and they repented not to give him glory. An intense heat en name of God, and Whether by this As the fourth trumpet affected the fun; (VIII. 12.) fo likewife the fourth vial (ver. 8, 9.) is poured out upon the fun. fues; and men blafpheme the repent not to give him glory. intenle heat of the fun, be meant litterally, uncommon fultry seasons, fcorching and withering the fruits of the earth, and producing peftilential fevers and inflammations; or figuratively, a most tyrannical and exorbitant exercise of arbitrary power by those who may be called the fun in the firmament of the beaft, the pope or emperor; time muft difcover. Men fhall be tormented, and complain grievously; they shall like the rebellious Jews (If. VIII. 21.) fret themfelves, and curfe their king, and their God, and kok upward, look upward not to pray but only to blafpheme; they fhall not have the fenfe or courage to repent, and forfake their idolatry and wickedness. When the events fhall take place, and these things fhall all be fulfilled, not only thefe prophecies of the vials fhall be better understood, but alfo thofe of the trumpets, to which they bear fome analogy and refemblance. to And 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the feat of the beaft; and his kingdom was full of darknefs, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blafphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their fores, and repented not of their deeds. Vial the fifth (ver. 10, 11.) is poured out upon the feat or throne of the beaf, and his kingdom becomes full of darkness, as Egypt did (Exod. X. 21.) under her ninth plague. This is fome great calamity which fhall fall upon Rome itself, and shall darken and confound the whole Antichriftian empire. But ftill the confequences of this plague are much the fame as thofe of the foregoing one; for the fufferers, inftead of repenting of their deeds, are hardened like Pharaoh, and still perfift in their blafphemy and idolatry, and obftinately withstand all attempts of reformation. 12 And the fixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I faw three unclean fpirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, T 4 and and out of the mouth of the beaft, and out of the mouth of the falfe prophet. 14 For they are the fpirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Bleffed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, left he walk naked, and they fee his fhame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. Vial the fixth (ver. 12.) is poured out upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof is dried up, to prepare a paffage for the kings of the east. Whether by Euphrates be meant the river fo called, or only a myftic Euphrates, as Rome is myftic Babylon; and whether by the kings of the east be meant the Jews in particular, or any eastern potentates in general; can be matters only of conjecture, and not of certainty and affurance till the event shall make the (1) The three unclean spirits like frogs Mr. Mann conceives to be the Dominicans, Fran cifcans, and Jefuits. Dominicani, Francifcani, et Loyolite tres impuros fpiritus ranis fimiles non the determination. Whoever they be, they appear to threaten the ruin and deftruction of the kingdom of the beaft: and therefore (1) the agents and emiffaries of popery, (ver. 13, 14.) of the dragon, the reprefentative of the devil, and of the beast, the reprefentative of the antichristian empire, and of the false prophet, the representative of the antichriftian church, as difagreeable, as loquacious, as fordid, as impudent (2) as frogs, are employed to oppose them, and ftir up the princes and potentates of their communion to make their united and laft effort in a religious war. Of neceffity these must be times of great trouble and affliction; so that an fo exhortation is inferted (ver. 15.) by way of parenthefis, of the fuddennefs of these judgments, and of the bleedness of watching, and of being clothed and prepared for all events. Beza con ceives that this verfe was transferred hither from the 3d chapter, where it should be fubjoined to the 18th verfe: but the 3d chapter and the 16th chapter are at too great a distance for fuch a tranfpofition to be made. However it is certain that this infertion hath in fome measure difturbed the fenfe, and broken the con non male referunt. M. S. Part. Poft. Lib. 5. Cap. 4. (3) хав connection of the difcourfe; for our tranflators as well as feveral others render the following words (ver. 16.) And he gathered them together, when the true construction is, And they gathered them together, the evil fpirits and agents before mentioned gather all the forces of the popish princes together, into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, that is the mountain of deftruction. 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, faying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, fuch as was not fince men were upon the earth, fo mighty an earthquake and fo great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every iland fled away, and the mountains were not found. |