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that would have occasioned a confusion in the allegory, and consequently a misconception of the meaning intended. For the SUN, or the existing representative of the IMPERIAL POWER, had just before received a great aug mentation of its light and force, even to the scorching of the PAPAL WORLD with its insupportable heat; and this change, effected upon the once glorious and resplendent SEAT OF THE BEAST, is one of the consequences of it. The fifth vial is therefore poured not upon the sun of the empire, but upon the seat of the beast, which in the sphere of his catholic despotism was its SUN, and immediate darkness over all his kingdom, and consternation ensues, by the degradation of the POPE from his rank of a sovereign potentate, the seizure of his territories and his revenues, the extinction of his usurped and pretended rights, the robbery of his treasures, and even the IMPRISONMENT of his PERSon.

Thus, as it was foretold in this historical series of prophecies, that the ten horns, which for many centuries, by the will of God, (or

rather, agreeably to the foreknowledge of God that so it would be,) had unitedly upheld the pride and power of the whore, by their blind submission to her arrogant pretensions and wicked usurpations, should one day become her enemies, and work her downfall; so now we see this latter part of the prophecy fulfilling, as ages past have witnessed the former part. The ELDEST SON OF THE CHURCH, and the most favored, which invested the PAPACY with its SOLAR RAYS and TRIPPLE CROWN, has been the foremost and chief agent in pouring upon its SEAT this vial of darkness, in which, before this plague is fully spent, he will probably be joined by other kindred spirits; as the devotion towards the pretended head of the church has considerably abated, and his once fascinating enchantments have lost their force,

The egyptian plague of darkness, to which this of MYSTIC BABYLON is analogous, lasted three days." There was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his

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place for three days."-If the analogy holds in this circumstance, (which however is not at all necessary to the prophecy,) the splendor of the PAPAL SUN will be in some measure restored, at the expiration of three years of darkness, perhaps by the caprice of the same despotic power which has now (without any ostensible reason held forth,) totally extinguished its light. But for the certain expectation of this we have not the same strong ground of authority, which we had for the degradation of the popedom. For Isaiah says of mystic Babylon, that she shall be no more called "the lady of kingdoms;"-Imperial Rome, twice the MISTRESS OF THE WORLD, once by arms, and again by superstition.

This darkness, which suddenly overshadows the throne and kingdom of the BEAST, conjointly with the pains arising from their former plagues, we find, drives them to the utmost excess of their blasphemous superstition, but induces no proper reflection upon the cause wherefore this great evil is sent upon them, and effects no repentance. "The

wicked walk on in darkness, they know not at what they stumble. ;* but to the upright there ariseth light in their (occasional) darkness; "the path of the just is a shining light." They who have walked only in crooked paths, too intricate to be traced back in safety when the day of gloominess and thick darkness overtakes them, are then left wholly without counsel, and know not what course to take. This prophetic darkness therefore implies the distress and perplexity of the pa pal councils, in an emergency of so great difficulty, and which they were so little prepared to expect, or to contend with. "All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border; the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.-Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the Mount of Esau,"t

* Proverbs iv. 19. † Obad, vii. 8; Isai. xix. 11, 13,

The finger of God is remarkably conspicu ous in the justice of this punishment, and method of retaliation, agreeably to his declared rule:"They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed," and to them that "love darkness rather than light," it shall be sent upon them. The EYES of the LITTLE HORN, or that singular sagacity and worldly wisdom by which the PAPACY was in all ages eminently distinguished, having been as remarkably misapplied, and directed solely to the increase of their own power and wealth, and the maintenance of all the claims that any of their predecessors had (ever so arrogantly or unjustly) pretended to: never to the advantage of religion, the glory of God, or the peace of the world; but in direct opposition to them all. The privileges of the church, and all the hocus pocus of their religious mummery and refuge of lies, required to be bolstered up by both the power of the sword, and by spiritual intrigue. Daniel has therefore described this singular production as A HORN, amongst the ten horns, or a TEMPORAL POTENTATE, of a man,

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