in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and there were slain in the earthquake seven thousand men, and the rest were terrified, 14 and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second wo is past: behold the third wo cometh quickly.

15 And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great

We have here an unanswerable proof that this city is not Babylon, nor Rome, but Jerusalem. For Babylon shall be wholly burnt before the fulfilling of the mystery of God. But this city is not burnt at all; on the contrary, at the fulfilling of that mystery, a tenth part of it is destroyed by an earthquake, and the other nine parts converted: And there was slain in the earthquake seven thousand men-Being a tenth part of the inhabitants, who therefore were seventy thousand in all; and the rest-The remaining sixty-three thousand were converted: a grand step toward the fulfilling of the mystery of God. Such a conversion we no where else read of. So there shall be a larger as well as holier church at Jerusalem, than ever was yet: were terrified-Blessed terror! And gave glory—The character of true conversion, Jer. xiii. 16, to the God of heaven-He is styled the Lord of the earth, ver. 4, when he declares his right over the earth by the two witnesses: but the God of heaven, when he not only gives rain from heaven after the most afflicting drought, but also declares his majesty from heaven, by taking his witnesses up into it. When the whole multitude gives glory to the God of heaven, then that treading the holy city ceases. This is the point so long aimed at, the desired fulfilling of the mys tery of God, when the divine promises are so richly fulfilled on those who have gone through so great afflictions. All this is here related together, that whereas the first and second wo went forth in the East, the rest of the eastern affairs being added at once, the description of the western might afterwards remain unbroken.

It may be useful here, to see how the things here spoken of, and those here after described, follow each other in their order.

1. The angel swears; the non-chronos begins; John eats the book; the many kings arise.

2. The non-chronos and the many kings being on the decline, that treading begius, and the two witnesses appear.

3. The beast (after he has with the ten kings destroyed Babylon) wars with them and kills them. After three days and a half they revive and ascend to heaven. There is a great earthquake in the holy city. Seven thousand perish, and the rest are converted. The treading of the city by the Gentiles ends.

4. The beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, are assembled to fight against the great King.

5. Multitudes of his enemies are killed, and the beast and the false prophet cast alive into the lake of fire.

6. While John measures the temple of God, and the altar with the worshippers, the true worship of God is set up. The nations who had trodden the holy city are converted. Hereby the mystery of God is fulfilled.

7. Satan is imprisoned. Being released for a time, he, with Gog and Magog, makes his last assault upon Jerusalem.

V. 14. The second wo is past-The butchery made by the Saracens ceased about the year 947, when their power was so broken by Charles the Great, that they never recovered it. Behold the third wo cometh quickly-Its prelude came when the Roman See took all opportunities of laying claim to its beloved universality, and enlarging its power and grandeur. And in the year 755 the Bishop of Rome became a secular prince, by king Pepin's giving him the exarchate of Lombardy. The beginning of the third wo itself stands, ch. xii. 12.

V. 15. And the seventh angel sounded-This trumpet contains the most

voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he 16 shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, who sat before God on their thrones, fell on their 17 faces and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks,

O Lord God, the Almighty, who is, and who was, because 18 thou hast taken thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were wroth: and thy wrath is come, and the

important and joyful events, and renders all the former trumpets matter of joy to all the inhabitants of heaven. The allusion therefore in this and all the trumpets is to those used in festal solemnities. All these seven trumpets were heard in heaven; perhaps the seventh shall once be heard on earth also, 1 Thess. iv. 16. And there were great voices-From the several citizens of heaven. At the opening of the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven; at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, great voices-This alone is sufficient to shew, that the seven seals and the seven trumpets do not run parallel to each other. As soon as the seventh angel sounds, the kingdom falls to God and his Christ. This immediately appears in heaven, and is there celebrated with joyful praise. But on earth several dreadful occurrences are to appear first. This trumpet comprises all that follows from these voices to ch. xxii. 5. The kingdom of the world-That is, the royal government over the whole world and all its kingdoms, Zech. xiv. 9, is become the kingdom of the Lord-This province has been in the enemy's hands: it now returns to its rightful Master. In the Old Testament, from Moses to Samuel, God himself was the King of his own people. And the same will be in the New Testament: he will himself reign over the Israel of God: and of his Christ-This appellation is now first given him (since the introduction of the book) on the mention of the kingdom devolving upon him, under the seventh trumpet. Prophets and priests were anointed, but more especially kings: whence that term, The anointed, is applied only to a king. Accordingly, whenever the Messiah is mentioned in Scripture, his kingdom is implied. Is become-In reality all things (and so the kingdom of the world) are God's in all ages. Yet Satan, and the present world with its kings and lords, are risen against the Lord and against his Anointed. God now puts an end to this monstrous rebellion, and maintains his right to all things. And this appears in an entirely new manner, as soon as the seventh angel sounds.

