and did worship, and said unto him," (the captain of the host of the Lord,) "What saith my Lord unto his servant?" Numb. xxii. 31: "And he (Balaam) saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face." Daniel ii. 46 : "Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel." As the Editor's argument, therefore, must apply with equal force to angels as to Jesus, it is quite plain that no conclusion can be drawn from it relative to the identity of the being who, in Rev. xxii. 9, forbids John to worship him. The fact is, that the word "worship," in scriptural language, is used sometimes as implying an external mark of religious reverence paid to God; and since, in this sense, worship was offered by John to the angel, or to Jesus, he refused it, as is evident from the last sentence of verse 9, "worship God;"-and sometimes the same word "worship" is used as signifying merely a token of civil respect due to superiors and accordingly, in this latter sense, not only Jesus, but angels and prophets, and even temporal princes or masters, used to accept of it, as we find in Matt. xviii. 26, "The servant, therefore, fell down and worshipped him," and so in various other instances. It denotes, in this acceptation, merely a mark of reverence, which neither identifies those to whom it is offered with the Deity, nor raises them to a level with their Creator, the Most High. My readers will observe, that the author of the book of : Revelation declares himself, in ch. i. 17, to have fallen at the feet of Jesus; and he speaks also, in ch. v. 8, of the four beasts and four-and-twenty elders having fallen down before the Lamb; avoiding, however, in these places, as well as throughout the whole book of Revelation, the use of the word worship to express the reverence shewn to the Lamb; while to the words "fell down," when referring to God, he adds invariably, " and worshipped him." Vide ch. vii. 11, xi. 16, xix. 4, and v. 14. 3rdly. He says, "How could Jesus, who declares himself to be Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, reject worship from John?" I do not wonder at the Editor's entirely neglecting to notice my remarks on the terms "Alpha and Omega," or, "the beginning and the end," in the Second Appeal, page 295,-to wit, "Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, are, in a finite sense, justly applicable to Jesus,"-when I find him regardless of the explanation given by John himself respecting these terms, and by St. Paul, one of his fellow-labourers. Rev. iii. 14: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works," &c. Col. i. 15: "The first-born of every creature." 1 Cor. xv. 24: "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father." Ver. 28: " And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that God may be all in all." As to Rev. i. 8, introduced again by the Editor, the expressions it contains are given as those of God himself, and not of Christ, since it describes the speaker to be Him "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty"—an epithet peculiarly applied to God five times in the book of Revelation, and very often throughout the rest of the sacred writings, and which is but a repetition of what is found in the preceding verse (4) of that chapter. Being equivalent to "Jehovah," it has never been applied to Jesus in any part of the Revelation, either separately or joined with the terms Alpha and Omega." But, as I have already fully noticed this verse in page 475, I will not return to the subject here. 4thly. The Editor urges, "How could Jesus, who searches the heart, reject the acceptance of worship?" In answer to which, I beg to remind him, that the prophets and the apostles also, as far as they possessed the gift of prophecy, were able to discover what passed in the hearts of other men, or, in other words, were " searchers of hearts." Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles, ch. v. 3, 4, 8, 9, St. Peter is represented as a searcher of the heart; but he is again stated, in ch. x. 25, 26, to have prohibited Cornelius from offering him worship. And in 2 Kings vi. 32, Elisha is declared to have known what passed in the heart of the king, without our therefore acknowledging him as an object of religious worship. The Editor, lastly, lays stress on the phrase found in Rev. vii. 17, "The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne," overlooking the application of the same word "midst" to the elders and the four beasts, in ch. iv. 6. Besides, such a phrase as "to sit with the Father on his throne," implies nothing in the book of Revelation except an acquisition of holy perfection and honour, which Jesus, in common with every righteous Christian, acquired through his merits. Ch. iii. 21: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." In answer to his assertion, that it is "the Lamb whom the blessed constantly adore, crying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty," I beg to refer my readers to ch. iv. 8, which contains this phrase; nay, rather to the whole of that chapter, where they will find that no mention of "the Lamb," or Jesus, is once made. The Editor observes, (page 577,) that " in verses 5, 6, of ch. xxi., another speaker besides the angel is introduced in an abrupt manner." I therefore repeat verse 11 of ch. xx., and verses 5-7 of ch. xxi., and leave my readers to judge whether or not the speaker here is introduced in the same abrupt *In the book of Revelation, John introduces, about eighty times, different speakers, but not once without a distinct notice of the speaker in the context. In ch. xvi. 14, 15, the day of the Lord is metaphorically introduced as a speaker. Vide 1 Thess. v. 3, and 2 Peter iii. 10. manner as he is alleged to be in ch. xxii. 12, according to the interpretation of the Editor. Ch. xx. 11: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." Ch. xxi. 5: "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful." Ver. 6: "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega," &c. Ver. 7: "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” I really cannot perceive what the Editor could have meant by the following remark: "He there (in ver. 5) uses the same language found in ch. xxii. 6, Write, for these words are true and faithful' !" I hope he could not have intended to identify the speaker in ch. xxii. 6, who represents himself as a fellow-servant of John, with the speaker in ch. xxi. 5, who thus, speaking of himself, says, (ver. 7,) "I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Besides, the language found in ch. xxi. 5, is not “ the very same" used in ch. xxii. 6, since in the former the whole speech stands thus-" Write, for these sayings are true and faithful;" but in the latter we find only, "These sayings are faithful and true;" but not the verb " write," nor the casual preposition "for." The Editor comes next to what he calls internal evidence; saying, "Internal evidence, however, de |