/-m THE APOCALYPSE TEANSLATED AND EXPOUNDED, PRINTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB, FOE T. & T. CLARK, EDINBUEGH. LONDON, . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, . JOHN ROBERTSON AND 00. ,, . GEORGE HERBERT. BELFAST, . C. AITCHISON. THE APOCALYPSE TEANSLATED AND EXPOUNDED. BY JAMES GLASGOW, D.D., IRISH GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S PROFESSOR OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES ; LATE FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY ; AND LATE MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, BOMBAY. EDINBUEGH: T. & T. CLAEK, 38, GEOEGE STEEET. 187 2. PREFACE. In the Exposition now offered, the author has foUowed a few leading principles deduced from the Holy Scriptures, and taught in substance by various patristic and modern writers. Thus the principle that in prophecies of " the times and the seasons," " days denote years," is recognised or implied ia Scott's, Henry's, and Barnes' Commentaries ; in Brown's Bible with Dr. H. Cooke's Notes ; and in the prophetic interpreta tions of the Eey. Joseph Mede, Sir I. Newton, Bishops Newton and Waldegrave, Eevs. Dr. D. Brown, Dr. Fairbairn, Dr. Keith, Dr. Boothroyd, Dr. Gumming, Dr. A. M'Leod, E. B. Elliott, Jonathan Edwards, E. Culbertson, G. S. Faber, etc. Another principle closely allied to this is thus propounded by Fr. Turretine : " Christ suggested to His servant those things which were to happen even to the end of the age." And Calvin repudiates the opinion of those who sum up the king dom of Christ in 1000 (human) years, as an error branding with contumely Christ and His kingdom. The principle of chronological continuative fulfilment of the apocalyptic pro phecies is maintained by the great majority of eminent inter preters since the Eeformation. The kindred principle of the spiritual nature of the first resurrection is asserted by Augustine : " All those who have part in the first resurrection lived and reigned with Christ 1000 years, that is, in the present age. This is the first re- vi PEEFACE. surrection ; as Paul says, ' If ye then be risen with Christ,' etc. As the first death is in this life by sin, so the first resurrec tion is in this life by the remission of sin." He also says, " 'We shall take care to explain according to anagoge " — or the application of words of Scripture as symbols referring to future events. In reference to the holy city, and the witnesses, Jerome says, " These things must be im.derstood in a spiritual sense ; " and he expresses his dissent from a premillennial interpretation, by saying, "Because of this opinion, some introduce 1000 years after the resurrection." The author, however, has not found a uniform adherence to these principles among any class of interpreters ; and to this cause he attributes much of the error that obscures the Apoca lypse. Another principle of paramount importance is thus expressed by Justin Martyr : " I do not choose to foUow men or men's doctrines, but God, and the doctrines that are from Him." On this principle, the author accepts of Scripture alone as his authority, and the comparison of its prophetic terms as a key to their meaning. Dr. Wordsworth states a maxim thus : " The law and the prophets prepared imagery for the Apocalypse." The Eev. John Davidson, D.D., " views the entire subject of the Apoca lypse as strongly marked by a system of chronological order." The Eev. E. B. Elliott also adopts the principle, that, " from the very beginning of the Apocalypse throughout, Jewish emblems have been proved to, be used of the Christian Church." In harmony with these and other leading principles of ancients and moderns, the author aims at nothing beyond their uniform application ; and from such application of them to every part of the Apocalypse, wUl result anything new he PEEFACE. vii may advance. WhQe he does not affect to conceal his impres sion that he has thus been enabled to present new though • obvious views of various places in the book, by bringing them into close comparison with the earlier Scriptures (re cognising the plenary inspiration of all Scripture), and by frequent historic illustrations of the fulfilment of each pro phecy in its time, he can honestly say, he has neither sought novelty, nor made it a ground of preference. The principles of sound interpretation may be concisely presented thus, — premising that, as in aU allegorical writing, the terms, though literal, symbolize ideal objects : 1. Every object in a vision of the future is a sign of some thing future. 2. Such signs are uniform. 3. Their times are symbolical of future times. 4. The future objects and their times are greater than the visional signs. 5. These signs in the apocalyptic visions are derived from those employed in the prophetic visions of the Old Testament. 6. Explanations are not symbolical, but literal or rhetorical. This applies to the words of interpreting angels, to oracles or messages, without vision, and especiaUy to the "ft'ords of Jesus, who neither received nor needed visions. The author desires to avoid everything savouring of self-im portance ; but he may fairly say that, from his coUege days, he has been a student of the prophetic Scriptures ; that he has ever since been in communication with men of all shades of thought on the subject of prophecy ; that, besides the many works cited or noticed, he has read various others, presenting aU types of prophetic theory ; that, in his missionary Ufe, he was provi dentially led to a more textual, enlarged, and independent study of the "vrhole subject than would have been possible for viii PKEFACE. him otherwise"; that, besides such training process, he had the honour of being secretary of a Translation Committee, under the auspices of the Bombay Branch Bible Society, and of co operating in a translation of the Old and New Testament from the originals into the ,Gujarati language ; that, while he was thus employed, many translations, in various languages, were constantly compared, much critical apparatus was used, and aU biblical terms carefuUy studied in conjunction or correspon dence with many learned friends ; and that these long-continued exercises effectuaUy placed him beyond reUance on interpre ters, however useful as helps, and led him to seek truth in the harmonies of the Bible itself. The men of the present generation are in a better position than those of any previous age, for knowing the fulfilment of prophecy. And certainly the events of the last few years should stimulate to a fresh study of " the signs of the times." The progress of events conformable to predictions adds greatly to the cumulative evidence of Christianity ; and this wUl go on untU, under great effusion of the Holy Spirit, aU infidelity and false religion wiU be overborne, and rationaUstic scepticism wUl h^ve no more footing. The events connected with the faU of the mystic Babylon, and the evangelization of bUnded Mohammedans and Eomanists, of gross Hindus and apostate Jews, wUl remove the vast obstructions which have hitherto impeded Christian work; and the gospel ministry, with its two arms of the school and the press, wUl carry the good tidings everywhere. The "Word of God wUl not be bound. " Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this Book." In quoting Scripture, the author has kept in view the mode in which our Lord and the apostles quoted — generaUy in the words of the Seventy, or of the Hebrew expressed in Greek, PREFACE. IX and always in the true meaning. His quotations generally, but not slavishly, foUow our standard versions ; and he has uniformly based his expositions on a close translation of the text, taking as principal authorities the most ancient codices and versions — especiaUy the Codex Sinaiticus; the Codex Alexandrinus; the Syriac and Latin; and the Editions of MiU, Tischendorf, Alford, Tregelles, Theile, etc. Without occasionally adducing the words of the original languages of the Scriptures, it is impossible to treat such a subject as this in any tolerable manner. Nor could the ques tions relating to the authorship of the Apocalypse and the time of "writing be satisfactorily discussed, without quoting testimonies or opinions of the earUest Christian writers. EngUsh readers are requested to give the author credit for endeavouring to do this sparingly, — much more so than has been done in elaborate works of Stuart, EUiott, and others. And the meaning of quotations is also generally appended in EngUsh. The same appUes to occasional oriental words used for philological iUustration. As he has not proposed to foUow any master, but the in spired "writers, he may be censured by the adherents of oppo site systems. Having deduced first principles from Scripture, as he understands it, these he has attempted to elaborate ; and if, in any exposition, he has failed in this respect, he wUl hold such topic open for reconsideration. In quoting writers, he has not intentionaUy indulged in either eulogy or censorious strictures ; but has studied to put before the reader, frankly and without evasion, what he beUeves the meaning of each verse and word. To be treated in the same manner would be but a reasonable expectation; but that 'this is more than he can anticipate, his acquaintance with the animtcs too often found in prophetic interpretations leads him to fear. What- X PREFACE. ever bearing his interpretations may seem to have on pro phetical or ecclesiastical systems, he has always cherished, in proportion as he has advanced in years, the most fraternal feeUng to Christ's people, without any Umit of church or party. Without the formality of dedication, he begs to tender hearty thanks to the learned theological friends who, after perusing or hearing portions of his manuscript, at their own selection, cordiaUy recommended him to proceed with the pub Ucation ;^ and to many other friends for very gratifying corre spondence. He is conscious that many of his expositions, especially of the Epistles to the Seven Churches, and of the last two chapters, are too brief ; in fact, little more than heads ' of exposition. Notwithstanding this, the work has quite out grown the Umits he intended ; whUe he holds himself ready to receive and consider friendly suggestions for supplementing deficiencies ; and to aU thoughtful and devout readers he regards himself, like Paul, " a servant for Jesus' sake." ' Names and testimonials were given iu the Prospectus. CONTENTS. PROLEGOMENA. SECTION I. — Tlie 'Writer ofthe Apocalypse. 1. John the Apostle is the author, 2. The writer calls himself John — visited in Patmos, 3. No Other John the Elder in the apostolic time, 4. Peculiarity of style, 5. Coincidences, 6. Agree with unity of author, 7. Introduces his name, 8. Servant and elder, . 9. Evidence from Papias, 10. Evidence from Justin, 11. Evidence from Melito, 12. Evidence from Theophilus, . 13. Evidence from Irenseus, 14. Evidence from Clemens Alexandrinus 15. Evidence from TertuUian, . 16. Evidence from Hippolytus, . 17. Evidence from Origen, 18. Evidence from Cyprian, 19. Evidence from Ephrem Syrus, 20. Evidence from Epiphanius, . 21. Evidence from Ambrose, 22. Evidence from Augustine, . 23. Evidence from Dionysius, . 24. Later testimonies not useful, 25. Alogi, Marcion, Montanus, Gnostics, Section II. — John 'banished frorn, Borne, a.d. 51. 1. Historic facts, a. Eesurrection of Christ, a.d. 29, . 6. Conversion of Paul, e. Death of James, a.d. 43,. 2. John fleeing to Eome, 3. Irenffius and Epiphanius reconciled, 4. Apocalypse earlier than Epistles, . 5. Paul found believers at Ephesus, 6. Declension at Ephesus misapprehended as to its nature and time, Laodicea destroyed by earthquake, . 999 10 10 1010 10 1012 Xll CONTENTS. 7. Neronian persecution extensive, . . • • • 8. Seventy weeks, . • ¦ ... 9. "When ended, ..•••"' 10. Daniel ix. 24 explained, ..•••• 11. Collateral seventy weeks, consisting of seven weeks from B.C. 461, sixty- two weeks from B.C. 412, one week from a.d. 22 to 29, 12. The one week, . . • ¦ ... 13. Sealing vision and prophecy, . ¦ • • 14. Second revealer, ...•••• PAGE 1313 14 14 14, 15 15 16 16 Section III. — Apocalypse earlier than the Epistles. 1. Chronology of New Testament books, 2. Inferences, .... 3. Fixes Apocalypse to a.d. 51, 4. Inconclusive circumstances, . . 5. Internal proofs all on one side, . . . ¦ 6. Part of Apocalypse Christ's own words, 7. Indirect references to the Apocalypse in 1 Thess. ii. 2, ii. 16, ii. 18, ii. 19, iii. 10, iv. 16, v. 2, 8. No mention of sleep iu the Apocalypse, 9. Indirect references in 2 Thess. i. 4, i. 7, i. 10, ii. 3 ; — ii. 4, ii. ii. 9 — inferences, ...... 10. Indirect references in other Epistles — Galatians, 11. 1 Cm-, i. 6, 7 ; ii. 10 ; iii. 10 ; vi. 2, vi. 9 ; xiii. 12 ; xiv. 16, 12. 1 Gor. XV. 26, xv. 28, xv. 52, xv. 57, . 13. Paul here speaks of the Eesurrection of Saints, 14. References iu 2 Gor. i. 22, ii. 11, iv. 4-6, v. 17, vi. 16, xi. 13, 15. Eeferences in Eom. ii. 7, ii. 11, vi. 8, vi. 23, vii. 4, viii. 22, xi. 12-25, xii. 1, xiii. 12, xiv. 10, xvi. 20, . 16, Thoughts in Eomans springing from Apocalypse, . 17. James. — Arguments for date 43 refuted — a.d. 61, 18. Allusions in James to Apocalypse, . 19. Eph., Phil, Col, Philem., 20. 1 Tim. — Various aUusions, .... 21. 2 Tim. Do., . . 22. Tit. Do., . . . 23. Evidence cumulative, ..... 24. Eeferences in Heb. i. 3, i. 4, ii. 10, iv. 12, iv. 26, x. 27, xi. 40, xiii, xu. 22, xii. 27, xiu. 8, xiii. 15, . . . 25. Such passages aUusions to Apocalypse, 26. Eeferences in 1 Pet. i. 1, i. 11, i. 12, i. 19, ii. 5, ii. 9, iv. 7, iv. 17, 18, 27. Eeferences in 2 Pet. i. 1, i. 16, ii. 1, iii. 2, i. 19, rightly rendered, 28. Jvde, vers. 9-11, 13-23, ..... 29. Epistles of John, ...... 1 John ii. 18 ; 2d and 3d Epistles, ... 30. 1 Johu ii. 11, ii. 14, ii. 16, ii. 20, ii. 22, ii. 28, iii. 1, iii. 8, iii. 16^ iv. 1, iv. 3, etc., .... 31. Evidence cumulative, with some quotations, 32. The writing may have occupied years, ... 171818 18 19 19 2020 21, 22 2222232324 24 242526 2728282828 29 30 30 31 32 3233 33 33 34 CONTENTS. Xlll 33. Acts and John.— Address to the elders at Ephesus, 34. John i. 1, xxi. 24, . 35. John's Gospel latest, . . . . 36. Inquiry regarding Matthew, Mark, aud Luke, -The early date proved from the first patristic iv>-iters. —/isrep^ofiLtxi — TsXfitJTaw, Section IV. 1. Caius, 2. Clement of Alexandria : rvfianos- 3. Origen : 9ra^a.^oins — iitafiu, . 4. Hippolytus — fragment, 5. Opposite theories, . 6. Irenseus and Origen compared, 7. Absurd notions of Irenseus ; citation, 8. Irenaeus' debated words, lufaln — "hofHTixim, 9. Criticism on ifau, 10. Chrysostom and Irenseus cited, 11. Quotation from Eev. J. Macdonald, 12. Aofjuirnx.itiU, .... 13. Quotation from Epiphanius, 14. Domitius not a usual title — John was seen, 15. TertuUian, .... 16. Epiphanius, 17. Eusebius, .... 18. Opinion of Epiphanius said to be from Acts xviii. 2, and Irenseus from Eev. i. 9, . 19. Historic facts — (1.) Eelegation by Claudius, 20. (2.) The word Jews— Christians, . 21. Decisive fact — AquUa, etc., 22. Why John not kUled, 23. (3. ) Simon, an opponent iu Eome, . 24. Occasion and time of relegation, 25. Domitian's persecution less general, Section V. — The things seen are symbols ; the things heard explanations, Necessity of uniform interpretation. Citations of modern writers. First principles, Apparent exception. Language grammatical and visional. Section VI. — Speedy coming of Christ in fall of Jevnsh kingdom, lUustrated by examples, . . . .¦ The state of the Disciples before aud after Pentecost, Citations, ...... Objection from 2 Thess. ii. 1, 8, . The passage translated and explained. PAOB 34 3535 38 3839 40 41 41 424344 45464747 48 49 4950 60 6051526263 636464 5556 57 58 6859 60 61626364 Section VIL— /esm in Jiumaniiy not ubiquitous, yet present in the church, 65 Possible locality — invisible presence, . . . .66 A theologian's argument, ...... 67 xiv CONTENTS. Section VIII. Jesus is Alpha and Omega, ..-••• 67 Section IX. Hades, the invisible, wiU continue tiU the Second Resurrection, . 70 Hades aud Sheol, meaning aud usage of, . . • .70 Section X. Nioolaitaus, same as Balaamites, ..... 72 Salaam, a uame equivalent to Zoroaster, . . . .74 Quotations and opinions respecting, . . • .75 Section XI. Tree of life represents Christ, . ... 76 Tree of Ufe may be the citr-us deaimana, . . . .76 Section XII. The heaven, used as in Old Testament, . . . .78 Section XIII. A horse is a symbol of a messenger, . . 80 Section XIV. Two classes of martyrs, . . ... 81 Section XV. The sixth seal began from the Crucifixion — opinions respecting it, 83 Section XVI. Thousands and myriads, when not numbers, mean chiefs, . . 84 Section XVII. Seventh seal comprehends the seven trumpets, . . .85 Section XVIII. The little book is the code of inspiration, . . . .86 Section XIX. The mere recurrence of numbers does not imply synchronism, . 87 Section XX. The Man-child is the incarnate Jesus and the regenerate, . . 88 Section XXI. The seven heads of the old and new empires uot to be confounded, 89 The heads enumerated, ..... 90 Section XXII. Inspiration not given to any after the Apostles, . . .90 CONTENTS. XV Section XXIII. AU persecution essentially Uke that of the di-agon, Section XXIV. Kings of the East symbolical. Section XXV. Only one opening of the heaven. Section XXVI. The miUenuium consists of prophetic years. Opinions respecting it, . Year-day principle, . . . . 93 94 9798 101 Section XXVII. Body, soul, and spirit. Section XXVIII. First Resurrection, 103 106 Section XXIX. New Jerusalem in the gospel age had its analogue in the Old Jeru salem, ....... Ill CHAPTER I. 1. The title ; the revelation given to Jesus, 2. The attestation, .... 3. The benediction, .... The speedy coming explained by apostoUcal usage, 4. The seven churches, .... 5. The prayer — the Trinity, The seven Spirits, • First-bom from the dead, Prince of the kings, etc. , 5, 6. Love of Jesus — doxology — kingdom of priests. Ages of the ages, meaning of, 7. Coming with clouds, not place but presence, . At the Pentecost, .... Jesus' promised presence not visibility, How seen, .... 8. Alpha — Head of the old economy. Omega — Head of the new economy, . 9. John in Patmos, 10. In the Spirit, The Lord's Day, The great voice. The trumpet, 11. John's commission to address the seven churches. The Church in all states^seven examples, 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 121 122 123 123 124 125 126 126 128 128 128 129 129 130 130 131 131 XVI CONTENTS. 12. The seven golden lamps, The Son of man, 13. Appearance of Jesus as human. Showing His presence, "Westminster Confession quoted. His clothing, His hair. His eyes. His feet. Seven stars in His hand, A two-edged sword, . "Whence derived, and what, . His face like the sun, John falls as dead, and is restored, 18. Jesus alive for ever. Hades and death. Critical note on the etymology aud meaning of xSiis, 19. Things seen, and which are and which shaU be. Meaning of fittrx, .... 20. Meaning of the seven stars. 14. 15. 16. 17 pagS 132132132133134 134 135136136 136 137137137138138139139140140142 yet repeated to each, CHAPTEE II. 1. Jesus dictates — these Epistles are therefore uot visions, Eules the stars aud walks amid the lamps, . Of the man Jesus — presence no more related to place thau knowledge, aud power, and capacity, 2. "Works, labour, endurance, 3. On account of Christ's name, Labour uot exhausting resources, 4. Ephesus blamed, 5. Exhortation aud warning. Delay in reform, 6. Nicolaitans not a proper name, 7. Exhortation to hear ; to one church, c vixwv, the conqueror, The Paradise of God, 8. Epistle to Smyrna, Works, poverty, riches, 9. Apostate Jews— synagogue of the adversary— not to be converted but as individual sinners. How Satan operates, . 10. A persecution predicted, The Stephanos or chaplet, Ten days — the word how used — number of persecutions. The ten persecutions rightly reckoned, 11. Second death, who exempt from, 12. The two-edged sword of retribution— Judaism, Paganism, Moham medanism, Romanism, .... 13. The church in contact with these. 142143144 144144 145 146 147147 148 148149149 149 150150 150151151152152 152 153153 CONTENTS. XVII Antipas — who ? 14. This church blamed, . The four doctrines of Balaam, 15. Nicolaitans simUar, 16. CaU and warning, 17. Hidden manna. White gem. Name engi'aven, son, 18. Epistle to Thyatira, . 19. Christ's knowledge, 20. Jezebel, her claims and teaching. Four symboUc women, 21. Jews, GentUes, later heretics, 22. Moral feeUngs made callous, . 23. Christ the searcher of hearts, 24. Depths of Satan, 25. Stedfastuess, . 26. Authority over nations, 27. Christ's pastoral staff, 28. The morning star, PAGE 153 154154155156 156156156167 157 158158. 159159 159160161161161 162 CHAPTER III. 1. Epistle to Sardis, 162 2. Retrograde course. 163 Orthodoxy and heresy. 164 3. Christ's coming as a thief, 164 4. The faithfiU few. 164 5. The book of Ufe, 165 7. Epistle to PhUadelphia, 165 Eeligious revival. 165 8. Churches weak yet strong. 166 9. Synagogue of Satan, embracing infidel Judaism and aU heresies. 166 10. The word of endurance. 167 11. Hold what thou hast, . 168 12. PiUar in the temple, . 168 Heaven explained, 169 Hephzibah — Aya^rnToi/, 170 14. Epistle to Laodicea, . 171 " The beginning of the Creation, " .... 171 15. Cold — hot — lukewarm, . 171 16. Rejection, 171 17. Spiritual pride. 172 18. Gold — raiment — eye lotion, doctrinal meaning. 173 19. Christ's discipline, . 173 20. Visitation, . 174 21. Sitting with Christ, . 175 22. Division not the normal state, .... 176 xvill CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. 2. 3 1. Door opened in the heaven, John called up, Voice and trumpet, John in the Spirit, The heaven, . Sitting, Jasper — sardine — iris Meaning of iris, 4. Thrones and elders, Position — dress, 6. Lightnings, Thunder,Voices, Seven lamps, . 6. CrystaUine sea. The throne. The four zoa, . 7. Lion, . Ox,Man, . Eagle, . 8. Six wings — Image of God, . FuU of eyes. They pause not, The Trisagion, 9, 10. Their hymn. Glory, honour, thanks 1 Cast their chaplets, 11. Hymn of praise. to Christ as Mediator, 176176176177177178178178179179179180 180 180181181181182 182 182 183 183184184184185185186186 CHAPTER V. 1. The sealed book, ...... Not bound, nor in separate leaves, but a roU,' written on both sides, Source of the symbol, .... 2. A mighty messenger, .... ¦The Holy Spirit, Loosing and opening distinct, 3. Saw none able, .... 4. His sorrow, ..... 5. Eeferred to the Lion ofthe tribe of Judah, 6. A lamb as slain, .... Seen in profile, .... 7, 8. Taking the roU, .... Simultaneously worshipped by the 20a and elders. The harp, ... 9, 10. Their hymn, .... 187188 188189 189 189189190 190191192 192 192193194 CONTENTS. XIX Textual reading, 11, 12. Voice — thousands- Their song, 13. Universal hymn, 14. The Amen, ¦myriads, CHAPTER VI. 1. First zoora, sajdug "Come,'' addressed Jesus — why, . 2. First seal, the white horse. Source of the symbol, ..... Homogeneous principle, The rider Jesus, ... Bow — chaplet. Going out to conquer, . 3, 4. Second seal — no interval, . Three reasons. The red horse is apostate Judaism, The colour — red, ..... Great sword — uo victory .... Third seal — the black horse is Greek aud Roman Paganism, 6. Famine, ...... Fourth seal — the grey horse, .... The colour explained, Gnosticism, originating in Platonic phUosophy, Death and Hades, . . . . . 8. Authority usurped, ... Modes of destruction, . 9. Fifth seal — martyrs of the old economy. The souls of, under the altar, . 10. Their appeal, .... The white robe, 11. They must wait for other martyrs, 12. Sixth seal — commotion. No interval, .... The sun — the churoh. The moon — ^the monarchy. In the higher and lower heaven. Sun — Wack, .... Moon — blood, 13. Stars feU, .... 14. Heaven removed. Mountains, islands, 15. Kings, magnates, etc., 16, 17. Their terror — mistake from their words. PAGE 194194194 195196 197 197198 199199 200201 201201202 202 203204204 205 206 206 207 20720820820921021'0 211211211 212 212213 213 213 214214215215215 CHAPTER VII. 1. Four messengers restraining the winds. Four companies of agency, Wind, when hurtful, means evil agency. 216217218 XX CONTENTS. Trees emblematize men, 2. Messenger from the sun-rising is Christ, 3 . Restrains the evil agencies until the sealing, These evil agencies opposed to the previous four. The sealing is the effusion of the Spirit, 4. One hundred and forty-four khiliads, 5-8. The twelve tribes, . Ephraim and Dau omitted, "Why none but Israelites, Israel included many Gentiles, 9. The countless multitude, Jew and GentUe in one, Their status, attire, and action. Palms in their hands, . 10. Their hymn, . 11. Zoa, elders, and messengers form one circle. Harmony iu worship, . 12. Doxology, 13. The elder's question, . 14. Washing of robes. Vindication of the martyrs, 15. Service day and night. Temple aud tabernacle, 16. Saved from hunger, thirst, aud heat, . .* 17. The Lamb supplies food and drink and comfort, The water of Ufe, .... The Paraclete, ... PAGE 219220 221221222 222 223223224 225 226 226226227 228 227228 228228 229 229 230230 231 231 232 232 CHAPTER VIII. 1. Seventh seal — silence of half an hour, .... The time had no fulfilment, but the seven and a half days from the Ascension to Pentecost, . Nothing else like it, . Not in the Eoman empire, but iu heaven, Not peace, but " silence, " Some trumpets before Constantine, An hour occasionally a date, . But chronologically equals 16 days, . The forty days in the desert, ... Polar day a year, .... Jonah's forty days, - , . . . Ezekiel's day for year, ...... Daniel's weeks, ••.... Isai'ah and Zechariah had not visions of times and seasons Jewish years, .....__ Days caUed years by Amos— Zechariah, day of summer and winter, Day of God's works, ..... State of the disciples during the seven and a half days, 2. Seven messengers receive trumpets, . Divine authority necessary, .... 232233 234 234234 234234 234 235235 235236236 236237 238 238238 239239 CONTENTS. XXI 3. Another messenger — Christ, . . . . PlGl! . 240 At the altar, ..... 240 With golden censer, ..... . 240 Smoke of incense with the prayers of aU saints. 240 5. Fire from the altar poured with the censer upon the land. . 241 Efl'ects, ....... . 241 6, 7. First trumpet — hail, fire, ..... . 241 Blood on the land — effects, . . . . . 242 Meaning of haU, .... . 242 Of fire, . 243 Ofblood, ...'.... . 243 Of the laud, ..... . 243 Of trees, grass, .... 243 8. Second trumpet — volcano, . • . . . 245 Jews expatriated, .... 245 Barkokab, .... . 246 9. Third part of creatures in sea, aud ships, . •. . . 246 10. Third trumpet — meteor, ... 247 Usurpation of Prelacy, . 247 Streams and fountains, 247 On the remaining third, . 247 Novatians, Cathari, etc., ..... 248 11. Wormwood — classed with poisons. . 248 12. Fourth trumpet — third of sun, moon, aud stars. . 249 Arianism, promoted by Constans aud Constantinus, . 249 13. Eagle flying, . . . . ... 250 Three woes to come, ...... . 250 CHAPTER IX. 1. Fifth trumpet — Islam, ..... . 261 Mohammed — a meteor, ..... 251 Montanus, ....... 251 Paul of Samosata, ...... . 251 Pit of abyss, ....... 252 Its key, ..... 262 '2. Pit opened, ..... 253 The smoke, ....... 253 The air, ... . 253 3. The locusts, .... 254 Mohammedan history, ... 254 Scorpions, ....... 264 4. To injure only the men with the seal of God, . 255 Saracens, ..... 255 5. Five months, ..... 255 Scorpions have stings, ...... 255 6. MiUtary enthusiasm, ... . . 255 Mohammed's teaching, ... 256 7. Likeness to horses, ...... 257 Their chaplets — faces, . . . . ... 257 8. Locks — teeth, . . . . . . 258 xxu CONTENTS. PAGE 9. Breastplates, ... . 258 Wings, . . . 259 10. Tails, 259 Authority not divine, . ... . 259 11. Their king, Abaddon, ... . 260 12. Oue woe past, . . 261 13. Sixth trumpet. . 261 14. Four angels bound, .... . 262 In Euphrates, ..... . 262 The four are kings, popes, inquisitors, and councils, . . 263 15. The day, month, and year, ..... . 263 Prepared — how, .... . 264 Crusades against true Christians, 265 16. Two myriads of myriads, . . . . 266 Wars since Reformation, . . . . 266 Aud emigration, reducers of population. 267 17. Fire, hyacinth, and sulphur, . . . . ' . 267 Ecclesiastical and military insignia, . 268 Their mouths, . . ... 268 18. The third of the men. 269 Crusades on Vallenses, 269 19. Tails like serpents, .... 270 These four more pestiferous than the Mohammedans, 270 20. Remainder impenitent, ... 271 Idolatry, murder, ...... 272 Poisons or drugs. 273 Licentiousness, .... 274 Thefts, .... 274 CHAPTER X. 1. Another mighty messenger, viz. Jesus, 274 Descent at the Pentecost, 275 In a cloud, ... 275 Iris over His head, ...... 276 Face as sun, ....... 276 Feet as pUlars of fire, • . . . . 276 2. Little book opened, ...... 276 The Eedeemer's knowledge received mediatorially, . 277 In His hand, ..... 278 Right foot, • • . . . 278 On sea, ••••... 279 Paramount importance of evangelizing the heathen. 279 3. His voice, ••.... 280 Seven thunders, • • . . . 280 4. Not to be written — why ?...__' 281 5, 6. His oath — Tlie time to end with the phials. 282 7. Meaning of tivx st;, ... 282 Meaning of " When he shaU begin,'' 283 What prophets here ? . . 9R4 8. "Take the book," . \ ' ' 285 CONTENTS. XXlll 9. The eating of it, . PAGE . 286 10. Sweet and then bitter. . 287 11. Prophesying again before many nations, languages, etc. . 287 CHAPTER XI. 1. Eeed-Uke rod, ... . 288 Measurement, . 289 2. Court outside not measured, . . 289 Given to Gentiles, . 289 Trampling of it, . . . . 289 CathoUc system. . 292 Times, iu round numbers. . 292 3. Two witnesses endowed. . 293 Twelve hundred and sixty days. . 293 A portion of the true church. . 293 Protesters, .... . 294 Often falsely caUed heretics, . . 294 Testimonies to Novatian, etc. , . . . . 295 Resisted CathoUc system, ..... 296 Eule of interpreting twelve hundred and sixty days. . 297 Mede's synchronisms not admitted, .... . 298 Synchronisms refer to same facts. . 299 4. OUve tiees, ...... 300 Lamps, ....... . 300 Mean inspired men, ...... . 300 Not less than two — might be more, .... . 301 5. Fire from their mouths, ..... 302 6. Authority to prevent rain aud turn waters to blood, etc. , 302 7. Completion of testimony, ..... 303 War on them symboUc, 304 Their death, ..... 305 8. Their carcases exposed, ... 306 9. The place of exposure, 307 10. Three and a half days, .... 308 IL Their resurrection — ^rejoicing. 308 12. Their ascension, .... 309 13. Agitation aud its time, .... 310 The tenth part, 311 The names of men slain. 312 The rest afraid, . . . . . . 313 14. Second woe past, .... . . 313 Seventh trumpet, ....... 314 Kingdom, the Lord's, . . . . 315 His reign for ever, ....... 318 Worship of twenty-four elders. 318 And hymn, ... 318 18. Nations angered, .... 319 Wrath come, . . • • ¦ 320 Vindication of witnesses, 321 Eeward to servants, . 312 XXIV CONTENTS. Destmction of destroyers, 19. Temple of God opened. Ark seen in it. 10.11.12.13.14. CHAPTER XII. Woman clothed iu sunshine. Moon aud chaplet. Parturition, Eed dragon, . An Old Testament term. His nature, .... Daniel's fourth beast. It was gigantic, had iron teeth, brazen hoofs, devoured and trampled a remnant, ten-antlered, .... Au eleventh and little hom. Ceremonially clean, John saw a di-agon. Ceremonially unclean, ..... Seven heads not simultaneous, .... (1.) Egypt ; (2.) Palestine ; (3.) Assyria ; (4.) Babylon ; (5.) Persia (6.)Yavau; (7.) Eome (Christiau), Why au animal ?...... Horn emblem of power, .... TaU threw down the stars, ..... Sixth head, represented by Herod, sought to kiU the infant Jesus, A male child — why male ? , To mark a priest. To tend the nations as Good Shepherd and King, Child caught up. Persecution under Claudius, First flight of woman, a.d. 51 to 1311, War of Michael and dragon, They prevailed not, Dragon aud serpent expelled, Speeches merely recorded are uot inspired. Voice of men, Faithfulness to death. Exultant hymn, The dragon persecuted the woman,. Second flight of woman, a.d. 254 to 1514, Different dates. True beginning of prophetic year explained, Exemplified iu 1868, . Events of a.d. 607, Margin of a few years, Extract from Spectator, Various examples — as, fall of Jerusalem, Protest* of witnesses, . Rise of Erastianism, FaU of dragon, PAGE 322 322323323 324325325326326326 327328 328328328 328 330330331331331332332333 333333 334334 335335335336336 336337 337338339 340 341341342342 342342 CONTENTS. 15. 16.17. Eise of monster, .... Headship of Boniface, Louis of Bavaria, .... Slaying of witnesses, .... Events in England and Holland, To the end of Daniel's three and a haU times. The two wings, .... The eagle, ..... The place of retreat, . Water from mouth of serpent, Armies, ...... The waters are armies of preachers and controversialists. The land helped the woman by absorbing the Goths, etc.. The dragon enraged, ..... The Gothic nations propagated error. CHAPTEE XIII. 1. The monster from the sea the new Roman Empire, Has the character of the old, A continued vision. The time of his rise, . The last head. Ten horns — what ? The idea is that of a comiger. Ten persecuting powers. Name of blasphemy. Pontiff or hierarch. Blasphemous titles, 2. Like a panther, viz. the Yavau empire, Mouth as a lion's, viz. Nebuchadnezzar, Inherited the dragon's power, 3. One head slain, .... The whole land wondered, 4. They worshipped the dragon and the monster, 5. Mouth speaking blasphemies, .... To act forty-two months, A.D. 529 to 1789, .... Benedict and his monks, .... 6. Blasphemy against God, the tabernacle, and people, . 7. Permitted to make war ou and conquer the saints. Authority Uke the Saracen, .... 8. His worshippers not iu the book of Ufe, i.e. those called Catholic, The Lamb slain. The admonition. 9. 10. IL 12. God's purpose fulfilled. Patience aud faith, Second monster, Two horns — what ? Like a ceremoniaUy clean animal, but a dragon. Has power of the first, PAGE 342 342342342 342 342 343343343344344 344345345 345 346 34S 346346 347 347347 347 348 349 350350 351351351 362352 352 353353 354 354355 355356 356357357 357358 359359360 XXVI CONTENTS. Enjoins his worship, . 13. Brings fire down, .... 14. An image to the monster— the temporal power, 15. Spirit to the image, . . . • To excite to crusades, 16. Imprints a mark ou forehead, arms, etc., 17. Enforces exclusive deaUng, 18. The number 666, Different reading. Principles of solution. Ancient solutions — Popish, Protestant, Original, About eighty solutions. CHAPTER XIV. 1. 2. The Ijamb on Zion, The hundred and forty -four khiliads. Voice as of waters. Thunder, Harpers, 3. New song, 4. Virgins,First-fruits, FoUowers of the Lamb, 5. No guile, 6. Evangelistic messenger. Adherents of tiuth iu the dark ages, Home and foreign missionary work, 7. Their preaching. Worship God only. His judgments, 8. Preachers agaiust Babylon, Home pastors, 9, 10. Reformers, 11. Their doctrine against Catholic system. 12. Endurance aud faith, The voice from heaven confirmed by the Holy Spirit, The dead iu the Lord, From now ? The white cloud, The sitter — Jesus, The chaplet, aud sickle. As a husbandman, A messenger from the temple. Men of prayer, 16. The answer — the reaping, Tirae of death of witnesses, 17. Another messenger— the Holy Spirit, 13 14, 15 aud of its consumption. PAOS 360 360 361362362363 364 364365 369 369370 371371 372372372 373 374 374375 375375 376 377 377377 377 377377 379 380 380 381 381 381382 382383 383 383383384 384384 CONTENTS. XXVII 18. Another — the saints animated by the Spirit, 19. The answer — the vintage. The wUd vine of the land is meant, 20. The press, trampled outside the city. Blood, uot wine, issues. To the horse-reins, 1600 furlongs, . CHAPTEE XV. 1. Seven messengers with phials, 2. CrystaUine sea, Emancipation at Reformation, 3. Song of Moses — Old Testament hymns. And of the Lamb — New Testament hymns. Neither limited to the 150 psalms, Divine attiibutes, Jesus King of ages, . 4. Holiness, .... The coming of the nations. The singers do uot eulogize their own performances. Judgments manifested, 5. Temple of tabernacle of testimony opened. Views of the temple, . 6. The seven messengers of the phials. Their identification. The phials, .... Pure bright Unen, Golden sashes, 7. Phials given by one of the four zoa — Jesus, Temple fiUed with smoke, CHAPTER XVL 1. Their commission, .... 2. The first phial poured on the laud, .... Summary of the phials, .... Preaching at the rising of the witnesses by Zuingle and Luther, An ulcer — Charles v. , 3. The second phial poured on the sea of heathendom, . The Protest of 1529, ..... League of Smalkalde, ..... Turks, Africans, Mexicans, and East Indians, 4. Third phial poured on rivers. War on Protestants, ..... CouncU of Trent, 1546, Edward vi., Mary, Francis i., and Charles v., Bartholomew Massacre, 1572, . Spanish Armada, 1588, 5. God's judgment holy, . ... XXVUl CONTENTS. Saints' and prophets' blood, .... 7. Voice of Jesus from altar, 8. Fourth phial— rising of Tridentine CouncU, 1664, Counter-reformation recovering South Germany, Irish massacre, ..... Thirty Years' War, ....•• The Pilgrim Fathers, 1620, . 9. Searching, . . . • • Blasphemy, .....•• Impenitence, ....••¦ 10. Fifth phial— counter-reformation producing Thirty Years' War, Dragonnades of 1685, ....-• Charles and James in Britain, . . . • , 11. Blasphemy and persistent obstinacy, .... 12. Sixth phial— Euphrates is the territory of mystic Babylon, . Drying up began at the American Revolution, Its incipient causes are even earUer, 1761, National debts, ...... The kings of the East uot the Jews, nor the IsraeUtes, Nor the East India Company, .... The image taken from Cyrus, ..... Not the way of coming from the East, but of entrance into the city. The monster feU before Bonaparte in 1802, 13. The three frogs, like the lying spirits in Ahab's prophets. Frog — a sweUing ou the tongue. The unclean spirit from the diseased tongue ofthe dragon is Erastianism, '414 The second, from the mouth of monster, is Papal supremacy. The third, from that of the false prophet, is infidel phUosophy, 14. 16. ot. These are active principles preparing for confUi Day of God, .... Counter-reformation, . The Armageddon war, How workers of miracles, Christ's own words — a special coming, 16. The three frogs gathered men ou city or plain of Megiddo Where Deborah finally defeated Canaan, There is preparation, but the Lord interposes, War follows, but foretold under the last phial. Meaning of Armageddon from various writers. Pool cited, ...... Significancy of the victory of Barak over the Canaanites, 17. Seventh phial — the air, .... Chronological facts from 1829 to the present, showing the outpouring of the air, 18. Phenomena ofthe beginning reiterated, — the judgment on the beast aud false prophet being like that ou Judaism, Commotion, ...... 19. City divided into three, like the mins of Babylon, . Literal not meant— (1) Birzi Nimrod— (2) Kasr— (3) Babel, Cities of the nations, ..... PAGE 406 406407 407407 407407 408 408408 408 409 409 410410410411411 412412412 412413 413 413 414414 415415416 416416 417417417418 418419419 420421 422423 423 424 425425 CONTENTS. Their heathen systems — Brahmauical, Buddhist, Jaina, Confucinn, Tautsian, Tibetan, Mohammedan, fetish, infidel, superstitious aud immoral — all undergoing change educationally and religiously, . Babylon remembered, ....... To be destroyed like the Old Babel, ..... 