No. m presented to the LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIKGO by FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY MR. JOHN C. ROSE donor JBRARY SMUFOIIMM AN DIEGO AN EXPOSITION es 0f BY THE REV. JAMES DU PUI, A. M. Cuaplain in the U. S. Aruay. PHILADELPHIA: J. W. MOORE, No. 195 CHESTNUT STREET. 1853. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by JAHHS DU PUI, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PREFACE. THE author having in the course of a ministry of more than twenty years made prophecy a subject of frequent reading and study, at length found time to write the following discourses. He ventures to present them to the public in the hope that they will be found to throw some additional light on the hidden sense of the apocalypse, and be in some degree instrumental in promoting attention and respect to the teachings and admonitions of that wonderful book. St. John has declared them blessed who read and hear the words of his prophecy and keep the sayings written therein. The author asks of those to whom these pages may come, that they will not prejudge them as fanciful and obscure, but give them a candid investigation. DISCOURSE I. CLEMENT of Alexandria, a learned Christian writer of the second century, makes mention in one of his works, of a foreign philosophy, which considered the sensible world to be an image of an ideal world. Indeed, in the philosophy or literature of all nations, objects of sense are of ten used for the purpose of representing objects of an intellectual nature. It is for such a purpose, that sensible representations are used in the revelations communicated to the Apostle John. To ascertain the hidden sense of the visions re- corded by him in the book of revelation, we must understand that the sensible world represents an ideal world, the world of Roman rule and empire ; the Roman world, and that objects, bodies, places, properties, and events in the one, represent corresponding objects, bodies, places, properties, and events in the other. Heaven, or the regions on high, correspond to the high places of authority or influence. The sun, moon, and stars, in the firmament of heaven, represent those stations or persons, who by their eminent positions, and by the intellectual light and influences emanating from them, enlighten and rule the world. The earth being under the heavens, corresponds to the place of subjection which contains the governed part of the population. The winds have their region and motion immediately above the surface of the earth, and are restless in their nature, ready t" break forth into violence and storm. The four winds of the earth held or restrained from blowing, represent the restless elements or nations, or communities on the frontier, who were ready to break forth in war and revolution upon the empire, but were kept in a state of restraint and quiet by the Roman armies. The earth as signifying land, represents the place of privilege and stability, occupied by those subjects, who possess- 10 ing the name and rights of Romans, were fixed and settled in their homage and obedience. The waters, including fountains, rivers, and sea^, represent that portion of the population which consisted of the less privileged subjects, comprehending people and multitudes, and nations and tongues. Fountains and rivers, represent communities or nations of a foreign language and civilization, in alliance or favour with the Romans. While the sea represents the greatness of provincial subjects. The things under the earth, represent that portion of the population who existed in an oppressed and obscure condition. Of the things on the earth, a mountain stands for some portion or community of the Roman people eminent and strong. Trees correspond to men of rank and family the nobility. While grass corresponds to the Roman people of an inferior rank and condition. A living body represents a corporation. The people of a city considered as a body corporate and politic, is represented by a woman, while a large or catholic corporation, including nations and kingdoms, is represented by some great powerful animal. A horse stands for a military corporation. The word corporation is derived from a Latin word, which means, a living body. Man is especially distinguished from the lower animal creation by a sense of religion, and so men are intended to convey the idea of religious worshippers. The dif- ferent tribes of Israel, represent the different Roman communi- ties, where Christianity is the prevailing or established religion. While nations and kindreds, and people and tongues, represent the different Roman communities where idolatry or paganism is the prevailing religion. The word nation, or Gentile, or heathen, is a translation of the same Greek word, and is in many parts of scripture used as synonymous with idolaters* From the prophet Ezekiel, we learn that in measuring periods of idolatrous oppression and tyranny, a day is the divinely ap- pointed representative of a year. . Perhaps the word in this sense is to be confined to such periods, and is not intended to apply to the predicted 1000 years of blessedness. 11 Attaching such corresponding signification to the several sen- sible objects mentioned, let us proceed to ascertain the meaning concealed under such a covering, in those visions or sensible representations narrated in the 6th and 7.th chapters of the Book of the Revelation of St. John. In the first three chapters, the Apostle narrates what he had seen and heard of matters relating to his own times, but in the beginning of the 4th chapter, he apprises us that he is going to narrate what he had seen and heard of matters relating to future times. i m < REVELATIONS, Chap. 4th and 5th. "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven : and the first voice which I heard was as it were, of a trumpet talking with me ; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit : and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone : and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats : and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment ; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded light- nings and thunderings and voices : and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal : and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him ; and they were full of eyes within : and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty 12 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory and honour and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." " And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not : behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and "four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; And hast made us unto our Qod kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders : and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- sands ; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which 13 is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that lived for ever and ever." The sensible representations narrated in these 4th and 5th chapters, are especially intended to teach us that for the revela- tion of these future events, we are indebted to the prevailing merits and instrumentality of our crucified Redeemer. These future events are contained in a book sealed with seven seals, and this book, no one in heaven, or earth, or under the earth, no one in the wide creation was found worthy to take and open, but the Lamb, who was slain for us, and hath re- deemed us unto God by his blood. The next two chapters, the 6th and 7th, are taken up with the opening of six of the seals, and the exposure of their con- tents. As each seal is opened in succession, its contents are exposed in sensible representations. "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals. And I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts, saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse : and he that sat on him had a bow : and a crown was given unto him : and he went forth conquering and to conquer." .*, . The horse with his rider represents Roman power, as a mili- tary corporation under the direction and control of emperors. The military force constituted the foundation of the imperial government. The very word emperor, in its original import, signified a general or commander of an army. White is the emblem of justice and innocence. The white color of the horse is intended to exhibit the army as yet inno- cent of the vices and crimes peculiar to a military corporation, when it becomes the controling or ruling power. The bow is the symbol of power in war, while the crown is 2* 14 the symbol of monarchical authority the authority of the supreme magistrate. The rider with the bow and the crown, going forth conquer- ing and to conquer, represents a succession of emperors, who, by their ability in war and in civil government, would command universal submission, and secure universal order and prosperity. And such was the character of the army and of the emperors, in the period that immediately followed the age of St. John. Ireneus, Origen and other early Christian writers concur in saying, that St. John received these visions in the latter part of the reign of the Emperor Domitian. And if any man, says Gibbon, (3 chap.) were called to fix the period in the history of the world, when the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. "The armies were restrained by the firm, but gentle hand of four successive em- perors, whose characters and authority commanded involuntary respect. During a period of four score years, (Gibbon, 1 Chap.) the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. Within two years after the death of Domitian, Trajan succeeded to the empire. He was a warlike Prince and an able general, and his " reign of twenty years was a succession of military victories and conquests. .Every day the astonished Senate received the intelligence of new names and new nations, that acknowledged his sway." We should name the Emperor Trajan, if we might select a single emperor, to represent the rider on the white horse with the bow and the crown, going forth conquering and to conquer. The next three successors of Trajan, though they did not pursue his system of conquest, yet commanded the respect of the surrounding nations by the terror of the Roman arms, and 15 the moderation and justice of their conduct. They endea- voured to convince mankind that the Roman power placed above the temptation of conquest, was actuated by love of order and justice. And hence the fiercest Barbarians frequently submitted their differences to the arbitration of the emperor." Marcus Aurelius was the last emperor who made the good of his subjects the chief object of his government, and with him expired the virtue and glory of the army and of imperial power. Thus from the end of the first century, when St. John had just finished his labours and his life, down to the year when Commodus became emperor, the Roman army as a body or cor- poration, exhibited a fair character for moderation and justice towards the rest of the empire, and was commanded by a suc- cession of Princes distinguished for ability and success, both in war and in civil government. But from the accession of Commodus, the army exhibited a new character, and came under the conduct of a new kind of emperors. " And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse, that was red (of fire,) and power was given to him to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another : and there was given to him a great sword." The color red or of fire, is significant of anger, wrath, hos- tility, and by the red or fiery color of the horse, we are taught that the army would now appear in an angry and hostile aspect towards the rest of the empire. Such an angry and hostile spirit in the army was made manifest in the reign of Commodus, who, by the impunity with which he executed his bloody ven- geance upon Senators and citizens, taught the soldiers the weak- ness of the Senate, and of the civil authority, and their own power and importance in the government, and which led them to usurp the rights of electing the emperor, a right which had hitherto belonged to the civil authority. By the power or per- mission given to the rider on this horse, to take peace from the 16 earth, and that they should kill one another, we are to under- stand that the course of the imperial administration would be attended with strife and war among the Romans themselves. And such was the fact in the reigns of Commodus and of his immediate successors. In the reign of Commodus, the concord which had hitherto existed between the army and the civil authority, was changed into discord and strife, and at his death, the whole empire was involved in the evils of civil war. Besides the power or permission given to this rider to create discord and civil war among the Romans, there was also given unto ^him a great sword. To the rider with the bow on the white horse, there was given a crown, but to the rider on the red horse, there was given a great sword. While the bow and the crown are symbolic, both of military and civil power, they do not convey prominently, the idea of penal power, which the sword does. The great sword, there- fore, given to the rider on the second horse, gives us to under- stand, that it would be the policy of the emperors represented by this rider, to maintain the order and submission of the empire by the severity and terror of sanguinary penal inflictions. Commodus set the example of the cruel use of this absolute and terrible power, with which he was invested. But if we might select a single emperor, we should name Septemus Severus as the rider on the red horse, who had permission to create discord and war on the Roman earth, and to whom was given the great sword. He established himself upon the im- perial throne at the expense of a bloody civil war, which con- vulsed the whole empire. And he was cruel and severe in the exercise of his power over the lives of his subjects. He sen- tenced to a bloody execution, illustrious females and Roman Senators, and many of the noblest provincials of Gaul and Spain. He was cruel on system, and wrote a treatise in vindi- cation of his excessive severity in the punishment of political offenders. Gibbon, in the chapters containing this period of Roman history, begins with a short paragraph on the power of 17 the sword, which the emperors now without disguise used as the instrument of government. The emperors now no longer took pains to conceal the fact, of the ascendancy and supremacy of the sword the military power. "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld. And lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." Black being the sign of affliction, and of grief, and mourning, we may learn from the black color of the horse, that the army would now exhibit itself in a character afflictive and grievous to the rest of the empire exhibit the character of a grievous mili- tary despotism. And with this character of the army will cor- respond the character of the imperial administration. The pair of balances, or the yoke which the rider has in his hand, is the sign of severe justice, or heavy and grievous oppres- sion. And the high price of wheat and barley, and the caution not to hurt or adulterate the oil and the wine implying a great scarcity of these articles, signify that this heavy and grievous military imperial oppression, would fall upon the cultivators of the soil, and prove detrimental to agriculture. It was the saying of a Persian monarch, that the authority of a prince must be defended by a military force ; that force can only be maintained by taxes; all taxes must at last fall upon agriculture, and agriculture can never flourish, but under the protection of jus- tice and moderation. When the emperors came to depend wholly upon the army for their election and power, it became their principal object to secure the affection of that body, and they began to esteem the good opinion of the citizens as of little moment. They increased the pay of the soldiers to an extravagant de- gree, and began to confer upon them extraordinary donations, on every public occasion of danger or festivity. And this ex- 18 cessive increase of their pay, and of donations, compelled the emperors to increase the weight of taxes, which falling upon the productions of the soil and enhancing their prices, pressed heavily upon the indigent classes of society. And the extrava- gant expenditure and consumption of the army, and of the im- perial government which had to be supplied by the industrious and producing classes, now began to be felt as a heavy and griev- ous yoke. We may begin this period of imperial oppressive taxation with the emperor Caracalla, the son of Severus, and extend it down beyond the Emperor Maximin. The sixth chapter of Gibbon, dwells upon this period, in the last part of this chapter before he begins in the next chapter to narrate the oppression and tyranny of Maximin, he thinks it the proper time and place to give us a short account of imperial taxation and oppression. He begins the period of oppressive imperial taxation with the Emperor Caracalla, the son and suc- cessor of Septimus Severus, whose policy it was to lavish his favours and gifts upon the army. But the liberality of the father, says the historian, has been restrained by prudence, and his indulgence to the troops, was tempered by firmness and au- thority. The careless profession of the son was the policy of one reign, and the inevitable ruin of the army, and of the em- pire. The vigor of the soldiers instead of being confirmed by the severe discipline of the camps, melted away in the luxuries of cities. The excessive increase of their pay and donations exhausted the state to enrich the military order. " The rapacious son of Severus, was not contented with such " a measure of taxation as had appeared sufficient to his mode- " rate predecessors, but during his reign, he crushed alike every " part of the empire under the weight of his iron sceptre" his iron yoke. This emperor used the most iniquitous means to obtain money for purchasing the venal support of the army. He confiscated the property of the richest men in Rome. He impoverished 19 his subjects in all the provinces of the empire, by his excessive taxes, that he might give away immense sums to his guards, and pay heavy annuities to the barbarians on the frontiers. He granted to all the free inhabitants of the empire, the name and privileges of Romans, in order that he might derive from them additional taxes. " When all the provincials," says Gibbon, " became liable to " the peculiar impositions of Roman citizens, they seemed to " acquire a legal exemption from the tributes which they had " paid in their former condition as subjects. Such were not the " maxims of government adopted by Caracalla and his pretended " son. The old as well as the new taxes were at the same time "levied in the provinces. In the course of this history, we " shall be too often summoned to explain the land tax the capi- " tation and the heavy contributions of corn, wine, oil and meat, " which were exacted from these provinces for the use of the " courts, the army and the capital." The emperor Maximin, may be adduced as a conspicuous re- presentative of the rider on the black horse, who had in his hand a yoke, and who was followed with the cry of severity and op- pression. "This tyrant's avarice," says Gibbon, " stimulated by the insa- " tiate desires of the soldiers, at length attacked the public pro- " perty. Every city of the empire was possessed of an independent " revenue, destined to purchase corn for the multitude, and to " supply the expenses of the games and entertainments. By " a single act of authority the whole mass of wealth was at " once confiscated for the use of the imperial treasury. The " temples were stripped of their most valuable offering of gold " and silver, and the statues of gods, heroes and emperors were " melted down, and coined into money. These impious orders " could not be executed without tumults and massacres, as many " places the people choose rather to die in the defence of their " altars, than to behold in the midst of peace their cities expos- "ed to the rapine and cruelty of war. Throughout the Roman 20 " world, a general cry of indignation was heard imploring ven- geance on the common enemy of human kind, and at length " by an act of private oppression, a peaceful and unarmed pro- tl vince was driven into rebellion against him." After the death of Maximin, there was a short intermission of military oppression, until in the reign of the emperor Philip, the army and the imperial government exhibiting the signs of division and dissolution, inflicted on the empire all the evils of military rule and despotism, " And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse ! and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." The original word for pale, is more commonly translated green. And the color green, when it qualifies grass, or vegeta- tion, denotes health and vigor, but it has an oppositive signifi- cation when it is used to qualify an animal body. It then de- notes a state of decay and corruption. This horse had on him a rider called death, and is accompanied by hell. Mortality and corruption, are here personified. The color of the horse portends that the army during this period would exhibit symptoms of approaching dissolution while death and hell, portend that the calamities inflicted upon the Roman people, by imperial power during this period, would be of the most disastrous nature. The sword is the emblem of death inflicted by the civil mag- istrate or in war hunger denotes wants of the necessaries of life ; death signifies pestilence, while the beasts, wild beasts of the earth, signify bodies, or combinations of men, whose object is rapine and prey. The meaning of the whole is that the army and the imperial government approaching a state of dissolution, would be accom- panied in their course by great mortality among the Romans, 21 occasioned by penal executions and civil war by famine, by pestilence, and by rapacious combinations, or bodies of violent men. This period of Roman history extends from the reign of the emperor Philip, down to the death of Galienus. To the undiscerning eye of the vulgar, says (ribbon, Philip appeared a monarch, no less powerful than Hadrian, or Augustus, had formerly been. "The form (of the monarchy,) was still the same, but the animating health and vigour were gone." This author commences the chapter which relates the history of this period in the following language. From the great secular games celebrated by Philip, (A. D. 248,) to the death of the emperor Galienus, (A. D. 268,) there elapsed twenty years of shame and misfortune. During that calamitous period, every instant of time was marked, every pro- vince of the Roman world was afflicted by barbarous invaders, and military tyrants, wild beasts, and the ruined empire seemed to approach the last and fatal moment of its dissolution, and he concludes the chapter in the following language, relating to a general famine, which prevailed during this period. This long and general famine says he, was the inevitable consequence of rapine and oppression, which extirpated the produce of the pre- sent, and the hope of future harvests. Famine is almost always followed by epidemical diseases, the effect of scanty and un- wholesome food. Other causes must however, have contributed to the furious plague, which from the year 250, to the year 265, raged with- out interruption, in every province, every city, and almost every family of the Roman empire. During some time 5,000 persons died daily at Rome. And many towns that had escaped the hands of the barbarians were entirely depopulated. Could we venture to extend the mortality of Alexandria, to the provinces of the empire, we might suspect that war, (the sword,) pesti- lence, (death,) and famine, (hunger,) had consumed in a few years a moiety of the human species. During the reign of Galienus, the imperial throne was con- 3 22 tested by nineteen pretenders, and the empire infested by a gen- eral irruption of the barbarians, so that while the public forces of the state, were dissipated in private quarrels, the defenceless provinces lay exposed to every invader. " The bravest usurpers " were compelled by the perplexity of their situation, to con- " elude ignominious treaties with the common enemy, to pur- " chase with oppressive tributes the neutrality or service of the " barbarians, and to introduce hostile and independent nations " into the heart of the Roman monarchy. Such were the bar- " barians, and such the tyrants, who under the reigns of " Valerian and Galienus, dismembered the provinces and re- " duced the empire to the lowest pitch of disgrace and ruin, from " which it seemed impossible that it should ever emerge." For its escape from utter ruin, it was chiefly indebted to the emperor Aurelian but even in a battle fought with the barbarians under this able emperor, the Romans received so severe a blow, that the immediate dissolution of the empire was apprehended. This indeed was the last stage of the imperial government, considered as a military power. After this calamitous period a revolution in the Roman con- stitution, was begun by Diocletian, and consummated by Constan- tine, and his successors. One of the principles of the new system introduced by Diocletian, was division. He divided the empire the provinces and every branch of the civil as well as mili- tary administration. The object of such division was to establish a proper balance between the civil and military powers. But this division of power which had been commenced by Diocletian, and improved by Constantine and his successors, while it secured the tran- quility of the emperor, destroyed the vigor and power of the army. The imperial power became a simple despotism, with more of a political than of a military character. The great curse of the Romans, during several centuries had been military despotism, but the license of the turbulent soldiery was now checked and 23 restrained by the pride and pomp with which the civil and im- perial authority was surrounded and the despotism of a court, was put in place of the despotism of a camp, and thus the Roman power ceased to be a military despotism, and in the next period of Roman history, it appears in the character of a religious despotism, attempting the extermination of Christianity. And consequently the horse is no longer used to represent the Romans as a body corporate, but a different animal is used for this purpose in a subsequent (12th) chapter. DISCOURSE II. REVELATIONS, vi. 9-11. " And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testi- mony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, Oh Lord, holy and true, dos't thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. And white robes were given, unto every one of them : and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren which should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." Here the souls or persons of those who had sacrificed their lives for their Christian faith and testimony, are represented as under the altar, and from thence calling upon Grod, with a loud voice, and inquiring how much longer he would allow the dwel- lers on the earth the pagan Romans, to shed the blood of Christians with impunity. And the purport of the answer to their inquiry was, that they should wait patiently for a short time, until the pagan Romans in their sanguinary persecution of Christians had filled up a certain measure, beyond which the judgment of Grod would overtake them, and deprive them of their persecuting power. From the contents of this fifth seal, we learn that the teachers 24 and professors of Christianity were now to suffer a short, but final period of sanguinary persecution at the hands of the Pa- gan Romans. This period of pagan Roman persecution began in the reign of Diocletian. It terminated upon the accession of Constan- tino, to the undivided imperial throne, when the pagans lost their power and influence with the government, and were no longer allowed to persecute men unto death, merely because they were Christians. Whenever any great calamity befell the empire, such as civil war or famine, or pestilence, the pagans ascribed it to. the Christians for neglecting the established wor- ship, and not only vented their rage against them in popular out- breaks but persuaded and stirred up the government to punish and exterminate, what they termed a pestilent sect. If the Tiber, (says Tertullian, who lived in the second cen- tury,) has overflowed its banks, or the Nile has not overflowed, if heaven has refused its rain : if the earth has been shaken ; if famine or plague has spread its ravages, the cry is immed- iately raised "Away with the Christians to the lions." It was the mistaken belief of the pagans that the prosperity of the empire, was connected with the due observance of the estab- lished religion, and hence when they found themselves suffering under some general misfortune and calamity, they regarded such misfortune and calamity as evidences of the displeasure of the God's, for the neglect of their worship. Now as Christianity was every year drawing away multitudes from the pagan worship, and bringing that worship into neglect and disuse, the cry against them upon every repetition of cal- amity that befell the empire, became louder and louder, urging the government to use severe measures with the teachers and professors of Christianity, in order to stop the progress of that pestilent religion. At length after a period of extraordinary public calamity which the pagans ascribed to the prevalence of Christianity, and the consequent neglect of the pagan worship, they prevailed upon the government in the reign of Diocletian, 25 to attempt the utter extermination of the Christian religion, and to this end to commence against its teachers and professors, a persecution more general and sanguinary than any preceding one. " It lasted ten whole years, and exceeded all the preced- " ing in its indiscriminate massacres and severities. Such mul- " titudes of Christians, suffered death in all the provinces of the " empire, that the emperors believed that they had accomplished " their purpose, and completely extirpated Christianity." They "told the world in a pompous inscription, that they had extin- " guished the Christian name and superstition, and every where " restored the worship of the god's to its former purity and lus- tre." Their triumph however was but short and was the pre- cursor of the utter ruin of paganism, as the established reli- gion. These violent means which the government employed to extirpate Christianity, only hastened the political destruction of paganism. For the noble and devoted constancy with which many chris- tians endured martyrdom, excited the admiration of the best portion of the Grentile world, and led them into an examination of the gospel, which was followed with a conviction of its divine origin and authority. And to the patience and fidelity with which they adhered to their religion at the sacrifice of their pro- perty and their lives, are we in a great measure indebted that Christianity survived its pagan persecutions, and has been trans- mitted down to our days, and it is for this reason that we modern Christians honor their memory and regard their blood as the seed of the Church. This period of Roman history has been com- monly termed the era of martyrs. But we are now in the sixth seal, approaching a terrible cat- astrophe, which befell the pagan Roman world. Chapter 6th, 12-17. