them? &c. Mark,—this beast, or kingdom, is out of the bottomless pit—no foundation—an atheistical power-spiritually Egypt." See Ex. v. 2: "And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."

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Here is atheism. Did any kingdom, about 1798, manifest the same spirit? Yes, France—she denied the being of God, in her national capacity, and made war on the "Monarchy of Heaven." "Spiritually" this power" is called Sodom." What was the characteristic sin of Sodom? Licentiousness. Did France have this character? She did,—fornication was established by law during the period spoken of. "Spiritually" the place was "where our Lord was crucified." Was this true in France? It was, in more senses than one. First, in 1572 a plot was laid in France to destroy all the pious Huguenots; and in one night, fifty thousand of them were murdered in cold blood, and the streets of Paris literally ran with blood. Thus our Lord was spiritually crucified" in his members. Again; the watch-word and motto of the French Infidels was, "CRUSH THE WRETCH ;" meaning Christ. Thus it may be truly said, "where our Lord was crucified." The very spirit of the "bottomless pit was poured out in that wicked nation. But did France "make war" on the Bible? She did; and in 1793 a decree passed the French Assembly, forbidding the Bible, and under that decree, the Bibles were gathered and burned, and every possible mark of contempt heaped upon them, and all the institutions of the Bible abolished; the Sabbath was blotted out, and every tenth day substituted for mirth and profanity. Baptism and the communion were abolished. The being of God was denied; and death pronounced to be an eternal sleep. The Goddess of Reason was set up, in the person of a vile woman, and publicly worshipped. Surely here is a power that exactly answers the prophecy. But let us examine this point still further.

Verse 9: "And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves."

The language of this verse denotes the feelings of other nations than the one committing the outrage on the witnesses. They would see what war infidel France had made on the Bible, but would not be led, nationally, to engage in the wicked work, nor suffer the murdered witnesses to be buried, or put out of sight among themselves, though they lay dead three days and a half, that is, three years and a half, in France. No, this very attempt of France served to arouse Christians everywhere to put forth a new exertion in behalf of the Bible, as we shall presently see.

Verse 10: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth."

This denotes the joy those felt who hated the Bible, or were tormented by it. Great was the joy of infidels everywhere, for a while. But "the triumphing of the wicked is short;" so was it in France; for their war on the Bible and Christianity had well nigh swallowed them all up. They set out to destroy Christ's "two witnesses," but they filled France with blood and horror, so that they were horror-struck at the result of their wicked deeds, and were glad to remove their impious hands from the Bible.

Verse 11: "And after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them."

In 1793, the decree passed the French Assembly suppressing the Bible. Just three years after, a resolution was introduced into the Assembly going to supersede the decree, and giving toleration to the Scriptures. That resolution lay on the table six months, when it was taken up, and passed without a dissenting vote. Thus, in just three years and a half, the wit

nesses "stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them that saw them." Nothing but the appalling results of the rejection of the Bible, could have induced France to take its hands off these witnesses.

Verse 12: "And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them."

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Ascended up to heaven." To understand this expression, see Daniel iv. 22: "Thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven." Here we see that the expression signifies great exaltation. Have the Scriptures attained to such a state of exaltation as here indicated, since France made war upon them? They have. Shortly after, the British Bible Society was organized; then followed the American Bible Society, and these, with their almost innumerable auxiliaries, scattering the Bible everywhere. The Bible has been translated into nearly 200 different languages, since that period, that it was never in before; and then the improvements in paper-making and printing, within the last forty years, have given a power in scattering Bibles unparalleled.

The Bible has been sent to the destitute, literally, by ship-loads. One vessel carried out from England fifty-nine tons of Bibles for the emancipated slaves in the West Indies. The Bible has had almost all classes in community engaged, either directly or indirectly, in sending it abroad. The Bible has risen to be respected by almost every one, whether saint or sinner. The infidel is ashamed to speak against that book in decent company: he must go to the grogshop, or some other place of infamy, if he expects to have hearers to his mad frothings against the Bible. It is exalted as above all price, and as the most invaluable blessing of God to man, next to his Son, and as the glorious testimony concerning that Son. Yes, the Scriptures may truly be said to be exalted" to heaven in a cloud," a cloud being an emblem of heavenly dignity.

Verse 13 And the same hour, [period or time,] was there a great earthquake, [revolution,] and a tenth part of the city fell. What city? See chap. xvii. 18: "And the woman which thou sawest, is that great city which reigneth over the kings [kingdoms] of the earth." That city is the Papal Roman power. France is one of the "ten horns" that gave their power and strength unto the [papal] beast; or is one of the ten kingdoms that arose out of the western empire of Rome, as indicated by the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image, Daniel's ten-horned beast, and John's ten-horned dragon. France, then, was a tenth part of the city ;" and was one of the strongest ministers of Papal vengeance; but in this revolution it "fell," and with it fell the last civil messenger of Papal fury. "And in the earthquake were slain of men [margin, names of men, or titles of men] seven thousand." France made war, in her revolution of 1798 and onward, on all titles and nobility. It is said, by those who have examined the French records, that just seven thousand titles of men were abolished in that revolution. "And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." Their Goddishonoring and heaven-defying work filled France with such scenes of blood, carnage, and horror, as made even the Infidels themselves to tremble and stand aghast, and the "remnant," that escaped the horrors of that hour, " gave glory to God," not willingly, but the God of heaven caused this "wrath of man to praise him," by giving all the world to see, that those who make war on heaven, make graves for themselves thus glory redounded to God by the very means that wicked men employed to tarnish that glory.

I will here introduce an extract, on the French Revolution, from Dr. Croly, a minister of the Church of England. He says:

"France, from the commencement of the Papal supremacy, had been the chief champion of the popedom; so early as the ninth century, had given it tem

poral dominion; and continued, through all ages, fully to merit the title of Eldest Son of the Church.' But France had received in turn the fatal legacy of persecution. From the time of the Albigenses, through the wars of the League, and the struggles of the Protestant Church during the seventeenth century, closing with its ruin, by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, the history of France was written on every page with the blood of the Reformed. Frequently contesting the personal claims of the popes to authority, but submissively bowing down to the doctrines, ceremonial, and principles of Rome, France was the most eager, restless, and ruthless of all the ministers of Papal vengeance.

"In a moment all this submission was changed into the direst hostility. At the exact close of the prophetic period, in 1793, the 1260th year from the birth of the Papal supremacy, a power new to all eyes suddenly started up among nations: an Infidel Democracy! France, rending away her ancient robes of loyalty and laws, stood before mankind a spectacle of naked crime. And, as if to strike the lesson of ruin deeper into the minds of all, on the very eve of this overthrow, the French monarchy had been the most flourishing of continental Europe—the acknowledged leader in manners, arts, and arms—unrivalled in the brilliant frivolities which fill so large a space in the hearts of mankind—its language universal—its influence boundless—its polity the centre round which the European sovereignties perpetually revolved—its literature the fount from which all nations'in their golden urns drew light.' Instantly, as by a single blow of the divine wrath, the land was covered with civil slaughter. Every star of her glittering firmament was shaken from its sphere; her throne was crushed into dust; her church of forty thousand clergy was scattered, exiled, ruined; all the bonds and appliances which once compacted her with the gener al European commonwealth, were burst asunder, and cast aside for a conspiracy against mankind. Still