ls and trumpets of the Apocalypse, Dr.
M'Leod has unquestionably corrected many misapprehensions of his learned
predecessors, especially Bishop Newton and Mr. Faber: and it is perhaps
to be regretted that he did not favor the public with his view of the
vials also, a work which he seems to have had in contemplation when the
"Lectures" were published. The three last named interpreters did
certainly improve upon the expositions of all who went before them in
this field of investigation; and in most cases of disagreement the
Doctor excelled in accuracy the other two, as will readily appear on
careful examination.

In attempting to ascertain the import of the mystic "witnesses," as of
the Antichrist, expositors widely differ. Bishop Newton says
positively,--"The witnesses cannot be ... any two churches." Mr. Faber
is equally peremptory, that they "must be two churches," and he attempts
to sustain his position by many citations of Scripture, and by much
plausible argumentation. The Bishop is substantially correct in saying,
"They are a succession of men, and a succession of churches." Mr. Faber
is also correct in the main when he says,--"The two witnesses signify
the spiritual members of the catholic church:" but his notion of _two
churches_, the "Old and New Testament churches," betrays his imperfect
conception of the _essential unity_ of the church of God. Both he and
the Bishop overlook too often the important fact that civil magistracy
is a divine ordinance, which, as corrupted, constitutes the first beast
of the Apocalypse, and the most prominent feature of the great
Antichrist.

Doctor M'Leod's definition or description of the witnesses is as
follows:--"They are a small company of true Christians, defending the
interests of true religion against all opposition, and frequently
sealing with their blood the testimony which they hold," (p. 314.) This
description is more definite than either of the two preceding, and is
therefore worthy of preference; yet the reader will still wish for
something more precise and tangible. Since the prophets of the Old and
New Testaments reveal the hostility of the Devil to Christ and his
people, and since both Daniel and John represent this hostility by
appropriate and intelligible symbols, as carried out by corrupting the
two great ordinances of _church_ and _state_, would it not follow that
the witnesses are those Christians who, for 1260 years, apply the word
of God to these two ordina