^^KRY OF PRlNCSrfy I OCT 1 1988 6S2S17 V.3 DISCOURSES SHOWING THE STRUCTURE AND UNITY APOCALYPSE; .„K OKOEa A.n CONNHXIOK OF ITS PKOPHECIES-HOW TAR THEV HAVK VKX BEEN rULFILLED-^VHAT PART OF THEM REMAINS TO BE ACCOM. PLISHED-AND THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS WHICH MAY STILL BE EXPECTED, IN THE COURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM COMMENCE. BY DAVID ROBERTSON, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, KILMAURS. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. THE VIALS. GLASGOW: so. U 8Y D. ROBERTSON, M. OGLE, W. COLLINS, AND M. LOCHHEAO. WAUGH & INNES, AND VV. OUPHANT, EDINBURGH; WHITTAKER & CO. LONDON; AND \V. CURRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN. 1833. LANG. PRIXTEK, 72, NELSON STREET, GLASGOW. PREFACE TO THE VIALS. Of the three great Apocalyptic periods, that of the vials will be regarded by many as the most interesting. It is that in which we live, and by the events of which we are immediately and personally affected. Un- der the trumpets we have seen the enemies prospering, rising to great pride, power, intolerance to others, and unbearableness in themselves. And we discovered in them some symptoms of beginning or approach- ing decline. Under the vials we shall see the progress of that decline to complete destruction. Under the trumpets we saw the saints of God involved in the midnight shades of black adversity: and we discov- ered some glimmerings of a commencing dawn. Under the vials we shall see that light shining more and more in its ad- vances to the full splendour of a millen- nial day. This period is interesting if we consider it as the final struggle, the termination of the war with the three antichristian foes, and the introduction of that glorious and IV PREFACE. triumphant peace with which Christ shall bless his people for a thousand years. And we must beware in our interpreta- tion of regarding every occurrence which may appear great in our eyes, as the effusion of a vial of Divine wrath. Every vial, like every trumpet, must have a powerful and permanent influence in changing the state of society. But this difference will appear that the changes introduced by the first four trumpets deteriorated society, and strengthened the antichristian interest; and that though the fifth and sixth were woes to the inhabiters of the earth, yet they served to display the power of the enemies of our Redeemer, and to prepare for their overthrow, rather than to realize it in any considerable degree; but that the change introduced by every vial shall tell powerfully in the improvement of society, and in the advancement of our Redeemer's interest among men. Every vial must also be marked by an event distinct and complete in itself, though productive of permanent effects; and fol- lowed by a pause or interval in providence before the eftusion of the next, that anti- PREFACE. christian men may have an opportunity to repent of their deeds; and that the people of God may have time allowed them to come out of Babylon. Therefore the French revolution cannot comprehend all the vials. It was a great event, productive of mighty effects on society; but it was one event, and produced by the effusion of one vial. There are seven such events to complete the work. Let the enemies of our God tremble. The vine of the earth is not yet cut up by the roots, or cast in, or trodden in the wine-press of the wrath of God. But we see that her clusters are fast ripening in crime. And when they are trodden in that press, the blood shall flow even to the horses' bridles, for the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs. Nothing can be more preposterous than to suppose that the vials are all to be poured out within thirty years. Is the wrath of God so light a matter? In these vials we are assured it is filled up. Is all blood shed in heathen and antichristian persecutions, by all the three enemies of Christ so trifling that it may all be avenged in that short time? Is the work of casting down Babylon VI PREFACE. and rebuilding the New Testament church easier than the restoration of the house made with hands, which was forty years in building? No. Nations live slowly and change their character gradually. By the vials the character of all nations is to be changed to the better. A man may receive as much chastisement in a few years, as, under the blessing of God, may change his character and reform his future practice. But with a nation the process is more te- dious. The vials are to change the cha- racter of all the nations of Europe, and through them of all the inhabitants of the earth. And the chastisements by which this is to be effected shall occupy centuries. But let us rejoice when the judgments of our God are made manifest in the pouring out of these vials. Every one of them shall add to the comforts, equality of rights, and liberties of civil society; and to the degree of real piety, and the number of sincere worshippers in the church of God. CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. PAGE. Discourse XXIV.— -The Seventh Trumpet, 13 XXV.— The Woman and the Dra- gon, 27 XXVI — The Ten-horned Beast of the Sea, 73 XXVII.— The Two-horned Beast of the Earth, 128 XXVIII.— The Two-horned Beast dis- covered and identified, ... 144 XXIX. — The Sealed Ones have been preserved, and are now triumphant, 191 XXX.— The Harvest, 201 XXXI.— The Vintage, 210 XXXII. — The attainments of the Saints at the end of the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years, 220 XXXIII.— The First Vial, 225 XXXIV— The Second Vial, 266 XXXV.— The Third Vial, 311 XXXVI. — The remaining" Vials Fourth Vial, 328 Fifth Vial, 331 Sixth Vial, 332 Seventh Vial, 336 Vin CONTENTS. PAGE. Disc. XXXVII.— The Millennium, ^ 344 XXXVIIL— The Judgment and the New Jerusalem, 367 Conclusion — First Period — the opening of the Six Seals, 376 Second Period — the Seventh Seal intro- duces the period of the Trumpets, 377 Third Period — the Seventh Trumpet an- nounces the commencement of the Seven Vials, and begins to sound at the end of the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days, 379 DISCOUKSE XXIV. THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. Rev. xi. 14—19. 14 The second wo is past, and behold, the third wo cometh quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped, 17 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. 18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead 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, and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth. 19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament; and there were light- nings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and groat hail. 1 HE seventh trumpet, or third wo, comprehends all the vials which destroy the whole of the anti- VOL. III. B 14 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. christian systems. The second wo was past with the prosperity of the Turks, and the extension of their dominion in 1672; and the third wo, the seventh trumpet, began in 1688. When the seventh angel sounded, " there were great voices " in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world " are become the kingdoms of our God and of " his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and " ever." These voices were in heaven, that is in the church of God; and may be regarded as the echo from the lips of the saints to the notes of this trumpet, which had aroused the liveliest sentiments of joy in their hearts. They celebrate the mighty effects produced by the blast of this trumpet. And no doubt they look forward to the full effects to be produced by it, when all the vials of divine wrath are poured out on the nations of the earth. Bishop Newton says, " St. John is " rapt and hurried away as it were to a view of " the happy millennium, without considering the " steps preceding and conducting to it. At the " same time the four and twenty elders, or the " ministers of the church, verses 16, 17, 18, are " represented as praising and glorifying God for " manifesting his power and kingdom more than " he had done before." No sooner was this trumpet blown, than some of the kingdoms of this world began to feel, that by maintaining the intolerant and persecuting spirit of antichrist, their own safety was endangered; to betray symptoms THE SEVENTH TRUMPET, 15 of lurking dissatisfaction with him; and actually to concede the divine and inalienable rights of conscience to their subjects. And when the blast is finished, and all the vials poured out, all the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. The words of the song must be viewed as referring not only to what was effected when its first note of preparation was heard at the effusion of the first vial, but also to all the great and glorious changes produced under it, after it shall have sounded through the events of all the vials, and been heard mustering the hosts to the battle, and thrilling through the ex- tended ranks of war on the bloody field of Arma- geddon, at the great day of the Lord God Al- mighty. These voices, and the song of the elders here introduced, celebrate all the effects of this trumpet, in the deliverance of the church and the overthrow of her enemies. And under all the vials they shall continue to be heard amid the din of war and the tumults of the nations, waxing louder and more distinct as the work advances, and their full accomplishment draweth nigh. Whether there will be any thing like what we now call civil government, after the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, is a question which has been answered in the affirmative by some, and in the negative by others; and perhaps a distinct answer ought not to be attempted till the millennial state b2 16 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. of the church arrive, and the day declare it. This we are told by John, that in the mighty earth- quake of the seventh vial, every island (i. e. every state or kingdom) which appears at present on the face of human society, shall flee away, and the mountains (or great empires) shall be no more found. And the same events are described by Daniel under the semblance of the great image being broken to pieces. The stone cut from the mountain, that is the church of Christ, consisting of a voluntary people, and cut from the mountain, not only without hands, but in opposition to the hands and hearts of men— in opposition to human laws and human power, smote the " great image " upon his feet of iron and clay, and brake them " to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the " brass, the silver and the gold, (all the materials " of this great image,) broken to pieces together, *' and they became like the chaff of the summer " direshing-floors; and the wind carried them ** away, that no place was found for them." But it follows, that " the stone that smote the image " became a great mountain, and filled the whole " earth." And this seems to intimate, that after all the kingdoms composing the great image shall have been broken to pieces, and carried away by the winds like the dust of the summer threshing- floors, society shall be re-organized upon the new and better principles of Christian equity. Christian purity, Christian love, and Christian liberty; and THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 17 on these principles there shall still be a mountain or civil government, which shall extend its author- ity so as to fill the whole earth. John, in his ac- count of the millennium, tells us that he saw thrones; and we can hardly conceive it possible for fallen man to exist in this mortal state, and in society, without the salutary coercion of law, and the sword of the magistrate. The law is neces- sary for the lawless and the disobedient. And that the number of these shall be so diminished, even in the millennium, as to render the adminis- tration of law unnecessary, or that all Christians shall then, in every case, settle their differences (for it must needs be that oifences come,) by a friendly reference to their brethren who shall judge the world, is a consummation devoutly to be wished for; but we fear, from the silence of scripture, never to be realized on earth till all the dead, small and great, shall stand before God in judgment, till the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Tiiere will be some lawless and disobedient vvhile this world standeth. The kingdom of Christ and the lawful rule of civil governors may subsist not only in perfect harmony, but with great mutual advantage, each strengthening the other, and both cooperating for the glory of God and the good of man. b3 18 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. In the sixteenth verse, the four and twenty elders commence a song of praise. And it is na- tural to ask why are they not now as formerly accompanied by the living creatures, the pastors of the churches. We shall suggest two answers, and leave every reader to prefer either, or to con- join both, as may best suit his own judgment. 1st. The living; creatures were busied elsewhere about the time when this trumpet first sounded, and for some time after it had begun. In the fourteenth chapter at the sixth verse, John says, *' I saw another angel fly in the midst of *' heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach " unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every ** nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.'* And in the eighth verse he adds, " there followed *' another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fal- " len, that great city, because she made all nations " drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornica- " tion." And in the ninth verse, John says, " And the third angel followed them, saying with *' a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and " his image, and receive his mark in his forehead " or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine " of the wrath of God, which is poured out with- " out mixture into the cup of his indignation; and " he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone," &c. And may we not infer from their employ- ment that these three angels denote the ministers of religion, the pastors of the churches? By the THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 19 sounding of the seventh trumpet, a large and eflPectual door was opened, and they were diligent- ly improving the opportunity, and labouring for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. The first was preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation; the second announcing the downfal of Babylon; and the third warning men of the dan- ger of continuing any longer to worship the beast or his image. But where was the fourth? John tells us this also in the fifteenth chapter at the seventh verse. *' One of the four living creatures " gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, " full of the wrath of God which liveth for ever " and ever." May we not then say that the living creatures had other employment at this time than to sit singing in the midst of their elders? But, 2dly. We answer, that the living creatures having disappeared, (perhaps I might say, having been slain or destroyed) during the persecutions of the twelve hundred and sixty days, their places in the church still remained vacant. The wealth and allurements of the secularized churches being appropriated by the clergy, fewer of them (in pro- portion) than of the people, were to be found in the churches scripturally constituted on the volun- tary system. At the time which followed the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the people in several places remained like sheep without a shep- 20 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. herd. The old Scottish dissenters,^' (the Camer- onians,) continued for twenty years after the revo- lution to meet regularly in their societies for pray- er, but without any ordained minister to dispense public ordinances among them. About the end of that time, Mr. M'Millan, in compliance with their request, consented to cast in his lot with them, and to exercise his ministry in their church- es. In many parts of England and Ireland, vo- luntary churches were to be seen about the same time, worshipping and praising God for their de- liverance from persecution, and their enjoyment * Some may think, that, according to the principles which we have laid down, the Caraeronians ought not to be classed among the scripturally organized churches, because they profess some peculiar opinions about a covenanted king, and, (as some think,) Avould gladly establish their own church, if they could, by civil law. But we know that they have always testified against the headship of any eai'thly prince over the churcli of Christ. For this they sutFer- ed unto death, and endured twenty-eight years persecution befoi'e the revolution. For this they liave borne reproach since. And though actual connexion with the kings of the earth has always a corrupting infiue.nce on the church, changing her constitution, and giving the honours and prerogatives to them, which belong exclusive- ly to her spiritual Head, the King of Zion; yet the abstract opin- ions of the Cameronians have never been carried into practice, (they cannot be carried into practice,) and therefore their church retains and increases her scriptural purity. We are not disposed to debate about abstract opinions, so much as to look at facts; and we tind that in the days of Camci'ou, whose name they beai', and wish to bear, they were persecuted witnesses for the truth, and have remain- ed to this day a dissenting church, upheld by the voluntary contrl- butio)is of a u'illing people. THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 21 of liberty, 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 still without any ordained minister, any of the living creatures, to lead or even to join them in the song. This therefore is the song of the four and twenty elders, but not the son^ of the livintj creatures. Or, 3dly. You may conjoin the two preceding an- swers, and say, that owing to the former persecu- tion, and the present defection of ministers, there was not a sufficient number to supply the wants of the churches, and improve the opportunities now presenting themselves for the propagation of the gospel, and that they who remained are justly represented not as sitting and singing of the liber- ty, and peace, and comfort, which God had now given them, but as labouring diligently to improve them, by flying in the midst of heaven, proclaiming the everlasting gospel to every nation, and kin- dred, and tongue, and people, announcing the downfal of antichrist, and warning every man of his danger who continued to worship the beast or his image. Verse 18. " And the nations were angry," &c. The nations showed their anger by their kind reception of the persecuting Stewarts, and by many abortive attempts for restoring them to the throne, which, by their tyranny and cruelty they had forfeited. Actuated by the same spirit with 22 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. the Jews who sought to put Lazarus to death, after Jesus had restored him to life, the nations would have kindled the flames of persecution anew, and plunged dissenters in these lands into all the horrors from which they had so lately been raised. But the time of Jehovah's wrath was now come. This was the first vial — the beginning of sorrows to the destroyers of the earth. The cup which James Stewart tasted at the British revolu- tion, passed round a century afterwards, and with bloodier ingredients, to Louis XVL and other oppressors of the French people, and they were made to drink it. And it shall go round and round even till the seventh time. And at every returning round, (we have reason to think,) it will contain an additional degree of bitterness and blood as the nations become more angry, until the oppressions of tyranny are extirpated from the state, and the intolerance of bigotry from the church, and men are brought to repent of their deeds. The Almighty is here said to judge the dead in exalting his resuscitated witnesses, in giving reward to his servants the prophets, to the saints, and to them that fear his name, small and great; and in destroying them that destroy the earth. This description cannot look forward to the gen- eral and final judgment. For the latter belongs not to the epoch of the vials, and is not the im- mediate consequence of their effusion; but takes THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 23 place after the raillennium, and the apostacy of Gog and Magog. The description in our text looks backward to the fifth seal, when " the souls " of them that were slain for the word of God, " and for the testimony which they held, 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?" At that time " 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 breth- " ren, that should be killed as they were, should " be fulfilled." And the text which we are con- sidering tells us, that the little season was now expired, that the number of their fellow-servants, their brethren and fellow-martyrs, was now ful- filled; and that the time was come when God was to judge and avenge the blood of these dead, by destroying the destroyers of the earth. He judged and avenged them by punishing their enemies, by giving prosperity to the cause for which they suffered, and by causing the work in which they laboured on earth, to make progress after they were resting in heaven. He destroys every hostile system, and avenges the blood of his saints, by means of the seven vials, the first of which had now been poured out. Verse 19. " And the temple of God was opened in heaven, " and there were seen in his temple the ark of his 24 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. " testament," &c. The opening of the temple denotes the display of a scripturally organized church, and pure evangelical worship, unpolluted by any Uzziah presuming to burn incense, or to intermeddle by human laws with the service of the sanctuary. And the most important and glorious object seen in the temple was the ark of the testament, the scriptures of truth, not conceal- ed or superseded by decrees of councils, imperial edicts, or acts of parliament; but standing alone and unrivalled in authority, the only code of laws given to the church by her King, the only direc- tory for worship, the only rule of faith and man- ners. Such a church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and exhibiting the light and authority of the holy scripture as her chief glory, was set open when the witnesses arose from the dead. Such a temple is that in which God, in very deed dwells with man. But on this occasion we are told, " the temple was filled with ** smoke from the glory of God, and from his ** power; and no man was able to enter into the " temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels " were fulfilled."* The sonjj now sung was what no man could learn but the hundred forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth.f The multitude could not endure the glorious purity and divine simplicity of the reli- * Rev. XV. 8. f Rev. xiv. 3. THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 25 gion of Jesus. They were so intoxicated with the love of superstitious ceremonies, worldly pomp, temporal riches, and ghostly dominion, as to reject his glorious liberty, and refuse to enter the temple, or join in the simple expressions of spirit- ual worship. Even after the temple was opened, and the ark of the testament displayed, the great multitude chose to remain among the Gentiles, who were profaning and treading under their feet the outer court. The glorious simplicity of the New Testament church, her scriptural mode of worship, and the voluntary adherence of all her worshippers, were like the cloud of glory which filled the temple at its dedication by Solomon, and deterred men in general from entering the house. And they are not reconciled to enter the spiritual gospel temple, and to worship, till the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled. Therefore " there were lightnings, and voices, " and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great " hail." The judgments of the remaining six vials were poured out. And the things here pre- dicted were fulfilled, especially under the last of them. Then, we are told, " 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 there fell upon men a * Rev. xvi. 20, 21. VOL. III. C 26 THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. " great hail out of heaven, every stone about the " weight of a talent." The great end of these plagues is to destroy the three enemies of our Redeemer, who, with their Gentile worshippers, had taken possession of the outer court; and to induce the remainder of men to repent of their sins, to enter the temple, and join the saints in the scriptural worship of the only true God. From this passage we learn that the same event may be matter of joy to one and of lamentation to another — deliverance to the saints and destruction to their enemies ; that reformation of religion is in all cases the work of God; and that the most valuable treasure committed to the church is the testimony of God, contained in the holy oracles. DISCOUESE XXV. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. Rev. xii. 1 AxD there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars : 2 And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven j and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it wa& born. 5 And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron : and her child was caught up xmto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 7 And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the di'agon fought and his angels ; 8 And prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. c2 28 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 9 And the greut dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven. Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Wo to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea : for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. 14 And to the woman wei-e given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness., into her place; where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after the woman; that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the command- ments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 1 HE history of the two witnesses was introduced in the most appropriate place of the prophetic narrative; immediately before the sounding of the last trumpet, which raised them to the enjoyment of all the privileges of the gospel in peace and THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 29 liberty. In the end of the eleventh chapter we were told of the sounding of that trumpet, of the exercise of the saints which followed it, and of the certainty that all the seven vials which it an- nounced should be poured out on the inhabiters of the earth. But it is necessary to have a more distinct view of these inhabiters of the earth, against whom all the three woes are denounced. There are three great enemies of the church on whom the vials are to be poured, and who are to be destroyed by their influence. And there is the church whom they are to deliver from all opposi- tion, and make triumphant in the earth. And it is necessary, before viewing the effusion of the vials, that we should know something of the state of the parties to be affected by them. Therefore, in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters the apostle gives us the history of the three enemies of Christ, containing the description of their origin, exploits, wars, reign, and prosperity, up to the sounding of the seventh trumpet; and in the case of the dra- gon, gives some compendious hints of his unsuc- cessful war against the woman, and other disasters which befel him after that era. In the fourteenth chapter he recurs to the situation and exercise of the servants of our God, and to the dangers and duties incumbent on all men about the time when the last of the trumpets sounded. Then in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters he proceeds to c3 30 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. describe the effusion of the vials, and the effects which they produced. The parties were greatly changed by the storms and sunshine through which they had passed, by the defeats which they had sustained, and the victories which they had won. But in two of them we can still discern an identity, (under every dis- guise,) with two of the horsemen who appeared on the field at the commencement of the action. But the riders on the fiery and the black horses combined in the formation of the green. For some time after the combination, each of them could speak and act in his distinct individual ca- pacity, as well as in the capacity of an ingrediential part of the new and complex constitution. But as the complex system of church and state acquir- ed strength, it gradually absorbed the tyrannical state clergy. The state has still preserved its individual existence, and can speak and act in many things without consulting the clergy. But these can do nothing without consulting the state, and obtaining permission or sanction there. They can act not as a body by themselves, but only as part and parcel of the secular constitution. There- fore, we say, that under the trumpets, the rider on the black horse had been completely merged in the green; and that another and a later foe to Christ and his people had sprung up to occupy his place in the field. For the number three is still kept up among the foes of our Redeemer. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 31 These considerations show, that a new represen- tation of the hostile powers had now become ne- cessary. The woman represents the church. And her children are the friends and subjects of Him who went forth on the white horse conquering and to conquer. The history of the two witnesses, of the woman, and of these her three enemies, are what modern critics would call episodes; or what, according to the practice of modern authors, would perhaps have been thrown into a note. But by the Spirit of God, the first of them, the history of the wit- nesses, is introduced as a subordinate little book; and the histories of the woman and the dragon, of the ten-horned beast, and of the two-horned beast, (being more extensively entwined with the thread of the prophetic narrative,) are introduced at the very place where the knowledge of them becomes necessary to a right understanding of what follows. The first is the history of the woman and the dragon, contained in this twelfth chapter. By comparing all the passages in which the symbol of a woman is used, it seems clear that in prophetical language it denotes a church. An adulterous woman is a church unfaithful to Christ, seeking and receiving support and protection from another, backsliding and apostate from the truth. If she is sitting upon a beast, h^m^ this denotes 32 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. that she is supported by some great enemy of Christ and his people, which subsists by plunder and oppression. And our translators have com- mitted a great mistake in calling the four living creatures four beasts; they catch no prey, and devour no men. The woman described in our text is the church of the living God, the bride, the Lamb's wife, who is all fair, and whose cause her husband has iden- tified with his own. She is represented by the same symbol in the forty-fifth Psalm, in the Song of Solomon, and other similar passages of scrip- ture. The society called the church comprehends many individuals, differing in their views of many subjects, in their degrees of knowledge and of zeal, and often in their practical observances. But notwithstanding all their imperfections they are one in Christ. He says, " My dove, my un- " defiled is one." And in the text she is repre- sented by 07ie personage to denote her unity. And she is represented by a female personage to denote her beauty, weakness, and dependence. With her spiritual beauty her king is greatly de- lighted. To her, his language breathes of love. " Thou art all fair my love; there is no spot in " thee.'