waters, according to Apoc. xvii. 15, from whence the Jews had been gathered together; a voice, like that of great thunder, or of the angel that, according to chap. xiv. 18, presides over fire, which, as employed in military engines, by its explosion resembles thunder; and perhaps by such thundering fire were these champions of religion put to death. St. John also hears the "voice" of a number of harpers singing a new hymn or canticle, which no one could learn to repeat but the 144,000 martyrs. This special privilege is owing to their peculiar character, as having been through former ages the chosen and beloved people of God, and now at last have also acknowledged Christ, the Lamb, for their Saviour and God, and laid down their lives the first for him. He by his own blood had "purchased them from the earth," that is, had purchased for them these singular favours of conversion and martyrdom, for which purpose they have been collected from all parts of the earth. This melodious jubilation is performed before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the ancients, as a thanksgiving homage to the Almighty and a kind of congratulation to the four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremy, Ezechiel, and Daniel, who had prophesied so much concerning the Jews; and to the ancients or patriarchs and other saints of the times preceding Christianity, who from their former connexion with the Jews and the expected Messiah, are particularly interested in the present happy condition of the converted Jews.-St. John goes on,

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V. 4. These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, the first fruits to God and the Lamb."

These martyrs were not defiled with women, but are virgins, because they never yielded to adore, either the dragon, or the beast, Antichrist, or his image, as multitudes of others did, nor polluted themselves with any species of idolatry, which in the Apocalypse and other books of scripture, is styled fornication or prostitution. They have therefore acquired a right to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth; for he came into the world to destroy idolatry. They were likewise purchased by the blood of the Lamb, from among men, from among all the rest of mankind, to be the first fruits to God and the Lamb, that is, the first victims immolated to God and the Lamb, in Antichrist's persecution. Who is not sensible what a distinguished favour this will be to the Jews? That as they, in their ancestors, had renounced their

divine Messiah, and even put him to death, so upon their conversion they shall redeem that enormous crime, by spilling the first of their blood for him.,

V. 5. “And in their mouth was found no lie: for they are without spot before the throne of God." They had practised no dissimulation, but openly professed the Christian religion in the presence of Antichrist with the utmost intrepidity, and rejoiced to lay down their lives for Him, whom they had so long blindly disowned to be their Saviour. By this complete sacrifice of themselves they washed off all guilt, and therefore stand without spot before the throne of God.

The prophet Sophonias seemed to announce in a far distant age this future auspicious sacrifice of the converted Jews, and the general admiration it would raise through the world. “I will get them (the Jews) praise, saith the Lord, and a name, in all the land, where they had been put to confusion; at that time, when I will bring you, and at the time that I will gather you. For I will give you a name, and praise among all people of the earth, when I shall have brought back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord." Sophon. iii. 19, 20.

Thus then the Jews, become zealous Christians, will signalize their fortitude in a peculiar manner, and will be distinguished by the glorious mark of being the first victims of martyrdom offered to our Saviour, in the persecution of Antichrist; in the same manner as the innocent children of their forefathers, put to death by Herod, were the first sacrifice made to Christ, after he came into the world. And as those innocents were truly virgins in a natural sense, so will the converted Jews be virgins in the prophetic meaning, of not being defiled by any kind of idolatrous prostitution.—Thus again we see, that as St. Stephen, a converted Jew, was the first martyr among the new-formed Christians, so will the converted Jews in the last period of the world, and in the last persecution, appear conspicuous by walking foremost in the rank with the palm of martyrdom.

Antichrist having performed the above-recited bloody execution at Jerusalem, prepares next to march his army of two hundred million horsemen, Apoc. ix. 16, with design to lay waste the whole earth, and to extirpate the Christians. But as the Almighty, even in the height of his anger, remembers mercy, he bountifully forewarns mankind of the scourge he is going to let loose upon them, in order to give them still an opportunity of preventing it by their conversion to him. Thus he proclaims the impending scourge by his prophet Sophonias.

Chap. i. 14. "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and exceeding swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation.

