V. 12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall ftrike all nations that have fought againf Jerufalem: the flesh of every one shall confume away while they ftand upon their feet, and their eyes shall confume away in their holes, and their tongue shall conJume away in their mouth. While Antichrift's armies in the vale of Jofaphat are flain by the sword, those troops which took Jerufalem in the abovementioned fiege and treated there the fervants of God fo barbaroufly, will be punished by their flesh melting and confuming away, &c. and thus the people will be preserved from any ftench of the carcafes. V. 16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against ferufalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the king, the Lord of Hofts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. V. 17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go up of the families of the land to Jerufalem, to adore the king, the Lord of Hofts, there shall be no rain upon them. Thofe that join not Antichrift's army, but remain in their country, will be ordered to depute a certain number of perfons to go every year to Jerufalem to celebrate the Feaft of Tabernacles and if any country neglect this obligatory devotion, it will be punished by the want of rain. The Feast of Tabernacles was kept by the Jews in memory of their fojourning forty years in the defart, and this place may fignify the folemu feftival, which will be annually obferved by the Chriftians at Jerufalem, in memory of their deliverance from Antichrift, by the deftruction of him and his people in and near that city. And as the feaft of the tabernacles was kept on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tizri, which anfwers to the moon of our September; this may indicate that the great day of deftruction will happen about the autumnal equinox; in which cafe counting back three years and a half, Antichrift will begin his war and persecution in spring. Though Though we have already feen a pretty ample account of the fate of Antichrift, we feem however to be prefented with another beautiful picture of it, illuftrated even with fome new fcenes, by the Prophet Ifaiah. Thus fpeaks he: Chap. xiv. v. 3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that when God fhall give the rest from thy labour, and from thy vexation, and from the hard bondage, wherewith thou didst ferve before, V. 4. Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and fhalt fay: How is the oppreffor come to nothing, the tribute hath ceafed ? V. 5. The Lord has broken the ftaff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, V. 6. That ftruck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that brought nations under their fury, that perfecuted in a cruel manner. V. 7. The whole earth is quiet and fill, it is glad and hath rejoiced. Though this prophecy may in fome measure relate to the king of ancient Babylon, yet it feems to be principally fpoken of Antichrift, king of the last Babylon, and to be finally completed in him. It is ufual with prophets to join in the fame description two objects that have a relation one to the other. Here then the Almighty tells his people that, when they shall be freed from their labour, vexation, and hard bondage under Antichrift, ver. 3. they shall addrefs Heaven in a hymn of praife and thanksgiv ing faying: How is the oppreffor, Antichrift, come to nothing? The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, that struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that brought nations under in fury, that perfecuted in a cruel manner: and now the whole earth is quiet and ftill, it is glad and hath rejoiced, ver. 4, 5, 6, 7. V. 9. Hell below, continues the Prophet, was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are rifen up from their thrones, all the princes of nations. V. 10. All ball anfwer and fay to thee: Thou alfö art wounded as well as we, thou art become like unto us. V. 11. Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down: under thee ball the moth be ftrewed, and worms shall be thy covering. Here we fee the reception Antichrift meets with at his arrival in the -infernal regions. All Hell is in an uproar, the princes, the giants or famous warriors whom he had flain, rife up and advance to meet him, addreffing him with derifion: Oh! Thou art alfo wounded then as well as we, thou art at laft dealt with as thou dealt with us: Thy pride is brought down to hell, &c. V. 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didft rife in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didft wound the nations? V. 13. And thou faidft in thy heart: I will afcend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the ftars of God, I will fit in the mountain of the covenant, in the fides of the north. V. 14. I will afcend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the moft High. V. 15. But yet thou halt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit. The princes in hell continue to infult Antichrift, faying: How art thou fallen, thou that fhone in majefty and brightness like Lucifer, the morning ftar? They remind him of his former pride, arrogance, fuperlative infolence, his proclaiming himself God, &c. all which they paint in lively colours: After which with a contemptuous triumph they tell him: But yet thou shalt be. brought down to hell into the depth of the pit. V. 16. They that fall fee thee, shall turn towards thee, and behold thee: is this the man that troubled the earth, that book kindgdoms, V. 17. That made the world a wilderness, and deftroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the prison to the prifoners? V. 18. All the kings of the nations have all of them lept in glory, every one in his own house. V. 19. But thou art caft out of thy grave as an unprofitable branch defiled, and wrapped up among them that are flain by the fword, and are gone to the bottom of the pit as a rotten carcass. CHAP. XII. down The Continuation of the Hiftory of the fixth Age. NOTWITHSTANDING the vengeance of God has thus manifefted itself in the total extermination of Antichrift and his armies, his wrath is not yet fatisfied, but requires more victims to atone for the injury done to his holy worship by the eftablishment of idolatry, and for the cruelties exercifed upon his fervants. The Almighty had formerly poured out his indignation upon the Roman Emperors, many of whom were ftruck, and perished under the vifible marks of his judg ments. But this was not fufficient, he devoted haughty imperial Rome, their capital, to deftruction, and laid it in afhes. It had participated with its mafters in the crime of fupporting idolatry, and waging war against the Saints, and therefore like them was to be cut off. In the fame manner Conftantinople, the centre and metropolis of the Antichristian Empire, must also fall under the weight of the hand of God. This we learn from St. John: for thus fpeaks he, Chap. xiv. v. 8. And another angel followed, faying: That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen*: which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. * In the Greek, Babylon the great city is fallen, is fallen. fornication. This Babylon has been fuppofed by many interpreters to mean Pagan Rome, but whoever ftudies the Apocalyple with attention, will fee the error of that opinion. For St. John gives the deftruction of heathen Rome in the beginning of the 18th chapter, as we have before feen, and in the fame terms nearly, not entirely, as are used here and as St. John never repeats the fame event, this fecond Babylon must be another city, the great city, which has made all nations to drink of the wine of her fornication or idolatry. This Babylon therefore cau be no other than Conftantinople, the imperial city of Antichrift, which has fo readily joined him in admitting idolatry, and fo hotly concurred to propagate it over the whole earth. Befides, the fame conclufion follows from obferving, that the transactions related in this 14th chapter belong to the laft period of the world. Other proofs will also presently occur. But our Chriftian Prophet has not only announced to us in general the fall of this laft Babylon, but even gives us a fpecifical defcription of its deftruction. This is found in the latter part of the 18th chapter. St. John, after carrying on his narrative of the fate of old Rome, in the first part of the fame chapter, proceeds in verfe 20th, to invite Heaven and the Saints to rejoice and exult on the occafion Rejoice over her, says he, thou heaven and ye holy Apofiles and Prophets: for God has judged your judgment on her. This indicates that he here concludes his defcription of the fall of Babylon or pagan Rome. What follows, belongs therefore to the fecond Babylon or Conftantinople,, and is related thus: Chap. xviii. v. 21. And a mighty angel took up a Stone, as it were a great mill-flone, and caft it into the Jea, faying: with fuch violence as this fhall Babylon that great city be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Here then Conftantinople falls, and 3 C the |