426

xi.

The fifth angel sounds :

SECT. We desire that ours should be acceptable to him; and, encouraged by such a view, let us offer them up, not only with humility, but with cheerful confidence, though we are conscious of their great unworthiness.

verse

To what wretchedness are they exposed, who oppress and injure those, that, through their great Representative, have such an interest in the court of heaven. The hail and the fire, shall, at 7 the Divine command, powerfully plead their cause; the mount. ains shall be torn from their basis, and cast into the midst of the 12 sea; the sun, the moon, and the stars shall be darkened in their orbs, and all nature be thrown into convulsive agonies, ere God will suffer them finally to be overborn, or fail to punish, with becoming severity, those who continue to persecute, or evil entreat them.

Let such awful representations as these, remind us of the sovereign almighty power of God, whom all the hosts of heaven worship with reverence; and at whose awful word, when he gives forth his voice, hailstones and coals of fire descend; (Psal. xviii. 13;) at whose rebuke the pillars of heaven tremble, and the foundations of the earth are shaken; who speaks to the sun, and it shineth not; who darkeneth the moon, and sealeth up the stars. Who would not fear thee, O thou King of nations, so terrible in the judg13 ments which thou executest on the earth? Deliver us, we entreat thee, from the multiplied and accumulated miseries of those who continue obstinately to oppose thee; and conduct us at length to thy heavenly presence, though it should be through days of darkness, and waters of bitterness, and seas of blood. Amen.

SECT.

xii.

Rev.

SECT. XII.

The effect of the fifth and sixth angels sounding their trumpets.
Rev. IX. throughout.

REVELATION IX. 1.

Rev. IX. 1.

A angel sound

A1 IND the fifth angel sounded; and I saw an ND the fifth angel of distinguished lustre, descending ed, and I saw a star with such amazing velocity, that he seemed fall from heaven unix.1 like a shooting star, (compare Job xxxviii. 7;) to the earth and to and when he was fallen, as it were, from heaven him was given the to the earth, and appeared standing upon it, key of the bottomless pit. there was given to him the key of the bottomless 2 And he opened 2 pit: And he went to the door of that infernal the bottomless pit; dungeon, and he opened the bottomless pit, and a and there arose a thick smoke ascended from the pit, as the smoke smoke out of the pit, of a great furnace, and it diffused itself all great furnace; and

as the smoke of a

and locusts came out of the bottomless pit ;

and unto them was

427

the sun and the air abroad; so that the sun, and the whole body of SECT. were darkened by the air, were darkened by the smoke and gloomy xii. reason of the smoke of the pit. exhalations of the pit; which I understood as Rev. intimating some terrible calamity approaching. ix. 2 3 And there came And I saw a very shocking appearance; for out 3 out of the smoke lo- of the smoke, there came locusts upon the earth, custs upon the earth; and a destructive power was given to them, as given power, as the the scorpions of the earth have power, that they Scorpions of the earth should be as pernicious to the inhabitants of the haye power. earth, as those terrible animals, and should injure men by their stings as well as by their teeth. 4 And it was com- And there was this farther remarkable circum- 4 manded them that stance, that whereas locusts bring along with they should not hurt them such general destruction to all vegetables, the grass of the earth, neither any green it was said to them, whom I saw on this occathing, neither any sion, that they should not injure the grass of the tree, but only those earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the seal of God in onlyb some human creatures; and this, under

men which have not

their foreheads.

a particular limitation to the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads; from whence I inferred that this destructive visitation should especially affect those who, whatever they might profess, were destitute of true vital re5 And to them it ligion. And to signify the lingering vexation 5 was given that they which these destroyers should occasion to the should not kill them, inhabitants of the country they were to ravage. but that they should be tormented five I was further informed, that it was given to them, that they should not kill them outright, but that they should be tormented five months: which might be intended to express a calamity, that should

twisting their hair, wearing beards, their care of their horses, invading their neighbours in summer, like locusts, sparing the trees and fruits of the country they invaded, &c. The captivity of the men, and the miserable condition of the women, exposed to persons who gave an almost unbounded liberty to their lusts, which was enough to make them even to desire death, verse 6. All these circumstances are suitable to the character of the Arabians, the history of this period, and to the particulars of the prophecy. The period extends from A. D. 568, to A. D. 675.