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became aa blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty 3* 26 wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together ; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains. And said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand. In the scene of the sixth seal, the Apostle witnesses a shak- ing or concussion, which effects the heavens as well as the earth. The sun becomes perfectly black, and the moon assumes the color of blood the stars are seen falling from heaven, as fruit from a shaken tree, and the whole heaven departs out of sight. As the contents of a manuscript or book when the manuscript is rolled together, or the book shut up. The pagan heaven, the pagan sun, moon and stars the pagan lights are now laid aside as we lay aside a manuscript, or book after we have read it, and have no further present use for it. The old lights of the Roman world that is the teachers and philosophers, and priests, and rulers, and emperors of the pagan school, are now removed from their high places of influence, and cease to rule intellectually and morally the Roman world. The ruin of the pagan religion, says Gibbon, is described by the Sophists, as a dreadful and an amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness and restored the ancient dominion of chaos of night. But the mountaius and islands were also affected by this con- cussion. Mountains represent the population of Roman communities, or cities of eminence and power. While islands correspond to the population of communities or cities called colonies, and lo- cated among foreign nations. These tnountains and islands do not depart away as do the heavens, but they are merely removed 27 out of their places, and this removal answers to those changes introduced among the subject population in the reign of Con- stantine, by a new division and arrangement of the empire, into prefectures, and dioceses, and provinces. In this new division and arrangements, the different portions of the subject popula- tion were placed in positions somewhat different from those in which they had previously stood towards each other. Rome for instance was now made to show her place and position as the capital city of the empire, with Constantinople, and thus both cities were to some extent removed from their previous positions, in respect to political rank and importance. We fur- ther learn that these extraordinary events in the Roman heaven and earth, are witnessed with great alarm by the men of the earth the pagan worshipers. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man all the priests and ministers of pagan worship, from the highest to the lowest, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, calling upon the rocks and mountains to fall upon them, and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. The day has come for Christianity to execute retribution upon us, and to treat us as we treated her, and now we ministers of the pagan wor- ship, in the practise of our vocation must seek places of con- cealment and obscurity, and retire into the country and villages among the ignorant and the rustic. The old religion after it had become an illegal religion retired into obscure villages, and rural districts, where it was less exposed to the notice of government, and where the pagans en- deavored to elude the laws against them by disguising their re- ligions, under the appearance of convivial meetings. As the population of the rural districts, was generally ignorant and consisted for the most part of slaves the old religion maintained its ground among them for a considerable time. 28 The original word from which pagan is derived signified at first the neighborhood, who frequented the same fountain after- wards it came to be synonymous with rustics the word peasant is a corruption of the word pagan. As Christianity gradually obtained possession of the cities, the old religion retired and languished in rural districts and insig- nificant villages, and hence its votaries received the name of pagans. The period of history unfolding these changes was that, which intervened between Constantine and Theodoseus and compre- hended the greatest part of the fourth century. But we have not yet finished the contents of the sixth seal ; another event occurs under this seal, and during this period, namely, a great falling away from a pure Christian worship. REV. vii. 1. " And after these things, I saw four angels, standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree/' The four winds of the earth represent those nations who were disposed to war and violence, and who were restrained by the Roman armies from devastating the empire. Diocletian, convinced that the abilities of a single man was inadequate to the public defence, associated three colleagues in the exercise of the Supreme power, both civil and military. He discovered that the empire, assailed on every side, required on every side, the presence of a great army, and of an emperor. He therefore divided the empire into four parts, and assigned to each part an emperor, and an army for its defence. The strength of the legions was thus distributed among four partners of sovereignty. Every one was sovereign within his own juris- diction ; but their united authority extended over the whole monarchy, and each one of them was prepared to assist his col- leagues with his counsel and his presence. Though the division of the imperial power among four sove- reigns did not long survive the reign of Diocletian, yet the same 29 numerical division of the frontiers and of the legions was con- tinued under Constantino, after he had united in his single person the whole of the imperial sovereignty. Instead of the four emperors, the defence of the four frontiers, was under Constantine and his successors, committed to four chief commanders. The number four, which is applied to the angels and to the winds, may be meant to correspond to these four divisions of the military power, created for the purpose of defending the empire from the elements of violence, on or within its four frontiers. But we may understand the word four in the sense of universality, and then the four angels holding the four winds, will convey the idea that the Roman armies, placed in every part of the empire for its defence, were to continue for some time longer to hold in check the power of the barbarians, and to restrain them from a universal outbreak upon the empire. The Roman armies kept these barbarians under restraint until after the death of Theodosius. In the second and third verses, the Apostle relates " that he saw another angel ascending from the East : And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, neither the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads." This symbolic representation is of a similar nature and import to that of the prophet Ezekiel. At a time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem had, with some few exceptions, fallen from the pure worship of God into idolatrous practices, the prophet Ezekiel, ix. 16, in a vision sees six men, each with a destroying or slaughter weapon in his hand, and among these six he sees a seventh, clothed in linen, with a writer's ink-horn by his side. This man with the writer's ink- horn by his side, is divinely commanded to go through the city and put a mark upon the foreheads of the few faithful wor- shippers that sighed and lamented for all the idolatrous abomi- nations that were done in the midst of the city. While the six 30 men with the slaughter weapons in their hands, were divinely commanded to go after him, and without exception, and without pity, smite and slay all who had not the mark upon their fore- heads. All this was intended to intimate that a small remnant of faithful servants and worshippers of God, would be preserved through the predicted calamity which was about to befal Jeru- salem, for the unlawful and idolatrous worship to which the great majority of her people were addicted. So also the sym- bolic representation of St. John, foretells that Roman Christians, with the exception of a small remnant or minority, would fall away from a pure Christian worship into idolatrous practices, before that universal and terrible irruption of the Barbarians, which occurred upon the death of Theodosius at the end of the fourth century. It foretells that this remnant of religious wor- shippers should survive the calamitous period that followed this terrible irruption, and that they should be known and distin- guished by the public profession and practice of a pure worship, free from idolatrous innovations. As in the days of Elijah, when nearly the whole of the ten tribes of Israel had become idolaters, G-od reserved for himself a remnant of seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. So during this period of the general falling away of Roman Christians into idolatrous practices, God reserved a remnant or minority of faithful servants to per- petuate a pure Christian worship. They would, however, be but a small remnant or minority. The apostacy is here to be un- derstood in its individual (not corporate) character. Verse 4. " And I heard the number of them that were sealed. And there were sealed an hundred and forty-four thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel twelve thousand of every tribe there being twelve tribes/' As the nation of Israel numbered about five millions, an hun- dred and forty-four thousand was a small minority. The different tribes of Israel represent the different Roman Churches or Christian communities, and the persons sealed on 31 their foreheads represent the comparatively few individuals who should escape the prevailing idolatrous example, and adhere to the profession and practice of a pure Christian worship. This numerous falling away of Roman Christians into idola- trous practices, occupies the period between Constantino and Theodosius, and was developed before the barbarians at the end of the fourth century, began on every side to break loose upon the empire. The ancient Christians (Waddington, Chap. 8.,) continued to shun with a pious horror, which persecution exas- perated, and which time did not mitigate, every approach to paganism and idolatry. " So definite and so broad was the " space which on this point at least separated the two religions, " that it seemed impossible that either of them should overstep "it, or that any compromise could ever be effected between " principles so fundamentally hostile. Yet the contrary result " took place ; and a reconciliation, which, in the beginning of " the fourth century, could not easily have been imagined, was " virtually accomplished before its termination We " blush when we discover the most distinguished writers of the " fourth century, Athanasius, Eusebius, the historian, Gregory, " Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustin, engaged in " shameful conspiracy against their religion, while they exag- " gerate the merit of the martyrs, assert or insinuate their im- " mediate sanctification, and claim for them, a sort of reverence, " which could not easily be distinguished from worship. In " this age, and from this cause arose the stupid veneration for " bones and relics ; it was inculcated and believed, that prayer " was never so surely efficacious, as when offered at the tomb of " some saint or some holy person the number of such tombs " was then multiplied ; at all of them, miracles and prophecies, "and prodigies, and visions were exhibited and recorded; and " the Spirit of the Gospel was forgotten in the practice of for- " bidden ceremonies, and the belief of impious fables. Such " were the unworthy advances which were made by (Roman) " Christianity, and encouraged by her leading ministers, with 32 " the view to reconcile at least her external differences with " paganism, and no doubt, they were very effectual in alluring " those easy polytheists, whose piety was satisfied with nume- " rous festivals in celebration of the exploits of mortals deified ; " for with them, the change was only in the name of the deity, " not in the principles of the religion. And by this shameful " compromise, the Church was filled by numerous converts, who " believed, and who were probably taught to believe, that the " worship which they had deserted, was by no means essentially " dissimilar from that which they had embraced, and who con- " tinued after their admission, to perpetuate and exaggerate "those corruptions, by which alone, the resemblance was "created The immediate object of these concessions " to the genius of paganism, was accomplished to diminish the " numerical display of polytheism, and prematurely to crowd " the Churches and processions with nominal Christians. But " the lasting result has been to darken, and disfigure the features " of Christianity, not in one race only, or for one age, but " through a period of which fourteen centuries have already "been accomplished, and of which we cannot yet foresee the " termination." It must be observed, that the pagans on their side, made the concession of sacrifice, or at least of immolation, which was the centre of their whole system. They were indulged with a sort of polytheism of saints and martyrs ; and even sensible objects of worship were not withheld from them. But these beings were to be approached only with prayer and supplication ; and if it were presently found expedient to permit offerings to be made to them, their shrines were never contaminated by the blood of victims. Gibbon, Chap. 28, writes, if in the begin- ning of the fifth century, Tertullian or Lactantius had been sud- denly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed with astonish- ment and indignation on the profane spectacle which had suc- ceeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congre- gation. It must ingenuously be confessed that the ministers of the Catholic Church " imitated the profane model which they "were impatient to destroy. The most respectable bishops " persuaded themselves, that the ignorant rustics would more "cheerfully renounce the superstitions of paganism, if they " found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of " Christianity. The religion of Constantine, achieved in less (( than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire ; but " the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of " their vanquished rivals. . . . The sublime and simple theology " of the primitive Christians, was gradually corrupted, and the " monarchy of heaven, (already clouded by metaphysical subtle- " ties,) was degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology, " which tended to restore the reign of polytheism. In the long "period of twelve hundred years, which elapsed between the " reign of Constantine and the Reformation of Luther, the wor- " ship of saints and relicts corrupted the pure and perfect sim- " plicity of the Christian model/' This numerous departure from the Christian faith into the demon or mediator-worship of the pagan Greeks and Romans, is mentioned by St. Paul as a subject of distinct prediction. The spirit of inspiration had made known to him and the Christians of his day, that in the course of the Christian dis- pensation, certain of its professors would, through the dissimula- tion and falsehood of monks, be seduced into those errors which then prevailed among the Greeks and Romans, concerning the offices of demons or mediators, and the honour and worship to be rendered to them. Notwithstanding, however, this numerous apostacy which commenced at so early a date, there have been, in every age since, Christians who have returned and practised a worship, free from these idolatrous innovations. Yet these have hitherto, and do now, constitute but a small minority in comparison with the two hundred millions of Greek and Latin Christians, who have departed from the simplicity of Christian worship, to invo- 4 31 cate the mediation and intercession of departed saints, as their ancient fathers did the pagan demons and heroes. Verses 9-17. " After this, I beheld, and lo a great multi- tude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God, saying Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever, Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are those which are arranged in white robes ? And whence came they ? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, There- fore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple ; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more : neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. This, besides the one hundred and forty-four thousand Israel- ites reserved for idolatry, the Apostle sees a great multitude of a similar character gathered from different nations. The great multitude which could not be numbered as the one hundred and forty-four thousand had been, consisted of those, who, in countries and communities professedly heathen, would be found adhering to a pure Christian worship. Though these pure worshippers of God in the communities where they prac- ticed their religion, might constitute but a small minority, yet in the course of successive ages, these small minorities of the dif- fercnt generations and different countries, if gathered together, would constitute an innumerable multitude. They are clothed with white robes made white in the bloo^ of the Lamb ; they have had recourse to the atonement of Christ, and so applied its merit to themselves, as to appear before God with their sins forgiven or washed away. They have pahns in their hands to signify that they had attained unto salvation and victory, after a severe contest and great tribulation, and hence do they cry with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. They are also represented as admitted to a high state of favour and happiness with God and Christ in the celestial temple, and this is no doubt intended to encourage unto perseverance, all who may be called upon to suffer for the profession and practice of a pure Christianity in the midst of idolatry and infidelity. This great falling away of Christians of the Roman empire, occurred in the fourth century, and in the next century all the elements of violence and licentiousness were let loose, and the empire was visited with a series of great calamities, among which, was the extinction of the imperial office and authority in Italy and the west. These calamities are the subjects of prediction, and of symbolical representations in the next chapter. 36 DISCOURSE III. KEY. viii. 1-6. " And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God : and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth : and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets pre- pared themselves to sound. "We learn under the sixth seal, that the elements of violence, and devastation, comprehending various nations of Barbarians, were on the eve of being let loose from their restraint, and that a period of judgment and calamity was about to come upon the empire. This period of judgment and calamity begins under the seventh seal. And this fact is strikingly signified by the scenes which take place in the court of heaven, immediately upon the opening of this seal. In the temple worship at Jerusalem, the high priest on the great day of expiation took fire from the altar of burnt offering in a golden censer, and after taking incense from one of the priests, he proceeded to the golden altar, and there burnt it; the smoke and odour being wafted into the most holy place, to the presence of God, who dwelt between the cherubims, above the mercy seat. But while the high priest was offering this incense on the golden altar, the people or congregation outside, were engaged in silent prayer. This was the acceptable time for God to hear, and the people to offer their petitions to avert his wrath and secure mercy. In the ideal temple exhibited to St. John, the period of silence and petition being ended, the angel takes the censer in which he had burnt incense, and casts 37 it on the ground, and then follow voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and a shaking. The casting of the censer upon the ground, as if of no further use, signified that no prayer to avert the divine judgments upon the Roman world, would now be heard and regarded that the period of entreaty to avert his wrath had gone by, and that heaven would no longer keep silence to listen to prayer for this object. So also the indications of wrath, the voices, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and shaking, which followed the period of silence, confirm the same idea, that heaven was now in a determination or purpose of mind to inflict judgment, and not in a disposition of mind to hear prayer and show mercy. It had been foretold by St. Paul, (2 Thess., Chap, ii.,) that during the period of the falling away of Christians, there would appear in the temple or Church, a ruler without law that he would set himself in opposition to, and exalt himself above all human dignities that he would not appear, however, until a certain power hindering his full developments, should be put out of the way. Though the Apostle does not name, in writing in this epistle, who this hinderer was, yet he informs us, that he had named him to the Thessalonians by word of mouth, and that they knew very well what he meant. The early fathers, who had it from tradition, inform us that the hinderer was declared by the Apostle to be the Roman emperor or empire, and that he made this declaration by word of mouth, and did not commit it to writing, lest he should expose himself and his religion to the prejudices of the govern- ment, by foretelling its removal out of the way, to give place to some rising power in the Christian Church. And here we find the reason why the primitive Christians made the continuance of the Roman empire a subject of their prayers. They believed that its continuance was hindering and delaying the appearance and development of some haughty and tyrannical ruler in the Christian Church. They termed this ruler, Antichrist, and they expected him to equal Nero in tyranny and oppression, and hence it was a common saying among them, that Nero was not dead, but that he had retired beyond the Euphrates, and would return as Antichrist. Heaven being now determined beyond the reach of entreaty to execute wrath and judgment upon the Roman world, the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. Verse 7. " The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth : and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." In the language of figures, of fierce winds, stands for hostile devastating armies, storms stand for war and violence. The casting upon the earth of hail and fire mingled with blood, fol- lowed with the burning up of the third part of the trees, and of all green grass, gives us to understand, that the winds of deso- lation were now to be loosed from restraint ; that fierce and hostile armies are now to break forth upon the empire in a tem- pest of desolating war, and bring ruin upon the most flourishing part of the Roman population, including families and persons of rank and wealth. " The threatening tempests of Barbarians, which was repelled 11 or suspended on the frontiers was now let loose to subvert the " foundations of Roman greatness." " In the disastrous period " of the fall of the Roman empire, which may be justly dated "from the reign of Valens, (A. D. 376,) the happiness and " security of each individual were personally attacked, and the " arts and labours of ages were rudely defaced by the Barbarians " of Scythia and Germany. The invasion of the Huns, preeipi- " tated on the provinces of the "West, the Gothic nation which " advanced in less than forty years from the Danube to the " Atlantic, and opened a way by the success of their arms, to " the inroads of so many hostile tribes, more savage than them- " selves. The original principle of motion was concealed in the " remote countries of the North, and the curious observation of 39 " tlie pastoral life of the Scythians or Tartars, will illustrate the " latent cause of these destructive emigrations." (GiBBON.) After the reign of Theodosius, who died in the year 395, the Barbarians found no adequate power in the empire, to restrain them from invasion and conquest. Accordingly, after his death they began to invade and ravage the empire on all sides, making conquests and settlements from which the Romans could not expel them. In the beginning of the fifth century, both the Germans and the Goths broke loose from their confinement, and precipitated themselves upon the empire. While Greece was invaded and ravaged by the Goths, a furious tempest was excited among the Germans, and "a dark cloud which was collected " along the coast of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks " of the upper Danube, and poured its contents upon Italy and Rome." (GIBBON.) Italy, Greece, Gaul, Spain, and even Africa, were in the first part of the fifth century, ravaged by different tribes of barbarians, who waged war with great fierceness paying but little respect to age, sex, or condition plundering the unresisting country, and wasting and destroying the fruits of the earth. The calam- ities inflicted upon the empire by this terrible irruption of the barbarians, fell with destructive force upon many persons and families of wealth, but especially upon the thrifty and agricul- tural part of the Roman population. The evils which they inflicted upon this part of the population, resembled indeed, the ruin inflicted on trees and grass byaviolent tempest, discharging itself in hail and fire, mingled with blood. Verses 8, 9. " And the second angel sounded, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea : and the third part of the sea became blood ; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died ; and the third part of the ships were destroyed." The great mountain must signify some portion of the Roman population hitherto eminently great and secure. Such as the population of the city of Rome. 40 " Behold," says God, by the prophet Jeremiah, li. 25, speaking of Babylon, " I am against thee, destroying moun- tain, which destroyest all the earth : and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain." The people of Babylon were about to fall from their conspicuous and secure condition and their fall, as we learn in the subse- quent part of the chapter, was to be effected by the hostile invasions of the surrounding nations. And such was the fate of the people of the Roman city in the fifth century. The city was repeatedly besieged, taken and sacked by foreign armies, and the emperors consulting their safety were obliged to remove their residence from Rome, to the more secure city of Ravenna. " The loss or desolation of the provinces from the ocean to the " Alps impaired the glory and greatness of Rome, while her " internal prosperity was irretrievably destroyed by the loss " of Africa, which contained the patrimonial estates of her " Senators, and filled her granaries with regular subsidies of "corn." (Gibbon.) Her population from the heights of greatness and security which they once possessed in the Roman world, are now found sunken, and merged in the common mass of provincial cities and subjects, like a great mountain sunken and merged in the sea. When the city of Rome was first sacked by the Goths, under Alaric, it was regarded by the whole empire as a grievous and terrible calamity. This awful' catastrophe of Rome, (says Gibbon,) filled the astonished empire with grief and terror ; so interesting a contrast of greatness and ruin, disposed the fond credulity of the people to deplore, and even to exaggerate the afflictions of the queen of cities. The clergy who applied to recent events, the lofty metaphors of oriental prophecy, were sometimes tempted to confound the destruction of the capitol with the desolation of the globe. This fall of Rome from her state of greatness and security, was attended with other disasters. And the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of the creatures which were in 41 the sea, and had life, died ; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. If the land stands for nations and communities of the Latin language, and of the first rank, and the rivers and fountains, for nations and communities in the empire, of a foreign language, and of the second rank, then the sea will represent the common mass of provincial Romans. The blood into which the sea was converted, must correspond to some inimical sentiment with which this class of the population had become imbued ; while the mortality in the sea, and the destruc- tion of the ships, may correspond to the extinction of public spirit and the loss of revenue. Accordingly, we find that at this time, the population in the desolate provinces, had become so disaffected to government, and so averse to the payment of taxes, that the magistracy, who were responsible for the taxes, were retained in their office, only by compulsory laws, while the populace preferred, to the slavery of taxation at home, poverty and freedom among the barbarians. In the year 418, the Emperor Honorius, issued an edict, for the purpose of convening an annual assembly to represent seven provinces in Gaul, but such was the unfavourable state of feeling towards the Roman government such the decay of all public or corporate spirit, that the Emperor was surprised to discover, that he must resort to compulsion, if he would secure the attend- ance of representatives, who seemed to regard the imperial edict as the last and most cruel insult of their oppressors. The same decay of corporate spirit in the provinces, appears from one of the regulations of the Emperor Majorian, A. D. 457, wherein he remarks, " the municipal corporations, the lesser senates, (so antiquity has justly styled them,) deserve to be considered as the heart of the cities, and the sinews of the republic. And yet, so low are they now, reduced by the injustice of magis- trates and venality of collectors, that many of their members, renouncing their dignity and their country, have taken refuge in distant and obscure exile Michelet thus writes of the endeavours of Honorius to revive 42 Roman public spirit in Gaul j "all was in vain, there was no " arousing a people grown torpid under the weight of their ills. " They had fixed their views elsewhere ; and cared not for an " emperor, as powerless for good as for evil. They desired but " death, or at least social death and the invasion of the bar- " barians. They call for the enemy, say the authors of the " time, and long for captivity. Our countrymen who happen " to be among the barbarians, so far from wishing to return, "would rather have us to join them. The wonder is, that all " the poor do not the same. They are only hindered by the " impossibility of carrying their little huts with them." " De- fection took possession of men's souls ; a deadly inertia seized " the whole social body. The people lay down on the ground "in weariness and despair, as the beast of burden lies down " under blows, and refuses to rise We have the spcc- " tacle of a whole people in mental agony." Valentian the third, closed his reign in the year 455, two years before the accession of Majorian. In the conclusion of the chapter which narrates the reign of Valentian, Gibbon notices how strongly the minds of the pro- vincial population were disaffected to the government. As early (Gibbon, Chap. 35,) as the times of Cicero and Verro, it was the opinion of the Roman Augurs, that the twelve vultures, which Romulus had seen, represented the twelve centuries assigned for the fatal period of his city. This prophecy disre- garded in the season of health and prosperty, inspired the people with gloomy apprehensions when the twelfth century, clouded with disgrace and misfortune, was almost elapsed ; and even posterity must acknowledge, with some surprise, that the arbi- trary interpretation of an accidental or fabulous circumstance, has been seriously verified in the downfal of the western empire. But its fall was announced by a clearer omen than the flight of vultures. The Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects. The taxes were multiplied with the public distress ; 43 economy was neglected in proportion as it became necessary, and the injustice of the rich, shifted the unequal burden from themselves to the people, whom they defrauded of the indul- gences that might sometimes have alleviated their miseries. The severe inquisition which confiscated their goods, and tor- tured their persons, compelled the subjects of Valentinian, to prefer the more simple tyranny of the barbarians, to fly to the woods and mountains, or to embrace the vile and abject con- dition of mercenary servants. They abjured and abhorred the name of Roman citizens, which had formerly excited the ambi- tion of mankind. Roman noble spirits became extinct in a great part of the provincial population, when it was found that great Rome had sunk into helplessness, and could no longer protect them or herself. Verses 10 and 11. " And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters ; and the name of the star is called Wormwood ; and the third part of the waters became wormwood ; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." A star is the symbol of an eminent teacher, and may also stand for the particular doctrine or philosophy which he teaches. The star he mentioned may mean Arius or Arianism. Arius was regarded by many as a burning and shining light and his doctrine was received by many who were distinguished as much by the superiority of their learning and genius, as by the emi- nence of their rank and station. Under the Emperors Con- stantius and Valens, Arianism enjoyed a high position in the Roman world, and constituted a part of the established religion ; but in the reign of Theodosius it fell from its high position, being made an