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loud voice, saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth."

There can be no doubt that a time of severe persecution is here described. If, however, the Roman power was reduced to the extremity we have just witnessed, what more improbable than that it should have the power, even if it had the will, to persecute? Yet the spirit of God foresaw that it would soon possess both.

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Oppressed and almost destroyed, as it had been, to use Gibbon's language, under the deplorable reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, it was saved by a series of great Princes, Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian and his colleagues; who, within a period of about thirty years, triumphed over the foreign and domestic enemies of the state, and deserved the title of restorers of the Roman world.' . But it only revived to exhibit in signal display, the anti-christian spirit that animated it. During the progress of its restoration, indeed, the Christian churches enjoyed toleration and rest. But no sooner had the restoration been completed, in fact in the very same year that that auspicious consummation was celebrated by Diocletian in his triumph at Rome, (the last triumph that Rome ever saw), in that same year, A.D. 303, the persecution that we speak of began.'-p. 89.

The sequel is well known. Rivers of Christian blood flowed, as at the foot of the altar on which their lives had been sacrificed, to satiate the cruelty of savage tyrants, and of a maddened populace. The Diocletian persecution was the longest as well as the fiercest that had ever raged against the Church of Christ.

For the import of the prayer of the souls under the altar, and of the answer given to them, the work before us must be itself consulted.

The sixth seal opens with a great earthquake, and with signs and wonders in heaven, all figurative of the most alarming national convulsions. Take the author's description of the scene.

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A great and sudden earthquake shakes the earth. The mountains and the island rocks sink beneath the shock. The sun becomes black, the moon blood-red as in total eclipse. The stars fall from the heaven in which they were before shining, even as figs from a fig-tree in a windy tempest. Kings and generals, free-men and slaves, appear in flight, as men panic-struck, and seeking to caves or holes in the rocks wherein to hide themselves. And this was chiefly observable; that in the cry which St. John heard uttered by them, no earthly foe is named as their object of terror. They speak as men conscious, that Jesus that was crucified was their conqueror and their foe. They call on the rocks to hide them from Him who sate upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

'The understanding of the meaning of this vision does not seem to me to have been difficult. It surely betokened some sudden and extraordinary revolution in the Roman Empire, which would follow chronologically on the æra of martyrdoms of the seal preceding; a revolution arising from the triumph of the Christian cause over its enemies, and in degree complete and universal. No partial change would answer to the strength of the symbolic phraseology; nor again, any mere overthrow of the persecuting emperors by other milder and more tolerant, but still heathen emperors. Nothing less would answer it than a destruction of Paganism itself throughout the empire, before the progress and power of Christianity; or at least a sweeping from their high places in it, of Pagan powers and authorities.'-p. 111.

This was effected by the triumphs of Constantine over the heathen Emperors, and the consequent establishment of Christianity as the religion of the empire.

The author grapples with a subject of greater difficulty, in his comment on the seventh chapter of the Revelation, containing the vision of the 144,000 sealed ones of the tribes of Israel, and that of the great

multitudes which no man could number, who had come out of the great tribulation, having palms in their hands, &c. We think him quite correct in taking Israel to represent the Christian Church, and the sealed ones the true believers in that Church, as distinguished from nominal professors, and especially from those who were quickly degenerating into superstition and idolatry. They were "the election of grace," the spiritual Israel of God. The angel who sealed them was the angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the seal he set upon them was that of the Holy Spirit, "whereby they were sealed unto the day of redemption." We also accede to the view, that the palm-bearing vision, which immediately follows, is prospective of the future glory of the true Church, after all her present sufferings. But whether the first of these visions had its accomplishment in AUGUSTINE, is not, to our minds, so clear as it seems to be to Mr. Elliott's. We hold in high admiration the character of this extraordinary man. The view that Milner takes of him is substantially our own; but when we reflect on the extent to which he aided and sanctioned by his high authority, many of the errors of the Nicene age, we pause before we can assign him that niche in the prophetic temple in which Mr. Elliot attempts to place him. The whole subject, however, is discussed with great ability if not with complete success, from page 123 to page 180.

The second PART of this work, includes the SIX FIRST TRUmpets, and refers to the destruction of the western empire by the Goths, and of the eastern empire by the Saracens and Turks, and includes a period reaching from 395 to 1453.

The eighth chapter of Revelation thus commences, "And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." The heaven here spoken of, is supposed by our author to be the heaven from which the stars had fallen in the previous vision; that is the political heaven, containing the powers and dignities of this world. The silence implies a state of repose after the previously described convulsions. Mr. Elliott would render the verb in the past tense, there had been silence;' that is just before the opening of this seal; and the whole sentence, thus explained, will refer to the peace which prevailed, for the most part, in the empire for about seventy years before the commencement of the vision of the Trumpets.