* " Thou hast ravished my heart, my " sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart *' with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy " neck." In herself, she is delicate and without strength, but his bounty has provided for her sup- THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 33 port; and his almighty arm is her protection. Her name is Jerusalem. She is from above, and is the mother of us all. Many are the children of her family. To her the prophet has said, " thy ** seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the " desolate cities to be inhabited." And here the man child is the symbol of all her numerous sons and daughters, who inherit her outward privileges and her hidden treasures. She was clothed with the sun. The sun denotes the revelation of Christ in the glorious gospel. The woman clothed with the sun, is the church arrayed in the splendour and magnificence of the gospel dispensation. Like the natural sun, this dispensation radiates both light and heat. It in- forms the head, and it warms the heart of the believer. If any man has the one without the other, we have reason to fear that his religion Cometh not from the beams of the Sun of Righte- ousness in which both are inseparably united, and which have ? quickening and fertilizing influence on the hearts and lives of men. She has the moon for her footstool, or the place of her feet. The moon cannot mean the Mosaical dispensation. That passed away when the Christ- ian was introduced. The one gave place to the other. But in the prophecies of scripture, the sun and moon are represented as existing together, and contemporaneously affected by the same judg- ments. The moon is a great spiritual luminary, 34 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. which the saints are not able to want, till they ar- rive at the ineffable light of the celestial state; and therefore, it cannot mean this present world which is enveloped in darkness. But the moon denotes the public ordinances of the Christian religion. These shine, but it is by a borrowed lustre, derived from the Sun of Righteousness^ These are her footstool or the place of her feet. There, amid all her wanderings, her weary feet find rest. Of them her Lord has said, " This is my rest for ever; " here will I dwell, for I have desired it." And again he says, " The glory of Lebanon shall come " unto thee — to beautify the place of my sanctuary, " and I will make the place of my feet glorious." To enjoy the sweets of his gracious presence, she comes to the place where he dwells and communes with his people. On his throne she sits with him, and his footstool must be the place of her feet also. She had on her head, srecpoa^og, a crown of twelve stars. In the visions of Patmos, Christ appeared with seven stars in his right hand. And he him- self gives this explanation, " the mystery of the " seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand " — the seven stars are the angels of the seven " churches." And there can be no doubt that the twelve stars which adorn the crown of this woman are the twelve apostles. The church is elsewhere said to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; and when she is re- THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 35 presented here with these twelve stars as a crown adorning her head, it teaches us, that so" far from being ashamed of the doctrine of the apostles, she regards it as her chief glory and her best or- nament. II. The Dragon. The first of the enemies is the great red dragon. Some resting in the words of the ninth verse where this dragon is called the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan, have no doubt that the prince of fallen angels is here intended. But for what reason does he receive the serpent's name, more than that of the fox, of the tiger, or of any other animal? Is not the well-known reason this, that he hid himself, or became incarnate in the body of the serpent for the purpose of deceiv- ing and seducing our first parents? On him, un- der the name of the serpent which he identified with himself, the deadly curse was pronounced; and wherever he is called a serpent in scripture, there is an allusion to the material instrument which he employs for accomplishing his wicked purposes. And may he not here be called a great dragon, to intimate that here he must be viewed as identified and incorporated with a ferocious power or system of material agency, resembling a dragon in insatiable rapacity and unrelenting cruelty. But there are other points of the de- scription which afford indubitable proof that the being here described is some earthly system, ani- mated and actuated by the great adversary of God 36 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. and man. The devil himself, though fallen, is still of an angelic and spiritual nature, and as such can have neither shape nor colour; but this enemy has the shape and size of a great dragon, and is of a red colour. An unembodied spirit has neither heads nor horns; but this dragon has seven of the former, and ten of the latter. Nor can we be at a great loss to recognize and identify this enemy. Every one who is at all versant in history, or acquainted with the figurative language of prophecy, must know that seven heads and ten horns are uniformly the characteristics of the Roman empire.* And to the other descrip- tions of that empire, we may add the dragon here, as another symbol representing the same power. The majority of commentators are agreed in applying it to that empire. But they have been led by mistaken views of the ten-horned beast in the next chapter, to limit the dragon to some par- ticular period or form of the empire's existence; and they differ widely in fixing the supposed period which partakes of the draconic character. Mr. Mede, bishop Newton, and others, consider this dragon as a representative of the empire in its pagan state, and they think that it ceased to be the dragon in the days of Constantine. A second class, comprehending Culbertson and Fuller, think that this empire was the dragon only from its * Dan. vii. 7. Rev. xiii. 1, and xvii. 3. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 37 assumption of a political form of Christianity under Constantine, until it was divided into ten kingdoms. A third class, among whom is M'Leod, are of opinion that the empire corresponds with the character of the dragon, and receives his name only in its antichristian form. In our opinion all the three classes are in the right when they affirm that the Roman empire was the dragon at the different periods which they have chosen severally to adopt; and every one of them gives irrefragable reasons to prove this, at the time which it has preferred. But all the three are mistaken, when every one of them denies that this empire was, or is the dragon before he enter- ed, or after he passed, the period to which they severally would limit his draconic existence. They make the dragon too short-lived for the work ascribed to him in this chapter. The Roman empire is an enemy of the church, and represented by the dragon at all periods of its existence from the days of John, under every form which it assumes, to the last moments of its being in the world. The pagan Roman empire was possessed and actuated by the devil; and to it the whole descrip- tion of the dragon belonged. This will appear if you consider, 1st. That the ten horns and other marks of the dragon are, by Daniel and other prophets, ascribed to this empire, from the earliest date at which it is known in scripture. The seven VOL. 111. p 38 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. heads were the seven forms of government that took place in the empire. John says, or rather the angel whose words are recorded by John, says, " the seven heads are seven mountains on ** which the woman sitteth," alluding to the na- tural situation of the imperial city Rome, which is built on seven hills; for the woman is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. And the angel adds, " there are seven kings; five " are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet " come; and when he cometh, he must continue a ** short space." The seven heads, or kings, or forms of government which succeeded one another in the empire, were kings, consuls, military tri- bunes, decemvirs, and dictators. These five were fallen in the days of John. But one now is; and who can that be but the pagan emperor who was then reigning over the kings of the earth? " And " the other, (said the angel) that is the seventh, *' is not yet come; and when he cometh he must " continue a short space." And this is the go- vernment of Christian emperors; for Constantine not only gave the empire a new religion in pro- fession, but also changed all the forms of its poli- tical constitution. And this seventh head con- tinued but a short space in the western empire, or what is properly regarded as belonging to the fourth beast of Daniel. And the beast that ascends out of the abyss, the ecclesiastical system THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. S9 of papal Rome, is the eight, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. The ten horns also are ten kings, which (said the angel) have re- ceived no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. The ten horns as existing in the year 1833, are the kingdom of Naples, the Popedom, Austria, Switzerland, Sar- dinia, Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, and Bel- gium. But the remark to which 1 would come at present is, that six of the seven heads which the dragon bore, and on which John beheld the seven diadems, were exclusively pagan ; and therefore that the empire was draconic or part of the dragon in its pagan state. 2d. The dragon represents the first enemy with whom the New Testament church has to contend, and therefore must denote the power of the pagan empire. Under the vials all the enemies are to be destroyed, and therefore all these enemies are presented to view and described before the vials commence. There are other two enemies describ- ed in the following chapter, namely, the ten-horn- ed beast of the sea, and the two-horned beast of the earth. But the first of the three is the great red dragon. And we are not left merely to draw inferences from the order of arrangement. We see that he exists before the ten-horned beast rise into power, from the fact that " the dragon gave " him his power, and his seat or throne, and great d2 40 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. *' authority."* Analogy confirms this view of the case. The Israelitish church had to contend at her very outset, and during her incipient organi- zation by the ministry of Moses, with Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon in the midst of the rivers, who sought to make her family extinct in the earth by destroying every man child of hers so soon as brought forth. And the secular power of the Roman empire, the first formidable enemy with which the New Testament church had to contend, is also represented as a great red dragon watching to devour her man child so soon as he should be born. 3d. John saw not this dragon arise, and there- fore he existed before the date of the prophetic vision. Had it denoted an enemy to arise after the time of John, his rising or his coming would have been represented in the vision, and John would have told us whether he arose out of the sea or out of the earth, or whether he came from the east or the west, from the north or the south. In the following chapter he describes two enemies, neither of which had actual existence in his dav, and he tells us that he saw both of them arise, the one out of the sea and the other out of the earth. But nothing like this is said of tiie woman or the dragon ; because they were both in existence, and the contest between them going on when John saw the visions in Patmos. • Rev. xiii. 2. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 41 4th. We are told that this dragon is the old serpent. Any king or secular power might have been represented by a dragon or fiery basilisk; for it was the common symbol of royalty among the ancients. But in the days of John, this dra- gon of fire bore the character of an old enemy. He is called the old serpent, the Devil or accuser of the brethren, and Satan or the enemy. He had been known as such from the time when the Roman power extended into Judea. At his pleasure he had cast down, set up, and removed the civil rulers of the Jews, and also their high priests. Through the latter he had interfered with the worship of God; and through the former with the government of his people. On many occasions before the coming of Christ, he had acted as a false accuser, and an enemy of the peo- ple of God. Nay, at the instigation of the Jews, he had crucified the Holy One and the Just. And when John saw him warring against the wo- man, he recognized him as her ancient foe — the old serpent with whom she had contended in for- mer years. Nor is there any visible enemy of the church under the New Testament, who had op- posed her under the Old also, and who lives to the time of the last vial, except the secular Ro- man empire. But this empire lives, and continues a dragon of fire, the instrument of divine judgments on sinful men, after being divested of its pagan attire, D 3 42 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. and even after being divided into the ten king- doms of modern Europe. The secular empire was still the same, though the state religion was different. The truth of this will appear if you consider, 1st. That the dragon appeared in heaven. Not only does this dragon live after having cast off his pagan exterior, but he also gets into heaven or the visible church of God. Strange indeed it seems to us, that the devil should get into heaven, or the great dragon of fire be admitted into the church. But so it was represented to John in the vision; and so it hath no doubt proved in the actual verification. Though Satan is often pre- sent among the sons of God when they assemble to worship their Maker, yet in the body of this great dragon, he never got into the church till he had divested himself of the pagan attire. And although the dragon is here spoken of as an ene- my of the woman, which had being, power, and malignant activity in the days of John, yet his deeds are not here noticed, and himself not form- ally introduced to our observation till he gets into the church, and thus appears in heaven. His earlier exploits were detailed when he appear- ed as the rider on the horse of fire. But into the church itself he made good an entrance, when Constantine, declaring the empire to be Christian, and constituting himself the supreme judge of what was heresy and what was orthodoxy, began to THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 43 lavish wealth and honours on the latter, and to persecute the former even unto death; when he copied the penal laws of Dioclesian, and put them in force against the Paulicians, the Montanists, the Marcionites, the Novatianists, the Donatists, the Valentinians, and all others who dissented from his secular establishment of Christianity. All who would not worship the image which he had set up, felt the venomous fangs of this great red dragon. Then was the time when he first appeared in heaven. And the}' must be mistaken, who say that the dragon ceased to exist with the paganism of the imperial government. 2d. That from his face the woman fled into the wilderness. Her flight took place more than a century after the empire was professedly Christ- ian, and the great dragon had usurped a place in the heavens. During that time, she maintained a place in heaven struggling against his influence. But at the end of it she was compelled to flee into the wilderness. He persecutes her seed for twelve hundred and sixty days after her flight. And what but the terrible sight of his monstrous fiery form still glaring in the heavens, prevented her return during the days of that gloomy period? She remained in the wilderness to be hid from the face of the serpent. Not till he is weakened by the first vial at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days, does she return and ascend to resume her place in the heavens. 4<4" THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON* 3d. That he appeared with ten horns. Had the empire not been the dragon after it renounced paganism, he could have had only six heads; for the seventh came into existence when the empire became Christian. But the dragon in our text has seven heads, and crowns on them all. He has also the ten horns which sprung out of the seventh head. And this circumstance teaches us that the empire continues to be the dragon after its divi- sion into ten kingdoms. 4th. That the history of the dragon is intro- duced here to prepare us for the effusion of the vials. The little book contains nothing more than the history of the witnesses; and they are never spoken of in the great sealed book. But at the fifteenth verse of the eleventh chapter, the apostle returns to the great book, tells us of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and proceeds to prepare us for the detail of its events under the vials. It is a great mistake indeed to suppose, as some have done, that the history of the dragon, and of the two beasts in the next chapter, has no connexion with the trumpets and vials of the great sealed book. The three ^>?^/a> the dragon, the beast, and the other beast, called also the false prophet, are often referred to under the vials, and in the following part of the Apocalypse. Without some previous knowledge of them we could not see on whom the vials were to be pour- ed; who were to be the acting characters in oppos- THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 45 ing the rider on the white horse during the period of their effusion; or who were to be destroyed by their influence. Therefore their likenesses are here delineated, and the principal occurrences in their history sketched out before us. We con- clude that the dragon and his associates continue alive at least till the effusion of the first vial. But we add, 5th. That the dragon exists during the whole period of the vials, and even after its termination. Under the Old Testament, Pharaoh king of Egypt is called the great dragon in the midst of his rivers. And he assailed the Israelitish church not only before she fled from his face into the wilderness, but also after her forty and two years there* were accomplished, and she had been settled in the land of Canaan. From the face of this Apocalyptic dragon the woman fled into the wilderness where she was hid forty and two pro- phetic months. At the effusion of the first vial she returns and re-occupies her place in heaven. But even under the sixth and seventh vials he is active in opposing her, and appears as a confeder- ate of the beast and the false prophet, in sending forth unclean spirits to the kings of the earth, and of the whole of his lix.ovy.irri district of associated nations, to gather them to the battle of that great • The Israelites were two years in the wilderness before, and forty after they were turned back, because of their unbelief and rebellion. 46 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. day of God Almighty. Nay, he is the leader and chief of the confederacy ; and as such, fights desperately on the field of Armageddon under the last vial. He is there vanquished, but vi^ith greater difficulty than his two confederates. They are overcome and destroyed like Sodom in a lake of fire. But from heaven an angel must descend with a great chain to bind him; and the dark and deep abyss is made his prison-house for a thousand years. He is hardy, and survives many disasters. He escapes out of prison when the thousand years are finished; and returns with new ardour to his old work of deceiving the nations. He then gathers them together to battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. In this he perseveres till fire come down from heaven to destroy him and the nations together. And then the great white throne appears; and all the dead, small and great stand before God to receive judg- ment. The paganism of the empire has been removed; the political Christianity and popery of the empire shall be removed, but the dragon (the empire it- self) survives all these changes. The empire is draconic from the beginninfj to the end of its existence. The twenty-seventh of Isaiah is gen- erally understood to be a prediction of the re- storation of the Jews in the latter days; and it begins with these words, " In that day, the Lord " with his sore, and great, and strong sword, shall THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 47 " punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even " Leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall " slay the dragon that is in the sea." The dra- gon of whom we have been speaking represents not popery, or paganism, or protestantism, or any religion whatever, but the Roman empire, which in all its forms has made war on the saints of God. And we saw in the introductory dis- course, that the emperors themselves and other rulers of the empire have adopted the figure of a dragon as the emblem of their power.* He is called a great dragon of fire, o^ukuv ^iya-i Trvppog, But this fiery appearance has no reference to the purple of the emperors, the dress of the cardinals, or the scarlet uniform of the British soldier. It cannot refer to the red cloth with which the car- dinals cover their mules, or any thing ecclesiasti- cal; for the whole system of popery is represented in the next chapter by a distinct beast having also seven heads and ten horns. But the fiery appearance denotes that the dra- gon was an instrument in the hand of divine justice for chastising the nations on account of their sins. And it may assist u-s in identifying the dragon with the rider on the fiery horse, who went forth under tlie second seal. We have seen that they both represent the same secular empire; that the hetid of this empire, who rode on the * See Vol. i. page 61. 48 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. horse of fire, used a dragon as his armorial crest and the symbol of his power; that they both were of the same fiery appearance, both engaged in the same work of opposing and persecuting the churchy and both presided over the earth or civil society. The rider on the fiery horse took peace from the earthy which was his proper kingdom. The dragon intruded into heaven, where he had no right to be; and usurped power there which belonged not to him. From the names given him in the ninth verse, some have concluded that the dragon can be no earthly enemy, but must be the prince of fallen angels. But the names warrant not this conclu- sion. He is called the old serpent^ or the old dragon; and this (as we have seen,) may notify that this great dragon, who wars with the church as her chief and most dreadful enemy under the gospel, is an old opponent, whose power had reached her in Judea, and with whom she had contended under the legal economy. He is called the Devil, or rather a Devil, for the article is omitted in the orifrlnal. But though this name belongs emphatically to him who is a liar from the beginning, and who was the false accuser of God himself in paradise, yet (as it literally signifies an informer, a false accuser, or calumniator,) it is often applied to human beings, by authors sacred and profane. By Demosthenes in his oration, HEPI 2TE^AN0T, it is used to THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 49 signify an informer or flilse accuser; in the same sense does it occur in bis other works; and never is the word applied by him to any other than human beings. Our Lord himself applies it to Judas, " Have not I chosen yon twelve, and one " of you is a devil, or informer?"* Paul foretels that in the last days men shall be devils, or as our translation renders the word, " false accusers. "-]- In one passage he forbids the wives, and in an- other the aged women, to be slanderers, or " false " accusers;" and in both the same word devils stands in the original.:}: And to what earthly enemy can this nanie be given with greater pro- priety than to the secular Roman empire, which has in all ages been accusing the saints of pro- pagating heresy, moving sedition, and turning the world upside down. In the days of the apostles they were called enemies of Caesar, because they chose to obey God rather than man, and said there was another king, even Jesus; and in our own, we have heard some in high place publicly announcing, that all are to be regarded as enemies of the state who disapprove the religion of the state. By these, and other false accusations such as these, has the tlragon attempted to justify all his cruelties and persecutions of the woman and her seed. We may add one instance as a.speci- * John vi. 70. f 2 Tim. iii, 3. t Tim. iii, 1 1, &c. Tit. ii. 3. VOL. III. E 50 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. men. When the duke of Guise massacred the reformed at Vassy, he secured false witnesses, who signed an affidavit in his favour, accusing the Protestants of being a factious set of people at all times, and charging them with being the aggres- sors in that instance. The power of the dragon exists in his ten horns. And have the kings of Europe never issued decrees prohibiting a form of religion in their dominions, and then put the adherents of it to a cruel death? Have they not at the same time declared that they were persecut- ing no man for his religion, but only punishing the sedition of them who disobeyed the king*s commandment? With great propriety is this dragon named a devil or false accuser. He is called Satan. And this name also is often applied to earthly agents. It is an Hebrew word, and signifies an enemy. " David said, " What have I to do with you, ye sons of Ze- ** ruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries (or " Satans) unto me?"* And Solomon said to king Hiram, " The Lord my God hath given me rest " on every side, so that there is neither adversary " (i. e. Satan) nor evil occurrent."f And in the psalm where the character, the sin, and the pun- ishment of Judas are foretold, we read that a wicked man shall be set over him; and that Satan (or an enemy) shall stand at his right hand.J * 2 Sam. xix. 22. f 1 Kings v. 4. \ Psalm cix. 6. ' THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 51 Our Lord applies the word to Peter, when speak- ing in opposition to his death for sinners. " He " turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me " Satan."* With great justice, then, is this name bestowed on the Roman empire, which continues for ages to make war with the woman and with the remnant of her seed. All the names, then, are applicable to an earth- ly and visible foe. Indeed the Apocalypse being intended to shew the condition of the visible church on earth, must speak principally of her visible and earthly opponents. And if farther evidence were required to shew that the secular power of the Roman empire is the foe intended here, we might refer to the authority of the Pope himself. When Pope Alexander set his foot on the neck of the emperor Frederick, he quoted the words, " thou shalt tread upon the lion and the " basilisk, the young lion and the dragon shalt " thou trample under foot." In his opinion the dragon denoted not himself but the emperor, not the ecclesiastical but the secular power of the empire. The opinion must be admitted. The secular empire is the dragon. Religion is not identified with him, with any of his seven heads, or any of his ten horns. He and they shall fall. His ecclesiastical and secular power shall come to an end. But the bride, the Lamb's wife, remains • Matth. xvi. 23. e2 52 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. in safety under the protection of her divine hus- band. It is our duty to respect the authority of secular rulers in secular matters; but in religious, to have no king but Christ; to obey them in lav/- ful commands; but always to obey God rather than man, when we discern any variation in the mandates of the one from those of the other. The Jews were bound to pray for the peace of Babylon while they sojourned there; and much more ought all true Christians to seek and pray for the pros- perity and peace of their native land. III. We proceed to contemplate the events of the war. From the description of the parties, we might be ready to conclude that the contest would soon be at an end. The weakness of a delicate woman cannot be expected to stand long against the strength and fury of a gigantic and monstrous dragon. Conscious of her own weakness, she seeks her safety by fleeing from his face and hid- ing herself in the wilderness. But after many days slie returns to the field, accompanied by powerfal assistance. Her prince, Michael and his angels, are arrayed on her side. And then her contest with the dragon is prolonged in a tedious warfare. The progress of it is marked by awful and important events. The dragon is ejected from heaven, and practises great cruelty on earth. He is overcome, taken captive, and bound in prison a thousand years. Being again loosed, he THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 53 renews the warfare, which terminates in his de- struction by fire from heaven. The first remarkable occurrence in this war is the appearance of the dragon in heaven. This is the peculiar habitation of the woman, and the peculiar kingdom of her husband. And not con- tent with assailing her from without, the dragon makes good an entrance into her husband's terri- tories, and establishes himself there. This he did in the reign of Constantine. Till then he had his standing on earth, or civil society, and was a known and avowed enemy of the woman, who had her place in heaven, or religious affairs. In- stead of seeking admittance to the enjoyment of her privileges, he treated them with contempt; and instead of seeking to share the spiritual power with which her Lord had entrusted her, or to usurp what he had reserved as his own preroga- tive, the dragon sought to annihilate both, and persecuted all who did them reverence. Such was his position and attitude in the days of John. The earth continued to be his place, and open hostility to the prerogatives of Christ, and to the spiritual influence of the woman, to be his conduct till the days of Constantine. A description of him in this state would have been no prediction. The reality of it was seen and felt at the time of the vision, and his exploits between the date of the vision, and the time of his forcing an entrance into the heavens of the visible church, had already e3 54 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGO!