in Greek, and therefore it is in that language that the true meaning ought to be sought; and the words signifying "the Latin sovereignty," do contain exactly the letters which compose the number six hundred and sixty-six. The Latinity of the Romish Papal Church is its peculiar characteristic. If the Papists have a church in Ireland, in Russia, in China, in Germany, in France, in America, in Africa, the services are all performed in the Latin language; an unknown tongue to the respective inhabitants of all those countries. This is done by no other sect in the world: therefore "the Latin sovereignty," n λaten Barileia, does exactly express its true character. Hence we gather that the church history, which is contained in these visions of the temple, the woman, and the beasts, relates to the corruption of Christianity by the Papacy.

In opposition to these beasts, however, we have, in ch. xiv., a vision of the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, with the sealed nation of ch. vii. with the emblems of a true church; undefiled with the Papal harlot, but following the Lamb, and having come out of the false church; and they continue with him till the judgment on Babylon is completed. As the sealed nation has been shewn to represent England better than any other nation, so is that interpretation confirmed by the works enumerated in this chapter, and which have been going on for the last thirty years; in the Bible and Missionary Societies sending out the everlasting Gospel; the remonstrance which has been made against the admission of Papists into places of rule in our Protestant land; the testifying that Babylon is to fall, and not to be converted; and calling upon God's people to come out of her. This chapter ends with the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds at the time of harvest, and before the vintage. It is important to remark this, as shewing, that, after

the Son of Man has come to the earth, there is a work for him to do, expressed by the figure of a vintage, not one particle of which is performed until after he has come. The essential difference between a harvest and a vintage is, that in the former there is a separation of the good from the bad; whereas in the latter there is no separation, but one continuous and total destruction.

Ch. xv. xvi. open a new vision, in which are seen them that had got the victory over the beast in xiii. 15-17. These seem to describe the same people as the sealed nation, under a different set of emblems. In ch. vii., they appeared in the midst of a series of temporal emblems; that is, of emblems relating to the nations of the earth. In ch. xiv., they appeared in a series of emblems relating to the church; and here they are in a vision which represents the downfal of both nations and apostate churches, and of all the present framework of human society. These seven vials, therefore, are the detailed parts of the seventh seal; of the seventh trumpet, and of the harvest and vintage of ch. xiv.

The supremacy of the Papal imposture terminated the French Revolution. It was at that time that Popery, and indeed, under its name, visible Christianity also, was begun to be destroyed; and then also, for the first time in the history of the world, did a power, professing to make war against all regular governments, and all religion, appear on the stage of human affairs. This power shook every state, and removed it out of its place, as is described under the sixth seal; but under the last vial here, every state flies away, and no more place is found for it.

"The first six seals, and the first six trumpets," says Whiston," are all over before the end of the 1260 years of Antichrist's reign; and the seventh trumpet, or seven vials, contained in it, follow immediately

after that time, and are contemporary with the first ages of our Saviour's kingdom, succeeding to it." In this the best modern commentators agree; and as the city of Jericho fell after seven times sounding a trumpet, which seventh time of sounding was made up of seven blasts, so does it appear that the great oppressing city of these days is to fall at the sound of the seventh trumpet, which is made up of the seven blasts of the thunders or vials. Hence too, some reckon the seventh trumpet as sounding at the first vials, and some at the last; and equally correctly, for it includes both.

"The first angel poured out his vial upon the earth" the earth represents nations under fixed and orderly government of the heavens: "and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, even them which worshipped his image." The principal symbol to consider in this verse is the "sore." A "sore" is used by Isaiah (i. 6), as expressive of the total moral corruption of the whole mass of the Jewish nation; and every one knows that a sore upon the human body is a proof that the whole blood is in an unhealthy state. This was truly the state of the French nation, nobles and clergy, for a long time previous to the breaking out of the Revolution. Here the "men which had the mark of the beast" are in contradistinction to them which had been sealed of God, and follow the Lamb, not being defiled with the Papal harlot. Into one or other of these two classes, whether considered nationally or ecclesiastically, every person is divided in the time state to which this book relates; that is, until the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, and time is no more.

"The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a corpse; and every living soul died in the sea." Sea is used in many parts of Scrip

ture to represent people (Isa. lx. 5; xvii. 12, 13; viii. 7). When put in contrast with "the earth," it signifies people in a state of commotion, and no longer under a settled government. The remarkable expression here, is "the blood of a corpse;" the blood of a corpse is cold blood; and the peculiar feature of the French Revolution, and which distinguishes it from all other revolutions, is, that the larger number of those who lost their lives were not killed by civil war, but by the hand of the executioner: not when their blood was hot in battle, but cold in a dungeon.

"The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood: and I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus; for they have shed the blood of saints, and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy and I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God of hosts, true and righteous are thy judgments." Here it is certain that rivers and fountains of waters mean persons, because it is declared of them that "they have shed blood." From Isa. lv. 1, and Ezek. xlvii., we learn that "waters" signify the doctrines and ordinances of religion; consequently the rivers and fountains of these must be the clergy who dispense them. They are said to "become blood;" and in fact the whole order of priesthood was exterminated. This awful visitation came upon it because "they had shed the blood of the saints and prophets :" the Popish clergy were the inventors and executors of all the atrocities of the inquisition; and of the bloody tortures on Jews, Waldenses, and Protestants.