object of imperial persecution, so that at the end of the fourth century, the proselytes of Arianism formed an inconsiderable and a declining party in the empire. It had fallen from heaven. " But suddenly it received a new and ex- " traordinary impulse from an unexpected quarter. The Arians 44 " oppressed and persecuted by the imperial edicts, took refuge " among those fierce and savage natives who were gradually " overturning the western empire, and found among the Goths, "Suevi, Heruli, Vandals, and Burgundians, a fixed residence, " and peaceful retreat ; and as their security animated their "courage, they treated the Catholics with the same violence, " which the latter had employed against them and other heretics, " and harassed and persecuted in various ways, such as professed " their adherence to the Nicene doctrines." Mosheim, Chap, v. 4, second part of the fifth century. The persecution of Arianism by Theodosius scattered its disciples among distant and populous nations, and diffused to the same extent the knowledge of his doctrine, and multiplied the number of its professors. Rivers and fountains of water correspond to nations or com- munities of a foreign language and literature, ranking next to the Latins or Romans. The great burning star fell from heaven upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of water, when Arianism cast down from the high position which it once held in the empire, lit upon the Goths and other nations, and tinctured their literature with a better ingredient. These nations being now settled in the empire, and brought under the influence of civilization and Christianity, were no longer destructive winds, but rivers and fountains of water. Some of them had been converted in their native forests, and others by being brought into contact with the vanquished Romans; but it so happened that the form of Christianity which they first received, was that of Arianism, and this unfortunate accident " infused a deadly poison in the cup of salvation." Arianism was adopted as the national faith of the warlike converts who were seated on the ruins of the western empire. And this irreconcileable differ- ence of religion was a perpetual source of jealousy and hatred, and the reproach of barbarian was embittered by the more odious epithet of heretic. The distinction of Arian and Trini- 45 tarian was closely connected with that of foreigner and Roman conqueror and conquered so that it combined the bitterness of politics and race as well as of sect the bitterness of religious, political and national animosity. And the name of the star is called wormwood, and the third part of the waters became wormwood ; and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter. Many later Chris- tians by imbibing the doctrine and better spirit of Arianism, died to Romanism, and were lost to the Roman party. Those of the vanquished Romans who were indifferent, would naturally acquiesce in and imbibe the doctrine established by the conquerors, and in this way the empire would lose many of its religious subjects. Verse 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars ; so as that the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. This is not a destruction of the lights of heaven but it is a partial obscuration of them they merely lose a part of their luminous property. The different powers or orbs in the firmaments of the Roman empire ceased to shine with their former glory and strength. The meaning is that some reverse of fortune was now to befall the high places of power so as to enfeeble their authority and influence, and interrupt the diffusion of knowledge and learn- ing. This was another of the calamities of that period of Roman history which followed the death of Theodosius. He divided the imperial government between his two sons the one having Rome for his capitol and the other Constantinople. In the year 47G, the imperial succession was discontinued in the west, and a Gothic King assumed the government of Italy. "The majesty of Rome was then but faintly represented by the princes of Constantinople, the feeble and imaginary successors of Augustus." There is no period in the annals of the human 5 46 race which presents to the historical student a greater scene of confusion, than the century succeeding the overthrow of the western empire, and which includes these four judgments upon the Roman world. The different hordes of barbarians following no definite plan established separate monarchies in the dismembered provinces, engaged in sanguinary wars, that had no object but plunder, and were too ignorant to form any thing like a political system. After the fall of the western empire the court of Constanti- nople sunk into obscurity, from which it did not emerge for half a century, when its supremacy was restored during the memorable reign of Justinian. (Taylor's history, modern Chap. 1.) And this period was a period not only of comparative anar- chy but also of comparative ignorance or darkness. "The barbarous nations, which either spread desolation or " formed settlements in the Roman territories, choked the growth " of those genial seeds which the hand of science had sown in " more auspicious times. These savage invaders who possessed "no other ambition than that of conquests, and considered " military courage as the only source of true virtue and solid " glory, beheld, in consequence, the acts and sciences with the "utmost contempt. Wherever therefore they extended their " conquests, ignorance and darkness followed their steps ; and " the culture of science was confined to the priests and monks " alone ; and among these learning degenerated from its primi- " tive lustre and put on the most unseemly and fantastic form. "Amidst the seduction of corrupt examples the charms of " perpetual danger, and the horrors and devastations of war, " the sacerdotal and monastic orders lost all taste for solid "science. (Moshem, Cen. 5, Part 2, Chap. 1.) " The incursions of the barbarous nations into the greatest " part of the western provinces were extremely prejudicial to " the interests of learning and philosophy, as must be known to " all who have any acquaintance with the history of those un- 47 " happy times. During those tumultuous scenes of desolation "and horror, the liberal arts and sciences would have been " totally extinguished, had they not found a place of refuge, " such as it was among the bishops and the monastic orders." (Moshcm, Cen. 6, Part 2, Chap. 1.) The same author writes of the 7th century, "Nothing can equal the ignorance and darkness that reigned in this century. The sciences enjoyed no degree of protection, at this time, from kings and princes, nor did they owe any thing to men of high and eminent stations in the empire. The four judgments upon the Roman world, namely the invasion of the empire by armies of barbarians the fall of Rome from its greatness and security into disgrace and weak- ness the diffusion of Arianism among the foreign tribes and nations who settled in the empire, and the partial extinction of the authority and influence of the Roman luminaries Roman rulers and teachers make the period, intervening between the death of Thcodosius and the rise of Mahomedanism, a very disastrous period of Roman history. If (says Robertson in his introduction to the History of Charles V.) a man were called to fix upon the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most calamitous and afflicted ; he would without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Theodosius the Great, to the establishment of the Lombards in Italy, a period of 176 years. The cotem- porary authors who beheld that scene of desolation, labour, and are at a loss for expressions to describe the horror of it. The scourge of God, the destroyer of nations, are the dreadful epi- thets by which they distinguish the most noted of the barbarous leaders and they compare the ruin which they had brought on the world to the havoc occasioned by earthquakes, conflagra- tions or deluges the most formidable and fatal calamities which the imagination of man can conceive. The disastrous period of these four judgments was regarded by many cotemporaries, as the period of divine judgment upon 48 the Koman world. " The political prostration of the western " provinces, overrun by so many savage tribes the rapid disso- " lution of the old governments without any stability in those " which succeeded them, the subversion of legal security, the "substitution of military and barbarous license these and "other circumstances, aggravating the usual miseries of con- " quest, occasioned wheresoever they extended, more absolute " wretchedness, both individual and national, than had hitherto " been recorded in the history of man ; insomuch that among " those who beheld and shared those afflictions, there were many " who regarded them as special demonstrations of divine wrath. " And as men are ever prone to attribute such chastisements to " the most striking revolution of their own day, and as the sub- " version of the temples of their ancestors was still recent in " their memory, some there were who ascribed the anger of the " gods to the establishment and prevalence of Christianity. . . . " This foolish delusion was immediately and successfully com- " batted by the eloquence of St. Augustin. In his noble com- " position, ( The city of God/ he confuted the error by irrefra- " gable arguments and conclusive appeals to the evidence of "profane history, and inculcated the more reasonable opinion " that the temporal afflictions which God permitted to devastate " the empire, were chastisements inflicted by a just providence " for the correction, not for the destruction of his creatures. " The error was indeed confuted and presently died away, but " the general dislocation of society which occasioned it must " have suspended for a time the moral energies of man, and the "period of his severest suffering may also have been that of his "deepest depravity." (Waddington, Chap. 9, Sec. 3.) " St. Augustin during this period of judgment and calamity upon the Roman empire wrote his learned work called the City of God, for the especial purpose of justifying the ways of pro- vidence in the destruction of the Roman greatness." During this calamitous period, " all the subjects of the em- pire who by the use of the Latin language more particularly 49 deserved the name and privileges of Romans were oppressed by the disgrace and calamities of foreign conquests." The four kinds of judgments or calamities that followed the sounding of the first four trumpets were confined for the most part to the Latin or Western, called the third part of the empire, and were inflicted during the fifth and sixth centuries. These four calamities or woes if consecutive in their begin- ning became cotemporaneous in their progress ; but the fearful calamities or woes next to follow are to be consecutive both in their beginning and in their progress one is not to begin until the other is ended. And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, wo, wo, wo, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. These calamities or woes are chiefly to fall upon the inhabiters of the earth that is upon the Romans in their religious character, upon Christians of the prevailing or established idolatrous form of Christianity. DISCOURSE IV. REV. ix. 1, 2. "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth ; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit ; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." The apostle did not (according to the translation of the text) see the star in the act of falling from heaven to earth, but he saw it after it had fallen. This star must be intended to repre- sent Nestorius and his teaching. It fell from heaven to the earth when Nestorius was removed from his patriarchal office 5 * 50 and his teaching and party degraded from all power and influ- ence in the government. The bottomless pit or the well of the abyss or deep, signifies a place or state of confinement and obscurity. The smoky or dark volatile matter escaping from this well represents the blind and fanatical elements of society in the form of bitter and hostile sects let loose from all restraint. The teaching of Nestorius commenced in the empire a contro- versy that gave vent to these elements, and served to raise them into notice and consideration, and to impair the vigor of the supreme authority and influence in the Roman world, and in this respect they were like as the smoke of a great furnace, which darkened the sun and the air. It is recorded of Nestorius, that when he was appointed to the patriarchal throne of Constantinople, he accepted and entered upon his office, with the determination to seek out and extirpate all the heretical sects that lurked in the empire. This bitter and persecuting zeal, served however, in his, as well as in other cases, only to increase the evil, aud greatly to multiply the number of the sectarians and heretics. The controversy which he commenced, concerning the nature of Christ's existence here on earth, was continued during a period of about three hundred years, and produced no little disturbance or confusion through- out the empire. And we may well suppose, that a controversy which for so long a time, occupied the pen, and the discourses, and the conversation of contentious and angry spirits, would evolve a great quantity of misty reasoning and writing. What for the most part, are the productions which emanate from the angry and bitter spirit of sect or party, but trash, weightless and cloudy, like smoke. By a common figure of speech, the effect is often made to stand for the cause, and so here smoke stands for the materials which produce it, that is, zealots and fanatics. It appears, that the position assumed by Nestorius and his party in this controversy, was this, that there were in Christ, two distinct persons, as well as two distinct natures. There 51 was another party who assumed an opposite position, that there was in Christ but one person and one nature. The Orthodox or Catholic doctrine was, that of Christ, in two natures but one person. The authoritative establishment of this doctrine, did not, however, end the controversy, but it became a matter of dispute for fifty years longer, whether Christ, in one person but two natures, was actuated by a single or double will. And it was, while these disputes were distracting the Roman world, that Mahomed fabricated his religion ; and as if in contempt of these disputants, he excluded from it the whole mystery of Christ's incarnation, and acknowledged him only as the son of man, and the Apostle of God. And it is remarkable, that during this dispute, the Mahomedans found time to convert Arabia, and to conquer Persia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and to take the three patriarchal cities, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, and soon after Carthage. The controversy commenced by Nestorius, as it progressed, seemed to bring into action and notice, all the latent, angry, contentious, and fanatical elements of society. We find evidence of this fact, in the violent proceedings of the several councils which this controversy assembled. One of these councils in particular, conducted itself with so much violence and brutality, that it has been stigmatized in every age of the Church since, as the assembly of robbers. One of the emperors, by the pub- lication of an Edict of Union, attempted to extinguish the dis- sension and animosity which this controversy had occasioned among his Christian subjects, but to the disgrace of the dispu- tants, says the historian, and almost to the scandal of human nature, it proved that an attempt, judiciously conceived by a benevolent prince to compose the religious differences of his subjects, produced no other effect, than to inflame the character and multiply the ground of dissension. And that unhappy result was not in this case, attributable to the infliction of any civil penalties in the arbitrary enforcement of the decree, but solely to the vehemence of the passions engaged on both sides, 52 which had hardened the greater number against any representa- tions of wisdom or reason, and even against the ordinary influ- ence of their human feelings. (Waddington.) The angry feelings, and the hostile sects, which this contro- versy evolved, impaired the authority of the emperors, and of general councils. These hostile sects sought refuge in the eastern countries, beyond the Koman empire, where their number, and their enmity against the Roman government, pre- pared them in the course of time, to form an alliance with the Mahomedan invaders, and to cast their weight in the downfall of the eastern empire. Thus while the smoke of this long and angry controversy was overspreading the firmament of the Roman world and shutting out the light of the sun, the Mahomedans in the form of locusts appear, descending from the cloud of smoke and lighting upon the earth that is, appear coming out from among these fanati- cal elements and inflicting evil upon the Romans. Verses 3-6. " And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree ; but only those men which have not the mark of God on their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months ; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it, and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them." These words, explain the nature of the mis- sion committed to these locusts. Their mission was not so much to ruin the flourishing and wealthy portion of Roman subjects, as it was to annoy the idolatrous part of the population that is, those Christians who had fallen away from a pure Christian wor- ship, into idolatrous additions and innovations. They were com- manded or commissioned, to sting and torment these idolaters^ but not to kill them that is, not to destroy the idolatrous 53 Roman corporate life or spirit with which they were actuated. They were not to succeed in forcing out of the minds of these idolaters, those Roman ideas and prejudices which sustained in them, the corporate spirit or life of Roman idolatry. Annoyed by the Mahomedans, these Roman idolaters would desire and endeavor to free themselves from the corporate idola- trous spirit and ideas and prejudices peculiar to Romans, but should not succeed, as we shall see hereafter. The locusts are to hurt men for a given time. Their power was to hurt men during a period of five months or an hun- dred and fifty days, which, when relating to judgments and calamities inflicted, as we learn from Ezekiel, mean, in the lan- guage of symbolical prophecy, so many years. We have also, a description of the form and appearance of these locusts, with the name of their king. Verses 711. "And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breast-plates, as it were breast-plates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails ; and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abad- don, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." Arabia is considered as the native country of the locusts, and there can be do doubt that the locusts here, are intended to re- present the Mahomedans, Arabians or Saracens, as they were called by the Greeks and Latins. " It has been remarked, that the Saracens have made inroads into all those parts of Christen- dom, where the natural locusts are wont to be seen and known to do mischief : that where the locusts are seldom seen, there the Saracens stayed little. Where the natural locusts are often seen, there the Saracens abode most, and where they breed most, 54 there the Saracens had their beginning and greatest power." (Bishop Newton.) The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. This is intended to represent the Mahomedans as soldiers, eager for war and conquests. Their armies, moreover, chiefly consisted of cavalry. Arabia, in the opinion of naturalists, is the genuine and original country of the horse. They had on their heads crowns like gold, to signify that they would succeed in acquiring wealth and dominion, and no nation ever conquered so many kingdoms in so short a space of time. Their faces were as the faces of men. As a sense of religion is the distinguishing character of humanity, the human face, we may suppose intended, to represent these Saracen soldiers in their religious aspect and profession. And the professed object for which they took the sword and carried on war, was the propaga- tion of religion. Their wars were professedly religious wars, in- tended to force their religion upon an infidel and idolatrous world. They had hair as the hair of women, to signify their subjec- tion to government would be more the result of good will and affection than of force. The long hair of woman, according to St. Paul, indicates, in the language of signs, her subjection to the authority of the husband. The government of the Sara- cens was of a patriarchal nature. The authority to which they rendered respect and obedience, was that of superior wisdom and age. Perhaps the faces of men and the hair of women, were intended to signify that while their obedience would be of this free and amiable nature, their minds should be of a courageous and manly character. " In every tribe of the Arabians, superstition or gratitude or fortune, has exalted a particular family above the heads of their equals. The dignities of Sheich and Emir invariably descend in this chosen race, but the order of succession is loose and pre- carious, and the most worthy or aged of the noble kinsmen are preferred, to the simple though important office of composing disputes by their advice, and guiding valor by their example. 55 The momentary junction of several tribes, produces an army, their more lasting union constitutes a nation, and the supreme chief, the Emir of Emirs, whose banner is displayed at their head, may deserve, in the eye of strangers, the honors of the kingly name. If the Arabian princes abuse their power, they are quickly punished by the desertion of their subjects who had been accustomed to a mild and parental jurisdiction. Their spi- rit is free, their steps are unconfined, the desert is open and the tribes are held together by a mutual and voluntary compact. The grandfather of Mahomet and his lineal ancestors, appear in foreign and domestic transactions as the princes of their country, but they reigned like Pericles at Athens, or the Medici at Florence, by the opinion of their wisdom and integrity. In the more simple state of the Arabs the nation is free, because each of her sons dis- dains a base submission to the will of a master. The sense of his own importance, teaches him to accost his equals without levity and his superiors without awe. The liberty of the Saracens sur- vived their conquests. The first caliphs indulged the bold and familiar language of their subjects : they ascended the pulpit to persuade and edify the congregation ; nor was it before the seat of empire was removed to the Tigris, that the Abbassides adopt- ed the proud and pompous ceremonial of the Persian and Byzan- tine courts." (Gibbon, Chap. 50.) They have teeth as the teeth of lions. They are strong and courageous in seizing and devouring the substance of their ene- mies. Nothing will be able to escape their grasp and power. There is a generation, says Solomon, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. " The Arabians pretend that in the division of the earth, the " rich and fertile climates were assigned to the other branches " of the human family, and that the posterity of the outlaw " Ishmael, might recover by fraud and force, the portion of in- " heritance of which he had been unjustly deprived. . . Their " neighbours, since the remote times of Job and Sesostris, have 56 " been the victims of their rapacious spirit. The temper of a " people thus armed against mankind, was doubly inflamed by the " domestic license of rapine, murder and revenge.'' And they had breast-plates as it were breast-plates of iron. The breast-plate, is a piece of defensive armour to protect the heart, and the heart is used in Scripture, to signify the seat of thought, of courage and resolution, as well as of affection. St. Paul speaks of the breast-plate of faith and love, and of the breast-plate of righteousness. Faith in the righteousness, justification forgiveness of God, and the affection or love which this faith begets in the Christian, serve to protect him from despair and discouragement. The iron breast-plate to protect the heart, seems here to sig- nify, some principles of belief, steeling or hardening their minds against feelings of discouragement or fear or weakness, in their opposition to idolatry and infidelity. Perhaps we explain the meaning of the iron breast-plates when we say of the Arab, in the language of the historian whom we have already quoted, " His breast is fortified with the austere virtues of courage, patience and sobriety. Mahomed helped to fortify the breasts of his soldiers with this iron courage, patience and sobriety, when he taught them the doctrines of fatalism and promised paradise to every one that fell in battle. " The sword," says he, "is the key of heaven and of hell ; a drop of blood, shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer. Whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven. At the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion and odoriferous as musk, and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubims." Thus death became to them an object of desire and hope. " The belief also, in the tenets of fatalism and predestination, " has in every age exalted the courage of the Saracens and Turks. " The first companions of Mahomet advanced to battle with " a fearless confidence : there is no danger where there is 57 " no chance : they were ordained to perish in their beds or " they were safe and invulnerable amidst the darts of the ene- "my." Gibbon. . . . Their belief in fatalism and the prospect of paradise served in the day of battle as an iron defence to their enthusiastic and intrepid minds. And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. These words describe tbeir numerous armies as proceeding with great rapidity in the career of conquests. Verse 11. " And they had tails like unto scorpions and there were stings in their tails : and their power was to hurt men five months." The Lord, says the prophet Isaiah, will cut off from Israel the head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head ; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. The tails of the locusts, therefore, represent Ma- homedans in their false teaching, and these tails were endowed with the sting and venom of scorpions, to signify that their false teaching would include some doctrine very annoying and tor- menting to the minds and feelings of the idolatrous Christians of the empire. The king over them is Mahomed and his caliphs or successors. He is called the Angel of the Well of the Deep, because he is the apostle of the deluded and fanatical, whose native region is that of ignorance and darkness the well of the abyss. In Mahomed, the deluded and fanatical portion of the world, have had a representative and leader, unrivalled in suc- cessful error and imposition. And we need not be surprised that in an age of ignorance when the fanatical and contentious spirit of sect and party was extensively diffused, that a multi- tude of proselytes should embrace the doctrines or the passions of an eloquent fanatic. The name given to this apostle of fana- tics, is that of the destroyer. Mahomed taught that he was commanded by divine revelation, to propagate his religion by the sword : to destroy the monuments of idolatry, and without 6 58 regarding the sanctity of days and months, to pursue the unbe- lieving nations of the earth. But while the Mahomedans were falsely teaching that God commanded them by an express revelation, to chastise and exterminate the crime of idolatry with the sword, they at the same time, with good reason, charge their crime upon the Chris- tians of the established religion of the empire. And it was this false teaching, accompanied with this well founded charge, and the unexampled success of their arms, that constituted the story with which they annoyed and tormented these idolatrous Roman Christians. " The worship of images had stolen into the Church by insen- " sible degrees, and each petty step was pleasing to the super- " stitious mind, as productive of comfort, and innocent of sin. " But in the beginning of the eighth century, in the full mag- " nitude of the abuse, the more timorous Greeks, were awakened " by an apprehension, that under the mask of Christianity, they " had restored the religion of their fathers ; they heard, with "grief and impatience, the name of idolaters; the incessant " charge of the Jews and Mahometans, who .derived from the " law and the koran, an immortal hatred to graven images, and " all relative worship. The servitude of the Jews might curb " their zeal, and depreciate their authority, but the triumphant " Mussulmans, who reigned at Damascus, and threatened Con- " stantinople, cast into the scale of reproach, the accumulated " weight of truth and victory. The cities of Syria, Palestine, and " Egypt, had been fortified with the images of Christ, his mother, " and his saints ; and each city presumed on the hope or promise " of miraculous defence. In a rapid conquest of ten years, the "Arabs subdued those cities and their images, and in their " opinion, the Lord of hosts, pronounced a decisive judgment " between the adoration and contempt of these mute and inani- " mate idols. In this season of distress and dismay, the elo- " quence of the monks was exercised in defence of images, and 59 " they attempted to prove, that the sin and schism of the " greatest part of the Orientals, had forfeited the favour, and " annihilated the virtue of these precious symbols. But they " were now opposed by the murmurs of many simple and " rational Christians, who appealed to the evidence of texts, of " facts, and of the primitive times, and secretly desired the "reformation of the Church." (Gibbon, Chap. 49.) In the year 718, the Emperor Leo, the Isaurian, commenced his reign. He had been educated among Christians, not accus- tomed in their worship to the use of images. This education, his reason, and perhaps his intercourse with the Jews and Arabs, had inspired him with a hatred of images. Unable to bear any longer the excessive height to which the Greeks car- ried their superstitious attachment to the worship of images, and the sharp railleries, and serious reproaches, which this idolatrous service drew upon the Christians from the Jews and Saracens, he resolved by the most vigorous proceedings, to root out at once this growing evil. He issued an edict requiring the removal of all images from churches. This edict was resisted by the Bishop of Rome, and this resistance led in the year 730, to the revolt of Italy, and its separation from the eastern empire. The Emperor persisted in his project with great perseverance, and with some prospect of success, until his death. His son and successor, also persevered in the same effort. In the year 754, he assembled a general council in the suburbs of Constan- tinople. This council was composed of the respectable number of three hundred and thirty-eight bishops. They decreed by a unanimous subscription, that image worship was a corruption of Christianity, and that images used for such a purpose, should be broken or erased, and hence they were called Iconoclasts, or image breakers. The bishops of Rome, aided by the monks, took the side of the venerable images ; and this emperor, during the whole course of his reign, was employed in contention with idols, and with the pernicious influence of Rome and the monks, who protected and supported them. Soon after the death of this 60 ^ emperor, the administration of public affairs fell into the hands of the Empress Irene. " Immediately the religious policy of the palace was changed ; and as fifty years of vigorous opposition had not availed to extirpate corruptions which were the gradual growth of four centuries, the change was hailed with delight by a large proportion of the people." In the year 787, a general council was assembled at Nice, by which the images were re-instated in their former honours through the united exertions of the monks, and the mob, and the Pope, and the Empress. This last public act of the united Greek and Roman communions, established idolatry as the law of the catholic established Church. Some of the emperors who succeeded Irene, did not respect the decisions of this council, but used their authority and influ- ence to eradicate this corrupt form of worship. But in the year 842, the Empress Theodora re-established the authority of" the seventh council, and replaced the images with so firm a hand, that they have never since been shaken. They were not, however, so firmly established, but that another council assembled at Constantinople, in the year 879, in further confirmation of idolatry. And it was, according to Moshiem, after this council, that the festival was instituted, called the feast of orthodoxy, for the purpose of preserving the annual memory of the triumph of images, which the supersti- tious Greeks regarded as the most signal blessing derived to them from the immediate interposition of heaven. Among the Latins, as well as among the Greeks, efforts had been made, both by councils and by rulers, to free themselves from the idolatrous influence and spirit of Rome, but without success. The party most anxious to free themselves from the law and charge of idolatry, did not understand the nature and extent of their departure from the purity of Christian worship. " In the long night of superstition, they had wandered far away from the simplicity of the gospel ; nor was it easy for them to discern the clue, and tread back the mazes of the labyrinth." 