full and perfect number; and the dreadful history is thus introduced to our notice :

"And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer with the prayer of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense ascended with the prayers of the saints, from the hand of the angel before God. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it to the earth; and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake." (Rev. viii. 2—5.)

With respect to this introduction, I would first draw attention to the master-symbol here employed -it is expressive of war. When the host of Israel was to go forth to battle, the TRUMPET was to give the signal, and sound the alarm.* It was likewise the fearful signal of hostile invasion: and in this sense we are here to understand it; "Shall the trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?" The nature of the events, signified by the sounding of the seven trumpets, may therefore be summed up in the following particulars :

1st. They have been produced, not by means of nternal wars, nor by any means which had, like the former series of events, the seals of empire, but by the instrumentality of barbarous nations situated beyond the bounds of the Roman earth.

2d. They have been caused by great external violence, in the way of invasions, rapid conquests, and complete overthrows.

*Numb. x. 5.

† Amos iii. 6; Jer. iv. 19.

3d. They have uniformly been characterized by the very worst evils attendant on war; such as indiscriminate slaughter, rapine, devastation, and

ruin.

In the second place, I would observe, that in this introduction there is an assurance given to the "saints," that their prayers shall be accepted, and that they shall be taken care of during the continuance of these horrible catastrophes. The altar before which the angel stood was "the golden altar before the throne," which stood before the mercy-seat, and upon which was to be offered no strange incense ;* no strange fire ;t by no strange priest: but ircense, offered thereon by the legal priests, was an atonement for the people, § who accompanied this offering with their prayers. It is therefore beautifully symbolical of the efficacy and acceptance of the prayers offered in these hours of danger; and as we stand upon the verge of the last, the greatest, the consummating of these stupendous inflictions of Divine wrath, it affords one of the greatest encouragements to us to pray much, and to pray fervently, and to sigh, and without ceasing to cry for the abominations of the land.

Thirdly. After "the smoke of the incense had ascended with the prayers of the saints, from the hand of the angel before God," the angel took the censer, and filled it with FIRE. In Psalm

* Ex. xxx. 9, 38. Num. xvi. 46.

+ Lev. x. 1. ¶ Luke i. 10.

‡ Num. xvi.

G

xviii. 8, the wrath of God is compared to fire; and the effects of his wrath, which are war, famine, and other scourges, are described under the same simile.* And thus it is explained by Sir Isaac Newton, who says, "burning any thing with fire is put for the consuming thereof by war."+ Such a fire was cast upon "the earth," the Roman world, the territorial platform of prophecy; " and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings," wars and hostile invasions; "and an earthquake," or a complete overturning of the established order of things. So complete indeed was the change effected by the first four trumpets alone, that new forms of government, new manners, new laws, new dresses, new languages, new names of men and countries, were every where throughout the Western empire introduced; while the ancient inhabitants, including all the proud and illustrious families, whose names are so conspicuous in ancient history, were almost, and for any thing we know to the contrary, entirely exterminated.

"And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (ver. 6.)

FIRST TRUMPET.

"And the first angel sounded, and there were hail and fire mingled with blood; and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of the earth was burnt up; and a third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up."

SECOND TRUMPET.

"And the second angel sounded; and, as it were, a great

* Ps. lxvi. 12; Jer. xlviii. 45. + Obs. on the Prop. p. 18.

mountain, burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures in the sea, having life, died; and the third part of the ships was destroyed."

THIRD TRUMPET.

"And the third angel sounded; and there fell from heaven a great star, burning like a lamp; and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called the Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many of the men died of the waters because they were bitter."

FOURTH TRUMPET.

"And the fourth angel sounded; and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so that a third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for the third part of it, and the night likewise." (ch. viii. 7-12.)

I quite agree with Dean Woodhouse that these four trumpets seem to have a general character. "The attack, whose alarm is sounded, falls in a fourfold division,-first, on the land; for thus it seems to me," he observes, " that the original word should be translated, not in its general signification of the earth, as containing the land, sea, rivers, &c.; but in its particular sense, as opposed to the sea, &c. : secondly, on the sea thirdly, on the rivers and springs fourthly, on the heavenly luminaries-the sun, moon, and stars; that is, on the whole of God's creation. For in the fourteenth chapter of this book, verse the seventh, God is described as the Creator of all things under these divisions: "the heaven; the earth; and the sea; and the springs of waters."

The same division of the visible world, (three of them often, sometimes four) are to be seen in other passages of Scripture.*

It must not be forgotten that these four distinct natural parts of the empire are placed here as symbols. It would be a violation of every principle of consistency to suppose them otherwise; as well as an involution of the whole subject in a labyrinth of difficulties and ludicrousness. They have, like all the other symbols of this book, a reference to men, not to things; and, I consider, signify as follows: the land persons in a state of peace and quietness, under the authority of laws and a settled government, where all is stable and firm: the sea-a state, on the other hand, where persons are, from one cause or other, loosened from such restraints; and all is an unsettled state of anarchy and confusion : rivers and fountains of waters—the channels and sources of its supplies, support, and strength and the heavenly luminaries-the king or emperor; his court and subjects; and the nobility and persons in high and responsible stations.

The next observation I have to make, is with regard to the third part, so frequently mentioned in these four trumpets, and to explain that it here refers altogether to the WESTERN part of the empire; as being that of the greatest extent, that of which the city of Rome itself was the capital, and that

* See Is. li. 15, 16; Hosea iv. 3; Nahum i. 4, 5; Hab. ii, 6, 8, 11; Zech. i. 3; Hagg. ii. 6; Phil. ii. 10.