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And the fifth angel; the fifth of the seven angels mentioned Rev_16:1: by which, as was said, is to be understood the instruments which God will use gradually to destroy the papacy; the fifth rank of persons, whom God will employ in the execution of this his purpose, by his acts of providence.
Poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; shall execute God’s wrath upon the city of Rome itself, wholly destroying the papacy in their power.
And his kingdom was full of darkness; upon which his whole kingdom shall be full of the darkness of misery, trouble, and affliction. (Darkness was one of the plagues of Egypt).
And they gnawed their tongues for pain; and they shall be full of calamities, like men in so much pain that they bite their own tongues for pain. When this shall be God alone knows. I think, and experience hath proved, that they were much too hasty in their speculations, that prophesied it should be in the year 1656, or 1660, or 1666. For my own part, I do not believe it will be before 1866, or between that and the year 1900. The determination of it depends upon the right fixing of the epocha, or beginning of the forty-two months, or one thousand two hundred and sixty prophetical days, which I think most probably fixed upon the year 606, or (according to Mr. Stephens’s notion) 666, which, according to the Julian account, is the same: See Poole on "Rev_13:18".