BIOSQ 
 
 • •• • 
 
 • * • 
 
 • • :• 
 ••• • 
 
 DIAL OF LIFE, 
 
 EXPLAINED. 
 
 Z^^-7t 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 A TRANSLATION OF ST. PAULINUS'S EPISTLE TO 
 CELANTIA, ON THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE *. 
 
 AND 
 AN ELEMENTARY VIEW OF GENERAL CHRONOLOGY j 
 
 WITH A 
 
 R AND LUNAR 
 
 THE AUTH&H.QF** THE CHRISTIAN'S SURVEY/' S^c. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINl'ED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1812. 
 
THE DAYS OF OUR AGE ARE SEVENTY YEARS. 
 
 Ptfalm, xc. 10. 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU? GcD. xlvii. 8. 
 
 WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY^ REDEEMING THE TIME. 
 
 Eph. V. 15, 16. 
 
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 Putlifhed Ijy "V\5Iliaiii MiHer. AlTjemarle Street, i^ril I.l8l2 . 
 
MiYKtt*. ^m^4'/-^ ^'^m^x^ Ak 
 
THE BIOSCOPE. 
 
 Go Dial ! measure of our years, 
 Measure of earthly hopes and fears ; 
 And, in Thy friendly purpose bold. 
 Thy plain and artless tale unfold. 
 In Thee no subtlety we see ; 
 Clear is the truth that speaks in Thee ; 
 Truth, such as may at once impart 
 Conviction to the guileless heart. 
 To each. Thy various office lend : 
 Rememb'rer, Monitor, and Friend. 
 Let past experience serve, to guide 
 The present moments as they glide ; 
 And point them to thsit future goal, 
 Where Heaven may take the passing soul. 
 
VI 
 
 Though plain and simple be Thy guise, 
 
 Let none Thy simpleness despise ; 
 
 But bid them know, if us'd aright, 
 
 That simpleness is match'd with might. 
 
 For Thine the pow'r, to redeem 
 
 Time vanish'd as the vanished dream ; 
 
 Thine is the blessed power, to close 
 
 In endless bliss a hfe of woes ; 
 
 And Thine the pow'r, when life's deceit 
 
 Too far hath urged her fatal cheat. 
 
 To snatch from ruin on the brink, 
 
 And teach a thoughtless world to 
 
 THINK. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 20, line 6, for ingenious, read ingenuous. 
 
 57, 3 from bottom, dele in. 
 
 66, 8, for as an end, read by its end. 
 
 278, 4, — from, read in. 
 
 286, (Table) — 4001, 4000. 
 
 . 1095^ 1079. 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 " HoTF Old art thou?*' was a question 
 addressed by a great king to an ancient 
 patriarch ; and it drew forth that memorable 
 judgment upon a long life, which is known 
 to every one who is acquainted with his 
 Bible. 
 
 Although this question would be esteemed 
 a very uncourtly one, in modern times, for 
 one person to ask another, it is nevertheless 
 one of the most momentous, for every indi- 
 vidual to address frequently and seriously to 
 himself; because, unless we frequently ask 
 ourselves this question, so as to live under a 
 continual sense of the fact which must sup- 
 ply the answer, it will be hardly possible for 
 us always to maintain that correspondence 
 between our minds and our years, which the 
 . B 
 
2 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 laws of our moral being require, and sup- 
 pose; which depends altogether, upon the 
 degree of attention we habitually pay, to our 
 progress in time. 
 
 If we fairly consult our experience of 
 human nature, either in ourselves or others, 
 we shall presently perceive, that although 
 the progress of life is rendered, by God's 
 ordinance, most regular and uniform, yet 
 the concern which the mind takes in that 
 progress, is most irregular and contradic- 
 tory. For, the propensity to inquire " Hozc 
 old am J?*' which we all discover, with so 
 much alacrity, in the outset of life, com- 
 monly slackens as life advances; and when 
 it is declining towards its end, we would 
 willingly abstain from the inquiry alto- 
 gether: just as if the circumstance which 
 gave life its importance, stood somewhere 
 in the middle of its course; which being 
 passed, our interest in the progress of life 
 passed also. Whereas, it is most certain, 
 that the circumstance which alone gives 
 real importance to life, stands always at the 
 end of its career; so that, until wc shall 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 3 
 
 have reached that circumstance, the ques- 
 tion ^^ How old am IT^ ought to engage our 
 concern more and more every year, and not 
 cease to engage it, until years and bodily 
 existence have passed away together. 
 
 In the first ascent of life, we are apt to 
 ask ourselves, " How old am IV* with so 
 much overweening eagerness, that we sel- 
 dom take time for making a sound reflec- 
 tion upon the answer. In the descent of 
 life, we do not care to ask ourselves the 
 question at all, and consequently, we have 
 no answer to reflect upon. In the ascent, 
 we press forward upon time, and prema- 
 turely assume the consequence and fruits 
 of years. In the descent, we hang back- 
 ward from the current of the stream, and 
 persuade ourselves that we still retain the 
 privileges, if not the ornaments, of youth. 
 In both cases, the gradual and orderly pro- 
 cess of nature is violently opposed by the 
 irregularity of our minds ; our thoughts 
 become dissociated from our years ; and 
 hence arise, so frequently, those two un- 
 
4 PRELIMINAKY CHAPTER. 
 
 seemly characters in human life, presump* 
 tuous youth, and trifling old age. 
 
 But the difference is great between the 
 two ; for, presumptuous youth may, by the 
 indulgence of time and the intervention of 
 reflection, correct its failing, and terminate 
 in a venerable old age ; whereas trifling and 
 worldly old age has very little prospect of a 
 change from the counsels of reflection, and 
 still less from the indulgence of time. 
 
 Nothing can be more prejudicial to our 
 mental interest, or more derogatory to our 
 moral dignity, than the discordance which 
 is thus produced between our minds and our 
 years. This it was, that called forth that 
 severe, yet not ill-founded, sarcasm of the 
 poet : 
 
 — " All mankind mistake their time of day. 
 Though grey our heads, our thoughts and aims are 
 
 green. 
 Like damaged clocks, whose hand and bell dissent, 
 Folly sings six^ while Nature points to tzoelve.*' 
 
 This, surely, is one strong motive, for en- 
 deavouring always to preserve a just pro- 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 5 
 
 portion, and balance, between the tenour of 
 our thoughts, and the number of our years. 
 
 But another, and a far more weighty, 
 argument for that practice, arises from a 
 due consideration of the average quantity of 
 human hfe. 
 
 ' The average measure of human life, is set 
 at SEVENTY YEARS. In evidence of this 
 important fact, we have the testimony of 
 Moses, in the ancient church of God; of 
 Solon, and Hippocrates, in the ancient 
 heathen world ; and it is confirmed to us, 
 by the universal experience and suffrage of 
 all the succeeding generations of mankind. 
 
 Now, it is natural for us to inquire 
 two things : first. Who fixed that average ? 
 secondly, Wliy that average was fixed ? 
 
 To the first question, the answer is ob- 
 vious and immediate : it was fixed by Him, 
 who gave the life. 
 
 Again, if we ask. Why He fixed that 
 average; Why, out of all the possible pro- 
 portions of time, exceeding that measure, 
 He should have determined the average 
 allowance of human life exactly to seventy 
 
O PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 years, the answer is equally obvious : be- 
 cause He deemed it sufficient. 
 
 But, sufficient is a relative quality, relative 
 to some end or purpose to which it suffices. 
 What, then, was the end or purpose, for 
 which the Giver of life deemed seventy years 
 of life, more or less, to be a sufficient measure 
 for man ? 
 
 To answer this question, we must ascend 
 to the contemplation of those purposes of 
 God in creation, which are rendered cog- 
 nizable by our capacities. The design of 
 God, in producing this created universe by 
 His power. His wisdom, and His goodness, 
 constitutes what we denominate the will of 
 God. In this visible part of that great work, 
 the will of the Creator is accomplished by tzm 
 different kinds oi agents, formed by Him for 
 their several and distinct uses : the one, 
 necessary agents; the oiher, moral agents. 
 
 Necessary agents perform the will of their 
 Creator, necessarily, by an exercise of His 
 own power operating in them; and con- 
 tinuing uniform and equal, as they were at 
 first put into action by Him. It is thus 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 7 
 
 that planets revolve in their orbits ; light is 
 transmitted from the sun ; winds impel the 
 clouds ; rains descend to the earth ; dews 
 rise into the air ; seeds unfold their plants ; 
 birds, bees, and all animals, fulfil their func- 
 tions, and display their various admirable 
 instincts. In these, and every other action, 
 where the agent is not a moral agent, the 
 action is determined necessarily j by the attri- 
 butes of the Creator himself; and, conse- 
 quently, the action in all those agencies is 
 perfect, being the act of the Creator ; and 
 is as perfect at the first, as it is at any sub- 
 sequent period. The planets moved as ex- 
 actly, the rains fell as truly, the seeds pro- 
 duced as completely, the birds, bees, and all 
 animals, exercised their instincts as excel- 
 lently, on the first day of their creation, as 
 in this late period of the world : no previous 
 trial, no exercising, or apprenticing, was 
 requisite, to make them execute, with 
 certainty and precision, the purposes for 
 which their Creator had brought them into 
 being. 
 
8 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 But, with respect to moral agents, the 
 case was far otherwise; the nature of the 
 agency for which they were designed, was 
 essentially different. Moral agents were 
 formed to accomplish the will or purpose 
 of their Creator, not by any exercise of His 
 power acting in them in the way of impulse, 
 but by a free, spontaneous, and affectionate co-- 
 operation in His designs. The Creator in- 
 tended, that His moral agents should give 
 effect to His wise and gracious purposes, by 
 the concurring action of their own wills, 
 acting in harmony and concert with His. 
 For that end, they were gifted by Him with 
 a separate moral will, or principle of free-^ 
 agency, capable of determining their own 
 actions; they were made acquainted with 
 the rule o/'His supreme will, by which He 
 designed that their own wills should be 
 regulated and determined ; they were fur- 
 nished with powers of understanding and 
 reflection^ with sentiments of hope and fear, 
 to influence the determination ; and in that 
 exalted and blessed alliance, he had pre- 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. Q 
 
 pared, for these agents, the greatest perfec- 
 tion of happiness, to which it was possible 
 their natures could attain. 
 
 But here was a lamentable difference be- 
 tween the fitness of the two agents for ac- 
 complishing the purposes for which they 
 were respectively formed. The necessary 
 agents, acting only by the perfect attributes 
 of the Creator, necessarily and always accom- 
 plished his purposes, at first as well as at 
 last ; because there was in them a secure and 
 perfect operation; that of His own will. 
 But the moral agents, who were required to 
 act immediately from themselves, by con- 
 forming their wills to the rule prescribed by 
 His will ; but who, at the same time, were 
 free in power to depart from that rule, by 
 inclining in other directions, contained 
 within themselves a principle of insecuriti/f 
 which was not in the former: as every man 
 must recognise in his own nature. Though 
 rightly directed at their first formation, and 
 endowed with a capacity to preserve that 
 right tendency, they did not possess in them-^ 
 selves a determined and uniform inclination 
 
10 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 to the rule of the supreme will ; of which 
 they were destined to be, not necessary and 
 mechanical, but moral and self-determining 
 agents. The consequence was, that their 
 agency failed. Not casually, or of necessity, 
 hut by a criminal and unfaithful desertion 
 of the powers by which it might have been 
 fulfilled. Their wills became adverse to the 
 
 SUPREME WILL, wMch ALONE mUSt gOVCm. 
 
 That failure introduced disorder into the 
 creation ; a disorder, offensive to the Crea- 
 tor, because counteractive of His purpose; 
 and the agent, thenceforth, became ob- 
 noxious to all the possible effects of his 
 infinite and tremendous power. 
 
 But His infinite goodness, foreknowing 
 the evil, had, from the first, provided a 
 remedy against it, that He might " display 
 His mercy upon all'' That practical evi- 
 dence, of the innate insecurity of these moral 
 agents, having so far demonstrated their 
 imperfection, and humbled their pretensions, 
 " that no individual could exalt himself;'' God 
 contrived a dispensation, of the most stu- 
 pendous and comprehensive benignity, (that 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 11 
 
 of THEIR REDEMPTION, through His Soil 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ,) for reinstating 
 them in their original condition, and re- 
 storing to them all the privileges which 
 they had forfeited by their failure. He 
 gave them a more distinct, enlarged, and 
 impressive rule, for determining their wills ; 
 (first, in His Law, and afterwards more 
 particularly in His Gospel;) He admi- 
 nistered to them an increase of powers, 
 peculiarly adapted to the nature oi free-zdlls, 
 (by means of the co-operating succours of 
 His Holy Spirit,) for enabling them to 
 reduce their wills into a conformity with His 
 sovereign will ; He condescended to reveal 
 to them the common interest which they 
 shared with Him, their Creator, in fulfilling 
 His ultimate scheme in the creation ; He 
 urged them above all things, to acquire, 
 and establish in themselves, an habitual dis- 
 position of conforming with His supreme 
 and eternal laws, as being indispensably 
 necessary for rendering sure and complete 
 the agency which will be required from 
 them in that ultimate scheme; (which will 
 
12 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 consist, in the final application, and employ- 
 ment , of the several moral agents, after their 
 wills shall have once acquired a settled, and 
 sufficiently fixed, bias torcards the will of their 
 Creator;) and He assigned them an average 
 measure of life, limited to seventy years, 
 more or less, as a measure of time amply 
 sufficient for acquiring that disposition of con^ 
 formity. 
 
 If the will, instructed by the reason, 
 guided by the judgment, and admonished 
 by the conscience, acquired no such habi- 
 tual disposition, in any degree, within the 
 allotted time, it was well known to the om- 
 niscient Creator, that the moral agent would 
 never answer the gracious purposes for 
 which He had finally intended him; and 
 that his remaining any longer here, was 
 wholly unnecessary, he having wasted and 
 exhausted the powers assigned him for pro- 
 secuting his moral perfection. If, on the 
 other hand, the disposition was, in a certain 
 degree, known to the Creator, well established 
 and confirmed, his end was answered ; it 
 was needless that he should be left any 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 13 
 
 longer here, since God himself would finish 
 and complete what remained to be done, in 
 another stage of existence. 
 
 The SEVENTY YEARS of life, are therefore 
 assigned to man, as an allowance of time, 
 sufficient for establishing in his will, an habit 
 of conforming itself to the manifested 
 WILL OF THE Creator ; which habit being 
 once acquired, he will be able hereafter to 
 fulfil, and execute, a 'perfect agency, when 
 that great stage, or period of the creation 
 shall be arrived, for which he is here upon 
 trial, and in training. The perfection for 
 which he is designed, can only be acquired 
 by degrees, and by a continuance in the same 
 course of action for a definite term of time. 
 Exercise and practice are indispensably ne- 
 cessary, for creating habit ; and habit, is iall 
 that the Creator looks for from His moral 
 agents, in this their period of imperfection 
 and preparation. By a fundamental law of 
 this part of His universe, a continuance, for 
 a certain time, in any one course or direc- 
 tion, produces a. facility, or fixed tendency, 
 which fixed tendency is called habit; either 
 
14 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 towards the rule of action, or in opposition 
 to it. And, by the same law, habits once 
 contracted, may be subdued and overruled, 
 by contrary habits resolutely superinduced 
 upon them. If a conforming habit is once 
 established, in a sufficient degree, the agent 
 is removed ; and is " made perfect,^ by some 
 unknown act of divine confirmation, subse- 
 quent to his removal. 
 
 As, therefore, such moral agents as man 
 indispensably require a preliminary interval 
 of exercise, before they can become sure 
 agents for God to introduce, and employ, 
 in a state of perfect existence and society ; 
 we plainly discern theseyb?/r things. First, 
 that the first state of such an agent, under 
 a government of wisdom, must be a state 
 of probation or of training. Secondly, that 
 he must be placed apart from perfected 
 agents, so long as he is under discipline ; 
 that his imperfections may not communi- 
 cate their evils to the perfect parts of the 
 creation. Thirdly, that such a separated 
 state, must of necessity abound with a great 
 intermixture of good and evil, and with a 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 15 
 
 very general appearance of confusion, result- 
 ing from the various and conflicting con- 
 duct, of the various moral agents who are 
 under trial. And, lastly, that such a state 
 of trial can only be an elementary, or inci- 
 pient state, conducing to another, which is 
 the principal and final one for which they 
 were originally designed. Now, if we add 
 to these considerations, that of the mo- 
 men tousyizc^, that WE, OURSELVES, are now 
 living in such an elementary or incipient 
 state, conducing to a principal and perfect 
 state ; that an average measure of seventy 
 YEARS, more or less, is allotted to us, to 
 qualify ourselves for that state ; and that our 
 final participation in it, or exclusion from 
 it, depends, really and absolutely, upon the 
 use we shall have made of that preliminary 
 allotynent of time; it will need no great saga- 
 city to discern the importance, above all 
 things, of applying that measure, precarious 
 at the best, to the end for which it was 
 allotted. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, exercise ourselves 
 with too much activity and diligence, in 
 
16 PltELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 contemplating that average measure of time^ 
 and in considering its parts and nature. 
 Such a practice will keep us always in- 
 structed in their true value; it will prevent 
 us, on the one hand, from under-rating the 
 parts with respect to the whole measure ; 
 and from over-rating that whole measure^ 
 with respect to the infinite measure of 
 existence which is to succeed. For, since 
 SEVENTY YEARS, though amply sufficient 
 for the end designed, supplies nothing 
 for intentional and deliberate waste, we 
 must economize, and wisely husband, the 
 particles of time which compose them. We 
 must discreetly watch over those smaller 
 parts of life ; not as being of importance in 
 themselves, but because they constitute the 
 whole of the term assigned us, for fixing 
 the quality of the life which shall follow. 
 Again, since those seventy years con- 
 duct us immediately into another stage of 
 existence, which has no change or termi- 
 nation, we must be careful not to attach to 
 the former, an opinion of importance, which 
 belongs only to the latter. For, " the oldest 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 1? 
 
 " men," says the experience of the late 
 Archdeacon Paley, ** when they look back 
 " on their past life, see it in a very narrow 
 " compass. It appears no more than a 
 " small interval cut out of eternal duration, 
 " both before a?id after it : when compared 
 " with that duration, as nothing^'." 
 
 We are not however to imagine, that 
 seventh/ years is a quantity of time, neces- 
 sarily requisite for a moral agent to acquire 
 a secure tendency towards his perfection, 
 supposing the incHnation of his will to be 
 originally, and always, right and sure; for 
 then a shorter period might have sufficed: 
 but it is a measure, largely and liberally 
 allotted by God, with allowance for much 
 delay and aberration, provided the tendency 
 of the agent be, at length, decidedly and 
 steadily determiaed, tozcards the rule of his 
 perfection. 
 
 This being the case, it becomes our 
 highest, and most manifest interest, to 
 tnow> and to observe well, our actual station 
 
 ♦ Sermon xxxi. p. 463. 
 iC 
 
18 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 within the average measure of life ; to con- 
 sider the true relation which our actual 
 station bears to the averaged end; to im- 
 press our minds with a conviction of the 
 uncertainty of our ever reaching that end; 
 and, to ascertain the degree of habit, which 
 we have already acquired, of conforming 
 our wills to the governing will : which is 
 the sole end for which we are placed in this 
 part of the universe, and indeed the only 
 reason why we were created at all. 
 
 Awakened to such a contemplation as 
 this, the mind at once views time, under 
 all its relations ; by the united action of its 
 reflection, its memory, and \i^ forethought. By 
 these, it dwells upon the consideration of 
 time present, time past, and time future. It 
 sees them in all their bearings ; it compares 
 the past, and applies the rule of the com- 
 parison to the future; and it at length 
 becomes practically sensible of the extreme 
 value of those fleeting particles, which we 
 constantly denominate now, and which pass 
 away continually, like the sands in the 
 hour-glass, until all are exhausted. 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. Ij) 
 
 These are, doubtless, great and awful 
 truths ; and the mind, once brought to re- 
 cognise them, cannot fail to draw all the 
 inferences, the principal of which have been 
 here sketched out. But it is a fact not to 
 be disputed, humiliating as the acknowledg- 
 ment of it may be; (the author, for one, 
 has often experienced it in himself;) that 
 the noblest practical truths, and the most 
 powerful demonstrations in morals and reli- 
 gion, however laboriously and triumphantly 
 established, lie too commonly neglected, and 
 miapplied, upon the page which gave them 
 light: the inertness of our common nature, 
 like the indolence of a relaxed or exhausted 
 stomach, requiring to be roused, from time 
 to time, by some pungency of novelty ; and 
 refusing to take the benefit of the most 
 nutritious aliment, unless excited by some- 
 thing new and artificial in the vehicle or 
 savour. Thus it is, that parable and alle- 
 gory have, in all ages, been found capable 
 of stirring the mind, even when the powers 
 of eloquence and demonstration have failed 
 of all their eflfects. 
 
20 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 It IS not, that we stand in need of any 
 instruction, to teach us the value of time, 
 and the importance of balancing our minds 
 and our years. Of that, we have an ample 
 store; both in the waitings of wise and 
 ingenious heathens, and in those of en- 
 lightened and faithful Christians. The two 
 little tracts, by two heathen philosophers; 
 that upon Old Jge, by Cicero, and that on 
 the Shortness of Life, by Seneca ; abound with 
 truths, both of statement and argument, 
 upon that subject, which are sufficient to 
 make most Christians blush. And the num- 
 berless treatises of our own Christian philo- 
 sophers, hold out to us, at every page, truths 
 of authority and power, sufficient to startle 
 every Christian, upon the same momentous 
 article : the correspondence, which ought 
 invariably to be maintained between our 
 THOUGHTS and our years, in our progress 
 through Ife. 
 
 But, although we are in no want of in- 
 struction for that end, we are plainly in want 
 of something, to excite and encourage us 
 to use that instruction ; something, which may 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 21 
 
 constantly remind us of the perpetual lapse 
 of time, and of the important change which 
 that perpetual lapse is perpetually produ- 
 cing in the circumstances of our present 
 being ; something, which, instead of leaving 
 us to the mercy of our own reflection, whose 
 indolence and infidelity are but too well 
 demonstrated, may seize upon, and fix our 
 attention^ by some powerful and sensible 
 impression. 
 
 To supply an auxiliary of this nature ; 
 simple in its construction ; convenient in its 
 form ; intelligible in its design ; easy in its 
 use ; clear in its indications ; sure and im- 
 mediate in its effect ; by means of which, 
 the due correspondence between our minds 
 and our years may, at any moment, be 
 ascertained, confirmed, or restored ; and by 
 that means, any failure in the exercise of 
 our agency be presently redressed; the 
 scheme of The Bioscope was first ima- 
 gined ; and it is now offered, after an expe- 
 riment of some years, to the closets and the 
 studies of the serious and the wise. It pre- 
 tends not to add any thing new to the store 
 
22 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 of moral instruction, which has been so 
 richly poured out upon us by the labours of 
 those, whom God has raised up, indifferent 
 ages, for hghts to guide our course ; it only 
 pretends to contiibute a means, and to furnish 
 an occasion, for applying that instruction; 
 and, as a general regulator, to render 
 it easy for the mind, to keep always an even 
 and measured pace with the years of life, 
 so that it may always find itself at its 
 natural post in time, whenever its agency 
 shall be called for ; in order that, " when its 
 " Lord Cometh, He may find it watching. 
 ^^ For, blessed are those servants, whom His 
 " Lord when He cometh shall find so doing : 
 " and if He shall come in the second watch, 
 " or come in the third watch, and find them 
 *' so, blessed are those servants!" 
 
 How far these pretensions may be justi- 
 fied, must appear from the follow! ngDescr^p- 
 tion of the Dial, and explanation of its Use* 
 
DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE BIOSCOPE- 
 
 The bioscope is a dial, or scale, consisting 
 of seven-eighths of a circle, and divided 
 into seventy degrees^ answering to the average 
 number of the years of human life ; v^hich 
 average number, as we have seen, has in 
 all ages been set at seventy years. 
 
 The seven decimal divisions of the scale, 
 which represent the seven decimal divisions 
 of life, are characterized by certain qua' 
 lities, which will be found to belong, pro- 
 perly, to some part, or other, of each of 
 
24 DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 those seven divisions or periods, in their 
 order and progress, viz. 
 
 1. Childhood. 
 
 2. Youth. 
 
 3. Manhood, 
 
 4. Vigour. 
 
 5. Maturity. 
 
 6. Decline. 
 
 7. Decay. 
 
 Of the years to which human Hfe may- 
 attain, over and above the average measure, 
 no account is taken ; for the following 
 reasons : 
 
 1. Because it is designed to take a rule, 
 which shall be of the most general appli- 
 cation. 
 
 2. Because no average can be formed of 
 that excess: " Omnium cEtatum certus est 
 " terminits, senectutis autem nullus certus est 
 " terminus,'^ — " Every age," says Cicero, 
 " has its certain end, except old age ; 
 " which has no certain end." It is, there- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE- ^5 
 
 fore, necessary to abide by the general 
 average. 
 
 3. Because, as the Psalmist pronounces, 
 they " are but labour and sorrozc ;" being 
 very few in number, passing soon away, 
 and most commonly yielding an evident 
 proof of the smallness of their profit. 
 
 4. Because, as Bishop Taylor observes, 
 " very old age is but a longer sickness;^' 
 or, as Seneca speaks, " an incurable sick- 
 " ness — senectus insanabilis morbus est:'* a 
 multiplication of the infirmities incident to 
 a decaying frame, and therefore rather to 
 be placed to the account of death than of 
 life; being, more commonly, a. preliminary 
 of the dissolution which constitutes the lat- 
 ter, than a true prolongation of the powers 
 which are essential to the former. 
 
 5. But, lastly and chiefly, because the 
 moral effect of the instrument will be most 
 efficaciously shown, by the sensible demon- 
 stration, that we have outlived the average 
 measure of our lives; and by finding, on 
 looking upon the bioscope, that we have 
 
i6 DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 outlasted its functions, and have no longer 
 any concern in its indications. 
 
 The space, between the two extremities 
 of the scale, is marked by eternity; that 
 stupendous state, which preceded the origin 
 of our being, and which will immediately 
 follow the termination of its present tem.- 
 porary condition. And the dial begins and 
 ends upon the verge of eternity, because 
 human life begins from eternity past, and 
 ends in eternity to come. 
 
 From that point, a celestial effulgence 
 appears to be emitted; and because the 
 lightsomeness and glee of infancy displays 
 so lively and affecting an evidence of the 
 divine brightness from which it springs; 
 and because we are humbly to hope, and to 
 believe, that the gloom of age will finally 
 merge and settle in the same divine bright- 
 ness ; the rays of that effulgence are repre- 
 sented as diffusing their lustre, equally over 
 the beginning and end of life ; thereby con- 
 trasting the clouds, and storms, which more 
 or less attend the middle stages of every 
 human life. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE. £7 
 
 Lastly, a moveable index is affixed, 
 which may be directed to any degree 
 marked upon the scale. 
 
 To the dial, thus disposed, the name of 
 BIOSCOPE has been assigned, as a term 
 simply and clearly expressive of its design ; 
 being formed from two Greek words, bios, 
 /3ioj, signifying life; and scopeo, crKOTrEco, to 
 observe, or survey. For, as the name of ho- 
 roscope — u^oa-HOTTog'^, was anciently given 
 to a scale, formed to show the number, and 
 the progress, of the hours of the day ; there 
 seemed a strict propriety in calling, by the 
 name of bioscope, a scale, designed to 
 exhibit the general measure, and progress, of 
 the human life. 
 
 ♦ Note. Hardouini in Plin. Hist. Nat. ii. c. 64, et Steph. 
 Iwex. Graec. torn. iv. col. 789. 
 
THE USE 
 
 or 
 
 THE BIOSCOPE 
 
 EXPLAINED. 
 
 1. By the use of the Bioscope is meant, not 
 its mechanical use, which is too plain to 
 need any explanation, but the moral, and 
 practical use, which a regular and continued 
 attention to its simple mechanism is abund- 
 antly able to afford. And in order to exem- 
 plify that use, and to render it familiarly 
 apparent, I shall lay before the reader some 
 of the reflections, which a continued ob- 
 servation of its indications has already sug^- 
 gested; leaving it to him to extend and 
 multiply them hereafter, by the exercise of 
 his own meditation. These reflections I 
 
so THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 shall endeavour to detail, as they have occa- 
 sionally risen in the mind ; observing, at 
 the same time, as much order in the ar- 
 rangement, as the nature of the subject will 
 permit. 
 
 2. And first : If I mistake not, the aspect 
 of the dial alone, presented for the first 
 time to a mind capable of any serious 
 reflection, must awaken some new and un- 
 expected sensations. That unfinished circle, 
 representing to our view the utmost ave- 
 raged measure of time in which we can have 
 any personal concern in the affairs of this 
 earth ; sending the memory back to the 
 beginning of life, and the imagination for- 
 ward to its termination ; exhibiting a dis- 
 icernible end, and that end in immediate 
 contact with eternity; that aspect, alone, 
 must of necessity work a strong effect upon 
 any ingenuousand contemplative spirit, even 
 before we proceed to consider the parti^ 
 cular uses to which it may be applied. 
 For, 
 
 Should not the dial strike us as we gaze ? 
 Portentous as the written wall which struck, 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 31 
 
 . O'er midnight bowls, the proud Assyrian pale ? 
 Like that the dial speaks, and points to thee : 
 *^ O MAN, thy kingdom is departing from thee !'' 
 Its silent language such; nor need*st thou call 
 Thy Magi, to decipher what it means. 
 
 3. But if, from this general survey, we 
 proceed to direct the index to that par- 
 ticular degree upon the scale, which answers 
 to the actual year of our own age, a new, 
 and a livelier interest, will be immediately 
 awakened; for, in beholding our present 
 station on the dial, we instantly, and in the 
 same view, discern all the past and future of 
 our earthly being. And although that per^ 
 ception, to be of any moral effect, must be 
 an act of the mind itself, yet we shall be 
 sensible, that the mental vision will be very 
 powerfully assisted towards that act, by the 
 visible figure presented to the sight. 
 
 4. And here we may observe, by the 
 way, that in pointing the index, no preva- 
 rication can possibly avail us; no temp- 
 tation can prompt us to that monstrous and 
 despicable folly, the concealing or falsifying 
 our true age. For, who would dare to 
 
32 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 direct the hand to 3. false point? False with 
 respect to his own intimate knowledge, and 
 false also with respect to the corresponding 
 scale, in the knowledge of God? Ihere 
 is, therefore, no escape from the authority 
 of truth; and whether we point the hand 
 or not, the eye, both of body and mind, 
 must instantly discern the point at which it 
 ought to stand. 
 
 5, From our respective stations upon the 
 dial, it will behove us to make all those 
 salutary and momentous observations, all 
 those pregnant and various reflections, which 
 good sense, fidelity of reason, and an en- 
 lightened knowledge of the prospects of 
 our BLESSED RELIGION, wiU abundantly 
 suggest. 
 
 6. Like a traveller, who has gained some 
 high and commanding stage upon bis jour- 
 ney, from whence he is able to take a 
 distinct review of all the country he has 
 traversed, each of us will be able, at the 
 conclusion of each year of our lives, 
 to look back, from our new station on 
 jtbe dial of life, over the whole road we 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. S3 
 
 have already journeyed ; and to revive in 
 our recollections, by means of the chain of 
 points which we discern in the distance, 
 a thousand instructive impressions, which 
 might otherwise have escaped the most 
 active efforts of the memory. 
 
 Such comprehensive views the spirit takes, 
 That in a few short moments we retrace, 
 (As in a map the voyager his course,) 
 The winding of our way through many years. 
 
 7. From the division of the scale which 
 we have just completed, we shall naturally 
 direct a curious eye forward, over the un- 
 known and unexplored track, which lies 
 immediately before us ; and in which we 
 must advance, without the smallest pause 
 or delay. But here, 
 
 How dim our eye ! 
 
 The present moment terminates our sight. 
 Clouds, thick as those on doomsday, drown the 
 next ! 
 
 In this prospective view, all that we can 
 
 D 
 
34 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 distinguish, is the extreme average distance 
 to which we can advance; every interme- 
 diate object being totally concealed from 
 our view. 
 
 8. But, though we are always able to 
 discern, very distinctly, the great limit- 
 mark which closes the common-road of life ; 
 yet, our own individual progress may be 
 interrupted, and arrested, at any one of the 
 intermediate points ; and if that should be 
 our case, we shall then be brought, by a 
 sudden and immediate traverse, to that 
 same great boundary of the scale, namely, 
 ETERNITY. For, 
 
 By Fate's inviolable oath is sworn, 
 Deep silence where et^ernity begins. 
 
 9. Thus the Bioscope divides itself into 
 two parts ; answering to the time past, and 
 the time future, of life ; which parts are 
 always varying their proportions, because 
 they are always divided by the moveable and 
 advajicincr index : whilst the moveable index 
 
 o 
 
 itself represents that constantly fleeting im- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 35 
 
 pression which we call now, in which alone 
 consists the mode of time that can properly 
 be called present. 
 
 10. Of these three times of earthly exist- 
 ence, it is absolutely requisite that we 
 should form a true and just estimate. 
 
 11." Life," observed Seneca, " is divided 
 " into three times; that which is, that which 
 " was, and that which will be. Of these, 
 " the shortest is present time; it is indeed 
 " so short, that it has appeared to some 
 " persons to have no existence at all. For 
 " it is in continual passage; it almost 
 " ceases to be before we are well aware 
 " that it is ; so that we at all times rather 
 " perceive it to be gone, than we at any time 
 " discern it to go." Hence we may reason- 
 ably affirm, that " present time is no other 
 *' than the perpetual passage of future time 
 " into past.'' 
 
 12. Short, however, and fleeting as that 
 particle of time is which we call now, and 
 which alone constitutes present time, it is 
 the only mode of time of which we can 
 mak^e any real and positive use. All our 
 
86 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 enduring happiness, all the future objects 
 of our hope, every prospect of final con- 
 solation and repose, depend absolutely, for 
 their ultimate realization, upon the use 
 we shall have made of these fleeting par- 
 ticles ; the sum total of which, must com- 
 pose the record of our lives. 
 
 13. Upon which account, the same wise 
 heathen, jealous of his property in them, 
 was led to make this impressive remark. 
 '* I am always astonished, when I see 
 " people asking others to give them up 
 *^ their time ; and when I see those who are 
 ^' asked, so complaisant as to bestow it. 
 ^' Both parties consider only the object for 
 " which the time is asked ; neither of them 
 " pays any regard to the time itself: just as 
 <* if nothing had been asked, and as if no- 
 " thing had been granted. They are thus 
 " deceived concerning the most precious 
 " article of life, merely because it is incor- 
 " poreal, and imperceptible to sense; and 
 ^^ upon that account they imagine it to be 
 " a very cheap commodity, or rather, an 
 ^* article totally destitute of value. Whereas, 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 37 
 
 " if any one could bring before his view 
 '^ the whole measure of his remaining years^ 
 '^ with as much certainty as he can that 
 " of the years which are already past, how 
 " would that man tremble, who should 
 " see but a few of them remaining ? How 
 " prudent, how sparing of them, would he 
 ^^ then become? It is an easy matter, to 
 *^ economise and manage any thing of 
 " which the quantity is known and deter- 
 '^ mined, be that quantity ever so small; 
 ** but with what care and circumspection 
 " ought that to be husbanded, which, we 
 '^ know not how soon, may suddenly fail us 
 " altogether? 
 
 14. ^^ No one can give you back your 
 " time. Life will still travel on, towards 
 ^^ the point to which it first began to go. 
 "It will glide forward, silently and imper- 
 " ceptibly, without giving you any warning 
 " of its velocity. Whilst you are busied, it 
 " speeds away; until death at length ar- 
 " rives, to which, whether you will or not, 
 ^* vou must needs submit." 
 
38 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 15. These reflections of the Roman mo- 
 ralist, on the infinite value of present time, 
 are thus corroborated by our own great 
 moralist. " Life is continually ravaged 
 " by invaders ; one steals an hour, and 
 " another a day. One conceals the rob- 
 ^^ bery by hurrying us into business, an- 
 " other by lulling us with amusement. 
 " The depredation is continued through a 
 *^ thousand vicissitudes of tumult and tran- 
 " quillity ; till, having lost all, we can lose 
 " no more. 
 
 16. " Time ought, above all other kinds 
 " of property, to be free from invasion ; 
 " and yet there is no man who does not 
 " claim the power of wasting that time 
 ^^ which is the right of others. An Italian 
 " philosopher expressed in his motto, that 
 " 'time was his estate:' an estate, in- 
 " deed, which will produce nothing without 
 " cultivation; but which will abundantly 
 " repay the labours of industry, and satisfy 
 " the most extensive desires, if no part 
 *' of it be suffered to lie waste by ne- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 30 
 
 ^' gligence, to be over-run with noxious 
 " plants, or laid out for show rather than 
 " for use.'' 
 
 All sensual man, because untouch'd, unseen, 
 
 He looks on time as nothing, • 
 
 O Time ! than gold more sacred ; more a load 
 Than lead to fools, and fools reputed wise ! 
 What moment granted man without account ? 
 What years are squandered, Wisdom's debt unpaid ? 
 
 17. All these important truths are brought 
 into sensible demonstration, upon the dial 
 of THE BIOSCOPE ; and are easily reducible 
 from thence, into the common practice of life. 
 For, let any one but persist, for some length 
 of time, in a familiar and daily intercourse 
 with this dial, having the index always 
 pointed to the number of the actual year of 
 his life ; and it will be morally impossible, 
 that his mind should not contract some 
 habits of reflection upon the nature and 
 value of time ; most salutary for the future 
 disposal of his life, and for regulating the 
 correspondence between his thoughts and 
 his years. 
 
40 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 18. And, first, by the habitual use of the 
 Bioscope, we shall be rescued from that 
 almost universal, and pernicious, deception, 
 which seduces us to regard life as one con- 
 tinued NOW, or present moment indefinitely 
 extended. This is the grand illusion, by 
 which our minds first become disunited 
 from our years. 
 
 19. Under this illusion, which reflec- 
 tion seldom comes forward to dissipate, 
 and which the objects and incidents of 
 the world conspire so artfully to cherish, 
 we glide through the greater part of 
 life, without being at all sensible of its 
 advance ; and without being prompted to 
 remark, the change, which is continually 
 taking place, in our relative position 
 between the two opposite extremes of 
 life. 
 
 20. Our feelings, our tastes, our incli- 
 nations, our passions, continuing nearly at 
 par during the greater part of that period 
 of time, we are apt to suppose ourselves in 
 every respect the same individuals ; and so 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 41 
 
 perhaps we are, in every respect except 
 in that of time. But that, unfortunately, is 
 a respect which alters and determines the 
 whole. For, since life signifies nothing else 
 than a limited quantity of time, if we are 
 very different individuals in respect of time, 
 in every succeeding stage of our progress, 
 we are very different individuals in that 
 which constitutes our present temporal ex- 
 istence. And unless the mind is vigilant 
 to remark that progress, it will remain 
 stationary, while the years proceed. And 
 the inevitable consequence must be, first, 
 disunion, and afterwards, a continually in- 
 creasing distance and disparity, between the 
 two. It is, therefore, of the last import- 
 ance, that we should constantly keep in 
 our view that governing circumstance of 
 our present being, under all its stages and 
 modifications ; and never suffer it to elude 
 our attention. 
 
 21. This, THE BIOSCOPE wiU constrain 
 us to do, in the most imperative manner ; 
 and, by that means, will dispel the illusion 
 
42 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 which has been pointed out. The long and 
 uniform now, (suggested by the continuity 
 of sensible impressions, or, more properly, 
 arising out of our inattention to the suc- 
 cession of those impressions,) which life 
 appears to be, will become analyzed, and 
 divided into its constituent parts ; by an 
 habitual attention to the scale, by its fre- 
 quent inspection, and by its annual rectificor- 
 tion. And, as the subdivision of an unity 
 into its fractional parts, is a sort of multi- 
 plication ; so, by reducing the general now 
 of life into its component and successive 
 particles of time, we shall multiply mea- 
 sures of time to our thought and appre- 
 hension ; and, by that means, render our- 
 selves experimentally richer in the most 
 valuable species of property, which our 
 present being is capable of acquiring. For, 
 time well employed, is secured; time wasted, 
 is lost» 
 
 £2. Again we shall learn from it, both how 
 to estimate, and how to economise, the rapid 
 current of time ; and how to avail ourselves 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 43 
 
 of the whole of each succeeding year, as it is 
 passing over us. 
 
 That waning index, as it measures life, 
 It life resembles too. Life speeds away 
 From point t6 point, tho' seeming to stand still. 
 The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth. 
 Too subtle is the movement to be seen, 
 Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are gone. 
 Reason should judge in all ; in Reason's eye, 
 That sedentary index travels hard. 
 But such our gravitation to the wrong. 
 So prone our hearts to whisper what we wish, 
 ^Tis later with the wise than he's aware ; 
 And all mankind mistake their time of day. 
 E*en age itself. — So gentle life'^ descent, 
 We shut our eyes, and think it is a plain. 
 
 23, As each succeeding year, by causing 
 the index to advance, continually changes 
 the relative divisions of the scale; that is 
 to say, the measures of time past, and time 
 to come; an intimacy contracted with the 
 instrument will render us habitually mind- 
 ful, that a year is actually passing over us, 
 which we must soon mark ; and, from ob- 
 serving the latter division of the dial to be 
 
44 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 constantly and gradually decreasing, it will 
 be impossible that a temper of caution and 
 circumspection should not by degrees be 
 formed, and at length finally established, 
 in us. 
 
 £4. That sensible demonstration, of the con- 
 tinual decrease of the forward division of 
 the dial, must of itself impress us with a 
 perfect conviction, that our personal interest 
 in the range of life decreases exactly in the 
 same proportion. And whoever has once 
 received in his mind the impression of that 
 great truth, will regulate by it the ardour of 
 his affections, and the sallies of his imagi- 
 nation, with respect to all objects, whose 
 importance is wholly confined within the 
 limits of this temporal life. For who, that 
 has once felt the full force of that ocular 
 demonstration, will suffer himself to cherish 
 disproportioned affections for the objects of 
 this failing life, when he sees, that the 
 index of his years has told out the greater 
 number; and that it is now drawing his atten- 
 tion towards that terminating point, where it 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAIN 
 
 must necessarily close its functions r^Who, 
 that has persevered for any length of time 
 in habits of familiarity with this dial, and 
 whose index is veering towards its end, can 
 adhere to the perishing objects of life with 
 the same eager tenacity that he did at an 
 earlier period; which probably was then 
 reprehensible, although it might be called 
 natural ; but which is now become positively 
 reproachful, and ought therefore to be re-^ 
 garded as unnatural ? 
 
 A soul immortal, spending all her fires — 
 Thrown into tumult, raptur*d or alarm'd. 
 At aught this scene can threaten or indulge, 
 Resembles ocean into tempest wrought, 
 To waft a feather^ or to drown a fly f 
 
 25. But as much as it is necessary to 
 watch over, and to estimate correctly, the 
 several parts of temporal life, in relation to 
 its whole average measure, so much also it is 
 necessary to estimate, with equal correctness, 
 that whole average measure, in relation to the 
 ETERNITY of duration which is to succeed ; 
 in order that, while we are taking care not 
 
46 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 to undervalue the parts, we may not be 
 drawn into the equally pernicious error, 
 of setting too high a value upon the whole, 
 
 26. " Man," says an eminent and admired 
 writer, " is a creature designed for two dif- 
 " ferent states of being, or rather two dif- 
 " ferent lives. His first is short and tran- 
 " sient, his second permanent and lasting. 
 " The question we are all concerned in 
 " is this, in which of these two lives is it 
 " our chief interest to make ourselves 
 " happy ? — Every man, upon the first hear- 
 " ing of this question, knows very well 
 " which side of it he ought to close with. 
 " But, however right we are in theory, it is 
 " plain that in practice we adhere to the 
 *^ wrong side of the question : we make 
 " provisions for this life, as though it were 
 " never to have an end, and for the other 
 " life, as though it were never to have a 
 *'* beginning. 
 
 27. " Should a spirit of superior rank, 
 ** who is a stranger to human nature, acci- 
 '* dentally light upon the earth, and take 
 ^' a survey of its inhabitants, what would 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 47 
 
 ^^ his notions of us be? Would not he 
 " think, that we are a species of beings 
 " made for quite different ends and pur- 
 " poses than what we really are ? Must not 
 " he imagine, that we were placed in this 
 " world to get riches and honour ? Would 
 " not he think, that it was our duty to toil 
 " after wealth, and station, and title ? Nay, 
 " would not he believe, we were forbidden 
 " poverty by threats of eternal punishment, 
 " and enjoined to pursue our pleasures 
 " under pain of damnation? He would cer- 
 " tainly imagine, that we were influenced 
 " by a scheme of duties quite opposite to 
 " those which are indeed prescribed to us. 
 " And truly, according to such an imagina- 
 " tion, he must conclude, that we are a 
 " species of the most obedient creatures in 
 " the universe; that we are constant to our 
 " duty; and that we keep a steady eye on 
 " the end for which we were sent hither. 
 
 28. '^ But how great would be his asto- 
 " nishment, when he learned, that we were 
 " beings not designed to exist in this world 
 " above threescore and ten years; and 
 
48 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED* 
 
 '' that the greatest part of this busy species/ 
 " fall short even of that age ? How would 
 " he be lost in horror and admiration, when 
 " he should know, that this set of creatures, 
 " who lay out all their endeavours for this 
 " life, which scarce deserves the name of 
 ^^ existence — When, I say, he should know, 
 " that this set of creatures are to exist to 
 " all eternity in another life, for which they 
 " make no preparation? Nothing can be 
 " a greater disgrace to reason, than that 
 " men, who are persuaded of these two dif- 
 " ferent states of being, should be perpe- 
 " tually employed in providing for a life 
 " o( threescore and ten years ; and neglecting 
 " to make provision for that, which, after 
 " many myriads of years, will still be new, 
 " and still beginning^ J* 
 
 £9i To discipline the mind, and to arm it 
 against the illusion of this error, it will be 
 advisable to exercise it, frequently, in con- 
 templating large measures of time; mea- 
 sures, in which the utmost extent of human 
 
 * Spectator, No. 575. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 49 
 
 life shall be presently absorbed and lost. 
 " Conferto nostram longissimam atatem cum 
 *^ iETERNiTATE, et SIC brevissima reperietur. — 
 " Compare our longest life with eter- 
 '^ NiTY," says Cicero, " and you will per- 
 '* ceive, how extremely short it is.'* — ^' PrO" 
 *^ pone profundi temporis vastitatem, et UNi- 
 " VERS AM complect ere. Deinde hoc quod 
 '^ atatem vocamus humanam compara cum 
 ** IMMENSO; videbis quam exignam sit quod 
 ** optamus, quod extendimus, — Represent to 
 " yourself the whole compass of time/' says 
 Seneca, " and endeavour to contemplate it 
 " in its ENTIRENESS. Then, compare with 
 ** it that which we call human life, and you 
 " will be sensible how short that is, which 
 " so much engages our concern/' 
 
 30. It will be of the utmost benefit, to 
 accustom the mind to retrace the revolu- 
 tions of ages ; and the durations of empires, 
 states, and dynasties; to contemplate the 
 measures of the different dispensations of 
 religion, in their order and succession ; and, 
 above all, to pursue the sublime and mag- 
 nificent prospects which are laid open to 
 , E 
 
60 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 our expectations, and which are now rapidly 
 advancing towards our experience, in the 
 fields of PROPHECY. It will be salutary, t6 
 exercise it in those chronological compu- 
 tations, which are subjoined to this work ; 
 to look down the years of this present 
 century, whose chronological characters are 
 there assigned ; and to reflect, that there is 
 not one of those who now read this book, 
 who will not have been called to account 
 for his agency, long before the indications 
 of that table shall be exhausted. 
 
 31. It will be of the greatest service also 
 to remark, how many lives of mea we 
 unconcernedly turn over, in a very fevr 
 pages, in many parts of history ; lives which, 
 in their time, were as much animated with 
 interest, crowded with incident, and tardy 
 in their progress, as ours may now seem to 
 be. To make ourselves dwell upon some 
 one life, of which a connected record sub- 
 sists, and on the particulars of which we 
 may be disposed to enter with minute con- 
 cern; to identify ourselves with the indi- 
 vidual ; to live his life over again with 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 51 
 
 him ; to follow him, step by step, through 
 all his passages and vicissitudes, to the 
 closing scene of death; and then, to con- 
 template him, in his state of separation 
 from life. Perhaps few such opportunities 
 for this latter practice are afforded, as that, 
 \vhich is to be found in the long epistolary 
 life, of the much admired, and highly esti- 
 mable, Madame de Sevigne. 
 
 32. From such moral warnings, which 
 may be abundantly collected from the stores 
 of chronology and biography, we shall ac- 
 quire at length a clear discernment, that 
 the value of human life cannot consist in 
 any number of years ; however much that 
 number may surpass the average measure of 
 life: the greatest attainable number serv- 
 ing only to demonstrate, with stronger evi- 
 dence, how low and trivial in value human 
 life is, if it be estimated only by a rule of 
 time. Its value, therefore, cannot consist in 
 time itself 
 
 33. Now, that value consists, not in time 
 itself but in the productiveness of time to an 
 end. So that, unless we take that end into 
 
52 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 the account, along with time; and unless we 
 suppose the time of human life to be actually 
 productive of that end, no real value can pos- 
 sibly attach upon any measure of human 
 life; since its utmost attainable length in 
 years will be alwaj^s in direct opposition to 
 the natural tendency of man's desires, and 
 to the nature of his noblest endowments. 
 
 Life has no value as an end, but means ; 
 An end, deplorable; a means, divine. 
 
 34. What then is the criterion, by which 
 we are to judge of the value of human life r 
 I answer, the end which it yields. And 
 where is that end to be found ? At the end 
 and termination of its course. From whence 
 it will follow, that the true value of human 
 life consists in the result which it shall be 
 found to yield, zvhen it shall be completed. 
 
 35. And this is so obviously true, even 
 upon the most general principles, as to 
 have been solemnly taught and inculcated 
 even by the heathen philosophers. " Fita 
 *' nee bonum nee malum est, boni qc mali locus 
 << est. — Life/' says Seneca, '^ is neither a 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 53 
 
 '^ good nor an evil in itself, it is only the 
 " place where the qualities of good and evil 
 " are acquired." — " Nihil ad rem refert, quo 
 " loco desinas ; tantum bonam clausulam 
 *^ impone. — It is of no consequence/' says 
 he, " in what part of that place you stop, 
 *' only secure to yourself a good conclusion^* 
 Wherefore Aristotle's rule may be well 
 applied here: " The end ought to be 
 " more an object of our regard, than that 
 '^ which is only instrumental to the end.'* 
 Which axiom is but the echo of that more 
 ancient dictate of wisdom; ^^ Better is 
 ^' the end of a thing, than the beginning 
 « thereof*;* 
 
 36. When Solon, the Athenian legis- 
 lator, visited the court of Croesus, king of 
 Lydia, who was then in the meridian of his 
 splendour and prosperity ; the king caused 
 all the royal treasuries to be laid open to 
 his inspection. After Solon had been made 
 to observe all their contents, Croesus de- 
 manded of him, who was the happiest man 
 
 ♦ Ecclesiastes, vii. 8. 
 
54 TJIP 3I0SC0PK EXPLAINED, 
 
 that he ever yet had known ? Anticipating, 
 with delight, the gratification of hearing 
 Solon bear testimony to his own pre-emi^ 
 nent felicity. Solon, unmoved by the Ly*- 
 dian treasures, or by the manifest emotion 
 of the king, replied, " that the happiest 
 " man he had ever known was one Tellus, 
 ^' an Athenian." Crcesus, disappointed and 
 astonished at the reply, inquired of Solon, 
 " Why he esteemed Tellus to be the hap- 
 " piest man?" — " Because," said Solon, 
 " he had virtuous children, and lived to see 
 '^ their children flourish; and while he was 
 " in the enjoyment of that felicity, he died 
 " an honourable deaths Crcesus then in^ 
 quired, who Solon regarded as the next 
 happiest man? not doubting but that the 
 next place would be assigned to himself. 
 " The brothers, Cleobis and Bito," replied 
 Solon ; " because their circumstances were 
 ^' easy; they enjoyed great bodily health 
 " and vigour, so as to gain the prizes 
 ^^ in the games; and while they were 
 " in the act of manifesting an illustrious 
 ^' example of filial duty, they were sud- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 55 
 
 " denly removed by a blessed death : in 
 '^ which the Deity evidently showed, how 
 *^ much more excellent death is than life." 
 Croesus, enraged at this discourse, ex- 
 claimed : " O Athenian ! dost thou then 
 " set my happiness so low, as to bear coni- 
 *' parison with that of common men ?'* 
 
 37. To which Solon replied : " O king ! 
 *' thou demandest my opinion concerning 
 " human life; and how can I make thee 
 *' any other answer, who am so well aware, 
 *^ that the Deity often interrupts the greatest 
 *^ happiness of mortals ? In the course of a 
 '^ long life, we must of necessity witness 
 ^^ and suffer many things contrary to our 
 '^ wishes. I set the longest life of man at 
 " SEVENTY years; which seventy years 
 " contain twenty-five thousand five hun- 
 '^ dred and fifty days. Now, of these 
 " twenty-five thousand five hundred and 
 " fifty days, making together seventy 
 '^ YEARS, thou wilt not find one that will 
 " produce exactly the same result as an- 
 " other. Thou must therefore acknowledge, 
 ^^ that man is liable to a thousand varieties 
 
56 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 *^ and casualties. Thou art now, indeed, 
 '* most powerful and rich ; and king over a 
 *' numerous people. Yet, with respect to 
 " that which thou demandedst of me, I can 
 ^' give no answer, until I shall have known 
 " that thou hast ended thy life in happiness. 
 " For he who has great riches, is not hap- 
 " pier than he who has only sufficient^ 
 " unless the same prosperity attends him to 
 " the end of his career. If, to all thy present 
 '^ prosperity, thou shalt add an happy death, 
 '' then art thou indeed he after whom thou 
 " inquirest; the man who may truly be 
 " pronounced happy. Until, however, a 
 " man shall have reached his end, suspend 
 " thy judgment; call him fortunate, but do 
 " not yet venture to pronounce him happy. 
 " He who unites the most numerous means 
 *' of happiness ; who retains them to the 
 ^^ end ; and who then departs from life tran^ 
 '* quilly, is alone entitled, in my estimation, 
 " to be pronounced happy. It is therefore 
 ^' necessary that we should wait the end 
 " of things, and observe their final issues." 
 How the truth of Solon's argument was 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 57 
 
 proved to Croesus, I shall not relate here, 
 since it is known to every reader of ancient 
 history. 
 
 38. If, upon this narrow ground of heathen 
 argument, the proposition is undeniably true, 
 that a life must be ended before we can pro- 
 nounce positively of its value ; how power- 
 ful and how awful does that proposition 
 become, when it is placed upon Christian 
 ground, with all the secrets of eternity laid 
 open, in evidence of its truth ? What Chris- 
 tian is there who needs to be taught, that 
 the real value of his life cannot be taken 
 until his death? And that, not merely with 
 reference to the retrospect of what he has 
 experienced, but with reference also to the 
 prospect, of that which he shall thereafter 
 experience throughout eternal ages ? The 
 truth of the proposition, therefore, requires 
 no enforcement; neither that other which 
 is so intimately connected with it ; that the 
 value of life does not, in any degree, consist 
 in quantity of years. It is in the productivcr 
 ness of the time we live, (whatever be its 
 quantity,) to an end of value, which alone 
 
58 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 sets a value upon the time we live. That end 
 of value is assurance of eternal happiness; 
 and every measure of life, which can produce 
 that assurance, is equally valuable. 
 
 39. And here is a proper place for no- 
 ticing an effort which has been lately made, 
 under the title of " the Macrobiotic Arty or 
 Art of prolonging Life,' to attach a value 
 upon the time, or quantity of life, considered 
 in itself. 
 
 40. " The bills of mortality," we are told, 
 " convey some of the most important in- 
 " structions ; by means of ascertaining the 
 ^^ LAW, which governs the waste of human 
 " lifey Most interesting, indeed, would the 
 discovery of that great law be to the human 
 race. But what are those " important in- 
 " structions," which the teacher would 
 deduce from the supposed discovery of 
 that mysterious law ?— ^" The value of An-^ 
 " nuities, dependent on the continuance of 
 " any lives, or any survivorship between 
 '^ them." Doubtless, this is an object, of a 
 certain relative importance to some par- 
 ticular temporal circumstances of social 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 59 
 
 life; but when we view it in comparisoa 
 with that sense of absolute importancey which 
 the allegation of " tlie law which governs the 
 *' waste of human life" naturally and imme- 
 diately awakens in the mind, how little and 
 how ludicrous does its assumed solemnity 
 appear ! 
 
 41. No stronger ground could be laid for 
 the most provident and extensive measures 
 of final and eternal security, than a well 
 considered view of the great " law which 
 ^^ governs the waste of human life;" and 
 yet it happens, that this sovereign law is 
 contemplated in such a manner, as to fix 
 Qnd entomb the mind within the narrowest 
 limits of that extensive " waste" A new 
 average is sought for the length of human 
 life ; setting at naught the common agree- 
 ment of mankind in all ages, and holding 
 out a vain and pernicious encouragement to 
 earthly views, by fallaciously extending that 
 average from seventy, to upwards of 
 EIGHTY years; a vast importance is at- 
 tached, to that small extension of the latter 
 part of life beyoqd its ancient average; 
 
60 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 and thence has arisen a presumptuous and 
 spurious art, professing to " prolong life " 
 beyond its averaged term. 
 
 42. And what is held forth to us, as the 
 attractive object and end of that art ? It is 
 this : " That if any person, possessed of a 
 *' plain but sound understanding, and whose 
 '^ health is not materially injured, will care- 
 " fully peruse its pages, and will apply the 
 " facts therein contained to his own par- 
 " ticular life, occasionally calling in the 
 " assistance of an enlightened medical 
 " friend, when any important alteration 
 " takes place in his constitution or bodily 
 " functions, he can hardly fail — (to do 
 " what ?)— -to add from ten to twenty ^ or 
 " even thirty years, to his comfortable ex- 
 *' istence." 
 
 43. And in order to inspire an ambition 
 for penetrating so far into those wintry 
 regions of our nature, a portrait is presented 
 of two aged objects, who are in the actual 
 possession of all the privileges attainable in 
 that northern pole of life ; who have doubled 
 their common average of years; and who 
 
THE BIOSCOPH EXPLAINED. 6l 
 
 have therefore lived into generations, which 
 can entertain for them no other sentiment 
 than those which we ourselves entertain, at 
 the sight of Stone-henge, or the mammouth. 
 44. How humiliating to human nature 
 are the pretensions of such an art! How 
 severe a censure does it seem to imply, 
 both on the promises and encouragements 
 of the Gospel, and on the ethical philo- 
 ;8ophy of the best and wisest of the hea- 
 thens ! The preservation of health, is doubt- 
 less a reasonable and becoming object of 
 our care ; because we can neither discharge 
 our duties well, nor feel the fair gratifi- 
 cations of life, without the comfort of 
 health. In taking care of our health, there- 
 fore, we take care to maintain our bodily 
 powers in the best condition, for dischar- 
 ging the duties of our stations; and for 
 relishing the various satisfactions we are 
 bountifully permitted to enjoy, as a conse- 
 quence of that discharge. And this is the 
 only legitimate, and worthy motive, for striv- 
 ing to preserve health. A prolongation of 
 life, is a very probable, and a very ordinary 
 
62 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED- 
 
 consequence of health so preserved ; though 
 it is very far from being a certain, and a 
 necessary consequence; because, " the law 
 ' which really governs the waste of human 
 ^ life," is beyond the reach of all human 
 scrutiny : as the numerous apparent casual 
 ties, by which we daily see it abridged in 
 the full triumph of health and youth, most 
 clearly and irresistibly demonstrate. 
 
 45. But, to propose " the prolongation of 
 " lifcy for ten, twenty, or even thirty years 
 " beyond the average of seventy years,'' 
 as, in itself, the proper object of an art ; to 
 lay it down as an axiom, that the attain- 
 ment of a very long life is, in itself, a good; 
 and an end worthy to govern the thoughts 
 and desires of a reasonable man ; (when all 
 that we can enumerate of life, whether long 
 or short, must necessarily be past and ex- 
 pired, before it is enumerated ;) is the most 
 melancholy speculation that has yet shown 
 itself to the world; and an affront to all 
 those high prerogatives, which are awaiting 
 us at the exit from life. The importance 
 thus given to an object, which has been 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXl»LAlNED. 63 
 
 always rated at so very different a value by 
 the wisest and the best of men, in all ages, 
 and under every degree of illumination, 
 forms an epocha in the history of the human 
 mind ; and seems to mark a tropical point, 
 from whence its energies may begin to 
 retrograde from that forward tendency which 
 it has hitherto maintained since the origin 
 of man, and to recoil back into the gulf 
 and vortex of this transient and perishable 
 world. 
 
 46. What should we think of a youth — 
 and if there is either sense or virtue in the 
 art, it ought to be applied when the springs 
 of life are soundest — What should we think 
 of a youthy who should, in the smallest degree, 
 care to govern his view of life by (that 
 which is the avowed object of the Macro^ 
 hiotic art) the prospect of adding " ten, 
 " twenty, or even thirty years, of comfortable 
 " existence, to the end of his seventieth year f 
 Let such a one not court a dangerous duty, 
 upon the fields or waves of glory; let him 
 not labour for his country's weal at the 
 helm of power j for, alas ! we too well know> 
 
64 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 that by so doing he will only provoke the 
 operation of " the laxv, that governs the waste 
 « of human life!" Neither let him animate 
 his soul, by anticipating the glories of eter- 
 nity ; for, if he does, they will infallibly 
 extinguish in it all esteem for those years, 
 of artificial superannuation. 
 
 47. Let then the spurious union be broken, 
 between care for health, and atixietyfor life. 
 Let the former be regarded as an object of 
 manly and rational concern, for the better 
 performance of our several engagements in 
 life ; but let the latter be discarded, as an 
 object of pursuit low and unworthy; of- 
 fensive to the best sentiments of man, even 
 in an heathen state; and irreconcileable 
 with every thought and hope, which should 
 form the temper of a Christian mind. Let 
 us bless God, that when He was pleased 
 to pass sentence of mortality upon man, 
 and to doom him to the task of labouring 
 for his daily bread, He did not impose upon 
 him the additional task, of labouring for 
 a little more old age. That when decline 
 «nd decay became the general destiny of 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 65 
 
 man, the divine mercy permitted him to 
 look forward, with serenity and comfort, tq 
 the term of his dissolution, as a deliverance 
 from increasing afflictions and infirmities; 
 instead of obliging him to prolong his en- 
 durance of those afflictions to the utmost, 
 by rules of Macrobiotic art. 
 
 Absurd longevity ! More, more, it cries, 
 
 More life, more wealth, more trash of every kind. 
 
 And wherefore mad for more, when relish fails ? 
 
 Think you the soul, when this life's rattles cease, 
 
 Has nothing of more manly to succeed ? 
 
 Contract the taste immortal; learn e*en now, 
 
 To relish what alone subsists hereafter. 
 
 Of AGE, the glory is to wish to die. 
 
 That wish is praise, and promise ; it applauds 
 
 Past life, and promises our future bUss. 
 
 " Quid autem interest^ qnam cito exeas, dum 
 " utiqiie exeundum est 9 Non w^ diu vivamus 
 " curandum est, sed ut satis. Nam ut diu 
 ^^ vivas, fato opus est ; ut satis, animo, Longa 
 " est vita, ut plena est. Impletur autem cum 
 " animus sibi bonum suum reddidit, — What 
 " does it matter," says Seneca, '^ how 
 ^^ soon you reach your end, since you 
 
 F 
 
66 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " must inevitably arrive at it? We ought 
 " not to be anxious to live a long while, but 
 " to live long enough. To live long depends 
 *^ upon fate, to live long enough depends on 
 " ourselves. That life is long which is full : 
 *' and it is full, whenever the mind has 
 " repayed it for the measure of its time." 
 
 48. But, if life is only to be valued as an 
 end; and if that end is, the productiveness of 
 time to yield the fruit of eternal felicity ; we 
 cannot but be forcibly struck by the con- 
 sideration, thus strongly brought before our 
 view, of the sovereign and absolute influ- 
 ence of our time, short as it is, upon the 
 future quality of our existence, though eter- 
 nal in its duration. The timely and strong 
 apprehension of this great truth, concerns 
 us more deeply than any other science we 
 can possibly attain to, between the day of 
 our birth, and the day of our dissolution. 
 Let us therefore strive to bring this im- 
 portant fact, as strongly as possible, home 
 to our perception. 
 
 49. Man's being, considered in its entire- 
 ness, is, 1st, animal and temporal; £dly, 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 6? 
 
 spiritual and eternal. What air is to his 
 animal life, time is to his temporal life. Take 
 from him air, and his animal life ceases: 
 take from him time, and his temporal life 
 ceases. So far the parallel is kept. But 
 mark where it is lost. If air be corrupted, 
 it can only prejudice the animal life; its 
 poison cannot extend to the spiritual or the 
 eternal. But if time be corrupted, the 
 poison extends itself even to the spiritual, 
 and survives for ever in the eternal. On 
 the other hand ; if pestilential air be cor- 
 rected and purified, the benefit, however 
 great, can only reach the animal life ; but 
 if corrupted time be restored, and well 
 purified, the virtue is not confined to the 
 temporal life only, but extends its vivifying 
 power to the spiritual and to the eternal. 
 But air must be purified, before animal 
 life is extinct ; and so also must time, while 
 temporal life yet subsists; and it only sub- 
 sists, so long as we continue in this our pre- 
 sent life. If time closes in corruption, there 
 exists not, in the universe, any remaining 
 means, by which our eternity can be re- 
 
68 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 covered from the infection, and from all the 
 disastrous consequences. And it is on ac- 
 count of the certainty of that terrific truth, 
 that God, in His justice and mercy, has not 
 only contrived the most effectual, and most 
 summary, method for enabling us to restore 
 to salubrity whatever time we may have 
 depraved, by means of the dispensation of 
 His Gospel; but He also has given to 
 that Gospel such extraordinary publicity, 
 such unconquerable evidence, and such easy 
 and universal access, for eighteen hun- 
 dred years past, that nothing but our own 
 criminal inactivity, or stupid unconcern, can 
 cause us to be ultimately deprived of all its 
 benefit. 
 
 50. From what has been already said it 
 will now be apparent, that The Bioscope 
 is calculated to fix the mind, in the con- 
 templation of time present, time past, and 
 time future ; and consequently, to administer 
 the three-fold important office, of Moni- 
 tor, Remembrancer, and Comforter, 
 according as it is applied to each of those 
 three several times, determinable by the 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 69 
 
 advancing index; which index thus gives 
 language, and expression, to the dial. 
 
 We take no note of time 
 But from its loss ; to give it then a tongue 
 Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke ; 
 I hear the solemn sound. If heard aright, 
 It is the knell of our departed years. 
 Where are they ? — With the years beyond the flood ! 
 
 51. As a Monitor, it will make us reflect 
 upon the importance of every portion of 
 the year we are living, and thereby give us 
 the best chance, of not having hereafter ta 
 lament its misapplication. 
 
 Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to defer; 
 Next day the fatal, precedent will plead, 
 Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life. 
 Procrastination is the thief of time ; 
 Year after year it steals, till all are fled, 
 And to the mercies of a moment leaves 
 The vast concerns of an eternal scene ! 
 If not so frequent, would not this be strange ? 
 That His sofrequenty this is stranger still I 
 
 52. As a Remembrancer, it will keep us 
 constantly supplied with all the fruits of 
 
70 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 wisdom, which can be gathered from our 
 own past experience, 
 
 'Tis greatly wise, to talk with our past years, 
 And ask them, what report they bore to heav*n ; 
 And how* they might have borne more welcome 
 
 news ? 
 Their answers form, what men experience call. 
 
 5S, As a Comforter, it will enable us to ap- 
 ply both those rules of wisdom to the future 
 scene ; in which man always hopes to find 
 that happiness, which his mind and his 
 affections in vain pursue, through all the 
 fleeting moments of present time. 
 
 All should be prophets to themselves ; foresee 
 Their future fate; their future fate foretaste; 
 This aet would waste the bitterness of death. — 
 To-day, is yesterday returned ; returned 
 Full-power*d to cancel, expiate, raise, adorn^ 
 And reinstate us on a rock of peace. 
 Let it not share its predecessor's fate ! 
 
 54. But besides the three great characters 
 of time, the Bioscope also marks out to us, 
 the character, order, and progression of the 
 periods which constitute the whole of life ; 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 71 
 
 and points out to our attention, the small 
 number, the short continuance, and the 
 speedy succession of them all. For, child^ 
 HOOD and youth have yet to reach man- 
 hood, and manhood has not attained to 
 VIGOUR, nor vigour to maturity ; and ma- 
 turity attained speedily passes into decline ; 
 and decline must as speedily terminate in 
 decay. Each measure is small ; each sends 
 on our view to its successor; and we see, 
 that the stages are but few in number, and 
 short in duration, through which we are 
 brought to the end. 
 
 55, To use the Bioscope in all these three 
 respects, it is evident that we must exercise, 
 with constancy and resolution, those three 
 great faculties by which our nature is dis- 
 tinguished ; viz. the reflection, the me- 
 mory, and the forethought. It is the 
 union of these three faculties in man, that 
 establishes the identity of his moral person, 
 throughout time, and throughout eternity. 
 He remembers himself in the past, he feels 
 himself in the present, and he anticipates 
 
72 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 future periods, in which he knows that he 
 shall still experience the same present sense, 
 which he now experiences. The connexion 
 between these three faculties, qualifies him 
 for being a moral agent; and lays the 
 ground of that responsibility, under which, 
 as a moral agent, he holds the tenure of his 
 present life. 
 
 56. Let us apply these observations to 
 the different ages of man ; and, in order to 
 simplify and abridge that application, let 
 us consider the years of man as divided 
 only into three general periods: youth, 
 middle life, and age. 
 
 57. As a Monitor, youth will be admo- 
 nished by the Bioscope, to consider well 
 the quality of the years which it is living, 
 which quality is inscribed over against those 
 years upon the scale. Whatever be the 
 stage of youth, that consideration will ef- 
 fectually check presumption and self-suffi- 
 ciency. Small is the capacity of man, in 
 its largest extent, when compared with the 
 parts, and plans, of this vast universe ; and 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 73 
 
 small the portion of those parts, and plans, 
 which it can ever comprehend. What then 
 must be the capacity of childhood, and of 
 YOUTH, when they have not attained even 
 to the small capacity of manhood ? 
 
 58. An early sense and consciousness of 
 this great truth, will lay the securest ground 
 for a future general knowledge of truth, so 
 far as we can acquire it; by putting the 
 mind in a posture of defence against all 
 illusion, either from within or from without* 
 For, a sense of our natural incapacity will 
 reconcile us to a sense of ignorance, con- 
 cerning every thing which is too large for 
 our capacity to embrace. 
 
 59. " Ignorancey' says an able and inge- 
 nious naturalist, ^^ often differs from what 
 ^* is called knowledge, only by a less degree 
 " of error. It ought to be inculcated upon 
 ^' all men, that, next to the positive knovv- 
 *^ ledge of things which may be known, the 
 " most important science is, to know how 
 ^' to remain ignorant. ^ / don't know,' ought 
 ^^ to be a frequent answer of all teachers 
 *^ to their pupils, to accustom them to 
 
74 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " make the same answer, without feeling 
 " ashamed*.*' 
 
 60. I know not a more wise or excellent 
 rule, for the early tuition of the mind, than 
 is contained in the foregoing observation. 
 It was the sense of this great truth, under 
 the darkness of heathenism, that made the 
 sagacious philosophy of Cicero withhold 
 assent on many points; to which he would 
 readily have yielded it, had he, like us, had 
 a sufficient voucher for their truth. Widely 
 different was that noble temper of mind 
 from the vain and spurious philosophy 
 which has disgraced the Christian ages, in 
 which universal doubt, or scepticism, has 
 been propounded, as the proper carriage of 
 the mind, against the united vouchers of 
 heaven and earth. 
 
 ♦ " Dignorance ne differe souvent que par moins d'erreur, 
 ^. de ce qu'on appelle savoir. II faudroit inculquer a tous les 
 '* hommes, qu'apres le savoir r4el dans les choses qui en sont 
 '* susceptibles, savoir ignorer est la connoissance la plus im- 
 '* portante. * Je ne sais pas,* devroit ^tre une r^ponse tres- 
 ** frequente des instituteurs a leurs Aleves, pour les accou- 
 *^* turner a la faire eux-raemes sans rougir." — De Luc. Lettres 
 sur la Terra Tom. L p. 228. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 75 
 
 61. Let youth then, whether in or out 
 of childhood, remark upon the Bioscope the 
 character of its years, and the smallness of 
 the progress it has made in hfe ; and let it 
 infer, how small that capacity must be, 
 which will still be small, even when it shall 
 have journeyed to the opposite extremity 
 of the scale. 
 
 62. To my very young readers, if any 
 such I should find, I offer the following 
 Fable ; leaving it to their good sense to 
 deduce, from what has been already said, 
 the moral which it is plainly designed to 
 convey. 
 
 THE COCKLK-SHELL AND THE SEA. 
 
 A Cockle-shell, whose slender cup 
 
 Had by a wave been lifted up, 
 
 And gently lodged, secure and sound, 
 
 A little way upon the ground ; 
 
 Yet not so far, but every day 
 
 She drank the falling of the spray; 
 
 Grew vain at length to think, that she 
 
 Contained a portion of the sea. 
 
 " And why not more ? (at length she cried ;) 
 
 ^ And why not reaves ; and why not tide ? 
 
76 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED, 
 
 *' Perhaps, tho* men account me small, 
 
 " I might, on proof, contain it all. 
 
 " *Tis worth the trial ; how should I 
 
 " Be sure I can*t unless I try ? " 
 
 Fired by the grandeur of the thought. 
 
 To quit her safe retreat she sought. 
 
 And, victim of her ideot pride, 
 
 Plunged downward in the swelling tide, 
 
 But now no favVing wave was there : 
 
 Ambition fled, arose despair, 
 
 When a rude billow that received 
 
 The wanton fool, now undeceiv'd. 
 
 Recoiling for a moment, bore 
 
 The buoyant trifle from the shore, 
 
 And murmur'd : " Ideot ! learn too late 
 
 " The misery of presumption's fate. 
 
