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Much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints. This is an unhappy translation, which very much favours the prevalent opinion of former times, concerning the mediation of angels in support of the saints. iva day should have been translated, that he should give, or lay it to the prayers of all saints, and not, that he should offer it with them; for the word offer, is not found in the original. The performance of this angel here, is an angelic function, and not a priestly employment; but rather the archetype of that sacred office, which Moses beheld on the Mount. These prayers had been placed upon the altar, before the angel came to it, and received the incense. He did not lay the incense into the censer, but united it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar, where it was kindled by the holy fire of eternal love, as blazing forth in the intercession of Christ. Burning incense is an emblem, not of the prayers themselves, but of their being very grateful, and acceptable to God. Ps. cxli. 2.

The true import of this passage seems to be, that, some time before the blowing of the trumpets, all the saints on earth lamented the degeneracy and corruption of the Church, and made many efforts by prayer for her revival, but for a time without any visible signs of success. Thus the prayers of all saints were brought upon the golden altar in heaven, which, at least in this place, is not locally different from the true Church of Christ. Incense here denotes, both those heavenly graces in praying saints, by which alone their prayers are made acceptable, and of effect before God, as also that glorious consciousness of faith, in which believers rejoice, know and experience, that their prayers are accepted. Now, so degenerate was the Church at that time-so much in want of the life and spirit of true Christianity, that, in prayers which regarded the whole Church, even the wise virgins of those days slumbered, and for a time were in want of incense, until

this ministering angel, who had received those heavenly graces for that purpose, revived and animated them anew, to a more exalted state of faith and love. Thus did the smoke of the incense ascend, with the prayers of the saints, out of the angels hand up before God.

Verse 5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar. Two altars are mentioned in this vision ; the golden altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering, here merely denominated the altar. The altar of incense under the old dispensation was the place, where men entreated God for favour and acceptance, Exod. xxx. 1. 3. 6. but the altar of burnt-offering was the place, where God required Divine justice to be executed, against the transgression of his law. Exod. xxvii. This was done typically by offering sacrifices during the time of the Old Testament, and in reality, by the sufferings and atonement of Christ for the sins of the world. From the archetype of this altar of burnt-offering, or theatre of Divine justice against a guilty world, the angel took fire in consequence of the prayers of the saints, by which are meant the judgments and the wrath of God against his enemies, and upon the transgressors of his will.

Cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake, The earth here denotes the. Roman empire, now become Christian, and the earthly minded nations in the neighbouring countries. Thunder, lightning and earthquake are commotions of nature, which according to history, always precede the sore judgments of God; but here they are figurative expressions of great import, by which the prayers of the saints were answered, and certain measures of Divine justice signified to the Church. By voices, are meant those ministers of the Word, who rose up at this time, inspired with extraordinary zeal and fervour to enlighten the minds, and alarm the consciences of the people, by promulgating the future terrors, and righteous judgments of

the Lord upon the land. This in many places occasioned a revival of religion, as is generally the case, when great calamities are to follow. Thunderings signify the judgments of God, actually inflicted by ways of Providence, which, when seen or heard of, stun the ears, and terrify the hearts of the guilty. Lightnings are the prognostic signs of these judgments at a short distance, by means of which flashes of Divine justice reach the consciences of sinners, in order to turn them to repentance. And earthquakes have ever been looked upon, as emblems of civil commotions, among the nations of the world. This earthquake in particular, denotes the commencement of those remarkable revolutions, of which I shall give an account under the next verse.

Verse 6. And the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.

In order perfectly to comprehend this new scene of events, which is indicated by the blowing of the trumpets, I presume it necessary, to make a historical introduction, which I have reserved for this place, where, according to this series of prophecy, the judgments of God are in full approach upon the house of God, 1 Pet. iv. 17. and the whole Roman empire. To reason from history, these judgments nearly all proceeded, in a great measure, from the same fountain-head-from the tremendous commotion which ensued in Asia and Europe, upon the commencement of that great migration of Asiatic and German nations, armies, hordes and tribes; who by numerous invasions shook the Roman empire to its centre, rent the Western part of it to pieces, and divided it among themselves.

This remarkable migration of the barbarians at that time, was an extraordinary occurrence, of which the world has not beheld the equal to this day. Gibbon, Mosheim, and other historians, account for this sudden tempest of nations, in the following manner. A nation of Tartars, in the north-eastern parts of China, under their victorious

monarch Toulein, vanquished, and expelled the nation of the Huns from their country to the north of the Caspian sea. This numerous, and no less warlike nation, soon withdrew from the presence of an insulting victor, and, in search of a new home, fell upon the nation of the Alans, who inhabited the countries along the river Tanais, whom they almost annihilated. Now the barrier of nations in those parts was broken, and, like a violent torrent, they overwhelmed the Ostrogoths, and Visigoths, one nation after the other, and pressed with incumbent weight into the fertile plains of the Vistula; whilst the vanquished nations, who retreated before them, must have been forced on the confines of Germany. The inhabitants of those regions, which the ancients have assigned to the Suevi, the Vandals, the Burgundians, &c. &c. disdaining to be incumbered by these Sarmatian fugitives, abandoned their woods and morasses for the more rich and cultivated provinces of the Roman empire. In this they were soon followed by other nations from Asia, who overthrew one another with precipitation, like the waves of a tempestuous sea, to take their share in the general spoil. This appears to be the most satisfactory account of the origin of that memorable commotion among the nations of the earth, which cost the Church so many tears, and the Roman empire so much blood and treasure. No doubt, in this tremendous scene, the earth has, in a peculiar sense of the word, been a theatre of the powers of darkness, who aimed at nothing short of the total annihilation of the Church of Christ. But when they imagined their victory most complete, the Lord said to this tempestuous sea, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. Job xxxviii. 11.

Though the first symptoms of these terrible commotions, may be dated from about the year A. D. 250; yet these barbarian nations for many years, approached the Roman empire only from a distance, with fear and awe. When

they afterwards drew nearer, and attempted to make inroads into the frontier provinces, they were for a long time repulsed with great loss. However, these roaming hordes still continued to take possession of all the adjacent countries, and thus encompassed the empire on every side. And these are the four winds of the earth, which were stayed in their progress, till the servants of God had been sealed. Rev. vii. 1. 2. 3. History also assures us, that the Roman empire was not sensibly agitated, or in actual danger of being rent to pieces by these attacks of the barbarians, till after the year A. D. 372, or even after the death of the emperor Theodosius.

1. TRUMPET ACCOMPLISHED FROM A. D. 372—To 422,

Verse 7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast

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upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

This terrible tempest denotes the irruption of the barbarians into the continent of the Roman empire. No figure could have been more suitable and striking, than this storm of hail, fire, and blood, to represent the invasions of these fierce and warlike multitudes, consisting of many tribes, kindreds, and tongues, who all laid in their claim for the common plunder. Isaiah xxviii. 2. ch. xxix. 6. Exod. ix. 23. Heb. vi. 8. This storm of hail was mingled with fire and blood. Fire, denotes the incensed, savage fierceness of their dispositions which characterized all their actions in this work of ruin and desolation. Blood here designs great slaughter in battle. The earth signifies the continent of the Roman empire, and more especially the western parts of it as Germany, France, Spain and Italy, which have been the particular theatres of these scenes of ravage and horror.

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