likewise. Reflections on the intercession of Christ, &c. 481 xi. the stars; so as the with respect to a third part of its lustre, and SECT. third part of them was the night also; but there was as great a defidarkened, and the day shone not for a third ciency in the usual light of both, as when either Rev. part of it, and the night the sun by day, or the moon by night, is so VIII. 12 eclipsed, that a third part of the body of each is shaded; which I understood to imply, that God would, in the course of his Providence, draw a veil over the whole face of things, and obscure the glory of the state to which this vision referred. And I beheld, and heard one of 13 the angels flying in the midst of heaven, saying, midst of heaven, say- with a loud voice, The things which have alWo, wo, wo, to the ready happened, are terrible; but what is yet inhabitants of the to come is much more so ; woe, woe, woe, to those earth, by reason of the that dwell upon the earth, for the remaining trumpet of the three sounds of the trumpet of the three angels which angels which are yet to are yet to sound! Prepare therefore for the manifestation of these awful scenes. 13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the ing with a loud voice, other voices of the sound! IMPROVEMENT. WHILE we prepare ourselves, with silent admiration, to at- Ver. tend the discoveries here opened upon us, let us rejoice in the symbolical representation of the intercession of Jesus, our great High Priest, shadowed forth, in so beautiful and expressive a manner, by the angel standing at the altar with the golden censer, and much incense. Behold, how the prayers of all the saints ascend before God with acceptance! See the method we are to take, if we desire that ours should be acceptable to him; and, encouraged by such a view, let us offer them up, not only with humility, but with cheerful confidence, though we are conscious of their great unworthiness. 3 4, To what wretchedness are they exposed, who oppress and injure those, that through their great Representative, have such an interest in the court of heaven, The hail and the fire, shall, at the Divine command, powerfully plead their cause; the moun-7 tains shall be torn from their basis, and cast into the midst of the sea; the sun, the moon, and the stars shall be darkened in their 12 orbs, and all nature be thrown into convulsive agonies, ere God will suffer them finally to be over-born, or fail to punish, with becoming man interprets it of the wars in Italy, between the Goths and Justinian's generals, whereby the exarchate of Ravenna was erected, all remaining power and au thority at Rome suppressed, and the im perial city became subject to Ravenna, a Locusts SECT becoming severity, those who continue to persecute, or evil intreat xi. SECT. xii. IX. 1. 2 them. Let such awful representation as these, remind us of the sovereign almighty power of God, whom all the hosts of heaven worship with reverence; and at whose awful word, when he gives forth his voice, hailstones and coals of fire descend; (Psal. xviii. 13;) at whose rebuke the pillars of heaven tremble, and the foundations of the earth are shaken; who speaks to the sun, and it shineth not; who darkeneth the moon, and sealeth up the stars. Who would not fear thee, O thou King of nations, so terrible in the judgments which thou executest on the earth? Deliver us, we intreat thee, from the multiplied and accumulated miseries of those who continue obstinately to oppose thee; and conduct us at length to thy heavenly presence, though it should be through days of darkness, and waters of bitterness, and seas of blood. Amen. SECT. XII. The effect of the fifth and sixth angels sounding their trumpets, AND REVELATION IX. 1. REV. IX. 1. sounded, and I ND the fifth angel sounded; and I saw an AND the fifth angel angel of distinguished lustre, descending saw a star fall from unto the heaven : given the key of the 2 And he opened the bottomless pit: and there arose a smoke Rev. with such amazing velocity, that he seemed out of the pit; as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the reason of the smoke of air were darkened by 3 And I saw a very shocking appearance; for out 3 And there came of the smoke there came locusts upon the earth; out of the smoke lo a Locusts upon the earth.] Many protestant writers imagine these locusts to signify the religious orders of monks and friars, &c. The learned Grotius understands by them, the sect of the zealots, which appeared among the Jews during the siege, and at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Mr. Mede, the inun and custs And locusts came out of the bottomless pit; given power, as the have power. 4 And it was commanded them that they grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but should not hurt the only those men which xii. 483 custs upon the earth; and a destructive power was given to them, as SECT. and unto them was the scorpions of the earth have power, that they scorpions of the earth should be as pernicious to the inhabitants of the Rev. earth, as those terrible animals, and should in- IX. 3. jure men by their stings as well as by their teeth. And there was this farther remarkable circum- 4 stance, that whereas locusts bring along with them such general destruction to all vegetables, it was said to them, whom I saw on this occasion, that they should not injure the grass of the have not the seal of earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but God in their foreheads. only some human creatures; and this, under a particular limitation to the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads; from whence I inferred that this destructive visitation should especially affect those, who whatever they might profess, were destitute of true vital religion. And to signify the lingering vexation 5 which these destroyers should occasion to the inhabitants of the country they were to ravage, I ed five months; and was further informed, that it was given to them, their torment was as the that they should not kill them outright, but that they should be tormented five months; which might be intended to express a calamity, that should endure about an hundred and fifty years. And their torment, that is, that which they occasioned by their attack, [was] extremely violent, like that of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 And in those days And in these dreadful days, to which this vision 6 shall men seek death, and shall not find it; refers, men shall seek death, in a wild kind of and shall desire to die, despair, and shall not find it; and they shall deand death shall fee sire to die, and death shall flee away from them, and leave them to mourn over a life of wretchedness, all the comforts and enjoyments of which shall be utterly swallowed up in their sufferings. 