3. "Northern Germany.-The sees here have for the most part never been filled up since the 16th century....... Even Saxony, where the king is of the Roman communion, has no canonical bishops. Episcopal functions for the Saxons being discharged by another Roman bishop in partibus.

4. Denmark. There are no canonical bishops in Denmark. The Lutheran superintendents, who bear the titles of the Danish sees, derive their orders from the presbyter Bugenhagen, who acted in Denmark the part which Calvin, Knox, and Luther did in Switzerland, Scotland, and Germany in the 16th century; and which Wesley pursued in later times in England. 5. "Sweden.-Whether there is a valid episcopate in Sweden or not is very doubtful.

6. "Russia.-The episcopate in Russia is legitimate and canonical: and being understood to be very friendly towards the British Church, is more likely to welcome with satisfaction the presence of a British bishop to superintend the members of our communion, with whom they have no wish to interfere, than to regard it with the remotest feelings of jealousy.”—(pp. 51 -54.)

Mr. P. adds a list of the episcopal sees formerly existing in Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; and has further, three Appendices, containing interesting matter, but not very clearly connected with the object of his pamphlet, or our immediate design in quoting it so fully as we have done. We have simply wished to complete our view of the religious state of the countries brought under notice, and to put our readers in possession of the opinions and plans in regard to those countries, of one who (according to his own confession) is of the class generally called "Puseyites;" and who (to quote his own words to a Roman Catholic priest) is "glad they are increasing. because he

hopes that by the pure Catholic truths, which it is their object to teach, our differences may at length be removed, and we may worship God again in one." For ourselves, we have as little sympathy with Mr. Perceval's Puseyite as with Dr. Massie's Voluntary nostrums; and we lament that, in calling attention to the important and awakening facts which have come under their notice, neither of these able, sincere, and zealous men has struck the keynote which we could have wished. Luther laid the right foundation, but others have not built upon it. He was not a rationalist, as Mr. Perceval would represent him: nor will Mr. P.'s Apostolical Succession and free Episcopacy have the talismanic effect he anticipates in revivifying the German and Dutch Churches: Luther's faith and spirit must again animate his degenerate sons: men of like mind must enter into his labours: and then, with God's blessing, great will be the increase. Churches are not indefectible, and whether Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian or Voluntary, they must live by faith, or they will all be alike dead.

SIX DISCOURSES ON THE PROPHECIES RELATING TO ANTICHRIST IN THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN. By J. H. TODD, D.D., &c. Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. Dublin: Hodges and Smith. 1846.

DR. TODD is a very unfortunate man; and we can afford most sincerely to condole with him. He resembles nothing so much as an artist in pyrotechnics, who, after preparing for a grand display of his art, at some rural fete, finds his performance postponed, hour after hour, by different adverse circumstances, till the glorious sun of July rises upon him, and all his stars, and wheels, and fiery serpents, become simply ridiculous.

Dr. Todd preached these Six Donnellan Lectures in 1841. That was, in prophetical studies, a gloomy, night-like, period; and this volume might have emitted some rays, among the Burghs, and Govetts, and Tysoes of that day. It belongs to their school, being a sketch of the literal and futurist interpretation; and it is more scholar-like, and not more absurd, than most of their volumes. But who reads any of these works now? Mr. Elliott's Hora Apocalyptica has utterly exterminated the whole sect, for all public purposes, leaving merely the leaders, but making a clean riddance of the followers. There never was an instance of a greater triumph. The first edition of that book was published, and eagerly read, in 1844. It became a work of the highest estimation almost instantly; and a new edition was quickly called for. Fifteen months having been occupied in printing this, it appeared in the spring of the present year, and in one week, the whole edition, of a thousand copies, of this bulky work, in four octavo volumes, was taken off, and nearly as many clamorous customers disappointed. These external circumstances show the deep and firm hold the book has taken of the public mind. And grotesque, indeed, does it appear, after this, to find Dr. Todd putting forth his six little lectures, delivered in 1841, to prove that "the Revelation is Literal and Future."

