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we not assume as much respecting the five fallen heads? Had the Vial Angel intended to give us a minute history of the past— instead of a grand and simple characteristic of the beast, in order to enable us to ascertain the precise empire to which he referred he might have exhibited the beast with one head occasionally falling asleep, and another at the same instant rising into active operation; the latter sleeping in its turn, and the former reviving and governing the beast, or empire; so as to display all the successive mutations of those heads as they actually took place. I see no impropriety in this supposition, which is in strict accordance with the laws of nature; and I believe we are to consider no head as actually deprived of existence, until the form of government it represented was extinguished. This supposition will explain the state of the beast from U. c. 380 to 384, when, in consequence of the anarchy which prevailed, no curile magistrates were chosen, and the beast did not appear to be under any active and living head. During this period all the heads were simply quiescent, or asleep. That they had not ceased to exist is evident, since the. consulship, dictatorship, &c., afterwards revived, and presided over the republic.

I think I have now answered every objection of Mr. Maitland, and that I have proved, first, that none of the forms of government which he mentions could be symbolized by distinct and separate heads of the beast; secondly, that the Roman empire had only existed under five forms of government which had fallen previous to the time of St. John; thirdly, that these five forms of government, or heads, are those maintained by the great body of commentators, viz. kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and military tribunes; and lastly, that the sixth head, in existence in the time of St. John, was the proconsular and imperial head, of which the two triumvirates marked the infancy and rise.

To complete my view of the seven heads, I shall simply state what I believe to be the seventh or last head of the beast, referring the reader to my work, "The Fulfilment of St. John displayed," for the arguments upon which this interpretation is founded. When the beast rose in its state of Christian apostasy, in the year 606, its body was confined to the Western empire. This empire was divided into several independent states. One of them, the exarchate of Ravenna, was possessed by the Greek (or Eastern Roman) emperors; and the other states were held by the Gothic (or rather German) tribes, which had established themselves in the Western empire. In 606 the beast therefore arose with two contemporary heads: the sixth or imperial head (which had been wounded by the sword of Constantine), with one horn upon it, represented the Greek, or Eastern Roman, emperors, as possessing the exarchate of Ravenna;

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and the seventh head, having nine horns attached to it, is the German head, broken into nine distinct horns or dynasties; the grand characteristic of this head being its independent governments, deriving their origin from the same source, viz. the German nation. The eighth head is the same as the seventh―i.e. it is the German head-but it is the whole beast (Rev. xvii. 11); and therefore it is simply distinguished from the seventh by possessing ten horns instead of nine. This head arose between A. D. 700 and 800, when the sixth head fell; by which fall the territories and imperial title of the East were transferred to the German conquerors of the West. This head has been in existence down to the present day. The Western empire is wholly under the dominion of the German dynasties established by the northern nations; and these dynasties have ever had one amongst them, since the miscalled revival of the Western empire, distinguished as the NOMINAL head of the great confederacy, by possesing the imperial title+. The imperial horn assumed its imperial character under Charlemagne, and has since been represented by princes of various nations connected with the great Western confederacy. It was recently represented by the Emperor Bonaparte, and is now by the Emperor of Austria, who possesses territories within the limits of the beast. In this state of independent German dynasties, one bearing the imperial title, the beast will go into perdition.

Exeter, Oct. 3, 1829.

J. J. HOLMES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING WATCH.

THE extraordinary pertinacity with which a writer in the Christian Observer endeavours to prove me guilty of misstatement, induces me once more, and finally, to offer a few observations in reference to his remarks on my papers in your former numbers. I trust I shall be preserved from imitating his example, in the gratuitous imputation of unworthy motives; but I cannot forbear saying, that had the "Unprejudiced Inquirer" (a title assumed, I fear, in an acceptation rather too literal, and therefore arguing some little want of self-knowledge) been as

*The four horns of the Macedonian goat rise up out of the head-i.e. according to Daniel, "out of the nation." Hence the head of the goat is the Greek, or Macedonian, nation.

+ Historians, by talking of the revival of the Western Empire, have led interpreters of prophecy into many errors. The German Roman emperors have never possessed, like their predecessors, solid power over the whole Western Empire: they have merely possessed a titular supremacy in the confederacy, and have never been heads of the beast; as a head, if single, must govern the whole body.

anxious in the pursuit of truth as he seems to be to find me at fault, his last communication would have never seen the light.

I should probably not have thought it worth while to notice his remarks, which have little to do with the point at issue between us, had he not bluntly charged me with stating as a fact that which is not true; insinuating that I must have known it not to be so; and affecting to support his charge by actual demonstration.

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I had remarked, that " when the resurrection of the saints is spoken of it is expressed by ε, simply or in composition, preceding νεκρων Οι των νεκρων : and that when the general resurrection is spoken of we have no preposition, but simply avaσraσis veкowv Οι των νεκρων. This assertion, he says, caused him the greatest surprise, as he was aware that in 1 Cor. xv. the expression occurs without the preposition, where, in his opinion, the Apostle is certainly speaking of the resurrection of the saints. To corroborate this opinion he consults several commentators, whom he finds to agree with him; and then, says he, "I asked myself, Is it possible that W. D. thinks that St. Paul is speaking in this chapter of the general resurrection? I could not conceive it possible; but, to put beyond doubt what W. D. and all millennarians think upon the subject, it happens that in the very same number of the Morning Watch it is twice asserted that the subject treated of in 1 Cor. xv. is the resurrection of the saints.” So, then, because two writers in the Morning Watch have chosen to interpret the passage according to his view, it is put beyond doubt that W. D. and all millennarians do the same. If the "Unprejudiced Inquirer" thinks it worth while to write for readers who can be influenced by such logic as this, I am sorry for it : I can only wish that he were equally wise as he is unprejudiced : but I should certainly think my time lost in replying to it. If the writer be candid enough to allow the same measure to be dealt to him which he deals to others, he must mean us to infer that he, and all unprejudiced inquirers in the Christian Observer, feel themselves bound by the sentiments of every writer in that publication, even to the interpretation of a text. If such be the case, I will only say, they must be very unprejudiced indeed!

