Part 16

The filling of the temple with the smoke of God’s glory, to the exclusion of all persons during the pouring out of the vials, shows that during that period, there will be no intercession with God for him to refrain from the execution of the purposes thus symbolized. They are inevitable; and there will be no supplication for their suspension. When Moses had finished the type of the “Holiest of all,” a “cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle,” Ex. 40:34, 35. It was only when Moses could enter the tabernacle, that he could there commune with God face to face, Ex. 33:9, 11.

The voice from the temple to the seven angels, shows that the acts commanded are the subjects of divine appointment,—the angels simply designating the commencement of the several judgments.

The First Vial.

“And the first went away, and poured out his bowl on the earth; and there came an evil and sore ulcer on the men who had the mark of the beast, and on those worshipping his image.” Rev. 16:2.

The “earth,” in the Apocalypse, symbolizes a quiet and settled government (13:11), in distinction from one politically agitated, which is symbolized by waters, 13:1; 17:15.

Those who receive the contents of the first vial, being the worshippers of the “beast” and its “image” (13:15), it is certain that the governments on which it is poured, are subservient to the church of Rome and within the boundaries of the ten kingdoms.

The effect of the vial is “a noisome and grievous sore;” and the only things analogous, are mental maladies. Therefore the results symbolized must be noxious principles and opinions, which fill the mind with rancor and hate,—producing strife, alienation and contention.

The _epoch_ here symbolized, in the very unanimous opinion of most judicious writers, corresponds with the commencement of the agitations which preceded the outbreak of the first French revolution, about A. D. 1785. Commencing in France, and extending with more or less virulence throughout the ten kingdoms, there was excited an intense uneasiness of the people respecting their relation to their rulers. They regarded themselves as insupportably oppressed and degraded, and were exasperated to madness against their respective governments. This, under the next vial, resulted in the overthrow of the French monarchy, and in attempted revolutions in other kingdoms.

The Second Vial.

“And the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea; and it became like the blood of a dead person; and every living creature in the sea died.” Rev. 16:8.

The first vial having excited political agitations in previously quiet governments, they are now more fitly symbolized by the “sea” than by the “earth.” And on such the second vial is poured.

As the sea symbolizes a people agitated and disquieted, the living things in it, must symbolize those who live on and are sustained by the people. Consequently, the waters becoming blood, and the death of the things living in the waters, symbolize the shedding of the blood of the people, and the slaughter, by them, of their rulers and superiors.

The epoch symbolized, would therefore correspond with the actual outbreak of the French revolution, to which the agitations produced by the previous vial had goaded on the excited people. In their riots and insurrections, history records the destruction of large numbers of the populace; and these exterminated the members of the royal family, and all persons of rank and influence. A million of people, according to Alison, perished in the civil war of La Vendee alone; and thousands of the nobility and persons of distinction were ruthlessly slaughtered throughout France, whose rivers were discolored with the blood of the slain.

The Third Vial.

“And the third poured out his bowl on the rivers and on the fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Thou, who art, and wast holy, because thou hast inflicted these judgments; for they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink: they are worthy! And I heard one from the altar, saying, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments!” Rev. 16:4-7.

Mr. Lord justly remarks that “Rivers and fountains of waters, are to a sea, what smaller exterior communities and nations are to a great central people.” As the French nation was the sea, the “rivers and fountains” symbolize contiguous or more remote communities surrounding it. These are said to have become blood, without its being specified that the living things in them perished, as in the sea. Accordingly, while the greater portion of Europe continued, with little interruption, for twenty years from 1792, to be deluged with war and bloodshed, the nobles and rulers of the other nations were not exterminated, as in France.

The nations thus overwhelmed with blood, were those which had sanctioned the shedding of the blood of the saints; consequently their retribution was just.

The Fourth Vial.

“And the fourth angel poured out his vial on the sun; and it was given him to burn men with fire. And men were burned with great heat, and reviled the name of God, who had power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory.” Rev. 16:8, 9.

The influence of the sun on the earth and sea, is analogous to that of a government on the subjects of its rule. As the right degree of light and heat is conducive to vegetation, and the excessive action of the sun’s rays will scorch and destroy; so a genial government is a blessing to the people, while its arbitrary and tyrannical acts are often insupportably oppressive.

