tion of the Roman empire, are delivered into the hands of the seven angels who are to pour them out, by one of the four Living Creatures. The angels who pour them out likewise come out of the Temple in Heaven, which is at this period first opened, when the judgments of God are made manifest. The voice likewise comes out of the Temple in Heaven, which commands the angels to pour them out; all which tends to establish the opinion, that the Church in Hea ven, or the Spirits of the glorified Saints, which are typified by the four Living Creatures, and by the Temple in Heaven, are designed to be represented as themselves inflicting those judg ments upon the nations, and as ruling them with a rod of iron, during the whole course of the period of the destruction of the Roman empire.

In the last dreadful scene of this period, namely, at the treading of the wine-press, the Saints in heaven are also described as being present, attending upon that great triumph of their Lord for of whom else are "those armies in "heaven" composed, which are mentioned in Rev. chap. xix. ver. 14, "as following Christ

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upon white horses;" the emblems of power and authority, victory and success; and "as "clothed in fine linen, white and clean" (which we read in ver. 8, of the same chapter, is

the righteousness of Saints), and who are elsewhere spoken of, in chap. xvii. ver. 14, as those that" are with him," or who attend Christ upon this occasion, and who are " called, and chosen, "and faithful" It is said, that Christ, at the head of these armies, smites the nations, and rules them "with a rod of iron, and treadeth "the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God;" and we have already noticed the promise, made in the early ages of the Church, that the Saints should be partakers of this victory, and should so "rule the nations "and break them to pieces."

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.

That the glorified Saints will attend, as here described, that final triumph of their Lord over an apostate and unbelieving world, which precedes the more glorious establishment of his kingdom, is also strongly confirmed by the most ancient prophecy that is extant relative to these events; for in the prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, as recorded by Saint Jude, we read these words: "Behold the Lord com"eth with ten thousand of his Saints, to exe"cute judgment upon all, and to convince "all that are ungodly among them of all their "ungodly deeds which they have ungodly com"mitted."

* Rev. ii. 27.

To these texts, which relate to the Saints at the commencement, during the continuance, and at the termination of the thirty years, we may add another, which relates to them at the commencement of the Millennium, and which is as follows: "And I saw thrones, and they "sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and "for the word of God, and which had not wor

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shipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, "or in their hands; and they lived and reigned. "with Christ a thousand years.'

Here it is expressly said, that the thrones are filled by the martyred Saints; and the only difference between this passage, and that in Daniel, is, that Daniel speaks of the first placing, of the thrones at the commencement of the reign of Christ during the period of Wrath; and Saint John describes the Saints as sitting: on these thrones at the commencement of the peaceful period of the Millennium.

We must next consider, that though this sublime doctrine of the present consciousness of the glorified spirits of the Saints, as to the events which pass upon earth, is, as might be expected, more clearly revealed in the foregoing texts, which speak of the transactions in heaven,

than in any other parts of the sacred writings, yet, that there is nothing in the rest of Scripture that contradicts this doctrine, but that on the contrary the passages that bear on the subject have a strong tendency to confirm it. If the thief on the cross was told that he should be that night with Christ in paradise; and if the glorified spirits of Moses and Elias were permitted to take an active interest in the concerns of the Church; and to appear to Christ in his human nature, and to "speak to him of "his decease, which he should accomplish at "Jerusalem;" that interpretation of the prophetic writings cannot be rejected as contradictory to other parts of Scripture, which represents the glorified Saints as being permitted to take an active interest in the latter days, in the concerns of the Church: the time being then come that they should receive their" reward."

I conclude therefore, that it will be admitted, that there is at least a strong appearance of probability in favour of the opinion that it is for the Saints that the thrones are placed in heaven, which are described by Daniel as being placed at the commencement of the period during which judgment is passed upon the Roman empire and upon the Papacy, and during whichthe power of both is progressively consumed and destroyed. Thus the promise, made in

Rev. chap. iii. ver. 21, is fulfilled, "To him "that overcometh will I grant to sit with me "in my throne, even as I also overcame, and

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am sat down with my Father in his throne." And in the Saints being made themselves to sit in judgment upon the Papacy, the following general promise made to the Church by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah is also remarkably fulfilled: "No weapon that is formed against "thee shall prosper, and every tongue that "shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt “condemn; this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me 66 saith the Lord."

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But to proceed: we learn from the eleventh verse, that it is the Papacy, through its abominations and its cruelty, that has principally called down these heavy judgments upon the earth; accordingly we find, that they have been inflicted only on the nine Roman-catholic divisions of the Western Roman empire; Britain, the Protestant kingdom, having escaped; how awful therefore would it be, were she now to give any decided encouragement to the principles of a religion which has been so clearly marked as the object of Divine displeasure.

The time when the Beast will be slain will be at the treading of the wine-press, or at the last great battle, called by Saint John in the