^. been described, when he appeared under the second seal as the rider on the fiery horse. But although the earth or civil society is the only element suited to his nature, it was not satis- factory to his ambition. Like the monarch of Babylon in ancient times, he said, " I will ascend " into heaven, 1 will exalt my throne above the " stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of " the congregation."* And in the person cf Con- stantine, the imperial earth-born dragon ascended into heaven, and there prosecuted his war against the woman. By means of flattery, and as the price of his proffered friendship, he wrested from her hands the spiritual sceptre which she had re- ceived from her Almighty Lord; and usurped the ecclesiastical authority which none on earth but herself, the daughter of the King was entitled to exercise. He changed the form of her ecclesias- tical government, and conformed it to his secular empire. He changed her mode of worship, and imposed on her children many pagan and super- stitious observances. In some instances he soli- cited the aid of other potentates against the wo- man. Having deposed Athanasius, having hunt- ed and persecuted him through Europe and Asia, having lost all traces of him, and not knowing where he was to be found, the emperor wrote the Christian princes of Ethiopia, urging them in a * Isaiah xiv. 12. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 55 ver}' pressing epistle, to assist hirn in excluding the heretical bishop from the most remote corners of- the earth. Exasperated with rage, the dragon can condescend to the most humiliating and dis- graceful means in making war with the woman and with her seed. In ambition, presumption, and blasphemy, he exceeds the little horn of Da- niel's he-goat, who magnified himself even to the host of heaven, and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them with his feet. The dragon actually ascends into heaven, and exalts his power derived from the earth, above the stars of God, And the most remarkable incident on his as- cension was, that by some powerful attraction, his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven after it. By this influence he turns them whithersoever he will, and finally casts them down to the earth. The stars are the angels or ministers of the Christ- ian churches. Some of them adorn the crown of the woman, but others of them follow the tail of the great red dragon. Influenced by the splen- dour of an earthly court, and the prospects of preferment, of wealth, and worldly honours, they attach themselves to the train of earthly princes, and prostitute their ministry to political purposes. So powerful is the attraction of these things, that Satan employed it as his most powerful weapon in attempting to overcome the great Captain of our salvation. He showed him all the kinndoms 56 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. of the world, (the oikoumene,) and said, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Christ with- stood the tempter. He used the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and overcame the enemy. But many of his servants neglecting this sword of the Spirit, have fallen before the temptation. To them the attraction is so power- ful, that instead of following the Lamb whitherso- ever he goeth; they follow the tail of the dragon whithersoever it turneth. When he entered hea- ven they ought to have appeared on the woman's side, and to have regarded and treated him as an enemy. But instead of this, they follow^ed him as their leader and their chief Thus it was in the days of Constantine, and thus it has been ever since. The dragon is not yet cast out. It is in- deed painful to Christian feeling to speak thus of men among whom are many of our fathers and brethren in Christ. But our love to them must not be permitted to suppress our love to the truth. The secret influence by which they are drawn to his side is the prospect of wealth and preferment. And the prophet who speaketh lies he is the tail. As they maintain the creed sanctioned by the dragon's authority, preach his doctrines, and pros- titute their ministry to his political purposes, they are described as attracted to the tail. Having thus drawn the third part of the stars to his tail, he actually casts them to the earth. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 57 In explaining the third trumpet, we showed what is meant by a star falling from heaven to earth. Heaven is the church; and the earth is political society, or the association of men on merely natu- ral principles. And when a star falls, or is cast from heaven to earth, the meaning is, that some ecclesiastical character becomes incorporated with political society. This casting of the stars to the earth, synchronizes with the earthquake of the sixth seal. Under it we were told that " 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 here, that the dragon attracted them with his tail, and cast them to the earth. The same event is described in both passages. The history of time past, and what we see at present, testify the fulfilment of these predic- tions. Many of the stars of heaven are not only drawn from their proper orbit by the attraction of the dragon's tail, but actually cast to the earth, and incorporated with the political system. Their pride and their boast is, that their church is part and parcel of the political constitution of the em- pire. Their incorporation with the state in the days of Constantine remains to this day. They are not guided by the attraction of the sun, whose influence moves the whole planetary system, but directed in many of their motions by the attracting power of the dragon's tail. As ministers of re- ligion, they are not supported according to the 58 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. law of Christ by the free-will offerings of their people, but by tithes enforced by the dragon's authority, and levied with the dragon's rapacity. This tax Constantine durst not enforce when he cast them to the earth, but it followed, and took effect under the third trumpet, as part of the same system. So far were they incorporated with the earthly system of worldly politics, as in all the countries of Europe, to be for centuries princes of the empire and lords of parliament. And in many of these countries they continue so to this day. Even in Britain, amid all our reformation and liberties, we have lords spiritual as well as temporal. The system of church patronage autho- rized by the dragon, has a tendency to make the clergy cringing and sycophantish to their earthly superiors, and haughty and tyrannical to their in- feriors. The effects are seen in the characters of many. When we hear such men boasting of their being independent of the people, and indebted on- ly to the liberality of government for the institu- tion of tithes, and the friendship of their patron for giving them the place, and pretending to pity their dissenting brethren, who must look to their people for support; it reminds us of those ciphers of consuls, who, in the palace of Constantinople, and amid the very dregs of the empire, were ap- pointed by the emperor, merely that their names might serve as a date to the year, deploring the humiliating condition of their predecessors the THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 59 Scipios and Catos who had to solicit plebeian votes, pass through the forms of popular election, and expose their dignity to the danger and shame of a refusal; and boasting that their own happy lot was assigned them by a gracious sovereign, who defrayed the expense of the annual feast and show at their election, from his own treasury; who, without troubling them with executing the reso- lutions of peace or war, allowed them to spend the year in the enjoyment of their pension, and the calm contemplation of their own dignity; and who only reminded them in the epistles with which he honoured them at their instalment, that they were created by his sole authority. As soon as the dragon had cast the stars to the earth, he stood before the woman, the church of Christ, ** to devour her child as soon as born." There is no reference here to our Lord, for he was born in human nature long before the dragon got into heaven. Nor does it refer to Constantino or any individual son of the church, but to all her offspring in general. Like Pharaoh king of Egypt, the dragon sought to extirpate the seed of the church, by putting every man child to death so soon as born. The established clergy were approving and instigating the persecutions of the dragon ; and a persecuting society which employs fire and sword in the cause of religion, never is, and never can be owned by Christ, as his church. The children of the woman whom the dragon 60 THE WOMAN ANn THE DRAGONT. sought to devour, must therefore denote the pro- scribed and persecuted sects, whom the secular power of the empire laboured to destroy in the days of Constantine, and for many ages foHowing. But in these attempts the dragon was defeated. The man child was protected of God, and caught up to his throne. He was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And this honour is to all the saints. Our Redeemer says, " he that overcom- ' eth, and keepeth my words 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."* Their preservation, their interest, and their prayers are the secret springs which move and direct all the revolutions among states and nations. They sit with Christ on his throne. The next event in this war is, that the woman flees from the face of the dragon into the wilder- ness, where she is nourished and preserved for twelve hundred and sixty days. These days commenced amid the hail storm of the first trum- pet, and terminated, as we have seen, with the resurrection of the witnesses at the revolution in Britain. During these days the witnesses were oppressed and persecuted wherever they were dis- covered; but there was nothing that could be ♦ Rev. ii. 27. THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON. 61 called war in heaven. There was no party who appeared publicly there to oppose the dragon. But at the end of them the woman returns from the wilderness and again appears in heaven. And she makes not this appearance alone. Michael and his angels appear on her side, and the war in heaven commences. " Michael and his angels *' fouo-ht a5^s/£4, here rendered miracles, is not to be restrict- ed to things which are supernatural. It denotes an evidence, token, or argument, and in Romans iv. 11. is applied to circumcision by the apostle Paul. Old Simeon in the temple used it to sig- nify an object of derision, a sign which shall be spoken against.* Christ and his apostles con- firmed their doctrines by signs and divers mir- acles. And if you ask the two-horned beast for a sign or token in confirmation of his system, the great token, the only token which he can give, is the fire of his ecclesiastical persecutions, by which he consumes his adversaries. And if you say not that you are convinced, you must in this manner be killed. Our translation adds, " and deceiveth * Luke ii. 34. M 3 138 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE EARTH. " them that dwell on the earth." But in the original the word is ^rAai/a, he maketh to err. And no doubt many who dwell on the earth will be made to err by his signs and tokens, though they are not deceived or convinced by them. Their worldly prudence and desire of self-pre- servation will make them willing to err, rather than expose themselves to the fire which he bring- eth from heaven to earth. But his intolerant spirit and persecuting prac- tices are more plainly stated in the following verses. He is described as " saying to them that " dwell on the earth, That they should make an " image to the beast which had the wound of the " sword, and did live. And he had power to give " life unto the image of the beast, that the image " of the beast should both speak, and cause that " as many as would not worship the image of the " beast should be killed. And he caused all, " both small and great, rich and poor, free and " bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or " in their foreheads; and that no man might buy " or sell, save he that had the mark or the name " of the beast, or the number of his name." This tells that he is a persecutor without farther comment. The Pope too is a persecutor, and in this the two beasts are alike. But likeness in one particu- lar, is not identity in all. 9th. The forty-two months, or twelve hundred THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE EARTH. 139 and sixty days are never applied to this beast; and we are not told of their connexion with the dura- tion of his reign and prosperity. But the reign of the Pope is exactly limited to the forty-two months. Therefore he cannot be the same with this beast. No, he is the first beast, that was before this one; and a great part of his forty and two months seem to have elapsed before this beast arose out of the earth. He had at least attained the height of his prosperity; for the system of intolerance and cruelty which this beast sets up, is but an image of what the first beast had been before he arose. By inference we may conclude, that he arises before the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days. He is represented as united in doing and suffering with the dragon and the ten-horned beast under the vials. He shares the calamities of the vials, and the first vial is poured out at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days, when the mystery of God is finished, and that time which is allowed for the prosperity of his enemies is come to an end. 10th. His number is six hundred threescore and six. Whatever this number mean, it is dif- ferent from the number of the former beast, and thus proves that two distinct enemies are intended. His number was twelve hundred and sixty days, or forty-two months; the number of this beast is six hundred threescore and six, and these are 140 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE EARTH. never interchanged. The number of the one beast is never applied to the other. An attempt has been made to fix this number on the established Catholic church, by means of the word Lateinos. The numeral letters of this word when added together amount to six hundred and sixty-six; and therefore the Latin church, (or the Pope with his clergy) is concluded to be the two-horned beast. But this way of counting the number of the beast is so vague and ambiguous, as to warrant its rejection. Bicheno has fixed on the kings of France as the two-horned beast; and in his hand the numerals of their Latin name, Ludoviciis, are made exactly six hundred and sixty- six. We have seen the name of Napoleon Bona- parte, and that of his great opponent George IIL treated in the same way: and the numerals of them also amounted each to six hundred and sixty-six. We have no doubt that the same number may be found in hundreds of other names; and in them all by a process equally satisfactory. This mode of counting the number is so vague, as to warrant its rejection. It makes the h umber to mean any thing or all things ; and consequently in a definite sense to mean nothing. These ten particulars (we think) comprehend the specific differences contained in the descrip- tion of this ravenous beast, and by which he may be distinguished. But only one or two of them THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE EARTH. 141 can apply to the Pope. The question still remains, who is this two-horned beast? That this beast is a symbol of the French mo- narchy, has been maintained by Bicheno in his Signs of the Times, and by some others. But when did the French monarchy make an image of the ten-horned beast? When was it divided into two horns, or distinct principalities? Or when did it usurp the power of the first beast in his presence? But Bicheno shows that it had subsisted six hundred and sixty-six years before 1793; and concludes that it had then come to a perpetual end. And the restoration of it in the year 1814, is a sufficient confutation of his scheme. Others have fixed on Napoleon as the two- horned beast. But whether Napoleon was a sin- cere Christian or a profane person, a uniform infidel and occasional hypocrite, a blood-thirsty warrior, or a man of peace, (had his neighbours permitted him to enjoy it) a tyrant or a man of liberal pohcy, are questions out of place here. One question only is relevant to the point in hand, Was he a persecutor of the church? Did he shed the blood of men on account of their religion? Did he agree in the opinion expressed by another captain of the age, in his despatches from France, that all who differ from the religion of the state are the enemies of the state? This being answered in the negative, we conclude that he cannot be the beast here described. It is essential to all the 142 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE EARTH. three dn^ix, ravenous beasts, in the Apocalypse, to be murderers of the saints. And of this one in particular, we are told that he caused all who would not worship the image which he had set up, to be killed. The policy and conduct of Napoleon was the reverse of all this. He never persecuted any on account of his religion. Under him the French Protestants enjoyed a higher degree of religious liberty than their forefathers had pos- sessed by the edict of Nantes — a degree of liberty which had never been known in France before the deposition of Louis XVI. Under the influence of Napoleon, his brother Joseph abolished the inquisition in Spain. And in this, his example was soon followed by the Cortes, who assembled to resist his usurpation of their crown. In his day, and upder his protection, two churches of Protestants met every Lord's day in the city of Rome for divine worship. He was no persecutor, and can have no place among the Apocalyptic beasts. Other particulars in the character of this beast are equally inapplicable to him; but this one is sufficient. By some this beast has been supposed to denote Louis XVI.; by others George III. of Britain; and by a third class the king of Prussia. To all these it may be shortly answered, that this (like the other beasts) denotes not an individual, but a system, not one man, but a succession of men following the same measures, and continuing THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE EARTH. 143 from age to age to abridge the liberties of men, and persecute the church of God. But providence is the best commentary on pro- phecy. And the predictions are better under- stood when they are fulfilled. All the predictions concerning this two-horned beast are not yet accomplished. He arises long after the ten- horned beast, and has been for a shorter time exposed to observation. And although interpret- ers are generally agreed about the beast of the sea, they seem not yet to have recognized this beast which rises out of the earth. DISCOURSE XXVIII. THE TWO-HORNED BEAST DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. Rev. xiii. 11. 1 1 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. It remains that we look round to see if we can discover any power or system of human authority corresponding in its constitution to the marks, and in its deeds, to the history of this two-horned beast. Every one must judge for himself. But, in our opinion, people have only to open their eyes, and they will see the two-horned beast in the ecclesiastical system of the Protestant states. And you must look not merely to what they now are, when writhing in pain, or languishing on in increasing weakness from one vial of divine wrath to another; but to what they were before the first vial affected them. The Spirit here describes DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. ]i5 all the three enemies as they stood in the full might and masteiy of their dominion, and in the height of their criminality, when the measure of their iniquity was filled up in the slaying of God's two witnesses, and he was saying to the ministers of wrath. Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. Were the Protestant establishments before 1688 more to- lerant than the Catholic? Were not both of them enemies of the rights of conscience and the liberties of men, and labouring by fire and sword for the suppression of all voluntary churches, and all evangelical worship? What makes a beast in the prophetical sense? It is not infidelity or image worship: It is the devouring of men, the taking of spoil, and the living on prey. And are not these essential ingredients in the character of a prophetic beast found in the Protestant estab- lishments as well as the Catholic? And to prevent mistakes, we add, that we dis- tinguish between the church and the human es- tablishment of it. The latter is the origin of all the injustice, robbery, and persecution with which the system is, and has been chargeable. With- out this, the men of one sect are never able, and, I may add, never inclined to rob or murder those of another. And the former shall remain when this is taken away. The great city Babylon is in three parts, ruled by the three great enemies of Christ. And God has many of his people in VOL. III. N 146 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST all the three divisions. But to them the cry is, Come out of her my people. The establishment by the state is what God commands them to leave in haste, like men fleeing for their lives. If they continue there taxing and oppressing their breth- ren, they must bear her plagues. It is not the church, but the human establishment of the church which shall be destroyed by the vials. And this change in heaven cannot be effected without ter- rible shakings of the earth. Evangelical doctrine, and the living stones of which Christ builds his church shall remain, when the structure of secular power is taken away. Under the Old Testament there was no human establishment of religion. There was a divine establishment by God himself at mount Sinai. And no human potentate was afterwards permit- ted to add to, or diminish from it. It established both a mode of worship and a civil government for his people. And both are now abrogated. The New Testament church also received a com- plete constitution and a full establishment by Christ and his apostles. And to this establishment all his faithful people adhere, in preference to all the establishments that have since been made by ju- daizing teachers, who would lead us to the law of Moses for a model of the church of Christ, or by worldly princes who would usurp his place. And in no age has Jehovah given his glory to men, by authorizing them to oppress or slay their brethren DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 147 who differ from their views, to compel them to worship any image which they set up, or even to exact a compulsory tax for supporting it. The church of Christ civilizes the savage, promotes peace on earth, and brings all men to live as brethren. But what are called by men establish- ed churches promote strife and contention, blood- shed and war. All religious wars (which are universally admitted to be the worst and most cruel of all wars,) have originated and been car- ried on by the established church, or by a church established in the views of its own party, and con- tending for domination over all others. The in- surrections, the robberies, the midnight murders that have disgraced Ireland, and kept her for centuries in misery and barbarism; the late burn- ings of stack-yards by the agricultural labourers of England, may all be traced to the same cause — the compulsory support of the established church. The heart-burnings occasioned by the established church in Scotland have not yet reached the same height. In the days of John Knox, the tithes or tiends in Scotland were abolished, and continued for ages comparatively light. But Charles I. went far in restoring them, and our presbyterian clergy are now pleading his statutes in the court of tiends, and enjoying the fruits of the system which their forefathers reprobated so much, and resisted unto blood. But if that were all, it might be borne. At the revolution they got all that N 2 148 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST Charles I. and Charles II. or his brother James thought necessary to support an episcopal hier- archy in Scotland. But since the revolution, the clergy of our presbyterian hierarchy have been prosecuting their people in the court of tiends for augmentations. Of late multitudes of them have been doing so every year, nay, I may say every day. In general, all these actions are suc- cessful. No augmentation is asked without being granted. If the tiends are all exhausted, and the over-burdened parish according to their own sys- tem can bear no more, the liberality of the British parliament supplies their clerical greed out of the public purse. But the clergy themselves are sen- sible that every augmentation has the unchristian effect of augmenting the wrath of their parishion- ers, and the indignation of the public. They are advancing their tithe system rapidly to what it was before the days of John Knox. But the pro- bability is, that ere their iniquity and oppression reach that height, another vial of divine wrath will deprive them of the power of spoiling their neighbours' goods, as those which are past have disabled them from shedding their blood. If any think that Scotland is content under her present ecclesiastical system, he is grievously de- ceived. Scotland was gratified by the downfal of episcopacy, and the triumph of presbytery at the revolution. But when she found that it was not the presbytery which she had known in the days DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 149 of John Knox, when the ministers received their principal support from the offerings of their peo- ple, and little or nothing from the state, (even when they forgot their bibles, and the example of the apostles so far as to ask it,) but a presbyterian church resting on the statute of Charles I. and gorg- ing herself with all that he had provided to fatten his bishops and their suffragans, and still with a voracious appetite crying for more; Scotland was sadly disappointed. The Cameronians saw this from the beginning, and many of them, (even though deserted by their ministers,) never joined the presbyterian church under the revolution settlement, which they stigmatized as Erastian. Of the multitude of presbyterians who joined it, in hopes of obtaining some amelioration, very few were ever satisfied. Instead of becoming better it grew worse. Patronage which had been condemned by John Knox and the minsters of his day, in the first Book of Discipline, and driven from Scotland with the bishops and their clergy at the revolution, was restored by queen Anne in the year 1711. Those called seceders soon after withdrew from the establishment; these forming the relief church followed them; the Scottish con- gregationalists and other smaller parties have come out since. Scotland is now sroaninof under the weight of a tithe-fed church, a church which the majority of the inhabitants abhor as unjust N 3 150 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST and oppressive, and calmly watching for an oppor- tunity of throwing off the load. The Scotch are proverbial for their taciturnity. " What is gained by speaking (say they) without " acting?" They are not accustomed to cry out under their grievances so much as their brethren of the south. Deceived by this feature in the Scotch character, some wise men and members of parliament, who ought to get information on poli- tical subjects, thought and said in the year 1831, that Scotland desired no reform in parliament, no change in the mode of appointing her repre- sentatives. But when the people of Scotland saw that their speaking or acting might have some effect, it was soon evident that the desire of re- form, and the determination to have reform sooner or later, was deeper and more general, and more powerful in Scotland than in any other part of the British empire. The gentlemen openly acknow- ledged that they had been mistaken. They were Scottish representatives in parliament, who might have been supposed best informed on the subject, who committed the mistake. And perhaps from the same cause, there is a similar and equally general mistake on the subject of Scottish tithes. And many of the tithe-fed clergy, who must at times have the truth brought home to them, are indulging the dream. The Scotch tithe system holds out many bribes to the large proprietors who are titulars, patrons, and possessors of what DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 151 were church lands before the reformation, in the form of exemptions in favour of their own lands, and the right of exacting tithes from their neigh- bours, where the clergy have not yet exhausted the whole; but of all these we shall speak here- after, and at present only remark, that they serve to make the burden more intolerable and odious to the smaller proprietors and those whose tiends have not been valued till lately, (rather whose valuations have been lost, or the record of them destroyed by the great fire at Edinburgh in 1700) and to the British public in general. Let Scotch- men have what they reckon a feasible opportunity of expressing 'their minds — an opportunity which presents any probability of success — and you will see that no man in England or in Ireland can exceed them in a determined hatred of tithes and corn laws. The latter were brought in, they know, to support the former, and both must fall together. The Scottish system of tithes is more unequal, and in that sense, more wanton or capri- cious in its injustice than the English, and in some cases, more rapacious and oppressive. But we must return from this digression, and contemplate the ecclesiastical system of the Pro- testant states, as it stood immediately before the British revolution. By the vengeance of the Almighty, the jawbone and the teeth of this mon- ster are now broken, and he is comparatively harmless; but then he was in his full strength, 152 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST and in all the might and mastery of an establishment. The scripture describes him as he was before the vials began to be poured out, and exhibits what he then was, as the reason of these vials being poured upon him. And we affirm that in all places to which his power extended, he was an usurper of the pre- rogatives of Grod in lording it over the consciences of men, an enemy to Christian liberty, and a shedder of the blood of the saints. I shall give you the words of Robertson the celebrated histo- rian, an author certainly not prejudiced against establishments. " The Roman Catholics, as their *' system rested on the decisions of an infallible "judge, never doubted that truth was on their " side, and openly called on the civil power to " repel the impious and heretical innovators who " had risen up against it. The Protestants no " less confident that their doctrine was well-found- " ed, required with equal ardour, the princes of " their party to check such as presumed to im- " pugn it. Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, the *' founders of the reformed church in their re- " spective countries, as far as they had power and '' opportunity, inflicted the same punishments " upon such as called in question any article in " their creeds, which were denounced against " their own disciples by the church of Rome. " To their followers, and perhaps to their oppo- " nents, it would have appeared a symptom of DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 153 " diffidence in the goodness of their cause, or an *« acknowledgment that it was not well founded, " if they had not employed in its defence all those " means which it was supposed truth had a right " to employ. " It was towards the close of the seventeenth " century before toleration, under its present " form, was admitted first into the republic of the *' United Provinces, and from thence introduced " into England."* This shows you how the second beast usurped and exercised the power of the first beast before him. From the rise of Protestant establishments, they have breathed out the spirit of slaughter affainst all dissenting Christians. The eminent reformer, Calvin, wrote and published a treatise to recommend the duty of putting heretics to death. Luther concurred in the same sentiments; and strongly urged the elector of Saxony and the duke of Prussia, not only to persecute the anabap- tists and other minor sects, whom all the Luther- an princes reckoned fair game, but even to banish all the adherents of Calvin from their dominions, and put to death all of them who might presume to disobey the edict of expulsion. The church of England avows that the king is the supreme head of the church on earth; and still gives him and the convocation, a power of instituting rites and * Reign of Charles V. Book xi. 154 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST enjoining ceremonies to be used in divine wor- ship; and formerly approved of the king enforcing the observance of these on all recusants by fines, imprisonment, confiscation of goods, banishment, and death. In the Larger Catechism, compiled by the Westminster Assembly, " tolerating a false " religion''^ is specified as one of the sins forbid- den in the second commandment. And in the Confession itself, composed by that assembly, and since established by acts of parliament, to be the Confession of Faith for the kirk of Scotland, we are told that the magistrate hath authority, and it is his duty to take " order, that all blasphemies and " heresies be suppressed." These things the church of Scotland still retains as parts of her faith, though they have been renounced by the United Secession and some other bodies who have dissented from her. Thus you see the nature of the system of Pro- testant establishments, and the spirit of its con- stitution. On these accounts it is well entitled to a place among the ^/70/ce, the devouring beasts of the Apocalypse. That it is not the system insti- tuted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and acted upon by his apostles, even its own friends at times admit. And would it not be strange, if a system of such magnitude and influence were altogether overlooked in this history of religion under the New Testament? Not obeying the commands of Christ, not honouring him as king of his own DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 155 kingdom, not breathing his spirit of good-will to all, but persecuting his people, it cannot be reck- oned among his friends. Let us then look among his enemies; and try how far it corresponds to the marks of this two-horned beast. 1st. This beast is distinct from the ten-horned beast which arose before him. It is difficult to distinguish the Pope and his clergy from the sys- tem of established popery. But we think it will be admitted on all hands, that the Protestant establishments form a distinct and separate sys- tem; and therefore may be represented by another beast. 2d. This beast rises out of the earth. The enemy whom he represents has his origin in the views which men entertained of civil society, and in the secular constitution of the nations. At the rise of the Protestant system, men entertained very dark and imperfect views of political econo- my. They corresponded with the age and the state of society at that time. When we consider that the first Protestants had all been educated in the church of Rome, and that many of them had never seen a bible till the reformation began to be talked of, nor ever conceived any state of society possible in which the arbitrary power of the despot, and the bigotry and persecution of the clergy were to have no place, we cannot be sur- prised, if, in some things, they retained the spirit and mode of thinking which prevailed in the so- 156 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST ciety which they had forsaken; and if among other things they continued to believe that the duty of the magistrate required him to suppress all heresy by the power of the sword. All nations were then constituted on the prin- ciples of despotism; all kings had been accustom- ed for ages to give their power unto the ten-horned beast. If the voice of the people is the voice of God, it was not heard among men in those ages. Therefore the first Protestants never imagined that the state could be safe without an established church to teach men loyalty; or that an establish- ed church could be safe without a complete extir- pation of heretics. The nations were so consti- tuted at that time, that the one required the other^ The beast rose out of the earth. He belongs to the constitution of the nations. 3d. He has two horns. Horns denote distinct divisions of the power. The ten horns of the former beast were the same which had belonged unto the dragon, who gave him his own head; and the horns grew upon it. Therefore all the ten are found within the limits of the empire. But this beast has no such connexion with the dragon. His body and his horns may be found beyond the limits of the Roman world. His two horns are the Lutheran and Calvinistic divisions of his power. Into these two all the Protestant powers arrange themselves. The Lutheran horn rooted in Germany, sprung up as far as Denmark and DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 15? Sweden. From Geneva, the Calvinistic shot forth to Holland, England and Ireland, and also to Scotland. And the power of these horns is terrible. 4th. He is like the lamb. Like the rider on the black horse, this beast has more of the lamb in his constitution, than either of his two associ- ates. In receiving, and to a great extent main- taining evangelical doctrine, they may be said to follow THE Lamb. But though evangelical doc- trine may be esteemed, it is a melancholy truth, that in establishments, it seems to be prized not so much for its own sake, as for the sake of the human authority by which it is recommended. It is water of the river of life; but they prize it not simply as a pure river flowing from the throne of God, but as a stream issuing in authorized articles and confessions from the mouth of the dragon. Yet these waters produce among them much of the evangelical meekness and holy dis- positions of the lamb. And they resemble the lamb in suffering. The persecuting Protestants were themselves per- secuted by the ten-horned beast. They were led as sheep to the slaughter; and in this resembled the Lamb that was slain. 5th. He spake as the dragon. From the con- nexion between church and state in Protestant nations, all their ecclesiastical enactments are authorized by the secular power. This, the puri- VOL. III. O 158 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST tans can tell. This all dissenters have felt in painful experience. In the reformation of the church, and the rearing of the Protestant system, little was done in England by the clergy or the people; but much (I may say all) by the king and the parliament. Therefore the church of Eng- land not only speaks like other Protestant estab- lishments with the authoritative tone of the dragon, the imperious voice of the secular government; but scarcely ever speaks but with the mouth and through the throat of the dragon. 6th. He is for some time at war with the ten- horned beast. By the acts of supremacy, and other laws of a similar nature, the Protestant nations deprived the Pope of all power in their dominions. And what they took from him they gave to their own civil rulers. This might be largely illustrated from the laws of Plenry VIII. and queen Elizabeth, who exercised more com- plete lordship over the consciences of men, than ever any Pope did in England. And in all other Protestant states also, this two-horned beast usurped and exercised all the power of the first beast. So irritated was the first beast by seeing this done before him, that he denounced eternal dam- nation against all Protestants for having forsaken his worship; and declared their salvation impos- sible unless they returned. And wherever the DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 159 power of his horns remained unbroken, he perse- cuted them with fire and sword. But a sense of common interest ultimately brings these two natural enemies to cooperate in confederacy and friendship under the vials. In the late wars we have seen the Pope upheld by Protestant arms, and the inquisition protected by British cannon. But both beasts are now falling, and shall finally fall at Armageddon. 7th. He makes an image of the first beast, and commands men to worship it. What is the Lutheran consubstantiation but an image of the Roman transubstantiation, a little more absurd and unintellimble than the original? What is the English and other Protestant hierarchies but an image of the Roman? Is the title of any English bishop to lordship over his clergy, or that of the archbishop of Canterbury to lordship over all the clergy in the church of England, or that of the king and parliament to dominion over the whole church of England, any better than that of the Pope to universal dominion in sacred things? The scriptures indeed reject them all, and tell us, that Christ is the only king of the church, and Lord of the conscience. And if the English system can plead the statutes of queen EUzabeth and of Charles IL in its support, the Pope can plead the edicts of many an emperor, the decrees of many a senate, and the suffrages of many a council, in support of his. And the image has o 2 160 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST the most strikino: likeness to the ten-horned beast in intolerance, in acts of uniformity, and severe persecution of all non-conformists. The image has a resemblance to the original in enforcing patronage and tithes; in dividing the land (into parishes,) for gain; and in maintaining (what is the essence of every antichristian system,) the connexion of church and state, and the magistrate's power in religious matters. None were permitted to buy or sell unless they would worship this image. Puritans and dissenters of every descrip- tion know with what severity this command was enforced. Many of the Scottish boroughs retain- ed in the oath administered to all who were ad- mitted to buy or sell as freemen within their royalties, a clause binding the person admitted to maintain the religion authorized by the law of this realm, to abide thereat, and defend the same to his life's end. This oath was not abolished till the year 1819, although for a considerable time previous to that the taking of it had been dispens- ed with in some boroughs, and it had been en- forced in others only in some cases, and apparently for the purpose of extorting money from dissenters who refused it. The corporation and test acts of England were of the same nature, but less severe. The one of them applied only to ministers: and the other excluded dissenters not from transacting lawful business, but only from bearing public office in the corporations. But the Scottish law DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 161 applied to all — ministers and people; and excluded from civic office, and even from buying or selling within the borough all who could not in conscience swear to maintain and defend the image which the state had set up, and abide by it to their life's end. No man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. And we all know the sneers and reproaches which have been heaped on Anti- burghers for refusing to swallow that antichristian engagement. 8th. He is a persecutor of the saints. We saw formerly that the Protestant establishments being part and parcel of the civil constitution in their several nations, breathe a persecuting spirit, and are fitted by their very constitution for the bloody work. Their union with the state is the original sin which corrupts their whole nature, and all their actual transgressions proceed from it. But let us now look at their deeds. He has not only prevented from buying and selling, and excluded from civil office, but put many to death for not worshipping the image which he has set up. The banishment of Bolsec, and the hanging and burning of Servetus and of Nicholas Anthoine, may serve as specimens of the Protestant city of Geneva. The Protestant can- tons of Switzerland were not behind in zeal against all whom they called heretics. Valentine Gentilis having published some heterodox books, was ap- o3 162 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST prehended and condemned for this at Geneva. He was condemned to be stripped to his shirt, and then barefooted and bareheaded, with a candle in his hand, to beg pardon of the court on his knees; to commit the books with his own hands to the flames; to be led through the streets of Ge- neva at the sound of a trumpet, in his penitential habit; and not to depart the city without permis- sion. But he found means to escape from Geneva, and went into the canton of Bern, where he was imprisoned and beheaded for his heresies in the year 1566. At Basil also, heresy was a crime punishable with death after the reformation. Even the dead could not escape. David George, an anabaptist, having been banished from Holland on account of his religion, went to Basil, where he concealed his tenets, but still laboured to pro- pagate them in Holland by books, letters, and messengers sent thither. After his death his erroneous opinions were discovered by the ortho- dox magistrates and clergy of Basil; and his body being raised from its grave, was publicly burned with all his books and papers, at the place of public execution without the city. At Zurich, also, they made severe laws inflicting heavy fines on anabaptists and other heretics. And in the year 1526, one Felix, an anabaptist, was put to death by drowning at Zurich, according to the sentence " qui iterum mergat^ mergatur" let him who dips again (after baptism) be drowned. About DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED, 163 the same time, and afterwards, others suffered death in the same place. Ochinus was banished from the same place in his old age, and in the depth of winter, on account of heresy. In his private opinion Luther had some hesita- tion about putting heretics to death, but he said that they might be corrected and forced to silence, and ought to be shut up in some secure place, and kept under restraint as madmen. He often urged the banishment of the Calvinists and other here- tics. But the Lutheran magistrates and clergy had less hesitation, and often punished heresy (or dissent as we call it) with death. Mosheim, a Lutheran doctor, says, " they {i. e. the Lutherans) " had unhappily imbibed a spirit of persecution " in their early education ; this was too much the " spirit of the times; and it was even a leading " maxim with our ancestors, that it was both law- " ful and expedient to use severity and force " against those whom they looked upon as her- " etics." — " The more they felt themselves ani- " mated by zeal for the divine glory, the more '• difficult did they find it to renounce that ancient " and favourite maxim, which had so often been *' ill interpreted and ill applied, that whoever is '^ found to he an enemy to God, ought also to be " declared an enemy to his country" To this passage the translator, Maclaine, appends the fol- lowing note. " It were to be wished (says he) " that the Lutherans had not in many places 164 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST " persevered in these severe and despotic prin- " ciples, longer than other Protestant churches. " Until this very day the Lutherans at Frankfort- *' on-the-Maine have always refused to permit " the reformed to celebrate public worship in " their bounds, or even in the suburbs of that " city. Many attempts have been made to con- " quer their obstinacy in this respect, but hitherto " without success." John Sylvester superintendant of the church of Heidelberg, being accused of Arianism, was put to death in the year 1571 by the elector Palatine. Lubienecius a Polish Socinian, being banished his native country for his religion, was successively driven by the Lutherans from Stettin, Frederick- stadt and Hamburgh, in which cities he had sought refunje. Fie received orders from the magistrates to depart from the last of these cities when he was lying on his death-bed. And when he was taken to Altenau for interment, attempts were made to exclude his body from the church. These failed, but the ordinary funeral rites were denied him. Much of the blood of anabaptists and other early dissenters was shed in the Luther- an states. In Holland also, they suffered imprisonment, banishment, and death. In Holland the republi- can form of government moderated the severity of the church. In Holland, the presbyterians beinff of the state religion, found a refuge when DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 165 persecuted in Scotland and England. But we must not infer from these things that the rights of conscience were properly understood, or reli- gious liberty fully enjoyed in Holland in those days. The constitution of that country tolerated Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and some other pro- testant sects. But what sort of toleration was it? It excluded all of them from civil offices in the state, and prohibited some of them, (viz. the Ro- man Catholics,) from building or possessing churches, and permitted their worship only in private houses. Even this toleration the clergy of the established sect were continually labouring to abridge. They wrote in defence of persecu- tion. A treatise of Beza against toleration, pub- lished in 1600, they translated and published in Dutch, with a dedication and recommendation to their own magistrates. In consequence of this, severe placards were published against the ana- baptists in Friesland and Groningen, forbidding them to preach, and prohibiting all from letting houses or ground to them, under the penalty of a large fine, and confinement on bread and water for fourteen days. For the third offence they were to be banished the city and its jurisdiction. He who re-baptized any person was to forfeit twenty dollars; and on a second conviction, to be kept some time on bread and water, and then ban- ished. Unbaptized children were declared not capable of inheriting any property; and all who 166 THE TWO-HORNTED BEAST married out of the established church were in like manner declared incapable of inheriting, and their children made illegitimate. When the Arminians arose, the clergy prayed when the election of magistrates drew nigh, for such men " as would be zealous even to blood, " though it should cost the whole trade of their " cities." And the new sect, it would appear, could not be protected by the toleration laws of Holland. The three chief leaders of the Armini- an party, Oldenbarnevelt an advocate and states- man who had grown grey in the service of the republic, Grotius and Hogerbeets, also men of importance, were imprisoned. The synod of Dort was then held in 1618, which found the Arminians guilty of heresy, excluded their clergy from the church, declared them incapable of aca- demical employment, and prayed that their High Mightinesses the stadtholder and other magis- trates, might suffer and ordain the wholesome doctrine of the synod to be maintained alone, and in its purity within the provinces; might ratify the decrees of the synod, and execute the sentence pronounced against the remonstrants. Their High Mightinesses complied with the request. No sooner was the synod over, than Oldenbarnevelt was taken from the dungeon to the public scaffold and there beheaded. Grotius and Hogerbeets were condemned to perpetual imprisonment. The Arminians were deprived of DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 167 all their offices, civil or ecclesiastical. Their min- isters were silenced, and their congregations sup- pressed. And those of them who attempted to discharge their ministerial functions in private, were punished by fines, imprisonment, exile, and other marks of ignominy. The states passed a general resolution for the banishment of all who attempted to officiate as ministers in the most private manner. Some who had been convicted of this, begged only the respite of a few days to put their affairs in order at home, or to make some provision for their support abroad; but this was denied, and they were hurried off next morning by four o'clock. Some of them retired to France, others to Antwerp, and on the invitation of Fred- erick duke of Holstein, many of them united in forming the settlement and building the town called Frederickstadt in the duchy of Sleswick, where they were permitted to enjoy the open profession and free exercise of their religion. How widely does procedure of this kind, against them we judge erroneous, differ from the spirit of the gospel, which sanctions the use of no weapon but argu- ment and persuasion; and which makes its way by the force of truth? The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. Christ subdues his enemies by this sharp two-edged sword which proceedeth out of his mouth. When the stadtholder, prince Maurice, was dead, and another had succeeded in his place, the Arminians obtained permission 168 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST to return to their own country, and to take their place among other dissenters there. But we have said enough to show, that although the Dutch had risen above other nations of that day in understanding and realizing civil and religious liberty, yet they were far below what the law of Christ enjoins, and the rights of conscience de- mand. Holland was then possessed by the beast with two horns like the lamb; and there, as in all other places, he spoke as the dragon, and inflicted severe punishment on all who would not worship the image of the former beast which he had made. No sooner had he made his appearance in England, and in the person of Henry VII I. had usurped the power of the first beast, than he be- gan to speak as the dragon, and to imitate the first beast in putting heretics to death. It is even recorded that Henry burnt papists and dissenting protestants both in one fire. The flames of Smithfield, in which archbishop Cranmer was afterwards consumed, were kindled by his own zeal. By his instigation, the cruelties of Henry were continued under the short and milder reign of his successor, Edward VI. Cranmer had a hand in the condemnation of the excellent martyr John Lambert, and consented to the death of Ann Askew, both of whom were burnt in the flames. Joan Bocher being condemned for some enthu- siastical expressions about Christ, king Edward refused to sign a warrant for her being burnt. DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 169 But being urged to it by Cranmer, the young king, with tears in his eyes, set his hand to the warrant, saying to the archbishop, *' If I do " wrong, it is in submission to your authority, *' and you must answer for it to God." Cranmer put the sentence in execution.* About two years after, George van Pare, a Dutchman, was con- demned for heresy, and burnt in Smithfield. Queen Mary succeeded Edward; and she being a papist, burnt archbishop Cranmer himself for heresy. This has justly been regarded as a right- eous judgment, in the providence of God, for his cruelty to them who had dissented from his church. Under Mary the ten- horned beast was permit- ted to return, and exhibit his cruelties in England. But under Elizabeth, the two-horned beast, like the lamb, supplanted him again. She began her reign by setting up the image in the Act of Uniformity; and proceeded to persecute all that would not worship it. Thirty-seven of the clergy were suspended for refusal; the Star chamber published a decree forbidding any to print or publish any book against the queen's injunctions or the meaning of them; and all who attended puritanical assemblies in private, whether men or women, were apprehended and sent to prison for conviction. About one hundred more of the clergy were deprived in the year 1572 for refusing • Chandler's History of Persecution. VOL. III. P 170 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST to submit. Many of them were imprisoned, and some died during their incarceration. Eleven Dutchmen, anabaptists, being condemned to the fire, nine of them had the sentence mitigated to banishment, and the other two were burnt. Two puritan ministers, Copper and Thacking, were hanged for non-conformity. But our limits do not permit us to enumerate all the despotic and per- secuting deeds of that arbitrary queen. Her successor, James VI. followed her example in England; and in addition to that, commenced, what proved in the end, a bloody and impossible work, the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland. He wished uniformity, and enforced it by great cruelties in all parts of his dominions. Under him Edward Wightman was burnt at Lichfield, and one Legat at Smithfield for heresy. The arbitrary and severe measures which he followed in Scotland are well known. Charles L raised the church of England and bishop Laud to the zenith of glory and power. But he himself fell in the cause. The presbyteri- ans then got so much of an establishment in Eng- land, as to show, at least, their readiness to measure again to the episcopalians their own cruelties in kind. In the days of John Knox, the presbyterian parliament of Scotland prohibited the Romish worship, and showed what spirit they were of by the punishment which they annexed to that law. DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 171 The first transgression subjected the offender to confiscation of goods, and a corporal punishment at the pleasure of the judge; banishment was the penalty for a second violation of the law; and a third act of disobedience was capital.