The Apocalypse; or, The Revelation of St. John the Divine

Preface

Since the first part of the Introduction is in fact the preface to the work, I will be here as concise as possible in a few remarks which I wish to put before the reader. And in the first place, I must request him not to think that I am unacquainted with several of the views which have been taken of the Apocalypse : but my book is not of such a kind as to require any notice of them. In the second place, I can only say, that I look upon what I may call the Protestant Interpretation to be the true one: I regard the Year-day Theory as resting on firm ground: the analogy of revelation requires such a book as the Apocalypse is : and the striking coincidence between the prophetical announcements and a series of historical phenomena, is such as compels me to view the Apocalypse as a book which has a regular continuous chronological development. We may not be correct in all instances in our explanation of its predictions by historical facts; but this does not in the least degree affect the soundness of our principle

IV

PREFACE.

and the general trutli of our comment. When, mdeed, we come to chapter xvi. 12, &c. \Ye are undoubtedly brought to about our own time; the future is opened to our view; and it would be equally idle and rash to attempt any thing hke a minute explanation of the subsequent chapters.

The Apocalypse may be justly accounted a wonderful book; containing a history of the Church, in its great outlines, from the days of the Apostle to the consummation of all thinD;s. It is very much through the media of scenery and symbols that its instructioli is given us : we are called upon to exercise our minds; Dan. xii. 4 and 10: and we gain that measure of knowledge which is suited to us as moral agents in a state of probation or trial. But whatever obscurity may belong to this book, I must regard it as a matter-of-fact book, whose contents are imm.ediately connected with the great and continued stream of the world's transactions, and which are not to be frittered away by any arts of mysticism and abstraction.

It may be thought by some persons that injustice is done to the Papacy by making it the prominent subject of the Apocalypse. If, however, we dispassionately view the Papacy, it may be found that such an idea is groundless. I will here quote a

PREFACE. V

paragraph from an excellent living writer on Rev. xvdi. 1 — 8. " Let us pause to observe how much there is really to wonder at, how much to fill us with awe, and horror, and indignation, for the affronted majesty of our Lord, in the pretensions and practices of the apostate church of Rome. A bishop claims the right to dispose of kingdoms ; and seats himself on the altar of God. A whole order of bishops, priests, and deacons, declare that they can turn bread into the very substance of God, and constrain men to bow the knee to this their creature. They uphold image worship. They profess to forgive sins. They preach at once the merit of good works, and indulgences for sin. They use an unknown tongue for public prayer, forbid to m.arry, and command to abstain from meats. And they rivet these and other like chains of darkness, on the consciences of mankind, by withholding the word of God from the people. Add to this, they support their usurpation by the imprisonment, torture, and death, of all that dare to question their supposed infallibihty. Instead of persuading, they compel. Instead of appeahng to reason and affection, the method sanctioned by the Spirit of God, they apply the dungeon, the rack, or the fire." — Such is the Papacy; such too is the antichristian power pre-

A 3 vi PREFACE.

dieted in the Xew Testament : how. then, is it possible to rest in any other conclusion than this, that the Papacy is the hostile power foretold in Scripture? ]\Iatthew Pool thus concludes his preface to his Annotations on the Eevelation. I dare not be positive as to the sense I have given, but shall only say it is what appeareth to me most probable. There have been found some in the tents of Protestants, that have taken much pains to free the Papacy from the imputation of antichrist. This I conceive was Grotius's design, in his interpretation of this book, as* if it had been a history rather than a prophecy, fulfilled in less than two hundred and fifty years after it was published. As to the Papacy being Antichrist, I think that great person spake well, who would not be peremptory in the case, but said, ' It had so many of his marks, that upon a hue and cry for antichrist, he should apprehend liim.' I shall add, that if he were so apprehended and tried, he could never acquit himself either at the bar of Scripture or reason.*'

A wise and good man will tremble to form false judgments in rehgious matters. But it may be asked, are we most exposed in our day, (which is not free from that spurious benevolence which is very latitudinarian,) to err by ''calling evil good,

PREFACE. Vll

or mod evil?" A woe is denounced ao-ainst tliose ^yho offend in either way. This subject deserves serious thought: for is not there not among us in many quarters a strange incUnation to confound moral elements; to palliate error, to conceal deformity, and to sacrifice plain and honest truth at the shrine of expediency and candour? I pity the man who does not look with tenderness and love upon the whole human family; and who does not possess and cherish in his heart the feelings which St. Paul had when he thus addressed Agrippa ; " I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." This is to love our neighbour as ourselves. It cannot be denied that unjust severity is a sort of gross injustice : but is not dalliance with error, the extenuation of evil, and the gay decoration of folly, equally unjust, and far more injurious in their tendency?