20. Islands and mountains, — as Sinai, Zion, Samaria, — so kingdoms are denoted, ........ 21. Great hail, talent-like ; modern artUlery since 1864, and needle-guns, chassepots, aud Snider rtSes, ..... These inventions have a mission yet to fulfil, . Those affected hy the haU impenitent. For their conversion we must look forward, . CHAPTEE XVII. 1. The harlot, near the end of her time, Denotes Eomanism, 2. Licentiousness, Idolatry is spiritual adultery, . 3. The desert — outside, . A woman — a church, . Rides a scarlet monster. Names of blasphemy, . The imperial power adopted and supported her, 4. Purple aud scarlet, gold, gems, pearls, goblet. Fascinating allurements, Name — " Babylon the Great," Her mother's name, . Daughters of Babylon — (1) Paganism; (2) Gnosticism; (3) Judaism (4) Mouachism ; (5) Despotism ; (6) Secularism ; (7) Infidel philosophy, .... 6. Inebriated with blood. Persecuted reUgion and science, 8. The rise of the monster out of abyss of ignorance, Wonder of people of land, 9, 10. The heads and mountains are kings and also kingdoms, repre sented by Theodoric, Justinian, Lombards, Charlemagne, Otho, Charles v., and the emperors after Protestant equality. The heads are those of the old empire, Five feU — the first five. Not individual kings, . "One is," viz. the Yavan, One was temporary — the Constantinian, 11. The monster the eighth, and of the seventh, and goes to perdition, 12. Ten homs are kings, .... Enumerated by writers. They receive power synchronously with the monster, 13. Their great principle, .... 14. War with the Lamb in crasades against the saints, Lord of lords, . . . • ¦ ' His armies, .¦.••-. 425 427427427 428 430430430 430 430 430 431431 432432 433 434 434 434434 434 435 437437 438 438 439 439439 440 440 440 441 441441442443 ^43443443 xxx CONTENTS. 15. The waters, 16. The horns hate her, 17. Divine permission, 18. The great city, 1. 2. 20.21. 22, 24. 10. 11. 12. 13. CHAPTER XVIII. After the seventh phial, Another messenger — the Holy Spirit, Fall of Babylon, and hateful character, 3. Her licentiousness aud luxury, " Come out," . 5-8. Her sin and judgment, 9, 10. The wailing of kings, 11-16. Oftiaffickers, 17 - 19. Of mariners. Exultation at her fall. Millstone cast into the sea, 23. Utter ruin. Two reasons, . Blood of prophets, CHAPTER XIX, Voice of multitude in the heaven, AUeluia,Messiah's government. Salvation, glory, and power, Celestial hymn, AUeluia repeated, The twenty-four elders. Voices from the throne. Voices as of waters. Final thunders. The marriage festival of the Lamb, Her dress — gauze, the justification. Criticism on the word ^i«,a.iuji,tt,ra,, Temporal decoration. Babel began rebellion. Benediction ou those at the banquet The trae sayings of God, The messenger refused to receive worship. His identification, The testimony of Jesus, The heaven opened. Eider on white horse, as king, and also priest Faithful and True, Wars in justice. His eyes as flame. Diadems,His inscribed uame. Blood-dyed vesture, PAGE 444444 445446 446 446447 447 .448 449 449450 451 452 452 453453 453 454454454455 466457 457457457457458459 459460461461461 462 462 462463464464464464465 466 466 CONTENTS. XXXI Word of God, 14. Celestial armies with Him, 15. Sword of His mouth, . Rod of iron. Extracting the wine, . 16. Name ou robe aud thigh. King of kings, 17, 18. Messenger in sunshine. Call to the birds, 19. Monster and kings of land assembled to war, 20. Monster aud pseudo-prophet seized. Thrown into lake of fire. Remainder destroyed, PAGE 466 467467467 468468 468 469 469 470471 471 471 CHAPTER XX. Messenger descending with key of abyss aud chain, . He is Jesus, ...... The chain means restraint, ...... 3. The binding of the dragon is the overthrow of Pagan Rome, Loosed a Uttle season by Julian, ..... The devU, prince of air, ..... Jewish, Pagan, and corrupt Christiau empires overthrown, . Source of the 1000 years in Psalm xc, and the autedUuvian life of man, ........ Must be explained in the vision style, .... Makes it = 360,000, or if with intercalation, 365,250, Creation week, acceptable year, and prophetic times, Prelim iu aries — 1. Antichrist within the time of Christ's kingdom, aud so heathenism, 2. It extends the world's history — advantage of this, Difiiculty from increase of population, Bible predicts terrestrial amelioration, Encyclopcedia Britannica cited, Means of amelioration, Mountains brought low. Men as pioneers of God's work. Gradual diminution of increase. Destruction of life ceasing. Social improvement, . Longevity rather diminished than increased, Sanctification sooner complete, Useful servants, why removed ? Thrones and sitters, viz. the nations. Souls of those who were beheaded, Aud whoever did not worship the monster. They both lived and reigned. Objection from " and " answered. Objection from "both" answered. Objection from rise of monster answered, 472472473 473 474475475 476 476 476477 478479 480 481482483484 485 486487488488 489 490 490 491492492493493 495 xxxii CONTENTS. 5. Words wanting iu x and in Syriac, and twenty copies. B of eighth century has them, . . . ¦ • AvxffTittris, ...'¦•• 6. The happiness of, . • • The holiness of, . • Exemption from second death, , Priests of God and Christ, Reign with Him 1000 years, . 7. Adversary loosed. Close of gospel ai6n, . Jesus withdraws, 8. Gog and Magog, . ¦ ¦ Meaning of the words, A power like Antichrist, Caucasian and Mongolian, Immense numbers, 9. Old landmarks. Beloved city, .... Jesus uot in it when compassed by them. Fire from God out of heaven burus them up. Note on Luke xviii. 8, . . . 10. The devil cast into the lake of fire. The monster and pseudo-prophet, 11. Great white throne, where placed, 12. The dead, smaU and great, ..... Universal judgment, ...... Different scriptural views, as day-time, harvest, census, inspection of a fiock, ..... Books opened, .... What books? Can be seen only by the eyes of resurrection bodies. Remarks on 1 Cor. xv. 52, . Possible order of judgment. Book of life explained by scriptural usage. The dead judged from the books, Judgment perfect and final, . Motives, talents, opportunities, 13. Sea gave up dead, .... Death and Hades, .... According to works, .... 14, 15. Second death, Lake of fire, ...... CHAPTER XXI. 1. A new heaven and laud, ..... The word " and " connects not with close of chap. xx. but with the be ginning of the series of visions, chap. it. , The celestial court, or the New Jerusalem — which first seen ? Former heaven and laud, ..... Illustrated by fourteen examples, .... CONTENTS. XXXIII 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.15. 16.17.18. 19,21.22.23.24.25. 26. Why does he not say, " I saw heaven opened " ? The sea was no more, . The holy city — the New Jerusalem, As a bride, Down from heaven. Not translocation. From God, The bride's decoration, Tabernacle with men, God's people, . God their God, Wipes their tears, and terminates death, Death changed to sleep. Former things gone, . Renovation of aU, The command to write. Alpha and Omega, Water of life, The inheritance, The cowardly. The faithless, . The abominable, The murderers, The Ucentious, The charmers. The idolaters. The spurious. Call to see the bride. The lofty mountain, . The city's glory, Like g^ms, Its waU, Its twelve gates. And twelve foundations, The golden reed. The dimensions. Its height and furlongs. Measure of aU, Jasper and gold, 20. The twelve gems, . The pearly gates. Temple not seen. Glory of God enlightens it, Walking in its light, . Gates not shut, No night. The honour of the nations brought, Nothing common introduced, XXXIV CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XXIL 1. Eiver of living water, . Denoting the Holy Spirit, From the throne of God, 2. Tree of Ufe, . Middle and ou both sides. Twelve crops, . 3. No excommunication. Throne of God aud the Lamb, 4. They shall see His face. His name on their foreheads, . 5. No night. They reign for ever, 6. Spirits of prophets. The messenger, 7. The speedy coming, 8. John falls before him, 9. The messenger forbids, A feUow-servant, One of the prophets, ... "Who keeps the word of the book, 10. Words not yet to be sealed, ... 11. Separation of the believing and the apostate Jews, 12. Christ comes to rule and to recompense, 13. The Alpha and Omega, ..... 14. The washing of the robes, and entiance and access to the tree, 15. The characters outside, ..... 16. Jesus sends His messenger, ..... The Root and Son of David and Morning Star, 17. The Spirit and the bride's invitation to Jesus, Aud His invitation to men, .... 18, 19. Warning against misusing this prophecy, 20. Jesus testifies His coming. The response, 21. The benediction. 646 547 547 547547 547 548648649549549 549 549550651551652552652 552 653 653554655 555 566556 666657558658659 559559 APPENDIX. Section I. Derivation ofthe word "paradise,'' . Section IL Numbers suggestive of mystery. Section III. Psalm, hymn, ode, or song, . 561 562 562 CONTENTS. XXXV r, PAGE Section IV. Extract from Augustine respecting the four horses, 563 Section V. On the salvation of infants, . . . . . .564 Quotations from Westminster Confession, Twisse, Calvin, Turretine, Candlish, Hodge, Boston, Synod of Dort, etc, . . 564 Testimonies of Jesus, . . . 666 Scriptural facts — Fact first, . . . .566 Objections answered, . . . 570 Fact second, . 573 Fact third — objections, . 574 Section VI. Rise of the Novatian Protest, . 677 Successive witnesses — 1. Novatians, . . . 578 2. Donatists, . 578 3. Leonists, 579 4. Vallenses,- 579 5. PauUcians, .... 580 6. Albigenses, ..... 681 7. British and Irish early Christians, . 581 8. Nestorians and Malabaris, . . . 582 Section VII. Silence of New Testament respecting instiumeutal music, . . 683 Illustrated by three facts — 1. State in Babylon, . . . 683 2. Under the Romans, . . . . 684 3. The Davidic tabernacle, . . . 585 The gospel tabernacle spiritual, . 586 Section VIII. When a work of God is the subject, a day is not a day of man, . 686 Section IX. The Word of God, a title of Christ, . . . .588 Section X. Difficulty in receiving any view of the miUennium, from the increase of the human race, ...... 589 Answered by facts in addition to those in the text, as — Subsidence and elevation, ...... 589 Cometic effects, .... . . 590 Water in atmosphere, ..... 590 Possible increase of laud, . . . 590 Water accumulated in tropical seas, . 592 Terrestrial amelioration, . . . . 693 Possible terrestrial augmentation, . 694 Diminishing rate of increase, 694 E E E A T A. Page 1, Une 1, for Elliot read Elliott. Page 3, line 20, after xxi. read 3. Page 28, line 15, for 1 Tim. xvi. 5 read vi. 15. Page 68, line 5 from foot, for Matt, read Mark. Page 71, line 14, for Ps. iv. 16 read Iv. 16. ,, line 20, for Isa. vi. 14 read v. 14. Page 101, liue 24, for Num. xiu. 34 read xiv. 34. ,, last line but one, read Henderson. Page 117, last Une but one, for 2 Th. read 1 Th. Page 177, prefix to last 3 paragraphs respectively, (a), (b), (c). Page 268, last liue, for 71 read 17. Page 365, line 9 from foot, after "name," add "of a man." Page 613, lines 11 and 10 from foot, delete one of. PEOLEGOMENA. SECTION I. THE WRITER OF THE APOCALYPSE WAS JOHN THE APOSTLE. HIS has been exhaustively established by Stuart, EUiot, Alford, and others. Disposed at first simply to refer to them, I now propose no more than to present some of the facts and authorities in a more concise form, with a sUght notice of internal evidence. I. The writer caUs himseK John,^ and a servant of Jesus Christ, in the same manner as Paul,^ Peter,^ and Jude.* In his second and third Epistles, indeed, he does not introduce his name : he is not there addressing churches, but individuals. He caUs himseK the Elder, as does Peter;' and though he does not apply to himself singly the word " apostle," he caUs himself a witness, in terms which none but one of the original disciples could truly use : " Who testified to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw." ^ II. He was "visited in Patmos by the messengers of the seven churches, as the elders of Ephesus on another occasion visited Paul,^ — a fact not recorded in the apostoUc time of any elder other than an apostle. III. And we find no mention of any other known and recognised elder of the period bearing the name of John. To suppose the book written by any such presbyter would exclude it from the apostoUc period altogether ; but its marks of an .early apostoUc origin are too clear to leave room for such a hypothesis, as I shaU show in Sect. III. ¦^ Ch. i. 4, 9, xxu. 8. The Textus Beceptus has the name also in ch. xxi. 2. 2 Rom. i. 1. ^2 Pet. i. 1. * Jude 1. 5 1 Pet. V. 1. « Ch. i. 2. ' Acts xx. 17. A 2 PEOLEGOMENA. IV. The peculiarity of the apocalyptic style has been both cavilled at and exaggerated. But the legitimate infer ences from its decided Hebraistic cast are: that John was deeply conversant with Hebrew, or Syriac, which was caUed the Hebrew of the period ; and that, guided by inspiration, he drew his imagery from the Hebrew Scriptures ; and that he must have -written the Apocalypse when comparatively young. Accordingly, his Epistles and Gospel are admitted to have less of the Hebrew idiom than his Apocalypse uniformly exhibits. It would have been practicaUy impossible for any man after the apostles to have written such a document. In the whole history of forgeries, nothing equal to it could be adduced, if "written after the death of John. V. Various verbal coincidences have been pointed out by Stuart "and others between the Apocalypse and John's admitted ¦writings, and many more may be added : as, " the Word of God ;" the repeated use of aXi^divo'i, true, in both more fre quent than in any other parts of the New' Testament; the recurrence of o viko3v, he who overcomes, as in John x"vi. 33 ; the word apvuov, for lamb, used only in John's Gospel and the Apocalypse. He speaks of "all things that he saw," ch. i. 2, as in 1 John i. 2, "That which we have seen," etc.; he caUs Christ the Paithful Witness, as " "witness" is frequent in John's Gospel and the first Epistle in reference to Christ. He speaks of love, as Jesus does in the Gospel ; of washing robes, as in John's Gospel; of Jesus washing the disciples. Analogies of thought and words run thus : — John xvi. 33: "Ye shall have tribulation." Eev. vii. 14: "Out of great tribulation." * John xiv. 19 : "I live." Eev. i. 18 : "I am He tbat Uveth." 1 John iv. 1: "Try the spirits." Eev. ii. 2: "Thou hast tried them who call themselves apostles." 2 John 9 : " Deceivers," etc. Eev. ii. 15 : ," Nicolaitans." John iv. 32 : "Meat that ye know not of." Eev. ii. 17 : " The hidden manna." John i. 34 (and freq.) : " Son of God." Eev. ii. 18 : " Son of God." John ii. 22 : " He knew what was in man." Eev. ii. 23 : " Searcheth the reins." , John xiv. 3, 19, etc.: "I will come." Eev. xxii. 22: "I come quickly." 1 John V. 5 : " Overcome the wicked." Eev. ii. 7, etc. : " To him that overcomes." HARMONIES OF GOSPEL AND APOCALYPSE. 3 John X. 18 : "I received of iny Father." Eev. ii. 24 : "I received of my Father." John xiv. 21 : " Keepeth my commandments." Eev. xii. 17 : " Which keep the commandments." John ix. 6 : '"He anointed the eyes." Eev. ii. 18 : " Anoint thine eyes." * John V. 22 : " Honour the Son as the Father." Eev. iii. 21 : " Set down with my Father in His throne." John xvi. 13 : " Show things to come." Eev. i. 19 : " The things which shall be hereafter." John i. 29 : " The Lamb." Eev. v. 6 {et multa) : " The Lamb." John iii. 35 : " Given all things into His hand." Eev. ii. 24 : "As I received of my Father." John xix. 11-22 : Of power given to Pilate and the high priest. Eev. vi. 2 : Of power to the red horse. John xvi. 2 : " They that kUl you." Eev. vi. 9 : " Slain for the word of God." John vi. 27 : " Him hath God sealed." Eev. vii. 2 : " The seal of the living God." John i. 14 : " Dwelt among us." Eev. xxi. : " He wUl tabernacle with them." John vi. 85 : " ShaU never hunger." Eev. vii. 16 : " They shall hunger no more." John xxi. 16 : " Feed my sheep." Eev. vii. 17 : " The Lamb shall feed them." John vii. 37 : " Living water." Eev. xxii. 17 : " Living water." John xii. 31 : " The prince of this world." Eev. ix. 11 : "A king of the abyss — ^Abaddon." Johu xvii. 4 : " I finished the work." Eev. xi. 7 : " When they finish their testimony." John iii. 29 : " The bride." Eev. xix. 10, xxi. 9 : " The bride, the Lamb's wife." John xu. 31 : " The prince of this world is cast out." Eev. xii. 9 : " The dragon was cast out — ^the devil." 1 John ii. 13: "Ye have overcome the evil." Eev. xu. 11: "They overcame by their testimony." 1 John V. 2 : " That we keep His commandments." Eev. xiv. 12 : " That keep the commandments." John xii. 19 : " The world have gone after him." Eev. xiii. 3 : "All the world wondered after the beast." John viii. 12 : " Who follows me." Eev. xiv. 4 : " Who follow the Lamb." John i. 47 : " In whom is no guile." Eev. xiv. 4 : "In whose mouth is no guile." John V. 28 : " The hour cometh." Eev. xviii. 10 : " In one hour has judgment come." 1 John V. 19 : " The whole world." Eev. xi. 15 : " This world." John xix. 30 : " It is finished." Eev. x. 7 : " The mystery finished." 4 PROLEGOMENA. John V. 39 : "Testify of me." Eev. xix. 10 : "The testimony of Jesus." John xiv. 6 : " The way and the truth." Eev. iii. 14 : " The faithful and true." 1 John V. 12 : " He that hath the Son hath life." Eev. xiii. 8 : " The book of Ufe of the Lamb." John i. 14 : " Dwelt among us." Eev. xxi. 3 : " God shall dweU with men." John xi. 26 : " ShaU never die." Eev. xxi. 4 : "No more death." John xii. 29 : " A voice from heaven." Eev. iv. 13 : "A great voice." 1 John iii. 1 : "We are sons of God." Eev. xxi. 5 : "He shaU be to me a son." 1 John iv. 18: "He that feareth is not made perfect." Eev. xxi. 8: " The fearful." John viu. 44 : " The devil is a liar." Eev. xxi. 8 : " All liars." John xvii. 24 : " The glory I have given them." Eev. xxi. 23 : "The glory of God illumined it." John XV. 26 : " The Spirit that proceedeth from the Father." Eev. xxii. 1 : " The river from the throne." John iv. 24 : " They must worship Him in spirit." Eev. xxii. 9 : "Worship God." John x. 7 : " Enter in." Eev. xxii. 14 : " They may enter in." John iv. 29 : " Come and see." Eev. xxii. 17 : " Oome." John vii. 37 • " Let him come and drink." Eev. xxii. 17 : " Let the thirsty come." John xxi. 25: "If he tarry till I come." Eev. iii. 11: "I come quickly." VI. I might proceed ; but unquestionably the coincidences in words, and stUl more in thoughts, between the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse, different as their subjects are, per fectly harmonize with imity of authorship. The coincidences are rarest just where we might expect them to be rare, — in the visions, the imagery or prophetic technicality of which is drawn from the Old Testament, and not intended for ordinary or narrative style. It ha's been correctly said by Da"vason and Alford, that writers, for the purpose of strengthening their theories, have greatly exaggerated the difference of style be tween the two books. VII. He introduces his own name in the introduction, and in recording the circumstances of the opening vision; and also in the conclusion. This is not, as some rationaUsts have cavUlingly aUeged, a mark of a spurious composition. The omission of the name in the Gospel is in the manner of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who do not name themselves as the EARLY PATRISTIC OPINIONS. 5 writers ; whUe in naming himself in the prophetic book he is consistent : for Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and some of the minor prophets, name themselves ; and that not merely in the titles, which might have been appended by scribes, but in the matter of their prophecies. VIII. Nor does he simply give liimself the name of John, which any writer bearing that name might use. He says : " John, the servant (SovXos:) of Jesus Christ." This is a mode of introduction employed by Paul,^ James,^ Peter,^ and Jude,* John does not name himself in his Epistles ; but in the first he speaks of himself as having seen, and heard, and touched the Lord Jesus ; and in the second and third he styles him self ('Trpea^vTepo'i) the elder. This shows that when "John the presbyter " is mentioned, there is no reason to suppose that in each case any other is meant. Though Dionysius ol Alexandria conjectures that John Mark or some other John may be meant, he does not rest this on the word " elder." IX. In the fragments of Papias given by Eusebius, John the presbyter is mentioned ; but along with Andrew, Thomas, PhUip, Peter, and Matthew.^ There might have been many presbyters of the name of John, but no other is associated with the Apocalypse ; as there were in England other Bacons besides the author of the Novum Organon, — as his father, and the celebrated Eoger Bacon, — but this fact would not warrant the ascription of that work to any of them. John, in the Apocalypse, has not left a trace of being another than the apostle. X. Justin (a.d. 140-160) bears unequivocal testimony: "There was a certain man with us whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied by a revelation (wn-oKaXvylrei,), that those who believed in our Christ would dweU a thousand years in Jerusalem, and thereafter the general judgment would take place." These words have often been referred to as identifying Justin with the ChUiasts, or pre-miUenarians. But this chiUasm of his is something widely different from the modern doctrine, in support of which his name is adduced ; for his miUennium includes " those who beUeve in Christ," and not a smaU section of them as the 1 Eom. i. 1. 2 Jas. i. 1. ^2 Pet. i. 1. * Jude 1. 5 Stuart, p. 292 ; and Ante-Nicene Christiau Library, vol. i. p. 442. 6 PROLEGOMENA. martyrs. It supposes them aU to dweU in Jerusalem (which must mean the spiritual Jerusalem) ; and it says nothing of a visible presence of Christ in that Jerusalem, whUe it speaks of a general judgment only after the miUennium. Liicke en deavours to obviate this, by an argument that would neutraUze almost aU ancient testimonies, — that we know not what in quiries the author made. Eor instance, we may say of Ire nseus, on whose opinion the theory of the late date of the Apocalypse is founded, that we know not what inquiries he made about it, except that he listened to the tales of certain elders. XI. MeUto, a contemporary of Justin, is said by Eusebius to have written a book about the Apocalypse of John ; and both Stuart and Alford argue truly, that if Eusebius had thought any other John meant by MeUto, he would have made it a ground of objection, as he was sceptical as to apostoUc authority. XII. The same applies to testimonies from TheophUus of Antioch (a.d. 1 6 9), and ApoUonius, near the end of the second century, both cited by Eusebius. XIII. Irenasus (192), in B. iv. 20. 11, employs the words, " John the Lord's disciple says in the Apocalypse," which he follows by citing Eev. i. 12-16. So in iv. 30. 4 he speaks of " those things which John the disciple of the Lord saw in the Apocalypse." To suppose any other than one of the dis ciples whom the Lord constituted apostles, is nothing better than cavilUng, which Stuart and Alford obviate. XIV. Clemens Alexandrinus (200), in his Ti's 6 a(o^ofievo<; ttXouto?, xiu., speaks of " not a myth, but a true oracle de livered by the Apostle John, who after" tho death of the sove reign was transferred from Patmos to Ephesus."^ The John here spoken of is expressly caUed by Clement " an apostle," and said to have been in Patmos, which shows Clement's opinion, that he was the author of the Apocalypse ; and in other places also he ascribes it to John. XV. TertuUian (199-220) says, in his Treatise agairist Marcion, iu. 14, "The Apostle John, in the Apocalypse, de scribes a sword which proceeded from the mouth of God." He also says, " Ezekiel knew, and the Apostle John saw the ' See Sect. iv. PATRISTIC OPINIONS CONTINUED. 7 new Jerusalem." The two-edged sword of Eev. i. 16 and the vision of ch. xxi. and xxii. are by this father ascribed to the Apostle John, not to any other, in after-time. XVL Hippolytus (200), in his Christ and Antichrist, 36, speaking of "John in the isle of Patmos," says, "TeU me, blessed John and disciple of the Lord, what didst thou see and hear concerning Babylon ?" It also appears from an in scription on a statue of Hippolytus at Eome, and from a testi mony of Jerome, that he wrote a book on the Gospel and Apocalypse of John," — implying the same author of both. XVII. Both Stuart and Alford testify to the faithful care exercised by Origen (233) respecting the books of the canon. His admission of the Apocalypse into the canon shows that he held it to be apostoUc, and ascribed it to the Apostle John. He says in his commentary on John : " What shaU be said of him who leaned on the breast of Jesus ? He has left us one Gos pel, .declaring he could compose so many that the world could not contain them ; and he wrote also the Apocalypse." XVIII. Cyprian (2 5 0) caUs the Apocalypse " divine scrip ture," thus including it in the canon of inspiration. XIX. Ephrem the Syrian, in the latter part of the fourth century, repeatedly refers to the Apocalypse as scripture, using the phrase, "as we have heard the apostle saying." Hence Alford concludes that a Syriac version of the Apocalypse existed earUer than the time of Ephrem, — either the version now known, or an earUer. XX. Epiphanius (368), bishop of Cypras, styled pentaglottos (the fire-tongued) from his unusual linguistic knowledge, con tends against the Alogi (unreasonables), because they rejected the Gospel and Apocalypse of John ; and he speaks of " the holy prophets and holy apostles, among whom the holy John, by the Gospel, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse, communicated of his holy gift." XXI. Ambrose (397) cites verses of Eev. xxi., attributing them to " John the evangelist," author of the Gospel. And he says of the Apocalypse : " ISTon ab alio Joanne, sed ab illo qui evangelium scripsit " (" It is not written by another John, but by him who wrote the Gospel ").^ XXIL Augustine repeatedly refers to "what John the 1 Ambr. Sept. Visiones. 8 PROLEGOMENA. apostle says in the Apocalypse ; " and " in the Apocalypse of the same John, whose is the Gospel." XXIII. In the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, but thought to be of the fourth or fifth century (Fpist. x.), John the evangeUst, or beloved disciple, is identified "with John who was in Patmos : Ev HaTfio) ipvXaKr]';, which the Latin translator has rendered, " in ergastulo Patmi," in the workshop of Patmos. He could not have thought John of a great age. XXIV. However laudable the extended researches of the modern writers referred to, and of others, I think this brief notice sufficient. N"or can I think it essential to clearness of evidence, to foUow fathers and councils in times after the fourth century. XXV. As to denials of the apostoUc authorship, TertuUian^ speaks of Marcion the heretic as rejecting the Apocalypse. Against this father it is charged tha,t he supported the cause of Montanus, a heretic of the latter part of the second century, who (Uke Mohammed some four .centuries later) pretended to be " the Comforter " (Uapa/cXTjTo?) promised by Christ,^ and 'asserted the doctrine of a visible presence of Christ in the mUlennium. As the Gospel of John contained the former doctrine, and the Apocalypse the latter, so some of his oppo nents, with equal ignorance and dogmatism, rejected these inspired books, and received the name of Alogi (AXojoi), rendered in the EngUsh version " unreasonable " and " brute." The controversy was waged principally about Thyatira.^ The Alogi, it would seem, could not have been numerous, but they were joined by the Monarchians, who asserted mere humani- tarianism. The truth lay between the extremes of Alogi and Chiliasts. The former gave no reason for rejecting the Apoca lypse, excepting the perversion and secularization of its doctrme by the Montanist pre-mUlenarians. To neither extreme is any respect due, both being devoid of evidence, and invented merely for the support of pre-formed theories. The modern pre-miUenarians differ in endeavouring so to interpret Scrip ture as to make it speak their doctrine; and their interpretations wiU be met and handled in detaU, as we proceed ; and they are charged with not starting from principles which can be foUowed uniformly. ' Contra Marcion. 2 j^^^ ji^_ ^g^ 3 Hagenbach's Hist, of Doctr. HISTORIC FACTS. SECTION II. THERE IS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT JOHN WAS BANISHED FROM EOME AND WENT TO PATMOS ABOUT A.D. 51. I. The following historic facts and dates may assist in forming distinct ideas on this subject : — a. The resurrection of Christ took place in a.d. 29. Hales dates it 3 1 ; but this would suppose Christ to have suffered in His 3 oth year. However 33 is the age almost uniformly reckoned, which places the crucifixion in 29 ; and this date is assigned by Townsend and Greenfield. Men's theoretic opinions have strangely influenced their statements respecting both the year and the day of the week. They have generally assumed Friday as the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospels; whUe some have fixed a.d. 33, others 32, 31, 30, or 29. Now, if the day of the paschal full moon was a particular day of the week on one of these years, it could not be the same day of the week on any other of these years."' &. Various reUable authorities date the conversion of Paul not more than four years subsequent, — in A.D. 33. Now he states (Gal i. 18, u. 1) that three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem, and fourteen years afterwards a second time. The first of these visits, therefore, was in 3 6 (before the conversion of CorneUus, which is referred to 40), while aU the disciples remained in Judea ; and the second in 49 or 50, the year of the council at Jerusalem.^ At this meeting all the surviving apostles were probably present, though, besides Paul, Luke names only Peter and James. 1 I have before me various calculations which I made several years ago, aud some which I procured from some scientific friends. Sir I. Newton, Scaliger, Petavius, and various others, enumerated by Hales, made calculations, most of which, however, are vitiated by an endeavour to make the paschal fuU moon faU on Friday in a given year, that year being different in almost each case. 2 See Olshausen's Tables Introductory to Acts. Eusebius places the cruci fixion of Jesus aud the conversion of Paul iu the same year; Usher and Olshausen make a difference of two years ; Bengel of one ; Greenfield, Hales, Home, and Townsend of four. This last avoids untenable extremes, apd har monizes with other dates. Lactautius, CUnton, Greenfield, Townsend, etc. date the crucifixion a.d. 29,— a date that may be regarded as settled. 10 PEOLEGOMENA. c. It is also generaUy admitted that James's martyrdom and the death of Herod occurred in A.D. 43 or 44.^ II. John, forced to flee from Herod, who was jealous of the famUy of David, would naturaUy betake himself to Eome, to appeal, as Paul afterwards did, to Caesar, who at that period entertained no such jealousy. But after the death of Herod, his son, Herod Agrippa IL, would be equaUy menacing to John's life. The apostle may have continued to preach in Eome until the edict of Claudius, in A.D. 51.^ As only one banishment of John is recorded or supposed, the banishment must have included John, unless it were sho"wn, which cannot be done, that he was not there. And the place must have been Patmos, mentioned by John himself, whether his relega tion was expressly to it, or he went to it in common with other Christians on expulsion from Eome. When Paul wrote to the Eomans, a Christian church existed there ; but it is altogether improbable that any apostle was resident or per mitted to reside in Eome at that time, — about six years after the edict of Claudius. He salutes PrisciUa and AquUa ; but though they were in Eome and labouring faithfuUy, I cannot believe that the church was planted in such a city as Eome without any apostolic visit, though in secondary places other ministers were successful in the formation of churches. III. To resist this conclusion, requires a number of unsup ported assumptions, and contradicts, as we shall soon find, reliable statements of some early fathers. Now if John went to Patmos in a.d. 51, or even early in 54, the Apocalypse might have been written within the period (50-54) during which Lucius Domitius, who received the title of Nero, was associated as Caesar with Claudius. In that case, the opinion of Epiphanius, that the book was written in the reign of Claudius, is in harmony with that expressed in the title of the Syriac version, that it was written in the reign of Nero Cassar ;^ whUe the meaning of the phrase used by Irenaeus — " the Domitian reign," or " the reign of Domitian," on which so much stress has been laid, as if Irenaeus were inspired— is 1 Townsend, Hales, Greenfield, Fausett. ' Acts xviu. 1 ; Townsend, etc. 5 This title Nero Caesar impUes that it was during the Ufetime of Claudius, after which he became Augustus, "a title which continued to be reserved for the monarch. " HISTOEIC FACTS OBJECTION ANSWEEED. 11 a vexed question, whether it was the reign of Domitian or of Domitius Nero, — in other words, whether Bo/jteriavov is a noun or a derivative adjective. IV. This date wUl imply that the Apocalypse was written earUer than the apostolic Epistles — the only ones referred by most authorities nearly to the same time, being First and Second Thessalonians and Galatians. This we shall iUustrate by in ternal evidence in Sec. iii., and corroborate by early patristic statements in Sec. IV. In the meantime, an attempt may be made to bar aU further inquiry, by aUeging that the church at Ephesus was planted by Paul or John ; that the former, in ad dressing the presbyters of Ephesus,^ anticipates a declension ; and that the early date does not aUow time for this declension to creep in, as the charge of forsaking her first love in the second chapter of the Apocalypse shows that she was doing. V. This objection makes an assumption which cannot be sustained by historic fact. For when Paul first visited Ephesus,^ he found there AquUa, Priscilla, and Apollos, yea and twelve disciples of John the Baptist, aU employed before him in pubUshing the gospel at Ephesus. The latter may have been there almost from the time of the Baptist's death, though labouring mainly among Jewish residents. Though these twelve knew not of the pentecostal effusion of the Holy Ghost, they knew the gospel and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which John strongly and clearly preached.^ There was more than ample time for the creeping in of a declension, after the novelty of the new religion had subsided, as might be Ulustrated by historic examples.* VI. As to the declension, its nature and time are both mis interpreted, as if it did not exist until after Paul's departure from Ephesus. But the contrary is evident. He says in ad dressing them,^ " I ceased not {vovOerwv) to warn you night and day with tears." The verb here rather means to repri mand or remonstrate, and points to the past rather than the I Acts XX. 17. ^ Acts xix. 1 ; Conybeare aud Howson, i. 453. 3 Matt. ui. 11 ; John i. 29, in. 31-36. * Thus a great revival took place in Ifelaud in 1859 ; yet on my return from India in 1864 I found devout Christians in various places bewaUing the visible signs of declension. So the famous Edwards, in New England, found declension in a very few years succeeding revival. ^ Acts XX. 31. 1 2 PEOLEGOMENA. future. John's disciples, though teaching gospel truth, had faUen behind the standard of their master, for he had testified to the fulness of the gift of the Spirit;^ yet they had failed to comprehend the fact of it, and were little or not at aU in formed of the pentecostal effusion; and whUe in the church of Ephesus in the time of the Apocalypse, and of Paul's visit two or three years later, there were labour, patience, and zeal for truth, there were shortcomings on the part of some, which led Paul to exhort them with tears. There is not a syUable tending to show a declension originating between John's sojourn in Patmos and Paul's address to the elders at Ephesus. The declension began earUer than either, and was doubtless spreading from year to year. Alford (vol. iv. p. 240) cites from Tacitus an account of an earthquake which completely destroyed Laodicea in a.d. 62 ; and justly considers this fact as quite conflicting with the wealth and external prosperity of the Laodiceans, when the Lord addressed to them the seventh epistle : " Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods " (Eev. iii. 1 7). It plainly foUows, that the Apocalypse was not written in the latter part of Nero's reign. And it would be a marveUous circum stance if the city could have recovered such prosperity in thirty-three years, as required by the late date. This may be met by referring to an earUer destruction of Laodicea by earth quake, mentioned as having occurred in the reign of Tiberius, — perhaps contemporaneously with that at the death of Christ, in the eighteenth year of Tiberius, A.D. 29. From this date to A.D. 5 1 was an interval of only twenty-two years. After this earUer catastrophe, the city was repaired out of Tiberius's treasury;^ whUe, after the latter, the people had to repair it out of their own resources {'propriis opihus). In this case, it must have required a very much longer time to bring it up to the prosperous state indicated. It seems thtis very plain, that the book must have been written before the earthquake of A.D. 62. This may be compared with what has recently occurred at Chicago. A large portion of that city (though, judging from maps pubUshed, a minor portion of it) was a few weeks ago consumed by a conflagration. It is speedily ' John iii. 34. = See Ene. Brit. ; Smith, Die. of Oeog. ; Imp. Die. of Bib. ; Alford, etc. DESTEUCTION OF LAODICEA NEEONIAN PEESECUTION. 13 rising from its ashes, because of great sums of money raised not only in the United States, but in the cities of Britain and Ireland, etc. ; and because of immense sums for which various great insurance companies are responsible. Without Such re sources, Chicago would stiU have been able, with the aid of modern commerce and raUways, to recover its status much more rapidly than was possible for Laodicea after the second earthquake, when left solely to its o"wn impoverished people who had escaped. These facts indicate very strongly that neither the reign of Domitian, nor the latter part of that of Domitius Claudius Nero, answers to the state of Laodicea at the time of writing; whUe the period stated already (a.d. 51—54) accurately agrees with it. VII. Nor is the early date open to any objection on the supposition that the Neronian persecution did not extend to the pro"vinces. Even if that were shown, it would not apply to the case. The persecution in question is the relegation of the Christians by Claudius ; and these, when banished from Eome, had no alternative but to go to distant places, and wherever they went they would be treated as outlaws. It is stated on the one hand by Guerike,^ that the persecution set on foot by Nero did extend over the pro"VT[nces, and on the other by Waddington ^ and the Fnc. Brit, that the persecution raised by Domitian, to whose time the advocates of the late date refer the Apocalypse, was less general, being directed mainly against nobles and phUosophers. The Claudian banish ment meets aU the circumstances. VIII. Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks presents an irrefragable proof that the whole of the New Testament, the Apocalypse included, must have been written before the faU of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish kingdom. One predicted event to be accompUshed before these weeks expired, was " to seal up vision and prophet."^ The verb here employed, "to seal " (DJnn, hhdtam), 'means to bring to a close (sigillare, com- plere, finire — Ges.). A document cannot be legaUy sealed untU it is complete. A book sealed cannot be read ; knowledge sealed cannot be pubUshed. Even in the cognate Arabic the same root (*!>-, hhatm, to conclude) has the same meaning, as 1 Guer. Ch. Hist. " Wad. Ch. Hist. ^ Dan. ix. 24. 14 PEOLEGOMENA. Mohammedans style Mohammed "the seal (the last) of the prophets," and accordingly acknowledge none after him. IX. When did the seventy weeks end ? No date later than that of 'the faU of Jerusalem (a.d. 70) can with any truth or plausibUity be supposed, for these weeks were " determined on the holy city." ^ But many say they ended earUer, — at the death of Christ. Against this, however, in the above, and some other particulars, there lie weighty objections, as Scaliger, Hales, and others have sho"wn. Let us look at the objects which were to be accompUshed before these "weeks ran out. X. In Dan. ix. 24 we have an unbroken period of seventy weeks, and in ix. 26 a coUateral period, commencing seven weeks or forty-nine years sooner, and accordingly broken into three parts : 7-|-62-t-l = 70. The seventy weeks in ix. 24 were determined thus : 1. "On tht/ people and on the holy city." — No interpretation can be true which makes this end with the death of Christ, which it does not even mention. The Jewish people and Jerusalem are its terminus ad quern. 2, "To finish the transgression" (VB'an npS^ to restrain the transgression). — ^Whatever is meant by the transgression, it was to be restrained, coerced, or put a stop to before the end of the seventy weeks. The noun here used is defined by Gesenius and Fiirst, " defection, rebelUon, perfldy, covenant-breaking," etc. Now the special sin by which the Jews sumrned up their guUt was rebeUion against their true king, Messiah. This was coerced only in the faU of the city and nation. 3. " To make an end^ of sin" (nis^n Qnn). — The verb is the same as in the sealing of vision and prophet, — to bring sins to an end by atonement. 4. " To make reconciliation for sin," — to cover iniquity by imputed righteousness. 5. "To hring in everlasting rightco-usness" — by sanctification. 6. " To seal vision and prophet " ('<''?31 [itn)^ — by bringing both to an end. The vision which the prophet was wont to see was to cease ; and the prophet himself, not the prophecy merely, was to lose official status, and neither to receive vision, nor be entitled ^ Dan. ix. 24. ^ Here some suppose the English version difi'ers from the Hebrew text, and foUows the Keri, or marginal reading. THE SEALING OF VISION AND PEOPHET. 15 to wear the rough garment any more. Inspired prophecy and prophet were to cease before the end of the seventy weeks. 7. " To anoint or institute (D'Cd) the holy of holies," — by bringing down the New Jerusalem, the holy city, and the spiritual temple. This also was to precede, and did precede, the end of the seventy weeks ; for the new came not after the old had ceased, but superseded it. XI. The coUateral and broken period of seventy weeks was arranged into three periods of seven, sixty-two, and one week, respectively ; thus : a. The seven weeks may be dated from B.C. 461, when Artaxerxes or Ahasuerus made those festivities which led to his marriage "with Esther, and the deUverance of the Jews from massacre, — ending 412 B.C. h. The completion of Nehemiah's reform. The high priest EUashib had introduced corruptions in Nehemiah's absence, such as pro"viding apartments in the temple for Tobiah, a friend of SanbaUat and the Samaritans. EUashib's death is referred to B.C. 413;^ after which Nehemiah expelled Tobiah, and restrained the mixed marriages. This reform, then, may be dated about a.d. 412. c. Eeckoning from this date sixty-two weeks = 434 years, we come to A.D. 2 2, at which time Jesus had completed twenty- five years of age, — the age at or after which Levites entered on official duty^ — the type of the Christian priesthood. XII. One week more, completing these seventy, brings us to A.D. 29, the year of the crucifixion of Jesus. Thus the latter part of the prophecy was fulfilled : " He shaU strengthen ("'''3^'?) covenant to many, viz. the beUevers (a.d. 22-29); and in the midst of the week^ (that is, before its close) He shall cause cessation of sacrifice and oblation." Both of these were maintained practicaUy by the rebeUious Jews whUe the temple stood ; but both were equaUy abolished when the Lord at His baptism was officiaUy proclaimed Messiah, about the middle of the week. XIII. Nor ought we to evade the meaning of sealing vision ^ Prideanx, Neh. xiu. 4-28. ' Num. viii. 23, 24. ' isn to divide into two parts equal or unequal (Newm.). Thus, in Num. xii., " the half of his flesh ; " 2 Sam. xviu. 3, " if the half of us die ; •' Josh. xxii. 13, " the haU tribe of Manasseh." Exact arithmetical halves are not meant. 1 6 PEOLEGOMENA. and prophecy, by saying with some, that to seal means to fulfU ; for the thing spoken of is not the fulfilment, but the cessation of vision and prophecy. Many of the visions and words of the prophets are stUl receiving fulfilment ; and not until the end of the gospel age is all prophecy fulfiUed. Some were fulfiUed at the death of Christ, some in the fall of the city and dispersion of the people, and some in the pro gressive influx of the GentUes ; whUe many regarding GentUes and outcast Jews are yet to pass into fulfilment. XIV. Nor ought we to ignore the "vision and prophet" which were in the apostolic time. They are certainly com prehended in Daniel's words, referring as they do to the opening events of the gospel age ; and they are clearer and fuller than those of the previous age. Zechariah^ predicted a second revealer (nJB'i? T'SO), almost in the same terms in which Christ promised^ inspiration and prophecy, through the Holy Spirit shed on the apostles. This prophetic gift was to cease within the limit of the seventy weeks, which ended with the faU of the once holy but ultimately devoted city. There can there fore be no just ground for ascribing to any books of the New Testament canon a later date than a.d. 70 ; and a different opinion on the part of any of the fathers is an error. The force of this is not obviated nor weakened by the fact that John Uved after this time. The question is not to what age he attained, but how long were prophetic vision and the inspiration of Scripture continued ; and Daniel's words Umit these to the term of the seventy weeks. Within that time must the Gospel of John be reckoned ; and the Apocalypse must be earlier by a number of years, to aUow time for the intermediate writing of the apostoUc Epistles. This raises the question already aUuded to, and which we now proceed to consider. SECTION IIL THE APOCALYPSE WAS WRITTEN EAELIEE THAN ANY OF THE EPISTLES, AS APPEAES FEOM INTEENAL EVIDENCE. I. By the subjoined table of the Gospels, Epistles, and Apocalypse, with their dates, according to nine leading ' Zech. ix. 12. 2 John xvi. 13. Ol Cn Cn Cs CO <1 GO O CO Ol O CO CO Oi Ci Ci C3 Oi Oi Ci Oi OS CiCiOiOiCiOiCiCiCiOiOiOiOiCnOiOiOi OiCOCOOoOiOiH-itOi— 'CiOirfi'l-'l— 'I— itOl-* n? O cn Ci Ci Oi cn ^ O rf^ CO CO InO ^ Cn Cn Ol -<1 -q -q Oi Ol Cn O CO CO COCiCOCOCOOiCiOiOiCiOiOiOiCnCnOiCiOiCnOlOo*^--^OGoooGoo^t^£)^Go^^f^l^^too^to<^ CiOiCnCnOiCiCiCn Q^ = Oi Ci ^ o B ?^ "^ Ci 00 r; ?i- ja 03 00 CiOiCnCnOiOiOiOiOiCnts5tNSC)OCOOOri^ CO cn tf^ *^ O O t5 JO Greenfield. Townsend. Macknight. Olshausen. Brovto and Faosett. Conybeare AND Hov^soN. Par. Bib. Alford. Davidson. td M =H S5 cf- P= p B f? rn H «^ Ef. |-1 CD CD sl B 1=^ P o P r5 t3^ M i^' >- ^ CD0a 5' CD - H p ? P p- P^ n- H P-tP oCD p-op CDp- CD Oi=jo rr' l-i c» VI o P S3 £. PP sfl o l> CD P t) p ti Ol m "<1 1— * o p o o p: u iTi 5- Ol P 1 8 PEOLEGOMENA. that it was written shortly before the destruction of Jeru salem and James's martyrdom. All the other weighty autho rities agree in giving the earliest date to First Thessalonians (except that Townsend places Galatians in the same year), and generaUy the next place to Second Thessalonians, and the third to Galatians. Three of them place Galatians in 51 to 5 3 ; and the other six place it in 54 to 58. Townsend places Titus in 53 ; but the others make it subsequent to First Timothy, which it much resembles. II. They thus agree that the two Epistles to Thessalonians were written before the close of 54, and they are almost agreed that no other Epistle can be dated earlier than 57. They aU agree in drawing such conclusions from internal evidence. In handling their evidence, close attention must be paid to coincidences and fragmentary citations, (for com plete, lengthened, and formal citations on any side cannot be aUeged,) and to the tracing of indirect indications of earlier or later composition, — in fact, to see whether John would appear to have read the Epistles, or the writers of the Epistles to have read the Apocalypse. III. The latter we shall find to be true ; and the evidence of it, when fairly estunated, wUl require us to assign to the Apocalypse a date from a.d. 51 to 54. This may be opposed in limine by the opinion that John was relegated in a.d. 96. The examination of the patristic passages cited in support of this, will form the subject of the next section. Meanwhile, in common with all writers on the order of the books of the New Testament, let us trace some of the criteria found in the books themselves. IV. I premise that Uttle can be inferred from the mere occurrence of a word common to the inspired writings, as faith, patience, love, testimony, etc., such words having been common among the apostles from the days of the discipleship ; yet the frequent occurrence of such words may exemplify the harmony running through the different books : And that the mere statement of doctrines common to the teaching of aU the apostles, as that of redemption, the resur rection of Christ, His coming or present kingdom, would not determine the relative age of any of these books : And that, as the Apocalypse is confessedly written in a INTEENAL EVIDENCE : 1 THESSALONIANS. 1 9 more Hebraistic style than any of the Epistles, we are to look for coincidence of thought rather than of mere idiom. Also, that as the Apocalypse employs the terms of pro phetic vision scenery, whUe the Epistles are didactic, we are not to dismiss passages as making no allusion to others on account of a mere change of imagery. V. With few direct quotations, which the New Testament writers do not usuaUy make from one another, it is not suffi cient to meet plain allusions, by saying they do not amount to positive proofs ; for this may be met by asking for similar proofs on the other side. Be it that the comparison of pas sages may in some or many cases furnish only probable evi dence, stiU no writer despises such evidence when he thinks it on his own side : it may be corroborative and cumulative. Of precisely such a nature is the evidence on which aU writers on the chronology of the New Testament have arranged its books, — in which no dates are given. VI. And particularly we must keep in view the fact that many parts of the Apocalypse are the express words of Jesus Himself EspeciaUy is this the case with the second and third chapters, containing His epistles to the seven churches. Now we cannot think of the Lord as quoting or referring to the words of His own disciples, as authorities or Ulustrations of His meaning. He referred to the Old Testament prophecies, when reasoning with those who did not receive Him as Mes siah. But to them the testimony of His disciples would have been as nothing. In every coincidence between words of Jesus in the Apocalypse, and of apostles in the Acts or Epistles, the former are, in the very nature of the case, the original; the latter, the citation or aUusion. VII. 1 Thess.- — The medium date is a.d. 53. Its coinci dences with the thoughts and imagery of the Apocalypse are not numerous. In Eev. ii. 2, Jesus addressing the Ephesian church says, " I know thy works, and labour, and patience." Paul, in 1 Thess. i. 3, evidently quotes these words, with a little exposi tion : " Remembering your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope." In 1 Thess. U. 1 6 he describes the apostate Jews as " fiU ing up their sins alway," which might readUy have been 20 PEOLEGOMENA. suggested by Eev: xxii. 11 : "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still," — said specially of the same class of characters. In ii. 18 his aUusion to Satan's hindrance seems an aUu sion to Eev. u. 10: " Satan wUl cast some of you into prison." In ii. 1 9 his aUusion to believers as the minister's crown seems an exposition of Eev. iv. 10, in which the elders appear with crowns. In iii. 10 his "praying night and day" may naturaUy have been taken from the four zoa of Eev. iv. 8, who rest not day nor night, and both perhaps from Christ's saying that " men should always pray." In iv. 16 his description of "the Lord descending with the trump of God " seems an exposition of " Christ's voice as of a trumpet" in Eev. i. 10, and of some particulars of the judgment, visionally depicted in Eev. xx. 10-14. In V. 2 his description of the Lord's coming " as a thief in the night" is a plain aUusion to similar language in Eev. iii. 3, xvi. 15, especiaUy as Paul introduces his words with " yourselves know accurately," implying a reference to the source of the phrase as weU known. VIII. We may safely say there is nothing in this Epistle to indicate an earlier date than that of the Apocalypse. Such coincidences as those above adduced have at least the appear ance of allusions to the Apocalypse ; and one or two of them are partial quotations from it. This places the Apocalypse not later than a.d. 52, the date assigned to First Thessalonians by six of the tabulated authorities. This wUl be corroborated, if with Olshausen we place the Epistle in 54. The same in ference may be drawn even from expressions which do not amount to aUusions occurring in the Epistles. Thus Paul repeatedly speaks of the death of believers as sleep. Such language is natural in relation to their bodies : but dead bodies do not come into prophetic vision ; while in the Epistles the soul, or -psyche, is uniformly spoken of as active, and indeed generally in the living man. I should antecedently have expected no mention of sleep or of bodies appearing in the apocalyptic visions before the final resurrection, but I should anticipate a conscious and active state of the soul. And accordingly we find no words for sleep in the Apocalypse; whUe the souls under the altar are employed in appealing to INTEENAL EVIDENCE : 2 THESSALONIANS. 2 1 God to justify their characters, and as living and reigning with Christ. IX. 2 Thess. (52-54). — The latter date seems best sup ported, for the reason assigned by Fausett and Conybeare of the presence of Sylvanus at Corinth. If the Apocalypse were found to contain aUusions to Second Thessalonians, we should be obUged to date it in or after A.D. 54. Even the most violent straining of its meaning wUl fail to evolve any such aUusions. But we may with more reason start the converse inquiry : Are any aUusions to the Apocalypse found in Second Thessalonians ? In 2 Thess. i. 4, in speaking of " their patience and faith in aU their persecutions," Paul might perhaps use such a phrase independently ; yet it is suggestively Uke an allusion to Eev. xiv. 12:" Here is the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." In 2 Thess; L 7 we read : " When the Lord shaU be re vealed;" or, according to the original, ev Trj airoKaXvyjrei, tov Kvpiov, in the apocalypse of the Lord. Here the very noun apocalypse is used ; and the passage is a most pointed aUusion to the introduction of the book, and in particular to ch. xx. In ch. ii. 9, " everlasting destruction " seems to allude to Eev. xiv. 10. In ch. i. 1 0, " glorified in or by His saints." Does he not aUude to Eev. vii. 12 : " Blessing and glory," etc., " be unto our God?" In ch. ii. 3 the prediction of " the man of sin, the son of perdition," seems more than a mere aUusion to Eev. xiii. 1 1 to the end, describing the vision of the second monster, of which Paul speaks in reiterated definite terms as a well-known pro phetic object; and he uses the significantly technical word a'TToicaXv^drjaeTai, shall be revealed, as if appropriating the noun in Eev. i. 1. His terming him " the son of perdition " (a-TT-coXeia) appropriates the term in Eev. xvu. 11: "He shall go intb perdition" (aTraXeia). In ch. ii. 6, "he opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is caUed God." This seems a close imitation of Eev. xiii. 6 : "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God." In ch. u. 8, "the Lord wiU destroy," etc., seems but a concise reference to the destruction of Babylon predicted in Eev. xvUi. 22 PEOLEGOMENA. In ch. ii. 9, " power and signs and lying wonders," a con cise re-statement of Eev. xiu. 11, etc. : "The second monster ¦ deceiveth, ... by false miracles." Without requiring further citations, how is it possible to resist the conclusion, that Paul had read Eev. xu. xiii. xvii. and xviu. before giving this condensed view of what is there so largely developed ? His language has the appearance of a summary of a larger detaU, and the air of a didactic account of pictorial or vision scenes. The writer of the vision could not have employed Paul's epistolary didactic style ; but Paid does precisely what we might expect from one making use of a weU-known vision scene, — as an author might embody ia two or three sentences a summary of Bunyan's Vanity Fair. This Epistle, then, furnishes a distinct independent coUateral proof of a date of the Apocalypse much earUer than Irenseus is supposed by some to assign to it, and such as cannot be counterbalanced by any opinion of a man writing a century or a century and a half after the time. X. It is not necessary to go over aU the Epistles with equal minuteness, as some of them are on mere doctrinal subjects, and therefore involving less of the nature of internal evidence. As to Gal. (54-57), the argument appUes with increased force to it ; which is derived from Second Thessalonians, to which it is subsequent in time, according to the preponderance of the authorities. But the aUusions in it are not so marked as ia Second Thessalonians, because it bore on a particular topic, — the controversy with the Judaizers. Various passages in it, however, are most obvious, on the supposition that Paul, when he wrote them, had seen the Apocalypse. Thus Paul's open ing address. Gal. i. 1-3, may have been suggested by Eev i. 4; Gal. i. 8 by Eev. xxii. 18, 19; Gal. U. 9 by Eev. iii. 12; Gal. iv. 26 by Eev. xxi. 2 ; Gal. v. 21 by Eev. xxii. 8, 15. XI. 1 Cor. (5 7). — I have marked pretty numerous instances, which, though not separately amounting to decisive proof, present much cumulative evidence of aUusions to the Apo calypse. Thus 1 Cor. i. 6, 7 may have been suggested by Eev. i. 2, vi. 9 ; 1 Cor. ii. 10 by Eev. i. 1 ; 1 Cor. iii. 10 by Eev. xxi. 14 ; 1 Cor. vi. 2 by Eev. ii. 26. The words of this last reference are words of Jesus Himself (in His epistle to the church of Thyatira), and cannot therefore be a quotation from INTEENAL EVIDENCE : 1 COEINTHIANS. 23 His apostle ; whUe Paul's words are introduced by " Do ye not know," implying that the fact he is about to adduce is already famiUar : " The saints judge the world ; " as if a preacher in a sermon were to say, " Don't you know," and then repeat some famUiar words of Scripture. So 1 Cor. vi. 9 by Eev. xxi. 9 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 1 2 by Eev. xxu. 4 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 16 by Eev. v. 14. In 1 Cor. xiv. 32, "the spirits of the prophets " seems quoted from Eev. xxii. 6. XIL And when Paul in 1 Cor. xv. 26 says, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," there is a plain reference to the casting of death and Hades into the lake of fire, in Eev. xx. 14 — the more especially as John connects " death and Hades ; " and Paul says, " 0 death — 0 Hades," etc. (1 Cor. XV. 55). In 1 Cor. XV. 28, "subduing aU things to Himself," an aUusion to Eev. xix. 11: "In righteousness He doth . . . make war," and to the binding of the dragon (ch. xx. 2). 1 Cor. XV. 5 2 : The word {a-aX'n-i'-/^) " trumpet " is used once by Jesus (Matt. xxiv. 31), from whom John often borrows it, the Lord Himself having used it as a standard Old Testament term ; and Paul here speaks of " the last trump," in evident aUusion to the seventh and last trump of the Apo calypse. It is an apocalyptic word, adopted four times by Paul, and not occurring in the Epistles of other apostles. 1 Cor. XV. 57, "victory through Christ," suggested by Eev. xu. 11:" They overcame by the blood of the Lamb." XIII. In the whole of this fifteenth chapter, as in 1 Thess. iv., Paul speaks of the resurrection of the saints, in evident aUusion to the first resurrection of Eev. xx. 6, and the visions of the regenerate saints in Eev. vii. and xxi. ; in other words, Paul foUows up John's view of the first resurrec tion by an analogous account of the second. But many have been prevented from seeing this, by false views respecting the first resurrection and the miUennium. There is no room for any rational doubt, that when Paul wrote the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, he was weU aware of John's apocalyptic visions. XIV. 2 Cor. (58) — i. 22 : "Who hath sealed us," a verbal allusion to the sealing of the saints seen, in 1 Eev. vu. 3. 2 Cor. ii 11: "Satan's devices," aUusion to Eev. ii. 24: 24 PEOLEGOMENA. " The depths of Satan ; " iv. 4-6 : " The dispeUing of the bUndness caused by Satan," a doctrinal application of the binding of the dragon actuated by Satan, as seen in the vision, Eev. xx. 1, 2. 2 Cor. V. 1 7 : " The new creature or creation " (ktktk) is based on the vision of the new creation, Eev. xxi. 5 : "I « make all things new." 2 Cor. vi. 16,17: " God hath said, I wiU dweU in them, and walk in them ; and I wUl be their God, and they shaU be my people." This is a quotation ; and though the words of part of it are found in Exodus and Leviticus, yet the fuU form of words is found in Eev. xxi. 3, uttered by a great voice from the heaven,' — the voice of God in our nature. John, reading the vision, uses the 3d pers. ; while Paul, citing God's promises, gives the 1st. So in the next verse Paul says, "Come out of her, my people, and be ye separate, saith the Lord Almighty;" thus quoting the meaning and almost the words of Eev. xviii. 4 : " Come out of her, my people, that ye partake not," etc. 2 Cor. xi. 13: Paul's notice of " false apostles " is an evi dent allusion to the fuUer description in Eev. ii. 2, etc., of those " who say they are Jews, but are only the synagogue of Satan." 2 Cor. xii. 3 : Paul's being " caught up to the third heaven " implies an acquaintance with John's vision in Eev. xii. 5, of " the man-child caught up to God and His throne." Thus this Epistle also contains internal evidence that Paul, when Ytriting it, knew the letter of the Apocalypse ; and it greatly sweUs the cumulative evidence of the early date of John's visions. XV. Bom. (58). — This Epistle is especially theological, and therefore affords few occasions for aUuding to John's visions. And accordingly we find in it less of direct internal evidence. In this respect it may be compared with the Epistle to the Galatians. Yet in vain should we search for any aUusion to it in the Apocalypse;" whUe we find in it various aUusions to apocalyptic phrases. Thus Eom. u. 7, " Patient continuance in well-doing," seems an aUusion to Eev. ii. 10: " Be thou faithful unto death." Eom. U. 11 : "Thou art caUed a Jew," a reference to those in Eev. u. 9 who " say they are Jews." INTEENAL EVIDENCE : EOMANS. 25 Eom. vi. 8 : " Living with Christ," a concise reference to Eev. XX. 4, 6 : " They Uved and reigned with Christ." Eom. vi. 23: "The wages of sin is death." This seems taken from John's account of the second death in Eev. xxi. 8. Eom. vii. 4 : Paul illustrates marriage by a doctrinal allu sion to the vision of the marriage of the Lamb in Eev. xix. 5, 9. Eom. viii. 22 : " The groaning of the creation" seems an aUusion to the allegoric travaUing woman in Eev. xii. 2. So in Gal. iv. 19. Eom. xi. 12, 25: " The fulness of the Gentiles," an allusion to the kingdoms of the world become Christ's (Eev. xi. 15). Eom. xii. 1 : Paul exhorts beUevers in terms that seem borrowed from John's account of the Christian priesthood (Eev. i. 5, V. 9, etc.). Eom. xui. 12:" The day is at hand " is one of the apos toUc aUusions to Eev. xxii. 20: "I come quickly." Eom. xiv. 1 0 : An aUusion to the " great white throne " (Eev. XX. 14). Eom. xvi. 20:" The God of peace shall bruise Satan," an allusion to " the casting out of the devU and Satan " (Eev. xii 9). The concluding doxology, and those of the Epistles gene raUy, have a common origin in those of the Apocalypse, where they have their place and connection, in the visions of the celestial employments. XVI. Thus the thoughts in Eomans often spring out of those of the Apocalypse ; yet the phraseology is in so far different as to imply the fact that John, writing of visions, employs the vision style, and is more frequent in the use of Hebraistic Greek, while the style of Paul is more didactic, and indicates more of intercourse with the GentUes. This Epistle, then, augments the cumulative evidence of the earlier origin of the Apocalypse. XVII. James (61 or 62). — This Epistle is very variously dated, — from 45 (Alford) to 68 (Fausett). For the former no positive evidence is offered, but only an endeavour to obviate arguments for the latest date, derived from allusions to passages in Eomans, — as the doctrine of justification, the example of Abraham, and the state of the church. This 2 6 PEOLEGOMENA. effects no more than to express the possibUity that James might have written these things without having read Paul But the probabiUty is quite different. Fausett, with more reason, places the Epistle much later, though perhaps a Uttle too near the martyrdom of James. He thinks, with apparent reason, that it irritated the Jews, and led to the martyrdom of James. The introduction to the Epistle — •" James, to the twelve tribes scattered " — -would indeed be unpalatable, and so would almost the whole of the fifth chapter, rebuking them for their vices, and warning them of the judgment speedUy coming on them, by Him whom they had crucified. AU this might stir them to come to Jerusalem at the feast, fuU of rancour, and might excite those residing in Jerusalem. But time was requisite for the writing, dispersion, and perusal of copies, before the ebuUition of rage which burst on the aposUe, and resulted in his violent death, though his preaching may have pre'fiously been producing the same effect. Therefore the medium date above specified is best supported by facts. This was shortly before the Jewish war, usuaUy dated in A.D. 65. But strong premonitions of war evolved in 63. James might therefore, as in ch. iv. 1, speak of " wars and fightings " as impending, and not as implying mere polemics, since he says, " Ye kiU and fight." And he was near enough to the cata strophe coming on Jerusalem, to write the warning: "The ¦coming of the Lord draweth nigh;" "the Judge standeth before the door." According to Theodoret, his martyrdom is referred to in Heb. xui. 7 : " Eemember them," etc., "consider ing the end of their conversation " (conduct). XVIII. If, then, the Apocalypse was written earlier than 62, there could be in it no aUusion to any part of the Epistle of James; nor does any such aUusion occur. There are, however, in James passages which seem very like aUusions to or impUcations of portions of the Apocalypse. Thus James (i. 1) addresses the twelve tribes, as does Paul in Acts xxvi 1. Both apostles seem to have aUuded to the historical account of the vision of the twelve tribes in Eev. vu., where they are described and named. James's allusion to the wars of the Jews would seem an aUusion to the great sword in the hand of the Jewish rider on the red horse (Eev. vi. 4). INTEENAL EVIDENCE : JAMES, ETC. 27 His exhortation to "resist the devil" (iv. 7) seems an aUusion to Eev. xii. 9, in which "the devil and his angels are cast out." James nowhere else uses the word devU, but rn'ui 15 he uses the word demoniac. His warning to the rich men of the twelve tribes to howl and weep, sounds exceedingly Uke an allusion to the awful scene of the great and mighty Jews (Eev. vi. 17) caUing on the rocks and mountains to hide them. His saying (v. 8), " The coming of the Lord draweth nigh," is naturaUy referable to the simUar oracle so repeatedly recurring in the Apocalypse. In the latter it is woven in the narrative, while in James it is isolated, as an illustrative cita tion. The same may be said of James v. 9 and Eev. iii. 20. Once more : in James v. 1 3 believers are exhorted to sing, which seems to aUude to the song of Moses and of the Lamb in Eev. xv. 3. Thus, though James has not expressly quoted the Apoca lypse, the internal evidence found in it is all on one side, and that the side of the earUer date of the Apocalypse. XIX. Ephesians, Bhilippians, Colossians, and Bhilemon were written about the same time (61 to 63). I find in the Apocalypse no trace of aUusions to any of these Epistles ; but various verses and clauses in them are most easUy understood, by supposing Paul to have had in view passages of the epistles to the seven churches (words of Jesus Himself), and of John's pictorial visions. XX. Thus compare Eph. i 1 3 with Eev. vii. 2 ; Eph. i. 3, 20 with Eev. xxi. 14, 21-27; Eph. u. 2 with Eev. ix. 1; Eph. ui. 10 with Eev. v. 9-14; Eph. v. 27 with Eev. xxi 9, etc. ; Eph. vi 11 with Eev. ii. 24, xu. 9, etc. : PhiL U. 10 with Eev. v. 14; PhU. ii 30 with Eev. xii 11; PhU. iu. 2 with Eev. U. 9, iii 9, xxu. 15; PhU. iu. 18, 19 with Eev. xix. 20, xx. 9, 10, etc. ; PhiL iv. 3 with Eev. ui 5, xiii 8, xvii 8, xx. 11; Phil. iv. 5 with Eev. xxii. 7, 20 ; PhU. iv. 20 with Eev. i 6 : Col. ill with Eev. iv. 12 ; CoL i 12 with Eev. xxi. 23- 25; CoL i 16 with Eev. v. 13, 14; CoL i 18 with Eev. xxii 6, 9; CoL ui 3 with Eev. u. 17; CoL iu. 16 with Eev. iu. 5, 9, xiv. 3 ; Col. iv. 3 with Eev. iu. 20 : PhUem. 5 with Eev. u. 2, etc. But this Epistle is so 28 PEOLEGOMENA. brief and so personal, that allusions to visions of pubUc events were not to be expected. The whole internal evidence of these Epistles harmonizes only with the fact of their having been preceded by the Apocalypse. XX. 1 Timothy is dated A.D. 67. — 1 Tim. i 10 seems suggested by Eev. xxi. 8. 1 Tim. iii 15, " The piUar and ground," etc., in allusion to Eev. iii. 12: "A pUlar in the temple of God." 1 Tim. iv. 3 : " The Spirit speaks ex pressly " (pjyTw?). This alludes to Eev. ii 7, etc. : " What the Spirit says to the churches ; " and in the prediction that follows, Paul seems to give concisely the substance of Eev. xiii. 11 to the end. 1 Tim. iv. 6, comp. with Eev. iii. 1 ; 1 Tim. v. 22 with Eev. xviii 4 ; 1 Tim. vi. 1 3 with Eev. xxi. 6 ; 1 Tim. xvi 5 with Eev. xvii. 14. XXI. 2 Timothy is dated a.d. 68. — 2 Tim. i 8 seems sug gested by Eev. i 9. 2 Tim. i 10, " Christ has abolished death," by Eev. ii IL: " He that overcometh shaU not be hurt of the second death ;" also Eev. xx. 6. 2 Tim. iii. 1-5 seems an explanatory summary of E6v. xiii and xvii, and the visions there written of the rise of the two monsters and the harlot. 2 Tim. iv. 1 : " The appearing and the kingdom " refer to several apocalyptic visions. XXII. Titus is dated a.d. 67. — ^Tit. i 10 : " Vain talkers,"— an aUusion to the Nicolaitanes of Eev. ii. 6. Tit. ii. 13 : "The glorious appearing" {eTricpaveia) — what but the coming down of Jesus so repeatedly beheld in the apocalyptic visions ? XXIII. Such examples sweU the amount of cumulative evidence of an acquaintance with the Apocalypse on the part of Paul, and consequently of the early date of the Apocalypse. If not in each instance decisive, and if such simUarities of thought and style may occasionally be independent of one an other, yet the probabUity lies aU on one side ; the frequency is a fact to be accounted for ; and in the visions the thoughts and images occupy a place as integral parts of the thuigs seen and heard ; while in the Epistles they have aU the appearance of an ingrafted connection, as quotations or references. There INTEENAL EVIDENCE : HEBEEWS. 29 would be no success in attempting to discover in the Apoca lypse any reference to these Epistles. XXIV. Hebrews, variously dated (a.d. 62 to 84), may be attributed to 63 with three of the authorities.' — Its references to the Apocalypse are more numerous than those of most Epistles, and seem quite patent, though not Uteral quotations. Heb. i 3 : " Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." How like to Eev. iu. 21 : " Set down with my Father on His throne," — where the words are Christ's, who could not be supposed to borrow those of PauL Heb. i 4 : " Better than the angels ;" and ver. 14 : " Are they not aU ministering spirits ? "¦ — a reference to Eev. v. 1 0, in which aU the angels stand waiting to serve. Paul speaks of this as a fact already revealed. Heb. ii. 10: " Of whom and by whom are aU things." Paul uses these words as a parenthetical insertion ; and they closely resemble Eev. iv. 1 1 : " For Thy pleasure they are and were created." Heb. iv. 12: " The word of God," a title said by some to be exclusively used by John to designate Christ. John re peatedly uses it in the Apocalypse, especiaUy in xix. 13 : " His name is caUed the Word of God." From this Paul seems to have adopted it, attributing, as he does Ufe, know ledge, personality, to " the Word." Heb. vii 26: "A high priest, holy, harmless, undefiled ; " and ix. 24 : " To appear in the presence of God for us." These seem to be references to Eev. vui, 3 : " Another angel came and stood at the altar ; and there was given to him much in cense,- that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints." Heb. X. 2 6 : " The fearful looking for of judgment,'' a re ference to the judgment of the sixth seal, which was impending over the Jews. Heb. X. 37 : "A Uttle whUe, and He that shall come wiU come," a premonition drawn from Christ's apocalyptic words: " I come quickly." Heb. xi. 40 : " That they" (martyrs and other saints of the ancient age) " without us should not be perfect ; " evidently referring to Eev. vi. 11: " That tbey " (the martyrs of the old economy) "should rest, until their brethren, that should be kiUed as they were, should be fulfilled." This application is over- 30 PEOLEGOMENA. looked in consequence of wrong interpretation of the fifth seal. Heb. xii. 1 : " A cloud of witnesses," suggested by Eev. vii. 9 : " A multitude that no man could number." Heb. xii. 7 : " Whom the Lord loves He chastens," refer ring to Eev. iii. 19: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." These are Christ's own words in the 1st pers., and form a natural source of the apostle's words. Heb. xii 22-25 : "Ye are come to Mount Zion," — an ob vious reference to John's vision of the Lamb with the 144,000 on Mount Zion, and aU the detaUs of the vision, in Eev. xiv. 1-5. Heb. xii. 27:" The removing of those things that are shaken." Here Paul as obviously refers to Eev. xxi. 1, " The old heaven and earth passed away," as to Haggai ii 6. He seems to refer to both. Heb. xiii. 8 : " Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," an exposition of Christ's words (Eev. i 4) in the 1st pers. : "I am the beginning and the ending;" wliich words being Christ's, are original Heb. xiii. 15: " The sacrifice of praise," expository of Eev. V. 9 : " Thou hast made us to our God a kingdom of priests." XXV. These and various other passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews are most plain and significant, on the supposition that they allude to the respective places in the Apocalypse ; while it could not with any plausibility be said that anything in the Apocalypse refers to the Epistle to the Hebrews. XXVI. 1 Peter is dated A.D. 64. 1 Pet. i 1 seems an aUusion to Jesus' address to the churches of Asia. 1 Pet. i 11 : "The Spirit of Christ which was in them," an aUusion to Eev. xix. 11:" The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 1 Pet. i 12 : "Which things the angels desire to look into." There seems an allusion to the angels in the circle of the throne (Eev. v. 11). 1 Pet. i 19 : He uses the title Lamb (a/^w?), employed by no other apostle save John,— in the Apocalypse apviov} and in the Gospel afivo<;. ' A diminutive of «f,.»v, used by Jesus : ' ' Lambs among wolves. " INTEENAL EVIDENCE : 1 AND 2 PETEE. 3 1 1 Pet. u. 5, 9 : "A holy priesthood," a reference to Eev. V. 9 : " Kings and priests." 1 Pet. iv. 7 : " The end of all things is at hand," an evi dent allusion to Eev. xxi. 1,2: " Old things are passed away.'' 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18: "Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? " These words plainly allude to the judgment of the sixth seal, when impenitent Jews caU on the rocks and mountains to hide them. Without adducing some aUusions from ch. v., I hesitate not to conclude that this Epistle also has much internal evi dence of having been written after the Apocalypse. XXVIL 2 Peter, a.d. 65. 2 Pet. i 1 : Like John, he caUs himself a servant of Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. i 16: "We were eye-witnesses of His majesty." Here he seems to remind his readers that, Uke John, though without naming him, he too had a vision of the Lord, viz. on the mount of transfiguration. 2 Pet. i 19:" The more sure word of prophecy ; until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." What did Peter mean by " the more sure word of prophecy ? " Beyond aU rational doubt, he means the Apocalypse. The English version has obscured this by making it indefinite : " a word of prophecy." But the text has the article tov, with the general consent of codices ; and Boothroyd, Macknight, Shep pard, Young, and Fausett have rendered it " the prophetic word." The versions of Ostevald and De Sacy have the article. Thus Peter refers not to fragmentary prophetic words, but to the prophetic book of the New Testament. 