EVERY GOD; and shall speak marvellous [blasphemies] against the God of GODS, [or THE MOST HIGH, Dan. vii. 25.] and shall prosper till the [period of] wrath be fulfilled, [2 Thess. ii. 8.]"For what is determined, shall be done," or performed.

He then specifies the innovations of this "lawless" power, (ó avoμos, 2 Thess. ii. 8.)

37. "And he shall neither regard THE GOD OF HIS FATHERS, [in his apostacy, 2 Thess. ii. 3,] nor the desire of wives*, [for

"The desire of women," or of "wives," (or of "wiving," Mede,) for the original, , like yvvaikes, frequently signifies both; as in David's beautiful elegy for Saul and Jonathan, "the love of women," or of wives toward their husbands, 2 Sam. i. 27, see Vol. II. p. 328; and, εOvμia, "desire," is used to express Solomon's affection, by his spouse in Canticles, vii. 10. "I am my beloved's; and his desire is toward me," as his wife; so, she had intimated before, ii. 16. "My beloved is my [husband;] and I am his [wife,"] and so, THE LORD foretold to Ezekiel the death of his wife; "Lo, I will take away from thee the delight of thine eyes," xxiv. 16—18.

The correctness of this translation is vouched by the history. The wise and politic Julian and Papian laws for the encouragement of marriage, and discouragement of celibacy, were early repealed; even by Constantine himself; who, on the contrary, granted privileges and immunities to the unmarried, and the childless; he venerated Monks and Nuns who devoted themselves to GOD, and made vows of celibacy. His example was followed by his successors; marriage was discountenanced among the secular clergy. At first, their second marriages were prohibited, but afterwards, they were interdicted from marrying at all in the time of Gregory the Great. Thus did this apostate ecclesiastical power, both in the east and west, magnify himself above all; by rescinding the primary Law of GOD and Nature, and arrogantly pronouncing that dishonourable which GOD himself instituted in Paradise for a law of perpetual obligation, Gen. ii. 24; which CHRIST Confirmed, Matt. xix. 5; and which Holy Writ has pronounced "honourable in all," Heb. xiii. 4.

Deviating from this interpretation, (first given by Mede, and adopted by Bishop Newton, Vol. II. p. 174, 175,) Mr. Faber supposes, 1. that the phrase denotes CHRIST, “the desire of women,” from the time of the original prediction of the promised seed, delivered especially to Eve; as being parallel to "the desire of all nations," in Haggai; 2. that the strange God was that deified liberty, to whom the French revolutionists erected a statue; and 3. the Mahuzzim, the other tutelary gods, or the various allegorical deities of the infidel republic of France; namely, reason, and the republican virtues; whom 4. they honoured with the gold and silver, &c. or spoils, and ornaments of Churches, &c. at home and abroad; and 5. divided the land for a price among the champions of the Mahuzzim, Vol. I. chap. 6.

But to this hypothesis, there seem to be insuperable objections. 1. Every part of it may be disputed as fanciful and unfounded; and 2, the whole is unchronological; for he places it under the third or last woe; whereas by his own correct statement of the argument of the preceding part from ver. 31, predicting the desolation of Jerusalem by the Romans to ver. 35, the Papal persecutions of the witnesses, p. 330, Edit. 2. the whole evidently is included under the first or the second woe, at the utmost; and has no visible connexion with the third.

bidding to marry, 1 Tim. iv. 3, and encouraging celibacy, both in the eastern and western Church.] He shall not regard ANY GOD, [not even "THE LORD who redeemed him, 2 Pet. ii. 1,] for he shall magnify himself above all. And he shall magnify, as GOD on his throne, Protectors, [or demons, 1 Tim. iv. 1, namely, Saints and Angels ;] even [as] GOD, [protectors] whom his fathers knew not: he shall honour [them] with gold and silver, and precious stones and jewels.

