they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men,

being the first-fruits unto God

and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was

found no guile: for they are

go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods;” Exodus xxxiv. 14–17. See also Lev. xx. 5, 6; Deut. xxxi. 16; Psa. lxxiii. 27; Ezk. vi. 9. As the hundred and forty-four thousand kept themselves pure from false religion and crime, they are said not to have been defiled. T Follow the Lamb. — They are said, too, to have followed “ the Lamb whithersoever he went.” This was a condition of discipleship. “He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me;” Matt. x. 38. Again: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them; and they follow me;” John x. 27. T Redeemed from among men. — They were redeemed from among men. “Ye are bought [says Paul] with a price : therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's;” 1 Cor. vi. 20. Thus the believers were redeemed from among men, – they were brought out, made separate, and became a peculiar people zealous of good works. T The first-fruits unto God and the Lamb. — So the Jewish Christians were in truth. They were the earliest converts to Christ. The gospel was first preached to the Jews; and although the great body of the people rejected it, yet some believed on the Son of God; and they were, of course, the earliest converts, or “ the first-fruits.” The figure is a beautiful one. The “first-fruits’’ were certain small portions of the harvest, gathered as soon as they were fully ripe; and they were offered to the Lord, in the temple, as a sign

of the dependence and gratitude of the people. They denoted that the harvest was ready to be gathered in ; and it was certainly expected that the n:hole harvest would be gathered. The Jewish Christians were “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb,” or, as St. James says, (i. 18:) “A kind of first-fruits of his creatures.” Jesus, when he rose from the dead, became “the first-fruits of them that slept;” 1 Cor. xv. 20, 23; that is, his resurrection was the proof and pledge of the subsequent resurrection of all men; for St. Paul so regarded the resurrection of Christ. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive;” 1 Cor. xv. 20–22. We see, then, that Christ’s resurrection was the pledge and proof of the resurrection of all men. He was the first-fruits from the dead. The early Christians were the first-fruits of a general harvest. All the rest of God’s moral creation will eventually become what they were. They were the sample and the pledge of it. For, as Paul says, “If the first-fruits be holy, the lump [i. e., all that remains] is holy;” Rom. xi. 16. The first-fruits were holy, for the revelator testifies, “In their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Such were the firstfruits; such shall be the general harWest. 5. No guile. — Guile here is put for deceit. “Blessed is the man Ş. the Psalmist) unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile;” Psa. xxxii. 2. Again: “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, without fault before the throne of God. 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach

unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to

that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. , Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it;” Psa. xxxiv. 12–14. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he was struck with his honesty and sincerity, and said: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” John i. 47. But the most remarkable passage, and the one which it is the most necessary we should quote in connection with this subject, is 1 Pet. ii. 22, where, speaking of Jesus, the apostle says: “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” We have but little doubt that the Apocalypse was written before the epistle of Peter, and that Peter had seen it, and learned this phraseology from it. We have mentioned other instances of Peter apparently quoting from the Apocalypse. I Without fault.— Similar language often occurs in the New Testament. Zacharias and Elizabeth “were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless;” Luke i. 6. See, also, Eph. v. 27; Phil. ii. 15; 2 Pet. iii. 14; Jude 24. O that Christians might all live up to these descriptions! * Before the throne of God. — To do a thing before God, or before the throne of God, is to do it seriously, heartily, solemnly, as if standing in the very presence of God. To be without fault before the throne of God, signified to be faultless in the sight of God, in his estimation, or judgment. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father,” Jas. i. 27, means a religion that was pure and undefiled in his sight. 6. Another angel. — No angel had been spoken of previously in this connection. The word another here,

therefore, refers back to viii. 13, where we read of an angel flying through the midst of heaven. The angel mentioned in the verse before us, flew in the midst of heaven, and hence is called another, in reference to the former. TI In the midst of heaven; – i. e., he proceeded in the most public manner, having the everlasting gospel. I Everlasting gospel. —The gospel is “an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.” 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, and hence is called the “everlasting gospel.” “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever;” Isa. xl. 8. T Every nation, and kindred, &c. — The gospel having been preached to the Jews, and hav. ing been rejected by the great body of that nation, the apostles turned to the Gentiles with the heavenly message ; Acts xiii. 46–49; xxviii. 28. This preaching the gospel to the Gentiles is described by the angel “having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” This must be intended to describe the preaching of Christ to the Gentiles, who were called upon to fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment had come. 7. Fear God. — That is, reverence him. Fear does not here signify terror, nor any feeling inconsistent with the purest worship of God, be. cause it is joined with worship, and with giving glory to God. It is not therefore slavish fear; but that true filial fear, or reverence, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is perfectly consistent with love; but the holy passion of love cannot exist towards an object which we dread. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love

him : for the hour of his judg

ment is come: and worship him

let him observe carefully what we

shall say on xx. 12, 13.

