صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

this also long and secret causes had been at work: for several years the people were hardly restrained, and their blood-thirsty tribunes and demagogues had already taken a rich prey; but to them this vial hath no effect, which requireth a widely disseminated destructiveness throughout the whole restless element; such a destructiveness as came not to pass till the elevation of Robespierre to the directorial throne. -The third, which falleth upon the fountains and rivers of waters, and turneth them into blood, hath the place of its visitation there where the fountain heads and well-springs of the superstition lie, whence it is diffused over the whole earth; and this we know well is Italy, and especially the sacerdotal states, and Rome itself; which also had no doubt been long under the operation of infidel and disorganizing principles, which state of things indeed the first vial made manifest over the whole earth. But to shake disorganization and corruption, this vial hath no respect; being a judgment of the sword, which shall fall in upon those ecclesiastical secrecies and sacred shrines, and stain them all with blood. And this was brought to pass, by the French in 1798, who sacked and pillaged, slew and defiled every sanctuary, revolutionized Rome, and banished its pope and cardinals: an event, the like of which had not happened since the time of the Goths; and not even then, for they favoured the superstition which they found growing there, though they would somewhat have modified its creed:

I

may say, which had not happened since Rome became a Christian city.-The fourth vial falleth upon the sun, which is the emblem of royal power and glory, and worketh in him such baneful

energy, that for genial warmth and pleasant light, he shooteth forth glaring, scorching, burning beams, which scorched men with fire. This is vexatious tyranny, and grievous exaction, which some single monarch hath power to spread far and wide over the men of the earth, or Roman empire; and which I may say no single man hath had since the days of Charlemagne and his paladins. This conspicuous exaltation of one man for a judgment of scorching, burning heat, over the wicked earth, was accomplished by the exaltation of Napoleon to the imperial power, who scourged with war, vexed with innumerable levies, and by his trampling pride galled to death all the ten kingdoms of the earth. But the fifth vial falleth on the seat or throne of the beast; that is, the beast of infidelity from the bottomless pit, which now hath the rule, (the former being extinct at the beginning of these vials,) upon his throne, which is not in Rome, but Paris, the capital of that scorching monarchy which chastened others and is now to be chastened in its turn, falleth this vial, and straightway the burning focal light which issued thence is eclipsed, and his kingdom is full of darkness, and the people of it are so galled and grieved with the judgment which attendeth thereupon, that they gnaw their very tongues with pain. This must be some most signal reverse, some total obscuration, some manifest wounding of that mighty ruling sovereign and all his people; which was accomplished when the allied armies dethroned him, possessed his capital, and for five years curbed and bridled the fiery spirit of his nation: of which I may say, France had not experienced the like since the Black Prince, and not the equal

at any time of her history; that, from a brilliant glory surpassing Charlemagne's, his throne should be covered with darkness and disgrace in the course of a few years. From this short review of these vials it is most manifest that every one of them bringeth not only a conspicuous, but a most wonderful and amazing event: events for which centuries of secret causes have prepared the way, but which fall out like the explosion of an earthquake or the stroke of doom; every one of them an event unparalleled in the Christian history of the quarter in which it falls, and which cannot be surpassed but by their utter annihilation as political and powerful states: and can any reason be assigned why the same character should not be observable in the event ushered in, or rather commanded to appear by the angel of the sixth vial?

We should therefore expect, upon the pouring out of this vial over the extent of the seat of the Turkish power, that it would begin to manifest some such clear and conspicuous signs of rapid dissolution and disorganization as might justify the appropriation of such a symbol. It must be something manifest and remarkable, not silently progressive and invisibly slow; for what need of a vial of wrath to bring in what is coming on at its own steady pace? There may have been a slow process going on out of sight, but the time and event which answereth to the vial must be a most signal acceleration of it: or there may have been a balance between the forces that uphold, and the forces that subvert; the latter gradually gaining upon the other, but the time of the vial is the time of judgment, when the destroying power, having forced the barriers, bursteth in like a deluge

upon all the state: otherwise there would be no character of wrath, no visitation of judgment in these vials, which are so portentously brought forward as filling up the wrath of God, and containing his seven last and most direful plagues upon the earth. It must be such an event in Turkey, as that universal dissolution of the bonds of religion and society which every man felt with shrinking horror at the epoch of the French Revolution; such an event as happened unto France, whose land-marks and shores of containing government were swept away, and a cold-blooded and wide-spread massacre of human lives was perpetrated during the reign of terror,-such as never was heard of before nor since, under any kind of government whatever; or such as came upon the priesthood of Italy, spoiling their sanctuaries, extinguishing their power, and obliterating the very form of their hoary tyranny; such as had not fell there since the overthrow of paganism: it must be an event corresponding in magnitude to that scorching tyranny which befel all the kingdoms of Papal Europe under the imperial usurpation of Napoleon; being such a judgment of absolute power as they had not felt since Charlemagne : it must be such a reverse upon Turkey, as, making allowance for the difference of the symbols, will figure by the side of that invasion and long occupation of France and her capital by the armies of her conquerors. Now if all these are most particular and famous events, and awful judgments in the history and experience of the places on which they fell,-second to none in their annals, and hardly equalled by any,-we ought to expect the same characteristic fulfilment of the

at any time of her history; that, from
glory surpassing Charlemagne's, his thr
be covered with darkness and dis
course of a few years. From this
these vials it is most manifest t
them bringeth not only a conspi
wonderful and amazing event
centuries of secret causes
but which fall out like the
quake or the stroke of d
an event unparalleled
the quarter in which;
surpassed but by th
cal and powerful.
assigned why tb,

THE DRYING UP OF TEL ETFEL

the state: otherwise there wOLIC DE gup the wrath of God, and corwhich are so portentously brougir wrath, no visitation of judgment i must be such an event in which every man felt with rsal dissolution of the bonds last and most direful plagues och of the French Revohappened unto France, of containing governcold-blooded and lives was perpesuch as never

any kind of

upon the

ctuaries,

ng the

not

observable in t

manded to ar

We shou

out of this Turkish

some s

dissol;

the sor

Ρ

i

oped away,

of that great and

whether any such event

them or not. And here I must

ne history of this scourge of God,

time they were called to waste and deuntil this hour; in which we shall see a onderful page of God's righteous severity revealed. They were called upon by him to sweep with the besom of destruction all that third part of the earth which had corrupted the faith with every heresy, which was become a nest of the most false and corrupt opinions, instead of being an ark of testimony for the true faith of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As the Lord, many centuries before, had called upon the shep

« السابقةمتابعة »