may be fignified, that none of the Antichriftian Company, though drawn to Repentance by fome of the preceding Judgments, fhall be received into the Favour and Participation of the Kingdom, till they have undergone the full Vengeance of God.

AND now follows the Effufion of these Vials of Wrath upon the Antichriftian World, by the Command of a great Voice out of the Temple, faying to the Seven Angels, Go your way, and pour out the Vials of the Wrath of God upon the Earth, Rev. 16. 1.

I. THE First Angel went and poured out bis Vial upon the Earth, and there fell a noisom grievous Sore upon the Men which had the Mark of the Beast, and upon them that worshipped his Image. This does feem to be much the fame Judgment with that inflicted by Mofes on the Egyptians (from whence the Éxpreffions concerning this Plague are taken.) Mofes took bot Ashes of the Furnace, Exod. 9. 8, 11. which became fmall Duft in all the Land of Egypt, and was a Boyl on Man and Beast. And accordingly in this Plague it may by the like Congruity be fuppofed, that many hot and fiery Particles and Exhalations will be poured forth from thefe Vials upon the Earth; which fhall produce an extraordinary Heat and Drougth, and be the Cause of the Sores here mentioned, which are wont to break out upon Mens Bodies in hot and dry Seafons; fuch a Sore was that *Ex, or Ulcer, that fell on Job and the Egyptians, fuch as Thucydides obferves, Lib. 2,

p. 112. appeared upon the Bodies of the Athenians in the heigth of their Distemper.

II. THE Second Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sea, and it became as the Blood of a dead Man, and every living Soul died in the Sea. i.e. TheWaters of the Sea ftagnated and became like the Blood of a dead Carkafs, if not quite in all the Natural Qualities, yet at leaft in Colour.

III. THE Third Angel poured out of his Vial upon the Rivers and Fountains of Waters, and they also became Blood. The Rivers are reprefented as ftagnating after the Sea, becaufe they depend upon it, as their Caufe and Original, and therefore by a Neceffity of Nature partaking of the fame Fate, this is a very difmal Judgment, depriving them of the Neceffaries of Life, their Fifh dying, and their Water which fhould have quenched their Thirft in the great Heat and Drought, being corrupted and unfit for use; according to what God inflicted on Ægypt, Exod, 7. 14----25. when the River Nile and all their Water tank, fo that they could not drink of them, and their Fifh died. Besides that this Deftruction upon the Rivers, joined with the Effects of the First Vial upon the Earth, muft needs have a fatal Influence upon the Fruits of the Earth, and by confequence deprive them of all neceffary Food. Upon the pouring out of this Vial, St. John, v.5. heard the Angel that was commiffioned to pour out thefe Plagues upon the Waters praifing God for this juft Retaliation upon

the

the Antichriftian Company. For faith he, v. 6. they have fhed the Blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou haft given them Blood to drink, for they are worthy. To which it was Ecchoed back, v. 7. by an Angel out of the Altar, (i. e. in the Name of the Saints and Martyrs that lay under it, Chap. 6.9. that is, a Place of Safety and Refuge, as the Altar was under the Old Law;) Even fo Lord God Almighty, True and Righteous are thy Judgments, (in giving them Blood to drink for the Blood they have shed.)

IV. AND the Fourth (who had Power over the Fire, Chap. 14. 18.) poured out his Vial upon the Sun, and Power was given unto him to fcorch Men with Fire. As the Light of the Sun may be multiplied by Parhelia, and other Natural Caufes, to which the Prophet alludes, Ifa. 30. 26. fo it is not difficult to conceive that its Heat may be naturally augmented by the Diffolution or Diffipation of its Macula; upon the encrease and breaking forth of thofe fluctuating Vortexes of Fire, which are in the Body of that Planet, and are ftronger and clearer at its Center, than near its Circumference; and by other Natural Caufes, not unknown to the Learned; and if the Heat of the Sun may be encreafed by Natural Causes, how much more by Supernatural Ones, ordering and conducting them, and adding new ones? V. 9. And Men were Scorched with great Heat, and blafphemed the Name of God, which had Power over thefe Plagues, and they repented not to give him Glory. This feems to

be

be an Allufion to the violent, fcorching and fuffocating Heats of the Sun, and the burning Heat of the Eaft-Wind which affli&ed Jonah, Jon. 4. 8, 9, and which usually accompany one another in the Eastern Cli mates, producing much Trouble and Grief as well in Mind as in Bodycon

V. AND the Fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Seat of the Beast, (ie. Jerufalem,) and his Kingdom was full of Darkness (alluding to the Darkness that overfpread the Land of Egypt) and they gnawed their Tongues for pain, and N, II. blafphemed the God of Heaven, because of their pains and their fores, and repented not of their Deeds. i.e. The Terrors of their Minds and Confciences made them blafpheme God and gnaw their Tongues, as in the greatest Rage imaginable, even as the Egyptians were vexed and tormented during the Darknefs that covered them, with the Terrors of their own afrighted Confciences, and the Evil Angels, as the Book of Wisdom teftifieth, Chap. 17, 18.

VI. AND the Sixth Angel poured out bis Vial upon the great River Euphrates, and the Watersh thereof were dried up, that the Way of the Kings of the East might be prepared. The drying of so Euphrates is unquestionably an Allufion to the Exploit of Cyrus, who dreined it, when he took Babylon, as was literally foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah. 50. 38. 51. 32, 36. and to thofe Paffages of the Prophets where the Return of the Jews into their own Land is defcribed in the like. Expreffions, Ifa 15 Zech. 16. 11. Now Euphrates,

which

which was one of the Branches into which the River that watered Paradife was divided after it had paffed through it, was alfo the Eastern Boundary of the Land of Promife, to which David and Solomon extended their Conquefts, and upon this River was feated Babylon, the Enemy and Oppreffor of God's Church, and a Type of Antichriftianifm, over which River the Jews were carried captive for their Iniquities into the Affyrian and Babylonish Countries. The Expreffion of the Kings of the Eaft is undoubtedly an Allufion to the Story of Cyrus, of whom the Prophet Ifaiah fpeaks, Chap. 41. 2. that God raised bim up from the Eaft, and v. 25. that be fhall come from the Rifing of the Sun to proclaim the Name of the Lord; fo then in allufion to his Perfonal Character may be meant fome great Perfons, perhaps of the Ten Tribes, who fhall come from the East to the Glory of the Kingdom. See the 4th Book of Efdras. Chap. 13. v. 42, 43. &c. or elfe as Cyrus was a Type of our Bleffed Lord, by the Kings of the Eaft may be meant those * Call'd Saints, who as fo many Inferior* Meffiahs, alfo by and Divinely Anointed Kings and Priefts Obadiah (by which Name Cyrus is called in ScriSaviours, pture) are to reign with Chrift, who is called 2. 21. the Eaft, the Morning, the Morning star,

c. as was before obferved. So then by the drying up of Euphrates I understand literally, the drying up its Waters to make way for fome great Perfons of the East, perhaps fome remains of the Allyrian and BabyJonish Captivity. And as this Vial makes Hollv

fome