 " Of holding seas no longer think, 
 
 " The waste-spray thou no more shalt drink : 
 
 ** Know, vain pretender, to thy cost, 
 
 " Thy small capacity is lost / " 
 
 Then, flowing with impetuous shock 
 
 Against the angle of a rock. 
 
 The shell, at one tremendous stroke, 
 
 Into an hundred atoms broke. 
 
 63. But let not youth relinquish its 
 cautionary modesty, because it finds itself 
 approaching to the dawn of manhood. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 77 
 
 When the sense of a near approach to 
 manly years shall be disposed to elate it, and 
 prompt it to identify its age with that of 
 others who have been long in possession of 
 those years ; the face of the Bioscope will 
 admonish it, to reflect upon the character of 
 the years it has Uved, and to be modest in 
 the comparison. 
 
 64. For, let a youth who has attained to 
 his twentieth, or a young man to his five 
 and twentieth year, the characters of which 
 years are but childhood, youth, and the 
 beginning of manhood> compare his age 
 with that of a person who has doubled 
 those years, and who has added to these 
 characters, those others of manhood, vi- 
 gour, and MATURITY of life; and, if he is 
 not supremely arrogant, what will reason 
 suggest to him from the comparison ? Will 
 he pay himself so ill a compliment as to 
 suppose, that when he shall have added to 
 his own years, those three important stages^ 
 his mind will have acquired no additional 
 improvement, no accession of experience;, 
 beyond what he has already gained in those 
 
78 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 three incipient periods ? Certainly, he will 
 not form so injurious a judgment of his 
 own future acquirements. And if he will 
 not, let him now pay, to his senior in years, 
 the same tribute of justice and respect, 
 which he is willing to pay to himself, when 
 he contemplates himself as advanced to the 
 same period in time. This will bring his 
 mind and his years into unison; and will 
 accustom him to preserve a just balance 
 between them, as he proceeds in life. It 
 is not every man who is formed by nature 
 to guide a state, or lead an army, in that 
 early spring of life ; and therefore, to esti- 
 mate our youthful years by the extraor- 
 dinary exceptions of nature in that respect, 
 would mark the highest climax of arro- 
 gance. 
 
 65. In youth, modesty, and a just appre- 
 ciation of our capacity, has always been 
 regarded, by the wisest men, as the best 
 earnest of future excellence. It preserves 
 the order of life; it restrains youth from 
 that precocious forwardness, which divides 
 the mind from the years as effectually, as, in 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 79 
 
 a later period, the backwardness of age. By 
 early keeping our place in years through 
 modesty, we shall maintain an even pace 
 with them in all their future progress, and 
 shall, at length, reach our latest period, in 
 gravity and order. 
 
 66. But there is one most weighty reason 
 for early tutoring the mind to restrain, 
 rather than encourage, those promptings of 
 self-admiration, which are always at the 
 foundation of presumption. And that is, 
 that if they should acquire a full ascend- 
 ancy in us, they will most probably urge 
 us on to infidelity; which is no other 
 than the pride of the human mind, finally 
 settled into self -authority. The smallest 
 tincture of whose baneful influence is suffi- 
 cient, at once, to cloud over and darken 
 every bright prospect of religion. Of the 
 wretched consequences of this moral ma- 
 lady, I shall add nothing here; but shall 
 reserve the exposure of it to its proper 
 place, namely, its effect on age, or the de- 
 cline and DECAY of life. In youth, the 
 first and best' quality to establish, infidelity 
 
80 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINEJO^ 
 
 of reason, in subordination to the Author of 
 reason : which naturally involves humility of 
 mind. This will be found the surest guide 
 to truth, to virtue, and to mental peace. 
 Such are some of the benefits, which youth 
 will be able to receive from the counsels 
 of THE BIOSCOPE, Considered in its capa- 
 city of Monitor, 
 
 67. As a Remembrancer, it will contri- 
 bute many important and valuable uses to 
 the season of youth. If the mind is rightly 
 taught, and the understanding upright, the 
 exercise of the memory upon the indications 
 and incidents of the past years, though few, 
 will both quicken the affections of the heart, 
 and excite the sensibility of the conscience* 
 " A man that is young in years, may be 
 " old in hours," says Lord Bacon, ^^ if he 
 *^ have lost no time." Although the space 
 of time over which youth can exercise re- 
 membrance, is but small in extent; yet, as 
 time always appears more considerable in 
 youth than in the following ages of life, the 
 practice of recalling, and dwelling upon, a 
 review of the years that are past, beiog 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 81 
 
 began and confirmed at that early age, will 
 prepare the mind for the most successful 
 application of the practice, in the more 
 advanced and more active ages. By habi- 
 tuating the memory, thus early, to recall 
 time, and the parts of time, while the 
 smaller measures appear to embrace very 
 considerable portions, the mind will con- 
 tract an habit of vigilance and circumspec- 
 tion; and days and months, no less than 
 years, will find their places in the memory, 
 in which they would otherwise be absorbed 
 into the greater measures of time. 
 
 68. Let youth exercise its remembrance, 
 in retracing the affectionate impressions of 
 infant life ; in recalling scenes of domestic 
 enjoyment; of parental tenderness, fra- 
 ternal love, and friendly intercourse. Let 
 it cherish those first impressions, and love 
 them because they were the first. Let it 
 recall them, year by year, upon the dial. 
 If the heart be sound, those earliest im- 
 pressions will ever awaken the tenderest 
 recollections. Affections, excited in the 
 dawn of life, by those with whom Provi* 
 
 i 
 
82 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 dence first associated us, ought to keep a 
 chief place in the heart, as long as life 
 subsists; and, if we desert not nature, they 
 will afford us the most pleasing and salu- 
 tary memorials unto the end of our journey. 
 Nothing keeps the heart of man so safe, as 
 keeping it tender; and nothing keeps it so 
 tender, as cherishing affection for valuable 
 objects, from whom we are, or shortly may 
 be, separated. There is no ground to fear, that 
 such tenderness will impair manliness ; with- 
 out it, manliness becomes harsh and hateful, 
 if not barbarous and brutal. If we would 
 know, whether tenderness of attachment and 
 recollection, is becoming to man, let us con- 
 sult the history of the Old Testament; if 
 we would know, whether it is a fitting ingre- 
 dient in an hero^ let Homer, the poet of 
 heroes, instruct us. 
 
 69. Cherish, in youth, the moments of any 
 wise and aged friend whose intimacy you 
 are privileged to enjoy, with the most 
 diligent and provident care; and be soli- 
 citous, to gather all the fruits of his expe- 
 rience while the opportunity lasts, which 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 83 
 
 the inspection of the dial will warn you, 
 must presently be taken from you. " Ego 
 " Q. Maximum adolescens ita dilexi senem, 
 ^^ ut aequalem ; erat enim in illo viro comi- 
 " tate condita gravitas : nee senectus mores 
 " rautaverat. Cujus sermone ita turn ciipide 
 " fruebary quasi jam divinarem id, quod evenit, 
 " illo extinctOy fore unde discerem nemiuem.'' 
 " When I was a young man," says Cato, 
 " I loved the aged Q. Ma^jimus, as if hjs 
 " had been my equal in years ; for he com- 
 ^' bined gravity with cheerfulness; and age 
 *^ had produced no alteration in his man- 
 - ners. Whose conversation I then eagerly 
 ^' delighted in, as if I had foreseen that, which 
 " actually came to pass; that when he teas 
 " deady there remained no one from whom I 
 " could derive the same instruction,^' 
 
 70. But, if the space of the Bioscope over 
 which youth can cast a retrospective eye is 
 but small, its view will the sooner be carried 
 back to the observation of its creation, or 
 commencement. And what apprehension can 
 so well dispose it for that sacred precept: 
 '^ Remember thy Creator in the days of 
 
84 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 ^^ thy youth; before the evil days come, and 
 " the years advance, in which thou shalt 
 " say, I have no pleasure in them!" The 
 mind practised, at that opening season of 
 life, to this holy remembrance, will receive, 
 and retain a sense of the divine presence 
 through all its succeeding progress ; and will 
 derive the constant consolation and support, 
 which the sense of that divine presence will 
 at all times impart. Thus disciplined, it 
 will not be " cast off by God in the time of 
 " old age ; nor forsaken by Him when its 
 *' strength faileth." 
 
 71. And here we may suitably subjoin 
 ** TWO RULES," prescribed by the pious 
 Nelson ; ^^ whereby," says he, " we may be 
 " enabled to perform the ordinary actions 
 *' of life which occur every day, after the 
 " best and most perfect manner. The first 
 '' is, to keep a lively sense of God's omni-^ 
 ^^ presence upon the mind. The second is, 
 ^^ frequently to call to mind the certainty of 
 *' death J and the uncertainty of that time which 
 *' zpe have to continue in this world"^.'' 
 
 * The Practice of True Devotion. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 85 
 
 72. There is one illusion, against whicl^ 
 it is necessary to be guarded, at this age, in 
 contemplating the Bioscope; namely, that 
 of imagining, that all the years beyond the 
 index are years through which we are to 
 pass. For, as the index will have made but 
 little progress at that early period of life, 
 and as a very wide range will appear open 
 before us ; if we are not awakened to a con- 
 viction of the truth, we shall survey all the 
 sequel of the dial as a property in time, 
 which is only waiting for our gradual pos- 
 session. To rescue ourselves from this mis- 
 chievous illusion, let youth, first, tell itself 
 the common truth, concerning the uncer- 
 tainty of human life. But, as common truths 
 are apt to be blunted, and to lose their 
 efficacy, by frequent repetition, let us seek 
 a new course ; by transferring the Bioscope 
 from our own life to that of some other 
 person, in whose life we can feel an interest 
 almost equal with our own. 
 
 73. Think, therefoje, upon some early 
 friend, the companion of your childish years ; 
 
86 tHE BIOSCOPE: EXPLAINED. 
 
 some brother, some sister; cut off in the 
 infancy of life, and bequeathing for ever, to 
 your instruction, a palpable demonstration 
 of that common truth. Observe, where the 
 Bioscope of that departed friend reached 
 its end ; and let that point serve, for ever, to 
 warn and to convince you, that you hold no 
 property whatever in any particle of the scale, 
 which lies beyond your index. Again, fix 
 your attention upon the age of some parent, 
 some guardian of your tender years ; the 
 security of whose kindness and protection, 
 appear to you necessary for the relish of your 
 life. Contemplate his, or her, age upon the 
 dial; connect it with your own ; and follow 
 the progress of both, according to the dis- 
 tance which inevitably separates them. This 
 will lead on your own index ; and when the 
 day arrives that the more advanced one 
 shall reach its term, your own will be pro- 
 portionably advanced; and you will have 
 acquired, from the comparison, a sensible 
 demonstration of the transitoriness of life. 
 74. Then is the time, that the Bios- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 8? 
 
 cope will unfold its exalted quality of a 
 Comforter. 
 
 God gave us friends to bless the present scene ; 
 
 Resumes them, to prepare vsfor the next. 
 
 The power of this truth, which will then 
 be intimately felt, will urge on your pro- 
 spect, from the end of the dial, into the 
 bright region which appears beyond it: for, 
 though we have lived together under a dis- 
 parity of years, we shall one day meet in an 
 equality of existence. " Omnes eadem con- 
 *^ ditio devinxit; cui nasci contigit, mori 
 *^ restat : intervallis distinguimur^ exitu cequa- 
 *^ mur, — The same condition of existence," 
 says Seneca, " is annexed to all; whoever 
 *^ has once been born, must of necessity 
 " die. We are divided, indeed, from 
 " each other, by intervals of time, during 
 " our journey, but we shall all come equally 
 ^' together in the end'' And to that truth 
 of nature, what does the truth oi grace, or of 
 the Gospel, subjoin for our consolation? 
 This divine assurance, that *^ we shall then 
 " be for ever, together, with the Lord^/' As 
 
 • 1 Thess. iy. 17. 
 
8B THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAlNEU* 
 
 the eyes of Elisha followed the ascending 
 prophet into heaven, your minds will fol- 
 low your departed friend into that region 
 of brightness; and you will cherish the 
 thought, and the persuasion, that you have 
 already begun to acquire, in his person, an 
 interest and a property in eternity. 
 
 75. And here let me observe, that there 
 is no season of Hfe in which the bright 
 comforts of religion, afforded in the prospect 
 of a life in heaven, are so sensibly and 
 purely felt, as in that of a guileless and reli- 
 gious childhood. That this should be so, will 
 not surprise us, when we reflect, that Christ 
 himself has pointed out that age as the best 
 representation of the inhabitants of heaven. 
 That it is so in fact, all those can testify, 
 whom God has blest with the commerce of 
 young minds, grounded in religion, and 
 practised to religious obedience. The spring 
 of youth, is more congenial to the tempera- 
 ture of celestial joy, than either the summer, 
 the autumn, or the winter of years. And, if 
 a relish for that joy be imbibed in that age, 
 it will tincture, with the lustre and serenity 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 89^ 
 
 of spring, all the succeeding seasons of life. 
 A chastened exaltation of mind, will be the 
 natural and certain consequence of such a 
 temper ; than which nothing can so well fit 
 us, for duly combining our services to God 
 and man, while we remain here, under our 
 discipline of trial. 
 
 76. We next come to consider, the mid- 
 dle AGES of life ; which consideration opens 
 to us a delicate task. For, what ages are we 
 to comprehend under that denomination ? 
 *^ Is not a man middle-aged at fifty-five ?" 
 is a very common question with the world. 
 To give a full answer to that question, it 
 would first be necessary, to agree upon the 
 meaning of the terms: till that point is^ 
 determined, my answer is, " look at the dial^ 
 Unless a century was the average extent of 
 human Wkyjifty-five could not, by any mode 
 of computation, be rendered the middle age 
 of life. By middle, I apprehend we must 
 understand, equi-distant between extremities; 
 and by middle-aged, equi-distant between the 
 two extremities of the years of life. These 
 middle ages, therefore, must comprise parts 
 
90 thLE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 of all the three middle decimals of life, iii 
 their growth and succession ; to the middle 
 decimal of which alone, the denomination 
 of middle-age, in property belongs. 
 
 77. Now, "He that is youngest," says 
 Bishop Taylor, " hath not long to live ; he 
 " that is THIRTY, FORTY, or FIFTY ycats 
 " old, hath spent most of his life, and his 
 " dream is almost done ; and in a very few 
 " months he must be cast into his eternal 
 " portion." If this is truly the case; and it 
 is wiser to believe those who think, than 
 those who think not ; these middle ages will 
 do well to apply themselves, with attention, 
 to the contemplation of time. 
 
 78. These three middle decimals, com- 
 prise a large proportion of life, consisting 
 of its most efficient periods ; and it is in 
 these three periods, that experimental wis- 
 dom is chiefly gained, if ever it be gained 
 at all. In these years, the mind first begins 
 to acquire a just apprehension of the mea- 
 sure of life; and to reduce it from that illu- 
 sive and visionary length, with which it 
 appears to the imagiuatioa of youth. Our 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 91 
 
 ideas of length, and distance, are relative and 
 comparative. When we can take a distinct 
 view of the beginning of any measure, we 
 see, and apprehend its proportions. 
 
 79. If life consist* of seventy years, we 
 may say, that it consists of three times 
 twenty-three years. He who is living in 
 the first of those three divisions, is utterly 
 insensible of the period at which it com- 
 menced ; and hence, that first period appears 
 to him to have had no beginning: it is 
 like an emanation from eternity. Hence the 
 difference also, between the length of that 
 same term of years, in the apprehension of 
 the parent, and in that of the child. But, 
 when the second measure of twenty-three 
 years has been entered, and somewhat pro- 
 ceeded in ; when we can take a reflective view 
 of the point from which our manhood com- 
 menced, and can look back, beyond it, into 
 youth, the progress of time then begins to 
 rectify itself in our judgment; and the 
 second twenty-three years seem to proceed 
 with a rapidity, of which we had no idea 
 during xYi^Jirst, But when the second divi- 
 
92 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 sion is concluded, and the extended com- 
 pass is turned upon us for the last time; 
 when forty-six years are numbered, and the 
 remaining twenty-three conclude the mea-^ 
 sure ; as in the following scale : 
 
 :.i....,....i.........'i.-..^.i.....:..i.„......i 
 
 then, our improved experience gains a per- 
 fect sentiment of the true measure, and 
 velocity, of life ; that it is but " as a span 
 long:" and, if truth and nature have our 
 ear, that last measure will imperatively call 
 tipon us, to adapt our minds to the declen- 
 sion and conclusion of our course. 
 
 80. If truth and nature are not attended 
 to ; if we fly from their warnings, and strive 
 to remove ourselves from them, by attempt- 
 ing to reascend the stream of time; or, if 
 we waver in uncertainty, without taking a 
 resolute course ; the consequence is obvious : 
 that which we are reluctant to approach, 
 will violently take hold upon us ; and where 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 93 
 
 we might have arrived in serenity, we shall 
 be brought in sorrow. Let us, then, take 
 a caution from that severe satire of the 
 poet: 
 
 At thirty, man suspeqts himself a fool ; 
 
 Knows it at/or/j/, and reforms his plan : 
 
 At fifty, chides his infamous delay : 
 
 Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve ; 
 
 In all the magnanimity of thought 
 
 Resolves; and re-resolves ; then dies the same. 
 
 81. These middle ages, in their degreesi 
 and order, will be greatly assisted, by a 
 patient and steady observation of the Bios- 
 cope. The visible progress of the index, 
 through all those periods, will add the 
 strongest enforcement to the conviction, 
 arising from an improving experience of 
 the rapid flux of time. 
 
 82. As a Monitor, therefore, the Bioscope 
 will point out to middle life, the critical 
 stage at which it is arrived. For, although 
 half of life, more or less, may possibly remain, 
 yej; half of it, is certainly/ exhausted ; and 
 
94 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 the second half will appear to pass, with 
 a continually increasing rapidity ; owing to 
 the continual rectification of our judgment , 
 with respect to the true velocity of time. 
 And, as we shall find ourselves declining in 
 vigour in the last half, whereas we were 
 constantly increasing in it in the first half, 
 we shall be led to a provident consideration 
 of the present period ; in order to recover, 
 and redress, whatever in the past may point 
 itself out to our reflection as requiring it. 
 The power of habit, which acquires such 
 compound strength from the progress of 
 time, will begin to alarm us, and to awaken 
 in us a wise anxiety ; and we shall naturally 
 reflect, that, if we are under the influence of 
 any habits which ought to be broken and 
 subdued, this is the latest season to which 
 the effort ought in prudence to be pro- 
 tracted. The vigour we now possess, will 
 still render easy the subjugation of habits, 
 the dominion of which will be irresistibly 
 confirmed, if we permit them to acquire an 
 established inveteracy, and if we postpone 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 95 
 
 our combat with them, until our strength de- 
 cays, and our resolution becomes too feeble 
 to encounter them. 
 
 83. But, the admonitions for middle life 
 must of necessity involve the remembrance of 
 the past, by appealing to the substance of its 
 experience ; by vehich, the authority of those 
 admonitions are chiefly to be established. 
 The experience of life, and of human nature, 
 with which we find ourselves gradually stored 
 in these periods, will go a great way towards 
 enabling us to form a general notion, of that 
 portion of life which we have yet to live. 
 " Ex prateritis possmii futura deprehendi.'^ 
 " Thefuturey" says Pliny, " may, in a great 
 " measure, be collected from the past." And 
 so also Shakspeare : 
 
 There is an history in all men's lives, 
 Figuring the nature of times deceased. 
 The which observM, a man may propliesy, 
 With a near aim, of the main chance of things 
 As yet not come to life ; which in their seeds, 
 And weak beginnings, lie inlreasured. 
 
 84. Here then, as a Remembrancer, the 
 JBioscope will have a very active office to 
 
96 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 fulfil ; and various will be the subjects, 
 upon which it will exert its activity. Among 
 those which will naturally engage the mind, 
 will be a review of our contemporaries in 
 life : they who began the journey with 
 us, and who long kept pace with us in it. 
 Of these we shall inquire, which still con- 
 tinue their course in the common track ; or 
 which, by a side and cross path, have 
 already reached the termination ? whose 
 Bioscopes have stopped in the middle of 
 their courses, and thus have demonstrated 
 tons, the vanity of all anticipations of life. 
 
 When in this vale of years I backward look, 
 And miss such numbers; numbers too of such. 
 Firmer in health, and greener in their years, 
 And stricter on their guard, and fitter far 
 To play life's subtle game; I scarce believe 
 I still survive I 
 
 85. From the smaller circle, of our own 
 particular friends, we shall, in these luiddle 
 years of life, extend our view and our con- 
 pern to the great circle of the world ; and to 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 97 
 
 the principal actors engaged upon its con- 
 spicuous theatre. 
 
 Where the prime actors of the last year's scene ? 
 Their port so proud, their buskin, and their plunae. 
 How many sleep, who kept the world awake, 
 With lustre, and with noise ! Has death proclaim'^ 
 A truce, and hung his sated lance on high ? 
 'Tis brandish'd still; nor shall the present year 
 Be more tenacious of its human leaf, 
 Or spread of feeble life a thinner/fl//. 
 
 86. How penetrating must the truth of 
 these lines be to us, who, for more than 
 twenty years, beheld England " awake, with 
 lustre and with noise/' at the names of Pitt 
 and Fox ; and who yet have seen the pos- 
 sessors of those great names disappear, and 
 vanish from the view, at terms of life far 
 short of the extreme ages comprehended in 
 the dial : the former at the age of 47 ; and 
 the latter at the age of 55 years. 
 
 87. Nor is it in men alone that this fra- 
 gility, this mortality is seen. 
 
 Empires die ! Where now 
 
 The Roman ? Greek ? They stalk an empty name, 
 11 
 
98 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 ^^ Where now" the ancient and splendid 
 realm of France? The German empire, 
 with all its prescriptive honours, of Rome, 
 of CiESAR, and of Augustus ? We knew 
 them both, and were intimate with both; 
 yet " where are they nowV 
 
 » ■ ■ They stalk, an empty name ! 
 
 We have lived to see them erased from the 
 earth ; and, in our own few years, have wit- 
 nessed a revolution in human affairs, more 
 entire than was ever accomplished, but in 
 the progression of centuries. 
 
 88. Let any man, who (at the age, per- 
 haps, of twenty,) saw the throne of Lewis 
 the Fourteenth in appearance still firm and 
 secure, retaining all its ancient honours, 
 and possessed by a prince of his royal 
 blood, the second only in descent from him- 
 self; who, ten years after, saw that throne 
 subverted, those honours extinguished, that 
 possessor weltering in his blood, and that 
 royal line of sovereigns for ever concluded : 
 who, in the course of ten more years, 
 beheld an imperial dignity spring out of 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 99 
 
 that scene of waste and ruin, and invest, 
 with all its eminence, an unknown native of 
 a Mediterranean island, who presently ex- 
 tinguished the last vestige of imperial Rome, 
 and made himself the conqueror and arbi- 
 trator of almost the whole of Europe : let 
 such an one count back those few fateful 
 years upon the dial of his Bioscope, and medi- 
 tate upon the experience which they impart ; 
 let him next look forward, upon the years 
 which are now about to open before him; 
 and, (if he has wisdom,) caution, and not 
 temerity; doubt, and not security ; religious 
 awe, and not worldly confidence; must be 
 the sentiments which they will excite. 
 
 88. With empires, pass also the fashions 
 or prevailing aspects of the world. He who 
 is now advanced ia middle age, found the 
 world, at his entrance into manhood, not 
 more distinguished by the crowns and scep- 
 tres that have vanished, than by opinions and 
 systems, which exercised the most insolent 
 and overbearing dominion among the nations 
 of Christendom. The religion of Christ- 
 endom, was the great object of their assail- 
 
100 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 merit; and, favoured by the corruption of 
 courts, and the depravity of individuals, 
 they established an empire of fashion, 
 which had nearly brow-beaten religion, 
 and driven piety from the world, into the 
 recesses of closets. By the slow and cal- 
 culated advances of sophistry; or by the 
 daring and desperate assaults of jest and 
 falsehood; they united, with unintermitting 
 ardor, to blow up, or beat down, the sanc- 
 tuary of the Gospel. The schools of Hume, 
 of Voltaire, of Helvetius, of Frederick, and 
 many others, seemed firm in power ; and 
 their arrogant pretensions were exalted 
 among the most conspicuous eminences of 
 Europe. " Where are they now?" Fallen 
 from that height of false glory, and usurped 
 distinction, on which they stood ; they must 
 now be searched for, among the ruins of 
 Europe. The same mysterious scourge, 
 which the present dispensation of Provi- 
 dence has called forth to chastise and afflict 
 Christendom, has fallen with indiscrimi- 
 nating vengeance, upon the honours of infi- 
 delity and scepticism. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EX>PI>AINJR©.>^ ^^ 
 
 89. Having received such extraordinary 
 demonstration, that " the world, and the 
 ^^ fashion of the world, passeth away;" he 
 will discern wisdom, and not severity, in 
 the admonitory precept founded upon that 
 truth ; " Love not the world." And, look- 
 ing from those passing objects, " which are 
 " now seen," to those prospective ones, 
 " which are not yet seen;" he will loosen 
 his attachments to " things which are merely 
 " temporal," and gladly fix them upon 
 " those which are eternal." 
 
 90. Let the Bioscope be then resorted to, 
 in its quality of Comforter, to enable us so 
 to use those approaching years, as to be 
 capable of defying the utmost evil with 
 which they can teem ; and of mastering all 
 the power of disaster, which seems to form 
 the peculiar and distinguishing character 
 of the times in which we are cast. And 
 this it will do; First: by showing us, that 
 there is a limits which that evil and that 
 disaster cannot possibly overpass ; and wher^ 
 we may be emancipated, for ever, from its 
 
-\0^^ TH© BlOIJCOPfi EXPLAINED. 
 
 influence and dominion. Secondly ; by 
 showing us, that we have still, in proba- 
 bility, a residue of life, which may be ren- 
 dered sufficient for taking effectual mea- 
 sures, to assure that emancipation, and to 
 attain to that ultimate receptacle of security 
 and peace. Let us keep our view con- 
 stantly advanced to the goal of our journey ; 
 and, holding continually that forward ten- 
 dency, let us make the end, and not the 
 intermediate stages, the prime object of our 
 concern. There, whatever may be the poli- 
 tical distractions of this earth, for a short 
 and limited period, the Christian's prospect 
 will be crowded with objects to animate 
 the best and noblest ambition of those 
 middle ages ; namely, " glory, and honour j 
 " and immortality ;^^ when " God shall, at 
 " length, have taken unto Him his great 
 " power, and shall reign; and shall have 
 ** destroyed them which destroy the earth ! '* 
 
 91. We come now at last to the aged ; 
 to that period, which Cicero calls, " of old 
 " «ge, either arrived, or certainly approach- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 103 
 
 <^ ing — aut jam urgentis, aut certe adven- 
 <^ tantis senectutis." And here we have a 
 task, still more delicate to fulfil than the 
 former. For, who are the aged, and the old ? 
 At what period do those qualities of time 
 commence, and attach their characters upon 
 individuals ? 
 
 92. " Do you call a man old at sixty?*' 
 says the world: and such is the general 
 system of connivance and mutual decep- 
 tion, that the usual answer to that question 
 is — No/ But here, again, we have need to 
 fix and determine the signification of terms. 
 By agedy and old, I apprehend w^e must 
 understand, the having outlived far the 
 greater part of the average number of our 
 years, and, of course, having but a small 
 portion of that number remaining. Aged, 
 and old, being relative notions, and relative 
 to a fixed and general measure of time in 
 life ; between fifty and sixty, and between 
 sixty and seventy, out of seventy years, 
 certainly establish, in diiFerent propor- 
 tions, the relations of age^ or oldness. 
 
104 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 As the poet is adventurous enough to 
 say; 
 
 If truth, in spite of manners, must be told, 
 Why tv\\\y, fifty-five is something old *. 
 
 93. That this statement may not appear so 
 contrary to the common opinion of man- 
 kind, as it is to the partial feeling of the 
 World ; let us inquire, what was the opinion 
 of the wisest heathen nations, before age 
 became so much an object of jealousy and 
 irritation. 
 
 94. According to the Greeks and Latins, 
 a man was called Tr^Eo-^sulyig — senior, that is, 
 elder or aged, as soon as he had completed 
 his forty-ninth year, and had entered upon 
 his fiftieth ; and he was called ys^cov^ — senex, 
 that is, old, from the age of fifty-six to the 
 end of his life. If now, keeping in our 
 mind the definition which has just been 
 given of agedness, and oldness, we carry our 
 eye to the Bioscope, we shall receive imme- 
 
 ♦ Elegy to an Old Beauty .—Parnel. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 105 
 
 diate demonstration of the truth and just- 
 ness of that ancient enumeration. He who 
 has entered into his last decimal but one, is, 
 in all certainty, aged; and he who has 
 entered his last decimal, is, in all meaning, 
 old, though others may be older. 
 
 95. It has been observed, that we are 
 never sensible of our advancement in age, 
 until some accidental circumstance occurs 16 
 awaken in us a sense of that truth. Seneca 
 thus relates an incident, which led him to 
 remark, that he was already an aged man. 
 " Quocunque me verto, argumenta senec- 
 " tutis meae video. Veneram in suburba- 
 ^^ num, et querebar de impensis aedificii 
 " delabentis. Ait villicus, non esse negli- 
 ^^ gentiae suae vitium, omnia se facere, sed 
 " villam veterem esse. Haec villa inter man us 
 " meas crevit; quid mihi futurum est, si 
 " tarn putrida sunt aetatis meae saxa ?— 
 " Wherever I turn, I see the proofs of my 
 ^^ own agedness. I went to my house out 
 ^' of town, and complained of the expense 
 " which I was to incur for repairs. The 
 
106 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " Steward said, that it was not owing to any 
 " negligence in him ; that he had taken 
 " every care of the building, but that the 
 *^ house was old. Now, this house grew up 
 ** under my own hands ! What, then, must 
 " be my own case, if materials, of my own 
 ^* age, are thus perishable?'' 
 
 96. From these stages, a long retrospect 
 is opened to us ; and the prospect narrows 
 in proportion. We perceive sensibly our 
 advance, and approximation to the com- 
 mon boundary of life ; and we are as sen- 
 sibly convinced, that no time should be 
 "wasted, or lost, for bringing our minds into 
 B. conformity with our years, in order to 
 our final arrival at that boundary. Here, 
 then, the Bioscope speaks eloquently to us 
 in its capacity of Monitor. 
 
 97. We read upon the dial the characters 
 of the ages which we have past, and of 
 those at which we are arrived ; and, however 
 ?iiuch we may desire to deny those charac- 
 ters, by appealing to the texture of our 
 thoughts, yet, the conspicuous fact vindicates 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 107 
 
 its reality, by appealing to the number of 
 our years. And it is years, not thoughts, 
 which make up the measure of human life. 
 
 98. " However age may discourage us by 
 " its appearance, from considering it in 
 '^ prospect,'' says a great writer, " we shall 
 " all by degrees certainly be old, if we live 
 " long enough ; and therefore we ought to 
 " inquire, what provision can be made 
 " against that time of distress ? what hap-^ 
 " piness can be stored against the winter of 
 " life? and how we may pass our latter 
 ** years with serenity and cheerfulness ? If 
 ^* it has been found by the experience of 
 " mankind, that not even the best seasons 
 ** of life are able to supply sufficient grati- 
 ^* fications, without anticipating uncertain 
 ^'felicities, it cannot surely be supposed, 
 " that old age, worn with labours, harrassed 
 " with anxieties, and tortured with diseases, 
 '^ should have any gladness of its own, or 
 *^ feel any satisfaction from the contempla-? 
 *^ tion of the present. All the comfort that 
 *' can now be expected, must be recalled 
 
108 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 '' from the past, or borrowed from the future, 
 ^^ The past is very soon exhausted ; all the 
 '^ events or actions of which the memory 
 " can afford pleasure, are quickly recol- 
 " lected; and the future lies beyond the 
 ** grave, where it can be reached only by 
 " virtue and devotion. Piety is the only 
 ^^ proper and adequate relief of decaying 
 " man. He that grows old without reli- 
 ^^ gious hopes, as he declines into imbe- 
 " cility, and feels pains and sorrows inces- 
 " santly crowding upon him, falls into a 
 " gulf of bottomless misery ; in which every 
 " recollection must plunge him deeper, and 
 " where he finds only new gradations of 
 " anguish, and precipices of horror." 
 
 99. The aged, and the old, will therefore, 
 if they are wise, be admonished by the 
 Bioscope, to make their minds dwell, with 
 resolution, on the demonstrated shortness of 
 their remaining course ; and on the region, 
 to which the end of that course must in- 
 evitably bring them. And here we may 
 yemark, that common s^nse alone, and the 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED^ 109 
 
 common inclination and practice of man- 
 kind, would seem to incite us to this 
 exercise. 
 
 100. All men look so far forward into 
 time, as to provide for the interest of gene- 
 rations which they shall never witness on 
 the earth. " They labour in things," says 
 Cicero, " in which they know they shall 
 " have no personal concern. Nor is there 
 *^ a farmer, however old, that hesitates, if 
 ^' he is asked, for whose sake he sows or 
 " plants? to reply — ' For the sake of the 
 ^^ immortal gods ; who require, that I should 
 " not merely receive these things from my 
 *' forefathers, but transmit them also to 
 *' posterity.^'' JNow, if it is natural to man, 
 to look forward into times which he shall 
 never witness, for the sake of persons whom 
 he shall never see; it would seem much 
 more natural^ to look forward to an eternity 
 into which we are entering, for the sake of 
 ourselves, who shall be sensible of existence 
 throughout that eternity. 
 
 101. Upon the same principle, it would 
 seem natural, that we should engage our 
 
110 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED; 
 
 thoughts in considering that eternal country^ 
 into which we are so soon to enter. For 
 the termination of the scale, is full as much 
 the beginning of a life, as it is the end of a 
 life: the end of one, being, ipso facto y the 
 beginning of another. Just as the door* 
 way of an anti-chamber, is not more the 
 fo'mt oi egress from thence, than it is that 
 of ingress to the state-room. Now, what 
 person is there, who, if he has in prospect to 
 embark for Persia or Peru, will not be 
 filled with an ardent curiosity concerning 
 his voyage ; and very inquisitive, after the 
 nature and genius of the country, and the 
 kind of entertainment he shall meet with 
 in it? And shall we, when we see that the 
 period of our departure is approaching, 
 a little more or less near, be less curious, and 
 less inquisitive, respecting the country which 
 immediately borders upon the concluding 
 goal of life ; to which we shall arrive ere 
 long ; from which we shall not return ; but 
 shall remain, under circumstances wholly 
 and essentially new ? Especially, when we 
 have it in our power, to gain so much 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. Ill 
 
 delightful information respecting that coun- 
 try; and to secure so safe a journey to it^ 
 and so favourable a reception in it ? Surely, 
 in this repect, the Bioscope is a consum- 
 mate Comforter ; since it brings us to so near 
 a prospect of that country, and conducts 
 our view even to the very frontier. 
 
 102. And here I shall take occasion to 
 remark ; that there is not a more common, 
 or more delusive error, and which, how- 
 ever soothing it may be to the imagination, 
 is most treacherous to the reason ; than 
 that of looking forward to old age, as a 
 station, in which we are to halt, and take 
 our rest, at the close of the journey of life. 
 
 103. For, first; we may never attain to 
 old age; and then, how mischievous must 
 be the illusion, of living always with a 
 view to a period, at which we never shall 
 arrive? ^^ You hear many," says Seneca, 
 " who say, I will retire at my fiftieth year; 
 " or, my sixtieth year will set me free from 
 " all toil of business. But, what pledge 
 ^^ have you received of so long a life ? Are 
 " you not ashamed, to treasure up in your 
 
112 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED* 
 
 " imagination any reserve of future years? 
 " Non pudet te reliquias vittc reservare?"-^^ 
 *' The laws of probability," said Mr. Gib- 
 bon, at the age of fifty-two, " so true in 
 " general, so fallacious in particular, still 
 *^ allow me about fifteen years. I shall 
 " soon enter the period which, as the most 
 *^ agreeable of his long life, w as selected by 
 " the judgment and experience of the sage 
 " Fontenelle." But the sage Fontenelle 
 said so, upon the retrospect, and not on the 
 prospect. Mr. Gibbon died within five 
 years. 
 
 104. But, suppose that we shall attain to 
 old age ; still, we shall find it no stationary 
 post, or place of halting. Life has, in all 
 ages, been well compared to a journey. 
 Now, to look to old age as a station, and to 
 console ourselves, as we travel on in life, 
 with the prospect of that imaginary station ; 
 is, as if a man were journeying from Bath 
 to London, and looked forward for his 
 repose, between Kensington and Hyde- Park 
 Corner. The three or four last miles of 
 that jouraey, will well answer to the last 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 113 
 
 years of the journey of life. The traveller 
 will certainly only look for his repose, when 
 he shall be arrived at his home in the Capital. 
 The interval from Kensington to the Turn- 
 pike, will, indeed, probably awaken in him 
 a lively sense of his approach to his home ; 
 and the more so, as he will then be wearied 
 and harrassed by his journey ; and, in his 
 contemplation of the proximity of his en- 
 joyment, his mind will experience an anti-- 
 cipation of repose. But it is beyond the 
 Turnpike, and in the Capital only, that he 
 will look for its reality. 
 
 105. And so in the journey of life. The 
 last years of life neither promise, nor admi- 
 nister, any period of retreat in themselves; 
 for life proceeds as fast (nay, sensibly faster,) 
 in old age, as in any other part of its 
 course: it can then only be, in the near 
 prospect of retreat, not in the possession of 
 it. Old age may, doubtless, look for some 
 repose of mind, from its period in the jour- 
 Etey ; because its anxieties will have greatly 
 subsided, and its concern about future con- 
 tingencies, and accidents of the road, will 
 
114 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 be extremely diminished ; but it must still 
 travel on as fast as ever, and its retreat will 
 only be acquired, when the goal is passed, 
 and the final home attained. 
 
 106. And this objection lies, in a great 
 degree, against the scheme of human life 
 exhibited in the andrometer of the 
 highly valuable Sir William Jones ; which, 
 as his noble biographer defines it to be, is 
 *^ a scale of human attainments and enjoy-^ 
 *^ ments,'' This scale points out certain years 
 at the end of life, as forming a period of 
 " the perfection of earthly happiness;" and, 
 therefore, naturally directs the mind to that 
 period, as one, in prospect of which it is to 
 guide its course. But, however ingenious 
 that scheme may be, and however " striking 
 *^ a specimen it may afford of the extent of 
 '^ its distinguished author's views, in the 
 ** acquisition of intellectual attainments ; '' 
 (to use the words of his biographer ;) it 
 requires but a superficial inspection tx> dis- 
 cern, how entirely visionary, and decep- 
 tions, it is. That it is visionary, is manifest; 
 because there is nothing in the character 
 
tHE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 115 
 
 assigned to any one year, which is founded 
 upon the laws of nature. And that it is in 
 the utmost degree deceptions, was demon- 
 strated in the excellent author himself, who 
 imagined it at the age of thirty y and who did 
 not live to reach the forti/'eighth division of 
 the scale : which was many degrees short 
 of those, in which he had placed " the per^ 
 *' fection of earthly happiness.'' And there- 
 fore, as his biographer aptly remarks : 
 " We are not to consider, that the pre- 
 '^ paration for eternity, which stands at 
 " the end of the scale, was to be deferred 
 " until the seventieth year; it is rather 
 ^' to be considered as the object to which he 
 " was perpetually to look, during the whole 
 " of his life, and which was exclusively to 
 " engross his latter years *." 
 
 107. But it will perhaps be said ; " True ! 
 " but at that end is death ; and the pro- 
 " spect of death is so repellant to human 
 " nature, that the mind naturally recoils from 
 
 * See THE ANDROMETBR, at the end of this Tract 
 
Il6 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 ^^ the view ; and would rather seek an obli* 
 " vion in the visions of fancy, than be har- 
 " rowed up by the presence of that hostile 
 " spectre." If this is the language of human 
 nature, I am at a loss to know, under what 
 dispensation we are to find it. By human 
 nature, I understand the best condition of 
 that nature. Was it then in the heathen world, 
 that this language was held ? It is very con- 
 trary to the language of Socrates, or of 
 Cicero. 
 
 108. When Socrates stood before his 
 iniquitous judges, and had just received con- 
 demnation to death, he thus evinced the 
 effect which their judgment, and the pro- 
 spect of immediate dissolution, wrought 
 upon his mind. " Death," said he to them, 
 " must necessarily be one of two things. 
 " Either it is the entire end of all sen- 
 " sation ; or it is the transportation of the 
 " soul from one place into another. Now, 
 " if it is only the extinction of all sen- 
 " sation, like a sleep in which we experi- 
 " ence no dreams; how astonishingly gainful 
 << is death! But if, on the other hand, that 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 11? 
 
 " which we are taught be true ; that death 
 " is our removal from hence into another 
 ^' place ; and if it be also trpe, that we 
 ^^ shall there be consigned to the judgment 
 " of righteous and equitable judges; how 
 " far more gainful must it then be ! And if 
 *^ I shall there hold intercourse with Or- 
 " pheus, with Musaeus, with Hesiod, with 
 " Homer ; I would willingly, for such feli- 
 " city, suffer death many times over! To 
 '' me, the prospect of such a society is 
 '^ beyond measure delightful; since they, 
 *^ who shall arrive at that place, will die no 
 '^ more, but will remain for ever, immortal, 
 " and in the enjoyment of happiness, infi- 
 " nitely surpassing every thing that is ex- 
 " perienced here*." 
 
 109. The sentiments of Cicero, on the 
 same article, are delivered by him in the 
 person of Cato; whom he thus makes to 
 wind up, and conclude, his beautiful treatise 
 upon Old Age. " I depart from life," says 
 be, " as from an inriy not as from an hojne ; 
 
 * Plato's Apology, &^, 
 
118 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 ^' for nature gave it to us, only as a place 
 ^^ of temporary abode, and not as one of 
 " permanent habitation. O glorious day! 
 ^^ when I shall reach that divine concourse 
 " and society of spirits ; and when I shall 
 " depart from this scene of pollution and 
 ^' distraction ! For I shall then, not only go 
 ^' to those persons of whom I have already 
 " spoken, but to my own son, than whom 
 ^' no better man was ever born, nor any 
 " one more illustrious for his piety. To 
 ^^ whose body I performed the last offices ; 
 " whereas, it was rather he that should 
 " have performed them to mine. But his 
 '^ soul, not taking leave of me, but looking 
 " back for me, departed to those regions, 
 '' to which he knew I myself must so soon 
 *' follow him. And this loss I seemed to 
 '' you to bear with composure ; but it was 
 " not that I bore it with composure, but 
 *' that I consoled myself with the thought, 
 ^' that the distance and separation between 
 *^ us would not be long. And with these 
 *' reflections, old age is not only light to 
 " me, but even pleasing. For if I am in 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 119 
 
 " error in believing, that the souls of men 
 *^ are immortal, I willingly err; nor shall 
 " any one, while I live, rob me of that 
 " error, which is my delight! — Quad si in 
 '' hoc errOy quod animos liominum immortales 
 " esse credam, libenter erro : nee mihi hunc 
 u errorem, quo delector, dum vivo, extorqueri 
 '' vohr 
 
 110. Is it, then, in the Christian world, that 
 death is discovered to be -an object so odious 
 to human nature ? Surely wot ; for we know, 
 that since the secrets of " Life and Im- 
 " mortality have been brought to light 
 " by the Gospel," and all doubts dissi- 
 pated respecting those great points, the 
 " sting of death'^ is drawn ; and it is become 
 to us nothing more than the portal, by which 
 "we pass into life." 
 
 111. Since, then, those who are most 
 fit to guide our reasons, either in the hea- 
 then or Christian world, have not recoiled 
 from the prospect of death, nor viewed it 
 as an hostile spectre, but rather as a guide 
 and a deliverer; shall we, who profess to 
 unite in ourselves all lights, both Christian 
 
120 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 and heathen, cherish the miserable senti- 
 ment, which dares not meditate its aatural 
 approach ? 
 
 No! the thought of death indulge. 
 
 Give it its wholesome empire ; let it reign, 
 That kind chastiser of the soul in joy ! 
 
 And why not think of death ? 
 
 Ere man has measured half his wearied stage, 
 
 His luxuries have left him no reserve ; 
 
 No maiden relishes, unbroached delights. 
 
 Oa cold-serv*d repetitions he subsists, 
 
 And in the tasteless present, chews the past. — 
 
 Age should walk thoughtful, on the solemn shore 
 Of that vast ocean it must sail so soon ; 
 And put good works on board, and wait the wind, 
 That shortly blows us into worlds unknown. 
 If unconsidered too, a dreadful scene ! 
 
 112. It is a great mistake, to suppose 
 that we are not yet entered within the 
 dominion of death, because his last act of 
 power has not yet been exercised upon us : 
 '* in the midst of life we are in death." 
 
 Must I then forward only look for death ? 
 Backward I turn my eye, and find him there. 
 Man is a self'Siirvivor every hour. 
 Man, like a stream, is in perpetual flow. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 121 
 
 Death's a destroyer of quotidian prey. 
 My youtii, my noontide his, my yesterday ! 
 The bold invader shares the present hour ; 
 Each moment on the former shuts tlie grave. 
 While man is growing, life is in decrease; 
 Our birth is nothing but our death begun, 
 As tapers waste that instant they take fire. 
 Shall we then fear, lest that should come to pass. 
 Which comes to pass each moment of our lives? 
 
 113. That the contemplation of the close 
 of life, which is inseparable from death, is 
 far from being grievous in itself , but is only 
 rendered so by its opposition to the custom- 
 ar}'^ habits of the mind, and to the con- 
 ceptions which the mind has chosen to 
 entertain and nourish ; is brought to demon- 
 stration, by a comparison with those, who 
 have viewed it, not merely with composure 
 and willingness, but with even rapture and 
 delight. 
 
 114. Mr. Gibbon, when he had com- 
 pleted those celebrated pages^ the applause 
 for which was to constitute the chief reward 
 and happiness of his mind; and when, at 
 the age o^ fifty-two years, he had conceived 
 the fallacious expectation of an " autumnal 
 
122 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " period of felicity ;" declared his own ex- 
 perience of life, in the following warning 
 sentence : " I must reluctantly observe, that 
 " two causes, the abbreviation of time, and 
 " the failure of hope, will always tinge, with 
 " a browner shade, the evening of life '^." 
 
 115. If this sentence is delivered as a 
 general proposition, applicable to all man- 
 kind; and meaning to assert, that the abbre- 
 yiation of time, and the failure of hope, are 
 correlative, the latter necessarily following 
 from the former; we are so happy as to 
 know, with full assurance, that it is positively 
 false. Millions of Christians have borne 
 testimony, in the evening of their lives, to 
 its utter falsehood. When St. Paul gx- 
 claimed—- " The time of my departure is at 
 ^^ hand. I have finished my course ; hence- 
 " forth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 ^* glory, which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
 " will give me in that day. And not to me 
 *^ only, but to all those also who love (the 
 ^' prospect of) His reappearing!" When he 
 thus exclaimed, was there any symptom 
 
 ♦ Memoirs of Ids Life, 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 123 
 
 that the strength of his hope was diminished 
 by the abbreviation of his time ? Or did any 
 ^' shade seem to tinge the evening of his 
 " life?*' And endless are the examples which 
 the experience of individual Christians can 
 supply, of hope increasing with the abbre- 
 viation of time ; and of the serene efful- 
 gence, which that hope sheds, not only over 
 the evening, but over the very twilight of 
 life. Mr. Gibbon's proposition, therefore, 
 if taken universally, is most experimentally 
 false. 
 
 116. But, if it be taken with limitation, 
 as in fact it ought to be taken ; if it merely 
 expresses Mr. Gibbon's own experience; 
 and declares the inward condition of his own 
 mind ; then we must receive it, not only as 
 true, but as one of the most salutary dis^ 
 closures, one of the most valuable truths in 
 experimental ethics, that could have been 
 imparted to the world. Mr. Gibbon thus 
 distinctly declared, as the result of his life, 
 drawn up, deliberately, only a very short 
 period before his decease, that the course 
 into which he had put his mind, and the 
 
1£4 THE iJIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 view which he had practised himself to take 
 of philosophy and of religion, caused his 
 hope to fail, in proportion as his term of life 
 diminished; and that the consequence of 
 that failure of hope, was a tinge of gloom, 
 more and more deeply investing the evening 
 of his life. 
 
 117. Melancholy, nay frightful, as this 
 declaration is, it speaks more than volumes 
 to prove the divinity of the Gospel ; and the 
 impotence and absurdity of all human con- 
 ceits, set up in opposition to it. It proves 
 to demonstration, the truth of what has just 
 been advanced ; that the prospect of the 
 end of life, is not necessarily, and in itself, 
 grievous; but that it becomes so only when 
 it is in opposition to the habits, an^ esta- 
 blished impressions of the mind. Where 
 the mind accustoms itself to view the pro- 
 gress and end of our nature, as it is illus- 
 trated by revealed truth ; the close of life, 
 that is, death, is a requisite circumstance in 
 it, conducive to an end we seek. Where 
 we seek not that end, because we have habi- 
 tually excluded, or turned away from, the 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 125 
 
 lisht of revelation; the mind, unwilling to 
 advance, seeks either to return, or remain 
 stationary. But death is an unsurmountable 
 impediment to such an expedient ; and every 
 step, therefore, that we are forcibly carried 
 towards it, must naturally "tinge with a 
 " browner shade, the evening of life." 
 
 118. We meet with nothing, in the death 
 of that distinguished censor of the church 
 and Gospel, which should tempt us, even 
 if we could gain tenfold the measure of his 
 fame, to seek the succour of his philoso- 
 phical phantom, in exchange for the sub- 
 stantial consolations of the Christian faith. 
 The chief incidents of the awful period, 
 which, at the age of ffti/six, interrupted 
 all his plans of " autumnal felicity ;'' are 
 thus recorded. " Twenty-four hours before 
 " his death, Mr. Gibbon happened to fall 
 " into a conversation, not uncommon with 
 " him, on the probable duration of his life. 
 " He said, he thought himself a good life, 
 " for ten, twelve, or perhaps twenty years, 
 " On Monday, January 13, he underwent 
 " an operation, and seemed much relieved. 
 
126 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " He talked, as usual, of passing his time at 
 " houses which he had often frequented, 
 *' with great pleasure; and said, I intend 
 " to go on Thursday (Jan. 16,) to Devon- 
 " shire house." — " On the l6th," says his 
 noble biographer, " I reached his lodging 
 " about midnight, and learned, that my 
 " friend had expired, a quarter before one 
 *^ o'clock, that day. His tmlet de chambre 
 " observed, that Mr. Gibbon did not, at any 
 " time, show the least sign of alarm, or 
 ^^ apprehension of death. And it does not 
 ^^ appear, that he ever thought himself in 
 " danger J" He died in the year 1793, 
 aged 57. 
 
 1 19. Addison, two years before his death, 
 entered upon his admirable work, in Evi* 
 DENCE of the Christian Religion. " In 
 *' the beginning of the year 1719," says hid 
 great biographer, " the end of his useful life 
 " was now approaching. Addison had for 
 *^ some time been oppressed by shortness of 
 ^* breath, which was now aggravated by a 
 " dropsy ; and finding his danger pressing, 
 " he prepared to die conformably to his 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 12? 
 
 '' own precepts and professions. The Earl 
 " of Warwick was a young man of very 
 " irregular life, and perhaps of loose opi- 
 " nions. Addison, for whom he did not 
 " want respect, had very diligently endea- 
 " voured to reclaim him ; but his argu- 
 " ments and expostulations had no eifect, 
 " One experiment, however, remained to 
 " be tried ; when he found his life near its 
 '^ end, he directed the young lord to be 
 " called ; and when he desired, with great 
 " tenderness, to hear his last injunctions, 
 ^' told him, ' I have sent for you, that you 
 " may see how a Christian can diey^ He 
 died June 17, 1719, aged 47. 
 
 120. Whatever was the effect of this 
 example upon the Earl of Warwick, it 
 remained to animate the faith, the piety, 
 and the virtue of the Christian world. 
 Gellert, distinguished in Saxony by the 
 sanctity of his life and writings, demon- 
 strated in himself the efficacy of that bright 
 example. " On the day of his dissolution, 
 " convinced that he felt the immediate 
 " approach of death, he earnestly inquired 
 
128 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLA1N£0. 
 
 '" of his friends, how long he might still 
 " have to struggle with it ? Upon receiving 
 " for answer, perhaps an hour ; 'God be 
 " praised!' he exclaimed, raising his hands 
 " with a joyous countenance ; ' only one 
 " hour!' Then, with a countenance still 
 " more serene, he turned on his side ; 
 " silently addressed himself in prayer to 
 " God ; and, in the midst of that prayer, 
 " sunk into the sleep of death ; on the 13th 
 " of December, 1769, aged 54. This so 
 " peaceful end," adds his biographer, " re- 
 *' calls and confirms what Addison said on 
 " his death-bed : See how a Christian can 
 " die! And thus was accomplished the 
 " ardent desire which Gellert expressed in 
 " a letter, in which he spoke of the death 
 " of Addison : ' Great God ! what would 
 " be my happiness, if my end could be like 
 '' his!'" 
 
 121. " There is nothing in history," said 
 Addison, seven years before his death, 
 '^ which is so improving to the reader, as 
 " those accounts which we meet with, oithe 
 " deathi. of eminent persons, and of their 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 129 
 
 " behaviour in that dreadful season. I may 
 ^^ also add, that there are no parts in history, 
 " which affect and please the reader in so 
 " sensible a manner. The reason I take to 
 *^ be this; because there is no other single 
 ^' circumstance in the story of any single 
 '^ person, which can possibly be the case of 
 *^ evety one who reads zY*." 
 
 122. The sound sense and truth, of this 
 remark, being manifest; let us bring home 
 to our own cases the examples, here ad- 
 duced, of the concluding lives, of one of 
 the greatest antagonists, and of one of the 
 greatest vindicators, of the Christian faith ; 
 and let us reflect, which of the two we would 
 rather resemble, on the day which shall 
 terminate our lives. Whether of him who 
 prepared for his declining years a dimi- 
 nution of hope, and an augmenting gloom 
 of prospect ; or of him, who prepared his 
 mind to depart in the strongest confidence 
 of hope, and in the brightest serenity of 
 joy ? Of him, who on the day of his death, 
 was employed in the sad and fallacious 
 
 ♦ Spectator, No, 289. See this whole paper. 
 K 
 
130 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 computation, of ten, or twelve, or txoentif 
 more years of earthly life ; or of him, who 
 inet the day of his death, as the day of his 
 immediate advancement to the presence of 
 God, in eternity ? Of him, whose mind enter- 
 tained no anticipations of his impending 
 removal to another state of being ; or of 
 him, whose mind was already on the wing 
 for its departure, with the most hvely anti- 
 cipations of the bUss which was waiting to 
 receive him ? Of him, finally, who sought to 
 lead a soul to heaven, by the demonstrative 
 evidence of its already dawning glory ; or 
 of him, who had no better consolation to 
 offer to his greatest friend, under the seve- 
 rest of domestic calamities, than a frigid and 
 unhopeful — " if there be a future state^" 
 
 The chamber, where the good man meets his fate, 
 
 Is privileged beyond the common walk 
 
 Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven. 
 
 Fly, ye profane ! If not, draw near with awe ; 
 
 Receive the blessing, and adore the chance 
 
 That threw in this Bethesda your disease. 
 
 If unrestorM by this, despair your cure ; 
 
 • Gibbon's Miscel. Works, i. 279. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 131 
 
 For here resistless demonstration dwells : 
 
 A death-bed*s the detector of the heart. — 
 
 You see the man, you see his hold on Heav'n, 
 
 If sound his virtue, as Philander's sound, 
 
 Heaven waits not the last moment ; owns her friends 
 
 On this side death, and points them out to men : 
 
 A lecture, silent, but of sovereign power. 
 
 Whatever farce the boastful hero plays, 
 Virtue alone has majesty in death. 
 Through Nature's wreck, through vanquished agonies. 
 What gleams of joy ! What more than human peace ! 
 Where the frail mortal ? the poor abject worm ? 
 No, not in death, the mortal to be found. 
 His conduct is a legacy for all / 
 His comforters he comforts ; great in ruin. 
 With unreluctant grandeur, gives, not yields 
 His soul sublime ; and closes with his fate. 
 
 " How our hearts burnt within us" at the scene ! 
 Whence this brave bound, o'er limits fix'd to man ? 
 His God sustains him in his final hour ! 
 . His final hour brings glory to his God ! — 
 Christians, adore ! and infidels, believe ! 
 
 As some tall tower, or lofty mountain's brow, 
 Detains the sun, illustrious from its height ; 
 While rising vapours, and descending shades, 
 With damps and darkness drown the spacious vale: 
 Undampt by doubt, undarkenM by despair, 
 Philander thus augustly rears his head. 
 At that black hour which general horror sheds 
 
132 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 On the low level of th* inglorious throng. 
 Sweet peace, and heavenly hope, and humble joy, 
 Divinely beam on his exalted soul; 
 Destruction gild, and crown him for the skies ! 
 
 323. It is a vast error to suppose, that 
 vice, in its common and popular sense, is 
 the ofili/ moral evil which can disqualify us 
 for the promises of religion. Vice is, indeed,, 
 a mortal evil, and an insuperable disqualifi' 
 calion, so long as it continues, and is not 
 cast off, and thoroughly purged out; but 
 the mind and heart of man, oppressed by 
 its burthen, may conceive such inward ap- 
 prehensions of its misery and hatefulness, 
 as, by a strong and resolute effort to cast it 
 off, to loathe it, and to invest itself thence- 
 forth in a garb of purity and virtue. The 
 mind, receiving into itself such an inward 
 principle of renovation, may become, as it 
 were, entirely regenerated ; and hold a serene 
 and steady hope of admission to those high 
 privileges, through the mercy of God, and 
 the peculiar means by which He has been 
 pleased to administer that mercy. 
 
 124. But there is a more desperate evil, 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 133 
 
 which is, mental vice; a corrupt, inbred 
 pride of fnind, and principle oi self-exaltation. 
 If this principle is suffered to establish 
 its full dominion, to grow with life, and to 
 become inveterate, neither the experience 
 Bor the imagination of man can conceive a 
 process for correcting it. This is a prin- 
 ciple of essential hostility to the supremacy 
 of God, as vice is a principle of open rebel- 
 lion against His authority. But he who 
 has long rebelled^ may become heart-smitten 
 and humbled, and prostrate himself in peni- 
 tence ; and then, his evil is instantly re- 
 moved. But he, who is " exalted above 
 " measure ;" who establishes in himself a sen- 
 timent of self-authority ; who contemplates, 
 with a self-devotion, his own imagined supe- 
 riority of judgment; making his self i\ie 
 ultimate object of his appeal ; becomes 
 incapable of humiliation, and closes the 
 door of his reason, and his heart, against all 
 illumination through the channels of divine 
 truth. And there is no prospect of his evi 
 being corrected, before he is called away, to 
 
 THE GREAT TRIBUNAL, tO aCCOUUt for the 
 
154 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 exercise of his intellectual agency ; and to 
 show, how far his time of trial has been em- 
 ployed, in reducing his intellectual faculties 
 into a state of submissive allegiance to the 
 Master, whom alone he w^as made to serve 
 by them. If then it be found, that no 
 sufficient progress has been made, in a course 
 of subjugating the will, and conforming the 
 mind, to the sole and entire government of 
 God ; the agent must, necessarily, stand as 
 defective, as if he had engaged in any other 
 course of delinquency. The mental vice, so 
 cherished and confirmed, will leave him as 
 unprepared, and as inadequate to the per- 
 fect agency then demanded of him, as if he 
 had lived in the indulgence of any other 
 species of forbidden gratification. 
 
 125. And it is upon this distinction, so 
 easily apprehended by the reason, between 
 rebellion in act, that is vice, and rebellion in 
 principle, that is, injidelitij and scepticism, 
 that OUR Lord, who alone could declare the 
 counsels of Heaven, pronounced ; that the 
 former, " the publicans and harlots, should 
 ^^ go into the kingdom of Heaven, before 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 135 
 
 '' the latter:' Not, indeed, while they con- 
 tinued such ; but that there was a far greater 
 facihty, for the abj ectness and temerity of vice 
 to purge itself, and to fit itself for Heaven, 
 than for the arrogance, and disloyalty, of 
 infidelity, to do the same thing. 
 
 126. This is that evil spirit, which has so 
 variously laboured, throughout the last cen- 
 tury, and in our own days, to rob us of the 
 consoling prospects of futurity, confirmed to 
 us by the revelation of the Gospel. " If it 
 " is an error," said Cicero, " no one shall 
 « rob me of it while I live !" What would 
 he then have said of that modern host, 
 usurping to themselves his proper desig- 
 nation of philosopher, who have laboured, 
 with a malignity beyond all example, to 
 rob mankind of a truth, which, even as 
 a possible error, appeared to Cicero of a 
 value inappreciable ? What he would have 
 thought, we may gather from the testimony 
 of a spirit congenial with his own ; a true 
 philosopher; who was able to carry into 
 the twilight of the Academy, the bright and 
 piercing illumination of the Gospel, 
 
136 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 127. " Perhaps/! said this excellent writer 
 forty years ago, " our modern sceptics are 
 *^ ignorant, that, without the belief of a 
 " God, and the hope of immortality, the 
 *' miseries of human life would often be 
 " insupportable. But can I suppose them 
 ^^ in a state of total stupidity, uiter strangers 
 " to the human heart, and to human affairs ? 
 " Surely they would not thank me for such 
 " a supposition. Yet this I must suppose, 
 ^^ or I must believe them to be most per- 
 ^^ fidious and cruel men. 
 
 128. ^^ Caressed by those who call them- 
 " selves the great, engrossed by the for- 
 ^' malities and fopperies of life, intoxicated 
 " with vanity, pampered with adulation, 
 " dissipated in the tumult of business, or 
 " amidst the vicissitudes of folly, they per- 
 " haps have little need, and little relish, for 
 " the consolations of HELiGAOTSi, But let them 
 '^ know, that, in the solitary scenes of life, 
 ^' there is many an honest and tender heart, 
 ^^ pining with incurable anguish, pierced 
 " with the sharpest sting of disappoint- 
 '^ ment, bereft of friends, chilled with 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 137 
 
 ^^ poverty, racked with disease, scourged by 
 '^ the oppressor; whom nothing but trust in 
 " Providence) and the hope of x future PvE- 
 " TRiBUTioN, could preserve from the ago- 
 " nies of despair. And do they, with sacri- 
 " legious hands, attempt to violate this last 
 " refuge of the miserable ; and to rob them 
 " of the only comfort that had survived 
 " the ravages of misfortune, maUce, and 
 " tyranny ! Did it ever happen, that the 
 " influence of their execrable tenets dis- 
 " turbed the tranquillity of virtuous retire-^ 
 " ment, deepened the gloom of human dis- 
 '^ tress, or aggravated the horrors of the 
 ^^ grave ? Is it possible, that this may have 
 *^ happened in many instances ? Is it pro- 
 " bable, that this hath happened, or may 
 " happen, in owe 5««g/e instance ? Ye traitors 
 ^^ to human kind, how can ye answer for 
 ^^ it to your own hearts ! — But I remonstrate 
 ^^ in vain. Could I enforce the present 
 '^ topic by an appeal to your vanityy I 
 " might perhaps make some impression ; 
 " but to plead with you on the principles 
 ^' of benevolence or generosity, is to address 
 
138 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " you in a language ye do not, or will not, 
 '^ understand. 
 
 129. " But let not the lovers of truth be 
 ^^ discouraged. — The fashion of sceptical 
 " systems soon passeth away. Those un- 
 " natural productions, the vile effusions of 
 *^ a hard heart, that mistakes its own rest- 
 " lessness for the activity of genius, and its" 
 " own captiousness for the sagacity of 
 '^ understanding, may, like other monsters, 
 " please a while by their singularity ; but 
 " the charm is soon over : and the succee3- 
 ^' ing age will be astonished to hear, that 
 " their forefathers were deluded, or amused, 
 " with such fooleries. The measure o/'scep- 
 " TicisM seems indeed to be full*." 
 
 130. Thus this excellent, and almost 
 prophetical, writer. The lovers of truth 
 therefore, need not to be any longer dis- 
 couraged ; for " God 25 true, and every man 
 " a liar'' who dares to deny His truth. 
 And, under the security of that truth, 
 we are graciously supplied with a reason, 
 
 ♦ Bcattie on Truth. P. iii. c. 3. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 139 
 
 ^triumphant reason, why, if we please, we need 
 not survey death with any sentiment, either 
 of terror or of aversion. In the first place, 
 the act of death itself is nothing for a Chris- 
 tian to sustain ; since he shall " 7iever taste 
 *' of death, but will instantly pass from death 
 « unto lifer 
 
 Why start at death ? Where is he ? Death arrivM 
 Is gone ; not come or gone, he^s never here. 
 Ere hope, sensation fails; black-boding man 
 Receives, not suffers, death's tremendous blow. 
 The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave. 
 The deep damp vault, the darkness, and the worm, 
 These are the bugbears of a winter's eve : 
 The terrors of the living, not the dead. — 
 Man makes a death, which Nature never made ; 
 Then on the point of his own fancy falls, 
 And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one. 
 
 131. But the triumphant reason, which I 
 have alleged, for not surveying death with 
 any sentiment either of aversion or terror, 
 is this: There are but two enjoyments of 
 this present life, which a wise man would 
 desire to carry with him out of it ; viz. the 
 favour and friendship of God: and the com- 
 
140 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINEIT. 
 
 meixe of dear and virtuoKs friends ; and we 
 have God's express assurance, that he shall 
 take both these with him. Every thing else, 
 which only makes lip the circumstances of 
 life, he would not v/ish to take with him; 
 because he is thoroughly assured, that all 
 the good, of opulence, of honour, of know- 
 ledge, or of pleasure, will be supplied in an 
 incomparably better manner, in an incom- 
 parably better place. And he will easily 
 give credit to God's assurance, upon the 
 samples of those advantages which he wit- 
 nesses here, that " these latter are not 
 *^ worthy to be compared with those which 
 ^^ shall be revealed hereafter ; and that the 
 *^ things which God has prepared for them 
 *^ who love Him/' (that is, who strive to 
 please Him; by endeavouring to bring their 
 wills^ into a true conformity with pus mani- 
 fested WILL, in respect of everything which 
 He designs us to know, and to do;) " are 
 ^^ really, as He has caused it to be pro- 
 ^^ claimed, such as neither eye hath seen, nor 
 
 * See Preliminary Cliaptcr, p. IS. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 141 
 
 " the imagination of man ever yet conceived.'' 
 The prospect of an inheritance in all these; 
 together with the friendship of God, and the 
 company of pious friends, advanced, with our- 
 selves, to a state oi fdl perfection ; ought not 
 only to divest death of all its terrors, but 
 even to transform it, in our imaginations, 
 into ^' an angel of lights 
 
 132. It was thus, that the sublime and 
 pious mind of Milton contemplated it, in a 
 very early period of his life ; and so de- 
 picted it, in his Latin verses written upon 
 occasion of the death of Nicholas Felton, 
 Bishop of Ely, in the year 1626; a trans- 
 lation of which verses is here presented to 
 the English reader. 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF ELY. 
 
 While yet my sad and pallid cheek 
 
 Was moist from many a tear, 
 That tender love, and anguish meek, 
 
 llad shed o'er Winton's^ bier; 
 
 ^ Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, who died 1626. 
 
142 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAlNEDV 
 
 Fame, active messenger of grief, 
 Thro' Britain's land had told, 
 
 That thou, (in every virtue chief!) 
 Ely ! in death wast cold. 
 
 My swelling breast, surcharged with woe,. 
 
 Scarce found a vent for breath : 
 At length, when faultering words could flow^ 
 
 I called a Curse on Death / 
 
 But lo ! in accents heavenly sweet, 
 
 From some supernal sphere, 
 These solemn sounds, descending, greet 
 
 My wonder-smitten ear, 
 
 " O ! check thy grief, thy tears restrain,. 
 
 " Unhallowed and unjust! 
 ** Nor dare, with murmur, to complain, 
 
 " In Infidel mistrust. 
 
 " Death is not what the poets sung^ 
 ^* The child of gloomy night ; 
 
 " From Erebus, or Chaos, sprung: 
 " Alien, impure, from light. 
 
 " Death is a Seraph, sent in love 
 " From Heaven's high bliss by God, 
 
 " For souls to fill His courts above, 
 " Freed from their earthly cWd. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 145 
 
 '< Thither, disburthen'd of their clay, 
 
 " In upward course they soar; 
 " To regions of unending day, 
 
 " Where night is seen no more. 
 
 " There, in their Father's presence dwelU 
 " While impious sprites are driv'n 
 
 •* To Tartarus, and lowest Hell, 
 " Outcast from God and Heav'n. 
 
 " With joy, with ecstasy, I heard 
 
 " Her life-inspiring call : 
 " Eager I hasted, nor deferred 
 
 " To quit your nether ball. 
 
 •' Borne by her winged ministers, 
 
 " In flight sublime T soarM ; 
 « Dreadless I traversM Scorpio's stars, 
 
 " Nor fear'd Orion's sword. 
 
 " Like him I mov'd, that seer divine, 
 
 " Who, chariotted in fire, 
 " Mounted above each starry sign, 
 
 " To heaven's eternal Sire. 
 
 « I passM the glories of the sun, 
 
 " The planets' orbs ; and last, 
 (" My lower journey bravely done,) 
 
 « The galaxy I passM. 
 
144 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " At length I reacb'd the court of Heaven, 
 
 " The Eteniars chrystal dome ; 
 " Of glorious course, more glorious haven, 
 
 " And man's celestial home. 
 
 " But how, to earth-clad man, relate 
 " The joys these scenes bestow ? 
 
 " Enough: — I share this blest estate, 
 " And all its raptures know /'* 
 
 133. Let US not then be told any more, 
 that the abbreviation of time necessarily 
 diminishes hope, by darkening the human 
 prospect ; unless, indeed, it be' said as an 
 avowal of individual error and perverted 
 reason ; and then let us cherish that avowal 
 as a beacon y to warn us from a gulf of 
 desolation, in which time, and hope, and 
 light, sink and perish together. 
 
 134. The circumstance of death, which 
 is naturally and necessarily to be supposed 
 in the termination of the dial, ought not, 
 therefore, to be vie\yed as au object of 
 dismay or disgust, which the mind cannot 
 accustom itself to face, or beyond which it 
 cannot look ; since the wisest heathens, and 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAlJOSn^/ 145 
 
 the best Christians, have been able to contem- 
 plate it as an object of their highest regard* 
 135. A backwardness in age, to reflect 
 upon its station in years, or to contemplate 
 the term which it sees to be near at hand, 
 is, in effect, a repining and murmuring 
 against the order established by Providence ; 
 the impiety of which was long ago pointed 
 out, and reprobated, by the natural piety 
 and true philosophy of Cicero. " I follow 
 " Nature" said he, " that perfect guide, as 
 " God; and as such I submit to her. For 
 " it is not likely that, when all the other 
 " ages of life are so well ordered and 
 *' drawn out, she should fail, like a bad 
 " poet, in the last Act. Something must of 
 " necessity be last ; and, like the fruits of 
 " trees, and seeds of the earth, wither and 
 " fall from fulness of maturity. To that 
 " law, a wise man will patiently submit; 
 " for, to revolt against nature, what is it, 
 " but to war against the gods, with the 
 " impiety of the giants? — Quid enim est 
 '^ aliud, gigantum rnodo bellare cum diis, nisi 
 " natures repngnare V* 
 
146 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINElfT. 
 
 156. If the mind keeps pace with the 
 years, declension and decay will be objects 
 of its expectation ; and it will naturally 
 grow into such an accordance with those 
 circumstances of its being, as to render the 
 thought of thena devoid of all oifence. 
 
 137. " Our infancy y^ said the aged and 
 experienced Bishop Hall, ^^ is full of folly ; 
 " youth, of disorder and toil ; age, of in- 
 " firmity. Each time hath his burden, and 
 " that which may justly work our weari- 
 " ness. Yet infancy longeth after youth ; 
 '* and youth, after more age : and he that 
 " is very old, as he is a child for simplicity, 
 " so he would be for years. I account old 
 " AGE the best of the three ; partly, for that 
 " it hath past through the folly and dis- 
 *' order of the others ; partly, for that the 
 " inconveniences of this are but bodily, 
 *' with a bettered estate of the mind ; and 
 *' partly, for that it is nearest to dissolution, 
 " There is nothing more miserable, than an 
 '* old man, who would be young again ''^'." 
 
 • Bishop Hairs Works, Vol. I. p. 48. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 147 
 
 138. But if these are, indeed, attractive 
 and glorious objects, which the Bioscope 
 offers to our prospect as a comforter in 
 jige ; it is indispensably necessary, that, 
 
 WarnM by the languor of life's evening ray, 
 
 Age should pay the utmost deference to its 
 admonition, as a Monitor, by striving to 
 live, the small time that remains, in a state 
 of constant qualification for obtaining them : 
 which state of qualification, as we have 
 already seen, must consist, in ttte conformity 
 oi our wills vf'iih. the supreme will mani- 
 fested in the Gospel. That admonition is 
 founded, upon the sensible demonstration, 
 that the proportion of time which now 
 remains is small; and upon the self-evident 
 truth, that there is no way in which we can 
 pass that time, which will answer so well, 
 or afford us so large a return of enjoy- 
 ment, as in using every particle of it 
 with the most scrupulous economy : *^ walk- 
 '* ing circumspectly ; not as fools, but as 
 " wise; for the purpose of redeeming the 
 " time:" 
 
148 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 139. What has been said of age, within the 
 average measure of seventy years, holds 
 with still stronger force, should that age 
 be extended beyond the average ; or, in the 
 proper sense of the term, become super^ 
 ammated: that is to say, live into years over 
 and above the common calculation. In 
 that state, of proper super-annuatmiy when 
 it is obliged every day to exclaim with 
 the poet : 
 
 I scarce can meet a monument, but holds 
 Ml/ younger ! 
 
 every year ought to be a matter of sur- 
 prise, rather than of exultation. For we 
 can never count it, till it is gone; and, 
 therefore, we have it not in possession, but 
 have lost it, as soon as we are able to enu- 
 merate it. And the prospect of another 
 year, is always more and more improbable. 
 
