difference between the two numbers, 1290 and 1335. I then began at Daniel xi. 40, and gave you the history of Bonaparte, his wonderful career of conquest and power, and his final end. I then gave you the history of Michael standing up, and the reformation that followed in the years 1815, 16, 17, even down to the present time. Then the unfulfilled prophecy which must come soon upon us, the troublous times. Next we came to the time of the deliverance of the people of God, every one that sleep in the dust of the earth, and the resurrection. Then the angel gave us a few signs which would happen in the course of this time, such as the running to and fro, the increase of knowledge, the nations being restrained from preventing the gospel being preached, and scattering the power of the holy people, all which you have many of you witnessed, and can judge for yourselves whether these things are so.

I shall now leave you for the present; and may you reflect candidly and seriously on the subject; for many of you who are now on the earth may live to witness this fulfilment; and if unprepared then, with what regret will you look back on your present opportunity, and wish you had improved these precious moments for the salvation of your souls, and for the glory of God!

Be wise, O ye inhabitants of the earth, for the Lord will come and will not tarry, and the day of vengeance will overtake you as a thief in the night; "but the wise shall understand."

LECTURE VIII.

REV. viii. 13.

And 1 beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying, with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the in habitants of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trum pet of the three angels which are yet to sound.

IN prophetical scripture, the sounding of trumpets is always used to denote the downfall of some empire, nation, or place, or some dreadful battle, which may decide the fate of empires, nations, or places. At the fall of Jericho, the trumpet was the instrument, in the hands of the priest of the mighty God of Jacob, which cast down her walls, destroyed the city, and a curse pronounced against the man that should ever build up her walls again. Again, the trumpet was the instrument by which Gideon put to flight the armies of the aliens. And the prophet Amos says, "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?" Therefore we may reasonably conclude that a trumpet is the harbinger of destructive wars, and the dissolution of empires, states, or the earth, as the case may be. The seven trumpets mentioned in Revelation, the three last of which are mentioned in our text, indicate the final overthrow of the powers spoken of in the prophecy, The four first had their accomplishment in the destruction of the Jews and their dispersion, in the fall of imperial Rome, in the overthrow of the Asiatic kingdom, and in the taking away of Pagan rites and ceremonies.

The last three trumpets will claim our attention in

this discourse; the first four having their accomplish ment under Rome Pagan; to the last three under Rome Papal. These three trumpets and three woes are a description of the judgments that God has sent and will send on this Papal beast, the abomination of the whole earth. Therefore we see the propriety of the language of our text, " Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth," meaning the worshippers of this Papal beast, the followers of this abomination. The fifth trumpet alludes to the rise of the Turkish empire under Ottoman, at the downfall of the Saracens. Ottoman uniting under his government the four contending nations of Mahometans, which had long contended for the power during the reign of the Saracen empire, viz., the Saracens, Tartars, Arabs, and Turks. These, all being by profession Mahometans, were ready to follow any daring leader to conquer and drive out from Asia (and even make excursion into Europe) all who professed the Christian faith. They, having embraced the errors of that fallen star, Mahomet, whose principles were promulgated by conquest and the sword, became one and perhaps the only barrier to the spread of the Papal doctrine and power in the eastern world. Here the Roman Church had long held a powerful sway over the minds and consciences of the Christian or Greek church in the east, by the aid of the eastern emperor at Constantinople. But the Turks or Ottomans, whom the Lord suffered to rise up in Bithynia, on or near the head waters of the Euphrates, as a scourge against this Papal abomination, now became a check to the Roman power; and from this time we may reasonably date the declension of Papal authority. Therefore on the sounding of the fifth trumpet, Rome Papal began to show a weakness which in every succeeding age has been more and more manifested, until her civil power has crumbled to ruin, and her ecclesiastical assumptions must sink, at the sounding of the seventh trump, to rise no more forever.

In the description of these trumpets we shall be able to apply the prophecy, as the writer believes, to those events designed by the vision which John saw.

Rev. ix. 1. "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw

a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit." After the downfall of Pagan Rome, and the rise of the anti-Christian abomination, Mahomet promulgated a religion which evidently came from the bottomless pit; for it fostered all the wicked passions of the human heart, such as war, murder, slavery, and lust.

2d verse, "And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air was darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." The figures used in this text are, the bottomless pit, which denote the theories of men or devils, that have no foundation in the word of God. Smoke denotes the errors from such doctrine, which serve to blind the eyes of men, that they cannot see the truth. As the smoke of a great furnace shows the great extent or effect of this error over the world. The sun denotes the gospel, which is the great luminary of the moral world The air denotes the moral influence on the mind, which is commonly called piety. As air supports or gives to the lungs animation in the physical world, so does the piety of the heart to the moral.

This, then, is the true sentiment of this passage. And by reason of the Mahometan errors which would be believed or followed by a great multitude, the gospel and the pious influence of the same would be in a great measure hid or lost to the world.

3d verse," And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power." By these locusts I understand armies. See Joel, 1st and 2d chapters. Therefore I should read this text thus: And there came out from these Mahometan followers large armies, which should have great power to execute the judgments of God on this anti-Christian beast, which had filled the carth with her abominations.

4th verse, "And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." By grass, green

things, and trees, Ps. lxxii. 16, Hosea xiv. 8, I understand the true church, or people of God. By those men having not the seal of God, &c., I understand the antiChristian church, or Papal Rome. Then this would be the sense: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the true church, or people of God, but only the anti-Christian beast, or powers subject to her.

5th verse, “And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.' To kill is to destroy. Five months is in prophecy 150 years. To torment as a scorpion, &c., is to make sudden incursions and irruptions into the country, &c. Then this is the sentiment to me conveyed in the text: And the Turkish armies would not have power to destroy the Papal powers for 150 years, but would make sudden and quick incursions into their territories, and harass and perplex the nations under the Papal control.

6th verse," And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." About this time the Greek church, in Constantinople, was so harassed by the Papal authority, that it gave rise to a saying among them, that they had rather see the Turkish turban on the throne of the Eastern Empire, than the Pope's tiara." And any one who has read the history of the 14th century, will see that this text was literally accomplished.

7th verse," And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men." In this verse we have a description of the Turkish armies. In the first place they are represented as being all horsemen. This was true with the Turks, and no other kingdom since Christ's time, that we have any knowledge of, whose armies were all horsemen. They wore on their heads yellow turbans, which can only apply to the Turks, looking like crowns of gold.

8th verse," And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions." They wore