character by the prophet Moses, just preceding his death, Deut. xxxii. The events predicted in this song of Moses, which is purely prophetical, were to come upon the people of the Jews in the latter times of their economy. "Gather unto me," said Moses, "all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears; for I know that evil will befall you in the LATTER DAYS." Deut. xxxi. 28, 29. It would occupy too much time to examine, at large, this remarkable prophecy concerning the Jewish nation. I must be content to take that part of the prediction which agrees with Daniel, and is fully revealed and exhibited in the transcendant light of the Apocalypse. It is written, "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say I live for ever; If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. "Deut. xxxii. 39-41.

This symbolical represention, it will be observed, is the same as that in Daniel, and refers to a national judgment. Moses, or the spirit by Moses, delivered this prophecy concerning the Jews. It was confined to that nation and people: it was not a prophecy relating to other nations or peoples. "I know," said he "that evil will befall you;" Jews, the tribes of Israel, "in the latter days." Again, ver. 36, "For the Lord shall judge his people," the Jews, "and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone." This is Daniel's language, xii. 7. "And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished:" and 14, "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people," Jews, "in the latter days." If Moses, in spirit, saw through the vista of time, the latter days, or last days of the Jewish house, and the judgment that should come upon them as a nation, Daniel also, by the same spirit, records the same events, in connection too with the same symbolical representation, one "lifting up his hands to heaven." &c. Still be it remembered, that darkness rested upon both prophecies, as to "the time of the end." Moses writes,

"Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures," Deut. xxxii, 34. Daniel exclaims, "I heard, but I understood not." if darkness veiled these hidden secret things of prophecy, from whence then cometh light? Peter understood, "We have," says he, "also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." 2 Pet. i. 19. This, I take it, means the unsealed book of the Apocalypse: it was as a day star," the 'day dawning;" a sun rising to shed its perfect light on the night of prophetic ages.

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In the first creation, "darkness was upon the face of the deep, and God said, let there be light, and there was light." The new creation in Jesus poured back its flood of light upon the abyss of prophecy-" the lion of the tribe of Judah tore off the seals of the seven times sealed book, that "the mystery of God should be finished." Let us then look into the opened book.

John writes, "I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow upon his head and his face as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book open," (or more correctly," one that had been opened") "and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth. . . . and lifted

up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." Rev. x. I must defer the further examination till my next. December, 1844.

A.

པ་

TO R. R.

SIR,-In your letter of Sept. 1st, you accuse me of inattention to your statement on Heb. ix. 28, and say you had used several arguments to prove, that the event signified by the word ophthesetai, translated 'appear," was identical with that at the destruction of Jerusalem expressed by other words translated "coming." But in your statement there is not only a want of correspondence between the type and the antitype, but your classification of Scripture is by no means in harmony with itself. Your placing the article "the" before "men," instead of before "judgment," may be correct, as the Apostle is referring to the high priest and law as shadows of things to come. Let it stand in the following

The priest appeared in the first tabernacle, ver. 6. Christ appeared once in the end of the ages, ver. 26. The priest died once, by substitution, ver. 27. Christ died in reality, 1 Cor. xv. 3. The design of his death, the putting away of sin, ver. 26. After death the judgment, ver. 27.

The high priest having died by having a victim substituted in his stead, as was Isaac's death, whom Abraham received in a figure, as one risen from the dead. So the high priest had to enter the inner court, or holy place, in a new and risen life, wearing the breast-plate of judgment, typical of a risen Christ entering into heaven itself, Heb. ix. 3, 24. By his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, ver. 12; and, connected with the high priest entering the holy place, there he had to present the blood, with sweet incense, on the altar before the mercy-seat; and, as the life of the flesh is in the blood, the type represents a risen Christ presenting himself alive before God, within the `vail, or in the holiest of all; and, in addition, the high priest had, on the breast-plate of judgment, all the names of the tribes of Israel, and stood, as the representative of the whole body. "So Christ" entered the holy place by his blood, and there personates all them that believe, and presents himself" for a memorial before the Lord continually. Exod. xxviii. 29, Heb. vii. 25.

