tion of John which is elsewhere said of the whole Scriptures, that no prophecy is of any private interpretation; i. e. no prophecy is of an isolated interpretation; but is to be regarded as a constituent portion of a general system of prophecy, and therefore unsusceptible of a just and genuine interpretation when viewed apart from its peculiar relations and dependencies. If, then, we would establish the exposition of the scriptural doctrine of the Millennium upon its legitimate basis, it is indispensably requisite that the import of this symbolical action, the binding of Satan, should be determined in the outset. But how can this be ascertained without fixing in the first instance the hieroglyphical significancy of Satan or the Dragon himself? Here, if we mistake not, has lain the prime and radical error of nearly all commentators upon the Apocalypse, and of most of the modern advocates of a future Millennium. They have understood this title in its literal sense, as the designation of the prince of evil spirits acting exclusively in his appropriate character of spiritual agent, tempting and inciting the minds of men to sin. But as Satan in this connexion is indubitably identified with the Dragon of a former vision, and as the Dragon, from his being represented with seven heads and ten horns, and from the other peculiar attributes ascribed to him, must stand as the hieroglyphical representative of some subtantial persecuting power, it is obvious that the epithet Satan or Devil, in its prophetic bearings, must point to something else than a mere disastrous influence putting itself forth upon the sentient spirits of men.

To the task therefore of determining, according to the

principles of symbolic interpretation, the legitimate scope of this emblem, we now address ourselves; a purpose in the prosecution of which it will be necessary to enter into a minute and critical analysis of other passages in the book where the mention of this ill-omened personage occurs. In this mode of conducting the enquiry we shall in fact embrace a connected history of the Dragon in his successive prophetical developments, tracing him through the three grand stages of his manifestation; in which he appears, (1.) as holding a preeminence in the Apocalyptic heaven; (2.) as cast down from thence to the earth; (3.) as degraded from the surface of the earth to a place of confinement in its subterranean abysses.

As he is first ushered to view in the twelfth chapter of the Revelation, we shall commence our investigation with a detailed exposition of that part of the book, the results of which will be subsequently applied to the elucidation of the twentieth, as it is upon the right interpretation of the twentieth that the whole doctrine of the Millennium hinges. Our enquiry may conduct us over a pretty wide field of research, but we flatter ourselves that the reader will find enough on the way of curious and rare to reward the toil of travel.

REVELATION, CHAP. XII.

1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and

pained to be delivered. 3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, hav ing seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon: and the dragon fought and his angels, 8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Sa tan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short

time.

13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The book of Revelation is eminently peculiar and unique in its structure. The true order of the great chain of events predicted in it is not to be determined by the recorded order of the visions in which they are shadowed forth. On the contrary, it is not unfrequently the case, that one, two, or three chapters are occupied with the visionary representation of a train of affairs extending over a given period of time, and terminating at a particular epoch, while the chapter immediately subsequent, taking up another order of occurrences, remounts to a period of antiquity equally remote with the preceding, and, with a different object in view, conducts us over the same, or nearly the same, chronological era. A vision, therefore, at the beginning of the book, may point to an event occurring in the last ages of time,

H

while one at the close of the volume may remand us back for its fulfilment to the primitive periods of Christianity. The grand canon of Apocalyptic interpretation, originally laid down by Mede, and since adopted by all the best commentators, is this:-That the order of the visions is to be determined, irrespective of any previous hypothesis, wholly and solely by the intrinsic characters of the visions themselves, a careful study of which will enable one to distinguish with more or less precision those which synchronize from those which do not. This has been termed the principle of abstract synchronization,' and certainly affords a clew of the utmost importance to those who are prompted to thread the mazes of the Apocalyptic labyrinth. Governed by this principle, the eminent expositor above mentioned has occupied a considerable portion of his Clavis Apocalyptica with the independent harmonical sorting and arranging of the various predictions of the Revelation which are chronologically connected with each other. In this he has performed an invaluable service to the cause of prophetical interpretation. It may be doubted, indeed, whether he has been uniformly correct in the particular applications of his principle, but as to the soundness of the principle itself there can be no question.

On the ground, therefore, of this admitted law of exposition, we remark, that the chapter before us introduces a vision entirely distinct from all that has preceded. Its connexion with the foregoing chapter, which is at first view by no means obvious, may be stated thus-The closing verses of that chapter contain the