His system of interpretation will be most fairly given, by presenting it in his own words. And, first, of the Seals:

"I shall now proceed to show, that the revelations made on the opening of each seal, all pourtray the circumstances of our Lord's second coming; representing that event under various aspects, and, if we may so say, in various stages of development or completion.

Upon the opening of the first seal, there appeared a white horse,' and 'He that sat on him had a bow; and a crown (σrépavos) was given unto him, and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.'

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"This, then, is the substance of our Lord's commission; he is to come again with glory, of which the crown of victory given to him is the symbol; he is to appear the second time, not, as before, in weakness and humiliation, but conquering and to conquer.'

"That our Lord himself is represented by the horseman, in this portion of the vision, has been admitted by many commentators, both ancient and modern; and is strongly confirmed by the fact, that the emblem of a rider, on a white horse, is employed to denote the second coming of our Lord in another passage of the Apocalypse, where it can scarcely be doubted by any unprejudiced reader that he is intended, because we are expressly told that his name is called THE WORD OF GOD;' and that' on his vesture and on his thigh was a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD of Lords.'

"It is worthy of remark, also, that our Saviour's second coming is represented in this vision not as completed, but as in progress: his conquests are not yet fully made, but he is seen going forth, conquering and to conquer.' Hence the other horsemen, seen on the opening of the second, third, and fourth seals, are to be understood as representing the concomitant signs and immediate consequences of his coming: and it is a very old observation made by one of the most ancient commentators on the Apocalypse, whose writings are preserved, that the judgments predicted by the seals agree, even in the order in which they are pourtrayed, with the signs given by our Lord himself in answer to the inquiry of the disciples: What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?' For even though it be admitted (which, however, I do by no means admit), that many things in that memorable prophecy of our Saviour, had an apparent or primary fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the Jewish wars, yet it is impossible to consider the whole as fulfilled in those events, and it has therefore been in all ages regarded as intended to predict mainly the future coming of the Lord to judge the world, to take vengeance on his enemies, and to give reward unto his saints.

"In our Lord's prophecy, we are told, that among the signs of his coming shall be wars and rumours of wars; nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;' ' famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.' And all these, he further tells us, shall be but the beginning of sorrows.'

"The same judgments, and in the same order, are evidently predicted in the second, third, and fourth seals: the horseman riding on a white horse, who goes forth conquering and to conquer, and who is the only one of the four horsemen to whom a crown of victory is given, is accompanied by another on a red horse, to whom power was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword.' The angel of famine follows on a black horse, having a pair of balances in his hand, the emblem of scarcity; and with him a voice proclaims the high price of the necessaries of life. And lastly: there was seen 'a pale horse' and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him, and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."-(pp. 99-102.)

"The opening of the seven seals predicts the judgments which are to be the signs and accompaniments of our Saviour's coming: wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilences, and the combined horrors of all these plagues together, the sword, and hunger, and death, and beasts of the earth.

"These fearful judgments-for these, as our Lord has said, are but the beginning of sorrows-shall be followed by still more terrible calamities; namely, by a persecution of the Church, and a 'great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to that time, no, nor ever shall be.' But a remnant of the Jewish nation shall be preserved, in the midst of these fatal visitations: and a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, shall pass triumphant out of that

great tribulation, and shall wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.

"For the Jewish remnant also, as we learn from another vision of the Apocalypse, peculiar privileges are reserved. Privileges that may well raise our adoring wonder at the boundless Grace that has yet in store for that rebellious and stiff-necked nation, blessings and glories of such amazing magnitude. The Lamb himself, inasmuch as he has taken upon him our mortal nature, is of the tribe of Judah, of the root of David, of the race of Abraham; the twelve Apostles of the Lamb are also Hebrews, of the same highly-favoured people and nation. Nor is this all: twelve times twelve thousand Jews, sealed with the seal of the living God, having the Father's name written in their foreheads, and in whose mouths shall be found no guile, shall sing before the throne that new song, which none but themselves can learn,--and -O great and transcendant glory-shall stand upon Mount Sion with our Lord at his coming, and SHALL FOLLOW THE LAMB WHITHERSOEVER HE GOETH."-(pp. 122, 123.)

