apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her." Well might they rejoice at the annihilation of that city which had so long been drunken with the blood of the saints, and steeped in impieties. Well might they be glad that God had avenged their wrongs, and vindicated his great name from the reproach and blasphemies of the harlot church. That church which had exhausted the catalogue of human transgression, which had forced the world into error, and cast out as evil the holy gospel, which had led the way of millions into perdition, was now cast down from its power of evil-doing. Well might they rejoice!

Verse 21: “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." This forcible illustration of the prophet does not require explanation. The tenacity with which the Romish priesthood cling to power and place renders great violence necessary to the overthrow of their system. But the doom has come :

Verse 22: "And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the sound of a mill-stone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee;"

Verse 23: "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived."

The utter desolation of a city could not be expressed with greater distinctness. Yet thus utterly desolate will, in the providence of the Almighty, be that great spiritual Babylon of papacy. All its glories will fade, all its riches be scattered, and its dominion be ended.

As the prophet dwells so long upon this catastrophe, an

inference of the vast wickedness of this city is easy; and the following verse shows very fully its extraordinary char

acter:

Verse 24: "And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth."

When this corrupt church shall have been destroyed, a new one will be raised up in righteousness.

CHAPTER XIX.

In the eighteenth chapter, we have an account of the judgment, condemnation, and utter destruction of the great whore, or apostate church, which did corrupt mankind by its abominable doctrines and persecuting principles.

In this chapter, God's omnipotence is manifested in the overthrow of papal tyranny, the joy of the heavenly-minded on that account, the return of the Jews, and the doctrines maintained at the entrance into the millennial state.

Verse 1: "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia: Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: "

Verse 2: "For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand."

Verse 3: "And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever."

From these words, it is plain that the power of God will be conspicuous in her overthrow; for,

First, the people who are heavenly-minded are represented as rejoicing, and rendering the glory of this wonderful work to him who hath judged her.

Second, they are considered as acknowledging God's righteous judgments in her punishment.

Third, her smoke rose up; or in other words, her sins and crimes, and the punishment thereof, shall be a visible warning to all future generations, lest they should come under the same condemnation.

Verse 4: "And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia." Even the twenty-four elders, to whom the law and gospel was given, and the four powers, or visible attributes of divine nature, are considered by the prophet as giving their joint assent to her annihilation.

It might be expected that I should here point out the time when these great events should come to pass. But this it is impossible to do now with precision. However, from hints which the prophet has given, we may perceive that the time is near; for,

First, St. John, in his description of the mother of harlots, Rev. 17: 16, says, The ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. This work began among the horns or kingdoms in subjection to the Romish religion, at the Reformation; as some of them began at that time to hate the whore.

Second, since the Reformation, no material change took place until the French Revolution, which greatly reduced the number of her bishops, whereby she is made desolate.

Third, France, by granting free liberty of conscience to herself and the nations under her influence, is also making her desolate; because many are renouncing her errors.

Fourth, France, by stripping the Romish church of its images and other rich ornaments, is making her naked; and, by the reduction of her revenue, produces the same effect.

Fifth, this reduction of power, and liberty of conscience, eats her flesh; because it devours her revenues and reduces her to a skeleton.

Sixth, religious liberty is as a consuming fire to Romish

principles; because she kept the laity from the use of the Scriptures.

Seventh, this late attack upon the whore has produced no excommunications nor anathemas, as it did at the Reformation, from whence it is plain that her dominion is almost ended.

In the eighteenth chapter her merchandize is mentioned, whereby she made rich all her clergy, who were the venders of it. These once valuable commodities are now of little estimation in Europe. Secularizing, the Episcopal princes in Germany, and the reduction of revenues, together with the suppression of the monastic orders, are all convincing proofs that her kingdom is nearly finished, and that the time is not very remote when the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth her merchandize any more.

Being now under the sound of the seventh trumpet, the influence of the third woe and the seventh vial of wrath, these united causes will operate powerfully upon the minds of men. They will view with horror the cause of their calamities. The effect will be, mankind will become enlightened, their crooked ways will be made straight, and great Babylon, the primary cause of those evils, will come in remembrance before God, and the judgment of the great whore commence. See if these remarks are not illustrated in the present times.

Verse 5: "And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great." This voice from the throne seems to be the voice of the Jews, as they still live under the law. They also are offering their tribute of praise to God for judging the great whore.

Verse 6: "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God