V. 16. And the four and twenty elders-These shall reign over the earth, chap. v. 10, who sit before God on their thrones-Which we do not read of any angel.

V. 17. The Almighty-He who hath all things in his power, as the only Governor of them, who is, and who was-God is frequently styled, He who is, and who was, and who is to come. But now he is actually come, the words, who is to come, are, as it were, swallowed up. When it is said, We thank thee that thou hast taken thy great power, it is all one as We thank thee that thou art come. This whole thanksgiving is partly an enlargement on the two great points, mentioned in the fifteenth verse; partly a summary of what is hereafter more distinctly related. Here it is mentioned, how the kingdom is the Lord's; afterwards, how it is the kingdom of his Christ. Thou hast taken thý great power-This is the beginning of what is done under the trumpet of the seventh angel. God has never ceased to use his power; but he has suffered his enemies to oppose it, which he will now suffer no moré.

V. 18. And the heathen nations were wroth-At the breaking out of the power and kingdom of God. This wrath of the heathens now rises to the highest pitch; but it meets the wrath of the Almighty and melts away. In this verse is described both the going forth and the end of God's wrath, which fogether take up several ages. And the time of the dead is come-Both of the

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time of the dead, that they be judged, and to give a reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and to destroy them that destroyed the earth.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of the covenant was seen in the temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.

CHAP. XII. 1. And a great sign was seen in heaven,

quick and dead, of whom those already dead are far the more numerous part: that they be judged-This being infallibly certain, they speak of as already present; and to give a reward-At the coming of Christ, (ch. xxii. 12,) but of free grace, not of debt. 1. To his servants the prophets, 2. To his saints, to them who were eminently holy, 3. To them that fear his name. These are the lowest class. Those who do not even fear God, will have no reward from him: small and great-All universally, young and old, high and low, rich and poor: and to destroy them that destroyed the earth-The earth was destroyed by the great whore in particular, ch. xvii. 2, 5, xix. 2. But likewise in general by the open rage and hate of wicked men against all that is good: by wars, and the various destruction and desolation naturally flowing therefrom; by such laws and constitutions as hinder much good, and occasion many offences and calamities, by public scandals, whereby a door is opened for all dissoluteness and unrighteousness; by abuse of secular and spiritual powers; by evil doctrines, maxims, and counsels; by open violence and persecution, and by sins crying to God to send plagues upon the earth.

This great work of God, destroying the destroyers, under the trumpet of the seventh angel, is not the third wo, but matter of joy, for which the elders solemnly give thanks. All the woes, and particularly the third, go forth over, those who dwell upon the earth, but this destruction, over those who destroy the earth, and were also instruments of that wo.

V. 19. And the temple of God-The inmost part of it, was opened in heaven -And hereby is opened a new scene, of the most momentous things; that we' may see how the contents of the seventh trumpet are executed, and notwithstanding the greatest opposition, particularly by the third wo, brought to a glorious conclusion. And the ark of the covenant was seen in his temple-The ark of the covenant which was made by Moses, was not in the second temple,. being probably burnt with the first temple by the Chaldeans. But here is the heavenly ark of the everlasting covenant, the shadow of which was under the Old Testament, Heb. ix. 4. The inhabitants of heaven saw the ark before. St. John also saw it now; for a testimony, that what God had promised, should be fulfilled to the uttermost. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail-The very same there are, and in the same order, when the seventh angel has poured out his phial, ch. xvi. 17. -21. One place answers the other. What the trumpet here denounces in heaven, is there executed by the phial upon earth.-First it is shewn, what will be done: and afterwards it is done.

CHAP. XII. The great vision of this book goes straight forward, from the fourth to the twenty-second chapter. Only the tenth, with part of the eleventh chapter, was a kind of introduction to the trumpet of the seventh angel: after which it is said, The second wo is past: behold the third wo cometh quickly. Immediately the seventh angel sounds, under whom the third wo goes forth. And to this trumpet belongs all that is related to the end of the book.

Ver. 1. And a great sign was seen in heaven-Not only by St. John, but many

a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her 2 feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And being

with child she crieth, travailing in birth and pained to be 3 delivered. And another sign was seen in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten 4 horns, and seven diadems on his heads. And his tail

draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and casteth them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, that when she had 5 brought forth, he might devour the child.

And she

heavenly spectators represented in the vision. A sign means something that has an uncommon appearance, and from which we infer, that some unusual thing will follow. A woman-The emblem of the church of Christ, as she is originally of Israel, though built and enlarged on all sides by the addition of heathen converts; and as she will hereafter appear when all her natural branches are again grafted in. She is at present on earth, and yet with regard to her union with Christ may be said to be in heaven, Eph. ii. 6. Accordingly she is described as both assaulted and defended in heaven, ver. 4, 7, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars-These figurative expressions must be so interpreted, as to preserve a due proportion between them. So in Joseph's dream, the sun betokened his father, the moon his mother, the stars their children. There may be some such resemblance here. And as the prophecy points out the power over all nations, perhaps the sun may betoken the Christian world: the moon the Mahometans, (who also carry the moon in their ensigns,) and the crown of twelve stars, the twelve tribes of Israel; which are smaller than the sun and moon. The whole of this chapter answers the state of the church, from the ninth century to this time.