Locusts upon the earth.] Many protestant writers imagine these locusts to sig. nify the religious orders of monks and friars, &c. The learned Grotius under stands by them, the sect of the zealots, which appeared among the Jews during the siege, and at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Mr Mede, the inundation of the Saracens ; and indeed, with considerable circumstances of resemblance. The ingenious Mr. Lowman confirms this interpretation; and shows, that the rise and progress of the Mahometan religion and empire, till checked by internal divisions, is a remarkable accomplishment of bOnly the men who had not.] The use this part of the prophecy; which is fur- of the particles, here, is very rether illustrated by the ignorance and er- markable; and it is apparently necessary For the Mahometans every where spread, it should be rendered only, rather than their great number and hardiness, their except. habits, customs, and manners; namely,

428

Who should grievously torment mankind.

torment of a scor.

SECT. endure about an hundred and fifty years. And months and their xii. their torment, that is, that which they occasion- torment was as the ed by their attack, [was] extremely violent, pion when he striklike that of a scorpion when it strikes a man. eth a man. And in these dreadful days, to which this vision

Rev.

ix. 5

6

6 And in those

refers, men shall seek death, in a wild kind of days shall men seek death, and shall not despair, and shall not find it; and they shall de- find it; and shall sire to die, and death shall flee away from them, desire to die, and and leave them to mourn over a life of wretch- death shall flee from edness, all the comforts and enjoyments of them.

and their faces were as the faces of men.

which shall be utterly swallowed up in their
7 sufferings. And these creatures were not 7 And the shapes
exactly of the form of locusts; but, though of the locusts were
like unto horses pre-
they bore some resemblance to them, in many pared unto battle:
instances, they differed from them in others, and on their heads
and were to be considered as ad kind of hiero- were as it were
glyphical representation of creatures which crowns like gold,
are very mischievous and terrible; and I
particularly observed, that the likeness of the
locusts [was] like horses prepared for war, (com-
pare Joel ii. 4,) especially the form of their
heads; and whereas common locusts have
some brilliant ornaments on their heads, and
various parts of their bodies, I observed, with
regard to these, that on their heads [were,] as
it were, crowns like gold; and their faces were
like the faces of men; which two circumstances
gave me to understand, that they were intend-
ed as an emblem of mighty and powerful men,
who were to reign over various provinces and

8 kingdoms. And they had on their heads 8 And they had
long tresses of hair, like the tresses of women; hair as the hair of
whereas common locusts have only a down women, and their
teeth were as the
upon their breasts. And whereas other ani- teeth of lions.
mals of that name have large strong teeth, -
their teeth were like the [teeth of] lions, sharp

9 and pointed, as well as large and strong. And 9 And they had
instead of the fine down on the breasts of com- breast plates as it

mon locusts, they had breast plates like breast were breast plates plates of iron; and whereas common locusts

• Shall seek death, &c.] As such great numbers were, in fact, slain by these locusts, (if they signify, as is generally supposed, the Saracens,) this expression must only be understood of many survivors, who, by the calamities they inflicted, should be made weary of their lives. See note1.

d A kind of hieroglyphical representation.] As there are no animals in nature answerable to those which are here described, I take it for granted, that as the four animals mentioned above are hiero. glyphics of angels, so are these of mischiev ous creatures. Compare chap. iv. 7, note.

was as the sound of

battle.

And 10

of iron; and the make a terrible noise with their wings, the SECT. sound of their wings noise which these strange and symbolical lo- xii. chariots of many custs made, by the motion of their wings, Rev. horses running to [was] like the noise of chariots, [and] many ix. 9 horses rushing to war; so that they seemed to tear the ground with their rage and fury, and 10 And they had to shake the air with their neighings. tails like unto scor- instead of being formed at the lower end of pions, and there their bodies, as other locusts are, which have were stings in their tails; and their pow. no stings, but are quite inoffensive and innoer was to hurt men cent animals, these creatures had tails like scorfive months. pions, and their stings were in their tails; and their power, as I observed above, [was] given them to hurt the earth, and men its inhabitants, for about five months, or about an hundred and 11 And they had fifty years. And they had a king over them, 11 a king over them, wherein they further differed from the locust which is the angel of the bottomless pit, kind, (Prov. xxx. 27,) who is the angel of the whose name in the bottomless pit, and the great head of those aposHebrew tongue is tate spirits who dwell there; whose name is in Abaddon, but in the the Hebrew language, Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. Greek, he has the name of Apollyon: both the one, and the other, expressing his destructive nature, and the dreadful havoc he makes, 12 One wo is past; wherever his attempts are successful. and behold, there thus, one wo is gone; [and] behold yet other two woes besides it, coming, threatening yet more terrible calamities than these.

come two woes more

hereafter.

