is by no means warranted by the original *. But if the censer were not cast to the earth, its contents must have been and what were they? To answer this question, we are to observe the method in which the angel seems to have proceeded. He offered the incense, most probably, not upon the censer, but upon the altar; the golden altar; the altar appropriated for that use; as he is expressly appointed to do, in the third verse. And if it seem an objection to this supposition, that the smoke is said to ascend from the hand of the angel, it may be answered, that so it would, if, as may seem probable, he took the incense from the censer, and with his hand applied it to the fire upon the altar. The smoke would then ascend from his hand, almost in contact with the fire. It would be only in the same manner, "from his hand," if the incense were burned upon the censer. But the censer seems to have been, in this case, only the receptacle of the incense; for the angel came forth with the censer in his hand; and then the incense was given to him. He had no vial, which was the usual receptacle †. The angel, therefore, seems to have taken the incense from the censer, and to have burned it upon the fire, which was on the altar. He now reverses the mode; he first takes the censer, and then the fire from the altar, which he applies to the censer, in which was the remainder of the incense: and the fire and the incense, thus burning, he casts to the earth. But the incense, thus burning, as we have before remarked, means the Christian worship and Religion; pure and heavenly in its nature and origin; but, sent down to the earth, and mixing with the passions and worldly designs of men, it produces signal commotions, expressed in the prophetical language by

Και εβαλεν εἰς τὴν γῆν. † See note, ch. v. 8, on the word Vial.

"voices,

"voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and earth"quake." Or, if it be, as it may perhaps be, that the fire alone is cast to the earth, (the incense being exhausted,) the interpretation will be nearly the same. For our Lord has declared, in the same kind of figurative language, that in sending forth his holy Religion to the earth, he had cast fire thereon;-wug λbov Baλer Is Tuv yuv-it is the very same expression: and this fire he afterwards explains to signify divisions and contention t. Thus, in the representation before us, the Christian Religion begins in peace; and pure incense, rendered effectual by the Saviour's atonement, and accompanying the devout prayers of the Church, is offered for a time; till, mingling with earthly corruption, with human passions and prejudices, it becomes the instrument of discord and violence. But this is only a general, symbolical, preluding view of the subject; the heresies, divisions, commotions, which, under the name of Christianity, miserably afflicted the Christian world, and almost banished true Religion, are to be more especially developed in the sequel of this seal. The significant action now exhibited, prepares us for the kind of history which is to follow. And it seems to confine our interpretation of the sequel, to the history of THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, thus producing commotions upon the earth.

Luke xii. 49. ↑ Mal. i. 11.

See Grotius and Whitby, in loc.

PART

SECTION II.

The four first Trumpets.

CHAP. viii. VER. 6-12.

6 And the seven angels,
who had the seven
trumpets, prepared
themselves to sound.
7 And the first sounded;

and there were hail
and fire mingled with
blood; and they were

gavỡ ásnę μlyas καιόμενα ὡς λαμ πᾶς, καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν πολαμῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς πη11 γὰς ὑδάτων. Καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῇ ἀγέρος λέγεται ὁ ̓Αψινθος" καὶ γίνεται τὸ τρίτον τῶν ὑδάτων εἰς ἄψινθον, καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων απέ θανον ἐκ τῶν ὑδάτων, ὅτι ἐπικράνθησαν. 12 Καὶ ὁ τέταρτο ἄγελα, ἐσάλπισε, καὶ ἐπλήγη τὸ τρίτον τῇ ἡλίς, καὶ τὸ τρί τον τῶν αςέρων· ἵνα σκολισθῇ τὸ τρίτον αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα μὴ φαίνῃ τὸ τρίτον αὑτῆς, καὶ ἡ νὺξ ὁμοίως.

fell upon the third part
of the rivers, and upon
the springs of waters.
11 And the name of the
star is called the Worm-
wood; and the third
part of the waters be-
comes wormwood; and
many
of the men died
of the waters, because
they were made bitter.
12 And the fourth angel
sounded; and the third
part of the sun was
smitten, and the third
part of the moon, and
the third part of the
stars; so that a third
part of them should
be darkened, and the
day might not shine,
as to the third part of
it, and the night like-
wise.

fountains of waters:

11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they 12 were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Ver. 6. And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.] The former part of this chapter having prepared us for a new kind of representation, in which we may expect to find the history of those commotions which followed the descent of Christianity upon earth; we will in the next place observe, with what propriety they are severally introduced by the sound of Trumpets. Trumpets were in use among the Israelites for several purposes: first, for assembling the people, or their leaders t; or,

* Numb. x.

2, 3.

↑ Ib. x. 4.

secondly,

secondly, to express joy and exultation on solemn festivals *; or, lastly, to give signal when the camp was to move, or the host to go forth to battle t; on which occasion, the trumpets were to "sound an alarm, after a manner not used on other occasions. It was the signal of hostile invasion §; it was fearful:-"Shall "the trumpet be blown in the city, and the people "not be afraid?" Of such kind we may account the seven trumpets of the angels. They are not the trumpets of the new moons and feast days; there is no joy and festivity in them; they are not for the quiet and peaceful calling of the assembly; they sound an alarm; an alarm of war; and woe! woe! woe! accompanies their notes (ver. 13.): they foretel to the Church of Christ the invasions of its enemies, and are so many signals on the approach of each antichristian foe. And from the preparatory vision, in which incense and fire from the altar in heaven, are cast down to earth, producing violent commotions, we have reason to expect that Religion, or the pretence and abuse of it, is intimately connected with this warfare. tion will be confirmed by our observing, that the representation under every trumpet appears to have some reference to, or connection with, the preparatory vision. At the sounding of almost every one of which, somewhat is seen to fall from heaven to earth, as the incense and fire had fallen, and to occasion the commotions which ensue.

This expecta

Ver. 7. And the first sounded.] The prophetic history of the four first trumpets is dispatched in few words, containing few images; so that much particular