 140. In what manner we ought to regard 
 that term of excess, we may learn from the 
 example of a wise and aged heathen. " The 
 " great and learned Varro," as we are in- 
 formed by Pliny, " was a singular instance 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 149 
 
 ^' of the vigour and powers of life ; retain- 
 " ing all his mental and bodily facul- 
 /* ties unimpaired, until the advanced age 
 " of eighty-eight." Yet, when he wrote 
 his celebrated treatise Upon Agriculture at 
 the age of eighty, how did he account the 
 privilege which he then possessed ? " Had 
 " I leisure," said he, in his prefatory ad- 
 dress, " I should send you this work in a 
 " more commodious form ; which, however, 
 '' I will still endeavour to do, as well as I 
 '^ am able : but I am sensible, that I must 
 " now make haste; for if, as they say, man 
 " is but a bubble^ how much more so, an 
 '^ Old Man! For my eightieth year now 
 " admonishes me, that I must gather up 
 " my bundles, before I depart out of life. 
 *' Otium si essem consecuturus, Fundania, com- 
 " modius tibi hoc scriberem ; qua nunc, ut 
 " potero, exponam, cogitans esse properandum* 
 *^ Quod, ut dicitur, si est homo bulla, eo 
 " magis SEN EX. Annus enim octogesimus 
 " admonet me, ut sarcinas colligam antequam 
 *^ proficiscar e vitdJ' 
 
 141. Surely this is a period, when we 
 
150 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 ought, in reason, not merely to contemplate, 
 but to live in the constant anticipation of, 
 that ETERNITY, which we behold so near us. 
 
 A good man and an angel ! these between 
 How thin the barrier ! What divides their fate ? 
 Perhaps a moment, or perhaps a year. 
 
 If this be true oi every stage of life; as it is 
 applied by the poet ; how lively is its truth, 
 when applied to every year, and every day, 
 after the average measure of life is con- 
 sumed ? When Lord Russel rose on the 
 morning of his execution, it is related of 
 him, that he wound up his watch ; and then 
 said : ^' I have now done with Time; I must 
 " henceforth think solely of JE^ermVj//" And 
 such should be the reasoning of all, who 
 see their Bioscope concluded, and its func- 
 tions ended : in the same manner they 
 should dispose their minds for that near 
 moment, when their altered being shall 
 suddenly and presently convince them, 
 that 
 
 Time was ; Eternity now reigns alone \ 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 151 
 
 142. It is in old age, however, and espe- 
 cially in extreme old age, that the office of 
 Remembrancer exercises its severest dut3\ 
 Its power is mitigated, in proportion as the 
 prospective measure of life offers space, and 
 probable opportunity, for the redemption of 
 time, by a wise and provident employment 
 of that which may remain. But neither 
 time, nor any thing else, can be redeemed 
 by man out of nothing. Here then, when 
 time touches at its end, the scene may 
 become dreary and dark indeed, and even 
 desperate; if the care of time has been 
 neglected, until that late crisis. '^ The ab-^ 
 " breviation of time, might then so extin- 
 " guish hope, as to induce a quality of the 
 " blackest tinge over the evening and twi^ 
 " light of life ; and leave only a fearful look- 
 " ing for judgment," w^ere it not that there 
 is a Redeemer, still available even in that 
 dreadful crisis : who may yet be resorted to, 
 even when a man shall be assailed with the 
 dreadful conviction, that he himself can 
 no longer make any redemption of time. 
 Jhat Redeemer, as He is omnipotent, so 
 
152 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINEDi 
 
 is he mercifully disposed to receive and 
 succour us, even in the extremest cases that 
 can be imagined ; provided he be duly ad- 
 dressed, and as duly used, as soon as that 
 conviction has taken entire possession of 
 the mind. 
 
 143. It is indeed, when " we have no- 
 ^' thing to pay,^ that that all-gracious Re- 
 deemer may be prevailed upon, to obtain 
 for us " the free remittance of the whole.*^ 
 When the graduated scale marks out to 
 our view the terrible truth, of the ex- 
 hausture of our stock of time; it may 
 compel us also to remember, that we have 
 still that divine resource left us for redeem- 
 ing our wasted time, and, therefore, to reject 
 despair. And is not this an office of Com- 
 forter ? If the mind once conceives a 
 sharp, and penetrating conviction, of the 
 pressing necessity of such a redeeming power ; 
 together with an ardent and impatient 
 anxiety to obtain its succour, and with hu- 
 miliation and self-abasement to bend to all its 
 conditions ; whatever be its station on this 
 side eternity, that mind may yet draw breath, 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 153 
 
 and calm its terrors. Infinite justice having 
 already accepted an atonement which 
 comprehends all cases, infinite mercy melts 
 at the miserable and insolvent condition of 
 the humbled applicant. ^^ Man's iiecessityy* 
 observes the pious Lord Chancellor Bacon, 
 " is God's opportunity J* Whether, there- 
 fore, the labourer enter the vineyard at the 
 noon, or the evening, of his day, still he may 
 hope to obtain the commiseration and kind- 
 ness of his Lord ; provided that he seeks 
 pardon and reconciliation with a perfect 
 and penitent allegiance, the moment he is 
 thoroughly convinced of his guilt, his misery, 
 and his insolvency. 
 
 144. It is excellently observed by a great 
 Christian moralist, that under every possible 
 moral circumstance of man, whether in youth 
 or in age, there exists always a direct and 
 immediate traverse of communication, by 
 which every man, conscious of his delin-, 
 quencies, and oppressed by the remem-t 
 brance of them, may at once return to his 
 God. What Archdeacon Paley says of the 
 sinner, we may say of extreme age under 
 
154 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 such a calamity. " The sinner," says he, 
 '^ may return and fly to God, even because 
 *^ the world is against him." And so old 
 age, if it then first receive a thorough 
 conviction of its dangers, may fly to God, 
 even because time is against it. " The 
 '* thing wanted," says the same excellent 
 divine, " as the quickening principle, the seed 
 " and germ of religion in the heart, is com- 
 " punction, convincement of sin, of danger, 
 " of the necessity of flying to a Redeemer, 
 " and to his religion, in good earnest"^,'^ If 
 that genuine seed be once lodged and 
 quickened in the heart, God's omnipotence 
 may give it growth and perfection, by the 
 special operations of His mercy and His 
 providence. 
 
 145. Dr. Johnson relates the account of 
 a person, whose life had been notoriously 
 corrupt; and who, being thrown from his 
 horse in a fall which caused his instant 
 death, yet uttered in the moment of his 
 fall the ejaculation, " O God!" with so 
 
 * Paley. Sennon xii. 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 155 
 
 extraordinary and penetrating an earnest- 
 ness, as to give occasion to the following 
 lines : 
 
 Between the stirrup and the ground, 
 I mercy askM, I mercy found ! 
 
 This representation does not, in the smallest 
 degree, exaggerate the conduct of the divine 
 clemency ; as the repentant thief upon the 
 cross, triumphantly and eternally demon- 
 strates. 
 
 146. At the same time we must, above 
 all things, guard against all delusion in 
 applying that gracious attribute to our 
 own particular case ; since God " is not 
 *^ mocked;" and He will, assuredly, only exer- 
 cise it in our favour, where the heart is sin- 
 cere, and such as is here described. There 
 cannot be a more certain expedient for 
 depriving ourselves, irretrievably, of all share 
 in that clemency, than by a systematic, con* 
 tumacious, and calculated postponement of 
 our application for it, until we think that 
 we can do without it no longer. " Then 
 
156 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 " shall they call upon me, saith the Lord, 
 " but I will not hear; they shall seek me 
 " early, but they shall not find me; and 
 *^ that, because they hated knowledge, and 
 *^ received not the fear of the Lord ; but 
 *' abhorred my counsel, and despised my 
 '^ instruction. Then shall it be too late to 
 *^ knock, when the door shall be shut ; and 
 *^ too late to cry for mercy j when it is the 
 '* timeofjWzce. O terrible voice of most just 
 *' judgment, which shall be said unto them; 
 " Go, ye cursed, into the fire everlasting, 
 " which is prepared for the devil and his 
 " angels ! Therefore, take we heed betime, 
 '^ while the day of salvation lasteth; for 
 *^ the night cometh, when none can work : 
 " but let us, while we have the light, 
 *^ believe in the light, and walk as children 
 *' of the light ; thai we be not cast into 
 *^ utter darkness, where shall be weeping 
 '^ and gnashing of teeth. Let us not abuse 
 " the goodness of God, who calleth us 
 " mercifully to amendment; and, of His 
 ^^ endless pity, promiseth us forgiveness of 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 157 
 
 *' that which is past, if with a perfect and 
 " true heart we return unto Him^!** 
 
 147. We have now travelled, in a general 
 manner, through all the ages of the dial ; 
 and have even carried our view into that 
 age, which may possibly exceed them all. 
 From the sum of the reflections which have 
 been called forth in our progress, it must 
 now be apparent, that the Bioscope, duly 
 and habitually observed, is excellently cal- 
 culated to keep our minds in a state of 
 continual accord, with the successive stages 
 and circumstances of our journey ; with our 
 actual and current year ; with the character 
 of our age; and with its constantly varying 
 relation to the opposite extremes of life. 
 The result of which accord will necessarily 
 be, an orderly and harmonious correspond- 
 ence, between our mind and our time. Youth 
 will not look forward with precipitation, 
 nor age with reluctance. We shall live 
 with our year, think with our year, and 
 move on with our year. We shall always 
 
 • See the admirable exhortation, in the Commination Service 
 of our Church. 
 
158 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 be found at our true place, in time; neither 
 forestalling stations which are to come, nor 
 hanging back upon those which are gone. 
 Our proper place will be the most congenial 
 to the temper of our minds; which will 
 become so harmoniously adapted to each 
 succeeding year, that no irksomeness, regret, 
 or distress, will accompany the conscious- 
 ness of our approximation to the end; 
 and thus, the due proportion and bala?ice will 
 be established, and invariably preserved, be- 
 tween our THOUGHTS and our years : which 
 was the object we first intended. 
 
 148. And that great object being gained, 
 we shall be able to direct it to the use for 
 which alone it was pursued ; namely, the 
 best exercise of the preparatory course of 
 discipline under which we are now subsist- 
 ing, in order to the assumption of a perfect 
 agency, in the perfected universe, when- 
 ever the time arrives, that our sovereign 
 Master shall call upon us for that service. 
 
 149. A followed attention to the Bios- 
 cope, will moreover contribute to advance us 
 very far in that momentous article of know- 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED, 159 
 
 ledge, which the best and wisest of men 
 have ever regarded as one of the most 
 important : the know^ledge of our- 
 selves. For, by always knowing what 
 we are with respect to timej we shall know 
 what we are with respect of every thing 
 that depends upon time; the principal of 
 which are, the duties and services for which 
 an allotment of time is made to us. And 
 seeing that the general average of that 
 allotment is seventy years; seeing that 
 it may be much less, but cannot be much 
 more ; and that its utmost possible extent 
 is as nothing in comparison with durations 
 which the mind is able to contemplate, and 
 forecast ; we shall acquire, both an inte- 
 rested and fixed desire, to preserve our 
 mental being in a state of constant equality 
 with the point of time at which we stand; 
 and also, a luminous certainty, whether we 
 really do so or not. Thus we shall be 
 enabled, to give to our moral agency all 
 the security which it can acquire in this 
 present state; and calmly to expect that 
 ultimate advancement, in which it will re- 
 
160 THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 
 
 ceive its full perfection, from the hand of 
 God himself. Which is the final pur- 
 pose, for which we are made members of 
 this stupendous universe. 
 
 150. Now, in order to derive all these 
 vast acquirements from the use of the 
 Bioscope, very httle is required to be 
 done ; and certainly, no great science was 
 ever attained, with so little labour, or pre- 
 paratory instruction. All that is requisite, 
 is an inclination to adopt it ; and that incli- 
 nation alone, will ensure proficiency. A 
 regular, habitual, and continued inspection 
 and meditation of the dial, as it has been 
 explained ; in periods of privacy and serious 
 retirement, when the mind is relieved from 
 the importunities of the world and of life^ 
 and disposed to feel its own powers in the 
 exercise of wisdom ; will open to us all its 
 mysteries. Our floating reflections will 
 lodge, and establish themselves, upon the 
 scale; and it is no rash prediction to af- 
 firm, that whoever has persevered for a time 
 in the practice of that inspection, and has 
 experienced the aid of its memorial, will 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. 161 
 
 contract a friendship for the instrument 
 which will not be broken. 
 
 151. For which reason, it is offered as a 
 constant companion for the study, or the 
 closet. Where, if it be admitted, let it be 
 frequently, if not daily, inspected; espe- 
 cially at one or other of those early and late 
 periods of the day, at which, it is sup- 
 posed, every wise and good man directs his 
 thoughts, and aspirations, to the Author of 
 his Beingy his Time, and his Salvation. 
 Whatever may be the momentary effect, 
 received from an hasty and superficial view 
 of the scale, it is only the permanent im- 
 pression, that can produce the vast and 
 blessed consequences which are ascribed 
 to its operation. That permanent impres- 
 sion, can only be formed by habit; by 
 which the first impressions will be repeated 
 and enforced, until they finally become in- 
 durated, and indelible. 
 
 152. And as the mind ought to apply 
 itself, even daily, to inspect the dial ; so it 
 ought, with particular attention and serious- 
 ness, to meet the day upon which it is p) 
 
 M 
 
162 THE BIOSCOPE £XPLAlNEt>. 
 
 be annually rectified : when we are to remove 
 the INDEX, from the point at. which it will 
 have rested for one entire year; and to ad- 
 vance it to the next degree, in evidence that 
 another year is gone, and is absorbed into 
 the general gulf with all the ages that are 
 past. Bishop Taylor, in his rules for the im* 
 provement of time, prescribes the following 
 one : " Let him that is most busied, set apart 
 " some solemn time every year, in which, 
 " for the time, quitting all worldly business, 
 '^ he may attend wholly upon God; that 
 f' he may make up his accounts, renew his 
 " vows, make amends for his carelessness, 
 *' and retire back again from whence levity, 
 " and the vanities of the world, or the 
 " opportunity of temptations, or the dis- 
 " traction of secular affairs, have carried 
 '^ him." And what time can point itself 
 out so fit for this wise and necessary exer- 
 cise, as the day which is the new-year's 
 DAY of each individual's life ; namely, the 
 anniversary of his, or her, birth? As this 
 exercise is only designed for the retirement 
 of the closet, it need not interfere with, or 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. l6S 
 
 impair, any part of that cheerfulness, which 
 gratitude to Heaven, and the liveliness of 
 affection, may call forth in celebration of 
 the day. The mind never experiences so 
 high a relish in cheerfulness, as when it has 
 answered, and complied with, the claims of 
 seriousness ; nor is any joy, that the soul 
 can aspire to taste, comparable to that, 
 .which receives its savour from religious 
 wisdom. 
 
 153. Lastly, when the dial is once set, 
 let the face of it remain continually upon the 
 mind. By that means, we shall possess a 
 clear and intelligible idea, what our age is. 
 To note age by the number of the year 
 alone; without reference to the two terms of 
 life ; is only deceiving the understanding. 
 When we say, that we are ffty, or sixty ; if 
 we receive any other idea than mere number, 
 we shall find, that it is most commonly a 
 comparison of our age, wilh the ages of 
 others who are either younger or older than 
 ourselves. Now it is of no consequence to 
 compare our age with that of others, but only 
 
164 I^HE BlOSCOPfi EXPLAINED. 
 
 bf ourselves; and we can only compare our 
 age with the age of ourselves, by comparing 
 it with the ages which we have already 
 lived, and with the extreme average of 
 time, to which it is possible we may ad- 
 vance. And that comparison will be brought, 
 at once, before the mind, by recollecting tke 
 face of the dial, as we last parted from it : in 
 which recollection, all the necessary rela- 
 tions, and combinations, will immediately 
 reveal themselves. 
 
 154. And now, to conclude : If any one 
 should ask : — " has the author himself 
 ^' acquired all that wisdom, all that excel- 
 " lence of practical prudence, which he is 
 " so ready to propose for the acquirement 
 " of others?" I thus shortly reply: That 
 he is far, very far, from pretensions so pre- 
 sumptuous, and so preposterous; on the 
 contrary, that he feels himself far in arrear 
 of that point, to which he is desirous, that 
 he himself, and all others, should attain. 
 But, an hungry man who has found a feast, 
 may as well share it with those who are as 
 
THE BIOSCOPE EXPLAINED. l65 
 
 needy as himself, while he is feeding, as 
 when he is full. And he who has fallen 
 npon the elements of an useful art, will 
 do hetter to invite companions to hi§ 
 studies, than wait for the proficiency of ^ 
 master, to which it is possible he never may 
 attain. 
 
SIR WILLIAM JONES'S ANDROMETER. 
 
 (See Page H4 J 
 
 illililllll -' 
 
 SO 
 
 Sd 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 Ideas received through the Senses. 
 -Spe.king and Pronunciation. 
 -Lett rs, and Spelling. 
 -Ideas retained in the Memory. 
 -Reading and Repeating. 
 •Grammar of his own Language. 
 -Memory exercised. 
 •Moral and Religious Lessons. 
 -Natural History and Experiment*. 
 -Dancing, Music, Drawing, ExerciseB. 
 -History of his own Country. 
 -Latin. 
 
 - Greek. 
 
 - French and Italian. 
 
 - 1 ranilations. 
 
 •Compositions in Ver^ and PrOK. 
 -Rheturic and DeciamaUpn. 
 -History and Law. 
 -Logic and Mathematics, 
 -t^hetorical Exercises. 
 -Philosophy and Politics. 
 Compositions in his own Language. 
 -Declamations continued. 
 ■Ancient Orators studied. 
 •Travel and Conversation. 
 -Speeches at the Bar, or in Parliament. 
 State Affairs. 
 -Historical Studies continued. 
 Law and Eloquence* 
 -Public Life. 
 
 -Private and Social Virtues. 
 ■Habits of Eloquence improved. 
 -Philosophy resumed at leisure. 
 -Orations published. 
 Exertions in State and Parliament. 
 
167 
 
 -Civil Knowledge mature. 
 -Eloquence perfect. 
 
 National Kights defended. 
 
 rhe Learned protected. 
 -The Virtuous assisted. 
 -Compositions published. 
 -Science improved. 
 -Parliamentary Affairs. 
 -Laws enacted, and supported. 
 • Fine Arts patronized. 
 
 Government of his Family, 
 
 Education of his Children^ 
 -Vigilance as a Magistrate. 
 -Firmness as a Patriot, 
 -Virtue as a Citizen. 
 •Historical Works. 
 
 Oratorical Works. 
 -Philosophical Work?, 
 -Political Works. 
 
 Mathematical Works. 
 
 Contipaation of former Pursuits. 
 
 -Fruits of his Labour enjoyed. 
 -A glorious Retirement. 
 -An amiable Family. 
 ii-Universal Respect. 
 Consciousness of a Virtaons Life. 
 
 i 
 
 Perfection of Earthly Hapjtinesf, 
 ^Preparation for ETERMITY, 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 THB 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 or 
 
 PAULINUS, BISHOP OF NOLA, 
 
 CELANTIA. 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS, 
 
 As it was desirable, that the foregoing reflections 
 should be accompanied by some rule of practical 
 instruction, exhibiting that manifested will, to 
 which it is our great concern to endeavour to 
 conform our own wills, during our present allot- 
 ment of life*, I have not hesitated to make choice 
 of the following excellent summary of that Will ; 
 which, as far as I have been able to discover, has 
 never before appeared in an English translation. 
 It is, the Epistle of Paulinus, Bishop of Nola in 
 Italy, about the year 400, to Celantia, a Roman 
 Jady of fashion, rank, and opulence; in reply to 
 various letters, in which she had earnestly solicited 
 
 f See Preliminary Chapter, p. 13, 
 
no, INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 him, to draw out for her some short and distinct 
 Rule of Christian Life, which she might have 
 always at hand, to govern her conversation with 
 the world. In this valuable breviary of Christian 
 excellence, the reader will behold what primitive 
 Christianity was; before superstition, priestcraft, 
 and a reviving passion for sensual worship, had 
 begun to obscure and deface the Christian church. 
 And he cannot but be struck, by remarking, how 
 nearly that form of Christianity resembles the public 
 profession of our own established church; and, 
 indeed, of most of the chief Protestant communions. 
 The same may also be found, in a very eminent 
 degree, within the church of Rome. Not indeed 
 in its public doctrine and demeanor, but in the 
 retirements of its closets, and the recesses of its 
 ftncient cloisters; as the admirable manual, De 
 Jmitatione Christi — Of the Imitation of Christ; 
 (ascribed, vulgarly and erroneously, to Thomas 
 d Kcmpis;) and various other exquisite works of 
 Christian piety, sufficiently demonstrate. 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 17S 
 
 The a^e of Paulinus, was still the age, which, 
 (to use the words of the Abb6 du Fresnoy,) " was 
 " the most brilliant of Christianity; in which 
 ** Christians were only distinguished, by the live- 
 " liness of their faith, and by tlie exemplary sim- 
 " plicity of their manners. It was not philosophy, 
 " Xvhich inspired their virtues. The generality of 
 * the first Christians were nothing less than phi- 
 " losophers ; they were persdns of the world, who 
 " were touched by divine grace, and who sur- 
 " rendered themselves wholly to the maxims of 
 " the Gospel. Ignorant of, or contemning, the 
 ** doctrines of Plato and Pythagoras, which oiily 
 '* flattered the genius and the imagination, they 
 " gave up their hearts to the rules, which were 
 " prescribed by the Apostles, or their suc- 
 " CESSORS.— Ce sont \h les tems les plus brillans 
 " du Christianisme ; les fiddles ne se distinguant 
 " que par une foi vive, et par une admirable sim- 
 " plicite de mceurs. — Ce n'est point la philosophic 
 " qui leUT inspire cette droiture de sentiment. 
 
174 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 ** Les premiers Chretiens n*etoient rien moins que 
 ** philosophes ; c'^toient des gens du monde que 
 " la grace toucboit, et qui s'abbandonoient aux 
 " seules raaximes de TEvangile. Ignorant ou m6- 
 ^ prisant la doctrine de Platon, et de Pythagore, 
 " qui ne flattoit que I'esprit et Timagination ; les 
 " premiers Chretiens se livroient interieurement 
 " aux regies, que leur pr6scrivoient les ap6tres> 
 " ou leurs successeurs." 
 
 Pontius Paulinus, of Roman origin, and of a 
 patrician and consular family established near 
 Burdigala, (Bourdeaux,) in Gaul, was born A. D. 
 353. He received his education from the Roman 
 poet Ausonius, under whom he made an extra- 
 ordinary progress in poetry and rhetoric. Many 
 aflfectionate letters of the teacher to his pupil still 
 survive. When Ausonius was called by the Em- 
 peror Valentinian to direct the education of his 
 son Gratian, Paulinus quitted Burdigala, and pro- 
 ceeded to Rome ; where he so highly distinguished 
 himself by his pleadings at the bar^ that, ia the 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 175 
 
 year 375, he was raised to the consular dignity ; 
 havin<y been already invested with the senatorial, 
 and being beloved by all the city. In the follow- 
 ing year, he commenced his travels through the 
 western provinces of the empire ; in the course of 
 which he contracted friendships, with St. Martin, 
 St. Ambrose, and other eminent persons of that 
 age. About fifteen years afterwards, namely, in 
 the year 391, he was baptized by Delphinus, 
 Bishop of Burdigala; and having made large 
 donations to the poor, he went a second time 
 into Spain ; and establishing himself at Barcino, 
 {Barcelona J he there formed the plan of a more 
 rigid and retired course of life, although fre- 
 quently and urgently pressed, by Ausonius and 
 others, to resume his former relations with the 
 world. Upon Christmas day, A. D. 393, he re- 
 ceived ordination to the priesthood, from Eulam- 
 pius, Bishop of Barcino, to which he was almost 
 compelled by the people ; and, from that time, he 
 began to be distinguished as an ecclesiastic. He 
 
176 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS* 
 
 was afterwards consecrated Bishop of Nola ; but in 
 what year does not appear. In the year 410, 
 when Nola was taken and ravaged by the Goths, 
 fearful of being exposed to the insults and cruelties 
 of those barbarians in their search for his treasures, 
 he poured forth this ejaculatory prayer : " Let 
 ** me not be tormented for gold and silver; for 
 ** thou, Lord ! knowest tohere all my treasures are ! 
 " — Ne excrucier propter aurum et argentum: 
 " uhl omnia mea sunt, tu sets !" This holy prelate, 
 and converted heathen, died in the year of our 
 Lord 431, and in the 78th of his age. By his 
 wife Therasia, the constant companion, no less of 
 his recluse, than of his secular life, he had only 
 one child, who died a few days after it was born. 
 
 He was a man of exalted piety; bountiful to 
 the needy ; gentle and courteous to all men ; and 
 of such eminence in learning, as to have been 
 celebrated by the most distinguished writers of 
 his age. He is called by Erasmus, in his intro- 
 duction to this Epistle, the Chmtian Cicero; a 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 177 
 
 designation which has been also given to Lactan- 
 tius. " If/' says St. Jerom to him, in one of his 
 Epistles, " you would undertake to teach the 
 " sacred writings, and, if I may so speak, to let 
 " the Scriptures be delivered through your hands, 
 " we should possess something that the learning of 
 " Greece could not equal/' — " If," says the same 
 learned Father, on another occaaon, *^ you would 
 " revise, and put a last hand to your work, we 
 " shall have nothing more beautiful, more learned, 
 ^* more delightful, or more perfect in the Latin 
 " tongue, than your volumes*/* 
 
 So great was the name and authority of Paai- 
 linus in the early church, that the church of 
 Rome, in the following ages, endeavoured to sup- 
 port its growing corruptions, by attaching iqkmi 
 hi-m (as upon others of his great contemporaries,) 
 many of the later superstitions, with which it was 
 then debasing the Christian mind. Hence, the 
 
 ^ Cawe's HistoTk Literaria. Torn. L 
 
 N 
 
17S INTRODUCTORY OBSEHVATIONlJ. 
 
 relations of his life are fraught with many of the 
 absurdest fictions, which a discriminating view can 
 easily perceive to belong to an age much posterior 
 to that of Paulinus. Thus, they relate, that he 
 sold himself for a slave into Africa, in order to 
 purchase the redemption of a captive. Upon 
 which tale, the editors of Mortens Dictionary/ justly 
 observe : " This fact totally disagrees with the cir- 
 " cumstances of the times, and with the life of 
 -" Paulinus; and is, plainly, altogether fabulous." 
 •Mr. Gibbon, with his usual partiality or credulity, 
 has drawn the character of Paulinus entirely from 
 those spurious sources; and, evidently, without 
 taking the least pains to consult any genuine 
 monument of that exemplary prelate. But it was 
 sufficient for Mr. Gibbon, that whereas Paulinus 
 was originally an heathen, he afterwards openly 
 embraced, and publicly taught, the Christian faith. 
 He therefore presumes to conclude his account of 
 that holy Father, in these words: " The remains 
 " of his fortune, and of his understanding, were 
 
JNTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 175 
 
 ** dedicated to the service of the glorious martyr 
 " St. Foelix *.'* The reader, when he has perused 
 the following Epistle, will be more competent than 
 Mr. Gibbon ever was, to judge of the iniquity and 
 falsehood of that assertion ; and how far that daring 
 caviller has thereby transgressed that menacing 
 prohibition : " Do my prophets no injury !" 
 
 The Epistle, of which a translation is here sub- 
 joined, is to be found among the collection of 
 St. Jerom's Epistles, to whom formerly it was 
 erroneously ascribed. The edition from which this 
 translation was made, was printed at Paris, in 
 1602. Upon comparing it with Erasmus's edition, 
 it appeared, that a concluding passage had been 
 suppressed by the French editor. Of that passage 
 the conclusion is here added ; yet a part, relating 
 to a growing superstition of that age, and wholly 
 irrelative to the opinions and manners of the pre- 
 sent times, is omitted in the translation. 
 
 Although this document is addressed to a female 
 
 * Hist. ^m. £mp. c. Ixiii. 
 
180 INTHOBtJCTOEY OBSERVATIONS^ 
 
 personage, the instruction which it conveys fe 
 conamon to both sexes ; being the sum of the 
 Divine Law, promulgated equally to all. It is, 
 therefore, uot k partial but an universal rule. Yet 
 its address to a female, may be made the occasion 
 :of the best and most extensive effects. Strabo 
 remarked, '* that women have always been regarded 
 ^* as the great promoters of religious worship ; 
 " that it is they, that chiefly persuaded men to 
 ** frequent sacrifices, festivals, a«d offices of sap- 
 " plication ; and that it is contrary to the common 
 ^ ci|)inion of mankind to suppose^ that men wko 
 ** scclsude themselves from the society of -wotneti^ 
 ** can be religiously disposed*." Let them exult 
 in this testimony ; which regards a truth, founded 
 in the most valuable principles of their nature. If 
 they are prone, in a state of ignorance, to embrace 
 the shadow of religion, they «re not less prone, in -a 
 state of illuminatioa, to embrace its substance ; and 
 iheir m/inenoe remnitis the same. That propensity 
 
 * Strabo, 1. iv. p. 206. 
 
INTRQDITCTOKY OBSERVATIONS. 181 
 
 proceeds frora a sense of the subordination of their 
 »€x, joined to a conviction of their dependence 
 iipon sonaething, move excellent and more exalted 
 ^n man. The pirecedeBcy, joined to the glaring 
 iBiperfeetions, of our sex, sendis up their minds, in 
 aecret supplkration,^ lo the throne of supremacy and 
 perfection. Nothing, can be conceived nvore lovely, 
 tk»n the right operation of those two sentiments* 
 The one, moves our tenderness; the other, our 
 admiration and awe. On the other hand, nothing 
 can be conceived more hateful, than a fem^e mind 
 which shall have renounced those sentiments. The 
 poet has said, " an undevtmt astronomer is mad/* 
 with no less truth we may affirm,, that such a 
 female mind would be the nearest approxiraatioa 
 to a fiend. 
 
 Great, and justly great, is the influence which 
 female virtues possess over the heart ©f mm\» 
 Formed, by God's goodness, as " a coadjutor,, the 
 " best suited to his nature*' it is the province of 
 woman, to soften his feelings, and to refine his 
 
182 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS* 
 
 manners. The same gentle influence, which drew 
 heathen men to the altars of paganism, is still 
 mighty to draw Christian men to the sanctuary of 
 the Gospel. And so it was seen by the apostles 
 themselves; who did not scruple to appeal to that 
 influence, for subduing the perversity and obduracy 
 of men. " Ye wives !" says St. Peter to the female 
 Christians ; " be in subjection to your husbands ; 
 " that if any obey not the word, they may, wiih- 
 " out the word, he won hy the conversation of their 
 ** wives*** How supreme is the power here im- 
 plied ! How stupendous is this arrangement, for 
 equalizing the privileges of the sexes, who are 
 declared to be " Co-heirs of the grace of Life i T' 
 Compared with this direction of their influence, 
 what is intrigue, and what is fashion ! To them, 
 therefore, and to that influence which is the highest 
 glory of their sex, I more especially present, and 
 commit, the Epistle to Cclantia. 
 
 * 1 Pet. iii. 1. t lb. 7, 
 
TH£ 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 PAULINUS, BISHOP OF NOLA, 
 
 CELANTIA. 
 
 It is a well-known sentence of Scripture, 
 that " there is a shame that bringeth sin, 
 " and there is a shame which is glory and 
 ** grace." The truth of which sentence, 
 although it is sufficiently manifest to the 
 reason of every one by its own evidence, 
 has nevertheless, on the present occasion, 
 demonstrated itself to ray conviction, with 
 peculiar force. For, though pressed to write 
 
184 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 to you, by your letters, with the most 
 importunate solicitations, I confess, that I 
 have a long time hesitated concerning my 
 answer, from a mistrust of my own quali- 
 fications. Which sentiment, however, w^as 
 vigorously resisted by the affectionate 
 urgency of your requests. Thus, the humi- 
 lity of the applicant perpetually conflicted 
 with my own backwardness : and, while 
 those opposite feelings were thus combating 
 in my mind, the sense of shtoie had nearly 
 overcome the sense of duty. 
 
 But the sentence of wisdom, which I 
 have above recited, supplied me with the 
 strength requisite for conquering so unpro- 
 fitable and so injurious a silence. For, 
 when I reflected how excellent and how 
 pious the occasion was for which I was 
 called upon to write, I felt that it would be 
 criminal for me any longer to hold my 
 peace ; remembering that sentence of Scrip- 
 ture, " there is a time to keep silence, and 
 " a time to speak.'^ And again ; " with- 
 ^ hold not a word in the time of safety.'* 
 And that also oi St. Peter: " Be ready 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 185 
 
 *^ always to give an answer to every one, 
 " who asketh for a reason." For you ask, 
 and vehemently insist, that I should draw 
 you out some clear and infallible rule, 
 from the sacred writings, by which you 
 may order the whole tenour of your life; 
 so that, knowrng the will of God, you 
 may, amidst the honours of the world, and 
 the allurements of riches, preferably regard 
 the conduct of your actions; and that, in 
 your connubial state, you may be able to 
 please, not him only with whom you are 
 united, but Him also who indulged you with 
 the happiness of your union. 
 
 Which holy and pious desire, not to 
 satisfy, what would it be, but to have no 
 concern for another*s advancement ? 1 will 
 therefore yield to your entreaties; and will 
 endeavour to excite you, thus prepared to 
 fulfil the will of the Lord, by His own 
 words. For He is truly Lord and Master 
 of all, who not only commands us to please 
 Him, but at the same time plainly teaches 
 us, how He is to be pleased. 
 
 Let Him^ therefore, inform and teach 
 
166 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 you, who, when the youth in the Gospel 
 inquired of Him, " zohat he should do to 
 '* inherit eternal life?'* instantly replied; 
 " KEEP THE commandments:" showiug 
 us, distinctly, that we must execute His 
 will, from whom we would hope to receive 
 a reward. With which view he elsewhere 
 testifies : " Not every one that saith to me, 
 '^ Lord! Lord! shall inherit the kingdom 
 *^ of Heaven ; but he who doeth the will of 
 ''ray Father which is in Heaven," he shall 
 inherit the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 From whence it is manifest, that we shall 
 be wholly incapable of establishing any 
 claim to the magnitude of that reward, if 
 we confess God ; unless the works of faith 
 and of righteousness are joined together. 
 For, what is the faith which would so believe 
 God, as to hold at naught His command- 
 ments ? Or how can we say, truly RvxAfrom 
 the hearty " Lord ! Lord !" if, at the same 
 time, we disregard the commands of Him, 
 whom we so entitle Lord? 
 
 Hence He himself declares in the Gospel, 
 <^ Why call ye me, Lord! Lord! and do 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 187 
 
 *^ not the things which I say ?" And again : 
 '^ This people honour me with their lips, 
 " but their heart is far from me." And 
 again, He says, by the prophet : " A son 
 " honoureth his father, and a servant feareth 
 " his master. If therefore I am a Father, 
 " u'here is my honour^ If I am a Master, 
 " where is my fear V^ From all which it is 
 manifest, that God is neither honoured, nor 
 feared, by those who do not obey his com* 
 mandments. Wherefore it was said more 
 expressly to David, who had committed 
 sin : " Thou hast despised the command- 
 *^ ment of the Lord!" And to Eli, the word 
 of the Lord declared : ** they that honour 
 *' me, I will honour; but they who despise 
 " me, shall be lightly esteemed." 
 
 And can we remain secure and satisfied 
 in our minds, who, by dishonouring God in 
 all and each of his commandments, provoke 
 Him to anger; and, by an arrogant con- 
 tempt of His authority, otFer an affront to 
 so tremendous a Majesty? For what arro- 
 gance, or what ingratitude, can be so great, 
 AS to live in opposition to the wili* of 
 
183 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 Him, from whom we have received life; 
 or to despise the commandments of IJim, 
 who therefore only issues His commands, 
 that He may have an occasion to reward ? 
 For God is in no want of our obedience^ but 
 we are in the greatest want of His power. 
 His commandments are, on this account, 
 ^ more desirable than gold and precious stones, 
 ^^ and sweeter timn honey and the honey-comb ; 
 ^ because, in keeping of them there is great 
 '* reward." The infinite goodness of God 
 is therefore the more incensed against us, 
 because we despise it at the hazard of such 
 immeasurable blessings ; and because we 
 hold at naught, not Hh commandments only y 
 but also His promises. 
 
 Wherefore we ought often, nay, without 
 intermission, to revolve in our minds that 
 saying of our Lord : *^ If thou wilt enter 
 *^ unto life, keep the commandments." 
 This is the wliole substance of the law; 
 ]Chis is the whole of what the prophets and 
 the apostles teach ; this is that which the 
 voice, and the blood, of Christ demand from 
 \ks : ** Who therefore clie4 for all, that tbey 
 
RtJlE OF C«niSTIAN LIFE* 1^ 
 
 *^ who live, should live no longer to them- 
 " selves, but to Him who died for them." 
 Now, to live to Him, signifies nothing else, 
 but to keep the commandments, which He has 
 commanded to be kept in pledge of hi» 
 love. " Ify^ J^ve me,'' said He, " keep my 
 ** commandments J^—^^ He who hath my com- 
 ^^ mandments, and keepeth them, he it i» 
 *' who loveth me." And again ; " if any 
 ^' one loveth me, he will keep my saying, 
 ^' and my Father will love him ; and we 
 ^^ will come to him, and will make our 
 *^ abode with him. He who loveth me wyt 
 '^ keepeth not my sayings." True and affec- 
 tionate love is powerful in operation : he 
 who really loves, assumes to himself the 
 entire will of him whom he loves. Nothing 
 is more imperious than true affection. If 
 we truly love Christ; and remember thai 
 wc are redeemed wholly by His blood ; we 
 ought to mil nothing, and do nothing so 
 much, as that which we know to be the 
 object of His will. 
 
 Now, there are two kinds of preeeptsy 
 which comprehend all righteousness : the 
 
190 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE, 
 
 one PROHIBITING, the other commandinc. 
 For, as all evil is forbidden, so all good is 
 enjoined. The one, orders us to act; the 
 other, to abstain from acting. By the one, 
 the mind is incited; by the other, it is 
 restrained. To do the one, and not to do 
 the other, is equally criminal. Whence, 
 the prophet says : ^* Who is he that seeketh 
 " life, or would see good days? Restrain 
 " thy tongue from evil, and let thy lips 
 " speak no guile : abstain from evil, and do 
 " good,'' And the holy apostle : " Flee 
 *^ from that which is evil, cleave to that 
 " which is good." 
 
 This twofold law, prohibiting and com- 
 manding, is equally binding upon all. 
 Neither the unmarried, nor the married, 
 nor the widowed, are exempted from the 
 obligation of that law : in every purpose, 
 and in every circumstance of life, it is equal 
 sin to allow that which is forbidden, and to 
 omit that which is commanded. Be not, 
 therefore, seduced by the error of those 
 who select, according to their own wills, 
 which of God's commandments they wijl 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFfi. IQI 
 
 principally keep, and which they will esteem 
 trifling and unimportant ; and who are not 
 afraid, lest, according to the divine declara- 
 tion, by neglecting the smallest of them, 
 they gradually fall into universal disobe- 
 dience. The Stoics, indeed, take away all 
 difference between sins, and regard all delin- 
 quencies as equal ; neither will they allow 
 of any distinction, between guilt and error. 
 We, on the other hand, although we believe 
 that there is great difference in the guilt of 
 sins, because we are so taught by the \vord 
 of God ; yet hold, that the most safe of all 
 precautions, is to avoid the smallest equally 
 with the greatest. For we shall the more 
 easily preserve ourselves from any crime, in 
 proportion as we accustom ourselves to fear 
 it ; nor will any one quickly lapse into the 
 greater sins, who has habituated himself to 
 dread even the smallest. 
 
 Yet, I know not how we can call any sin 
 small y which is committed in contempt of 
 God. He is the wisest man, who does not 
 so much consider what is the command, as 
 who He is that commands it : who does not 
 
1^ HULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFfi. 
 
 SO much compute the quantity of the rule, as 
 the dignity of the Ruler. 
 
 You, therefore, who are desirous to build 
 up a spiritual house, not upon the insecurity 
 of sand, but upon the solidity of rock, lay 
 your first foundation in harmlessness, or 
 innocence; upon which foundation you may 
 afterwards the more easily erect the lofty 
 itA'Ace oi righteousness. For he who has 
 done no injury to any one, has already ful- 
 filled the greatest part of righteousness; 
 and happy are they who can say, with holy 
 Job, "Who is he that will plead with mef'* 
 That is, who shall call for thy judgment 
 againstrjme ; or say, that I have done him 
 any injury ? It is an evidence of the purest 
 conscience, to say, confidently, with the 
 prophet:." I have walked in my house with 
 *^ a perfect heart/' Wherefore he says else- 
 where :" No good thing will the Lord 
 *^ withhold from them theit walk innocently." 
 Let every Christian, therefore, banish 
 from his mind all malicty and hatred^ and 
 envy; which are the chief, if they are not 
 the only, seeds of wrong and injury. Let 
 
UtrLE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 193 
 
 him keep innocency, not in his hand and 
 tongue only, but likewise in his heart ; and 
 let him fear to be injurious, not only in act, 
 but even in his most secret desire : for, in 
 what regards the nature of guilt, he is guilty 
 of an injury, whose mind is injuriously 
 disposed. 
 
 Many define the word innocent, in its 
 simple and absolute sense, as denoting a 
 person who does no ill, although he abstains 
 from rendering a good. If this definition 
 be just, yet do you only let your conscience 
 take joy from your innocence, when you 
 do not desist from rendering that good. 
 But if indeed these virtues are to be sepa- 
 rated and distinguished ; so that it is to be 
 accounted one virtue, merely to refrain from 
 injury; and another, to administer a service ; 
 yet remember, that it is of no avail to a 
 Christian, to fulfil 07ie part of righteousness 
 only, who is commanded equally to fulfil 
 both. 
 
 Neither are we to look to the examples 
 of the numbers; who, observing no disci- 
 pline of manners, and following no rule of 
 o 
 
194 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 life, are not so much guided by reason, as 
 they are urged by impulse. Nor may we 
 imitate those, wbpjj. under the name of 
 Christian, live a Gentile life; and who 
 show one thing in their profession, and 
 another in their conduct. As the apostle 
 speaks, " they profess to know God, but in 
 " their works they deny Him." A Chris- 
 tian ought to be distinguished from a 
 Gentile, not more by his creed, than by his 
 /jjf^f and to demonstrate the difference of 
 his religion, by the difference of his works. 
 " Be not," says the apostle, " unequally 
 *< joined with unbelievers; for what fellow- 
 '^ ship hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
 " ness ? And what communion hath light 
 " with darkness ? What concord hath Christ 
 " wirh Belial? Or what part hath he that 
 ** believeth, with an infidel ? And what 
 " agreement hath the temple of God with 
 ^* infidels? For ye are the temple of the 
 " living God." 
 
 Let a positive distinction be therefore 
 made, between us and them. Let er/or, and 
 truth, be divided by a determined limit. 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN UFE. 195 
 
 Let those relish earthly things, who do not 
 entertain the heavenly promises. Let those 
 implicate themselves altogether in this short 
 life, who persuade themselves that no punish- 
 ment awaits sinners hereafter. Let those 
 remain under the bondage of vice, who 
 cherish no hope of any future reward for 
 virtue. But we who believe, with a perfect 
 and entire faith, that " eroery nian shall 
 " stand before the judgment-seat of Christy 
 *' to receive the things done in the body, 
 " whether it be good or bad ;" let us, I say, 
 keep ourselves unspotted with vice; ac- 
 cording to that of the apostle, who says : 
 '^ Those who are Christ's, have crucified 
 " the flesh, together with the vices and 
 " lusts thereof." Neither let us follow the 
 steps of an erring multitude, who profess 
 ourselves to be, the disciples of thjs truth. 
 Our Saviour has pointed out to us, in the 
 Gospel, TWO different courses, two distinct 
 roads, which lead to issues directly op- 
 posite. *' Wide is the way," says He, " that 
 " leads to death, and many there are who 
 " go in thereat." And again : " Strait and 
 
1D6 JiULE 01? CHRISTIAN htP^. 
 
 " narrow is the way which leads unto life, 
 ^' and few there are who find it." Remark, 
 how wide is the distinction, and separation, 
 between these two ways ! The one leads to 
 DEATH, the other to life. The one, is fre- 
 quented and trodden by the numbers ; the 
 other, is explored only by a few. The one, 
 beaten and smoothed by continual travel ; 
 and rendered attractive by the various flowers 
 of pleasure with which it is strewed ; easily 
 draws to itself the generality of travellers. 
 But the other, being the unfrequented path 
 of virtue, and therefore rude and difficult to 
 the traveller, is chosen only by those, whose 
 minds are not so intently bent upon the 
 amusement of the journey, as upon the 
 excellence of the final habitation. It is the 
 preference given to vice, that renders the 
 path of virtue so deserted and so un pleasing 
 to us; but if the familiarity which is be- 
 stowed upon vice, be transferred to the 
 other road, it will render that path, as the 
 Scripture hath declared it, "a way bf plea- 
 " santness, and a path of peace.** 
 
 Let us, then, seriously examine our own 
 
HULE OF CHKISTIAN LIFE. IQ? 
 
 lives ; and let us learn, from the testimony of 
 our own consciences, in which of those two 
 paths we are truly journeying. Whatever 
 thing we do, and whatever thing we say, 
 appertains either to the wide way, or to the 
 narrow way. If we are moving in the narrow 
 road, and prosecute the narrow path, then we 
 are advancing to life ; but, if we are fol- 
 lowing the road which is crowded with a 
 multitude, we have the assurance of God's 
 word, that we are proceeding towards 
 X)EATH. If, therefore, our hearts are pos- 
 sessed with hatred, or with eiiiry; ^if we 
 yield up ourselves to covetousness, or to 
 avarice ; if we give to present enjoyments 
 the preference over future ; then we are 
 proceeding in the wide road; fot-in all 
 these things we shall find a concourse of 
 associates, and shall be surrounded by a 
 multitude of similar dispositions. If we 
 are resolved to gratify anger, oir'last, or to 
 resent injuries; if we speak evil of those, 
 who speak evil of us ; if we carry an hostile 
 mind, towards him who has been inimical 
 to us; we are still carried along with the 
 
198 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 numbers. Or, if we practise flattery our-r 
 selves, or willingly yield our ear to the 
 words of the flatterer; if we are withheld, 
 by favour, from uttering the truth ; or are 
 more afraid to offend the mind of any man^ 
 than not to speak the truth from our heart; 
 then are we journeying in company with 
 the multitude : all will be our associates, 
 M^ho are departing from the path of truth. 
 
 But if, on the contrary, we keep our- 
 selves free from all vices ; if we maintain a 
 pure and unslaved mind ; and, renouncing 
 all other cupidity, are only covetous to 
 become rich in virtue ; then we are travel- 
 ling in the narrow road : for such, alas! 
 is the conversation only of the few. It is 
 very rare, and difficult, to find fit com- 
 panions for this journey ; for many who 
 pretend to be journeying in this track, pre- 
 sently decline from it by bye-paths, and 
 return agaiii into the common road of the 
 multituBe : and, therefore, we ought to be 
 greatly upon our guard, lest those, whom 
 we may choose as safe conductors of our 
 way, should prove to be only seducers into 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 199 
 
 error. If, therefore, we can discover any 
 such examples, as may guide us safely in 
 this course, and which keep the right road 
 of the Gospel, we shall do well to follow 
 them ; but, if those examples should fail us, 
 or should seem likely lo fail us, then that of 
 the apostle is offered to us all. Paul, " the 
 " chosen vessel;" as if he were warning 
 us of the strait road which we ought to 
 follow ; says : " Be ye imitators of me> as I 
 " also am of Christ!'' But, above all, we 
 have the example of our Lord himself iti 
 the Gospel, who proclaims : *^ Come unto 
 ^* ME, all ye that labour and/ are heavy 
 " laden, and I will refresh you, q Take my 
 " yoke upon you, and learn offji^y for I 
 "am meek, and lowly in bea>^/' If it 
 is hazardous to imitate those^ of wboqi you 
 entertain any doubt, it is ahv^ays safe to 
 imitate, and follow the steps pf, HjM? whp 
 said: *Vl aoi ihe way>> jaad Uve trijtbi and 
 " the life." H e can never err, who follow^} 
 THE TRUTH. Wherefore jfae apQstle J phn 
 says : *^ He who says he i$ Christ's, ought 
 *fc^o io walk^ eyep a^ H^ wfJfeed/' Afl4 
 
t200 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 Peter : " Christ suffered for us, leaving 
 ** us AN EXAMPLE, that we should foW 
 " low His steps. Who, when He was 
 *^ reviled, reviled not again ; when He suf- 
 '^ fered, He threatened not; but committed 
 " Himself to Him who judgeth righteously. 
 " Who His ownself bare our sins, in His 
 " own body on the tree; that we, being 
 '^ dead to sin, should live unto righte- 
 ^* ousness." 
 
 Cease, then, from all extenuation of your 
 faults; let all shameful expedients for soften^ 
 ing the guilt of sin, be abandoned. It will 
 be of no aVail to defend ourselves by the 
 example of the multitude, whose trans^ 
 gressions>we are prone to enumerate, for a 
 consolation to our own consciences; and 
 • complain, that we see none who can set us 
 a fit example to follow ; for, we are always 
 referred to the example of Him, whose 
 example all agree is to be followed. Let 
 it therefore be ypur chief care, to make your- 
 self intimately acquainted with the divine 
 LAW; in which you may behold, as pre- 
 sent, to j^oUrvjiew, the examples of holy 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 201 
 
 men; and may learn from its admonition, 
 what must be do?ie, and what must be 
 avoided. 
 
 It is of the greatest succour towards a 
 religious life, to replenish the mind with the 
 WORDS OF Scripture; and continually to 
 meditate in our heart, what we desire to 
 accomplish in our actions. It was God's 
 command, by Moses, to a rude nation as 
 yet unpractised to obedience, that they 
 should wear \ip6h " their garm^htiSj^^asYa,. 
 signal whereby to remember the pretfepts, 
 of God, borders of a purple colour; iti 
 order that, whenever their eyes accidentally 
 fell upon those colours, they might awaken 
 in their minds a remembrance of the divine 
 commandments. The abuse of which me- 
 morials, was a subject of our Lord's severe 
 reprehension of the Pharisees ; wbo began 
 to use them, not for the end of remember- 
 ing the precepts of God, but for purposes 
 of hypocrisy and ostentation, that they 
 might be esteemed, by the people, eminent 
 for extraordinary sanctity. But you, who 
 seek to observe, not the letter, but the 
 
t02 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LITE. 
 
 spirit, of the law, must cherish a spiritual 
 remembrance of the divine commandments ; 
 and not so much endeavour to remember 
 them often, as to have them always in your 
 thoughts. 
 
 Let THE Holy Scriptures, therefore, 
 be always in your hands, and continually 
 revolved in your mind. And think it not suf- 
 ficient, to remember God's commandments 
 in your thoughts, and to forget them in 
 your works ; but learn therefore to remember 
 them, that you may do what you have learned 
 should be done. *^ For, not the hearers of 
 " the law are justified before God, but the 
 *^ rfoer^ of it shall be justified." 
 
 The field of God's law is of wide, nay of 
 infinite, extent; flourishing, with all the 
 various testimonies of truth, as with a rich 
 profusion of heavenly flowers; and nourish- 
 ing and refreshing the souls of those who 
 read it, with an inexpressible delight. To 
 know all Which, and inwardly to revolve 
 them, is of the most powerful eflicacy for 
 preserving righteopsness. 
 
 But chiefly select, and engrave upon your 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFB. 203 
 
 heart, as the most compendious summary 
 of that law, that precept in the Gospel; 
 which the mouth of the Lord has declared, 
 to comprehend all righteousness : " What- 
 
 " SOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD 
 " DO UNTO YOU, DO YE ALSO UNTO 
 
 " THEM." To demonstrate the authority 
 and power of which precept, he adds; 
 " y^r THi^ is the law, and the prophets'^.*' 
 
 • Mr. Gibbon, whose profouitd ignorance 6r tfe natai^ 
 and foundations of the Christian Religicm rendered bira utterly 
 Incompetent, notwithstanding the extent of his acquirements 
 in the Belles Lettres, to treat of so exalted a subject, has pre- 
 sumed to animadvert upon this maxim in the Gospel ; and to 
 cite a passage from a Greek writer, in which the same sublime 
 doctrine is taught. The motives for which animadversion 
 were ; 1st. a vain conceit, that he had made a detection im- 
 portant to liis cause : and, 2dly, to leave it for inference, 
 that since that maxim was in the Greek schools before the age 
 of the Gospel, it was not of evangelical, but of 7ieai/j en, ori- 
 ginal. Had Mr. Gibbon not cherished a voluntary ignoranc^ 
 upon all such sacred subjects, he must have known, with every 
 Christian, and every inspector of the Gospel, (that which 
 Paiilinus here pointed out to him ;) that our blessed Lord did 
 not inculcate that precept as " a new commandment" of Hi* 
 religion, but as the ancient prescriptive rule, of the fro- 
 PHETS and of the law. He raugt have known, that it was 
 
^04 EUJ.E OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 Although the kinds and parts of righteous- 
 ness are infinite, in variety and number, 
 so that it Would not only be impossible to 
 enumerate them all, but even to conceive 
 them in thought; yet, all of them are in- 
 cluded in that one short sentence : which 
 sentence will either acquit, or condemn, the 
 inward cotiscience of every man, by the 
 secret judgment of his own mind. 
 
 Therefore, in every Jab tion, word, and 
 thought, let this rule be produced ; which, 
 being always present as a mirror ready to 
 your hands, may at all times clearly reveal 
 to you the true quality of your will ; so that 
 it may either accuse you, if you are doing 
 wrong, or may encourage you, if you are 
 doing right. For, as often as you cherish such 
 a disposition of mind towards others, as yoii 
 wush others to maintain towards you, you 
 
 the great foundation-stone of Hebrew morals, a thousand years 
 before philosophy dawned in Greece ; that it was taught and 
 enforced in Judea, when Greece was only a theatre of fable ; 
 and, therefore, that it was but an oblique, and foreign import 
 into Greece, whereas it was the direct,- aiid na^ve^ inheritance 
 of THE Gospel. , .; '^. ..-''^wv f \Z:^sMy'^^b^':\ 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE* 205 
 
 are in the path of righteousness ; but when- 
 ever you feel yourselves so disposed towards 
 others, as you would not wish any one 
 to be disposed to you, you have departed 
 from that path. 
 
 And now, behold all the labour and dif- 
 ficulty of the DIVINE law! Behold, what it 
 is that renders that law so severe! We 
 murmur against God, and complain that 
 we are oppressed by the difficulty, nay the 
 impossibility, of keeping His command- 
 ments; nor are we satisfied with merely 
 not obeying those commandments, unless 
 we also pronounce Him who commanded 
 them, to be unjust : alleging, that the 
 Author of all justice has enjoined things, 
 not only difficult and hard, but even impos- 
 sible to be done. " Whatsoever 1/e would/^ 
 says He, " that men should do unto you, do 
 " i/e also unto them^ It is His gracious 
 will, that we should all be united in love, by 
 ii mutual interchange of kind services; and 
 that all mankind should be linked together 
 by reciprocal benefits; in order that, each 
 iadividual yielding to others that which he 
 
206 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFB. 
 
 wishes should be bestowed upon himself, 
 universal justice, which is the sole end of 
 that precept, might become the common 
 lot and blessing of all men, O ! the stu- 
 pendous mercy, and ineffable benignity of 
 God ; who promises us a reward, if we 
 will only mutually love one another ! That 
 is, if we will reciprocally bestow upon 
 each other, that of which we all stand 
 in the utmost need. And we, with arro- 
 gant and ungrateful hearts, resist His will, 
 whose very command is, in itself, so mani- 
 fest a blessing ! 
 
 Never do you injure the reputation of 
 another ; nor seek to draw praise upon your- 
 self, from the disparagement of others. 
 Learn rather to regulate your own life, 
 than to give judgment upon that of others ; 
 and remember always that maxim of the 
 Scripture, which says : " He that keepeth 
 " his mouth keepeth his life; but he that 
 *' openeth wide his lips, shall have destruc- 
 ^ tion." Few there are, who wholly abstain 
 from this vice; you will rarely meet with 
 any, who desire to keep their owa lives 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE, 207 
 
 SO entirely free from reproach, as not readily 
 to reprehend the lives of others ; and th^ 
 propensity to this evil has taken such pos* 
 session of the minds of men, that they who 
 have kept themselves free from all other 
 vices, fall yet into this one, as if it were the 
 last resource and snare of the devil. 
 
 But do you so conquer this evil, as not 
 only not to be guilty of slander yourself, 
 but not to believe any one who is so; and 
 be careful not to contribute your assent to 
 the authority of slanderers, lest by so doing 
 you add nourishment to their vice." Re- 
 " frain from backbiting, says the Scrip- 
 " ture; the mouth that slandereth slayeth 
 " the soul." And again ; " A whisperer de- 
 " fileth his own soul, and is hated where- 
 " soever he dwelleth. — ^Curse the whisperer 
 "and double-tongued: whoso hearkeneth 
 " unto him, shall never find rest, and never 
 " dwell quietly." And the pious David, 
 enumerating the various qualities of inno- 
 cence and righteousness, is not silent with 
 respect to this virtue, saying : " Who taketh 
 " not up a reproach against his neighbour/' 
 
^08 ECLE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 Nay, he not only resists, but attacks, the 
 slanderer; for he says: " Whoso privily 
 " slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut 
 " off." 
 
 This is, indeed, one of the first vices 
 which ought to be conquered, and totally 
 extinguished, in all who aspire to a life of 
 true holiness. There is nothing which so 
 much disquiets the mind, or which renders 
 it so trifling and inconstant, as readily to 
 believe every thing that is said ; and to 
 receive, with a rash assent, the words of 
 every tale-bearer. From hence arise such 
 frequent dissensions, and unfounded hatreds. 
 This it is, that makes enemies of the dearest 
 friends ; who, though long united, yet suffer 
 themselves to be at last dissociated, through 
 their credulity, by the influence of an evil 
 tongue. 
 
 But, on the other hand, great is the tran- 
 quillity, and great the dignity of that mind, 
 which does not hastily lend an ear to the 
 prejudice of another; and blessed is he, 
 who so arms himself against this vice, that 
 no one may dare to entertain him with 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 209 
 
 scandal. If, indeed, we would only be reso- 
 lute in the practice of refusing all credit to 
 scandal, men would at length be afraid to 
 disseminate slander, lest they should draw 
 more contempt upon themselves, than upon 
 those whom they seek to injure. But this 
 evil is therefore so common, and prevails so 
 generally among mankind, because almost 
 all men afford it a willing entertainment. 
 
 Fly from the fawning of flatterers, and 
 from the fatal blandishments of deceit, as 
 from the pest of your soul. There is 
 nothing which so easily corrupts the minds 
 of men, or which pierces the heart with so 
 soft and seductive a wound. Whence the 
 wise man says : " The words of flatterers 
 " are wounds ; they strike into the inmost 
 " parts." And God himself says by the 
 prophet: " O my people, they that lead 
 " thee cause thee to err, and destroy the 
 " way of thy paths." 
 
 This is a vice which very generally pre- 
 vails, and in a remarkable manner at the 
 present time ; and, what is most lamentable, 
 it usurps the character of benevolence and 
 
210 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 humility ; so that he who will not flatter, is 
 regarded as either proud or envious. And 
 truly it is a most subtile and ingenious 
 artifice, to praise another, in order to our 
 own applause ; and, by deceiving, to gain 
 the mind of him whom we deceive : for this 
 vice is chiefly engaged, in vending counter- 
 feit praises for a real profit. But how great 
 must be the levity of that mind, how ex- 
 treme its vanity, which, rejecting the testi- 
 mony of its own conscience, pursues the 
 opinion, the feigned and pretended opinion, 
 of another person ? and which, caught 
 away by every blast of fictitious praise, 
 delights in being gulled ; and thankfully 
 accepts delusion, for a beneficial service ! 
 
 But you, if you desire to be truly praise- 
 worthy, seek not praise from men ; but 
 govern your conscience with a view to Him, 
 " who both will bring to light the hidden 
 " things of darkness, and will make manifest 
 " the secrets of the heart: and then shall 
 *' every man have praise from God.'' Let 
 your mind therefore be watchful, and dili- 
 gent, and perpetually armed against the 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 211 
 
 approaches of sin. Let your speech, on all 
 occasions, be moderate, and sparing ; such 
 as indicates a duty to converse^ rather than 
 a desire to talk. Let a decent reserve 
 adorn your wisdom; and, (what has ever 
 been esteemed the principal ornament of 
 your sex,) let modesty be pre-emijient above 
 all your virtues. Consider, beforehand, what 
 you are to speak ; and, while you are yet 
 silent, be provident to utter nothing of 
 which you may afterwards have occasion 
 to repent. Let your thoughts apportion 
 your words ; and let the balance of your 
 mind regulate the office of your tongue. 
 Whence the Scripture saith: " Weigh thy 
 '^ words in a balance, and make a door and 
 " bar for thy mouth." Let no injurious 
 word ever proceed from your lips; since 
 you are commanded, as the perfection of 
 your duty, " to bless even those who curse 
 '^ you." — " Be pitiful, be courteous," says 
 the apostle, " not rendering evil for evil, 
 " or railing for railing ; but contrariwise, 
 " blessing." 
 
 Let a lie, or an oath, be absolutely 
 
212 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 unknown to your tongue ; and let there be 
 ever in you such a love for truth, that 
 you may regard whatever you have spoken, 
 as if it had been sworn. Concerning which 
 thing, our Saviour thus commanded His 
 disciples : " I say unto you, swear not at 
 " all." And a little after : " let your dis- 
 " course be, it is, or it is not ; for whatever 
 " is more than this, cometh of evil." 
 
 In every action, and in every word, be 
 vigilant to preserve a quiet and a placid 
 spirit : let God be always present to your 
 thoughts : let your mind be humble and 
 gentle ; and severe only against vice. Never 
 suffer it to be elated with pride, or warped 
 by avarice, or hurried by anger, for, no- 
 thing ought to be more tranquil, nothing 
 purer, nothing fairer than that mind, which 
 aspires to become the habitation of God ; 
 who delights, not in temples bright with 
 gold, nor in altars rich with gems, but in 
 a soul decorated with virtues. On which 
 account, the hearts of holy persons are 
 called the temple of God; as the apostle 
 affirms : " If any one shall defile the 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE, 213 
 
 " temple of God, him will God destroy; 
 *^ for the temple of God is holy, which 
 " temple are ye." 
 
 Nothing which you can acquire, is more 
 valuable or more lovely than humility. 
 This is indeed the chief preserver, aqd, as 
 it were, the proper guardian, of a}l the 
 other virtues; nor is there any thing that 
 renders us so pleasing both to men and to 
 God, as to be high by the excellency of 
 our lives, and low by the exercise of our 
 humility. On which account the Scrip- 
 ture says: " The greater thou art, the 
 " more humble thyself; and thou shalt find 
 " favour before the Lord." And God says 
 by the prophet : " To this man will I look ; 
 " even to him that is humble, and of a quiet 
 " spirit, and trembleth at my word." 
 
 But, follow true humility ; not that which 
 makes an outward ostentation, by an af- 
 fected carriage of the body, or tone of 
 the speech, but that which displays itself 
 in the sincerity of the heart. For it is 
 one thing to possess a virtue, and an- 
 other thing to possess the counterfeit of 
 
214 nuLE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 a virtue; it is one thing to follow the 
 shadow of truth, and another to follow its 
 substance. There is no pride so hideous, 
 as that which conceals itself under a form 
 of humility ; and all vices acquire a pe- 
 culiar hatefulness, when they attempt to 
 invest themselves with the characters of 
 virtues. 
 
 Never consider yourself as superior to 
 another, on account of the nobility of your 
 birth ; nor regard those as beneath you, 
 who are of an obscure or more humble 
 origin. Our religion takes no account 
 of the ranks or conditions of men ; it con^ 
 siders only their souls ; it judges both the 
 servant and the lord by their respective 
 deeds. The only distinction of rank in 
 honour with God, is an independance from 
 sin. That nobility is highly valued by God, 
 which is conferred by virtue. 
 
 What was ever more noble in the sight 
 of God, than Peter? who, nevertheless, was 
 a poor man, and a fisherman. What, 
 among women, was ever so illustrious, 
 as the blessed Mary? who was only a 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 215 
 
 carpenter's wife. Yet, to that poor fisherman 
 Christ committed the keys of the kingdom 
 of Heaven ; and that carpenter's wife was 
 found worthy to be made the mother of 
 Him, by whom those keys were committed. 
 For, "God hath chosen the base things of 
 ^^ THIS world, and things which are despised^ 
 '^ to confound the things which are mighty T 
 
 But, besides ; it would, upon another 
 ground, be wholly unavailing to take any 
 merit to ourselves for nobility of birth, 
 since all who are redeemed by the blood of 
 Christ, are of equal honour in the sight 
 of God ; neither can it any longer signify, 
 in what rank any man was born, since we 
 are all equally born again in Christ. For, 
 though we should forget, that we are all 
 originally born of one and the same first 
 parent ; yet we ought at least to remember, 
 that we are all regenerated by one. 
 
 Take care, if you have undertaken the 
 exercises of fasting or abstinence, not to 
 imagine that you are therefore become holy; 
 for that practice is but the instrument, not 
 the completion, of holiness. But chiefly, 
 
^216 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 and above all things, take care, that a con*- 
 tempt for things which are allowed, beget 
 not in you a presumptuous security in 
 regard to things which are positively for- 
 bidden* Whatever we pretend to offer to 
 God, over and above the measure of His 
 commandment, must, not hinder but, ad- 
 vance the righteousness which He has 
 commanded. What can it avail us to lower 
 the body by abstinence, if at the same time 
 we suffer the soul to be sw^ollen with pride ? 
 What praise shall we deserve for the pale- 
 ness of fasting, if at the same time we 
 become livid through envy? What virtue 
 is there in renouncing wine, if we suffer 
 ourselves to be intoxicated, by anger or by 
 hatred ? Abstinence is then only excellent, 
 the chastisement of the body is then only 
 great and admirable, when the soul is made 
 to fast from vice^. They who, considerately 
 and wisely, practise abstinence, afflict the 
 
 • " Tunc, inquam, praeclara est abstinentia, tunc pulchra 
 " atque magnifica castigatio corporis, cum est animus ^*c/«»mj^ 
 *' a vitiis" 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 217 
 
 body for this only purpose, that they may 
 vanquish the pride of their souls : that they 
 may descend, as it were, from the height 
 of their native arrogance, to fulfil the will of 
 God, which is best accomplished in hu- 
 mility* They therefore call off their thoughts 
 from the various delicacies of food, that 
 they may engage all their affections in an 
 appetite for virtue. And the body will be 
 the less sensible of the irksomeness of fast- 
 ing, in proportion as the soul is the more 
 hungry after righteousness. St. Paul, when 
 ^^ he chastised his body and kept it under, 
 " lest, when he had preached to others, 
 " he himself should be rejected,'* did not 
 do so, as some have ignorantly imagined, 
 with a view to chastity alone ; for absti- 
 nence contributes, not to that virtue only, 
 but, likewise, to every other virtue. Nor 
 was his chief glory to refrain only from 
 lust; but he laboured, generally, to give 
 perfection to his soul, by the restraints of 
 his body. For, as much as he alienated his 
 mind from voluptuous indulgence, so much 
 the more was he able to engage it in the 
 
218 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 pursuit of virtues : lest the teacher of per- 
 fection should betray any imperfection in 
 himself; lest he, who was the " imitator of 
 " Christ/' should do any thing contrary to 
 the command or will of Christ, or should 
 teach less by his example, than by his 
 words ; and " lest, after he had preached 
 '' to others, he himself should be rejected," 
 and should hear the words, which were 
 spoken of the Pharisees, addressed to him- 
 self: ^^ They speak, but do not!'' 
 
 But it is, moreover, both the precept and 
 the example of the same apostle, to have 
 regard, not only to conscience, but also to 
 repute. The teacher of the Gentiles did not 
 esteem this a superfluous, or fruitless con- 
 sideration; for he would have those, who 
 are not in the faith, convinced by the works 
 of those who are ; that the efficacy of the 
 religion, might demonstrate the religion 
 itself. And we are therefore commanded 
 *' to shine as luminaries in the world, in the 
 " midst of a perverse and crooked genera- 
 " tion," that the unbelieving minds of those 
 who lie in error, may discern, by the light 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 219 
 
 of our works, the darkness of their own 
 ignorance. Wherefore St. Paul says to 
 the Romans : " Provide things honest, (not 
 ^^ only, in the sight of God, but also) of all 
 " men. Give none offence, neither to the 
 *' Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the 
 " church of God. Even as I please all 
 " men in all things, not seeking my own 
 '^ profit, but the profit of many." 
 
 Happy is the man, who regulates his life 
 60 religiously and wisely that nothing of 
 evil can even be feigned against him : 
 whilst the greatness of his deserts, counter- 
 acting the malice of his slanderers, no 
 one will dare to invent, what he knows 
 will receive credit from no one. But, if 
 this be too difficult to accomplish, at least 
 let us employ so much diligence in life, 
 as not to furnish evil minds with any just 
 ground for scandal ; nor suffer any spark to 
 escape from us, by which the flame of evil 
 report may be kindled against us. Other- 
 wise, we shall in vain be angry with calum- 
 niators, if we ourselves supply them with 
 matter for their calumny. If, however, not- 
 
220 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 withstanding our utmost diligence and 
 care, to " provide things honest," and 
 to prefer the fear of God in our actions 
 to every other consideration, they should 
 still assail us; let our conscience be our 
 consolation ; which is then most safe and 
 secure, when it has given no just cause for 
 any one to think ill of us. Behold, a woe is 
 denounced by the prophet against all those, 
 " who call good evil, and light darkness ; 
 " and sweet bitter;" and to us may then 
 be applied that word of our Saviour : 
 " Blessed are ye, when men speak evil 
 " of yon falsely 1^^ Let it therefore be our 
 great concern, that no one may be able to 
 speak evil of us, otherwise than falsely. 
 
 So regulate the care of your family, that 
 you may always reserve some leisure time 
 for your own mind. Select, therefore, some 
 convenient chamber, a little removed from 
 the noise of the household, into which, as 
 into a port, you may withdraw yourself 
 from the tempest of cares ; and where, in 
 the quiet of retreat, you may calm your sea 
 of thoughts, which shall have been thrown 
 
RXTLE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 221 
 
 into agitation in the world. There, employ 
 yourself in such earnest reading of the 
 Holy Scriptures, in such frequent recur- 
 rences of prayer, and in such steady and 
 continued contemplations of future things, 
 as to compensate abundantly, by that lei- 
 sure, all the activity and anxiety of your 
 other time. Nor do I say this, in order 
 that you should wholly withdraw yourself 
 from the company of those to whom you 
 belong ; but, on the contrary, that you may 
 there learn, and meditate, how you ought 
 to behave yourself when you are amongst 
 them. 
 
 Govern and foster your family in such a 
 manner, that you may appear to be rather the 
 mother, than the mistress, of your servants ; 
 from whom exact respect by kindness, rather 
 than by fear. But, especially, let the apostle's 
 precept be observed in a virtuous and Chris- 
 tian household : let the chief authority be 
 maintained in the person of the husband; 
 and let the whole house learn from you, the 
 honour which is due to him. Show that 
 he is the master by your subjection, and 
 
222 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 render him great by your humility; for 
 you yourself will be honoured, in the same 
 proportion that you honour him. For, " the 
 *' man," says the apostle, " is the head of 
 " the woman ;" nor can the body receive 
 greater honour, than is derived from the 
 dignity of the head. Wherefore it is said 
 elsewhere, " let women be in subjection to 
 ^* their own husbands, that if any obey not 
 *' the word, they may, without the word, 
 " be won by the conversation of their wives. ^^ 
 If, therefore, honour was to be rendered to 
 Gentile husbands, how much should it be 
 rendered to Christian ? And in order to show 
 the ornaments with which wives ought to 
 be adorned, it is added ; " let it not con- 
 " sist in outward plaiting of the hair, or 
 " wearing of gold, or elegance of apparel ; 
 ^^ but in the secret character of the heart, 
 ^^ in that which is not corruptible, even the 
 ^^ ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
 *^ which in the sight of God is of great 
 ^' price. For after this manner, in ancient 
 ^^ time, the holy women also who trusted in 
 ^' God adorned themselves, being in sul> 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 225 
 
 *^ jection to their own husbands ; even as 
 " Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him LiOrd. 
 " Whose daughters ye are." But, in pre- 
 scribing this rule, he did not mean to en- 
 join them to dress themselves slovenly, or 
 meanly, or raggedly, but he designed to 
 interdict all immoderate attention to de- 
 coration, or too great refinement in dress. 
 As the " chosen vessel" Paul says : " Let 
 " women adorn themselves in decent ap- 
 " parel, with modesty, and propriety ; not 
 " with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or 
 " costly array ; but, as becometh women 
 " professing godliness, with good works." 
 
 Remember also, how the apostle hath 
 declared the mutual bond of the hus- 
 band and the wife : " The wife," says he, 
 " hath not power of her own body, but the 
 " husband ; and likewise also the husband 
 " hath not power of his own body, but the 
 " wife : — and they two shall be one flesh." 
 And not one flesh only, but also one spirit : 
 for he adds, '^ this is a great mystery." This 
 is, indeed, the high road of purity ; and great 
 
224 RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 is the reward : " Come unto me ! says the 
 " Lord ; take my yoke upon you and learn 
 " of ME, and ye shall find rest unto your 
 ^^ souls. For MY yoke is easy, and my 
 " burden is light." 
 
 But to all who shall have their place 
 assigned to them upon his " left hand," 
 HE says : " Depart from me, ye that work 
 *' iniquity, into everlasting fire ; where shall 
 " be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" 
 There will all those bewail, who shall 
 have so entirely implicated themselves, in 
 the corrupt cares and pleasures of this 
 present life, as to have lived wholly regard- 
 less of that life which is to come : whom 
 
 THE SUDDEN COMING OF THE LORD shall 
 
 surprise, sunk in the sleep of ignorance, or 
 of false security. Wherefore He warns us 
 in His Gospel: *^ Take heed to yourselves, 
 '^ lest at any time your hearts be over- 
 ^' charged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, 
 *^ and cares of this life, and so that day 
 '' come upon you unprepared ; for it shall 
 *' come as a snare upon all them that 
 
RULE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. ^25 
 
 '^ dwell on the face of the whole earth.-— 
 ^^ Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye 
 ^^ know not when the time is." 
 
