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up and sealed, as referring to very remote futurity; whereas, here it is said, (ver. 10,) Seal NOT the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand.' The predictions of the Apocalypse serve to explain and illustrate those of Daniel.

"Verse 11 teaches, that forasmuch as the strongest motives to repentance and conversion are to be found in this revelation, therefore, whosoever will not yield to such motives, has now to see to it, whither the way he has chosen is leading him. Here then is a reason why, as an expositor of this prophecy, I must keep back nothing, but must clearly and freely lay open all. I may make no impression where I had hoped to do it, but I shall find that I have done it where I did not expect it. For what those who are full' regard as insipid, may be savoury and vital to others in a time of need. And what may be thought overcuriousness at present, will hereafter serve to the praise of the Divine glory.

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"The awful Commination which here prohibits the smallest addition to, or diminution from, the words of the book of this prophecy, was peculiarly necessary; because, in the prophetic writings, so much depends on a single, apparently trivial, word; and because, in writings of this kind, any perversion of the true meaning is not so easily discovered, as in books of historical or other information."

CHAPTER VII.

APOCALYPTICAL INFERENCES AND ANTICIPATIONS.

BENGEL'S inferences from prophecy were not the dry notions of a mere biblical scholar; but the living convictions of a christian believer. Thus did his apocalyptical system so enshrine all his principles of life and conversation, that only through that medium could he contemplate either political events and designs, the condition and affairs of the church of Christ, or those of science in general. Hence it is quite requisite to the true delineation of his character, to exemplify in some degree these his habits of reflection; especially as we are furnished with a considerable number of his apocalyptical anticipations, which are not only well deserving of notice, but are even of intense interest, for their gifted farsightedness upon scriptural vantage-ground.

He observes, that* "apart from all the details of chronological computation, we cannot but think ourselves approaching very near to the termination of a great period; neither can we get rid of the idea, that troublous times will soon supersede the repose we have so long enjoyed. At the approaching termination of any great and remarkable period, many striking events have been found to take place simultaneously, and many others in quick succession; and this after a course of intermediate ages in which nothing unusual has occurred.

"The condition of the church at present,-retrospectively of the dark ages universal popery, and prospectively of the glorious millenium,-is of a middle character. Evangelical truth has sincé the Reformation been merely conducted down to us by a chain of generations, none of which have been very remarkably affected by it; the vast majority in each having, as it were, settled on the lees. But we have now for some time begun to witness a variety of new and extraordinary emergences; as visions, inspirations, sects, &c. A time of general agitation, concussion, and collision, has

* We here follow chiefly the Appendices or Gleanings," belonging to the 25th40th of his "Sixty Practical Addresses on the Apocalypse:" but we insert in proper places other passages also, which have come to hand from his letters, diaries, &c.

commenced, but the consummation is not yet. Signs however exist, which plainly enough intimate that something still more extraordinary will soon transpire. Of the fathers of the ancient church, Bernard, who lived in 1110, is accounted the latest; and from 1140 to 1160 was the thickest of the darkness. Then came Waldo, Wiclif, Huss, Luther, Arndt, Spener, and perhaps a seventh. This was the cock-crowing,—the period of dawn. By and by the crucible will yield its gold.

"Should nothing perfectly novel and upon a grand scale emerge within the next three or four years, (from 1740,) there will be another interval of comparative calm, which will last for a considerable time. As long as nothing extraordinary befalls Rome or Jerusalem, things in general will proceed pretty smoothly; but while they continue much as they are, the news in the journals will be alternating and fluctuating every quarter of a year. One novel scene of things and then another, will be perpetually engaging public notice, till the children of men become ripe at length for a visitation from Him who is higher than the high ones. When events have arrived just at the finishing of the mystery of God, we shall hear the striking of that clock which has so long been silent. I mean that partly before, and partly at this period, many events of a terrible, yes, and also of a joyful kind, will rapidly succeed one another.

"What is good appears to be also ripening for the harvest. Whereas our more recent sects have now, as I may say, disclosed all, even the noblest mysteries, and this so freely and indiscriminately, that babblers themselves are found able to begin imitating and counterfeiting them, there remains nothing more of the kind to disclose. Things cannot well be pushed to a higher pass than they are.

"As aged people are fond of repeating the history of their former years, so the world, as waxing old, appears to dote upon her own personalities. Witness the present craving appetite for books of narrative, and for tales of olden times.

