and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation: And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth."

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice-Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing! And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever."

Here is a Doxology from heaven and earth, first to the Lamb, acknowledging that he alone was worthy to open the book, for his meritorious sufferings, and death, who had redeemed us to God by his blood, from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation; and afterwards another Doxology from all created beings to the Father and the Son united, for our glorious redemption for ever and ever.

And here we may observe with Mede that the death of Christ enabling him to obtain the book,

D

to open and reveal it to us, may explain that saying of our Saviour, before he had suffered and been glorified-"But of that day and hour," (in allusion to his second advent) "knoweth no one; neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only'." That is, in his mediatorial capacity, and as man, this knowledge was withheld from him. The apocalypse was not yet given to him by the Father, in order to be made known to the world.

CHAPTER VI.

THE former description, with the exception of the address to the seven Churches has been only preparatory. We now come to the proper commencement of this last revelation to man, the opening the book with seven seals, and the disclosure of the visions represented therein.

As the opening of the seals is the preparation for the visions, it may seem probable that each successive vision is displayed by a painting or delineation of the event revealed.

The first part of this vision appears evidently to allude to the fates of the Roman empire, as connected with the Jewish nation and the Christian Church.

Mark xiii. 32.

"When the Lamb had opened the first seal, or one of the seals, I heard as it were," saith St. John, "the voice of thunder, and one of the four living creatures, saying, Come and see!" It appears from the context that this was the lion, and its position to the east. "And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."

Here I am constrained to differ from Mede, and to agree with Bishop Newton, and subsequent commentators, or rather with himself when he had farther reflected on the subject. The person who goes out conquering, and to conquer, and that not long after our Saviour's ascension into heaven, is surely Vespasian or Titus; most probably the latter, who received a crown for his conquest of the Jews. Mede, in his Key, has in the first place, interpreted the rider on the white horse as Christ himself, but in another part of his works he suggests that perhaps it alludes to Vespasian and Titus, who commanded in the east. The former explanation would destroy the consistency and analogy of the whole series of the seals. What confirms this interpretation is, the historical circumstance that Tacitus, adverting to the general opinion, that about this time the east should prevail, considers the prediction verified in Vespasian and

Titus, and Vespasian came from the east to empire. The oriental language universally represents by one riding on horseback, and prevailing over his enemies, a powerful king or emperor. This period, including the short reign of Nerva, contained about twenty-eight years.

"And when he had opened the second seal," and unfolded another roll of the book of fate, "I heard the second living creature," under the symbol of an ox, (which by a reference to the vision of Ezekiel, was to the west,) "sayingCome and see." "And there went out another horse which was red," (or bay,)" and power was given to him to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given him a great sword."

This figure or representation betokens a time of great war and bloodshed, which took place under Trajan, who came from the west, being a Spaniard by birth, and the first foreigner who sat upon the imperial throne, and subsequently under his successor, Adrian. The Jews in the time of Trajan were irritated to madness, and fierce wars were waged in Lybia by them against the inhabitants, so that the country was obliged to be repeopled in the time of Adrian, from other places. In Cyrene, in Egypt, and in Cyprus, they slew Romans as well as Greeks, but were at last slaughtered in vast numbers, and subdued by

Lysias. Many thousands of them also, who had rebelled in Mesopotamia, were destroyed. Vide

Dion. and Orosius.

Under Adrian also, was there a great rebellion, stirred up by their pseudo Messiah Barchochab,、 or Barchochebas, which arose after the emperor had erected a temple of Jupiter in the place where the temple of God had stood. This rebellion was not finally subdued till fifty of their strongest castles, and 985 of their cities had been demolished, nor till after 580,000 men had been slain with the sword, besides the infinite number who perished by famine, and other casualties, so that the Jews themselves acknowledge, that twice as many of their people were butchered in this war, as went out of Egypt with Moses. Nor could the Romans effect their difficult victories without such immense losses, that when Adrian wrote to the senate he forbore the usual salutations, in consequence of the reduced state of his army. Thus were Jews and Romans, who had united in the persecution and murder of “the Prince of Life," suffered to fulfil on each other the bloody retribution, which the former had invoked on their heads, and on those of their children.

This period continued during the reign of Trajan, and his successors, ninety-five years.

"And when he had opened the third seal, I