* And in the year 1648 the parliament of England, then under the influence of the presbyterians, passed an act that all guilty of heresy should be put to death; or if any recanted, that he should remain in jail till sureties were produced that he should maintain his errors no more: and if after this he should relapse, he was to suffer death as before. I blame not one party more than another; it is not the religion established, but the establishment of the religion that we are now condemniner. It is the unhallowed amalojamation of thinijs sacred and things secular, the unchristian union of church and state, which produces the beast. All parties have been alike when possessed of the civil power. And all parties are more spiritual and more scriptural in their worship of God, and more favourable to the liberties of men, when their re- spective churches have been disunited from the state. The independents have shed less of the blood of their Christian brethren than some other denominations; but they have also had less oppor- tunity. And their conduct in Scotland, Ireland, and even England under Cromwell, discovers much * Robertson's History of Scotland, Book iii. p2 172 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST of a persecuting spirit. And in New England, governor Endicott, an independent by persuasion, put down all other forms of worship by force, ex- pelled the abettors of them from the colony, and sent them home on board some ships returning to England. All establishments are persecuting to the people, and dangerous to the government; and all sects, when neither oppressed nor furnish- ed with the means of oppressing others, are harm- less. But Charles II. was the man who gave the world the fullest display of the might and mastery of a protestant establishment. Sharp of St. An- drews was a protestant prelate as really as Laud of Canterbury. But the saints of God in our land, suffered more from them than ever they did from any popish prelates. From the noble and pious marquis of Argyle, the first who sealed his testimony with his blood in that trying period, to the youthful James Renwick, who was the last, no fewer than eighteen thousand Scotch presby- terians suffered death or banishment, for denying the authority of the bishops and the headship of the king over the church. Of the banished, some were sent to endure the rigours of the sky in the northern islands; and others were sold for slaves in the West Indian plantations, to labour like brutes under the heat of a tropical sun. Of them who suffered death, above eleven hundred were executed like felons on the scaffold, others were DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 173 murdered in cold blood, and in their own peace- ful habitations, by the bloody Claverhouse and his savage dragoons. And multitudes were slain in several skirmishes to which they were driven, (I dare not say by despair, but) by oppression, and the necessity of attempting something in self- defence. These took place at Pentland hills. Magus muir, Drumclog, Bothwell bridge, and Airsmoss. A host of Highland savages were brought to live at free quarters in the western counties of Scotland. And they as well as Cla- verhouse's dragoons were obedient to every curate who chose to send for a party to slay or carry off the obnoxious individuals in his parish. Bishop Sharp was the commander-in-chief who told the dragoons where to go, and whom to destroy; and all the clergy in the established church had this power in their own parishes. No military officer refused to comply with their demands. The haughty Claverhouse himself, the infamous vis- count of Dundee, would have marched night and day at the bidding of any curate in the land, to murder some muirland shepherd who had been absent from the prayers read in the parish kirk, or who had been guilty of praying with his family in his own habitation. Many of the sufferers during that time are forgotten by men; but their names are written in the Lamb's book of life. At least seven thou- sand went into voluntary banishment. Others, p3 174 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST after lingering a while in misery died in their lurking places, or in the dungeons, where the might and mastery of the establishment had con- fined them. Though unnoticed and unknown by men, they were well known and dear to their Sa- viour and their God. And when he inquireth after blood, theirs shall not be forgotten. The state of matters in England at that time was no better. The bloody work had begun in Scotland by ejecting three hundred presbyterian ministers from their parishes. But between two and three thousand were at the same time ejected in England. , The principal difference seems to have been, that the English ministers generally accepted the king's indulgence, permitting them to preach on certain conditions and within certain limits; while the great majority of the Scottish preachers spurned it, saying, that the receiving of an indulgence to preach, amounted to an ac- knowledgment of the king's right to prohibit them from preaching when he pleased: that their Divine Master having ffiven them a commission to preach the gospel in all the world to every creature, they could not consent to have the sphere of their labours circumscribed by any earthly king; and that they would preach wherever God in his providence should give them an opportunity, and leave the consequences in his hand. Of the Eng- lish puritans some complied with the king's com- mandment, desisted from preaching altogether, DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 175 and even joined the communion of the established church, saying that they could communicate as private members, where conscience v^^ould not allow them to officiate as ministers. But in Eng- land also, many suffered honourably and faithfully in the cause of their Saviour. Charles immersed both his thrones deeply in the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. From his restoration to the expulsion of his family at the revolution, two hundred thousand families were reduced to pover- ty by fines and confiscations, on account of their non-conformity, and above sixty thousand individ- uals suffered banishment or death for the sake of their religion. All these things were done and suffered in England alone. And in both divisions of this island, the saints of God have suffered ten times, nay, a thousand times more from Protestant establishments, than all that Papists have inflicted on them since the reformation began. And the Protestant powers repented not of these murders; but con- tinued in the practice of them till the first vial of wrath was poured on them. This withered their strength, weakened the might of the establish- ments, and disabled them from continuing their murders. To this day they continue their thefts. But in them we have found the eighth mark of the two-horned beast, that of persecuting and putting to death the saints of God. 9th. The forty-two months, the twelve hundred 176 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST and sixty days are never applied to the two-horned beast. We saw formerly, that these days have begun, and that the ten-horned beast has reached the meridian of his power ere this two-horned beast arise to usurp, or to ynake, and exercise his authority; but that breathing the spirit of the first beast, and cooperating with him in the work of persecution, the second shares his fate under the vials. And do not all these things ap- ply to the system of Protestant establishments? This system arose not till the Catholic had reached the zenith of its power; and the light of a better day had begun to dawn under the second wo, or sixth trumpet. This usurped the power of the first beast. The prerogatives of the Pope were transferred to the Protestant princes. They en- gaged in the same work of persecution; and soon made a confederacy with him. They are his most powerful supporters during the effervescence and agitations produced by the second vial; and in our time, we see Catholic and Protestant powers firmly combined for supporting in all lands, the arbitrary power of the dragon on whom they both depend. The vials hitherto effused, have affected the Protestant establishments almost as much as the Catholic. The first vial broke the jaw-bone and the teeth of these fierce lions; and disabled them from shedding blood and de- vouring men, in all time coming. But though many centuries intervened between the rise of the DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 177 one and that of the other, yet their fall is simul- taneous; therefore, the twelve hundred and sixty days which measure the reign of the one, cannot apply to both. 10th, The number of this beast is six hundred threescore and six. To suppose that this number is to be counted by adding the numeral letters con- tained in any name, leads to nothing but uncer- tainty. The numerals in Lateinos, Ludovicus, and a hundred other names, amount to six hun- dred and sixty six. Others multiply or divide the numbers, or extract the square root of them; and by these and similar processes, we may find six hundred and sixty-six in any name that ever was named among men. A late writer, Mr. Jones, takes the three numer- al letters in the Greek Testament (%ir) for initials, and says they mean Christians, strangers to the cross. Others before him had adopted the same method, and made it the wood of the cross of Christ. If I were to turn up the lexicon and count the number of words which begin with every one of these three letters, and multiply them together, I would find the number of their possible combinations, and be able to tell how many thousands of meanings according to this method may be given to the ^is-; and after all would be as far as ever from counting the number of the beast. The Holy Spirit tells us that this is a number; 178 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST and calls us to exercise our wisdom^ or rather our mind in counting it. In many Greek manuscripts and printed copies, the number is expressed in words at length; and the representing of it by numeral letters, seems to have originated in the haste of some transcriber anxious to abridge his labour. But they who adopt this method of in- terpretation, say, that there is no number intended, no counting necessary, that there are only three initial letters, in place of three words. And these three words (so far as we can see,) might with equal propriety have been written at length. Mr, Culbertson has suffffested another method DO of counting the number of the beast. In the Roman legion there were six thousand men, com- manded by six hundred decuriones or captains of tens, sixty centurions, and six tribunes, in all six hundred and sixty-six officers. And this number (he supposes) is given to the beast, to intimate that he is one who employs the military force to uphold his ecclesiastical system. This also would apply, and would point out the relation between the church and the army, the tithes and the bayonets of the Protestant system. But the military features of this beast have already been exhibited, and more satisfac- torily, by telling us that he exerciseth the power of the first beast, causeth them to be killed who refuse to worship his image, and suffers no man DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 179 to buy or sell unless he receive his mark, or his name, or the number of his name. It would appear that in this matter comment- ators hitherto have failed. None of them has had wisdom to count the number of the beast. Therefore " I also will shew mine opinion." If I discover hereafter that I have failed, I shall have the consolation to think that in this I am not alone. Nay, I shall sincerely rejoice to see my opinion disproved by the event. It gives the beast a longer period of existence than I wish him to have. And if he shall be utterly destroy- ed, even in my day, the mortification of having erred in my conjecture, will be wholly lost in rejoicing over him, with the holy apostles and prophets, and all the saints of God. The opinion or conjecture is this, that six hundred and sixty-six may refer to the years, or prophetic days, of this beast's existence. The number of the first beast is forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days; and marks the continuation of his reign. The number of this beast is six hundred and sixty-six, and may mark the duration of his existence. The reign of his power and prosperity were short. He was allow- ed some time to shew whether he had more of the lamb or of the dragon in his constitution. But he acted so decidedly in the character of the latter, and shewed such determined hostility to the former, that ere his reign had continued more 180 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST than a century and a half, the destroyhig effects of the first vial involved him in the same judg- ments with the ten-horned beast. The saints were then delivered out of his hand; and his reign came to an end. But with the dragon and the ten-horned beast he lives and suffers, and (as far as he is able) opposes the liberties of men, and the spiritual kingdom of Christ, under the vials. His life continues till Armageddon, and shall (we fear) continue for six hundred and sixty-six years. So natural is this view of the matter, as to make even them who count the number in another way catch at it when it can coincide with their hypo- thesis. Thus Bicheno, after counting the numerals in Ludovicus, and shewing that they amount to six hundred and sixty-six, and thence concluding that the French monarchy is the two-horned beast, proceeds to shew that it had existed for six hun- dred and sixty-six years before the revolution. How far he has succeeded in this we inquire not at present. But he seems to have had a feeling that if this number could be applied to the dura- tion of the beast's existence, that was likely to be its true meaning. My opinion deserves no name but that of a conjecture. The truth of it cannot be ascertained; the mistake of it (if mistake be in it) cannot be detected till we have seen the end of Protestant establishments, or till they have outlived six hun- dred and sixty-six years. Dissenters will con- DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 181 tinue to increase, and the injustice and abuses of establishments to become more glaring in the eyes of the public. Many of these abuses may indeed be modified, as the means of lengthening out their detested existence; but their end shall be with that of all tyrannical and antichristian powers at Armageddon. We may date their rise from the liberation and independence of Geneva in 1534, from the treaty of Passau, 1552, by which the Lutherans secured their establishment in Germany, from the renunciation of the Pope's authority by Henry VIII. of England, or from the recognition of Dutch independence in 1609. But accuracy in fixing it at present is of little moment. If you add six hundred and sixty-six to the year of their rise, this will bring you down to the year 2200, or beyond it. And if this con- jecture be right, the dreadful shock of that mighty earthquake which is to dissolve the whole fabric of European society, with all its governments and constitutions, is not so near as many have imagin- ed. The vials must occupy many centuries. They are not trifling occurrences which may all be got over in thirty years. Jehovah is now in his wrath. They who are fond of double fulfilments, may remember the rise, growth, and number of the first beast. He attained the maturity of his stature in the year 1002, before which the bishops had been made electors in Germany, and lords of VOL. III. Q 182 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST parliament in the other kingdoms of Europe. To this year add this number twelve hundred and sixty, and it carries you down to the year 2262. But though the antichristian powers may exist till then, they shall not exist in their present state. Some friends of tyranny and intolerance hesitate not to express a wish that the three enemies of Christ may have their lives prolonged, at least while themselves are on the earth. The system may be contrary to God and the expressions of his holy word; but the thoughts that it may last their time are delightful. And they break out into exultations of joy and triumph, if we say that God may yet spare these his enemies for three hundred years, ere their corrupt carcases be given to the burning flame. Now, what is this but to say, that they will gladly brave the justice of God at death, if he permit them to fight against him while they live? and that they are still happier to think that their children may have an opportunity of imitating themselves in opposing him and fight- ing for his enemies? But none of the three ene- mies can continue an hour as he is. The hand of God is on them all; and they are decaying every moment. They are not what they were. The vials of wrath already poured out have drunk up their marrow, and sent a hidden pestilential fire through their whole constitution. Incapable of their wonted murders, their withered arms shall soon be so paralyzed, as to be unable to DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 183 perpetrate their thefts. The vial which removes compulsory tithes is already lifted up in the angel's hand, and about to be poured on them. They existed and fought against Christ long before they got their thefts legalized in the tithe system; and after that is taken away, they shall exist again amid the derisions of dotage and the feebleness of second childishness. But their ran- corous, though impotent malice, against the spiritual kingdom of our Redeemer, and the sys- tem of justice and equity recommended by his saints shall be retained to the last. The zeal of some of their friends will cool when the plunder ceases; and the might and mastery of an estab- lishment can no longer be shown in spoiling their neighbours. Worldly men shall desert them when they can no longer eat of the loaves and fishes. And many of the people of our God shall be daily complying with the call to come out and partake no more of their sins, that they receive not of their plagues. Their plagues shall be increased under every succeeding vial, as the number of the godly in them is diminished, and the enmity of their re- maining adherents against Christ becomes more desperate and more virulent. They may drag out, they shall drag out a linger- ing existence under the remaining vials; but it shall be an existence of infamy and shame, of wretchedness and wo. They will be every day 22 184 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST feeling an increase of the just execration of men, and of the wrath of Ahnighty God. They have long despised and oppressed the saints of God, whom they called heretics at one time, and dis- senters at another. But in the cup which they filled, God shall fill to them double. The great city Babylon is divided into three parts, containing the friends and votaries of the three enemies of Christ, which preside over it. A tenth part of it fell at the effusion of the first vial. The second vial brought down more than another tenth ; and every one of the succeeding vials shall bring down more of it; but many of the foul, hate- ful birds, and unclean spirits with which it was once filled, may continue to lurk among the di- lapidated ruins till they are roused by despair to make the last effort, for the expiring system at Armageddon. But although it may turn out that the feebleness and declining shadow of the system may be permitted to pollute God's earth for three hundred or four hundred years yet to come, no wise man will rejoice on that account. All ought rather to grieve when they think of the obstinate wickedness that will continue thus blaspheming God, usurping the authority and honours of Christ, and trampling on the rights and liberties of men, after it can no longer violate their persons or plunder their property. All ought to grieve when they think on the judgments which must follow this wickednessj the contents of these vials DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 185 in which are filled up the wrath of God, and which shall not cease being poured on the sons of men while these three enemies, or any of the tliree remain among them. What we have seen in the bloody wars that have desolated Europe since the French revolution, are but the beginning of sor- rows. " Oh ! that my head were waters, and mine " eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day " and night" for the miserable and bloody conse- quences of this system of injustice and cruelty! I shall be very happy to be convinced that I am mistaken in this view of the number six hundred and sixty-six, that the time of the vials has not so remote an extension, and that the enemies of Christ shall have an earlier extirpation from the earth than 1 suppose. If I am mistaken in this point like the commentators who have gone before me; yet I may be of much service to them who are to follow, by directing their attention to the right quarter, and showing them that they must look for this number not among the Pope and his clergy, (for their number is forty-two months) but among the protestant establishments. These, (there can be no doubt) are the beast which had two horns like the lamb, but spoke as the dragon. This beast has three classes of followers, and at one time admitted none to buy or sell unless he belonged to one of the three. The first class has the mark, the second the name of the beast, and the third the number of his name. They who o 3 186 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST have the mark of the beast are the sincere con- scientious friends of the system, who have no mercy on dissenters or heretics, but would hunt them to death through fire and flood, and fight through thick and thin for church and state, tithes and taxes. They who have the name of the beast, are men who have no love to him or his religion more than any other, but assume the name and profession of it for sake of the worldly advantages which this beast has to bestow. These are a numerous class. Perhaps there may be some among them who in their hearts prefer the dis- senting church; but continue to take the name of the beast, because if they joined the dissenters, they would be expected, according to the com- mand of Christ, to contribute something out of their own temporal things to those who minister to them in spiritual things, and by bearing the name of the beast they get a sort of religion that pleases them well enough, upheld by spoiling the goods of others. They who have the number of his name, are people who think it always right to be of the state religion, whatever it may be, and they take his name, and bear his name, for the full number of all the years in which it is supported by the earthly government, and no longer. They bear the name of churchmen now; but when the church is dissevered from the state, it can be their church no longer. The number of the beast DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 187 notes the time during which his name shall be honoured or borne by them. Verse 18. " Herein is wisdom. Let him that ** hath understanding count the number of the *' beast." Now, you may say, if the number of the beast is meant only to specify the time of his duration, where is the great need of understand- ing to make the discovery? or what great wisdom appears in it after it is made ? But in nature an object may be so near the eye, and so constantly pressing on the sight, as to require some atten- tion to perceive it. A discovery may be really new, and something not thought of before, and yet very simple, and apparently easy after it is pointed out. The view which I have taken of the number of the beast has not been taken by former writers on the Apocalypse; and the wisdom of it may be illustrated by considering the blind wan- derings and mistakes to which they have been led from the want of it. What but the want of this led the French prophets and others, when they saw the effects of the first vial, and many of our contemporaries when they saw the effusion of the second, to imagine that the days of glory and tri- umph were about to begin? What but the want of this led these to imagine that all the vials were to be expended in thirty years, and to expose not only themselves, but the prophecies of the Di- vine Spirit to the derision of the scoffer, by pre- dicting that the millennium was to commence in 188 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST 1823 or any other year, while the enemies of God retain so much power and influence in Europe, and while so many nations and empires in Africa and the remote bounds of Asia, have not yet heard the gospel, and are living without hope and with- out God in the world; what hath led to all these absurdities but the want of wisdom or mind to count the number of this two-horned beast? The want of this lies at the foundation of all their mis- takes. A right view of this beast and his number leads to correct views of the whole Apocalypse. He who has this wisdom will think of the obstinate bigotry, inveterate malice, and gigantic strength which yet remain in the three antichrist- ian foes; and will perceive that centuries of judg- ment and sufferings are likely to pass over the nations ere these enemies be wholly destroyed, or the church have an opportunity of shining forth and reigning on earth in the simplicity and glory of her spiritual character. He will look to China, India, Persia, Turkey, Ethiopia, and other dark places of the earth; and see that there the saints have centuries of missionary labour before them, ere all the nations of the earth become the subjects of our God and of his Christ. He will think of the time occupied by the six seals and six trum- pets, and shew that he does not so far underrate or miscalculate the power of divine wrath, as to ima- gine that all the seven vials are to be huddled up in thirty years; but will allow them a proportion- DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED. 189 ed period of time for developing the judgments of God and their effects on them who have long been the unworthy objects of his forbearance. Put all these things together, and perhaps you will admit that it is not unreasonable to suppose that the ene- mies may be suffered to exist, and the millennium be delayed, till about the year 2200, or even 2260. Under the seals, three enemies went forth after Christ on his white horse. But the third was a confederacy or combination of the first two. The second was finally merged in the third. From the time that the bishops became lords of parlia- ment, and electors of the empire, the clergy, how- ever corrupt, were scarcely capable of performing any action peculiar to themselves, and could scarcely be said to exist at all but as members of the unhallowed confederacy with the state. The state could still perform its peculiar functions by itself; and also, when occasion required, act as a member of this confederacy. But not so the other party. The rider on the black horse was lost among the followers of him on the green. If we call the third the offspring of the other two, we would say that he devoured one of his parente. But in this two-horned beast a successor arises to complete the original number. He is another, and the same. And under the vials we have still three enemies contending against Christ, and ultimately destroyed by his power. There was therefore a propriety in exibiting them anew to 190 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. our attention, that we may better understand the object of every vial which is poured out. The dragon is the secular power of the state. He presides over the earth, or civil society. And a vial poured on the earth has a tendency to reduce the power of earthly princes. The ten-horned beast presides over the sea, whence he arose. And when a vial is poured on the sea, he must be affected. The two-horned beast like the lamb, is a suc- cessor of the rider on the black horse, and pre- sides over the rivers and fountains of waters. From these waters he did not indeed arise; for the gospel can produce nothing so antichristian in spirit, or so nearly allied to the dragon in con- stitution. But he has a connexion with the gospel which neither of his confederates can boast. And when a vial is poured on the rivers and fountains of waters, his kingdom and interest must suffer. When the waters are moved his system receives a shock; and his power over them is weakened. Amen. DISCOUESE XXIX. THE SEALED ONES HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, AND ARE NOA¥ TRIUMPHANT. Rev. xiv. 1.— 13. 1 And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder : and I heard the voice of harp- ers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders : and no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins : these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth: these were redeemed from amoug men, being the first- fruits unto God, and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile ; for they are without fault before the throne of God. 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. 7 Saying with a loud voice. Fear God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and th» foimtains of waters. 192 THE SEALED ONES HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, 8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the pi'esence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb : 1 1 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. JtIaving contemplated the three enemies, their deeds, and the positions which they occupied at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days; we are now called to behold the saints of God, their attitude and exercise when the days of their mourning were ended. Before the storm of the trumpets was permitted to blow on the earth, or the woman was forced to flee into the wilderness, one hundred forty and four thousand of the servants of our God were sealed in their foreheads. When Elijah thought himself left alone, God had reserved seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the AND ARE NOW TRIUMPHANT. 193 knee to Baal: and during the twelve hundred and sixty days, when men endowed with the zealous boldness and public spirit of Elijah were so few, that they are called only two witnesses, when the holy city and the outer court were trodden under foot of the Gentiles, the hundred and forty and four thousand were hid and safely preserved in the secret places of the tabernacle. And now that the difficul- ties of that trying and protracted period were over, and the vials about to be poured on their adversa- ries, they emerge from their obscurity, and display the efficacy of the Divine seal, by making a public appearance after it was said to them, Come up hither. They occupy an eminent station, and are marshalled under a glorious leader. Of all the sealed company none has been lost. What was formerly called the seal of God, is here called their Father's name in their foreheads. And now in a voice loud as the sound of many waters, terrific as the voice of thunder to their enemies, but sweet and melodious as the musical harp to all who love our God, and the advance- ment of his cause on earth, they sing a new and joyful song of praise unto their God. The matter of the song is not recorded. But in all probability it was thanksgiving to God for having preserved them under the tribulations of the twelve hun- dred and sixty days; for their own deliverance; and the overthrow of their enemies, which were now beginning, and would be fully accomplished VOL. HI. R 194 THE SEALED ONES HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, by the coming vials. At the British revolution, many serious people of all denominations, and in all countries, viewed it as the besinning of the commotions which were to bring down all the antichristian systems. If we attend to the mixture of sounds here de- scribed, the loud I'oaring of the cascade, and the appalling voice of the mighty thunder, harmoniz- ing with the melody of the harp, we may readily assent to the remark, that no sound on earth can resemble it so much as that of a great assembly joining with their voices in the praise of the Most High God. But if we look back to Rev. i. 15. where we are told that the voice of Christ is as the sound of many waters, we may be inclined to the opinion, that the voice which is said in our text to have been as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, was his voice. He is present in all the assemblies of his people, he prompts and regulates their exercise, and takes the lead as the great High Priest in all their de- votional services. He prompts them to sing, by filling their hearts with joy, and their lips with praise. What can be more encouraging to them, or more appalling to their oppressors, than the undeniable energy of his presence in the midst of them, leading, strengthening, and exalting their feeble strains? Their voice is expressed by the sound of harpers, harping with their harps. The AND ARE NOW TRIUMPHANT. 195 language is borrowed from the Old Testament worship; and though it cannot be pleaded as authority for the use of musical instruments in the worship of the New Testament, yet it intimates that at the time referred to, the saints would be enjoying the fruits of a great victory and deliver- ance; and would be using all scriptural means to stir up their souls and all within them to celebrate it in the highest notes of praise. None but they could learn that song; for the continued care and remarkable interpositions of divine providence which it celebrates, are regard- ed by others as the idle vagaries of the fool, or the baseless dreams of the self-deceived enthusiast. But to the saints on earth these are blessed realities, for which they are incessantly praising their God. Their voice when led by that of the Lamb is a powerful voice. It not only rises with acceptance to the God of heaven, but also when lifted up in behalf of the oppressed, has entered the ears of the potentates of the earth, and influenced their counsels; has made the mighty tremble, and de- sist from their attempts to revive the work of per- secution and blood. Free from idolatry, they are spiritually unde- filed. They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, being redeemed from all iniquity by his blood, and like the first fruits dedicated to God, indicating a rich harvest to follow. The preceding chapter presented discouraging and ii2 196 THE SEALED ONES HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, afflicting views to the religious mind, in the strength, malignity, and long continued reign of the antichristian powers. This gives a cheering prospect, by showing that the church shall assur- edly survive all her trials, come out of them with an increase of glory, and additional conformity to the divine word; and actively engaged in preach- ing the everlasting gospel among all nations. At the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days, liberty to fly in the midst of heaven was secured for the angel having the everlasting gos- pel to preach. And since that time he has not only been preaching the everlasting gospel in the countries of Europe where it had formerly been prohibited, but also spreading it abroad among all nations. And the efforts of the saints in seconding this great and good work have been more than doubled by the Missionary and Bible Societies which have arisen under the vials. And though much remains undone, considerable suc- cess has hitherto attended them in Greenland, America, the East and West Indies, Africa, and the islands of the South sea. The angel says, with a loud voice, " Fear God, and give glory to " him; for the hour of his judgment is come," &c. This tells us that the preaching of the gospel here spoken of, takes place under the vials; and that the judgments in the vials operate as arguments to make men fear God, and give glory to him. They are referred to in this way by the angel who AND ARE NOW TRIUMPHANT. 