earth-that a literal band of iron or brass was to be bound round him that his heart was to be literally taken from his him—that body, and changed into the heart of a beast.

The general idea is clear enough, that for his pride he should be condemned to lose his kingdom and his reason, and to fancy himself a beast for seven years.

"If in Zedekiah's horns of iron we are to understand not only their strength, which is intimated by the iron, but also the nature of the iron, whether it be cast iron or steel, and the like, and also their shape, their mode of fixture to the head, &c. Then there will be no unity of design in the subject, and by dwelling on these inferior particulars, we shall diminish or destroy the effect evidently intended by the whole, and finally perhaps lose entire sight of the intention of the prophet. In the great image of Daniel no objection can be made to the consideration of the toes being partly of iron, and partly of clay, for this was evidently intended to show that a mixture of strength and weakness should exist in the thing predicted, but we contend that this was the main and principal thing inculcated, and not that these foes should be counted and dissected so as to intimate a definite number of other particulars."-Lee on Prophecy, p. 223.

Take again our Lord's allegories or parables,—for instance, that of a "certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.

The general idea of God's choice and protection of his favoured people is sufficiently clear; but if you push and strain the allegory, and endeavour to find a particular meaning for each individual expression, for his "planting the vineyard, hedging it round about, digging the winepress, building the tower," you force the parable, and are in danger of losing the main and prominent truth it was intended principally to

convey.

It is just as if some person explaining the parable of the good Samaritan were to insist chiefly on the direction the traveller took, viz. from Jerusalem to Jericho; the minute circumstances of his falling among thieves, and being robbed; the Samaritan's setting him on his own beast, and taking care of

D

him, &c., instead of the great principle of benevolence to our fellow-creatures which is therein inculcated. "It is just as if some person, contemplating a beautiful picture, were to put aside the main features of the portrait, and to consider the trees and the water and mountains which make up the background, and fill up the sketch, as the chief objects worth his consideration."

So with regard to any explanation of this book; it is a book of symbol and allegory: the basis of each symbol is the point to be aimed at, the rest is merely subsidiary. This is the principle upon which we shall proceed-under each symbol we shall hope to find a literal fact which is the basis of that symbol; it does not follow, because the clothing of the symbol is figurative, that the basis of the symbol should be figurative also most of our Lord's parables were highly figurative, yet there was no mistaking the literal sense they were intended to convey. Let us then expect to find in this book, just as in our Lord's parables, literal truths clothed in a symbolic dress; let us treat them in the same way as we should treat our Lord's parables; let us have no surmises, no queries, no enigmas; let us not set ourselves afloat upon a boundless ocean of conjecture without rudder, compass, mast, or sail. If it was deemed necessary that the Apocalypse should be written, we may suppose it was necessary that the Apocalypse should be read; and if it was necessary that the Apocalypse should be read, we may suppose that it was perfectly intelligible to those to whom it was addressed; we cannot suppose that it was necessary to send a key with the Apocalypse. If it is mysterious and unintelligible to us, one principal reason is, we cannot put ourselves in the situation of those to whom it was addressed, and we are destitute of that contemporary information which would explain its difficulties.

It is not my intention to explain the three first chapters of the Apocalypse, containing the vision of the glorified Saviour to St. John in Patmos, and the Epistles which John was commanded to send to the Seven Churches of Asia. It must not, however, be thought, because of this omission, that any system of chronology is supposed to exist in the Apocalypse. Nothing can be more evident than that the Epistles to the Seven Churches are closely interwoven with the rest of the book,

and I may also observe that the vices condemned in the Churches, particularly those of Pergamos and Thyatira, when compared with the first general council of Acts, xv., commanding the Gentile Churches to "abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood," while no mention is made of the later gnostic heresies alluded to in the Gospel and Epistles of St. John, give evidence of a very normal state of the Church. All I shall attempt to do is to give a brief summary of these chapters, with a view of showing that the Epistles to the Seven Churches are not an isolated portion of the Book of Revelation distinct from the rest of the prophecy, and that the Apocalypse does not embrace a variety of subjects, but is one grand and continuous whole.