2. Of the Trumpets :

"After this introduction, the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.' And here it may be remarked, that the judgments foretold in the trumpets divide themselves into two classes: the first four trumpets denounce calamities upon inanimate things, or upon the inferior creation: the remaining three foretel the judgments with which mankind will be more directly visited.

Upon the sounding of the first four trumpets, hail and fire mingled with blood were seen to fall upon the earth, and the third part of trees was burned up, and all green grass was burnt up.' A great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of all the living creatures which were in the sea died.' A star, burning like a lamp, fell upon the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were bitter.' And lastly, the heavenly bodies became also partakers of these judgments: the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.'

The system adopted in all the modern popular expositions of the Apocalypse renders it necessary for their authors to assume that the earth, the sea, the rivers, the sun, the moon, the stars, the day, and the night, in this prediction, are to be taken as symbols; denoting either the spiritual warfare and corruptions of the Christian Church; or, as very many of these expositors would persuade us, the overthrow of the Roman empire by the Goths and Vandals in the fourth and fifth centuries.

"No proof, however, is even attempted to be given that the language is symbolical: the sacred text itself contains no intimation that such is the case, much less does it afford any clue to the interpretation of the symbols, and consequently if the language be symbolical, all is left to conjecture and uncertainty.

"In the absence, therefore, of all evidence of the contrary, we are warranted in assuming that the judgments predicted are to be understood literally, unless there should appear to be anything inconsistent with reason or religion in so understanding them. This however can scarcely be said, when it is admitted that the plagues of Egypt, which all commentators agree to interpret literally, were judgments remarkably similar in their character; and when it is remembered that our Lord has predicted a visitation of the same kind as one of the signs of his future coming: 'and there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing

them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.'

"Why then should we hesitate to believe that the judgments foretold on the sounding of the first four trumpets are equally literal? and that they describe a revival of some of those awful and miraculous visitations with which the sins of men were punished in the early ages of the world? namely, hail and fire from heaven, mingled with blood, which will burn up and destroy the trees and grass of the field; fire falling into the sea; the sea, like the rivers of Egypt, converted into blood; fish destroyed, and ships overwhelmed; rivers and fountains made bitter and poisonous: the heavenly bodies darkened, and perhaps annihilated, or their lights extinguished.

"And yet in the midst of all these fearful judgments God will remember mercy; a third part only of the earth, and sea, and rivers, a third part only of the sun, and moon, and stars, shall be thus smitten; for otherwise, if such a visitation were universal, no flesh could be saved.

"And these are the judgments upon inanimate things, and upon the inferior part of creation, which shall be employed to usher in the great tribulation of the latter times."-(pp. 132-136.)

Of the 1st Woe-Trumpet.

After the restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Canaan, and the re-establishment there of their national polity, Satan will be permitted to raise up against them, from the darkness of the bottomless pit, a formidable persecution under the agency of evil spirits. Whether these infernal agents shall appear in a bodily form resembling locusts, according to the literal description given of them, or whether they shall be permitted to employ the instrumentality of natural locusts or of men, I do not venture to decide; but this is certain, that they shall have no power to destroy vegetation, but only to inflict on men a torment, which is described as similar to the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man,' but which nevertheless shall not be mortal, and shall be of a limited duration. And in the midst of these judgments, the sealed of the children of Israel shall be protected from the evils which shall fall upon all around them; evils of such magnitude, that 'in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.'"-(pp. 147, 148.)

Of the 2nd Woe-Trumpet.

"The vision exhibited to the apostle on the sounding of the sixth or second woe trumpet, was an army of horsemen, whose numbers were revealed as two hundred thousand thousand;' and whose appearance and power are described in the following words: And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone.'

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"The locusts of the foregoing vision were prohibited from killing, and could only torment their victims; but the army of horsemen, now sent forth, were not so restricted: by these three' (we are told) was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.'

"But the most remarkable circumstance revealed respecting this great army of horsemen is, that they appear to have been called forth by the setting free of the four angels who were bound in the river Euphrates; for with the loosing of these angels the prophecy begins. Immediately on the sounding of the sixth trumpet the apostle heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.' "It has been inferred from this, that the four angels here spoken of must