two olive trees, and the candlestick in Zech. IV. There we have the candlestick all of gold, with the bowl upon the top of it, representing the purified general assembly of the first born which are written in heaven, receiving the unction from above. The seven lamps thereon may denote the seven Spirits of God dispensing through the seven pipes (the instruments of God's grace,) life and light in the surrounding darkness of this evil world. The two olive trees by the candlestick, one upon the right side of the bowl and one on the left side thereof, may be the Jewish and Gentile churches; and the Prophet's question rather confirms this, "What are these two olive trees?" and "What be these two olive branches which empty the golden oil out of themselves?"-(Quere: the visible and spiritual Jewish and Gentile churches.)—" These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth;" or, as it is Rev. XI. 4,"standing before the God of the earth;" which coincidence, I conceive, identifies both passages together, viz. that in Zechariah with

that in the Revelation.

I shall proceed further to notice first, the Harvest; and secondly, the Vintage. Both are closely connected, for it is written, "Your threshing shall reach to the Vintage, and the Vintage shall reach to the sowing time."

The Harvest.

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle,-for the Harvest of the earth is come." Rev. XIV. 14, 15.

We read that when the Harvest is ripe, that is, when the wickedness and infidelity of the Gentile church is come to the full, immediately

God putteth in the sickle, and the tares and the wheat are both cut down together; the former being first bound in bundles, to be afterwards burnt at Armageddon; and the latter undergoing a threshing, to separate it from the chaff, (professors,) before it is gathered into the garner.

The field, as we shall see presently, is the world of the mystical Babylon, the Beast of the Revelation; the Harvest is the end of this age or dispensation, when shall come to pass that which is written in Isaiah and Jeremiah."Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken to the ground. O my threshing and the corn of my floor." (Isaiah XXI. 9, 10.) Again, Thus saith the Lord, I will raise up against Babylon-a destroying wind, and will send fanners to fan her, that shall fan her, (separate the chaff from the wheat,) and shall empty her land. The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her Harvest shall come.' (Jeremiah LI. 1, 2, 33.) I shall not further occupy your few pages by proving, from other Prophets, what appears so clear, that the Harvest has direct reference to the destruction of Babylon-the Mother of Abominations.-I shall merely ob. serve, what is very remarkable in these our days, that her spoilers shall come from the north.' See Jeremiah LI. passim. The threshing of Babylon shall reach to

"

"will gather all nations against Jerusalem," (Zech. xiv. 2,) where "the wine-press" is reserved for "the day of trouble and treading down."

We know from Isaiah v. that the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant;" in this vineyard God built a tower, (Jerusalem) and therein "a wine-press." With this key we may easily thus paraphrase Rev. XIV. 19, 20:-"And the Angel thrust in his sickle into the (Roman) earth, and gathered the (Jewish) vine thereof, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God, (at Jerusalem) and the wine-press was trodden down without the city, (of Babylon) and blood came out of the wine press, even to the horses bridles, by the space of 1600 furlongs, (the supposed extent of Palestine :)—according to Zech. XIV-" The city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut of from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives." I am, dear Sir, NEMO.

Dear Sir, Wishing upon every account that your valuable work should be as free from error as possible, I would suggest to the respective Authors of two Articles in the first number, the subjoined queries.

I am &c., "FUNGAR VICE COTIS, &c." The Jewish Era.

Page 6. "The Jews reckon that they commenced the year 5996, &c." Qr. On what authority does this rest? All the almanacks that I have been able to consult state that the Jewish year 5596 ends Sept. 11, 1836. I do not myself know any

thing of the pros or cons of Chronological computation; but should have concluded the 9 to be a misprint for 5, except that a deduction as to the sixth millenary is founded upon it, &c.

[The above date was hastily copied from a paragraph which appeared in the Record Newspaper of 24th. Sept. 1835, which was as follows"Tomorrow will be new year's day with the Jews, and will be celebrated by them as a festival, being the commencement of the year 5996 according to the Jewish Era.” Our object however was not to urge the Jewish computation, but that of Mr. Clinton, which makes the present year to be 5974 of the world.—ED.]

The Angel of Rev. 1. 1.

P. 21, 1. 29,—" and lastly, as a fellow servant of St. John and [one] of his brethren, &c.; (Rev. xIx. 10) or as he elsewhere calls himself [one] of his brethren, &c. (Rev. xxII. 9.) Qr. Is not this insertion of [one] a mistranslation? Is not the true construction, that which our Translators appear to have intended : συνδούλος σου ειμι και [συνδουλος] των adeλowv σov-"I am a fellow servant of thee, and of thy brethren." And so in the other passage, i. e. "I am engaged jointly with thee, and thy brethren, in the service of God."