2 Pet. ii 1 : " False prophets and false teachers." The whole of this chapter seems an expository description suggested by John's visions of the monster, and the harlot deceiving the nations by false miracles and jugglery ((f>app,aKeia). 2 Pet. iu. 2 : " The words predicted by the holy prophets and apostles," including this chapter, which is throughout prin cipally a recapitulation of what Isaiah, Joel, etc. had foretold of the day of the Lord, and the new heavens and new land, and of what Paul and John had written in the New Testa ment—the former repeatedly foretelling the day of the Lord ; and the latter, in Eev. xxi. 1-27, recording a vision of the 3 2 PEOLEGOMENA. new heaven and new earth, in which dweUeth righteousness As this chapter was evidently written by one who had rea( the prophets, it quite as much, nay more, bespeaks one wh( had read the Apocalypse. In the eighth verse he refers to John', thousand years, and identifies them with the gospel day. XXVII. Jude may be placed, with most of the authori ties, a Uttle after Second Peter, a part of the second chapte of which it practicaUy cites. Verse 9, though alluding , t( Satan's accusation in Zech. iii against the high priest Joshua the representative of the Mosaic institute,^ must also have i reference to Eev. xii. 9, where John saw Michael warrinj against the dragon. Verse 11:" The error of Balaam " is evidently mentionec after the example of Christ in Eev. u. 14. Ver. 13:" Blackness of darkness," an evident aUusion t( the vapour and smoke beheld by John in Eev. viu. 10 and ix. 1 Ver. 2 3 seems an aUusion to the necessity of white and clear garments, so repeatedly beheld in the apocalyptic visions. The glorious presence and the doxology at the close seen also to refer to the visions of the court and company of Chrisi in the fourth and other chapters of the Apocalypse. XXIX. Tlie Epistles of John. TheU dates are surroundec with doubt and uncertainty, as may be seen from the table ranging from a.d. 65 to about A.D. 97. The latter dat( cannot be correct. The principal indications of time whicl they contain are the aUusions to the heretics or antichrists and spirits denying that Jesus had come in the flesh. Foi these there is no need to search only after the destructioi of Jerusalem ; for we know that aU the unbeUeving Jew! asserted from the first, as their posterity still do, that Messial had not yet come; and we know from the .earliest fatheri (presently to be cited), that Simon, recorded in the eightl chapter of Acts, went to Eome and gained great celebritj there as a heresiarch. Patristic writers speak of his con fronting Peter ; and there is much reason to beUeve that i was he who procured the relegation of John and the Christian generally in A.D. 51, and afterwards the death of Peter an( Paul. Besides, we know from the Epistle to the Galatiani The body of Moses " is an expression analogous to " corpus poetarum, " corpus legum," etc. INTEENAL EVIDENCE : JOHN. 33 (54-57), that when it was written, Paul had been much opposed by the heretics. And John (1 John u. 18) makes the multiplicity of such men and tenets an evidence of " the last time," — a phrase applied by the apostles to the closely impending destruction of Jerusalem. In this the apostles only reiterated the prediction of Christ, that previous to that national disaster there would come false Christs and false prophets. The first Epistle of John evidently belongs to a date earUer than the fall of Jerusalem. It is argued, very inconclusively, that John must have been very aged, because he caUs the beUevers chUdren. Had Jesus remained on earth. His human age at the destruction of Jerusalem would have been seventy-four. John, a little younger, may have been seventy or more ; and at such an age, especiaUy when the other apostles were dead, he might most appropriately address beUevers " my chUdren." So, in the second and third Epistles, regarded as having been written near the same time, he famiUarly caUs himself " the elder." XXX. Now it would be a hopeless task to search in the Apocalypse for any reference to these Epistles. And, on the other hand, they are not so abundant as some other Epistles in references to the Apocalypse. The prophetic symbolism is wanting; yet the phraseology reads as that of John, and seems to aUude to a fuUer development of the same thoughts. In this respect the foUowing passages may be compared : — 1 John U. 11 with Eev. ui. 17 ; U. 14 with Eev. ii. 7 ; u. 16 with Eev. xviu. 11-17; u. 18 with Eev. i 4, ii 2; u. 20 with Eev. iv. 8 ; u. 22 with Eev. ui 9 ; ii. 28 with Eev. i 7 ; iu. 1 with Eev. xxi 7; iii 8 with Eev. xx. 2 ; iu. 16 with Eev. V. 9 ; iv. 1 with Eev. u. 2, xv. 15; iv. 3 with Eev. xiu. 1, 11, etc. ; V. 4 with Eev. u. 7 ; v. 6 with Eev. i 5 ; v. 20 with Eev. x. 1, xxi 1, etc. ; v. 21 with Eev. ix. 20, etc. ; 2 John 3 with Eev. i 3 ; 7 with Eev. xu. 9 ; 11 with Eev. xviu. 4 ; 3 John 9 with Eev. U. 13, etc. XXXL I have thus adduced examples from aU the apostoUc Epistles, and found many instances, some of certain, and others of highly probable, reference to the Apocalypse; and no examples of the reverse. It is of smaU avaU to reply that in c 34 PEOLEGOMENA. some of these the apostles might independently have used words and phrases simUar to those of the Apocalypse. To answer the purpose of an objection, it would be necessary to be able to say this not of some, but aU of them. I admit that some of the examples adduced may be doubtful. But I have shown a considerable number of substantial quotations from the Apocalypse ; and definite terms used in the Epistles as if they had been employed before ; and declarations that the Spirit speaketh, the full detaU of the oracle being found in the Apocalypse ; and the doctrinal statement of what John had pictoriaUy presented in visions ; the employment of titles and terms of which John undoubtedly presents the first apostoUc use ; and the occurrence of admonitions which Jesus, in the epistles to the seven churches, employed in the first person : these, and many other cumulative facts, leave no shade of doubt that the Apocalj^pse preceded the Epistles in time. XXXII. It follows that the Apocalypse was written at some time from 51 to 54; that the visions, and perhaps the writing, began then, though both may have extended over that interval, or longer. I believe we should err if we did not aUow a considerable period of months or years at intervals for the witnessing of these sublime visions, and for carefuUy recording them in the studied symboUc style of the book — a style at once the product of thought, and the result of plenary inspiration. If Isaiah's, Jeremiah's, Ezekiel's, and Daniel's visions were respectively extended over the reigns of several monarchs, it is reasonable to believe that the weakness of humanity was allowed lengthened intervals of resuscitation between intense inteUectual activities, such as made Daniel prostrate, and laid John down as dead, and left an infirmity in the corporeal nature of Paul. XXXIII. To complete my investigation, might require a Uke scrutiny of the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John ; for if the Apocalypse was written at the period indi cated, it preceded the Acts. To the Gospel of John some assign the latest date of any part of the New Testament, but its dates are very variously given ; Greenfield fixing it to A.D. 67, Alford to 70 or more, and some to near the end of the first century. WhUe there is nothing in the Apocalypse ap- INTEENAL EVIDENCE: ACTS, AND GOSPEL OF JOHN. 35 parently referring to this Gospel, there are expressions in the Gospel implying that Jerusalem was yet undemolished. XXXIV. As to Acts, suffice it that Paul's address to the elders of Ephesus indicates throughout an acquaintance with various parts of the Apocalypse, — especially with the epistle of Jesus to the church of Ephesus : as his aUusions to the hostiUty of the Jews, the testifying, the going bound in the Spirit, the not counting his life dear, the bishops or elders whom John caUs messengers, the purchase with Christ's blood, the entry of " wolves, and men speaking perverse things," the warnings and exhortations to repentance, faith, and patience. XXXV. Without surveying the whole Gospel of John here, I shaU confine myself to a glance at its commencement and close. John i 1 : " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This lays down the doctrine of the deity of the Logos ; but instead of defining the name, it employs it as one already known and famiUar. To find its origin in the New Testament we must go to Eev. i 3, " who" (the messenger) "testified to the Word of God," — not the words of Scripture, as some gratuitously interpret, for the next words, " the testimony of Jesus Christ,'' show that " the word of God" has a personal meaning; otherwise, "the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ," would be a palpable tautology. The name is also found and defined in Eev. xix. 13:" His name (jceKX-qTo) has been called the Word of God." Where ? In ch. i 3, already referred to. Jolm xxi. 24: "This is the disciple who testifies (o pup- rvpcov) these things, and wrote (7/Dai|ra?, an aorist participle) these things." " The aorist," says Kuhner,^ " expresses past time separate from the present of the speaker ;" and the aorist of the verb here employed is most appropriate to John, as describing by word-painting the visional scenes, whUe the previous participle " witnessing " is equaUy appropriate to him in his GospeL But this makes the depicting of the visions a past, and the Gospel testimony a present act. Testimony is either verbal or written. It may be objected that John in Eev. i 2 applies to himself the verb in the aorist {ep,apTvpi]a-e), " he testified," in reference to the Apocalypse, on which he is ' Gr. Oram. S6 PEOLEGOMENA. entering. But this cannot be admitted ; for 6? eptaprvprja-e, "who" (or he) "testified," must be referred not to John as the antecedent of o?, but to the messenger who interpreted the visions : " He sent and signified by His messenger to His servant John, who " (which messenger) " bare witness to," etc. This is proved by ch. xxU. 16: "I Jesus have sent mine angel (messenger) to testify unto you these things." XXXVI. And no words could more appropriately conclude Scripture than the assurance in the last words of John's Gospel, that " if aU were written, even the world could not contain the books that would be written." John outUved the other apostles ; and his Gospel forms the latest portion of Scripture. And as men are perpetually aUowing their fancies to overstep facts, there has been a tendency to assume that aU his writings were of a late date ; while others, with more of truth, have regarded the Apocalypse as indicating the style of a young man. My opinion has at least the merit of being between extremes. If he wrote his visions in A.D. 51, he could not have been much less or more than fifty years of age, — not a mere youth, and not the broken-down man of almost a century. XXXVII. If the same Une of inquiry be pursued regarding the other three Gospels, the conclusion wUl be nothing dif ferent. Matthew is variously dated, from a.d. 37 (Alford and Townsend) to 52 ; Mark, from 48 to 66 ; Luke, from 50 to 63. Matthew, then, may be regarded as earUer than the Apocalypse. The lowest of the dates assigned to Mark and Luke would place the one three years, and the other one year, before the relegation by Claudius. With so smaU and doubtful a difference of time, nothing but plain and un equivocal aUusions would be to the point ; and it is aUnost superfluous to add, such can scarcely be said to exist. The Lord's birth, parables, miracles, death, and resurrection are the leading topics of the Gospels ; and these are so unique, and so unUke the apocalyptic visions, that references were hardly to be anticipated. Some terms and images in Matthew seem to be the source (in common with the Old Testament) of some that have been used as prophetic signs in the visions of John. • Thus : Matt. vu. 15 : " Beware of false prophets ; " Mark xiu. 22 : INTEENAL EVIDENCE : GOSPELS. 37 " False prophets shall arise." These original words of Jesus may have given origin to John's apocalyptic term : " the false prophet." Matt. xiu. 30 : The "harvest" may have been the origin of the symboUc reaping in Eev. xiv. 16. But John, doubtless, derived them not from Matthew, but from the lips of Jesus. This appUes to the foUowing, and aU Jesus' words cited in the Gospels. Matt. xix. 28 and xxv. 31, " The Son of man shaU sit on the throne of His glory," may have suggested the image of the "great white throne" (Eev. xx. 14). Matt. xxiU. 37, "0 Jerusalem, which kUlest the prophets," may have originated the words in Eev. xi. 8 : " Jerusalem, where also our Lord was crucified." Matt. xxiv. 14, "The gospel preached in aU the world," may be aUuded to in Eev. xiv. 6 : " The everlasting gospel to preach to them that dweU on the earth." Matt. xxiv. 29 and Mark xiU. 24, in common with Old Testament language — the sun and moon darkened, etc. — may have furnished simUar terms in the Apocalypse. Mark xiv. 62, "Ye shaU see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power," may be compared with Eev. v. 15: " Him that sitteth on the throne, and the Lamb." Luke ix. 54, " Consume them as Elias did," may be com pared with Eev. xi. 5 : " Fire proceedeth out of their mouth," etc. Luke xvii. 3 7, " There wiU the eagles be gathered," may be compared with Eev. xix. 17:" Saying to aU the birds. Come." Luke xxi. 2 6, " The powers of heaven shaU be shaken," is at least coincident with Eev. vi 13 : " The stars feU Uke a fig-tree shaken," etc. On the whole, I see nothing in Mark and Luke to indicate an earUer date than the Apocalypse, though I am disposed to accord with the earUest date — 48 and 50. I find not, even in Matthew, traces as clear of an earUer origin than the Apocalypse, as in John, the Acts, and the Epistles of an origin subsequent to the Apocalypse. This whole internal evidence must be weighed coUateraUy with statements now to be adduced from early fathers, — as 38 PEOLEGOMENA. Caius, Irenseus, Origen, Clemens, TertuUian, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, etc. SECTION IV. THE EAELY DATE OF THE APOCALYPSE MAY ALSO BE ESTABLISHED ON THE AUTHOEITY OF SOME OF THE FIEST PATEISTIC WEITEES. I. Though the earUest fathers are comparatively sUent on the subject, yet some of them distinctly ascribe the earUer date to the Apocalypse; whUe the opinion of a later date depends on the statements of later patristic writers, with the exception of two or three words of Irenseus, the meaning of which is disputed. Thus Caius says, " Paul foUowed his predecessor John in writing seven epistles to seven churches."^ There is some uncertainty respecting Caius or Gains, from the fact that only fragments are preserved ; but the names in these indicate him as about contemporary with Irenseus, near the end of the second century. His words are express in making at least chapters ii and iu. of the Apocalypse precede the PauUne Epistles. Even were we to suppose the rest of the Apocalypse later, the Patmos sojourn and the seven epistles to the seven churches of Asia must, according to Caius, have been earlier than even Paul's earUest Epistle (First Thessa lonians), and therefore as early as A.D. 51. II. Clement of Alexandria, in words already cited in English,^ says, Akovov pvOov, ov p,v6ov, dXXa ovTa 'Xojov irepi Icoavvov TOV aTrocrToXov 7rapaBeBop,€vov Kai pvrip,rj irecbv'Xaypevov. EireiBr] jap tov Tvpavvov TeXevTr]cravTO<} airo tij? IIaTp,ov Trj'i vrja-ov p.cT'TjXOev eiri ttjv E^eaov — " Hear a myth, not a myth, but an actual story concerning John the apostle ; handed down and kept in memory. After the sovereign died, he de parted from the isle of Patmos to Ephesus." These words have been quoted by different writers in favour of the theory that John was relegated to Patmos by Domitian. And the reason given is, simply that the word " sovereign," or, as they ' Fragments. See Ante-Mcene Fathers; or the original, in Pairologia, vol. ix. 161. ' Sect. I. CAIUS CLEMENT OEIGEN. 39 render it, " tyrant " (Tvpavvov ^acriXevt to? 57 -irapaBoaK Bihaaicei, KaTeSiKatxe tov laavvrjv p,apTvpowTa Bia tov T97? aXr}deiaea}<; ¦^v ovk tjctkij- aafiev, etc. " Thou wUt not expect from me who am resident among the Keltse, and am accustomed for the most part to use a barbarous dialect, any display of rhetoric, which I have never learned, or any exceUence of composition, which I have never practised, etc."* VIII. Further, Irenseus's words are, to say the least, am biguous : debateable and debated, they break down under the weight of the inference derived from them. They run thus : ® El, jap eBei, avaavBov tco vw Kaipoa Krjpv^eaSai, to ovofia avTOV {tov Ajni-^iaTOv) Bt eneivov av eppeOrj tov Kai ttjv Attoko- Xvyjnv ecopaKaTO<; ; ovBe jap irpo ttoXXov yjpovov ecopaOr), aXXa <7y(eBov eirt, ttj(; r]p,eTepaavov<;) : I wiE come to you." In John xvi. 7 He says, " I go away (aireXOco) ; but when I proceed (iropevdco, which word expresses proceeding with ' Ea», both in the LXX. and the New Testament, is au adverb of time, sig nifying "when." Mackn. in Ep. Prelim. Es. CHEIST'S PEESENCE WITH .HIS PEOPLE. 6 7 a work), I will send (Tre/ii/ro)) the Spirit unto you." Also, in ver. 16, "A Uttle while (fiiKpov), and ye shaU not see me (OecopeiTe) : and again, a little whUe, and ye shall see" (o-^eade). Here the first verb denotes visual seeing ; to which meaning the second verb is not Umited. " A little while, and ye shall not see me" visuaUy; for the clouds will receive me out of your sight ; " and again, a Uttle whUe, and ye shaU see me " with mind and faith. The fijst Uttle whUe was the time from His speaking untU His ascension. Is it not, then, utterly non-natural, and baseless interpretation, to say that the same phrase in the next clause of the same sentence must be inter preted to mean the 1871 years, and how much more none knows, from the ascension untU the Lord's being seen again, — especiaUy since this seeing is expressed in the sentence by a different verb from the former ? I lately heard a preacher urge the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's presence in believers, from 1 Cor. vi 15-19 : "Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost." But it did not seem to have occurred to him that the same passage con tains the words, " Your bodies are the members of Christ " (implying a presence even more intimate than that of a temple) ; and that Peter describes beUevers as " Uving stones unitedly forming a spiritual house " (1 Pet. ii. 5), of which Jesus is the head corner-stone. Fausett adds : " Christians are both the temple and the priests." Thus the same argu ments which prove the presence of the Spirit, prove also that of Jesus. The one is inseparable from the other. In the temple, the Ught and fire were typical of the Spirit; and equally the sacrifice and cloud of glory typified Jesus. The golden candlesticks have the presence of Jesus walking among them, and of the Spirit Uluminating. SECTION VIII. JESUS IN HIS UNIPEESONALITY AS GOD-MAN IS ALPHA AND OMEGA. As the Hebrew letters in older form gave origin in shape and name to the Greek letters, so did they in numerical powers. That this numeral use of letters is older in Hebrew 6 8 PEOLEGOMENA. than in Greek, is plain from the fact that, though the latter lost vau as a letter, it retained it as a numeral, and stUl calls . it bau episemon (/8au eTria-rjpov), as a mark or digit ; and that having no representative of the Hebrew p= 100, it transferred the next letter, koph, caUing it koppa =90. Thence to the end the Hebrew letters are foUowed with a diminished unil; — T = 200, becoming p=100; e; = 300, becoming o-=200; and n =400, becoming t = 300. The fact which thus meets us in the beginning of the Apocalypse, that the first and last letters are found in the ancient codices instead of the words written in fiiU, gives sanction to the principle of calculating the numerical value of letters. We are not to be startled by the abuse made of this by cabalists, under the rabbinical name of Gematria (jecopeTpia) : as well might we object to figurative language because it has been greatly abused; or, with many, to the Apocalypse itself, on account of pre- mUlennial doctrine which disordered ingenuity extracts from it. Alpha is first in most ancient alphabets, — Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Persic, Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, etc. It espe ciaUy points to Jesus as the subject of the first promise (Gen. iii. 15). Omega, last in Greek, overruns the compass of the Hebrew alphabet, and serves very suggestively to present Jesus, revealed in the last dispensation after the first had come to a close. As the Hebrew had no omega, so it was not for the prophets in Hebrew, but for the apostles in Greek, to unfold the latter-day glory. SECTION IX. HADES IS THE INVISIBLE STATE OF MAN, WHICH WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE SECOND RESUEEECTION. Hades must be carefuUy distinguished from Geenna. In the New Testament we read of " eternal fire " (Matt, xvui 8 ; Jude 7); "eternal punishment" (Matt. xxv. 46); "eternal judgment" (Matt, iii 29); "eternal times" (Eom. xvi. 25); " eternal destruction " (2 Thess. i 9) ; but not of eternal Hades. Geenna is not mentioned in the Apocalypse ; but Christ speaks of " the Geenna of fire " (Matt. v. 22) — the place of the fire of which eternity is predicated— by the word aicovio?. This word HADES. 69 is nowhere applied to Hades ; nor is fire attributed to Hades, unless that meaning be found in the words of Dives (Luke xvi. 24). "I am pained (oBwopai) in this flame" (cpXo^). If he meant Uteral fire, why did he not say fire, and that he was ' burning in it ? And why did he speak of cooling or refresh ing his tongue, if he did not mean that the flame, of whatever kind, was within him ? As Job laments, the arrows of God drinking up his spirit ; and Paul speaks of fiery darts of temp tation ; and a psalmist, of being consumed by the blow of God's hand; and James, of the tongue being a fire, — aU these are appUed to men in the body, without any literal burning. But a special point here is, that at the final judgment " death and Hades give up the dead that are in them : " the death, the first death so long known to men, and the Hades that had so long received the dead, — these give up the dead that are in them (Eev. XX. 13). And of all these the righteous go into Ufe eternal, and the wicked into punishment eternal, and death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire. Thus the retribution of Hades for ever gives place to that of the lake of fire. To set this beyond reasonable ground of cavil, let us look at the meaning and the whole usage of the word. Hades is usuaUy said to be from a priv. + eiBco, to see, and means in visible. This, however, fails to account for the h or aspirate ; b.ut this we derive from the article o ; — o -|- aS-ij? (sc. totto? or KXripo<;) (Hades), the invisible.-^ It occurs in eleven places of the New Testament — viz. : Matt, xi 23: " Thou, Capernaum, shalt be brought down to Hades." This is said of a town, which has no personal and future existence. So Luke x. 15. Matt, xvi 18: "The gates of Hades,"— hostile to Christ's church on earth. Luke xvi. 23 : "In Hades the rich man lifted up his eyes," etc. Of the duration of Hades, Christ in this parable says nothing. He says there is a guff (¦xpicrpa) made firm, between it and Abraham's status ; and aU that we can infer is, that it will continue while Hades continues. The only scripture which can be cited to settle that, is Eev. xx. 13. Acts ii. 27, 31 : " Tliou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades" (^iSB*^ — ety ^Brjv). If this warranted any conclusion, it would ' See note at exposition of ch. i. 18. 70 PEOLEGOMENA. not be the continuance of Hades, but the reverse. That Christ went to Hades, but was not abandoned to it, requires the addition of a verb to the text, — a Uberty we have no right to take. The passage is utterly sUent as to the duration of Hades. 1 Cor. XV. 55 : " 0 Hades, where is thy victory ?" This says nothing of the wicked, and does not touch the question of the duration of Hades. If any conclusion, it would be the cessa tion of Hades. Eev. i 18. The passage under iUustration: " I have the keys of Hades and death." This surely impUes that Hades and death (the first death ; for the second has not been yet revealed to John in the Apocalypse) are of equal duration; but this death continues only tiU the second resurrection. This, then, must be true of Hades ; for it and death are connected. Eev. vi. 8 : " Death and Hades followed " the rider on the grey horse. This is combined with sword, hunger, pestUence, and beasts — aU destructive of present Ufe, but making no deci sion regarding the future. Eev. XX. 13: " Death and Hades delivered up the dead." This, beyond question, impUes that they wiU be no more. The dead are taken out of them ; and the wicked cast " not into Hades," but " into the lake of fire." Eev. XX. 14 : "Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire." This implies that they wUl cease, and only the lake of fire will abide. These passages exhaust the New Testament usage of the word ; and instead of making it to be eternal retribution, they represent the latter as different, calling it by a different term. The corresponding term (':>'Hif = ' ABtj?) in the Old Testament occurs in the following texts : — Deut. xxxii 22 : "Afire shall burn, to Sheol" (Hades). 1 Sam. u. 6 : " He bringeth to Sheol (Hades), and bri'ngeih up." This, then, does not express the place of damnation, out of which there is no deUverance. 1 Kings U. 9 : " His (Shimei's) hoar head hring thou to Sheol " (Hades) = the grave. Job vii 9 : "He that goes to Sheol (Hades) comes not up" viz. to this life again. Job xvu. 13 : "Sheol (Hades) is my house" — I am mortal (Isa. xxxvui. 1 0 ; Job xiv. 1 3). hades oe sheol. 71 Job xxi 13:" The worldly go down to Sheol " (Hades) — the dead state (Ezek. xxxU. 27, xxxi 15). Job xxiv. 19:" Sheol— to those that have sinned,"— the grave consumes them ; foUowed by, " the worm shaU feed sweetly on them." Job xxvi. 6 : " Sheol " (Hades) — the iavisible laid open (Prov. XV. 11, xxvii 20). Ps. xviii 5 : " The sorrows of Sheol " (Hades) — in the pre sent Ufe (Ps. cxvi 3). Ps. xxx. 4: "Brought up from Sheol" (Hades) — kept aUve. Ps. xlix. 15 : " God will redeem. my soul from Sheol" (Hades). Ps. Ixxxix. 49 ; Hos. xui. 14; Ps. Ixxxvi 13 ; Prov. xxiii 14: "He shaU not die." Ps. iv. 16 : "Down to Sheol (Hades) alive" (Ps. Lsxxviu. 4 ; Num. xvi. 30 ; Isa. Lxii 9 ; Ezek. xxxi 16). Ps. cxxxix. 8 : " If I make my bed in Sheol" (Hades). Prov. V. 5 : "Her steps take hold on Sheol" (Hades). Prov. ix. 18 : "Her guests are in Sheol" (Hades). Prov. xxx. 15:" Sheol (Hades) not satisfied." Isa. vi. 14 : " Sheol (Hades) hath enlarged herself." Isa. xiv. 9 : " Sheol (Hades) is moved for thee." Isa. xxvin. 15 : " With Sheol (Hades) are we at agreement." Ezek. xxxii 25 : "Shall speak out of Sheol" (Hades). Jonah ii 3 : " From the belly of Sheol" (Hades). Ps. vi. 6 : "In Sheol (Hades) who shall praise Thee?" Eccles. ix. 10: "No device in Sheol (Hades)." Ps. xvi 10 : "Thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol" (Hades). Job xi. 8 : "Deeper than Sheol" (Hades). Prov. XV. 24: "To depart from Sheol (Hades) beneath." Gen. xxxvu. 35 : "I will go down to Sheol" (Hades). Gen. xlU. 38, xUv. 29. Amos ix. 2 : " Though they dig into Sheol" (Hades). Hab. u. 5 : "Wlio enlargeth his desire as Sheol" (Hades). Thus the word Sheol = (Hades) occurs forty-four times. As its first letter v (whether sin or shin) is often inter changed with h, so etymologists have been accustomed to connect sheol with the English hole : whence hell.'^ But that heU did not in the older English mean the place of final ' May not this be the true origin of our word " shell," rather than connecting it with " scale ? " See Webster. 72 PEOLEGOMENA. damnation, is plain from the clause in the EngUsh of the creed, " He descended into hell ;" and from the various bibUcal examples given above, as when Jonah caUed the fish's maw " the beUy of heU" (Jonah ii. 2). In the use of the word as presented above, deliverance out of Sheol, or Hades, occurs at least ten times, while in several places it is applied only to the present life. But in no instance' is any word expressive of eternal- duration connected with it. In various places of the Old Testament, the fact of a universal judgment is dis tinctly asserted. God is caUed " the Judge of all the earth" (Gen. xviu. 25). "He shall judge the righteous and the wicked"- — every man and every work (Eccles. Ui. 17, xi. 9, xii 14; Ps. Ivui. 11, etc.). But the Old Testament never intimates any consignments of men to Sheol after the judgment. For the eternal state, other terms must be sought. And as it is never said that judgment wUl take place in Sheol, those who are in it — that is, all the dead — ^wUl be brought out of it for judgment. This precisely accords with the fact declared and already cited from Eev. xx., that Hades must deliver up the dead, and that God says (Hos. xUi 14), " 0 Sheol, I shall be thy destruction." The final state of the wicked may be learned from the Old Testament by such words as : Abaddun — destruction ; and TopAei = abomination, figuratively derived from the valley of Hinnom,^ where men burnt their chUdren to Moloch (2 Kings xxiii. 1 0) ; and hence came the Greek term jeewa, Geenna or Gehenna, of the New Testament ; also the terms employed in Dan. xii. 2 : ^B^^ kherpah, contumely ; liS"]1, diraun, ignorrviny, etc. SECTION X. THE NICOLAITANS AND BALAAMITES SEEM TO HAVE OEIGINATED WITH SIMON. Different opinions prevail both respecting the meaning of Balaam's name, as noticed at ch. ii 5, and also respecting his Din ''3, Oe Hinnom (Josh. xv. BALAAM. 73 country and people ; so also respecting the import of Nicolaiian. That the Nicolaitans were named from a man called Nicolas, has been a popular idea. There is, however, more foundation for regarding the name as a Greek synonym of Balaam. The latter is called a son of Beor ("i^JJ?)^ — a name which may be Shemitic, though given only to two persons in the whole Bible ; or it might be an Aryan name, trc, Puru, found in the Mahabharat, etc., probably = Porws, who encountered Alex ander. The city of Pethor has proved a puzzle, — to find such a city in Aram. Aram is rendered Mesopotamia (Deut. xxiii. 5), both in the Septuagint and the English. But Aram extended far beyond Mesopotamia, which is distinguished from the rest of Aram by the name Aram Naharaim — Aram of the two rivers (Judg. iU. 8), — as one region in India is called Doab — land between two rivers, and another Punjaub = land within five rivers. So far as name and place go, Balaam may have been Chaldean, i.e. of the Kushdim,, who were Hamites with the Aramean language ; or Aryan, of the Japhetbites, with the Zand language. He was, however, either acquainted with Hebrew, or had an interpreter who knew it, as he both con versed with the king of Moab, and wrote the oracles recorded by Moses ; the only alternative being, that Moses may have given in Hebrew the meaning of what Balaam wrote. Whether Kushdi or Aryan, he was a priest either identical with or simUar to those who bore the official title of Zarathustra (Zoroaster), equivalent to chief dastur, or chief priest. That the Chaldee and Aryan magians were to a large extent blended socially and religiously, is evident from the Pehlvi language, which is Chaldee with a large admixture of Zand or Aryan. Haug^ describes the Pehlvi language in different dialects as " a mixture of Semitic and Iranian elements ; the Semitic part being always identical with Chaldee forms and words, and the latter with Persian." And when we trace the reUgion of Chaldees and Aryans at the early period of Moses, we find both to have had such vague ideas of a Divine -Being as were merging into dualism. In the case of Balaam, this is shown by the power of cursing and of ' In 2 Pet. ii. 15 written -Rotrof, which might have originated in the substi tution of tsade for ain. But the Cod. Sinaiticus haa Btuif. " On the Parsi Rel. p. 46. 74 PEOLEGOMENA. enchantment which Moses represents him as claiming to possess, and as having ascribed to him by the king of Moah (Num. xxii. 6, xxiii. 23, xxiv. 1); and by the foUowing verses from the oldest of the Zoroastrian writings, — the first Gatha, translated by Dr. Haug: "Ye devas .(gods) have sprung out of the evil spirit who takes possession of you by soma (the intoxicating drink), teaching you manifold arts to deceive and destroy mankind; for which arts you are notorious everywhere. Inspired by this evil spirit, you have invented speUs, which are appUed by the most wicked, pleas ing the devas only, but rejected by the good spirit." Here is the idea of the supreme and good Spirit, such as Balaam expressed, combined with incantation and cursing; such as Balaam gained a name by pretending to possess and practise by aid of the evU spirit. His prophetic benedictions recorded in Num. xxiii and xxiv. were beautifully composed oracles of a sagacious man, but involving some mistakes. The expres sion, " The Lord put a word in his mouth," does not imply inspiration (which is always otherwise represented), any more than His putting a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's pro phets (1 Kings xxii 23), or the utterance made by the priestess of Python (Acts xvi. 16, 17). That Balaam could have belonged to any region even so far eastward as Meso potamia, may seem contradicted by the fact that he was slain along with the Midianites (Num. xxxi. 8). But he was only associated with them as with Balak, king of Moab. This does not prove him to have been either Moabite or Midianite. It only proves his fame as an enchanter, leading first the Moabite, and afterwards the Midianite, to seek the aid of his speUs and imprecations. Nor does the occurrence of jioj) in the Chaldee and a few Hebrew mss. prove him to belong to Ammon ; for that is no more than an Aramean form of the word Dy, people or GentUes. Now the analogue of Balaam in the apostolic time was pre-eminently Simon the apostate, who, though a Samaritan, may have been of Aryan blood, as most of the Samaritans were (2 Kings xvii. 24), and who was called Magus, or the Magician — a name derived from Magian, or Mazdiasni, or Zoroastrian religion and people. The mention of him in Acts vui shows that the people deified him, which they would not have done if he had not assumed superhuman SIMON THE MAGICIAN. 75 power. It also shows him actuated by avaricious feeling, and that he was moraUy corrupt. He, as an apostate from the faith on the profession of which he was baptized, became the origi nator of the antichrists, of whom John says (1 John ii 19), " They went out from us, but were not of us ; " and whom Peter (2 Pet. ii. 4, 14) charges with false doctrine and licentious ness. And when we inquire into the testimonies of the ear Uest fathers, we find Clement (i 14), without naming parties, exhorting his readers to " foUow God rather than those who, through pride and sedition, have become the leaders of a de testable emulation.'' Polycarp also (Ep. to Phil. ch. vii.) says, " Whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (the Docetse holding the sentiments of Simon), is antichrist ; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, is the first-born of Satan." Ignatius (to the TraUians) charges them with " mixing up Jesus Christ with their own poison," and caUs Simon and his foUowers " off shoots of Satan." Hermas (Pash. ch. vi.) says, " The moth- eaten branches are the apostates and traitors of the church, who have blasphemed the Lord in their sins." Justin-^ ex pressly states that Simon was caUed a god and a worker of magic, and was honoured with a statue in the time of Claudius Csesar, as God ; and that he kept a woman called Helena, who had been a prostitute, and whom Guerike^ caUs his pimp, for seduction of women, charging also his disciples with leading profiigate lives. Irenseus (B. i ch. xxiii) traces aU sorts of heresies to Simon as their origin, and speaks of his keeping the prostitute Helena. Similar testimonies may be found in the Eecogn. of Clement, and in Epiphanius, etc., at a later time. Thus Simon may safely be regarded as the main, though possibly not the sole, originator of the Balaamites or Nicolaitans, stigmatized in the epistles of Christ to Ephesus and Pergamos, and denounced so strongly by Peter, John, Jude, and Paul, as greatly troubling the church. There is much testimony of the early fathers of his having opposed Peter, and doubtless also John, in Eome ; and as he was honoured as a god by Claudius, and apparently by Nero also, he was in aU probability the instigator of that cruel persecutor to put Peter and Paul to death. 1 First Ap. p. 29, and note. ^ Ch. Hist. p. 152. 76 PEOLEGOMENA. SECTION XI. THE TEEE OF LIFE EEPEESENTS CHEIST. In illustration of this position, several facts require considera tion. (a.) The land of Eden was an emblem of " Emmanuel's Land," — the universal church or kingdom of Christ, territori- aUy considered. Its field is the world ; and to the saints it belongs to inherit the land. (b.) The garden was a portion of and within the land. The Lord planted a garden in Eden. " The garden of the Lord " furnishes a metaphor for fertility and beauty. Judah is compared to one kind of garden — a vineyard.'- The desert of heathendom is converted by the Spirit of God into the garden of the Lord (Isa. li. 3 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 3 5). (c.) The tree of life, or Uves, was not only in the land, but in the centre of the garden. It was in the garden of Eden, and therefore in the land of Eden. As it emblematizes Christ, so it represents the doctrine of His presence in the church on the earth, in which He is unseen, as the tree of life could not have been seen from aU parts of the land of Eden, but in the garden, which occupied a lofty mountain within it. Thus the tree of Ufe more specially represents the presence of- Christ in the upper sanctuary, where His humanity is seen. (d.) Though the botanical identification of the tree of life is not at aU necessary for deriving instruction from it, this may be effected with high probability. (1.) It is an evergreen tree : "its leaf shall not wither" (Ps. i 3, 4). (2.) It is capable of fructification aU the year (Jer, xvii 8; Ezek. xlvu. 12; Eev. xxii 2). (3.) Its fruit is salutary for food: "the fruit thereof shaU be for meat." (4.) Its leaves have medicinal virtue (Ezek. xlvii. 