If it be objected, that these calamities were visited upon the reformed rather than the Romish church; this may be admitted, and yet not derogate from the propriety of the view here taken; for who were the reformers principally at this period, but those who had been hitherto the dupes and instruments of popery; and who at length, having their eyes opened, desired to shake off its yoke; but experienced the evils of that tyranny which they had formerly supported? For instance, as Mosheim says in the sixteenth century, in Spain and Italy "great numbers of all ranks expressed an aversion for the papal yoke; but the popes put a stop to the progress of the reformation, by letting loose upon the pretended heretics their bloody inquisitors; and by racks, stakes, and gibbets, soon terrified the people back into popery." In the seventeenth century, resistance to the papal power produced similar effects in Portugal; and in Bohemia, after a fruitless struggle, and the unfortunate battle of Prague, the attempt to escape from papal tyranny was frustrated. Some were committed to a perpetual prison; others banished for life; several had their estates confiscated; many were put to death; and the whole nation, says Mosheim, was obliged, from that fatal period, to embrace the religion of the victor, and bend an unwilling neck under the yoke of Rome."- Vol. v. p. 108.

In France, this spirit caused the edict of Nantes to be revoked, and in other countries the same cause naturally produced similar effects; the sufferers having been for the most part either Roman catholics themselves, or their immediate descendants.

THE FIFTH VIAL.

CHAPTER XVI.

Verse 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial on the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened, and they bit their tongues from suffering.

11 And they blasphemed the God of heaven from their sufferings and their sores, and repented not of their works.

1750-1800.

The countries which profess the Romish faith, are distinctly announced as the objects of this visitation, whether moral, political, or both.

And these countries have been especially visited by the calamities that have convulsed Europe for the last thirty years; and nearly subverted the papal throne.

If the calamities of the last Vial appear somewhat equivocal as to the objects on whom they fell, its victims being rather such as had been, than such as continued to be supporters of Antichrist; there can be no question as to the objects of the present Vial, its judgments falling directly on the throne of the beast. And such judgments they certainly have been as are wholly unparalleled in history, whether they be viewed morally or politically. For the event here alluded to can be no other than that terrible explosion the French revolution. Whatever room there may have been for reprehension in the conduct of this fearful struggle against superstition and tyranny, it cannot be viewed by the liberal and enlightened otherwise than as a natural consequence of the long reign of darkness and delusion which had preceded it, and as a gigantic effort of the human mind to burst its fetters and obtain its emancipation.

The evils of this great convulsion, moral, political, and religious, have strikingly fulfilled the prophecy, and fallen upon the throne of the beast; for they have been almost exclusively visited upon those countries where the Romish faith predominated, as Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and France.

It is however in a spiritual sense alone, that the true Christian can be said to have enjoyed complete exemption from the moral evils visited upon the Romish church during this momentous crisis.

THE SIXTH VIAL,

CHAPTER XVI.

The history extending to the East as well as the West, now intimates the downfal of the Ottoman Empire; the great barrier that prevents the dissemination of Christianity among the Eastern nations.

The nature of these three spirits may be inferred from their origin. origin. From the dragon proceeds irreligion; from the beast, worldly ambition; from the false prophet, false religion, (Mahommedism).

These will be leagued together for the support of their worldly interests, and in opposition to those of true religion; but will receive a signal overthrow.

And this defeat, though foretold and looked for, will yet be more sudden than is expected.

Whether the final conflict be spiritual or political, or both, the event alone can determine.

The drying up of the Euphrates, (in evident allusion to the dominion established by the Euphratean horsemen under the Sixth Trumpet), is a metaphor that appears singularly appropriate to the gradual manner in which the Ottoman Empire is now dwindling away. And as the Eastern and Western Apostacy arose at the same time, so it here appears that they are destined to fall together. There can scarcely be a doubt, that the third party to the league announced in verse 13, applies to the imposture of Mahomet, and to the Turks.

THE SEVENTH VIAL.

CHAPTER XVI.

Verse 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a loud voice from the temple in heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

18 And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as never was from the time that men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great.

19 And the great city became divided into three parts; and the cities of the nations fell, and the great Babylon was remembered before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of

his anger.

1850-1900.

In scriptural language, Satan is styled the prince of the power of the air. His dominion is now to be overthrown.

Great commotions and political convulsions attending this final conflict, are announced under the symbols of thunderings, lightnings, and earthquake.

The city about to be divided is Rome, in some sense; by the spiritual Babylon, the ecclesiastical hierarchy seems most probably designated.

Islands and mountains, naturally places of strength, here may mean the strong holds of superstition and priestcraft.

Hail, before used to symbolize the contention for worldly power, may here signify the last struggle of tyranny and superstition to retain their usurped dominion.

The fulfilment of this Vial being future, forbids a more particular interpretation than the one offered above. To attempt this would be needless, if not presumptuous.

The subject is continued and enlarged upon in the succeeding chapters, according to the plan before repeatedly pursued; and the events which appear not far distant will probably soon render the fulfilment clear and satisfactory.

THE ANGEL'S INTERPRETATION.