate priest (whose name I am not yet per- 
 mitted to give) has returned to the unity of the church. He 
 was a doctor of theology in the English church, and enjoyed 
 an immense reputation amongst the Protestants, whilst he was 
 with them. He has given proof of the sincerity of his con- 
 version by separating from his wife, a lady of noble family. 
 
 <'I went to see Lord D-; (eldest son of the most noble 
 
 Duke of , whose inclination towards the Catholic religion 
 
 is well known), during tiie visit that I made to London.- lie 
 received me really with pleasure. Religion is to hinr a subject 
 of lively interest, and I am not without hope of him. The 
 Lord has given him the best of hearts: let us pray for his con- 
 version. 
 
 LXXVI. In the neighbourhood of Whitby, in the county 
 of York, there was a numerous congregation of Protestants dis- 
 senting from the English ciiurch. These proprietors of their 
 own chapel were disgusted with their jjrcachcr, and came to 
 the resolution of ceding themselves and their cinpcl to the 
 Catholic priest. Invited for this purpose, the Rev. Mr. Nicolas 
 iligley, missionary to Ugthorpe, went there, and immediately 
 
296 APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 commenced the instruction of all this congregation: it appears 
 that they continue favourable to their first impulse. 
 
 <'LXXVII. [420] The attention of all good Catholics, and 
 especially of the holy congregation of the Propaganda of the 
 Faith, cannot be sufficiently excited to the state of the English 
 church, in consequence of the new doctrines propagated with 
 such force and so much success by Messrs. N., P., and K. 
 With arguments drawn from the works of the Holy Fathers, 
 of which they have already undertaken a new edition in Eng- 
 lish, they labour for the restoration of the ancient Catholic 
 liturgy, of the breviary (which many of them recite each day 
 regularly) of fasts, of the monastic life, and of many other re- 
 ligious practices. They also teach the insufficiency of the Bible 
 as a rule of faith, the necessity of traditions, and of ecclesiastic 
 authority, the real presence, prayer for the dead, the use of 
 images, the power of absolution in the priesthood, the sacri- 
 fice of the Eucharist, devotion to the most holy Madonna, and 
 many other Catholic doctrines, so that hut very little separates 
 them from the true faith, and this little decreases every day. 
 Believers multiply dispositions so precious, by multiplying 
 your prayers. 
 
 "LXXVIII. The English theologians of Oxford draw daily 
 nearer to us. See now E (a most zealous Protestant mi- 
 nister) has desired a return to union with us, and proposed it 
 in a manner so beautiful, that I was obliged to turn my head 
 to hide the tears of pleasure that filled my eyes. Let us thank 
 God and pray." 
 
 The reader is also referred to two very valuable articles in 
 the Quarterly Review: No. 125, on the Archbishop of Cologne; 
 and No. 127, on the Exiles of Zillerthal. 
 
 viir. 
 
 DRYING UP OP THE EUPHRATES. 
 
 As Mr. Alison's History of the French Revolution furnishes 
 illustrations of the first four vials, so the Rev. R. Walsh's Let- 
 ters, and his Residence in Constantinople, just published (1S36), 
 in two volumes octavo, furnisli illustrations of the sixth vial. 
 They contain authentic accounts of the Greek and Turkish 
 revolutions, the [421] destruction of the Janissaries, and the' 
 fires devastating Constantinople. 
 
 Some extracts will shew the desolation of these countries. 
 
 He thus describes it, on the shores of the Hellespont: — 
 "Here it was that the first picture of Turkish desolation pre- 
 sented itself to me. While those smiling prospects which a 
 
APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 291 
 
 good Providence seems to have formed for the delight of man, 
 invite him to fix his duelling among them, all is desert and 
 desolate as the prairies of Missouri. In a journey of nearly 
 fifteen miles along the coast, and for half the length of the lld- 
 lespont, I did not meet a single human habitation, and this is 
 the finest climate, the most fertile soil, and once the most popu- 
 lous country in the world."' — Vol. i. 212. 
 
 Again, vol. ii. 22S. "As I approached Constantinople, there 
 was no cheering appearance of a dense population; no increase 
 of houses, or villages to intimate the vicinity of a large city. 
 For the last ten miles we did not pass a house, nor meet a man; 
 and we suddenly found ourselves under the walls before 1 was 
 aware that I was approaching the town. We passed through 
 the Silyvria gate, and the desolation within was worse, 
 because less expected than that without. As our horses' hoofs 
 clattered over the rugged pavement, the noise was startling, so 
 desolate and silent were the streets." 
 
 Again, vol. ii. 13G. The island of Plate "strongly reminded 
 me of some of those solitary islands in Arctic and other remote 
 regions, seldom visited by man, of which birds alone keep an 
 undisturbed possession: but this was within a few miles of an 
 immense city, the noise of whose poi)ulation could be heard, 
 if it was not drowned in the scream of those birds. We left 
 this island, from which we were in some measure driven by 
 its wild inhabitants (the sea-fowl), feeling it another evidence 
 of the exceeding solitude and depopulation of every place 
 around this great Turkish capital." 
 
 Once more, vol. ii. ISS, he thus speaks of Nicsa: "So late 
 as the year 1677, it was a flourishing and populous town. It 
 then contained a population of 10,000 Christian Greeks, and 
 many precious remains of antiquity to attest its former splen- 
 dour. But the desolating hand of the Turks has since etlaced 
 every trace of this; and it i^ a melancholy contemplation now to 
 behold it, the shadowy [422] phantom ofti magnificent city, on a 
 beautiful and fertile spot, where bountiful nature has provitied 
 every thing necessary for human life; an extensive plain exube- 
 rant with fertility, sloping lawns verdant with pasture, wooded 
 hills covered with the finest timber, and a climate the most 
 bland and delicious that ever refreshed a mortal frame. \ et 
 here human life is actually extinguished, human habitations 
 totally obliterated, and the solitude rendered more slrikinc; by 
 the irrefragable testimonies of its former splendour, and the 
 visible evidences of what it recently was, and what it still might 
 
 be The next morning at daylij;ht we left this most inter.- 
 
 esting, but melancholy spot, where there is a lovely and fertile 
 VOL. II. — 75 
 
298 APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 plain fifteen miles long, and no one to cultivate it, a lake like 
 an inland sea, full of fish, and no one to eat them, and the 
 magnificent walls of a city more than eight miles in circum- 
 ference, and no one to inhahit it." 
 
 Not only the acts of the Government, but documents given 
 by Mr. Walsh in his Appendix, shew that Turkey still retains 
 its cruelty and o]5pression, its poisonous doctrines and its hos- 
 tility to the word of God. This may be seen in the Fetvaand 
 warning issued at Constantinople, in February, 1823, and the 
 Firman, published in June, 1S24, prohibiting the buying or 
 selling of the Turkish Bible. 
 
 The following extract of a statement, given in the German 
 Courier, August 10, 1S36, from Constantinople, will show that 
 the awful dispensations connected with the sixth vial continue 
 towards the Turkish empire. "The town of the Dardanelles, 
 which has just been almost totally burnt, contained'a popula- 
 tion of 20,000 souls; it is unknown whether the fire originated 
 in evil design or not. From the moment of its first breaking 
 out the greatest efforts were made to save the powder magazines 
 which contained an immense quantity of combustible materials. 
 The last batteries have fallen a prey to the flames." Thus 
 every thing seems to conspire to render Turkey defenceless. 
 —Record, Sept. S, 1836. 
 
 In the midst of these scenes of desolation and misery, what 
 a cheering and steady light does the blessed and sure word of 
 prophecy present to our minds. Isaiah Iviii. 12; Ixi. 4. 
 
