trace of its splendour, not even a vestige of its existence is now to be found. Its palaces, towers, temples, are mouldered into dust, or sunk into a morass; and so completely has the word of the prophet been fulfilled, that the place where it stood, infested with venemous beasts, cannot be approached. And thus it must remain for ever; for it is doomed by divine decree "never to be inhabited from generation to generation."

Thus, my brethren, I have no doubt, will Babylon's antitype perish. Her ecclesiastical greatness will be destroyed-all the orders of her proud and profligate hierarchy will be abolished-and her idolatrous worship, with all the multitude of her other abominations, will be covered with the mantle of everlasting oblivion. But this not all. A brand of infamy-a seal of divine indignation will be indelibly impressed on the very spot which, for so many hundred years, has been polluted as the chief seat-the peculiar dwelling place of "the man of sin." ROME will become the scene of awful and utter desolation described in my text. Mirth and joy will dwell in her no more. Busy commerce will forsake her. Industry and trade will perish out of her. She will cease to be the habitation of man, and will remain, f eneration, to ot blasted 1

blood on them that dwell on the earth." But when Papal Rome shall be finally cast down from her greatness, and all her persecutions ended, and all her corruptions and idolatries blotted out of the world, the people of God will rejoice, and will utter a more rapturous and triumphant song than ever has been heard in the militant Church. To this exercise, they are invited in the verse immediately preceding my text-" Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." And in this exercise we find the prophetic symbol represents them as engaged :-On the sounding of the seventh angel"-comprehending" the third woe," and the "seven vials" under whose effusion Antichrist is to be destroyed,-the "four and twenty elders"-representing the collective body of the people of Christ-" fall upon their faces before the throne," and, in humble acknowledgment of the mercy of God to his Church, and in adoration of his justice and faithfulness in punishing her foes, utter before him this eucharistic song-" We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and wast, and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small

and great, and shouldst destroy them who corrupt the earth.*

But, it may be said, is it consistent with the spirit of Christianity to rejoice over fallen adversaries, or to take delight in those awful judgments by which they are overthrown? Are not the people of Christ enjoinéd and constrained by the spirit of their benevolent faith to love their enemies, to bless those that curse them, to do good to those that hate them, and to pray for those who despitefully use them and persecute them? Yes, my brethren, and amid all the joy which the Church will express on the overthrow of Antichrist, there will not be the smallest departure from this sublime and amiable spirit. It is not in the judgments of God, abstractly regarded, that the Church will rejoice. It is not on account of the destruction or the misery even of her worst adversaries that she will utter her song of triumph, but because of the glory of her God which will be thereby manifested; and because of the happy consequences by which these judicial inflictions will be succeeded.--For,

I. The overthrow of Mystical Babylon-next to the advent of Christ-will be the most eminent display of the divine faithfulness that the Church has ever beheld. It will be the accomplishment of a multitude of promises and predictions-some of which

Rev. xi. 15-18.

G

innocent blood to the holiness and veracity of God will not be disregarded. A short while they are bidden to rest, honoured and happy in the invisible world, until the number of their martyred fellowservants and brethren shall be fulfilled; and then, when the iniquity of the persecuting power is completed, the judgment shall come. The wasting plagues, and the decisive overthrow which God will inflict on the Antichristian kingdom will be a public and striking manifestation of his holiness and truth, a vindication of the character and cause of his persecuted people, and a condemnation, before all the world, of the great and ungodly empire by which their blood has been shed. Regarded in this view, the judgments that are to be inflicted on Mystical Babylon appear altogether in accordance with the retributive character, and the holy government of God; and in this view, the Church is represented as adoring and rejoicing in them-"Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and 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.*

III. THE OVERTHROW OF MYSTICAL BABYLON WILL BE FINAL.

This seems to be intimated by the strongly empha

*Rev. xvi. 5, 6.