reference to his church, and the things revealed here must necessarily occur in the completion of that design. The phrase rendered _shortly_ (ἐν τάχει) is one whose meaning has been much controverted, and on which much has been made to depend in the interpretation of the whole book. The question has been whether the phrase necessarily implies that the events referred to were _soon_ to occur, or whether it may have such an extent of meaning as to admit the supposition that the events referred to, though beginning soon, would embrace in their development far distant years, and would reach the end of all things. Those who maintain, as Professor Stuart, that the book was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and that the portion in ch. iv.‒xi. has special reference to Jerusalem and Judea, and the portion in ch. xii.‒xix. to persecuting and heathen Rome, maintain the former opinion; {35} those who suppose that ch. iv.‒xi. refers to the irruption of Northern barbarians in the Roman empire, and ch. xii., seq., to the rise and the persecutions of the Papal power, embrace the latter opinion. All that is proper in this place is, without reference to any theory of interpretation, to inquire into the proper meaning of the language, or to ascertain what idea it would naturally convey. (a) The phrase properly and literally means, _with quickness_, _swiftness_, _speed_; that is, _speedily_, _quickly_, _shortly_ (Rob. _Lex._; Stuart, _in loco_). It is the same in meaning as ταχέως. Comp. 1 Co. iv. 19, “But I will come to you _shortly_, if the Lord will.” “Go out _quickly_ into the streets,” Lu. xiv. 21. “Sit down _quickly_, and write fifty,” Lu. xvi. 6. “She rose up hastily (ταχέως) and went out,” Jn. xi. 31. “That ye are so _soon_ removed (ταχέως) from him that called you,” Ga. i. 6. “Lay hands _suddenly_ on no man,” 1 Ti. v. 22. See also Phi. ii. 19, 24; 2 Th. ii. 2; 2 Ti. iv. 9. The phrase used here (ἐν τάχει) occurs in Lu. xviii. 8, “He will avenge them _speedily_” (lit. _with speed_). “Arise up _quickly_,” Ac. xii. 7. “Get thee _quickly_ out of Jerusalem,” Ac. xxii. 18. “Would depart _shortly_,” Ac. xxv. 4. “Bruise Satan under your feet _shortly_,” Ro. xvi. 20; and Re. i. 1; xxii. 6. The essential idea is, that the thing which is spoken of was _soon_ to occur, or it was not a remote and distant event. There is the notion of rapidity, of haste, of suddenness. It is such a phrase as is used when the thing is on the point of happening, and could not be applied to an event which was in the remote future, considered as an independent event standing by itself. The same idea is expressed, in regard to the same thing, in ver. 3, “The time is _at hand_”――ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἐγγύς; that is, it is near, it is soon to occur. Yet (b) it is not necessary to suppose that the meaning is that _all_ that there is in the book was soon to happen. It may mean that the _series_ of events which were to follow on in their proper order