away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be 1290 prophetic days. It is easy to observe, that there are some years' difference between the numbers of Daniel and those of St. John; the reason is, that the Apostle had the beginning of the war against Antichrist in view; whereas the Prophet looked farther, viz. to some remarkable battle that he should lose, and in which he shall be utterly destroyed; as for his second number, it seems to refer to that happy year when the remotest nations of the earth shall have embraced the Christian Faith.

You may probably have observed, Sir, that the various numbers which come to the same, or very near, must be reckoned from the time the Bishop of Rome showed himself plainly to be the head Antichrist, "and set himself up as a God, in the temple of God;" which was not in a very remarkable manner till the end of the Fifth Century: add then 500 years to 1260, and you will see, that in a few years these plain prophecies concerning the preaching of the two witnesses, the flight of the woman into the desert, and the duration of Antichrist's reign, will soon be accomplished.

It is worth observation, that as the tyranny of Antichrist will last 1260 years; so his last raging, or that tribulation which will be so uncommon, shall last also 1260 common days, and not prophetic ones. Because of the Elect's sake those days shall be shortened, according to our Lord's merciful promise: this observation will cast a great light upon all those numbers, and prevent many objections.

Having thus laid the prophetic numbers as the foundation of the edifice, I shall now give a short sketch of the above mentioned gentleman's superstructure.

(To be Continued.)

NOTES ON REV. VII. : — FROM ZUELLIG.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I SEND you a continuation of the Notes from Zuellig. But, in passing to Rev. vii., it is necessary to give a preliminary view of the contents of this chapter. In chap. vi. six out of the seven seals had been opened. The opening of the remaining seal would be the signal for the outbreak of the judgment. But, before this signal is given, a pause is made. And the interval is filled up by St. John in chap. vii. with two scenes, which are called by Zuellig, retarding episodes. Provision is made, in these intercalary scenes, for the security of God's elect. The first scene (ver. 1-8) describes the sealing of a hundred and forty-four thousand Israelites. In the second scene (ver. 9-17) a great multitude of Gentiles are represented as keeping the feast of tabernacles in heaven. We are not to understand that these Gentile saints, any more than the sealed Israelites, were to be at once translated into heaven, and so to be placed beyond reach of the approaching judgment. The scene of the heavenly festival is exhibited proleptically. Both classes of the elect were to remain on earth during the former part of "the great tribulation" (see ver. 14) which was coming on: but, before the breaking out of the last and worst plagues, they were to be taken out of the way; or, to speak more precisely, they were to remain on earth during that part of the period of the judgment which is embraced in chaps. viii.-xiii. :

but they were to be removed into heaven before that "pouring out of the vials of the wrath of God" which is described in chap. xvi. Accordingly in the scenes of chaps. xiv. and xv. St. John saw both companies in heaven. We may now proceed to the notes.

Verse 1. "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow," &c. The earth was conceived by the Hebrews to be, in form, an upright square: i. e. a square in which the angular points (not the sides) were east, west, north, and south. Hence these angular points are what St. John means by "the four corners of the earth at which the four angels who had charge of the four winds were posted. These winds were to be let loose at the opening of the seventh seal, and to blow incessantly during the whole period of the judgment.

Vers. 2, 3. "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, (i.e. a seal which had the name of Jehovah for its impress, see xiv. 1): and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Compare Ezek. ix. where a man clothed in fine linen, (i. e. in the ordinary dress of priests and angels) goes up to the temple with five others, and is there commissioned by Jehovah to go into the city, and set a mark upon the foreheads of some of its inhabitants: his five companions are at the same time commanded to go after him, and smite all those who are without the mark. This will accouut for the circumstance, that St. John's sealing angel says, plurally, "till we have sealed." Like the angel in Ezekiel, he has companions with him. The only variation is, that in the Apocalypse the attendant angels assist in the sealing; whereas in Ezekiel, their office is to destroy the unsealed. [This note has been already given in the Christian Observer for March, 1844.]