V. 15. That day is the day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds:

V. 16. "A day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks.

V. 17. “And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung.

V. 18. "Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."

Then the Almighty exhorts them to avert his anger by having recourse to his mercy.

Chap. ii. 1. "Assemble yourselves together, be gathered together, (to implore mercy,) O nation not worthy to be loved.

V. 2. " Before the decree bring forth the day as dust passing away, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's indignation come upon you."

As if this was not a sufficient proof of God's merciful disposition, he is pleased to send a second pathetic warning of his approaching armies by his prophet Joel.

Chap. ii. 10. "At their presence the earth has trembled, the heavens are moved; the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

V. 11. " And the Lord has uttered his voice before the face of his army: for his armies are exceeding great, for they are strong and execute his word: For the day of the Lord is very great and very terrible: and who can stand it?"

Here are several of those signs, which our Saviour forewarns us shall happen in the last period of the world. These mentioned here are sent as forerunners announcing the coming of the destructive army of Antichrist. At its appearance the earth has trembled, says Joel; or, as our Saviour says, "there shall be great earthquakes." Luke xxi. 21. "The heavens are moved:" Christ says, the powers of heaven shall be moved." Matt. xxiv. 29. "The sun and moon are darkened," continues Joel, "and the stars have withdrawn their shining" and Christ, "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from

heaven." Matt. xxiv. 29. This is.the voice the Lord has uttered before the face of his army, to strike terror into mankind and bring them to themselves. "For his armies are

exceeding great," said Joel, "they are strong, and execute his word: For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can stand it?". -Again, the Almighty throws in another energetic exhortation to penance, desirous that the scourge may be taken out of his hand before he strikes: V. 12. Now therefore saith the Lord," continues Joel, "be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning.

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V. 13. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.

V. 14. 66 Who knows but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God?

V. 15. "Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.

V. 16. "Gather together the people, sanctify the Church, assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bride-chamber.

V. 17. "Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's ministers, shall weep, and shall say: spare, O Lord, spare thy people; and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations, where is their God?"

These divine admonitions not prevailing with mankind, who have hardened themselves in iniquity, and carried it to a greater pitch than was ever seen in any former period of the world, the Almighty in his wrath lets loose the reins to Antichrist. This devouring beast and raging tyrant sets out with his army, to ravage and desolate: first, the country of Judæa, then all Christendom, and in fine, to trample under foot all the powers of the earth. The march and progress of this horrible army, with the havoc it makes, is described in most pathetic and lofty strains by. the prophet Joel. The description, indeed, is applied by some commentators to a vast swarm of devouring insects; by others, to the Chaldean troops coming against Jerusalem under Nabuchodonosor; but whoever will attentively view the particulars of the narrative, will see that they do not tally with either of those cases, but agree

very properly with the army of the Apocalypse.—Thus cries out Joel:

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Chap. i. 2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

V. 3. "Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

V. 4. “That which the palmer-worm has left, the locust has eaten; and that which the locust has left, the bruchus has eaten; and that which the bruchus has left, the mildew* has destroyed (has eaten.)

V. 5. " Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn, all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

V. 6. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth, as of a lion's whelp.

V. 7. He has laid my vineyard waste, and has pulled off the bark of my fig-tree: he has stripped it bare, and cast it away: the branches thereof are made white."

As

The four insects, palmer-worm, locust, bruchus, and grasshopper, ver. 4, represents the four great nations, which we saw crossing the Euphrates, to form Antichrist's army. they march at present in four separate bodies, it is said that what one leaves, the other eats up, to show that they leave famine behind them wherever they go.

They are strong and without number, v. 6, and as furious lions, they root up all the vineyards and fruit trees, v. 7, after having devoured the fruit.Joel goes on:

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V. 8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

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V. 9. Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned.

V. 10. "The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.

V. 11. "The husbandmen are ashamed, the vine-dressers have howled for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

V. 12. "The vineyard is confounded, and the fig-tree hath languished: the pomegranate-tree, and the palm-tree, and the

* Most interpreters understand the Hebrew word, here rendered by mildew, to mean a species of grasshopper, or other insect.