vasion of Greece by Xerxes, the first specified event in the vision, to the drying up of the great river Euphrates, denoting the dissolution of the Turkish empire.

Whether these seeming coincidences, prophetic and historical, give full warrant for determining that the cleansing of the sanctuary, at the close of the 2300 years, and the termination of the 1290 years, are coincident with the pouring out of the sixth vial, the writer dares not venture to assert. Another period of 1335 days, or years, is spoken of in the close of the prophecies of Daniel, and of that period when completed, as if on very purpose to quash any premature or presumptuous speculation, it is only said in general terms, but of which the blissful significancy wil be none the less, Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. Till that period, or the full and final development of the whole scheme of prophecy, the times and the seasons may not be perfectly seen in all their due relations and proportions, even till these shall be fully completed, and providential and prophetic histories shall at last bear witness, that the word of God, in the history of man as well as in the creation of the world, is perfect work.

Having, in the preceding pages, attempted to trace the fulfilment of historical predictions from the Babylonish captivity to the present time, and having reached the period of the pouring out of the sixth vial, or of the drying up of the waters of the great river Euphrates, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared, we here pause, on the completion of our purposed task, and can only ask the reader to look into the scriptures, and to see, as new events arise, what the Lord is doing on the earth, and how,

through the greatness of his power, his enemies shall be constrained to submit themselves to Him. But surely we may take up the words of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, and say, "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He reveals the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.-How terrible are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."

There is not a floweret of the field, nor a star in the firmament, but what displays, by their beauty and structure, the wisdom and the power of God, who hath clothed the lily, and garnished the heavens. He is to be glorified throughout all his works. And even the wrath of man, though it worketh not the righteousness of God, shall be made to praise him. The whole of history is an illustration of his word. And kings and conquerors may be said to wear their crowns for a season, to cast them all at last at the feet of Jesus; and, though they denied the fealty, to testify from generation to generation the dominion of him to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth.

Under the sixth vial it is said, and the warning is given before the seventh angel pours out his vial into the air, Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, `lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. "I will stand," said the prophet, "upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord

answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the just shall live by faith," Hab. ii. 1-4. It is at the end that the vision speaks; and then it is seen that it does not lie. The providence of God alone can determine the mode of its fulfilment. And it is, to the last, his strange work that the Lord shall do. Farther than what is written in his word nothing can be said-and it still may be questionable whether the order of what is written there be yet so plain that he may run that readeth it.

The downfall of the Turkish empire, and of the papal power, the restoration of the Jews, accompanied by a time of universal and unparalleled commotions, the conversion of Israel, the universal diffusion of the light of the gospel, the establishment of the reign of righteousness, followed at last by peace upon the earth, seem to be truths so plainly written on the table of prophecy, that they who look on it with an unjaundiced eye cannot but see them clearly, even though running while they read.

But it ever behoves us to remember that secret things belong unto the Lord, and that his ways are not as our ways. In regard to symbolical predictions, no professed theologian, we think, can cope with the unconscious historian in the interpretation of the past. And, after having waited for three centuries subsequently to the conclusion of them all, till Gibbon fully expounded the significancy of the first six trumpets, and also for the same long period, till, if such even yet be the proper appellation, the name of the angel of the reformation was known, it would scarcely be a demonstration of bringing into captivity every

thought to the obedience of Christ, were our souls to be lifted up in high speculation or bold dogmatizing concerning visions yet unexpounded by events, or were we to maintain that any peculiar mode of interpretation should be held a matter of faith, as to what shall be or what shall not be-when at the end the vision shall speak and not lie, and refute all the fallacies that marred its form, and, perhaps, at best could but mimic its effect.

In regard to the order or course of the fulfilment of predictions yet to be accomplished, respecting which the terms I come quickly augur not long delay, or comparing scripture with scripture, it may perhaps appear, from the similarity of the description as well as congruity of the time, each being unparalleled and each completing the respective vision, that the pouring out of the seventh vial, and the battle of Armageddon, to the preparation of which it is subsequent, the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the treading down of the wine-press, and the opening of the sixth vial, are all contemporaneous. The connexion also may perhaps be established, between the pouring out of the sixth vial and succeeding visions, which future events have yet to interpret.

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 1 saw three unclean 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 a 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. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent and men blasphemed God, because of the plague of the hail: for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Rev. xvi. 12-21.

After a description of the death and resurrection of the witnesses, it is added

The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of cur Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four-and-twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple