Ihat then becomes of the woes of the Apocalypse? In that case we must suppose that the language of this Book, not one word of which was to be taken from or added to, was ironical. We must reverse the dirge of this Book of blood into the Te Deum of thrilling victory. We must say "Peace, peace, peace!" and not "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth!"

But not to pursue this chain of thought further, I shall hope it may be considered proved that the woes of the Apocalypse descend upon a particular people, princes, and city. That this particular people, princes, and city, are contrasted with heathen nations, heathen princes, and heathen cities. That one only people, rulers, and city, claimed this isolated and peculiar position; and this people, dynasty, and city, are the people, dynasty, and city of Judæa.

That the whole argument may fairly be resolved into this : either the woes of the Apocalypse have fallen, or have yet to fall, upon this particular people, princes, and city; that there is evidence complete and satisfactory that the woes of the Apocalypse have fallen upon this land, princes, and city; that there is not evidence to justify the expectation they have yet to fall upon this particular people, princes, and city, inasmuch as the people are no more a people, and the city no more the holy city of God; and that even on the supposition the holy city and people should be once more restored, the whole foundation of such restoration proceeds on the principle not of their being subject to such woes as are predicted in the Apocalypse, but of their being once more the favoured people of God; their city once more the joy of the whole earth; the Saviour, whom they once rejected in their obstinacy, proclaiming from Zion his universal law; and the throne of the new and earthly Jerusalem filled by Him who is "King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

3. St. John speaks of the Jews as still existing as a people, and of the temple and city of Jerusalem as still standing, which was not the case in the days of Domitian.

In Rev. vii., the 144,000 are said to be sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel. This supposes that Israel had not yet

I It may be objected, that ten of the twelve tribes did not return from the Assyrian captivity. But it is an answer to this to say, that in our Lord's

been led away captive into all nations; for how could they be sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel, after the complete dispersion and annihilation of the Jewish people, which took place at the close of the Jewish dispensation?

In Rev. xi. John is commissioned to "measure the temple, the altar, and the worshippers." The outer court he is to leave out, for it is to be " given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months."

This places the date of the book anterior to the destruction of the temple under Titus; it is impossible that such a command could have been given, if "not one stone of the temple had remained upon another which had not been thrown down.'

Rev. xi. 8. The bodies of the two witnesses are said to "lie in the street of the great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt." Even this is not sufficient for St. John; to remove all possibility of doubt as to what city is meant, he adds, "Where also our Lord was crucified." 1

How can we avoid the conclusion, that Jerusalem was the city specified, and that the prediction was written before its desolation.

It is no answer to say, this is a "petitio principii," begging the question, as it is called,—and that we are assuming that St. John means a literal people who are to be sealed, a literal temple, and a literal city. They beg the question, who, in defiance of plain statements to the contrary, assume that St. John does not mean the twelve tribes, or the Jewish temple, or the city where our Lord was crucified." True, the Apocalypse is an allegorical and symbolical composition, but under that symbol and allegory there is always a literal meaning. It is

time the Jewish people were still spoken of under the name of the twelve tribes. Thus we find him saying to his disciples, "Ye shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." "Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come." - Acts, xxvi. 7.

1 The figurative language of the Apocalypse is often explained in the Apocalypse itself. Thus the city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt is defined as the "city where our Lord was crucified." Thus the woman spiritually called "Babylon the Great," is defined as "that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Thus "the Great Red Dragon," is defined as that "Old Serpent called the Devil and Satan." To my mind, it is as impious to doubt the literal meaning of these explanations, as to doubt the literal meaning given by our Lord of some of his parables.

nothing more or less than a revelation of things shortly to come to pass, clothed in a symbolic dress; and how absurd it would be to look only for a symbolic meaning in such a revelation. This view, if fully carried out, would reduce all truths and duties indicated by symbolic teaching into mere tropes and figures.

4. Rev. xvii.-The date of the Apocalypse is defined with great clearness and precision.

A woman is seen sitting on a "scarlet-coloured Beast." That scarlet-coloured Beast is Rome.

The Beast has seven heads, which are explained to mean seven mountains, and also to signify seven kings.

"Five of these kings are fallen," says St. John, " and one is,”—one was in existence at the time of the writing of the Apocalypse.

