INTRODUCTION.

Or this Book many explanations have been offered-more, perhaps, than of any other portion of Inspired Scripture; yet with so little success, that the Church of God has failed to obtain, through the long course of 1700 years, a single Commentary, on which it can rest with assured satisfaction. The reader of every Exposition of the Apocalypse, hitherto attempted, will, with the late Dr. Adam Clarke, be "satisfied, that no certain mode of interpreting the prophecies of this Book has yet been found out." He adds-"I feel myself at perfect liberty to state that, to my apprehension, all these prophecies have been misapprehended and misapplied: and that the key to them is not yet intrusted to the sons of men."

An interpretation of this Book, as of every other portion of the Sacred Volume, in order to its being certain, must be Scriptural. The mind feels itself to be on sure ground, when the position it has taken is discovered to be one sanctioned by Inspired authority. And satisfaction, on any religous subject, is to be obtained in no other way. This alone can render an exposition of the Word of God unquestionable and authoritative-its manifest agreement with what that Word says elsewhere: the evident support, by that word, of the opinions advanced, the doctrines taught, the conclusions drawn.

Again an interpretation of this Book, to be successful, must be new. The explanations hitherto offered, having all failed to produce conviction, as to the meaning of these remarkable prophecies, by giving to them a fixed and determinate signification -recourse must evidently be had to other modes of exposition than those which have been in use until now. Success in this

way becomes possible; while the pursuance of the beaten track renders a failure certain.

In the course of Lectures, therefore, to which this address is introductory, an interpretation of the Apocalypse on an entirely new plan, is submitted to the Christian world: and an interpretation, based, in all its parts, or plain and express Scriptural testimonies hence productive, in the mind of the writer, of conviction and satisfaction as to the meaning of these prophecies, at once unhesitating, and complete; and destined, he hopes, to be similarly effective on the minds of those who may hereafter give to these Discourses an attentive perusal. An extremely simple exposition will also be found to be here offered-one, which "the common people" may easily apprehend: an exposition which renders no distortion of Scriptural language from its plain and obvious meaning necessary; and makes no demand on the faith of the reader, which is not made by the Word of God itself. The interpretation now about to be set before the Church of God will also be found consistent in its various parts: one that presents to view an unbroken chain of action, wonderful, and oftentimes awful to contemplate but, in its final issues, worthy of God, and most beneficial to the universe. It is, indeed, a drama of stupendous interest, and unrivalled magnificence, whose successive scenes here rise in long array before the mental vision. But a regular, uninterrupted progress of events, towards a designed end, may be plainly discerned; proving this Book to contain, not a series of unconnected revelations, but a wise, well-arranged, and perfect plan of Divine operation of which the several parts only require to be suitably combined, in order to the development of a wonderful, beautiful, and harmonious whole.

To the absence of such a combination-the want of a proper arrangement of the visions of John-the failure of all past attempts to understand, and interpret them, must be considered to be, in great part, attributable. It has been taken for granted that the order of visions is identical with the sequence of events. This, however, is most certainly not the case. Expositors, one after another, having overlooked this important fact, misapprehension of very many of the visions has been the unavoidable consequence.

The interpretation now offered keeps pace with the succession of events-not, with that of revelations. The chronological order is followed-not that of the visions; of which, some of the later ones, prefigured the events that were soonest to come to passwhile some of the earlier ones foreshowed things not destined to have their actual manifestation before the scheme of Divine conduct should have proceeded a considerable way towards its completion. Not in any case has there been a divergence from the order of revelations made to the Apostle, without an apparent necessity for this; and the reason for such a departure-always assigned in its proper place-will, it is hoped, be found sufficient and satisfactory.

Another fact, of great and indeed indispensable necessity to the right interpretation of this book, has been overlooked by all previous Expositors: the fact of its containing seven parallel lines of prophecy : with respect to which, it may be observed

1. That they have a common termination-in the varied and awful phenomena of the Great Day of Wrath: with the exception of Line iv, which only looks forward to the end of the 1260 days.

2. That they have not, however, a common beginning—and are, therefore, not lines of equal length. Some, have an earlier commencement than others.

