Part 16 (1/2)

Vs. 8,9.--The object of the fourth vial is the ”sun,” (ch. viii. 12.) ”Power was given him,”--the angel. The two witnesses are represented as armed with ”fire, which proceedeth out of their mouth, devouring their enemies,” (ch. xi. 5.) As the formal object of all the vials is the ecclesiastical, rather than the civil empire, and the sun is the symbol of the chief dignitary, perhaps this vial strikes more directly upon the ”man of sin.” The expression in the introduction to the vials, (ch. xv.

4,)--”thou only art holy,” seems to be a testimony against the antichristian ”name of blasphemy,”--”His Holiness.” By the Reformation, symbolized by successive angels of the fourteenth chapter, those valiant men tormented the Pope and his va.s.sals, so that they raged and blasphemed more and more, but ”repented not to give G.o.d the glory.” So it was at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, (ch. ix. 20, 21.)

10. 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,

11. And blasphemed the G.o.d of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Vs. 10, 11.--”The seat of the beast” is the object of the fifth vial.

The ”beast” is all along from chapter xi. 7, the Roman empire. The ”image of the beast,” we have found to be the papacy, (ch. xiii. 14, 15.) Now the ”seat (throne) of the beast,” would seem to point to the metropolis, where the Pope, as a kind of imperial, politico-ecclesiastical head, keeps his court, and whence decrees are issued. This plague is like the ninth inflicted upon Egypt, (Exod. x.

21.) It was the last but one, and left Pharaoh still impenitent. Just so here; although this vial is the last but one to be poured out on the western limb of the great antichristian conspiracy: the population of the spiritual empire repress their complaints before men,--”they gnawed their tongues for pain;” while they in their hearts ”curse their king and their G.o.d, and look upward.” (Is. viii. 21.) This may be understood to be the actual condition of the Pope and his retainers at the present time, and especially since the year 1848, when he was forced to flee from Rome. _Darkness_ is the emblem of distress, of mental despair, (Ps.

x.x.xv. 8; Is. viii. 22;) and the actual relation of European powers to the see of Rome,--Austria, France, Spain, and the Italian states, is not calculated to mitigate, but rather to augment and irritate the ”pains and the sores” inflicted by this and former vials.

We can, however, offer only conjectures here, and dare not be too confident; for learned and pious expositors are of the opinion that all the vials are comprehended under the seventh trumpet; that the seventh trumpet has not yet begun to sound; and consequently, that the vials are all future. On the other hand, equally learned and G.o.dly interpreters of these Apocalyptic hieroglyphics, are very confident that the _sixth_ vial is in process of pouring out in our present time; and that in fact its effects are obviously traceable in providence. Already we have indicated our humble opinion, that all the vials are not necessarily comprehended under the seventh trumpet; inasmuch as the opening of the last seal disclosed equally trumpets and vials: yet doubtless it is requisite that the series of the trumpets should precede that of the vials, while nothing hinders that of both series should cotemporate. We may conceive that as the first four trumpets demolished the western member of the Roman empire, and the next two the eastern limb, so the vials may be distributed in a manner somewhat similar. The second woe, or sixth trumpet, has not yet finished its appropriate work in the final subversion of the Turkish empire, which still exists; and during the time of its last echoes, the vials may be supposed to be accomplis.h.i.+ng their appropriate work upon the western empire, as being ”wholly given to idolatry.” While the first five vials are consuming the Antichrist in the west, the sixth is operating in the east.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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 G.o.d Almighty.

15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Vs. 12-16.--”The great river Euphrates” is the object of the sixth vial.

By the very general consent of expositors the Turkish empire is intended by this symbol; and they seem to be equally agreed that the sixth vial in now in process of pouring out. The object of the sixth trumpet is the same, (ch. ix. 14.) There is, besides, an obvious allusion to the ancient literal Babylon; and to the manner of its overthrow by Cyrus the king of Persia. (Jer. l. 38; li. 36; Dan. v. 26-28; Is. xliv. 27, 28.)--This monarch, as historians relate, changed the current of the Euphrates, and by this means took possession of the city, while Belshazzar and his n.o.bles were engaged in a drunken festival. (Dan. v.

