gulphed, shall remain a smoking monument of God's exemplary vengeance to the end of time. For Isaiah, speaking of the happy times of the regeneration, or the millenary sabbath of peace and holiness upon earth, during which Christ will reign in the hearts and actions of the faithful, mentions even then, the existence of this prodigious crater of liquid fire.—“ And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me," (or the horrible place at least where they have been engulphed, and remain,)"for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched: and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." That this tremendous doom belongs indeed to mystic Babylon, appears from its being so applied by St John. (Rev. xiv. 11.)—“ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Undoubtedly time alone can explain the full and exact meaning which is couched under these figurative expressions; but that so far as concerns ТOPHET, prepared and "ordained of old" for this ancient and mystic king, (after a due consideration of all this corroborating evidence,) it should seem there can remain no doubt but that part at least, will be literally fulfilled. "Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the creation;" and, by his almighty power, a suitable preparation is made for every event, which his infinite wisdom foreknew. It has been remarked by historians, that volcanic fires have been known to burst out in the very streets of Rome; and it is highly probable, that from the near neighbourhood of Mount Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli, the earth is excavated underneath to a very wide extent,-possibly, throughout the whole of St Peter's patrimony, or the terri * Vide Dionis. Hist. lib. lxvi. in Tito, quoted by Bishop Newton vol. iii. p. 323, tories of the church: and the magazine of combustibles is inexhaustible, and inflammable air, "like a stream of brimstone," ready waiting for the breath of the Lord to kindle it.Then will the mighty explosion burst forth in an instant; the thin shell will give way by which the modern Babylon has been supported, (while God waited as in the days of Noah for her reformation, but expected in vain,) and she will sink into the abyss of liquid fire beneath, and leave not a wreck behind: "For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it FOR EVER AND EVER. "* (Isaiah xxxiv. 8.) * This passage of Isaiah, of the destruction of EDOM, was by the jews always understood of Rome, which they called mystical Edom. The name signifies red; and how notoriously Rome hath taken to herself the epithet of red, (Rev. xvii. 4,) by the lined she hath shed, and by the scarlet roles of the pope and cardinals, is well known. If this description of a country desolated by volcanic fire does not hereafter apply to Rome, there certainly is no other country to which it has ever yet been applicable, or to which it is more likely to apply, from the nature of the soil. The memorable earthquakes at Lisbon and at Messina, &c. are proofs how widely extensive the subterraneous materials are, and how very particularly they have already put the catholic countries in mind that such things are writen, and must be fulfilled. SECTION XVI. A DOUBLE FALL the prophetic doom of MrsTIC BABYLON.—The first has taken place already, and been of slow progress ;—the second will advance with more rapid strides.-Isaiah's poetical picture of the descent of mock-majesty into HADES.-A brief sketch of popery, in the day of its power-and in the day of its judgment. IT has been already observed, that the rise of the papal power and greatness was not all at once, but by slow degrees, until the dissolution of the imperial authority had made room for it; after which it advanced by more rapid strides and similar to this progress, will, in all probability, its fall and final extinction be. Babylon is fallen-is fallen”—was the alarm trumpet first sounded by the prophet |