four winds, shall relax that hold, and the judgments of an offended God shall with an overwhelming fury burst upon the world, but one way of safety appears; and that is, being found in the ark Christ; and by repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, turning from every evil way. “ Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them” (Joel ii. 17).

V. The last reason which has induced me to consider this term of “ seven times” as chrono

" logical is, that its termination synchronizes with those of the other unfulfilled prophecies.

This will immediately appear by the most superficial reference to the Chronological Chart, where it will be perceived that the year 1843 is equally the termination of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Periods.

These five reasons carry with them, to my mind, a strong presumptive evidence that the hypothesis I have advanced is correct; and that the probability is very great that the long period of Israel's and Judah's captivity and dispersion is nearly at an end ; and that this termination will correspond to the two thousand five hundred and twentieth year from the final ruin and destruction of the kingdom of Israel. Further, that whenever this time arrives, “ THE STONE, which is to be cut out without hands,' will smite the great symbolical image of Nebuchadnezzar, representing the four successive general monarchies, and BREAK IT IN PIECES ; when they all will become “like the chaf of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind will carry them away, so that no place will be found them.”

And the awful truth that this state of things is fast coming upon us, appears to be the burthen and end of many prophecies, symbolical as well as chronological. Apparently for the express purpose of compelling us to believe in a catastrophe so repugnant to our natural impressions and the usual course of the world, it is a period very often alluded to in the Sacred Volume. The language of the seventh trumpet, which, as the sixth is so very near closing, must soon sound, has been already noticed. It was, undoubtedly, typified by the seventh trumpet before the walls of Jericho, the blast of which completely levelled every opposing barrier to the Jews' possession of that devoted city. In the case before us, on the seventh angel sounding, “the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ ;

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sages, that, as preparatory to this consummation, the spirit of Infidelity will in the first place triumph over that of Popery, and Despotism over that of Infidelity; and hence, that the order in which they are here mentioned, which is not the order in which they have appeared in the world-Infidelity, which is named the second, as a distinct power being but of few years' duration—is intended to be significant of the order in which they will respectively be suffered to exist. It would appear, first, that Infidelity is decreed to triumph over Popery, from its being said, in Rev. xvii. 17, that God hath put it in the hearts of the ten horns, or kingdoms (and those kingdoms in an uncrowned state), “to agree and give their kingdoms unto the beast;' called, in ver. 8, “the beast THAT WAS, AND IS xot." In other words, from its being said that God hath put in the hearts of the ten horns to agree and give their kingdoms to INFIDELITY, on its re-appearance under one head (see ver. 11), the inference is unavoidable, that this “noisome and grievous sore,” which about forty years fell on all the Western nations, is destined to destroy and triumph over the opposing “spirit” of Popery. But this conclusion rests not upon inference only; it is positively asserted; for the Holy Spirit, speaking throughout this chapter, of Popery under the symbol of “a great whore,” says (ver. 16) “And 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;”—perhaps by a similar, though more summary, fatal, and extensive, process or mode of proceeding to that which was displayed at the early period of the French Revolution, and which may have been a faint rehearsal of what is again to take place.

Before proceeding, I would direct particular attention to the interesting fact above noticed -that the ten horns in this Infidel state are represented as uncrowned; whereas of the Papal nations it is said (chap. xiii. 1) “ they had on their horns ten crowns. I would likewise observe, that it is probable it will be about the time immediately preceding this state of things that Infidelity will perform the dreadful work assigned to it for three and a half prophetic days, or three years and a half, named in Rev. xi. 7--10, which, according to ver. 13, is to be attended by a “great earthquake,” or revolution; towards which, in pursuance with the wish of many, and the expectation and dread of others, it is a lamentable and awful fact we appear to be fast verging.

It would appear, secondly, that as Infidelity is thus destined to destroy Popery, so, on the other hand, is Despotism destined to triumph over Infidelity. This I infer more particularly

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from the historical notices given in the 11th of Daniel, from the 40th verse to the end of the chapter; and from the symbolical language of the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial; all of which will be found enlarged upon in their proper places; the two latter in the Introduction, and that of Daniel's prophecy in the consideration of the Seventh Period.

The other particular to which the attention is directed in this vial, besides the drying up of the Euphrates, and the existence of three unclean spirits, is the SUDDEN NESS with which its SILENCE shall be broken, expressed by the words, “Behold, I come as a thief,” and the BLESSEDNess of those who shall be found on their WATCH. I would especially notice this particular, from the countenance which it unquestionably gives to the study of unfulfilled prophecy; for how can any one be on the watch which is here intended, unless he see the danger approaching ? and how can he with certainty see approaching danger, but from the roll of prophecy? It is true that the believer in Jesus is always safe come what will; but it is equally true, that in seasons of great public commotion, in seasons of great political conflicting opinions and excitement, his path is much clearer, his actions more consistent, and his mind more fixed, who has the compass of Prophecy to direct him, than it can possibly be when, in the course he pur