WOODHOUSE.

There are discoverable in scrip

"ture prophecy, and generally acknowledged by divines, 'two advents or comings of our Lord; 1st, His per'sonal appearance in the flesh; 2dly, His progress 'to complete dominion by the subjection of all His 'enemies. The first of these had already taken place 'when the Apocalyptic prophecies were delivered. The latter therefore is the object to which we are 'principally to look, when we attempt to assort these predictions. Accordingly the subject of this prophetical book will appear to be generally,-" The 'fates and fortunes of the Christian Church, from the 'ascension of our Lord and the preaching of His Apostles, to the great consummation of all things"." Afterwards this writer speaks of the period when our Lord left the world in person, and committed 'the Church to the guidance of His Apostles,' as the beginning, settled by the agreement of divines, of 'the second advent of Christ, the proper subject of 'the Apocalyptic prophecies."2

6

6

Now without entering upon the inquiry, whether the phrase, The coming of Christ,' as it occurs in different parts of Scripture, will or will not admit of the interpretation here given to it, it is sufficient to observe that there certainly are texts, in which a different coming from either of those here mentioned is plainly and authoritatively revealed to us;-a visible and personal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, to judge the world. To no other coming than this could our Lord refer in the following passage. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy Angels with Him, then shall Ibid. on Chap. viii. Ver. 1.

1

Woodhouse on the Apocalypse. Introduction, p. xiv. note.

2

p. 200.

He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.... Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. (Matth. xxv. 31-46.) To no other coming than this could the Apostle St Paul refer in these words: The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day. (2 Thess. i. 7-10.) To no other coming than this could our Lord refer in the following revelation to His Apostle John: Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Rev. xxii. 12.) If this expression, 'I come quickly,' could thus be applied by the Holy Spirit to that coming of the Lord to reward every man according to his work, which is unquestionably yet future; why might not the events attendant on that coming be described by the same Spirit, in the same revelation, as things which must shortly come to pass?

But further, the very Scriptures, which thus speak of the coming of Christ as near at hand, intimate also that that event will be so distant, according to merely human calculations, as to afford a plea to infidelity for questioning the truth of the predictions. Thus, our Lord seems to hint that on this ground the evil servant may be tempted to say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming. (Matth. xxiv. 48.) But the Apostle St Peter speaks expressly to the point: There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. And he answers the objection of these scoffers, not by denying the truth of their premises, but by exposing the weakness of their conclusion :-not by affirming that the interval, which will elapse before the Messiah's coming, will be absolutely short, according to our ideas of shortness; but by shewing that, long as it may be, God has wise and merciful reasons for the apparent delay, and that the event, however distant, will yet assuredly come to pass in its appointed season. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter iii.

54

GENERAL SUBJECT OF THE APOCALYPSE.

[PART I. 3, 4; 8-10.) Surely an examination of these texts of Scripture will shew that the passages in the Apocalypse, which declare that the events therein predicted must shortly come to pass, and that the time is at hand, have been interpreted with a degree of servile strictness, which they do not absolutely demand. And, notwithstanding the importance which has been attached to these passages, the author feels persuaded, that an attempt to place the whole subject in a different light, provided that in other respects it shall be found to commend itself to the good sense and piety of mankind, will not on this ground be rejected as unworthy of any serious regard.

PART II.

ON THE MEANING OF THE SEALED BOOK.

CHAPTER I.'

ON THE INTRODUCTORY VISION CONTAINED IN THE FOURTH

CHAPTER.

THE command given to St John at the opening of the Apocalypse was this: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. (i. 19.) Now it is generally allowed, that the former of these, the things which are, are written in the second and third chapters; and that the fourth chapter is the beginning of the second subject, the things which shall be hereafter. At this point, therefore, the prophetical part of the Apocalypse commences. After this, says the Apostle, I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Immediately he was in the Spirit: and he describes the scene which became visible before him. This description is introductory to the visions which follow, and which embody the substance of the prophecy. This being allowed, the first object of our present inquiry is this: How far does this introduction or preface extend? And where do the prophetical visions, properly so called, begin? On