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an earthquake at Rome. Tacitus mentions another at Apamea1, in the reign of Claudius, which was so destructive that the emperor remitted the tribute of the city for five years; also another at Laodicea 2 in the reign of Nero. Eusebius in his Chronicle affirms, that three cities of Asia were overthrown by an earthquake at the same time. In the sixty-second year of the Christian æra there was a great earthquake which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, besides inflicting great injury in the city of Naples. Another additional evidence is here afforded of the date of the Apocalypse; for surely Vienna, and Paris, and Berlin cannot with any propriety be called the cities of the nations, ovn. The term can only be applied to cities of heathen nations, such as those that fell contemporaneously with the destruction of Jerusalem.

I have only one more point to notice, and that is the peculiarity of the hail being mentioned both under the Trumpet and Vial.

SEVENTH TRUMPET.

"And great hail."

SEVENTH VIAL.

"And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great."

1 "Tributumque Apamiensibus terræ motu convulsis in quinquennium remissum." Ann. xii. 58.

2" Eodem anno ex illustribus Asiæ urbibus, Laodicea tremore prolapsa, propriis viribus revaluit. - Ann. xiv. 27.

3" In Asia tres urbes terræ motu conciderunt, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colossæ.

Chr. p. 161.

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4" Ex motu terræ celebre Campaniæ oppidum Pompeii magnâ ex parte proruit."—Ann. xv. 22. Pompeios celebrem Campaniæ urbem desedisse terræ motu audivimus. - Seneca.

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5 "The engines that all the legions had prepared for them were admirably contrived; but still more extraordinary ones belonged to the tenth legion. Now, the stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further: the blow they gave was in no way to be sustained. As for the Jews, they watched the coming of the stone, for it was of a white colour, and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise it made, but could be seen also before it came by its brightness; accordingly, the

It is no more necessary for us to believe that hailstones of the weight of a talent literally came down from heaven, than to believe that a great earthquake violently destroyed the city of Jerusalem. It is quite sufficient for our purpose to remember that hailstones are represented in the Bible as the instruments of God's punishment against his enemies. Thus, in the destruction of the idolatrous Canaanites, it is said, "The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."1

And so it was, with regard to the punishment of that evil and adulterous generation. Jews and heathens alike perceived the hand of God in their destruction. It was the hand of God which gathered them together into one city, and smote the whole Jewish nation at a blow.

"It is God himself," said Josephus to his countrymen, "who is bringing on this fire, to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, and is going to pluck up this city, which is full of your pollutions. "2

"We have certainly had God," said Titus, "for our assistant in this war. It was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications." 3 "It was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was intended for their preservation to their destruction." I cannot but suppose, "said Josephus to his countrymen, "that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of those against whom you fight; even a man, if he be but a good man, will fly from an impure house, and do you persuade yourselves that God will abide with in you your iniquities ?" "You are assisted," said Titus, "by God himself seditions they have been in, the famine they now endure, the fall of their walls without our engines, what can they all be

4

the

watchmen that sat upon the towers gave them notice when the engine was let go, and the stone came from it, and cried out aloud in their own country language- "The Son cometh.'" (Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 6.) "And stones of the weight of a talent were thrown by the engines that were prepared for that purpose.' Bell. Jud. lib. iii. cap. 7.; ibid. lib. iii. cap. 7. 23.

1 Joshua, x. 11.

3 Ibid. lib. vi. cap. 9.

2

Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 2. 4 Ibid. lib. v. cap. 9.

but demonstrations of his anger against them, and of his assistance afforded us ?" 1

I offer a brief recapitulation of this Trumpet and Vial. They introduce the consummation; the mystery of God is to be finished, and the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Accordingly the temple of God is opened in heaven; within it is the ark of his testament; voices, thunderings, and lightnings shake not only earth but heaven; an earthquake2 of tribulation and convulsion overwhelms the holy city; great Babylon comes in remembrance before God; God's judgments descend upon her out of heaven, and men blaspheme God because of these plagues, for they are exceeding great. All this took place at the time for which we contend; not only Jerusalem and the temple, but the dispensation itself, became a wreck; and upon this wreck arose that superb, that everlasting kingdom, stretching away from land to land and from sea to sea, which, like the light and air, is to enfold all nations in its universal embrace, and to cover all nations with its ever increasing shade. No end, no diminution of its glory, no curtailment, no lessening of its grandeur, awaits that kingdom. No new kingdom shall arise on its everlasting foundations no sceptred monarch, panting after universal dominion -no Alexander-no Napoleon of his time and day-shall shear away one flower from that everlasting wreath, or lop one spray from that great tree enveloping heaven and earth with its eternal boughs.

Thought full of freshness and power, thought full of stability and strength! "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."

Statesmen and politicians, princes and tyrants, may see before them but their own ends and their own purposes-may

1" Philostratus tells us, when some of the nearer nations would have crowned Titus for his victories over the Jews, he refused, saying that he deserved nothing upon that account; for it was not his work, but God had made him an instrument of his wrath against that people."-Tillotson's Sermons, p. 186.

2 In this earthquake a third part of the city fell, meaning a great and considerable part; under the previous earthquake, of chap. xi., a tenth part only of the city fell.

X

306 SEVENTH TRUMPET AND SEVENTH VIAL. [LECT. XII.

scheme, and plan, and direct; but his kingdom ruleth over all -he will make all conducive to the glory of his great namewill make light shine out of darkness-will bring harmony out of chaos, good out of evil, and progress out of the most tangled and intricate web of human affairs.

Storm after storm and convulsion after convulsion - the hurricanes and tornados of popular fury, and the sweeping cataract of the evil passions of men-hailstones, every one of them the weight of a talent, and the earthquakes of nations roused in their might and madness-may dislocate dynasties and thrones, and shake the solid foundations of government and order; but they cannot spring one arch, they cannot loosen one pillar, they cannot overturn one stone of that heavenbuilt and eternal kingdom. There is a guiding hand at the helm, which ever says, "Hitherto shalt thou come but no further; "there is one sitting above the waterflood who is King of kings and Lord of lords."

The cities of the nations may fall: Constantinople or St. Petersburg, London or Paris, may be engulphed; but the kingdom of Him who shall reign for ever and ever shall proceed,the past the pledge of the future, the 2000 years gone by the

earnest for the time to come.

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"He shall reign for ever and ever. "Of the increase of his government there shall be no end." "His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

307

LECTURE XIII.

THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS.

REV. xii. 1-17.

1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve

stars:

2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days.

7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

12. Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

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