of the next vial,-the last, the finishing and completing blow of the righteous indignation of God; before advancing to which I entreat your attention for a moment, to the review of what hath so rapidly passed before us in the six first parts of this scene of judgment.

It will be observed, as was stated in the beginning, and hath oft been brought to view, that this prophecy of Daniel, which forms the subject of discourse, and the whole of the Revelation, introduced into the discourse by the Digression, regard only the territory of the Roman empire, and (except the six first trumpets) only the western part thereof, which gave in to the wicked and blasphemous supremacy of the pope; and that this sevenfold judgment comes upon the kingdoms thereof, in express terms, "because of their worshipping the beast, and receiving his mark, and the number of his name." Whatever, therefore, hath taken place beyond the Rhine, and the Danube, the ancient limits of the empire, is not to be sought for in this prophecy, as not coming within the scope of the dominion of the ten horns, which arose out of the troubles which brought the pagan Roman empire to its end. Confining, therefore, our attention to these territorial limits, (and to extend it beyond these would be utterly to misinterpret the application, and defeat the end of the retribution,) we propose it as a question to any intelligent observer of the thirty years, which ran their troublous course from the period of September, 1792, or March, 1793, the commencement of the vials, to the period of September, 1823, the termination of the sixth vial in the west, if it be possible, in the first place, to divide the time into six periods more distinct, or to mark six features of it so characteristic as these which have been brought to view in the first six vials:-namely, the dissolution of religious and social principles by the spirit of infidelity; the reign of terror and bloodshed in France; the spoliation of Italy, and abolition of the papal authority and government; the elevation of Napoleon to the throne of France, and his twelve years' reign of conquest, oppression, and change, over every spot, within the limits of the prophetic earth; the driving back of his power, his repeated dethronings, the repeated invasions of France upon every side, and its thraldom for four years; and lastly, when warfare ceased, the dissemi

nation of arbitrary, superstitious, and infidel principles, producing by their strife, four revolutions within the brief space of three years, which were as four skirmishes before the great day of God Almighty, with which the act of wo is about to wind itself up? In the second place, whether in these thirty years that part of Europe within the Rhine and the Danube, hath not been wofully scourged, and torn up in all its parts, without the inroad of any foreign force, by the simple disorganization of its superstitious worship, and social system founded thereon, and by the fighting of the chaos with itself, in terrible commotion? Insomuch, that kings and priests, nobles and people, have been driven about and destroyed with an unwearied destruction; palaces and temples profaned; monarchs and chief princes beheaded, or driven into exile, by the violence of the people, and the people curbed anon by the returning power of the nobles; men from the dunghill raised above princes, and princes trodden upon by the most base amongst the people; and withal, what destruction of human life by sea and land; what waste of treasure, what resources of ingenuity to destroy, what skill in war, what mighty armies, what innumerable battles, what captains of renown! All occurring within the lifetime of a man, within the period of the youth of a man: and that not a period of darkness, but of wonderful light; not of barbarism, but of high civilization; not in the country of rapid conquests, and hasty revolutions, and change of dynasties, but in well balanced Europe, political and enlightened Europe, whose kingdoms had been defined for a thousand years, whose smallest states, for many centuries, had preserved themselves by the nicely balanced power; but now, in the third part of a century, all limits are lifted up, all eminences of power are levelled, all long established landmarks shifted and swept away;-as if they had been inscribed upon the sands, which the yesty waves of the ocean do overflow with their storming tides. And lo! they have all reappeared again at the conclusion of the thirty direful years, as if you would again cast trenches of mock dominion, and build eminences of sandy dignity, within mark of tide, for the overflowing waves to visit again with destruction. The nations have had thirty years of drunkenness and madness, and have drunk the wine of astonishment, which was given them to

drink, for all their rage against the Lord, and his anointed; and they have been allowed a breathing time, a short armistice in the warfare of God, a truce to try them with terms which they will not accept, but spurn away, and arm afresh against the Highest, as even now they do; that the gates of mercy might be barred upon them for ever, and the hot work of destruction might recommence, while God is justified in the terrible judgments which he is about to bring upon their thrice guilty heads.