12). (5.) It is of golden colour (Prov. xxv. 11). I am not aware of any tree except one that com bines these five perfections. («.) I understand it of a botanical family rather than a single tree ; and that which seems to meet the case is the citrus ; and if one species of citrus be singled out, I should at once fix on ¦^ Isa. V. 1. THE TEEE, OF LIFE. 77 the citrus decumana, called in India papdnas or pomelo. It is almost the largest product of a fruit tree, of a briUiant golden or orange hue, exceedingly delicious and equaUy wholesome. In various places of the Bible, especiaUy in Proverbs, the tree of life is made an emblem of good quaUties; which would particularly agree with the fruit in question. Its rind and peel yield one of the purest tonic medicines, and from its leaves may be distUled a very odoriferous and salutary volatile oU.i It may be objected that citrons, oranges, and lemons are never named in the Bible. Not indeed in the English Bible, — a remarkable fact, as there exists abundant evidence of such fruits in Palestine. Josephus (Antiq. xiii. ch. xiii. 5) says the people of Jerusalem " pelted Alexander Janneus with citrons." Thompson (Land and Book, p. 112) expressly mentions " oranges, lemons, and citrons," and gives a glowing description of them ; see also Imp. Die. of Bib. ; Ene. Brit, etc. Is there not, then, reason to suspect that some Hebrew word in the Bible denotes this famUy ? Such a word is niQri (ta.ppuakh), which occurs six times, and is rendered in the EngUsh " apple." It is associated with vines, figs, pomegranates, palms, — tropical fruits. The apple is mentioned by Thompson at Ascalon — probably a modern importation. The tappitakh is caUed in Arabic ^yi utrunj, and in Chaldi Atharog — both probably cognate with the Indian name of the orange, ^ttH (ndrang). Thompson indeed says :^ " The Arabic word for apple is almost the same as the Hebrew. . . . Let taffuah, then, stand for apple, as our noble translation has it." I cannot consent to this. The writer in Kitto's Cyclopcedia has truly identified the fruit in question with the citron. Thompson supposes only the one species meant, " which is made into preserves," and which is, I am able to add, highly deUcious in that form. In Arabic the —Uj (taffah) is defined by Eichardson in a generic sense, including earth-apple, apricot, peach, mandrake, citron, orange, lemon, which are not at aU congeners ; as the word is used in English, — rose-apple, pin-e-apple, love-apple, custard-apple, egg- apple, etc. The same is true of the Latin word pomum, de- ' See Imp. Die. of Bible — "Apple" (tappuahh). ' Land and Book, p. 546. 78 PEOLEGOMENA. fined " aU manner of fruit," ^ and the Greek pijXov (melon) f not only apple, but " the fruit of any tree, — quince, peach, orange, etc." The apple is not otherwise noticed in Scripture than by the geueral term for fruit, ''IS (fieri) = the Sanscrit w^ (phal), and the English apple. And the entire bibUcal usage of the word talUes much better with the genus citrus than with the apple (pyrus malus). In Joel i 1 2 it is combined with palm and pomegranate — tropical or sub-tropical fruits. In Song u. 3 and viii. 5, reclining under its shade is objected to ; but citron-trees are as adequate for yielding shade as apple-trees. In Song vU. 8 its delicious fragrance is lauded ; and, in this respect, I think it must be conceded superior to the apple. And in Prov. xxv. 11 it is described by the epithet golden, — in the English version, " apples (tappuakh) of gold ;" and certainly, for golden hue, no fruit can rival the whole genus, — pomelo, orange, lemon, etc. From its golden hue is derived its name of orange (Lat. aurantium). SECTION XIL THE TEEM OVpavd OCCUPIES THE SAME PLACE IN THE APOCA LYPSE THAT D'D^n OCCUPIED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT PEOPHETIC VISIONS. The proof of this proposition may be found at ch. vi. 12 and xxi. 1, and therefore need not be repeated. The word occurs fifty-three times in the Apocalypse, — in chapters iii. iv. V. vi viii. ix. x. xi. xU. xui xiv. xv. xvi xviii xix xx. xxi. And it has always the article, except in xxi. 1,' and for this the reason is very significant ; for we are there informed that the former heaven and earth of Judaism had passed away, and that now a new heaven and a new earth are introduced, and which are therefore uniformly marked as definite by the article, according to Greek grammatical usage (Kuhner's Gr. Gram. § 244, 6). It is no exception that in two instances the ' Lyttleton's Lat. Diet. ^ Dunbar. ' This will be shown in the exposition of the passage to apply to the pente costal dispensation, and consequently to reveal the new Jerusalem as coetaneous with the gospel age. PEOPHETIC IMPOET OF ovpavo^. 79 word is in the vocative, which supersedes the article (except in Hebraisms), without leaving the noun indefinite. In addition to what is said in the note to viii. 2 respecting the symbol " the heaven," the foUowing passages iUustrate its prophetic import. Isa. xui 9—17: Here "a day of Jehovah" is foreseen as coming on the Babylonian monarchy ; and in that period the stars, the sun, and the moon of Babylon are aU seen in vision to be darkened, the world of that empire is punished ; and this cannot be interpreted of any wider world, for the instruments of fulfilment are the Medes. Isa. xxiv. 21-23 : Here Palestine is described by the earth or land; the kings and other magnates are described as shut in prison aud dismayed with darkness ; the moon confounded and the sun ashamed; and all this when the Lord of hosts shaU reign in Zion, in which He makes to aU people a feast of fat things, and removes the veU from off the nations, and swaUows up death in victory. The symboUc use of the terms here employed is unquestionable ; and equaUy evident is it that Jesus made use of them, — as in Mark xiii. 24, 25 : "In those days '' (at the fall of Jerusalem) " the sun shall be dark ened, and the moon shaU not give her light, and the stars of the heaven shaU faU." In this, the Lord predicts the breaking up of the old economy and the introduction of the new. SimUar terms are employed by Ezekiel respecting Egypt (Ezek. xxxii. 8). Joel ii 31: " The sun shaU be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come." Eespecting the application of these words, we are not left to conjecture or theorize. The Apostle Peter cited them on the pentecostal day, and applied them to the events of the faU of Judaism and the introduction of the gospel church. The remarkable fact merits notice, that the plural ovpavoi nowhere occurs in the Apocalypse except in xii. 12, where it is in the vocative, and makes appeal to the universal people of God in this and the other world. 80 PEOLEGOMENA. SECTION XIII. IN PEOPHETIC VISIONS A HOESE IS THE SYMBOL OF A MESSENGER. The truth of this is established under vi. 2, on the ground of our initial principle of deriving symbols from the Old Testament. Wordsworth's maxim is applicable here : " The law and the prophets prepared imagery for the Apocalypse." Now- EUiott, with much ingenuity and curious learned research into Eoman and Greek antiquities, manages to give a significance to the leading facts of the symbols employed by John. But it is a heathen significance, and ' therefore inad missible. He makes the horses to mean pagan emperors ; and the horse, bow, etc., pagan emblems. Bishop Newton does virtually the same. They should first have shown that John drew emblems from the heathen ; but this they could not do. In one particular they are correct : they interpret the horses as homogeneous ; but their error consists in making them .of heathen origin, as imagery, and investing them with a ciril rather than a religious character. Wordsworth, Faber, and Bishop Newton fail, by departing from a uniform principle, — as by interpreting the first rider of Christ, and the second of civil power, etc. Keith and Cunningham adopt the homo geneous principle, but apply it in a way to Which there is au insuperable objection. According to them, the fourth horse does not appear until A.D. 1792, thus leaving no room for the trumpets and the vials at any earlier date. The schemes of De Burgh, Maitland, and other futurists, imply that the great events of the Apocalypse are yet unfulfilled, and that they are mainly to receive a sort of sudden fulfilment in three and a half years, — a scheme radically erroneous, as violating the nature of prophetic visions, in which pictures were presented to represent objects and events in the future. If this scheme were true, the book would want its sublime glory as a com mentary on the providence of Christ over His church and the hostile world, and would reduce to mere delusion aU the comfort which the saints drew from it in the dark ages of per secution. The various schemes have been divided into three classes: the preterist, of which Stuart is one of the most learned repre- THE SEALS. 81 sentatives ; the chronological, represented by Vitringa, Newton, EUiott, and many others ; and the futurist, by De Burgh, Todd, etc. Of these, Stuart is correct in discovering in the seals the overthrow of Judaism, though it is impossible to foUow him in limiting ch. vi-xi to this, and thence to xix. to the pagan empire ; whUe the futurist theory is so baseless and conjectural, and so completely involves a subjection of the mind to human ideas instead of a consistent interpretation of inspired Scripture, that no man who foUows the analogy of faith and the harmony of prophetic terms can possibly adopt it. A summary of these schemes is given at the end of the Tract Society's Paragraph Bible, concluding with a scheme from the Bib. Review, 1847, containing several elements of the truth, though too indefinite and conjectural, by appearing as a theory rather than as a continuous exposition of the pro phetic text. The rather vague mode of interpreting these four symbols in Fausett's recent Commentary would leave the horses almost meaningless emblems ; or imply merely the abstract ideas of victory, blood, sadness, and death. SECTION XIV. TWO CLASSES OF MAETYES WEEE EXHIBITED IN THE VISION OF THE FIFTH SEAL: THOSE WHO PEECEDED THE INCAENATION OF CHEIST, AND THOSE WHO CAME AFTEE IT. And other saints, though associated with these, are not to be confounded with them. Sometimes we find that Umited to the martyrs which is true of aU the saints,- — as the first re surrection, in ch. XX. 6 ; and sometimes the reverse, as the white robe (converted from the singular to the plural) is con founded with the general white garments of all the saints. In the vision of the fifth seal, John saw the souls of those who had been " slain for the word of God ; " and in ch. xx. 4 we read of those who had been " beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God." The former are said to have been slain, the latter beheaded (ireireXeKiapevcov, put to death with axe or sword) ; the former for the word of God, the latter for the witness of Jesus and the word of God. The former class were slain as martyrs before the Saviour was F 82 PEOLEGOMENA. born and had received the name Jesus, the latter after that great event. Now, when martyrs are noticed in any of the visions, we must carefuUy mark which body of martyrs is in tended, or whether only the latter. This, I believe, wiU not be found doubtful The latter class included the massacred in fants of Bethlehem, John the Baptist, Jesus Himself, Stephen, and aU subsequent martyrs to the end of time. Here in the fifth seal John beheld the souls (¦\lrv)(^a<;) of those who had been martyrs, from the time of Abel to that of Jesus, or at least the last previous to the birth of Jesus, who was Himself the proto-martyr of the new and gospel age, including in His martjrrdom His persecution from the incar nation to the cross. And in answer to their appeal for vindication of their character, they are invested with a white robe of honour, instead of the vile garments which persecutors have been accustomed to put on their victims in token of degradation ; and they are instructed to wait for the comple tion of the number of their feUow-servants in general, and of their future feUow-martyrs in particular. In the twentieth chapter the ante-messianic martyrs do not come into vision ; and the reason is, that in that chapter we have a view not of the old, but of the new age. Accordingly, the classes that appear in that vision are first the martyrs for the witness of Jesus ; and second, the men who received not the mark and name of the monster, nor gave him homage. Of the latter it is predicated that they live with Christ, share the blessedness of His reign during the great age of the thou sand prophetic years ; and that they have part in the first resurrection, to which belongs the blessedness of justification through faith in Christ, and the hoUness of sanctification by the Spirit of grace. SECTION XV- THE SIXTH SEAL BEING BEOKEN WHEN THE BOOK WAS OPENED, BEGINS TO EECEIVE SPECIAL FULFILMENT FEOM THE TIME OF THE CEUCIFIXION. It consists in the agitations that led to the removal of the visional heaven and earth of the Jewish church and state. SIXTH SEAL. 83 FuUer is not remote from the truth in saying, " The commence ment is, I apprehend, to be reckoned from the ascension of Christ." But he follows the theory of various others, that the earthquake of the sixth seal was the overthrow of paganism by Constantine. To this I have strong objections, because it substitutes a part for the whole, and does not go back to the earlier and more terrible earthquake of the Jewish overthrow. Mede (p. 9 7) says, " The sixth seal begins where the fifth ends, from the year of Christ 311 " — viz. the supremacy of Constantine. Now I can neither admit such end nor such beginning. Neither accords with historic fact nor with pro phetic language, and therefore neither bears the impress of truth. There were multitudes of martyrs long after that aUeged end, and civil and religious earthquakes of terrific character long before Constantine. To this correspond the ideas of Newton, Faber, ElUott, and others. Others, as Keith, Cunningham, Brodie, etc., suppose this seal to have had its fulfilment in 1793. But the French Eevolution, which then came to a head, was not the faU of the church of God nor of the theocracy, but only of a temporal power, and of a corrupted system of visible Christianity in one country of Europe. I agree with Brodie, "that in explaining the word of God we have nothing to do with the rules of soothsayers (of which Mede avaUs himself), nor with the vainglorious style of heathen kings." The symboUc meaning of the sun and moon, and other terms, must be derived from the Old Testament ; and when we do this, there is no alternative but to see in the sixth seal a prediction of the faU of Judaism. SECTION XVL THE THOUSANDS AND MYEIADS, WHEN SPOKEN OF MEN, MEAN CHIEFS WITH THEIE FAMILIES OE TEIBES ; IN OTHEE WOEDS, WHEN THEY AEE NOT MEEE NUMEEALS. There are two words for thousands, — 'x^iXioi and ¦x^iXiaBen, " the end of the days." The same general idea meets us in different places and forms (vets. 11, 17 ; ch. xxi. 6). The letters are of numeral value in the Greek, and their appUcation to Christ is instructive, — showing that He is the sole head of both ages, to the exclusion of pretended human heads. From Adam to the incarnation Christ was the Alpha, and thence to the end of the world He is the Omega. Though He is also the beginning and the end, I do not regard these terms as a mere repetition of Alpha and Omega. Beginning (apxv) occurs in ch. iu. 14, and denotes a head and headship. Its correlate, end (tcXo';), denotes not mere termination, which would be 6o-;^;aT09, but the object for. which a thing is designed. The language is here closely related, even verbaUy, to " Jesus the Author (Apxvyos:)^ and the Finisher of our faith (TeXeimTrj^)" — He who makes perfect. The title here given to Christ, Kvpio<; 6 0eo? (" the Lord God "), clearly indicates His divine nature. " Who was, and is," being, as already shown, the translation- of nin';, ascribes to Him self-existence, as to the Father in ver. 4. " And who is the Comer" (EpxopevoE)''3 a'ln (« sword of fiace-fiaces)-, and Isa. xlix. 2 : irnn nnna 'S DB'^ (He makes my mouth as a sharp sword). So -it is said of Messiah : " With the spirit (nil) of His Ups He shaU slay the wicked." ' The language has a stUl earlier reference to Hosea vi. 5 : " I have slain them by the word of my mouth." In simUar language Paul speaks of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"^ and " the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword." ^ It is thus a symbol of retribution pronounced in prophetic judg ment on impenitent enemies, as aU such passages imply a sword used against enemies. Nor has a sword any other use. With this sjonboUc sword Christ is said " to smite the nations."* To the friends of truth it is not appUed, except in metaphoric sense to the slaying of sin and correction of errors, which are enemies to the soul. The double edge indicates that, in what ever direction wielded, it produces the punitive effect. Its sharpness indicates iiresistibUity. The sun was made a type of Christ in very early times.^ The analogy of the sun in nature to Christ, consists in attraction, Ulumination, and being the object around which planatery orbs revolve. But in a visible manifestation the iUuminative power is the intended point of analogy. Like the halo on the face of Moses,^ a visible glory shone from the face of Jesus, and > Isa. xi. 4. ^ Eph. vi. 17. = Heb. iv. 12. * Rev. xix. 15. 6 Josh. X. 12 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. i ; Ps, xix. 4, Lxxxiv. 7 ; Mai. iv. 2 : also Matt. xvii. 2 ; 2 Cor. iii, 18 ; Rev. x, 1, xii, 1, « Ex, xxxiv, 33-35. 138 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. L 17. produced its subUme effect on John. The word " sun '' (jJXto?) means not only that luminary, but "sunshine;"^ and this is its import here. Dunbar defines the word not only "sun," but " day, Ught of day ; " and Schleusner not only " sol," but " splendor soils '' (splendour ofi the sun) ; and the Hebrew, besides tJ'DK' (the sun), has the word nan, which in the Enghsh version is five times rendered " sun,"^ and once " heat!'^ These are evidently the source of the apocalyptic usage. Ch. i 1 7 : "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead!' ¦ — The language is paraUel to that of Ezek. i 2 8, ii, 1 : " 'Whih I saw the glory, I fell upon my fiace. And He said to me. Rise, stand upon thy feet!' John here makes an explanatory state ment. His words, therefore, not being a part of the vision, must be understood not allegoricaUy, but rhetoricaUy. We should take nothing symboUcaUy, except what enters into pro phetic or visional aUegory, John paused to state the effect which the vision thus far had produced upon him. He was not in a state of insensibiUty ; but, Uke a humble worshipper, he remained prostrate and motionless at Christ's feet — as one dead. Nor did Christ forbid this worship, as we shaU after wards find in two instances a created angel doing,* " And He put His right hand on me, saying. Fear not; I am the First and the Last, and the Living." ' — The language here corresponds to that of Dan, vui. 18, "He touched me and set nie upright;" and Dan. x. 10, "A hand touched me, and set me on my knees and the palms of my hands." With His right hand He raised and strengthened John ; and thus we should ¦ derive comfort from the fact of His having the stars in His right hand. As " the First," or Alpha, He is the Lord of hosts, the Head of the church in the Mosaic economy. As " the First-born of the dead," He passed out of the old economy into the new, and is " Head over aU things to the church." He is " the Living," because He is risen, and " dieth no more." He is " our Life," and the Giver of the spuit of Ufe. ' Rev. vii. 16, xii. 1, xvi. 8, xix. 7. '^ Job xxx. 28 ; Isa. xxx. 26, xxiv. 23 ; Song vi. 10. ' Ps. xix. 6. i Rev. xix. 10, xxii. 9. ° X, A, Tisch., Alford, Tregelles, Theile. CH. L 18.J EESUEEECTION GLOEY. 139 Ch. i. 1 8 : " And I became dead ; and I am alive to ages of ages; and I have the keys of death (OavaTos:) and of Hades (dBrj^)." ^ — These words show that the same Jesus, on whose breast he had so often leaned, and who died in his view on the cross, was now before him. We have here a more explicit declaration of His resurrection glory than He gave to His dis ciples before His ascension. The words, " I became dead " (e7e- voprjv veKpo<;), express more than if He had said " I died " or " I was slain." They intimate that He put Himself completely in our position, " dead by the law." " He was born under the law ; " and though without any personal taint of sin, " He be came sin for us ; " and " the Lord laid on Htm the iniquities of us aU." Thus He " became dead." And, in Uke manner, dying with Him to sin is one characteristic of aU the redeemed. As He has the keys of heaven, and opened the door of faith to Jews and GentUes, which cannot be shut, so has He authority over death and the invisible (aSij? = o -|- aBrj'i, 3r<5CT, the invisible). He consigns men to death and invisi- ^ Either x^m is a composite Greek word, or it has cognates in some other language. If the fonner, it is of termination similar to the following derivative (o-i-vi) adjectives: — a/Saxj?j, a^Xafirts, a(iXa.trtryis, cejSAjjf, a(iovT9]i, and numerous others, from the letter "a" alone ; and much more so from the otlier letters. But what account can be given of the aspirate ? Confining attention to the letter alpha (though the investigation may be extended with similar results to all letters with initial vowels), the foUowing words show that the aspirate, according to lexicographers, is sometimes merely dialectic, and often arbitrary. I copy from lexicons : i-ym from ayas ; iyims from a, + yitiu^rKoi ; itrrufM from idT-nit,!. xSv; = ciiui, or riiui ; is = (Latin) is ; aifi.x = Q-f, or its Syriac cognate ; ctiplai = afflw ; ufic& = a/,cx, txficccd ; afiupTia = a + f££pos ; a^XflOf ^ a + !TX£fit; ; api^o^ci = xpu ; a-yrTU = a^TTu ; ap^a^u = rapio J arra = ccrra ; — to which add avtros + iitvtros + ouro;, etc. etc. Many are formed from other letters : as n/3» from n3X ; fiyt/imv from aya ; i^up = Sanskrit 5^. If the Greek article do not account for the aspiration of such of these numerous words- as have not cognates in other languages, there are irregularity and uncertainty attaching to aS»f equaUy with all the others, and showing that there is no vaUd objection against deriving it from a + n^o, as lexico graphers commonly do. Scapula gives aim, and poetically aSus. But there is much more reason to connect the word with cognates in other languages — one of the most obvious being the Sanskrit 31^51 (invisible), f (heaven, slcy, paradise) + ST^IT = '^PESa {hadrushya, the invisible) ; or ?I + STEJZI = ^ai^yir, the s often permutating with h. To derive the word, as has been very ingeniously proposed, from x"'! + F + jSjif, is conjectural, and unsupported by Greek usage ; and, instead of eluci dating the meaning, would render it much more abstruse. 140' EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. I. 19. biUty in relation to the flesh, when the mortal term is expired. He alone can open these, and bring men to judgment. None could open these, excepting Him who " brought Ufe and im- mortaUty to light." Ch. i 1 9 : " Write therefore the things which thou sawest, a-nd those ivhich are, and those which are about to be after them!'^ — ' The meaning resulting from the usage of fcira {-with, among, next to, during, etc. ) must be affected by its connection, as the noun, pronoun, or verb that follows it. The meanings assigned to it, when governing the accusative, are such as the following : — M 'Knight : on, -within ; /j^'.r cy'Scnv ri/,t.ipxy {on ihe eighth day), used by Josephus in reference to circumcision. Dunbar : after, "next to, during ; as 11.16' Siii,ipix,-i {during ihe day). Schleusner: post, intra ; as Matt, xxvii. 63, ^£ra Tpus hf^ipxs {ivithin threedays) I shall rise again ; the fact being, that the Lord did rise in about two and a half days. Parkhurst : as soon as, imthin (of time), as well as after. Kuhner (Gr. Gram. 294) derives it from ^so-o; (middle), and explains it with the accusative, as meaning into the middle of, succession in space and time, order, conformity. None of these aUeges any such sense as long after; if succession is expressed, it is unbroken, as next after. In the New Testament it occurs with an accusative ninety-two times ; and, when of time, may popularly be expressed by after, if the idea of remote time be avoided, — which is expressed by urx, etc. In the LXX. it occurs sixty-one times (see Trommius) before the pronoun rtcvrx, and followed by a verb, and renders the Hebrew "inS, p 'iriNi and generally represented by after in the English. A simflar usage runs through the Apocalypse. We have thus to attend not only to the isolated meaning of ihto., but to it governing the accusative pronoun TxuTo, (or rovTo) ; and not to these merely, but to these followed by the verb. It thus intimates that the action of the verb is either simultaneous with or closely consequent upon the objects or things iu the vision expressed hythe pronoun Tccvra,. It occurs in the foUowing places with ra.vra^ : — Eev. i. 19, foUowed by yintrian {to be). Rev. iv. 1, foUowed by lint {saw), the verb of vision. Eev. vii. 1-9. Rev. ix. 12, foUowed by nrxXmri {bk-w), viz. the trumpet. Rev. XV. 5, foUowed by /Sov {saw). Rev. xi. 11, foUowed by tiirnXhv {entered). Eev. x-dii. 1, foUowed by liov {saw). Rev. xix. 1. Eev. XX. 3, foUowed by iu Xvtntixi. In each case, where the verb is sa;w, with John as the agent, the order ofthe pictures in the vision is intimated. When the other verbs are used, the order or sequence of the events is ex pressed,— as of the events meant by the trumpets, the rising of the witnesses, aud the loosing of -Satan, either after Christ's coming down, or perhaps after the completion of the miUennium. CH. L 19.] INTIMATE SEQUENCE. 141 This obviously means that with, or after (pera), the ¦ things which John has already seen, he is to write those which are, and those which are about to be. The preposition peTa, " after, next to, during," ^ with an accusative (the usage which meets us in the introductions of prophetic visions), is usuaUy in the EngUsh version rendered " after." But it does not intimate any interval of time. Dunbar explains it with the accusative as meaning foUowing upon, next to, during, etc. Schleusner explains it of place (behind), in close succession ; and of time considers it parallel to the Heb o, and meaning " within the time," " non consequens, sed interjectum tempus," — the time not after, but within which an action is done : as in Deut. xiv. 2 8, peTa Tpia errj (within three years) ; Matt. xxiv. 29, peTa ttjv 6Xi-y]riv (during the tribulation); Matt. xxvu. 63, peTa Tjoet? ¦fjpepa<; (within three days), viz. on the third day.^ Thus peTa never conveys nor admits the idea of "long after," but "in immediate connection,"^ as is evident from its Uteral meaning, "with." Wherever peTa Tavra occurs in the Apocalypse, as in iv. 1,-vii 1, 9, ix. 12, xv. 5, xviU. 1, xix. 1, and xx. 3, the things spoken of are events, or objects seen, flowing out of the opening of the seals. This, if attended to, wiU prevent much confusion. The three classes of events aUeady mentioned include the whole Apocalypse. Events run on without any pauses ; and whenever he says " after these things I saw," he always means "next after," "immediately after," or " in the meantime " such and such new events began to evolve. The word ovv (therefore) imports that Jesus, the Head" of the church, was appearing in divine' authority to commission and qualify John, as an inspired writer, in order to make known its future progressive spread, for which the communication of inspired Scripture was necessary. The subjects may be thus distinctly stated : I. The things which John had seen, including the explana tions given of them by Christ (ch i 1-20). 'Dunbar. "Post, intra," Schleusner ;—" after, as soon as, -within," etc., Parkhurst. ^ So Mark viii. 31 ; Luke ii. 46, xii. 4 ; Acts xix. 21 ; Josh. ui. 2, etc. 3 After that, afterwards, etc. are expressed by other words, as urx, t^uTa, itjntin, etc. 142 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. L 20, H. 1. II. The things which are, including the seven epistles (ch. ii iii). III. The things about to be ; viz. the synchronous and suc cessive series of events depicted in the celestial court (ch. iv. 1 to the close of the Apocalypse). Ch. i 2 0 : " The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the messengers ofi the seven churches, and the seven larnp- stands are the seven churches." — Here most Greek editors^ concur in not treating the words as a new sentence, but regarding the word mystery in the accusative case, as governed by the verb " write " in the previous verse : " write the mystery." Other wise there is no syntax. He was to record the emblems of stars and lampstands, and also their explanation. "The seven lampstands," in the accusative, is a contracted form for the mystery of them. The explanations which the Lord thus offers in limine are of unspeakable importance, — ^presenting the aUegorical or visional object, and the interpretation. We have thus an infaUible guide ; and our safety Ues in steadily following it, without indulging in the lax and fancy-formed idea, that a symbol may here mean this, and there that, for which Scripture furnishes no warrant. The verb "write" belongs to the instruction and interpretation, and is therefore not to be treated as a vision term. Ch. ii. 1 : " Unto the messenger ofi the church ofi Ephesus write." — " Write : " this belongs not to visions ; for visions of these churches were not exhibited to John ; nor was he enjoined to write what he had seen. He had not seen, and could not write as having seen. But he was about to hear the addresses of Jesus to these churches ; and these he is thus enjoined to write. What the addresses or epistles contain are words of Christ ; and He never spoke of visions of prophecy given for his information. He is the giver of aU visions. Thus it fol lows that His language never comes under the rules of visions, and is always to be understood according to scriptural, rhetorical usage. ' MiU, Tischendorf, Alford, TregeUes, and the punctuation of Codices K, A, B of Apoc, but not the Latin versions. We must foUow the ancient text. CH. IL 1.] FIEST EPISTLE. 143 Here is not only the. command to write, but the dictation of the very words, — an unequivocal proof of complete verbal inspiration. Ephesus emblematized the first of the seven ecclesiastical states, enumerated in ch. ill, etc. " These things says He who ¦rules the seven stars by His right hand." — KpaTcov (ruling) : this expresses more than holding, which would be idiomatically expressed by e-^^co, Xap^avco, etc. It means to be master of them, as a master of his property. It implies His headship over aU portions of the church, and in aU times. As the seven stars and lamps represent aU churches, so we have here an introduction to aU the epistles. " WJio walks in the midst ofi seven golden lampstands!' — • These are words that must be interpreted of the man Jesus, — not of Christ in abstract deity, but of deity incarnate. It is of Emmanuel, God with us, that "walking" can be predicated. The language is an anthropomorphism. It re veals the Lord Jesus as present amid the churches, and as walking, moving from church to church, inspecting, ruling, and guarding them aU. If He were not present, how could He hear the prayers of aU saints 1 It does not meet the case, nor satisfy the mind seeking acceptance, to say God hears our prayers. We know this. But how is God the hearer of prayer ? Through the " one Mediator between God and man." And who is He ? " The man Christ Jesus." ^ I am -aware how many wiU miss the truth, here as elsewhere, by the old mistake of confounding body with presence ; and vainly arguing from the fact that Christ's body is in one place, therefore His presence is only in one place. This is not true, even in reference to a man. Thus an orator, standing on a platform, may be seen, heard, and understood by 50,000 people, and thus be simultaneously present with them aU. A monarch on the throne is present in his houses of legislature and in his empire. How much more, then, is the Lord Jesus capable of making His presence to be known, felt, and enjoyed throughout His universal church of believers in the flesh, and of the spirits of the just made perfect ! Presence has no more relation to place, than power, knowledge, and capacity have to 1 1 Tim. ii. 5. 144 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IL 2. place. An ignorant, feeble person may command a very small presence. A man who can make his personal influence widely felt, may have an extended presence. Presence may even vary in degree. Two men seated near one another in silence and darkness, may be utterly unconscious of one another's presence, Whether we should caU that presence at aU, might be ques tioned. But whUe they remain seated in the same positions, let one of them speak, and the other hear : he wUl at once conclude that he is not . alone, but some one is present. If they have language common to both, and proceed to hold dia logue, and exchange thoughts, and enjoy sympathy of feehng, their presence with one another has become much more com plete, though aU the whUe they occupy the same locaUties as before. The Lord's presence is complete in degree, and uni versal to His people. Ch. ii 2 : " / know thy works, and thy labour, and thy endurance; and that thou canst not hear evil men: and thou hast tried those who call themselves apostles, and are not; ani thou hast fiound tliem spurious." — This depicts a church en gaged in labour Uke that of the apostles. After the apos tolic age, its brightest exempUfication was in the period of the Eeformation. The language is a Hebraism, the first " and " marking the commencement of a series of terms: Accordingly, the term epja (works) is a general term, includ ing labour, endurance, intolerance of the evU, and the trial and detection of spurious apostles. Works are characterized by the epithets good or evU ; but we nowhere read of good labour, good endurance. If they are to be caUed good, it must be done by caUing them good works, — referruig them to the general term. Works and labour are instructively dis tinguished in some places of the Scripture. Labour is woik, but all work is not labour, — only such work as requires the continued putting forth of effort, and induces fatigue. Hence the state of the saints after the present life. " They rest from their labours (Ko-n-av) ; and their works (epja) foUow them : " ^ they are active ; but it is not laborious. This character of the Ephesian church, that she cannot bear evU men, might lay her open to the charge of intolerance; but '. Rev. xiv. 13. CH. IL 3.] TO THE MESSENGER OF EPHESUS. 145 such a charge can come only from the inconsiderate and the prejudiced. It rests on the modern idea of intolerance. But to this the word " bear " (^acrra^co) has no relation. It means to " carry, bear, raise, support," — in a word, to render positive aid and encouragement. Thus, to aid evU men, would be an essentiaUy evil principle. We are not to go with evU men, nor to foUow a multitude, nor to court the society of Belial. Churches fulfil this duty in the maintenance of sound confes sions and wholesome church discipUne. It belongs not to true Protestant churches to foUow these by civU penalties. One cannot read the history of the Eeformation period, with out seeing how sternly the Eomish authorities consigned so- caUed heretics to the flames, as guUty of heresy against the church, and treason against the state. And if Eeformers in a few instances, as Henry viiL of England, and Edward and Elizabeth, showed something of the same spirit, they were but coming out of Eome ; and, Uke Joshua the high priest returning from Babylon, they could not aU at once doff the whole of its vUe raiment. Men have been found at almost aU times calUng themselves apostles. Such took a tangible beginning from Simon, whose profession of faith, baptism, and yet unrenewed character are recorded in Acts viu. These are here described by Paul,^ Peter,^ and John.^ The descriptions apply to the apostate Jews, to the Gnostics, or phUosophers, of early times ; to Mo hammedanism, Eomanism ; and in later times to Swedenbor- gianism, Mormonism, etc. That such have always existed is a proof of the truth of Christianity, because they were aU foreseen and foretold, and because spurious imitations pre suppose a genuine original Ch. u. 3 : " And thou hast endurance, and thou hast borne on account ofi my name." — The previous endurance was that of labours ; but here is another element of endurance, charac terizing a true church — that of affUctions. And the principle is, on account of Christ's name, as when He said, " Blessed are ye, when men reproach and persecute, and say aU manner of evU against you, on account of my name." ^ This gives no 1 1 Tim. iv. ^ 2 Pet. ii. ' 1 John ii. * The God. Sin. has "affUctions." ^ Matt. v. 11. K 146 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IL 4. warrant to expect the Lord's approbation, when men, whether under the names of cathoUc or sectarian, rend one another in " vain jangUngs " about matters not found in Scripture, but of later origin. " And hast not been wearied " (ovk eKOTriaa-a's). — And " hast not laboured : " the two seem incongruous. The English, foUowing the Text. Rec, has " hast laboured, and not fainted " (ov KeKpTjKa<;). This second verb is not found in the ancient authorities. The noun " labour " testifies to the work actuaUy accompUshed by such a church as Ephesus ; and the verb " hast not laboured " — loosely, but not quite incorrectly, ren dered " art not wearied " — testifies that the labour has not exhausted the resources nor broken down the strength of the church. In this we have a memorable lesson to aU churches. If they do their duty, they wiU experience the truth of Christ's words : " Give, and it shaU be given to you ; good measure, pressed down, and shaken, and running over, shaU men give into your bosom." ^ " It is more blessed to give than to re ceive." ^ If churches apply themselves to Christ's work, send forth many evangelists, and raise proportionately large sums, they wUl find that after a given period — as a quarter of a century, which could come under the observation of many — they are none the poorer after their giving, and nothing defi cient in men after aU the numbers they have sent forth. Ch. U. 4 : " But I have against thee, that thou hast let go thy first love!' — Alford, with Vitringa, Hengstenberg, and others, supposes this language conjugal, — that the Lord reproves the messenger from Ephesus for having forsaken his first spouse. To suppose him to have committed such a moral offence, and yet be recognised in any official relation to the church, would surely require the strongest proof Yet no proof is offered. And, on the other hand, " love " (wyatrrj) is used in the New Testament one hundred and fifteen times ; but not once in a personal sense. It is simply, Uke the English " love," an ab stract noun. This state of mind which let go first love, was a serious defalcation on the, part of the church. The Enghsh version is therefore incorrect in inserting the word " somewhat," ^ Luke vi. 38. 