Vers. 5-8. "Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben," &c. Three points are here to be noted. In the first place, (1), it is difficult to account for the occurrence of Manasseh in ver. 6: we want Dan. Secondly, (2), if the substitution of Dan for Manasseh be allowed, it will appear that St. John takes the names of the sons of Jacob, two and two together, according to their mothers. [See the Christian Observer for February and March, 1844]. Thirdly, (3), it is natural to suppose, that the order in which the twelve tribes were sealed would coincide with the order in which their names were afterwards to stand, as inscribed upon the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. (See xxi. 12.) Now this order had been given in Ezek. xlviii. 30-34. Accordingly, St. John is in fact guided, in his way of ordering the twelve names, by the order in which the twelve gates had been arranged by Ezekiel. [For a view of the relative position of Ezekiel's gates, and of the correspondence between his catalogue and St. John's, see the Christian Observer for March, 1844. But, in the plan which is there given of the gates, the places of Gad and Naphthali have by mistake been interchanged.]

Vers. 9, 10. "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God," &c. This waving of palm-branches and singing of hymns were adjuncts of the feast which the Gentile

saints are here keeping: namely, the feast of tabernacles. Compare Zech. xiv. 16: "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."

Ver. 14. Translate, "And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation," &c. i. e. out of the great tribulation which was to be represented in chaps. viii.-xiii. So, in Zechariah, the feast of tabernacles was to be kept after a great tribulation, and by the remnant ("every one that is left") which had not perished in it. Compare also Daniel xii. 1: "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

Ver. 15. Translate, "And he that sitteth on the throne shall be over them with his tabernacle (okŋvúσe in' avтovç:)" i. e. God's tabernacle, like the cloudy pillar of the Pentateuch, shall always accompany them, and be a protecting screen over their heads.

M. J. M.

THE LATE DR. ARNOLD AND PROFESSOR NEANDER IN BERLIN. To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

It may not be uninteresting to your readers, and perhaps not unprofitable to them, to know the estimate which German divines entertain of the life and writings of Dr. Arnold. That it is very high, appears from the fact that the famous Dr. Augustus Neander wrote an article for a German Periodical, "Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Kritik,” which has since been printed separately as a pamphlet,* apparently in order to announce and recommend a forthcoming German translation of Dr. Arnold's life. On page 3 he describes Dr. Arnold as "Representative of a new and freer development of theology in that land, in which it is so difficult to shake that which has been handed down from the olden time, and where stiffness and narrowness of view have hitherto predominated." He then proceeds to show wherein Dr. Arnold's freedom of thought and theology consisted, and notices some things in which most would agree with the two divines, and some where there might be a difference of opinion. But on page 16 he rather frightens an English reader, when he states as one of the characteristics of superior freedom, that "He (Dr. Arnold) thought that he could find in the book of Daniel elements of a time posterior [to the alleged time of writing]. Vol. ii. p. 195. The same critical principles,' says he, which place the authenticity of the Gospel of John beyond all doubt, can, in my opinion, prove in like manner the ungenuineness of the greatest part of Daniel.'+ In the prophecies of the Old Testament he distinguished between the historic sense, and the higher reference upon which it is based-that higher sense which every where has reference to Christ. Thus also he judged concerning the prophecy of Immanuel (Isaiah vii.), perceiving that according to the historic sense it cannot be referred to Christ."

The title is, “Die Bedentung des Thomas Arnold für den Stundpunkt der Kirchlichen Gezenwart."

This is translated back into English from the German translation. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 104.

3 N

Now, Sir, I do not condemn either Neander or Dr. Arnold as heretics, though I believe them both in error; nor mean I to impeach the honesty of their convictions. All I intend, is to get people to consider, If Dr. Neander be a true prophet, and a new and freer flood of theology is really coming over us, whether we shall be gainers or losers when we have got rid of the greatest part of the prophecies of Daniel, and the remarkable prediction concerning Immanuel; and, with our straightforward habits of reasoning down to the end of the principles we adopt, how much reverence will remain for Him who before the Jewish High Priest referred to Daniel, not to speak of him who in his simplicity says, that the prophecy of Immanuel is fulfilled in Christ.-Yours faithfully, Q. Z.

THE BIBLE A MIRROR.

For the Christian Observer.

