of Daniel in particular, especially in his appendix, corresponding to the codicil. For there also, the spiritual high priest in the attitude of standing upon the river; (as here upon both sea and land) lift up his hands to heaven, and swore by THE EVERLIVING GOD, that " until the end of these mysteries, should be a time, times and half a time; (or 1260 prophetic days) and that on the conclusion of the dispersion of the power of the Holy people, (or Saints) all these should be fulfilled," Dan. xii. 6, 7; here the Hebrew verb, that closes the sentence, is usually rendered in Greek, σvvTɛλew, or simply, Tɛλew; which is the verb thrice used in the foregoing passages, to identify them (we may presume) with Daniel's prophecies, viii. 13, 14, ix. 27, xii. 6, 7.

3. That the codicil was, indeed, delivered to John during the

ΤΟ

derings of our English Bible. 1. The same verb Tɛɛw, in the first, is rendered, "to fill up ;" in the second, “to fulfil;" and in the third, "to finish." 2. The phrase xpovos OUR EσTaι ETL, is rendered, "time shall be no longer," as if it denoted the end of the world; which is refuted by the very next verse. The phrase, OUR ET, is elsewhere correctly rendered, "not as yet," 2 Cor. i. 23, corresponding to, ovπw eσtɩ to teλog, "the end is not yet," Matt. xxiv. 6. 3. The phrase, òrav μɛλλy oaλmíže, is rendered, "when he shall begin to sound," which rather denotes, "in the days," or the whole period of the sounding of the seventh trumpet; for the verb, μɛλλw, is not inceptive, it only denotes futurity; see Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 12, Luke xxii. 23; and that, either near*, Acts v. 35, or remote, Acts xxiv. 15. The translators, in this case, mistakenly supposing, that this seventh trumpet was only to sound once, like the other trumpets. 4. Kaι Tɛλeody to μvoryρiov TOV Oɛov. This is rendered, “the mystery of GOD should be finished;" inaccurately, as not corresponding to the preceding clause, which is future.

The redundant particle, kat, greatly perplexes the sense, and has created infinite embarrassment to editors and translators. Instead of και τελεσθῇ, or rather, και ετελέσθη, (Griesbach,) several of the ancient versions, attending more to the sense than the idiom, render, as if it were tɛλɛ00ŋoɛraɩ, in the future tense: which is substituted by Arethas, and three last editions of Beza. The Geneva omits kat as redundant.

But the received reading, which is that of the Complutensian Edition, is most ingeniously supported by Middleton, p. 664. He justly considers, ɛai ɛTɛλɛσ0ŋ, as a Hebrew idiom, in which the rat changes the tense: corresponding to the vau conversivum præteriti, and illustrates it by example, Judges iv. 8, in Barak's answer to Deborah's invitation.

"If thou wilt go with me, I will go :"( literally, “ and I went”) but if thou wilt not go () with me, I will not go, (5) Here, the Septuagint renders the idiom, πορευσομαι; and the corresponding future, ου πορευσοpai, determining the meaning. This is, indeed, a most happy and convincing illustration; which alone might stamp the merit of the TREATISE ON THE GREEK ARTICLE.

μινυνθάδιος γαρ εμελλεν

Εσσεσθ'. ηδη γαρ οἱ επωρνυε μορσιμον ἡμαρ
Παλλας Αθηναιη ύπο Πηλείδαο βιφι.

Iliad xv. 612.

second woe, and before the disclosure of the third, is evident. from the symbolical sequel. He was directed by the voice of his friend the Presbyter, (v. 4,) to take the codicil out of the mighty Angel's hand; who gave it, desiring him to eat it (like Ezekiel, the roll, ii. 7,) that he should find it sweet as honey in his mouth, but bitter in his belly; intimating, that the information would be pleasant, at first, as satisfying his curiosity; but its woeful contents, when digested, would be grievous, as intimating "lamentations and mourning, and woe," like Ezekiel's roll, (ii. 10.) However, that he should prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations, and languages and kings; when he should come to understand the sealed prophecies of the seven thunders, which were to take place during the sounding of the seventh Angel, and the effusion of the seven vials, or last plagues, Rev. x. 8-11.

