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"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, " and the gold broken to pieces together, and became "like the chaff of the summer thrashing floors, and "the wind carried them away, that no place was "found for them: and the stone that smote the "image, became a great mountain, and filled the "whole earth."*

The foregoing passage of Daniel, describes the same events as occur at the consummation of the vials, and its language implies nothing less than the utter dissolution of all the states occupying the territories of Daniel's four empires, so that not a remnant of them shall be left, and not a vestige of their political institutions and governments.

From the whole of the above passages of the prophetical scriptures, and others, which might be added did my limits permit their insertion, I think it may be inferred, that at the closing period of the vials, judgments more awful in their degree and extent, than any thing which has taken place since the deluge, will go forth against the guilty nations of the world, and especially those of the Roman empire. The peculiar scene of the treading of the winepress, will indeed be in the land of Judea, where the armies of the beast, and his confederate kings shall be gathered. Yet the visitation of wrath will not stop there, but according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, evil shall at the same time go forth from nation to nation, attended with the most tremendous

* Dan. ii. 34, 35.

slaughter, and awful manifestations of the divine anger, "for behold the Lord will come with fire, "and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render "his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of "fire. For by fire, and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord "shall be many. "And the beast was taken, "and the false prophet, these were both cast alive "into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."+

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It is well known, that the ancient Jews believed, that Rome would be destroyed by material fire, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and in this opinion, they have been followed by very able protestant divines, among which number is Bishop Newton.

And it might not perhaps be difficult to prove, that some of our Lord's parables which speak of the destruction of the wicked by fire, and which are, by our popular divines referred to the general resurrection at the close of the millennium, shall receive their accomplishment at his advent before the millennium. But this would lead me into a discussion of too great length for the present work. I shall briefly observe, however, that by whatever means it is to be effected, I think it evident from the Scriptures, that the incorrigibly wicked shall be exterminated from the

* Isaiah lxvi. 15, 16.

+ Rev. xix. 20.

The text of scripture on which the Jews founded this opinion, is Isaiah xxxiv. 9. It was the opinion also of Mede, that Christ's second advent, when the millennium is about to commence, shall be "in "flaming fire, by the divine and miraculous efficacy whereof the “world that now is shall be refined, and delivered from the bondage "of corruption which came upon it for the sin of man." See his Works, Book iii. p. 704. Nearly all the fathers held a similar doctrine, for the evidence of which I refer to Dr. Thomas Burnett, "De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium," cap. vii.

earth before the commencement of the millennium ; and hence, all they are pronounced blessed, who come to the end of Daniel's prophetical period of one thousand three hundred and thirty five days.

A question will here naturally suggest itself to the mind of the reader. What is to become of the righteous in the awful period described in the foregoing prophecies? Now, the answer to this inquiry has been given, in considering the seventh chapter of the Apocalypse. We there saw a suspension of the judgments of the last earthquake, for the express purpose of sealing the elect 144,000 for preservation, and in the following vision of the palm-bearing multitude, we beheld the whole, assembly of the elect, standing before the throne, and described as having come out of the great tribulation. This tribulation is manifestly that of the closing period of the earthquake and vials; and we are thus assured, that the righteous are to be preserved during that final display of divine wrath. In confirmation of this interesting conclusion, it appears from Rev. xix. 9, that at the last scene of judgment, a call is given to the righteous to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In this blessed invitation, which is, I conceive, at the precise point of time when the palm-bearers come out of the great tribulation, shall be discerned, according to the prophecy of Malachi, the difference "between the righteous and wicked, between him that serveth "God, and him that serveth him not.”‡

But though the righteous are thus to be saved, I know not that we are warranted in expecting, that any of the nations, which have enjoyed and abused

Dan. xii. 12.

+ Rev. vii. 1. 9.

+ Mal. iii. 18.

the full light of the Gospel, will be spared from the destruction which is to overwhelm the papal Roman empire. The wicked in protestant countries, and particularly in our own highly favoured nation, are much more inexcusable than those who live amidst popish darkness and superstition; I can, therefore, see no scriptural ground for believing, that they will be more favourably treated. But as this country is now unquestionably the focus of evangelical light for the whole world, and as there is also reason to conjecture, that we are probably the people marked out by prophecy, for commencing the conversion and restoration of Judah, many persons may probably think, that for the sake of all this good we as a nation shall be spared. But it ought to be considered, that in like manner, the divine light of the Gospel first emanated from the Jewish nation, to the whole Gentile world, and yet the body of that people which believed not, were given up to destruction. The denunciations of those awful calamities, which are to visit the world before the establishment of our Lord's kingdom, are without any limitation, particularly as it respects the nations of the fourth monarchy. The whirlwind of the Lord is every where "to fall with pain on the head of the "wicked."*" Wheresoever," says our Lord, "the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." The righteous only, who are first typified by the 144,000 sealed ones, and are afterwards described as a great multitude whom no man could number, are brought out of the great tribulation, as the Christian Jews were saved from the destruction + Matt. xxiv. 28. Rev. vii. 9.

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* Jer. xxx. 23.

of Jerusalem. The great progress of real religion in this country affords indeed much cause for consolation and thankfulness; and without doubt it has been already instrumental in averting from us the cup of desolation, which has passed from nation to nation on the Continent; but unless it be followed by general repentance, it can afford no well founded expectation, that we shall ultimately escape the judgments, which are about to overwhelm an unbelieving and apostate world. I have observed in a former passage, that there are at present very far from being any indications of such national repentance; and that on the contrary there is melancholy and growing evidence of the rapid increase of wickedness and profligacy in this kingdom. Unless then we avert our eyes from the plainest declarations of Scripture, we cannot fail to perceive that our prospects are of a very alarming nature. These considerations ought surely to awaken the Christian to pray more earnestly for his country, and to quicken his own diligence, that he may individually be accounted worthy to escape the approaching wrath, and to stand before the Son of man.* These views will also lead us to look with some degree of suspicion upon those late interpretations of prophecy, so flattering to our national vanity, whereby we are taught to identify the British nation with the 144,000 sealed ones of the Apocalypse, that are to be preserved from the calamities of the third woe, and with the harpers standing on the sea of glass who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.† To say the least of these interpretations, it is neither easy to