Ver. 14. And I faw three unclean fpirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the * dragon, and out of the mouth of the beaft, and out of the mouth of the falfe prophet; for they are the fpirits 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. Here it may be proper to remember, that in symbolic hieroglyphics, a frog was the figure by which the ancients reprefented an impoftor, and hence the Oneiro-critics, or interpreters of dreams, taught, that as to dream of a dragon fignified majefty; of a ferpent, difcafe; of a viper, money, &c, so to dream of frogs fignified impoftors. See Warb. Div. Leg. B. iv. fect. 4. These unclean spirits, therefore, (for God condescends to speak to men in their own way) represent the odious impoftors who are to act as the agents of these tyrannies to betray the kings of the earth and their armies into measures for the fupport of the old antichriftian fyftem, against every attempt which will be made for its deftruction. But all these efforts will be in vain the wrath of man fhall praise God. It is his battle, and he will overthrow his enemies, and the enemies of mankind, with all their hofts,

Ver. 15. Behold I come as a thief! Bleffed is he that watcheth. This will take place at a time when men in general will have no expectation of it, but will say in their heart, +" Where is the pro

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From comparing this paffage with chap. xii. I am induced to fuppofe, that by the dragon here the emperor of Germany, the more immediate fucceffor of the Roman emperors, is intended; by the beast, the Pope and his clergy, and by the falfe prophet, (as Bishop Newton and Dr. Doddridge understand it) the second beast in chap. xiii. 11. (i.e, the French monarchy.) This will evidently appear to every impartial perfon, to be the second beaft, if we compare this place with chapters xiii. 13, 14. and xix. 29. He is thus called because like the falfe prophets of old he engages himself in fupport of tyranny and idolatry. The word Naba, the root of Nabia, a prophet, fignifies in general to declare the mind of another. Thus Aaron (Ex. vii. 1.) is styled Mofes's prophet. And with equal propriety might Lewis XIV. or the race of the Capets, be styled the falfe prophet of the Pope. These tyrannic powers are to exert themselves to engage all the kings of the earth, in fupport of the falling papacy and declining def. potifm.

They are the fpirits of devils working miracles. No one fuppofes thefe to be true miracles. This figurative language is ufed to fet forth those violences, impoftures, lies; and frauds, with which they are to deceive or frighten men, and thug bring them into their destructive measures.

† 2 Pet. iii.

mife of his coming? For fince the fathers fell afleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning." They will calculate events on common principles, and deceive themselves into ruin. Blessed is he that watcheth.

Ver. 16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, or the mountain of Megiddo, thus called because it fhall be a place more remarkable for flaughter than Megiddo ever was. Judges v. 19. 2 Kings ix. 27. and Zech. xii. 11. May our country, in that day, whether it be near or afar off, if not engaged on the fide of the King of kings, be far from the mountain of flaughter! In this country, above most others, the civil and religious rights of mankind have been protected. Let us hope, therefore, that when the Judge of all the earth-fhall make inquifition for blood, that we shall find mercy; or if, with the reft of the nations who are to be purified by affliction, we must fhare in the cup of trembling, here is ground for confidence in prayer, that mercy may be mixed with judgment; for the judgment of God will be a judgment of proportion. Where there has been moft oppreffion, where fin has been moft triumphant, and especially where there has been moft persecution of confcience, there will the heaviest woes fall. Let us therefore repent and feek God; this is at all feafons neceffary, but an additional motive enforces it, when the figns of the times fuggest some very fignal crifis to be at hand. For whether men will fee it or not, all things do not continue as they were from the beginning. "For the oppreffion of the poor, for the fighing of the needy, now will I arife, faith the Lord.”

It is but to read a few of those prophecies which speak of the wars and judgments of the latter times of the world,' to conceive the most tremendous idea of the carnage which will be made of mankind, and of the fury of the vengeance then to be poured out. When the prophets describe these judgments, it is generally, though not always, under the names of thofe nations which bordered upon Palestine, and which were the most inveterate and dangerous enemies of Ifracl, fuch as Affyria, Egypt, Moab, Edom, and others. This must be concluded, as Lowth, Mede, and others of eur most able commentators argue, because thofe judgments which they denounce are often spoken of as decifive ftrokes, that should

+ Pf. xii. s.

the

thoroughly vindicate the cause of oppreffed truth and innocence, and put a final period to idolatry, and to all the miseries and oppreffions of God's people. They are often reprefented as the immediate preludes of the restoration of Ifrael, and the feafon of univerfal peace.

