His

The Prophet Malachi, the last writer of the Old Testament, is called by the Jews its Seal. And St. John is the Seal of the New Testament'. Gospel is the Seal of the Evangelical, his Apocalypse is the Seal of the Apostolical, Canon. Hence the concluding words of his Gospel, and of his Apocalypse, have one and the same final and valedictory 2 character. This act of sealing is here represented as done by divine command: I heard a Voice from Heaven, saying to me, (says St. John,) Seal what the Seven Thunders have spoken. Therefore, by these words, Almighty God sets His own Seal to the New Testament by the hand of St. John: He says to St. John, Bind up the Testimony; Seal the Law among My Disciples: and what we receive from St. John, we receive from GOD.

This is an important result.

5. To proceed.

and eat the Roll.

St. John is commanded to take

What does this signify?

It means, that he must make it his own, and incorporate it. Just as St. Peter is commanded to arise, kill, and eat the animals, which he had regarded as unclean, let down in a vessel from Heaven, and thus to incorporate those symbols of Gentilism with him

1 See above, Lect. II. p. 48.

2 See John xx. 30, 31; xxi. 24, 25. Rev. xxii. 17-21. Cf. Lampe, Proleg. in Joan. i. v. § xiii. xiv.

8 Isa. viii. 16, LXX. τότε φανεροὶ ἔσονται οἱ σφραγιζόμενοι τὸν Νόμον.

4 Acts x. 13-15.

self the Apostle of the Jews, and to declare their union in Christ, so St. John must take and eat the Book. This he did, by publicly adopting and authenticating what had been written by the preceding Apostles and Evangelists, and by adding his own Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse, to give full stature and complete organization to the sacred body of Apostolic and Evangelical Teaching '.

3

This Book is represented as sweet in his mouth as honey: for, as the Psalmist says, O how sweet are Thy Words unto my throat, yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth! But it embitters his belly. The word rendered belly is kodia, that is, the natural man. The preaching of God's Word to a thankless world will bring sorrow with it to the natural man. As Ezekiel says in the parallel passage to that now before us-they to whom the message is to be delivered are a rebellious house; or, as the Septuagint thrice repeats the expression, an embittering house and St. John himself explains this phrase, in the beginning of the Apocalypse, by showing that the preaching of the Word was the cause of bitter

1 See "Lectures on Inspiration," Lect. VI. and Lect. XI., Lampe ad Joann. i. p. 80: Apparet Joannem præcedentia Evangelia inspexisse, et ab iis quæ jam perscripta in illis essent studiosè abstinuisse.

2 Psalm cxix. 103.

3 Koiλía, as opposed in Scripture to the Spirit. See Rom. xvi. 18. 1 Cor. vi. 13. Phil. iii. 19.-Aquinas well says, ad loc. Amaricabit ventrem tuum, id est, carnem infirmam; molliorem partem corporis. See Jerem. iv. 18, 19, ἡ κακία σου πικρὰ τὴν κοιλίαν, τὴν

κοιλίαν μοῦ ἀλγῶ.

4 οἶκος παραπικραίνων, Ezek. iii. 9. 26, 27.

ness to himself. I John (he says), who am also your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos (an exile and a prisoner), for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Thus the Gospel of Christ was made bitter to his flesh and blood.

6. This interpretation of the meaning of the Opened Book, and of the Seven Thunders, is confirmed by what follows; and this Vision serves, when so explained, as an Introduction to St. John's Prophetic History of Holy Scripture.

We are now also enabled to perceive the connexion of this Vision with the preceding one (which engaged our attention in the last Lecture)—the loosing of the four Angels. That Vision prefigured the triumphs of the Gospel. It naturally introduced the History of the Gospel, represented by the Open Book and we shall now see that this Vision, in its turn, naturally leads to what follows. Thus these Visions serve to show that the Apocalypse is composed with systematic exactness, and that a beautiful harmony pervades the whole.

7. Let us see how this appears. The next Vision is thus described: A measuring REED', like unto a ROD2, is placed in St. John's hand; and he is commanded to measure with it the sanctuary of God3, and the altar, and those who worship there. He must

1 κάλαμος, cap. xi. 1.

· ῥάβδος.

3 ναός.

not measure the outer court, but omit it; for it is given to the Gentiles who (it is added) will tread' the holy city for forty-two months. power to my Two Witnesses, (it

And I will give is said,) and they

shall prophesy (that is, preach) one thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth. And These are the Two Olive Trees, and the Two Candlesticks which stand before the God of the Earth. We have spoken of this Vision on a former occasion 2. Our present purpose is to present a synoptical view of the Apocalypse; and therefore, referring to what has been said before, for the grounds of the Interpretation, let us proceed to state briefly the Exposition.

The REED-the Hebrew Kaneh, a reed, whence the word Canon is derived-is an emblem of the Canon-or Rule-of Holy Scripture, completed and sealed by St. John. This Reed is said to be like unto a ROD, the Rod of iron frequently mentioned in the Apocalypse. That is, Scripture, though it measures as a Reed, yet is not frail and quivering

1 Not tread under foot, as in the Authorized Version, but walk in ; that is, be members of the Visible Church. The phrase is from the LXX Version of Isaiah i. 12, τίς ἐξεζήτησε ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν, πατεῖν τὴν αὐλὴν Μοῦ ; “ Who hath required this at your hand to tread My courts?" cf. Luke xxi. 24, where 'Iepovoaλǹμ has a spiritual, as well as a literal sense, and signifies that the Church will be "a mixed company," a floor covered with chaff and wheat, till the time of the final winnowing; a field, in which are wheat and tares, till the Harvest.

2 Above, Lecture II. p. 49.

3 Chap. ii. 27; xii. 5; xix. 15.

as a reed. It is not, as some Romish writers' have ventured to call it, "a Lesbian rule," or "rule of lead," which may be easily bent many different ways. No, it is a Rod of iron 2, which is straight and cannot be bent or broken, but will break all its foes in pieces, like potter's vessels. St. John is commanded to measure with it the Sanctuary and the Altar, and those who worship there. Properly speaking, the Reed itself gives the command. The original words are 3, A Reed was given me saying, Rise, and measure the Sanctuary. The Reed speaks. It is inspired. The Spirit is in it. It is the Word of God. And it measures the Church. The Canon of Scripture is our Rule of Faith.

3

The outer Court and Holy City is given to the Gentiles, and is not to be measured, but to be cast out. Here, we must observe, that, as the word Jew in the Apocalypse is not to be interpreted literally,

1 Albert Pighius and others; the passages may be seen, if needed, in "Sequel to Letters on the Church of Rome," Letter IV. p. 84.

2 Haymo ad loc. In Virgâ rectitudo Scripturæ intelligitur.-Berengaudus ad Rev. ii. 27. Virga ferrea Evangelium figurat quâ omnis

error destructus est.

3 Rev. xi. 1. ἐδόθη μοι κάλαμος λέγων is the reading of the best MSS. There are many such expressions in the Apocalypse. They may at first appear to be solecisms. But they are above rules :theirs is the Grammar of Inspiration.-What can be more sublime than the phrase ȧnò Toû ó ☎v kaì ô ĥv kaì ó épxóμevos, (Rev. i. 4,) showing the unchangeableness-the indeclinability-of the Deity? This is observed by Arethas. Wherever the reader meets in the Apocalypse with a phrase which seems a solecism, let him be sure that it contains some solemn truths, and that the singularity of the phrase is designed to call his attention to them.