;

"oufness of faints:" that is, in other words, and now to her was "granted a full pardon of all her trans"greffions, through the righteousness of Chrift imputed "to her, and received by her through faith in his Gofpel for the righteoufnefs of Chrift is the righteoufness of faints. Bleffed are they which are "called unto the marriage fupper, to the union of "Chrift with his church: bleffed indeed, for they are juftified, and shall live with Chrift in his holy "kingdom."

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The churches, now united, juftified, and fully prepared to receive their Redeemer, the bleffed Son of the moft HIGH GOD is figuratively reprefented as coming to pour out this vial of the wrath of God upon the impious confederacy, and to remove it for ever out of the way of his reign upon earth. The prophetic defcription is awful, grand, and fublime. It is expreflive, as far as human language can exprefs, not only of his divine and holy character, but of the bufinefs he is to be fent to perform. "And "I faw heaven (the fpiritual church) opened, and "behold, § a white horfe; and he that fat upon him "was called Faithful and True; and in righteouf"nefs doth he judge and make war." He is reprefented as fitting upon a white horfe, to denote that, although he had taken upon himfelf the nature of man, yet he remains immaculate, and infinitely innocent and pure; and he is called Faithful and True, to fhew that he had, with the moft perfect fidelity and truth, executed the great truft reposed in him by his merciful Father, in bringing out of a finful and miferable world a part of his falien creatures, into a fate of immortality and happiness. It is farther faid, that" in righteoufnefs he doth judge and

Rom. v. 16, 17, 18.

* Ver. 6, 7, 8. + Ver. 6, 7, 8. § Chrift is defcribed by the fame terms, Rev. vi. 2.

"make

"make war;" to intimate, that the judgment paffed upon the impious confederacy, and that the war and deftruction he fhould pour down upon it, had been highly merited. "And his eyes were as a flame of fire;" they were full of ire and wrath at the impiety and extreme blafphemy of the confederacy, he was coming to deftroy. "And on his head were many

"

crowns. While his divine truths went forth only conquering and to conquer the heathen world, he had one crown only given to him *,* the crown of the pagan empire of Rome; but now, having collected a church, confifting of Jews, and many Gentile nations, over whom he is coming to reign, he has many crowns." And he had a name written, "that no man knew but himself." He had the name, the power of God, the extent and infinity of which no man could comprehend but himself. "And he was clothed with a vefture dipped in blood; to denote that he was coming on THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY, to meet this horrid confederacy, now" gathered together," to offer him "bat"tle," and to fink it in utter ruin at " Armaged"don," the "Mountain of Destruction." "And his "name is called The Word of God;" the name by which the prophet defcribes him in his Gospel; because, through him alone THE WORD OF GOD has been revealed to his fallen creature, man. " And "the armies which were in heaven," the faints and martyrs," the firft fruits of his Gofpel t," followed

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him upon white horfes, clothed in fine linen, white "and clean," to fhow, that, being now juftified by his imputed righteoufnefs, through faith in him they were without fin, immaculate and pure. And out of his mouth goeth" a fharp fword, that with it he might. "fmite the (confederated) nations." This fharp fword is faid to go out of his mouth, to defcribe his

* Rev. vi. 2.

† John, i, 1.

Rom. viii. 23.
Almighty

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Almighty power, and the eafe with which he shall deftroy his enemies. It is to be done by a word, or even the breath of his mouth, as with a sharp fword. So St. Paul fays, he fhall *" confume the man of fin," or the powers of atheism," with the spirit of "his mouth, and the brightness of his coming." And Isaiah," he shall fmite the earth with the rod of his "mouth, and with the breath of his lips fhall he lay "the wicked." To fhow the utter and everlasting deftruction with which he is to overwhelm the ungodly, and to prevent their ever molefting his church during his peaceful and bleffed reign upon earth, he is figuratively reprefented as "treading them in "the wine-prefs of the fierceness of the wrath of

σ

Almighty God," as a vintner treads, mafhes, and feparates his grapes, never more to be united." And now having configned the ungodly to everlafting perdition, he is to be KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS; that is, he is to be KING, and reign over the kings, and princes, and the lords of the tribes of Ifrael, and over all the Gentile kings and lords, who have been juftified by his righteousness.

Ver. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.-Here the prophet paffes to the immenfity of the deftruction and the iffue of the battle, between the Son of God and the innumerable hoft of his enemies, on the great day of God Almighty, at Armageddon. He reprefents

an

angel as ftanding in the fun," a place from which he overlooks the whole earth; crying with a loud voice, faying, " to all the fowls that fly in the midft "of heaven, come, and gather yourselves together, "unto the fupper of THE GREAT GOD, that ye may

+ Ifaiah, xi. 4.

To tread in a wine-prefs, means utter deftruction, Lam. i. 15. Ifaiah, Ixiii. 3. Rev. xiv. 19.

❝ cat

"eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and "the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horfes, "and of them that be on them, and the flesh of all "(kinds of) men, both free and bond, both small "and great. And I faw the beaft, and the kings of "the earth, and their armies, gathered together *, "to make war against him that fat upon the horse, "and against his army."

Ver. 20. "And the beaft was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before "him, with which he deceived them that had re"ceived the mark of the beaft, and them that "worshipped his image:" meaning by the beast, the beaft of the fea, or the church of Rome; and, by the falle prophet, the head of, or the blafphemous hoft of atheists, who, not corrected by the plagues of the second and fifth vials, had now joined in a confpiracy againft Chrift, with the dragon, or polytheism, as I have before fhewn. "Thefe were caft into "the LAKE OF FIRE BURNING WITH BRIMSTONE. "And the remnant were flain with the fword of "him that fat upon the horfe, which fword (or "breath) proceedeth out of his mouth (an immenfe "and dreadful flaughter), for ALL THE FOWLS "s WERE FILLED WITH THEIR FLESH."

Here the attentive reader will obferve, that the powers of apoftafy and atheifm are to be utterly destroyed in the battle of the GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY, but that nothing is faid refpecting the "dragon," or the powers of Polytheism or Pagan idolatry, although parties engaged in the battle. Hence we may conclude, that this darling and firft-born child of Satan after the general

*Rev. xvi. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

deluge,

deluge, with a part of his pagan hoft, will be fuffered to escape, being referved for a future and more dreadful punishment. And although we shall find this conclufion verified in the next chapter, yet the utter deftruction of apoftafy and atheism, and the reservation of polytheifm for future perdition, are foretold by Daniel in a manner fo correfponding with what we have here feen, that I cannot forbear to add a fummary view of what this first of prophets has faid refpecting them, and the following kingdom of Chrift, although I have treated of them more fully in a fubfequent chapter.

Daniel * when foretelling the great events which were to come to pass between his time and the kingdom of Chrift, reprefents the GOD OF HEAVEN as fitting in judgment upon the four beasts, the Babylonian, Perfian, Grecian, and Roman cmpires, and paffing a decree for their utter defiruction. He then adds, "And I beheld then,

because of the words the little horn fpake, I "beheld even until the beaft (the fourth or Roman "beaft) was flain, and his body (meaning every "member, horn, and branch of him) destroyed, "and given to the burning flame," or everlasting deftruction and the angel, when explaining the decree, tells him it included "the little horn." "But the judgment shall fit, and they (the faints) "fhall take away his dominion, to confume and defiroy it unto the end." Having thus foretold the execution of the decree against the Roman beast, even in its papal ftate, and of France in its atheiftical fate, he informs us what was the fate of the three other beafts, or the Babylonian, Perfian, and Grecian empires, and adds, "as concerning the