the whole time of the sixth vial; and it is two-fold, symbolized by the drying up of the Euphrates, which signifies a removal of all obstacles which stand in the way of the restoration of the Jews; and by three unclean spirits going forth among the heathen, to gather their armies to the great day of judgment, or Jehoshaphat and Armageddon. The preparation is the only thing mentioned under the sixth vial; and it is in the nature of things slow: it is like the slow evaporation of water, and like the gradual undermining of society by the introduction of principles which are subversive of law and order a disorganization of all things. And the earthquake-which takes place immediately after the seventh vial is poured out--though it is a consequence of the going forth of the unclean spirits, is only another act of preparation for the day of the Lord: it is no part of the battle of Armageddon, nor does it exhaust the effects of the evil principles; but they will still continue to operate, and their workings will be most perverse. There can be no doubt of what these three classes of evil principles are when we remember the sources from whence they proceed—the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet: they are infidelity, despotism, and superstition. But what do we see now but total inconsistency, even in the working out of principles which are in themselves erroneous? We behold a liberal Pope-a contradiction in terms-beginning the present continental revolution, thinking that men could be liberal outside of a church wall and remain good Catholics within, donning their liberality at the doors as they would their caps! We behold the creatures of a Parisian mob, elected on the widest scheme of democracy, liberty, and equality, resorting to measures far more absolute and despotic than any which have been alleged against their former rulers under the monarchy! And, if report speak true, we are about to see the Czar-the type of despotismgive to his serfs a larger measure of freedom than would be allowed to their subjects by his liberal neighbours!

Nor is the dividing of the city into three parts anything more than another act of preparation for this great final catastrophe of Armageddon. It is not by the agency of the unclean spirits that Christendom is thus divided, but by the earthquake or convulsion of the seventh vial; and it merely denotes that there will be three rallying points or heads, and not that these will be necessarily evil. Yet it would seem as though the tenfold division of the Roman empire would then cease, and become merged in this new threefold division; and that out of these three divisions the unclean spirits would

be gathering such as abide not in the fear of God and the faith of the Gospel to lead them to the destruction at Arma geddon.

The things which are acting before our eyes give a practical importance to the study of prophecy far greater than it has ever had before. It is only by knowing the truth that we can be kept from error: and, as the delusions of the last times will be greater and more subtle than any former delusions, so we require a larger measure of understanding in the ways of God to keep ourselves from the evil which abounds. The faithful are represented as overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (xii. 11). And at the very time of the pouring out of the last vial the Lord saith, "Behold, I come as a thief! Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (xvi. 15). And again: "Behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of this book. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be" (xxii. 7, 12).

And we think that our readers will find no book better calculated to help them in comparing the prophecies of the Old Testament with those of the New, and applying both to the events now in course of progress, than Mr. Hoare's Harmony of the Apocalypse."

66

ART. XII.-Contributions towards an Harmony of the Holy Gospels. Rivingtons. 1848.

THIS is a very judicious and scholarly volume: it is so unpretending that even the name of the author does not appear; and it leads us at once to the point without any circumlocution, putting the reader in possession of all the information which the author has been able to collect, with only just such remarks as are desirable for showing the real state of the

case.

The "Harmony" itself is printed in a tabular form, and only occupies eight pages, divided into two hundred sections or paragraphs; each section consisting of one incident, or parable, or miracle, arranged in chronological order: with the Gospel columns opposite, showing in what chapter and verse of each the narrative is to be found. The remainder of VOL. XXIV.-Q

the volume consists of dissertations on the language of the Gospels; on the authors, and the time at which they were severally written; on the chronology in general, and on some particular epochs which have influenced the order of arrangement in the tables. A specimen is also given of such a connected history of the life of Christ as might be very easily constructed from the tabular harmony, in a " Monotessaron," of the great forty days after the resurrection and until the ascension of our Lord, during which he appeared ten several times to the disciples, and taught them concerning the things of the kingdom, collected from St. Paul's testimony as well as the Gospels and Acts.

The author's own words in the preface will give the best idea of the nature of the work before us :

"First of all I have endeavoured to form an accurate notion of the thing to be done. Every writer on the Evangelical Harmony,' whose work I have had an opportunity of consulting, undertakes, as it seems to me, at once too much and too little. Topics in themselves comparatively trivial, and, if relevant at all to the end contemplated, only relevant in the most remote degree, are handled with disproportionate assiduity and copiousness; while enquiries vital to the argument are slurred over with the most cursory mention. Of both extremes, I have been anxious to keep clear. Whatever topic seemed cognate to the the main design has received my best attention-whatever seemed cumbersome or excrescent I have not scrupled to discard.