With the overthrow of the French monarchy under the second vial, there arose new rulers in France, who usurped despotic powers, and subjected the governed to most oppressive exactions. The rich were impoverished, the nation was robbed, the business of the country was paralyzed, the obnoxious were slain, every species of misery and wickedness abounded, the males were subjected to military conscription, and hundreds of thousands of them were sent to subjugate surrounding nations. The countries they invaded were also devastated, and oppressed, and robbed by impoverishing taxations. These continued, though in a milder form, under the imperial rule, and all parts of the Roman earth felt the scorching effects of the devouring heat of French usurpation. But when Napoleon passed beyond the boundaries of the Roman empire, he was met and driven back by the snow and frost of the Almighty.

Notwithstanding the oppressions to which the people were subjected, and the exactions under which they groaned, they made no recognition of God’s sovereignty. They saw not that this chastisement was from Him. They did not deprecate his wrath, nor acknowledge his righteousness, but still continued to be infidels and apostates. They continued to blaspheme the name of God, who had power over these plagues, and repented not to give him glory.

The Fifth Vial.

“And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the wild beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues through pain, and reviled the God of heaven, because of their pains and their ulcers, and repented not of their deeds” Rev. 16:10, 11.

The beast, here spoken of, is the same seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast that ascended out of the sea (Rev. 13:1), symbolizing the Roman empire in its divided form. Consequently the seat or throne of the beast would be the ruling power which exercised and controlled the government of these kingdoms. Just previous to this epoch, Napoleon had reached the summit of his power; and the subversion of his throne, with the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in 1814 and 1815, is evidently here symbolized. Napoleon had become the idol of France, which worshipped at the shrine of his glory. With his fall, their sun was stricken from its firmament, and the kingdom was darkened.

The change being effected by foreign arms, the chagrin and mortification of his adherents was natural and expected. They were filled with pain and anguish at this termination of all their hopes. The re-imposition on them of the Bourbon line, revived all their former hatred towards their rulers and sense of oppression, symbolized by the ulcers of the first vial. They continued still a nation of infidels, performing the same works of blasphemy against God; and again and again have they risen in rebellion against their government.

The Sixth Vial.

“And the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared.” Rev. 16:12.

This symbol resembles a like prediction respecting ancient Babylon: “A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up,” (Jer. 50:38); and “I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry,” Jer. 51:36. Ancient Babylon was situated on the river Euphrates, which contributed to the wealth and greatness of the city, and was a means of its defence. The kings of Media and Persia, from the east of Babylon, subjugated it by diverting from the city the waters of the river, and entering by its unprotected bed. The turning of the waters into other channels, fulfilled the prediction that it should be dried up.

Waters, when used as a symbol, are explained to be “peoples, nations,” &c., Rev. 17:15. In the 17th chapter of the Apocalypse, the angel informs the revelator that he will show him “the judgment of the great harlot who sitteth on many waters,” (17:1); which implies that he had already seen a vision to that effect. He is then shown a woman on a scarlet-colored beast (v. 3), who is spoken of as sitting “on many waters” (v. 1), and on seven mountains (v. 10), and who is affirmed to be the “great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth,” v. 18. Under the seventh vial, the “great city,” which is “great Babylon,” is divided into three parts (16:19); and the inference is, that the harlot and ancient Babylon are analogous symbols of the same organized agency; and, that the city was here exhibited on the great river Euphrates.

As a woman clothed with sunbeams and crowned with stars (Rev. 12:1), and a city illuminated with the glory of God (Rev. 21:10), are each symbols of the true church, corresponding symbols of opposite moral characteristics are appropriate representatives of a corrupt and apostate church. As Jerusalem was the seat of the ancient church, so was Babylon the seat of her oppressors. The former is addressed as a woman, and told to put on her “beautiful garments,” (Isa. 52:1); and Babylon is called the “daughter of the Chaldeans,” and “the lady of kingdoms,” (Isa. 47:5): so that a woman, and a city of corresponding character, may, interchangeably, symbolize the same object. Consequently, the “Babylon,” and the “harlot” of the Apocalypse, both symbolize the corrupt Roman hierarchy.

