AN 
 
 HISTORICAL EXPOSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROPHECIES OF THE REVELATION" 
 
 or 
 
 ST. JOHN; 
 
 SHEWING 
 
 THEIR CONNECTION WITH AND CONFIRMATION OF 
 
 THOSE OF DANIEL, 
 
 AND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN GENERAL ; 
 
 PARTICULARLY IN THEIR MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT 
 
 ON THE PRESENT TIMES. 
 
 BY MATTHEW HABERSHON. 
 
 " The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." Rev. xix. 10. 
 
 " Come then, and added to thy many crowns, 
 Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, 
 Thou who alone art worthy." Cowper. 
 
 JAMES NISBET AND CO., BERNERS STREET. 
 
 B. WERTHEIM, 14 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLI. 
 
Hz 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY NUTTALL AND HODGSON, GOUGH SO.UARK- 
 
 7/^3 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The author having found it impossible, from a want of time, to 
 go through the whole of this undertaking so soon as he hoped and 
 expected, is under the necessity of deferring the latter part to a 
 future opportunity. Should God permit such to be enjoyed, he 
 thinks another six months may enable him to complete it. In the 
 mean time, he closes with the two series of events signified by the 
 seven Seals, and the seven Trumpets ; and with the bearings of 
 their respective terminations on each other, and on the correspond- 
 ing prophecies of Daniel ; the whole affording most important 
 disclosures of coming events. 
 
TOiversitt! 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 With regard to the importance of the study 
 of Prophecy, it is not necessary in this place to 
 add to what was said in the Preface to the 
 Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Old Tes- 
 tament." 
 
 There appears little doubt but that events 
 will soon transpire, which shall have the effect 
 of imperiously and most solemnly turning" the 
 attention of all who have any respect for what 
 God says, to more earnest inquiries on this 
 subject, and to a deeper sense of its overwhelm- 
 ing and practical value. And how much better 
 will it be, how much more reasonable it is, in 
 our anticipations of the future, to bend the 
 mind to this only true light " shining in a 
 dark place," than, as we are all but too willing 
 and ready to do, trust to our own fancies 
 or wishes, and to say, " Peace, peace, when 
 there is no peace." We are all of us naturally 
 backward in believing that our own fond 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 schemes, with regard to worldly or family 
 affairs, or even with regard to our expectations 
 in reference to the church, are to be broken in 
 upon and frustrated. Nevertheless we may be 
 assured that such will be the case ; and that few 
 of us are at all aware, as it respects these things, 
 of the precipice on which we stand. Who in 
 the antediluvian world believed Noah, when 
 he announced the flood ? The inhabitants of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah looked upon Lot as one 
 that mocked : and none of the Jews, in the 
 time of our Lord, believed Him when he 
 announced the speedy destruction of their 
 devoted city. 
 
 It is the same voice that now speaks ! And 
 " God is not a man that He should lie ; nor 
 the son of man, that He should repent : hath 
 He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He 
 spoken, and shall He not make it good ?" 
 Therefore it is well to attend to the admo- 
 nition, M Despise not prophesyings." There 
 can be no hesitation in saying, looking at the 
 church in all its denominations, that they are 
 yet, if not despised, neglected : so much so, 
 that to many they are almost a prohibited 
 subject. 
 
 In addition to the arguments which are 
 
PREFACE. vil 
 
 generally brought forward to prove that such 
 conduct is both hurtful and anti-scriptural, 
 there is one other consideration which appears 
 to my mind most strongly to shew the special 
 value of both the prophecies of Daniel and 
 St. John in the sight of God, and, by conse- 
 quence, the greater sin of those who neglect 
 them. This is, that both these eminent pro- 
 phets are declared to be the peculiar favourites 
 of heaven; for of the former it is said, " O 
 man, greatly beloved ; ' and of the latter, 
 that he leaned on Jesus's breast, and received 
 other marks of affectionate regard. The very 
 circumstance therefore of such being chosen 
 to have these great prophecies and revela- 
 tions given to them, appears to be for the 
 purpose of conferring the greatest of all ho- 
 nours upon them ; and in that proportion to 
 express their vast and unutterable impor- 
 tance ; and in that proportion likewise to 
 impress upon us, instead of neglecting them, 
 how very greatly we ought to prize and 
 study them. 
 
 Well therefore may it be said in reference to 
 the Apocalypse, as a motto to the whole 
 book, -l Blessed is he that readeth, and they 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 that hear the words of this prophecy, and 
 keep those things that are written therein ; 
 for the time is at hand." 
 
 Bonner's Hall, near Hackney, 
 January 1841. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHRIST THE HEAD AND DIRECTOR OF THE CHURCH S 
 AFFAIRS j WITH A DESCRIPTION OF ITS STATE AT 
 THE TIME THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN. 
 
 The title of the Book of Revelation — Its dedication to the Seven 
 Churches — The circumstances of John when it was written — 
 Given on the Lord's day — The command given — Description 
 of the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ — The encouragement 
 he gave — The subject matter of this Book, the mystery of God 
 — Addresses to the Seven Churches of general application — 
 Address to the church in Ephesus — in Smyrna — in Pergamos — 
 in Thyatira — in Sardis — in Philadelphia — in Laodicea — The 
 history in the Revelation is a carrying out of these principles — 
 The Divinity of Christ and the Holy Ghost — The unity of the 
 Church — Millennial Intimations 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REPRESENTATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN, 
 AND ITS BLESSED INHABITANTS. 
 
 The second division of the Revelation here commences with the 
 things to be " hereafter " — The symbol of their being unfolded — 
 Scene described to be in Heaven — The Throne of God — The 
 Elders — The Seven Spirits — The living creatures — The Worship 
 
 a 5 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 of Heaven — The whole taken from Jewish worship — Similar 
 visions of Isaiah — Ezekiel — The Symbols of the Throne — What 
 the Elders represent — The Lightnings and Thunders — The 
 seven lamps of fire — The sea of glass — The four living creatures 
 considered and explained — The language of their Songs of 
 praise 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST IN HEAVEN J THE COM- 
 MITTAL OF THE CHURCHS CONCERNS INTO HIS 
 HANDS; AND THE WORSHIP PAID TO HIM BY ITS 
 BLESSED INHABITANTS. 
 
 Symbol of the Book — A master symbol — Its seven seals — Their 
 general meaning — Form of the books of the ancients — Impor- 
 tance of the contents of the seven-sealed book — Coming forward 
 of Christ as the slain Lamb — In what sense he opens the seals — 
 Extent of time they represent — The study of them important — 
 Worship of the living creatures — The prayers of the Saints — New 
 Song of heaven — Future honour of the Saints — Song of the 
 Angels — And of the whole Creation — Divinity of Christ. ... 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FOUR FIRST SEALS ; SHEWING THE GRADUAL 
 PROGRESS OF THE FRIGHTFUL APOSTACY OF THE 
 CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Opening of the First Seal — A very remarkable Era — Concern of 
 the Church above respecting it — Its symbols and their meaning — 
 Emperor Constantine and the triumph of Christianity over 
 Paganism — Pagan persecutions — Apostate Julian — Opening of 
 Second Seal — Meaning of the Symbols— Paganism destroyed by 
 
 Theodosius His character — The Church's fierce divisions and 
 
 slaughter Opening of the Third Seal — Emperor Justinian — 
 
 His great actions and their lamentable influence on the Church 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 — Its gross Darkness Preservation of the Bible incorrupt — 
 
 Opening of the Fourth Seal— The Church in a state of utter 
 corruption — Charlemagne — The important era he formed — Con- 
 fined to the Latin nations — Great misery of this period ...... 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE SEALS; OR THE PARTIAL RE- 
 COVERY OF THE CHURCH AT THE REFORMATION ; 
 AND THE APPEARANCE AND ACTINGS OF INFIDE- 
 LITY, AS EXHIBITED IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 General observations on the preceding Seals, and the Apostacy 
 they pourtray — Where spoken of in the Old Testament — They 
 form epochs of History — Theodosius — Unity of the four first 
 Seals — Danger of Prosperity to the Church exemplified — The 
 Reformation — The age of .Martyrs — Its influence— Its instru- 
 ments — Abilities of the reigning Monarchs — Persecutions— St. 
 Bartholomew's Massacre and others — Cry for Vengeance- 
 Future Persecutions yet to take place — The French Revolu- 
 tion — Symbols of the Sixth Seal explained to refer to it — Ex- 
 emplified the principles of Infidelity 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SUSPENSION OF THE FEARFUL DOOM HANGING 
 OVER THE NATIONS; THE SEALING AND PRESER- 
 VATION OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD AFTER A PERIOD 
 OF PERSECUTION ; AND THE OPENING OF THE 
 SEVENTH SEAL. 
 
 Present state of Peace — Most destructive wars only suspended — 
 Deliverance of the righteous from them — Their sealing — Their 
 symbolical number — Their characters — Nature of their preser- 
 vation — A newly-arrived company seen in Heaven — Proof 
 
X1 » CONTENTS. 
 
 that it is Heaven— That they are newly arrived — That they have 
 experienced a great salvation — Their Song — That they came 
 out of a great Tribulation— That they are the company that was 
 sealed — Their arrival in Heaven appears to have been a Trans- 
 lation — Arguments to prove this to be probable — Nothing incre- 
 dible, and why — Seventh Seal — A solemn and awful pause — 
 General Observations 93 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE ROMAN EMPIRE : 
 PARTICULARLY UPON THE WESTERN EMPIRE, BY 
 THE TERRIBLE INVASIONS OF THE GOTHS, VAN- 
 DALS, HUNS, AND OTHER BARBARIANS THE FOUR 
 
 FIRST TRUMPETS., 
 
 New Series of Events — Judgments for Sin — Explanation of the 
 Master Symbol —Prayers of the Righteous heard — Inflictiou 
 of horrid Wars — Connection of the first four Trumpets — They 
 are all Symbolical — The third part, meaning of — Barbarous 
 Nations — Destruction they caused — Unanimity of Commenta- 
 tors respecting the Interpretation of the Trumpets — First 
 Trumpet, the Invasions of Alaric king of the Goths, and others 
 — Second Trumpet, those of Attila king of the Huns — Third 
 Trumpet, the devastation of Genseric king of the Vandals — 
 Fourth Trumpet, the extinction of the Imperial authority in the 
 West 117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE ROMAN EMPIRE 
 
 BY THE SARACENS ; OR THE RISE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 THE SOUNDING OF THE FIFTH TRUMPET. 
 
 The meaning of the term, a woe trumpet — The fifth trumpet — 
 Gibbon, value of his history — Rise of Mahomet— Compared 
 to the falling of the star — His diabolical principles — Their 
 
CONTENTS. xiu 
 
 effects — His followers compared to locusts — The correctness 
 of the comparison — Their tormenting — Their discipline— Their 
 victories — Their licentiousness — Their cruelty and ferocity — 
 Their false and apostate religion — Their caliphs — Confined to 
 no third part — Their great conquests not permanent — Their limi- 
 tation — Great defeat by Charles Martel— Gibbon's observations 
 thereon — Importance of that defeat — The duration of their 
 excursive ravages — Application to the type of locusts — Founda- 
 tion of Bagdad — Decline of the Saracenic empire. , 145 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE EMPIRE, MORE 
 ESPECIALLY IN THE EAST, ON THE SOUNDING OF 
 THE SIXTH TRUMPET ; OR THE RISE AND ESTA- 
 BLISHMENT OF THE TURKS, OR OTTOMANS. 
 
 The four horns of the altar — Second " Woe" comes at some dis- 
 tance of time from the first — Fall of the Saracens — First 
 Turkish Sultan — The Turks a great people before they were 
 restrained or M bound" — Divided into four kingdoms on the 
 Euphrates — Their being bound — by their own divisions — by 
 
 the Crusades — by the Moguls — Their being loosed Rise of the 
 
 Ottoman Power — Work it was to perform — Preparation for it 
 — Time of its continuance — Description of the Turks — Their 
 overthrow of the Eastern Empire — Fall of Constantinople — 
 Establishment of Mahometanism on its ruins — Attempts on the 
 West— Western Idolatry and Wickedness m 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE FALL OF THE PAPACY, IN CONNECTION WITH 
 THE CEASING OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET, AND WITH 
 THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. 
 
 The mention of the second woe being past, deferred — Re-appear- 
 ance of our Lord Jesus Christ — His description same as in 
 
Xlv CONTENTS. 
 
 Rev. i., and for what purpose — As the slain Lamb, and for 
 what end — His opening the seventh seal, or the " little book" 
 — The purpose of His present appearing — The seals and trum- 
 pets here unite their histories — The seven thunders — What is to 
 be generally understood by them — Christ's solemn asseveration 
 —Same as described in Daniel — Import of it explained to signify 
 the end of the Papal power — Awful warning given against this 
 apostacy — History of Redemption as connected with it, finished 
 — To be deeply studied and digested — Different characters in 
 which Christ appears — Observations on the little opened Book, 
 and the prophecies yet to be given 199 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST J DESCRIBED AS AN 
 INNER CHURCH WITHIN THE RULING VISIBLE 
 CHURCH : AND LIKEWISE DESCRIBED UNDER THE 
 SYMBOL OF THE TWO WITNESSES. 
 
 The symbols taken from Jewish worship — The true church en- 
 closed by the providence of God—The visible church pa- 
 ganized, and here called the Gentiles — To be in possession 
 of what is called the outer court 1260 years — The different 
 terms in which this chronological period is represented, and 
 its use — The two witnesses — What the word signifies — The 
 number " two" explained — Their depressed condition for 1260 
 years — Described as two olive trees — Zechariah's prophecy — 
 The Holy Spirit's agency— The two candlesticks— Marvellous 
 power of the two witnesses — Two such witnesses explained to 
 have existed for above 1200 years in such a condition — The 
 Albigenses — The Protestant Churches — High privileges of real 
 believers 215 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LAST GREAT PERSECUTION ; OR A CONTINUATION 
 OF THE CONCLUDING SCENES OF THE SIXTH 
 TRUMPET. 
 
 This event noticed by Daniel — Likewise in Rev. vii., as the great 
 Tribulation — Here it is particularized — In the Time when it will 
 commence ; when the 1260 years are finishing — Its instrumen- 
 tality, the beast from the bottomless pit, or by infidels — Its actings 
 developed in the French Revolution — The Reign of Terror — Its 
 present existence shown — Its war with the Lord's witnesses, or 
 persecution of His Church — Our strength to endure it from God 
 — Its locality, or the place where it will happen — Considered to 
 be England — Why compared to Sodom — to Egypt — to Jeru- 
 salem — The time it is to last, three years and a half — What is 
 meant by the death of the witnesses — This time an incomplete 
 period — To what the other half has a reference— The great 
 rejoicing it will occasion, and the reason thereof 237 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CHURCH'S TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN ; OR THE 
 ASCENSION OF THE TWO WITNESSES, BEING STILL A 
 CONTINUATION OF THE CONCLUDING SCENES OF THE 
 SIXTH TRUMPET. 
 
 The connection of the history of the Two Witnesses with that of 
 the Seven Seals and first Six Trumpets — Depressed condition 
 of the true church for 1260 years — Connection of the VII. of 
 Revelation, with the ascension of the two witnesses — Translation 
 of the true church to heaven — The witnesses' revival to life— In 
 the first place a political revival — The Spirit of life from God, 
 what — The translation demonstrated — Typified by Elijah— All 
 the result of sovereign grace 263 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE GREAT REVOLUTION THAT IS TO HAPPEN AT THE 
 TIME OF THE CHURCH'S TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN; 
 AS THE LAST CONCLUDING SCENE PREVIOUS TO THE 
 FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, OR THE CEASING OF 
 THE SIXTH TRUMPET. 
 
 Caution in speaking of future things — A great Revolution to 
 happen — One of the ten kingdoms to fall — Titles of honour 
 totally abolished — The fright these things occasion — Another 
 argument proving that the deliverance of the Saints will be a 
 translation to Heaven — The second woe past ! Its commence- 
 ment clearly denned in the taking of Constantinople in 1453 — 
 The Turks prepared for this great undertaking— Their fall will 
 be a most signal event — Harmony of the different lines of pro- 
 phecy both in the Old and New Testaments — Encouragement 
 to prophetical studies — Rev. Charles Buck's notice of this 
 chronology — Rev. Mr. Fletcher of Madely's remarks on pro- 
 phecy 275 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE LAST SOLEMN JUDGMENT ON THE WESTERN NA- 
 TIONS ; OR THE THIRD WOE: LIKEWISE THE FIRST 
 RESURRECTION, AND THE KINGDOM GF CHRIST. 
 
 The preparation in Heaven for this event — Our indifference — 
 Signs of its approach — Referred to Old Testament Prophets — 
 They say little of Christian historical times — Of the latter times 
 are profuse — Chief reason because they are connected with the 
 Jewish Restoration— Why called " The mystery of God " — 
 Disbelief and infidelity of the present times — Certainty of the 
 fulfilment of what remains— Song of the Elders — Its subject 
 
CONTENTS. XVU 
 
 the wrath of God — Kingdom of Christ — Daniel's last great 
 vision referred to — And other prophets — Resurrection of the 
 righteous dead, another subject of their song — Proved from 
 Daniel — Kingdom of the saints — The four living creatures do 
 not join in this song, and why — Extract from Toplady — De- 
 struction of the destroyers — The church and ark opened in 
 Heaven — The wars of this trumpet — A revolution — A northern 
 invasion 289 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Revelation of St. John may be considered a 
 treatise shewing the vital changes which have taken 
 place, and which are to take place in the world, in 
 connection with the church of Christ ; revealing the 
 hidden springs of the rise, continuance, and fall of 
 nations; in a few words, it may be pronounced 
 a perfect Church History. 
 
 Before proceeding to its interpretation, it will serve 
 to place the whole scope of the subject in a more 
 striking light, very summarily to retrace the ground 
 over which we have trodden in the Old Testament 
 prophecies. In doing this I would point out — 
 
 First. Those predictions of Daniel which were 
 accomplished before the Christian era, and therefore 
 do not relate to events in this prophecy. 
 
 These consist of all those which have any connec- 
 tion with the three successive ruling kingdoms of 
 Babylon, Persia, and Greece, to the full establish- 
 ment of the fourth or the Roman empire. Before 
 this prophecy commences, likewise, the whole of 
 
XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 those Old Testament predictions relative to the Death 
 of Christ, the consequent termination of the Jewish 
 Dispensation, as well as those relating to the fall of 
 Jerusalem, and the entire and complete dispersion of 
 the Jews themselves, had all been fulfilled. Nothing, 
 when this last great Revelation was given, was left 
 unfulfilled but what belonged to the Christian Dis- 
 pensation. To these — 
 
 Secondly, I would direct attention, as forming 
 the nucleus of St. John's prophecies. Those of this 
 description that have most particularly attracted our 
 notice have been, 
 
 1. The destruction of the undivided Roman em- 
 pire, represented by the cutting down of the Great 
 Tree of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which chiefly took 
 place when it was attacked on all sides by the bar- 
 barous nations; and after which, it is said, it was 
 bound together by a band of iron and brass, or by 
 the Latin and Greek kingdoms. 
 
 2. The division of the Western or Latin branch of 
 the Empire, or the Roman Empire proper, into the 
 ten kingdoms predicted by the ten toes of the Great 
 Image, and by the ten horns of the monstrous wild- 
 beast. 
 
 3. The springing up of the little papal Horn, or 
 the rise of the Papacy in the midst of these ten 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXI 
 
 kingdoms, described in the vision of the four wild 
 beasts, and which was to last for a time, times, and 
 an half. 
 
 4. The appearing of the Mahometan little horn 
 out of or behind one of the four Grecian kingdoms 
 into which Alexander's conquests were divided, de- 
 scribed in the vision of the Ram and He-goat. 
 
 5. The great, universal, and overwhelming declen- 
 sion of religion, which the existence of these two 
 apostacies indicated, and which is likewise noticed in 
 the " Great Vision" of Daniel. 
 
 6. The reformation, spoken of in the same chapter 
 as a " little help." 
 
 7. The appearance of the chief actor in the French 
 Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, whose principles, 
 policy, and success are so particularly described 
 likewise in the same chapter. 
 
 8. The present signs of the Times, which are, the 
 Mahometan little horn " breaking without hand ;" 
 the sudden and prodigious increase of travelling, or 
 " many running to and fro;" and the unexampled 
 "increase of knowledge." 
 
 These are the leading^ Old Testament prophecies, 
 expanded more or less in the Revelation, which have 
 been fulfilled, or are now fulfilling. Those which 
 remain to be accomplished, and which the above 
 Signs of the Times, in connection with the various 
 
XXli INTRODUCTION. 
 
 chronological Periods, proclaim to be so very near 
 at hand, and which in fact are only those that 
 now remain to be fulfilled on the roll of prophecy, 
 are — 
 
 1. The persecution of the Church, and the remark- 
 able wickedness of the wicked. 
 
 2. The complete extinction of the Mahometan 
 power. 
 
 3. The destruction of the Papacy, or the end of the 
 1260 years. 
 
 4. The restoration of the Jews to their own 
 land. 
 
 5. The conquests and career of the kings of the 
 South and North, spoken of by Daniel to happen at 
 the Time of the End. 
 
 6. The time of unprecedented trouble that is to be 
 consequent upon that event. 
 
 7. The first Resurrection. 
 
 8. The reign of Christ on the Throne of David, 
 and the establishment of his kingdom upon earth. 
 
 For the particular consideration of all these pre- 
 dictions, the reader is referred to " the Dissertation," 
 where they are each and separately enlarged upon. The 
 more special use that we have now to make of them, 
 is to explain the principles that may be deduced from 
 them, for the interpretation of the greatly enlarged 
 history of the Christian Dispensation, which is here 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXlU 
 
 given; as an attention to such principles must 
 assuredly tend to throw much light upon the subject, 
 and be the means of preventing many mistakes. 
 
 In the first place, it will be perceived, from a care- 
 ful consideration of the nature of events that have 
 answered to the predictions, that they have on all 
 occasions had a respect to profane history, or to the 
 affairs of this world, only as they especially bore 
 upon those of the Church, and as they were connected 
 with the history of Redemption. Thus, for instance, 
 no account whatever is taken of any of the great 
 events of ancient history, but those which are con- 
 nected with the destinies of the Jewish church and 
 people. There is nothing in prophecy of the history 
 of the Medes and Persians before the time of Cyrus, 
 in whose reign they first came in contact with the 
 affairs of the Jews by the conquest of Babylon; — 
 nothing respecting the polished Grecian States of 
 Athens, or Sparta, or Corinth, with numerous others, 
 which make so distinguished a figure in classical lite- 
 rature before the time of Alexander the Great, when 
 the interests of the Jews became involved in his 
 conquests, and Greece became the ruling power of 
 the world. And after Alexander's death, when his 
 great empire was divided into four kingdoms, no 
 account is taken but of those two to which the land 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Palestine was alternately subjected, called the 
 kings of the North and South, or the kings of Syria 
 and Egypt. In like manner, neither is there any 
 account taken of the still more important wars, and 
 the illustrious men concerned in them, connected 
 with the long period of Roman history, fruitful as it 
 is with incidents of such deep interest, especially in 
 the Carthaginian war during the career of Hanni- 
 bal, until it touches the affairs of the Jews in the 
 reign of Antiochus Epiphanes ; and even then, whilst 
 any other of the successors of Alexander remained, 
 but very slightly. 
 
 And in the more brief predictions, which in the 
 Old Testament are given of the historical events 
 connected with the Christian dispensation, the same 
 principle is closely followed, and only such secular 
 events are noticed as are intimately connected with 
 the Church ; and of course this principle is strictly 
 adhered to in the more enlarged prophecies of the 
 same events in the Apocalypse. 
 
 A second controlling principle, which should ever 
 be kept in mind in the interpretation of prophecy 
 deduced from the study of the Old Testament pro- 
 phecies, and which is absolutely required for the 
 purpose of enabling us to separate, with greater cer- 
 tainty and correctness, predicted subjects from the 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV 
 
 extensive and boundless mass of history, is — that 
 they have reference only to the most important eras 
 of the world, and to the most remarkable and eminent 
 events that have happened, and not to those of minor 
 importance. Such, for instance, as were of the largest 
 extent for time and space ; that were most permanent 
 in their effects ; and which have been attended with 
 the most surprising changes; — events, in fact, of a 
 character sufficiently commanding to give rise to new 
 orders of things, or to give new features to society ; 
 that have produced new habits of thought, and which 
 involved innumerable millions in their weal or woe. 
 It is, as the above enumeration fully evinces, events 
 of such a character alone, that stand prominent on 
 the roll of prophecy. And the very idea of such being 
 the case, gives inexpressible grandeur to the study of 
 the subject; for assuredly here there is nothing light, 
 trifling, or common-place. This description of events, 
 in fact, may be compared to those mountain tops that 
 pierce into the clouds, inspiring feelings of awe and 
 dread, and affording prospects as great and as mag- 
 nificent as were beheld by Moses from the top of 
 Pisgah ; and like those, opening to our view the 
 most lovely scenes ; even those of a renovated world, 
 — and scenes of which it may be truly said, 
 
 " No mockery meet us, no deception here/' 
 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The next observation I would make is this— that 
 under these controlling principles, we do right, in the 
 interpretation of the prophetical parts of the Books of 
 Daniel and St. John, to apply them to the affairs of 
 secular history. In this particular I consider we 
 have not only the sanction of the most valuable 
 commentators, ancient and modern ; but we have, as 
 an unerring guide, the sanction of the Holy Spirit in 
 the various divine interpretations of Daniel's prophe- 
 cies. We have likewise the sanction of the historical 
 books of the Old Testament, which differ from the 
 former only in this, that while the one is anticipated 
 history, this is fulfilled. In these books we find that 
 the Church, before the Babylonish captivity, having 
 an unavoidable connection with the course and revo- 
 lution of human affairs, its concerns were necessarily 
 interwoven with the changes and vicissitudes that 
 have diversified the pages of profane history. This 
 appears very distinctly in the Books of Kings, 
 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Ezra, and Esther, where we 
 find the history of the Church, — of its prophets and 
 saints, — of the providence and grace of God in all the 
 dispensations towards His people, — not only inter- 
 woven with secular Jewish history, but, as far as it 
 comes in contact with their affairs, with Babylon, 
 Persia, and other surrounding nations. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXVll 
 
 In a similar manner we shall find that the church, 
 under the Christian dispensation, being in an equal 
 degree identified with the affairs of the Roman 
 empire from the time of Christ to the present 
 moment, its history is, in an equal degree, inter- 
 mixed with the successive actors, vicissitudes, and 
 changes, which that empire has experienced ; and 
 which is shown to be the same by Daniel's symbol 
 of a great wild beast with ten horns being brought 
 forward to represent it. And it is in this way that 
 history is made the hand-maid of divinity, the record 
 of that providence which is the fulfilment of God's 
 word. It is evident, therefore, that a complete 
 Church history should, in this respect, imitate the 
 model given in the inspired writings; and that, 
 whilst it pourtrays the triumphs of divine grace in 
 the hearts and lives of believers, showing how bright 
 the Gospel hath shone in those who have cordially 
 received its soul-reviving doctrines, it should, at the 
 same time, exhibit the manner in which its visible 
 external aspect has been influenced by the great 
 men and the great movements of that world with 
 which it has been connected. I consider, therefore, 
 that we do right in giving the apocalypse an histo- 
 rical interpretation, and in looking upon it as a clear, 
 compendious, and perfect church history. 
 
 Such a history it is, if we contemplate the events 
 
xxvm INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which are predicted. There is nothing omitted that 
 answers or agrees with the controlling principles above 
 explained. All the great and leading movements 
 that have influenced the affairs of the Church, and 
 produced change, are, in the most beautiful and 
 powerful order, introduced ; and that with inimitable 
 simplicity. And this leads to another general obser- 
 vation^ which is, — 
 
 To notice the peculiarity of the arrangement, 
 which, it will be perceived, has much art and contri- 
 vance. It is not, as in histories of human composi- 
 tion, a mere consecutive narrative, confounding all 
 descriptions of events in one common mass ; but, 
 seizing the leading events of particular and distinct 
 characters, it traces them to the end in separate and 
 parallel lines. By this means the various and vary- 
 ing aspects of different periods of time, are, with 
 particular clearness and simplicity, exhibited ; the 
 origin, the qualities, and principles of nations, are 
 accurately traced ; and the materials and facts of 
 history are arranged so as to impress upon the 
 memory their real cause, relative importance, correct 
 bearing, and their infallible issue. 
 
 This peculiarity is adopted both in the prophecies 
 of Daniel and St. John. In the first vision of the 
 former, the outward aspect of the four successive 
 
INTRODUCTION. XX IX 
 
 empires is exhibited as being that of a splendid idol- 
 atry, with the varying strength, quality, and grandeur 
 of each. In the second vision, the principles and 
 dispositions of the rulers and people of these king- 
 doms are accurately represented ; with the notice of 
 a remarkable ecclesiastical one, that should arise and 
 be identified with the divided state of the last of the 
 four, or with the ten kingdoms of the Roman 
 empire. In the next vision of the Ram and He-Goat, 
 the Persian and Greek empires alone come into 
 view ; and the fate of the latter, in the latter times, 
 as distinct from the Roman empire, and as we at the 
 present moment see it, is given in tracing the rise 
 and exhibiting the conquests and principles of 
 Mahometanism. The fourth and last vision appears 
 to be a general summing up, in regular narrative, of 
 the whole of the former three, as far as they bear 
 upon, and have a more immediate connection with, 
 the Jewish church ; omitting, as hath been above 
 noticed, the particular events relating to the Chris- 
 tian dispensation. Thus we see, that in the first 
 vision a general but highly expressive outline is 
 traced ; then by another, and another, and another 
 line of parallel events, the history of the whole 
 period is filled up with the most surprising fulness 
 and accuracy ; and with so much clearness, that the 
 great master-wheels, in whose tremendous evolutions 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the unnumbered and complicated lesser wheels of 
 Providence have been involved, are brought into the 
 most distinct recognition. 
 
 This perfection of narration applies, in an equal 
 degree, to the Apocalypse; perhaps, it may be said, 
 from its predictions entering into such great mi- 
 nuteness, and embracing' events of a more intri- 
 cate character, in a superior degree. Here, first, we 
 have, in one unbroken line, the great changes 
 brought about in the internal administration of the 
 empire, given under the expressive symbol of seals, 
 and in number seven. Secondly, we have the 
 changes brought about by the great and successful 
 invasions of the empire from without, under the 
 equally expressive symbol of trumpets, likewise in 
 numbers seven. Thirdly, we have the conjoint effect 
 of these changes, as they have borne upon the interests 
 of vital Christianity ; in which the direct agency of 
 both Christ and Satan is brought forward — Christ, 
 in the first place, as driving Satan in the idolatry of 
 Paganism, out of his rule in the visible dominion of 
 the world, and making it a professedly Christian 
 rule; and Satan, in revenge, being permitted to 
 clothe himself with the garb of that Christian rule, 
 and in it to depress the true church ; and so far give 
 his power and authority to the ten ruling sovereignties 
 of the Roman empire, as through them to erect the 
 papal ecclesiastical sovereign usurpation. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 Such are the three principal lines of parallel pro- 
 phecy in the Revelation. To the Seals belongs that 
 portion extending from the fourth chapter to the 1st 
 verse of the eighth chapter ; to the second line, or 
 the Trumpets, belongs that from the 2nd verse of the 
 eighth chapter to the end of the eleventh chapter ; 
 and to the third, or general line, belongs, in reality, 
 the remainder of the Book. They may be considered 
 as three mighty parallel rivers, widening and branch- 
 ing out into numerous mouths, as they finish their 
 course, and empty themselves into the sea. The 
 first has such an extension in the contents of the 
 seventh chapter; the second has several such in the 
 contents of the tenth and greater part of the eleventh ; 
 and the third has many such — one of which is in the 
 fourteenth chapter, the next in the seven vials of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth chapters, the next in the 
 contents of the seventeenth, and so on to the end 
 of the Book ; forming, like the Nile, the Danube, 
 or the Ganges, so many separate outlets to the one 
 grand stream of prophetic history. 
 
 One great design — perhaps the chief design, of so 
 great an enlargement at the end of each line of 
 prophecy, is for the purpose of distinctly holding up 
 to view the opposite fates of the true and the false 
 church at the end of the dispensation; and in that 
 separation, the exaltation of the righteous on the 
 
XXXH INTRODUCTION. 
 
 one hand, and the dreadful judgment of the wicked 
 on the other. At present, the tares and the wheat 
 grow together ; but, at the time of harvest, Christ 
 will say, " Gather ye together first the tares, and 
 bind them in bundles to burn them ; but gather the 
 wheat into my garner."* And thus it is here repre- 
 sented ; — in the seals, those that have washed their 
 robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb, are marked for deliverance, and delivered ; 
 whilst the rest are left to the mercy of the blow- 
 ing of the M four winds of heaven !" — in the trum- 
 pets, those who bear a life-giving testimony for God, 
 are called up to heaven, and ascend thither in a 
 cloud, whilst the rest are left to the mercy of the 
 seventh trumpet. In the more internal and united 
 series of events composing the third line, the deliver- 
 ance to the righteous mentioned in the seals is again 
 brought forward — it is also mentioned as the getting 
 in of the harvest :f is pointed out in the sixth vial by 
 the mention of the coming of Christ; and more 
 fully described in the particulars given of the Millen- 
 nial state in the last chapters. The fate of the merely 
 professing church and ungodly world, is, on the con- 
 trary, fearfully exhibited in the description of the 
 vintage, at the end of the fourteenth chapter ; in the 
 
 * Matt. xiii. 30. f Rev. xiv. U— 16. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXX1U 
 
 contents of the seventh vial ; and in the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth chapters. Thus will the Lord make it 
 manifest, that after all the turmoils of life, and although 
 He has permitted his people to be intermixed with 
 the ungodly world, so as often scarcely to be known 
 from them, yet, at the close, M that it shall be well 
 with the righteous, for they shall eat the fruit of 
 their doings/* but that " woe shall be to the wicked ! 
 it shall be ill with him : for the reward of his hands 
 shall be given him."* So that we see the same prin- 
 ciple, of divine government runs through every part 
 of the Word of God, and that it shines with uncom- 
 mon brilliancy in these its more direct prophecies ; 
 and hence, in a very special manner, we see their 
 practical tendency. 
 
 The considerations which I have thus attempted 
 to bring forward, to show the infinite superiority of 
 the historical arrangement of the Apocalypse to 
 every human composition, prove, that the wisdom 
 therein displayed is the Wisdom of God ; and that 
 it is becoming; the Infinite Wisdom and Power that 
 could plan and carry into effect the mighty series of 
 events that are recorded. And this stamp of a 
 Divine Mind will still more forcibly appear, if we 
 
 * Isaiah iii. 10, 11. 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 attentively consider the beauty and significance of 
 the symbolical language that is employed, both in 
 these and other predictions scattered up and down 
 the greater part of the Holy Scriptures. When 
 properly viewed and understood, it is impossible to 
 conceive anything more expressive, more lucid, 
 more simple, or that could tell with equal effect; 
 and I cannot but express my own conviction how 
 much real intellectual gratification and pleasure they 
 deprive themselves of, who neglect the study of 
 these deeply interesting and glowing subjects, for the 
 comparatively unprofitable and insipid inquiries on 
 subjects that rise no higher than sense, and which are 
 connected only with the passing things of time. 
 
 Symbols, when properly understood, are not used, 
 as is often imagined, for the purpose of darkening 
 the subject, and involving it in obscurity, but rather, 
 by the intensity of their meaning and signification, 
 of giving strength and clearness in a way that no 
 play of common language could effect. They may 
 be considered in manv cases to have the effect of 
 algebraical characters which stand for definite quan- 
 tities, and which may be thrown into other quanti- 
 ties, multiplied and re-multiplied, yet still kept dis- 
 tinct and separate. "The figurative language of 
 prophecy," observes Mr. Faber," " like the ancient 
 hieroglyphics,and likethose non-alphabetic characters 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXV 
 
 which are derived from them, is a language of ideas 
 rather than of words. It speaks by pictures quite 
 as much as by sounds; and through the medium of 
 those pictures, rather than through the medium of a 
 laboured verbal definition, it sets forth, with equal 
 ease and precision, the nature and relation of the 
 matters predicted."* Hence, what volumes are 
 contained in the four monarchies being given under 
 the simple figure of a great idol ! In this one grand 
 idea is involved the whole system of the heathen 
 mythology, and the no less idolatrous system of the 
 saints and mediators of the Papacy ; whilst the diffe- 
 rent metals of which the idol is said to be composed, 
 express the relative strength and warlike charac- 
 ter of each, in an equally simple and significant 
 manner. 
 
 This remark will likewise apply to the symbols of 
 the other visions of Daniel, as the explanations given 
 of them in the former work evinces ; whilst in the 
 present work it will be equally manifest, that in still 
 greater richness and variety they abound in every 
 part of the Apocalypse. Here we find that the 
 lengthened period of eighteen hundred years is, in the 
 first place, given in two parallel series of events, under 
 the two most significant master-symbols of seals 
 
 * Faber's Sacred Calendar, Vol. I. p. 10. 
 
XXXVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and trumpets j and then, in the union of the 
 two, in more immediate connection with the true 
 church which is described as " a woman clothed 
 with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her 
 head a crown of twelve stars," all this is most 
 clearly expressed to belong to, and to describe the 
 history of, the Roman empire, by the bringing for- 
 ward of Daniel's fourth monstrous nondescript wild 
 beast, with the well-known adjunct of ten horns. 
 And by the most simple contrivance, it is brought for- 
 ward distinctly to mark its three-fold state of imperial 
 rule, its present divided kingly rule, and revolutionary 
 rule. The first, "as a great red dragon, having 
 seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon 
 his heads :"* the second, as "a beast, having seven 
 heads, and ten horns, and upon his horns ten 
 diadems :f the third, as a scarlet coloured beast, 
 full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads 
 and ten horns, "J and no crowns or diadems at all! 
 For the further illustration of these remarks on the 
 symbols in this magnificent historical prophecy, the 
 reader is referred to the work itself. 
 
 The Wisdom of God saw fit to make one remark- 
 able distinction between the prophecies of Daniel, 
 
 * Rev. xii. 3. t Ch.-xiii. 1. \ Ch. xvii. 3. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXVli 
 
 and those of St. John, which may account for those 
 of the former having been so much better under- 
 stood than the latter, and for the less variety of 
 opinion respecting them. It is this, that at the 
 time of the delivery of the former an interpreta- 
 tion accompanied them. " We will tell/ 5 says Daniel, 
 after relating the dream of the Great Image, " the 
 interpretation thereof before the king," (Dan. ii. 
 36) ; and the interpretation was accordingly given. 
 In the vision of the great wild beasts, likewise, he 
 says, " I came near unto one of them that stood by, 
 and asked him the truth of all this" (that is, an exact 
 account of the whole matter). " So he told me, and 
 made me to know the interpretation of the things." 
 In like manner, in the vision of the Ram and He- 
 goat, chap. viii. ver. 16, and onwards, the angel 
 Gabriel very clearly made the Prophet understand 
 the whole matter, by giving a very particular expla- 
 nation, even to the naming of kingdoms. And his 
 last great vision being descriptive, divested of meta- 
 phor, was so clear on the events transpiring, as to 
 require no such divine explanation. But the case is 
 very different with regard to the Apocalypse — very 
 little of such kind of help occurs; and hence the 
 greater difficulty that has been experienced, and the 
 greater consequent variety of opinion in its inter- 
 pretation ; there being scarcely any other light to 
 
XXXVill INTRODUCTION. 
 
 guide us here^ than either that which is reflected 
 from the Book of Daniel on the one hand, or that 
 which can be collected from the boundless mass of 
 history on the other. It is true there is one direct 
 interpretation in the Revelation — one instance where 
 the finger of God direetly points us to the right 
 object; and it is a key which, properly used, opens 
 the whole book, and sanctions and confirms the 
 interpretation here offered. It is found in the 1 7th 
 chapter and the last verse : " The woman which 
 thou sawest is that great city that reigneth over the 
 kimjs of the earth ! " 
 
 There is only one original chronological period con- 
 nected with the end of " the times of the Gentiles," in 
 the Apocalypse ; and that is, the one giving the dura- 
 tion of the sixth trumpet. There is indeed the most 
 i.i valuable light thrown upon the " time, times, and 
 an half 5 ' of Daniel, by giving it in the two other 
 different terms of " forty and two months/' and 
 what is still clearer, of il one thousand two hundred 
 and three score days," without which it is a ques- 
 tion whether either it^ or other chronological pro- 
 phecies to which it affords the key, could ever have 
 been understood. So that although the symbolical 
 history in the Revelation receives light from that of 
 Daniel, vet the reverse is the case with regard to its 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 
 
 chronology. In this respect the dates given by 
 Daniel are comparatively dark and uncertain without 
 the reflected lisfht derived from St. John : and hence 
 I conceive that our Saviour, speaking as man, would 
 not have said, after these later prophecies were writ- 
 ten, " Of that day and that hour knoweth no man ; 
 no, not even the angels, nor the Son, but only the 
 Father which is in heaven." 
 
 As a part of the revealed Word, I have felt myself, 
 with other commentators, on safe and holy ground, 
 in the endeavour to decipher this, the chronological 
 part of prophecy. It is no where forbidden, but forms a 
 component part of that which is distinctly and forcibly 
 encouraged. I am far from wishing to attach an 
 undue importance to it ; but I have thought it right 
 and justifiable honestly to give that interpretation of 
 it, which appears to me to accord with the analogy 
 of Scripture and history ; and the issue I leave. At 
 the same time, as I have before repeatedly observed, 
 the force of events alone bring us to the same in- 
 evitable conclusions; for reject dates and chronology 
 altogether, still the events to which chronology 
 points as next to happen, must happen, and, as 
 every consideration bespeaks, soon happen : for they 
 are the only ones that remain to be fulfilled ; and in 
 the minutest narratives, such as the vials and others, 
 they are described as running very close. I say 
 
xl 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 again, therefore, by rejecting the chronological pro- 
 phecies we gain nothing. The sixth trumpet, as 
 is evident to all, must soon cease ; that is, the 
 Ottoman empire must soon fall. The third woe, 
 it is declared, will then come quickly. I say, there- 
 fore, if we reject dates, let us believe this ; and 
 believing this, there is but little in the whole of 
 prophecy, both as detailed here and in the former 
 work, that will not follow, and be likewise be- 
 lieved. What I have earnestly to request of the true 
 members of the church of Christ is, of whatever 
 name or denomination they belong, that they will 
 attend to our Lord's own often repeated warning, 
 and watch ! If the views I have endeavoured to 
 unfold be correct ; then very soon must the Beast 
 out of the bottomless pit, described in the eleventh 
 of Revelation, appear. What latitude is to be given 
 to the three prophetic days and an half, during which 
 it is predicted it shall tyrannize over the church, I do 
 not know. When our Lord said, that " as Jonas 
 was three davs and three nights in the whale's 
 belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and 
 three nights in the heart of the earth,'* (Matt. xii. 40) 
 it appeared there was a latitude of expression to 
 part of three days. Three years and a half here, 
 therefore, may possibly in like manner signify some- 
 thing above three years ; however a little time will 
 
s 
 
 V 
 
 explain. Meanwhile, most earnestly would I again 
 
 repeat our Lord's warning, watch ! The signs of 
 the last times, in the events now crowding around 
 us, are plain, unequivocal, and distinct. When, 
 therefore, the principles of infidelity, which now 
 appear to be embodied in the new name of Chartism, 
 shall, as " the beast out of the bottomless pit," put 
 themselves in successful hostility against the reli- 
 gion of Jesus Christ — and it confessedly now requires 
 an armed force to keep them down — then let the 
 church bestir herself, and prepare for the coming of 
 her Lord. For whenever this happens, when " the 
 wicked begin to do wickedly," as Daniel expresses 
 it,* then all these things will quickly come to pass. 
 Delay will be no- longer. It will be as when, at the 
 time of the Deluge, the fountains of the great deep 
 were broken up, and the windows of heaven were 
 opened. I am anxious here to be understood; and 
 for this purpose I beg to direct attention to the 
 twelfth chapter of this work. I am anxious that on 
 the breaking out of this power from the bottomless 
 abyss, the church should then know where she is, 
 and not be involved in the rapids with which she 
 will be surrounded. The time will then be arrived — 
 and before this paper goes to the press it is possible 
 
 * See Diss. xiv. p. 379. 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that time may arrive — when the cry will be made, 
 " Behold the Bridegroom cometh !" When that 
 time arrives, I again repeat it, the coming- of the 
 Bridegroom will be nigh at hand. When the church 
 therefore sees these things, let such as be wise, and 
 have oil, trim their lamps ; for yet and a little 
 while, and the door will be shut: yet a little while, 
 and those that are thus ready shall hear a voice from 
 heaven, saying unto them, " Come up hither," and 
 they shall ascend up to heaven in a cloud. Men 
 may scoff at such things — and scoff they will — but 
 God hath said the words, and they shall come to 
 pass ! How many will then say, u Lord, Lord, open 
 unto us. But he shall answer and say, Verily, I say 
 unto you, I know you not !" 
 
 We assuredly live in very solemn circumstances, 
 and in circumstances from the weal or woe of which 
 there is no escape ; for the seventh angel will pour his 
 vial " into the air ;" that is, the contents of the vial 
 will be universal in all its most disastrous conse- 
 quences. Yet do we see that it is the duty and privi- 
 lege of every child of God to contemplate and ex- 
 pect them with the same composed and happy frame 
 of mind with which they are said to be contemplated 
 and celebrated in heaven. For if these things are the 
 theme of thankfulness, and praise, and glory, among 
 the saints and happy spirits before the throne of God 
 
INTRODUCTION. xliii 
 
 and the Lamb — as we here see they are — they should 
 be no less so the theme of animated devotion and 
 holy joy to the Lord's people on earth ! For sur- 
 charged and darkened as the atmosphere may at 
 present be, it is theirs to look beyond it, to the righ- 
 teous dealings of God therein — to their own ever- 
 lasting safety in Christ their exalted head — to 
 the dishonour done to his great -name, being for ever 
 effaced — to their own triumphant rescue — and to the 
 new and glorious dispensation which will ere long 
 arise on the world. We may well, therefore, all join 
 with the Apostle in saying, M Come, Lord Jesus, O 
 come quickly ;" and with our own poet, when he 
 savs, 
 
 " Haste then, and wheel away a shattered world, 
 
 Ye slow revolving seasons ! we would see 
 
 (A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet) 
 
 A world that does not dread and hate his laws, 
 
 And suffer for its crime ; we would learn how fair 
 
 The creature is that God pronounces good : 
 
 How pleasant in itself what pleases Him.'' 
 
 Cowper. 
 
CORRIGENDA. 
 
 Tage 26, 1. 12, for Trinity read Spirit. 
 
 88,1. 19, — Vitringer — Vitringa. 
 
 42, 1. 9, — is — are. 
 
 48, I. 8, — vial — veil. 
 
 (>2, I. 17, road of most dread command. 
 
 82, 1. 15, for testify read testi 
 
 89, 1. 8, '_ awful — fearful. 
 112, I. 6, — believer — Christian. 
 186, I. 4, — eruption — irruption. 
 178, 1. 30, read the death of Sultan. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHRIST THE HEAD AND DIRECTOR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH'S AFFAIRS ; 
 
 WITH A 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF ITS STATE AT THE TIME THIS 
 BOOK WAS WRITTEN. 
 
 The title of the Book of Revelation — Its dedication to the Seven 
 Churches — The circumstances of John when it was written — » 
 Given on the Lord's day — The command given — Description of 
 the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ — The encouragement 
 he gave — The subject matter of this Book, the mystery of God — • 
 Addresses to the Seven Churches of general application — Address 
 to the church in Ephesus — in Smyrna — in Tergamos — in Thy- 
 atira — in Sardis — in Philadelphia — in Laodicea — The history 
 in the Revelation a carrying out of these principles — The Divinity 
 of Christ and the Holy Ghost — The unity of the Church — Mil- 
 lennial Intimations. 
 
THE 
 
 REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST; 
 
 WHICH GOD GAVE UNTO HIM, 
 
 TO SHEW UNTO HIS SERVANTS THINGS WHICH MUST 
 
 SHORTLY COME TO PASS ; 
 
 AND HE SENT AND SIGNIFIED THE SAME BY HIS ANGEL, 
 
 UNTO HIS SERVANT 
 
 JOHN, 
 
 WHO BARE RECORD OF THE WORD OF GOD, 
 
 AND THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, ACCORDING 
 
 TO ALL THINGS THAT HE SAW. 
 
 l( Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of 
 this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, 
 for the time is at hand." 
 
 (Rev. i. 1—3.) 
 
 B 2 
 
'UBIVERSIT 
 
 JOHN 
 
 TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES WHICH ARE IN ASIA. 
 
 " Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and 
 which was, and which is to come; 
 
 " And from the seven spirits which are before his throne ; 
 
 " And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and 
 the first-begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the 
 earth. 
 
 " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his 
 own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his 
 Father ; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith 
 the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, 
 the Almighty." 
 
 The circumstances under which this Revelation was 
 
 given to John. 
 
 " I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribu- 
 lation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in 
 the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ." 
 
 The day on which it was given. 
 
 u I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." 
 
 The command that was given. 
 
 " And I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, 
 " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last ; and, What 
 
6 CHAPTER I. 
 
 thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches 
 which are in Asia; 
 
 Unto Ephesus, and 
 
 Unto Smyrna, and 
 
 Unto Pergamos, and 
 
 Unto Thyatira, and 
 
 Unto Sardis, and 
 
 Unto Philadelphia, and 
 
 Unto Laodicea.'' 
 
 The appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ with the 
 symbols of his power. 
 
 u And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. 
 " And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in 
 the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of 
 
 MAN, 
 
 w Clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the 
 paps with a golden girdle. 
 
 '■ His head and his hairs were white, like wool, as white as snow ; 
 
 " And his eyes were as a flame of fire ; 
 
 " And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a 
 furnace ; 
 
 " And his voice as the sound of many waters. 
 
 " And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his 
 mouth went a sharp two-edged sword : and his countenance was 
 as the sun shineth in his strength." 
 
 The effect of this vision on the mind of the Apostle. 
 
 " And when I saw him, 1 fell at his feet as dead." 
 
 What the Lord Jesus Christ said, 
 
 " And he laid his right hand, saying unto me, Fear not, I am 
 the first and thehivt: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, 
 behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of 
 hell and of death. 
 
 " Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which 
 are, and the things which shall be hereafter;" — 
 
JOHN TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 7 
 
 Which things are — that is, the things which John had 
 seen, which he did then see, and which should happen 
 onwards to the end of time — these things are, 
 
 " The mystery of the seven stars which,'' saith Christ, " thou 
 sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The 
 seven stars are the angels of the seven churches : and the seven 
 candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches." 
 
 So that the whole contents of this book consist of 
 the mysterious providences that were to happen in 
 connexion with the church of Christ, both as it 
 respected pastors and people ; the number seven, here 
 so generally used, implying completeness and perfec- 
 tion. Just as if it had been expressly said, "What 
 is to happen ' hereafter ' is the mystery concerning 
 the church of Christ — that church which he bought 
 with his own blood — those who proclaim which, he 
 holds in his right hand, and in the midst of which, 
 wherever two or three are gathered together in his 
 name, there he is — and thus he walks amongst the 
 candlesticks or lamp-bearers." 
 
 So that, commencing this most important revela- 
 tion by describing the things u which are," appears 
 to be done for the purpose of holding up a glass or 
 mirror for the church to view itself to the end of 
 time. In the seven addresses, therefore, which fol- 
 low, are described the various states in which at 
 one time or other, in one place or other, the church 
 has ever appeared from that time to this. And in 
 studying them, we ought not merely to generalize 
 them; but, as component parts of that body of 
 which they speak, of which body Christ is the head, 
 
8 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 we ought individually to bring them home to our 
 own bosoms, and to consider them as addressed 
 personally to us : and our own consciences will tell 
 us where they apply. The first address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS. 
 (ch. ii. v. 1 — 7.) 
 
 " Unto the angel of the church in Ephesus write ; These things 
 saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand,who ualketh 
 in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ; 
 
 " I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how 
 thou canst not bear them which are evil : and thou hast tried them 
 which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them 
 liars : and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake 
 hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 
 
 " Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou 
 hast left thy first love. 
 
 " Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen ; and 
 repent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee 
 quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except 
 thou repent. 
 
 " Hut this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolai- 
 tanes, which I also hate. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
 the churches ; 
 
 " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, 
 which is in the midst of the paradise of God." 
 
 The second address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA. 
 
 (ch. ii. v. 8 — 11.) 
 
 " And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write ; These 
 things saith the First and the Last, which was dead, and is 
 alive ; 
 
 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou 
 
 tt 
 
JOHN TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. ^ 
 
 art rich,) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are 
 Jews, but are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 
 
 " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer : behold, the 
 devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye maybe tried : and 
 ye shall have tribulation ten days : be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
 the churches ; 
 
 " He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." 
 
 The third address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN PERGAMOS. 
 
 (ch. ii. 12—17.) 
 
 " And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write ; These 
 things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges ; 
 
 11 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where 
 Satan's seat is : and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not 
 denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was 
 my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan 
 dwelleth. 
 
