CHAPTER I.

ON MR. FLEMING'S INTERPRETATION OF THE

THE

FOURTH VIAL.

"HE defire of penetrating into futurity is a paffion congenial to the human mind; and whenever, from a careful inspection of prophecy, the attempt is attended with any fhare of fuccefs, our curiosity is awakened and our attention fixed. This, in the opinion of many, has happened with refpe&t to a Difcourfe of Mr. Fleming; fince, writing at the commencement of the present century, he gave, in the courfe of his remarks on the book of Revelation, fuch a representation of events, as, in a confiderable degree, has been accomplished near the period of its termination.

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In the fublime fcenery of the xvth ch. of that prophecy, feven angels are reprefented as having seven vials, which are called the feven laft plagues; for, fays the prophet (v. 1.), in them is filled up the wrath of God. These plagues, which are fucceffively described in ch. xvi, Mr. Fleming regards as judgments' principally, though not exclusively, upon Rome Papal 2.'

1 In the style of prophecy, every thing is called an angel, that no'tifies a message from God, or executes the will of God.' Lowman on

ch. i. 1.

2 See p. 59, 77.

The

The paffages which follow are extracted from a Difcourse, published, with three others, by Mr. Fleming 3 in the year 1701. After endeavouring to fhew, that the three firft vials pointed out events, which had undermined the power of the Roman pontiff and his adherents; he proceeds to the fourth, as foretelling other events, which would, affuredly, be in a high degree injurious to them.

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St. John fays, ch. xvi. v. 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the fun; and power was given unto him to fcorch men with fire. The chief thing,' fays Mr. Fleming, to be taken notice of here, is, that 'the fun and other luminaries of heaven are the emblems ' of princes and kingdoms, as we took notice of be'fore. Therefore the pouring out of this vial on the fun MUST denote the humiliation of fome eminent

3 Our author's father, who published a large work, entitled the Fulfilling of Scripture, was one of the 400 minifters of Scotland, who were ejected from their livings foon after the restoration of Charles II. When liberated from his confinement in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, he fled to Holland; and his fon, Mr. Robert Fleming, in confequence, carried on his studies in the universities of Leyden and Utrecht. After having profecuted them with diligence, he became fucceffively minister of the English church at Leyden, and the Scotch church at Rotterdam; and he afterwards removed to that of Founder's Hall in Lothbury. The subsequent paffage is from a letter of the Rev. Mr. Joshua Toulmin of Taunton, communicated by him to the European Magazine, and extracted from Dr. Joshua Oldfield's funeral fermon for Mr. Fleming. He was induced to fettle with the congregation in Lothbury; not only at the ' earnest invitation of the people, but by the defire of king William, who often advised with him on the concerns of his own country. But 'fuch were his modefty and prudence, that he requested, whenever he was called to court, it might be with the greatest privacy. He was richly furnished both with ornamental and folid learning; being con' verfant not only with fathers and councils, and ecclefiaftical and civil historians, but with the Oriental languages, the Jewish rabbies, and the 'polite authors, ancient and modern. He was highly valued by the prc• feffors of foreign universities.' See Pref. to his Chriftology, and Eur. Mag. for March, 1793.

po

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'potentates of the Romish intereft, whofe influences ' and countenance cherish and support the Papal cause. 8 And these therefore must be principally underflood of the houses of Austria and Bourbon, though ⚫ not exclusively of other Popish princes.-So that there is ground to hope, that, about the beginning of another fuch century, things may again alter for the better: for I cannot but hope that fome new mortifi*cation of the chief fupporters of Antichrift will then happen; and perhaps the French Monarchy may begin 'to be confiderably humbled about that time that whereas the present French king takes the fun for his • emblem, and this for his motto, Nec pluribus impar, 'he may at length, or rather his fucceffors, and the Monarchy Itfelf (at least before the year 1794) be forced 'to acknowledge, that (in respect to neighbouring po* tentates) he is even fingulis impar. But as to the expiration of this vial, I do fear it will not be until the year 1794. The reafon of which conjecture is this; * that I find the pope got a new foundation of exaltation, ' when Justinian, upon his conqueft of Italy, left it in * a great measure to the pope's management, being willing to eclipfe his own authority, to advance that of this haughty prelate. Now this being in the year 552; this, by the addition of the 1260 years, reaches down to the year 1811; which, according to prophetical ac'count, is the year 1794-'