 Blessed are they who so expect, and so 
 look forward to, that day, as to prepare 
 themselves daily for its arrival. Who, instead 
 of flattering themselves with the contempla- 
 tion of their ^Jos^ merits, "renew themselves^* 
 according to the words of the apostle, " day 
 '^ by DAY." For " the righteousness of the 
 " righteous man shall not deliver him, from 
 '* the day in which he shall transgress ; 
 *^ neither shall the wicked man fall by his 
 " wickedness, from the day in which he 
 " shall turn from his wickedness." The 
 Stfzw^himselfoughtnotto entertain security, 
 so long as he is engaged in the trials and 
 conflicts of this life ; neither ought the 
 Sinner to admit despair, who, in one day^ 
 may enter into the way of righteousness. 
 Throughout the remaining sequel of your 
 life, labour to perfect righteousness with all 
 your power ; and become not slack or remiss, 
 from a confidence in your past obedience ; 
 but, like the apostle, " forgetting those 
 9 
 
9,0,6 RULE OF CHKISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 " things which are behind, and reaching 
 ^' forth unto those things which are before, 
 " press forward to the mark, for the prize 
 '^ of the high calling of God, in Christ 
 " Jesus." -And knowing that " the Lord 
 ^' trieth the hearts,'' let it be your main con- 
 cern to preserve your heart pure from sin ; 
 according as it is written : " Keep thy 
 
 ^^ HEART with ALL DILIGENCE.^ 
 
 Do you, therefore, so order all the remain- 
 ing time of your life, that you may, at the 
 last, be able to say, with the prophet : " I 
 ^^ have walked in my house with a perfect 
 " heart : — I will go to the altar of my God, 
 " unto God, who is my exceeding great 
 *^ joy!" For it will not be sufficient, to 
 have begun well; since righteousness will 
 
 consist, IN HAVING CONCLUDED WELL. 
 
 THE END OF THE EPISTLE OP PAULINUS TO CELANTIA, 
 
AN 
 
 ELEMflNTABYYIEW 
 
 m 
 
 GENERAL CHRONOLOGY. 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY* 
 
 Time, is the duration of the earth and hewoenl^ 
 bodies; the revolutions of which, measure, and 
 mark out, its pauts. 
 
 The great natural measurers^ and indexes, of 
 TIME, are the sun and the moon. Hence, the 
 duration of time is described in the Scriptures, 
 by the duration of those two indexes of time : " as 
 " long as THE SUN and the moon endureth ; 
 ** throughout all generations!' For those orbs will 
 one day cease their functions, like every subor- 
 dinate system of this visible world ; and the ces- 
 sation of their functions, will be the end o/'time. 
 "Which great crisis is thus announced in the sacred 
 VOLUME. " Thou didst lay of old the foundation 
 " of the earth, and the heavens are the work 
 " of thy hands : they shall perish, but Thou shalt 
 " endure ; they shall all grow old like a garment, 
 " and like a garment thou shalt change them, 
 " and they shall he changed; but Thou art the 
 " same, and Thy years shall never end." This 
 is that impending period, when, (as it is proclaimed 
 
230 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 in THE PROPHETIC VISION,) " there shall he time 
 " NO longer!'* 
 
 The knowledge of the parts of time, or of the 
 earth*s duration /rom its creation nntil now, is 
 called Chronology; which may be divided into 
 Computative^ and Historical, 
 
 Computative Chronology, is the science of com* 
 puting the parts and periods of time. 
 
 Historical Chronology, is the science of assign- 
 ing the parts and periods of time to the events of 
 history. 
 
 1. COMPUTATIVE CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 SOLAR time. 
 
 §. Of the Day y and its Farts. 
 
 The first, and smallest, revolution of time, de* 
 pending upon the sun, is a day ; which measure 
 comprises all the time during which the sun seems 
 to make one complete revolution round the earth. 
 This revolution is computed, either from noon to 
 noon, or from midnight to midnight. 
 
 This measure of time, which is called the natural 
 day, is divided into twenty -four equal parts or 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 231 
 
 tiouRs. Each hour is divided into sixty parts, or 
 MINUTES ; and each minute into sixty parts, or 
 
 SECONDS. 
 
 The divisions of the day, into its periods of 
 light and darkness, which constitute the artificial 
 day, and the night, are subject to variation in 
 their measures, according to the progress of the 
 sun through the seasons ; the light predominating 
 in one part of the year, and the darkness in 
 the other part. But the measure of the natural 
 day, comprehending both the light and darkness, is 
 always uniform and invariable. 
 
 The natural day, is computed by astronomers, 
 from noon to noon. By the ancient Romans, it 
 was computed from midnight to midnight, and was 
 denominated by them the civil day. The artificial 
 day, which they called the natural day, was com- 
 puted from sun-rise to sun-set, and from sun-set to 
 jsun-rise. 
 
 The Italians reckon to twenty-four hours of the 
 day, which practice seems to have been derived 
 from the civil day of the ancient Romans; but 
 most other nations reckon, like us, to twice ^a?e/i?e 
 hours : viz. from midnight to noon, and from noon 
 to midnight. 
 
tSQ, ELEMENTARY CHltOKOLOGY. 
 
 §* 0/the Year, and its Parts. 
 
 The next, and largest, revolution of time, de« 
 pending on the sun, is the year ; or one entire 
 revolution of the earth round the sun ; which is 
 accomplished in 365 days and a quarter of a day. 
 
 But it is evident, that the excess of a quarter of a 
 day in every year, would, in the course of time, 
 itiake up a measure of time so considerable, as to 
 embarrass the computation of years, if it was not 
 regularly carried to account ; and, by that means, 
 reduced into the computation. This is effected, by 
 taking no account of those quarters for three 
 years, and then carrying them all to the fourth 
 year, by adding one whole day to that year : by 
 which means, the quarters, or fractional parts, of 
 four years, are combined into one day, and the 
 account begins anew. This additional day is now 
 placed after the 28th of February, and becomes 
 the 29th of that month; and the year in which 
 this addition takes place, is called a leap-year. 
 It will follow, that the first three years will consist 
 of 365 days each, and the fourth, or Leap-year, 
 
ELEl^ENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 233 
 
 of 366 days. Now, three times 365 added to 366y 
 are equal to four times 36*5 J. 
 
 This method of regulating the year, was first 
 introduced by Julius Caesar, 4>6 years before 
 ChUist; from whence it is called the Julian 
 year. But as the true fractional excess of each 
 year is not exactly a quarter of a day, or six hours, 
 but only^ve hours 48 min. 57 sec; the Julian 
 computation gains a day every 130 years; which, 
 in the process of ages, occasions a sensible dif- 
 ference from true solar time. To remedy this 
 defect. Pope Gregory XIII., in 1582, instituted 
 a new computation ; which consisted, in keeping 
 the Julian reckoning, of a Leap-year evei-y fourth 
 year, except at every hundredth year not divisible 
 by 4; which was always to be a common year 
 of 365 days, although it should happen to be the 
 fourth year from a Leap-year. This happened in 
 the year 1800; so that there were eight consecu- 
 tive years, and only one Leap-year. By this 
 means, the Julian reckoning is restrained from the 
 excesses to which it was liable. 
 
 The Julian reckoning was used in this country 
 until the year 1752 ; when the Old Style, or rec- 
 koning, was set aside, and the NeWyor Gregorian^ 
 Stt/lCf was established by act of Parliament. 
 
£34 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY^ 
 
 As it is the sun that appears to move, and as 
 our common language is adapted to that appear- 
 ance, we must follow the common usage, and call 
 the earth's yearly revolution, a revolution of the sun. 
 This great revolution of the sun, or the solar 
 TEAR, is divided into txoelve parts^ or months^ 
 measured by the sun's progress through the great 
 circle in the heavens called the Zodiac, which 
 circle is divided into twelve parts, called tJie twelve 
 Signs of the Zodiac, 
 
 The solar year divides itself also into four quar- 
 ters, or seasons, by the sun's equinoctial and solsti- 
 tial stations. The spring season begins from the 
 vernal equinox, which takes place on the 20th of 
 March ; the summer season, from the summer 
 solstice, on the 21st of June; the autumn season, 
 from the autumnal equinox, on the 23d of Sep- 
 tember; and the winter season from the winter 
 solstice, on the 2 1st of December. At the two 
 equinoxes, the days and nights are of equal length; 
 viz. twelve hours each : the sun rising and setting 
 at six o'clock. From the vernal to the autumnal 
 equinox, the days are longer than the nights; and 
 from the autumnal to the vernal equinox, the nights 
 are longer than the days. At the summer solstice, 
 the day is the longest; at the winter solstice, the 
 day is the shortest. 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 235 
 
 The years which are passed are numbered by 
 CENTURIES, or hundreds, and are reckoned from 
 some fixed 'period, which is called an epocha ; and 
 the reckoning of years from the particular epocha, 
 is called the era of that epocha. 
 
 The SOLAR days, months, seasons, and years, con- 
 stitute the rule of time by which the common 
 business of life is computed ; so that it is necessary, 
 to reduce all other measures of time to that rule. 
 
 LUNAR TIME, 
 
 THE MOON. 
 
 The second great index of time, is the moon. 
 But, as the revolutions of this luminary do not 
 naturally correspond with any revolutions depend- 
 ing upon the sun, some rule of equation, or arti- 
 ficial adjustment, is therefore requisite, in order to 
 reconcile their motions with each other. 
 ^^ The revolution of the moon round the earth 
 is completed in 29 days, 12 hours, 4>^ minutes, 
 and 3 seconds ; (and, by a round number, in 
 30 days) This revolution is called a lunation, 
 
^36 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 or lunar month. Twelve of these lunar months, 
 constituting one lunar year, are therefore com- 
 pleted, 10 days, 15 hours, 11 minutes, and 27 
 seconds, before the twelve solar months are com- 
 pleted. Hence it follows; 1st, that the lunar 
 year comprehends only 354 days ; and, 2dly, that 
 it is constantly departing from the measure of the 
 solar year, about eleven days every year. 
 
 § Equation of Solar and Lunar Time, 
 
 As it is of great importance to the uses of man- 
 kind to know, when each lunation begins ; that is 
 to say, to know on what days of the solar year the 
 new-moons will fall; the following method has 
 been adopted, for reconciling the two measures. 
 
 When the solar and lunar year begin together ^ 
 that is, when it is new-moon upon the^r^^ day of 
 January, the moon (as has been said) will have 
 completed her twelfth month, 10 days, 15 hours, 
 11 minutes, 27 seconds, before the sun will have 
 completed his twelfth month ; and, consequently, 
 the moon will be advanced those 10 ti. 15 A. 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 237 
 
 11 m. 27 *. into her 13th lunation, or second 
 year, when the sun is only beginning his second 
 year. It will follow, that at the end of the 
 second year the moon will have completed her 
 year, twice 10 days, 15 hours, 11 minutes, 27 
 seconds, before the sun has completed his: and so 
 on, for each succeeding year. . ' ' 
 
 But it is found, that after every nineteen years, 
 the moon and the sun meet again, on the 1st of 
 January, and begin their years again in coinci- 
 dence. And thus, after a cycle, or recurrence, of 
 19 years, called the Lunar Cycle, all the new 
 moons fall again upon the same days of the solar 
 months, that they did 19 years before. 
 
 Now, as the d ifFerence between the solar and lunar 
 year is in the proportion of 10 days, 15 hours, 11 
 minutes, 27 seconds, for each of those 19 years; 
 or, speaking by a round number, 11 days; by 
 always adding eleven days to the lunar year, for 
 the difference between solar and lunar measure, the 
 two sums will be keptatj^^r; and the appearances 
 of the moon will be always fixed to the standard of 
 solar time. 
 
 The eleven days, thus successively added to the 
 \vmx years throughout the 19 years of the cycle, 
 
238 
 
 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 are reduced into lunar months, in the following 
 manner: ^ihrn ^.j^:- i^ 
 
 Years of tke 
 Lunar Cycle. 
 
 1 ...... 
 
 2 ...... 
 
 3 
 
 4 .. 
 
 5 
 
 .6 
 
 7 *..... 
 
 8 
 
 11 ...... 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 _f ••?• 
 
 1 
 
 Eleven days 
 
 added. Dayi. 
 
 
 
 11 iu*tf? *^* • • • H 
 
 22 22 
 
 3S —or, 1 month, and 3 
 
 44 1 m. 14 
 
 55 1 m. 25 
 
 66 2 m. .... V ^ 
 
 77 2 m. 17 
 
 88 2 m 28 
 
 99 3 m. .. 9 
 
 110 3 m. 20 
 
 121 4m. ...... % 
 
 132 4 m. 12 
 
 143 4m. ...... 23 
 
 154 5 m. 4 
 
 165 5 m. 15 
 
 176 5 m, . 26 
 
 187 6m, ...,*.. „ 7 
 
 198 em. ..Vwv 18 
 
 210, or, 0. 7 m. or, 0. 
 
 After the last or Ipth year of the cycle, twelve 
 days are added instead o( eleven, viz. 18 + 12 = 30, 
 which completes the lunar month ; and the next 
 cycle finds the sun and moon in conjunction on the 
 first day of the year, as they had been nineteen years 
 before. 
 
 It is evident^that the numbers in the last column 
 
ELEMENTARY CHUONOLOGY. 239 
 
 show the fractional parts, or dai/s, of the lunation, 
 or lunar month, with which each year of the cycle 
 ends; and, consequently, they show the age of the 
 moon at the beginning of the years against which 
 they are severally set. By deducting that number, 
 therefore, from 30, the remainder gives the day of 
 the month for the new moon in Januaryy for each 
 year of the cycle. 
 
 This series of nwnbers, proceeding always by 
 elevenSy and showing the age of the moon at the 
 beginning of each year, is called the epact; from 
 a Greek word, signifying addition. 
 
 The seven lunar months, or 210 days, which arc 
 added to the general account to make it equal 
 to 19 solar years, are the difference between 
 19 solar and 19 lunar years. For 19 solar years, 
 contain 6939 days ; 19 lunar years, contain 6729 
 days; add seven lunar months, or 210 days, and 
 the sum makes 6939 days ; N.B. omitting fractions. 
 
 From the correspondence of the epacts with the 
 years of the lunar cycle, it is easy to compute the 
 new-moons, and consequently the full-moons, for 
 every month of the year, 
 
 L^Cycle.*! ^- -• ^' ^- ^' ^- ''• «• 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 13. I9. 
 Epacts. 0. IX. 22. 3. 1*. 25. 6. IT. 28. 9. 20. 1. 12. 23. 4. 15. 26. 7- 1». 
 
€40 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 To find the new moon for any month, we must, 
 1st, know the present year of the cycle; 2dly, the 
 epact corresponding to that year ; 3dly, deduct the 
 number of the epact from 30, for January, and 
 the remainder will be the day of the new moon 
 in that month. For February, deduct the epad| 
 from 28; for March, from 30. For the other 
 ten months, add to the epact, 2 for April, 3 
 for May, 4 for June; and so on; and deduct 
 from 30 ; and the remainder gives the day for the 
 moon's change, or new moon, in each of those 
 ten months. But, if the epact and the number 
 added exceed 30, then deduct from 60, (or 2 
 months^ instead of from 30 ; and the remainder 
 will equally be the day pf the new moon. 
 
 Since the new moons fall, after every nineteen 
 7/ears, upon the same days of the month, a table of 
 the new moons for one cycle of nineteen years will 
 show the new moons for the succeeding cycles, 
 with sufficient accuracy for every purpose of com- 
 ;non life ; though not for the exactness of astro* 
 pomical calculations. And, since the full moons 
 are always 14 days and 18 hours before, and after, 
 ^he new moons ; by finding the new moon for any 
 pionth, we find also ih^ full moon, by counting 
 14 days either forward or backward. This methoc} 
 
ELEMENTAKY CHROKOLOGY. 241 
 
 Kiay sometimes err in one day, or thirty-six hours ; 
 but that difference is immaterial for common life, 
 and in most instances it will be found exact even 
 to a day. It is upon this principle, that Table IV. 
 has l»een arranged ; in which we may observe, 
 the beautiful order uniformly kept by that splendid 
 luminary, " the faithful witness in HeaveNv^'* 
 
 HEBDOMADAL* TIME, 
 
 §. Of Weeks. 
 
 We have now seen the operations of the strlr 
 and MOON", as natural indexes of time ; and have 
 found the means of adjusting the indications of the 
 latter, to the days depending upon the former, so as 
 to know, with sufficient accuracy, upon what day 
 of the solar year the new and full moons shall fall. 
 
 But there remains another rule of time, of the 
 utmost benefit and importance; which it is also 
 necessary for us to adjust to the days of the solar 
 year. This is, the seven constantly recurring days 
 of THE WEEK ; by which the measures of months 
 
 * From the Greek, tirra, hepta — stvcn. 
 
342 ELEMENTARY CH^IONOLOGY. 
 
 are subdivided into smaller portions, and more 
 convenient measures, of time. 
 
 This division of time bus no relation, either to 
 the sun, or the moon, or any natural index whatso- 
 ever; but is the positive institution, and perpetual 
 evidence of the intervention, of the Author of 
 TIM E. Some eminent astronomers, of the French 
 school, attempted, for obvious reasons, to get rid of 
 the institutional origin of the week, by repre- 
 senting it as an invention of man, to mark the 
 fourth parts, or quarters, of the lunar month. But 
 they must have been able to see, what every 
 common reflection at once discerns, that the rule 
 of weeks would be at variance with the lunar 
 motion, before thre6 of them could pass ; and that 
 the variance would be continually augmenting. 
 There is, indeed, an essential and perpetual dis- 
 cordance, between the ratio of weeks, and of the 
 lunar motions ; so that a lunar year will contain 
 only 48 of those quarters, while it embraces 50 
 weeks and four days. Let us, then, humbly recog- 
 nise and adore the Almighty power, who so graci- 
 ously superadded to His natural dividers of time, 
 that inestimable, unchanging moral divider. His 
 seventh pay ; by which alone the flux of time is 
 reduced into si|ch small and commodious mca- 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 24^ 
 
 sures, and a perpetually recurrent day of civil 
 and religious rest, to be distinguished from all other 
 days, interposed, after every six days of labour are 
 concluded. 
 
 That seventh day of distinction was, by God's 
 ordinance, the last day of the seven, from the 
 creation of the world, (which great event it was 
 designed to commemorate,) until the time of our 
 Lord upon the earth. But from His time, the 
 ^rst day of the seven has been made the day of 
 DISTINCTION ; in commemoration of His resur- 
 rection from the dead upon that day, who was 
 " Lord also of the Sabbath/' 
 
 Upon THIS day is founded the cycle, or revolu* 
 tion of 28 years; called the solar cycle, with 
 reference to the ancient name of Sunday, or dies 
 SoLis ; which revolution being completed, the 
 dominical or Sunday-letters (hereafter mentioned) 
 return into their former places ; the days of the 
 months return to the same days of the week ; the 
 sun's place to the same signs and degrees of the 
 ecliptic, on the same months and days; and the 
 leap years begin the same course with respect to 
 the days of the week on which the days of the 
 months fall. The present year, 1812, is the^r*^ 
 year of a solar cycle- 
 
^44 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 OF THE CALENDAR. 
 
 Days, weeks, months, and years, being the 
 measures of time by which our life is regulated, 
 let us next consider, how they are reduced into 
 order, for the religious and civil purposes of life. 
 This is effected, by means of the Calendar. 
 
 The Calendar, is a register of the year, in which 
 the days, weeks, and months, and all stated times, 
 are marked. It is divided into twelve parts for 
 the twelve months, and each month into its proper 
 number of days, regularly numbered. 
 
 But here we must observe, that although the 
 year and months of our Calendar are measured by 
 solar time, yet they differ somewhat in their periods 
 from the true solar year; inasmuch as the year 
 of our Calendar does not begin exactly at any 
 one of four great solar points, of the solstices or 
 equinoxes, but is made to begin eleven days after 
 the winter solstice, which takes place upon the 
 21st of December. The same difference con- 
 tinues, throughout the year, between the divisions 
 of the twelve Calendar months, and the periods of 
 the sun's entering and passing through the twelve 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 245 
 
 8igns; but this difference does not prevent our 
 common year from being altogether a solar year. 
 
 The weeks are marked by the first seven letters 
 of the alphabet, called the Sunday letters, which 
 are continually repeated throughout the year. 
 Against the first day of the first month, (or 
 January 1st,) the first letter of the alphabet (A) is 
 placed. Had the year consisted of an exact 
 number of weeks, so as to end with the last day of 
 a week, the year would always have begun with A, 
 and the same letters would always have repre- 
 sented the same days of the week ; so that Aj 
 standing always for Sunday, the following six 
 letters, in their natural order, would have repre- 
 sented always the same days. But as the common 
 year has one day more, consisting of 52 weeks 
 and one day, (and in Leap-year two days,) the letter 
 which represents Sunday changes every year. But 
 when it is once known which letter represents 
 Sunday for any one given year, the six following 
 letters, in their order, equally represent the six fol- 
 lowing days of the week for that year; and there- 
 fore, by observing the Sunday letter for each year, 
 the Calendar becomes a perpetual almanack for 
 weeks and days : for which purpose, the Sunday 
 letters, for every year of the present century, wiU 
 
^46 ELEMENTARy CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 be found set against each year, in Table I> In 
 Leap-year, it is to be observed, that, owing to the 
 insertion of an additional day after the 28th of 
 February, the order of the letters are there dis- 
 placed one day ; and consequently they give occa- 
 sion for two Sunday; letters for every Leap-year, the 
 Jirst of which shows Sunday for January and 
 February, and the second for all ihe remaining ten 
 months of that year. 
 
 The i^a^e^ times, which we are concerned to 
 observe, are, the days of religious and civil 
 observance. Of these, some* are J^jrec?; and they 
 are accordingly inserted in the Calendar, over 
 against the day of the month to which they are 
 severally assigned* 
 
 Other stated times are moveable; depending upon, 
 one principal day, which varies its place in the 
 Calendar every year, because that place is to be 
 determined by the day of the full moon of the 
 month of March of each yean That principal 
 day, is Easter-day; upon which depend all the 
 days of religious. observance, that have not a fixed 
 place assigned to them in the Calendar. 
 
 Easter-day, is always the first Sunday after the 
 full moon which happens upon, or next after, the 
 21st day of March j and if the full moon happens ^ 
 
ELEMENTAHY CHBONOLOGY. 247 
 
 tipon a Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 Easter-day cannot fall earlier than the 22d of 
 March, nor later than the 25th of April ; which 
 two days are therefore called, the Easter limits. 
 
 As the fixing the great festival of Easter, which 
 governs the whole series of moveable days of 
 observance, depends upon finding the full moon 
 upon, or next after, the 21st of March ; it became 
 necessary to establish some common and universal 
 rule, which should serve for the whole Christian 
 church, for determining that moon, and the great 
 festival which was to be regulated by it. 
 
 This gave rise to the invention of the Epact, 
 already mentioned ; by means of which, Easter-day 
 has been determined since the year 1582, when the 
 Epact was first publicly employed for that purpose 
 by Pope Gregory XIII. 
 
 This ecclesiastical epact, however, as it has al- 
 ready been intimated, though of sufficiently general 
 accuracy for the purposes to which it is applied, is 
 nevertheless defective in minute exactness ; for 
 which reason, astronomers have calculated exactly 
 the annual differences of the solar and lunar revolu- 
 tions, and have reduced those differences into Tables 
 of astronomical epacts; for which, see M. de la 
 
248 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 Lande's Astronomic, Tom. L p. 102, (Tables), 
 and Tom. II. p. 2^9, &c. 
 
 AVhen Easter-day is known for any year, all the 
 other moveable days of observance are known by 
 the following rules. 
 
 Advent Sunday is always the nearest Sunday to 
 the Feast of St. Andrew, whether before or after; 
 which feast is always fixed to the 30th of No- 
 vember* 
 
 Septuagesima -v ^iline ^ 
 
 Sexagesima I ^ \ ^^g^* ) ^^j^^ 1,^^^^^ 
 
 Qumquagesiraa / Sunday, is / seven > Eastcr-day. 
 Quadragesima \ i six i ^* 
 
 Palm ^ ^one ^ 
 
 Maundy Thursday, is three days \ ^^^^^^ Easter-day. 
 Good triday, is two days J 
 
 Rogation Sunday >^ ^ five weeks ^ 
 
 Whit-Sunday 1 / seven weeks i ^* 
 
 Trinity Sunday ^ eight weeks ^ 
 
 The number of Sundays, after Trinity, and after 
 Advent, are 'determined, by the distance of Eastet' 
 day from the Feast of St, Andrew, and by the 
 distance of the Feast of St, Andret» from Easter-day 
 following. 
 
 All these days are shown in Table IL, where, 
 by finding Easter-day for the year, in the first 
 column, all the other moveable days fur that year 
 are found also. 
 
latEMiiNTARY CHRONOLOGY. 249 
 
 The Sundays between Ash-Wednesday and 
 Easter-day, are called Sundays in Lent ; and the 
 Sundays between Easter-day and Whit-Sunday are 
 called Sundays after Easter, 
 
 Besides these days of religious observance, cer- 
 tain periods are fixed for the business of our coutts 
 of judicature ; which are called the Law Terms. 
 
 Easter Term begins 17 days after Easter, and 
 ends the Monday following Ascension-day. 
 
 Trinity Term begins 12 days after Whitsuntide, 
 and continues ip days. 
 
 Michaelmas Term begins the gth or 10th of 
 October, and ends the 28th or 29th of November. 
 
 Hilary Term begins 23d or 24th January, and 
 e«ds 12th or 13th February, 
 
TABLE I. 
 
 Showing the Years of the present Century ; with the 
 Golden Number, or Year qf the Lunar Cycle; the 
 Epact; Sunday Letter; and Easter Day; of 
 each Year. 
 
 5 » 
 
 O 
 .Hi 
 
 s 
 
 H 
 
 ^ 
 
 »3 
 
 S 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 a. 
 n 
 s 
 
 
 en 
 
 s 
 s 
 a. 
 
 
 O c» 
 
 5 
 
 'Z 
 
 ft 
 
 S6 
 
 
 M 
 
 Pi 
 
 
 
 o «» 
 
 2 © 
 
 rt 
 
 << 
 
 JO 
 
 
 O 
 
 £ 
 
 O 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 f5 
 
 
 > 
 
 e 
 
 o- 
 
 • *■ 
 
 rt 
 
 »^ 
 
 
 G 
 
 5" 
 
 
 ? 
 
 *< 
 
 JO 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 9e 
 
 .- 
 
 
 J1 
 
 
 1812 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 ED 
 
 Mar. 29 
 
 
 1831 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 B 
 
 A. 3 
 
 1813 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 C 
 
 Apr. 18 
 
 
 1832 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 A G 
 
 — 22 
 
 1814 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 B 
 
 — 10 
 
 
 1833 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 F 
 
 — 7 
 
 1815 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 A 
 
 M. 26 
 
 
 1834 
 1835 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 E 
 D 
 
 M. 30 
 A. 19 
 
 1816 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 G F 
 
 A. 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1817 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 E 
 
 — 6 
 
 
 1836 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 C B 
 
 — 3 
 
 1818 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 D 
 
 M. 22 
 
 
 1837 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 A 
 
 M. 26 
 
 1819 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 C 
 
 A. 11 
 
 
 1838 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 A. 15 
 
 1820 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 B A 
 
 ~ 2 
 
 
 1839 
 1840 
 
 16 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 26 
 
 F 
 E D 
 
 M. 31 
 A. 19 
 
 1821 
 
 17 
 
 26 
 
 G 
 
 -~ 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1822 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 F 
 
 — 7 
 
 
 1841 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 C 
 
 — 11 
 
 1823 
 
 19 
 
 13 
 
 E 
 
 M. 30 
 
 
 184 ii 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 B 
 
 M. 27 
 
 1824 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 D C 
 
 A. 18 
 
 
 1843 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 A. 16 
 
 182.5 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 B 
 
 — 3 
 
 
 1844 
 1845 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 22 
 
 G F 
 E 
 
 — 7 
 
 M. 23 
 
 1826 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 A 
 
 M. 26 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1827 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 G 
 
 A. 15 
 
 
 1846 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 D 
 
 A. 12 
 
 1828 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 F E 
 
 — 6 
 
 
 1847 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 C 
 
 — 4 
 
 1829 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 D 
 
 — 19 
 
 
 1848 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 B A 
 
 — 23 
 
 1830 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 C 
 
 — 11 
 
 
 1849 
 1850 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 6 
 17 
 
 G 
 
 F 
 
 — 8 
 M. 31 
 
K 
 
 si 
 
 C 
 o 
 a. 
 
 3 
 
 
 or. 
 
 3 
 
 > 
 
 H 
 M 
 
 » 
 
 O e« 
 S ® 
 
 o 
 a. 
 
 3 
 
 c 
 
 W 
 
 s 
 
 3 
 C 
 
 re 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 >> 
 
 
 C 
 
 5" 
 
 rt' 
 
 ? 
 
 ^ 
 
 c 
 
 C" 
 
 r* 
 
 o 
 
 «< 
 
 
 ?5 
 
 n 
 
 
 -» 
 
 
 Sd 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 1851 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 E 
 
 A. 20 
 
 1876 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 BA 
 
 A. 16 
 
 
 1852 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 DC 
 
 — 11 
 
 1877 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 G 
 
 — 1 
 
 
 1853 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 B 
 
 M. 27 
 
 1878 
 
 17 
 
 '26 
 
 F 
 
 — 21 
 
 
 1854 
 
 1^2 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 A. 16 
 
 1879 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 E 
 
 — 13 
 
 
 1855 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 G 
 
 — 8 
 
 1880 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 DC 
 
 M. 28 
 
 
 1856 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 FE 
 
 M. 23 
 
 1881 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 A. 17 
 
 
 1857 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 D 
 
 A. 12 
 
 1882 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 A 
 
 — 9 
 
 
 1851^ 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 C 
 
 — 4 
 
 1883 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 G 
 
 M. 25 
 
 
 1859 
 
 17 
 
 26 
 
 B 
 
 — 24 
 
 1884 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 F E 
 
 A. 13 
 
 
 1860 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 AG 
 
 — 8 
 
 1885 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 D 
 
 — 5 
 
 
 1861 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 F 
 
 M. 31 
 
 1886 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 C 
 
 — 25 
 
 
 1862 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 E 
 
 A. 20 
 
 1887 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 B 
 
 — 10 
 
 
 1863 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 D 
 
 — 5 
 
 1888 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 AG 
 
 — 1 
 
 
 1864 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 CB 
 
 M. 27 
 
 1889 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 F 
 
 — 21 
 
 
 1865 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 A 
 
 A. 16 
 
 1890 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 E 
 
 — 6 
 
 
 1866 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 G 
 
 — 1 
 
 1891 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 D 
 
 M. 29 
 
 
 1867 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 F 
 
 — 21 
 
 1892 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 CB 
 
 A. 17 
 
 
 1868 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 ED 
 
 — 12 
 
 1893 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 A 
 
 — 2 
 
 
 1869 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 C 
 
 M. 28 
 
 1894 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 G 
 
 M. 25 
 
 
 1870 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 B 
 
 A. 17 
 
 1895 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 F 
 
 A. 14 
 
 
 1871 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 A 
 
 — 9 
 
 1896 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 ED 
 
 — 5 
 
 
 187 V 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 GF 
 
 M.31 
 
 1897 
 
 17 
 
 26 
 
 C 
 
 — 18 
 
 
 1873 
 
 1'2 
 
 1 
 
 E 
 
 A. 13 
 
 1898 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 B 
 
 — 10 
 
 
 1874 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 D 
 
 __ 5 
 
 1899 
 
 19 
 
 U:- 
 
 A 
 
 — 2 
 
 
 1875 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 C 
 
 M. 28 
 
 1900 
 
 1 
 
 '29 
 
 G 
 
 — 15 
 
 
THE CALENDAR. 
 
THE CALENDAR. 
 
 9.56 
 
 
 JANUARY, XXXI Days. 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 Cal. 
 
 Circumcision, 
 
 2 
 
 B 
 
 4 Non. 
 
 
 3 
 
 C 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 
 4 
 
 D 
 
 Pr Non. 
 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 Non. 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 F 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 Epiphany, 
 
 7 
 
 G 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 8 
 
 A 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 B 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 C 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 D 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 I'i 
 
 E 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 
 13 
 
 F 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 14 
 
 G 
 
 19 Cal. Feb. 
 
 
 15 
 
 A 
 
 18 Cal. 
 
 
 16 
 
 B 
 
 17 Cal. 
 
 
 17 
 
 C 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 18 
 
 D 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 19 
 
 E 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 Sun enters Aquarius. 
 
 ^20 
 
 F 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 
 21 
 
 G 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 
 22 
 
 A 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 
 23 
 
 1^ 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 
 25 
 
 D 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul 
 
 26 
 
 E 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 
 27 
 
 F 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 
 28 
 
 G 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 
 29 
 
 A 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 
 30 
 
 B 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 King Charles, M. 
 
 31 
 
 C 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 
g56 
 
 THE CALENDAR. 
 
 FEBRUARY, XXVIII Days. 
 
 In Leap Year xxix Days. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 D 
 E 
 
 Cal. 
 4 Non. 
 
 ^ Punjk, qf the V. M. 
 
 3 
 
 F 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 X Candlemas-day, 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 Pr. Non, 
 
 
 5 
 
 A 
 
 Non. 
 
 
 6 
 
 B 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 
 7 
 
 C 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 8 
 
 D 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 E 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 F 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 G 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 A 
 
 Pi. Id. 
 
 
 13 
 
 B 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 14 
 
 C 
 
 16 Cal. Mar. 
 
 Valentine, Bp. 
 
 15 
 
 D 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 16 
 
 E 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 17 
 
 F 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 
 18 
 
 G 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 Sun enters Pisces, 
 
 19 
 
 A 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 
 20 
 
 B 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 21 
 
 C 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 
 22 
 
 D 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 
 23 
 
 E 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 
 24 
 
 F 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 St, Matthias. 
 
 25 
 
 G 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 
 26 
 
 A 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 
 27 
 
 B 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 28 
 
 C 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
THE CALENDAR. 
 
 257 
 
 MARCH, XXXI Days. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 27 
 
 30 
 31 
 
 D 
 K 
 F 
 G 
 A 
 B 
 C 
 D 
 E 
 F 
 G 
 A 
 B 
 C 
 D 
 E 
 
 F 
 
 G 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 C 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 F 
 
 G 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 C 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 F 
 
 Cal. 
 
 6 Non. 
 
 5 Non. 
 
 4 Non. 
 
 3 Non. 
 Pr. Non. 
 Non. 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 4 Id. 
 3 Id. 
 Pr. Id. 
 Id. 
 
 17 Cal. Apr. 
 16 Cal. 
 15 Cal. 
 14 Cal. 
 13 Cal. 
 12 Cal. 
 11 Cal. 
 10 Cal. 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 3 Cal. 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 St. David. 
 
 St. I^atnck. 
 
 V. Equinox. Sun 
 tntexn Aries, 
 
 i Annunc, of the V, M. 
 X Lady-day, 
 
£5S 
 
 THE CALENDAR. 
 
 
 APRIL XXX Days. \ 
 
 
 ' 
 
 1 
 
 G ! Cal. 
 
 
 2 
 
 A 4 Non. 
 
 
 3 
 
 B 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 C 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 ' 
 
 5 
 
 D 
 
 Non. 
 
 
 6 
 
 E 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 
 7 
 
 F 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 8 
 
 G 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 A 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 B 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 C 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 D 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 i 
 
 13 
 
 E 
 
 Id. 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 F 
 
 18 Cal. Ma. 
 
 
 15 
 
 G 
 
 17 Cal. 
 
 
 16 
 
 A 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 17 
 
 B 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 1» 
 
 C 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 19 
 
 D 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 
 20 
 
 E 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 Sun enters Taurus, 
 
 21 
 
 F 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 
 22 
 
 G 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 23 
 
 A 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 St. George. 
 
 24 
 
 B 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 
 25 
 
 C 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 St. Marky the JEvang. 
 
 26 
 
 D 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 
 27 
 
 E 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 
 28 
 
 F 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 
 29 
 30 
 
 G 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 A Pr. Cal. 
 
 - •■:-.■ - ■: ::. ■ 
 
THE CALENDAR, 
 
 259 
 
 MAY, XXXI Days. 
 
 1 
 
 B 
 
 Cal. 
 
 2 
 
 C 
 
 6 Non. 
 
 S 
 
 D 
 
 5 Noil. 
 
 4 
 
 E 
 
 4 Non. 
 
 5 
 
 F 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 6 
 
 G 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 7 
 
 A 
 
 Non. 
 
 8 
 
 B 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 9 
 
 C 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 10 
 
 D 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 11 
 
 E 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 12 
 
 F 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 13 
 
 G 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 14 
 
 A 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 15 
 
 B 
 
 Id. 
 
 16 
 
 C 
 
 17 Cal. Jun. 
 
 17 
 
 D 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 18 
 
 E 
 
 15CaIi. 
 
 19 
 
 F 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 SO 
 
 G 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 , 21 
 
 A 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 22 
 
 B 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 23 
 
 C 
 
 lOG^aL 
 
 24 
 
 D 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 25 
 
 E 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 26 
 
 F 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 27 
 
 G 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 28 
 
 A 
 
 5 Cat 
 
 29 
 
 B 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 30 
 
 C 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 J^X 
 
 -D 
 
 -Pr^IIaL 
 
 St, Phil, and St, Jam, 
 
 Q. Charlotte b. 
 Sun enters Getnini, 
 
 K. Charles II. Rest. 
 
260 
 
 THE CALENDAR. 
 
 JUNE, XXX Days. 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 E 
 
 Cal. 
 
 F 
 
 4 Non. 
 
 G 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 A 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 B 
 
 Non. 
 
 C 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 D 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 E 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 F 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 G 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 A 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 B 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 C 
 
 Id. 
 
 D 
 
 18 Cal. Jul. 
 
 E 
 
 17 Cal. 
 
 F 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 G 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 A 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 B 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 C 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 D 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 E 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 F 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 G 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 A 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 B 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 C 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 D 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 E 
 
 3 Gal. 
 
 F 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 K. George III. b. 
 
 St. Barnabas f A, and M. 
 
 S. Solstice. Sun enter^ ^ 
 Cancer. 
 
 Nativ. of St. John J Bapt. 
 
 St. Peter, Ap. and M. 
 
THE CALENDAR. 
 
 a6l 
 
 
 
 JULY, XXXI Days. 
 
 1 
 
 G 
 
 Cal. 
 
 
 ^z 
 
 A 
 
 6 Non. 
 
 
 3 
 
 B 
 
 5 Non. 
 
 
 4 
 
 C 
 
 4 Non. 
 
 
 5 
 
 D 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 E 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 F 
 
 Non. 
 
 
 8 
 
 G 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 A 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 B 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 C 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 D 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 13 
 
 E 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 14 
 
 F 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 G 
 
 Id. 
 
 Switliin, fo. 
 
 
 16 
 
 A 
 
 17 Cal. Aug. 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 B 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 C 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 D 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 E 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 F 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 
 22 
 
 G 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 Sun enters hto. 
 
 23 
 
 A 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 24 
 
 B 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 
 25 
 
 C 
 
 8Cal. 
 
 St, James, A. and M. 
 
 26 
 
 D 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 E 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 F 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 G 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 
 SO 
 
 A 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 31 
 
 B 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 
^262 
 
 THE CALENDAR. 
 
 AUGUST, XXXI Days. 
 
 1 
 
 C 
 
 Cal. 
 
 Lammas Day, 
 
 2 
 
 D 
 
 4 Non, 
 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
 3 Non. i 
 
 
 4 
 
 F 
 
 Pr. Non. I 
 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 Non. i 
 
 
 6 
 
 A 
 
 8 Id. 1 
 
 
 7 
 
 B 
 
 7 Id. 1 
 
 
 8 
 
 C 
 
 6 Id. ! 
 
 
 9 
 
 D 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 E 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 F 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 G 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 George, P^ Reg. b. 
 
 13 
 
 A 
 
 Id. i 
 
 
 14 
 
 B 
 
 19 Cal. Sept. 
 
 
 15 
 
 C 
 
 18 Cal. ! 
 
 
 16 
 
 D 
 
 17 Cal. 1 
 
 
 17 
 
 E 
 
 16 Cal. i 
 
 
 18 
 
 F 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 19 
 
 G 
 
 14 Cal. 1 
 
 
 20 
 
 A 
 
 13 Cal. ; 
 
 
 21 
 
 B 
 
 12 Cal. ■ 
 
 ^ .'.'■ ' 
 
 22 
 
 C 
 
 11 Cal* 
 
 Sun enters Virgo, 
 
 23 
 
 D 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 24 
 
 E 
 
 9 Cal. i 
 
 St, Bw'tholomew, 
 
 25 
 
 F 
 
 8 Cal. ; 
 
 ^ ' '- 
 
 26 
 
 G 
 
 7 Cal. 1 
 
 
 27 
 
 A 
 
 6Cal.« ] 
 
 .•iit. > 'f! '\ - • 
 
 28 
 
 B 
 
 5 Cal. 1 
 
 Juiif- ,^ ] :. ; 
 
 29 
 
 c 
 
 ^Cal. -- 
 
 — ..»-__,.- — 1 
 
 30 
 
 D 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 31 
 
 E 
 
 Pi. CaU 
 
 
THE CALENDAR. 
 
 263 
 
 SEPTEMBER, 
 
 • 1 
 
 XXX Days. 
 
 1 
 
 F 
 
 Cal. 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 4Non. 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 A 
 
 3Non. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 B 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 C 
 
 Non. 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 D 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 E 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 F 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 
 
 t 9 
 
 G 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 A 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 
 i 1^ 
 
 B 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 C 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 D 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 E 
 
 18 Cal. Oct. 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 F 
 
 17 Cal. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 G 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 17 
 
 A 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 18 
 
 B 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 19 
 
 C 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 
 20 
 
 D 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 
 21 
 
 E 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 St. Matthew. 
 
 22 
 
 F 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 23 
 
 G 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 A. Equinox. Sun 
 
 24 
 
 A 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 enters Lihrcu 
 
 25 
 
 B 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 
 26 
 
 C 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 
 27 
 
 D 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 
 28 
 
 E 
 
 4C«il. 
 
 
 29 
 
 F 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 St. Michael. 
 
 30 
 
 G 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 
264 
 
 THE CALENDAR. 
 
 
 OCTOBER, XXXI Days. 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 Cal. 
 
 
 2 
 
 B 
 
 6Non. 
 
 
 3 
 
 C 
 
 5Non. 
 
 
 4 
 
 D 
 
 4Non. 
 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 3Non. 
 
 
 6 
 
 F 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 
 7 
 
 G 
 
 Non. 
 
 
 8 
 
 A 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 B 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 C 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 D 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 E 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 13 
 
 F 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 14 
 
 G 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 
 15 
 
 A 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 16 
 
 B 
 
 17 Cal. Nov. 
 
 
 17 
 
 C 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 18 
 
 D 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 St. Luke, the Evang. 
 
 19 
 
 E 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 20 
 
 F 
 
 X3 C^l. 
 
 
 21 
 
 G 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 
 22 
 
 A 
 
 11 CaU 
 
 
 23 
 
 B 
 
 10 Cal, 
 
 Sun enters Scorpio, 
 
 24 
 
 C 
 
 9 Cai; 
 
 
 25 
 
 D 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 
 26 
 
 E 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 
 27 
 
 F 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 
 28 
 
 G 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 St, Simon and St. Jude. 
 
 29 
 
 A 
 
 4Cai: 
 
 
 30 
 
 B 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 31 
 
 C 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
THE CALENDAR, 
 
 265 
 
 
 
 NOVEMBER, 
 
 XXX Days, 
 
 1 
 
 D 
 
 Cal. 
 
 All Saints' Day, 
 
 2 
 
 E 
 
 4 Non. 
 
 
 3 
 
 F 
 
 3Non. 
 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 Pr. Non. 
 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 A 
 B 
 
 Non. 
 8 Id. 
 
 Papists' Conspiracy. 
 
 7 
 
 C 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 8 
 
 D 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 E 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 F 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 G 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 A 
 
 Pr. Id. 
 
 
 13 
 
 B 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 14 
 
 C 
 
 18 Cal. Dec. 
 
 
 15 
 
 D 
 
 17 Cal. 
 
 
 16 
 
 E 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 17 
 
 F 
 
 15 Cal. 
 
 
 18 
 
 G 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 19 
 
 A 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 
 20 
 
 B 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 
 21 
 
 C 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 
 22 
 
 D 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 Sun enters Sagittarius, 
 
 23 
 
 E 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 
 24 
 
 F 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 
 25 
 
 G 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 
 26 
 
 A 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 
 27 
 
 B 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 
 28 
 
 C 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 
 29 
 
 D 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 30 
 
 E 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 St. Andrew, 
 
^66 
 
 THE CALENDAR. 
 
 
 
 DECEMBER, ] 
 
 &XXI Days. 
 
 1 
 
 F 
 
 Cal. 
 
 
 2 
 
 G 
 
 2 Non. 
 
 
 3 
 
 A 
 
 3 Non. 
 
 
 4 
 
 B 
 
 Pr, Non. 
 
 
 5 
 
 C 
 
 Non. 
 
 
 i 6' 
 
 D 
 
 8 Id. 
 
 
 7 
 
 E 
 
 7 Id. 
 
 
 8 
 
 F 
 
 6 Id. 
 
 
 9 
 
 G 
 
 5 Id. 
 
 
 10 
 
 A 
 
 4 Id. 
 
 
 11 
 
 B 
 
 3 Id. 
 
 
 12 
 
 C 
 
 Pr.Id. 
 
 
 13 
 
 D 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 14 
 
 E 
 
 19 Cal. Jan. 
 
 
 15 
 
 F 
 
 18 Cal. 
 
 
 16 
 
 G 
 
 17 Cal. 
 
 
 17 
 
 A 
 
 16 Cal. 
 
 
 18 
 
 B 
 
 15CaI. 
 
 
 19 
 
 C 
 
 14 Cal. 
 
 
 20 
 
 D 
 
 13 Cal. 
 
 C St, Thomasy the Apost, 
 
 I W. Solstice. 
 
 t Sun enters Capricorn. 
 
 21 
 
 E 
 
 12 Cal. 
 
 22 
 
 F 
 
 11 Cal. 
 
 23 
 
 G 
 
 10 Cal. 
 
 
 24 
 
 A 
 
 9 Cal. 
 
 
 25 
 
 B 
 
 8 Cal. 
 
 Christmas-day. 
 
 26 
 
 c 
 
 7 Cal. 
 
 St. Stephen^ first M. 
 
 27 
 
 D 
 
 6 Cal. 
 
 St. John, Ap. and Ev. 
 
 28 
 
 E 
 
 5 Cal. 
 
 Innocents-day. 
 
 29 
 
 F 
 
 4 Cal. 
 
 
 30 
 
 G 
 
 3 Cal. 
 
 
 31 
 
 A 
 
 Pr. Cal. 
 
 

 
 
 
 TABLE II 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 Showing all the Moveable Days of the Year, 
 
 depending upon 
 
 
 
 
 Easter-day. 
 
 
 > 
 
 i 
 
 a. 
 
 It 
 
 5 
 
 
 II 
 
 *< o 
 
 * 3 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 t 
 
 ^1 
 
 rt- W 
 
 < 
 
 5 
 
 lar. 22 
 
 D 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 18 
 
 Feb. 4 
 
 Ap. 26 
 
 Vp. 30 
 
 May 10 
 
 27 
 
 Nov. 29 
 
 23 
 
 E 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 5 
 
 27 
 
 May 1 
 
 11 
 
 ■17 
 
 30 
 
 24 
 
 F 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 27 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 25 
 
 G 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 7 
 
 29 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 27 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 A 
 
 ^ 
 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 30 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 27 
 
 3 
 
 27 
 
 B 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 9 
 
 May 1 
 
 . ;.5, 
 
 ' 15 
 
 26 
 
 Nov. 27 
 
 28 
 
 C 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 ■ !€ 
 
 ! 16 
 
 26 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 D 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 H -f- 
 
 • 17 
 
 26 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 £ 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 $ 
 
 ^ 18 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 31 
 
 P 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 19 
 
 26 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 pril 1 
 
 Q 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 ■ 20 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 A 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 15 
 
 t 7 
 
 11 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 B 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 • 22 
 
 25 
 
 Nov. 27 
 
 4 
 
 C 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 : 23 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 5 
 
 D 
 
 3 
 
 Feb. 1 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 29 
 
 6 
 
 Si 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 11 
 
 15 
 
 J25 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 7 
 
 F 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 12 
 
 16 
 
 : 26 
 
 25 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 8 
 
 G 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 
 13 
 
 17 
 
 27 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 A 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 22 
 
 11 
 
 18 
 
 : .28 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 B 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 24 
 
 Nov. 27 
 
 11 
 
 C 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 24 
 
 16 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 24 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 D 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 17 
 
 21 
 
 31 
 
 24 
 
 29 
 
 lo 
 
 K 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 
 18 
 
 22 
 
 Jane l 
 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 14 
 
 1^ 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 15 
 
 G 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 28 
 
 I 20 
 
 S4 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 A 
 
 5 
 
 t: 
 
 Mar. 1 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 B 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 23 
 
 Nev. 27 
 
 18 
 
 C. 
 
 .-5._. 
 
 -.14 
 
 - - .-..-A 
 
 _ 23 
 
 27 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 28 
 
 19 
 
 D 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 28 
 
 - ^ 
 
 23 
 
 29 
 
 20 
 
 E 
 
 5 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 29 
 
 8 
 
 23 
 
 30 
 
 21 
 
 F 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 9 
 
 23 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 22 
 
 Cf 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 27 
 
 31 
 
 10 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 A 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 
 June 1 
 
 11 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 £4 
 
 B 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 22 
 
 Nov. 27 
 
 25 
 
 C 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 22 
 
 28 
 
TABLE III. 
 Showing the Sun's Rising and Setting, every Tenth Day. 
 
 Jan. 1 
 
 Rises. 
 
 Sets. 
 
 
 July 1 
 
 Rises. 
 
 Sets. 
 
 
 H. M. 
 
 8. 5, 
 
 M. H. 
 
 5.4. 
 
 H. M. 
 
 3.45. 
 
 M. H. 
 
 45.9. 
 
 
 10 
 
 7.58. 
 
 58. 5. 
 
 
 10 
 
 3.52. 
 
 52.9. 
 
 
 20 
 
 7. 47. 
 
 47.5. 
 
 
 20 
 
 4. 2. 
 
 2.8. 
 
 
 Feb. 1 
 
 7.29. 
 
 29.5. 
 
 Aug. 1 
 
 4. 19. 
 
 19. 8. 
 
 
 10 
 
 7.13. 
 
 13.5. 
 
 
 10 
 
 4.34. 
 
 34. 8. 
 
 
 20 
 
 5.54. 
 
 54. 6. 
 
 
 20 
 
 4.52. 
 
 52. 8. 
 
 
 March i 
 
 6.35. 
 
 35.6. 
 
 Sept. 1 
 
 5. 14. 
 
 14. 7. 
 
 
 10 
 
 6.17. 
 
 17. 6. 
 
 
 10 
 
 5.32. 
 
 32.7. 
 
 
 20 
 
 6. 0. 
 
 0.6. 
 
 \^. Equin. 
 
 23 
 
 6. 0. 
 
 0.6. 
 
 A. Equi 
 
 April 1 
 
 5. 33. 
 
 33.7. 
 
 Oct. 1 
 
 6. 13. 
 
 13.6. 
 
 
 10 
 
 5.16. 
 
 16.7. 
 
 
 10 
 
 6.30. 
 
 30. 6. 
 
 
 20 
 
 4. 57. 
 
 57.8. 
 
 
 20 
 
 6.50. 
 
 50.6. 
 
 
 May 1 
 
 4. 37. 
 
 ,37.8. 
 
 Nov. 1 
 
 7.12. 
 
 12.5. 
 
 
 10 
 
 4.22. 
 
 22. 8. 
 
 
 10 
 
 7.28. 
 
 28. 5. 
 
 
 20 
 
 4. 7. 
 
 7.8. 
 
 
 20 
 
 7.43. 
 
 43.5. 
 
 
 June 1 
 
 3.53. 
 
 53. 9. 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 7.57. 
 
 57.5. 
 
 
 10 
 
 3.46. 
 
 46.9. 
 
 
 10 
 
 8. 4. 
 
 4.4. 
 
 
 21 
 
 3.43. 
 
 43.9. 
 
 S. Solst. 
 
 21 
 
 8. 8. 
 
 8.4. 
 
 W. Solst 
 
 N. B. The first columns show the minutes (m.) qfter the hour (h.) 
 of sun-rise 5 the second, the m. bqfore the H. of sun-set. 
 
Table iv. 
 
 A LUNAR TABLE* 
 
 The following Table shows the Neu^Moons, upon a 
 mean calculation, for every month of the year in the 
 recurrent cycle of nineteen years. It is digested from 
 the ecclesiastical Table of Epacts, compared with the 
 two last lunar cycles in the Nautical Almanack, and 
 with the years of the present cycle, of which the present 
 year, 1812, is the 8th year. In order to use it, find 
 the number of the current year in the lunar cycled 
 corresponding to which number, in the same line, are 
 the days of the New- Moons for each of the twelv6 
 months of the year. To find the Full-Moon of any 
 month, reckon 14 days, backward or forward, from the 
 day of the New-Moon, The Epact of each year is sub- 
 joined, which shows the Moon's age at the beginning of 
 that year. 
 
5S > 
 
 > {= 
 w » 
 o o 
 
 K *^ 
 
 ?> I- 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Cm 
 g 
 
 1. 
 
 30. 
 
 19. 
 
 8. 
 27. 
 
 1 
 
 28. 
 
 1 
 
 30. 
 19. 
 
 8. 
 
 > 
 28. 
 
 1 
 
 27. 
 
 Cm 
 
 C 
 
 a 
 26. 
 
 C-l 
 
 25. 
 
 > 
 1 
 
 24. 
 
 1 
 
 cr 
 23. 
 
 O 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 rt 
 
 22. 
 
 11. 
 
 1. 
 30. 
 
 19. 
 
 8. 
 
 27. 
 16. 
 5. 
 
 24. 
 IS. 
 
 2.: 
 21. 
 10. 
 
 29. 
 
 18.; 
 
 © 
 
 < 
 
 B 
 
 21. 
 10. 
 
 29. 
 18. 
 
 ^' 
 
 26. 
 15. 
 4. 
 
 23. 
 12. 
 
 1. 
 
 20. 
 
 9. 
 
 28. 
 
 C 
 n 
 o 
 n> 
 5 
 
 7» 
 
 20. 
 9. 
 
 28. 
 17. 
 
 17. 
 6. 
 
 17. 
 6. 
 
 16. 
 5. 
 
 15. 
 4. 
 
 14. 
 
 13. 
 
 2. 
 
 12. 
 1. 
 
 3. 
 
 4 
 
 25. 
 
 27. 
 
 25. 
 
 24. 
 
 23. 
 
 22. 
 
 21. 
 10. 
 
 29. 
 18. 
 7. 
 
 26. 
 15. 
 
 4. 
 
 23. 
 12. 
 
 1. 
 
 20. 
 
 20. 
 
 9. 
 
 • 
 28. 
 
 17. 
 
 6. 
 
 25. 
 14. 
 
 3. 
 
 22. 
 
 11. 
 
 1. 
 30. 
 
 19. 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 7 
 
 16. 
 
 5. 
 
 24. 
 13. 
 
 2. 
 21. 
 
 10. 
 29. 
 18. 
 
 7. 
 
 26. 
 15. 
 
 4. 
 
 23. 
 
 14. 
 
 to. 
 
 14. 
 
 13. 
 
 12. 
 
 11. 
 
 6. 
 
 8. 
 22. 
 11. 
 
 1. 
 
 19. 
 
 5. 
 24. 
 13. 
 
 2. 
 21. 
 
 3. 
 22. 
 
 2. 
 21. 
 10. 
 
 29. 
 18. 
 
 1. 
 
 1. 
 30. 
 
 19. 
 
 8. 
 
 27. 
 16. 
 
 25. 
 
 20. 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 11. 
 
 1. 
 30. 
 
 19. 
 
 9. 
 
 28. 
 17. 
 
 3. 
 
 22. 
 
 11. 
 
 8. 
 
 10. 
 29. 
 
 8. 
 
 27. 
 
 7. 
 
 6. 
 25. 
 
 5. 
 
 24. 
 
 1. 
 30. 
 
 12 
 
 27. 
 
 26. 
 
 19. 
 
 13 
 14 
 
 16. 
 
 5. 
 
 24. 
 13. 
 
 2. 
 21. 
 
 18. 
 
 7. 
 
 26. 
 15. 
 
 4. 
 
 23. 
 
 16. 
 
 5. 
 
 24. 
 
 15. 
 
 4. 
 23. 
 12. 
 
 1. 
 
 20. 
 
 14. 
 
 3. 
 
 22. 
 
 13. 
 
 2. 
 21. 
 
 8. 
 
 27. 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17. 
 
 16. 
 
 13. 
 
 11. 
 
 1. 
 30. 
 
 19. 
 
 10. 
 
 29. 
 18. 
 
 9. 
 
 8. 
 
 7. 
 
 6. 
 
 5. 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 19 
 
 2. 
 21. 
 
 28. 
 
 17. 
 
 27, 
 
 16. 
 
 26. 
 15. 
 
 25. 
 14. 
 
 24. 
 
 13. 
 
 12. 
 
 10. 
 
 12. 
 
 10. 
 
 9. 
 
 8. 
 
 7. 
 
 6. 
 
 5. 
 
 4. 
 
 3. 
 
 2. 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 271 
 
 2. KISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 OF EPOCITAS, AUTD ERAS. 
 
 Historical CHRoiNOLOGY, is the science of 
 assigning dates of time to the events oi history, 
 
 A DATE, is a relative mark of time, reckoned 
 from some fixed period. 
 
 IhQ period, from which marks of time referable 
 to events are reckoned, is called an epoch a. 
 
 The general reckoning of time from the epocha, 
 is called the eUa of the epocha. The date, is the 
 particular year of the era. 
 
 Heiice it is manifest, that an epocha and an 
 era differ from each other in Chronology, as a 
 point in Geometry differs from ''• a line l^hich is 
 drawn from it. It is therefore surprising, that 
 Hume, Gibbon, and many other eminent authors, 
 should have occasionally confounded the terms 
 epocha and era, by using the latter to signify 
 the former; although the perversion of language 
 is not less, than if they had used the word line to 
 signify a jiom?f; a confusion, less excusable in 
 
272 ELEMENTARY CHBONOtOGY. 
 
 professed historians, than in any other class of 
 writers. 
 
 Without some Jixed point of time to reckon from, 
 no distinct notion of time could be attached to any 
 past event; which must be noted, by its relation 
 to that fixed point. 
 
 The real use of Historical Chronology, is to 
 afford a ready apprehension of the distance of 
 
 PAST EVENTs/rOW PRESENT TIME. 
 
 In order to which end, nations that have reached 
 a state of civilization, have commonly fixed upon 
 some event in their domestic transactions, from 
 which to reckon the progress of time; making 
 that event the period, or epocha, of their era, or 
 reckoning of years. This has usually been the 
 earliest period, to which they could refer with any 
 authority, or security. 
 
 Of these epoch as, the" principal among the 
 ancient heathen nations, were the three great 
 epochas, 
 
 5 the Olympiads • 776 "^ 
 
 * the Building o/Rome- • 753 > y^""'' ^^^^'^ 
 
 i Christ. 
 . Nabonassar 747 J 
 
 The first of these, was adopted by the Greeks; 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY, 273 
 
 the second, by the Romans; the third, by the 
 Babylonians. 
 
 All time prior to those epochas, (which fall 
 in the middle or end of the eighth century 
 before Christ,) was pronounced by Varro, the 
 great reformer of heathen chronology, to be 
 eiihev fabulous, or wholly obscure ; which two cha- 
 racters of time he divided, by the intervening tra- 
 ditional event, of the Flood : an arrangement, 
 in which his penetration and sagacity are as con- 
 spicuous above those of all other heathen writers, 
 as his ingenuousness, and the fidelity of his reason, 
 are pre-eminent above those of matiy who have 
 been denominated Christians. 
 
 But the most important, and the inost entirely 
 useful, EPOCHA which has yet been found for 
 reckoning time, is that great event, from which 
 the whole Christian world now agree in 
 computing time; namely, the birth, or first 
 COMING of our blessed Lord an4 Saviour Jesus 
 Christ: an epocha, which furnishes a twofold 
 era, retrograde and direct : retrograde, to the crea- 
 tion of the world; and direct, to the end of the 
 world, or to His second coming. This singular 
 and luminous era, forms one continued line of 
 time, from the beginning, to the end, of out" 
 T 
 
274 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 race; receiving and uniting all other era«, Sacred 
 and Profane, and furnishing to the mind the readiest 
 apprehension possible, of the distance o/'past events 
 from PRESENT time:- which is the perfection of 
 HistoricaV Chronology. 
 
 It is astonishing, that this great epocha did not 
 suggest itself to the Christian church, for forming 
 an era, until about the year of our Lord 526 ; when 
 DiONYSius THE LiTTLE, a Scythian monk, had 
 the distinguished merit of first proposing it. It is 
 still more astonishing, that having been once pro- 
 posed, it was not generally adopted until the begin- 
 ning of the ninth century, when it was established, 
 under Charlemagne, in the Western Empire. 
 
 There is, however, a slight difference of 4 years, 
 between the true epocha of our Lord's birth, and 
 that assumed in the vulgar era ; the true epocha 
 having been found, upon examination, to he four 
 years earlier than the common reckoning supposes 
 it to be. So that the true date for the present year, 
 1812 of the vulgar Christian era, would be 18X6. 
 
 The computation by Olympiads was continued in 
 Greece until the year 312 ; when it was superseded, j 
 by authority of the Council of Nice, by com-j 
 putations of 15 years, constantly recurring, called] 
 the Cycle of the Indiction : being the term of aii | 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 275 
 
 imperial tribute, established by Constantino the 
 Great, and collected every 15 years. This 
 method of computation commenced January 1, 
 A.D. 313. 
 
 OF CYCLES, AND PERIODS. 
 
 It is important, now, to take a view of two cele- 
 brated compound periods of computation, which 
 have been applied to history ; namely, the Vict(h 
 rian, or Dionysian Cycle, of 532 years; and the 
 Julian Period, of 7980 years. 
 
 A cycle, or period, is a certain space of time, or 
 a revolution of a certain number of years, which 
 being ended it begins anew. 
 
 The Victorian or Dionysian Cycle, employed 
 by Victorius Aquitanus, and Dionysius Exiguus, 
 or the Little, in the fifth and sixth centuries, 
 is produced, by multiplying into each other 
 the solar cycle of 28 years*, and the lunar 
 cycle of 19 years t; the heads of which cycles 
 
 ♦ P. ^43, 5. t P. 23r. 
 
276 ELExMENTARY CHKONOLOGY, 
 
 coincide, and begin together; only once in 53^ 
 years. 
 
 But as this compound cycle must recommence 
 every 532 years, Joseph Scaliger, in order to obtain 
 a period which should be sufficiently capacious to 
 comprehend all historical time, imagined a method 
 of giving extension to the Dionysian Cycle, by mul- 
 tiplying it again by 15; being the quantity of the 
 Cycle of Indiction already mentioned p. 274; so 
 as to involve that cycle in the former, and to 
 suppose a cycle of 15 years to have been always 
 limning on, with the two cycles of 28 and 19 
 years. By this means he obtained a period of 
 79^0 years, comprehending Jifteen Dionysian 
 cycles; which he denominated the JuliaK 
 PERIOD, because he employed the Julian reckon- 
 ing of years. 
 
 Having obtained that period, his next object 
 was to apply it to ihtuses of history. In order to 
 which end, " ut in iisum deducatur," as he himself 
 says, he had, first of all, to fix the year of the birth 
 OF Christ in that period ; that is to say, to find 
 the corresponding years of the solar and lunar cycle, 
 and of the supposed cycle of Indiction, when that 
 birth took place. This he found in the year 4713 
 of his period ; when the number of the first cycle 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 277 
 
 was 9, and of the second 1 ; which thus became the/ 
 historical epocha for determining the dates of all 
 events. He had next, to compute back the year of 
 the CREATWS of THE WORLD; whlch he supposed 
 to have taken place 3949 years before Christ; 
 which year fell in the year 7^4 of that great period. 
 So that the period has an imaginary commencement y 
 764 years before the beginning of time. 
 
 Great as is the capacity and convenience of this 
 period, for computing time and giving chrono- 
 logical characters to events, it is nevertheless 
 plainly wanting in that which can alone give 
 solid satisfaction to the reason, viz. 2i foundation in 
 PACT. To use a period commencing before time, 
 for the purpose of measuring the parts of time^ 
 is undeniably perplexing, if not revolting, to the 
 sober judgment ; especially, since we are able 
 to find one actually commencing with time, that is, 
 with the original motion of the earth and heavenly 
 bodies ; and, in every respect, fruitful of the same, 
 real advantages. 
 
 It is most reasonable to assume, that the crea- 
 tion commenced with the commencement of a, 
 solar and a lunar cycle, or, in other words, with the 
 beginning of a cycle of 532 years. For we know, 
 with full certainty, that the first day of the creation 
 
278 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 was the first day of a week; because it was the- 
 first of a series of seven days, the last of which 
 was the first Sabbath. We have likewise the best 
 moral evidence, from the order established in the 
 celestial machinery for originating and dividing 
 time, joined to a well considered interpretation of 
 the text of the sacred historian, to assume, that on 
 that first day of the first week the two great 
 INDEXES OF TIME, the SUN and the moon, were in 
 conjunction, and did not unfold their relative distiiv 
 guishing characters until the eve of the fourth day ; 
 according to the common course of nature after a 
 conjunction. Consequently, the first day of the crea- 
 tion would be the first day of a taeek, of a solar, and 
 of a lunar year ; that is, it was the first day of a 
 cycle, of 532 years : a series of which cycles have 
 continually succeeded to each other, from that first 
 cycle to the present time. The only question there- 
 fore is, which of the Dionysian cycles before 
 Christ, are we to assume, for the first cycle 
 of the world ? 
 
 Now we know, that all the principal compu- 
 tations for the epocha of the Creation, fall about the 
 beginning of the fourth millenary, or four thou- 
 sandth YEAR, before Christ. The common 
 computation assumes the year 4004 ; the extreme 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 9!7^ 
 
 computations, are the years 3942, and 4397- The 
 mean computation, of Frank, is the year 41S1; 
 Since, then, we have good ground for assuming, 
 that the Creation began with a Dionysian cycle; 
 and since the year 4181, before Christ, was ac- 
 tually the beginning of such a cycle, we have 
 good ground for assuming that year for the year 
 of the Creation ; for, if we ascend another 
 cycle, of 532 years, we shall go too high, and if 
 we descend 532 years, we shall go too low. 
 
 As, therefore, we know, that (according to the vul- 
 gar Christian era) Christ was born in the 457th year 
 of a Dionysian cycle, whose number for the solar 
 cycle was 9, and for the lunar cycle 1, we easily 
 find, that the year 4181 before Christ was the 
 beginning of the eighth Dionysian cycle, reckoned 
 backward ; or, that Christ was born in the 457th 
 year of the eighth Dionysian cycle, from the 
 Creation. We are, now, in the twelfth cycle from 
 the same original point, and in the 141st year of 
 that cycle; which began A. D. 1671, and will 
 end A. D. 2203 ; having still 391 years to run. 
 
 But, since no one who has well weighed and con- 
 sidered the sacred prophecies, and the answering 
 events of the world, will entertain a prospect of 
 another such cycle to follow the present one ; nor, 
 
280 ELExMENTAUY CHKOls'OLOGY. 
 
 indeed, will conceive a belief, that this present cyclo 
 will reach a natural termination; we may reasonably 
 and contentedly close our view of time, with this 
 PRESENT TWELFTH CYCLE; and thereby obtain a 
 period, sufficiently productive to answer all the 
 purposes of the Julian period ; with the addi- 
 tional advantage, of having an epochu ifi time for its 
 commencement. We have, therefore, only to take 
 12 Dionysian cycles, instead of 15 with Scaliger ; 
 and to multiply 532 by 12, instead of by 15 ; which 
 will give us a period of 6384 years; consti- 
 tuting a TEMPORAL period, or period of uni^ 
 versal time, beginning with the first movement of 
 the celestial bodies, and first day of the week, in 
 the year 4181 years before Christ; and extend- 
 ing forward, three hundred and ninety-one years 
 beyond the present time. 
 
 This period, comprehending the solar and lunar 
 cycles, and an artificial duodecimal (instead of 
 Scaliger's quindecimal) cycle, multiplied into each 
 other, contains in itself all the important cha- 
 racters of time that can be supplied by the Julian 
 period; substituting only the number 12, for 15. 
 Thus, as the characters of each year of the Julian 
 period are found, by dividing by 28 for the solar 
 cycle, by 19 for the lunar cycle, and by 15 for the 
 
KLEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 281 
 
 artificial cycle ; so also here, by dividing any year 
 of this temporal period by 28, by 19, and by 12, 
 the distinguishing character of each year will 
 equally be found. 
 
 The cycle of Indiction itself is of no concern . 
 to history until after the year A. D. 312, when 
 it first commenced. By deducting 312 from ; 
 any subsequent year of the Christian era, and < 
 dividing the sum by 15, Ive can at all times find [ 
 the year of the Indiction, if required, without ] 
 having recourse to the Julian period ; the remainder, '. 
 being the year of the Indiction, and the quotient, ; 
 
 j the number of cycles. 
 
 ■ The following scheme will show the progress 
 of this great temporal period, through all its twelve 
 
 I cycles, and also its correspondence with the years ? 
 before and after Christ ; conveying a distinct notion • 
 of the ENTiRENEss OF TIME, SO far as we are able ? 
 to contemplate it, with any accuracy of measure, .; 
 or any manifest relation to the ratio^ and indexes of , 
 time: which, as we have already seen, signifies [ 
 
 : nothing else, but the duration of the EARTjf ; 
 
 and HEAVENLY BODIES. 
 
SCHEME OF THE TEMPORAL PERIOD, 
 
 COMPRISING TWELVE DIONYSIAN CYCLES OF 532 YEARS. 
 
 >io.Gfthe 
 CYCLL 
 
 Years of 
 the Cycle. 
 
 Yrs before 
 CHRIST. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 1. 
 
 532 
 
 41di 
 3649 
 
 THE CKLAllON. 
 
 2. 
 
 106* 
 
 3117 
 
 
 S, 
 
 15p6 
 
 2585 
 
 
 4. 
 
 £128 
 
 2053 
 
 The FLOOD. 
 
 5. 
 
 2m 
 
 1.521 
 
 
 6. 
 
 3192 
 
 9^9 
 
 
 7. 
 
 3724 
 
 457 
 
 
 8. 
 
 (4181) 
 4256 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1 
 75 
 
 CHRIST BORN, in the457lh year of 
 the 8th l^ionvMan Cvcle. 
 
 9. 
 
 4788 
 
 607 
 
 
 10. 
 
 5320 
 
 1139 
 
 
 11. 
 
 5852 
 
 1671 
 
 
 12. 
 
 (5993) 
 (6000) 
 
 6384 
 
 1812 
 
 18J9 
 2C03 
 
 The PRESENT YEAR, 141st of the 
 12th Dionysian Cycle.—Remain 
 391 years. 
 
ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 283 
 The Tables which now follow, contain : 
 
 First; a General Chronological View of His- 
 tory, ancient and modern, to the present time, 
 divided into its twelve primary periods: for 
 an explanation of which, the reader is referred to 
 ** A Christian's Survey," &c. ; in which work, 
 the grounds of those twelve divisions are distinctly 
 exposed. 
 
 Secondly ; a more jotfr^icM/ar chronological view 
 of the contents of each of those twelve divisions of 
 History; in which, some of the leading events of 
 each are inserted, so as to form a connected chain 
 of incidents down to our own time. 
 
 The chronology of Sir Isaac Newton is generally 
 followed, in the early events of heathen history; 
 which, considered as a system^ is, without com- 
 parison, the most sagacious, best considered, and 
 best supported, of any that have yet been given to 
 the world. 
 
 As the heathen computations fail, upon Varro's 
 acknowledgment, before the first Olympiad, the tra^ 
 ditional events of those first ages, which he calls 
 Obscure^ and Fabulous, can only be reconciled to 
 history, by the aid of the Sacred Chronology. 
 
 In contemplating the remote events of ancient 
 
284 ELEMENTARY CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 history, it is requisite always to keep in our mind 
 this truth, that minute exactness in point of historical 
 dates is unattainable; and to remember, according 
 to the wise caution expressed by Sir William Jones^ 
 " that whoever, in those early ages, expects a 
 'V certain epocha, unqualified with about or nearly ^ 
 ** will be greatly disappointed." 
 
 N. B. It is necessary to observe here, (what has 
 been omitted to be noticed in its proper place,) that 
 the Roman Calendar is annexed to our Civil Calendar 
 in the foregoing pages, for the purpose of showing 
 their correspondence. 
 
A General Chronological View of the primary 
 Periods of History, Ancient and Modern, to the 
 present Time : Followed by a more particular 
 View of the same Periods. 
 
GENERAL VIEW 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 ThK CUEATION. 
 
 1st Period, 
 
 Tim Flood. 
 2<i Period. 
 
 Call of Auiiauam. 
 3d Period. 
 
 The ExoDUb and Law. 
 4th Period. 
 
 Hebrlav monarchy begun 
 oth Period, 
 
 Heb. Monarchy dissolved. 
 6th Period. 
 
 Return from Captivity, 
 7th Period, 
 
 Thk Birth of Christ 
 (Modem History Commences.) 
 
 Vears 
 B.C. 
 
 about 
 4001 
 
 (4181) 
 
 2348 
 
 1921 
 
 1491 
 
 1095 
 
 605 
 
 535 
 
 Vears 
 B. C. 
 
 OBSCURITY. 
 
 The Flood. 
 
 FABLE. 
 
 about 
 750 
 
 606 
 
 538 
 331 
 
 31 
 
 Infancy of the Chaldaan Potter 
 
 Baeyl. or Chald, Empire. 
 1st Period, 
 
 Persian Empire. 
 2d Period. 
 
 Macedonian Empire. 
 Sd Period' 
 
 The Roaian Empire. 
 (Modeim History Commences.) 
 
GENERAL VIEW 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 RELIGIOUS. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 SECULAR. 
 
 iJiKTH OF OUR Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Roman Empire ; 
 Augustus Casar. 
 
 1st Period, 
 
 395 
 
 395 
 
 1st Period. 
 
 Extinction of 
 Paganism. 
 
 Greek Head of 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 2d Ptriod, 
 
 
 
 2d Period. 
 
