The latter half of the volume consists of a defence of his interpretation, and of answers to objections. Generation- Work, the Second Part, wherein is shewed what the Designs of God abroad in the World may in all likelihood be at this present Day and in the Days approaching, &c. By J. TILLINGHAST. don. 1654. Lon WE are persuaded that we are doing a service to our readers when we bring before them works of former centuries, which are now hardly to be met with. It is for this reason that we do not hesitate to extract freely from the book whose title we have given above. In his exposition of the vials, the author has a long excursus upon the subject of the advent and reign of Christ. We give a few passages as specimens. They will be quite intelligible, though fragmentary : "Because the apostle tells us, 2 Thess. ii. 8, that the Man of Sin is to be consumed with the breath of his mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of his coming-which coming can be no other than his personal coming, because it was that coming the apostle had been speaking of, verses 1, 2, about which the Thessalonians were shaken in mind and troubled, as conceiving it to be at hand (possibly from what the apostle had written in his First Epistle, ch. iv. 15-17, whence it might be inferred as if that present generation should live to see that day, and therefore he saith, Not by word, nor letter as from us,' verse 2), which trouble the apostle endeavours to remove by telling them that the Man of Sin who was to be destroyed with the brightness of this coming, was not as yet revealed, and that therefore this coming, which they were in doubt about, could not be sudden. Now, observe, do we already see the first, viz., the Man of Sin in a consumption by the breath of Christ's mouth, i.e., the preaching of the gospel; then may we conclude the second, viz., his final destruction, which shall be by the brightness of Christ's coming or appearing, cannot be far off; and therefore it is more consonant to the apostle's meaning to look for and expect this coming here betwixt the sixth and seventh vials (where a personal coming is hinted), which time is near to us, than not to expect the same till the general judgment, which (as shall appear hereafter) is from us a thousand years at least, how much more I know not; and surely Antichrist's continuance shall not be so long." "Now, taking this coming of Christ (as hath been laid down) for that second coming we all wait for, I see as yet no inconvenience following upon it, in case we say, that Christ's second coming shall be at this time, betwixt the pouring out of the sixth and seventh vials; and what things are to be done in the world afterwards are such things only as Christ will despatch betwixt his coming and the time of the end. And thus to conceive of Christ's second coming, as it noways tends to looseness, but rather the nearness of this day calls aloud upon all to watch, yea, may cause all those who have hope in a day of redemption to lift up their heads with joy, because their redemption draweth nigh; so doth it seem more agreeable to the current of Scripture, and also to that which but a few years ago was the faith of God's people in general, to wit, that Christ's second coming could not be far off, than the contrary opinion doth, which makes this coming not to be till the general judgment, which cannot be so little as a thousand years off. "And truly when I consider how godly ministers and people not many years past did provoke one another from Christ's second coming, and harp upon it as near; and how at present few speak of that, but look at comings of another kind, setting the second coming a great way off; it is so far from bringing me into a belief with them, as that contrariwise it nourisheth within me a persuasion more strongly that his second coming is at hand, and he will be upon us unawares, because the Scripture tells us this day shall come as a snare upon all, Luke xxi. 35, and the Son of man at his coming shall hardly find faith (to believe his coming is so near) on the earth,' Luke xviii. 8. Yea, 'he comes at midnight,' Matt. xxv. 6, an hour when but few are looking for their friend, and the calling upon believers so frequently to watch whensoever Christ's second coming is spoken of, lest that day come upon them unawares, and overtake them as a thief in the night, implies no less to me than that which experience within these few years teacheth, that they (as well as others) will be apt to put the day of Christ's coming far from them. And by how much I read over these Scriptures the oftener, by so much have I the less hope (knowing that not one jot or tittle of the Word shall fall to the ground) of seeing many of those (some I have hopes we may) who have deeply drunk in the persuasion of a spiritual coming and kingdom only, to change their minds, and be of another persuasion. "Only with such I leave to ponder upon this caution, Take heed lest as the Jews, by expecting a glorious onward coming at first, when Christ was to come in a low and despised way, did then mistake his first coming; so you, by cleaving to a spiritual coming only, with a denial of a personal, should now mistake his second. "I will only add, that the security the Scripture holds forth, which will be, not upon the world only, but many of God's people also, as touching the coming of Christ, about that time when he is to come, is to me an argument that Christ's coming (I mean the coming commonly called the