We have sufficient authority for believing that the Jews will eventually be converted to the Christian Faith, and that "there will be one fold under one Shepherd;" but when, or by what means, this will be effected, we have not the slightest ground for conjecture. Their re-establishment in Palestine, if this expectation be not derived from too literal an interpretation of prophecy,* is at least an event to which no determinate period can be assigned.

It is well known how greatly mistaken the Jews were in their interpretation of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, till they saw their accomplishment in the person of Jesus. Even at the close of his public ministry, and after his resurrection, we find two of his disciples expressing their disappointment at his death, and the hope they had conceived that it was he that should have redeemed Israel;" that it was he who should deliver them out of the hand of their enemies, and establish a temporal as well as a spiritual kingdom upon earth. Our Saviour, therefore, found it necessary to “ open their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures," and, "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets," to expound to them "the things concerning himself.”†

* See Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 26.

+ Luke xxiv. 45, and 27.

But the danger of mistaking and misinterpreting the Prophecies, is obviously greatest when they relate to times so indefinite, and events so obscurely prefigured, as in the application of them to give ample scope for diversity of opinion. Such are those of Daniel and the Book of Revelations respecting the fate of the Church at different periods. Whether we possess the Book of Daniel in its genuine state and original form, has been frequently and reasonably questioned. The great Sir Isaac Newton is of opinion that the first six Chapters were not the work of Daniel, but probably written after his death; inasmuch as they conclude with these words: "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."* But whatever light may have been thrown by him and other Commentators on the revolutions of the four great Monarchies, and the events dependent on them; there are still prophecies, relating to the later ages of the world, which must still remain among the hidden mysteries of providence, and of which the illustration is not to be expected till their final accomplishment.

To the Book of Revelations it has frequently been objected that it is so involved in figures and allegories, so visionary and obscure,

* Daniel vi. 28.

*

that nothing certain can be collected from it; yet is there no prediction, vision, or allegory throughout this Book, which some learned man or another has not undertaken to explain. Doubtless with much labour and research; but it is to be feared with little success. How, in fact, should it be otherwise, when we see the same prophecies interpreted in a very different manner, and applied to different characters and events. In a general view of this Book, we may observe that the Visions and Prophecies of the former part relate to the calamities inflicted on the Church by Jewish and Heathen persecutors; and those of the latter, to the Corruptions and Heresies which should arise to harass and disturb it, after Christianity became the Religion of the State. So far interpreters seem to be agreed, both Protestant and Roman Catholics. But while the former always discover in the character of Antichrist, and the number of the Beast, the person of the Pope, and apply to the City of Rome the title of Mystery, Babylon the Great, the

* See Bishop Newton, Vol. 2, p. 155; and concerning the doubts entertained at different periods as to the authenticity of this Book, and the propriety of admitting it into the Canon of Scripture, see Lardner, Vol. 4, p. 309; Vol. 6, p. 627, seq. and Marsh's Michaelis, Vol. 4, p. 461.

For a more particular analysis of the Book of Revelations, see Percy's Key to the New Testament, Rosenmüller, Scholia in Apocalyps. p. 616, 617, etc.

Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth; the latter can give sundry reasons why the Pope cannot be Antichrist,† and ridicule the notion of extracting from a fanciful combination of letters a number, the discovery of which, is declared to be the test of wisdom;‡ they assert that Rome was never called Babylon, but that, if by this name be not implied the whole society of the wicked and unbelieving, (as was the opinion of those ancient Christian writers who are called Fathers,) it could be applied to Rome only in its heathenish state, as the persecutor and enemy of Christians. || On the contrary, they pronounce the great Apostasy and Revelation of the Man of Sin, which is to precede the "day of Christ,"§ to be the Northern Heresy; that Revolt from the Church of Rome, which we justly consider as the Renunciation of its Errors, and Reformation of its Corruptions; and they pretend to

**

Revelations xvii. 5. See Dr. Samuel Clarke's Works, Vol. 1, page 638.

+ Rhemish N. T. p. 231, 554, 557, marg. 725, 740. 4to. Antwerp, 1600.

The discovery of the name Lateinos, the numerical letters of which in Greek correspond to the number 666, was made by Irenæus in Centy. 2. But he speaks of it as no subject for boasting: sed non in hoc nos gloriamur. See Bishop Newton, Vol. 2, p. 299. It has the resemblance of a Cabalastic Invention.

|| Ibid, p. 730.

§ 2 Thessal. ii. 3.

deduce from this same Book of Revelations, a confirmation of their doctrines concerning the adoration of the Images of Saints and Martyrs,* prayers for the dead, † and the saving merit of good works.‡

Such are the different views entertained of this Book by Protestants and Roman Catholics while others confine its prophecies to the three first Centuries, and the commencement of the reign of Constantine; and some can find in them nothing which extends beyond the destruction of Jerusalem. What, then, shall we say of Interpretations so various and discordant; when the correspondence of the Prophecy to the event is either not seen, or at least only partially acknowledged? Notwithstanding however the caution of the illustrious Lord Bacon, and the failure of such profoundly learned men as Mede, Vitringa, &c. (for they cannot all be right, when they differ from each other,) the curious and inquisitive will still be forming hypotheses upon these mysterious writings, and few have the candour to acknowledge, with Whitby, that "they have neither sufficient reading nor judgment to discern the intendment of the prophecies contained in them." The commotions and revolutions which have taken place in Europe within our own

* Rhemish N. T. p. 737. + Ib. p. 726. + Ib. p. 741.