 Every thing respecting the Turkish empire that has taken 
 place since the earlier editions of this work exhibits the same 
 drying up of the Euphrates. The intelligent Paris correspondent 
 of the Record [423] gives the following statement, date July 2, 
 1S39, "In a recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies, the 
 speech of M. La jNIartine is stated to be to this effect: The 
 Ottoman empire, he declares, exists no more, that it is a mere 
 phantom, that to attempt to re-establish it, or to prop it up into 
 a temporary feeble strength would be labour lost; that the idea 
 of substituting for it an Arabian power, an Egyptian dynasty, 
 having Mahomet Ali for its founder, is an equally vain thought; 
 that the pasha and Ibrahim are but splendid transitory meteors 
 of the eastern sky, and their performances but mirages of the 
 desert; that the whole territory, whether belonging to the 
 Porte or to the Viceroy of Egypt, should be regarded as a 
 waste in the political world, awaiting the incursions of Eu- 
 ropean civilization; that instead, therefore, of deprecating war 
 in the east, that event should be hailed as a signal to civilized 
 Europe, meaning France, to regenerate the race who inhabit 
 
APPENDIX IX. o(jr) 
 
 that region, that the Anglo-Russian system of the slatus <juo 
 should be totally abjured, and that a new empire should be 
 aimed at, whether by the conquest of one western power or by 
 the division of Turkey and Egypt, between several j)Owershe 
 does not say. "I am not," he says, **a Revolutionist, I am 
 not a political adventurer, but I declare without hesitation that 
 France, Europe, Asia, civilization, humanity, will all gain by 
 a war in the east, which will jirecipilate us into an unknown 
 career; nous appcllrrotis toi/s (fans Li cnrricre (/<: rinconni/.'^ 
 
 The word of God has distinctly enough pointed out that 
 career, in the day of tribidation and the final triumph, not of 
 any human kingdom, but of the kingdom of Christ, and his only. 
 
 The JourTial ties Debuts has noticed that the Sultan had seen 
 some of the largest and fairest provinces of his immense empire 
 wrested from him by conquest, or partly alienated by treaty 
 and usurpation of his sovereign rights, instancing Moldavia, 
 Wallachia, Greece, Egypt, and Syria. 
 
 While these sheets have been jjassing through the press, the 
 position of Turkey and Egypt has become increasingly interest- 
 ing to every mind alive to the times in which we are living. 
 The vigorous, energetic, and determined Sultan Mahmoud 
 Khan II. died about July 1, 1S39, and has been succeeded by, 
 it is said, a feeble-minded youth of 16. The war has been 
 renewed in Syria, and the Turks defeated by the Egyptian army 
 under Ibrahim, [424] between Bir and Aintab, on the right 
 hank of the Euphrates. The correspondent of the Standard 
 observes: "The days of the Turkish empire are numbered. 
 Worldly wisdom boasted much of Mahmoud. Mahomedanism, 
 like Popery, must be overthrown. Prophecy must be accom- 
 plished. All diplomatic attempts to prop up the Turkish 
 empire must fail, against the positive declarations of the word 
 of God." 
 
 IX. 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE JEWS TO THEIR OWN LAND. 
 
 It will be observed that the author considers this event 
 likely to commence within a few years. Sec pages 211 — 217. 
 Wc may then expect some symptoms even now of the pre- 
 paring of the way. And not" to speak of movements among 
 the Jews themselves, and the assurance of the considerable 
 increase of the number of the Jews in the Holy Land in the 
 last twenty years, political events have tended very materially 
 to direct the" attention of all nations to the east, and to furnish. 
 
300 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 it may be, vast facilities for this event. The public attention 
 in this country was powerfully called to this by an able article 
 in the Quarterly Review, on the present state of the Jews; and 
 recent political events, (August, 1S39,) speeches in the French 
 Chambers, the death of the Sultan, the victory of Ibrahim 
 Pacha, the defection of the Turkish admiral, rapidly followed 
 each other, and have justly excited the attention of all Europe. 
 It is a delightful fact that our government have appointed a 
 British Vice-Consui, W. T. Young, Esq., at Jerusalem, not 
 only for commercial purposes but also for the protection of the 
 Jews returning from our country to Judea. He entered Jeru-- 
 salem on the 10th of April, 1839, and in a letter received from 
 him by the author, he says, "The Chief Rabbi came out to 
 meet me about half a mile from the city gate. It certainly 
 was a most interesting and affecting thought that our beloved 
 country had been permitted to be the first publicly to shew 
 her consideration for the law of Israel. Much movement is 
 going on among the Jews here. It has pleased our heavenly 
 Father to bless in a remarkable manner the labours of his ser- 
 vants; two Sundays ago we had the [425] first baptism of the In- 
 fant Protestant church at Jerusalem. There are other three wait- 
 ing the opportunity publicly to avow their belief that Jesus of 
 Nazareth is the Messiah, men of influence and consequence in 
 the Synagogue, besides other earnest enquirers.'^ He justly 
 asks, "Why does the church of England lock up her acknow- 
 ledged superiority in a little island like Great Britain? What 
 ground our beloved country might and ought to occupy! The 
 influence she ought to have, and might have through that 
 appointed means, her simple and dignified and spiritual form 
 of worship, connected with the good she might do in establish- 
 ing sound Scriptural truths, and thereby bursting asunder the 
 chains of slavery both in body and soul that entwine around 
 millions, is truly exciting! 
 
 "The Jews are here in the most interesting state, like some 
 timid animal that has found its liberty, looking round to see 
 which road to take. We must now soon be called upon to 
 rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad; a nation is about to be born 
 in a day. Every thing here is evidently in a political way 
 preparing for the great conflict, and in the meanwhile Israel 
 is making ready and gaining favour in the sight of the nations, 
 that they may go forth as from Egypt with the spoil of the 
 Gentiles." 
 
 Another recent event is thus recorded in the Standard, of 
 August 6, 1839, in a letter, dated Alexandria, July 17: "Sir 
 Moses Montefiore arrived here on the 12th inst. from Syria. 
 
APPENDIX X. 301 
 
 He has made proposals to Mehemct Ali to establish a bank 
 liere, with a capital of one million sterling, provided he will 
 do away with the many leajal disqualifications of the Jews. 
 Sir M. ^lontefiore has already rented a large tract of land in 
 Palestine, on a lease of 50 years, and holds out every induce- 
 ment to his people to become agriculturists in the land of their 
 forefathers; as one principal object of his banking institution 
 will be rendering the necessary assistance for the jjroseoution 
 of agricultural pursuits, the real riches of these countries. I 
 fear his scheme is premature. A great and long-prophesied 
 event may be brought about in its appointed time. A million 
 of capital would nowhere have greater weight than in these 
 countries. Sir M. Montefiore had his first audience from Mc- 
 hemet Ali in full court dress, as sheriff of London." 
 
 The wonderful progress of steam navigation and railway 
 travelling brings distant nations near to each other. We reach 
 America [-i2G] in twelve days, Syria and Egypt in a fortnight, 
 or three weeks, India in two months. Every thing betokens 
 the preparation for those great changes which God's word so 
 clearly predicts. 
 
 X. 
 
 PLAX OF A COURSE OF LECTURES ON PROPHETICAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 The following heads were prepared to meet the desire of a 
 friend for a Course of Lectures on Prophecy, to be given by 
 those who had studied the subject and agreed in the four jioints 
 of union with which the list begins. They are here added, as 
 calculated to direct the attentioo of the reader to those parts 
 of this subject which have yet to be more fully considered, and 
 in the possible hope they may be useful in promoting the 
 object for which they were originally prepared. 
 
 POINTS OF UNION. 
 
 1. A Future Millennium. 
 
 2. Pre-Millennijl Advent. 
 
 3. Political Restoration of Israel. 
 
 4. General Protestant Application of the Apocalypse. 
 
 75* 
 
302 
 
 APPENDIX X. 
 