V. 2. And being with child, she crieth, travailing in birth-The very pain, without any outward opposition, would constrain a woman in travail to cry out. These cries, throes, and pains to be delivered, were the painful longings, the sighs and prayers of the saints for the coming of the kingdom of God. The woman groaned and travailed in spirit, that Christ might appear, as the Shepherd and King of all nations.

V. 3. And behold a great red dragon-His fiery red colour denoting his disposition, having seven heads-Implying vast wisdom, and ten horns-Perhaps on the seventh head: emblems of mighty power and strength, which he still retained, and seven diadems on his heads-Not properly crowns, but costly bindings, such as kings anciently wore. For though fallen, he was a great poten. tate still, even the prince of this world.

V. 4. And his tail-His falsehood and subtlety, draweth-As a train-the third part, a very large number, of the stars of heaven-The Christians and their teachers, who before sat in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, and casteth them to the earth-Utterly deprives them of all those heavenly blessings. This is properly a part of the description of the dragon, who was not yet himself on earth but in heaven. Consequently this casting them down was between the beginning of the seventh trumpet, and the beginning of the third wo; or between the year 847 and the year 947; at which time pestilent doctrines, particularly that of the Manichees in the east, drew abundance of people from the truth. And the dragon stood before the woman, that, when she had brought forth, he might devour the child-That he might hinder the kingdom of Christ from spreading abroad, as it does under this trumpet.

V. 5. And she brought forth a man-child-Even Christ, considered not in his person, but in his kingdom. In the ninth age, many nations with their princes, were added to the Christian church, Who was to rule all nations

brought forth a man child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God 6 and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that they may feed her there twelve hundred and sixty days.

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And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels warred with the dragon, and the dragon warred and his 8 angels: But he prevailed not, neither was his place found 9 any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out,

the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan,

When his time is come. And her child-Which was already in heaven, as were the woman and the dragon, Was caught up to God-Taken utterly out of his reach.

V. 6. And the woman fed into the wilderness-This wilderness is undoubtedly on earth, where the woman also herself is now supposed to be. It betokens that part of the earth, where, after having brought forth, she found a new abode. And this must be in Europe, as Asia and Afric were wholly in the bands of the Turks and Saracens: and in a part of it where the woman had not been before. In this wilderness God had already prepared a place, that is, made it safe and convenient for her. The wilderness is, those countries of Europe, which lie on this side the Danube: for the countries which lie beyond it, had received Christianity before: That they may feed her―That the people of that place may provide all things needful for her: Twelve hundred and sixty days-So many prophetic days; which are not (as some have supposed) twelve hundred and sixty, but seven hundred and seventy-seven common years. (This Bengelius has shewn at large in his German Introduction.) These we may compute from the year 847 to 1524. So long the woman enjoyed a safe and convenient place, in Europe, which was chiefly Bohemia; where she was fed, till God provided for her more plentifully at the reformation.

V. 7. And there was war in heaven-Here Satan makes his grand opposition to the kingdom of God. But an end is now put to his accusing the saints before God. The cause goes against him, (ver. 10, 11,) and Michael executes the sentence. That Michael is a created angel, appears from his not daring in disputing with Satan, (Jude 9) to bring a railing accusation, but only saying, The Lord rebuke thee. And this modesty is implied in his very name; for Michael signifies, Who is like God? Which implies also his deep reverence toward God, and distance from all self-exaltation. Satan would be like God. The very name of Michael asks, Who is like God? Not Satan: not the highest archangel. It is he likewise that is afterwards employed to seize, bind, and imprison that proud spirit.

V. 8. And he prevailed not―The dragon himself is principally mentioned; but his augels likewise are to be understood. Neither was his place found any more in heaven-So till now he had a place in heaven. How deep a mystery is this! One may compare this with Luke x. 18, Eph. ii. 2, iv. 8, vi. 12.

V. 9. And the great dragon was cast out-lt is not yet said unto the earth. He was cast out of heaven. And at this the inhabitants of heaven rejoice. He is termed the great dragon, as appearing here in that shape, to intimate his poisonous and cruel disposition; the ancient serpent, in allusion to his deceiv ing Eve in that form. Dragons are a kind of large serpents. Who is called the Devil and Satan-These are words of exactly the same meaning; only the former is Greek, the latter Hebrew, denoting the grand adversary of all the saints, whether Jews or Gentiles. He has deceived the whole world-Not only in their first parents, but through all ages and in all countries, into unbelief and all wickedness, into the hating and persecuting faith and all goodness.