revealed out of place. It appears to me, then, demonstrable, that all Apocalyptic emblems, within the limits just mentioned, have an extensive reference to the state of Christ's church here on earth. In the second place, we must rightly understand the precise import of the emblems white and white robes. It is generally agreed that white robes are emblems of purity; but it appears that they are also emblems of victory: emblems, not only of faith which worketh by love, but also of faith which overcometh the world, the flesh, and the devil; (Rev. iii. 5.) it also appears, that white robes are emblems of justification, (Rev. vii. 14.) That they are emblems of purity, and power, or victory, is manifest from Rev. xix. 6-8 : for the fine linen in which the bride was clad, is not only the righteousness of saints, but the apparel in which her marriage is publicly celebrated, and in which she enjoys the triumph and dominion of her Lord. The Apostle beholds the Lord of glory on a white horse, and the armies which followed him on white horses, (Rev. xix. 11-14.) and here white is not only the emblem of purity, but the pledge of victory, or, of that decisive triumph which they were on the eve of obtaining. The four and twenty elders, clothed in white robes, confidently anticipate a triumph; and the triumphant multitude (Rev. vii. 12) are clad in white robes. I may also add, that the minister of the Gospel, going forth "conquering and to conquer," is on a white horse, (Rev. vi. 9). I conclude therefore, that white, and white robes, are emblems in this prophecy both of purity and power; of justification and of victory. The third, or last thing to be done under this head, is to apply these emblems to the case before us; or to shew in what sense the witnesses which had been slain obtained justification and a victory over their persecutors. During many centuries previous to the Refor mation they had been condemned and prosecuted as criminals, by all the states of Christendom; but by the states and countries which embraced the Protestant faith, their cause was pronounced to be just, and themselves to be guiltless. Thus were they justified by "the powers that be, which are ordained of God." They were also admitted to the enjoyment of equal rights and privileges, civil and ecclesiastical, from which they had been previously excluded: and not only so, but they were associated with those who enjoyed the exercise of civil and ecclesiastical authority. Thus were they rescued from the hands of their enemies, and obtained a decisive victory over them; white robes were given them; that is, they were invested with all the privileges of which these white robes are scriptural and prophetic emblems.

Fourth. What is the purport of the advice given them, now demands our attention. "And it was said to them, that they should rest yet, for a little season, until their fellow-servants and their brethren, that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled." (Rev. vi. 11.) In the Protestant States of Europe they have rested and enjoyed their privileges; but in the Romish States their condition has been quite otherwise. In Italy, Calabria, Piedmont, Spain, and France, their testimony has been suppressed, and they have been slain as their brethren were. The witnesses to whom the white robes were given, received advice which exactly accords with the circumstances in which they have been placed since they first received their white robes in Germany. God has not yet avenged the blood of his faithful witnesses on them that dwell on the earth; but it is implied, in the advice given them, that he will avenge it. Indeed he has begun to avenge it already, and the time is at hand when he will "break his enemies to pieces like a potter's vessel."

Before I conclude, I would bespeak the reader's serious attention to two important points, which throw much light on the interpretation here given.

1st. That the same considerations which suggest the reason why the four living creatures successively invite St. John to behold the opening of the four first seals, equally suggest the reason why none of them invite him to behold the opening of the fifth seal.

2nd. That the resurrection of the witnesses (Rev. xi. 8-12.) is a further development and special application of the subject of the fifth seal.

