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20 And the wine-prefs was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-prefs, even unto the horse-bridles, by the fpace of a thoufand and fix hundred furlongs.

But ftill the voices of thefe three warning angels not having their due influence and effect, the judgments of God will overtake the followers and adherents of the beaft, which judgments are reprefented under the figures of harvest and vintage, (ver. 14-20.) figures not unusual in the prophets, and copied particularly from the prophet Joel, who denounced God's judgments against the enemies of his people in the like terms; (III. 13.) Put ye in the fickle, for the harveft is ripe; come, get you down, for the prefs is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. What particular events are fignified by this harvest and vintage, it appears impoffible for any man to determin, time alone can with certainty difcover, for these things are yet in futurity. Only it may be obferved, that these two fignal judgments will as certainly come, as harvest and vintage fucceed in their season; and in the courfe of providence the one will precede the other, as in the courfe of nature the harvest is before the vintage; and the latter will greatly furpass the former, and be attended with a more terrible deftruction of God's enemies. It is faid (ver. 20.) that the blood came even unto the horse-bridles, which is a ftrong hyperbolical way of fpeaking to exprefs vaft flaughter and effufion of blood; a way of speaking not unknown to the Jews, for (6) the Jerufalem Talmud defcribing the woful flaughter, which the Roman emperor Adrian made of the Jews at the deftruction of the city of Bitter, faith that the horses waded in blood up to the noftrils. Nor are fimilar examples wanting even in the claffic authors: for (7) Silius Italicus, fpeaking of Annibal's defcent into Italy, ufeth a like expreffion of the bridles flowing with much

(6) In Taanith Fol. 69. Col. 1. Lightfoot's Harmony of the N. T. in locum. Vide etiam Echa R. II. 2. Tribus annis cum dimidio obfedit Adrianus Bitterem, nec ceffarunt in

ea interficientes, donec mergeretur
equus in fanguine ufque ad os, &c.
apud Weftein in locum.
(7) Sil. Ital. III. 705.
multoque fluentia fanguine lora.

X 4

blood.

blood. The ftage where this bloody tragedy is acted, is without the city, by the space of a thousand and fix hundred furlongs, which, as Mr. Mede (8) ingeniously obferves, is the measure of stato della chiefa, or the state of the Roman church, or St. Peter's patrimony, which reaching from the walls of Rome unto the river Po and the marthes of Verona, contains the space of 200 Italian miles, which make exactly 1600 furlongs.

1

CHAP. XV.

AND in

ND I faw another fign in heaven, great and marvellous, feven angels having the feven laft plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

2 And I faw as it were a fea of glafs, mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beaft, and over his image, and over his marks, and over the number of his name, ftand on the fea of glafs, having the harps of God.

3 And they fing the fongs of Mofes the fervant of God, and the fong of the Lamb, faying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God almighty; juft and true are thy ways, thou king of faints.

4 Who fhall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations fhall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifeft.

5 And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the teftimony in heaven was opened:

6 And the feven angels came out of the temple, having the feven plagues, cloathed in pure and white linen, and having their breafts girded with golden girdles.

7 And one of the four beafts gave unto the feven

(8) In vicino item locus eft cui dictus ftadiorum numerus perinde convenit: : puta ftato della chiefa, feu ecclefiæ Romanæ latifundium, quod ab urbe Roma ufque ad ultimum Padi

oftium et Paludes Veronnonfes porrigitur fpatio milliarium Italicorum ducentorum, id eft, ftadiorum 1600. Mede p. 522.

angels,

angels, feven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

8 And the temple was filled with fmoke from the glory of God, and from his power, and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the feven plagues of the feven angels were fulfilled.

