^^^^roTfmt^ 
 
 ^^t'OtOCICAL St^ 
 
 BS2825 .S126 
 
 Sadler, Michael Ferrebee, 1819-1895 
 
 Revelation of St. John the Divine 
 
BS2825 .S126 
 
 The Revelation of St. John the Divine 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1012 00081 8692 
 
THE EEVELATION OF ST. JOHN 
 THE DIVINE. 
 
GEORGE BELL & SONS, 
 
 LONDON : YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, 
 AND NEW YORK, 66, FIFTH AVENUE. 
 CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. 
 
THE 
 
 KEVELATION OF ST. JOHN 
 THE DIVINE. 
 
 WITH NOTES CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL. 
 
 BY THE REV. M. F. SADLER, 
 
 RECTOR OF HONITON AND PREBENDARY OF WELLS. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, EEVI8ED. 
 
 LONDON : 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 
 
 1894. 
 
CHISW'ICK TRESS :— CHARLES WltlTTINGUAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
IXTRODUCTION. 
 
 WE must examine the authenticity of the Apocalypse in the 
 same way as we have that of other books of the rest of 
 the New Tefitament. The authenticity of any book which entitles 
 it to form part of the Sacred Canon depends upon its recep- 
 tion by the Church from the first. With respect to the book 
 of the Revelation we have Justin Martyr (about a.d. 140) writing 
 as follows : '* And further, there was a certain man with us whose 
 name was John, one of the Apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by 
 a Revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our 
 Christ should dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem, and that 
 thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and 
 judgment of all men should likewise take place " (" Dialogue with 
 Trypho," sect. 81). Now it is very remarkable that this is the 
 only place in which Justin mentions an Apostle by name. Through- 
 out his works which are extant he constantly refers to the Apostles, 
 and the companions of the Apostles, but does not name any one of 
 them; and this is the solitary place in which he refers to an 
 Apostle by name. 
 
 The ecclesiastical memory of Justin Martyr must have reached 
 to the times of St. John himself. If he was martyred — say 
 in or about 150— he must have conversed with many middle- 
 aged or old men who were contemporary with the Apostle in his 
 later years ; so that it was impossible for him to have been mis- 
 taken as to the authorship of a work attributed to the Apostle. 
 
 Then we have Irenseus, about a.d. 170 or 180, that is, he lived 
 within less than a century after the time to which early writers 
 assign the date of the Apocalypse. I have now before me an 
 index of his quotations from, or references to. Scripture, and from 
 this I gather that he refers to the Apocalypse thirty-one times. I 
 have examined each of these, and some of the results are as 
 
vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 follows. In by far the greater part of these places he not only 
 refers to the book, but quotes it as the work of the Apostle John. 
 "John also, the Lord's disciple, when beholding the sacerdotal 
 and glorious advent of His kingdom, says in the Apocalypse, * I 
 turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I 
 saw seven golden candlesticks,' " &c. (Irenaeus, " Against Heresies," 
 iv. 11). " On this account also does John declare in the Apocalypse, 
 ' And his voice as the sound of many waters ' " (" Against Heresies," 
 iv. 14). Again also, *' But when John could not endure the sight 
 (for he says, 'I fell at his feet as dead,')," &c. (iv. 11). Also i. 26, 
 " The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the 
 Apocalypse of John as teaching that it is a matter of indifference 
 to practise adultery and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Where- 
 fore the Word has also spoken of them thus : * This thou hast, 
 that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also 
 hate.' " (Also v. 10, 2 ; iv. 20, 3 ; iii. 11, 8 ; iv. 20, 11 ; iv. 17, 5 ; 
 V. 30, 2 ; iv. 18, 6 ; ii. 31, 3, &c.) 
 
 But Irenaeus himself may be reckoned a contemporary of St. 
 John, being acquainted with his (John's) disciple Polycarp : 
 writing thus : *' But Polycarp also was not only instructed by 
 Apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was 
 also by Apostles in Asia appointed Bishop of the Church in Smyrna, 
 tvJiom I also saw in my early youth " (Irenaeus, " Against Heresies," 
 iii. 3, 4). 
 
 Melito, Bishop of Sardis about a.d. 171, is mentioned by 
 Eusebius as having amongst many other works written one on 
 the Revelation of St. John. Also Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, 
 as having written " against the heresy of Hermogenes," in which 
 he makes use of testimony from the Revelation of St. John, be- 
 sides certain other catechetical works. And speaking of ApoUo- 
 nius, in the end of Cent, ii., Eusebius says, *' He quotes also the 
 Revelation of John as testimony," 
 
 TertuUian. — The references to the Apocalypse in the writings 
 of TertuUian are exceedingly numerous. It will suffice to give 
 three or four. Thus, " If thou doubtest this consider what the 
 Spirit saith unto the churches. To the Ephesians he imputeth 
 that they have left their first love: those of Thyatira he re- 
 proacheth with fornication, and tbe eating of things sacrificed to 
 idols. The Sardians, he accuseth of works not perfect," &c. (" On 
 Penitence," chap, viii.) Again ('* Prescription against Heretics," 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vii 
 
 :sxxiii.), " But John in the Bevelation is commanded to chastise 
 ihem which eat things sacrificed to idols," &c. Also in " On the 
 Crowns," xv., *' To him that overcometh, saith he, I will give a 
 crown of life. . . . The angel also receiveth a crown of victory, 
 going forth on a white horse to conquer. And another is adorned 
 with a rainbow encircling him like a meadow in the heavens. 
 The elders also sit wearing crowns," &c. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, " And although here upon earth he be 
 not honoured with the first seat, he will sit down on the four-and- 
 twenty thrones, judging the people, as St. John says in the Apoca- 
 lypse " (" Miscellanies," vi. 13). Again, " The Apocalypse says also 
 that the Lord Himself appeared wearing such a robe. It says 
 also, *I saw the souls of those that had witnessed beneath the 
 altar, and there was given to each a white robe " (*' Instructor," 
 ii. 11). Again, " Thus the Lord Himself is called Alpha and 
 Omega, the beginning and the end" ("Miscellanies," vi. chap. 16). 
 
 Origen, " Once more John, in teaching us the difference between 
 what ought to be committed to writing and what not, declares that 
 he heard seven thunders instructing him on certain matters, and for- 
 bidding him to commit these words to writing " (" Against Celsus," 
 Vi. chap. 6). Again, *' He will more worthily transfer all the saints 
 from a temporal to an everlasting Gospel, according to the desig- 
 nation employed by John in the Apocalypse, of 'an everlasting 
 Gospel," (" De Principiis," iv. ch. 1). 
 
 Cyprian, "Also in the Apocalypse, * And I saw in the right hand 
 of God a book written within, and on the back, sealed with seven 
 .seals.' " In an index to the Scripture passages quoted in Cyprian's 
 works I find sixty-four references to the Kevelation. 
 
 It seems useless to load pages with more instances of the Old 
 Fathers quoting the Apocalypse as Scripture. The reader will 
 find in Alford, and the " Speaker's Commentary," quotations from 
 many others, as Hippolytus, Victorinus, Ephrem Syrus, Epipha- 
 nius, Basil, Hilaiy of Poitiers, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, 
 Didymus, Ambrose, and Augustine. Altogether there is no book 
 of the Bible which has more decisive testimony in its favour than 
 this one. 
 
 We have now to come to testimonies on the opposite side, those 
 which impugn its authenticity — that it was not the work of the 
 Apostle St. John. 
 
vni INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The first of these was an obscure sect called the Alogi, whose 
 principal characteristic was that they opposed the Montanists. 
 They are not mentioned by Eusebius, and what we learn about 
 them is from Epiphanius. In their zeal against Montanism they 
 denied the existence of spiritual gifts in the Church, and rejected 
 the Kevelation as being not the work of St. John, but of Cerinthus. 
 But by far the most important testimony against the Eevelation 
 is from Dionysius of Alexandria, about 240 a.d., described as the 
 most influential as well as the ablest bishop of that age. Eusebius, 
 who himself desired to show that the Apocalypse should not be 
 considered the writing of John, the son of Zebedee, though he 
 acknowledged its inspiration, gives a lengthened extract from: 
 Dionysius as follows : " Some, indeed, before us, have set aside and 
 have attempted to refute the whole book, criticizing every chapter,, 
 and pronouncing it without sense and without reason. They say 
 that it has a false title, for it is not a work of John. Nay, that 
 it is not even a revelation, as it is covered with such a dense and 
 thick veil of ignorance that not one of the Apostles and not one 
 of the holy men, or those of the Church, could be its author. But 
 that Cerinthus, the founder of the sect of the Cerinthians, so called 
 from him, wishing to have reputable authority for his own fiction,, 
 prefixed the title. For this is the doctrine of Cerinthus, that there 
 will be an earthly reign of Christ ; and as he (Cerinthus) was a 
 lover of the body, and altogether sensual in those things which he 
 so eagerly craved, he dreamed that he would revel in the gratifica- 
 tion of the sensual appetite, in eating and drinking and marrying. 
 . . . For my part I would not venture to set this book (of the 
 Eevelation) aside, as there are many brethren that value it much ; 
 but having formed a conception of its subject as exceeding my 
 capacity, I considered it also as containing a certain concealed and 
 wonderful intimation in each particular. For though I do not 
 understand, yet I suspect that some deeper sense is enveloped in 
 the words, and these I do not measure and judge by my private 
 reason ; but allowing more to faith, I have regarded them as toO' 
 lofty to be comprehended by me, and those things tliat I do not 
 understand I do not reject, but I wonder the more that I cannot 
 comprehend." 
 
 After this he examines (these are the words of Eusebius) the 
 whole book of the Eevelation, and after proving that it is impos- 
 sible that it should be understood according to the obvious and 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 literal sense, he proceeds, " The prophet, as I said, having com- 
 pleted the whole prophecy, he pronounces those blessed that should 
 observe it as also himself. ' For blessed,' says he, ' is he that 
 keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book, and I John, who 
 have seen and heard these things.' I do not therefore deny that he- 
 was called John, and that this was the writing of one John, and I 
 agree that it was the work, also, of some holy and inspired man. 
 B<fc I would not easily agree that this was the Apostle, the son of 
 Zebedee, the brother of James, who is the author of the Gospel 
 and the Catholic Epistle that bears his name. But I conjecture, 
 both from the general tenor of both and the form and complexion 
 of the composition, and the execution of the whole book that 
 it is not from him. For the Evangelist never prefixed his 
 name, never proclaims himself, either in the Gospel or in his 
 Epistle." 
 
 A little further he adds, " But John never speaks as of himself 
 (in the first person) nor as of another (in the third), but he that 
 wrote the Apocalypse declares himself immediately in the begin- 
 ning : 'The Eevelation of Jesus Christ which he (God) gave unta 
 him, to show to his servants quickly. And he sent and signified 
 it by his angel to his servant John, who bare record of the word 
 of God and of his testimony (of Jesus Christ) and of all things that 
 he saw.' 
 
 " Besides this he wrote an Epistle, * John to the seven churches 
 of Asia : Grace and peace to you.' But the Evangelist does not 
 prefix his name even to his general Epistle, but without any intro- 
 duction or circumlocution begins from the very mystery of the 
 Divine Eevelation : 'that which was from the beginning, which we 
 have heard, which we have seen with our eyes ;'.... but neither 
 in the second nor third Epistle ascribed to John (the Apostle), 
 though they are very brief, is the name of John presented. But 
 anonymously it is written ihe preslyter. But the other did not 
 consider it sufficient to name himself but once, and then to proceed 
 in his narrative, but afterwards again resumes : ' I John, your 
 brother and. partner in tribulation, and in the kingdom and 
 patience of Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, on account of 
 the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus.' And likewise at the 
 end (of the book) he says, ' Blessed is be that keepeth the words o^ 
 the prophecy of this book, and I am John, that saw and heard 
 these things.' 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " That it is a John that wrote these things we must believe him 
 as he says it ; but what John it is is uncertain. For he has not 
 said that he was (as he often does in the Gospel) the beloved 
 disciple of the Lord, neither the one leaning on his bosom, nor the 
 brother of James, nor he that himself saw and heard what the 
 Lord did and said. For he certainly would have said one of these 
 particulars, if he wislied to make himself clearly known. But of 
 all this there is nothing, he only calls himself our brother and 
 companion, and the witness of Jesus, and blessed on account of 
 seeing and hearing these revelations. 
 
 " I am of opinion there were many of the same name with John 
 the Apostle, who for their love and admiration and emulation of 
 him, and their desire at the same time, like him, to be beloved 
 of the Lord, adopted the same epithet, .just as we find the 
 name of Paul and of Peter to be adopted by many among the 
 faithful. 
 
 " There is also another John, surnamed Mark, mentioned in the 
 
 book of the Acts But whether this is the one that wrote the 
 
 Apocalypse I could not say I think, therefore, that it was 
 
 another, one of those in Asia. For they say that there are two 
 monuments at Ephesus, and that each one bears the name of John, 
 and from the sentiments and the expressions, as also their compo- 
 sition, it might be very reasonably conjectured that this one is 
 different from that. For the Gospel and Epistle mutually agree. 
 They commence in the same way ; for the one says, ' In the 
 beginning was the Word ; ' the other, ' That which was from the 
 beginning.' The one says, 'And the Word was made flesh and 
 dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as 
 of the only-begotten of the Father ; ' the other says the same things 
 a little altered, ' That which we have heard, which we have seen 
 with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
 handled of the Word of life, and the life was manifested.' These 
 things, therefore, are premised, alluding, as he has shown in the 
 subsequent parts, to those who say that the Lord did not come 
 into the flesh. Wherefore also he has designedly subjoined, 
 ' What we have seen we testify, and declare to you that eternal 
 life,' &c. 
 
 " But the attentive reader will find the expressions, the life, the 
 light, frequently occurring in both ; in both he will find the expres- 
 sions, fleeing from darl-ness, the truth, grace, joy, the flesh and blood 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 o/ the Lord, the judgment, forgiveness of si7is, the love of God to us, 
 the commandment given to us to love one anoiher,th at loe ought to Tceep 
 all the commandments, the conviction of the tvorld, the devil, of Anti- 
 christ, the iJromise of the Holy Spirit, the adoption of God {i.e., the 
 adoption made by God) the faith to he exhibited by us in all matters, 
 the Father and the Son, everywhere occurring in both, and alto- 
 gether throughout, to attentive observers, it will be obvious that 
 there is one and the same complexion and character in the Gospel 
 and Epistle. Very different and remote from all this is the 
 Apocalypse ; not even touching or even bordering upon them in 
 the least, I might say, not even containing a syllable in common 
 with them. But the Epistle, to say nothing of the Gospel, has not 
 made any mention or given any intimation of the Apocalypse, or 
 does the Apocalypse mention the Epistle, whereas Paul indicates 
 something of his revelations in his Epistle, which, however, he 
 never recorded in writing. 
 
 " We may also note how the phraseology of the Gospel and the 
 Epistle differs from the Apocalypse. For the former are written 
 not only irreprehensibly, as it regards the Greek language, but are 
 most elegant in diction, in the arguments, and the whole structure 
 of the style. It would require much to discover any barbarism or 
 solecisms or any odd peculiarity of expression at all in them. For, 
 as is to be jDresumed, he was endued with all the requisites for his 
 discourse, the Lord having given him both that of knowledge and 
 that of expression and style. That the latter, however, saw a reve- 
 lation, and received knowledge and prophecy, I do not deny. But 
 I perceive that his dialect and language is not very accurate Greek, 
 but that he uses barbarous idioms, and in some places solecisms, 
 which it is now unnecessary to select : for neither would I have 
 anyone suppose that I am saying these things by way of derision, 
 but only with the view to point out the great difference between 
 the writings of these men" (Eusebius, "Eccles. History," vii. ch. 25, 
 Cruse's Translation). 
 
 I have given this place in full, because it is the first and only 
 passage worth speaking of in the Ante-Nicene Fathers which ques- 
 tions the Apostolic origin of this book. Now it is to be remarked 
 that Dionysius entirely confines himself to certain internal con- 
 siderations, ignoring the testimony of those who preceded him, 
 to the external and ecclesiastical testimony for the Apostolic 
 authorship. To begin with, what value can we attach to the 
 
Xli INTRODUCTION. 
 
 surmise that if St. John wrote the book he could not put his name to 
 it because he did not put his name to his Gospel or his Epistle. What 
 right has anyone to push aside the authenticity of a well-accredited 
 book for such a reason. Is an author bound never to vary in his 
 mode of asserting the fact of his authorship. Now when I say an 
 author I must in a way correct myself, and ask, who is the real 
 author of this book ? Evidently not John, but Jesus. " The 
 
 Eevelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him I 
 
 John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation* 
 .... And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. ... * 
 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of 
 
 man Write the things which thou hast seen Unto 
 
 the angel of the church of Ephesus write ; These things saith he 
 
 that holdeth the seven stars Unto the angel of the church 
 
 in Smyrna write ; These things saith the first and the last," and 
 60 on with each Epistle the real author is the Lord and St. John is 
 only the amanuensis. 
 
 After the third chapter the writer begins the relations of vision. 
 
 " I looked, and, behold, a door I was in the spirit I 
 
 saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne I saw 
 
 four angels I saw the seven angels I saw another 
 
 mighty angel." Then he speaks of what he himself had to see, but 
 it is equally mysterious, in the spirit, equally transcendental, 
 equally inexplicable. Then the great wonder in heaven ; then the 
 beast rising from the sea ; then seven angels having the seven last 
 plagues ; then the harlot ; then the fall of the harlot ; then the new 
 heaven and the new earth. Then the conclusion, which so un- 
 hinged the blessed Apostle that he was on the point of com- 
 mitting an act of idolatrous worship. Then at last the Lord 
 resumes, " Behold, I come quickly. ... I am Alpha and Omega. 
 .... I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these 
 things." 
 
 Such were the things which the Apostle was made the instru- 
 mient of communicating. We know that they for the moment so 
 unhinged his mind that he was twice on the very eve of forgetting 
 his first duty to God. How can we — how can Dionysius of Alex- 
 andria — possibly lay down rules as to what he was (if he was the 
 true John) to begin it all with ? Why must he exclude his own 
 name ? Why must he say to himself before he began, " I must not 
 begin with my own name," and yet — though he does use his own 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlil 
 
 name — yet all that he says is in another's Name ? Will anyone dare 
 say he has added a single word from himself out of his own moral 
 consciousness to anything which he has been commissioned to 
 reveal ? 
 
 Now this seems to me to put altogether out of court all argu- 
 ments, drawn from diversity of vocabulary, of idiom, and such 
 things, respecting the authorship of the Revelation and the Gospel 
 as compared with one another. The one — the Gospel — is the 
 most matter-of-fact book ; the other — the Revelation — is the most 
 visionary book in the whole Bible. I say the most visionary per- 
 fectly reverently, because it is a book entirely occupied (except 
 chaps, ii. and iii.) with visions of the most transcendental character 
 to which no two expositors have given the same meaning. How 
 can we assert that a communication of such things must be in 
 such or such a form ? If the visions are such as they are described 
 as being it is certain that the narrator would be intensely affected 
 by them, and if so he would express them more in the style of his 
 native Hebrew or Aramaic than in the Greek, which he had 
 acquired later in life by pains and labour. 
 
 But there are a considerable number of remarkable similarities 
 of expression which are to be found in the language of the Gospel 
 and Apocalypse which are not to be found elsewhere in the New 
 Testament. The first of these is that in both books (and to this 
 we may add the Epistle of St. John) the term Logos is applied to 
 our Lord. In the Gospel, " In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was made flesh ; " in the Apocalypse xix. 13, "And his 
 name is called The Word of God." 
 
 It is very remarkable that a word denoting His humiliation and 
 sacrifice — the term Lamb — is only applied to our Lord by St. John 
 in his Gospel and in the Revelation. One would have thought 
 that it would have been applied to Him multitudes of times, but it 
 is not. It is not applied to him in the Hebrews where we should 
 have most expected it ; only in the Gospel, " Behold the Lamb 
 {anvog) of God," and in the Revelation under the diminutive 
 {apvtov). It is true that the word afxvog is applied to Him by the 
 Baptist, not by the Evangelist, and is only recorded by the Evan- 
 gelist. But it is not recorded by any other of the Evangelists 
 (Matthew, Mark, Luke), and the fact that St. John records it be- 
 tokens his love for it, for the idea underlying it. St. Paul comes 
 near to it when he says, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us ;' 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but be seems to bave been restrained from using tbe name ot 
 "Lamb." 
 
 The word "to tabernacle " {(TKrjvSu)) is only used in tbe Gospel of 
 John (i. 14) and in the Apocalypse (xxi. 3), and if tbe use of mere 
 •words can be cited as implying identity of authorship this should 
 be, for in its associations it is a remarkable word. Then the word 
 a\i]6ivo^, " that which is true," has been noticed as being Johannine, 
 being used in the Gospel and Epistle thirteen times, in the Apoca- 
 lypse ten times, and only once in all the rest of the New Testament. 
 Then "to overcome," vikuv, is also almost exclusively Johannine. It 
 occurs once in St. Luke xi. 22, three times in Romans, one of 
 which is a quotation from the Old Testament, six times in the first 
 Epistle of St. John, and sixteen times in the Revelation. 
 
 And what is to me most significant of identity of authorship, the 
 piercing of the Messiah, prophesied of in Zechariah, is quoted or 
 alluded to both in John xix. 37, and in Rev. i. 7, and in each 
 case with the same verb, HtKivTi^atVy which is not the same as that 
 used by the prophet in the Septuagint, KnTiooyqaavTo. This seems 
 to me far more decisive in favour of identity of authorship than 
 having in common any number of mere verbal agreements. 
 
 There is another remarkable coincidence between the Gospel and 
 the Apocalypse which I have not seen noticed in any expositor. In 
 the Gospel and in the Apocalypse, alone of the books of the New 
 Testament, does the Lord promise to give to the believer His 
 Spirit under the figure of living water ; in the Apocalypse as the 
 water of life, but evidently alluding to the same Spirit. Thus in 
 St. John, speaking to the woman of Samaria (iv. 14): "If thou 
 knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee. Give me 
 to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have 
 given thee living water ; " and again, verse 14, '* Whosoever shall 
 drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; " and 
 again, " If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink ; " *' But 
 this spake he of the Spirit," &c. Now it is very remarkable that 
 this figure of the Spirit under this refreshing aspect, as given by 
 Christ, is never used elsewhere in the New Testament except in 
 the Revelation ; one would have supposed that so very obvious a 
 figure of the refreshing Spirit would have pervaded the New Testa- 
 ment, but it is confined to the Gospel of St. John and the Revela- 
 tion. Thus, '* The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall 
 feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of waters; " again 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 (xxii. 17), " And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will 
 let him take of the water of life freely." And again, *' He shewed 
 me a pure river of water of life . . . proceeding out of the throne of 
 God and of the Lamb " (xxii. 1). 
 
 There is another remarkable doctrinal and also verbal corre- 
 f pondence between the Gospel and the Apocalypse. In the Gospel the 
 existence in the past eternity of the eternal Word is described by the 
 imperfect 7]v. Thus, " In the beginning ivas [yv), the Word and the 
 Word was (-}r) with God, and the Word was (7]v) God, the same was (?» 
 in the beginning with God," f]v to (piog to dXrjOivov. iv ti^ Kotr^uy ?}v, &c. 
 
 Now in the Apocalypse a most anomalous form is used to express 
 the past eternal existence of God, " I am Alpha and Omega, the 
 Beginning and the End, saith the Lord, which is and which was 
 (o u)v Kai 6 rjv), and which is to come." Such a use of 7]v is strictly 
 Johannine. Nothing approaching to it is to be found in any other 
 inspired writer. 
 