But it is suggested, that by applying the Apocalypse to the Papacy, whilst we are assailing one enemy, we are putting ourselves off our guard, and rendering ourselves unprepared to encounter a far more formidable foe, who may assault us at some future period; — an Antichrist of a far more atrocious character than any which has yet appeared.

Vlll PKEFACE.

But our answer to a notion of this sort is easy and clear. We maintain, in the first place, that we have one adversary very plainly before us. Secondly, We do expect other formidable enemies to arise: we rest our expectation on the express words of prophecy; Rev. xvi. 13, 14: we may call them antichrists if we choose: these and the papacy are cognate adversaries. Thirdly, If we view prophecy rightly we shall not confine our thoughts to the Papacy, but we shall be fully aware that the Church is to have various and formidable assailants in these last days.

" The bottomless pit denotes that baseless or infidel state of society out of which the last Antichrist shall arise — a condition of things which gave rise to the French Revolution at the beginning of this century, it being only a tj^pe or foreshado^t^ing of the things which are about to come into manifestation we know not how soon." — Thus speaks a writer in " The Church of England Quarterly Review," Oct., 1852: and he maintains, that Rom-C Ecclesiastical is represented, first, by the blaspheming mouth of the beast, xiii. 6; secondly by the woman riding the beast, xvii. 3 ; thirdly, by the false prophet doing miracles before him, xix. 20." The rise of another antichristian power which is to come,

PREFACE. ix

(assuming that to be the case,) furnishes no argument for our not standing opposed to an antichristian power which already exists.

If therefore in our opposition to the Papacy, the great parent-antichrist, we forget the frightful offspring which are to issue from it, it only shows that we are shortsio^hted beino^s. who look at a part only, and not at the whole, of the prophetical development. According to my view of the Chronology, of the Apocalypse, we cannot be far from the manifestation and action (if, indeed, they be not already begun,) of this fearful hostility. These few remarks are sufficient to show, that the objection to our view of the Papacy as one great Antichrist of the Apocalypse has no weight whatever.

I cannot lay down the pen without observing, that I wish the Apocalypse to be studied not merely as a book that unfolds the history of the Church, her trials and ultimate triumph, but especially as a religious book; one that is to be read with close thought, deep humility, and earnest prayer, for the enlargement of our minds, the animation of our hearts, and the edification of our souls. Its spiritual and practical design is to strengthen our faith and enliven our love; to elevate our hope and inspire

X

PEEFACE.

US with patience and resignation; and to urge us to be courageous, stedfast, and diligent in preparing for the dread solemnities which we shall one day behold, and for that world into which we shall soon enter.

gracious Father, compassionate Redeemer, Almighty Sanctifier, look down in love and pity upon a sinful world ; and hasten the day when the holy light of truth, the healing streams of mercy and grace, and the enlivening beams of love, shall abound in all lands; when ''there shall be one Fold, and one Shepherd." Amen.

CONTENTS,

PAGE

The Preface. . . . . . . i

THE INTEODUCTIOJf.

Section 1. (Preparatory Pteniarks) . . . 1

5, 2. Symbolical language . . . 19

3. Chronological View, &:c. . . . 23

4. Prophecies of the Papacy, &c. . . 38

5. Analytical View of the Apocalypse . 41

THE APOCALYPSE.

Chapter 1 60 „ 11. 66

XII

Contents

PAGE

Chapter XII 118

XIII 124

Introduction

5. It may be here distinctly stated, that the sole objeot of the present work is, — To furnish the plain and unlettered, but serious and thoughtful, Christian with such a view of the Apocalypse as shall enable him to read it, under God's blessing, with large advantage. It is our desire and aim to write — A book for the Cottager. Hence, therefore, it is in no respect original: it makes no pretension to learning, ingenuity, or acuteness : it is, in fact, only a compilation from different writers.

