to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols." In this verse we have strong testimony that the exposition we have given of the seven churches is correct. For no character given the woman Jezebel will apply so exactly as the woman setting on the scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, "having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication."

Jezebel is a figurative name, alluding to Ahab's wife, who slew the prophets of the Lord, led her husband into idolatry, and fed the prophets of Baal at her own table. A more striking figure could not have been used to describe the Papal abomination. See 1 Kings, xviii. xix. xxi. chapters. It is very evident from history, as well as from this verse in Revelation, that the church of Christ did suffer some of the Papal monks to preach and teach among them. See the history of the Waldenses.

21, "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not." 22, "Behold I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her, into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." 23, "And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." We cannot be mistaken in the character given to this mystical Jezebel, when we compare the descriptions here used, and the judgments threatened, with other passages of like import in Revelations, where mystical Babylon is described and threatened.

See Rev. ix. 20, 21, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

If these last texts mean anti-Christ, of which I believe none have any doubt, that is, no commentator that I have been able to consult, then it is equally evident that this woman, called Jezebel, in this prophecy of the church in

Thyatira, means the same; and the conclusion is strong that the Thyatira church represents the churches in some age of anti-Christ, and the prophecy contained in the verses we have already quoted are the judgments God has and will pour out on that great city that rules over the kings of the earth and has for ages past trodden the church under foot and contaminated the people of God by her seductions, sorceries and fornications.

24, "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden." 25, "But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come." In these verses the church which have not fellowshiped the anti-christian doctrine, and have not followed the practices of the satanic blasphemies of their abominations, are here promised to experience no other persecution except what they may experience from this beast or woman Jezebel, which is another proof of this being anti-Christ: for the church in Thyatira has long been extinct, if there ever was such a church, and was when the man of sin was revealed, and yet they are promised to have none other burden until he come, as it is more than implied; and this power is to stand until he comes. For Paul says, "Whom he shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming." This is Daniel's fourth kingdom which was to be broken without hand, and to be carried away like the chaff of the summer threshing floor before the wind, that no place be found for it.

26, "And he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations :" 27, "And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star." 29, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches."

In closing the prophecies to the churches, our divine instructor carries them down to that day when he shall come to be admired in all them that believe, or to glorify his saints, to crown them his in his kingdom of glory, to

break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth as a potter's -vessel is broken to shivers, as the last text says, which proves that when Christ comes, he will bring all the saints with him, and this too when the kingdoms of this world and anti-Christ will be destroyed. And this proves another important point in which many good and pious people are greatly mistaken, (viz.) that there will not be a thousand years happy reign previous to Christ's coming the second time without sin unto salvation. What happy reign there can be while the kingdoms of the earth stand as they now do; while the anti-Christian beast has power to seduce and draw the servants of God into idolatry, and lull to her serpentine folds thousands and tens of thousands human beings yearly, and deceive the nations by her syren song of mother church; while by means of her poison, subtle, secret and deep, she is undermining and sapping the foundation of every religious sect but her own; of every civil government but such as will resign. their power unto her control. And now, while I am speaking, she is exerting an influence in this once favored land, by means of her Jesuits, that will set father against son, and son against father, and drench our country in blood. Can this monster of murder, iniquity, and blood, retain her life, her standing in society, and we have a happy reign? No. She must and will sink like a millstone in the mighty deep, and God will avenge the blood of his servants. Her flesh must be eaten by dogs; yes, the kings of the earth shall eat her flesh and God shall consume her with fire before the happy reign comes. "Come Lord Jesus, come quickly."

LECTURE X.

REV. i. 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

1

In my former lectures I have given my views of four of the churches spoken of in the text. Three more re- ́ mains, 'which will complete the prophetic history of the church through all the ages of the New Testament times until the state of trial shall be fulfilled, and the church shall enter her glorified kingdom in triumph. You have undoubtedly been led, by the comparison of the churches with the history thus far, to admire the agreement of the prophecy of the four churches with the history of the times, and truly this is one of the greatest evidences we have of the truth of the divine inspiration of revelation, and this evidence fixes the authenticity of the scriptures beyond a reasonable doubt. I shall now claim a few moments indulgence while I attempt to show where and when the other three churches have been or will be fulfilled. See Rev. iii.

1, "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write." Song of joy, or that which remains, is the signification of Sardis. The last signification is the one which the hea-` venly instructor has affixed himself to this church in the second verse, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain." The church preceding this had passed a long, dark and benighted age of the world, and every writer of these times calls them the dark ages; and truly it was an age of superstition, bigotry and ignorance, therefore we must reasonably suppose that but few were the true worshipers of God, and those few enjoying but a faint knowledge of divine things. But we will pursue our course. "These things, saith he, that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, I know thy works, that

The

thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead." same character that has addressed the other churches, still gives himself a quality by which we may know that it is him who is called God man, having the spirit of God, and as man governing his church as the star of Bethlehem. This church began about the tenth century, and lasted until the Reformation under Luther, Calvin, and others. They had a name, were called Waldenses, Valdenses, &c., "and art dead;" that is, she was or would be of little use to the rest of the world, hiding her influence within her own sphere, and of course did not manifest her light to the world, was inactive, idle, not performing the work which God had commanded them to perform, to set their light on the candlestand, that it might give light to all. This was the case with the church in the vallies of Piedmont during the time of the crusades to the Holy Land, and while the Pope had the command of all the armies of Europe, the church lived in these vallies of the Pyrenees, nearly in the centre of Europe, unknowing and unknown.

2d verse, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God." Although the church in this age retained some of the leading principles of the gospel, the ordinances were in part retained among them, yet towards the close of this Sardis age, the Papal monks and priests were sent in among them, and many of the Waldenses became corrupted by the Papal beast and her doctrine. Therefore the admonition, "be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain.”

3d verse, "Remember how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." The judg ment threatened in this verse, "I will come upon thee," is undoubtedly a prophecy of the persecution of the Waldenses and Lollards, by the Papal authority, and through the inquisition, as an instrument, about the close of the fourteenth century, when for their departure from the true doctrine of the gospel, and the commands of God, they