of mankind waits with patience for the return of his strayed sheep, but their obstinacy at last forces his hand to strike. Unhappy children of the Reformation! refuse not to hear the wholesome advice of the prophet Isaiah: Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call upon him, while he is near, lv. 6. Hear the voice of God speaking to Israel, and make the application: Return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities, Jerem. xxxi. 21. And again: Be converted, O house of Israel, and do penance for all your iniquities; and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; return ye, and ive, Ezek. xviii. 30, 31, 32. But if deaf to all admonitions, they continue hardened in their own ways, what remains to be done but to lament their misfortune, and in bitterness of soul turn our eyes from the pouring out of the following vial.

*

The pouring out of the fifth Vial of the wrath of God. APOC. Chap. XVI. v. 10. And the fifth Angel, says St. John, poured out his Vial upon the seat of the beast: and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain.

V. 11.

And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds, and did not penance for their works.

Here the Angel pours out the fifth Vial of the wrath of God on the seat of the beast, or rather, according to the Greek text, on the throne of the beast. We have

observed, in the prelude to the vials, see page 38, that the general term beast has a double meaning, signifying idolatry or heresy, accordingly as either, like to a wild beast, makes its ravages in the Church. In the first and third ages it denoted idolatry, the subject of the history of those two ages. Here it is the image of heresy, the heresy of the Reformation, the characteristic

of the fifth age. Upon the throne, therefore, of this beast the Vial is poured out, that is, upon the kings and governors of the Protestant states, as they are the persons that sit, vested with power, upon the thrones of those heretical kingdoms. They, however, are themselves subordinate to their chief, Abaddon, who, as was specified in the text of the Trumpet, commands over all, and sits upon the throne as king paramount. The Protestant states become, of course, involved with their princes in the calamities poured out from the Vial, as we shall see presently.

But furthermore we may observe that, besides the single and general appellation of beast used here to express heresy, the prophet exhibits to us in the Trumpet of this age a particular beast, by which he represents and describes the heresy of the Reformation, namely, a locust-monster, which is partly locust, partly human, partly leonine, and parly scorpionic.

Besides the obvious propriety of the above explication of the Vial, a further argument may be adduced in confirmation of it. Though the different prophecies of the Apocalypse are involved in obscurity, yet one may observe the inspired writer generally throws in some glimpses of light to guide the solicitous inquirer. Thus may be remarked a fixed connexion between the Trumpets of the different ages and the respective Vials, of which we have already taken some notice. This consists in the use of the same expression in the Trumpet and Vial of the same age; which naturally leads us to the distinguishing of the object on which the Vial is poured. This object, if not precisely the same as mentioned in the Trumpet, it has at least a direct relation to it. In general, the Vial has for object the guilty part which is to be punished, and which is always pointed out in the Trumpet. Examples will elucidate the present observation. In the first Trumpet it is said, that hail and fire, mixed with blood, were cast upon the earth. In like manner the first Vial was poured out upon the earth. The same term, the earth, occurring in both, indicates that, as the Trumpet described the persecutions exercised by the Roman emperors

the sea.

and magistrates on the Christian part of the earth, so these emperors and magistrates, who are the guilty part of the earth, and plainly alluded to in the Trumpet, are the object of punishment on which the Vial is poured. After the same manner, at the sounding of the second Trumpet, a great fiery mountain was cast into the sea and the second Vial is also poured out upon From whence one may collect that, as Arian ism, signified by the fiery mountain, infected a third part of the Christian sea; so upon the Arians, who are there exhibited as the guilty part of the sea, the Vial ig poured. Again, the third Trumpet announced a grea star, burning like a torch, falling upon the rivers and fountains of waters. In like manner the third Vial is poured upon the rivers and fountains of waters. The Trumpet here describes the desolation carried by the barbarians through the guilty heathen Roman empire; therefore on this same empire is the Vial poured. Lastly, at the sounding of the fourth Trumpet the sun was smitten; and the fourth Vial was also poured out upon the sun. The allegory used here in the Trumpet, denotes the schism of the Greeks: upon them, therefore, as the guilty, the Vial is poured; or rather, it is poured on the instrument of the scourge, to fit it for execution. This constant relation observed between the abovementioned Trumpets and Vials, holds equally between the fifth Trumpet and Vial. In the Trumpet we see the locusts are ruled by a king, the angel of the bottomless fit, whose name is Abaddon. The Vial is poured out upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom becomes dark. On one side then we have the king of the locusts: on the other side we have the throne and the kingdom. Hence appears the connexion between the fifth Trumpet and fifth Vial. This Vial therefore is poured out upon the princes and states of the locust-kingdom.

In fine, we saw in the first Trumpet the Roman emperors persecuting the Christian religion; and the first Vial was poured upon them. In the second Trumpet we saw the Arians rebelling against the Church; and the second Vial was poured upon them. In the third

Trumpet we saw the Roman empire declining on account of its idolatry and enmity to Christianity; and the third Vial was poured upon it, to extinguish it. In the fourth Trumpet we saw the revolt of the Greeks against the Church; and the fourth Vial punished them. In the fifth Trumpet we see the Protestants revolting against the Church; upon whom then must the fifth Vial fall?

The Vial being poured upon the throne of the beast, it flows down from thence over his whole kingdom, the realm of the Reformation. For, his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain. But with respect to the nature of this punishment, we shall be entirely silent, and leave it to be disclosed by the event. We shall only remark that, to judge from the expression of the text, the scourge seems to be severe, and we are extremely sorry it will be so ill received: And they blasphemed the God of Heaven, because of their pains and wounds, or sores, and did not penance for their works.

We shall here add another remark. The expression, they gnawed their tongues for pain, or rather, as it is in the Greek original, they did gnaw their tongues for pain, seems to refer to a time prior to that which follows, and is thus expressed, they blasphemed, &c. and may therefore relate to the first part of the punishment imported by this Vial, which may be the scourge inflicted on the French people, and perhaps others, and seems to indicate distress of famine, &c.

CHAPTER X.

The History of the Sixth age of the Christian Church.

The rea

HITHERTO, the account we find in history of the different ages, has contributed to explain the prophecies relating to them: but with respect to the age we are now entering upon, as it yet remains sealed up in the womb of futurity, we can have no light but what must be drawn from the prophecies themselves. And because prophecies are generally conceived in few words, and those veiled with obscurity, it cannot be expected we should give so clear and comprehensive a history of the sixth age as has been done in the preceding periods. We may, however, acknowledge here an unexpected assistance, which was not allowed us before, inasmuch as that part of the Apocalypse, which treats of the sixth age, seems to be expressed in somewhat clearer terms than any other, at least it appears so to us. son we may conceive to be, that the Almighty revealer of it is willing to give us beforehand, a tolerable intelli gence of transactions that will touch us so nearly, and will be more terrible and trying to human nature, than any that have ever happened. By a previous, though imperfect, knowledge of dreadful calamities, we are warned to prepare for them. An impending evil, even the sentence of death itself, is less alarming when foreseen and expected. On that account, therefore, the divine bounty is pleased to be more copious and explicit in the revelations about the sixth age; and our prospect of it is further enlarged, by many particular scenes to be found in the ancient prophets which concur to throw an additional light over the whole picture. These are helps which, doubtless, serve in some measure, to promote and facilitate the present work; but it must be