But, to come to the point-Notwithstanding the "host of commentators" which this writer sets in array against me, I am hardy enough to deny that the Apostle is speaking in 1 Cor. xv. exclusively of the resurrection of the saints: and as my sentiments on the subject were recorded in a paper in the First Number of the Morning Watch, to which the Unprejudiced Inquirer had professed to reply, he ought to have known my opinion. His ignorance on this point must prove one of two things either that he never read the paper which he attempted

to answer, or that he never made himself master of the argument which he wished to refute. My argument was professedly grounded on the examination of every passage in the New Testament in which the doctrine of the resurrection is spoken of; and it rests upon a distinction holding throughout them all: indeed, this is asserted in the very passage which the Unprejudiced Inquirer now charges with misstatement. It is somewhat extraordinary then, that, instead of endeavouring to get at my opinion by consulting two writers in the Morning Watch whose sentiments I am no more pledged to uphold than he is, he should not have turned to a paper of my own, which he ought to have known commented upon all the passages in which the subject is mentioned.

Of the two suppositions which I have made, it is most charitable to take the latter, and to suppose him ignorant of the grounds of the argument on which he professes to comment. And this may account for the main purport of his letters not being directed to the point at issue, but to the detection of some inaccuracy in my statements; which affords another instance of his strange and inconclusive reasoning. For, supposing he had made out his case, what would it amount to? His argu

ment is simply this:

First. Here is an argument for the doctrine of two resurrections.

Secondly. In stating this, W. D. has been guilty of an inaccuracy.

Thirdly. Ergo, the whole argument falls to the ground.

I really hope, for the credit of the Christian Observer, that it does not fall into the hands of many readers who would be influenced by a mode of reasoning which makes such a very extensive demand upon their ignorance.

But the fact is, that the Unprejudiced Inquirer altogether fails in his case. I maintain that the Apostle is speaking in 1 Cor. xv., exclusively, neither of the resurrection of the saints nor of the resurrection of the unjust; but of the doctrine of the resurrection in the abstract. This interpretation I have endeavoured to prove in the first paper on the subject, in Morning Watch No. I. p. 66, by the following argument.—

"This interpretation the Apostle's argument seems absolutely to require. For the fact of a resurrection at some future time cannot be adduced as a proof that Christ is already risen, which would be no argument at all. Nor, on the other hand, if it could be shewn that there will be no such resurrection, would that be a proof that Christ is not risen; for it is at least within the verge of possibilities that he should be the only one raised. The Corinthians seem to have been staggered by the unreasonableness and supposed impossibility of a resurrection of the

body. The Apostle assumes the fact of Christ's resurrection; and hence argues, first the possibility, and then the certainty, of a resurrection of all. His argument may be put in a syllogistic

form:

66

First. Christ was raised from the dead. "Secondly. Christ had a body.

"Thirdly. Therefore a body may be raised from the dead. Therefore there is no absurdity or impossibility in the doctrine of the resurrection of dead."

66

With regard to the expression, ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν (1 Cor. xv. 42), I was for some time in doubt; and, in fact, it was this possible exception which I had in my mind when I observed, in p. 63 of the First Number, "This expression may be used of the resurrection of the saints, if there be any thing in the context to limit it to them." I am now convinced that it is such an exception; and for a very obvious reason--namely, that no other form of expression would have given a meaning consistent with the context. The reader of the original will observe, that throughout this chapter there is a careful distinction made by the Apostle between the terms νεκροι, dead ones," and oi vεkpo, "the dead ones." Previous to ver. 29, the former expression is exclusively employed by the Apostle, in proving the doctrine of the resurrection in the abstract. It is the appropriate expression; for he is proving the resurrection of dead ones. At ver. 29 he brings forward an additional argument, drawn from the baptism for the dead, Whatever may be the meaning of this obscure passage, none can imagine that by "the dead" here, are meant the dead in general, or the wicked dead: nor will the criticism at all hold, which applies the term to Christ: therefore the baptism for the dead was the baptism for dead saints (which it would be beside our purpose here to interpret). To preserve the distinction, the verse should be thus literally rendered, "What shall they do which are baptized for the dead ones, υπερ των νεκρων, if not at all dead ones, vɛKρoɩ, are raised? Why then are they baptized for the dead ones?" Again, ver. 32, he asserts that a denial of the doctrine of the resurrection would be fatal to the Christian's hopes: "What advantageth it me, if dead ones, veкpot, are not raised?" Vers. 33, 34, are an exhortation founded on the doctrine of a resurrection proved. But what was the Apostle's main design in proving a resurrection in the abstract? Unquestionably, as the whole argument shews, to draw from it the inference of a blessed resurrection to the saints. The argument, then, being complete, and the inference from it obvious, at ver. 35 he supposes some one to start an objection as to the mode of accomplishment: But some one will say, Granting the doctrine of resurrection proved, and therefore that they who are Christ's will rise at his coming, How are the dead, oi veкpot, raised up, and with

νεκροι,

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