1841 William Miller Evidence from Scripture & History - A2Z.org

mtes the diesolution of the body dieted, and thst the
constitution is laborin under some inward diseaee, or
affected by contagion &m without It is therefore a fit
emblem to re resent the exposure df the corruptions of
the church of~ome, and breaking out of those Mhsome
diseases of internal abominations which had been
hid for agea from the world by the cunnin craftiness
of thia Papl beast The msn apoken of in &a paasage
are those who worship the beast, and who are the professed
followera of th~a corrupt society, and all who live
under the influence and control of the idolatrous city of
nations, and who tra5c in her indulgences and abominable
practices. This vial then began to be poured out
when the Proteatants first published to the world the
corruptions and abominable practices of the ahurch of
Rome, when the world be n to see the noisome and
grievou. sores that coveregthe men who pretended to
preach or proclaim the doctrine, lam, or commands of
this beast. And of course this plague was sent on the
Romieh church about the year A. D. 1529, under the
preaching of Luther, Calvin, and others who opposed and
ex osed the corruptions of the church of Rome.
terse 3, And the second angel poured out his vial
upon the sea, and it became ae the blood of a dead man;
and every living soul died in the sea" The sea, in
prophetic language, is the centre of some
at nation,
or society of men, as in a reatlew aod turEent state;
and the things living in the sea, are the persons living
under the power or control of this nrrtion, or society.
Liwing sod denotes those persona who have been born
of the Spirit, and are in possession of that living faith
in God, and love for all men L1 As the blood of a dead
man" There is something very striking in this figure -
wt an ordinary figure of blood, which denotes war and
, mortal controversy, but cold, congealed blood ; the blood
of a dead man denotinu a massacre in cool blood, without
any resistance on &e @ of these murdered. Thia
vial was, then, poured out in France, the principal kingdom
in the Roman ton horns, in the year A. D. 1572, at
the massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bsrtholomew's
eve, when 50,000 were slain in (we night, and the streeta
19 *