adore a man in the Temple of God. Let them take heed, lest Christ Himself,-Who, as the aged Simeon declared, is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel', and as Isaiah and Zechariah, and St. Paul, and St. Peter, describe Him, is a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to the disobedient,—should be to them an occasion of woe, instead of weal; of death, instead of life: yes, lest the Sun of Righteousness should scorch them with His beams, and be a cause to them of everlasting burnings.

9. The Fifth Angel poured his Vial upon the Throne of the Beast; and his kingdom was darkened, and they gnawed their tongues for the pain, and blasphemed God, by reason of their pains and sores, and repented not of their deeds.

This represents a state of perplexity, panic, anguish, and despair, in the very heart of the mystical empire. Because it hath despised the light, therefore it is full of darkness. In the words of God,-Concerning the Prophets which make My People to err, and bite with their teeth, and cry Peace, therefore Night shall be upon you, that ye shall not have a Vision; and the Sun shall go down upon the Prophets, and the Day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall

1 Luke ii. 34.

2 Isa. viii. 14. Zech. xii. 3. Rom. ix. 32.
3 Rev. xvi. 10, 11.

1 Pet. ii. 7, 8.

all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God'; and all faces shall gather blackness 2.

10. The Sixth Angel pours his Vial on the great river EUPHRATES; and the water thereof is dried up, that the WAY of the KINGS of the EAST may be prepared. The Euphrates reminds us that the Vision concerns the Power, which is the mystical Babylon3.

What is the Euphrates? how are its waters dried? In the Apocalypse, Babylon is not the Assyrian city, but a spiritual Empire; and Euphrates, the river of Babylon, is to be understood spiritually. We may not imagine here any natural River whose waters will be dried up, nor any Earthly Princes who will come from the East over its bed.

The strength and glory of the literal Babylon was the river Euphrates. But its channel was laid dry by Cyrus, and so Babylon was taken1. Thus its strength became its weakness, and its glory became its shame. The strength and glory of the mystical Babylonthe Church of Rome-has been her spiritual and secular Supremacy; which have mingled their

1 Micah iii. 5—7.

2 Joel ii. 6.

3 Vitringa Anacr. p. 477. Per nomina mystica characteres hujus civitatis exhibentur. Babylon præcipue dicitur causâ idololatriæ, quam Roma in Europam invexit ; ...

4 Haymo ad cap. ix. Per flumen Euphratem, in quo Angeli alligati sunt, potentia Sæcularis intelligitur. Euphrates quippe fluvius Babyloniæ est. Medi et Persæ hunc diviserunt fluvium, et per ejus alveum ingressi sunt Babyloniam. Quod flumen sæpe in malam partem ponitur.

5 The celebrated Peter Olivi, a Franciscan of the fourteenth century, thus writes :-" Potestas Papa et multitudo plebium sibi obediens

streams in a swelling and navigable flood, by which her ships have gone forth like those of a Merchantcity into all lands', and riches have flowed into her bosom from all nations of the earth.

The tide of this proud Euphrates, which has rolled on for many centuries, and has impeded the march of the Kings of the East, appears to be ebbing; and the time will come at length when it will decline lower and lower, till at last a dry bed will be left, and a Way be opened for them to pass over.

What, now, is this WAY? and who are the KINGS of the EAST whose way will be so prepared?

In Scripture language, "the Way" is the Way of God, the Way of Salvation, the Gospel of Christ. Saul desired letters from the High Priest, that if he found any of the Way he might bring them bound

et favor ipsius est quasi magnus fluvius Euphrates, impediens transitum (that is, the passage of the Kings of the East,) et insultum æmulorum Evangelici status in ipsum." See Appendix D, p. 134.

1 The Church of Rome is described by St. John, in the sublime language of ancient Hebrew poetry, as a spiritual Tyre, holding commerce with all nations. Rev. xviii. 15: "The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping, and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas! that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate." See above, p. 271.

to Jerusalem; and he says, I persecuted the Way unto the death'. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, says the Baptist, Prepare ye the Way of the Lord'. This Way is to be prepared. Stand, says St. Paul, having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace1.

In order that this Way may be prepared, the great river Euphrates will be dried up; that is, the strength and glory of Rome will be brought low. And as the Euphrates was a cause of Babylon's destruction, so the Supremacy claimed by Rome may be the occasion of her fall.

Thus we are brought to contemplate again the Vision which was before presented to us under the Sixth Trumpet, or Second Woe, where the heavenly Voice exclaims, Loose the Four Angels who are bound, or imprisoned, at the great river, the river EUPHRATES'. And the Angels, we read, were loosed who were prepared for the hour, and the day, and month, and year. This Vision has been already interpreted as signifying a loosing and diffusion of the GOSPEL, consequent on the decline of the power of Rome; and these two passages, in which the Euphrates is mentioned, illustrate each other.

8

1 ódós. Acts ix. 2; xix. 9. 23; xxii. 4; xxiv. 14. 22.

4 3 ἑτοιμασίᾳ.

? Luke iii. 4. Eph. vi. 15. 5 ἵνα ἑτοιμασθῇ. 6 This is observed by Lightfoot, (Harmony ad loc.) who says, “The drying up of Euphrates for the Kings of the East, under the Sixth Vial, seems to speak much to the tenor of the Sixth Trumpet, the loosing of the Four Angels which were bound at Euphrates."

7 Rev. ix. 14. 8 ἡτοιμασμένοι. 9 In Lecture V. p. 142 to end.

Who now are the KINGS of the EAST?

We are not to imagine here any earthly Monarchs or Emperors. The expression is figurative, and to be understood spiritually. The words rendered Kings from the East are οἱ βασιλεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου, that is, the Kings from the rising of the Sun'.

The Sun is CHRIST. The dew of His Birth is of the womb of the morning. He is the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing on His wings. He is the Day-spring from on high. In the book of the Prophet Zechariah, God says, I bring My servant, the East; and, Behold the Man: His name is the East. In the Apocalypse the Church is clothed with the Sun', that is, with Christ; and the Angel who seals the elect comes from the rising of the Sun; and Christ says, I Jesus am the bright and Morning Star; and, To him that overcometh, I will give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and I will give him the Morning Star 10. Christ is the LIGHT of the WORLD"; and He promises that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun, in the kingdom of His Father 12.

1 Rev. xvi. 12.

3 Mal. iv. 2. See also above, p. 376.

4 Luke i. 78, ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ ἐξ ὕψους.

2 Psalm cx. 3.

'Avaroλn, or Sun-rising, i. e. Christ, Zech. iii. 8, in LXX.

6 Avaroλn, Zech. vi. 12, in LXX.

8 Rev. vii. 2.

7 Rev. xii. 1.

9 Rev. xxii. 16.

10 Rev. ii. 27.-Bede, Explan. Apocalyps. in cap. ii. Et dabo illi stellam matutinam.] Christus est stella matutina; qui nocte seculi transacta lucem vitæ sanctis promittit et pandit æternam.

11 John viii. 12.

12 Matth. xiii. 43.