by John Thomas

“ In fact, "the churches" are precisely what college divinity is alone competent to create. "The truth as it is in Jesus" is not taught in the schools. They are mere nurseries of pride, professional religion, and conceit; and "the droppings of the sanctuary" which their nurslings are appointed to distil, wear away the intelligence of the people, and leave them irresponsive to "the testimony of God." Nothing short of this, unmixed with the traditions of men, can make people what they must be if they would inherit His kingdom. ”

“ Israel and the saints of the holy city will see the Lord, but not the nations at large. The divine majesty is not prodigal of its manifestations. Men in the flesh, therefore, will, I apprehend, believe in the presence of the Lord on earth as its imperial and pontifical Ruler, as nations now believe in the existence and sovereignty of the Autocrat, the Sultan, the Emperor, or the Pope, of whom they have heard by the report of others, but whom they have not seen, and perhaps may never behold. Men profess now to believe that the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of God ”

“ If men would not be carried about by every wind that blows, let them study this. It will unfold to them the future, and make them wiser than the world. The coming years will not be years of peace. The policy of the Autocrat will be to throw his adversaries off their guard, and take the Sultan by surprise. ”

“ In attacking Russia, the democracy exceeded the limits of its commission; for the Russian dominion is not yet of the ten-horned Beast of the sea, or two-horned Beast of the earth. While Russia, indeed, was combating for the Beasts in Italy and Germany, her hosts were at length everywhere defeated; but when they stood upon their own soil, God shielded them from the Avenger, whose strength was wasted by His frost and snow. Repelled within the limits of Roman Europe, the power of Napoleon dried up more rapidly than it prevailed. ”

“ This world is "a dark place," and its cosmopolites who understand not the prophetic word, mere embodiments of fog. If we understand "the word of the kingdom" we shall "shine as lights in the world," and be enabled to rejoice in the approach of "the day of Christ." By the "shining light of prophecy" we shall be able to interpret the signs which God has revealed as appearing in the political heavens and earth. Events among the nations of the Roman habitable, and not atmospheric phenomena, are the signs of the coming of the Lord as a thief ”

“ The convulsion which effects their overthrow is described by the apostle as "a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great" (Rev 16:18) . Ascertain the calamities of former ages, and however terrible they may appear, this will exceed them all. The Flood, Sodom, Egypt, Jerusalem, the fall of the Roman empire, were all judgments which chill the heart, and make the blood run cold to contemplate; but times have now come over the world which will have been hitherto unsurpassed. ”

“ It speaks to us in effect, saying, "When you perceive the policy of the Frog-power acting upon the demon of Turkey, the demon of Austria, and the demon of Romanism, so as to cause them to assume an attitude tending to embroil the nations, you may then know that I, the Lord, am about to revisit the world stealthily."
Christ says, "Behold, I come as a thief." That is, he comes as a thief comes when he is bent on stealing. A thief not only comes unexpectedly, but he gets into the house with secrecy. ”

“ They had eclipsed him in Italy; and their Corsican chieftain received imperial power, and in the exercise of it literally "scorched men with fire." Being now himself the sun of a great part of Europe, he would tolerate no rival. The house of Hapsburg still claimed to be the sun of the Roman world, which the head of the now imperial democracy resolved should not be. He therefore "scorched men with great heat" in his German wars. He executed all the wrath of the fourth vial upon the Austrian empire, till at length the time arrived to "fill the beast's kingdom with darkness." ”

“ The "Italian fields" (see Milton’s sonnet, "On the Massacre in Piedmont, 1655") were the arena of the dreadful massacres of the witnesses by the "holy Roman" power, whose mercenaries on the same Aceldama received blood to drink at Napoleon's hand. This righteous retribution is the subject of angelic celebration, saying, "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." ”

“ The things which will have been accomplished when the seventh trumpet shall have ceased to sound are stated summarily in the following words: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Anointed; and he shall reign for ever and ever." ”

“ A preacher who had listened to me at one place, was so convinced of my error, that in his next discourse, he predicted the certain triumph of the "brave Hungarians" over all their enemies. But, alas for him. Men should never prophesy of the future from present appearances.
Though these were against my exposition, I was persuaded would turn out in the end as I had said; and I added, furthermore, that "an unclean spirit" was to go forth out of the mouth of the dragon, as well as from the mouths of the beast and of the false prophet ”

