sacrifice to be offered with a reluctant mind: "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver," both in our dedication of ourselves to his service, and in our efforts to do good to man. kind. Like the people of Judah and Benjamin in the text, we are to enter into or renew our covenant with God "with all our heart;" and to seek him, not formally or languidly, but "with our whole desire." But, thirdly, let us call to mind the happiness which the people felt when they had thus solemnly taken the Lord to be their God: "they rejoiced," it is said, "at the oath :" they did not think that they had contracted an irksome obligation, or wish to retract their engagement; on the contrary, they felt what the word of God declares, that the ways of wisdom, that is, of religious wis dom, are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. So long as our hearts are alive only to the world and dead to God, our professed religion ministers to us neither happiness nor safety. If we are merely following the dictates of habit or education in performing a certain course of external Christian duties, while we feel no real love to God, or delight in his service, or gratitude to the Saviour, our supposed religion is but the performance of a burdensome task, and it affords us no solace in affliction, no hope under the weight of our transgressions, no joy in life, no repose in death. But the true Christian, the man who, in the language of out text, "seeks the Lord with all his heart," has, in every change and condition of life, a constant source of inward satisfaction arising from the presence and the power of God. Although the fig-tree should not blossom, neither should fruit be in the vines; though the labour of the olive should fail, and the fields should yield no meat; the flocks should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no herd in the stall; yet will he rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation" Fourthly. Nor is it without ample cause that the Christian thus experiences the most solid satisfaction of mind in devoting himself to the service of God; for, as in the case of the people of Judah in our text, He is found of all who seek him. To find God, is to find whatever can make us really happy, either in this life or that which is to come. He is not indeed far from us; his presence is ever visible in the works of his hands, and the mercies and judgments of his providence; but our hearts are blinded by sin, that we do not discern him ; and so corrupted, that we are content to live without him. But no sooner do we perceive the guilt and misery of such a state of mind, and begin to seek him with our whole desire-that very desire itself being his gift-than he is found of us; and as he gave the people of Judah rest round about from their national enemies, he affords us rest from the spiritual slavery of sin, and bestows upon us the glorious liberty of the children of God. Our transgres 66 sions are pardoned, our hearts are renewed, and our consciences are cleansed by the blood of his Son, and the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit. We enter upon a state of the most exalted privileges; a state of peace with our reconciled Creator upon earth, preparatory to an eternal union with him in the world of everlasting peace and joy. For never will he violate his part of the covenant; never will he reject those who come to him in the way which he has appointed through the merits and mediation of his Son. If we forsake him, he will forsake us; but if we cleave to him, his arm is not shortened that it cannot save us, or his ear heavy that he cannot hear our petitions, or his mercy scanty that he will not receive us, or his fulness less than inexhaustible that he cannot supply all our necessities, so far as is really best for us, beyond even the largest prayer of faith, or the most unbounded wishes of the heart. Let us then feel it to be our duty, that on which our eternal safety depends, and not less the highest privilege which we can enjoy, to enter into a covenant of devotion to the service of God; or rather to renew, and to regard with an increasingly practical influence, that into which we sacramentally entered in our baptism, and which we have perhaps often confirmed by subsequent resolutions, though broken almost as soon as made. No longer let us halt between two opinions; no longer let us make the world our God, while in words we profess to be dedicated to, the service of our Creator and Redeemer. The vows of God are upon us. Let us then remember the solemnity of the stipulations into which we have entered; let us seek his pardon for our past violations of them, and his grace for the time to come, that we may be enabled, in truth as well as in profession, "to renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh;" that we may believe with the heart unto righteousness "all the articles of the Christian faith;" and "that we may keep his holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all, the days of our life;" which may He, of his infinite mercy, enable us to do, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. THE ordinary versions of Gal. i. 7. appear to me to give a sense to the Apostle's words, at variance both with the context and the main scope of the whole Epistle, and one also which the Greek words do not properly admit of. The design of the Apostle is to counteract that Judaizing spirit which began to prevail to an alarming extent amongst the Galatians, and which was subversive of the vital principle of Christianity; and, in the verses immediately following the one under consideration, he denounces an anathema against those who should preach any other Gospel, besides that which he had preached to them. Yet the ordinary version of the 7th verse makes him, after expressing his wonder at their being so quickly seduced from him to another Gospel, contradict himself*, by representing the new doctrine as not another Gospel. "I marvel, that ye are so soon removed from him, who called you to the grace of Christ, unto