This fixes the date of the book to the reign of Nero. Five emperors had fallen when St. John was banished to Patmos by Nero, and St. John wrote the book during the reign of the sixth. It is worthy of notice, that, according to the Jewish mode of reckoning the emperors of Rome, Nero was the sixth emperor. Josephus tells us (and his testimony is very valuable, because it shows the manner in which the Jews of that day reckoned the Roman emperors) that "Augustus was the second emperor."

Julius Cæsar, then, was the first; Augustus the second; Tiberius, third; Caius, or Caligula, fourth; Claudius, fifth: these were the five who had fallen, "and one is,”—Nero, the sixth, under whose reign of terrible persecution the Apocalypse was written.

This fixes the date of the Apocalypse completely.

Nero died A. D. 68; Jerusalem fell A. D. 70; consequently the Apocalypse must have been written previous to the destruction of Jerusalem.

5. Another argument which serves to corroborate the Neronic date of the Apocalypse may be drawn from the circumstances under which the book was written.

The most superficial reader of the book must see it was written in times of great and terrible persecution; and that one of the prominent designs of the book was to animate, encourage, confirm, and strengthen the Church under those per

secutions.

The author of the book sets out with the statement, that he, their "companion and brother in tribulation," " was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."

The addresses to the Seven Churches are full of exhortations to persevere under their fiery trials, and abound with promises. of victory.

The Church of Ephesus is commended for its "patience," and because it had "not fainted." That of Smyrna is told to "fear none of those things which it should suffer," and to be “faithful unto death." Pergamos is praised, because it had not "denied the faith even in those days wherein Antipas the faithful martyr was slain among them." Thyatira is lauded for its "faith and patience." Sardis is bid "to watch." It is promised to Philadelphia, that it should be kept from "the hour of temptation, which should come on all the world." The warning is given to Laodicea, "as many as I love I rebuke and chasten;" and the Epistles to each of the Seven Churches conclude with a promise connected with the glories of the first resurrection to "him that overcometh," an expression evidently alluding to martyrdom.

Nor are these encouragements to patience, and promises of victory, confined to the Seven Churches: the same views are everywhere scattered throughout the book.

Chap. vi. 9. discloses "under the altar the souls of those slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held."

Chap. vii. 14. unfolds the glorious condition of those who had come out "of great tribulation, and had washed their robes, and had made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

In Chap. xvii., Great Babylon is said to be "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of

Jesus."

Chap. xx. represents the "souls of those beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God," living and reigning with Christ 1,000 years.

It is plain from these encouragements to perseverance, and from these promises of reward to those who should be "faithful unto death," that the Apocalypse was written in the midst of a furious and savage persecution, and that one of its principal

objects was to support and animate the Church under this persecution. Now were these the circumstances of the Church under the reign of Nero?

says:—

Orosius says "Nero first persecuted the Christians at Rome by torture and death, and he commanded that in all the provinces1 they should be tormented with the like persecution." -Historiæ, vii. 7.

you

Tertullian "Consult your edicts, (commentarios vestros,) there will find that Nero was the first who savagely persecuted this sect, then chiefly springing up at Rome, with the imperial sword.-Apol. v.

Eusebius: "Nero

began to take up arms against that very religion which acknowledges the one supreme God. he was the first of the emperors that displayed himself an enemy of piety towards the Deity. thus Nero publicly announcing himself as the chief enemy of God, was led on in his fury to slaughter the Apostles; Paul is therefore said to have been beheaded at Rome, and Peter to have been crucified under him."-Eccles. Hist. ii. 25.

Sulpicius Severus speaks of Nero as first endeavouring to extinguish the name of Christians: "The (Christian) religion was forbidden by the enactment of laws (datis legibus) and by edicts published (edictis propositis, the commentarios vestros of Tertullian), it was lawful for no one openly to be a Christian.”— Historiæ Sacræ, ii. 28.

Observe. No Roman emperor had hitherto persecuted Christianity; no public edicts had been issued against the disciples of Jesus. But now the "fiery trial" began in earnest — "the hour of temptation came which was to try all that dwell on the earth." According to our Lord's prediction, the furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, in the period immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. Apostacy, the consequence of this furious persecution, rose up of so horrid a kind, that the ties of nature were forgotten in the severity of the affliction, the apostacy which our Lord said should precede his advent, and to which St. Paul refers (2 Thess. ii. 2.): "For that day shall not come except there

This is an answer to the statement that Nero's persecution was confined to the city of Rome, and which would make out that St. John could not have been banished to Patmos during the reign of Nero.