Some of them were confirmed, some corrected, and many added to them. ference to any other, because Christians in the present day may be con"I have dealt but little in quotations, sidered as more immediately conrefusing nothing, however, from any writer cerned in them than in almost any which appeared to me to be just. And as to what appeared otherwise, I have ge-verted to. The first is, “The harvest other of the stupendous events adnerally passed it over without attempting to refute it; as being rather desirous of giving the true meaning, than of proving that other men's opinions were founded in mistake. "The exposition of a prophecy, delivered in symbolical language, must be liable to many mistakes. A style so bighly figurative furnishes great scope for the imagination, which, unless it be accompanied with a sober and just judgment, will lead us into labyrinths of error. How far I have been enabled to avoid them, and to succeed in throwing light upon any part of the prophecy, it is not for me to decide. This I know, my object has been to obtain its true meaning, and to communicate it in a manner suited, not to the curious, but to the christian reader." and vintage," mentioned in Rev. xiv. 14-20. the other shall be "the millenial reign of Christ," ch. xx. 1-6. With regard to the former of these, Mr. Fuller remarks, p. 259, &c. sages, and now the Lord himself appears. "The angels have delivered their mesHe comes as it were to judgment, and to it will be. Under the symbols of a harvest the Antichristian party a terrible judgment and a vintage, is predicted its utter overthrow. Whatever distinction there may be between the one and the other, both I doubt not refer to that series of calamities which is reserved to destroy the beast and things which have been noticed from chap. his adherents. They refer to the same xi. 18. when the wrath of God was come, and the time of the dead that they should be avenged, and those destroyed who had long destroyed the earth. This being a general description of events which will be more particularly set forth under the pouring out of the vials, we shall find them again under "the battle of Armageddon, (ch, xvi,) also in the " or the great day of God Almighty;" God," to which the fowls are invited, and supper of the great in which "the beast and the false prophet are taken,” chap. xix. In laying out what may be called "the scheme of the prophecy," our author has trodden closely in the steps of the judicious Lowman, and we doubt if he could have found a better guide. Though his book has now been published the greater part of a century, it may be fairly questioned if it be equalled, much less surpassed, by any that have followed it; and it is obvious enough from the whole of the volume before us how much Mr. "One thing is remarkable in both the Fuller has been indebted to that va- harvest and the vintage, they indicate that luable commentator. Gill, Newton, the Papal abominations shall be ripe, Scott, Faber, and Cuninghame, are fully ripe. There is a tendency to maalso among the authorities quoted and communities, and even in the world turity in both good and evil, in individuals by Mr. Fuller; but we cannot help itself. Popery matured is infidelity. To expressing our surprise, that on no this it tends, and here it will probably occasion do we find the slightest land the great body of its adherents. I allusion to the writings of that en- see no solid ground for Mr. FABER's hypolightened prelate, the late Bishop thesis of an infidel king, any more than of Hurd, whose invaluable "Sermons an infidel Antichrist. The historical exintroductory to the Study of the position of the xith chapter of Daniel by Prophecies," are an honour to the PRIDEAUX (Connection, Part II. Book age and to the country which pro- one: but I have no doubt that infidelity II. III.) appearing to me to be the true duced them, and worthy to rank in is, and will be, the distinguishing feature the very first class of writings which of the last times. What is said of the have for their object to illustrate the 66 scoffers of the last times" is indeed deApocalypse. We cannot suppose Mr.scriptive of what we daily witness; but it Fuller to have been unacquainted is only of individuals that these things are with a work so deservedly popular, spoken. Infidelity does not appear to be and are consequently the more at a symbolized in the Scriptures, either by a loss to account for the omission. beast, a horn, or a king: it is merely the Papal beast grown old, or Popery as fruits may be the appointed means of its having produced its proper fruits, which destruction." Thus we may enable our readers to form some general idea of the author's manner in the work before us, we shall quote his illustration of two highly interesting particulars, which form a prominent part of the volume; and we select them in pre 4-7. he thus proceeds, "If the rivers and fountains of waters denote "Italy and Savoy," these countries may be expected to be the scene of the next great convulsions which shall agitate Europe. And if it be so, it may be a just retribution for the blood of the Waldenses, which was there shed in shocking profusion for many successive