another Gospel ; which is not another; but there be some that trouble you &c." But this translation appears to me as incorrect as it is repugnant to the context; for had this been the Apostle's meaning, he would doubtless have repeated the word ἑτερον ; thus εἰς ἕτερον ευαγγελιον, ὁ εκ εσιν repov; but the words are εiç έTepov ευαγγελιον ὁ εκ ετιν αλλο; and αλλο is immediately followed by a un in the sense I conceive of πλην ότι, and plainly governs them: but this grammatical dependence is lost sight of in the ordinary translations, partly by giving the antecedent member an absolute form, partly by rendering et un by the particle but, which may have an adversative as well as an exceptive sense. Now these objections I would obviate by referring the relative & not to Evayyeλtor, (which I apprehend is the sole cause of the mistake,) but to the whole antecedent member, and the whole passage would then run thus: "I marvel, that you are so quickly seduced from him who called you to the grace of Christ, unto another Gospel, which [unhappy circumstance] is nothing else So at least, it seems to the writer of these remarks; but most writers view the Apostle as only checking himself by a figure of speech, as though he exclaimed: deserves not the name; for it is not the "Another Gospel did I say? Alas! it Gospel." Some commentators read only oux 6519 "which is not," which is nothing, which cannot be said to exist; either omitting the ao with some manuscripts, or carrying it to the succeeding clause. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. NEARLY a quarter of a century since, in your first volume, (See Christ. Observ. for 1802, p. 763,) you favoured me by admitting a paper signed JUVENIS; the design of which was to shew that there are parts of sacred prophecy, relating even to our own times, and conveying to us most important admonition, in the explanation of which there is little or no difference of opinion among Protestants. As respects the Book of the Revelations, this unity of opinion, I stated, continues till we come to the tenth chapter, where first the great chain of interpretation is broken, and the ordinary reader confounded by a variety of interpretations. The connexion of that chapter with the remainder of the book, I considered to be the jugulum cause, the dignus vindice nodus, which demands the most careful investigation of the student of prophecy. For the above reasons, and on account of the present aspect of the political world, I beg leave to refer your readers to that paper, and to make some additional observations on the prophecies relating to the Mohammedans. The passage of Scripture on which I offer you my remarks, continued from December 1802, is Revel. xvi. 12-16: "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates: and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be prepared of the kings from the rising of the sun. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the wild beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three uncleansed spirits as frogs. For they are spirits of demons, making signs, which go forth to the kings of the whole habitable world, to gather them together to the war of that the great day of God, the Lord of all. Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and observeth his garments, that he may not walk about naked, and they see his shame. And they gathered them together unto the place which is called in Hebrew, Armageddon." I believe I have here given as nearly as may be, the close translation of the original. See Dean Woodhouse, new Version of the Apocalypse. The first observation which I have to make, is, that, as I before premised, there is a most remarkable agreement among Protestant interpreters, that the fall of the Ottoman empire is here foretold under the symbol of the drying up of the great river, the Euphrates. For the sense of the older commentators, see Poole's Annotations in loc. and Bishop Newton. And, if I recollect rightly, the eminent authors on prophecy in more modern times have not the slightest disagreement on the question. To the best of my recollection, Mr. Faber, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Irving, Mr. Bicheno alike assert, that the fall of the Ottoman empire is intended by the drying up of the Euphrates. At the same time it must be confessed, that some few commentators have thought that, since all the vials are poured upon the Roman empire, this vial cannot be understood as poured out upon a nation so remote from Rome, and which likewise is spoken of in the prophecy, as being a scourge upon Rome. In answer to this objection, it may be replied, that the literal river Euphrates was the barrier to the old Roman empire; and that the Ottoman empire is at this time, very probably, the barrier to the modern Roman empire. And I believe that the modern Romans would consider the removal of this barrier, not as the removal of a scourge, but as the infliction of the greatest scourge to all Europe. The truth is, that at the time of the English Revolution, Louis XIV., James II., and the Turks were in league against the liberties of Europe and the Protestants every where. And it was the knowledge of this fact that gave the Prince of Orange much assistance in his advancement to the throne of England. I translate the following remarkable passage from a work entitled, Historia Nuperæ Rerum Mutationis in Angliâ, Authore Ezek Burridge, A. M. Diœces. Connor, Vicar. General. 