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tions, yet they did not belong to the old Roman empire, and therefore could not be represented as horns of that beast falling before the Papal horn. The descriptions, of belonging to the horns of the old Roman beast, and being subdued by the characteristic influence of the Papal horn, (its false religion) meet in a peculiar and equal degree, only in those three notable, ancient horns, Italy, France, and Spain. These three great territories did indeed fatally fall before the Papal horn. They from first to last formed the principal seat of his delusion; and appear to be forming the principal theatre of the judgments of Heaven upon that wicked system.

If the view given, of the plucking up by the roots of the three horns before the Papal horn, be correct, it shows that the horns of the ancient beast were the kingdoms, which constituted the old Roman empire in its zenith, and were in existence, when the God of heaven set up his kingdom at the commencement of the Gospel day; and were not the kingdoms into which the old empire crumbled to pieces. For Italy, France, and Spain, including the places above noted, cannot be said to be three of ten definite kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was by the northern barbarians divided. And as the old Imperial head of the Roman beast had its ten horns; so the mystical revival of this same head from the bottomless pit, in the last days, has its

ten horns.

SECTION VII.

Antichrist predicted in the 18th chapter of Revelation.

In this chapter, a further view is given of the judgments of God upon Papal Rome.

1. An Angel descends from heaven, having great power; and the earth is lightened with his glory: Indica tions of some great event now to be accomplished! An event, which should be noted through the whole earth!

2. And he cried mightily, with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. Here is the sum of the event. And the greatness and terrors of it are

strikingly indicated by the Angel's having great power, the earth being lightened with his glory, his repeating the sum of the event, and doing it mightily with a strong voice. In the preceding chapter, Papal Rome, as distinct from the Antichristian beast, is symbolized by a harlot, borne or managed by this beast, and is called Mystery, Babylon the great. Babylon the great, in this 18th chapter, must be the same power, the Papal hierarchy, as distinct from the Antichristian beast. In the preceding chapter, this harlot is presented for execution, as we have seen. And in this 18th chapter, we have the commencement and process of her execution. But this Divine judgment upon her implies an instrument, by which it is inflicted. Therefore,

3. The origin of the instrument of the fall of Popery is hinted; And is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Some capital revolution in her territories is here indicated, in which her own dominions are exhibited to the world as a habitation of devils; the disgorgings of the infernal world; and a pandemonium of every species of licentiousness and abomination. Here is the origin of the beast, that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, or Antichrist. This is the furnishing of the executioner of Papal Babylon. Here was to be forged the rod of iron, which is fully implied in the subsequent predictions of her judgments in this chapter. The instrument of the Divine vengeance was to rise out of her own territories, and corruptions. Here were to be exhibited the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. The egg of Papal Babylon was thus to break out into a viper, which should become a fiery flying serpent. She was thus to be fatally stung with her own scorpions; yea, gored to death with the horns rising from her own corruptions.

4. The fulness of the measure of Papal Babylon's sins, and her consequent judgments are noted in the following verses. And I heard a great voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her

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plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. The account proceeds, in which judgments are doubled to her according to her works; her cup of indignation is filled twice as full as that, which she had filled for the saints. Torment and sorrow are given in proportion as she has glorified herself, and counted upon prosperity. Her plagues shall come as it were in one day, death, mourning, famine, and fire, under the strong hand of God, who judgeth her. Decisive events are here indicated. Papal Babylon is taken into the grasp of Antichrist for her execution. And in the struggles and scenes of blood, which attend the rise, and the forming of the horns of the Antichristian beast, the Mother of harlots finds the execution of the judgments of God upon her in dreadful succession. The scenes of judgment become tremendous on one Papal nation, and on another. All in their turn have blood to drink. And Babylon the great sinks as a mighty millstone into the depth of the sea of revolution, tumult and blood, never to rise again.

5. The kings of the Papal earth, who have revelled in the idolatrous embraces of the harlot, lament and bewail her fall and miseries: At the sight of the smoke of her torments, which rises and is seen to, the ends of the earth; or at the sight and hearing of her judgments and miseries, they cry, Alas, alas! In her distress they realize their own.

