VII

Calabria, Russia, Poland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, &c, including the maritime war, contagious diseases, famine, &c, is stated to amount to the dreadful fisum of ve million, eight hundred thousand!

Chap. vii, ver. 14.-These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

William Tovart, a martyr of Antwerp, in a pious letter, thus expressed, as he very safely and scripturally might, his belief of the happiness of martyrs.—"The eternal Son of God will confess their names before his heavenly Father and his holy angels. They shall be clad with white robes, and shine as the sun in the kingdom of heaven, filled with gladness in the presence of the Lamb. They shall eat of the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

Chap. viii, ver. 5.-And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

A profane persecutor discovered great terror during a storm of thunder and lightning which overtook him on a journey. His pious wife who was with him, enquired the reason of his terror. He replied by asking," Are not you afraid?" She answered, "No, it is the voice of my Heavenly Father; and should a child be afraid of its father?" "Surely (thought the man) these Puritans have a divine principle in them which the world seeth not; otherwise they could not have such serenity in their souls, when the rest of the world are filled with dread." Upon this, going to Mr. Bolton, of Broughton near Kettering, he lamented the opposition which he had made to his ministry, and became a godly man ever after.

Chap. ix, ver. 3.-And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

The natural locusts are well known to be a dreadful scourge to the countries they visit. From 1778 to 1780, the empire of Morocco was terribly devastated by them, every green thing was eaten up, not even the bitter bark of the orange and pomegranite escaping. A most dreadful famine ensued. The poor were seen to wander over the country, deriving a miserable subsistence from the roots of plants; and women and children followed the camels, from whose dung they picked the indigested grains of barley, which they devoured with avidity: in consequence of this, vast numbers perished, and the roads and streets exhibited the unburied carcases of the dead. On this sad occasion, fathers sold their children, and husbands their wives.

Chap. ix, ver. 20.-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.

When Mr. Money resided, some years since, in the Mahratta county, as his daughter, not then three years old, was walking out with a native servant, they came near an old Hindoo temple, when the man stepped aside, and "made his salaam," as they call it, to a stone idol at the door. The child, in her simple language, said, “ Saamy, (that was his name) what for you do that?" "Oh missy," said he, " that my god." "Your god, Saamy! why, your god no see-no hear--no walk-your god stone. My God see every thing-my God made you, made me, made every thing." Mr. M. and his family residing there for some time, Saamy continued to worship at the temple, and missy to reprove him: but, when they were about to leave India, the poor heathen said, "What will poor Saamy do when missy go to England?

Saamy no father, no mother!" The child replied, "Oh Saamy, if you love my God, he will be your father and mother too." He promised to do so. "Then," said she, "you must learn my prayers." He agreed; and she taught him the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and her morning and evening hymns. Some time after this, he desired to learn English, that he might read the Bible; and he became at length a serious and consistent Christian.

Chap. x, ver. 6.—And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, that there should be time no longer.

A young man, in giving an account of his conversion, says, "One Sabbath, after attending divine service, and after the rest of the day spent in awful transgression, I returned home in the evening and joined the family, to whom my sister was reading a tract aloud. Contrary to my usual practice, I remained to hear it, and, with my sin fresh in remembrance, I listened with deep concern to its awful truths. It was entitled THE END OF TIME.' The passages which particularly struck me were these: The end of time! When shall the sinner's heart give up its last hope? None are completely miserable before death; indeed, the vilest men are often the most merry; but it will not be always so, their joy will be turned into heaviness. Imagine the Judge upon the throne, calling you to answer these enquiries at his bar, "How have you spent the many Sabbaths I have afforded? Did you improve your time well?" Time shall end! How valuable then while it lasts, particularly to the unprepared! Every hour you have is a merciful respite. Go forth and meet your offended Sovereign! Seek him while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Go in the name of Jesus, plead his righteousness-his bloodhis death-bis intercession, and say, God be merciful to me a sinner!'" The young man read the tract, and prayed over it. The Lord was pleased to open

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the eyes of his understanding, and to begin a good work in him. He is now a candidate for the ministry, and a consistently pious character.

Chap. xi, ver. 8, 9.-And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Admiral Coligni was among the earliest victims of Popish treachery and cruelty, in the bloody massacre at Paris in 1572. One Beheme, a German, was the first that entered his chamber; who said, "Are not you the Admiral?" "I am," said he, "but you, young man, should have regard to my hoary head and old age." Beheme struck him with his sword. Several other assassins rushed into the room, and the venerable Coligni fell covered with wounds. The Duke of Guise ordered his body to be thrown out at the window, that the people might be assured it was he. His head was cut off, and sent to the king and queen mother: who got it embalmed, and gave it as a present to the Pope. His body was dragged about the streets for three days together. Such was the end of this brave man, who was the first nobleman in France that professed himself a Protestant, and a defender of the Protestant cause.

Chap. xii, ver. 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. Mr. Dod, a little before his death, experienced

some severe conflicts with Satan; but he was enabled, through grace, to obtain the victory. One morning, about two o'clock, he said to the person who sat up with him, "That he had, from the beginning of the night, been wrestling with Satan; who had accused him as having neither preached nor prayed, nor performed any duty as he should have done, either for manner or end. But," continued he, "I have answered him from the examples of the prodigal and the publican."

Chap. xiii, ver. 14.-And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

In an official and authorized Roman Catholic publication, printed in 1801, we are told that no less than twenty-six pictures of the Virgin Mary opened and shut their eyes at Rome, in the years 1796 and 1797, which was supposed to be an indication of her peculiar grace and favor to the Roman people, on account of their opposition to the French at that period. Among the subscribers to this work are the four Popish archbishops, and eleven Popish bishops, of Ireland! It also states, that, on the same occasion, the face of a statue of the Virgin at Torrice changed color, and perspiration appeared upon it! Surely the senseless block manifested more sensibility than the unblushing relaters of such tales; but the Protestant reader can hardly avoid similar sensations upon hearing such fabrications. It may remind us of the words of the apostle, "They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."

Chap. xiv, ver. 13.-And I heard a voice