 The time and place of writing is next to be considered. There is 
 very satisfactory evidence for this also, and that by Irenaeus, who 
 writes (v. 30), "As to the name of Antichrist, if it were necessary 
 that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it 
 would have been announced by him who beheld the Apocalyptic 
 vision ; for that was seen no very long time since, but almost in 
 our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign." 
 
 Clement of Alexandria writes : " After the death of the tyrant, 
 John went from the isle of Patmos to Ephesus," and he also adds 
 that " John remained with the Presbyters of Asia till the time of 
 Trajan." Clement also says, "After that the tyrant was dead, 
 coming from the isle of Patmos to Ephesus, he went also, when 
 called, to the neighbouring regions of the Gentiles," &c. (Eusebius, 
 " Eccles. Hist.," iii. 23). 
 
 To these we may add Origen, who writes, " And the King of 
 the Komans, as tradition informs us, condemned John, when bear- 
 ing witness as a martyr in the isle of Patmos on account of the 
 word of truth ; " and John himself informs us concerning his own 
 martyrdom, not telling us who it was that condemned him, but 
 using these words in his Apocalypse, " ' I John your brother and 
 companion in the tribulation, and kingdom, and patience of 
 Jesus, became a sojourner in the isle that is called Patmos, on 
 account of the Word of God.'" 
 
 Victorinus (a.d. 380), also wrote a comment on the Apocalypse^ 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in which he says, " When John saw this he was in the isle of 
 Patmos, condemned to the mines by Domitian Caesar." In two 
 ©ther places he mentions the same time and place, so that we have 
 no gi-eater certainty respecting the writing of any book of Scripture 
 a3 -to author, time, or place, than we have for this. 
 
 We have to consider, in the next place, For what purpose was 
 the Apocalypse given ? This is told us expressly in the first verse, 
 "to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to 
 pass." Now this has been most mischievously understood, as if 
 the •' shortly " meant during the lifetime of the Apostle, or in the 
 reigns of Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, whereas it must be 
 •understood in that very mysterious, but most certainly revealed 
 •sense, that the Lord when He comes the second time will come 
 quickly, suddenly, as in a moment, taking both the world and the 
 <Church by surprise. Thus He says (ii. 5), " I will come unto thee 
 quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place." And 
 again, to the Church of Pergamos, " Repent, or else I will come to 
 thee quickly" (ii. 16). And again (iii. 11), "Behold, I come 
 quickly ; hold that fast which thou hast." Again, in the last 
 chapter, verse 7, "Behold I come quickly: blessed is he that 
 watcheth," and again (12), "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward 
 is with me." And in verse 20, " He which testifieth these things 
 saith. Surely I come quickly." How then can He be Baid to come 
 quickly, seeing that there are twenty chapters of visions which 
 must be accomplished before He comes ? No, it is not so, for 
 these visions are not a continuous history of the Church. On the 
 contrary, they are constantly broken by intimations of the actual 
 coming of the end, and we have apparently to begin again, and 
 then the end comes a second time, and we begin again, and the 
 end comes a third time, and again we begin with another vision, 
 and again the end comes. 
 
 Now we will enumerate some of these "comings of the end." 
 (1.) At the end of the sixth chapter we read : " And I beheld 
 when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo there was a great earth- 
 quake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the 
 stars of heaven fell unto the earth .... and the heavens departed 
 as a scroll, and the kings of the earth .... and every bond- 
 
 man, and every freeman hid themselves in the dens, &c 
 
 liide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is 
 come "(vi. 12-17). 
 
 There is not throughout Scripture a sublimer description of " the 
 end ; " but it is only under one aspect — in its aspect of teiTor to the 
 wicked . Any attempt to explain it as the defeat of the heathen in the 
 time of Constantine seems to me absurd, as well as blasphemous. 
 
 (2.) At the conclusion of the next chapter there is as evident an 
 account of "the end," but only as it bears upon the reward of the 
 righteous. They are " before the throne of God, and serve him day 
 and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell 
 among them. They shall hunger no more. . . . For the Lamb 
 which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead 
 them unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all 
 tears from their eyes " (vii. 15-17). If the reader turns to the twenty- 
 first chapter, he will find that these are all the descriptions of the 
 final blessedness of the true people of God. Let him look to verses 3 
 and 4 of that chapter and he will find that they are anticipated here. 
 
 (3.) "At the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel" 
 (xi. 15-18). This is undoubtedly a description of the consummation, 
 "And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great voices in 
 Jieaven, saying. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord, and of his Christ ; . . . Thou hast taken to thee thy great 
 power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy 
 wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, 
 and that thou shouldeet give reward unto thy servants the pro- 
 phets, and to the saints." 
 
 (4.) In the fourteenth chapter there is undoubtedly a vision of 
 the end : " And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the 
 cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden 
 crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. , . . Thrust in thy sickle 
 and reap : for the time is come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of 
 the earth is ripe" (xiv. 14). 
 
 (5.) In the sixteenth chapter there is another vision of the 
 end : " A great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the 
 throne, saying. It is done. . . . There was a great earthquake. . . . 
 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the 
 nations fell. . . . And every island fled away, and the mountains 
 were not found " (xvi. 17). 
 
 (6.) In the nineteenth chapter there is a vision of an appearance 
 of the Son of God : " And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white 
 
 b 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 liorse ; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and 
 in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a 
 flame of fire." This may not be a vision of the final catastrophe, 
 for though in a sense He comes to judge, yet it may not be the final 
 judgment, but it is an appearance of Jesus Christ in glory. 
 
 (7.) The end is described in the next chapter, the twentieth, 
 verse 11 : "I saw a great white throne. ... I saw the dead, small 
 and great, stand before God, and the books were opened .... and 
 the dead were judged out of those things which were written in 
 the books, according to their works." 
 
 So that this book of the Eevelation is not a continuous historical 
 vision, leading to the final consummation, but the consummation 
 bursts upon the world six or seven times — the final judgment, and 
 Second Coming, or what seems equivalent to it, comes seven times. 
 How are we to account for such a thing ? Now it is clear that this 
 is in strict accordance with what the Lord teaches us respecting 
 the suddenness of His Second Coming, and that we are to be on the 
 watch for Him, and to welcome Him whenever He appears. He 
 leaves the time of His coming uncertain, that we may be always 
 on the watch. This is described in His discourse in St. Mark xiii. 
 32 : " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the 
 angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 
 Take ye heed, watch and pray : for ye know not when the time is : 
 For the Son of man is as is a man taking a far journey, who left 
 his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man 
 his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye there- 
 fore : for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at 
 even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning : 
 lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping." 
 
 The first of the things of immeasm-able importance "which must 
 shortly come to pass " is the Second Coming. That is the thing to 
 be looked for, whatever be the significance of each successive vision. 
 Now the imminence of the Second Advent is impressed upon us by 
 some words interjected, as it were, in the account of the pouring 
 out of the sixth vial. After describing the unclean spirits like 
 frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and the beast, and 
 the false prophet, the Lord is represented as saying suddenly, 
 " Behold I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth 
 his garments " (xvi. 15-17). This is said apparently without con- 
 nection with what goes before, and with what follows. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 So that to impress upon believers the immineuce of the Second 
 Advent is one of the chief purposes of the Apocalypse. 
 
 But, besides this, we are taught that all things which affect the 
 nations of the world are not due to mere natural causes, though God 
 may employ natural causes according to His will, but to the personal 
 will of God. He sees that nations require correction ; that for the 
 sake of others they require to be made severe examples of His 
 wrath, and He acts accordingly. He uses natural means to efiect 
 this, just as iron, and the substances which compose gunpowder, 
 are used by men to exercise their wrath upon one another, but 
 it is all His doing. The famines which accompany the rider on 
 the black horse, and the pestilences which follow the rider on the 
 livid horse, may be due to natural or secondary causes ; but the 
 primary cause, no matter how remote, is the will of God alone, 
 who foresees wickedness, and pre-ordains and prepares punishment. 
 
 It is the impression produced by this view of the judgments of 
 God, as attributable solely to His will, and brought about solely by 
 His power, which constitutes the value of this book to believers. A 
 man may not understand the historical significance of any one of 
 the visions, and yet may be deeply impressed with the significance 
 of one and all of them, that all are from God. 
 
 A godly man of great intelligence, by no means a fanatic, said 
 to me in the middle of the Franco-Prussian war, just after the 
 invasion of France : " The great hail, sir ! the great hail! " Now 
 this man's judgment might be wrong, but his heart was right. His 
 judgment might be wrong respecting the interpretation of Kev. xvi. 
 21 ; but his heart was right in leading him to acknowledge the 
 hand of God in it all. 
 
 Another lesson which we get from the Eevelation — a lesson 
 which is palpably on its surface — is, that God has a world of 
 active, powerful, and holy intelligences which He employs in His 
 government of the universe. It teaches us as no other book of the 
 Bible, except the book of Daniel, does, that He has constituted the 
 services of angels, as well as those of men, in a wonderful order. 
 Do the angels only act mechanically in sounding the trumpets, or 
 pouring out the vials ? No ; we may be sure that under God they 
 help to inflict the judgments which come upon the earth at eacli 
 sounding of a trumpet, or each emptying of a vial. At one time I 
 was tempted to think that the book itself was given to us simply to 
 •teach us, that whilst God does all things by His own power and by 
 
XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 His own will, He does all things by the interposition of angelie 
 beinsfs, so that the universe, in every department ot it, is not 
 ruled mechanically, but by willing and obedient agents.^ 
 
 Another lesson which the Apocalypse teaches us abundantly is, 
 that the Church, like her divine Master, cannot attain to her 
 glorified state, her eternal rest, except by passing through tribula- 
 tion. Every one of the visions, as far as I can remember, implies 
 tribulation. It is true that in certain visions the instruments of 
 evil are not allowed to touch or to harm those who have the seal 
 of God on their foreheads ; but the general impression produced 
 by the whole book is that the righteous, the forgiven, the accepted, 
 the sanctified, are those who have come out of " the tribulation, 
 the great one," who by their own co-operating, have washed their 
 robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. 
 
 The judgments of God are upon the earth, and seem to be 
 upon the righteous and the wicked alike. This is certainly to be 
 gathered from the words of Christ. " In those days shall be 
 affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation 
 which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except 
 that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved : 
 but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened 
 the days" (Mark xiii. 19, 20). 
 
 So that any unlearned but devout Christian who does not under- 
 stand the historical sequences of any one of the visions, will yet 
 gather from the book itself these four truths. 
 
 1. That the Coming of Christ is ever imminent. 
 
 2. That God orders all things by His ever-watchful providence,, 
 which alike controls the revolutions of empires and the fall of 
 sparrows. 
 
 3. That God acts in all things by His angels, so that there is no- 
 mere mechanical direction of events in the universe. 
 
 4. And that the normal state of Christians — that by which they 
 are disciphned for a happy eternity— is by suffering and distress^ 
 All these blessed lessons, I repeat, are totally independent of the 
 historical significance of the visions. They are, as it were, on the 
 surface, and seem to impress the devout reader, whether he be- 
 
 1 Sir Isaac Newton declares that he cannot conceive any power or force residing 
 In one ball of matter to attract to itself another ball of matter at a distance from, 
 it, having no connection with it, and he implies that such attraction is due to a 
 spiritual force, that is, the force exercised by spirit, not by matter. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 learned or unlearned, with some of the highest truths respecting 
 God's government of the world. 
 
 It will be now necessary for me to make a few remarks 
 respecting : 
 
 1. The numerals used in the Apocalypse. 
 
 2. The times noted during which certain events are to take 
 place ; and 
 
 3. The references in the Apocalypse to the Old Testament 
 prophecies. 
 
 1. The numbers. There can be no doubt that the numbers in 
 the Apocalypse, especially 3, 4, 7, and 12, are to be taken symboli- 
 cally. But what do we mean by this ? Do we mean that the fact 
 that they are symbolical makes them uncertain, so that 3 may 
 mean some other number than 3, or 4 than 4 ? By no means. 
 Each numeral signifies the number which it represents, and no 
 other. The symbolical reference or meaning is the reason on 
 account of which it is chosen. Thus in the Trisagion, the thrice 
 holy of ch. iv. 8, the three refers to the ever-blessed Three. They 
 chant Holy three times, because of the three Persons of the Trinity. 
 
 Archdeacon Lee (in " Speaker's Commentary ") writes well : 
 " It is but natural, indeed, that the essential character of the Triune 
 God, as He has revealed Himself, should be impressed upon His 
 works. And so in the record of Eevelation three is the numerical 
 * signature ' of the Divine Being, and of all that stands in any real 
 relation to God; e.g., three angels appear to Abraham (Gen. xviii. 
 2). The priestly benediction in Numbers vi. 24 is threefold. 
 Each year God's people must appear before Him three times 
 (Exod. xsiii. 14, 17). Above all, there is the Ter Sanctus, the Holy, 
 Holy, Holy, of Isaiah vi. 3." 
 
 Again, with respect to Four, " Four is the signature of nature, 
 of the created — of the world .... as Kosmos, as the Eevelation 
 of God, so far as nature can reveal Him. In Scripture the four 
 rivers of Paradise, the four winds, the four corners of the earth, 
 the four cherubim." Though I cannot agree with those who make 
 the four living ones, the Zoa of Eev. iv., to be only symbolical ; 
 their number may be symbolical in a sense, but they themselves 
 iire real existences. 
 
 7. The number seven, 3 -f- 4, is the most mysterious and sym- 
 
xxil INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "bolical of all numbers. Lee speaks of it as the note of union 
 between God and the world. There are the seven days of crea- 
 tion, the seven days of the week, the seven years of plenty and 
 famine, the sevenfold compassing of the doomed city ; and still 
 more in the New Testament, where we have the seven words from 
 the Cross, the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, the seven 
 disciples of John xxi. 2, the seventy disciples of Luke x. 1, the seven 
 deacons, &c. ; but the mystical use of " seven " is far more con- 
 spicuous in the Revelation than in any other book, witness the 
 seven Spirits before the throne, the seven Churches and their 
 candlesticks, the seven angels, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, 
 the seven vials, and so throughout. 
 
 The half of seven. Three and a half is used in the Old Testa- 
 ment to signify a time of tribulation ; and, though the number 
 is not specifically mentioned, in the Book of Kings (xvii. 1) as indi- 
 cating a time of famine, yet it is mentioned by our Lord as such in 
 Luke iv. 25. " The witnesses lay dead three days and a half." 
 This is the same as the time, times and dividing of time of Daniel 
 vii. 25, and the period of the nourishment of the woman in the 
 wilderness is the same. Rev. xii. 14. 
 
 The number twelve, being the number of the Patriarchs and the 
 number of the Apostles, is most sacred. Lee speaks of it as the 
 number of the Covenant people in whose midst God dwells, and 
 with whom He has entered into Covenant relations. The introduc- 
 tion of twelve as a factor of other numbers is also to be noted. 
 There are twenty-four courses of the priests, twenty-four elders, 
 forty-eight (12x4) cities of the Levites. 
 
 The length and breadth of the city (12 x 10 x 10 x 10) 12,000 
 furlongs. 
 
 The height of the wall of the city was 144 cubits (12 x 12). 
 
 The number of the sealed was the square of 12 multiplied by the 
 cubeof 10, i.e., 144,000. 
 
 I have next to consider, as closely following upon this, the times 
 prophesied during which certain events are to take place. 
 
 The first of these is the five months in which the locusts like 
 scorpions were to hurt men (chap. ix. 5-10). 
 
 The second is the hour, day, month and year in which the 
 angels loosed from the river Euphrates were to slay the third part 
 of men (ix. 15). 
 
INTRODUCTION . xxiii 
 
 The third is the forty and two months in which the holy city 
 should be trodden down of the Gentiles (xi. 2). 
 
 The fourth is the one thousand two hundred and threescore 
 days in which the two witnesses are to prophesy clothed in sack- 
 cloth (xi. 3). 
 
 The fifth is the three days and a half in which the dead bodies of 
 the witnesses shall be unburied, at the end of which the Spirit 
 of life from God shall revive them (xi. 9 and 11). 
 
 The sixth is the time in which the woman was fed in the place 
 which God had prepared, one thousand two hundred and threescore 
 days (xii. 6). 
 
 The seventh is, perhaps, the same as the last, where the woman 
 is nourished in her place a time and times and half a time, 360 + 
 720 + 180 = 1260 (xii. 14). 
 
 The eighth is the power to continue, given to the first beast, forty 
 and two months (xiii. 5). 
 
 The ninth is the one hour in which the ten kings have received 
 power with the beast (xvii. 12). 
 
 The tenth is the thousand years of the reign of Christ with his 
 saints (xx. 6). 
 
 In glancing over these the reader will see that the third, the 
 fourth, the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth are the same, for forty 
 and two months are 1,260 days. 
 
 A great question which has arisen amongst expositors is this : Are 
 we to understand by these, actual days or years ? are we to take a 
 day as in prophetic language standing for one year ? I think the two 
 proofs alleged from Scripture, viz., the years of the wanderings of 
 the children of Israel as corresponding to the time of the spying out 
 of the land (Numb. xiv. 34), and the days in which Ezekiel was com- 
 manded to lie on his side (Ezekiel, iv. 4-6), are no proof at all that 
 in the language of prophecy a day is to stand for a year. For 
 neither of these places are prophetical. The one occurs in a strictly 
 historical book, and the other in some historical verses of a pro- 
 phetical book. The reader, of course, must be aware that the use 
 to which these numbers are put is in order that we may know the 
 times and the seasons which the Lord Himself tells us that the Father 
 has placed in His own power (of course in His own power alone), but 
 if so we must know the date at which these years begin ; but there is 
 not a date in the Apocalypse which we can even so much as approach 
 to identify with any date in history. Are we to suppose that the third 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (Rev. xi. 2), the treading down of the Holy City, the fourth, the 
 testifying of the two witnesses, the sixth, the time of the feeding of 
 the woman, the eighth, the continuance of the beast, are all the 
 same, starting from the same point of time. No expositor has taken 
 any such view. If the date, apparently given in xi. 2, the com- 
 mencement of the Holy City — the actual Jerusalem — being trodden 
 under foot be a.d, 70, then we ask, did anything approaching to the 
 conclusion of this occur about seventy years after a.d. 1260, i.e., 1330 ? 
 Did anything which we can identify with the termination of the per- 
 secution of the woman, or the discontinuance of the therion occur at 
 this time. For as far as I can see this is the only date in history 
 which synchronizes with any date in the Apocalypse, and it leads to 
 nothing, fixes nothing, settles nothing, for no historical change 
 took place in 1330. 
 
 I cannot help reproducing the following words of Dean Alford on 
 this subject in his Introduction or Prolegomena to the Revelation : 
 " I have not pretended to offer any solution of those periods of time 
 so remarkably pervaded hj the half of the mystic seven. ^ I am 
 quite unable to say who the two witnesses are ; quite unable, in 
 common with all Apocalyptic interpreters, to point out definitely any 
 period in the history of the Church corresponding to the 1,260 days 
 (chap. xii. 6), or any in the history of this world's civil power which 
 shall satisfy the forty-two months of chap. xiii. 5. As far as I have 
 seen every such attempt hitherto made has been characterized by 
 signal failure. One after another the years fixed on for the con- 
 summation by different authors have passed away, beginning with 
 the 1836 of Bengel ; one after another the expositors who have lived 
 to be thus refuted have shifted their grounds into the safer future. 
 It is not my intention to enter the lists on either side of the vexed 
 ' year-day ' question. I have never seen it proved, or even made 
 probable, that we are to take a day for a year in Apocalyptic pro- 
 phecy ; on the other hand, I have never seen it proved or made 
 probable that such mystic periods are to be taken literally, a day 
 for a day. It is a weighty argument against the year-day system 
 that a period of a thousand years (xx. 6, 7) does occur in (ho pro- 
 phecy (to which the year-day system is never appUed by its advo- 
 cates, as it would make the length of the millennium three hundred 
 
 1 I = 3J, which, according to the year-day system, is 360 + 720 -f- ISO = 1280 
 months of 30 days each. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV 
 
 and sixty thousand years). It is hardly a less strong one against 
 literal acceptation of days, that the principles of interpretation 
 given us by the seer himself (xvii. 17) seem to require for the reign 
 of the beast a far longer period than this calculation would allow. 
 So that in the apparent failure of both systems I am driven 
 to believe that these periods are to be assigned by some clue of 
 which the Spirit has not yet put the Church in possession." 
 
 It will be necessary now to say something respecting the 
 references in the Apocalypse to the Old Testament prophecies. 
 
 These are very numerous : I can only notice three. The first 
 shall be Eev. xi. 3, 4, *' And I will give power unto my two wit- 
 nesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and 
 threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive 
 trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the 
 earth." Now the prophet Zechariah saw in a vision a candlestick 
 with a bowl on the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and 
 seven pipes to the seven lamps, and he saw also two olive trees by 
 it, which apparently supplied the candlestick. There can be no 
 doubt but that the Apocalyptic seer alludes to this vision of 
 Zechariah, but he introduces many features not in Zechariah, 
 particularly that the two witnesses shall prophesy a thousand two 
 hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth ; that if any 
 man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and 
 devoureth their enemies ; and they have power to shut heaven, 
 and to turn waters into blood. Now it is to be noticed that the 
 explanation given by Zechariah is only for the encouragement of 
 Zerubbabel, but the power given to St. John's two witnesses and 
 olive trees is for much more ; it is for vengeance upon their 
 enemies — or rather upon God's enemies — to smite them with the 
 plagues of Egypt, and at the end of their testimony the beast, i.e., 
 according to the most approved expositors, the " world-power," 
 shall destroy them. So there is a reference to the prophecy of 
 Zechariah and very much more. 
 
 This prophecy of Zechariah then seems to have had a very 
 limited fulfilment, and that it waits for a far completer fulfilment 
 in the latter days. 
 
 The next must be xx. 8, where the nations that are deceived by 
 Satan are Gog and Magog. This appears to refer (and no doubt 
 does) to Ezekiel xxxviii. 2, 3, " Son of man, set thy face against 
 
XXVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, 
 and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; 
 Behold, I am against thee, Gog .... and I will turn thee 
 back, and put hooks into thy jaws. . . . Thou shalt ascend and come 
 like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, 
 and all thy bands, and many people with thee." Then, after 
 describing that Gog and his hosts would desire to come up to the 
 land of un walled villages to spoil them, he says, " Art thou he of 
 whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of 
 Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would 
 bring thee against them ? " 
 
 Now it is quite clear that no such invasion of the land of Israel 
 has taken place in historic times. As I have shown in the com- 
 mentary, on pages 257 and 258, there was an invasion of northern 
 nations (Scythians) on their way to Egypt which seems not to 
 have affected the interior of Palestine. This prophecy then re- 
 mains to be fulfilled in its completeness, and it will be fulfilled at 
 the time of the end. It seems to postulate that the Jews or 
 Israelites will have been restored to their land, and that all the 
 nations will be gathered against them — rather against the Lord 
 and against His Christ — and that they will be destroyed by super- 
 natural means. It seems as if they would be under the direction 
 of Antichrist — the Antichrist — and shall be consumed by the Spirit 
 proceeding from the Lord's mouth, and destroyed with the bright- 
 ness of His coming (2 Thess. ii. 8). 
 
