he not only introduces the term "last," but also employs the article—τῇ ἐσχάτῃ σάλπιγγι, “ THE "last trumpet ;" and no trumpet had previously been mentioned in the Epistle. The mystery then, or secret, of which he speaks, respects, not the trumpet, but the sudden change to be passed on the saints who shall be alive at Christ's second coming. They shall then undergo a change similar to that which the dead have experienced or shall experience, with this difference only, that it shall be, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The mention of the trumpet is merely casual, to point out to the Corinthians the period at which this shall take place:-it shall be, at THE LAST TRUMPET. Had they not, before, heard of "the "last trumpet," Paul's reference to it, with the Article, would have been unintelligible: but I shall rather question the judgment of those persons who ascribe barbarisms to the inspired Apostle, than believe that he writes nonsense. The trumpet of which he speaks is THE LAST of the Apocalyptic trumpets; for in the text quoted, we have "the trumpet"-" the last trumpet" -"the sounding of the last trumpet"—an explanation of a secret respecting an event that is to take place" at the last trumpet." What farther identity would the most obtuse mind require, as demonstrative of the source whence the Apostle draws his argument as to the period of the

change of which he speaks? I venture to say more:-Those who can look at such passages and yet question the source, must be but little acquainted with the modes of quotation used by the Apostolical and evangelical writers." The "LAST trumpet," is an expression without meaning but as taken in relation to prior trumpets. The change of which the Apostle speaks was not to take place at the sounding of the First trumpet, or of any of the first six trumpets; but at the sounding of the seventh,-THE LAST TRUMPET mentioned in the Apocalypse. To explain this passage in the Epistle to the Corinthians, as some have done, by "a great noise, to be made "at CHRIST's descent, called the trumpet of GOD," and to tell us that, "after the righteous

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are raised, the trumpet shall sound A SECOND "TIME; on which account it is called here the last trumpet, during the sounding of which, the

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righteous who are alive on the earth, shall be

changed," is to darken counsel by words void of knowledge. It is to give us pure unmixed nonsense, (for even very good scholars sometimes fall into this) instead of words that are in themselves so plain as to need, one would think, no explanation whatever.

The first Epistle having been written later than the Apocalypse, of course so must the second, which was still later. The direct allusions to

the Revelation in the second, are not, however, The 10th verse of Ch. v., "We

numerous.

“must all appear before THE JUDGMENT-SEAT of "Christ, that every one may receive the things done “in his body, according to what he hath done, whether

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good or bad,”—has evidently a reference to the GREAT WHITE SEAT of him from whose face the heaven and the earth flee away, when the dead, small and great, shall be JUDGED by the things written in the books, every man according to his works. Rev. xx. 11, 13. In this passage, as in Rom. xiv. 10, he employs for the póvos of the Revelations a term importing in itself the use to which the seat is applied, and also with the article-To Bnpatos; and, besides employing the article, he points out the principle on which the judgment will proceed, in such a manner as to inform those to whom he writes, respecting the contents of the books out of which the dead are to be judged, namely, that they record what every one hath done in the body, WHETHER GOOD OR

BAD.

In 2 Cor. xi. 15, speaking of false Apostles, deceitful workers-ministers of Satan transformed as the ministers of righteousness-he says, their end shall be, κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν, " according to тà "their works," which words are a verbal quotation from Rev. xx. 12 and 13, and therefore may be held as establishing the fact that, in ch. v. 10

of this Epistle, he had the same passage of the Apocalypse in his mind.

$9. The Apocalypse quoted in the Epistle of James.

As another proof of the early date of the Apocalypse the Epistle of James to the believing Jews, scattered abroad by the Roman wars, may be quoted. He reminds them that "the "man is blessed who endureth temptation: for "when he is tried, he shall receive tòv σrépɑvov

Tns Swns THE crown of life," [ch. i. 12]: -what crown of life?" That crown of life which "THE LORD HATH PROMISED to them that love "him." James does not here, by his own knowledge, as an inspired Apostle, inform those to whom he writes, that a crown of life is secured for those who endure trials, but reminds them, that the Lord, himself, had made this promise. Where then do we find such a promise made by the Lord himself?—It is in the Epistle addressed to the church in Smyrna-" Fear none of "those things which thou shalt suffer. "shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful "unto death, and I WILL GIVE THEE TOY σTÉÇAVOV "Ts Swns THE CROWN OF LIFE" [Rev. ii. 9, 10] -the very words employed by the Apostle James, and which prove incontestably that his

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Epistle was written subsequently to the Apocalypse.

$10. Does the Epistle to the Galatians furnish any evidence of its being of a later date than the Apocalypse?

The subject chiefly treated of in the Epistle to the Galatians, supposed to have been written before any of the other Epistles, (except perhaps those to the Thessalonians) hardly affords opportunity for allusions to the Apocalypse. There are, however, two passages in this Epistle which seem to have reference to the Revelation. The first is in ch. iv. 25, 26, where "THE Jerusalem "which now is," is put in contrast with "THE "Jerusalem above." The presence of the article in this passage, which is omitted in the common version, indicates, pretty plainly, that the saints whom the Apostle addresses were already acquainted with the Apocalyptic Jerusalem "the new Jerusalem, which cometh down “out of heaven,” (Rev. iii. 14)—“ the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God," (Rev. xxi. 10). The use of the article, I say, in this place, seems to intimate this; for it is not usual, in the New Testament, to employ the article when Jerusalem is mentioned. There are, indeed, two

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