Washington's life. This will be good logick for the Smythites who shall live eighteen centuries hence. There is something so deeply base in charging Irenæus with forging the Apocalypse, when there is not one particle of evidence in all antiquity that such was the fact, or even that a suspicion of such a fact existed, that we shall leave it to our readers to give, if they can, the proper name to the slander. We now proceed to offer a short view of the evidence, on which the Revelation of St. John has been received as canonical scripture. And here we have nothing to do but to make a quotation from the preface of the learned and candid Moses Lowman, prefixed to his " Paraphrase and Notes on the Revelation of St. John." "The Book of the Revelation is, for very good reasons, received as one of the sacred books of the New Testament; the reasons for which are to be seen in many authors, and are represented, with great evidence and strength, by sir Isaac Newton, who observes, he does not find any other book of the New Testament, so strongly attested, or commented upon so early as this. "Mr. Lardner has collected, with great care and faithfulness, the testimonies of the most early Christian writers, to the books of the New Testament, in a late excellent Treatise on the Credibility of the Gospel History. I shall just mention the testimony of the most eminent, to the authority of this book as a part of the Holy Scripture. "Tertullian wrote about the year of Christ 200, and so somewhat above 100 years after the time in which St. John writ the Revelation. He observes, John, in his Apocalypse, is commanded to correct those who eat things sacrificed to idols, and commit fornication.' And again, "We have churches, disciples of John; for though Marcion rejects his Revelation, the succession of bishops, traced to the original, will assure us, that John is the author of it.' It is no wonder Marcion should reject the Revelation, who rejected all the Old Testament, and of the New received only the gospel of St. Luke, and ten epistles of St. Paul, which also he had corrupted and altered. "Somewhat before this, Clement of Alexandria quotes these Revelations as St. John's: As John says in the Revelation.' And he refers to them as the words of an apostle, or having the authority of apostolical writings. "Yet earlier, Theophilus of Antioch, in a book of his against the heresy of Hermogenes, makes use of testimonies from John's Apocalypse. "We have another witness of great character still nearer the times of St. John: Irenæus writ about A. D. 178, within 70 or 80 years of him. He expressly ascribes the Revelation to John, the disciple of the Lord. His testimony to this book, as Mr. Lardner observes, is so strong and full, that considering the age of Irenæus, it seems to put it beyond all question, that it is the work of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist.' "Still nearer the times of St. John, Mi leto, bishop of Sardis, one of the seven churches, writ a book on the Revelations mentary; however that be, it will show he esteemed it a book of canonical authority. of John. Some think it was an entire com 'A "Justin Martyr, a person of eminent name, about the year of Christ 140, and so about 50 or 60 years after the writing this book, expressly calls it a prophecy, and ascribes it to John the apostle. man from among us, says he, by name John, one of the apostles of Christ, in the Reve. lation made to him, has prophesied.' In fine, "The church, nearest the times of writing this book, received it with so full consent, that in a very few years, as Dr. Mills observes, it was acknowledged and placed in the number of apostolical writings, not only by the churches of Asia, but by the neighbour churches of Syria and Samaria, by the more distant churches of Africa and Egypt, by Rome, and the other churches of Europe. Such reasons there are to receive this as one of the books of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, that hardly any one book has more early, full, or authentick attestations given to it." We shall likewise avail ourselves of Lowman's note, (for we know of nothing better) on the passage which relates to the Apocalyptick beast. "The number six hundred sixty-six, is given as a number by which the name of the beast may be found out. The number is designed to have some sort of secrecy in it. The number itself is the same in all the places of units, tens, and hundreds, 666. This some have observed as a part of the mystery; but they should have observed, that though this is true in the English way of numeration, the original does not use three figures, but three dif ferent letters of the Greek alphabet Es. Prophetick numbers will often require some skill in calculation, to find out, for instance, when days are to be taken for years, or from what time any particular calculation is to take date. "In the application of this number, some wisdom will be required; perhaps it will principally lie, in finding out after what manner the calculation is to be made. The exhortation, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, seems to intimate, that if men hit on the right way of counting or calculating, they will find the meaning of it; for it is the number of a man, a way in which men are used to number, says Mr. Waple, as, the measure of a man, is a measure in use among men, Rev. xxi. 17. And, to write with a man's pen, is to write with such a pen, and with such characters as are in use among men, Isaiah viii. 1. "The great authority of Irenæus, who wrote so near the time, within less than an hundred years of the Revelation itself, and whose master, Polycarp, was