 " But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there 
 them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast 
 a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things 
 sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also 
 them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I 
 hate. 
 
 " Repent ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will 
 fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
 the churches ; 
 
 " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hid- 
 den manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone 
 a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that 
 receiveth it." 
 
 B b 
 
10 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The fourth address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA. 
 
 (ch. ii. v. 18—29.) 
 
 " And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write ; These 
 things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame 
 of fire, and his feet are like fine brass ; 
 
 " I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy 
 patience, and thy works ; and the last to be more than the first. 
 
 '* Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because 
 thou sufTerest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a pro- 
 phetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, 
 and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 
 
 " And I gave her space to repent of her fornication ; and she 
 repented not. 
 
 u Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit 
 adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their 
 deeds. 
 
 " And I will kill her children with death ; and all the churches 
 shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts ; 
 ;'.ik1 I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 
 
 " But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as 
 have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of 
 Satan, as they speak ; I will put upon you none other burden. 
 
 " But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. 
 
 " And lie that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, 
 to him will I give power over the nations : (And he shall rule 
 them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they be 
 broken to shivers :) even as I received of my Father. And I will 
 give him the morning star. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches." 
 
 The fifth address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN SARDIS. 
 (ch. iii. v. l — 6.) 
 
 " And unto the angel of the church in Sard is write ; These 
 
JOHN TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 1 1 
 
 things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven 
 stars ; 
 
 ** I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and 
 art dead. 
 
 " Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are 
 ready to die : for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 
 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard ; and hold 
 fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come 
 on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come 
 upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not 
 defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white : for 
 they are worthy. 
 
 . «' He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white 
 raiment ; and 1 will not blot out his name out of the book of life, 
 but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches." 
 
 The sixth address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 (ch. iii. v. 7 — 13.) 
 
 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; 
 These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the 
 key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shut- 
 teth, and no man openeth ; 
 
 " I know thy works : behold, I have set before thee an open 
 door, and no man can shut it : for thou hast a little strength, and 
 hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 
 
 " Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which 
 say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie ; behold, I will make 
 them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have 
 loved thee. 
 
 " Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will 
 keep thee, from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all 
 the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I 
 come quickly : hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take 
 thy crown. 
 
 u Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of 
 
12 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 my God ; and he shall go no more out : and I will write upon him 
 the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which 
 is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my 
 God : and I will write upon him my new name. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
 the churches." 
 
 The seventh and last address is 
 
 TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA. 
 
 (ch. iii. v. 14 — 22.) 
 
 " And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write ; 
 These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the 
 Beginning of the creation of God : 
 
 " I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would 
 thou wert cold or hot. 
 
 " So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, 
 I will spue thee out of my mouth. 
 
 " Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, 
 and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, 
 and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked : 
 
 " I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou 
 mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou raayest be clothed, 
 and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint 
 thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. 
 
 " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten : be zealous there- 
 fore, and repent. 
 
 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man 
 hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and 
 will sup with him, and he with me. 
 
 " To him thatovercometh will I grant to sit with me in my 
 throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father 
 on his throne. 
 
 " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
 the churches." 
 
JOHN TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 13 
 
 These addresses have suggested to my own mind 
 the following considerations : 
 
 1st. That the whole remaining part of the Book 
 of Revelation, and in that the history of the church 
 for the last eighteen hundred years, is but the carry- 
 ing out and development of the principles here so 
 strikingly exhibited ; and that in what remains to 
 be accomplished, they will be exhibited in their 
 highest perfection, both of justice and of mercy ; 
 both in their rewards and punishments ! Hence we 
 see that the same watchful and scrutinizing eye 
 which is here shewn to take such particular knowledge 
 of the internal state of the church, and of the least 
 departure it makes, either in doctrine or practice, from 
 the truth, still watches, and has ever watched, over it 
 with the same sleepless care and the same jealous 
 interest. Yes, it watches over it now. And there 
 are no enemies against which we are here warned ; 
 no conflicts against which we are strengthened ; no 
 encouragements which are given ; no rewards pro- 
 mised ; no consolations afforded ; but what we may 
 all take to ourselves, and ought to take to ourselves — 
 each and individually. 
 
 2nd. The most demonstrable arguments are 
 afforded for the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and the divinity of the Holy Ghost; and that 
 although they are two persons, they are one with 
 God. To this effect we see, that in the preface to 
 each of the addresses, Christ assumes the attri- 
 
14 CHAPTER I. 
 
 butes and prerogatives of Deity, at the same time 
 identifying himself as the Saviour who. died and rose 
 again ; and concluding each with the solemn, most 
 solemn exhortation, to attend to what the Spirit 
 saith unto the churches. 
 
 3d. They most forcibly direct our attention to^the 
 essentials of gospel truth, waiving all those unim- 
 portant distinctions of particular churches in our 
 day which man has made, and which have been and 
 still are, the cause of so many dissensions. The 
 church, as described here, consists of all those, be 
 their minor distinctions what they may, and of only 
 those " who have washed their robes, and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb." Of all those, 
 and those only, who can take up the language of 
 John, and say, " Unto Him that loved us, and washed 
 us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God and the Father, to 
 Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 
 Amen." 
 
 4th. We have, in these addresses most distinctly 
 implied, the glorious expectations of the Church 
 with regard, 1st, to the nations being broken to 
 pieces ; 2nd, to the second coming of the Saviour ; 
 3rd, to the reign of the saints; 4th, to the coming 
 down of the New Jerusalem from heaven ; and 5th, 
 to Christ taking possession of a throne distinct from 
 that on which he now reigns with the Father, (ch. 
 iii. 21). 
 
JOHN TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 
 
 15 
 
 The Apostle was told (ch. i. v. 19) to write those 
 things which he saw, even the things which were 
 then present, and the things which were to be after 
 these, or hereafter. We have touched upon the for- 
 mer, and now proceed to turn our attention to the 
 latter — to those things which are, as being future, 
 to happen " hereafter f and which alone are, strictly 
 speaking, of a more decidedly prophetical character. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 REPRESENTATION OF THE DIVINE 
 GLORY IN HEAVEN, 
 
 AND 
 
 ITS BLESSED INHABITANTS. 
 
 The second division of the Revelation here commences with the things 
 to be" hereafter '' — The symbol of their being unfolded — Scene 
 described to be in Heaven — The Throne of God — The Elders — 
 The Seven Spirits — The living creatures — The Worship uf Hea- 
 ven— The whole taken from Jewish viorship — Similar visions of 
 Isaiah — Ezekiel — The Symbols of the Throne — What the 
 Elders represent — The Lightnings and Thunders — The seven 
 lamps of fire — The sea of glass — The four living creatures 
 considered and explained — The language of their songs of praise 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 REPRESENTATION OF THE DIVINE 
 GLORY IN HEAVEN. 
 
 (ch. iv.) 
 
 " 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.' 
 
 »> 
 
 This begins the second division of the Book, the 
 disclosure of events which were then to come ; and 
 accordingly a new vision is introduced. In the for- 
 mer, the Apostle was not bidden to ascend into hea- 
 ven, because no part of the scene to be transacted 
 was there: the subject of what was then to be made 
 known, concerned the church then in existence, and 
 was not involved in the intricacies of human affairs. 
 
 Accordingly Christ is there exhibited as walking 
 in the midst of the churches, and, both by warnings, 
 threatenings, rewards, promises, and encouragements, 
 guarding its purity. But now that the history of 
 the Church to all future generations commences ; and 
 God is pleased, in giving it, to give it the superior 
 advantage above all human histories, of showing to 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN. 19 
 
 us its connexion and sympathy with the church 
 above, and the hierarchy of heaven ; the apostle is 
 ordered (and ordered by the Lord Jesus Christ, " the 
 first voice which he heard ") to ascend up thither. 
 
 In the highly figurative and expressive language 
 in which the whole of this history is given, a door 
 is said to be opened in heaven. This conveys the 
 idea of all hindrances being removed, and an impor- 
 tant welcome given — and it signifies in this place that 
 such a welcome is given to all the disclosures which 
 are about to be made of the counsels, decrees, and 
 glories of Heaven. 
 
 Faint and cold at the best are the highest ideas we 
 can, while in this world, form of that happy region, 
 of which it is declared, that it consists of" a fulness 
 of joy, and pleasures at God's right hand for ever- 
 more." We must, as the Apostle was, be taken up 
 thither, before we shall be able to realize in any ade- 
 quate degree its superlative blessedness ; for no 
 description however vivid, no representation how- 
 ever glowing, can bring home its glories to our car- 
 nal minds — none at least, even when given by the 
 pen of inspiration, without much of the sanctifying 
 illumination of that Spirit by which they were 
 indited. May such illumination be given whilst we 
 consider the effulgent opening of heaven here pre- 
 sented to our view ; and may we be enabled, at least 
 as far as the Lord permits and intends by this dis- 
 closure, in some faint degree to 
 
 " Pierce within the veil 
 Which hides that, world of light." 
 
20 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The description here given is in the following 
 language : 
 
 1. THE THRONE. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 2. THE ELDERS. 
 
 " 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 lightnings and thunderings and 
 voices : 
 
 3. THE SEVEN SPIRITS. 
 
 " And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, 
 which are the seven Spirits of God. 
 
 4. THE LIVING CREATURES, AND THEIR 
 
 WORSHIP. 
 
 " 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 living creatures, full of eyes before and behind. 
 And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living 
 creature was like a calf, and the third living creature had the face 
 as a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 
 And the four living creatures 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. 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF THE ELDERS. 
 
 " And when these living creatures give glory, and honour, and 
 thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN. 21 
 
 ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sa 
 on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, 
 and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, 
 O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power : for thou hast 
 created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' ' 
 
 ass 
 
 It will better assist us to understand this repre- 
 sentation, as well as the scenery of the whole book, 
 if, in studying it, we bear in mind that the Almighty, 
 in the particulars here given, honours his own word, 
 his own ordinances, and his own institutions, as con- 
 nected with the Jewish dispensation and the Old 
 Testament worship, by bringing them forward as the 
 basis of the greater revelations and discoveries now 
 about to be made. Being addressed to the visible 
 sight, they supplied proper and suitable materials for 
 the platform of these splendid visions ; while the 
 description of heaven and the heavenly world, above 
 given, appears only as exhibiting or carrying out the 
 anti-type of the divinely-ordered Jewish encamp- 
 ment in the wilderness. And, indeed, it may be 
 observed, that in like manner as it is the ordinary 
 way of the prophets to touch upon Jewish matters 
 and history, and refer them for their full significance 
 to the prophecies and histories of the Christian 
 Church ; so does the book of Revelation, in a pre- 
 eminent manner, take the style of the old prophets, 
 their symbols, types, and institutions, and bring 
 them forward for the illustration of the wonderful 
 and splendid history here given. 
 
 To begin with the description given in the above 
 
22 CHAPTER II. 
 
 quotation of the heavenly world, we cannot but be 
 struck with its similarity to the encampment of the 
 children of Israel in their forty yaars' joufneyings, 
 described in Numbers ii. — and with the evident 
 light which the comparison throws upon that re- 
 presentation. For instance, in the very centre of 
 the camp there was that visible token or manifesta- 
 tion of God's immediate presence or glory, and the 
 only one on earth, the Shechinah. This consisted of 
 a cloud, sometimes breaking out into a bright and 
 refulgent flame, resting on the mercy-seat ; answer- 
 ing to its brighter anti-type now exhibited within the 
 opened door of heaven to the view of the apostle, 
 consisting not of a cloud and flame, but of a splendid 
 throne. It was that throne seen by Micaiah,* when 
 he said : " I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and 
 all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right 
 hand and on his left." Also that described by 
 Isaiah in the following sublime language, " I saw 
 also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted 
 up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood 
 the Seraphims : each one had six wings ; with twain 
 he covered his face, and with twain he covered his 
 feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried Unto 
 another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of 
 hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory." 
 
 Besides this mention, there is to be found in the 
 1st of Ezekiel a most magnificent description of this 
 resplendent seat of the Divine Majesty, corresponding 
 
 * 1 Kings xxii. 19. 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN. 23 
 
 ill a most remarkable manner, yet in beautifully 
 diversified language, with that here given. After 
 many particulars from the 4th to the 26th verse, 
 it closes as follows, — and I transcribe it, as I wish to 
 draw a fixed attention to what is so often, in the 
 after-parts of the Revelation, brought forward: 
 " And above the firmament there was, over their 
 heads, the likeness of a throne, as the appearance 
 of a sapphire stone : and upon the likeness of the 
 throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man 
 above upon it. And I saw, as the colour of amber, 
 as the appearance of fire round about within it, from 
 the appearance of his loins even upwards, and from 
 the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw 
 as it were the appearance of fire, and it had bright- 
 ness round about. As the appearance of the bow 
 that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the 
 appearance of the brightness round about. This 
 was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of 
 the Lord." 
 
 In the repesentation before us, no attempt is made 
 to describe the majesty of Him that sat upon the 
 throne — it is merely said that He was to look upon 
 like a jasper, or a sardine stone — that is, of the daz- 
 zling splendour and the ineffable brightness of the 
 most costly, pellucid, transparent stones ; and in 
 this nameless majesty there is something inexpres- 
 sibly grand. It is something resembling that which 
 it is said was seen by Moses and Aaron when they 
 went up into the mountain.* 
 
 * See Exodus xxiv. 10, 17. 
 
24 CHAPTER II. 
 
 It is a striking and encouraging appendage, both 
 as mentioned here and in the above description of 
 Ezekiel, that round the throne was a pledge of 
 mercy : u There was a rainbow round about the 
 throne, " of the colour of living green, " in sight like 
 unto an emerald," or il a brightness round about as 
 the appearance of the bow in the day of rain." 
 
 There were likewise round about this ineffably 
 glorious throne of Jehovah four-and-twenty seats, 
 or, more properly speaking, four-and-twenty other 
 thrones, upon which are represented, seated, four-and- 
 twenty elders with white robes, the emblems of per- 
 fect purity, and with coronets of gold on their heads. 
 These elders appear to be that part of the church 
 redeemed from among men, who have already receiv- 
 ed their reward, and they answer to the four-and- 
 twenty courses of the priests appointed by David to 
 minister among the Jewish people set apart for the 
 service of the temple ; and likewise to the camp of 
 the Levites, which in the wilderness surrounded the 
 Tabernacle. For it appears very evident that there 
 is a part of the ransomed church who have thus 
 received their reward. The very circumstance of their 
 being described in a bodily form, and seen with 
 honours bestowed upon them, shews that they are 
 intended to represent something more than separate 
 spirits. 
 
 The question therefore arises, is there anything 
 in Scripture to countenance such an idea, that any 
 part of the righteous are now in the presence of God 
 in such a state ? In the first place, I would notice, 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN.} 25 
 
 that, as in the case of Enoch and Elijah, at 
 least some must be in heaven in their bodily forms. 
 In the second, that, on the great occasion of the death 
 of our Lord, " the graves were opened, and many 
 of the bodies of the saints," which slept, arose, 
 and came out of the graves after his resurrection, 
 and went into the holy city, and appeared unto 
 many."* 
 
 In the third place, in the description of the city of 
 the living God given by Paul in the Hebrews, a 
 distinction is made between the "general assembly 
 and the church of the first born which are written 
 in heaven," and the " spirits of just men made 
 perfect;" and these latter, I consider, are those 
 who rose at the crucifixion, and are what I con- 
 ceive are represented " by the elders." Their num- 
 bers we can have no idea of; but most probably they 
 consist of those who had been most eminently useful 
 and faithful in their day and generation, and had 
 borne the heat and burden of the day. And this 
 interpretation of the meaning of the elders, appears 
 to my mind the more probable, from the circum- 
 stance of their not being introduced either in the 
 visions of Isaiah or Ezekiel ; nor is there anything at 
 all resembling them, or that can answer to them. 
 And the reason is obvious : there were then no spi- 
 rits of just men made perfect in heaven — the resur- 
 rection at the time of the Saviour's crucifixion not 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. 52, 53. 
 
 c 
 
26 CHAPTER II. 
 
 having taken place ; and there having been no pre- 
 vious resurrection, there was no part of the saved 
 church for the four and twenty elders, therefore, to 
 represent. But after that great event, the case was 
 different; many of the spirits of the just were 
 " made perfect," that is, their bodies and souls were 
 united, and therefore formed a separate and distinct 
 class of heavenly inhabitants. 
 
 The lightnings, and thunderings, and voices, which 
 proceeded out of the throne, bring us to the transac- 
 tions of Sinai, and to the transcript of the mind and 
 will of God, as there made known in the promulga- 
 tion of the moral law ; and appear to say, that whilst 
 there is a bow of mercy around the throne, in virtue 
 of the covenant of grace, there is at the same 
 time vengeance and wrath to the wicked, and to 
 every transgressor of that law. 
 
 The seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, 
 said to be the seven spirits of God, and which are 
 referred to in ch. i. v. 4, evidently appear to repre- 
 sent the Holy Trinity, and answer to the golden 
 candlestick with seven branches, which was before 
 the most holy place. 
 
 The sea of glass before the throne, clear and trans- 
 parent as crystal, is in allusion to the molten sea of 
 brass used for the purification of the priests; and 
 appears to signify, that, in opposition to a thick and 
 troubled sea, u whose waters cast up mire and dirt," 
 heaven is a place of settled peace. Perhaps the idea 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN. 27 
 
 is correctly conveyed in the following beautiful lines 
 
 of Watts: — 
 
 " There shall I bathe my weary soul 
 In seas of heavenly rest; 
 And not a wave of trouble roll 
 Across my peaceful breast." 
 
 Beyond all these in the Jewish encampment, and 
 enclosing the tabernacle, consisting of the glory of 
 God, the priests, the candlestick, and the molten 
 sea, was the whole bjdj/ of the people, the twelve 
 tribes, disposed under four large battalions or armies, 
 and each under one general standard of the four 
 principal tribes, forming a square. The standard of 
 Judah was on the east side ; that of Ephraim on 
 the west ; Reuben on the south ; and that of Dan 
 on the north : and each of these standards had a 
 tribe on the right and the left; thus completing the 
 twelve tribes, and taking in the whole number of the 
 people, the whole of the visible church. 
 
 We might expect, therefore, to find the analogy 
 in the description of the heavenly world continued, 
 and this whole body of the people represented in 
 heaven. Accordingly, what St. Paul styles u the 
 general assembly and church of the first-born/' — 
 those not yet "made perfect" as distinct from the 
 elders, or those who are made perfect, that is, the re- 
 deemed myriads of yet disembodied spirits — are 
 represented as " four living creatures full of eyes before 
 and behind, in the midst of the throne, and 
 round about the throne/' 
 
 c 2 
 
28 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 It is very evident that the description given in 
 Isaiah and in Ezekiel, and the one in this place, are 
 all "derived from the same original; and that 
 whatever may seem to be the difference between the 
 Seraphim of Isaiah, and the Cherubim of Ezekiel, it 
 is here reconciled by their being brought into com- 
 parison with a third common measure, namely, the 
 ( living creatures ' of St. John's vision." 
 
 The original term is very improperly, in our Bible, 
 translated u beasts." A beast is inferior, and 
 throughout the whole of the prophetic scriptures 
 represents masses of human beings acting below the 
 dignity of their nature ; whereas these living creatures 
 are far superior in intelligence to man, and perfectly 
 holy. The difficulty must be great, of representing 
 under a simile, to our conceptions, the spirits of the 
 justin heaven, in their disembodied state ; and Eze- 
 kiel intimates this difficulty of expressing it by 
 similitudes taken from earthly things, by saying, " as 
 it were the likeness of four living creatures." 
 
 In both prophets we see the resemblance to the 
 same animals ; but in Ezekiel each " living creature H 
 appears to have the four likenesses in itself, and 
 together therewith a general resemblance to the 
 human form — that is, that dignified appearance 
 which distinguishes man from other animals, result- 
 ing from his superior intelligence. It is here said, 
 that they were respectively like a lion, an ox, the 
 face of a man, and a flying eagle, each chief of its 
 class, signifying the strength, power, and vigour ; 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN. 29 
 
 the usefulness, industry, and labour ; the reason and 
 quick-sightedness, with which they serve, obey, and 
 worship God. 
 
 From both visions, it appears that no part of 
 these beings was without that wonderful part of ani- 
 mal creation, eyes — the inlets of knowledge and 
 intelligence, expressible of the infinite superiority of 
 their understanding to anything known or expe- 
 rienced in this world, and perfectly agreeing with 
 other parts of Scripture which represent the perfec- 
 tion of knowledge in heaven. 
 
 Their position, likewise, before the throne, is 
 agreeable to what is related of that of the righteous 
 dead : " absent from the body, present ivith the 
 Lord." They are here described as "in the midst of 
 the throne and round about the throne,' 5 as if their 
 situation could not be exactly fixed. Ezekiel 
 likewise says, " in the midst ;" but at the same time 
 expresses the uncertainty of their position by these 
 words, "They ran and returned as the appearance 
 of a flash of lightning;" both, however, expressly 
 implying, that it is as near the throne of God as it 
 can be ! What they mean, however, in one vision, 
 they mean in the other, and represent in a lively 
 manner the high honour, the blaze of intelligence, 
 the superlatively exalted qualities, the unbounded 
 range, and the delightful employment of every indi- 
 vidually saved sinner; thus forming the "general 
 assembly of the church of the first-born, whose names 
 are written in heaven," and who never-ceasingly cry 
 
30 CHAPTER II. 
 
 lc Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, 
 which is, and which is to come." 
 
 The rest of the chapter cannot be better told than 
 byrepeating the language of the inspired writer. " And 
 when the living creatures" — or the "general assembly 
 of the church of the first born" — thus lC give glory, and 
 honour, and thanks" — to the Lord God Almighty; 
 H to Him that sitteth on the throne, and liveth for 
 ever and ever ;" — while they are thus employed, u the 
 four and twenty elders, the spirits of just men made 
 perfect," fall down before Him that sitteth on the 
 throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and 
 ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
 M Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive the glory, and 
 the honour, and the power; for thou hast created all 
 things, and for thy pleasure they are and were 
 created." 
 
 I would here only make one further observation, 
 and that is, that the above interpretation, with 
 regard to the elders and four living creatures, consti- 
 tuting the redeemed church in heaven, appears 
 confirmed by the language they use in the song of 
 praise given in the succeeding chapter, and which 
 it seems impossible they could otherwise employ. In 
 ch. v. ver. 8, it is said "that the four living creatures, 
 and the 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 the 
 saints. And they sung a new song," — not merely 
 praising God for his perfections and for creation, as 
 
DIVINE GLORY IN HEAVEN. 31 
 
 in the above description, but they praise him for 
 redemption, and for redeeming them — " And they 
 sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take 
 the Book, and to loose 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 God, kings, 
 and priests : and we shall reign on the earth" 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE 
 
 EXALTATION OF CHRIST IN HEAVEN; 
 
 THE COMMITTAL OF THE 
 
 CHURCH'S CONCERNS INTO HIS HANDS ; 
 
 AND THE 
 
 WORSHIP PAID TO HIM BY ITS BLESSED 
 
 INHABITANTS. 
 
 Symbol of the Book — A master symbol — Its seven seals — Their 
 general meaning — Form of the books of the ancients — Impor- 
 tance of the contents of the seven-sealed book — Coming forward 
 of Christ as the slain Lamb — In what sense he opens the seals — 
 Extent of time they represent — The study of them important — 
 Worship of the living creatures — The prayers of the Saints — New 
 Song of heaven — Future honour of the Saints — Song of the 
 Angels — And of the whole Creation — Divinity of Christ. 
 
 c 5 
 
34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE 
 
 EXALTATION OF CHRIST; 
 
 AND 
 
 THE WORSHIP PAID TO HIM. 
 
 The Apostle having represented the throne and 
 majesty of the Lord God Almighty to our view ; and 
 having described that that throne was encircled by 
 the redeemed church, consisting both of the bodied 
 and disembodied spirits of just men, he goes on to 
 say,— 
 
 tl I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book writ- 
 ten within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." (v. 1 .) 
 
 The mention of a book in the right hand of God, 
 seated on his throne in heaven, implies that such a 
 symbol must be understood as intended to convey to 
 our minds a register, wherein things are written of 
 God's counsels and purposes, respecting what was to 
 ° happen hereafter/' At the same time it is very evi- 
 dent, from the subsequent predictions in the Reveltr- 
 tion, that, as a symbol, it is highly significant; not 
 referring to an indiscriminate relation of events, or to 
 a literal book ; but having relation to a certain class of 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 35 
 
 events — and, from the position in which it stands, and 
 the circumstances that surround it, to the most supe- 
 rior class or series of events, and those of a character 
 to which this symbol has a reference. It contains, in 
 fact, the ground work of Church history under the 
 Christian dispensation ; and stands exactly in the 
 same relation to the fourth or Roman kingdom indi- 
 vidually, as the vision of the great image of Daniel* 
 did to the four kingdoms collectively ; that is, it con- 
 tains the first great lesson of modern history, and 
 that in which all the events of the last eighteen hun- 
 dred years are involved. 
 
 I consider, therefore, that, in like manner as the 
 vision of the great image laid the platform, or the 
 grand outline of Gentile idolatrous history in the 
 four successive kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, 
 and Rome ; so does the writing of this book give the 
 great outline of the entire remaining history of the 
 remaining part of the last or fourth kingdom, begin- 
 ing from the time in which these splendid visions 
 were given to John, in the reign of the emperor 
 Trajan, near the end of the first century. What we 
 have to do, therefore, is to refer to the Astronomical 
 Canon of Ptolemy , given at the end of " the Disserta- 
 tion of the Prophecies of the Old Testament ;" and its 
 continuation, and we shall there see the names of all 
 the successive emperors from that time to the present. 
 It is the history of their reigns, therefore, with all 
 the mighty events and changes that have revolved 
 
 • See p. 176, Dis. 
 
36 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 with them, as what was to " happen hereafter," and 
 what was promised to be revealed to the Apostle, 
 that we may naturally suppose was intended to be 
 represented by the contents of this book. 
 
 By the seven seals with which it is said to be 
 sealed, are to be understood the distinct and most 
 important eras or portions of time in which, during 
 this long period, these successive reigns were divided 
 or distinctly marked, forming new orders of things. 
 Their being all homogeneous, or similar in their 
 nature, renders it necessary that the government 
 should continue the same, and not signify, like the 
 changes of the great image, changes of monarchy. 
 And this idea clearly explains to my mind, that this 
 master-symbol, of a book sealed with seven seals, 
 signifies that the general historical record of the 
 Roman empire, running through the entire number 
 of its numerous successive emperors, was to expe- 
 rience seven most decided and complete changes, 
 each of which should give new habits of thought, 
 alter the complexion of affairs, and form new and 
 distinct eras of time. And it will appear, as we 
 proceed, that six out of the seven of such successive 
 changes, have already passed ; and that the reigns 
 thus prominently standing forward, are most aptly 
 and significantly designated as being brought out by 
 events and instruments within the empire itself; by 
 the opening of seals — that is, events having the 
 stamp of legitimate authority — the seals of empire ; 
 and not, like the next series of events, by extrinsic 
 causes, without the bounds of the empire. 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 37 
 
 They are generally supposed to signify secrecy ; 
 but this is considering them to have a literal, not a 
 symbolical signification ; and it is indispensably 
 necessary to a right interpretation of the whole of 
 this book, to keep this in mind, and not to sink the 
 professed symbols. Besides which, this supposition 
 takes away all the point of this otherwise striking 
 symbol ; for there is in reality as much secrecy in 
 the sounding of the trumpets, and the pouring out of 
 the vials, as there is in the opening of the seals. If 
 this, indeed, be the meaning they have, it may be 
 said of all the different classes of events, that one is 
 sealed as much as the other, and the name would be 
 as appropriate to the one as the other. The more digni- 
 fied and just interpretation therefore appears to me, 
 to consider the opening of the respective seals as the 
 unfolding of new orders of things, having the 
 confirmation of what we understand by the Great 
 Seal of the empire. Considered as such, they are 
 inexpressibly majestic and sublime in the events to 
 which they refer, and in the most affecting and 
 touching manner pourtray the varied hue and 
 complexion which the state of society has so sadly 
 exhibited during this long period. Thus considered, 
 they have likewise an importance attached to them, 
 corresponding to that which it might naturally be 
 supposed must be the case, from the book being said 
 to be seen in the right hand of the Most High, from 
 no one being found worthy to open the seals thereof 
 ut the Saviour himself, as well as from the over- 
 whelming solemnity of the whole scene. 
 
38 CHAPTER III. 
 
 With regard to the peculiar form of this book, 
 those of the ancients are said to have been generally 
 skins of parchment, rolled up and sealed on the 
 back side. In this case, therefore, of the book hav- 
 ing seven seals, it is considered, and most probably 
 correctly, that seven successive volumes were thus 
 rolled over each other, and each of them sealed ; 
 and that it is these u seals " which were seen by 
 the Apostle to be successively opened — symbolizing 
 the seven greatest revolving wheels of providence, 
 that have carried in their tremendous whirl " the 
 fates and fortunes of the church of Christ/' in its 
 connection with the last of the four great empires of 
 Daniel, from that time to the whole remaining period 
 of its existence on earth. 
 
 This last consideration — viz., that the seven-sealed 
 book contained the great outlines of the history of 
 the Christian Church, distinguishing, according to 
 the learned Vitringer, the seven greater events or 
 important changes which were to befall it, even to 
 the end of the Christian dispensation — enables us 
 more clearly to understand the why and wherefore of 
 what follows ; and more clearly to appreciate the 
 beautiful, and to us most deeply interesting, adap- 
 tation of character and circumstances to the design 
 of the whole vision. 
 
 " 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, nor under the earth, was able 
 to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, 
 because no one was found worthy to open the book, neither to look 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 39 
 
 thereon. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not : behold 
 the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to 
 open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." (v. 2 — 5.) 
 
 Here I would draw attention to the circumstance, 
 that it is one of the elders, one of the risen saints, of 
 the spirits of just men made perfect, that is thus made 
 to afford this consolation. I would observe, likewise, 
 before proceeding, that there can be no mistake as to 
 who is intended by u the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 
 the root of David," as it can only refer to Christ, 
 who was of the tribe of Judah ; and likewise, as God, 
 who was the root, although he was likewise, as man, 
 the offspring of David. Therefore, in reading of Him 
 in the next verse, in the character of a slain Lamb — 
 that is, that it is in the character of our great atoning 
 sacrifice, that he takes the book, and opens the seven 
 seals thereof — we understand, that whilst, as the Lion 
 of the tribe of Judah, he is king — whilst, as the root of 
 David, he is a divine person — yet it is in the character 
 that most endears him to us, that he was worthy, and 
 that he prevailed, not merely to disclose, but to 
 foresee and govern, the course of this prophecy into 
 events. For this it must be that is signified by no 
 one but Christ being found worthy to take the book 
 and to open the seals ; that is, as doing something 
 which could not be deputed either to angels or to 
 men. In almost every other instance, as far as the 
 mere revealing of God^s decrees is concerned, it 
 has been committed to his servants the prophets ; 
 and even it may be observed, that such is really the 
 case here, for, unquestionably, the whole contents of 
 
40 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 the Revelation, et he sent and signified it by his angel 
 unto his servant John." By Christ therefore opening 
 the seals, we ought assuredly to understand, not that 
 he disclosed to view what they contain, but that He 
 brings to pass the events which they represent. To 
 this effect Watts speaks in the following lines : 
 
 u Eternal Father, who shall look 
 Into thy secret will ? 
 "Who but the Son shall take that book, 
 And open every seal ? 
 
 IlE SHALL FULFIL THY GREAT DECREES, 
 
 The Son deserves it well; 
 Lo, in his hand the sovereign keys 
 Of heaven, and death, and hell !'' 
 
 All this is thus expressed by the Apostle: 
 
 " And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the 
 four living creatures, 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 living crea- 
 tures, and the 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 the 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 God kings 
 and priests : and we shall reign on the earth." (v. 6 — 10.) 
 
 In all this there must be an express and intense 
 significancy : that God the Father should deliver up 
 to Christ the immediate agency of the events 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. YvXTV 4 ! 
 
 / j 
 
 decreed in the writings of this book ; and that 
 the character of the slain Lamb — of our atoning^ 
 sacrifice ; and that He should thus deliver only the 
 events of this u book," proves, in the first place, that 
 it contains events that must concern his church as 
 long as that church exists on earth, and not merely 
 extend, as they are generally considered, only over 
 the three first centuries ; for it cannot be supposed, 
 that what He thus held in his right hand, and what 
 was thus solemnly delivered to Christ, could only 
 concern a sixth portion of the period of the Chris- 
 tian era — a portion, in the course of which no change 
 marking a prophetical period was apparent. In the 
 second place, this shows the deep concern which 
 God has in all the concerns of His church ; and it 
 affords the deepest condemnation to the infidelity of 
 the present age on the one hand, and to the indiffe- 
 rence of His professing people on the other. 
 
 In the commission first given to the Apostle, he 
 was ordered to write the things which he saw, even 
 the things which were present; and likewise the 
 
 THINGS WHICH WERE TO BE HEREAFTER.* 
 
 After the things present were disposed of, the same 
 voice, " the first voice which he heard," then called 
 .him up to heaven, and said, " Come up hither, and I 
 will shew you the things which must be hereafter f 
 and now, in a series of the most splendid visions, 
 these future things are embodied in the contents of 
 the symbol of the book, represented to be in the 
 
 * Ch.i. v. 19. 
 
42 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 right hand of the Lord God Almighty — a book 
 which, in the presence of the whole assembled inha" 
 bitants of heaven, is taken by Christ, as being alone 
 worthy to have possession thereof, and to open its 
 seven seals. "The things which were to be here- 
 after/' are therefore assuredly involved in its contents ; 
 and hence I think we may with certainty infer, that, 
 unsatisfactory as in general the interpretation has 
 been, there is to be derived from their study, lessons 
 and information of unutterable importance — particu- 
 larly to us who are living so near their close, when 
 the evidence becomes so much stronger, and the 
 events so much more striking and marvellous. 
 
 The importance of the events embodied in the 
 seven-sealed book is infinitely exalted by what 
 immediately transpired on Jesus Christ, the all- 
 atoning Lamb, taking it from the right hand of 
 "Him that sat upon the throne/' In the first 
 instance, it is said, the entire company of disembo- 
 died spirits, "the general assembly of the church of 
 the first-born in heaven;" and with them the risen 
 saints, " the spirits of just men made perfect/' in 
 humble adoration prostrated themselves i6 before the 
 Lamb ; having every one of them harps, and golden 
 vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the 
 saints." From this latter expression, it would appear 
 that there is a much greater connection, and a deeper 
 interest existing, between 
 
 M The saints on earth, and all the dead," 
 than is generally supposed ; the prayers which they 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 43 
 
 offer to God the Father, through the merits and 
 intercession of Christ, being represented as sweet 
 odours in golden vials in the hands of the whole 
 redeemed Church, From this being told us, it would 
 likewise appear, that the church triumphant must 
 of necessity be intimately acquainted with what is 
 going forward in the church militant ; and that the 
 vial which hides the eternal world from our view, is 
 in reality very thin : and the reflection is most pleas- 
 ing. It likewise shews us in what light God regards 
 the prayers of his saints ; and how very precious 
 they must be in his sight, thus to be offered with the 
 adoration of the heavenly world, to " Him who loved 
 us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. " 
 
 Further — on the fulfilment of the divine decrees 
 being thus committed to Christ, they again, ''having 
 every one of them harps," raise their harmonious 
 voices in the accents of praise. But their song was 
 not, according to the language used, as related in 
 the last chapter, directed to God the Father, in cele- 
 bration of His glorious perfections, and His wonders 
 in the works of creation. They sung a new song ! — a 
 song in praise of the Son, saying, "Thou art worthy 
 to take the book, and open the seals thereof; for 
 thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God/' (thus, 
 according to an observation previously made, identi- 
 fying themselves as the ransomed church), " by thy 
 blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
 and nation." 
 
 They then express the degree of honour to which 
 
44 CHAPTER III. 
 
 they are already exalted: "And hast made us unto 
 our God, Kings and Priests ;" that is, the whole 
 of the church now in heaven, the whole of the 
 righteous dead, are possessed of this high dis- 
 tinction — this is their present state. 
 
 They finish their song, however, with celebrating 
 the still higher destiny that awaits them ; a destiny 
 which we are fully prepared to expect is in reserve 
 for all the Lord's people, from what is promised in 
 Daniel. There, after a description is given of the 
 four great successive kingdoms which were to appear 
 in the world, the announcement is made that " the 
 saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and 
 possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." 
 And again it is added, that " the kingdom and domi- 
 nion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
 whole heaven, shall 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."* 
 Accordingly, in anticipation of this happy state of 
 things, and in confirmation of this glorious promise, 
 the church in heaven, whilst they are extolling the 
 praises of their Saviour, exultingly exclaim, "And 
 we shall reign on the earth." And it is another 
 proof that both the four and twenty elders, and the 
 four living creatures, represent the saints in glory ; 
 for it is language that we have no authority whatever 
 in any part of the Bible to say could be used by 
 angels, or by any but the saved of Adam's race. 
 
 * See Diss. p. 265—270. 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 45 
 
 After this distinct and rapturous adoration of the 
 church, the Apostle says : 
 
 " And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
 about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders ; and the 
 number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thou- 
 sands of thousands, 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." (v. 11 — 12.) 
 
 Here there are specially worthy of notice the per- 
 sons who, for the first time, are now brought upon 
 the scene, the Angels; their position, surrounding 
 on every side the throne of God, and his redeemed 
 church: their very great numbers; which are ex- 
 pressed (Heb. xii. 22,) as "an innumerable company 
 of angels;" or as Milton expresses it, "numbers 
 without number ;" ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 and thousands of thousands: lastly, their song! 
 u Worthy is the Lamb that was slain f but they do 
 not, they cannot add, with the church, who hast 
 redeemed us, 
 
 I can imagine nothing within the scope of lan- 
 guage that can come up to the sublimity of the scene 
 which is here so simply, yet so forcibly represented ; 
 but it is not yet completed. It is not sufficient that 
 both portions of the redeemed church in glory, and that 
 the countless number of angels, should all conspire 
 in the blessed work of praising the Lamb that was 
 slain — the whole creation, under the four-fold 
 division, in which it is frequently enumerated by the 
 sacred writers, again reverberate the glorious theme. 
 
46 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, 
 and under the earih, and such as are in the sea, and are 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." (v. 13.) 
 
 This manner of expressing the whole creation, is 
 found, for instance, twice in the second command- 
 ment ;* and in Philippians ii. it is used in exactly 
 the same connection as in this place ; that is, in the 
 universal worship of Christ as God. As it is a strik- 
 ing passage, and sheds its light upon the one before 
 us, I will transcribe it. " Let this same mind be in 
 you, which was also in Christ Jesus : who, being in 
 the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
 with God, but made himself of no reputation, and 
 took upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
 in the likeness of man : and being found in fashion 
 as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore 
 God also hath highly exalted Jiim, and given him a 
 name that is above every name. That at the name 
 of Jesus every knee should boiv, of things in 
 
 I1KAVEN, AND THINGS IN EARTH, AND THINGS 
 
 under the earth. And that every tongue should 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father ." (ver. 5— 11.) 
 
 The whole of the chapter under consideration, 
 affords the finest commentary on these words that it 
 is possible to conceive. Here we see the manifesta- 
 tion of Christ's exaltation ; of the infinite superiority 
 
 # 
 
 • Ex. xx. 4 — 11. 
 
EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 47 
 
 of his great name above every name; and that at 
 His name every knee does bow, " to the glory of God 
 the Father," saying, " Blessing, and honour, and 
 glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 
 
 What follows, and indeed concludes this splendid 
 exhibition, affords additional proof of the high consi- 
 deration and devotion of the church in heaven. 
 
 "And the four living creatures said Amen: and the four and 
 twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever 
 and ever." (v. 14.) 
 
 In conclusion, I would observe, that there is no 
 part of the Word of God, clear as it frequently is on 
 this point, that more decidedly proves the Godhead of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, than this manifestation of his 
 glory in the worship ofall the hosts of heaven. For 
 jealous as the Lord God hath declared himself of his 
 honour in this respect, it is impossible that such 
 adoration could have been permitted to any but to a 
 divine person ; ie to Him that is my fellow, saith the 
 Lord." And the very particular mention of the 
 whole race of created beings, without one exception — 
 ■* every creature which is in heaven, and on the 
 earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
 them," — precludes the possibility of Him being a 
 created Being to whom this universal worship is 
 paid. Besides which, he is mentioned as invested 
 with the attributes of Deity, having, as the slain 
 Lamb, seven horns, indicative of His almighty and 
 
48 CHAPTER III. 
 
 irresistible power, and seven eyes, indicative of His 
 omnipresence. Therefore, let the church on earth 
 join with that in heaven, and likewise say " Amen, 
 Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto 
 Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb, for ever and ever;" and among that number 
 my soul too would join and say, Amen. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FOUR FIRST SEALS; 
 
 SHEWING THE 
 
 GRADUAL PROGRESS OF THE FRIGHTFUL APOSTACY 
 OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Opening of the First Seal — A very remarkable Era — Concern of 
 the Church above respecting it — Its symbols and their meaning — 
 Emperor Constantine and the triumph of Christianity over 
 Paganism — Pagan persecutions — Apostate Julian — Opening of 
 Second Seal — Meaning of the Symbols — Paganism destroyed by 
 Theodosius — His character — The Church's fierce divisions and 
 slaughter — Opening of the Third Seal — Emperor Justinian — 
 His great actions and their lamentable influence on the Church — 
 Its gross Darkness — Preservation of the Bible incorrupt — 
 Opening of the Fourth Seal — The Church in a state of utter cor- 
 ruption — Charlemagne — Important era he formed — Confined 
 to the Latin nations — Great misery of this period. 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE FOUR FIRST SEALS; 
 
 8HEWING THE 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH'S FRIGHTFUL APOSTACY. 
 
 Without further ceremony the process of opening 
 the respective Seals is now commenced ; and the 
 mighty course of God's providence, in the aspect and 
 complexion which his church was to assume during 
 the whole period of its militant state, until its safe 
 and triumphant translation to glory, is, in rich, 
 varied, and most significant emblems, thereby un- 
 folded to our view. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE FIRST SEAL ; 
 
 Or the External Triumph of the Church, 
 
 " And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals ; 
 and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living 
 creatures saying, Come and see. 
 
 " And 1 saw, and lo ! a white horse ; and he that sat upon him 
 had a bow j and a crown was given unto him : and he went forth 
 conquering, and to conquer." (vi. 1, 2.) 
 
 The import of these symbols appears to be, that 
 they represent — 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 61 
 
 1. An era eminently attracting the notice of 
 the world ; for the Apostle was called to " come 
 and see," in a voice of thunder ; implying that 
 the event to which it referred should be one of 
 the most superlatively surprising kind : much more 
 so than any of the succeeding ones ; for it is to be 
 observed, that it is only this of all the seven seals 
 that was thus uttered with this loud voice. We are 
 to understand, therefore, that it applies to some most 
 remarkable change — sudden, decisive, complete, and 
 unexpected. 
 
 2. This voice of thunder is said, moreover, to 
 proceed from one of the four living creatures, which, 
 according to the explanation previously given, signi- 
 fies, that it proceeds from a portion of the general 
 assembly of the church, whose names are written in 
 heaven ; implying thereby that it has reference to 
 concerns in which the church of Christ is essentially 
 interested. 
 
 3. These great and surprising concerns are com- 
 pared to a horseman or warrior cominc forth rid mo- 
 ts o 
 
 on a horse of a white colour, emblematical of purity ; 
 armed with a bow, expressive of the strongest and 
 most complete armour, according as it is said of 
 Joseph, " his bow abode in strength ;" and adorned 
 with a crown or coronet, the reward of victory, of 
 which indeed the whole scene is highly significant. 
 And to this effect it is added, that "he went forth 
 conquering, and to conquer," or re-conquering; by 
 which it seems to convey the idea that the conquest 
 shall in a marked manner be revived. 
 
 d2 
 
52 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 From these explanations the whole appears to 
 shadow forth some great conquest of the church in 
 the person and by the exploits of a great warrior, or 
 the ruling power of the world over its enemies. 
 
 We must now therefore come to history ; and in 
 doing so, we do indeed find that the first great and 
 most surprising change after the Apostle's time that 
 happened in the church's affairs, a change that 
 altered the complexion of the world, was indeed one 
 that corresponds in all respects with this striking 
 imagery. That change was, the triumph over Pa- 
 ganism by the Emperor Constantine ! The particu- 
 lars of this great event are too well known to make 
 it necessary to enter into them in this place. It may 
 be briefly observed, that it was one that pre-eminently 
 stood forward as of surpassing interest to the church, 
 and was productive of the greatest and most import- 
 ant change it ever experienced. It found Chris- 
 tianity, however sullied it might have been in 
 externals, pure at the vitals, and still shining with a 
 brightness in all the essentials of godliness, of which 
 not a brief description can give an adequate idea — 
 hence the colour of whiteness is applied to the symbo 
 of the horse. 
 
 It was an event which, in energy and vigour, in 
 the manifest and unexpected strokes of an evident 
 Divine interposition, was as striking as any of those 
 which on former occasions had produced changes of 
 empire ; and the instrument which God used for its 
 accomplishment, was well armed and qualified for 
 the conflict. Iu the numerous battles which Con- 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 53 
 
 stantine fought as the champion for Christianity 
 professedly against Paganism (for it was in tbe Sign 
 of the Cross that he conquered :) he had indeed " a 
 bow" which abode in strength — and he had " a 
 crown," the reward of victory, given to him. Thus 
 the event answered to the prediction ; and I know of 
 no other in the wide extent of church history that 
 will answer to it. No change in the general aspect 
 of its affairs had previously taken place — nothing 
 whatever that had the characters of a prophetical 
 era. The whole of the Roman emperors up to this 
 period, had been high-priests and worshippers of the 
 fabulous gods of the heathen world. In this number 
 it may be noticed, after Trajan (by whom the Apostle 
 was banished to Patmos) were Antoninus, Decius, 
 and other names which are notorious as being perse- 
 cutors of the Christians. Under the reigns of such 
 men as these, the church had existed with little 
 variation in her general aspect or external circum- 
 stances, struggling almost for her very existence. 
 And this was more particularly the case immediately 
 before this great deliverance was granted, or the 
 systematically conducted assaults against its very 
 being by Dioclesian, when the battle between the 
 powers of heaven and hell appears to have been the 
 hottest ; and so hot, that to human appearance the 
 issue almost appeared dubious. 
 
 It was at this moment of extremity that Constan- 
 tine was raised up, and it was by him that this 
 prediction was accomplished in the complete con- 
 quests which God gave him over all his Pagan 
 
54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 competitors. The external glory which from hence- 
 forward surrounded the church is well likened to a 
 bow and a crown : for from this time those who 
 professed the Christian name, instead of being perse- 
 cuted and trampled upon, were protected by the laws ; 
 instead of their lives, liberty, and property being per- 
 petually exposed to violence, and hanging in jeopardy 
 and suspense, they were placed on an equal footing 
 with the Pagans, and enjoyed honour, peace, and 
 security. Magnificent churches began every where 
 to be erected, riches to flow in upon them, and such 
 universal signs of prosperity to be enjoyed, that the 
 change was as complete as it was lasting. 
 
 In this application of the prophecy, I am not called 
 upon to detract fiom this honour and glory by the 
 consideration of its lamentable deteriorating effects — 
 these will be immediately considered. It is brought 
 forward in this place, as shewing the exact character 
 of the first great change of aspect which the church 
 was to experience — its agreement to the letter with 
 historical facts — and its consequent close fulfilment 
 of the prophecy. 
 
 But it is not only said to go on conquering, but to 
 conquer. Two periods are here designated. The 
 former we have above considered ; the latter seems to 
 allude to the desperate, tremendous, deeply-concerted, 
 and well-conducted attempt of the Emperor Julian, 
 the nephew of Constantine, to replace idolatry, and 
 restore the expiring cause of Paganism. He did all 
 that zeal and ability could do, during the two short 
 years which Providence permitted him to rule over 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 55 
 
 the Roman world ; and it seems difficult to imagine, 
 had a much longer reign been allowed him, how any- 
 thing but success could have attended his measures, 
 and Paganism again become the religion of the 
 empire. But this word stopped his further progress 
 — the cause of Christianity was to go on conquering, 
 and to conquer, and therefore it did conquer ; and 
 the apostate himself, in his mortal agony, confessed it. 
 " O thou Galilean," he exclaimed, writhing under a 
 deadly wound, with his hand filled with blood, and 
 casting it into the air, "thou hast conquered ! " 
 
 OPENING OF THE SECOND SEAL; 
 
 Or the Church in a state of fiery Division and Discord. 
 
 " And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second 
 living creature say, Come and see. And there went forth 
 another horse that was red : and power was given to him that sat 
 thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one 
 another : and there was given unto him a great sword." (vi. 3, 4.) 
 
 • 
 
 Keeping in remembrance that u a man on horse- 
 back, exhibited in divine vision, denotes the going 
 forth of some power in military array divinely com- 
 missioned to effect changes upon the^ earth ; and that 
 the character of the change is expressed by the colour 
 of the horse ;"* and that the white horse denoted the 
 considerable degree of real purity at that time in the 
 
 * Dean Woodhouse. 
 
56 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 church, we hence infer that the red, or fire-coloured, 
 denotes the church in a state of war or slaughter, 
 angry, intolerant, and persecuting. And this state 
 of murderous animosity is still more clearly expressed, 
 by its being said that the effect of this change would 
 be to tC take peace from the earth, and they should 
 kill one another ;" and by the symbol of a " great 
 sword." The omission of its being notified to the 
 Apostle in a voice of thunder, shows that this change, 
 although equally real, would be less apparent, and 
 brought about in a more quiet way than the first 
 great change from Paganism to Christianity. 
 
 We now again come to facts. It was but sixty or 
 seventy years after the Revolution, symbolized by the 
 first seal, that the great Theodosius was raised up to 
 give the last blow to the idolatry of Paganism. He 
 found it still the religion of the Senate ; — the title, 
 ensigns, and prerogatives of the sovereign pontiff, 
 which had been instituted by Numa, and assumed by 
 Augustus, had been accepted, inconsistent as it 
 appears, by the preceding Christian emperors ; — 
 statues of the gods were still exposed to public 
 adoration, and four hundred temples still remained 
 open, and the fumes of idolatrous sacrifices were still 
 tolerated. Under these circumstances, Theodosius, 
 in a full meeting of the Senate, solemnly proposed 
 the question, whether the worship of Christ, or that 
 of Jupiter, should be the religion of the Romans? 
 The issue of the appeal was, that the latter was 
 degraded and condemned by a large majority ; and 
 from this moment Christianity became the religion of 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 57 
 
 the empire, as it had previously been that of the 
 emperor. The heathen temples were therefore de- 
 molished ; it was made a capital crime to sacrifice, or 
 to attend to Pagan rites ; and by the most severe 
 and indeed sanguinary edicts, the whole system of 
 the heathen mythology, which had been the boast 
 and pride of so many years, gradually dissolved, and 
 was brought into contempt. To use the language of 
 the celebrated historian of Rome, the idol gods of 
 eleven hundred years were " dragged in triumph at 
 the chariot wheels of Theodosius." 
 
 Standing, as this great emperor did, "the last of 
 the successors of Augustus and Constantine, whose 
 authority was universally acknowledged throughout 
 the whole extent of the empire ;" and standing, as he 
 did, its sole barrier from the barbarian nations which, 
 immediately after his death, swept over it like a flood, 
 he appears like a beacon upon the mountain top, or 
 like a rock in the midst of the wide ocean. And it 
 may be noticed as a very remarkable providence, that 
 the abolition of idolatry, which he effected, was the 
 means of more effectually strengthening the cause of 
 Christianity, and better preparing it for that tremen- 
 dous shock, which, on the ruin of the empire by the 
 Goths and Vandals, levelled every thing else in the 
 dust. 
 
 The Church however, amid these scenes of in- 
 creasing outward prosperity, of which the reign of 
 Theodosius thus forms a memorable epoch, gave 
 likewise increasing signs of departure from the 
 
 d 5 
 
58 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 truth of the gospel. As far as the personal character of 
 the Emperor himself is concerned, there appears great 
 reason to helieve that he was a real Christian. ,( His 
 clemency, liberality, and generosity/' says Milner, 
 u were admirable. He was brave and successful in 
 war, but his wars were forced upon him. He was 
 an enemy to drunkenness, and was himself a model 
 of gravity, temperance, and chastity in private life. ,, 
 u I see," he adds, tC in Theodosius the triumphs of the 
 cross ; nor in all the Pagan history of the Emperors 
 was there any to be compared to him." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this excellence, however, such 
 was the aspect of the times, that all he did only 
 served to foster the seeds of corruption, degeneracy, 
 and strife ; and the aspect which the Church pre- 
 sented is found exactly to accord with the represen- 
 tation given in this Seal. It was to the last degree 
 uncharitable, fiery, and revengeful — full of internal 
 divisions and discord ; and of such deadly animosity, 
 as frequently, particularly in the election of bishops, 
 to break out in mutual slaughter. The splendid 
 triumphs of Constantine on the one hand, and the 
 hostile spirit of Julian on the other, had until this 
 time greatly restrained this factious disposition. But 
 when relieved from Pagan hostility by the sword and 
 edicts of Theodosius, the animosities of Christians 
 towards each other exceeded all bounds ; and the 
 most bloody wars amongst themselves, united to the 
 most detestable crimes, were the consequence. 
 
