"IN ALL. But fome man will fay, how are the "dead raifed up, and with what body do they come ? "Thou fool! that which thou foweft is not quick"ened except it die, and that which thou foweft not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may "chance of wheat, or fome other grain. But God "giveth it a body as it hath pleafed him, and to a every feed its own body. Again, Now this I fay, "brethren, that flesh and blood: cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit "incorruption. Behold I fhew you a myftery, we "fhall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed in "a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the laft trump for this corruptible muft put on incor ruption, and this mortal muft put on immortality. "Themifhall be brought to pafs the faying that is "written, death is fwallowed up in victory. O "death, where is thy fting? O grave, where is thy "victory? The fling of death is fin, and the ftrength ❝ of fin is the law, But. thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jefus "Chrift*." Thus we perceive, that it is ordained of God, that Chrift fhall come; that he fhall come to conquer all his enemies, even death itfelf; that, upon his coming, he fhall raife the juft from the dead, and reign with them; that he fhall then fummon before his righteous and awful tribunal the quick and the dead, even all the race of Adam, and fhall pafs a final judgment upon them, according to the deeds done in the body; and, that, having done thefe things, he fhall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be ALL IN ALL. Indeed there are many other paffages in the New Testament which bear witnefs to thefe truths. I have 1 Cor. xv. 50-58. cited fo many of them only as I thought neceffary to introduce the prophet's explanation of them; and as a confirmation of the truth of his prophecies, which have been ridiculed by many unbelievers. After having briefly mentioned, in the review of his awful fubject, the grand confpiracy of the impious oppoters of the word of God, their gathering together to battle, and alluded to the day of the coming of Chrift, the prophet adds, And the "feventh angel poured out his vial into the air."Now what does he mean by the word air? He could not, I imagine, intend that we should underfiand it in the common and literal fenfe; because, to pour out a vial of the wrath of God into the "air," would not answer the purpose of protecting the just against their enemies, and punishing the offenders against his righteous will. Should it be his pleasure to fill the air" with peftilential vapours, or otherwife to render it unfit for human refpiration, the godly and ungodly would equally faffer. From this. it is evident, that we ought not to take the word "air" in its literal fenfe: we must of course look for it in allegory, Here we shall find, in confulting the paffage under confideration, with other parts of the Scrip→ tures, and examining the nature and qualities of the air, that we are to underftand by it the ungodly enemies of his divine will. The preceding verses defcribe the idolatrous, apoftatical, and atheistical powers, as gathered together to: battle, and immediately after we are informed, that the vial is poured out. On whom then are we to conclude that this vial is to be poured out, but upon this grand confederacy of the ungodly against the God of truth, for the purpofe of deftroying multitudes of them; to difmay, confound, and difperfe the remainder; and to render them, in the course of divine Providence, A fo fo weak, as not to be able to disturb the reign of Chrift upon earth, which is to fucceed this great deftruction: a reign, during which even Satan him felf is to be bound? Indeed the wicked and ungod ly are defcribed by fundry fimilar figurative epithets in both Teftaments. Jeremiah makes ufe of the word "wheat," to denote the righteous obfervers of the word of God, the effence of all truth, because it is the most precious part of the plant; and compares the ungodly to the fchaff," becaufe it is the lightest and moft worthless part of the grain*. So Job calls the wicked "ftubble," and "chaff" before the wind,and obferves,that the ftormcarrieth them away. Malachi, when referring to the day of the coming of, and to the event of this vial, declares, that " all the "proud, and all the wicked, fhall be as fubble, and 66 the day that cometh fhall burn them up," faith the Lord of hofts, "that it fhall leave them neither “root nor branch. And St. Matthew, when referring to the coming of Chrift to judge the world, defcribes the righteous by the term "wheat," and the ungodly by chaff," whofe "fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor (the world), "and gather the wheat (the righteous) into his gar "ner (his kingdom), but he will burn up the "chaff (evidently meaning the ungodly) with unquenchable fire §." 66 Thus we perceive the moft wicked and worthlefs part of mankind, who are ever liable to be "carried away" by every luftful and finful appetite, are metaphorically defcribed by the word "chaff," -or “stubble." Now if " ftubble,” or “ chaff," be a proper metaphor for the wicked and ungodly, the word "air" is much more fo, becaufe the qualities *Cbap. xxiii. 28. 2 Chap. xxi. 18. + Chap. iv. r. of of the air are more comprehenfively defcriptive of their character and qonduct. Of all the elements, the air is the moft volatile and changeable; fo it is with the ungodly. Deftitute of faith in the word of God, they have no pole-ftar to look up to; no rule to direct their thoughts or actions; no teft by which they can know right from wrong, virtue from vice, or true piety from the blackest blafphemy; no guide to lead them to the truths of the ever-living God, the effence of all TRUTH. Therefore, like the air, volatile and unfixed, they are liable to be changed by every falfe doctrine, and to be blown to and fro by every luftful defire, and finful inclination. In this metaphorical fenfe, I humbly apprehend the prophet utes the word "air." But to give this explanation of the word the greater probability, St. Paul exprefsly calls the power of the ungodly the power of the air" (because there is nothing folid, fixed, or permanent in it), and farther informs us, that Satan," the PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE "AIR, is the fpirit that worketh in the children of "difobedience," or the ungodly: that is, he inceffantly labours in feducing and acquiring abfolute dominion over them. From all which, and the general tenour of this vial, that continues to the end of the laft dreadful judgment of God, we may conclude, that it is to be poured upon the ungodly confederacy of idolaters, apoftates, and atheifts, "gathered "together IN BATTLE ARRAY, at the mountain of "deftruction, on the GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY," whenever it fhall be his righteous pleasure that it fhall come. The vial being thus poured out upon the ungodly confederacy, and all its hofts, the prophet farther informs us, that there will come " a great voice "out of the temple of heaven from the throne" (from God himself), faying, "IT IS DONE;" that is, as I humbly interpret it, the wicked, having thus filled up the meature of their iniquities, in rejecting the merciful conditions of his Golpel of Chrift, and even thus confpiring to deftroy it, it fhall be no more preached to them, but Chrift will withdraw his tender care over them, and leave them to the ftrong de lufions of their fins. So Chrift, when upon the cross, in his last agonizing moment, when, having made his atonement to his Father's juftice for the fins of the world, faid, "It is finifhed. 66 The prophet now concludes his great outlines of this awful fubject, by a brief intimation of the ifue of the battle between the bleffed Son of God, and Satan at the head of all his impious hofts. And here he tells us, that on the day thereof, there fhall be" a great earthquake." Whether this word is to be underftood in the literal, or the metaphorical fenfe; whether it is to be a violent concuffion of the carth, or a great diffenfion and convulfion among the three parties of the confederacy, it is, to be "fuch as was not finee men were upon the earth, fo mighty an earthquake, and fo great.". We ought to read the text in the latter fenfe, and that this great confederacy of idolaters, deifis, and atheists, are to quarrel among themfelves, and to be the inftrument of their own deftruction. My reafons for this expofition of the text are thefe: we are told in the next verfe, that " the great city is to be divided "into three parts.' Now the term "city" is made ufe of in different places of the Scriptures, as a figure to defcribe a great body of people united. The Jewish church and nation are defcribed by the meta 66 59 -* John, xix. 30, phor |