6. The writer must be permitted to observe, that as he is no dogmatist in the doubtful and merely speculative matters of theology, so he is very far from being a dogmatist in the interpretation of Prophecy. He advocates thought and inquiry : but, with regard to many subjects, he leaves positive and

1 absolute conclusions to those who have more acute ' vision, or more confidence in their powers, than he possesses. All, therefore, that he says of his present work is — This is the view of the Apocalypse which he holds, and which he thinks to be in the main true."

7. If we would rightly study the Apocalypse, we must take it up as a Theological and as a Prophetical Book. The former view of it may be presented to the -reader in the words of one who has closely studied it, and written upon it with great elegance and modesty.* — ^' The interest of the Apocalypse,"

* The Rev. W. H. Hoare, M.A.

B 2

THE APOCALYPSE.

he observes, ''is by no means confined to its prophetical parts. Even allowing that, in these»parts, it was indeed ' the sealed book,' which some suppose it, there would remain abundantly sufficient matter in it, to establish its claim to be regarded as, of all Scripture, the most interesting portion to the Christian Church. In the glimpses it affords us of the world of spirits; in its unveiling to our view what little may be known of ' the Communion of the departed with the living saints;' in its descriptions of the righteous and the wicked ; and of the final judgment; in its emphatic and repeated testimony to the fundamental articles of our Faith, to the doctrine of the Trinity, to the Personality, Divinity, Incarnation, Sufferings, Exaltation, Meditorial Office, and triumphant reign of Christ ; in its protest against corresponding errors, as idolatry, additions to, and subtractions ft'om, the Word of God; in its repeated testimony to the justification of the sinner, as effected only ''by the merits and death of Christ," " and through faith in His blood;" to the necessity of Sanctification ; to a day of account, and to the future judgment of every man according to his works; — In these, and such other topics with which it abounds, w^e have full proof of the value of this closing portion of the inspired Canon, to all who would ' strive earnestly for the faith once dehvered to the saints.' "

8. The same excellent writer speaks thus about the Apocalypse, viewed as a Prophetical Book. "If the very title of this book, as the ' Revelation of

INTRODUCTION.

Jesus Christ,' be rightly understood to imply, not only the final manifestation of our Lord at His Coming, but also the gradual development of His

|l kingdom previous to that event ; if this be confirmed by the express injunctions delivered to the Apostle at the opening of the book, ' Write the things which thou seest, both those which are now. and those which shall happen after these; and if, by

1 way of such development, we have a clear representation of the general outlines at least of the Church's history and prospects, of her destined trials and persecutions, of her supports and consolations

, under them, and of her ultimate triumph and de-

I liverance out of all; — then have we abundant matter of profit and edification in the study of the Apocalypse, without attempting to become prophets ourselves, and without deciding beforehand what is to be the exact accomphshment of predictions not fulfilled as yet, and of which Time alone can be the true and complete interpreter."

9. Nothing need here be said of the first three chapters, viewed theologically. Who, indeed, can possibly read the Epistles to the Seven Churches

? without the enlargement, improvement, and animation of his piety? Surely there is much in each of them that ought to come home at all times to the

' heart of every Christian. But, independently of these, the whole book abounds with the plain doctrines of the Gospel ; for amidst all its developments of historical events, those rays of holy truth are con-

THE APOCALYPSE.

tinually streaming forth upon the devout reader, which ought to strengthen his faith, to enhven his love, to refresh and comfort his weary heart, to direct his steps, to warn him against danger, and to confirm him in all truth and goodness.

10. The reader of the Apocalypse will do well, we think, to take up as a primary idea the fact, that a Contrast and an Antagonism between two directly opposite powers, causes, and agencies, are here presented to him for his meditation. He will find in it the delineation of Truth and Error; of Good and Evil; of the Lamb and of the Dragon; of the true Church and of the corrupt Church ; of Fidelity and Idolatry; of Good men and of Wicked men; of Persecution and Patience; of Depression and Triumph. At the close of all, he will see the overthrow of error and evil, and the elevation of truth and goodness: and, as the blessed and the dreadful consummation, the glorious Jerusalem and happy Paradise, and the lake of fire and brimstone, are put before him in their appropriate forms of loveliness and of awfulness.

