enquirer in his attempts to identify it. In other parts of the book involving mysterious revelations, hints and intimations are thrown out formally or incidentally with the express design of enabling us to apply the symbolical shadows to their appropriate substances. But nothing of the kind occurs in regard to Gog and Magog. They are, like Melchizedek in the history of Moses, suddenly introduced upon the stage, and after acting a part of great moment, as suddenly dismissed, and nothing more is heard of them. But what is the inference to be drawn from this feature of the prophetic narrative? Does it not indicate unequivocally that the Spirit of inspiration presumes upon a certain amount of information in the reader's mind derived or derivable from other portions of the sacred volume? As the whole system of inspired prophecy, both in the Old Testament and the New, is intimately connected together, the visions of John being in most cases merely an expansion of the more dense and involved revelations of Isaiah, Ezekiel, or Daniel, so where any particular series of events is more fully developed by one prophet, we should of course expect it to be more succinctly given by another. Here then, we are persuaded, we have the true grounds of the brevity of the Holy Spirit in the passage before us satisfactorily laid open. For it so happens that in the book of Ezekiel, ch. 38 and 39, we have a strikingly parallel prophecy detailing at great length and with the utmost minuteness every particular respecting the Apo calyptic Gog and Magog which can be necessary for a complete explication of this part of the vision. The two prophets unquestionably allude to precisely the same

power, the same period, and the same events, and the reader will probably be surprised at the extent to which the one is capable of being made to illustrate the other.*

The necessity, therefore, is forced upon us of entering into a minute consideration of the Old Testament prophecy in order to do full justice to our exposition of the language of John. Still we do not hesitate to assure the reader that he will experience no diminution of interest in passing from the one to the other. We are still engaged in the pleasing task of exploring the chambers of imagery' in the august temple of prophecy, all of them replete with treasures of more value than the catacombs of Egypt.

EZEKIEL, CH. XXXVIII- XXXIX.

"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3. And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 4. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and

"Convenit autem hæc Ezechielis prophetia cum illa, quæ est Apoc. 20. 8, seqq. ceu ex collatione cuivis patebit. Neque enim per nudam allusionem ibi allegatur hæc predictio sed indicatur a Sp. S. eam nunc fine seculi implendam”—But this prophecy of Ezekiel coincides with that of Rev. 20. 8, etc. as will be apparent to any one on inspection. Nor is this prediction there adverted to merely by way of allusion, but the design of the Holy Spirit is to intimate that it now, towards the end of the world, receives its accomplishment.-Calovius ad Ezech. cap. 38. 2.

all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: 6. Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands and many people with thee. 7. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. 8. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. 9. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. 10. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: 11. And thou shalt I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go up to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; 12. To take a spoil, and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 13. Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast

say,

thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? 14. Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day, when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? 15. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army: 16. And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes, 17. Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time, by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee against them? 18. And it shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19. For in my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel: 20. So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 21. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. 22. And I

will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ch. XXXIX. 1. Therefore thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; 2. And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

The remark has been made by former commentators that the concluding chapters of the prophecy of Ezekiel and the Apocalypse of John bear a striking resemblance