ant states of Europe have hitherto been marvellously preserved amidst the plagues of the papal Babylon, so they will be preserved even to the time of the end.

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds."

In the Apocalypse mention is made of two beasts, the secular and the ecclesiastical; and it might be doubted which of the two was here intended, were we not assisted in our inquiries by the general context of the whole prophecy. Whenever the beast is simply mentioned, by way of eminence as it were, I believe it will invariably be found, that the ten-horned or secular beast is meant,* not the two-horned or ecclesiastical beast. In addition to this general proof, the particular context of the present passage may be adduced. The angel is said to pour his vial upon the seat of the beast. Now the first beast is expressly said to have had a seat or throne given him by the dragon; because, although nominally Christian, he exercised his secular authority, like his predecessor the pagan empire, in persecuting the Church of God:† whereas no mention is made of the seat of the second beust, and for this plain reason; the secular authority of the Pope was confined within the narrow limits of an Italian principality, and all the persecutions which he ever excited against the faithful were carried into effect by the first beast through the instrumentality either of his last head or of his ten horns. Hence I think it manifest, that the beast, upon whose seat the present vial is poured, is the first or secular beast.

What is precisely meant by this judgment it is impossible at present to determine with any certainty, inas

See Rev. xiv. 9, 11. xvi. 2. xix. 19.

+ Rev. xii. 2.

All the different martyrs, who were persecuted to death as heretics, after they had been found guilty by the ecclesiastical courts were formally delivered over to the secular arm for punishment. "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," was the constant language of the two-horned beast, as it heretofore was of the Jewish priests when demanding the death of Christ. Sometimes even, with a crocodile affectation of clemency, the secular beast was besought by his merciful colleague not to deal too harshly with the condemned.

much as it is yet future. If however we may argue from analogy, since the giving of a seat or throne to the beast by the dragon evidently means the investing him with the same secular power of making war with the saints as that exercised by him while in his pagan state, the pouring out of a vial upon that seat so as to fill his whole kingdom with darkness seems most naturally to represent some grievous calamity which should materially affect that secular power of persecution, and fill his whole kingdom with consternation and confusion.

The beast here spoken of is the beast under his last head: but what power will be that last head, when the present vial is poured out, must be determined by the

event.*

I have already observed, that the last bead of the beast is by the Apostle termed the beast himself.

Since this was written, the battle of Austerlitz has been fought, and possibly the fifth vial has been poured out. From the ambiguous nature of the Carlovingian bead of the beast, which has sometimes been attached to one kingdom and family and sometimes to another, I dare not even now positively say, that the effusion of the fifth vial has commenced; but I am strongly inclined to believe that it has commenced, and that the house of Austria now feels its baleful effects. This vial is said to be poured out on the throne or secular authority of the beast under bis last bead, the representative of which previous to the late campaign was the German emperor of the Romans; and it produces the effect of filling his kingdom with darkness. Let the reader turn his eyes to the present state of that unfortunate prince, and of (what anciently and indeed till very lately properly constituted his kingdom) Germany and Italy: and he will behold the power of the imperial throne subverted, and the Emperor degraded to the condition of a mere king of Austria, elbowed out of his empire, stripped even of his hereditary dominions, and trembling at the nod of an implacable enemy, who seems even now to be meditating his entire destruction; he will behold Germany passing under the yoke of a new Charlemagne, and parcelled out according to the sovereign pleasure of a daring usurper, its ancient constitution annihilated, and itself full of political darkness and confusion; he will behold Italy equally degraded, equally dark, equally confused. And what is the consequence of these calamities? "They gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." And do we find any thing like a reformation in Germany and Italy? They present only the hideous spectacle of the abominations of Popery blended with the blasphemies of Infid.lity.

Though I scruple not to say, that there are strong reasons for believing that the fifth vial has begun to be poured out, I repeat that I am unwilling at present posttively to make such an assertion. Whenever the waters of the mystic Euphrates are completely dried up under the sixth vial, we shall then know with certainty that the fifth vial, which precedes it, must have been poured out; we shall then consequently be able to determine, whether the fifth vial was poured out at the close of the year 1805, or whether it relates to some yet future calamity about to befall the present Carlovingian bead of the beast. This last however I fear we have not much reason to expect. The fall of the Turkish monarchy will throw a wonderful light on the study of the apocalypse; because it will definitely teach us in what part of it we are now living, and will prove that all the five first vials (let them relate to what they may) must have been previously poured out. If no events therefore, answering to those described under the fifth vial, shall take place between the present time and the down

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the East might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he, that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."

Under the sixth trumpet, the four Turkish sultanies, the mystic waters of the Ottoman empire, issued from the river Euphrates under the sixth vial, the waters of the same Euphrates are to be completely dried up. We cannot therefore reasonably doubt, that the symbolical Euphrates means in both cases the same power. Riv

all of the Turkish monarchy, I hesitate not to say, that that vial, which immediately succeeds the commencement of the scorching military tyranny predicted under the fourth, must have begun to be poured out in the late disastrous campaign. June 3, 1806.