God's judgments upon the kingdom of the beaft, or Antichriftian empire, are hitherto denounced, and defcribed in general terms under the figures of harvest and vintage. A more particular account of them follows under the emblem of feven vials which are called (ver. 1.) the feven laft plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God. Thefe feven laft plagues muft neceffarily fall under the feventh and laft trumpet, or the third and laft woe-trumpet; fo that as the feventh feal contained the feven trumpets, the feventh trumpet comprehends the feven vials. Not only the concinnity of the prophecy requires this order; for otherwife there would be great confufion, and the vials would interfere with the trumpets, fome falling under one trumpet, and fome under another but moreover, if thefe feven laft plagues and the confequent deftruction of Babylon be not the fubject of the third woe, the third woe is no where defcribed particularly as are the two former woes. When four of the feven trumpets had founded, it was declared (VIII. 13.) Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to found. Accordingly at the founding of the fifth trumpet (IX. 1.) commences the woe of the Saracen or Arabian locufts; and in the conclufion is added (ver. 12.) One woe is paft, and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. At the founding of the fath trumpet (IX. 13.) begins the plague of the Euphratéan horfemen or Turks; and in the conclufion is added (XI. 14.) The fecond woe is paft, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. At the founding of the Seventh trumpet therefore (XI. 15, &c.) one would naturally expect the defcription of the third woe to fucceed: but as it was before obferved, there follows only a fhort and fummary account of the feventh trumpet, and of the

joyful

joyful rather than of the woeful part of it. A general intimation indeed is given of God's taking unto him his great power, and destroying them who deftroy the earth: but the particulars are reserved for this place; and if thefe laft plagues coincide not with the laft woe, there are other plagues and other woes after the laft; and how can it be faid that the wrath of God is filled up in them, if there are others befides them? If then thefe feven laft plagues fynchronize with the feventh and laft trumpet, they are all yet to come; for the fixth trumpet is not yet paft, nor the woe of the Turkish or Othman empire yet ended: and confequently there is no poffibility of explaining them in fuch a manner as when the prophecies may be parallel with hiftories, or evinced by ocular demonftration. The many fruitless attempts which have hitherto been made to explain them, are a farther proof that they cannot well be explained, the best interpreters have failed and floundered in this part more than any other. But before the vials are poured out, the fcene opens with a preparatory vifion, which is the fubject of this chapter.

As feven angels founded the feven trumpets, fo feven angels are appointed to pour out the feven vials, angels being always the minifters of providence; and in order to fhow that these judgments are to fall upon the kingdom of the beaft, the true worshippers of God and faithful fervants of Jefus, who had efcaped victors from the beast, VEXWrles EX T8 Sapa, and had never fubmitted to his tyranny or religion, are defcribed (ver. 2, 3, 4.) like unto the children of Ifrael after their deliverance and efcape out of Egypt. For as the children of Ifracl, (Exod. XV.) having paffed through the red fea, ftood on the fhore, and feeing their enemies overwhelmed with the waters, fung the triumphant fong of Mofes : fo thefe having paffed through the fiery trials of this world, ftand on the fea of glafs mingled with fire, which was mentioned before, (IV. 6.) and feeing the vials ready to be poured out upon their enemies, fing a fong of triumph for the manifeftation of the divine judgments; which is called the fong of Mofes and the fong of the Lamb, the words in great meafure being taken from the fong

fong of Mofes and other parts of the Old Teftament, and applied in a chriftian fenfe. After this the most holy place of the temple is opened, (ver. 5.) and the feven angels come out of the temple, (ver. 6.) to denote that their commiffion is immediately from God, cloathed like the high prieft but in a more auguft manner, in pure and white linen, to fignify the righteoufnefs of thefe judgments, and having their breafts girded, to fhow their readiness to execute the divine commands, with golden girdles, as emblems of their power and majefty. A vial then is given unto each of the feven angels (ver. 7.) by one of the four living creatures, the reprefentatives of the church; by which it is intimated, that it is in vindication of the church and true religion that these plagues are inflicted. Moreover the temple is filled with fmoke from the glory of God and from his power, fo that no man is able to enter into it; (ver. 8.) in the fame manner as the tabernacle, when it was confecrated by Mofes, and the temple when it was dedicated by Solcmon, (Exod. XL. 34, 35. 1 Kings VIII. 10, 11.) were both filled with a cloud and the glory of the Lord, fo that neither Mofes nor the priests could enter therein: a farther proof of the majestic prefence and extraordinary interpofition of God in the execution of thefe judg

ments.

CHAP. XVI.

AND I heard a great voice ont of the temple, faying to the feven angels, Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

The

In obedience to the divine command (ver. 1.) the feven angels come forth to pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth and as the trumpets were fo many fteps and degrees of the ruin of the Roman empire, fo the vials are of the ruin of the Roman church. one in polity and government is the image of the other; the one is compared to the fyftem of the world, and hath her earth, and fea, and rivers, and fun, as well as the other; and this is the reafon of the fimilitude and refeniblance

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