Throne, and of the general Judgment, is also furnished by the Apocalypse, xx. 11-14. "And I saw a great white throne, and "Him that sat thereon; from whose face "the earth and the Heavens fled; and there 66 was found no place for them: And I saw "the dead, small and great, standing before "the Throne; and the Books were opened, "and another Book was opened, which is 66 [the Book] of Life: and the dead were judged out of the things written in the "Books according to their works: and "Death and Hades were cast into the Lake "of Fire: (This is the second Death,) and "whosoever was not found written in the "Book of Life, was cast into the Lake of "Fire." 66 N. B. In the received Greek Text, the Dead are represented, as "standing (EVTOV (ενώπιον "TY Oε) before GOD"-namely, THE GOD who sat upon the Throne: and which corresponds with the Psalmist's Title, ÆLOHIM: however, as the reading, EVTT LOV το Θρονε, 66 before the throne," is supported by the authority of all the ancient Versions, the Syriac, Syriac, Vulgate, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Coptic; by the earliest editions, the Complutensian, Plantin, Geneva; by the Alexandrine and Vatican, and fifteen other MSS. of character, and restored into the Text by Bengelius and Griesbach; I cannot hesitate to adopt it more especially, as according to the usage of the writers of the New Testament, the term, 'O EOΣ, taken absolutely or unconnected, denotes "THE GOD SU"PREME" who clearly is not meant in this place as will further appear from OUR LORD's fuller description of the last Judgment: Matt. xxv. 31. "When THE SON OF MAN cometh in "his glory, and all the holy angels with “him; then shall He sit on the throne of his 66 glory; and all the nations shall be collected "before him: and he shall separate them from each other, as a shepherd separateth "the sheep from the goats: and he shall set "the sheep on his right hand, but the goats " on his left. 66 66 "Then shall THE KING say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of MY "FATHER, "FATHER, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," 66 &c. "Then shall He say also unto them on the “left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and "his angels," &c. 66 66 "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into everlasting life." It is remarkable, that Wakefield, in his New Testament travestied, unwittingly bears record to the proper divinity of JESUS CHRIST; retaining the common reading, Rev. xx. 11, EVOTION T8 E8-and rendering, with our public translation, "Before God.” Verses 8, 9. " Myrrh, aloes, and cassia, [perfume] all thy garments, [taken] out of "the ivory cabinets; wherewith, among thy "treasures, kings' daughters gratify thee." Various and perplexing are the queries of translators and commentators, ancient and modern, respecting the meaning of this obscure and elliptical passage in the original: I have given the meaning that seems to suit it, but but with the letter, and with the context, as descriptive of the magnificence of his dress, and the quality of his attendants, the word ,חיכלי 'n, (Hicheli,) I render with Durell, "Wardrobes, or Cabinets,"-who ingeniously supposes, with others, that it was the root of the Greek word, xλ, frequently used in that sense by Homer. Odyss. xxi. 51. Ἡδ' αρ' εφ' ύψηλης σανίδος βη, ενθα δε χηλοι, "She then went up to the lofty floor, where the ca"binets "Stood in which lay perfumed garments." See also Odyss. ii. 339; xiii. 10-68; and ibid. xvi. 224-228-254; and Euripides uses Sopo for a wardrobe or cabinet: εκ δ' ελυσα κεδρινων δομων Εσθητα, κοσμοντ', ευπρεπως ησκησατο. "And taking out of the cedar cabinet her dress Verse 9. "At thy right hand is placed the "Queen," &c. As CHRIST is seated "at "the right hand of God," Ps. cx. 1, so 66 THE THE CHURCH," or congregation of the faithful, his mystical spouse, is placed at his right hand also, like "the sheep," at the last or general judgment, Matt. xxv. 33. And accordingly the same imagery is pursued in the Apocalypse, xxi. 2-9, when "the New Jerusalem, the Lamb's wife," is represented in vision, coming down from God out of heaven; as a bride adorned for her husband. Hence, in the Prophetic Scriptures, the idolatry of the Jews and Israelites is so often represented under the symbol of adultery; and that OUR LORD styles his profligate and apostate countrya wicked and adulterous genera 66 men, Verse 11. "For He is THY LORD, and worship thou Him.”—To distinguish the religious worship, to be paid by the Queen, or "the Church" to CHRIST, from the ordinary adoration, or homage paid to earthly kings by their queens. (See the beautiful description of Queen Esther coming into the presence of Ahasuerus, or Artaxerxes Longimanus, to intercede for his people, in the Z Apocryphal |