great lines of 1260 and 1335 years, each of which is believed to date from Justinian's æra. As regards the first of these periods, this idea is confirmed by the event; for add 1260 to 530, and we have 1790-the commencement of the French Revolution and of the breaking up of the Papal power; add 1260 to 533, and it brings us to 1793-the climax of the reign of terror! On the same principle, if we apply the number 1335 to the years 530533, it will bring us to 1865-68,-two years in which other prophecies would lead us to expect great and solemn events, and the interval between which may probably be found to answer to the last half-week of Daniel. Again, as there is evidently an interval-however short-between the appearance of the "sign" (or shekinah) of the "Son of Man" (Matt. xxiv.) in the heavens, when he comes to gather his saints, and his advent in glory followed by them-it is possible that this same half-week, or three and a-half years, may define the interval between the "first resurrection" of the saints at the time of the epiphany, and Antichrist's destruction at the παρουσια of the Lord. If this be so, how awful are the reflections to which it gives rise! How will this brief and mysterious period be spent by the resurrection saints, after their rapture to meet the Lord in the air? And what will be the state of this poor earth of ours, left for a season to the uncontrolled dominion of evil men? The salt of the earth being withdrawn, to what height of moral putrefaction will mankind attain? Will Antichrist, in his last and most terrible form, openly usurp the attributes of Deity, and exercise a blasphemous rule over an apostate world? These are questions which must needs occur to the attentive student of prophecy, but which, if he be wise, he will not too curiously or dogmatically seek to decide. We must now take leave of Mr. Fyshe's work, and pass on to two other productions of a very different class. We are not ignorant of the devices of Satan,-how, when he cannot stifle a lifegiving truth, he seeks to weaken or pervert it. We know, too, that he dreads the preaching of the crown even more intensely than the preaching of the cross, hence we might have supposed, that, as the expectation of the Lord's appearing began to influence the church, the enemy would be found striving with his utmost power to quench or corrupt the blessed hope. Nor has he been false to himself. No sooner is the futurist heresy put down, and the attention of the church directed afresh to the study of the divine prophecies of Daniel and St. John, than expositors start up, who scruple not to make these holy books the vehicles of the most revolting blasphemy and folly. Thus, in the "Commentary on Daniel, by Elizabeth," we encounter a blasphemous rhapsody, purporting to be a sort of programme of the speedy establishment of a Unitarian kingdom, of which she, Elizabeth, is to be the high-priestess! Is it possible that such a book can be as it pretends-published under the auspices and with the approval of a Dissenting minister? Mr. Clissold, in his "Principles of Apocalyptic Interpretation," purposes to give us an exposition of the Revelation according to the views of Swedenborg. His work is to comprise three large octavo volumes, the two first of which contain a most laborious collection of the differences of former interpreters; and as there is no single point on which all expositors of all ages have been agreed, therefore all the views of all expositors, in all ages, must be wrong! Such is Mr. Clissold's somewhat illogical conclusion. Since, however, the extracts from the various commentators are not given after a garbled or Tractarian fashion, these two volumes are not without their use. The third, completing the work, is to build up afresh, according to the designs of Swedenborg, the structure demolished in the two preceding, and so will the question of apocalyptic interpretation be set at rest for ever! Books like these, even if they have few admirers, still mightily subserve Satan's cause, for they create a prejudice in many minds against a study that is so disgustingly abused. But heedless alike of Unitarian blasphemy and Swedenborgian folly on the one hand, and of Futurist or Tractarian sophistry on the other, the true Church of Christ, roused from her lethargy, is again bestowing increased attention on these hallowed themes, and sure we are that she will not fail to "have her reward." Since, however, there are yet points-although constantly diminishing in number and importance-on which the views of Protestant interpreters are not agreed, and as these might naturally be perplexing to the young inquirer, we know not how we can better serve the cause of truth than by briefly adverting to each of the subjects in debate, and then referring the reader to the particular commentator whose exposition we have ourselves deliberately adopted. We shall thus introduce him to a body of evidence, clear, full, and harmonious, which will leave no doubt upon his mind—as it has assuredly left none upon our own-not merely of the general correctness of the Protestant interpretation of the prophecies of Daniel and St. John, but of its minute and circumstantial accuracy, at least as unfolded in recent works; and if we should appear to rely mainly upon such, we must not be supposed to undervalue the labours of preceding authors. It is, indeed, manifest to the dispassionate observer, that no one has ever carefully studied these holy books without reaping a portion of the promised blessing; but the perception of truth is here, as elsewhere, gradual and progressive; and as a Newton or a Kepler prepared the way for an Herschell or an Arago, so in "this more sublime astronomy" the researches of a Cuninghame or a Faber have led to the still more brilliant discoveries of an Elliott or a Birks. 1 To begin with the book of Daniel. Here of course we turn at once to Mr. Birks' masterly work, "The Four Prophetic Empires," which, so far as the two first visions are concerned, leaves nothing to be desired; and we rejoice to learn that other portions of this prophet are speedily to receive illustration from the pen of the same distinguished writer. A recent work, by the Rev. W. White, on "The First Seven Chapters of the Book of Daniel," goes over the same ground as Mr. Birks: it is written in a clear style and a Christian spirit, but does not in any respect improve upon its predecessor, while in some points it falls far short of it. The viiith chapter of Daniel is now all but universally referred, not to the Papal, but to the Mahommedan Antichrist, of which it is certainly a most striking prediction. This is made sufficiently plain in the last volume of the "Hora Apocalyptica," where the chapter is examined in connection with the predicted time of the sixth vial, to which it has an undoubted reference. The prophecy of