 I. — ON THE JEWS. 
 
 1 Their present dispersion 
 
 2 Their conversion 
 
 3 Restoration of Judah 
 
 4 The restoration of Israel 
 
 5 The blessings following; 
 
 6 The duty of prayer for Israel. 
 
 II. ON THE SECOND ADVENT. 
 
 2 On spiritual signs of the advent 
 
 3 The great tribulation 
 
 4 The fall of antichrist 
 
 5 The redemption of Israel 
 
 6 On Christian watchfulness. 
 
 IV. — PROPHETIC OUTLINES OF GOD'S 
 DISPENSATIONS. 
 
 1 The certainty of the 2nd advent 
 
 2 The first resurrection 
 
 3 The judgment of the living 
 
 4 The judgment of the dead 
 
 5 The new heavens and earth 
 
 G Prayer for the coming and king- 
 dom of Christ. 
 
 III. — SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE SECOND 
 ADVENT. 
 
 1 On political signs of the advent 
 
 1 On the four empires 
 
 2 On the papacy or little horn 
 
 3 On the scope of the Apocalypse 
 
 4 On the triumphs of the gospel, 
 
 Rev. vi. 2. 
 
 5 On the two woes, or dark ages 
 
 6 The church in the wilderness 
 
 7 The resurrection of the witnesses 
 
 8 The vials of wrath 
 
 9 The song of the triumphant 
 
 church. 
 
I.— SCRIPTURAL INDEX. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 
 PA(iP, 
 
 Gen. ii, 21-24 
 
 376 
 
 Isa 
 
 x.xiv— xxvii 
 
 81 
 
 Dan. 
 
 vii, 18 
 
 328 
 
 iii, 15 
 
 118 
 
 
 xxvii, 4 
 
 210 
 
 
 25 
 
 206 
 
 xiii, It— 18 
 
 209 
 
 
 12, 13 
 
 210 
 
 
 27 
 
 318 
 
 xvii, 7, 8 - 
 
 209 
 
 
 xxi.x, 18 - 
 
 84 
 
 
 viii, 5—7 - 
 
 372 
 
 xxii, 17, 18 
 
 49 
 
 
 xxxi 
 
 209 
 
 
 9-12 
 
 373 
 
 Exod.x, 2-2 
 
 376 
 
 
 6-8 - 
 
 210 
 
 
 9—25 
 
 144 
 
 xii, 17 - 
 
 131 
 
 
 xx.xii, 1 
 
 297 
 
 
 11, 26 
 
 IHl 
 
 xxxi, 16 - 
 
 131 
 
 
 xx.xiii, 1—10 
 
 209 
 
 
 ix - 
 
 372 
 
 Lev. XXV, 4 
 
 184 
 
 
 xxxiv, 2 
 
 291 
 
 
 26 
 
 373 
 
 XXV, 8, 9 - 
 
 185 
 
 
 16 - 
 
 230 
 
 
 24 
 
 181 
 
 xxvi, 18,21,24 
 
 
 
 XXXV, 4 
 
 133 
 
 
 23 '27 
 
 195 
 
 28 
 
 198 
 
 
 xlix, 21 
 
 338 
 
 
 X 
 
 372 
 
 Num. xiv, 34 - 
 
 185 
 
 
 11, (i, 16 
 
 85 
 
 
 xi - 100,373 
 
 xxiv, 25 - 
 
 373 
 
 
 liv. I 
 
 51 
 
 
 31 
 
 374 
 
 Deut. xxix, 29 - 
 
 3 
 
 
 lx,;^12 - 
 
 313 
 
 
 33-34 - 
 
 374 
 
 XXX, 1— G 
 
 122 
 
 
 Ixiii, 
 
 Ki 
 
 
 40 
 
 376 
 
 Josh, ii, 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 Ixiv, 1 
 
 211 
 
 
 xii, 7 
 
 185 
 
 2 Sam. vii, 13 - 
 
 56 
 
 
 Ixvi; 1-6 - 
 
 197 
 
 
 4-9 - 
 
 376 
 
 Ps. 1. 5 - 
 
 291 
 
 
 5, 15, 22 
 
 H5 
 
 
 12 
 
 153 
 
 ii 
 
 308 
 
 Jer 
 
 XX. 9 
 
 210 
 
 
 11 
 
 376 
 
 ix, 19 
 
 KJO 
 
 
 xxiii,29 - 
 
 210 
 
 Hos. 
 
 i, 10 
 
 52 
 
 X 
 
 IGO 
 
 
 xxiu 
 
 H5 
 
 
 V, 15 
 
 67 
 
 xxxvii 209 
 
 ,314 
 
 
 XXX, 7, 9,21 
 
 '86 
 
 Joel 
 
 1, 1-20 - 
 
 209 
 
 xlvi,2,3,5, 11 
 
 ix 
 
 
 XXX, 8—12 15, 
 
 214 
 
 
 10,30 - 
 
 87 
 
 xlix, 14 
 
 292 
 
 
 31,38—40 86 
 
 
 23 
 
 265 
 
 Ixviii, 22, 23 
 
 56 
 
 Ezek.-ix 
 
 264 
 
 
 ii, 13 
 
 249 
 
 xciii— xcviii. 
 
 &1 
 
 
 xxii 
 
 163 
 
 
 18 
 
 H4 
 
 ex, 1 - - 
 
 66 
 
 
 xxviii 
 
 163 
 
 Amos ii, 7 •• 
 
 1H7 
 
 cxvii, cxviii 
 
 211 
 
 
 x.xxii, 7, 8 
 
 140 
 
 
 ix,R 
 
 87 
 
 cxxxii 
 
 283 
 
 
 xxxvi-xxxix 
 
 124 
 
 Obad 
 
 . 17-21 - 
 
 88 
 
 Isa. ii, 1-5 - 
 
 131 
 
 
 xxxvii - 
 
 H6 
 
 Mic. 
 
 ii, 13 
 
 133 
 
 xxxiv, 1— G,8 
 
 141 
 
 
 xxxviii, 19 
 
 81 
 
 
 iv, K— 10 - 
 
 20t» 
 
 iv, 2 
 
 27 
 
 
 xliii,7— 9 
 
 211 
 
 
 v, 7 
 
 12!) 
 
 vii, 8 
 
 371 
 
 Dan. ii,3,s, 32, 39 
 
 372 
 
 
 vii, 4 
 
 MM 
 
 viii. 8—10 - 
 
 210 
 
 
 35 
 
 211 
 
 Zcph 
 
 . ii, 3 
 
 no 
 
 x,23 25 . 
 
 197 
 
 
 43 
 
 2<>2 
 
 Ilac. 
 
 ii,6, 7 
 
 209 
 
 21-2G - 
 
 210 
 
 
 45 
 
 318 
 
 Zcch 
 
 . i, 18-21 
 
 iHf, 
 
 xi, 4, 9 
 
 2-14 
 
 
 iv 
 
 337 
 
 
 iii,8 
 
 27 
 
 11 
 
 122 
 
 
 16 
 
 IKI 
 
 
 iv, 8 
 
 235 
 
 xii 
 
 19 
 
 
 V 
 
 372 
 
 
 vi, 2— 5 - 
 
 296 
 
 xiii - 
 
 163 
 
 
 vii - 
 
 161 
 
 
 ix,13 - 
 
 373 
 
 10 
 
 141 
 
 
 8 
 
 375 
 
 
 X, 1 
 
 265 
 
 xviii 
 
 8-1 
 
 
 11,13 - 
 
 2<X) 
 