 The last of the three shall be sxii. 1, &c., "And he shewed 
 me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of 
 the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of 
 it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which 
 bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : 
 and the leaves of the tree w«re for the healing of the nations." In 
 this place the seer has unquestionably in his eye the vision in 
 Ezekiel xlvii., — where the prophet is said to be shown that the 
 waters that issued from the threshold of the Lord's house which 
 sprang from the south side of the altar — then the prophet saw the 
 waters forming a river up to the ancles ; then he measured another 
 thousand cubits, and the waters were to the knees ; then another, 
 and the waters were to the loins ; and then further, and the river 
 could not be passed over (" waters to swim in"). Then he is brought 
 back and he sees on the bank very many trees on the one side and 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxvn 
 
 on the other ; then in the 12th verse, " Then by the river upon the 
 bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for 
 meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be 
 consumed : it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, 
 because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary : and the 
 fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine '* 
 (" and the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations "). 
 Now what is the relation between these two passages ? The pro- 
 phecy in Ezekiel is much fuller and more circumstantial, but the 
 Apocalyptic vision, without losing altogether its earthly character, 
 is much more spiritual — much more in accordance with the ex- 
 ceeding blessedness of the New Jerusalem as the eternal habitation 
 of the people of God. I believe then that the Apocalyptic vision 
 is the fulfilment, and more than the fulfilment, of the older 
 vision. There never has been any fulfilment as yet of the Ezekiel 
 vision in the Old Jerusalem, but there will be in the New. There 
 has been a spiritual fulfilment, when the Holy Ghost descended 
 and a flood of light and truth spread over all nations, but God 
 Who has created us body and soul and will renew both, promises a 
 time when the outward glory will correspond to the inward 
 sanctity. The tree of life disappeared after Adam's fall : it will 
 reappear when the effects of that fall are undone, when, as the next 
 verse (in the Apocalyptic vision) tells us, "there shall be no more 
 curse." 
 
 It will be necessary now to say a few words on the systems of 
 interpretation of the Revelation. They seem naturally to divide 
 themselves into three. 
 
 1. The preterist interpretation. 
 
 2. The continuous historical interpretation. 
 
 3. The futurist. 
 
 1. The preterist. According to this scheme the Apocalypse was 
 written to forewarn the contemporaries of the Apostle of what was 
 to take place in his own lifetime. Of course such a scheme of 
 interpretation would apply principally to the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem and the distress and afflictions which would befall the 
 Jewish nation, and also Rome during the reigns of the Emperors 
 Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and perhaps Domi- 
 tian. Under this mode of interpretation the Revelation is scarcely 
 a prophetic book. The horizon of a prophet's vision does not 
 
xxvm INTRODUCTION. 
 
 extend, it is assumed, beyond his own lifetime, so that all the 
 things revealed in it are the account of well-known events occurring 
 in Italy or Palestine, which for some reason or other were veiled 
 under the most mysterious enigmatical forms. Of all the suggested 
 interpretations of this book this one appears to me the one most 
 unlikely to be true. According to this view, after the Apocalypse 
 was published its interest for Christians wellnigh ceased. Its 
 only interest to us is that of a book of enigmas, in interpreting 
 which we have to hazard all manner of guesses to explain away 
 awful preternatural figures which after all signify the plainest 
 things ; thus, the sounding of his trumpet by the second angel, 
 followed by the burning mountain cast into the sea, and the 
 waters becoming blood, and the third part of the sea becomes 
 blood, and the third part of the fish die. This is explained as 
 the inundation which devastated the coasts of Lydia, and the 
 destruction of fleets, and the waves reddened with the blood of 
 men as at Joppa and on the coasts of the Dead Sea and on the 
 lake of Galilee. But why should such dreadful but plain his- 
 torical events be wrapped up in the language of extreme mystery, 
 as a burning mountain cast into the sea and turning the third part 
 of the sea into blood ? There may be, I allow, certain things which 
 needed to be shrouded in mystery, such as the name of Neron 
 Caesar, which in this nineteenth century is discovered to be the 
 name of Nero Caesar, taking the value of the letters of his name as 
 written in Hebrew, but of the greater part of the events hidden 
 under the Apocalyptic figures there was no need whatsoever of 
 shrouding them under visions. 
 
 For this and many other reasons I reject altogether the preterist 
 scheme, and I cannot conceive how any persons of ordinary com- 
 mon-sense should have accepted it as it is usually stated except for 
 for some strong reason in the hacligrotind.^ 
 
 The next scheme to be noticed is the historical, or rather 
 continuous historical scheme. This scheme is principally occupied 
 with the Papacy, and with the events which preceded it, and the 
 events which have followed it and greatly modified its power ; such 
 as the French Revolution and the French Empire under Napoleon. 
 By far the most elaborate, and, we may say, exhaustive exposition 
 
 1 Alcasar, a .Jesuit, seems to be the first of such expositors. After him Grotius, 
 Hammond, Bossuet, Wetatein, Moses Stuart, F. D. Maurice. 
 
¥ 
 
 INTRODUCTION, xxix 
 
 of this view is Elliot's *' Horae Apocalypticas " in four thick volumes. 
 I have constantly referred to this work, giving specimens of its (I 
 really must say) outrageous expositions to show the reader how 
 little reliable a system can be which has to resort to such expedients 
 to maintain its continuity. 
 
 But the thing which appears to me to discredit utterly this con- 
 tinuous historical view is the way in which it is forced, in order 
 to maintain itself, to get rid of the intimations of the Second 
 Coming of Christ. It seems scarcely credible that such a vision as 
 that of the opening of the sixth seal should be explained by Christian 
 expositors as foretelling the conquests of the Christian Constantine 
 over his heathen antagonists, but so it is. Eead the prophecy : 
 " The heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together ; and 
 every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And 
 the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the 
 chief captains, and the mighty men, and eveiy bondman, and every 
 free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the 
 mountains ; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and 
 hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from 
 the wrath of the Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath is come ; and 
 who shall be able to stand ? " (vi. 14-17). 
 
 Now it is inconceivable to me that this can be applied by any 
 Christian man to any event but one, but the exigencies of the con- 
 tinuous historical scheme demand that its fulfilment should be at 
 the beginning of the fourth century, and something must be dis- 
 covered then to suit it no matter how absurdly inappropriate.^ 
 
 3. The futurist scheme lays down that as yet the reality of none 
 of the Apocalyptic visions is accomplished, but they all wait for 
 their consummation to the times immediately preceding the Second 
 Advent. This scheme of exposition seems to me mainly to rely on 
 the obscurity of the visions — on the fact that scarcely any two 
 interpreters have given the same meaning to any one of them. 
 Still, if the book is given to us to bid us look for and expect 
 "things which shall be hereafter," then there are many things 
 
 1 The principal expositors of this scheme are Berengard, the Abbot Joachim, the 
 Reformers, as Wickliffe, Luther, BuUinger, Bale, Fox, Brightman, and many others. 
 In more modern times by Mede, who, however, makes many of its visions synchro- 
 nous, Jurieu, Cressener, Vitringa, Sir Isaac Newton, Whiston, Bengel, and Bishop 
 Newton, and in our times Faber, Elliot in "Horae Apocalypticse," and Bishop 
 Wordsworth, Isaac Williams and Dean Vaughan take a spiritualistic view of the 
 whole book. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which have occurred since the rise of Christianity which seem 
 worthy of a place in such a book of prophecy, as, for instance, the 
 submission of the Koman Empire to receive Christianity; the rise 
 and progress of the pretensions of the Bishops of Kome ; the extra- 
 ordinary rapid success of the religion of Mahomet ; the Eeformation, 
 as it is called, and its — one might almost say — collapse ; the French 
 Revolution, culminating in the Empire of Bonaparte, its collapse — 
 all these as affecting the Church and a partially-Christianized 
 world seem worthy of a place in prophecy, and if our eyes were 
 ■opened we should find that they have, or had, a place ; but as far as 
 I can see God has as yet not given to us a principle of sequence in 
 which these things find their place/ 
 
 It will be necessary for me now to point out what sort of scheme 
 of interpretation seems to point towards the true one. 
 
 First I must take it for granted that any scheme of interpretation 
 must take into the fullest account the intimations throughout the 
 book of the Lord's Second Coming. Now, as He has not come yet 
 and the opening of the first six seals covers the ground between His 
 Pirst Coming to proclaim His Salvation, and His Second glorious 
 ;and terrible Advent, the present time in which we live must be 
 under the opening of the seals. I do not say under the opening of 
 one of the seals, for, as I have shown in the exposition, all the horse 
 riders run together — the white horse Eider, the Gospel, is now 
 progressing : there has been a time of continuous war — of scarcity 
 sometimes bordering on famine, and of pestilence, not universal, 
 but in divers places — as if a fourth part of the earth was affected. 
 The opening of the fifth seal evidently betokens what takes place 
 in the unseen world, so we can say nothing about it as regards its 
 effect on this lower world ; but still we are evidently Uving in tho 
 seal-opening period. 
 
 The sealing period of chap. vii. is not visible in this world, so that 
 we can say nothing about it. 
 
 The trumpet soundings of chap. viii. and ix. may be going on now 
 for we are not told, nor have we the least hint given to us, whether 
 the effect of the first tmmpet sounding ceases altogether before the 
 
 1 The founder of the futurist school seems to have been the Jesuit Ribera. To 
 dt, according to Alford, belong the respected names of Dr. Todd, Maitland, Burgh, 
 Isaac Williams (?), and others. The reader will find in the fourth volume of Elliot's 
 " Horje Apocalyticfp " a most exhaustive history of Apocalyptic interpretation from 
 Victorinus to Bishop Waldegrave in our day. 
 
INTHODUCTION. xxxi 
 
 eecond trumpet is blown, so that what is meant by the mountain 
 cast into the sea may be synchronous with the hailstorm mingled 
 with fire of verse 7, and the wormwood star of verses 10 and 11, and 
 partial darkening of the sun, moon, and stars of verse 12. 
 
 If the effects of the fifth angel-trumpet be the rise and progress 
 of Islamism, and the sixth the rise and progress of the Turkish 
 power, then this may be taking place now and a large portion of 
 mankind may be affected by it. 
 
 The vision of chap, x., that of the mighty angel, seems to take 
 place in the unseen world, and its effects oa this outer world 
 have not, as far as I can see, been revealed to us. 
 
 There is nothing in the history of the world, or of the Church, 
 in the least degree corresponding to the witnessing of the two 
 witnesses. I humbly think that it takes place (or took place) in 
 the unseen world. If the reader desires to see the futility of 
 explaining it of what took place in this lower world, i.e., of the 
 persecutions of the pre-Eeformation Protestants, or of the wit- 
 nessing of the Old and New Testaments, he has only to look to the 
 extract I have given from Mr. Elliot and Bishop Wordsworth in 
 pp. 140-148 in this exposition. 
 
 If the vision of chap, xii., of the woman bringing forth the man 
 child, and persecuted by the dragon, refers to the world-long 
 conflict between the serpent and the seed of the woman, intensified 
 by the Incarnation, then of course we are living in it. 
 
 If the two theria of chap. xiii. be the fierce and ferocious world- 
 power, and the milder and more cultured world-power of Bishop 
 Boyd-Carpenter and others, then of course the warfare is goiog on 
 now, and we are living in it. 
 
 The events of the first part of chap. xiv. seem to take place in 
 the unseen world. 
 
 The two visions of the Son of man on the white cloud, and the 
 angel reaping the vintage of the earth, of course refer to the end 
 and the end only. 
 
 Kespecting the pouring out of the vials I can say nothing. If 
 they are synchronous they immediately precede the Second 
 Coming. Two or three seem to correspond with the eflects of 
 the seven trumpets. 
 
 Eespecting the vision of Babylon, the great harlot of chaps, zvii. 
 and xviii., if it betokens either a particular fallen Church, or the 
 fall of universal Christendom, or the collapse of modern commerce, 
 
xxxii INTKODUCTION. 
 
 as some have thought, it is probable that we are now livicg in the 
 times indicated. It seems to me certain that no voice answering- 
 to that of xviii. 4 (" Come out of her, my people,") has been heard 
 by those most nearly concerned, that is, by godly Romanists. 
 
 The vision of chap. xix. seems to take place in the unseen 
 heavenly world. 
 
 TVith respect to the vision of what is called the millennium, in 
 chap. XX., Christ has certainly reigned ever since " all things were 
 put under his feet " at His Ascension. He has reigned in order to 
 discipHne His elect, that they may be ready for Him when He 
 comes at the last ; and His saints may have reigned under Him, 
 not visibly, but effectually — effectually for the purposes for which 
 He has ordained their reign. One thing, however, seems to me to 
 be certain, that Satan at no time or period since the Coming of 
 Christ has been restrained from deceiving the world, unless in ways 
 which God has not revealed to us. 
 
 The MSS. of the Apocalypse are as follows : 
 R Codex Sinaiticus. 
 
 A. Codex Alexandrinus. 
 
 B. Codex Vaticanus 2066, not the celebrated Codex B., but 
 another uncial altogether. It is an uncial copy of the end of the 
 eighth century; the Codex Vaticanus B. of the Gospels and 
 Epistles not containing the Apocalypse. A full account of it for 
 general readers will be found in Scrivener's " Introduction to the 
 Criticism of the New Testament." 
 
 C. Codex Ephraemi. 
 
 P. Codex Porphyrianus. A palimpsest, containing the Acts, 
 all the Epistles, the Apocalypse, and a few fragments of Mac- 
 cabees iv. of the ninth century. It was found by Tischendorf in 
 1863 at St. Petersburg, in the possession of the Archimandrite 
 (now Bishop) Porphyry, who allowed him to take it to Leipsic to 
 decipher (see p. 162 of Scrivener's " Introduction," 3rd edition). 
 
 There are 111 Cursive MSS. of the Apocalypse described or 
 noticed in Scrivener's " Introduction," pp. 273-278. 
 
A COMMENTARY. 
 
 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 T 
 
 HE Revelation of Jesus Christ, ^ which God » John in. 32. 
 
 - . & viii. 26. & 
 
 gave unto hini, to shew unto his servants xu. 49. 
 
 1. " The Eevelation of Jesus Christ." That is, the Revelation 
 given by Jesus Christ to St. John. 
 
 It does not seem to mean the Revelation of the Person and Work 
 of Christ, but of that reality of future things which Christ received 
 of the Father to make known to His people. 
 
 " The Revelation." Apocalypse means the uncovering of what is 
 before concealed. It is a word of very frequent use to express 
 much more than such glimpses of the future as are contained in 
 Daniel and this book. Thus, in Rom. ii. 5, we have : " After thy 
 hardness and impenitent heart treasurest to thyself wrath against 
 the day of wrath and apocalypse of the righteous judgment of 
 God." By many modern authors it is confined to books of visions, 
 such as Daniel, Zechariah, and parts of Ezekiel. 
 
 "Which God gave unto him." In the words of Christ pre- 
 served to us in the Gospel of St. John, the Lord carefully sets 
 before us the Father as the fountain of all knowledge. " I have 
 called you friends ; because all things that I have heard of my 
 Father I have made known unto you " (John xv. 15) ; and 
 again : " The Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, 
 what I should say and what I should speak " (John xii. 49). This 
 the Lord said lest in declaring His Divine Nature and Attributes 
 
 B 
 
2 ALL THINGS THAT HE SAW. [Revelation. 
 
 things which ^ must shortly come to pass ; and ^ he sent and 
 b ch. iv. 1. signified it by his angel unto his servant John : 
 c ch. xxii. 16. 2 "^ Who bare record of the word of God, and 
 ch^ w%' & xii ^^ *^® testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things 
 
 17.' ver. 9. e ^^^^^ J^^ g^^ 
 
 fLukexi.28. 3 ' Blesscd is he that readeth, and they that 
 
 ch. xxii. 7. 
 
 2. "And" («) omitted by x, A., B., C, P., fifty Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Syr., Arm. ; 
 retained by few Cursives. 
 
 He should in the slightest degree seem to speak or act independently 
 of the Father. 
 
 " To shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to 
 pass." ** Shortly " {Iv tuxh), does this mean that the things to be 
 revealed will shortly come to pass in the usual sense of "shortly," 
 or that we are to understand this in the light of 2 Pet. iii. 8 : "One 
 day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
 one day"? The former rendering is relied upon by the preterists, 
 the latter by those who look upon the series of visions as em- 
 bodying a continuous history from the Ascension to the Second 
 Advent. 
 
 "And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant 
 John." This seems to mean that the whole revelation was given 
 through angelic mediation, though only here and there does the 
 angel actually appear as in ch. xvii. 1. This seems analogous to 
 the giving of the law. God speaks on Mount Sinai,- and yet the 
 law was " given by angels in the hand of a mediator " (Gal. iii. 19). 
 
 " Servant John." The Apostle selected in the wisdom of God 
 to be the instrument of revealing the deepest mysteries of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 2. " Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony 
 of Jesus Christ." This has been supposed to allude to the Gospel 
 record which was of " the Word of God and of the testimony of 
 Jesus Christ," as God manifest in the flesh. 
 
 Most, however, consider the words to allude to the revelation of 
 God's purposes in the book now opening. 
 " Of all things that he saw," i.e., in vision. 
 
 3. " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words," 
 &c. It is supposed that by "he that readeth" we are to under- 
 
Chap. L] THE TIME IS AT HAND. 3 
 
 hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which 
 are written therein : for ^ the time is at hand. b Rom. xm. 
 
 11. James v. 
 
 4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia : 8. i Pet. iv. 7. 
 Grace oe unto you, and peace, from mm ''which h Exod. m. u. 
 
 ver. 8. 
 
 stand the public reader in the Christian assembly, inasmuch as he 
 is alluded to in the singular number, and his hearers in the plural. 
 
 •'And keep those things which are written therein: for the 
 time," &c. They who keep the things which are written in this 
 book habitually remember that it especially predicts aggregations 
 of evil men, or embodiments of evil principles, acting in concert 
 against God and Christ with the ferocity of evil wild beasts, and 
 so their duty to God is to keep themselves from all union in sin, 
 and to lay to heart the judgments of God against sinners. 
 
 4. "John to the seven churches which are in Asia." How is it 
 that the number seven is used here ? There were far more than 
 seven churches in proconsular Asia. There was Colosse, to which 
 an Epistle was sent by St. Paul; there was Hierapolis, and 
 Miletus, and Troas, where St. Paul raised Eutychus from the 
 dead. There can be, I think, no doubt but that seven was chosen 
 as a mystic number, signifying the whole and perfect Church of 
 Christ. Seven is chosen in order that it may indicate at once the 
 definite and indefinite. The Church is an infinite body, but in 
 contemplating it we must not lose ourselves in infinitude, but con- 
 sider it as embracing a definite number of smaller bodies, each one 
 known to God and regarded by Him as if there were none else but 
 Himself and it to share His regard. 
 
 " Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which 
 was, and which is to come." St. John has been said to have been 
 guilty of a fault in grammar — a grammatical solecism — because he 
 has treated the most sacred name as an indeclinable noun, d7r6 {rov) 
 6 utv Kai 6 i}v Kai 6 Ipxafxevog, which, following the strict rules of 
 grammar ought to have been (after otto) in the genitive ; but it is 
 no more a solecism than Moses was guilty of when he sent this 
 message from God to the children of Israel : " I am hath sent me 
 unto you." The immutability in the words by which the Name of 
 God is expressed has been well set forth by Archbishop Trench as 
 setting forth the immutability of Him Who is the same yesterday 
 
4 THE SEVEN SPIRITS. [Revelation. 
 
 ' John i. 1. is, and 'which was, and which is to come ; ''and 
 
 & iv. 10. ch'. from the seven Spirits which are before his 
 
 iii. 1. & iv. 5. , 1 
 
 & V. 6. throne ; 
 
 iT?m"vi"i3^' ^ ^^^ ^^0^ J^sus Christ, ^who is the faithful 
 
 ch. iii. 14. witness, and the ™ first beerotten of the dead, and 
 
 "» 1 Cor. XV. ^ 
 20. Col. i. 18. 
 
 and to-day and for ever, so that it is expressed in this absolute 
 resistance to change, or even modification, of the very name ; and 
 Wordsworth expresses it as bespeaking the indeclinabiUty of the 
 Divine Essence "with whom is no variableness or shadow of 
 turning " (James i. 17) 
 
 " And which is to come." This is not to be taken as signifying 
 the same as " shall be," but as signifying that though He is with 
 His people now He is ever " coming" to them in some new mani- 
 festation of grace and goodness. 
 
 " And from the seven Spirits which are before his throne." This 
 no doubt refers to the Holy Ghost ; the One Spirit in His Essence, 
 and yet the Manifold in His operations. The place is parallel to 
 ch. v. 6. The lamb " having seven horns and seven eyes, which are 
 the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." An infinite 
 Spirit, the Spirit of God, confronts each personality with His most 
 searching and loving presence, as if there were none in the uni- 
 verse except Himself and the man whom He observes. In the 
 most ancient form of Liturgy, the Clementine, God is said to be 
 One, and yet exceeding all number, avapi9fii]T0Q, as being absolutely- 
 One, and yet One to each intelligence whom He has created. Here 
 the Spirit is seven because there are seven churches, in each of 
 which He dwells wholly and separately. 
 
 It is impossible to suppose that these are seven created spirits as 
 angels, because grace and peace cannot come from them, but must 
 come from the Adorable Three in One. 
 
 5. *' And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the- 
 first begotten." He is the faithful Witness because He witnesses — as 
 none other can do — to the absolute truth of God. In the Gospel the 
 Lord constantly refers to His otfice of Witness. This is a Johannine 
 expression. We may safely say that no scripture writer would, 
 have applied this term to our Lord except the beloved disciple. 
 
 " And the first begotten of the dead." He is, as St. Paul says,. 
 
Chap. L] UNTO HIM THAT LOVED US. 5 
 
 " the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him " Eph. i. 20. 
 ^ that loved us, ^ and washed us from our sins in xix. le"' 
 his own blood, &'^xtY'"Gat: 
 
 6 And hath ** made us king^s and priests unto "\!\ . 
 
 or p jjeb. IX. 14. 
 
 1 John i. 7. 
 
 q 1 Pet. ii. 5, 
 
 9. ch. V. 10. 
 & XX. 6. 
 
 5. "Loved." a, A., B., C, forty-five Cursives read, "loves"; P., and a few Cur- 
 sives read as in Authorized Translation. 
 
 "Washed." So B., P., most Cursives, Vulg., Copt., &c. ; but H, A., C. read, 
 "loosed us," the difference only one letter. 
 
 " become the firstfruits of them that slept " (1 Cor. xv. 20) ; and 
 again, in Coloss. i. 18 : "The first born of the dead." 
 
 " And the prince of the kings of the earth." " All power is given 
 unto me in heaven and in earth." *' King of Kings and Lord of 
 Lords." In these three sentences the glory of the Lord Jesus is 
 declared. He is the faithful Witness to God and His truth. He is 
 the Author of Everlasting Life, being the first born of the dead. 
 He is the Wielder of all power. Fear not your persecutors, even 
 though they may be emperors, for Christ rules them all, and makes 
 each one accomplish His purjposes, not their own. 
 
 " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins," &c. 
 Better, perhaps, "him that loves us," in the singular. His love 
 in past time continues in the present, and will last for ever. 
 
 " And washed us from our sins in his own blood." Perhaps the 
 true reading is Xvaavn, not Xovaavn, "Who has redeemed us by 
 His Blood." 
 
 6. "And hath made us kings and priests." Bather, perhaps, 
 "has made us a kingdom — even priests to God." This, with the 
 alterations, is the exact counterpart of Exod. xix. 6 : "Ye shall be 
 unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." 
 
 In what does the universal priesthood of all Christians consist ? 
 Mainly in intercession. There are in all churches, and always 
 have been, certain ministers set apart to minister certain functions, 
 such as Baptism, the Consecration of the Eucharist, Ordination, 
 &c. ; but the priesthood of the laity must, of necessity, consist 
 l^rincipally in Intercession, and it would be well if they were more 
 frequently reminded of this their sacerdotal duty. They are con- 
 stantly bid to assert their priesthood as against the ministerial 
 
6 HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS. [Revelation 
 
 •• 1 Tim. vi. 16. Grod and his Father ; ^ to him he elory and 
 
 Heb. xiii. 21. ^ . . ^ ' . ^ -^ 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 11. dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 » Dan. vii. 13. 7 * Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every 
 
 3o!^&'xxv'L64. ey6 shall see him, and Hhey also which pierced 
 
 Acts i. 11. 
 
 t Zech. xii. 10. 
 
