pented not to give him the glory." I believe it is not known, that any of these principal deistical writers were converted to the religion of Jesus Christ before their death, to give God the glory. Yet I think we have some account of many of them dying in horror, at the frightful view of the future, in consequence of their blasphemous lives against the majesty of the King of kings. Therefore, in the history of the Deists in the eighteenth century, we have the history of the plague of the fourth vial. "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." "The seat of the beast" must mean those ten kingdoms on which the woman sitteth, which is ancient Rome. "Full of darkness must mean full of wickedness, confusion, and

every evil work. "Gnawed their tongues for pain shows shame, disgrace, and disappointment. This vial was poured out in the French revolution, about 1798. When Bonaparte began his extraordinary career, exalted to the pinnacle of power, he dethrones the pope, (whose power and authority had made kings and emperors quail at his feet, who had ruled over the nations with despotic sway for more than 1200 years,) and makes Rome the second city of France; conquers the ancient monarchies; deluges every country with blood; masters every king; gathers spoils from every land, and humbles cities in the dust; changes the laws of kingdoms, and destroys the most sacred constitutions of the Roman states. In this revolution among the Roman kingdoms, and under this vial, the bastile was demolished, the inquisition destroyed, torture suppressed, and the power of the Papal clergy restrained. Their kingdoms were full of darkness; they were troubled, chafed, and grieved; a thousand plots were laid; many times they confederated against him, the master spirit of the times; but they prevailed not, until this vial had its accomplishment on the seat of the beast. Yet, after all this wonderful display of God's judgments upon the beast and kingdoms of ancient Rome, they repented not, but, Pharaoh-like, they blas

phemed God, because of their pains and their sores. "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 of the east might be prepared." The scene has now changed from Europe to Turkey. The "river Euphrates" means, in prophecy, the people of that country bordering on the river, and, of course, refers to the Turkish power, as I have formerly shown in my lecture on the fifth and sixth trumpet. "Water thereof was dried up," is an emblem of the power and strength of that kingdom being diminished, or taken away. This vial was poured out on Turkey, by the loss of a great share of the empire; first, Russia on the north, in her last war with the Turks, took away a number of provinces; then, by the revolt of Ali Pacha; then, by the rising of the Greeks; since, by the Albanians and Georgians, and other distant parts of the empire, becoming disaffected; which, all together, have so wasted the power of the Turks, that, now, it is very doubtful whether she can maintain her power against her own intestine enemies; and, to compare her now with her former greatness, would be like comparing a fordable stream with the great river Euphrates; so that the way now appears to be prepared for the kings to come up to the battle of the great day, in which the false prophet is now to take his part, as we shall see in our next verse.

"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 the great day of God Almighty." Now, if we can decipher this passage, we can tell what are now and what will be the signs of the times. “Three unclean spirits." By this we must understand three wicked principles. "Frogs" I understand to show us that it is political. As frogs came over the land in the judgment on Egypt, and pervaded every house, even the palace of the king, so do politics. "Mouth" denotes orders or commands. The dragon is

a figure of the kings of the earth. The beast is used to represent Papacy. The false prophet evidently represents Mahometanism. These have all the spirit of devils. The devil pretends to claim power over all the kingdoms of the world, (see Rev. xii. 9,) there called the devil. Papacy is said, in Rev. xiii. 2, to receive its power from the dragon, and to come out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition; of course, must belong to Satan's kingdom. The false prophet, too, is to be "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." All these powers have pretended to work miracles, to establish their authority over the bodies and souls of men. But what are the principles which each of these teach their political followers? The dragon and his political party, in whatever nation they may appear, (as all three of these political principles must pervade the whole earth,) will support tyranny, slavery, and aggrandizement of the few at the expense of many. The beast and his political party will be known only by their hypocrisy, bigotry, and superstition. Their principal object will be to operate on the hopes and fears of men, and so gain an ascendency over the minds of the individuals who may be so unfortunate as to be found in their ranks. The false prophet will fill his party with notions of infidelity, lust, and conquest. And the spirit of all these parties, working at one and the same time, in all nations, and among all people, will produce an effect which only can be known to mortals in experiencing the conflict. 66 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." This verse gives us notice of the near approach of him who hath all power in heaven and earth. "For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day shall overtake you as a thief." Watch, therefore, for if ye have put on the Lord Jesus Christ, keep your garment, and let none take your crown, that you may be found of him without spot and blameless. "And he gathered them together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon;" that

is, "Where the Lord will declare his precious fruit." This gathering is the same spoken of in Matt. xxv. 32, "And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." In the place Armageddon, the Lord will manifest who are his; he will separate the chaff from the wheat, the wicked from the just. The wheat he will gather into his garner; they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, while the chaff will be burnt with unquenchable fire. His own right hand shall save us while his last plague shall be poured out upon the head of his enemies. "And the

seventh angel poured his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done." The seventh and last vial of God's wrath will be poured into the air about the year 1840, if my former calculations are correct, when this judgment will have a quick and rapid circulation over the whole globe. Like the air, it will pervade every kingdom, circulate into every nation, sow the seeds of anarchy in every society, and disorganize every bond of union among men, except the gospel. "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." Voices, political strife. Thunders is an emblem of divisions. Lightning is a representation of anger and war. Great earthquake denotes a great revolution. And there will be, when this vial is poured out, political strife among all nations, divisions among all sects, societies, and associations of men upon earth. Anger, war, and bloodshed will fill the countries with horror and dismay; and a great revolution, such as was not since men were upon earth, so mighty a revolution and so great. "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." The great city is the woman which reigneth over the kings of the earth, says the angel, Rev. xvii. 18. And the woman is Papacy. Papacy must also be divided into three parties, to show

her dissolution. And the cities of the nations fell. As city denoted the papal power and religion, so does cities represent the power and religion of all other nations. Therefore all the power, and all national religion, will fall in and under this vial, and the anti-Christian power will be judged; all their sins, cruel persecutions, and bloody deeds, will be brought into judgment into remembrance before God, and he will fill to her the cup which she has made others drink, and she in her turn must drink the dregs. "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Islands and mountains are figures of great and small kingdoms and governments. This text alludes to the same time and circumstances which Nebuchadnezzar's dream does, Daniel ii. 35, 45- when the stone cut out without hands shall smite the image upon his feet, and all the kingdoms of the earth be carried away, that no place shall be found for them. In this verse it is, the "mountains were not found." "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." This closes the history of the seven last plagues, and this storm of hail is the last part of the seventh vial; it is the closing up of the judgments of God on an ungodly world. Whether we are to understand this hail figuratively or literally, I am not able to say; but my prevailing opinion is, that we are to understand it literally, for this reason—I have never been able in the word of God to find any figurative explanation, although it is used in a number of places with particular reference to the last day. Isa. xxviii. 17, "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-places." xxx. 30, "And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones." Ezek. xiii. 11, 13, "Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there