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To times yet to come are such prophecies as these to be referred. Ifa. xiv. 24. "The Lord of hosts hath fworn, furely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, that I will break the Affyrian in my land; then fhall his yoke depart from off thee.-This is the purpose that is purpofed upon the whole earth, and this is the, hand that is stretched out upon all nations.”. -Chap. xxvi. 20. “Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her flain. In that day (chap. xxvii. 1.) the Lord with his fore, and great, and ftrong fword, fhall punish leviathan, the piercing ferpent, even leviathan that crooked ferpent, and he shall flay the dragon that is in the fea." Chap. Ixiii. 1-6. "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with died garments from Bozrah ?—I that speak in righteoufnefs, mighty to fave. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?—I have trodden the wine-prefs alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will ftain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."

The prophet Joel, also, prophefying of these calamities, fays, (chap. iii.) "Behold, in those days, and in that time, (when God will fhew wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, chap. ii. 30.) [namely, the political heavens and earth, states and kingdoms] when I fhall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerufalem, I will alfo gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, (which may mean any place where the Lord will execute judgment, for fo the word Jehoshaphat fignifies in the original, and by valley may be intended fome low country, called in the 14th verse the valley of decifion,) and will plead with them there for my people." Ver. 9. "Proclaim ye this among the

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Gentiles, prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the ment of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plow-shares into fwords, and your pruning-hooks into fpears: let the weak fay, I am ftrong. Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. (Thy mighty angels, fays Lowth, to discomfit thine enemies.) Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I fit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the fickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get ye down, for the prefs is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decifion."

In Zech. xiii. 7-9. there feems to be a prediction of the same times. All are agreed, that the twelfth and fourteenth chapters refer to the restoration, converfion, &c. of the Jews; nor is there but one objection that is at all plaufible, to the whole of this thirteenth being applied to the fame times. Part of verse 7, at leaft the fenfe of it, is applied (Matth. xxvi. 31.) to the fcattering of Chrift's difciples at his death. I will fmite the Shepherd, and the Sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But this appears to have been only an accommodation of this paffage, or of the fenfe of this and of other paffages, a ufual practice with the New Testament writers. [See Matth. ii. 15-17. xiii. 35. John xv. 25.] Or our Lord might speak thus in conformity to a common-place maxim, "Smite the fhepherd, cut off the leader, and his followers I will difperfe." The thread of the prophecy feems to require a different interpretation than what has been usually given to this paffage. Unity of defign fhould always be attended to in the study of the prophetic writings, as well as of other compofitions; nor fhould we fuppose so violent a break in the difcourfe of a prophet, as fome fuppofe here, unless we should be involved in an evident contradiction without it.

In chap. xi. is predicted the rejection of the Meffiah by the Jews, and their punishment and difperfion on this account. In chap. xii. we have their return and converfion. In the beginning of the xiiith the pardoning grace which fhall be extended to them. Then follows the deftruction of idolatry, and the contempt under which the antichriftian clergy, who have the mark of the beast in their hands, (Rev. xiv. 9.) and who have worn garments to deceive the

fimple,

fimple, fhall fall, and the shifts to which they fhall be reduced to escape the vengeance of mankind.

Verfe the feventh is a call to the fword of juftice to awake against the man of fin, who oppofeth and exalteth himfelf above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; fo that he, as God, fitteth in the temple of God, fhewing himself that he is God. 2 Theff. ii. 4. He calls himself the vicar of Chrift, and God's vicegerent upon earth, arrogating to himself the attributes and prerogatives of deity, and is here therefore ironically called God's fellow. Against him is God's fword to awake, and the priesthood, and all thofe orders which have been his supporters, are to be scattered... And in all the land two parts therein fhall be cut off and die, but the third fhall be left therein. Great is to be the deftruction, and great the trials of those who are not deftroyed. But being brought to repentance, then is to be fulfilled that promife which is peculiarly appropriated to the latter days. Ver. 9. They fhall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will fay, It is my people; and they fhall fay, The Lord is my God.

The fourteenth chapter more largely defcribes the deftruction of God's enemies, and the happy days which are to follow; when, (ver. 21.) There fhall be no more the Canaanite in the houfe of the Lord of hofts. Or, as the Chaldee and Vulgate tranflate the words, "There shall be no more any merchant in the house (the church) of the Lord of hofts." The Christian church shall no longer be made a market, where worldlings convert religion into a trade, and enrich and exalt themselves at the expence of the liberties and fouls of mankind. We might enumerate many of the predictions of our Saviour and his apoftles, all of which go to prove the great wars and calamities of the latter days. But I pass on to the last plague.

Ver. 17. And the feventh angel poured his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, faying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, fuch as was not fince men were upon the earth, fo mighty an earthquake and fo 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 fied away, and the mountains were not found, &c. There shall be

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