After declaring that the fun of the papal kingdom would for a time be suffered to run his dreadful career, he adds, But if they enquire farther, whether the fun

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of the popifh kingdom is not to be eclipfed himself at 'length? I must pofitively affert he will; elfe this vial

were not a judgment upon him and the Romish party. But if yet again the queftion be, when this is to fall out and how? I must tell you, that I have nothing • farther

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'farther to add to what I have faid, as to the time. But

as to the manner, how this is to be done, our text does lay a foundation of fome more diftin&t thoughts. Therefore in the 4th and laft place, we may juftly fuppose; that THE FRENCH MONARCHY, after it has fcorched others, will ITSELF CONSUME by doing so; its fire, and that which is the fuel that maintains it, wafting infenfibly, till it be exhaufted at laft towards ⚫ the end of this century 4.'

That fuch paffages as thefe fhould ever have been conceived to foretell ruin to the people of France, and fuccefs to the combination of crowned heads againft them, seems not a little furprizing. Every perfon, who has flattered himself with the idea, that our learned divine had predicted the downfal of this great nation before the year 1794, has widely mistaken the hope and the expectation of an author, with whofe political fentiments he discovers himself to be altogether unacquainted.

The Character of the man, the general Design of his difcourfe, and the plain Import of the words themselves, forbid alike fuch a fuppofition.

To the principles of toryism and tyranny Mr. Fleming ever fhewed himself a ftrenuous opponent. Among the works, of which he was the author, is a Difcourfe on the Death of King William, printed only the year after that which he published on the Apocalypfe. Aware that he was likely to be attacked for the extent to which he had carried his love of freedom, he fays, in the preface to the former of thefe Difcourfes, If any fhall 'quarrel with me for what I have curforily fuggested

4 P. 65, 68, 74.

Of thefe, his Christology, in 3 volumes 8vo, was the most considerable in point of fize.

in behalf of the liberty of mankind; I shall not think it worth my while to take notice of them.' A little farther he recommends, that the advocates of oppreffion and flavish obedience fhould be tranfported to Turkey, that they might learn their doctrine in its highest elevation from the fultan and the mufti. Or, if that journey be too long, that they may ftep over only to France, and behold what the ftate of mankind is there. Speaking of king William, he says, Nor was he ever ' so mad as to dream, that kings, popes, prelates, or lords were fent down, as it were from the clouds, booted ' and fpurred to ride and tyrannize over their inferiors; 'as if other men were a lower fort of animals, made for them to ufe as they please 6.

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Had

6 P. 129. To evince yet farther the ardour of Mr. Fleming's zeal for the interefts of civil liberty, I fhall transcribe, on a subject which is in itself interesting, some paffages from his work, entitled, the Hift. of Hereditary Right; wherein its indefeafibleness, and all other fuch late doctrines concerning the abfolute power of princes, and the unlimited obedience of fubjects, are fully and finally determined. By this zeal our orthodox divine was excited to cenfure the patriarch Jofeph in the feverest terms.

It must indeed be confeffed, that the fon of Jacob, amiable as was his character in the younger part of life, appears to have been afterwards corrupted by his long intercourfe with a court. We learn in the xlift and xlviith chapters of Genefis, that after obtaining poffeffion of the corn which grew upon the eftates of the people of Egypt, he took advantage of a dreadful famine which enfued; and obliged them, in exchange for food, to deliver into the hands of Pharaoh the far greater part of their property; their money, their horses, and their cattle. But this did not fatisfy his, ambition and that of the monarch. We find the famifhed Egyptians at length reduced to fuch extremities, that they' exclaim unto Joseph, Wherefore fhall: we die.-Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be fervants unto Pharaoh, i. e. as bishop Patrick explains it, We, that were free, will become the king's bond-men; and

our land, which was our own, we will hold of him.' And Jofeph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians fold every man his field, becaufe the famine prevailed over them: fo the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of