city*." The prophet himself describes revolutionary France by the "great city†." Indeed the original sense of the word "city" is any great assemblages of people united by law or contract: "Catus hominum jure sociati, civitatem appellantur‡." Hence we may conclude, that St. John calls the great confederacy of pagans, deists, and atheists, which he just before described, " the great city." He further informs us, that this " great city is to be divided into three parts." That is, as I humbly interpret the text by the context, into the three great parties, so often described before; and that they are to make war upon, and destroy one another, after the late example of the revolutionary factions of France. He adds, in the same verse, that " the cities of the nations are to fall in this war," in their threefold distinction, and that great Babylon," meaning the grand confederacy, "shall come in remem"brance before God, to give unto it the cup " of the wine of the FIERCENESS of his wrath;" and that every island shall flee away, and the mountains shall not be found;" which in the literal sense of the verse is, every leader of "the confederacy shall in vain flee from the "danger, and the generals, great officers, and " men in power, shall not be found; and that " there shall fall upon men, the inferior ranks, " a great hail out of heaven, every stone about "the weight of a talent; and men shall blas-

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"pheme God because of the plague of the hail, " for the plague thereof shall be exceeding "great."

SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION.

A more particular Description of the Confederacy, and an Annunciation of the Decree passed upon it, and its dreadful Consequences. HAVING finished his proem to the great and awful subjects of the seventh vial, in the preceding chapter, the prophet goes on to a narration of the events of it in detail. He resumes his subject from the beginning, and describes the grand confederacy of the enemies of the word of God, to which he had before only alluded. In this consolidated and united state he considers it as the cause and parent of all the idolatry and deviations from the word of God, which had been introduced into the world by Satan (the great seducer of mankind,) into polytheism, apostacy, and atheism : that polluted source of all depravity and sin, or, as the prophet expresses it, of all "the abominations of the earth." He describes it as such by a variety of comprehensive, emphatical, and metaphorical appellations, which run throughout the chapter. Of these, however, I shall only consider such as engross the first five verses, as they are the great and leading marks of the confederacy intended to be foretold.

1. It is called "The great whore that sit"teth upon many waters, with whom the "kings of the earth have committed forni"cation, and the inhabitants of the earth "have been made drunk with the wine of "her fornication."

Now, the word "whore," in its literal sense, is a woman that has an unlawful and lustful connexion with men; and in the spiritual sense, it is every man, woman, or political power, that has any connexion with those who are disobedient, and embrace as their faith, false doctrines, and worship fictitious deities, prohibited by the word and law of God. In the latter sense the word is made use of in many parts of the Scripture. Thus the Jews and Jerusalem are called "a whore," " a harlot," and are said to commit "whoredom," on account of their embracing the idolatrous and false doctrines of the Egyptians and Assyrians, and worshipping their Gods*. So here the prophet describes this great conspiracy, which is to consist of all the idolatrous, apostatizing, and atheistical kings, ruling over many nations, by the appellation of "the great whore, that sitteth upon many waters."

2. He again describes this confederacy by the metaphor of " a woman sitting upon a "scarlet coloured beast, full of the names of

blasphemy." A woman was the prolific parent of the human race, who, after the fall of Adam, joined in one sinful society, and therefore is a suitable metaphor for any Power that has united, and produced any great body of people. So the church of Christ is denoted by " a woman clothed with the Sun (with the light of God's eternal truth,) having the

moon (all temporal and sublunary things) " under her feet, and upon her head (the most "conspicuous part of her body) a crown (the emblem of power, excellence and triumph) of twelve stars," (figuration of the twelve apostles, possessing the transcendent power of the Holy Ghost*.) In like manner the prophet describes this confederacy by the hieroglyphic of a "woman," but of a woman, whose character is to form a direct contrast to that of the church of Christ. She is represented as "sitting upon (ruling over) a scarlet coIoured beast," (or a great body of people full of crimest and all manner of blasphemy). She is arrayed in ‡ purple and "scarlet," to denote, that the ruling powers of the confederacy shall be depraved to the utmost extent of sin and unrighteousness; and the beast itself is " scarlet" coloured, to intimate that the great body of the people shall be as wicked as their

rulers.

3. Again, he describes the confederacy by the name of "The great whore, with whom "the kings of the earth have committed forni"cation; and the inhabitants of the earth " have been made drunk (mad) with the wine

(the spirit) of her fornication," (of her idolatry.) Who is this " great whore," with whose spirit of her idolatry, all the kings and inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk? We have never heard nor read of any one Power