 Even the barbarian invasions but gave more play to 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 59 
 
 this lamentable spirit : for on the breaking up of the 
 empire, and the church being thereby for a long 
 period free from the restraints of civil government, 
 all checks of this description were removed. The 
 schism of the Donatists, a people who are not even 
 accused by their adversaries of corrupt doctrine, nor 
 of peculiar degeneracy in morals, and which had its 
 origin-in faction, and in a contest for worldly power, 
 was the occasion of thousands of Christians perishing 
 by the hands of each other. The Arian controversy 
 likewise produced similar fruits, and of much longer 
 duration. For other particulars, see Milner's and 
 Mosheim's Histories of the Fifth and Sixth Cen- 
 turies. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE THIRD SEAL; 
 
 Or the Church in a most deplorable state of 
 Degeneracy and Ignorance, 
 
 " 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 upon him had a yoke in his hand. And 
 I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures 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." (vi. 5, 6.) 
 
 The state of things just described continued, until, 
 in the providence of God, Justinian mounted the impe- 
 rial throne, when another new and decisive change took 
 place. " And lo ! " — an exclamation of surprise that 
 was not uttered on the opening of the second seal, — 
 
60 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " and lo," a black horse! denoting mourning and 
 woe, darkness and ignorance. " And by him that sat 
 on the horse having a yoke in his hand, is signified a 
 state of bondage to ceremonies, authorized penances, 
 rigorous fastings, and monkish austerities — a state 
 directly opposite to that of the happy liberty of the 
 Gospel, and to which we are exhorted to ' stand 
 fast, and resist every attempt 9 to subject us to ordi- 
 nances and a yoke of bondage."* 
 
 With regard to the character and acts of Justi- 
 nian, a good deal has been advanced in the work on 
 Old Testament prophecies, f from which it will be 
 perceived what a lasting and portentous influence 
 his reign had on the religious aspect of the times: 
 and it is almost sufficient to refer to what is there said 
 respecting the epoch which he formed in the Christian 
 church, to shew its peculiar adaptation to this season 
 of mourning and spiritual famine here described. 
 His victorious career, added to his great talents, 
 enabled him to hold with a firm hand the reins of 
 government ; and to silence the discord of war and 
 contending factions in the church. But in doing 
 this he created a new era, and set the seal of his 
 overwhelming authority to evils of greater magni- 
 tude : and the cessation of those bitter feuds settled 
 down, as a natural consequence, into a state of gross 
 spiritual darkness, ignorance, and the most deplor- 
 able spiritual oppression throughout the whole of the 
 Christian world. 
 
 * Gal. v. 1 ; Col. ii. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 16. f Diss. pp. 245, 25 1. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 61 
 
 This was more effectually accomplished by means 
 of the code of laws which this emperor promulgated, 
 and which are even famous to this day. In these he 
 new-modelled the laws of the empire ; and likewise, 
 besides numerous separate edicts, he incorporated 
 the ordinances relative to the regulation of church 
 discipline ; making his own faith the rule and mea- 
 sure of orthodoxy to th-e whole empire. Indeed it 
 was one of the chief businesses of this emperor's 
 eventful life, to interfere with every thing, and with 
 the most arbitrary authority to order every thing 
 respecting church affairs. In character Milner re- 
 presents him, though chaste and temperate, the 
 slave of superstition and avarice, and the conse- 
 quence o/all his schemes to have been " dissensions 
 and schisms, forced conversions attended with cruel- 
 ties, which alienated men's minds still more from 
 godliness, the growth of superstition and formality, 
 the miserable declension of real internal godliness, 
 and the increase of ignorance and practical wicked- 
 ness. " 
 
 The sole object and attention of the ministers of 
 religion, from the highest to the lowest , appear to 
 have been schemes of ambition and avarice; and no 
 arts are represented to have been too gross to satisfy 
 their rapacity, nor any crimes so flagrant of which 
 they were not omiltv. The lano-ua^e of Mosheim is, 
 that at this time u . the cause of true religion sank 
 apace, and the gloomy reign of superstition extended 
 itself in proportion to the decay of genuine godli- 
 ness. This lamentable decay," he says, " was sup- 
 
62 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 plied by a multitude of rites and ceremonies." In 
 short, the austerities and abstinence of monks, the 
 number of which was prodigiously increased ; the 
 senseless round of ridiculous and most unauthorized 
 mortifications, penances, and rigorous fastings, im- 
 posing a most oppressive and intolerable yoke, su- 
 perseded altogether the simplicity of Gospel truth ; 
 whilst the most corrupt doctrines, such as the wor- 
 shipping of images, relics, and saints; prayers for 
 the dead, tales of purgatory, the efficacy of good 
 works, and the traditions of men, took place of the 
 word of God. 
 
 Such was the direful state of the visible church 
 universallv throughout both the eastern and western 
 portions of the empire at this era of its history. It 
 is well that a voice from the highest authority and 
 most dread command — for it is stated to be from the 
 midst of the four living creatures who were stationed 
 close around the throne, and therefore it was the 
 voice of God — it is well that such a word offered one 
 restraint to its most pernicious consequences. The 
 meaning of this voice, divested of metaphor, is, that 
 although there should be a dreadful scarcity of the 
 word of life, — for the famine here spoken of, means 
 " Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of 
 hearing the words of the Lord/'* of that bread by 
 which the souls of men are fed and sustained, — yet 
 that there should be some supply of this living food 
 
 left, though it should be exceedingly scarce, and 
 
 ■ 
 
 * Amos viii. 1 1. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 63 
 
 purchased at a high price ; and that it should 
 be, though in such small quantity, pure and un- 
 injured. 
 
 The word thus spoken by God, has, it is our hap- 
 piness to experience, been, during the long progress 
 of these dark times, wonderfully fulfilled. There has 
 always been a moderate supply of spiritual food. 
 The grand saving doctrine of Christianity, of salva- 
 tion by faith through the blood and righteousness 
 of Christ, has always been taught. u And that in- 
 valuable store-house and repository of Divine know- 
 ledge, of spiritual wine and oil, the holy Bible, the 
 word of God, has been accessible to some persons in 
 all times since this injunction was delivered. Through 
 all the ignorant, fanatical, factious, and corrupt hands, 
 by which this sacred treasure has been delivered 
 down to us, it has passed, in the main, uninjured. 
 The corruptions of it, even for the base purposes of 
 party zeal and worldly domination, have been mira- 
 culously few. Thus hath the prophetical injunction 
 from the throne been wonderfully fulfilled, through a 
 dark period of long continuance, and of great diffi- 
 culty and danger. u The oil and the wine have not 
 been injured."* 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE FOURTH SEAL; 
 
 Or the utter and entire Corruption of the Visible 
 Church, and its attendant Miseries. 
 
 " And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of 
 the fourth living creature say, Come and see. And I looked, 
 
 f Dean Woodhouse. 
 
64 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 and lo ! a pale livid-green * horse ! and his name that sat upon 
 him was Death, and hell followed with him. And power was 
 given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, 
 and witii hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." 
 (vi.7,8.) 
 
 It might have been imagined that no state could 
 have been worse than the one which has just been 
 described ; yet here we have another of still deeper 
 horror and guilt presented to our view ; and history 
 fully verifies the prophecy that another gradation of 
 ecclesiastical barbarism, still more terrific than the 
 former, did, at the time we are about to consider, set 
 in the deepest gloom over the fourth part of the 
 empire, and one that in all respects answered to the 
 symbols of this seal. 
 
 The horse here is represented the livid colour of 
 corruption — " of a grassy green which, though 
 beautiful in the clothing of the trees and fields, is 
 very unseemly, disgusting, and even horrible, when 
 it appears upon flesh." 
 
 u There is a sublime climax," observes Dean 
 Woodhouse, H or scale of terrific images exhibited in 
 the colours of the horses in the four first seals, de- 
 noting the progressive character of the Christian 
 times. It begins with pure white, then changes to 
 fiery, or vengeful; then to black, or mournful ; and 
 when we imagine nothing more dreadful in colour 
 can appear, then comes another gradation in colour 
 much more terrific, even this * deadly pale/" But 
 this is not all — "he that sat upon him" his name was 
 Death, he is not described ; the picture of this 
 
 * Dean Woodhouse's translation. 
 
^?s ' ^ 
 
 THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 
 
 grisly king of terrors, so mounted, is left to be sup- 
 plied by the imagination of the reader. " And hell 
 followed with him " — that is, the receptable of the 
 dead, the place of departed souls — implying that 
 there was a more dreadful enemy in regions beyond 
 the grave — signifying, both images taken together, 
 the destruction in the heart of all true religion, and 
 the extinction of all spiritual life— and every hor- 
 rible and dreadful result that can flow from such a 
 state of things. 
 
 At the head of this fourth change in the aspect of 
 the church, stands the name of Charlemagne, who 
 reigned from the year 768 to 814. " We are pene- 
 trating," says Mr. Milner, in commencing his history 
 of the ninth century, " a land of deserts and pits, a 
 land of drought, and of the shadow of death ; and 
 are carried, by every step, into scenes still more 
 gloomy than the former." Baronius, a popish writer, 
 calls it u an iron age, barren of all goodness ; a 
 leaden age, abounding in all wickedness ; and a 
 dark age, remarkable above all others for a scarcity 
 of writers and men of letters." The often repeated 
 language of Mosheim, speaking of these centuries, is 
 in the same strain. He speaks of u the astonishing 
 ignorance that gave a loose rein both to superstition 
 and immorality " — of the thick darkness, the clouds 
 of ignorance, which universally prevailed — of the 
 Latins presenting a spectacle almost without excep- 
 tion sunk in the most brutish and barbarous igno- 
 rance — a dismal night of ignorance, covered with a 
 thick and gloomy veil of superstition and cruelty, 
 
66 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 and other epithets shewing that it was an era that is 
 well designated as the dark ages, 
 
 Charlemagne himself, whose private character, 
 amidst all his splendid and valuable qualities, was 
 any thing but influenced by Christian principles, 
 endeavoured to stem the torrent of this most de- 
 plorable and degenerate state of ignorance and vice ; 
 but the methods he took only riveted the chains of 
 superstition and priestly tyranny stronger and firmer, 
 and opened the sources of corruption wider. " The 
 epoch," observes Mr. Hallam, " made by Charle- 
 magne in the history of the world, has cast a lustre 
 over his head, and testifies to the greatness that has 
 embodied itself in his name. He possessed in every 
 thing that grandeur of conception that distinguishes 
 extraordinary minds. Like Alexander he seemed 
 born for innovation — perhaps his greatest eulogy is 
 written in the disgraces of succeeding ti??ies, and in 
 the miseries of Europe. In the dark ages of Euro- 
 pean history, the reign of Charlemagne affords a 
 solitary resting place between two long periods of 
 turbulence and ignorance." 
 
 Dr. Robertson, likewise speaking of this great 
 prince, says, " All the calamities which flow from 
 anarchy and discord, returning with additional force, 
 afflicted the different kingdoms into which his empire 
 was split. From that time to the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, a succession of uninteresting events fill and 
 deform the annals of all the nations of Europe. 
 Charlemagne in France, and Alfred the Great in 
 England, endeavoured to dispel this darkness, and 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 67 
 
 gave their subjects a short glimpse of light and 
 knowledge. But the ignorance of the age was too 
 powerful for their efforts and institutions. The dark- 
 ness returned, and settled over Europe more thick and 
 heavy than before" 
 
 This sad darkness was followed by a corresponding 
 wickedness. Hence the same author observes — and it 
 will suffice in drawing this dismal picture — that * a 
 greater number of those atrocious actions which fill 
 the mind of man with astonishment and horror, 
 occur in the history of the centuries under review, 
 than in that of any period of the same extent in 
 the annals of Europe. If we open the history of 
 Gregory of Tours, or of any contemporary author, 
 we meet with a series of deeds of cruelty, perfidy, 
 and revenge, so wild and enormous as almost to 
 exceed belief." 
 
 We now come to the next particular in the great 
 change from bad to worse which is exhibited in 
 this seal — and that its limitation — "power was 
 given him over the fourth part of the earth," and 
 this we shall find exactly applies to the era formed 
 by Charlemagne. The preceding ones — viz, those 
 formed by the reigns of Constantine, Theodosius, 
 and Justinian, each extended over the length and 
 breadth of the whole Roman empire, in all the three 
 quarters of the world, Europe, Asia, and Africa — 
 whereas the sway of Charlemagne, great as it was, 
 extended to only about u a fourth part." The 
 western portion of the empire is, as we shall here- 
 
68 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 after find in explaining the " trumpets," considered 
 as a "third part" — but, according to Gibbon, "only 
 two thirds " of the western empire of Rome were 
 subject to Charlemagne ; and the petty sovereigns of 
 the remaining part of it, including England and 
 Spain, implored the honour of his alliance, and 
 styled him their common parent, the emperor of the 
 West." 
 
 With the greatest historic accuracy, therefore, the 
 fourth part is here mentioned as the more imme- 
 diate sphere of the operation of this seal — and it 
 is a limitation that was especially necessary to be 
 noticed, because no new era was formed in the 
 East at this period ; besides which the West was 
 the more immediate and proper territorial limits of the 
 fourth great empire of the world. It was likewise 
 at this time, on the occasion of the Western im- 
 perial Headship being revived in the person of 
 Charlemagne, that the Greek and Latin, or the 
 Eastern and Western churches, were finally and irre- 
 vocably separated. 
 
 The power that was thus given to the fourth part 
 of the empire was " to slay by sword, and by famine, 
 and by pestilence, and by the beasts of the earth ;" 
 which would seem to imply that all sorts of devasta- 
 tion and destruction — that " death," in all its most 
 horrid forms, was to ride triumphant during this de- 
 voted period. The visible church being now plunged 
 into all the idolatry and superstition and unparalleled 
 wickedness of popery, which had struck at the 
 very vitals of godliness, and being thus disunited 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 69 
 
 from Christ her living head, was plunged thereby 
 into the lowest and deepest abyss of misery. Per- 
 haps its meridian may be considered to have been 
 from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, and to 
 have been most clearly manifested in its direful 
 effects by the Crusades. Mr. Hallam remarks, that 
 il to engage in the Crusades, and to perish in them, 
 were synonymous;" and that " they drained to the lees 
 the cup of misery." Of the first, he says, " So 
 many crimes and so much misery have seldom been 
 accumulated in so short a space as in the three first 
 years of this enterprize ;" and of the last, " that 
 such calamities now fell upon this devoted army, as 
 have scarce ever been surpassed — hunger and want 
 of every kind, aggravated by an unsparing pesti- 
 lence." And these were not casual evils — they were 
 caused by the spirit of the times, the withering influ- 
 ence of the prevailing apostacy, the death-cold shade 
 of the almost universal dominion of Satan over the 
 hearts and consciences of men, and the almost total 
 absence of the Word of God. Thus was the visible 
 church, in what are immediately called the Latin 
 nations — for these are the fourth part of the earth 
 here spoken of — given up to a total state of corrup- 
 tion. Thus, did Death both morally, spiritually, and 
 physically reign ; and thus did, most emphatically, 
 « hell" follow ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 CONTINUATION OF THE SEALS ; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE PARTIAL RECOVERY OF THE CHURCH AT THE 
 
 REFORMATION ; 
 
 AND 
 
 THE APPEARANCE AND ACTINGS OF INFIDELITY, 
 AS EXHIBITED IN THE CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 General observations on the preceding Seals, and the Apostacy 
 they pour tray — Where spoken of in the Old Testament — They 
 form epochas of History — Theodosius — Unity of the four first 
 Seals — Danger of Prosperity to the Church exemplified — The 
 Reformation — The age of Martyrs — Its influence — Its in- 
 struments — Abilities of the reigning Monarchs — Persecutions 
 — St. Bartholomew's Massacre and others — Cry for Vengeance 
 — Future Persecutions yet to take place — The French Re- 
 volution — Symbols of the Sixth Seal explained to refer to 
 it —Exemplified the principles of Infidelity. 
 
72 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE SEALS ; 
 
 OR THE 
 
 REFORMATION AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 Before proceeding to the consideration of the 
 Fifth Seal, it appears so desirable and important 
 to make good the ground over which we have already 
 trodden, that I will yet trouble the reader with a 
 few general observations with the view more firmly 
 to establish the foregoing interpretation. 
 
 First. — I would observe that the Great Apostacy 
 into which the church fell, as detailed in the last 
 chapter, is so very remarkable and important an 
 event in its history, it covers so large a space of 
 time, and it so completely absorbs all other, both 
 ecclesiastical and secular, events, within its vortex, 
 that it is probable — it is what we might expect — 
 that it would occupy the most prominent place in 
 any prophecy or revelation that God might be pleased 
 to give of its M fates and fortunes :" in fact, that it 
 
CONTINUATION OF THE SEALS. 73 
 
 would and must occupy that place which it does 
 occupy as the ground-work of all that follows. 
 
 Second. — I would observe that it does, at least by 
 implication and in general terms^ occupy such pro- 
 minent place in the Old Testament prophecies : as 
 for instance in what is described as the **■ little 
 horn " of popery, which was to wear out the saints 
 of the Most High, and think to change the times 
 and the laws for the space of 1260 years,* which could 
 not be without the great declension. IVJpreover it is 
 said that the little horn of Mahometanism was to 
 appear when u transgressors were come to the full."t 
 And in the last Great Vision of Daniel, that " the 
 daily sacrifice should be taken away, and the abo 
 mination that astonisheth or maketh desolate be 
 placed."! All these must have a reference to this 
 complete yet gradual and long apostacy, as there 
 appears no other similar event to which they can 
 apply. If this, therefore, was so decidedly re- 
 vealed under the Jewish dispensation, we ought to 
 consider it as a matter of course, that a thing that 
 enters so completely into the essentials of the history 
 of the Christian dispensation would, and must be, 
 one chief thing noticed in a Christian prophecy. 
 
 Third. — I would observe that it is perfectly ana- 
 logous to what we find in the prophet Daniel, to 
 pre-signify and arrange what shall befall the church 
 according to the succession of those rulinc sove- 
 
 * See Diss. pp. 214—227. f Ibid. pp. 303, 304. 
 
 % Ibid. 323. 
 
 £ 
 
74 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 reigns, whose reigns form remarkable epochs, and 
 change the face of society ; since it is in such changes 
 that its interests are necessarily and essentially in- 
 volved. To give a familiar illustration of what I 
 mean, and one that will strike home to all our 
 hearts, I would ask, How otherwise could the epocha 
 in the English church be marked ? In laying down 
 its great outline, should we not, without a moment's 
 hesitation, fix upon Alfred the Great, William the 
 Conqueror, Henry the Eighth, and William the 
 Third, as each having given a colour and complexion 
 to the generations that respectively followed their 
 reigns ? Most assuredly we should. It is just so in 
 the present instance. The reigns of Constantine, 
 Theodosius, Justinian, and Charlemagne changed 
 the aspect of the church in like manner; and the 
 divisions are so broad and so well marked, that we 
 have only to take up the works of the greatest histo- 
 rians, such as Gibbon, Mosheim, and others, to be 
 assured that these names form the great and leading 
 resting-places at which they all stop. Gibbon, for 
 instance, particularly quits his narrative, and rests at 
 the reigns of Constantine and Justinian ; Mosheim, 
 at those of Constantine, Charlemagne, and Charles V.; 
 these being what he calls " remarkable periods, 
 distinguished by signal revolutions or remarkable 
 events ; " and so of others. That of the emperor 
 Theodosius, it is true, though not less real, is not so 
 broadly defined ; and hence it is very observable, 
 that it is the only one of the four which was not so 
 striking to the mind of the Apostle, and at which he 
 
CONTINUATION OF THE SEALS. 75 
 
 did not utter an exclamation of surprise. On the 
 appearance of the first, third, and fourth horses, it will 
 be perceived that he said, " I beheld," or "I beheld, 
 and lo ! " — but on that of the second he simply 
 says, i( And there went out another horse." With 
 such minute accuracy is every thing here worded ! 
 
 The reign of Theodosius too is more generally 
 omitted as a division of history, from coming so near 
 that of Constantine ; there being only about sixty 
 years between them. But this is no objection to its 
 forming an epoch in history ; for, as Mr. Hallam 
 well observes, " the continuous chain of transac- 
 tions in the stage of human society, is ill defined by 
 mere lines of chronological demarcation — and that 
 many considerable portions of time, especially before 
 the twelfth century," — and this observation eminently 
 applies to the long lapse of time, (above seven centu- 
 ries,) occupied by the fourth seal, — " may justly be 
 deemed so barren of events worthy of remembrance, 
 that a single sentence or paragraph is often sufficient 
 to give the character of entire generations, and of 
 long dynasties of obscure kings." 
 
 In connection with the above observation, it may 
 be curious to notice this stream of deterioration as 
 it passed through these four great eras, by just 
 giving the space between each of the great sove- 
 reigns who, in the providence of God, formed 
 them : — 
 
 Constantine reigned from a.d. 303 to 337. 
 
 Theodosius 383 to 395. 
 
 Justinian 527 to 565. 
 
 Charlemagne 768 to 814. 
 
 E 2 
 
76 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The first forms an epoch of about 60 years ; the 
 second of about 170 ; the third of about 260 ; and 
 the last, as above observed, and as will be immediately 
 explained, of above 700 years. 
 
 Fourth. — The next observation I would make is, 
 that although the church was so changed under the 
 progress of these four distinct successive eras, as no 
 longer to appear the same — the first being that of 
 white, or having the character of purity — the second 
 red, or that of slaughter — the third black, or that of 
 ignorance — and the fourth livid, or that of corrup- 
 tion ; yet still, together with this distinctness, there 
 is also observed an unity. "They are all horses; 
 and all pass by a regular gradation from one colour 
 to another ; from the mild and peaceful rule dis- 
 played in the character of the first horse, to the 
 dreadful tyranny of Death and Hell, which cha- 
 racterizes the last. This unity and completion of 
 parts is also insinuated by their being contained 
 under the cardinal number four, answering to the 
 four sides of the Throne, and to the four living crea- 
 tures there stationed, who speak on the opening of 
 each seal, until the voices have gone through the 
 complete square of the throne."* Carry this idea to 
 its type, the encampment of the twelve tribes in the 
 wilderness, and we see, in a most beautiful light, that 
 " the whole assembly of the church of the first- 
 born, which are written in heaven," are repre- 
 sented as most deeply interested in the church on 
 
 * Dean Woodhouse. 
 
CONTINUATION OF THE SEALS 
 
 77 
 
 earth. " This unity," the Dean goes on to observe, 
 *' also accords with that of the four first trumpets, 
 and of the four first vials, as will be seen in their 
 places :" and that certainly in this book of Revela- 
 tion, the number seven, the number of perfection, 
 evidently divides into the component parts of four 
 and three, both in the seals, the trumpets, and in 
 the vials. 
 
 Fifth. — The last observation I would make, with 
 regard to these four first seals, is this — that they may 
 be summed up in a very few words, as exhibiting 
 the church in a state of increasing external splendour, 
 attended by a proportionate internal decay ! The 
 providence speaks volumes to all of us ; and it is a 
 most striking lesson, if we would but look at it in 
 this light, awfully confirming the repeated warnings 
 given in the Scriptures of the intoxicating nature of 
 worldly and outward prosperity in all its forms. 
 Satan tempted our Lord with the dominion and glory 
 of this world, which was all he could offer; and 
 although he could not but fail here, he has neverthe- 
 less ever been too successful with mere mortals, 
 both in w their individual and public capacities. In 
 the present instance he made the largest stride ever 
 beheld, and deceived the world in one vast mass — 
 and this veil of ignorance and corruption is still, to 
 an incalculable extent, overspreading with the gloom 
 of death the greater part of the world. 
 
 It speaks especially to churches; and accommoda- 
 ting it to their present aspect, it speaks likewise to 
 societies, not to be high-minded, but fear ; not to 
 
78 CHAPTER V. 
 
 seek great things for themselves, as it regards world- 
 ly distinction, and notice, and wealth, but to be satis- 
 fied with a humble, lowly condition, looking to God, 
 and depending upon his blessing, and keeping at the 
 foot of the cross. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL ; 
 
 Or the Age of Martyrs, and the Church's partial 
 
 recovery, 
 
 " 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 
 testimony which they held. And they cried, with a loud voice, 
 saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost 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, that should be killed as 
 they were, should be fulfilled." (vi. 9 — 11.) 
 
 In the great change symbolized by this Seal, the 
 instrumentality also changes — it is no longer, as in 
 the former seals, brought about by the illustrious of 
 the world, by emperors, kings, or warriors — it is 
 brought about by inward causes, in opposition to the 
 prevailing apostacy and the ruling powers. It was 
 the voice of a part of the ransomed church in glory, 
 that, on the opening of each of those, called out, 
 u Come and see." It is still a part of such church that 
 again speaks, but it is a select part — it is " the souls 
 of those that were slain for the word of God, and 
 for the testimony which they held :" in other 
 
OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL. 79 
 
 words, it is the souls of the martyrs of Jesus, crying 
 aloud, not again to u come and see " the outward 
 progress of Christianity in its association with the 
 grandeur of the world, but its progress as opposed to 
 the wickedness of the times; its progress in the 
 re-action that has taken place ; and the reception it 
 has experienced. All this very clearly appears from 
 the phraseology of this seal, viz. that under the 
 altar, the mercy seat, the most holy place, (that is, 
 where the presence of God is,) there is a host of dis- 
 embodied spirits, who have, under the new order of 
 things that has taken place, been " slain for the 
 Word of God, and for the testimony which they 
 held," whose blood cries out to God the Sovereign 
 Lord, the arbiter and disposer of all things, for ven- 
 geance ; implying that the whole time this Seal 
 shall be in operation it shall more or less be a 
 season of persecution, in which those who hold a 
 faithful testimony for God, in opposition to the pre- 
 vailing corruption, should do so at the risk of their 
 lives. 
 
 And all this has happened ! This fifth great scene 
 in the Christian drama has been faithfully exhibited 
 on the stage of time ; and it will be readily identi- 
 fied, in what is emphatically called the Reforma- 
 tion, and the consequences that flowed from it in 
 that and the succeeding ages. 
 
 The Revolution which this great event brought to 
 pass in public opinion, and in the views and senti- 
 ments of mankind, was greater and more marked 
 than any which had transpired since the days of 
 
80 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Constantine, or the opening of the first seal. As 
 hath been already noticed, this, and the three fol- 
 lowing, were, in their general principle, homogeneous, 
 presenting us in regular gradation, in four distinct 
 eras, the general view of the progress of outward 
 Christianity, from its victory over paganism, to its 
 utmost corruption and degeneracy under the papal 
 usurpation. But the Reformation was of a charac- 
 ter altogether new ; it was the victorious struggle of 
 better principles, the re-action of Gospel truth and 
 light over the prevailing error and darkness, amelio- 
 rating the whole surface of society, producing new 
 habits of thought, and extending its most beneficent 
 effects and saving influence to the most distant parts 
 of the globe. It was a tremendous, and to a very 
 great extent a successful attack on the power of 
 Satan in his stronghold of popery, the western 
 ' c little horn of Daniel," throughout the whole of 
 the Latin empire ; and it was a change, great as it 
 was, brought about by such humble instruments, 
 that they are not even named or hinted at. It was a 
 silent unexpected blow from a quarter from which of 
 all others no apparent danger to the apostate power 
 of Rome had, or could have been, apprehended. 
 
 There had been nothing at all like it in the world, 
 since the first propagation of the Gospel, when God 
 chose the weak things of this world in the persons of 
 the twelve Apostles, and the first preachers of the 
 Gospel, to demolish the paganism of the heathen 
 world. He now chose similar instruments to bring 
 to the ground the paganism of the Christian world t 
 
OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL. 81 
 
 He chose Luther, an obscure monk, endowed him 
 with the most extraordinary qualities for the great 
 work he had to accomplish, gave him a deep and 
 wonderful insight into the essentials of divine truth, 
 anointed his soul with an extraordinary unction of 
 the divine Spirit; and thus armed, sent him forth to 
 contend with the abounding error, and darkness, and 
 iniquity, supported, as this state of things then was, 
 by all the power and authority of the kings and 
 great men of the earth. A host of similar men, led 
 on and encouraged by his great example, likewise 
 appeared in Germany, Switzerland, England, and 
 more or less in the other western nations, and boldly 
 preached the truth as it is in Jesus — and great was 
 their success. 
 
 And it is to be remarked, that this wonderful pros- 
 perity in the preaching of the Gospel was not effect- 
 ed whilst Satan held his sceptre now, any more than 
 in the times of the heathen emperors, in weak and 
 feeble hands. As if more decidedly to display the 
 all-conquering power and efficacy of the Word of 
 God, dispensed in its simplicity and plainness, una- 
 dulterated by man's wisdom and traditions, it was so 
 ordered that the throne of the Caesars, the successor 
 of Augustus and Constantine, should, at this time, 
 be filled by the emperor Charles the Fifth, a man, 
 who, besides his shining abilities, inherited more 
 dominions than any European monarch had done 
 since the time of Charlemaone. That likewise 
 Francis I. should be the reigning monarch of France ; 
 Henry VIII. of England ; and that the pontifical 
 
 e 5 
 
82 CHAPTER V. 
 
 throne should be filled by Leo the Tenth. The whole 
 of these contemporary and chief sovereigns of the 
 papal worlds were, as well as the head of the empire, 
 likewise men of distinguished abilities; such, 
 perhaps, as Europe had never before seen at any one 
 time ; and they were all strongly attached to the 
 papacy, and equally wedded to the prevailing apos- 
 tacy and corruption of the times. They all conse- 
 quently resisted, to the utmost of their power in their 
 respective dominions, the progress of this great 
 reformation ; and although our own monarch was 
 brought ultimately to favour it, yet he is no excep- 
 tion to this observation, as the slightest knowledge 
 of his actions, character, and motives, abundantly 
 testify. 
 
 Precisely the same results that took place on the 
 first preaching of the Gospel, whilst Satan held the 
 world in heathen darkness, now took place on its 
 faithful preaching in the midst of Popish darkness; 
 the most determined opposition which it met with 
 from the ruling powers, showed itself in exactly the 
 same way ; and from time to time, for nearly three 
 hundred years, (about the same period, in fact, that 
 the persecutions of the pagans lasted) have the 
 unoffending disciples of the Lord Jesus been per- 
 secuted unto death, and with even more savage 
 cruelty than that of a Trajan, Nero, and Diocletian. 
 
 It comports not with this brief outline, to descend 
 into the particulars of the dreadful scenes in which 
 their blood has been spilt. The histories of the' 
 church, and the books of martyrs, have made the 
 
OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL. 83 
 
 sanguinary history familiar to most readers. As 
 pre-eminent in guilt and atrocity, it may be suffi- 
 cient to mention a few of the principal instances — 
 and first the dreadful massacre of St. Bartholomew 
 in France, under Charles IX. At the time when 
 this took place, the principal Protestants in the king- 
 dom were, by invitation in Paris, under a solemn 
 oath of safety. But, regardless of oaths, instru- 
 ments of destruction had been put in the hands of 
 above sixty thousand furious and bigoted Papists ; 
 and on the 24th of August, 1572, at an appointed 
 signal, this numerous band of assasins was let loose 
 on the Protestant part of the population ; and in 
 three days of continued slaughter, such as the annals 
 of pagan persecution never recorded, a great multi- 
 tude of persons of all ranks were indiscriminately 
 butchered; and a scene of things was exhibited 
 which, though many have attempted to describe, 
 beggars, in its atrocity and infernal cruelty, all the 
 powers of language. From Paris, the massacre 
 spread throughout the whole kingdom, and similar 
 scenes of cruelty were every where repeated on the 
 Protestant portion of its numerous population. 
 
 A few years after this happened, the severest per- 
 secutions fell upon the protestants in Holland and 
 Flanders, under the merciless and unrelenting hands 
 of the Duke of Alva, by command of Philip II., where 
 neither age, sex, nor condition was spared. In 
 England, those under queen Mary are well known, 
 as well as those in the Irish rebellion in 1641 ; and 
 what, for many years, followed the revocation of the 
 
84 • CHAPTER V. 
 
 edict of Nantz, under Lewis XIV., when the dra- 
 goons hunted and destroyed the Protestants like wild 
 beasts. But the accounts of the innumerable com- 
 pany of martyrs, who have died in these great and 
 marked persecutions, give, after all,, but a poor idea 
 of the real number of those who have suffered. For 
 when it is considered that in most of the papal 
 countries all who have embraced the principles of 
 the Reformation have been, by the strong arm of 
 power, put down ; and in most instances, through 
 the silent workings of that dark and hellish engine 
 of cruelty the Inquisition, quietly and unobtrusively 
 tortured and murdered ; and that England alone, of 
 all the ten kingdoms, may be said to have had a full 
 respite, it may truly be denominated the age of mar- 
 tyrs. So that as truly as the church, during the 
 four first periods, presented the respective and gra- 
 dual stages of decay and corruption, so truly does it 
 now present the aspect of persecution. 
 
 Hence, with appropriate scenery, this epoch is 
 represented as exhibiting the souls of those who have 
 perished, u as under the altar," in allusion to the pour- 
 ing out of the blood at the bottom of the altar,* crying 
 with a loud voice for vengeance "How long, 5 ' they 
 say, " sovereign Lord," — or the dread arbiter of life 
 and death, for the term here used is a title implying 
 terror, — "How long, sovereign Lord, the Holy One 
 and True, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood 
 on them that dwell on the earth?" If it were said 
 
 ♦ Lev. iv. 7, 13, 25, 34 ; v. 9 J ix. 0. 
 
OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL. 85 
 
 to Cain, " Thy brother's blood crieth to me from the 
 ground :" and further, IC He that toucheth you, 
 toucheth the apple of his eye" — and "it were better 
 for that man that a mill-stone was hanged about his 
 neck, and he was cast into the sea:" — where shall 
 such persecutors appear! We are in fact informed, 
 that vengeance only sleeps ; and, in the mean while, 
 that white robes are given unto every one of those 
 who had been thus slain, as a distinguished mark of 
 honour and reward for what they had suffered for 
 Christ. 
 
 u And it was said unto them, that they should rest 
 yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, 
 and their brethren that should be killed as they were, 
 should be fulfilled." This language, to my mind, 
 implies, that persecution unto death W\\\ not be con- 
 fined to this seal. It is spoken to those who form a 
 part of it ; and, therefore, that part of it which looks 
 to the future, "until their brethren should be killed as 
 they were," must have reference to the next seal. As 
 much as to say, that the martyrs who suffer under 
 this epoch in the church's history, have an assurance 
 given, that vengeance will come ; but not until 
 others of their brethren have suffered, under another 
 epoch that shall transpire, and that then it will 
 no longer delay. I have drawn attention to this, 
 because it is in exact harmony with what is yet to 
 follow. 
 
 The state of things to which the Reformation gave 
 birth, lasted from the beginning of the sixteenth to 
 the latter end of the eighteenth century. The revi- 
 
86 CHAPTER V. 
 
 val it occasioned in religion, in no instance came up 
 to the expectations that were formed of it by those 
 who witnessed the splendid successes of the first re- 
 formers. It was indeed firmly established in England, 
 in a great part of Germany, and in some of the more 
 northern nations; but in consequence of the most 
 severe persecutions it met with in France, Spain, 
 Portugal, and of course in all the states of Italy 
 the head quarters of the apostacy, it was in those 
 countries successfully resisted. Although, however, 
 it was comparatively but "a little help,"* yet it was 
 a blessed period, as we individually have reason to 
 testify ; for we live and enjoy our privileges under 
 its shade, and in the blessings it conveyed. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE SIXTH SEAL ; 
 Or the actings of Infidelity in the French Revolution. 
 
 11 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal ; and lo, 
 there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sack- 
 cloth of hair, and the moon became as 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 wind : and the heaven 
 departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together, and every mountain 
 and island were removed 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 unto the mountains and the 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 V* 
 
 * See Diss. ch. xii. p. 325, 326. 
 
OPENING OF THE SIXTH SEAL. 87 
 
 I consider it to be of the greatest importance to 
 the right interpretation of this seal, that we have a 
 proper understanding of the symbols. Before there- 
 fore I make any observations I will proceed to ex- 
 plain them, 
 
 1. An earthquake is always understood to sig- 
 nify the sudden revolution of a kingdom or empire,, 
 as in Haggai ii. 6, 7 ; Joel ii. 10 ; and Heb. xii, 26. 
 To this purpose Mede observes, that it implies, not a 
 destruction, but an extraordinary alteration in the 
 face of things — in the same way as a literal earth- 
 quake changes the position of the earth's surface, by 
 exalting valleys and depressing hills, turning the 
 channels and courses of rivers, and such like changes. 
 Sir Isaac Newton likewise says, that •■ great earth- 
 quakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, are put 
 for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract and 
 overthrow them.' 5 
 
 2. The sun, the moon, and the stars signify the sove- 
 reign ruler, his subjects, and the chief men of such 
 kingdom ; the sun becoming black as sackcloth of 
 hair, the total eclipse of the sovereignty ; and the 
 moon becoming as blood, the whole kingdom filled 
 with slaughter ; and the stars falling to the earth like 
 figs when shaken with a great wind, all persons in 
 superior ranks and situations, holding offices of trust 
 or honour, deprived of them by sudden and over- 
 whelming violence. 
 
 3. The heaven departing as a scroll when it is 
 rolled together, or as a roll when he that extends 
 
88 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 it quits his hold, the entire disappearance of the 
 whole political heaven or system. 
 
 4. Every mountain or island being removed out 
 of their places, that every kingdom, and every inde- 
 pendant lesser state, should be altered in their 
 position. 
 
 5. The remainder of the symbols signify the great, 
 the exceeding great, alarm and terror that would 
 be felt by the kings, the great men, and people of 
 every rank and grade in society, at these events ; and 
 the endeavours of all to escape the impending and 
 apprehended dangers that should be thickening 
 around them, by hiding themselves in the most 
 secure and inaccessible places, and by most perse- 
 veringly using every means in their power, at all sacri- 
 fices, to avert them. M The language describes a 
 flight of the utmost terror and dismay before a 
 victorious enemy, who having destroyed all the 
 fortresses and cities, pursues the hopeless fugitives 
 into their last places of refuge." It likewise expresses 
 that a general apprehension should be felt, that the 
 appointed time of God's judgments upon the world, 
 or the time of his severe retribution and vengeance, 
 has arrived; and hence it is expressed that there 
 was felt all the terrors of the day of final judgment. 
 
 Such is the explanation of these striking symbols. 
 We now turn asrain to history, and it is to no distant 
 history, to find the exact reflection of this important 
 prediction : and we accordingly do find that the next 
 great event, having the characters of a prophetical 
 

 />***■ 
 ^ 
 
 50 
 
 era, (one that forms a new epocha in the church 
 affairs, altering the state of society, producing new 
 habits of thought, and involving; the interests of the 
 world in its vortex) does thus answer to it. This event 
 was a great Revolution, attended with all the conse- 
 quences that are here described ; and all my readers 
 will undoubtedly be beforehand with me in pronounc- 
 ing it to be that awful Revolution which burst upon 
 the world in France in the year 1789. It has already 
 been so particularly described in the Dissertation on 
 the Prophecies of the Old Testament, in connexion 
 with the bearing it has on the restoration of the Jews 
 —first, in ch. vi. p. 124 to 134 ; and secondly, in a 
 more particular description of its chief actor, the 
 Emperor Napoleon, in ch. xii. p. 329 to 340 ; that it 
 is unnecessary to go into many particulars in this 
 place. What I would wish to press upon the atten- 
 tion of my readers, is the exact adaptation of the 
 events that have happened, in connexion with this 
 most unparalleled catastrophe, to what I have 
 above explained ; and the certainty there is, that 
 in the whole range of history they can apply to no 
 other. 
 
 If the interpretation which I have offered of the 
 five preceding seals, fail to prove the comprehensive 
 extent over which this series of visions spreads, form- 
 ing the first great outline of a history which, in the 
 subsequent parts of the Revelation, is filled up by 
 the same prophetic Spirit, this appears to set the 
 matter quite at rest. For as I have before observed, 
 prophecy is not loose in its application, and of that 
 
 L^Vlja 
 
90 CHAPTER V. 
 
 undefined character which some people are apt to 
 suppose. On the contrary, the more closely it is 
 analyzed, the more is it capable of a very high and 
 close degree of demonstration. 
 
 In the onward course of events therefore, after the 
 era formed by the Reformation had passed, the 
 change that took place was one that in all points 
 corresponded with the contents of this sixth seal. A 
 great revolution did take place — the kingly power 
 was obscured or eclipsed — the mass of the subjects 
 of the kingdom did become blood — men who in any 
 way rose above their fellow-creatures, did lose their 
 standing, and "equality" was the watchword — the 
 political heaven did disappear — every kingdom and 
 all the minor independent states, which might be 
 compared to clusters of islands were moved out of 
 their places — and the "kings of the earth," (which 
 proves at least this must have happened after the 
 division of the empires into kingdoms,) and all their 
 subjects were in expressible alarm and dread, and 
 fancied the day of judgment was at hand. These 
 things have happened, and happened in connection 
 with a great change in the outward aspect of the 
 church, brought about by the French revolution. 
 
 It was a 7iew enemy to vital godliness that at this 
 time appeared, and was the occasion of bringing 
 about this new situation in which the church found 
 itself. Instead of being, as heretofore, in the hands of 
 Popery — instead of being either sunk in its darkness 
 and apostacy, or exposed to its persecutions, during 
 this period Christianity was exposed to the actings 
 
FRENCH REVOLUTION. 91 
 
 of Infidelity J and in the contents of this seal, those 
 principles are brought to the life, and their effects 
 fearfully exhibited. For it was infidelity, or an utter 
 contempt of God's most holy word, and an utter 
 rejection of Christ, that brought France to a state of 
 revolution ; and with that, its train of attendant 
 miseries. And although the alarms and commotions 
 which it occasioned subsided with the great battle of 
 Waterloo, when its great champion and head was 
 defeated and dethroned, yet the principle has, in a yet 
 more direct way before this seal closes, to be directed 
 against " the servants of God ! " The consideration 
 however of this, which involves such deeply interest- 
 ing events to the true church, and sadly, yet trium- 
 phantly, is to close the present dispensation, must be 
 left to the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE 
 
 SUSPENSION OF THE FEARFUL DOOM 
 HANGING OVER THE NATIONS; 
 
 THE 
 
 SEALING AND PRESERVATION OF THE SERVANTS OF 
 GOD AFTER A PERIOD OP PERSECUTION ; 
 
 AND THE 
 
 OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. 
 
 Present state of peace — Most destructive wars only suspended — 
 Deliverance of the righteous from them — Their sealing — Their 
 symbolical number — Their characters — Nature of their preser- 
 vation — A newly-arrived company seen in Heaven — Proof 
 that it is Heaven — That they are newly arrived — That they 
 have experienced a great Salvation — Their Song — That they 
 came out of a great Tribulation — That they are the company 
 that vms sealed — Their arrival in Heaven appears to have been 
 a Translation — Arguments to prove this to be probable — Nothing 
 incredible, and why — Seventh Seal — A solemn and awful pause 
 — General observations. 
 
 
94 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PRESERVATION OF THE SERVANTS 
 
 OF GOD 
 
 FROM THE FEARFUL PREDICTED RUIN j 
 
 AND THK 
 
 OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. 
 
 Having thus disposed of that part of the contents 
 of the seven-sealed book which is past, bringing it 
 down, through the commotions of the French Re- 
 volution, to the memorable period of the Battle 
 of Waterloo, we are now come to that which is 
 
 PRESENT. 
 
 " And after these things," the Apostle goes on to say, M 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. And I saw another Angel 
 ascending from the east, having the seal of the Living God : 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, 
 neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of 
 our God in their foreheads." (vii. 1 — 3.) 
 
 Three things are here very apparent — 
 1. That there should, after the events already de- 
 scribed on opening the sixth seal have passed, be a 
 
OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. 95 
 
 very remarkable season of quietness, and suspen- 
 sion from the horrors of war. 
 
 In the language of Scripture, winds, as the cause 
 of storms, are symbols of wars and great commotions. 
 Thus a wind is used in Jer. li. 1 ; iv. 11, 12, to ex- 
 press destruction ; and in ch. xlix. 36, the four winds, 
 a general destruction.* " And upon Elam will I 
 bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, 
 and I will scatter them towards all those winds ; and 
 there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam 
 shall not come." To hold therefore the winds that 
 they should not blow, is a very striking emblem of 
 peace and tranquillity from war ; and indeed much 
 more so by the command that is given, that until a 
 certain work is performed, nothing is to be injured by 
 them, neither "the earth, nor the sea, nor any tree;" 
 — that is, neither the peaceable and quiet part of the 
 empire — neither the restless and agitated part of the 
 community — nor any of the higher powers. This 
 latter meaning of the symbol of a tree is beautifully 
 used by Gibbon in the following passage : speaking 
 of the estates of the great feudal lords being dissi- 
 pated, and their race often extinguished in the costly 
 and perilous expeditions of the Crusades, he says, 
 u The conflagration which destroyed the tall and 
 barren trees of the forest, gave air and scope to the 
 vegetation of the smaller and nutritive plants of the 
 
 soil."f 
 
 Accordingly, after the conclusion of the war caused 
 
 * See Diss. p. 205. f Gibbon, ch. lxi. 
 
96 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 by the French Revolution, such a period of peace and 
 stillness did, in a most unprecedented manner, take 
 place — after the year 1815, every wind and sound of 
 war was hushed — and yet continues! This is 
 the exact point of time in which we are, and for the 
 last five-and-twenty years have been, living ; # and 
 one which will not, cannot, at least if the present 
 interpretation be correct, be interrupted, till the 
 event here reserved has transpired. The rumours 
 and apprehensions of war have, at various inter- 
 vals, been repeated and loud, during the five-and- 
 twenty years of peace, both in Poland, Belgium, 
 Spain, Egypt, and now in France ; but they have 
 all, in a strange and unexpected way, in a way in 
 which the hand of God has been very apparent, with 
 as it were a "loud voice," been hushed to silence! 
 The winds, in obedience to the high command of 
 God, were not to blow, and they accordingly have 
 not been permitted to blow — and yet for a short 
 season the restraint must continue ! 
 
 2. The next thing very apparent from these verses 
 is, that although there was to exist the present 
 season of tranquillity, yet that it is only for an 
 appointed time, and that it is to be followed by the 
 most tremendous and fatal wars and invasions. 
 
 The command given to hold the four winds till 
 the servants of God are sealed, is as much as to say, 
 that when that sealing shall have taken place, the 
 hold will be withdrawn, and the four winds will blow. 
 
 * Diss. p. 330. 
 
UNCHRONOLOGICAL PROPHECIES. 97 
 
 In plain language it is as much as to say, that univer- 
 sal destruction is destined to fall upon the apostate, 
 persecuting, infidel church (if indeed such anomaly 
 can be used) ; but although this will not happen till 
 the servants of God are sealed for deliverance from its 
 fury, yet that this is the only stay or hindrance ! 
 
 Here therefore, by the mere force of events alone, 
 without any chronology whatever, we are brought to 
 the immediate expectation, in perfect harmony of 
 time, of the same days of vengeance as are prophe- 
 sied in the predictions of the Old Testament. And 
 from the present warlike aspect of the nations, from 
 the new generation that in this time of peace has 
 sprung up, and from the signs of the times as brought 
 forward in the last chapter of my Dissertation, there 
 appears every thing that can be required to confirm 
 the year to which the various lines of the Old Testa- 
 ment chronological prophecy have pointed — that of 
 1844! 
 
 I would particularly refer to what was said in ex- 
 planation of the latter part of the eleventh of Daniel, 
 in which it is pointed out, that the career of Napo- 
 leon, described in vers. 36 — 39, and which of course 
 is only a different relation of the events of the sixth 
 seal, are followed by a state of quiescence, such 
 as that above described, until " the time of the end " 
 arrives ;* and that then the king of the North shall 
 come like a whirlwind, f (the tempestuous rushing of 
 the four winds!) "with chariots and with horses, 
 
 * Diss. ch. xii. p. 330. f- Idem, ch. xiii. 349 — 352. 
 
 F 
 
98 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 and with many ships ; and shall enter into the coun- 
 tries, and overflow and pass over." 
 
 3. The third thing that is apparent from the verses 
 above quoted is, that from this ruin and its conse- 
 quent miseries, come when they may, the servants of 
 God will be delivered ! 
 
 These servants of God are described, in ch. xiv. 
 vers. 4, 5, to be " they who have not been defiled 
 with women," (that is, not with an apostate church,) 
 u for they are virgins ; they are those who follow the 
 Lamb whithersoever he goeth . . . And in their mouth 
 was found no guile : for they are without fault before 
 the throne of God." All such as answer to this 
 description — and it is an awakening truth, to reflect 
 that all such are living at the present moment — it is 
 said before the dny of wrath arrives shall be sealed 
 upon their foreheads! For this purpose an 
 angel is seen ascending from the east or sun-rising, 
 the most important and favoured point, having 
 the seal of the Living God! This must signify some 
 agency that will be used as a mark of appropriation, 
 whereby the Living God will own his servants to the 
 view of all — for the forehead is the most prominent 
 part of the human face, and can be seen by all. 
 
 It was noticed, in commenting upon Daniel xii. 10, 
 " Many shall be purified, made white, and tried ;" 
 that immediately before " the time of the end," 
 there would be a great persecution^ which these 
 words imply. Is this then the seal which God hath 
 appointed to set a mark upon his servants? It most 
 assuredly signifies some act by which they shall be 
 
THE SYMBOLICAL NUMBER. 99 
 
 discriminated from the great mass of religious pro- 
 fessors. It should therefore be a serious consideration 
 with all of us, Am I a servant of the Living God ? 
 and, Will His seal be set upon me ? for it is the next, 
 the very next event that is to happen ; and from 
 every view we can take of the subject, an event 
 very soon to happen ! The Apostle goes on to 
 say— 
 
 " And I heard the number of them that were sealed : and there 
 were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the 
 tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribes of Juda were 
 sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 
 twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 
 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of 
 Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses 
 were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed 
 twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thou- 
 sand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of 
 the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe 
 of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin 
 were sealed twelve thousand.'' (vii. 4 — 8 ) 
 
 This is, upon the very face of it, a symbolical 
 number, and a symbolical representation; and it 
 carries its own meaning along with it : for if it be 
 the servants of the God of the Angels, (" until," he 
 said, "we have sealed the servants of our God," by 
 which it appears, that more angels than one are em- 
 ployed on this happy business, and that they are real 
 angels) — if, I say, it be the servants of God that are 
 to be sealed, then they and the hundred and forty 
 and four thousand, who are described as sealed, must 
 be one and the same, those who are not defiled with 
 
 f2 
 
100 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 false doctrines or worship ; who follow Christ whither- 
 soever he goeth ; and who are in his righteousness 
 without fault. It follows, therefore, that the mention 
 of the twelve tribes of Israel must be for the purpose 
 of svmbolizing the Christian church; this being in 
 accordance, as before observed, with all other sym- 
 bols that have reference to Christian worship; all, as 
 far as the case will admit, being thus taken from 
 what was connected with the Jewish dispensation. 
 
 The number twelve, added to the highest numeri- 
 cal used in the Scriptures, and applied to each tribe, 
 shows its completeness — that not one shall be want- 
 in*: — that not only shall there be the complete 
 number of twelve tribes, but that of each tribe shall 
 be twelve thousand. 
 
 At the same time, it is an appalling fact, that 
 although it is a complete number, it is not the com- 
 plete number; for one tribe, that of Dan, who in the 
 order of encampment occupies so conspicuous a 
 place, is totally omitted! and that of Manasseh 
 introduced in its place. It must be designed, 
 and it must be deeply significant. If the allusion 
 refer to any one sect or denomination calling itself 
 Christian, that shall be thus excluded, it must be 
 one in which the essentials of godliness are not found, 
 and the individuals of which do not H follow the 
 Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
 
 From all this it necessarily follows, that this ex- 
 pressive symbolical number thus constituted, must 
 take in every servant of God throughout the whole 
 world ; otherwise the symbol would fail of its com- 
 
PRESERVATION OF GOD'S PEOPLE. 101 
 
 pleteness. This being the case, a number, (of the ex- 
 tent of which we can form no idea, since it would be 
 difficult to name any part of the world where the 
 Gospel, in one shape or other, has not reached ; and 
 " his Word," the Lord hath declared, " shall not 
 return unto him void,") must be included in this 
 hundred and forty-four thousand, who are sealed for 
 perservation and security. 
 
 The question now starts, HOW are they to be pre- 
 served ? In what is this security to consist I We 
 are quite sure of this, that from the solemnity of the 
 whole scene it will be a complete and perfect preser- 
 vation. But if the ruin from which they are saved 
 is to be so annihilating as it is every where repre- 
 sented, where on earth can we imagine a place of 
 safety suitable to the high dignity of having the seal 
 of the living God fixed upon them for deliverance ? 
 It may well be asked, Have we no intimation whatever 
 given respecting it? Are we left totally in the dark 
 on this most interesting of all subjects? 
 