 
 111, 2—5 
 
 210 
 
 xviii, 3—7 - 
 
 210 
 
 
 9- H - 
 
 66 
 
 
 y-10 
 
 133 
 
304 
 
 SCRIPTURAL INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Zech. xiii, 1 - 84 
 
 xiv, 4. 5 - 211 
 
 7' - 292 
 
 16 - 205 
 
 17—19 212 
 
 Mai. iv, 1,3 - 210 
 
 5 - 115 
 
 Matt. V, 29 - 322 
 
 35 - 283 
 
 vi, 10 - 309 
 
 X, 31 - 61 
 
 xi, 3 - 71 
 
 xiii - 21 
 
 xvi, 27, 28 316 
 
 XX - 21 
 
 12—16 314 
 
 20—23 240 
 
 xxi, 33 - 21 
 
 xxii - 21 
 
 29, 30 285 
 
 xxiii, 15 - 322 
 
 29 - 211 
 xxiv, 14 - 144 
 
 21,22 109 
 
 30 - 112 
 xxiv, XXV 107,289 
 XXV 21 
 
 1 - 264 
 
 40, 45 292 
 
 Mark iv, 26 - 21 
 
 28 - 267 
 
 viii, 35 - 234 
 
 ix, 42, 50 210 
 
 xiii - 107 
 
 Lukex, 11 - 311 
 
 xii, 36 - 21 
 
 43 - 21 
 
 xiii - 21 
 
 32 - 187 
 
 xiv - 21 
 
 21 - 267 
 
 XV - 21 
 
 xvii, 20—30 67 
 
 xix - 21 
 
 xix, 19 - 35 
 
 24 - 185 
 
 24-28 67,109 
 
 xxiii, 43 - 322 
 
 John i, 48— 50 - 319 
 
 V, 25, 28 - 280 
 
 X - 21 
 
 xi, 48 - 200 
 
 Johnxviii, 36 - 132 
 
 Acts 1,6, 7 - 313 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Acts, i, 6, 7 - 125 
 
 iii, 19—21 67 
 
 XV, 14 - 144 
 
 xxi, 20 - 245 
 
 Rom. X, 13 - 51 
 
 xi - 127 
 
 26 - 133 
 
 xiii, 13 - 246 
 
 1 Cor. i, 7—9 - 62 
 
 iii, 12—15 210 
 
 XV, 23 - 276 
 
 23,24,52 279 
 
 2 Cor. xii, 4 - 322 
 
 iii, 10 - 283 
 Gal. iii, iv - 49,50 
 
 Eph. iii, 20 - 98 
 
 V - 376 
 
 Phil, i, 23 - 322 
 
 iii, 11 - 279 
 
 1 Thes. iv, 14—18 279 
 
 V, 23 - 298 
 
 2 Thes. i, 7, 8 - 295 
 
 ii, 3, 4, 6— 
 
 12 - 142 
 8, 9 65, 66 
 
 ii - 163 
 2-83 
 
 6 - 248 
 
 1 Tim. iv, 1 143, 185 
 
 vi, 13—16 62 
 
 2 Tim. ii, 12 - 330 
 
 iii, 1—5 240 
 
 Heb. X, 37 - 71 
 
 xi, 35 - 279' 
 
 xii, 22 - 50 
 
 26—28 53 
 
 xiii, 4, 5 - 51 
 
 1 Peter iv, 12 - 210 
 
 2 Peter i, 19, 20 12 
 
 20, 21 4 
 
 ii - 175 
 
 iii - 240 
 
 13 - 301 
 
 1 John ii, 18, 22 165 
 
 iv, 3 - 157 
 
 V, 21 - 158 
 
 2 John 7 - 157,165 
 Rev. i, 1—3 - 38 
 
 3 - 28 
 
 ii, 10 - 374 
 
 iii, 10 - 264 
 
 vi, 3, 4 - 374 
 
 vi, 11 - 299 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rev. vi, 5, 6 - 374 
 
 7 - 375 
 
 10—12 376 
 
 9—11 - 298 
 
 vii, 9—14 265 
 
 1 - 376 
 viii, 1 - 376 
 viii - 374, 375 
 ix - 144 
 ix - 375 
 ix - 374 
 
 15 214,440 
 
 17 - 194 
 X - 186 
 
 1, 8, 11 376 
 
 xi - 234 
 
 2 - 374 
 xi - 367 
 
 13 - 238 
 
 18 - 299 
 xii - 374 
 xii, 14 - 376 
 xii, xiii, xvii 202 
 xiii - 375 
 xiv - 150 
 
 1_4 . 263 
 
 10 - 291 
 
 6-13 - 251 
 
 14—16 268 
 
 12, 13 234 
 
 14_20 243 
 
 xvi - 145 
 
 xvi - 376 
 
 12 - 126 
 
 19 - 178 
 
 19 - 208 
 xvii, 9, 10 203 
 
 10 - 373 
 
 12 - 281 
 
 13—16 179 
 
 16, 17 202 
 
 xix - 126 
 
 11 - 113 
 
 20 - 211 
 
 21 - 291 
 XX - 296 
 
 3—5 - 273 
 
 4 - 113 
 
 8 - 301 
 
 9 211,212 
 xxi, 2, 24 - 281 
 xxi - 212 
 xxi, xxii - 318 
 
II.— BIBLIOCiRAPlIICAL l\I)i:X. 
 
 AbaiUlic, 386 
 Abarbiuiel, 379 
 Abbot. 392 
 Aben Ezra, 379 
 Adams, 407 
 Addis--, 366 
 Alabaster. 387 
 Alcazar, 403 
 Alleiiie, 400 
 Allen, 381.404 
 Allix, 387. 390, 399 
 All wood, 393 
 Alstedius, 393,399 
 Altiii^-ii, 390 
 Amvraut, 393 
 Anderson. 385, 396 
 Apocalypiica Cabala, 
 
 395 
 Apology, 396 
 Apthorpe, 383 
 Archer, 397 
 Aretliif, 403 
 Ashe. 406 
 A Sober Inquiry, 394 
 
 Baeps, 395 
 Bas-ot. Bp. 382 
 Bale. 403 
 Barlow. Bp. 392 
 Baxter, 397. 403 
 BavTord. 397 
 Beard. 392 
 BeiT?. 388. 396 
 Bellaniv. 395 
 Ben Ezra, 388 
 Benseliu.«. 405 
 Benfiet. 401 
 Bernard. 386 
 Berrinian, 382 
 Beverlcv. 381 
 Bialloblolskv. 391 
 Bichemo. 383.390 
 Bickersleth. 391 
 Biddnii.h, 396 
 Binjriiiim, 395 
 Bird. 405 
 Blavnev, 400 
 Boiriii'. 3S6 
 Bo?ue. 395 
 Bossuct, 382, 404 
 
 Brad-shaw, 403 
 Brightnian, 3ft9, 401 
 Brooks, 386, 389 
 Broun, John, 383 
 
 J. A. 383, 406 
 
 J. L. 389 
 
 Biicliaiian. 405 
 Bulliiii,-er, 403 
 Bullock, 382 
 Burj,-li, 388, 406 
 Burnet, 382, 395 
 Burrouirhes, 390 
 Bush, 396 
 Bnlt, 405 
 
 Calmct, 393 
 Calvert, 390 
 Canne. 401.404 
 Caverliiil, 401 
 Chandler, Bp. 382 
 Chauncy, 386 
 Christian Observer, 
 
 386 
 Churton. 383, 390 
 Clark, R.. 386 
 
 Sam., 386 
 
 Alex., 397 
 
 CInyton, Bp., 382, 390 
 Cluverii.'!, 386 
 Coccei, 392, 398 
 Coddu-us, 402 
 
 Cole, 3,«t4 
 Con)ber, 392 
 Cook, 405 
 Cooper, Ewd., 384 
 
 U.B.,406 
 
 Corrodi, 395 
 Cotton, 393, 403 
 Cowper, B|)., 403 
 Cox, J.. 397, 389 
 
 F. A., 402 
 
 Cradock, 386, 405 
 Crcssencr, 392, 404 
 Crolv, 406 
 Culb'erfpon. 406 
 Cuninfrhame. 138, 3R5, 
 
