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bly from the powerful incitement he has supplied to our desires and exertions after union among all the brethren and Churches of the Saviour. Not a time-serving, fraudulent, opprobious union for the mere ends of selfishness, but a guileless, tender, close-knit, holy union for the purposes of righteousness.

Most heartily, indeed, do we sympathise with the views of Mr White, of Haddington, when he boldly declared at the Bicentenary Commemoration, We expect not to see the scheme of our ancestors realized at present. We look for something still more expansive! We look on it as a step to something more noble ! We expect not the ark will come to Shiloh, because we expect it will be taken to Zion. We expect not that it will be taken to the temple erected for it in the wilderness, because we expect that it will be taken to the temple of millenial glory. Then the scheme of our covenanting fathers will be more than realized. For then shall there be ONE LORD, and his name One, in all the earth!" Meanwhile, however, to do is ours, as well as to hope. Let us, indeed, sweetly cheer each other by the invigorating and invincible assurance that Jesus shall himself gather his church into one, and often let us cry, O! that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion ! But knowing, too, that a day of wrath must previously visit the earth, and is now about to come, let all who love Christ love one another, and uniting their energies, their counsels, their resources, and their prayers against a common foe, stand prepared as on the eve of battle. From the Church of England, we think it is now proved, nothing need be expected, but ungracious repulse and decisive hostility, whether we turn to its laity or its clergy-its Puseyites or its Evangelicals. The Southern Establishment is essentially unsound, intolerant, and sectarian. These are weighty words of Isaac Taylor in regard to it, and must be pondered. The despotism out of which our English Reformation arose has stained and tainted the Established Church ever since with an intolerance that lingers in the tempers and upon the tongues of some of its ministers. The fire, therefore, is not extinguished; and not only are the smouldering fumes a great present annoyance, but they even trouble our feeling of security-it is impossible to say what accident may yet puff them into a flame.' To unite with such a Church, therefore, is out of the question. No,' says Taylor, a national church thus intolerant must be watched, and tied, and humiliated, if not rejected, by a people reasonably alive to their liberties and welfare. Mr White of Haddington, even goes the length of saying the most dangerous symptom of the present time is the English Church Establishment. I am

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afraid of more danger to Britain from it than from all other causes

together-it may be the salvation of Prelacy will be the ruin of the empire.' We entirely coincide in the sentiments regarding the hierarchy of the sister kingdom, and we are convinced that our safest policy now is to deal with her as an insidious enemy, and no longer approach her as a sincere but halting well-wisher. It may be even requisite to assume towards her a different attitude, and to address her in less affectionate tones than we have hitherto adopted, and even to entertain the question of her rejection. But with respect to all bodies who in faith and hope are one with us, let there be no strife—no jealousy-no distance-no misunderstanding. Fratres sumus, as Bishop Hall addressed the Church of Holland, simus et collegæ. Christianis umus simus et 100 fuxar. Unum corpus sumus-simus et unanimes. Per tremendum illud omnipotentis Dei nomen-per vestra ipsorum animas, perque sanctissima pacem Jesu Christi nostri viscera, ambite fratres! pacem inite!'

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But for all this and every thing else suited to our day of evil, we must strive in hearty and indefatigable labours-for in this respect what giants were the Divines of the Covenant! What magnanimity of self-denial they evinced-by what elevation of principle were they sustained-what treasures of intellect they lavished what endless studies they prosecuted-what toil, what privations, what obloquy, what sufferings they endured, not counting their life dear unto them, so that they might finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they had received of the Lord Jesus.' May every minister of the Free Church walk in the footsteps and breathe the spirit of these his ancestors! Nay, it is Paul's spirit we need, in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, distresses-by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report-as poor, yet making many rich-as having nothing, yet possessing all things.' Ah! this is the standard we must aim atthis is the likeness we must put on-this is the spirit that must actuate us, if we shall do anything worthy of our lineage and 'worthy of our æra.' It is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth-the young lions roar after their prey-the sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. It is night with us, and all unclean things are creeping forth -it is day too, and we must bear its heat. But the evening of rest shall come! Though we wait long and suffer much, we look with unshaken faith for the glorious appearing of the great God, our Saviour Christ, to lead forth to glory all his saints, and amid the rejoicings of heaven and earth, of all blessed and of

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all redeemed things, to establish a throne upon which he will reign King below, as now he reigneth in the highest.'*

ART V.-Unfulfilled Prophecy respecting Eastern Nations, especially the Turks, the Russians, and the Jews. By ALEXANDER M'LEOD, Author of a View of Inspiration, &c. London: John Snow, 1841, pp. 262.

In a former article, (p. 180), we asserted our conviction that the Apocalypse ought to be arranged before it is interpreted. We pointed out, that these two methods of treating it may be separately employed, and that there is no hope, nay no possibility, of interpreters receiving any general consent to their theories of interpretation, till once they have come to some common agreement respecting the chronological order of the several visions. The structure of the Apocalypse itself seems to invite such an attempt. Every-where through the whole prophecy are the means for carrying it on. We have heard of a ship, complete in all its parts, being carried out to one of our colonics in the hold of another vessel, packed into the smallest possible space, and yet every piece so marked and numbered, that when arrived at its destination, it could, with very little labour, be accurately put together. So, we believe, that the order in which the Apocalyptic visions stand in our Bibles, has been chosen because the best adapted for their transmission from generation to generation, and perhaps also because fitted to conceal their import till the time came when it was to be discovered. But if we would make use of this prophecy, its visions must be removed from their present position-must be arranged according to the marks they bear, piece after piece; and when at last they have been put together into one harmonious whole, we shall be forced to acknowledge that the new arrangement, indicated all along in their structure, is the most marvellous and convincing proof of the workmanship of God.

