66 "lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, and therefore it was loathsome "in the sight of God. It was loved, and rebuked, and chastened in "vain. And it has been blotted from the world. It is now as deso"late as its inhabitants were destitute of the fear and the love of God, and as the Church of the Laodiceans was devoid of true faith "in the Saviour, and zeal in his service. It is, as described in his "Travels by Dr. Smith, 'utterly desolated, and without any inhabit"ant, except wolves, and jackals, and foxes.' It can boast of no "human inhabitants, except occasionally when wandering Turko66 mans pitch their tents in its spacious amphitheatre. The 'finest "sculptured fragments' are to be seen at a considerable depth, in ex"cavations which have been made among the ruins.* And Colonel "Leake observes,† 'there are few ancient cities more likely than "Laodicea to preserve many curious remains of antiquity beneath "the surface of the soil. Its opulence, and the earthquakes to which "it was subject, rendering it probable that valuable works of art 66 were often there buried beneath the ruins of the public and private "edifices.' A fearful significancy is thus given to the terrific denun"ciation, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I "will spue thee out of my mouth.'” (D.) Page 122. THE APOCALYPSE NOT A PROPHETIC HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. THERE is an objection commonly made to this view of the design of the Apocalypse, which, as it is a merely presumptive or a priore argument, I notice here, namely, that on this supposition the long interval from the commencement to near the close of the Christian Dispensation is without a prophecy, or, at least, without a detailed and regularly historic prophecy of its events such as the analogy of former dispensations would have led us to expect. * Arundel's Travels, p. 85. +Journal, p. 252. That, however, this long interval is without a prophecy by no means follows from the view of the Apocalypse as yet unfulfilled; and has not, that I know of, been asserted. Prophecies there are not a few which fully account for the whole interval, giving distinctly, though in summary, what was to be its character until the time of the end. Such a prophecy is the commencement of 2 Thess. ii. which tells us that, prior and in order to the revelation of "the wicked one," there should come 66 a falling away," and that the interval was to be occupied with the working of" the mystery of iniquity," which had already begun when the Apostle wrote. Numerous and very distinct intimations are also found in the New Testament of a corruption of the Christian faith, and especially of the rise of false teachers after the decease of the Apostles, from among the disciples and in the pale of the Church: See for example, Acts, xx. 28-30; 2 Pet. ii. 1-3; 1 Tim. iv. 1-3; 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4; Jude, 3, 4, 17, 18, &c.; at the same time it is observable that in the Epistles, also, the spirit of prophecy dwells most on the CRISIS of this corruption in "the last days," and its consummation at the eve of the Lord's coming, prior to its judgment; the uniformity of character of the interval (as it were) not requiring more particular detail. That this interval has proved longer than was expected by those to whom these prophecies were addressed is indeed true; but this very fact proves (what the writings of the early Fathers make abundantly evident), that they did not understand the Revelation to be a prophecy of events spread over a period of, at least, more than twelve centuries: while, on the other hand, were there such a prophecy given, it must, as far as understood, have operated effectually to prevent that expectation of the Lord's coming, by which the faithful servants of his household were, in the interval of his absence, continually to be characterized. And as to the analogy of former dispensations inferring a continuous prophetical history of this present one, it is remarkable, considering the confidence with which this argument is urged by some, that the inference is just the opposite;-there being no instance in the Bitie of such a prophecy of my lengthened period: though, were here me sich fand z would be no proof that the Apocalypse was another. The prophecies of Daniel—of the Image, the Beasts, and of chapters xi and xi-have been instanced: but, on examination. they will be found my s many additional exemplifications of that character of Prophecy by which, from the first promise downwardi tas arkadly fistinguished, namely, treating of CRISIS, and THE 3D either the last great crisis and →end ́ir sum, of all things,” or those which were typical of it and intermediate. Thus, in the two firmer, while the rse of the first three kingdoms in succession is merely announced in so many verses the prophecy dwells at length, and enlarges in the fourth: see cà. i 37-39. the account of the first three, compared with 40-45, the account of the fourth: and more remarkable still ch. vi. where the interpretation altogether passes over the three first with the exception of the summary notice in ver. 17 — These great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth;" and is wholly occupied with the fourth thence to the