61 While they were contending against the use of images in reli- gious worship, they were not aware that when they were invo- cating departed saints, and imploring their assistance and intercessions, they were practicing the demon or mediator wor- ship of their forefathers, the ancient Greeks and Romans. They sincerely desired, and endeavoured to destroy in them- selves, the Roman corporate spirit and influence, so far as they were idolatrous, but they were not sufficiently enlightened in this gospel, to effect the objects of their desires and efforts. They sought death and did not find it, and they desired to die, and death fled from them. The influence of Rome could not be overcome. This long controversy on the subject of image worship, evinced how much the feelings of Roman Christians were hurt, by the teaching and reproaches of the victorious Mahometans. Their power was to hurt them five months, one hundred and fifty days, one hundred and fifty years. This is a round sum, and it may not be intended to measure very pre- cisely the period of their power to hurt. But if we may measure this period by the controversy on image worship and we began this controversy by the opposition of the Pope to the imperial edict, and the revolt of Italy in the years 72830, and end it in the year 879, when a council holden at Constantinople, completed the triumph of idolatry ; we shall have a period of one hundred and fifty years to verify the prediction. It was at the close of this period, moreover, that the Mahomedans com- pleted the conquest of Sicily, by taking Syracuse. And after the Saracens had annexed Sicily to their empire, they ceased, in consequence of their divisions, to conquer any countries of importance, and the design of conquest and dominion was de- graded to a repetition of predatory inroads. And it is remarkable, that the capture of Syracuse was the fault of the mariners of the imperial fleet, who had been detained at Constantinople, in building a Church to the Virgin Mary, instead of sailing to the besieged Syracusans. It was the greatest of the crimes " of the ancient directors of the Christian 6* 62 " Church, and that which more peculiarly brought down upon "it the chastisement from Arabia, that they filled the temples " with their detested idols, and obtruded them upon the eyes, " and into the hands of the most ignorant. Nor can their " advocates plead the necessity of this conduct, for the example " of the Mahomedan faith alone, has proved that a people may " be barbarous, without being idolatrous, when idolatry is dis- " couraged by the ministers of religion." (Waddington, Chap, ii. Sec. 6.) The Mahomedans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue; and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion. The votaries of Ali have indeed conse- crated the memory of their hero, his wife, and his children, and some of the Persian doctors pretend that the divine essence was incarnate in the person of the Imams ; but their superstition is universally condemned by the Sonnites, and their impiety has afforded a seasonable warning against the worship of saints and angels. (Gibbon.) One woe is past, and beheld there come two woes more here- after. 63 DISCOURSE V. KEV. ix. 13-21. " And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which held the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two'hundred thousand thousand : and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breast plates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone : and the heads of the horses were as the heads- of lions ; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails : for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood : which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk : Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." Under the sixth seal the Apostle saw the four winds of heaven, held and restrained by four angels, standing on the four corners of the earth. Here under the sixth trumpet, four angels, having at their command an immense army of cavalry, are seen, bound in or at the great river Euphrates, that is, confined and re- strained in the presence of the Greek nation for the great river Euphrates stands for the Greek people being the most considerable people of a foreign language, forming a constituent part of the Roman empire. If the breaking loose of the four winds of the earth from the four angels who held them in their power, represents that gene- ral irruption or breaking loose of the barbarians which began in the fifth century, so the loosing of the four angels having at their command an immense army of cavalry, but bound in the presence of the Greek nation, represents that general calamitous 64 - irruption of those different tribes or nations called Turks or Turkmans. In the tenth century, the empire of the Saracens, broken in- to fragments, began to decline and was succeeded by the empire of the Turks under the Seljukian dynasty. The greatness and unity of the first Turkish empire expired in the person of Malek Shah. His vacant throne was disputed by his brother and his four sons, and after a series of civil wars, the treaty which reconciled the surviving candidates, confirmed a lasting separation in the Persian dynasty the eldest and prin- cipal branch of the house of Seljuk. The three younger dynas- ties were those of Kerman, of Syria, and of Rorem. (Gibbon, chap. 57.) About the time that the Turkish empire was thus divided, the Crusades began and the power of the Turks was kept under restraint by those immense armies which Latin Eu- rope poured forth upon Asia, for the purpose of rescuing Jeru- salem and the Holy Land from the Turks. And as the Crusades begun to decline, the Moguls and Tartars from an opposite quarter, under Zengis Khan and his successors, served to keep in check the Turkish powers. When, however, in the thirteenth century, the Crusades of the Latins ceased and the empire of the Moguls lost its unity and vigor, the Turks who were divided and bound in the presence of the Greek nation, were left free to re-establish their empire in unity and vigor, and to assail and exterminate the idolatrous Christians. The ceasing of the Crusades and the decline of the Mogul power, gave free scope to the rise and progress of the Ottoman Turkish empire. Thus the Turks, who were seated in proximity to the Greeks with their power at first divided between four different dynas- ties, were confined and restrained on the one side by the Latin Crusades, and on the other, by the invasions , and power of the Moguls and Tartars, until in the fourteenth century, the Turk- ish empire rose again in renewed unity and vigor under the Ot- toman dynasty. These divided Turks represented by the four angels, are 65 declared to be prepared at an hour and day and month and year, to slay the third part of men. They were ready at any time at a moments warning they were impatient to be let loose upon the Romans, that they might kill and exterminate idolatry from among them. The Turkish leaders were prepared to assail the Romans, the moment that the obstacles in their way were removed and they were left free to pursue the course of conquest. They were ready and eager to execute this covet- ed work, at or for any time any hour or day or month or year they were only waiting for the time which was to free them from restraint. The Turks were more impatient and enthusiastic to extermi- nate Christian dogs and idolaters, and they were less tolerant to the religion of the Christians, than were the original Mahome- tans. It was not, however, until the Turks, under the Seljukian dynasty, had followed the common law of the Asiatic dynasties and had gone the unceasing round of valour, greatness, discord, degeneracy and decay, that their power was again united under the Ottoman Sultans and found equal to the propagation of their religion by war and conquest. These Turks are represented as an immense army of horse- men. And the number of the army of horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand, (two myriads of myriads) and I heard the number of them. When Mahmud, a Turkish Sultan, inquired of one of his chiefs of the race of Seljuk, what supply of men he could furnish for military service, the reply of the chief was : " If you send one of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of your servants will mount on horseback." "And if that number" continued Mahmud, " should not be suf- ficient ?" " Send," replies the chief, " this second arrow to the horde of Balik and you will find fifty thousand more." " But," continued the Sultan, "if I should stand in need of the whole force of your kindred tribes ?" " Despatch my bow," was the last reply of the Seljukian chief, " and as it is circulated around, 66 the summons will be obeyed by two hundred thousand horse." These Seljukian Turks (afterwards collected into an army of conquerors under Toquil, the grandson of Seljuk,) began about the eleventh century, to be formidable to the Greek empire. In the middle of the eleventh century, the Greeks were sud- denly assaulted by this unknown race of barbarians, who united the Scythian valour with the fanaticism of new proselytes to Mahommed, and the art and riches of a powerful monarchy. " The myriads/' (says the historian,) " of Turkish horse, over- spread a frontier of six hundred miles from Taurus to Arzeorum, and the blood of thirteen thousand Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet. Yet the arms of Togrul did not make any deep or lasting impression on the Greek empire. European battles, until the time of Napoleon, were but petty skirmishes if compared to the numbers that have fought and fallen in the battles of Asia. Seven hundred thousand Moguls and Tartars are said to have marched under the standard of Zen- gis and his sons. In certain vast plains of Asia, they were en- countered by the Turkish Sultan, with an army of four hundred thousand soldiers, and in the battle of the first day, there were slain one hundred and sixty thousand on the part of the Turks. Nearly two centuries after Zengis, Tamerlane, another Mogul emperor, encountered the Turkish power under Bajacet. Eight hundred thousand men were enrolled on the military list of Tamerlane, while Bajacet had collected a force of four hundred thousand, horse and foot. Verse 17. " And thus I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them, having breast-plates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone having their breasts, their human feelings fortified by a persecuting, fanatical and angry spirit. The heads of the horses were as the heads of lions to denote the despotic and fierce character of their dominion. Out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brim- stone which issued out of their mouths they breathed forth a 67 most destructive spirit of persecution, fanaticism and vindictive- ness. The flame of bitter and angry opposition to idolatry burnt in them with a most fierce and destructive rage, and proved fatal to the religion of those Romans who came in contact with it. The extremely hostile spirit which these Turks breathed towards the conquered Christians, are evinced in the expedients to which they resorted for the purpose of obtaining soldiers. " The con- quered Christian provinces became the perpetual seminary of the Turkish army. At first the royal fifth of the Christian captives was taken for this purpose, and when this number was dimin- ished by the less frequency of conquests, an inhuman tax of the fifth child or of every fifth year, was rigorously levied on the Christian families." At the age of twelve or fourteen years, the most robust youths were torn from their parents, and from that moment, were clothed, taught and maintained for the pub- lic service. The Janizaries, those formidable Turkish soldiers, consisted at first of Christian youths who had been educated in the Turkish religion and arms. Their Turkish education so killed in them all feeling of regard to the religion of their countrymen, that they fought against them with all the zeal of proselytes. Indeed, wherever the Turkish spirit and influence came in contact with Roman Christianity, it proved highly de- structive to the latter. These idolatrous Christians were unable to maintain their re- ligion against the perpetual insults of their persecuting, fanatical and incensed victors, nor could they stem that torrent of barba- rism and ignorance which rushed in with the triumphant arms of the Turks and overspread Greece with a fatal rapidity. The Turks did not altogether prohibit the public exercise of the Christian worship, yet such was the deadly influence of their hostility towards it, that many Christians were overcome by it and became converts to the religion of their conquerors. And hence, those who retained the possession of Christianity had the mortification of seeing their friends and kindred apos- tatise to Mahomedan imposture. 68 A large proportion of Christians, by coming in contact with the Turkish religious spirit, and inhaling its influence, so fatal to Roman religious life, died to their former religious profession and sympathies. In the 19th verse it is declared of these horses, that their tails were like unto serpents and had heads, and that with them -they do hurt. Their power to kill was in the fire, smoke and brimstone issuing from their mouths, but their power to hurt was in the serpent heads of their tails. Their tails represent them in their character as teachers of imposture. The Turks, like the Saracens, falsely taught a revelation from Grod as their authority and warrant for exterminating idolatry by the sword, while at the same time they rightly charged the Greek and Latin Christians with this crime. And it. was this imposture, accompanied with this just charge and the victorious power of the Turks, which, as in the case of the Saracens, so much annoyed these Roman Christians. It must be noticed, that as the old Roman empire had been perpetuated by the Greeks, they thought themselves as much entitled to the name of Romans as were the Latins or western people. Verses 20, 21. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, (demons or medi- ators,) and idols of gold and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. The evils which the Saracens inflicted upon these Christians, for the declared purpose of chastising them for their idolatrous form of worship, so far from curing them of their idolatry, served only to confirm and harden them in it; so that when the Saracen chastisement was coming to a close, we find that the Romans had succeeded to add to the invocation of departed saints the use of images in their religious worship, and to 69 establish such idolatrous worship in full public authority and practice. Neither did the chastisement inflicted by the Turks have any better influence upon them than that of the Saracens. Hence we find that when the Turkish power began to decline and ceased to be formidable, the Latin Christians had added to the worship of images and of the martyrs, the worship of the elements in the Lord's supper, having, by a general council, established the doctrine of transubstantiation. According to this doctrine, they fall down to the elements in the Lord's sup- per, not merely as being the divinely appointed representatives, but as being by transubstantiation the very body and soul and divinity of Christ. It may be observed, that opposing sects or parties, in those matters which are the subjects of contest between each other, invariably run into extremes and become bigotted and fanatical. Such was the effect which the opposition of the Mahomedan party, both under the Saracens and the Turks, had upon the Roman Christian party. Idolatry was the great subject of con- test between the two parties, and on this subject the Christian party was urged into the extreme of madness and folly. The opposition of the Saracens and Turks, so far from bringing them to a sense of their grievous departure from the pure worship of primitive Christianity, and inducing them to repent and return back to the point whence they had strayed, only served to urge them on further in their apostacy. They repented neither of their demon and image worship, nor of their murders in shedding the blood of those whom they called heretics, nor of their sor- ceries or cheats in working miracles, nor of their fornication or licentious practices ; nor of their thefts in those exactions and impositions by which they fraudulently drew immense treasures from the nations. These calamities, inflicted by the Saracens and Turks upon the Greek and Latin Christians, were inflicted upon them for their idolatry. - " As the Greek Churches were 7 70 " first in the crime, so they were likewise first in the punish- " ment. At first they were visited by the plague of the Sara- " cens, but this working no change or reformation, they were "again chastised by the still greater plague of the Othmans; " were partly overthrown by the former, but entirely ruined " by the latter. What churches were then remaining which B " were guilty of the like idolatry but the western or those in "communion with Rome? And the western were not at all " reclaimed by the ruin of the eastern, but persisted still in the " worship of saints, and what is more, the worship of images, " which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk ; and the world is " witness to the completion of this prophecy to this day." (Bishop. Newton.) The Greek Roman idolatry and despotism still live and flourish among the Russians. 71 DISCOURSE YI. REV. x. xi. "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. And he had in his hand a little book open ; and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth ; and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth ; and when he had cried seven thunders uttered their voices ; 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. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for 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 there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and said, Go take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 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. 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 up my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophecy again before many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings." Before the seventh seal was opened we were informed by a kind of digression, that the fall of Paganism, as the established religion, would be attended with an apostacy among the pro- fessors of Roman Christianity ; so now here, before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, we have another digression for the pur- pose of giving us additional matter concerning this apostacy, informing us that the men of the apostacy were, during a cer- tain period, to domineer over the worship and polity of the Christian Church ; and that during this period they would not only be annoyed for their idolatry by the Saracens and Turks, 72 but also by some form of protestation and opposition existing among themselves. Both St. Paul end Daniel have made this apostacy a subject of distinct prediction. Daniel has repeatedly mentioned the period of one thousand two hundred and sixty years, during which it was to prevail an overbearing corporate period. As this apostacy had been so distinctly foretold by Daniel, as well as by St. Paul, it is no doubt for this reason represented in this vision of St. John, as contained in a little book open. This little book open is seen in the hand of a mighty angel that had come down from, heaven, with a cloud about him a rainbow above him his face shining as the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. This angel represents Christ, as we learn from the third verse in the next chapter. The cloud and rain- bow above it represents his fidelity to his word and promise ; the sun his glory and majesty; his feet represent his ways or course of conduct j while the fiery color of his feet intimate that his conduct or ways were now to be of a punitive character. He sets one foot upon the earth or land, that we may understand that the whole population of the earth are subject to his power and judgment. And when he cries with a loud voice, as the roaring of a lion, and the voices of seven thunders follow, we are to understand that he is displeased and intends to execute judgment upon those who had apostatised from a pure Christianity. What was the nature of the displeasure, or judgments, or contents, which the seven thunders uttered, we are not informed, for the apostle was commanded by a voice from heaven, " Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not." The apostle then sees the angel who stands upon the sea and upon the land, lift up his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, the creator of heaven and earth and sea and all things in them, that the time for putting an end to the apostacy and for finishing the mystery of God should constitute the first part of the period comprehended in the seventh trurn- 73 pet. It was a subject of wonder to Daniel, that under the dis- pensation of the Messiah, God should allow revealed religion to be corrupted and oppressed for so long a period. The circum- stances of affliction and degradation in which the true religion was to be found during this period, are termed by the prophet Daniel, wonders things strange and mysterious. And he heard an angel standing on the waters of the river and holding up both his hands to heaven, swear by him that liveth forever and ever, that this period of wonders this period of the mystery or strange things of God, should be a period of one thousand two hundred and sixty years, and that the power of the people of God ceasing at the end of this period to be scattered or divided, all the desirous things which God had promised in relation to his kingdom or church, would then be in a course of comple- tion. So here Christ in the form of a mighty angel with one foot upon the water and another upon the land, and having in his hand a little open book as relating to the apostacy already made known, raises his hands to heaven and swears by the Creator of all things who liveth forever, that the time that is, the predicted one thousand two hundred and sixty years of the apostacy, should expire before the seventh angel began to sound, and that as soon as this angel began to sound, should begin the judgment of God for the extermination of the apostacy, and for the intro- duction of a glorious period of blessedness, as he had promised to his servants the prophets. As this strange, domineering apostacy of one thousand two hundred and sixty years had before been made known and was contained in the Sacred Scriptures, this is the reason why the little book as containing this knowledge is represented to be open not sealed. And if we suppose this little open book to be symbolic of knowledge before published concerning a tyrannical apostacy of one thousand two hundred and sixty years and a subsequent period of blessedness, we may understand why the 7* 74 angel should lift up his hand with this book in it and swear as he did, concerning the certainty of the ending of these one thousand two hundred and sixty years and the' finishing of the mystery of God. And further supposing that this little open book was symbolic of previous revelations concerning this long, deplorable period of the apostacy, we may perceive the meaning and force of the following circumstances related by the apostle in reference to himself. He was commanded by a voice from heaven to take the book out of the hand of the angel and to eat it up, and while eating it, it was in his mouth sweet as honey, but as soon as he had eaten it his stomach became bitter. It was pleasant as an object of curiosity to know and under- stand rightly what God had foretold by his prophets in relation to the future history of true religion, but if this knowledge was pleasant as it was entering into the mind, it had a contrary effect after it had once entered. It was a bitter reflection that for so long a period the religion of heaven should be in the hands of its perverse corrupters, while those who professed and main- tained it in its primitive simplicity, should be objects of perse- cution and oppression. This indeed, was bitter knowledge to those who lived thousands of years ago, but it need not be so bitter to us who know that the greater part of this deplorable period has passed away. After the apostle had eaten the little book and found it bitter to digest, the angel who had given him the little book, after telling him that he, the apostle, must yet prophecy before or concerning many people and nations and tongues and kings, pro- ceeds to give him more particular information concerning these bitter things this deplorable period. And this information we have in the next chapter. Rev. xi., 12. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood, saying, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein. But the 75 court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto the gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." The temple and the altar and them that worship therein, re- present internal worship and worshippers, while the court with- out the temple represents external worship. The temple and the altar and the worshippers therein are measured, to signify that the worship and character of these internal worshippers would correspond with the internal or spiritual worship prescribed by the word and commandments of God, and bear measurement or inspection accordingly. The court without is left out and not measured, being given to the Gentiles, to signify that the external worship of the Church would not bear the measurement or inspection of the word and commandment of God and would be in the power and possession of idolaters who are here termed Gentiles or heathen. And not only is the outer court to them, but the holy city they are to tread under foot for a given time. The holy city with its streets, represents ecclesiastical polity with its laws and ordinances. The polity of the Christian church will be in the possession of these idolaters and subject to their degrading rule and control for the time specified forty-two months of years that is, one thousand two hundred and sixty years, and during this period there is to be a succession of extraordinary teachers to protest against the worship and innovations of these idolatrous Chris- tians. Verses 3 and 4. " And I will give power unto my two wit- nesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth, (Judea the holy land.) In the time of Ahab the great majority of the ten tribes had fallen away into an idolatrous worship, yet there was a small minority or remnant of seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, and besides this minority, there 76 was also a prophet left who protested against the prevailing idol- atry namely, Elijah, the Tishbite, the Reformer. So, under the apostacy of the Roman Christians, there is left a small remnant or minority of one hundred and forty-four thousand of pure worshippers, with two prophets, to protest or witness for Christ, against those "who had fallen away from him, by invoking other mediators beside himself. Under the old dispensation, when the majority of the nation had gone astray from the authorized worship of God, there appeared extraordinary teachers called prophets, who made it their business to reclaim their countrymen from their idolatry. The priests were the regular teachers and ministers while the prophetic office was intended for peculiar occasions and purposes. Their office was not confined to the prediction of future events, it was their province to instruct the people in the word of God and especially to expose their departures from it, and to reclaim and reform them. They were the bulwarks of the old religion against the innovations and tyranny of the civil magistrate, as well as against the corruption and idolatry of the priests and people. Their office was that of protestants and reformers. By these prophets God had protested unto the nation of Israel from the time of their deliverance from Egypt rising up early and protesting, saying obey my voice. (JER. ii. 7.) The prophets were the witnesses -of God in this sense, that they faithfully declared His displeasure and threatenings against the impiety and idolatry of their countrymen. And hence it was necessary, that they should be men of a bold and courageous spirit, who would cry aloud and spare not ; who would lift up their voice like a trumpet and shew the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. Behold, says God to the prophet Ezekiel, I have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their forehead. