the streets, burn them by the common executioner? And that this mark of the last days might completely be verified in the present times, they have made it a fundamental article of their creed, that death is an eternal sleep, and consequently that there can be no resurrection of the dead.Surely this is" saying," not only in words but actions," Where is the promise of the coming " of Christ? where is the resurrection of the "dead? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the begin"ning of the creation." Again, St. Peter mentions another sign of the last days, which in a peculiar manner, points out the present times, and which can with propriety be applied to no other; for, while yet describing the scoffers of the last days, he adds this singular and distinghishing reason of their mockery, because they are willingly ignorant" of these truths, namely, "that the heavens, by the word "of God, were of old, and the earth standing "out of the waters, and in the waters; whereby (or to the end) that the world that then was, " being overflowed with water, perished: but "the heavens and earth which are now by the "same word, are kept in store, reserved unto "fire against the day of judgment, and perdition "of the ungodly." If these scoffers at the word of God were to be "willingly ignorant" of those truths, they could not act from the want of knowledge of them, but must be well versed, particularly in the Mosaic history of the creation, as well as in the Gospel of Christ. They must have read of the destruction of the old world by the flood, and of the "reservation of the present world, until the day of judgment, and the per"dition of the ungodly." Now to be convinced that such wilful and desperate scoffers, and almost without number," are come," we have only to ,peruse the works of the French philosophists, or, as they craftily but falsely call themselves, philosophers, that is, the revolutionists of France; and the impressions made by them on the sentiments of mankind, within the last few years. In these works we shall see that their authors were well versed in the Old and New Testaments, and had studied them with great assiduity, not as seekers after the truth, but with a determined purpose of mind to deride, oppose, and "crush" it. This fact they themselves have unwarily confessed in their secret correspondence with one another, now published to the world*. In their philosophical works they have affirmed, though well acquainted with the Mosaic history of the creation, that the world was formed by the necessary effects of matter, prodigiously diversified,' and of course could not be" of old by the word of God;" that the flood was only partial, and not over the whole earth: that the world is eternal,' and therefore not "kept in store, reserved unto fire" that it is the body, or matter of which man is formed, which thinks, reasons, and determines, and not * See Abbé Barruel's Memoirs. the soul or spirit that inhabits the body;' and, as was before observed, that death is only a perpetuity of sleep,' and consequently, that there can be no resurrection of the dead; no future rewards and punishments; no day of judgment, or perdition of the "ungodly." Nor have these scoffers stopped here; for to crown their mockery, with horrible blasphemy they affirm, that God is only a chimera and a phantom,' and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, an impostor.' Let me ask, in the next place, what have been the effects of these audacious scoffings? Have we not seen kings, princes, "nations, tongues, and people," rich and poor, great and small, embracing and uniting in one plan, not only to ridicule the word of God, but to efface from the minds of men, all the morality, religion, and truth derived from it? Thus whether we consider the opinions of the ancient Jews and primitive fathers, or the predictions and descriptions of " the last days and times," by St. Paul, St. Jude, or St. Peter, we find that all of them accurately correspond with the period of the "third and last woe" of the prophet. Having thus brought down the past events fort cold to the present times, I might here close this summary view, and proceed to my promised observations upon those which are immediately to succeed them; but, as it may be useful to the reader, I shall first add a general view of the remaining important events, to the end of the Revelation. St. John, having concluded the particular history of the Eastern church in the ninth chapter, and that of the Western in the thirteenth, and brought down their respective events to the present times, with strict propriety, resumes the general history of the church; for the events which he is now about to foretel, under "the seven vials," concern the universal church in both hemispheres; events by which it is to be affected; and active in opposing, rejecting, end destroying atheistical opposition to it. This general history he begins in the fourteenth chapter, where he takes only a summary view of the awful subject of the wrath of God, which is to be poured out upon the wicked opposers and mockers of his divine word, in the last days. In the first five verses he represents Christ, and the saints around him, ready to descend, and to reign upon earth. In the 6th and 7th verses he calls aloud to every nation, " and kindred, and tongue, and people, to FEAR "GOD and give him the GLORY; for the hour of "bis judgment is come; and to worship him that "made the heavens and earth, and the sea, and "fountains of waters." In verse 9, 10, 11, he forewarns mankind not to worship the beast, or his atheistical principles; and denounces the dreadful judgments of God on all that shall worship them" they shall drink," says he, "of the "wine of the wrath of God, poured out without "mixture, into the cup of his indignation." In the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th verses, he represents Christ as receiving the order of God, to" reap the earth," that is, to cut off and destroy the wicked apostates and athiests, who had seduced and persecuted the western part of his church, referring to the plagues of the first five vials*, and in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th verses, to the destruction of the great confederacy of pagans, apostates, and atheists, which shall be gathered together on the "great day of God Almighty;" that is to say, to the great events described under the seventh vialt. In chapter XV. the prophet represents the seven angels" having the seven last plagues‡," coming out of the temple of heaven, ready to obey the almighty fiat of a long forbearing and offended GOD. In ver. 2, 3, 4, he declares the happy and blessed state of those who shall have gained the victory "over the beasts, and over his images and over his mark, and over the number of his name;" and prepared themselves to meet their Redeemer, when he shall come. He concludes the chapter by informing us, that " no man" (not even those, as I humbly apprehend, who should reign with Christ upon earth)" was able to enter "into the temple of God, till the seven plagues of "the seven angels were fulfilled:" meaning till "Christ shall have put down all rule, and all author"ity, and power," "shall have put all enemies "under his feet, even death itself¶:" and finally, "shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, " even the Father," that" God may be All in All**? In chapter XVI. the prophet gives in detail the events of the third and last woe, under the *Rev. xvi. 1 to 11. 1 Cor. xv. 24. ** Ibid. ver. 24. 23. † Rev. xvi. from 13 to the end. § Chap. xiii. 11. 14. 18. Ibid. ver. 25, 26. |