their deliverance from it,-and that yet a little while, and their almighty avenger was at hand, and would not tarry? There is another reafon, why the defliny of Antiochus fhould be here infifted on: he, we have seen, was intended to be a figure of him, who has lorded it, now fo long, over the flock of Chrift, under the denomination of the Pope or church of Rome: whenever therefore the prophecy should appear to be completed in the type, this would create an affurance that it would hereafter be verified in the antitype; however obfcure and even dark, at the time the prophecy was given, that antitype might be as well to the apprehenfions of the Jews, as to thofe of the prophet himself. Thus the angel having revealed to Daniel, in the clearest and plainest manner, what was foon to happen in the near event, fhews him from far, and as it were in confufion, what was afterwards to take place in the remote one: juft as a painter, having expreffed in the livelieft and brighteft colours the principal and leading parts of his defign, throws into fhade, or touches in a faint and languid way, the fubjects which feem to him but diftantly related to it.

vas

Laftly, The expofition of the prophecies of Daniel, which hath now been made, and by the only certain method, that of comparing and forting them with future events, will greatly facilitate the fearch into thofe, which yet remain to be unfolded in the writings of St. Paul and St. John. When Daniel first published his own vifions, he plainly confeffed he did not comprehend their meaning: his book to be shut up and fealed, till the time of the end; and before they fhould be at all, or at leaft fully understood, many were to run to and fro, and knowledge was to be encreased. Accordingly in thefe later ages of the world, it has happened, that much of the obfcurity, complained of in what is here foretold, has been actually removed by the completion and what to Daniel was reprefented as a book that was fealed, by St. John, in allufion, and as fhould feem, by way of oppofition, to that expreffion, is called the revelation, which God hath fhered unto his fervants of things that must partly come to pass. Such therefore of the vifions of the legal prophet, as have been already fulfilled, may be used as a direction to inftruct us in the meaning of what we are next to attempt to illuftrate, the evangelical predictions.'

Our Author proceeds in the next difcourfe to confider St. Paul's prophecy concerning the man of fin, and having overthrown other interpretations given of the prediction, he concludes with great apparent juftice, that the power here alluded to can be no other than that now exercifed by him, who fills the chair of St. Peter, under the denomination of the bishop of Rome.

From this memorable prediction, fays he, may be derived a clear and decifive proof of the reality of the prophetic fpirit with which the apostles were infpired, and in confequence of that, of the truth of the christian religion. At the time this prophecy was written, there was not, and had not been, the flendereft veftige of a power, refembling that foretold, in any part of the known world; and judging from appearances only, there was not the leaft likelihood that

any

any fuch should arife; much less that it should originate in a church fo averfe to worldly grandeur, as that of Chrift. Yet that a power of this fort now exifts, and has long existed in the Roman hierarchy, is a matter of fact that is not to be difputed; nor can any words convey a jufter idea of its nature, than thofe delivered by the apostle, fo many ages before its arrival. Thefe are things which cannot be accounted for on any principles of human fagacity or contrivance; and can only be explained on the fuppofition, that the holy men, to whom it was given thus to develope the fecrets of futurity, and bring forward its hidden myfteries into day, were infting with fuperna tural communications from the divine spirit, and spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,'

The prophecy of St. Paul concerning the apoftafy of the latter times, is confidered in the fixth fermon; in which we find a variety of reflections, tending to confirm our faith in chriftianity, as a divine revelation.

The Apocalypfe is the fubject of four difcourfes.

Thofe who apply themselves to this particular fubject of inquiry know, that the authority of the book of the Revelation is fupported by very powerful arguments. The two first ages of the chriftian church appear to have received it without hefitation. In the third century, when an attempt was made to revive fome opinions of Cerinthus, and particularly the expectation of great carnal pleafures and indulgencies during the fuppofed reign of Chrift with the faints on earth, which notion was faid to be founded on the Apocalypfe; on this account, some officious chriftians, to check fuch imaginations, endeavoured to weaken the authority of the book, and maintained that it was written by Cerinthus himself, who no doubt was cotemporary with St. John. But whoever reads, with any attention, the remarks of Dr. Lardner, and others, or the fermon now before us, will find great reafon to believe that this book had, in truth, the apostle John for its author.

