frequently gives the deepest colouring to that which is present; and, whether desirable or undesirable, always enhances its import to mankind. Men of the former description, feel as if they had gained every thing, when they have compassed the object of their present wishes; and are either indifferent concerning what is to come, or take it for granted, that, when it comes, it will adapt itself to their inclinations. Men of the latter description, consider that which is done, if consistent with the revealed will of GOD, as desirable, only when the events which it draws in its train are also desirable. The leading members of the ruling party in Great Britain, immediately before the American revolution, hugged themselves on their success in being able to force through the Parliament their favourite measures for humbling the Colonies. Chatham, with an illumined eye foresaw, and with a prophetic voice declared, the disastrous consequences, which have since followed these darling

measures.

The period in which we live, is, in my own belief, marked out in prophecy as a part of that which is included within the effusion of the seven vials. The fifth of these I consider as unquestionably poured out at the Reformation. According to this scheme, we are now under the sixth, or the seventh. As several men of reputation, who have lately published treatises on the prophecies of Daniel and John, have espoused opinions widely different from this; my reasons for holding it may fairly be demanded. I will, therefore, state them in a summary manner. The fifth vial is exhibited to us in the following

terms.

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of

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darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the GOD of Heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." That the Reformation was an event, perfectly answering to this prophecy, will, I suppose, not be questioned; as without violence it plainly cannot.— The seat of the beast is literally his throne, and symbolically his power. Every one knows, that this great providential dispensation was directed immediately against the power of the Romish hierarchy.— The Pontiff, his court, his ordinary and extraordinary agents, his clergy universally, the secular princes, and the immense body of people under his control, were all agitated by a general convulsion. A large part of the dominions, over which he held a spiritual sceptre, revolted; and, notwithstanding the immense efforts, made by the Emperor of Germany, and his coadjutors, for the destruction of the Protestant cause, were finally rescued from their thraldom, and established in the full possession of religious liberty. The kingdom of the Beast was, at this time, full of darkness. The hierarchy had always been distinguished for the attribute, which we style cunning; and, it must be confessed, exercised it in a degree, to which there has been no parallel. But at this time their councils were weak and contemptible: weak, as they were wavering, and contradictory; contemptible, as they displayed that mixture of fear and falsehood, which forms the lowest trait of despicableness in the human character. His kingdom, also, was full of darkness in another sense. It was filled with sore mortification. The hierarchy, in all its branches, saw its power greatly, and finally, lessened; not a small part of its wealth irrecoverably diverted into

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other channels; and a body of men raised up in the heart of Christendom, whose number, weight, and talents, were formidable to all its interests, and threatened even its existence. That these men blasphemed the GOD of Heaven because of their pains and their sores; i. e. because of their extreme mortifications; we cannot doubt: and we know, that they repented not of their deeds. In the early part of his career, Luther would have been satisfied with a Reformation, in those things merely, which were gross and monstrous: such was his reverence for the system at large. But they had so often rolled these, as sweet morsels, under their tongues, that they could not consent to give them up. The most heretical doctrine, ever preached by any Reformer, in the view of the Romish church, was the obligation to receive truth: the most heretical practice, ever adopted, was the renunciation of sin.

terms.

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The account of the sixth vial is given in these “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water "thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of "the East might be prepared. And I saw three un"clean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of "the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and "out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they “are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which "go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the "whole world, to gather them to the battle of that "great day of GOD Almighty. Behold, I come as à "thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his

garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his "shame. And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon."

This angel, we are told, poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. The Euphrates, in the literal sense, was the source of the wealth, strength, and safety, of the literal Babylon. It ran round the walls, and through the centre, of that city; and by Cyrus and Cyaxares, the literal kings of the East who destroyed Babylon, was dried up in these parts of its channel, by being turned into a lake higher up the country. The symbolical Babylon, or the Babylon of the Apocalypse, is the Romish spiritual Empire. The symbolical Euphrates, here mentioned, is a source of wealth, strength, and safety, to that empire. To dry up this Euphrates, is to diminish, or destroy, that source of wealth, strength, and safety. The symbolical kings of the East, are those, whoever they may be, who shall destroy this spiritual Babylon. Several commentators have supposed this language to denote certain princes, who are to come from the East: making the phrase literal. This zigzag course between literal and symbolical language has, as it appears to me, had no other influence, than merely to perplex prophecy, and to render obscure what was otherwise plain. The kings of the East mean, here, nothing but the destroyers of the spiritual Babylon. Had the names, Cyrus and Cyaxares, or Cyrus and Darius, been set down, instead of the kings of the East, as they might have been with strict propriety, because literally these are the very persons intended; then we might with as strict propriety have expected Cyrus and Darius to be raised from the dead, in order to destroy the spiritual Babylon, as we may now expect kings, or any other persons, to come

from the East for this purpose. When this source, or these sources, of the wealth, strength, and safety, were dried up, or perhaps while they were drying up; in other words, when sufficient preparation was made; the prophet saw three unclean spirits, of an extraordinary character, appear, and act, as important agents in this great work of providence. These spirits had the following remarkable characteristics. They came out of the mouth of the dragon; that is, the secular persecuting power of this spiritual empire; and out of the mouth of the beast, or ecclesiastical persecuting power of the same empire; and out of the mouth of the false prophet, a primary agent of this latter power; exercising all the power of the first beast before him, and causing the earth, (the dominions of the Roman empire,) and them, who dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. This prophet might with ease, and almost with absolute certainty, be shown to be the body of monks, or regular clergy, of the Romish church. But the time will not allow me to expatiate on this part of the subject. They were the spirits of demons; malignant, subtle; hostile to human happiness, and human virtue; and enemies to GOD and the Lamb. In other words, they were bitter and violent enemies to Christianity. They were like frogs: base, grovelling; loquacious; intrusive; clamorous: to be found in every place; and pertinacious in their modes of action. They wrought miracles; or did things which were wonderful and astonishing. The great objects of these spirits is to deceive the kings of the earth, and of the whole world. The end for which they are permitted to do this, is that the kings of the earth, i. e. the powers and potentates of the Roman empire,