 I have just observed, that the completeness of the 
 number saved is so perfect that it must include the 
 whole church of Christ, the servants of God, in every 
 part of the world, an innumerable company of all 
 nations and kindreds and people and tongues. Let 
 us then attend to the next verse, in which the 
 Apostle tells us what he saw after he heard the 
 number that was sealed. He begins by describing it 
 as something most remarkable and surprising. He 
 says : 
 
102 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " After this ! beheld, and lo, a great multitude 1 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 they cry with a 
 loud voice, saying, The salvation be ascribed to our God who 
 sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. M (vii. 9, 10.) 
 
 I take it for wanted that these words must be con- 
 sidered to have an immediate and direct connection 
 with, and a reference to, what goes before; otherwise it 
 may well be asked, Why are they placed in this po- 
 sition ? Taken thus, and in their plain straight-for- 
 ward meaning, they furnish a full, comprehensive, 
 and satisfactory answer to the question above pro- 
 pounded, regarding the nature of the preservation 
 for which the servants of God are sealed ; and fur- 
 nish the next piece of information in the historical 
 narrative for which the mind is prepared and expects. 
 If it be,indeed, a different kind of preservation to what 
 we might expect, or to what we might judge would be 
 adopted, still we must remember that it is not our wis- 
 dom, but God's, that is concerned in the matter; and 
 our only anxiety therefore should be to ascertain 
 what He hath determined ; and each of us to say, 
 with Mary of old, (and happy indeed it is for us 
 that we may say it,) " Be it unto me according to thy 
 word." 
 
 I will, First, observe, that the great multitude 
 here spoken of is beheld by the Apostle, not in any 
 place on the earth, or in connection with kings, 
 warriors, or any other of the inhabitants of the 
 earth ; but they are beheld in the Heaven where God 
 
THE PRESERVED COMPANY. 103 
 
 reigns ; they are beheld "standing before the throne 
 of God and the Lamb." They are beheld with the 
 insignia of perfect purity and of victory — with ° white 
 robes and palms # in their hands," a state compatible 
 only with Heaven : and they are surrounded by, and 
 in the presence of, ° all the angels that stand round 
 about the throne ;" and by the elders, the spirits of 
 just men made perfect ; and by the four living crea- 
 tures, or the general assembly of the church of the 
 first-born, which are written in Heaven. 
 
 Secondly. I would observe, that this great multi- 
 tude is evidently a newly arrived company. 
 
 1. This is very apparent from the surprise the 
 apostle expressed on beholding it. tc After this," he 
 says, " I beheld, and lo !" — language which could 
 not have been used, had that multitude been there 
 before. 
 
 2. From the individuals of it forming no part of 
 the previous inhabitants of Heaven — for these have 
 been fully described in Chapters Fourth and Fifth, as 
 consisting only of God the Triune Jehovah, of the 
 elders and four living creatures, and of the angels; 
 which are, in verse 11th, each and separately brought 
 forward, independent of this great multitude. The 
 latter, therefore, could not form a part of any of the 
 former, but must constitute a separate class of them- 
 selves. 
 
 3. The question asked, in verse 13, supposes the 
 same thing : " These, clothed in white robes, who are 
 they, and whence came they ?" 
 
 This is then the first thing I would establish— viz. 
 
104 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 that this great multitude, seen by the apostle imme- 
 diately after the servants of God are sealed, and 
 immediately before the four winds of heaven are 
 loosened, is a company newly arrived in Heaven, of a 
 class totally separate and distinct from any of its 
 former inhabitants : not the elders, or those who 
 have been raised from the dead — not the four living 
 creatures, or the spirits of the unrisen dead — neither 
 are they the angels ! 
 
 " And they cry with a loud voice, saying, The salvation be 
 ascribed to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and to the 
 Lamb ! " (verse 10.) 
 
 Thirdly. From these words I would observe that 
 this newly-arrived company, this great multitude 
 from all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues, have just experienced, through the;favourof 
 God and the Lamb, a great salvation ! a salva- 
 tion responded to in the warmest terms by the other 
 inhabitants of Heaven, as appears by the following 
 verses : — 
 
 u And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about 
 the elders, and the four living creatures, and fell upon 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." (vers. 11, 12.) 
 
 It is observable that here is no mention of "The 
 salvation " — this is exclusively confined to the newly- 
 arrived company mentioned in the 9th verse; and 
 therefore by them alone it has been experienced. 
 And it is not, as in our translation,, merely " salva- 
 tion," omitting the definite article by which the 
 
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 105 
 
 point and immediate application is lost; but it is 
 The salvation : some particular great deliverance is 
 referred to, which ie with a loud voice they ascribe to 
 God and the Lamb ! "■ And this alone is the burden 
 of their song : — they are so overpowered by the 
 mercy and love that have been shewn to them — they 
 are so alive to the tremendous evils from which they 
 have been delivered ; and they are so sensible that all 
 is the result of sovereign and triumphant grace; 
 that, "as with the voice of many waters, and as the 
 voice of loud thunder, and as harpers playing 
 with their harps, they sang — they sang as it were a 
 new song before the throne, and before the four 
 living creatures, and the elders ; and no one was 
 able to learn that song, except the hundred and 
 forty and four thousand which were redeemed 
 from the earth."* And that new song, which 
 no one was able to learn, was, "The salvation 
 
 BE ASCRIBED TO OUR GoD, WHICH SITTETH UPON 
 THE THRONE, AND TO THE LAMB I " 
 
 " And one of the elders spake, saying unto me, Who are 
 these that are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they ? 
 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, 
 These are they which are come out of the great tribulation, 
 and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
 of the Lamb." (vers. 13, 14.) 
 
 It is a remarkable peculiarity in prophetic his- 
 tory, that when the most important feature of a 
 prophecy is about to be revealed or disclosed, it 
 
 * Rev.xiv. 2, 3. 
 F 5 
 
106 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 is frequently thrown in the form of question and 
 answer. Several of such have been noticed in the 
 Old Testament prophecies. For instance, in Dan. 
 viii. 13 : " Then I heard one saint speaking, and 
 another saint said unto that certain saint which 
 spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the 
 daily sacrifice ?" &c* Again, in Dan. xii. 5, 6 : 
 "Then I Daniel looked, and heboid there stood 
 other two, the one on this side the bank of the 
 river, and the other on that side the bank of the 
 river. And one said to the man clothed in linen, 
 which was upon the waters of the river, How long 
 shall it be to the end of these wonders.' "f 
 
 Our attention being thus called, in a similar way, 
 in the present instance, to the climax of the pro- 
 phecy ; and arrested by the anticipation of a ques- 
 tion which we ourselves should naturally put — 
 " These that are arrayed in white robes, who are 
 they, and whence came they?" This newly-arrived 
 great multitude, standing before the throne of God, 
 and before the Lamb! — our curiositv is excited in 
 the highest degree to know who they are? What 
 follows shows that the question was put to the 
 Apostle by one of the elders, for the purpose of giv- 
 ing him a reply, and that reply was — and it forms the 
 
 Fourth observation I would make respecting this 
 surprising multitude, — "These are they/' said he, 
 u that came out of the great tribulation ;" or more 
 intensely, according to the original Greek, " the Tri- 
 
 * Diss. ch. xi. pp. 294—297. f Ibid. ch. xiv. pp. 375, 376. 
 
THE DELIVERANCE ETERNAL. 107 
 
 bulation, the great one ;" for although, in our trans- 
 lation, there is no article, yet there is in reality a dou- 
 ble one : it is emphatically " the Tribulation, the 
 great one," from which this innumerable company 
 have come. 
 
 "Therefore 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 shall lead them unto living fountains of waters : and God 
 shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (ver. 15 — 17.) 
 
 From these expressions of condolence and com- 
 passionate love, we infer, that in the great tribula- 
 tion, through which this redeemed company have 
 passed, they have hungered, and they have thirsted ; 
 that the sun, or the ruling powers of the world, has 
 scorched or bitterly oppressed them ; and that their 
 eyes have been wet with tears. And we further 
 infer, that the deliverance they have experienced is 
 eternal — they shall suffer the evils they have gone 
 through " no more." 
 
 Fifthly. These observations seem sufficient to 
 prove that the great multitude, described in verse 
 9, and the sealed number of one hundred and forty 
 and four thousand, described in the preceding verses, 
 must be one and the same. This being the case, it 
 appears necessarily to follow, that as the one is 
 described before the Throne of God, the deliverance 
 
108 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 experienced must be a translation to heaven. 
 I know indeed of no commentator who has even hinted 
 at such a thing, except DeanWoodhouse, as this whole 
 chapter is generally explained away without any par- 
 ticular application. The Dean makes the following 
 casual observation, but, as if he were afraid to pursue 
 the idea, there leaves it: " Of the manner in which 
 the sealed of God shall be delivered in that day, we 
 can speak no farther than the assurances of other 
 passages of Scripture seem to warrant. Saint Paul 
 assures us, that, in the great day of the Lord, the 
 pious Christians then alive shall be caught up to 
 the Lord * by a glorious deliverance ; which seems 
 to accord with that described in the prophecy now 
 before us. 
 
 (1) That this reasoning is correct, might be 
 inferred, because the description both of the sealed 
 company, and that before the throne, must necessarily 
 consist of persons from " all nations, kindreds, people, 
 and tongues," as has been already explained ; and as 
 one in the regular order of narrative immediately fol- 
 lows the other, and both have a direct reference to that 
 which causes the suspension of God's judgments, there 
 appears no alternative but to consider them the same. 
 In fact, it might be asked, what other can they be ? 
 
 (2) The two companies appear to be unquestion- 
 ably the same, from the circumstance of the first- 
 mentioned being said to be sealed for deliverance 
 
 * 1 Thess. iv. 7. 
 
TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN. 109 
 
 from a great catastrophe that was coming upon the 
 earth; and the second being introduced as celebrat- 
 ing with loud voice a great deliverance wrought for 
 them, by him whose seal the hundred and forty-four 
 thousand are said to have impressed upon their fore- 
 heads ! The events, therefore, must have relation 
 to one and the same multitude in regular consecutive 
 order. 
 
 (3.) Because the act of sealing the servants of God, 
 appears to have reference, as above explained,* 
 to the effect of that persecution which Daniel de- 
 scribes is to happen at this time, in which " many 
 shall be purified, and made white, and tried:" it 
 is likewise the same point of time, when it is 
 moreover said u the wicked shall do wickedly, " the 
 latter causing the former. And such a state, it is 
 directly expressed, the great multitude before the 
 throne of God and the Lamb have just passed 
 through, calling it a very great tribulation. 
 
 These considerations appear sufficient to set the 
 question at rest, that the deliverance spoken of 
 must be, as I have above expressed, a translation to 
 heaven! But we are not left to mere conjecture, or 
 even to extreme probabilities, or to the requirements 
 of regular connected historic narrative. The question 
 admits of a certain reply, which, 
 
 (4.) Is to be found in the after-mention of this hun- 
 dred and forty-four thousand, exactly in the same 
 order, as to time and circumstances, but brought 
 
 * See page 98. 
 
HO CHAPTER VI. 
 
 forward in another line of prophecy. This is to be 
 found in chapter xiv., which, in connection 
 with chap, vii., may be read as follows : — " After the 
 commotions and wars of the French revolution had 
 ceased, I saw the final exterminating wars suspended, 
 until the servants of God were sealed in their 
 foreheads. The numbers sealed I heard described 
 under the symbol of one hundred and forty-four 
 thousand of all the tribes of Israel. And 1 looked, 
 and lo ! the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and 
 with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, 
 having his name, and the name of his Father, written 
 upon their foreheads. And they sang, as it were, a 
 new song before the throne, and before the 
 four livinor creatures, and the elders. 5 ' But there 
 still remains, as an additional confirmation, one other 
 remarkable expression — "and no one was able to 
 learn the" song but the hundred and forty and four 
 thousand, which were redeemed from the earth," 
 not from the grave ! And the expression is again 
 more fully repeated in the next verse :* " These were 
 redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits to 
 God and the Lamb !" 
 
 Nothing can more clearly identify the sealed num- 
 ber with those before the throne, than these words; 
 and it does not appear possible to accommodate any 
 event to meet the requirements of the true church 
 beino* found in such a state and place, and in such 
 honour, redeemed from the earth — redeemed from 
 
 • Rev. xiv. 4, 5. 
 
TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN. HI 
 
 amongst men ; but by the admission of a translation 
 direct from earth to heaven. It is an event which 
 our Saviour himself leads us to expect will some time 
 or other happen, when he says, " And he shall send 
 his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
 shall gather together his elect from the four winds, 
 from one end of heaven to the other."* " Then shall 
 two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the 
 other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at 
 the mill ; the one shall be taken, and the other left."f 
 
 And looking at the nature of the judgments from 
 which the righteous, by this superlatively glorious 
 interposition, are to be rescued ; remembering that 
 they are described in language conveying ideas of 
 the most complete and perfect destruction, attended 
 with the most unmitigated horrors of war and blood 
 and national ruin, it seems impossible to imagine any 
 mode of safety than what is miraculous. 
 
 It appears to me that the feeling of every right- 
 minded Christian on the subject ought to be this ; 
 that seeing God so loved the world, as to give his only 
 begotten Son to bleed and to die for us; seeing the 
 subjects of his grace are so precious in his sight as 
 he hath declared they are ; remembering what he 
 has done, and what he has said he will do, for their 
 sakes, and the honour which is assuredly laid up 
 for them, and which they all allow and expect ; 
 that there is nothing here predicted which ought or 
 need to be incredible, nothing but what, supported 
 
 * 
 
 * Matt. xxiv. 31. t Ver. 40, 41. 
 
112 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 by such evidence, they may well believe ; — for, after 
 all, however startling at the first sight it may ap- 
 pear — however contrary to our previously conceived 
 ideas — there is really nothing but what is analogous 
 to God's former proceedings. 
 
 Every believer believes, or professes to believe, 
 that his soul shall be conveyed to heaven on its 
 dismission from the body; and what, if God wills, 
 on closing the present dispensation, that He will 
 magnify his own grace in doing a new thing in 
 the sight of an apostate and persecuting world, and 
 indeed a world which up to that moment has bitterly 
 persecuted his servants? — what, if He wills to shew 
 their value in his sight, by sending, as in the case of 
 Elijah, chariots of fire and horses of fire to convey 
 them to heaven — what is there in all this incom- 
 patible with their high calling I what is there to 
 which they need object ? The real difference 
 consists only in the method of conveyance. The end 
 that awaits all believers is substantially the same, 
 whether they pass through the territories of the 
 grave, or are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 
 May each soul, therefore, say, ,c Lord, I believe, help 
 thou mine unbelief. 9 * 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL ; 
 Or a Solemn Pause. 
 
 " And when he opened the Seventh Seal, there was silence in 
 heaven about the space of half an hour." (viii. 1.) 
 
 In reflecting upon the contents of this seal, or the 
 
o '£►>. 
 
 THE SEVENTH SEAL. 
 
 seventh opened roll, or volume, or book, which, com- 
 pared with the six former ones, is a very small one, 
 we must recollect where the last, or sixth seal, as 
 above described, left us. It left us with the church 
 translated to heaven before the throne of God, as a 
 deliverance from the overwhelming misery and ruin 
 that were coming upon the world. The opening ot 
 this seal, therefore, must be some new position or 
 epoch in the empire, which we may suppose to arise 
 from the most fearful apprehensions of the coming 
 vengeance and ruin, — an epoch which will be charac- 
 terized by an entire cessation from action, for this 
 the word M silence," used as a symbol, signifies — 
 a cessation something like what we should de- 
 signate a state of paralysis — an awful pause in 
 the immediate and certain prospect of utter and 
 overwhelming ruin. It will be a pause, a solemn 
 pause — the nations awaiting in anxious and tremulous 
 suspense the blow that is to cause their extinction, 
 the extinction of the ten-kingdomed Roman empire — 
 and with that, that of the great image of Daniel, 
 the last of the Gentile monarchies of the world ! 
 
 The " Seals" therefore, or any act or new order of 
 things having the seals of empire, must, with this act 
 of " silence," be closed for ever ; and another series 
 of events which we shall now proceed to trace from 
 its beginning, and bring up to this point of time, will 
 carry on the short remainder of the history to millen- 
 nial blessedness, or the establishment of the kingdom 
 of Christ. 
 
114 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 I would conclude this part of the Book of the 
 Revelation with one or two general observations. 
 
 1. How near and intimate the heavenly world has 
 been brought to our view and recognition ! 
 
 2. How intimately the church in heaven appears 
 to be acquainted with the concerns of the church on 
 earth ! 
 
 This appears from the Apostle having been sum- 
 moned by the whole body of the general assembly 
 and church of the first-born in heaven, to " come 
 and see;" by the martyrs under the fifth seal know- 
 ing that vengeance was delayed ; and by one of the 
 " elders" giving the information respecting the newly- 
 arrived translated company before the throne ! The 
 parts assigned to such characters seem to be most 
 inappropriate, if we suppose them ignorant of what 
 was passing in the world. 
 
 3. I would again repeat, that we are brought, by 
 this series of events here detailed, to the near pros- 
 pect of a great persecution, and to an immediate 
 subsequent national ruin, ivithout the assistance of 
 any prophetical chronology. The very general 
 objection therefore, which on this score is made 
 to the study of this subject, does not apply here, 
 any more than in the historical narrative of Daniel's 
 last vision, in the latter part of his eleventh chap- 
 ter. * From both, we perceive that a certain 
 period of quietness is to be enjoyed, after the 
 commotions, wars, and changes occasioned by the 
 
 * Diss. ch. xiii. p. 344. 
 
THE SEVENTH SEAL. 115 
 
 French Revolution, previous to their renewal in 
 the most dreadful forms, which period of peace has 
 already run on for five-and-twenty years. It does 
 not appear, from the aspect of things, that it can last 
 much longer ; and therefore, as far as this considera- 
 tion can give them weight, so far the chronological 
 conclusions of my former work are strengthened and 
 confirmed. But much greater proof awaits us, as we 
 shall proceed with the explanation of the other lines 
 of this prophecy ; and with those other clearer and 
 more distinct signs of the times, with which they 
 abound, as they draw near to their termination. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE 
 ROMAN EMPIRE; 
 
 PARTICULARLY 
 
 UPON THE WESTERN EMPIRE, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 TERRIBLE INVASIONS OF THE GOTHS, VANDALS, 
 HUNS, AND. OTHER BARBARIANS. 
 
 THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 
 
 New Sej^ies of Events — Judgments for Sin — Explanation of the 
 Master Symbol — Prayers of the Righteous heard — Infliction 
 of horrid Wars — Connection of the first four Trumpets — They 
 are all Symbolical — The third part, meaning of— Barbarous 
 Nations — Destruction they caused— Unanimity of Commenta- 
 tors respecting the Interpretation uf the Trumpets — First 
 Trumpet, the Invasions of Alaric king of the Goths, and others 
 — Second Trumpet, those of Attila king of the Huns — Third 
 Trumpet, the devastation of Genseric king of the Vandals — 
 Fourth Trumpet, the extinction of the Imperial authority in 
 the West. 
 
118 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE 
 WESTERN EMPIRE, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 GOTHS, VANDALS, AND OTHER BARBARIANS. 
 
 Having contemplated the history of the church, 
 and the church's enemies, to the extent which 
 the series of events symbolized bv the seven seals 
 can carry us ; and having shewn that the seven 
 epochas thus signified, give a faithful picture of the 
 colour and complexion of the scenes it has exhibited, 
 as far as its own volutions and acts have brought them to 
 pass: we now proceed to a different series of events, 
 brought about by extrinsic causes, and by enemies to 
 the empire. And it deserves to be particularly 
 noticed, in what a very great degree the confused 
 mass of events of regular history is brought to order 
 and simplicity by this arrangement — that is, by 
 keeping the different classes of events, thus dis- 
 tinct and separate, and particularly when this is 
 done, as in the present instance, by a wisdom that 
 cannot err. 
 
 In the series which has already passed before us, 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS 119 
 
 we have seen a mournful spectacle of unparalleled 
 backsliding, an utter perversion of the truth, and 
 a rank corruption in morals, presented throughout 
 the whole surface of society. We now come to 
 another portion of history connected with " the fates 
 and fortunes " of the church, where we shall behold 
 the natural consequence of such an awful departure 
 from the truth, and such abounding wickedness. 
 And it is another lesson, if we would but attend to 
 it, written in the largest characters, that sin and a 
 rejection of God's most blessed Gospel, is, and that 
 in the most intense sense, followed by punishment in 
 nations as well as in individuals. God, as the righteous 
 governor of the universe, has ever displayed the unut- 
 terable holiness of his character, and his hatred to 
 sin by this course of procedure. We see it in the 
 judgment of the Deluge, in the destruction of Sodom 
 and Gomorrah, in the judgments upon Israel and 
 Judah; but we especially see it in the infliction of 
 Divine wrath upon the Son of God for the sins of 
 others. " He spared not," also, " the angels that 
 sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered 
 them unto chains of darkness, to be reserved unto 
 judgment."* 
 
 We have now to contemplate, in the new class of 
 events before us, the predicted vengeance on the 
 fearful backsliding, apostacy, and persecutions that 
 have been detailed in the events of the seven seals. 
 These are likewise divided into seven parts, or a 
 
 * 2 Peter ii. 4. 
 
120 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 full and perfect number; and the dreadful history is 
 thus introduced to our notice : — 
 
 " And I saw the seven angels who 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 with the prayer 
 of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. 
 And the smoke of the incense ascended with the prayers of the 
 saints, from the hand of the angel before God. And the angel 
 took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it 
 to the earth; and" there were voices, and thunderings, and 
 lightnings, and an earthquake." (Rev. viii. 2 — 5.) 
 
 With respect to this introduction, I would first 
 draw attention to the master-symbol here employed 
 — it is expressive of war. When the host of Israel 
 was to go forth to battle, the trumpkt was to give 
 the signal, and sound the alarm.* It was like- 
 wise the fearful signal of hostile invasion : and in 
 this sense we are here to understand it; " Shall the 
 trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be 
 afraid ? "t The nature of the events, signified by the 
 sounding of the seven trumpets, may therefore be 
 summed up in the following particulars : — 
 
 1st. They have been produced, not by means of 
 
 nternal wars, nor by any means which had, like the 
 
 former series of events, the seals of empire, but by the 
 
 instrumentality of barbarous nations situated beyond 
 
 the bounds of the Roman earth. 
 
 2d. They have been caused by great external 
 violence, in the way of invasions, rapid conquests, 
 and complete overthrows. 
 
 * Numb. x. 5. f Amos iii. 6 ; Jer. iv. 1 9. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 121 
 
 3d. They have uniformly been characterized by 
 the very worst evils attendant on war ; such as 
 indiscriminate slaughter, rapine, devastation, and 
 ruin. 
 
 In the second place, I would observe, that in this 
 introduction there is an assurance given to the 
 " saints/ 5 that their prayers shall be accepted, 'and that 
 they shall be taken care of during the continuance 
 of these horrible catastrophes. The altar before 
 which the angel stood was " the golden altar before 
 the throne," which stood before the mercy-seat, and 
 upon which was to be offered no strange incense;* 
 no strange fire ;f by no strange priest :J but in- 
 cense, offered thereon by the legal priests, was an 
 atonement for the people, § who accompanied this 
 offering with their prayers.^f It is therefore beauti- 
 fully symbolical of the efficacy and acceptance of the 
 prayers offered in these hours of danger; and as we 
 stand upon the verge of the lasi, the greatest, the 
 consummating of these stupendous inflictions of Di- 
 vine wrath, it affords one of the greatest encou- 
 ragements to us to pray much, and to pray fer- 
 vently, and to sigh, and without ceasing to cry for 
 the abominations of the land. 
 
 Thirdly. After " the smoke of the incense had 
 ascended with the prayers of the saints, from 
 the hand of the angel before God," the angel took 
 the censer, and filled it with fire. In Psalm 
 
 * Ex. xxx. 9, 38. f Lev. x. 1. | Num. xvi. 
 
 $ Num. xvi. 46. % Luke i. 10. 
 
122 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 xviii. 8, the wrath of God is compared to fire ; and the 
 effects of his wrath, which are war, famine, and other 
 scourges, are described under the same simile. # And 
 thus it is explained by Sir Isaac Newton, who 
 says, " burning any thing with fire is put for the 
 consuming thereof by war."f Such a fire was cast 
 upon " the earth," the Roman world, the territorial 
 platform of prophecy ; " and there were voices, and 
 thunderings, and lightnings," wars and hostile in- 
 vasions ; u and an earthquake/' or a complete over- 
 turning of the established order of things. So com- 
 plete indeed was the change effected by the first 
 four trumpets alone, that new forms of government, 
 new manners, new laws, new dresses, new languages, 
 new names of men and countries, were every where 
 throughout the Western empire introduced; while 
 the ancient inhabitants, including all the proud and 
 illustrious families, whose names are so conspicuous 
 in ancient history, were almost, and for any thing 
 we know to the contrary, entirely exterminated. 
 
 " And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared 
 themselves to sound, (ver. 6.) 
 
 FIRST TRUMPET. 
 
 " And the first angel sounded, and there were hail and fire 
 mingled with blood ; and they were cast upon the earth : and 
 the third part of the earth was burnt up; and a third part of 
 the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." 
 
 SECOND TRUMPET. 
 
 "And the second angel sounded; and, sls^ it were, a great 
 
 * Ps. Ixvi. 12 ; Jer. xlviii. 45. f Obs. on the Prop. p. 18. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 123 
 
 mountain, burning with fire was cast into the sea : and the third 
 part of the sea became blood ; and the third part of the crea- 
 tures in the sea, having life, died ; and the third part of the ships 
 was destroyed." 
 
 THIRD TRUMPET. 
 
 " And the third angel sounded ; and there fell from heaven a 
 great star, burning like a lamp ; and it fell upon the third part 
 of the rivers and fountains of waters. And the name of the star 
 is called the Wormwood : and the third part of the waters be- 
 came wormwood ; and many of the men died of the waters 
 because they were bitter.'' 
 
 FOURTH TRUMPET. 
 
 " 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 that a third part of them was darkened, and the 
 day shone not for the third part of it, and the night likewise." 
 
 (ch. viii. 7—12.) 
 
 I quite agree with Dean Woodhouse that these 
 four trumpets seem to have a general character. 
 "The attack, whose alarm is sounded, falls in a four- 
 fold division, — first, on the land ; for thus it seems to 
 me," he observes, u that the original word should be 
 translated, not in its t general signification of the 
 earthy as containing the land, sea, rivers, Sec; but 
 in its particular sense, as opposed to the sea, &c. : 
 secondly, on the sea : thirdly, on the rivers and 
 springs : fourthly, on the heavenly luminaries — the 
 sun, moon, and stars ; that is, on the whole of God's 
 creation. For in the fourteenth chapter of this book, 
 verse the seventh, God is described as the Creator 
 of all things under these divisions: u the heaven; 
 the earth ; and the sea ; and the springs of waters." 
 
 g 2 
 
124 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The same division of the visible world, (three of 
 them often, sometimes four) are to be seen in other 
 passages of Scripture.* 
 
 It must not be forgotten that these four distinct 
 natural parts of the empire are placed here as sym- 
 bols. It would be a violation of every principle of 
 consistency to suppose them otherwise ; as well as 
 an involution of the whole subject in a labyrinth of 
 difficulties and ludicrousness. They have, like all 
 the other symbols of this book, a reference to men, 
 not to things ; and, I consider, signify as follows : 
 the land — persons in a state of peace and quiet- 
 ness, under the authority of laws and a settled go- 
 vernment, where all is stable and firm : the sea — a 
 state, on the other hand, where persons are, from one 
 cause or other, loosened from such restraints ; and all 
 is an unsettled state of anarchy and confusion : 
 rivers and fountains of waters — the channels and 
 sources of its supplies, support, and strength : and 
 the heavenly luminaries — the king or emperor; his 
 court and subjects; and the nobility and persons in 
 high and responsible stations. 
 
 The next observation I have to make, is with re- 
 gard to the third part, so frequently mentioned in 
 t'lese four trumpets, and to explain that it here 
 refers altogether to the western part of the empire ; 
 as being that of the greatest extent, that of which 
 the city of Rome itself was the capital, and that 
 
 * See Is. li. 15, 16 ; Hosea iv. 3; Nalium i. 4, 5 ; Hab. ii, 6, 
 8, tl ; Zeeh. i. 3 ; Hagg. ii. 6; Phil. ii. 10. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 125 
 
 which alone answers to the symbols. The other two 
 portions of it were that of the East, of which Con- 
 stantinople, called by many " New Rome," was the 
 capital ; and that of the South, of which the metro- 
 polis, was Carthage, called by contemporary writers 
 " the Rome of the African world." This was the 
 most remarkable and eminent division of the univer- 
 sal and extensive Roman empire, and one that was 
 recognized even in St. John's days. The East and 
 the West are indeed alone prominent in history, and 
 therefore in prophecy ; because they only of the 
 three, had the halo and magnificence of a court 
 thrown around them, in consequence of each being, 
 in general, the residence of an emperor. It is evi- 
 dent, therefore, that in the prediction of these heavy 
 judgments, the limitation that we here find was 
 absolutely required ; and it is another instance of the 
 precision with which prophecy is given. For in- 
 stance, in the first trumpet, whilst it is said that only 
 one third of the earth was burnt up, and one third of 
 the trees, it is added that "all green grass was burnt 
 up ;" thereby signifying, that although only one third 
 part of the empire was thrown into a state of irre- 
 mediable confusion, and in which persons of superior 
 distinction lost their all ; yet that throughout the 
 whole empire its beauty and glory were defaced. It 
 no longer looked lovely to the eye of the mind, like 
 the green grass to the natural eye ; but from hence- 
 forth became, in all its length and breadth — for there 
 was scarcely any place where the feet of the barba- 
 rian armies had not trod — parched and barren. Its 
 
126 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 majesty and greatness, in all their ramifications, were 
 irrecoverably gone ! 
 
 The instruments which God made use of on these 
 occasions, to effect his purposes of vengeance, were 
 prodigious swarms of barbarians, situated beyond the 
 boundaries of the empire, in the then unknown 
 regions of the North — those countries in fact now 
 occupied by the Danes, Swedes, Saxons, Germans, 
 Poles, Russians, and Tartars. The savages with 
 which they at that time swarmed, are known in 
 history under the various names of Goths, Visigoths, 
 Ostrogoths, Huns, Vandals, Suevi, and others less 
 celebrated. These, in almost apparently endless 
 hordes, immediately after the death of the great 
 Theodosius, a.d. 395, successively pressed upon the 
 Empire with accelerated impetuosity; and, in less 
 than two centuries, brought about all the miseries 
 and ruin described in these four trumpets. 
 
 The celebrated historian, Dr. Robertson, thus 
 draws their character. " Wherever they marched 
 their rout was marked with blood. They ravaged or 
 destroyed all around them. They made no distinc- 
 tion between what was sacred and what was profane. 
 They respected no age, nor sex, nor rank. What 
 escaped the fury of the first inundation, perished in 
 those that followed it. The most fertile and popu- 
 lous provinces were converted into deserts, in which 
 were scattered the ruins of villages and cities, that 
 afforded shelter to a few miserable inhabitants, whom 
 chance had preserved, or the sword of the enemy, 
 wearied with destroying, had spared. The con- 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 127 
 
 querors who first settled in the countries which they 
 had wasted, were expelled or exterminated by new 
 invaders, who, coming from regions farther removed 
 from the civilized parts of the world, were still more 
 fierce and rapacious. This brought fresh calamities 
 upon mankind, which did not cease until the North, 
 by pouring forth successive swarms, was drained of 
 people, and could no longer furnish instruments of 
 destruction. Famine and pestilence, which always 
 march in the train of war, when it ravages with such 
 inconsiderate cruelty, raged in every part of Europe, 
 and completed its sufferings. If a man were called 
 to fix upon a period in the history of the world, 
 during which the condition of the human race were 
 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. The contemporary authors, who 
 beheld that scene of desolation and labour, are at a 
 loss to describe the horror of it. The scourge of God — 
 the destroyer of nations — are the dreadful epithets by 
 which they distinguish the most noted of the barba- 
 rian leaders ; and they compare the ruin which they 
 brought on the world, to the havoc occasioned by 
 earthquakes, conflagrations, or deluges, — the most 
 formidable and fatal calamities which the imagina- 
 tion of man can conceive." 
 
 The above concluding observation, which, it will 
 be perceived, was made without any reference to 
 Scripture symbols, is very striking, when viewed in 
 connexion with those we are considering — an earth- 
 
128 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 quake being mentioned in ver. 5 ; a storm or deluge 
 of hail and fire in ver. 7 ; a burning mountain in 
 ver. 8 : and a fiery meteor in ver. 10. 
 
 These terrific images indeed so naturally apply to 
 events of this description, that less difference of 
 opinion has, in consequence, been found to exist 
 amongst commentators on this part of the apocalypse 
 than any other : and the names of Brightman, Mede, 
 Poole, Jurieu, Godwin, Fleming, Whiston, Sir Isaac 
 Newton, Daubuz, Lowman, Bishop Newton, Faber, 
 Frere, Fry, Scott, Jones, Cuninghame, and others, 
 may be adduced, as all applying them, with no essen- 
 tial difference of opinion, to those calamities which 
 brought about the fall of the Western Empire. 
 
 I will now proceed very briefly to notice those 
 events of this character which most distinctly and 
 most prominently bear upon, and agree with, the four 
 first trumpets above quoted. 
 
 First. Although for half a century before the 
 time of Theodosius, even in the reign of Constantine, 
 the empire had been seriously threatened by the 
 Goths, it was not until that of the Emperor Valens 
 that they were admitted within its bounds. From 
 henceforward they had been kept in a state of sub- 
 jection by the firm and temperate character, and by 
 the warlike abilities, of Theodosius, on whose single 
 life the safety of the tottering state seemed to 
 depend. No sooner therefore was this great prince 
 laid in his grave, than in a.d. 396, the first irruption 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 129 
 
 of these Northern barbarians took place, and the 
 irreparable work of destruction seriously commenced. 
 " The savage warriors of Scythia issued from their 
 forests, directed by the bold and artful genius of 
 Alaric, a name dreadfully pre-eminent in these 
 scenes of destruction ; and crossing the Danube near 
 its mouth, pursued with almost unvaried success, for 
 sixteen or seventeen years, their desolating course." 
 The whole territory of Attica — a Corinth, Argos, and 
 Sparta — yielded without resistance to the arms of 
 the Goths ; their villages and cities were burnt, their 
 males massacred, and their beautiful females driven 
 away like cattle." This route, it may be interesting 
 to the Christian reader to notice, took in the cities 
 of Thessalonia, Phillippi, Berea, Athens, and oth^r 
 places mentioned in the New Testament. 
 
 At length, after devastating the shores of Panno- 
 nia, Istria, and Venice, the tremendous sound of the 
 Gothic trumpet was heard under the walls of Rome, 
 which, after a third siege, and eleven hundred and 
 sixty-three years from the time of its foundation, was 
 taken ! So cruel a slaughter was made of the inha- 
 bitants, that it is said the streets of the city were 
 filled with the dead bodies, which remained for a long 
 time unburied. " The despair of the citizens was 
 sometimes converted into fury ; and whenever the 
 barbarians were provoked by opposition, they ex- 
 tended the promiscuous massacre to the feeble, the 
 innocent, and the helpless." This was attended with 
 a general pillage of its immense treasures, the spoils 
 
 g 5 
 
130 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 of the world ; and the most horrid cruelties were 
 committed to discover and obtain them. At the end 
 of six days the city was evacuated, when the law- 
 less savages pursued their route into the Southern 
 provinces of Italy, where Alaric, after destroying 
 whatever opposed his passage, ended his days a.d. 
 411 ; and his successor, making peace with the 
 Emperor, passed over into Gaul. 
 
 Meanwhile, again from the cold regions of the 
 North, another very numerous swarm of barbarians, 
 under Rhadagast, burst upon the banks of the Upper 
 Danube, and passing over into Italy, besieged Flo- 
 rence, and threatened Rome. Being stopped in this 
 quarter, they crossed the Rhine, and entered Gaul, 
 as France was then called; and " this memorable 
 passage," says Gibbon, " may be considered as the 
 fall of the Roman empire in the countries beyond the 
 Alps ; and the barriers, which had so long separated 
 the savage and civilized nations of the earth, may be 
 considered from that fatal moment levelled with the 
 ground. The banks of the Rhine were crowded, like 
 those of the Tiber, with elegant houses and well-cul- 
 tivated farms. This scene of peace and plenty was 
 suddenly changed into a desert ; and the prospect of 
 the smoking ruins could alone distinguish the soli- 
 tude of nature from the desolations of man. The 
 consuming flames of war spread from the banks of 
 the Rhine over the greater part of the seventeen 
 provinces of Gaul ! That rich and extensive country 
 was delivered to the barbarians, who drove all before 
 
THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS. 131 
 
 them in one promiscuous crowd, — the bishop, the 
 senator, and the virgin, laden with the spoil of their 
 houses and altars." 
 
 After spreading these dreadful ravages throughout 
 that country, the Vandals and other tribes, in 409, 
 entered Spain, which, in like manner, they overran, 
 and ravaged. " At length, satiated with carnage and 
 rapine, and afflicted by the contagious evils which 
 they themselves had introduced, they fixed their 
 permanent seats in the depopulated country." 
 
 But this furious and destructive Northern hail- 
 storm did not stop here. Having, as we have seen, 
 ravaged the East and the West, it was, in order that 
 no part of the Roman earth should escape its devas- 
 tating influence, in the year 429 carried into the 
 South. At that time, the Vandals, under the com- 
 mand of Genseric, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, 
 and invaded the African provinces, which were ex- 
 tremely populous: and the country itself so fruitful, 
 that it deserved and attained the name of the granary 
 of Rome and mankind. {< On a sudden, the seven 
 provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli, were overwhelmed 
 by the invasion of the Vandals. War, in its fairest 
 form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and 
 justice ; and the hostilities of barbarians are inflamed 
 by the fierce and lawless spirit which incessantly 
 disturbs their peaceful and domestic society. 
 
 The Vandals, where they found resistance, seldom 
 gave quarter : and the deaths of their valiant coun- 
 trymen were expiated by the ruin of the cities under 
 whose walls they had fallen. Careless of the distinc- 
 
!32 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 tions of age, or sex, or rank, they employed every 
 species of indignity and torture, to force from the 
 captives a discovery of their hidden wealth." * In 
 a.d. 439, about ten years from the time of their first 
 1 nvasion of Africa, they surprised and took Carthage, 
 its capital ; where, after Genseric had permitted his 
 licentious troops to satiate their rage and avarice, he 
 introduced a more regular system of rapine and 
 oppression, enjoining all persons, without fraud or 
 delay, to deliver their gold, silver, jewels, and valuable 
 furniture or apparel ; and the attempt to secrete any 
 part thereof, was inexorably punished with death or 
 torture. 
 
 Thus completely did the storm of hail, and fire, and 
 blood beat upon the whole Roman earth, whereby its 
 beauty was throughout irreparably defaced : "All 
 green grass was burnt up," East, West, and South. 
 It was, nevertheless, but " a third part" that was 
 parched by its continuance. The hail-stones formed 
 a thick and permanent lodging in the Western empire 
 only. From this portion of the figurative world they 
 were never removed : and many ages of war and 
 darkness followed, during which the fruits of peace, 
 and science, and civilization were completely blasted 
 and burnt up." f 
 
 History thus bears witness, that the effects of this 
 first trumpet exactly accords with the prophecy- 
 "The Roman earth/' again to quote from Mr. Faber, 
 u was dreadfully desolated in all its three divisions : 
 
 * Gibbon. -}• Faber. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 133 
 
 but while the Eastern empire recovered itself from 
 the visitation, and while the Vandalic kingdom soon 
 melted away in Africa, the Western empire," one 
 third part of the land, and one third part of the trees, 
 M was permanently occupied, and parcelled out into 
 various sovereignties, by the victorious warriors of the 
 north." 
 
 Second. Scarcely had the tempest of the first 
 trumpet, after sweeping its most destructive course 
 from one end of the empire to the other, spent itself 
 in the extreme provinces of Africa, than the second 
 trumpet sounded! and a "great mountain burning 
 with fire," in other words, a great and warlike nation, 
 burning with hostile and sanguinary rage, was cast 
 into it, unsettled and weakened as it was, and " it 
 became blood !" 
 
 This great nation was the kingdom of the Huns, 
 which, at the time it was now about to be brought 
 into action, was under the sway of a sovereign, whose 
 very name carried terror with it, and who was em- 
 phatically called, The scourge of God. " If aline of 
 separation/' says Gibbon, " were drawn between the 
 civilized and the savage climate of the globe, Attila 
 might aspire to the title of supreme and sole monarch 
 of the barbarians. He alone^ among the conquerors 
 of ancient and modern times, united the two mighty 
 kingdoms of Germany and Scythia; and those vague 
 appellations, when they are applied to his reign, may 
 be understood with an ample latitude. The crowd 
 of vulgar kings, the leaders of so many martial 
 
134 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 tribes, who served under the standard of Attila, were 
 ranged in the submissive order of guards and domes- 
 tics, round the person of their master. They watched 
 his nod, they trembled at his frown; and at the first 
 signal of his will they executed, without murmur or 
 hesitation, his stern and absolute commands. In 
 time of peace, the dependent princes, with their 
 national troops, attended the royal camp in regular 
 succession ; but when Attila collected his military 
 force, he was able to bring into the field an army of 
 five, or, according to another account, of seven hun- 
 dred thousand barbarians." 
 
 Such, according to the faithful voice of well- 
 authenticated history, was the kingdom which, in 
 pursuance to the high decree of Heaven, was about to 
 be precipitated on the almost defenceless and yet 
 bleeding empire. The fatal blast sounded in the 
 year 441 ; and until the death of Attila in 453, for 
 twelve years, the Western empire, the same " third 
 part " that had so severely suffered before, again 
 became drenched with blood. This third part of the 
 subjects or inhabitants of the Roman jurisdiction 
 u died/' as to their ancient polity ; and the "■ third 
 part " of the cities — the emporiums of trade or com- 
 merce, as M ships " are to the literal sea — were 
 destroyed. But the beauty and significancy of the 
 application of the symbols of this trumpet, admit still 
 of a finer illustration. A burning mountain cast into 
 the sea, whatever mischief it might do during the 
 period it was on fire, would in time be extinguished. 
 And this was the case, in a remarkable manner, with 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 135 
 
 the kingdom of the Huns. In the first place, Attila 
 himself was suddenly and prematurely seized by 
 the hand of death, as he was meditating an attack on 
 Rome, from which purpose he had been diverted the 
 previous year ; and in the next place, the Huns, after 
 the loss of their king, returned without the bounds of 
 the empire ; and unlike the other barbarous nations, 
 although they had left such indelible traces of their 
 inroads, never had a fixed settlement within it: it is 
 the language of Gibbon, speaking of the fate of this 
 pecfple, "and finally extinguished the empire of the 
 Huns." 
 
 The track pursued by Attila will be best given in 
 the language of the historian, who, after naming the 
 defences of the Illyrian frontier, says, M But these 
 obstacles were instantly swept away by the inundation 
 of the Huns. They attacked with fire and sword 
 the populous cities of Sirmium and Singidunum, of 
 Retiaria and Marcianopolis, of Niassus and Sardica, 
 where every circumstance, in the discipline of the 
 people, and the construction of the buildings, had 
 been gradually adapted to the sole purposes of de- 
 fence. The whole breadth of Europe, as it extends 
 above five hundred miles from the Euxine to the 
 Adriatic, was at once invaded, and occupied, and 
 desolated by the myriads of barbarians whom Attila 
 led into the field. The armies of the Eastern empire 
 were vanquished in three successive engagements : 
 and the progress of Attila may be traced by the fields 
 of battle. From the Hellespont to Thermopylae, and 
 
I3(j CHAPTER VII. 
 
 the suburbs of Constantinople, he ravaged without 
 resistance, and without mercy, the provinces of 
 Thrace and Macedonia. Heraclea and Hadrianople 
 might, perhaps, escape this dreadful eruption of the 
 Huns: but words expressive of the total extirpation 
 or erasure, are applied to the calamities which they 
 inflicted on seventy cities of the Eastern empire. — 
 A pause at length seemed to take place: but it 
 was a passing semblance, rather than a permanent 
 reality. In the year 446, the Constantinopolitan 
 emperor concluded an ignominious peace with Attila : 
 but, in the year 450, the restless Hun threatened 
 alike both the East and the West. Mankind 
 awaited his decision with awful suspense." — The 
 fiery mountain was however now cast into Gaul and 
 Italy. After ravaging the former of those countries 
 with his usual savage barbarity, he was at length 
 stopped in the plains of Chalons by a great defeat 
 from the allied Roman armies, u the last victory which 
 was achieved in the name of the Western empire." 
 
 " Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputa- 
 tion of Attila, were impaired by the Gallic expedition. 
 He passed the Alps, invaded Italy, and besieged 
 Aquilea with an innumerable host of barbarians. The 
 succeeding generation could scarcely discover its ruins. 
 After this dreadful chastisement, Attila pursued his 
 march ; and, as he passed, the cities of Altinum, Con- 
 cordia, and Padua, were reduced to heaps of stones 
 and ashes. The inland towns, Vicenza, Verona, and 
 Bergamo, were exposed to the rapacious cruelty of the 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 137 
 
 Huns. Milan and Pavia submitted without resist- 
 ance to the loss of their wealth. Attilathen spread 
 his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy ; 
 which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the 
 Alps and Appenines. It is a saying worthy of the 
 ferocious pride of Attila, that the grass never grew 
 where his horse had trod ! " 
 
 Third. About two years after the death of Attila, 
 and the evacuation of the Empire by the Huns, the 
 third fatal blast sounded ! and the formidable Gen- 
 seric, king of the Vandals, a name already noticed 
 under the first trumpet, and a name classed by 
 Gibbon as of equal rank with that of Alaric and 
 Attila in the destruction of the Western empire, fell 
 as " a great star burning as it were a lamp/' upon 
 those parts that were the channels and sources of its 
 supplies and riches, and made them very c< bitter." 
 These parts, as it regarded the present prosperity of 
 the Empire, were those of a maritime nature, and 
 the dominion of the seas. 
 
 Genseric made the first serious commencement with 
 the city of Rome itself; the pomp and luxury of 
 which were, in the forty-five years that had elapsed 
 since the Gothic invasion, in some measure restored. 
 In the year 455, he sailed from the port of Carthage, 
 and landed at the mouth of the Tiber ; and Rome, 
 so lately the queen of nations, was now utterly de- 
 fenceless, and unable to resist the arms of a barbaric 
 leader. During fourteen days and nights this great 
 metropolis of the world was given up to the ferocity 
 
138 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 of the Vandals, and the licentiousness of the Moors; 
 and by these reckless hordes it was plundered of 
 all that yet remained to it from former conquerors, of 
 public or private wealth, of sacred or profane trea- 
 sure. Among other spoils of the former kind, those 
 which had been taken from the temple at Jerusalem, 
 on its destruction by Titus nearly four hundred years 
 before, were transferred, on this occasion, from Rome 
 to Carthage. Having thus satiated at once his ra- 
 pacity and his cruelty, the haughty Vandal hoisted 
 sail, carrying with him immense treasures, and an 
 innumerable multitude of captives, amongst whom 
 were the empress Eudoxia, and her two daughters. 
 
 From this time, for many years onwards, the king- 
 dom of Italy, a name to which the Western empire 
 was gradually reduced, was afflicted and embittered 
 by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. 
 c< In the spring of each year they equipped a for- 
 midable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric 
 himself, although in a very advanced age, still 
 commanded in person the most important expedi- 
 tions. His designs were concealed with impene- 
 trable secrecy till the moment he hoisted sail. 
 When he was asked by his pilot what course he 
 should steer, ' Leave the determination to the winds 
 (replied the barbarian with pious arrogance) ; they 
 will transport us to the guilty coast whose inhabi- 
 tants have provoked the Divine justice ;' but if 
 Genseric himself deigned to issue more precise 
 orders, he judged the most wealthy to be the most 
 criminal. The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS. 139 
 
 of Spain, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, 
 Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, 
 Epirus, Greece, and Sicily : they were tempted to 
 subdue the island of Sardinia, so advantageously 
 placed in the centre of the Mediterranean; and 
 their arms spread desolation or terror, from the 
 columns of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile." 
 
 Thus, like a blazing meteor, did they fall upon 
 the allegorical rivers and fountains of waters; "the 
 celerity of their motions," adds the historian, 
 " enabling them at the same time to threaten and 
 to attack the most distant objects which attracted 
 their desires ; and as they always embarked a suffi- 
 cient number of horses, they had no sooner landed 
 than they swept the dismayed country with a body 
 of light cavalry." 
 
 But this portentous star was only to make one- 
 third of the waters thus become wormwood; and 
 accordingly the unconscious testimony of the his- 
 torian goes on to add, u the fury of the Vandals 
 was confined to the limits of the Western 
 Empire ! "* Genseric continued to be the tyrant of 
 the sea, continuing his depredations for about the 
 space of twenty years from the sack of Rome, and 
 did not die until he had beheld the extinction of 
 the empire of the West. 
 
 There is another and more emphatic sense in which 
 he deserves the appellation of a star, or angel of a 
 church,f inasmuch as he was the propagator and 
 
 ♦Gibbon. f Rev. i. 20. 
 
140 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 champion of the Arian heresy, and a ruler in eccle- 
 siastical affairs wherever his conquests extended. 
 In this respect his fiery and desolating course is, 
 with strict regard to symbolical language, designated 
 by the words M burning as it were a lamp ;" for his 
 name stands in dreadful pre-eminence, not merely 
 as a destroyer of nations, but as a ruthless and 
 savage persecutor of the Lord's people. Gibbon 
 says, u The cruel and absurd enterprize of subduing 
 the minds of a whole people, was undertaken by the 
 Vandals alone. Genseric himself, in his early youth, 
 had renounced the orthodox communion; and the 
 apostate could neither grant nor expect a sincere 
 forgiveness. He was exasperated to find that the 
 African who had fled before him in the field, still 
 presumed to dispute his will in the synods and 
 churches ; and his ferocious mind was incapable of 
 fear, or of compassion. His Catholic subjects were 
 oppressed by intolerant laws and arbitrary punish- 
 ments. The language of Genseric was furious and 
 formidable : the knowledge of his intentions might 
 justify the most unfavourable interpretation of his 
 actions : and the Arians were reproached with the 
 frequent executions which stained the palace and 
 dominions of the tyrant." The same historian im- 
 mediately afterwards speaks of " the religious war," 
 and says that " persecution was made the serious 
 and important business of the Vandal court." 
 
 Acting on this principle, throughout all his ex- 
 tensive ravages, he not only spoiled private houses, 
 palaces, and public buildings, but he stripped the 
 
THE FOUR FIRST SEALS. 141 
 
 churches of their riches and ornaments; rased them 
 in most instances to the ground ; seized their reve- 
 nues ; sent their bishops into exile, or to the slaugh- 
 ter; and maimed, and otherwise tormented or slew, 
 such as were nobly firm and inflexible in acknow- 
 ledging the Deity of God their Saviour. Thus in 
 every sense were * the waters made bitter, and 
 many men died of the waters because they were 
 made bitter." 
 
 Fourth. The deeply marked lines of desola- 
 tion inflicted on the Empire by the three trumpets 
 already considered, were of that destructive and per- 
 manent character, and they had so completely 
 overthrown the vast colossal power of Rome in the 
 West, that it required no nexo enemy from beyond 
 the bounds of the Empire, no new fiery mountain 
 or blazing star, to finish the work of desolation 
 in the subversion of the imperial throne. " The 
 remnant, or the refuse of previous invasions, was 
 enough to destroy the last remaining parts of Roman 
 greatness in Italy, and to abolish the office and the 
 name of the Emperor of Rome." 
 
 Accordingly, on the sounding of the fourth 
 trumpet, Odoacer, king of the Heruli — a bold 
 barbarian, and popular leader of the confederate 
 troops of Italy, of whom no new symbol or similitude 
 is given, as in the three former instances — in the 
 year 476 stripped the emperor Augustulus of his 
 imperial robes, and every shadow of Roman great- 
 ness in the West departed ! In the space of twenty 
 
142 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 years, nine emperors had successively disappeared : 
 the present one was a youth only recommended by 
 his beauty ; and would be •' the least entitled to the 
 notice of posterity, if his reign, which was marked by 
 that extinction of the Itoman empire in the West, 
 did not leave a memorable era in the his- 
 tory of mankind."* His real name was Ro- 
 mulus Augustus ; respecting which the same his- 
 torian remarks, " the appellations of two great 
 founders of the city, and of the monarchy, were thus 
 strangely united in the last of their successors. " 
 Anticipating another similar fact which will shortly 
 come under our notice, in speaking of the extinction 
 of the Eastern empire, it may in like manner be 
 remarked, that the last of the successors of Constan- 
 tino," the founder of the Eastern capital, likewise 
 bore his name. 
 
 Thus was the third part of the sun, the ruling 
 power, smitten ; likewise the third part of the moon, 
 and the third part of the stars ; and that to such a 
 degree, as that neither the one nor the other could 
 afford any light. In consequence of this eclipse, 
 or obscuration, the Western empire was darkened 
 for above three centuries, so that u the day," whose 
 light is direct from the sun, " shone not for a third 
 part of it; nor the night," which receives its light 
 from the other luminaries, the moon and the stars 
 *' shone likewise." One of the heads was, as it is 
 elsewhere expressed, thus " wounded to death," and 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
THE FOUR FIRST TRUMPETS, 
 
 143 
 
 did not revive until the commencement of the ninth 
 century* In the mean time the evils and miseries 
 of the Roman world arrived at that extreme pitch 
 which is so eloquently described in the above quota- 
 tion from Dr. Robertson ; and the West settled into 
 a eloom of ignorance and barbarism. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE HOUSE OF 
 DAVID TO THE THRONE. 
 
 FROM THE DETHRONEMENT OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID 
 BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR, B. C. 6*02, OR 601, TO ITS 
 RESTORATION IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST AT THE 
 
 MILLENNIUM, A. D. 1918 OR 1919, A PERIOD OF 
 
 2500 YEARS. 
 
 (Leviticus xxvi., as quoted in Chapter V.) 
 
 H 
 
146 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Dint met ion of the tribe of JuJah — Grant of the sovereignty to the 
 house of David — Characters of the kings of Judah — Jehoiakim, 
 the last king — Difficulty of fixing correct epochas— Genealogy of 
 Christ, the legal heir to the throne — What David understood 
 by the terms of the above grant — The Annunciation — Other 
 prophecies relating to Christ as heir to the throne — The incorrup- 
 tion of his body — His resurrection and ascension — His second 
 coming — The throne of Israel and Judah again re-united — The 
 reign of Christ — 'Nebuchadnezzar s vision of the great tree — The 
 Millennium. 
 
 If the chronological term of seven times, as it 
 occurs in the twenty-sixth of Leviticus, and also as it 
 is to be found in the fourth of Daniel, will bear the 
 important signification which I have attached to it, 
 there cannot be any doubt that its application ought 
 not to be confined exclusively to the Ten Tribes ; but 
 that it must likewise have a special reference to the 
 tribe and kingdom of Judah. Not but that it had an 
 inchoate application to this tribe before ; for in the 
 same year that the kingdom of Israel was finally 
 carried into captivity by Esarhaddon, the king of 
 Judah was likewise taken captive and carried into 
 Babylon. But the time was not arrived when the 
 house of David was yet to be deprived of the throne ; 
 and therefore Manasseh, "when he was in affliction, 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 147 
 
 besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself 
 greatly before the God of his fathers : and prayed 
 unto him, and he was intreated of him, and heard 
 his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem 
 into his kingdom," on the throne of which his poste- 
 rity continued for about seventv-five vears longer. 
 
 The tribe of Judah being that from which the 
 Messiah was to spring, was on all occasions pre-emi- 
 nently distinguished from all the other tribes. In 
 the blessing which Jacob pronounced upon his chil- 
 dren on his death bed, he said of Judah, " Thou art 
 he whom thy brethren shall praise : thine hand shall 
 be in the neck of thine enemies ; thy father's chil- 
 dren shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's 
 whelp ; from the prey, my son, art thou gone up : he 
 stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old 
 lion; who shall rouse him up ? The sceptre shall 
 not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between 
 his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the 
 gathering of the people be."* The whole of which 
 prophecy conveys the idea of the high distinction for 
 which this tribe shall be above all the others remark- 
 able ; and most distinctly intimates that the " scep- 
 tre" — or, as it is more correctly translated by Bishop 
 Newton, the tribeship or the separate being of the 
 tribe — shall long continue after that of all the others 
 is departed. 
 
 In the manner of encampment, and in the order 
 of march during their forty years' journey in the 
 
 • Gen xlix. 8—10. 
 n 2 
 
148 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 wilderness, the post of honour was always assigned 
 to this tribe. The camp of Judah, which was like- 
 wise most distinguished in point of number, always 
 marched first ; and its ensign or standard was erect- 
 ed in the centre of the east side, * toward the rising 
 sun," when they stood still ; that of Reuben was on 
 the south ; Ephraim on the west ; and Dan on the 
 north ; each having a tribe right and left, and thus 
 making, inasquare, the complete number of twelve.* 
 But its chief pre-eminence as the favoured tribe 
 from which Christ after the flesh was to spring, was 
 shown in the distinct and formal grant of the sove- 
 reignty, which, in the house and person of David, was 
 -signed to it, in perpetuity and for ever. Exactly 
 therefore, by the same kind of title that the land of 
 Judea belongs to the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, does the throne belong to the tribe of 
 Judah and the house of David. And therefore, 
 exactly the same kind of promise that secures the 
 restoration to, and permanently future possession of, 
 the one, equally secures and demands that of the other. 
 For if either the restoration to the land or to the throne 
 could fail, then the promise, nay even the oath which 
 God on both occasions hath sworn, fails likewise. 
 But since the divine attributes forbid this thought — 
 since God is declared to be the same * c from everlasting 
 to everlasting," and since He hath declared of him- 
 self that He is the Lord that changeth not, I re- 
 peat that the terms of the gift, both as it regards the 
 
 * Numbers ii. 
 
THE THRONE OF DANIEL. 149 
 
 throne as well as the land, demand a restoration alike 
 to both. 
 
 The terms in which the latter were conveyed have 
 already been fully brought forward :* those in which 
 the former are given, are the following. Speaking 
 of Solomon, the Lord says : M He shall build an 
 house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of 
 
 his kingdom for ever And thine house and thy 
 
 kingdom shall be established for ever before thee : 
 thy throne shall be established for ever."f M i have 
 made a covenant with mv chosen, I have sworn 
 unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish 
 for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. 
 ....Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not 
 lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and 
 his throne as the sun before me. It shall be esta- 
 blished for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness 
 in heaven."J 
 
 It is therefore, with regard to the throne, that, in 
 the present case, this prophecy of the seven times 
 must have an application ; because, for purposes essen- 
 tially connected with the first coming of Christ, it 
 being decreed that the tribeship should not depart 
 from Judah until Messiah or the Shiloh came, it can- 
 not, as in the case of the other ten tribes, have a refe- 
 rence to their dispersion, which did not take place 
 until nearly six hundred years after their return from 
 the Babylonish captivity, on the destruction of Jeru- 
 
 * See chapters i. and v. f 2 Sam. vii. 13, 16. 
 
 J Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4 ; 35—37. 
 
160 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 salem by the Romans. Applied to Judah this period 
 must refer therefore to the grant of the sovereignty 
 which was peculiar to that tribe ; and which grant, 
 as it remains in equal force with the one given to 
 Abraham, so it possesses, in an equal degree, the prin- 
 ciple of resuscitation, which ere long, like Aaron's 
 rod, shall bud, and blossom, and bear fruit. 
 
 The next inquiry is, presuming this view of the 
 subject to be correct, from what particular year is 
 this seven times, or 2520 years, in this its second 
 application to be dated ? 
 
 It may be proper, in the first place, to notice, that 
 as long as the kingdom of Judah stood, the crown 
 did actually continue in the line and family of David. 
 Unlike that of the Ten Tribes, which was conti- 
 nually changing from one family to another, and from 
 one tribe to another, this crown continued in one 
 unbroken line of succession from David toJehoiakim, 
 the last king who exercised the rights of an inde- 
 pendent sovereign. And this succession from father 
 to son included a space of about 450 years ; a cir- 
 cumstance unprecedented in the annals of history ! 
 JVot, indeed, that the kings of Judah were all men 
 who walked after the wavs of David, and did that 
 which was right in the eyes of the Lord, — although 
 such a succession of excellent men, in one kingdom, 
 as Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, men who 
 truly feared God, are no where else to be found seat- 
 ed in one throne ; — yet there were some of them — 
 particularly Jehoram, Ahaziah, Ahaz, and Manasseh 
 — who were very wicked men, and who in a very horri- 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 151 
 
 ble manner provoked God. In virtue, however, of 
 his oath and promise to David, and because they 
 were the ancestors of Christ, he did not take away 
 the crown for their wickedness. Speaking of Abi- 
 jam's wicked reign, it is said : " For David's sake did 
 the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to 
 set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem :"* 
 Likewise in 2 Chron. xxi. 7, speaking of Jehoram's 
 great wickedness, the same reason is given why the 
 Lord continued his family on the throne : " Howbeit 
 the Lord would not destroy the house of David, 
 because of the covenant that he made with David, 
 and as he promised to give a light to him and to his 
 sons for ever." 
 
 Not indeed, speaking after the manner of men, that 
 this line was not several times in danger of being bro- 
 ken, and indeed destroyed ; particularly when Atha- 
 liah conspired to murder all the seed royal, and pro- 
 ceeded so far in its accomplishment as to imagine 
 she had actually accomplished her purpose.f And 
 also, in the instance of the confederacy formed by the 
 kings of Syria and Israel J to dispossess Ahaz and 
 his family of the throne, and set up in their place 
 another family, "even the son of Tabeal.§" On both 
 these occasions the house of David seemed to be on 
 the very brink of destruction, but the blessing that 
 was in it saved it ; and in these, as well as in every 
 threatened danger, it was preserved up to the time 
 
 * 1 Kings xv. 4. f 2 Kings xi. 
 
 I See chap. ii. § fsa. vii. 6. 
 
152 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion, when, with the nation 
 in general, it went into captivity. 
 
 In the consideration of the seventy years' Babylo- 
 nish captivity, we have seen that there were two 
 commencements from which it is to be dated — 
 namely, the years 606 and 588 b. c. : it must, there- 
 fore, be somewhere between these two points of time, 
 from whence the loss of this regal and sovereign 
 authority is to be reckoned. I consider that the last 
 independent act of sovereignty exercised by Jehoia- 
 kim, the last king of Judah, must have been what is 
 related in 2 Kings xxiv. 1 : "In his days Nebuchad- 
 nezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim 
 became his servant three years: then he turned 
 and rebelled against him ." It is then added, in the 
 next verse, that u the Lord sent against him bands 
 of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands 
 of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Am- 
 nion, and sent them against Judah to destroy it." 
 
 Now, as Nebuchadnezzar first carried away Judah 
 captive in 606, it would be three years after this, in 
 603, when Jehoiakim rebelled against him ; and it is 
 probable that it was not longer than the following 
 year that he was able to maintain himself against 
 the mighty power of the king of Babylon, and the 
 other nations that came against him. This would 
 bring it to 602 or 601 b. c. ; and as he died two or 
 three years afterwards, and his son and successor 
 Jehoiachin was, immediately on his accession, car- 
 ried captive to Babylon, where he lived many years, 
 it appears to me that it must have been about the 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID 13$ 
 
 time of this year that the last independant act of sove- 
 reignty was performed by the rightful king: for Zede- 
 kiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar placed upon the throne, 
 could not be considered as the rightful monarch 
 whilst Jehoiachin was living. Besides which he was 
 not an independent monarch, being merely as a satrap, 
 ruling with a delegated power. If this reasoning be 
 correct, then the year 602 or 601 b. c. is the point of 
 time from which to date the loss of the throne by the 
 house of David ; and, consequently, after the lapse of 
 the long period of 2520 years, the year 1918 or 1919 
 after Christ will be the time when it will be again 
 restored to its rightful owner. 
 
 The difficulty of fixing upon correct epochas from 
 w 7 hich to date chronological prophetical periods, has 
 always been experienced by every writer on the sub- 
 ject ; and that difficulty would have been felt to a 
 greater extent in this instance, had not the attention 
 been directed to this rebellion of Jehoiakim against 
 Nebuchadnezzar, by Calmet's and other tables of 
 chronology ; and likewise been confirmed by a sub- 
 sequent prophecy of Daniel, which will be hereafter 
 noticed in this chapter, and w T hich will be found to 
 bring the season of u blessedness " to the same ter- 
 mination as the period under consideration. There 
 can therefore be no reason to hesitate in saying that 
 the commencement ought to be dated somewhere 
 about the year 602, at least to within a year : for the 
 first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar being in the year 
 606, and Jehoiachin being carried captive to Babylon 
 in 600, if Jehoiakim, after three years' allegiance, 
 
 g 5 
 
154 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 threw off for a short time Nebuchadnezzar's yoke, 
 he was, for so long a time as he remained unsubdued, 
 exercising the rights of sovereignty ; and therefore 
 the commencement of this period cannot be reckoned 
 prior to this time. It is also clear it cannot be reck- 
 oned after Jehoiachin was carried into captivity ; for 
 no independent act of sovereignty was ever afterwards 
 exercised. It therefore seems extremely probable 
 that 602 or 601 b. c. is its correct date. 
 
 If, then, the restoration of the house of David to the 
 throne of Judah is to be calculated from this vear — 
 and which great event, according to this hypothesis, 
 will take place A. d. 1918 or 1919 — it remains to be 
 considered, who is the rightful heir to this 
 
 HONOURED THRONE? 
 
 The genealogy of the royal house of David, from 
 Jehoiakim downwards, is given as follows in the 
 first chapter of Matthew, from the 12th to the 16th 
 verses : M And after they were brought to Babylon, 
 Jechonias begat Salathiel ; and Salathiel begat Zoro- 
 babel ; and Zorobabel begat Abiud ; and Abiud begat 
 Eliakim ; and Eliakim begat Azor ; and Azor begat 
 Sadoc ; and Sadoc begat Achim ; and Achim begat 
 Eliud j and Eliud begat Eleazar ; and Eleazar begat 
 Matthan ; and Matthan begat Jacob; and Jacob 
 be^at Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was 
 born Jesus, who is called Christ. " Christ was thus 
 " lea-ally descended from the kings of Judah, though 
 he was not naturally descended from them. He was 
 both legally and naturally descended from David. 
 He was naturally descended from Nathan, the son of 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 155 
 
 David ; for Mary his mother was of the posterity of 
 David by Nathan, as may be seen in Luke's genea- 
 logy : # but Joseph, the reputed and legal father of 
 Christ, was naturally descended from Solomon and 
 his successors, as we have an account in Matthew's 
 genealogy. Jesus Christy though he was not the 
 natural son of Joseph, yet by the law and constitu- 
 tion of the Jews he was Joseph's lawful heir; he was 
 the lawful son of Joseph's lawful wife, conceived 
 while she was his legally espoused wife. The Holy 
 Ghost raised up seed to him. A person by the law 
 of Moses might be the legal son and heir of another 
 whose natural son he was not; as sometimes a man 
 raised up seed to his brother : a brother in some 
 cases was to build up a brother's house ; so the 
 Holy Ghost built up Joseph's house. And Joseph 
 being in the direct line of the kings of Judah, the 
 house of David, he was the legal heir to the crown 
 of David ; and Christ being legally his first born 
 son, he was his heir; and so Christ, by the law, was 
 the proper heir of the crown of David^ and is there- 
 fore said to sit upon the throne of his father David. "f 
 The grant of sovereignty, therefore, which was 
 entailed upon the house of David, is thus graciously 
 accepted, in his person as God-man Mediator, by 
 him who conferred it, and who is at once the root 
 as well as the offspring of David. When we reflect 
 on this great and infinite condescension, we shall 
 not be surprised that David, who as a prophet well 
 
 * Luke iv. 23—38. f Edwards on Redemption. 
 
1 66 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 knew the import of the blessing that was conferred 
 upon him, should exclaim in overpowering gratitude- 
 " Who am I, O Lord God ? and what is my house, 
 that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was 
 yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God ; but 
 thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a 
 great while to come. And is this the manner of man, 
 O Lord God ? . . . For thou hast confirmed to thyself 
 thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee/or ever : 
 and thou, Lord, art become their God. And now, 
 O Lord God, the word that thou has spoken concern- 
 ng thy servant, and concerning his house, establish 
 it for ever, and do as thou hast said. And let thy 
 name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of 
 hosts is the God over Israel : and let the house of 
 hy servant David be established before thee."* The 
 original language expresses much more fully than 
 our translation, the idea that David's chief joy arose 
 in this acknowledgment, from his knowledge of its 
 being the Messiah, the promised Saviour, that was 
 to sit upon his throne; accordingly Peter says, 
 Acts ii. 30 : " Therefore being a prophet, and know- 
 ing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of 
 the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would 
 raise up Christ to sit on his throne." 
 
 Though there may be, and undoubtedly are, as 
 appears from Zech. xii. 12, some of the royal house 
 of David yet in existence — they being there men- 
 tioned as among the first remnant of those that shall 
 
 * 2 Sam. vii. 18, 19, 24—26. 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. ' 157 
 
 be settled at Jerusalem — yet as Christ, the eternal 
 Son of God, in condescending to be born, and taking 
 our nature, made himself the true and rightful heir to 
 David's throne, there appears to be no reason, when 
 we remember the deep humiliation to which he sub- 
 jected himself at his first coming, why the express 
 language used by the angel Gabriel in announcing 
 his birth should not be understood literally. It runs 
 thus : " Fear not, Mary : for thou hast found favour 
 with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy 
 womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his 
 name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called 
 the Son of the Highest : and the Lord God shall 
 give unto him the throne of his father 
 David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob 
 for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no 
 end."* 
 
 In fact, it is much more analogous to the general 
 course of the Divine procedure, that Christ, in thus 
 making himself the heir of David, did intend to take 
 possession of David's throne, and to make himself 
 literally — what he is and always was virtually — king 
 in Zion. And from a passage in Ezekiel, it is diffi- 
 cult to understand any thing else but that it is his 
 intention to do so. " Thus saith the Lord God ; 
 Remove the diadem, and take off' the crown : this 
 shall not be the same : exalt him that is low, and 
 abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, 
 overturn it ; and it shall be no more, until He 
 
 * Lukei. 30—33. 
 
158 x CHAPTER VII. 
 
 come whose right it is ; and I will give it 
 him." * 
 
 Besides, the comparatively short time that the 
 house of David hath yet reigned, but ill comports 
 with the language of this splendid grant. The pre- 
 sent royal family of France has actually possessed the 
 throne of that kingdom, in its direct and collateral 
 branches, nearlv double the length f time that the 
 throne of Judah has yet been in possession of the 
 house of David. The plea which the Lord puts into 
 the mouth of his people, in supplicating for his 
 mercy, as it regards their future restoration, may 
 equally be applied to the sovereignty as it is to the 
 land : u Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of 
 thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have 
 possessed it but a little while: our adversaries 
 have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine : 
 thou never bearest rule over them ; they were not 
 called by thy name."f 
 
 David certainly understood from the language of 
 this grant, as any one else would also understand, 
 something more than the temporary enjoyment of 
 the throne; and that chiefly over only two out of the 
 Twelve Tribes. The delight with which he often 
 dwells upon the subject in the Psalms appears to 
 place it beyond a question, that he saw, through the 
 long vista of ages, Christ, as his descendant after the 
 flesh, reigning in Jerusalem with a splendour and 
 
 Chap. xxi. 26, 27. + Isaiah lxiii. 17—19. 
 
<?> 
 
 AY/ 
 
 THE THRONE OF DAVID. ^159 
 
 JO 
 
 glory of which nothing that the world has ever yet 
 
 seen can give an adequate idea. u The Lord hath 
 chosen Zion : he hath desired it for his habitation. 
 This is my rest for ever : here will I dwell ; for I 
 have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provi- 
 sion : I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also 
 clothe her priests with salvation ; and her saints shall 
 shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn 
 of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for 
 mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with 
 shame ; but upon himself shall his crown 
 flourish."* And again, "In his days shall the 
 righteous flourish ; and abundance of peace so long 
 as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also 
 from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of 
 the earth . . . The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall 
 bring presents : the kings of Sheba and Seba shall 
 offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before 
 him : all nations shall serve him/'f 
 
 In the case of Christ, it is no objection, as it would 
 be to a mere created being, that he has passed through 
 the territories of the grave. Death had no power 
 over him ; for, after being under its dominion a part 
 of three days only, he rose, leading captivity captive, 
 and his Jiesh saw no corruption. He carried with 
 him our 7iature, united to his own Divine nature, into 
 Heaven ; where he now appears, clothed in that 
 body in the presence of God, for us. 
 
 This argument, as if the Psalmist had foreseen the 
 
 * Psalms cxxxii. 13 — 18. f Idem.lxxii. 7, 8, 10, 11. 
 
 9»^ 
 
 >*,*$ 
 
 .'7* +■ 
 
 *l 
 
 
160 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 objection that might arise from the death of Christ in 
 reference to the kingdom, he brings forward very 
 prominently and distinctly: "Thou wilt not leave 
 my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy 
 One to see corruption. ''* In allusion to this, Peter 
 said in his first sermon, Acts ii. 31, " He seeing this 
 before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his 
 soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see 
 corruption." And again : " For David, after he had 
 served his own generation by the will of God, fell on 
 sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corrup- 
 tion ; but he, whom God raised again, saw no corrup- 
 tion, "t 
 
 As death, therefore, had no power over his body, 
 and as he still lives in that same incorruptible body 
 in which he purchased our redemption, he conse- 
 quently remains in his own person still the legitimate 
 heir of the throne of David. Whenever that throne 
 shall be re-established — and according to the anti- 
 cipations of the elegant and accomplished Heber, 
 
 " E'en now perhaps wide waving o'er the land, 
 The mighty angel lifts his golden wand ; 
 Courts the bright vision of descending power, 
 Tells every gate, and measures every tower ; 
 And chides the tardy seals that yet detain 
 Thy Lion, Judah, from his destin'd reign." 
 
 — whenever this consummation arrives, and God has 
 pleaded with them, and placed them in a secure, 
 settled, and happy state ; then, who — besides the true 
 
 * Psalm xvi. 10. f Actsxiii. 36, 37. 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 161 
 
 and legitimate heir of David, to whose posterity in 
 perpetuity the throne is confirmed by the oath and 
 and promise of God — who besides Christ can reign 
 over them whose right it is V* 
 
 When the disciples beheld the Saviour risen from 
 the grave, and thus saw him triumph over death, their 
 expectations revived that he was going to take posses- 
 sion of the kingdom; and hence they asked, "Lord, 
 wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
 Israel?" He did not blame them for the question, 
 nor did he contradict their hopes ; his answer rather 
 seemed to confirm them. u He said unto them, It is 
 not for you to know the times and the seasons which 
 the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall 
 receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come 
 upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me both 
 in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and 
 unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he 
 had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was 
 taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their 
 sight." * And the Psalmist tells how he was re- 
 ceived and welcomed. Angels are represented as 
 calling out and saying, "Lift up your heads, O ye 
 gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ; and 
 the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King 
 of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord 
 mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; 
 even lift them up, ye everlasting doors ; and the 
 King of glory shall come in. Who is this King 
 
 * Acts i. 7 — 9. 
 
162 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 of glory ? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of 
 glory."* 
 
 After Jesus had thus disappeared from the sight of 
 his disciples, " while they looked stedfastly towards 
 heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood 
 by them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men 
 of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
 This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
 seen him go into heaven." f Here it is plainly 
 asserted by special messengers from God, imme- 
 diately after Christ had ascended into heaven, and 
 while those who saw this wonderful event were still 
 looking up, that He should come again in like man- 
 ner as they had seen him go — that is, in a cloud ; and 
 this is confirmed in several other places in the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 In a subsequent chapter, Acts iii. 21, Peter says, 
 alluding to this subject, that he will remain in heaven 
 " until the times of restitution of all things, which 
 God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy pro- 
 phets since the world began:" which implies that 
 after this restitution of all things, he will not 
 remain in Heaven. It is a striking reservation, and, 
 in connection with our Lord's second coming to 
 reign, deserves the deepest consideration. As it 
 regards this time of general restitution, it can be no 
 other than that so eloquently spoken of by Isaiah and 
 the prophets; and that season of blessedness before 
 
 * Ps. xxiv. 7—10. f Acts i. 10, 11. 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 163 
 
 noticed, which is prophesied of in Daniel (chap. xii. 
 12), and which will be proved to take place at the 
 same time as the termination of this present period. 
 It is that happy time so beautifully described by 
 Cowper in his " Winter's Walk at Noon," where he 
 says : — 
 
 " The Time of rest, the promised sabbath, comes : 
 Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh 
 Fulfill'd their tardy and disastrous course 
 Over a sinful world ; and what remains 
 Of this tempestuous state of human things 
 Is merely as the working of a sea 
 Before a calm, that rocks itself to rest : 
 
 For he 
 
 Shall visit earth in mercy ; shall descend 
 Propitious in his chariot pav'd with love ; 
 And what his storms have blasted and defac'd 
 For man's revolt, shall with a smile repair." 
 
 The Saviour himself, speaking of the manner of 
 his second coming, says, "Then shall they see the 
 Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and 
 great glory." 
 
 At his first coming, which was to satisfy Divine 
 justice, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to 
 work out a righteousness in which guilty sinners 
 might be saved, he came to suffer. He was a root of 
 a dry ground — a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief: there was no form nor comeliness in him ; and 
 his poverty was so great, that he could say, u the 
 foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, 
 but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." 
 The royal house of David had thus been suffered to 
 pass into obscurity and poverty, that He, in these 
 
164 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 his days of humiliation, might C( in all things be 
 made like unto his brethren ; for it became him for 
 whom are all things, and through whom are all 
 things, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect 
 through suffering.*' 
 
 But at his second coming the scene will be 
 changed ; he will then not come to suffer, but to 
 triumph ; he will come as he went — " in a cloud, 
 with power and great glory." What is meant by 
 these words we must wait to see. The magnificent 
 scene is thus described in the Revelation: "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 
 with 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 fierce- 
 ness 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." * 
 
 The rule which he shall then exercise over the 
 " house of Jacob," as an united, no longer a divided 
 
 * Rev. xix. 11 — 16. 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 165 
 
 nation, is very strikingly described in Ezekiel xxxvii. 
 The Lord commanded the prophet to take M one 
 stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the 
 children of Israel his companions: then" to "take 
 another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the 
 stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his 
 companions: and join them one to another into one 
 stick : and they shall become one in thine hand. 
 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto 
 thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou 
 meanest by these ? say unto them, Thus saith the 
 Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, 
 which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of 
 Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even 
 with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, 
 and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks 
 whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before 
 their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the 
 Lord God ; Behold, I will take the children of Israel 
 from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and 
 will gather them on every side, and bring them to 
 their own land : and I will make them one nation in 
 the land upon the mountains of Israel ; and one king 
 shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more 
 two nations, neither shall they be divided into two 
 kingdoms any more at all:. ..And David my ser- 
 vant shall be king over them : and they all shall 
 have one shepherd : they shall also walk in my 
 judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 
 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given 
 unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have 
 
166 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and 
 their children and their children's children, for ever; 
 and mv servant David shall be their prince 
 
 FOR EVER."* 
 
 David of course, in this place, as in many others, 
 must refer to Christ ; for it cannot mean David him- 
 self, who died and saw corruption, and has been suc- 
 ceeded in his kingdom by so many generations. 
 Besides which, David, throughout a great part of 
 the Psalms, speaks in the person of Christ as if he 
 were Christ himself. Therefore the conclusion ap- 
 pears irresistible, from such a cloud of evidence, from 
 so many strong passages both in the Old and New 
 Testaments, that at the time of the restoration of all 
 things, Christ will take unto himself his great power 
 and reign ; and that at this time " unto Him shall 
 the gathering of the people be ! "f 
 
 I cannot conceive of anv language that could be 
 used plainer, or less likely to misconstruction, than 
 that above quoted. It affords the strongest con- 
 firmation of all that has been advanced as it regards 
 the restoration of the descendants of Abraham, both 
 to the land and to the throne. In the beautiful 
 illustration which it gives of the union of the two 
 kingdoms into one — in the assertion that both the 
 people of Israel and Judah have been scattered among 
 the heathen on every side, and that from such a scat- 
 tering they shall be gathered in and brought to their 
 own land, and be no more two nations, but one nation ; 
 
 * Ver. 17—22, 24, 25. f Gen. xlix. 10. 
 
THE THRONE OF DAVID. 167 
 
 and that they shall never more be divided into two 
 kingdoms — finally, that one king shall be king to 
 them all, and that king be David, that is Christ, and 
 that He shall be their prince for ever — in these words, 
 I say, events are spoken of clear, consistent, in perfect 
 harmony with each other, and with all the Lord's 
 former dealings with this people. And they are 
 events which must be future, for nothing of the kind 
 has ever yet happened — the Jews are not yet gathered 
 in on every side, and restored to their own land — the 
 Twelve Tribes are not yet firmly and indissolubly 
 joined together in one nation — nor since this pro- 
 nhecv, has one kin^ reigned over them, which when 
 it happens is to be for ever ! 
 
 What construction then can be put upon such 
 predictions, but that if they have not happened, they 
 will happen? What can we possibly understand by 
 them but that the Jews will be restored to their own 
 land from their present wide-spread dispersion — that 
 they will all be united in one body — and that Christ 
 will reign over them? We have an undoubted right 
 to say, that, as all the former prophecies concerning 
 the Jews, and likewise concerning the various parti- 
 culars of the life and death of Christ during his in- 
 carnation, were literally fulfilled, so shall these be 
 fulfilled in like manner. 
 
 The Jews have done right in expecting their 
 Messiah to come as a king ; it is an expectation for 
 which they have the strongest Divine sanction ; and 
 which, whenever it happens, will be their crowning 
 
168 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 blessing. The fatal mistake they made — the rock on 
 which they split — was, overlooking their Messiah's 
 first corning ; and, as is done in our day respect- 
 ing his second coming, perverting every thing that 
 was said respecting it. They were wilfully ignorant ; 
 it was contrary to their pre-conceived ideas, their 
 wishes, their schemes, and hence the very thought 
 almost drove them to madness, and continues to 
 do so up to the present moment. And yet, after all 
 this opposition, this wilful rejection, this determined 
 unbelief, after all lie was their long expected Saviour — 
 the burden of their prophecies — the end of all their 
 types and shadows. Independently of His sufferings 
 and death, their bloody sacrifices had no other end, 
 no other object; and many of their clearest prophe- 
 cies could have no other fulfilment: and yet they 
 could not or would not see it. " He came unto his 
 own, and his own received him not."* 
 
 Such was their mistake ; and we are guilty of a simi- 
 lar one ; if We reject the equally clear predictions of his 
 second coming, which speak of him as a king. To 
 say that all these unequivocal expressions merely 
 express a spiritual reign, appears an unwarranted and 
 an unnatural forcing of words from their plain straight- 
 forward meaning j for a spiritual reign comports not 
 with our ideas of a sovereign. David, in his own 
 person, had no doubt a spiritual reign in the hearts 
 of the Israelites long before he possessed the throne; 
 
 * John i. 11. 
 
THE SOUNDING OF THE FIFTH TRUMPET. 169 
 
 stationary, but rather precarious greatness ; a third 
 of rapid decline.* Elmacinus divides their history 
 into three books : the first, their origin and increase, 
 from 622 to 746 ; the second, their declension ; the 
 third, their distractions and dissipations. Still more 
 to the point, Mr. Mills, in his History of Moham- 
 medanism, considers the foundation of Bagdad as a 
 marked chronological era in the Saracenic empire; 
 the period which preceded it being that of the 
 undivided Caliphate, or the rise of the Saracenic 
 power ; while the period which succeeds it, that of 
 the divided Caliphate, or the decline and fall of the 
 Saracenic power.* 
 
 This brings me to the last observation I have to 
 make, which is this, that the verv circumstance of a 
 divided caliphate shews they were no longer the 
 prophetic locusts ; for they had only one king over 
 them; whereas, after the foundation of Bagdad, the 
 chair of Mahomet was disputed by three caliphs, or 
 commanders of the Faithful, who reigned with almost 
 equal magnificence at Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova. 
 
 * On the Middle Ages, Vol. II. p. 176. 
 
 f Mills' History of MRhommedanism, p. 44, 104, 105, 132. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE 
 
 JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE EMPIRE, 
 
 i 
 
 MORE ESPECIALLY IN THE EAST, 
 
 ON THE SOUNDING OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE RISE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 
 TURKS, OR OTTOMANS. 
 
 The four horns of the altar — Second " Woe " comes at some dis- 
 tance of time from the first — Fall of the Saracens — First 
 Turkish Sultan — The Turks a great people before they were 
 restrained or " bound " — Divided into four kingdoms on the Eu- 
 phrates — Their being bound — By their own divisions — By the 
 Crusades — By the Moguls — Their being loosed — Rise of the 
 Ottoman Power — Work it was to perform — Preparation for it 
 — Time of its continuance — Description of the Turks — Their 
 overthrow of the Eastern Empire — Fall of Constantinople — 
 Establishment of Mahometanism on its ruins — Attempts on the 
 West — Western Idolatry and Wickedness. 
 
 i2 
 
172 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE SECOND WOE TRUMPET ; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE TURKS. 
 
 " 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 had the trumpet." (ix. 13, 14.) 
 
 For an account of the four horns of the golden 
 altar — a description of which altar, as connected with 
 these trumpets, wasabovegiven* — see Exodus xxvii. 2. 
 
 They were eminences or upright projections, not 
 merely for ornament, but also that beasts might be 
 bound to them ; — " Bind the sacrifice with cords even 
 to the horns of the altar."f But perhaps the more 
 correct idea of the symbol is given in the margin of 
 Ezekiel xliii. 15, where it is said, "The altar and up- 
 wards shall be four horns," — or the u lion of God ;"J 
 horns being thus considered as expressive of strength, 
 power, or kingdoms. 
 
 * Ch. vii. p. 120. f Psalms cxviii. 27. 
 
 X Exodus xxx. 10. 
 
THE SIXTH TRUMPET-THE TURKS. 
 
 173 
 
 A voice proceeding from such a place is not only 
 " a strong indication/' as Bishop Newton beautifully 
 observes, " of Divine displeasure, but plainly intimates 
 that the sins of men must have been very great, when 
 the altar, which was their sanctuary and protection, 
 called aloud for vengeance." Being said to proceed 
 from the four horns of the altar, indicates that the 
 strength and majesty of the Most High are concerned 
 .in the infliction of this vengeance ; and it seems to 
 express, that no intercession should any longer avail 
 to prevent the execution of this woe. 
 
 The command conveyed by the voice is : 
 
 " Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river 
 Euphrates." (ver. 14.) 
 
 These words convey the following ideas : — 
 1st. That some considerable time had elapsed since 
 the former " woe." It would seem as if the patience 
 of God had waited long, before He brought again 
 upon the professing backsliding church such another 
 scourge as the last ; and this idea is in harmony with 
 the declaration made in the 12th verse, that " one 
 woe is past, and behold there come two more woes 
 hereafter f 9 — an expression which looks forward to a 
 considerable space of time. 
 
 We have seen that it was in the year 762 when 
 the Saracens ceased to be like " locusts," and when 
 they became settled, and built Bagdad, the City of 
 Peace. Rahdi, who flourished about a.d. 940, and 
 was the thirtv-ninth of the successors of Mahomet, 
 was the last who deserved the title of u Commander 
 
174 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 of the Faithful ;" the last who spoke to the people, 
 or conversed with the learned : the last who, in the 
 expense of his household, represented the wealth and 
 magnificence of the caliphs. After him, the lords of 
 the Eastern world were reduced to the most abject 
 misery, and exposed to the blows and insults of a 
 servile condition.* 
 
 In this fallen state, with their power diminished, 
 their empire weakened, their revenues taken away, 
 and with nothing left but the name, the rising power 
 of the Turks broke in upon them, and upon the 
 world. This great people proceeded originally from 
 a nation which dwelt north-east of the Caspian Sea. 
 One of the greatest of their early princes was Mah- 
 mud, who reigned over the eastern provinces of 
 Persia one thousand years after the birth of Christ, 
 and about four hundred years after Mahomet. Ct His 
 father," remarks Gibbon, ,f was the slave of the slave 
 of the slave of the Commander of the Faithful." In 
 his conquests he surpassed the limits of those of Alex- 
 ander^ and for him the title of Sultan was invented. 
 The following, as related of him by Gibbon, is deeply 
 interesting. " His behaviour in the last days of his 
 life evinces the vanity of these possessions, so labo- 
 riously won, so dangerously held, and so inevitably 
 lost. He surveyed the vast and various chambers of 
 the treasury of Gazna ; burst into tears ; and again 
 closed the doors, without bestowing any portion of 
 the wealth which he could no longer hope to preserve. 
 
 * Gibbon. + Diss. ch. xii. 279. 
 
THE SIXTH TRUMPET— THE TURKS. 175 
 
 The following day he reviewed the state of his mili- 
 tary force, one hundred thousand foot, fifty-five 
 thousand horse, and thirteen hundred elephants of 
 battle. He again wept at the instability of human 
 greatness." 
 
 After Mahmud was removed, the Turkish princes 
 of the race of Seljuk, by whom he had been defeated, 
 erected a splendid and solid empire on the ruins of 
 the Caliphate. The first of this dynasty was Togrul, 
 or as he is sometimes called Tangrolipix, the grand- 
 son of Seljuk; he began to be famous about the year 
 1038. After conquering Bagdad, he was clothed 
 with the imperial purple, by the caliph Cayem a.d. 
 1055, and constituted the ruler of the kingdom, " the 
 temporal vicegerent of the Moslem world." This 
 inaguration was the grand downfall of the Saracenic 
 empire, and the first important rise of the Turks. 
 
 2nd. This brings us to the second idea conveyed 
 by this command to the sixth angel, that the people 
 to whom it points were prominently in sight, and had 
 been let loose upon the Roman world before they were 
 " bound ;" that they had, after the fall of the Sara- 
 cens, begun their devastations, but were providentially 
 restrained — there appears otherwise no point in the 
 expression. And such was the case with the Turks. 
 Under the successor of Togrul, they invaded the Roman 
 empire with " myriads of Turkish horse ;"* and, adds 
 the historian, " the blood of one hundred and thirty 
 thousand Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
176 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Arabian prophet. " The Sultan passed the Euphrates 
 , at the head of his cavalry, and entered Caesarea, the 
 metropolis of Cappadocia ; and before his death the 
 fairest provinces of Roman Asia were irretrievably 
 sacrificed, and subject to his laws ; while twelve 
 hundred kings or chiefs stood before his throne, and 
 two hundred thousand soldiers marched under his 
 banners. 
 
 His son and successor was Malek Shah, who 
 reigned from the year 1072 to the year 1092 ; was, it 
 is said, the greatest prince of his age ; and u marched 
 at the head of innumerable armies. " From the 
 Chinese frontier he stretched his immediate jurisdic- 
 tion, or feudatory sway, to the west and to the south, 
 as far as the mountains of Georgia, the neighbour- 
 hood of Constantinople, the Holy City of Jerusalem, 
 and the spicy groves of Arabia Felix ;* and in his 
 reign Asia Minor began to be known by the name of 
 Turkey. 
 
 3rd. The third idea conveyed by this command is, 
 that those instruments of Divine vengeance were, 
 at the time they were bound, not, as we have just 
 contemplated them, a united but a divided people, 
 11 Loose the jour angels which are bound upon the 
 river Euphrates." 
 
 Accordingly, after the death of Malek Shah, a. d. 
 1092, the greatness and unity of this race of the 
 Turkish sultans expired in the four-fold division of 
 their hitherto united empire, and the vast fabric fell 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
THE SIXTH TRUMPET— THE TURKS. 
 
 177 
 
 to the ground. *' After a series of civil wars/' 
 observes Mr. Mills, " four dynasties, contemporary, 
 and not successive, were formed :" all of the house 
 of Seljuk. The first commanded Persia at large, the 
 second that of Kerman, an extensive though obscure 
 dominion on the snores of the Indian ocean : the 
 third, a large portion of Syria, including Aleppo and 
 Damascus ; and the fourth Roum, or the Roman 
 provinces of Asia Minor.* It is true that this qua- 
 druple division did not long continue ; but from the 
 circumstance of its being made at the time the 
 restraint was first put upon the threatening power of 
 the Turks — in other words, at the time of their being 
 bound — it is here brought forward as a mark of iden- 
 tity, in a similar manner to the fourfold division of 
 the empire of Alexander the Great. 
 
 This mark of identity is further strengthened by 
 these four divisions of the Turkish empire being all 
 situated in regions bordering on the river Euphrates, 
 which was the confines and last bounds of the Roman 
 world in Asia, and from its continuing to be the place 
 or neighbourhood of their residence during the two 
 hundred years they were bound or restrained ; and 
 it makes the recognition complete. 
 
 These instruments of destruction or judgment are 
 called angels, as representing messengers who exe- 
 cute the providential designs of the Most High. 
 In this prophecy they are frequently mentioned, both 
 as messengers of mercy and of anger, both of good 
 
 * History of Mahom. p. 223. See likewise Gibbon. 
 
 i 5 
 
178 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 and evil. In this place they appear to be used 
 much in the sense of those mentioned in the 49th 
 verse of the 78th Psalm : u He cast upon them the 
 fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and 
 trouble, by sending evil angels among them." 
 
 With these preliminary observations, we now 
 come to the more immediate identification in the 
 text — their being bound. It is very evident, that 
 with such an immense and victorious power as that 
 which was possessed by the three successive Turkish 
 Sultans above described, and whose armies were 
 almost at the very gates of Constantinople, the 
 Eastern Roman Empire must, to all human appear- 
 ance, soon have fallen. Such, however, not being 
 the decree of Heaven, this great calamity was post- 
 poned, until the middle of the fifteenth century, and 
 therefore a serious and effectual check was to be put 
 to their progress. The first means employed was 
 their own fatal divisions, which weakened the empire 
 to that degree, that they at once lost their imposing 
 and formidable attitude, and the Turkish veterans 
 were employed or consumed in civil wars. The chief 
 means, however, by which their power was restrained, 
 and most effectually checked, and which confined 
 them for the space of two hundred years within the 
 bounds of the Euphrates, was the desperate, formid- 
 able, enthusiastic attacks made upon them by the 
 combined nations of the West, in what are called the 
 Crusades. The first of these commenced a. d. 1095, 
 about three years after the Sultan Malek Shah, and, 
 therefore, immediately after the four fold division of 
 
THE SIXTH TRUMPET— THE TURKS. 179 
 
 his empire consequent upon that event ; it may, 
 therefore, with strict propriety be said, the four 
 nations of the Turks were then bound in the Euphrates. 
 
 The occasion of these romantic and deeply disas- 
 trous expeditions, it is well known, was the rough 
 treatment which pilgrims to the Holy Land had 
 received from the hands of the Turks, and which 
 caused Europe to resound with their complaints. 
 The Saracens, whilst it was in their possession, had 
 allowed them to visit the city of Jerusalem, on pay- 
 ment of a small tribute ; but the place being taken, in 
 the year 1065, by the more fierce and barbarous 
 Turks, it could no longer be approached with safety. 
 It soon became the theatre of nations, the central 
 point of the most destructive and long continued 
 warfare; in the course of which, the power of the 
 Turks was so completely broken, that they were 
 almost removed from sight, and the only adversaries 
 the Crusaders had to deal with, were at length the 
 Mamelukes of Egypt. 
 
 A third cause, which contributed still further to 
 weaken and restrain the power of the Turks, were 
 the various revolutions of Asia during this period, 
 occasioned chiefly by the conquests of Zingis Khan, 
 the first emperor of the Moguls or Tartars, who 
 reigned from a. d. 1206 to 1227 : and his successors. 
 In 1258, one of the latter extinguished the Saracenic 
 Caliphs, who had, since the fall of the Turkish Sul- 
 tans, recovered the possession of Bagdad ; and, 
 about the same time, when the power of the Cru- 
 saders in the Holy Land was decaying, they made 
 
180 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 such inroads upon the Turks all over Asia, that they 
 took away all their Sultanies from them. They did 
 indeed suffer some of them to enjoy their sovereignty 
 in some small part of their ancient dominions, but 
 only as their slaves or tributaries. Gibbon observes, 
 speaking of the Moguls, that had they " undertaken 
 the siege, Constantinople must have yielded to the 
 fate of Pekin, Samarcand, and Bagdad."* Thus 
 was the binding of the four nations of the Turks 
 effected by the united influence of the invasions of 
 the Moguls, by the Crusades, and by their own 
 divisions. 
 
 We are brought, by these observations, to the com- 
 mencement, or to the first action of this great Woe ; 
 viz. the removal of the above restraints: " Loose the 
 four angels that are bound on the great river 
 Euphrates " — was the high, the awful command to 
 he sixth angel — 
 
 " And the four angels were loosed !" (ver. 15.) 
 
 This important re-action in the history of the 
 Turks, took place in the last few years of the thir- 
 teenth century. In the first place, the restraint 
 caused by the Crusades was removed. The eighth 
 and last left the west of Europe about a. d. 1279 ; 
 and in the year 1291 the Mameluke sultan took Acre 
 by assault, and obliged the Crusaders to evacuate 
 Asia ; since which period, although several popes have 
 attempted to stir up their adherents, no more of 
 such expeditions have been undertaken for the reco- 
 
 • Oil 1'on, ch. lxiv. 
 
THE SIXTH TRUMPET— THE TURKS. 181 
 
 very of the Holy Land ; and accordingly, from 
 henceforward to the present time, it has been in the 
 hands of the Mahometans. 
 
 In the second place, about the same time, the 
 Mogul Tartars being defeated and divided among 
 themselves, and Cazan one of their greatest and 
 most accomplished princes dying, the distance and 
 decline of their khans or emperors soon enfran- 
 chised the Turks from all controul in this quarter. 
 
 In the third place, the restraint of a divided sove- 
 reignty was removed. The year 1290 saw the rise 
 of Othman, the founder of the present race of 
 the Turkish Sultans, and of the Ottoman empire ; 
 the progress of which empire is u connected with the 
 most important scenes of modern history." The 
 fragments of the Seljukian monarchy were dis- 
 puted by the Emirs, who had occupied the cities or 
 the mountains; but they all confessed the supe- 
 riority of the Khans. One of these Emirs, the grand- 
 father of Othman, was drowned in the Euphrates, 
 as he was passing that river in 1214 with his three 
 sons. One of these sons, Orthogrul, who was 
 the father of Othman, remained in the vicinity of 
 that river, while the other two returned to Persia. 
 " Othman possessed, and perhaps surpassed, the 
 ordinary virtues of a soldier ; and the circumstances 
 of time and place were propitious to his indepen- 
 dence and success. Besides the cessation of the 
 Crusades, and the decline of the Moguls, both of 
 which events gave a free scope to the rise and pro- 
 gress of his empire, all the Turkish kingdoms, 
 
182 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 families, or tribes, subjected themselves to him, either 
 compelled by force, or of their own accord. 
 
 He succeeded bis father Orthogrul, about the year 
 1290 ; and, at first, under Aladin the sultan of 
 Iconium, made some incursions and conquests on the 
 Roman Empire. It was, however, on the twenty- 
 seventh of July, in the year one thousand two hun- 
 dred and ninety-nine of the Christian era, that 
 Othman first invaded the territory of Nicomedia,and 
 the singular accuracy of the date seems to disclose 
 some foresight of the rapid and destructive growth 
 of the monster."* In his person, therefore, as the 
 universally acknowledged founder of the present race 
 of the Turks, and as representing the whole nation, 
 the four angels were loosed, and the sixth trumpet 
 sounded ! 
 
 " Which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and 
 
 a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." (v. 15.) 
 
 Three things are here especially to be noticed : — 
 1st. The work to be accomplished : 
 2d. A time of preparation for it : 
 3d. The period of its continuance. 
 With regard to the work for which the Turks 
 were loosed, it is said to be for the purpose of slaying 
 the third part of men. To kill a body politic is to 
 make it cease to be, either by utterly destroying 
 the people of it, or by subjecting it to a new au- 
 thority, whereby it ceases to be what it was before. 
 Thus to deprive of political life and government one- 
 
 * Gibbon, ch. lxiv. 
 
THE SIXTH TRUMPET—THE TURKS 
 
 third part of men, must therefore signify, in this place, 
 to consign to political destruction one-third part of 
 the Roman Empire. The three parts of which the 
 whole consisted, have been already described :* that 
 which is here prophesied of, must, from all the 
 particulars, but chiefly from its locality to the Eu- 
 phrates, be the Eastern portion. The other two 
 parts, although in the West the imperial majesty of 
 the empire had revived, had already changed masters 
 and inhabitants. The East alone survived ; and while 
 the successive invasions of seven hundred years had 
 lopped off all its limbs, one by one, and the majesty 
 and glory of the Roman name were almost, ultimately, 
 confined to the walls of Constantinople, still the 
 pulse beat at the heart. The Turks were loosed for 
 the purpose of striking at that heart, and piercing it: 
 they were to kill where the Saracens had only hurt ; 
 and their kingdom was finally to supplant the 
 eastern Roman Empire. This being the work they 
 were to accomplish, we have now, in the second place, 
 to consider, 
 
 Their preparation forit. It was not immediately 
 on the rise of Oth man, and the removal of the re- 
 straints that had confined them to the Euphrates, 
 that they were to be in a position to strike this great 
 blow, and to seize this destined victim of their future 
 aggrandizement and splendour — the greatest prize in 
 the diadem of Europe. There was to be the prepara- 
 
 * Ch. vii.p. 125. 
 
184 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 tion of a century and a half, during which period a suc- 
 cession of warlike and active princes, who were at 
 the same time cruel and merciless tyrants, established 
 and consolidated the revived empire, retracing the 
 steps of the former Seljukian monarchs, and stopping 
 not till the great object of their ambition was attained. 
 In this interval they had occasionally powerful and 
 active enemies to contend with ; these were chiefly 
 the Latins of the West, against whom they were 
 generally victorious: and the Tartars under the dread 
 Timour or Tamerlagne. The latter, defeated in 1402, 
 one of their most distinguished sultans, Bajazet, called, 
 from the rapidity of his conquests, the Lightning, 
 in a very great battle, and took him prisoner. By 
 this decisive victory, the fall of Constantinople was 
 delayed about fifty years; and the massy trunk 
 of the Ottoman monarchy was bent to the ground ; 
 but no sooner did the hurricane pass away, than it 
 again arose with fresh vigour and more lively vege- 
 tation.* 
 
 The period of its continuance; " an hour, 
 and a day, and a month, and a year. 5 ' 
 
 The precision and minuteness with which this an- 
 nunciation is made, bespeaks that it is for a very 
 particular purpose; and hence that it demands very 
 particular attention. In fact, the very circumstance 
 of a week being left out shews design. It can 
 scarcely be necessary for me to say, that, with the 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
PERIOD OF 391 YEARS. 185 
 
 great body of commentators, I consider that it is not 
 a literal but a symbolical date ; and, that the usual 
 mode of prophetic computation, which has already 
 been explained and applied, is still to be adhered to. 
 This will bring the hour, the day, the month, and 
 the year, to 391 prophetic days, which are conse- 
 quently to be considered as years.* 
 
 The great error which I conceive commentators 
 have made with regard to this important duration, 
 and the cause of its being so little attended to for 
 any practical effect, is in its wrong and mistaken 
 application. Instead of joining it to the action itself, 
 which action is the great object of the vision, it has 
 generally been thought to belong to the preparation, 
 and the dates of events of minor importance have 
 been strained thus to accommodate it. I am per- 
 suaded, however, that the true idea has been ex- 
 pressed by Dean Woodhouse in the following words : 
 " The continuance of time to be measured is that 
 during which the evil angels continue to slay the 
 third part of men:" — that is, during which the Turks 
 retain their hold of Constantinople, the seat of the 
 vitality of the Eastern Empire. Looking at it in this 
 light, how consistent and appropriate is the recogni- 
 tion of the chronological period as symbolical ! The 
 whole 15th verse thus considered will read, in plain 
 language, as follows : " And the four nations of the 
 Turks, which had been bound on the river Euphrates, 
 were loosed, which were prepared for 391 years and a 
 
 * Sir Isaac Newton, p. 307. 
 
186 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 month, to consign to political destruction the eastern 
 Roman empire." In other words, a great nation 
 was prepared by God, to do a very great work, which 
 work was to continue 391 years. 
 
 After this comes the following particular and ter- 
 rible description of the " four angels," that is, of the 
 Turks. 
 
 " And the number of the array of the horsemen was two 
 myriads of myriads, and I heard the number of them. And thus 
 1 saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat on them having 
 breast-plates of fire, of hyacinth, and of brimstone. And the 
 heads of the horses were as the heads of lions." (vers. 16, 17.) 
 
 I should consider, from the action of the vision 
 having been immediately mentioned previous to this 
 description, that it referred to the time they were 
 fully prepared for it, — not as they appeared in their 
 incipient state under Othman, when first loosed, but 
 as they appeared under the "great destroyer " Ma- 
 homet II., who brought his hundreds of thousands of 
 troops for the performance of the great work he had 
 to accomplish. The symbol of horses to which these 
 are likened, I conceive, signifies an army of veteran 
 well-disciplined soldiery, and is one which on this 
 account could not have been applied to the instru- 
 ments of any of the former trumpets. The locusts 
 of the fifth are indeed said to be'like horses for war 
 (ver. 7) — that is, to resemble real warfare, — on the 
 contrary, those of the present trumpet are horses; 
 they have all the tact, discipline, and material of real 
 war. 
 
 Another proof of this is, their being exactly num- 
 
SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 187 
 
 bered. While the amazing multitude here expressed 
 implies there should be no lack of strength and 
 force — the calling out the number implies something 
 like the calling over the names of a muster. " I 
 heard/' says the Apostle, "the number of them." 
 The idea is conveyed of an immense army in the 
 highest state of discipline, and such as was that of 
 the Turkish sultan at the siege of Constantinople. 
 