 387, 389, 390, 393, 396, 
 406 
 
 Dana?ud, 391 
 
 Daut. 3(t2 
 
 Davibnz. 405 
 
 Davidson, 399 
 
 Davies, 38<3 
 
 Davison, 384 
 
 Deliverance of Israel, 
 &c.. 389 
 
 Dent, 403 
 
 Dialogues on Prophe- 
 cy. 384 
 
 Dick, 405 
 
 Di?bv, 384, 407 
 
 Dobbs, 383 
 
 Dodsworth, 389 
 
 Downnanie, 392 
 
 Driimmond, 3.84 
 
 Drusins. 400 
 
 Dublin Ciiristian He- 
 rald. 386 
 
 Du Jon, 386 
 
 Duranl, 387 
 
 Durell, 398 
 
 Durham, 404. 399 
 
 England, 385 
 Ettrick, 383. 402 
 Eusebius, 386 
 Extracts on Propheov, 
 
 385 
 Eyre, 390 
 
 Faber, 384,390,393,401 
 Ferrier. 392 
 Fincli, 3S9 
 
 Fleniiuir, 382.392, 395 
 Fletcher. G.. 390 
 
 J., 393 
 
 Flover, SirJ..402 
 Eraser, 383, 400 
 Frerc, 383 
 Frith. 391 
 Frv.388. 399,402 
 Fulke, 3!^2 
 Fuller, 406 
 Fysli. 407 
 
 Oalc, 388 
 Cialloway. 405 
 (Jarrott. 392 
 (iauntli-tt, 406 
 Gcieri, 401 
 
306 
 
 General Delusion, 381 
 Giffard. 403 
 ■ Gill, 382, 387 
 Gillies, 387 
 Gipps, 396 
 Girdlestone, 406, 407 
 Glasgow Lectures, 391 
 God's Judgments, 381 
 Goode, 389 
 Goodwin, 403 
 Greenhill, 395, 401 
 Gressop, 391 
 Gressvveil, 396 
 Grotius, 392 
 Gauiterus, 391 
 Guild, 386 
 Gulichus, 386 
 Gurtlerus, 381 
 
 Habershon, 385 
 Hales, 383 
 Halifax, 393 
 Halis, 387 
 Hall, Edm. 392 
 
 Thos., 395 
 
 Hallett, 382 
 Hamilton, 384 
 Hammond, 397 
 Hancock, 391 
 Hard man, 402 
 Hardy, 382 
 Hares, 386 
 Hartley, 395 
 Hatchard, 391 
 Haughton, 392 
 Haw trey, 395 
 Heasell, 407 
 Heidegger, 386 
 J. H. 
 
 392, 
 
 404 
 Hicks, 404 
 Hippolytus, 391 
 Hirschfield, 391 
 Hoblyn, 386 
 Hoffmann, 404 
 Holland, 386 
 Holmes, W. A. 385 
 
 J. J., 406 
 
 Homes, 395 
 Hopkins, 395 
 Horsiey, Samuel, 398 
 
 Bp., 402 
 
 Hort, 397 
 Huet, 386, 401 
 Hull, 403 
 Humphreys, 393 
 Hurd, 382 
 Hurdis, 386 
 Hutcheson, 407 
 
 Investigator, 386 
 IrentKus, 397 
 
 INDEX II. 
 
 Irving, 384, 393, 402, 
 406 
 
 Jachiadce, 401 
 Jackson, 396 
 Jarchi, 379, 398 
 Jetierson, 396 
 Jenour, 400 
 Jewish Expositor, 386 
 Johnston, 405 
 Jones, J., 388 
 
 Wm., 406 
 
 Jurieu, 381 
 Justin Martyr, 389 
 
 Keith, 385 
 Kirshaw, 405 
 Kett, 383 
 Keyworth, 406 
 Keach, 392 
 Kidder, 386 
 Kimchi, 379, 402 
 King, 386 
 
 Ed w., 383 
 
 Knight, 403 
 Knollis, 397 
 Knollys, 404 
 Koppii, 397 
 Kortholt, 381 
 
 Laborde, 386 
 
 Lactantius, 397 
 
 Lambert, 395 
 
 Laurie, 386 
 
 Lee, (Professor) 384 
 
 Levi, 387 
 
 Light for the Jews, 390 
 
 Lovett, 407 
 
 Lovvman, 405 
 
 Lowth, Bp., 383, 400 
 
 Wm., 400 
 
 Loys, 386 
 Luther, 391 
 
 McCaul, 391 
 Maclaurin, 387 
 Macleod, 386 
 Madden, 388 
 Maitland, S. R,, 384, 
 385, 393 
 
 C. D., 388 
 
 Malvenda, 392 
 Manasseh, 393 
 Mandeville, 403, 389 
 Manton, 392 
 Ma< sius, 392 
 Marlorate, 403 
 Marsh, 384 
 Marsden, 390 
 Marshall, 386 
 Martyr, 389 
 Marwick, 386 
 
 Mather, 390, 397 
 Maton, 389, 397 
 Maurice, 387 
 McNeil, 389, 391 
 Mead, 386 
 Meade, 391,400 
 Mede, 381 
 Mejanel, 396 
 Millenarianism, 396 
 Milner, 406 
 Molinoei, 381 
 Momuna, 386 
 More, H., 381,401,404 
 Morning Watch, 384 
 Mount of Vision, 384 
 Multum in Parvo, 394 
 Murray, 406 
 Myers, 385 
 
 Napier, 403 
 Nares, 383 
 Ness, 392 
 Newans, 386 
 Newcombe, Abp., 400, 
 
 402 
 Newton, Bp., 382 
 Sir Isaac. 401, 
 
 405 
 Nisbet, 388 
 Noel, G., 388 
 Nolan, 388, 395 
 
 Oxendringe, 394 
 
 Parker, 401 
 
 Parceus, 404 
 
 Patrick. 387 
 
 Penn, 384, 401 
 
 Perry, 397 
 
 Petrie, 393 
 
 Petto, 404 
 
 Pick, 400 
 
 Pirie, 383 
 
 Piatt, 385 
 
 Pocock, 400 
 
 Potter, 404 
 
 Pearson, 406 
 
 Prophetical Blessings 
 
 on Jacob and Moses, 
 
 391 
 Pyle, 386, 405 
 Pym, 396 
 
 Reader, 386 
 
 Reed, 388 
 
 Religion of Antichrist 
 discovered, 393 
 
 Religious Tract So- 
 ciety, 398 
 
 Revelation considered, 
 405 
 
Review of the Scrip- 
 tures, 388 
 Ricluinls-, 383 
 Rilaiid, 393 
 Robertrs, 383 
 Roberihon, 405 
 Robinson, 387 
 Roe, 40ti 
 Rollock, 401 
 Rose, Sir G., 385 
 Rotherhani, 382 
 Rous, 402 
 Rudd, 395 
 
 Sabin, 338, 397 
 Sargent, 389 
 Schoetiren, 379 
 Scoit, 390 
 
 J. .390 
 
 Sharp, Granville, 382 
 
 Lionel, 392 
 
 Shari)e. Greic., 382 
 Sherlock, 3S2 
 Sherwin, 395 
 Sherwood, 395 
 Simon, 391 
 Simpson, 383 
 Sirr, J. d'A., 396 
 Smith. J., 381, 400 
 
 J. P., 385 
 
 Spes Fidelium, 395 
 Squire, 403 
 
 INDEX II. 
 
