that the prophet has faid upon the fame fubject before us in one view, 1 fhall here repeat the fubftance. It is there compared to "A GREAT EARTH"QUAKE," which literally means a great convulfion and revolution of a government. It is there said, that "a tenth part of the city," that is, of the nation, fell," that" in the earthquake," or in the course of the revolution, "feven thoufand men "of name," or of men holding offices under the ftate, were flain." If fo many officers of government are to be flain, it is not improbable that a tenth part of the nation will fall in the dreadful convulfion, and that "the remnant," though affrighted at the horrors of the scene, will not, even then, "give glory to the GOD OF HEAVEN."

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However, it feems, that the diftrefs and woes here described are to furpafs, in an eminent degree, thofe which we have feen poured out upon this devoted nation, under two former vials: for, under the first, it was only to be "plagued" with "a noifome and grievous fore," or with thofe lawlefs tumults and infurrections which we have seen come to pass before the deftruction of the monarchy, and before it had become fo loft to all truth, as to establish the atheistical republic. Under the fecond period of its " plagues," which gave rife to the republic, and the avowed establishment of atheism, it was to be, and literally has been, "fcorched with fire and great heat; that is, with thofe bloody factions and dreadful fcenes of affaffinations, infurrections, and defolating maffacres, which took place during "the

reign of terror," or defpotic domination of RoberSpierre. But however agonizing the torments of these vials may have been, the woes which are to attend the fall of this monftrous power are to be far more excruciating; for, we are here told, that

the

the people, (like men, in the agony and fury of madness) fhall gnaw their tongues for pain," and defpairing of pardon, "because of their pains and their fores," shall blafpheme the God of Heaven, and repent not of their deeds." And thus it would feem, that the extreme fufferings of this monftrous enemy of God and man, are to keep pace with its increase in wickedness, until its final deftruction.

Vial 6.-Ver. 12." And the fixth angel pour"ed out his vial on the great river Euphrates; "and the water thereof was dried up, that the "way of the kings of the Eaft might be prepared."

This vial alfo refers to future events; and yet feems to point to the country and people on which it fhall be poured out, whenever it shall be the divine pleasure. We have before feen Germany defcribed by the metaphor of " rivers and fountains." Here the prophet defcribes the country by the

great river Euphrates," evidently meaning the country watered by that river. He had before* defcribed the fame country, by the fame metaphor, where he foretels the rife and establishment of the Turkish or Ottoman empire, by the four angels of "the great river Euphrates," who were loofed or permitted, in the courfe of divine providence, to eftablish that empire. Thefe angels were the four Sultans, or leaders of the Turks and Othmans; and this river has been in the poffeffion of their fucceffors, the Emperors of Turkey, ever fince. The Euphrates is the largest river in Afiatic Turkey, and waters and enriches the whole country, and; therefore, it is a proper type for the Turkish or Othman empire itself. Here, then, the prophet again identifies the empire,

upon which this vial fhould be poured out by the fame metaphorical and defcriptive appellation,

the

r¢ great river Euphrates." Hence, and from the tenour of the Revelation, which, in fundry places, affures the church of the divine favour and ultimate triumph over all its enemies, may we not conclude, that this vial, of the wrath of God, is to be poured out upon the Turkish empire, and in it the Mohamedan apoftafy, which has perfecuted, or, as the prophet expreffes it *, "trodden under foot the holy "city," or church of Christ, in the Eaft, as the Papal hierarchy has done in the Weft, during the laft twelve centuries? And as the perfecutions of thefe unrelenting enemies of that church began about the fame time, and the period limited for their continuance was the fame, and as that period is now near expiring, it does not feem an improbable conjecture, that the fall of the Mohamedan will, in the courfe of a very few years, follow that of the Papal

church.

This conjecture will appear yet more probable, from the fenfe of the following part of the verfe. The prophet having defcribed the empire, upon which this vial is to be poured out, proceeds to defcribe the ftate of the people when that event shall take place: " and the water thereof was dried up." Water, which is the element that forms and feeds thofe great bodies the rivers, lakes, and feas, and conftantly is an accurate metaphor for the people, who form and maintain a civil fociety. And we have the authority of the prophet himself †, that, in prophetic language, "waters" mean "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.' The water of the great river Euphrates must then allude to the "multitudes of people of different na

1

tions and tongues," who compofe and are fubject to the Turkish empire: and thefe, according to the text, are to be "dried up." But how dried up? The prophet could not mean, that the people should be dried up, and their fluids, as in a dried animal or plant, be carried off in vapour; but, purfuing the metaphor, his meaning is, that they fhall become as useless and unferviceable to the fiate, as the bed of a river when dried up. Their loyalty and attachment to the ftate, which are as effential to its exiftence and prefervation, as, water is to a river, fhall be f dried up," or cease to be useful, and leave the empire, incapable of defending itself against an invading enemy. By what means the Turkish empire fhall be reduced to this lethargic, and helpless flate (an empire formerly diftinguished for its enthufiaf tic loyalty, ferocity, and yalour, by which it laid wafle more than one half of the Chriftian world,, and is, even at this day, as populous as any other upon the earth, the Chinese excepted) are not even intimated in this verfe; and, perhaps, will remain concealed, until the events themselves hall remove the veil. It may, in fome measure, be occafioned by the ba bitual practice of chewing opium, that deadly poiton, which, in the courfe of many fucceeding ages, may have gradually and imperceptibly fiupified and dried up, as it were, both their animal and intellectual faculties; or, by a general difaffection of the fubordinate princes, bafhaws, and people (here figuratively reprefented by the word water), to the terrible defpotifm of the Turkish government; or, by the fame licentious and fatanical fpirit of liberty, equality, atheism, and anarchy, which has to lately dried up" the enthufiaftic loyalty and attachment of the people of France to their grand nonarch, and prepared the way for the French revolution; or, by the intrigues and arms of the Pafwan Oglou, aided by the French republic, which feems already to have be

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gun

gun the work; or by all these means together." However, this is certain, from the evident purport of the text, that a very extraordinary indifference or difaffection in the people, to the government of the empire, muft take place to fulfil this part of the phecy.

pro

But to what end are the loyalty and attachment of the Turks to be thus alienated from their government? The text is explicit in anfwering this queftion. It is, "that the way of the kings of the "Eaft may be prepared," or, that the path to victory, and the conqueft of an empire, fo extenfive and populous, may be made cafy, and take up little of their time. But who are thefe" kings of the Eaft?" It has been an ancient opinion among the Turks, founded, as I imagine, upon this prophetic verse, that their empire would, in time, be deftroyed by the Ruffians, a great part of whofe widely extended dominions are contiguous and Eastward of the Turkish territory. From all which it feems more than probable, that the Ruffians and the Afiatic princes, their dependants and allies, are the "kings "of the Eaft," mentioned in this verfe, for whom the "way" to conqueft is to be "prepared:" and that they will be the inftruments of "pouring out" this vial of the wrath of an all righteous God, upon the fenfual and abominable apoftafy of the Mohamedan church, the moft fo of all religious fyftems; that bloody and defolating enemy of the church of Chrift, in the Eaft.

Ver. 13.-" And I faw three unclean fpirits "like frogs, come out of the mouth of the 65 DRAGON, and out of the mouth of the BEAST, and out of the mouth of the FALSE "PROPHET."

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