fold, and one shepherd." It is a glorious scripture truth, that however, for some great end, the Jewish people dwell alone, and are distinct from all nations, yet this distinction is merged on their believing in Christ, and there is hence forth neither Jew nor Gentile, but all are one in Christ Jesus.

In prosecuting the object proposed, our author investigates first, "the general purport of prophecy;" he then enquires concerning "the general principle of the Apocalypse;" and then gives a short running comment on each of the chapters of the Apocalypse.

Under the head of "the general purport of prophecy," he points out the truism how the visions of Daniel relate to the fall of the Jewish kingdom and to the rise of four tyrannies, which were to keep that holy people in subjection; that finally the oppression should cease, and a fifth universal monarchy become triumphant He then enquires whether the mystery be not also foretold by other prophets? and traces it through the writing of Moses, Lev. xxvi. Deut. xxviii. and xxix. ; suggests that it may be found also in the book of Job, in the prophecies of Isaiah, particularly in chap. xi., where the prophet speaks of the four tyrannies under the well known emblems of the lion, the wolf, the leopard, and the bear; in Jeremiah, see ch. xv. 3.; in Ezekiel, under the symbol of the cherubim, ch. i. ; in Hosea, under the figures of a lion, a leopard, a bear, and a wild beast; in Joel, under those of the palmer-worm, the locust, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, which should lay the vine of Israel waste, and bark her fig-tree. He holds, that the same is seen in the red, the brown, the speckled, and white horses of Zechariah; that these, in number, agree with the four winds of heaven, denoting precisely similar circumstances in the very language of Daniel. He then remarks, that every one of these prophets has closed his prophecy with blessings to the house of Israel, and mentions them exclusively: whence he concludes, that their's is the kingdom that is to fill the whole prophetic earth, that is, the site of the tyrannical empire after the dissolution of the four monarchies; and closes this branch of his subject with an expression of surprise, that almost every commentator has lost sight of that people, and will scarcely allow them a place in the prophetic record.

Our author, in tracing out the four monarchies as adverted to by the prophets, esteems the number four almost as a mystical and sacred number, and attempts to point it out even where it does not exist. Hence he quotes Jer. v. 6. in confirmation, where the prophet speaks of a lion, a wolf, and a leopard; but the misfortune is, these make but three, which is one short of four. Again, in Ezekiel's vision of the Cherubim, he says, it is very obvious that the four wheels are symbols of empires; whereas in the vision of the Cherubim, there is not one word about four wheels. Ezek. i. 5. the prophet says, "Out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures, and they had the likeness of a man." In verse 15. it is added, "As I beheld the living creatures-behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures," &c.; and ver. 16, Their appearance and their work was as it were, a wheel, in the middle of a wheel;" which means, there were two wheels placed transversely, one within the other, so that the figure of the Cherubim could move backward, forward, and to either side, without turning. If it be maintained, on the authority of ver. 5, that there were four cherubim, this will not help the matter; for there being a wheel in the middle of a wheel must necessarily multiply them to eight, which will be equally fatal to the mystic four.

often, when an recourse to the What is to be has never yet

It is somewhat amusing to observe, how author has a system to support, he will have most extraordinary methods to establish it. distinctly understood by the cherubic figures, been satisfactorily determined. Some have maintained that they are emblematical of the angels; others, of the four evangelists; and the Hutchinsonians, as is ingeniously described by Parkhurst, and on the authority of the etymology of the word, taken in connection with their situation on the ark of the testimony and with Ezekiel's visions, both in chapters first and tenth of his prophecy, hold them to be "the likeness of the great ones," likeness, great, D'ones, the plural termination, which idea seems to gather some support from Ezek. i. 28," This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord;" but surely never till now was it suggested that they were designed to point out the four tyrannies, and emblems of wrath! and it must have required no ordinary stretch of the imagination to

suppose, as is stated in p. 74, that because it is said the cherubim were "sometimes round about the throne," and "sometimes in the midst of the throne," they are to be considered as the four tyrannies, or "agents of wrath contending for the possession of it!"

The next branch of the subject is, an enquiry concerning "the general principle of the Apocalypse.'

On entering upon this portion of his work, our author remarks, that "If Daniel's prophecy accord with the testimony of the rest of the prophets, in relation to the four empires, &c. then must the Divine Spirit on the very principle suggested by Mr. Mede and Sir Isaac Newton, have imparted similar views to St. John; and the Apocalypse must necessarily be a transcript of the mind of God, as given by other prophets, &c. This then is the test by which every system of interpretation ought to be tried, and by which it is proposed to examine the structure of the Apocalypse, and the general structure of Mr. Frere."

