ingenious and plausible. There can be little doubt, says our friend, but that modern commentators have been perfectly correct in applying that part of the book of Revelations to France, wherein it is said "and the same hour there was a great "earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell; and in the "earthquake there were slain of men" (or, as it should be translated, names of men) "seven thousand; and the remnant "were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." (Rev. xi. 13.) This application of the passage receives considerable support from the circumstance, that most of the men who have written on the subject, however various might be their views on other matters, have agreed in this:' some have even predicted the time of its fulfilment a century before the event itself took place. 66 66 66 66 " Dr. Goodwin, in 1639, applies the "tenth part of the city" to France, saying, that "this figurative earthquake, though happening only in one country, may extend its effect to others, so that a great shaking of states, as well political as ecclesiastic, "may be intended."* Jurieu, a Frenchman, in a work published in 1686, says, "Now what is this tenth part of this city? In my opinion we cannot doubt but that it is France.' And Mr. Fleming, who wrote in the year 1701, predicts that "before the year 1794, some great event would happen in France;" and, "that the French monarchy, after it had scorched others, will itself consume by doing so." With this view of the case, it would appear to follow that the mistakes which have been made, as to the detail of this subject, do not affect its general applicability to that event-so important in itself, and in its consequences- the French Revolution. One of the chief mistakes which has been made, has consisted in a misunderstanding of the immediately succeeding passage, (verse 14.) "The second woe is "past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly." It having been inferred that the French Revolution had been completed at the time of the destruction of the monarchy, aristocracy, and priesthood; and that another succeeding "woe" was now immediately to follow. But this arises from an ignorance of prophetic language; a series of events being regarded as completed, even at their very commencement, on the ground that, God having begun the work, the end is certain. The greatness of the event too, and the sanguine wishes of many individuals, led them to overlook several * See Illustrations of Prophecy--Vol. I. p. 92.-London, 1796. very important points, connected with the subject. First, they have confined the effects of the earthquake to France, and supposed them to end in the Revolution which took place in that country; whereas an earthquake is not confined to the place where it begins; nor can it be considered as over, whilst any of its undulations continue. This being the case, we must refer all those changes and revolutionary movements, which have agitated, or continue to agitate, Naples, Italy, Spain, Greece, South America, and other parts of the world, to that earthquake, and regard them as forming a part of the same. Secondly, they have supposed the earthquake would, at once, completely destroy the French monarchy and its dignitaries; whereas it appears only to have indicated the destruction of a portion of them, and the shaking the foundation of the whole. Nor, as we have observed, are its effects confined to France; though beginning there, its undulations extend to all the ten kingdoms of the Beast; or, the whole of that part of Europe which constituted the Western Roman Empire, or antichrist, among which the French Revolution occasioned the actual destruction of many titles and dignities, and shook the foundation of them all. Thirdly, commentators have taken it for granted that the early events of the Revolution in France, formed the end of the second woe;" whereas there are two important events that must take place before the conclusion of that woe; which, at that time, were not accomplished, but which have since been most remarkably so. Thus, for instance, it is said, at the conclusion of the verse," and the "remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of "heaven." This remnant was supposed to mean the emigrant nobility, and the priests, who escaped that destruction which, in this instance, fell upon the dignitaries in church and state. But this may be shewn to be too limited an application of the passage. The earthquake, though beginning in France, ("the tenth part of the city") is yet described as extending itself through the whole of " that great city"Babylon." This remnant, therefore, must mean all those titled mortals, not in France merely, but throughout Europe, who escaped destruction from the effects of the Revolution. Till the end of the revolutionary war, however, there is no instance recorded, of their doing any thing which could, as a public event, be denominated "giving glory to the God of "heaven." Nor could, indeed, the remnant, with propriety, be ascertained or designated, till the revolutionary war had ceased. Immediately after its conclusion, we have a most 66 extraordinary fulfilment of this prophecy, in the establishment of THE HOLY ALLIANCE a union of the monarchs of Europe-evidently resulting from the affright and alarm. they had experienced at the events and principles of the French Revolution: under these salutary feelings of terror, they appear disposed to "give glory to God;" how far they were, however, from real repentance, and how little disposed to submit to the righteous government of God, and to take warning from the first manifestation of his wrath, may be testified by a reference to the treaty upon which this Holy Alliance is founded; and particularly by a reference to the acts by which that alliance has been distinguished. It may be curious, at this time, to refer the reader back to an ukase or edict of one of the most potent of these monarchs, announcing the establishment of this alliance. "By the Grace of God, We, Alexander the First, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russians, &c. hereby make known :-As we have seen, from experience, and from the unhappy consequences that have resulted to the whole world, that the course of the political relations in Europe, between the Powers, has not been founded on those true principles upon which the wisdom of God, in his Revelations, has founded the peace and prosperity of nations. "We have, consequently, in conjunction with their Majesties, the Emperor of Austria, Francis the First, and the King of Prussia, Frederick William, proceeded to form an alliance between us, (to which the other Christian Powers are invited to accede) in which we reciprocally