197 preaches the gospel; and we cannot suppose that his reference to the hour of divine judgments is altogether lost on his hearers. In the next chap- ter also, the saints exclaim, " Who shall not fear " thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou " only art holy; all nations shall come and wor- " ship before thee; for thy judgments are made *' manifest." This angel is followed by another, saying, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen," &c. The language which he employs is evidently borrowed from that in which the ancient prophets announced the fall of literal Babylon.* She had made all nations drink of the golden cup of her abominations; and now she herself must drink of the cup of the wrath of Almighty God. And although the angel mak- ing this proclamation followed (at no great dis- tance) his precursor, who had the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, yet as the sound of the ever- lasting gospel has been waxing louder, and spread- ing wider, among the peoples and tongues, and will yet be heard more extensively and more powerfully, so this annunciation of the downfal of the mystical Babylon shall rise to a louder note, and fall with a deadlier emphasis. It has already been heard on several occasions amoner men. o But not in the full extent of its meaning. When ♦ Isa. XX i. 9. Jer. li. 7. R 3 198 THE SEALED ONES HAVE BEENT PRESERVED, men spoke of the fall of mystical Babylon, they thought only of the church of Rome. And how could the proclamation, Babylon is fallen, be uttered or heard aright, by them who know not what Babylon is? The established church of Rome is but one third part of that great city; the arbitrary and despotic civil governments of the European kingdoms are another; and the Pro- testant establishments are the third. And the proclamation in our text announces the downfal of all the three. The whole city falls. Under- stood in its full latitude, the proclamation is be- ginning to be heard now, and shall resound through the earth, and shake the ten kingdoms of Europe to the centre in a short stime. A " third angel followed them, saying. If any " man worship the beast and his image, &c. the " same shall drink of the v/ine of the wrath of ** God," &c. In the eighteenth chapter where the ruin of Babylon is more minutely detailed, there is a call to the people of God to come out of her, with a warning, that if they do not. they must share in her plagues. Jehovah there en- treats them in the language of affection. Come out of her my people. But the words of our present text are a warning to all, whether they be the friends of God or not. If any man continue to worship the beast and his image, he must drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indigna- AND ARE NOW TRIUMPHANT. 199 tion. All are here warned of their danger. The vials in which are filled up the wrath of God, shall not only destroy the dragon and the two beasts from the earth, but contain also ingredients of wrath, which all their followers — Catholics who worship the beast, and Protestants who worship his image, must drink. And these temporal judgments shall prove the everlasting fire as really as that by which Sodom was consumed. The vengeance shall have everlasting effects in the one case, as much as in the other. It will be no more possible to rebuild the mystical Babylon, after the smoke of her burning has ascended to heaven, than to rear again the structures of Sodom that were consumed by fire, on the site which is now sunk many fathoms deep under the waters of the sea. And if any man persevere till death in enmity against God and oppression of his fellow men, what prospect can he have beyond death but a fearful looking for of judgment, and of fiery in- dignation to devour him among the adversaries? Let all who worship the beast or his image, think of these things ere it be too late. Verse 13. " And I heard a voice from heaven " saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead *' which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, " saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their " labours; and their works do follow them." This text has often been quoted, as if the words, from henceforth^ had no meaning at all; as if it 200 THE SEALED ONES HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, were intended merely to state (what is declared in many passages of scripture) the individual bless- edness of all who die in Christ. In that sense it is true at all times; has no connexion with this part of the prophetic history more than with any other; and might have been introduced with as much propriety, or even greater propriety, at the sounding of the first trumpet, than at the effusion of the first vial. But the word henceforth, has a meaning; nay, it is the emphatic word; and the latter clause, " they rest from their labours and their works do " follow them," is added to illustrate its meaning. From henceforth, from the sounding of the first vial, they who die in the Lord have a bless- edness, which believers dying in the Lord, have not enjoyed hitherto. Every one who died in the Lord before this, saw the enemy prospering, and the saints in affliction; and might fear that the church was about to be cut off from the earth. They might at times have apprehensions similar to those of Elijah, when he said, they " have for- " saken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, " and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, " I only am left; and they seek my life to take it " away."* Looking to the external aspect of providence, the saints during the twelve hundred and sixty days, might die under the painful fore- ♦ 1 Kings xix. 10. AND ARE NOW TRIUMPHANT. 201 bodings that the work which was so dear to their hearts, and in which they had laboured all their lives, might cease after their death; and be trampled under feet of the enemy. But now the aspect of affairs is changed. The witnesses have ascended to the enjoyment of liberty and respect in society; and to appear with the Lamb on Mount Zion. The vials have affected the vitals of their antichristian foes. The cause of their Redeemer is daily becoming stronger and stronger; and that of his adversaries weaker and weaker. The work of evangelizing the world in which they labour, the work of Christ on earth, is daily making pro- gress, and acquiring more strength by the acces- sion of new labourers. So that from henceforth they who die in the Lord have the blessedness in dying, to think, that their own removal, and the removal of a great many individuals like them, can by no means impede the progress of their Redeemer's work on earth ; that there is no room for apprehension on this head; and that when they rest from their labours, in the perfection and glory of their nature, the work in which they have laboured, and for the success of which they have prayed night and day, shall continue advanc- ing to the perfection of its nature, and shall certainly attain the glory to which it is destined in the eternal purpose of divine grace. Amen. DISCOUESE XXX. THE HARVEST. Rev. xiv. 14—18. 14 And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat, like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap : for the time is come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the eai'th ; and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out fi'om the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth j lor her grapes are fully ripe. The period of the vials is one of great import- ance. And it is necessary that during its progress we attend to the attitude and action of all the parties concerned. We have had a view of the THE HARVEST. 203 three antichristian enemies who suffer under it; of the angels of the churches who preach the everlasting gospel to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; and now our attention is directed to Christ, the Son of man himself. And how is he employed during that important epoch? He who formerly went forth on a white horse conquering and to conquer, now appears on a white cloud, reaping an abundant harvest, for the whole earth is ripe. Some tell us that his appearance on the white cloud here means a real personal appearance of his human nature descending from heaven to earth; and that it is a representation of his coming to the millenium. But it is neither the one nor the other. We have no reason to make us believe that there is any personal appearance of Christ in human nature, more than when he went forth on the white horse of the gospel, conquering and to conquer. Nor can this be his coming to the mil- lennium. When he cometh to introduce the mil- lennium by the great victory at Armageddon, he has on his head ha^yj^uYiroi ttoaa^ many diadems, Rev. xix. 12. because men and nations shall then hon- our him as their king, being made subject to his law, and ruled by the influence and spirit of his gospel. But in our text, when he appears on the white cloud, he has on his head gncpxvov pcj^i^ffovv, a golden chaplet, probably the same which was given him when he began to conquer, as a token 204 THE HARVEST. of his Father's approbation, and a pledge of his own success. This therefore must represent a coming, when Christ had not yet got the diadem of any nation, but all were worn by the horns of the beast. It is in short, his coming at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days, to begin that reaping which goes on during the vials. The harvest precedes the vintage. And that it denotes a work of mercy is evident from the following considerations. 1st. That in this sense the word harvest is understood in other passages of scripture. Thus, Christ says to the disciples, " The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers " are few; pray ye therefore the lord of the har- " vest, that he will send forth labourers into his *' harvest."* The harvest is indeed so spoken of in Jer. li. 33. and Joel iii. 13. as to denote judg- ments on the enemies of God. But in the former, it is the threshing and the corn on the floor, and in the latter, the gathering and treading of the grapes in the vintage that are called the harvest. Jeremiah says, Babylon is like a threshing floor; it is time to thresh her — the time of her harvest shall come. And Joel speaking of the multitudes in the valley of Jehoshaphat, uses the word har- vest, which was used to denote the gathering and treading of the grapes, as well as the cutting down and securing of the grain, and describes the * Matth. ix. 37. and Luke x. 2. THE HARVEST. 205 whole scene under the similitude of the vintage; " the harvest is ripe; come get you down, for the "press is full; the vats overflow," &c. So that the use of the word harvest in these two passages can be no reason why we should suppose it in our text (where it is contradistinguished from the vintage,) to have any other meaning than that in which it is used by Christ himself, as denoting his work of mercy in gathering men to himself by means of the gospel. 2d. That the person em- ployed in this work is the Son of man himself, while in the following verses we are told that another, and of course a created angel, is employ- ed in the vintage. Now, if the harvest and the vintage both denote the work of judgment, if the one is only a continuation of the other, is it not strange that the Son of man begins the work, and leaves it unfinished, and that after he desists, a created angel comes to finish what he had begun? would it not be more natural on that supposition to imagine, that if both were to appear, the created angel should be in the harvest, and that in the vintage the Son of man should come to conclude the work. But when we view the harvest and the yintage as two distinct works, different from one another in their nature, no incongruity ap- pears. The Son of man appears among his labourers, gathering a harvest to himself in the gospel. And in the vintage an angel with a destroying weapon goes to the work of vengeance. VOL. III. s 206 THE HARVEST. 3d, That the bright cloud on which he appears intimates that he is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. Had be been come to a work of judgment, we may naturally conclude that if he appeared on a cloud at all, it would have been on a black cloud. 4th. That there is nothing like judgment spoken of in the account of this harvest. In the account of the vintage the casting of the vine of the earth into the wine-press of the wrath of God, the treading of the wine-press, and the flowing of the blood from it, cannot be mistaken. But in the account of the harvest we read of no threshing, burning, or any severe treatment that looks at all like judgment. Therefore we conclude that in this harvest men are gathered into a place of safety, and preserved for the master's use. 3th. That in the end of the fourth verse the first fruits are described, the hundred and forty-four thousand who appear with the Lamb at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days, and the whole harvest must be of the same kind. When judgments are approaching, our Re- deemer is before hand w^ith his work of mercy, that all his friends may be gathered to himself, and secured in a place of safety till the calamities pass over. In the days of his flesh the harvest was ripe among the Jews; and by his gospel he gathered to himself the remnant that was among them, according to the election of grace, before those terrible judgments came which issued in the THE HARVEST. 207 destruction of their place and nation. And now, under the vials he and his servants are labouring in the work of this harvest, to gather men to him- self; that they may not continue worshipping the beast and his image, till they be gathered with him, and cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God. The harvest of the earth was ripe at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty days. This appears in the liberty then attained in Britain, Piedmont, Holland, and other countries of Europe, in the free entrance then secured in foreign coun- tries by the settlements which had been made in many parts of Asia, Africa, and America, and in the easy communication by sea which had then been attained with all foreign parts. From that day to this the harvest work has been going on, and will continue to go on till the vintage com- mence under the seventh vial. The visible effects of the work on earth appear in the multitudes that have been turned from the worship of the beast and of his image, and have gone to swell the numbers in the dissenting churches. We said already, that no establishment by men, whether Popish or Protestant, is spoken of in any part of scripture as the church of Christ; although there are of his saints in them all. The system is doom- ed to destruction. And though we cannot foretell how, yet we firmly believe, that when the vine of the earth is gathered, no dissenters shall be found s2 208 THE HARVEST. among the clusters which are to be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God. None but the worshippers of the dragon, of the beast, or of his image, shall go forth with them to fight against the Lord God Almighty at Armageddon. The visible success of the gospel appears not only in the increase of dissenters at home, but also in the work of evanjrelizino: the heathen abroad. And this might be illustrated by a history of all the missions supported on the voluntary system, which have hitherto been sent to the nations, and of the success which has attended them. What some call sending an apparatus ready made, establish- ing Christianity among them who know not what it is, appointing bishops where there are no flocks, and stealing property under the legal name of tithes, before men can comprehend the nature of any benefit to be received from Christianity, is the way by which both the first and second beast attempt to extend their dominions; but is not the work of Christ, and no part of the harvest described in our text. To shew the visible effects of this harvest, we may name Greenland, the Esquimaux, South Africa, the islands of the South sea, and the East and West Indies. In nature the harvest goes before the vintage. And the same order being observed here, leads, we think, to the conclusion, that the greater part, if not the whole of the world, (for the harvest of the earth is spoken of,) shall be gathered to Christ THE HARVEST. 209 before his enemies are cast at Armageddon into the wine-press of his wrath. And therefore when you think of what yet remains to be done in the immense regions of Asia, Africa, and other dark places of the earth, you will not suppose that that great catastrophe, or the millennium which is to follow, can be so near as some have imagined. But in the mean time let us be diligent in the cheerful and honourable work of the harvest, in which our Lord admits his people to be fellow- labourers with himself. Let the consideration of our duty to him, of sympathy for our fellow- creatures, and the blissful and glorious effects of the work on earth and in heaven, excite us to be instant in season and out of season; that many may be plucked as brands out of the burning, and made eternal monuments to the glory of his grace. Amen. s 3 DISCOUESE XXXI. THE VINTAGE. Rev. xiv. 17—20. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And ' another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire ; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying. Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gather- ed the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the hoi-se bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. The harvest represented Christ gathering his own people from among the nations, and securing them in a place of safety. The vintage represents the gathering of his enemies together, and the casting of them into the place of destruction called the wine-press of the wrath of God. It denotes a terrible scene of judgment such as has not been since men were on the earth ; neither shall THE VINTAGE. 211 there be any more like it. A sharp sickle, or pruning hook is violently thrust against the vine of the earth; her clusters are gathered; the vine herself is torn up, and cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God. The wine-press is trodden, and blood flows even to the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred fur- longs. The treading of the wine-press represents under another similitude, the carnage of the great battle of Armageddon. The wine-press was trodden without the city. The scene of these ter- rible judgments, which may be regarded as the great catastrophe of the Apocalypse, lies not with- in the great city Babylon, but beyond her limits. Some indeed have supposed that the church may be the city here intended. But in this book, when the church is intended, the epitliet holy is added to the word city; or she is called the new Jerusalem; but Babylon, the spiritual Sodom, is called the city, or the great city. Turn to the eleventh chapter; in the second verse, you read of the holy city; in the eighth, of the great city^ called Sodom, Efjypt, and the place where our Lord was crucified; and in the thirteenth, of the city, a tenth of which fell when the witnesses arose. And we cannot think that in our text, the holy city can be intended, when it is simply said, the wine-press was trodden without the city. Rome, the mystical Babylon must be meant. \ 212 THE VINTAGE. And as the freedom of the city was given to the whole empire, the scene of this carnage must lie beyond the Rhine and the Danube. Looking to the present aspect of affairs, we may suppose that Holland, Germany, Russia or Poland, is likely to be the scene of the awful and last conflict of the antichristian powers. But ere that day arrive, this aspect may be greatly changed; nay, it must be greatly changed by the vials of wrath that are to interpose between it and our time. Some think that the treading of this wine-press will be in the land of Judea; that Daniel speaks of it when he tells us of the enemy planting the tabernacle of his palaces between the seas on the glorious holy mountain, and there coming to his end when none shall help him;* and that Joel describes the same catastrophe here intended, and under the same figure of the treading of a wine press, when he tells us, that " the press is full; the vats "overflow;" for their wickedness is great: — that the heathen shall be gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat, &c. — and that God will there cleanse or avenge the blood that he has not avenged; for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.f These passages give at least a very high degree of probability to this opinion, that Judea may be the scene of this terrible conflict. But what is the vine? who are the clusters that •Dan. ii. 45. f Joel iii. 9—21. THE VINTAGE. 213 are to be thus treated? We know that there are three enemies of Christianity, the dragon, the ten-horned beast, and the two-horned beast. The last is also called the false prophet, not because he always speaks falsehood, but because he pre- tends to be the prophet of God, while he is not; because all that he says and does is for upholding an antichristian system, and persecuting the saints; and because even the ojlorious truths of the o[os- pel in his mouth are arguments to support a bad cause, and allure men from the simplicity of the gospel to his unholy confederacy with the kings of the earth. But all the three enemies shall fight and fall at Armageddon, or be crushed in this wine-press. In prophetic language, a vine denotes a church; a cedar, or other forest tree represents some of the potentates of the earth who may lift up his head among the thick boughs of the forest, but who yields no fruit unto God. And if the vine be unfruitful, it is declared more useless than any of them. The timber of it is unfit for any purpose; and both ends of it are cast into the fire.* A vine is a church. But the vine spoken of in our text is not called the vine of God. It was never planted by him, and must be rooted out. No place in his vineyard did it ever occupy. It is no plant of heavenly seed. It is the vine of * Psalm Ixxx. Ezek. xv. Hosea x. 1. 214 THE VINTAGE. the earth, planted by the nations and kings of the earth, cultivated by their hireling priests, and watered with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. This vine and her clusters denote the churches, Popish and Protestant, which are erected and maintained by kings, and incorporated with their earthly kingdoms. They shall all be cast into the wine-press of divine wrath. It is true that the dragon, the despots of the earth, shall be there, and all the minions of arbitrary power shall be there, to fight against the armies of the living God. But all they, and in general, all who are devoted to the cause of the dragon, are ready to testify their loyalty by adhering to the church established by draconic power, and therefore they are all comprehended in the Ca- tholic or Protestant clusters of the vine of the earth. Accordingly, the vine and her clusters (which comprehend both the Catholic and Prote- stant establishments) are here mentioned, as being trodden in this wine-press. The men who are ever bawling out for church and king, tithes and taxes, will be the principal sufferers. They are continually crying at every inch of progress which the gospel makes in improving the civil and re- ligious condition of men, that their church is in danger. And how can it be otherwise? Their church is always in danger, because it is set up and maintained to fight against the Almighty. If his omnipotent arm can be deprived of strength, THE VINTAGE. 215 then their church may be out of danger; but not till then. With the cry in their mouths, the church is in danger, they shall be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God, where they and their church shall be destroyed together. The despotic governments, and tithe-fed churches shall be crushed to atoms past recovery. The great image and all its materials shall be made as the dust of the summer threshing-floor, the wind shall carry them away, and no place shall be found for them. Such shall be the end of all the churches that have a meretricious identifying connexion with the earth, and of all the govern- ments that continue to support them. The carnage shall be terrible. " The blood *' came out of the wine-press, even unto the " horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and " six hundred furlongs." Sixteen hundred fur- longs are two hundred miles. And this denotes not the position of the wine-press, or its distance from the city, but the extent of the field that shall be submerged so deeply in blood. Every vial brings a stroke of the sharp pruning-hook, which is to cut down the vine, and gather her clus- ters; and under the last vial they are all trodden in the wine-press of the wrath of God. Then shall the blood of the saints be avenged. This was expected in the days of Constantine. The souls of the slain were under the altar, crying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not 216 THE VINTAGE. judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? But thouorh white robes were then given them, 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. That little season turns out to be more than twelve hundred and sixty years, ere the work of vengeance begin in the vials, and centuries more ere full and final ven- geance be taken in the treading of this wine-press under the last vial. With the Lord a thousand years are as one day. But now their brethren to be slain as thevwere, are fulfilled. The establish- ed Catholic church has slain her millions; and though the Protestant establishments have had a shorter career, they also have marked it with the blood of the saints, and in the few years allotted them, have slain their thousands and tens of thousands of the people of God. The time of reckoning is come, and both are brought to ac- count. It is vain to imag-ine that the blood shed by the one must be avenged, but that all that has been shed by the other shall sink like water into the ground and be forgotten. No; the name Protestant is no protection in the sight of God, no expiation of the guilt of blood. With him is no respect of persons. The blood of all the saints is dear in his sight. The established churches in Britain have yet to answer for their hanging, burning, shooting, and bcmishing of the saints in THE VINTAGE. 217 Elizabeth's days, and under the Stewarts. We could show by facts, how decidedly many of their clergy still have a hearty good will to the old bloody work, though God has long since deprived them of the power. But they may find that the murders committed by Cranmer, Laud, Sharp, Claverhouse, the Star Chamber, and High Com- mission courts are enough for them to answer for. In the work of persecution the Protestant estab- lishments went hand in hand with the Catholic, till they were deprived of the power. They are both clusters of this same vine ; and both must be cast together into this terrible wine-press of the wrath of God, where they shall be crushed to pieces, and the blood shall flow even to the horse bridles, by the space of two hundred miles. The Jews had stoned and persecuted many pro- phets and righteous men: and no remarkable judgment on their nation had followed. But we are told that that innocent blood was not forgot- ten. It was remembered by God, and all required of the men of that generation which crucified the Lord of glory. Though the dragon and the two beasts have shed much of the blood of the saints, and though the judgments which have hitherto come upon them may appear slight in the compar- ison, yet these systems which shed the blood shall be destroyed in the wine-press, and it shall all be required of them who go forth to fight against the living God at Armageddon. VOL. JII. T 218 THE VINTAGE. This being a work of judgment, is justly repre- sented in the eighteenth verse, as proceeding from the angel of the altar, who had power over the fire. Under the altar on which the devotional services of the church are oiFered unto her God, the souls of the martyrs are lying, and crying for vengeance. And from that altar the angel pro- ceeds, who commands the vine of the earth and her clusters to be gathered, and cast into the wine- press of the wrath of God. Under the Old Tes- tament, the fire on the altar typified the justice of the Almighty. And the sinner being obnoxious to the latter, the victim on which his sin was laid, was consumed by the former. And this being the angel who presides over the fire, teaches us that the work which he commands is a work of aveng- ing justice for the sins of men. Thus, in the eight chapter at the fifth verse, we are told, that the angel filled his censer with the fire of the al- tar, and cast it into the earth, and immediately all the dark and desolating judgments of the trum- pets followed. And in our text, the work of the angel who has power over the fire, is similar in its nature, but more terrible in degree. Some have supposed that this angel who attends at the altar and watches over the fire, represents the ministers of the churches who officiate in sacred things before God, and that they by their prayers, and by the prayers which they excite in their people, are instrumental in bringing down THE VINTAGE. 219 the judgments which sweep off the enemies of religion from the earth. But be that as it may, we know that it is the duty of all Christian minis- ters, and of all Christian people, to labour and pray, and use all lawful means in their power, for bringing down all antichristian systems; for pro- moting the glory of their Redeemer and King; and advancing his cause, the cause of meekness, truth and righteousness among men. And the Lord will hear his own elect who cry unto him day and night, though he bear long with them. He will pour out his fury on the nations who have eaten up Jacob and devoured him, and consumed him, and made his habitation desolate. Amen. T 2 DISCOUKSE XXXII, THE ATTAINMENTS OF THE SAINTS AT THE END OF THE TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS. Rev. XV. ' 1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 2 And I saw as it wei'e a sea of glass, mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the heast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. 5 And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the taber- nacle of the testimony in heaven was opened : 6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. 7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. THE END OF THE 1260 YEARS. 