 
 800 
 
 800 
 
 
 Rise of Pontifical 
 Power. 
 
 Erankicu Head of 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 Sd Period. 
 
 ^ 96t' 
 ( 993 
 
 962 
 
 3d Period. 
 
 bOuNDAiioN OF Papal 
 
 SoVtREIGNTY. 
 
 GiiRMANic Head of 
 Roman Empire, 
 
 4th Period. 
 
 
 
 4th Period. 
 
 
 i 1453 
 ( 1519 
 
 1453 
 
 
 LitvivAL OF Learning, 
 AND Reformation. 
 
 Extinction of 
 Greek Head. 
 
 tith Periyd, 
 
 1810 
 
 1806 
 
 5th Period. 
 
 Extinction of Papal 
 
 Fall and Extinction of 
 
 Sovereignty. 
 (The French Empire. ) 
 
 
 
 Germanic Head. 
 (The French Empire.) 
 
288 
 
 Years 
 
 before 
 
 Christ. 
 
 about 
 
 4000 
 
 or 
 
 4181 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 5000 
 
 2469 
 
 2348 
 
 1st PERIOD. 
 
 The Creation of the World. 
 
 Adam and Eve created : — The seventh day distin- 
 guished by God : — The marriage bond established : 
 — Paradise :— Forfeiture. 
 
 A Saviour promised. 
 
 Cain — Abel. 
 
 Seth. 
 
 Enos. 
 
 Cainan. 
 
 Mahalaleel. 
 
 Jared. 
 
 Enoch, prophesies : — foretels the majesty of God's final 
 judgment : — is taken np into Heaven. 
 
 Methusaleh, 
 
 Lamech. 
 
 Noah. 
 
 Shem — Ham — Japhet. 
 
 Universal depravity of mankind : — The Flood fore 
 told. 
 
 One hundred and twenty years of -warning given of 
 the impending catastrophe. 
 
 The Ark built. 
 
 Tme Flood. 
 
289 
 
 OBSCURITY. 
 
 Formation of the World. 
 The Golden Age, (Ovid.) 
 
 The Iron race. (Ovid.) 
 
 The Flood. 
 U 
 
Years 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 about 
 2348 
 
 2234 
 
 2188 
 
 2126 
 1996 
 
 1921 
 
 2d PERIOD. 
 
 £90 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 The Flood. 
 
 Noah and his family descend from the Ark upon 
 Ararat, a mountain in Armenia: — The Rainbow 
 made the Divine pledge, that the earth should 
 not be again destroyed by Watei^: (being reserved 
 for a final catastrophe by Fire,) — Noah plants the 
 Vine. — He imparts his knowledge to the new race. — 
 His family multiplies in Armenia. 
 
 First migration of the new race, to the plain of 
 Shinaar, between Euphrates and Tigris : — They pre- 
 pare to build the Tower of Babel, for a mark and 
 centre to prevent their dispersion: — The miracu- 
 lous multiplication of languages, and providential 
 dispersion of the heads of future nations to their 
 destined scats, are the consequences of that attempt. 
 
 The descendants of 
 
 Japhet. Ham. Shem. 
 
 People Asia Minor, I People the West | People Asia, east, 
 
 Greece, and the of Asia, Egypt, I north, and south 
 
 adjoining parts of and Africa. I of the Tigris. 
 
 Europe. j I 
 
 MiZRAiM founds a sovereignty in Egypt : — Nimrod 
 in Shinaar : — Assur on the east bank of the Tigris : — 
 Arphaxad settles in Chaldaea, or Chaldia, by Annenia. 
 
 Terah. 
 
 Abraham. "^ 
 Sarah. } 
 
 CALt OF Abraham. 
 
291 
 
 FABLE. 
 
 The Flood. 
 
 Deucalion and Ihjrrha. — Xisuthrus, \ 
 
 Dionysius J. or Bacchus I, — Silenus. S 
 
 (Ovid. Diod. Sic. Virgil, Ed. 6.) 
 
 The Giants pile up the mountains to assail Heaven, 
 
 (Passim.) 
 
 The progenitors of a people of Asia Minor suddenly lose 
 their primitive language, and acquire a new one, 
 
 (An ian, Exped. Alex.) 
 
 JapetuSj regarded by the Greeks as the father of mankind, 
 
 (Passim.) 
 
 First Egyptian Monarchy. 
 
 Menes. 
 
292 
 
 Years 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 about 
 1927 
 
 1902 
 1842 
 1712 
 
 1491 
 
 3d PERIOD. 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 Call of Abraham. 
 
 Abraham leaves Chaldaea to proceed to Cainaan. A 
 famine j he goes into Egypt. 
 
 The Messiah promised : — Ishmael bom : — Circum- 
 cision first established. 
 
 Isaac bom. 
 
 Jacob, or Israel. 
 
 General Famine : — Nations resort to Egypt for corn. 
 
 Joseph, governor of Egypt. 
 
 Moses: — commissioned by God to liberate the He- 
 brews : — Plagues miraculously inflicted upon Egypt, 
 and upon all the objects of its superstitious reve- 
 rence. 
 
 The Passover instituted:— Many of the Egyptians, 
 instructed by their recent experience, receive last- 
 ing impressions of the Hebrew rites and religion. 
 
 The ExoDLS, or departure out of Egypt :— The King 
 of Egypt pursues the Hebrew people : — The passage 
 of the Red Sea :— Annihilation of the Egyptian so- 
 vereign, his chief officers, and army. 
 
 The kingdom is laid open to the invasion of the 
 neighbours. 
 
 Moses receives from God the Tables of 
 The Law. 
 
 1 
 
293 
 
 FABLE. 
 
 First Egyptian Monarchy. 
 
 General Famine : — Nations resoii to Egypt for com :- 
 
 (Diod. Sic.) 
 
 The Red Sea dry :— (Diod. Sic.) 
 
 Etid of the FIRST Egyptian monarchy. 
 
 The Arabians invade Egypt, and take possession qf the 
 country. 
 
 The Shepherd Kings. 
 
Years 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 about 
 1491 
 
 1490 
 1451 
 
 1445 
 
 1413 
 
 1245 
 1187 
 1137 
 
 1094 
 1079 
 
 4th PERIOD. 
 
 294 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 The Law. 
 
 The Hebrews journey in the Wilderness 40 years : 
 — their progress alarms many of the adjoining 
 nations. 
 
 The Hebrews are miraculously fed with quails. 
 
 Balaam prophesies of the Messiah. 
 
 Moses dies. 
 
 Joshua conducts the Hebrews into Canaan. 
 
 Canaan conquered : — The Hebrew nation esta- 
 blished. 
 
 Government of the Judges. 
 
 The Hebrews subdued by the King of Mesopotamia. 
 
 They are delivered. 
 
 Gideon. 
 
 Jephthah. 
 
 Samson, eminent for strength and heroic achieve- 
 ment : — Kills the lion : — Carries away the gates of 
 Gaza, and pulls down the pillars of the Philistines. 
 
 Samuel. 
 
 Saul. 
 
 Commencement of 
 The Hebrew Monarchy. 
 
295 
 
 FABLE, 
 
 The Phamicians migrate from the Red Sea to Palestine, 
 (Herodotus.) 
 
 Heracles* f or HeixuUs, is miraculonshj fed with qvails, 
 (Athenaeus, ix. c, 2.) 
 
 Heracles, is renowned for strength: — Kills the lion:- 
 Carries away the pillars, (Passim.) 
 
 * The word 73 "IH, Heracl, is used as synonymous with 
 y JD, Canaanite, and is applied, generally, to the inhabitants 
 of that country ; from whence the fabulous character seems 
 to have been derived. 
 
Years 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 296 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 5th PERIOD. 
 
 about 
 
 1079 
 1059 
 
 1048 
 1019 
 
 980 
 
 974 
 901 
 806 
 
 800 
 780 
 770 
 
 724 
 720 
 
 715 
 
 674 
 606 
 
 588 
 
 The Hebrew Monarchy established. 
 
 Saul, the first King. 
 
 David, King : — He prophesies of the Messiah's hu- 
 miliation, and final glory. 
 
 Hiram, King of Tyre. 
 
 Solomon, King: Builds the Temple, Allies himself 
 with the King of Egypt. 
 
 The Hebrew kingdom divided : 
 
 Rehoboam, King of Judah. 
 Jeroboam, King of Israel. 
 
 Sisac, King of Egypt, enters Asia, and reduces Judah. 
 
 Elijah, or EHas : — is taken up into Heaven. 
 
 Jonah : — is sent to the King of Ninya, (or Nineveh) : — 
 Swallowed by a fish. 
 
 Babylon founded by the King of Ninya, or Assyria. 
 
 Isaiah — Joel — Hosea — Amos — prophesy. 
 
 Pul, King of Assyria, first penetrates into Israel. 
 
 Hezekiah, King of Judah. 
 
 The kingdom of Israel is extinguished by the King of 
 Assyria. 
 
 Sennacherib, miraculously expelled from Judaea. 
 
 Obadiah, Micah, and Nahum, prophesy. 
 
 Assarhaddon : — The kingdom of Assyria subverted by 
 the Medes, and the rising power of Babylon. 
 
 Jeremiah foretells the Great Captivity, and Restora- 
 tion, of the Jews ; and the destruction of Babylon. 
 
 Ezekiel prophesies of the Restoration of the Jews. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, the Great, takes Jerusalem, and car- 
 ries Zedekiah, the last Hebrew King, captive to 
 Babylon. 
 
 Hebrew Monarchy dissolved. 
 
2!)7 
 
 Years 
 
 before 
 CHiasT. 
 
 FABLE. 
 
 PROFANE. 
 
 about 
 
 974 
 
 900 
 850 
 800 
 
 Sesostris, conquers the Arabian Kings of Egypt y and takes 
 possession of the country : — He invcuies Asia and Thrace : 
 and plants Colonies on the easton coast of the Euxine, 
 or Black Sea. (Herodotus.) 
 
 Heracles, three days in a whale, (Lycophron, 1. 3o. et 
 Schol.) 
 
 The Siege of Troy : — Carthage built — Mneas, 
 
 Hesiod — Homer. 
 
 Semiramis, 
 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 1st PERIOD. PROFANE. 
 
 776 
 753 
 747 
 
 609 
 606 
 595 
 
 The era of the Olympiads commences. 
 The era of Rome commences. Romulus. 
 The era of Nabonassar commences. 
 
 710. Numa. 
 
 ei'i, Tullus Hostilius. 
 
 640. Ancus Martins. 
 
 616. Tarquinins Priscus. 
 Senacherib, King of Assyria. (Herodotus.) 
 
 Psammeticus, King of Egypt. 
 
 1. The Babylonian Empire. 
 
 Necos, or Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt. 
 Nebuchadnezzar begins his reign in Babylon. 
 Apries, or Pharaoh Hophra, King of Egypt : — Is de- 
 feated by the Babylonians, or Chaldaeans. 
 
Years 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 about 
 588 
 
 555 
 
 538 
 
 536 
 
 298 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 6th PERIOD. SACRED. 
 
 The Hebrew Monarchy dissolved. 
 Nebuchadnezzar the Great. 
 
 Daniel — foretells the succession and fall, of the four 
 great and last empires of tlie earth: viz. 
 
 r Babylon. 
 
 ^Persia. 
 The Empires of \ ,, 
 
 ^ \ Macedon. 
 
 vRoME. 
 
 Evil-Merodach, or Belshazzar, succeeds to his father 
 Nebuchadnezzar : — last King of Babylon. 
 
 Babylon is taken by the Medes and Persians, under 
 Cyrus, as foretold by the prophets Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah. — Darius, the Mede, is made Vice-roy of 
 Babylon. 
 
 Daniel discerns the arrival of the period, foreshown for 
 the termination of the Captivity. '' 
 
 Cyrus, King of Persia, issues his royal decree for 
 rebuilding tlie Temple of Jerusalem, and for the 
 return of the Jews to their own land. 
 
 The Return of the Jews from the Captivity. 
 
Years 
 
 b->f(,re 
 
 Christ. 
 
 ^99 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 1st PERIOD. 
 
 588 
 570 
 
 566 
 564 
 562 
 560 
 554 
 
 551 
 548 
 544 
 
 I. The Babylonian Empire. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, called Labynites I. by Herodotus. 
 
 Aniasis, King of Egypt. — Servius Tullius, 6th King of 
 Rome, reigns 44 years. 
 
 Pisistratus, Tyrant of Athens. 
 
 Phalaris, Tyrant of Sicily. 
 
 Croesus, King of Lydia. — Solon, Legislator of Athens. 
 
 Cyrus, King of Persia and Media. 
 
 Anacharsis, the Scythian Traveller, returns home from 
 Greece. 
 
 Confucius, the Chinese Philosopher, born. 
 
 Cyrus conquers Lydia, and all Asia Minor. 
 
 Pherecydes the Syrian, Preceptor of Pythagoras. 
 
 Labynites II. last King of Babylon. 
 
 Cyrus conquers the Babylonians, and puts an end to, 
 The Chald^ean, or Babylonian Empire. 
 
 II. The Persian Empire. 
 
^>00 
 
 Years 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 536 
 
 521 
 458 
 445 
 
 332 
 312 
 
 170 
 
 166 
 
 7th PERIOD. 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 63 
 
 40 
 18 
 1. 
 
 Return of the Jews from the Captivity. 
 
 Zerubbabel, and Joshua, the High Priest, conduct 
 the Jews to Palestine : — they begin to restore the 
 Temple. 
 
 Haggai and Zechariah prophesy. 
 
 Ezra. 
 
 Nehemiah: — Malachi, the last prophet, foretells the 
 appearing of the Messiah in the New Temple. 
 
 Alexander, King of Macedon, enters Syria : — receives 
 the submission of the Jews. — Dies, 324. 
 
 Seleucus Nicanor renders himself master of Babylon, 
 and King of Syria : — Beginning of the Era of the 
 Seleucides, 
 
 The Hebrew Scriptures translated into Greek. 
 
 Jerusalem pillaged, and the nation persecuted, by 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, who defiles the Temple. 
 
 Judas Maccabeus, and his family : Their exploits, in 
 resistancie of Antiochus. 
 
 The Jews form alliances with the Romans and Lace- 
 demonians. 
 
 Jerusalem is taken by Pompey. — Julius Cirsar is greatly 
 esteemed by the Jews ; who incline to regard him as 
 the predicted Founder of the Fourth Empire. 
 
 Herod is made King of Judah by the Romans. 
 
 Herod rebuilds or embellishes the Temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 John, the Baptist, born, the prophetic Elias, or imme- 
 diate forerunner of the Messiah : — Judea taxed. 
 
 The Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 (Modern History commences.) 
 
SOI 
 
 536 
 524 
 522 
 509 
 497 
 480 
 
 442 
 4.'31 
 424 
 
 387 
 378 
 350 
 346 
 
 336 
 
 2d PERIOD. 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 II. The Persian Empire. 
 
 Cyrus, King or Emperor of Persia. — Pythagoras — Anacreon-* 
 Cambyses. — He conquers Egypt. — Pindar — ^llschylus. 
 
 Darius, son of Hystaspes. Ilarmodius and Aristogiton. 
 
 End of Kingly Government in Home. — Consular Government. 
 First Dictator appointed. — 49O Battle of Marathon. — Miltiades. 
 Xerxes passes the Hellespont : Wars of the Greeks and Persians. — 
 
 Leonidas — Aristides— Simonides — Democritus. 
 Herodotus, the most ancient surviving Heathen Historian. 
 The Pelopounesian War : it lasts 28 years. — Pericles. 
 Darius Nothus, or Ochus, King of Persia. — Alcibiades. 
 Socrates — Euripides — Sophocles — Hippocrates — ^Thucydides. 
 Artaxerxes MnemoH, King of Persia. — Cyrus the Younger. 
 Plato — Xenophon — Aristophanes — Critias — ^schines — Phaedo — 
 
 Crito — Ctesias. 
 The Gauls, under Brenuus, besiege Rome. — Camillus, Dictator. 
 
 Beginning of the intestine Wars in Greece. Eparaiuondas. 
 
 Philip, King of Macedon. — Demosthenes— Aristotle. 
 
 Philip is admitted into the Amphyctionic Council : His ascendancy 
 
 in Greece. — Menander — Philemon. 
 Philip is killed by Pausanias : Is succeeded by his son, Alexander. 
 Darius Codomanus, the last King of Persia, succeeds to Artax. 
 
 Ochus, sun of Mnemon. 
 
 264 
 218 
 149 
 111 
 70 
 
 60 
 50 
 54 
 
 46 
 43 
 
 III. The BIacedonian Empire. 
 
 3d PERIOD. PROFANE 
 
 Alexander, the Great, conquers Persia, and subverts its empire. 
 
 Spreads the arms and language of Greece in Asia. 
 
 Dies at Babylon. Ptolemy I. son of Lagus, King of Egypt. 
 
 Zeno — Euclid — Berosus — Manetho — Epicurus — Lycophron. 
 
 1st Punic War; lasts 23 years. — A poll. Rhodius — ^Theocritus. 
 
 2d Punic War; 17yrs. Hannibal. — Archimedes — Ennius — Plautus. 
 
 3d Punic War ; 3 years. Carthage destroyed by Scipio.~170. Terence. 
 
 .1 ugurthan War. — Metellus — Marius. 
 
 Tereiitius Varro, the most learned of the Romans, reforms the 
 
 Heathen Chronology. 
 The first Triumvirate ; Julius Cjcsar, Pompey, and Crassus. — Cato. 
 Cicero — Sallust — Virgil — ^TibuUus — Diodorus Sic. — Lucretius. 
 Julius Cjesar conquers Gaul — ^invades Britain : 49. His Civil War 
 
 with Pompey. 
 He reforms the Calendar : the Julian era begins. — Horace — Livy — 
 He is murdered, March 15. — Octavius succeeds to his power. 
 
 2d Triumvirate — Propertius — Maniliu? — Ovid — Hyginus. 
 A most splendid comet appeared, in the month of SEPTEMBER, 
 
 under the seven conspicuous stars of the Great Bear; to 
 
 which a temple was raised in Rome. — (Pliny.) 
 The Battle of ACTIUM : Octavius, now Augustus, sole EMrEROR oJ 
 
 the Greek and Roman World. 
 He taxes the whole empire. 
 
 IV. The Roman Emiire. 
 
 (Modern History commences.) 
 
302 
 
 Years 
 
 after 
 
 CHRIST. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 1st PERIOD. 
 
 RELIGIOUS. 
 
 1. 
 30 
 33 
 
 64 
 
 70 
 93 
 
 96 
 
 107 
 130 
 
 164 
 166 
 178 
 196 
 
 202 
 235 
 250 
 257 
 272 
 284 
 
 302 
 323 
 
 325 
 
 380 
 390 
 
 Birth, or First Advent, of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Jesus Christ enters upon His public ministry : is Baptized. Ap- 
 points his Twelve Apostles. 
 
 The fourth Passover celebrated by Christ : — He institutes the com- 
 memorative rite of his Last Supper. — His Crucifixion, Resurrec- 
 tion, and Ascension. — ^The descent of the H. Spirit. — St. Stephen — 
 St. Paul Converted, Apostolic Fathers ; Clement, Barnabas, 
 Hennas. 
 
 First Persecution, under Nero. St. Peter and St. Paul suffer mar- 
 tyrdom. 
 
 Jerusalem destroyed, according to the prediction of our Lord. 
 
 Second Persecution, under Domitian. — St. John, the Evangelist, 
 exiled to Patmos. 
 
 St. John is shown the Vision, of the Seven Imperial Heads, suc- 
 ceeded finally by an Imperial Carcase, of great, but transient., 
 power. 
 
 Third Persecution, imder Trajan. — St. Ignatius, Mart. 
 Aquila, a Christian convert from Judaism, translates the Old Testa- 
 ment into Greek. — As does Theodotion, in I76. 
 Fourth Persecution, under Marcus Aurelius. 
 St. Polycarp — 167. St. Justin — suffer martyrdom. 
 Ireneeus, Bishop of Lyons. — Heresy of Montanus. 
 Controversy, for fixing the day of Easter to Sunday. 
 
 Fifth Persecution, under Severus. — Clemens Alex. — Tertnllian. 
 Sixth Persecution, under Maximin. — ^Julius Africanus. 
 Seventh Persecution, under Decius. — Origen — Cyprian. 
 Eighth Persecution, under Valerian. — Heresy of SabelUus. 
 Ninth Persecution, under Aurelian. — Heresy of Manes. 
 Commencement of the Era of Dioclesian, or of tJie Martyrs, — ^Ar- 
 
 nobius. 
 Many distinguished Romans are converted about this time. 
 
 Origin of the Monastic life : a devotional retirement from perse- 
 cution, and the distractions of the Empire. St. Anthony, St. 
 Hilarion, &c. 
 
 Religious riles multiplied : — Altars used. — Pagan mysteries imitated. 
 
 Tenth Persecution, under Dioclesian. — Heresy of Arius. — St. Atha- 
 nasius. — Lactantius. 
 
 Christianity established in the Empire, by Constantinc the Great. — 
 Eusebius. 
 
 First General Council of Nice : Confirms the primitive Faith, and 
 condemns the errors and innovations of Arius. 
 
 About this time a mystical reverence began to be paid to the 
 Elements of the Eucharist.— Incense used. — Ecclesiastical orders 
 and ranks are multiplied. — St. Basil — St. Martin. 
 
 Saints, Ambrose — Gregory — Augustine — Chrysostom — PauUnus — 
 Jerom, 
 
 The Extinction of Paganism. 
 
303 
 
 11. 
 
 14 
 
 27 
 37 
 41 
 54 
 68 
 69 
 79 
 81 
 96 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 1st PERIOD. 
 
 IV. The Roman Empire. 
 
 Augustus Cxsar, Emperor. — ^2. Farthians defeated by Caius Caesar, 
 
 Augustus associates Tiberius in the Empire. 
 
 Augustus dies at Nola, Aug. 19, set. 76. — Strabo— Phaedrus. 
 
 Tiberius, Emperor, Val.Max.-Paterculus-Columella, 
 
 Pontius Pilate made Governor of Judca. — Ceisus. 
 
 Caius Caligula, Emperor. 
 
 Claudius, Emperor. Philo Judaeus — Seneca. 
 
 Nero, Emperor. Epictetus-Per9ius~Q.Curtiu8~Pliiiy. 
 
 Galba> Emperor. 
 
 Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Emps. 
 
 Titus, Emperor. 
 
 Domitian, Emperor. 
 
 N6rva, Emp. 
 
 Trajan, Emperor. 
 
 Lucan. 
 Josephus — Silius Ital. 
 Tacitus— Quintillian. 
 Juvenal—Martial.— Statius. 
 
 Plutarch— Suetonius— Florns. 
 
 Adrian, Emperor. Arrian— Aristides. 
 
 Antoninus, Emperor. Appian — ^Aulus Gellius. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius, L. Verus, Emps. Lucian — Maxim. Tyr. 
 
 Commodns, Emperor. Julius Pollux — DiogenesLaertius. 
 
 Pertinax, Emperor, Athenaeus — Solinus. 
 
 Sept. Severus, Emperor. Plotinus — Oppian. 
 
 Caracalla, Geta, Emperors. 
 Heliogabulus, Emperor. 
 Alex. Severus, Emperor. 
 Gordian III., Emperor. 
 Decius, Emperor. 
 Dioclesian, Emperor. 
 
 Ulpian — i£lian. 
 
 Dion Cassius — Ilerodian. 
 
 Ceusorinas. 
 
 Justin. 
 
 Longinus — Porphyry — Stobae 
 
 CONSTANTINE the Great, Emp,— lamblicus— Jul. Capitolinus— Vo- 
 
 piscus — Servius — Eutropius. 
 The seat of Empire removed from Rome to Constantinople. 
 Julian, Emperor, vainly attempts to rebuild the Temple of Jeru- 
 
 salem, in defiance of the Prophecy of Christ. 
 Valentinian and Valens, Emperor ; divide the Empire into West 
 
 and East. 
 Theodosius the Grfat, sole Emperor, reigns 16 years. 390. He 
 
 prohibits the Pagan Religion. The Empire divided between his 
 
 sons. 
 HoNORius, Emp. of the West, 395. Arcadius, Emp. 
 
 or of Rome. Final Establish, of the Greek, 
 
 or Second Head o/" Roman Emp. 
 
304 
 
 Years 
 
 after 
 
 Christ. 
 
 398 
 408 
 
 417 
 
 496 
 
 590 
 595 
 596 
 
 607 
 613 
 
 622 
 
 635 
 643 
 679 
 
 726 
 
 748 
 
 753 
 
 796 
 800 
 
 2d PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 RELIGIOUS. 
 
 Extinction of Paganism. 
 
 St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. 
 
 St. Jerom, translates and expounds the Scriptures at Bethlehem ; 
 wliere he died, 420, aet 80. 
 
 St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople. 
 
 1st Siege of Koine by the Goths. — 409, 2d Siege. — 410, 3d Siege and 
 Sack of Rome by the Goths, who respect the Christian Religion. 
 — Franks and Germans converted. 
 
 Heresy of Pelagins. — 429. Heresy of Nestoriui.— Orosius — Sulpitiuf 
 Severus, Christian Historians. 
 
 Leo I. or the Great, Bishop of Rome. — Cyril, Patriarch of Alex- 
 andria. — St. Patrick converts the Irish. 
 
 Heresy of Eutyches : condemned in the Council of Constantin. 
 
 Conversion of Clovis, King of the Franks. 
 
 St. Benedict founds the great Monastic Order of the Western 
 
 Church. 
 The Christian Era first proposed by Dionysius Exiguns, or the 
 
 Little. 
 Heresy of the Monothelites. — Female Convents multiply. — Heresy, 
 
 and Superstition, corrupt the Faith, and cause great disturbances 
 
 in the Church. — Jornandes — Procopius, Historians. 
 Gregory, the Great, or I. Bishop of Rome. — Isidorus, of Seville. — 
 
 Greg, of Tours. 
 John, Bishop of Constantinople, assumes the title of Universal 
 
 Bishop ; for which he is excommunicated by the Bp. of Rome. 
 Augustine, a Monk, preaches the Gospel in England ; — King Ethel- 
 
 bert converted : — Contest of the Greek and Latin Churches. 
 
 Boniface III. Bishop of Rome, obtains the title of Univei'sal Bishop 
 
 from the Emperor Phocas — Dedicates the Pantheon to All Saints. 
 Chosroes, K. of Persia, conq. Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Asia Minor. 
 Mahomet. — Beginning of the Mahometan Era of the Hegira. 
 The Saracens penetrate into Egypt; ravage Palestine, and take 
 
 Jerusalem. 
 Omar, Caliph of the Saracens, rebuilds the Temple of Jerusalem for 
 
 a Mosque; in which he is murdered. 
 Christianity spreads in Holland and Friesland. 
 In this century divine worship is paid to the Virgin Mary, and 
 
 Martyrs. — Idolatrous rites adapted to Christian Worship, 
 
 Contest between the Greek Emperor and the Bishop of Rome, or 
 
 Pope, concerning adt)ration to Image?. 
 The Christian Era begins to be used by writers of Hist. — ^V. Bede. 
 Pepin, King of France, gives the Exarchate of Ravenna to the 
 
 Bishop of Rome, Stephen II. 
 Ceremony of kissing the foot of the Roman Bishop introduced. — 
 
 Churches raised to Saints. — Masses for the dead. 
 Leo III. — renounces his allegiance to the Greek Emperor. — Alcuin. — 
 Leo anoints Charlemagne Emp. of the Romans, on Christmas-day. 
 
 The Rise of PoNTincAL Power. 
 
S05 
 
 2d PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 SECULAR, 
 
 First Head of Eoman 
 Em PI HE. 
 
 IIONORius, Emp. — Stilico. 
 
 The Vandals, and other north 
 ern nations, enter Gaul. 
 
 Rome taken by the Goth^, 
 under Alaric. 
 
 PJiavamond, 1st King of the 
 Franks. 
 
 The Vandals under Genseric. 
 
 The Saxons invade Britain. 
 
 Attila, the Hun, spreads his 
 armies in the West. 
 
 Pr. Arthur opposes the Saxon?. 
 
 AUGUSTULUS, LA5T EmP. 
 
 Odoacer, King of the Heruli; 
 takes possession of Koine 
 and Ravenna: — First Bar- 
 barian King of Italy. 
 
 ExTiNcnoN of the First 
 Head of Roman Empiue. 
 
 Clovis, establishes the Frencli 
 Monarchy in Gaul. 
 
 The Lombards wrest a great 
 part of Italy from the Greek 
 EmperorSj and found a ne^ 
 kingdom. — Alboin, King ol 
 the Lombards. 
 
 Pope Gregory the Hreat saves 
 Rome from the Lombards. 
 
 The seventh century is distin 
 gnished throughout by tlie 
 contests of the Greek Em- 
 perors wilh the Persians and 
 Saracens in the East, and 
 with the Lombards in the 
 West 
 
 The Saracens overturn tlie 
 
 kiugd.ofthe Goths in Spain. 
 Prosperity of -"pain under the 
 
 Saracens, or Moors. 
 Chjnles Marlel defeats the 
 
 Saracens in France. 
 Childeric III. last King of 
 
 France of the fii st race. 
 Pepin, declared King by the 
 
 States of France. 
 Charlemagne, King of France. 
 Battle of Koncevalle. 
 Charlemagne founds the 3d 
 
 or Frankish Head of Ro 
 
 MAN Empire. 
 
 450 
 457 
 474 
 
 50Q. 
 518 
 527 
 529 
 
 537 
 
 Second, or Greek Head of 
 
 Roman Empire. 
 Arcadius, Emp. 
 I'heodoslus' II. Emperor. 
 
 The Huns ravage Thrac \ 
 
 The Theodosian Code pub- 
 lished. 
 
 The Huns attack tbe East. Em- 
 pire, and occupy Hungary. 
 
 IMarcianus, Emperor. 
 
 Leo, the Thracian, Emperor. 
 
 Leo II. Zeno, Emperors. 
 
 The Persian War. 
 Ju'stin I. Emp. — Boeihins. 
 .FUSTINIAN, Emp. — Belisarins. 
 ?Ie publishes his Codex and 
 
 Digest. 
 Recovers Rome from the 
 
 Goths. 
 Puts an end to the Roman 
 
 Consulship. 
 Justin II. Emperor. 
 Exarchs of Ravenna first 
 
 created, as Governors of 
 
 Italy for the Gr. Emperors. 
 Maurice, Emperor. 
 Chosroes II. King of Persia. 
 
 Phocas, Em. He is put to d. by 
 
 Heraclius, Emperor. 
 
 Constantinople delivered firom 
 the Persians. 
 
 RLse of the Saracen, or Arab, 
 power in the East. 
 
 The Saracens burn the cele- 
 brated Library of Alexan- 
 dria. 
 
 The Saracens, having laid 
 waste a great pait of the 
 Eastern Einpire,attdck Con- 
 stantinople, and spre<id their 
 arms westward, into Spain. 
 
 Justinian II. Emperor. 
 
 Leo, the Isaurian, or Icono- 
 clast, Emperor, opposes the 
 worship of Imag0s, pro- 
 moted by the Bp. of Rome. 
 G. Syncellus. 
 
 Haroun El Raschid,;or tfie 
 Just, Caliph of theS|iracen3. 
 He sends magnificent pre- 
 sents to Charlemagnie. 
 
 X 
 
306 
 
 Years 
 
 after 
 
 Christ. 
 
 809 
 
 831 
 815 
 
 863 
 86 i 
 879 
 895 
 
 900 
 
 950 
 
 962 
 
 3cl PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 RELIGIOUS. 
 
 The Rise of PoNTinCAL Power. 
 
 Charlemagne convokes a Council at Aix-la-Chapelle : — He protects 
 
 the Church, and exalts the See of Rome. 
 This Imperial reign is not more distinguished by the renewal of the 
 
 Roman Empire in the West, than by the attention paid to the 
 
 learning of the age. Charlemagne, by the aid of Alcuin, founds a 
 
 school at Paris, which is generally resorted to. 
 
 Theophilus, Gr. Emp. prohibits the worship of Images in his Empire. 
 
 Rabanus Maurus, Abbot of Fulda, Archbishop of Mentz : a cele- 
 brated disciple of Alcuin. 
 
 At this time, history makes mention of a female having been raised 
 to the papacy, under the name of Pope Joan: the trutli of which 
 traiition, though now generally discredited, was nevertheless a 
 subject of active controversy. 
 
 Photius, the learned Patriarch of Constantinople. 
 
 Conversion of Russia, and Bulgaria, to the Greek Church. 
 
 Final separation of the Eastern and Western Churches. 
 
 Alfred, King of England, founds the University of Oxford: en- 
 courages learning, by his own example. 
 
 In this, and the following century, Chiistianlty is widely spread 
 among the Swedes, Danes, Saxons, Huns, Bohemians, Moravians, 
 Sclavonians, Poles, and into India. 
 
 This age is styled the Age of Ignorance ; yet the papal doctrines, of 
 Transubstantiation, the worship of Images, Saints, and the Cross, 
 and the Celibacy of the Clergy, are continually opposed, although 
 maintained by the power of the Popes; who persecute and con- 
 demn all their opponents, as Heretics. The power of the Pontiff 
 progressively increases. In this, and tlie preceding century, the 
 Decretals are forged, to give authority to the papal usurp tions : — 
 The Legends of the Saints are fabricated : — Sainfs are canonized : 
 — The Festival of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is intro- 
 duced, &c. 
 
 High power ncquircd by tlie Monks in England :— 
 
 Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury ; afterwards Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. — Celibacy of the Clergy enforced in England. 
 
 The influence of the Religious Orders increases. 
 The Emperors are gradually divested of their authority by the Popes. 
 John XII. crowns Otho, King of Germany, Emperor of Rome. 
 Foundation of the Papal Sovereignty. 
 
£07 
 
 fiC7 
 
 838 
 
 840 
 845 
 855 
 8t)5 
 
 872 
 875 
 881 
 
 838 
 899 
 901 
 
 012 
 917 
 gi'S 
 
 941 
 946 
 955 
 959 
 
 962 
 
 3(1 PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 3d, or Frankish Head oj 
 Roman Emiihe. 
 
 Charlemaone, Em p.— is ac- 
 knowledpjed Augustus by 
 ^ icephuras. 
 
 Cliaileiiiatjne die? ; is suc- 
 ceeded by his son, Lewis, 
 Emperor. 
 
 Egbert, first King of all Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The Picts, conquered by Ken- 
 net!), King of Scotland. 
 
 Loiharins, Emperor. 
 
 The Nornrans enter France. 
 
 Lewis 11. Emperor. 
 
 Saracens enter Italy ; are re- 
 pulsed by Lewis. 
 
 The Danes invade England. 
 
 Ethelred, King of England. 
 
 Alfred, King of England. 
 
 Charles the Jiald, Emperor. 
 
 Charles Le Gros, Emperor. — 
 The Western Empire di- 
 vided into five Kingdoms. 
 
 Arnolph, Em|)eror. 
 
 Lcrtis IV. Emperor. 
 
 Edward the Elder, K. of E. 
 
 The ^'ormans establish them- 
 selves in France. 
 
 The Huns ravage the W. Emp. 
 
 Atholslan, King of England. 
 
 DefeaLs the Scols, Welsh, and 
 Danes. 
 
 Extinction of the Frankish, 
 
 or 2d IltAD of JiOMAN 
 
 Emiire. 
 
 Edmund, King of England. 
 Edred, King of England. 
 Edwy, King of England. 
 Edgar, King of England. 
 
 OtiioT. or tiieGrfat, erects 
 the Fourth, or Germanic 
 Head of' Homah Empire. 
 
 886 
 
 912 
 
 919 
 
 936 
 
 Continuation ofQ.d, w Grfer 
 Head o/IIoman Empire. 
 
 Irene, Empress. — 
 
 Kicephoras, Emperor. 
 
 The Saracens, under Alma 
 mon, greatly encourage 
 learning. 
 
 Constantinople besieged by 
 the Saracens. 
 
 Tlieophilus, Emp. 
 
 Origin of the Russian Mo- 
 narchy. 
 
 Michael III. Emperor. 
 
 Hasil I. Macedonian Emp. 
 
 He combats the Saracens in 
 the East, and assists the 
 Emp. Lewis in the West: — 
 Compiles the Basilic Code 
 of Laws. 
 
 Leo VI. the rhilosopher,Einp. 
 
 John Malala. 
 
 Constantine VII. Porphyro- 
 genitus, Emperor. He en- 
 courages learning and the 
 arts. 
 
 Romanus I. Emperor. 
 
 The Saracen empire divided. 
 
 Constantine is poisoned by his 
 son, 
 
 Romanus II. Emp. — Who is 
 succeeded by his General, 
 
 Kicephoras II. Emperor. 
 
 .loJm Zimisces, Emp. He as- 
 sociates in the empire Basil 
 II. and Constantine IX., 
 sons of Romanus II. 
 
308 
 
 1073 
 1076 
 1084 
 1096 
 1099 
 
 1100 
 1106 
 
 iis-z 
 
 1141 
 1147 
 1153 
 1178 
 
 1188 
 1203 
 1226 
 1248 
 1253 
 1256 
 1268 
 1272 
 
 1310 
 1346 
 1365 
 1362 
 
 1378] 
 
 1418 j 
 
 1407 
 
 1414 
 
 145C 
 1480 
 1500 
 
 1513 
 1519 
 
 4th PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 RToLIGTCUS. 
 
 The Foundation of the Papal Sovereignty. 
 
 Otho, confirms to the See of Rome the donations of Pepin and 
 Charlemagne. 
 
 Concordate between Gregot^Y V. and Otho III. uniting the Crowns 
 of Rome and Germany for ever. 
 
 The Saracens ravage Jerusalem. 
 
 The Pope, now crowned for the first time. 
 
 Schism of the Greek ai d Latin Churches. — ^The Pope excommu- 
 nicates the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Grtrtlis.— Edward 
 the Confessor, King of England. 
 
 Hildebrand, Gregory VII., exalts the Papacy above the Empire. 
 
 Submission of the Emperor, lit nry IV., to Gregory. 
 
 St. Bruno founds the Order of Carthusians. 
 
 First Ciiizade. — Godfrey of Bouillon. — Urban IT. 
 
 Jerusalem taken from the Saracens : — Is erected into a kingdom : — 
 The Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem instituted. 
 
 Incorporation of the University of Paris, 
 
 Contest in Eng. concerning the Investiture of Bishops. — St. Anselm. 
 First General Lateran Council ; for the Recovery of the Holy Land. 
 Abelard — St. Bernard — Peter Lombard, Master of the Sentences. 
 
 Second Cruzade. ll64. Council of Clarendon. — ^Iho. iv Becket. 
 
 Party of the Guelfs and Gibbclinc:;. — Univ. of Cambridge f. 
 
 The Pope, Alexander III., sends a Legate into Tartary to Prester 
 
 .John. — Benj. of Tudela. — IMaimonides. 
 Third Cruzade. — ^.Jerusalem taken by Saladin, 
 
 Fourth Cruzade — 1204. The Inquisition founded by St. Dominic. 
 Persecution of the Albigenses, or early Reformers. — Univ. of Padua f. 
 The Fifth Cruzade. — St. Lewis departs for the Holy Land. 
 The University of tlie Sorbonne founded. — Mat. Paris. — Albert M. 
 Thomas Aquinas. — Roger Bacon. 
 
 Loss of the Holy Land by the Christians. — Antioch taken. 
 Foundation of the Academy of Florence. — Many similar Societies 
 formed about this time. — Raymond Lully. 
 
 Dante. — 1340. Petrarch — Boccacio — Chaucer. 
 
 Foundation of the Univ. of Valladolid. — 1348. Univ. of Prague. 
 
 Univ. of Vienna and Geneva founded. — 87, of Sienna, and Cologne. 
 
 Wicklitf exposes the Church of Rome ; and prepares the Reforma- 
 tion. — His disciples are denominated Lollards, and suffer severe 
 persecution. — He translates the Holy Scriptures into English. 
 
 Great Schism of the Western Church ; two Popes claiming the papal 
 dignity, and being severally abetted by different Powers. 
 
 John Ilnss preaches the Reformation of the Church, in Bohemia 
 The Council of Constance — condemns the doctrines of Wickliff, 
 
 John Huss, and Jerom of Prague ; and causes the two latter to be 
 
 burnt alive. 
 
 Last Coionaiion of an Emperor in Rome — Frederick III. Emperor. 
 The Inquisition established in Spain, under Ferdinand and Isabella. 
 The Popes acquire the absolute Dominion of Ro3iE. — Machiave'l. 
 Leo X. — Erasmus-F. Ximenes-Poggio-Lewis Vives-Reuchlin, &c. 
 Luther, opposes the scandalous abuse of Indulgences. 
 
 The Revival of Letters, and Reformation. 
 
309 
 
 975 
 987 
 
 1002 
 1017 
 105() 
 
 lot)6 
 1087 
 
 1106 
 
 1135 
 
 1152 
 115i 
 
 1189 
 1216 
 
 1226 
 1271 
 
 1273 
 
 1282 
 1283 
 
 1302 
 1307 
 1327 
 
 1338 
 1350 
 1355 
 1377 
 1399 
 
 1413 
 1422 
 
 I4t0 
 1461 
 
 1471 
 1433 
 
 5tll PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 SECULAR. 
 
 Fourth, or Gkrmanic Head 
 
 oj Roman Emfirk. 
 Otiio, Emp. of the Romans. 
 Edward, the Mart. King of E. 
 Hugh Ctpet, Kg. of Fr. : foun- 
 der of the third and last race. 
 Henry II. D. of liavaria, Emp. 
 Canute, the Dane, K. of Eng. 
 Henry IV. Emperor. 
 Wiiliara, of Normandy, King 
 
 of Eng. conquers Harold. 
 Williaiu 1 1. King of England. 
 Philip I. King of France, 
 llp.nry J. King of England. — 
 
 Lewis VI. le Gro?, K. of Fr. 
 Henry V. Emperor. 
 Stephen, King of England. — 
 
 Lewis VII. King of France. 
 Frederick Barbarossa, Emp. 
 lienry II. King of England. — 
 
 Phil. Aug. Kxwf of France. 
 Richard I. King of England. — 
 John, Kg. of E.-Magna Charta. 
 Henry HI. King of England. — 
 
 Lewis VIll. King of France. 
 St. Lewis IX. King of France. 
 Edward I. King of England. — 
 
 Philip III. IV. Kings of Fr. 
 Rodolph,of Ilapsburgh, Emp. 
 
 -the first of the Aiist. family. 
 The Sicilian Vespers. 
 Wales conq. — united to Eng. 
 The Mariners' Compass inv. 
 Edward II. King of England. 
 Edward III, King of Eng — 
 
 28. Phil, de Valois, K. of F. 
 Gunpowder invented in Germ. 
 Order of the Garter instituted. 
 Charles VI. Emp.-Gold. Bull, 
 .'{ichard II. King of England. 
 Henry IV. Kg. of England — 
 
 Charles VI. King of France. 
 Henry V. King of England. 
 Henry VI. King of England. — 
 
 Charles Vll. Kg. of France. 
 The Art of Printing invented. 
 Edward IV. K. of England. — 
 
 Lewis XI. King of France. 
 Lorenzo di Medici. 
 Edward V. Kg. of England. — 
 lUchard HI. iving. 
 Henry VII. Kg. of England. — 
 
 Vasco di Gama. — Columbus, 
 
 1025 
 102, 
 1034 
 104j 
 
 106; 
 108 1 
 I09i» 
 
 lili. 
 1 143 
 
 1130 
 1135 
 120i 
 
 1206 
 
 1223 
 1255 
 1^59 
 1260 
 1282 
 
 1299 
 
 1309 
 
 1321 
 
 1341 
 1370 
 
 1387 
 
 1391 
 
 14J2 
 
 1421 
 1444 
 14-13 
 
 Continuation oJ 2d or Gkeek 
 HtAD <)/■ Roman Empkie. 
 979 Suidas 
 
 Constantine IX. Emperor. 
 
 Ilomanus III. Argyrus, Emp. 
 
 .Michael IV. Emperor. 
 
 Michael V. Emp. — Zoe and 
 Theodora. 
 
 viichael VII. Emp.— Eudoxia. 
 
 Alexis Comnenns, Emperor 
 
 The Cruzaders, having taken 
 Jerusalem, make Godfrey K. 
 
 John Comnenus, Emperor. 
 
 Zouaras. 
 
 Manuel Coran., Emperor. 
 1160. Johnand Js, Tzetzes. 
 
 Alexis II. Emperor. — 1179. 
 Const. JMauasses. 
 
 Isaac Aug. Emp.— 1184. Win. 
 of Tyre. 
 
 Greek Empire divided wiih 
 the Franks.— Baldwin, Isi 
 Fr. Emp. — I'heodore Las- 
 caris, Gr. Emp. 
 
 Gengis Khan, founds the Mo- 
 gul Empire. 
 
 Baldwin II. last Fr. Emp. 
 
 Theodore Lascaris II. Emp. — 
 
 John Lascaris, Emp. 
 
 Michael Paleologus, Emp. 
 
 Andronicus I. Emp. — 1284. 
 Abulfaragius. 
 
 Ottoman, Founder of the pre- 
 sent Turkish Empire. 
 
 The Knights of St. John of 
 Jerusalem occupy Rhodes. 
 
 Abulfeda, f rince of Syria, the 
 great Arabian Geographer. ; 
 
 John Paleologus, Emperor. 
 
 llie Turks first enter Europe^ 
 under Amurath I. , 
 
 Bajazet, his son invests Con- 
 stantinople. I 
 
 Manuel Paleul. Emp. ' 
 
 Tamerlane, the Mogul, defeats 
 Bajazet 
 
 Amurath II. invests Constant! 
 
 Scanderbeg, defends Albania. 
 
 Constantine PALEOLoausi 
 LAST Emp. 
 
 Constantinople taken by Ma- 
 HOMIT U. 
 
 ExjiNCnoN of the Second, oi- 
 Gk. Head of Roman Emp. 
 
510 
 
 Years 
 
 after 
 
 >::hrist. 
 
 1519 
 1529 
 
 1535 
 1547 
 1549 
 
 1553 
 1558 
 
 1572 
 1582 
 
 1590 
 
 JW)5 
 
 1610 
 
 1645 
 
 1619 
 1660 
 
 1663 
 1688 
 
 1752 
 
 1769 
 17B9 
 
 5th PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 RELIGIOUS 
 
 The Revival of Letters, and Reformation. 
 
 Lnther-Melancthon-Bucer--Znin£tlins--aicolampadins--Calvin, &c. 
 
 The name oi Protestant, first used in the Diet of Spires. — 1530. Con- 
 fession of Angsburg. — 1531. League of Smalkalde. 
 
 Order of Jesuits founded, b}^ St. Ignatius Loyala. 
 
 The llefornialion established in England, under King Edward VI. 
 
 The Council of Trent: efforts of the Churqh of liome to consolidate 
 its remaining power. — Polyd. Virgil — Copernicus — ^.Jnl. Scaliger. 
 
 Temporai*y revival of Popery in England, under Queen Mary. 
 
 Final overthrow of Popery in England, under Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Puritans, or Calvinistic Protestants, first appear in England. 
 
 Massacre of Fr. Protestants ; St. Barthol. — lieresy of F. & L. Socinus. 
 
 Pope Gregory Xlff. corrects the CALENDAR. — Joseph Scaliger — 
 Tycho Brahe — ^Torquatus Tasso. 
 
 F. Bacon, Ld. Vernlam — Father Paul Sarpi— Thuanus, or de Thou— 
 Casaubon, &c. 
 
 Conspiracy of the Popish party in England, Nov. 5 — Guido Fawkes. 
 
 The Synod of JDort, against Arminius. — Joseph Mede — Buxtorf. 
 
 Galileo— Grot ins — Des Cartes— Gassendi — Bochart — Br. Walton — 
 Marsham, &c. 
 
 The Peace of Westphalia, or Munster, between the Protestant and 
 Roman Catholic States; confirming the privileges of the former. 
 
 The Church and State of England subverted. — Milton — Selden. 
 
 The Church and Stateof England restored. — Religion, Learning, and 
 Science, flourish eminently in Brit. — ^The Royal Society founded. 
 
 Robert Boyle — Isaac Barrow — Bishop Pearson, &c. 
 
 The R. Academy of Inscriptions: — 1666. The R. Acad, of Sciences : 
 established at Paris. — l6ai. W. Penn, founds Pennsylvan'a. 
 
 Bishop Burnet — Locke — Archbishop Tillotson—Prideaux — Bossuet— 
 Fenelon — Bishop Sherlock — Bishop Bull — Hyde — Ray— Putfen- 
 dorf— Ilerbelot— Bayle, &c. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton — Leibnitz — ^^Vallis — Halley — Flamsteatf — Cassini. 
 
 A spirit of sophistry, metaphysical scepticism, and active infidelity, 
 distinguishes the beginning and progress of this century, and pre- 
 pares liie way for the calamities wliich have so awfully characte- 
 rised its conclusion. — The names of Addison, I'lurier, Leland, 
 Johnson, BeaUie, &c. are consecrated by iheir opposition to 
 the impieties of Ilobbes, Ilnme, Voltaire, Gibbon, &;c. 
 
 The Calendar is corrected in England, and the Old, or Julian Style, 
 changed for fhe Gregorian. 
 
 Pope Clement XIV., Ganganelli, suppresses tlie Order of the Jesuits. 
 
 The moral and intellectual disorder of this century at length pro- 
 duces H GiNiRAL Revolution IN CiinisiFNcoM. 
 
 The Gallican Church subverted. — Monastic orders suppressed. — Civil 
 and religious licentiousness, propagated in Europe. — Anc. Crowns 
 and States extinguished. — New Crowns and Kingdoms erected. 
 
 Pope Fius VII. consecrates Napoleon Buonaparte Ejnperor of 
 Iranve, at Paris; with whom he enters into a Concordate, for^ 
 regulating the Church of France. 
 
 The City and Principality of Rome is annexed by Napoleon to the 
 FRENCH EMPIliE. 
 
 The Extinction of tiie Papal Sovereignty. 
 
 NAPOLEON, having imprisoned Pope IMus VII., convokes a Ge- 
 neral CouncU ofJhe Prelates Df his Empire, but is jdisappointed ot 
 his purpose. 
 
Sll 
 
 5th PERIOD. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Continuation of the Fourth, 
 or Germanic Head of Ro- 
 MAN Empire. 
 
 Extinction of the Second, 
 or Greek Head of Roman 
 Empire. 
 
 Soliman IT. takes the Isle of 
 Rhodes from the Knights 
 of St. John of Jerusalem ; 
 who receive the Island of 
 Malta from the Emperor, 
 Charles V. 
 
 The Turks take the Island of 
 Cyprus, 
 
 Henry VIII. Kg. of England. i522 
 
 -Sir Tho. More. — Wolsey. 
 Charles V. Emp.— 1513. Fran- 
 cis I. King of France. 
 Edward VI King of England. 
 ■Mary I. Queen of England. 
 Elizabeth, O. of E.-^Spencer, "^ 1571 
 Ferdinand 1. Emp. Sidney, 
 Maxirail. II. E. Shakspeare, ^ 
 The defeat of the Invincihle Armada', of Philip II. King of Spain.- 
 
 Sir Francis Drake. — 1600. East India Company incorporated. 
 Henry IV. King of France. — First of the House of Bourbon. — Sally. 
 Henry IV. embraces the Romish Faith. — Mayenne-Conde -Coligny. 
 The Edict of Nantes, in favour of the Protestants of France. 
 Tames I. King of England and Scotland. — Buckingham — Raleigh. 
 Lewis XI 11. King of France. — Richelieu. 
 
 Beginning of the 30 Yrs. War, concluded by the Peace of Westphalia. 
 Charles I. King of England and Scotland.— Beheaded l649.— Straf- 
 ford — Archbishop Laud — Falkland — Hampden. 
 Lewis XIV. Kg. of Fr. — Mazarin — Turenne. — Edict of Nantes rev. 
 (Cromwell.) — Estab. of the Naval pre-em. of Eng. by the victories of 
 Leopold I. E. [Blake-Monk-Deane-Penn-Lawson-^ver the Dutch. 
 Charles II. Kg. of Eng. and Scot, restored. — Clarendon — Ormoud — 
 
 Sir W. Temple. 
 James II. King of Eng. and Scot. — abdicates the Crown, l688. 
 William III. (P.of Orange) and Mary II. K. and Q. of E.— Ld.Somers. 
 Peter the Great, Czar of Moscovy. — Charles XII. King of Sweden. 
 Anne, Queen of Great Britain. — Union of England and Scotland. 
 The Peace of Utrecht. — Marlborough — Addison. 
 George I. Elector of Hanover, Arch-Treasurer of THE Roman Em- 
 George II. King of Great Britain, [pire, ascends the British throne. 
 The I'eace of Aix laChnpelle. — Frederic III. King of Prussia. 
 George III. King of Great Britain, &c. begins his long, glorious. 
 The Peace of I'aris. — 1774. Lewis XVI. [and exemplary reign. 
 
 The Peace of Versailles, between Great Britain, France, Spain, 
 
 Holland, and the United .States of America. 
 The Revolution of FRANCF.-Beginning of the miseries of the kingd. 
 Lewis XVI. King of France, his Queen, and Sister, beheaded. — End 
 War with the new State of France. [of the ancient Sovereignty. 
 
 Union of Great Britain and Ireland. — Rt. Hon. William Pitt. 
 The experimental Peace of Amiens. — Height of the Naval and 
 
 Asiatic Empire of Great Britain. — Admiral Lord Nelson.. 
 Failure of that Peace, and renewal of the War. — Malt.i annexed to 
 
 the dominions of Great Britain. — 1806. Rt. Hon. C.J. Fox. 
 
 FRANas II. the last Emp.— Fall and Extinction (f the 4th, 
 
 or Germanic Head q/' Roman Empire, and title <>/" Augustus. 
 
 THE FRENCH EMP.— NAPOLLON, Emp. and K. of Italy ySfC. 
 
 A most splendid Comet appeared, in the ra. of Sept., under the seven 
 
 conspicuous stars of the Great Bear; singularly answering, in 
 
 timp and configuration, to that seen 43 yrs. bef. the B. of Christ. 
 
 H.R.H.Ge0RGE,Pr.Reg., assumes the full Sovereignty of this Realm. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
Printed by J. Moyes, GreviJIe Street, London. 
 
THE 
 
 PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 GOGUE, 
 
 THE LAST TYRANT OF THE CHURCH, 
 HIS INVASION OF 
 
 ROS^ 
 
 HIS DISCOMFITURE, AND FINAL FALL; 
 
 EXAMINED, 
 
 AND 
 
 IN PAJa*dbLittS«8jVTED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREKT, 
 
'' BEHOLD, IT IS COME AND IT IS DONE, SMTH TlIK 
 LORD GOD : THIS IS THE DAY WHEREOF 1 IIAVK 
 
 SPOKEN ! " Ezek, xxxix. 8* 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Tage 
 Preface. vi 
 
 Defence of " The Christian's Survey." xvi 
 
 Preliminary Illustration. 
 
 The Subject introduced. 2 
 
 Sect, I. Title, or Address, of the Prophecy ascer- 
 tained. 14 
 II. Ros, Mosc, and Tobl — Russia, Moscow, 
 
 and Tobolbki, or Siberia, 18 
 
 III. *«tt^J, Cloud, not Prince. ft4t 
 
 IV. ^ Magogue and Gomer, 
 
 V. S the Franks and Gauls. 35, 46 
 
 VI. GoGu E, elected Ruler of the Franks. 51 
 
 Vlt. The Geography of the Prophecy. 69 
 
 VIII. Prophetic signification of Jerusalem and 
 
 Israel. 72 
 
 The Prophecy of Ezekiel. 81 
 
 Notes and Illustrations. 
 
 Chap, xxxviii. 91 
 
 Chap, xxxix. 133 
 
 The Conclusion. 159 
 
lERRATA. 
 
 Page 9, line 19, for designed read designated. 
 
 .- 10, 12, — loosened loosed. 
 
 45, . 9, — But, &c. V. But, &c. 
 
 63^ 6, — beheld beheld. 
 
1> RE FACE. 
 
 K)f the Sacred Prophecies, part relate to the 
 separate concerns of particular nations, and part to 
 the common interests of the whole human race. 
 The latter, "which comprise the most momentous 
 of the Prophecies, respect that great result and 
 ET^D of this created world, the intervention and 
 visible revelation of the Son of God, as its Master, 
 and manifested Governor. 
 
 These latter Prophecies subdivide themselves 
 into two distinct classes ; viz. those which foretold 
 the^r^f appearance of Christ upon the earth ; and 
 those which foretell His second and final appearing. 
 All of these, besides the general design of opening 
 and instructing the prospects of the generations 
 of men in their order and succession, had always 
 anoth<3r, and an especial purpose ; that of prepar- 
 b 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 ing the particular generations, which should be 
 contemporary with those two several events, for 
 their final and actual occurrence. 
 
 Those prophecies which were ordained to pre- 
 pare the generation that witnessed our Lord^sjirsi 
 manifestation, fully answered their appointed end, 
 " For several years before th« birth of Christ, 
 " (observes Dean Prideaux*,) not only Simeon 
 " and Anna the prophetess, but the whole Jewish 
 " nation, were in earnest expectation of 11 is coni- 
 ** ing, and of the redemption of Israel by Him. 
 " And this not only the history of the Gospel in 
 " many places tells us, but Josephus, the Jewish 
 " historian, doth also attest the same : for he tells 
 " us, that the expectation which the Jews, for some 
 " years before the destruction of Jerusalem, had 
 " of the arising of a Great King from among them, 
 <' who should have the empire of the whole worhd, 
 " was the true cause which then excited them ta 
 
 * Coiinexwn of theOldancl New Testament, L. ix. P, «, c. 9, 
 
'^^ that war against the Romans, in which that city, 
 
 " and the temple in it, were utterly destroyed : 
 
 " and Suetonius saith the sanae thing» The Pro* 
 
 " phecks of Daniel and oUier Prophets of the 
 
 ■V Old Testament having not only spoken of 
 
 " the righteousness, glory, and bliss of the 
 
 " kingdom of the Messiah, but determined Hi« 
 
 " appearance to the very time when it happened, 
 
 " gave just reason for this expectation; and foi^ 
 
 *' EIGHTY YEARS before Christ's birth, the whol« 
 
 " house of Israel were big thereof: for so long 
 
 " Anna the Prophetess, being actuated by it, had 
 
 " attended at the Temple in fasting and prayer to 
 
 " wait His appearance. And, thei-efore, for so 
 
 ** long a time these Prophecies, and the received 
 
 ** interpretations of them, being much talked of 
 
 ** through all Judea with a view to the speedy 
 
 " completion of them, especially after Ponipey 
 
 " had subjected that country to the Roman yoke, 
 
 " the same expectations of their being speedily 
 
 ** accompliijhed, became diffused to all the Jewi 
 
vm PREFACE. 
 
 ^ of the dispersion, wherever they were all the 
 '^ world over ; and great numbers of them being 
 ^* settled at Rome, and in the cities of Greece 
 '^ and the lesser Asia, as well as in other parts 
 " of the world, they there frequently spoke among 
 " their heathen neighbours of these Prophecies, 
 " and the expectations they then had of their speedy 
 " completion. — And from hence most of those 
 " Prophecies among the heathens, which in the 
 ^^ times above mentioned predicted the coming of 
 " a Great King out of Judea, who should in 
 " great power and glory reign over the whole 
 " world, seem chiefly to have had their original: 
 " for this notion the Jews then had of the Messiah, 
 " and it still continues among them *." And we 
 know that the most pious members of the Hebrew 
 nation, at the very time when our Lord was born 
 iuto the world, were anxiously ^Hooking for redemp-* 
 
 * See Observations, in Ilhistralion of Virgirs Fourth Eclogue^ 
 .cU. vii. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 ** tion in Jerusalem/* and " waiting for the consolation 
 " of Israel" through the accomplishment of the 
 Prophecies which had foretold his appearance. 
 
 " j1 long time,*' however, was to elapse between 
 that first apfpearing of our Lord, to found His 
 Church, and His second and final appearing, to 
 bring it to its conclusion upon Earth ; and conse- 
 quently, between the generation that witnessed the 
 fulfilment of the Jirst class of those Prophecies, 
 and the generation which should witness the 
 accomplishment of ih^ second class: — between those 
 persons " xchose eyes then saw that salvation"^; " and 
 those who should ultimately " look up, and see their 
 -' redemption drawing nigh f.-' 
 
 This " long time'' of interral was emphatically 
 declared by our Lord Himself, in a parable admi- 
 rably calculated to convey to mankind a clear and 
 familiar notion of the general Scheme and Nature 
 of His NEW dispensation!. But what was^ 
 
 * Luke, ii. 30. t lb. xxi. 28. 
 
 t Matt. XXV. 19. 
 
X PREFACE^ 
 
 signified 01' implied to us by "« long tmef^*OVy 
 how were we to understand the characters of /ow^ 
 or short, with reference to the dvration of this 
 present dispensation ? 
 
 To satisfy this most natural and reasonable 
 inquiry, we are supplied with the only rule for 
 judgment which the case can receive ; yet it is a 
 rule pregnant with the most weighty instruction : 
 viz. the entire measure ofon^E dispensation of God in 
 the affair of Religion, By this rule our reason is, not 
 only authorized, but directed to form a probable, 
 that is the best J judgment, of what is long, or short, 
 with respect to the measure of God's dispensations of 
 Religion to man. The dispensation of the Law, 
 which immediately preceded this under which we 
 now subsist, continued about 1 500 years, from first 
 to last ; at the conclusion of which measure of time 
 it was pronounced by the Holy Spiuit to be 
 antiquated, and ending through age *. Since that 
 
 * Ev TOO Xsysiv xaivrjv, mimakaioiKi t«v 'ss-^ajrrjV to 3'6 TrakcuafAmf 
 nai yn^A^-Koy, iyfvg ci<})av{«r^tf, — ** In pronouncing the latter (dis- 
 
PREFACE, XI 
 
 period, the dispensation of the Gospel has sub- 
 sisted above 1800 years. If, therefore, we had no 
 other indication whereby to form a probable judg- 
 ment of the present age of the Christian dispensation, 
 we ought, upon every principle of sound reason 
 and moral evidence, (such as we are enjoined by 
 our Lord always to use,) to entertain a very strong 
 suspicion, that the Christian dispensation must 
 now have lasted nearly the whole compass of time 
 for which it was originally decreed. This, I say, 
 would, be the just and unavoidable hypothesis of 
 reason, if we exercised the same vigilance and 
 fidelity of reason in matters of revelation, that we 
 use in the affairs of common life. For we are 
 positively put in possession of the rule of time, 
 observed by Almighty God upon a former parallel 
 occasion ; and, as we have no authority whatever 
 for assuming -or supposing that this rule will be 
 
 " pensation) New, he declared the former to be Old ; now, 
 " that which is old and aged, is on the eve of disappearing,* 
 Ilcb. viii. 13. 
 
Xll yREFACE^. 
 
 materially departed from in the occasion which is 
 now before us, the induction which reason is bound 
 to draw is this ; that it is probable a general pro- 
 portion holds between the two occasions* ', and 
 consequently, as the latter has already reached, and 
 .somewhat exceeded, the rule or measure of the 
 former, that an increased probability thence arises, 
 that it has advanced exceedingly near to its ter- 
 mination. 
 
 $%iV*W!e are not left to the method of general 
 Inference alone, on this momentous question. The 
 prophecies, which were provided to warn and 
 prepare the generation that should be coetaneous 
 with the conclusion of the Christian dispensation, 
 abound with indications so minute and particular, 
 and so plainly connected in all their course and 
 order, as to show to all Christians of the present 
 day, who apply their attention to the subject with 
 
 * This argument I purpose to consider more at large ou .» 
 future occa«iou. 
 
PREFACE. XIH 
 
 a concern and earnestness proportioned to the mag- 
 nitude of its importance, that events have occurred, 
 and are now under actual occurrence^ which dis- 
 tinctly testify, that the period of time, in which we 
 are now living, is that of the closing and winding 
 up of this present dispensation. If the Hebrew 
 people were moved by an unceasing and increas- 
 ing persuasion of the commencement of the 
 Messiah's kingdom, for eighty years before He 
 first appeared ;. Christians, for more than two 
 centuries past, have been moved by a persuasion 
 equally constant, and as continually increasing, 
 that the period of that Messiah's concealment of 
 His Divine Person from His Church, was 
 drawing towards its end ; and that a revolution 
 of the universe, no less than that to be produced 
 by His second coming, was impending over the 
 world. 
 
 But we, of this present generation, have 
 attained a period, when all who proportionately 
 address their minds to the occasion; are compelled^ 
 
XiV PREFACE. 
 
 to receive a complete and settled conviction, that 
 this stupendous fact is certified and confirmed, 
 by all the demonstration that can be supplied 
 from the experimental occurrence of the circumstances 
 divinely foretold to attest it. The visitations which 
 have befallen most of the principal agencies whose 
 operations fill up the annals of the Christian world, 
 from the time of the general establishment of the 
 Gospel upon the pagan ruins of Rome, have mark- 
 ed out a period of consummation and fulfilment 
 too manifest to be either overlooked or misunder- 
 stood. And the peculiar character of the circum- 
 stances producing and accompanying those visita- 
 tions, displays so exact and entire a correspond- 
 ence with ihe prophetical notices imparted ; that it 
 needs only to survey them with alacrity of reason 
 and reverence of faith, to yield ourselves unre- 
 servedly to their authority. 
 
 To draw the attention and concern of the present 
 generation to this momentous truth, in a clear yet 
 compendious manner, was the intention of the 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 Manual, entitled, " A Christian's Survey of all 
 " the Primary Events and Periods of the 
 <* World, from the Commencement o/' History to 
 <^ the Conclusion of Prophecy ;" which little 
 Work was designed to serve, as Institutes of the 
 Fulfilment of Prophecy, chiefly with a view to the 
 present age. But, since that Work has been 
 printed, New Events, of the most amazing cha- 
 racter, have burst upon the world; tending to 
 throw a new and marvellous light upon the object 
 therein investigated, and, at the same time, corro- 
 borating all the conclusions which were there 
 deduced. These New Events constitute the 
 Subject of this present Tract ; which comes in 
 supplement of that former Work, and in enlarge-^ 
 ment of its awful evidences. To that Work I 
 therefore refer the reader, for all the elementsi 
 and principles upon which this present discourse 
 proceeds. 
 
 But, in referring the reader to that Work, I find 
 myself placed under a necessity to say a few words 
 
XVI PTJEFACE. 
 
 in its defence, against the recent attacks of a very 
 zealous writer ; who, in treating upon the same 
 lofty subject, has deemed it requisite to prepare his 
 readers for his own discourse, by making a preli- 
 minary assault upon mine. The writer to whom 
 I allude, is the author of " A Dissertation on the 
 Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse ;* which Work 
 he has deemed it necessary to shield with a Freface, 
 consisting principally of Strictures upon The Chris- 
 tian's Survey, This measure, therefore, imposes 
 upon me a real obligation to examine and reply to 
 his several remarks ; for, although it was my wish 
 rather to sustain my arguments by their own 
 strength, than by pointing out the weakness of 
 those brought against them, yxi-t these digested 
 Strictures impose it as a duty on me, to depart so 
 far from my general design as to give a summary 
 answer to the objections which they contain. 
 
 The author of " The Dissertation* states, that 
 after he had composed his Work, he " met with 
 ** ' Th$ Christians Survey / in which certain posi^ 
 
PREFACE. ITVU 
 
 ^' tions are maintained, which strike at the root of 
 ^^ some of the first principles in the study of Pro- 
 ** phecy of which no well instructed Protestant 
 " ought to be ignorant ;" and also, " at much of 
 " the reasoning contained in his pages. And, that 
 " he therefore deems it the more necessary to say 
 " something in refutation of the erroneous positions 
 " which I have maintained/' That my argument; 
 strikes at the root of some of the positions whick 
 he assumes for first principles in the study of Pro- 
 phecy, I most willingly admit ; because it was my 
 earnest design to strike deeply at their root, and, 
 as far as I was able, to resist the further operation 
 of principles 'which he regards as fundamental 
 and infallible, but which I am well convinced are 
 entirely visionary; and perniciously deceptions, 
 inasmuch as they tend to avert the mind from the 
 perception of truths the most powerful and imme- 
 diately momentous. Let us see what the prin- 
 ciples are, at which my argument strikes. 
 
 The author of " The Dissertation'' takes for 
 
Xviii PREFACE* 
 
 granted, (1st,) That the " four beasts" seen by 
 Daniel in the 7th chapter of his Prophecies, " sig- 
 ** nify the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, aiwi 
 ^ Roman Monarchies : (2dly,) That the * little 
 " HORN ' of his fourth beast is a symbol of the 
 ^ Papal power: Likewise, (3dly,) That the Babylon 
 " of the Apocalypse is the Church of Rome." And 
 he thinks, " that it is not reasonable to expect that 
 ** every one who takes up his pen on the subject 
 *> of Prophecy, should return back to prove a-new 
 " these Jirst principles, which few persons call in 
 ** question, and which have already been cstab- 
 " lished in the writings of the ablest Commcn* 
 " tators." 
 
 By thus arbitrarily blending and mixing his 
 positions, ho has made for himself a ground, which, 
 if he might be permitted to retain it, would 
 certainly supply him with all the strength he seeks 
 to find in it. But I must beg leave, in limine, to 
 dissolve this unwarranted and unequal union of 
 assumed first principles ; and to show, that he is 
 
I>REFACE* XIX 
 
 totaDy unjustified in attempting thus to ascribe the 
 same degree of strength to opinions, which rest 
 upon foundations essentially dissimilar. I shall 
 confine myself to the two first ; the third being of 
 secondary moment, and depending upon the fate 
 of the second. His first principle, that the four 
 beasts in Daniel's Vision denote those four great 
 monarchies which he has named, is a truth that I 
 unreservedly concede to him ; because it has been 
 the uniform, unvarying conviction of the Jewish 
 and Christian Churches in all ages ; and is, as 
 Mede has justly expressed it, " tanium non ariicuhi 
 Fidei : — all but an article of Faith/' 
 
 But, when he would claim the same concession 
 for his second principle ; viz. that the " small horii!^ 
 in that vision denotes the Papal power, he must 
 not expect to find the same compliance ; for that is 
 a notion but oi yesterday, compared with the anti- 
 quity and authority of ihe former. That symbol 
 (of a small or young horn) was always understood 
 and believed, by the Primitive Church, to typify a 
 
XX PHEPACE. 
 
 last, great, tyrannical power, or potentatCy who 
 should suddenly and unexpectedly appear in the 
 last age of the decay of Imperial Rome ; who 
 should, for the first time, extinguish its imperial 
 honours ; whose victorious arms should spread 
 themselves with oppression over the churches of 
 Christy who should arrogate to himself the highest 
 dignities of the earth ; and who should be the 
 occasion of the last vexations and afflictions which 
 the nations professing the Christian Faith should 
 experience, before their final and proximate deli- 
 verance by the power of the Son of God. This 
 short-lived tyrannical power, the Primitive Church 
 •lenominated, by common agreement, Jniichrisf. 
 
 The Christians of the first ages, who discerned no 
 means for determining specifically this mysterious 
 object of the Prophecies, abstained generally from 
 attempting it. But when, in the progress of the 
 succeeding ages, the dominion and tyranny of the 
 Church of Rome were become established, soraf 
 Christians ventured, from time to time, to throw 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 out the surmise, that the Papal power might possibly 
 be that last predicted tyranny. And when the 
 great work of the Reformation had emancipated a 
 large proportion of the Christian World from sub- 
 jection to the power of the Pope, the opinion 
 which had already been occasionally thrown out 
 by some bold individuals, became generally adopt- 
 ed by the reformed churches, who were hen able 
 to manifest publicly their sentiments, and to reveal 
 their long and just resentments without restraint; 
 and thus, the character of the power foredrawn in 
 Daniel's Prophecy by the symbol of a new and 
 small horn, which was finally to surmount the 
 Roman Empire in its latest age, became affixed, by 
 general acclamation, upon the Papacy, as " tan- 
 turn non articulns Jidei — all hut an article of faith" 
 of the Protestant communions. 
 
 When this notion was first propounded, and for 
 
 a long time after, there appeared some plausibility 
 
 in the conjecture, and even something like a pro- 
 
 bability of its being correct ; for the Papal tyranny 
 
 c 
 
XXll PREFACE. 
 
 was, at the time, the last tyranny which had exten- 
 sively afflicted Christendom. But when the Papal 
 fell before a new, and a later tyranny, more mi- 
 nutely answering to the character foredrawn and 
 expected, then the Papal was no longer the last 
 (which condition was essential ) ; and the assumed 
 identity, of the Papacy and the symbol, was imme- 
 diately contradicted. In fact, the whole question, 
 whether or not the Papal power is designed by that 
 symbol? may bo put upon this one short issue, 
 whether the Papal power has been the last power 
 that has established a very general domination, and 
 that has exercised a very extensive tyranny, over 
 Christian nations, ^* making war on, 'prevailing over, 
 *'• and wearing out'' those nations subjected to its 
 control? If the Papal power has been the last, then we 
 raay still assume that it was indicated by the syna- 
 bol ; but if it was not the last, but has been succeeded 
 by a later, then are we sure that it was notdesignc^d 
 by the symbol, but 'that the symbol had respect to 
 a later tyranny. Hence the authority for this 
 
PREFACE. XXm 
 
 writer's second principV^, which is not only di<>pii- 
 table but refutable, must not be suffered to b« 
 confounded with the authority for hh first , which 
 is indisputable and demonstrable: and, therefore, 
 though I freely grant that it is not reasonable to 
 expect that his first principle should be proved 
 again, I must insist, that it is not only reasonable, 
 but indispensably necessary, that he should prove 
 his second principle, with new and augmented 
 evidence, before he can be justified in attempting 
 to render it the basis of any System of Interpreta- 
 tion : and this, I am persuaded, he never <Jati 
 effect. 
 