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead, fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 77 After the separation of the ten tribes, (in the reign of Reho- boam,) from the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, there was a succession of prophets kept up in each of these two kingdoms ; one in the kingdom of Judah, and another in the kingdom of Israel. According to this prediction of St. John, there is something corresponding to these two successions of protestors and re- formers, to occur in the Christian Church during the long apostacy under consideration. The two witnesses of Christ the two protestant teachers of Christianity, evidently signify, there would be in the Christian Church, a succession of bold and courageous spirits, who would protest against the prevailing apostacy, and preach up the necessity of reformation. This succession of men is represented to be two-fold, because their testimony will be two-fold; they will set forth the revela- tion and protestation of God against the idolatrous innovators, both under the law and under the gospel. Both the law and the gospel reveal Christ as the only mediator, the only inter- cessor, who, by his sacrifice and merits, can secure favour for us in heaven. One great error of the ancient heathen nations, was, that they had a great number of deceased men, whom they invoked for their influence and aid, under the notion, that they had, after their death, been promoted to the office of mediators or intercessors between men and the celestial gods. The testi- mony of God concerning Christ, both under the law and under the gospel, is that there is only one such mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus. And it is this testimony this protestation of God, which these teachers will expose and hold up during the apostacy. Hence they are compared to the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth or of the holy land. The prophet Zechariah, who, like St. John, was once in a vision, commanded to measure the temple, also speaks of two 78 olive trees emptying their oil into a golden candlestick with seven lamps. A candlestick with seven lamps was a part of the furniture of the tabernacle or temple. This candlestick was placed in the holy place or outer sanctuary, and was to be kept burning during the night. When Zechariah asked the meaning of these two olive trees, he was answered, these are the two anointed ones or sons of oil. The oil i the symbol of divinely revealed truth or know- ledge. When the knowledge is published and diffused, it becomes light. The meaning, therefore, is that the teachers whom these two prophets represent, will not only possess among themselves, divinely revealed knowledge, but that they will also hold it up to notice, and diffuse and publish it. They are said to stand by, or near to the God of the earth like the can- dlestick of the temple stood near to the mercy seat of God, and by its light showed the way of access to the place of mercy. So these two prophets will serve to hold up and diffuse divinely revealed knowledge, concerning the way of approaching God, for the purpose of obtaining pardon and grace, and finding help in time of need, through the blood and merits of an only mediator the man Christ Jesus. They prophecy in sackcloth during these twelve hundred and sixty years, and this habit of mourning and humiliation, is intended to indicate the grievous apostacy of professed Christians, and the deplorable state of the Christian Church during the period of their protestant teaching. Verse 5. " And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." We are to understand these words in the same sense in which we understand the prediction of Isaiah, concerning the preaching of our Blessed Lord that he should slay the wicked with the breath of his lips, or as St. Paul has it, consume them with the spirit (doctrine) of his mouth that is, he would slay and con- 79 sume them intellectually, by the force of truth that he would speak with a wisdom and spirit, which his enemies would not be able to resist. And it is in this sense that these two prophets will slay and consume their enemies by the fire or spirit of their mouth. The divinely revealed truth which they will preach and publish, will serve like fire to destroy and consume all opposing argument and discourse. The truth proceeding from their mouth, when it comes in contact with the minds of opposers, and is understood and felt by them in its power and influence, will expose their error, and deaden and destroy in them the spirit of opposition. It is impossible, that those Christians who have departed from a pure worship into idola- trous innovations, should continue their confidence in those innovations, when they are once brought to see and understand the truth concerning them, as it is exposed in holy scripture, unless their minds have become reprobate by party mania. Verse 6. " These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy : and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will." We must understand these words as we do the words of God to the prophet Jeremiah, when he gave him his prophetic com- mission. " See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant." Jeremiah, in these words, was merely authorized to foretell or declare, the putting down and setting up, the downfall and use of these nations and kingdoms. He was to have no other agency in these events than in foretelling them. So when Ezekiel speaks of his being sent to destroy Jerusalem, he means his mission to prophecy that the city should be destroyed. When Christ gave his apostles authority to remit sins, the words mean no more than he gave them official authority to declare and pronounce sin remitted, according to the terms of the gospel. Thus these witnesses have power to declare and foretell the shutting of 80 heaven, that it rain not during the days (twelve hundred and sixty,) of their prophecy. As in the days of Elijah, there was a dearth of three and a-half years or twelve hundred and sixty days, so during these twelve hundred and sixty years, the Roman Christians will suffer under the effects of a moral dearth. My doctrine, says Moses, shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. The doctrine of Christ (the living water,) will become scarce in these days for the want of being published and diffused by discourse, so that it will not be until after these days, that the knowledge of the Lord will descend in copious showers, and becoming diffused by discourses or preaching, cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. These witnesses will expose and hold up to notice, the divine prediction, concerning this long moral dearth. They have also power to declare or foretell the turning of the waters into blood that is, it will be a part of their mission, to publish that the nations in communion with the Romans, are destined to turn against them, and that they, the Romans, are to be smitten with all plagues, and these prophets are to exercise this power of declaring and foretelling these things, as often as they will that is, as often as their zeal for the cause of Christ and revealed truth should stir them up to energy and action. Verse 7th. " And when they shall have finished their testi- mony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them." The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, (more literally out of the abyss or deep,) is here merely noticed, and is left to be more fully described in a subsequent vision. The beast represents, (as we shall show hereafter,) the corporation or body of men, which we may term the Latin Catholic Corpora- tion or Church, as distinguished from the Greek Catholic Cor- poration or Church. This corporation of men will enter into a war of controversy with these two witnesses, and in this war or 81 controversy, will succeed in overcoming them, and killing them. Whether these two witnesses represent a succession of protestant Christian teachers, or a succession of Christian communities protesting publicly against the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, the overcoming and killing them, represent the tem- porary suspension of protestant public teaching. If we should say, that this corporation will succeed in extinguishing the pro- testant public spirit in the Roman world, rendering it dead and inactive for a time, we should express the true meaning of the words of St. John. Verse 8th. "And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." The great city, here means Rome-, and (to conceal the name,) is elsewhere in the book, called Babylon. Babylon means Rome, in a mystical or concealed sense. Rome is here called, spiritually, or in the scriptural use and sense of the words, Sodom on account of her loose morals. Egypt, on account of her cruel persecution and oppression of the people of God ; and Jerusalem, that crucified Christ, because while professing the true religion, there is found in her the blood of saints and prophets. The city means Rome, in respect to its great polity. The street of this great city, means some law of Roman polity ; a path or way, signifies in scripture, a precept, or commandment, or law. One of the mbst ancient laws of Rome, as quoted by Cicero, (de Leg. ii. 8,) declared that no man shall have separate gods for himself, and no man shall worship by himself, new or foreign gods, unless they have been publicly acknowledged by the laws of the state. According to the Roman Jurist, Julius Paulus, (B. v. tit. 21,) it was a leading principle of Roman law, that those who introduced new religions, or such as were unknown in their tendency and nature, by which the minds of men might be agitated, were degraded, if they belonged to the higher ranks, and if they were in a lower state, were punished with death. From Levi, we learn, that in the early ages of the 82 republic, the magistrates were empowered to prevent all foreign worship to expel its ministers from the forum, the circus, and the city, to search for, and burn the religious books, and to abolish every form of sacrifice, except the national and estab- lished form. The Christian emperors, as early as Honorius, acted on this principle of Roman polity. In the reign of Honorius, Jovinian, for exposing the errors and superstitions of monasticism, was condemned by a council at Milan, and after his condemnation, the emperor issued the following ordi- nance. The complaint of some bishops, mentions as a griev- ance, that Jovinian assembles sacrilegious meetings without the walls of the most holy city. Wherefore, we ordain, that the above mentioned, be seized and whipped, together with his abettors and attendants, and confined to some place of banish- ment, and that the machinator himself, be immediately sent away to the island of Boa. According to the law of Moses if a person was found killed or dead, the nearest city to the dead body was held responsible for the murder. Hence the dead bodies of these murdered pro- phets lie in the streets of the great city, in order to signify that the extinction of the public spirit of the protestants and refor- mers, will be laid to the account of some law or principle of Ro- man polity, and perhaps to that law or principle which as quoted above, forbids all right of private judgment in matters of reli- gion, and visits all opposition to the established worship with penal inflictions. By whatever means the extinction of the Protestant, and reforming public spirit may be brought about, it is certain that the extinction itself will be something, which has never yet occurred during the apostacy. In the next verses we have an account of the manner in which the dead bodies of these prophets were treated, and of the joy which their death occasioned among their enemies. Verse 9. " And they of the people and kindred, and tongues and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves." They 83 of the gentiles, they of idolatrous or false religions in the Ro- man world, will now regard and treat the dead form or profession of protestantism, with utter contempt, and the Roman Christians will rejoice over the extinction of its spirit. Verse'10. And they that dwell upon the earth, (the holy land,) shall rejoice over them and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another j because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the earth, (holy land.) Protestantism as well as Mahomedanism, have much tormented, hurt, and annoyed the professors of Roman Christianity, and we may well suppose that when they shall find protestantism in its public spirit to be dead, they will regard its death as a most joyful and happy event. Their rejoicing how- ever will be of short duration. Verse 11-12. " And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them." For three years and a half the profes- sion of protestantism will lie without life and vigour, but at the end of this period it will become in some extraordinary manner animated by a new spirit, and assume again an erect position, and then protestantism both in spirit, and in profession, is to as- cend to a high position of influence and honour in the world. They who witness for the truth as it is in Christ, against those who have apostatized into an idolatrous form of Christianity, are destined in the end to triumph over their enemies ; and their profession and spirit to be held in the highest respect, and to exercise the highest kind of authority and influence on the minds of men. An earthquake or shaking takes place cotemporaneou sly with the ascension of these martyrs into heaven. Verse 13. " And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were 84 slain of men, (or names of men,) seven thousand; and the remnants were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven." This shaking signifies a political agitation or convulsion the fall of the tenth part of the city, portends that in this convul- sion, an important part of Roman polity will be abolished ; the slaying by the earthquake, of seven thousand names of men or men of name, signifies that in this partial abolition or de- struction of Roman polity, Home will lose the active sympathy and aid of a great number of men, or worshippers of eminence and influence. These men will lose the spirit of Romans they will cease to sympathize with the Roman party. We read that the remnant of the men of name, who were not killed by the earthquake, were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The remnant of the men of eminence and influence, who still maintained their Roman spirit and sympathy, and do not abandon the party, are induced, while under the impulse of fright, to acknowledge the justice of divine providence in the symbolical earthquake and its effects, and as thus just, render honour to God accordingly. We perceive, that the second woe includes not only the evil inflicted by the Turkish Mahomedans, but also some evil of an internal nature and source, in some way connected with pro- testantism. The spirit and profession of protestantism, both in Christian teachers and in Christian communities, have existed for many centuries. Gibbon, in speaking of the sect who were called the disciples of St. Paul, or Paulicians, and who arose in the seventh century, says, "that- the invincible spirit which they had kindled, continued to live and breathe, down to modern times. In the State, in the Church, and even in the cloister, a latent succes- sion was preserved of the disciples of St. Paul, who protested against the tyranny of Rome, embraced the Bible as the rule of faith, and purified their creed from all the visions of Gnostic theology. The struggles of Wickliff in England, and of Huss 85 in Bohemia, were premature and ineffectual ; but the names of Zuinglius, Luther, and Calvin, are pronounced with gratitude, as the deliverers of nations." As early as the fifth century, in the very beginning of the apostacy, when the corruptions of Christianity had not yet sub- sided into habit, we read of a Spanish presbyter, Vigilantius, a man of learning, who raised a voice of protestation against the prayers addressed to departed saints, and to the extravagant honours and worship which were rendered to the martyrs. Claudius, Bishop of Turin, who was by birth a Spaniard, has been termed the Protestant of the ninth century. He vigor- ously opposed the worship of images, and of the wood of the cross. " Wherefore, says he, do they not adore chaplets of thorns, because Christ was crowned with thorns ; or cradles, linen, or boats, because he made use of them ; or spears, be- cause he was pierced with that weapon ? or why they do not fall down to the image of an ass, because he rode on that animal. Christ Jesus did not command us to worship the cross, but to bear it to renounce the worW and ourselves." While the Mahomedans, both Saracens and Turks, from the eighth cen- tury down, have annoyed Roman Christians, both Greeks and Latins, there have not been wanting in every age, some few faithful Christians, who dissenting from the majority, have protested against their idolatrous innovations. In the eighth century, under the Greek emperors, there was a general and zealous effort made, to reform the Christian Church in the Roman world of idolatrous innovations and practices but the effort failed, and served only to render Roman Christians more confirmed and determined in their idolatry and errors. And such has been the effect of all protestant and reforming efforts made since. The victory has been with the idolaters, and they are destined to overcome their opposers in a more remarkable manner than they have ever yet done. Like in the reign of Dioclesian, the idolatrous party will make one more desperate, and for a time, more successful effort against a protestant Chris- 8* 86 tianity, than they have yet done. And this persecution will be the final one, and will end like that of Dioclesian, in the com- plete triumph of the persecuted, for it will be quickly followed with the reign of Christ, in judgment upon these idolatrous Christians,' and in the subsequent universal prevalence of his authority and religion. This triumph of protestantism, will end the twelve hundred and sixty years, and the second woe. " And the second woe is past ; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly." " And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world, are be- come the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great ; and shouldest destroy them that destroy the earth." - The period included in the seventh trumpet, reaches from the beginning of the third woe, down beyond the general resurrec- tion and general judgment, to the introduction of a new heaven and earth, from which sin and death are to be excluded. This period of the seventh trumpet consists of several parts, the first comprehends the third woe ; the second, the long reign of Christianity, commonly called the millenium, as consisting of a thousand years ; third, the escape of infidel power and opposi- tion from their long millenial restraint; while the fourth divi- sion, comprehends the general resurrection and judgment, followed with the everlasting state and kingdom of glory. The kingdom or reign of the Lord and his Christ, commences with the sounding of the seventh trumpet, but it commences in judg- 87 merit, in the infliction of the third woe. The third woe, how- ever, is not described, until we are prepared for the description by the communication of further information, concerning certain events, and especially concerning the beast that was to ascend out of the abyss or deep, and overcome, and slay the two witnesses. DISCOURSE VII. REV. xi. 19; xii. 1 6. "And the temple of God was opened in the heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament; nnd there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars ; and she, being with child, cried,- travailing in birth and pained to be delivered. "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head ; and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron ; and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne ; and the woman fled unto the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score years. The last verse of the eleventh chapter ought to begin the twelfth chapter. The opening of the temple or inner sanctuary in heaven ; the exposing of the ark of the testament, which had its residence there, and the lightings, and voices, and thunder- ings, and earthquake, and great hail, intimate that the revelation or vision about to be communicated, was of an extraordinary character; exposing to notice judgments of God unsearchable, and ways of God past finding out. Similar circumstances of a terrific nature occurred on the earth and in the elements at the revelation and giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Heaven, or the high- place on which the temple is situated, represents the government or place of power and authority in the Roman world the throne of God in the temple represents the place of supreme sovereign authority. They who dwell in heaven, or have a place there, represent those who have office or authority in the government; while those who dwell on the earth repre- sent those without office and authority the governed as dis- tinguished from the governing. The exposure of the ark seems intended to intimate an exposure of the judgments and ways of Divine providence in matters of a sacred or religious nature. Accordingly in the new scene which opens to the vision of the apostle, we have first presented to us a symbolic representation of the history of Christianity, and Paganism particularly, in their corporate capacities, and in their conflict with each other, from the beginning of the Christian corporation at Jerusalem, under the government and teaching of the twelve apostles down to its obscure and desolate condition during the one thousand two hundred and sixty years of the apostacy. This history of the conflict between Christianity and Paganism, in their cor. porate capacities, is given us under signs or symbols, which are peculiarly striking when they are rightly understood. And there appeared a great wonder (sign, symbol) in heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The woman is the symbol of Jerusalem or the Christian Church, (catholic,) considered as a body corporate and politic. Christianity, in its church or corporate character, began in the city of Jerusalem. This corporation was at first under the chief government and teaching of the twelve apostles, and this is the reason why the woman has on her head a crown of twelve stars. The sun with which she is clothed, is the revelation of Christ, and the moon which is under her feet, is the revelation of Moses the one being a brighter revelation than the other, as the sun 89 is brighter than the moon; and the one borrowing its light from the other, as the moon borroweth its light from the sun. How comparatively obscure would be the meaning of Jewish sacrifices without the light of Christianity to expose that mean- ing. Before the Christian revelation, the Church had only the light of the moon the sun had not yet risen but was below the horizon. The Church then knew that the light which she pos- sessed was borrowed or reflected light, yet she was expecting the time when the true light, which lighteth every man coming into the world, would appear above the horizon. The Christian revelation is not only a brighter light than the revelation of Moses, but it is the original light, of which the latter is but the moonlight reflection. Now when the sun, the original light, appeared above the horizon, the moon became of little use in giving light, and she lost her importance and her glory by reason of the superior glory of the sun. As soon as the sun, the light of the gospel, appears above the horizon, the moon, the light of Moses, sinks into inferiority. As soon as the Church is clothed with the sun, the moon assumes a position beneath her feet. Thus the woman with a crown of twelve stars on her head, with the sun about her person and the moon under her feet, is beautifully symbolic of the Christian (catholic) Church, under the original oversight of the twelve apostles, en- veloped in the glorious light of the gospel revelation, and placed above the necessity of the moonlight of Jewish rites and sacri- fices. The Church makes her appearance in heaven, or the place of power in the government, where, (verse 2,) being with child, she cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. Here the Christian Church is represented as a mother bearing children. It is also represented by the prophet Isaiah, (chap, liv. 1, 3,) Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing thou that didst not travail with child. Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. (Isaiah, Ivi. 7, 8 ;) Before she travailed, she brought forth ; before her pain came she was delivered of a 90 man child. As soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children. Individual members are the seed or children of this corporation, while Christ is the husband. The pains of travail under which the woman suffered, represent the painful condi- tion of the Cristian Church while she was about to add a Ro- man emperor to the number of her children. In the next verse we have another wonder, or symbol, which makes its appearance in heaven, in the celestial temple. This was a great red (fiery colored) dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head, and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth. The dragon represents the established religion as a cor- poration the pagan body or party whose religion was a con- stituent part of the State. The seven heads represent the seven different forms of government by which this body, in the course of its history, was successively ruled. These heads are more particularly spoken of in the seventeenth chapter. It will merely here be necessary to anticipate that the last form of the pagan government was that new autocrat imperial form which was instituted by Dioclesian, and perfected by Constantine and his successors. The ten horns, as we learn in the seventeenth chapter, represent the ten cotemporaneous States, or powers, which were to spring up in this body of men. The red or fiery color of the dragon, is emblematic of a vindictive and sanguinary character. The tail of the dragon represents the fanatical teachers and priests of the pagan party ; while the third part of the stars of heaven represent Christian teachers as constituting an important portion of eminent teachers in the Roman world. These stars are drawn along at the tail of the dragon and dashed about on the ground, in order to represent the degrading and violent treatment which many Christian bishops and teachers received at the hands of the fanatical portion of the pagan party under the pagan emperors. Whenever the pagan party was aroused by its fanatical 01 priests and advocates to enmity and opposition to Christianity, the bishops and eminent Christian teachers were generally the principal objects against whom pagan enmity and opposition were directed. It was supposed by the pagan opposers and persecutors, that if they could remove the teachers and pastors, and especially the bishops, from their flocks, they would have less difficulty in crushing the Christian religion. The bishops and teachers were the especial objects of hatred and persecution, because they were constantly inflaming the zeal of their flocks for the Christian faith. The fourth and fifth verses. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, (a son, a man,) who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and to his throne. As the man of sin the one above law, who, according to the apostle, was to have his seat or throne in the temple or Church of God, and exalt himself above all human dignity and au- thority, evidently signifies a ruler or succession of rulers. We may attach a similar signification to the son of man, or man child, whom the woman was about to bring forth, especially as it is declared of him, that he was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. The son, a man, must therefore represent a Christian ruler or emperor, governing the pagan communities with an iron rule. This man child was born into the Roman world when Con- stantine first succeeding to a joint participation in the imperial office and dignity, professed himself the protector and advocate of Christianity ; and the man child was caught up to God and his throne when the whole of the imperial office came into the possession of Constantine and his successors. According to St. Paul, there is no power but of God the powers that be, are ordained of God. In this sense the imperial throne was the throne of God. The pagan party is represented as prepared and 92 on the alert to crust and destroy imperial Christianity at its birth. Constantino, escaping from the power of the pagan em- perors and persecutors, succeeded to the imperial office in the western part of the empire, and it was through much opposition from the pagan party and emperors, that he finally succeeded to the undivided imperial office. As soon, however, as the imperial throne came to be occupied by a professed protector and advocate of the Christian Church, then begins the period of the woman's flight from heaven into the wilderness, into a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days. This language signifies, that after the establishment of an advo- cate and protector on the imperial throne, the Christian Church, as a corporation, obedient to the apostolic teaching and authority, and diffusing the light of the gospel, would begin to retire from the immediate notice of those in power, and be driven into an obscure and forlorn condition ; that she would exist in this con- dition during a period of one thousand two hundred and sixty years; that during this period she would be distinguished neither for number nor consideration. While, however, the Church (the Christian body politic) is in this transition state and period, from a high to an obscure posi- tion in the Roman world, there is carried on a contest among those in power. In this contest, the friends of Christianity endeavour to cast the pagan party and its advocates out of their place of authority. Verses six to nine. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not ; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out and his angels were cast out with him. After the imperial office had been gained to the side of Chris- 93 tianity, the party in the government on the side of Christianity began a contest with the pagan party and its advocates to drive them from power. And this contest continued for more than half of a century. The woman leaves heaven, or the high place on which the temple stands before the war commenced there, and at the end of the war she is found upon the earth. The war is not between the woman and the dragon, but be- tween Michael and the dragon, each supported by their respect- ive angels. Christianity as a church or corporation, depended to a certain extent upon the civil or secular government for pro- tection. She bears not the sword, but looks to the state or secu- lar authority to protect her in her corporate rights. The use of the sword or of weapons of war is not more unsuitable to the gentle nature of woman, than it is to that of the Christian church. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spi- ritual. Concerning Michael, we learn from the prophet Daniel, that he stands for the children of God's people or church, and uses his power with secular kings and governments, in order to pro- tect and maintain their cause. We may therefore make Michael here, to represent, not the Christian church, but the imperial power taking the side of Christianity. The imperial power and those who side with it, succeed in overcoming the pagan party and its advocates and expelling them so effectually from the government, that their place therein was not found any .more, an4 the pagan corpora- tion and religion ceased to be a constituent part of the state, and lost the aid and patronage of the secular power. This great and ancient corporation had so much calumniated and opposed the true religion, that it is called the devil and Satan, that is, the calumniator or liar and the opposer or enemy. It had been also, wonderfully successful in deluding the great mass of the people of the empire, working after this manner of Satan, with falsehood and fictitious privileges, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and with all the deception 9 94 of dishonesty. But it was now degraded from power and place into a state of subjection and submission. " It is very remarkable, that Constantino and the Christians " of his time describe his victory over the Pagan party, under " the same image that we find here in St. John, as if they had " understood that this prdphecy had received . its accomplish- " ment in him/' " Constantino himself, in his epistle to Eusebius and other " bishops, concerning the re-edifying and repairing of churches, " saith that liberty being now restored and the dragon being tl removed from the administration of public affairs .by the pro- " vidence of the great God, and by my ministry, I esteem the " great power of God to have been made manifest even to all." Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind who persecuted the church by means of im- pious tyrants in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the midst of the sea j in allusion as it is said, expressly to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets where that evil spirit is called the dragon and the crooked serpent. (Bishop Newton, Dis. 25.) The fall of paganism from place and power in the Roman government, was not however, completed, until the reign of Theodosius the great, at the close of the fourth cen- tury. " The titles, the ensigns, the prerogatives of sovereign power," says Gibbon, " which had been instituted by Numa and assumed by Augustus, were accepted without hesitation by seven Christian emperors, who were invested with a more absolute authority over the religion which they had deserted, than over that which they had professed." But when Gratian, (A. D., 375,) ascended the throne, more scrupulous or more enlightened, he sternly rejected those profane symbols; applied to the service of the state or of the church, the revenues of the priests and of the vestals, abolished their honours and immunities, and dis- 95 solved the ancient fabric of Roman superstition which was sup- ported by the opinions and habits of eleven hundred years. Paganism was still the constitutional religion of the senate of Rome. And this emperor yet spared the statutes of the gods, which were exposed to the public veneration ; four hundred and twenty-four temples or chapels, still remained to satisfy the devotion of the people, and in every quarter of Rome the deli- cacy of Christians was offended by the fumes of idolatrous sacri- fice. Before the entire abolition of the Pagan worship in the city of Rome, Symachus, the pagan pontiff and augur, addressed a defence of paganism to the emperor, in which he introduces the celestial genius that presided over the fates of Rome, as petitioning the emperors in the following language. "Most " excellent princes, fathers of your country, pity and respect " my age which has hither flowed in an uninterrupted course of " piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to continue in the " practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, allow me " to enjoy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced " the world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal " from the gates of the city and the Gauls from the capitol. " Were my gray hairs reserved for such intolerable disgrace ? " I am ignorant of the new system which I am required to adopt, " but I am well assured that the correction of old age, is always "an ungrateful and ignominious task." The eloquence of the pontiff and of the celestial genius, was however, of no avail. " In the reign of Theodosius, that emperor, in a full meeting of " the senate of Rome, proposed, according to the forms of the " republic, the important question, whether the worship of Ju- " piter or that of Christ, should be the religion of the Romans. " On a regular division of the senate, Jupiter was condemned " and degraded by the senate, of a very large majority " They yielded to the authority of the emperor, to the fashion " of the times, and to the entreaties of their wives and children, "who were instigated and governed by the clergy of Rome and " the works of the east. . . And the luminaries of the 96 " world, the venerable assembly of Catos, (such are the high- " flown expressions of Prudentius,) were impatient to strip thera- " selves of their pontifical garments ; to cast the skin of the old " serpent, to assume the snowy robes of baptismal innocence, " and to humble the pride of the consular fasces before the " tombs of fMed." Aal Ae sem lajjii OMB M* rf Ae of Ae to Ae SEK* avgek Kf gddn viab frD f Ae wnA of God, wfe EicA -::- 1 . :' - '. '-. to eucBte.) Jkmd Ae temple wm filed ef Ae ]re wttte datkiBg f Ae aad Ae nadj obedieBee wiA vioeh Acy execBte Ae . " . _. \- - 153 It is a common scriptural figure which speaks of the wrath of God as contained in a vial or cup. In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; it is full of mixture ; and he poureth out of the same, but the dregs thereof all the wicked shall wring out and drink them. The smoke with which the temple was filled and which pre- vented all ingress while the seven angels were fulfilling their respective commissions, signifies an extraordinary and glorious manifestation of the divine power and justice in the judgments inflicted. The seven angels having received the seven vials now hear a great voice out of the temple or sanctuary ordering them to execute their respective commissions. Chap. xvi. 1. " And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying, Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." The first angel pours out the contents of his vial upon the earth, (the land) the second angel pours his vial upon the sea, the third upon the rivers and fountains of waters, the fourth upon the sun, the fifth upon the throne or seat of the beast, the sixth upon the great river Euphrates, and the seventh into the air. It has been remarked that the land, the sea, and the rivers and fountains of waters signify three different kinds of population in the Roman world ; the land signifies the portion more particularly Roman in their manners and civilization, the rivers and fountains of water signify the favoured nations or communities of foreign manners and civilization, while the sea signifies that portion of the population who less disciplined and stable in their minds and passions constitute the greater num- ber, the mass or multitude. The rivers and fountains of waters included in the 5th and 6th centuries, those foreign nations who after conquering the Romans settled among them, and united with them in close alliance and friendship. These rivers and fountains must represent in modern times those nations or communities as transmitted in a modified form, and comprehending the different 14 154 Roman Catholic nations or communities of Europe. The Greeks for some ages were to the Roman power and idolatry in the west what the river Euphrates was to the city of Babylon, they protected the Latin or Western people from the Mahome- dans. In modern times the river Euphrates may represent the Greek community as perpetuated in religion and government among the Russians. The Russians are of the Greek religion, and their government is the Greek imperial despotism or autocracy. The Russian empire is the Greek empire perpetuated in Church and State. The sun is the symbol of the chief source of knowledge and influence. It was in ancient times the province of governments to exercise a chief agency in the diffusion and perpetuation of knowledge, one of the titles of the ancient Egyptian kings was, " Son of the sun." The seat or throne of the beast, signifies the seat of govern- ment the capitol of the Roman Catholic Church, or the sovereign administration of Roman Catholic power. The air may represent public opinion, the public mind and sentiment, that upon which authority is dependent for its life and vigor. The 2d verse. " And the first (angel) went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." The earth here signifies the land as distinguished from the water, and represents the distinguished portion of the population in the Roman world the portion who are more particularly Roman in their senti- ments and manners. Something will occur among this portion of the population, which will prove very annoying and painful to those who are pledged to the service of the Catholic Church, and who render submission to the fabricated representative of its divinity who idolize papal auth :rity. Perhaps this portion of the population will become disaffected 155 towards Catholic divine authority, and towards its representa- tive papal authority, and this disaffection will grievously afflict the minds and feelings of the votaries cf Catholic and papal divinity. Verse 3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea. The less stable the less disciplined population the multi- tude, now became imbued with some property or principle as deleterious to the existence of the Roman corporate spirit as a sea of congealed blood would be to animal existence. Verses 4 7. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, Lord, which art and wast and shalt b3, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another voice out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. The foreign nations or communities in favor and alliance with the Romans, now becoming imbued with some property or prin- ciple extremely distasteful and obnoxious to the obsequious and bigoted votaries of the papacy and Roman Catholicism, will be instruments of an overruling Providence to inflict upon them a righteous retaliation for their persecution of good men. Verses 8 and 9. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory. Government, or the supreme authority, will now exercise a severe and hostile influence upon those who practise a false reli- gion, whether professedly Christian or infidel. Perhaps the intellectual light as well as the moral influence diffused by government, will now be increased to an intense degree, and become intolerant and tormenting to them. But 156 neither this or the forementioned judgments will bring them to a sense of their error, and to an acknowledgment of the mani- fest justice of divine Providence in bringing about these un- toward events so annoying and torturing to their sentiments and feelings. They will not see in these untoward events of Pro- vidence that the hand of God is against them. Verses 10 and 11. And the fifth angel poured his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. Something befals the administration or seat of Roman Catho- lic authority, by which that authority will be deprived of all its glory and influence, and Roman Catholics in their adversity will be extremely chagrined and mortified. As partisans and bigots when they find their cause in misfortune and disgrace, are miserably vexed and tormented, but persevere in their error, so will it be with these men. They will disregard all the retributive inflictions of a righteous Providence upon them and their cause, and will continue in their perverse spirit and con- duct hardening their hearts against the calls to repentance and a better mind. Like Pharaoh, they will persevere in their hardness of heart until some more fearful workings of a retributive Providence overtake them, and involve them and their cause in a complete and fatal ruin. Verses 12-16. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates ; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 157 Behold, I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon." A large army of various nations gathered together by the kings of Medea and Persia and com- manded by Legrus besieged Babylon and took the city in the following manner. The river Euphrates ran through the midst of the city, being about a quarter of a mile broad and twelve feet deep, and hav- ing on each side a wall. The width and depth of the river, together with the walls on each side, were thought to be a sure defence against access to the city in that quarter. The Persian general, however, by means of ditches and canals which he had caused to be dug, and which on a certain night he opened to the river, drew off the water from its usual channel and rendered the river fordable. The troops then entering the river thus rendered fordable, and coming to the gates of the walls on the river, found that in the neglect and disorder of an annual festival then celebrated, they had been left open, the besieged not suspecting that the city could possibly be entered by the river. The troops thus finding easy access into the heart of the city, penetrated into the very palace and surprising the guards, cut them to pieces along with the king himself. Thus the city was suddenly captured, in the midst of fancied security, and an end put to the dominion of Babylon. The most of the particulars of this taking of Babylon, were foretold by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. They both speak of the drying up of the river, not merely as a temporary evil, but one which was to render Babylon desolate forever. Accordingly the waters drawn off from the channel by Cyrus, were never brought back, but were left to diffuse themselves over the surrounding country and render it desolate and un- healthy. Evil, says Isaiah, shall come upon thee suddenly, 14* 158 thou shalt not know from whence it cometh. This evil was to come upon Babylon as a punishment for her idolatrous worship and her oppressive treatment of the professed people of God. The Lord, says Jeremiah, hath raised up the spirit of the Medes, for his device is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple, the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitants of Zion say The days come that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon. According to the prophet Jeremiah, then, the Lord should come in judg- ment upon Babylon, he would muster the host to the battle and there would be a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together, and the day of the Lord would come upon Babylon as a destruction from the Almighty. When we call to our remembrance that the destruction of Babylon was to be the work of the kings of the east, that the drying up of the river Euphrates proved the means of her sudden capture and ultimate ruin, that her destruction was a judgment of God upon her, for her idolatry and her oppression of the professors of the true religion, that an army, composed of different nations was gathered against her by the kings of the east and witnessed her fall, and that the period of her fall is termed the day of the Lord, the day of her destruction from the Almighty, we are prepared to discover the meaning of the contents of the sixth vial. We are to understand by Babylon, Roman polity, and by the river Euphrates, we may understand the Russians as being Greek in their idolatrous forms of religion, and in their impe- rial government. The drying up or drawing off the river so as to leave the city exposed and unprotected, intimates that the population of the Greek religion and institutions will now abandon the idolatrous system of Roman polity continued among them. And this loss of defence and support to the system, will prepare the way for the coming of some combined power to put an utter end to that 159 polity, in the Latin or western world, and to restore the worship and polity of the Christian church, to purity and prosperity. With, however, the eoming in of the combined power, and before the destruction and desolation of the Roman system of polity and idolatry, there will occur a great controversy concern- ing the invocation of deceased men and women as demons or mediators. In this controversy, the dragon the party opposed to Christianity, the beast the Roman Catholic party, and the false prophets the Roman church, as the infallible teacher of Christianity, will be united together on one side, who compose the other side will appear in the latter part of the nineteenth chapter. The unclean spirits of devils (demons) working miracles, which in the form of frogs are seen coming out of the mouth of ,he dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, represent the emissaries which each one of these three parties will send forth to teach the invocation of deceased men and women as mediators. These teachers are frogs in the sense of babblers. The Greek word in its root signifies, to bawl, to speak loud, to vociferate. These emissaries, in their manner of teaching, will display more sound than sense, and be noted more for declamation than sound speech. They will endeavour, by vehement declamation, to join to their side of the controversy, men of station and au- thority, of all professions and opinions in respect to religion. Verse 16. " And he (they) gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, (the mountain of destruction.)" It was by the waters of Megiddo that the kings of Canaan fought a battle with the Israelites under Deborah and Barak. In this battle, the Canaanites were so signally defeated that the commander-in-chief was obliged to flee away alone and on foot. These babblers will unite the men of station and authority with the assumption of some proposition some position in argu- ment of a weak and indefeasible nature, where their defeat will 160 be sudden and decisive. The suddenness of this defeat is ex- pressed in the fifteenth verse. " Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." The end of the controversy is not a part of the sixth vial but of the seventh, and is therefore related in a subsequent (the latter part of the nineteenth) chapter. Verse 17. " And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done." The retributions of divine providence on Roman idolatry and power, will be completed under this vial. This last portion of retribution will begin in the air, or public mind, and reach to changes among the population in their political positions. The public mind will become roused into indignation and anger, and there will follow some great revolution, changing the positions of the different portions of the population in respect to rank and influence. Verse 18. " An^l there were voices, and thunders, and light- nings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." In this great political revolution, the various idolatrous polities, including that of Rome, will share in one common ruin. Verse 19. " And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell : and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." Jerusalem, when it was besieged by Titus, was divided into three parts, and among three parties, and these parties at war with each other; and it was this civil war that brought about the capture and destruction of the city. The destruction of Roman polity will be brought about by party division among its adherents. 161 Verse 20. " And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." The different portions of the population will be reduced into one common level in point of rank or eminence. Verse 21. " And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent : and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.". Some additional heavy calamity will overtake the votaries of a false and idolatrous worship, who, in their daring and perverse impiety, will not acknowledge their calamity to be the result of a righteous retributive providence. Like the ancient Jews, they will persevere to the very last in defaming the revealed truth of God in its obvious and legitimate sense. And what our Lord said of the Jews will apply to them. " The heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed ; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hoar with their ears, and should understand with their heart, aud should be converted, and I should heal them." 162 DISCOURSE XIII. REV. xvii. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither ; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters : with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness : and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication : and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abo- minations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, [the abyss, or deep,] and go into per- dition : and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are [and are] seven kings : five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come : and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, [is an eighth king al ne,] and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings : and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. Ar.d he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall moke her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and biirn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their king- dom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Some parts of the contents of the sixth and seventh vials having been described in a partial manner, are now described more at length, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth 163 chapters. The seventeenth and eighteenth chapters give a par- ticular account of the fall and punishment of Babylon, while the latter part of the nineteenth chapter gives an account of the great battle, which results in taking the beast and the false pro- phet prisoners, and casting them alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. The beginning of this seventeenth chapter informs us that one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, came and talked with the Apostle, saying unto him, " Come hither ; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters : with whom the kings of the earth have com- mitted fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Here the City of Rome in its corporate character, under the name Babylon, is personified by an unchaste woman, with whom the ruling powers have had idolatrous connection, and of whose existing idolatrous spirit or sentiment the people have drank, until it has infused into them a kind of idolatrous mania. The woman sits upon many waters, to signify that the autho- rity and rule of this city corporation extend over people of dif- ferent communities and languages. The angel having merely spoken of the woman to the Apostle, now proceeds to conduct him to the wilderness that the Apostle might see her. Accor- dingly he sees her there sitting upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The scene is in the wilderness, because it is to the woman and the beast, upon which she sits, in their wilderness or deso- late state, that the attention of the Apostle is now called. The twelve hundred and sixty years of their prevailing power and influence, have passed away, and are followed by the period of their decline and fall. The beast with seven heads and ten horns, is particularly described in the thirteenth chapter, and we have here, the additional information, that in his declining state, he is scarlet coloured. The scarlet colour, is sometimes symbolic of high affluent condition, but it is also emblematic of crime, cruelty, injustice, oppression. It is here, no doubt, symbolic of the latter sense. The oppressive rule of this body of men towards protestants, in ages past, is as flagrant as scarlet. It has also greatly blasphemed sacred titles and divine authority, by abusing them to forbidden and idolatrous purposes, and teach- ing for divine truths and precepts, the fabrications and fictions of false men. The woman sitting upon (riding) this scarlet coloured beast, personifies Rome ruling this great body of men. The 4th verse. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." The purple and scarlet, and gold, and precious stones, and pearls, with which the woman is clothed, represent the various external arts which Rome uses, to enchant the senses and the imagination in favour of her idolatry. And she presents her idolatrous doctrine to her votaries in a golden cup, that is, in a manner and style, of an enticing nature. 5th verse. " And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abomi- nations of the earth." This inscription on her forehead, signifies, that she now makes no secret of her character, as the mother city of idolatry among Christians, and as in a mysticate or hidden sense, Babylon, the great founder and promoter of the worship of mediators and images. That the woman should thus glory in her shame, corresponds with what is declared of her in the next verse, that she was drunk that she had indulged to intoxication the spirit of vin- dictiveness, against Christians of a pure faith and worship. Verse 6. " And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw, I wondered with great admiration." The open glorying of the woman in her lewdness the 165 drunken state in which she is seen, and the cause of that drunkenness, greatly excited the wonder and curiosity of the Apostle. It is indeed wonderful paradoxical that Rome, receiving the scriptures as inspired records, should openly glory in the part which she has taken, in nurturing Christians in idolatry, so evidently condemned and forbidden by those scriptures, and that she should persecute and punish to an insane excess, those who practise and contend for that pure worship and faith which these scriptures so clearly and positively inculcate. It is indeed strange, that a city so barefaced in her idolatry a city which has persecuted the followers of a pure Christianity with such exceeding madness, should be the professed and acknowledged capital city of the Christian world. Verses 7 and 8. " And the angel said unto me, Wherefore, didst thou marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast which thou sawest, was, and is not, and yet is," (or is yet to be.) This beast represents the Latin catholic body, as distinct from the Greek catholic body. In the time of St. John, or at the close of the first century, the Roman empire had become a corporation of two distinct kinds or characters of people Latins and Greeks. It was no longer an empire or corporation purely Latin in civilization and power but was a combination or modification of two ele- ments, Latin and Greek. And in this respect, it might be said of it, in the age of St. John, that it was, and is not. Upon the death of Theodosius, at the close of the fourth century, the empire was divided into two distinct bodies, corporate and politic the one Latin the other Greek the one retaining the Latin language as the language of law and government, and the other, in the course of a short time, resuming the language of the people, which was the Greek. And now, after this division, we find again, a corporation distinctly Latin or western. And 15 166 the beast, that in the time of St. John, had been, and was not, is now again. About eighty years after the separation of the two elements, the Latin corporation, as we before have remarked, was wounded in its imperial head, and lost its great importance, and had its existence among a rude and turbulent population, who, in sym- bolic language, are represented by the sea. The beast comes up out of the sea with a wounded head. The Latin corporation comes into importance from amidst the rude turbulent popula- tion of the west, and with the imperial power apparently abol- ished. The deadly wound of the beast was healed when Char- lemagne assumed the imperial office and power at the close of the eighth century. This restoration of Latin imperial power, led thise Romans, who had fallen into an idolatrous form of Chris- tianity, to regard the constitution of the Latin corporation, as one of admirable vigor and strength. " They shall wonder or admire, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." The Roman corporation, in the age of the Apostle, was not, in some respects, a Latin or western corporation, and yet it was the same, continued in a modified character. The words " yet is," may, in the original, however, signify, is yet, is future, is yet to come. In the sense of either present, or future, the words may apply to the great modern Latin corporation. In the age of St. John, it might be said of the Roman corporation, that in its Latin or western independent character, it was not, but had been, and was to exist again in a future age. The seven heads, are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. Rome was built upon seven hills, and was called the seven-hilled city. The seven heads, however, besides representing these seven hills, also represent seven different kinds or forms of sovereign power, that one after another held the place of supremacy. Verse 10. " And there are (or rather, And are,) seven kings, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. " 167 Livy, the Roman historian, names the first five, in the fol- lowing order : first kings, afterwards consuls, then dictators, then decemvirs, then consular tribunes. The imperial form, which existed in the time of St. John, was the sixth kind of sovereign power. That which was then not yet come, and which when it did come was to continue for a short space, and then give place to the Latin beast, was the new form of government instituted by Dioclesian, and perfected by Constantine and his successors. This new form retained the same name of imperial but differed from it in being an undisguised autocracy. Like Augustus (we are using the language of Gibbon) Dioclesian may be con- sidered as the founder of a new empire. He framed a new system of imperial government which was afterwards completed by the family of Constantine. And as the image of the old constitution was religiously preserved in the senate, he resolved to deprive that order of its small remains of power and consi- deration. Under Dioclesian and his successors the senate of Rome lost all connection with the imperial court and the actual government, and Rome ceased to be the capitol of the empire. " When the Roman princes had lost sight of the senate and of " their ancient capitol they forgot the organ and nature of their " legal power. The civil offices of consul, of pro-consul, of cen- " sor and of tribune by the union of which it had been formed, " betrayed to the people its republican extraction. These " modest titles were laid as"ide ;" and if they still distinguished their high station by the appellation of emperor or imperator, that word was understood in a new and more dignified sense, and no longer denoted the general of the Roman armies but the sovereign of the Roman world. If the successors of Dioclesian still declined the title of king, it seems to have been the effect not so much of their moderation as of delicacy. Wherever the Latin tongue was in use, and it was the language of government throughout the empire, the imperial title as it was peculiar to themselves, conveyed a more respectable idea than the name of 168 king, which they must have shared with a hundred barbarian chieftains ; or which at best they could derive only from Romu- lus or Tarquin. Even the attributes or at least the titles of the divinity were usurped by Dioclesian and Maxentius, who trans- mitted them to a succession of Christian emperors." Dioclesian also assumed the diadem and introduced into the court the magnificence and ceremonial of the court of Persia. " The aim of Augustus in the form of government which he introduced was to disguise the unbounded power which the emperors possessed over the Roman world, while in the new system it was the object to display that power. Ostentation was the first principle of the new system, and the second was division. -He divided the empire, the provinces, and every branch of the civil as well as military administration." The historian speaks of these innovations as constituting a new frame of policy, a new form of civil and military administration, a new system of imperial government, a new empire. (Gibbon, Chap. 13, in different places.) This new form of government, this new kind of Roman sovereigns continued for a short space, a period of about ninety years, when in the year 395 the Roman empire was finally and permanently divided into the two distinct corporations of the Latin or Western, and the Greek or Eastern. And now we find the Latin corporation in its second independent existence, and with a sovereign form of power, which being the seventh continued with some modification may be called an eighth. The seventh form the imperial autocratic began now in the west to be associated in a peculiar relation with certain cotem- poraneous sovereign powers, and in this respect was a somewhat different form of power from that which was constituted by Dioclesian and Constantino, and which has been continued through a succession of Greek and Russian sovereigns down to the present day. The llth verse. "And the beast that was and is not, even he (the king) is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." The supreme sovereign power is destined in this eighth or new imperial autocratic form to have its last form, and in this last form to go into perdition. This eighth or new seventh form hath been transmitted from Honorius through Charle- magne, and a succession of modern, western or Latin emperors. In the time of Bonaparte, the imperial form of government was peculiar both to France and to Austria. But after the fall of Bonaparte, Western or Latin Europe had but the emperor of Austria. The present ruler of France has been acting over the part of Pepin and Charlemagne towards Rome and its popes, and for the purpose of obtaining papal aid and sanction to the assumption of the imperial title and power. 12th verse. " And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which (in the time of St. John) have received no king- dom as yet, but receive power as kings, one hour with the beast." Ten different sovereign powers established themselves on the ruins of the western or Latin empire. These ten sovereign powers, according to Machiavel, were, first, the Ostrogoths, in Moesia; second, the Visigoths, in Pavonia; third, the Sueves and Alans, in Gascoigne and Spain; fourth, the Vandals, in Africa; fifth, the Franks, in France; sixth, the Burgundians, in Burgundy; seventh, the Heruli and Turingi, in Italy ; eighth, the Saxon and Angles, in Britain; ninth, the Huns, in Hungary; tenth, the Lombards, first upon the Danube and afterwards in Italy. These sovereign powers were at first but ten, but afterwards their number varied, being sometimes more and sometimes less than ten. They are cotemporaneous, not successive sovereigns. Their power as kings is one hour with the beast is during one and the same period of time. They are cotemporaneous with the eighth supreme sovereign and with each other. 15* 170 The 13th verse. " These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." These different European powers will be unanimous in lending their authority and aid to the Latin corporation, (Roman Catholic.) The 14th verse. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he ia Lord of Lords and king of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. The war of these kings with the Lamb has been noticed in the pouring out of the sixth vial, and is noticed here again ; but the victory of the Lamb in this war is described in the nineteenth chapter. 15th. And he (the angel) saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multi- tudes, and nations, and tongues. They represent the millions of people under the rule and influence of the corporation of Rome. Two hundred millions of professed Christians acknow- ledge the spiritual supremacy of the Roman corporation. The 16th verse. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Burning was the punishment of a priest's daughter who had violated the law of chastity. And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father, she shall be burnt with fire. Rome, as a Christian Church, hath by her idolatrous practices profaned, scandalized the apostolic ministry, by whom she was begotten. She has wrought folly in the Christian Israel, and dishonoured her apos- tolic parentage. The different European powers who are now in union with the Catholic corporation will eventually come to dislike Rome, and (make her desolate and naked) deprive her of her rule and influence, (and eat her flesh;) consume her revenues appro- priate them to their own use (and burn her with) fire, torment her with penal afflictions. 