 Starchii,401 
 Stcholin, 379 
 Stephens, 404 
 S terry, 397 
 Stewart. J., 390 
 
 J. H., 388 
 
 Stoiiard, 402 
 S) Iviera, 404 
 
 Taylor, H., 362. 393 
 
 Thos.. 395 
 
 The Deliverance of 
 
 Israel. 389 
 The Holy Rest ofGod, 
 
 397 
 Vision, itc. of 
 
 Daniel. 401 
 Thorp, 384 
 Thruston, 386, 405 
 Tillinghast, 381, 393 
 Tillius, 386 
 Towers. Dr., 384 
 Townes, 380 
 T wells, 382 
 Tyso, 386, 391 
 
 Urwick, 68, 390 
 
 Van Mildert, 384 
 Vaii-^han, E. T.. 388 
 Robert. 393 
 
 :jo7 
 
 Venema, 382, 400, 401, 
 
 402 
 Vignicr, 392 
 Vint, 385 
 
 Vitrinfja, 381,400, 404 
 Vivian', 405 
 
 Wall, 389 
 VValmeslev, 405 
 Waple, 404 
 Wav, Lewis, 388 
 Wells, }!., 401 
 
 E., 398, 404 
 
 Whiston, 381, 405 
 \N'hitby, 395 
 White, H., 389. S. 400 
 Whitely,3^ 
 Whittaker, 383 
 
 405 
 Willis, 381 
 Wilson, 402 
 Winrhesler, 383, 405 
 Wintle, 383, 401 
 Witherby, 390 
 Witsil, 381.401 
 Wood. 385 
 Woodhou.se, 405 
 Worthington, 382 
 Wot ton, 380 
 
 Zouch, 383, 401 
 
 403, 
 
 III.— GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 AnARBAXEr-, 278 
 
 Abercrombie, 31 
 
 Abdiel's Essay.<=. Ill 
 
 AdvL-nt, The First, 41 
 
 , The Second, 59 
 
 Afghans, Wolff, \->2. Mrs. Simon, 124 
 
 Affliction and sutfering the state of the 
 church till the second advent, 80 
 
 Agreement, Points of, 219 
 
 Albigenses,235 
 
 Alis5n, 26, 413 
 
 Allix, quulcd, 18, 20 
 
 Aminon, 139 
 
 Amos, Evidence of 87 . 
 
 Antichrist, ch. xi. 156. Lii.t of writers 
 on Antichrist, 391 
 
 Antimillenarians, Origin of, 287 
 
 Apocalypse, Scheme of, 364 
 
 Apostles. Opinion of the, 61 
 
 Application, Practical, 333. Applica- 
 tion to ourselves of the promises 
 ' spiritually, 47, 51 
 
 Arabs, 139 
 
 Arnulphius. quoted, 173 
 
 A-ynans, 162 
 
 Atig>biirg, Confession of, 171 
 
 Augustine,-225, 28-1 
 
 Authors recommended — Geosraphi- 
 cal, 26. Historical, 24. Propheti- 
 cal, 39 
 
 Axioms, 3.'>9 
 
 Babylon, 139 
 
 Bacon, Lord, 118, 336 
 
 Belgian churciies, 17.') 
 
 Bcngclius, ({iinlrd, 188,207 
 
 Bernard, St., 172 
 
 Bible, the fountain of prophetical 
 siudv, 11. Li.st of Commenial'ors, 
 39H" 
 
 Bohemian churches, 175 
 
 Bonks on Prophecy, A Catalogue of, 
 377. Jewisli Commenintyrs, 379. 
 Earlv Fnihcrs and early writers, 
 3K). ' On the Messiah, 3h6. On the 
 
308 
 
 INDEX III. 
 
 Second Coming, 387. On the Jews, 
 389. Antichrist, Popery, «S:c. 391. 
 On the Millennium and first Resur- 
 rection, 393. Kingdom of God, 397. 
 Commentators on particular por- 
 tions of prophecy, . On the 
 
 whole Bible, 398. The Old Testa- 
 ment, 398. Psalms, Canticles, 399. 
 Prophets — Tsaiah, 400. Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel, 400. Daniel, 401. Hosea, 
 402. Zechariah, Malachi, New 
 Testament, 402. 2,Thessalonians, 
 Hebrews, 2 Peter, 403. Revelation, 
 403. 
 
 Booth royd, quoted, 194 
 
 Brightnian, 100 
 
 Britain, 201. Testimony of British 
 churches and Reformers, 171. She 
 still holds out her testimony, 174 
 
 [See ChroRological. 
 
 Brown, 101, 205. Brown's Harmony, 
 14 
 
 Burgh, W., alluded to, 101, 167, 228 
 
 Burne's Travels, 123 
 
 Bush, 274 
 
 Candour, 31 
 
 Canticles, Comment on, 399 
 
 Carey, 123 
 
 Cautions, 29, see Practical 
 
 Censuring, a Avrong spirit, 337 
 
 Chalmers, 357 
 
 Chartists, 248, 253 
 
 Cheerfulness, 2G0 
 
 Chiliasts, 286 
 
 Christ prophecies respecting his First 
 Coming, 41 
 
 Christ the end of Prophecy, 26, 41.— 
 Literal prophecies concerning him, 
 6,42. Example of Chiist, 259. To 
 be the future King of the Jews, 120. 
 King of his church, 306. {See Se- 
 cond Coming.) 
 
 Christians differ on these points, 73. 
 May apply to themselves spirituallij 
 all the promises, 48, 51 
 
 Chronological Prophecies, ch. xiii. p. 
 192 
 
 Chronology of Scripture, ch. xx. p. 
 367 
 
 Church, The Christian, Prophecies 
 respecting, ch. x. p. 142. A king- 
 dom, 306 
 
 Church, Harvest of the, ch. xvi. p. 262. 
 
 Church, The, Afflictions and Suffer- 
 ings its portion lill the Second Ad- 
 vent, 80. To have a period of rest 
 afterwards; everywhere represented 
 as an elect body, with one glorious 
 hope, 81. Its peculiar position, 262 
 
 Clinton's Fasti Hell., 36S, 369 
 
 Cocceius, 22 {quoted) 39, 162 
 
 Comber, 206 
 
 Comforting one another, 353 
 
 Commeniators to be studied, 22. Jew- 
 ish, 380. {See Books.) 
 
 Conolly, 233 
 
 Conversion of the Jews, the duty of 
 aiding it, 126, 128 
 
 Cressener, 32, 102, 151, 201, 
 
 Cuninghame, 63, 132, 151, 205, 229, 
 251 
 
 Cycles, 208 
 
 D.1NIEL, Prophecy of, 138. Commen- 
 tators on, 401. Evidence of, 87 
 
 Dates, mistakes as to, 32, 192. Not 
 precisely but approximately fixed, 
 152. Scripture passages to which 
 they are affixed, 194. Fixing dates 
 positively injurious, 189. List of, 
 supposed to be near their close, 213 
 
 Daubuz, 99 
 
 Davis, 25 
 
 Day of the Lord, duration of, 294 
 
 Days, mystical periods of, 194 
 
 Death, Effect of. on believers, compar- 
 ed with the effect of the second ad- 
 vent, 75 
 
 Desolation and Confusion, future, 121 
 
 Detached passages cannot be rightly 
 interpreted, 17 
 
 Differences on the Apocalypse, 220 
 
 Difficulties, Benefit of, 224. No ob- 
 jection to the studj', 7, 105 
 
 Distinction between facts predicted 
 and times of fulfilment must be ob- 
 served, 33. Distinctions between 
 Old and New Testament testimony, 
 as to the second advent, 79 
 
 Distinctive features of the first and 
 second coming, 83 
 
 Divmes, Opinions of, modern, as to 
 the Millennium, 273 
 
 Dogmatism, Danger of, 230, 253 
 
 Edom, 139 
 
 Egvpt, 122, 139 
 
 Elphinston, 123 
 
 England, 201. Church of, 63 
 
 {See Chronological.) 
 
 Euphrates, drying up of, 233. Ap- 
 pendix. {ConoUy.) 
 
 Evidence of Prophecy, 1. Of' Old 
 Testament writers, 84 
 
 Exertion, Motives to, 356 
 
 Exposition, Two rules of, by Bishop 
 Horsley, 4 
 
 Ezekiel, Commentators on, 400. Evi- 
 dence of, 86 
 
 Fabf.r,63, 100,205, 235 
 
 Facts. {See Distinction.) 
 
 Fathers. Opinions of, as to the Man of 
 Sin, 1.58. On the Resurrection, 284. 
 Their works on Prophecy, 381 
 
 Figure different from symbol, 99 
 
 Forbearance, 332 
 
INDEX III. 
 
 no9 
 
 Foxc's Book of Marlyrs, lTt'» 
 
 French reformed churches, 174 
 
 French Revolution. Appendix, ii. p. 
 413 
 
 Frere, 205, 235 
 
 Fulfilment of Prophecy, 97. Some- 
 times concentrated, 179. Time of 
 fulfilment in many cases purposely 
 hidden, 183. {See Inlerprclatiun.) 
 
