ous. She said, "I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;" but, says the revelator, "Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked;" iii. 17. As to the sin of adultery, the revelator accused the church at Thyatira of consorting with Jezebel, who taught God's servants to offend; and the malediction was, "I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds;" ii. 22. As to following the way of Balaam, mentioned by Peter, the comparison with the revelator's reference to that circumstance is peculiarly striking: "I have a few things against thee, because thou hast them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication;" ii. 14. We may therefore safely conclude, that if the 2d Epistle of Peter was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, the churches were in the precise state at that time in which the revelator describes them. And there is still another point of resemblance; the revelator exhorts the churches to stand firm against persecutions, and not to be overcome by the temptations and trials in which they were involved. that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death;" ii. 11. See also 17, 26-28; iii. 5, 12, 21; in all which places the advantages of overcoming in the spiritual conflict in which the churches were engaged are set forth. To the same subject refers St. Peter. Speaking of the faltering and falling of the Christians, he said: "Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them;" 2 Pet. ii. 19-21. "He 2. Let us turn now to another point. All the signs which our Lord said would precede the destruction of Jerusalem are mentioned in the Apocalypse; but, as we should expect, they are mentioned in the style of that book. These were wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, fearful sights, persecutions of Christians, and preaching the gospel everywhere; to which may be added the coming in of false teachers and the apostasy of some lukewarm professors, two points which have been already noticed. Let us look at the other points as noticed in the Apocalypse. War. "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse, that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword." Famine. "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse: and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." This is evidently a description of famine, when it became necessary to weigh out the common articles of food with great exactness, and the wages of a man would scarcely buy bread enough for himself alone. Pestilence. "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, (the sign of weakness and fainting,) and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell (or destruction) followed with him," and he had more than all the power of the rest. Thus, in a few verses taken consecutively, we find a description, in the style of the Apocalypse, of wars, pestilence, and famine, - all of which had been foretold by our Lord as preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. As to earthquakes, how frequently do we read of them in the Apocalypse, especially in that part of it which treats of the destruction of Jerusalem. Whether our Lord, in foretelling the signs that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem, mentioned earthquakes in the literal or metaphorical sense, we will not tarry here to inquire, because those convulsions are probably spoken of in both senses by the revelator. How sublime is the metaphor that opens under the sixth seal. "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; * * * * * * 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," &c.; vi. 12, 15. In chapter viii. 5, the tumults are described by voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake: and again, in xi. 13, where the revelator winds up that portion of the Apосаlypse which seems to treat of the destruction of Jerusalem, he says, "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand." In the next place our Lord mentioned Fearful sights and signs in heaven. Is not this the language of the Apocalypse also? The sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair; the moon turns to blood; the stars fall from heaven like the figs from a tree shaken by a mighty wind, and the heavens depart as a scroll when it is rolled together. If it be alleged that this language was metaphorical, whereas the Saviour intended fearful sights in a literal view, we reply that it is no more certain that the language of the Saviour is to be construed strictly to the letter than the language of the revelator. The persecution of the Christians is represented by our Lord as one of the signs that denoted the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. This was a thing so continually occurring, from the beginning of our Lord's ministry until all the apostles were dead, and even for centuries afterward, that it gives no definite indication. But this much may be relied upon, that immediately preceding the fall of the Jews, it was a season of very violent persecution of the church, not only in Judea, but throughout all parts of the Roman empire. And nothing is more plain than that the Apocalypse was written in the time of a great persecution. The churches are exhorted to have patience, to hold fast their faith, to prepare for trials; they are told that they shall be cast into prison, but are encouraged to be "faithful unto death." The martyrs under the altar, who were slain for the word of God, and the testimony they held, cry unto God for vengeance, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood, on them that dwell on the earth?" Does not this show that the deaths of these Jewish-Christian martyrs, whose souls were represented as lying in the temple, under the altar, were not yet avenged? But they were to be avenged by the destruction of the Jews. Our Lord said that upon that generation should be visited all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. And that the destruction of the city is referred to among the judgments seems evident from the Redeemer's lamentation, which immediately followed: "O Jerusalem, Jerúsalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee," &c., &c.; Matt. xxiii. 34-37. If, then, the blood of the Jewish-Christian martyrs was unavenged when the Apocalypse was written, must it not have been written before the lamented city fell? We might mention other signs which were pointed out by our Lord as presaging the destruction of Jerusalem, but we have no more room to devote to this topic, and we have already considered the principal. Now, if all the signs named by our Lord as marking the approach of the destruction of Jerusalem are referred to in the Apocalypse, and restated and reäffirmed in the peculiar style of that book, as marking an event still future, but close at hand, are we not led with a high degree of probability to the conclusion, that the Apocalypse was written before the fall of Jerusalem? And let it be added, that all these signs are found in that part of the Apocalypse which is supposed to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, by those who believe the book to have been written previously to that event. 3. But there is another very strong argument in favor of our position, built on the agreement of the language of the Apocalypse on the one side, and that of all the other books of the New Testament on the other, in respect to the time and circumstances of our Lord's coming. In the Apocalypse we are told, even in the very first verse of it, that the things foretold were "shortly to come to pass." Again, verse 3, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear, the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." See also ii. 16; iii. 11, and xi. 14. But at the close of the book, as well as at the beginning, the Christians were warned again, that the old dispensation would very speedily pass away; that the New Jerusalem was about to come down from God out of heaven, and that the coming of the Son of man was about to take place. "Behold I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book;" xxii. 7. "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand;" verse 10. "And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be ;" verse 12. Again, verse 20, "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen." A person well versed in the language of the New Testament respecting the coming of Christ cannot fail to be impressed with its agreement with that of the Apocalypse. There are two facts to be observed here: 1st. The immediateness of the coming of Christ; and, 2d, the rewarding of men according to their works in connection with it. "I come quickly; and my re |