those belong, whom the unerring voice of prophecy has denounced as the destroyers of the earth.

To those who are actuated by this folicitude I observe, that as each of the fix preceding trumpets foretold a mighty war', which was to be followed by fome important event; fo alfo does the feventh; and to their attention I recommend the obfervations of the following commentators, on the effect which is to be produced by this most memorable of the trumpets. The events it foretells, they unite in afferting, belong to the Western part of the Roman empire, or the dominions of the tenhorned Beast. The third woe,' fays bp. Newton, 'is the ruin and downfal of the antichriftian kingdom." It does, fays Mede, destroy the kingdom of the Beast1. The fole object of the third woe,' declares Dr. Crefsener, is the party of the Beaft; and it ends with the 'ruin of that party".' That it brings on the total ruin of the Antichriftian power, is the statement of Mr. Pyle. The object of the third woe or seventh trumpet, says Mr. Durham, is the executing of God's vengeance upon Antichrift and the kingdom of the Beaft; the deftroying of them that formerly deftroyed the earth.' The ' seventh trumpet,' fays Daubuz,' is to have a mixture of woe for the corrupted Chriftians, and joy to the just, 'who are to be retrieved from that tyranny they have groaned under.' It will contain a Great Revolution, ' with amazing circumstances of fuddennefs and terror12. But to multiply citations is needlefs. This is not a matter that rests upon the opinion of commentators. No attentive reader can peruse the account of the seventh trum

·

• Employed in the field of battle, and in the proclamation of war, trumpet is a natural emblem of the latter.

so P. 587, 591.

"Judgm. on the Rom. Ch. p. 245.

12 P. 451, 543.

12

the

pet, without perceiving that this is the period, in which all defpotic rule shall be abolished.

What words can be plainer and more decifive than those of the introductory verse: and the feventh angel founded and there were great voices in heaven, faying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Chrift? What language can be more expreffive than that of the 18th verfe already cited; that God will deftroy them which deftroy the earth?

Let it not be fupposed, that I am chargeable with inconfiftency, because I here understand the word earth in its plain and literal sense, whilft elsewhere I have generally annexed to it a fymbolic fignification. That there is a mixed ufe of the plain and figured style in the prophecies of Holy Writ, bp. Hurd observes13; and the obfervation admits not of difpute.

But though the feventh trumpet is undoubtedly to be levelled against the Gentile and antichriftian part of mankind; though it is to bring ruin on the heads of thofe, who stand up to defend the different fyftems of tyranny; though its refult will be affuredly joyful and beneficial to mankind, far beyond what language can express; yet, as it includes in it at least one hard-contefted war, it is perhaps to be feared, that the evils infeparable from it may reach all descriptions of perfons. Some paffages of prophecy might indeed be alleged, which appear to countenance this gloomy idea.

6

The name of woes, fays Sir I. Newton, is given to the wars to which the three laft trumpets found, to diftinguish them from the wars of the four first 14.' But whether the third woe points to one great and eventful war, or to a fucceffion of wars, it is not now per haps poffible to afcertain.

With refpect to the perfons who are to inflict the third woe upon the antichriftian part of the European world, I fhall quote from Dr. Creffener, one of the many writers who declared it to be his opinion that France was the country, where the fymbolic refurrection of the witneffes would probably take place. It is,' he fays, to be concluded, that the executors of the third woe ' are the rifen witneffes, and that they are altogether the agents in it.' Indeed, fays he, the particular reason ' of interpofing the account of the death and refurrection of the witnesses before the end of the second woe, 'feems evidently to be to show what enemy it was that 'fhould be the third woe, and who should be the ob'jects of it15.'