Ancient Babylon is described as a harlot, and is addressed as one who “dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,” (Jer. 51:13); whose end was to come by her waters being dried up, 51:36. That city sustained a relation to the waters on which it was situated, analogous to that held by the Roman Catholic church to the people who support and defend her pretensions. Their alienation and withdrawal from her support, must therefore be symbolized by the drying up of the great river Euphrates, which becomes diverted into other channels. This is now apparently being fulfilled in the marked alienation of feeling from the church of Rome, which is evident throughout the ten kingdoms. During the last twenty years, the hold of that community on the affection of her supporters in Europe, has been constantly becoming weaker and weaker. Infidel principles have been extensively propagated. Her cathedrals have been comparatively deserted; and her existence has been endured more as a matter of expediency than of affection. At the present moment, probably, the mass of the people have little confidence in her pretensions; but it will require a more marked withdrawal from her support than has yet been witnessed, to fulfil, in all its significance, the meaning conveyed in the symbol.

The “kings of the east,” whose way is to be thus prepared, are doubtless her enemies, who, having produced the desired alienation from her support, will take advantage of her defenceless position, and hasten her ruin; as the kings of Media and Persia, in like manner, subjugated old Babylon.

Under the operation of the sixth vial, and, according to the fulfilment of the preceding symbols, corresponding with the present time, are to be developed:

The Unclean Spirits.

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the wild beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, that go forth to the kings of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:13, 14.

The “dragon,” “beast,” and “false prophet,” being regarded as symbols: the first, of the Roman empire previous to its subversion by the northern barbarians; the second of the ten kingdoms which subsequently arose; and the third, of the eastern Roman empire—now the Mohamedan power; the mouths of each, from which the frog-like spirits emerge, are next to be considered.

To the wild beast was given “a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies,” the power of which was “to continue forty and two months,” Rev. 13:5. The agreement of this with the corresponding appendages of Daniel’s “little horn” (Dan. 7:8), makes it evident that a “mouth” is a symbol of an ecclesiastical organization existing in a political one,—that it symbolizes the agency by which the people are taught, and is representative of ecclesiastics, who are the mouthpiece of the nation in all matters of faith and worship, p. 172.

The religion of Rome imperial, when symbolized by the dragon, was Paganism; that of the ten kingdoms, was the Papacy; and that of the eastern empire, is Mohammedanism. From these three, then, emerge the “unclean spirits.” Diverse as their origin appears, they have no marked individual peculiarities. Being alike in their characteristics, they must symbolize some common agency:—a combination of religious teachers, whose views harmonize in a system of belief common to Paganism, Catholicism, and Mohammedanism.

The character of these teachers, is shown by the declaration that “they are the spirits of _devils_ working miracles.”

There are two words rendered devils in the New Testament, viz.: δαιμονιον (_daimonion_) or δαιμων (_daimoon_), and διαβολος (_diabolus_). The latter signifies the Devil, or Satan, who is the same as Beelzebub the prince of the _demons_, Matt. 12:25. He it was by whom Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, (Matt. 4:1-11); who sowed the tares in the field, (Matt, 13:39); and for whom, with his angels, the final punishment for the wicked is prepared, Matt. 25:41.

The word here, is _daimoon_. It is used, in different forms, sixty-five times by our Lord and his apostles; and on no occasion do they hint that they use the word in a sense different from its then accepted signification; to learn which, recourse must be had to the testimony of the Pagan, Jewish, and Christian writers of those times.(6)

HESIOD taught that, “The spirits of departed mortals become _demons_ when separated from their earthly bodies;” and PLUTARCH, that “The demons of the Greeks were the _ghosts_ and _genii_ of departed men.” “All Pagan antiquity affirms,” says Dr. CAMPBELL, “that from Titan and Saturn, the poetic progeny of Cœlus and Terra, down to Æsculapius, Proteus, and Minos, all their _divinities_ were the _ghosts_ of dead men; and were so regarded by the most erudite of the Pagans themselves.”

