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Verses 26-29. Again, he states in Ephesians, "that it is now revealed, that the Gentiles should be FELLOW HEIRS, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." Ephesians iii. 5, 6. So in Ephesians ii. he declares, that the Gentiles, though formerly "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise," are now "NO LONGER strangers and foreigners, but FELLOW CITIZENS with the saints, and of the household of God."

It is endeavoured to evade the force of these texts by asserting, that they refer only to the promises of salvation in the general, and of the heavenly glory. But this is asserted without the slightest testimony of scripture on which to build it; and those who should sit down to attempt to discriminate between the promises of scripture which belong to the risen Gentile, and those which belong to the risen Jew, and to bring proof of such distinction, would indeed find themselves involved in an inextricable labyrinth. The Gentiles will beyond question be made partakers of all those promises which the apostle to the Gentiles holds out to them; and also of those contained in the epistles of Christ to the seven Gentile churches of the Apocalypse; and these are the same as those which relate to the Jew. Thus many who were not then apparently children of the kingdom, were to come (our Lord declared) from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God.*

Moreover it is important also to observe, in regard to those who in the millennium shall be partakers of the resurrection, that to whatever vicissitudes men in the flesh may, during that period or after it, be subject, they cannot affect those who shall rise from the dead, or who being alive, shall have their vile body changed at the appearing of Christ. These cannot be hurt of the second death; (Rev. ii. 11.) on them it hath no power; (Rev. xx. 6.) "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Luke xx. 35, 36.

Surely these promises are worth defending: the hope of them will make many an affliction appear light, and animate us amid surrounding judgments and distress of nations with perplexity to endure to the end.

*The reader will find this subject more fully treated, as also the First Resurrection, and the condition of the saints therein, in "Abdiel's Essays," before referred to.

CHAPTER IX.

ON DANIEL AND THE APOCALYPSE.

IN passing to the consideration of THE ANTICHRIST, a subject which already has been slightly touched upon or alluded to at pages 49, 51, and 69 of this volume,-we have to quit in a great measure the paths of clear and explicit prophecy, and enter into the obscurer regions of symbol and enigma.

And here I would once more request the reader to bear in mind, that the whole of prophecy may be resolved into two principal portions, viz.-that which sets forth things which shall be hereafter in such literal terms or ordinary and familiar tropes, that we can be at no loss to discover the plain meaning, by attending only to the general analogy of Scripture; and that which sets forth future events in acknowledged figures, symbols, allegories, types, and other adumbrations. The former I would call demonstrable prophecy; not because the latter is incapable of demonstration, but because the means or principles of demonstration lie, in the former instance, more obviously before us, and are, as it were, naked and open to the eyes of every believer; whereas the latter are of a more involved and intricate character, and their meaning and application is in many instances only to be determined by a careful and laborious investigation and comparison of the various books of Scripture; such as Daniel seems to have prosecuted when he tells us, "that he understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, &c." ix. 2. And as the latter class of prophecies are avowedly in some instances sealed or shut up, so as that they should not be understood by the church until the period when they should be needed, (Dan. xii. 4, 9;) and as in every instance they are couched in such terms as to shroud their general purport or particular application from all who are not aided by divine wisdom; (Dan. xii. 10,), it follows that, in the one case, they could not be understood, even by the church, until the time appointed of the Father; and that in the other case there must always remain a degree of obscurity about the matter, even after the fulfilment. This requires the interpreter to advance his exposition with a comparative degree of diffidence; and it must, in numerous instances, from the different measure of talent, of learning, of industry and of prejudice also, in really good men, give scope for a measure of discrepancy also in their

several interpretations.* And this appears to be among the means, whereby, in the providence of God, this department of prophecy is more especially hidden from the ungodly and worldly, who are too incurious and careless humbly to examine for themselves, and who take occasion from the mistakes or differences of Christians to discard the whole, either with profane derision, or with equally profane contempt.

I consider, therefore, that what I have advanced in the former chapters of this volume is susceptible of that demonstration which enables me to offer it with a full persuasion and confidence, that it is in the main correct; saving those passages or topics regarding which I have apprised the reader, as I have proceeded, that I speak of them with hesitation. But for the reasons just assigned, and from the further circumstance, that my own mind is not convinced in regard to any interpretation as yet offered of the whole apocalypse (however I may concur in certain parts and particulars)-I approach this part of the subject with much greater diffidence.

