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they will again be related more fully in their proper place. But the seven vials of wrath have already been shewn to be the constituent parts of the third woe; consequently the lightnings and voices, and thunderings, the earthquake and great hail, above mentioned, must be expected to recur somewhere in the vials; and accordingly we find that the same phenomena are seen under the seventh vial, and are there related with greater minuteness than in the passage which we are considering. Therefore the inference is, that the lightnings, and voices, and the earthquake, and great hail, mentioned in the eleventh chapter, are precisely the same with those of the seventh vial, and consequently that the two passages, Rev. xi. 19. and xvi. 18-21. are synchronical, and describe the same events. The use which is to be made of this conclusion, will appear when we consider the contents of the seven vials of wrath. We may further observe, that, as the earthquake of the sixth seal has already been shewn to be the same with that of the seventh trumpet; it follows, that Rev. vi. 12-17. and xi. 19. and xvi. 18-21. all refer to the same period.*

The seventh trumpet appears to me to have sounded at the period of the French revolution, and I am inclined to think, with Mr. Faber and Mr. Bicheno, that its awful voice began on the 10th of August, 1792, when the French monarchy was overthrown ; though I deem it possible that its commencement may be dated a few months earlier, when war was declared against Austria by the National assembly.

* Vitringa justly observes, that the parallelism of these three passages, is the true key for the interpretation of this mysterious book. See his Comment. p. 738,

CongThe French revolution, in its origin, progress, b and consequences, is, without dispute, the most

memorable event of a political nature which is recorded in the histories of nations. The mass of human misery which it has occasioned within a short space of years; the dreadful change which it has effected in the state of the civilized world; and the awful consequences with which it is yet pregnant, and which are hidden in the womb of futurity*combine to place it foremost in the rank of those events which have been destructive of the happiness of mankind. If, therefore, the Saracen irruption, and the Turkish invasion and conquest, be the first and second woes, the French revolution is unquestionably the third woe. It is that "6 great "earthquake, such as was not since men were upon "the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great.Ӡ

I have been much struck by hearing sensible and thinking men, when speaking of this stupendous event, describe it in language very nearly approaching to the symbolical style of the Apocalypse; and this without any direct or intended reference to prophecy. I have heard it compared to a destructive volcano, carrying away before it every remnant of order and social happiness; and the persons who have used this figure of speech were quite unconscious of any resemblance between their language and that of the Apocalypse. A sensible writer in the Quarterly Review, without any reference to prophecy, expresses himself as follows, respecting the French

* I feel no inclination to retract or modify this expression. It is evident, that by that revolution a new impulse has been given to the human mind towards moral evil, which is even yet in active progress. March, 1817.

+ Rev. xvi. 18.

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revolution: "We live at the commencement of an "era more distinctly marked by the great and imme"diate revolutions with which it has been ushered in, "than any other in the annals of the world. No precise line of demarcation can be traced through the twilight boundaries of ancient and modern his'tory; but the outline which separates this new era "from that which has ended within our own remem"brance, is strongly and conspicuously drawn for "future ages. The French revolution has, as it were, been the breaking up of the abyss; and from our ark of liberty, which rides securely upon the "waters, we behold every thing around us laid waste by the deluge."

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I have thus, in reference to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, endeavoured to determine the following particulars :

1st, That it synchronizes with the coming of the Ancient of Days in the prophecies of Daniel, and the consequent sitting of the judgment to destroy the power of the little horn.

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2dly, That it corresponds with the opening of the sixth Apocalyptic seal, the great earthquake of which is the same with the earthquake of the seventh trumpet. 3dly, That it comprises within itself the whole of the seven vials of wrath, which are the constituent parts of the third woe.

Athly, That the earthquake of the seventh vial is the same with the earthquake of the seventh trumpet and the sixth seal.

5thly, and lastly, That there is every reason to suppose that the seventh trumpet began to sound at the period of the consummation of the French revolution, in the year 1792.

I shall endeavour afterwards to prove, that the termination of the great prophetical period of twelve hundred and sixty years is also to be fixed at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. But the discussion of this point may very properly be deferred, to form the subject of one or more distinct chapters of this work, as its importance is such as to render it deserving of the most deliberate consideration.*

* I have mentioned Mr. Faber and Mr. Bicheno as concurring with me in opinion, that the seventh trumpet sounded in the year 1792. I am happy to add the testimony of another very respectable character to the same effect, whom I shall not name, as I have not received any express permission to do it, but whose name would add weight to any opinion. In a letter which I received from the gentleman alluded to, last year, he writes as follows:-"I am fully persuaded that this is "the period of the pouring out of the vials. Nor do I think, with “Lowman, that they have been pouring out during the whole twelve "hundred and sixty years; but that these seven last plagues all belong "to the seventh trumpet, of which they are a subdivision. The "seventh trumpet, therefore, seems to me to have sounded about the "time of the French revolution, and to wear a double aspect: 1st. Of "wrath towards Antichrist, I mean the grand papal apostasy in all its "branches; 2d. Of mercy towards the church, and even the world; "inasmuch as it was the signal of the kingdoms of the world becoming "those of the Lord and his Christ.' Hence, I conceive, the period of

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the vials is also a period to be distinguished by the spread of the Gospel. The wall of Zion will be built, though it be in troublous "times. The kingdom of Christ will go on, though it be in the face "of opposition. It is like the reign of David, in which the Lord prospered him whithersoever he went,' yet had he no rest. Keeping up the last similitude, I consider the millenium as the reign of "Solomon, or the period when God shall have given rest to the "church round about. Referring perhaps to that period, the reign "of Christ is called his rest." *

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The person above alluded to was the late pious and able Rev. Andrew Fuller, of Kettering, of whom a posthumous volume on the Apo-, calypse has lately appeared.

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* Isaiah xi, 10.

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CHAPTER XI.

THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON.

"AND there appeared a great sign in heaven, a "woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under "her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve "stars and she being with child, cried, travailing "in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there "appeared another sign in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And "his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, "and did cast them to the earth and the dragon "stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was "born. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and "her child was caught up to God and to his throne. "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where "she hath a place prepared of God, that they should "feed her there a thousand two hundred and three" score days."*

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Upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet, it formed a part of the thanksgivings of the twenty-four elders, that the time was at length come "for de"stroying those which destroy the earth." Who these destroyers of the earth are, has not yet however been declared; but a description is given of them in the two following chapters, the twelfth and thirteenth, and it is introduced by the above vision

*Rev. xii. 1-6.

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