If" of thy brethren" meant " one of "-would not the Greek have been, either ε тwv (John xviii. 22, et al. :) or, etc EK TWV (John xviii. 26, et al :) or simply εK Twy? (John xvi. 17; Luke x1. 49.)

The (it would seem single) argument, therefore, for the angel employed &c. "being one of the spirits of the just made perfect," falls to the ground. Surely also it is an assumption, (and perhaps an unfounded one, but at any rate requiring to be proved;) that the

one of the elders" (chap. vII, 13,)

the "one,' "second," "third" and "fourth" living creatures (chap. vi. 1, 3, 5, 7,) the " one of the seven angels, &c." (chap. xvII. 1 ; xxI. 9,) are all one and the same individual, and also identical with the angel

:

mentioned chap. xix. 10; xxII. 9; and 1. 1 for so Mr. F. would seem to assert. The whole point would not seem of much consequence, except as far as correctness of interpretation of words is concerned.

(5) An Analytical Comment on the first part of The Revelation; being an attempt to elucidate both the Historic and Prophetic sense of the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia. By HENRY GIRDLESTONE, A. B. Rector of Colton, Norfolk. [Now of Landford, near Salisbury.]

Lond. Hatchard, 1833, 8vo. pp. 212.

Much difference of opinion has existed among the interpreters of the Apocalypse in regard to the character of the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, which are prefix ed to that Book. The first question discussed among them is, whether they are to be considered as prophetical, or merely historical,-i. e. only so far prophetical as they contain warnings of evil and promises of good, which were fulfilled in the first ages of christianity on those particular churches, and which have now therefore become history. This opinion however is compassed about with insuperable objections. For how are we in this case to account for the fact of their being prefixed as an introduction to the Book of Revelation? To account for it as Bishop Halifax, Dr. Johnson of Holywood, and others writers of this class do-by stating, that they were addressed by St. John to the seven churches only for the sake of their better preservation,-is any thing but satisfactory; for the question immediately presents itself, Why were

these seven churches selected more than any others in Asia, as Colosse, Tralles, Magnesia, Hierapolis, which were all flourishing congregations, and were placed either within or upon the circle described by the position of the seven? Why again were these churches of Asia preferred before some of the more influential churches in other parts of the world? And more especially we may ask, Why were these epistles consigned for preservation to churches whose early doom is in some instances foretold in these very epistles, and the long degraded and ruined condition of which evince that they were quite incapable of such a charge?

The more commonly received opinion is that these epistles are prophetical in the more extensive sense of the term; i. e. that these churches are but types, in whose circumstances is prefigured the condition of the whole church of God at some future period or periods. The exhortation appended to each of the seven epistles-"He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches"-places beyond a question, that those prophetical warnings, which they do avowedly contain, were not to be understood as of private interpretation," but were intended for the church of God in all ages.

Another question however arises hence: Do these churches set forth the characteristics of the professing

church of God-that portion of it at least in which the truth is preserved, -at one particular period more than another? The great majority of those who treat the epistles to them as prophetical, consider that they describe the state of the church in seven different ages, from the beginning to the end of the Christian dispensation, which periods correspond with the order of the epistles as contained in Rev. 11. and III. Hence this class of interpreters have been termed periodists. There is however a great want of unanimity in regard to the periods fixed upon, though some are made out with considerable plausibility.

On the whole, though we consider that these Epistles may be accommodated in the manner just stated to the circumstances of the church in various successive ages, yet are we disposed to conclude that their main design is, to set forth the state of the church at some one particular period of its history, and that the period of its great crisis, immediately before and in "the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth." At this time we conceive that there will be found, in different sections or communities of the professing church, characteristics answering to those which are here described; and that there will then be a special need of the exhortations, warnings and promises given to these typical communities of Asia Minor. Our first reason for this con

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clusion is, that the typical churches were all co-existing at the time when the messages were sent; and that all the circumstances to which attention is invited, whether for blame or praise, were to be found within the radius of a hundred miles from Sardis.* Our second reason is, that the promises given to these churches have a special reference to the advent of the Lord and to the glory which is to be revealed in the Millennium. To these reasons we may add two others, which are independent of internal evidence; viz. thirdly, that the early christians (as may be seen in Cyprian ad Quiren. ii. 19) were thus led to conclude that these churches were emblematical of the whole church in their age; an opinion which has been extended by subsequent writers, who consider that they are designed to describe the circumstances of the church in any age. And our fourth reason is, that it would be no difficult task to point out the parallels to the characteristics given in these epistles in the church at the present day, either already manifested, or beginning to develope themselves, in a very striking manner.

The work of Mr. Girdlestone does not fully coincide with our views in the particulars above named; but we nevertheless consider it a useful publication :-First, because there will be found condensed within its pages all that is valuable in the way of research and erudition, bearing