With regard to the first of these points, I beg to refer the reader to my interpretation of the four first seals (Christian Observer, July, 1843), an interpretation which I confidently hope to establish by an accumulation of arguments drawn from the connection and harmony of the Apocalyptic symbols, and from the structure of the Apocalyptic history. I beg to remind him, that I consider the first four seals to exhibit the effects which the ministry of the visible church produced on the whole Roman empire, imperial or papal, and on its faithful people within the limits of that empire, during four successive periods of its history: the effect of a faithful ministry from the days of St. John to the days of Constantine the Great; the effect of a fierce, contentious, and bloody ministry, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries; both in the East and in the West, and in the East only to a much later date: the effect of a dominant and despotic ministry, imposing the yoke of superstition on the nations, and by its legal establishment securing their abject and almost tranquil submission till the beginning of the thirteenth century: the effect of a ferocious and infuriated ministry, stimulating the civil authorities to wage a war of extermination against the faithful servants of God, when their craft was endangered by the light of truth dawning on the darkness in which they had enveloped themselves. I beg further to remind the reader, that I conceive St. John's four living creatures to symbolize the ministrations of the Spirit exclusively by faithful pastors; and that their four faces represent the characteristic features of that ministration, which would necessarily become most indispensable and most prominent in the four periods above mentioned; and that for this reason, the four living creatures successively invite the Apostle to behold the opening of the four first seals. But faithful ministers since the Reformation, or during the period of the fifth seal, cannot prosecute their labours with the confidence and the courage of primitive preachers, because the truths they advocate are not confirmed by miracles; and we are at a loss to discover which of the characteristic features expressed by the likeness of an ox, the likeness of a man, and the likeness of an eagle, have been most requisite since the era of the Reformation; as controversy, superstition, and persecution, have continued to exist, generally in a mitigated form; and it is hard to say which of them has most obstructed the progress of the Gospel. There seems, therefore, to be no assignable reason why any of those living creatures should call upon the Apostle to behold the opening of the fifth seal; I conclude, therefore, that, as the circumstances and condition of the visible church in the successive periods which belong to the first four seals suggest the reason why the Apostle was successively invited by these four living creatures to behold the opening of the first four seals, so the circumstances and condition of the visible church at the opening of the fifth seal, suggest the reason why the Apostle was not invited by any of those living creatures to behold the opening of that seal.

I am now come to the second important point above mentioned; with which I must close this paper. I conceive that the resurrection of the witnesses (Rev. xi. 8-12), is a further development and a special application of the fifth seal. We are not informed in the fifth seal by whom the witnesses were slain. It is natural to conjecture that they were slain by Death, mounted on the pale horse, who appeared at the opening of the fourth seal: but in the account of the death and resurrection of the witnesses (Rev. xi.) it is manifest that their destruction was effected by the nations which lay within the limits of the papal Roman empire, and at the instigation of Satan. In the fifth seal we have no account of the time during which the witnesses were dead; but in Rev. xi. we are informed that it was three days and a half. We have no intimation in the fifth seal how their adversaries behaved during this short period of their triumph; but in Rev. xi. 9. 10. we are informed, that they did not suffer them to rest in peace, as men do who decently inter the bodies of their enemies whom they have slain; but that they rejoiced over them with triumphant exultation, as men do over the corpses of their enemies, when they will not suffer them to be put in graves. We are not informed in the fifth seal how the witnesses were resuscitated and enabled to resume their official duties; but in the account of their resurrection we learn, that they were re-animated by the power of God; that "the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet." In the fifth seal, the reward which they received is expressed by emblems of difficult interpretation; "white robes were given unto every one of them;" but in Rev. xi. 12, their reward is expressed by emblems, of which the signification is more obvious: "they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them." Their enemies could not behold them ascending to the literal heavens; but they could, and did, behold them exalted to the political heavens; invested not only with the rights and privileges of citizens, but admitted to a participation of civil and ecclesiastical authority. The advice given to the witnesses in the fifth seal, plainly intimates what the condition of the witnesses would be for some time subsequent to the æra of the Reformation, both in the Protestant and Romish countries: that in Protestant countries they would continue to enjoy civil and religious privileges, and civil authority; but that in Romish countries they would not only be deprived of these privileges, but would be slain, as their more fortunate brethren had been previously. There are other circumstances, almost synchronically connected with their death and resurrection in the eleventh chapter, but not intimately connected with the design of this paper. From the fifth seal, and from the death and resurrection of the witnesses (Rev. xi. 8-12), taken together, we may collect the leading circumstances attendant on, and subsequent to, the great change which was effected by the Protestant Reformation. Finally, I may venture to affirm, that a careful examination and comparison of these two portions of the Apocalypse, will terminate in the conviction, that the fifth seal is a portion of a general and introductory compendium of the whole Apocalyptic history, including both imperial and papal Rome; and that the resurrection of the witnesses (Rev. xi. 8-12), is a portion of a special introductory compendium of the second grand division of the Apocalyptic history, or history of Modern Europe, distinguished by the title of Papal Rome.

CHRISTOPHILUS.

P.S. A few days after I had finished this paper, Mr. Cuninghame's

Exposition of the Apocalypse, which I had read many years ago, fell in my way. I find that his interpretation of the first six seals is in substance the same as mine. I am not disappointed at this discovery, but rather rejoice that I have been labouring unwittingly to elucidate and establish the correctness of his interpretation by independent testimony, and by additional arguments and proofs. I am fully persuaded that Mr. Cuninghame's interpretation of these seals, will be ultimately adopted by all intelligent commentators who can sacrifice their darling theories to the love of truth.

