symbols of the seven vials, of which he had only drawn the great outlines in the last chapter. Having before concluded the particular events of the second woe, with the establishment of the power of atheism in France in 1791, brought down his history of the church to that epoch, and told us, upon that event being fulfilled," the second "woe should be past, and, behold, the third woe "cometh quickly *;" he begins a narration of the events, which were immediately to follow, under the symbol of the first vial. And here he particularly describes the dreadful plagues which fell upon France, and led to the destruction of the monarchy, the death of the King, and the establishment of atheism. Under the second vial, he foretels the fall of Papal Rome: under the third, the plagues and ravages lately suffered by Papal Germany: under the fourth, the final overthrow of the monarchy, the death of the King, the subsequent reign of terror, and the destruction of the terrorists, or principal leaders, and authors of the revolution: under the fifth, the fall of the atheistical and revolutionary power of France under the sixth, the fall of the Ottoman empire, and the Mohamedan apostacy: and under the seventh vial, the dreadful plagues of the wrath of a justly offended and long forbearing God, upon a great confederacy of pagans, apostates, and atheists, which shall conspire to make one great effort to destroy the word of God, and prevent the coming of Christ; together with the utter *Chap. xi, 14. destruction of this confederacy: and all this preparatory to the first resurrection, and the second coming of Christ to reign upon the earth. Chapter XVII. contains a minute description of that great confederacy. Chapter XVIII. announces the decree for the utter destruction of that grand confederacy. Chapter XIX. contains a beautiful and sublime description of Christ, of his coming to unite with his church, and to execute the decree passed against the satanical conspiracy. Chapter XX. gives an account of the binding of Satan, and his imprisonment in the bottomless pit a thousand years; the reign of Christ upon earth during that period; of the nature of the first, and a hint of the second resurrection, and of the blessed state of those who shall reign with Christ. It further contains an account of the loosing of Satan, and his deceiving the nations in the four quarters of the earth; of Gog and Magog; Satan's gathering of them together in battle array, a mighty host, against Christ and his kingdom; the miraculous destruction, and final condemnation of him and his host; the last resurrection, and final judgment, with Christ's victory over death and hell. Chapter XXI. includes the destruction of the old, and the creation of the new heavens and new earth; and a description of the new Jerusalem in it. Chapter XXII. concludes the Revelation, with the superlative and ineffable blessedness of the righteous in the new Jerusalem. I have thus laid before the reader a brief view of the contents of the Apocalypse. I have shown, that all the events foretold under the seven seals and six first trumpets, have come to pass, in the order they were foretold; that they bring down the predictions, with their respective completions, to the present times ;-and that no prophetic event remains to be fulfilled, save those of the last and third woe-trumpet, or of the seven vials of the wrath of God. And I have anticipated a few cursory hints respecting the contents of those vials. I have done this, as I conceived it would not only give the reader a general idea of the grand and awful subject, but enable him the better to examine into the probability of the explanation, and application of the figurative representations of the events, contained in the following Commentary. CHAP. X. Of the Revelation. AND I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. 2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, 3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. 5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that the time should not be yet. 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. 8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. D CHAP. II. Introduction to the Prophetic History of the WESTERN CHURCH, and of the "Beast of the bottomless Pit." Verse 1. tents of the seven seals were to be revealed to the prophet by Christ himself*; and those of the seven trumpets by "angels †," sent to foretel the events of the great book, containing the history of the church in general; and he now informs us, that he saw "another mighty angel," the messenger of the God of truth It was another messenger, to unfold a special matter, not contained in "this great book," namely, the particular history of the Western Church, contained in a little book, as will, I trust, appear more fully in the following comment on this chapter. I HAVE said before, that the con : This angel is here represented as clothed with a cloud, the emblem of affliction and distress. In this sense, the word is elsewhere used in Scripture "Let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it." "How hath the "Lord covered the daughter of Zion, with a "cloud in his anger!" And it is here made use of to denote, that the dreadful incursions of the Goths, and other barbarous nations; and the * Rev. vi. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12. Ibid. viii. 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12.-ix. 1. 13. |