6. The merchants of the Papal earth likewise, (the dignitaries, and various orders of the Popish clergy) who have been literally made rich in her infamous and ungodly traffic, in superstitious rites, and the souls of men, now cry, Alas, alas! They weep and mourn over the ruins of their beloved hierarchy. Wailings and lamentation are heard through the nations of Papal superstition; while the judgments proceed with tremendous roar, and echo from land to land! These admirers of the harlot, standing afar off, some as fugitives in foreign lands, and others inclined to be as far distant as possible, for fear of her torments, lament her fall, crying, Alas, alas! that great city Babylon! For in one hour is her judgment come! Yea, the ship masters, ship compa

nies, traders by sea, and sailors, interrupted in their mercantile pursuits, by the perils of the times, are represented as standing afar off, in consternation at the view of the burnings of Babylon, or at hearing of the judgments on Papal nations, and bewailing the loss of their livings.

7. The blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth, is found here; and it no longer cries for retribution in vain. The God of judgment hears, and rises up out of his holy habitation. A tremendous scene of Divine wrath is opened, which overturns the seat of the Papal kingdom, and fills it with darkness, so that they gnaw their tongues for pain. The horns of the Antichristian beast, in this. chapter, are beginning to perform the execution of the Mother of harlots; though the scene will not be completed, till the battle at Armageddon. There in due time, the false prophet, (the remaining skeleton of Popery) and the Antichristian beast himself, will sink into perdition.

All the events of this chapter imply the rise of a terrible instrument of judgment on Papal Babylon. This instrument, no doubt, is the Antichristian beast. His horns were to hate the whore, to make her desolate and naked, to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. These are judgments which may be as long a time in execution, as from the time of the fifth vial to that of the seventh. But they commence at the rise of Antichrist.

8. The judgments in this chapter, cannot be the same with the seventh vial, in the destruction of Antichrist, and all the enemies of the Church. For in the latter case, there will be no kings, nor mystical merchants of the Papal earth left, to bewail the fall of Babylon; as is the case in this chapter. For then they will all, far and near, sink together. So the predictions of that event clearly decide. The whole earth shall be de

voured with the fire of my jealousy. The view of the whole of this 18th chapter in the light of the chapter preceding, evinces, that it is Papal Babylon, and not Antichrist, whose fall is here predicted. It is that

Babylon, whose kings and mystical merchants had long been enriched with her delicacies and superstitious traffic. This is a trait of character which cannot be applied to Antichrist; but which perfectly applies to Popery. The events of this chapter then cannot be the seventh, but must be the fifth vial.* In this, the Papal beast is destroyed by the rise of the Antichristian beast. The events of this chapter are the first capital judgment, which falls on Papal Babylon. Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. However she had before experienced a number of judgments, even four vials of the wrath of God; yet she never fell before. And she is never found standing on her own. foundation, afterward. This particular appears clearly to identify the event, with that of the fifth vial. For the Papal beast has a seat (throne) and a kingdom, till the fifth vial; but afterward he has none. His seat is overturned and his kingdom filled with darkness. I apprehend then that this 18th of Revelation, and the fifth vial, predict the same event, the subversion of the predominant power of Popery, by the rise of Antichrist; although the events of this chapter may extend further, than those of the fifth vial, even to the time of the seventh, when the Papal hierarchy, as well as Antichrist, shall be totally destroyed.

9. This chapter, as well as the one preceding, presents a Babylon, distinct from Antichrist. While the Papal hierarchy was predominant, it was Babylon the great. But when it ceased to be predominant, having fallen under the power of Antichrist, the latter becomes the mystical Babylon, or Babylon the great. The appellation applies to the great dominant Power upon the ground, be it Papal or Antichristian. Accordingly we find a Babylon the great falling in this 18th chapter of Revelation, which, I conceive, predicts the same event with the fifth vial: and yet we also find a great Babylon coming into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath in after days, Rev. xvi, 19, under the seventh

* See Treatise on the vials, particularly the fifth vial.

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