This judgment consisted in the approval, and God's acceptance of the offering made, and in the breast-plate of judgment were placed the Urim and the Thummin, Lev. viii. 8, and by this the high priest had intercourse with God, and knew his mind infallibly, relative to all momentous things

not written in the book of the law. So Christ, having received God's approbation, is endued with light and perfection, wisdom and knowledge, justice and truth, with power and authority to execute both the secret and revealed purposes of God. John, v. 22, 27. This was the judgment: God's approval of the high priest and his offering in the holy place, and of the Lord Jesus Christ in his exaltation on his throne at his right hand. "He hath prepared his throne for judgment, and he shall judge the world in righteousness."

The 28th verse infers the benefit arising from this approval in this judgment. "To them that look for him shall he appear the second time,” as represented under the law. "And Moses and Aaron came out and blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people." Lev. ix. 23. So Christ, having entered the holy of holies, shall there continue, until all his official work is accomplished, and then will he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.

With respect to your classification of Scripture, you say, that this text, Heb. ix. 28, alluded to our Lord's encouraging language in Luke, xxi. 28, "when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Page 10. Both in Matthew and Luke it doubtless referred to the deliverance of the disciples from the tribulation that existed and was daily increasing on that city, doomed to destruction; and hence they had literally to flee to the mountains, while many should fall by the sword, and others be carried captive into all nations, even females suffering from their perilous condition, while the Romans were triumphing over the miseries of a besieged city, internally filled with carnage and weltering in its blood.

What correspondence then is there between this and Heb. ix? Wars, slavery, death, or flight to the mountains is not the subject Paul was adverting to. He was defining the priesthood, and the law, and showing the superior dignity of Christ, and the perfection of his atonement to put away sin; of his entering into the holiest of all; of his appearing with acceptance in the presence of God; of his sprinkling the conscience from dead works whereby those that are called should receive the promise of an eternal inheritance. Surely these are blessings which belong, not only to the Jews, but in which the Gentiles are interested. Our Lord's address was to the Jews; but Paul's referred to Jews and Gentiles. Our Lord's was only a temporal deliverance; but Paul's was a deliverance beneficial through all eternity. Here are blessings unlimited as to any time or people, and therefore could not refer to the period you assign it; and the mistake arises by classifying natural things with spiritual, earthly things with heavenly, and temporal things with eternal; and hence arises the impropriety of confounding "coming" with "second appearing;" because the characters interested and the benefits annexed are altogether of a different nature, and no reason can be assigned why the same words must not have the same meaning, while the specific words "second appearing" stand in full relation to the same work intended and expressed by his first appearing to put away sin, and save a people for himself with an everlasting salvation.

I said in my last, that the whole sixteen portions translated "appear" had all an external object presented to the view; and, in confirmation, you have assisted me with a few others: Acts, xiii. 31; 1 Cor. xv. 5, 6, 7, 8; 1 Tim. iii. 16. Now, it is not whether I followed the translators or not, but What is the truth? is the argument to be determined. The harmony

and correspondence of the Scripture is the best interpretation; and really you ought to acknowledge a failure in your classification of Luke xxi. 28, and Matt. xxiv. 13, with Heb. ix. 28. In general, we find some circumstantial evidence, that determines the writer's application of the words. Historical narrations are thus given in the above passages, which decide on a visible object appearing, while prophetic language is destitute of that evidence: but may we not draw a conclusive argument, that the prophetic language of Heb. ix. 28, shall have a correspondent application equivalent to that of the others; and it cannot be doubted what was intended by seeing the Lord Jesus in 1 Cor. xv. 6, when, after his resurrection, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; and your own conclusions are, that "Believers are one with their head,—and the body of clay only interposes between their open vision of each other." This is all I ask for, and my point is gained.

Yours very respectfully,

JOHN RYDER.

TO MR. PYDER.

SIR,-You assert, in the foregoing letter, that, "there is, in my statement, not only a want of correspondence between type and antitype," but that "my classification of Scripture is by no means in harmony with itself." Pefore however you proceed to any proof of these assertions, you alter my arrangement of Heb. ix.-26-28. In this you do not seem to perceive the object of parrallel arrangements, which is to shew the corresponding topics as they stand in the text, without omission, addition, interpolation, repetition, or transposition; except such transposition as the different idiom of the two languages (that of the original and a translation,) may render unavoidable. Your parallelism therefore, as it violates three of these requisites, is inadmissable. It omits some topics, it interpolates "The purifying of the flesh," and repeats the words "Judgment" and "Second appearing." Or, if given as an arrangement of topics selected from Exodus and Hebrews, it is, on either supposition, a substitution of your own; and therefore cannot set aside the apostle's arrangement, which I have faithfully exhibited, or my deductions from it. This alteration, or substitution, with your comment on it, (which is, for the most part, an expansion of mine,) is intended to prove the want of correspondence, in my arrangement, between the type and antitype, and also the futurity of our Lord's second appearing; but, though correct in itself, it is unavailing for these purposes. It does not prove the former; because I have confined the terms typical and antitypical to the six middle topics only, (four of which you have adopted,) and have exhibited the others simply as the correspondences of the text. It does not prove the latter; for, though your comment assumes the language of futurity, your arrangement decides nothing on this question..