221 In this chapter the seven angels with the seven vials are brought forward to view. These seven vials are " the seven last plagues, for in them is " filled up the wrath of God." But during the important period of the vials, we must have the position and deeds of all the parties continually in our eye. And that of the saints is here pre- sented to us. They have now " gotten the victory " over the beast and over his image, and over his " mark, and over the number of his name." They have been called up hither to appear with the Lamb on mount Zion. The fruits of this victory and ascension appear in the liberty of conscience now enjoyed, and from which the antichristian powers had hitherto excluded them. They stand on the sea of glass. In this passage, the sea cannot be understood of the symbolical sea which we have so often had occasion to speak of, as opposed to the symbolical earth, and the symbolical heavens. It denotes error, supersti- tion and idolatry; and of it we are told that in the new heaven and the new earth, described in the twenty-first chapter, " there shall be no more " sea." The sea of glass spoken of in our text, is the same that is mentioned in chapter iv. 6. and contains an obvious allusion to the brazen sea made by Solomon, and denotes something analo- gous in its nature and uses. In the sea and la- t3 222 THE ATTAINMENTS OF THE SAINTS AT vers of brass made by Solomon, the priests washed themselves, and the holy things which they offered to God.* And when the saints are here repre- sented as standing on the sea of glass, the mean- ing must be, that during the season of the vials, they are seeking an increase of personal holiness, and the purification of their holy things from all vestiges of superstition and idolatry. They have '' the harps of God in their hands." These are the emblems of victory, and intimate that they are now much employed in the exercise of praise. They sing the song of Moses the ser- vant of God, and the song of the Lamb. They honour all parts of the scripture as the rule of their faith, and praise God for the marvellous works done for his church under both dispensa- tions. Their minds are also bent on the exten- sion of his kingdom. " Who shall not fear thee, " O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only " art holy." And they have great confidence that the manifestation of his judgments, in bring- ing down the antichristian systems, would prove the means of bringing multitudes to worship him. " All nations shall come and worship before thee; " for thy judgments are made manifest." Then the temple of the tabernacle of the testi- mony appears opened in heaven. And the seven angels having the seven plagues come out of the • 2 Chron iv. 6. THE END OF THE 1260 YEARS. 223 temple. We are also told that one of the four living creatures gave unto '' the seven angels, the *' seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, " who liveth for ever and ever." The living creatures, the ministers of the churches, are not the messengers of vengeance, the instruments of pouring out the wrath of God on the nations. But their prayers may hasten the day of ven- geance; the principles of civil and religious liberty which they cannot but exhibit if they preach the doctrines of the New Testament, may be instru- mental in excitin And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were be- headed for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had re- ceived his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. In the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters, the overthrow of the antichristian systems, in conse- THE MILLENNIUM. 345 quence of the battle of Armageddon, is illustrated at large. The church and state systems are repre- sented in the former of these two chapters by an adulterous woman sitting on a scarlet-coloured beast, which hath seven heads and ten horns. These represent ten kings or kingdoms: and in the end they hate the whore, they make her deso- late and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. And the beast himself goeth into perdition. In the latter we have an account of the destruction of the great city Babylon, and the lamentation of kings, of priests, of all that were made rich in her, and of all who bought and sold patronages or ad- vowsons, or in any other form traded in the souls of men: " In her was found the blood of prophets, " and of saints, and of all that were slain upon " the earth." In the nineteenth chapter we have an account of the advancement and prosperity of the church after Armageddon is over. And now for the first time we hear the Hebrew word Alleluia mixing in the songs of the redeemed, v/hich maybe meant to inform us that then and not till then shall the ancient Hebrew people of God be united with the New Testament church; and mingle their voice with that of the Gentiles in praising God and the Lamb. While the antichristian system stands, the Jews look upon Christians as idolaters; and look on him who invites themselves to become Christians as one who is attempting to seduce them 346 THE MILLENNIUM. to the crime for which their forefathers were sent to Babylon, and which they have abhorred ever since. But when that stumbhng- stone is taken out of the way, they shall look to him whom they have pierced, and mourn for their own sins; they shall join themselves to his people " to seek the " Lord their God and David their king; and <' shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the lat- " ter days." Then we have an account of the marriage-sup- per of the Lamb, when his bride hath made herself ready. There are three periods in church history which are spoken of as a marriage between God and his church. The first was when he gave his covenant to Israel in the wilderness. This is often referred to by the ancient prophets. " Thus " saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness " of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when " thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a " land that was not sown."* The second was at the commencement of the gospel dispensation, when our Lord espoused a church selected from the Gentiles; and when he commanded his ser- vants, saying, *' Go ye into the highways and *' hedges, and as many as ye shall find bid unto " the marriage."f The Jews were then rejected from being his people. And the third is that in our text, when the ancient Hebrew bride is again * Jer. ii. 2. f Mat. xxii. 2—10. THE MILLENNIUM. 347 united to her God by an everlasting covenant. Her restoration is often predicted by the prophets under the figure of a marriage. " Thou shalt no ** more be termed, Forsaken; neither shall thy " land any more be termed Desolate: but thou " shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beu- " lah ; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy " land shall be married — as the bridegroom re- " joiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice " over thee."* And in our text it is called the marriage supper of the Lamh. This figure inti- mates that the Jews shall not return to God, in the way of rebuilding the temple and restoring the Mosaical worship; for that would be at best only a re-union on the footing of the old marriage- covenant, which with all its appurtenances is now done away; but they shall return in the way of assenting to the new and better covenant. They shall be married to Jesus the Lamb of God, " Be- " hold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will " make a new covenant with the house of Israel, " and with the house of Judah; not according to " the covenant that I made with their fathers, in " the day when I took them by the hand, to lead " them out of the land of Egypt; because they " continued not in my covenant, and I regarded *' them not, saith the Lord," &c.f In the end of the nineteenth chapter, all the * Isa. Ixii. 4, 5. t Heb. vlli. 8, 9. 348 THE MILLENNIUM. fowls of heaven are invited to feast in the supper of the great God which he hath provided for them m the field of Armageddon. The capture and destruction of the beast and the false prophet are also recorded. Their doom is like that of Sodom which was burnt, and submerged in the bottom of a lake, where it could not be rebuilt by the skill or power of man, thus suffering the eternal ven- geance of fire. And these enemies of God and his people in modern times are both cast alive into the lake of fire. In the beginning of the twentieth chapter we learn the fate of the dragon that old serpent, who was the chief and lord of the other two. He is bound a thousand years, cast into the abyss, shut up there, and a seal set upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season. For all these ages must the despotic power of earthly kings and emperors, particularly within the limits of the Roman empire, (or the oikwnene of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet) be bound and imprisoned. And when the enemies are thus laid low, the rider on the white horse shall rise and triumph; his cause and his religion shall reach the highest maturity and perfection which they shall ever attain in this world. The war with his three enemies shall then be ended. We have reason to think that all wars shall then be turned into THE MILLENNIUM. 349 peace to the ends of the earth. The authors and abettors of war shall be destroyed or bound. The benign spirit of peace shall prevail in all countries and among all classes of men. And the despotic power of kings being thus removed out of the way; civil society shall assume a new and better form, and a more scriptural or- ganization. Satan or the dragon is sealed up that he should deceive the nations no more, &c. " And," says John, " I saw thrones and they sat " upon them, and judgment was given unto them." Who sat upon them? there is no other antecedent than the nations, to which the word they can refer. The nations shall sit on them. Every nation shall sit on its own throne. The men entrusted with the executive government may be distinguished by any name; but whether they be called kings, consuls, dictators, or presidents, they shall then be appointed by the nation, and consider them- selves as set up to execute the will of the nation. Men shall be influenced by gratitude to Christ and love one to another, in a far higher degree than at present; but not so purely or to so great an extent as to render civil government altogether unnecessary. There shall still be thrones, and the nations (in the persons of their servants and representatives) shall sit on them. But when shall these thousand years which we call the millennium have a commencement? Cu- riosity has often asked the question; and folly has VOL. III. G g 350 THE MILLENNIUM. sometimes attempted to answer it. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man. There are no data revealed in scripture on which the calcu- lation can be founded. There are yet five vials to be poured out on the enemies of the gospel before the millennium com- mence; and we know not when any one of them Cometh, or the pauses which may intervene be- tween it and the one which succeedeth. There is also a pause between the end of the seventh vial and the beginning of the millennium. There seems to be some time employed in the burning of mystical Babylon, the capture and de- struction of the beast and of the false prophet, and the bindinor and incarceration of the dragon that old serpent. The conversion of the Jews, and with them the coming in of the fulness of the Gentile nations also occur during this interval. At the end of the seventh vial, and after the great earthquake, we are told that men in general blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail. And this is no symptom of the commencement of the millennium. At the seventh vial the fourth of Daniel's four beasts is slain, and his body given to the burning flame; but the other three beasts have their lives prolonged for a season and a time. And it ap- pears that all the four are to be destroyed before the millennium commence, before (as Daniel ex- presses it) " the kingdom under the whole heaven THE MILLENNIUM. 351 " shall be given to the people of the saints of the " Most High." We said formerly that the number six hundred and sixty-six may indicate the time of the seventh vial. But although this should prove correct, yet we are unable to calculate the commencement of the millennium, because we know not the length of the season and time which intervene between the one and the other. Will there be any personal or bodily appear- ance of Christ at that time? We see no reason to expect it. The scripture makes no mention of any thing of the kind. The fullest and most minute description of the millennium contained in the whole Bible, is in this the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse. But in it we read nothing of Christ coming in any sense whatever at that time, or reigning in any other way than he does now. It is not said that Christ shall then reign; but that the souls of them who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, &c. shall live and reign with him a thousand years. Now the inspired Apostle here takes for granted that Christ has been reigning, and is reigning, and shall continue then to reign. What he here predicts is simply that the souls or dispositions, roig ■4'^x°^?^ of them who had suffered for the religion of Jesus, and had not worshipped the beast or his image, shall then live and rei^n with him. Not one word is said of him descending hodily from heaven, or of og2 352 THE MILLENNIUM. them rising corporeally from the grave to live and reign on earth. And how these should have been altofjether omitted in the Apocalypse, if they are really to take place, appears very strange. And is it not equally strange that men should believe it as a prophecy, and be looking for its fulfilment, ii it is no where revealed? Ihey are confident that the prediction of the souls of saints reigning with Christ, must mean that Christ himself does not begin to reign till they begin to reign with him. But scripture tells us that God hath already exalted him " far above all principality, and " power, and might, and dominion, and every " name that is named, not only in this world, " but also in that which is to come; and hath put " all things under his feet, and given him to be '' the head over all things to the church, which is " his body."* And that " the heavens receive " him until the restitution of all things."f And we cannot believe that the restitution of all things takes place on the binding of the dragon, that old serpent; especially when we consider that he is to be loosed again to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea, to bring them up on the breadth of the whole earth, to compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city ; and to • Ephes. ii. 21, 22. f Acts iii. 21. THE MILLENNIUM. 353 iir^e them on in their wickedness till fire come down from God out of heaven and devour them. But the following verses tell of the devil being not merely bound and imprisoned in the abyss, but cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the flilse prophet are; of death, and hell, the sea, the earth, and all the elements of nature giving up the dead that are in them, and of all the dead, small and great, standing before God, to be judged out of the things which are written in the books. We are also told of " the " great white throne, and of him that sat on it, *' from whose face the earth and the heaven fled ** away, and there was no place found for them." And John adds, " I saw a new heaven and a new " earth; for the first heaven and the first earth " were passed away; and there was no more sea." Now this is the restitution of all things, which (if we believe our Bibles,) comes not only after the millennium, but after the apostasy, the war, and the destruction of Gog and Magog; and is eifect- ed by the refulgent glory of our Redeemer coming to the judgment, from whose face the first heaven and the first earth fled away, and whose power creates the new heaven and the new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness, and in which there is no more sea. Christ has been received into the heavens, till he come to that restitution of all things. But the binding of Satan at the com- mencement of the millennium takes place at least Gg3 354 THE MILLENNIUM. a thousand years before that glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. When it is said that the souls or dispositions of his saints shall then reign with Christ, the meaning cannot be that Christ shall then begin to reign. It is also worthy of notice, that Daniel describes these things in a similar manner. He says, " I saw in the night vision, and 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 lan- " giiages should serve him; his dominion is an " everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, '* and his kingdom that which shall not be de- " stroyed.'* Now, admitting that this passage speaks of our Redeemer as one like the Son of man, and also that a personal bodily appearance may be here meant, we remark that it speaks not of his coming nigh to dwell among men, but of his coming nigh to God the Father, the Ancient of Days; not of his descending to dwell on earth, but of his ascending in a cloud to dwell near and before God in heaven. And the kingdom is given him when he thus comes nigh before him, to sit at his right hand. It is a glorious, increas- ing, and everlasting kingdom. This is the king- • Dan. vii. 13, U. THE MILLENNIUM. 355 dom predicted in the seventy-second and other Psalms. And when the millennium comes, the disposi- tion or spirit of his saints shall reign with him; and with him rule the nations. Immediately after speaking of his being brought near before the Ancient of Days, and being invested with the kingdom, Daniel says that he was grieved in his spirit, and the visions of his head troubled him. Then he was told the interpretation, " These " great beasts which are four, are four kings " which shall arise out of the earth. But the " saints of the Most High shall take the king- " dom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even " for ever and ever."* The peculiarity of that reign which succeeds the four beasts is here de- scribed as consisting (not in any new kingdom, or coming of the Son of man, but) in this, that the saints shall then take and possess the kingdom. Daniel then wished to know more of the fourth beast and his little horn. They also are explain- ed to him; and the explanation concludes, " But " the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away " his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto " the end. 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 ever- • Dan. vii. 18. 356 THE MILLENNIUM. " lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve " and obey him."* Nor is one word to be found here of the Son of man reigning in any different manner then, from that in which he reigns now. The extent of his kingdom of grace and the num- ber of his willing people shall then be increased. " All dominions shall serve and obey him." But the great and glorious event then to take place is, that the kingdom and dominion shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. And they shall then reign with Christ. In the second chapter of Daniel, the prophet interprets the vision of the great image with its ten toes and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. He then adds, " In the days of these kings, shall " the God of heaven set up a kingdom which " shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom " shall not be left to other people, but it shall " break in pieces and consume all these king- " doms; and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch " as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the " mountain without hands, and that it brake in " pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver " and the sold." Tlie stone is the kinofdom of Christ, which was cut from the mountain of the Jewish state in the days of the apostles. And the millennium kingdom is this same stone grown to a great mountain, and filling the whole eai th. * Verses 26 and 27. THE MILLENNIUM. 357 It has already been smiting the great image on its ten toes, and shall ultimately break the whole in pieces. But we have no mention of Christ de- scending to dwell bodily in that kingdom. In no passage of scripture where the millennium is spoken of, have we the least hint of this carnal notion which has filled the imagination of some modern enthusiasts. But they quote all the passages in the New Testament, where the day, coming, revelation, or appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of; affirming that they all refer to the commencement of the millennium; and that the words rendered revelation, or manifestation, and appearing, can have no meaning without a personal presence. But one of these words is used by the apostle Paul to express his inward illumination by the Spirit, when it pleased God to reveal his Son in him;* and is also employed by John as a title for this book — the Apocalypse, or revelation of Jesus Christ. The other is used to denote the manifes- tation of Christ in the gospel. f And in all cases they are susceptible of the same latitude of inter- pretation with the corresponding English words revelation or appearing. But whatever be their meaning, they are not used in any of the passages which speak of the saints' reigning with Christ for a thousand years. They tell us farther, that » Gal. i. 12 and 15. f 2 Tim. i. 10. 338 THE MILLENNIUM. the spiritual presence of Christ on earth, would be no presence at all. But are they prepared also to affirm that Christ promised nothing to his people, when he said, Lo, I am with you alway to the end of the world? The apostle Peter exhorts Christians to be " looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the " day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire " shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt "with fervent heat."* In the tenth verse he calls this " the day of the Lord, in which the " heavens shall pass away with a great noise," &c. But how these things are applicable to the com- mencement of the millennium, we have not been able to perceive. How could the Comforter be sent to saints on earth, if the High Priest were not making inter- cession in heaven, and praying the Father to send him? What could support the courage of the dying saint if he knew that he was about to leave the world in which Christ's bodily presence would then be, and go to a place where he would not be? When absent from the body, he would not be present with the Lord. Such a state could not deserve the name of heaven. They try to get rid of these difficulties by tell- ing: us that no man shall die during: the millenni- um. But if mankind continue to multiply at the ♦ 1 Peter iii. 12. THE MILLENNIUM. 359 ordinary rate, (and the Malthusian checks of vice and misery seemed not consistent with great com- fort or prosperity,) the earth must be greatly over-peopled before the millennium have continu- ed long. And to notice all their idle sayings were an endless task. There is nothing in scripture warranting us to expect a personal or bodily descent of Christ at the beginning of the millennium, or his bodily presence on earth during any part of its continu- ance. But we may expect that the spirit of true religion shall revive, and that the dispositions of his saints shall reign with him a thousand years. The religion and the dispositions which the kings of the earth persecuted during the seals, which they drove in to the wilderness under the trumpets, which they tolerated under the vials, shall revive and reign when they have been destroyed and given to the fowls of heaven at Armageddon. Knowledge shall be greatly increased, and more generally diffused. The brotherly love and Christ- ian fortitude by which the martyrs were distin- guished, shall prevail in a high degree of strength among Christians. Their conversation and ex- ample shall have an influence on society at large which they never acquired before. The religion of Jesus has already attained considerable influ- ence on public morals, and done much for the amelioration of human society. The truth of this appears when we compare Christian with Pagan 360 THE MILLENNIUM. countries, or the Christian countries in which the enemies of Christianity have been weakened by the vials already poured out, with those in which their power remaineth almost entire; as for ex- ample, when we compare Britain with Spain or Ital}^ Christianity has improved laws and man- ners, has softened many of the harsher features of war, by abolishing the practice of selling cap- tives into slavery, or of massacreing them in cold blood, by establishing their title to honourable treatment, or exchange during the war, and to liberation at the end of it; and by introducing other rules equally beneficial. And when Christ- ianity is generally received, and suffered to reign by its legitimate influence on the hearts of men, it shall turn wars into peace to the ends of the earth. The manners and laws of society shall be greatly improved; tyranny and slavery shall be unknown in any form, and men shall dwell together as brethren. But how long shall the spirit and the religion of the saints continue thus to reign? A thousand years saith the spirit of prophecy. Some take this literally, and tell us that the years cannot be interpreted prophetically, each day for a year; because here a different word is used for years, sT>5, from that which is used under the sixth trum- pet, in telling us that the four angels of Euphrates were prepared for a day, and a month, and a year, luiuvrov, to slay the third part of men. They tell THE MILLENNIUM. 361 US also that as the world was created in six days, and enjoyed a holy sabbath on the seventh, so it shall labour in sin and tribulation for six thou- sand years, and enjoy millennial rest during the seventh thousand, ere it be dissolved and purified by fire at the second and glorious advent of the Messiah. But others are of opinion that in this, as in the other prophecies, every prophetical day denotes a natural year. The word which we ren- der a time, in the twelfth chapter and fourteenth verse, differs from euiuvrog, a year, more than the word £r>j, in our text. Yet the one denotes three hundred and sixty natural years; and why should not the other? According to this view, the reli- gion of Jesus shall be triumphant, and his saints shall reign for three hundred and sixty thousand years. The witnesses were dead three days and an half; and then their enemies made merry and sent gifts one to another. But when they arose, and v/ent up to heaven in a cloud, their enemies be- holding them, a tenth part of the idolatrous city fell. But at the commencement of the millennium there shall be a resurrection, not of two witnesses only, but of all who suffered for the testimony of Jesus, and who have not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither have received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. And if the resurrection of the two witnesses at the sound- ing of the seventh trumpet was an event of so VOL. III. H h 362 THE MILLENNIUM. much importance as to note the termination of the twelve hundred and sixty days, how much more glorious shall the resurrection of all the saints and martyrs be at the beginning of the millennium ! But the opposing party, which com- prehends the rest of the dead, lived not again till the thousand years were fulfilled. They sent gifts one to another, when the witnesses of God were lying dead; the tenth of their city falls when the witnesses arise, and their cause goes on to decline under the vials. It dies after the effusion of the last vial. The cause of God lived again in his witnesses at the end of three days and an half; but that of his enemies (when dead) shall not live again, until a thousand years are finished. And if in that great and glorious epoch every day shall be a natural year, how sublime and elevating is the prospect to the mind of the Christ- ian. The enthusiast may please his self-love and his desire of remaining in this world, by suppos- ing that one generation shall live on earth during the whole thousand years. But the Christian knows that even then to depart and be with Christ must be far better, and therefore has no wish to live alway here. His benevolent spirit is much more delighted in computing ho many genera- tions of men, all of them worthy of being called religious generations, shall pass through this world in a thousand, or rather in three hundred and sixty thousand years; and what a vast majo- THE MILLENNIUM. 363 rity of the whole human race shall thus be redeem- ed from all iniquity, and brought to dwell with God in glory. The height, the depth, the length, and breadth of the love of Christ, the unsearch- able riches of his grace, and the abounding of it to the human family, appear stupendously grand, and inconceivably glorious. The soul feels en- raptured at the view. The affections are warmed, expanded, and elevated to the immensities of eternity, to the overwhelming glories of the em- pyrean heavens. What am I, what is one to the many millions of sons that our Redeemer shall bring to glory? what is the life of one man here, or ail the days of suffering and tribulation which the church of God may have endured, to the many thousands of years in which she shall prosper and reign in triumph on the earth, or to the eternity of blessedness which is to follow? What is the life of man compared with the eternity of Him with whom a thousand years are as one day? If we reason analogically from the other works of God, this long continuation of the millennium will appear still more probable. Animals of every species live on an average at least six or seven times as long as they take in growing to the maturity of their stature- If a horse, for instance, rise to its full stature in two years, the animals of that species will be found to live at least fourteen years on an average. And so of man and other species of animals. Some time is necessary ere H h 2 S64> THE MILLENNIUM. they acquire the mature use of their faculties; and on an average they are allowed seven times that period to employ these powers and faculties for the great ends of their existence. The church was born on earth immediately after the fall, when the Almighty announced the seed of the woman to bruise the head of the serpent. The church has continued growing under all dispensations, and attains the maturity of the stature destined for her in this world, only when the dragon is bound, and the spirit of the faithful revived at the millennium. And can we believe that she who is surpassed in beauty and excellence by no creature, and to whose benefit all other creatures are sub- servient, after taking six thousand years to grow to her full stature, shall be permitted to glorify her God in the maturity of her powers for only one thousand years? Is she destined to six thou- sand years of infancy and weakness, and only one of maturity and strength? to six thousand of troubles within, of oppression and wars without, and only one thousand years of prosperity and peace? What then does the scripture mean, in saying that glorious things are spoken of the city of our God, and in saying that the kingdom given to the saints, after breaking in pieces and consuming every other kingdom, shall stand for ever? Yes; the duration of her strength and prosperity shall be more than seven times that of her infancy and warfare. THE MILLENNIUM. 