engage, both between ourselves and in respect of our subjects, to adopt, as the sole means to attain this end, the principles drawn from the words and doctrine of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who preaches not to live in enmity and hatred, but in peace and love. We hope and implore the blessing of the Most High. May this sacred union be confirmed between all the powers, for their general good; and, deterred by the union of all the rest, may no one dare to fall off from it. We accordingly subjoin a copy of this union, ordering it to be made generally known, and read in all the churches. "ALEXANDER." "St. Petersburgh, on the day of the birth of the Saviour, 25th Dec. 1812." [The original is signed by his Imperial Majesty's own hand.] How far these anti-christian princes have shewn their sincerity, or acted up to their professed principles of peace and love, let Naples-let Sardinia-let France, &c. demonstrate. It is, we may observe in passing, a remarkable fact, and worthy of being held in remembrance, that there has scarcely ever existed an institution or combination, directed against the liberties and happiness of man, that has not assumed the title of holy. Thus we have his holiness the pope! the holy catholic church! the holy crusades! the holy inquisition! the holy Order of Jesuits! and last, though not the least in iniquity, the Holy Alliance!-Impious blasphemy! Cruel mockery! Are there no thunderbolts in the stores of heaven, to blast these men, who, not content with building their greatness on oppression and misery, use religion as a cloak for their designs-preach peace and love, in order to establish discord and confusion-and call themselves holy, the more effectually to aid their unholy and impious machinations! With great propriety do the scriptures represent such men, and such institutions, under the figure of wild beasts! It has been said, however, that there is another event, which must take place before the second woe is ended; which event is described as being the rising up of another Beast, which should, in part, restore the governments that had been shaken; and make an image to the Beast which had been wounded indeed, but not destroyed; though that Beast must wholly cease to exist before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the opening of the third woe, under which the seven vials of the wrath of God are to be poured out without mixture-when not only the first Beast, and its image, but all who have, directly or indirectly, given their support to either will be destroyed. (See Rev. xiv. 9, 10, 11.) Let us now, therefore, see whether recent events justify us in supposing that this part of the prophecy is fulfilled, or began to be fulfilled; for, at the conclusion of this, we may expect the commencement of the third woe, which is to be the harbinger of more dreadful calamities to Europe, the kingdom of the Beast, than any that has before been experienced, though it will end in the destruction of all the tyrannical powers, and introduce a system of righteous government, denominated the kingdom of God and his Christ. Revelations xiii. 11, begins by saying " And I beheld "another Beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two "horns, like a lamb; and he spake as a dragon." In the symbolical language of this book, a Beast always denotes tyrannical government; the sea-the tumult and commotions of nations; the heavens-the supreme powers, civil or ecclesiastical; the earth-the common people--whilst a horn is the emblem of power. With the aid of these brief explications, it has been suggested that we can find the clear explanation of this prophecy. The Beast here spoken of, which did not exist at the time of the French Revolution, but evidently rose out of it, may be taken as fulfilled in the "Holy Alliance;" it came up out of the earth-that is, it originally derived its power from the common people. It is well known that the monarchs, members of this alliance, were all at the mercy of France, and must have still con tinued subject to the influence of that power, but for the people; who-roused by their own sufferings, and by the delusive hopes held out by the sovereigns of ameliorating their condition; and their promises of political constitutions, if they would come forth, and support their thronessaved them from ruin, and raised them to that power which they now so wickedly abuse. Thus, then, we see that the Holy Alliance arose out of the earth. But "it has two horns "like a lamb." The power it exercised was founded on the profession it made, of having only for its object the cause of liberty and social order. In all its proclamations, from 1813 to 1815, it appeared, indeed, like a lamb; but the event has proved that it was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Though it bore at first, indeed, the harmless "horns of the lamb," it now speaks terrifically "like a dragon." Notwithstanding its peaceable profession, and its often repeated promises to govern by the principles of the gospel, no sooner does any nation attempt to reform its institutions, and make them approximate, however remotely, to those very principles, than forth starts this Beast of prey from its den, and, under the most peaceable profession, speaks, indeed, in its conduct, like a dragon. This, in the past, the conduct of the Holy Alliance towards Naples, in France, &c. may sufficiently testify; whilst their conduct, in the Congress at Verona, for the purpose of crushing the newly-established liberties of Spain and of Portugal, shews them still determined to act upon the same principles. Thus far, it would appear, that the picture is complete, and every feature of the prophecy applicable. In verse 12, it is said of this second Beast, and he exerciseth all the power of the first Beast, "before him," (that is, universal dominion) "and causeth "the earth, and them which dwell therein, to worship the "first Beast, whose deadly wound was healed." The two following verses appear, to the inquirer, to be merely an amplification of the same chain of circumstances; thus in the fourteenth verse, the prophecy says "and (he) deceiveth "them that dwell on the earth, by those miracles which he had power to do, in the sight of the Beast; saying to them that they should make AN IMAGE to the Beast WHICH HAD THE WOUND BY A SWORD, AND DID LIVE. This part appears to predict that this Beast (the Holy Alliance) should, by the extraordinary power it possesses, be abel to compel the different nations to pay obedience to what remained of the oppressive power of their different beast-like governments, which, although wounded by the sword of revolution, yet lived. The various treaties they have entered into, for the 66 66 66 66 |