reader shall have weighed what is stated in the Fifth Dissertation, respecting the radical sense of the word beds [Theos] commonly rendered God, he will probably feel no difficulty in admitting that the power, glory, &c. ascribed to the Lamb, in the fifth chapter from the 12th verse to the end, and in other parts of the Apocalypse, explain fully what is meant by the fulness Ts Osóτῆς θεόTηTоs (Theotētos) OF THE GODHEAD, dwelling in him bodily. In this place I need only remark that, in the Apocalypse, the radical sense of Theos is Power; and that, in the passage before us, Paul having (in v. 15) stated CHRIST JESUS to be the image of the INVISIBLE GOD-that is, the image of THE INVISIBLE POWER, informs them here, that THE BODILY MANIFESTATION of this POWER had its fulness in his person; which is precisely the same truth stated in other words.

The recurrence of the article, generally omitted by translators, in this passage, is too striking to be passed without notice: "THE inheritance," -"THE light,"-" THE darkness,"" THE re"demption," &c. refer emphatically, to matters not now laid before the Colossians for the first time, but with which they were already made acquainted, by him who is the head of all'APXHΣ (Archēs), even by the "APXÎN (Archoon) himself. Is it possible to read, with any atten

tion, such passages as have been quoted, recollecting, at the same time, that they are found in an address to an Asiatic church, in fellowship with the church at Laodicea, which is also commanded to read this Epistle, and not to perceive the basis on which the Apostle rests his address, and bespeaks, as it were, the particular attention of those to whom he writes?

That the similarity observable in the contrasted passages is no way casual, depending on unwarrantable translation, will appear by comparing the texts as exhibited in the original :

τόκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἵνα γέ- ... ὁ πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νενηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων. κρῶν, καὶ ὁ ̓́ΑΡΧΩΝ τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς.

These coincidences are too striking to require any acuteness to detect the resemblance, or argument to establish their correspondence; and too numerous to leave any reasonable doubt as to the cause. Several of the contrasted passages are nearly verbatim, or quite so; and where there is a verbal difference, as in Col. i. 17. and Rev. iv. 11. the sentiment is so precisely similar and so peculiarly marked in the copy, as to render its source not less conspicuous than if the identical words of the Apocalypse had been quoted.

That the latter is the primitive record is manifest from Paul amplifying, in verse 16, what he takes from Rev. iv. 11. and x. 6., telling the Colossians that the "ALL THINGS," created by THE SON OF GOD, include the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, &c. &c. In cases like this, Critics find so little difficulty, that a bare statement is sufficient to command their assent to enlarge on the fact would, therefore, be a waste of time.-Nor is this the only fact of the kind presented in Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. In the third chapter he makes the same use of the 21st chapter of the Apocalypse that he does when writing to the Ephesians; reminding them that when CHRIST our

life shall appear, they shall appear with him in glory, and enjoy the things that are above, where CHRIST sitteth on the Right-hand of GoD; and therefore he exhorts them, [from Rev. xxi. 8.] to mortify their members that are upon the earth; telling them that COVETOUSNESS is IDOLATRY: —that is, he performs the office of an Expositor, showing them that idolatry includes covetousness, as one of the crimes for which y ópyǹ Tou OεOU THE WRATH OF GOD cometh on the children of disobedience; evidently alluding topy To apvíou THE WRATH OF THE LAMB, Rev. vi. 16.

After what has been stated I should think it next to impossible that any one, whose judgment is not absolutely blinded by prejudice, could longer doubt that the Epistle to the Colossians was written after the Apocalypse.

§ 7. Of Evidence furnished by the Epistle to the

Romans.

The Epistle to the Romans presents striking internal evidence of having been written after the Apocalypse. Several passages in this Epistle are literal quotations from that book, incorporated into the argument of the Apostle, in his address to the saints at Rome. He gives a double reason (ch. i.) for his not being ashamed of the Gospel of Christ-first "for therein is

the righteousness of GOD revealed," by which alone believers are justified and "live by faith ;". glorious news, "for," secondly, "the wrath of "GOD is revealed from heaven"-or rather, as the passage, from its peculiar turn of expression, strikes the author,-" Apocalypsed is the wrath of Gop from heaven’Αποκαλύπτεται ..... ὀργὴ Θεοῦ ἀπ ̓ οὐρανοῦ,—against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The Apostle having used the same word, άлоxαλúTTETα, in the 17th verse, as to what was apocalypsed in the gospel respecting the righteousness of GOD, as bringing life to those who believe, recollects, as it were, the converse of his proposition, as having been Apocalypsed in the prophecy of John, denouncing a special revelation of wrath against the ungodly. I must not be understood to employ here the term "Apocalypsed" as a proper English word it is used only for the purpose of conveying to the reader the way in which the Greek term is used; and I am the more confirmed in this view from the words that occur in chapter ii. 5. which are thus rendered in the common version: "But, after thy hardness and impenitent "heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous "judgment of GOD." The latter part of the verse is that to which I would call particular attention,-treasurest up unto thyself pyny év