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THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT.

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EXPLANATION OF THE PRECEDING TWO WHOLE SHEET TABLES OF THE SEALED BOOK," AND THE LITTLE SEASON."

To represent at one view the present state of our prophetic knowledge, we have endeavoured to put into a tabular form the contents of the Seven-sealed Book of the Apocalypse, and the principal events of the short period of time now remaining before the translation of the saints; the events which shall take place during the day of the Lord, and while his saints are with him in the clouds of heaven; and the manifestation of Christ and his saints at the end of the day of the Lord, which shall be the time of the restitution of all things; when the whole creation shall manifest that glory to which it has been destined from the beginning in the purpose of God, and shall so continue for ever, upheld by the presence of God dwelling in the midst of his people for evermore.

The first of these Tables needs little explanation: its form shews the intention of putting those events which agree in time opposite each other, as far as the relative length of the description would allow; and it has been endeavoured to make the translation as literal as possible, without consulting elegance, or even the diverse structure of the two languages: but herein we are sensible of much imperfection, as we have not been able sufficiently to consult our friends; and we shall feel much obliged if any of our learned readers, who have leisure, would assist us in further perfecting the translation, which we would then publish in a separate form.

The second Table gives but a few of the leading events of the Apocalypse, it having been found impracticable in one table to put them all, and more than one would disturb the singleness of object by which it was designed to shew the singleness of purpose in the mind of God. But these events mark the great outlines, and our readers can enlarge the number of them at pleasure, especially in the references to the Old Testament, of which we have been obliged to make a very small selection, and in the types of the Books of Judges and Kings, almost all of which apply to the time included in this table.

The notes and marks of seasons of the year, which occur in all the Prophecies, will be found a most instructive and exact scale, according to which the relative time of each prophecy be most perfectly paralleled with the others. The seasons

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began with the ecclesiastical year, and at Passover; immediately after which followed the Harvest; and the seasons concluded with the ecclesiastical year, six months after the Passover; at which time was the Vintage, followed by the Feast of Tabernacles, held in the first month of the civil year. The seasons do not properly and literally begin to the church till the first resurrection, and translation of the saints. Christ our Passover is risen from the dead, and "become the first-fruits of them that slept :" the church is called by James "a kind of first-fruits," but it does not truly become "first-fruits to God and the Lamb" till the first resurrection. At that time Babylon is broken down; the destroyer of the Gentiles goes forth as a lion; Babylon and the nations are threshed, are scattered like chaff and thistle-down, are burned like stubble and tares; and immediately after, residue, who repent not, are gathered like grapes into a wine vat, and there utterly destroyed.

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At the beginning of harvest Jordan overflowed its banks, and so drove out the lions from the thickets which skirted the river into the inland country. The overflowing of Jordan is sometimes made analogous with Euphrates bursting its banks, or being drained off by Cyrus to facilitate his attack upon Babylon.Further on in the harvest is threshing and fanning, and the burning of the stubble: all of which are applied in the Prophecies to Babylon, and by which she is completely subverted, and her whole fabric annihilated. But some of her party escape the destruction, and are scattered to a distance, like chaff and thistledown: these gather under one, called the Assyrian, or Gog and Magog, and with a madness unparalleled, and scarcely credible, go up against Christ and his risen saints, are taken alive, and cast into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

It should ever be borne in mind that these things can only be understood by the spiritual, and that we state them with all simplicity, in the full confidence that most of our readers are spiritual, and will receive them. If any are not so, we are content to bear their reproach, knowing that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, and that they are foolishness unto him. The sealed book none could open but the Lion of the tribe of Judah; and now that it is opened, none can understand its contents but those who have the mind of Christ. Even in those who are spiritual there are degrees of understanding, and few attain to the knowledge of all mysteries; and in the things revealed, there are some depths which the wise alone are able to fathom: "The wise shall understand :" "Herein is wisdom :" "Let him that hath understanding count," &c. Let us, then, not only simply believe the revelation, but seek to enter into its mysteries. And let us pray continually that "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto us

the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Eph. i. 17, 18).

PRESENT

STATE OF PROPHETIC KNOWLEDGE, AND PROGRESS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE APOCALYPSE.

EVERY sincere inquirer after truth must rejoice in its development, and will not only desire to communicate this joy to others, but will endeavour to guide and controul within the strict limits of truth the pleasure which knowledge confers; and where these limits have been unwittingly transgressed, from our want of skill to perceive the boundary, will instantly step back within the boundary, as soon as it is made known and defined. God, in revealing his will and purpose by his word given to his servants the prophets, made the communication progressively. At first the mere promise of a Seed, a Deliverer, a Prophet, an anointed King: the acts and consequences which should follow were more and more detailed in each succeeding prophecy: till the canon of Revelation was completed in the Apocalypse; the person and work of Christ being therein fully revealed, with all the mighty deeds which He shall perform for his church, till He shall plant his throne of glory in the midst of his redeemed creation, and reign for ever with his glorified church as King of kings and Lord of lords. God, in unfolding the revelation of his will and purpose, has followed the same method: He has opened the interpretation of Scripture progressively. Every pious interpreter has been enabled to add some further development of truth to the accumulating treasury of knowledge in the church; and to correct, or define more accurately in its details, the bearing of all prophecy upon that time of the end when the mystery of God shall be finished. Every year, bringing us nearer to the time of the end, adds to the portion of fulfilled prophecy, and enables us the better to understand that which is unfulfilled; and we bless God for having given us to live at a time when so much has been accomplished, that we can not only take an accurate survey of the remainder from our near approach to it, but may reasonably indulge the hope of seeing the accomplishment in our own days; of being the honoured instruments of becoming fellow-workers with God therein; of glorifying our Lord upon the earth, and receiving from him the crown of glory, which he shall give to all them that love his appearing, when He shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day.

