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-all authority and power being given into His hands. Here too, we behold Him as the High Priest of our profession; the care which He has over His Church; how truly He is present with us in the Spirit; how He meets with us in all His ordinances; giving us the light of life, and feeding us with the food of immortality. The things, which the knowledge of this book reveals, are not abstractions, but living realities. Would that we knew more of them, and that the Church manifested forth the glory of the LORD JESUS as He is here revealed to our faith.

Those that read this book, with faith in the promised blessings; shall most assuredly understand it. For it is given to the Church not only to be read, but also to be understood.

Let none presume then, to call this book unprofitable which God has pronounced most profitable. Let no one say it is a vain thing for Christians to read and search into its treasures, or attempt to understand its precious sayings. For God hath not written this book to mock the desire which He implants in the hearts of His children, and cultivates by promising them a blessing. He would not have said, Read and understand, unless He had given us the ability to do so. We dare not impute such things unto GOD; for what He says He means; and what He has promised He will fulfil.

The nature of the blessing which attends the reading and understanding of this prophecy, is intimated to us in the following words-" and keepeth the things which are written therein." This presupposes a heart rightly disposed, deeply interested in the things of CHRIST. And truly if we love the LORD JESUS CHRIST, we shall value above all things the Revelation which GOD hath given of Him. In proportion as we delight

in the things of JESUS CHRIST, we shall value them, and keep His words in our hearts, even as it is recorded of her whom all generations call Blessed; namely, that she kept His sayings, and pondered them in her heart. And in like manner those who keep the s.Luke ii. 51. words of this prophecy shall attain unto the mind of CHRIST, and become of one Spirit with Him.

Another motive presented to us for attending to the words of the prophecy is, that " The time is at hand." If we suppose this revelation to relate only to the coming of our LORD, we shall not derive all the benefit it was intended to convey, and shall make it comparatively useless. For it sets before us events from the ascension of our LORD until the day of His appearing and kingdom. The Church had an immediate interest in this Revelation at its very commencement, and surely the experience of God's dealings with her, and the world, for eighteen hundred years, must greatly increase the benefit which should be derived from the study of it, and lead us to see wherein we have departed from GOD, and His holy ways, and the things which are required to prepare us for His kingdom. For if the book is the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST,if it is given to reveal Him to us in all His fulness, and to set before us His appearing and kingdom, and the consecutive events of the Christian age, which prepare for, and end in the completion of His purposes, then, those who read and understand this Revelation must be pre-eminently blessed. And there is reason to believe, that without careful heed to its instruction, we must lose sight of the glory which He now possesses; the constitution and ordinances of His Church; and His future glorious manifestation, when He shall come with all His saints to reign on the earth.

In concluding this part of the subject, let us remember that this book is not sealed, but is a Revelation. Let none presume to say otherwise, seeing that God has solemnly commanded that it should not be scaled, sayRev.xxii. 10. ing" Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." This Prophecy, then, must have been in course of fulfilment from that time until now, and must so continue till all that is herein written be fulfilled. We finally commend it to our readers, not as setting forth future uncertainties, but as teaching things than which nothing is more certain, and which will unquestionably prepare them for the greatest of all future events, even the glorious appearing and Kingdom of our LORD.

PART II.

ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY.

THE NECESSITY OF UNDERSTANDING ITS SYMBOLICAL LANGUAGE. THE INTERPRETATION OF ITS SYMBOLS. THE PROPHECY FOURFOLD. ITS SEVENFOLD DISTRIBUTION.

In order to read the writings of any author, it is necessary, as we have before stated, that we should acquaint ourselves with the language he uses, or otherwise his book will be unintelligible. And to learn a language of which we are ignorant, we must begin first with its alphabet, and then go on to its grammar or construction. Not until we have accomplished this shall we be able to read, or to understand the meaning of such language. Even so, before we attempt to read and understand this book of the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST, we must first acquaint ourselves with its figurative language, and learn its arrangement. To act otherwise, would be as absurd, as to suppose that we can read a book the language of which we had never learnt. Many however have sought to do this, and have, therefore, failed to give its true interpretation. That our endeavours, then, may not also fail, we will first ascertain the meaning of some of its leading symbols, and then set before the reader an outline of the construction and arrangement of the book itself. GOD, Who has promised to bless those who read and

understand it, has also furnished us with the means of construing its language, and therefore of obtaining a knowledge of its contents; and the Scriptures themselves are the source from whence we propose to gather the true meaning of its symbols, and learn the principles of its forms and arrangement.

FOLD.

We must perceive on the face of this book itself, that it contains FOUR principal and distinct forms or series of prophecy; and that each of these is SEVENThe first is given under the name of Epistles, being that form which intimates that they are of a Spiritual character; the second series under the name of Seals, relates to Civil and Political events; the third series under the name of Trumpets, has, as we shall see, an Ecclesiastical aspect; and the fourth series under the name of Vials, declares itself as being of a Judicial character. Now the question which arises in regard to this fourfold form or series of prophecy is, whether they are collateral or sequential, that is-whether they are in a course of fulfilment at one and the same time, or to be regarded as referring each to a different period of time, and so to follow one another in their fulfilment. To determine this question, we must seek for light, not only upon their internal construction, but also upon the meaning of their symbols.

In respect to the character of these several series, they are each sevenfold. The number seven, as we shall presently show from the Scriptures, is invariably used to represent completion, fulness, or perfection. And from the use of this number, we are led to infer that whatever action is represented under such a number of parts, that action must be complete and perfect of its kind, and must embrace the whole of that aspect or

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