ist, to a degree greatly in advance of those countries where the freedom of both is restrained.

These types, small and insignificant as they appear to be, are the most powerful agents in the world in overthrowing kingdoms and empires. They are more dreaded by the despots of the earth than gunpowder and cannon-balls ever

were.

The angel, described by the prophet in this chapter, is the art of printing, in the full, free, and unrestrained exercise of its powers.

1. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and foul bird.

3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

We are not to suppose that the prophet confined himself to the order of events, as they occurred at successive periods of time, when he says: And after these things I saw another angel, &c., as if that which he now speaks of had not existed until all the events previously noticed had transpired.

When he says, after these things, he means after these revelations there was another revelation made to me, in which I saw another angel come down from heaven. He could not tell everything at once, even if we suppose that the world's whole future had been thrown open to his view at one time. He has just finished, or rather the angel has just concluded his explanation of the great civil and ecclesiastical power of Europe in combination, and traced them down to their overthrow and extinction; and he now gives us, in the vision of this chapter, the agencies which have been chiefly instrumen

tal in producing their overthrow, which was the angel that he now speaks of.

The Apocalypse, now freed from the particular line, or succession of events, which had previously controlled its visions, opens to the view of the prophet in a promiscuous way, several important events which have aided in producing the great changes in civil and religious governments, noticed in the preceding chapter.

The angel cannot be said to symbolize the Reformation; for the Reformation was nothing more than the revival or reäppearance of what had been well-known to the world long before.

Christianity was no stranger to the world; it had lived and prevailed almost fifteen hundred years before this angel made his appearance. It had survived the destruction of the nation that gave it birth, and afterwards conquered the Roman empire in its religion, the very power which had destroyed the nation from which Christianity sprung.

But the art of printing was a new thing in the world. It had never been known to men before the fifteenth century. It came just at the time its services were needed. It came just when Christianity recommenced its great struggle with the powers of the world, and the darkness that covered the minds of the people. This was the torch which Christianity seized, and by its light illumined the dark places of the earth; and, to use a figure familiar to us all in the present day—the art of printing is the great steam-engine upon which Christianity over-rides and prostrates the institutions of superstition and despotism.

And the earth was lightened with his glory. The power of printing has forced the light of civilization, and improved man's political and religious condition, even to the ends of the earth.

The proper liberty of man does not depend so much upon any particular form of government, as upon the principles of his government. Safe and permanent liberty is based upon

the revealed word of God; and whatever nation takes this for the model of its government, and conforms its laws with this revealed will, cannot fail to enjoy that liberty which is most consistent with the happiness of man. This truth is laid down amongst those axioms by which our Savior describes the true liberty of man: If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. This, like most of the great principles of the moral government of God, is alike applicable to nations and individuals.

This angel introduces the era of a great conflict-the powers of truth with the powers of error. Christendom was then under the dominion of a false and superstitious religion. Man was under the worst kind of bondage. His mind was imprisoned by a religious system which opposed light, and maintained itself by cruelty instead of revelation.

The angel introduces an antagonistic power-the power of enlightening men. Between these powers there was of necessity a desperate struggle. The result of this struggle is announced at the same time that the cause of it is announced, which, by its gradual operation, is to produce this resultBabylon the great is fallen, fallen! This great world-wide system of religious oppression is termed Babylon the great, which connects it with the woman of the seventeenth chapter, that being one of the distinguishing titles written upon her forehead. This name is derived from the stern and unrelenting dominion over the minds of men, which was the peculiar characteristic of the church of that day; a slavery infinitely more cruel and debasing than the bondage of the body.

The angel cries with a loud voice, signifying the vast consequences of its triumph-Babylon is fallen; and, as if to make the declaration more emphatic, he repeats-is fallen!

The blows which Luther, and Zuinglius, and their coworkers in the Reformation, dealt to this gigantic power, and which have been followed up with increasing force and frequency by the power and light of this angel, have caused

it to totter and yield, until this very Babylon, which for merly uttered its voice, and the thrones of Europe trembled, now requires the bayonets of Austria and France to protect its trembling shadow of power, and to uphold its dying authority, even in Rome itself.*

The prophet announces this downfall of Babylon as the grand climax of the glory of this angel. But he now proceeds to things more particular: And is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird.

The meaning of this description of her moral character, is not that she has become thus corrupt and vicious, since this angel came into the world, but that these traits and peculiarities were only now made manifest, by the light of the angel. The true character of this spiritual Babylon, now comes to be known throughout the world, by the spreading of the knowledge of gospel truth, by means of the art of printing; and, for the want of this facility, she had kept her dark depravity concealed from the knowledge of mankind in all previous ages.

This much the prophet says, in the 3d verse for all nations, not having the means of fully understanding the corruptions and abominations of the church, have drunk of the wine of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed sick through the abundance of her delicacies.

The people were stupified and besotted by the vicious teachings of their spiritual guides; the system infected its votaries with all the depravity peculiar to itself, and the political powers of the earth rendered a blind and infatuated obedience to the authority of the Pope.

The merchants of the earth, in the twenty-fifth verse, are styled the great men of the earth. This greatness is not political or civil; neither does it arise from that importance

* 1851.

which success in trade gives to men; but it signifies the preeminent rank and honor, above all other men, which was conferred upon all who exercised the least figment of authority in the great Babylonish system. Priests, bishops, cardinals, and Popes, received the humblest submission and most servile adulation of the people. In this way, the property and the bodies and souls of deluded votaries were at the command of these great men of the earth. They are called merchants figuratively, because they traded in the spiritual treasures of the church. They sold indulgences, sold deliverance from purgatory, and sold heaven itself. It is not surprising that these merchants became rich men as well as great men. Their merchandize became very desirable in the eyes of the people, and no price could be too exorbitant for such inestimable treasures.

men.

As the Reformation progressed and the light of the true religion spread, better views of Christian duty, and a higher sense of religious propriety, would necessarily obtain amongst Almost the first conviction they would experience under this superior light would be the danger of continuing a connection with a church that now disclosed such a state of gross immorality as that described in the second verse. Not only must men renounce the false teachings of their former religion, but they must forsake all connection with it. They must not remain where they were, for evil communications corrupt good manners, in a religious as well as in a social state.

Luther had no intention of separating from the Church of Rome when he first assailed its errors. His object went no further than to correct its errors and reform its doctrines. But this temporising policy would not answer. The old system was too rotten in all its parts to admit of being successfully repaired. It could not be patched into strength and usefulness; it must be abandoned and left to the fate denounced against it in the eighth verse, to be utterly burned with fire.