centuries. "The responsive language of the angels on this occasion accords with such an interpretation, and is exceedingly impres sive. It shews in what light the persecution of the faithful is viewed in heaven. This sin implies such a hatred of God and his image, as would, if he were within reach, dethrone and kill him! Unjust war is a great sin: it is murder on an extended scale: yet it is not to be named in comparison of persecution for Christ's sake. The one is destroying God's natural image; but the other is aimed at his moral image. In the former "the potsherd striveth with the potsherds of the earth:" but in the latter man striveth with his Maker! This was the sin which crowned the wicked life of Herod the tetrarch, who to all his other crimes "added this above all, that he shut up John in prison!" Blood shed in persecution of God's servants hath a cry which must sooner or later be heard. The persecutions of former ages may be forgotten by men: but he "who is, and was, and shall be," will not forget them. The judgments of our own times are examples of this: all Europe, previous to the Reformation, was stained with the blood of the martyrs; and since that memorable era, France, and Germany, and Spain, and Portugal, and Italy, have been deeply engaged in that impious practice. Is it surprising then that all Europe, in measure, and those nations in particular which have persisted in it, should be made to drink the bloody draught? While we feel, and ought to feel, for suffering humanity, it is not for us to join with the merchants of the earth in their wailings; but rather with the angels in heaven, saying, 'Thou art righteous, O Lord, because thou hast judged thus!" Further, in illustrating ch. xix. 11-21. "the taking of the beast and the false prophet," which introduces "the supper of the great God," Mr. Fuller remarks that, know of Pharaoh and his host, namely, as matters of history. "In cases wherein the parties have been assured of victory, it has not been unusual for a battle to be preceded by a song of triumph. It was thus when Jeho shaphat went forth against his enemies: singers were first appointed to praise the Lord, and then the army was led on to the engagement. And thus our Lord, when about to engage the powers of darkness, being certain of victory, exclaimed, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out!-Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified, in him!' It is thus, I conceive, that the prophecy, having anticipated the victory over Ba bylon in a song of triumph, proceeds to describe the battle. The scene of the song was in heaven; but the battle in which the event will actually occur is upon earth. It is the same as that before described under the sixth vial, namely, the battle of Armageddon; the great day of God Almighty,'-' the supper of the great God!" "Observe the preparations for it. Heaven is opened, a white horse is seen. and he that sat upon it is called faithful and true, who in righteousness doth judge and make war.' We can be at no loss in deciding who this great warrior is. He is doubtless the same that is addresssed in Psal. xlv, 3, 4. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and try majesty and in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness: and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.'-I inay add, He is the same that is described in the first six verses of the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah; and what is here predicted by John not only alludes to that prophecy, but appears to refer to the same event. It may be thought that this bloody representation is unsuitable to the character of the Prince of Peace: and that the battle between him and his army on the one side, and that of the beast and kings on the other, is contrary to the genius of the gospel dispensation. To solve this difficulty, let it be observed, that the war here described is of two kinds, and Christ sustains a two-fold character in conducting it. The first is spiritual; and this he undertakes as the head of the church.' In this character be rides upon a white horse, and the armies of heaven follow him upon "When the Israelites, full of fearful apprehension from the pursuit of their enemies, cried out for fear, Moses said unto them, 'Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord: for the Egyp-white horses; fitly representing the great tians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see no more for ever! In going over these last ten chapters we have seen and heard much of the beast, and the false prophet, and of the mischiefs which they have wrought upon the earth: but this is the last account we shall have of them. By the prophecies in these verses they are buried in oblivion, so that the church in after times shall know of them only as wel efforts that shall be making at the very period of Babylon's overthrow, to spread the gospel over the whole earth. The second is providential; and this he undertakes as "head over all things to the church." In this character he is 'clothed with a vesture dipt in blood. In making war in his spiritual character, he does not wait to be attacked by his enemies: he goes