nias and Sapphira and of those Corinthians to whom St. Paul (1 Cor. xi. 30,) refers, to illustrate this application. Or, 2. he thinks that spiritual and eternal death and life may be intended.-Exposition of the Old and New Test. on 1 John v.

14-17.

DR. A. CLARKE says, 'This is an extremely difficult passage, and has been variously interpreted. What is the sin not unto death, for which we should ask, and life shall be given to him that commits it? And what is the sin unto death, for which we should not pray? I shall note three of the chief opinions on this subject. I. It is supposed that there is here an allusion to a distinction in the Jewish law, where there was D chatah lemothah, a sin unto death, and

חטאה למותה

on cha

tah lo lemothah, a sin not unto death; that is, 1. A sin or transgression to which the law had assigned the punishment of death, such as idolatry, incest, blasphemy, breach of the Sabbath, and the like. And, 2. A sin not unto death, i. e. transgressions of ignorance, inadvertence, &c. and such as in their own nature appear to be comparatively light and trivial. That such distinctions did exist in the Jewish synagogue, both Schoettgen and Carpzovius have proved. II. By the sin not unto death, for which intercession might be made, and unto death, for which prayer might not be made, we are to understand transgressions of the civil law of a particular place, some of which must be punished with death, according to the statutes, the crime admitting of no pardon; others might be punished with death, but the magistrate had the power of commuting the punishment, i. e. of changing death into banishment &c. for reasons that might appear to him satisfactory, or at the intercession of powerful friends. To intercede in the former case would be useless, because the law would not relax; therefore they need not pray for it. But intercession in the latter case might be prevalent, therefore they might pray; and if they did not, the person might suffer the punishment of death. III. The sin unto death means a case of transgression, particularly of grievous backsliding from the life and power of godliness, which God determines to punish with temporal death; while at the same time he extends mercy to the penitent soul. The disobedient prophet (1 Kings xiii. 1-32,) is on this interpretation a case in point; many others occur in the history of the church and of every religious community. The sin not unto death, is any sin which God does not choose thus to punish. This view of the subject is that taken by the late Rev. J. Wesley, in a sermon entitled, A call to backsliders, (Works, vol, x. p. 92.)-I do not think the passage has anything to do with what is termed the sin against the Holy Ghost; much less,

with the popish doctrine of purgatory; nor with sins committed before and after baptism, the former pardonable, the latter unpardonable, according to some of the fathers. Either of the last opinions (viz II. and III.) makes a good sense; and the first (I.) is not unlikely. The apostle may allude to some maxim or custom in the Jewish church, which is not now distinctly known. However, this we know, that any penitent may find mercy through Christ Jesus; for through him every kind of sin may be forgiven to man, except the sin against the Holy Ghost, which I have proved no man can now commit.'-Commentary on the New Test. in loco.

J. WESLEY'S explanation has already been mentioned as given in his Sermons. In another work, having first explained the passage as referring to spiritual life and death, he adds, 'A sin unto death may likewise mean one which God has determined to punish with death.'-Notes upon the New Test. in loco.

To the explanations now presented, we add another of a different purport, which has been advanced by some distinguished critics. To us it appears erroneous, as it seems to do violence to the evident context of the passage; our readers, however, will exercise their own judgment on it as well as on the preceding:

ROSENMUELLER, after giving the different opinions of commentators on the passage, concludes thus: 'I suspect that the 16th, 17th, and 18th verses do not connect with the preceding; and that the entreaties which are forbidden to be made for those who have committed a sin unto death, are such as are addressed not to God, but to magistrates, to whom belongs the right of inflicting the punishment of death for the more heinous offences. It therefore appears to me that a sin unto death, is any capital crime whatsoever; and a brother, not any man indefinitely, but a Christian. For a Christian who had perpetrated such a crime, the apostle did not wish entreaty to be made to the magistrates who had the power of life and death, lest the heathens should be led to suspect that such offences were regarded as trivial by the Christians. A sin not unto death, appears to have been a slighter dereliction, some transgression of civil law, which the heathen magistrates might so exaggerate, if committed by a Christian, as to sentence him to death, at the same time that he might with propriety be discharged with a less punishment. For such an offender, a Christian brother might pray that his life should be granted him: he shall ask, and he shall give him life; i. e. he may ask

1833.] Methods of Interpreting the Book of Revelation. 193

of the magistrate, and by his entreaties implore life for him. Such is my conjecture. If a better can be given, I shall cheerfully yield. I see however that Morus has adopted this explanation, after I had proposed it.'—Rosenmülleri Ŝcholia in Nov. Test. in loco. H. B. 2d.

ART. XVIII.