38." And he shall account for fortresses, the protectors; together with a strange god, [or goddess, the Virgin Mary ;] succeeding to the heathen" Queen of Heaven," Jer. xliv. 17, or "Diana of the Ephesians," Acts xix. 27,] whom he shall acknowledge: he shall multiply glory [to them] and shall make them rule over many [nations ;] and he shall divide the land for gain," [or the earth, as Peter's patrimony for his own aggrandisement.]

The minute and astonishing conformity of this description throughout, with the events, and its exact harmony with the parallel prophecies of Daniel himself, and commentaries of the Apostles Peter and Paul, (here interwoven in the text,) furnish a highly probable criterion of the correctness of the translation and interpretation here attempted of this very abstruse and mysterious prophecy, upon the principles of Bishop Newton, which he has supported with great learning and ability, and at considerable length, in his Dissertations on Daniel's Prophecies, Part II; on St. Paul's Prophecies of the Man of Sin; and of the Apostacy of the latter Times, Vol. II. p. 152, 359, 426. One chasm in his argument we have ventured to fill up; "if," says he, "the Mahuzzim (or protectors,' saints and angels,) be not considered as the strange god, (ver. 38,) it is difficult to say who the strange god is," p. 185. The Mahuzzim, indeed, as being plural, cannot well represent a single God; but surely the Virgin Mary, by his own account, is fully entitled to be

meant.

"The Church of Rome," says he, "is guilty of idolatry and apostacy in the oblation of prayers and praises to the Virgin Mary, as much, or more, than to GOD BLESSED FOR EVER. This is the grand corruption of the Christian Church; this is 'the apostacy, as it is emphatically called, and deserves to be called; the apostacy that the Apostle had warned the Thessa

lonians of before; the apostacy that had also been foretold by the prophet Daniel," p. 395; and if so, surely, in this very passage.

Nor is this apostacy confined to the Romish Church: "the Greeks still, at this day, in their horary prayers, thus invocate the blessed Virgin: 0 thou virgin mother of God, thou impregnable wall, thou fortress of salvation, (Psalm xxviii. 8,) we call upon thee, that thou wouldest frustrate the devices of our enemies, and be a fence to this city," p. 181.

It was not without reason, therefore, that Mahomet objected that the Trinity of the Christians consisted of "the Father, the Son, and the Virgin Mother of God." For a hundred, nay, a thousand honours, prayers, and vows are daily addressed to the Virgin Mary in heaven, and to her images upon earth, for one to THE HOLY GHOST; who, with THE FATHER and THE SON together, is, and ought to be glorified, now, and for evermore, Amen.

THREE WOE TRUMPETS.

5. The sounding of the fifth trumpet produced the first of the three emphatic "woes;" a star fallen from heaven opened the pit of the abyss, with a key given to him, and let out a great smoke, as of a furnace that darkened the sun and air. And out of the smoke issued, with their "destroying king," (the angel of the abyss, Satan,) a swarm of locusts, having stings in their tails, like scorpions. These were commissioned not to hurt the grass, green herbs, or trees, but only to torment, for five months, the men who were not sealed in their foreheads, Rev. ix. 1-5.

As Peter the Apostle had the keys of heaven committed to him, so had Mahomet*, the impostor, or false prophet, (who blasphemously assumed the title of the Prophet of God,) the key of the abyss, to let out the smoke of false doctrine to darken the world, by the help of a swarm of Arabian locusts, or fanatical Saracens ; as they are characteristically described by their horses, their crowns, or turbans, and their long hair like women, but teeth like lions, and breast-plates.

Abulfaragi describes a remarkable dimness of the sun in the

Various are the guesses of commentators respecting this star; Nestorius, Sergius, and even Luther, have been proposed by Protestant and Romish expositors; Bishop Newton's conjecture, Vol. III. p. 98, is here followed.

+ Saracens, from Saric, in Arabic "a thief," or "robber," Gen. xvi. 12.

FOUR WAR TRUMPETS.

I cannot be silent,

Because thou hast heard, O my soul,

The sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

How long, shall I see the standard;

And hear the sound of the trumpet ?"- -Jeremiah.

