mencement; and now he received it by an angel of the temple, a minister of the immediate presence of the Lord, who cried with a loud voice, full of great earnest and solicitude, Thrust in thy sharp sickle and reap. For so doing he alledges two reasons, one of which is founded on the other. The first is, for the time is come, which was determined in the councils of Heaven, when this momentous event should take place; and the second, for the harvest of the earth is ripe ; i. e. the righteous are made perfect, and far advanced in sanctification; they would now suffer, were they left longer on the parched fields of affliction.

After considering this prophecy with all deferance due to the subject, and to the opinions of eminent authors, I would venture in dependance on the Lord, to say, this prediction will probably meet its accomplishment during the rage of the false prophet, and during a dreadful revolution yet impending within the ancient limits of the Roman empire, previous to the highest stage of power and savage rage of the beast from the bottomless pit. For if the principal characters among the followers of Jesús, were not taken away from the earth antecedently, by some means, the beast from the bottomless pit would never be able to accomplish his whole design. This we know, was in some measure the case in France, before Robespierre and his associates could obtain their object. I have explained this harvest as referring to a most dreadful persecution only, but it may nevertheless be accomplished by an extreme, and extraordinary mortality at the same time; and I have sometimes taken this to be the true meaning of the harvest. Sure I am, it does not refer to the day of judgment, nor is it a harvest of wrath, as Faber supposes, who quotes Bengelius erroneously to establish this opinion.*

*Vide Faber on proph. part 2. page 185 and Bengelius in loes.

Verse 17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for` her grapes are fully ripe.

19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

20. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

The figure of pressing grapes in a wine-press, is common with the ancient prophets, and always used to signify judgments, as we may see in the following passages, Isa. V, 2. 4. Lament of Jer. 1, 15. Deut. xxXXII, 32. 33. Ezek. XV, 2. 3. 4. Jer. vI, 9. Isa. LIII, 3. This vision seems to have a more immediate and direct reference to Joel 111, 13. "Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe : come, get you down ; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." The preceding messenger gathered the children of God into Christ's garner, but this angel casts the grapes into the great wine-press of God's wrath, which can only refer to the destruction of the wicked.

St. John does not inform us, whence the preceding messenger, like unto a son of man, came; he appeared all at once upon a white cloud, enrobed in majesty. But this angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, i. e. the most holy place where Christ dwells and grants his personal presence to his ministers of the sanctuary, for the purpose of administering the government of his Church. Though he is an angel of great judiciary power and authority, he cannot be Christ himself in his mediatorial office, as some expositors have alleged, because

he receives command of the angel from the altar. This second angel had power over the fire of the altar, which denotes the judgments of Christ againft the enemies of his redemption and government, Hebrews x, 26. 27; from which we may conclude, that the wrath of God here threatened, will fall upon the heads of infidels, the corruptors of his doctrine concerning his mediation, and upon persecuting nations. For this is the same altar, where the souls of the holy martyrs cried for the judgments of God in their behalf, against those who had shed their blood, chap. v1, 9. 10. It is said, he cried with a loud cry, which denotes that the judgments of the vintage will extend farther than the harvest, to the commanding angel of which, St. John only ascribes a loud voice.

Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. The earth, no doubt, signifies the countries under the dominion of the ancient Roman empire. The words, "vine of the earth" have hitherto been explained on two broad a basis, of all the wicked at that time generally. In the writings of the holy prophets this figure either signifies a nation, or a Church, Ps. LXXX, 9, 15. Hos. x, 1. Ezek. xvII, 6. 7. 8. Isa.

V.

This vine of many clusters, seems to indicate a nation which has spread out into different tribes or countries, connected by certain laws under one common head, as the clusters with the vine, Jer. 11, 21; or it may signify a Church, consisting of different sects and religious orders, acknowledging one chief, at the head of a general government; all of whom are here threadened with a dreadful doom, as being ripe for destruction.

He cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. The original points out this wine-press by a peculiar ex-pression, to be very great, the greatest of all; and the figure of squeezing grapes in a wine-press indicates the severest and most intolerable judgments of God. This wine-press is again mentioned chap. XIX, 15. in connexion with the battle of the great day of God Almighty,

when the beast and the false prophet shall meet their final doom, and has a direct reference to the prophecy of Isaiah chap. LXIII, 1-7. which was not accomplished in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, but will meet its completion here in the vintage. It is termed the wine-press of the wrath of God, because these judgments will be dreadful beyond expression, and without any features of mercy or forbearance.

Verse 20. And the wine-press was trodden without the city. This city is no other than the city Jerusalem, mentioned chap. XI, 2. Not newJerusalem, as Dr. Gill supposed, for this judgment precedes the Millennium; nor the Church, or the Roman empire, as the learned Faber explains it; but Jerusalem as it will be built and enlarged again in Palestine. Thus all those, to whom John first addressed the Revelation, would understand the unspecified expression "the city, without which were the olivepresses, to which there seems to be an allusion in this passage. He who treads this wine-press is Jehovah, to whom vengeance belongeth, and who alone is able to distribute it in righteousness, though he may do it by a collection of dreadful instruments. Ps. LVIII, 10.

The blood came out of the wine-press &c. &c ch. xix, 13. This is an allusion to the juice pressed out of grapes, which is called their blood, because in Canaan they mostly had all red wine, Gen. XLIX, 11. Deut. xxx11, 1. Ps. LXVIII, 23. St. John describes this judgment by a figure of dreadful import. He beheld a stream of blood gushing forth from the wine-press of God's wrath, which was so deep immediadly before it, as to rise even up to the horsebridles. This figure, in my opinion, will warrant the

following deductions.

1. That this dreadful judgment will be accomplished by a war, in which the Asiaticks mostly use horses; and not by plague, epidemicks, or famine, which also would less accord with the figure of a wine-press, squeezing out

grapes by violent force. The horses are again mentioned chap. XIX.

2. That this stream of blood, so deep near the press, and runing for the space of 1600 furlongs, indicate a dreadful slaughter, a most prodigious effusion of human blood; if even it is taken as a hyperbolical expression, and not in its literal sense.

The original for furlong, is sladov, staium, which is a Greek long measure, containing 125 paces, or 625 Roman feed. But the length of a stadium did not always remain the same. Among the ancients 463, and since Adrians time, 33 stadia made a German mile. See E. Schmid. in N. T. p. 633.* This tremendous sloughter will probably take place in the land of Israel, which is, about 160 miles, or something less than 1600 stadia in length; and appears to be the same with the battle mentioned chap. XVI, 14. 16, fought by the King of kings, on the great day of God Almighty, immediately before the commencement of the Millennium, chap. XIX, 15.

Thus, this vintage terminates the third distinct parallel prophetic line of the Revelation, of which the precise time of accomplishment can only be determined by synchronizing facts alluded to, and by a comparison of each distinct prophecy, with the consecutive order and internal method of the whole book. Dr. Yung seems of opinion, that a great part of it has been alreadly accomplished in the French revolution, and thus confounds the harvest and the vintage with the vials; which surely is a distinct series of judgments, only uniting at their last point, to accomplish one general object with all the measures of Providence recorded in this prophecy. We shall again meet this subject chap. xIx, to which the pious reader is here referred for a more distinct elucidation in point of

* Stadium, est terræ mensura, passus simplias sive minores 125 habens. Vitruv. L. 1. C. 6. Vide And. Reyheri Thesaurus.