2 Acts xx. 35. CH. IL 5. J TO THE MESSENGEE OF EPHESUS. 147 which has a palUating effect. Nor is the word wanted even grammaticaUy ; for the object governed by the verb " have " is the clause introduced by " that." Their declension may be accounted for. They do not appear to have been visited by any apostle untU after this time. Converts may have brought the gospel with them from other places ; and the disciples of John the Baptist, whom Paul afterwards found there, had evidently laboured among them for a good many years. In these cir cumstances, with a knowledge of " the gospel of the kingdom," but unacquainted with the pentecostal effusion of the Holy Spirit, they may weU have been in a languid state, especiaUy in regard to the pubUcation of the gospel. Ch. U. 5 : " Remember thcrcfiore whence thou hast fiallen, and repent, amd do the first works; otherwise I am coming unto thee, and I shall remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent." — Declension, even if only incipient, demands reforma tion. Here is one of the various comings of Christ, as distinct and Uteral as any other to be found in Scripture. To explain it away on the ground of a human theory of only two comings, is totaUy inexcusable, since the comings are never in Scrip ture Umited to two. In the only passage which has any ap pearance of such signification ^ it is said : " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, but unto them that look for Him He shaU appear" (ocpOTjcrerai, a verb often used where ocular vision cannot be meant) " again unto salvation." In the moment of their salvation by grace and regeneration, they see the Lord by faith. This is the second vision of Jesus to those who had seen Him bearing sin on the cross ; and in thus seeing Him by faith, they are saved by grace. The common erroneous interpretation places salvation at the end instead of at the beginning of the beUever's course. Peter ^ speaks of our receiving the end (TeXo^, the object) of our faith, the sal vation of our souls, — not at the last day, but now simultane ously with our loving Christ, and rejoicing in Him. Delay in reform is foUowed by being left in ignorance and bigotry. God justly punishes men, by leaving them to reap as they have sown. But His grace is also sovereign ; and if the rule of retributive withdrawal were appUed to aU, none 1 Heb. ix. 28. ' 1 Pet. i. 10. 148 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IL 6, 7. could presume to stand. If we differ by accepting the salva tion, it is God who makes us differ ; and His grace is righteous in operation. The man that returns from backsUding, returns by gracious influence. The man who continues to recede from truth, does it from a perversity of motive, — love or fear of man, worldly gain, pride, or selfishness, — ^which holds him in mental bondage, in which consist both sin and its own punishment. Ch. ii. 6 : " But thou hast this, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate!' — I find no evidence of the derivation of the word Nicolaitans from a man called Nicolas. Various bibUcal writers have said truly that NiKo'Xa^, or Niko- Xao<;, is = oybyn, or D5J?V the conqueror, idol, or fascinator of the people. Fiirst, Simon, Leusden, and Gesenius explain the word variously : " Antiquity of the people ; not of the people ; mighty one of the people ; lord of the people ; pre vaUer with or conqueror of the people." Balaamites are mentioned in ver. 14, and the connecting of the two is caUed a conjecture ; but if is met only by a conjecture. The Balaam ites of old, the Nicolaitans of the apostoUc age, the Moham medans, Mormonites, Socialists, and other men-pleasers of modern times, have so much in common, or simUar, that it is most natural to group them together. The name, as significant and aUegorical, is appUcable to them aU.^ Ch. ii 7 : "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirii says to the churches." — This teaches the obUgation resting on all men to attend to the gpspel message. Jesus might have said, " He that has an ear, let him hear me." But He recognises and honours the office of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes of the things of Christ. " Of mine," says Jesus,^ " He wUl take and teU to you." Thus what the Spirit says to the churches, is the gospel truth summarized in the epistle to each church, fully given in aU the Scripture, taught by the Holy Spirit m the minds of beUevers, and re-echoed by preaching to the world "To the churches," — a remarkable expression when the Lord is addressing one church. We meet the same in aU the ' Written without JJ iu Bel, Belshazzar, Baladan, Belus, etc. 2 See Imp. Bib. Diet., and Epiph. in Hceres. ; also Prol. Sect. x. ^ John xvi. 16. CH. IL 8. J SECOND EPISTLE. 149 seven addresses. It shows that a church may be at once a unity and a pluraUty ; that there were, or might have been, more than one congregation in Ephesus, without denuding it of the character of one church ; and that the epistles addressed to individual churches contain instructions for others. " To him that conquers, I shall give to eat ofi the tree ofi lifie, which is in the midst ofi the paradise ofi God." — " That con quers " (o viKcov), a present participle : who is conquering. The warfare and victory date from the church's beginning, and continue whUe it is caUed miUtant. To every man the conflict is personal and present. The beUever's fight of faith is incessant, and it belongs to him in every case to gain a victory. " This is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith." ^ The tree of life in Eden tjrpified Christ.^ It had a she- kinah of Ught, denoting the Holy Spirit. After the faU, that turned away from it, and became what the English most im perfectly renders " a flaming sword," not to repel Adam from the typal tree, which was not guarded as a type, — which indeed then ceased to be a type, or in any sense distinguished among the trees, — but to caU his faith in another direction : to the tree of life described in the next words : " Which is in the midst of the paradise of God!' — Paradise is a term derived from the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew word for the garden which God planted in Eden ; ^ but of this the paradise of God is the antitype, — beginning in sanctiflcation, and ending in celestial blessedness. The eating of this fruit is the receiving of Christ, " the bread of life." Ch. u. 8 : "And to the messenger of the church of Smyrna write : These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead, and became alive." — The church of Smyrna depicts a church bearing testimony against false messiahs who appeared among the apostate Jews. The titles here given to Christ are taken 1 1 John V. 6. ^ See Prol. Sect. xi. ' Gen. ii. 9. Paradise cannot fairly be traced, as some suppose, to the Sans. ¦UT^irr, pardesh, which simply means "foreign place," but more probably to TIS. which in Persian would take the abstract termination j^, and become ' J j = fardesh, or pardesh, seclusion, a secluded place. See App. i. 150 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. II. 9. from the vision in ch. i (see ver. 18). They set Christ before the church in His mediatorial authority : the Messiah of the old dispensation, the Christ of the new. Ch. U. 9 : " / knmv thy works, and distress, and poverty; but thou art rich." — Jesus, even in His humanity, knows all that relates to the churches ; for it is in the humanity that He appears and dictates these epistles. " No man hath seen God at any time " (ecopuKev, hath seen, — a verb appUed to common vision) ; " the only-begotten God " (0eo? : Cod. Sin., TregeUes, etc.), " who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him," — e^TjjTjcTUTo, has explained Him; — not shown Him to the eye, but made Him known to the reason. There is a con trast in the terms : distress and poverty, and yet riches. The former depict worldly circumstances ; the latter the spiritual endowments which enrich the possessors with treasures of which no hostUe powers can deprive them. " And the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and an not, but a synagogue of Satan" (or of the enemy). — The Lord has here described the unbeUeving Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, such as those who held with Him the dialogue recorded in John viii, and whom He charged with being of their father the devU. By rejecting the true David and Head of Judah, they forfeited their claim to belong to Judah. By refusing to hear the church in its Head, they put themselves on the level of the heathen.^ They are branches severed from the true vine, and therefore dead.^ Paul speaks of their ingrafta- tion ; but ingraftation is always on another tree : there will not, nor can be, any reunion with the old kingdom of Judah, which exists no more, the kingdom having been taken from it.^ The ingraftation is the fact of the union of each regene rated person to Christ our life. As the apostate Jews are placed by Christ on a level with the heathen, their conversion will take place in the same manner and on the same grounds as that of the heathen. The evU one appears in various characters and under vari ous names, as we shaU find in other places.* Satan (1??', his ' Matt, xviii. 17. 2 Rom. xi. 20. 3 Matt. xxi. 43. i ch. xii. xx., etc. CH. II. 10.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF SMYENA. 151 Hebrew name) means enemy or adversary ; and as the adver sary of Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, he has been ever working in the unbelieving, "the chUdren of disobedience." The Jewish synagogue ceased to be a true church when it re jected the church's Head ; and it has ever since been a syna gogue of Satan, or hostUity. Satan has many associations of men, united by secrets, esoteric doctrines, infidel principles and leaders, etc. Ch. u. 10: " Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer. Lo ! the devil is about to cast some of you into custody, that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have distress ten days. Be faithfiul unto death, and I will give thee a chaplet^ ofi lifie." — The custody may be a prison, or relegation to the mines, or simply expulsion.^ But the believer is forewarned. He knows it wUl come, and that its design is trial, for the development of grace in him, and for evidence to later generations of the divine-sustaining principle in Christianity. " Ten days " I understand to mean " during the ten periods of persecution." Probably this was the origin of the common expression, " the ten persecutions." But are we not bound to interpret " a day for a year ? " No ; the year-day principle can never be truly appUed, unless to the times of the symboUc visions depicting the periods of the gospel age. But Jesus is not relating a vision. He is never a receiver, but the giver of visions. His words are rhetorical, and the days mean times, as He used the words day (rjpepa) and time (Kaipa) synonymously in Luke xix. 42-44 : " This thy day — ^the days wUl come — thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." History has not been sufficiently exact in recording the times of the persecutions, nor have historians been exact or imiform in enumerating them. Hence some have reckoned the num ber less than ten. Thus Waddington ^ reckons only eight ; Hales only seven, but adds two Jewish persecutions. These ' In this place, and throughout, the word "chaplet" will be employed to render trTKpxvas — " a wreath or garland to be worn on the head, the circlet of a crown " (Webster). The origin of this metaphor of the Stephanos, or chaplet or garland, is to be found in Exod. xxviii. 4: "the mitre of Aaron" (nSpSD, mitsnepheth). Mitre is a very unsuitable term, as it may be traced to the Per sian Mithras, and the Vedic fJI3 mitrah, the Sun. 2 Acts xviii. 2, and Sect. ii. =* Wad. Ch. Hist. pp. 42-51. 152 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. II. U. do not include the persecutions by Trajan and Adrian ; but in this case they must be viewed as continuators of the per secutions by Domitian. Alford leaves his opinion doubtful. Fausett evades the matter by curtly saying "not the ten persecutions," but assigning no reason. Cooke says Smyrna was destroyed ten times, yet stUl continues to flourish. There is nothing in the text warranting us to limit the persecutions to those inflicted by the pagans. Hence the ten persecutions may be thus enumerated : 1. Persecution by Herod and Roman governors, beginning with the mas sacre of babes at Bethlehem. 2. Persecution by the Jews after the resurrection of Je.sus. 3. Persecution by Claudius, in expelUng the Christians from Rome. 4. Persecution by Nero. 5. Persecution by Domitian. 6. Persecution by Antoninus. 7. , Persecution by Severus. 8. Persecution by Decius. 9. Persecution by Valerian. 10. Persecution by Diocletian. To the sufferers for Christ's sake there are precious pro mises of a blessed futurity. The promise of the chaplet of Ufe appUes to the whole times of the persecutions, especially after the destruction of the Jews by Adrian, when instead of the synagogue of Satan came the dragon of pagan imperial Eome — ^an equaUy relentless, and a mightier power.^ The promise accompanies an exhortation to faithfulness, even at the expense of life. The eagerness for martyrdom on the part of many in after times, when it had become in a sense popular, was an abuse of this promise. Ch. ii 1 1 : " He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches : He who conquers shall not be injured ly the second death!' — Here the second death is incidentally mentioned, without definition. Such definition, however, we find in ch. xx. 14: "Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire : this is the second death!' And we learn from the sixth verse of that chapter, that on those who have the first resur rection " the second death has no power." Thus the second death is the final state of the lost. The membership of this church also are engaged in Christ's warfare. It is their 1 See Exp. of ch. viii. 8. CH.il 12, 13.] THIRD EPISTLE. 153 privUege to be conquerors. Being renewed by the Spirit of Ufe, they have new life, which "is hid with Christ in God." They die no more in the spiritual and true sense ; they are saved by grace, and safe for ever. Ch. ii. 1 2 : " And to the messenger ofi the church in Pergamos write: These things says He who has the sharp do-uble-cdged sword." — The bearer of the sword that issues out of His mouth is the distinctive character in which Jesus addresses this church. The church is located where there is the throne of Satan, which impUes a power involving the principles of apostate Judaism. But the address describes the church in conflict with heathenism also. This is most remarkably ex empUfied in the Mohammedan and Eomish systems, both of which have incorporated much of Pharisaism and Sadducaism. Even paganism had, and stiU has, its sacrifices, and ritualism, and priesthood, and traditions, and bodUy purifications, and doctrine of human merit, and other things in common. These things are doomed to annihUation; and therefore the retributive sword cutting in every direction is the flt emblem to be borne by Christ, to assure the church of the Lord's protection. (See vers. 1 and 8, and ch. i 16.) Ch. u. 13: "I know where thou dwellest, where the throne ofi Satan is : and thou hast maintained my name, and didst not deny my fiaith, in the days when Antipas, my faithfiul martyr, was killed among you, where Satan dwells." — There is much, in this maintenance of the name of Jesus, in opposition to com bined Judaism and paganism. The merit of Christ and His mediatorial authority are the main objects of their assault. The Jews assail the name of Jesus with fearful blasphemies. Many infidels write popular works depicting the moral beauty of the character of the man Jesus; but while thus saying " Ecce homo," they know not the higher character or the mediatorial office of Jesus. Eomanists and Mohammedans acknowledge the sacredness of His person — the former as divine, the latter as a prophet ; but both derogate from His work as Saviour and as Head. The heathen may, and often do, admit the superiority of Jesus ; but they ascribe not glory to Him, and vainly struggle to escape from sin by the most 154 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [OH. II. 14. wretched human devices — some frivolous, and others abomi nable and sinful To maintain the name of Jesus, then, is to bear testimony to Him, as in the early creeds and those of the era of the first and second Eeformation. This is accompanied by the harmonious principle of not denying the faith through fear of persecution. In former times there were men who, through weakness of the flesh, lapsed ; and in England, HoUand, and other lands the same sometimes occurred. Who was Antipas ? No records are pre served of such a person ; and there is much reason to beheve that the name is aUegorical, denoting, according to its etymo logy (avTi, against, -f Tra?, all), an opposer of aU errors.^ This derivation is rather fUppantly sneered at, and Hengstenberg censured for adopting it, by Alford, who arbitrarUy changes it to Antipater. But as Uttle do we find a martyr of this name. Cocceius and Vitringa suppose it to denote the Athanasians. This and other attempts at explanation are equaUy corfjectural Bengel mentions martyrologies (of later times) as saying traditionaUy that he was slain by Domitian. Pool^ says, "De Antipa nihil in ecclesiasticis historUs reperio" ("Of Antipas I find nothing in church histories "). Even if there were such an individual, he is evidently, in the Lord's address, a representative of aU true martyrs. Ch. ii. 14 : " But I have a few things against thee : thou hast those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put an impediment in the way of the sons of Israel, to eat idol sacri fices, and to commit fiornication." — What is here termed the doctrine of Balaam was fourfold, as the next words show, and as we learn from the history of that Magian priest : 1. He taught the Moabitish monarch to put temptation in th way ofi the Israelites? — This is the worst grade of mendacity, — that by which it ensnares others into sin. 2. To eat idol sacrifices!^ — This involves the sin of assimi lation with idolaters. This was all the more inconsistent, from the fact that Balaam in his written oracles testified to the unity of God. The eating of a portion of the sacrifice was usual in aU cases, except the comparatively rare instances of ^ See Innp. Bib. Diet. ¦' gyn. Grit. 2 Num. xxv. 1, xxxi. 16. * Num. xxv. 2. CH. IL 15.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF PEEGAMOS. 155 holocausts. Among the heathen, eating was, and still is, the great distinction of the clean from the unclean. Eating of idol sacrifices was always an act of communion with the idolaters. 3. To commit fornication} — denoting immoral practice, and especially in connection with idol-worship. Moral abomina tions were in ancient times practised in idol temples, as of Dagon and Ashtaroth. Priestesses, by a fiction married to the idols, were temptations to sin. Even in modern times this is known in India, especially in the rich sect of Valabhachari ; ^ and the wives of men of the sect are taught that the Brahman is an incarnation of Vishnu, and prostitution to him the surest road to future felicity, viz. to a superior birth in the next transmigration. 4. Sorcery. — To this Balaam was addicted. He was QDip, a diviner, deceiver, magician, enchanter.^ Now aU who hold these doctrines, or practicaUy act on them, — and many such have always been, and still are, — are, what Balaam's name signifies, idols of the people. This appUes not only to heathen priests, but to soi-disant Christian priests, who convert the sacramental elements into fetishes, pretend to miracles by holy water, charms, and reUcs ; and to spirit- rappers, table-turners, and pretenders to clairvoyance ; and to the immoraUties of Mormons, and Hindoo sects, and Mo hammedans ; and to various schemes of SociaUsm. " Occult studies " are said to have been largely practised here. Ch. U. 15 : " Tims hast thou also those maintaining the Nicolaitan doctrine similarly!' — Compare this with what is said in the previous verse of Balaam, and in ver. 6 of the Nicolaitans. As the latter (prevaUer over the people) seems tantamount to the former (idol of the people), so the text, by the word ouTto? (thus), seems to pronounce the Balaamite errors identical, or quite similar. Thus the Lord warns the church against corruptions simUar to those propagated by Balaam-— against pious frauds — against participation in the profits of evil systems — against polygamy, and anything inimical to the true law of marriage. 1 Num. xxv. 1, xxxi. 16. 2 See Report ofthe great Maharaj case, in Bombay, in 1863. ' Num. xxiv. 1. 156 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IL 16, 17. Ch. u. 16: " Repent therefiore ; else I am coming, and will fight with them hy the sword of my mouth!'- — -This is an admoni tion to the impenitent, equivalent to saying : As I often come to churches, so, in my visitations of them, I shaU bring my word and Spirit to bear on the impenitent for retribution. The threat is not uttered against the church itself, but against unworthy members : not, " I wUl fight against thee," but " against them." Accordingly, the speedy coming has less to do with the prosperity and decUne of the city, than with the refutation of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans. This came speedily; and these corruptions seem never to have spread extensively, nor to have continued long. Hence the doubts whether there was a person caUed Nicolas, an originator of the heresy. The Lord quickly consumed it by the spirit of His mouth. Ch. u. 1 7 : "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches : To him who conquers I will give to eat of the hidden manna ; and I will give him a white gem, and on, the gem a name engraven, which none hut the receiver knows" (see ver. 7).- — The hidden manna is a symbol taken from the pot of manna (Exod. xvi. 32-34), — a type, not to be eaten, but kept as a memorial to which only the high priest had access. This manna was preserved when they were leaving the desert, and about to enter the long-expected land. But the manna which the Lord promises is to be eaten ; and it teaches that, though the old economy is ended, the church has stUl a journey to pass through the desert : she is different times represented as in a tabernacle,^ and here as stUl fed with the desert food. The Lord does not promise twelve gems of different hues, and engraven with the names of the twelve tribes, though that" was the origin of the symbol The twelve tribes do not now exist separately, but " are aU one in Christ." Nor are the twelve hues used any longer : they are aU fused in white — indicative of purity. The "new name" is obviously that of "son," by which none but a son can be caUed. Only the experience of creative sonship enables any man to comprehend it. Nor are we to ' Rev. vii. 15, xii. 12, xiii. 6, xv. 5, xxi. 3. 2 Exod. xxviii. 21. CH. II. 18, 19.] FOURTH EPISTLE. 157" say that this name of son is the only name which the Lord gives His people : it is simply the name engraven on the gem. It indicates that God is their Father, and they are children of God. The gem is the seal of the true Israel, and the name on it is equivalent to " Israel " (not aU who are of Israel) " is my son.'' We shaU afterwards ^ find other names applied to those who conquer, registering them as being God's, and citizens of the spiritual Jerusalem, and one with Christ. Ch. U. 1 8 : " And to the messenger of the church in Thyatira virite : These things says the Son of God, who has His eyes as a flame of fire, and whose fieet are like white brass " (see ch. i 14, 15). — Jesus is not previously in these addresses caUed the Son of God : why here ? It seems suggested by the new name of Son, mentioned in the end of the previous address. The address contains much aUusion to confiicts with the civU powers. The eyes as a flame of fire, imply that the Holy Spirit, as a purifier and a consumer, and especiaUy as a scrutinizer of secrUar poUtics, is poured out on the church in such circumstances. And the feet Uke the white brass, pre figures the civU pains and penalties, the unjust judgments on accusations of treason, for rendering to Caesar only what is Caesar's, the imprisonments, banishments, and martyrdoms by which the monster would wear out the saints, and do aU that stern despotism can effect, to stamp out aU true Chris tians. Ch. U. 19: " / know thy works, and love, and faith, and service, and thy endurance ; and thy last works to be more than ¦ the first." — The commendations are of simUar import to those given to the churches of Ephesus and Smyrna. But one particular is noteworthy. She is commended for increase in her works and endurance. She is brought into conflict with Jezebel — -a name taken from the wicked queen who perse cuted Elijah. And here we learn that, in bearing up against the idolotrous queen, the spUitual state of the church is elevated and refined. It was so among the VaUensians, the HoUanders, the English Puritans, the Scotch Covenanters, and the PUgrun Fathers. 1 Rev. iii. 12. 158 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IL 20. Ch. U. 2 0 : " But I have (much) ^ against thee, that thou lettest loose that woman Jezebel, who claims to be a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my servants to commit fiornication, and to eat idol sacrifices!' — We have here the picture of a church groaning under the fiscal and religious oppression of corrupt civU government. By the Jezebel of the epistle is not meant an individual woman, for the history of Christian times does not produce such a person. The name of the odious idolatress, the wife of Ahab, is made a metaphor for what she promoted : false prophecy, idolatry, and immorality. This depicts various unhaUowed systems ; and among others the falsely philosophic Gnostic system, which sprang out of Platonism, corrupted early Christianity to a wide extent, and festered on tUl it developed into Arianism, and, later still, into Mohammedanism and Popery. Four symbolic women of evU character are depicted in prophetic Scripture : 1. Jerusalem, whose day of merciful visitation was not improved by her ; and of whom the Lord said, " They shah lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee." ^ 2. Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots.' 3. The mystic Babylon,* called also the Great Harlot.^ 4. Jezebel, the aUegoric woman of the text, the patroness of false prophets and a corrupt priesthood, Uke those of Bethel and Dan who worshipped the golden calves, and hke the Baal priests conformed to those of Tyre. The idolatry here charged home upon her is not direct idol-worship, but such as her advocates may aUege to be no idolatry, while practising it : the eating of idol sacrifices = deriving revenue or profit from them. The sin here charged home on her, in reality, Ues at the door of almost aU the civU governments that have been, none of which has as yet been constructed on true Christian principles : some entering into Erastian compacts with churches, and seizing a large proportion of the revenues that belonged to churches, schools, and the poor ; others taxing pilgrimages to idol temples ; others, for political expediency, gaming power and popularity by endowing idol priests ; others > God. Sin. 2 Luke xix. 44. 3 Rev. xvii. 5. * Rev. xviii. 2. ¦= Rev. xvii. 2. CH. n. 21-23.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF THYATIEA. 159 setting up corrupt churches, and confiscating the property of many for mere nonconformity. The sin of sharing the gains of false systems ramifles largely through civil governments. Ch. U. 2 1 : " And I gave her time that she might repent ; and she wishes not to repent ofi her ^ licentiousness." — Jesus did this in the case of Jews, Gnostics, and the later developments of antichristianism. The absence of any spirit of penitence in dicates the intensity of prejudice. Thus Simon, known as Magus, commenced the elaboration of philosophy into Gnos ticism. About the same time the Judaizers in Corinth and Galatia made strenuous opposition to Paul. False messiahs appeared, and pharisaic hypocrisy continued. The land be came fiUed with sicarii, or robbers ; and the community hurried on to national ruin. So also Christ gave time for repentance to the various heretical sects, before the antichristian system of the East and West was fuUy developed. The word iropveia (licentiousness), expressive of breaking God's covenant, embraces aU false reUgion and corrupt practice. Ch. U. 2 2 : " Lo, I will throw her into a bed, and the adul terers with her into great distress, unless they repent ofi their works!' — Those who are sharers in sin, share also in retribu tion. To churches, as to communities and men, it happens that sin persevered in, produces the real effects of confirmed habit ; it strengthens prejudice, produces ignorance, renders the moral feelings caUous, and thus works out its own punishment. Ch. U. 2 3 : " And her children will I kill with death ; ancl all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the reins and hearts : and I will give to you to every one according to his works!'- — ^Death (6avaTo<;) is used especiaUy for pestilence, which foUows in the wake of war, and of intemperance, and of reUgious pUgrimages, and other results of false reUgion. " The Searcher of the reins and hearts " is a description of Christ, derived from the Old Testament, as from Ps. vii. 9, xxvi 2, etc. It attributes to Him the most intimate know ledge of both the lower and the higher powers of humanity ; it intimates His watchful supervision of His church, and the ' " This Ucentiousness " {rxurtis Topvuxi). — God. Sin. 160 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. II. 24. aU-pervading extent of His government of it ; and it shows us that the Lord, as the king and judge, deals with men, not according to their labours («o7ro?), nor their endurance (vTTopevTj), but their works (epja). The works spruig out of faith, and are evidence of spiritual life, whUe the labours may be inflicted on them from the world ; and endurance is less or more, in various circumstances. AH are not equaUy called to labour and endurance, but works of faith, hope, and love are universal. Ch. U. 24 : " But to you who remain in Thyatira, I say (as many as have not this doctrine, whoever have not known the depths ofi Satan, as they say), I shall not thro-w on you other weight!' — Jesus wiU, and ever does, discriminate between the wheat and the chaff or the tares ; and out of an impure church He un- faUingly gathers all who are truly faithful. The depths of Satan, found in aU heresy, involve the principles on which the Pharisees and Sadducees rejected the Messiah: some making the unity a reason for rejecting the trinity; some making Christ's sufferings a pretext for His rejection ; some, under a pretence of glorifying Him, aUeging that He did not die ; some caviUing at the resurrection; some, in the quasi sacrifice of the mass, pretending to repeat His sacrifice in bloodless form ; and all resting on the merit of man, and derogating from that of Christ. The Lord takes a merciful survey of the circumstances of His faithful people. If they are struggUng with difliculties in times of rampant error, He wiU not demand impossibUities : " With temptations. He wUl make a way to escape." The enactments made by antichristian powers are of such a nature as to " wear out the saints." But the laws of God are not grievous. Men have often framed iniquity by laws, in viola tion of sacred rights ; and have issued edicts and proclama tions, denouncing as treason aU refusal to follow these in preference to the laws of God.^ Thus persecuting powers have in aU cases contrived to plead law, and caU the scrip tural worship of God treason and crime. But the Lord has often interposed by bringing persecuting kings and powers to an end by poUtical revolutions. 1 See ProL Sect, xxiii. CH. IL 25-27.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF THYATIEA. 161 Ch. ii 25: " But what ye have, keep till I come." ^ — The Lord, whUe in the flesh, spoke of coming in His kingdom, ev TTJ ^aaiXeia avTovf but nowhere, after the beginning of the gospel age, of coming (et?) into it ; but He often spoke of the kingdom as coming and already come, and taught the dis ciples to pray, " Thy kingdom come." He also ^ compared Himself to a nobleman going into a far country to receive a kingdom, and to return. This He did when He ascended to the Father, and returned on the day of Pentecost, as Peter declared that day to be "a great and notable day of the Lord," and that on that day He was proclaimed both as " Lord and as Christ." * Christ visits the various parts of His king dom. Blessed are we if we are found in the Lord's service, at whatever time and in whatever manner He may visit us. Ch. U. 26: "He ivho conquers and keeps to the end my works, to him will I give authority over the nations!' — This implies church authority, embracing the Gentiles in their proselyte or convert state, superseding the authority of high priests and of the elders of the synagogues. "The end" is the termination of the Jewish kingdom, and the visible institution of the Church. " He that endured to this end " was saved in the Jewish catastrophe. Ch. ii. 27: " And He shall tend them with an iron rod, as the potter's vessels are fractured, and as I also have received of my Father!' — A shepherd (pT^) is a pretty frequent metaphoric term in the Old Testament.^ Here Jesus promises to make the man who overcomes, a shepherd or pastor. The Lord thus announces the pastoral office, the principles of which are developed especially in the Pastoral Epistles. The iron rod or pastoral staff is taken from Ps. ii. 9, in which it belongs to Christ Himself as mediator. He here teaches that He dispenses this power -externaUy by the super intendents (eiTicTKOTroi) or elders (irpecr^vTepoi), and by the ministers (Bmkovoi). The last term, though often applied officiaUy to the fiscal church officer, who has charge of the ^ Vlxta, simUar in meaning to ipx,'!^"-!. ^ Matt. xvi. 28. 3 Luke xix. 12. * Acts ii. 19, 35. 5 Ps. xxiu., Ezek. xxxiv., Zech. xi., etc. L 162 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IL 28-111. 1, revenues and of the poor, is sometimes applied to all believers, who are personally Christ's ministers for the behoof of other men.'' The iron indicates strength irresistible. Such is Christ's mediatorial government ; and such, too, wiU be that of His ministers when the saints shall inherit the earth. But this doe.s not imply any stern, vindictive power ; for its action wUl be most complete when " there shaU be none to hurt or destroy." In the meantime, we see the promise wondrously fulfiUed in the most prominent modern nations, which, though only semi-christian, sway the political events of the world : as the great powers of Europe, the United States of America, the British Empire in the East, etc. Ch. ii. 28: " And I will give him the morning star." — " The morning star " is a title given to Christ HimseU'.^ How then can He speak, or does He, of giving Himself to the conquering believer ? As the sun often expresses the sun light, so here Jesus promises the light of the celestial luminary, representing Himself That light He gives in giving the Holy Spirit, who is metaphoricaUy termed the light emanating from Christ,^ as daylight from the sun. The term is taken from the great light predicted by Isaiah,* the Sun of righteousness,' and " the dayspring from on high." ^ Ch. ii. 29: " He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." — See ch. ii 7. Ch. iii. 1 : "And to the messenger ofi the church in Sardis write : These things saith He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead." — This describes a church in a state of declension. And the title here given to Jesus admonishes such a church to seek an effusion of the Spirit We see that even apostolic churches were incident to it. The greatest of aU declensions was when the Eoman apostasy was at its height. The Greek and Oriental Churches are also ex amples. The Protestant Church has also exhibited much of a decUning and languid spirit during the last two centuries; 1 Rom. xvi. 1 ; 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. ^ Rev. xxii. 16. ' Eph. v. 8. ^ Isa. ix. 2. 5 Mai. iv. 2. « Luke i. 78. CH. III. 2.] FIFTH EPISTLE. 163 but many portions of it have been blessed with awakenings, — " times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord." Ch. iU. 2: "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, which were about to die : for I have not fiound thy works completed before God." — The danger of a retrograde course is an especial reason for this duty of watchfulness. Sardis is the representative of a state of declension ; but, with much of incipient death, it has a remnant of life. Even whUe Gnosticism prevailed, it by no means infected all the churches and their members; and in the darkest state of Papal error, an 'A Kempis here, and a Pascal there, retained spiritual Ufe. In the decUne that passed over Protestantism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and blighted so much of its fair promise of fruitfulness, the proportion of life that remained was much greater than in the Papal, Greek, or Gnostic systems. God has ever maintained many who, like the seven thousand in Israel, may not stand out prominently as witnesses, and thus may not be dragged to death, but who see the Saviour though it be but dimly, and apprehend saving truth though but feebly. A Uttle faith is genuine, if it is faith in Christ. A single ray of light tends to guide a man rightly, ff it is light from God. Thy works I have not found completed (TreTrXrjpoopeva). Thou boastest of merits, but thy duties remain undone ; and therefore art thou guilty before God. So completely does Jesus keep the human aspect of His one personality in view, that those are inexcusable who, by denying the presence of Jesus, confound presence with visibility, and, like the Euty- chians of old, confound the nature with the personality, and thus from the personality of Christ infer that He had not two natures. This also was allied to another error — the Theopassian and ApoUinarian : that in the death of Jesus God suffered.