The more tremendous judgments of this second period, are ushered in with extraordinary solemnity.

The seven angels who "stand" always in readiness " before the throne of GOD," to receive and execute his high commands, first received the seven trumpets at the beginning of the half hour's silence, viii. 1, 2. And then, after the solemn offering up of the incense of the prayers of all the saints from earth, (especially of the 144,000, who were now sealed) by the spiritual high priest, they prepared themselves to sound *, ver. 6.

1. The first trumpet "gave no uncertain sound;" it produced a dreadful storm of hail and fire mingled with blood, upon "the third part" of the earth, or of the known world, Europe, the principal seat of the Roman empire, ver. 7. It "prepared for battle," the fierce barbarians of the North, (the region of hail;) the Goths, Huns, Vandals, &c. to ravage and destroy the trees and green grass, or slay the old and young indiscriminately.

In 395, Alaric, king of the Goths, ravaged Greece and Italy, and besieged Rome, and levied contributions there-he afterwards took it in 408, and again in 410, when he plundered the city, and massacred many of the inhabitants. He also ravaged Gaul and Spain.

The next hail storm from this quarter, fell upon the eastern empire, Attila, king of the Huns, or Hungarians, desolated a tract of 500 miles in breadth, from the Euxine sea to the Adriatic. He arrogantly styled himself the scourge of God, and most justly. Buonaparte has imitated him.

2. The second trumpet sounded a burning blast and volcanic eruption of a great mountain, which was heaved from its base, and cast into the sea, the third part of which became blood; and the third part of the fishes and ships were destroyed, ver. 8,9.

"They prepared themselves," that each might sound in his turn, without delay. And every Angel continued to sound, till the design of his trumpet was fulfilled. Wesley.

This followed the fierce barbarians from the South, or Africa, the region of heat, Genseric and his Vandals, to invade Italy by sea, marked by Mount Vesuvius*, who took Rome in 455, and sacked it for a fortnight together; and carried off an innumerable multitude of captives: among the rest, the empress Eudoxia, and her two daughters; who had invited them over to avenge the murder of her husband, the emperor Valentinian. When the mighty-daring Genseric hoisted sail at any time to ravage the islands and coasts of the Roman empire, and was asked by his pilot, what course he chose to steer? with hypocritical arrogance, he usually replied, Leave to the winds the determination; they will waft us to the devoted coast, whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice! He literally turned the Roman seas into blood, when he cast therein the mangled bodies of 500 noble Zacynthians; and in 468, he destroyed most of the fleet sent to attack him by the emperor of the east, Leo. Attila and Genseric acted in concert.

3. The third trumpet sounded, and occasioned a comet to fall upon the third part of the rivers and springs; which made them as bitter as wormwood: so that many died, ver. 10, 11.

"The shooting of this star," says Mede, " denoted the downfall of the western Caesars." Odoacer, king of the Heruli, deposed Momyllus, (called in contempt, Augustulus, the diminutive of Augustus,) and put an end to the western Roman empire in 476.

This was followed by bitter feuds among the conquerors themselves. Odoacer, after he was crowned king of Italy, was slain by Theodoric in 488; and he, in turn, was deposed by the lieutenants of Justinian. Thus was Italy, and its fertile rivers and springs, alternately a prey to the barbarous tribes who destroyed each other in their contests for empire.

4. The sounding of the fourth trumpet introduced an eclipse of the third part of the sun, moon, and stars, ver. 12. And the historian Cedrenus thus describes the aspect of the heavens in the reign of Justinian, A.D. 533. "The sun appeared like the moon, shorn of his beams, as if eclipsed; and cast a gloom on

According to Zonaras, in the year A.D. 472, there was a dreadful eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which threw out such an immense quantity of ashes, as turned day into night even at Constantinople, and covered all the streets and houses three inches deep. This happened according to Marcellinus, on the 6th of November; according to the Chron. Alexand. on the 11th.