Pray is not this what logicians call, "petitio principii ;" or begging the question? It is granted that we are not to imagine the Divine Spirit would, on precisely the same subjects, impart different, or opposite views to Daniel and St. John; but does it follow, that that Divine Spirit, in his communications to St. John, who lived almost six hundred years after Daniel, must necessarily limit himself to the periods of Daniel? It may be said that Daniel's prophecies extended to the utmost limits of time: they may, indeed, give a faint outline of what Jehovah purposed to do upon the earth, and forasmuch as little is said about any but the Jews, it may seem as if that nation were the end and aim of all prophecy; but when it is remembered, that the prophecies are full of predictions and promises to the Gentiles, and that out of Gentile "stones God can raise up children to Abraham," and that as a matter of experience, God has built up to himself among the Gentiles a glorious church, which in our land, at least, with all that church's imperfections in the administration thereof, "has laboured and been patient, and has not fainted;" which has had her confessors, and martyrs, and a numerous progeny of faithful children; which has "earnestly contended for the faith once delivered to the saints;" which has suffered no inroads on the doctrines of Divine grace; doctrines

which are according to godliness; (unless the repeal of the laws against blasphemy, whereby the professed infidel, and no less impious Socinian, can now with impunity hurl the darts of his rebellion against the Godhead of Emmanuel ;) when these things are remembered, we own ourselves a little jealous of that system, which would annihilate all consideration of the CHURCH; and, much as we love the Jew, and would labour for the restoration of God's holy and peculiar people, we cannot agree, that while the prophecies of the Old Testament mainly belong to them, that they, at the same time, have an exclusive claim to those contained in the New; for if so, how are the Jews and Gentiles to flow in together and become one in Christ? Indeed, the introduction of the Apocalypse with the seven churches of Asia, seems so decidedly to mark the character of the whole book, that one is led to wonder how a different view should be entertained of it. The mind of our author is chafed exceedingly, that Mr. Frere, in his general structure of the Apocalypse, "has not condescended to name the Jew, whereas he has spoken of the CHURCH no less than fifty-four times:" and he is equally displeased with another commentator, who has boldly declared that the Revelation of St. John has nothing to do with the Jew, but that it relates to Christian Israel;" and "that he has chosen to decorate the Protestant British nation with the names, and titles, and privileges of the twelve tribes of Israel." We doubt not but that the individuals alluded to, feel interested in the well being of the tribes of Israel; yet they cannot but remember, that Israel has committed "a great sin" in killing the Prince of Life, and that "their posterity approve their doings;" that Israel, as a people, still reject Christ, and continue in unbelief; that if " their names, and titles, and privileges be assumed," it is because God hath allowed it. See 1 Pet. ii. 9. It is not the person of the Jew, but his execration of our Lord and Saviour, that is the object of abhorrence; it is not his misfortune that excites disgust, but his unbelief.

Consonant with our author's general principle of the Apocalypse, he aims to establish a homogeneity between the symbols used by Daniel and St. John, and condemns those authors who sometimes interpret symbols very dif ferently. He ingeniously illustrates his meaning in a va

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riety of ways, upon which the space allotted to this paper will not allow us to expatiate.

Having examined and censured Mr. Frere's general structure of the Apocalypse, and maintained, that according to the eighth chapter of Daniel, Mohammedism instead of a Spirit of Infidelity was to be engrafted on Popery, and that the little horn spoken of by that prophet is no other than the Mohammedan power, he proceeds to an examination of the Apocalypse. In this we shall follow him very briefly, seeing that this article has already exceeded the usual limits.

As the visions of St. John had reference to the Universal Church, it is suggested that the Church, must have a local habitation, or resting place, and that that territory is the prophetic church.

While Bishop Newton supposes the seven churches to be descriptive of the seven Asiatic Churches in the Apostolic times, and most other Commentators view them as prophetical of the several states of the Christian Church, from the commencement thereof to the Millennium, our author remarks, that "the vision is a mystery; and that he has already shown that the prophecy cannot apply to the individual churches of Asia, named by the apostles ;" and he adds, "There are clear indications, or internal evidence, which makes those churches symbolical of the seven states of the last day, as described, though under different symbols, by Isa. xi. 6, 7." "These churches, for reasons before assigned," he says, "are typical of the churches of the four empires, and of Assyria, Israel, and Egypt, Israel being a blessing in the midst of the land." He labours to maintain his position by a reference to the Mohammedan power, Smyrna symbolizing PERSIA, the church of pergamos denoting MACEDONIA, Thyatira Rome, Sardis as being an ancient portion of the ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, Philadelphia as denoting ISRAEL, "it now remaining like a column in the midst of ruins," and Laodicea as relating to COPTIC, and EGYPTIAN CHURCHES. No appropriation is made of the first church and we fear that the elucidation of our author, in reference to the others, will be considered somewhat far fetched, and more fanciful than solid.

While the first three chapters of the Apocalypse are occupied with the seven churches, the fourth and fifth, he