4. Hence it appears, that the seven vials, all belong to the last woe and seventh trumpet; for if the first six, (according to the perplexed hypothesis of Mede*, and his followers) or any one of them were included under the second woe and sixth trumpet, and separated from the rest, they could not, with propriety, be jointly called, "the seven last plagues," as they are expressly, xv. 1. (See Faber, Vol. II. p. 356.)

This grand error, which has hitherto chiefly embarrassed the chronology of the Apocalypse, from the days of Mede to the present, seems to have originated from the forementioned incorrect division of the codicil, as if including the fourteenth verse of the eleventh chapter; which, in fact, belongs to the book, and critically connects the end of the second woe, Rev. ix. 12-21, with the beginning of the third in the following verse, "And the seventh Angel sounded;" which is thus briefly noticed, and no more; "the enraptured Apostle being hurried away, as it were, to a view of the happy millennium; without considering the steps preceding and conducting to it;" as judiciously observed by Bishop Newton, Vol. III. p. 198.

• See Mede's Clavis Apocalyptica, Synchronismus III. p. 427, and his scheme of the plan of the Apocalypse, p. 430.

FOUR WAR TRUMPETS.

I cannot be silent,

Because thou hast heard, O my soul,

The sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

How long, shall I see the standard;

And hear the sound of the trumpet ?”– -Jeremiah.

The more tremendous judgments of this second period, are ushered in with extraordinary solemnity.

The seven angels who "stand" always in readiness "before the throne of GOD," to receive and execute his high commands, first received the seven trumpets at the beginning of the half hour's silence, viii. 1, 2. And then, after the solemn offering up of the incense of the prayers of all the saints from earth, (especially of the 144,000, who were now sealed) by the spiritual high priest, they prepared themselves to sound *, ver. 6.

1. The first trumpet "gave no uncertain sound;" it produced a dreadful storm of hail and fire mingled with blood, upon "the third part" of the earth, or of the known world, Europe, the principal seat of the Roman empire, ver. 7. It "prepared for battle," the fierce barbarians of the North, (the region of hail;) the Goths, Huns, Vandals, &c. to ravage and destroy the trees and green grass, or slay the old and young indiscriminately.

In 395, Alaric, king of the Goths, ravaged Greece and Italy, and besieged Rome, and levied contributions there-he afterwards took it in 408, and again in 410, when he plundered the city, and massacred many of the inhabitants. He also ravaged Gaul and Spain.

The next hail storm from this quarter, fell upon the eastern empire, Attila, king of the Huns, or Hungarians, desolated a tract of 500 miles in breadth, from the Euxine sea to the Adriatic. He arrogantly styled himself the scourge of God, and most justly. Buonaparte has imitated him.

2. The second trumpet sounded a burning blast and volcanic eruption of a great mountain, which was heaved from its base, and cast into the sea, the third part of which became blood; and the third part of the fishes and ships were destroyed, ver. 8,9.

"They prepared themselves," that each might sound in his turn, without delay. And every Angel continued to sound, till the design of his trumpet was fulfilled. Wesley.

This followed the fierce barbarians from the South, or Africa, the region of heat, Genseric and his Vandals, to invade Italy by sea, marked by Mount Vesuvius*, who took Rome in 455, and sacked it for a fortnight together; and carried off an innumerable multitude of captives: among the rest, the empress Eudoxia, and her two daughters; who had invited them over to avenge the murder of her husband, the emperor Valentinian. When the mighty-daring Genseric hoisted sail at any time to ravage the islands and coasts of the Roman empire, and was asked by his pilot, what course he chose to steer? with hypocritical arrogance, he usually replied, Leave to the winds the determination; they will waft us to the devoted coast, whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice! He literally turned the Roman seas into blood, when he cast therein the mangled bodies of 500 noble Zacynthians; and in 468, he destroyed most of the fleet sent to attack him by the emperor of the east, Leo. Attila and Genseric acted in concert.

3. The third trumpet sounded, and occasioned a comet to fall upon the third part of the rivers and springs; which made them as bitter as wormwood: so that many died, ver.