171 17th verse. For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. God will allow them to fulfil his purpose and to fulfil one purpose, and to give their sovereign authority to the Latin Catholic corporation or Church, until what God has foretold concerning their withdrawal from that corporation has been ful- filled. When the purpose of divine providence is fulfilled the different sovereign Roman Catholic powers will separate from the great corporation with which they are now in communion, and will become severe in their penal inflictions upon Rome itself as a body corporate and politic. The 1 8th verse. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth is that great city or corporation of Rome, which, in the age of the apostle, was the capital of the Roman world, and was at the head of all rule and authority. 172 DISCOURSE XIV. KEV. xviii. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power ; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works : in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her : for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city ! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her: for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore: The mer- chandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly, are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off" for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing. And saying, Alas, alas, th:,t great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious st;nes and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every ship master, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar otf, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What 173 great city is like unto this great city ! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast'tl into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee ; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee ; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee ; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee : for thy merchants were the great men of the earth : for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. In the preceding chapter Rome is spoken of in her charac- ter as a body corporate and politic, sustained by another great body corporate and politic. In this present chapter Rome is the subject of prediction in reference more particularly to her polity. In this chapter, three voices in succession speak in symbolic language of the fall and ruin of the polity of Rome. The first voice is that 'of an angel having great power and coming down from heaven clothed in a dazzling light. The second voice is a voice from heaven, and the third voice is that of a mighty angel who speaks by actions as well as words. The first angel cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen is fallen, and is become the habita- tion of devils, (demons) and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the mer- chants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. This angel, under the mystical name of Baby- lon, pronounces the fall and ruin of Rome in her system of polity, and gives the reason of her fall and ruin. The woman Babylon, represents Rome as a body corporate and politic, while 174 the city, Babylon, represents Home as a polity, the word polity being derived from a Greek word which means city. The inhabitants of the city those subjects or citizens of Roman polity in its fallen and ruined condition, will consist of men of perverse mind and corrupt and hateful manners. It will become a refuge for men of such character. Its fall and ruin are declared to be in retribution to its pernicious influence upon the nations and rulers and merchants of the earth. The nations or people had imbibed the idolatrous spirit of Rome, a spirit which inspired them with a kind of idolatrous rage or mania, the rulers had formed idolatrous connections with her and the merchants, the divines, the religious teachers and ministers, the clergy, had become great and powerful through the numerous offices and means of authority and influence, in which she abounded. In the forty-seventh chapter of Isaiah, in which the prophet fortells the fall and ruin of ancient Babylon, he applies the name of merchants to her enchanters, her sorcerers, her diviners, her false prophets, her teachers, who falsely professed to understand and reveal the will and counsels of heaven. The first voice having concluded, the apostle hears another voice from heaven calling upon the people of God to come out of the doomed city and to aid in her punishment. Verses 4-9. " And I heard another voice from heaven, say- ing, Come out of her my people, that be ye not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works. In the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, ' I am a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.' Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judge th her." 175 Our Lord had forewarned the Christian Jews that when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by Roman armies, they should be looking for its speedy capture and destruction, and that they should make their escape as soon as possible. Jerome informs us that the Christian Jews who believed in Christ's predictions, left the city before its final siege under Titus, and removed to a neighbouring town called Pella, and so escaped the miseries that followed. In accordance with this por- tion of Christian history, the voice from heaven calls upon Chris- tian people to sever themselves from all participation in the Roman system of polity, to abandon it wholly, to give it no countenance, to have no communion with it, lest partaking of its sins, they should also partake of its punishment. To urge them to such withdrawal and removal from Rome, they are assured that the sons of the Roman system of polity were like mountains piled upon mountains reaching to the sky and draw- ing upon it the notice and punishment of heaven. All Chris- tian people are therefore enjoined to turn against it, and assist in destroying it. The worst corporations may have some upright individuals belonging to them, but when the corporation is near its end, all sincere Christians will renounce its polity and leave it in its fate, just as all Christian Jews abandoned Jerusalem at its final siege by the Romans and would take no part in its defence. The people of God are required not only to withdraw from Rome, but to punish her as she had punished them ; that is they are to urge the ruin of Rome, not in her individual members or in her wealth and buildings, but in her system of idolatrous worship and polity. The ruin of Rome in this sense is also to come upon her in the midst of fancied security, even while she is glorying in the enduring, eternal nature of her power ; and boasting that she is not without powerful protectors, among the governments of the earth ; that she is not like a widow ; an unprotected corporation. Her woes will come together within the compass of a short time, and there will be an entire end or 176 consumption of her power and glory, she shall be utterly burned with fire. The voice from heaven next proceeds to describe how the kings and merchants of the earth and those who have to do with the sea will lament, and how the people of God will rejoice when they behold the smoke of the burning city. The sovereigns or rulers who were partners with Rome in her idolatrous doings, are filled with consternation in contemplating the ruin of the most powerful and enduring polity that had ever existed. Its ruin will be the result of a course of providence, so evidently beyond their control that they will stand aloof, and render her no assistance ; knowing that such assistance would be in vain, and would only involve them in the same ruin. A city polity that under various changes has for thousands of years been regarded as the reigning polity of the Roman world, will in its ruin naturally draw forth from its admirers, and ad- herents, expressions, feelings of sorrow and regret. And similar feelings and expressions will be elicited from the merchants of the earth ; the divines and clergy in communion with Rome. Verses 7-11. " And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her ; for no man buyeth their merchandize any more. The merchandize of gold and silver ^ and precious stones, and of pearls and fine linen, and purple and silk, and scarlet and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and mar- ble. And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankin- cense, and wine and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep and horses, and chariots and slaves (bodies,) and souls of men." " And the fruits that thy soul lusteth after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly, are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all." " The merchants of these things which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off, for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing. And saying Alas, Alas ! that great city that was 177 clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls. For in one hour so great riches is come to naught." These various articles of merchandize represent those multi- plied precious means of influence, in which this polity abounds. Those means comprehend matters of doctrine, discipline and worship. Those of the clergy rich in these means become great and honourable. The dealers in these multiplied valuable means of influence will now find their business at an end, and like the civil rulers they will witness with grief the consumption and ruin of this once mighty polity, and be astonished that it could be consumed and ruined, and all the means of influence destroyed in so short a time. " In one hour so great riches is come to naught." Verses 17-20. "And every ship master, and all the com- pany in ships and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning say- ing, ' What city is like unto this great city.' And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, Alas ! that great city wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of her costliness; for in one hour is she made desolate." All those different persons whose business is with the sea re- present the clergy who have to do with the great mass of the population, the less refined and submissive population compre- hending various nations and languages. The great emporium of their means of greatness has been consumed ; all those means have vanished in a moment, their business and greatness are now at an end. The voice from heaven concludes in the 20th verse, with the following language. " Rejoice over her thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." The Roman polity in its ruin will receive no sympathy from the faithful teacher and ministers of Christ, and the persecu- 16 178 tions and penal inflictions with which it pursued them, will be avenged in the completeness and severity of its ruin. After the angel from heaven, and the voice from heaven had concluded what each had to say, a third angel responds to them by a striking action accompanied with corresponding words. Verses, 21-24. " And a mighty (strong) angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all, and the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsmen of whatever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee j and the sound of a mill stone shall be heard no more at all in thee. " And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom, and of the bride, shall be heard no more at all in thee ; for the merchants were the great men of the earth ; for by thy sorceries were .all nations deceived. " And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon, the earth." The 50th and 51st chapters of the book of Jeremiah, consist; of predictions concerning the fall of ancient Babylon. They were written during the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, and the manuscript was given to Seraiah, a Jewish prince, who was going to Babylon on some business of King Zedekiah, in order that he might read it to the captive Jews there, and encourage them with the assurance that after the seventieth year of their captivity, their captors would be conquered by the kings of the east, of Media and Persia, and be deprived of all power over the Jews. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah. When thou comest to Babylon and shalt see and read all these words. Then shalt thou say, Lord, Thou hast spoken against this place to cut it off, that 179 none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate for ever. And it shall be when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of Euphrates. And thou shalt say, thus shall Baby- lon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her. This action of Seraiah was both a sign and an assurance of the fall of this tyrannical city from its power and influence. And the similar action and language of the angel were intended to assure Christians that the city of Rome in her system of polity is destined not only to fall from her supremacy, but to sink into the lowest degradation and contempt, BO that she will no more be found among politics, and no more give any indica- tions of activity and prosperity. This angel also confirms what the preceding angel declared concerning the reason of the fall and ruin of Roman polity, that it had deceived all nations by its pious frauds in teaching and ruling, by its false doctrines and unfounded authority, that by these means its merchants, its teachers and divines became great and powerful, and that under its administration and rule faithful teachers and good men have been persecuted unto death. Rome as the ruling polity in the Roman world is spoken of as accountable for the wrong done to those who have capitally suffered for a pure Christianity in the Roman world. Pagan Rome established the precedent of punishing those who would not participate in her idolatrous worship. And Christian Rome greatly improved on the precedent. How cruel and unjust have been their conduct in the pains and penalties which they have inflicted upon men for teaching and practising a pure Christianity. Such conduct is not merely incidental, but it is constitutional in her system of polity. Thus Rome in retribution upon its pious frauds, its bewitch- ing idolatry, and its penal inflictions on good men, is destined in the course of Divine Providence to be utterly ruined, and to 180 become utterly desolate as a corporate or living -polity. And this event will be a subject of great rejoicing and praise among the servants of God, as we learn in the beginning of the next chapter. Rev. xix. 1-10. " And after these things, I heard a great voicg of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia ! Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our -God. For true and righteous are his judgments ; for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia, And her smoke arose up for ever and ever. " And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. " And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. " And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia ! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. " Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. " And to her was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. "And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not j I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the tes- timony of Jesus. Worship God ; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." After the burning up of the city, and its reduction into a 181 smoking ruin, four different voices in heaven one after another, exclaim, Alleluia, which is a word of Hebrew derivation, and means, Praise ye Jah. (Jehovah). ''<^t* The first voice was a great voice of much people in heaven, who speak of the retribution inflicted upon Rome, (her system of polity), as an event for which the great ruler of the world ought to be praised and honoured, assuring us that in her polity Rome is to remain in an eternal state of desolation remain for ever a heap of smoking ruins, and serve as a fearful monument of the righteous Providence to all future ages. The voice of the much people in heaven who loudly demand praise to Jehovah, is responded to by the twenty-four elders and the four living ones, saying, Amen, (Yea, Verily) Praise ye Jehovah. And now a third voice comes out of the very throne, the seat of divine judgment and authority, in confirmative re- sponse, calling upon all who serve and fear God to praise Jeho- vah. And then another voice as that of an immense multitude comes out in the loudest confirmative response, to praise God ; declaring that the joyful period of the reign of the Omnipotent and of the marriage of the Lamb had come. According to the prophet Daniel as well as St. John, after the judgment shall sit and take away the dominion of Rome, to Consume and destroy it unto the end, the kingdom and domi- nion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, > hall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. This glorious period of the kingdom of the Most High, or reign of the Omnipotent, will be introduced with a joyful event, the marriage of the Lamb to his wife, the Church. The figure of a marriage is applied to the Church of God, under the old dispensation, and is applied to the Church of God at different periods under the new dispensation. In the parable of the king who made a marriage for his son, as related in the 22d chapter of Matthew, the marriage supper takes place after the destruction of Jerusalem. After the invi- tation to the gospel supper had been preached for some years, an.d was rejected by the majority of the Jews, the king was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed these murderers and burnt up their city. Then saith he to his servants, to his ministers, the wedding is ready the time for the solemnization of the marriage and for the accompanying festivity, is come the time for a new and more privileged and joyful state of the Church has arrived, and as the Jewish nation is not worthy of this state, go among the nations or Gentiles and bid them to come into the Christian Church and participate in the blessings and privileges of the gospel dispensation. The old dispensation virtually ended in the death of Christ, but it did not actually come to an end in its national character until the destruction of Jerusalem and the abolition of the temple worship. And so the new dispensation commenced upon the death and resurrection of Christ, but not in full force and power until after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Hence this destruction is called in Scripture the coming of Christ or Christianity, that is the coming of Christianity in general power and influence among the nations of the earth among the Gentiles. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in all its pre- ceding and accompanying circumstances, accorded so exactly with the predictions of Christ and his Apostles, that it had a powerful influence in persuading men of the truth of Chris- tianity, and prepared the way for its reception by the Gentiles. While at the same time it deprived the Jews of all power to oppress and persecute the teachers and professors of Christianity, and brought great glory and honor to the gospel as a miracu- lous revelation, and taught those who reject this revelation, to expect a fearful retribution. Now the ruin of Rome in her corporate politic character will bring great deliverance and sal- vation to the faithful teachers and professors of a pure Chris- tianity, and will with powerful effect convince the world of the 183 miraculous knowledge communicated by the Christian revela- tion, and so prepare the minds of men for its coming in univer- sal and millenial influence and glory. This utter ruin of Rome in her corporate politic character, will more signally display the miraculous foreknowledge and predictions of the gospel, and the equity and righteousness of divine Providence, and p.oduce more glorious results than the abolition of the Jewish polity and worship. And if the figurative language of a marriage have been applied to the Christian Church after the ruin of Jewish polity and worship, it is with increased propriety applied to the Christian Church after the predicted ruin of Roman polity and worship. The marriage of the Lamb is come, and her wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in linen clean and white, for the fine linen is the right- eousness of saints. The Christian Church in her millenial mar- ried state will be a body of people who practise virtue and piety and the rectitude of their conduct will make the body appear pure and illustrious in the eyes of the public. This righteous- ness of her people will far exceed that of the people of the Roman polity. And the Christian Church becoming a corpora- tion of faithful men, honouring their profession by a correct and consistent practice, will be brought into an enduring state of cheerful obedience to Christ, and of affectionate confidence in Him. The Church in her corporate politic character, and Christ in his doctrine and discipline and worship, will come in the mil- lenium, be united together in a most close and affectionate rela- tion. When the angel who had been showing these prophecies to the apostle and explaining the sense of them, had come to this glorious and joyful period and state of the Christian body, cor- porate and politic, and declared that whereto he had revealed concerning these future joyful events were true words of Uod, the apostle was so delighted with the declaration, and at the 184 same time so struck with the extraordinary knowledge evinced by the angel in explaining the sense of these prophetic symbolic visions, that he fell down at his feet to worship him, but the angel forbade him, for the reason that the apostle in the testi- mony the teaching of Christ equal to him (the angel) and possessed the spirit the sense the substance the living realty contained in the symbols and images of prophecy, that he, the angel, was but the fellow servant of the apostle, and was no more worthy of worship than the apostle himself, and that if the apostle wished to show his admiration of supernatural knowledge by worship, he must render that worship to God. 185 DISCOURSE XV. KEY. xix. 11-21. " And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse : and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns : and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood ; and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven, followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it, he should smite the nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron : and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I saw an angel stand- ing in the sun ; and he cried with a loud voice, to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together, unto the supper of the great God, That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together, to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword pro- ceeded out of his mouth ; all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Having described the end of Babylon, or Rome, as a corpora- tion and a polity, this prophecy goes on to describe certain attending events, such as the fighting of the great battle, spoken of under the sixth vial, and its issue in ihe capture of the beast and of the false prophet, and the slaughter of the kings of the earth and their armies. We found under the sixth vial, the beast, the false prophet, and the dragon, sending forth their emissaries, to gather together the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, into Armageddon, to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. As the fighting and issue of the battle did not come within the 186 period of the sixth vial, but ran into that of the seventh, an account of them was deferred to the present chapter. In the period of the sixth vial, Babylon is left exposed by the drying up of the river Euphrates, which flowed through the midst of it, but its conflagration and destruction are to occur in the period of the seventh vial. The river Euphrates was dried up to make way for some combined powers, who were to capture the city, and put an end to its rule and power, and to give protection and freedom to the true religion. The issue of the great battle, is impliedly the immediate forerunner of the ruin of Babylon in its power and authority. In the contests of the seventh vial, we have found that Babylon, immediately before its ruin, will, like Jerusalem, be divided into three parties, all hostile to each other, and only united in contending against one common enemy. Perhaps, we are to understand these three parties to be the party of the dragon, (the infidel party) the party of the beast, (the Roman catholic party) and the party of the false prophets, (the Roman party.) They will, in a certain degree be opposed to each other, but they will unite in inculcating certain erroneous principles, by means of their emissaries, for the purpose of bringing to the aid and defence of Roman polity, all the different rulers and governments yet favorably disposed towards Rome. The erroneous principles the erroneous emissaries or teachers sent forth from these three parties respectively, have to do with devils or demons that is, beings supposed to be invested with certain middle and mediating power and authority between the court of heaven and men living on the earth. The battle, will be a battle of opinion. It will be a contest of mind a great controversy concerning the invocation and honouring of angels, and of deceased men and women, as inter- cessors and mediators in the court of heaven. In this controversy, the Roman party, the Roman catholic party, and the infidel party, however disaffected towards each 187 other, will unite on one side of this controversy, and deny, that Christ is to be invoked and honoured as the sole mediator to the exclusion of all angels or deceased persons. If Rome, in its false character as a divine infallible teacher of revealed truth as the seat of infallible teaching takes the lead on one side of this controversy Christ, as a prophet or teacher, faithful and true that is, Christ in his teaching or word, as delivered to us in holy scripture, takes the lead on the other side. Verse 11. " And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ; and he that sat upon him, was called Faithful and True j in righteousness he doth judge and make war." The white horse is symbolic of a controversy waged, and a victory won, in accordance with truth and equity. The rider of the white horse, the leader in this controversy, is called faithful and true, because he is the Amen the faithful and true witness the infallible teacher of divine truth, and divine law. In declaring to mankind, the truth and will of heaven, he faithfully declared them as he had received them in heaven from his Father. He did not make use of his office as a divine teacher and wit- ness, to impose on the world his own fabrications as divine law and truth. " The Father gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. Whatsoever I speak, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." Our Lord, too, in his various contests of argument with his opposers, always reasoned fairly and justly he made use of no guile or sophistry or appeals to ignorance, prejudice and passion. Verse 12. " His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns ; and he had a name written which no man knew but he himself." His eyes of fire denote his acute perception his intellectual power to penetrate every dark corner of error, and to detect the most hidden sophistry, so that no mask or fair speech could con- 188 ceal from him the guile and subtlety of his opposers. Such a piercing understanding did he manifest in his words and answers when questioned by his opposers, that they at length ceased to contend with him in argument. The crowns on his head are significant of the victories which he has gained for the truth by his word as delivered to us in the sacred records, and the victo- ries which he is yet to gain before the reign of truth as he taught it becomes universal. His written name which no man knew (could read and under- stand) but he himself, is significant of some mysterious truth in his person, which no man can solve and understand but he himself. Great indeed is the mystery of our religion in the doctrine of Clod manifest in the flesh. Verse 13. " And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of Grod." The vesture as dipped in blood, is significant of the intel- lectual execution which he will make among his opposers. The name by which he is designated to us in scripture, or his called name, is Grod the Word by whom all things were made. He was Grod speaking to men. What he spake was the speech or word of Grod. We conceive that in these several figures we have Christianity in its teaching of truth, represented as true, searching, and su- perior to all opposition. Verse 14. " And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." These armies are the faithful advocates of the truth as it is in Christ, and they, like their leader, use only just and fair means in contending for Christian truth. In this controversy, they contend for the truth as Christ spake and taught it, and as it is delivered in holy scripture. Verse 15. " And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations : and he shall rule them 189 with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierce- ness and wrath of Almighty God." The sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ, is his speech or word as recorded by the sacred writers. With this word he will smite the nations the Gentiles the idolaters he will administer cutting reproof to those who practise an idol- atrous worship. The rod of iron signifies that the rule or influence of the Gospel will be severe upon idolaters ; and the treading of the wine-press of the fierceness of Divine wrath, re- presents the extreme severity of the influence and action of Christian truth upon the vicious and wicked. The Gospel faithfully taught will now be victorious, in putting an end to the power and influence of idolaters and evil doers. 