 John xix. '67. 
 
 7. "With clouds." " With the clouds." 
 
 brethren ; but their principal function they are scarcely ever re- 
 minded of. A layman who never intercedes for his brethren is 
 worse than an ordained minister who neglects his sacred function 
 of presiding in the congregation. 
 
 "To him be glory and dominion." This doxology, addressed 
 to God the Son, is one of the innumerable places where the God- 
 head of the Son is most surely asserted by implication. It is 
 addressed to One Who shed His Blood, and so is a creature, and 
 yet it would be the height of blasphemy to apply it to a mere 
 creature. 
 
 7. "Behold he cometh with clouds." Thus in Daniel: "One 
 like the Son of man came in the clouds of heaven." Thus in St. 
 Matthew xxiv. 30 : " They shall see the Son of man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven," and " Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man 
 sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of 
 heaven " (xxvi. 64). How is it that such marked stress is laid on 
 His coming in the " clouds " ? Evidently to show that His coming 
 will not be a spiritual, but an open, visible appearance, as that of a 
 judge coming to his assize. But may it not be, as Professor 
 Milligan asks, that these are not the mere clouds of the sky, but 
 those clouds of Sinai, of the Shechinah, of the Transfiguration, of 
 the Ascension, which are the recognized signs of Deity ? 
 
 "And every eye shall see him." Not merely the eyes of the 
 living, but those who have been dead for ages, because the Evange- 
 list goes on to say, " and they also which pierced him." This will 
 be true of those who actually pierced the Lord on Calvary ; then 
 it will be true of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem — as Zechariah 
 says ; then of those who have pierced the Lord with their sins, as all 
 have, for if He died for all, then all have a part in His Death, both 
 in the guilt which brought it about, and the atonement consequent 
 upon it. 
 
Chap. L] I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA. 7 
 
 him : and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. 
 Even so, Amen. " isa. xii. 4. 
 
 8 '^ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and xiviiL 12.' ver. 
 the ending, saith the Lord, ^ which is, and which s. & xxi. 6. & 
 was, and which is to come, the Almighty. ^^"j. 4 ^.j,^ 
 
 iv. 8. &'xi. 17. 
 & xvi. 5. 
 
 8. "The beginning and the ending" omitted by ^'c, A., B., C, P., forty-five Cur- 
 sives, Syr., Arm., ^th. ; but retained by N*, a few Cursives, Vulg., Copt. 
 " Saith the Lord." xup.of ©toj. So ft, A., B., C, P., fifty Cursives. 
 
 The words " they also which pierced him " are taken from 
 Zechariah xii. 10, and it is much to be remarked that both here 
 and in John xix. 37 the New Testament writer does not adopt, 
 as usual, the Septuagint reading, which runs, " because they 
 have mocked me " {dvO'div KciTiopx^aavro), but " whom they have 
 pierced." This, as Alford, and Lee in the "Speaker's Commen- 
 tary " remark, is almost a demonstration of the common author- 
 ship of the Apocalypse and the Fourth Gospel. This and John 
 xix. 37 are the only places in the New Testament where this 
 prophecy is alluded to. 
 
 " And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even 
 so, Amen." The tribes or kindreds of the earth are those who are 
 of the earth earthly, who are not reconciled to God through His 
 Merits, and have not taken Him as their Master and Lord. 
 
 8. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, 
 saith the Lord." The title " Lord " is almost always given to the 
 Lord Jesus ; and aU the words from the beginning of verse 5 
 relate solely and entirely to Him, so that if we believe in His 
 Essential Godhead we must suppose that these words are spoken 
 by Him of Himself, as undoubtedly they are in xxii. 13. 
 
 "Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the 
 Almighty." " Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such 
 is the Holy Ghost. The Father Almighty, the Son Almighty, and 
 the Holy Ghost Almighty." Archbishop Trench gives a remark- 
 able passage from Clement of Alexandria : " For He is the circle 
 of all power, rolled and united into one unity, wherefore the Word 
 is called the Alpha and Omega, of whom alone the end becomes 
 beginning, and ends again at the original beginning without any 
 break" ("Miscell." iv. 25) ; and another from Tertulhan: " So, too. 
 
8 THE ISLE CALLED PATMOS. [Revelation. 
 
 y Phil. i. 7. & 9 1 John, who also ain vour brother, and ^ com- 
 
 iv. 14. 2 Tim. . . ., i • n • n -. • -. t 
 
 1. 8. panion in tribulation, and ' in the kingdom and 
 
 i7!^TTim"'ii. patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is 
 
 l^- _ , called Patmos, * for the word of God, and for the 
 
 » ver. 2. en. ' ' 
 
 ^'i- 9- testimony of Jesus Christ, 
 
 ihe two letters of Greece, the first and the last, the Lord assumes 
 to Himself as figures of the beginning and end, which concur in 
 Himself, so that just as Alpha rolls on till it reaches Omega, and 
 again Omega rolls back till it reaches Alpha, in the same way He 
 might show that in Himself is both the downward course of the 
 beginning on to the end, and the backward course of the end up 
 to the beginning ; so that every economy, ending in Him through 
 Whom it began, through the Word of God that is, Who was made 
 flesh may have an end corresponding to its beginning " (" On 
 Monogamy," ch. v.). 
 
 " The Almighty." *' Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these 
 also doeth the Son likewise " (John v. 19). 
 
 9. " I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribu- 
 lation," &c. •' Who also am your brother," i.e., in Christ. The three 
 following words are to be taken together, " and partaker with you 
 in the tribulation, and kingdom, and patience which are in Jesus." 
 " Let us not fail," says Trench, *' to observe the connection and the 
 sequence, tribulation first and the kingdom afterwards ; " on which 
 Eichard of St. Victor well remarks, " he rightly puts first, * in tribu- 
 lation,' and adds afterwards, * in the kingdom,' because ' if we suffer 
 with him we shall also reign with him ' " (2 Tim. ii. 12). 
 
 As yet, however, the tribulation is present, the kingdom is only 
 in hope, therefore he adds to these, as that which is the link between 
 them, *' and patience of Jesus Christ." Still it is possible that the 
 kingdom may be the present kingdom of grace. *' The kingdom of 
 God is among you." When our Lord, during the great forty days, 
 spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, He most pro- 
 bably meant the means of grace and the ministry of the Church. 
 
 "Was in the isle that is called Patmos." A rocky island, con- 
 sisting of three peninsulas joined together by very narrow 
 isthmuses, said to be just visible from Miletus; "was" is rather 
 "came to be." 
 
CiiAP. I.] I WAS IN THE SPIRIT. d 
 
 10 ^ I was in the Spirit on Uhe Lord's day, bActsx. lo. 
 
 -, \ . i5 2 Cor. xii. 2 
 
 and heard behind me a great voice, as of a ch. iv. 2. & 
 
 xvii. 3. & xxi. 
 
 trumpet. 10. 
 
 11 Saying, a am Alpha and Omega, ^the first Ict^xx'"?*.^^' 
 and the last : and. What thou seest, write in a J ^JJ'^i^^J* ^ 
 
 X. 8.' 
 
 e ver. 8. 
 
 f ver. 17. 
 
 11. " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and," omitted by N, A., B., C, 
 fifty Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Syr., Arm., !^th. ; retained by only a few Cursives. 
 
 " For the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." 
 Some moderns, against all ancient authority, say that he went there 
 to preach, but almost all ancient writers who refer to this sojourn 
 say that it was a banishment to an island to which with others on 
 the coast of Asia criminals were transported by way of punish- 
 ment. 
 
 10. '* I was in the Spirit." " I was wrapt in mind in a state 
 of spiritual vision or an ecstasy," so that he was in a fit state to 
 receive impressions from the invisible world. St. Paul describes 
 such a state in 2 Cor. xii. 2, as being one in which he did not know 
 whether he was " in the body or out of the body," and was " caught 
 up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it was not 
 lawful or possible for one to utter." 
 
 " On the Lord's day," i.e., on the day of the Resurrection. The 
 weekly Christian festival and day for the Eucharistic celebration. 
 
 " And heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." "Not 
 merely," says Professor Milligan, " one with a clear and strong 
 80und, but with a sound inspiring awe and terror, and correspond- 
 ing in this respect to the distinguishing characteristics of the Lord 
 in the further details of this vision." 
 
 11. " Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last : and, 
 "What thou seest." There can be no doubt that the words, " I am 
 Alpha and Omega, the first and the last," do not form a part of the 
 original text, but have been inserted, together with the following 
 clause, at a very early period, perhaps to take off from the abrupt- 
 ness of commencing the word of the Lord with "What thou 
 seest," &c. 
 
 "What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven 
 churches," &c. He is bid to write it that it may be in a permanent 
 
10 I TURNED TO SEE. [Revelation. 
 
 book, and send it unto the seven churclies which are in Asia ; 
 unto Ephesns, and unto Smyrna, and nnto Perganios, and 
 unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, 
 and unto Laodicea. 
 
 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. 
 E ver. 20. And being turned, ^ 1 saw seven golden candle- 
 
 Exod. XXV. 37. . ^ 
 Zech. iv. 2. StlCKS ; 
 
 form. It is to be remarked that this command to write is given 
 twelve times (i. 11, 19 ; ii. 1, 8, 12, 18 ; iii. 1, 7, 14 ; xiv. 13 ; xix. 
 9; xxi. 5). 
 
 He is told to write not what he hears, but what he sees. This 
 must refer, not to the verbal messages sent to the churches, but to 
 the visions which he saw rising before him in succession. 
 
 " And send it to the seven churches [which are in Asia] ; unto 
 Ephesus." There can be no doubt but that the number seven is to 
 be taken mystically — the writing or Epistle is sent to the perfect 
 Church, the universal, the Catholic Church. 
 
 "To Ephesus." Ephesus, being the most important, is placed 
 first, also as being the seat of St. John's own ministry. 
 
 "And unto Smyrna." Eight miles to the north of Ephesus. 
 Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, was afterwards its Bishop. 
 
 "And unto Pergamos," or rather, "Pergamum," was a city of 
 Mysia, and the most northerly city of the group. 
 
 " Thyatira " was in Lydia on the river Lycus. It is mentioned 
 as the city of Lydia in Acts xvi. 14. 
 
 " Sardis." The city of Croesus and the ancient capital of the 
 Lydian kings, situated to the south of Thyatira. 
 
 " Philadelphia," a city of Lydia, to the south-east of Sardis. 
 
 " Laodicea," to the east of Ephesus. It is the most southern of 
 the seven, so that these cities all lay as it were within a stone's 
 throw of one another. They were all within what may be called 
 the archdiocese or province of the Apostle. They could not have 
 been all the cities over which he had apostolic oversight, so their 
 reduction to the number of seven must have been, as I have said, 
 for some mystical reason. 
 
 12. "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And 
 beinf' turned," &c. How is it that he did not see the Lord 
 
Chap. I. ] ONE LIKE UNTO THE SON OF MAN. 11 
 
 13 ^ And in the midst of the seven candlesticks ^ ch. u. i. 
 ^ one like unto the Son of man, ^ clothed with a Dau^viL is.* 
 
 &x.'l6.' ch. 
 
 xiv. 14. 
 
 k Dan. X. 5. 
 
 first, as His countenance was " as the sun shining in his strength." 
 No doubt he saw the candlesticks first, and then the form of the 
 Lord appeared among them. 
 
 The candlesticks should rather be rendered lamp-stands. The 
 figure was taken from the seven-branched candlestick or candela- 
 brum in the temple, but with this difference, that in the temple 
 it was one lamp-stand with seven branches, here there were 
 seven candelabra, or it could not have been said that the Lord 
 was in the midst of them. Some commentators suppose that 
 each lamp-stand had seven branches, but this seems hardly- 
 likely. 
 
 The candlesticks or lamp-stands signify light-bearers. They hold 
 the oil of the Spirit which alone illuminates. 
 
 13. " And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the 
 Son of man." Why is the Lord said to be in the midst of the 
 candlesticks ? As the great priest whose duty it is — like that of His 
 type — to see to the candlesticks, that they are supplied with the 
 oil of Divine grace, that they are trimmed, and that nothing 
 be wanting to them which would hinder them from giving their 
 light. 
 
 " The Son of man." This is the only place except Acts vii. o6, 
 where the Lord is called the Son of man by another than Himself. 
 Not only in His Divine Nature as the Son of God, but as the Son 
 of man He is present in or among the churches. He mediates be- 
 tween His Father and them, through His human Nature, " for there 
 is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus'' (1 
 Tim. ii. 5). 
 
 *' Clothed with a garment down to the foot." The word in the 
 original is 7rod)]pi] which afterwards became, in ecclesiastical Latin, 
 •poderis. It seems a mistake to suppose that it is exclusively 
 an ecclesiastical garment ; it is rather a garment of supreme 
 dignity, which is signified by its length, which indicates a garment 
 for those who are above the sphere of labour : those who had to 
 labour were obliged to have garments which could be tucked up or 
 girded ("your loins girt about"). Thus, in Isaiah vi. 1, it is said 
 
12 HIS EYES AS A FLAME OF FIRE. [Revelation. 
 
 garment down to the foot, and 'girt about the paps with 
 » ch. XV. 6. a golden girdle. 
 
 m Dan. vii. 9. 14 His head and " his hairs were white like 
 n Dan. X. 6. wool, as white as snow ; and ° his eves were as a 
 
 ch. 11. 18. & ' •' 
 
 xix. 12. flame of fire ; 
 
 respecting God that " His train," i.e., the skirts of His robe, "filled 
 the temple." 
 
 "And girt about the paps with a golden girdle." His girdle, that 
 is, implied higher dignity than the girdle about His loins, by which 
 the lower garments of those engaged in manual work were girded 
 up. 
 
 14. " His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as 
 snow." Tiiis is the description of the Ancient of days, that is, of 
 God the Father, in Daniel vii. 9. " The hair of his head Uke the 
 pure wool." " It has been said that this whiteness signifies age — the 
 ages of eternity ; but this is impossible, for white hairs are the sign 
 of declining bodily strength — the blood does not circulate through 
 the extremities, and therefore not through the hairs, or they would 
 retain their colour. It is rather a part of the transfiguration in 
 light of the glorified Person of the Redeemer, a transfiguration so 
 complete that it reaches to the extremities, to the very hairs of the 
 head " (Trench). 
 
 " And his eyes were as a flame of fire." This is taken by Trench 
 and others not as indicating the piercing power of His glance search- 
 ing men through and through, but as the sign of Divine vengeance. 
 His very glance consumes the sinner. "In the symbolism of 
 Scripture fire is throughout the expression of the Divine anger, and 
 — seeing tliat nothing moves that anger but sin — it is the expression 
 of Divine anger against sin." I question, however, whether aU this 
 is not carried too far ; St. John, the beloved one, saw His eyes as a 
 flame of fire, and throughout the Apocalypse, particularly in the 
 latter chapters, He looks upon men with compassion as well as with 
 wrath. Fire is the source of light and warmth, without which 
 nature could not be. When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost 
 in the likeness of tongues of fire this was not the symbol of ven- 
 geance in any way. 
 
 15. " And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a fur- 
 
Chap. I.] SEVEN STARS. 13 
 
 15 ° And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they ° Ezek. i. r. 
 burned in a furnace ; and ^ his voice as the sound ch. u. is.' 
 
 £4. P Ezek. xliii. 
 
 oi many waters. 2. Dan. x. 6. 
 
 16 'J And he had in his right hand seven stars : x?x.^6.^" ^' ^ 
 and ^ out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged Jj Y^;^.^!^^ i^^' 
 
 ■■ Isa. xlix. 2. 
 
 Eph. vi. 17. 
 
 Heb. iv. 12. 
 ch. ii. 12, 16. 
 
 15. " Like unto fine brass." Various meanings given below. The «^ ^i^. 15, 21. 
 precise meaning of the word is quite unknown (Alford). 
 
 "As if they burned in a furnace." wsir-^fwuivoi read in B., P., and most Cursives ; 
 hut ■n-eiTvpivfxivw with N, a few Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Sah., Syr., ^th. 
 
 nace." " Like unto chalco-hbanus." A word apparently exceedingly 
 difi&cult to explain. Some have rendered it as mountain brass, some 
 as brass of Mount Lebanon ; some, taking the latter part, libanus, in 
 its meaning of frankincense, as brass of the colour of frankincense — 
 than which nothing can be more unlikely. Trench, after noticing 
 all three and other explanations, renders it "the glowing brass." This 
 conclusion is much strengthened by the apexegesis " as if they 
 burned in a furnace, " words of explanation immediately added by 
 St. John as probably knowing the dif&culty which his readers would 
 find in the unusual term. 
 
 *' And his voice as the sound of many waters." This is taken 
 from Ezekiel xliii. 2 : " Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came 
 from the way of the east : and his voice was like the noise of many 
 waters." " This comparison," says Trench, " is not to be under- 
 stood of the far and wide publication of the Gospel (' this sound is 
 gone out into all lands ') but to the terribleness of the voice with 
 which He will rebuke His foes both within the Church and 
 without." 
 
 16. "And he had in his right hand seven stars." The seven 
 churches are here said to be in the hand of Christ, because He has 
 all power over them and He protects them, " no one can pluck them 
 out of my hand." Trench supposes that He holds them as one 
 would hold a wreath. 
 
 "And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." This 
 indicates the word, but not, we are told, the saving word so much 
 as the avenging word. "The whole feeling, the whole sense of the 
 passage with which we have here to do, requires that we should 
 
14 I FELL AT HIS FEET AS DEAD. [Revelation. 
 
 s Acts xxvi. sword : ^ and his countenance tuas as the sun 
 
 13. ch. X. 1. 1.1. 
 
 t Ezek. i. 28. shiueth in ms strength. 
 
 ^Dan.viii.18. ^7 And * whcu I saw him, I fell at his feet as 
 
 ^ isa. xii. 4. dead. And *" he laid his ricrht hand upon me, 
 
 & xliv. 6. & . ^ ■»■ ' 
 
 xiviii. 12. ch. saving unto me, Fear not ; '^ I am the first and 
 
 11. 8. & xxii. *^ ^ 
 
 13. ver. 11. the last : 
 
 17, and part of 18. " I am the first and the last, and the li^ing one, and I was 
 dead." 
 
 take this sword from the mouth as expressing rather the punishing 
 than the convincing power of God's word " (Trench). 
 
 •' His countenance is as the sun shineth in his strength." Thus 
 He appeared to St. Paul on his way to Damascus. " I saw a light 
 from heaven, above the brightness of the sun " (Acts xxvi., 13). 
 
 It is doubtful to me whether this signifies the unendurable bright- 
 ness of one appearing in vengeance, or the (I was going to say) 
 natural brightness of the Revelation of the Deity. 
 
 17. " And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." It was no 
 ■other than St. John, the beloved disciple who had lain in the bosom 
 •of Jesus, who was then utterly prostrated by the extremity of his 
 fear. Whenever the supernatural is revealed the natural quails 
 before it ; much more must this be true of the Lord of spiritual 
 existences. When but a created angel appeared in glory to Daniel 
 there remained no strength in him, for his comeliness was turned 
 in him to corruption, and he retained no strength (Dan. x. 8). 
 
 " And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear 
 not ; I am," &c. The right hand which held the stars. The 
 right hand, whether of God or man, is contemplated in Scripture 
 as that by which the power of God and man is put forth. 
 
 " Fear not, I am the first and the last." *' This," as Trench 
 •says, '* is the expression of Absolute Godhead." It is three times 
 applied to Jehovah, in Isaiah xli. 4 : "I the Lord, the first, and 
 with the last ; I am he ; " xliv. 6 : *' I am the first, and I am the 
 last ; and beside me there is no God ; " and in xiviii. 12 : " I am the 
 first, I also am the last." That the Lord should thus assume it ia 
 the most convincing proof that in substance, power, and eternity 
 He is One with the Father. Trench quotes a remarkable passage 
 i'rom Richard of St. Victor: *'Ego sum primus et novissimus 
 
Chap. I.] I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE. 15 
 
 18 ^ J am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, 'I 
 am alive for evermore, Amen ; and * have the y Rom. vi. 9. 
 keys of hell and of death. ;.^J\/^- ^- * 
 
 19 Write ''the things which thou hast seen, ^ Ps ixvUi. 
 
 ° ' 2U. ch. XX. 1. 
 
 ^ and the things which are, ^ and the things which ^ ver. 12, &c. 
 
 shall be hereafter ; \ ^^; JJ; \^ ^^; 
 
 18. "Amen" omitted by a*. A., C. ; retained by N«, B. 
 
 19. " Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and what things they are, and 
 the things which shall be after these." 
 
 Primus per creationem, novissimus per retributionem. Primus qui 
 ante me non est formatus Deus ; novissimus quia post me alius 
 non erit. Primus quia a me sunt omnia, novissimus quia ad me sunt 
 omnia ; a me principio ad me finem. Primus quia Ego sum causa 
 originis ; novissimus quia Ego Judex et Finis." 
 
 18. ** I am he that liveth and was dead ; and behold, I am alive 
 for evermore." There should be no break between this and the 
 last clause of the preceding verse. It should run : " I am the first, 
 and the last, and the living one, and I became dead, and behold I 
 am ahve for evermore." 
 
 " I am the living One — the One who is essentially Life. As the 
 Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have 
 life in Himself." 
 
 " And I became dead." *' For a very brief space I allowed death 
 to have dominion over me : but it was to redeem man from death 
 by my death." 
 
 *' And now I am alive for evermore, having the keys of hell and 
 of death." *' The possession of the keys exhibits the permanency of 
 my victory." 
 
 " I open, and no man shuts, I shut and no man opens." By far 
 the more important MSS. invert the order of our Authorized, and 
 read Death and Hell (Hades). This is the natui-al order, for it is 
 death which peoples Hades. 
 
 19. " Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which 
 are, and," kc. I cannot but think that " the things which thou 
 hast seen '' includes more than the Vision of the Piedeemer set 
 forth between the 12fch and the 18th verses. It seems to cover all 
 the visions in this book of visions. 
 
 " The things which are." This must allude to the things now at 
 
16 THE SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS. [Revelation. 
 
 e Ter. 16. 20 The mystery ^ of the seven stars which thou 
 
 f ver. 12. sawest in my right hand, ^ and the seven golden 
 
 ch. 5. "i"&c. candlesticks. The seven stars are ^ the angels of 
 
 this present time occurring. But is it possible to limit these 
 " things which are " to the delivery of the messages to the seven 
 churches ? I cannot think so. "We cannot say what the time is 
 which is indicated by the *' are " in the phrase " things which are." 
 It may be a day or it may be a thousand years. 
 
 •' And the things which shall be hereafter." " The things which 
 shall come to pass after these things." The time here indicated 
 depends upon the meaning of " these things." 
 
 20. " The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my 
 right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks." Upon what do 
 these words depend ? It is supposed that they depend upon the 
 word " write." He is to write, or explain, or enunciate the mystery 
 of the stars and candelabra. This he does either now in the latter 
 part of this verse, or in the succeeding two chapters. If the former, 
 then he writes simply the fact that the stars in the Lord's right 
 hand are the angels of the seven churches, and the candlesticks 
 are the seven churches, thus distinguishing between the angels of 
 the churches and the churches themselves. If the latter, then 
 the mystery of the seven stars and churches is the account of 
 their character and of their dangers, and of God's dealings with 
 them. 
 
 But what are these angels ? They can scarcely be angelic beings 
 or guardian angels, because letters or epistles would not be sent 
 to them by God, neither can they be, as some have supposed, im- 
 personations of the churches, because the church would not require 
 personating, as each church was itself in turn arraigned at the bar 
 of Christ. They must be the chief ministers, or presidents, of each 
 church. "When it is said that this Apocalypse was written at a 
 date in which the episcopacy of latter times was not in operation, 
 we answer, that St. John himself had lived in a city, Jerusalem, 
 which was as much under episcopal regimen as any city now 
 existing, and St. Paul had put the first of these churches, Ephesus, 
 under a man who in his absence exercised very stringent episcopal 
 rule over it. 
 