end of the chapter: and as to the prophecy of chapters xi and xii, though a fulfilment has been made for it, which makes it a prophetic history of the whole period from the date of the vision to the Second Advent, that interpretation becomes more than questionable when the Angel's statement as to its import, and the time it relates to, is considered, ch. x. 14:-- Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall THY PEOPLE in the LATTER DAYS, for yet the vision is for many days:" and the fact that the words are declared to be closed up and sealed til THE TIME OF THE END," when it is that "many shall rom to and fro, and knowledge" (as to - I conclude; shall be increased?" chap. xii. 4, 9. re indeed, I would suggest, gives the key to the silence ring the interval. We have yet to learn that the Jew phecy: but so it is; the interval has been the period sion, which has occasioned a chasm or gap in the renthesis in the dispensations: but when Daniel's in upon the stage the broken off thread is again re sumed, and that crisis, long delayed because suspended on their restoration, speedily takes place, which ends in the setting of their Messiah, as king, on the throne of his Father David; and the throne, as it shall then be, of the world—" the kingdom and dominion and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven." Dan. vii. 27. (E.) Page 135. FOR an example of an Expositor of the Apocalypse in this view the reader is referred to the notes on it of Wetstein and his Synopsis at the end, with whom also are Rosenmüller, Grotius, Hammond, Eichhorn, Ewald, &c. It is sufficient to mention here that he dates the book prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and considers the whole to have been fulfilled in that event, and the commotions in Italy while Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian, the predecessors of Titus, were contending for the empire, which occupied about three years and a half. As to the detail, he divides the prophecy into two parts the closed book, and open book, thus: 1. The closed or seven-sealed book concerns the Jewish land and people. The seals and trumpets are the succession of judgments on the nation ending in the destruction of the temple and city. The 144,000 servants of God sealed from the twelve tribes, the Christians timely warned to escape. The two witnesses, teachers in the Church foretelling the destruction of the temple—their death, their flight to Pella-their resurrection, the fulfilment of their word and subsequent spread of Christianity. The open book, introduced ch. x., concerns the Roman empire intended by the "peoples, nations, &c." of ver. 11, and predicts the commotions and civil wars above-mentioned. "The woman clothed with the sun," the Christian Church persecuted by the Roman power. "The great red dragon with seven heads crowned," the six first Cæsars, of whom the sixth was Nero, who cruelly persecuted the Christians. The seven-headed beast with ten horns crowned (ch. xiii. 1), Galba, Otho, Vitellius, symbolized by the lion, leopard, and bear. One head, the seventh, cut off, Galbe. The second "two-horned beast," Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian. The number 666, Teitan or Titus: T, 300. E, 5. I, 10. T, 300. A, 1. N, 50=666; or, without the N, 616, as some MSS. read. The reaper with crown of gold, ch. xiv. 14, Otho and his army cutting off supplies from the army of Vitellius. The seven plagues, the slaughter and disease of Vitellius's followers. The drying up of Euphrates, and the three unclean spirits, the Flavii besieging Rome with a treble army. The fall of Babylon, the sacking of Rome. "The seven kings," Cæsar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and Galba. "The eighth," Otho. "The ten horns," the leaders of the Flavian factions. "The Millennium," from the death of Domitian to the Jewish war under Adrian, about forty years. 'Gog and Magog," the insurrection of the Jews under Barchochebas, the false Messiah. "The New Jerusalem," the Christian Church prospering and increasing after the complete dispersion of the Jews. 66 Similar in result, though differing in details, is the plan of the Apocalypse put forward by Professor Lee, of Cambridge, in his Sermons and Dissertations, published in 1830. He also considers the whole to have been fulfilled--and that its visions relate, to use his own words, 'to the end of the Jewish Polity, of the dominion of Heathenism, and to the erection of the Christian Church, or spiritual kingdom of heaven, throughout the whole earth.' According to him The seals of ch. vi. relate to the persecutions, and the judgments poured out and witnessed, during the first ages of the Church. The 144,000 of Israel, and the multitude out of all nations, ch. vii., are the converts from both the Jews and Heathen in the same period. The witnesses are the law and gospel-the word of God—at first opposed but afterwards triumphant. The Dragon and Beast, the Pagan Roman Empire instigated by Satan. Babylon, heathen Rome. The desolation of Babylon by the ten horns, the destruction of the Roman Empire by the Goths and Vandals. The binding of Satan refers back to the subjection of the devils to Christ and his Apostles. The Millennium commenced some time in the ministry of the Christ, and |