In the article to which we have already referred, we attempted to show in what manner part of the Apocalypse must be arranged; and we intend now to prosecute the same inquiry. The great point which we conceive we then established was, that the series of seals and the series of trumpets run parallel with one another, and that the series of vialst is synchronous with the seventh trumpet

Quoted by Dr Brown at the Bicentenary, from a sermon of Dr Breckenridge of America.

We take this opportunity of correcting a typographical error at p. 187. The last word in the diagram there given should be 'vials,' and not ' seals.'

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and the seventh seal. More particularly, we showed that the first four seals and the first four trumpets run parallel; that after them comes the sealing of the 144,000; that the fifth seal is synchronous with the fifth trumpet and part of the sixth; that the sixth seal contains the same earthquake with which the sixth trumpet concludes; and that the seventh seal and the seventh trumpet occupy the same space of time. We referred the great tribulation' to the period of the three last seals and trumpets. Perhaps it would have been more correct to confine it to the last of these, or the outpouring of the vials; for while the whole period is a time of woe, or tribulation, the great tribulation' seems peculiarly to characterize the conclusion of it. This slight alteration, however, does not affect the general arrangement which we indicated.

These three series, the seals, the trumpets, and the vials, are, as it were, the back-bone of the whole vision, running through it from one end to the other; and to it, therefore, we must affix the other visions in their own appropriate places. This we shall now attempt to do.

In the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth chapters, mention is made of a period of 1260 days. The holy city is to be trodden under foot for 42 months, (chap. xi. 2); the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth 1260 days, (chap. xi. 3); the woman dwells in the wilderness for a time, times, and a half time, being three years and a half, or 1260 days, (chap. xii. 6, 14); and the beast of the sea makes war for 42 months, (chap. xiii. 5.) It is obvious, that if we can fix the commencement or the termination of this period, these four visions may easily have their place assigned them. And this we think we have the means of doing. After the witnesses have prophesied 1260 days, they are put to death, remain dead for three days and a half, and then ascend to heaven, (chap. xi. 7-12.) Then follows an earthquake, which is succeeded by the declaration, The second woe (i. e. the sixth trumpet) is past, and behold the third woe cometh quickly,' (ver. 13, 14.) Now this earthquake, which closes the sixth trumpet, we have already shown is synchronous with the earthquake of the sixth seal. The 1260 days, therefore, terminate shortly before the opening of the sixth seal, the only interval between the two events being the three days and a half during which the witnesses lie dead. It is more difficult to fix the period when the 1260 days commence; but as the fifth trumpet is the first which is introduced as a woe,' (chap. viii. 13), and as the corresponding period of the fifth seal is of that gloomy character which would agree well to the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, we cannot surely be much mistaken in fixing their commencement, so that the whole period shall be parallel

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with the fifth seal, or with the fifth and part of the sixth trumpet. Of course this also fixes the time during which the holy city is

trodden under foot.

Turning now to the vision recorded in the twelfth chapter, we find the following events mentioned:-the birth of the child-the war with the dragon-his expulsion from heaven-the flight of the woman into the wilderness-and the efforts of the dragon to destroy her seed. These occur in the order they are now mentioned; and as the period of 1260 days belongs to the woman's abode in the wilderness, there can be no difficulty in fixing the place of this vision. Her sojourn in the wilderness is during the fifth seal: the events which happened before her flight must be referred to the period of the first four seals; and the efforts of the dragon to destroy her seed cannot have commenced before the opening of the fifth seal.

The vision of the beast from the sea (chap. xiii.) is closely connected with that which we have been considering. It would seem, that when the dragon went to make war with the seed of the woman, his first act was to raise up this beast, (chap. xii. 17; xiii. 2.) The period is the same 42 months during which the woman is in the wilderness, and the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, and therefore it must fall under the fifth seal. This chapter contains also the vision of another beast which came up out of the earth, (ver. 11-18.) There is no mark given by which we can determine the date of his appearance, but we can show with certainty that it must have been before the opening of the seventh seal. For previous to the pouring out of the vials, those who have got the victory over the beast, and his image, and his mark, and the number of his name, are represented as standing on a sea of glass, (chap. xv. 2.) Now the vials fall under the seventh seal; and if the victory over this beast has been achieved before their outpouring, then the period of his power must be already past. It accords with this, that he is represented as acting in the presence of the first beast, chap. xiii. 12, (before him, i. e. in presence of him.)

We shall now pass to the vision of the harlot, in chap. xvii. She is seated upon a beast, of whom we are told, that he was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. We have, of course, nothing to do with the interpretation of these symbols, but shall proceed to connect them with the other visions, as if no attempt had ever been made to interpret them. We can have no difficulty in identifying this beast with the slayer of the witnesses, who is said to be the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit, (chap. xi. 7.) This enables us at once to fix the date of his rise. The witnesses prophesy during the fifth seal, and are all the time oppressed by the first beast, him from the sea. When they have

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