(Eph. II. 2.) the prince of the power of the air, and is reprefented (ver. 13.) as a principal actor in thefe latter fcenes; fo that this laft period will not only complete the ruin of the kingdom of the beast, but will also make the kingdom of Satan every where. Upon the pouring out of this vial a folemn proclamation is made from the throne of God himself, It is done; in the fame fenfe as the angel before affirmed (X. 7.) that in the days of the feventh trumpet the mystery of God fhould be finished. Of this vial, as indeed of all the former, the completion is gradual; and the immediate effects and confequences are (ver. 18-21.) voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Thefe portend great calamities. Voices, and thunders, and lightnings, are the ufual attendants of the deity, efpecially in his judgments. Great earthquakes in prophetic language fignify great changes and revolutions, and this is fuch an one as men never felt and experienced before, fuch as was not fince men were upon the earth. Not only the great city is divided into three parts or factions, but the cities of the nations fall from their obedience to her. Her fins are remembered before God, and like another Babylon she will foon be made to drink of the bitter cup of his anger. Nay not only the works of men, the cities fall; but even the works of nature, the islands fly away, and the mountains are not found; which is more than was faid before (VI. 14.) that they were moved out of their places, and can import no less than an utter extirpation of idolatry. Great hail too often fignifies the judgments of God, and these are uncommon judgments. Diodorus, a grave hiftorian (3) fpeaketh of hailftones, which weighed a pound and more; Philoftorgius mentions hail that weighed eight pounds; but thefe are about the weight of a talent, or about a hundred pounds, a strong figure to denote the greatness and severity of these judgments. But ftill the men continue obftinate, and blaf

(3) και χαλάζης απις8 το μέλεθα μνααιαι γαρ επιπλον,εςι δ ̓ ὅτε και MEC. Et magnitudinis incredibilis grando: minæ enim pondo, et quandoque majores, deciderant. Diodorus Sic. Lib.

VOL. II.

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19. de Rhodiorum diluvio. p. 695. Edit, Steph. p. 689. Edit. Rhodomani. Pholoft. Hist. Ecclef. Lib. 11. Cap. 7.

pheme

pheme God because of the plague of the hail; they remain incorrigible under the divine judgments, and fall be deftroyed before they will be reformed.

CHAP XVII.

As the feventh feal, and the seventh trumpet, contained many more particulars than any of the former feals, and former trumpets: fo the feventh viol contains more than any of the former vials: and the more you confider, the more admirable you will find the ftructure of this book in all its parts. The deftruction of the Antichriftian empire is a fubject of fuch importance and confequence, that the holy Spirit hath thought fit to reprefent it under variety of images. Rome hath already been characterized by the names of fpiritual Egypt and Babylon: and having feen how her plagues refemble thofe of Egypt, we fhall now fee her fall compared to that of Babylon. It was declared before in general (XIV. 8.) Babylon_is fallen, is fallen; but this is a cataftrophe deferving of a more particular defeription, both for a warning to fome, and for a confolation to others. But before the defcription of her fall and deftruétion, there is premifed an account of her state and condition, that there may be no miftake in the application. Rome was meant, as all both (4) papifts and proteftants agree; and I think it appears almoft to demonftration, that not Pagan but Chriftian, not imperial but papal Rome was here intended; and the arguments urged to the contrary by the Bishop of - Meaux himfelf, the beft and ableft advocate for popery, prove nothing fo much as the weakness and badnefs of the cause, which they are brought to defend.

1

ND there came one of the feven angels A which had the feven vials, and talked with me, faying unto me, Come hither, I will fhew unto

(4) Certiffimum eft nomine Babylonis Romam urbem fignificari. Baronius ad Ann. 45. Johannes in Apocalypfi paffim Romam vocat Babylo

nem.-Et aperte colligitur ex Cap. 17. Apocalypfews. Bellarmin. de Rom. Pontiff. Lib. 3. Cap. 13, &c. &c. &c.

thee the judgment of the great whore, that fitteth upon many waters:

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabiters of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wildernefs; and I faw a woman fit upon a fcarletcoloured beast, full of names of blafphemy, having feven heads, and ten horns.

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple, and fcarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious ftone and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthinefs of her fornica

tion.

5 And upon her forehead was a name, written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 And I faw the woman drunken with the blood of the faints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jefus and when I faw her, I wondered with great admiration.

