(10) And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, (11) And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
As this is the last vial poured out specially upon the beast, so it is worthy the Reader's observation, that it is said to have been poured out upon the seat of the beast, meaning his whole empire. And I leave the Reader to his own thoughts to consider, whether the wonderful events which the last thirty years have brought forward, in humbling the whole papal authority, may not have been what is here said. Certain it is that the sixth vial is not yet poured out. And when it is, the Turkish dominions, as the river Euphrates proves, will receive its contents. It will be said, perhaps, that the Pope is lately recovered from his palsyed state. To which it may be answered, yes, he is. But when the seventh trumpet comes to be sounded, and the seventh vial to be poured out, the whole influence both of Pope, Turk, and devil will fall to rise no more, and all will be summed up, in the everlasting triumphs of Christ.