gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison.' It is owing to this fact that graves are frequently compared to prisons, and prisons to graves, the latter being nothing else than subterranean excavations, vaulted and walled with stone, or cut out of the solid rock, and having a large stone to cover the aperture.* From this circumstance arose the application of the terms 'shutting' and 'sealing' to cells or caverns of this kind, of which the following instances afford a pertinent illustration, Dan. 6. 17. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.' Mat. 27. 59, 60, 66. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.—So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.' As therefore in these two passages it is said that a seal was added for greater security, so the angel is here said not only to have 'shut up' the Dragon, but also to have set a seal' upon him. It is observable also that wells were anciently closed in like manner, as is evident from the incident related Gen. 29. 2, 3. ‘And *This was the custom of the ancient Egyptians, and, as we learn from Homer, of the Phrygians too. Δίψα δ' ἄρ' ες κοίλην κάπετον θέσαν· αὐτὰρ ὕπερθε Last o'er the urn the sacred earth they spread, a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone. from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth, in his place.' Thus Cant. 4. 12. the Bride is compared to a 'well shut up' to preserve its water pure from defilement, and to a fountain sealeď——ñnyǹ ¿oQpaysoμém. The Hebrew Dлn signifies both to 'shut' and to 'seal;' and Hesychius defines φραξάμενος, having sealed, by κλεισας, hαυing shut. So the poet Aristophanes, whose plays. abound with allegories, introduces Peace as having been before thrown into a dungeon, the entrance of which was blocked up with stones, to denote the difficulty of securing its presence among men. Indeed any thing that is said to be 'sealed' is supposed to be out of use and unknown till it is re-opened. Accordingly the effectual restraint laid upon Paganism during the period in question, answers, with great exactness, to the drift of the symbols employed, where the gradations in the process of the Dragon's seizure and confinement are very clearly marked: he is taken-bound-cast into the abyss --shut up-and sealed, and thus fully secured in what is afterward, v. 7. expressly termed his 'prison.' "That he should deceive the nations no more." The ɛov, nations, here spoken of are the nations occupying the territories of the Roman empire or the people of Christendom, in contradistinction from the nations of the abyss,' or the idolatrous tribes lying without the limits of the imperial jurisdiction. These converted 'nations,' during the period specified, although they were to be subjected to the Beast, and brought under 6 6 the baleful influence of a corrupt Christianity, yet they were to be exempted from that peculiar form of decep tion,' or delusion, which consisted in the open embracing of the abominations of Paganism. There was much indeed of the spirit of Paganism in the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Romish church, for the ecclesiastical Beast is said to have spoke as the Dragon,' but still it is not called in the prophecy by that name. The same body of men are nowhere said to be, at the same time, under the governance both of the Dragon and the Beast. They are the symbolical representatives of two distinct communities, the one nominally Christian, the other positively Pagan. They embrace therefore in reality the two grand divisions of mankind, the Christian and the Heathen, and in the respective fates of each we are instructed in the final destiny of those portions of these two great bodies which persist in rejecting the everlasting gospel preached by the angel flying through the midst of heaven, and in pertinaciously adhering to their fatal delusions. But in what sense was the Dragon to be restrained from 'deceiving' the nations? The character of the power by which the deceit' is to be practised, will doubtless go far to determine the nature of the deceit' itself, and this we have already settled in our preceding explanations. The Dragon is Paganism; his deceiving' the nations, therefore, is his seducing them into idolatry; and the consequence of his being bound is a happy immunity from his diabolical arts enjoyed by those who were formerly his victims. This interpretation, however, of the original term wλaynon, should de ceive, it will be proper to confirm by adducing the usage of the sacred writers, and showing that it has unequivocally the sense of doctrinal imposture, or of enticing men to the adoption of a false religion. As the style of the Apocalypse is essentially Hebraic in its character, its only adequate illustration is to be drawn from the language of the O. T. Scriptures as rendered in the Septuagint version. The pertinency of the following citations will be too obvious to escape the most casual eye. Deut. 4. 19. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven avbes TEOTKUNNONS AUTOIS-being deceived shouldst worship them.' Here is obviously enticement to idolatry. Again, Deut. 30. 17. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but πλανηθεὶς προσκυνησης θεοῖς ἑτέροις-being deceived shalt worship other gods.' Deut. 11. 28. And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but πλavbïr; àñò vñs idoũ—are deceived, or err, out of the way, which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known.' Deut. 13. 5. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he hath spoken αí TE Añò nvρÍOV TOũ brou σov--to deceive thee from (following) the Lord thy God.' 2 Kings 21. 9. And Manasseh επλάνησεν αυτους, seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed.' The nature of this seduction' is fully explained in the preceding verses, where Manasseh is said to have reared altars for Baal' made a grove'-' worshipped all the host of heaven' made his sons pass through the fire' 'set up a graven image in the house of the Lord,' &c. implying the complete institution of idolatrous worship. Jer. 23. 13. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, xai xám av For Xov pov--and caused my people to err;' i. e. by teaching them false doctrines. Thus also in the New Testament, Mat. 24. 11. 'And many false prophets shall rise, and you toλλovs-shall deceive many;' i. e. by misleading them from the truth. Mat. 24. 24. · Insomuch, that if it were possible they should λoaddeceive the very elect.' John 7. 12. Some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay, λave тov oxλov-he deceiveth the people ;' i. e. he instils error into their minds. The word occurs in the same sense of perverse religious teaching in several instances in the compass of the Revelation. Thus Rev. 2. 20. Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and πλανούσθαι εμους δουλους-το seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.' Rev. 13. 14. And πλvỡ deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do,' i. e. inveigles into idolatrous worship. Daubuz, after adverting to the opinion of Lactantius and Augustin that there would still be idolaters remaining on earth during the entire lapse of the millennial age, intimates that in his own judgment, "These nations shall be, during the imprisonment of Satan, in so small a number, and so remote from the Holy City, and subject to the converted nations-being perhaps such as lie now in the utmost boundaries of the inhabitable world |