forth in this respect conquering and to conquer. But in so far as the war is of a providential character, the enemies are the aggressors. The beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies, 'gather together to make war against him and his army,' ver. 19. The idea conveyed by this language is, that while he who sitteth upon the white horse and his army are going forth to spread the everlasting gospel in the world, the beast and his allies will gather together to oppose its progress, and will perish in the attempt. "There is no necessity for supposing the armies of Christ will have literally to fight with those of the beast and the kings: but while they are following him in spreading the gospel, He, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, may work the utter overthrow of their adversaries, by setting them at variance with one another. We have seen this accomplished in part already in the antipathies and wars which have raged between Infidelity and Popery; and such may be the progress of things, till, like two furious beasts of prey, they shall both be destroyed. The account itself agrees with this supposition: for though the armies of the beast are said to have gathered together against the armies of him that sat upon the horse, yet there is no mention of any being engaged in their overthrow but he himself. It is he that 'smites the nations,'treads the wine-press,' and has his vesture dipt in blood.' It is remarkable, too, that in the corresponding prophecy of Isa. Ixiii. 1-15. he is said to have trodden the wine-press ALONE, and of the people THERE WAS NONE WITH HIM.' "These remarks may suffice for the general meaning of the prophecy. Let us now attend to a few of the particulars. "It is a joyful sight to see the Son of God riding forth upon the white horse. He will not wait for the fall of the Antichristian powers ere he extends his spiritual kingdom. The flight of the evangelical angel was prior to the fall of Babylon; such is still the order of things; and it is in opposing this great and good work that the enemies of the gospel will bring destruction upon themselves. 6 'His name is called the Word of God,' as being that divine person whose office it is to reveal the mind of God to men, and whose victories are accomplished by means of the gospel. The armies of heaven on white horses' are the friends of Christ who go forth in their respective stations, and lay themselves out to promote his kingdom. The sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth,' is his truth, which is not only the means of saving believers, but of punishing unbelievers. By his word they shall be judged at the last day, and his threatenings will fall upon them even in the present world. Those who are not destroyed by his judgments on the Antichristian party, will be despoiled of their power, and ruled as with a rod of iron. 'And he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Aimighty God'―The vine of the earth being ripe for destruction, like grapes cast into a press, he will tread them in his anger, and trample them in his fury. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. In this there is something especially appropriate, as it respects those kings who have opposed his gospel, and lorded it over the consciences of his subjects. He has long sustained this name in right, but henceforward he will sustain it in fact. "And now comes on the decisive battle, the battle of Armageddon, the great day of God Almighty, the supper of the great God! Terrible things in righteousness have occurred in our times; but by the strong language used to express this event it seems as if it would surpass every thing which has gone before it. It is unlikely that it should consist of a single battle, but rather of a war, or succession of battles, though doubtless one must be the last. It is proclaimed by an 'angel standing in the sun,' whose voice would of course be heard from the rising to the going down thereof. The mode in which he announces it is by an invitation to the fowls of heaven to come as to a supper, to feast upon the carcases of all ranks and degrees of men who shall be found on the Antichristian "The character given to this divine side. The beast, and the kings of the earth warrior must not be overlooked. He is who make common cause with him, being 'faithful and true,' as performing all his gathered together with their armies to engagements to God, and fulfilling all his make war against him that sitteth upon promises to men. In righteousness he the horse, and against his army, will now doth judge and make war.' The cause in be utterly overthrown. Those powers which he is engaged is just, and all his which shall be found supporting the Papal measures are in harmony with it. His hierarchy, together with the false proeyes were as a flame of fire,' burning phet,' or the hierarchy itself, after a corwith holy indignation against his enemies. rupt and bloody reign of 1260 years, will And on his head were many crowns,' be taken and cast alive into a lake of denoting his great power, and numerous fire, burning with brimstone.' conquests. "And he had a name written that no man knew but himself;' for after