because of their belief and propagation of the truth, and great numbers perished in that manner.

13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.-It is the heaven of the true church which is meant in this place, and the voice is that of the faithful reformers declaring God's truth against the doctrine of purgatory, masses, and prayers for the dead. John was commanded to write down the truth, to be used in future times against that prodigious money-making imposition, that the dead who die in the Lord, are presently, or from that time, happy. Yea, the Spirit declareth, that they peacefully rest from their labors, and their good works follow with them to be rewarded. They enter at once into a state of happiness and rest from toil and suffering. Let this precious truth stand forever as a condemnation of the impious assumption, that there is a purgatory, from which people may be exempt by the payment of great sums of money; or, that their stay there may be shortened by the purchased prayers of the priest and the church.

14. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.-Daniel saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven. Christ said concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, 'They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.' In all these cases, coming with clouds, and sitting on a white. cloud, mean a signal display of the divine character in the remarkable events, which are to transpire, particularly the

divine power, justice, and sovereignty. On the cloud sat one who appeared like the Son of man, indicating, that the events appertained to his kingdom; having on his head a golden crown, the emblem of sovereignty, showing the extension of his kingdom, or a new era of its prosperity. A sickle is an instrument commonly used for cutting grain, that it may be gathered into the storehouse.

15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.-This angel from the temple, may represent the faithful preachers of the gospel at that period; and his address to him who sat on the cloud, may mean their fervent prayers, that a spiritual harvest may be reaped, and their full belief that the time had come for this.

16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.-The phrase on the earth, gives altogether too broad a signification to this prediction, unless it be borne in mind, that it is the Roman earth. In each of the instances, it would be better to substitute the word, land. The sickle was thrust in, and the harvest reaped. This has usually been interpreted to signify the infliction of judgments; but I prefer to understand it according to the true import of a harvest, as a great spiritual ingathering to the church and kingdom of Christ. The refor mation spread over the northern countries of Europe, gave spirituality and life to the church, and made vast multitudes of converts to the Lord Jesus.

17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.-In the other instance

the sharp sickle was in the hand of him who sat on the cloud; here it is in the hand of the angel, who may represent some agent or agency for executing the judgments foretold in the next verse.

18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.-Another angel came from the altar on which the burnt sacrifices were offered, having power over fire, authority or control over the fire of the altar, to kindle or extinguish it, as he pleased. This angel seems to be a personation of faithful ministers, who have, and preach God's truth, and by it kindle the fire of conviction in men's consciences. His relation to the altar seems to imply that these judgments which he directs to be inflicted, will consume the enemies of Christ, as fire consumes the offered sacrifice. With a loud cry, showing earnestness and the importance of the thing to be done, he bade the angel with the sharp sickle, do the work for which he was commissioned. By affirming that the grapes were fully ripe, he affirmed that the time for punishing the wicked communities referred to, had arrived, their iniquities having arisen to a great height.

19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God.-The order is executed. The reaping and gathering of the grain indicates the prosperity of the church subsequent to the reformation. The gathering of the vintage and treading of the grapes is a figure used in scripture with a different signification, viz : as expressing terrible calamities, such as bloody and de

structive wars. Thus in Isa. 63 ch.: I have trodden the wine-press alone, &c. The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come; and I will tread down the people in my anger, &c. The expression, wine-press of the wrath of God, plainly shows that dreadful judgments are meant.

The papal hierarchy with its almost numberless abominations had now attained its greatest height; was fully ripe for the vintage; and now its decline and ruin were to begin. England had declared itself independent of the pope. Knox aroused all Scotland to throw off the authority and superstitions of Rome. The Belgic Provinces, the Netherlands, withdrew from their allegiance to the pontiff. A powerful army was sent by Philip II., king of Spain, under the duke of Alva, to force them into subjection. After a long and bloody war, William of Nassau, assisted by England and France, delivered the provinces from both the Spanish and Roman yoke. Soon after the French clergy in convention declared the pope's pretensions to temporalities, null and void; placed the authority of a council above that of the pope, and maintained that his decisions were not infallible, except when attended with the decision of the church. To all these things succeeded the bloody scene of the French revolution, and the wars of Bonaparte.

20. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.—The infidel movements attending and following that revolution, may perhaps be the treading of the wine-press without the city. Blood issuing from the wine-press in such quantity, shows that there will be great sacrifice of life. Whether the sixteen hundred furlongs refer to the church States in Italy, as some suppose, I know not.

CHAPTER XV.

Preparation for the Seven Last Plagues.

It is declared in the tenth chapter, that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.' Under this last woe-trumpet are included the seven vials of the wrath of God, called also the last seven plagues, the description of which is now given. The events predicted under these symbols relate, as I think, to the destruction of both the antichristian powers, the papal and Mahometan, and fill up the time to the year two thousand, which will be the commencement of the millennium.

1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.—Another emblematic representation of great and marvelous changes in the firmament of government, viz: seven angels, or instrumental agents, having the seven last plagues, in which the wrath of God on the western and eastern antichrist, is completed.

2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire ; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.— The phrase, sea of glass, is an incorrect translation; the word for glass being an adjective, and not a noun, and the reading should be, a crystaline or transparent sea. To interpret this sea as meaning the blood of Christ, or "the