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thing in this gossiping place, told to Sir T. Hardy; he spoke of it to me, and said he had already mentioned it to a friend of mine. I said, that if the Emperor and Empress chose, as a warm climate agreed with me, I should not dislike it; that it required consideration; and that if I could render myself sufficiently agreeable to the Empress, I should ask the appointment of governess to the Princess; and so matters stood when Sir Thomas Hardy sailed for Buenos Ayres. I own that the more I saw of the Imperial family, the more I wished to belong to it; but I was frightened at the thoughts of Rio, by the impertinent behaviour of some of the English, so that I should probably not have proposed the thing myself. It was done, however; the Empress told me to apply to the Emperor. I observed he looked tired with the levee, and begged to be allowed to write to her another day. She said, "Write if you please, but come and see the Emperor at five o'clock to-morrow." And so they went out, and I remained marvelling at the chance that had brought me into a situation so unlike any thing I had ever contemplated; and came home to write a letter to her Imperial Majesty, and to wonder what I should do

next.

"Monday, October 13th. I wrote my letter to the Empress, and was punctual to the time for seeing the Emperor. He received me very kindly, and sent me to speak to her Imperial Majesty, who took my letter, and promised me an answer in two days, adding the most obliging expressions of personal kindness. And this was certainly the first letter I ever wrote on the subject; though my English friends tell me that I had a memorial in my hand yesterday, and that I went to court only to deliver it, for they saw it in my hand. Now I had a white pocket-handkerchief and a black fan in my hand, and thought as little of speaking about my own affairs to their Imperial Majesties, as of making a voyage to the moon. But people will always know each other's affairs best.' pp. 318-321.

Mrs. Graham had it in her power to make of her voyage to Brazil and Chile, and her residence in those countries, a very interesting and acceptable octavo volume. Her account of the Brazilian capital, being the most minute and recent that has appeared, we have read with pleasure; and a great deal of information may be gleaned from the volume. But a grosser instance of book making we have not lately met with, than is exhibited by the shape in which the contents of the present volume and the companion one have been served out to the public. A lady's log-book in two volumes quarto! With all our well-known gallantry, we cannot refrain from protesting against personal and sentimental journals of this description, as a serious annoyance. It is Sir John Carr in the feminine gender-a new volume of My Pocket book. The volume contains eleven copper-plates and nine vignettes, some of which are very pleasing.

Art. II. A Commentary on the Vision of Zechariah the Prophet; with a corrected Translation and critical Notes. By the Rev. John Stonard, D.D. Rector of Aldingham, Lancashire. pp. xiv. 461. 8vo. London, 1824.

ANY of the prophetical portions of the Bible are so obscure, and at the same time so important, that the investi gation of them by competent persons must be regarded as one of the most useful services in which the Biblical scholar can be employed. In this department of theology, there is ample scope for the labours of learned men, who should consecrate their studies to the illustration of the Scriptures. Unhappily. however, this has not always been the object steadily kept in view by those who have adventured into these difficult investigations. Some volumes" on the prophecies" have been given to the world under the sanction of very respectable names, which have been adapted only to foster political prejudices and to perpetuate national discord. Thus, the Scriptures have been perverted and abused with a view to excite passions which it is among their final purposes to destroy. To such writers, it must, one would imagine, be a humiliating and not unprofitable task, to read again their vainly learned Dissertatious and crude Expositions, now that events have, in great measure, shewn the presumption of their speculations. How is it, that, with the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of peace, these expounders of prophecy have desisted from their calling, these oracles are hushed? If, only a few years ago, such writers could find, in the notorious prevalence of irreligion and the daring success of infidelity, occasion for applying novel schemes of interpretation to the symbols and language of Scripture, are we to conclude, since those schemes are no longer advanced, that the seats of irreligion have been purified, that anti-christian errors and corruptions less abound, and that the influence of infidel tenets has given way to the principles and virtues of the gospel? Or are we to credit the reports of recent travellers, who assure us, on their own personal knowledge, that the state of those countries which our expounders of prophecy described as being so entirely irreligious, is still grossly superstitious and immoral; that popery has retained, in some places regained its sway, without relinquishing an iota of its claims, or abandoning any of the grossest of its corruptions, and that infidelity is as much as ever opposing and limiting the profession of Christianity? Is the religion of Christ more widely diffused and better protected in France under the government of the restored Bourbons, than it was during the years of their exile? If not, if the state of that country be as irreligious and corrupt as reports of unquestionable authority represent it, why has it

pure

so completely lost the interest which it once had in the studies and speculations of certain writers? Surely, events cannot have changed their relations to the predictions of Scripture. Yet, in respect to ignorance the most dark and debasing, to tyrannies the most despotic and destructive, they are silent, and can behold the slavery and the terrors, the withering and desolating plagues that would make the world a wilderness, move on without alarm, so long as their political prejudices are without excitement. Let them be touched, let their secular fears be alarmed, and then, as the opening of the books of the Sybil was one of the means by which the hostile spirit of the Romans was roused, the prophetic page of Scripture is inspected, an infidel king, or some other Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum,' is discovered, and the dogs of war, already slipped, are cheered with fresh cries of havoc' to hunt down their prey..