Methods of Interpreting the Book of Revelation.

1. Dissertations on the Prophecies which have remarkably been fulfilled, and at this time are fulfilling in the world. By Thomas Newton, D. D. late Lord Bishop of Bristol. (Second volume, containing an Analysis of the Revelation.)

2. A Dissertation on the prophecies, that have been fulfilled, are now fulfilling, or will hereafter be fulfilled, relative to the Great Period of 1260 years; the Papal and Mahommedan Apostacies, the tyranical Reign of Antichrist, or the Infidel Power: and the Restoration of the Jews. By George Stanley Faber, B. D. Vicar of Stockton-upon-Tees. (Second

Volume.)

3. Commentarius in Apocalypsin Joannis. Scripsit Jo. Godofr. Eichhorn.

THERE has been, of late years, a considerable change in the views entertained by the people at large concerning the Apocalypse. Many now living remember the time when the greater part of it was commonly taken for an account, nearly literal, of scenes and transactions in the invisible world. It is true that men of general information, and especially those among the clergy, regarded it then as now, in a very different light. We e speak, however, of the great mass of readers. Though what was expressly referred to the earth, sea, rivers or mountains, was allowed in most cases to belong to this world, yet all the visions exhibited in heaven, all the imagery placed without this diurnal sphere,' were vulgarly supposed to have an actual existence among the sacred realities of the spiritual state. There stood a great white throne, surrounded with elders and wonderful forms offering vocal praise to the Eternal there stood in palpable shape the Lamb of God on the height of the celestial Mount Sion; angels were in attendance, with trumpets, vials and instruments of destruction, to announce or to execute the sovereign mandates; the disembodied souls of martyrs were literally sheltered under the awful covert of Je

;

hovah's throne; and in the foreground appeared an innumerable multitude of glorified spirits, clothed in white robes, with palms in their hands. All was regarded as real, with perhaps a little allowance here and there, for figurative expression. In another quarter, far below, yawned a pit, huge, bottomless, pouring forth smoke from a raging lake of fire and brimstone. Evil angels and monstrous shapes were let loose upon earth; the world was seen shaken in pieces and passing away; war actually broke out in heaven, and the devil with his host was cast down. People did not much trouble themselves with the chronology of these events, nor with the order in which the several appearances were represented as following each other. They seemed to think themselves at liberty, in so dark a book, to take the scenes backwards or forwards, or confusedly, just as was convenient for the time; and accordingly they found in one passage the final dissolution of the universe, and saw in the next, without the least surprise, the earth with its green fields still remaining as before, and after all this, the expulsion of Satan from heaven into the earth, which took place, however, some time before the world was created.

This absurd mode of interpretation is not yet wholly abandoned in practice, though in theory it is universally discarded. A new scheme has succeeded it; and the common and confirmed impression now is, that the book consists, not of literal descriptions, but of symbolical imagery, shadowing forth important transactions that were to be realized, for the most part in this world, and according to the regular course of nature. As far at least as the twentieth chapter, which is the last but two, it is generally supposed to represent the history of the Christian religion, or of its professors, from the apostolic age downwards, through succeeding times. So great is the change of popular opinion, in this respect! It is curious, however, to observe that in applying certain favorite and noted passages, the habits which were formed under the old views, still continue in full force, though nothing could be more repugnant to the scheme of interpretation at present received. We will mention some of the most striking instances. The terrific representation of the opening of the sixth seal, is often applied as formerly, to the end of the world, even by those who adopt the scheme of interpretation which refers it only to the overthrow of heathenism in ancient Rome, and the establishment of Christianity under Constantine the Great, somewhat more

2

than fifteen hundred years ago: 'I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind; and the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the rocks and mountains, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? We repeat: when this passage is taken with its context as belonging to the sixth seal, nobody pretends that it refers to a period later than the fourth century; notwithstanding, when quoted separately, it is still applied to the end of the world. Again: what is said of war in heaven, in which the devil and his angels were cast out into the earth, is sometimes adduced at this day, to countenance the old, gross idea, (not the literal one, since it is supposed they were cast into hell instead of the earth,)-the old gross idea of fallen angels; although when explained in connexion with the rest of the prophecy it is never referred to any thing of the kind, but made to signify some crisis in the state of the Christian church, such as the conversion of the Roman government, or the Reformation under Luther. The same inconsistency appears in the popular use of that noted passage in the fourteenth chapter: And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever; and they have no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."3 According to the popular

Rev. xii. 7-9.

1 Rev. vi. 12-17.

Rev. xiv. 9-11. Bishop Newton makes this third angel to be Luther and the other Reformers; Faber, having otherwise dis