1-30.)--The waters of this river are to be taken as representing the population of the Ottoman empire, (ch. xvii. 15.) By the ”kings of the east” may be understood the Jews, agreeably to the symbolical nature of this book; (Is. xli. 2, 3;) yet as the Turkish empire and Mahometan imposture const.i.tute barriers to the extension of Christ's kingdom among the populous nations of the east, as Popish despotism and idolatry, obstruct the gospel in the west, we may give this symbol of the ”kings of the east” a more extensive interpretation. Probably a larger proportion of the natural seed of Abraham are to be found on the west than even on the east of the Turkish empire. The dynasty of the Turk is in process of visible exhaustion, and nothing but what is termed among antichristian nations ”the balance of power,” prolongs its existence or hinders its extinction. ”Drying up,” evaporation, is a gradual process, and with singular precision describes the waning light of the once proud Crescent,--the expiring breath of what has been termed by a bold figure, ”the sick man.”[13]--Under this vial, however, and likewise as the termination of the second woe, a general, final and desperate alliance is to be found to resist the aggressive forces of the ”Lord of Hosts.”--This confederacy is headed by the dragon, and is identical with the war, (ch. xii. 17,) against the ”remnant of the woman's seed.”--These ”unclean spirits like frogs” are called ”spirits of devils.” They ”come out of the mouth” of all the agents, the dragon, (ch. xii. 3, 9,) the beast, (ch. xiii. 1,) and the false prophet,--the same as the two-horned beast, (v. 11,) and (ch. xix. 20.) These ”unclean spirits” succeed in gathering the kings of the earth, by ”working miracles,” ”lying wonders.” (2 Thess. ii. 9; 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2.) They are the agents of antichristian Rome, spiritual wickedness in high places,”

(Eph. vi. 12;)--”like frogs,” living in moral filth; garrulous and impudent, stealthily gaining access into the bedchambers of the kings, ”after the manner of Egypt.” (Exod. viii. 3.)--Surely the policy of Rome is here portrayed, her cardinals, archbishops, Jesuits, etc., gaining entrance into the councils and cabinets of princes, inciting them to debauchery, tyranny and blood. h.e.l.lish hosts are thus ”gathered to the battle of that great day of G.o.d Almighty,”--the day of the seventh vial, of the ”vintage,” (ch. xiv. 18-20,) and of the seventh trumpet, (ch. xi.

15;) for all these agree in point of time.--This will be an ”hour of temptation,” as intimated in the 15th verse, which is a parenthesis, interrupting a little the narrative of the effects of the vial. There is danger of apostacy, of ”falling away to these Chaldeans,” of temporizing with the enemy in order to escape suffering. Thus Christian soldiers of the cross, losing ”the armour of righteousness,” would be exposed to ”shame.” But ”blessed is he that watcheth,” that looks to the Captain of Salvation, to his cause, as elucidated by his providence,--the signs of the times; for so shall he ”keep his garments,” when others are ”found naked.”--”And he gathered them” or rather ”_they_ gathered,” (for the singular verb agrees with its nominative plural neuter as usual,)--the ”unclean spirits gathered the kings of the earth” to the destined place.

This hinders not but that these antichristian enemies of the church are brought together by the Almighty. Just so he sent the king of a.s.syria against ”a hypocritical nation.” (Is. x. 5-7.) And doubtless the prophet Joel prophesied of this great and decisive battle, (ch. iii. 11-14.) ”Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.” Compare vs. 1, 2.

The place is called ”Armageddon,” the _mountain of destruction_, suggesting the issue of the battle in the final overthrow of Antichrist; for it is not necessary to suppose that any _place_ is literally pointed out; but as this is a compound word in the ”Hebrew tongue,” allusion may be made to the slaughter of Sisera's army, (Judges v. 19;) or to the mournful death of Josiah, (2 Chron. x.x.xv. 22.)

17. 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.

18. And there 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.

19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before G.o.d, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed G.o.d, because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Vs. 17-21.--”The seventh angel poured out his vial into the air.”--The devil is emphatically styled ”the prince of the power of the air.” (Eph.

ii. 2.) All the preceding vials fell upon their respective and successive objects, the several parts of the symbolic system; but this ”vial of consummation” affects the whole of that system at once. The dragon, the beast, and his image, together with the false prophet,--all the ”kingdoms of this world and the glory of them,” which the G.o.d of this world claimed as his own, and offered to our Lord Jesus Christ in the days of his humiliation, (Luke iv. 6, 7;)--all will be destroyed for ever. He who gave commission by a ”great voice,” (v. 1,) to these angels, now that they have fulfilled his pleasure, solemnly declares his approbation,--”It is done.” The Lord Christ had solemnly sworn that ”in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he should begin to sound, the mystery of G.o.d should be _finished_,” (ch. x. 6, 7.) He is faithful to his oath,--_It is done._ Hence, it is undeniably evident that the seventh trumpet agrees in time with the seventh vial; and it is equally evident that the events which they represent are yet future.