365 If we look to the Divine procedure in other parts of providence, analogy will again lead us to the same conclusion. The Israelites were forty years in the wilderness ; but they enjoyed the pos- session of Canaan fifteen hundred years. And in an equal or greater proportion shall the millennial rest of the New Testament church exceed the days of her tribulation that go before it. If we extend our view in this manner, and sup- pose that during the three hundred and sixty thou- sand years a generation of men shall pass away from the earth and be succeeded by another every thirty years, and that in every one of these gen- erations there shall be few irreligious or unbe- lievers, we may get some idea of the glorious work of our Redeemer among men. Verily he is not dead in vain. He paid a rich price, and he receives a glorious reward. How numerous, how rich, how abundant the streams of felicity that shall eternally flow from his undiminishable ful- ness! How far beyond ail human or angelic num- bers must be the multitude of them who shall eternally be filled with all fulness of heavenly blessedness, and of unutterable joy from this ever- flowing and abundant fountain; and whose hearts, enraptured with unspeakable joy, and bounding with gratitude and love, shall vent their feelings and find all their delight in songs of praise to him who was slain and redeemed them to God by his Hh3 366 THE MILLENNIUM. blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and peo- ple, and nation, who made them unto their God kings and priests, and gave them to reign on the earth ! Amen. DISCOUESE XXXVIII. THE JUDGMENT AND THE NEW JERUSALEM. Rev. XX. 7—15. 7 And, when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of iire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them : and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death. 15 And Avhosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. 368 THE JUDGMENT AND JL HE thousand years are now finished, and Satan or the dragon is loosed out of his prison. For- merly he gathered the kings of all his oikumene to fight against him who sat on the white horse. Now he shows his old enmity in renewing the war; but he assembles the nations in number as the sand of the sea. The nations in general were on the side of Christ during the millennium; but now many of them fall away and join his enemy. These apostates are called Gog and Magog. They compass the camp of the saints about and the be- loved city. But while they are burning with rage against God, fire comes down from him out of heaven and devours them. The dragon who is also called the Devil is then cast to utter destruc- tion in the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are. The great white throne appears, and the Judge seated on it. The throne is great because he is great who sits upon it; because it is the tribunal before which all rational creatures must stand ; and from it there is no appeal. It is white because it is established in righteousness, and unstained by any injustice or error in admin- istration. The glory of him who sat on it was so terrible that from his face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. The books were opened. The book of the Divine remembrance where nothing is omitted. THE NEW JERUSALEAf. 369 the book of conscience in every rational creature, the book of external evidence, and another book, the book of life were opened. The parties to be judged are all creatures in heaven, earth, or hell, angels and men, the living and the dead. Death and hell are given to de- struction in the lake of fire. Men shall be no longer mortal; and hell as denoting the state of disembodied spirits, shall no longer exist. Men are judged out of the things which are written in the books according to their works. And the result with the human race is, that " whosoever was not found written in the book " of life was cast into the lake of fire.*' The blessedness and glory on which the redeemed shall then enter, is not viewed as merited by their good deeds. Is it not called an inheritance? In the very words of the sentence this idea is brought prominently forward. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, &c. Now what a man gets by inheritance is not bought with a price, but received on account of his relation to another person. And the redeemed obtain theirs on account of their relation to the Redeemer, who is heir of all things. Yet they are judged according to their works. All their thoughts, words and actions, every se- cret thing and every public thing shall be brought into judgment at that day. But in the case of Christians, they shall be brought into judgment 370 THE JUDGMENT AND not as grounds of the sentence, but as evidences to prove their relation to Christ, on which alone their title to the inheritance depends. They are thus judged according to their works. And this evidence is necessary not to inform the judge, but to satisfy the spectators; and enable them to praise him as just and righteous in the decision of every particular case. But they who are condemned, are so, for their own thoughts, w^ords, and actions. They receive the reward of their deeds, a fearful punishment, being cast into the lake of fire. In the twenty-first chapter we have a descrip- tion of the new heavens and the new earth, and of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. Now, many will have this chapter also to be a description of the millennial state of the church. And their principal reasons are, that the New Jerusalem is said to come down out of heaven from God, and so they think it cannot be in heaven, and that the glory and honour of the nations are brought into it. Now, what is the glory of a nation but the multitude and righteous- ness of its subjects? The word here rendered nations is the same which is elsewhere translated Gentiles. And it may have, and seems to have, no reference to the governments or constitutions of nations; but only to announce that the excel- lent ones of the earth, who are the glory of the nation which they inhabit, and who shall be THE NEW JERUSALEM. 371 brought into the New Jerusalem, are existing among all nations. And as to its coming down from God out of heaven, this does not say that it is to be before the general judgment, or not to be filled with immortal and glorious inhabitants. This, as we shall see by and by, is a strong proof that it must refer to the future and glorious state of the church trium- phant. But we remark, 1st. That John tells us expressly that he saw this new heaven and new earth, when the first heaven and first earth had passed away. Now, these fled away from the face of the Judge when he appeared on his great white throne, after the apostacy of Gog and Magog; and all the dead small and great stood before his tribunal. There- fore the new heaven and the new earth appear not till after the last judgment. 2d. That this New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now, though we are told in the second epistle of Peter, and other passages of scripture, that the earth is to be burnt up; we are no where told tiiat it is to be annihilated. Fire changes, purifies, and forms new combina- tions of elements, but never annihilates any thing. Now what use is this material globe to serve, after being purified by fire? Is it to serve no use at all, but remain a world of desolation, and without an inhabitant amid the universe of God? Is it 372 THE JUDGMENT AND not more reasonable to suppose, that after God has defeated the schemes and destroyed the works of the devil, which were meant for its ruin, the first and great design of creation shall be accomplished in making this the habitation of man, and filling it with intelligent human creatures willingly and joyfully employed in the service of the great Creator; that thus, in the literal and highest sense, the heaven of redeemed men may be upon earth, and that God may dwell with them there, as formerly he did with our first parents in Eden. But of what materials is this New Jerusalem composed? Is not every believer a living stone of this glorious building? And where are these living stones at present? Are there not many myriads of them in heaven already, the spirits of just men made perfect? And shall there not be myriads of myriads more of them there^ before the Judge appear on his great white throne? These are the materials of which the New Jeru- salem is to be composed. The few who live in the days of Gog and Magog, and who shall be alive at the second appearing of our Lord, are scarcely worthy of being mentioned, in compari- son with the immense multitude of departed saints. It can be said of this, and of no other city, that the materials of which it is built come down from God out of heaven. The Lord com- eth with ten thousands of his saints. When he shall appear they shall appear with him in glory. THE NEW JERUSALEM. 37S This is the descending of the New Jerusalem from God out of heaven. This is the restitution of all things. God shall then dwell with men. Christ shall then reign personally with his saints on earth in ineffable glory, not for a thousand years, but for the endless ages of eternity. 3d. That the dimensions and glory of this city are not applicable to any thing earthly. The city is a regular square, one side of it being twelve thousand furlongs, or fifteen hundred miles. The length is as large as the breadth, and the height in proportion to both. Every gate is of one large pearl; the wall of jasper; the foundations, all manner of precious stones ; and the whole city of pure gold like unto clear glass. The city was continually illumined by the glory of God, giv- ing her a light like that of a stone most precious, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 4th. That the portion of all who are not in this city shows that it must be the heavenly. In the eighth verse we are told that their part is in the lake of fire. And this is substantially repeat- ed in the twenty-seventh verse of this, and in the fifteenth of the next chapter. But until the judgment, there shall be men without the church, and not yet cast into the lake of fire. 5th. " There shall be no more sea." But even during the millennium there shall be sea or an abyss, in which the dragon is bound. 6th. There shall be no temple therein; for the VOL. III. I i 374 THE JUDGMENT AND Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the tem- ple of it. But even in her best estate in this world, the church needs public ordinances; and her imperfection could not bear to look on the glory of God otherwise than through that glass. 7th. " There shall be no night there."* While the church is in this world, she shall never be without her nights of affliction, and the hiding of the countenance of her God. 8th. " There shall not enter any thing that " defileth."f This can never be true in this world, for in the holiest saint there is much that defileth, which must be all taken away ere he enter this holy city. 9th. " There shall be no more curse." | The earth, (not to speak of the inhabitants that are on it,) was cursed for man's sake; and that curse shall never be completely taken away till it be purified by fire. But after it has undergone that final purification, and the spirits of the just made perfect have descended from heaven to be united to glorified bodies, to dwell on it, and to compose the New Jerusalem, after all unbelievers and sinners have been driven from it into the lake of fire; then, and not till then, may it be said of the earth, that there shall be no more curse. 10th. The final reward promised to the people of Christ is, that they shall enter through the gates into this city. § * xxii. 5. f xxi. 27. \ xxii. 3. § Rev. xxii. 12 — 14. THE NEW JERUSALEM. 375 11th. The final punishment of the wicked is to have his part taken away out of the book of life, and out of this holy city.* Expressions like these are not found in the seventh or fourteenth chapter, both of which describe the church in this world. There is only one clause in the seventh chapter, repeated here in the twenty-first, viz. " God shall wipe away " all tears from their eyes." But here it may signify that God shall no more suffer their eyes to be dimmed with a tear. Having showed that the twenty-first and twen- ty-second chapters describe the church in her heavenly state, after the restitution of all things, we offer no further comment ; conscious that we cannot comprehend these glories, and that if we should attempt more than to repeat the language of the Holy Ghost, we should only darken coun- sel by words without knowledge. Let us rather be seeking evidence of our title to a habitation in glory through Christ, and preparation for entering it through his Holy Spirit. Amen. * Rev. xxii. 19. ii2 8T6 CONCLUSION. CONCLUSION. We shall now lay before you the following out- line of the Apocalypse. /. PERIOD. THE OPENING OF THE SIX SEALS. 1st seal opened, presents Christ on the white horse of the gospel, conquering and to conquer. 2d seal opened, shews the civil power of the Roman empire persecuting the followers of Christ with the great sword of the state, and thus taking peace from the earth. 3d seal opened, displays a black horse and him that sits on him bringing a yoke in his hand, and proclaiming scarcity and famine. This denotes the corrupt Christian clergy imposing the yoke of ecclesiastical authority and superstitious cere- monies, selling the gospel and its privileges for money, and killing the souls of men with spiritual famine. 4th seal opened, displays a green horse and a rider who kills both with the sword and with famine. This denotes the combined system of church and state introduced by Constantine, and which uses the weapons of both its precursors. CONCLUSION. 377 These are the four characters of the Apocalypse. The first on the white horse is the hero of the piece who conquers in the end, and reigns trium- phant in glory. 5th. The fifth seal opened, discovers the Christ- ian party crying for vengeance for the blood of the martyrs when this green horse appeared. It appears that they were mistaken in their view of his character; and the vengeance for which they cry is delayed. 6th. The sixth seal opened, discovers the terrors of the other party, and describes the earthquake which took place at this time. 11. PERIOD. THE SEVENTH SEAL INTRODUCES THE PERIOD OF THE TRUMPETS. 1st. The first trumpet brings a storm of hail and fire on the earth. This denotes the irruption of the northern barbarians who overturned the throne of the emperor, and settled within the em- pire. The hail was mingled with the fire of the Divine indignation. This trumpet drove the church into the wilderness, caused the witnesses of God to put on sackcloth, and strengthened the rider on the red horse, by setting up the system of Gothic tyranny in Europe. I i3 378 CONCLUSION. 2(1. The second trumpet casts a great mountain burning with fire into the sea. This is the Sara- cen empire burning with the fire of God's wrath for the sins of nominal Christians. This strength- ens the rider on the green horse by drawing the connexion between church and state more close, when Christians see that their safety is to be se- cured by their military prowess; and by setting up the Mohammedan system in which church and state are one, the (Koran being the code of civil law,) and which persecutes the adherents of every other system. And it separates the province of Africa from the western empire. 3d. The third trumpet under the symbol of a star burning like a lamp, and falling on the rivers and fountains of waters, announces the fall of the Pope from his spiritual sphere to the rank of a temporal prince, and the embitteringof the waters by image-worship, and the institution of compul- sory tithes. This strengthens and advances the rider on the black horse. 4th. Under the fourth trumpet the rider on the white horse suffers by the darkening of the sun, moon and stars. An angel now proclaims that the three trum- pets to follow are to be woes to the inhabiters of the earth. 5th. Under the fifth trumpet the power of the enemies of Christ, and the glory of their kingdom, are displayed in darkening the sun and air with CONCLUSION. 879 the smoke of the pit, and sending forth the cru- sadinof locusts on the earth. Toward the close of this trumpet in the year IS^Q, a faint dawn of light appears from the east. 6th. Under the sixth trumpet the four angels of Euphrates are loosed, and the waters of the river, strong and many, even the Turkish horsemen and all their glory, come up over their channels, and go over all their banks. By taking Constanti- nople, and scattering the language and learning of the Greeks among the more westerly nations, they also serve to increase the light which had begun to dawn. And ere their hour, day, month, and year, which began in 1281 and ended in 1672, are finished, the Reformation takes place, the witnesses are encouraged and strengthened, and the second or two-horned beast has arisen, and taken the power, and part of the dominion of the first beast. III. PERIOD. THE SEVENTH TRUMPET ANNOUNCES THE C0M3IENCE- MENT OF THE SEVEN VIALS, AND BEGINS TO SOUND AT THE END OF THE TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS. But the three enemies of Christ and his people have now acquired great strength and power; and are presented anew to our attention ere the vials of the wrath of God be poured upon them. 380 CONCLUSION. The rider on the red horse is now described as a red dragon, that animal having been used as his connoissance in heraldry. The rider on the green horse now appears as a beast with seven heads and ten horns, rising out of the green sea. After being united with the state in forming the complex system of the green horse, the rider on the black had gradually lost his separate subsistence and individuality, till he merged in the green alto- gether. But now the beast with two horns like the lamb, who may be regarded as alter et idem, another and the same, comes forward to fill up his place. By these names the three enemies are known under the vials. 1st. The first vial is poured on the earth in 1688, and reverses the effects of the first trumpet, by producing an earthquake, in which are slain of men seven thousand, and a tenth of the great city falls; and by introducing liberty of conscience and thus bringing the church out of the wilder- ness, enabling the witnesses to lay aside their sackcloth, advancing them in the sight of their enemies to safety and honour in society, and in- flicting a noisome and grievous sore on all who had the mark of the beast or worshipped his imas^e. 2d. The second vial was poured on the sea at the French revolution, and reversed the effects of the second trumpet, by loosening the connexion between church and state, restoring the province CONCLUSION. 381 of Africa to the European empire, resuscitating the eastern empire in the independence of Greece, and securing liberty of conscience in all the do- minions of Turkey, as it has done in France. It weakens the ten-horned beast of the sea. 3d. The third vial shall be poured on the rivers and fountains of waters, and shall reverse the effects of the third trumpet by abolishing the temporal power of the Pope, the idolatry of image worship, and the system of compulsory tithes. 4th. The fourth vial shall be poured on the sun, and shall reverse the effects of the fourth trumpet in making him to shine with such lustre and heat, that he shall scorch the worshippers of the beast as with fire. This vial advances the cause and the glory of him who sitteth on the white horse. But still men blaspheme God, and repent not to give him glory. 5th. The fifth vial shall be poured on the seat of the beast, which was called the well of the abyss under the fifth trumpet, when it darkened the sun and the air with the smoke and the locusts; but which is now itself filled with judicial darkness, so as to make the inhabitants gnaw their tongues for pain. 6th. The sixth vial is poured on the Euphrates. It dries up the waters to their natural standard, and confines them to their original channel, and thijs reverses the effects of the sixth trumpet. When the dragon, the beast, and the false pro- 382 CONCLUSION. phet see this, they tremble for their own safety. They have an instinctive feeling that now their own judgment lingereth not; and rousing them- selves to make the last effort of despair, they send forth their several emissaries called unclean spirits like frogs, to gather the kings of the earth and their whole oikumene to fight for them. " And " he (Le. God Almighty) gathered them together " into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar- " mageddon." 7th. The seventh vial is poured into the air, and works a mighty change in public opinion. A great voice is head out of the temple in heaven, from the throne itself, saying, It is done. The great decisive battle is fought. The rider on the white horse is victorious. Two of his enemies are given up to everlasting destruction, and the third is bound and imprisoned in the abyss for a thousand years. A mighty earthquake takes place, such as has not been since men were upon the earth. Every island fled away, and the moun- tains were not found; and society is afterwards organized upon new and more scriptural prin- ciples. We have afterwards an account of the millen- nium, the rebellion of Gog and Magog, the gen- eral judgment, and the glory of the church in a future world. The truth and consistency of this scheme of interpretation are obvious. It makes the twelve CONCLUSION. 383 hundred and sixty days begin and end with a great Apocalyptic era. Unlike many interpreters who fix the commencement of that important era at some event, which, according to themselves, is not noticed in the great sealed book of the Apo- calypse; and at a time not marked there by the opening of a seal, the sounding of a trumpet, or any thing else to attract our attention, we have shown that it begins under the hail storm of the first trumpet, and ends with the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the effusion of the first vial. We have supposed one whole and one distinct event to be announced by the sounding of every trumpet and the effusion of every vial. Many interpreters find three or four of the trumpets in the incursions of the northern barbarians who overturned the throne of the western emperors. But all their incursions were part of the same change which established the Gothic system of government in Europe, and set up the ten horns on the last head of the empire. Many have thought they found all the seven vials in the French revolution; but it is only one event, re- verses the bad effects of only one trumpet, and is therefore to be viewed as only one of the seven vials. It is still operating in producing its effects on the Mohammedan countries. Our scheme has omitted no event of any importance, or that had any permanent influence on the state of religion or society from the days of the apostle to these ^84 CONCLUSION. in which we live; and we believe that it omits none which shall occur from this day to the end of time. And is it not on this account more probable than the interpretations which cannot see in the whole of the Apocalypse, such events as the crusades, or the British revolution, both of which had powerful influence and great effects on society, and the state of religion? It makes no blank in the history; and is therefore preferable to the views of most commentators who see no event noticed in the Apocalypse from the fall of the western empire, or the invasion of the Sara- cens, till the Turks are loosed from Euphrates, who thus leave a blank of six or seven centuries in the prophecy, and make it a history very defi- cient indeed. The darkening of the luminaries of the Christian dispensation, and the crusades which brought the first dawn from the east, both occurred during the interval, and, as we have shown, are both described in the prophetic history. We have never supposed an Apocalyptic trumpet or vial to denote any event which is trifling in it- self, or has no permanent effect on society and re- ligion. Some make the several incursions of Attila or Alaric to be separate trumpets; but severally they were nothing; it is only when we view all these and other incursions of the northern nations as parts of a whole, and cooperating to effect one great change in society, that they are worthy of being noticed, and are noticed in the C6NCLUSI0N. 385 book of this prophecy. Others have found all the vials in the German wars of George the Second, or in other events still more trifling, all of which wfought no change on society, and effected no deliverance in the earth. And we have uniformh^ interpreted the same symbols in the same sense; which is more like the true interpretation than the method of them who make the symbols to denote what they please, without assigning any reason or plausibility whatever, telling us that the sun means the gospel in one place, the devil in another, the heathen emperor in a third, the king of France, or the emperor of Germany, or the Pope in a fourth. They use the same freedom with all the other symbols. But is it not a pre- sumption in favour of our interpretation being the true one, that it is applicable in all the passages where the symbols are used? From the whole we may see, 1st. That all fears of popery again overspreading the earth are groundless. The vials of God's wrath are begun; two of them have been poured out. The beast and his worshippers shall not recover of their effects. The remaining vials shall follow, to com- plete his destruction. The two witnesses have been slain by him, and raised again by the Spirit of life from God. They put on sackcloth no more, but stand in a high place of liberty and safety till he be consumed and his body given to the burning flame, VOL, 111. K k 386 CONCLUSION* 2d. That the existence of the beast after his reign of forty-two months is finished, does not diminish the safety of the church, though it may prevent the extension of her boundaries in one direction. 3d. That no persecuting society is to be regard- ed as the church of God. And of this we have seen that all human establishments of religion have been guilty. They are all charged with murders and thefts; and the charge is easily sub- stantiated in a great multiplicity of instances. And what is worse, the scripture tells us that of these they repented not. They persevere in the practice of them while the power remains; and often retain the persecuting and thieving spirit after the power is gone. 4th. That the position which we now occupy in the prophetic history is by this scheme of inter- pretation determined. The first and second vials have been poured out. Five are yet to follow ere the great conflict between Christ and his three opponents be decided at Armageddon. 5th. That there are no data in the prophecy whence we can calculate the time of the millen- nium commencing. o Christ owns the whole Apocalypse as his own work. ** I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify " unto you those things in the churches."* " If * Rev. xxii. 16. CONCLUSION. 387 " any many shall add unto these things, God shall " add unto him the plagues that are written in " this book : and if any man shall take away from ** the words of the book of this prophecy, God " shall take away his part out of the book of life, " and out of the holy city, and from the things " which are written in this book." Amen. INDEX. VOL. PAGE. Abomination that maketh desolate, ii. 32 1 Abyss, i. p. 67, and ii. 180 Alaric ii. 40 and 45 American independence, iii. 257 Angel of the tenth chapter, the same with Daniel's man clothed in linen, ii. 252 Armiuians in Holland, iii. 166 Augustulus the last emperor of Rome, ii. 51 Beast, what constitutes one, iii. 145 Bishop of Bangor prosecuted for asserting the headship of Christ, iii. 241 Bishop's income under Constantine, i. 247 Burgess oath of Scotland, iii. 160 and 301 Burke's reform bill, iii. 256 Caracalla made the city equal with the empire, ii. 300 Cameronians, _ iii. 20 A Church full of Christians burnt, i. 169 Constantine established the Catholic church, i. 208 . persecuted all others i. 210 his donation to the Pope, ii. 351 • deified by Pagans and canonized by Chris- tians, i. 301 Corn laws a prop to the tithe system, ., ii. 233 Cranmer a persecutor and a martyr, iii. 169 Crusades, ii. 184 Cry — Babylon is fallen, iii. 198 Days, twelve hundred and sixty, ii. 306 ■ twelve hundred and ninety, ii. p. 366, and iii. 242 and 263 thirteen hundred and thirty-five, iii. 263 VOL. III. L 1 390 INDEX. VOL. PAGF. Donatists, i. p. 226, and ii. 274 become persecutors, ii. 336 Dragon, i. 60 same with the rider on the red horse, iii. 48 draws the stars with his tail, and casts them to the earth, iii. 55 Empires, (four of Daniel,) i. 29 do. iii. 78 Episcopacy begins, i. 183 Extension of the gospel in early ages, i. 150 Fire means Divine judgments, i. 65 Flood from the mouth of the dragon, iii. 69 French prophets expected the millennium in 1688, ii. 295 Lord George Gordon and Protestant association, iii. 260 Harvest, iii. 204 Heave-offering, ii. 115 Heavenly state, ,... iii. 371 Highland vassalage abolished, iii. 246 Image worship, ii. 228 Infidelity alleged against all who disapprove of compul- sory tithes, ii. 239 Kutahi taken by the Ottomans, ii. 209 Little book, i. p. 88, and ii. 255 Lollards, ii. 275 of Kyle, ii. 277 Mark of the beast, iii. 264 Martyrs slain by Catholics, ii. 230 by Protestants, ii. 320 do. iii. J72 Millennium, iii. 344 duration of it, iii. 362 Mohammed, ii. 70 Moon, the footstool of the woman, i. 43 Mountain burning with fire, ii. 72 Name and murk of the beast, iii. 185 Number of tlo. ; iii. 177 INDEX. 391 VOL. PAGE. Novatianists, i. p. 218, and ii. 274 Paganism abolished by Theodosius, i. 302 Peter the hermit, ii. 181 Persecutions by Protestants, iii. 153 and 161 Polycarp would not renounce his Saviour, i. 166 Pope, his pre-eminence in the third century, i. 186 • becomes a temporal prince, ii. 100 Pretender defeated at Culloden, iii. 243 Prophecies not fulfilled, iii. 311 Saxons come to England, ii. 53 Seal upon the servants of God, ii. 20 Sealed book, i. 70 and 123 Sun, moon and stars, i. 40 Thundering legion, i. 167 Tithes fall on the consumer, ii. 137 — — not compulsory under the law, ii. 114 sophisms in defence of them, ii. 235 land not originally under them, ii. 236 when abolished, go to the benefit of all, iii. 321 are called thefts, ii. 243 - Scottish, iii. 150 Ten-horned beast, iii. 74 ■ weakened by the second vial, Hi. 304 Two-horned beast, iii. 132 Vintage, iii. 208 Vial, the first, has its primary effect on Protestant countries, iii. 263 Toleration, iii. 323 War in heaven, iii. 62 Warrants, general, found illegal, iii. 249 Water and the blood, iii. 264 Witnesses in heaven and on earth, iii. 262 Wine-press trodden without the city, iii. 211 Wo, the second past in 1672, ii. 362 p. S. — The Author takes this opportunity of returning thanks to his numerous and respectable Subscribers, without whose en- couragement he could not have ventured to put this work to the press; and hopes they will excuse his not publishing the catalogue of their names, as the volumes have swelled so much beyond what he announced in the proposals. D. R. W. LANG, PRINTER, GLASCOW.