and the world; and plainly intimates that the latter offered no incense and if the allusive contrast stopped there, it would not be unobjectionable; but when Mr. Elliott further goes on to prove, not that the people of the world offered no incense, but that they offered prayers to saints, images, &c., he steps beyond the limits which the word of God assigns: concerning the inhabitants of the world the prophecy says nothing, affirmative: this is not a case for the application of "antidote and error;" and therefore the supposed prophecy concerning prayers offered to saints, is purely imaginary. On the doctrine of allusive contrast generally, I would ask, Is it a theory to be applied to all cases, or to those only to which Mr. Elliott has applied it? Were it an independent truth, it should apply equally to all cases: and if it is not so, it is scarcely worth while to call it "The theory of allusive contrast." I can hardly suppose that Mr. Elliott will allow of its general applicability for if it could be true, as a principle of interpretation, that when the Holy Spirit says one thing, He alludes by contrast to something the reverse, let us so apply it: And then in the prophetic woes, we read prophecies of good-the wormwood is the sweetness of gospel truth-the locusts are messengers of mercythe darkening of the luminaries is the shining of the light of God's truth and, with a little ingenuity, the prophecies may be made to suit any and every æra. To promulgate some particular view of one or two passages, is comparatively harmless: to publish a theory, requires grave consideration, and application of it to all cases, ere we can venture to hold it up to the world as the reflection of the truth of God.

:

In the real application of the palm-bearing vision, I think we both agree; it is a foreshowing of the heavenly state of the redeemed only Mr. Elliott makes it anticipative. But in fact, to make both visions accord with the facts to which he unites them, the sealing vision must be regarded as anticipative likewise. For if the sealing vision be the publication by St. Augustine of the doctrines of grace, as contained in his Civitas Dei, we know that this was not published till after the taking of Rome by Alaric; that is, till after the sounding of the first Trumpet. The true chronological position therefore of Chapter vii. should be after the 7th verse of Chapter viii. The taking of Rome was the immediate cause of the publication of the Civitas Dei.

The Silence in Heaven. Mr. Elliott with much candour abandons the first view he gave of this passage: namely, that the silence in heaven represents seventy or eighty years of peace on earth. But he does not make much of his alternative solution. He conceives it to represent the few days elapsing after the death

of Theodosius, Jan. 17, A.D. 395, before the Goths flew to arms. This leaves eighty years quite unnoticed in the prophecy for the sixth Seal was opened about A.D. 315, and the silence in heaven, the next event, is A.D. 395. By Mr. E.'s former calculation, this half-hour represented 7 days, reckoning 24 hours to the day: but as now he adopts, by my suggestion, the reckoning of 12 hours to the day, this makes the period equal to 15 days. Now that cannot be a very exact fulfilment for which a fortnight will do, just as well as a week. I can scarcely think that those brethren, who agree with him, in holding the year-day theory, would consent to carry it into the fractional parts of the day.

I shall hope by your indulgence to reply in your pages to Mr. Elliott's subsequent letters, and am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant,

WILLIAM GIBBS BARKER.

P.S. I should add, to prevent misconception, that my Pamphlet was published some weeks before the appearance of the third edition of the Horæ, and was in the press before I was aware of the speedy appearance of that edition.

Matlock Bath,

September, 1847.

The removal of one valued contributor by death, and of another, by departure from England, added to the pressure of many important avocations on themselves, have brought the conductors of the CHURCHMAN'S MONTHLY REVIEW to the conclusion, that it will be the most advisable course for them, on the whole, to withdraw, at the close of the present year, from the undertaking. And they make this early announcement, expressly in order to allow sufficient time, should any competent persons, possessing the public confidence, desire to take up the office which they purpose at that time to relinquish.

THE

CHURCHMAN'S MONTHLY REVIEW

AND CHRONICLE.

OCTOBER, 1847.

SERMONS, Preached on Public Occasions, by HENRY MELVILL, B.D., Principal of the East India College, and Chaplain to the Tower of London. London: Rivingtons. 1846.

THE first five of these Sermons were preached by the appointment of Mr. Melvill's distinguished patron the Duke of Wellington, and subsequently printed by the Corporation of Trinity House for their own use. They are now republished at the request of several friends, with ten others preached on public occasions, chiefly for charitable purposes,-hospitals, schools, churches, and religious institutions. The topics introduced are therefore of high importance, and might suggest much discursive remark. Every sermon too has some passage of great beauty and power, and we might be much tempted to enrich our pages with a variety of extracts from this interesting volume: nor could it be otherwise than pleasant to us, on personal grounds, thus to record the sentiments and illustrate the eloquence of one, whose achievement of university honours we greeted with youthful ardour, and whose subsequent course we have watched with the peculiar interest which contemporaries and associates must always feel for each other. But we must forbear entering on so wide a field; nor can it be necessary to familiarize our readers with the glowing thoughts and language of an author so well-known as Mr. M. The volume before us has almost run its twelve months, and has therefore no longer the attraction of novelty for the critic or his readers. But there is one sermon in the