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world, the fall of Babylon, and the punishment of those who have received the mark of the beast, all take place, not only either during or immediately after the term of the third woe, but likewise at the expiration of the latter three times and a half. For the tyranny of the harlot, who is identical with the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast and with the second or ecclesiastical beast of the Apocalypse, is expressly limited to that period; whence Babylon cannot fall before that period shall have expired: the battle of Armageddon, which breaks the power of the antichristian faction, is fought under the seventh vial, at the commencement of which the three times and a half expire: and the general preaching of the Gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, according to the concurrent testimony of prophecy, attends and follows the overthrow of the antichristian faction'.

Hence the proclamations of the three angels, as occurring in this part of the present vision, unite to shew, that, as the present vision commences with the latter 1260 years, so it likewise reaches down to their termination: for the proclamations themselves announce events, which are destined to occur when the latter 1260 years shall have expired. Here, in the little book, these events are only briefly announced; chiefly, I apprehend, for the purpose of establishing a series of synchronisms, without the

1 Rev. xvii. 17. xiii. 5. xi. 3. Dan. vii. 25, 26. Rev. xvi. 12-21. xix. 11-21. xx. 1-6. xxi. Isaiah ii. 2-5. lxvi. 5-24. Zechar. xiii. xiv.

perpetual aid of which the Apocalypse would be an absolute labyrinth: but, afterward, when he returns to the larger book, the prophet, in their just places, treats of them more fully and copiously.

III. The third of the three portions, into which the concluding vision of the little book divides itself, sets forth the final destruction of God's irre claimable enemies under the imagery of a successive harvest and vintage of indignation.

And I looked; and, behold, a white cloud: and upon the cloud sat one like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud: Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he, that sat on the cloud, thrust in his sickle on the earth: and the earth was reaped.

And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire. And he cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying: Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath

1 Rev. xix. 1-9. xx. 1—6. xxi. xxii. 1—6. xviii. xix. 11—21.

of God. And the wine-press was trodden without the city and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of thousand and six hundred furlongs1.

As the second portion of the present vision brought us down to the times of the seventh vial; so this third concluding portion must also relate to the times of the same vial: for the seventh vial is the vial of consummation; and it is immediately followed by the peaceful and glorious period of the Millennium: but the miseries, which occur during the harvest and the vintage of God's wrath, cannot be consistently referred to the period of millennian blessedness: therefore they must take place during the effusion of the seventh vial, which is characteristically described as being the seventh of the seven last plagues, and which immediately precedes that period of spiritual peace and holiness.

1. This necessary chronological arrangement will lead us to a right understanding of the abstract signification of what, in the present vision, is denominated the harvest.

In itself, the term is ambiguous: for it is capable of denoting, either a harvest of God's mercy, or a harvest of God's vengeance. Hence we find, that some commentators have understood the harvest here mentioned in the first of these senses, supposing it to mean that general conversion of the Gentiles which is the theme of many ancient pro

Rev. xiv. 14-20,

phets while others have understood it in the second sense, believing it to describe, like the vintage, some signal judgment upon God's enemies.

After a long consideration of the subject, I rest in the opinion of Mede, Newton, Lowman, Doddridge, and Bengelius, that the apocalyptic harvest denotes a harvest, not of mercy, but of wrath: and I will even go beyond them in saying, that its collocation is such as to render it incapable of bearing another sense.

Mr. Mede, who has elaborately and minutely discussed the point, observes, that the idea of a harvest includes three things; the reaping of the corn, the gathering of it in, and the threshing of it: whence in Scripture it is made a type of two direct opposites; of destruction, when the reaping and the threshing are considered; of restitution and salvation, when the in-gathering is considered'.

Now the context of the apocalyptic harvest most definitely teaches us, not only that a harvest of judgment is intended, but that nothing else can be intended.

Throughout the whole book of the Revelation, with the exception of a few passages which sufficiently explain themselves, the earth is used as a symbol of the territorial Roman Empire whether pagan or papal. It is the vine of this earth that is to be gathered, when her grapes are fully ripe':

1 Comment. Apoc. in Mess. Oper. p. 520, 521.

2 Rev. xiv. 18, 19.

and it is the mature harvest of this self-same earth that is to be reaped, when the time for reaping is come. Here we must note, that it is not, as in our Lord's parable which is usually adduced by those who adopt the contrary interpretation, said to be the harvest of a field, which afterward is formally explained to mean the whole world: but it is distinctly said to be the harvest of the earth; the harvest of that identical earth, of which the vintage is specially declared to be the vintage If, then, the earth mean the Roman Empire, in the case of the vintage; it must, by analogy, no less mean the Roman Empire, in the case of the harvest and, if the vintage of the earth or of the corrupt Roman Empire be a signal judgment, as all commentators allow; then the ripe harvest of the same earth or of the same corrupt Roman Empire must, unless the whole principle of homogeneity be violated, be a signal judgment also.

to But the truth is, the chronological arrangement of the passage, which treats of the apocalyptic harvest and vintage, will not admit of any other interpretation of the harvest than that for which I contend. In evident allusion to the economy of the natural world, the figurative harvest is described as preceding the figurative vintage. Now, as the vine of the earth is clearly, in symbolical expression,

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