For wide is the gate, and broad the way, which leadeth to destruction; And many there be, who go in thereat: For straight is the gate, and narrow the way, which leadeth to life, And few there be, who find it. Beware of false prophets, Who come to you in the clothing of sheep, But inwardly are ravening wolves: By their fruits ye shall thoroughly know them: Or from thistles the fig? grape, Thus, every sound tree beareth good fruit; Is hewn down, and cast into the fire: By their fruits, therefore, ye shall thoroughly know them. Not every one who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; But he who doeth the will of my Father, who is in [heaven: Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not in thy name prophesied ? And in thy name performed many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; Depart from me; Ye workers of iniquity! Whosoever, therefore, heareth these my words, and doeth them, I will liken him to a prudent man, Who built his house upon the rock: And the floods came, And the winds blew, And fell upon that house; And it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. And every one hearing these my words, and doing them Shall be likened to a foolish man; Who built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, And the floods came, And the winds blew, And struck upon that house; And it fell and the fall thereof was great! : [not, And it came to pass, that, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the multitudes were astonished at his manner of teaching for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes. 450 My SECTION XXIV. y next and last specimen is of a different character from the preceding. All commentators have observed the striking resemblance between portions of the Apocalypse, considerable both in number and extent, and the prophetic books of the Old Testament: and, since the days of Bishop Lowth, some have, though slightly, adverted to the poetical imagery and structure of those resembling portions. The student who wishes rightly to apprehend, and to appreciate, the language of this last and most mysterious book of the sacred canon, will do well to compare attentively the several correspondent passages, of it, and of the prophets; a comparison in which he will be materially assisted, by the marginal references, of a good quarto Bible, or of Gerard Von Maestricht's Greek Testament. And, if he wish to institute the comparison yet more satisfactorily, he will reduce for himself the odes and songs of the Apocalypse to a versicular arrangement; and then compare the parallel passages of the prophets; consulting the metrically arranged versions, of Bishop Lowth, Archbishop Newcome, and Dr. Blayney. By way of contribution to this pursuit, I propose giving a poetic 1 distribution of the celebrated eighteenth chapter; the Epinicion, or Song of Triumph, on the downfal of the mystical Babylon: before entering on which, however, I cannot deny myself the gratification of extracting two passages from the learned Sir J. D. Michäelis; a writer, whose unwarrantable and well-refuted prejudices against the canonical authority of the Apocalypse, did by no means render him insensible to the magnificence of its subject, the sublimity of its conceptions, or the matchless power of its language. "The harshest Hebraisms, which extend even to "grammatical errors in the government of cases, "are the distinguishing marks of the book of Re"velation: but they are accompanied with tokens "of genius, and poetical enthusiasm, of which every reader must be sensible, who has taste and 66 feeling; there is no translation of it, which is "not read with pleasure, even in the days of childhood; and the very faults of grammar are "so happily placed, as to produce an agreeable "effect." Introd. to New Test. vol. i. part i. p. 111. "The language of the Apocalypse is both beauti"ful and sublime, is affecting and animating: and "this, not only in the original, but in every, even "the worst translation of it. Who can read, if he "reads without prejudice, the following address of "Jesus to John sinking to the ground through 66 fear, and not be affected by the greatness of the thoughts and the expressions? - Fear not, I am the first and the last: I am he that was dead, but "now liveth: behold I am alive for evermore, " Amen : and have the keys of hell and of death. "The Apocalypse has something in it which "enchants, and insensibly inspires the reader with " the sublime spirit of the author. When future "blessedness is promised, or the new Jerusalem " is described, a man must be devoid of feeling "who is not affected: and when the author de"nounces judgment to the wicked, and represents "the smoke of their torment ascending up for "ever and ever before the throne of God and his "angels, one must be either prejudiced before one reads, or one cannot read without terror. A "great part of the imagery is borrowed from the " ancient prophets: but the imitation is, for the “ most part, more sublime and more magnificent " than the original; which is particularly true of "what is taken from Ezekiel." Introd. vol. iv. p. 533. REVELATION, XVIII. XIX. 1—3. * και μελα ταυλα, είδον αλλον αγγελον καταβαινονία εκ του ουρα νου, εχονία εξουσίαν μεγαλην· και ἡ γη εφωτίσθη εκ της δόξης αυτου. και έκραξεν εν ισχύϊ, φωνή μεγάλη, λεγων : έπεσεν, επεσε, βαβυλων ἡ μεγαλη και εγενετο κατοικηΐηριον δαιμονων, και φυλακη πανίος πνευματος ακαθαρίου, και φυλακη παντος ορνέου ακαθαρίου, και μεμισημένου : ότι εκ του οίνου του θυμου της πορνείας αυτής πεπωκε πανία τα εθνη και οι βασιλεις της γης μετ' αυλής επορνευσαν * Here, and in a few other places, where I vary from the received text, the reader may consult the critical editions of Mill, Bengel, Wetstein, and Griesbach. |