the seventy weeks (ch. ix.) is ably unfolded in Mr. Birks' "Elements," which contains also a clear elucidation of the first nineteen verses of the "things noted in the scripture of truth." On the subject of the "wilful king," nothing can be more perfectly convincing than Mede's exposition, in his "Apostacy of the Latter Times"— a work, by the way, which we rejoice to see has just been re-published by the Protestant Association, enriched with an excellent introduction by Mr. Birks. As respects the last six verses of this remarkable chapter (the xith), a great diversity of opinion prevails. Mr. Elliott thinks that the prophecy is now in course of fulfilment, and that it chiefly relates to France; other expositors refer it to the Turkish power; while a third class regard the whole as still future, and believe that it will receive its accomplishment in the wild and sanguinary career of the last Antichrist. We are ourselves disposed to concur in the latter view, and to refer the prediction to the times of the seventh vial (Rev. xvi) and its un The intimate connection between the movements of the heavenly bodies and the prophetic epochs is beautifully shown by Mr. Birks, in his chapters on the year-day theory (vide Elements of Prophecy, pp. 367-372); for the truth of which the universe itself would thus seem to vouch. In connection with the events expected by Mr. Fyshe about A.D. 1867, it is curious to mark the calculation of a German astronomer. Olbers, who announces (of course without a thought of the prophecy) an unprecedented display of fire-balls and falling stars on the 12-14th November, 1867! paralleled "earthquake." But be this conjecture right or wrong, the prophecy is so clearly worded in the latter part as to preclude all uncertainty in respect to the ulterior movements of the power intended, so soon as the application of the first verse has been fixed beyond a doubt, and there will thus be a warning of inestimable importance supplied to the Church in the hour of her heaviest trial. The xiith chapter is perhaps the most important in the whole Bible. The time of unequalled trouble in the last days, synchronising with the time of Israel's deliverance (ver. 1)—the resurrection (ver. 2)-the endless bliss of the redeemed (ver. 3)-the æra of locomotion and contemporary spread of knowledge, both of which are fixed to the "time of the end" (ver. 4), and which therefore mark that time as now at hand-the oath of Immanuel declaring in mystic numbers when the "end of these wonders" should be (vers. 6, 7)-the gracious intimation that the numbers should be unsealed at the time of the end, and that the wise-the wise only-should understand them (vers. 8, 9, 10); and, finally, a scheme of prophetic chronology divided into three stages, and so arranged that the expiration of the two earlier periods, at corresponding epochs of history, should prepare the Church of Christ for its entrance into the heavenly Canaan at the expiration of the third and last (vers. 11, 12). Such are the momentous contents of this amazing chapter! Who can read them, especially in reference to the times in which we live, without feelings of the most solemn and awakening kind? Who so cold but he must inwardly offer up a prayer that, like Daniel, he may "stand in his lot at the end of the days? We are sorry that we cannot refer the reader to any one commentary in which this chapter is adequately treated; indeed, the importance and variety of the subjects embraced within its twelve pregnant verses would almost furnish materials for as many volumes. As respects the chronology, a single glance at the diagram in Mr. Elliott's work will explain the convergent endings of the chief prophetic periods," and make our present critical position clear even to the dullest apprehension. Before we close our remarks on Daniel we must make one observation as to the order in which this great prophet should be studied. And here we have the misfortune to differ frem Mr. Bickersteth, who recommends the beginner to apply himself to the book of Daniel before he enters upon the wider field of the book of Revelation. We would reverse the advice, and send the student at once to the Revelation, as an easier book than Daniel. For if, more than a century ago, Sir Isaac Newton could say with truth that "he who would understand the older prophets must begin دو with the Apocalypse," the remark will surely apply with greater force in the present day, when so much that was previously obscure has been rendered perfectly clear by the events of the French Revolution, and the labours of living expositors. Turning now to the "Book of Revelation (or unveiling) of Jesus Christ,") we shall pass over without comment the then-present ("the things which are," i. 19), and proceed at once to the prophecy properly so called ("the things which must be hereafter." iv. 1.) The ivth and vth chapters contain the introductory vision, in the explanation of which there is a remarkable harmony among the best expositors. But before proceeding further, we would press upon the student the absolute necessity of thoroughly mastering the language of prophetic symbols, respecting which he will find the most ample information in the first volume of Mr. Faber's "Sacred Calendar." Not less important is a right perception of the symbolic scenery employed in the apocalyptic drama, and this he will find most beautifully unfolded by Mr. Elliott. point to be constantly borne in mind is the symbolic character of St. John himself as an actor in the apocalyptic scenes, throughout which he must always be regarded as the representative of the true Church in the various eras prefigured in the successive visions. This important principle, although discerned and, to a certain extent, adopted by Daubuz, had never received the attention it deserved until the appearance of the "Hora," in which it is prominently and consistently applied throughout. We come now to the vith chapter, and the opening of the seals in order. Here a serious difference of opinion prevails amongst expositors, one party believing that the seals and trumpets are parallel, the other that these and the vials are all consecutive; i.e. that the seventh seal contains the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet the seven vials; an arrangement which the following formula will readily explain :— A supplementary 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Seals. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Trumpets. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Vials. The latter scheme of apocalyptic structure was originally propounded by the illustrious Mede, and has now been confirmed by some of the most striking discoveries of Elliott. The rival theory, although, while upheld by Cuninghame and Bickersteth, it may still retain some of its original votaries, will never gather any |