One of the feven angels, who had the seven vials, (ver. 1.) calleth to St. John. Moft probably this was the feventh angel; for under the feventh vial great Babylon came in remembrance before God, and now St. John is called upon to fee her condemnation and execution. Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore, that fitteth upon many waters. So ancient Babylon, which was feated on the great river Euphrates, is defcribed by Jeremiah (LI. 13.) as dwelling upon many waters: and from thence the phrafe is borrowed, and fignifies, according to the angel's own explanation, (ver. 15.) ruling over many peoples and nations. Neither was this an ordinary proffitute; the was the great whore, (ver. 2.) with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication as Tyre (If. XXIII. 17.) committed fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. Nay not only the kings, but inferior perfons, the inhabiters

Y 2

inhabiters of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication; as it was faid of ancient Babylon, (Jer. LI. 7.) the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. Fornication in the ufual ftile of fcripture is idolatry; but if it be taken even litterally, it is true that modern Rome openly allows the one, as well as practices the other. Ancient Rome doth in no refpect fo well anfwer the character; for the ruled more with a rod of iron, than with the wine of her fornication. What, and where were the kings, whom the courted and debauched to her communion? What, and where were the people, whom the inveigled and intoxicated with her idolatry? Her ambition was for extending her empire, and not her religion. She permitted even the conquered nations to continue in the religion of their ancestors, and to worship their own gods after their own rituals. She may be faid rather to have been corrupted by the importation of foreign vices and fuperftitions, than to have established her own in other countries.

As Ezekiel, while he was a captive in Chaldæa, was conveyed by the spirit to Jerufalem, (Ezek. VIII. 3.) fo St. John (ver. 3.) is carried away in the fpirit into the wilderness; for there the fcene is laid, being a fcene of defolation. When the woman, the true church, was perfecuted and afflicted, fhe was faid (XII. 14.) to fly into the wilderness: and in like manner, when the woman, the falfe church, is to be deftroyed, the vifion is prefented in the wilderness. For they are by no means, as fome have imagined, the fame woman under various reprefentations. They are totally diftinct and different characters, and drawn in contraft to each other, as appears from their whole attire and behaviour, and particularly from these two circumftances; that during the 1260 years while the woman is fed in the wilderness, the beast and the fearlet whore are reigning and triumphant, and at the latter end, the whore is burnt with fire, when the woman as his wife, hath made herself ready for the marriage of the lamb. A woman fitting upon a beaft is a lively and fignificative emblem of a church or city directing and governing an empire. In painting and

fculpture,

fculpture, as well as in prophetic language, cities are often reprefented in the form of women: and Rome herfelf is exhibited (5) in ancient coins as a woman fitting upon a lion. Here the beaft is a fcarlet-coloured beaft, for the fame reafon that the dragon was (XII. 3.) a red dragon; to denote his cruelty, and in allufion to the diftinguishing color of the Roman emperors and magiftrates. The beaft is alfo full of names of biaf phemy, having feven heads and ten horns; fo that this is the very fame beaft which was defcribed in the former part of the 13th chapter: and the woman in fome meafure anfwers to the two-horned beaft or falfe prophet: and confequently the woman is Chriftian and not Pagan Rome: becaufe Rome was become Chriftian, before the beaft had completely seven heads and ten horns, that is before the Roman empire experienced its laft form of government, and was divided into ten kingdoms. The woman is arrayed too (ver. 4.) in purple and scarlet color, this being the color of the popes and cardinals, as well as of the emperors and fenators of Rome. Nay the mules and horfes, which carry the popes and cardinals, are covered with fcarlet cloth, fo that they may properly be faid to ride upon a fcarlet colored beaft. The woman is alfo decked with gold and precious ftone, aud pearls: and who can fufficiently defcribe the pride, and grandeur, and magnificence of the church of Rome in her veftments and ornaments of all kinds? Alexander Donatus (6) hath drawn a comparifon between ancient and modern Rome, and afferts the fuperiority of his own church in the pomp and fplendor of religion. You have a remarkable inftance in Paul II, of whom (7) Platina relates, that, "in his "pontifical veftments he outwent all his predeceffors,

efpecially in his regno or mitre, upon which he had "laid out a great deal of money in purchafing at vast rates, diamonds, faphirs, emeralds, chryfoliths, jafpers, "unions, and all manner of precious ftones, wherewith

(5) Vitring, p. 757. Emmeness.

ad Virg. Æn. VI. 854.

(6) Vitring. p. 759. Donat. Urbe Roma. Lib. 1. Cap. 29.

de

(7) Platina's Lives of the Popes, tranflated by Sir Paul Rycaut. p. 414.

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" adorned