I now come to your other assertion, and return the following answers to the arguments, by which it is supported. 1st. Verbal coincidences are generally considered as guides to the meaning, or as illustrations of it. My citations from Luke and Matthew, which you call my "classification of Scripture," are employed for the latter purpose; but not till I had first ascertained the meaning from the correspondence of the topics themselves. 2ndly. The whole of what you next add is inconclusive; because founded on the assumption of a false principle. "Wars, slavery, death, or flight to

the mountains," you say, "is not the subject Paul was adverting to." By this, you assume, that a writer is so strictly confined to his immediate subject, that he cannot introduce any other. I admit, that the chief blessings procured by Christ are spiritual blessings, and the persons interested in them, not only Jews, but Gentiles; but I am unacquainted with any critical canon to prevent Paul from mentioning any other, especially as all of them are connected, in the way of cause and effect, with Christ's temporal acts. The whole matter of the epistle also shows, that it was addressed chiefly to Hebrew converts, for the purpose of warning them against that apostacy, and that great predicted retribution, to which, as such, they were chiefly exposed. Hence, to my apprehension, Paul seems, all along, to keep that retribution in view; and to mention it, at least, in two other places, viz. in ii. 3, and vi. 8, 9, as well as in ix. 28. 3rdly, you close this paragraph by saying, “no reason can be assigned why the same words must not have the same meaning, while the specific words "second appearing" stand in full relation to the same work intended and expressed by his first appearing to put away sin, and save a people for himself with an everlasting salvation." This leads me to notice a diversity of expression in the passage before us, which I ought to have noticed before. The words are not the same. It is remarkable, that Paul, in speaking of our Lord's first appearing, uses the word nepaveρwταi, (pephanerotai, he has been manifested,) which, being derived from aw, (phao) to shine, radically suggests an external object; but, in speaking of his second appearing, he changes it to pinσerai, (ophthesetai, he shall be seen,) which, being derived from of (ops) an eye, does not: thus seemingly intimating a difference in the two cases * This generic agreement and specific difference is a property of all parallelisms which are not identical, as appears even from the few examples, which occur in my first paper; and, in the present instance, supports my views of both events. 4thly. The temporal salvation was that only, which was future when Paul wrote. The Lord's people had been already made partakers (owry,plaç aιwvov, soterias aioniou) of etaneous salvation: a salvation, which has not to wait for a future appearing, or for another state of existence; for "he," says Christ, "that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath etaneous life, and shall not come into condemnation; but hath passed from death unto life." See Biblical Inquirer, p. 3, Note.

The main question between us is the TIME of our Lord's second appearing, which time you endeavoured to prove still future by contending, that the word onтoμаι (optomai) by which it is expressed in Heb. ix. 28, always signifies an external object. Finding this position untenable, you resort to circumstantial evidence;" but the solitary observation which you make on this subject is much too general and indeterminate to overthrow the host of terms, phrases, and circumstances, produced in my first paper, all reflecting light on each other, and all pointing to the same time. Not one of these has been invalidated, some others have been now added; and if, nevertheless, they make no impression, I have no more to say. You lastly quote my answer to the questions, with which you concluded

It may further illustrate the use of the latter verb, to observe, that the words in Matt. xxvi. 64, translated hereafter ye shall see, and implying any future time, are, in the original, an apt obode, (ap' arti opsesthe,) henceforth ye shall see; as in Matt. xxiii. 39, xxvi. 29, Rev. xiv. 13. How were they to see him "henceforth?"-In the signs occurring at the crucifixion, resurrection, pentecost, &c. &c. In the corresponding text, Luke, xxii. 69, the words, also translated hereafter, are, in the original, awo rev vvv (apo tou nun,) from now.