APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES; OR LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION. · DELIVERED 'N THE LARGE ROOM, EXETER HALI, IN 1847-48, THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, D. D. MIXISTER OP THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL CHURCH, "Surely I come quickly : Amen, Even so, come, Lord Jesus." REV. xxii. 20. FOURTEENTH EDITION. LONDON: 25, PATERNOSTER ROW: PREFACE TO THE TWELFTH EDITION. a I am requested by the publisher to prefix a few words to the Twelfth Edition. It is matter of deep gratitude to God, that He has been pleased in His gracious providence to give so great and so general acceptance to this volume, bearing many traces of imperfection, but still reflecting many faithful and precious truths. ness. Testimonies have reached me from the continent, and from America, to its extensive useful From many quarters at home, accounts have come to me of its being singularly blessed in the conversion of some, and the comfort of others. Nothing has occurred to lead me to modify, except occasionally in word, the conclusions I have endeavoured to unfold. RECAP) 77059 DEC - 11903 1 5298 672 iv PREFACE TO THE TWELFTH EDITION. I hope to publish soon some Expository Discourses on the Book of Daniel, which will not only strengthen the positions maintained in this work, but also unfold the wonderful harmony subsisting between Daniel and John, who, like the two lips of an oracle, proclaim the same Lord. May it please God richly to bless His own truth, and hasten to His suffering and expectant Church that “glorious appearing,” which is alike her prayer and her hope. June, 1850. PREFACE. When these Lectures were begun in Exeter Hall, during the period occupied in the enlargement of the Church of which the Lecturer is the minister, not a few predicted that the author would be led into rash and questionable theories in investigating a subject confessedly beset with difficulties. But by the blessing of God, and the exercise of caution and prayerful study, all has ended more than satisfactorily. The unprecedentedly large masses of persons of every denomination, and of no denomination at all, who overflowed the spacious Hall in which they were delivered, and the growing attention excited in the minds of these audiences, and the saving, and he may be allowed to add, very striking impressions, made on unconverted minds by the means of the solemn truths they heard, are all signs and tokens that call for humble gratitude to God. Numerous requests were made for their publication. A short-hand writer was therefore engaged, who took down a verbatim report of every lecture. These reports, often very imperfect, the |