The next thing to be noticed is, that "seven angels stood before God, to whom were given seven trumpets; " but before these were permitted to begin their work, another angel—the angel of the covenant" came and stood at the altar having a golden censer." It was his office to present incense with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar. In the mean time the angel filled the censer with fire from the altar and cast it on the earth; and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and a great earthquake.

At the sounding of each of the four first trumpets, the expression "a third part" is used, which has caused much perplexity to interpreters of prophecy. The subject is elaborately discussed by our author, who comes to the conclusion that it refers to the division of the empire into three parts under Constantine, Licinius, and Maximin, after the death of Galerius, and the overthrow and destruction of Maxentius.

The first trumpet sounds on the death of Theodosius, A.D. 395, and

the Gothic nation is in arms. ALARIC marches at their head. He leads his troops first into the Peninsular of Greece and Epirus, and having hesitated for a while in what direction to turn his forces, he rushes upon the western empire like a torrent, and sweeps over the plains of Italy and invests the capital-the gates of which are thrown open to the conquerors. The period of this trumpet extends from 396 to about 410. Thus a third part of the Roman earth is visited by the divine judgment.

The second trumpet summons GENSERIC with his hordes to the conflict; and as a great burning mountain he falls suddenly upon the sea, the maritime provinces of another third part of the empire. Africa groans beneath his tyranny, Hippo is beseiged, just as its sainted Augustine ceases to breathe. Carthage follows-a mighty naval armament is sent forth to sweep the seas and to desolate the coasts, so that a third part of the creatures that were in the sea-or the inhabitants of ships and maritime countries is destroyed.

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Before the desolations of Genseric had reached their height, the third trumpet proclaims the approach of ATTILA, the scourge of God, who like a malignant star falls from heaven upon the rivers and fountains of water that is upon that third part of the empire which is watered by the Danube and the Rhine. The Huns,' says Gibbon, 6 were masters of the great river.' The blast of the fourth trumpet rouses ODOACER, chief of the Heruli, to the last act in this great Drama. The sun of dominion was still shining over the western third part of the empire; the name and office of emperor was still retained, but this chief caused it to be abolished, and even the shadow of imperial authority passed from the feeble hands of Augustulus, and was transferred to the eastern Emperor.

The three remaining trumpets, called "woe trumpets" because of the aggravated miseries which attended them, are introduced with a solemn note of warning, to prepare the mind for the coming storms.

The fifth and sixth trumpets affect the eastern empire, which had been hitherto comparatively free from storms. The first of these woetrumpets announces the rise of the Mahommedan imposture, and the dissemination of the doctrines of the false prophet by fire and sword. The second proclaims the triumph of the Turkish or Ottoman power over the Saracenic, which, having fulfilled its divine commission, fell itself a prey to fresh hordes of Barbarian troops. The blast of this trumpet is loud and long: it does not even terminate in the capture of Constantinople, the subversion of the Greek empire, and the establishment of that power which is now holding a trembling sceptre over the region celebrated in classical antiquity, and still more celebrated for its once flourishing Christian Churches, but pours its thrilling note over the West, and denounces continued judgments on the nations subjected to the papal tyranny. Mr. Elliott's steps through this portion of his most valuable and indefatigable researches it is impossible carefully to follow; but we shall hope, in a second notice, to call our reader's attention to other portions of this work, and especially to that part of it which relates to the LUTHERAN REFormation.

We can only here add, that we have been much gratified by reading,— in times when a sickly, sentimental and formal religion receives so much countenance from many quarters—a work which breathes the firm

and fresh and healthy spirit of PROTESTANTISM. Our author never flinches from the doctrines of the cross, and never writes likes one under temptation to be "ashamed of the gospel of Christ." (To be continued.)

NEW MARGINAL READINGS AND REFERENCES, adapted to the authorized version of the Holy Scriptures, with occasional Notes. By the REV. WILLIAM BURGH, A.B. The Four Gospels, with a harmony. Small 12mo. pp. viii, and 307. Dublin, 1844.

THE object of this comprehensive little volume will perhaps, be best explained by an extract from its preface :

The following work, in the first department of it, is an attempt to supply what has long appeared to be a great desideratum-to give in a small compass to the great mass of readers of the Scriptures the advantage, now confined to ministers and the limited number of others who have the time and means for extensive theological studies, of the light thrown on many passages by the labours of the various Critical Annotators on the Originals, and Scripture Lexicographers, and especially those who have availed themselves of the collation of ancient manuscripts, and versions made since our translation.' This object is aimed at,

I. By the insertion of the various MARGINAL READINGS to be found in our authorized version; and also by extending these, so as to embrace all material improvements of the authorized version.'

