but of hail and fire, of burning mountains and seas of blood, of darkening of the sun, moon and stars, of horrid monsters which vomit fire, and destroy innumerable myriads of men to hear of nothing but woe after woe, without intermission or prospect of end, terrifies the boldest spirits, and oppresses the strongest faith. The woes of the two last trumpets had now afflicted the nations for near a thousand years; and the enormities of Antichrist had prevailed for a longer period. To revive the spirits, and to animate the hopes of God's servants, an angel appears at the end of the sixth trumpet, or the second woe, to assure them that the time of corruption, persecution, and calamity, shall not continue much longer, but that the seventh and last trumpet shall soon be sounded, and that woe come upon Antichristian oppressors which shall finish the mystery of God, and introduce among men his glorious kingdom of righteousness, peace, and happiness. Seeing then that there are the most cogent reasons for concluding that the woe of the sixth trumpet terminated about the year 1697, near a hundred years ago, and that many good and eminent men have been daily expecting, since that time, the judgments of the seventh trumpet, which are to bring the triumphs of Popery, idolatry, oppression, and wickedness, to an end, and introduce the kingdom of Christ, it becomes us to attend to the signs of the times, and see whether the fig-tree is not shooting forth, and announcing the approach of summer. May. the Spirit of God direct and illumine our minds, that we may understand his word and judge rightly!

Chap. x. 1. "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book open." Most commentators, since Mede, have considered this little open book in the hand of the angel as a codicil to the seven sealed book; but I am thoroughly persuaded that this mighty angel is a sublime personification of that revival of learning and extraordinary spread of knowledge, which had their beginning during the course of the Turkish woe, just before related; and the little open book in the angel's hand is at once a symbol of the invention of printing, and of the disclosure and illustration of the word and mysteries of God: by which invention, and the consequent easy and extensive spread of

knowledge, the way has been prepared for the sounding of the seventh angel, and the ruin of Antichrist*.

Ver. 2. "And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth, and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saving unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hands to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever-that there should be time no longer;" (ÓTI Xpovos oun esa εTI) that is, as Dr. Doddridge has well expressed it, "the times of the judgments, to be signified by the pouring out of the seven vials, should not be much longer delayed." And thus also do Brightman and others explain it, as meaning that delay should be no longer, but that the seventh trumpet should now speedily sound, and the judgments of God bring Babylon the Great to a rapid end. And then (ver. 7) the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. Then the providence of God, in permitting the kingdom of his Son to be so long and so successfully opposed; in permitting his church to be so grievously harassed by its enemies, and in suffering opposers so long to triumph, which has been esteemed among the chiefest mysteries of the Divine Providence, shall be illustrated, and all nations shall see, in the decisive woe upon Babylon, those displays of wisdom and righteousness which shall vindicate the Divine government from all the aspersions of infidelity.

Of this great event almost all the prophets have spoken, and all agree that the calamities will be the most treinendous that the nations have ever experienced; but the ssue, as it concerns the liberty and happiness of mankind in general, as well as the felicity of the church of Christ in particular, the most glorious. A glory this very different from that which worldly wisdom and carnal pride, for so many centuries, have been aiming at. All the govern

* These symbols, the mighty angel, the cloud with which he is clothed, the rainbow about his head, his fuce as the sun, &c. are considered at some length in The Destiny of the German Empire, or, An Attempt to ascertain the Apocalyptic Dragon, &c. which may be considered as essentially connected with this work.

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ments of the world will be framed on principles of impartial and general justice. Pure and undefiled religion will revive. Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace, good-will toward men," will again be sung; and both the scattered Jews and the fulness of the Gentiles, will be brought in to swell the chorus, and to grace the triumphs of the Son of God. Long have the eyes of believers been looking to the promises, and observing the signs of the times, expecting the arrival of these promised days. But hitherto the time has been delayed.

Here, after the sixth trumpet, or the second woe, is past, and the rest of the men, who were not killed, repented not, and after the seven thunders had uttered their voices, the angel swears by Him who liveth for ever and ever, that delay shall be no longer, but the seventh angel shall sound.