1697, page 308. "It is most manifest to all men, that had the affairs of James succeeded, the liberty of us all would have perished; and the day shortly have come in which sea and land, peace and war, would have been governed by the nod of the French king. For be used, as the supports of his dominion, the Emperor of the Turks, and our king, whose faith stuck fatally to him. But what allied valour of the rest could have stood against this triumvirate fiercely waging wars for empire and religion? For had our king and the king of France, as they agreed to do, engaged the German emperor and the Turk in war, the two former with joint forces would have assaulted Belgium by sea and land, as a second door of Europe; but by proffering to the Prince of Orange our abdicated empire, we saved ourselves and others from those dangers." If this then be a true statement, the objection against the received interpretations of the Euphrates, as signifying the Turks, is at once removed. And it is manifest, in consequence, that from the time of the English Revolution, and by effect of it, the woe of the Turkish empire has ceased. may allege Bishop Burnet's History of his own Times, folio, vol. II. p. 82. Speaking of the year 1691 he says, "If the court of Vienna had really desired a peace, they might have had it upon this victory on very easy terms: but they resolved they would be masters of all Transylvania; and in order to that, they undertook the siege of Great Waradin, which they were forced to turn to a blockade, so that it fell not into their hands till the spring following. The Emperor was led on by the prophecies, that assured him of constant conquests, &c." The same eminent prelate and historian, in speaking of the year 1697, notices that Bishop Lloyd had foretold that the peace between the Turks and Papists should be made in the year 1698. For in this year, the hour, day, month, and year allotted to the successes of the Ottomans against the Eastern empire, ended, according to the judg ment of Bishop Lloyd. And thus at every step of this wonderful prophecy relating to the Ottomans, the general consent of commentators and historians makes the vision so clear, that he may run that readeth. The commencement of the fatal period is thus marked by the historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. "It was on the twenty-seventh of July, in the year 1299 of the Christian æra, that Othman first invaded the territory of Nicomedia, and the singular accuracy of the date seems to disclose some foresight of the rapid and destructive growth of the monster." The duration of the slaying of the third part of men, is for a year, which, in the prophetical language, is 360 years; a month, which is 30 years; a day, which is one year; and an hour, which is supposed to mean a month. The whole time is commonly calculated at 391 years; which, commencing in the year 1299, terIn proof that this was the case, I minated in 1690; though, from a somewhat later date, and by a computation by solar years, Bishop Lloyd and Mr. Whiston put off the period to 1698. The difference is of little consequence; and the less so, because both 1690 and 1698 witnessed successive and effectual degrees of the sentence pronounced upon the Ottomans, Thus far shall ye come, and no farther. Bishop Newton placed the epoch and end of the period too soon. His date for the end of it is 1672; but Mr. Eton has shewn that the Turks did prevail till 1683. Neither did they receive any decisive check till king William broke the conspiracy against the liberties of Europe, and, with the aid of Almighty God, saved the Protestants, Britain, and the empire. And thus the second woe passed away at the close of the seventeenth century; and it only remains that the vial of desolation destroy the tottering ruins of that once mighty empire. And now every newspaper brings some fresh intelligence of the imminent danger in which the Turks are placed. And is it not then our duty to examine so signal a prophecy carefully, impartially, and seriously; and especially to notice, whether there be not intermixed with it admonitions and warnings, which it were a sin to neglect? I would then most seriously and earnestly call the attention of all your readers to the following circumstance accompanying this sixth vial; namely, that the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet, by which Protestants have generally understood to be intended the Roman empire, infidelity, and popery, send forth new agents and missionaries, for the purpose of leaguing all the kingdoms of the world against the Lord and against his anointed. Hence it is most manifestly proved, that the Church of Rome, so far from being meliorated by the judgments of the former vials, continually waxes worse, deceiving and being deceived. And it is equally clear that the same is a time of temptation which cometh upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. The prophecy itself suggests the following characters of this last conspiracy against the Lord of lords. The instruments traverse the whole world, and by the means of signs collect together the kings to the land of Judea. For without question Armageddon is the mountain of Migiddo, near to St. Jean d'Acre. The above two distinguishing characters point so strongly at the sect of Illuminati especially, that I cannot but make the application. Indeed; both the Abbé Barruel, and Professor Robison, in their histories of the secret conspiracies against the Christian religion, royalty, and the social compact, have almost seemed to be commenting on this vial.-The following expressions are extracted from the Abbé Barruel. "The venomous reptile is often discovered by the stench of its poison. Very few words suffice to extend these tenebrous and mysterious conquests. But the thunderbolts of Heaven warn mankind of their danger. Shrinking back, however, to its dark recesses, with unabating ardour, it crawls from den to den. The Jacobins have seduced nations by means of a subterraneous warfare of illusion, error, and darkness. Let the honest man oppose them with wisdom, truth, and light. Under the direction of this triumvirate, one part of the subaltern agents disseminate their doctrines among the people of Constantinople, while others spread themselves throughout Asia, travel into Persia, and to the Indies. Others again preach their rights of man in the Levant, while the united forces of the sect make their descent on the coast of Egypt, and teach the Ottoman court, the fatal effects of having neglected to crush the first dawnings of the sect." (Barruel's Proofs, vol. iv. pp. 3, 4. 6. 491. 560.) From Professor Robison we learn |