"That the world itself begins to be ripe, may be seen also in the following circumstances. The manner of doing evil, and of abetting it, has more and more the show and importance of an art or science. The sins against the seventh commandment are rapidly gaining ground. How very many in our days are evil reported of as to that matter! What must be the end of these things? And yet they will grow worse and worse, when with men's inherent lusts the grand seduction of Antichrist begins

see fornication

very generally to cooperate. We shall soon more lightly thought of in Christendom than it was and is among the heathen. Adultery is already regarded as a piece of gallantry; indeed, excesses and crimes still more against nature, are not unheard of. Whatever iniquity among the higher ranks is practised upon a larger scale, or in a more refined manner, every lewd fellow of the baser sort aspires in his humbler way to imitate; and, thus among high and low, the bands of moral restraint are relaxing more and more; for superior persons, by yielding license to others beneath them, can walk after their own lusts with less outcry and molestation. I consider it as another sign of the radical corruption of our church, that when faithful ministers openly reprove and boldly rebuke such abominations, they are instantly vilified as assaulting private character; and are even threatened with prosecutions not dissimilar to those which were carried on against the primitive Christians before heathen magistrates.

"Our church, to speak generally, is become, in the collective body of its members, so corrupt a mass, such a pernicious leaven, as is sufficient to infect the whole world. With the exception of the few who cherish within them a spark of divine life, the rest of us have all the faults of a heathen wild olive-tree. The aspect of the present season in the church indicates the approach of winter; for ours is a poor frigid slumbering age, which needs an Awakener; and surely an Awakener is coming.

"Our newswriters and journalists, who have always been scribblers for pay, have contributed much to the present corruption of the public taste. Their pages will serve to show the complexion of the age we live in; that there is a spirit in it which every day more and more decidedly favours scepticism, and sets itself in opposition to Divine Revelation. The Bible (with all the parade about it) is a lamentably neglected and despised book; yes, and many who show it some regard, have learnt to handle its contents so improperly, that they cause many more to stumble, to err, and to go astray. The abilities of reason and mere nature are so exorbitantly magnified by the most, that the bulk of Christendom will soon be unable to understand the very meaning of faith, grace, or any thing supernatural. The memory of those great and holy men of old, whom the Omnipotent made use of for such mighty acts of his benevolence and supernatural interposition in his people's behalf, is now so irreverently treated, that lo! one statistical sciolist summons a 'Joseph' to his council

board; another questions a' Moses;' and a third cross-examines a ‘David,' (all, chiefly for what is termed their political conduct;) and what God himself accomplished by the mere instrumentality of such sacred men, is perversely construed by others into state management, and is thus referred to by some of the present age, in justification of their own public artifices or intrigues. The mere fancies and imaginations of minds so corrupt and so 'reprobate concerning the faith,' are printed off with unscrupulous levity, and circulated by the trade, for the sake of mammon, for the alleged diversion, but real depravation of the human intellect. And even public teachers and private tutors, as well as governors and rulers, are captivated by the mischief, and it runs down abundantly to the very lowest ranks. Hereby wholesome discipline and instruction lose all their efficacy, notwithstanding the boasted progress of wit, intellect, and ability in our days. Many even attack the Lord himself, the Saviour of the world; and one trembles to utter the impieties which are vented by audacious and numerous individuals. Systematic ungodliness has thus attained such a growth, that writers against the fundamentals of our common faith will very soon be publicly rewarded by pensions. Some, indeed, are already privately supported and encouraged in this way.

"The humour of the times has quite dismissed one article of faith, namely, respecting the person and work of the Holy Spirit. That which relates to Christ, (his deity and atonement,) is likewise on the decline; and even that of the creation of the world hangs only by a fibre. Men covertly sneer at religion, as nothing more than (an old engine of state policy, or) a curb for the lower classes; and very many persons of the sacred office, having no better opinion of it, regret that they cannot, with the rest, live quite in the mode. We see every where a subsidence into merely civil morality and natural decorum; and any thing beyond is held to be a fair object for (some kind of) ridicule; yes, (even among the ordinary ranks, as well as in more polished society,) the great visitation of God himself in Christ Jesus is treated with remarkable levity. Men seem to make it a point of secular interest so to manage in all they do and say, as that nothing peculiarly and really savouring of religion, nothing concerning God and Christ, may be traceable in their conduct. People in our days are excessively sparing and cautious of giving their open and explicit testimony to any power they may have felt and experienced from the Word of God.