15

One principal defign of the xith chapter, fays Dr. Goodwin, is to give the immediate tokens or fignals ⚫ that shall fore-run the ending of the times of the Beast". And he elsewhere fays, 'in this their refurrection, there is ' a fore-running fhadow of that last great victory, which "brings in the kingdom of Chrift, for the Thousand 'Years. Of the glorious beginning whereof, under the ⚫ seventh trumpet enfuing, v. 15, this is ordained to be the dawning".' That by writers of all ages the fymbolic re. furrection of the witnesses has been viewed in this light, he indeed declares 18; and a little farther obferves, that

the true reafon, why this particular occurrence, though 'falling out but in a tenth part of Europe, is here made ' mention of rather than any other,' is on account of its peculiar fitness to prefignify what is destined to follow. The refurrection of the witneffes, fays Mr. Haughton, is a fign, • that Antichrift's utter ruin is near, even at the

door 19"

When it is faid in v. 14, that the fecond woe is paft; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly; the meaning appears to be this: the career of the Turkish victories is now arrefted, to their invafions a bar is fet, and experiencing a fenfible declenfion of power, no longer are they a fcourge to the Christian world; this woe is paffed by 20; and, behold, the Revolution in the Tenth Part of the city having been accomplished, another memorable period enfues, denominated the third woe.

A remarkable claufe of the 18th verfe has been twice quoted. The whole of it is important. It needs elucidation, and the whole fhall be cited. And the nations were angry: and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged [or rather vindicated]; and that thou fhouldft give reward to thy fervants the prophets, and to the faints, and to them that fear thy name, Small and great; and fhouldft deftroy them which deftroy the earth. That this verfe cannot poffibly refer to the Day of Judgment may be feen in any of the best commentators, and is undeniably proved by Vitringa.

The nations, or, as I think it ought rather to be rendered, the Gentiles" were angry. The Gentile part of mankind, the advocates of abufes and antichriftianifm, were

20 Dr. Creffener long ago observed, that he did not apprehend it to be 'neceffary, that the end of the fecond woe fhould be the utter ruin of the 'Turkish empire.' For,' fays he, I fee that the Saracens, who were unquestionably the first woe, are said to be passed away, as they were 'the first woe, long before the end of the Saracen empire, that is, at the ' time when they ceased to be any longer a torment and vexation to the Roman empire, which was near 200 years before the laft end of their own empire. Judg. on the Rom. Ch. p. 132. See fimilar observations in the more early commentaries of the no less learned writers, Brightman and More.

" Often is ra on thus rendered in our English Tranflation, as for in stance in v. 2 of this ch. and as it is in this place by Brightman. Mede, on this verse, expressly styles them the pfeadochriftiani, p. 1113.

offended

offended at the Revolution which happened in the Tenth Part of the fymbolic city, and at the progrefs of knowledge, which portended a change in other countries. This anger of theirs, fays Daubuz, imports refiftance ' and war, to oppose the kingdom of God and his Christ. -But this anger or refiftance, will prove their third woe, or utter deftruction.' Whether thofe who are now angry at the French revolution be among the Gentiles here spoken of, and whether those who have kindled the war against France be in any respect alluded to, are points which I fhall leave to the reader's own judgment, that he may decide upon them for himself. A quotation or two on this fubject I fhall, however, allege. That which follows is from that diligent reader of commentators and of prophecy, Dr. Henry More. And the nations were angry. 'Which anger, according to the sense of ALL EXPOSITORS, is their anger and envy conceived at the rifing of the witnesses 22. In the opinion of Dr. Priestley, this prophecy is now fulfilling. Apprehending this to be a fign of the times, and one of the fignals which indicate that the period of the seventh trumpet has recently commenced, this celebrated writer afks, when have we seen, or heard of, fuch anger and rage in nations, fuch vio'lence in carrying on war, and fuch destruction of men, as at this very time? It is thought that the last campaign

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only has deftroyed many more men than all the eight 'years of the American war, and probably more than 'the long war before it; and from the increased arma⚫ments of the belligerent powers, and their increasing animofity, it is probable that the approaching campaign ' will be more bloody than the laft". That the revolu tion in the Tenth Part of the symbolic city would be ac

Anfw. to Remarks, &c. 1684, 4to. p. 307.

13 Faft Serm, for Feb. 28, 1794, p. 10, 11.

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companied