II. By an attempt to render more useful another aid to Scriptural knowledge no less important, though of a different character-namely, the MARGINAL REFERENCES.'

Under this head of the preface some very appropriate and judicious remarks are made on the subject of Marginal references generally, and of those, in particular, which have been hitherto presented to the public.

III. By the introduction of 'occasional NOTES, for the most part critical, i.e. shewing the exact meaning of particular terms.'

We imagine that incidental remarks as to the pre-millennial advent are introduced into these notes, which would, in our opinion, have been better omitted. With Mr. Burgh's views on this subject we are not precisely acquainted; but he has published more than one volume upon it. As a specimen of the kind to which we refer, we might call attention to the note on Luke i. 17, "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children," &c.,-where the following words occur,

".... to effect which national reformation, as a preparation for the Messiah's coming, was the aim of the Baptist's, as (we are led to believe) it will be the actual result of Elias's ministry previous to the Second Advent.'

Whatever be the author's views on this subject we will merely say, that, for ourselves we believe that "Elias is come already," and that no such person is ever to be looked for again-on any scriptural authority -before the consummation of all things.

While, however, this remark might make us distrust Mr. Burgh as a commentator, we have no doubt that the volume is very valuable as -what he himself terms it-'A Manual of Biblical Criticism.' As such we have no hesitation in recommending it to our readers, having simply cautioned them against what we conceive to be erroneous ideas which they might occasionally meet with in the 'Notes.'

Intelligence.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

Results of Reading the Scriptures.

THE following particulars have been received from the Rev. Charles Pitman, of Raratonga, in Polynesia :

'Our souls have often been refreshed to hear many of our flock, in much simplicity, but apparent sincerity, testify the advantages and spiritual benefits they have received, by reading, in their own tongue, the Word of God. Two young men, both of them among the first scholars in our School, received into Church Communion the same evening, both dated their first serious impressions in reading the third chapter of the Gospel of St. John. They have since been set forth as Native Evangelists, to make known the truths of that Blessed Volume to those perishing for lack of knowledge. One of them came to me for conversation one Sabbath Evening, after the Services of the day, with whom I spoke till near midnight. "What a book," said he, "is the Word of God! What heights! what depths! who can fathom it! What a being is God! How amazing the plan devised by Him for our salvation! The more I read it, the more I am amazed. Alas, what a poor ignorant creature is man! What a dreadful state of darkness were we in, till you were sent with the Word of God to make known to us the will of the great God!" I need not say what feelings were produced in my mind to hear such a testimony borne to that_precious volume by one born a Heathen. Hours rapidly fled that night while we conversed on the all-important truths of divine revelation. I have had the unspeakable pleasure of hearing that young man preach, Sabbath after Sabbath, such discourses to his fellow-countrymen as would delight the hearts of the truly godly in Britain, had they been present to hear for themselves.

'About three months ago, sitting in my study examining two Candidates for Baptism, a young man, a cripple, came in and sat down, having all his

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fingers and toes eaten away by a disease prevalent in these islands. Besides this, he has lost the use of one side, and was obliged to help himself forward by the use of a long pole. "Well, friend," I asked, what is your business?" "I am come, Teacher," said he, "to make known to you my great desire to be for ever the Lord's, and to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." After asking him a few questions relative to the ordinance, his views, of acceptance with God, &c., all of which were answered satisfactorily, I requested him to relate to me what first led him to serious reflection. He then said, "One day, as I was sitting in my house, I took up the New Testament, and read the 22d chapter of the Gospel by Matthew; and when I came to the 13th verse I could proceed no farther. I reflected on the passage, and the more I thought of it, the more my fears increased. I could not banish from my mind the words, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away. My soul was full of terror: I was sure that I was the man to whom Jesus would say, Bind him hand and foot, &c. By the subsequent reading of the Scriptures, and attendance at the House of God, where the way to obtain pardon of sin was made known, I felt relief to my burdened mind, and determined to give myself to God, and flee to Jesus alone as my only hope. He is the only Saviour: salvation is no other. I then came to you, and expressed a wish to be baptized; and you conversed with me on the subject as you have since." I proposed various doctrinal subjects, to all of which he replied with such promptness and clearness, as to afford me the greatest pleasure. I asked him his views of Baptism. "It is," he said, " an appointment of Christ, which he enjoined upon his disciples; and all who love the Saviour should be baptized." I asked why water was used in this ordinance. Emphatically he answered, "It is a sign-a

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