Chap. II.] THE CHUECH OF EPHESUS. 17 
 
 the seven churches : and ^ the seven candlesticks ^ Zech. iv. 2. 
 which thou sawest are the seven churches. Phu.'ii.*i5.* 
 
 The most serious thing as regards bishops is that the stars or 
 angels are held responsible for the religious character of each 
 church, as if the bishop was capable by the example of his holiness 
 of moulding the church, and by his prayers and exertions of keep- 
 ing it from declension and heresy. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 UNTO the angel of the church of Ephesus write ; These 
 things saith * he that holdeth the seven * ch. i, 16, 20. 
 stars in his right hand, ^ who walketh in the ^ '^'^ ' 
 midst of the seven golden candlesticks. 
 
 1. "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These 
 things saith he that holdeth the seven stars." Ephesus is placed 
 the first because of its importance. The Apostle St. Paul had 
 exercised in it a ministry lasting over three years. He had during 
 his absence committed the oversight of it to his first disciple, and 
 St. John, according to the united testimony of Christian antiquitj^ 
 presided over it for many years. It was very natural then that it 
 should occupy the first place in his thoughts. 
 
 The Lord begins His message to each church with one of the 
 titles He assumed in this address, or with one of the Divine or 
 supernatural marks by which He had made Himself known to the 
 Apostle. In the words to the Church of Ephesus it is, " These things 
 saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, and 
 walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." As Trench 
 notices, there is a significant alteration. It is not " He that hath," 
 but "He that holdeth the seven stars," and it is not " He that is in 
 the midst," but "He that walketh in the midst." Heholdeth the stars 
 so that no one can pluck them out of His hand. He walked in the 
 
 c 
 
18 I KNOW THY WORKS. [Revelation. 
 
 c Ps. i. 6. ver. 2 "^ I know thj works, and thy labour, and thy 
 
 ix. 13, 19. ch. . -, , -, 
 
 iii. 1, 8, 15. patience, and how thou canst not bear them 
 
 midst of the candlesticks ; He sits not inertly, He walks up and 
 down amongst them, expressing His unwearied activity, beholding 
 the good and the evil, evermore trimming and feeding with the oil 
 of grace the golden lamps of the sanctuary. 
 
 " I know thy works." The Lord begins each of His messages 
 with the same " I know thy works." Whatever these works are — 
 whether good or evil — whether open and manifest, or carried on 
 only in the most secret recesses of the soul, works of repentance, 
 hope, love, adoration, or of envy, covetousness, or evil thought, He 
 knows all. 
 
 " And thy labour." I cannot forbear giving some very practical 
 words of Archbishop Trench on this word. " Indeed this word 
 KOTTog, signifying as it does not merely labour, but labour unto 
 weariness, may suggest some solemn reflections to everyone who 
 at all affects to be working for his Lord, and as under his Great 
 Taskmaster's eye. This is what Christ looks for, this is what 
 Christ praises in His servants. But how often does labour, which 
 esteems itself labour for Him, stop short of this ; take care that it 
 shall never arrive at this point : and, perhaps, in our days none 
 are more tempted continually to measure out to themselves tasks 
 too light and madequate than those to whom an office and ministry 
 in the Church has been committed. Indeed there is here to them 
 an ever-recurring temptation, and this from the fact that they do 
 for the most part measure out their own day's task to themselves. 
 Others in almost every other calling have it measured out to 
 them; if not the zeal, earnestness, sincerity which they are to put 
 into the performance of it, yet at any rate the outward limits, the 
 amount of time which they shall devote to it, and often the definite 
 quantity of it which they shall accomplish. It is not so with us. 
 We give it exactly the number of hours which we please ; we are 
 for the most part responsible to no man ; and when labourers thus 
 apportion their own burdens, and do this from day to day, how 
 near the danger that they should unduly spare themselves, and 
 make their burdens far lighter than they should have been." 
 
 "And thy patience." This patience may be the endurance of 
 persecution. It may be perseverance in the Divine life, or it may 
 
Chap. IL] AND HAST BORNE. 19 
 
 which are evil : and *^ thou hast tried them ^ which say they 
 are apostles, and are not, and hast found them ^ i John iv. i. 
 
 i- e2Cor. xi.l3, 
 
 ^^'^IS- 2Pet. ii. 1. 
 
 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for 
 
 my name's sake hast laboured, and hast ^not ^Gai. vi. 9. 
 
 _ *. T Heb. xii. 3, 5. 
 
 fainted. 
 
 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, 
 because thou hast left thy first love. 
 
 3. " And hadst patience, and didst bear for my name's sake, and hast not been 
 weary " (Revised and Alford). 
 
 be, as Bishop Wordsworth suggests, that while the angel is praised 
 because he exercises godly discipline in censure and correction of 
 errors, he yet preaches Christian patience and forbearance towards 
 the " erring." 
 
 " And how thou canst not bear them which are evil." This does 
 not mean that they are to persecute them, or render to them the 
 same evil which they have done, but that they should do their 
 utmost to counteract their evil, and bring them by prayer and re- 
 monstrance to a right mind, and, if need be, put them out of the 
 Church lest they contaminate others. 
 
 "And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, 
 and hast found them liars." St. Paul speaks of heretical teachers 
 who claimed to be Apostles. " Such are," he writes, 2 Cor. xi. 13, 
 ■*' false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the 
 ^apostles of Christ." TertuUian relates a story of a presbyter who 
 forged an Epistle of St. Paul, was found out, and was removed from 
 his office ( "On Baptism," ch. xvii.). This must have occurred, 
 one would think, whilst St. John was absent from them enduring 
 imprisonment. 
 
 3. " [And hast borne], and hast patience, and for my name's 
 sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." The first clause should 
 be omitted, and the whole is in the Kevised, "And thou hast 
 patience, and didst bear for my name's sake, and hast not 
 grown weary." Apparently greater praise could not have been 
 bestowed upon them. And yet the Lord proceeds to say : — 
 
 4. " Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou 
 hast left thy first love." There is nothing in the original answer- 
 
20 DO THE FIRST WORKS. [Revelation. 
 
 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and 
 g Matt. xxi. repent, and do the first works ; ^ or else I will 
 
 41, 43. -"^ . 
 
 come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy 
 candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. 
 
 5. "Quickly." So B., most Cursives, Syr., Arm. ; but omitted by n. A., C, P., 
 Vulg., Copt., &c. 
 
 ing to the " somewhat " of our Authorized. It should be read " I 
 have against thee that thou didst leave thy first love." How 
 terrible a charge when taken in connection with the immediately 
 preceding words of praise, "thou hast patience, and didst bear for 
 my name's sake, and hast not grown weary." Terrible I say to 
 us in these days when love has grown cold. Who is sufficient for 
 these things, who is sufficient for keeping up the love of Christ in 
 the soul of man ? It is not enough that there should be good 
 works. It is not enough that there should be labour. The works 
 must be works of faith : the labour must be labour of love. There 
 must be a constant endeavour on our part to keep up the warmth of 
 the love of Christ in the soul. Let us think of His Wounds. Let n& 
 recount His words on the Cross. Let us be diligent in receiving 
 the Sacrament of His love, and let us be diligent in preparing for it 
 aright. 
 
 5. " Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen." Com- 
 mentators with one consent remind us of God's remonstrance with 
 fallen Israel in Jeremiah ii. 2 : " Thus saith the Lord ; I remember 
 thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when 
 thou wentest after me in the wilderness." 
 
 " Repent." A decline from the first fervour of love to Christ needs 
 to be repented of. Constantly need we to pray, " Graft in our 
 hearts the love of thy name." 
 
 "And do the first works." The later works of verses 2 and S^ 
 seem to have been works against adversaries of the truth, which it 
 is most needful to contend for, and so, perhaps, these first works 
 are works of charity and brotherly love, and private devotion and 
 n^ligion, which, in their zeal for the truth, they had grown some- 
 what slack in performing. " But," as Trench says, " not the 
 quantity, but the quality of the works was now other and worse 
 than once it had been." 
 
 " Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy 
 
Chap. 11. ] TJIE DEEDS OF THE KICOLAITANES. 21 
 
 6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of 
 ^ the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. ^ ver. i5. 
 
 7 ' He that hath an ear, let him hear what the & xm. 'g^is^^' 
 Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that ch!^'iul'6^i3f^* 
 
 22. & xii'i. 9.' 
 
 candlestick." This threat means, "I will remove thy light. 
 Thou shalt no longer shed forth the light of my truth, but I will 
 give thy privileges to others who will make a better use of them." 
 It is terrible to think of a church like that of Ephesus, planted by 
 St. Paul, and a generation afterwards watered by St. John, be- 
 coming extinct. ''How awful for Ephesus the fulfilment of the 
 threat has been every modern traveller who has visited the 
 ruins of that once famous city has borne witness. One who 
 lately did so found only three Christians there, and these sunken 
 in such ignorance and apathy as scarcely to have heard the names 
 of St. John and St. Paul " (Trench). 
 
 6. " But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nico- 
 laitanes, which I also hate." It is not merely the opinions, or 
 the heresies, but the deeds of the Nicolaitanes which are hateful 
 to Christ. As there is much difference of opinion respecting 
 these heretics I shall give an account of them in a note at the end 
 of this chapter. 
 
 7. " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 unto the churches." He that hath an ear — an opened ear — a cir- 
 cumcised ear, and this springs from a circumcised heart. The 
 heart alive to the things of Christ will make the ear attentive and 
 ready to receive the accents of the Divine Word. Notice also how 
 that such an ear will hear what " the Spirit saith." Christ 
 speaks but by the Spirit. The working of the Son and of the 
 Spirit is never separated. It is the Spirit of the Son proceeding 
 from His human nature. " He shall not speak of himself," the 
 Saviour foretold, " but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he 
 speak." What a mystery is the Unity of the Trinity, the ever- 
 blessed Three having each His part in every divine act. 
 
 " To him that overcometh." This is repeated at the close of each 
 of the seven epistles. In each case its signification is somewhat 
 different, because each church has a different form of temptation. 
 It is the reproduction of the Lord's promise, " He that endureth 
 to the end, the same shall be saved," and of that which He gave 
 
22 THE TREE OF LIFE. [Revelation. 
 
 k ch. xxii. 2, overcome th will I give ^ to eat of ^ the tree of life^ 
 1 Gen. ii. 9. which is in tlie midst of the paradise of God. 
 
 through His servant, St. Paul, " Fight the good fight of faith ; lay- 
 hold of eternal life." 
 
 " Will I give to eat of the tree of life." Mark, it is the Son of 
 God, the Saviour and Judge, who assigns to each one the reward, 
 as if He be — which He is — the Supreme Arbitrator. The gift of 
 God is eternal life, but here it is the gift of Christ. So that as it is 
 the Spirit Who sends the messages, so the reward is that of the 
 Son ; and yet no word is sent, no gift or grace given without 
 or apart from the Father. 
 
 " Will I give to eat of the tree of life." In the " tree of life " there 
 is a manifest allusion to Gen. ii. 9. " The tree which disappeared 
 with the disappearance of the earthly paradise reappears with the 
 reappearance of the heavenly, Christ's kingdom being in the highest 
 sense the restitution of all things" (Acts iii. 21). Whatever had 
 been lost through Adam's sin is won back, and that, too, in a 
 higher shape through Christ's obedience. The term, " tree of 
 life," seems often put to indicate the highest blessing. Thus 
 wisdom is said to be a " tree of life to them that lay hold upon her " 
 (Prov. iii. 18), and "the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life" 
 (Prov. xi. 30 ; also Prov. xiii. 12 ; xv. 4). 
 
 " In the midst of the paradise of God." The word paradise is 
 employed in the Septuagint to denote the Garden of Eden ; then 
 in the New Testament it is used by our Lord to signify the good 
 side of Hades, where the souls of the blessed dead shall await the 
 Resurrection ; and in one place in the epistles it signifies the third 
 heaven into which St. Paul was caught up and heard the unspeak- 
 able words (2 Cor. xii. 3, 4). "We see eminently in it, what we 
 see in so many other words, how revealed religion assumes them 
 into her service, and makes them vehicles of far higher truth than 
 any which they knew at first, transforming and transfiguring them, 
 as in this case, from glory to glory " (Trench). 
 
 What is this tree of life ? Is it an actual tree, or is it some 
 spiritual power or grace. One holy man says that it is the Cross ; 
 another that it is Christ Himself. But in order to overcome, each 
 soul must have previously partaken of the Cross — must have par- 
 taken of Christ. 
 
Chap. II.] THE FIRST AND THE LAST. 23 
 
 8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write ; 
 These thinojs saith ™ the first and the last, which «» ch. i. 8, i7, 
 
 . . 18. 
 
 was dead, and is alive ; n ver. 2. 
 
 9 ''I know thy works, and tribulation, and 
 verty, (but thou art °rich) and I h 
 isphemy of ^ them which say they are J( 
 
 are not, 1 but are the synagogue of Satan. 
 
 Luke xii. 21. 
 
 1 Tim. vi. 18. 
 
 poverty, (but thou art ° rich) and I hnow the J^™es ii. 5. 
 blasphemy of ^ them which say they are J ews, and 2s, 29. & ix. 6, 
 
 <i ch. iii. 
 
 9. " Thy works, and." So H, B., most Cursives, Syr., Arm. ; but omitted by A., C, 
 P., Vulg., Copt., ^th. 
 
 8. "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write." 
 Smyrna, it is said, is the only one of the churches which re- 
 mains. The Church now ministers to half of the population of 
 160,000. 
 
 "These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and 
 is alive." The title thus assumed by the Lord from i. 17, 18, 
 seems to be assumed by Him in speaking to those who were on 
 the eve of sufiferrag a severe persecution. " I am the first and the 
 last, so that I shall outlive all thy persecutors, to reward thee, 
 and render to them according to their deeds of cruelty and in- 
 justice. As I was dead and am now alive, so shall I raise thee 
 from the dead." 
 
 9. " [I know thy works] , and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou 
 art rich)." " Thy tribulation," i.e., from the persecutions of the 
 heathen, in whose midst they dwelt, instigated most frequently by 
 the Jews. 
 
 " And poverty." Poverty, both because the Church was prin- 
 cipally recruited from the lower grades of society, and what goods 
 these poor Christians had they were despoiled of by their 
 persecutors. 
 
 " But thou art rich." Kich in faith, rich in good works, rich in 
 treasures laid up for them in heaven. 
 
 " And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, 
 and are not." St. John's brother Apostle had said, " He is not a 
 Jew which is one outwardly .... but he is a Jew which is one 
 inwardly." Till Christ came and gave His own name to the New 
 Church, no appellation could be more honourable than that of 
 " Jew." He was the elect of God, the heir of His promises, the 
 
24 FEAR NONE OF THOSE THINGS. [Revelation. 
 
 10 "■ Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer : be- 
 •^ Matt. X. 22. hold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, 
 
 ■ 10. " None of." So N, P., most Cursives, Vulg., Syr. ; but A., B., C, read " not " 
 ("fear not"). 
 
 guardian of His law, but when he rejected Him to Whose Name he 
 was specially chosen to be a witness, nothing could exceed the 
 depth of his fall. He became naturally, as it were, a blasphemer, 
 for for a Jew there was no medium between accepting Christ and 
 blaspheming Him. He must either acknowledge Him to be the 
 Christ, or brand Him as a blasphemer. And so the unbelieving 
 Jew belied his name, his traditions, his prospects, his worship. 
 He repudiated everything to which God had chosen him, and so 
 literally and truly his synagogue was no longer the sacred 
 assembly of the people of God, but the school and camp of God's 
 enemy. 
 
 10. "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer : behold, 
 the devil shall cast some of you into prison." Here the persecu- 
 tion of Christians is ascribed to the agency of Satan. We sometimes 
 assume that Christians were persecuted because the truths for which 
 they bore witness offended the pride, the prejudices, and the pas- 
 sions of men ; and this is most true, but we have not so reached 
 the ground of the matter. There is nothing more remarkable in 
 the records which have come down to us of the early persecutions, 
 and in this point they singularly illustrate the Scripture before 
 us, than the sense which the confessors and martyrs had that 
 these great fights and afflictions through which they were called to 
 pass were the immediate work of the devil, and no mere result of 
 the offended passions, prejudices, or interests of men. The enemies 
 of flesh and blood, as mere tools or instruments, are nearly lost 
 sight of by them in a constant reference to Satan as the invisible 
 but real author of all. And assuredly they were right. Who 
 that reads that story of the persecutions of the Saints at Lyons 
 and Vienne, a.d. 177, happily preserved to us by Eusebius 
 (H. E. V. 1) in the very words of the survivors, that wondrous tale 
 of persistent, inventive cruelty on the part of the heathen, over- 
 matched by a superhuman patience on the part of the faithful, but 
 must feel that there is infinitely more here than a conflict of bad 
 men with good. There is rather on the one side an outbreak from 
 
Chap. IL] BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. 25 
 
 . that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten 
 days: ^be thou faithful unto death, and I will ^ Matt. xxiv. 
 give thee ^ a crown of life. t .james i. 12. 
 
 . 11 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what f^-enT^^'ch. 
 the Spirit saith unto the churches ; He that over- '^i"- ^- 
 
 I qYi^ XX. 14. 
 
 Cometh shall not be hurt of "" the second death. & xxi. 8.' 
 
 the bottomless pit — the might and malice of the devil making war 
 against God in the person of His saints ; on the other a victory, 
 not over evil men only, but over Satan, so transcendent, that it 
 could only have been surpassed when Christ Himself beheld him 
 with the Spirit's eye, fall as lightning from heaven (Luke x. 18). 
 
 "Ye shall have tribulation ten days." It is impossible to say 
 what is meant by these ten days. "Whether they were only 
 ten days or ten years, or whether they betoken a longer time or a 
 shorter one. Some have imagined that there is a covert allusion 
 to the ten persecutions of the first three centuries. 
 
 " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
 life." There has been some difference of opinion whether this 
 " crown" is a kingly or a victor's crown. Commentators mostly 
 incline to the former, though the word used is not diadema but 
 Stephanos ; but it appears that kingly crowns took rather the form 
 of the latter. The Lord was evidently intended to be crowned in 
 mockery with a regal crown. The other references in the New 
 Testament are to the crowns of victors, thus 1 Cor. ix. 25, but it is 
 to be remarked that there are no other illustrations taken from 
 heathen customs in this book. 
 
 " He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." 
 The reason for this promise seems to be of this sort : though 
 their bodies may be slain by violence and torture, yet they will 
 not be hurt by that death which is really death (Matt. x. 28), By 
 death they will enter into life. 
 
 An interesting question arises as to who the angel of the Church 
 of Smyrna was when this letter was addressed to it. It is not at 
 all improbable that it was the famous Polycarp. If Polycarp suf- 
 fered martyrdom in the year a.d. 168, and he had been, as he 
 asserts before the governor, eighty-six years a Christian at that 
 time, he was probably baptized into Christ about a.d. 82, and 
 
26 THE CIIUECII IN PERGAMOS. [REVELATION. 
 
 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write ; 
 y ch. i. 16. These things saith ^ he which hath the sharp 
 
 sword with two edges ; 
 " ^^'*- 2- 13 * I know thy works, and where thou dwel- 
 
 a ver. 9. lest, even * where Satan's seat is : and thou holdest 
 
 fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even 
 
 13. "Thy works, and," So B. and most Cursives, Arm., and Syriac ; but omitted 
 by a, A., C, P., Vulg., Copt. 
 " Even" (xai) omitted by N, B., P., many Cursives ; but retained by A., C. 
 
 could have been the Bishop of Smyrna in a.d. 96, when this letter 
 was written. Tertullian distinctly tells us that he was consecrated 
 Bishop of Smyrna by St. John. As early as a.d. 108, Ignatius, on 
 his way to his martyrdom at Rome, found Polycarp the Bishop or 
 Angel of the Church at Smyrna. Still more is this within the 
 bounds of probability if we adopt Bishop Pearson's calculation 
 that he suffered about a.d. 147. 
 
 12. " And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write ; These 
 things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.'' 
 Pergamos, rather Pergamum, a city noted for its idolatry. In 
 particular it had a magnificent temple, dedicated to J^sculapius, 
 the ruins of which yet remain. The Lord describing Himself as 
 the One Who had the sharp sword with two edges, is supposed to 
 be consonant with the severity of His rebuke of this Church. 
 
 13. " I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where 
 Satan's seat is." Various conjectures have been hazarded as to 
 what is alluded to in the Lord saying that Satan had his seat in 
 Pergamum. One is that ^sculapius was worshipped there under 
 the figure of a serpent, another that Pergamum was more given to 
 idolatry than any of the other cities, but this can hardly be true of 
 it as compared with Ephesus. Trench confesses his inability to 
 explain the matter, and writes : " All that we can conclude from 
 this language is, that from one cause or another Pergamum enjoyed 
 the bad pre-eminence of being the headquarters in these parts of 
 the opposition to Christ and His Gospel." 
 
 " And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, 
 even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr." It 
 is a singular fact that nothing is known respecting Antipas and 
 
 I 
 
Chap. II.] ANTIPAS MY FAITHFUL MARTYR. 27 
 
 in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who 
 was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 
 
 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou, 
 hast there them that hold the doctrine of ^ Balaam, ^ Nam. xxiv. 
 
 14. & XXV. 1. 
 
 who taugrht Balac to cast a stumbling-block before & xxxi. le. 
 
 ^ f» T 2 Pet. 11. 15. 
 
 the children of Israel, °to eat thmgs sacrificed Judeii. 
 
 unto idols, ^ and to commit fornication. Acts xv.' 29. 
 
 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doc- m&'xTTg.lo. 
 trine ' of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. ^^ ^or. vi. is, 
 
 e ver. 6. 
 
 15. "Which I also hate" omitted by most MSS. S, A., B., C, read, 6fj.olli;, "in' 
 like manner." 
 
 his martyrdom through early tradition, though he is thus honour- 
 ably mentioned by Christ Himself. Later traditions make him to 
 have been Bishop of Pergamum, and by command of Domitian to 
 have been enclosed in a brazen bull, which was made red hot. 
 Tertullian, in his " Scorpiace," simply cites this place, but gives 
 us no further information respecting him. 
 
 14. " But I have a few things against thee ... to eat things sacri- 
 ficed unto idols." The early converts were bound to abstain from 
 things offered to idols, because if they were seen to do so they 
 were held to have partaken in the idolatrous worship ; and so the 
 Nicolaitanes, who are here alluded to, enticed them to take part 
 in the idolatrous feasts, and so to all intents and purposes in the 
 idolatry itself. It was at Balaam's instigation that the Israelites 
 were invited to the sacrificial feasts of Numbers xxv. ; and so these 
 seducers are said to hold the doctrine, i.e., the iniquitous teaching 
 of Balaam. 
 
 "And to commit fornication." Fornication was almost apart 
 of worship. In Corinth an immense number of prostitutes were 
 priestesses of the temple of Aphrodite ; and, in fact, the characters 
 of the principal gods were such that it could hardly have been 
 otherwise. 
 
 15. " So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the 
 Nicolaitanes." In speaking to the angel of this Church the Lord 
 does not say that He hated the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes, for 
 which thing He commended the Church of Ephesus ; rather He 
 
^8 TUE HIDDEN MANNA. [Revelation. 
 
 16 Eepent ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and 
 *isa. xi 4. ^will fight against them with the sword of mv 
 
 2 Thess. 11. 8, '^ ^ 
 
 ch. i. 16. tt ix. mouth. 
 15, 21. 
 
 sver. 7, 11. 17 ^ He that hath an ear, let him hear what 
 
 the Spirit saith unto the churches ; To him that 
 overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden 
 manna, and will give him a white stone, and in 
 
 ^ ch. iii. 12. the stone ^ a new name written, which no man 
 
 <t XIX. 12. 
 
 knoweth saving he that receiveth it. 
 
 blames tlie angel for tolerating those who hold the doctrines in 
 question. 
 