 Future, not to pry too closely into it, 9 
 
 Gap, the Synod of, 175 
 
 Gaussenus", 115 
 
 Gclasius, 286 
 
 General meanings of prophecies often 
 clear, when the particulars are not 
 so, 19 
 
 General Observations on llie Study of 
 the Prophecies, ch. i. p. 1. 
 
 Generation truths, 33, HI 
 
 Gentiles, Times of the, 197 
 
 {See Jews, yatio7is.) 
 
 Geographical Knowledge, 26. Wri- 
 ters on Geography, 26 
 
 Gipps, 274 
 
 Gospel, The design of the, 145. Not 
 for immediate general conversion, 
 ib. Spread of it in the apostolic 
 ages, 148 
 
 Greswell's division of the Parables, 21 
 
 Gurtlerus, 22 {quoted, 6, 32, 36) on 
 Mede's View, 37 
 
 Haeakklk, Evidence of, 88 
 
 Habershon, 103, 194 
 
 Hall, 55, 274 
 
 Harmony of the Prophecies, 17 
 
 Harvest of the church, chap. xvi. p. 
 262. {See Church.) 
 
 Heart, state of the, when fit for the 
 study of Prophecy, 14 
 
 Hebrews, Comment, on, 403 
 
 Hierome, St., 160, 172, 237, 2.S4 
 
 Historians, Testimony of, 139 
 
 History, Knowledge of, 24. Writers 
 on, 25. Aid of past history, 192 
 
 Holy Spirit, his teaching the first re- 
 quisite, 12. Extraordinary illumina- 
 tion not to be expected, l3. A larger 
 out-pouring needed, 153. Dispensa- 
 tion of, 329 
 
 Horn, The little, Medc, 1G2 
 
 Home's Introduction, 42, 54 
 
 Horslev, Bp., 4, 12, 16, 17, 170, 188, 
 291,1337 
 
 Howarth's Lectures, 137 
 
 Human systems to be avoided, 34 
 
 Humility in research, 14, 130 
 
 Humphreys, 278 
 
 Hurd, 169 
 
 Huss's sentence, 237 
 
 IDUM.EA, 141 
 
 'India, 149 
 Indies, West, ib. 150 
 VOL. II.— 76 
 
 Indifference, 253 
 
 Infidelity, its growth, 177. Its union 
 with Popery, 178,242 
 
 Infidels, their lesiimonv, 139. Their 
 rise, 178. Their Wiiidue.vs, 267 
 
 Interpretation 
 
 {See Literal, ch. vii. p. 92.) 
 
 Ircntriis, 171 
 
 Isaiah, Evidence of, ftl 
 
 JcHK.MiAif, Commentators on, 400. Evi- 
 dence of, 85 
 
 Jerome. {See Hierome.) 
 
 Jerusalem rebuilt, 121. Taking of, 
 101. The New Jeru>alcm, 2m1 
 
 Jewell, Bp., Summary from, 171 
 
 Jews, Prophecies concerning thein,cli. 
 viii. p. 117 
 
 Jews, their title to the promi.'^es, &.r. 
 through Abraham, 49. Contempt 
 of them inexcusable, 57. Missiona- 
 ries, 128. Writers on the Jews, IWt. 
 Opinion of the Jews as to the resur- 
 rection, 277. The Jews a warning 
 to us, 254. Their disregard of pro- 
 phecy, 43. {See Millennium.) Their 
 ■wealth, 137. Analogy from the Jew- 
 ish dispensation, 265. The Jewish 
 year, 197. Their dispersion, 197. 
 Their restoration, 121. Wars pre- 
 ceding it.ib. Disabilities bill, (Ap- 
 pendix IV.) p. 407. 
 
 Joachimus Aboas quoted, 173 
 
 Joel, Evidence of, 87 
 
 John, Bishop of Constantinople, quot- 
 ed, 172 
 
 Josephus, 122 
 
 Jubilees, 208 
 
 Judgment, suspension of, 35. Premil- 
 lennjal judgment, 65, 204. 
 
 Judgments on the World, {Sec Scrnvii 
 Ccmiuic,) 240. On the church, 234 
 
 Judcea re-fertilized, 121 
 
 Kav, Bp. 159 
 
 Keith, 10O-, 119, 218 
 
 Kimchi, 278 
 
 Kingdom of Christ, ch. xviii. p. 305 
 
 Kingdom of God, works on, 397 
 
 Kingdoms, the ten, 201 
 
 Knowledge, Historical, 24. Geogra- 
 phical, 20 
 
 Knox, Alexander, 22 
 
 Lactantiis, 285 
 
 Lardncr, 2HI 
 
 Leighlon, Abp. i:!l 
 
 Levi, David, 111 
 
 Literal intcrpreiatinn, 15, 92. Mi- 
 nuteness of ihc fulfilment of the 
 events of our Saviour's Life. 43 
 
 Literal Interpretation of the Prophe- 
 cies, ch. vii. p. 92 
 
 Liturgy of Church of England, 336 
 
 Lowman, 205 
 
310 
 
 INDEX III. 
 
 Lowth, 54 
 
 Machiavel, 201 
 
 Maitland, 188 
 
 Mahomedans, 144, 146. Mahomedan- 
 ism, 176 
 
 Malachi, evidence of, 89 
 
 Maldonatus, 108 
 
 Man of Sin, destruction of, 65, 181. 
 The Protestant view of it instru- 
 mental in the Reformation, 104 
 
 Manasseh Ben Israel, 278 
 
 Marshman, 123 
 
 Martyr Justin, 159 
 
 McNeil's Sermon, 163 
 
 McNeil, 145 
 
 Mede, 32, 100, 132, 158, 162, 169, 281 
 
 Mendham, 101 
 
 Messiah, Works on, 386 
 
 Micah, evidence of, 88 
 
 Millennium and first Resurrection, 
 chap. xvii. p. 273. Works on, 393. 
 Rev. H. Woodward's Remarks, 302 
 
 Millennial day not far off, 150 
 
 Millennial kingdom, 146 
 
 Millenarians must meet reproaches, 33 
 
 Millennium, controverted points on it, 
 63. (See Prtxriiilleimial.) 67 
 
 Mind, state of, during inquiry, 14, 228, 
 229. State of the Old Testament 
 saints, 226. (See //. Coming Judg- 
 ments.) 
 
 Ministers, exhortation to, 355 
 
 Missionaries, their exertions, 243. 
 Baptist do. Marshman arid Carev, 
 123 
 
 Mistakes as to dates, 32, 192, 193 
 
 Moab, 139 
 
 Monarchies, the four, 199 
 
 More, Dr. Henry, 282 
 
 Mystical Periods, 194 
 
 Nation.? connected with the Jews. 
 (Prophecies concerning), ch. ix. p. 
 
 138. Prophecies of Daniel, ib. Ba- 
 bylon, Nineveh, Tyre, Egypt, Am- 
 mon, Edom, Moab, Philistia, Arabs, 
 
 139. Woodhoiise on these prophe- 
 cies, 140. A multitude to be saved 
 out of the great tribulation, 141 
 
 National sins, 411 
 
 Neglect of Prophecy inexcusable, 6. 
 
 And needless on the ground of error, 
 
 36 
 Newton, Bp. on the Prophecies 15, 
 
 100, 107, 132, 139, 142, 205, 218 
 Newton, Sir I., 22, 103, 200, 204 
 Nineveh, 139 
 
 Noel, B., extract from, 244 
 Numbers, Prophetical, 23 
 Obadiah, evidence of, 88 
 Obscurity of unfulfilled prophecy, 7. 
 
