quarter of the globe. This monster is an atheist. This is the true real antichrist, who denieth both the Father and the Son. Other antichrists were but the types and shadows of this, the true antichrist. Never was there on earth such a fiend, and never will there be again.

And here again, the French revolution thursts itself forward on our imaginations. The atheistical horrors of that revolution were noticed already. Yet that revolution was effected only by the little stone; but the witnesses will be slain by the great stone mountain which will fill the earth. And as much as a mountain of stone, exceeds a stone which a man can throw with his hand; so much will the general revolution of Europe exceed in atheism, and cruelty, and havoc, and devastation, and wrath, against God and his Christ, the worst things that ever occurred in France.

The present monarchies in Europe will not slay the witnesses. It is not in their power, if they were ever so willing; and it would not be their interest, if it were in their power. The governors of Europe seem to be sensible of this themselves. And they are clinging to the small remains of christianity that are left, as to their sole hope. Oh, had their ancestors only permitted the reformation to go forward, till christianity had purified herself from all the impositions of men, she would, in her progress, have purified their thrones from corruption and oppression, and have rendered them indestructible and immortal. But they grasped her in their iron arms, and defiled her, and the accursed progeny will be a monster, which will drink its father's and its mother's blood.

The pope of Rome, of whom more evil has been said than is his due, will not slay the witnesses. He gives witness to the Father and the Son, and maintains a certain public profession of christianity, however corrupted it may be. The pope must become an atheist, and deny both the Father and the Son, before he can possibly be the slayer of the witnesses. The truth appears to be, that the pope himself is to be overturned by that horrid atheistic monster, of which we have been speaking. His civil and ecclesiastical government will perish in the general wreck of all the thrones, and all the pulpits in Europe. But I must proceed to other subjects.

5. When the witnesses are slain, "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, and they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell in the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.”

4

I do not undertake to explain this passage, because, in truth, I do not pretend exactly to understand it. It must wait till that great commentator, time, shall have cast light upon it. Two things, however, we gather from the passage quoted; namely, that the public profession of christianity shall be suppressed for three years and an half, in all the nations in Europe; and that the reigning party, in all the tongues, kindreds, and nations, shall exult extremely in their

The con

success; shall gaze on the bodies of the dead witnesses with insatiable eyes; and shall send presents to each other, because their common enemy is no more. Rejoice, ye atheists, with all your might! Commence a voluntary prelude, ye infidels of this day, who consider the faithful ministers of the gospel, who reprove your sins and call you to repentance, as no less than your tormentors. The day is coming when in Europe, at least, they will torment men no more. science, at that period, will enjoy tranquil repose; a slumber, a long and deep sleep of three years and a half. But, while conscience sleeps, passion will be awake; and will riot away in all the lusts of the flesh and of the spirit. Who will then think of restraining any carnal lust, or practising any self-denying virtue? Who will then abstain from his neighbour's property, or shrink from dipping his hands in his brother's blood. Three years and a half! What a jubilee-what an eternity of heaven upon earth! But still the wicked man's heaven shall come to an end; the wicked man's eternity will run out. After all-the

triumphing of the wicked is but' short.

Three years

and a half will at last come to an end, and then the witnesses shall have a joyful resurrection.

By what means God will raise the witnesses, and invigorate them with new power, I do not know. I cannot but think, however, that it is very possible, that in these three years and an half, the atheistic power, by abolishing all government, all law, all moral restraint, all religion, will have given such a loose to the infuriate passions of men, that through debauchery, rapine, and murder, they will have nearly destroyed the whole European population; till arrested by terror

at the tremendous machinery which they have put into operation, but are unable to stop; and trembling on the very brink of annihilation, will permit christianity to come forward and save them from utter destruction. Something like this must take place. It cannot be otherwise. The atheists, in destroying all government, must, of necessity, have nearly destroyed each other. During the French revolution, a philosopher is said to have calculated the average life of a citizen at six months. In the approaching European revolution, it is not impossible that the average life of a citizen will not be three months. The French were called off from the butchery of one another, by foreign wars; and fewer probably perished abroad by the bayonet and the ball, than would have perished at home by drowning, and massacre, and the guillotine. Now, when all Europe is turned into one aceldama, what havoc must ensue. It is impossible that such a state of things should last long. When we consider the slaughter which must be made before all the governments in Europe are annihilated, and before the atheistic power can assume the supremacy, it will appear, that in three years and an half, operating against each other on their common principle of atheism, Europe must have become nearly a desert. But God only knows his own councils.

6. At the end of three years and an half the spirit of life from God shall enter into the dead bodies of the witnesses, and they shall stand upon their feet, and great fear shall fall upon their enemies. And they shall hear a voice from heaven, saying unto them, come up hither; and they shall ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies shall behold

them. This is the high allegorical language of prophecy. The figures are drawn from the resurrection of the saints in the last day, and their ascension up into heaven to enjoy the glories of their Lord. The scene, however, which John has described is to be exhibited on the earth. The death is allegorical, the resurrection allegorical, and the ascension into heaven allegorical. Their death consisted in the public suppression of the christian religion; their resurrection will consist in the restoration of christianity; and their ascension into heaven means the superior light, purity and glory which the restored church of God shall then enjoy. The church of the living God will then be heaven itself, in comparison of what went before.

The scriptures abundantly assure us that on the church of the restoration, the spirit of God will be poured out in such copiousness, as the earth never witnessed. Without that spirit nothing can be achieved. The most favourable moral circumstances will never reform a church, nor an individual, without the immediate blessing and agency of th spirit of God. Of consequence we must ascribe this last and most glorious reformation to him. But circumstances, though not efficient causes, are nevertheless the means by which the supreme cause effects his purposes. And it is apparent that the circumstances in which the resuscitated witnesses will find themselves, will be highly favourable to the progress of pure and undefiled religion. All those governments which once secularised the church and held her in bondage; which persecuted her when she was doing her duty, and seduced her into evil, and then only smiled upon her,