will be fought there; and that armies of men will be collected before the pouring out of the seventh vial. The results, however, which are stated in the verses which follow, are not such as would proceed from a battle of this description. And if Calassio's interpretation of the word be right, as given under the proper name, a conflict of opinions, rather than of soldiers, is referred to. He translates it "Mons Evangelizationis, vel annunciationis," and the word seems to point to the land or spot, from whence the gospel is sent forth in the last days. And is not a conflict of opinions upon religious subjects evidently exhibited at this day, in every part of Europe, and more especially in this land of Bibles? Surely, at the very time in which the spirits of infidelity, of insubordination, and of Popery, have raised up their heads, the Spirit of the Lord has been manifested in his people; and, notwithstanding the empty professors with which it may abound, probably, there never was a period, when the word of truth had a freer course throughout the land; or in which souls in greater numbers were brought into the fold of Christ; or in which such various and such strenuous exertions were made to diffuse the word, and the knowledge of eternal life throughout the universe. This is foretold in Isaiah lix. 19.-"The enemy shall come in like a flood, and

the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." The context makes it evident that this is a prophecy concerning the last days. Judging then after man's judgment, it should seem that strange results may be looked for, and, according to the word of prophecy, they will arise under the seventh vial.

Verses 17 to 21. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaver, 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.”

The

The seventh vial poured out into the air, may be upon the spirits and minds of men, as preparing them to execute that, which God hath appointed. effect which follows, is the most tremendous revolution ever witnessed upon the earth; and the prophet Daniel has described it as a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation. It can hardly be profitable to risk conjectures, as to what may be the detail of circumstances, or the voices, and thunders,

and lightnings, and the great hail, or how Babylon shall be divided into three parts; but the judgment of that polluted city is revealed, and the cities of the nations are judged, by which may be understood, their ecclesiastical establishments; and, also their civil governments, for such are the mountains and the islands; the mountains of the earth referring to those nations which profess Christianity; and the islands of the sea, to the heathen world. The effect of these awful dispensations, whether in the earlier, or in the latter times of the world, is ever and continually the same. Pharaoh repented not, for his heart was hardened; and so the children of the evil one, in the last days of the judgment, blaspheme because of the plagues.

CHAP. XXVII.

The Great Harlot upon the Scarlet-coloured Beast.Rev. xvii.

The warfare of the Church has been treated of, in the preceding prophecies. The destruction of her enemies, and the glories of the latter day, form the subject of those which remain. It has been seen, that the fourth great monarchy of the earth, prophesied of by Daniel, is the great persecutor of the gospel Church. That kingdom has already been seen under three different manifestations of its power; as Pagan, as imperial, and as Papal Rome: it is developed, lastly, under a new character, as atheistical and infidel Rome, and under that character it will perish.. Before its end arrives, the judgment falls upon the Papacy, which is brought upon it by the progress of infidelity. And the detail of that judgment, occupies the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of Revelations.

Rev. xvii. 1 to 6.-" And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into

the wilderness and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarletcolour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and, when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration."

After what has been already said, the general signification of this symbol will immediately present itself to the reader. He will discern the great idolatrous Church of Rome, ruling over the kings of the Latin earth, and over many peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues; glutted with the carnage of the saints, and upheld or supported by the Roman power, in its last state of ten divided kingdoms. The angel calls the attention of the apostle to the following particulars, as necessary to the understanding of · the type.

Verses 7 to 18.-" And the angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom.