It is

Earth. It was on this Earth that the five first Vials of Wrath expended their contents. on the same Earth that the Seventh Vial poured out into the air, will commence its operations, when "great Babylon herself will come up in remembrance before God." But, in the mean time, what will be the state of things? The judgment, indeed, will continue to sit, but its active operations will be transferred to another scene, and directed against another object. The Sixth Vial of the Wrath of God will be poured out, not on the Latin kingdoms, but, as it has been shown, on the mystical Euphrates. The Mahometan, and not the Papal Horn, will be the immediate victim of its fury. What inference, then, does this circumstance in the prophetical description suggest respecting the Papal kingdoms, but that for a season they will be permitted to experience comparative repose ? Still "gnawing their tongues for pain;" still groaning under the effects of past visitations,. they will yet for a time be spared the addition of any new and aggravated judgment. The violence of the storm will abate; its severity will be mitigated; the clouds will be seen discharging their load on some other distant quarter, and, to the eye of an unintelligent and inconsiderate spectator, will appear to have passed away, perhaps, never to return.

There is another passage in the book of the Revelation, which seems to point at the same time, and to the same state of things. It is at the beginning of the seventh chapter, and is introduced into the middle of the Sixth Seal, which comprehends the period in the history of the Church that synchronizes with the Seventh Trumpet. After a figurative description of the tremendous judgments which will characterize this eventful period, expressed in the usual language of Scripture symbols, St. John says, "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the Earth, and holding the four winds of the Earth, that the wind should not blow on the Earth, nor the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the Seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the Earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads." The reason here assigned for the direction given by the angel may be noticed hereafter: but it is the direction itself, and the fact connected with it, which applies to the present argument. They show. that in this season of judgment there will be an Interval of repose and peace, in which the winds. of the earth shall be restrained from blowing

on the (Papal) Earth, and for a season from hurting it. A state of things so exactly corresponding with that which, as it is intimated, will take place under the contemporaneous effusion of the Sixth Vial, that it can scarcely be supposed not to be coincident with it, and to relate to the same events.

But how strikingly, in the present time, does the actual state of things correspond with these intimations of prophecy. While the tempest is raging in the Turkish empire, it seems to have passed away from the Papal kingdoms. They are enjoying comparative tranquillity. Contrasted with their tumultuous and agitated condition throughout the preceding Vials, their state under the present is one of repose and quietness. The calm, in truth, lies only on the surface, and is of that deceitful nature, which in itself portends the heavier storm. But to mere superficial observers it presents a different aspect. Not perceiving that this interval of external peace, this temporary intermission from the violence of suffering, is itself the fulfilment of prophecy, and circumstantially accords with the predicted state of things at this particular Crisis, they are led to regard it as a proof that the judgment is not sitting; and thus, mistaking the conclusion which they ought to infer from it, convert into an objection to the interpretation here suggested

that

very circumstance, which should tend the more strongly to recommend it to their approbation, and to impress them the more deeply with a conviction of its truth.

Thus far again the intimations of prophecy, and the state of the Papal earth, concur in pointing out the present Crisis as the Interval which precedes the time of approaching trouble.

E

CHAP. X.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

A THIRD prophetical intimation, in reference

to the Interval which occurs between the Fifth and Seventh Vials, respects the nature and character of the operations which will mark its progress. Though in one view it will be an Interval of repose, yet in another it will be a time of active and unceasing exertion. With respect to actual suffering indeed, the consequence of immediate and external Judgments, the Papal Earth is represented during the period in question as enjoying comparative tranquillity; but on the contrary, as to its internal state, it will exhibit a scene of the most. busy and restless agitation. It is pourtrayed as a season of vast and extensive preparation; of preparation for those great events which are to be accomplished under the Seventh Vial. These events, it has been already shown, will be the deliverance of the Jews, the destruction of the enemies of Christianity, and the triumphs of the Church. Each of these events will, during this important season, be hastened forwards by its respective