CHAPTER XXVII. THE FOURTH VIAL. AND the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory, ver. 8, 9. If we look to the political horizon, after the Italian campaigns of the close of last century, a sun is seen arising, which, manifest as the sun in the firmament, soon shone with unparalleled brilliancy over Europe, scorched the nations in its course, and of which the setting or the smiting was scarcely less marvellous than the great heat of its scorching blaze. But it is not by one symbol alone, however apt its significancy, and however suited to the time, nor by a general description that might be indefinite in its application, but by the scriptural exposition of the symbol, (in reference to the imperial power,) derived from history long past, and by a discrimination which vividly marks all the strongest features of that eventful era, as well as by the rise to supreme earthly dominion and the contrasted doom of this "child of destiny," that, at the end, after the events have been accomplished and the facts may be retrospectively seen, this prophecy, like all whose fulfilment has preceded it, does speak, and calls on the whole reign of Napoleon to bear witness that it does not lie. Divested of hypothesis-the scriptural warrant for the appropriation of the emblem, the sun, to Napoleon; the power that was given him; the scorching of men with great heat, or the grievous effect of his ascendancy, in chastisement of the nations, over the kingdoms of Europe; the blasphemy which prevailed and abounded throughout his reign; the impenitence which succeeded it; his fall, like the smiting of the sun; and the power of God over these plagues ;—all speak in such a manner as to shew, that this judgment too has been made manifest. The import of the symbol has first to be regarded, as a joint view of scripture, and history expound it. The rivers and fountains of waters formed the scene, limited to a specified region, and strongly marked by local peculiarities, over which the third trumpet sounded and the third vial was finally poured out. The order is still progressive; and there is a like accordance between the fourth trumpet and the fourth vial, but, as in the former, without restriction to the third part. The third and fourth trumpets may be viewed conjointly with the third and fourth vials, that the order may be more distinctly seen, and that the similarity of meaning attached to the very same terms may be obvious in the one case as in the other. "And the THIRD angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the RIVERS AND UPON THE FOUNTAINS OF WATERS. And the name of the star is called wormwood, and the third part of the WATERS became wormwood, and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. And the FOURTH angel sounded, and the third part of the SUN was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise," Rev. viii. 10, 12. And the THIRD angel poured out his vial upon the RIVERS AND FOUNTAINS OF WATERS, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the WATERS say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, wast, and shalt be, because thou hast JUDGED thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy JUDGMENTS. And the FOURTH angel poured out his vial upon the SUN, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory. After Attila had partially ravaged Northern Italy, or had fallen upon the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters, and after these had become wormwood to Rome by the rebellion of the confederates of Italy at Tortona, not only was the emperor taken out of the way, but the IMPERIAL POWER in Italy was speedily extinguished, and the third part of the SUN was smitten. Yet it was darkened only for a season, for the third part of the day and of the night likewise. He that previously letted, had indeed been taken out of the way, and Rome became the seat of papal supremacy to domineer over the minds of men. But popery gave renewed life to the empire. The second beast not only exercised all the power of the first beast before him, but he also caused the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the FIRST BEAST whose deadly wound was healed. The time passed away during which the sun of Rome, or the emperorship, as exercising temporal jurisdiction over Italy and the once imperial city, was to be smitten with darkness, or cease to shine. And CHARLEMAGNE WAS BY THE POPE CROWNED EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS. He restored the western empire. And after the kingdom of Italy was subdued by Otho, the king of Germany, he appropriated the western empire, and, says Gibbon, "for ever fixed the imperial crown in the name and nation of Germany." But from that memorable era this maxim of public jurisprudence was introduced by force and ratified by time, "that he might not legally assume the titles of emperor and Augustus till he had received the crown FROM THE HANDS OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF." "The successors of Charlemagne and Otho were content with the humble names of kings of Germany and Italy, till they had passed the Alps and the Appenines, to seek their imperial crown on the banks of the Tiber." Such was the institution of the power superior to that of kings, which formed the restoration of the imperial authority of ancient Rome, and which was established by the prescription of ages. But Gibbon, who thus describes it, and who could paint so well the image of things that were past, was not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, nor a believer in the prophets, and the time is come in which the word for ever, as he has written it, must be blotted out. The imperial power, in an early age of its renovated existence, was transferred from France to Germany, and, but as yesterday, for the sake of regaining that power anew, we have seen the contest between France and Germany carried on again and again from side to side of the region where the supremacy of Rome has been repeatedly contested, along the rivers and fountains of waters. And we have now simply to look to the next word that is written in prophecy, which abideth for ever, and to the next event in history, which, like all the former, has left its memorial to ages. But it is meet that history, in respect to events so prominent that it cannot there err, should do its own office, in order that no hand of man need here be raised to touch the ark of the testimony, at this far advanced point of its progress, or at any other; but that pro phecy itself should speak, by facts, to expose the impotency and refute the fallacy, while it utterly and entirely disclaims the aid, of any private interpreta tion. Looking then, in due course, and in its stated order and time, for the exaltation of the emperorship, as it was seen in the days of Cæsar or of Charlemagne, or for the rising of the sun, as it was once seen in the heavens, may we not, in full assurance of the truth of God's holy word, and in speaking of manifest judgments, open the almanack again, or read from history its next most remarkable event, to see whether the next vial has been poured out, or the next judgments have been made manifest, and whether Bonaparte's imperial glory, like that of Britain on the sea, bears not its true character and eternal mark, when all else pertaining to it shall pass into oblivion, that of one of the last plagues, or of the vials of the wrath of God poured upon the earth? 1800. The Austrians defeated at Marengo, June 14. War with Spain begun, &c. &c. "The motion was carried in the tribunate with one dissenting voice, that the supreme power should be rendered hereditary in the person and family of Napoleon. The legislative body, without hesitation, adopted it, and a senatus consultum forthwith appeared, by which Napoleon Bonaparte was declared emperor of the French. He openly assumed the imperial title and dignity. In assuming the title of emperor, not of king, it escaped not observation, that Napoleon's object was to carry back the minds of the French to a period antecedent to the rules of the recently dethroned dynasty, to the days of CHARLE |