:

*Since this was written, I have seen a paper in the Christian Observer for January 1805, in which the Euphrates, here mentioned by the prophet, is connected with Rome; on the ground that the literal Euphrates is connected with the literal Babylon: whence it is argued, that the drying up of the Euphrates implies the impending destruction of Antichristian Rome. Had the writer attended to the uniformity and strict exactness of the apocalyptic language, he would probably not have hazarded such a conjecture. The mystic streams of the Euphrates under the sixth trumpet manifestly relate to the infancy of the Turkish empire: the drying up therefore of those mystic streams under the sixth vial must relate to its destruction. So again if the Euphrates of the sixth vial is to be connected with Rome, the Euphrates of the sixth trumpet must likewise be connected with Rome; for, unless we violate completely the definiteness of the whole Revelation, what the Euphrates means in one passage, it must mean in another. Consequently, if the Euphrates of the sixth vial be the papal nations of the Roman empire, or (what the writer of this paper seems to insinuate) the influence of the Papacy over those nations: then we must conclude, unless we are willing to give up all consistency of Fanguage in the Apocalypse, that the Euphrates of the sixth trumpet means the same, in which case we shall at length arrive at the absurd position, that the four Turkish subtanies issued from the papal nations of the Roman empire, or that the Turkish monarchy originated from the influence of the Papacy. The fact is, as I have already abundantly shewn, rivers typify nations; and, when a particular river is mentioned, the nation upon its banks is intended. The Euphrates therefore of the sixth trumpet is the symbol of the Turkish monarchy: whence it will follow, that the Euphrates of the sixth vial must be Unless this be allowed, St. John uses the same symbol in different senses, and consequently puts an entire end to all certainty of interpretation. (See the beginning of Chap. ii. of the present work.) The writer of this paper seems to have taken his idea from some of the commentators cited by Pole. See Synop, in lec.

the same.

ers typify nations; and, when a particular river is specified, the nation immediately connected with that river is obviously intended. Such being the case, as the issuing forth of the four sultanies, those mystic waters of the Euphrates which deluged the Eastern Empire, denotes the rise of the Turkish power, so the drying up of those waters must evidently denote its subversion. Now, since the drying up or evaporation of water is a slow process, we may naturally conclude, that the expression points out, not merely the subversion of the Turkish power in the general, but the particular mode of that subversion by the slow consumption of its political strength, and by the gradual wasting away of its people. When the sixth angel however poured out his vial upon the figurative Euphrates, we read that its waters were completely dried up, insomuch that a way was prepared for the kings from the East. Hence it is manifest, when we consider the slow process of evaporating natural water, that we may expect the waters of the Ottoman empire to begin to be dried up many years previous to their final exhaustion under the sixth vial.*

The prelude to the pouring out of this vial we may behold with our own eyes. Let us only advert to the present state of the Turkish power, and we shall be convinced, that for some years the symbolical Euphratèan waters have been gradually drying up. The approaching termination indeed of the Ottoman empire is so manifest, that even those, whose attention is solely directed to politics, are sufficiently aware that the time of its extinction cannot be very far distant. Of late it has been preserved rather by the jealousy of the great European powers, than by any physical strength of its own and it doubtless will be preserved by the hand of Providence till his own appointed season shall approach for preparing a way for the kings from the East, and for gathering together the kings of the Latin world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.†

* See Whitaker's Comment. p. 489 et infra.

† Russia has more than once appeared to be on the very eve of swallowing up Turkey; and yet she has always been prevented from accomplishing her sufficiently evident designs. It is a singular circumstance, that the Turks theinselves forebode

...........

Not only however has the political strength of Turkey begun to be dried up, but, as it were designed that nothing should be wanting to the exact completion of the prophecy, even its population has likewise begun to diminish. This singular circumstance is noticed by Mr. Eton. After some enquiry into the causes of it, he adds, "It is therefore reasonable to conclude, that depopulation could not formerly have made so rapid a progress as at present and that, in a century more, things remaining in their present situation, the Turkish empire will be nearly extinct. It is worthy of remark, that the Curds in the mountains, and other independent tribes who do not mix with the Turks, are exempt from the mortality occasioned by all the calamities, which afflict the countries more immediately subject to the Porte."*

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Nor yet does the empire of the Euphratèan waters submit without a struggle to its fate. Many attempts have been made within the last century, principally by French officers, to renew the ancient military spirit of the Gazi Turks, and to instruct them in European tactics. Hassan, the celebrated Pasha, tried with unlimited power, for nineteen years, to inspire his own spirit into the troops; but he found all his efforts ineffectual."+

Who the kings from the East are, for whom a way is prepared by the annihilation of the Turkish empire, it is impossible to say before the event takes place. The most probable conjecture is, that the lost ten tribes of Israel are intended. It is a very remarkable circumstance, that

their future overthrow at the hands of the Russian monarchy. "The lower orders," says Mr. Eton in his survey of the Turkish empire, " are at the present day persuaded, that the Russian standard will enter Constantinople through a certain gate, said to be pointed out by an ancient prophecy; and the great men are so far from opposing this weakness by superior energy, that they look to the Asiatic shore as a secure retreat from the fury of the conquerors."

Whenever the waters of the mystic Euphrates are dried up, we shall then be able to decide with certainty what is intended by the pouring out of the fifth vial upon the seat of the beast, inasmuch as the pouring out of that via! precedes the downfall of the Turkish empire under the sixth.

It may not be improper to observe, that the vial is not said to be poured out for the purpose of drying up the waters of the Euphrates, but only to mark the period when they were dried up, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the East. Hence we are not to imagine, that the vial is already poured out, because the waters have already begun to be dried up: but we must consider this exhaustion of them only as a prelude to the pouring of it out.

* Eton's Survey of the Turkish Empire, p. 270.

+ Ibid. Chap. 3.