16th verse. " And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords." No kings or governments have any divine authority above^the power and law of Christ, and the power and law of Christ are destined to go on in a career of victory over the passions and prejudices and corrupt nature of mankind, until their reign becomes universal, and all rulers and states come under the mild and heavenly influence of the gospel, and acknowledge the supremacy of its teaching and authority. Christianity has already effected by its silent influence, a benign change in laws and governments, and moderated the ferocity of war and of des- potic power, and it will continue its ameliorating influence until the nations shall give up the study of war, and governments cease to oppress and tyrannize over mankind. According to the word or gospel of Christ, as delivered to us in the sacred records, there is but one one man in heaven whom we may honour and invoke as our Mediator there, and that man is Christ Jesus. This Mediator being God as well as man, is omniscient and omnipresent, and can hear our prayers and invocations, as no angel or canonized saint can hear them, and if we insist that they can hear our invocations, and that Christ needs their medi- ation and intercession to urge on his own mediation and inter 17 190 cession, we are doing him great wrong and contradicting his word. In this sole right of Christ to exclusive invocation, as a Mediator in heaven, all his followers and advocates in the com- ing great controversy, will sustain him by all those fair and sound arguments, with which Scripture, rightly understood, furnish them. As the important right of Christ to exclusive invocation as a Mediator in heaven, is the subject of contention, we can perceive how properly Christ, in his word or teaching, is made to occupy such a conspicuous station, and take such a con- spicuous part, in this great controversy. Verses 17 and 18. "And I saw an angel standing in the sun ! and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty me^ and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both small and great." These words intimate, that the different powers and rulers from the sovereign down, will now cease to favour or sustain an idolatrous Christianity, by the aid of their authority and means. Verses 19, 20. " And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together, to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army. And the beast 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 beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." They who compose the two parties, represented by the beast and the false prophet, will, in the course of this controversy, commit themselves to some false proposition, assume some unte- nable position, where they will find themselves caught by the word of God, in their error and wickedness. But though thus caught, they will not be brought to repent- 191 ance, but being left to continue in their error and wickedness, will be delivered over to a reprobate state. Verse 21. " And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth and the fowls were filled with their flesh." The remnant, the kings of the earth and their armies, the different powers and rulers will be slain in the sense that they will cease to aid an idolatrous, and oppose a pure Christianity. And the event will be the effect of the powerful handling of the word of God. This controversy will issue in making manifest, that Rome, as the pretended seat of infallible Christian teaching, and the Roman Catholic church, who follow its teaching, have egre- giously imposed upon the world in teaching the invocation of angels and deceased Christians, as mediators in the court of heaven, and that their claims to infallibility in transmitting-and teaching the truth of Christ on this subject, have been without any foundation. The present Pope, Pius the ninth, has issued an encyclical letter to all patriarchs, primates, arch-bishops and bishops, from which we may perceive the teaching and practice of Rome on this subject. As a remedy for the evil of the times, the pope invites these high dignitaries to unite in earnest prayer to God, and that they may be successful in their application to him for clemency, he prescribes the following mode of approaching him. " And that God may be made more accessible and give ear " to our prayers, and hear our petitions, let us raise our hearts " and hands to his most holy mother, the immaculate Virgin " Mary. We could not find protection more powerful or more " effectual with God. She is the most tender of mothers, our " firmest reliance, and the very spring of our hope, since she " asks nothing which she does not obtain, and her prayer is "never refused." " Let us also implore, in the first place, the intercession of " the Prince of the Apostles, to whom Jesus Christ has given 192 " the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whom he has established " as the foundation stone of his church, against which the gates " of hell will never be able to prevail. Let us then pray to the " companion of his apostleship. Let us then pray to the patron " of each city and country, and to all the blessed that our rner- " ciful Lord may shed upon us, in abundance and munificence, " the gifts of his bounty. To recapitulate, it appears that before the utter decline and fall of Rome, the Russian, or some other nation, will withdraw their influence and favour, from the system of Roman polity ; that this withdrawal, will prepare the way for the interposition of some combined powers to put an end to Roman rule and polity, and give liberty and protection to true Christianity ; that this withdrawal will also be followed with a general, extra- ordinary controversy, on the subject of mediator invocation, in which the three great bodies or parties of deceivers will take ona side, while Christ, in his word and teaching, as transmitted in Holy Scripture, will take the lead on the other side, and in the course of the controversy, the deceivers, represented by the beast and the false prophet, will be caught and exposed in their error, and after this exposure, delivered over to a reprobate mind and state. With the fall of Rome in its teaching charac- ter, will follow the ruin of its system of polity, and a great and glorious change in Christianity, as a body corporate and politic as the city, the church of God. The Christian church will then become a corporation, of a fair and upright reputation for virtue and truth, and enter into a new state of cordial confi- dence in the teaching and affectionate submission to the autho- rity of Christianity. This state is that millenium of blessed- ness, to which our attention is called in the next chapter. 193 DISCOURSE XVI. REV. xx. The last time that the apostle had in vision seen the dragon, was on the eve of the great battle with the word of God. The dragon, by his emissaries, had assisted in gathering to- gether to this battle, the kings of the earth and of the whole world. In this battle, the beast and the false prophet were captured, and after their capture they were cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, but we are not informed what became of the dragon after the battle, until the beginning of this twentieth chapter. Chap. xx. 13. " And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit (the abyss or deep) and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit (abyss or deep) and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season." The dragon represents as a body or combination or society, those men who deceive mankind by calumniating and contra- dicting Christianity, by speaking falsely of it, and denying the truth of its assertions and revelations. The serpent in Eden in this manner, deceived our first mother Eve. Hence, the dragon or this body of unbelievers is termed that old serpent, the devil (the calumniator or liar) and Satan, (the contradictor or opposer of truth) who deceives the nations, vho deceives the whole world. The abyss or deep cavity here 17* represents the obscure, degraded, barbarous portion of mankind who have to be kept under rigorous restraint. The capture of the dragon, the binding him with a great chain, the casting him into some deep cavity under the earth, the closing up the entrance and sealing a seal upon the closed entrance, are significant of the low, degraded condition in which the calumniators and opposers of Christianity who deceive men into infidelity and false religion, will now, as a body, be found to exist. These deceivers will now be confined in their power and influence, to the lowest of mankind, without the possibility of escaping into consideration. They will now have no power to entice the orderly portion of mankind into the disregard of divinely revealed truth and duty, by slandering and contradict- ing Christianity. Verses 4-6. " And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them ; and I saw the souls (per- sons) of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." We have before, been informed of a glorious period awaiting Christianity, as a church or body corporate and politic, but here we are informed of its millenial glorious condition, as a faith, a doctrine, a matter of testimony and belief. The apostle sees alive again the Christian martyrs, who sealed their faith and testimony with their blood. He sees also, alive, those Protestant Christians, who, with all the world against them, would not submit to Roman Catholic authority, or its image or representative the pope, nor pledge their minds or 195 energies to the service and interests of the Roman Catholic church. All those protestants who have adhered to a pure gospel under Roman Catholic power and dominion, as well as all who have lost their lives for the sake of true religion, will live again in the same sense in which Elijah lived again in the person of John the Baptist ; they will be raised from the dead in a similar sense to that in which the Jews were raised from the dead, when, after the expiration of their period of captivity in Babylon, they were restored as a nation, to political and re- ligious life. That remnant of Christians whether teachers or disciples, whose faith in the testimony and teaching of Christ was so strong and firm as to rise superior to the love of property and of life and to the influence of the prevailing corruptions of Chris- tianity, will now in their teaching and in their faith rise up in the persons of others, and in connection with Christianity rule the world by their moral and religious influence. In this sense they will sit on thrones, living and reigning with Christ, a thousand years. " The comfortable gospel of Christ will now be -truly preached truly received and truly followed in all places, to the breaking down the kingdom of sin, Satan and death. Christianity truly taught and believed, will now have its day its flourishing period of power and dominion here on earth. This will be the first resurrection of Christianity as thus taught and believed. This will be the first standing up of such a Christianity in universal honor and dominion : it will be a revival under the Christian dispensation, far exceeding that which Ezekiel foretold under the old, and which Habakkuk desired when he prayed, Lord revive thy work ; in the midst of the years make known in wrath remember mercy. This will indeed be a glorious standing up of Christian truth and a Christian faith, after the long period of their affliction and degradation. And blessed will that individual be who has a part in this first resurrection or standing up in the world of our holy religion. On such the second death hath no power. 196 The ancient Jews understood by the second death the penal state that follows the present life. In the day that man first transgressed, he passed the same state of favour into a state of condemnation, and in this sense from a state of life into a state of death. This was his first death or state of condemnation. From this death or state of condemnation he was recovered into a new state of trial by the purposed incarnation, obedience and death of God, the Word. If in this recovered state of trial he lives and dies in sin and impenitence, he dies a second time, in the sense of passing into a second state of condemnation. In this second state of con- demnation there is no more sacrifice for sin no recovery to another state of trial, no release from punishment. This second death or state of condemnation has, however, no power over the true believer and follower of Christ. If a man keep my saying, says our Lord, he shall never see death never pass into a state of condemnation. He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. According to Daniel, seventy-five years beyond the 1260 will begin this period of blessedness. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. It will be blessed to live and see this resurrection (of standing up) of Christian truth and Christian faith but truly blessed will he be who participates in this glorious event, and becomes a true believer. He will be blessed in being holy and in being exempted from the second death or eternal condemation. The rest of the dead, or the other dead of whom it is declared that they lived not again until the thousand years were fulfilled, are those who were slain by the sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ, as we learn in the last verse of the preceding chapter. These dead had been the deceived opposers of Christ in his word or testimony, especially on the subject of his exclusive 197 mediatorship, and they are intellectually slain by that word or testimony, and are deprived of the will and power to continue their opposition to it. These are not of the reprobate mind, peculiar to the different deceivers who constitute the three parties represented by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. These latter are to pass into a reprobate state while the former, the deceived, will be convinced of their error by the Word of God, and that word will have no such deceived opposers until after the millenium. We may suppose that the manifest and wonderful fulfilment of these predictions of John, as well as those of Daniel and Paul, and of other inspired writers, will be such a demonstration in favour of the word or testimony of Christ in its true sense or teaching, as to put to the silence of death all the opponents of the truth as Christ taught it, and as it has been delivered to us in holy writ, and to render all opposition of this nature inactive during the period specified. And we may suppose too, that the manifest and wonderful fulfilment of these predictions will have its influence and effect in the raising of faithful teachers of the gospel and true believers in it, to great power and prevalence in the world, and in continuing Christianity (thus taught and believed) in its great power and prevalence during the long period of a thousand years. There is, however, to be at the end of the millenium an outbreak of opposition to Christianity on the part, not of Roman and Roman Catholic deceivers, but of infidel deceivers. Verses 7-11. " And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. " And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city ; and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim 198 stone, where the beast and the false prophets are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." At the end of the millenium, the infidel deceivers will escape from their state of degradation and restraint, and. again appear in combined active opposition to Christianity and renew the work of deceiving the world into a disregard and rejection of the Christian revelation. The nations from the four quarters of the earth called Gog and Magog represent the ignorant, fierce portion of mankind, whom the ancient Greeks and Romans with respect to their disposition and manners, would have termed Scythians, and we moderns would term Cossacks or Tartars. They are represented as very numerous, and covering in their march or going, the whole flat or surface of the holy land, and surrounding on all sides the camp of the saints and the city of Jerusalem. The meaning seems to be, that infidel deceivers will now combine together and put into operation all their arts of deception, and draw the ignorant and fierce elements of so- ciety into a war (a contest of opinion) for the purpose of destroy- ing the rule and polity of the Christian Church. All, however, who are thus deceived into opposition to Christianity, are destined to be consumed by fire from God out of heaven. This fire may signify the miraculous knowledge contained in the prediction of Scripture. The predictions of evil which Jeremiah had uttered against Judah and Israel, and which they refused to believe, are compared to fire, which would certainly consume them. Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and the people wood, and it shall devour them. The in- terposition of fire from God out of heaven, represents the inter- position of knowledge of an inspired source and nature. Know- ledge so overpowering in its influence, as to convince the deceived of their error, and consume in them the spirit of opposition to Christianity. But if the deceived are intellectually killed in this great con- test, the more guilty class the deceivers are delivered over to the same reprobate mind and state to which those deceivers 199 had been consigned, who professing Christianity had calumi- nated and opposed it. In this penal state it reads, that they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. The word translated torments, signifies torture inflicted upon persons who are unwilling to confess their guilt or to disclose their know- ledge of the truth. This word here seems to signify the mental torture of a person in witnessing irresistible demonstration in favour of some truth which he bitterly hates and opposes, and which he will not confess but perseveres in denying. It is a fearful thing to aid in deceiving men by corrupting or calumni- ating or denying the gospel of Christ. The apostle repeats, " Though we or an angel from heaven preach another gospel, let him be accursed." " And if we sin wilfully after that, we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain, fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." After the infidel body, who deceived men into disregard and opposition to the Christian revelation, is delivered over to the toriure of a reprobate mind and state, these will follow the general resurrection and judgment and the end of the present state and order of the world. How soon these latter events will occur after the final overthrow of infidelity we are not in- formed. The llth verse. " I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away, and there was found no place for them." The throne and its occupant represent the Eternal Judge entering upon the public administration of justice, and the white colour of the throne is emblematic of equity and impar- tiality. His work is perfect all his ways are judgment. The fleeing away of the heaven and earth from the face of this great Judge, so that their place could not be found, signifies, that when God shall appear for the general judgment, the pre- sent state and order of things will begin to be abolished. The 200 crust of the earth and the aerial heavens the atmosphere constitute a part of the present state and order of things which are to pass away. The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. The reign of sin and death and pain is also a part of the present state and order of things which will then be brought to an end. Verses 12 and 13. " And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to the works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them j and they were judged, every man according to their works." While the earth is fleeing away from the face of the Judge, it is also delivering up its dead to the judgment. The sea, and death, and hell, (the grave, or separate state,) deliver up their respective contents, to signify a universal resurrection of the dead. We are not, however, to infer from this representa- tion of a resurrection, that the risen body is to be a body of flesh and blood for flesh and blood, we are assured by^St. Paul, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The risen body will be composed of different materials, and be fitted for a different mode and state of being. For this reason, those found alive, at the coming of Christ to raise the dead, will be changed in their bodies. The resurrection of the dead the putting an end to the reign of death, and the melting of the crust of the earth, will consummate the old state and order of things. When the general resurrection is accomplished, and death is abolished, and the crust of the earth is melted, and all upon its surface con- sumed in the melted mass, and the very air has exploded, and is dissolved, and the final judgment is past, then will the old state and order of things on our earth have past away, so that it will be no more possible to find vestiges of their former existence, than to find the places of the heaven and the earth, supposing they had fled out of universal space. The period of the general judgment, is the final period of the old state and order of things. Because this period is called the day of judgment, we are no more to understand it to be a period of twenty-four hours, than we are to understand in this limited sense, the day of adversity, or the day of prosperity. It would seem, that the place where the general judgment is conducted, is beyond our earth, but where beyond our earth, we know not. Our Saviour, at his ascension, disappeared beyond the clouds, but where heaven, or the place is, in which he now exists, in his glorified humanity, we know not. So much, however, is definite and certain, concerning the general judgment, that on that occasion, God, in the person of Christ, will make himself manifest in a material form, and that the award which every one receives, will be based upon a per- fect infallible knowledge of his thoughts, words, and actions, during his existence in a former body. The dead are said to be judged out of the things written in certain books the books of God's remembrance or omniscience, and another book called the book of life. One great purpose of books, is to perpetuate the memory of things past to transmit the knowledge of them to future generations. Now go, (says God to the prophet,) write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come, even for ever and ever. These books record the names, the thoughts, motives, feelings, words, and deeds, of all who have lived and died. Every day we are adding to the contents of these books, and the record is as imperishable as the omniscience as God. These books are merely ideal. The omniscient has no need of books, in order to perpetuate the memory of things past. The past, the pre- sent, and future, are all alike before him. When he comes to judgment, he will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart. Besides these 18 202 books of God's remembrance, there is another particular book of his favourable remembrance, called the book of life. It was a custom in ancient times, to enrol in a public register, the names and deeds of those on whom the government or state purposed to confer favour and reward. The book of life, con- tains the names and works of those upon which the Great Judge purposes to confer honor and happiness. It is called the Lamb's Book of Life, because it is in virtue of the obedience and death of Christ, the Lamb of God, who was slain a sacrifice for our sins, that any names of men are registered therein, as persons to be favoured and rewarded. A book of remembrance is written for them that fear the Lord, and that think upon his name, and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day when I shall make up my jewels. If we possess a true Christian faith, and bring forth its appropriate points of right- eousness of life, our names and works are found in the book of life, and we need not fear the contents of the other books. It is further declared, that the dead will be judged according to their works. Those written in the book of life, as well as the other dead, will be judged by this rule. They whose faith in Christ has wrought in them the strongest attachment to him and his cause, and enabled them to labour for him and his cause with the greatest diligence and energy they who have made the greatest proficiency in Christian knowledge and prac- tice, who have come nearest to the mind, and character, and example of Christ, will be judged the highest rewards and dis- tinctions in the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord, did indeed, forbid his apostles to be eager and contentious, about precedence and honour. Yet he assured them, that they would, in his future kingdom, be rewarded and honoured in a distinguished manner. The rewards bestowed, though according to their works, will not be rewards of debt, but of bounty the reward will be of grace, not of debt. The original Greek word translated grace, is the word from which our English word charity is derived. 203 The reward will be of charity, in the sense of alms, and the Judge will confer his rewards, his gifts, his charity, his alms, according to the various degrees of our attainments in Christian knowledge and practice. So also the impenitent and unjust will be rendered different degrees of punishments, according as they have been more or less wicked, and done more or less mischief in the world. Both punishment and reward, justice and mercy, retribution and charity, will be administered (impartially,) without respect to person. The supreme court of heaven, having finished its business, closes its session, and then follows the execution of its decisions. Verse 14. " And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." In the preceding verse, death and hell are spoken of as places, in this verse they are spoken of as persons. In this verse also, existence in the lake of fire is explained to be a representation of the second death that death that penal suffering from which there is no recovery or release. The casting of the persons of death and hell into the lake of fire, must signify the translation of present death into the bitter pains of eternal death. And we are assured, that into these bitter pains, a certain portion of the dead are to be delivered, after their resurrection and judgment. For it is asserted in the next verse, (15th.) And whosoever (if any one,) was not found written in the book of life, (he) was cast into the lake of fire. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. This is that hell, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. This is that everlasting punishment pre- pared for the devil and his angels, and for all whose names are not found written in the book of life. 204 fri. '" > DISCOURSE XVII. KEV. xxi. and xxii. Verse 1. " And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea." The first heaven and the first earth had fled away from him that sat upon the throne, and were no more to be found ; and now the Apostle sees a new heaven and a new earth. The old state and order of things are succeeded by a new state and order of things, in which there is no sea, no population disposed to tumult, and difficult to keep quiet. We look for a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, (law and order.) Verse 2. " And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven ; prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The holy city of Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, represents the religious or theo- cratical polity which, emanating from God himself, is to exist in the new state and order of things. This polity will be fur- nished with all the proper appendages to render it pleasing and acceptable to Christ just as the bride is adorned with becoming clothing and ornaments to render herself pleasing and accepta- ble in the sight of her husband. Verse 3. " And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold th^ tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." When God, the Word, was made flesh, he dwelt (or taberna- cled) among men, and made himself manifest, and we beheld his glory or manifestation, and experienced his power to relieve suffering and disease. And in this new state and order of things, God will tabernacle in some sensible form among his 205 people, and converse with them, and remove by his divine power, all sorrow and evil from among them. Verse 4. " And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." The inhabitants of this new world will be forever released from all the miseries incident to the old world. There will be no separation of the soul from the body, and no pain of any kind or degree. Here, all these old things will have no exist- ence. Verse 5. "And he that sat upon the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful." The Great Judge here declares, that the renovation or change to be introduced by him, will be universal, and he commands the Apostle to commit this declaration to writing, as being faithful and true, and to be depended on. Verse 6. " And he said unto me, it is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely." The work of renovation is effected, old things have passed away, and all things have become new. I am the author and finisher of all things, new and old the beginning and the end of them are my work. And I will gratuitously bestow the happiness of the new state and order of things upon all who thirst for it. Let all who earnestly desire this happiness, be assured of my willingness to bestow it, without money and without price, and let him be assured too, (verse 7,) that " he that overcometh, shall inherit all (these new) things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. I will be his portion and happiness and he shall be to me an object of favour and affection." But if the awful Being who sat upon the throne spake thus 18* 206 graciously of those who thirst for the fountain of living waters, and who overcome the temptations and difficulties that obstruct their way to truth and immortality, far different is his knguage to the vicious and profligate. Verse 8. " But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abomina- ble, and murderers, and whore-mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death." These are the characters represented by the beast, the false prophet and the dragon. They are destined to endure the second death they shall go away into everlasting punishment. That the apostle might have a more distinct view of the new Jerusalem, one of the seven angels takes him in vision to a very high mountain. Verses 9 21. " And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from Grod, having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most pre- cious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. " On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And that the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof, and the walls thereof. And the city lieth four square, and the length is as large as the breadth ; and he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand furlongs. The length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal, (in proportion.) 207 " And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of the angel. " And the building of the wall of it was of jasper ; and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of pre- cious stones. The first foundation was jasper ; the second, sap- phire ; the third, a chalcedony ; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysophrasus ; the eleventh a jacinth ; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every several gate was of one pearl ; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." The glory, or shining of God, has its abode in the city ; and the light emitted by this shining forth unlike the disagreeable dimness occasioned by the smoke which filled the Temple of Solomon at its dedication will be of a sea-green hue, the colour most pleasing to the eye. In our risen and glorified nature, we shall behold with the most pleasing sensation, that glorious light in which God dwells, 'and upon which we cannot, in our present bodies and senses, look and live. A glimpse of the light attending the glorified humanity of God, the word instantaneously struck the apostle Paul with a blindness which it required a miracle to cure. The meaning is, that one appendage of this new polity will be some pleasing, supernatural appearance, indicating the presence of God. The wall of the city the twelve foundations of the wall having in them the names of the twelve apostles the twelve gates, watched by twelve angels, and having the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them ; the four-square form of the city ; the measure of the city in length and breath ; the pro- portion of the height to the length and breadth ; the measure of the height of the wall; the jasper or transparent green-coloured substance which composed the wall; the pure gold-like clear 208 glass of which the houses and streets consisted; the twelve different kinds of precious stones with which the foundations of the wall were garnished, all these parts and properties of the city have their signification in certain corresponding parts and properties of that theocratical and celestial polity in the glory and happiness of which the people of God will participate after the general judgment. These significations will suggest themselves to those versed in architecture, mineralogy, and the constitutions, laws, and properties of polities and governments. Verse 22. " And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. " God, in his visible presence or glory, will not be concealed within a building or house, but will be manifest to all. Then we shall have access to the power and glory of God and the Lamb, without the intervention of a temple with its priests and sacrifices. Verse 23. " And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." God, manifest in a particular form and voice, will serve the purpose of supreme authority and government in this sacred polity. God will be present in some sensible form to instruct and to govern. Verses 24 26. " And the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it ; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it; and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day ; for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honours of the nations into it." The states or kingdoms of the saved will live and act under the genial influence of knowledge and instruction, which, pro- ceeding from God and the Lamb, constitute a permanent privi- lege of the celestial polity. The kings and nations of the earth, the different rulers, and powers, and principalities in the new state and order of things, will bring their glory and honour into 209 the sacred city, will render every mark of regard and devotion to this theocratical polity. The gates not being shut by day, and there being no night, the gates consequently are never shut. All will be peace and security; and among its citizens will be found only the pure, the innocent, and the lover of truth. ?