In the next chapter, which contains explanatory visions, we are informed that the seventh angel does not sound his trumpet, to bring the decisive woe, till after the witnesses are risen from the dead, in some one of the Antichristian kingdoms, nor till that kingdom, or tenth part of the Antichristian city, is so shaken by an earthquake that it falls. Here it is necessary to recollect what has been advanced in the First Part of The Signs of the Times. It is there endeavoured to be proved, that by the second beast, which came up out of the earth, (Rev. xiii. 11--18.) the French tyranny, as perfected by Louis XIV. was intended; and that it was his repeal of the edict of Nantz which gave the death-blow to the witnesses for religious truth and civil liberty in France*; that it was the French monarchy that

* I say, in France, for, although I have no doubt but that the scene of violence and bloodshed in chap. xiii. 12-17. is a representation of the persecutions practised in that country, and especially during the reign of Louis XIV. and though I am as fully persuaded that all that relates to the death and resurrection of the witnesses in chap. xi. 3-13. is to be referred to France; yet, seeing that the persecutions which raged against the Protestants in that age were not confined to France, but that the ruin of their cause was effected in all the Catholic countries about the same time, it is probable that the killing of the witnesses, chap. xi. 7, is to be considered as referring to that general persecution; and, if so, then by the beast there, which made war upon the witnesses and killed them, must be meant the ten-horned beust, or the papacy in general, as aided by the kingdoms devoted to its support; and the difference be tween that prophecy and this is, that that is a miniature representation of the general scene of papal persecutions, whilst this is only one compartment of that scene on a larger scale; and this might be, not only on account of the pre-eminence of the witnesses in France, and the pecu

caused an image to be made to the first beast (the Papacy) by the establishment of a spiritual tyranny similar to that at Rome, and which, contrary to the state of things in any other country where the Pope's supremacy in spirituals has been acknowledged, was at once independent of the Pope's authority, and yet in support of his pretensions and corruptions. I have also endeavoured to prove, that it was here exclusively the witnesses laid politically dead exactly three lunar days and a half, or 105 years; that the revolution in France, in 1789, produced the resurrection of the witnesses to civil life, and that the commotions which followed were the prophetic earthquake here predicted; and that the fall of the tenth part of the city was. accomplished in the overthrow of the monarchy of France. Immediately after this the seventh angel sounds, and ushers in the third woe, which is to be the means of hastening the kingdom of God. The nations are angry, (compare chap. xi. 18. with xix. 19.) and gather themselves together to oppose the designs of God: his wrath falls upon them, and they are destroyed. This eleventh chapter, we must remember, is a miniature picture of the bistory of the Christian church, from its first beginnings to the end of time. Hereafter we shall find the events of the seventh trumpet, or third woe, exhibited on a larger scale, and related with a more circumstantial detail.

Now let us compare the tenth chapter with the eleventh. In the tenth chapter we are informed that it was not till after the seven thunders had uttered their voices that the angel lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever, that delay should be no longer, but that the mystery of God should be finished by the sounding of the seventh angel. These seven thunders, I think, evidently occupy the space between the ending of the sixth trumpet and the commencement of the seventh But, what are these thunders? John was forbidden to write what they uttered; and hence most commentators have liar enormities there practised against them, but especially on account of the after scenes to be exhibited in this principal street of the great city. For though the prediction of the war against the witnesses may be considered as general, yet it is in one particular street of the great city, exclusively, that the time of their lying dead, their resurrection, &c. are noticed; and that this street is France events seem to make certain; for that the tenth part of the city which falls in the political carthquake is that same part of the papal empire as designated be the street, or the platea of the great city, can hardly be doubted by an impartial reader. 4th Edition.

past over this part of the prophecy without even conjecturing what might be intended, supposing that it would be presumptuous to do so. But this has not been the case with all. Some have conjectured that though what they uttered was not to be written at that time, yet they are explained in the after visions. Brightman supposed them to be explained in the fourteenth chapter: Whiston imagines that they belong to the last vial, chap. xvi. But all this seems very unsatisfactory. There are others who suppose, that though it was not proper to write down what they uttered at that time, yet that, after their accomplishment, they will be understood, and suppose them to be seven warnings which are to precede either the seventh trumpet or the last vial. It appears to me that as John was forbidden to write down what these thunders uttered in vision, it would be as presumptuous as it would be useless, to inquire what it was till the vision is realized, and the intent of these thunders is ascertained. For as it is likely that it was forbidden to be written, lest the prophecy should be made too plain before the time that God would have it understood, so to attempt an explanation till events have made the archetypes of the thunders quite clear, would be running before God. But it does not hence follow that this is always to be the case; for when the things signified are accomplished, they may inform us, in language as plain as events can speak, of what we were not to know before. But, to say nothing of what these thunders might utter, we may observe, that as we are not forbidden to inquire what the general meaning of these thunders themselves might be, and as it is probable that they were intended to be some time understood, to the end that they might serve as a guide to direct the inquirer into the signs of the times, and as otherwise the mention of them would be useless, it is therefore very proper to examine, with modesty, whether this part of sacred writ may not assist us in forming a judgment of the times in which we live, that thus we may be excited to redoubled watchfulness, and be ready.

Our first inquiry should be, what is the meaning of thunder in the mystical and figurative language of prophecy? As in the natural world the things of creation are comprised in the heavens and the earth, and the heavens are considered as the nobler parts of the creation, so in the world politic, in prophetic language, the heavens