coming to judgment) is to be at the beginning of the thousand years, Rev. xx., and not (as most who acknowledge the thousand years to be yet to come) at the end of them; because, were the coming at the end, how could there be a security, especially upon believers, who now could expect nothing else every day but his coming, who would not say when they should see Gog and Magog again gathering together, now is the Lord coming? How, then, would this day come unawares as a thief upon them, when they could now neither look for nor expect anything else? But, at the beginning of the thousand years, when, as their thoughts and expectations shall be high, and all running upon another coming, viz., a glorious spiritual appearance, but no thoughts of a personal, then Christ comes upon them, and takes them unawares whilst they dreamed not of such a coming, but were gazing after another." "In case it be said, How can these things be? seeing upon Christ's second coming the world that now is shall perish by fire, as did the old by water that yet after this a seed of wicked men should remain for saints to rule over. "True, the Scriptures which speak of this coming mention a coming with fire, Isa. lxvi. 15, The Lord shall come with fire, to render his rebuke with flames of fire;' Mal. iv. 1, The day cometh that shall burn as an oven;' 2 Thes. i. 8, 'In flaming fire, rendering vengeance;' and Rev. xix. 20 (immediately upon the battle of Armageddon, before the thousand years begin) we read of a lake of fire into which the beast and false prophet are cast; which fire, that it shall be material fire, Peter implies plainly, 2d Epistle, iii., in saying, that 'as the old world was drowned with water,' viz., material water, so is this reserved to fire against the day of Christ's coming; yet that this fire (which, whether it shall be general in all places at once, or only in that place where Christ shall appear and his enemies be gathered together-whether the dross of the world shall be gathered into one lake-is a question too nice to dispute) shall not destroy the being of the world is clear: -1. Because it is a fire for another end, viz., refining, not destroying, Mal. iii. 2, Who may abide the day of his coming, for he shall be as a refiner's fire?' 2. The new Heavens and the new earth that Isaiah and John speak of, wherein shall dwell righteousness, and in which the saints shall reign with Christ, Peter makes mention of as a 6 thing to be after this fire, which (as I have said) he therefore brings in with a 'nevertheless,' 2 Pet. iii. 13. Now, what if we should say, that as when the old world was destroyed by water, not only righteous Noah and godly Shem and Japhet, but also cursed Cham, yea, the kinds of all the creatures were spared from that deluge to replenish the new world; so at this day, not only the saints in the world shall be preserved, but even some of the wicked, yea, of all the creatures, to serve the glorious ends and designs of God, and that in the new heavens and earth; which seems not without all ground, because the Apostle Paul tells us plainly, Rom. viii. 20-22, that the creature's earnest expectation waits for that day, in which the sons of God shall be manifested; when the creature (devils and wicked men, on whom the curse shall still remain, excepted) shall be delivered from that bondage of corruption that now it groans under; and that not by a total dissolution or annihilation of it, but by a glorious restoration, bringing it into the liberty of the sons of God. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God; and also because in those very new heavens and earth that Isaiah speaks of, and Peter quotes from him, The wolf and the lamb feed together,' that is, good and bad shall be in the world together. "Neither let it be said that this will be any hindrance to the saints' glory and spirituality, to bring them from Heaven, the place of glory, and that about a work so mean and low, to rule over men upon earth; for, as angels lose not their glory by attending upon the work of God here on earth, nor their spirituality, because the works they attend upon of ministering to the saints, destroying the enemies of God, &c., are in themselves mean and low, yea, in a manner servile for so glorious creatures as angels to attend upon; so shall not saints at this day, by being occupied in the affairs of this fifth monarchy (which shall be their work for Christ, to act as officers under him in his kingdom) lose anything of their glory, especially considering Christ himself (whose presence is their glory) shall be with them all this time; nor of their spirituality, which never suffers decay in any, through a being occupied in the will and work of the Lord." Popery and Infidelity. By JAMES DOUGLAS, Esq. Edinburgh: Constable. 1852. LIKE the author's "Rome and Maynooth," not only vigorous and able in itself, but admirably adapted to the times. May it go over the land in tens of thousands. Seven Lectures on the Sabbath, delivered in the Town Hall, Woolwich. 1852. WE rejoice greatly in these earnest pleadings in behalf of the Sabbath. Whether we regard it as a memorial of creation or as a type of the great Sabbatism yet to come, we would uphold its perpetuity. Till the world's great Sabbath come our seventh-day type of future rest must remain. When the antitype has come, it will be time enough to speak of it as one of the abolished feasts of Judaism. The Six Days. By Capt. C. KNOX. London: Hatchard. 