I heard a voice from

And 12

13 And the sixth And upon this the sixth angel sounded; and 13 angel sounded, and I did not see any immediate appearance in the four horns of the consequence of it; but I heard a voice from golden altar which the four horns of the golden altar which was beis before God, fore God, (which seemed therefore to come

14 Saying to the from the most holy place which was directly sixth angel which behind it,) Saying to the sixth angel, who still 14 Loose the four an- had the trumpet which he had sounded in his gels which are bound hand, Loosen now the four angels, which are

had the trumpet,

Abaddon.] When the etymology is so evident, and so particularly explained by the author, I cannot but wonder at Dr. More's endeavour to explain it another way, as referring to the profession which the Mahometans should make of maintaining the doctrine of the Unity. See More's Theol. Works, p. 130.

The four angels which are bourd.] Grotius refers this to the Roman army under four commanders, which came from the borders of this river. Mr. Mede, to the

See

four beglerbegs of the Turks; and he in-
terprets, ver. 17, of guns invented about
that time, and used by them in their suc-
cessful war upon the Europeans.
the passage at large in More's Theol.
Works, p. 130, 131. They, who refer
this passage to the rise of the Turkish Ot-
toman empire, suppose that the four an-
gels mean either four provinces, or four
cities near Euphrates, from whence con-
siderable leaders arose, who pushed on,
and advanced the Turkish conquests; and

430 And a vast army of horsemen issue forth to destroy them :

SECT. bound in the great river Euphrates; who were in the great river xii. intended to represent some potentates arising Euphrates.

from that part of the world, who, in the period ix. 14 referred to, should become very famous

Rev.

which were prepar

of men.

16 And the num

throughout the earth, for their exploits and 15 achievements. And the four angels were loos- 15 And the four ened, who were prepared for a certain period angels were loosed, of time, signified, according to the prophetic ed, for an hour, and reckoning, by an hour, and a day, and a month, a day, and a month, and a year, that they might make a great and a year, for to slaughter among the inhabitants of the earth; slay the third part or, as it was expressed to me in the vision, according to the language used before, might kill a third part of the men, who, after the pre16 ceding plagues continued upon it. They accordingly appeared, as leading on a mighty ber of the army of army; and the number of the horsemen they led the horsemen were two hundred thouon, was immensely great, represented to me by sand thousand and two myriads of myriads, that is, no less than I heard the number two hundred millions. And I heard the number of them thus mentioned to me, as it was 17 impossible for me to count them. And I saw the horses, and those that sat upon them thus, in the horses in the vi[their] appearance; that is, having breast plates sion, and them that sat on them, having of fire, and hyacinth, and brimstone, which breast plates of fire, seemed to send forth blue, burning flames, and of jacinth, and which went devouring before them; and the brimstone: and the

of them.

17 And thus I saw

Mr. Pyle, and others, have endeavoured the commanders of the many Turkish to confirm this interpretation. But, as squadrons who had been before subject the Turkish empire did not commence till to the Sultan of Babylon. And as for the the 13th century, this event seems to be time here mentioned, he endeavours to too late in the successive orders of peri- show it to be, in the prophetic style, 396 ods, and correspondent events. Mr. Low- years; and computing, from their conman's interpretation seems to me much quest at Prousse, in 1302, by adding 396, more probable, which refers it to the re- the number will be 1698. See Bishop union of the divided Saracen power, their Burnet's History of his Times, Vol. I. p. invading and ravaging Europe, till they 204. But how lucky soever the conjecture were defeated by Charles Martel; and was, it does not convince me, that it is the agreeable to ver. 20, 21, the sufferers true interpretation; and so much the less, were so far from repenting, that image as it seems evident to me, the year spoken worship was confirmed by order of the of in this book, consists only of 360 days. Pope, and the authority of councils in the Besides, the Turks have renewed their east and west. This period reaches from war on the Popish Christians, particularly A. D. 675, to A. D 750. on the Emperor and the republic of Venice, in 1716, and since. As for the phrases, an hour, a day, &c. I do not understand them; they may, perhaps, only signify a determined, limited time, as such ex. pressions in scripture frequently do; though they would seem most naturally, and agreeable to the prophetic reckoning, His to denote about 391 years.

Of an hour, and a day, &c.] Dr. Lloyd, bishop of Worcester, in his interpretation of this passage, foretold, many years before it happened, that peace would be concluded with the Turks in the year 1698, which accordingly came to pass; and that they should no more renew their wars against the popish Christians. argument was, that the angels loosed were