 The author of '* T/ic Dissertation '* states further, 
 that he " had for twelve years turned his attention 
 *^ to the Study of Prophecy." I can likewise 
 assure him, if that is of any importance, that for 
 upwards of twenty years my attention has been 
 steadily fixed upon the same divine object. At the 
 beginning of that period, I also was imbued, 
 though never with a thorough and well satisfied 
 
XXiV PREFACE. 
 
 conviction, with the prevailing notion, that the 
 symbol of " the small horn " related to the Papal 
 power. But the progress of events within the last 
 twenty years has gradually opened and cleared my 
 view, and has effaced that douhtful and fallacious 
 impression. It has quite convinced me, that it is 
 not the last tyranny but one — of Rome, but the 
 last tyranny — of France^ that best answers to the 
 tyrannyybre^^otiJ/j to be the last ; and which should 
 exalt itself above the imperial dignity of Rome. I 
 thence became fully persuaded, that a// the sym- 
 bols combined in the vision of the four beasts in 
 Damel's Prophecy, were designed to foreshow, 
 exclusively, the entire series and succession of the 
 chief Secular dominations and dignities which 
 should arise over the churches of God, .until the 
 consummation* I was persuaded; that this con- 
 nected, unbroken, and circumstantial body of evi- 
 dence, was originally given as a perpetual and 
 distinct testimony to the Jewish Church; unin- 
 volved with the circumstances o£ another church. 
 
PREFACE. XXV 
 
 wiiich the Jews would not acknowledge: that th^ 
 same testimony, under another series of symbols, 
 was afterwards imparted, specially and separately, 
 to the Chrutian Church ; in St. John's vision of the 
 beast with seven heads, which corresponded in 
 every circumstance with the first: but, as this 
 latter church was to be concerned in a domination 
 of a nature and species entirely new, and totally 
 different from all the others, that a concurrent 
 notice of that anomalous power was imparted to it 
 in another detached symbol (that of the beast with 
 two horns)^ which properly marked out the Papal 
 power ; which power was to run parallel with 
 the last heads of' secular dominion represented in 
 the former Prophecy. 
 
 With all these symbols, the last twenty years 
 have abundantly revealed events and circumstances 
 exactly answering ; and I therefore declared my 
 belief, that if those, or at least many of those, per- 
 sons who had assumed the Papal power to be the 
 last tyranny, at a time when nq lat^r had appeared^ 
 
XXVl PREFACE. 
 
 and who, on that account, contemplated it as the 
 proper object of the Prophecy of '^ the small hornl* 
 hud lived to see a later tyranny arise to reduce the 
 former and to oppress the churches of Christ, 
 accompanied with characters more minutely and 
 circumstantially answering to the foredrawn pic- 
 ture; they would be among the foremost to reject 
 their former plausible, but premature and refuted 
 conclusions. In affirming which, I did not, as the 
 author of** The Dissertation *' asserts, " gratuitously 
 " assume vematility of sentiment in those able and 
 " profound authors ; " I only gave them equitable 
 credit for consistency of judgment and freedom 
 from prepossession and prejudice ; and in this 
 opinion I still remain. And I will add this further 
 conviction; that if the first fathers of the church 
 could now arise to compare the recent events of 
 Christendom with the prospects which they them- 
 selves have drawn, they would recognise the object 
 of their expectations in the tyranny of France. 
 B«t the correspondence between the Trench domi^ 
 
PREFACE. XXVU 
 
 nation and the Prophetical symbol of " the small 
 '* horn," is contested by the author upon three 
 separate and studied grounds. I must frankly 
 confess, that, with the best application of my under- 
 standing, I cannot discover that his three objections 
 in any manner affect that correspondence. I shall, 
 however, consider each of these special objections 
 in their order. 
 
 1. He contends, that the power which was de- 
 signed by the symbol of" the small horn,'* cannot 
 be the new French power; because the dominion 
 of the former power was to flourish, not in the last 
 period, but in the penultimate, or last period but 
 one, of the Roman Empire, and, in the last period y 
 was to be consumed and destroyed ; whereas, the 
 dominion of the new French power both began to 
 flourish, and is to fail and perish, in the last period 
 of that Empire : and from thence he concludes, 
 that the power foreshown by " the small horn," 
 and the new French power, cannot be one and the 
 same, but must' be two different and distinct 
 
XXVm PREFACE* 
 
 powers : although I am quite unable to discover 
 where he finds separate and distinct symbols for 
 the laiter of these two powers, since he applies all 
 the symbols to the Papacy. 
 
 The author of " The Dissertation " will surely 
 do me the justice to acknowledge, that I have here 
 presented his refined argument with much more 
 clearness and force than he has put it himself ; 
 for I must confess, it took me some time to appre- 
 hend distinctly the separate point upon which this 
 first objection was designed to rest, which, as it 
 stands, appears in a great degree confounded with 
 that of the objection which follows. But the 
 whole strength of this argument is drawn from an 
 equivocation in the words " last period,'' and from 
 the author's arbitrary application of those words to 
 the prophetic circumstances of the Roman Empire. 
 In order to expose this point, it will be necessary 
 to bring the terms " last period " to some fixed and 
 steady criterion ; and there is no other to which it 
 can be brought but to the Prophecy itself. Now, 
 
Preface. xxix 
 
 ill the three several passages of this chapter of 
 Daniel, in which the fourth or Roman Empire is 
 predicted, it is described, 1st, as the sole conqueror 
 and reducer of all the other nations ; 2dly, as 
 bearing a plurality of sovereignties, denoted by the 
 symbol of ten horns ; 3dly, as giving rise to a lasty 
 but small, or young horn, which immediately 
 acquires a pre-eminence above the former sovereign- 
 ties, but is presently cast down. These are the 
 only three periods of the Roman Empire, marked 
 out by the Prophecy. Ihis small horn, or the 
 power signified by it, occupies the third and last 
 of these Prophetic periods, holding its dominion 
 until it is " consumed and destroyed unto the end'* 
 What that end is, is declared by what immediately 
 follows ; namely, the establishment of the Jinal 
 kingdom of the Messiah. " The end,'' therefore, 
 is the end both of the small horn and of the animal 
 that sustains it ; or, in other words, both of the 
 last power of the Roman Empire, and of the Roman 
 Empire itself. The last period of the Roman 
 
XXX PREFACE, 
 
 Empire, is therefore marked out in the Prophecy 
 to be the period commenciiif^ wiih the rise of the 
 small horn, and terminating with the comuior. end, 
 both of it and of its supporter. Both the dominion 
 and the decay of the dominion of the small horn,v 
 fall therefore, successively, within the last 'period of 
 the Roman Empire, and constitute the entire Jmtory 
 of that horn ; and, therefore, both belong properly 
 to the last period of the Roman Empire. The 
 author of " The Dissertation*' has, indeed, chosen 
 to subdivide that period into what he calls a pertul- 
 timatCy and a last state ; but this arbitrary subdi- 
 vision relates only to the horn, and not to the 
 Empire, Both states of the horn are comprised in 
 the last period of the Roman Empire, according to 
 the Prophecy. The question therefore is, docs 
 this " small Iwrn" whose time and circumstances 
 iill up the last period of the Roman Empire, agree 
 best with the Papal, or with the French power 1 
 
 The author of " The Dissertation,*' like all other 
 writers who have laboured to apply this symbol to 
 
PREFACE. XXXI 
 
 the Papal power, has entirely overlooked the 
 powerful demonstration contained in the quality 
 of smallnessy which is so distinguishably and em- 
 phatically ascribed by the Holy Spirit to this 
 symbol. Pie passes it over, like his predecessors 
 of a former age, without one reflection or obser- 
 vation upon it ; although it is now become the 
 most lucid, and determining circumstance of the 
 type. Does he really imagine, that a characteristic 
 so remarkable, so principal, and so forcibly pressed 
 upon his attention by the Prophetic Spirit, i& 
 devoid of all meaning, and without any specific and 
 adequate design 1 This small horn, is " small *' 
 when it acquires its overwhelming dominion, and 
 htill " small " when that dominion is " taken away 
 **• and consumed unto the end ;" it never varies in 
 this circumstance of its being. Now this smallness, to 
 which our attention is so particularly called, must 
 have respect, either to the quantity of its power, 
 or to the duration of its existence. That it doefr 
 not betoken the measure of its power^ is manifest ; 
 
XXXll PREFACE, • 
 
 because, though it is represented to be small, yet its 
 power is declared to be superior to all other power, 
 and exceeds in quantity that of all its contempo- 
 raries. It must then relate to the time or age at 
 which it acquires, and at which it loses, its power. 
 And this is the true and the natural import of the 
 symbol. It denotes newness of growth and appear- 
 ance ; for all horns are small before they grow to 
 length, to which growth time is indispensably 
 requisite. But this symbol represents a new and 
 infant power, which, arising after the long subsist- 
 ing sovereignties of the Roman Empire, should, in 
 the very age of its Jirst shooting or appearing, 
 establish a domination over them all; and again, 
 while in that same new and incipient age, should 
 be stripped of the same dominion. Now, this 
 symbol has no point of relation to the Papal 
 power. The Papacy was neither small in power^ 
 nor small in age; and there is no other circum- 
 stance of being to be symbolized by the smallncss 
 of a horn. That it was not ^mdW in power, needs 
 
PREFACE. XXXUl 
 
 not to be proved ; and that it is not young in age, 
 needs as little proof. The author of *' T/ie Disserta- 
 tion" fixes the origin of its power in the year 533 ; 
 that is, in the times when most of the sovereignties 
 represented by the ten elongated horns received 
 their origin. It is therefore as ancient as any of 
 them. Neither did it arise after them all, but 
 conteiriporaneously with them. But, with the new 
 French Empire this symbol has the most exact and 
 marvellous agreement. That tyranny suddenly 
 arose after all the other sovereignties of Europe, 
 and when they were all become ancient. It" ex- 
 alted itself above them all, in the very moment 
 of itjirst germination. It has " wade war on, pre-' 
 vailed over, and worn out " the Christian nations, of 
 every communion. And now, in the very age 
 of its infancy, its power is as suddenly shaken, and 
 it is consuming and wasting away. No human 
 foresight could possibly have anticipated this 
 design in the character of smallness, or incipient 
 germination, affixed to this last symbol ; the event 
 
XXXlV PREFACE. 
 
 Alone was able to disclose it : for, a power io 
 young and at the same time so supreme, so newly 
 supreme and at the same time so fallen, is not 
 elsewhere to be found in the whole experience 
 of history. That those of a former age should miss 
 of it, was therefore unavoidable ; but are we of tJie 
 present age to cling to their excusable error, after 
 that error has ceased to be any longer excusable ? 
 
 2. But, 2dly ; the author grants my position, 
 that the French domination would " suddenly fail 
 " and perish, in the midst of its triumphs, prosperi- 
 ^* ty, and greatness ;" and he therefore thinks, that 
 (his catastrophe must be something " quite differ- 
 ** ent'^from the ^^ gradual consumption and dc- 
 " struction '' denounced against the " small horn,'* 
 1 have already said, that I know not where he 
 finds symbols for two distinct powers. But this 
 second objection is only a question of words. Sud- 
 den and gradual are relative terms, and receive 
 their signification wholly from the object ami 
 circumstances to which they are referred, and so 
 
PREFACE. XXXV 
 
 may often be predicated of the same event ; for the 
 same occurrence may be sudden under one refer- 
 ence, which is gradual under another. If we con- 
 template the overthrow of the ancient kingdom of 
 France as an object of general history, it was an 
 event frightfully sudden. The author is pleased 
 to quote my words, as expressive of his own senti- 
 ments, where I observed, that it " was marked 
 *' with all the characters of suddenness and mys- 
 " terious power which peculiarly appertain to the 
 " times of God's extraordinary visitations." Yet, 
 sudden as was its fall under one reference, it was 
 nevertheless gradually " consumed and destroyed 
 " unto the end," under another. Its decay was 
 progressive, though rapid. It did not fall in one 
 hour, or in one day ; but passed through a grada- 
 tion of circumstances, for nearly three years, in 
 disappearing from the view of the world. And so 
 the power typified by " the small horn" may fall 
 suddenly, as a great imperial power of the earth, 
 
ICXXVl PREFACE. 
 
 and 3'et with some visible gradation in that sudden 
 fall. What could be more sudden than the reverse 
 which the French domination sustained in the last 
 winter] The same reverse is still proceeding, and 
 we may confidently regard it as in course of '^ con- 
 " sumption^ and destruction unto the end!* Thus 
 is its fall gradual, to the perception of those who 
 live to observe and trace the steps and stages of its 
 declension ; and yet, when it shall have disap- 
 peared from the earth, though by a gradation 
 of two or three years, would it not appear as a very 
 sudden downfall, when we should look back and 
 reflect how great, and vigorous, and tremendous a 
 domination it so lately obtained in the world ? But, 
 after all, the words sudden and gradual are no part 
 of the terms used in this prediction. 
 
 3. With respect to his third objection, that also 
 turns upon the meaning of a word. He says, 
 *' the last power is to be a persecuting ])0\\Qr -.^^ 
 but this he conceives has not been the case of the 
 
PBEFACE. XXXVll 
 
 French power, " for France (says he), so far from 
 " being guilty of religious persecution, has been 
 " distinguished for giving liberty of conscience!* 
 Without inquiring into the liberty of conscience 
 conceded by the tyrant of France and Christen- 
 dom, I shall beg leave to observe, ihdX persecution 
 is not necessarily to be restricted to the sense in 
 which the author chooses here to assume it; but, if 
 not otherwise limited, is entitled to be understood in 
 its genuine and comprehensive sense. Persecution 
 — persecutio, ^>6;|»; — signifies properly, persevering 
 cruelty and oppression in general. The word is 
 understood by the ancient Christian writers to 
 signify vexatio, afflictio. When Herod first perse- 
 cuted the infant church, it is said that he vexed the 
 church. The vexation was the persecution, inde- 
 pendently of the hostility in the mind of Herod to 
 the Christian faith. A persevering cruelty and 
 oppression is a true persecution ; the Christian 
 world, subjected to such a persevering oppression, 
 is truly persecuted. In that sense we find th« 
 
XXXVIll PREFACE^. 
 
 word used in our version of the Scriptures*; 
 and we have only to inquire, whether the Christian* 
 churches of every denomination liave been sub- 
 jected by France, for many years past, to a perse^ 
 vcring cruelty and oppression, such as is without 
 a parallel in history, in order to determine, whether 
 the French domination (which the author acknow- 
 ledges to be " a rod of iron,'*) has or has not been 
 distinguishably a persecuting power over those 
 churches; although not avowedly on account of 
 their religious persuasions, which the author arbi- 
 trarily makes essential to the persecution foreshown, 
 in the Prophecy. The Prophecy, however, says 
 nothing of persecution, only that this power " shall 
 " make war with the saints and prevail against them, 
 *^ and wear them, out ; and shall think to change. 
 " times and laws" " But," says the author of * The 
 Dissertation,' " none are molested or persecuted by 
 *^ the French power as saints, or because of their 
 ** religious persuasion." Neither does the Prophecy 
 * See Psalm x. 2, and passim. 
 
PREFACE. KXXIX 
 
 say that they should be persecuted as saints, (or for 
 being Christians); butt)n1y, that the saints (i. c. 
 Christians*) should be assailed by war, and overcome, 
 and worn cut, by the last power, who would attempt 
 to introduce a total change in established customs 
 and institutions. And who will deny that this predict^ 
 ed character is marvellously descriptive of the new 
 Empire of France, and of no other power ? Thus, 
 then, I am unable to discover any force whatever in 
 any one of these three special objections which are 
 advanced so confidently by this writer, in proof 
 that t/ie French power cannot be the potvcr designed 
 by the symbol of " the small horn'* 
 
 Subsequently, however, to the date of his Stric- 
 tures, the author has been constrained to add a 
 Postscript, in which he says : " Since the following 
 ** pages were written, and even since they went to 
 " the press, the state of things on the Continent 
 " has undergone a great change ; and many sen* 
 ^ siblc persons seem now to be of opinion, that the 
 ♦ Eplies. i. 1. PhU. i. 1. Col. ut 
 
Xl PHEFACE. 
 
 " military power of Buonaparte, and of rcvola- 
 <* tionary France, is at an end. If the expecta- 
 " lions of these persons should be realized, it will 
 " prove that I have entirely erred in some of the 
 " conjectures hazarded by me, with respect to the 
 ." probable course of future events^'* This is a very 
 candid declaration; but it compels me, injustice 
 to my own argument, to observe, that if the power 
 of France be now in course of declension, the infe- 
 rences which I have drawn, with respect io the true 
 character of the present times in relation to the 
 prophetic signals, will be the more strongly con- 
 firmed. I do not adventure, like the author of 
 * The Dissertation,' ** to hazard any conjectures 
 *^ with respect to the probable course of future 
 *' events;*' and for the reasons which I have already 
 assigned in '^ The Christians Survey"* " I only pre- 
 tend to distinguish, generally, by aid of the lights 
 which are held forth to us, that the symbols show 
 Us to be approached very near to the end. And I 
 
 * Part iii. $ect. ^. p. 190. 2d Ed. 
 
PREFACE. xli 
 
 tht?refore cannot but wonder at the boldness, I 
 might say the imprudence, with which this author 
 risks the authqrity of his judgment, when he says ; ' 
 " Notwithstanding present appearances, I do not 
 " hesitate to avow my own opinion, that the power 
 ** o( the last secular head of the Roman Empire,' 
 " which is now identified with the French EmpirCy 
 " is to be broken, not in Europe, but in Palestine,*^ 
 The French Empire, so self-entitled, can in no* 
 respect be legitimately regarded as an head of' 
 Roman Empire ; but only as a part, or member, of 
 that Empire, which (as was expressly foreshown,) 
 has rapidly and suddenly exalted itself above its 
 head, and arrogated to itself, for a short space 
 of time, a supremacy and exorbitancy of power 
 and dignity. As to its being broken ^' in Palestine,'* 
 I must regard that opinion as one of the many fond* 
 visions, which have been generated from a mis- 
 apprehension of the figurative language of the 
 Prophecies. 
 
 " I now come (says the author of ^ The Disser- 
 
Xlii PREFACK, 
 
 ** tation,*) to the second position of the author of 
 ** * The Christian's Survey,' viz. that there is no 
 " such period revealed in Prophecy as that of 1 260 
 ** years; that this period is at best hypothetical 
 '* and equivocal in its nature, and always arbitrary 
 ** in its application ; that it is no where mentioned 
 " in. the Scriptures; that it is only conjecturally 
 " ijiferred from a comparison of three figurative 
 *-* and mysterious passages, which in different ages 
 " have been differently expounded/' The author 
 ei ^^ The Dissertation'' is much moved, because I 
 have here affirmed, that a period of 12(jO years is 
 no where mentioned in the Scriptures. 1 must, 
 nevertheless, renew the assertion; and ask him to 
 show me, where it is fnejitioned? He tells me, that 
 mention is made of " a tim€, times, and the dividing 
 " of a time/' or three years and a half; of forty 
 months; and, of 1260 days, I have also said the 
 same: and he is offended that I have confined my- 
 self, for the sake of brevity, to three texts, in which 
 those three several computations are expressed, and 
 
PREFACE. Xliii 
 
 that I have not produced four other texts, in which 
 the same identical numbers are only repeated, with- 
 out any thing added to afford illustration of their 
 meaning. But he does not attempt to show mc 
 any one text in which 12^0 i/ears are mentioned ; 
 and yet, to that point alone my assertion was 
 confined. 
 
 " But/' says he, " three years and a half contain 
 ^' forty months, and forty months contain 1260 days; 
 *^ and these days are to be interpreted dis years" But 
 how does this affect my assertion ?. By his own show- 
 ing, years are not mentioned^ they are only to be infer- 
 red. This question of inference, I do not take upon 
 myself either to affirm, or to deny ; but his impatient 
 zeal at the suspense of my judgment upon this 
 article, has hurried him into an intemperance ill 
 according with Christian, or indeed any othei: 
 equity. He says, that my remarks "include in 
 *^ them, as a necessary consequence, the monstrous 
 " supposition that a prophetical number, which is 
 " expressly mentioned seven times in those Scrip- 
 
Xliv PREFACE. 
 
 " tures which are given by the Holy Ghost ; and 
 " the second annunciation of which is accompani- 
 " ed with an oath, in the awful name of him that 
 ** LivETH FOR EVER AND EVER, is altogether 
 " hypothetical and equivocal in its nature; or, in 
 <* other words, absolutely unintelligible ; than which 
 " supposition I know not any that can be more 
 *^ affronting to the Scriptures of truth, or more 
 " agreeable to infidels, who deride every attempt to 
 ** expound the Prophecies, especially those of 
 " Daniel and St. John." 
 
 I shall strive to subdue the feelings which arise 
 naturally at this perversion of my plain and obvir 
 ous meaning, whose humble reverence to the 
 Scriptures of truth is, I hope, as plainly manifest- 
 ed as his own. It needed but little of com- 
 mon candour, or calm reason, to know and to 
 testify, that I can have pronounced the prophetical 
 measure of 1260 days to be hypothetical and 
 equivocal only with relation to the darkness and 
 Wantonness of human invention ; and not absolutely, 
 
PREFACE. xIy 
 
 in itself, or with relation to the Omnisciertt Mind. 
 But, as this writer confounded the prescriptive 
 belief of the ancient churches with the modern 
 surmises of the Protestant churches, in explaining 
 the Vision of Daniel ; so here he fails to discri- 
 minate, between the power of a mystical number 
 in his oxvn mind, and in that oi the Prophetic Spirit* 
 For he thinks, that to pronounce any part of the 
 Scriptures unintelligible (that is, not actually in- 
 telligible) to man, is a judgment bearing equally 
 against divine and human wisdom; and as implying 
 equal defect, in the communication of the one, as 
 in the apprehension of the other. And yet, my 
 own individual experience assures me, that there 
 are a multitude of passages in the Scriptures as 
 yet " absolutely unintelligible" to the author of 
 *^ The Dissertation ;'* without any irreverence or 
 " affront" to the Divine Spirit who dictated 
 them. 
 
 In the writings, even the latest, of pious but 
 ipcautious men, that mystical period is altogether 
 
xlvi PREFACE. 
 
 tincertain, hypothetical, and equivocal; and I 
 desire the reader to pronounce, whether a stronger 
 evidence in proof of this assertion could be 
 imagined than that which the author of " The 
 Dissertation'^ has himself furnished, in the acknow- 
 ledgment with which he begins his Preface. " I 
 " was," says he, " for some years engaged in a con- 
 " troversy with Mr. Faber, upon the subject of the 
 *' commencement 3.ud end ; of the 1260 years." The 
 two latest writers of note, upon this subject, when 
 they had to establish, for the foundation-stone of a 
 scheme of interpretation, the commencement of this 
 assumed period .of I26O years; which was alsa 
 to determine the time of its end; were engaged in 
 " a controversy" concerning it, and that ^' for many 
 " years;" and the controversy ended with each 
 differing from the other, and abiding by his own 
 separate opinion ; the one adopting the year 533, 
 the other the year 606, for the epocha of the com- 
 mencement of the period. And can any stronger 
 testimony than this be conceived, to prove that this- 
 
PREFACE. 3clvii 
 
 period is, in the writings of fallible men, purely 
 hypothetical and equivocal ? It demonstrates, that 
 it is, as yet, " unintelligible" to mortals in point of 
 fact; and teaches us, that it is not on the uncer- 
 tain solution of mystical numbers, but on the 
 experimental fulfilment of distinct Prophecies, that 
 we ought to build any System for the interpreta- 
 tion of Prophecy. 
 
 It was with a view to check, in some degree, the 
 wantonness and temerity of similar excursions, 
 that I qualified those conjectures as hypothetical 
 and equivocal : which they really are. And I did 
 so, because I also strongly felt, that " nothing. 
 «* could be more affronting to the Scriptures of 
 " truth, or more agreeable to infidels,'' (and to 
 indifferent or cavilling Christians,) than thus to 
 make the Prophecies of Daniel and St. John depend- 
 for their veracity upon conflicting hypotheses, re-^ 
 specting points not reducible to any fixed criterion*- 
 Our Lord's rule for the vigilance of the last age^ 
 was not, " whm ye have unravelled my^ical num^ 
 
Xlviii PREFACE. 
 
 " hers,** or '^ when ye are agreed respecting those 
 *' nurnbevs ; but, when ye see things come to pass J* 
 It is the actual " coming to pass, of things'' which 
 claim their types in Prophecy, that can alone estab- 
 lish a well-founded and solid conviction in the 
 mind, of what is next to be expected. When 
 seven years of plenty had followed the twofold 
 symbol in the Vision of Pharaoh, then he who had 
 faith was confident, that seven years of famine 
 would ensue. And when the Christian church 
 has experienced the rise and fall of a power, cor- 
 responding minutely to the signals foreshowing 
 the last power ; if it have faith, it should then 
 awaken to the expectation, that the conclusion of 
 the Christian dispensation is nigh at hand. 
 
 ^* There are some further opinions,'' in which 
 the author of ^^ The Dissertation** ihhiks I have 
 likewise " greatly erred,'* Of these, one of the 
 chief is my persuasion, that the " body of the 
 ^^ Jewish nation are not to be restored to their own 
 ** land." Of this ancient and sacred truth I 
 
PREFACE. Xlix 
 
 avow myself a steady vindicator, against all the 
 Judaizing fictions now so passionately entertained 
 among some Christians in favour of that imagined 
 restoration, the reasons for which persuasion I 
 fhall fully assign, on another occasion ; only obser- 
 ving, in this place, that the present separated state 
 of the Jewish people, far from being an object of 
 the Divine favor, is only the effect of their own 
 continuing rebellion and disobedience. By the 
 Gospel, which designed to make them and all the 
 nations one, the wall of separation that had been 
 raised between them was thrown down, and all 
 difference between Hebrew and Gentile was thence- 
 forth to cease; and that would be the case now, 
 if they were to become obedient to the Gospel. They 
 would then lose the interest of separation, as they 
 have already lost their tribes; and those of Eng- 
 land and Germany, for example, would feel them- 
 selves more closely allied to their brother Christians* 
 of those countries, than to their distant nominal 
 kindred in Africa and Asia. 
 
i PREPACE, 
 
 But our Lord apprized his Apostles, that they 
 "would still be found in this state of separation, when 
 He should finally appear in His glory : " Verily, 
 "*' verily, I say unto you, when the Son of Man shall 
 " sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon 
 ^^ twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.-* 
 It was, assuredly, not before the issue of that judg- 
 ment, that the Jews were to be again received 
 mnder David their King, and Messiah their Prince; 
 <^vho should receive them (as one fold under one 
 Shepherd with the nations) into that Jerusalem^ 
 ^nd that land of promise, of which those in Canaan 
 were but the prototypes. And the Jews themselves 
 are witnesses to this; for, though they cherish the 
 belief of a restoration of the obliterated kingdom of 
 Judea, yet they expect first the realization of " the 
 *' hope of the promise made of God unto their 
 *** fathers, viz. the resurrection of the dead ; " in 
 order that all the generations who have suffered ia 
 the several captivities, may be united to participate 
 in the same triumph : thus showing, at the same 
 
^HEFACE, It 
 
 time, how grossly they misapprehend the figurative 
 diction of the Prophecies. The Jews, therefore, who 
 look for the resurrection of the dead, and the mani- 
 festation of the Messiah, before the accomplishment 
 of the figurative Prophecies concerning /^e?> restora- 
 tion, are so far right, and in concord with the primi- 
 tive apostolic church ; but those Christians who look 
 for a temporal restoration, in Palestine, before those 
 txco great events shall take place, are in all parti- 
 culars wrong. 
 
 The next opinion is, (according to the author 
 of '' The Dissertation") that I "confound the 
 " period of the millennium with what is properly 
 " called eternity; and that I thus deprive the 
 " c^wrc^ of all those blessed promises, which relate 
 " to her increase and glory, and the vast multitude 
 " of her converts during the millennium." What 
 I have to allege against the prevailing error of the 
 millennium, I shall likewise reserve for the same fu- 
 ture opportunity; but I must her« profess, that this 
 
lii PREFACK. 
 
 yvTiiQv astonishes and confounds my understanding, 
 when he represents the commencement of the 
 blessings of eternity at a period when others look 
 for a previous procrastination, of 1000 years, as the 
 loss of any measure of blessedness. I should have 
 thought, that no Christian could contemplate it 
 otherwise than as an infinite accession of gain; 
 since the blessings of the eternal kingdom are the 
 consummation and full perfection of that felicity, 
 which must always be inferior in every scheme foE a 
 millennium, however it may be imagined great. The 
 author, further, asks '* Why I have overlooked all 
 " those passages which have been quoted from the 
 " fathers, by learned writers on Prophecy, in sup- 
 " port of the ancient scriptural doctrine of the 
 *V millennium ?" The reason is, that I have pre- 
 ferred to consult the writings of the ancient fathers 
 themstlves, rather than unconnected passages 
 quoted from them by any writers, however learned. 
 And this I have done sufficiently to assure myself, 
 
PREFACE. llH 
 
 that whoever speaks of an ancient scriptural doc- 
 trine of the Millennium, is either fascinated by 
 system, or but little acquainted either with the 
 writings of the primitive fathers, or with the 
 opinions that were really held sls scriptural doctrines 
 by the primitive church. Certainly, the notion 
 of a Millennium was never received as a doctrine 
 in the ancient church, although it was entertained 
 by some individuals as early as the second century. 
 And I do not except from this remark the excel- 
 lent Mede himself, who, by an unaccountable pre- 
 possession upon this subject, has laid himself open 
 to an easy refutation by the learned Whitby, in 
 his " Dissertation on the Millennium ;" whose judg- 
 ment may be the less objectionable to our modern 
 Chiliasts, or Millennarians, because, though he 
 exposes half the fallacy of the doctrine, he still 
 adheres to half. 
 
 Having been compelled by the author of" The 
 Dissertation'* to make this general reply to his 
 
 A 
 
liv PREFACE. 
 
 strictures on my " Christians Survey ^^ it only now 
 remains for me to return him my thanks for the 
 approbation which he is pleased to express of the 
 conclusion of that work ; and to set the reader 
 free, to pursue the awful subject laid open to 
 his contemplation in the following pages. 
 
PRELIMINARY ILLUSTRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. 
 
PRELIMINARY ILLUSTRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. 
 
 The rapid succession of great events 
 which have taken place, within these few 
 years past, before the face of the Christian 
 world, and the regular progress of those 
 particular events which were ordained to 
 guide the views and expectations of the 
 Christian church in its last generatiofi, have 
 suddenly brought us to the period of that 
 PRIMARY EVENT, which remained next for 
 expectation, at the conclusion of the " Chris^ 
 tians Survey^^ of the periods of time; and 
 with a celerity of occurrence, which must 
 penetrate with amazement and awe even 
 the most sanguine expectants of the fulfil- 
 ment of Prophecies. 
 
 The " NEXT primary event," affecting the 
 SECLLAR interests of nations, which the 
 
4 PRELIMINATIY 
 
 light of Prophecy at th-it time revealed to our 
 discernment, and which reason, guided by 
 faith, then directed us to expect concerning 
 THE Great Powlr newly risen out of the 
 body of nations which had composed the 
 fourth and last, or Roman Empike, was — the 
 proximate a nd sudden fa U of t h a t new P o w - 
 ER*, notwithstanding the flourishing and for- 
 midable condition in which He was then seen 
 to subsist. This was propounded, not through 
 any presumptuous pretension to foresee or 
 detect future contingencies, but merely by 
 reasoning justly, and by sound induction, 
 from the facts within our own immediate 
 experience, to the words of Divine Pro- 
 phecy; which assured us, that whenever the 
 Great Pow er, foreshown to be the last 
 tyrant of the church, should have mani- 
 fested his arrival in the world by the marks 
 prophetically affixed to him, the church 
 might be confidently assured, that the dura- 
 tion of his tyranny would be short, and his 
 catastrophe signal and disastrous. Upon re- 
 
 * " The Cbristinn's Survey." 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 6 
 
 cognising, therefore, the actual occurrence 
 of events which answered minutely to the 
 signs foreshonn in this parti^'ular, the infe- 
 rence of a proximate overthrow of the new 
 Power was no more than a simple exercise 
 of reason and oi faith. 
 
 The same exercise continued, gave origin 
 to the first sketch of the present tract, soon 
 after the armies of France commenced 
 their entrance into the territories of Russia; 
 and the rectitude of that inference is now 
 fully proved, by the stupendous scene 
 which it has pleased THE Almighty Ruler 
 OF THE World to reveal, in the sudden 
 reverse, and signal overthrow, of the for- 
 tunes of that NEW power, immediately 
 consequent upon his great and formidable 
 enterprise directed against the Russian 
 Empire. 
 
 Yet it was upon the ground of this par- 
 ticular inference ; viz. of the speedy downfall 
 of that Power, that an unwise critic, who 
 assumed the office of pronouncing definitive 
 judgment against '^ The Christian's Sur- 
 vey," founded his censurc of the argument 
 
6 PRELIMINARY 
 
 maintained in that work. The proposition, — 
 that the vigorous and powerful tyranny^ which 
 fie then beheld afflicting the Christian nations^ 
 would SUDDENLY and SHORTLY Y A LI,, and 
 that its fall was the next primary 
 EVENT in SECULAR affairs which Christians 
 were to believe and to expect y^^v/ as to him 
 foolishness, the dreams of *^ a mere vision- 
 ^* arj/," so long as the tyrant himself con- 
 tinued to move in the zenith of his domina- 
 tion. " The Empire which he has erected 
 " (said this rash censor) is described as 
 " great ; and yet, for our comfort, we are 
 '^ taught to consider it as * now expiring.' 
 ^*- Notwithstanding the victories of the 
 " French, this ^ Revealer of Secrels' assures 
 *^ us, (though we are sorry to say no such 
 ^' appearances arise as to give us confidence 
 '^ in the fact), that they are rapidly advan- 
 *' cing to a state of final and complete exhaus- 
 " tion^J' And he concludes the temerity 
 of his judgment, by a strain of most un- 
 seemly and ominous raillery. 
 
 * " Monthly Review** for March, 18X2. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 7 
 
 That " there should come in the last days 
 *' ScoFFEKs," was one of the earliest warn- 
 ings recorded by the Apostles, for guarding 
 and sustaining the faith of the last genera- 
 tion of believers. And it was our Saviour's 
 pointed injunction, to the slow of heart to 
 believe what theProphets have spoken, — "Judge 
 " not accord! ffg to appearance^ (i. e. ac- 
 " cording to common and sensible appear- 
 " ance); but judge a right judgment :^' that 
 is, " You, who are called upon to walk by 
 ^^ faith and not merely by sight, do you 
 " judge according to the rule and nature of 
 " the evidence which is revealed to guidxi 
 " you, however it may seem to be opposed 
 " by common and sensible appearances.^' I 
 exhort all similar adventurers in this awful 
 and sacred argument, to look well upon the 
 scene which the circumstances of the 
 Christian World now actually present 
 to their experience, before they hazard a 
 denial of facts which will shortly extort 
 their acquiescence ; and, in a time thus por- 
 tentous and full of mystery, to lay to lieart 
 the "woe" which our Lord denounced 
 
8 PRELIMINARY 
 
 against all those expounders of His word, 
 who, having " the key of knowledge '' in their 
 possession, " would neither enter in themselves, 
 " nor suffer those who were willing to enter 
 
 '' inr 
 
 I proceed to contemplate the astonishing 
 scene, which the Master of the World has 
 at length begun to reveal, for the consolation 
 and encouragement of His church. 
 
 This stupendous scene unfolds a new evi- 
 dence, conclusive and complete, of the 
 harmonious correspondence between the 
 prophetical signals j and the actual events which 
 the Christian world is called to witness. 
 We have already seen, in the " Christian's 
 " Survey," that it w^as foreshown by the 
 Holy Spirit, and universally believed by the 
 primitive Christian church, that a new and 
 personal i^ower^ or potentate, — a puissant 
 
 SOVEREIGN, and MIGHTY CONQUEROR, 
 
 would suddenly arise out of the fourth 
 and last, or Roman Empire, in its latest 
 age ; which personal power would obtain 
 the most exalted eminence, and most ex- 
 tensive dominion, among the nations of 
 
ILI.USTRATION. 9 
 
 the Christian church, even in the very age 
 of his origin or infancy: but, nevertheless, 
 that in that same incipient age he would as 
 suddenly fall from his eminence, and be 
 disastrously and disgracefully stripped of 
 his dominion. This power, the belief of 
 whose eventual arrival in the world the pri- 
 mitive Christian church uniformly enter- 
 tained as an article of its faith, was cha- 
 racterized by that church with the general 
 denomination of Antichrist. 
 
 If we now proceed further, and, with a 
 mind freed from every obstructing prejudice 
 or prepossession, compare/?6re/tf^20W5,cA.xvii. 
 11—14, with clu xix. 11—21, and both of 
 them with ch, xx. 7—9, and if we compare 
 the two last of these passages with Ezekiel, 
 ch. xxxix. 1, 17— 20, we shall perceive, that 
 the same new and ultimate power is designed 
 in those two Prophecies by the proper appel- 
 lation of, rnr, Gog% or Gogue; and 
 that the nations, over which he should 
 exercise his dominion, are distinguished 
 
 * The 0, in this word is long, as in <;o ; which can 
 only be rendered in English by subjoining the ninte 
 vowels, ue. 
 
40 PRELIMINAKY 
 
 by the general proper-name of Mayuy^ 
 Magogy or Magogue. The afflictions 
 which the church should experience from 
 this power, were to constitute its last persecu- 
 tionSf previous to its final and proximate 
 triumph; and, as such, the}^ were represented 
 by St. Augustine 1400 years ago; under 
 both the designations of that power, Gogue, 
 and Antichrist. " The la^t persecution of 
 *^ the churchy* says he, " will be inflicted by 
 " Antichrist." And again : " Satan is to be 
 " loosened to deceive the nations — Gogue 
 " aA/(/ Magogue ; — this will be the last per- 
 ** secution*,'* We have already viewed this 
 power under the ecclesiastical denomination 
 oi Antichrist -^^ let us now contemplate him 
 under the prophetical appellation of Gog, 
 or Gogue. 
 
 ^ *^ Novissimam persecution^m, quae ab Antichrutp 
 ** futura est, pra^sentia sua ipse extinguet Jesus.** — 
 Dc Civitate Deiy lib. xviii. c. 53. 
 
 " SolveturSatanas — ad seducendas nationes — Gog 
 *^ et Magog, Hsec erit novissima persecution novissimo 
 ** iinminente judicio, qiiam Sancta Ecclesia patietur." 
 ~/6. lib. XX. c. 11. 
 
 t " Christian's Survey." 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 11 
 
 In introducing the names of Gogue and 
 Magogne into the revelation imparted to St. 
 John, the Prophetic Spirit plainly refer- 
 red the church to that other great Prophecy, 
 which had been imparted, many ages before, 
 to the Prophet Ezekiel; wherein a de- 
 scription is circumstantially drawn out, of 
 the transactions, and final fate of that last 
 GREAT TYRANT, *' It was the particular 
 " care of the Holy Spirit (observed well the 
 *' learned Vitringa) to conduct us to a more 
 *' distinct knowledge of those foremen- 
 " tioned characters, by denominating them 
 *^ GoGTJE and Magogue. He alludes, as 
 ^* every one must see, to the celebrated Pro- 
 " phecy of Ezekiel, concerning those enemies 
 <* of the church*.*' "The argument of both 
 " these Prophecies (observed the same com* 
 " mentator upwards of a century ago), is, that 
 " the nations called * Gogue and Magogue * 
 " will, in an unexpected manner, go forth 
 
 * " Spirltui Sancto ipsi curae est in eorum nos ducere 
 " clariorem notitiam, qoando eos appellat Gogum et 
 *' Magogum. AUadit, ut quisque videt, ad Vaticinium 
 ** Ezechielis quod de his hostibus Ecclesiae extat illus- 
 " tre.'* — In Apoca/yps. p. 870. 
 
12 PRELIMINARY 
 
 " from their borders with an immense army, 
 " with a design to invade and overwhelm Chris- 
 " tian nations who are dwelling securely in their 
 " own homes and lands, and who are flourish- 
 " ing in peace and wealth. Which great 
 *' enterprise will nevertheless be without 
 *^ success, inasmuch as God will execute 
 " A SIGNAL EXAMPLE of His vcngeance 
 " against them, for the welfare of His 
 " church. For He will destroy this great 
 " and formidable ASSEMBLAGE of nations 
 ^' by tremendous judgments, and will either 
 " cause them to be cast down by tempests 
 " with which He will oppose them from hea^ 
 " ven, or to be consumed by pestilence and 
 " other plagues, or mutually to destroy each 
 *' other. 'This, I say, is the true argument of 
 ^' this Prophecy of John, compared with 
 " that of EzEKiEL*." In this latter asto- 
 
 * " Utriusque hujusprophetia (St. Johan. et Ezech,) 
 '^ argumentura est, populos qui Gog et Magog appel- 
 " lantur^ inopinato cum ingenti exercitu e claustris 
 " suis esse pr adit uros ; hoc consilio, ut populos Chris- 
 <* tianos, in locis terrisque suis secure degentes et pace 
 *' ac opibusflorenteSy nee opinato invadant et ohruantj 
 ^ fua tamen molitura successum hahitura non essent, 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 18 
 
 nishing Prophecy we are expressly informed^ 
 ihatGoGUE is the proper-narae assigned to 
 the TYRANT HIMSELF, and that the nations 
 which he should employ as the instruments 
 of his ambition, tyranny, and purposes of 
 destruction, are designated by the collective 
 proper-name of Magogub. " The passage of 
 " £zekiel,(saysVitringa,) represents GoGUE 
 " as the prince of that land, or people, which 
 '* is called Magogue*." 
 
 It is THIS Prophecy q/'EzEKiEL, which 
 must now engage our attention ; in consi- 
 dering which, we shall begin our examina- 
 tion by investigating the Title with which it 
 
 *^ quippeDeusin iissiNCVLAREEXEMPLUMederetsuae 
 " severitatis in bonum Ecclesiae. Maguam enim banc 
 *' et formidabilem colll'VIEM gentium suisDeus pro- 
 ** sterneret^*w<i*ctis tretnendis, faceretque ut ipsa?, vel 
 *' teropestatibus, quibus iihis e calo oppugnaret, disji- 
 ** cereiitur; vel peste aliisque malisconsumerentur ; vel 
 " in se ipsas etiam saevirent. Hoc, inquara, verum 
 ** ARCUMENTUM est bujus propbetijE, collate cum 
 " vaticinio Ezecbielis."— 16. p. 874, 5. 
 
 * ** Est is aspectus loci Ezecbielis, ac si Goo esset 
 ^ pRiNCEPsilliusterwe velpopuli, qui Magog dicitur.'^ 
 '-^26. p. 870. 
 
14 PRELIMINARY 
 
 is opened; since, upon a just construction 
 and a true interpretation of that Title, tlie 
 right apprehension of the purport and design 
 of the Prophecy i/se/f wholly depends. 
 
 I. According to our common English 
 translation, the Prophecy is addressed to 
 « Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tvbal." 
 
 So the English translators of the Bible 
 have rendered that important title, follow- 
 ing the interpretation of the rulgate, or 
 Latin version of St. Jerom, used in the 
 Western church ; which interpretation rests 
 upon a criticism of that same ancient 
 father. 
 
 But THE FIRST TRANSLATORS of the 
 
 Hebrew Scriptures, the Septuagint, ox. 
 Seventy Jews of Alexandria, who trans- 
 lated the Prophecies of Ezekiel into the 
 Greek tongue above six hundred years 
 before the age of St. Jerom, and above two 
 hundred years before the birth of Christ, 
 rendered this passage with a very notable 
 and essential difference, viz. 
 
 rflr, a^x^^ra. PilX, MESOX, m» 0OBEA. 
 GoGUE, the chief of Ros, Mesoch, and Thobel. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 15 
 
 The difference between the two interpret 
 tations turns upon this one point. The 
 Hebrew word ir^^n, ivsh or ro5, used as an 
 appellative noun, signifies indeed, heady chiefs 
 ov prince* But the ancient Jews were sen- 
 sible, that in this place it was not an appel- 
 lative noun, but a proper-name; and they 
 therefore rendered it by the proper-name, 
 Ros. St. Jerom, not finding any such 
 proper-name among the families and nations 
 mentioned in the genealogical parts of the 
 Book of Genesis, ventured precipitately, 
 upon that ground, to question the truth of 
 the ancient Greek interpretation, and chose 
 rather to assume the word ros for an appel- 
 lative noun; and his interpretation, establish- 
 ed in the Latin version of the Scriptures, has 
 universally prevailed throughout the West- 
 ern churches. Yet Jerom was more scrur 
 pulous than those who have conducted the 
 later versions, and who have absolutely 
 rejected the proper-name of Ros ; for, al- 
 though he inclined to the other interpreta- 
 tion, he did not think himself authorized to 
 reject altogether one so antient, and he has 
 therefore preserved them both; rendering 
 
 B 
 
•16 PRELIMINARY 
 
 I 
 
 the passage thus, — ^^ Gog, terrain Magog, 
 *^ principeQi capitis {sive Ros,) Mosoch, et 
 '' Thubal." 
 
 But the futilitj^ of that learned father's 
 objection was presently noticed and ex- 
 posed, as soon as an age of sounder criti- 
 cism rose upon the world ; at which period it 
 w^as shown, that Ezekiel makes mention of 
 other proper-names of nations, besides Eos, 
 which yet are no where to be met with in 
 the writings of Moses ; and the question 
 has long been set at rest by the concurring 
 judgment of the learned, who have adopted 
 decidedly the primitive interpretation of the 
 Alexandrian Jews. And, although our 
 common English version has not derived 
 the benefit of that decision, yet the Title 
 of the Prophecy has been generally receive 
 ed among the erudite portion of the Western 
 nations, for nearly twa centuries, accdrd- 
 ing to the antieiit Greek interpretation ; 
 that is to say, as uniting the tiijiyl^ proper- 
 7iames of nations y Ros, Mosc, andToBL^. 
 
 * Thtse three names, in the Hebrew, are tt^«^, ntro 
 or ^iriD, and ^ain. It is to be observed, thut the lie- 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 17 
 
 *' Although some here interpret Ros to 
 " signify a chief, or head, both interpreta- 
 " tions (observed Vitringa,) are forced and 
 " strained. The Seventy Interpreters, Sym- 
 " machus, and Theodotion, perceived Ros 
 *^ in this place, to be tfe proper-name of a 
 " people; and the learned Bochart has 
 " proved*," &c. Conformably to this cor-' 
 reeled interpretation, Archbishop Nevvcome 
 
 brew alphabet contains no short vowels, so that the 
 written elements oi many syllables, and even ot'many 
 entire words, are all consonants. These three Hebrew 
 words, rendered letter for letter into our alphabet, are 
 Ros, Mosc, and Tobl; but, by the insertion of vowels, or 
 vowel-points, they have been made to assume ihe 
 different furm^, of Meshech and Mesoch, Tubal and 
 Thobet, To avoid all inconvenience resulting from this 
 variety, I have adhered to the forms and elements of 
 the original words; in the first of which it is to be 
 noted, that the o being long, the word Ros is to be pro- 
 nounced long, like roas, in the word roast, 
 
 * " Quod enim aliqui Ros hie interpretantur jyr^ci- 
 " pMM.9, alii caput, utrumque coactum est etviolentum. 
 ^ LXX. Intt., Symmachus, et Tlieodotion, jam viderunt 
 " Ros hie esse nomen proprium gentis ; et oTtaw Boch- 
 " artus demonstravit," &c. — In. Jpocali/ps. p. 870. 
 
18 PRELIMINARY 
 
 has expressed the three names, Bhos, Mes- 
 chechy and Tubal, in his English translation 
 of Ezekiel ; following Michaelis in the 
 orthography of those words. And David 
 Levi, the most learned Jew of our own days, 
 thus determined the signification of the 
 word u^^'i, Ros: " i\s to this word I must 
 '^ observe, that it is not an appellative , as in 
 " the common translation of the Bible, but 
 " a proper-name^ y Tlie word " Prince,'' in 
 our common translation, ought therefore to 
 be replaced by the proper-name Ros. 
 
 II. If we next inquire, what nations are 
 signified by those three proper-names ? we 
 shall find, that this question also has been 
 long determined by the learned. The cele- 
 brated Bochart, about the year 1640, ob- 
 served, in his elaborate researches into 
 Sacred Geography, that PHS, Ros, is the 
 most ancient form under which history 
 makes mention of the name of Russia; 
 and he contended, that the two first of those 
 names properly denote the nations of Russia 
 
 * " Dissert, on the Prophecies,'* vol. ii. p. 308. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 19 
 
 and Moscovy. " It is credible (says he), that 
 " from RIws and Mesech, (that is the Bhossi 
 '^ and Moschi) of whom Ezekiel speaks^ 
 " descended the Russians and Moscovites, 
 " nations of the greatest celebrity in Euro- 
 ** pean Scythia*." We have indeed ample 
 and positive testimony, that the Russian 
 nation was called PUS, Ros, by the Greeks, 
 in the earliest period in which we find it 
 mentioned. EQvo; h bi PI2E I.jiy9iHov, tts^i tov 
 a^KTcoov Taupov, " The Ros are a Scythian 
 " nation, bordering on the northern Taurus." 
 This testimony is given, by Cedrenus, Zona- 
 rus, Leo Grammaticus, and Tzetzes. And 
 their ©vvn historians thus report : " It is 
 " related that the Russians (whom the 
 " Greeks call jRo5, Poj?, and sometimes Rosos, 
 " ?co(Togy) derived their name from Ros, a 
 " valiant man, who delivered his nation 
 " from the yoke of their tyrants f." This is 
 
 * " Credibile est ex Rhos et Mesech, id est Rhossis et 
 " Mosc/ns, de quibus Ezecliiel, descendisse Russos et 
 " Moacoviias, gentes in EuropaeaScythia celeberrimas, 
 " quceque latissime patent." — Thaleg. , 
 
 t '* MEMORiiE populorum olim ad Danuhium^*^ &c. 
 
C^ PRELIMINARY 
 
 the identical name which the first interpreters 
 of Ezekiel found in the text of that ancient 
 Prophet: upon the pecuhar form of which 
 name Mr. Gibbon has made this remark • 
 " Among the Greeks this national appella-. 
 " tion has a singular form, PflS, (Ros) as 
 ^^ an indeclinable word ; of which many 
 '^ fanciful etymologies have been formed *." 
 And it is indeed remarkable, that while the 
 Greeks were in the constant practice of 
 adding their own terminations to all barba* 
 lian or foreign names, they should yet have 
 preserved this name in the same indeclinable 
 and Asiatic form in which we behold it ia 
 the earliest translation of the Propliecy *j^. 
 The. judgment of Bochart, concerning the 
 lies and Mosc of Ezekiel, has been ge-^ 
 nerally acquiesced in by the critical world. 
 
 e Script, Hist. Byzant: a J. G. Strittere, Petror 
 poHtJe. — " Russos ( qui Graece plerumque p«?, interdum 
 " Vooa-oq vocantur) a Kos qiiodam, viro forti, qui gentem 
 " a tyranncrum jugo iiberavit, nomen accepisse refe- 
 " runt."— SMTwmariMm de K?«sis, torn. ii. p. 939. 
 * " Hist. Romnii Emp." vol. v. p. 560 (note 43.) 
 t EtTE Xfl^a^o', urz Tupkoi^ un kai PHI, » grf^cv ro sSvo? r<uv 
 
 ^6f»v Kttt ithjQmosy, — ** Either theCliazari, or the Turks, 
 

 fy 
 
 ILLUSTRATION. .^U/^J^f^^^ 
 
 << Rosch, Russi; Meschech, Moschi: 
 yitrin^a. And to this decision of the 
 ablest scholars among Christians, the learn- 
 ed Jew, whom I have above quoted, entirely 
 assents. 
 
 Thus then we discern the modern names 
 of Russia and of Moscow, or Moskwa*> 
 in the antient names of Ros and Mosc. 
 But how are we to apply the third and 
 last name, Tobl, Tubaly ovThohel; which is 
 associated with the two former names, in 
 this remarkable Title ? 
 
 The association itself sufficiently points 
 put, and directs, the application. It is not 
 difficult to recognise, in this word, a name 
 Which naturally connects itself with the two 
 former; and which, in conjunction with 
 them, tends, in a very astonishing manner, 
 
 ^< or THE Ros, or any otlier of the Northern or Scythian 
 « nations." — CoNSTANTiN. PoRPHYR. de Adminlstr, 
 Imper. p. ii. c. 13. 
 
 * ** MosKWA or Moscozoy the antient capital of the 
 " Russian Empire, and residence of the Czars, ai>d 
 " which is the largest city in Europe, derives its name 
 " from the river Moskwa, wliich runs on the south 
 " side of it.*'— Busciiing's Geographi/, vol. i. p. 452. 
 
22 rRELIMlNAIlY 
 
 to determine and fix the proper object of the 
 prediction. The river Tobol gives name to 
 the city Tobol/ww, or TobolsA;/*, the me- 
 tropohs of the extensive region of Siberia, 
 lying immediately eastward of the territories 
 of Moscovi/y or Mosc, Tobol and Mosc are 
 mentioned together in a former chapter of 
 the same Proplietf, where they are charac- 
 terized as nations trading in copper; a 
 metal which it is notorious abounds in the 
 soil of Siberia. And thus the three deno- 
 
 * " ToBOLsA:, in Latin Tobol/mw, the Capital of all 
 " Siberia, and the residence of the Governor-General, 
 " lies in lat. 58<* 12' on the Irtis, not far from the in- 
 " flux of the Tobol into that river. — All ecclesiasticaj 
 *' persons and affairs in Siberia are under the juris- 
 " diction of the Metropolitan ofTocoo/c. — The name 
 " Sibiria, or Siberia, was originally applied, and still 
 " properly belongs only to the south part of the pro- 
 " vince ofToBOLsk ; but, in a more extensive sense, it 
 " now includes all the northern part of Asia which 
 *^ borders on Russia to the West, on the Ice-Sea to the 
 " North, on the Eadern Ocean on the East, and on 
 ** Great Tart ary io the South." — Busching*s Geo- 
 graphy,\o\. i. p. 506, 483. 
 
 t Ezek. xxvii. 13. 
 
ILLUSTRATION, £3 
 
 MiNATioNs united in the Prophecy point 
 out, with equal capacity and conciseness, 
 those widely extended regions, which, at the 
 present day, we denominate collectively, 
 THE Russian Empire. 
 
 Since this interpretation of the name of 
 ToBL first enforced itself,! have fallen upon 
 the following remarkable and apposite obser- 
 vation in a work of the late eminent Profes- 
 sor Michael is, in which he examines the 
 opinions of Bochart upon the subject of the 
 ancient Hebrew Geography. In considering 
 the passage of Ezekiefs Prophecy now under 
 examination, he assumes the three Hebrew 
 names in question as the Greek translators 
 rendered them of old ; and he then points 
 out the propriety, or rather the necessity, of 
 applying the last name to Siberia, if the two 
 former are applied to Russia and Moscovy. 
 " 1 wonder (says he) that those persons 
 *' who see the Moscovites in the name of 
 " Moshochy do not also refer the name of 
 *' Tubal to Siberia; whose principal city 
 " Tofto/s/ii, more modern indeed, but deriv- 
 " ing its name from the primeval river th|. 
 
€4 PRELIMINAHT 
 
 ^' ToBOL, might acquire the sound of ThiU 
 f^ bal: especially since Siberia is, and always 
 '^ was, rich in copper; its inhabitants hav- 
 '^ ing formerly made use of that metal 
 *^ instead of iron, as is demonstrated by the 
 ** copper knives, or blades, which are every 
 '' where found in the antient sepulchres of 
 ^^ the country. Yet I do not write this as 
 " thinking it probable, that the sacred wri- 
 ^^ ters should have spoken of the inhahitants 
 '* of the country lying on the river Tobol> 
 *^ but because it seems to me a great want 
 *^ of consideration, that ToBOLsfci sliould be 
 *^ overlooked hy those who think they discover 
 ^^ Moscoze in the name o/'Meschech*/' 
 
 III. That learned writer would perhaps 
 have settled his fluctuating opinions upon 
 this, and all the other points connected with 
 
 ■ * " Mjror tamen, eos qui in Meschech Moscovitas 
 *' vident, non et Thuhal ad Siberiam referre; cujus 
 " urbs primaria Tobohka, recentior illaquidem, sed ab 
 " aeterno flumine Tobol noraen babens, posset gonq 
 " Thuhalem referre : maxinie cum Siberia sit fueritque 
 " aeris dives, cupro olim etiam pro ferro usa, cultros- 
 *' que ex cupro faciens, qui in sepulcris antiquis cum 
 
ILLUSTRATION. €5 
 
 this important subject, if he had lived to 
 the present eventful time, and had directed 
 his attention to that particular point which 
 must next engage our concern, namely, the 
 Hebrew word immediately preceding the name 
 o/*l\os, which our translators have rendered 
 chief, and the Greek interpreters, a^x^vrx. 
 In examining this word, we shall discover, 
 that the error of mistaking a proper-name 
 for an appellative-noun, is not the only error 
 which calls for observation and correctiort 
 in this place. Another material error^ 
 which the sentence fully discloses by it^ 
 internal evidence, subsists in the word im- 
 mediately preceding; which at present is 
 so interpreted as to make Gogue tliec///^or 
 prince, not of Magogue only, but also of the 
 people of Ros, Mosc, and Tobl. This 
 word, in the original, is «»tt;jJ, AW. 
 
 ^^ rnortuls conditi passim reperiuntur. Verum id noii 
 " ita scribo, ut verisile existimem, scriptores sacros de 
 ^'^accolis fluviiToBoi- loqui, sg^ (\\xo6magn(e incogitan- 
 *^ tia videtur, ToBOL.s/irtTn ab illis praetermitti, qui in 
 " Meschech MoscMam videre sibi videntur." — Spici" 
 ^egium Geogr. Hebr, Ext, p. 55, 
 
•SB .PRELIMINARY 
 
 But the sentence, when duly and critically 
 'examined, rejects that interpretation alto- 
 gether; since GoGUE, the individual in ques- 
 tion, is described as ^^o/' the land," that is, 
 (by a construction common to the Hebrew 
 with the Greek tongue,) ^' Sovereign of \\\q 
 ^r land " of Magogue : tliere is his proper do- 
 minion, and there are his subject nations. 
 " Whoever reads Ezekiel, (says Michael is), 
 " can hardly entertain a doubt, thatGoGUE 
 *^ is the name of a sovereign^ and Magogue 
 " that of his people; — the Prophet speaks 
 " of the former^ not as a people, but as an 
 " Emperor*." To the same purpose,is the 
 observation of Vitringa already produced. 
 It is not necessary to the sense, therefore, 
 to suppose, nor is it at all probable, that 
 the same person should be again described, 
 as the sovereign of other countries, (viz.Ros, 
 Mosc, and Tobl,) when he had been already 
 properly distinguished, as the sovereign of 
 
 *" Ezechieleinlegenti vix dubium videre potest, Gog 
 " re^is nomen esse, Magog populi; — de iih, non ut de 
 *' populo sed Imperatork loquitur." — IhicL p. 33. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. S? 
 
 Magogue. But those three names point 
 to the sequel of the Prophecy, which pro- 
 ceeds to declare, that the Invader should be 
 calamitously overthrown in his invasion : — 
 of what country^ Of that, namely, which 
 had been mentioned in the opening of the 
 Prophecy, and which is no where else ex- 
 pressed, but only figuratively described, in 
 the sequel. 
 
 Now the Prophecy affirms, two several 
 times, that " He shall ascend towards that 
 " land as a cloud to cover it" This com- 
 parison, of a cloud, seems to be thus repeated, 
 in order to lead our minds to the apprehen- 
 sion of the true signification of that parti- 
 cular word in the title, with which we are 
 at present engaged. That equivocal word 
 («»tt^j, Nasi), which is rendered in the Greek 
 by a^x^v, in our translation by chief, and in 
 that of Archbishop Newxome by prince, is 
 derived from the Hebrew i^mi, Nasa; which, 
 as Mr. Parkhurst has justly observed, " is a 
 *' most extensive root ; " signifying, to stir 
 up, to lift up, to exalt, to ascend, &c. : from 
 
28 PRELIMINARY 
 
 which significations, the derivative noun 
 «*tt^j, Nasi, has acquired the twofold sense of 
 CLOUD and prince. Thus when it is said, 
 three several times, in the Scriptures, " He 
 " maketh the clouds to ascend from the 
 " extremity of the earth^^^ the word employ- 
 ed to signify clouds, is cz3»«tt^:i, or C3»«»tt^J f, 
 Neslim ; the singular of which, «»t:^J, Nasi, is 
 the very word used here, in the Title of the 
 Prophecy, to designate the Invader, whose 
 invasion is immediately afterwards twice 
 illustrated by the ascent of a cloud. But, 
 of the two significations which equally ap- 
 pertain to this equivocal word in the He- 
 brew, viz. cloud, and prince, that which 
 properly belongs to it in this place can only 
 be determined by the general import of the 
 context. And since, as I have shown, it 
 cannot have been employed to denote the 
 dominions of Go GVB, which are previously 
 declared to be ^^the landofMagogue;" since 
 
 * Psalm cxxxv. 7. Jereru. x, 13. li, 16. 
 t Coinp. Prov. xxv, 14. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 29 
 
 that Invader is eminently characterized in 
 the body of the Prophecy, as " a cloud" 
 menacing a land ; and since the word to 
 be determined signifies cloud as well as 
 prince ; no reasonable doubt can remain, that 
 the former oi the two significations, (although 
 so long overlooked,) is that which properly 
 and peculiarly belongs to it in this place. 
 The TRUE TITLE of this wonderful Prophecy 
 will therefore stand at length thus lucidly 
 exposed : 
 
 " GoGUE, of the land o/'Magggue, the cloud 
 " o/'Ros, INIosc, and Tobl ! " 
 
 How suitable is this compellation of Aif 
 INVADER, of whom the Prophet presently 
 proceeds to declare, " Thou shalt come up as 
 " A STORM, thou shalt be as a cloud to 
 " cover the land!" And again : " Thou shalt 
 " come against My people as a cloud to 
 " cover the land!" That he should be de- 
 scribed as the cloud of the countries which 
 his ascent menaced, is equally sublime and 
 natural ; and conformable to the conceptions 
 and figures in use among mankind. Thus 
 Cicero, in his oration against Verres, calls 
 
 him ^* THE TEMPEST, Or STORM, of the 
 
fi^ PKELIMINAUY 
 
 *' Sicilians: — tempestas Siculorum*.'* 
 And, in another oration, he designates Clo- 
 dius, "The STORM of his native country, the 
 " WHIRLWIND and tempest of peace and 
 " tranquillity \r Much in the same manner, 
 Homer makes the consternation of A'ydx 
 describe the onset of Hector as "a cloud,'' 
 spreading darkness on every side; calling 
 him, " THE CLOUD ofzoar,'' 
 
 'Tro'KifAOto NE<1>02, tste^; 'sravlct naXvi/lei 
 
 *£KTi2P +. 
 
 Which figure is borrowed by Pindar ||. It 
 is likewise familiarly, and very commonly, 
 employed to describe a numerous and armed 
 host. So Plutarch, representing the assem- 
 blage of Northern nations w^hich, in the time 
 of Marius, threatened to overwhelm Gaul 
 and Italy, says, " that they appeared ready to 
 
 * *' Hiemi sese, fluctibusque committere maluit (Pub. 
 " Rupilius) quam non istam communcm Sictjloiium 
 ** TEMPEST ATEM calamitatemque vitare, ii. 37." 
 
 t Tu PROCELLA. patriae, turbo et tempestas pacis 
 et otti. — Pro domo sua. c. 53. 
 
 J II. xvii. 243. — Schol. eTret Travra^oQev hfA,a<; ecKolocff-Bt 
 *ExI«g, KaQaire^ NE002 TToXtfjt.ii, 
 
 II Nem. X. IG. 
 
tLLUSTRATlON. 31 
 
 *^ Ircak over those countries like a cloud." — 
 ^(T'^ra^ NE^OS sfjiTTEo-oiEv rri Ta'KaTix xai rn 
 Iraxicc *. And we know, how frequently 
 an entire army is described by its chief. 
 
 And not foreign to this employment of 
 the figure, is that of Virgil, in his descrip- 
 tion of a firm and calm resistance to the 
 assailment of war : a description which, in 
 a secondary view of the subject, may with 
 the utmost justice be applied to the settled 
 iriagnanimity, with which the actual sove* 
 reign of Ros, Mosc, and Tobl, disposed 
 iiis mind to " sustain the cloud ofrcar/^ 
 \vhich was advancing against his Empire. 
 
 " Ac velut, effusa si quando grandine nimbi 
 Precipitant, oraniscarapis diffugit arator, 
 Oranis et agricola, ut tuta latet arce viator, 
 Aut amnis ripis, aut alti fornice saxi, 
 i Dum pluit; in terris ut possint, sole reducto, 
 ^ Exercere diem : Sic ohrutus undique telis 
 MneaSy nubem betli,dum detonet ; otimem 
 Sustinet f." 
 
 ** As when the rattling hail impetuous pours. 
 And thq^ wide field smokes with the rushing show'rs, 
 
 ^_* " Vit. Marii.'^ vol. ii. p. 820. 8vo. f "Mn.'' x. 803; 
 
 I 
 
 c 
 
32 PRELIMINARY 
 
 To the safe shelving banks the swains repair, 
 Or to some cavernM rock ; and, sheltered there, 
 Wait till the furious tempest breaks away, 
 And then renew the labours of the day. 
 So, plyM by show'rs of javelins from afar, 
 ^NEAS calm sustains the cloud of war,*' 
 
 It was the ancient misapprehension of 
 the import of this zcord, by which it was 
 taken in the sense of chief or prince^, that 
 gave rise to a traditional belief, not unfre- 
 quent in some parts of Europe, that Gogue 
 
 ♦ It may be well to consider, more particularly, the 
 ^ causes which have hitherto prevented the proper inter- 
 pretation of this word in the passage before us. Tlie 
 chief and governing cause, has been the want of experi- 
 ence of the fact which could alone determine and 
 fix the interpretation. But other, and secondary, 
 causes have contributed. The plural word a»t^»t2^i, 
 Nesiiniy occurs only four times in the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures with the sense of clouds, though it occurs several 
 times with that of princes. Its singular t^»tt^j. Nasi, 
 occurs also several times ; but, in every other instance, 
 except this of Ezekiel, with the sense of prince, or 
 chief. From hence it has been hastily inferred, that the 
 singular never denoted a cloud, and that it was used in 
 that sense onli/ in the plural. And, as the word is here 
 used in the singular, it has been invelerately assumed 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 33 
 
 and Magogue pYes\gn\f\edtheRussiaripozcer ; 
 a belief, inexplicable to those who are ac- 
 quainted only with our common translation 
 of Ezekiel, and who are therefore not 
 aware, that the proper-name of Kos (which 
 was inconiestably an ancient name of the 
 Russian j?eop/e), is an original and essential' 
 member of tim Prophecy, The prevalence 
 of whicli opinion caused Michaelis, in 
 
 to signify a prince. But this inference was much too 
 rapid; the quantity of the Hebrew hxnguajje contained 
 in the books of tlie Old Testament -, in which many of 
 its words are used only once or twice, many are cer- 
 tainly not introduced at all ; does not supply a crite- 
 rion of all the capacities of that language, sutficiently 
 complete to authorize the conclusion. We must there- 
 fore resort to the general analogy of languages. It has 
 been supposed, that a^fc^'tl/i, Nesiim, signified clouds 
 in the plural only ; as many words in the Latin are 
 represented to be employed only in the plural num- 
 ber, and have, therefore, been classed by Gramma- 
 rians under the head o( Ileterocliles in number. But, 
 even in Latin, this arrangement is known to be erro- 
 neous and unfounded; for the rule is drawn merely 
 Crom a later practice f and not from wny fundamental 
 principle of the speech. And accordingly, we find 
 that many of the words represmted as unused in the 
 
54 PRELIMINARY 
 
 endeavouring to appropriate the name of 
 llos to the Asiatic Russians exclusively, 
 to conclude his argument with these re- 
 markable words : — " Let those, therefore, 
 '* who interpret the Prophets, cease to 
 " dread any longer the Russian Power, 
 ^^ in the names of Gogue and Magogue. — 
 " Desinant ergo, qui Prophetas interpre- 
 " tantur, ad Gogi et Magogi nomeu 
 
 singular, were nevertheless so employed by writers 
 earlier than those who are made the standard of the 
 language to us. Of these we may instance the words, 
 Lemures, Manes, delicicc, divUi^e, liber i ; all of which, 
 though presented to us as words having no singular, 
 are nevertheless to be found in the singular number. 
 
 Thus Apuleius : " Veteri Latina lingua reperis 
 " Lemurem dietitatum.'' He adds, of the same : 
 " Manem Deum nuncupant/* — De Deo Socrat, 
 Plautus more than once employs the word deliciuy 
 where the standard writers use only delicia ; Trucul. 
 V. 1, 29. Rud. ii. 4, 13. Divitia, is quoted in the 
 singular form by Nonius, 7. 64. from Accius, a writer 
 who lived about 200 years ant. Chr, " seternabilem 
 " divitiam partissent.*' And liber is used for a child 
 even by Quintillian, in the singular: " liberi et parentis 
 ** affectus." Declara. ii. pro Caco, c. 8. p: 45. — With- 
 out extending these examples any further, we may be 
 
I 
 
 ILLUSTRATION. 55 
 
 ^^ potentiam horrescere Russorum*." But, 
 by discerning that Gogue is here described, 
 not as " the Prifice'^ of Ros, Mosc, and 
 ToRL, but as an ascenditig " cloud" threat- 
 ening to involve and overwhelm those 
 regions, the ground of that chimerical 
 apprehension is fundamentally taken away. 
 IV. W(? are next to consider the regions, 
 or nations, from which the invading host was 
 to proceed. The Prophet informs us, that 
 they should consist of Magogue, in chief, 
 with GoMER and Togarmah associated f; 
 
 sure that these and other words were used in the sin- 
 gular, before a hiter practice confined them to the 
 plural; And thus, though the plural CD»«»tt^ j, Nesiiniy 
 is used four times where the collective clouds o{ the 
 heavens are spoken of; yet no critical reason can be 
 alleged, why the singular t^>ttrj. Nasi, might not have 
 been used, in a figurative description, where 07ie great 
 Invader is compared to " a cloud ;^^ which figure is 
 confirmed by the parallel and responsive term p]; 
 a cloud, in the two following verses, 9 and 16. But the 
 more common signification was adopted for this mys- 
 terious passage, at first sight, as seeming to convey a 
 meaning more immediately intelligible ; and yet, as it novr 
 appears, it is altogether erroneous and unintelligible. 
 
 * " Geogr. Heb. Ext/' p. 55; 
 
 t See notes to Ezek.xxxviii. 5 and 6, 
 
56 PBELIMINAHY 
 
 let US therefore now inquire, where were 
 the regions of Magogue and Gomer ? 
 
 We know, from the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 that these are the names of two sons of 
 Japhet ; and it is to ancient Hebrew autho- 
 rity alone that we can resort, to learn where, 
 according to the common repute of the 
 Hebrew people, the nations which descended 
 from those two heads of families, and which 
 long retained the proper-names of those heads, 
 were spread and estabHshed. Josephus is 
 the earliest Hebrew authority, of weight 
 and learning, to which we can address our- 
 selves ; and he distinctly informs us, *^ that 
 " Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons; 
 " who, proceeding from their primitive 
 " seats in the mountains of Taurus and 
 *^ Amanus, ascended Asia to the river Ta- 
 " nais (or Don) ; and there entering Europe, 
 " penetrated as far westward as the Straits 
 *' of Gibraltar, occupying the layids which 
 " they successively met with in their progress ; 
 " (all of which were uninhabited); and be^^ 
 " queathed their names to their different f ami- 
 " lies, or nations. That GoM^n founded the 
 *^ Gomari, zchom the Greeks, at that time, 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 37 
 
 *^ called GALATiE, — t«j NTN l(p' 'ExMjvwy 
 " FAAATAS Kcc\iifjLEViig ; — and that Magogiie 
 *' founded the Magogs, whom the Greeks 
 " then called Scythe, Invdai*.'' It only 
 therefore remains for us to ascertain, which 
 were the nations that the Greeks, in the time 
 of Josephus, called Sct/thcc, and which 
 they then called Galatcc; and to observe, 
 whether the geographical affinities of these 
 nations are such as answer to those which 
 are plainly required by the Prophecy for 
 Magogue and Gomer. 
 
 Herodotus, the most ancient Greek writer 
 whom we can consult, and at the same 
 time the most inquisitive and correct; and 
 who tells us, that he took particular pains to 
 obtain information upon the point; acquaints 
 us, " that the name Scythcc^ was a nameg/rew 
 *' by the Greeks themselves to an ancient and 
 " widely extended people ofE?irope, who had 
 *' spread themselves from the river Tanais, 
 ^' or Don, w estward, along the banks of 
 " the Ister, or Danube f." — " The Greeks 
 
 * " Antiq. Ind." lib. i. c. 6. f Lib. ir; 
 
5B freltminahy 
 
 ^' (observes the acute and accurate Major 
 " Rennel), appear to hhwejirst used the term 
 " ScYTHiA; in its application to tlieir neigh- 
 " bours the Sc7/thia?ts of the Euxine, who 
 *^ were also called Getce, or Gothi; and 
 ** were those who afterwards subdued the 
 '^ Roman Empire: and from which original 
 " stock the present race of people in Europe 
 " seem to be descended." And again : 
 ^^ The Scythians of Herodotus appear to 
 ^^ have extended themselves in length from 
 " Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia, oa 
 ^•* the Westward ; to the river Don on the 
 " Eastward*/' This was the informatioa 
 which Herodotus was able to procure in the 
 sixth century before Christ, when the in- 
 terior of Europe was very partially knowii 
 to the Greeks ; and his report, as far as it 
 goes, is in perfect agreement with that of 
 Josephus, concerning the progress ofMagogue 
 and Gomer. In these same regions the 
 Scythse continued many ages after Herodo- 
 tus; and even long after the time of Jose- 
 
 * " Geogr. of Herod/' p. 47, 48,61, 
 
ILLCSTRATION. B^ 
 
 phus ; for Dio Cassius, who lived 150 
 years afler Josephus, and above 200 year* 
 after our Saviour, relates, that Pompey, in 
 his return into Europe from Asia, " deter- 
 ^* mined to pass to the Ister, or Danube, 
 *^ through the Scythcc ; and so to entet 
 " Italy *." These were the original Scythae. 
 But Herodotus further reports, that a por- 
 tion of this same people, in an afterage, 
 turned back from the European seats of 
 their fathers, and established themselves in 
 Asia: and from these sprung the Asiatic 
 Scythcc y who in process of time almost en* 
 grossed the naine to themselves. 
 