 16. " Eepent ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight 
 against them." He will come to the angel quickly, unless he 
 repents, and will fight against them, that is, those that hold the 
 doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. Milligan writes : " The Lord will 
 come to war against the Nicolaitanes, not against the Church. 
 Against His Church, even in her declension. He cannot war. Her 
 threatened punishment (and is it not enough!) is that the Lord 
 will make war upon His enemies without her, and that not taking 
 part in His struggle she shall lose her part in the victory." Most 
 commentators take no notice of the difficulty. 
 
 " The sword of my mouth." This sword seems to signify His 
 punishing and destroying power. He has but to say the word, 
 and they are overwhelmed. 
 
 17. "He that hath an ear ... to him that overcometh will I 
 give to eat of the hidden," &c. The hidden manna seems un- 
 doubtedly to refer to that which was hidden in the ark. But what 
 is the reality of this hidden manna ; it must be some aspect of 
 c-ternal life ; it must be the interior knowledge of Him Whom to 
 Imow is eternal life. 
 
 " And will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name 
 written." White is the colour of victory and of purity. The 
 rider on the white horse goes forth conquering and to conquer ; 
 the elect are clothed in white robes. With respect to the stone 
 there is more difficulty. The word really seems to some to signify 
 the white pebble cast into the urn as the token or vote of 
 
Chap. IL] THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA. 2^ 
 
 18 And tinto the angel of tlie churcli in Tliyatira write ;. 
 These things saith the Son of God, ^ who hath ' ch. i. u, is. 
 his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet 
 
 are like fine brass ; 
 
 19 ^ I know thy works, and charity, and ser- ^ ver. 2. 
 vice, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works ; 
 
 and the last to he more than the first. 
 
 19. '* And thy last works to be more than the first." So ^f, A., C. 
 
 acquittal after a trial. This is, with some reason, objected to, as 
 this book is altogether Jewish in its symbols, and seems to 
 exclude all illustrations drawn from the practices of the Gentiles. 
 Trench, who devotes three pages to it, supposes it to contain an 
 allusion to a white stone, in all probability a diamond, enclosed 
 in the breastplate of the high priest, and on which was written 
 the most sacred name of God, the nTpaypannaTov, and so this was 
 the Divine acknowledgment that he who received this stone was a 
 high priest to God. 
 
 What the new name is most expositors do not even attempt to 
 conjecture. Can it be the name by which Christ knows His own 
 sheep ? Can it be a name of God ? Can it be a well-known 
 name to which Christ attaches a new significance, differing in the 
 case of each believer ? 
 
 18. " And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write ; 
 These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto 
 a flame of fire, and his feet," &c. It is to be noticed that here 
 only does the Lord call Himself the Son of God. No certain con- 
 nection can be established between the words by which the 
 Lord here describes Himself (the same as those in i. 14, 15), and 
 his reproof of this Church. It would be idle to mention the 
 conjectures. 
 
 19. "I know thy works, and charity [love], and service [or 
 ministry], and faith, and thy patience, and thy last works to be 
 more than the first." This is the opposite of what is said of 
 Ephesus. The love of the Ephesian Church had grown cold, but 
 that of Thyatira had advanced, as was evinced by its works being 
 increased. 
 
30 THAT WOMAN JEZEBEL. [Revelation. 
 
 20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, be- 
 
 1 1 Kings xvi. cause thou sufferest that woman ^ Jezebel, which 
 
 31. &xxi. 25. 11 1 T ir, 1 , 
 
 2 Kin. ix. 9. calieth herseli a prophetess, to teach and to 
 
 ^5.^ Acts^xv.* seduce my servants " to commit fornication, and 
 
 x^'19^20^ ver! ^^ ^^^ things Sacrificed unto idols. 
 
 J*- . 21 And I gave her space "" to repent of her f or- 
 
 .ch. ix. 20. nication ; and she repented not. 
 
 20. " I have a few things against thee." Rather, "I have (this) against thee, to 
 teach and seduce my servants. And she teacheth and seduceth." 
 
 20. " Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because 
 thou sufferest that woman [or thy wife] Jezebel." It is scarcely 
 possible to suppose that this Jezebel was the actual wife of the 
 bishop or president of this Church. If she had been he would 
 scarcely have been allowed to retain his position of chief teacher. 
 We are to remember that though there is every reason to believe 
 that the angel was the president of the Church, yet that he also 
 was treated as its representative, so that the sins of which the 
 •Church as a body was guilty were accounted to be his, as he had 
 not sufficiently purged his Church from them by the exercise of 
 godly discipline and reproof. 
 
 Jezebel, no doubt, was a name given to her because of her sin, 
 so closely resembling that of Ahab's wife, who was the leading 
 introducer of idolatry of the worst type among the ten tribes. 
 
 " To teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, 
 and to eat," &c. To partake in the meal offered to idols was, 
 when it was done knowingly, to partake in the idolatry itself. See 
 notes on 1 Cor. viii. 9, 10. 
 
 21. "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication ; and she 
 repented not." This could only be said of one who had known the 
 truth, and had been outwardly at least in the pale of the Church. 
 It seems to imply also that the Great Head of the Church had 
 brought His grace to bear upon her so as to convince her of her 
 sin, and yet without effect.^ 
 
 I A remarkable account is given of a form of idolatry in Thyatira in Smith's " Dic- 
 tionary of the Bible," which is supposed by the writer (Dean Blakeslev ) to throw 
 light on this reference to Jezebel :—" Another superstition of an extreni'.-ly curious 
 ^character which existed at Thyatira seems to have been brought thither by some of 
 
Chap. II.] EXCEPT THEY REPENT. 31 
 
 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them *» i Sam. xvi. 
 that commit adultery with her into great tribula- xxyiii. 9. & ' 
 tion, except they repent of their deeds. 2"chron."vi. 
 
 23 And I will kill her children with death; jeV. xi.20. '&' 
 and all the churches shall know that °Iam he i«. ".Tohpi^^' 
 
 24, 25. Acts 
 
 i. 24. Rom. 
 
 viii. 27. 
 
 22. "Their deeds." So A. and two or three Cursives; but s, C, C, P., most 
 Cursives, &c., read, " her deeds." 
 
 22. " Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit 
 adultery with her," &c. "A bed," that is a bed of sickness, perhaps 
 of death. 
 
 '• And them that commit adultery with her into great tribula- 
 tion." Tliis adultery is in all probability spiritual adultery, i.e., 
 idolatry ; and " with her" means, not that they committed actual 
 adultery, but were followers of her leading, and instruments of 
 seducing others into idolatry. 
 
 23. " And I will kill her children with death." Her children 
 here must be distinguished from those who commit adultery with 
 her of verse 22, and must be those seduced by her and her 
 accomplices. 
 
 "And all the churches shall know that I am he," &c. This 
 prerogative to search out and try the hearts and reins is the 
 
 the cornipted Jews of the dispersed tribes. A fane stood outside the walls dedi- 
 cated to Sambetha, the name of the Sibyl who is sometimes called Chaldaian, 
 sometimes Jewish, sometimes Persian, in the midst of an enclosure designated the 
 Chaldaean Court (tou x^xSahv 'rrepi^oKoq). This seems to lend an illustration to the 
 obscure passage in Rev. ii. 20, 21, which Grotius interprets of the wiie of the Bishop. 
 The drawback against the commendation bestowed upon the angel of the Thyatirean 
 Church is that he tolerates ' that woman— that Jezebel, who, professing herself to 
 be a prophetess, teaches and deludes my servants into committing fornication and 
 •eating things offered to idols.' Time, however, is given her to repent: and this 
 seems to imply a form of religion which had become condemnable from the admix- 
 ture of foreign alloy, rather than one idolatrous ah initio. Now there is evidence to 
 show that in Thyatira there was a great amalgamation of races. . . . But amalgama- 
 tion of races in pagan nations always went together with a syncretism of different 
 Teligions, every relation of life having its religious sanction. If the Sibyl Sambetha 
 was really a Jewess, lending her aid to this proceeding, and not discountenanced by 
 the au h irities of the Judgeo-Christian Church at Thyatira, both the reference and 
 its qualiication becomes easy of explanation." This is curious and interesting, but 
 the Lord would scarcely speak of such an one as a pretended Sibyl, one outside of 
 tli3 Church, as having space given her for repentance. 
 
32 TPIE DEPTHS OF SATAN. [Revelation. 
 
 ■whicli searcheth the reins and hearts : and ^ I will give unto 
 p Ps. ixii. 12. every one of you accordinsr to your works. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 27. ^ ; _, '^ - ^ ''. 
 
 Rom. ii. 6. & 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in 
 V. 10. Gal. vi! Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and 
 
 5 ch XX 12 
 
 which have not known the depths of Satan, as 
 
 24, " But unto you I say, and." " And" omitted by \, A., B., C, P., most Cur- 
 sives, &c. No authority for retaining it. 
 
 especial one of God, and God only. Thus the Psalmist, "The 
 righteous God trieth the hearts and reins " (Ps. vii. 9). By 
 assuming to do this Christ most unequivocally asserts his proper 
 Godhead. 
 
 " I will give unto every one of you according to your works." 
 No truth of God is asserted in such plain terms as this, and I 
 think none so frequently, and yet there is none so much lost sight 
 of. Some, if they do not deny it, keep it in the background, 
 because they have an idea that it is contrary to or superseded by 
 justification by faith, but the great Apostle, who especially insists 
 upon salvation by grace through faith, as persistently insists upon 
 judgment according to our works ; thus Rom. ii. 6, " Who will 
 render to every man according to his deeds ; " thus 1 Cor. iii. 8, 
 " Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own 
 labour." 
 
 24. " But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many 
 as have." The conjunction " and " must be omitted, otherwise the 
 Lord seems to speak to two sets of persons, whereas He only 
 speaks to one. 
 
 "As many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known 
 the depths," &c. The Gnostics pretended to initiate their disciples 
 into the deepest mysteries of the Divine Nature or workings, inter- 
 posing successions of aeons between God and the universe which 
 He has created. These the Lord characterizes here not as the 
 deep things of God, but as the depths of Satan. Trench, however, 
 supposes that it was a more subtle and ensnaring delusion. " They 
 taught that it was a small thing for a man to despise pleasure, and to 
 show himself superior to it, whilst at the same time he fled from it. 
 The true, the glorious victory was to remain superior to it whilst 
 tasting it to the full ; to give the body to all the lusts of the flesh. 
 
Chap. IL] HOLD FAST TILL I COME. 33 
 
 they speak ; ** I will put upon you none other ^ Acts xv. 2s. 
 burden. 
 
 25 But ' that which ye have already hold fast "■ ch. m. ii. 
 
 . .,, T ^ John vi. 29. 
 
 till i come. 1 John iii. 23. 
 
 26 And he that overconieth, and keepeth ^ my 28^^Luk??xii 
 works unto the end, Mo him will I give power vi'3^chSi[' 
 over the nations : 21. & xx. 4. 
 
 and yet withal this to maintain the Spirit in a region of its own, 
 uninjured by them, and thus, as it were, to fight against pleasure 
 with the weapons of pleasure itself; to mock and defy Satan even 
 in his own kingdom and domain." 
 
 " I will put upon you none other burden." This burden which 
 they were bearing manfully could only be the burden of keeping 
 themselves from the sins to which they were tempted by this 
 Jezebel and her associates ; not to join in the smallest approach to 
 idolatry and its ever- attend ant abominations of lewdness and im- 
 purity. In a nominally Christian state of society like ours we 
 have no idea of the difficulty of keeping from these enticements. 
 Let us imagine the case of one Christian in a family of heathen, 
 and his brothers or sisters continually reminding him that every 
 piece of meat on the table had been offered to an idol, and so in 
 conscience he was bound to abstain from it (1 Cor. x. 27). We 
 can see from this how full of snares to weak Christians was the 
 commonest domestic intercourse. 
 
 25. "But that which ye have already hold fast till I come." 
 *' That which ye have already " — your works, charity, ministry, 
 faith, patience — "hold fast till I come." Mark how the reward 
 and final establishment in righteousness is not at death but at the 
 Second Coming. We gather from this that the Lord expected, 
 and yet expects, each church to watch and wait for Him — no 
 matter how long His Coming may be delayed. 
 
 26. " And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the 
 end, to him will I give," &e. Whatever Christ has, that He shares 
 with His people, even to sitting with Him on His throne 
 (iii. 21). 
 
 " Over the nations." That is, over the Gentiles, over the 
 heathen. 
 
34 THE MORNING STAR. [Revelation. 
 
 27 "And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the 
 
 « Ps. ii. 8, 9. vessels of a potter shall thev be broken to 
 
 & xlix. 14. , . ^ ^ . . ^ ' _ , 
 
 Dan. yii. 22. shivers : even as I received of my Father. 
 
 xix. 15. 28 And I will give him ^ the morning star. 
 
 ch^xlii.'ie^.^' 29 ^He that hath an ear, let him hear what 
 
 y ver. 7. 
 
 the Spirit saith unto the churches. 
 
 27. " And he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels 
 of a potter," &c. Here the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew is 
 followed ; the Hebrew being, " Thou shalt bruise or break ;" the 
 Septuagint, " Thou shalt tend them like a shepherd, thou shalt 
 rule them." How and at what time this will take place we 
 know not. Such a passage as xx. 4, if taken in the terms in 
 which it is expressed, seems to give ample time and scope for it. 
 
 What is the significance of "as the vessels of a potter shall 
 they be broken to shivers ? " It may refer to the breaking up of great 
 empires, as the Roman ; it can scarcely refer to the destruction 
 of individual offenders. 
 
 28. " And I will give him the morning star." The Lord speaks 
 thus of Himself at the end of this book (xxii. 16), " I am the root 
 and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." It 
 seems then that in this He promises in some way to give Himself 
 as the Harbinger of everlasting day. St. Peter speaks of the day 
 star having arisen in our hearts ; but this must have been anterior 
 to what is promised here. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 ft ch. L 4, 16.^ y^ ND unto the angel of the church in Sardis 
 write ; These things saith he * that hath the 
 
 & iv. 5. & V. 
 
 A' 
 
 1. *' And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write." Sardis, 
 once the capital of Lydia, and the kingdom of Croesus, now abso- 
 lutely deserted. 
 
 ** These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God." I refer 
 
Chap. Ill] BE WATCHFUL. 35 
 
 seven Spirits of Grod, and the seven stars ; ^ I know tlij 
 works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, ^ ch. u. 2. 
 * and art dead. 1 Tim.' "'e^.' ^' 
 
 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which 
 
 the reader to what I have written on chap. i. 4. The Spirit of God is 
 absolutely One, and yet infinitely manifold in His operations. 
 He is One, and yet, in dealing with the infinite number of souls on 
 whom He operates, is as if He were sevenfold : sevenfold in the 
 sense of perfect distribution of Himself to each one. See also 
 V. 6. This place asserts two great theological truths. That the 
 Son is Lord and God, and that having the Holy Ghost in His 
 absolute fulness within Him, that Holy Spirit proceeds from Him 
 as well as from His Father. 
 
 "And the seven stars." The seven stars are the angels 01 the 
 seven churches. We must see in this combination (between the 
 Spirits and the churches) a hint of the relation between Christ as 
 the Giver of the Holy Spirit and as the author of a ministry of 
 living men in His Church ; this ministry of men resting wholly on 
 their gifts. As Trench, and also as Dean Plumptre writes, *' He is 
 able to bring together the gifts of life and the ministry for which 
 those gifts are needed. If those who minister are without gifts 
 it is because they have not asked for them. 
 
 *' I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and 
 art dead." I know thy works that they spring not from a living 
 faith in me. 
 
 " That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." A name — 
 that is, a reputation. The Church of Sardis was to all appearance 
 a spiritual church, but not so in the sight of the Searcher of hearts. 
 
 "And art dead." Thus St. Paul speaks of one who lived in 
 pleasure as being dead whilst she lived (1 Tim. v. 6). So also the 
 father of the prodigal says : " My son was dead and is aUve 
 again." 
 
 2. " Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that 
 are ready to die." Watchfulness is the necessary preliminary 
 before there can be any real Christianity, because without constant 
 watchfulness we do not know our own state, and so shall be ever 
 deceiving ourselves. 
 
 " Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die." 
 
36 HOLD FAST, AND REPENT. [Revelation. 
 
 diTim.vi.20. remain, that are ready to die: for I have not 
 
 ver. li. ' ' found thy works perfect before Grod. 
 
 f 1^1?^' • 3 ^ Eemember therefore how thou hast received 
 
 f Matt. XXIV. 
 
 42, 43 & xxy. and heard, and hold fast, and ^ repent. ^ If there- 
 is. Mark xiii. ^ 
 
 33. Luke xii. fore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as 
 
 39,40. iThess. 
 
 V. 2, 6. 2 Pet. a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will 
 
 iii. 10. ch. 
 
 xvi, 15. come upon thee. 
 
 2. "Before God," ti, A., B., C, most Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Syr., yEth. read,. 
 " Before my God." 
 
 How ? by prayer, by applying to Him Who has the Spirit without 
 measure to give him that Spirit. 
 
 *' And strengthen the things which remain." According to some, 
 the parts or members of the Church which remain ; according to- 
 other-, the graces not yet extinct. 
 
 " For I have not found thy works perfect before God." Perfect 
 rather means fulfilled. '* I have found no works of thine fulfilled 
 before God, none of them have come to maturity." 
 
 3. " Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and 
 hold," &c. The charge against Sardis is not a perverse holding- 
 of untruth, but a heartless holding of the truth, and therefore the 
 Lord is graciously reminding her of the heartiness, the zeal, the 
 love with which she received the truth at the first. 
 
 *' And hold fast." Hold it fast in heart and soul, ponder over it, 
 make it again thine own by renewed faith. 
 
 "And repent." Repent of thy slackness, of thy declension in 
 faith, and of the coldness which has crept over thee. 
 
 •* If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief.'* 
 This is what the Lord constantly impressed upon the Apostles, even 
 whilst He was with them before His Crucifixion and Ascension. 
 They were ever to be looking for Him, so as to be ready to open 
 the door to Him the moment that He knocked (Luke xii. 36). 
 
 But this is said to all the world. Would He come in any sense 
 separately to Sardis, inasmuch as He addresses her as if His Coming 
 would be to her alone ? There is a coming of the Son of God to all 
 the world at once, and there is a coming in judgment to each one 
 whose sins call for it, just as there is a coming in mercy when the 
 soul is truly converted. 
 
■Chap. III.] THEY ARE WORTHY. 37 
 
 4 Thou hast ^ a few names even in Sardis which s Acts i. 15. 
 have not ^ defiled their garments ; and they shall i ^^'^•^. \ ' ^ 
 walk with me ' in white : for they are worthy. f-^^- * ^"• 
 
 5 He that overcometh, ^the same shall be ^ch. xix. 8. 
 clothed in white raiment; and I will not ^blot 32. Ps". ix£*' 
 out his name out of the °^book of life, but 
 
 •^ PhU. iv. 3. 
 ch. xiii. 8. & 
 
 xvii. 8. & XX. 
 
 12. & xxi. 27. 
 
 4. " Even " omitted by H, A., B., C, P., most Cursives, &c. 
 
 5. " The same " (outoj). So Nc^ b., P., most Cursives ; but H*, A., C, Vulg., Copt,, 
 •&c., read, ouViuf (" thus "), 
 
 4. " Thou hast a few names (even) in Sardis which have not 
 defiled their garments," &c. Who have not defiled their gar- 
 ments? It is always assumed that those who are admitted into 
 the Christian Covenant are '* washed, sanctified, justified in the 
 Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God," and what God 
 imposes upon them is that they should keep this — that they should 
 abide in the state into which they have been admitted, and keep the 
 cleansing or washing once accorded to them. However difiScult 
 this may be to realize in this our day, there is absolutely no other 
 principle of addressing the baptized in the New Testament. In no 
 case is there the slightest recognition of an invisible church within 
 the visible into which the members of the merely visible church are 
 io enter if they would be saved. 
 
 *' They shall walk with me in white : for they are worthy." 
 
 5. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white 
 raiment." White is, of course, the symbol of purity. That they 
 should "walk in white" and "be clothed in white garments" 
 seems to signify that their internal purity and holiness shall be 
 openly manifested ; in this world it has been hidden ; they have 
 shrunk from any display of it — but in the eternal world it shall be 
 manifested in the splendour of their white attire, and in their shin- 
 ing forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. 
 
 " And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." No 
 meaning can be given to this assertion of the Lord's unless it is pos- 
 sible for those whose names once have been in the book of life to 
 have their names blotted out of that book. Such a fall and such a 
 doom is terrible to think of, but it seems to me that there is no use 
 in arguing against it ; but the one thing laid upon us is to j)ray that 
 
38 OPENETH, AND NO MAN SHUTTETH. [Revelation. 
 
 " I will confess his name before my FatLer, and before his- 
 
 n Matt. X. 32. angels. 
 
 Luke xii. 8. 
 
 o ch. ii. 7. 6 ^ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
 
 p Acts iii. 14. ^ —^ saitij ^^to the churches. 
 
 <i 1 John V. 20. ^ 
 
 ver. 14. ch. i. 7 And to the ano'el of the church in Phila- 
 
 5. & vi. 10. & . . ° , 
 
 xix. 11. delphia write ; These things saith ^ he that is 
 
 Luke" i^ 32.' "" holj, ''he that is true, he that hath '"the key of 
 
 ^Matt xvi David, *he that openeth, and no man shutteth; 
 
 ^^- and ^ shutteth, and no man openeth ; 
 
 t Job xii. 14, ^ ' 
 
 7. "Shutteth." s, A., B., C, most Cursives read, "shall shut." 
 " Openeth." S, B., read, " shall open," also most Cursives ; but A., C, P., Vulg., 
 Arm., Syriac read, " openeth." 
 
 God would "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" 
 — "from the evil one," as one of the old Liturgies has it, " and from 
 all his devices and snares " — and that He would make us perfect,, 
 establish, strengthen, settle us. 
 
 " I will confess his name before my Father, and before bis 
 angels." " He has confessed me in the midst of ridicule and opposi- 
 tion, and persecution, and I will confess his name before my 
 Father, and before His angels." Let souls under scorn and opposi- 
 tion remember this and they will be nerved to undergo all that is 
 laid upon them. Let them remember tbatthe ridicule and scorn is 
 but for a moment, and the honour of the confession before God 
 and good angels is for ever and ever. 
 
 7. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write." 
 Philadelphia, a comparatively modern city, built by Attains Phila- 
 delphus, King of Pergamos, who died B.C. 138. In the reign of 
 Tiberius it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. 
 
 " These things saith he that is holy, he that is true." " He that is 
 holy." Christ is spoken of in Daniel ix. 24 as " the most Holy." 
 
 " He that is true." Not merely as meaning that He adheres to 
 His promises and will fulfil them, but that He is truly what He 
 represents Himself or is represented to be. For instance, if He be 
 God He is true God ; if He be man He is true man ; if He be Mediator 
 He in all respects answers to the truth or reality of Mediatorship be- 
 tween God and man. 
 
 " He that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man 
 
Chap. III.] AN OPEN DOOR. 39 
 
 8 " I know thy works : behold, I have set be- " ver. i. 
 fore thee ^ an open door, and no man can shut it : l co^?ii.T2.' ^* 
 
 shutteth." " The key of David " means authority over the house of 
 David. Here is a reference to the removal of one of the king's 
 ministers (Shebna), and the substitution of another (EKakim) in his 
 place, which we find in Isaiah xxii. 20-24 : " It shall come to pass in 
 that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah : 
 and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy 
 girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand : and he 
 shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house 
 of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his 
 shoulder ; and he shall open and none shall shut ; and he shall shut 
 and none shall open." 
 
