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chapter, the first words, "after these things I "looked," are historical. He then CALLS upon the reader," BEHOLD! an entrance, set open, "in the heaven! also [behold, i. e. hear] THE "voice"-What voice? He suspends the exhibition, till he informs the reader-not a new voice now speaking for the first time, but “ The former one which I heard, as of a trumpet, speaking "with me." Throw these explanatory words "Hear the "voice saying, 'ascend,'" &c. Having quoted the words of "the voice," his language again becomes historical,-" Immediately I was inspired;" and, having nothing more to communicate on this point, he again calls the reader to behold, along with himself, the vision: "BEHOLD a "throne placed in the heaven,—and one sitting on "the throne"-"likewise a rainbow"-" also twenty "four seats," &c.—and thus he goes on, till, having invited him to behold "seven lamps of fire "burning before the throne," he again changes his mode of speech to perform the office of Expositor, saying " These are [or represent, or

into a parenthesis, then the sense is,

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symbolise,] the seven spirits of THE OMNIPO"TENT,"--words which may be thrown into parenthesis; for he instantly resumes the language of the Exhibitor,-" Behold, before the throne, as "it were a sea of glass," &c.

Nor do these embrace all the peculiarities necessary to be attended to in the diction of the

Apocalypse. Sometimes it is prospective, informing the reader of something to be witnessed, at some particular part of the future exhibition. Thus in the fourth chapter, from the ninth verse to the end, it is intimated that, when the animals shall give glory, &c. to the one sitting (not who sat) on the throne, then the twenty-four elders will prostrate themselves, &c., yea will adore the one living to eternity, and will cast their crowns before the throne, &c.—which has reference to the adoration paid to the Lamb in subsequent parts of the vision, as in chap. v. 11. to the end, ch. vii. 10 to 13.,-ch. xi. 16. &c.-And sometimes he introduces a title, as it were, of contents to follow as in ch. viii. 5. where, after the Angel casts fire on the earth, he prepares the reader to expect voices, and thundering and lightnings and an earthquake, or, rather, a concussionviz. the voices of the trumpets of ch. viii. and ix. and xi. 15.—the thunders of ch. x.-the earthquake of ch. xi. 13. '

On other occasions he is retrospective, (a fact which has been entirely overlooked by Expositors) and gives the reader a summary of what has been exhibited; as he does immediately after the foregoing particulars, adding, at the end of ch. xi., "thus the sanctuary of God [not "temple as in our common version] was opened 66 in the heaven, and there was seen in his sanctuary "the ark of his testament :”—alluding to the door

way set open in ch. iv. 1, which enabled John to see the throne, i. e. the mercy seat, which was over the ark of the testimony :-" thus there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an

earthquake :" viz. those alluded to at the end of the last paragraph above. And again in ch. xvi. 18. the same recapitulation occurs, with additions, namely the great earthquake of xi. 13, and the division of the city into three parts, viz. the three unclean spirits or professions of xvi. 13. But, on such occasions, translators have generally made John express himself in such a manner as to convert his recapitulations into fresh matter of prophecy, or of vision; and hence much of the obscurity in which this prophecy has been buried by commentators. On these occasions, however, the blame imputable to the translators is not always that of actually changing the author's mode of speech, but, often the injudicious manner in which they translate the conjunction xa, making it, almost invariably, a copulative, "and" whereas, not only in the Apocalypse, but very often throughout the New Testament, it represents the vau, or the chi, of the Hebrew, which demand, according to the exigency of the context, or the scope of the passage, a variety of expressions in English, as even, also, yea, moreover, likewise, again; then, therefore; when, where, there; yet, but, so, thus; for, &c. &c. True it is that the varying complexion of

these Hebrew conjunctions has been as little regarded in the translation of the Old Testament as of the conjunction xal in the New; but it is equally true, that where there is obscurity in the version, it may often be ascribed to this very cir cumstance. Let not the common reader, however, take up the idea, that our Translators paid no attention to the various conjunctions required by the idiom of our language to make it express the varying significations of xal; for the contrary is the fact: they have frequently, and with great judgment, rendered this conjunction by→→→→ even, yea, moreover, also, though, but, or, nor, namely, therefore, hence, so, &c. &c. But time has discovered, that our public version might be improved, by a still more minute attention to this small but important word, which is of such frequent recurrence as to enter several times into almost every verse of the Bible.

One important particular respecting the style deserves to be noticed. The Hebrew nouns, like those in our own language, not admitting inflection in the oblique cases, the Amanuensis of the Apocalypse, when representing certain Hebrew epithets in a Greek garb, especially those of them which had not yet obtained proper representatives in the Greek language, exhibits them without inflection: that is, as a linguist would say, in the nominative case; as in the fifth verse of the first chapter, & μáprus & MIT

σròs, “the faithful witness," &c. This answers a singular purpose in this book, though hitherto unnoticed. Whenever the Greek reader meets with a nominative where, according to his ideas of Greek usage, he ought to find a genitive, a dative, or an accusative, the first thing which he ought to suspect is, that the Amanuensis is expressing some Hebrew noun (probably an epithet or title); for, without attending to this, he will sometimes miss the sense himself, and, if writing for others, will mislead them. On other occasions, if this occurs among words: which John is writing from the mouth of some speaker, it will, with proper attention, be generally found, that they form no part of the words of that speaker; but are a parenthetical explanation by John himself, and, therefore, deserving to be particularly noticed, as in ch. iii. 14. where the words last quoted ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς, "the faithful witness" are introduced after "The Amen." In this place they are not the words of him who calls himself "The Amen," but the words of John, defining the meaning of the indeclinable Hebrew noun N (Amen) when thus used as a name or title. Sometimes this supposed anomaly is found in his own narrative: when this is the case, it is for the same purpose as when it occurs in the speech of another;—it is there a parenthetical explanation, and serves to intimate, that this is not to

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