It might be concluded by some, and indeed is concluded, that as there is so much difference of opinion among the best expositors in regard to the truths contained in this portion of prophecy, that the better way would be to leave it alone altogether, and wait until it please God to cast more light upon it. This, however, is a conclusion which cannot be too strongly deprecated. Letting the subject alone is what, in the great majority of instances, has occasioned that lamentable ignorance in regard to prophecy, which has been one great source of the numerous unsound and superficial and merely imitative expositions that have at different times made their appearance in the world. Many of these publications would never have been endured, nor ever indeed have been written, had the Christian church been sufficiently acquainted with the subject to have detected the grossest errors; but the fact is, that the majority of Christians in the present day are not even acquainted with the text of the Apocalypse, nor with the relative position of the subjects contained therein; but when their regular reading of the scriptures leads them to that book, they turn back and begin again. And this is the more remarkable, considering that the Lord, as if foreseeing the contempt with which this portion of his revelation would be treated by carnal men, has in a very especial manner commended both this and the prophecies of Daniel to our attention. Thus (apparently referring to Dan. viii. 13, ix. 27, xi. 31, and xii. 11,) he says,

*The reader is requested to refer again to what has been said on this head at page 113, and particularly to the extract from Bishop Sherlock, at page 117.

"Whoso readeth, let him understand;" (Matt. xxiv. 15;) and he commences the Apocalypse with the promise of a special blessing "to him that readeth and them that hear, and that keep the words of that prophecy," as has been in a former place observed. Page 14.

But, besides this, to leave alone these portions of divine revelation, would be to abandon all idea of successful inquiry into that important topic comprehended in prophecy-ANTICHRIST. For, as before remarked, the light which we possess concerning it is chiefly derived from hence. I have not, indeed, any intention of entering into a regular exposition of these books; for neither would the space which this volume affords be sufficient, nor am I prepared by the needful previous light or conviction for the undertaking; but it will be very desirable to set before the reader some information respecting certain topics contained in them; and on some particular points, I may likewise take the opportunity of stating what appears to me to amount to a demonstration; and in others, what commends itself as wearing the appearance of a high probability. It will be useful, however, in the first instance, to make a few particular observations on the books themselves.

1. The authenticity, and, by consequence, the inspiration of the book of Daniel, was questioned by Porphyry, an enemy to the Christian faith, in the third century, on the ground that a portion of the prophecies contained therein was so exact a description of the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes, (whom we shall have to notice again presently,) that the writer must have lived subsequent to the event. The Jews, likewise, have endeavoured to disparage the book of Daniel, from the circumstance of their finding themselves so pressed by Christians with certain portions of it, when they would deny that Messiah has already appeared, or that he was to be cut off. They do not, however, question the authenticity of the book; they only, in some instances, remove it from its proper and ancient situation among the prophets, and assign it a place among that class of the sacred writings, which they call Hagiographa. These circumstances, however, unsupported as the objections in both instances are by any shadow of proof, are in themselves corroborative of the inspiration of Daniel, when once the authenticity of the book is established; in regard to which it is only needful to advance one single and very notorious fact:-viz. that the book of Daniel was translated into Greek, and preserved by the Egyptians in what is called the Septuagint version, long before the time of Antiochus-a fact which the Jews do not venture to deny.

VOL. II.-19

And as the authenticity of Daniel has been questioned, so likewise has that of the Apocalypse by the abettors of certain systems, as has been shown in a former chapter. Page 43. It may be sufficient, however, in this instance to adduce the testimony of one of the Fathers,-viz. Irenæus, who declares that the revelation given to John was seen by him "not long ago, almost in the very age itself of Irenæus, about the end of Domitian's reign."* Lib. v. cap. xxx. The doubt which was cast upon the work for a time tended, indeed, in the end to establish its canonical authority with a more full and complete testimony than it would in all probability have otherwise enjoyed; witness the "Observations" made on the work by the great Sir Isaac Newton. His well known caution, learning, judgment, and powerful abilities render whatsoever he advances, as the result of his historical research, of the very first authority; and he declares, "that he does not find any other book of the New Testament so strongly attested or commented upon so early as this."

In regard to the general contents of these two books, the opinion of the learned Joseph Mede appears to be correct so far as it goes, viz.-that Daniel is apocalypsis contracta, and the apocalypse Daniel explicata; in that what is shown to Daniel in the sketch or summary form, he considers is presented to John in the details. But it appears to me that we may go farther than this, and say that the very details themselves lie for the most part scattered in the other prophets; and I consider therefore that it is a very important clew to the right interpretation of St. John, to view the Revelation given to him as adjusting those scattered and discursive prophecies, and assigning to them their true position in the great prophetical history or picture. Let the reader compare, for example

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* Dr. Lardner assigns the date of the versions of the Apocalypse to somewhere between A.D. 95 and 97. Vol. vi. p. 638. Some interesting matter connected with this point will be found in a Review of Dr. Tilloch's Dissertation on the Apocalypse, contained in The Investigator, vol. i.

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