11. But before the reader studies this book, we must request him to obtain the best view of its order that he can: for if he do not attend to this, his notions of it must be altogether vague, confused, and unsatisfactory. We are so fully convinced of the importance of this matter, that, however guilty we may be of some repetition, we shall here give two brief sketches or tables of the Apocalypse, and

IlSrTRODUCTION.

afterwards give a more minute staternent of its contents in an Analysis of it. In the first syllabus we have put the views of Mr. Elliott and Mr. Hoare in juxta-position: the second syllabus is merely designed to give a chronological view of the book; into the particulars of which we shall not here enter.

Mr. Elliott. 1, Introduction. Chap. iv. v.

Part I. The temporal prosperity ; the decline and fall of the Pagan Roman Empire

The six first Seals. A.D. 96—313. Chap. yi.

Sealing and Palm-bearing Vision. Chap. Tii.

Part II. The sounding of six Trumpets. The destruction of the AVestern Empire by the Goths, and of the Eastern Empire by the Saracens and the Turks. A.D. 395—1453.

Chap. viii. ix. 1 — 19.

Part III. The Eeformation ; under the latter half of the sixth Trumpet ; including the antecedent history, and the ■ death, resurrection, and ascension of the two Witnesses.

Part IV. Supplemental and explanatory history of the rise, character, and establishment of the beast from the abyss,

Mr. Hoare.

Scene V. Intermediate Scene, in three parts

1. Woman ; Dragon. Chap, xii.

THE APOCALYPSE.

or Popedom, with its adjuncts ; and the contrasted impersonation of the Church of Christ. A.D. 303, &c.

Chap. xii. xiii. xiv.

Part y. The era of the French Revolution, as figured under the first six Yials of the seventh Trumpet. A.D. 1789 —1830. Chap. xi. 15—19.

Part TI. The Present and the Future, to the Millennium and the Final Judgment.

2. Two Beasts and Image.

Chap. xiii.

3. The Saints ; judgments.

Chap. xiv.

The End. Song of the Saints.

Chap. XV. 1 — 0.

Scene YI. The seven Yials.

Chap. XV. 6. xix. 1—10.

Scene YII. In four parts :

1. Preparation for the Millennium. Chap. xix. 11 — 21.

2. Satan bound ; Chap. xx. 1—6 : loosed ; 7 — 9 : cast into the lake, 10.

3. The last Judgment ; Ilia.

4. New Heaven and New Earth.

Chap. xxi. 1 — 9.

The heavenly Jerusalem. 10 — 27. xxii. 1 — 5.

Conclusion : 6 — 21.

2. The Chronology of the Apocalypse; taken from The Harmony of History with Prophecy ;" by Josiah Conder.

Yision I. Date of the Yisions. (First Septenary.) A.D. 95.

Y'ision II. First Seal. Prosperous state of the Empire from Nerva to Commodus. Chap. vi. 96 — 180.

Second. Civil discord under the Praetorian sword. 180 —

Third. Fiscal oppression under the Provincial Governors, 211 — Fourth. Era of Mortality. 248— Fifth. Persecutions under Decius and Diocletian. 249 — 312. Sixth. Overthrow of Paganism. 324—395

Yision III. Restraint upon the Tempest winds. Chap. vii. 1—3. 381 — 395,

INTRODUCTION.

Sealing of the 144,000. Era of Augustine. Chap. vii. 4, &c. 394. Vision IV. Seventh. Death of Theodosius. Chap. viii. 1, &c. 395

First Trumpet. Alaric and the Goths. Chap. viii. 7. (Second

Second. Genseric and the Vandals. Ver. 8. 429 — 477.

Third. Attila and the Huns. Ver. 10. 450—453.

Fourth. Odoacer and the Ostrogoths. Ver. 12. 479 — 556.

Fifth. The Saracens. Chap. ix. 1. 612—762.

Sixth. The Turks. Ver. 13. 1075—1461. Vision V. Descent of the Angel with the open book. Chap. x.

Measurement of the Temple. Chap. xi. 1, 2. 1525.

Ministry of the Witnesses dates from. Ver. 3, 787.

War of the Beast commences. Ver. 7. 1179.

Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses, Ver. 11. 1514—1517.

Political Elevation of the Witnesses. Ver. 12. 1582.

Fall of the tenth part of the great City. Ver. 13. 1534.

Seven Chiliads destroyed. Ver. 13. 1579.

Cessation of the Second Woe. Ver. 14. 1774.

Seventh Trumpet. Ver. 15. 1783.