all that is known of the glory of his character it passeth knowledge. The' vesture dipt in blood' refers to what has been said of the destruction of his enemies by means of wars kindled by their own malignity. "It was remarked on chap. xvii. 7. that the corruption of the church is ascribed to her alliance with the secular beast; and it is no less remarkable that the overthrow of the secular beast is ascribed to its alliance with the church. It was 'because of the great words that the little horn spake against the Most High that the beast on whose head it grew should be slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.' Dan. vii. 11. Let governments consider this, and tremble at such alliances. will not fail to notice a succession of distinguished characters who have done honour to the community to which they belonged. Like the shipwrecked mariners in Virgil, "It is true that neither political nor Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto, ecclesiastical bodies as such, can be lite- One great man after another pops up rally cast into a place of torment, as in- his head as in a vast whirlpool (or, dividual unbelievers that compose them will be: they may however be cast into probably, to adopt a more pertinent perdition so as never to rise any more, similitude, we might say, that thele which may be the whole of what is in-case resembles the state of things tended. As the Christian church in her among the Jews at the period of our Millennial glory is described in language Lord's advent-when, amidst the geapplicable to individual believers (ver. 8.) neral prevalence of corruption of so the Antichristian church is represented manners, a deluge of erroneous sentias a hardened sinner, arrested in a course ments, and much contempt of the of wickedness, and sent to his own place. Finally. It is supposed that after this way of truth, a few individuals were terrible overthrow there will be a remfound, even among the Pharisees, nant, like the scattered remains of a de"who waited for the consolation of feated army, who shall still be on the side Israel." Bishop Horsley deserves to of Antichrist: but that they shall be 'slain be ranked in this honourable class. To by the sword of him that sitteth upon the extensive erudition he united the exhorse, which sword proceedeth out of his cellencies of an enlightened mind, mouth. As the battle above described is great acuteness of intellect, singular the same as that of Armageddon under the dexterity in the management of an argument, and, what is better than all the rest, an attachment to the discriminating doctrines of genuine Christianity. His controversy with Dr. Priestley is one of the most masterly pieces of polemics that our language can boast, and the services which in that instance he rendered to the christian church will embalm his name, and hand it down with deserved veneration to distant ages. No student of the present day, who would be armed against the errors of the times in which we live, ought to be without that publication! sixth vial, so the sword proceeding out of Christ's mouth' corresponds with the spiritual judgments under the seventh vial. They who have escaped the temporal calamities of the former, will, except they repent, fall under the spiritual judgments of the latter. The threatenings of Christ's word will overtake them. Their hearts will fail within them, as did the words of Nabal when told of the words of David. Like him they will be smitten of God and die; and having no successors to stand up in their place, their cause will die with them." [To be concluded in our next.] Nine Sermons on the Nature of the Evidence by which the fact of our Lord's Resurrection is established; and on various other subjects. To which is prefixed a Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Messiah dispersed among the Heathen. By SAM. HORSLEY, LL.D. F.R.S. F.A.S. Late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. London. Longman & Co. pp. 360. 8vo. 10s. 6d. bds. 1815. The volume before us is a posthumous work; and though the editor has thought it necessary to bespeak the candour of the public in behalf of the pieces which it contains, on the ground of their not having received the finishing touch from the author's pen, they certainly are no ways calculated to disparage his memory. The "Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Messiah dispersed among the Heathen," occupies more THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, notwith- than a hundred pages of the volume, standing its antichristian constitution, and is one of the most interesting may fairly lay claim to the honour of tracts that has for a long time fallen having produced some very eininent into our hands. We shall therefore men, both as writers and preachers. endeavour to make our readers acNor were these restricted solely to quainted with the Bishop's argument, the times of the Reformation; for which is conducted with his usual whoever impartially reviews the his- ability; and though from its very tory of this sect of professed Chris-nature it be incapable of demonstra tians during the last two centuries, tion, we shall be much mistaken if VOL. I. * 2 s