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precedes "the times of refreshing," and of "the "restitution of all things;" until which the heaven must receive the Son of God, as declared by St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles.*

Since, then, the descent of our Lord, which is now under consideration, belongs to the time of the end, and of the seventh trumpet and seven vials, we may hence discover a reason for the various circumstances which accompany and follow this descent. Our Lord appears clothed with a cloud, to signify that the hour is at hand, when he shall come with the clouds of heaven. The rainbow is upon his head, which is the emblem of the covenant of peace; because the blessed time is at length arrived, when the influence of his peace-giving Gospel shall be extended from the rising to the setting of the sun. He has in his hand a little book opened, for the reason already assigned, viz. that the period is come when its prophecies shall be completely understood by the church of God. He sets his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth, to denote to his servant John, that he is now about to take possession of the universal kingdom promised to him by the Father, when all the kingdoms of this world shall become his kingdom. His crying with a loud voice, as a lion roareth, is emblematical of the awful sounding of the seventh trumpet; and it seems to signify to us, that the voice of that trumpet is in effect the voice of the Lion of the tribe of Judah himself, denouncing vengeance against his enemies. The seven thunders which utter their voices, are emblematical of the seven vials of the

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wrath of God, which are poured out on the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The apostle is forbidden to write what the thunders had uttered, probably because their contents were to be fully declared and shown forth under a different symbol, viz. that of the pouring out of the vials; and it did not seem necessary to the Holy Ghost to describe them twice.

The above conjecture, as to the meaning of the emblematical roaring of our Lord, is confirmed by what follows; for, in evident allusion to the voice which he had previously uttered, he immediately swears, in the awful name of him that liveth for ever and ever, "That there should be time no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh

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angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery "of God should be finished, as he hath declared to "his servants the prophets." This seems to be declared in reference to the finishing of the mysterious times mentioned in the prophecy of Daniel.* On this point Mede says expressly, "That those finishing times of the fourth beast, called a time, "times, and half a time, during which the wicked "horn should domineer and ruffle it among his ten kings, are the self-same time which the angel, in "St. John, forewarneth should be no longer, as "soon as the seventh angel began to sound."†

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These mysterious times being ended, and the period come when the prophecies of Daniel, and consequently of the Apocalypse, are to be completely opened and unsealed, a voice from heaven commands the apostle to go, and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel. The book

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is accordingly given him to eat, or thoroughly to understand and digest. It ought to be remarked, that in this symbolical action of eating the opened book, the apostle,is the representative of the church; and that the action signifies, that now the sealed prophecies should be unsealed and understood by the church of God.

The only thing that remains to be considered in this vision, is what is signified by the little book in the hand of our Lord; and the determination of this point has greatly perplexed the interpreters of the Apocalypse. Whatever were the contents of this little book (agidior), it seems, without question, that it must be a part of the book (6) before mentioned, having seven seals. It is probable that this book consisted of seven distinct rolls enveloped one under the other, the seventh roll being the inmost one; and each roll had its distinct seal. Each of these rolls was most probably considered as a "little book," or C.Capidion; and it seems that the little book, which was in the hand of our Lord when he descended from heaven to earth, was the roll or seal last opened, viz. the seventh, which contained the prophecy of the seven trumpets, and indeed the whole remaining part of the Apocalypse. The circumstance of its being a little book, "having "been opened," as the original properly signifies, sufficiently evinces that at one time it had been sealed. But if it had been sealed, either it must be a part or division of the book with seven seals, or there must have been more than one sealed book, which is exceedingly improbable. For it may be observed, that the seals being seven,. which number

signifies completeness or perfection, this very circumstance indicates, that when that book with seven seals should be wholly unsealed, it would completely reveal and discover the whole of the mystery of God. Now, if we go into the idea of many interpreters, that the little book was a kind of supplementary prophecy, or codicil to the book with seven seals, we thereby suppose the book with seven seals to have been an imperfect prophecy, which is contradictory to the import of the symbolical description given of it. Where, in this case, was the fitness of the exhortation to the Apostle, "Weep not; for "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, 66 hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the "seven seals thereof." For, according to the opinion which I am refuting, when these seven seals were unloosed there remained other no less important prophecies still sealed up. * The idea of a separate codicil must therefore be rejected, and the little book opened is certainly a part of the sealed book: and we may conclude, that it is the seventh seal, that being the one whose contents were now unfolding.†

* Rev. v. 5.

A reviewer of my work, in the Edinburgh Christian Instructor, to whom I feel myself much obliged for the candid and indulgent manner in which he treats it, has made some remarks upon my hypothesis respecting the little book. So far as I understand this respectable writer, he seems to me to wish to establish the identity of the little book, with that portion of the book of Daniel which contains his last prophecy, and, in chap. xii. 9, is declared to be closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Now this identity I have already admitted, as to the substance of the two prophecies, i. e. in the same sense that the Gospel of St. Luke may be identified with that of St. Matthew. But if it be meant, that the book in the hand of the angel was the identical volume of Daniel's last prophecy, I can see no ground for this opinion. On the contrary, its truth seems to be negatived by the simple circumstance, that St. John's prophecy

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The giving of this seventh seal to the apostle to eat or digest, has perhaps a peculiar reference to his being made to understand what that mystery of God is, which is to be finished at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Accordingly, no sooner does he eat the little book, and digest it, than he is commanded again to prophesy to many peoples, nations, and tongues, and kings; that is, he is openly to declare to them this great mystery, which forms, as I conceive, the principal subject of the next three chapters. And I shall so far anticipate the contents of these chapters, as to state that this mystery seems to consist in the wonderful circumstance of God permitting the enemies of Christ to reign triumphantly in his visible professing church, and to deform, corrupt, and degrade that church, during the prophetical period of twelve hundred and sixty days.

And hence we discover why the contents of this little book were, so bitter to the mind of the apostle, which is declared symbolically under the figure of its making his belly bitter. The apostle felt the deepest interest in the future fortunes of the church of Christ, and had therefore an eager desire to learn the contents of the little book. This eager desire is described under the symbol of its being in his mouth sweet as honey; but when he understood what the little book actually discovered concerning the above mystery, it could not but occasion to him the bitterest emotions of sorrow.

contains many new facts, not mentioned in that of Daniel; and, on the other hand, Daniel's prophecy has many circumstances not included in St. John's. It appears to me certain, however, that St. John's prophecy was the key for opening or unsealing that of Daniel, as I have already observed in the preceding pages.

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