66 and Bergamo having also been exposed to the rapacious cruelty of the Huns, he spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy, which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Appenines." The waters, or the same region under the same name, continued to be wormwood to the empire of Rome, after the ravages and death of Attila. "Many thousands of his subjects assembled on the plains of Piedmont." And subsequently, at Tortona, at the foot of the Alps, an impetuous sedition broke out in the Roman camp, the final result of which was the extinction of the western empire. The chief of the confederates of Italy fixed his residence at Milan (situated in the midst of waters) which Attila had previously possessed, and it was from Milan that "Ricimer marched to the gates of Rome." The locality of the rivers and fountains of waters, as a specific region in the Roman territory, abridged as then it was, and in reference to the downfall of imperial Rome, may thus be held as determined. And without attaching any diversity of meaning, or adopting any other significancy, to the same words -which would throw the subject loose to every imagination as to the winds-we have to look again to the same rivers and fountains of waters-but to the whole and not merely a part-to the cities of Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Bergamo, Pavia, Tortona; to the spot where the Mincio flows from Lake Benacus; to the palace of Milan, which Attila possessed, and to the plains of Piedmont and Lombardy which he ravaged, and which were afterwards wormwood to Rome,-in order to see what accordance is to be found, in this express particular, between the decline, or the events which broke the power, both of imperial and papal Rome, and to witness thus, if indeed such witness be yet manifestly borne by history, the exact coincidence and precise affinity, in point of place, however dif 1 ferent in time, between the completion of the third vial and of the third trumpet, corresponding to the description, in the identical terms, the rivers and fountains of waters, on which the great star fell, on the sounding of the third trumpet, and the third vial of the wrath of God, one of the last plagues, was also to be poured out. In point of time the case is also as clear, and the order of the judgment as manifest. The date of the pouring out of the third vial is necessarily subsequent to the period when the second vial began to be poured out. But as the great mountain burning with fire, that was cast into the sea, though it first rose, before the great star fell upon the rivers and upon the fountains of waters, continued to burn, after the sudden meteor had burned like a lamp and had fallen; so, in strict analogy, the pouring out of the third vial, though necessarily consequent to the time of the pouring out of the second, does not imply that the last drops of the previous vial were first to be dried up, or even that the festering sore, too grievous and noisome to admit of instantaneous cure, which marked the first, was wholly healed. were the last vials of the wrath of God; and though, like the trumpets, they might follow in quick succession, the very nature and purpose of them tend to show that the first pouring out of the vial was not the last of the judgment. All are necessarily consecutive in their origin; but as the vials of wrath, they may continue to flow, till each has perfected its own special purpose; and the pouring out of a new vial upon any specified spot on the earth, interrupted not the farther progress or action of that which had previously been poured upon the sea. All Three years elapsed from the taking of Carthage by Genseric to the invasion of Egypt by Attila. And the same period elapsed from the siege of Toulon and the commencement of the greatest of naval wars since the days of Genseric, and unequalled either before or after, or even at that period, till every eye in Europe was fixed on the spot where Bonaparte had his station; but, looking more to earthly revolutions than to the word of God, men did not remember that it was the very region where Attila had been, amidst the rivers and fountains of waters. In the philosophy of the day, men thought of ruling the world without a Deity; and any appeal to his word would have been scouted by the warriors who, succeeding to the office of barbarous Saracens and ferocious Turks, were instrumental in fulfilling it. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. But there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they have made; in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The first successor of Mahomet issued his instructions to the Saracen invaders of the Roman empire, in exact conformity with the prophetic announcement "it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which had not the seal of God in their foreheads." Whether they be occupied in narrating, devising, or acting, God turns the counsels or labours of the adversaries of the faith into credentials of his word: and they may be raised up for the execution of a purpose, of which it is not in their heart to think. And as Volney and Gibbon wrote as if they had contended in emulous strife which of them would best illustrate the prophecies, so as soon as infidels presided over one of the finest countries in Europe, and, invested with unchallenged authority, wielded at their will the energies of a great nation, they shewed that, in the execution of their appointed work, they were not to be outdone, at the close of the eighteenth century, by the armed fanatics who, in the seventh, issued from the desert. The apostles of infidelity were not to be restrained, any more than the apostles of Mahomet, though both were fanatics alike, from yielding their testimony to the truth of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It was not alone enough that infidelity had fallen a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image; but, after three years from the time that the vial began to be poured upon the sea, the Directory of France, no less than the Caliph in a remote age, gave the command that the very thing should be done, which was written in the word of God as the note and character of that evil time. In "the Instructions for the GENERAL-IN-CHIEF of the army of Italy," "the Piedmontese" are the first people that are mentioned, almost in the very first line. From that precious document we extract a few sentences, by way of illustrating the power of infidelity-but whether against or for the truth as it is in Jesus, looking to his Revelation also, the reader, were he a sceptic, might tell. "The principal enemies with whom the French republic has to contend on the Italian side, are two-the Piedmontese and the Austrians. The latter are formidable-from the sway which their possessions in Italy enable them to exercise over the Court of Turin," (the capital of Piedmont).— "It is the most immediate interest of the French republic to direct its principal efforts against the Austrian army and possessions in Lombardy.-The mere attack of Piedmont would not fulfil the object which the Executive Directory ought to have in view, that of expelling the Austrians from Italy.* Every thing urges us to endeavour, by every means in our power, to force the enemy to repass the Po, and to make our greatest exertion in the direction of the Milanese. "To attack Piedmont, is to attack the Austrian army which covers it." Note by Bonaparte. It appears that this essential operation cannot take place, unless the French army be previously in possession of Ceva. "The Directory leave the General-in-chief at liberty to commence operations by the attack of the enemy at this point; and whether he obtain a complete victory over them, or whether they retreat towards Turin, the Directory authorize him to pursue them, to encounter them again, and even to bombard that capital, if circumstances should render it necessary. "After having made himself master of Ceva, and placed the left of the army of Italy near Coni, in order to menace and keep in awe the garrison of that place, the General-inchief will supply the wants of the army, as speedily as possible, by means of the resources which Piedmont will afford. He will then direct his forces against the Milanese, and principally against the Austrians; he will drive the enemy beyond the Po, ascertain the means of passing that river, and endeavour to secure the fortresses of Asti and Valenza -to intimidate Italy by advancing as much as possible on the right and towards Tortona, &c. The army ought to make as short a stay as possible in Piedmont, and to advance briskly to engage the Austrians, &c. Although it be the interest of France to direct her principal efforts against the Austrians, and to lead the Piedmontese, by our victories over the former, into an alliance with ourselves, the Piedmontese must not be spared so long as they are our enemies, &c. &c. (Signed) Letourneur, Carnot, L. M. Reveillere, Lepaux, Rewbell."* 15th March 1796. In entering on the prophetic history of the achievements of Bonaparte, we deal only in such plain mat * ،، Memoirs of the Hist. of France during the reign of Napo leon, dictated by the Emperor at Saint Helena," &c. vol. iv. pp. 372-383. "Last of the ANOINTED FIVE behold, and least, The Directorial Lama, sovereign priest,- CANNING. How poor is the keenest satire, in refutation and contempt of their principles, compared with their own signatures to such a document-the command given by these very men to Bonaparte to pour out the vial upon the predicted spot. |