Which gives a character to the thirty years of Daniel, at the end of which we observed above, that some note of change or difference might be expected in the course of the judgments. And the remarkable note is this, that after thirty years of tossing, and striving, and tribulation, the papal kingdoms have emerged as they were in the beginning of it. The old dynasties are all restored, and they are returning to their old obdurate courses of government. The papacy is restored, and hath returned to her old work of clothing the witnesses in sackcloth, and distressing the saints of the Most High. They have been tried, but they have not repented; they have been humbled, but they have not returned to the Lord. Their enemies are upon them, but they cannot perceive it, the earth is trembling under their feet, but they cannot feel it. They are obdurate, obstinate, unchangeable by any remission of wrath, or overtures of mercy. But behold the longsuffering of God, who hath given them rest, and space for repentance, but they have not repented; who hath brought them all from deepest affliction, and the waters of captivity, but they have not given him thanks; set them on high, but they have not given him praise. Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. They are showing their madness, and they are ready to be destroyed. Nor have the infidel troop taken warning by all the miseries which they have caused upon the earth, and the double miseries which they have reaped into their own breast. They also, since the end of the thirty years, have had a breathing time from the slaughter, and a resting time from the work of slaughter. That they might look back, and see how utterly vain it is to build any thing upon the quicksands of infidelity; how it hath failed in France, where it had a thorough trial, and passed through all its phases, from popular anarchy to absolute dominion; and how it

hath failed in Naples, and Piedmont, and Spain, and Portugal, and wherever it hath made an essay; and must for ever fail, because faith is the cement of all domestic and social union, infidelity the absence of their cement; religion is the very name of obligation, and liberalism is the very name for the want of obligation. But the infidels, with their boasted light of knowledge, and boastful spirit of reformation, are as loath to take a lesson as tyranny and superstition are. For why, because their knowledge doth puff them up with haughty pride, and their reformation is not reformation, but demolition; the outward form of malice, selfishness, and pride; not of religion, love of righteousness, and desire of peace.

Thus are things working over the papal nations, working and fermenting, as at the beginning of the thirty years, so at the ending of them, under the three filthy and devilish spirits, from the mouth of the dragon, of the false prophet, and of the beast. France, Spain, Portugal, Naples, Piedmont, with the papal horn, which plucked down three, there they are the nine devoted kingdoms, (the tenth is Britain, which God will save, until she confederate with their abominations,) as superstitious and tyrannical as in the darkest, grossest ages, kept in check a little, but as evil disposed against God and man as ever, putting forth their power so far as they can, and lusting to put it farther forth. And the hoary man of sin, the dotard of the triple crown, is talking, like a drunken lustful braggart, against the word of God, claiming what he calls emancipation from the chains in which the men of God confined his rage in our kingdom, and in all other kingdoms is working miracles of superstition and darkness beside the blinded princes, and the benighted among the people. And infidelity, under the name of liberalism in politics, of expediency in philosophy, of rationalism in religion, and under the name of education in knowledge, (but it is knowledge without principle in which she deals,) is dissolving the faith of the people, as wax is melted before the fire, and uniting them in a covenant to destroy, such a covenant as never heretofore was joined, so mighty and so strong.

Thus the six vials leave the nations where they found them, the principles of strife and discord as active as ever. The first-fruits of the harvest of wrath hath been taken--

the first ripe clusters of the vintage of wrath have been pressed in the wine press of blood. Six seals of revelation have been opened and fulfilled. Six blasts of wo have been blown over the miserable earth. Of the seventh direful seal, six vials have poured out their measured wrath. Of the seventh most dreadful trumpet, six thunders have uttered their voices. The seventh vial hangs trembling in the air, in the angel's hand, the sixth thunder already hurtles in the heavens, and its hollow roar reverberates among the upper clouds of the sky. The wall of the nations, like the wall of Jerico, hath been compassed six successive days, and of the seventh day's compassings six have taken place; the seventh and last time it hath to be compassed about by the host of the Lord, and the seventh time the ram's horns have to blow, and the shout of the host of the Lord to cleave the hollow vault of heaven, when the wall, and bulwarks, and defences of the kingdoms shall fall to the ground, and the people shall be consumed from the earth with an everlasting destruction.

For it is added, the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, that it might with freedom and rapid speed circumnavigate the earth, "and I heard a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, IT IS DONE."

THE END.