wonderful progress; and Antichrist, who had been rising higher and higher from his beginning till that time, was swiftly and suddenly brought down; he fell half-way towards utter ruin, and never has been able to rise again to his former height. A late expositor (Mr. Low MAN) who explains the five first vials in the 16th chapter of Revelation with greater probability perhaps than any who went before him, explains the fifth vial, which was poured out on the seat of the beast, of what came to pass in the Reformation; having explained the four preceding vials of certain great judgments which God brought on the popish dominions before the Reformation. It is said, Rev. 16: 10, that "the fifth angel poured out his vial on the seat of the beast;" in the original, it is the throne of the beast; "and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." He poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast, that is, on the authority and dominion of the Pope so the word throne is often used in Scripture. 1 Kings, 1:37. "As the Lord hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David;" i. e. make his dominion and authority greater, and his kingdom more glorious.

But now, in the Reformation, the vials of God's wrath were poured out on the throne of the beast, till it was terribly shaken and diminished. The Pope's authority and dominion were so greatly reduced, both as to extent and degree, that he lost about half his dominions; besides that authority,

Redemption.

29

even in Popish dominions, which he had before. He is not now regarded, nor is his power dreaded as it was wont to be. The powers of Europe have learned not to put their necks under the Pope's feet. He is as a lion that has lost his teeth, in comparison of what he once was. And when the Pope and his clergy, enraged to see their authority so diminished at the Reformation, united their plans, and joined their forces to destroy the Reformation; their policy, which was wont to serve them so well, failed. They found their kingdom full of darkness, so that they could do nothing; like the Egyptians, who rose not from their seats for three days. The Re

formed church was defended, as Lot and the angels were in Sodom, by God's smiting the Sodomites with darkness or blindness, so that they could not find the door. God then fulfilled that in Job, 5: 11, &c. "To set up on high those that be low, that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the day-time, and grope in the noon-day as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty." Those proud enemies of God's people being so disappointed, and finding themselves so unable to uphold their own dominion and authority, were made as it were to gnaw their tongues for pain, or to bite them for mere rage.

II. I proceed to show what opposition has been made by Satan and his adherents, to this success of Christ's purchase by the Reformation; observing

as we go along, how far they have been baffled, and how far they have been successful.

The opposition which Satan has made against the Reformed religion has been principally of the following kinds: 1. By a general council of the church of Rome; 2. By secret plots and devices; 3. By open wars and invasions; 4. By cruel oppression and persecution; and, 5. By bringing in corrupt opinions.

I. The first opposition that I shall notice is that, made by the clergy of the church of Rome in a general council. This was the famous council of Trent, which the Pope called a little while after the Reformation. In that council there met six cardinals, thirty-two archbishops, two hundred and twen ty-eight bishops, besides innumerable others of the Komish clergy. This council, in all their sittings, including the times of intermission, was held for twenty-five years. Their main business all this while was to concert measures for establishing the church of Rome against the Reformers, and for destroying the Reformation. But it proved that they were not able to perform their enterprise. The reformed church, notwithstanding their great council, remained, and still remains. So that the council of the froward is carried headlong; their kingdom is full of darkness, and they weary themselves to find the door.

Thus the church of Rome, instead of repenting of their deeds, when such clear light was held forth to them by Luther and other servants of God, persisted, by general agreement in council, in their vile corruptions and wickedness, and obstinate opposition to the kingdom of Christ. The doctrines and

practices of the church of Rome, which were chief ly condemned by the Reformed, were confirmed by the decrees of their council; and the corruptions, in many respects, were carried higher than ever before. They uttered blasphemous reproaches and curses against the reformed religion, and all the reformed church was excommunicated and anathematized. According to the prophecy, they blasphemed God. Thus God hardened their hearts, intending to destroy them.

2. The Papists have endeavored to overthrow the Reformation by secret plots and conspiracies. There were many plots against the life of Luther. The Papists were contriving to dispatch him out of their way; and he, being a very bold man, often very much exposed himself in the cause of Christ; but yet they were wonderfully prevented from hurt ing him, and he at last died in his bed in peace. There have been innumerable schemes secretly laid for the overthrow of the protestant religion; one of the most considerable, and which seemed to be the most likely to take effect, was that in the time of king James II. of England. There was at that time a strong conspiracy between the king of England and Louis XIV. of France, who were both Papists, to extirpate the northern heresy, as they called the protestant religion, not only out of England, but out of all Europe; and they had so laid their schemes that they seemed to be almost sure of their purpose. They thought that if the reformed religion were suppressed in the British realms and in the Netherlands, which were the strongest part, and chief defence of the protestant interest, they should have easy work with the rest. And just as

their matters seemed to be come to a head, and their enterprise ripe for execution, God, in his providence, suddenly dashed all their schemes in pieces by the revolution, at the coming in of king William and queen Mary; by which all their designs were at an end. Now the protestant interest was more strongly established, by the crown of England being transferred to the protestant house of Hanover, and a Papist being, by the constitution of the nation, for ever rendered incapable of wearing the crown of England. Thus they groped in darkness at noonday as in the night, and their hands could not perform their enterprise, and their king. dom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain.

After this there was a deep design laid to bring the same thing to pass in the latter end of Queen Anne's reign, by the bringing in of the popish pretender; which was no less suddenly and totally baffled by divine Providence; as all the plots against the Reformation by bringing in the pretender have been.

3. The Reformation has often been opposed by open wars and invasions. The emperor of Germany declared war with the duke of Saxony, and the principal men who favored and received Luther's doctrine. But they could not obtain their end; they could not suppress the Reformation. For the same end, some time after, the king of Spain maintained a long war with Holland and the Low Countries. But those cruel wars issued greatly to the disadvantage of the Romish church, as they oc casioned the setting up of one of the most powerful protestant states in Europe. The design of the