"Again: throughout the following work I have deemed it but what was due to my precursors and to the subject to avail myself of every aid to investigation which happened to be within my reach. In the field of ancient research, Lardner, Greswell, and a multitude of others, have left nothing to be desired or to be done; and though almost every quotation introduced in these pages has been carefully collated with the original, I have to avow, with the great author of the Evidences of Christianity,' that I have found my materials ready to my hand, my office consisting but in arrangement and selection.' The evidence methodised and sifted, I have next made it my business to hear counsel on all sides of the questions to which it appertains; and have listened to the reason, as well as used the learning, which has been attracted to the argument. If this method entails an access of perplexity, it opens up at the same time the only avenue to an ultimately satisfactory decision; for if every author begins de novo a task which, in one or other of its parts, has so long occupied the best intellects of Christendom, he must needs forego the most important aids to progress, and will be chiefly original in some fresh variety of error."

The dissertations are four: first, on the External History of the Gospels, with Biographical Notices of the Four Evangelists; secondly, the Internal Phenomena of Resemblance or

Contrast in the several Gospels; thirdly, the General Principles for determining the Gospel Harmony; fourthly, the Chronology, and especially on the length of our Lord's Ministry: and the utility of the whole is greatly increased by a very copious synopsis of the contents at the beginning, and valuable notes and references at the end, of the volume.

On the external history of the Gospels, one of the most important points of enquiry for us is the order and origin of the same that is, the time when, and the purpose for which, each one of them was composed; since it might, a priori, be thought that one single narrative would suffice to make known the history and doctrines of Christianity, and would be the simple course were this the sole object in view. But when we also find that in the several Gospels there is diversity of plan, and that certain facts are treated more largely in some of the Gospels than in the others, and that some of these prominent facts are even passed over in the other Gospels, it can scarcely be doubted that there were special reasons for these differences, or that each Gospel was called for by some peculiar circumstances which pressed upon the heart of him by whom it was composed, giving it a special suitability to that portion of Church with which that particular evangelist was brought into contact.

Our author adopts the generally received opinion that the Gospel of St. Matthew was that first composed, and that it was written in the dialect of the country, as the discourses of our Lord were of course spoken in that language, because none other would be understood by his audience-consisting of a mixed multitude, including women and children. And, indeed, the frequent occurrence of Aramaic or Syro-Chaldaic phrases and idioms proves this, both of the Gospel and of the discourses of our Lord; and it was a matter of surprise to the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus should be able to read the pure Hebrew, for they said, "How knoweth this man letters, never having learned?"

The opinions of the fathers, from Irenæus to Jerome, are cited, which might have been increased to any extent as so many additional witnesses to the facts-in which all antiquity is agreed to a man-that St. Matthew wrote first; that he wrote in Hebrew (that is, the common dialect of Judea); and that he wrote for the Hebrew Church. And they are equally unanimous in testifying to the general opinion or tradition that it was afterwards translated into Greek, though it is not known by whom the translation was made.

On the time at which St. Matthew composed his Gospel

there is not the same unanimity. Irenæus asserts that it was written while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and founding the Church in that city-an opinion which our author thinks utterly untenable as too late; for Paul's first visit to Rome cannot possibly be placed earlier than A.D. 58: and in all probability Peter's coming to Rome was much later, though this is less certain; for it cannot be proved historically when Peter first went to Rome-nay, cannot be proved that he ever was there. The Paschal Chronicle, composed in the seventh century, states that it was published about fifteen years after the ascension, and soon after the Council of Jerusalem (Acts xv). A third opinion is that of Eusebius, who, in his "Chronicon," assigns the third year of Caligula, A.D. 40, as the period when Matthew published his Gospel; and this is the date which our author rests upon as the only time which will agree with all the necessary conditions.

The probability is, that this Gospel for the Hebrews was written for their exclusive use at a time when the preaching of the Gospel was limited to Jews alone before the conversion of Cornelius, and while the disciples were scrupulously obeying the first injunctions of their Lord, who, in sending forth the twelve apostles, "commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. x. 5)—a limitation of their preaching which is not mentioned by Mark or Luke, and affording a presumption that Matthew wrote before the conversion of Cornelius, but that Mark and Luke wrote after that time.

"And it is a remarkable coincidence that the only fragment of intelligence which primitive antiquity furnishes on the subject conducts us to the same epoch. Clement, of Alexandria (A.D. 200), extracts the following passage from a work extant in his day called The Preaching of Peter: Peter says that the Lord said to the apostles-After twelve years go ye forth into the world, that none may say, we have not heard.' Eusebius also acquaints us that Apollonius, a contempcrary of Clement, related, as from accounts handed down, that our Saviour commanded the apostles not to leave Jerusalem for twelve years. Now, I am not concerned with the question whether or not such injunctions were ever issued. They may or they may not: but I contend that the very ascription of them to our Lord is a proof of their accordance with the real state of the case. Whatever be thought of the authenticity of the reason, the very effort implied in preserving or in inventing it shows the notoriety of the facts" (5).

The last injunctions of our Lord immediately before his ascension were, " that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jeru