3. That they are not, with respect to events, exactly parallel, even when the time of one line agrees with that of another ; each line containing some events peculiar to itself-not to be found in other lines.

4. That they all, however, set forth portions of one and the same train of events.

5. That each line hence serves in a measure, to illustrate and explain the other lines, and can only be understood rightly by the help of one or more of the other lines.

The interpretation now offered is based on the comparison with each other, of these several lines of prophecy, and on the combination of them into one arrangement: also, on Scriptural testimonies, in other Prophetical Books. It will be perceived to be an interpretation which might have been offered immedi

ately after the visions of the Apostle had been put on record, and presented to the world: an explanation which was as possible, seventeen centuries ago, as in the present age. And the fact of its having been so, the Author deems a strong argument for its correctness. He feels persuaded that no other light was needed, in order to an apprehension of the meaning of these revelations, than that of the Word and Spirit of God-no other learning than a due knowledge of Holy Scripture-and no other study than the diligent study of the Apocalypse itself, and antecedent portions cf that Sacred Volume, of which it is the sublime conclusion. Commentators, in general, have thought otherwise ; and have sought, by the help of history, of unenlightened reason, of ingenious conjecture, of plausible comparisons, or wild imaginings, a solution of the enigmas, which, through so many ages, this Book has presented to the Church of God. With how little success they have done so, let the acknowledged uncertainty tell, which prevails, with respect to the meaning of these prophecies. The writer of the following Discourses, avoiding these by-paths, has taken revealed truth as his only guide; "comparing spiritual things with spiritual." And the issue has been-rest, to his own mind, as to the import of these revelations, and a conviction of the substantial correctness of the interpretation, which he now submits to the notice of others. Entertaining a deep and settled persuasion, that the events foreshown in this wonderful Book, were not destined to have their providential development in periods, with respect to which other inspired prophecies maintain a total silence--the ages, for instance, which have intervened between the visions of the Apostle in Patmos, and our own days-he feels assured, that the predictions of the Apocalypse are, as yet, wholly unfulfilled: that the recognition therefore, of Rome, as the " Great Babylon," and of the Papal Power as "the Beast," shown to John, have been mistaken applications of the things which he saw-fatal to every scheme of interpretation, into which they have been admitted hitherto, and destined to be subversive of every exposition in which they shall be allowed to have a place hereafter; for the simple, but sufficient reason, that they are explanations which,

when brought to a Scriptural test, abide not the trial; and with which the progress of things has not agreed, and cannot be made to agree.

To make it apparent that Rome is the "Great Babylon," and the Papacy "the Beast" of the Apocalypse, recourse has been had to the year-day principle of interpretation; by means of which the prophetic period of forty and two months, comprising 1260 days, has been made to extend over 1260 years. These 1260 years, expositors tell us, are not yet ended. Consequently, the events which, according to the predictions of this Book, were to characterise this "time, times, and half a time," ought to have been visible for the last 12 centuries, and should be apparent still. But--where are they? From all the past, and all the present, Echo alone sends back a response to this inquiry: and she replies by repeating the question-Where are they? Where are Messiah's Two Witnesses, with their miraculous powers? Where, the False Prophet, with his "lying wonders?" Where, the Image of the Beast-the mark of the Beast-the universal dominion of the Beast-the universal worship of the Beast? Where, his "war with the saints". not a mere opposition, but war to the death, continued through the 1260 days? Where is the devil-worship which was to be associated with that of the Beast? Where are the blasphemies of the Beast? Where the Seven Last Plagues?

It cannot be shown, convincingly and satisfactorily, that any one of these foretold occurrences, has yet received its actual development-much less that all of them have been rendered apparent. They are manifestly things, as yet, future. And it is much to be wondered at, that by any sober-minded Christian, they should have been supposed to have an existence in any past age, or to be, in any degree, visible now. They certainly cannot be connected with any by-gone history, or with any present appearances, otherwise than by doing the most serious violence to the language of this Book, and of other Inspired Prophecies: with which language, accordingly, we find, that to suit their various schemes of interpretation, Expositors have not scrupled