 The breast- plates of the riders were^Ve, hyacinth, 
 and brimstone. The breast-plates of the Saracens 
 are described as iron.* Both appear to refer to the 
 formidable and destructive weapons with which they 
 were to be armed ; — but in the difference of descrip- 
 tion an essential difference in those of the two people 
 is implied. And such was the case. " Among the 
 implements of destruction, it is said Mahomet II. 
 studied with peculiar care the recent and tremend- 
 ous discovery of the Latins ; and his artillery sur- 
 passed whatever had yet appeared in the world, and 
 was employed with the superior energy of zeal, riches, 
 and despotism." The great cannon of Mahomet, it is 
 said, was " an important and visible object in the 
 history of the times," It is no far-fetched idea to 
 suppose, that these tremendous engines of destruc- 
 tion, which had only been brought to perfection 
 about half a century before, and which had so 
 effective and notable an influence in the suc- 
 cess of the Turkish sultan, are represented by the 
 symbols of breast- plates of Jire, hyacinth, and brim- 
 
 * Ch. viii. p. 156. 
 
188 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 stone ;—" fire," signifying destruction, havoc, and 
 war; "hyacinth," the colour of clouds and smoke ; 
 and " brimstone," an ingredient of gunpowder. As 
 the implement was new, so no where, in any of the 
 prophets, or in any other part of the sacred writings, 
 do any such like representations as hyacinth and 
 brimstone before occur. 
 
 The heads of the horses bein£ as the heads of 
 lions, implies their great and untameable ferocity, as 
 the fierceness of lions : and out of the horses' mouths 
 issuing fire, and smoke, and brimstone, appears to 
 intimate that both their offensive as well as their 
 defensive armour was of the same description — the 
 one being represented as breast-plates, the other by 
 the horses having actually instruments of the same 
 signification proceeding out of their mouths. 
 
 " By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, 
 by the smoke, and by the brimstone issuing out of their mouths." 
 (ver. 18.) 
 
 Here these remarkable expressions are repeated 
 for the third time ; and by being thus distinctly 
 mentioned as three, " these three," it might be 
 supposed they referred to three distinct causes of 
 destruction, each exerting their influence to bring 
 about the great catastrophe. In this case, fire, as 
 above named, will refer to the general havoc of war ; 
 smoke, as a symbolical terms will have the same sig- 
 nification as in the former trumpet, and mean cor- 
 rupt, infernal, destructive doctrines,* a grievous 
 
 * Ch. viii. p. 152. 
 
SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 189 
 
 judgment or calamity; and brimstone will refer to 
 the peculiar kind of weapons that were for the first 
 time used in the fatal struggle : and succesfully 
 used; for by "these three*' was Constantinople 
 taken, the horrors of destructive invasions let loose 
 upon the remaining part of the Eastern Empire ; — 
 and the infernal religion of Mahometanism there 
 established on the ruins of Christianity. 
 
 On the sixth of April, 1453, Mahomet planted his 
 standard before the gate of St. Romanus, and formed 
 the memorable siege of the devoted city ; and the 
 attention of all Europe and the world was fixed with 
 the most intense interest upon the result. After a 
 siege of fifty-two days, on the 27th May it was 
 taken ! and the capital of the Eastern world, which, 
 for so many centuries, " had defied the power of 
 Chosroes, the Chagan, and the Caliphs, was irretriev- 
 ably subdued by the arms of Mahomet the Second/* 
 The emperor, the last of above a thousand years' suc- 
 cession of the Byzantine Csesars, was killed in its 
 defence. The Turks entered the city, howling more 
 horribly than beasts of prey. They slew, without the 
 least remorse, and without the least respect to dig- 
 nity, age, or sex, the defenceless inhabitants. The 
 whole Turkish army had permission for three days to 
 massacre, to violate, and to pillage without restraint. 
 Senators were linked with their slaves ; the prelates 
 with the porters of the church ; and young men of a 
 plebeian class, with noble maids, whose faces had been 
 invisible to the sun and their nearest kindred. In 
 this common captivity the ranks of society were 
 
190 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 confounded ; the ties of nature were cut asunder ; and 
 the inexorable soldier was careless of the father's 
 groans, the tears of the mother, and the lamentations 
 of the children,* No tongue can describe the misery 
 caused by some hundreds of thousands of merciless 
 beings, thus satiating their avarice, lust, and cruelty, 
 for three long days and nights. The Sultan, it is 
 said, heard their cries in his camp, and they lulled 
 him to sleep : the dogs ran into the fields howling 
 with terror, or leaped into the sea. 
 
 This great and sad event is thus beautifully 
 noticed by Mr. Hallam. " Before Mahomet the 
 Second planted his cannon against the walls of Con- 
 stantinople, he had completed every smaller conquest, 
 and deprived the expiring empire of every hope of 
 succour or delay. It was necessary that Constanti- 
 nople should fall, but the magnanimous resignation 
 of her emperor bestows an honour upon her fall which 
 her prosperity seldom earned. The long deferred 
 but inevitable moment arrived, and the last of the 
 Caesars folded round him the imperial mantle, and 
 remembered the name which he represented, in the 
 dignity of heroic death. It is thus that the intel- 
 lectual principle, when enfeebled by disease or age, 
 is said to rally its energies in the presence of death, 
 and pour the radiance of unclouded reason around 
 the struggles of dissolution."-}- It is thus — to carry 
 the idea to its highest limit and most correct bear- 
 ing — it is thus that the principle of Christian faith 
 
 * Gibbon. f On the Middle Ages, Vol. II. p. 193. 
 
MAHOMET ANISM. 191 
 
 oftentimes, when the body is enfeebled by disease 
 or age, rallies its energies in the presence of death, 
 and the radiance of unclouded bliss shines around 
 the struggles of dissolution. 
 
 " For the power of the horses is in their tails, for their tails are 
 like serpents having heads, and with them they injure.*' (ver. 19.) 
 
 In the fifth trumpet, the locusts, or Saracens, 
 which they represent, are said to wound with their 
 tails only ;* here the horses, or the Turks which they 
 typify, wound both with the mouth and with the tail. 
 The great work being executed, for which the Turkish 
 armies had been loosed and prepared in the over- 
 whelming destruction of Constantinople, whose forti- 
 fications, which had stood for so many ages against 
 hostile violence, had now been dismantled and over- 
 thrown by Ottoman cannon, we are next told, that 
 not only was her empire thus subverted, but that 
 " her religion was trampled in the dust by the Mos- 
 lem conquerors."f Before the final departure of the 
 former woe, the poisonous spirit of the Saracens had 
 been imbibed by those who were appointed by God 
 to succeed them in bringing about the infliction of 
 the miseries of the sixth trumpet. 
 
 ' c The first of the Seljukian sultans was conspi- 
 cuous for his zeal and faith ; and the whole body of 
 the Turkish nation embraced with fervour and since- 
 rity the religion of Mahomet :"J and thus, in like 
 
 * See ch. viii. f Gibbon, ch. lvii. J Bishop Newton. 
 
192 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 manner, was their power in their tails : thus, in like 
 manner, did they not only injure, or hurt with their 
 mouth — their lion's mouth, out of which issued fire, 
 and smoke, and brimstone ; but they most grievously 
 oppressed by their religion. And this, it is well 
 known, the Turks have done in an equal degree with 
 the Saracens. " Many indeed of the Greek church 
 remained, and are still remaining, among them ; but 
 they are made to pay dearly for the exercise of their 
 religion ; are subjected to a capitation tax, which is 
 most rigorously exacted from all above fourteen 
 years of age ; are burthened besides with the most 
 heavy and arbitrary tax upon every occasion ; are 
 compelled to the lowest and most servile drudgery ; 
 are abused in their persons and property ; have not 
 only the mortification of seeing some of their friends 
 and kindred daily apostatize to the ruling religion ; 
 but had even their children taken from them to 
 be educated therein, of whom the most robust 
 and hardy were trained to the soldiery, and the more 
 weakly and delicate were castrated for the Se- 
 raglio."* 
 
 The remaining fragments of the Eastern empire 
 were in due time overrun by the Turks, who, from 
 time to time, spread their devastations and conquests 
 to the very verge of the Latin kingdoms, even to the 
 besieging, on several occasions, of Vienna, the capital 
 of the Western empire. As they were, however, 
 
 • Bishop Newton. 
 
THE FALL OF THE TURKS. 193 
 
 in these attempts exceeding their prescribed bounds, 
 they were, at length, finally stopped by Prince 
 Eugene, in the fatal battle of Zenta, on the Teiss, in 
 Hungary, fought a.d. 1697, two hundred and 
 forty-four years after the fall of Constantinople. The 
 results of this conflict were as disastrous to the 
 Mahometan Turkish invaders, in the proportion of 
 numbers killed, as the great battle of Tours had 
 been to those of the Saracens under the former woe ;* 
 and it so far broke their power, that, although 
 there have been, from time to time since this period, 
 wars between them and theWestern nations, they have 
 generally been to the advantage of the latter. It, in 
 short, confined them in a great measure to their own 
 proper limits ; and the peace of Carlowitz, conse- 
 quent upon it, deprived the Sultans of nearly one half 
 of their possessions in Europe; and from this diminu- 
 tion of territorial sovereignty, the Ottoman empire, 
 which once threatened universal subjugation, ceased 
 to be formidable to Christendom/"f Since this time 
 their power has been on the decline ; and, " in the 
 present day," to adopt the language of another emi- 
 nent historian, " we anticipate, with an assurance 
 which none can deem extravagant, the approaching 
 subversion of the Ottoman power, which has long 
 been nodding to its fall, and totters at every blast 
 from the north."J This being the opinion, not only 
 of Mr. Hallam, but of most intelligent persons, 
 
 * Ch. viii. p. 163. f Cox's History of the House of Austria. 
 X Hallam. 
 
 K 
 
194 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 it is not extravagant to believe, that that fall may 
 take place at the termination of the period, as set 
 forth in this prophecy ; and which termination, reck- 
 oning 391 years (" the hour, and the day, and the 
 month, and the year,") from the fall of Constantino- 
 ple on the 29th May 1453, will happen in June 1844. 
 It has been before proved, that the little horn 
 of Mahometanism, in a former prophecy, will be 
 u broken without hand," in this same year, (see 
 Dissertation, chap. xi. pp. 305, 306 ;) in referring to 
 which, I would observe, that all the distinguishing 
 peculiarities which are there predicted of this impos- 
 ture, have most prominently appeared in the charac- 
 ter and principles of the two great people with 
 whose history it is identified, and the outline of which 
 is contained in this and the former chapter ; as 
 well as in its most prominent 'principles, with those 
 of every other nation and people that have pro- 
 fessed it. 
 
 " And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues 
 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." 
 
 The rest of the men who were not killed by these 
 plagues, were the inhabitants of the Western Empire, 
 or the Ten Latin kingdoms,— the Saracenic plague 
 being stopped from being fatal to this part of the 
 
 • Daemonology, or the worship of departed saints, or beings 
 made into Romish Saints, &c. &c. 
 
THE IDOLATRY OF POPERY. 195 
 
 Roman Empire, by the victory of Charles Marlel ; 
 and the Turkish plague by the heroism of Prince 
 Eugene. Of these " men/* (in the number of which, 
 we as a nation are included,) it is here expressly de- 
 clared, by the unerring voice of Almighty God, that 
 these long and tremendous visitations produced in 
 them no repentance of the works of their hands, that 
 they should not worship idols, nor repent of their 
 most wicked and deeply immoral conduct. The 
 nations of the West therefore, in the eyes of God, are 
 guilty of idolatry — and idolatry of the most revolting 
 description ; for nothing more strong could be said of 
 the idolatry of Paganism. It matters not what con- 
 struction is put upon the possession of images or 
 pictures for religious purposes, by those who use 
 them ; it matters not how they gloss over that use 
 by various pretences ; such images and such pictures, 
 the works of their hands, for such purposes, they 
 avowedly possess ; and that God who wrote the 
 Second Commandment, which they consistently 
 enough expunge from the Decalogue, calls all their 
 images, represent they what they may — He calls 
 them idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, 
 which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk, A crime 
 which could thus be denominated by Him who 
 alone is entitled to the homage of His creatures ; a 
 crime which could call for such a notice as this, 
 having evidently a respect to that third woe which 
 is yet to be inflicted — that seventh trumpet which 
 is yet to sound — must be a crime of the deepest dye. 
 Like the idolatry of heathenism, both ancient and 
 
 k 2 
 
196 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 modem, men who practise it are given over to a re- 
 probate mind, and trample on the other commands of 
 their Maker. They commit murders, and sorceries, 
 and fornication, and thefts ; and that under the license 
 of their priests. How great the guilt no tongue or 
 language can express ! nor how great will be the 
 punishment ! It is a fearful, most fearful warning ; 
 nor do I see how its force, in its application to 
 the ten Latin or Papal kingdoms, can be evaded. 
 Contrary to the express command of God they con- 
 tinue to make images of gold, and silver, and brass, 
 and stone, and wood ; contrary to His equally distinct 
 and express commands, they dare His vengeance by 
 granting indulgences and absolutions for the commis- 
 sion of all descriptions of crimes. Thus far it applies 
 not to the Jews, nor to Mahometans, for they are 
 neither of them idolaters. Respecting the latter, 
 Gibbon observes on the subject, that u the intellec- 
 tual image of the Deity has never been degraded by 
 any visible idol ! " It therefore indubitably applies 
 to those men who were not politically killed by the 
 Mahometan plagues or woes, and which, let it be 
 again repeated, are the inhabitants of the ten king- 
 doms of the Western Roman Empire; for they alone 
 make images, and bow down thereto. 
 
 In this tremendous guilt it is most painful to 
 reflect our own country and dependencies are again 
 fast participating. Well would it be if our rulers 
 would look at these things, and judge of them in the 
 light of the Holy Scriptures, and not through the 
 medium of a mere natural understanding. But the 
 
WARNING AGAINST POPERYi 197 
 
 hope is vain. All that can now be done, is for those 
 that truly fear God to take warning and stand firm, — 
 and instant warning ; for this denunciation of the sins 
 and idolatry of the Western nations is as much as to 
 say, that their turn will come, and that on them the 
 next and last woe will fall ! 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE 
 
 FALL OF THE PAPACY, 
 
 IN CONNECTION WJTH 
 
 THE CEASING OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET ; 
 
 AND WITH 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL. 
 
 The mention of the second woe being past, deferred — Re-appearance 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ — His description same as in Rev. i., 
 and for what purpose — As the Slain Lamb, and for what end — 
 His opening the seventh seal, or the " little book" — The purpose 
 of His present appearing — The seals and trumpets here unite their 
 histories — The seven thunders — What is to be generally under- 
 stood by them — Christ's solemn asseveration — Same as described in 
 Daniel — Import of it explained to signify the end of the Papal 
 power — Awful warning given against this apostacy — History of 
 Redemption as connected with it, finished — To be deeply studied 
 and digested — Different characters in which Christ appears — 
 Observations on the little opened Book, and the prophecies yet to 
 be given. 
 
200 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE FALL OF THE PAPACY, 
 
 IN CONNECTION 
 
 WITH THE CEASING OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET. 
 
 After the particulars of the first woe trumpet were 
 given, the termination was at once announced in these 
 words, "The first woe is past, behold there cometh 
 two more woes hereafter." But the case is verv 
 different here ; after the particular description of the 
 second woe is concluded, the announcement of its 
 termination is deferred or suspended for near two 
 chapters, in which are related a great variety of events 
 which are to happen before it can be said, t( The 
 second woe is past ! " 
 
 The first thing that arrests our attention is the 
 appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ again upon the 
 scene; for the following description, as compared to 
 that in Rev. i. 13 — 16, can apply to no other. 
 
 " 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 were as pillars of fire." (ch. x. 1.) 
 
 As I have above observed, if the symbols in the 
 
REAPPEARANCE OF CHRIST. 201 
 
 first chapter are symbols of the power and deity of 
 Jesus Christ, then must these be also, for they are 
 in substance the same. In the former it is said 
 of His countenance, that it was ''as the Sun shineth 
 in his strength :" here it is expressed " and his face 
 was as it were the sun. ,, His feet are said, in the 
 first instance, to be "like unto fine brass, as if they 
 burned in a furnace ;" and in the latter, they are said 
 to be u pillars of fire;" whilst His " being clothed 
 with a cloud, and a rainbow upon his head," are 
 symbols likewise that belong only to God. So that 
 it may be truly said, if the one description represent 
 the " Son of man," as it is expressly declared it does, 
 so must the other. 
 
 On this re-appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 I would remark, how much it will assist the right 
 understanding of the connecting parts of the various 
 lines of this history, to keep in mind the particular 
 parts performed by the different inhabitants of the 
 heavenly world ; but especially those performed by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. And I consider this is parti- 
 cularly the case in the present instance, as an atten- 
 tion to it will cast a flood of light upon what has ever 
 been found one of the most difficult parts of the whole 
 prophecy, and which has exceedingly perplexed all 
 commentators. 
 
 On looking back, therefore, we find that Christ is 
 brought forward in the first chapter with the sublime 
 attributes of Godhead, as exercising an ever- watchful 
 superintendence over the most minute affairs of His 
 church. He next appears, fulfilling all which con- 
 
 k5 
 
202 CHAPTER X. 
 
 cerns that church up to the time of its translation to 
 Heaven ; and the continuance of the Western Empire, 
 in the character of its atoning Sacrifice, as " the 
 Lamb that had been slain." And this he is repre- 
 sented as doing, by being said symbolically to open the 
 seven seals of a Book, in which its "fates and for- 
 tunes" were contained, and which, in the presence of 
 the whole hierarchy of heaven, He took out of the 
 right hand of God. The space of time which this 
 takes up runs through the various stages of the 
 church's decay, formed by the respective reigns of 
 Constantine,Theodosius, Justinian, and Charlemagne 
 — through the various scenes of the Reformation — of 
 the French Revolution — and up to what shall be 
 intended by the half-hour's silence of the seventh 
 seal, — the seventh or inmost roll of the Book ; or 
 more properly, the last of the seven books, and, com- 
 pared with the former, a " little book." 
 
 On the opening of this little book, and the conse- 
 quent conclusion of the series of events signified by the 
 seals, the subject is abruptly broken off; and Christ, 
 as the slain Lamb, having this little opened book in 
 his hand, is left for the present, for the purpose of 
 bringing up the series of events, signified by the trum- 
 pets, to this point! This is now done — the six first 
 trumpets have been sounded; and just on the instant 
 before the seventh sounds, the character of the slain 
 Lamb is suddenly dropt, and the Saviour appears to 
 perform a different work, and therefore in a different 
 character. He appeared as a " mighty angel com- 
 ing down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a 
 
THE LITTLE OPENED BOOK. 203 
 
 rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it 
 were the Sun, and His feet were as pillars of fire." 
 
 " And He had in His hand a little open book :" or, according 
 to the Greek, "a little book that had been opened." (ver. 2.) 
 
 Respecting this, it is well observed by Mr. Gaunt- 
 lett — u The little book having been opened, implies 
 that it must previously have been sealed. It seems 
 therefore to have been a part of the book with 
 seven seals, opened by the lion of the tribe of Judah ; 
 or otherwise there must have been two sealed books, 
 which would imply that the original book was imper- 
 fect. But this would not comport with its emble- 
 matical description, representing it as containing 
 seven parts under seven seals, the number of perfec- 
 tion, and therefore indicating that it would com- 
 pletely reveal the whole mystery of God." 
 
 The two streams of prophecy therefore here unite ; 
 and we may therefore from henceforward consider the 
 history of the seven seals as now carried on in the 
 line of the trumpets. It is the same thing as if the 
 intervening six trumpets had been left out ; and may 
 be read thus, " And when the Lord Jesus had opened 
 the seventh seal, there was a suspension of action, or 
 an awful pause for a fortnight; immediately after 
 which, clothed with the attributes of Deity, and 
 showing that the contents of the seventh and last 
 
 Seal HAD BEEN DISCLOSED, 
 
 " 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." 
 
 (ver. 3.) 
 
204 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I should consider that this peculiarity of expression 
 was intended to convey the idea, that Christ's abso- 
 lute authority and universal dominion over the world 
 will now, by the events that have just taken place in 
 the translation of the church, and which are about 
 to take place in the ruin of the apostate nations, be 
 no longer questioned ! Men appear at present to 
 endeavour to shut out God from the world which He 
 hath made ; and, because his patience lasts so long, to 
 think they shall still go on with their own plans. It 
 will at this awful time, however, be made manifest to 
 all the world, that u the Heavens do rule." It may, 
 I think, be well imagined, from the contents of the 
 sixth vial, under which we are confessedly living, in 
 what way that voice will speak thus loudly and thus 
 solemnly ! But as neither my object nor my wish is 
 to speculate, I will only repeat, that immediately 
 on the seventh seal being opened, and its half-hour's 
 silence ended, God will, by some tremendous provi- 
 dence, make his voice heard, as the loud roaring 
 of a lion ! a mode of expression implying intense 
 anger. * 
 
 11 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." (ver. 3, 4.) 
 
 Successive claps of thunders portend a storm : the 
 * Prov. xx. 2; Hosea xi. 10, 1 1. 
 
THE SEVEN THUNDERS, 205 
 
 number seven, as usual, intimating the perfection of 
 that storm : and I cannot but here call attention to 
 the beautiful analogy which is kept up by this sym- 
 bol. Connecting it with that part of the prophecy 
 to which it belongs, and to which the little opened 
 book has identified it, it may be read thus : " After 
 the overturnings and alarms caused by the French 
 revolution — or the opening of the sixth seal, a tre- 
 mendous hurricane, to be caused as by the extreme 
 violence of the four winds impetuously rushing against 
 each other, is declared to be only suspended or re- 
 strained, until c the servants of God' are sealed and 
 preserved. That preservation having taken place, 
 there is then no further let or hindrance, and there- 
 fore seven thunders sound, and * utter their voices/ 
 and the storm follows." 
 
 It is evident these thunders will be quickly over, 
 and will cause no interruption in the great chain of 
 events. Most probably we ought to understand, that 
 they signify some remarkable alarms, or loud threat- 
 ening reports of the approaching ruin ! It is not, as 
 we well know, an uncommon thing, in the prospect of 
 great evils, to say, that we hear the thunder of them 
 in certain ominous actions or signs : and when news 
 of an astounding nature is heard, for us to say, that 
 it came like a clap of thunder. Such would be the 
 effect of the order of Ahasuerus, king of Persia, to 
 Haman, when he ordered him to honour Mordecai. 
 Such in our times was the news of the death of the 
 lamented Princess Charlotte ; and in such a manner 
 is it usual to express the " thunders of the Vatican !" 
 
206 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I think, therefore, we ought to consider these seven 
 thunders as something that will give clear, distinct, 
 immediate warning of u the earthquake and great 
 hail M * of the seventh Trumpet ! and as fearful warn- 
 ings,which, like tremendous claps of thunder before a 
 real whirlwind or storm, will cause blackness to gather 
 on every face ! and the nations to tremble with guilty 
 fear ! The Apostle heard the voices which they 
 uttered — he was informed of their ominous significa- 
 tion, and was about to write : a voice from heaven, 
 however, commanded him to "write them not!" One 
 reason for this prohibition may be, that the true church 
 being just removed to heaven, will have no occasion 
 for the information ; and another, that the prophecy 
 might probably thereby have been made too plain. 
 It is clear, however, that the command was given to 
 prevent what the " voices uttered" from being known ; 
 and hence it is equally clear, that the meaning of 
 those things that have been revealed, was intended to 
 be known. 
 
 But the re-appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ is 
 yet to answer another purpose ; and this purpose is 
 another link that connects these events with the con- 
 cluding scenes of Daniel's prophecies, and with the 
 present time. 
 
 u 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 and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein 
 are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and 
 
 • Rev. xi. 19. 
 
THE END OF THE PAPACY. 
 
 207 
 
 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 should 
 begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath 
 declared unto his servants the prophets/' (ver. 5 — 7.) 
 
 If any doubt could have existed respecting this 
 mighty angel being the Lord Jesus Christ, it must 
 be removed by the additional confirmation here 
 afforded ; for it is evident, from the description in 
 the first verse, compared with Dan. x. 5, 6, that it is 
 not only the same person, described in ch. i. 13 — 16, 
 but it is equally evident, from the attitude he 
 assumes, and from the solemn asseveration he makes, 
 that it is the same person who is so prominently 
 brought forward in Daniel's last vision, and which is 
 likewise proved to be Jesus Christ.* 
 
 If we would wish to remove the obscurity which 
 hangs over the august scene here described^ we must, 
 as far as possible, divest it of metaphor, and explain 
 it in the language and by the light of history, and of 
 the prophecies of the Old Testament. I will there- 
 fore contrast the description of Dan. xii. 7, with the 
 one in the above verses. 
 
 Daniel says — John says — 
 
 l( And I heard the man cloth- " And the angel which I saw 
 ed in linen, which was upon the stand upon the sea, and upon 
 waters of the river, when he the earth, lifted up his hand to 
 held up his right hand and his heaven, and sware by Him that 
 left hand unto heaven, and sware liveth for ever and ever, who 
 by Him that liveth for ever and created heaven and the things 
 ever, that it shall be for a that therein are, and the earth 
 time, times, and an half." and things that therein are, and 
 
 the sea and the things which are 
 therein, that there should be 
 
 TIME NO LONGER." 
 
 * See Diss. ch. xii. p. 313, 314. 
 
208 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I have already proved that the first of these asseve- 
 rations must refer to the vision of the four wild 
 beasts of Daniel, as the place where this chronolo- 
 gical term of " time, times, and an half," is first 
 brought forward, and where therefore its application 
 must be sought for :" # and there need be no hesita- 
 tion in pronouncing it to signify the duration of the 
 Papal power, for on this point almost all commenta- 
 tors are agreed. I would now express my own 
 conviction, that the asseveration here brought forward 
 relates to the same thing ; the only difference being, 
 that the one expresses this period of 1260 years as 
 future, "it shall be for a time, times, and an half;" 
 while the other expresses it as past, — tC time shall be 
 
 NO LONGER." 
 
 It is clear that both terms are chronological, and 
 that as surely as the former signifies " it shall be 
 for 1260 years," so surely does the latter signify, 
 that the 1260 years " shall be no longer," or are at an 
 end. It cannot indeed signify u time," in the com- 
 mon acceptation of the word, because the very next 
 verse falsifies such a supposition by alluding to 
 * days" yet to come, " when the seventh angel shall 
 sound." 
 
 This awfully solemn act must therefore be intended 
 to assure us that immediately on the seven thunders 
 ceasing, and just as the seventh trumpet sounds, the 
 mystery of God will be finished, as he hath declared 
 good tidings (for that is the idea in the original) to 
 his servants the prophets, and that this anti-Chris- 
 
 * See Diss. ch. xiv. p. 377, compared with ch. x. p. 231—254. 
 
THE END OP THE PAPACY. 209 
 
 tian power, of which such a particular description is 
 given as the little horn, in the seventh chapter of 
 Daniel, will be u no more!" And that this will 
 happen iC in the days of the voice of the seventh 
 angel (the third and last woe !) when he shall begin 
 to sound." It will be the first immediate act, accord- 
 ing as it is narrated in Daniel, at " the time of the 
 end," which it was proved is likewise the end of 
 " the time, times, and an half," shall the king of the 
 South push at him ; and the king of the North shall 
 come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, 
 and with horsemen, and with many ships ; and he 
 shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and 
 pass over."* It is this storm of wrath, of which 
 the seven thunders give such fearful note — and this 
 is the dreadful " woe" which is to follow the sounding 
 of the seventh and last trumpet ! Thus is the alarm- 
 ing intimation verified which immediately followed 
 the details of the sixth trumpet, upon " the rest 
 of the men who were not killed by the plagues " of 
 the former woes, and who repented not, and do not 
 still repent u of the works of their hands, that they 
 should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and of 
 silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which can 
 neither see, nor hear, nor walk : neither do tbey 
 repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of 
 their fornication, nor of their thefts ! " Oh ! let 
 every one, who has any regard to their present or 
 eternal happiness, attend to the deeply awful warn- 
 
 * Diss, ch.xiii. p. 343— 352. 
 
210 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ing against this soul-destroying apostacy, which is 
 given in Rev. xiv. 9 — 12, and which words have a 
 direct reference to the time of persecution which is 
 immediately coming upon us. 
 
 The mystery of God, however, in all these at 
 present dark dispensations, will, it is declared, now 
 be " finished," and the whole scheme of salvation, 
 with the reasons of all the events which at present 
 appear to us so inscrutable, be disclosed. The 
 mystery will be finished ! And it deserves atten- 
 tion, that it is called "the mystery of God :* and 
 of this I am persuaded, that the more it is unfolded 
 to us, the more we shall see of its deep contrivance, 
 its exact application, and its high design, — the more 
 we shall see of the glorious character of God, of the 
 equity of His government, as well as the sovereignty 
 of his grace : in short the more we see of it — and I 
 imagine the contemplation of it, in connection with 
 the history of redemption, will engage our attention 
 through all eternity — the more we shall see that 
 
 " Wisdom through all the mystery shines, ] 
 And shines in Jesus' face ;" 
 
 and that it is in all its length, and breadth, and 
 depth, most emphatically the mystery of God. 
 
 " 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 hand of 
 the angel, and ate it up. And it was in my mouth sweet as 
 
THE LITTLE OPENED BOOK. 211 
 
 honey ; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And 
 he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, 
 and nations, and tongues, and kings." (ch. x. 8 — 11 .) 
 
 The first remark I would make on these words is, 
 that the voice which John heard, instructing him 
 respecting the little book which was open, was 
 directly from Heaven, and not through the medium 
 of either one of the living creatures, one of the 
 elders, or of an angel. It shews the importance of 
 the communication. A voice from Heaven first com- 
 manded him (ver. 4) not to write what the seven 
 thunders uttered : it now commands him to take the 
 little opened book from the hands of Christ, and eat 
 it up — that is, to digest well its contents. It appears 
 to signify that the business of it was only to be taken 
 in hand by Him whose kingdom it concerned, and 
 of which it was the immediate prelude. And in this 
 view the change of the character in which he appears 
 is very significant. On opening each of the seven 
 seals, it was in that of a Saviour ; of our atoning 
 sacrifice ; as that of a Lamb that had been slain, 
 because the events to be typified concerned Him as 
 such. But now that the dispensation closes, and He 
 is about to be known to His church in a different 
 character, not as their priest, but their king, he 
 appears clothed in a style suitable to the action to 
 be performed, and in the grandeur of a Divine per- 
 son. To make the propriety of this transition fa- 
 miliar to our ideas, as it appears in the every-day 
 occurrences of life, it is only to imagine the greatest 
 man of the present age being called upon to perform 
 
212 CHAPTER X. 
 
 duties in the respective offices which he has sus- 
 tained, or may now sustain, of a commander of ar- 
 mies, of one of the first peers of the realm, or as 
 chancellor of a university ; and to consider, for the 
 performance of each, in what different robes, and in 
 what different state, he would make his appearance. 
 
 With regard to the command which was given by 
 this voice from heaven, to eat tip the little book, it 
 is one that deserves peculiar consideration, from the 
 circumstance that this is the only place in the whole 
 book of Revelation, in which such a thing is parti- 
 cularly directed. In the commencement (ch. i. 3.) 
 it is indeed said, M Blessed is he that readeth, and 
 they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep 
 the things which are written therein ;" but this is 
 general. A special command shews that it must 
 have reference to something of a very important 
 nature, and that the contents of the little book were 
 to be well digested, studied, and understood. "Thy 
 words were found," says the prophet (Jer. xv. 16), 
 u and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me 
 the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." Our Saviour 
 likewise personally uses the same symbolical expres- 
 sion, when He speaks of Himself as " the Bread of 
 Life," in many passages of the sixth of John. Jn 
 this manner are we here directed to digest the con- 
 tents of the seventh seal. 
 
 And the occasion of the command is important. 
 It is the point of union of the two great lines of 
 prophecy, like the junction of two mighty rivers 
 just before they empty themselves in the wide ocean. 
 
THE LITTLE OPENED BOOK. 213 
 
 The opened book represents the last act of the Roman 
 Empire under its last head, followed by a " silence in 
 heaven for the space of half an hour." As it is some- 
 thing in the nature of a solemn pause, happening 
 just previous to the common catastrophe of both 
 series of events, perhaps the idea may be conveyed 
 by considering the immediate event, whatever it be 
 that the opening of the book may represent, as 
 something of the nature of a flash of lightning 
 before the seven-fold thunder begins to roll ; and 
 that that series of events ends there! 
 
 It has generally been imagined that the little 
 opened book contained a great many of the prophe- 
 cies which follow the tenth chapter — the half-hour's 
 silence not seeming to represent an event of suffi- 
 cient magnitude to account for the importance at- 
 tached to it. But this is a gratuitous assumption. 
 It is certain that it marks a prophetical era, repre- 
 senting an equally prominent event in history to any 
 of the other seals, although of an apparently nega- 
 tive character ; and that, like them, it will be a 
 hinge on which a new order of things will turn. 
 For instance, if, just previous to the final decisive 
 irretrievable blow being struck, signified by the four 
 winds being let loose, proposals involving all the 
 consequences attending such a catastrophe were to 
 be made to that power which is to be the instru- 
 ment thereof, no language can express the breathless 
 and anxious suspense, the awful silence which would 
 ensue ! This being connected with the last, the only 
 act which the yet-to-be-revived head of the Em- 
 
214 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 pire* shall have to perform, would meet all the 
 requirements of the prophecy. I merely throw out 
 this idea to shew the possibility that the symbolical 
 expression of an hour's silence, considering the half 
 hour chronologically, may imply the ceasing from 
 action for a fortnight, and be an event of unutterable 
 importance. 
 
 Howsoever sweet or pleasant such a discovery 
 may be in meditation, the consequences, it is de- 
 clared, will be bitter. As much as to say, that the 
 effect of this silence will be the most poignant 
 sorrow, and the deepest anguish ; as much as to say, 
 that it is the immediate forerunner of the over- 
 whelming and final ruin of which the seven thunders 
 give such most fearful warning. 
 
 The remaining verse of the chapter, I conceive 
 implies, that although the series of prophecies sig- 
 nified by the seven seals is now completed, never- 
 theless the same ground, in other connections and 
 other relations, has to be retraced, and that it will 
 involve the " fates and fortunes " of " many people, 
 and nations, and tongues, and kings ;" likewise 
 implying that yet before u the second woe " will be 
 pronounced to be past, he will have to go back, and 
 prophesy of other events bringing them up to this 
 point of time. 
 
 * Rev. xvii. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE 
 
 TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST ; 
 
 DESCRIBED AS 
 
 AN INNER CHURCH WITHIN THE RULING VISIBLE 
 
 CHURCH; 
 
 AND 
 
 LIKEWISE DESCRIBED UNDER THE SYMBOL OP 
 TWO WITNESSES. 
 
 The symbols taken from Jewish worship — The true church enclosed 
 by the providence of God — The visible church paganized, and here 
 called the Gentiles — To be in possession of what is called tlie 
 outer court 1 260 years — The different terms in which this chrono- 
 logical period is represented, and its use — The two witnesses — 
 What the word signifies — The number two explained — Their 
 depressed condition for 1260 years — Described as two olive trees 
 — Zecharialis prophecy — The Holy Spirit's agency — The two 
 candlesticks — Marvellous power of the two witnesses — Two such 
 witnesses explained to have existed for above 1 200 years in such 
 a condition — The Albigenses — The Protestant Churches — High 
 privileges of real believers. 
 
216 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE TRUE CHURCH DESCRIBED AS 
 THE TEMPLE; 
 
 AND 
 
 AS TWO WITNESSES ; AND ITS DEPRESSED 
 
 CONDITION. 
 
 We have not yet readied the announcement of the 
 second woe being past ! Other important disclosures 
 have yet to be made, as connected with that termina- 
 tion, belonging to those future prophecies alluded to 
 at the conclusion of the last chapter; more especially 
 those which belong to the internal history of the 
 church, and which are now brought forward in anti- 
 cipation, to show their synchronical conclusion with 
 the fall of the Ottoman empire, or with the ceasing 
 of the sixth trumpet. 
 
 They commence in the following language : 
 
 u And there was given me a reed, like unto a rod : and the 
 angel stood, saying, Arise, and measure the temple of God, and the 
 altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is 
 without the temple, leave out, and measure it not: fork is given 
 unto the Gentiles; and the Holy City shall they tread under foot, 
 forty and two months." (Rev. xi. 1, 2.) 
 
THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE. 217 
 
 The symbols here employed, are again taken from 
 the visible objects of Jewish worship : the temple of 
 God — the altar — the outer court — and the Holy city; 
 and they are applied to the spiritual worship of the 
 Christian dispensation. The temple of God, thus 
 used, is intended to designate any place where God 
 abides by the indwelling of His Spirit, as he formerly 
 abode, literally, in the literal temple ; to which tem- 
 ple, as the place where the visible representation and 
 tokens of the Deity were manifested, the Tribes went 
 up to worship. Being a building thus set apart and 
 consecrated to God, honoured with extraordinary 
 marks of divine favour, containing the ark, the 
 repository of His laws ; the Shekinah, or visible 
 cloud; the Urim and Thummim, and the holy fire, 
 and as the seat of public worship, it is here chosen 
 as the most proper symbol of the whole body of his 
 spiritual worshippers. The apostle Paul, speaking 
 of the saints of God, says, they "are built upon the 
 foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
 himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all 
 building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an 
 holy temple unto the Lord." Eph. ii., 20, 21 : see 
 likewise 1 Cor. iii. 17, and vi. 19: also 2 Cor. vi. 
 16, where it is said, " Ye are the temple of the 
 living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, 
 and walk in them." These collectively constitute the 
 temple which is here signified ; their spiritual 
 worship, the altar ; and every individual member is a 
 true worshipper in that one holy temple. 
 
 This temple, this altar, and this people, the 
 
 L 
 
218 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 apostle was commanded to measure ; and the means 
 of doing so were afforded by a measuring rod 
 being put into his hands. By this act it is to be 
 understood that they were to be enclosed by the 
 peculiar providence of God, and secured as his 
 peculiar inheritance and care. The expression, as 
 understood in other places,* involves the idea of 
 separation, implying that a very broad mark of 
 distinction would exist between them and the merely 
 professing church. Hence, in this command, which 
 it is to be noticed is a command from Jesus Christ, 
 "the angel,' 5 the mighty angel of the former chap- 
 ter, directs the apostle to take no account of the 
 outer court, but to " cast it out, and measure it not." 
 The outer court of the Jewish temple is that which 
 was denominated the court of the Gentiles, because 
 the Gentile proselytes of the gate, as they were 
 called, were allowed only to worship within the pre- 
 cincts of that court, while they were altogether 
 excluded from entering into the inner tourt, which 
 was allotted to the genuine Israelites. We are there- 
 fore here given to understand, that the visible profess- 
 ing church, throughout the Western Roman empire, 
 for a certain period mentioned, was to be to the 
 true Christian church what the pagan Gentiles of 
 old had been to the Jewish church. The plain mean- 
 ing of whicli is, that they should have so far relapsed 
 from the simplicity of the Gospel, as to resemble the 
 ancient idolatry of the heathen ; and they have done 
 
 * Kz. xl.| xliii. 10, xlvii. 8. Ilab. iii. 6. Zed), ii. 
 
THE PAPACY. 219 
 
 so, and still do so. The fact is indeed so palpable, 
 that even Gibbon, although he could neither see nor 
 understand the real temple, or altar, or people of 
 God ; yet he could see the true character of the out- 
 ward visible church. u The Christians of the seventh 
 century," he says, u had insensibly relapsed into a 
 semblance of paganism ; their public and private 
 vows were addressed to the relics and images that 
 disgraced the temples of the East : the throne of the 
 Almighty was darkened by a cloud of martyrs, and 
 saints, and angels, the objects of popular veneration ; 
 and the Corryridian heretics, who flourished in the 
 fruitful soil of Arabia, invested the Virgin Mary with 
 the name and honours of a goddess."* 
 
 All this is in exact accordance with the lament- 
 able and corrupt state into which the outward church 
 was described to be gradually brought, as explained 
 in the four first seals. And further, the time which 
 is here assigned to its duration is in equally exact 
 accordance with the time which, in Daniel's vision 
 of the great wild beasts, is assigned to the duration 
 of the papal little horn, — u forty and two months;" 
 making, as before explained, according to the Jewish 
 mode of reckoning, thirty days to a month, 1260 
 prophetical days, or 1260 literal years. From whence 
 it follows, that these paganized Christians were 
 those nations and peoples who acknowledged the 
 papacy ; and that the holy city, which for this 
 long period of time they trampled upon, is the terri- 
 
 * Gibbon, ch. 1. 
 L 2 
 
220 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 torial platform of that part of the professing Christian 
 church which is subject to their tyranny and apos- 
 tacy. 
 
 A different chronological term than that used by 
 Daniel, is here brought forward to express the same 
 period of time, for the purpose of keeping the various 
 aspects, under which popery is introduced, clear and 
 distinct. These aspects may be considered as three- 
 fold. The first exhihits popery as it appears under 
 the actual dominion of its ecclesiastical head ; and 
 its duration of 1260 years is expressed by the term 
 time, times, and an half, or three times and an half. 
 The second aspect, and the one now under review, 
 exhibits its operations as it appears under the secular 
 tyrannical dominion of the ten Western nations, 
 which are, in consequence, called the ten papal king- 
 doms ; and the same duration is expressed, as above 
 explained, by the term forty and two months. The 
 third aspect, which we have not yet considered, but 
 which will immediately come under notice, is popery 
 as it appears in the depressed condition of the true 
 church of Christ ; that church, whose narrow bounds, 
 during this long period, we have just contemplated 
 as being confined within the temple and its inner 
 court. In this connection, the same duration is 
 expressed in the still increasingly plain chronolo- 
 gical term of one thousand two hundred and three 
 score duj/s. Thus we see that the same duration of 
 the same period, being expressed in three different 
 ways, is not without the most important meaning, as 
 we should certainly suppose would be the case. The 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TERMS. 221 
 
 papal world, in short, may be said to be divided into 
 three classes of persons ; first, the pope and his 
 clergy; second, those who obey them, called here 
 "the Gentiles ;" and third, those who do not obey 
 them, but are hated and persecuted by them. These 
 are kept separate, and identified, throughout this pro- 
 phecy, by the above respective chronological terms. 
 In like manner, the termination of the imposture of 
 Mahomet is characterized as the time of the end.* Thus, 
 wherever we meet with these respective modes of 
 expression, by keeping their distinctive application 
 in view, we discover at once to what they belong. 
 In the present case the introduction of the term forty 
 and two months, not only settles the time that the 
 popish pagan nations shall tread under foot, and 
 cast ignominy upon, every thing that is lovely and 
 excellent in the Christian name ; but it likewise 
 informs us (these 42 months being thus identical with 
 the duration of popery,) that its termination shall be 
 at the same time, and consequently that this like- 
 wise shall be one of the concluding scenes atten- 
 dant on the ceasing of the sixth trumpet, or the 
 second woe. 
 
 We now proceed to the next verses, in which we 
 shall find that the imagery is not only still taken from 
 Jewish worship, but that, with strict decorum to the 
 subject, it is borrowed <froin that which has imme- 
 diately preceded it, viz., the Temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 * See ch. xi. p. 305. 
 
222 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 And not only so, but we shall find that, for the pur- 
 pose of more beautiful and forcible illustration, the 
 Holy Ghost likewise borrows emblems from Jewish 
 or Old Testament History. 
 
 * And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall 
 prophesy 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. 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. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the 
 days of their prophecy t and have power over waters to turn them 
 to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they 
 will." (ch. xi. 3— G.) 
 
 The true worshippers, mentioned in the two preced- 
 ing verses as constituting the temple of God, and 
 whose worship is His altar, — and who are further 
 described as being separated by a broad mark of dis- 
 tinction from the idolatrous nations under whose 
 government they are subject, — are likewise described 
 as being circumscribed within very narrow bounds. 
 The whole of what is Called Christendom, denomi- 
 nated here the Holy City, and the outer court, is said 
 to be given to the Gentiles, or paganized Christians, 
 who in consequence form the visible professing church, 
 and trample everything really sacred and holy under 
 their feet. Nevertheless, though this is the state 
 of things that was to exist, and that for the long 
 period of twelve hundred and sixty years, or 42 
 prophetic months, yet in the verses now under consi- 
 deration we have very particular and distinct infor- 
 
THE TERM WITNESSES. 223 
 
 mation given, that these true worshippers (for to 
 them alone can be the reference, as the repetition of 
 the same duration, and that in a still plainer chrono- 
 logical term, proves,) shall likewise be the Lord's 
 witnesses in the earth. 
 
 We are too apt, in studying and reading commen- 
 taries and interpretations of the prophetic word, to 
 consider them as subjects of a speculative rather than 
 of a practical and personal nature ; and to no part 
 perhaps does the observation apply with more force 
 than that which is now under consideration : while 
 at the same time there is none that ought to come 
 more home to every bosom, and to every heart. For 
 whilst it should be the concern of every one to know 
 that he is a part of that one holy, spiritual, living 
 Temple above described, it should equally be his 
 most anxious point of inquiry, Do I beai witness 
 and give testimony for God ? Witness in Greek is 
 MartySj or Martyr, and signifies one that gives 
 testimony to the truth at the expence of his life. In 
 this sense, Paul says, 1 Tim. vi. 13, that Christ wit- 
 nessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate. 
 
 In this place, therefore, the expression implies not 
 only those who, during the reign of the tyrannical 
 Papal kings and rulers, should keep themselves from 
 the abounding corruptions and idolatry, but those 
 who should testify to the truth ; condemn the wick- 
 ness and idolatry around them ; and give warning of 
 God's awful denunciations against the apostacy. It 
 implies something more than neutrality ; more than 
 standing by and suffering the honour and majesty of 
 
224 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 God, and the place of his sanctuary, to be trampled 
 upon with impunity. 
 
 The witnesses are said to be two, because two 
 witnesses at least were required under the Jewish law 
 for confirmation ; one witness only was not suffi- 
 cient.* At the same time, from merely two being 
 mentioned, it shows, that though the number should 
 be sufficient, it should be the least possible — it should 
 be very small. It follows therefore that this number 
 is symbolical, and signifies, that during the whole of 
 the twelve hundred and sixty years the Lord would 
 raise up a succession of sufficient witnesses to His 
 truth, and to His great name; but that that number 
 would be comparatively small. 
 
 It is added, however, that these honoured witnesses 
 — for the Lord to call them His witnesses is a greater 
 honour than all the world can give — were throughout 
 all this long period " to prophesy ;" that is, to bear 
 their testimony, or to preach, making a public asser- 
 tion of their faith. The phrase does not mean pre- 
 dicting future events, a faculty which the Christian 
 church has never claimed during this period ; but it 
 simply means a faithful and uncompromising avowal, 
 in the face of opposition, both by our profession and 
 conduct, of the distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel ; 
 and in this sense every believer prophesies, and is a 
 witness for Christ. 
 
 And they were to prophesy, clothed in sackcloth, 
 which is the scriptural emblem of sorrow and trouble: 
 
 * Deut. xvii. 6 ; xix. 15. 
 
THE TWO WITNESSES. 225 
 
 V 
 
 to prophesy in sackcloth therefore means, to bear our 
 testimony in a sorrowful, mournful, and depressed 
 condition. In Psalm xxx. 11, it is directly opposed 
 to a state of gladness ; " thou hast put off my sack- 
 cloth, and girded me with gladness." Not that it 
 requires us to suppose the witnesses should always 
 be in a state of absolute persecution — " Sometimes 
 the sword of open violence might be drawn, and 
 sometimes it might be sheathed : but still they should 
 be locally so situated, as inevitably to exercise their 
 ministry in a depressed condition, slighted and de- 
 spised and discouraged, when not absolutely attacked 
 and worried, by the governing powers."* 
 
 These two witnesses are further symbolically de- 
 scribed as t{ the two olive trees, and the two candle- 
 sticks standing before the God of the earth." One 
 purpose for which this imagery is employed unques- 
 tionably is to teach us that we are to look for the 
 two witnesses in the temple : that temple, the outer 
 court and holy city of which are trodden down of 
 the Gentiles ; and of which the olive trees and candle- 
 sticks are considered a part of the furniture. The 
 allusion is to those two olive trees which the prophet 
 Zechariah saw on each side of the golden candlestick, 
 and supplying the light thereof with oil.f On his 
 inquiry what they meant, the angel gave an answer 
 that not only points them out as the type of the two 
 witnesses, but most strikingly expresses what a holy 
 and sacred radiance is thrown around the characters 
 
 * Faber. f Zech. ch. iv. 
 
 l5 
 
226 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 and persons of those who bear a testimony for Christ. 
 The whole passage is so beautiful, that I cannot resist 
 transcribing it — indeed the whole chapter calls for 
 the deepest attention. "Then answered I, and said 
 unto him," the prophet goes on to say, "What are 
 these two olive trees upon the right side of the candle- 
 stick, and upon the left side thereof? And I an- 
 swered a^ain, and said unto him, What be these two 
 olive branches which through the two golden pipes 
 empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he 
 answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these 
 be I And I said, No, my Lord. Then said he> 
 These are the two anointed ones that stand 
 by the Lord of the whole earth."* 
 
 Here it is plainly intimated that the Witnesses are 
 the anointed, or chosen .servants of God, replenished 
 with gifts and graces from the Holy Spirit, as an olive 
 tree is with oil. Hence they are said, as the effects 
 of this anointing, to have an unction from the Holy 
 One, and to know all things.f And it is in this that 
 their strength lies ; it is in this supply of oil from 
 olive trees planted in the temple of God, that they 
 branch out as lights from the golden candlesticks, 
 and are enabled to bear their life-giving testimony for 
 the name of Jesus seen and read of all men. Accord- 
 ingly, still in the 4th of Zechariah, when the question 
 in another place, verse 4th, is asked respecting them, 
 an answer to the same effect is given, that it is " not 
 by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
 
 * Zech. iv. 11—14. f 1 John ii. 20,27. 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 227 
 
 the Lord of hosts." And because it is through the 
 gracious influences of the Spirit that might, and 
 power, and strength, as well as gifts and graces, are 
 communicated ; therefore is the whole glory ascribed to 
 sovereign triumphant grace. For it is immediately 
 added, "and he shall brino; forth the head stone 
 thereof, with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto 
 it." * 
 
 Here then we have the doctrine of the Holy Spirit 
 distinctly and unequivocally preached unto us, as 
 being the secret source and spring of all our strength 
 and power, as well as that of the church's, through 
 every successive age. It is the vital, never-failing, 
 and abundant influences of grace, thus flowing, that 
 these earthen vessels, polluted and defiled by sin as 
 they are, have been made the temple of the Living 
 God, and that his people have been honoured as His 
 Witnesses on the earth, " Not by might nor by 
 power, but my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts'* — "I, 
 saith the Lord, I will give power unto my two wit- 
 nesses." It is well therefore for us to keep in mind 
 where our strength lieth — to feel that we are nothing 
 — and that the excellency of the power is of God, and 
 not of us. It is the more important to do this, and 
 to live upon it, from the certain fact, as will shortly 
 appear in the consideration of the remaining part of 
 this prophecy, that we shall soon have greater occa- 
 sion for it than was perhaps ever before experienced. 
 
 * Zech. iv. 6, 7. 
 
228 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 It will be then well indeed to know where our strength 
 lies, and how it will be communicated. 
 
 The two candlesticks, or lamp-bearers, signify the 
 churches,* through which the light of the Gospel 
 is supported or seen; and through the various 
 branches of which "the golden oil" empties itself. 
 The expression, that they stand before the God of 
 the earth — which same expression, as above quoted, 
 is used byZechariahf — signifies that they constantly 
 minister unto him ; and, like the angels who stand 
 before him, await, receive, and obey, as His servants, 
 His high commands.^ And we should recollect that 
 it is of us this is spoken ; that this is the attitude 
 in which we should be found, and at all times be 
 found, ready and swift to do His will. 
 
 Having thus described who and what these wit- 
 nesses are — the source of their strength — their de- 
 pressed condition, and the time of its continuance, 
 the two next verses speak of their marvellous power.§ 
 Here the symbols are chiefly brought from Jewish 
 history, and appear to refer to the times of Moses and 
 Elijah, with the spirit and power of which eminent 
 servants of God they are described to be endowed. 
 In treating of this part of the prophecy, I will now 
 come to its application or fulfilment as a subject of 
 history; and explain — 
 
 First, that during the whole reign of the Papal 
 
 * Rev. i. 20. f Zech. iv. 14. 
 
 J Rev. viii. 2. § Rev. viii. 4, 5. 
 
THE TWO WITNESSES. 
 
 229 
 
 kings the Lord has had his witnesses, who in the face 
 of opposition have borne testimony to the truth, and 
 that in a depressed condition : and further, that 
 these witnesses have existed as churches, shedding a 
 heavenly light around them. 
 