Vision VI. Retrospective. Birth of the Man-child. Chap. xii.

1—6. . 312—321.

Conflict in Heaven. Ver. 7. 313.

Dragon cast out. Ver. 9. 324.

Woe in the reign of Valens. Ver. 12. 378—382.

Absorption of the Draconic Flood. Ver. 16. 406^

Flight of the Woman, Ver. 14. 787.

Vision VII. Rise of the Seven-headed Beast. Chap. xiii. 1, 2.

774—787

Healing of the Imperial Head. Ver. 3. 962.

Rise of the Two-horned Beast. Ver. 11. 1073.

Triple Proclamation. Chap. xiv. 6—12. 1390—1565. Vision VIII. The Harvest. Ver. 14. 1566—1713.

Seventh Trumpet. Chap. xv. xvi. 1783, Vision IX. First Vial. French Revolution. Chap. xvi. 2.

(Third Septenary.) 1789.

Second. Maritime Wars. Ver. 3. 1793—1815. B 5

THE APOCALYPSE.

Third. Wars of the Rhine, Po, and Danube. Yer. 4.

1793—1805.

Fourth. French Empire. Ver. 8. 1808—1812. Fifth. On the Papacy. Yer. 10. 1809— 1814.

Sixth. On the Turkish Empire. Yer. 12. 1820. Seventh. European Convulsions. Yer. 17. 1848.

12. The reader of the Apocalypse should bear in mind, that he has to examine three successive Septenaries, or three larger periods, each of which consists of seven parts; each part being distinguished by some remarkable events in the way of God's providential government of the world. We may now take a cursory view of the book according to this division.

i. We have the three Septenaries, with their subdivisions, in chap. vi. ; and viii. and ix. ; and xvi.

ii. If we examine the intervening chapters, we shall find, that in chap. vii. we have an account of the Church militant and triumphant from the days of the Apostle to the consummation of all things.

iii. In chap, x., xi. 1, 2, we have the Reformation.

iv. In chap. xi. 2 — 13, we have a concise view of the true Church from an early period ; from the rise of her adversary to the Eeformation, during that event, and to a subsequent period.

V. Chap, xii — xv, give us a history of the Church and of her Adversarj^ from the first age to a late period; that is, to, or even beyond, the effusion of the Seven Yials.

INTKODUCTION vi. Chap, xvii — xix. 1 — 10 unfold chap. xvi. 17 — 21 : for particulars we refer to the Analysis.

vii. At chap. xix. 11 the Apocalypse proceeds from chap. xvi. 21 to the consummation.

13. If we suppose ourselves to be living, as with no small probability we may suppose, under the sixth, if not under the seventh, Yial. we must say nothing about the future, in a chronological viev\^ from that point of time. If our view of the book be in any tolerable degree correct, it must be evident, from the statement given above, that it is by no means a confused work, requiring dislocation and transposition to be resorted to, before we can make any thing of it. We have here, if we may speak so, the great drama of the Church and of the World set before us in three separate Acts, each of which contains an equal number of Scenes. In other words, we have here a sublime description, under the veil of svmbolical imao'erv. of the oTeat events which are to take place upon the arena of the world, Avith an immediate reference to the Church, between the days of the Apostle and the end of all things. It does appear, on the calm examination of this book, that the latter ages of the Avorld will abound with awful displays of God's righteous judgments on the hosts of the ungodly. What other conclusion can be drawn from the account of the seventh Yial, chap. xvi. 17 — 21? But, not to enlarge on this, what a commentary is the Apocalypse on Genesis iii. 15? We contemplate, however, with joy and

THE APOCALYPSE.

gratitude the result of the long and bitter conflict; the triumph of our blessed Eedeemer and of His people, and the utter confusion and overthrow of the Adversary and of his adherents.

14. It should be observed, that the seventh Seal comprehends the seven Trumpets, and that the seventh Trumpet comprehends the seven Vials. Further, it must not be supposed, that when a new Seal is opened, or Trumpet blown, or Vial poured out, the preceding ones entirely terminate; since a former one may run parallel for a season with its successor, until it is gradually exhausted. — We must also remark, that although we have put down various historical dates, we do not by any means look upon them as unquestionably correct: it is quite sufficient for all valuable purposes, that, in the leading or principal matters, they are approximations to the true dates, and show us the chronological character and order of the book.