Now it is remarkable, that to each of the Seven Churches there is a warning given of our Lord's immediate advent, and a promise, connected with the glories of the first resurrection, held out to him that overcame.

Ephesus." I will come unto thee quickly."

"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life." Rev. ii. 5. 7.

Smyrna." I will give thee a crown of life." 1

"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Rev. ii. 10, 11.

"I

Pergamos." I will come unto thee quickly."

"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.' Rev. ii. 16, 17.

"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, (compare "Then shall the end come,' Matt. xxiv. 14), to him will I give power over the nations." Rev. ii. 25, 26.

Sardis.- "I will come on thee as a thief."

"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment." Rev. iii. 3-6.

"The crown of life" was to be given "at that day," and "his appear

1

ing.”

Philadelphia.

"Behold I come quickly."

"He that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God." Rev. iii. 11, 12.

Laodicea." Behold I stand at the door and knock." "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne." Rev. iii. 20, 21.

And to each of the Seven Churches these warnings and promises are declared to be the voice of the Spirit. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches."

This is the one only theme pursued throughout the Book. It begins by saying that Christ is coming immediately; it ends with the same theme, "Surely I come quickly." It begins by warning the Seven Churches of this speedy advent; it closes by saying, "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches." It begins by promising to the martyrs, to them that overcame, the glories of the first resurrection; it ends by disclosing the vision of "the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God .... and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Rev. xx. 4.

This is the key to the whole book. Our Lord appears to St. John, directs him to tell the Churches that he is about to come immediately, and then details the object and nature of his coming. Bear this in mind as the scope and the aim of the Revelation, and every difficulty will vanish. The book will be no longer unintelligible. Its meaning will be as evident to you as it must have been to those who first heard its warnings. They must have perfectly known that "the earth" meant Judæa; "the dwellers in the earth," the Jews; "the kings of the earth," the princes of Palestine; "the merchants of the earth," the traffickers of the Holy Land; "the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth," the metropolis, the royal city. They must have thoroughly known, that "the whole world" signified the Roman Empire; "the kindreds, and tongues, and people, and nations," the Gentiles who were not Jews; "the kings of the whole world," the Roman princes; "the kings of the East," the monarchs about Euphrates. Not a doubt could have occurred to their minds as to

what was intended by the "cities of the nations," i. e. Gentile cities; or what city was unmistakably distinguished from every other city, as "the great city," "the holy city," "the beloved city," the city which the Gentiles should tread down. Bear this in mind, and much of the difficulty of the Apocalypse will disappear. You will discover that its apparent obscurity is the result of a want of sufficient attention to the habits of thinking and speaking of that age, an imperfect apprehension of the aim and scope of the book, and an indistinct and confused percepception of the persons to whom its warnings were addressed. This, added to the mass of crude commentaries with which the book has been overlaid, has well nigh extinguished every particle of truth.

Bear then in mind the simple fact that the woes of the Apocalypse descend upon a particular people, princes, and city, and you will soon discard as untenable the infatuated theory that a Revelation revealed nothing, and that a portion of those Divine scriptures which were written for our learning, and to the readers of which a peculiar and especial blessing was promised, has never been intelligible. You will scout the monstrous idea, that the interpretation of a prophecy of events "which must shortly come to pass," should have been kept in abeyance until the nineteenth century. You will perceive that the Apocalypse not only does not aim to be a record of civil and ecclesiastical history down to the end of time,—not only affords no theme for the fabulous expositions which are a disgrace to the Biblical knowledge of our generation, and which, it is to be feared, are deluding the souls of thousands, but that it was the Revelation of our Lord's immediate coming vouchsafed in mercy to the Church of that day. That its warning voice was clear, distinct, and perfectly intelligible to those to whom it was addressed; that the difficulties which have so long encompassed the book are of man's creating, and not of the Spirit of God; that its notes of deep and solemn terror must have found an echo in the hearts of "them that dwelt on the earth," "the kings of the earth," "the merchants of the earth," and in the palaces of that "great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth;" that the Jew of that day and generation must have listened to its call of watchfulness and preparation, as to a call pregnant with