ARMAGEDDON, signifies the destruction of troops, or armies.

Verse 17, "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air." Signified those things which had obscured the minds of men from the light of grace and truth; and exposing those lofty imaginations of men called "Spiritual wickedness in high places," Era. vi, 12; And clearing the air of the moral world, that the light of the glorious gospel may shine upon the world.

Verse 18," And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, (explained before,) and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, so great. Signifies that there never had been so great a shaking of the moral world before.

VERSE 19, 66 And the great city was divided into three parts," as Babylon means confusion, Sodom had been a place of great wickedness, and Egypt, of great darkness. By the light of the testimony, it will be seen, that all the buildings of false reli gion are made up of confusion, wickedness, and darkness, although they have so long prevailed, and but few people have yet been able to detect them; "And the cities of the nations fell," signifies that when the main mass of false religion (called the great city) shall be overthrown, individual buildings of sects composed of the same false doctrines, will fall and come to nothing, the same as the cities in a nation are all surrendered when the seat of government is taken, and the government overthrown, for which they had all been fighting " and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath," (ardor.) Supposing a king has conquered an inveterate enemy, and is determined to put him to death by poisoned wine; so God, having taken mystery Babylon, is determined to give her such a measure of dealing as 'shall utterly destroy her.

VERSE 20, "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." I have shown before, that mountains and islands in this vision, represent large objects in the minds and thoughts of the people. We have seen in chap, vi, 14, by the opening of the sixth seal, that "every island and mountain were moved out of their places," but not destroyed, but now we are told, that "the mountains were not found, and the islands fled away."

Verse 21, "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, about the weight of a talent," signifies that a conviction will fall upon the minds of the people from the heavenly testimony of the wickedness of their doings, which will be very weighty; "and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was very great," signifies that they will not yet understand that this condemnation is intended in mercy to reform them, but still thinking that the testimony is an enemy to them, they blaspheme God by declaring it is of the devil.

Note. As we have now gone by the present time, it may not be expected that I shall any further state the times when the events prophesied, shall come to pass.

CHAPTER XVII.

Verse 1, "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying, come hither, I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore," &c. Signified that one of the seven dispensations of truth, opened to him the mystery concerning the great religious confusion.

Verse 2, "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication," signifies that the ruling and leading motives of men's minds, which lead and rule them, as kings rule the people, and lead them these are called the rulers of the darkness

of this world, Eph. Vi, 12. These ruling motives in the people are coupled together with the inventions of false religion, which is signified by their committing fornication with her; this is called, in the writings of ancient prophets, "going a whoring after other gods," Ezek. Xvi, 15, 28, 36, 38; Jer. III, 9; Hosea Ii, 2, 5, and iv, 11, 12, and y, 3, 4, "And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication," signifies that the moving powers in the minds of the people have been intoxicated with the worldly selfish spirit which put forth those inventions.

Verse 3, "And I saw a woman sit upon a scarletcolored beast," &c. Whereas this hateful beast of false religion is said to be "scarlet-colored," it signifies that a pretention to Christianity without the spirit of Christ, always has the nature of bloodthirstiness. And, hence it is, that among all the Sects, from the papists down to the latest protestants, those who have the most of those silly inventions manifest the most hatred against such as differ from them, which is the scarlet-colored Spirit of bloodthirst and murders

VERSE 8, "And the beast which thou sawest, was, and is not, and yet is," the same as it is with transgression, sin, or the devil; "It Was," because by one man sin entered into the world, &c. AND Is NOT," because God took counsel to destroy it, and Jesus has finished the transgression, and made an end of sins, therefore, in the counsel of God" it is not," And Yet is," because men art still in their sins, and therefore sin is not actually finished in them, although it is in the counsel of God, and this is precisely the case with the beast of false religion.

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From verse 7, to verse 18, the angel gave St. John an explanation of the woman and the beast that carrieth her, which woman is said to be, in verse 18, "The great city which ruleth over the kings of the earth," and therefore, expositors have

considered the city of Rome to be the woman," and the seven mountains on which the whore sitteth," the seven hills on which the city of Rome was built; and the ten kings, to be literal kings under the government of the Pope. This looks plausible, to be sure, but a number of things menfioned in this explanation show that the vision was more spiritual than this, as for instance,

Verse 9, "And here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains,* &C, which showed that it would require wisdom to understand his explanation, whereas, a child would understand the meaning of literal mountains. Another thing is this, that "the beast is the eighth king, and yet is of the seven, and goeth into perdition," showing that not only the leading motives of men, are called kings, but also, these seven degrees or abilities of understanding are likewise called kings, or rulers, and that the beast, or spirit of false religion, is the eighth governing power in the man, and yet being in all seven of them, is of the seven, and leads them all into perdition: but how could this be understoood literally? Again,

Verse 16, "And the ten horns, &c. these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire." It may readily be understood how the leading motives of man may be changed, as soon as the man is instructed, so as to hate, and destroy those very inventions which had before governed his mind; but how this could be understood literally, I cannot see, therefore the beast means false religion: the whore means the buildings or inventions of false religion sitting on the seven abilities of man, and ruling over all his leading motives to action, as long as he is a slave to false. religion.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Verse 1, "And after these things I saw another angel come down from Heaven," signifies anotherdispensation from Heaven; "having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory," signified a dispensation of great light and instruction to the minds of the people.

Verse 2, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." Signifies that the witnesses will then see clearly, and declare powerfully the complete destruction of all the inventions of false religion.

Verse 3, "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Signifies that all the working powers in the minds of the people, had partaken more or less of the worldly spirit of religious selfishness, (which is the wine,) and is a spirit of hatred and wrath, and always worships some false invention, which is the fornication, or whoring after false Gods; "the merchants of the earth," means those trading spirits in the earth, or minds of the people, which can dispose of things as their inclination may be, even to selling the truth, faith, and a good conscience, in exchange for those objects which seem to them to be rich and beautiful, such as are named in verses 12, 13, which are too numerous to explain individually. Suffice it to say, they figuratively represent those objects of delight in the practice of false worship, which they regard as principal religious privileges, which they frequently exchange one for another, as a merchant exchanges goods; and which (in this hateful spirit) they regard more than they do the liberties or souls (lives) of men.

These spirits, or merchants, are called "the great men of the earth," verse 23, signifying that they are made much of in the minds of men.— They are said to be umade rich through the abundance of her delicacies." Verse 3, signifying that