Revelation 16:2

THE FIRST VIAL.

"And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell. noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image."--16:2.

In order to understand what historical event is foreshadowed, it is needful for us to keep several facts in mind.

1. As. have already shown, these vials portray. series of calamitous events that befell spiritual Babylon, or papal Rome.

2. They will begin, therefore, not in the zenith of her power, but are connected in some way with the history of her decline and fall. We would hardly expect them during the 1260 years of her power and glory when the Church is hidden from the oppressor in the wilderness. It has been elsewhere shown that 1260 years have been repeatedly assigned as the period of her greatest glory and, since this is so, the first vial would not be poured out until that period had ended.. have dated, in preceding lectures, the beginning of this period in A. D. 533 when, amid the flames and blood of persecution, the Bishop of Rome was first designated by imperial power as Lord of the whole Church. If the first vial is poured out it the end of this period we may look for it about 1793.

3. The first vial is expressly limited to those who have the mark of the beast, or the devotees of Rome. It certainly describes. calamity to the Papacy, and one of. series that culminates in its ruin. It is described as. grievous ulcer, that afflicts those who have the mark of the beast. An ulcer is not only. painful and dangerous sore, but is often malignant and foul with corruption. The term is often used to describe moral corruption, and the ulcers described may be moral or spiritual. Can we find aught in history about the end of the 1260 years of papal domination that corresponds with the symbolism? We will look in France. It was Charlemagne, the emperor of France, who bestowed the temporal power upon the popes. The ruler of France was long styled the eldest son of the Church. It was France that had perpetrated the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the dragonnades of the Cevennes, and the banishment of the Huguenots. The French nation had the mark of the beast to at least as great an extent as ally other nation.

In 1793, exactly at the close of the period of 1260 years, there breaks out in France. fearful, moral ulcer that had long been festering. The French revolution, the uprising of enslaved masses who were maddened into fury, sent Catholic king, royal families, nobles, and priests to the guillotine by tens of thousands, impelled the nation in its madness to publicly declare itself atheistic, leavened it with skepticism, and broke the hold of Rome to such. degree that she can never more control France. The ulcer was awfully corrupt and deadly. At one time 200,000 citizens of all conditions and both sexes were in prison, and often in Paris alone, fourscore were sent to the scaffold in. day. As the result of the breaking forth of this ulcer, the mightiest Catholic nation was convulsed with civil war, every Catholic country in Europe was deluged in blood, and the papal power received. shock from which it never can recover. The first vial, the breaking forth of grievous, painful, malignant ulcers, most fitly represents the breaking out of the French revolution, points to the elevation of the foulest and most fiendish leaders of the rabble to the government of the nation, and to the scenes of madness and fury that have marked this fearful period as the Reign of Terror.