-' The human nature of Jesus spoke of God analogously to the way in which we speak of the spirit ; or, ff with the Cod. Sin., " my God," it is as if a man would say, " my spirit shaU rejoice in God," not intending to represent himself as two persons. So could the humanity of our Lord speak of His divinity, yet preserve unipersonality. ^ See Hagenb. Hist, of Doct. 164 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IIL 3, 4. Ch. iii 3 : " Remember how thou hast received and heard, and keep and repent. ¦ Whenever therefiore -thou repentest not, I shall come upon thee as a thiefi, and thou shalt not knovj what hour I shall come upon thee!' — Thou caUest thyself my church. Now my church received aU from me. Thy charter can be only my word. But thou claimest to rest doctrines and practices on traditions, or popular and time-honoured usages. Separate thyself from these, and keep what I have con veyed to thee in my word. Eepent of and renounce aU that thou hast gathered from human tradition and heathenism, and the jarring philosophies of men. If thou neglect this, I shall come on thee as a thief (kXett- Tij?) invisibly, and in a time and mode which thou mayest not expect, and for which thou shalt be unprepared. Moham medanism came as a scourge, when degenerate Christians were unprepared for it. The Eeformation came when Eomanism was unprepared for it. The faU of the temporal power of the Papacy last year came immediately on the announcement of the blasphemous decree of Papal infalUbUity, when, instead of being prepared for such a judgment, the zealous Eomanists were jubilant as if aU the world were at their feet. The word " hour," occurring not in a vision, but in words of Jesus, is used merely to denote the date as a point of time, — not a measure of time, but a crisis, — not a length of time, but the time of coming. Ch. iii 4 : " But thou hast a fiew names ^ in Sardis that did not sully their garments ; and they .shall walk with Tne in white, fior they are worthy."- — In a state of declension. He who has the seven Spirits for ever makes discrimination- between the genuine and the vile. The white raiment represents the justification by the Lord, of those who have been condemned by human judgment, and it also emblematizes the adornment given by the Spirit to all beUevers as a kingdom of priests to God. The worthiness is not merit, but "meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light." ^ ^ The Text. Rec. has xai before "in Sardis," which the English version foUows, and translates "even." But it is wanting in the ancient codices, and in the Syriac aud in Jerome's Latin. 2 Col. i. 12. CH. IIL 5-7.] SIXTH EPISTLE. 165 Ch. iii 5 : "He who conquers shall thus he clothed in white raiment ; and I will not blot out his name from the book ofi lifie; and I will avow his name before my Father, and before His messengers." — The book of life is a metaphoric term, not intended to convey the idea of a human register in paper and ink, but the divine knowledge of aU who are " registered in heaven." ^ Jesus here reiterated His former promise, that aU who confess Him before men shaU be confessed before His Father.^ This register is brought into requisition at the final judgment.^ Though not a volume in any human sense, it plainly impUes that saints are individuaUy known and remem bered in heaven. Ch. iU. 6 : " He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!' — See ch. ii 7. Ch. ui 7 : " And to the messenger of the church in Phila delphia write : These things says the True, the Holy, He who has the key of David, and opens, and none will shut ; and shuts, and none will open!' — The titles are here appropriate to the church in " a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." This wiU appear as we proceed. This epistle wiU be found to depict a state of revival Jesus as here depicted is the true David, the Beloved (6 Aja- TTTjTo^). The key of the gates of a city or fortress is kept by the chief, and put into the hand of a porter to open for the admission of any comer. This gives the servant no authority : he is not left at liberty to open to whom he may please. Thus, when Peter opened the door of faith by preaching to both Jews and GentUes,* he had no lordship or headship, any more than a turnkey or porter has, when in obedience to orders he opens a gate. Jesus has aU authority vested in Himself. When the Lord opens a door of revival among duU and dead professors, men who attempt to stop it only prove their feebleness. On the other hand, if the door is locked, and the churches are sunk in lethargy and death, men are powerless in attempting to awaken them ; and when " the time of re- ' Heb. xii. 23. ^ Luke xu. 8. 3 Bev. XX. 13. * Matt. xvi. 19. 166 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IIL 8, 9. freshing" comes, it is sometimes in connection with the feeblest human instrumentality, " that the excellency of the power may be of God." Sectarians are sometimes permitted to mar the good work, on account of the human element of weakness and foUy that has been mixed with it. Ch. iU. 8 : " / know thy works : I have set before thee an open door, which none can shut ; for thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name." — This depicts a church in a revived and truly spiritual state. Where the Lord has given Uberty, man cannot prevent it, though such liberty, and the wholesome action resulting from it, are resisted in aU conceivable ways. Some of the purest and most enduring churches have, to human view, possessed very Uttle power. Such is the VaUen- sian Church, which, wasted by furious persecutions, and even expatriated,-' has been Uke the bush in the desert, burning yet unconsumed. Such was the feeble Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Scotland, when Charles ii. and James H. assaUed it with their continuous dragonnades ; such the Eng Ush Puritans, and their offshoot the PUgrim Fathers; such, too, were the Nestorians and the Malabar Christians — al politicaUy feeble, yet sustained from age to age ; and such very strikingly has been the position of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Oppressed and harassed by the then EstabUshed Church, with Uttle wealth and less poUtical power, it Uved and extended, untU it became a nughty, moral, and social power in the land, and, by means of its emigrants, con tributed, with wondrous energy growing out of weakness, to diffuse truth in the colonies, and sent its colonial, foreign, and Jewish missionaries to the remotest regions. '-'&-' Ch. iu. 9 : " Lo, I give those of the synagogue ofi Satan, ¦who say they are Jews, and are not, but are false ; lo, I shall make them that they shall come and worship before thy feet, and knov) that I loved thee." — The synagogue of Satan comprehended primarUy the apostate Jews, who, by " crucifying the Lord of glory," forfeited their status both as a church and as a state, became severed as dead branches from the true vine, and cast ' From 1685 to 1689. CH. III. 10.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF PHILADELPHI.i. 167 out into the heathen world. But many discordant systems became strangely assimilated to them in doctrine, ritual, or moral principle. Such were the Gnostics in general, and the Mohammedans and the Eomanists, the Pantheists, the Eation- aUsts, Unitarians, Mormonites, and, in the scheme of prophetic interpretation, the pre-miUenarians. The unity of God in a non-trinitarian sense, the reception of tradition so as to dero gate from Scripture the attempt to set aside the meritorious substitution of the Lamb of God, the expected restoration of animal sacrifices, the setting aside of the divine law by poly gamy, or by persecution, or by annulling the Sabbath, or by confounding Ught with darkness, — these may exemplify, though they are far from exhausting, the errors covertly spring ing out of those of the synagogue of Satan which mark one or other of these systems. On the same foundation with the synagogue of Satan rest all communities, caUing themselves churches, that buUd on humanly-devised foundations instead of " the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone." ' Jesus here assured the church of Philadelphia, or brotherly love, that He -wiU so act upon aU these as to bring down their prestige and influence, and consume them by His Spirit, and bring them under the power — a power of benevolence and for good — of His faithflU Church. This wiU include their con version by the Spirit of truth and Ught to the true faith, and wUl bring them to a true and saving knowledge of Christ. •'&"- Ch. iU. 1 0 : " Because thou hast kept the word ofi my endur ance, I will keep thee firom the hour of the trial which is about to come on the whole oikoume-nS, to try the dwellers in the land." — " The word of my endurance " is the Lord's warnings, teaching His people to expect suffering, which endurance always im pUes : as, in the beginning of the Apocalypse, " the kingdom and endurance of Jesus Christ," and as in parts of these seven addresses to the churches. It does not, as Fausett says, refer to the coming, but to the presence and sustaining grace of Christ. " The patient waiting for Christ," in 2 Thess. iU. 5, may appear to weigh against this ; but this is merely a gloss of the translators, the original being ets ttjv viropevrjv tov » Eph. ii. 20. 168 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IIL 11, 12, XpiaTov (unto the endurance ofi Christ), as in the text.-' So in ¦ Eev. xiv. 12 we read of " the endurance and faith of the saints" under persecution. The keeping of Christ's word is not only obeying but guarding it, so that it may not be lost or for gotten. The Lord's promise is to keep or guard His people in the troublous times which they are taught to expect. And this the Lord effected, at many times in history, by providing asylums in mountains and deserts for His saints, by which they often not only found refuge from mighty persecutors, but survived their ruin. Ch. iu. 11: " Lo, I am coming quickly : hold what thou hast, that no one take thy chaplet!'^ — As the seaUng of vision and prophet was included within the term of Daniel's seventy weeks,^ which were determined on Daniel's people and the holy city, and had their finale in its destruction, so the New Testament must then have been completed. The garland or chaplet is expressed in the English version by the word " crown ;" but that confounds it with BiaBtjpa (diadem), which is nowhere attributed to believers. The word is (TTe(pavo<; (stephanos), the priestly garland or chaplet.* To take our garland from us, would be to denude us of our Chris tian priesthood by seducing us from the- faith, or ensnaring us into conduct dishonouring to our Christian profession. To escape this, let us hold and defend what the Lord has given, remembering His promises to give ' increase of grace : " To him that has shaU be given." Ch. iii. 12: " / will make him who overcomes a pillar in the temple ^ ofi my God, so that he may not go out : and I -will write on him the name ofi my God, and the name ofi the city of my God, which comes down out ofi the heaven firom my God, and my new name!' — The mention of the temple impUes that it was standing when these words were spoken and written. The ^ Waiting is expressed by six or seven other words. = See Prol. Sect. vi. 3 Dan. ix. 24. ' PhU. iv. 1 ; 1 Thess. ii. 19 ; 1 Pet. v. 4. * Temple {vxus). The word most frequently used for the temple of Jerusalem in the Gospels and Acts is Upot — a word used in the Epistles only once, and in the Apocalypse not at all. CH. IIL 12.] TD THE MESSENGEE OF PHILADELPHIA. 169 temple is not seen in the New Jerusalem, because everything there is spiritual, and because the glory of God and the Lamb would obscure any material temple. In the spiritual sense, a temple is spoken of- — caUed, though not Uke the old, the temple of Jerusalem, yet " the tempile of God," " of heaven," and " of the tabernacle of the testimony." ^ During the gospel age there is no material temple. The New Jerusalem, and no longer the Old, is where men ought to worship ;^ and it is on the earth as weU as above, visible as weU as invisible.^ Thus it is present, " opened in the heaven," and brought down to earth ; and it is the spiritual capital of Christ's spiritual king dom. The word ovpavo<; (heaven), which occurs fifty-four times in the Apocalypse, appears for the first time ; and its usage de mands special attention. John never speaks of heaven in the abstract, as modern Christians too commonly do. He never uses the word as a proper name, like names of cities or king doms. In describing the introduction of the new economy instead of the old, which was caUed by the prophets the heaven and the earth, he caUs it " a new heaven," which depicts the opening of the gospel age at the incarnation. But here, in the epistles to the churches, the Lord is spealdng of what is already begun. Accordingly, He speaks not of " heaven," but of " the heaven." And thus through all the visions, in which seals, trumpets, and phials are exhibited, " the heaven " is invariably spoken of. Inattention to this leads many Christians to explain away the employments in " the heaven " in ch. v. and vii. as being in " heaven," and altogether secluded from the present life. This denudes be lievers of the privUeges and promises contained in these.* A piUar has two uses : it may be a prop, or a memorial column. The latter seems principaUy intended, and taken primarily from Jacob's pUlar at Bethel (Gen.- xxvUi 18-22). And this Bethel, the house of God, was the temple which Jacob had. Solomon had two piUars constructed in the temple, Yakm and Boaz.^ These were not props, but memo rials,- — perhaps, as Abarbanel thinks, of the piUars of cloud 1 Rev. xi. 19, xvi. 17, xv. 6. '' John iv. 21-24. s Rev. xxi. 2-; Heb. xii. 22. * See Prol. Sect. xii. s 1 Kings vii. 15-21. 170 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. Ill 12. and fire. StoXo-;, the word here employed, is used in the Septuagint version of the passage referred to. In 1 Tim. iii. 15 we find cttuXo? Kai ehpaioopa — the former a memorial, the latter a support. Solomon's pillars, though not supporting any part of the temple, bore on their capitals beautiful -wreaths of ornamental work — net-work, lily-work, pomegranates, etc. These emblematized the graces and works of faith, that crown the head of the advanced saints. Such is every one whom Jesus makes a pillar : his head exhibits garlands of holy beauty. The citizens of the New Jerusalem, who are pUlars and living stones in the spiritual temple, shaU no more go out, — shall never, like the apostate Jews, T)e expeUed. They belong to it for ever. The Lamb in the midst of the throne tends them as the Good Shepherd, and none of them shaU be snatched from His hand. They are in safety for ever, as they are "in everlasting . remembrance." By the expression, " the name of my God," Jesus intends, as in ch. ii. 17, the divine sonship and fatherhood of God's regenerate saints. But why does He write on them the name of the spiritual city ? Speaking in the manner of the ciric economies of our times, we may say He takes a census of them ; He registers them as citizens of the New Jerasalem, and there fore as invested with all its privileges. This name of the city is derived from Isa. Ixii 4, in which the Jerusalem of the gospel day, prophetically seen by the prophet, is caUed ^^ 'Vt'D (hcphr zi-bah) = my delight is in her. Hence her citizens, as " sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty," have aU the new name of ajawTjToi, the plural of the special name of Jesus, AjairijTOf (the Beloved), or David.-' " And my new name." — This probably led Paul to say in Phil. ii. 11, " That every tongue may confess that the Lord Jesus is Christ, to the glory of God the Father." Of this, the common translation, to say the least, dUutes the meaning, and makes " Christ " a proper name, instead of what it is, the mediato rial title of Jesus. XpiaToeXov, in the English version " I would," is rendered in Poli Synopsis "prsestat" (it were better). This makes the sin of -lukewarmness, ¦ 2 Cor. i. 21 ; 1 Johu ii. 20, 27. " Luke i. 35. 3 Eom. viii. 19-23. ^ Eph. ii. 10. 172 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IIL 16-18. want of zeal, or halting between two opinions, more dangerous than absolute coldness, — not that it involves more guUt, but that a man remaining contented in it is less likely to be roused from it. For this reason, the Lord informed the self-righteous Pharisees, that they were less likely to come to repentance than even the degraded persons whom they loathed as unclean. The word does not at aU grammaticaUy or idiomaticaUy mean that Jesus wishes any man to be cold, as would be implied in the phrase " I would." The Greek word is not in the 1st person, and ought not to be so put in English. Decision is enjoined hy it: "If the Lord be God, serve Him; but if Baal, serve him."' Ch. iii. 16:" Thus because thou art lukewarm, and ¦neither cold nor hot, I will eject thee firom my mouth." — This 'expresses no approbation of coldness, but it shows clearly how Jesus disapproves indecision. Now indecision forms the character of countless multitudes — of those represented by the seed faU ing by the wayside, and also on stony ground — of multitudes among the idolatrous heathen, who wiU condemn the idolatry, yet continue to practise it — of many externaUy fair, professing Christians, who wiU be liberal, and in some matters benevolent and socially kind, but wUl not submit the heart to God. They wUl be as like the genuine Christian as a counterfeit can be, yet be but counterfeits in the sight of God. Wondrous self- deception ! Ch. iu. 17: "Because thou sayest, I am rich and enriched, and I need nothing ; and thou knowest not thou art wretched, and destitute, and poor, and blind, and naked." — The completion of the sentence is in the next verse. This strongly depicts the self-sufficient state of great numbers. Proud of their knowledge, their moral character, their respectabUity, they are, when brought to the test, semblance, deficiency^nothing. Ch. iii 18: " / advise thee to buy ofi me gold refi/ned out of the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, tliat thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear ; and to anoint thine eyes with a lotion, that thou mayest see." — Gold is the conventional representation of value, incorrupti- ^ I Kings xviii. 21. CH. IIL 19.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF LAODICEA. 173 bility, and metallic beauty and ornament. In conformity with this metaphoric language, Paul speaks of " the riches of His glory," ^ " the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God,"^ "the riches of His grace," ^ "the riches of Christ."* Thus Jesus teaches us that He is the fountain of all trae good to His people, and without whom none gain acceptance with God. The absence of clothing indicates squalid poverty, and is often the result of false reUgion, driving many to asceticism, and prompting others to grind the poor. But as these words are addressed to a church externaUy prosperous, they teach the same doctrine which Jesus had taught in the parable of the wedding garment. Such garment, Uke an Eastern robe of honour, must be received, and it must be put on. So the typical and metaphoric references to garments throughout the Old and New Testaments involve the two ideas of acceptance with God and of spiritual adornment, of justification and sanctification. The eyes are an emblem of intellect, as when Jesus caUs an evil eye sinful, classing it with blasphemy,* and uses the closing of the eyes to denote ignorance and prejudice ;^ and wlien He gave Paul a commission to open men's eyes;^ and when Paul* prays that the eyes of the heart may be opened. The mental eyes are kept in a diseased state by the doctrines, theories, and phUosophies of men. The remedy Ues in the application of inspired instruction. Hence the Holy Spirit is said to give unction,' and by that means to lead beUevers to the full knowledge of truth. Jesus here speaks of the duty of professors in relation to this : " anoint thine eyes." We cannot give sight to the blind, nor healthful vision to the infiamed eye ; but we can do as a patient who applies pre scribed -remedies, — we can use appointed means of grace ; and we can come prayerfuUy to Jesus, the great physician. Ch. iii 19: "As many as I love, I convince and instruct : be zealous tlien, and repent." — Tp convince a man, is to make him understand and feel wherein he has erred. And to in- ' Eom. ix. 23. ^ Rom. xi. 33. ' Eph. i. 7. * Eph. iii. 8. * Mark vii. 22. ° Matt. xiii. 15. 7 Acts xxvi. 18. 8 Eph, i. 18. ^ 1 John ii. 20. 1 74 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IH. 20. struct, is both to communicate truth and bring under disciphne. In many modes, and by many means, does Jesus effect these gracious purposes. " Eebuke and chasten," as in the Enghsh version, are terms which have altered their meaning, so as to be no longer suitable. To chasten, now means to punish ; but the Greek word iraiBevco means to educate, to instract as a boy at school, where punishment may perchance come in as a secondary matter, but leading in knowledge is the desion. Jesus instructs all whom He loves, and leads them in the way of discipline. Zeal and repentance are the very duties in which a formal and proud church is most deficient ; and most approp-)riately, therefore, is Laodicea exhorted to these. The one imphes the other. If a church be aroused to warmth, it wiU repent of previous lukewarmness ; whUe, on the other hand, the spirit of repentance is an indication of an infusion of new Ufe. Ch. iii. 20: " Lo, I sta.nd at the door, and knock : whenever any one will hear my voice, and open the door, I will hoth come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me!' — At what door does Jesus say He stands ? At that of the church He addresses in the passage. But He does not limit His pre sence by saying, at thy door. The Apostle James foUows His language, and applies it to Christians and the Jewish people generaUy, and with a primary reference to the Jews in the siege by the Eomans: "The Judge standeth before the door.'" In thus addressing one church, the Lord shows His presence with, and His visits to aU churches. He knocks like a visitor at his friend's door. It is the duty and interest of the members of the church within to hear and open. The Lord makes His presence known in His church, or any part of it, according to His wise and gracious purposes ; and it is the privUege of all and each member to look for and receive feUowship in those visitations. Elsewhere we read of visita tions for reproof, and for the removing of the light. Here we learn of visitations for sustaining His people with food, and refreshing them with spiritual communication and joy. "He with me." — This teaches mutuaUty. Condescension from the Lord should find response in our faith and love. ^ Jas. V. 9. CH. IIL 21.] TO THE MESSENGEE OF LAODICEA. 175 The presence of Jesus should be hailed by us, and be a source of joy and refreshment. The study of the word and habitual prayer are means of preparations for this. Ch. iii. 21: "To him that conquers I will permit to sit with me in my throne, as I too conquered, and sat with my Father on His throne." — Here, as in the addresses of Jesus to the other churches, the conquest is the constant result of the fight of faith. The honour conferred on the saints, of sitting with Christ on His throne, is substantially the same as that of their being " a kingdom of priests," and inheritors of the earth. The Lord' assured the disciples, that in the regenera tion they should be judges of Israel Now, whatever strained interpretations are given, the word for regeneration, -jraXiv- jevea-ia (being born again), occurs twice : in this place, and in Tit. iii. 5, " the laver of regeneration.'' This is a present regeneration : the restoration of man from spiritual death. To give it a different meaning in the other passage, may suit a theory, but is a most non-natural sense forced on a scriptural term. The raising to ne-wness of life is often taught, — as by the Lord to Nicodemus, and to the assembled people ;^ and by Paul' and by John.* By the sitting on His throne is meant the government of the Church, as the chair of Moses was occupied by the scribes and Pharisees.^ The laws, rites, ceremonies, and forms of the Christian Church are to be drawn from the apostoUc writings. All things later are of human origin, and of no authority, — such as addition of pre lates to the apostolic orders of "bishops and deacons;" the addition of holy chrism, the sign of the cross, etc., to baptism ; the addition of transubstantiation, consubstantiation, parti cular postures different from what the Lord and the disciples observed, particular kinds of bread and wine, private or pro miscuous communions, etc. ; additions to the number of sacra ments; additions of apocryphal or uninspired books to the Bible ; additions to the Scripture revelation respecting the state of the dead ; and many other things which may have existed even since the Nicene Church, but are modern in com parison with the apostolic laws. " Matt. xix. 28. '' John v. 25. ' Eph. ii. 6, and other places. * Rev. XX. 6. ^ Matt, xxiii. 2. 176 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. III. 22, IV. I. Ch. iii 22: "He that has an ear, let him hear what the, Spirit says to the churches " (see ch. ii. 7). — -These words being repeated to aU the churches, show that their division is not their normal state, but produced by their defects ; and as these defects disappear, the churches wUl shine in the unity and beauty of " the bride the Lamb's wife." Ch. iv. 1 : " After these things I saw, and lo, a door opened in the heaven ; and the first voice that I lua,rd was as of a trumpet saying to me. Ascend hither, and I will show thee what things must be after these!' — ^He speaks of the connection of this vision with that of ch. i, not of the sequence of fulfil ment. Not, after this the event happened ; but, next to this I saw the vision now to be related. The word peTa has been explained at ch. i 19. Confusion arises from giving it the sense of time ; whUe, in fact, what John speaks of as often as he uses the preposition is the things seen (tuvtu, these things, or its singular tovto, this vision). Thus, though it is com monly interpreted, " after this time " the event took place, or the vision was fulfiUed, that is an idea to which Jolm makes no aUusion : he states the order of the visions. The radical mean ing of peTa is with, derived, says Kuhner,^ from /xecro? (medins, middle, and with it agrees our English with) ; and similar words in other languages are cognate. With the genitive, it ex presses a general idea of among, etc. ; with the accusative, it conveys the idea of ijito the midst ofi. Thus when John, haring related and described objects which he had seen, adds jjtera Tavra and goes on to describe others, he in effect says. In the same aggregate with those I have told must be enumerated those I am about to narrate. The phrase expresses not the time, but the connection, and does not warrant the conclusion that the facts related after it happened subsequently to those before it,^ though consecutive in the order of the vision. The things referred to are those enumerated in ch. i 19,— "which thou hast seen, and which are," — objects, be it remembered, not times, implying not succession, but local connection and order. The remaining visions are now to be de'taUed of " the things which are to be along with them," so 1 Gr. Gram. ' See Note and Suppl. on ch. i. 19. CH. IV. 2.] THE CELESTIAL DOOE OPENED. 177 that aU may form one aggregate of events, evolving from the Pentecost to the faU of Babylon. The words saw and lo are often used by the prophets to introduce a vision. The heaven of the Church is figured, Uke the temple, with its steps, its door, its lamps, its throne, its altar, etc. It was typified by the cloud of glory, and the earth or land by the mercy-seat.^ The words voice and trumpet both refer to the means of pubUc proclamation used at the giving of the law at Sinai :^ Ughtning, thunder, quaking of the mountain, and repeated blowings of the trumpets. Trumpets were also used at the assault on Jericho and at the pubUcation of the jubUee. " The first voice " was that of Jesus.^ John is called to ascend where Jesus was : " hither." This did not take John locaUy away from Patmos, nor his spirit from his body. The presence of Jesus may be manifested in other ways than by mere ocular sight or mere locomotion. The next words explain it. Ch. iv. 2 : " And immediately I was in the Spirit : and, lo, a throne was set in the heaven, and on the throne a sitter." — Being in the Spirit, is, as in ch. i 1 0, a form of language taken from Ezek. xxxvu. 1, and is equivalent to inspired or ecsta- sied by the Holy Ghost, in order to be fitted both to see and to "write the vision. The throne was that of Jesus ; and the place was not heaven in any abstract sense, nor a heaven, but the heaven (o ovpavo<;) ; and the sitter was His manifested deity. " A heaven " is only once spoken of in the Apocalypse (ch. xxi. 1). The different appUcations of the term " the heaven " may be thus exempUfied : — Ch. vi. 13: " The stars ofi the heaven fiell." — This is the mere atmospheric heaven, and its stars only meteors, as true stars in the celestial heaven do not faU, but are immense orbs, inconceivably larger than our earth. So, in ch. xUi. 13, fire is said to come down from heaven. Ch. viii. 1 : " Silence in the heaven."- — This is the lower and symboUcal heaven, viz. the Church. So xi. 6, xu. 1, xv. 1. Ch. X. 1 : " An angel coming down firom heaven " = the angel -world. — Thus, as in nature and fact, there are three heavens, — the atmospheric, the planetary, and the heaven of 1 Exod. XXV. 17-22. ' Exod. xix. 16-18. = Ch. i. 10. M 178 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IV. 3. heavens, — so in the visions we shaU find the terrestrial, the celestial, and the supernal. By sitting is not meant actual, but only symboUc bodUy posture, — as far as the human manifestation of His person is seen in the vision. The station and the dignity are visionaUy represented by sitting on a throne. In this theophany the divine nature is meant, for we shaU soon find the human aspect of the personaUty of the sitter on the throne represented by a lamb. Ch. iv. 3 : " And the sitter was in appearance like a jasper stone and a cornelian : and a rainbow (ipi<;) in the circuit of the throne} in appearance like an emerald." — The rainbow is a visional symbol, taken from the sign of peace given to Noah.'' The jasper and corneUan are species of quartz, the prevalent colours of which are red, yellow, and blue. These are the pri mary colom's of the spectrum,^ and, like every other thing in prophetic visions, they are symbols ; and by three hues, in the unity of sunlight, without any form, they emblematize the trinity in unity of God's spiritual nature. And though the sunlight has no form, yet, when refracted, it presents " the bow in the cloud," radiant in seven hues. These aptly emblematize the di-rine attributes : " being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."* The white, unbroken sunUght emblematizes the unity of the divine attributes, as expressed by love in 1 John iv. 8, etc. " The rainbow Uke an emerald " (including beryl, which is classed under the head of emerald as a siUcate,^ these having the principal hues of the rainbow, green, blue, yeUow, and red) is an affectingly beautiful type of grace, flowing from Christ, as the rays from the solar orb, and so placed in the circuit of the throne as to include within its arc aU the celestial assembly. From the face of Christ, Uke that of Moses, comes the Ught which, refracted by the cloud of His presence, displays the sevenfold refraction of the bow. In front and on both sides of the throne were the multitude, • x.vx.\ohi trau Spoiov, — in circuitu throni (Schleusner). * Expressed, however, in the LXX. hy another word, wlon, classicaUy used of a military bow ; while iris is only the atmospheric bow. ' See Brewster's Optics, and Encycl. Brit. * Shorter Catech. Ques. iv. ' See Orr's Circle ofthe Sciences: Minerals, p. 528 ; SUicates. CH. rv. 4, 5.] THE SITTER ON THE THEONE THE ELDEES. 179 but aU SO arranged as to behold the glory from the face of Jesus. So also was the bow : a rainbow is never behind the sun, and never makes a complete circle. This rainbow was in the circuit of, but not behind the throne. The throne, in other words, was not in the centre of the rainbow circle, but on its circumference. Ch. iv. 4 : " And in the circuit ofi the throne were twenty- four thrones : and upon the thrones twenty-four elders, seated, clothed in white, and on their heads golden chaplets." — It is of little avaU to enumerate random opinions respecting these twenty-four elders. But, making our reference as usual to the old economy for imagery, we derive the term from the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, instituted by David,^ and observed even as late as the time of the birth of John the Baptist.^ Their position — " sitting " — indicates that the Aaroidc priestly office ended with the assumption of the priesthood by Christ Himself. Though they are not so pubUc ministrants as the four zoa soon to come into notice, they occupy an important position among church members. They rule and administer discipUne, and are more numerous than the zoa. The ruling elders in aU triUy constituted churches obviously answer to this description. The white raiment is an emblem of twofold import, — repre senting Christ's righteousness imputed, and hoUness the adorn ment wrought by the Spirit of God. It is like the robe of honour, the wedding garment, which must both be received as a gift and be worn ; and this aU true beUevers possessed from the beginning of the gospel age. This the representative twenty- four priests, in common with aU the spiritual priesthood of the gospel age, possess. Their head-dresses are not diadems, but aTe^avoi, chaplets (= the Hebrew OBJSD, from ^l^s), with golden circlets, indicative of the priests. Ch. iv. 5 : " And from the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunderings : and seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." — For the usage 1 1 Chron. xxiv. 1-19. " Luke i. 8. 180 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IV, 6. of the term " lightnings" we may remember the Lord's com paring His presence to lightning,^ and the words of Zechariah,^ " His arrow shaU go forth as lightning." Lightning is repeat edly connected with thunder, voices, and agitations ; and in ch. xi 19, x-vd. 18, it is connected with haUstorms. EzekieP compares the movements of the four zoa to lightning. In aU such cases the general import is the same : comings of Christ in outpourings of the Holy Spirit, especially that of Pentecost. " Thunder " is inseparable from Ughtnings, and foUowed by rain. As the Ughtning is a coming of Jesus, so the thunder is its announcement. The voice that spoke the law on Sinai was loud as thunder, so as to be heard by aU the host.* When the voice from heaven glorified Jesus ^ before His death, " some thought it thundered." The effect produced is awe. It is a reverberating and continued sound, especiaUy in the plural, as " the seven thunders." The import I take to be the word of Christ re-echoed in "what the Spirit says to the churches," at the introduction of Christ's kingdom, by giving the Scriptures and by acts of providence. We shaU find them to cease after the last vial is poured out. " Voices" viz. the trumpet-sounds, are the proclamations of the divine wiU by the ministers, and especially the agency, usuaUy caUed the preaching of the gospel The " lamps " are defined to represent the Spirit of God, from the standpoint of the word seven : " the seven Spirits of God." The word seven is not used in its popular and numeral sense, but according to its phUological "meaning of fulness, or perfection, in relation to the churches, — which are represented as seven on the same principle.^ Ch. iv. 6 : "And before the throne as a glassy sea like crys tal : and in the midst of the throne, and at the circle of the throne, four animals filled with eyes befiore and behind." — The word 0aXaa-aa (sea), occurring here for the flrst time in the Apocalypse, symboUcaUy represents the heathen world at large, the lowest level, and most Ufeless condition of humanity, inteUectuaUy and moraUy. To this effect we read, in Ps. kv. 5, of " those afar off on the sea;" and more UteraUy, "those 1 Matt. xxiv. 27. " Zech. ix. 14, x. 1 (Heb.). ^ j;zek. i. 14. * Exod. xix. 16. » John xiii. 28, 29. « See ch. i. 4, iv. 3. CH. IV. 6.] THE GLASSY SEA. 181 afar off — the sea," — where the sea is evidently used as a term for the remote nations. So, in Isa. lx. 5, " the abundance of the sea shaU be converted unto thee," that is, the multi tudes of GentUes coming to Christ. Though some suppose it, like the Hebrew n^ to denote the west, this is quite unsup ported by any New Testament usage. This uniform significa tion of the symboUc term wUl render plain aU the places where it occurs. This " glassy sea " is not a smooth sea, as if in a dead calm. Such sense is arbitrary — a mere fancy, and unsup ported by Old Testament usage. The origin of the symbol is the Eed Sea during the transit of the Israelites. It was tempest-tossed,' congealed,^ a-wful with thunder and lightning; gloomy with the spray' and the rain that " baptized the people in the cloud and the sea ;" sublimely terrific to the natural mind, in the Ught of the fiery piUar ; yet, by the power of Him who was present in that pUlar, a sea ofi safiety. " Crystal " is often caUed by jeweUers aqua marina, from the translucent blue of the sea, of which the Eed Sea is a fine example.* This makes the crystal in the vision an emblem of Christian purity. The "throne" is in the celestial portion of the Church. " In the midst and at the circle : " this impUes that the mini strants represented by these four are partly in the celestial and partly in the terrestrial sphere of the Church. Animal life is the most natural -visional symbol to represent the re generate sons of God. I think it best, therefore, to translate t,(i>ov UteraUy, an animal. " Living creature,'' if used, must be restricted to Ufe in a material body ; for as a spirit is a Uving creature, -without body, it would be less appropriate in a vision. Animal is defined by Webster " a Uving, sensitive, and locomotive body." To translate the symboUc word in the text, the EngUsh version has the word " beast." But in the present state of English this word is unsuitable, as mean ing only a quadruped ; whUe, of the four zoa in the vision, one has the face of a man, and one of an eagle. ¦ Exod. xiv. 21. ^ Exod. xv. 8. ' I have observed with admiration the shades of blue in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and Indian Ocean : indigo, cobalt, cerulean, and copperas. 182 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IV. 7. In these four animals we have a distinct symbol, not other wise used ; and deduced from the kerubim of Ezekiel,^ with this difference, that that prophet represents them as one animal with four faces or aspects. The English version seems to make four animals with four faces to each,— in aU, sixteen faces, — which is an absurdity ; for, after aU, the faces are only four,- — of a Uon, an ox, a man, and an eagle.^ They are " fiUed with eyes before and behind," to look to the past and the future — to history and prophecy. Ch. iv. 7 : " And the first animal like a lion, and the second animal like an ox, and the third animal having the face as ofi a man, and the fiourth animal like a fiying eagle." — The word lion is appUed to Christ, — "the Lion of the tribe of Judah;"* and also to Satan, — a Uon roaring and ravening.