to prove, that the different compartments of the temple were symbolical of the several conditions and states of the church; and that the holy of holies, besides being a symbol of heaven, is also a figure of that future and most glorious state of the church on earth when the tabernacle of God shall be with men. Now the opening of the holy of holies, which we have seen to take place in the passage we are considering, denotes the near approach of that blessed period, and might have been supposed to signify its actual commencement, if nothing had been said to the contrary. But to prevent this mistake, we are informed, at the close of the passage, that "the "temple was filled with smoke from the glory of "God, and from his power; and no man was able "to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of "the seven angels were fulfilled, or were about to "be finished." By this we may understand, that the above glorious state of the church, which is symbolized by men entering the holy of holies, shall not commence till the end of the vials, i. e. till the treading of the wine-press in the day of Armageddon. The fact seems to be, that the church of Christ must be purified by judgment before she is fitted for the glorious rest then prepared for her; and accordingly we learn, in another part of the scriptures, that when Christ takes his fan into his hand, he will thoroughly purge his floor, and separate the chaff from the wheat, before he gathers the wheat into his garner.* The above opening of the holy

* Matthew iii. 12.-I am always happy to support my opinions by the very respectable authority of Bishop Horsley. That learned

of holies denotes, as I have mentioned before, the beginning of the return of the church from the wilderness. The entering of men into the holy of holies takes place when the elect of Christ are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

writer, in his Commentary on the Eighteenth of Isaiah, says, that "God, immediately before the final gathering of his elect from the "four winds of heaven, will purify his church by such signal judg"ments as shall rouse the attention of the whole world, and in the "end strike all nations with religious awe."

LIBR

CALIFORNIA

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE EFFUSION OF THE VIALS.

" AND I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the "earth. And the first went, and poured out his "vial upon the earth: and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark "of the beast, and upon them which worshipped "his image. And the second angel poured out his "vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of 66 a dead man : and every living soul died in the sea. "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the "rivers and fountains of waters; and they became "blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, "and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus: for

they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, "and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they "are worthy. And I heard another, out of the "altar, say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true ❝ and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. "And men were scorched with great heat, and

blasphemed the name of God, which hath power "over these plagues; and they repented not, to "give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out "his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his "kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed

"their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God "of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, "and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth

angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, "that the way of the kings of the east might be "prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and "out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the "mouth of the false prophet: for they are the

spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth "unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, "to gather them to the battle of that great day of "God Almighty. Behold I come as a thief. Blessed "is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments,

lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And "he gathered them together into a place, called in "the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there "came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, "from the throne, saying, It is done; and there

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were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not "since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the "nations fell; and Great Babylon came in remem"brance before God, to give unto her the cup of "the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And "every island fled away, and the mountains were "not found. And there fell upon men a great hail "out of heaven, every stone about the weight of ffa talent; and men blasphemed God, because of

"the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof "was exceeding great."*

When the seventh angel sounds, we are briefly informed of the great result which takes place under that trumpet, viz. that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. But we are also told that the wrath of God is then come, and the time to destroy them which destroy the earth. The nature of that awful wrath of God, and the various steps of this destruction, are pointed out to us in the seven vials of wrath.

As we know from the prophecies of Daniel and St. John, that the last power which opposes itself to the kingdom of Christ, is the Roman empire in its ultimate state, secular and spiritual, it must be that this empire is the principal subject of these vials of wrath. But as the restoration of the Jews is also to take place before the establishment of the kingdom of God in the world, and the Turkish empire still occupies the Holy Land; and as this empire is now almost the only remaining prop and stay of the false religion of Mahummud, it would seem that the re moval of the Ottoman power is not less necessary than that of the Roman empire. Accordingly the sixth vial, which is poured out upon the great river Euphrates, is applied to the destruction of the Ottoman empire by our most respectable expositors, with whom I entirely coincide in so interpreting it.

The seven vials being the component parts of the third woe, or seventh trumpet, as it has been shown that the seventh trumpet sounded in the year, 1792, it follows that the vials of wrath began to be poured Page 135-137.

* Rev. xvi. 1.

+ Rev. xi. 15-18.