10, 11.

"The shooting of this star," says Mede, " denoted the downfall of the western Cæsars." Odoacer, king of the Heruli, deposed Momyllus, (called in contempt, Augustulus, the diminutive of Augustus,) and put an end to the western Roman empire in 476.

This was followed by bitter feuds among the conquerors themselves. Odoacer, after he was crowned king of Italy, was slain by Theodoric in 488; and he, in turn, was deposed by the lieutenants of Justinian. Thus was Italy, and its fertile rivers and springs, alternately a prey to the barbarous tribes who destroyed each other in their contests for empire.

4. The sounding of the fourth trumpet introduced an eclipse of the third part of the sun, moon, and stars, ver. 12. And the historian Cedrenus thus describes the aspect of the heavens in the reign of Justinian, A.D. 533. "The sun appeared like the moon, shorn of his beams, as if eclipsed; and cast a gloom on

According to Zonaras, in the year A.D. 472, there was a dreadful eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which threw out such an immense quantity of ashes, as turned day into night even at Constantinople, and covered all the streets and houses three inches deep. This happened according to Marcellinus, on the 6th of November; according to the Chron. Alexand. on the 11th.

all things during this year. At this time, the world had no respite from war and death *." And Gibbon remarks, that "the majesty of the Roman empire was but faintly represented by the princes of Constantinople," after the downfal of Rome.

Such undesigned coincidences of historical expression, furnish satisfactory illustrations of the prophecy.

The divine judgments were still to be inflicted on the Roman empire; though Christian in name, still pagan in religion and morals. The barbarous conquerors, "associating Belial with CHRIST," blended their pagan idolatries and corruptions with the pure doctrines and precepts of Christianity.

* The following apology for true religion, and its acquittal from the charge of persecution, we owe to that liberal minded and enlightened philosopher, Montesquieu.

"I acknowledge that history is full of religious wars. But we must take care to observe, that these were in reality produced by the intolerant spirit of that religion which thought she had the power of governing.

"It was the spirit of Proselytism which the Jews contracted from the Egyptians; and which passed from them like an epidemic disease, to Mahometans and Christians. It is in short, the spirit of enthusiasm; the progress of which can only be considered as a total eclipse of human reason." Persian Letters, 85.

"The ancient Romans strengthened their empire by tolerating all sorts of religious worship but their posterity destroyed it, by cutting off, in succession, the several sects that were not predominant. These sects were composed of entire nations: some of them, as the Jews and Samaritans, had retained their ancient religion after they were conquered by the Romans; others were dispersed throughout the country; as the followers of Montanus, in Phrygia; the Manicheans, the Sabbatarians, the Arians, in the other provinces; besides these, the generality of the people in the country continued in idolatry, and infatuated with a religion as gross as themselves.

"Justinian, emulating the indiscreet zeal of his predecessors, destroyed these sects by the sword, or by his laws; and, by compelling them to revolt, was compelled himself to exterminate them; and thereby laid waste several provinces. He thought he had augmented the number of the faithful, but he only diminished the race of mankind. Procopius informs us, that by the destruction of the Samaritans, Palestine was reduced to a desert.

"It was strange, that while the emperor carried his intolerance so far, he could not agree with the empress Theodora, (an actress and prostitute, whom he had espoused, and who ruled him with unexampled sway,) respecting the most essential points of religious doctrine! He followed the council of Chalcedon, (A.D. 451,) and she supported the opposite faction." Rise and Declension, chap. xx.

The superstition of this weak prince, indeed, was equal to his intolerance. His principal protectors, or patrons, were the Virgin Mary and Michael the Archangel; and he attributed his recovery from a dangerous fit of sickness, to the miraculous interposition of the holy martyrs, Cosmas and Damianus. His favourite and victorious general, Narses, paid his devotions to the Virgin as his protectress; and the Christians of the seventh century had relapsed into demonology of paganism: their vows, both public and private, were addressed to the relics and images, and tombs of the saints. Can we wonder then at the judgments inflicted on such degenerate Christians, both in the east and in the west, during the sounding of the war and woe trumpets?