* In the vision its primary reference is to Jacob's prophecy of Judah, as a Uon's cub come up from the prey.* The predic tion couched under the term is, that Uke the Judah of old wdl be the Christian people of the gospel age, rising paramount to and subduing aU the nations of the earth. Their utter ance wUl be awful as the Uon's voice ; and as the meaning is spiritual, their rending and prey wiU be destructive, not of the bodies of men, but of false and evU systems by moral and benignant power. The ox is a creature speciaUy designed for sacrifice, and over the East is stUl the one most generaUy employed in labour, on account of its strength and patience. The animal's sacrificial destination adapted it to represent in vision the ministers and people of Jesus, and Jesus Himself, as sufferers of persecution, often to death ; whUe, from its application to labour, it is an appropriate emblem of their works of faith and labours of love. The "fiace ofi a man " indicates the nature which Emmanuel took. This symbol at once represents the people of God, as 1 Ezek. i. 4, x. 21, etc. " The Hebrew of Ezek. i. 6 says Qrf? nnxf) • • • D^JS nV3"IK, "four faces— .VT --; .T tt:- to one to them." The last word, Dn? (to lliem), might seem to imply plurality ; but the word is varied in some Mss. , and wanting in one, and in the Sept. Even if retained, it can only imply plurality by the four faces. ' Ch. V. 5. « 1 Pet. V. 8. • Gen. xlix. 9. CH. IV. 8.] THE FOUE CEEATUEES. ISS' bearing the image of Christ, by the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit ; and the first Adam, in his primal dominion over the creatures. EspeciaUy it depicts ministers of Christ thus fitted for the great work of the evangeUzation of the world. " A fiying eagle " — not an eagle in general, but only in the act of flight — is a -vision symbol, not aUuding to the whole zoology of that bird, but to some facts : as its speed. To this there are repeated aUusions in the Old Testament : " Swfft as the eagle flieth;"^ "His horses are swifter than eagles."^ AUusion may also be meant to its lofty soaring, and buUding on mountain- crests.* It has also an acute power of vision. Thus it indicates three great facts, reaUzed in the agencies em ployed by Jesus in His Church : the means and power given them of escaping from the rage of their persecuting enemies ; their movement to distant places in bearing the gospel mes sage ; their study of the prophecies, and their having " their Ufe hid with Christ," the Eock of Ages. I recognise, then, in these four zoa the official and repre sentative ministrant agencies commissioned by the Lord Jesus ; and comprehensively aU His people, when actively serving Him for the good of man. Ch. iv. 8 : " And the four animals had each of them seve rally * six wings ; about and within they were full ofi eyes : and they have no cessation day and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the Almighty God, who was, and who is, and who is the coming one!' — " Each six wings," — not that the number of wings was four times six, but that the mystery or prophetic meaning conveyed by the -wings belonged to each of them. Now this mystery we learn from Isaiah's vision (ch. vi.) of Messiah's glory, in which seraphim,* or glorious ones, represent the persons of the Godhead. The two wings covering the face ' Dent, xxviii. 49. " Jer. iv. 13. • Job xxxix. 27 ; see ch, xii. 14. * Here the word xya, is not generaUy represented in versions. It implies dis tribution and communication, as in am 'inmpm (Matt. xx. 10). It intimates that the six -srings are attributable to each. The origin of the symbol we find in Isa. vi. 2, in reference to the seraphim, though different from the kerubim. = From tils' {Arai. i_J -ii). to te noble or glorious (Gesenius, Fiirst). It metaphoricaUy expresses burning ; and fire is an emblem applied in many places of Scripture to the divine nature. 184 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IV, 8. denote the Father, " whom no man has seen, or can see ; " the two covering the feet represent the Son incarnate ; and the two flying, the Holy Spirit in His pentecostal efflux. Ezekiel mentions only four, because his vision showed nothing further than the divine presence leaving the doomed temple, and taking its station on a mount east of Jerusalem,^ viz. the Mount of Olives. John's vision represented to him the messenger of the good tidings regenerated by the Holy Spuit, and therefore bearing the image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The many eyes, both externally and internaUy seen, indi cate endowment with new visual power by the Holy Spirit, of whom the eye is an emblem. Hence we read of "the eyes of the Lord ; " ^ of the Holy Spirit enUghtening the eyes of the KapBia (inner man) ;* of Pauls commission " to turn men from darkness to Ught." * The word rendered " about " is by some Greek editors, and in the EngUsh version, connected with " wings." But I can form no idea of wings round about a flying creature, as such would impede one another; and as eyes also are above represented, " before and behind." I accord with one learned translator^ in the meaning and punctuation I have given : that these creatures have visual powers, ex ternal to survey God's works, and internal for experimental knowledge and the assurance of faith. The celestial portion of them do not need rest, in the sense of reUef, from exhaustion caused by labour, though those of them in the flesh individuaUy require this ; but such rest is not that of the vision. It is not a-^oXrj or airovia, but ava- •7ravai<; ; not reUef, but pause or cessation. CoUectively, they surround the terraqueous globe in all longitudes ; and thus, in every day and hour, their work goes on. WhUe they are asleep here, they are awake at the Antipodes, or any distant longit-iide. There has been no pause, except the prophetic half-hour.^ The trisagion, or holy thrice repeated,^ teaches the doctrme ^ Ezek. xi. 23, Zech. iii. 9, where the word i^J? {eye) expresses hue or colour. " Prov. XV. 3. 3 Eph. i. 18. * Acts xxvi. 18. ' Rev. S. Green. e ch. viii. 1. ' The Cod. Sin. has it eight times, taking apparently "the Lord" as equal to a ninth ; thus ascribing trisagion to each person of the Trinity. B of Apoc. has nine ; A has three. CH. IV. 9, 10.] THEIE WOESHIP. 185 of tripersonality in unity ; and it employs the word " holy," which may be regarded as a central attribute of God to re present aU, as " love " is also employed. " Jesus loved us, and washed us " (ch. i 5), or made us holy. For a similar reason, the epithet of holy is applied to the third person of the Trinity. For the meaning of the title here employed, see ch. i 8, and exp. In applying to God the title " the Lord, the Almighty God," the doctrine of the divine unity is com bined with that of the trinity; whUe the title o Ep^opevo^ means " He who is coming," or " the Comer." Christ's coming in the flesh. His presiding in the Church, and His final coming to judgment, are the doctrines speciaUy taught in this title. The perpetual proclamation, then, by the four zoa is the same as that of Paul : " One God and one Mediator between God and men;"-' and that of John: "The spirit, and the water, and the blood: these three agree in one."^ Ch. iv. 9, 10: "Arid whenever the animals will give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives unto ages ofi ages, the twenty-fiour elders will fiall befiore Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives to ages ofi ages!' — We may hence learn that Christ's mediatorial king dom wiU endure for ever, and that the representatives of the old economy unite in worship with the active and official agents of the new. " Glory " Ci^?, weight ; Bo^a, estimation ; gloria, reno"wn) belongs to the Messiahship ; and it was officiaUy announced when, at the baptism of Jesus, "the voice came out of the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son."* " Honour " (Tiprj, value) is kindred with tho glory, as both refer to the mediatorial righteousness of Christ. " Thanks " (evxapiaTia) is the Church's devout acknowledg ment of the preceding, as belonging to Christ. Though the twenty courses of the ancient priesthood are no longer in office, whether in the temple or as the elders and rulers of the syna gogue, their representatives in the ruUng eldership of the gospel Church unite devoutly with the four zoa in worship. They ascribe to Christ, as Mediator, " ages of ages ; " than ' 1 Tim. ii. 5. ' 1 ^o^^ ^- 8- 3 Matt. iii. 17 ; 2 Pet. i. 16. 186 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. IV. 11. which no stronger language can be employed to express end less duration.-' Their " chaplets " the twenty-four cast before the throne, not, as Fausett says, in mere "acknowledgment that they owe them to Him," which would have Uttle force, and would not accord with the Oriental custom of showing respect by keeping on the head-dress. It has a deeper and better mean ing than any mere temporary act of taking off a turban, which is only done when a man prostrates himself in earnest petition. That indeed is expressive, but it impUes the re sumption of the head-dress when the prostration is over. Here is no intimation of resuming them when the worship is ended, nor indeed of the worship being a temporary act ; and the words are those, not of prayer, but praise. The chaplets are laid aside once for aU : they belonged to the typical and sacrificing priesthood, and they are thus doffed for ever. Other chaplets are in prospect, — of glory, of righteousness, of Ufe, — such as befit the kingdom of priests to God and Christ.^ Ch. iv. 11: " Saying, Thou art worthy, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power ; fior Thou didst create all things, and through Thy will they exist, and were created."- — These worshippers have nothing in common with the faUen Jews, but, on the contrary, they ascribe to Jesus the glory of Messiahship, the honour of imputed righteousness — such righteousness as could alone avaU for justification — and the power of the Holy Spirit in His new creative work ; and they apply to Him the Messianic title of Lord, and the name of the divine nature : God. They ascribe to Him the creative plan and providential purpose of aU. These words are a gospel song, though pre vious to the opening of the book. Therefore it says nothing of Christ's reign on the earth — nothing expressly; but the name of Messiah contains the elementary truth of Christ's kingdom, so soon and so fully to be developed. Being the song of the twenty-four elders, it is a summary of the 150 Psalms, and of aU other inspired hymns of the Old Testa ment ; and being projected into gospel times, it prepares for ' See ch. i. 18, and exp. a Oh. i. 5, v. 9, xx. 6. CH. V. 1.] THE SEVENFOLD SEALED BOOK. 187 combining those ancient lyrics with New Testament songs in the praise of God during the gospel day.^ Ch. V. 1 : " And I saw at the right hand ofi Him who sat on the throne a hook written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." — Books were of two forms, — a pile of separate leaves, and a roll.^ The former was of bark, papyrus, palm leaves, etc. This form is stiU common in India, though only in pre serving the ancient -writings. In the south the writing is often on palm leaves ; in the north, on a special kind of paper; but in both, the Vedas, Puranas, etc. are preserved in loose leaves, regularly paged. These, wrapped in a square of cotton, and fastened with a string, are caUed Tm (granth), a knot. Of this kind I find no mention in the Bible ; and thus neither this nor a bound volume can assist us in forming an idea of the book in the vision. And as to the material, paper is only once mentioned in the New Testament ;* and even then the word employed (%a/3T9?s') may probably have been parchment, though for this Paul once employs membrana.* The Hebrew word n?JD (a roll) occurs in the Old Testament twenty-one times. Other words, as i??, nna, etc., imply writing, record, document, etc., without expressing the form, except that the latter, from a verb radicaUy meaning " to engrave,'^ originated in the earUest mode of writing — engraving, or inscribing on rocks, slabs, tablets of metal, etc. The word for roll (^\^^) is from ??3 (to roll). Though the Greeks may have sometimes appUed the word ^ipXiov of the text to leaf books, yet the New Testament usage being derived from that of the Old Testament, leaves us no option. Books in form of a roU were famiUar to Isaiah,® to Jeremiah,* to Ezekiel,^ and to David.* The book, then, being a roU, another point is decided. Various expositors have represented the book as consisting of ^ Isa. xxvi. 1, xii. 1-6 ; Zeph. iii. 14 ; Zech. ii. 10. 2 Mede gives in his 'Works dra-wings of rolls and of bound volumes. Of the latter I find no trace in Scripture. 3 2 John 12. * Isa. lix. 7, in the EngUsh, has paper reeds ; but the original (niiy) means gimply aquatic plants. See Fiirst's Heb. Gone. ' Isa. viii. 1. " Jer. xxxvi. 2. ' Ezek. ii. 3. 8 Ps. xl. 7. This is the earliest instance of the word which I find. 188 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. Y. 1, seven roUs, which at one time I felt incUned to take for granted on their authority. But our actual inquiry ought to be, not what they conjecture or assume, but what says John himself?. Not a word of seven rolls, which, indeed, would be equivalent to seven books. Why, then, should any modern aUege seven roUs ? John saw and spoke of one roU only. The words " and on the back " are by some editors punctu ated so as to connect them with the sealing ; Greek editors generaUy, however,^ present the adverbs as here rendered, ecTcoOev Kai onriaOev, which have the same form and construc tion. The reference is to Ezekiel's roU,^ which was -written "linxi D'lja (befiore and afiter) ; Sept. epnrpoa-dev Kai o-n-iao (in front and rear). To this it may seem an objection, that it would expose part of it to be read ; but this is of no force, because as much of the external side as went once round the roU would be occu pied with the title and the seven seals ; and this would reveal nothing of the contents. Though we may not be warranted in inferring with cer tainty that John saw the seven seals on the exterior, any more than the writings or symbolic pictures -within, yet the practice and custom of sealing was to have the seals outside. Thus the seven seals must have been visible at first. That being the case, the slightest experiment Avith a roU of strong paper or parchment wiU prove that, until aU the seven seals are broken, almost nothing of the contents — not one entire line, for example, much less a whole picture — could come into view. This wUl lead to the conclusion, which is to be further corroborated, that the seals were broken at once at the begin ning of the gospel age, and not seal by seal, at intervals of centuries, as is often represented. One source of this symbol or series of symbols is the pattern or plan (n''33n, exemplar) of the tabernacle, which God showed to Moses.* But why were seven seals employed, since one would have sufficed to close the book ? I may ask, in reply, why are seven churches addressed, since the Church is one 1 Why is the ' See Text. Rec, MUl, Tisch., A, ^, Green, and the Eng. auth. and other versions. 2 Ezek. ii. 9, 10. 3 Ex. xxv. 9, 40 : nsiD, causing to see. CH. V. 2, 3.] THE MIGHTY MESSENGER. 189 one Holy Spirit propheticaUy revealed as seven Spirits ? We are not without ancient examples of a plurality of seals attached to one document. In Neh. is. 38 and x. 1 we find the heads of Israel afflxing their signs and seals to a covenant. What we are accustomed to do by signatures, with or without a seal, is even now often done by sealing, or -writing a word of veri fication, like the current word in India, sahih, equivalent to signature. The number seven indicates that the sealing be longs to the Holy Spirit. But is not the Holy Spirit the opener of the future ? Only consequent on Christ's agency as the great Prophet. Christ first breaks the seals, and then unrols or opens the roU, consequent on which the Holy Spirit inspires the apostle to know and communicate its mighty im port. Where the Holy Spirit is not operative, aU is dark. When Christ gives the inspiring Spirit, the meaning of the exhibited pictures is comprehended and related in writing. Ch. V. 2 : " And I saw a mighty messenger proclaiming. Who is worthy to open the hook, and to loose its seals ?" — This mighty messenger can be no other than the Holy Spirit. And the question is one suitable to be put by none save the Spirit of inspiration; for it is equivalent, as the next words show, to a knowledge of the fact, that only one is found worthy of this action. As the book was at the right hand of the occu pant of the throne, none but the Messiah would by dignity and merit be worthy to approach and take it for the purpose. Two acts are stated, which ought not to be confounded : the loosing of the seals, and the opening of the roU. These are expressed by distinct verbs : Xvaai, to loose, or break, the seals ; and avoi^ai, to open the book. The former is defined " to loose, dissolve, break," etc. ; the latter, " to throw open, as a door, — to open, as a school," etc. This latter is the unfolding of the roU. Ch. V. 3 : " And none was able in the heaven, nor in the earth, nor under the earth, to open the hook, nor to look at it." — By the heaven is meant the celestial portion of the Church, and by the earth the terrestrial,- — the former invisible, the latter visible. But "under the earth or land: " what can that phrase import? The regions subject to visible Christian powers. 190 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. V. 4, 5. and communities partially professing Christianity. But how is it said that no one in heaven was able ? None of aU whom John had seen ; for the vision of the Lamb in the midst of the throne had not yet come into his view. Hence his words which follow. Ch. V. 4 : " And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, nor to look at it." — The fact of looking at the book (^Xeireiv avTo) is more than to see it. It is to attend to it in the way of inspecting. This verb is used when Christ said, " Take heed what ye hear." John wished to know the future of the Lord's kingdom; and when he knew that there was such a record of this, it was sad to think it should for ever remain a sealed book. It is the natural expression of human wishes and human weakness. Ch. V. 5 : " And one ofi the elders says to me, Weep not : lo, the Lion ofi the tribe ofi Judah, the Root ofi David, conquered to open the book, and to loose its seven seals." — The word lion has been explained under ch. iv. 7. It has been customary, in various countries, to employ names of animals and objects as signifi cant and analogical epithets and titles of men : as the horse, in such Grecian names as PhUippus, Archippus ; the lion, in Leo, Leonidas, and the Indian Eanjitsingh, Amarsingh, etc. Nor were such names wanting among the Jews : as Barjona = son of a dove ; Susi = my horse. But they more frequently employed Yah, or Jah, the divine name, in forming compound names. The two titles, the Lion and the Lamb, metaphorically style Jesus the Conqueror and the Lowly. The Lion here is He who was to arise out of Judah, accord ing to Jacob's prediction.^ The elder's testimony before us is the confession of the true Israel, that Jesus, who sprang out of Judah, is the Messiah ; that the awful majesty of Judah is in Him ; that He, the posterity of David, is victorious over aU power in earth or heU ; and that in Him an opener of the books is found, and that therefore it is now about to be un- roUed to John's view. That is aU that is requisite. The Uon, it should be remembered, is no figure in the vision seen by John, but simply a metaphorical name used by the ' Gen. xlix. 9. CH. V. 6.] THE LAMB. 191 elder in his explanatory statement. It would be an error in principle, therefore, to set about explaining it as one of the vision symbolfi. Ch. V. 6 : " And I saw in the middle ofi the throne and ofi the four animals, and in the middle qf the elders, a Lamb sta tioned as slain, having seven honis and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits ofi God sent into all the land." — Though the elder had caUed Jesus a Uon metaphoricaUy, He appears as a lamb in the "vision. He stood within the space of the throne, and at the right hand of the occupant of the throne, where the book was. The throne is the seat not of God, abstractly considered, but of the God-man. The Lamb of God, the man Jesus in His glory, is associated inseparably in personality with His divine nature in the throne. The title Lamb for ever pro claims that He was the atoning sacrifice. If we think of Him as a lamb presented to John's view, at the right hand of the occupant of the throne, and "with the face so directed. He wiU be seen in profile by John in front of the throne. The throne being between the companies on both sides. He is in the midst of the four animals and the twenty-four elders. "As slain" (ecri^cuypevov, murdered), implies that He is a martyr. He is the proto-martyr of the new age. But if His death was a sacrifice, how was it a murder ? A human im molation is a murder ; but we could not caU it a true sacri fice. Now Jesus was given of the Father, and gave His own Ufe " a ransom for many." He was a true sacrifice. But neither the Eoman governor nor the Jewish high priest thought of a sacrifice. They put to death Him whom they caUed a malefactor, not on an altar, but on the cross ; and therefore the apostles charged them with crucifying Him with wicked hands. But why does He, the risen Sa"viour, appear as slain ? Be cause in the martyrdom of His people He is martyred : " from the blood of Abel to that of Zecharias," — from His o-wn blood to that of the last that shaU suffer in the flesh. When they are persecuted. He is persecuted. " Saul, Saul, why per- secutest thou me?" ^ ' Acts ix. 4, 5. 192 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. V. 7, 8. An animal viewed in profile, as in Eastern paintings, would exhibit one side, one horn, one eye, etc.^ But John beheld them through the rainbow, which by refraction presented a sevenfold horn and eye. Hence the seven of each — the horns, representing power, and the eyes knowledge, both ema nating from the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit shed by Christ on the seven churches, and operating in the conversion of men of every tribe and tongue.^ Ch. V. 7 : " And He came and took it out ofi the right hand ofi Him who sat on the throne!' — He undertook the act of which He alone was worthy. Stuart thinks he has discovered a difficulty in this respect, that a lamb could not suitably be said to take a book and break the seals, and sets do"wn those as dull persons who cannot see this difficulty with him. But this, ff a difficulty, would strike against the text which attri butes the act to the lamb. The lamb is a symbol meant to represent a person, and its name is given to the person who performs the act. He might conjure endless difficulties as valid as this, and yet none of them of any validity : as, that it is inappropriate to a lamb to have seven eyes, a beast to have ten horns, etc. Ezekiel beheld kerubim -with a man's hand under their "wings,* — -emblems of something in humanity; and so the lamb was an emblem of the humanity of Christ It was appropriate to the vision that Christ should appear in it under the vision emblem of a lamb, but yet that He should appear possessing the divine power and knowledge to unveU the future. The act of taking the roU is preparatory ; the second act is the breaking of the seals ; and this is foUowed by the expand ing of the roll. Ch. V. 8 : " And when He took it, the fiour animals and the twenty-fiour elders fiell before the Lamb, having each a harp, and golden phials full of perfiumes, which are the prayers of saints!' — The four zoa and the twenty-four elders unite in worship. The prone posture is an Oriental attitude, to express the pro foundest humiUty and the most pleading entreaty. 1 Thus Dr. Kitto explains the unicorn {Daily Bib. It). " See App. II. 3 Ezek. i. 8. CH. V. 9.] THE HAEPS. 193 The harp is a term taken from the Psalms, and other places of the Old Testament, and is an appropriate object in the vision to represent the human voice or larynx, actuated by the heart, inteUect, and wUl, — the instrument of music which aU the saints are thus taught to employ in the worship of God. AU attempts to support the use of organs and harmoniums in the gospel age, from their ancient use, are necessarUy incon clusive, because the tunes and the instruments are aU utterly and irrecoverably lost, and the temple in which they were used has no existence. But such reasoning is worse than inconclu sive ; it is contrary to the meaning and structure of prophecy, in which aU terms are symbols. Now an organ is not a symbol of an organ, nor a harp of a harp ; but both are suit able symbols of the musical instruments created and attuned by the hand of God. If vaUd reasons exist for instrumental music, they, must be found in expediency, and must support merely the voluntary use of it. But no directions to use in struments are given in the New Testament, and no arguments can be dra-wn from the Old but such as go counter to the very structure of prophetic language. Instruments are caUed "things without Iffe giving sound." ^ We are commanded "to sing with the spirit and the understanding," ^ and " to make melody in the heart " * (¦ylraXXovre^ ttj KapBia, modulating with the heart), as shown by the paraUel phrase, aBovTet ev Tai^ KapBiaK.^ " Each a harp." — Whatever the instrument, each has one. It can neither be harp, organ, nor harmonium, but one with which every worshipper is provided, — the deUcately-stringed uistrument of the larynx, and the responsive throbbings of the heart. " Phials " (in the plural) " fuU of odours," of which one worshipper may use many, and of which the explanation is added, — " these are the prayers of the saints." Learn that whatever harmony there is in voices, there is more in these prayers, as we often find more harmony in the prayers of believers than in their doctrines. Ch. V. 9 : " And they sing a new song : Worthy art Tliou to take the hook, and open its seals ; fior Thou wast slain, and didst 1 1 Cor. xiv. 7. " 1 Cor. xiv. 15. 3 Eph. V. 19. * Col. iu. 16. See App. vii. N 194 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. V. 10, H. redeem ^ to God by Thy blood, out ofi every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation!' — This is one of various new songs ; but aU are harmonious, and adapted for a handbook of gospel songs, — as the 150 Psalms are one coUection. The members of the Church universal unite in confessing the Lamb alone as worthy to take and lay open the roU. This is ascribed to the merit of His death. Eedemption by blood and sacrifice flows from that death, and its subjects are gathered out of aU por tions of humanity.^ Ch. V. 1 0 : " And madest them to our God a kingdom and priests;^ and they reign in the land." — ^Fromthiswe learn that the redeemed are also regenerated, and thus consecrated as priests to the perpetual ser-rice of " God and Christ." As united "with Christ and in His headship, they form His kmg dom. Some of the modern copies have "we shaU reign;" but the Cod. Sin. and Alex., and editors Tisch., AU., and Treg, have the 3d person; and aU but the first the present tense, " they reign " (which is the true meaning) : they reign in the land, viz. the visible Church. Ch. V. 1 1 : " And I saw, and heard a voice of many mes sengers at the circuit ofi the throne, and ofi the animals, and of the elders; and their number was myriads of myriads, and thousands ofi thousands!' — This was the anthem raised by the four zoa and the twenty-four elders conjointly ; in which, how ever, we may weU beUeve that aU the celestial assembly united " Myriads " and " thousands " (niaan and Ca^x) were terms familiarly used for the princes, heads of thousands, myriads, tribes, etc.,* as in the enumeration of the tribes and their chiefs in the book of Numbers. In Micah v. 2 it is "written : " Though thou, Bethlehem, be Uttle among the thousands of Judah,"— XvXiacTiv, rendered in Matt. U. 6 ¦fjjepoaiv (princes). Thus the • The Cod. Sin. and Text. Rec. have V«« {us), but the God. Alex, wants it, and also the editors Griesb., Tisch., and Alf. ; and it would not accord -irith the 3d person in the next verse, in which K, A, B of Apoc, and the Syr. and Lat. concur. ^ See App. iii. 2 The God. Sin. has priesthood ; but this is best supported, not only by the Cod. Alex., but by ch. i. 5, 6, etc. * Exod. xviu. 24, etc.. Num. x. 36, /^vp^xU;, ;t,A./«S«;. CH. V. 12, 13.] ATTEIBUTES OF THE LAMB. 195 word ¦x^iXia Gen. iii. 15. ^^ John xii, 8. ' Seech, vi. 11. 230 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. VIL 15.> hands which stripped it from off them, and it is washed from aU stain in the blood of the Lamb. The washing is ascribed to them in the same sense in which any good works are said to be done by the regenerate, — neither meritoriously nor causatively, but yet actively ; ' as a pupU learns, whUe his preceptor teaches; as a cultivator ploughs and sows, whUe God gives the increase ; as we labour for food, and eat, yet God sustains Ufe. Ch. vu. 15 : "On this account they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple ; and He who sits on the throne shall tabernacle over them."- — Being before the throne, they are in the presence of the sitter on it ; and though the Lamb is not named in these words. He is named in ver. 17 as " in the middle of the throne," and therefore present. This throne is the seat of Christ's government, and is in the New Jerusalem, which, ha-ring come down from God out of the heaven, is among men.^ They not only worship (TrpoaKvveco), but here they especi aUy serve (XaTpevco). They are in the same attitude as the four zoa, waiting on God as servants on their master. " His temple " is a symbol taken from the material temple, which as yet was in existence ; and their serving in the temple shows that they are aU priests — "a kingdom of priests." * Now this is descriptive of aU the membership of the true Church of Christ, even in this Ufe. They are " a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." * He shaU " tabernacle " (aKTjvcoaei) " over them, as in the cloudy or fiery pUlar over the tabernacle in the wUderness.' The EngUsh version has " shaU dweU," but this faUs to convey the idea. The word means. He shaU pitch a tabernacle or pavilion, with which, and with the cloud. He wUl overshadow them, whUe Himself shaded from their view. Thus His universal Church is His sanctuary. Here are the mercy-seat and the cloud of glory ; and over aU, the cloudy pUlar, indicat ing the presence of Jesus. ' See Matt. vii. 20 ; Eph. v. 8 ; Heb. xi. 33, et multa alia. ^ Ch. xxi. 1, 3. 3 Ch. i. 6 ; Rom. xu. 1 ; Heb. xiu. 15. « 1 Pet. ii. 5. ¦'' According to A, B of Apoc, Tisch., Treg., Theile, etc., X is exceptional in having yiyuirxu. " Exod. xl. 34-38. CH. VII. 16, 17.] TEMPLE AND TABERNACLE. 231 Ch. -rii. 16:" They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more, nor shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat." — Let it not be said that this is not appUcable to saints in the present Iffe, for this would be to contravene the aUegoric meaning of the words in the vision, and it would contradict the reason for their not hungering, riz. " the Lamb shaU feed them," — not, as supposed, that there shall be neither food nor appetite. Though in the flesh, they are spiritual ; and the bread of Ufe — the hidden manna with which Jesus feeds them — is spiri tual food. He is their Shepherd, and therefore they do not want.-' " Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after right eousness ; for they shaU be fiUed." ^ Being thus constantly suppUed, they never suffer hunger. The Good Shepherd provides His sheep -with " pasture." * Spiritual appetite and spiritual food belong to aU the redeemed. " The sunshine shaU not faU on them, nor any burning '' (xavpa), parching, or scorching, such as the influence of the sunshine on the seed sown on stony ground. This impUes that they are U-ring in a world where the burning heat of the sun may be injurious, but that the Lamb wiU preserve them. The Uteral torrid heat is aUegoric of the oppressions with which this world is fuU, and in which the Lord wUl shade and shelter them, and be to them " a great rock in a weary land." * Here, as in various other places, the word ¦rjXiov (sun) means sunshine, as is evident from its conjunction with kauma, — that influence of the sunbeams, which withers vegetation and produces fever,— and from the impossibiUty of the solar orb's faUing on the land, or leaving the centre of the solar system. The reason of aU this comfort and security foUows. Ch. vu. 17: " Because the Lamb who is amid the throne shall tend them, and lead them to fountains of the waters of life ; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes!' — The word " tend " (iroipaivco) means to do the work of a shepherd, and it here depicts the Lamb as the Good Shepherd.' This, there fore, Uke the twenty-third Psalm, is truly a description of be Uevers in the present Ufe, which is the infancy of the future Ufe. The verbs, according to Tischendorf 's edition, are present ; I Ps. xxiii. 1. = Matt. v. 5. ' John x. 9. * Isa. xxxii. 2. ^ See John x. 232 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. VHI. 1. but there is a preponderance of textual authority for the future : " shaU tend," etc. The Lord shaU tend, feed, guide, and guard them as long as they live. " The Lord is our Shepherd " from henceforth and for ever. And what is " the water of Ufe ?" We are not left to vague. conjecture on this point. When Jesus promised the Uring water, His words were accompanied with the explanation, " This spake He of the Spirit, which they that beUeve on Him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet (the Eng. ver. adds " given" viz. in the pentecostal effusion) ; because Jesus was not yet glorified,"^ — plainly showing that, as soon as the glori fication had taken place, the water of Ufe would be given. The water of Ufe is granted to aU beUevers, in aU states and stages of the growth in grace, though in varying degrees. The water of life, as an emblem, was familiar in the style of fhe prophets : as, " the weUs of salvation," ^ the " fountain opened for sin," * etc. This is combined -with the Holy Spirit's office as the Para clete, or " Comforter."* He " wiU wipe off every tear from their eyes," — not surely a description of men in the disembodied state, where there are neither tears nor eyes, but incorporeal spirit. If no tears were shed, there would be none to wipe off. To say that this means a state of no weeping, is as forced an interpretation as that put on the words, " they shaU hunger no more ; " the reason for which already given in the text is, not that they shaU require no food, but that "the Lamb shaU feed them." So here the reason of freedom from sorrow is, not that no tears shaU be shed, but that " God shaU wipe them." Jesus gives the divine Comforter, and beUevers en joy " the comfort of the Holy Ghost." = WhUe He says, " In the world ye shaU have tribulation," He adds, " In me ye shaU have peace." ^ And in reference to the chUdren of God in their various conflicts, God is caUed " the God of aU consola tion." ' Ch. viu. 1 : "And when He opened the seventh seal, there tvas silence in the heaven about half an hour." — Silence in the heaven ! How could this be, since the four zoa, symboUzed by ' John -vii. 38, 39; Acts xix. 2. ' Isa. xii. 3. ' Zech. xiii. 1. -' Jolm xiv. 16. 5 Acts ix. 31. <= John xvi. 33. T Rom. xv. 5.. CH. -VIIL 1.] THE HALF-HOUE OF SILENCE. 233 four animals, who are in the midst of the throne, and in the circuit of the throne in the heaven, cease not day nor night to cry, " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ?" The answer is : their ministry had not yet begun. After it began, there was no interval of sUence ; nor shall there, be untU the consummation of aU things spoken by the prophets. The gospel service, once begun, spread east and west ; and as time differs with the longitude, no half-hour nor minute of sUence would ever be found. John had seen a door opened in the heaven,^ symboUzing the way to the Father on Christ's ascension, to which the twenty-fourth Psalm had long before made sublime predictive reference.^ Then was John caUed up in spirit, to see what was about to pass within. He saw the celestial court assem bled, and the Lamb opening the seven seals of the roU. And when the seventh was opened, he witnessed the half- hour's silence ; and immediately after, he witnessed the inter cession of Christ, and the pentecostal effusion of the Holy Ghost,* — the former symboUzed by the smoke of the incense, and the latter by the fire from the altar thrown on the land. Now, as the intercession of Christ and the effusion of the Holy Spirit cannot be referred to a commencement later than the Pentecost, the half-hour's silence which preceded cannot with truth be referred to any subsequent date. The only other conceivable point of time to which the sUghtest shade of plausibiUty could attach, is that which fol lowed the conversion of Constantine. Thus it is said that from A.D. 315 there were "eight years of peace;"* which means no more than that there were in that interval no battles between Constantine and Licinius. Yet tiiere were constant conflict and controversy between the Christians and the pagans, and constant preparations of the civU powers for war, and battles against barbarians on the borders. To com pare this -with the half-hour's silence, is the wildest mode of interpretation. Neander ^ shows anything but a state of peace during that period. Thus history refuses compliance with this random interpretation. And besides, there are four objections any one of which is fatal to it, and a fortiori all four. ' Ch. iv. 1. ' Ps. xxiv. 7. ' See vers. 3 to 5. •> See "Wad. Ch. Hist. " Ch. Hist. iii. 22. 234 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. [CH. VIII. 1. 1. Eight years, or any given number of years, cannot, on any fair principle of interpretation, be made to be the counter part of the " half-hour " in the vision. Nothing at all Uke it can be found in either Testament ; and the man who adopts it makes aU interpretation a random, conjectural, and hopeless exercise. 2. It assumes that the place meant is the Eoman empire. But John expressly says it was " in the heaven." And we must equally add, that on no sound principle of interpretation can " the heaven " be taken to represent the Eoman empire. Augustine says, " Silentium in ccelo, id est, in ecclesia " (sUence in heaven, that is, in the church).-' 3. What John witnessed during the haK-hour was " sUence " (