"And the Fourth Angel poured out his vial upon the SUN; and it was given to him to scorch the men with fire. And the men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the Name of the Deity who hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give glory to him" - verses 8, 9.

The judgments or plagues of the Fourth Trumpet smote so as to darken a third part of the sun, moon and stars; so that for a third part of the day, and of the night, there was no light. This has been expounded in my second volume, and needs only to be referred to by way of reminding the reader, that the sun, moon and stars were there interpreted of the Imperial Catholic Constitution of the Western Third of the Roman Empire; which was superseded in Rome, by the Seventh Head, or Gothic kingly form of government; after the fall of which, Rome's political day and night continued darkened two hundred and forty years, when it again shone forth imperially, as the capital of "THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE," founded by Charlemagne. The crowning of this conqueror by the Pope in Rome "emperor of the West," terminated the Sun's ternary eclipse; dark spots have since crossed its disc, but with the exception of these, the Imperial Sun of the Two-Horned Beast's Image empire, has been subjected to no darkening, worthy of Apocalyptic notice, till the epoch of the fourth and fifth vials, which have special reference thereto.

The Sun, then, of the fourth vial is the Imperial and Regal Sovereignty of European Antichristendom. The Pope, the Emperor, and the Kings, are the official terms indicative of the Sun in its shining forth upon the nations. To pour out wrath upon this sun, so that the out-pourer should scorch with fire the men who have the sign of the Beast, and who worship his Image, is to develop terrible disasters specially affecting in their consequences the power of these potentates.

"It was given to him to scorch the men with fire". I doubt not, that this form of words was intended to indicate, that there would be a remarkable and distinguished personage concerned in the terrible operation of scorching "the men," who are characterized as blasphemers of the Deity's Name, "with fire," whose heat was predicted to be "great". We shall find that this scorcher of men, was the same whom the Egyptian Mamelukes termed "the King of Fire". His theory was, that Providence was on the side of the heaviest artillery: this, however, depends upon its being "given to him" who scorches with it, to handle it judiciously. It was so given to Napoleon Buonaparte, who, until his mission was performed, surpassed all his contemporaries in the use of it. He was truly a scorcher of blasphemers with great heat.