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you, do not you to another, that he commanded it to be engraved on the palace, and on the public buildings. These two emperors, were also no less celebrated for procuring of corn and oil and other provisions, and for supplying the Romans with them, after they had experienced the want of them."

Was it, then, we may well say, (after reading the foregoing passage,) for the purpose of discovering to the Church, the state of the Roman markets for corn and oil, or the efficiency of its police in apprehending thieves, that all these mighty preparations were made in heaven? Truly the exposition which includes in it such consequences would be ludicrous, were the subject itself of a less solemn and important nature. But the high nature of the theme, forbids our speaking, even of the errors of those who have treated it, excepting in the measured language of Christian gravity. I shall, therefore, close this chapter and the subject of these seals, by requesting the reader again to peruse and compare with what is here given from Bishop Newton, the simple but elevated exposition of the third seal, which I have adopted from Archdeacon Woodhouse,

Mr. Irving, in his Lectures on the Apocalypse, p. 1312, offers a similar interpretation of the words "See thou hurt not "the wine and oil." He refers them to "the stores of wine and oil which were laid up in Rome, and which are here commanded not to be injured, because of their preciousness in consequence of the destruction which was about to come over the oliveyards and the vineyards." I have, I hope, sufficiently shown, in my Strictures on the Lectures of the learned writer, p. 58, that the foundation on which this literal interpretation is made to rest is utterly unsound.

and I doubt not it will commend itself to his mind, with all the native force of beauty and of truth.*

* Some persons may perhaps here object, that I myself expound the seven trumpets as having a reference to the secular fortunes of the Roman empire, and that I am therefore inconsistent in opposing a similar application of the seals. The answer to this is, that I consider the great mutations only of the empire to be predicted in the trumpets, and not those minor changes which Mede and Bp. Newton suppose to be referred to in the seals. The Roman empire I consider to be the subject of prophecy only on account of its connexion with the Church, and because while it exists (as it still does) it is the great enemy of the Church, and when it is destroyed it is to make way for the glorious reign of the Messiah.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE SEVENTH SEAL.

"AND when he had opened the seventh seal, "there was silence in heaven about the space of "half an hour; and I saw the seven angels which "stood before God, and to them were given seven "trumpets."*

In the general view which I have taken of the contents of the first six seals, I have followed Archdeacon Woodhouse; but I am now about to take leave of my respectable guide, being obliged to differ from him with regard to most of the remaining parts of the Apocalypse. I, however, coincide with the learned writer, in the interpretation which he offers of the silence in heaven, at the opening of the seventh seal. He explains it as being indicative of the introduction of a new subject, and a new series of prophecies; "it seems," as he remarks, “to be exhibited for the purpose of denoting a change in the mode or in the subject of the prophecy; to disunite the succeeding scene from that which had gone before; to unfold a new chain of prediction."t

During this awful and portentous silence, a new scene presents itself to the eyes of the Apostle. He sees seven angels, to whom were given seven trumpets. As this is the first object exhibited under the * Rev. viii. 1, 2. +Archdeacon Woodhouse, p. 200.

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seventh seal, we may infer from it that this seal relates principally to the sounding of these trumpets, and comprehends within itself the whole of the events signified by the trumpets; and in this inference I have the support of some of the most distinguished writers on the Apocalypse.* Now, seeing that the first six seals contain an epitome of the state of the Church, down to that final consummation of all things on this earth, when "the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the king"dom for ever," and that the trumpets cannot extend beyond this final consummation, it follows that the seventh seal, and seven trumpets, must relate to events which are contemporaneous with the first six seals, or at least with the last part of them. And in considering these trumpets we shall discover reasons for the conclusion, that as the seals give us an epitome of the history of the Church, so the trumpets contain an account of the great political and ecclesiastical revolutions which shall successively affect the Roman empire, or fourth kingdom of Daniel, until it is destroyed to make way for the kingdom of the Son of Man.‡

* Vide Bishop Newton in loco, also Mede on the Apocalypse. + Dan. vii. 18.

Ib. vii. 11—13. The learned Vitringa makes some introductory observations on the trumpets, which are well worthy of our attention. I shall, in this note, give the substance of them in an abridged form, as my limits will not permit me to insert the whole passage.

He supposes that, in the trumpets, there is an allusion to the manner in which the city of Jericho was delivered into the hands of the children of Israel. They had the promise of the land of Canaan for their inheritance. But that proud and strong city opposed itself to their entrance into the promised land. The

"And another angel came and stood at the altar "having a golden censer; and there was given unto "him much incense, that he should offer it, with "the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar "which was before the throne. And the smoke of "the incense ascended, with the prayers of the "saints, from the hand of the angel before God. "And the angel took the censer and filled it with "the fire of the altar, and cast it upon the earth; "and there were voices, and thunderings, and "lightnings, and an earthquake."*

Incense is a symbol of the prayers of true Christians. Thus in Malachi, it is predicted, in reference to the times of Messiah: "From the rising of "the sun unto the going down of the same, my

priests were therefore commanded by the Lord, to compass the city with seven ram's horns, and the ark of the Lord, once every day for six successive days: but on the seventh day they were to march round it seven times, and at the end of the seventh time the people were commanded to shout aloud, at which instant the walls fell flat down, the city was taken, and all within it put to the sword, Josh. vi.-In a similar manner, says Vitringa, the inheritance of the world is promised to the church (Dan. vii. 18, 22, 27), but the city and empire of Rome oppose themselves to the reign and kingdom of Christ, and between them there is to be an obstinate contest carried on through many ages. But that city and empire, founded in blood, idolatry, and superstition, are destined to be destroyed by various steps, and with peculiar demonstrations of divine justice and severity, after the example of Jericho. This (says Vitringa) is declared in the trumpets.—And the seven vials are to be referred to the seventh trumpet, and answer to the seventh day of the encompassing of Jericho, when the priests went round it with the trumpets seven times.

* Rev. viii. 3—5.

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