could not, along with the temporal beast, have been engaged in it. Hence it appears, that the fall of the spiritual Babylon and the battle of Armageddon, will be precisely contemporary, both taking place together after the termination of the 1260 years*.

As for the battle of Armageddon, in which the beast and the false prophet are to be overthrown, I take it to be the concluding event of the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, mentioned by Daniel. It is the same likewise as the dreadful slaughter of the Gentiles in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, predicted in such forcible terms by Zechariah and Joel. This will sufficiently appear from comparing, as I shall presently do, all. these different prophecies together. At the close of the time of trouble foretold by Daniel, the infidel king is to come to his end, none helping him; and at the beginning of the time of trouble, which synchronizes with the first effusion of the seventh vial,

* Mr. Mede separates the fall of Babylon from the overthrow of the false prophet, and imagines that in point of time it will precede it. This opinion is built upon the idea, that Babylon is the literal city of Rome, instead of the whole papal empire. I cannot think, that it is by any means well founded, or that it at all harmonizes with the general language of the Apocalypse, in which the great city universally means, not the literal city, but the empire of Rome. This being the case, whenever the beast and the false prophet are routed at Armageddon, the temporal and spiritual Roman empire, or the mystic Babylon, will be overthrown. Mr. Mede places the fall of Babylon under the fifth vial, and the destruction of the beast and the false prophet under the last. Comment. Apoc. in Phial. v. et vii.

and

and with the termination of the 1260 years, the restoration of the Jews is to commence. At the period of the great battle of the nations, described by Zechariah and Joel, which synchronizes with the destruction of the infidel king and the battle of Armageddon, the Jews are represented as having been brought back to their own country. While, in the battle of Armageddon, predicted by St. John, which I apprehend to be the last event under the seventh vial, the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the Latin earth, are to be completely routed with dreadful slaughter by the Almighty Word of God; and an end is for ever to be put to their tyrannical and persecuting domination over the Church.

The beast, who is to take so active a part in this last great struggle, is the same septimo-octave head as that, which St. John had before identified even with the whole beast himself. To which horn of the beast the dignity of the Carlovingian Emperorship of the western Roman world will then be attached, it is impossible to determine before the event. Humanly speaking, it seems upon the eve of quitting for ever the horn of Austria. Should this be the case, and should it once more revert to France along with the old Carlovingian sovereignty of Italy†, the infidel king, at the close of the

Rev. xvii. 11.

+ Since this was written in the year 1804, the Carlovingian. sovereignty of Italy has reverted to France. May, 1805.

And

the great apostatic drama, would be identified with the last head of the beast. As for the false prophet, who is to be one of his allies in this impious war, we have already beheld a political reconciliation, or, as it is styled, a concordat between him and Antichrist*: the contrariety therefore of Infidelity to Popery will be no impediment to the accomplishment of the prophecy, that the beast and the false prophet shall be taken banded in arms together. And, with regard to the possibility of uniting all the Popish powers in one common confederacy, the growing influence of papistico-infidel France, and the ease with which she compels the surrounding vassal states to take up arms in her cause, sufficiently shew, even without the aid of prophecy, that such an union is not only possible, but probable†.

And I may now add, that yet more recently the Carlovingian Emperorship of the West has been transferred to France; consequently the Infidel king and the last head of the beast are now identified. June 5, 1806.

It may be observed, that Bp. Newton here again considers the beast, not as the Pupacy, but as the temporal Latin empire; while he justly conceives the false prophet to mean the ecclesias- · tical power of the Pope. "These enemies are the beast and the "false prophet, the Antichristian powers civil and ecclesiastical, "with their armies gathered together, their adherents and followers combined and determined to support idolatry, "and to oppose all reformation." Dissert. on Rev. xix.

I have already observed in a preceding note, that, since this was written, we have reason to believe that the bestial confederacy has begun to be formed. June 5, 1806.

The

The preceding vial testifies, that, after this confederacy has been formed, it will be gathered together by secret diabolical agency to Armaged don, subsequently to the downfall of the Ottoman empire: and there is every reason to believe, that it will be directed against the converted Jews, and the prevailing protestant maritime power of the day, under the auspices of which they will begin to be restored. The 1260 years however do not appear as yet to have expired*, nor the time of the end to have arrived. Few probably of the present generation will live to behold even the beginning of the restoration of the Jews, and the commencement of the Antichristian expedition to Palestine; still less therefore the dreadful confusion of Armageddon, with which that expedition terminates†. Whether at this period the infidel king is, or is not, to have become, like, his predecessor Charlemagne‡, the last head of the beast,

who

* My reasons for holding this opinion are stated very much at large in my answer to Mr. Bicheno, who thinks that the 1260 years have already expired. After examining the subject with as much care and attention as I am able,, I cannot refrain from thinking that he is mistaken. A few years however will decide between us. Nov. 23, 1807.

↑ I speak of course on the supposition that I am right in my date of the 1260 years. Should I be so mistaken as that they terminate earlier than I apprehended, the events of the last vial and of Daniel's time of unexampled trouble will of course happen so much earlier.

Buonapartè affects, upon all occasions, to ape the style and dignity of Charlemagne: and no moderation of character,

who shall venture now to determine? This at least is certain, that he will be a very principal the time of trouble such as never was "since there was a nation."

actor in "

As I have more than once hinted at the probability of the last head of the beast, or the Gothic Patricio-Emperorship of the Romans, becoming at the time of the end attached to the horn of France, as it heretofore was in the days of Charlemagne, I shall here simply state the declarations of concurring prophecies relative to this subject, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusions.

Daniel predicts, that, at the time of the end or the close of the 1260 years, the infidel king shall engage in a war of extermination under the pretext of religion, that, in the prosecution of this nefarious project, he shall invade Palestine, and occupy the glorious holy mountain; but that eventually he shall perish between the two seas, namely the Dead sea and the Mediterranean sea The prophet, absorbed as it were in contemplating the vast power of this impious monster, does not

notice

which he has yet displayed, gives us any reason to doubt that he wishes to tread in the steps of that ambitious conqueror. It is almost superfluous to remind the reader, that the infidel king is not the individual Buonaparte nor any other individual but the infidel kingdom or power of France.

I have already stated, that the infidel king may now be conşidered as identified with the Carlovingian head of the beast.. June 5, 1806.