 From hence it would appear, that th©^ 
 name of Sa/tha, by wliich name we are to 
 interpret that of Magogue, although it pro- 
 perly denotes a nation of* Europe, yet, if it 
 be taken by itself, is of very vague and 
 vindeterminate import; so undeterminate 
 indeed, as to admit of no accurate or par- 
 ticular specification. Wherefore Michaelis 
 was led to remark; " that the name of 
 
 * TF^oi nrov l<r^ov AIA TliN IKYQ^N iXQuY, iMvrtvQiv If Tiif 
 iTttXwy gjT^aXgtv,— -Lib. xxxva. c.ll. 
 
h 
 
 MELIMINARY 
 
 '* Sct/thians is of such wide application, em- 
 *' bracing nations so extremely different in 
 '' language, origin, and local dwelling, 
 " (since some include the Celts and Germans 
 *' among the ScythianSj) that he who main- 
 " tains that Magogue signifies the Scythians, 
 " has said little or nothing*." 
 
 But the provident terms of the Prophecy 
 have effectually guarded against the conse- 
 quences of this uncertainty in the present 
 instance, by associating with the name of 
 Magogue another name, of precise and de* 
 finite signification; by means of which, a 
 determination is given to the name of Ma- 
 gogue in this prediction, entirely sufficient 
 to limit and fix its application. This is the 
 name of Gomer, ^^ called Galat^e by the 
 " Greeks ,•" and the oversight of this most 
 material circumstance, is one of the many 
 marks which betray the superficial and 
 fanciful manner in which the learned 
 commentator, just mentioned, has con- 
 ducted his interpretation of these proper- 
 Bameg. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 26. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 41 
 
 But, since the name of Scythe, (i. e. 
 Magogue,) is here to be considered, not by 
 itself, but in geographical connexion with Ga- 
 LAT^, or GoMER, wc havc only to inquire, 
 whether any geographical affinity is really 
 ascribed by the Greeks to the Set/ thee and 
 Galatce ? and to ascertain, to what regions of 
 the earth those names, so associated, were 
 applied. If wc can discover these two points, 
 we ought thereby to have discovered speci- 
 fically the Magogue of the Prophecy, which 
 would be able to associate to themselves the 
 region, or people, of Gomer. 
 
 If we extend our researches concerning 
 the ScythcB to a later age than that of Hero- 
 dotus, when the continent of Europe >vas 
 more extensively known, we shall find that 
 Diodorus Siculus, who lived about a century 
 before Josephus, traces them much farther 
 into Europe than the Danube; even to the 
 shores of the Baltic, and to the very confines 
 of the Galat^ of the Greeks. In speaking 
 of the amber found upon the shores of that 
 sea, he there places the region expressly 
 denominated, '^ Scythia above^ or ISorth of 
 
4£ PRELIMINARY 
 
 « Galatia '— i 2Kr0H, h UTTE^ rriv FAAA- 
 TIAN^." In which description we at length 
 find the ScYTHiE, or Magogue, in the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood oi the Galat^e of the 
 Greeks^ or Gomer. 
 
 And have we need to inquire, who were 
 " the Galat^ of the Greeks'' in the time of 
 Josephus ? It is most astonishing, tiiat any 
 scholar should have put himself in active 
 search for an object which lay so closely at 
 his foot; yet such has been the extraordi- 
 nary proceeding of the same learned Ger- 
 man. Galatia, Faxar/a, is the common and 
 familiar name used by all the earlier Greek 
 historians for, Gaul, the Gallia of the Latins ; 
 and GALATiE, Taxarai, is no other than the 
 common Greek name for the Gauls, or G<^///i 
 of the Latins : as every one knows, who has 
 ever opened the histories of Diodorus, 
 Strabo, Plutarch, Appian, or Dio Cassiusf. 
 
 * Lib. V. c. 23. 
 
 f " Graeci Galliam retXanav (GalatUifn), et Gallos 
 '* raXctrag (Galata), ut pluriinum appellant, atque sic 
 *' Polybius, Siciliota Diodorus, Dio Cassius, Josephus, 
 ** Pausanias, alii : poster lores autein cum Latinis 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 4S 
 
 ^^ All the Galatce" (or Gauls), says Stra- 
 bo, " were called Cellcc by the Greeks*;" 
 and the converse is equally true : " the 
 '' CW/d? were called Galatce by the Greeks, 
 *' and Gain by the Latins." To inquire who 
 were the " Galatce oi' the Greeks?" is there- 
 fore all one, as to inquire who were the 
 Gain of the Romans ? We need not to 
 waste time upon this plain subject. Jose- 
 phus, who wrote iQ Greek, used the name 
 ol^ FaXaraij Galatcc, to denote that people ; 
 had he written in Latin, he would have 
 used the name of Galli. A colony of these 
 Galatce, or Galli, indeed, in the third cen- 
 tury before Christ, emigrated from Gau\ 
 and established themselves in Asia minor; 
 wdiere they were ever after called by their 
 
 " TAXXtfc, et reglonein raxx»<iv dixerunt." — CellariuSf 
 libi ii. c. 2. Even as late as the Frankish historian, 
 Gregory of Tours, A.D, 580, we find the name of Gw 
 lata used as equivalent to Galli; " Veniens Avernos 
 " deiubrum illud quod Gallica lingua, Vasso, Galata 
 ** vocant." — Lib. i. c. 30. 
 
 * rug crvfATtAvla^ raXaretq, ICiXTtf ; vvo ru¥ *EXXww vr^ofAyc^tv- 
 6w«<. — Lib. iv. p. 189. 
 
44 ^REUMINARV 
 
 Greek name, Galatians; and to these the 
 ingenuity of Michaelis was directed, with a 
 very subordinate attention to the parent 
 stock and original seat in Europe. The 
 " Scythia above Gaul/' of Diodorus, " extend- 
 ^^ ing towards the Baltic/* accurately describes 
 that large tract of Europe above the Rhine, 
 OT northern boundary of Gaul y through which 
 flow the rivers Elbe, Ems, and Weser. Here, 
 and in the countries immediately adjoin- 
 ing, were the ScvTHiE bordering upon the 
 G ALATiE on the North ; that is to say, a con- 
 siderable part of Magogue, geographically 
 associated with Gomer*. The same histo- 
 rian elsewhere describes the Northern part 
 of Galatia, or Gaul, as confining upon 
 Scythia, ^^The Greeks," says he, '^call those 
 ^' who inhabit Marseilles and the inland 
 " territory, and all those who dwell towards 
 " the Alps and the Pyreneean mountains, 
 
 ♦ " Gomer, ex quo Galata, id est, Galli. — Goincr, 
 " from wliom proceeded the Galatce, that is, the 
 " Gauls'^ J5*(/ori Or j^m. lib. ix.— Isidore wrote about 
 the year 400, 
 
ILtUSTRATION. 44 
 
 ^ by the name of Celts; but those who 
 " occup}^ the country lying to the North- 
 ^' ward, between the Ocean and the Hercy- 
 " nian mountain, and all others as far as 
 ** Scythia, they denominate Galatte; but 
 *^ the Romans call all those nations by 
 *^ one collective appellation, Galatcd ; i. e. 
 " GalH*.'' These geographical affinities 
 unite in the name of Celto-Scyth.e, men- 
 tioned by Strabo. " The ancient Greeks," 
 lays he, " at first called the Northern nations 
 " by the general name of Scythians; but 
 " when they became acquainted with the 
 " nations in the JVest^ they began to call 
 " them by the different names, of Celts, 
 " CelioScythaf'' &c. : and again : " The an- 
 '^ cient Greek historians called the Northern 
 *^ nations, collectively, Scj/thians, and Celto* 
 " Sci/th(c%i^* which latter name plainly 
 denoted the most Western portion of the 
 Scythae, adjoining Gaul; of the number of 
 whom were the ScythcR on the North of the 
 Galatc£y or the XnuOai otts^ TaT^liav. 
 
 * L. V. c »2. t L- i. P- 33. X L. xi. p. 507. 
 
46 PRELIMINARY 
 
 And now, what intelligence is so dull as 
 not clearly to discern, in this general de- 
 scription, that extended and powerful por- 
 tion of the West of Europe; comprehend- 
 ing ancient Gaul, Belgium, and the coun- 
 tries bordering thereupon; which constitute 
 what has been called, in our day, the 
 Empire OF France ? 
 
 But (it will naturally be asked), if Gomer 
 indeed denotes the Gauls, and if Magogue 
 with Gomer associated is to be understood 
 of THE French Empire, why is Gower only 
 a secondary name in the description ? why 
 is it not rather the principal? since it points 
 immediately to F'rance. Let us mark well 
 the answer, which waits to be given to this 
 pertinent question. *' Scythia above Gaul " — 
 ii ^jcvQyj rj vTTEp TY\v TaT^aTiav, or Magogue above 
 GoTwer— through which flowed the rivers 
 Elbe, Ems, and Weser, was the country 
 from whence proceeded principally that 
 renowned people, who, in the early ages 
 of Christianity, formed an extensive con- 
 federacy with their kindred nations upon 
 the Rhine, that had migrated successively 
 
ILLUSTRATION. '4rl 
 
 thither from the regions of the Danube**^ 
 and who, under the common denomination 
 of Franks, overran Gaul and subdued it ; 
 and, fmalhj eslahlishing their power and po- 
 pulation in the conquered country ^ permanently 
 superseded the name of Gaul hy that oJFra n ce. 
 " As for the seats of the Franks,'^ say the 
 authors of the ' Universal History,^ " it 
 " appears from their constant excursions 
 " into Gaul, that they dwelt on the banks 
 " of the BMne, in the neighbourhood of 
 " Mcntz. All historians speak of them as 
 ^' placed there till their settling in Gaul. — • 
 *' Their country, according to the best 
 ^^ modern geographers and historians, was 
 
 * " Tradunt mu!ti, eosdem (Francos) de Pannonia 
 '^ fuisse digresses; et priniuin quidem litora Rheni 
 " amnis incoluisse." — Gregory of Touiis, Hist. 
 Franc, lib. ii. c. 9. 
 
 " In litore Danuvii flummis et maris Oceani conse- 
 " disse : — 'qui, Europain pervagantes, cum uxoribus et 
 " liberis Rhcni ripam occuparunt.*' Fredegarius, 
 Epitotn. Grcgoj\ Tur. c. ii. — Compare with this st^ite- 
 luent, the course and seats of the Sci/tha of Herodotus, 
 and of the Magogue of Josephus, as represented above 
 ax page 37. 
 
<i8 PRELIMINARY 
 
 *' bounded on the North by the ocean ; oti 
 '^ the West by the ocean and the Rhine ; on 
 *' the South by the Mein ; and on the Easfr 
 « by the WeserV&c. 
 
 These, therefore, were the KbXto-IkvSo^, 
 or 'EnuQai vtte^ tuv Ta?,aliav, the Celto-Scy- 
 THiANs, or Scythians on the Northern 
 confine o/'Gaul; that is, Magogue in-con- 
 tiguity with ( and afterwards the conquerors 
 of) GoMER. " The nations of Gaul,'' 
 Bays Mr. Gibbon, ^' were gradually con- 
 *^ founded under the name and government 
 *' of the Franks +." Thus, in effect, was 
 the name of Magogue rendered para- 
 mount in Gomer : and so great was th^ 
 ascendancy which the new name obtained 
 among the nations of Earope, that it came 
 at length to be applied, by the modern 
 Eastern nations, to all the Western people of 
 that Continent, in the same manner as the 
 name of Magogue had been applied of old, 
 by the a/?c?'e«^ nations of the East. " A name 
 ^' of some German tribes between the Rhine 
 
 • " Universal History/* b. iv. c. 28, p. S72y 8?(f. 
 t ^ Hist. Rom. Empire/' ch. xxxviii. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 49 
 
 ^' mid the Weser,'' observes the same histo- 
 rian, *Miad spread its victorious influence 
 " over the greatest part of Gaul, Germanj^ 
 " and Italy; and the common appellation 
 " of Franks was applied by the Greeks 
 '^ and Arabians to the Christians of the 
 ** Latin church, the "nations of the West, who 
 " stretched be t/orul their knowledge to the shores 
 *' of the Atlantic Ocean*.'* Thus, in the name 
 of Franks, the modern name for Scythce 
 above Galatia, or Celto-Scytha, we detect a 
 natne corresponding directly to the Magogue 
 of the Prophecy; as in the name of Gaul, 
 the Galataofthe Greeks, we detect the name 
 which exclusively answers to that of Go MER. 
 In strict agreement with this interpreta- 
 tion, were the conjectures and persuasions of 
 various ancient writers of eminence in both 
 churches. Christian and Jewish. Eusebius 
 applied the name of Magogue to Me Celts, or 
 Gauls; Ambrosius to the Goths; the author 
 of the ^^Alexandrian Chronicle'' to the Jqui- 
 tani, or inhabitants of the South-west of Gaul; 
 
 ^ Ibid: cb. liii. 
 
50 t»RELIMINARY 
 
 and the Chaldean interpreter to the Ger- 
 mans: all looked for the Magogs e of Scrip- 
 ture in the West of Europe. The Svyth(s of 
 Asia, who, as we have seen, were only a 
 partial emigration, • or reflux, from their 
 ancient stock in Europe^ cannot, with any 
 soundness of criticism, be taken account of 
 in this argument ; and yet on these it is, 
 that Michaelis has wasted the learned time 
 and ingenuity which he has bestowed upon 
 this subject. 
 
 With respect to Togarmah, the last 
 invading nation named in the prediction, I 
 shall content myself, in this place, with the 
 general argument contained in the propo- 
 sition of that learned German, (reserving 
 what I may deem necessary to observe con- 
 cerning this name, for a note on the verse 
 of the Prophecy in which it occurs): " If 
 " Gomer denotes the Gauls, Togarmah 
 ^^ must denote some nation of the Gauls* " 
 
 These, then, were the regions that were to 
 supply the numerous and formidable armies, 
 
 * See note on Ezek. xxxviii, 6, 
 
B 
 
 ILLUSTRATION. 51 
 
 wiih which their arrogant and mighty 
 LEADER, prophetically denominated GoGUE, 
 \vas " to ascend as a cloud/* threatening 
 the general investment of Ros, Mosc, and 
 TocL. 
 
 VI. Let us now consider, with due atten- 
 tion, this name oFGogue, in the Hebrew JU, 
 and in the ancient Greek Ffir, prophetically 
 assigned to the leader of those armies. 
 
 It is plain, to every one acquainted with 
 the power of those ancient letters, that this 
 name ought to be pronounced with the o 
 long, as in the words vogue, rogue, Hogue, 
 and not short, as in fog, log, dog, as it is 
 erroneously, though universally pronounced 
 amongst us ; and therefore, in order to con- 
 vey its legitimate sound by the power of our 
 own and some other modern alphabets, 
 that it ought to be written, Gogue, as also, 
 Magog should be written Magogue : in 
 which forms I accordingly use these words. 
 There is no name in the Scriptures, which 
 has more puzzled the Biblical critics than 
 this of GoGUE. The depths of Hebrew 
 etymology have been explored in vain, and 
 
C% PRELIMINARY 
 
 the versatile efforts of ingenuity in vain 
 exerted, in the search of a mystical sense 
 which might attach upon this name. It is 
 true, that in ] Chron. V. 4. we find the name 
 Gog in our English Bible, as an Hebrew 
 name, among the Reubenites; but the an- 
 cient Greek Interpreters teach us, that in 
 that place it was properly enounced Govg, 
 Vayy and not Gogue, Toy, But the name in 
 Ezekiel's Prophecy is not an Hebrew, but a 
 Gentile name ; and Michaelis has therefore 
 well remarked upon it, " that the origin of 
 ^^ a barbaric or foreign name, ought not 
 <^ to be sought for in the Hebrew, nor in 
 *^ any of its kindred tongues, as many have 
 *^ erroneously done*." And no better suc- 
 cess has attended those who have taken a 
 more reasonable and practical course, and 
 who have endeavoured to detect the region 
 to which it properly appertains, b?/ discover- 
 itig some ancient nation in whose history the 
 name may be found. Neither the name of 
 
 * " Barbarico nomini origo ex lingua Hebraica eique 
 ** cognatis non qua^renda, in quo plures errasse yideo/^ 
 — Supplem, ad Lex. Heb, p. i. p. 276. i"\j, Gogue; 
 
n ILLUSTRATION. 53 
 
 Gi/ges ♦, king of Lydia, nor that of the C/iach 
 (or Shah), of the Tartars, written Gog by one 
 French traveller f, but to be pronounced 
 short, Gag, (both which names have been 
 brought forward with a view to throw light 
 upon the Gogue of Prophecy), have served to 
 contribute any illustration whatever capable 
 ''^of affording instruction, or satisfaction, eitlier 
 ' to the ingenious authors themselves, or to 
 their readers ; .the name still appears to 
 stand alone, without any internal reason 
 for its adoption, and without a parallel in 
 the histories of any of the nations among 
 which search has been made. This failure, 
 we can only regard as a consequence of 
 attempting to explain or apply the name by 
 human subtlety alone, and before actual 
 events, the oali/ keys granted to man for 
 explicating the arcana of Prophecy, have 
 arrived to unfold them. 
 
 But the wonderful events which we have 
 witnessed, and which we still are witnessing, 
 and the minute and stupendous correspond- 
 
 * Grotius, in Ezecli. xxxvili. 2. 
 
 t MicHAELis,ibid.4-"6'eogr. Heh. Exi:''uM,Z5, 
 
a PRELIMINARY 
 
 ence with the figures of Prophecy which 
 those events reveal, direct and define our ] 
 prospect; and thus fix and concentrate the 
 thoughts upon one great point of survey/, by a 
 steady attention to which many things rise 
 out to view, which otherwise would not have 
 been discerned. It is in this contemplation 
 that we are at length led to discover, that 
 the name of Gogue, Flir, which seemed 
 to be without a parallel in, the history of 
 mankind, and foreign to every known nation 
 of the earth, is, in truth, a proper-name 
 well known to Frankish History ; and 
 borne, in one notable instance, by an 
 ancient ruler of that people, which, as we 
 have already seen, answers immediately to 
 the Magogue of the Sacred Oracles. We 
 find, thatGoGUE was the proper-narae of the 
 First Major Domus Regi^, or. Mayor 
 OF THE Palace of the Franks, of whom 
 authentic history makes positive and particular 
 mention; and who, after having been exalted 
 by the voice of the nation to his high 
 eminence of power, fell by a violent and 
 sanguinary death. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 6& 
 
 That we should find this same name 
 poetically, or figuratively, applicable to 
 another ruler of the same people, who was 
 to follow him in a distant age ; whose rise 
 was to be eminently great, and his fall 
 stupendously rapid and disastrous; is a cir- 
 cumstance of so extraordinary and striking 
 a nature, as to render it of importance that 
 this neglected portion of early Christian 
 history should be brought forward into 
 view ; the apparent insignificance of which 
 has caused it to be overlooked by all our own 
 historians, even by the historian of^TAe 
 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire/^ al- 
 though it has constituted, for upwards of a 
 thousand years, an integral part of the na- 
 tional history of the Franks, or French. 
 
 The name of this personage appears in 
 the Frankish writers (all of whom wrote in 
 Latin), under the double form of Gogo 
 (onis), and GroGiis (i) * ; those differing 
 Latin terminations and inflexions having 
 been suffixed to the original name. But 
 
 * " GoGMS, idem qui Gogo." — Not, in p. 79^ torn, iv. 
 " Rer. Gall, 4- Franc, Scripior.** 
 
56 PRELIMINAHlfr 
 
 although most; modern authors have follow- 
 ed those Latin forms, the name has neverthe- 
 less been preserved in the vernacular tongue, 
 with its genuine, original, and simple enun- 
 ciation of GoGUE *", exactly answering to 
 Tcoy, or Gogue, of the Hebrew and Greek, 
 
 At the death of Clotaire, son of Clovis, 
 the Prankish monarchy was divided among 
 his sons. Sigebert inherited that portion 
 of the divided monarchy which was called 
 the kingdom of Australia, comprehending 
 the North Eastern part of France. About 
 sixty years after his death, in 575, and 
 twenty years after the death of his queen 
 Brunehaut, or Brunechild, in 613, (which 
 was nearly as soon as the events of his reign 
 could be committed with fidelity and safety 
 to history ;) Fredegarius, or the author of the 
 history under that name, undertook the 
 task ; and taking the recent Frank ish history 
 
 * " GoGow, que (Tiiutres 7iomment GonvE — etoit 
 " iin des seigneurs des plus qualifies de la cour de 
 '^ Sigebert, roi d'Austrasie. Sts grandes qualites 
 '* porterent ce prince a Je cboisir pour Maire de son 
 '^ Falais*'-— Diet, de Mosleri, p. Q5Q. Art, Gogon, 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 57 
 
 of Gregory of Tours for his groundwork, 
 he carefull}^ enlarged and supplied such 
 particulars as the peculiar position of Gre- 
 gory, the contemporay of Sigebert, caused 
 him either to mutilate or suppress. Of the 
 history of Gogue, we have received the 
 following account from Fredegarius. 
 
 " When Sigebert saw that his brothers 
 '*' had contracted marriages with women of 
 *^ inferior condition ; he sent Gogue on an 
 " embassy to Athanagildus, king of Spain, 
 " to demand his daughter, Bruna, in mar- 
 " riage. Athanagildus sent her, with great 
 " treasures, to Sigebert ; and in order to 
 " add greater dignity to her name, it was 
 " changed to Brunechildis. Sigebert re- 
 " ceived her for his consort, with great 
 " rejoicings. 
 
 " Prior to this event, and during the in- 
 " fancy of Sigebert, the Austrasian Franks 
 " had made choice of the Duke Chrodinus, 
 " to beMAJOR DoMus Regije, oritfflj/oro/" 
 " the Palace; because he was a man of 
 " vigorous conduct in affairs, fearing God, 
 *' endued with patience, and possessing no 
 
 i 
 
58 PRELIMINARY 
 
 '^ quality but what rendered him dear both 
 '^ to God and men. Chrodinus rejected the 
 ^^ honour proferred to him ; saying, ' I am 
 " unable to estabhsh peace in Austrasia; 
 '^ for all the nobles and gentry of all Austra- 
 *^ .sia are allied to me hy hlood ; and I have 
 '^ not the power of enforcing discipline 
 ^' among them, or of taking away the life 
 " of any man. Thc}^ will all rise against 
 '^ me, to follow their own superstitions ; 
 " and God forbid, that their actions should • 
 '^ draw me into the condemnation of hell. 
 ^^ Choose ye therefore, from among your- 
 " selves, whom ye may approve.' 
 
 *' When they could find no one, they chose 
 ^^ GoGUE, the tutor of the prince, by the ad- 
 " viceofChrodinus,tobetheMA.TORDoMus 
 ^' RsGiiE. And, on the following morning, 
 '^ Chrodinus repaired the first to the dwcll- 
 ■^ ing of GoGUE, and placed his arm upon 
 ^^ his neck ^'; which the rest perceiving, they 
 ^' all followed his example. And thus was \ 
 *^ the government of Gogue prosperous; 
 ^^ until he brought Brunechildis (or Brune^ 
 
 * See the note from Airaoinus, p. CO. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 5^ 
 
 •^ haut) out of Spain. But she soon ren- 
 '* dered him odious to Sigebeit, who, by 
 '* her instigation, put hhn to death *." 
 
 ♦ Fred EG A p. I us, c. Ivii. " Porro Sigibertus cum* 
 " videret fratres suos uxores viles accipcre, Goconem 
 " causa legation is ad AthanagildunRegem (Eispania), 
 " direxit; petens ut ei filiara suam, Branara nomine, 
 " coiijugio traderet; quam Allianagildiis cum multis 
 " thesauris Sigiberto ad matrinionium transQiisit. Ad 
 " nomen ejus ornaudum et augendum est determina* 
 " turn, ut vocaretur Brunechildis : quam cum multa 
 *^ Jajtitia ac jocanditate Sigibertus accepit uxorera. 
 
 c. Iviii. " Aute ha^c in infantiii Sigiberti omnes Aus- 
 " trasii, cum eligerent Cbrodlnum Majorem-domils, eo 
 " quod esset in cunctis strenuus et timens Deura, 
 " patientia imbutus, nee quicquara aliud, nisi quod 
 " Deo et bominibus placeret, in eo inveniretur, illo 
 '' hunc bonorem respuens, dixit : Pacem ego in Auster 
 .** facere nou valeo, maxime cum omnes prhnates cum 
 ** liber is in toto Auster Mini consanguinei sint ; non 
 " possum ex eis facere disciplinam, nee quempiam ic^ 
 " tcrficere. Ipsi vero per me insurgent, ut agant super- 
 " stitiose. Eorum acta non permiitat Deus, ut me in 
 ^' inferni claustra tradant, Eligite alium quem vultis 
 ■ '' ex T^obis, 
 
 c. lix. " At illi cum non invenirent, tunc Chrodini 
 '* consilio nutritum suum, memoratum superius, Goc- 
 " onem Majorem-domh eUgwit, In crastino primu& 
 
60 PRELIMINARY 
 
 This history of Gogue, concise and short 
 as it is, is nevertheless considerable, even 
 for its length, among the short and scanty 
 narratives which make up the Prankish 
 history in its first ages. The same history 
 is given, somewhat more circumstantially, 
 in the later history of Aimoinus *, who wrote 
 in the tenth century; and the same is also 
 related in the celebrated ancient French 
 Chronicles, entitled, " Chroniques de St. 
 Denis fy The high authority of Gogue, 
 
 " ad ejus mansionem perrexit Chrodinus ad ministe- 
 *' rium, bracile GoGoni in collo tenens. Quod reliqui 
 " cernentes, ejusdem sequuntur exemplum. Pro- 
 " sperum hoc GoGoni ad gubernandum fuit, quoadusque 
 ^^ Brunichildera de Spania adduxit. Quern Brun^- 
 " childis continuo apud Sigibertum fecit odiosum, 
 " ipsumque, suo instigante concilio, Sigibertus inter- 
 " fecit J/' — £pito2n. Gregor, Turon. 
 
 * " De Gestis FrancorJ^ lib. iii. c. 4. ^ " Rerum 
 Gallic, et Francic. Scriptor^ torn. iii. p. 67. 
 
 t Lib. ii. c. 25, ^ Ibid. p. 206, 7. 
 
 J Brachium ejus collo superponens «uo, signum futur*. 
 '* DOMtNATioNrs dcdit. — Placing his arm upon his neck, he 
 " gave the token of HIS future domination." — AiMorif. 
 de Geatis Franc, lib. iii. c. 4* 
 
ILLUSTRATIOX. 61 
 
 during the time that he held the Prankish 
 reins ofgovernment, is strongly marked in the 
 complimentary poems addressed to him by 
 Venantius Honorius Fortunatiis, bishop of 
 Poitiers*, a distinguished po€t of that age; 
 from one of which the following passage 
 aiiay be worthy of selection on account of 
 its geographical references, so remarkably 
 -connecting the yroper-name of Gogue zcitlh 
 the territory of Fr a nce. 
 
 AD iPsuM GOGonem. 
 
 Nubila qune, rapido perflante Aquilone, venitis, 
 
 Pendula sidereo quae movet axe rota : 
 Dicite qua vej^etct carus mihi Gogo salute, 
 
 (^uid placidis rebus mente serenus agat. 
 Si prope fluctivagi remoratur littora Rheni, 
 
 Ut salmonis adeps rete trahatur aquis. 
 Aut super uviferffi Musell^ obambulat amnem, 
 
 Quo levis ardentem temperet aura diem, 
 
 • " Venantii Honori Fortunati, Pictaviensis Episc, 
 Poemata,*' lib. vi. p. 1733, Corp.Poetarum. Laiin,-'-et 
 Rer, Gall, et Franc. Scriptor, torn. ii. p. 512. 
 1. Ad Goc.onem laudatio, 
 Q, Ad eundein GoGonem, De Cctna» 
 
 3. Item ad eundem, 
 
 4. Ad ipsum Gooonem, 
 
6^2 PRELIMINARY 
 
 Pamplnus et fluvius medios ubi mitigat SBStus, 
 
 Vitlbus umbra rigens, fluctibus uiida recens. 
 Aut MosA dulce sonans, quo grus, gauta, anser, 
 olorque est, 
 
 Triplice merce ferax, alite, pisce, rate. 
 An tenet herbosis qua frangitur Axona ripis, 
 
 Cujus aluntur aquis pascua, prata, seges : 
 IsARA, Sara, Chares, Schaldis, Saba, Somi^na., 
 Sura ; 
 
 Seu qui Mettin adit de Sale noraen babens ? 
 Aut aestiva magis nemorum, saltusque pererrans, 
 
 Cuspide,rete feras, bine legat, inde necat? 
 Ardenn-5: an Vosagi, cervi, capra?, Helicis ursi 
 
 Csede, sagittifera silva fragore tonat. — 
 Sive Palatina residet modo lastus in Aula, 
 
 Cui scbola congrediens plaudit amore sequax/' &c. 
 
 TO GOGUE HIMSELF. 
 
 Ye clouds, whose course the Northern winds impeii, 
 
 Of my lov'd Gogoe some grateful tidings tell ! 
 
 Say, with what health his valued life is blest ; 
 
 What peaceful cares engage his tranquil breast. 
 
 If on the banks of Rhine awhile he stay, 
 
 Where the rich salmon yields itself a prey. 
 
 Or where Moselle through vineyards guides her 
 
 stream ; 
 While gentle breezes cool the sultry gleam, 
 Or flowing waters mitigate the heat, 
 And with fresh waves the bowery margins greet. 
 
I 
 
 ILLUSTRATION. 63 
 
 Or where the Meuse iu murmurs soft is heard, 
 Mid threefold wealth, of vtssel, fish, and hird. 
 Or where the Aisne through grassy hanks is bornej 
 Whose waters nourish pasturage and corn. 
 Or if by Oise, by Sure, by Cher^ or Scheld, 
 Somme, Sambre, Saury the loitVing Chief belield. 
 Or where the Sedle, with mouth expanded, hives 
 Metz' stately bulwarks with her copious waves. 
 Or if in forest-shades he seeks his prey, 
 With toil or spear, to capture or to slay. 
 Or if on Arderme's wild, or Vosge's height, 
 The echoing woods resound his arrow's (light. 
 Or if, returned beneath his princely dome. 
 Their Lord, a zealous people welcome home:''&c. 
 
 Of the origin or family of GoGufe, this 
 first Maire du Palais, or Dux Francorum, 
 of the kingdom of i\ustrasia*, we find no 
 mention made in history; but it is plainly 
 to be collected, from the words of Chro- ' 
 dinus, that he had no consanguinity with 
 either the nobles or gentry — the '^primates" 
 or " liberi' — of that kingdom ; and it seems 
 equally implied, in the words of Fredegarius, 
 
 ♦ Maires du Paiais des roii cTAustrasie — 
 1. GoGON, sous Sigebert I., qui le tua vers Tan 567. 
 Diet, deMoRT.RU Mai. p. 101^ 
 
64 PRELIMINARY 
 
 tliat he was not a native of the kingdom, s\nhe 
 he was elected to his dignity because 
 the Austrasians could find no one among 
 themselves. The account of his violent 
 death, as reported by Fredegarius, remained | 
 an undisputed part of the Prankish or 
 French history, from the time of that his- 
 torian till about the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, when it was first called in question 
 by a very learned and ingenious French 
 lawyer, Etienne Pasquier *, who attempted 
 to vindicate Brunehaut, wife of Sigebert, 
 from the heavy charges under which her 
 memory had constantly laboured for nearly 
 a thousand years ; and his arguments have 
 found effect with some modern French 
 writers, though they have been rejected 
 and refuted by others equally eminent for 
 historical research f. The principal argu- 
 ment which has been enforced to disprove 
 
 * " Becherches de la Ttance^' lib, v. c. 14, &c. 
 
 t The editors of Morerls** Biciionary'' adopt the 
 new suggestion, of Pasquier, in the article " Gogonf- 
 although they follow the ancient Prankish history, ir 
 tlie article « Maire du Palais :'' as we have seen in thf 
 preceding note. 
 
iLLtJSTRATiON. 6^ 
 
 the assassination of Gogue, is, its apparent 
 tlisagieeinent witn the history of Gregory 
 of TourS; who was contemporary with Go- 
 gue, and whose history comprehends the 
 reiL^n of Si":ebert. Tiie answer to this 
 objection, however, is easy and complete j 
 which it will be sufficient to point out in a 
 ver}' summary manner in this place. 
 
 1st. The text of Gregory of Tours is 
 confessedly so much corrupted and Inter- 
 polated*, that it cannot, alone, furnish 
 evidence sufficient to contradict the positive 
 allegations of a writer almost contemporary, 
 whose testimony is so universally respected 
 and admitted as that of Fredegariusf. 2. In 
 the next place, the peculiar favour in 
 
 ♦ " Plura in Gregorio TuronensI ofccurrere, et iii- 
 ** finita propemodum, quae ab iis qui ediderunt immu<« 
 ** tata sunt." — Bicnonius. 
 
 " Gregorium prxter ceteros corruptissimom."— ^Va- 
 LEEius, Hist^ Franc, 
 
 t " Fredegarius historicus pro captu illorum tempo- 
 " ruradiligens, ut aetate sic auctoritate Gregorio proxi- 
 " mus." M. de Valois, , ifis^ Franc, — Gregory 
 died about A. D. 596. Fredegarius wrote about ^80. 
 
66 PRELIMINARY 
 
 which Gregory stood with both Sigebert 
 and Brunechildis, would necessarily have 
 influenced him to pass over in silence the 
 atrocities of that reign ; and that favour is 
 distinctly declared by Fortunatus, in a poem 
 addressed to the people of Tours : 
 
 ** Iluic Siglberlus ovans fa vet, et Brunichildis 
 
 honor at y 
 ** He is favourfd by Sigebert, and honoured 
 
 h^ Brunechildis** 
 
 Now, Gregory died nearly twenty years 
 before Brunechildis. 3d, Gregory has, in 
 fact, suppressed all the enormities of Brune- 
 childis, which, nevertheless, are notorious 
 in the Prankish history ; and for which, in 
 every other instance, the authority ofFre- 
 degarius is attested, even by those who 
 would dispute it in the particular case of 
 GoGUE. 4th. The conversion of Brune- 
 childis from the Arian heresy, at the period 
 of her marriage with Sigebert, rendered 
 her an object of peculiar consideration 
 and tenderness to the ecclesiastics of her 
 time : whence Moreri observes : " Apparem- 
 '•' ment ce sont ces actions de piete, que 
 
 k 
 
ILLUSTKATION. 67 
 
 ** St. Gregoire le Grand^e^ St. Germain de 
 •' Paris, ont eu en vue dans les eloges 
 '* qu'ils donnent k Brun^haui. Carelle est 
 ! ifTam^e dans les Merits des autres auteurs, 
 " par ta cruaute, sa vengeance, son avarice, 
 " et son impudiciie." 5ih. Tlic death in- 
 flicted at length upon Brunechildis, or 
 Brunehaut, in vengeance for her many 
 murders, is confirmed in the French history; 
 and the testimony of Fredegarius is one of 
 the principal evidences upon which it 
 stands ♦. 6th.* Gregory entirely omits Co- 
 gue's mission into Spain; ^hich is never- 
 theless undisputeil, and celebrated in the 
 verses of Fortunatu^, addressed personally 
 ti) Gogue; in which that poet fully confirms 
 the history of Fredegarius in this particularf* 
 7th. One of the two chapters in the prmled 
 
 • Tbu»e who wish to investigate the autlmrity ntcribed 
 by the French writers to Fredegarius, and the merits of 
 the ingeniuas Pasquier*s defence of Brunehnutf m.y 
 consult thefothiwinj; dissertators in the ** Mcmoiret des 
 Jnscripliont et helltt lA*tlret** — M. Vertot, torn. i. 
 p. 302, &c. M. de FohcCMACXC, torn. viii. p. 465. 
 ^T . Oaillard, torn. xnx. p. C33. 
 \ Lib. V. c. 47. 
 
68 PRELIMINARY 
 
 copies of Gregory's history in which Gogue 
 is adverted to as having survived Sigebert, 
 does not exist in two principal manuscripts; 
 and the othe^ chapter* is, of itself, of little 
 weight, 8th, Lastly; Fredegarius wrote his 
 history, a? he expressly declares, to supply 
 guch facts %^ others had omitted, and to ex- 
 tend those which they had abridged t« 
 
 The fate of Gogue; his exaltation to 
 the highest post of honour and power 
 among THE Franks, short oply of the legi^' 
 timate sovereignty of the reahn ; and his 
 ilownfall and sanguinary death; are there- 
 fore facts established in the early history of 
 the Franks. But yet, if the latter point was 
 not so w^ell supported as it is, this at least 
 would remain incontestable ; that the name 
 g/'GoGUE, rxir, which has been in vaiti 
 sought for in the annals of all other 
 jiations, has always subsisted m fhe national 
 
 * Lib. vi. c. 1. 
 
 f " Plurima ppBtermissa inserui : — necessarium duxj 
 f' veritatem diligentius insequi. Cuncta quje ccrtifica- 
 ^' tus cognovi, scribere non silui ; sed curiosissimjB 
 f quantum potui omnia inserere studui/'- — Fredegari| 
 Prole^om, 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 69 
 
 history of the Franks or French, as that of 
 the first Major I)omus Regm, Dux Franco- 
 rum, or Regent of that people*, mentioned 
 iij history. And the figurative allusion, 
 which would be elegant and strictly classi- 
 cal in human poetry, acquires a character 
 stupendous and terrific, if we contemplate 
 it as the poetry of sacred and infallible 
 Prophecy. 
 
 VII. With respect to the question which 
 appears to have so much embarrassed 
 Michaelis; hozo the geogrophT/ of the Pro* 
 pheci/ is to be understood? whether with 
 relation to the seats of the nations men- 
 tioned, as they subsisted in the age of the 
 
 ♦ The first mention of tlie office of Major Domus 
 Regia is by Gregory of Tours, the first Frankish histo* 
 rian, in the person ofBadecliisile, in the year 581, where 
 he only cursorily notices it; he omits altogether to speak 
 ofGogue in that particular office. But Goo U£ had 
 been formally invested with it in Austrasia, as early as 
 the year 561; and the particulars of his inauguration are 
 recorded by Fredegarius, the second Frankish historian. 
 We may therefore confidently regard Gogue as being, in 
 fact, the First Major Domus Regia of which authentic 
 history preserves any memory. 
 
.70 ' PRELIMINARY 
 
 prophet, or with relation to their situations 
 in an afferage? I apprehend, that one sim- 
 ple and rational principle must determine 
 that question. It must be understood with 
 relation to the generation which it was imme- 
 diately/ to concern, and to the time when it was 
 to be rendered intelligible by the fulfilment : 
 otherwise, it could not benefit either age. 
 And, as no former generation >vas ever 
 able to unravel the Prophecy for want of 
 ^he fulfilment ; so, the generation which was 
 to receive the benefit of that illustration, 
 would not be left altogether to the dubious, 
 and nearly obliterated, geography of the 
 prophetic age, for the means of acquiring 
 that benefit. In this, and in all the other 
 Prophecies, the generation which is to be 
 the witness of the accomplish men t, is the object 
 of the Prophetical Communication; and the 
 prophets are employed ^^ to minister those 
 " things, not unto themselves *," or their con- 
 temporaries, but to those persons who should 
 eventually be called upon to bear testimony 
 
 * 1 Peter, i. 10, 12. 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 71 • 
 
 to their truth. The prediction is conveyed 
 through channels which comprehend it not, 
 for the future intelligence of those who 
 shall behold it vindicate its veracity. In 
 determining finally the correspondence 
 which has been pointed out, between the 
 modern names of Russ, Moskua, and 
 ToBOL, and the prophetic names of Ros, 
 Mosc, and Tobl, I shall (after the argu- 
 ments which have been advanced, and the 
 stupendous events which have been attest- 
 ed,) abide by the rule laid down, upon 
 another occasion, by that cautious and scru- 
 pulous etymologist, Michaelis: " In quaes- 
 " tione de nominibus propriis geographicis 
 " instituta, plerumque non etymologias, ut 
 " supra dixi, sed vocem ac sortum sequi de- 
 ^' bemus; nee philologia uti et ingenio, sed 
 " AURiBUS'^. — -In a question concerning 
 " geographical proper-names, we ought for 
 " the most part to follow, not etymologies, 
 " (as I have already said,) but utterance 
 
 ♦ " Geog, Heb. Extr p. 22. 
 
7*^ PJt^^IMINARY 
 
 ** and sound ; and not to employ philologi/ 
 " and ingemntyy but our ears ^." 
 
 VIII. But the Prophecy of Ezekiel, 
 though it was delivered so long ago as 
 whilst the Jewish people were suffering 
 captivity in Bahylon, was directed to the 
 last great event of secular concernment to 
 the future universal church of tub Messiah; 
 and was pointed to regions which, though 
 at that time in ignorance of His name^ 
 were foreordained to be eventually com- 
 prehended in the number of His people. 
 Hence it is, that the prophet employs the 
 familiar, but figurative, denomination of 
 ^ Israel," to express all God's future people ; 
 dnd that, of ^^the mountains of Israel,'^ to 
 
 *(Ros — Pw?, Hos, Grsec'is), '^ BtissiUf Rusz mcoYis, 
 *' la Russie Gallis, die i?Mss-IandtGermanis. 
 
 ( Mosc ) — " Moscha, siveMoscuay Mosqua indigenis, 
 '* Moscou exterib, ikfoscflw Germanis : — ibi Moscua 
 ** fluvius. 
 
 ( ToBL ) — " Tobolium etTobolscHy urbs MoscovtaT'dr" 
 ^' tariae, Siberia Caput. — Ab altera parte fluvius Tobol 
 *' est, unde Urbi noraen." — Bafjdraud, GeograpL 
 
ILLtJSTRATI 
 
 denote the compass, or pale, of 
 Universal Church. In agreement with thig 
 remark, is that of Vitringa, upon the corre- 
 sponding phrases used in St. John's Prophecy 
 of Gogue ; where the some identical objects of 
 that tyrant's violence, which Ezekiel deno- 
 minates " Israel, and the land of Israely* 
 are by St. John called, *^ the camp of the 
 ^' saints/^ and " the beloved city J" — " By 
 " these latter names," says Vitringa, " no 
 " one doubts that we are to understand 
 " THE CHURCH, with relation to the places 
 " and countries wherein it should be eventually 
 " planted. Both denominations arejigura^ 
 " tive, and adapted to lead us to a know- 
 ^' ledge of the state of the Church there 
 " intended. That Church, founded upon 
 " rules of the best ordered discipline, was 
 ** to have God, ever-present, for its Cover- 
 *^ not ; who would pitch his tabernacle 
 '^ within it, and so revive a similitude of 
 " ' the camp of Israel/ as it had appeared in 
 ^^ ancient times*." 
 
 * " In Apocalyps:^ p. 872. 
 
74 PRELIMINARY 
 
 St. Augustine has justly remarked, that 
 as " the most ancient prophecies, made to 
 " Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, regarded the 
 " land of Canaan; so the succeeding Pro- 
 ^^ phecies relate, partly, to the people de- 
 " scended from Abraham according to the 
 " flesh, and partly to that ' seed of Abraham,' 
 " in which ail those nations were to be blessed 
 " who were to become joint heirs, by the new 
 " covenant, in the inheritance of eternal 
 " life i nd th^ kingdom of heaven, 
 " Part, therefore, of those Prophecies per- 
 " tain to the ' hondmai , whic gendereth to 
 *^ bondage;* that is, t e earthlj/ Jerusalem, 
 " zohich is in bondage with her children *,* 
 " and part to the free ' citi/ of God, the 
 " true Jerusalem, eternal in the heavens f :' all 
 *' whose children, living according to God, 
 " are * strangers on t e earth ^.* But there 
 " ^are also some of them which are to be 
 " understood to relate to loth of these ; viz. 
 '' to the bondwofnan, literally, and to ihe free- 
 
 ♦ Galiit. iv. U, 5. t 2 Cor, v. 1. Tkb. xti. 22. 
 J Ibid. xi. 13. 
 
ILLtJSTRATlON. 75 
 
 " woman, figuratively. Thus the declara- 
 " tions of the prophets are found to be 
 " threefold; some respecting the earthli/ 
 ^^ Jerusalem, some the heavenly , and some 
 " both the one and the other^" Of the^* -s^ 
 of these, are the Prophecies which foretold 
 the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities, 
 the Persian restoration, and the ultimate 
 dispersion of the Jewish nation. Of the 
 
 * " Sicut oracula ilia divina ad Abraham, Isaac, et 
 " Jacob, fiictasunt; ita caterae ab illo tempore pro- 
 *^ phctiae, partim pertinent ad gentem carnis Abrahae, 
 " partim vero ad illud semen illius, in qu ) benedicun- 
 " tur omnes gentes cohaeredes Christ! perTestamentura 
 " Novum, ad possidendam vitam seternam regnumque 
 " caelorum. Partim ergo ad ancillam, quae in servitu- 
 ** tern g;enerat, id est terrenam Hierusalem, quae servit 
 " cum filiis suis, partim vero ad liberam civitatem 
 " Dei, id est veram Hierusalem aeternara in coelis, 
 " cujus filii omnes secundum Deum viventes peregri- 
 ** nantur in terris. Sed sunt in eis quaedam, quae ad 
 ** utranque pertinere intelliguntur, ad ancillam j970»/?rie, 
 " ad liberam Jigurate. Tripertita itaque reperiun- 
 *' tur eloquia prophetarum : siquidem aliqua sunt ad 
 " terrenam Hierumlem spectsinti?i, aliqua ad c<c/e.s^cw, 
 " non nulla ad utratigueJ^ — De Civitate Dei, 
 lib. xvii. c. 3. 
 
f6 PRELIMINARY 
 
 second, are all those Prophecies whiclr, 
 under a figure of the restoration, establish- 
 ment, and unperishable glory of ^ijem- 
 'y^alem'' and ^^ the land of Israel,^' foretoJd 
 the kingdom of the Messiah, both militant in 
 the present order of things, and triumphant 
 in a future order ; among which is this 
 Prophecy of EzekieL 4nd of the number 
 of the thirdf appears to be the closing part 
 of this same Prophecy, which concludes 
 the secular and earihhj concerns of both 
 churches; and which, comprehending and 
 uniting both references, seems to speak at 
 one and the same time, of the Jewish 
 nation literally^ and figuratively of all the 
 nations participating in the blessing of the 
 Messiah, in prospect to their final and 
 common deliverance. In this last refer- 
 ence, we are to understand the name of 
 " Israel*' in Ezekiel's Prophecy, as intend* 
 dng " the Israel of God^-^ — " the CommQU" 
 " wealth of Israel f/* in the sense in which 
 . those phrases are used by St. Paul, to denote 
 ALL who are called to the knowledge of the 
 
 ♦ Gal. vi. 16. t Eplj- "• ^2; 
 
ILLUSTRATION. 77 
 
 Messiah and His gospel; as the same 
 apostle elsewhere calls " children of Abra- 
 " ham " all those, whether Jews or Gen- 
 tiles, who entertain a belief of the final 
 fulfilment of those great promises which 
 were originally given to " Abraham, the 
 " father of Ahh them that believe*.'* 
 
 With these several illustrations, limita- 
 tions, and cautions, present to our minds, 
 let us now approach, with reverence and 
 awe, to contemplate this most stupendous 
 and punctual Oracle, pronounced 2400 
 years ago ; diligently and faithfully com- 
 paring its ancient denunciations, with the 
 great contemporary events, of which 
 WE of this present day are made the 
 
 LIVING witnesses. 
 
 •CompareRom.iv.il, 13,16 ;x.l2:. Gal. iii. 7, 29. 
 Philip, iii. 3i 
 
THE 
 
 PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 GOGUE. 
 
THE 
 
 PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 G O G U E. 
 
 "•' CHAP. 
 
 XXXVill. 
 
 The Word of the Lord came unto me, 1. 
 saying: 
 
 Son of man! set thy face upon Gogue 2. 
 of the land of Magogue, the Cloud of 
 Ros, Mosc, AND ToBL; and prophesy 
 against him, and say ; 
 
 Behold, I am upon THEE, O Gogue! the S. 
 Cloud o/' Ros, Mosc, and Tobl ! and I 4. 
 will turn thee about, and put a bit into 
 thy jaws, and I will make thee to go 
 forth, thee and thine army, horses and 
 horsemen, splendidly accoutered : a great 
 company with bucklers and shields, all of 
 them handling swords, as Persia, Ethiopia, 5. 
 
82 THE PROPHECY 
 
 and Libya, all of them with swords and 
 
 6. helmets: Gomer, and all his bands; the 
 house of ToGARMAH, from the side of 
 THE North, and all his bands ; even 
 
 MANY NATIONS witU THEE, 
 
 7. Be THOU prepared ; prepare thyself, 
 THOU and all thy company assembled unto 
 thee, and be thou unto them for A safe- 
 
 8. GUARD. After many days thou shalt 
 muster them ; in the latter years 
 thou shalt come into a land reserved 
 from the sword, collected oat of many 
 nations upon the mountains of Israel; 
 a land which had been continually desolate, 
 but is NOW brought out from the nations, 
 
 9. and all of them dwell m peace. Thou 
 shalt ascend as a storm, thou shalt come as 
 A CLOUD to cover the land; thou, and all 
 thy bands, and many nations with thee. 
 
 10. Thus saith the Lord God : It will come 
 to pass in that day, that things wnll arise in 
 THY heart ; and thou w ilt think an evil 
 
 11. thought, and wilt say : '^Iwillgoup to a land 
 " of unwalled villages; I will go against 
 " them that are in tranquillity, that dwell 
 
OP EZEKIEL. 
 
 83 
 
 '^ securely^ all of them dKclling zcithout ratUs^ 
 ^^ and having neither bars nor gates ; to take 12. 
 " a spoil and to divide a pret/y to turn my 
 '^ hand against the desert places that are 
 " become inhabited, and against a people 
 " gathered out of the nations, zohich have 
 " gotten cattle and goods, and which dic^ll 
 
 *' IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAND.*' 
 
 Sheba, and Dedan, and ihe merchants 13. 
 of Tarshish, with their villages, shall say 
 unto thee: ^' Art thou gone to take a 
 " spoir^ I last THOU assembled thy com- 
 " pany to take a prcxf^ To carry azcay 
 " silver and gold ; to take azcay cattle and 
 ** goods, to divide a great spoil?" 
 
 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say 14. 
 unto GoGUE, Thus sailh the Lord God : 
 In that day, when my people Israel dwell 
 securely, thou wilt observe it; and thou 15. 
 wilt come from thy place, from the sides 
 of the North, thou and many nations 
 with THEE ; all of them riding upon horses, 
 a great company, and a mighty host ; and 16. 
 THOU wilt come up against my people 
 Israel, as a cloud to cover the land» 
 
84 THE PROPHECY 
 
 Therefore, in the latter days it shall 
 come to pass, that I myself will cause 
 THEE to go up against my la?^d, that the 
 NATIONS may know mk, when I shall be 
 sanctified in thee, O Gogue, before their 
 eyes. 
 
 17. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou art 
 HE of whom I spake in former days, by my 
 servants the Prophets of Israel; who pro- 
 phesied of these days and years, that I 
 
 18. zcould bring thee against them. And it 
 shall come to pass in that day, the day in 
 which GoGUE shall come against the land 
 of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my 
 
 19. fury shall rise up into my face. For, in my 
 jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I 
 spoken it; in that day there shall be A 
 
 to, great commotion in the land of Israel,so 
 that the very fishes of the sea, and the fowls 
 of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and 
 every creeping thing that creepeth upon 
 the ground, and all men upon the face of 
 the earth, shall shake at my presence; 
 and the mountains shall be thrown down, 
 and the steep places shall fall, and every 
 
OF EZEKIEL. 85 
 
 wall shall fall to the ground. And / will 21, 
 call for A SWORD against him throughout 
 
 ALL MY MOUNTAINS, saith THE LoRD; 
 
 man's sword shall be against his brother. 
 And I will plead against him, with pesti- 22. 
 lence and with blood, and with an over- 
 whelming rain, and great hailstones; fire 
 and brimstone will I rain upon him, and upon 
 His BANDS, and upon the many nations 
 that are with him. Thus will I magnify 23, 
 MYSELF, and sanctify myself, and I will 
 be known in the eyes of many nations, 
 and they shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy ^^^^^* 
 against Gogue, and say, Thus saith the 
 Lord God : 
 
 Behold I am upon thee, O Gogue! the 2. 
 Cloud of Ros, Mosc, and Tobl! and I 
 will turn thee about, and lead thee forth, 
 and cause thee to go up from the sides 
 of the North, and to come upon the 
 mountains of Israel. And I will smite 3. 
 thy how out of THY left hand^ and will cause 
 thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 
 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains or 4. 
 
86 THE PROPHECY 
 
 Israel, thou and all thy bands, ajid 
 The nations that are with thee; to the 
 ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts 
 of the field, have I given thee to be devoured, 
 
 5. On the face of the field •thou shalt 
 FALL ! for I have spoken it, saith the Lord 
 
 6. God. And I will send a fire upon Ma- 
 gogue; and on them that dwell securely in 
 the Isles; and they shall know that I am 
 
 7. the Lord. ^So will I make My Holy 
 Name known in the midst of My people 
 Israel, and I will not suffer My Holy 
 Name to be polluted any more; and the 
 nations shall know that I am the Lord, 
 the Holy One in Israel. 
 
 8. Behold; it is come arid if is done! saiih 
 THE Lord God : this is the day where- 
 
 9« OF I HAVE spoken ! And they that dwell 
 in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and 
 shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the 
 shields and the lances, the bows and the 
 arrows, and the javelins and the spears, and 
 they shall burn them with fire seven years; 
 10. so that they should take no wood out of the 
 
OF EZEKIEL. 87 
 
 field, neither cut down any out of the 
 forests, for they shall burn the weapons in 
 the fire. i\ND they shall spoil those 
 
 THAT SPOILED THEM, AND THEY SHALL 
 PLUNDER THOSE THAT PLUNDERED THEM; 
 
 saith THE Lord God ! 
 
 And it shall come to pass in that day, 11. 
 that /a:;i7/gii;e GoGUE a place of name, a 
 BURIAL-PLACE in IsiiAEL; in the valley 
 through which they pass towards the sea. 
 For it shall make the passengers to stop 
 their noses, wherefore they shall bury Go- 
 GUE and all his multitude there; and they 
 shall call it, the valley of the multitude 
 
 of GOGUE. 
 
 And seven months shall the house of 12. 
 Israel be burying them, that they may 
 cleanse the land ; yea, all the people of the 13. 
 land shall bury them; and it sliall he unto 
 them A renown in the day that I shall he 
 glorijied, saith the Lord God. And they 14. 
 shall set apart men of continual employ- 
 ment, passing through the land for the 
 burying those that remain upon the face of 
 
88 THE PROPHECY 
 
 the earth, to cleanse it ; after seven months 
 
 15. they shall still make search. And of the 
 passengers that pass through the land, when 
 any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up 
 a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it 
 in the valley of tub multitude of Gogvb, 
 
 16, Also the name of the valley shall be mul- 
 titude. Thus shall they cleanse the land. 
 
 ^7. And thou, son of man, thus saith thei 
 
 Lord God : Say unto every winged bird, 
 and unto every beast of the field, ^'Jssemhle 
 " yourselves and come, gather yourselves from 
 " every side to my sacrifice which I sacri- 
 ^^ficefor you; A GREAT sacrifice lipOU the 
 " mountains of Israel; that ye may eat 
 
 IS. ^^ flesh, and drink blood. The flesh o/tue 
 " mighty shall ye eat, and the blood of 
 
 *^ THE CHIEFS OF THE EARTH shall ye 
 
 ^^ drink; of rams, of lambs, and of goats; 
 
 ^' of bullocks, all of themfatUngs o/'B A s h a n : 
 19, '^ And ye shall eat fat till ye be fill, and ye 
 
 ^^ shall drink blood till ye be drunken, of the 
 
 " sacrifice zchich I have sacriflcedfor you, 
 <20, '^ Ai^d ye shall be filed at my table uitk 
 
OF EZEKIEL. SQ 
 
 ^ horses, and their riders, with mighty men 
 ^ and icith all warrioes :" saith the 
 Lord God. 
 
 i^nd [ will set my glory among the 21. 
 NATIONS, and all the nations shall see 
 
 MV JUDGMENT WHICH I HAVE EXECUTED, 
 
 md mine hand which I have laid upon 
 them. So the house of Israel shall hiorc 22. 
 "hat I AM the Lord their Gojy^ from that 
 day and forward. And the nations shall 23. 
 <novv, that the House of Israel went 
 
 nto captivity for their iniquity; because 
 they trespassed against me, therefore hid I 
 MY FACE from them, and gave them into 
 the hand of their enemies, and all of them 
 fell by the sword. According to their 24, 
 defilement, and according to their trans- 
 gressions, have I done unto them ; and 
 hidden my face from them. 
 
 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God : 25, 
 Now Kill I bring back the captivity of J acob, 
 and have mercy upon the whole house of 
 
 srael; and I will be jealous for My 
 Holy Name. And they shall forget their 26, 
 reproach, and all the trespasses thereby they 
 
90 THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. 
 
 , trespassed against Me ; when thei) shall dwel 
 securely in their own land, and none shal 
 
 27. make them afraid. When I have brought 
 them again from the nations, and gatherer 
 them out of their enemies' lands, and are 
 sanctified in them in the sight of manj 
 
 28. nations, then shall they know that I aiv 
 THE Lord their God; in that I causec 
 them to be led into captivity among th( 
 nations, yet have gathered them untc 
 their own land, and have left none of then 
 any more there. 
 
 <29. Neither will I hide My pace fro:n 
 
 them any more, for I have poured ou 
 Mine anger on the House of Israel 
 saith the Lord God! 
 
 END OF THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL CONCERNING 
 GOGUK. 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Verse 2. Set thy face upon Gogue, 
 ^c] — The true design and force of this 
 precept, is shown in the Greek interpre- 
 tation of th^ words: rn^ia-ov ro 'sr^oa-awov 
 (Ts, i. e. '^Jix firmly y or steadily y thy face 
 " upon Gogue/' &c. This introductory 
 command has respect to the rule prescribed 
 to Ezekiel, when he first received his pro- 
 phetical commission ; by which he was 
 peremptorily enjoined to discharge the 
 peculiar and arduous duties which it im« 
 posed, with the most resolute intrepidity, 
 and with an utter disregard of all the scorn, 
 ridicule, or obloquy, which he might en- 
 counter in publicly proclaiming the threats 
 
94 NOTES AND 
 
 and denunciations of God.— '^ Thou, son of 
 " man, be not afraid of them, neither be 
 " afraid of their words. Though briars and 
 " thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell 
 ^^ among scorpions, be not afraid of their 
 ^' words, nor be dismayed at their looks : — 
 " and thou shalt speak My words unto 
 " them. — Behold, I have made thy face 
 " strong against their faces, and thy fore- 
 " head strong against their foreheads : as 
 " an adamant, harder than flint, have I 
 " made thy forehead : fear them not, nei- 
 ^' ther be disniayed at th^ir looks.*' — 
 Ez. ii. 6, and iii. 8, 9. This was a frame of 
 mind, indispensably necessary to be pos- 
 sessed by those who were commissioned to 
 declare the menaces of God's judgments 
 to a rebelling and hardened people ; and it 
 is necessary that the same temper should be 
 sought, in a competent measure, by all 
 believers of the present day, who may 
 perceive the predictions of God to be 
 actually fulfilling in the world, and who 
 may feel an obligation urgent upon their 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 9^ 
 
 minds, to call the attention of their fellow- 
 believers to the fact of that fulfilment. 
 
 Ibid. GoGUE,] Elected Ruler of f//e 
 Fran k s, or French. — See Preliminary Illus- 
 tration, sect. vi. 
 
 Ibid. J'/ie land of Ma'gogue.] Prelim. 
 Ilhistr. sect. iv. 
 
 Ibid. The Cloud of Ros, Mosc, and 
 ToBL.] Prelim. Illustr. sect. ii. and iii. — 
 The figure of a Cloud, employed to describe 
 a heavy calamity befalling, or threatening, 
 a state or people, is familiar in the imagery 
 of the Scriptures. Thus, of the downfall 
 prophesied of Egypt, it was said : " When 
 " I shall break the yokes of Egypt, the 
 *' pomp of her strength shall cease; a 
 ^' CLOUD bhall cover her, and her daughters 
 *"' shall go into captivity." — Ez. xxx. 18. 
 And again*: ''How hath the Lord covered 
 " the daughter of Sio?i with a cloud?" — 
 Lament, ii. 1. These figures denoted the 
 entire overthrow of those two states. But, 
 with respect to Ros, Mosc, and Tobl, it is 
 foretold, that " the cloud," though it 
 should asceijd and threaten, should not dwell 
 o 
 
96 NOTES AND 
 
 upon them ; because it should be opposed 
 ill its progress by the arm of God, and be 
 driven back, and dispelled. But^ for a short 
 season, it was a cloud of the most tremen- 
 dous and disastrous character; spreading de- 
 solation, fire, and blood, even to the heart of 
 that great Empire. "We address ourselves 
 " to the ancient capital of our ancestors, 
 " to the city of Moscow ; (exclaimed the 
 Emperor Alexander, in his sublime ad- 
 dress of July, 1812) ; " it has always been 
 " the sovereign city of all the Russias, 
 " and the first in every case of public 
 " danger to send forth from her arms her 
 ^* darling sons to defend the honour of the 
 " Empire." Yet, within two months was 
 the sanguinary Invader, "^//e cloud "of 
 that " sovereign city," enabled to declare 
 from within its walls ; " Moscow is now no 
 ^^ morel What was the city, is become a 
 *' depopulated region J' 
 
 V. 3, Behold I am upon Mee.] •]♦!?«, sm 
 a-H, Lxx. — " upon thee, or over thee." This 
 fearful declaration, is explained by the 
 figure in the next verse. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 97 
 
 V. 4. I zcill turn thee about, (S)T.] a-uva^a, 
 Lxx. ; ZTE^icc^co, Complut.; al. aTroT^s-i^co ; " cir- 
 cumagam," ^<//g. This figure is well illus- 
 trated by James, iii. 3. " Behold, we put 
 *^ BITS i?i the horses^ mouths, that they may 
 *' obey us; and we turn about their whole 
 " bodi/J' — bxov TO (TCsjfjLo, auTuv (jLZTayoixBV, The 
 Prophecy, which occupies these two chap- 
 ters, comprehends two amazing events: 
 the Invasion of Ros, Mosc, and Tobl, 
 by Gogue; and the eventual Repulse of 
 the Invader, This first chapter is chiefly 
 engaged, in predicting the Invasion under an 
 impulse of the Divine vengeance, and ad- 
 verts only generally, in the conclusion, to 
 the ordained repulse ; the following chapter 
 resumes the subject of the invasion, but it is 
 only in order to introduce the tremendous 
 details, and the blessed consequences of the 
 Repulse. 
 
 V. 5. As Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, <Src.] 
 This is a very common form oi comparison 
 in the Hebrew idiom, in which the particle 
 denoting the comparison is not expressed, 
 but is understood; and the comparison is 
 
9S NOTES AND 
 
 only marked by the peculiar relation estab- 
 lished between tlie members of the sentence. 
 And yet this common idiom has been 
 universally overlooked in this place, which 
 particularly demands a critical attention to 
 it; so that the latter member of the sen- 
 tence has been interpreted to convey a 
 direct proposition, in common with the 
 former member; viz. that the Persians, 
 &c. should form a part of the armies of 
 GoGUE. Whereas, the Prophet does not 
 here enumerate the Persians, &c. as among 
 the nations composing those armies; but 
 he illustrates the warlike appearance of those 
 future armies, by that of certain nations of 
 great power and celebrity in his own times, 
 namely, the Persians, Ethiopians, and Libi/ans. 
 The European nations, are the proper objects 
 of' the prophecy ; the Asiatic and African 
 nations, are introduced as familiar patterns 
 for illustration. Numerous examples of 
 this mode of comparison, in which the pro- 
 per particle, or d comparandi, is not ex- 
 pressed, may be seen in Noldius*s Lexicon of 
 Hebrew Particles, p. 358. The following 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 99 
 
 iastances may suffice here to show the 
 nature of this idiom. 
 
 Exod. xix. 4. " I bare you on Eagle's 
 wings ;" i. e. as on Eagle's wings : in 
 the Lxx, 'XISEI sTTi Trls^uycov as twv. — . 
 Jcrera. ix. 3. "They bend their tongues 
 " their bow ;" i. e. they bend their tongues 
 as, or like, their bow. EvsTsivav yXcoa-a-av aurcov 
 *ni ro^ov, — Ibid. xv. 18. "As a liar 
 " waters fail ;" i. e. as a liar, as waters that 
 fail. 'X12 t'Sojp UK E^ov TTiriv, — Ibid. xxvi. 18. 
 " Zion shall be ploughed afield;'* i.e. Zion 
 shall be ploughed as a field. See also 
 Ez. iv. 12. In all these places, and in 
 many others, the comparing particle is 
 not expressed in the Hebrew, but is under- 
 stood, though it is absolutely necessary 
 to supply it in the English ; and in the 
 same manner, and by a parallel idiom, the 
 Hebrew phrase literally rendered — " a great 
 " company with bucklers and shields, all of 
 " them handling swords, Persia, &c. all of 
 " them with shields, &c." — plainly sig- 
 ** nifies, as or like Persia, &c. and all 
 " ofthemr 
 
100 NOTES AND 
 
 V. 6. GoMER, and all his bands,'] Pre- 
 lim. Illustr. sect. iv. p. 42. 
 
 Ibid. The House of Togarmah.] We 
 have already ascertained, with evidence of 
 demonstration, that by Gomer we are to 
 understand the ancient Gallia, or the mo- 
 dern France ; let us now inquire, what 
 people we are to understand by Togarmah'? 
 
 " Si Gomer Gallorum nomen apud He- 
 *^ braeos est, veri non dissimile, Gallicam 
 " gentem Trocmos, Togarmam esse posse*. 
 ^* — If Gomer was the Hebrew name for the 
 " Gauls," says Michaelis, " it is not impro- 
 ^' bable that the Trocmi, a nation of the 
 " Gauls, were Togarmah." 
 
 The learned Professor has here affirmed 
 a truth conditionally, which, if he had but 
 steadily pursued it, would have establish- 
 ed itself absolutely. In truth, we easily 
 discover Togarmah in Gaul, by tracing 
 the Gallic emigrants in Asia back to 
 their native seats in Europe. Of that 
 colony of the Gauls or Galatce which gave 
 
 * « Spicileg, Geog. Heb: Ext," p, 7^ 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 101 
 
 name to Galatia in Asia Minor, we possess 
 the following accounts in the extracts from 
 Memnon's history, preserved by Photius. 
 About the year before Christ 270, Nicome- 
 des, king of Bithynia, being engaged in a 
 war with Antiochus and Antigonus, entered 
 into a treaty for the assistance of a numerous 
 army of Gauls ; who had penetrated into 
 Asia under the command of Leonorius and 
 Lutarius, and who afterwards established 
 themselves in the neighbourhood of Bithy- 
 nia. " Having appropriated to themselves 
 " a portion of the conquered country, which 
 ^' is now called Galatia, they divided it 
 *^ into three parts, the inhabitants of one of 
 " which were called Trogmi, of another 
 ^* Tolistobogii, and of the third Tectosa- 
 *^ gae." avToig aTTBTSfxovTO rrw vvv TaXariav Ha^a- 
 fAhvrw, £1^ T^ei; fjLOipag raumv ^laveifjtavrsg, fcai Tsg (xtv 
 TPXIFMOTS ovofjLaa-avTsgj rag ^s, Toxoro^oyiagy 
 rag h TeHToa-ayag. — Photii Biblioth, col, 721. 
 Upon which three tribes, Strabo thus reasons: 
 i' That the two former came from Gaul, 
 *' is evident from the kindred tribe of the 
 ^' Tectosagcc, now actually in Gaul ; but from 
 
102 NOTES AND 
 
 '^ what part they came I am not able to 
 *^ say, as I have not heard of any who now 
 " bear the name of Trocmi, or Tolisto- 
 *^ bogii, either withhi or beyond the Alps. 
 " It is therefore probable, that they have 
 '^ disappeared in the course of frequent 
 " emigrations ; as it has happened to many 
 " other people." — Lib. iv. p. 187. The two 
 first (says he,) the Trocmi, and Tohsto- 
 bogii, were so called from their heads, or 
 leaders : Jvo fjf-sv rcov viyifAOvaiv g^rcyi/y/^aTPriKMOI, 
 Hcti ToMTopcoyoi,'' — Lib. xii. p. 566. The for- 
 mer were also called TpoyfA,ah^, TrogmadeSy ( in 
 Concil, Chalcedon,) ixomTYOTMAZyTrogmas; 
 which name, asBochart has remarked, is evi- 
 dently the same as Torgama, by which form 
 the Greek interpreters always render the He- 
 brew name Togarma, " Trogmades, cujus 
 *^ rectus casus Trogmas plane videtur ex 
 ^' Torgama factus. — Pro Togarma Graeci 
 " interpretes constanter scribunt (^o^ya/u(.c^ 
 ^' ct Topyacixa^ — Geogr. Sacra. L. iii. c. 11. 
 col. 178. 
 
 Thus we discover, that Togarmah denotes 
 an ancient division^ or member oitheGauls. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 103 
 
 And heathen history bears a twofold testi- 
 mony to the character affixed to this war- 
 like people by the Prophet, who affirms, 
 that they " traded in horses and horsernen," 
 E| oiKH Goya^fjLoc ittttoi Jtai I'ttttzk; e^coHEi mv ayo^av 
 (78. — Ezek. xxvii. 14. 
 
 For, first ; We possess, in the l>uvOmai, 
 or convention of the Gauls who came as 
 auxiliaries, or mercenaries, to Nicomedes, 
 as reported by Memnon, a curious re- 
 cord of the terms of service entered into 
 by the Trogmi, or Teogmades, and their 
 companions in arms ; viz. " That they 
 " should continue in perpetual friendship 
 *^ with Nicomedes and his descendants. 
 " That, without the knowledge of Nico- 
 " medes, they should not take part in war 
 " with any nation which might apply to 
 '' them by ambassadors ; but that they 
 " should remain friendly to all his friends, 
 " and hostile to all his enemies. That they 
 " should succour the Byzantians, if circum- 
 " stances should require it ; together with 
 " certain other nations." — Photius, ubi sup. 
 col. 720. 
 
 But, secondly ; that this militarif service 
 
104 NOTES AND 
 
 was rendered in '^ horses and horsemen,^' \\t 
 thus learn from Strabo : " This whole na- 
 " tion, who are now called the Gallic, and 
 '^ Galatic nation, are by nature warlike, but 
 " they are more eminent as horsemen than 
 " as foot soldiers ; wherefore they constitute 
 '^ the best cavalry of the Roman armies." 
 TO h (TviJLTrav (pv'Kov, o vvv Ta7^\iKov jcai FAAATI- 
 KON xaX8(r IV — apsijuaviov rs xai Oufjufiov sri — 
 
 TY\q 'innEIAS a^iTYi nsa^a tutoov, — Lib. iv. 
 
 p. 195, 6. 
 
 Thus then we have evidence; 1. That 
 
 Torgama, or Too arm ah, was anciently a 
 
 Gallic nation; 2. That they engaged in 
 foreign service; and 3. That their service 
 
 was equestrian, according to the assertion of 
 
 the Prophecy. 
 
 Ibid. And many nations with thee*'] 
 
 Besides Magogue, Gomer, and Tocar- 
 MAH, ^^ many other nations ^^ were to be 
 numbered in the host of Gogue. Of the 
 *' many nations " which composed " the 
 *^ bands " of the Invader when he first 
 entered Ros, or Russia, the following 
 statement has been publicly given ; viz. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 105 
 
 French, 250,000; A^tsti ians, 30.000; Prus- 
 sians, 22,000; Poles, 60,000; Bavarians, 
 30,000; Saxons, 20,000 ; Wirlemburghers, 
 8,000 ; Darmstadt, 4,000 ; Gotha and Wei- 
 mar, 2,000 ; Wirtzburgh and Franconia, 
 5,000; Mectlenburgh, Nassau, and small 
 Princes, 5,000; Swiss, 10,000 ; Italians and 
 Neapolitans, 20,000 ; Spanish and Portu- 
 guese, 4,000.— Total, 470,000. 
 
 Whether the general amount, or the dis- 
 tribution of the numbers, be minutely exact 
 or not; yet the enumeration, of the" many 
 '* NATIONS " mustered by the. Invader, is 
 certainly correct. 
 
 V. 7. Be THOU vnto them for a safe- 
 guard.] " Esto eis Custos, id est, Impera- 
 TOR SuMMus. (Grotius.J There is some- 
 thing very wonderful in this taunt uttered by 
 Almighty God, in His indignation, against 
 the EVIL SCOURGE, whose malice He should 
 for a time employ as an instrument to 
 punish and chastise His Church. It was 
 thus impressively paraphrased by the late 
 Archbishop Newcome : " Do thou, coU' 
 
106 NOTES ANjD 
 
 " fiding in thy own courage and discipline, 
 " watch and guard them ! " And it mani- 
 festly portrayed a future character, whose 
 consummate arrogance and impious pre- 
 sumption should cause him to regard his 
 own name as possessing a virtue, sufficient 
 to inspire his armies with confident antici- 
 pations of victory, and those of his enemies 
 with consternation and despair. 
 
 In 1809, when the Tyrant of Christendom 
 had reached the highest pinnacle of his 
 fugitive glory, by dictating peace from 
 within the palace of the last Roman Em- 
 peror, the expressions of his arrogance 
 were also exalted to their loftiest tone. 
 Surrounded by all the new sovereigns cre- 
 ated under his usurpation, he thus addressed 
 his public dignitaries from his throne. 
 " Since your last session, I have reduced 
 '' Arragon and Castille to submission. I 
 " was marching upon Cadiz and Lisbon, 
 " when I was under the necessity of tread- 
 " ing back my steps, and of planting my 
 " EAGLES on the ramparts of Vienna, 
 ^' Three months have seen the rise and 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 10? 
 
 " termination of this fourth Punic war. — 
 " Frenchmen ! Every one that shall oppose 
 " you SHALL BE coiiquered, and reduced to 
 " submission. Your grandeur shall be 
 " increased by the hatred of your enemies, 
 " You have before you long years of glory 
 " and prosperity; you have the force and 
 " energy of the Hercules of the ancients. — 
 " History pointed out to me the course I 
 ^' ought to pursue towards Rome. — I could 
 *^ not conciliate these grand interests, but 
 " by annulling the donative of the French 
 " Emperors my predecessors, and by 
 " uniting the Roman States to France. 
 ^^ By the treaty of Vienna, all the kings and 
 " sovereigns my allies have acquired, and 
 " SHALL ACQUIRE, a frcsh increase of terri- 
 " tory. — I will protect the Porte, if the 
 " Porte withdraws herself from the fatal 
 ^' influence of England. I shall know how 
 ^^ to punish her, if she suffers herself to be 
 " governed by cunning and perfidious 
 " counsels. — My ally and friend, the Em* 
 " PEROR OF Russia, has united to his vast 
 " Empire, Finland, Moldavia, Wallachia, 
 
108 NOTES AND 
 
 " &c. I am not jealous of any thing that 
 *^ can produce good to that Empire. Mi/ 
 '^ sentiments for its illustrious Sovereign are 
 ^^ in unison zdth my policy When I shall 
 " show myself on the Pyrennees, the frighi- 
 " ened Leopard (England) will fly to the 
 " ocean to escape shame, defeat, and death. 
 " The triumph of my arims, will be the 
 " triumph of the genius of good over that 
 " of evil." 
 
