"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 God, which is poured out "without mixture into the cup of his indig"nation; and he shall be tormented with fire " and brimstone, in the presence of the holy ce angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. 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."

As the first and second angels represent the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches of the continent, so I apprehend the third angel typifies the insular church of England; which is not professedly in all points either Lutheran or Calvinistic, and which has justly merited and obtained the glorious title of the bulwark of the Reformation*. The description, which is given of the office of the

* The presbyteral and Calvinistic church of Scotland must be considered as a member of the second angel, inasmuch as, although insular herself, she has derived both her discipline and doctrine from the reformed churches of the continent: while the venerable, though depressed, episcopal church of Scotland, may be esteemed, in a similar manner, a member of the third angel, being the same both in doctrine and disci pline as the church of England, though, so far as her present line of episcopal succession is concerned, of later origin. See Skinner's Eccles. Hist. of Scotland.

third angel, accurately corresponds with the part which the Anglican church has taken in the contest with the adherents of Popery. For more than a century after the Reformation the writings of the English divines continued to denounce the vengeance of heaven against those who still partook of the abominations of the apostate Roman beast after all the warnings which they had received; and the ablest expositors of those prophecies, which relate to the corrupt tyranny of the mystic Babylon, have been children or fathers of our national Church. Of these it will be sufficient to mention the illustrious name of Mede; who, by his successful application of many of the predictions of Daniel and St. John to Popery, loudly called upon the whole world to come out of the harlot city, lest they should "drink of the wine of the wrath of God."

σε

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are "they, that keep the commandments of God, and "the faith of Jesus. 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."

Gloriously successful as the Reformation eventually was, the patience of the saints was severely exercised during its progress. It was a season of great trial and persecution: and many of them of understanding perished in trying, and in purging, and in making white, their apostate brethren*. * Dan. xi. 35.

Great

1

Great was the increase whicli the noble army of the martyrs then received. They overcame the dragon, not by the arm of flesh, but "by the "blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death *" Hence they had need of that consolatory declaration, "Blessed are the dead who "die in the Lord from henceforth." By their preaching, the gloomy fears of purgatory were dispelled; and the pious learned to build with confidence upon the assurance of the Spirit, that, whenever they depart hence and are no more seen, they rest from their labours, and their "works do follow them t."

"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. 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 harvest of the "earth is ripe. And he, that sat on the cloud, "thrust in his sickle on the earth: and the earth "was reaped.

"And another angel came out of the temple "which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

* Rev. xii. 11.

For the substance of these remarks upon the characters of the three angels, I am indebted to Mr. Whitaker; whose mode of interpreting this particular portion of the Apocalypse I very much prefer to that adopted by Bp. Newton. See Whitaker's Comment. p. 430-436.

«And

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. And the angel thrust in his sickle

into the earth, and gathered the vine of the "earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the "wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden "without the city; and blood came out of the

winepress even unto the horse bridles, by the 66 space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."

Having passed the epoch of the Reformation, we now advance into the times of God's last judgments upon his enemies, the days of the third woetrumpet. Two remarkable periods of the most conspicuous of these judgments, the several steps of the whole of which are afterwards described under the seven vials, are here arranged under two grand divisions, figuratively styled the harvest and the vintage. In the days of Bp. Newton, the third woe-trumpet had not begun to sound; none therefore of the vials were then poured out. Hence his Lordship justly observed, What particular ❝events are signified by this harvest and vintage, "it appears impossible for any man to determine; "time alone can with certainty discover, for these

things are yet in futurity. Only it may be ob "served, that these two signal judgments will as "certainly come, as harvest and vintage succeed "in their season; and, in the course of providence, VOL. II. BB

"the

"the one will precede the other, as, in the course "of nature, the harvest is before the vintage; "and the latter will greatly surpass the former, "and be attended with a more terrible destruction "of God's enemies*." But, although both these signal judgments were future when Bp. Newton wrote, it has been our lot to hear the voice of the third woe, and to behold in the French Revolution the dreadful scenes of the harvest. Still however a more dreadful prospect extends before us. The days of the vintage are yet future: for the time hath not yet arrived, when the great controversy of God with the nations shall be carried on between the two seas, in the neighbourhood of the glorious holy mountain, in the blood-stained vale of Me. giddo, in the land whose space extends a thousand and six hundred furlongs†.

* Dissert. on Rev. xiv.

Such

† After a long consideration of the subject, I rest in the opinion of Mede, Newton, Lowman, Doddridge, and Bengelius, that the apocalyptic harvest denotes a harvest, not of mercy, but of wrath. Mr. Mede, who has elaborately and minutely discussed the point, observes, that the idea of a harvest includes three things; the reaping of the corn, the gathering of it in, and the threshing of it: whence it is made a type in Scripture of two direct opposites; of destruction, when the reaping and the threshing are considered; of restitution and salvation when the in-gathering is considered. (Comment. Apoc. in Messem.) Now the context of the apocalyptic harvest seems to me most definitely to teach us, that a harvest of judgment is intended. Throughout the whole book of Revelation, with the exception of a few passages which sufficiently explain themselves, the