In reprefenting the order and connexion of the vifions, Dr. Hallifax takes for his conductor the celebrated Jofeph Mede, on whom the highest encomiums have before been paffed by bishop Hurd, which are here renewed. The fermon is chiefly an abridgment of Mr. Mede's view of the Apocalypfe. We fhall give our Readers the four reflections with which it is concluded.

First, It has been feen, that notwithstanding the apparent diforder and confufion of this book, there are yet fufficient marks, not difficult to be difcerned by those who study it with a pure mind, by which the feries and connexion of the vifions may be known, without and even against the fuppofal of any predetermined interpretation. It has been further feen, that many of thefe vifions bear about them internal characters of contemporaneity; but, that, as in a history, where various particulars are to be defcribed, which really happened at one and the fame time, it is yet impoffible to relate them all to

D 3

gether,

gether, but fome muft unavoidably be written down before the other; fo in this prophecy, where various vifions are to be recorded, which clearly refpect one and the fame period, they are nevertheless tranfcribed in the book itself, as if they were to be fulfilled in progreffion. Hence, we have this conclufion, that all fuch interpretations, as are founded on the notion that the events foretold are to fucceed one another in the fame order as the visions, must be totally erroneous and falfe.

Secondly, As that part of the revelation, which contains the fature fortunes of the church of Christ, confifts of two distinct and feparate prophecies, connected together by a peculiar artifice, that of Synchronifm; whatever principle is affumed in order to explain thefe prophecies, it must bear the expofition quite through, and folve all the feeming contradictions purpofely thrown in to obfcure them, as the true key of a riddle always does; otherwife the principle itself, and the interpretation built on it, will be fallacious and unfafe. Particular fymbols and paffages may be expounded by partial commentators with great plaufibility, and even femblance of truth; but nothing fhort of an univerfal principle, will clear up the whole of this prophetical ænigma, or produce a full conviction, in which the mind of a fagacious inquirer may acquiefce.

Thirdly, If among the feveral apocalyptic vifions here delineated, we should haply be able to find the meaning of any one; we may by the help of that one, together with the right application of the fynchronisms already demonirated, inveftigate the hidden fenfe of the reft. For all the visions, that have been proved to contemporize with that, whofe meaning we have now difcovered, mult of neceffity be interpreted of contemporaneous events; the vifions preceding that one vifion, must be referred to preceding events; and the vifions fubfequent to it, muft relate to other events that are to follow it.

Lafly, it remains to obferve that one fuch vifion is actually explained to us by the angel himself, who communicated the revelation to St. John and that is, the vifion of the Babylonish woman, riding on the beaft with feven heads: by which, Seven heads, we are told, are meant feven mountains, and by the woman is reprefented that great city which, in the times of the apoftle, reigned over the kings of the earth. Here then let us fix the ground and principle of our future difquifitions; and having the word of God, like another pillar of fire, for our guide, let us try to explore our way through the obfcure and dreary places of this great wilderness: not doubting but the father of lights, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, will teach us by his fpirit to difcern and embrace the truth; that we may understand a proverb, and the interpretation, the words of the wife, and their dark fayings.'

This vifion, therefore, of the Babylonifh woman, our Author diftin&ly confiders in the next difcourfe, which we think a very good one. The Babylonifh woman, he concludes, can only be understood of papal or chriftian Rome; fuch as it ex

Rev. xvii. 18.

ifts at prefent, corrupted in doctrine and manners, and polluted with fpiritual whoredom, or idolatry. After illuftrating this fubject, he clofes the fermon by endeavouring to confute the different expofitions given by the learned Grotius, and the celebrated Bishop of Meaux; the former of whom explains this vifion of the Roman government, as it fubfifted in the time of Domitian, and the latter has recourfe to the reign of Diocletian but neither of these eminent men appear fuccefsful in their interpretations. This is fo connected a difcourfe that it will not furnish an extract, unless we take the first paragraph, which is ingenious, and we believe will not be unacceptable to any of our Readers.

You may have feen, fays the doctor, an optical experiment of the following kind. A painted board is produced, befmeared with colours, thrown together, as it were, at random, and in which are difcernible no obvious marks of figure or defign. When the spectator has furveyed, for fome time, and not without difguft, this unmeaning mixture of difcordant tints; a cylindrical mirror is placed on the board in a certain pofition; when behold, the difperfed and diflocated parts inftantaneously arrange themselves into an entire and perfect whole, and an elegant form is reflected from the burnifhed fteel, compofed with nicet fymmetry and art, and set off with all the grace and harmony of colouring.

