Yer. 4). - hcl oaa1 taeir oro'WIUI before the logy fs given-" because thou didst cl'8!1,te." throne, 1&ying. Their - of Ti.ot.ory, And for thy pleasure ; much better, as in n-•,j>IU'ov$ (see on eh. ii. 10 and iv. 4). the Revised V emion, and becaue of tky trill Ver. 11.-Thou an worthy, o :Lord; or, (5ul -tb Bb,.,p.a.). When God willed it, the &. an tl!Orlhy, our Lord and our God. In univel'8e had no existen~gain, when he B. the Syri_ae, Andreas, Arethae, Theodore- willed it, the universe came into being. Siud., Arm., and many others, 11.7,01, They are, and were created; or, they - - . • the holy one," is added. To receive glory and tcere created (Revised Version), There &1lC1 hODOllt and power ( rl,, id(a,,, etc.). The 111'8 three variations in the reading of this presenee of the article either (I) denotes passage: (I Ho-a.vis read in N, A, a1• 0 fere Vul• uuivenallty, and the expression is .iius gate, Ooptic, Syriao, Arethas, Primasitts (in equivalent to_ "all glory," "all hononr," another version), anon-Augustine, Haymo; "all power;" or (2) refers to the glory and (2) ,lo-l ia read in S, P, 1, 7, 35, 49, 79, 87, honour mentioned in var. 9. The former 91, et al. et Andreas; (3) o~,c ,lo-a.v is read Yiew aeems more probable ( er. eh. i. 6). The in B, H, 38, 51. "They were" signifiea - Church ill repreeeiued as ascribing to God " they existed," whereas before they were all power {llw.,...,); that power which he not in existence; "and were created" points exercta. in iw fulness in heaven, and which, to the manner of coming into existence and though partially abrogated on earth, he will the Person to whom this existence was due. DMenhel868 again take up, as foretold in If El<r£ be read, the meaning is the ·same; ch. ;s:L 17. J'or thou hast created all things; Ob,c 1)<ra.v would simplify the sentence very Ill', for thou didd m-eate all thing, ( ..-~ much. It would then run: FOf' th.y plea1111f'6, 11vH}---the vnitl6r1e. The representatives of or, .,U thy teill t1'ey were not ~istent, arul ereation thank God for their exietenoe ; the again, at th.y will they 1oore created. But Ohnroh aeee in his creation reason to ascribe the weight of - 11,uthority is against thia power to him. Thus the reason for the doxo- reading.
HOMILETICS. Ver.1.-Thing, which must be hereafter. H<?,wever nearly expositors may approxi-, mate in th~ir interpretation of the Book of Revelation up to the close of the third chapter, yet, when the "things which must be hereafter" begin to be unfolded, they part company, and div_erge into so mllDy different paths and by-paths, that it will not be possibleJor 118 to trace out all of them. Nor iaitdesirable. Our purpose is a purely homiletic one, Ti.z. to unfold the principles of the Divine method and government, so u to help those who minister to the instruction and building up of the people of God. In this section of the Commentary we do not intend to turn aside to discourse on -individual texts, however attractive and beautiful they may be, but ro open up the pla.A o/ God as it is ]aid down in the Apocalypse ; yet not so as to minister to an idle. and peering curiosity, but so as to inform the understanding, establis4 the faith, and animate the hope of believers. It has been our conviction now for twenty years (a conviction deepened by each succeBsive study of this wondrous book) that if men will bnt note it.a silence as well as its llp88Ch-what it withholds as well as what it unfolds -if they will refrain from filling in chasms that the book leaves, and wiH aim at seizing the principles involved, rather than at fixing details and dates of events, there is no book in the Word of God that will be found richer in spiritual food, or clearer in its heavenly light I 'l'here are several leading schemes of interpretation of the book; There is: 1. The preteritist; which regards the book as indicating events which have ~ long ago; which ololl1ld with the destruction of the Jewish city, temple, and _polif.I, and with the setting up of the Christian Church-it being "the holy city, new Jerusalem." 2. The eztrfYIM/uturist. Whereas according to the first everything baa happened which is here recorded, according to the second nothing has yet occurred. Even the seven Churches ai:e seven Churches of Jews to be formed after the fir11t 1"81!ur- reotion, and all that is in the rest of the book is to follow on from thence. Between these two extremes there are, however, three others; the greater number of inter~ praters belonging, in fact, to one or other of these three. 3. Some regard the book ns virtually & progressive history, dating from the imprisonment of St. John in Patmoa UD.dtll' the_ Emperor Domitian. In their view the seven seals, vials, and trumpets Indicate & triple aeries of events which may be either consecutive or-simultaneous. In both cues, however, the interpretation is adopted of "a day for a year.'' 4. Othel'II, on. IV. 1-11.] THE REVELATION Ol!' BT. JOHN THE l)l'ftNE. ·H9