 Viewing the number two as symbolical, I do not 
 consider that any particular churches are here in- 
 tended to the exclusion of others. The explanation 
 which I have offered, takes in every separate church, 
 and likewise every individual believer ; for all in their 
 various spheres have been and are witnesses for God, 
 and all I believe are , here included. Some have 
 given a brighter light, some a fainter one; never- 
 theless all have given light ; and all have borne 
 some testimony, however feeble, to the truth of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 And it is a fact which Ecclesiastical history verifies 
 — and the reader is referred particularly to Milner's 
 History of the Church for its more full confirmation — 
 that this prophecy has been fully accomplished in the 
 Lord never having left himself without these his 
 witnesses. Even in the darkest days of Popery, in 
 the meridian of this 1260 years* decreed apostacy, 
 there have been shining witnesses, both without and 
 even within its pale. Of the first description were 
 the churches of the Albigenses and Waldenses in the 
 valleys of Piedmont and the south of France. Their 
 rise is very conclusively and satisfactorily proved, by 
 Mr. Faber, to be from a very remote period of Chris- 
 tian history. He says, that " when the Emperor 
 Constantine, in the days of Pope Sylvester, corrupted 
 
230 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 the church by the magnitude of his donations, 
 one of the companions of that prelate, anticipating 
 the apostacy of which he then beheld the com- 
 mencement, withdrew himself from the communion 
 of the Roman pontiff. He was joined by several 
 persons who held the same primitive sentiment as 
 himself, and who wished to preserve unspotted the 
 purity of the early church. These pious men hence- 
 forward formed a separate society, out of which sprang 
 the two churches, of the Vallenses in Piedmont, and 
 of the Albigenses in France. In a state of voluntary 
 poverty and depression, their object was to preserve 
 the simplicity of the apostolic faith ; and the constant 
 doctrine, both of themselves and of their successors, 
 was, M that the true church of Christ no longer existed 
 in the persons of Pope Sylvester and his adherents; 
 but from his time, or from the earlier part of the 
 fourth century, the genuine succession of the sincere 
 church, against which Christ had promised the gates 
 of hell should never prevail, had been preserved only 
 among themselves." These churches, ever since the 
 rise of Popery, have witnessed even unto death ; and 
 from them, even before the Reformation, issued many 
 other churches, although perhaps none so pure, in the 
 neighbouring nations of Hungary, Bohemia, and 
 Germany. 
 
 These were without the pale of the apostate church : 
 but it is likewise a matter of fact, that another such 
 church, worshipping God in much truth and simpli- 
 city, has likewise existed of a totally different com- 
 plexion ; enriched in an equal degree with vitality, 
 
THE TWO WITNESSES. 231 
 
 and shedding its bright and heavenly light on the 
 surrounding darkness. This spiritual church was 
 contained within the pale of the church of Rome, 
 composed of members of its communion — of men who 
 were raised up from time to time to make a stand 
 against and expose its corruptions, and who have left 
 a good evidence of having held the faith in upright- 
 ness. Of such a church was the celebrated Bernard ; 
 Claude, Bishop of Turin ; Bradwardine and Grosse- 
 teste, Bishops in England ; and many others, who are 
 brought forward by Bishop Newton, Milner, and 
 other authors. 
 
 It is impossible to say to what extent the ministry 
 and example of such men may have been a blessing 
 to the paganizing Christians around them ; or how 
 great the numbers of believers of such a church there 
 may have been. Amidst the universal apostacy that 
 prevailed, they are as difficult to discover, and parti- 
 cularly in the imperfect records of the history of the 
 middle ages, as were the seven thousand in Israel in 
 the time of Elijah, who had not bowed the knee to 
 Baal. The Waldenses themselves confessed that 
 there were some "individual souls in Babylon/' who 
 loved the Lord, and served him with all their spirit, 
 under all the disadvantages by which they were sur- 
 rounded. " In the darkest periods of Popery," says 
 Bishop Newton, " like lights in a dark place, who 
 remonstrated against the degeneracy and superstition 
 of the times" — u some superior spirits to bear testi- 
 mony against it, and stem the torrents of supersti- 
 tion." And Gibbon, so often the unconscious and 
 
232 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 unintentional witness to the fulfilment of prophecy, 
 speaks to the same purpose. After naming the per- 
 secutions of the Albigenses — or, as he terms them, 
 Albigeois — he says, ** In the state, in the church, and 
 even in the cloister, a latent succession 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 
 the Gnostic theology. The struggles of Wickliffe in 
 England, of Hnss in Bohemia, were premature and 
 ineffectual ; but the names of Zuinglius, Luther, and 
 Calvin, are pronounced with gratitude as the deliverers 
 of nations."* 
 
 Since the Reformation, the Lord's witnesses have 
 chiefly, perhaps altogether, been found in the Protes- 
 tant churches,in which a succession of holy and devoted 
 men, witnessing against the abominations by which 
 they have been surrounded, have from time to time 
 been raised up, and have shed a bright lustre on the 
 annals of the Christian church. Compared with 
 former ages it has truly been a glorious period ; but 
 looking at it merely in connection with the more 
 immediate papal nations, it has been but as it were 
 the twilight, " a little help," as it is elsewhere called.f 
 The outer court, the holy city, has still, to a great 
 and now increasing extent, been trodden under foot by 
 the Papists. Out of the ten Roman kingdoms, only 
 England, since the Reformation, was truly Protes- 
 tant Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, 
 
 * Gibbon, ch. liv. t Diss ch. xii.326. 
 
THE TWO WITNESSES. 
 
 233 
 
 Naples, and the Papal States, have ever continued 
 in the main in their apostate state, crushing every 
 attempt at reformation. Each of these countries 
 nevertheless has had its witnesses ; but as the voice 
 of history, even to the present moment proves, wit- 
 nesses prophesying in deep sackcloth. 
 
 We now come to sneak — 
 
 Secondly, of the power ascribed to the Lord's 
 witnesses, as detailed in the oth and 6th verses. The 
 symbols are taken in this instance, that we may be 
 enabled to bring them more home to ourselves, not 
 from Jewish worship but from Jewish history, or 
 from the Lord's dispensation towards His people of 
 old ; and are chiefly found in the account given of 
 Moses and Aaron, and of Elijah and Elisha.* What 
 God does, according to His word, either miraculously, 
 as he did by His ancient servants the prophets, or, 
 since the ceasing of miracles, what He does in the 
 way of His providence in their behalf, especially in 
 reference to the persecutions which they endure, is 
 said to be done by them. " Behold, " says God to 
 the prophet Jeremiah, (ch, i. 9, 10,) " I have put my 
 words in thy mouth : see 1 have this day set thee 
 over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, 
 and to pull down, and to destroy, and throw down, to 
 build and to plant."f And in Hosea vi. 5, the same 
 idea is conveyed, "Therefore have I hewed them by 
 
 * Ex. vii. 17; 1 Kings xvii. 1 ; xviii. 41. 
 t See likewise Jer. v. 12, 14. 
 
234 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 the prophets ; I have slain them by the words of my 
 mouth." Thus, to whom God in any remarkable 
 way vindicates the injured honour of His servants, 
 when He steps out of the common way of His pro- 
 vidence for their protection and benefit, the highly 
 metaphorical language here used, expressive of their 
 power, is fulfilled. It is language which, though 
 more direct, is not stronger than that which runs 
 throughout the whole of the Scriptures, in speaking 
 on the same subject. If in this place the elements 
 both of fire, and air, and water, and land, are de- 
 scribed to be at their command ; in another place it is 
 said, "All things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apol- 
 los, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or 
 things present, or things to come; all are yours; 
 and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is God's,"* beyond 
 which language cannot go ! 
 
 It is a common expression, that the Lord's people 
 Jive far below their privileges ! How few indeed 
 recognize the great things which are here described, 
 and described as identifying them ; and how little 
 their enemies know what they are doing when they 
 injure them. The whole scope of the Scriptures, as 
 it bears upon this part of a Christian's experience, 
 confirms this assurance of their unbounded power — 
 a power to which God himself puts no limit. And 
 what, though it be silent in its operations, though it 
 be lodged in the hands of God, who says, " ven- 
 geance is mine, I will repay," yet it is still not the 
 
 * 1 Cor. iii. 21—23. 
 
THE TWO WITNESSES. 235 
 
 less real. Both in the light of Scripture and of pro- 
 vidence we see much, but we wait for the day of 
 Judgment to reveal how many of the evils, calamities, 
 and trials which have attended mankind, both col- 
 lectively and individually, have been caused by their 
 neglect and injurious treatment of the Lord's servants. 
 In reference to some of the most calamitous events 
 that ever fell on nations, and which will come before 
 us in the consideration of the after parts of this book, 
 this reason is expressly given : >l They have shed 
 the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given 
 them blood to drink." # 
 
 The language here used therefore is no hyperbole : 
 the people of God have in all ages had the power 
 ascribed to them, and they still possess it. Not 
 indeed, be it remembered, by their own might or their 
 own power, but by the Spirit of God — His spirit as 
 speaking and breathing through His own word. 
 With this Divine Word, as with the sword of the 
 Spirit,t may we all be armed for the dreadful con- 
 flict now so near at hand, and which calls for our next 
 attention. 
 
 * Rev. xvi. 6. f Eph. vi. 17. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LAST GREAT PERSECUTION; 
 
 OR 
 
 A CONTINUATION OF THE CONCLUDING SCENES OF 
 
 THE SIXTH TRUMPET. 
 
 This event noticed by Daniel — Likewise in Rev. vii., as the great 
 Tribulation — Here it is particularized — In the Time when it wilt 
 commence; when the 1260 years are finishing — Its Instrumen- 
 tality, the beast of the bottomless pit, or by infidels — Its actings 
 developed in the French revolution — The reign of terror — Its 
 present existence shown — Its war with the Lord's witnesses, or 
 persecution of His church — Our strength to endure it from God 
 — Its locality, or the place where it will happen — Considered to 
 be England — Why con/pared to Sodom — to Egypt — to Jeru- 
 salem — The time it is to last, three years and a half — What is 
 meant by the death of the witnesses — This time an incomplete 
 period — To what the other half has a reference — The great 
 rejoicing it will occasion, and the reason thereof. 
 
238 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LAST GREAT PERSECUTION. 
 
 I have thought it right, with regard to the great and 
 deeply interesting event of which the particulars are 
 symbolically detailed in the above four verses, to make 
 it the subject of a separate chapter. My chief reason 
 for doing this, is, because it appears capable of the 
 clearest demonstration, that it speaks of a tragedy 
 near at hand ; of a tragedy in which the people of 
 the present generation will very shortly be either the 
 dreadful actors or the unhappy victims, and, there- 
 fore, because it is to us so indescribably important. 
 
 It was hinted at in general terms, in considering 
 the latter part of Daniel's u Great Vision,"* where 
 it is intimated that at the " time of the end many 
 shall be purified, and made white, and tried ;" 
 and that M the wicked shall do wickedly. "f It has 
 likewise been pointed at in a very striking manner, 
 in considering the seventh chapter of the Revelation 
 
 * See Diss. eh. xii. 327 ; xiv. 378. 
 f Dan. xii. 9,10. 
 
THE GREAT PERSECUTION. 239 
 
 whereitis called the great Tribulation, out of 
 which the whole rescued church is said to have come 
 from n all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and 
 tongues." In both these notices, brief as they are, 
 there is enough to satisfy us that something of a 
 very dreadful nature, regarding the peace and happi- 
 ness of the church of Christ, will take place. To be 
 purified, made white, and tried, and that through 
 the wicked doings of the wicked ; likewise to be 
 rescued from a superlatively great tribulation, in 
 which the servants of God shall have hungered an d 
 thirsted, and been grievously tormented — might pre- 
 pare us to expect the worst that could happen. We 
 have now, in the prophecy before us, very full 
 particulars, even both as to the time when this 
 persecution will commence ; by what instrumenta- 
 lity ; its duration; what will be its nature; its 
 locality; its consequences; and its issue: in the 
 study of which particulars we shall find that the 
 worst ivill happen, and very soon happen ; but that 
 the best, the very best, will immediately follow. 
 
 First. The time it will commence is thus 
 expressed : " And when they shall be finishing their 
 testimony," that is, at the time when the 1260 years 
 of the Lord's witnesses are concluding. In our 
 translation the words are iC And when they shall have 
 finished their testimony;" but the most eminent 
 commentators, including the names of Mede, 
 Whiston, Cressneer, Newton, Halifax, Woodhouse, 
 Cuninghame, Bicheno, Gauntlett, Dr. Moore, and 
 
240 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 others, all agree to render it according to the first 
 translation, when they shall be about to Jitiish their 
 testimony *, or when they shall be Jinishing their testi- 
 mony. Even iMr. Faber, in the first edition of his 
 valuable work on prophecy — which I consider, on many 
 disputed points, far more correct, and less warped 
 by system than the subsequent one, gives it, " And 
 when they shall draw near the close of their testi- 
 mony."* And it cannot be otherwise ; because the 
 whole tribulation is described to be over, and the 
 Lord's witnesses finally and triumphantly rescued, 
 before it is said, " the second woe is past ;" and 
 consequently before it can be said the 1260 years are 
 past. Therefore it must happen according to the 
 original Greek text, when they shall be Jinishing 
 their testimony, and not after they have finished it ; 
 for that is impossible. For before the seventh 
 seal is opened, consequently before the mighty angel 
 appears with the little opened book, it is said their 
 sufferings are at an end, " they shall hunger no more, 
 neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light 
 on them, nor any heat, because the Lamb which is 
 in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall 
 lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God 
 shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."f In fact, 
 if this were not the case, they would be in sackcloth, 
 or in a state of mourning, depression, and sorrow, 
 after the 1260 years were past ; but it is to be for 
 this length of time, and no longer; therefore this 
 
 * Faber's Dis. Vol. II. p. 91. Ed. 1808. f Rev. vii. 16, 17. 
 
INFIDELITY. 241 
 
 event must form the concluding scene, while the 
 witnesses are finishing their testimony ; that is, it 
 will be the last act of the drama. 
 
 Second. The instrumentality by which this per- 
 secution will be effected. 
 
 " The Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall make 
 war against them." (ver. 7.) 
 
 This is the first mention of a beast in the book 
 of Revelation. It is a symbol taken from Daniel, 
 signifying a cruel and tyrannical power, ruling by 
 the impulse of natural brutish passions, and perse- 
 cuting the church of God. # By its first appearance 
 here, we are to understand that some such new 
 power or domination will at this time appear to per- 
 form the assigned work, rising, not like the four 
 beasts of Daniel, from the strivings of the great sea, 
 or a troublesome state of affairs, or from great com- 
 motions, but from the et bottomless pit ;" from 
 Satanic depths, from Hell, as this expression has 
 elsewhere been explained to signify. f I wonder 
 not that former commentators have been at a loss 
 what to understand by the beast so described. 
 Natural reason could never have imagined a distinct 
 determinate power arising in the world, the principles 
 of which should be so utterly diabolical, that it should 
 be characterized as being direct from the abode of 
 the devils. The doctrines of Mahomet are indeed 
 
 * See Diss. ch. ix. p. 204. f Ch. vi. p. 7. 
 
 M 
 
-42 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 described as a smoke from the bottomless pit,"* in 
 reference to which, it is said, u it cast the truth down 
 to the ground, and practised and prospered ; r f and 
 we might naturally infer that a beast from the bot- 
 tomless pit will have something of the same general 
 character. 
 
 It was the opinion of an author, who wrote a para- 
 phrase on the Revelation, considerably above a hun- 
 dred years ago, that u from the reduplication of the 
 article in the Greek, it may be inferred that the 
 beast was become notorious and famous ;"J that is, 
 from its being expressed as "The beast out of the 
 bottomless pit," it was a power already known by its 
 actings, but nevertheless one that had not performed 
 the part which is here assigned to it, in persecuting 
 the church. 
 
 It is not presuming on the credulity of any one 
 to say, that such a state of things is exactly that 
 in which we live at the present moment. At the 
 commencement of the great French revolution, a 
 power broke loose upon the world, answering, both 
 in its principles and actings, this description. The 
 former were those of perfect undisguised Atheism, 
 shewn in every possible contempt and desecration of 
 the Holy Scriptures, by the then government of that 
 unhappy nation. § The history of this period, it is 
 presumed, in this particular, is not sufficiently 
 
 * Ch. vi. p. 7. f Ch. ix. p. 12. 
 
 I Waple. § Diss. ch. vi. p. 128. 
 
INFIDELITY. 243 
 
 known, as the works which minutely described the 
 atrocious proceedings that took place at that time, 
 have most of them sunk into comparative oblivion. 
 It may here be briefly noticed, that Atheism 
 received the public homage due to God ; that the 
 Scriptures were declared to be a fable, and death 
 an eternal sleep ; and that upon the altar of the 
 church at Notre Dame, the naked person of a prosti- 
 tute was worshipped as the goddess of reason. The 
 Bible was publicly dragged through the streets, con- 
 signed to the flames, and on every possible occasion 
 treated with marked ignominy. In the mad 
 frenzy of the moment the Sabbath was abolished ; 
 the division of the year by weeks was done away with ; 
 and time was counted from the first year of the 
 revolution : in fact, every thing was done that could 
 be thought of, to obliterate the memory of both 
 creation and redemption ! 
 
 These principles from the bottomless pit, were 
 dominant from about the middle of May, 1793, to 
 the end of 1796; and they shewed themselves by 
 corresponding fruits — for scenes of horror as the 
 world never before beheld were transacted during 
 this awful period ; so much so, that it seemed as if 
 hell itself were let loose. It is sufficient to mention 
 the names of Robespierre, Danton, Marat, and 
 their associates, for those at all conversant with the 
 history of the times to recall the extremities of 
 guilt, horror, and blasphemy, which were, in such 
 perfection, for the first time exhibited on the stage 
 of human existence. 
 
 m 2 
 
244 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "The beast that ascendeth from the bottomless 
 pit,'* is, therefore, already " notorious and famous." 
 We are not left merely to conjecture what kind of a 
 power and dominancy it is into whose hands the 
 churches of Christ are decreed so soon to fall. The 
 complete specimen, in all its parts, principles, and 
 effects, has been given ; and we are able to compre- 
 hend, in some measure, not only of what nature the' 
 persecution, directed against the devoted servants of 
 God, arising from such a quarter, will be ; but 
 likewise, from its strangeness and superior horror to 
 all former ones ; and being permitted to be Satan's 
 last attempt against the church of Christ before its 
 final rescue, why it is made the subject of a distinct 
 and particular prophecy. 
 
 The question then arises, if these diabolical prin- 
 ciples are to rule and again predominate in so short 
 a time, spending their terrific violence in an especial 
 manner against the religion of Jesus Christ, are there 
 any indications to countenance such an expectation, 
 and to warn us of the approach of so formidable 
 an enemy? The answer is by no means dubious : 
 the exposure lately made by the Bishop of Exeter 
 in the House of Lords — the Times newspaper, and 
 other periodicals and pamphlets, repeatedly pressing 
 upon our minds the same facts — and the open and 
 unblushing language of the infidel press, equalling 
 any thing that ever issued from the pen of Voltaire 
 or Paine, — prove that these principles are at work, 
 subverting the very foundations of society in all 
 their unmitigated atrocity, throughout the length 
 
INFIDELITY. 245 
 
 and breadth of the empire. At the same time the 
 outbreak, lately made in South Wales, exhibited but 
 too clearly, according to the evidence given on tfoe 
 trials of the prisoners, that this rebellion was but the 
 premature putting forward of the head of the mon- 
 ster. That a conspiracy exists for the establishment 
 of an atheistical state of society, appears beyond a 
 question ; and looking at the supineness with which 
 it is regarded in high quarters, looking at the 
 strength it has already acquired, and looking at the 
 very similar state of things just before the breaking 
 out of the French Revolution fifty years ago, it is 
 too much for the most indifferent to say it may not 
 succeed. 
 
 Here then in connection with the fall of the Ottoman 
 empire, to which it is the immediate prelude, we have 
 another sign of the times, in addition to those 
 already named.* The stoutest heart cannot say 
 there is nothing to apprehend ; for the fact being 
 certain and admitted, that the very same principles 
 are abroad and rampant in society, which, in our 
 own recollection, involved a great nation in one 
 mass of ruin, crime, and misery, we have no secu- 
 rity that the same thing may not again happen. 
 And when we further see that the professed end of 
 the " new moral world," which the Socialists profess 
 to organize, is the subversion of religion and its 
 dearest ties, and that this object is that which it is 
 here decreed they shall effect, indifference is sin. 
 
 Diss. ch. xiv. 
 
246 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, 
 it is said, 
 
 Thirdly, " Shall make war against them (the Lord's wit- 
 nesses) and overcome them and kill them." (ch. xi. 7.) 
 
 How different is the prospect here held out to the 
 churches of Christ, to that in which they are them- 
 selves indulging ! How different from the language 
 held at public meetings, and in the generality of 
 pulpits ! The advice of the apostle is, ° Despise not 
 prophesyings,"* but are they not despised by a 
 great portion of the professing church? If it were 
 not so, would they be crying " peace, peace," 
 when the sure word of prophecy, to which God says 
 we do well to take heed/j- points us to the darkest 
 season of sorrow that they ever yet experienced ? 
 The war here spoken of, it will be found, is no spi- 
 ritual war — the power signified by the beast, no 
 spiritual enemy — the death, no spiritual affliction ! 
 To say the least of it, there is, without going very 
 deep into the study of the subject, quite enough to 
 alarm, and quite enough to authorize every minister 
 of Jesus to sound the solemn word of warning. 
 
 Nothing can be clearer than that this fearful 
 catastrophe is to befal the churches just on the con- 
 clusion of the sixth trumpet, or the second woe ; and 
 if there be one probability greater than another in 
 the world of politics, it is, that what is signified by 
 that trumpet will soon end !J 
 
 * 1 Thess v 20. f 2 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 I Diss, ch vi. pp. 136 — 141 ; also ch. xi. pp. 30l — 305 ; and in 
 this Work, ch. ix. p. 194, and onwards. 
 
THE LAST PERSECUTION. 
 
 247 
 
 " I do not pretend to determine," says an eminent 
 minister, " the times and the seasons which the 
 Father hath put in his own power ; or to decide 
 how far these things will happen in our own times. 
 I am speaking the words of warning : I hope and 
 pray they may not prove the words of prophecy. 
 But of this I am fully persuaded, that the Scriptures 
 clearly point out a darker season of trial and perse- 
 cution coming upon the church than hath ever yet 
 been, and accompanied with a more complete putting 
 down of all faithful preaching. The tivo witnesses 
 I am persuaded have never yet been slain — but 
 slain assuredly they will be ; and then that fearful 
 season will come." # I know not that much more 
 than this can be said in explanation of this war, and 
 of this death ; with our loins girt and our lamps 
 burning, we must wait the event to know its full 
 meaning. 
 
 In the language of prophecy, according to the 
 definition of Mede, to die signifies to cease to be 
 whatever a person was before such death. The 
 death of the witnesses would therefore seem to imply 
 their being compelled to cease from being witnesses. 
 It will, in fact, most probably be a complete poli- 
 tical death, in which all the real followers of Jesus 
 Christ will be subdued ; degraded from all power 
 and authority ; deprived of all offices, of all worldly 
 comforts; and perhaps, in many instances, of life: 
 all their places of public worship shut; the public 
 
 * Thel wall's Sermons, p. 197, a. d. 1833. 
 
248 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 profession of religion vilified, degraded, and prohi- 
 bited ; and the Scriptures trampled upon. w It 
 cannot," observes Bishop Horsley, " be an extinc- 
 tion of the spiritual vitality of these churches ; of 
 their faith, their love, their works ; not an extinc- 
 tion of their light, nor a drying up or failure of the 
 supply of oil. Such a death as this can only be 
 inflicted on a sinful church by the avenging hand of 
 God. The witnesses are to be killed by the beast. 
 And their carcase-state, we may humbly hope, will 
 be nothing worse than a state of extreme tribulation 
 and misery. "* 
 
 From all that has been said ; from the very phrase- 
 ology used in the text, that a successful war is to 
 be made against the Lord's witnesses by a power 
 characterised as being from hell, it is evident that 
 something very dreadful is to take place. It is no 
 doubt that which will u seal the servants of God in 
 their foreheads "f as a mark of their deliverance from 
 those yet greater evils to be inflicted by the avenging 
 hand of God upon the world, immediately following 
 the sounding of the seventh trumpet, or the relaxing 
 of the hold of the " four winds of heaven." Pro- 
 fession is now easy, and is no absolute mark of a 
 real believer in Jesus ; but when reproach and 
 shame, hunger and thirst, spoliation and oppression, 
 and it may be torture and death, shall stare us in 
 the face, the case will be altered. The man that, 
 in the strength of Divine grace, can stand all this, 
 
 * Brit. Muj. May 1834. f Iiev. vii. 5 ; and above, ch. vi. 
 
THE LAST PERSECUTION. 
 
 249 
 
 and, as it is expressed in the seven Epistles, " over- 
 come," will assuredly have a seal on his forehead, 
 not to be mistaken. In reference to it each believer 
 may say with Paul, " I can do all things through 
 Christ strengthening me ; for when I am weak, 
 then am I strong.'* ** Fear none of those things," 
 saith our Lord (in this book, Rev. ii. 10), " which 
 thou shalt suffer ; behold the devil shall cast some 
 of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; and 
 ye shall have tribulation " (the church of Smyrna, 
 to which this was addressed) " ten days : be thou 
 faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
 life." And the same language is addressed To us. 
 
 Fourth. The place where this great persecution 
 shall happen : — 
 
 " And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great 
 city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also 
 our Lord was crucified." (ch. xi. 8.) 
 
 There can be no question but that the great city 
 here spoken of is the empire of Rome, divided into 
 its ten kingdoms, and for the following reasons : — 
 1st. Because the witnesses are described as pro- 
 phesying or bearing their testimony in the presence 
 of those Gentiles, or idolatrous Christians, who tread 
 under foot, by their abominations, the holy city forty 
 and two months ; which the Gentiles, by this chrono- 
 logical correspondence of their allotted period with 
 the time, times, and half a time of the little Roman 
 horn of Daniel, can refer to no other than the sub- 
 jects of the same region. And as the term " city," 
 
 m 5 
 
250 
 
 CHAPTER XI I 
 
 in the second verse, " the holy city," manifestly is 
 allegorical, and refers not to a literal city but to an 
 empire, so the term, as here again used, signifies the 
 same thing ; and, for the reason above given, the 
 same empire. In the former case it is applied in 
 an ecclesiastical sense ; in the latter, where it is 
 termed u the great city," it has a secular signification. 
 2d. Because the brief but highly expressive descrip- 
 tion here given, answers to the Papal Roman king- 
 doms, and to no other : besides which, no other 
 empire has continued during the whole of this loi^ 
 period of 1260 years. The comparison is to Sodom, 
 and Egypt, and Jerusalem. The very mention of 
 three distinct places, one of them a nation, and two 
 of them cities, infallibly proves, even if the epithet 
 "spiritual" had not been used in speaking of 
 them, that they are to be understood in a mystical 
 or symbolical sense ; for it is evident, that if con- 
 sidered literally, it would involve an absurdity, as if 
 it was the literal Sodom or Egypt, it could not be 
 the literal Jerusalem. The first characteristic by 
 which this empire, where the witnesses are to be 
 persecuted, is to be known, is its likeness to Sodom. 
 It is not the first time this figure has been used 
 by the Holy Spirit, to express an utter corruption 
 of morals and manners, such as was described under 
 the fourth seal to belong to the Roman empire. 
 The prophet Isaiah uses it in speaking of the sins 
 of Judah in his own time (ch. i. 9), saying, " Except 
 the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small 
 remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we 
 
THE PAPAL NATIONS. 251 
 
 should have been like unto Gomorrah." No symbol 
 could, indeed, be used more significant to express a 
 state of filthiness and habitual uncleanness ; and all 
 history, public and private, demonstrates that both in 
 principle and in practice the papal world has been one 
 sink of iniquity. It is elsewhere spoken of by Him 
 whose judgment is infallible, as being notorious for 
 its idolatry, murders, sorceries, fornication, and 
 thefts."* 
 
 The second characteristic by which this great city 
 or empire is to be discovered, is in its likeness to 
 Egypt. This nation is known in connection with 
 the church of God, by its grinding oppression and 
 tyranny ; so much so, that Egyptian bondage is as 
 expressive and proverbial a term, as the wickedness 
 of Sodom. In this respect it is equally the coun- 
 terpart of papal Rome, which has from age to age 
 fulfilled the prediction in Daniel respecting it, that 
 it should " wear out the saints of the Most High," 
 and cause them to "prophesy in sackcloth. " This 
 can be described in no stronger language than by 
 the comparison here used, and it is a fearful mark 
 of identity. 
 
 The third and last characteristic which is brought 
 forward, is its likeness to Jerusalem ; and lest this 
 should be misapplied if only the name were men- 
 tioned, as in the former cases — which it was very 
 likely to be — the point of comparison in this instance 
 is expressly brought forward ; it is the only mark of 
 
 * Rev. ix. 20, 21. 
 
252 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 recognition " where our Lord was crucified ! ' 
 That is, the empire in which the witnesses are to be 
 silenced by the beast out of the bottomless pit, is one 
 that would be like Jerusalem of old in its having 
 crucified' the Lord Jesus Christ. The Saviour's own 
 lamentation over this devoted city is to the same 
 effect — " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! thou that killest 
 the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto 
 thee, how often would I have gathered thee as a 
 hen gathereth her chickens under her win^s, and ye 
 would not." So that it is intended we should here 
 understand, that what in this respect Jerusalem 
 of old was famous for, and for what it was especially 
 guilty, so should the empire which it here repre- 
 sents. And, for the truth of this mark of identity, 
 I would refer to what is said under the fourth and 
 fifth seals ; premising that what is thus done to the 
 Lord's people, is considered as done to himself. u Why 
 persecutest thou me ?" was the challenge given to 
 Paul ; implying that Christ's servants are the mys- 
 tical parts of his own body, and that those who per- 
 secute and kill them, are considered as persecuting 
 and killing Him. In this view, this ts great city" is 
 the place literally where our Lord has been crucified ; 
 and that to an extent so fearfully great as to mark a 
 long era of time, expressed by the cry of the mar- 
 tyrs for vengeance.* I will only follow out the com- 
 parison by one more observation, that in like manner 
 as Jerusalem, whilst it was full of all these crimes, was 
 
 * Rev. vi. 10. 
 
THE PAPAL NATIONS. 253 
 
 called the Holy City ; so is this the antitype blasphe- 
 mously called the Holy Roman Empire, and its 
 tyrannical rulers Most Holy, Most Christian Kings, 
 and the head of the apostacy by still more impious 
 titles. 
 
 One more observation on this head, and I have 
 done. Is not the consideration of oar being part of 
 an empire characterized for its abominable wicked- 
 ness as Sodom, for its cruel tyranny to the Lord's 
 people as Egypt, and for its killing of them as 
 Jerusalem, in the last degree alarming, when the 
 miraculous burning of the one, the repeated plagues 
 of the other, and the awful destruction of the last, 
 are borne in mind? If the type, however, in this 
 respect, is to hold good even to the end, which it 
 assuredly will ; it is cheering to reflect, that one other 
 peculiarity attended all these calamities, which, as we 
 shall presently see, it is decreed shall likewise dis- 
 tinguish the antitype ; and that is the preservation 
 of the righteous ! 
 
 But it is in one particular part of this great empire, 
 where especially this terrific tragedy is to take place, 
 and where this public exposure of the triumph of the 
 wicked over religion and truth is to be made. It is 
 said to be in the street, or more emphatically the 
 broad street, the great place, or the market-place of 
 the great city — in other words, in the principal king- 
 dom of the empire, for this is the usual and indeed 
 the most natural interpretation that can be given to 
 the word. In determining which of the ten king- 
 doms is intended by this broad place or street, we are 
 
254 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 guided by another controlling principle ; it is neces- 
 sary not only that it should be the leading kingdom 
 — what the chief street is to a great city — but it is 
 likewise absolutely required that that kingdom should 
 contain the churches which are thus to suffer. This 
 principle is indeed so obvious, that almost without an 
 effort of mind, England, or, more properly speaking, 
 the British nation, would appear to be the particular 
 district of the u great city" referred to. If France 
 or Austria were to dispute the pre-eminence in refer- 
 ence to the " broad street or market-place" — a pre- 
 eminence which, it is presumed, no impartial person 
 would concede to them ; and one to which, looking at 
 the superior commerce and traffic of England, they 
 are certainly neither of them entitled, — yet respecting 
 the other point of identity, that of being the seat or 
 depository of the Lord's witnesses, there can be no 
 question. I consider therefore, that by this expres- 
 sion, ° the broad street of the great city," England 
 could scarcely be more distinctly pointed out as being 
 the kingdom in which the persecution is to take 
 place, even though it had been mentioned by name. 
 And as we are none of us willing to yield the palm 
 of superiority, when treating on other subjects — nor 
 is it just we should, for we are unquestionably, in 
 this our day and generation, the first of nations — it 
 is our wisdom on this occasion not to cast from us 
 the destinction here bestowed, but, in the prospect 
 before us, to w lift up jour heads, for our redemption 
 draweth nigh." 
 
THE LAST PERSECUTION. 255 
 
 Fifth. The next thing to be noticed, is the time 
 this persecution is to last. 
 
 " And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and 
 nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an halj, and shall 
 not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves." (ver. 9.) 
 
 Here is another and a very strong proof, in addition 
 to those above-named, that the " great city" must 
 mean a great empire, and the Roman empire ; other- 
 wise the " dead bodies" of the witnesses could not be 
 seen by the peoples, and kingdoms, and tongues ; for 
 these expressions signify, throughout the whole of 
 the Revelation, the several nations which compose 
 that empire. 
 
 It is likewise a proof that the time here mentioned 
 cannot signify literal time ; since it is not possible 
 that so many different nations should be represented 
 as looking upon the dead bodies of the witnesses, 
 that is, upon the ruins of the whole church, for three 
 days and an half only. Especially when we see half 
 a day added to the number, which it seems absurd to 
 imagine of an event that is to be of so general an 
 extent all over the Roman empire. It must there- 
 fore necessarily be symbolical time, as before ex- 
 plained, "a year for a day," and signify that this 
 fiercest persecution of the church is to last three 
 years and an half, — and but three years and an 
 half I 
 
 From its being said that the peoples, and kindreds, 
 and tongues shall see these dead bodies all the three 
 years and an half, it would appear as if what is 
 
256 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 signified by the slaughter of the witnesses would be 
 an act suddenly decisive and complete. And this is 
 what we might expect from the kind of instrumen- 
 tality which is to bring it about, and the kind of 
 death to be inflicted. It is not, as hath been already 
 explained, a bodily death, but is agreeable to the 
 ordinary signification of killing and slaying through- 
 out the whole of this book ; as for instance, the killing 
 of the third part of men in the sixth trumpet ; the 
 not killing them in the former trumpet ; the death of 
 the creatures in the sea in the second ; in all these 
 death is taken for the extinction of the name and 
 profession of the whole or part of the Roman nation, 
 or a political death. In the present case it is a total 
 suppression of the public profession of the true 
 religion, which is the mystical life of the witnesses; 
 it is death to the testimony they bear to the truth ; 
 it is the true members of the church of Christ coerced 
 into a state of perfect silence. 
 
 Although however the act which brings about this 
 state will be suddenly decisive and complete, yet 
 there must be a peculiar significancy in its being said 
 their dead bodies shall not be suffered, throughout 
 the whole time the persecution lasts, to be buried or 
 put into graves. It appears plainly to intimate, that 
 the oppressed church shall be kept in a. visible though 
 ruined and crushed condition, and that in a way that 
 shall aggravate its misery ; but how, the event must 
 explain. There is evidently something in the charac- 
 ter of the persecution altogether that will terrifically 
 distinguish it from all preceding ones. The state 
 
THE LAST PERSECUTION. 257 
 
 of the church at all other times during the 1260 
 years, has only the name of the witnesses pro- 
 phesying in sackcloth ; but this is represented by 
 making war with them, and overcoming them, and 
 killing them; which must signify, that it is as much 
 more considerable than any former one, as the killing 
 of a man is in comparison of his being in a sorrowful 
 and a mourning condition. 
 
 The three years and an half being an incomplete 
 number, I cannot but consider must, in like man- 
 ner to the "time times and an half,"* have a 
 reference to some seven, as the whole number of it, of 
 which they are the half. For this term of three and 
 an half, is in itself so precise and so unusual a deter- 
 mination of the whole time of an event, and the 
 whole number seven is so commonly used to signify 
 the whole of things of the same kind, or the perfection 
 of a series of actions, that I cannot but consider this 
 as belonging to some remarkable seven. 
 
 It is, I think, not improbable but that it may be 
 the week or seven days mentioned in the last verse of 
 the 9th chapter of Daniel ; and more especially as a 
 direct reference is made to its bisection. " And he 
 shall confirm the covenant with many for one tveek ; 
 and in the midst of the week," or in the half of the 
 week, "he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation 
 to cease." 
 
 The sacrifice and the oblation ceased after the three 
 years and an half of the public ministry of our Lord 
 
 * See Diss. ch. x.p. 262. 
 
258 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 himself by his death and resurrection, and left the 
 remaining three years and an half to be fulfilled by 
 some other similar ministry. For both parts of the 
 week being to confirm the same covenant, according 
 to Wintle,* for the purpose of making a firm cove- 
 nant, if one has a reference to a ministry, so must the 
 other. In this view of the subject there appears to 
 be an uncommon beauty, as well as a deepening 
 interest in the idea, that as one part of the week 
 commenced the Christian dispensation, so the other 
 part will close it — the first, by the personal ministry, 
 death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ himself; 
 the last, by those of his witnesses ; and the parallel, 
 as we shall immediately see, will be most close. 
 
 Sixth. The public rejoicing which this persecution 
 will occasion, and the assigned reason — 
 
 " And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, 
 and make merry ; and shall send gifts one to another ■ because these 
 two witnesses tormented them that dwell upon the earth." (v. 10.) 
 
 The rejoicing here spoken of appears to be that of 
 the highest description, and is set forth in such parti- 
 culars as to shew it to be complete. Tlie language 
 used is the same as that ascribed to the Jews on the 
 days of their greatest rejoicing, and such as was 
 shewn on the occasion of their great deliverance from 
 the malice of Haman : " A day of gladness and feast- 
 ing, and a good day, and of sending portions one to 
 
 * Wintle on Daniel. 
 
THE LAST PERSECUTION. 259 
 
 another."* This unbounded delight, it is said, will be 
 shown by those that dwell on the earth, because the 
 two witnesses have tormented them. What has been 
 done is a matter of history; and therefore the wit- 
 nesses having tormented them that " dwell on the 
 earth," who it is that are intended by this description 
 may be best ascertained by inquiring who it is that 
 have been tormented by them. 
 
 It is first necessary to explain, that this tormenting 
 appears to allude to the words of Ahab to Elijah, f 
 " Art thou he that troubleth Israel V* and means 
 bringing a curse upon the land.J It is the necessary 
 result of that enmity which was put between the seed 
 of the serpent and the seed of the woman — an enmity 
 which has never ceased to be shewn, wherever God 
 hath been truly worshipped. M How is it," asks Mr. 
 Thelwall, " that the humble disciple of Jesus, who 
 simply takes God at his word, receives without hesita- 
 tion, upon his authority, every sentence in the Bible ; 
 and desires and acts accordingly — that this man is 
 excepted from all rules of toleration ? that hi* opinions 
 are not to be endured? And if he escape actual 
 buffeting, cruel injustice, and bloody persecution, it 
 is only that the inward hatred of the Liberals may 
 vent itself upon him in a ten-fold contempt ? How is 
 this? I will tell you : It is natural that the children 
 of the devil, however different from each other in 
 some respects, should all agree in tolerating one 
 
 * Esther ix. 19, 22 ; Neh. viii. 10, 12. f 1 Kings xviii. 17. 
 \ Josh. vii. 25 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 29. 
 
260 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 another; and that, therefore, all manner of lies and 
 falsehoods, errors and delusions, should he endured 
 and repeated — for the devil is the author of them all ; 
 and however his children may sometimes quarrel, it 
 is natural that on some occasions they should cordially 
 unite, and act as brethren of one family. But real 
 Christian faith comes down from heaven — it is the 
 offspring of God — and it is therefore hated by all 
 that hellish rout; they cannot endure it/'* 
 
 This is the kind of tormenting therefore that is 
 here alluded to, the contrary life and conversation of 
 the Lord's people to that of the people of the world, 
 which to them is a perpetual torment and reproach. 
 Its effect is seen in the lives of Cain and Abel ; but 
 most conspicuously in that of our blessed Lord and 
 Saviour himself, which was such a keen and perpetual 
 torment to the pharisaical Jews, that they could' not 
 be satisfied till it was quenched in his blood. From 
 its being in this manner that the two witnesses have 
 likewise tormented " them thatdwell on the earth," by 
 these latter must be meant those upon whom it has 
 had a similar effect to that which it had upon Cain 
 and upon the wicked Jews : in other words, it means 
 the idolatrous paganizing Christians ; for it is they 
 who have persecuted and slain, from age to age, those 
 that have shown forth a righteous conversation. It 
 is these therefore that will rejoice on the occasion of 
 the coming tribulation ; it is the myrmidons of Rome 
 that will be in such an ecstacy of joy to see the 
 
 * Sermons, p. 309. 
 
THE LAST PERSECUTION. 26 L 
 
 success of the beast out of the bottomless pit. Al- 
 though the greatest it will not be the first demon- 
 stration of such an ebullition of delight at the suffer- 
 ings of the Saints of God, as the rejoicings at the 
 horrid massacre of St. Bartholomew can testify. 
 Let the church therefore be awake to all her enemies. 
 If the ostensible arm that strikes her dead be Infi- 
 delity, those that can so signally rejoice and triumph 
 over her fall, cannot but have lent all their best aid 
 towards its accomplishment, and, as the most incre- 
 dulous now begin to confess, do lend their aid, and, in 
 every way they can devise, are sapping the foundations 
 of her strength. And it is not easy to conceive any- 
 thing that in stronger terms could demonstrate the 
 greatness of the tribulation, and the depth of the trial 
 that is coming upon us, than that it should be so 
 great a gratification to the malice of those that 
 hate her. 
 
 Having thus gone through these few verses, which 
 gave such a particular account of the last great Per- 
 secution, " the Tribulation, the great one,"* we now 
 come to speak of the Church's triumphant rescue and 
 deliverance. 
 
 * See chap. vi. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 the 
 
 CHURCH'S TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN; 
 
 OB 
 
 THE ASCENSION OF THE TWO WITNESSES, 
 
 BEING 
 
 STILL A CONTINUATION OF THE CONCLUDING SCENES 
 OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET. 
 
 The connection of the history of the Two Witnesses with that of the 
 Seven Seals and first Six Trumpets — Depressed condition of the 
 true church for 1260 years — Connection of the VII. of Revela- 
 tion, with the ascension of the two witnesses — Translation of the 
 true church to heaven — The witnesses* revival to life — In the first 
 place a political revival — The Spirit of life from God, what — 
 The translation demonstrated — Typified by Elijah — All the 
 result of sovereign grace. 
 
264 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE 
 
 CHURCH'S TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN. 
 
 Before considering the next two verses, which 
 describe the glorious and triumphant manner in 
 which God will appear for his people at the end of 
 this three years and an half persecution, it will throw 
 additional light upon the subject, if for a moment 
 we retrace the events of the seven seals and the six 
 first trumpets, and connect them with the new aspect 
 of the church given in this history of the two 
 witnesses. In contemplating its state, as it appeared 
 under the influence of the ruling powers of the empire, 
 that is, as it is exhibited under the seven seals, in 
 vain do we attempt to discover, after at least the first 
 seal in the age of Constantine, anything like the 
 appearance of real vital godliness in its external 
 aspect. We see nothing but a state of gradual decay, 
 corruption, and extreme wickedness, ending in the 
 most awful apostacy. We hear indeed the voice of 
 martyrs crying for vengeance, giving fearful intima- 
 
THE TWO WITNESSES. 265 
 
 tion of what was the aspect of the times: and we 
 behold altogether the most convincing proof that 
 " the outer court was indeed given to the Gentiles," 
 even to the moment that the mighty angel proclaimed 
 that "time was no more;" that is, until forty and two 
 months were ended. 
 
 As little, or less, could we discover of the true 
 church, in the horrors of the tremendous judgments 
 of the first six of the trumpets. To the question then, 
 Where are we to look for it? I reply, In the account 
 given in this place under the symbol of two witnesses ; 
 and here we find its situation accurately pourtrayed, 
 as being that of mournful sorrowing and depressed, 
 "clothed in sackcloth" — and as trodden under foot 
 by the il Gentiles," or the paganized Christians — 
 or, as it is expressed by Daniel, " worn out." For 
 speaking of the little horn of the papacy, he says, 
 " And he shall speak great words against the 
 Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most 
 High 1 '* — the Lord's witnessing church — M and think 
 to change times and laws : and they shall," he adds, 
 and the language bears directly upon the prophecy 
 before us, " they shall be given into his hand, until a 
 time, and times, and the dividing of time" — they 
 shall be given into his hands to wear out and tread 
 underfoot forty and two months — or, they shall pro- 
 phesy or bear their testimony a thousand two hundred 
 and three score days clothed in sackcloth. The 
 
 * Diss. ch. ix. p, 221. 
 
 N 
 
266 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 narrative, the persons, the incidents, and the duration 
 of time, in all the cases are the same. 
 
 Perhaps the arrangement that will set the closing 
 scenes which are here described in the clearest and 
 most convincing light, both as it regards the persecu- 
 tion described in the last chapter, and the glorious 
 deliverance now about to be considered, is to connect 
 them with the same closing scenes described in the 
 7th chapter of the Revelation, and with their expla- 
 nation.* 
 
 Thus connected they will stand as follows: — 
 " And after overtumings and wars of the sixth seal, 
 or of the French Revolution had ceased, I saw four 
 angels standing on the four corners of the earth, 
 holding the four winds, that the hurricane of war 
 which will be let loose upon a guilty world, on the 
 sounding of t/te trumpet of the seventh angel, or the 
 coming of the third wok, should not deluge the 
 world with misery and slaughter, until the servants 
 of God, the saints of the Most High, the Lord's 
 witnesses, should be secured from its fury. And 
 every individual member of the true church, in every 
 part of the world, was, during a most severe perse- 
 cution of three years and a half, purified, and made 
 white, and^ tried, witnessing in the face of hunger, 
 and thirst, and oppression, and sorrow, a good con- 
 fession for Christ, thus bearing a seal in their fore- 
 heads that they belonged to the living God." 
 
 * See ch. vi. of this Work. 
 
TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN. 267 
 
 " And after three days and an 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." (vers. 11, 12.) 
 
 " It was after this translation to heaven, that the 
 Apostle beheld that great multitude which no one 
 could number, from all nations, and tribes, and 
 peoples, and tongues, stand before the throne, and 
 before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and 
 palms in their hands. He beheld this great multi- 
 tude, this cloud of witnesses, who had come of the 
 great tribulation ; and he heard their song, ascribing 
 the salvation to God and to the Lamb ! On 
 this event transpiring, on this great deliverance being 
 effected, and not before, the second woe will be 
 past! the Ottoman empire falls! and behold! — oh, 
 behold ! the third woe cometh quickly! 
 
 From this it will be perceived that I consider the 
 words above quoted, viz. the 11th and 12th verses, 
 as expressly asserting a translation to heaven ! 
 and as affording therefore the strongest and most 
 direct confirmation of the explanation I have given 
 to the seventh chapter; and that the two deliver- 
 ances are one. Most of the arguments that have 
 been brought forward to prove the one, will like- 
 wise prove the other ; and therefore to those argu- 
 ments I would, in the first place, direct my readers' 
 attention ;* and, in connection with them, request 
 
 * See ch. vii. 
 
 n2 
 
20« CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 his further attention to the few additional remarks on 
 what is before us. 
 
 I would notice, as a preliminary observation, one 
 remarkable peculiarity in the first twelve verses of 
 this chapter — and that is, that although highly sym- 
 bolical, like the other prophecies of this book, yet 
 they are given in the way of narrative, not of vision : 
 and that this narrative, in the various particulars we 
 have considered, enters not onlv into the detail of the 
 mournful outward circumstances of the Lord's 
 people, but into the very essence of their life, 
 strength, security, and privileges ; closing with this 
 their final triumph. 
 
 In endeavouring to ascertain the precise meaning 
 of the resurrection and ascension of the two wit- 
 nesses, we ought not to keep out of our minds for a 
 moment, that it is an event which is to happen im- 
 mediately preceding the dreadful sounding of the 
 seventh trumpet, and, as hath been already in several 
 places explained, the consequent utter ruin of the 
 ten kingdoms. They must therefore signify some- 
 thing that can comport with such a state of things. 
 Whatever the deliverance is, and a very great and 
 complete one it will be. it must be one that will 
 rise above all the horrors of the seventh trum- 
 pet! And as if to mark its completeness the 
 more, it is set in the highest contrast with that 
 event. But we must proceed to particulars. 
 
 Jt is first said, that at the end of the three years 
 and an half of their sufferings, " the spirit of life 
 from God entered into them ; and they stood upon 
 
REVIVAL OF THE WITNESSES. 
 
 269 
 
 their feet.'* To perceive the full force of these 
 words we must look back to where it is said, that 
 they have been made war against, and overcome f and 
 killed : and their dead bodies have lain publicly 
 exposed, and not suffered to be put into graves! 
 I have explained on these words that the death here 
 spoken of is not a literal death, but must be such 
 a death as a church can suffer. In like manner 
 must we consider the life to be such a resuscitation 
 as a church can enjoy. As the former appears to 
 signify the entire silencing or extinction of all pro- 
 fession whatever of the religion of the Gospel, 
 attended with circumstances of extreme contempt and 
 ignominy ; so the mention of their standing upon 
 their feet, not through any favour of man, but by 
 * the Spirit of life from God " entering into them, 
 carries with it the idea, that in the first instance, 
 at the end of the three years and an half, they 
 will, through some wonderful divine interposition, 
 rise into favour and into power — that is, that they 
 will not only recover their former position, " stand- 
 ing again upon their feet," but in a manner and in 
 an attitude which will cause great fear to fall upon 
 those who see them ! 
 
 The expression, " the Spirit of life from God,'' 
 is very strong, and, I consider, has a remarkable 
 fulness of meaning. It is the same as is used in Gen. 
 vii. 22, according to the marginal reading, " All in 
 whose nostrils was the breath of life died." It 
 ought to convey to us, whom it so personally and 
 so nearly concerns, an inexpressibly delightful and 
 
270 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 cheering feeling, that let the enemies of truth and 
 revelation — the enemies of Christ and his saints — 
 vent their impious rage as they may, and conceive, 
 with that infidel Voltaire, that they have at length 
 crushed that which is to them so great a torment, 
 yet that their rage is vain, and their triumph but short. 
 The Lord's witnesses shall be re-animated with the 
 Spirit of life from God, and stand upon their feet, 
 to the inexpressible confusion and dread of those who 
 hate them; and even in this respect the Lord will 
 vindicate his injured servants. 
 
 But a higher award, a nobler triumph than any 
 earthly honour, enjoyment, or any earthly privileges, 
 awaits them ! They not only rise again into exist- 
 ence and to consideration, and that to the utter 
 confusion of their enemies ; but intimation, in some 
 clear, unequivocal manner, is given them from 
 Heaven. They heard, it is said, a loud voice from 
 heaven, that they are to ascend thither; for this loud 
 voice, in whatever way it is conveyed, said unto 
 them, "Come up hither." There is room for no 
 mistake here, with regard to the language used: — the 
 voice was from heaven ! the heaven of heaven where 
 God resides! and it will bear no other meaning. It 
 can be no political heaven ; not only this word as 
 used in other places forbids the idea,* but the cir- 
 cumstances which surround it render it impossible. 
 The political heaven, or ruling powers, consists of 
 those who have been the cause of all the church's 
 
 * Rev. x. 4 : xiv. 2, 13. 
 
TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN. 271 
 
 sufferings, and they now behold its resurrection to 
 political life with u great fear," and therefore cannot 
 have contributed to it. But as if to shew that 
 political honour cannot be meant by this great and 
 loud call from heaven, the former verse, as above 
 3xplained, shews they have already attained it. What 
 follows, therefore, must be something of a totally 
 listinct and infinitely more glorious nature. 
 
 "And they ascended up to heaven in a 
 cloud, and their enemies beheld them. 5 ' 
 [fit were possible to imagine this to be a political 
 iscension, the last expression, " their enemies beheld 
 them/' appears quite superfluous — because this would 
 be a matter of course, and, as such, would not be 
 noticed here. It implies further, that those who 
 were before their enemies are still 'their enemies. It 
 must be, therefore, that this expression refers to an 
 extraordinary scene; to that most extraordinary 
 scene which it was inferred, in a former part of this 
 work,* must take place, from the whole phraseology 
 of the 7th chapter, viz., — a translation to 
 heaven ! All the interpretations there given, to 
 which the reader is again referred, is here fully con- 
 firmed by this one assertion, M And they ascended up 
 to heaven in a cloud !" 
 
 In the language of the 7th chapter we will again 
 follow them ; for it is a thing most delightful to dwell 
 upon. " I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which 
 no one could number, of all nations, and kindreds 
 
 * See chap. vi. 
 
