Such are the three principal lines of parallel prophecy in the Revelation. To the Seals belongs that portion extending from the fourth chapter to the 1st verse of the eighth chapter; to the second line, or the Trumpets, belongs that from the 2nd verse of the eighth chapter to the end of the eleventh chapter; and to the third, or general line, belongs, in reality, the remainder of the Book. They may be considered as three mighty parallel rivers, widening and branching out into numerous mouths, as they finish their course, and empty themselves into the sea. The first has such an extension in the contents of the seventh chapter; the second has several such in the contents of the tenth and greater part of the eleventh ; and the third has many such-one of which is in the fourteenth chapter, the next in the seven vials of the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters, the next in the contents of the seventeenth, and so on to the end of the Book; forming, like the Nile, the Danube, or the Ganges, so many separate outlets to the one grand stream of prophetic history.

One great design-perhaps the chief design, of so great an enlargement at the end of each line of prophecy, is for the purpose of distinctly holding up to view the opposite fates of the true and the false church at the end of the dispensation; and in that separation, the exaltation of the righteous on the

one hand, and the dreadful judgment of the wicked. on the other. At present, the tares and the wheat grow together; but, at the time of harvest, Christ will say, "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my garner."* And thus it is here represented; in the seals, those that have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, are marked for deliverance, and delivered; whilst the rest are left to the mercy of the blowing of the "four winds of heaven!"-in the trumpets, those who bear a life-giving testimony for God, are called up to heaven, and ascend thither in a cloud, whilst the rest are left to the mercy of the seventh trumpet. In the more internal and united series of events composing the third line, the deliverance to the righteous mentioned in the seals is again brought forward—it is also mentioned as the getting in of the harvest :† is pointed out in the sixth vial by the mention of the coming of Christ; and, more fully described in the particulars given of the Millennial state in the last chapters. The fate of the merely professing church and ungodly world, is, on the contrary, fearfully exhibited in the description of the vintage, at the end of the fourteenth chapter; in the

*Matt. xiii. 30.

† Rev. xiv. 14-16.

contents of the seventh vial; and in the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters. Thus will the Lord make it manifest, that after all the turmoils of life, and although He has permitted his people to be intermixed with the ungodly world, so as often scarcely to be known from them, yet, at the close, "that it shall be well with the righteous, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings," but that "woe shall be to the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him."* So that we see the same principle of divine government runs through every part of the Word of God, and that it shines with uncommon brilliancy in these its more direct prophecies; and hence, in a very special manner, we see their practical tendency.

The considerations which I have thus attempted to bring forward, to show the infinite superiority of the historical arrangement of the Apocalypse to every human composition, prove, that the wisdom therein displayed is the Wisdom of God; and that it is becoming the Infinite Wisdom and Power that could plan and carry into effect the mighty series of events that are recorded. And this stamp of a Divine Mind will still more forcibly appear, if we

*Isaiah iii. 10, 11.

attentively consider the beauty and significancy of the symbolical language that is employed, both in these and other predictions scattered up and down the greater part of the Holy Scriptures. When properly viewed and understood, it is impossible to conceive anything more expressive, more lucid, more simple, or that could tell with equal effect; and I cannot but express my own conviction how much real intellectual gratification and pleasure they deprive themselves of, who neglect the study of these deeply interesting and glowing subjects, for the comparatively unprofitable and insipid inquiries on subjects that rise no higher than sense, and which are connected only with the passing things of time.

Symbols, when properly understood, are not used, as is often imagined, for the purpose of darkening the subject, and involving it in obscurity, but rather, by the intensity of their meaning and signification, of giving strength and clearness in a way that no play of common language could effect. They may be considered in many cases to have the effect of algebraical characters which stand for definite quantities, and which may be thrown into other quantities, multiplied and re-multiplied, yet still kept distinct and separate. "The figurative language of prophecy," observes Mr. Faber, "like the ancient hieroglyphics, and like those non-alphabetic characters

which are derived from them, is a language of ideas rather than of words. It speaks by pictures quite as much as by sounds; and through the medium of those pictures, rather than through the medium of a laboured verbal definition, it sets forth, with equal ease and precision, the nature and relation of the matters predicted."* Hence, what volumes are contained in the four monarchies being given under the simple figure of a great idol! In this one grand idea is involved the whole system of the heathen mythology, and the no less idolatrous system of the saints and mediators of the Papacy; whilst the different metals of which the idol is said to be composed, express the relative strength and warlike character of each, in an equally simple and significant

manner.

This remark will likewise apply to the symbols of the other visions of Daniel, as the explanations given of them in the former work evinces; whilst in the present work it will be equally manifest, that in still greater richness and variety they abound in every part of the Apocalypse. Here we find that the lengthened period of eighteen hundred years is, in the first place, given in two parallel series of events, under the two most significant master-symbols of SEALS

* Faber's Sacred Calendar, Vol. I. p. 10.