1853. THE quotations in this book are perhaps too many and too long, but the work itself is well written, and full of information and interest. Repose and Reunion : a Sermon, &c. By JOHN COX, Woolwich. London: Ward & Co. This is not behind the ALL Mr Cox's writings, both practical and prophetical, are marked by freshness of thought and spirituality of tone. others. It is truly excellent. The Future; or, Things coming on the Earth. FIVE exceedingly good most part, we agree. By J. E. FREEMAN. and well-written letters, with which, for the A New View of the Apocalypse, &c. By C. E. FRASER TYTLER. Part II. Edinburgh: Johnstone & Hunter. RETAINING the objections formerly stated to the system here expounded and advocated, we can still bear testimony to the admirable spirit which pervades the work. Our readers will, we are persuaded, like ourselves, peruse it with much interest and profit. Extracts. Ezekiel's Temple. "The latter chapters of Ezekiel, describing the erection of a certain temple, are involved in so much obscurity that it seems difficult to arrive at any determinate conclusion respecting the import of this mysterious prophecy. It is certain that the attempt to spiritualise it produces little beyond perplexity and confusion; nor have we any example in Scripture of an allegory so perfectly dark and enigmatic, as it must be confessed to be, on that supposition.”—Robert Hall. Bishop Butler's Prophetic Views. แ Things of this kind naturally turn the thoughts of serious men towards the full completion of the prophetic history concerning the final restoration of that people, concerning the establishment of the everlasting kingdom among them, the kingdom of the Messiah; and the future state of the world under this sacred government." (Analogy, part ii. ch. 7.) "It" (Scripture) 66 seems to contain some very general account of the chief governments of the world from the first transgression to a certain future period, spoken of in the Old and New Testaments very distinctly and in a great variety of expression,-' the times of the restitution of all things,' Acts iii. 21; when the mystery of God shall be finished,' Rev. x. 7; when the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, Dan. ii. 44, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people' as it is represented to be during this apostasy, but 'judgment shall be given to the saints,' Dan. vii. 22; and they shall เ เ reign,' Rev. xx. 6; and the kingdom and dominion shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High,' Dan. vii. 27.” (Ib. part ii. ch. 7.) "Since they" (members of the future kingdom of Christ) 66 are not already invested with that degree of glory that will be communicated to them, they could not, under the notion of members of that kingdom, claim any earthly dominion before the glorious reign of Christ shall commence, when they shall indeed reign with him upon the earth."Letter to Dr Hare, Bartlett's Memoirs of Bishop Butler, p. 298. Correspondence. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. DEAR SIR,-May I call your attention to a fact which has come under my notice in reference to those futurists who may be called ultra in their views? I find that in them "extremes are meeting, and some of them are beginning to look coldly on pre-millennialism. Having thrown the whole fulfilment of the prophetic into the future, they are embarrassed with the immense number of events which require yet to be fulfilled; and as some of these do not admit of being placed after the coming of the Lord, these futurists are obliged to admit that a great many things are to take place before the advent. Thus they have ceased to "watch," and are falling back upon some postmillennial arguments as to the non-necessity of watching in the strict and simple sense of the word.-I am, Dear Sir, ONE THAT DESIRES TO WATCH. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. SIR,-Do you know whether those futurists who believe that the Babylon of the Apocalypse is the literal Babylon in the plain of Shinar, hold that the other cities spoken of by the prophets are also to be re-built and re-inhabited? The same arguments that Babylon must be re-built, in order to fulfil prophecy, will prove that Bozrah, and Tyre, and Sidon, and Nineveh must also be rebuilt. If Babylon must be literal, then these other cities must be literal too. See especially Isaiah xxxiv. 1-11, and lxiii. 1-3, where that which in the Apocalypse is said to be done in Babylon is said to be done in Bozrah. I see they are obliged to make the "Assyrian" mean the "Babylonian," as if Nineveh and Babylon were one; as if Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar were the same personages! Do they make the Tyre of Ezekiel and the Babylon of Revelation the same ?-Yours truly, A STUDENT. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. MY DEAR SIR,-I was lately thinking over that passage, Isaiah xxviii. 9, "Whom shall he teach knowledge?" &c., and the answer, "them that are weaned," &c., and I thought the weaning time was sweetly illustrative of our day of grace; it is God's time for weaning us from the supplies from within, and to feed us entirely from the supplies of his fulness in Christ. In the weaning time the sympathy of the mother is particularly drawn out in tenderness and compassion towards the child of her bosom,-wearisome nights are cheerfully submitted to, patience and long-suffering are abundantly exercised,—for the excuse is, "Poor child, it is the weaning time." Now, God is our Father, and |