countries, when it shall be their turn to drink of the cup of trembling, time must develop.

The words," and every living soul died in the sea” seem to refer to persons in power, ease and affluence, both in Church and state, all of which died political, and the great majority also natural deaths.

THE THIRD VIAL.

Verse 4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus:

6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

To preserve the order of nature in this system of symbols, we cannot suppose these rivers and fountains to exist in the same place with the sea, though they may empty into it, but in the adjacent countries; and to preserve the homogeneity of these symbols, these rivers and fountains cannot signify kingdoms of a regular and settled government, as the learned Faber maintains. For as the sea symbolizes nations in a state of revolution and anarchy, the earth must denote kingdoms under a firm and solid form of government; and thus rivers and fountains which only exist in the earth, should be distinguished from the earth itself. Fountains are the original sourc

es of rivers in a country, and their waters are necessary for the support of human and animal life. Rivers are intended to fertilize and water fragrant meads and verdant plains, to facilitate commerce and increase the prosperi

ty of kingdoms and nations. According to this system therefore, fountains symbolize literary institutions for the cultivation of arts and sciences, theological seminaries, and manufactories in a country; and rivers the more concentrated branches of commerce and human activity. The third angel poured out his vial upon all these, within the limits of the papal Latin empire.

This prophecy has been accomplished in those tremendous wars, and numerous battles, which were fought in consequence of the French revolution, in almost every country of Europe. The political economy and order of things on that continent, which had stood the test of many centuries, was shaken to its very basis. This has been the case, more or less, in all the kingdoms, over which Gregory VII, extended his gigantic strides. Campaign followed upon campaign, like floods of inundation, battles upon battles, horrors of murders, rapes, pillages, extortions, confiscations, and desolations with fire and sword throughout all Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Provinces, the Helvetic confederacy, Savoy, Danemark and Sweeden. All these horrors and dreadful slaughters, called forth the whole force of every country, and the united efforts of every kingdom and principality in Europe. The farmer was forced from his plough, the mechanic from his trade, the student from his seminary of learning, the artificer from his manufactory, and the merchant from his traffic by sea or land; to fill the ranks and files of legions, wading through human gore. England destroyed the fleets of those maritime nations under the influence of France; and the tyrant of Europe enforced a code of maritime and contraband laws, which almost stopped the manufacturies and commerce of Great Brittain, maimed or destroyed the industry and life strings of millions. This state of Europe introduced a general stagnation in the order of things, and turned the mystic fountains and streams on that continent into torrents of blood.

For all these dreadful devastations, the infidel labours of Voltaire and his numerous associates, the infernal ingenuity of the order of the illuminati, the Atheism of France, the philosophy of Kant, Fichte, Schelling and their train of followers, prepared the way into every country of Europe. They tinged the whole literature of the reading public, with false and specious principles in politics, and poisoned every seminary with neology, deism or infidelity. When the French revolution commenced, the minds of millions of all classes of society, had caught the contagion to that degree, as to hail their inroads and success in every country. The professor inclined the minds of his students to reason in its favour; ministers and statesmen proved unfaithful; the soldiery broke its oath of allegiance, and the general sold himself to the enemy; because all their minds were secretly prejudiced in favour of the specious principles of the French Revolution.

Verse 5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, &c. It was a general received opinion among the Ancient nations that certain superior angels preside over the different elements. Thus we read of Neptune, the God of the sea, whom the Egyptians call Canobus, and nations of different languages by other names. However the angel here intended presides over the mystic streams, and is no other than the third angel that poured out his vial upon the waters. It is worthy of particular remark, that this angel justifies these severe judgments of God, and is approved in so doing by a voice from the altar. He says, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be,* because thou hast judged thus-and why? For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and there

* The translators of the Vulgate must have read na: 0 05105, for they rendered it et qui eras sanctus.

†OTI TAUTA EXgvas should have been rendered, because thou hast judged these things, which declares these judgments to be pointed retaliations.

fore are justly devoted to drink torrents of blood, by way of retaliation. The original is or αιμα αγιων και goon, which indicates the blood of some saints and prophets, not of many, in which case the prophet would have added the definite article Twv. Here the blood of the Waldenses, and of all those ancient witnesses under many different names, the blood of the Bohemian-brethren, of the Hussites, the Protestants in almost every country of Europe, and of the Hugonots in France; who were maimed, tortured or murdered by cruisades, the inquisisition, a fanatic clergy or cruel government, all their blood came here in remembrance before God, and met with due reward. The voice from the altar, confirming the justice of these judgments, and approving the sentence of Heaven, declared by the angel of the waters, proceeded, no doubt, from those souls, whose blood had been shed in the persecutions above alluded to. A similar case is recorded chap. v1, 9. of those whose blood had been shed by Pagan Rome. Of all judgments, those are the most dreadful, where God is praised for the sufferings of the guilty. Such are the judgments which of late overwhelmed all Europe. They prove that God is righteous still as in former ages, that he is the Holy one in Israel who beholds injustice with utter detestation; the souls under the altar re-echo that he is the Tavrongarwę, the original source and fountain head of all power aud authority, and has proved himself such, by these judgments against the nations and kingdoms of the Christian world.

But we might ask, whence came the sufferings of Protestant states in these judgments of retaliation? to which inquiry I would answer, their sufferings have been comparatively far less than those of Catholic kingdoms. Moreover, these were national judgments, in which national sins of former ages meet their reward at last by the same people. Besides, these countries still abound with worshippers of the beast ; and those who do not, have

been guilty of the crime of persecution against sects of inferior note, which have awakened the justice of a rightous God in their defence.

THE FOURTH VIAL.

Verse 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory.

To adhere to the symbolic system adopted in these vials, the sun signifies the imperial power and dignity in the Western part of the ancient Roman empire, as re-established by Charlemagne. See chap. XII. The sun in the centre of the planetary system, is here an emblem of the imperial authority in the midst of the Germanic body politic. For as the planets derive all their light and glory from the sun, and move on in their sublime orbits, by means of joint laws of gravitation and attraction; so the different princes composing that august and confederate German body, originally derived all their distinction and authority from the emperors in past ages, and now act/ according to a common constitution, under the supreme direction of the imperial throne. All animal and vegetable life prospers and flourishes, when the sun diffuses only a natural proportion of heat on the earth; but when he pours forth streams of liquid fire, the beauties of the earth are blasted by his oppressive rays, and all productions of human industry pine away.

This prophecy has been accomplished in the mighty efforts of France, to wrest the imperial crown and power from the house of Austria, and to connect that supreme