15. The wise and humble interpreter of the Apocalypse will not venture to say, that he has in all cases selected those very facts of history in which the predictions were fulfilled. The Apocalypse, however, as a prophetical book, must have a historical fulfilment: and when we find a most marvellous coincidence between the prophetical announcements and the historical records of the eastern and western world, not in mere solitary instances, but in a vast series of events, through a period of more than twenty-four centuries; from Daniel, B.C.

IXTRODUCTION.

555, to the present day; we are compelled to hold fast the persuasion, that our interpretation, (however faulty it may be in some particulars, either as to fact or time,) is substantially and upon the whole correct. The prophecies contained in this book were designed, we must presume, to instruct and warn and comfort the true followers of our blessed Lord through all ages of the world. AVe must, therefore, expect to see the fulfilment of them as ages pass away, so that between them and the world's history there shall be a manifest and undeniable agreement. And this is precisely what we do see : for here the state of the Church is faithfully set before us, such as it has been, and such as it now is : and here also the character of her Adversary is most accurately dehneated ; his rise, support, and growth ; his ascendancy and tyranny ; his profanity, falsehood, artifice, and cruelty. Such being the harmony between the announcements of prophecy and the narratives of history, as is well known to every scholar, and may be known by every one who will compare the one with the other, we are satisfied that our general view of these prophetical Scriptures is correct.

16. It mav be observed, and it is indeed a sino-ular circumstance, that the Western Empire is the great arena upon which, for the most part, the awful strife is carried on between the true Church and the false one. In this part of the world rose the fourth empire of Daniel; and no other empire is to rise; no one so connected with the Church as this is: and

THE APOCALYPSE.

the termination of its course, when it has fulfilled its purpose, is to be followed by the accomplishment of Dan. rii. 13, and of Revelation xx.

17. The reader of the Apocalvpse must call his imao:ination into exercise, and realize to a certain extent the visions of the Apostle.* He will put

* The standing Scenery of tlie Apocalypse is thus described by Mr. Elliott. — " The Scene first %-isible, and which remained stationary throughont the foreground, was as of the interior of a temple, including in its secret and inmost sanctuary the throne of Jehovah, a:. f company attendant round it. For this

did not appe:.i m space, or public: but, as seems manifest

in the progress of the prophetic drama, and is indeed in one place directly inrimated, within the inclosure of a temple sanctuary: xvi. 17. — It was a temple resembling Solomon's, or, yet more, the tabernacle framed earlier by Moses in the wilderness ; although on a grander scale, at least as regards the inner sanctuary, and with other ma.rked peculiarities. The which resemblance is also intimated to us. For it was called upon one occasion the temple of God :'" on another, in words only referable to the Jewish temple or tabernacle, ''the temple of the tabernacle of witness, in heaven." — Moreover, in its parts and divisions it well corresponded with that of Israel. The temple proper, or Sanctuary, was similarly constituted of the Holy place and that Most holy: save that there was no vail, as of old, to separate them : the one being characterized by the golden altar of incense^ and, as I think also, by the seven burning lamps; the other by the divine glory, and the ark of the covenant. A court too apjTrrf ::ached to this sanctuary, just as to the Jewish, and one 5-i_:-.\:-7 marked by an altar of sacrifice standing in it : besides that there was the similar appendage of an outer court also, as if of the Gentiles.

As the visions proceeded, other objects appeared in connected landscape, arov: ' ' ' ene::.::: :he temple. Nearest was the

Mount Zionar. : 11:7 n:: literal Jerusalem, which

had been levelled 10 the ground, and was now literally in bondage with her children ; but that which, though in some things different,

INTRODUCTION.

one scene, or one picture, after another, before the mind's eye ; so that all the symbolical representations shall pass before him. But he must remember that he is dealing with Symbols; not with realities themselves, but with the representations of realities. The symbols will convey instruction to him just as they are rightly understood; for they may be accounted to form a sort of picture-language. Our view of some of them may be very imperfect; yet most of them are sufficiently intelligible. If we think such a mode of instruction obscure, we must recollect, that it is the mode which was chosen by the Prophet of His Church, in order to give her that measure of knowledge which He saw to be proper for her: and it becomes us to examine with reverence and gratitude the various images and scenes by which He has been pleased to communicate to us His purposes, and