 It is quite clear that in this passage there is a far greater than 
 Eliakim in the mind of the Prophet or of the Spirit Who inspired 
 him, even the exaltation of the true Steward of the mysteries of 
 God Who shall be faithful in all His house. But has not Christ 
 Himself committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven to His 
 ministers ? Yes, but so that in any turn of those keys His own hand 
 should be paramount. His ministers turn the key, but the turning 
 of the key admits only those whom He desires to admit, and 
 excludes those whom He desires to exclude. Trench has two appo- 
 site illustrations. " It was in faith of this that Huss, when the 
 greatest council which Christendom had seen for a thousand years 
 delivered his soul unto Satan, did himself confidently commend it 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and many a faithful confessor that at Kome 
 or Madrid has walked to the stake, his yellow San lenito all painted 
 over with devils, in token of those with whom his portion should 
 be, has never doubted that his lot should be indeed with Him Who 
 retains in His own hands the key of David, Who then should open 
 for him, though all who visibly represented here the Church had 
 shut him out, with extreme malediction, at once from the Church 
 militant here on earth and the Church triumj)hant in heaven." 
 
 8. " I know thy works : behold, I have set before thee an open 
 door," i.e., a door of usefulness and an assurance of success. This 
 figure of an open door for the successful preaching of the Gospel is 
 constantly used by St. Paul ; thus 1 Cor. xvi. 9 : " A great door and 
 effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." 
 
40 THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN. [Revelation. 
 
 for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and 
 hast not denied my name. 
 
 y ch. ii. 9. 9 Behold, I will make ''them of the synagogue 
 
 of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, 
 
 « isa. xiix. 23. but do lie ; behold, ^ I will make them to come 
 
 & Ix. 14. / ' 
 
 and worship before thy feet, and to know that I 
 have loved thee. 
 
 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my 
 
 " For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and 
 hast not denied my name." Many expositors omit the article 
 in the English, " thou hast little strength." But, notwithstanding 
 this, no one can shut the door which I have opened before 
 thee. 
 
 ''And hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." The 
 merit of the Church of Philadelphia seems to have been its stead- 
 fast adherence to the faith once delivered to the saints. The 
 heresies against which they had to contend involved apparently 
 the denial of the very Name of Jesus as the Christ — the only and 
 veritable Son of God. 
 
 9. " Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say 
 that they are Jews," &c. The same adversaries must be described 
 here as in chap. ii. 9. It must refer, one would think, to those who 
 said that there was no salvation to those who would not conform to 
 Judaism — those against whose machinations St. Paul's whole life 
 was a contention — whose teaching, as I have shown in my notes on 
 the Galatians, involved a real denial of the Divine Nature and 
 eternal Sonship of Christ. 
 
 "Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy 
 feet." This seems a reminiscence of the prophecy in Isaiah xhx. 
 23: "They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the 
 earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet," &c. 
 
 10. " Because thou hast kept [or didst keep] the word of my 
 patience, I also will keep thee," &c. This seems to refer (as Mr. 
 Blunt conjectures) to some past trial of faith which the Church of 
 Philadelphia had gone through. This appears to have been con- 
 nected with the doctrine of a suffering Messiah which was denied 
 both by the Jews and the Gnostic sects, as the Doceta. 
 
€hap. III.] HE SHALL GO NO MORE OUT. dl 
 
 patience, * I also will keep thee from the hour of » 2 Pet. ii. 9. 
 
 temptation, which shall come upon ^all the ! J'ga^xxiv^n 
 
 world, to tr}^ them that dwell ^ upon the earth. ^ Phil. iv. 5. 
 
 -I -I -r. 1 -1 T .^ T •1-1 -1 T T -I « ch. i. 3. & xxiL 
 
 11 Behold, *^I come quickly: ^hold that fast 7,12,20. 
 which thou hast, that no man take ^ thy crown. ch^.Yi*. 2*5. 
 
 12 Him that overcometh will I make ^ a pillar ^ ^^- "• i*^- .. 
 in the temple of my Grod, and he shall go no 21. Gat ii. 9. 
 more out : and ^ I will write upon him the name xiv.\."& xxii. 
 
 *' I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall 
 come upon all the world." Under what circumstances they were 
 kept we are not told. This promise seems look farther than the 
 deliverance of a particular church. It seems to have to do with the 
 deliverance of those who bore certain characters. They had 
 already made their calling and election sure, and their trial had 
 been sufficient. 
 
 11. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast," &c. 
 They are like runners in a race ; one may gain a prize which another, 
 through weakness or slackening of his speed, may fail to win though 
 it seemed almost within his grasp. But Archbishop Trench seems 
 to give a different turn : " Let no man," Christ would say, *' deprive 
 thee of the glorious reward laid up for thee in heaven, of which 
 many, my adversaries and thine, would fain rob thee ; but which 
 only one, even thyself, can ever cause thee to lose." 
 
 12. " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of 
 my God, and he shall go no more out." This has been supposed to 
 refer to the two pillars set up by Solomon in the Temple of 
 Jerusalem, Jachin and Boaz — the first signifying *' he shall esta- 
 bUsh," and the other, " in it is strength " — described in 1 Kings vii. 
 15-21 ; but, as Trench says, these were set up not in the Temple but 
 in the porch. The allusion rather is to the candlestick which may 
 he removed out of its place, whereas the pillar cannot. He who is 
 made a piUar " goes no more out." God says respecting him, " This 
 my son shall be in danger no longer," and he has final perseverance 
 assigned to him, for owing to his steadfastness he has won it. 
 
 " And I will write upon him the name of my God." This is in 
 allusion to the name of Jehovah engraven on the plate placed 
 
42 MY NEW NAME. [Revelation. 
 
 of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is 
 U^K^' ^"' oo' ' ^^"^ Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven 
 
 XTcO. XI). L.Z, 
 
 ch. xxi. 2, 10. from my God : ^ and I will write upon him my 
 ^ ch. xxii. 4. r J 
 
 new name. 
 
 ' ch. ii. 7. 13 ^ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
 
 Spirit saith unto the churches. 
 
 LSa.'"^"^" 14 And unto the angel of the church || of the 
 
 on the forehead of the High Priest. All true Christians being 
 priests of God. 
 
 " And the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem." 
 The name of the glorious city described in Ezekiel as taking 
 the place of the old Jerusalem is Jehovah Shammah — the Lord is 
 there. The Name of God being written on any one by the Saviour 
 means that that man belongs to God. The name of the Holy City, 
 new Jerusalem, being written on him, implies that he is free of 
 that city. He can without hindrance enter through the gates into 
 the city. 
 
 "Which cometh down out of heaven from my God." In 
 chap. xxi. 2 we have a vision of the descent of the Holy City 
 from heaven — not taken up to heaven, but coming down from God 
 out of heaven. The reader will notice that some of the last 
 Revelations of this book are here anticipated — as the writing of 
 God's Name on men's foreheads, and the descent of the new 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 "And I will write upon him my new name." In chap. xix. 12 
 it is said of the rider on the white horse — that is, of the Lord — that 
 He hath a name written that no man knoweth but Himself; but 
 in the next verse that His Name is called the " Word of God." 
 
 The new name is not "the Word," by that He was known from 
 everlasting ; neither is it " King of Kings and Lord of Lords," but 
 it is some name of mystery, bearing upon the eternal relation of 
 Christ to His Church, which is not yet made known, but which 
 we shall know when we have it written upon us. 
 
 14. " And unto the church of the Laodiceans write." Laodicea 
 was a city of Asia Minor, situated 115 miles east of Ephesus. The 
 Church was planted by St. Paul, and to it he sent an Epistle which 
 is either lost or was the same as that to the Ephesians with the 
 
Chap. III.] I WOULD THOU WERT COLD OR HOT. 4o 
 
 Laodiceans write ; ™ These things saith the Amen, " the faith- 
 ful and true witness, ^the beginning of the creation "» isa. ixv. i6. 
 
 r, ri ^ n ch. i. 5. & 
 
 01 (rod; xix.ll.&xxii. 
 
 15 Pi know thy works, that thou art neither o'coM 15 
 cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot. p ver. 1. 
 
 14. " Of the Laodiceans ; " or, "in Laoclicea." 
 
 words "in Ephesus " at the beginning omitted (see footnote in my 
 notes on Epistle to the Colossians, p. 78). Some suppose that 
 Archippus, mentioned in Coloss. iv. 17, was yet its bishop, but 
 that is uncertain, for it would imply an episcopate of thirty-three 
 or thirty-four years. It is now utterly destroyed, and in a small 
 hamlet raised near its ruins only three or four Christians could be 
 found. 
 
 " These things saith the Amen." From a root signifying "to make 
 firm," and taking a neuter signification, " to be firm," and so to 
 be believed, to be relied on. Here equivalent to the faithful One. 
 
 "The faithful and true witness." He witnesses to the truth of 
 God. " I say unto you," he says, "we speak that we do know, 
 and testify that we have seen " (John iii.). Being a person of the 
 ever-blessed Trinity He witnesses as no one else can do to the 
 absolute truth of God. 
 
 " The beginning of the creation of God." This is true in two- 
 ways, but in two different acceptations, whether we look to the 
 Lord's Divine or to His human Nature. 
 
 If we look to His Divine Nature He is the beginning of the 
 creation, because He is its origin. He began it in the sense of 
 bringing it into existence. 
 
 But inasmuch as He took upon Himself our full human being 
 "perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh," He was, as 
 to His lower nature, a creature of God, and so He said to Mary- 
 Magdalen, " I ascend unto my God and your God." In this 
 nature, being conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the 
 Blessed Virgin, He is the beginning of the creation of God, being 
 the first creature in the sense of being the greatest, the foremost, 
 the principal of all that can call upon God the Father. 
 
 15. " I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. 
 would thou," &c. Archbishop Trench considers " ' cold' to mean 
 
44 NEITHER COLD NOR HOT. [Revelation. 
 
 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold 
 nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 
 qHos.xii s. 17 Because thou sayest, "^ I am rich, and in- 
 
 X cor. IV. o. * 
 
 creased with goods, and have need of nothing; 
 
 one hitherto untouched by the powers of grace ; ' lukewarm ' to 
 mean one who has tasted of the good gift .... but one in whom 
 that grace has failed to kindle more than the faintest spark." 
 
 Bishop Boyd-Carpenter well remarks : " An intermediate state 
 between these is the lukewarm ; such as one neither earnest for 
 God, nor utterly indifferent to religion. They are perhaps best 
 described as those who take an interest in religion, but whose 
 worship of their idol of good taste or good form leads them to 
 regard enthusiasm as ill-bred or disturbing ; and who have never 
 put themselves to any inconvenience, braved any reproach, or 
 abandoned any comfort for Christ's sake, but hoped to keep well 
 with the world, while they flattered themselves that they stood 
 well with God." 
 
 " I would thou wert cold or hot." So, then, because thou art 
 lukewarm, thou art neither fervent in faith, nor entirely unbe- 
 lieving. But if thou wert still unbelieving there would remain to 
 thee the hope of conversion, whereas now, in that thou doest not 
 the will of God which thou kuowest, thou shalt be cast forth from 
 the bosom of my Church. 
 
 17. " Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, 
 and have need of nothing." What is meant by " I am rich, and 
 increased in goods, and have need of nothing?" Is the allusion 
 to spiritual satisfaction or abundance of temporal goods? The 
 first appears to be most in accordance with the general contents 
 of these Epistles, which have to do with spiritual rather than with 
 worldly things, but inasmuch as the worldly prosperity of Laodicea 
 was remarkable, for when she and other cities in her neighbour- 
 hood were destroyed by an earthquake, her citizens undertook of 
 themselves, without any assistance from the Imperial treasury, to 
 rebuild their city, which they did in far more than its original 
 magnificence ; and when, along with this, we take into ac- 
 count that temporal prosperity is always assumed by the New 
 Testament writers to have a deleterious effect on the soul's true 
 spirituality, it is very probable that we must join the two. The 
 
Chap. III.] WKETCHED, POOR, BLIND, NAKED. 45 
 
 and knowest not that tliou art wretched, and miserable, and 
 poor, and blind, and naked : r isa. iv. i. 
 
 18 1 counsel thee "" to buy of me gold tried in & ixv.^i"' *^' 
 the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and * white ch.viTi3.& 
 raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that xS'. 8?' "^ 
 
 17. "Wretched," &c. With article, " the wretched and miserable."' 
 
 temporal wealth begat self-consequence and pride, and this entered 
 into the domain of the Spirit, for pride in one thing prepares the 
 way for pride in another. If a man looks with self-satisfaction at 
 his own outward surroundings, he will look with the same satis- 
 faction at his supposed spiritual endowments, and this will ruin 
 all. 
 
 "And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and 
 poor," &c. There is an article before wretched (6 raXaiTTLopog) which 
 may be imderstood before each of these adjectives as emphasizing 
 them. " The wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and 
 naked one." None are so wretched as those who in spiritual 
 things know not their lost condition. Their whole condition is 
 one of self-deception, and on account of this, their spiritual blind- 
 ness, they imagine they have no need of the great Divine Redeeming 
 Remedy. 
 
 18. " I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou 
 mayest be rich." We should have thought that the Lord would 
 have rather said, "ask of me," rather than " buy of me : " but in 
 our zeal for the doctrine of free grace we must not conceal from 
 ourselves the fact that there must be a certain zeal and earnestness 
 in the asking. It is not the careless asking — the asking anyhow — 
 but the asking followed by the importunate seeking, and the still 
 more importunate knocking. 
 
 What is this " gold" ? Trench explains it as meaning faith, and 
 refers to the prayer of the Apostles : " Lord increase our faith ; " 
 others as love, without which faith is of no account. But ought 
 we to limit it ? Must it not mean that grace in which the soul is 
 poor or deficient ? 
 
 "And white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed." White 
 raiment is the symbol of forgiveness and of purity. The robes 
 must be washed and made white in the Blood of the Lamb, and 
 
46 AS MANY AS I LOVE, I REBUKE. [Revelation. 
 
 the shame of thy nakedness do not appear ; and anoint thine 
 t Job V. 17. eyes with eyesalve, that thou ma vest see. 
 
 Prov. iii. 11, t r. t k 
 
 12. Heb. xii. 19 ^As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: 
 
 5, 6. James 
 
 i. 12. be zealous therefore, and repent. 
 
 the soul or spirit must be clean in the sight of Him that searcheth 
 the hearts. And yet these two whitenesses, these two pmities, are 
 in the sight of God but one. He that hath righteousness imputed 
 has it also imparted, or the imputation is useless. 
 
 "And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." 
 "We are here reminded how that the Lord on occasion of restoring 
 sight to the blind man, " made clay of the spittle, and anointed 
 the eyes of the blind man with the clay " (John ix. 6). 
 
 But what is this anointing which gives or restores sight to the 
 spiritually blind ? It seems that it can be only the Holy Spirit, 
 the Illuminator. ** Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye 
 light in the Lord," and the Word of God, which is His instrument. 
 *' "When thy word goeth forth it giveth light and understanding to 
 the simple." So that if we are to use the Divine eyesalve we 
 must diligently pray for the Spirit, and we must diligently study 
 the Word. 
 
 19. ** As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten : be zealous there- 
 fore, and repent." This is often repeated in the sacred scriptures. 
 Thus in Job. v. 17 : *' Behold, happy is the man whom God cor- 
 recteth ; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.'' 
 Thus Ps. xciv. 12 : *' Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth, 
 O Lord, and teachest him in thy law." Thus Prov. iii. 11-12: 
 *' My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord .... Whom the 
 Lord loveth he correcteth ; " thus Heb. xii. C, quoting Prov. 
 iii. 10. 
 
 " I rebuke and chasten." " I rebuke," so as to bring them to a 
 sense of their sin and to repentance. " I chasten," I discipHne 
 them after their repentance by adversity and grace. 
 
 " Be zealous therefore." Shake off thy coldness — kindle thy 
 lukewarmness into earnestness and love. 
 
 " And repent." Not only sin, but coldness and lukewarmuesB 
 in the service of Christ have to be repented of if we would be 
 restored to the favour of God. 
 
Chap. III.] I STAND AT THE DOOK. 47 
 
 20 Behold, " I stand at the door, and knock : " Cant. v. 2. 
 ^if any man hear my voice, and open the door, y johnxW.23! 
 ^ I will come in to him, and will sup with him, ' ^^a^tt xix. 
 
 ^ 28. Luke xxii 
 
 and he with me. so. 1 Cor. vi. 
 
 2. 2Tim. ii. 
 
 21 To him that overcometh ^ wili I errant to sit 12. ch. ii. 26, 
 
 ® 27. 
 
 20. " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear 
 my voice." *' "We have a right, so far as we may venture to dis- 
 tinguish between the two, to see in the voice the more inward 
 appeal, the closer dealing of Christ with the soul, speaking directly 
 by His Spirit to the spirit of the man : in the knocking, those 
 more outward gracious dealings of sorrow and joy, of sickness and 
 health, and the like, which He sends, and sending uses for the 
 bringing of His Elect, in one way or another, by smooth paths or 
 by rough, to Himself" (Trench). 
 
 *' I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with 
 me." So John xiv. 23 : *' My Father will love him, and we will 
 come to him and make our abode with him." Compare the words 
 of the bridegroom. Canticles v. 2 : " It is the voice of my beloved 
 that knocketh, saying. Open to me, my sister, my love." In 
 another aspect it constantly recurs in the Pauline Epistles. Thus 
 Coloss. i. 27 : " Christ in you, the hope of glory." " Prove your 
 own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ 
 is in you, except ye be reprobates ? " (2 Cor. xiii. 5). 
 
 21. '* To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my 
 throne, even as I also," &c. This is a promise far exceeding that 
 to the twelve : " Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
 twelve tribes of Israel." It is to be remembered that the throne 
 of eastern kings is not a mere two-armed chair, but a large and 
 wide seat that will hold many persons, intended to seat those 
 whom the great king delights to honour by placing them close 
 beside himself. 
 
 This is the highest reward which Christ has promised to any of 
 the churches ; and the reader will notice that it is given to the 
 Church lowest in spiritual attainments — to one which the Saviour 
 had threatened to cast out of His mouth. " The highest place," as 
 Trench remarks, "is within reach of the lowest ; the faintest spark 
 of grace may be fanned into the mightiest flame of Divine love." 
 
48 THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES. [Revelation. 
 
 with trie in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set 
 down with my Father in his throne. 
 
 » ch. ii. 7. 22 ^ He that hath an ear, let him hear what 
 
 the Spirit saith unto the churches. 
 
 "Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father 
 in his throne." What is the difference between Christ's throne 
 and God's throne ? for a difference there is, and must be under- 
 stood and acknowledged. Christ's throne is His Priestly or Media- 
 torial throne, to which He exalts those who have been made by 
 Him priests to God. If they are priests in any real sense it can 
 only be by, in some inferior sense, sharing His Priesthood ; but 
 God's throne is the throne of Almighty Power and Grace, and can 
 only be shared by One who is equal with God in Nature and 
 Attributes. 
 
 NOTES TO THE SECOND AND THIED CHAPTEES. 
 
 THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 1. There can be, I think, little doubt but that the angels of 
 these churches are their chief ministers. They cannot well signify 
 angelic beings, for we never read of such having the care or over- 
 sight of churches. Such functions God has assigned to men only. 
 But in looking upon them as chief ministers, or bishops, a great 
 mistake has, I am persuaded, been made by some of our best 
 expositors, in that the words of praise or blame in which the 
 angels are addressed by the Lord are supposed to be said to them 
 as individuals, and not as representing their respective churches. 
 The difference between the two is very apparent in the Epistle to 
 the Church at Thyatira, to whom the Lord says : " Unto you 
 {vfilv) I say, unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this 
 doctrine," &c. This is evidently addressed not to the president 
 but to the whole Church. Again to the Church of Smyrna : " Fear 
 none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold the devil 
 shall cast some of you into prison," &c. Here also is a distinction 
 made between the angel and the persons composing his flock. 
 
Chap. HI.] THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES. 49 
 
 This is a matter of considerable moment. The address to 
 each church is undoubtedly in an important sense personal (for the 
 churches are not addressed merely as aggregates as in St. Paul's 
 Epistles), and yet the church is represented as a whole, having, 
 notwithstanding its numbers, a particular character pervading it. 
 So that besides the individual responsibility of each angel, and the 
 individual responsibility of each individual member, each church 
 has a character of its own. Now this corresponds with the way in 
 which in this our day we speak of congregations, or even of dioceses. 
 We constantly speak of a congregation being in a backward or 
 a forward state ; of a congregation being generous or niggardly ; or 
 of a diocese or congregation being imbued with certain right or 
 wrong principles ; but by His addressing the angel rather than the 
 church, and blaming or praising him, the Lord holds him, in a 
 very marked degree, responsible for the moral or spiritual state of 
 the church. If he had been thoroughly alive to his duty, and 
 courageous in fulfilling it, each church reproved would not have 
 been so much to blame as it is. 
 
 So that in these addresses of Christ to the churches we have a 
 very high view indeed of ministerial responsibility. The ministers 
 are — God only knows to what extent — answerable for the sins of the 
 people, as they are answerable for their freedom from heresy or 
 false doctrine, and on the other hand they equally share in their 
 praise here and shall share in their reward hereafter. As St. Paul 
 says of the Thessalonian Church, *' What is our hope, or joy, or 
 crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ at his coming? " (1 Thess. ii. 19). 
 
 2. It may be well to devote a few words to what has been called 
 the Historico-Prophetical interpretation of these seven Epistles. 
 According to this scheme they are supposed to be not seven actual 
 churches existing eighteen hundred years ago in Asia Minor, but 
 as seven periods of the world's history in which that character was 
 predominant which the Lord praises or blames in His message to 
 each several Church. Thus Brightman — an English divine of the 
 reign of Elizabeth, born 1557, died 1607, a man of great learning and 
 piety — sees in the Church of Ephesus the Apostolic period between 
 A.D. 30-100 ; the Church of Smyrna, a.d. 100-382 ; Pergamum, 382- 
 1300 ; Thyatira, 1300-1520 ; in Sardis the Lutheran, in Philadelphia 
 the Keformed, and in Laodicea the Anglican Church. 
 
50 THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES. [Revelation. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton considers that the Church of Ephesus pre- 
 figures the condition of the Catholic Church from St. John to 
 the persecution of Diocletian, a.d. 302 ; the Epistle to Smyrna, 
 from A.D. 302 to that of Licinius ; the Epistle to Pergamum, the 
 Church under Constantine and his sons, a.d. 324-340 ; the Epistle 
 to Thyatira, the Church under the divided rule of the sons of Con- 
 stantine, A.D. 340-350 ; the Epistle to Sardis, the Church under the 
 sole rule of Constantius, a.d. 350-361 ; the Epistle to Philadelphia, 
 the faithfulness of the Church under Julian, a.d. 361-363 ; the Epistle 
 to Laodicea, the lukewarmness of the Church under Valentin.ian 
 and Valeus, a.d. 363-376. 
 