IN the first chapter of the Epistle of St. James, and in many other passages of Holy Writ, the word of God is compared to a mirror; and very striking is the similitude. St. Paul describes himself, says Matthew Henry, as insensible of the corruptions of his nature "till he saw himself in the glass of the law." (Romans vii. 9.) He thought himself "not only clean, but beautiful," till he discerned his deformities in that mirror. "When we attend to the word of God," adds the Commentator, "so as to see ourselves, our true state and condition, to rectify what is amiss, and to form and dress ourselves anew by the glass of God's word, this is to make a proper use of it." The subject may be familiar; but it is not on that account unseasonable or unimportant. That the Bible may justly be denominated a mirror, is clear to all who, being taught of God, spiritually understand its doctrines. Humbled at the recollection of their natural blindness to its value, and their former inattention to its truths, they now see in it an exact representation of man, whether before or after his conversion to the Lord his God; whether as darkened and defiled by sin, or enlightened and purified by grace. In such a similitude they discover the divine hand, and acknowledge that God alone could thus unerringly inform us "what is man;" in all the varieties of his being, in all the shades of his character, in all the degrees either of his misery or happiness.

With what accuracy the Bible sets before us the consequences of the fall, the devout reader cannot need to be informed. He sees in every page something which either directly speaks of it, or substantially relates to it. Does David, in the 14th Psalm, represent "the children of men" as "all gone aside," as "all together become filthy," so that "there is none that doeth good, no not one?" Does Jeremiah describe the heart as "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?" Does St. Paul (in the 3rd of Romans) almost literally quote the language of the Psalmist; and this in addition to other passages of Scripture, which are confessedly of the same import? Here we may perceive the condition and character of man, as a miserable apostate from his God. Here we may stand, fixed in awful contemplation, till we tremble at his guilt, blush for his depravity, mourn for his misery and helplessness, and shudder at the divine threatening of "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish," against the whole posterity of Adam. In spite of all the assumptions, whether of the Romanist or the Tractarian, respecting the obscurity of Scripture, it is, upon the awful subject referred to, so clear,

that no sooner does the minister make use of such Scripture phraseology as the above, than some of his worldly-minded hearers are offended. And why? "At this rate," say they, "we are all miserable sinners;" -an objection which at least proves that the terms made use of were intelligible; that the image presented in the mirror could not easily be mistaken.

And what is Scripture history-more especially that of Israel, the chosen people of God-but an equally faithful exposure of our hereditary guilt and sinfulness? Both are graphically marked in the simple expression made use of by the Jewish lawgiver, "All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth." Had they retained the divine image, they would not thus, generally, have trampled on the divine laws. In the sacred mirror is presented to us a yet darker representation of mankind, even that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. vi. 5.) This prevalence of iniquity provoked the Almighty to break up the fountains of the great deep. Trace the melancholy record to the times of Sodom and Gomorrha, of the cities of Canaan, of Babylon, and of Jerusalem itself, and you find, with reference to each, those expressions which strongly mark, with whatever occasional conciseness, their uncleanness, their idolatry, their pride, their forgetfulness of God. The sin of "the cities of the Plain was very grievous;" the Canaanites offered "their sons and daughters unto devils." Babylon sat "as a queen among the nations ;" and Jerusalem said in her prosperity, "I will not hear." It is not in language to supply us with more appropriate or striking images of the prevailing depravity of each of these abandoned cities.

To pass from general to particular descriptions of sin, as afforded us in the inspired volume, we may select the following, short and rapid as they are. Pharaoh's obstinacy: "Who," he demands, "is the Lord, that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." (Exodus v. 2.) Mark the rage of Nebuchadnezzar, as set forth in Daniel iii. 19: "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was altered." Again, the repining of Haman, when Mordecai the Jew refused him that homage which he expected: "All this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the gate." (Esther v. 13.) Here, in spite of all his opulence and grandeur, Haman's misery appears in the strongest colours. Or how can carnal scorn and security be brought more vividly before us than in the language of the Psalmist, when referring to the men of this world? "Who is Lord over us? God hath forgotten it he hideth his face: he will never see it." (Psalm x. 11.) In the address of "the rich fool" to his deluded soul (Luke xii. 16), "Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," we are again struck with the fidelity of the Scripture mirror. Nor does it fail in its representation of the natural enmity of man to God and to his people: "haters of God" (Rom. i. 30), "despisers of those that are good," (2 Tim. iii. 3.) The misery of unconverted men, is set forth with equal vividness in the page of inspiration: "The way of peace have they not known" (Rom. iii. 17), "tossed with tempest, and not comforted" (Isaiah liv. 11), "having no hope." These are among the instances of exact and remarkable description that we meet with in the word of God. So continually do the sacred writers dwell on the foregoing points, that to set down all their sayings were to make such large quotations from the Bible as would exceed the limits to which I must confine my remarks. Let every man "Search the Scriptures," and he may easily discover in its