Among the Pagans, the term _demon_, as often represented a good as an evil spirit; but among the Jews, it generally, if not universally, denoted an unclean, malign, or wicked spirit. Thus JOSEPHUS says: “Demons are the spirits of wicked men.” PHILO says that “The souls of dead men are called demons.” “The notion,” says Dr. LARDNER, “of demons, or the souls of dead men, having power over living men, was universally prevalent among the heathen of these times [the first two centuries], and believed by many Christians.” JUSTIN MARTYR speaks of “those who are seized by the souls of the dead, whom we call _demons_ and madmen.” Ignatius quotes the words of Christ to Peter thus: “Handle me and see; for I am not a _daimoon asomaton_,—a disembodied demon,”—_i.e._ a spirit without a body.

The foregoing is evidence of the New Testament signification of the word _daimoon_, here improperly rendered devils,—spirits of which, the frog-like agencies are affirmed to be.

Demon worship is a characteristic of the three religions referred to. As already shown, all Pagans regarded their gods as the ghosts of dead men; and the Bible speaks of them as devils, _i.e._ _demons_. Moses says of them, “Even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods,” (Deut. 12:31); while the Psalmist affirms that “they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto _devils_,” Ps. 106:37. “They sacrificed unto _devils_, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up,” Deut. 32:17. Jeroboam “ordained him priests for the high places, and for the _devils_,” 2 Chron. 11:15. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to _devils_, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with _devils_. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of _devils_; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of _devils_,”—_i.e._ of _demons_.

Of the same kind are the gods of the heathen now. In the Youth’s Day-Spring, for June, a missionary describing the alarm and grief of the Africans on the Gaboon river, at the near prospect of a death in their village, says: “The room was filled with women, who were weeping in the most piteous manner, and calling on the _spirits of their fathers and of others who were dead_, and upon all spirits in whom they believe, Ologo, Njembi, Abambo, and Mbwini, to save the man from death. These spirits could not help them, but they knew of none mightier, and so called on them.” Mr. White, a Wesleyan missionary, says: “There is a class of people in New Zealand, called Eruku, or priests. These men pretend to have intercourse with departed spirits, ... by which they are able to kill by incantation any person on whom their anger may fall.” The Sandwich Islanders, when they found that Christians supposed they worshipped the images of their gods, were much amused, and said “We are not such fools.” They used the idol as an aid to fix their minds on their divinity. Some of them supposed their divinity was a spirit residing in their idol.

The Mohammedans, while they recognize God, are also “taught by the Koran to believe the existence of an intermediate order of creatures, which they call Jin, or genii;” some of which are supposed to be good and others bad, and capable of communicating with men, and rewarding or punishing them. The 72d chapter of the Koran consists of a pretended communication from the genii to Mohammed. They are made to say: “There are some among us who are upright, and there are some among us who are otherwise;” and speaking of men: “If they tread in the way of truth, we will surely water them with abundance of rain,” _i.e._ will grant them plenty of good things. Thus they are recognized as dispensers of good. They bear a striking resemblance to the spirits which now pretend to communicate with men! All who are familiar with Arabian romances know how frequently genii, fairies, &c., figure as agents in the execution of wonderful exploits.

The Romanists also pretend to communicate with _demons_,—_i.e._ with departed spirits. They deify the Virgin Mary, and supplicate the intercessions of many departed saints; and some they supplicate, whose claim to saintship is somewhat equivocal. Their teachings in this particular, Protestants generally recognize as the subject of the following prediction: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,”—_demons_, 1 Tim. 4:1.

Demon-worship being common to Paganism, Mohammedanism, and Popery, when the frog-like agency emerges from them, the conditions of the symbol seem to require that it shall originate with, but shall pass beyond and outside the influence of those religions. The agency thus symbolized, was to “go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world.” Its fulfilment requires a wonderful and an alarming increase of those who teach and believe these doctrines; and as they are to work miracles, whereby the world will be deceived, their teachings are to be accompanied by extraordinary phenomena, which will be unexplainable by any of the known laws of science. The spirits of the departed are to be recognized by them as authoritative teachers, who are to be reverenced and obeyed. They will be regarded as communicating with mortals, as unveiling the hidden things of the invisible state, and as performing acts requiring the exercise of physical power. The former are evident from the analogy which exists between this and demon-worship; and the latter, from the ascription to them of miraculous acts.