The book of the Revelation to an unfkilful or careless reader ap pears to lie in a ftate like that of the painted board; from which it feems impoffible to extract any regular or connected fyftem. But by applying to this myfterious volume, in the manner already explained, the contrivance diftinguished by the name of Synchronism, an effect is experienced fimilar to that from the polished mirror; the diforder which was thought to predominate throughout, immediately vanishes; the feveral disjointed vifions are judicioufly difpofed, fo as to conftitute an unity of fubject; and this fubject is profecuted, from end to end, according to a conftant and pre-established plan, which is never more curious and artificial, than when least suspected by an ignorant or inattentive reader.'

In confidering the general defign of the remaining visions of the Apocalypfe, the Author ftill follows Mr. Mede, and in the compafs of the tenth fermon gives us a brief account of his explication of the mysterious book on which he treats. But we muft refer our Readers to the volume itself for farther particulars, as we fhall alfo for an historical view of the corruptions of popery, which is prefented in the eleventh discourse.

The concluding fermon is defigned to vindicate the reformation from the objections of the Romanifts. These objections have been often confidered; they are here anfwered in a judicious and fatisfactory manner; and now our Author finishes his plan, which was to fhew, in general, that there are predictions both of the Old and New Testament, which have been rightly supposed to refer to the defection of chriftian Rome.

An inquiry of this fort, he adds, feemed not improperly to precede the accurate and critical investigation of each particular prophecy; a labor which may well be hoped to engage the attention of future lecturers, and is indeed the principal object of an institution, which, more than any other, is calculated to fupport the cause of reformed religion, and, which deferves, and will have, the grateful acknowledgments of proteftants, of every community in the prefent and in fucceeding ages.'

We have inferted the above paffage principally to fhew what is to be expected in future from Dr. Warburton's well judged inflitution. We fhall farther prefent the Reader with a few of the concluding reflections.

First, The fober and candid deift, who has not together with the renunciation of revealed religion, thrown off all regards for that which is called natural, may be taught the danger of lightly rejecting, a fyftem of faith and practice, fuch as is propofed by chriflianity, and which is recommended by fo many circumftances of verifimilitude, at leaft, if not of truth. Nothing, humanly fpeaking, could be more improbable than that a religion fo pure and fimple as the chriftian, fo abhorrent from the views of worldly dominion, and fo friendly to the liberties of mankind, fhould become fubfervient to the worst and molt diabolical' artifices of ecclefiaflical tyranny; unless it be, that, after fuch a tyranry had been once eftablished, and interwoven in the frame and texture of civil governments, it fhould again recover its primitive integrity. Yet these are facts fo obvious and incontrovertible as to force themselves on the most incurious obferver; and at the fame time are fo utterly unlike what has happened in the ufual courfe of things, as well as fo impofible to be forefcen by the keeneit eye of unaffled human fagacity, that the fuppofition of their making part of a plan, originally fettled by the great parent of the univerte, and in confequence of that foretold by the mouth of his holy prophets, is their b: ft and moft rational folution.

Secondly, From hence too the papift may be convinced that we are not actuated by unworthy motives of real or political averfion, when we refuse to join in communion with the church of Rome; but by a ferious regard to what we conceive to be the will of God, which hath called his people out of this fpiritual Babylon, that they be nat partakers of her fins, and receive net of her plagues. Much less need he apprehend, that the revival of a ftudy, which naturally calls to mind the pernicious tendency of the papal doctrines, has any the most remote intention to awaken the feverity of thofe penal laws, which the exigencies of government and a just regard to our own fafety have fometimes made neceffary; but which have been fo little put in execution, as rather to expofe the legislature to the charge of imprudent trifling, than of wanton cruelty.

Laftly, Proteftants are above all others concerned to regard with becoming ferioufnefs, the prophecies concerning antichrift, and their completion: as it is on the evidence arifing from them, that their own religious principles have been chiefly vindicated, and on which they may be bett maintained. But in vain do we exprefs our thankfulnefs for deliverance from the yoke of popery, if it be not attended