a disciple of St. John, gave great weight to his opinion. Many have taken his manner of counting for granted, that it must be some name, the letters of which will make the number six hundred sixty-six. And many have been satisfied in the name he proposes to answer this number, which is the Greek word ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ. "There had been more reason to follow Irenæus, had Irenæus himself been fully satisfied in his own interpretation. "It is justly observed by the bishop of Meaux, that Irenæus does not propose his opinion with any authority, as an interpretation coming from St. John, but as a conjecture of his own. Further, Irenæus mentions two other names, as answering this number, besides Lateinos; Euanthas and Teitan. He expressly adds, that he is not positive in that matter; and gives this reason for it, if it had been necessary to know the name exactly, St. John would himself have revealed it more clearly Nec asseverantes pronunciabimus, hoc eum nomen habiturum, scientes quoniam si oporteret manifeste presenti tempore præconari, nomen ejus, per ipsum utique editum fuisset, qui et Apocalypsim viderat, neque enim ante multum temporis visum est, sed pæne sub nostro seculo, ad finem Domitiani imperii. Thus expressly does Irenæus himself declare, that he de livers his opinion only as a conjecture of his own, and that he knew no particular interpretation of it from St. John. "This number has been found out in so many other names, that this way of reckoning may seem at least very uncertain. The bishop of Meaux finds the number 666, in the word DIOCLES AVGVSTVS; Grotius, in the word OYAшIO2, Ulpius, the name of Trajan; Mr. Daubuz finds it in the He brew word or Roman. And, besides many other names, F. Feuardentius mentions, in his annotations on this passage of Irenæus, he finds the number 666, in the name of Martin Lauter, which, he says, was the original way of spelling the name of Luther. He further finds the same number in the word MOAMETIS, as he chooses to spell the name of Mohammed. Many more instances may be seen in Calmet." We have not room to give the whole note of Lowman on this passage. But we shall insert his own opinion, because to us it appears as good as any we have met with. "May there not be another method of calculation, more natural and easy than either of the forementioned? A number that shall show the time of his becoming the beast, to use Mr. Waple's words? The learned Grotius seems to have had such a method of counting this number in his view, when he explains the words of the prophecy, by the time when idolatry shall revive, and recover strength. Qui sapit, notet tempus idololatriæ, animos et vires resumentis; ubi id evenerit, apparebit Christi præscientia. "The number 666 may then be a number which counted from a given period in prophecy, may very nearly point out the time when this wild beast shall arise, or when the forty-two months are to begin; in which period, power was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Thus, the years in Daniel were to be computed from the going forth of the commandment, Dan. ix. 25. and the time of the coming of the Messiah was to be learned from that calculation. from the time of this prophetick vision, "If we thus compute the number 666, we shall find it falls in exactly enough with the time wherein the papacy received the temporal power, and became the beast, or was constituted the last government of Rome, which is a principal character of the beast in this prophecy." Those of our readers to whom we shall have communicated in this article very little that was not familiar to their minds before, will be good enough to recollect that our work is not intended for the learned only. We presume that many who favour our labours may be informed and gratified, especially by our quotations from Lowman." Literary and Philosophical Intelligence, etc. Useful Invention-Thursday evening much curiosity was excited about nine o'clock, in the Strand, by the appearance of a gentleman on horseback, from whose feet streams of light issued forth, and showed the pavement for several yards before and round the head of his horse as clearly as in day-time. The light proceeded from a set of lamps of his invention, one of which was fixed under each stirrup, and having three sides darkened, emitted in front a blaze which was prevented by the rider's feet from rising to dazzle his eyes, and fell on the foreground with such power as to make every hollow or impediment visible, and render it as safe to ride in the darkest night as in the brightest noon.-Lond. paper. Publications for Children.-The little volumes entitled "Jane and her Teacher" and " George Wilson," are among the most interesting and useful of books for the young. They are addressed not only to the imagination, but to the heart. Piety is beautifully interwoven with incident throughout; so that one can scarcely arise from the perusal, without finding his feelings subdued to an acknowledgment of the loveliness of true religion.-As a reward to Sabbath School pupils, they will be found particularly appropriate,-especially "Jane and her Teacher;" and to all parents who know the value of good instruction, we can cheerfully recommend them as what may be made "good gifts to their children."-Recorder and Telegraph. Preservation of Seeds.