been obliged in important points to dissent.

The immediate occasion of this undertaking, was the urgent request of
the people of his charge, that the substance of a course of lectures
delivered in ordinary Sabbath ministrations, might be put into a more
permanent form, for their future edification.

In the early centuries of the Christian era, so wild, enthusiastic and
corrupt were the sentiments of some Millenarians, that this book ceased
in great measure to be read or studied; and even its divine authority
came to be questioned by many learned and pious men. As the "Dark Ages"
of Popery resulted from neglect of the sacred Scriptures in general, so
even among the first reformers the Apocalypse was viewed with suspicion
as to its claim to inspiration. It is probable that many of the
unlearned will hear with wonder, and doubt the assertion, that even the
great reformer Luther rejected the Apocalypse, as being no part of the
sacred canon! The same judgment he formed of the epistle by James! With
characteristic boldness, he wrote as follows:--"The epistle of James
hath nothing evangelical in it. I do not consider it the writing of an
apostle at all.... It ascribes justification to works, in direct
contradiction to Paul and all the other sacred writers.... With respect
to the Revelation of John, I state what I feel. For more than one
reason, I cannot deem this book either apostolic or prophetical, ... and
it is sufficient reason for me not to esteem it highly, that Christ is
neither taught nor known in it."[1] Such was the estimation in which
that distinguished reformer held _two_ inspired books of the New
Testament at the dawn of the Reformation. How great the increase of
scriptural light since his day!

The grand design of this book, as declared by its divine Author, is, "to