they do not agree with us in thinking | terated fragments of the patriarchal prothat he has placed it in a light in the highest degree probable. In stating the argument, the Bishop remarks, that the expectation of an extraordinary person who should arise in Judea, and be the instrument of great improvements in the manners and condition of mankind, was almost if not altogether universal at the time of our Saviour's birth, and had been gradually spreading and gaining strength for some time before-and that this was effected by a collection of very early prophecies, which were committed to writing in a very early age, and were actually existing in many parts of the world, though little known till the extirpation of Paganism by the propagation of the gospel. The argument therefore is divided into two parts. First, to prove the fact from historical evidence, that the Gentile world in the darkest ages was in possession, not of vague and traditional, but of explicit written prophecies of Christ -and, having established the fact, he then proceeds to prove that these written prophecies were the remains of divine oracles of the patriarchal ages-that is, prior to the writings of the Hebrew prophets, and wholly distinct from them. The learned author enters upon his task by a reference to the well known Sibylline oracles, concerning which it may be proper to lay before the reader his own account. phecies and records, and that put it out of doubt, that of much of the prophetic part the Messiah was the specific subject. "From the general argument of the writers, it is very evident that it could be. book as it is represented by heathen no forgery of heathen priesteraft; for this reason, that it was exceedingly unfavourable to that system of idolatrous superstition, which it was the great concern and interest of the heathen priesthood to propagate and support; and this was probably the true reason that the Roman of two of the Augural College, and kept Senate committed the book to the custody it from the inspection of the vulgar by the severest laws. Now this extraordinary fact, that it was little for the interests of idolatry that the contents of the Cumaan oracles should be divulged, we learn from a dispute which was keenly agitated at Rome, between the friends of Julius Cæsar and the leader of the republican Party; in the coure of which a member of ment let the secret out. the Augural College in the heat of argu "Julius Cæsar, you know, attained the height of his power within a few years before our Saviour's birth: little was wanting to his greatness but the title of a king of which he was ambitious. The difficulty was to bring the Senate to confer safe to assume it. One of his adherents it; for, without their sanction it was unthought of an expedient not unlikely to succeed. He produced a prophecy from the Cumaan Sibyl of a king who was to arise at this time, whose monarchy was to be universal, and whose government would be necessary and essential to the happiness of the world. The artful statesman knew, that if he could once create a general persuasion upon the credit of this prophecy, that universal monarchy was to be established, and that the state of the world required it, the difficulty would not be great to prove, that Cæsar was the person of his times best qualified to wield the sceptre. 46 First, For the fact that the Gentile world in the darkest ages was possessed of explicit written prophecies of Christ, I shall found the proof of it on the contents of a very extraordinary book, which was preserved at Rome under the name of the oracles of the Cumaan Sibyl, which was "The republican party took the alarm. held in such veneration that it was de- Tully was at that time its chief support, posited in a stone chest in the temple of and his great abilities were called forth Jupiter in the capitol, and committed to to oppose this stratagem of the dictator's the care of two persons expressly ap-faction. In his opposition to it he brings pointed to that office. no charge of falsification against those who alleged this prophecy. He denies not that a prophecy to this effect was actually contained in the Sibylline books, to which as a member of the Augural College he had free access, and when he allowed the existence of the prophecy, he was a better politician than to make the application of it to Cæsar the point of controversy, and to risk the success of his opposition to the schemes of Caesars party upon the preca rious success of that particular question. Confessing the prophecy he knew it was impolitic to attempt to apply it to any but a Roman, and applying it to a Roman it "Among heathen writers, I believe, it would be in vain to seek for any quotations of particular passages from the Sibylline oracles. They never made any. For, to produce the words of the Sibylline text, would have been dangerous violation of a law, by which the publication of any part of these writings was made a capital offence. We have however such representations of the general argument of the book, and of the general purport of particular prophecies, as afford a strong presumption in favour of the opinion we have advanced, that it was composed of adul |