5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be torment torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. from them, ther illustrated, by the ignorance and erFor the Mahometans every where spread, their great number and hardiness, their habits, customs, and manner; namely, twisting their hair, wearing beards, their care of their horses, invading their neighbours in suminer, like locusts, sparing the trees and fruits of the country they invaded, &c. The captivity of the men, and the miserable condition of the women, exposed to persons who gave an almost unbounded liberty to their lusts, which was enough to make them even to desire death, verse 6. All these circumstances are suitable to the character of the Arabians, the history of this period, and to the par VOL. X. And ticulars of the prophecy.-The period ex- b Only the men who had not.] The use c Shall seek death, &c.] As such great numbers were, in fact, slain by these locusts, (if they signify, as is generally supposed, the Saracens,) this expression must only be understood of many survivors, who, by the calamities they inflicted, should be made weary of their lives. See note a. 3 P d A 484 SECT. xii. Rev. Who should grievously torment mankind. 7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared un 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And these creatures were not exactly of the form of locusts; but though they bore some resemblance to them in many instances, they differed to battle; and on their IX. 7. from them in others, and were to be consider- heads were as it were ed as a kind of hieroglyphical representation their faces toere as the crowns like gold, and of creatures which are very mischievous and faces of men. terrible; and I particularly observed, that the likeness of the locusts [was] like horses prepared for war, (compare Joel ii. 4,) especially the form of their heads; and whereas common locusts have some brilliant ornaments on their heads, and various parts of their bodies, I observed, with regard to these, that on their heads [were] as it were, crowns like gold; and their faces were like the faces of men; which two circumstances gave me to understand, that they were intended as an emblem of mighty and powerful men, who were to reign over various 8 provinces and kingdoms. And they had on their heads long tresses of hair, like the tresses of women; whereas common locusts have only a down upon their breasts, And whereas other animals of that name have large strong teeth, their teeth were like the [teeth of] lions, sharp 9 and pointed, as well as large and strong. And 9 And they had instead of the fine down on the breasts of com- breast-plates of iron; breast-plates as it were mon locusts, they had breast-plates like breast- and the sound of their plates of iron; and whereas common locusts wings was as the sound make a terrible noise with their wings, the noise horses running to batwhich these strange and symbolical locusts made, tle. by the motion of their wings, [was] like the noise of chariots, [and] many horses rushing to war; so that they seemed to tear the ground with their rage and fury, and to shake the air with 10 their neighings. And instead of being formed at the lower end of their bodies, as other lo- pions, and there were custs are, which have no stings, but are quite stings in their tails; inoffensive and innocent animals, these creatures and their power was to had tails like scorpions, and their stings were in! their tails; and their power, as I observed above, [was] given them to hurt the earth, and men its inhabitants, for about five months, or about an 11 hundred and fifty years. And they had a king over them, wherein they further differed from the locust kind, (Prov. xxx. 27,) who is the an d A kind of hieroglyphical representation.] As there are no animals in nature answerable to those which are here described, I take it for granted, that as the gel of chariots of many 10 And they had tails like unto scor hurt men five months. 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless four animals mentioned above are hierogly phics of angels, so are these of mischievous creatures. Compare chap. iv. 7, note f. e Abaddon.] The sixth angel sounds: 485 tomless pit, whose gel of the bottomless pit, and the great head of SECT. name in the Hebrew those apostate spirits who dwell there; xii. whose tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue name is in the Hebrew language, Abaddone; Rev. hath his name Apol- and in the Greek, he has the name of Apollyon: IX. 11. lyon. both the one, and the other, expressing his destructive nature, and the dreadful havock he makes, wherever his attempts are successful. And thus, one woe is gone; [and] behold yet other 12 two woes besides it, coming, threatening yet more terrible calamities than these. 12 One wo is past; and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. 13 And the sixth an heard a voice from the God. 14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great ri And upon this the sixth angel sounded; and I13 gel sounded and I did not see any immediate appearance in corsefour horns of the golden quence of it; but I heard a voice from the four altar which is before horns of the golden altar which was before God, (which seemed therefore to come from the most holy place which was directly behind it,) Suy-14 ing to the sixth angel, who still had the trumpet which he had sounded in his hand, Loosen now the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates; who were intended to represent some potentates arising from that part of the world, who, in the period referred to, should become very famous throughout the earth, for their exploits and atchievements. And the four angels were loosed, who were pre-15 pared for a certain period of time, signified, aca cording to the prophetic reckoning, by an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year; that they ver Euphrates. 15 And the four an gels were loosed, which were prepared, for an hour, and a day, and month, and a year, for to e Abaddon.] When the etymology is so evident, and so particularly explained by the author, I cannot but wonder at Dr. More's endeavour to explain it another way, as referring to the profession which the Mahometans should make of maintaining the doctrine of the Unity See More's Theol. Works, p. 130. f The four angels which are bound] Grotius refers this to the Roman army under four commanders, which came from the borders of this river. Mr. Mede, to the four beglerbegs of the Turks; and he interprets, ver. 17, of guns invented about that time, and used by them in their successful war upon the Europeans. See the passage at large in More's Theol. Works, p. 150, 131. They, who refer this passage to the rise of the Turkish Ottoman empire, suppose that the four angels mean either four provinces, or four cities near Euphrates, from whence considerable leaders arose, who pushed on, and advanced the Turkish conquests; and Mr. Pyle, and others, have endeavoured to confirm this interpretation. But, as the Turkish might empire did not commence till the 13th g Of an hour, and a day, &c.] Dr. Lloyd, |