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FIFTH TRUMPET.

7.

SIXTH TRUMPET.

7. Their attack is of the nature of a way, or stroke of correction upon the idolatrous and wicked, but produces no repentance or amendment in those who

survive the calamity.

I proceed to offer some observations on these passages, thus brought to comparison, in the order in which they stand; referring to the numbers prefixed to each.

1. A swarm of locusts and an innumerable army of hostile invaders, are in Scripture used metaphorically for each other *. Yet there must be some difference in the present instance; otherwise they would both have been described under the same name, whether it be of locusts, or horses for war. This difference is pointed out afterwards; the locusts are said to be like war-horses; (v. 7.) The other are warhorses. The attack under the sixth Trumpet has therefore more real warfare in it, than that of the fifth; which only resembles warfare, being metaphorically such.

2. The leaders of both invasions are of the same description, angels; under the fifth Trumpet, one fallen angel; under the sixth, four; certainly wicked angels, why otherwise had they been bounden? The difference is four instead of one; which seems to imply †, that the devastation is to be more dreadful and complete.

3. The angel of the fifth Trumpet leads his invaders from the grand seat of all impurity, from the

* Joel ii.

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† See note, ch. iv. 6.

depths

depths of hell*. The assailants of the sixth come from Euphrates; where had stood Babylon, the grand source of corruption to the ancient Church, and which was the instrument applied by the Almighty to punish, and to restore her. This passage compared with the two concluding verses of this sixth Trumpet, will shew, that, under this invasion, idolatry, as well as other kinds of wickedness, is to be punished; which does not seem to be the case under the fifth Trumpet, where there is no allusion to this sin.

4. The swarm of locusts is commissioned to torment, not to kill; and the unsealed only are the objects of their rage. The armies of cavalry kill onethird part of the Christian world: and there seems no return to life, as in Zech. xiii. 8. they are totally cut off from God's people †.

5. The swarm of the fifth Trumpet is appointed for a certain period of continuance; after which, its ravages may be supposed to end. The armies of the sixth for a certain determined time of commencement, against which they were kept ready: μεvoL EIG TYY gav. This sense of the construction will appear manifest by consulting similar passages in the Greek, viz. Job xii. 5. Psalm xxi. 31. Prov. xxiv. 27. Ezek. iv. 7. 2 Tim. ii. 11. Yet, by the addition of the words, day, month, year," more may be implied than the commencement, to express which, the word hour alone would have been sufficient. But even if a continuance be implied, it is not a determinate one, like that of the fifth Trumpet; the duration may be long, but the time is not ascertained.

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6. The locusts of the fifth Trumpet are like horses for war. The assailants of the sixth are horses. One

Compare ch. xx. 2.

See notes, ch. iii, 1. vi. 8.

set

set of invaders wounds with the tail; the other with the mouth and tail. The locusts have the teeth, the horses the heads, of lions. The crowns of gold, the appearance of men, the delicacy as of women, are wanting to the invaders of the sixth Trumpet, who seem to prosper by terror more than by persuasion. But both come on with the din of war; both have terrific breast-plates; one army comes on in smoke, from the bottomless pit; the other destroys by smoke, and by fire and sulphur, which are described in Scripture as produced from the same source. The armour of these assailants agrees with their weapons; being:

Their armours augines
of ' ακινθινες of
Their weaponsex wugosfire,ex xα smoke,

Jedes of brim} stone †.

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7. The attack of the fifth Trumpet is not ordained, as that of the sixth is, to be a plague, or punishment, upon the idolatrous, and such an one as should produce no amendment.

From this comparison it will appear, that the points

* See Is. xxx. 83. Rev. xiv. 10. xix. 20. xx. 10. xxi. 8. †This comparison will shew the sense in which as is used, namely, to express that black and blue smoky colour which would arise from the burning brimstone on the iron armour: for, the hyacinth, axvos of the ancients, appears to have been a dark colour with a cærulean tinge, such as we see on violets,—

Καὶ το ιον μελαν ενι, και & γραπία ὑακινθος.

After which Virgil says,

Et nigræ violæ sunt

THEOCRIT. IDYLL. X. 28.

Ec. x. 35.

By fire, in the figurative language of Scripture, violence, war, and devastation, are denoted, (see note, ch. vi. 4.); by smoke, dark confused doctrines, clouding the light of pure revelation, (see note, ch. ix. 1-12. p. 196.); and brimstone, in union with these, implies their infernal origin. See ch. xix. 20. xx. 3, 10. xxi. 8.

in which the visions under these two Trumpets agree, and resemble each other, are these: Both represent invasions on the Christian Church; by an innumerable host of assailants; in formidable power; and proceeding from the sources of infernal iniquity; under the leading and direction of evil angels; and gaining an ascendency over the men, by applying to their sensual and brutish passions.

They differ in these points. First, as to the body, which is the object of attack. In the fifth Trumpet, we have only a general description of its iniquity; but that under the sixth Trumpet, beside this general description, has a particular character,-it is idolatrous. Secondly, the assailing power: in the one, it attacks like an army; in the other, it is an army. The one is appointed for a certain season of continuance; the other for an appointed period of commencement, or, if of continuance, for an undetermined time. The one is seductive, as well as formidable; the other overbears by terror and force. The one torments the nominal Christian, but hurts not the sincere and sealed; the other destroys and annihilates one-third of the body attacked. The one injures by the tail; the other by the mouth and tail. Lastly, the invaders under the sixth Trumpet, and under that only, are described as instruments of correction and punishment upon the wicked and idolatrous; by which, however, they who survive the calamity are not reclaimed.

In our attempts, therefore, to assort this prophecy, we must endeavour to fix our eyes upon some great calamity (for it is a woe) which has happened to the Christian Church; first, by a multitude of invaders, who are known to have attacked it, not

only

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