272 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 and peoples, and tongues," (and this language is 
 sufficient of itself to explain what is meant by the 
 two witnesses,) " I beheld this innumerable multi- 
 tude, " says the Apostle, "standing before the throne 
 and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and 
 palms in their hands ; and they cry with a loud 
 voice, saying, The salvation be ascribed to our God 
 which sitteth upon the throtie, and to the Lamb. And 
 one of the elders spake, saying unto me, These 
 clothed in white robes, xuho are they, and whence came 
 they ? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowe6t. And 
 he said unto me, These are they which came out of 
 the great tribulation, and have washed their 
 robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb : 
 therefore 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 shall lead them unto living fountains of 
 water : and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
 eyes !" 
 
 Thus this three years and an half is not only the 
 counter-part of the three years and an half of our 
 Saviour's sufferings, making the u one week" of 
 Daniel, ch. ix. ver. 27, but of his resurrection and 
 ascension. And here it may not be irrelevant to 
 notice, that the prophet Elijah likewise appears to 
 have been an eminent and remarkable type of the two 
 witnesses ; or of the church in this her last period of 
 
ELIJAH'S TRANSLATION. 273 
 
 trial and suffering. His being miraculously fed for 
 three years and an half, during a time of great 
 famine ;* and the still greater famine of the Word of 
 God ; the fixed resolution of his enemies, during this 
 period, to take away his life; a sound of abundance 
 of rain beino; sent immediately after his servant had 
 been to look at the sea seven times ;f the miraculous 
 confirmation which God gave in favour of his own 
 truth at the time of sacrifice ; the unanimous attesta- 
 tion that was given to this attestation by all who wit- 
 nessed it; and finally, Elijah's triumphant ascension 
 into heaven in chariots of fire and horses of fire — all 
 appear highly significant of what we have seen in the 
 history of God's witnessing people in this place; and 
 to point to their end on earth being, as it is expressed 
 it shall be, of a similar nature. As he therefore as- 
 cended to heaven without dying — as Christ himself, 
 whilst his disciples beheld, was taken up, and a cloud 
 received him out of their sightj — so shall all the 
 members of his church, at this great crisis, M ascend 
 up to heaven in a cloud ! " 
 
 And it is observable that our Saviour himself 
 brings forward these three years and six months' 
 famine in Elijah's time, as a proof of the great and 
 awful doctrine of his own sovereignty ;§ teaching us 
 that the supply of bread and oil, which his poor and 
 despised church has received in her mournful and 
 depressed condition, has been the result of discrimi- 
 
 * Luke iv. 25. f 1 Kings xvjii. 
 
 X Acts i. 9. § Luke iv. 25, 26. 
 
 N 5 
 
274 
 
 CHAPTER XTII. 
 
 nating mercy, according to the language in St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans, " I will have mercy on whom 
 I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon 
 whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of 
 him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of 
 God that sheweth mercy."* Hence, when the elect 
 of God are gathered together in heaven, the praise is 
 given to whom the praise is due. u The salvation," 
 they cry with a loud voice, " be ascribed unto Him 
 that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." 
 And the top stone shall be brought forth with joy, 
 crying Grace, Grace, unto it — " Not unto us, O Lord, 
 not unto us, but unto thy name be all the glory." 
 
 • Rom. ix. 15, 16. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE GREAT REVOLUTION 
 
 THAT IS TO HAPPEN AT THE TIME OF THE CHURCH'S 
 TRANSLATION TO HEAVEN; 
 
 AS THE LAST CONCLUDING SCENE PREVIOUS TO THE 
 
 FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 
 
 OR THE 
 
 CEASING OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET. 
 
 Caution in speaking of future things — A great Revolution to happen 
 — One of the ten kingdoms to fall — Titles of honour totally 
 abolished — The fright these things occasion — Another argument 
 proving that the deliverance of the Saints ivill be a translation to 
 Heaven — The second woe past ! — Its commencement clearly defined 
 in the taking of Constantinople in 1453 — The Turks prepared for 
 this great undertaking — Their fall will be a most signal event — 
 Harmony of the different lines of prophecy both in the old and 
 New Testaments — Encouragement to prophetical studies — Rev. 
 Charles Buck's notice of this chronology — Rev. Mr. Fletcher of 
 Madelys remarks on prophecy. 
 
276 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE GREAT REVOLUTION 
 
 WHICH IS IMMEDIATELY TO PRECEDE THE FALL 
 OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 There is only one other scene mentioned, as 
 attendant on the conclusion of the sixth trumpet — 
 and there is one other which is to happen ! and that 
 at the same time as the one described in the last 
 chapter. For it is said — 
 
 " And in the same hour there was a great earthquake ; and the 
 tenth part of the city fell ; and in the earthquake were slain of the 
 names of men seven thousand : and the remnant were affrighted, 
 and gave glory to the God of heaven." (ver. 13.) 
 
 In speaking of things that are future, whilst it is 
 peculiarly necessary and proper to use the utmost 
 caution and circumspection, yet, if the subject is 
 sufficiently important to go into at all, it is necessary 
 likewise to speak with plainness and decision ; and, 
 as far as we have firm ground to go upon, to give the 
 full sense of every prediction that comes across our 
 path without fear or hesitation. With the encourage- 
 ment from God, which we have in various passages, to 
 
THE GREAT REVOLUTION. 277 
 
 study this part of His Holy Word, we ought not to be 
 deterred either from the possibility that wemay bemis- 
 taken,or from the event being contrary to and at vari- 
 ance with the general expectation, or even with proba- 
 bility. It is the unquestionable duty of every person 
 to give the word of warning, where he conceives he 
 has the authority of the Scriptures on his side ; and 
 it is for others to judge and examine what real ground 
 he has for so doing. My only wish therefore is, that 
 every person who may give these pages a perusal, 
 would imitate the conduct of the noble Bereans, 
 and search for themselves whether these things 
 are so.* 
 
 With this feeling, and without the most remote 
 desire in all I have written, or may write, to be 
 either wise above what is written, or above other 
 people, I proceed with the prophecy before us, 
 which says, — that in the same hour, (which expres- 
 sion, considered chronologically, signifies the same 
 month) as the translation of the witnesses shall 
 take place, there will be a great earthquake, which 
 signifies, as has been previously explained, a great 
 Revolution !*f What historically took place in 
 fulfilment of the very same expression being used 
 on the opening of the sixth seal, the events of the 
 French Revolution disclosed ! What will take place 
 on this other similar political eruption transpiring, 
 in " the street of the great city" we can only ima- 
 gine as far as this verse gives the information. 
 
 * Acts xvii. 11. f See ch. v. p. 
 
278 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 It is said, first, that the tenth part of the city 
 jell; by which expression it must be understood 
 that one of the ten kingdoms of the Roman empire 
 will fall; that is, in some way or other, be ruined ! 
 As the whole prophecy has especially pointed at the 
 kingdom where the Lord's witnesses were to be 
 persecuted, " the street of the great city," so there is 
 no reason whatever, that I know of, but to believe 
 that the same is still intended. If this be the case 
 there is the strongest reason to conclude that 
 England is intended ; for it is to be a great revolu- 
 tion, and England, the seat of the church, is a great 
 kingdom, and the events of prophecy are great 
 event- 
 
 In this earthquake, and it is the only additional 
 particular that is mentioned, it is said there will be 
 slain seven thousand names of men. The names of 
 men must signify titles of honour and distinction ; 
 of dignities, offices, and repute ; and by their being 
 slain, that they will be abolished. And the number 
 seven, or the number of perfection, being added to 
 the highest numerical, making the symbolical num- 
 ber of seven thousand, that they will all — all be 
 abolished ! Something of this description took place 
 in the great French Revolution, in which the epithet 
 Equality, as is well known, was the watch-word 
 that levelled all distinctions, from the prince to the 
 peasant, in the dust. The same infidel and ungodly 
 principles, " from the bottomless pit" one of the 
 chief of which is despising authorities, being now 
 
A GREAT REVOLUTION. 
 
 279 
 
 rampant in society, it is only natural they should 
 take the same turn, and produce similar effects. 
 
 And the remnant (that is, I imagine, those who, 
 though not among this godless crew, were neverthe- 
 less not found numbered with the saints, or at 
 least not willing to share their sufferings,) were 
 affrighted* — were, as they may well be, in the most 
 dreadful consternation, and at length confessed the 
 hand of God. Most probably they had seen the 
 persecution of the Lord's people, and the great tri- 
 bulation through which they had passed, with in- 
 difference — perhaps with complacency ; but now, 
 when they beheld the issue and the end, in the 
 exaltation of the one party to heaven, and the mad- 
 ness of the other in the destruction of civil society, and 
 in their own ruin, they, like Nebuchadnezzar of old, 
 gave glory to the God of heaven. Perhaps these are 
 what we are to understand by the five foolish virgins, 
 who thought they might go on slumbering and 
 sleeping, but who now, after the door is shut, awake 
 themselves to their danger, " saying, Lord, Lord, 
 open to us." But he will answer and say, (l Verily 
 I say unto you, I know you not." 
 
 The irremediable state of anarchy and confusion 
 just described, as the result of the great earthquake 
 that is to happen in the same hour as the ascension 
 of the witnesses, or what we may term, in allusion 
 to the above application of the events, the ascen- 
 sion of the five wise virgins, is another argument to 
 prove that it cannot be an ascension to worldly 
 grandeur, or to any privileges the world can confer, 
 
280 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 since both its grandeur and power will be both 
 swept away. The only alternative therefore appears 
 that it must be what we have above considered it, 
 an ascension to heaven. It is a great thing to 
 expect ; but if God has decreed it — and it is de- 
 clared by St. Paul, that those who are alive at his 
 coming shall be caught up to meet him in the air* — 
 it is not too much to believe and to expect. 
 
 Few, I imagine, will be disposed to quarrel with 
 such a termination of their sufferings, vvhen their 
 fainting spirits are passing through the deepest 
 waters of human sorrow and suffering, which they 
 will experience in the great tribulation, and when at 
 length they shall behold the most horrid wars and 
 devastations ready to burst over the heads of an 
 ungodly world. Oh no ! they well then understand 
 what our Saviour means in saying, " When these 
 things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift 
 up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."f 
 This solemn and heart-inspiring truth, the speedy 
 return of Christ to the earth, and their own conse- 
 quent ascension to heaven, will enable them to smile 
 in persecution, in reproach, and in death ; and in 
 joyful anticipation to exclaim, U Come, Lord Jesus ! 
 O come quickly ! " 
 
 All these -things being accomplished, and the 
 object of relating them in this place in the book of 
 the Revelation attained — which object was to join 
 
 * 1 Thess. iv. 17. fLukexxi.28. 
 
THE END OF THE SIXTH TRUMPET. 281 
 
 the concluding scenes of the time, times, and half a 
 time, with the ceasing of the sixth trumpet, thereby- 
 more clearly to demonstrate the simultaneous con- 
 clusion of the two periods — it is at last said (ver. 14), 
 "The second woe is past!" The Turkish empire 
 which for so many years has been tottering, drying 
 up, wasting away, now falls : to which announce- 
 ment is immediately added, "Behold!" — take parti- 
 cular notice of iti — tC Behold, the third woe cometh 
 quickly !" 
 
 In the chapter on the second woe, I have ex- 
 pressed my conviction that the period assigned for 
 its continuance, which has been explained to signify 
 391 years,* is to be calculated as the period which 
 the Turkish power, the instrument of it, is to keep 
 possession of Constantinople, the capital of the an- 
 cient Eastern Roman Empire ; this being the great 
 work for which it was prepared." Mahomet the 
 Second took it on the 29th of May, a.d. 1453 ; on 
 which occasion he slew Constantine Paleologus, the 
 last of above a thousand years' succession of Roman 
 emperors, and destroyed, as has been already described, 
 with unwonted barbarity, the inhabitants; and in the 
 complete conquest of the empire which followed, he 
 triumphed alike over Christianity and the Roman 
 name in that quarter of the world. 
 
 No period of time appears to be more clearly 
 marked ; and unwilling as any person may be to 
 
 *Ch. ix. 
 
282 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 attend to prophetical dates, it seems difficult in this 
 case to pass them over, or to pronounce them ob- 
 scure. This great event, the fall of the capital of 
 the Caesars, stands so prominently recorded in the 
 annals of Europe, as an event of surpassing import- 
 ance and grandeur, as one of those great catas- 
 trophes that shake the stability of surrounding na- 
 tions, and make the world to tremble — it agrees so 
 fully in all the particulars of the siege, and the 
 important results with the prophecy that has re- 
 corded it — and it bears, in all respects, so completely 
 the distinguishing marks which have been explained 
 to belong to a prophetical era, that there appears no 
 possible reason to hesitate in considering it as the 
 true event forming the commencement of this most 
 important chronological period. All preceding events 
 in the Turkish annals, how much soever they may have 
 attracted the notice of former commentators, are now 
 out of the question ; as 391 years, reckoned from any 
 one of them, probable or improbable as they might 
 have appeared, must have long ago expired ; whereas 
 the Ottoman empire yet stands. Nor is there any 
 succeeding event in their history but what sinks into 
 insignificance compared with it. In the eyes of Gib- 
 bon it was so pre-eminently great, as to be made 
 to close what he styles u the memorable series of 
 revolutions which, in the course of thirteen cen- 
 turies, gradually undermined, and at length de- 
 stroyed, the solid fabric of Roman greatness :''* 
 
 * See Preface to Decline and Fall. 
 
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 283 
 
 which series of revolutions he traces from the age of 
 Trajan, a.d. 98, the date within a year or so of the 
 writing of the Apocalypse, to the ta'king of Con- 
 stantinople in 1453. 
 
 The empire of Turkey is in fact most emphatically 
 the empire of Mahomet II. ; he being in virtue of this 
 great conquest, the acknowledged founder of its great- 
 ness, and hence he is considered by Knolles, in his 
 history of the Turks, and by other historians, the first 
 Ottoman emperor. In the same sense was Cyrus 
 the founder of the Persian greatness, and Alexander 
 the Great of that of Greece. All these respective 
 monarchies had existed for centuries previous to the 
 important position they were to assume in connec- 
 tion with the church of God, and the prophetic 
 earth. They had all previously been prepared for 
 the work they were destined by God to accomplish ; 
 but they are only recognized in prophecy in its 
 actual accomplishment. From the point of time, 
 therefore, when this commences, it seems but reason- 
 able that any assigned length of duration or chronolo- 
 gical period should be reckoned. And as if to mark 
 the importance of this date of an hour, day, month, 
 and year, it stands first of all others in the book of 
 Revelation ; in fact, it is the only original one, except 
 the thousandyearsof theMillennium,in this prophecy, 
 and appears to be placed in connection with the sixth 
 trumpet, for the purpose of drawing all others around 
 it. For let this but be correctly ascertained, and it 
 appears to be one of no difficult calculation, it 
 will follow, from the contents of the tenth and 
 
284 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 eleventh chapters, without touching on other pre- 
 dictions to prove the fact, that " the time of the 
 end,'* the restoration of the Jews, the fail of the 
 Papacy and the Western nations, and the deliverance 
 of the church, will be likewise ascertained, as all are 
 destined to happen at one and the same period of 
 time; since it is after the particular enumeration of 
 all these, or in direct reference to them, and not 
 before, that it is said, " The second woe is past." 
 
 Indeed it is most observable, that the indications 
 of the fall of Mahometanism as an ecclesiastical 
 imposture in the Old Testament, under the appel- 
 lation of " the time of the end/' and in the New 
 Testament as the passing away of the iC second woe," 
 are held forth as a signal ; as something that was to 
 be very visible, portending the certain near approach 
 of all the great consummations above mentioned. 
 Most probably the reason of this is because the 
 Turks or Ottomans are in possession of the country 
 of the Jews, whose restoration to the land of their 
 fathers is to be the crisis of all nations. Therefore 
 it is, that the fall of their empire is held up, both in 
 the Old and New Testaments, as the sign of " the 
 times of the Gentiles " being fulfilled. It is not 
 without reason, therefore, that the present critical 
 situation of Turkey, and the anticipations of the wisest 
 politicians respecting the probability of its speedy 
 downfall, excite at the present moment such marked 
 attention in those who at all turn their minds to 
 these things, both as it concerns the Jews and 
 Gentiles. There are, indeed, many other signs of 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 285 
 
 the times alarming enough ; some of which have 
 already been distinctly noticed. There are yet others 
 which remain to be considered ; but there are, 
 after all, none so clear, so unequivocal, as this, 
 either as it respects circumstances or time ; either 
 as it respects symbolical or chronological prophecy. 
 
 It is my most earnest wish to be neither dogmatical 
 or presumptuous ; but with regard to any of these par- 
 ticulars, it seems difficult to imagine how a mistake 
 can be made, confirming each other as they do in so 
 striking a manner. The Turkish empire, which is 
 called the second woe, is unquestionably, to all ap- 
 pearances, nearly past ; all that is included in the 
 period of 12G0 years, must likewise be nearly over ; 
 the restoration of the Jews cannot be far distant ; 
 and the signs that are to indicate these things are 
 fast clustering around us. Many do run to and 
 fro — knowledge has increased — "the king," describ- 
 ed in Daniel xi. 35 — 39, who was to appear just 
 before the time of the end, has appeared, and with 
 him the French revolution — and " the beast out of 
 the bottomless pit," gives the most alarming indica- 
 tions of his near approach. These are some of the 
 circumstances; some of the signs which point as 
 to a crisis very, very near at hand. This being 
 the case, there appears to be no presumption in the 
 attempt to direct the anxious mind to the 'chronolo- 
 gical periods which God has given, and to inquire 
 how far they support these anticipations. 
 
 I have done so, as have likewise almost all that 
 have gone before me in these studies ; and the 
 
286 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 results of my inquiries, as they run throughout 
 the whole of this work, and as they appear in the 
 chronological chart in my former work, must, by 
 this time, be familiar to the reader. It will be per- 
 ceived they all point to a very early period, the year 
 1844 ; and although it is fashionable to object to the 
 fixing of dates, yet so long as it is said, " things that 
 are revealed belong to us and to our children for 
 ever," I see not on what sufficient ground. " If 
 Jesus told his disciples, (says the late Rev. John 
 Fletcher, of M.tdeley,) that it v^as not theirs to 
 know the times when these things should be accom- 
 pi i shed, it does not follow that it must be hid from 
 us, who are far more nearly concerned in them than 
 they were. Add to this, that DaniePs Vision was to 
 be closed //'// the end, and could not be perfectly 
 known till verv near the time of the fulfilling of 
 
 It."* 
 
 " But ye, brethren," says the Apostle, " are not in 
 darkness, that that dav should overtake vou as a 
 thief. Ye are the children of the light, and the 
 children of the day."t And though Christ declared, 
 when on earth, u of that day and that hour knoweth 
 no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, 
 neither the Son, but the Father ;" yet I think it 
 may be questioned whether this state of ignorance 
 was intended to last. Nor do I consider this pas- 
 sage is generally correctly understood ; for, like all 
 
 * Letter on the Prophecies, Vol. X. of his Works, 
 f t Thess. v. l. 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 287 
 
 other controverted passages, it cannot be at variance 
 with the general scope of the written Word, nor with 
 that which immediately precedes it r where it is 
 said, that, as the approach of summer was known 
 by the budding of the fig tree, so the approach of 
 these things should be known by the signs that 
 should precede them, and which do now appear! 
 The chronological period in question, clear as it 
 now appears, could not, by any possibility, without 
 further revelation, have been ever conjectured, until 
 its commencement had been known by the event; and 
 even after this, a veil appears to have been upon the 
 mind until within a very few years back ; so that any 
 event but the right one should have been fixed upon. 
 The late Rev. Charles Buck, in his valuable Theolo- 
 gical Dictionary, published above thirty years ago, 
 seems to have seen it aright; and I mention it more 
 especially, as being the opinion of a Dissenting 
 minister of high consideration. "The four angels 
 were loosed, says the prediction, verse 1 Sth^ which 
 were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, 
 and a year, for to slay the third part of men. This 
 period, in the language of prophecy, makes 391 years, 
 which being added to the year when the four angels 
 were loosed, (prepared) will bring us down to 1844, 
 or thereabouts, for the final destruction of the Maho- 
 metan empire. " # 
 
 I will close with another quotation from the afore- 
 said letter of Mr. Fletcher, which letter was written 
 
 * See the article " Mahomet." 
 
288 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 in Nov. 1755, nearly eighty years since; or, be it 
 remembered, nearly three generations ago ! " If we 
 are mistaken in forming conjectures — if the pheno- 
 mena we hear of every where are but common pro- 
 vidences — if these things happen not to us, but to 
 our children, (as they most certainly will, before the 
 third generation is swept, away) is it not our busi- 
 ness to prepare ourselves for them, to meditate on 
 them, and to warn as many people as we can pru- 
 dently, lest their blood should be required at our 
 hands, were they to fall because of a surprise. Let 
 us pray to God more frequently, that for the elects 3 
 sake he would still more shorten the days of the tri- 
 bulation, and add daily to the true church such as 
 will be saved. But let us not forget to rejoice with 
 Abraham, in seeing by faith the glorious day of our 
 Lord, and to hasten, by our fervent prayers, that 
 glorious kingdom, those happy days, when narrow 
 shall be the way of destruction, when saints raised 
 from the dead shall converse with living saints, and 
 the world of spirits be manifested, in a great mea- 
 sure, to the material world ; in a word, when Jesus 
 will be all in all." 
 
 " What a glorious prospect is this! let us often 
 think of these words of our Lord, * Behold, I come 
 quickly, blessed is he that mindeth the sayings of 
 this prophecy. Let us join the spirit and the bride, 
 who say, Come! O let him that heareth say, 
 Come ; and let him that is athirst come ; for he that 
 testineth these things says, Surely I come quickly. 
 Amen ! even so come Lord Jesus. 5 ' 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE 
 
 LAST SOLEMN JUDGMENT ON THE 
 WESTERN NATIONS; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE THIRD WOE : 
 
 LIKEWISE 
 
 THE FIRST RESURRECTION, AND THE KINGDOM 
 
 OF CHRIST. 
 
 The preparations in Heaven for this event — Our indifference — 
 Signs of its approach — Referred to Old Testament Prophets — 
 They say little of Christian historical times — Of the latter times 
 are profuse — Chief reason because they are connected with the 
 Jewish Restoration — Why called " The mystery of God." — 
 Disbelief and infidelity of the present times — Certainty of the 
 fulfilment of what remains — Song of the Elders — Its subject, the 
 wrath of God — Kingdom of Christ — Daniel's last great vision re- 
 ferred to — And other prophets — Resurrection of the righteous 
 dead, another subject of their song — Provedfrom Daniel — King- 
 dom of the saints. — The four living creatures do not join in this 
 song, and why — Extract from Toplady — Destruction of the 
 destroyers — The church and ark opened in Heaven — The wars 
 of this trumpet — A revolution — A northern invasion. 
 
290 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE SOUNDING OF THE SEVENTH 
 
 TRUMPET; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE THIRD WOE. 
 
 " AND THE SEVENTH ANGEL SOUNDED ! " (ch. xi. ver. 15.) 
 
 Oh ! could we see the preparations which are at 
 this moment making in heaven for this surpassingly 
 great event ! What, though the pulpits are silent 
 respecting it; what, though all the affairs of the 
 world are going on as if no such event were to hap- 
 pen ; and amidst all the dreams of futurity which 
 men indulge, they never contemplate this — yet will it 
 not therefore happen I Will our silence, our schemes, 
 our indifference, turn aside the purposes, the declared 
 purposes of the everlasting God ? Oh no ! The se- 
 venth trumpet shall sound ; and soon, very very soon, 
 will it have to be said, " the second woe is past ;" 
 and on this happening we are told to behold, to take 
 notice, that the third woe will come quickly ! 
 
 And does all this indifference arise from no warn- 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 29 I 
 
 ings being given to us— no signs to prepare us 
 for an event of so much importance? This cannot 
 e said ; for, most truly, no event that ever hap- 
 pened in the world, not even our Saviours first 
 coming, was ever ushered into the world with so 
 many clear signs and warnings as now cluster upon 
 upon us. It is not merely chronological periods 
 which in abstract calculations we point to, although 
 these speak with a clearness which the most scep- 
 tical ought not to despise ; but it is the great, the 
 marked, the extraordinary events of history that 
 have multiplied upon us for the last fifty years, 
 answering so exactly to the predictions of the " last 
 times," to which we call the ever watchful attention 
 of the Church. Mistakes may have been made in 
 their particular application ; but the general appli- 
 cation has commended itself to almost every person 
 who has taken up his pen to write on the subject. 
 All see that we are living amidst the all-important 
 scenes of the last times, however they may differ 
 respecting a few years, in respect of chronology ; 
 and every new turn of affairs in the political world 
 appears to bring things to that position to which 
 the voice of prophecy points ! It may well be asked, 
 therefore, what further do we require, or, indeed, 
 what further evidence could we expect God to give ? 
 The age is not one which will attend to prognostica- 
 tions, however ominous they may appear — (at least, 
 not to prognostications of evil !) — nor indeed is it 
 desirable they should, although it is a question 
 whether they should be altogether despised. We 
 
 o2 
 
292 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 come back again therefore to the only safe ground 
 on which we can rest, and to which we can trust — 
 " the Word and the Testimony." 
 
 It was intimated, as above noticed,* by way of 
 anticipation, on the Lord Jesus Christ appearing 
 with the little opened book, or the seventh opened 
 seal in his hand, and when he, in the most solemn 
 manner, virtually pronounced the papacy to be at an 
 end, that c; in the days of the seventh trumpet, 
 when He shall begin to sound, the mystery of God 
 should be finished, as he hath declared good tidings 
 unto his servants the prophets" There we were 
 brought, by a direct reference to the Old Testament 
 prophecies, and we therefore, in the first place, for 
 a short time are called to dwell upon them, and to 
 give a glance at what they say to the finishing of 
 God's mysterious dispensations. And the allusion 
 to them, in regard to the events of the latter times, 
 is most appropriate ; because in reference to all the 
 intermediate events which have come before us, 
 both as it respects the seven seals, and the six 
 first trumpets, they are exceedingly brief, and do 
 nothing more than glance at them in dim outline. 
 
 For instance, to trace for a few moments the 
 indistinct prospect they afforded of what only re- 
 garded the Christian dispensation, unconnected with 
 the Jewish, we may notice — that the great apostacy, 
 described in the four first seals, is noticed by Daniel 
 
 See ch. x. pp. 209, 210. 
 
DANIEL'S PROPHECIES. 293 
 
 in very few words in chap. xi. ver. 32,* and by 
 implication in the rise of the two ee little horns ' of 
 Mahometanism and Popery. The Reformation, and 
 the persecutions to which it gave rise, the subjects 
 of the fifth seal are similarly noticed in Dan. xi. 
 33, 34. The chief actor in the French Revolution, 
 as the more immediate prelude to the last times, 
 described in the sixth seal, is more fully noticed in 
 ch. xi. vers. 36 — 39.f And the whole of the contents 
 of the seventh chapter of the Revelation is but very 
 slightly touched upon in the distant allusion made 
 to the great tribulation in ver. 35, and ch. xii. 
 ver. lO.J 
 
 And with regard to the events symbolized by the 
 first six trumpets, they are, in the Old Testament 
 prophets, noticed in an equally brief way, being 
 merely alluded to in the general command to u hew 
 down the great tree" (Dan. iv. 14), and in the 
 general description of Mahometanism, in ch. viii. 
 vers. 9 — 12, and 23 — 25. On the whole of the im- 
 portant contents likewise of the eleventh chapter of 
 the Revelation, as far as the 14th verse, the Jewish 
 prophets are equally silent. 
 
 " But in the days of the seventh angel, when he 
 shall begin to sound," the case is reversed, and they 
 become copious and profuse — so much so that we 
 are referred to them for particulars; whilst on the 
 actual sounding of the trumpet, very little more than 
 
 * See Diss. ch. xii. p. 323. f Idem. chap. xii. pp. 329 — 339. 
 J Idem. p. 327. 
 
294 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 the upshot of the whole is given ! It is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices 
 in Heaven, saying, The kingdom of this world is become the king- 
 dom of our Lord, andof His Christ, and He shall reign for ever 
 and ever." (ver 15.) 
 
 There is infinite wisdom in all this ; for if it had 
 been otherwise, all that we find in the prophets re- 
 specting the finishing of the mystery of God, 
 and which requires patient investigation to under- 
 stand and apply, would, if given here, have ren- 
 dered the whole too plain. 
 
 What the Holy Spirit has been pleased to intimate, 
 in the Song of the Elders which follows, is quite 
 sufficient to make us understand to what portion of 
 the Old Testament prophecies we are referred ; par- 
 ticularly as it is expressly said that it is to the finish- 
 ing of the mystery. So that in searching the pro- 
 phets for what God hath "declared >f on this subject, 
 it is to the concluding scenes of their testimony that 
 we are directed to look. 
 
 And there may likewise be another most important 
 reason assigned for the things that concern the latter 
 days being given to the Jewish prophets. This is, be- 
 cause at this period of time the Jews come into sight 
 again : and these things are all indications of their 
 own restoration, which at this time is to take place. 
 They therefore concern them as much as us ; and 
 by this reference to their own prophets they seem, 
 in an especial manner, called upon by God to turn 
 their earnest attention to what is declared respecting 
 
THE MYSTERY OF GOD. 295 
 
 the finishing of the mystery of God, which is to take 
 place when the seventh angel shall begin to sound, 
 as to events in which they will be prominent actors. 
 
 With regard to this great mystery, it may here be 
 noticed, as we are thus called upon to allude to the 
 Jews, that the Lord's cutting them off, and grafting 
 in the Gentiles, has been mysterious. Further, that 
 He should have permitted the almost universal 
 apostacy of the Church, and His own pure worship, 
 to be supplanted throughout the whole range of 
 prophetical earth, and even far beyond it, by the two 
 great powers of the Papacy and Mahometanism, and 
 for so many hundreds of years, is a great mystery. 
 But, to particularize no further, the whole scheme 
 and history of redemption, from the fall of Adam 
 to the present moment of time, has been most mys- 
 terious. In the days of the seventh angel, however, 
 when he shall begin to sound, the mystery will be 
 finished! The curtain will be drawn ; and not only 
 the last important scenes will be displayed, but the 
 Church will then know the why and the wherefore 
 — the mystery will be over ! 
 
 " And the seventh angel sounded ! " It will be 
 well to consider a little what is involved in this 
 sound. On the Apostle's being told " to eat/' or 
 digest the little opened book, it was sweet unto him. 
 So is it sweet to us to hear (following his example,) 
 that " the kingdom of this world is become the 
 kingdom of our Lord and His Christ." But the 
 bitterness follows, when we come to reflect what the 
 seventh trumpet is ; and that is the third and last 
 
296 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 woe. It is difficult for us, who have so long and 
 so happily dwelt in peace and safety, and who are 
 comparatively so little aware of the horrors, miseries, 
 and destruction brought on the world, by the two 
 former woes, even to imagine what is involved in 
 this most expressive term. In fact, what " a woe ' 
 implies, I believe no language can adequately con- 
 vey the idea ;* and whilst the approach of such 
 a calamity is either distant, or supposed to be dis- 
 tant, the most faithful descriptions of what the 
 former ones have been, make but little impression. 
 Perhaps the real cause of all this may, in a great 
 degree, be the infidelity of the human heart. God 
 is not believed. It requires the exercise of that faith 
 which, believing a all Scripture is given by inspira- 
 tion of God," receives it as the substance of things 
 hoped for, and theevidenceof things not seen.t God, 
 in like manner, hath said, u The wicked shall be 
 turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
 God." He hath likewise said, w He that believ- 
 eth shall be saved ; but he that believeth not 
 shall be damned." These, and many other such 
 like denunciations are scattered throughout the 
 Scriptures ; but how little effect do they produce ! 
 God is not believed, — men do not believe God will 
 be as good as His word. 
 
 And such is the case with regard to the days of 
 coming vengeance. Here we are told that the third 
 woe will come quickly after the second is past ; and 
 
 * See Diss. ch. viii. p. 192 ; ch. x. p. 264 ; and ch. xiii. 
 f Hebrews xi. 1. 
 
THE THIRD WOE. 297 
 
 although all persons and commentators are alike 
 agreed that the second is nearly past, yet how few 
 amongst us believe that the third will come! 
 
 It may indeed be said, that there is no one part of 
 the Revelation in which there exists so unanimous 
 an agreement as that the Turks were the second woe. 
 It is a point which even the Popish interpreter, 
 Dr. Walmsley, admits; it is likewise a fact, that in 
 the whole range of political speculation, there is 
 no subject on which there exists so unanimous an 
 opinion, as that the empire which they founded on 
 the ruins of the Eastern Roman Empire, is now on 
 the point of extinction ! Must therefore the third 
 woe not soon follow ? Will not God indeed be as 
 good as His word ; and will not the event of Con- 
 stantinople falling out of the hands of its present 
 possessors, be the certain signal of the almost im- 
 mediate approach, to say the least, of as great cala- 
 mities coming upon the nations of the earth, as were 
 brought about by the Saracens or the Turks? 
 
 Nothing can be more certain ; and we are called 
 upon to take particular notice of it ; — to observe it 
 most attentively. " Behold ! the third woe cometh 
 quickly." This is a command; and it is our duty 
 therefore to take warning by the very gradual ceas- 
 ing of the sixth trumpet, or the ceasing of the second 
 woe ; and to obey God in this strong injunction. 
 Ought we not, instead of the silence manifested by 
 all parties, to hear this terrible announcement from 
 the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, reverberated alike 
 from the pulpit, from the platform, from the press, 
 
 o 5 
 
298 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 and even from the benches of the senate? But God 
 is not obeyed ! and therefore it will come upon ail 
 the world, as a snare, and they shall not escape ! 
 
 On the coming however of the third woe, there is 
 no such indifference of the Church in Heaven — for, 
 on the seventh angel sounding, it is said : — 
 
 " 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, O 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 unto 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.* 
 (vers. 16—18.) 
 
 From this song of praise we perceive that what is 
 coming upon the earth is fully known to the spirits 
 of just men made perfect in heaven ; and it is ano- 
 ther confirmation of the deep interest they take in 
 the things of the church on earth. We will now 
 turn to the prophets, and see how far the things 
 which they " declare" confirm, and harmonize with, 
 the various particulars therein contained. 
 
 We will begin with the mystery of providence, as 
 it is signified in the symbol of Daniel's Great Image. 
 TheJiJiishirig of this is, that it shall be smitten on 
 the ten toes, broken to pieces, and become like the 
 chaff' of the summer threshing floor.* The horrid 
 
 • Diss. ch. viii. p. 186. 
 
THE THIRD WOE. 299 
 
 wars therefore which are signified by this trumpet, 
 are what is to be understood by the tremendous 
 blow that performs this destruction on the ten king- 
 doms. This is alluded to in that part of the song 
 of the Elders, where they say, " the nations were 
 angry, and thy wrath is come," The sceptre of 
 mercy, which has been held out so long, and to us 
 is yet held out, will then be withdrawn, and the door 
 will be shut ; only wrath, unmingled wrath, now 
 remains ; for all that could restrain it is now removed. 
 " I can do nothing," the Lord said to Lot, "until 
 thou art departed ;" and when he and his family 
 were accordingly departed out of the guilty city, 
 then " down the fiery deluge poured." So the 
 Church, having now been transplanted from the 
 world, there is no further let or hindrance to the 
 dreadful wrath of a justly offended God. 
 
 Daniel further relates, that the kingdom of Christ 
 shall be established on its ruins.* Accordingly, on the 
 opening of the seventh trumpet, there were great 
 voices in heaven, saying, " The kingdom of this 
 world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of 
 His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever." 
 And the elders respond to it, and give thanks to 
 God, because he hath •' taken to himself his great 
 power, and hath reigned \" 
 
 The vision of the four wild beasts next claims 
 attention in what it declares respecting the Jinishing 
 of the mystery of God ; and this being in immediate 
 
 * • See the Dissertation, ch. viii. p. 193 — 196. 
 
300 CHAPTER XV.- 
 
 reference to the end of the papacy, and the time 
 times and an half, brings it more immediately in con- 
 nection with its being thus called. For the 6th and 
 7 th verses of chapter x., as much as say that, after 
 the Lord Jesus Christ hath pronounced the time 
 times and an half, to be no longer, this mystery of 
 God shall be finished, as He hath declared to His 
 servants the prophets.* 
 
 But the most particular mention of the last scenes 
 of this mystery, is to be found in the last great 
 vision of this eminent prophet, to the explanation of 
 which, in the " Dissertation," chapters xii., xiii., 
 and xiv., the reader is referred. The coming judg- 
 ments upon the world are there made indubitably 
 to synchronize with those of the seventh trumpet, by 
 being so expressly said to happen at " the time of 
 the end/' by which is understood the end of the 
 " little horn," signifying the Mahometan power.f 
 And so clear does this appear, that I conceive it is 
 the same thing as if the Holy Spirit, instead of refer- 
 ring us to the prophets, had said, "And in the days 
 of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, 
 the king of the south, and the king of the north, 
 shall unite their forces against the kingdoms of the 
 west; and the king of the south shall 'push' 
 against them ; but the king of the north shall come 
 against them, " like a whirlwind, with a very great 
 army and navy, and shall enter into the countries, 
 and pass over. 5 "J 
 
 * See Diss. ch. x. f See Diss. ch. xi. 
 X Idem, eh. xiiL p. 343—363. 
 
THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 301 
 
 It is unnecessary to particularize further the Old 
 Testament prophecies, where these things are men- 
 tioned. I cannot, however, but remark how very 
 apparent these references show the exact harmony 
 which subsists between the Old and New Testament 
 prophecies, and what a weight of evidence each one 
 gives to the other ! The former, indeed, are not 
 confined to Daniel ; these things and times are alike 
 spoken by the other prophets, particularly by Isaiah, 
 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel; and if in a less con- 
 nected form, and less bearing directly upon and in 
 connection with history, yet are their descriptions 
 more vivid, varied, and profuse. We may close the 
 whole of this part of the subject, by saying that the 
 time will assuredly come, and must soon come, 
 when it shall be said of the last trumpet, as it hath 
 been said of all the former, " The seventh angel hath 
 sounded !" and God hath been found to be 
 as good as His Word ! 
 
 But the onward course of events, as unfolded at 
 this great crisis of time, will likewise bring about the 
 finishing of the mystery of God, as he hath declared 
 unto His servants the prophets, in the reward 
 of the righteous, as well as in the punishment of 
 the wicked. The four and twenty elders, in their 
 song of thanksgiving, after praising God for having 
 taken unto Himself His great power, and reigned ; 
 and after having proclaimed that the time of His 
 wrath was come ; now proceed to another most im- 
 portant transaction, which is to take place when the 
 seventh trumpet shall sound — and that is, (ac- 
 
302 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 cording to what we find in Rev. xx.) the 
 
 RESURRECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS DEAD ! 
 
 They say, Ct We give Thee thanks, O Lord God 
 Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come . 
 because the season of the dead is come, that they 
 should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward 
 unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, 
 and them that fear thy name, small and great." 
 
 One allusion to this great event, in the Old Tes- 
 tament prophets, is in the 7th of Daniel, in connec- 
 tion with the destruction of the " little horn M of the 
 papacy, where it is said, u The ancient of days did 
 sit." By this expression, we can only understand, 
 that God Almighty will sit in judgment; and this 
 description of the eternal Jehovah is given in words 
 adapted to our comprehension, and it makes the 
 following dread description more intelligible : u I 
 beheld, till the thrones were cast down, and the 
 Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as 
 snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool : His 
 throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as 
 burning fire. A fiery stream issued, and came forth 
 from before Him : thousand thousands minister- 
 ed unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
 stood before Him. The Judgment was set, 
 and the books were open ed \ n (Dan. vii. 9, 10.) 
 
 On the sitting of this judgment, the first thing 
 noticed is, that because of the great and blasphe- 
 mous words, " which the horn spake,"* (that is, be- 
 
 • Diss. ch. ix. p. 219, 263. 
 
THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 303 
 
 cause of the great blasphemy of the papal power 
 against the Most High God,) what should first hap- 
 pen would be its destruction along with the nations 
 which gave it power. " I beheld," says the pro- 
 phet, "even till the beast was slain, and his body 
 destroyed, and given to the burning flame/' imply- 
 ing most certainly, that if the beast be slain and con- 
 sumed, both the ten horns, as well as the little horn 
 that sprung up among them, must share the same fate. 
 
 The next thing that follows this sitting in judg- 
 ment, is the giving of the kingdom to Christ; and 
 this is announced in the following sublime language. 
 " Behold, one like the Son of man came with the 
 clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, 
 and they brought Him near before Him : and there 
 was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, 
 that all people, nations, and languages, should serve 
 Him : His dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
 which shall not pass away ; and His kingdom 
 that which shall not be destroyed." It seems 
 unnecessary to point out the exact harmony of these 
 words, with what is said on the opening of the 
 seventh trumpet, as the subject must be so fresh on 
 the mind of the reader, and has been so frequently 
 before us. I will therefore pass on to that which is 
 more immediately under consideration, the resurrec- 
 tion of the righteous dead. 
 
 Speaking of the little horn that had " eyes, and a 
 mouth that spake very great things, whose look was 
 more stout than his fellows," the prophet goes on to 
 say ; u I beheld, and the same horn made war with 
 
304 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 the saints, and prevailed against them. Until the 
 Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the 
 saints of the Most High ; and the time came that the 
 saints possessed the kingdom."* From these words 
 it is evident that at this time the saints will be 
 judged and rewarded. Not a word is said about 
 judgment being given to the wicked ; therefore it 
 cannot be the general judgment : and not indeed on 
 this account only, but because it is before the end of 
 the world ; for another kingdom has yet to be 
 established upon the earth, as it is written in ver. 27, 
 " And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness 
 of the kingdom, under the whole Heaven shall 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." 
 
 It seems again almost unnecessary to notice how 
 exactly all this coincides with what is explained to 
 happen on the sounding of the seventh trumpet ; 
 when it is said, " the season of the dead is come, 
 that they should be judged, and that reward should 
 be given to all the righteous dead — not only to His 
 servants the prophets, but to the saints, and them 
 that fear His name, both small and great." The whole 
 redeemed church therefore that at this time are in 
 their graves, shall be judged, and enjoy a happy 
 resurrection. These are no longer seen in heaven 
 under the similitude of the four living creatures ; and 
 hence it is observable that it is only the four-and- 
 
 * Dan. vii. 21, 22 ; see likewise verses 26 and 27. 
 
THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 305 
 
 twenty Elders, who, on the opening of the seventh 
 trumpet^ fall down and worship God, thanking Him, 
 among other things, for the resurrection of what 
 St. Paul styles " the general assembly of the first- 
 born," not who are in heaven, but M who are written 
 in heaven."* With so much nicety and propriety, it 
 may again be observed, are the characters chosen for 
 the parts they are called upon to act in this great 
 drama ! 
 
 Daniel, however, likewise again notices, in his last 
 " great vision, " the circumstance of this first resur- 
 rection ; and shews that in its application to the 
 Jews, it will extend to a portion of the wicked, as 
 well as to the righteous. M Many of them," he says, 
 " that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 
 some to everlasting life, and some to shame and 
 everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall 
 shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they 
 that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever 
 and ever." For the observations upon this, see 
 w Dissertation/' ch. xiii. p. 365 — 367. 
 
 The following are the sentiments on this subject 
 of the immortal Toplady. In a speech made on a 
 certain occasion, he said, te I am one of those old- 
 fashioned people, Mr. President, who believe the 
 doctrine of the Millennium : and that there will be 
 two distinct Resurrections of the dead: 1st, of the 
 just: and2dly, of the unjust: which last Resurrection, 
 
 * Heb xii. 23. 
 
306 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 of the Reprobate, will not commence till a thousand 
 years after the Resurrection of the Elect. In the 
 course of the present argument, I have been forced to 
 take the doctrine of the Millennium for granted : 
 time not allowing me to even intimate an hundredth 
 part of the proof by which it is supported, I would 
 only observe, to those who have not considered that 
 subject, that it would be prudent in them to suspend 
 their judgment about it, and not be too quick in 
 determining against it, merely because it seems to lie 
 out of the common road. As doctrines of this kind 
 should not be admitted hastily, so they should not be 
 rejected prematurely. Upon the whole, I give it as 
 my opinion, that the reward of the saints, during the 
 personal reign of Christ upon earth, will be greater 
 or less in proportion to their respective labours, 
 sufferings, and attainments : but that, seeing they 
 are loved alike, with one and the same everlasting 
 love of God the Father; that their names are in one 
 and the same book of life ; that they are all justified 
 by the same perfect righteousness of Christ, redeemed 
 and washed from all their sins in the blood of the 
 same Saviour, regenerated by the same Spirit, made 
 partakers of like precious faith, and will in the article 
 of death be perfectly (and of course equally) sanc- 
 tified by Divine grace ; for these and other reasons 
 that might be mentioned, I am clearly of opinion, that 
 in the state of ultimate glory, they will be on a 
 perfectly equal footing, with regard to final blessed- 
 ness, both as to its nature and degree ; and, as 
 
THE DESTROYERS DESTROYED. 307 
 
 the parable expresses it, 'receive every man his 
 penny/ "• 
 
 But there is another commanding event celebrated 
 in this song of the elders, and that is the destruction 
 of those who destroy the earth — in other words, the 
 destruction of those who shall be made in the first 
 instance the instruments of God's wrath. This 
 " finishing of the mystery of God " was also declared 
 unto his servants the prophets, and the particulars 
 of it are more especially to be found in the prophe- 
 cies of Ezekiel, which are brought forward as bearing 
 upon the subject, in the Dissertation, chapter xiii., 
 p. 359 — 365, explaining the termination of the career 
 of the king of the North, mentioned by Daniel, 
 ch. xi. 45: "And he shall come to his end, and 
 none shall help him." A passage from Zechariah 
 may also be quoted to the same effect, where, alluding 
 to the Lord's destroying them which destroy the 
 earth, he says, " Behold the day of the Lordcometh, 
 and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 
 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to 
 battle ; and the city shall be taken, and the houses 
 rifled, and the women ravished ; and half the city 
 shall go forth into captivity, and the residence of the 
 people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall 
 the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations as 
 when he fought in the day of battle "f It is on this 
 occasion that the destruction will be so great, that 
 
 • See Toplady's Works, Vol. III. page 470. 
 t Zech.xiv. 1 — 3. 
 
308 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 the children of Israel shall be seven months in bury- 
 ing their slain.* This fearful slaughter is likewise 
 adverted to and described in the subsequent part 
 of this book. (See Rev. xiv. 19, 20 ; and xix. 
 17—21.) 
 
 Thus far, all the information that has been given 
 us respecting the contents and consequences of the 
 sounding of the seventh trumpet, has been indirect 
 or inferential. We are first directed by anticipation 
 to the writings of the prophets, (ch. x. 7) ; then to 
 what was said by the loud voices in heaven, as its ulti- 
 mate results, (chap. xi. 15) ; and then to the subject 
 matter of the Song of the four-and-twenty elders. 
 We now however come to the direct description — 
 
 " And the seventh Angel sounded ! And the Temple of God 
 was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark 
 of his Testament. And tnere were lightnings, and voices, and 
 thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." 
 
 The thing that here attracts attention, and what 
 indeed is of the most consequence for us to know, is, 
 that on this sounding of the seventh trumpet, that 
 which confirms all the preceding conclusions respect- 
 ing the complete and glorious deliverance of the 
 church by its translation to Heaven, is first men- 
 tioned. And the Temple of God — that "Temple of 
 God," which in the beginning of the chapter it is 
 said was measured, or enclosed, by the providence of 
 
 * Diss, ch.xiii. p. 360. 
 
THE TEMPLE IN HEAVEN. 309 
 
 God, whilst the outer court was given up to the 
 " Gentiles,"* — was opened in Heaven! And there 
 was seen in His temple the ark of His Testament. 
 We are to understand by all this, not only that the 
 Temple of God, the Church of Christy was now in 
 heaven — not only that the worship of God, or the 
 standing church, was transplanted from Earth to 
 Heaven, but in that pure and holy temple Christ 
 Himself was seen — that is, what was symbolized 
 under the Jewish church by the Ark of the Testa- 
 ment, and concealed from public view, is now seen 
 open and exposed. There are no longer any shadows, 
 or seeing Christ as through a glass darkly, but we 
 shall see, face to face, even as we are seen, and know 
 as we are known ! What I think we are chiefly to 
 understand by it is, that during the sounding of the 
 seventh trumpet there should be no temple of God 
 on earth, but that it should be opened in Heaven. 
 To this purpose was the voice from Heaven unto the 
 two witnesses, saying, " Come up hither;' 5 and the 
 Church which had just ascended to Heaven in a 
 cloud, in virtue of that call, was that great multitude 
 which no man could number, out of all nations, and 
 kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, which stood 
 before the throne, and before the Lamb ; and which 
 were constituted the Temple of God in Heaven. 
 
 After this mention of the safety of the church on 
 the opening of the seventh trumpet, it is added, 
 " And there were lightnings, and voices, and thun- 
 
 * Ch. xi. of this Work, p. 218. 
 
310 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 derings, and an earthquake, and great hail." This is 
 properly the subject matter of the trumpet itself, as a 
 trumpet, Alltherestareits concomitant circumstances, 
 although circumstances of such magnitude that they 
 overpower the event round which they concentrated. 
 With regard to the symbols which represent it, they 
 have all been already so particularly explained, that it 
 must strike the mind of the reader at once, that they 
 refer to the most dreadful wars and overturnings. 
 An earthquake is again mentioned, which must be 
 another great Revolution, distinct from the one 
 which was said to happen just before the ceasing of 
 the sixth trumpet, and which appears to have been 
 confined to one of the ten kingdoms alone. To this, 
 however, there is no such limitation ; and it is un- 
 doubtedly that which is described in such fearful 
 terms on the pouring out of the seventh vial— the 
 time being the same ; for this also happens immedi- 
 ately after the drying up of the Euphrates, or the 
 gradual dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, de- 
 scribed under the former vial. 
 
 The mention of this great earthquake is in both 
 places followed by that of great hail. In the 
 latter instance (Rev. xvi. 21) it is thus expressed, 
 " And there fell upon them 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." 
 
 Now hail, as was explained in what was said 
 under the first trumpet, signifies a furious invasion 
 from the north, where natural hail is generated ; 
 
THE NORTHERN INVASION. 311 
 
 and, accordingly, that trumpet signified such an in- 
 vasion, or rather invasions, from the Goths, and other 
 barbarous tribes who inhabit the cold regions of 
 the North. Therefore the mention of hail, and great 
 hail, signifies the same thing in this instance; — it 
 signifies the most furious and dreadful invasion from 
 the same quarter ! We will throw the whole into a 
 connection, one part with another, and it will suffice 
 to shew to the intelligent reader, from what human 
 power the tremendous ruin will most probably come. 
 On the fall of Constantinople, and the consequent 
 extinction of the Turkish Empire, the second woe 
 will be past. The third woe will come quickly after, 
 and this will consist of an invasion from the Northern 
 powers, in comparison, like the most dreadful hail- 
 storm, the weight of each stone being a talent ; so 
 that men will blaspheme God on account thereof. 
 In other words : u At the time of the end, the King 
 of the North shall come like a whirlwind with a 
 very great army both of horse and foot ; and with 
 many ships, and shall enter into the countries, and 
 overflow, and pass over!" (Dan. xi. 40.)* 
 
 The following warning from Gibbon it would be 
 well if our rulers and all of us would attend to, in 
 connection with this most alarming prospect. Speak- 
 ing of the overturning of the Western Empire by the 
 Goths and Vandals, he says most truly, that the 
 " awful Revolution which was the consequence, may 
 be usefully applied to the present age." And after 
 
 * Diss. ch. xiii. 
 
312 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 some observations on the then present state of the 
 great nations of Europe, he adds, u Yet this apparent 
 security should not tempt us to forget, that new ene- 
 mies, and unknown dangers, may possibly arise from 
 some obscure people, scarcely visible in the map of 
 the world. The Arabs, or Saracens, who spread 
 their conquests from India to Spain, had languished 
 in poverty and contempt, till Mahomet breathed 
 into their savage bodies the soul of enthusiasm ;"* 
 and, it may be added, accomplished the purposes of 
 God in becoming theirs* woe. But enough has been 
 hinted on this part of the subject. It is sufficient 
 for us to know that God will not want instruments 
 to perform His own work ; and that those instru- 
 ments shall answer to the symbol which he has said 
 they shall — viz., that of a great hail storm ! 
 
 Thus will the seventh angel sound ! and its most 
 dire effects will he found recorded in the three last 
 verses of the 14th chapter ; in the contents of the 
 seventh vials ; and in the 18th and 19th chapters of 
 Revelation; which include unspared vengeance 
 alike upon the conquered and the conquerors — all 
 being alike destitute of the seal of the living God 
 upon their forehead ! 
 
 " And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The king- 
 dom OF THIS WORLD IS BECOME THE KINGDOM OF OUR LORD, 
 
 and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and 
 
 EVER !" 
 
 * General Observations at the end of Chap, xxxviii. 
 
 Muttall and Hodgon, Printers, (Joii^n Square, London. 
 
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