NOTES ON REV. V.: FROM ZUELLIG.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

Verse 1. "And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book (namely, the book of God's judgment) written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals." The book was a sheet of paper or parchment, rolled on a staff. Now in fastening a long roll with a string, one makes a succession of rings, lying lengthwise on the roll, and each having its own knot. In the verse before us, we are to conceive the roll as having seven of these rings and knots, and upon each knot a seal. Or the roll may have been fastened, not with one long string, but with seven short strings, each having its own knot and seal. It is plain, according to either view, that no part of the roll could be read, till all the seven seals were opened. Hence the account of the judgment must not be understood to commence till after viii. 1, where we read of the opening of the seventh seal. The scenes in chap. vi.

are only tokens and forerunners of the judgment.

Ver. 3. "And no one in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth (i. e. in the abyss), was able," &c. The world, according to the ordinary Apocalyptic division of it, contains four regions, namely, heaven, earth, sea, and the abyss. See ver. 13, "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea." But earth, in the verse before us, is to be taken in a wider sense, so as to include both sea and land. This reduces the number of regions from four to three.

Ver. 6. “And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb.” The Lamb is to be conceived as standing between the four living creatures who were immediately attached to the throne, and the semicircle which was formed round it by the four and twenty elders.

Ver. 8. "And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours." Probably, the elders had the harps, and the living creatures the vials. The order of worship in the earthly temple was, that when the priests burnt incense, the Levites played and sang. And, taking this as a type of the heavenly order, we may suppose the living creatures, in St. John's description, to be officiating as priests, and the elders as Levites.

"Golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints." The meaning probably is, not that the prayers of saints are the odours, but that they go up in and with the odours to "him that sitteth on the throne.' Compare viii. 3, "There was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints:" and again, in

the next verse, "The smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God."

Vers. 9, 10. The right reading of these verses is, "Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed (not, hast redeemed us) to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation; and hast made them (not, hast made us) unto our God kings and priests; and they (not, we) shall reign on the earth." It is not for their own redemption that the living creatures and the elders sing this song of praise.

M. J. M.

ON THE EVANGELICAL CONSOLATIONS AFFORDED BY THE RETROSPECT OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE.

For the Christian Observer.

"HE that would avoid Charybdis falls into Scylla," says the old proverb, and we may apply it to the moral dangers incident to the Christian's eventful voyage through life. Whirlpools fearfully beset him on either hand, in his course towards "the desired haven;" and call for much circumspection, and more especially for much prayer. I refer to errors directly opposed to each other; for instance, to mere formality in religion, and contempt of all religious forms; to presumption and despair in the great matter of salvation; and more particularly to those which I propose to notice in the present remarks, pharisaical confidence in our works, and a total disregard of the consolations afforded by the retrospect of a Christian life. On these "consolations" I would submit a few practical remarks. Certain professors of the Christian faith, in their zeal to "exalt the Saviour," as "the Lord our Righteousness," occasionally speak with such disparagement of a holy life that the natural inference is that it is of little value, and stands in no necessary connection with our real happiness. That the connection cannot be meritorious, I readily admit; for "if God should enter into judgment with us, who could be justified?" It may also safely be conceded that it is highly important to be scrupulously jealous of all invasion of the doctrine of justification by faith, especially in this our day when that fundamental doctrine is so awfully impugned.

The point, then, to be discussed is, "What are the consolations afforded by the retrospect of a Christian life?" I have already granted that there are none of a meritorious description. For truly was it said by an Archbishop of other days (Dr. Bramhall), that when we come to a dying hour we must all "throw ourselves naked into the arms of Christ." This we shall do, according to our sense of that guilt, depravity, and helplessness which we derive from Adam, and of the iniquity which cleaves even to our "holy things." "By grace are ye saved through faith," (Ephes. ii. 8). Nevertheless, the dying believer, while "looking unto Jesus" for a title to eternal life, may take some comfort in recollecting the way in which he has been led, even the way of holiness, "the king's high road" to glory.

First, then, "it is of the Lord's mercies" that he has been turned from sin to God. Is the remembrance of such an emancipation not consolatory to the spirit? If chains and imprisonment, if darkness and disquietude, if" fear and trembling," be no evils, and if deliverance from all and each of them be no blessings, then, and then only, can this question be answered in the negative. For when, through the grace of the