The mere lapse of time, especially of such a time as that in which we have lived, is a great advantage to modern interpreters; and they have, by adopting and combining the many various suggestions of former interpreters, obtained certain principles, which are found to apply uniformly to all the prophecies of Scripture; and serve, like a key of many wards, to unlock all the mysteries of God, for the instruction and warning of the church in these glorious but perilous times. These principles apply to all the prophecies, and give us, in all of them, certain fixed points, from whence, as by landmarks, we may by care draw the intermediate lines of boundary. There is one book of prophecy, however, in which not only the landmarks are set down, but the boundary lines, also, are drawn with precision; and we should not attempt to draw them ourselves in the other prophecies, without continually referring to this book, which is, the Apocalypse given by Jesus Christ to his servant John.

The principles to which we allude are derived, First, from God's dealings with his people, all of which were typical of his dealings with the church; and those visible interpositions on behalf of the Jews, are the exponents of his invisible interpositions on behalf of his church: Secondly, from the deliverers raised up at different times to typify the great Deliverer, who shall come at the end of time to deliver his church from Antichrist: Thirdly, from the seasons of the year, and the Jewish feasts connected with the seasons, which typify the order and time of the several states of the church, and of God's interposi tion for her deliverance: Fourthly, from the numbers contained in various parts of Scripture, by combining which the dates of these several times may be ascertained: Fifthly, from the several parts of the tabernacle, of the temple, and of the primitive churches, which, by their arrangements, and by the places occupied by the different orders of worshippers, indicate the arrangement of the whole creation at the restitution of all things.

The first two of these principles-namely, God's dealings with the Jews, and sending them deliverers-have guided all interpreters from the beginning of the Christian dispensation, and we need not enlarge upon them here. But we would observe, that these principles have their largest application to the prophecies of the Old Testament, and to the future dealings of God with the Jewish people; and bear upon the Gentiles and the Christian church chiefly in the way of allegory, and ensample for conduct.

The third of these principles is, we believe, altogether modern in its application to prophecy, at least with any detail and exactness. Vitringa, and the earlier commentators, make some passing allusions to the seasons, feasts, and temple services, but

these are so slight that they teach scarcely any thing. The first work we know of, wherein this important principle is drawn out in any exactness, bears date 1787; it is entitled, "The Revelation of St. John, considered as alluding to certain Services of the Jewish Temple; according to which the Visions are stated, as well in respect to the Objects represented, as to the Order in which they appeared." Mr. Cuninghame of Lainshaw has also made use of this principle, probably without knowing the work to which we allude; and a very exact and able investigator of prophecy has perfected the principle, and shewn its application, in a paper which appeared in an early Number of this Journal, 66 on the Times and the Seasons," and from whom we have derived our acquaintance with this most important principle.

The numbers are no less important than the times and the seasons, and will, when fully understood, give the stamp of demonstration to prophecy; but for that very reason will not be fully understood till the end, that it may be known that God hath kept the times and the seasons in his own power, both for controul and for concealment, and that we may ever be kept, till the end, walking by faith, and not by sight. And for the same reason the fifth principle of interpretation is only available now to assist us in comprehending the future state of things in which it shall be realized,—the things not seen as yet; the new heavens and the new earth, wherein righteousness shall dwell; in the several compartments of which, as in the several courts of the tabernacle, the several ranks of the millennial age shall dwell, and compass the throne of God with songs of deliver

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All these principles have their full bearing upon the Apocalypse, which, as it is the last of the prophecies, may also be called the sum-total of them all; and its full interpretation has been reserved for the time of the end, the days in which we are now living. In an early Number of this Journal (vol. I. p. 292) we endeavoured to explain the structure of the Apocalypse and some of the principles for its interpretation; and we now wish to add to it the results of the study and experience of three most eventful years, during which God has been working, by his providence, changes which by their rapidity baffled all conjecture, and by their character have utterly confounded all but the students of prophecy. These three years of peace have been characterized by anarchy, rapine, and burning: the more “useful knowledge," as it is called, has been diffused, the more brutal the people have become; and the more religion has been professed, the more ungodliness has abounded. In three days France was revolutionized-in three years the constitution of England has been destroyed. Every throne in Europe totters; and no sound-headed man will now dare to say that the clouds

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