Suffice it to say here, that if the sacred writers reveal any fact with distinctness, it is this, viz., that the books were opened and that the judgment of the nations was begun when the kingdom of Christ commenced. The events were simultaneous. So Paul, in his address to the Athenians, (which we quote,) speaks of the two events as simultaneous : “God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained : whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead;” Acts xvii. 24–31. There are striking points of resemblance between the passage now quoted and the passage we are considering, viz., verses 6,7. First, observe the subject of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. The angel flying through the midst of heaven is commissioned to preach the gospel to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;” ver. 6. Paul says God “commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Second, observe the fact, that God is announced as the Creator of all things. The revelator calls on men to “worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Paul says: “God made the world, and all things therein.” Third, observe the fact, that the judgment and the proclamation of the gospel are joined as it respects time. The revelator says the hour of God's judgment is come, in connection with the proclamation of the gospel. Paul says: “God commanded all men everywhere to repent, [i. e., he said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven, or the gospel, is at hand,) because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness.” Fourth, count the number of the beast :

for it is the number of a man;

resulting from experience, that there is no end to the multitude of names which may be composed by such fabrications; and that not only the antichristian chiefs, but the most eminent of our reformers may be, and have been thus designated by their adversaries. The Hebrew words for Luther amount to 666, a circumstance which has caused the Catholics to offset against the Protestants the attempts to show that the apocalyptical beast had some connection with the papal church. It is also a remarkable fact, that the Hebrew words for “The Most High, the Lord, the Holy God,” amount to precisely 666. —See Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Anti-Christ, where he gives a tabular view of words, or names, the numeral force of which is that number.

We are then thrown back upon our inquiry, what is meant by “the number of his name 2° Shall me attempt to answer? The very language forbids; “Here is wisdom;” here lies the secret, which none but those who had an understanding of the revelator's enigma can explain. It is “the number of a man,” although it is called “ the number of the beast.” The number is 666. Whether the revelator used the Hebrew or Greek letters for numerals, those who were instructed in the matter knew. They explained it to others. The number was the key to denote the power referred to. We content ourself with knowing that the Roman Empire in general was intended by the beast with seven heads and ten horns. The name of some eminent opposer of the church, perhaps one of the emperors, was intended by “the number of the beast.” But this is conjecture. The Christians at the time knen. We are checked by the admonition, “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast.” We have not that understanding. Cruden explains the matter very wisely, and we shall leave it

where he does : “The number of the beast, or the number of the name of the beast, stands for the numerical value of the letters that compose his name.” Having offered our own opinion, we add to the above, the conjecture of Prof. Stuart, since, if he be correct, it agrees with what we have stated. He says: “Quite recently, however, Prof. Benary, of Berlin, has proposed a more ingenious, and to my mind more satisfactory, explanation of the nodus in question, than any with which I have before met. He regards it as nearly certain, that the letters indi. cative of the number in question, must be Hebrew letters, although he does not seem to have given a satis. factory reason. The very design however, of partial concealment, seems to be, as I have already hinted, a good reason for the adoption of this method by John. A heathen Greek or Roman would not be likely to divine the writer's meaning, in case the latter designed to make the appeal to Hebrew letters or words: while there were everywhere Jewish Christians in the churches, who could easily unravel it. Benary remarks, that in the Talmud and other Rabbinical writings, the name of Nero (in the Hebrew form] often occurs. This amounts numerically to the number of the beast; for the force of the Hebrew letters added together is 606. Nor is this all. There was another method of writing and pronouncing the name of Nero, approaching nearer to the Roman method. This was the Hebrew letters for Nero Caesar, which amount numerically to just 616, and thus gives a good ground for the diverse reading which Irenaeus found in some codices. This is surely a remarkable coincidence. The same name, pronounced after the Greek and Hebrew analogy, equals numerically the sum of 666, but spoken in the Latin way it amounts to 616, which is the rivalreading. Nothing can be more

: and his number is Six hundred

threescore and six.

natural and easy then, than to account in this way for both of the readings in the codices. The discrepant modes of sounding Nero's name, whether fully in Hebrew, or in an abridged way, gave rise to the different designations of the corresponding numbers. A solution of the various readings, which is so natural and obvious, one is strongly tempted to believe, must have its foundation in truth and reality.” So far, in substance, Prof. Stuart. See his Commentary, vol. ii. 457, 458, Excursus iv. The reason why the revelator did not give fully, and without enigma, the name he intended, is easily seen ; he did not desire to bring down upon the unoffending church, the pointed indignation of the power intended. If the seven-headed beast intended the RoIn an 'secular power, as we think we have clearly shown, then the name of the beast may well be considered the name of the reigning emperor at the time the Apocalypse was written. - Since the above was written, I have received from a friend the fol. lowing singular paragraph, which he states was copied from an old book, called the “Gospel Treasury,” p. 125. The date and authorship of the book were gone. We present the extract as a very striking illustration of the ingenuity which has been displayed in obtaining the beast's number, 666, from the names of eminent dignitaries, or of the places of their power.

“WICARIWS FILII DEI.

* * “Sometime ago, an English officer happening to be at Rome, observed on the front of the mitre which the pope wore at one of the solemnities, this inscription : ‘VICARivs FILII Dei.” It instantly struck him — perhaps this is ‘the number of the beast.’ He set to work: and when he had selected all the numerals, and added them up, he found, to his great astonishment, that the whole amounted to precisely six hundred

Preliminary Considerations.— The chapter before us is by no means an unimportant one. In chapters xii. and xiii. the pagan and secular power of Rome are set forth, the former under the figure of “a great red dragon,” xii. 3, the latter under that of the beast that rose up out of the sea, xiii. 1. These two powers, which were the two active powers of the Roman Empire in the persecution of the Christians, being thus introduced to the reader, with that of the false prophet, xiii. 11—17, the revelator proceeds (viz., in chap. xiv., which we are now to examine) to give a general synopsis of the matters that remain to be treated of in the Apocalypse. In chapters xii. and xiii. are described the rise and reign of the persecuting powers of the empire. Chapter xiv. is in favor of the church. It describes the prosperity of the church, notwithstanding the persecutions; and the punishment of the persecutors, and of those by

whom they were sustained. The