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be, may be well understood; and, what is more, parables, which are fo expreffed, as to carry an evidence in themselves that they are what they affume to be, of divine infpiration.

SER

SERMON X.

The Style and Method of the
APOCALYPSE.

EZEKIEL XX. 49.

They fay of me, Doth be not speak
Parables?

ALL the prophecies of the Old and

New Teftament are written in parables; that is, in highly figurative terms; which yet, on examination, have appeared to be explicable on certain fixed and rational grounds of criticism.

So far, therefore, as any prejudice may have been entertained against the prophecies concerning Antichrift, as if the language of them were too abftrufe or fanciful to be understood, enough hath

been

been already faid to fhew, that it is not well founded.

It muft, however, be confeffed, that the book of Revelations [a], which contains the

[a] As to the authority of this extraordinary book (although the difcuffion of this point be foreign to my present purpose) it may be proper to acquaint fuch perfons, as have not made the enquiry for themselves, and are perhaps incapable of making it, with the fentiments, which our ableft writers have entertained of it.

Mr. Mede, a capable inquirer, if there ever was any, fays roundly The Apocalypfe hath more human "(not to fpeak of divine) authority, than any other book of the New Teftament befides, even from the "time it was firft delivered." Works, p. 6oz.

And to the fame purpofe, Sir Ifaac Newton"I do not find any other book of the New Teflament "fo strongly attefted, or commented upon fo early, as "this of the Apocalypfe." Obfervations on Daniel, &c. p. 249.

Thus, these two incomparable men. What fome minute critics have faid, or infinuated to the contrary, is not worth mentioning; farther, than just to obferve, that, if the authority of this momentous book be indeed questionable, the church of Rome could hardly have failed long fince to make the difcovery, or to triumph in it.

Hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atrida.

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moft, and the chief prophecies on the fubject of Antichrift, is of a deeper and more mysterious contrivance, than any other of the prophetic writings. Whence, our next step, in this inquiry, must be, To trace the CAUSES of that peculiar obfcurity; and to fuggeft, as we go along, the MEANS, by which it hath been, or may be, removed.

The causes, are to be fought in the STYLE, and the METHOD, of that book. I fay nothing of the fubject: for, though the things predicted may darken a prophecy, unfulfilled, the event will fhew what they are; and it is not neceffary, that we should anxiously inquire into the meaning of a prophecy, till it be accomplished.

I. First, then, the STYLE of the Revelations (for I mean not to confider it, with regard to the Greek tongue, in which it is compofed, or, to the Hebrew idiom, with which it is coloured) The style, I fay, béing fymbolical, like that of the other prophecies,

prophecies, muft, in general, be explained on the fame principles, that is, must be equally intelligible, in both. Yet, if we attend nicely to the ftyle of this prophecy, fome difference will be found, in the choice of the fymbols, and in the continuity of the Symbolic form.

1. To explain my meaning, on the first article, I muft obferve, That, though the prophetic ftyle abounds in hieroglyphic fymbols, properly fo called, yet the Ifraelites, when they adopted that style, did not confine themselves to the old Egyptian stock of fymbols; but, working on the fame ground of analogy, fuperadded many others, which their own circumftances and obfervations fuggefted to them. Their divine ritual, their civil cuftoms, their marvellous hiftory, and even the face and aspect of their country, afforded infinite materials for the conftruction of fresh fymbols: and thefe, when they came into common use, their prophets freely and largely employed. Thus, incenfe, from the religious use of it VOL. II. I

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