-The late Dr. Roxburgh, when in India, appears to have been in the habit of putting up the various seeds, which, among other things, he wished to send home to England, in an envelope of gum arabic: they were coated with a thick mucilage of gum, which har dened around them: and he was informed by Sir John Pringle, the President of the Royal Society, that the seeds had been received in a better state of preservation, particularly the mimosas, than he had ever seen the same kinds arrive from countries equally distant. The Free School at Baltimore, established and supported by the late John Oliver, Esq. of that city, now affords in-, struction to about one hundred and eighty boys, and one hundred and sixty girls; and is, in all respects, in the best condi tion. James Findlay, one of the oldest Gardeners in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, has at this time, and has had for a few weeks past, two beds of Mushrooms growing in his cellar, which have every appearance of producing abundantly.-They ap pear of a much thicker consistence, as well as have a much finer flavour, than those found in old meadows and fields. Unicorn.-Among the curiosities so liberally sent by Mr. Hodgson, assistant to the resident at Katmandoo, to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, is a large spiral horn, said to belong to the Unicorn, and with it drawings of the animal, made by a Bhotea peasant. The drawings are stated to convey the true image of a living animal of the deer kind, out of the centre of whose head grows a horn, of the description transmitted. The animal is described as gregarious, graminivorous, and its flesh good to eat. Its name is chiro; its colour bright bay, and its dwelling place the plains of B'hote, beyond the Himalayah, and especially the woody tract of country situated a few days north-west of Digurche, known to the natives by the name of Chaugdung. The testimony of the poor Bhoteas, whom trade and religion bring down annually to Nepaul, appears to be uniform, respecting the existence of this animal, but they hesitate about procuring it, though urged by the promise of a liberal reward. They declare that the chiro is too large and fierce to be taken alive, or to fall under their simple weapons; but they sometimes find the horns, naturally shed by the living, or remaining after the decay of the dead animal. These horns are dedicated to their divinities, and the one obtained by Mr. Hodgson was brought to Katmandoo, to be suspended in the interior of the temple of Sumb'hoo Nat'h. Captain Weddel, of the British Navy, whose account of his recent voyage towards the South Pole is in the press, after passing through an extensive barrier of ice islands, about fifty miles broad, commencing in the latitude of 68°, on the 20th February, 1823, actually reached the high latitude of seventy-four degrees fifteen minutes south. Here, with very clear weather, he was astonished to find that not a single piece of field-ice, and only four ice islands, were in sight, even as far as the eye could reach from the mast head. The state of the sea in this high southern latitude must excite wonder in the minds of geographical inquirers; who, since the unsuccessful attempt of Captain Cook to advance beyond the seventy-first degree, have considered these regions as impene trable. The lateness of the season, and many concurrent circumstances, compelled Captain Weddel to take advantage of a strong southerly wind to return home wards. He gave to this part of the ocean, the name of The Sea of George the Fourth, -Nat. Gaz. Mr. Robert Wright, of this city, has undertaken to publish by subscription an extensive work, entitled AMERICAN NATU RAL HISTORY, which is to be edited by Dr. John D. Godman. It will be illustrated by numerous engravings, from drawings by that eminent naturalist and artist, Mr. Lesueur, which have been made, in every practicable instance, from the living animal, or preserved specimens in the American Museum. As there is no complete work extant on this interesting subject, and as the means obtained for the execution of the present one are abundant and excellent, the whole performance is likely to be highly attractive and valuable. The first part, in three volumes octavo, will be ready for delivery by the first of September next. We have seen some of the engravings that warrant the most sanguine expectations, as to their general merit. Nat. Gaz. The African Colony.-Despatches have lately been received, at the Office of the American Colonization Society, and also at the Navy Department, from the Colony at Liberia, which are in the highest degree satisfactory. The Colony is under good government, and is rapidly improv The relative value of oil and coal gases has been the theme of much debate and diversity of opinion abroad. A scientific writer in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, after detailing experiments made by himself, as to the illuminating power of coal gas, remarks "It cannot be doubted that the quality of carburetted hydrogen, obtained from pit-coal, must be greatly affected, not only by the nature of the coal from which it is procured, but in no small degree by the purifying processes to which it is subjected. It is to these circumstances that we must ascribe the very opposite statements respecting the comparative illuminating powers of coal gas, which are now pressed upon the public attention, with an anxiety which betrays more of the monopolizing jealousy of commerce, than of the spirit of a liberal and enlightened philosophy." The last number of Tilloch's (London) Philosophical Magazine, contains a notice of the volume entitled The Natural History of the Bible, which was published in Boston in 1820, by its author, the Rev. Dr. Thaddeus Mason Harris, and reprinted in London a few months ago. The Philosophical Magazine says of it "Among the valuable contributions to science and literature, with which our American brethren are now