 Advantages of this, 8, 224. No 
 obscurity in the plan of salvation, 
 41 
 
 CErrip. 171 
 
 Origen, 285 
 
 Owen, 55 
 
 Papacy, rise of, 217 
 
 Parables, Greswell's division of them, 
 21. Prophetic ib. Evidence of, 
 264, 289 
 
 Particular explanations unwise, 19 
 
 Paul, St., his prophecies as to the 
 Christian Church, 142 
 
 Peace at some future time expected 
 by all, 79. Mixed up with tumult, 
 250 
 
 Period of the Second Coming of our 
 Lord, ch. vi. p. 79 
 
 Personal reign. This doctrine not 
 necessarily connected with a pre- 
 millennial advent. (See Preface.) 
 
 Pertinacity, danger of, 229 
 
 Peter, commentators on the second 
 epistle of, 403 
 
 Philistia, 139 
 
 Popery, 142, 145. Writers on, 391. 
 Now on the decline, 175. Its union 
 with infidelity, 177, 242. See {Anti- 
 christ.) Consuming of, 
 
 Post-millennial advent, 71 
 
 Powel's Concordance, a summary 
 from, 120. See Jews. 
 
 Practical effect of the doctrine of the 
 second advent, 268. Duties with 
 reference to Antichrist, 180. En- 
 couragements to statesmen, parents, 
 afflicted, &c. 270, 271. Duty of con- 
 templating these things, 152. Effect 
 of a delayed coming, 71. Benefits 
 of studying prophecy, 45 
 
 Practical Reflections, ch. xix. p. 332 
 
 Practical Rules and Cautions, ch. ii. 
 p. 12. Plan of Study of prophetical 
 authors, 39 
 
 Prayer, a spirit of, 332. Fervent, 
 344. Intercessory, 351 
 
 Premillennial (see Millennium.) No 
 solid argument against a premillen- 
 nial Advent, 295 
 
 Preparation for the coming of Christ, 
 346, 349 
 
 Present day a theme of prophecy, 7. 
 Present state of things. Faber, 241, 
 242 
 
 Promises. (See Prophetical.) 
 
 Prophecy, evidence ol", 1. Its own com- 
 mentator, 337. Obscurity of, 7. Har- 
 monyof, 17. Its true use," 341. Itsend 
 is Jesus, 11,26,41. Its intent, sancti- 
 fication, ib. and to prepare the mind, 
 
INDEX III. 
 
 II 
 
 9. Useful as warning, 3. Duty of 
 preaching on it, ib. Due attention to 
 it, 33-2. Comfort arisingfrom fulfilled 
 prophecy, 2. Line between lulfilled 
 and unfulfilled prophecy, 19. Partial 
 )rophecie.s, 110. Prophetical nuin- 
 jers, 23. A prophetical knowledge 
 not necessary to salvation, 2«. It 
 may puft" up, 29. Commentators 
 on, 381 (See also Antichrist; liouks; 
 Christ; Christian; ■ Chronological: 
 Commentators; Geiural Observa- 
 tions; Interpretation: Jncs: King- 
 dom; Mitlenniuvi; Nations; Period; 
 Prophetical; Second Coming; l\ine.) 
 
 Prophetical application of Promises 
 to the Christian Church, ch. iv. p. 
 47 
 
 Providential coming, GO 
 
 Psalms and Parables prophetic, 00. 
 Commentators on, 399. Evidence 
 of, 8-1 
 
 Reformers (Testimony of), 171 
 
 Religious Societies, 147, 151 
 
 Restoration of the Jews, 121, 424 
 
 Resurrection, first, 273 
 
 Revelation (Symbolical), 100. Not 
 addressed to 'the Jews, 103. Unful- 
 filled, 104. A practical book, 334. 
 Commentators on, 403. Ditierences 
 as to, 220 
 
 Reverence, 231 
 
 Roman Catholic Relief Bill, 172 
 
 Roos {quoted) 5 
 
 S.\ADi.vs Gaon, on Daniel xii. 277 
 
 Saints, Premillennial, 279 
 
 Salvation not dependent on prophetical 
 knowledge. 2H 
 
 Scott, 119, 132,2-13. Quoted 
 
 Second Cuming of Christ, ch. v. p. 59. 
 Writers on, 387 
 
 Judgments connected with the Second 
 Coming, chap. xv. p. 232. Extracts 
 from 'Paroles d'un Croyant,' 'J33. 
 Dryingupof the Euphrates, Conolhj. 
 
 1. Judgments on the Church, 234 
 
 2. Judgments on the World, 210 
 Sherlock, Bishop, 7 
 
 Sierra Leone, 149 
 
 Smith, Dr. J., 114 
 
 Simpson's Key, 15 
 
 Sobrielv, 319 
 
 Souls of others, seeking to save, 318 
 
 South India, 149 
 
 South Sea Isles, 150 
 
 Speculations to be avoided, 330 
 
 Spiritual presence to be distinguished 
 from visible coming, GI. Varied 
 ways of making out a spiritual 
 
 311 
 
 coming only prove its unscriptu- 
 raliiy, TJ 
 
 Spirits departed, our ignorance about 
 them, 71 
 
 Study of Prophecy, 1. &c. Practical 
 beiu'fii of, 45 
 
 Submi-^ioii, 231 
 
 Suspending the judgmeni, 35 
 
 Sybill (juoted, 171 
 
 Symbol distinct from figure, 92; sym- 
 bol, expressions, J5 
 
 Systems (human) to be avoided, 34; 
 always connected with error 
 
 Swariz, 149 
 
 Tkrtullian, IGO 
 
 Testament {Old), Commentators on, 
 398. Christians partake of its pro- 
 mises, 50. {Scw\ Light from it. Jts 
 application of Old Testament pro- 
 pliecies, 51. As to the future state 
 of the Jews, 126 
 
 Testimony of infidels and historian«, 
 139 
 
 Time, the scriptural meaning of, ch. 
 xii. p. 182 
 
 Times (See Distinction.) 
 
 Trades Unions, 2-18 
 
 Trial as well as Victory, 276 
 
 Tribes (the Ten and the Two) Jo- 
 sephus, 122 
 
 Tribulation, the grent, 218 
 
 Truths, generation, 33 
 
 Turkish Empire, decay of. 66 
 
 Unbei.ikf, danger of, 228, 251 
 
 Urwicks Second Advent, 6S 
 
 Van Mii.DERT, 27, 30, 275 
 
 Venema,22 
 
 Vint, 274 
 
 Vitringa, 12, 16.22,35, 115 
 
 Waiti.no, duty of, 223 
 
 Waldcnses, 235 
 
 Ward law, 63 
 
 Wars preceding the Jewish restora- 
 tion, 121 
 
 Watchfulness, 334 
 
 Watson's Apolosy, 25 
 
 West India, 150 
 
 Whitby, 2H8. Originator of Anli- 
 millenarian views, ib. 
 
 Wickedness abounding at the coming 
 of the Lord, 81 
 
 Winilc, 20<; 
 
 Wisdom (Heavenly), 335 
 
 Witnesses (the two), 72, 231. Cuning' 
 ha me, &.C. {See Judgments and 
 Second Comine.) 
 
 Woodhousc {qnotrd), 2-1. 132, 140 
 
 Woodward, Rev. H. 302 
 
 Word, (Sec Uibk.) 
 
312 INDEX III. 
 
 World, opinion of, as to Second Zechariah, evidence of, 89 
 Advent, 64 Zephaniah, evidence of, 88. 
 
 Years, or periods of, 193, 197. Com- 
 mencement of the 1260 years, 205 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 Page 146, line 17 from the top, after 'years,' insert, — • 
 The various reading of s/c tuv n/xi^uv, given by valuable manuscripts, used 
 in the text of Arethas, and adopted l)y Matthseus, gives the article both with 
 the hour and the day. We are thus referred to the former mention of that hour 
 and that day, Rev. iii. 10, vi. 17, vii. 1. The dates of the Revelation, when 
 not immediately before mentioned, are giyen without the article. 
 
%