ing has this been to the Church of Christ! What a tremendous stroke has it been to Antichrist! It is a sure presage of his final and total destruction. For this will be as certainly accomplished in God's appointed time, as it has been predicted in his revelation. How great is the privilege of Britons in having been so long separated from the communion of the idolatrous and antichristian ecclesiastical power described in this book! Surely "the lines

are fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a "goodly heritage." But as our privileges are great, our obligations are proportionably augmented. God has granted us the everlasting Gospel, that we might "fear him, and give glory to his name;" and that we may worship him as the great Creator and righteous Governor of the universe. Let us then look up to him as our reconciled Father through Jesus Christ, and proceed in the path in which by his word and his providence he directs us to walk. If called to endure trials, labours, and difficulties, in our Christian course, may we possess "the patience "of the saints," and of those who " keep the com"mandments of God and the faith of Jesus!"-The conflicts of the Christian, however severe, will be short; and nothing can prevent or delay his sharing in the blessedness of the dead that die in the Lord. The holy Apostle, by divine command, has recorded this truth, and the blessed Spirit has attested it. After death, a period which is not far distant from any of the living, believers "rest from their labours, "and their works do follow them;" while those who persecuted and hated them "rest not day nor "night, but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever."

SECTION VIII.

The Vision of the Harvest and the Vintage.

Chap. xiv. 14-20.

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 earth; 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 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 gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horsebridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

The predictions contained in these verses, seem to refer to those judgments of God which will overtake the followers and adherents of the beast, and which are represented by the images of a harvest and a vintage. These are figures which frequently occur in the word of God, and the language here used is very similar to that of the Prophet Joel, who denounced the judgments of God against the enemies of his people in the same metaphorical terms.

"Put

ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow:

"for their wickedness is great *." What particular events may be predicted by the harvest and the vintage, time must determine, as they are, perhaps, yet future; unless, indeed, the bloody scenes exhibited in France and on the continent, in consequence of the French revolution, should be considered as the commencement of the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning the harvest. But, pro

bably, we are not yet capable of determining on the subject, as a more general and almost universal display of divine vengeance on all the kingdoms of the beast (those only excepted who have fully and decidedly cast off their allegiance to him) may be intended by the harvest. But all the predictions in this book, according to the general analogy of prophecy, are more or less obscure till after the period of their fulfilment. Thus far we have proceeded by the guidance of past events; and on the whole, there can be little doubt, but that the outline of the exposition is correct. Many commentators indeed, especially among the moderns, explain some things differently; but the views hitherto given are sanctioned by the highest authorities. In what remains, from the period of the Reformation to the com

* Joel, iii. 13.

In studying this book, and reading the various commentators and expositors in my possession, my own views and sentiments have been formed after considerable deliberation; but, in the statements generally given, I am shielded by the names of several of the most eminent commentators, whose sentiments, amidst a variety of conflicting opinions, after much consideration, I have been constrained to adopt, and the substance of whose language I have frequently taken the liberty to use.-In the great and leading outline of this exposition, Joseph Mede, Bishop Newton, and Mr. Scott, have hitherto been my principal prototypes; and to the last mentioned I am under peculiar obligations for the free use I have frequently made of his language. It will, however, be observed by the general reader, that I have "called no man master." The sentiments of other commentators have sometimes been taken in opposition to the views of these eminent men; and in some few instances I have ventured to differ from all the expositors and commentators in my possession.

mencement of the millennium, it becomes expositors to speak with less confidence than they are authorized to do in what is known to be fulfilled. Hitherto we have seen an exact and surprising fulfilment of many and complicated predictions, through the long period of above seventeen hundred years; namely, from A. D. 96, to the present period. If my opinion be correct, it will be found that most of the events predicted to take place previously to the slaying of the witnesses and their resurrection have actually occurred, excepting those only typified by the sixth vial. The death and resurrection of the witnesses, as has been stated, will not happen till a short time before the termination of the twelve hundred and sixty years of their prophesying; at the end of which period, and not before, according to the evident synchronisms of this book, as incontrovertibly established by Mr. Mede, the seventh trumpet, or the third woe, will sound. But whether the events predicted by the harvest and the vintage precede or follow the sounding of the seventh trumpet, cannot perhaps, at present, be positively determined. I am, however, inclined to believe, for reasons that hereafter will be more explicitly stated, that the former will be previous, and the latter subsequent, to this event; and that the harvest is afterwards more particularly described by the pouring out of the first six vials under the second woe trumpet, and the vintage by the effusion of the seventh vial on the sounding of the third woe But, at all events, this harvest and vintage evidently relate to the calamities to be inflicted on the beasts, namely, the secular and ecclesiastical empires of Rome; and ultimately to their complete and final perdition. The preceding events not having produced a voluntary and effectual reformation in the kingdoms of the beasts, the iniquity of the nations composing these kingdoms will be filled up, and they will become ripe for those judgments which are here emblematically described

as a harvest and a vintage. And as the latter succeeds the former in the course of nature, so it is subsequent to it in the prophecy, and will far surpass it in its terrors, and in the more awful destruction of the enemies of God.-In this vision the Apostle saw one like unto the Son of Man in human nature upon a white cloud, the emblem of his holy and mysterious dispensations; his golden crown signified his uncontrollable authority; and his sharp sickle, his terrible vengeance on his enemies, particularly over that enemy who is eminently styled Antichrist. Another angel calls on this emblematic personage to reap the harvest of the earth, because it is now fully ripe. The papal power has long been growing towards its maturity in sin, and when it is become fully ripe it will be devoted to destruction. Every thing, whether good or evil, has a tendency to maturity. This is the case with all individuals and all communities. But what is the maturity of Popery? Is it superstition, or intolerance, or idolatry, or cruelty? In all these respects it seems long ago to have arrived at an acme which cannot easily be exceeded. Perhaps, therefore, the maturity of Popery may be infidelity. It is an undoubted fact, that multitudes in popish countries have, of late years, become infidels; and it is equally a fact, that Popery has a tendency to produce this effect. It is, therefore, highly probable, that the generality of Papists may hereafter sink into infidelity. My sentiments coincide with those who believe that there is no solid ground for Mr. Faber's hypothesis of an infidel king, any more than of an infidel Antichrist. In all probability, however, infidelity will be one of the distinguishing features of the last times of Popery. What is said in the Scriptures concerning "scoffers "of the last times," is, indeed, descriptive of what has daily been witnessed in the present age; but it must be remarked, that this is spoken of individuals, and not of churches, or communities, as such.