“ Messiah appears "as a thief"; the Roman Dragon is bound; and the restoration of the kingdom and throne of David is commenced. Such is an outline of the results to be brought about by the "mighty earthquake" whose premonitions have already revealed what is hereafter to come to pass. In the coming tumult, "great Babylon comes into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island disappears, and the mountains are not found. And there falls upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent ”

“ If the reader take a survey of Europe as exhibited in the events of the last two years, he will see the view I have presented still further illustrated. The Pope and the Emperor have been the principals who have brought about the wars on the Continent. The unclean spirit of the Little Horn went forth to Russia and brought down its hosts upon Hungary; it is also going forth to Prussia in opposition to the democratic constitution it is developing at Erfurt; and, in concert with Russia, it has gone forth to the Sultan, with whom it has interrupted its former amicable relations. ”

“ Then are prostrated the horns, the little horn, and the image of the beast, and consumed their dominion; but in connection with this earthquake of the last vial, she has "to destroy it to the end."
They are repressed for the moment; but things are progressing in such a direction as to bring the power of the democracy to bear against Austria and Rome, perhaps through France and Prussia. When they have done their work, the earth must be again repressed and suppressed, as they were in 1814 and 1815, by a power, however, that will subdue all for itself. ”

“ The judgment of the sixth vial is to take away his supremacy, and to wrest from him the dragon's sceptre. This is termed "drying up the waters of the Euphrates"; which occurs for the purpose of bringing about the restoration of Israel, who by the constitution of Sinai, are "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation," and to whom belongs the adoption, through which "the kings of the east" are provided. Now, when the Turks obtained possession of Constantinople, the Catholics were doomed to one of three things -- to turn Mussulman, to pay tribute, or to suffer death ”

“ He is virtually stripped of his dominion; he can prophesy, but his rule is a thing of name, and not a fact. A false prophet is he; truth-less as Satan; sporting himself with his own deceivings, and thereby provoking a speedy fate, which is "capture and destruction."
But, before he and the two-horned beast before whom he is now working, perish in the European fiery lake they are blowing into a flame, they must fulfil the mission to which they are appointed under this series of the sixth vial. ”

“ Now no one can watch without light. If the heavens be dark, the watchman must be provided with a light, or he cannot watch. By gazing at the natural luminaries as some professors are accustomed to do, no light can be derived, nor signs observed premonitory of the coming of the Lord. This is "the way of the heathen," and "a custom which is vain." (Jer 10:2,3) The natural heavens are impenetrably dark in relation to his appearing. The believer, or spiritual watchman, must take "the sure word of prophecy," which is the only "light" capable of enlightening him in the surrounding gloom. ”

“ When Satan undertakes to cast out Satan his kingdom is sure to be convulsed. The reforms of Pius IX satisfied nobody, and tended only to create a longing after liberty, and a determination to free the country from the rule of priests. ”

“ They were contending with His foes, and avenging the blood of His saints, therefore no power could withstand them so long as they did not transcend their mission. The history of these events ought to teach politicians that God can punish the destroyers of the earth by an agency which in itself is without strength or wisdom. When He takes the work in hand, the feeble become strong; and the poor despise riches. ”

“ Marcomir, king of the French, having penetrated from Westphalia into Tongres, saw in a dream a figure with three heads, the one of a lion, the other of an eagle, and the third of a frog. He consulted there, it is added, a celebrated druid of the country, named Al Runus; who assured him that this figure represented the three powers which had reigned successively over the Gauls the Colts whose symbol was the lion; the Romans designated by the eagle, and the Franks by the frog, because of their marshes". ”

“ As records of facts, the journals are invaluable; but if a person permit his opinions to be formed by the views presented in leading articles, and the letters of "our own correspondents," he will be continually misled, and compelled to eat his words for evermore. ”

“ This, then, is the great desideratum of the age -- namely, the preparation of a people for the Lord; a people whose character shall answer to the testimonies adduced. "The churches" do not contain such a people, neither can their pulpit ministrations produce them. ”

“ The former are the kings of Germany and Russia, etc.; while the latter are the kings of Roman Europe, such as of Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, Naples, and Greece. They are all to be involved in war by the "unclean spirits" of the three demons, whose policy will bring about results that will ruin themselves, and astonish the world.
But why are these three political influences likened to frogs? "I Saw," says the apostle, "three unclean spirits like frogs come out of these mouths." The interpretation, I conceive, is this. The frogs are the heraldic symbols of a power ”