Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

Vial 3-Ver. 4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and "fountains of water, and they became blood."

This vial gives us a more literal and unequivocal defcription of the country and people, upon which it was to be poured out, than the laft. It is to be poured out upon that country which contains the greatest number of "rivers and fountains of

[ocr errors]

the

water." If this be the natural fenfe of the verfe, there can be no doubt but that Germany is that country. It contains a greater number of rivers and fountains than any other country upon the earth. Examine the map of the world, and then cast your eye upon Germany, and you will fee the great river Oder emptying its waters into the Baltic, upon north; the Elbe, the Wefer, the Rhine, and the Meufe, into the German Ocean on the weft; the Rhone and the Adige on the fouth; and the Danube and the Drave into the Black Sea on the east; and all their innumerable fprings and fountains rifing in ancient Germany; and, after watering that country, pouring out their floods into their respective oceans. So many and fo great rivers and fountains are not to be found in any other country whatever, and therefore we may fafely conclude, it is the country upon which this vial was to be poured out. Ancient Ger

2

many heretofore has had her wars, in common with other nations. They have been partial only; nor has her independence been in danger. But never until the last has the whole of Germany been involved. Never before has fhe fuffered fuch havoc and defolation, loft fo much territory, fo many of her people, and fo much blood. The Netherlands, Holland, Switzerland, and all the ftates of the left bank of the Rhine, after they have endured all the woes, that the rapine and cruelties of war could inflict, have been reduced from a ftate of independence

among

among nations to the galling yoke of republican and atheistical defpotifm; from a state of commerce and wealth, to poverty; and from a ftate of focial order, peace, and happiness, to that of internal difcord and anarchy, the worst of all woes. Nor has the defo

lating arms of France stopped here. They have penetrated into the heart of Germany, not as common enemies, but as rapacious and blood-thirsty vultures; deftroying the people, levying the heavieft contributions; and feizing upon property wherever found; until the emperor, trembling for the fate of his throne, has been obliged to accept of a moft ignominious peace, dictated by his unprincipled and unrelenting enemy himfelf: a peace which will enable that enemy, at his pleasure hereafter, to overwhelm Germany with numbers, and to trample upon its throne. Such feem to be the judgments of an Almighty God, lately inflicted upon this unhappy country, for her apoftafy from his holy word to papal idolatry, and the innumerable cruelties and perfecutions committed upon the church of Chrift.

[ocr errors]

I am naturally led to the last fentiment, by the two following verfes. In them the prophet informs us, that after the first three vials were poured out, he heard "THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS" fay," thou "art righteous, O Lord, which art, and waft, and "fhalt be, becaufe thou haft judged thus * For "they have fhed the blood of the faints and pro

[ocr errors]

phets, and thou haft given them blood to drink!” We ask here, where are the nations to be found which hiftory declares have been remarkable for fhedding the blood of the faints and prophets," fave Papal France, Papal Germany, and Papal Rome? From the calculations of fome authors, they have put to death thirty millions of Christians,

[blocks in formation]

in the fhort space of forty years (how many then must they have destroyed in many centuries?) for no other crime but because they would not defert their faith in the word of God, and embrace abominable idolatry.

But who is this ANGEL OF THE WATERS? An angel is a person, either spiritual or temporal, whom God employs to perform his will. The word is generally applied to intellectual and spiritual beings, the minifters fent to execute the orders of his providence*. But it is alfo made ufe of by the prophet himself, to denote an elder or chief, prefiding over a Chriftian church. Where he is ordered to write to the feven churches, he is directed to address his epiftles to the refpective " angels" or prefidents of thofe churches. In this fenfe only can the word

[ocr errors]

angel," in this verfe, be properly understood. But it ftill remains to be inquired into, who is this prefident or chief ruler of a church? The text gives at least a probable anfwer. It is the angel of the "waters," or a perfon whom God, in the course of his providence, has fent to prefide with power on or over the waters. Hence it feems, that the angel "of the waters" here is not only a metaphor for a chief ruler of a Chriftian church, but a defender of its interest and fafety, upon the ocean or the great waters; one whose naval force is fuperior to all others upon the fea. If I am right in this conftruction of the text (and I think it will admit of no other), may we not, with a degree of hope, if not of confidence, look up to OUR BELOVED SOVEREIGN, George III. (and under him this greatly favoured nation) as the object here alluded to? From his youth he has been a fingular example of virtue and piety, to all the kings and princes of Europe. He is the head of the Pro+ Rev. ii. 1. 8. 12.

* Heb. i. 7.

teftant

66

teftant church. He is not merely the nominal, but real defender of the faith. While in thefe dreadful times, the defigns of other nations have been fmitten with weakness and folly, he has been highly blest in the wifdom and fteadiness of his councils, in the fuppreffion of the traiterous defigns of his inteftine, and in repelling the invafion of his foreign enemies, and more especially, in his naval victories over their formidable fleets. They were victories fo miraculously seasonable, that they have faved Great Britain, if not the world, from anarchy and ruin; and victories fo decifive, that the greater part of the naval force of the enemy has been deftroyed, and the remainder compelled to feek for fafety under the ftrong walls of their fortifications, and to leave the King of this ifland, the unrivalled fovereign of the ocean THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS." GRACIOUS GOD! how undeserved, and yet how abundant are thy mercies! Whilft thou art thus pouring out the vials of thy wrath upon furrounding nations, thou art not only fparing us, but crowning us with triumph and honour! O that the fons and daughters of Great Britain, with hearts deeply impreffed with thy goodness, would rightly confider their temporal and eternal interefts, and feek thee whilst thou art to be found! that they would redouble their gratitude, their love of thy divine truths, and their obedience to thy holy will, that they may, when thefe dreadful vials fhall be emptied, be thought worthy to proclaim to the world, "Thou art worthy, O LORD, which art, " and waft, and fhalt be, becaufe Thou haft judged "thus."

A

Vial 4.-Ver. 8, 9.-" And the fourth angel "poured out his vial on the fun and power was "given unto him to fcorch men with fire. And men were fcorched with great heat, and blafphemed the name of God, who had power over

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

R 2

"these

thefe plagues, and they repented not to give Him the glory."

[ocr errors]

I have thown before, that the firft vial refers to the fate of France under thofe bloody tumults, infurrections, and maffacres, which led to the deftruction of the monarchy, and the confequent revolution: the fecond, to the depofition of the Pope; and the third to the devaftation of the French armies in Germany. Here, in the fourth, he refumes the prophetic hiftory of the events in France, which followed thofe of the first vial. He begins with the most remarkable event, the murder of the King; and proceeds, in due order, to thofe which immediately followed, down through the reign of terror, to the death of that frightful monfter Roberfpierre. This will appear not improbable, when we tranflate the text into its literal meaning. This vial was to be "poured out upon the fun." The Sun is a great, powerful, and fplendid body, in the natural world. It is therefore an appofite and beautiful type for a great and powerful monarch in the political world, keeping a brilliant and magnificent court. It is the fame type which was made ufe of by Ifaiah for the king of Babylon, when foretelling the deftruc tion of that grand and powerful empire *. The fame is ufed to denote the emperor by the prophet, when predicting the decline and fall of pagan Rome, while in the zenith of her power, fplendour, and glory. Now the monarchy of France had been for ages before, and was, at the time of the late revolution, the most powerful of any in Europe. The furrounding nations have often been obliged to combine their forces, to fave themfelves from her inroads and oppreffion. Her Kings have difplayed, in their court, the utmost splendour and magnificence, far

Chap. xiii.ro. Ezek. xxxii. 7.

4.

+ Rev. vi. 12.

furpaffing

« ZurückWeiter »