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The contrast which the volume now before us presents to works of the description alluded to, has given this direction to our thoughts. This commentary on the prophecies has no political design: it appeals to no secular passions; it tends to inflame no animosities. It is a calm, serious, dignified investigation of a difficult and highly symbolical portion of the prophetic writings, and the volume testifies equally to the erudition and the piety of its Author. His scholarship is never ostentatiously displayed, but the occasions which have called for the exercise of critical acumen, sufficiently attest his competency for Biblical investigations. His explications are never hastily obtruded; and they are given with such minuteness and extent of detail as must prevent the misunderstanding of his meaning by the plainest readers. If, in regard to some of his views, we can scarcely venture to follow him, and, in respect to some of his criticisms, hesitate to pronounce them unquestionable; the purity of his intention, the correctness of his temper, and the evident consecration of his labours to the highest and best in terests which a Christian can promote, always claim our cordial approbation.

The whole of the prophecy of Zechariah does not come under the consideration of Dr. Stonard. He limits his observations to those portions of the book which are comprised in the seventy seven verses commencing at the eighth verse of the first chapter, and closing with the end of the sixth chapter. Within this compass is contained a series of symbolical representations, which have, for the most part, been explained in reference to the transactions of the prophet's own times, in connexion with the restoration of the temple, including some allusions to the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom.

Blaney, and still more Vitringa, have investigated the revela tions of the prophet in their more spiritual and ample construction. The present Commentator, however, goes much beyond his predecessors in the evangelical views which he considers as developed in the book, and the events and times to which he regards it as extending.

This highly interesting portion of Scripture includes much, in his judgment, that meets not the simple apprehension, and more than has yet been unfolded to studious observation.' Such an announcement will prepare the reader to expect some novelty of interpretation in the Author's pages; and accordingly, many ingenious and unusual explanations will present themselves in his passage through the volume. The Vision, in Dr. Stonard's view of its design, exhibits the whole series of events which have relation to the Church, from the days of the prophet to the final conclusion of its warfare. An analysis of the whole volume would exceed our limits; we must content ourselves with giving a few specimens.

The vision was wholly of a mental nature, 'not only the ob"jects presented to view in the vision, but the light by which they were rendered visible, being produced by the operation of the Divine Spirit on the prophet's mind. The scene is laid in a deep valley, surrounded by lofty mountains, and shaded by a grove of myrtle-trees. An angel was in attendance on the prophet, for the purpose of interpreting the symbols and explaining the design of the several representations in the vision. The first series of mystic figures comprises a personage mounted on a red horse, advanced a little in front as leader, or chief, of a troop of horsemen, drawn up behind him in three several companies, distinguished by the colour of their horses. The horsemen, according to Dr. Stonard, represent those celestial messengers whom God sends to survey, and, in a certain degree, to direct, the changes of human affairs, to see to the execution of his righteous decrees, and to report to Him the state of the things committed to their charge. The horses, he supposes to be representatives of the human agents on whom the former are commissioned or permitted to exert their influence,—the object of this angelic ministry being the care and safeguard of God's chosen people in the midst of the nations, under whose rule they may be placed for their correction, together with the merited punishment of their enemies. The leader of the eques. trian bands, who is called the Angel of Jehovah, and who appears as an intercessor on behalf of Jerusalem and Judea, (v.12.) is the Great Mediator between God and man, to whom the attributes of divinity are ascribed, and the incommunicable name is given by the prophet.

Having now ascertained in general the nature and office of the persons represented by the horsemen and their leader, we are prepared to inquire into the particular subjects upon which they were commissioned to act. These will be determined by considering, 1. The view afforded us by the Prophet Daniel of the future state of human affairs; II. The number of troops into which the angelic horsemen are divided; and III. The colours of their horses.

I.In the book of Daniel, we find two leading prophecies, predicting under different images the general state of human affairs, until the final close of this earthly scene. Thence we learn, that four great kingdoms, so far universal as to comprehend within their limits the chosen people of God, were destined, or would be permitted, to bear rule over them on earth. The predictions are so clear, and have been so ably illustrated, that it is hardly necessary to name the four kingdoms, as being the Babylonian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman empires. These having subsisted in succession for the several terms allotted to them respectively, are to be succeeded and finally absorbed by the universal and everlasting dominion of Christ, first planted in grace, and by degrees growing up, expanding, and at last ripening into glory.

Now, since Zechariah's vision takes its rise from the state of God's chosen people in the world, and since the horsemen represent angelic beings inspecting human affairs, delivering reports upon them to the Supreme Disposer, and both authorized and enabled to interfere in them, and regulate them according to the Divine direction, it is certain, that their commission, if not limited to the concerns of the five monarchies, must at least extend to them and embrace them as principal subjects of their agency.

II. If a vision of the same kind had been presented to the prophet Isaiah, he would probably have seen the horsemen divided into five companies, the first of which would represent the ministers of God's providence directing and impelling the powers of the Baby lonian empire, to execute the divine wrath upon his rebellious people. In a similar vision presented to a prophet toward the close of the Babylonian dominion, it is probable that four such companies, would have appeared; the first of which would represent the angelic host superintending the affairs of the Jews during their captivity, animating the Medes and Persians to undertake the conquest of Babylon, and influencing their government to restore the Jews. But at the time of Zechariah's vision, these events had taken place; those two companies bad fulfilled their ministry; and consequently, they could not be properly introduced upon the scene. The number of companies would then be reduced to three, the very number seen by Zechariah. Following the order of succession of the empires, the first troop is intended to represent the ministering spirits surveying and directing the affairs of the Jews during their subjection to the Persian empire, removing the obstructions which that government offered to the rebuilding of the temple of God, and finally preparing the way for the Macedonian conqueror and the establishment of his kingdom in all its wide extent. By parity of reasoning, the second company scen by

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