Of the Seven Phials; with the Beast and Babylon declining to their Fall. The effusion of the phials brings ruin and destruction on the beast, as is manifest from the text. For the conquerors of the beast sing the song of Moses, epinikion or the song of victory. c. xv. v.2, 3. And it appears especially, from the first phial, c. xvi. v.2, which sends the plague of an ulcer "on the men who had the mark of the beast, and on those who adore his image;" from the fifth, which is poured "on the throne of the beast," and which renders his kingdom dark; and also from the last, on the pouring out of which Babylon is wholly overthrown. Therefore, the effusion of the phials is contemporary with the concluding scenes of the beast and Babylon. |