 When, in June 1812, hisr embattled 
 nations stood ready to violate the frontier 
 of Russia at his command, and while the 
 arm of Heaven was actually uplifted to cast 
 down his crest of pride, he thus address- 
 ed his armies: ^^ Soldiers! — Russia is led 
 " on by a fatality ; her destiny must be 
 " fulfilled! — We pass the Niemen, and 
 *^ will carry war into the heart ofherterri- 
 ^' tory. The second Polish war will be as 
 " glorious to the arms of France as was 
 ** the first; but the peace which we 
 " SHALL conclude, will carry its own gua- 
 " rantee; it will annihilate that proud 
 *^ and overbearing influence, which, for 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. lOQ 
 
 " fifty years, Russia has exercised over 
 " the affairs of Europe." 
 
 Thus proclaimed " the jnouth speaking 
 
 ^^ GREAT things the SAFE-GUARD of kis 
 
 " own people J' 
 
 V. 8. After many days — in the latter 
 YEARS.] i.e. in a distant age, in the conclu- 
 sion of time. 
 
 Ibid. Thou shalt muster them.] i. e. 
 thou shalt muster the congregated nations 
 before mentioned The word ^p3, which our 
 translation here renders "r^zVerf," signifies 
 likewise, "/o muster an army — numeravity 
 " recensuit, lustravit exercitumy' (Castell.) 
 which the context evidently shows to be its 
 proper sense in this place. And it is 
 strange, that our English translators should 
 have missed this obvious sense in this 
 passage, when they have so rendered the 
 same word in Isaiah, xiii. 4. ^* The Lord 
 " of Hosts musteretk the host of the 
 ^' battle." 
 
 Ibid. Collected upon the mountains of 
 Israel;] i. e. brought zcithin the pale of 
 the true, Universal Church of the Messiah. 
 
110 NOTES AND 
 
 *^ Populi Christiani — Christian nations ;" 
 see Vitringa, at page 12 ; and Preliminary 
 lUustr, sect. viii. 
 
 V. 9, Thou shalt ascend as a storm, &c.] 
 "Qw«5i TEMPESTAs." (Hieron.) The Holy 
 Spirit has elsewhere thus described the hu- 
 man instruments, whichGod has from time to 
 time raised up to execute His terrific judg- 
 ments upon nations. ^' Behold, the Loiin 
 
 " hath A MIGHTY AND STRONG ONE, who, 
 
 " as a TEMPEST of hail and a destroying 
 " STORM, as a flood of mighty waters over- 
 " flowing, shall cast down to the earth with 
 " his hand." — Isaiah, xxviii. 2. The true 
 character of the hostile irruption upon 
 Ros, Mosc, and Tobl, and the sudden and 
 stupendous manner in which that irruption 
 was repelled, is powerfully represented in 
 the Imperial Proclamation, published by 
 the Sovereign of that great Empire only 
 four months after the first inroad of his 
 insolent and impious adversary : almost 
 every line of which echoes, unconsciously, 
 to the previous declaration of this Divine 
 Oracle. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. Ill 
 
 PROCLAMATION 
 
 ISSUED BY THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER, DATED 
 ST. PETERSBURG H, NOV. 15, 1812. 
 
 " WE,ALEXANDERtheFirst, by the Grace 
 *^ of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all the 
 ^' RussiAs, &c. Sec, do hereby make gene« 
 ^^ rally known : — 
 
 '* It is well known to the whole world, in what 
 *^ manner 'in^ enemy has entered the boun^ 
 *^ daries of ovn empire. No step or mea« 
 ** sure that have so frequently been resorted 
 to by the punctual fulfilment of the peace- 
 ^^ able stipulations, nor our steady endea- 
 vours by all possible means to avert the 
 ^^ effects of a bloody and destructive war, 
 ^' have been able to check his obstinate design, 
 ' in which he has shown himself entirely/ imr 
 ' moveable. With peaceful promises on his 
 ' tongue, he never ceased to think on war ; 
 ^ at length, having collected a large 
 ^ army', and strengthened it with Aust- 
 ' rian, Prussian, Bavarian, Wurtem- 
 
 ' Chap, xxxviii. v, 4. 
 
112 NOTES AND 
 
 ^^ BERG, WeSTPHALIAN, ItALIAN, SpA- 
 
 " NisH, Portuguese, and Polish regi- 
 
 ^^ nients', who were constrained through 
 
 ^' disgrace and fear, he put himself in motion 
 
 *^ nith this immense force, supplied with vast 
 
 ' * quantities of artillery, and penetrated into the 
 
 '^ INTERIOR OF OUR COUNTRY^. Murdcf, 
 
 *^ fire, and destruction, were his attendants 
 *^ on the march. The plundered property, 
 " the towns and villages set on fire, the 
 ^* smoking ruins of Moscow, the Kremlin 
 ^' blown up into the air, the temples and 
 *' altars of the Lord destroyed ; in a word, 
 " all kinds of cruelty and barbarity hitherto 
 ^' unheard of, at length prove by his own 
 " actions, that they have long been laying con- 
 ^' cealedinthe depth of his mind. The mighty 
 *^ and happy Russian Empire, which pos- 
 ^' sesses every thing in abundance, awakened 
 '' in the heart of the enemy envij and dread, 
 ^^ The possession of the whole world could not 
 *^ satisfy him, so long as the fertile fields oj 
 " Russia still were happy ^. Full of this 
 
 "V. 6. *V. 12, note. ^V.ll,!^. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 113 
 
 '^ envy and infernal hatred, he revolved, 
 " turned, and ordered in his mind \ all man- 
 ^' ner of evil means by which he might give a 
 '' dreadful blow to her power, a total confusion 
 *^ to her riches J and bring general destruction 
 *' on her prosperity. He likewise thought, 
 ^' by cunning and flattery, to seduce the 
 *^ fidelity of our subjects ; and by thedefile- 
 " ment of the sanctuaries and of God's 
 '' temples, to shake the foundations of 
 " religion. — On these hopes he built his 
 " destructive plans; and with them he forced 
 ^' HIMSELF, like a pestilential and murderous 
 " te'mpest*, into the heart of Russia'. 
 
 " The whole world has fixed its attention oh 
 ^^ our suffering countri/^\ and, inwardly 
 *^ movedj thought they beheld in the flames 
 *^ of Moscow the last day of the existence 
 *^ of our freedom and independence. But 
 '^ GREAT and mighty is the God of Jus- 
 ** tice! The triumph q/* the eis^emy was 
 ^^ of short duration; pressed on all sides by 
 *' our valiant armies and levies, he soon 
 ^' discovered that by his temerity he had ven* 
 
 *V;10, 15, ^V.9,16. sy. i2,note. ^ V. 13, note. 
 
114 NOTES AND 
 
 ^' tured too far, and that he could not, either 
 *' by his vaunted army, his seducements, 
 ^' or his cruehies, inspire fear into the loyal 
 " and valiant Russians, nor save himself 
 a jj^Qiji destruction. After many fruitless 
 '' endeavours, and now that he sees his numer^ 
 " ous troops every where beaten and destroyed^ 
 '' UBnow, with the small remains of them, seeks 
 ^' his personal safety in the rapidity of pus 
 " FLIGHT; he fies from Moscow mth as 
 '^ much fear and depression, as he advanced 
 ^' agaijist it with pride and insolence; he flies, 
 ^' leaving his cannon behind him, throwing 
 '' away his baggage, and sacrificing every 
 ^^ thing that can retard the swiftness of his 
 '' Jtight'^. Thousands of the fugitives daily 
 *' fall to the earth and expire^. In such man^ 
 '' ner does the just vengeance of God punish 
 *^ those who insult His temples^,'' &c. 
 
 Ibid. Mayiy people with thee,'] — See v, 6. 
 and note. "The enemy has passed our 
 " frontiers, and carries his arms into the 
 " interior of Russia. If perfidy cannot 
 
 » Chap, xxxix. 3. ^ V; 9. ^ V. 12—14. * V. 21. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 115 
 
 ^' destroy an Empire which has existed 
 " with increasing dignity for so many ages, 
 '^ HE has determined to assail it by force, 
 " and to storm the dohiinion of the Tzars 
 
 " WITH THE COLLECTED POWEKS OF CON- 
 '* TINENTAL EuROPE." AlEXANDEH's 
 
 Address to the Russian 7iatio}i, July 18, 1812. 
 
 V. 11. I'hon zcilt think an evil thought, 
 and wilt say^ &c.] See the Imperial Pro- 
 clamation. 
 
 • Ibid. The desert places that are become 
 inhabited Ji — Compare verse 8. 
 
 V. 12. Which dzcell in the middle of the 
 land.] — Our version reads, "which dwell 
 *^ \n the middle of the earth" yet there 
 appears no reason for this interpretation, 
 for the word is the same in this as in the 
 preceding verse, where it is properly ren- 
 dered land, y^i^, yrj, signify both the earth, 
 and the land; but here the latter appears 
 to be the genuine sense, and to refer to the 
 same word going before. So our version 
 renders the only parallel passage in Scrip- 
 ture, in Judges, ix. 37. " There cotiae peo- 
 ^' pie down by the middle oftJt£ land'* The 
 
116 NOTES AND 
 
 word rendered middle, in both places, is *n»itd| 
 0[x(pahog, "L^iyi. umbilicus, Hleron. navel; i. e. 
 themiddle or centra I point. Eustathi us, o/*^axoj 
 T>7f ym, vloi fjLua-oTYi;, Cicero, in Ferr, 4. c. 48. 
 — " Ex Ennensium nemore, qui locus, quod 
 " in media est insula situs, umbilicus Siciliae 
 f^ nominatur." In this sense, we should unr 
 derstand the words ^^ middle of the land^' 
 as equivalent to iA,£(TQyuo;,mediterraneus ; i.e. 
 midland, inland, or distant from the maritime 
 coasts. The objects of the Invader's cupi- 
 dity, would therefore dwell in the heart and 
 centre of the dominions of Ros, See the 
 Imp. Procl. 
 
 " The province of Moskw a is the best cul- 
 " tivated and most populous in the whole 
 ^' Empire; and may be called the Garden of 
 ^^ Russia, in the centre of which it lies/' 
 * — Busching's Geography, vol. i. p. 450. 
 
 "•Moscow is THE CENTRE of the inland 
 " commerce of Russia, and connects the 
 <^ trade between Europe and Siberia.'* — ■ 
 Coxe'^s Travels in Russia, b. iii. c. 6. 
 
 V. 13. Sheba and Dedan, &c.] — It is 
 ynimportant to inquire w^hat particular peo- 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 117 
 
 pie are denoted by these names, since it is 
 plain that they are only introduced as 
 distant, or surrounding nations, observing 
 the scene of spoil and devastation, and ani- 
 madverting upon it with indignation and 
 disgust. See the Imper. Proclara. 
 
 Ibid. With all their villages.] Civitafes. 
 ( Castell.) — Our English translation has 
 here adopted the interpretation of " all their 
 ^^ young lions J^ The Greek has the different 
 readings, kco/acci, x^^^h 'villages, forms, or 
 possessions, and the word n'SD seems to be 
 only intended here to signify the dwell- 
 ings of the different people contemplating 
 the passing scene. 
 
 V. 14. Thou wilt observe it,'] — The He- 
 brew word has a stronger sense than merely 
 " thou shalt knazi) it," as our version renders 
 it; it signifies, animadvertit, sensit, rescivit, 
 re ipsa expertus est -r- to obseii^e, to perceive, 
 to be acquainted with, &c.— See the Im-* 
 perial Proclamation. 
 
 V. 15. From the sides of the North.] — ? 
 *^ Gallia sub septemtrionibus posita est.- 
 ^^ Gaul is situated under the North,'* 
 
118 NOTES AND 
 
 (CaBsar de Bello Gall.) Such was the geo* 
 graphical relation which Ganl bore to the 
 native country of Julius Caesar; and such 
 likewise did Gomer and Togarmah, i. e. 
 Gaul, bear to the land of the prophet 
 Ezekiel. See Fortunatus*s Verses to Go- 
 GUE, p. 61, 62. 
 
 V. 16. MYpeopZe,]— "A people that I have 
 *' not known shall serve Me " Ps.xxii. 14, 
 " I will call them My people, which were 
 ^' not My people ; and her beloved, which 
 " was not beloved. And it shall come to 
 " pass, that in the place where it was said 
 ^* unto them. Ye are not My people, there 
 '^ shall they be called the children of 
 " the LIVING GoD." — Rom.ix. 25. "Who 
 ^^ in time past were not, but now are, a 
 <* PEOPLE OF God." — 1 Pet. ii. 10. The 
 land of Ros acquired this favoured and pre- 
 dicted character, in common with other 
 Christian nations, about the middle of the 
 ninth century; at which time it was first 
 converted to the Christian faith. Its 
 title to this high distinction may appear in 
 the sidd^ess of the Holy Synod of Moscow, 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 1® 
 
 published upon the first entrance of the 
 Invader. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 OF THE HOLY SYNOD OF MOSCOW, JULY, 1812. 
 
 " From the hour in which the French na- 
 '^ TiON, bewildered by a demoniac phantom 
 " of liberty, overthrew the Altars of God, 
 " and trampled on the throne of His anoint- 
 " ed, the hand of the Divine vengeance has 
 " overshadowed that people. * It is not 
 " good to follow the multitude to do ev'd; and 
 " THE NATIONS which havc pursued the 
 ** destructive steps of France, share in the 
 '' judgments which befall her. To the 
 " horrors of anarchy succeeded those of 
 " oppression, one struggle followed another, 
 ^* and even peace was not able to give her 
 " repose. 
 
 " The Church and Empire of Russia, 
 '^ preserved by the goodness of God, as 
 *^ witnesses of His glory and mercy, have 
 *^ long been compassionate witnesses of the 
 ** miseries plucked down by the natioks 
 
1£0 NOTES AND 
 
 ^^ on their own heads, by having deserted 
 " the protection of the Most High. Avv- 
 " ful is the spectacle! and wjth devotion 
 " do we receive the warning, to strengthen 
 ^^ our confidence in the living God; and 
 ^^ steadfastly to believe and act on the 
 ^^ conviction, that where Hrs displeasure 
 ^^ falls no power can avert lite judgment^ 
 *^ and where His favour rests no machina- 
 " tions can prevail against it. 
 
 " Let us then, in the hour of danger, 
 *' array ourselves in the panoply of an holy 
 " courage: And^ Russians, that hour is 
 *^ come! 
 
 ^^ An enemy, ambitious and insatiable, 
 '^ violating every sacred oath and every 
 " bond of honour, has forced himself eV^^o 
 " the bosom ^ of i/our country. Despising 
 " the Holy Altars, while uttering the en- 
 " venomed language of hypocrisy ; bieath- 
 " ing words of tender humanity, while his 
 " deeds are those of cruelty and murder; 
 " approaching countries with the blandish- 
 " ments of friendship, and entering then> 
 
 * V. 12, note. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS* 121 
 
 ^^ with fire and sword, famine, pestilence, 
 '^ and death in his train : such is the 
 ^' TYRANT we call upon you to oppose. 
 
 ^^ Dear children of our church and of our 
 ^^ country — Arm ! Defend the faith of j^our 
 ^^ fathers; and, in yourselves, preserve 
 ^' from the foot of usurpation tne unsullied 
 " loyalty which was their boast. Give 
 " freely, and with gratitude, to God and 
 ^' His vicegerent, a part of what you hold 
 " of the Empire and of Heaven. Spare 
 " not your existence in this life, in defence 
 " of the homes of your children ; and of 
 " THE Church, whose charge is your eter- 
 " nal home, and your everlasting Peace! 
 
 *^ Recall to memory the times of your 
 f^ dauntless ancestors^ who, in the name of 
 ^^ God and His Divine Son, exposed 
 *^ themselves to every assault of Infidelity 
 ^^ in arms ; and who, with the weapons of 
 " faith and courage, fought and conquered. 
 " Recall to mind the days of Judea! 
 " ^ For all that 'was written aforetime, zms 
 ^' written for our example,^ It is as a b^a- 
 f^ con to our eyes ! 
 
122 NOTES AND 
 
 ^' We call upon you of the higher ranks 
 " of the State, who have both the power 
 ** and the right to claim the attention of 
 *^ your fellow-subjects; we call upon you, to 
 *' take the lead in the path of honour. Th^ 
 " eyes of the people are fixed upon you, 
 '* and will follow your footsteps. May 
 " THE God of Justice animate in j^ou a 
 " NEW RACE OF JosHUAs, to go forth and 
 '' overcome this second Amalek ! May 
 ^^ another race of Judges, like unto them 
 " who saved Judea, and a succession 
 ^' of Maccabees, who humbled the con- 
 *^ federacies against Israel, arise 
 *^ amongst your people, to overwhelm the 
 " present enemy of mankind! 
 
 " Above all, we sound the trumpet to 
 " you, ye Ministers of the Holy Altar. By 
 *^ the example of Moses, who, in the day 
 *' of battle with Amalek, withdrew not his 
 " hands stretched forth unto the Lord, 
 " clasp your hands in ardent prayer ; until 
 *' the arms of the adversary have lost 
 ** their strength, and he cry aloud unto the 
 ^^ victors for mercy and for peace ! 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 123 
 
 " Inspire our warriors with a firm hope 
 " in THE God of armies. Fortify, by the 
 " words of truth, men of feebler minds, 
 " whom ignorance exposes to the artifice 
 " of imposture. Instruct every order, both 
 " by precept and action, to respect above 
 ** all things their faith and their country. 
 " And should one of the sons of the priest- 
 " hood, who may not have yet been conse- 
 " crated to the sanctuary, burn with zeal to 
 " grasp the sword of patriotism, do ye bless 
 " him in the name of the Church, and let 
 " him follow the filial impulse. 
 
 " Soldiers ! while we thus call you to the 
 *^ field of War, we exhort, we supplicate 
 " you never to forget, that it is also the field 
 " of Justice. Abstain from all actions un- 
 ^^ worthy your great cause. Abhor 
 " every disorder or license that would bring 
 " down on your heads the wrath of a Being, 
 " who is not less the God of retribution 
 '^ than the God of mercy. We recommend 
 " to you the love of your neighbour, and 
 " the love of concord. And by such proof 
 
 of virtue, you will fulfil the vows and the 
 
 tc 
 
124 NOT£S ANU 
 
 " hopes of the anointed of the Lord, tHB 
 " JUST Alexander. 
 
 " Convinced of the Anti-Christian in- 
 '^ tentions of the enemy, the Holy Church 
 " will unceasingly invoke the Lord of 
 '^ OUR STRENGTH, to crown with the bless- 
 " ings of His peace the heads of our 
 " victorious warriors; and that He will 
 " graciously accord to the heroes who fall 
 " in defence of their country, an imperish- 
 ^^ able reward of happiness in the eter- 
 '^ nal world. 
 
 " ^ From God flow s all glory and 
 " ALL good!' May these holy words be 
 " to the future, what they have been to the 
 ^' past, the STRENGTH, and the war-cry, 
 '' o/Russia!" 
 
 Ibid. Israel,'] — See Preliminary Illus- 
 tration, sect, viii; and note on v. 8. 
 
 V. 17. Thou art He, &c.]— " Tu pro- 
 " fecto Ille es." (Grotius.) This passage 
 is plainly to be understood, as addressed by 
 the Almighty to the person o/" the tyrant m 
 his own future age; and therefore, with refer- 
 ence to the entire series of prophecies by 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 125 
 
 which the rise and fall of that TYRANTsAaZ/ 
 hate been foreshown^ at the time when he 
 shall appear. Of such prophecies a stu- 
 pendous series lies open to the view of every 
 attentive and examining Christian, in the 
 Oracles of Ezekiel and Daniel, and in the 
 Apocalypse. By unadvisedly applying this 
 passage to the age of the prophecy, instead 
 of to the age of the fulfilment y commentators 
 have reduced themselves to the strange 
 dilemma, of supposing that all the pro- 
 phecies, thus solemnly attested by the Al- 
 mighty, have perished, and that their sacred 
 testimony has thus become lost to the 
 Church of God. To avoid so preposterous a 
 conclusion, Mcde selected from the Pro- 
 phets who prophesied before Ezekiel certain 
 passages, which he supposed might contain 
 the predictions alluded to in the words of 
 the Almighty. " Esay, chap, xxvii. 1, 
 " with the two last verses of the foregoing 
 ^' chapter. Jeremy, chap. xxx. 2S, 24. 
 " Joel, chap. iii. 1, &c. Micah, chap. v. 
 " verse 5, 6, 9, 15."— Med e, b. iv. p. 796. 
 But some of those passages seem to relate 
 
125 NOTES AND 
 
 rather to the ancient scourges of God, the 
 Assyrian, the Babylonian, &c. than to the 
 future and remote tyranny of Gogue ; and 
 they appear to have been forcibly applied 
 by Mede to the latter, only in consequence 
 of his failing to perceive, that the words of 
 Ezekiel ought to be understood prospective- 
 ly to the time of Gogue; and in conse- 
 quetice also of his sense of the awkward 
 difficulty which must necessarily attend the 
 assumption, that the Prophecies, called by 
 God in evidence, had perished. 
 
 But, there is another Prophecy (one of 
 the mOst ancient in Scripture), which par- 
 ticularly demands our attention in this 
 place, viz. the Prophecy of Balaam; the 
 circumstances of which are most peculiar. 
 The later Jews, though aware that this 
 Prophecy regarded the Messiah in His 
 ultimate state of triumph and universal 
 dominion, yet appear to have altered an 
 important name in the text, with a design to 
 remove the strangeness of its appearance, 
 and to render it more apparently familiar; 
 The Prophecy in question is contained in 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 127 
 
 the 24th chapter of the book of Numbers, 
 and is extended, with some interruptions, 
 through the verses, 7, 8, 9, and 17. 
 
 " He (i. e. Israel ) shall pour the water out 
 " of his buckets, and his seed shall be m 
 '^ many tcaters; and his king shall be higher 
 " than Agag, and his kingdom shall be 
 " exalted, God brought him forth out of 
 
 ^gl/pf> *^ /^«^A, as it were, the strength ofa?i 
 Unicorn; he shall eat up the nations nis 
 " enemies; and shall break their bones, and 
 
 pierce them through with his arrows. He 
 
 couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a 
 " great lion: who shall stir him i/p? Blessed 
 " is he that blesseth Thee, and cursed is he 
 " that curseth thee! — I shall see him, but 
 ^' not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: 
 ' there shall come a star out of Jacob, and 
 * A SCEPTRE shall rise out of Israel," &c. 
 
 Both parts of this prophecy — "the 
 ^ KING that should be higher than Agag, and 
 ' THE SCEPTRE that should rise out of 
 ^ Israel "" — are understood, bj^ the Jewish 
 [^Commentators and by the early Christian 
 Fathers, to intend the Messiah in His 
 I 
 
128 N0TES AND 
 
 final inauguration and glory. " A king 
 " shall proceed from the sons of Jacob,!' 
 (say Onkelosand the Jerusalem Targum *,) 
 '^ their Redeemer shall come from amongst 
 " them; and the reign of the king Mes- 
 " SI AH shall be exalted." And Eusebius 
 says, on this passage : — " If no other of the 
 " rulers or kings of the circumcision was 
 ^^ ever exalted to be Lord over many na> 
 " tions, (and no history records that any ol 
 ^^ them ever were ), truth proclaims aloud*, 
 ^^ that those words can only intend our 
 '' Saviour t-" 
 
 If, then, we are to understa/nd this pro- 
 phecy of ^^ the latter days^' (which phrase is 
 exclusively assigned, in Scripture, to the 
 times following the first coming of the 
 Messiah), as pointing to our Lord's final 
 manifestation of His power and domi- 
 nion : what is this Am^, who is adduced as 
 the last power over whom that Messiah 
 should triumph ? To this question, no satis- 
 factory answer has ever yet, or can be giver?* 
 
 * Ap. Patrick, in Num. xxiv. 
 t Demonst, Evang. ii. 95» 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 129 
 
 But, if we look back beyond the present 
 Hebrew text, to that text from which the 
 ancient Jews translated, we may be able to 
 discover, that this prophecy is in entire 
 concord with that of Ezekiel ; for it was 
 thus read by the Septuagint, 
 
 ^' A MAN (i. e. Messiah) shall come out 
 " of his seed (i.e. the seed of Israel), and 
 " shall rule ore?' manij nations; and his 
 ^^ kingdom shall be exalted over Gogu e, TflT. 
 " God brought ium forth out of Egypt ; his 
 glory is as that of the Unicorn, H e shall 
 eat up the nations his enemies, and shall 
 draw the marrow from their bones, and 
 shall pierce his adversary with his arrows. 
 He lay down as a lion, and as the whelp of 
 " a lion ; who shall make him rise up ? They 
 " are blessed who bless thee, and cursed zoho 
 ^^ cz^r^eTHEE. A STA R shall arise out of Jacob, 
 and A MAN shall arise out of Israel/' Sic. 
 Here we read, in the most ancient version 
 of this Prophec}^, that it was not J^acr, 
 over whom the final kingdom of the Mes- 
 siah would triumph ; but Gogue, TQ.r, 
 the last enemy and tyrant in His Church. 
 
130 NOTES AND 
 
 The Samaritan text, the Greek text of Syiii- 
 machus (according toMontfaucon), and also 
 the old Italic version quoted by Cyprian, 
 read the same ; and we are told that the same 
 reading is preserved in the Sclavonian, Rus- 
 sian, and Armenian versions. And this is in 
 exact agreement with the succeeding Pro- 
 phecies of Ezekiel and of St. John. Hence 
 then we may be authorised, to account this 
 prophecy of Balaam as one of those which 
 expressly foretold the final triumph of the 
 Messiah's kingdom, o\er the last enemy of the 
 Christian nations prophetically denomi- 
 nated GoGUE : " him, namely, of whom God 
 ^' spake in former days, by His servants the 
 " Prophets of Israel, that He xcould bring 
 '^ him against His Church." 
 
 V. 19. A great commotion.] " Com- 
 ^^ motio f7iagna.'' (Hieron.) Archbishop 
 Newcome incautiously observed : " IIou- 
 f' bigant says rightly, that an earthquake is 
 " described in this and the following verse." 
 The observation of David Levi is far 
 more judicious, and more consonant to the 
 imagery of the Prophets. " The ^ great 
 
ILLUSTIiATlONS. iSh 
 
 " ^ shahing ' does not denote an earthquake^ 
 " as Archbishop Newcome (after Houbi- 
 " gant) has erroneously thought: but, under 
 " this figure, the Prophet has shown the 
 " dreadful slaughter of the nations, who 
 " are compared to ' thejishes of the sea,' &c. 
 " {Compare Habakkuk, i. 14.) And ^ Me 
 ^^ fall of the mountains,^ &c. denotes ihe fall 
 *' of their kings, princes, and great men ; 
 *' the same as ^ the heavens,' &c. denote 
 " thrones and dignities; and therefore the 
 " Prophet immediately explains the figure ; 
 " ver. 21. * And 1 will call for a sword 
 " against him throughout all My mountains, 
 '* saith the Lord God V '' &c. This great 
 COMMOTION among the nations, was to dis* 
 tinguish the Age of Gogue. 
 
 V. 21. / will call for a sword against 
 him;] i. e. against Gogue. See ver. 6, 
 chap. XXX ix. 
 
 Ibid. Throughout all My holy moun- 
 tains:] i. e. throughout all that portion of 
 the earth, where the Church of the Mes- 
 siah is chiefly seated and established. 
 
 * " Dissert, on Proph.'^ vol, ii, p. 317. 
 
152 NOTES AND 
 
 Ibid. Man's swordy &c.] i. e. every 
 man's sword shall be directed against his 
 fellow. " Gladius uniuscuj usque {sive ho- 
 "minis) in fratrem suum dirigetur." (Hieron.) 
 There shall be a state of universal war 
 against Gogue and his people, immediately 
 consequent upon his repulse from Ros. 
 
 V. 22. / will plead against him with pes^ 
 Hence, and with blood, 8cc.] " Pesle, sire 
 " morte/' (Hieron.) This menace, declares a 
 powerful intervention of Providence for the 
 overthrow of the tyrant ; according to the 
 Commentary of Vitringa, "God will exe- 
 " cute a signal example of His vengeance, 
 " for the welfare of His Church ; and will 
 " destroy the formidable hosts by tremen- 
 " dous judgments, causing them either to be 
 " cast down by tempests with which He 
 " will oppose them from heaven, or to be 
 " consumed by pestilence and other plagues, 
 " or mutually to destroy each other." See 
 above, page 12: 
 
nLLUSTRATlOIS'S. 133 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIX^ 
 
 Verse 2. And I zcill lead Thee forth.] — 
 The Hebrew word in the existing mss, 
 and in the printed Bible, is »n«tr^tr^ ; in some 
 copies, according to Kennicott, are found 
 »ntr«tr^, >nfc^u?«ti?, »n'u^fe^t^, and »n«t:^*u^. This 
 verb is no where else to be met with 
 in the Hebrew language, (for the lxx, and 
 the sense, show that it erroneously assumed 
 in Ezekiel, xlv. 13); and it is evident, that 
 both the Greek Interpreters, and St. Jerom 
 who translated from the Hebrew in the 
 fourth century, read here simply »n«tir, or 
 »n«ti^J, from t^u;i, deportaix*' ; the former 
 rendering the passage by «^Ta|w, and the 
 latter by educam^ I zcill lead thee forth. The 
 Rabbins, (to whom the science of sound 
 criticism is unknown,) according to their 
 customary reverence of the written letter 
 
 * See Judges, xvi. 31. 1 Sam. iv. 4. 
 
Ir34 
 
 NOTES AND 
 
 <( 
 
 of their Scriptures in prejudice of the spirit 
 and meaning, appear to have regarded this 
 word, which at length appeared with a 
 double 11^, as a word of intricate signification ; 
 and because they could receive no sense 
 from it, thought it advisable to impose a 
 sense upon it, rather than, by a judicious 
 investigation, detect its origin in an an- 
 cient inadvertency of transcription. They 
 could only draw a sense from the root m)i^^ 
 six, from which they imagined a verb, 
 n^^m, to have been formed, signifying 
 '^ to six." But here they were not much 
 advanced ; and it was necessary to enrich 
 the meaning of this barren word, which of 
 itself conveyed no idea. Some therefore 
 explained it to signify,"! will leave but 
 ^' a sixth part of thee ;" and others, ^' J will 
 "strike thee with six plagues/' I have 
 followed the earlier interpretation, which 
 the context appears to my best judgment 
 tQ support. See y. 3 and 4 of the former 
 chapter. 
 
 V, 3. 1 will smite thy bow out of thy 
 hft hmd and came thine arrows to fall qui i 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 135 
 
 of THY right hand.'] This figure is drawn, 
 from the arms in use in the time of the 
 Prophet ; and forcibly describes, the violent 
 and total disarming of the Invader. 
 
 " At the moment in which the enemy 
 ^^ entered Moscow, he beheld the destruc- 
 " tion of those preposterous hopes by which 
 " he had been flattered : — After sustaining 
 " incalculable losses, he recognised, at last, 
 '^ the phrensy of his expectations, that the 
 *^ foundations of the Empire would be 
 " shaken by his occupation of Moscow. 
 ^^ Nothing remained for him but a precipi- 
 ^* tate flight: the resolution was no sooner 
 " taken than it was executed, and he fled, 
 " abandoning nearly the whole of his sick 
 " to the mercy of aa enraged people ; and, 
 ^^ leaving Moscow, completely evacuated 
 " it. — Let us then hasten to pursue this 
 *' impious Invader! — Already do we be- 
 " hold him in full flight, abandoning his 
 " baggage, burning his war-carriages, and 
 ^^ reluctantly separating himself from those 
 " treasures, which his profane hands had 
 *^ torn from the very altars of God. Already 
 
136 NOTES AN» 
 
 ^^ desertion and famine spread corifusiou 
 " before Napoleon ; and behind him, arise 
 " the murmurs of his troops, like the roar 
 *^ of threatening waves. 
 
 *^ That awful arm, which sustains the 
 " just and strikes the unjust, is now mani- 
 " festly stretched forth in wrath over the 
 " heads of our enemies ! and while they are 
 *^ falling by thousands in one extremity of 
 '^ Europe (Spain); at the other their graves 
 " arediggingin the soil of that Empire, which 
 " they vainly menaced with annihilation." 
 Testimony of Prince Koutoiisoff, Oct, 4 and 
 19, 1^12. 
 
 ^' The retr-eat of the French is a flight 
 " without example, abandoning every thing 
 " that demanrls carriage, even to their sick 
 " and wounded. The traces of this fearful 
 " career are marked with every species of 
 " horror. At every step is seen the dying 
 " and the dead; not merely the fallen in 
 " battle, but the victims of famine and 
 " fatigue. In two days, even in sight of 
 ^^ my division, their despair has blown up 
 ^' one hundred ammunition waggons, while 
 
ILLTJSTRATIONS. 137 
 
 ^^ the sudden movement of my troops has 
 " caused them to leave untouched an almost 
 ^' equal number. We destroy these fugi- 
 *' tives wherever we meet them ; and when 
 " they attempt to make the least stand, the 
 " brave Sons of the Don, assisted by their 
 " artillery and the chasseurs, soon re- 
 '' lieve the Empire of hundreds of its in- 
 " vaders." Testimonij of Count Platoff] 
 Nov. 1812. 
 
 '' Russia now exhibits an exalted aspect 
 " to the whole world. On the one side we 
 " see a valiant army, whose regiments are 
 " unbroken, and whose warriors are ani- 
 ^' mated with an elevated feeling of ven- 
 " geance for their homes, for the plundering 
 " of their towns and villages ; vengeance 
 " for humanity. — On the other side ap- 
 ^' pear the ruins of an immense army, in 
 ^^ which numerous foreign nations were united 
 " together, to destroy a pozcerful nation in 
 *^ the bosom of its native country. They 
 ^' were encouraged by a hope of the result, 
 /' but that result was deceptive. One single 
 '^* calamitous blow threw this immense host 
 
13S NOTES AND 
 
 '^ into confusion. They fly, pursued by 
 
 " fear and terror. They are followed by 
 
 " hunger; having no food they are in 
 
 " despair, and forced to eat dead horses, 
 
 ^^ forced to do what their polished contem- 
 
 " poraries can scarcely believe— /eec? upon 
 
 " the bodies of their own dead brethren. The 
 
 " roads by which they fondly dreamed to 
 
 ^* retire, in triumph and laden with booty, 
 
 " are covered with their dead bodies. Their 
 
 " sick and wounded are throw^n aside by 
 
 " them on their march, and left a prey to 
 
 " famine and the cold. AW these unfor- 
 
 *^ tu nates, condemned to perish far from 
 
 '^ their own countries, curse, in different 
 
 " languages, ambition as the cause of their 
 
 " destruction. Worn out with sufferings, 
 
 ^' they have lost all confidence in fortune 
 
 ^' and in their leaders. Their cannon are 
 
 *' taken by hundreds. They themselves 
 
 " surrender by entire detachments. Such 
 
 " is the condition of the two armies, which 
 
 " are now to decide the fate of many 
 
 " nations '' Extract from the St. Petersburgh 
 Gazette of Dec. 11, 1812. 
 
ILi^USTRATIONS, 1S9 
 
 V. 4. TlIOU SHALT FALL UPON THE 
 FACE OF THE FIELD, FOR I THE LORD 
 HAVE SPOKEN 1t!] 
 
 V. G. / will send a fire vpon Mago- 
 GUE.] The name of Magogue, in its most 
 extensive acceptation, appertains (as we 
 have seen) to all the nations of the Euro- 
 pean continent; from the Don to the 
 Western Ocean. In this verse, however, 
 we are plainly to understand it with the 
 limitation prescribed at the opening of the 
 Prophecy; namely, in consociation with 
 GoMER, and as denoting the proper do mi-' 
 nions of Gogue. Upon that land, the 
 Almighty declares, "J will send a fire.'* 
 
140 NOTES AND 
 
 What Is meant by a Tin^sent upon a nation^ 
 we learn in the poetical phraseology of the 
 Scriptures. ^^ A fire shall come forth out 
 " of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst 
 " of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of 
 ^^ Moab, and the crown of the heads of the 
 " tumultuous ones, Woe be unto thee, O 
 '^ Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth : 
 " for thy sons are taken captives, and thy 
 " daughters captives /" — Jerem. xlviii. 4.5, 46. 
 The sentence therefore appears to mean, that 
 the dominions of Go que shall be subjected to 
 the calamities ofyvAR. " The people shall be 
 '^ as fuel of the fire, no man shall spare his 
 " brother." Is. ix. 19- This menace is the 
 same as that pronounced in the preceding 
 chapter of Ezekiel ; " I will call for a sword 
 *^ against him, — man's hand shall be against 
 " his brother!'' The Greek reads here, etti 
 rnr, ''upon Gogue ;' and the Alex. MS. 
 87ri EE, ''upon thee," i. e. Gogue. 
 
 Ibid. And on them that dwell securely in 
 the Isles.] There is something infinitely 
 awful, in the doubt which hangs over the 
 legitimate import of this clause. The Greek 
 
IXLUSTRATIONS. 141 
 
 version has interpreted it with a contrary 
 sense, " and the Isles shall dwell secureli/y^ 
 Koci HaroDiYid-na-ovrai ai vy\(Toi £7rhpy\vy\g'. but the 
 former is the sense in which it is most 
 generally received, and we have certainly no 
 positive authority to reject it for the latter. 
 At the same time, on comparing the whole 
 of the context, the ancient reading of the 
 Septuagint appears entitled to attention. 
 
 V. 7. My people IsvaeLI — See note on 
 eh. xxxviii. ver. 16, 
 
 V. 8. Tins IS THE iTAY, &c.] "This is 
 " THE day" so long foreshown to the 
 Church, in which the last great instrument 
 of God's wrath upon earth shall be cut off; 
 THE DAY which proclaims the speedy con 
 summation of the earthly scenes of prophecy, 
 and of the trials of the earthly church ; 
 and also the proximate manifestation of that 
 tremendous, but glorious change, in prepa- 
 ration for which alone that church was 
 originally planted. " This, therefore, is the 
 " DAY which the Lord hath made ; let us- 
 " rejoice and be glad in it." — It is when this 
 day shall be completed that the Church shalV 
 
144 NOTES ANB 
 
 exclaim; ^^ We give thee thanks, O Lord 
 ^* God Almighty, which art, and wast, and 
 " art to come ; because thou hast taken to 
 *' thee thy great power, and hast reignedr 
 '^ And the nations were angry, and thy 
 " wrath is come, and .the time of the dead 
 " that they should be judged,and that thou 
 ^* shouldest give reward mito thy servants 
 " the prophets, and to the saints, and them 
 " that fear Thy name, small and great; 
 
 " AND SHOULDEST DESTROY THEM THAT 
 '^ DESTROY THE EARTH !" ReV. xi. 17,18. 
 
 V. 9. Shall burn the weapons, ^c] This 
 representation, of the imparalleled wreck of 
 the armies that should invade and ravage 
 Ros, (and which is poetically and forcibly 
 described as supplying fuel sufficient for the 
 consumption of seven years, by the frag- 
 ments of shields and lances, bows and 
 arrows, javelins and spears, the implements 
 of war employed in the time of the Prophet;) 
 is one of the most striking circumstances in 
 this prophetic picture. 
 
 V. 10. And they shall spoil those that 
 spoiled them, &c.] The armies which, in 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 143 
 
 their first successful invasion of Ros, had 
 amassed a great spoil, shall be despoiled of 
 their plunder, and themselves become a 
 prey to the avengers of the desolated 
 country. 
 
 V. 11. A place of name, iic'] — So the 
 passage is rendered by the Greek translators, 
 and by St. Jerom ; and the original admits 
 of this interpretation equally with that in 
 our common version; / will give ^ Goq a 
 place of burial there : the word CDtt^ (sem) 
 signifying both name and there, " Locum 
 
 nominatum, sepulchrum." (Hieron.) Toirot 
 ovofxarov, " a place of distinguished nameJ^-^^ 
 And this dreadful sarcasm is immediately 
 explained; a cemetary or charnel-house, for 
 his multitudinous army sacrificed to his 
 infuriate cupidity and ambition. 
 
 Ibid. In the valley, S^c.} See note to 
 verse 15. 
 
 Ibid. Wherefore they shall bury ;'] i. e, 
 on account of the intolerable stench, arising 
 from so vast a multitude of corrupting 
 carcasses, spread over the face of the land ; 
 ^^for it shall cause the passengers to stop their 
 
144 NOTES AND 
 
 " noses J[ This version of our translators is 
 received by the Jews, as we learn from 
 David Levi. St. Jerom takes the whole 
 passage thus : " I will give Gogue a place 
 " of name, a sepulchre, which sh^iW Jill zcith 
 *' astonishment those who pass by : — quae 
 " ohstupescere facit praetereuntes." 
 
 Ibid. They shall call it, <S^c.] — See ver. 16. 
 
 V. 13. Seven months, &c.] — So again at 
 V. 14," after seven months they shall s^///make 
 " search," Here the prophet foretells, that 
 the terrible and unexampled destruction 
 which would overtake the army of nations 
 led on by Gogue, in their flight from Ros, 
 should cause the land to be so extensively 
 loaded with their dead, that seven months 
 (from the time of their slaughter, ) should not 
 suffice for burying all their scattered bones. 
 It is for the Christian world to question 
 itself, whether any such fact has yet been 
 presented to the experience of mankind ^. 
 
 " Your Majesty passed the Niemen with 
 *' 400,00Q 7?ien: — But yotjr akmy, the 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 145 
 
 " chosen army of France, of Germany, 
 " and of Italy, exists no more ; there bleach 
 " unburied the bones of the brave men who 
 " saved France at Fleurus, FrenchmExV 
 ^^ who conquered in Italy, who survived the 
 " burning climate of Egypt, and who fixed 
 *^ victory to your standards at Marengo, and 
 " Austerlitz, Jena, and Fried land.'* Letter 
 of the Cro^vn Prince of Szceden, to the Em- 
 peror J^apolcoHy 13th March, i813, 
 
 V. 13. It shall be unto them ybr a re- 
 nown.] — The overthrow of Gog v e a?id his 
 host, was foreordained to be a renown to 
 that people which, under God, should be 
 employed to bring it to pass; the renowti 
 forms an express part of the prediction, and 
 it was therefore provided for them in the 
 purposes of the Almighty. It is thus, that 
 the illustrious Emperor of Ros consigned 
 that renown to his own valiant and faithful 
 armies, after the close of the year 1812. 
 
 " Soldiers ! That year is gone ! That 
 '^ memorable and glorious year, in which 
 '^ you have levelled with the dust the pride 
 
146 NOTES AND 
 
 *^ of our insolent Invader! That year is 
 " gone, but your heroic deeds remain. 
 ^^ Time cannot efface their remembrance : 
 " they are present with ourselves — they 
 " will live in the memory of posterity, 
 
 " The deliverance of your country from 
 " an host of confederate powers, leagued 
 " against her very existence, has been pur- 
 " chased by j^our blood. You have acquir- 
 " ed a right to the gratitude of Russia, and 
 '^ to the veneration of foreign realms. You 
 " have proved to mankind by your fidelity, 
 " your valour, and your perseverance; that 
 " against hearts filled with love to God, 
 *^ and loyalty to their Sovereign, the efforts 
 *^ of the most formidable enemy are but as 
 " the furious waves of the sea breaking 
 " upon an immoveable rock : after all their 
 " tumults, they leave but the confused 
 " sound of their own repulse You have 
 " all shared the same hardships and the same 
 ^' dangers. You have all had but one 
 " SOUL. This ennobling conviction should 
 " make you proud of these equal military 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 14? 
 
 *^ honours^. They will every where proclaim 
 *^ you — faithful sons o/'Russia ! Sons, upon 
 " whom God the Father bestows His pa- 
 " ternal blessing!^' — January, 1813. 
 
 But surrounding nations will not con- 
 sent, to separate the nation from its chief 
 in renown ; and the Emperor of Austria thus 
 stood forward, to render that justice, which 
 the paternal breast of the Emperor of Ros 
 declined assuming to himself. 
 
 " The illusion of glory carried the Em- 
 " peror Napoleon into the heart of the 
 " Russian Empire ; and a false political 
 " view of things induced him to imagine, 
 " that he should dictate a peace in Mos- 
 " cow, should cripple the Russian power 
 " for half a century, and then return victo* 
 ^' rious. When the magnanimoifs constancy 
 '^ of the Emperor of Russia, the glori- 
 ^^ ous deeds of his warriors, and the unshaken 
 " fidelity of his people, put an end to this 
 " dream, it was too late to repent it with 
 *^ impunity. The zchole French army was 
 
 * Silver medals, consecrated, and distributed to every 
 individual in the Russian army. 
 
148 NOTES AND 
 
 *^ scattered and destroyed: in less than four 
 ^^ months we have seen the theatre of war 
 " transferred from the Dneiper and the 
 " Dwina, to the Oder and the Elbe. This 
 ^^ rapid and extraordinary change of for- 
 " tune, was the forerunner of an important 
 " revolution in all the political relations of 
 " Europe." Manifesto by H, M. the Em^ 
 peror of Austria, King of Hungary and 
 Bohemia. 1813. 
 
 V. 13. The Valley.] - — Our version here 
 renders the Hebrew word n*];, city; in 
 the same sense it is also rendered by the 
 Greek. But Michaelis has satisfactorily 
 shown, that 'n»j; has likewise the signification 
 oi valley, or plain; as in Psalm Ixxii. 16, 
 where the sense is impaired by render- 
 ing it city^\ And since no city is inti- 
 mated in the context, and since the place of 
 interment for the numerous dead is imme- 
 diately before called by '^valley (»:j),"(v. 1 1.) 
 this sense appears the most consentaneous 
 in this place. 
 
 V. 16. Shall be called, <^c.]— This mode 
 
 • **SuppL ad Lex. Heb. in ^'er6.'*N. 1890. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 149 
 
 of expressioQ is frequently employed in the 
 prophetic language, to signify may sinlably 
 he called. And so here, when it is said, 
 " tftey shall call it the t alley of the multi- 
 " TUBE OF GoGUE — the name of the 
 " valley shall be multitude ;" we are not 
 to understand this as affirming, that the 
 place will really hear that name, but, that 
 it might fitly he so denominated. Compare 
 Is. xix. 18, Jer. xxiii. 6. Zech. viii. o. 
 Matt. i. 23. The Greek renders it, ovoyLcx, t^ 
 ^oTTn AIAnmSIS, " the name of the place 
 ^^ ruin, disappointment, or disaster."" ^laTrlucri^, 
 ruina,f rust ratio, infortunium, lapsus vitca. 
 
 V. 17, 18, 19, 20. My sacrifice — my 
 TABLE, &c.] These four terrific verses 
 demonstrate the community of design and 
 object, between the conclusion of this pro- 
 phecy of EzEKiEL, and the conclusion of 
 the prophecy of the Apocalypse, especi- 
 ally c. xix. XX., which relate to the same 
 great catastrophe and consummation. The 
 following is the answering passage in the 
 prophecy of St. John : 
 
 ^* And I saw an angel standing in the 
 
loO NOTES ANi) • 
 
 *^ Sun, and he cried with a loud voice, say- 
 *' ing to all the birds that fly in the midst 
 " of heaven, ^ Cojne and gather yourselves 
 " together unto TniL supper of the great 
 " God. That ye may eat the flesh of kings 
 ^' and the flesh of captains^ and the flesh of 
 '^ mighty men; and the flesh of horses, and 
 *^ of them that sit on them ; and the flesh of all, 
 *' both free and bond, both small and great,' " 
 — Chap. xxi. ver. 17, 18. The verse which 
 immediately introduces these two verses, 
 shows, by repeating the description employ- 
 ed before in chap. xvii. 14, that they relate 
 to the LAST TYRANT of the Church pre- 
 figured in that chapter ; and the two verses 
 show, by their correspondence with the 
 prophecy of Ezekiel, their further relation 
 to the armies of Gogue mentioned in the 
 following chapter of the Apocalypse, xx. 8. 
 And thus they serve to demonstrate, that 
 the LAST TYRANT of the Church, and the 
 tyrant Gogue, are one and the same object in 
 the scope of prophecy. 
 
 V. 18. j4ll of them fatlings of Bash an.] 
 it p^y robustos Basani^, arietes, juvencos, 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 151 
 
 ^^ ^tfwros— adumbrantur gentium tyranni in- 
 " solentes, crudeles, efferi." Lowth, PvcrI, 
 vi. in Poes, Heb, note, *^ By strong rams 
 " and bulls of Basan, are signified the 
 " insolent, cruel, and ferocious tyrants of 
 '^ the nations.^' 
 
 V. 21. I will set My glory among th^ 
 NATIONS.] There never was a period, in 
 which the overruling arm of God was more 
 promptly recognised by the nations of 
 Christendom, than the present period; 
 and there never was an event, which more 
 imperiously called forth such recognition, 
 than the recent "judgment" which HiS 
 arm " has executed" before the face of the 
 Christian Church, upon the armies of the 
 modern Magogue and Gomer, in the land 
 of Ros. To that Almighty agency, the " re- 
 nonmed " leaders and warriors of the armies 
 of Ros have ascribed, with one common 
 voice of praise, all their triumphs; and 
 their voice is answered by the highest and 
 lowest in the surrounding nations, 
 
 "This wondrous reverse, which has struck 
 
 " THE TYRANT OF EuROPE OD the fields 
 
*J52 NOTES AND 
 
 ^' of Russia, seems more like the sudden 
 " overthrow of the host of Pharaoh in the 
 " Red Sea, than any human means of dis- 
 " comfiture. Surely, then, the most stub- 
 " born infidel cannot behold those mighty 
 " acts of THE Most High, and not believe 
 " and tremble^!" 
 
 ^' Buonaparte is wholly defeated in 
 " Russia! He is conquered, and a fu- 
 '' gitive! And what can we say more? 
 '' We have seen his army pass from victory 
 " to victory ; we have seen it overthrow 
 '^ kingdoms and subjugate realms — insult 
 ^' sovereigns and oppress peasants — violate 
 " every human right, and diffuse every 
 ^^ species of human misery. And now, 
 '^ Where is it ? Where shall we look for it ? 
 *' ^A wide and capable destruction has 
 ^^ swallowed it up/ In this awful event we 
 " rather admire in humility the dispen- 
 '^ sation of Providence, than exult with 
 " pride over the fall of an haughty foe: it 
 " is hardly to be viewed as an occurrence 
 " between 7nan and man, or between nation 
 
 * Morning Post, Dec. 17, 1812. 
 
ILLTJSTHATIONS. 155 
 
 " and nation; but as a Divine judgment 
 " upon the earth*." 
 
 If such could be the immediate and simul- 
 taneous reflections of our daily journals 
 upon the "judgment then executed," it 
 is manifest, that there is evidence sufficient 
 before mankind, to ^^ give God the glory '^ 
 
 V. £3. The whole house of Israel.] 
 The Sequel of this prophecy, which re- 
 lates to the impending issue of God's pur- 
 poses, after the final termination of His 
 Church's calamities upon earth, appears to 
 embrace, and to unite, the circumstance* 
 both of the figurative and the literal Israel, in 
 the future Universal Church of the Messiah : 
 according to the excellent observation of 
 St. Augustine f. It is plainly applicable to 
 both Churches, For, as the literal Israel were 
 thrown into a state of captivity and oppres- 
 sion for their continued rebellions and 
 iniquities; so have we ground of the fullest 
 assurance to be convinced, that the depra- 
 vit}% irreligion, infidelity, and practical 
 apostacy which had so generally infected the 
 
 » Times, Dec. 17, 181^. t See page 74. 
 
154 NOTES AND 
 
 nations denominated Christian^ thefigurative 
 Israel, at the occurrence of the late " Great 
 " Commotion" in Christendom, was the 
 moral cause of all those nations being sur- 
 rendered by the Divine Providence to the 
 bondage and affliction, under which they 
 have so bitterly groaned for many years 
 past. But the termination of that bondage, 
 opens the prospect of ultimate and proxi- 
 mate redemption to all, both Christians 
 arid Jews ; in the manner^ and m the order, 
 -which was always understood and ex- 
 pected by the Apostolic Church*. The 
 designation, ''My people" — '' the people 
 ''of God"— "the children of Abraham" 
 are ascribed to the former as well as to the 
 latter; and the final scene of glory, bliss, and 
 peace, which shall succeed to this present 
 lapsing scene, is represented to^ both 
 Churches under the same common figure, 
 of " Jerusalem," and "the kingdom 
 '' of David." 
 
 V. 26. And they shall forget their re- 
 proach:'] Our version translates^ " after 
 
 * Preface, p. xlviii. — li. ; and "Christian's 
 Survey/* 2d edit. p. 187—189. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 155 
 
 *' they shall have borne their reproach.'' I 
 cannot but understand the word wi^, as 
 from i^mi, obllviscory to forget, and not from 
 i^m}, fero, sumo, to bear. As in Lamenta- 
 tions, iii. 17,niito >n*u^J, ^'I forget prosperity ;'* 
 which the lxx render, ewaaQofiviv aya9a, I 
 therefore suspect, that in this verse of 
 Ezekiel we ought to read xwovlai in the 
 Greek, instead of ^^n^ovrai, especially as 
 there is already a various reading of this 
 word. Parallel in design with this verse of 
 Ezekiel, appears to be that of Isaiah, liv. 4. 
 " Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, 
 ^' Olid shalt not remember the reproach of thy 
 *^ widozchood any more'^ 
 
 V. 29. Hide My face any more.'] This 
 closing promise, derives the most complete 
 elucidation from the conclusion of the book 
 of THE Apocalypse : " I saw the holy city, 
 'I' the NEW Jerusalem : — and the throne 
 " of God and. of the Lamb shall be in it, 
 "and they shall see his face; and 
 " there shall be no night there, for the 
 ^^ Lord God. giveth them light; and 
 '' they shall reign for ever and ever." 
 
156 NOTES AND 
 
 Ibid. For I have poured out Mine anger, 
 &c.] i. e. J have exhausted all Mine anger. 
 — Our translation renders, ^^ when I have 
 " poitred out My Spirit." The Greek seems 
 to read better, avd' o)v £|£%£a tov QvfAov /us: 
 And so the old Italic version ; " Et non aver- 
 " tarn ampliusfaciem meam ab eis,pro eo quod 
 '^ effudi irain meam in domum Israel." In 
 the Hebrew the words are, " »nn r\^ 'nDSJti; itri^. 
 *^ — ^ati?, signifies effundo, to pour o«^, either 
 " in part or entirely." Here it appears to 
 mean the latter, and to signify, to exhaust, 
 Jerom says, " ruhi, »nn, proprie sonat spirit- 
 " um meuniy et ncquaq nam /"wrorem meumy 
 But the more ancient Greek interpreters, 
 together with our ablest lexicographers, 
 find the sense of ira, furor, anger, in the 
 word nn ; and so our own translators have 
 rendered it in Judges, viii. 3. — '^theji their 
 ** anger was abated towards himr 
 
 The gracious declaration ej^pressed in this 
 concluding sentence of the prophecy, ap- 
 pears to intend the same with that conveyed 
 in the evangelical assurances given by Isaiah: 
 ^' Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 157 
 
 " cry unto her, that her warfare is accom- 
 " plished, that her iniquity is pardoned! — 
 ^^ In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for 
 " a moment ; but with everlasting kindness 
 " will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord 
 ^' thy Redeemer! — For in My wrath I 
 " smote thee, but in My favour have I had 
 *' mercy on thee." Which blessed promise 
 assumes its most perfect and transporting 
 form in the Apocalypse of St. John: — "And 
 " I heard a great voice out of Heaven, say- 
 " ing; ' Behold! the tabernacle of God is 
 " with MEN, and He will die ell with them^ 
 " and they shall 6e His people, and God 
 *^ HIMSELF s/ifl/Z be with them, and be their 
 " God. And God shall wipe away all tears 
 *^ from their eyes ; and there shall be no more 
 " death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither 
 " shall there be any more pain; for the former 
 " things are passed away J And He that sat 
 '* upon the throne said, ^ Behold! I make 
 
 *^ ALL things new'!'' 
 
tHE CONCLUSION. 
 
 If we now reflect upon the various scatter- 
 ed truths which are drawn into one focus 
 in the preceding pages, and if we contemp- 
 late the luminous and multiplex force of 
 truth which their converging rays produce, 
 we can hardly withstand the conviction, 
 that at ^Hhisday isTHis scni ft v he fulfilled 
 " in our ears" in almost all its circum- 
 stances. 
 
 We have seen him, whom the style of 
 " GoGUE of the land of Magogue" most 
 intelligibly and distinctly describes, go forth 
 from his Empire for his own destruction. 
 We have seem him ^^ ascend as a stokm, 
 " and go up as a cloud, to cover the land of 
 " Ros, Mosc, and Tobl." We have looked 
 on, and have watched the workings of " his 
 " evil thoughts,'' We have beheld him pene- 
 trate ^^ into Tll^E MIDDLE OF THAT LAND, 
 L 
 
160 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 " to take a spoil and to divide a pveyr There^ 
 we have seen " Im how sndtten out of Ids left 
 ^' hand, and his arrows fall out of his right 
 " hand'' We have seen ^' the hones of Ma- 
 
 " GOGUE, GOMER, «wd ToGARMAH, and of 
 
 '^ his MANY NATIONS with Aim/' Scattered 
 in retreat over the whole track by which his 
 INVASION had advanced; and their carcasses 
 accumulating in loathsome and unexampled 
 masses, upon the surface of the land. We 
 have seen all the "renowned" actors of 
 this slaughter looking up to heaven, for 
 the author of " the judgment zohich 
 '* their arms were made to execute;'* and 
 yielding all "the glory to God." We 
 have seen "a sword called forth^ at lengthy 
 *^ against the invader, throughout all the 
 *^ regions of the Christian Church." 
 And now, at last, we behold "a fire sent 
 ^' upon Magogue;'^ and we are actually 
 engaged in marking its progress, and in 
 expecting its event. If, therefore, some- 
 thing yet remains to try the sceptic or 
 the waverer, enough has been effected to 
 satisfy and animate the humble believer, 
 
THE CONCLUSION. l6l 
 
 who will now ^^ stand stilly and see the salva^ 
 ^^ tiun q/* THE Lord." 
 
 The GREAT CIRCUMSTANCE, which ren- 
 ders the ultimate fulfilment of the prophecy 
 of GoGUE a matter of such vast concern- 
 ment to the Christian Church and to the 
 world, cannot be better stated than in the 
 words of Clarius : " H^c est ultima pro- 
 " phetia; qiiam nulla sequitur alia nisi qua 
 
 " C?eiETERNI TEMPLI INSTAURANDI mfirgZ/itf 
 
 " loquitur^, — This is the last prophecy ; 
 " which is succeeded by no other than that 
 ^' which treats of the figurative building of the 
 
 ^' ETERNAL TEMPLE." 
 
 In fact, THIS is the last, in the entire 
 series of the prophecies, which respects 
 earthly affairs and the secular interests of the 
 Church. We plainly see, in Ezekiei and in 
 St. John, that this is the prophecy of TUiEi 
 CONSUMMATION; to be succeeded only by 
 that state, which both those prophets were 
 directed to describe as the opening of 
 
 THE ETERNAL TEMPLE of GoD : that 
 
 * See " Critici Sacri,'' torn. v. col. 207, 
 
16S THE CONCLUSION* 
 
 GREAT RESI3LT and isSUC of the PRESENT 
 
 DISPENSATION, towaids vvhich the genera- 
 tions of mankind have been advancing 
 through a flux of very many ages; which 
 ages will then find their end, and Time 
 subsist no longer. 
 
 In this one point of prophecy meet, both 
 the prediction of Gogue, expressly so deno- 
 minated, and that of the unnamed last 
 TYRANT, to whom the Church in all ages has 
 agreed to assign the designation of anti- 
 christ, as descriptive of the nature and 
 end of his hideous Empire. Here, both are 
 identified with each other; and Gogue, and 
 Antichrist, are found to be but one and 
 the same individual. 
 
 This truth was discernible to all, who 
 compared and examined the collective pur- 
 port of the prophecies with attention, and 
 with a judgment free from every prepos- 
 session of system. That the actions of both 
 were to have place in the same concluding 
 period of time, was obviously manifest. 
 Hence St. Augustine speaks of Anti- 
 christ and of Gogue, indiscriminately, 
 
THE CONCLUSION. l63 
 
 to mark out that period. " The last perse* 
 " cution of the Church/' says he, " which 
 " will be inflicted by Antichrist, Jesus 
 ^^ himself will extinguish by His PRESENCE.'* 
 
 " When the thousand years are ended, 
 
 " Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and 
 ""shall go forth to deceive the nations 
 " which are within the four corners of the 
 " land, GoGUE and Magogue ; — this will 
 " be the last persecution that the Church 
 " shall suffer in the whole world ; the 
 *' last judgment being then impending"^." 
 And again ; *'this last persecution wW] proceed 
 " from Antichrist f.'' And very little con- 
 sideration was needed to discover, that the 
 personalities of the two in prophecy, were 
 also one and the same in fact: " Gogus est 
 " Antichristus — Gogue is Antichrist;" 
 observed an elaborate commentator of a for- 
 mer age;t. For though some persons errone- 
 ously imagined that Gogue was the name of 
 a people, (from not having compared the 
 
 * See page 10. f " De Civit. Dei,'' lib. xx. c. 13. 
 J Pole, " Sj/nopsisJ* Ezek, xxxviii* 
 
164 THE CONCLUSION/ 
 
 prophecy of St. John with that of Ezekiel^) 
 yet the ablest interpreters have long since 
 recognised their error, and have pointed it 
 out. ^' Nee regionis aut populi nomen, at 
 *^ vulgo putatur, sed r^o-is aut summi impe- 
 " RATORis terrae Magog*, — It is neither 
 " the name of a country or of a people," 
 says Michaelis, " but that of the king or 
 *' EMPEROR of the land of Ma o:oo;ue.'^ 
 
 But, if the prophecy of Gogue is to be 
 considered as now in course of actual fulfil- 
 ment, and indeed as being in the greater 
 part already fulfilled ; what (the Millennarians 
 will demand) is become, of the thousand 
 years, or millennium, which was to precede 
 the fulfilment of that notable prophecy ? 
 and of the Jirst resurrection, of the reign of 
 the Saints with Christ during those thousand 
 years, and of all *^ those blessed promises of 
 *^ which I deprive the Church -f^^" lastly, of 
 the binding of Satan, from which event the 
 beginning of those thousand years was to be 
 
 * " Supplem. ad Lex, Heb,^* No. 
 t See Preface, p. li. 
 
?rHE CONCLUSION* l65 
 
 computed ? Let the good sense of St. Au- 
 gustine, in this particular, reply to all these 
 questions ; and to the last, first. 
 
 1. " The ^ binding of Satan ' not only took 
 ^^ place at the time when the Christian 
 " Church began to extend itself from J udea 
 *^ over the heathen nations, but it also now 
 ^^ actually continues ; and will continue un- 
 ** til the end of the Christian age, when he 
 " will again be loosed. For mankind are 
 **^ now converted from the infidelity in 
 '* which Satan had held them; and they 
 ^' will undoubtedly so continue until that 
 *^ end. — Then he will be again let loose, 
 " though onlyybr a short time. — It is not 
 '' said, that Satan shall not deceive ani/ one, 
 " but that he shall not deceive the na- 
 *^ TioNS ( that is, without doubt, the 
 " ^ATio^s which compose the Christian 
 " Church,) until the thousand years are 
 *' expired. — Haec autem alligatio diaboli 
 '* non solum facta est, ex quo coepit Eccle- 
 " sia praeter Judaeam terram in nationes 
 " alias, aliasque dilatari ; sed etiam nunc 
 " fit, et fiet usque ad terminum seculi, quo 
 
166 THE CONCLVSION*. 
 
 " solvendus est ; quia et nunc homines ab 
 " infidelitate, in qua eos possidebat conver- 
 " tuntur, et usque in ilium finem sine dubio 
 " convertentur*. — Tunc autem solvetur, 
 " quando et breve tempus eritf. — Nee 
 " enim dictum est, ut non seduceret o//- 
 " qxieniy sed ut non seduceret jam gentes, 
 *^ in quibusEccLESiAM procul dubio voluit 
 *' intelligi ; donee finiantur mille annij." 
 And, that this ^^ binding of Satan,'' in respect 
 of his power over the nations brought into 
 THE Church, is to be interpreted of the 
 victory obtained by the ministry of ouR 
 Lord upon earth, He himself seemed to 
 intimate when he said : " I beheld Satan 
 " as lightning fall from heaven ! " and when 
 he solemnly gave to His disciples "poa*er 
 *^ and authority over all devils," Then did that 
 coercion of Satan commence, which termi- 
 nated in that amazing event, thefnal extir- 
 pation of Paganism in the Roman Empire ; 
 of which event Mr. Gibbon is constrained to 
 remark, that it "is perhaps the onli/ example 
 
 * " De Civ. Dei;' lib, xx. c. 8. t Ibid, t Ibid. c. 7. 
 
THE C0NCLUSI0rf;> l67 
 
 *^ of the total extirpation of an ancient and 
 " popular superstition ; and may therefore 
 ^^ deserve to be considered, as a singular 
 " event in the history of the human mind *.'* 
 2. With respect to the next question 
 which the Millennarians may propose ; viz; 
 Where are the thousand years ? Let the same 
 authority reply. " This period embraces the 
 " whole compass of time, between the first 
 " coming of Christ and the end of ages, 
 " when He will come again. — The thou- 
 " sand years, ^ve assuredly put to denote all 
 " the ages of this dispensatiou, and to signify, 
 " b}^ a perfect or round number, the total 
 *' sum or plenitude of time, — "Totum hoc 
 " tempus quodlibet complectitur, a primo 
 " scilicet adventu Christi usque in seculi 
 ^^ 4inem, quo erit secundus ejus adventusf. 
 " — Certe mille annos pro annis omnibus 
 " hujus seculi posuit, ut perfecto numero no- 
 *^ taretur ipsa temporis plenitudo%J^ This 
 number, " a thousand years^^ appears evi- 
 dently to denote a very long period of time, 
 
 "" " Roman Emp^ c. 27. t Ibid, c. 8; J Ibid, c: 7. 
 
168 THE CONCLUSION* 
 
 indefinitely y just as in the same prophecy, 
 *^ one hour ^' is made to denote a tery short 
 period, indefinitely, And here it ought to be 
 noticed, that the Millennarians choose to 
 understand this one number in the prophecy 
 literally, while they assume all other num^ 
 bers in the same prophecy mystically or 
 figuratively^; for which arbitrary and ca- 
 pricious distinction, they have no ground 
 whatever of pretext. This sum of years, 
 therefore, begins from the victory of the 
 gospel oxer paganism, and terminates with 
 the time and downfall of Gogue, according 
 to St. John. The appearance and elevation 
 of that last tyrant of the Church, as we are 
 informed in the prophecy of Ezekiel, was to 
 be attended by a " great commotion" 
 among the nations of the Church, answer- 
 able to the figure of ^' Satan again let loose,'^ 
 though only for a short time, "^o deceive those 
 " nations.'* Now, as St. Augustine was able 
 to discern and explain the commencement 
 of the period, and to find the first binding 
 
 * Sec Preface, p. xlii. &:c. 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 169 
 
 of Satan, so it remains for those who are 
 coeval with the conclusion of the period, 
 and who live contemporary with the reign 
 of GoGUE, to discern and recognise the 
 co7iclusion of the period ; by finding that 
 short release of Satari, to deceive and embroil 
 the Christian nations, which was to usher in 
 the rise of Gogvb. 
 
 3. With regard to the remaining ques- 
 tion ; viz. Where is the frst resurrection ; 
 and the reign of the Saints with Chist, during 
 the interval extending from the first coer- 
 cion of Satan to the end of time ? I have 
 here to observe, that the Millennarians, in 
 their eagerness to have their opinions estab- 
 lished, have overlooked the positive words 
 of the prophecy ; which, far from support- 
 ing the fiction of a reign of embodied 
 beings with Christ upon earth, expressly 
 and distinctly limit that privilege to .sow/5, 
 -^uxai^ — the souls of the faithful, in their 
 state of separation from the body. Such 
 souls, are said to be alive and to reign with 
 
 ♦ Rev, XX. 4. 
 
170 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 Christ during the whole prophetic thousand 
 years. But, if the binding of Satan was 
 effected at the first coming of Christ, and 
 if all the ages which have elapsed since 
 that period are parts of those prophetic 
 thousand years, then it will be easy to per- 
 ceive, what is signified by that Jirst resuV" 
 rectiony and by that reign of souls zcith 
 Christ, which are mentioned in the pro- 
 phecy of St. John. Both those figures must 
 represent the blessed state of all disembo- 
 died souls, or departed spirits, who *' die in 
 " the Lord,^' from the generation to which 
 the gospel was first preached, to that last 
 generation, which " shall not die, but shall 
 *^ only be changed.'' — "Although they are 
 ^^ no longer united to their bodies," says 
 St. Augustine, " yet their souls reign with 
 " Christ while the thousand years are run- 
 *' ning out; wherefore in this same book, and 
 '^ to the same effect elsewhere, we read : 
 ** Blessed are the dead which die in the 
 *' Lord from henceforth! Yea, saith the 
 " Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 171 
 
 " labours, and their works do follow them,'* — 
 " Quamvis ergo cum suis corporibus non-« 
 " dum sunt, jam tamen eorum anim^e 
 " regnant cum illo, dum isti mille annidecur- 
 " runt. Unde in hoc eodem libro et alibi 
 '^ legitur: Beati mortui, qui in Domino 
 <' moriuntur; amodo jam etiam die it Spiri- 
 '' Tus, ut requiescant a laboribus suis; nam 
 " opera eorum sequuntur illos*:' These 
 blessed souls, we are assured by our 
 Lord, " shall not taste of death, but are 
 
 '' PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE." And 
 
 this is truly ''the first resurrection;'* 
 and over such souls it is certain that '' the 
 " second death will have no power.'' — " They 
 " are absent from the body, and are present 
 " with THE Lord. — Thei/ are, actually, 
 " with Him in Paradise." And in whatever 
 part of this long interval of time they seve- 
 rally depart the world, they '' reign with 
 Him," until the general resurrection, and 
 the transmutation of the last undying geae- 
 ration of the faithful. 
 
 * Ibid. c. 9. 
 
172 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus then we see, that the arguments 
 which the Millenriariaiis might oppose to the 
 actual fu(/illing of the prophecy respecting 
 GoGUE, are disarmed of all their strength, 
 and will be deemed of no avail by those, 
 whose ears are more open to the simplicity 
 of truth, than to the decoys of system or 
 the fascinations of fancy; for, all that the 
 Millennarians still look for as preliminary to 
 the fulfilling of that prophecy, has already 
 taken place. And therefore, the evidences 
 which have been assembled, in proof that 
 the prophecy of Ezekiel is in actual course 
 of accomplishment, remain in all their 
 force. 
 
 And, with a prospect thus stupendous and 
 imminent, will Christian society put it- 
 self into no course or posture oi change; but 
 persist in the same barren routine of life, 
 where that which is professedly sought, is 
 pleasure, but that which is really found, is 
 only dissipation of thought and time 9 Thou- 
 sands perhaps may mock, but there will 
 still bg thousands who will hear with wise 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 173 
 
 concern, and with the reverential awe of 
 iaith; and it is for these I write. Their 
 attention will richly recompense me for 
 all the scoffs of the former. Though ther« 
 were ''Jive foolish virgins'' in the parable, 
 there were also ''Jive wise ones," who pre- 
 sently " arose, and trimmed their lamps,'' and 
 made themselves ready, when they heard "the 
 " ay made, Behold the bridegroom com- 
 " ethr And what if that cry is already gone 
 forth into the Church ? If the Prophecy of 
 Ezekiel is thus far accomplished, and if it 
 be now hastening to the end of its accom- 
 plishment ; "He that cometh will come, and 
 " will not tarry ;'' and, as He hath himself 
 declared, "as a snare will He come upon 
 " all them that dwell en the face of the whole 
 " earthr 
 
 And now, what snare could be contrived, 
 or imagined, so entire and universal, or so 
 exactly answerable to that warning of our 
 Lord, as that He should come at a moment 
 when mankind are framing to themselves 
 visionary prospects, of xenewed ages of 
 
174 THE CONCLUSION* 
 
 earthly transactions ; and when they should 
 begin to sing, with the heathen poet, 
 
 Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo ! 
 
 Lo ! Timers vast tide begins anew its course ! 
 When, at the downfall of ih^ first tyrant of 
 the Church, (the Babylonian Emperor,) the 
 liberated " earth was at rest, and broke out into 
 " singi7ig; " it had, indeed, before it many 
 future ages of terrestrial interest, to engage 
 the future generations of men. But, when 
 the last tyrant shall finally fall, it will not be 
 so ; the circumstances of the earth will then 
 have become essentially changed. As the for- 
 mer tyrant was to begin, so the latter tyrant 
 is to end, ^^ the times of the nations ; " and 
 although THE Church may well " break 
 *^ forth into singing,'^ it is not because she 
 perceives the continuance of her present mili- 
 tant state, but because she descries the 
 signals of its speedy termination, and of the 
 commencement of her proximate triumph'^ 
 ant state. It is, because she may " begin 
 " to look up, and lift vp her head, for her 
 " redemption draweth nigh*^ 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 175 
 
 Wherefore — " O Lord Jesus Christ! 
 " who at Thy first coming didst send 
 '^ Thy messenger to prepare Thy way be- 
 " fore Thee ; grant that the ministers and 
 ^' stewards of Thy mysteries may likewise so 
 " prepare and make ready Thy way, by 
 " turning the hearts of the disobedient to 
 " the wisdom of the just, that at Thy 
 " second coming, to judge the world, 
 " WE may be found an acceptable people 
 '* in Thy sight, who livest and reignest 
 ^^ with THE Father, and the Holy 
 " Spirit, ever one God, world without 
 « end!" 
 
 the end. 
 
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