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given him to scorch man with fire. And men were scorched with

great heat, and blasphemed the name of God which had power over these plagues, yet they repented not, to give him glory." The heavens are the whole system of government: the sun, consequently, is the temporal sovereign. The power conferred here was not to bless and fructify, but to "scorch with fire." This aptly resembles the power of the French armies under Napoleon, the greatest military genius that has ever appeared, who marched triumphant into the capital of every Popish state: but though they smarted, they repented not; but acted like Israel of old, Isa. ix. 9, 10.

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains, and their sores, yet repented not of their deeds." The beast is the symbol used by Daniel for each of the powers which have in succession oppressed the church of Christ, of which the Roman is the last. The head of it, as king of Rome, was Napoleon's son, an infant, and therefore, in fact, Napoleon himself: his throne was subverted, like that of the original "staff and rod of God's indignation," the Assyrian, as soon as his commission was fulfilled (Is. x. 12).

"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared." The Euphrates having been already used for the Turkish power under the sixth trumpet, we are bound to adopt the same meaning for the symbol here. This exhaustion of the Turkish power we have just seen a proof of, in the incapacity of the able and gallant sultan to resist the arms of Russia. green flag of Mohammed, which obliges every true believer to flock to it the moment it is unfurled, was displayed in vain; and a peace has

The

been concluded, which renders Turkey a tributary to the Russian empire.

This, then, is the date, in the duration of the world's life, at which we are arrived in this year 1830. But there are some particulars in it too remarkable to be passed over. No sooner had the holy alliance, as it is called, been formed, in order to prevent the rising of any people against their rulers, than England, and France, and Russia encouraged the Greeks to rise against their lawful government. Still they were exceedingly averse to go to war; and the king of England called the grand sultan his ancient ally, and looked upon the preservation of Turkey from Russia as essential to the balance of power in Europe. Nevertheless, God sent the fleet of England, the head of the Protestant nations, under the flag of St. George's cross; and the fleet of France, the elder son of the Roman church, under the flag of the Latin cross; and the fleet of Russia, the head of the Greek church, under the flag of the Greek cross: and the first time in the history of the world that these three crosses were seen floating together, was, when God made them sweep the crescent off the face of the deep.

"And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, out of the mouths of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet; for they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty."

It is difficult to say, in what the similarity of these spirits to frogs consists: their coming out of the mouths, indicates that they are principles which are every where disseminated; and it is a common remark, that "the schoolmaster is abroad," and that there is upon all subjects a great "march of mind.” The dragon, we know by Isa. xxvii.

morning is that part of THE DAY which is fixed for the resurrection, as Bishop Horsley has shewn, on Psa. xxx. 3, 5. Enoch prophesied the same thing to the antediluvians; for when he said, that the Lord should come with his saints to judgment, it follows, in necessary consequence, that he should have first raised them before he can bring them. Yet there is an uncertainty about the hour, which, although the Lord himself did not know when on earth (Mark xiii. 32), He now not only knows, but is himself bringing to pass, and has revealed to us, if we have but faith to believe what he says, and on which account he desires to watch. The world says, It is so uncertain, it is useless to watch the Lord says, "Watch THEREFORE," because it is uncertain to you.

In the next two chapters, xvii. xviii., is shewn to the prophet the judgment of Babylon, the Papacy; to see which, he is taken "into the wilderness;" v. 3, being the sixth place to which he has changed his position. This wilderness is the wilderness of Shinar, in which Babylon was situated; and is the same into which the church fled, in chap. xii. She is represented in the same wilderness, in Zech. v. 5-11, under the figure of wickedness sitting in a bushel, and carried into Shinar to be "established on her own base," not on the "base of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner

stone."

The remaining chapters describe the triumph of Christ; his reign; his union with his church; and the heaven prepared for her which is not in another planet, but in this; for there is no mention of the Lord ever going away again after he returns, nor of any termination to his reign that he then enters upon. No! that globe, the matter of which he honoured by taking it into personal subsistence with the adorable, and otherwise incomprehensible

Godhead, shall ever be his residence, and the scene of his eternal glory, and of his people's neverending felicity. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." H. D.

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CCLXV.*

Psalm xvii. 15.- As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

THAT God governs the world which he has formed, is a truth which few will be found to deny. If we "believe that he is," we must believe also that he is the "rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Yet the outward exhibition of his ruling authority will not serve, in every case, to strengthen this conviction. For see we not often the godly man deeply distressed, whilst the wicked are in prosperity? See we not health and fortune, honour and applause, the portion of the onepoverty and disgrace, affliction and disquietude, the allotment of the other? Whence is this, it may be asked, if there be, indeed, a watchful Providence, and a just Governor over the children of men?

This reflection, whilst it has encouraged the infidel in his scepticism, has sometimes proved a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence even to the servants of God. The Psalmist Asaph was, at one time, perplexed and confounded at the thought. "My feet," says he, "were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them

See Sermons by the Rev. J. Jones, reviewed in our present Number.