enriching our language, we are happy to notice this useful volume. The want of such a work has been much felt in this country: we know not of any other book on the same plan. It is sufficiently full without being prolix; the valuable materials are arranged with a convenient method, and the author manifests a due discrimination, and has arrived at his own conclusions, on the best evidence which the subjects admit." Mr. Charles Pictet died at Geneva, on Dec. 29th, aged 70 years. As an author, he has been distinguished by several valuable articles in the Bibliotheque Britannique, and some works on Agriculture and Politics. As an agriculturist, Switzerland and even France are indebted to him; for a more complete theory of assolements, for the introduction of the Flanders plough, the breed. As a citizen, he was active in and improvements in wool, by crossing the service of his country, in 1814 and 1815, when the Diet confided the interests of Switzerland to him, in some important negotiations. Mr. Dumont, his friend, has proposed to the Sovereign Council, to erect a monument over his tomb, with this inscription:-"Erected by the grateful Republic." The celebrated Danish chemist, M. Oersted, shows, that of all the fruits which grow in Denmark, the apple is that which, together with a great quantity of sugar, produces the drink which approaches nearest to wine. Cherries, gooseberries, and other fruits, from which it has been tried to extract vinous drinks, are by no means proper for that purpose. He hopes, in the course of a few years, to be able to manufacture very good wine with the juice of the apple and sugar. The sap of the trunk of the birch, is of all vegetable substances that which furnishes the best means of imitating Champaigne, which is adulterated in London and Hamburg in the manufactories, with different sorts of berries, especially whortles.-Bulletin Universel. Among the passengers who arrived at New York from Liverpool, in the ship Columbia, was Captain Franklin, of the Royal B. Navy, who has rendered himself so justly celebrated by his valuable discoveries and his almost unexampled suffering in an expedition which he conducted over land to the Polar Sea, in the years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. It is understood that Captain Franklin is about to undertake a second expedition through Canada to the Polar Sea, with the hope of meeting or communicating with Captain Parry, who is now in the arctic regions for the purpose of finding a northwest passage, and making other geographical discoveries. Indian Longevity." Within these last eight years," says the Canada Spectator, "there have died in the village of Coganawaga, ten Indians, each of them past an hundred years of age-Some days ago, the curate buried a woman aged 166. There is now living a squaw, who has her descendants to the fifth generation; in other words the child has now living, her mother, grandmother, grandmother's mother, and grandmother's grandmother." The net expense of the Poor for the last year in the town of Salem, Mass. was only $64 85! This result has been produced by the town farm and the wise management of overseers, by which the earnings of the paupers have defrayed all the rest of their subsistence. The Charleston S. C. Courier, among many other instances of the uncommon mildness of the past winter, mentions that an apple of the second growth, measuring four inches and a half in circumference, about the middle of February. was plucked from a tree in Charleston The number of persons executed in London during the last year was only 11, being less than was ever known for the same period. In 1820, there were 43 executions. In the seven last years the total number was 176. M. Laplace has in a course of publication, the fifth volume of his Mecanique Celeste. Religious Intelligence. COM ANTICHRIST AND HIS ALLIES It would be a new thing under the sun, if revealed truth should be propagated without opposition. This is an occurrence not to be expected, till the promise shall be fulfilled, "that Satan shall be bound a thousand years." Events in providence highly favourable to the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures, and to the missionary cause, have taken place within the last five-and-twenty years. Opposition, as usual, has been made; but till lately with comparatively little violence, and with less success. But "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," will not suffer his empire to be invaded and gradually wrested from him, without making all the resistance that he can. If permitted, he will move both earth and hell, to counteract the progress of the gospel; and to nothing will he VOL. III.-Ch. Adv. be more directly and vehemently opposed, than to the wide circulation and general knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; because, when unaccompanied by note or comment, they contain "truth without any mixture of error"-truth which he well knows will subvert his kingdom, wherever it shall be received and reduced to practice. It is also a fact, however we may account for it, that the great adversary of souls has often been permitted to mar the progress of evangelical truth in its purity; and often when he has not succeeded in arresting its progress and its influence, he has still given its advocates much annoyance, in its defence and propagation; has rendered vigorous and persevering efforts necessary, and much suffering and many sacrifices unavoidable. We have been led into these reflections by observing, for some time past, that a more envenomed opposi tion than usual has been made, in several instances, to evangelical mis2 A |