 Stier in his " Words of the Risen Saviour," sees in these Epistles 
 the spirit of prophecy embracing in a parallel scheme the times 
 and the histories of the Old Testament and of the New in their 
 entire development. 1. The primitive world and primitive Chris- 
 tianity (Noah — Constantine). 2. The preparation of God's people 
 and the European peoples (Moses— Charlemagne). 3. Israel in 
 its decline and the Romish Church as the tolerated transition 
 (Nebuchadnezzar — Hildebrand). 4. The Babylonish period and the 
 Papal-worldly period (Zerubbabel— Luther). 5. The Persian-Greek 
 period and the Protestant-political age (Alexander — Napoleon). 
 6. The Greek-Roman period and the Second Reformation. 7. The 
 Advent of Christ and the Millenial Kingdom. These three I owe to 
 Archdeacon Lee's note in " Speaker's Commentary." InLange's 
 Commentary there is a scheme by a Romanist — Holzhauser: 1. 
 Ephesus: end of the Apostolic age. 2. Smyrna: time of the 
 Martyrs. 3. Pergamos : confession of faith ; time of the great 
 Church Fathers from the fourth to the sixth century. 4. Thyatira : 
 laudable condition ; time of the Church's domination from Jus- 
 tinian to Charlemagne, warring against worldliness — Jezebel. 5. 
 Sardis : semblances of Christianity : the prevailing condition of 
 the Church at the present time. 6. Philadelphia : destitute of 
 exterior power, yet witnessing a good confession : perhaps our 
 immediate future. Laodicea, i.e., people's judgment. The end. 
 The same may be said against interpreting the seven churches 
 as seven periods which may be said against the continuous his- 
 torical interpretation of all the rest of the book. No two learned 
 men can agree upon it. It is open to the same objections which 
 lie against ail interpretations which demand long periods, that the 
 Divine Inspirer of the Apocalypse recognizes no lapse of timo 
 
'Chap. III.] THE NICOLAITANES. 51 
 
 between the Ascension and the Second Advent. A very good 
 examination of it is to be found at the end of Archbishop Trench's 
 *' Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches." 
 
 THE NICOLAITANES. 
 
 The first account of these heretics is in Irenseus i. 26 : *' The 
 Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the 
 seven first ordained to the diaconate by the Apostles. They led 
 lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is 
 very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John as teaching 
 that it is a matter of indifference t^ practice adultery, and to eat 
 things sacrificed to idols. Wherefore the Word has also spoken of 
 them thus : ' But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the 
 Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.' " (Eev. ii. 6). 
 
 Tertullian in a tract entitled ** Against all Heresies," not the *'De 
 Praescrip. Haereticorum," says : *'A brother heretic emerged to light 
 in Nicolaus. He was one of the seven deacons who were appointed 
 in the Acts of the Apostles. He af&rms that darkness was seized 
 with a concupiscence (and indeed a foul and obscene one) after 
 light ; out of this permixture it is a shame to say what fetid and 
 unclean combinations arose," &c. A reference is given to the third 
 liook of the Miscellanies of Clement of Alexandria in Eusebius, 
 "Eccles.Hist.," iii. 29, but I have not been successful in verifying it. 
 The passage from Eusebius is as follows : •' About this time also, 
 for a very short time, arose the heresy of those called Nicolaites, of 
 which also mention is made in the Eevelation of John. These 
 boasted of Nicolaus as their founder, one of those deacons who 
 with Stephen were appointed by the Apostles to minister unto the 
 poor^ .... I have ascertained, however, that Nicolaus lived with 
 no other woman than the one to whom he was married, but that 
 his daughters continued in the state of virginity to advanced life : 
 that his son also remained uncorrupt. This is very inconsistent 
 with the tradition that he was the founder of an immoral sect." A 
 curious attempt has been made to identify the heresy of the 
 Nicolaitanes with the doctrine of Balaam, denounced by our Lord 
 in ii. 14, on the ground that Nicolaus is the reproduction in a 
 Greek word of Balaam in the Hebrew, but it appears to me that 
 there is no ground whatsoever for the alleged identity. If Balaam. 
 
52 THE NICOLAITANES. [Revelation. 
 
 or rather Bilam, means anything, it means one who devours, 
 Bala being a common word signifying " he ate up," or " devoured," 
 but there is no part of it answering to " people " if it is thus taken. 
 Gesenius makes it signify ** one notof the people,"that is, a stranger; 
 but Balaam would have his name given years before he was sum- 
 moned by Balak to curse Israel. Nicolas was a common Greek 
 proper name, and signifies conqueror of the people, that is, of 
 the people against whom he fought, as we must suppose, his 
 enemies. 
 
 I do not attempt to deny that the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes was 
 the doctrine of Balaam, but still I hold it upon grounds very diffe- 
 rent from this absurd derivation of their respective names. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 A FTEE this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in 
 
 1. " Opened." It stood open— he did not see it opened. 
 
 1. " After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened," &c. 
 It may be well to say a few words in introduction to our remarks 
 on the visions in these fourth and fifth chapters. They are visions, 
 but if sent by a God of truth they must represent realitieg. What 
 are the things which St. John now saw? Are they spiritual hiero- 
 glyphics, having no reality in themselves but only to be under- 
 stood as representing other things ? Take, for instance, the " sea of 
 glass." The great MSS. omit " as it were," and read simply " and 
 before the throne a sea of glass." Did St. John see before him 
 what appeared to him, and what he could not distinguish from 
 *'a sea of glass," clear as crystal, or, did he see any of the things 
 which are said to be signified by this sea of glass ? Thus Ebrard 
 thinks '* that as the stormy sea rei^resents the godless nations, so 
 here the pure and calm sea represents creation in its true relation 
 10 its creator." De Burgh sees here, and in chap. xv. 2, a reference 
 to the molten sea or great basin of brass in Solomon's temple 
 (1 Kings vii. 23-2G, 38) now introduced in order to typify the puri- 
 
Chap. IV.] A DOOR OPENED IN HEAVEN. 53 
 
 lieaven : and * the first voice whicli I heard vms » ch. i. lo. 
 
 fication in baptism of all who are made kings and priests. Now 
 this vision takes its place with those in Isaiah vi. and Ezekiel i. as 
 a vision of God. God, Who fills all things (rather in Whom are 
 all things), is here pleased to localize Himself as it were. The in- 
 finite Deity, for His own all- wise purposes, represents Himself as 
 a great king holding a court. If He does this it is only natural 
 that He should not appear alone in absolutely solitary majesty, 
 but that He should be surrounded with those to whom He has 
 assigned places very near to Himself. Now He chooses to repre- 
 sent Himself not as filling all space, if such a thing is imaginable, 
 but as sittingupon a throne; before this throne there is a space, and 
 this space the Evangelist sees filled up with this glassy sea. What 
 the spiritual or typical meaning of it is we are not told, but St. 
 John saw it as there. It afterwards appears as affording a place 
 for the whole army of the conquerors over sin and evil, so that they 
 may celebrate their triumph in the most immediate presence of 
 God (Rev. XV. 2). 
 
 This then will illustrate what I think is the nature of these 
 visions. They describe the court of God — His immediate Pre- 
 sence — the heavenly Holy of Holies, as they would appear to 
 one who from his holiness and purity was able to bear the sight. 
 Whether these were phenomena only, behind which there were 
 certain realities, certain noumena, we cannot inquire. We take 
 them as St. John saw them, for it is evidently intended that we 
 should do so. If it be objected that some of the things repre- 
 sented are below the dignity of the immediate court or presence- 
 chamber of God, we say that it is impossible for us to assert any- 
 thing of the sort. It is quite possible that St. John, in seeing 
 these things, might have his sense of space annihilated, just as in 
 •describing other things in this book he had his sense of time 
 taken away. No one, not even Raphael, has been able to put on 
 canvas the forms of the four living ones ; but this does not undo 
 the fact that creatures so near to God would be beyond all concep- 
 i;ion beautiful, majestic, terrible to eyes of flesh and blood. 
 
 1. "After this I looked [or I saw], and behold a door was 
 •opened in heaven." Not in the act of being opened, but stand- 
 ing open. 
 
54 I WAS IN THE SPIRIT. [Revelation. 
 
 as it were of a trumpet talking -with me ; which said, ^ Come 
 
 b ch. xi. 12. up hither, '^ and I will shew thee things which. 
 
 c ch. i. 19. & ill o. 
 
 xxii. 6. must be hereaiter. 
 
 xv^H.'3."&'xxi. ^ -^^^ immediately ''I was in the spirit : and, 
 
 ^^- behold, ® a throne was set in heaven, and one sat 
 
 e Isa. vi. 1. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 12. on the thi'one. 
 
 X. 1. Dan. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a. 
 
 vii. 9. 
 
 3. " And he that sat was." " Was " omitted by y, A., B.. P., some Cursives, Vulg.. 
 Syriac, ^:c. 
 
 " And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet 
 talking with me." That is, the voice was not like the still small 
 voice -which Elijah heard, but loud, clear, sonorous, penetrating. 
 
 " Which said." Who said ? The One Who caused His voice to^ 
 be heard as a trumpet — no other than the Lord. 
 
 " Which said. Come up hither, and I will shew thee things 
 which," &c. This is the message in the Apocalypse — not the 
 things then occurring, not the destruction of Jerusalem, not the 
 foundation of the Christian Church, but the things which needed 
 one to whom the future was naked and open to reveal. 
 
 2. "And immediately I was in the spirit." That is, the Spirit 
 of God. " So exalted and permeated by Spirit, that I saw with the 
 eyes of my spirit what the Spirit of God saw within me." 
 
 This constituted his ascent, as it were, in obedience to the 
 call " Come up hither." 
 
 "And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the 
 throne." Mark, the throne first appears, and then One Whose 
 appearance is not described Who sat upon it. 
 
 3. "And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a 
 sardine stone." He that sat must be God the Father, for the 
 Lord had said, " I have overcome, and am set down with my 
 Father on his throne." According to the truth of the imagery of 
 this book it cannot be God the Son, for in the next chapter He 
 comes forward to take the roll book out of the hands of Him that 
 Bat upon the throne. 
 
 It has been made a question whether He that sat upon the 
 throne was the Father, or the Triune God. But the Godhead of 
 
Chap. IV.] A JASPER AND A SARDINE STONE. 55 
 
 jasper and a sardine stone: ^and there was a rainbow ronnd 
 about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. f Ezek. i. 28. 
 4 ^ And round about the throne ivere four and 6 ch. xi. i6. 
 twenty seats : and upon the seats I saw four and 
 
 God is in the Father, and is by Him communicated to the Son 
 and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 3. " And he that sat (was) to look upon like a jasper and a sardine 
 stone." What does this mean ? It is impossible to suppose that 
 the Evangelist compared the Personal Appearance of the Almighty 
 to a jewel, no matter how set, no matter how bright. The fact of 
 course is, that, like the children of Israel of old, he saw no 
 simihtude ; what was before his eyes was that " light which no 
 man can approach unto" in which God dwelt. But this light must 
 appear to his eyes as pure white light, as of the stone here called 
 the jasper, or as having some other colour, as the sardine stone, 
 very probably the brightest red. These colours may have been 
 mixed, or their rays might be separated, but the light which 
 proceeded from the Deity was, in the sight of St. John, in some 
 sense two. 
 
 •' And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like 
 unto an emerald." The rainbow is the sign of God's covenanted 
 mercies, but it is also the most beautiful thing in nature ; so that, 
 quite apart from its typical meaning, if God intended to convey to 
 a mortal yet in the flesh some idea of the outward material glory 
 with which He chose to surround Himself, He would encircle His 
 throne with the rainbow. 
 
 " In sight like unto an emerald." This is generally taken as if the 
 brightness of the emerald predominated. Alford says : " The form 
 is that of the covenant bow, the colour even more refreshing and 
 more directly symbolizing grace and mercy." 
 
 4. " And round about the throne were four and twenty seats 
 [thrones] : and," &c. Notice that here again the thrones are seen 
 apparently before those who sat upon them. It seems as if the 
 thrones were there and had to be won by the foremost conquerors 
 in the war with sin and evil. 
 
 " And upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting." Did 
 they compass the throne in a circle (it is quite possible), or were 
 
56 FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS. [Revelation. 
 
 I'd!, iii. 4, 5. twenty elders sitting, ^ clothed in white raiment ; 
 
 9, 13, 14. & ' * and thej had on their heads crowns of gold. 
 
 > ver. 10. 
 
 4. " They had " omitted by ^f, A., B., P., most Cursives, Vulg., Arm., Syriac. 
 
 they placed in front in a half-circle, twelve on each side, and who 
 were the occupants ? It seems agreed on all hands that in some 
 way they represent the Catholic Church in its two divisions — that 
 of the Old and that of the New Dispensation. But I trust that it 
 may be lawful to inquire into the likelihood of this. 
 
 It is supposed that the twenty-four consist of the twelve 
 Patriarchs and the twelve Apostles ; but are the twelve Patriarchs 
 the actual Patriarchs, the sons of Jacob ? Is it possible that Reuben, 
 the first of the Patriarchs, was on a throne close to the throne of 
 God ; and in this case what place is left for such men as Enoch, 
 Noah, Melchizedec, Abraham, Moses, Joshua? 
 
 Again, taking the second twelve to be New Testament saints, is 
 it possible to assign them to the twelve, leaving out St. Stephen, 
 St. John the Baptist, St. Paul, St. Barnabas ? 
 
 Must we not apply to all such lists of names the words of the 
 Lord, " Many that are first shall be last ; and the last first " (Matt, 
 xix. 30), particularly since He said this immediately after His pro- 
 mise of one of twelve thrones to each of the twelve ? 
 
 All seem to be agreed that these twenty-four are not angelic 
 natures but human beings, but they must have been human beings 
 who occupy these thrones not by creation, much less by mere favour, 
 but because they have won places so near to God by holiness and 
 self-endurance. 
 
 *' Clothed in white raiment." As if they were priests to God — the 
 white raiment being the vestment of priests. 
 
 " And they had on their heads crowns of gold." This may 
 signify that they were kings as well as priests. But it may also 
 signify that they had gotten a victory and were each rewarded with 
 a bright and imperishable crown. 
 
 That these were real intelligences and not merely emblematical 
 figures is plain from what is said in the next chapter, where, in 
 verse 5, we are told that one of these elders consoled St. John when 
 he wept because no one was worthy to open the book. 
 
Chap. IV.] THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD. 57 
 
 5 And out of tlie throne proceeded ^ liarlitninffs ^ ch. viii. 5. 
 
 -,,-,. T . 1 -, 7 ° «fe xvi. 18. 
 
 and thundermgs and voices : ' and there were seven 1 ex. xxxvii. 
 
 lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are 20! Ezek! Y.' 
 
 - the seven Spirits of God. L' ch.'f 4.' &'* 
 
 6 And before the throne there was ° a sea of "^- ^- * ^- ^• 
 
 ri Ex. xxxviii. 
 8. ch. XV. 2. 
 
 5. *• And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings 
 and voices." Out of the throne, from God Himself proceeded these 
 voices of God, which were His decrees to His angelic messengers 
 who, when they heard them, proceeded to carry them into execu- 
 tion. These are the voices beard from Mount Sinai ; there were 
 *' thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and 
 the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud " (Exod. xix. 16). These 
 were the voices of Psalm xxix. : " The voice of the Lord is upon the 
 waters : the God of glory thundereth. The voice of the Lord is 
 powerful : the voice of the Lord is full of majesty." The thunder- 
 ings and lightnings were not the utterance of God in anger, but me ant 
 to impress those who heard them with His irresistible power. God 
 here surrounds Himself with the features of the natural world 
 which are grandest and most appalling ; unless he has utterly har- 
 dened his heart, nothing strikes a man so much with his own help- 
 lessness as the lightning and the thunder of God's power. In some 
 way unknown to us the lightnings and thunders appear to be the 
 natural accompaniments of God's presence. 
 
 " And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, 
 which are the seven Spirits of God." These seven Spirits are the 
 One Spirit in His sevenfold operations, and seven being the com- 
 plete, the perfect number, it signifies that the presence and opera- 
 tions of the One Spirit are as if He were present in His absolute 
 fulness and entirety to each one of those with whom He has to do. 
 He is not divided amongst those upon whom He acts, but He acts 
 upon each one indivisibly as if He were a separate person con- 
 fronting each one (see notes on i. 4). 
 
 6. *' And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto 
 crystal." I have noticed this sea of glass in the introductory re- 
 marks (p. 52). I believe that the Apostle saw it as he describes it, and 
 if the throne of God and the four-and-twenty thrones were there, so 
 was this " sea of glass like unto crystal." Various explanations have 
 
58 THE FOUK LIVING ONES. [Revelation. 
 
 glass like unto crystal : ° and in the midst of the throne, and 
 
 3 Ezek. i. 5. round about the throne, were four beasts full of 
 
 p ver. 8. eyes before ^ and behind. 
 
 been given as to what it typifies — nearly all different ; I have given 
 two on p. 52. One commentator thinks that it represents the 
 waters of baptism : " It may be that the standing upon the sea of 
 glass mingled with fire (xv. 2) signifies that the whole spiritual life, 
 even to its final glory, stands upon the foundation given in baptism 
 of water and of the spirit." Another, " That as the waters on which 
 the scarlet woman sits, represent the unguided, unreasoning, and 
 unprincipled thoughts of men, so the calm glass-like sea, which is 
 never in storm but only interfused with flame (xv. 2), represents the 
 counsels of God, those purposes of righteousness and love often 
 fathomless but never obscure ; always the same, though some- 
 times glowing with holy anger.'"' 
 
 " And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, 
 were four beasts [living ones] full of eyes before and behind." Now 
 here again I must recall the reader to that which, beyond all con- 
 troversy, the Evangelist describes ; he describes the court of God. 
 Now, inasmuch as between God and all created things there is 
 a gulf profound, impassable, illimitable, he might have been led to 
 describe the throne of the Almighty as existing in a boundless void, 
 which would aptly represent His essential separation from all crea- 
 ture existences ; but, instead of this, he is led to describe God as 
 bringing certain created intelligences very near to Himself. There 
 are three occasions in which God is pleased to reveal to men the 
 court of His immediate presence, Isaiah vi,, Ezekiel i., and this 
 place ; and in each of these He represents Himself as bringing cer- 
 tain created intelligences close to His throne. I firmly believe, then, 
 that no matter what these living ones typify, they represent them- 
 selves ; they are existences who have won a place very close to the 
 throne of God. 
 
 *' Full of eyes before and behind." If this means anything it 
 signifies that their power of vision is infinite. They were seen by 
 the Evangelist as if they were all eye, all observation, they re- 
 ceived knowledge, not as we do, slowly and imperfectly, but 
 from all parts of God's universe at once— nothing could be hidden 
 from them. In this they were as near as possible to Him to 
 
Chap. IV.] THE FIRST WAS LIKE A LION. 59 
 
 7 '^And the first beast was like a lion, and the second 
 beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face \ Num. ii 2, 
 
 &c. Ezek. 1. 
 
 as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying 10. & x. 14. 
 eagle. 
 
 Whom the Psalmist said : " The darkness and light to thee are both 
 alike." 
 
 7. " And the'first living one was like a lion, and the second living 
 one like a calf [it may as well be translated ox], and the third living 
 one had a face as a man," &c. It has generally been assumed that 
 these living ones represent all animated nature uniting in glorifying 
 God, " All thy works praise thee, Lord," but there is, to me at 
 least, one insurmountable difficulty in this, which is that the third 
 living one has the human countenance. Now, if his praise corre- 
 sponds to his appearance, his must be the only intelligent praise 
 offered to God by any of the four creatures, the idea of which is not 
 to be entertained for a moment. 
 
 The meaning, if it is lawful to express it in words, seems to 
 be something of this sort. The creatures had not each of them 
 a human face, one had ; and this fact shows that they were different 
 from the rest of the angelic host who all come to us in the likeness 
 of man. 
 
 Now we must carefully remember that St. John in this and 
 in all the rest of this book describes things as they appeared to him. 
 Only one of these countenances appeared to him human. The rest 
 of the faces were more like the creatures mentioned by him. There 
 is an infinite variety in the human face as manifesting the interior 
 character ; the human face may exhibit the character of a good 
 angel, or that of an intensely evil spirit. Now there is a certain 
 nobility in the countenances of each of the three non-human crea- 
 tures here described, which nobility no doubt was, to the seeming 
 of St. John, its characteristic, its feature, and its grandeur and 
 beauty. "We acknowledge this when we say that such an one has 
 the face of a lion or the eye of an eagle. If we said this, as we do 
 every day, we should say it in praise, not in disparagement. 
 
 I believe then that these living ones whom God Himself has 
 placed so near to His throne are all intelligence, all activity, 
 all grandeur and beauty. They have been called representatives 
 of creation. It may be that they are rather types of it which the 
 
'60 FULL OF EYES. [Hevelation. 
 
 8 And the four beasts had each of them *" six wings about 
 «• isa. vi. 2. Mm ; and they ivere full of eyes * within : and 
 i^Gr.they t they rest not day and night, saying, ^ Holy, 
 
 Jiave no rest. 
 t Isa. vi. 3. 
 
 noblest of earthly countenances are formed upon. I have written all 
 this because I believe these creatures to be real, and it requires very 
 great care in making them out to be representations or types lest we 
 destroy their reality.^ 
 
 8. "And the four living ones had each of them six wings about 
 him." How these wings were affixed to their bodies we know 
 not. The living creatures in Ezekiel i. had but four, but the sera- 
 phim in Isaiah had, like these, six ; and it is very remarkable that 
 of their six wings they employed four in adoration, *' with twain he 
 covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain 
 he flew." Whether these similarly used their wings we are not told, 
 but it seems to me very probable. It is to be remarked that these 
 only of angelic beings are said to have wings. The wings of course 
 represent their power of progression to obey the behests of God, 
 just as the eyes in every part of them represent their powers of 
 observation and intellect. 
 
 *' And they were full of eyes within." Alford takes kvkXoOsv with 
 taoiOiv, and says upon this, " the object of St. John being to show 
 that the six wings in each case did not interfere with that which 
 he had before declared, viz., that they were full of eyes before and 
 behind. Eound tlie outside of each wing, and up the inside of each 
 (half-expanded) wing, and of the part of the body also which was 
 in that inside recess, they are full of eyes." But surely this is too 
 elaborate. One commentator explains the eyes within as doubling 
 the contemplative concentration and unity of the Divine Om- 
 niscience ; another, the never-resting, wakeful activity of organic 
 life. Most commentators, however, pass it over without notice. 
 
 "And they rest not day and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy, 
 Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." This is 
 
 1 For instance, tht-ir reality is utterly destroyed if they are assumed to be figures 
 of the four Gospels. Are they the books of the four Gospels, or are they the writers ? 
 If the former, then they are very imperfect, for they give but a very small part of 
 the words and deeds of Christ. When we are amongst the blessed in the unseen 
 •world, we shall learn from eye-witnesses a hundred times more than we have learnt 
 from the Evangelists. John xxi. 25. 
 
Chap. IV.] HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. 61 
 
 holy, holy, "Lord God Almighty, ^ which was, and is, and 
 is to come. « ch. i. 8. 
 
 9 And when those beasts give glory and honour ^ ^^' ^' *' 
 and thanks to him that sat on the throne, ^ who y ch. i. is. & 
 liveth for ever and ever, ' " ^^* '- 
 
 9. " Give"—" shall give," 
 
 the Trisagion adopted into its Liturgies by every branch of the 
 Church of Christ, its use reaching far back into a time when there 
 was no central authority to compel, or even to recommend, obedience 
 in the Church, so that its use dates from the origin or first planting 
 of each church, which was generally by an Apostle or Apostolic 
 man, a companion of an Apostle. It is the highest act of praise 
 offered to God by those that are nearest to His throne, and yet it 
 is the simplest. 
 
 The threefold repetition of " Holy " has always been held to 
 point to the mystery of the ever-blessed Trinity, and for this 
 reason this chapter has been chosen for the Epistle for Trinity 
 Sunday. There is a difference between the concluding words in 
 Isaiah and in the Apocalypse. In Isaiah it is "the whole earth is 
 full of his glory." Here it is " which was, and is, and is to come." 
 Mr. Blunt remarks that inasmuch as the older form in Isaiah is 
 adopted in the oldest type of Liturgy — in that of St. James, used in 
 Jerusalem — it is probable that the main body of this Liturgy was 
 settled before the Apocalypse was written. So that at every cele- 
 bration of the Eucharist we are permitted to join in the highest 
 worship of angels. 
 
 The root idea of holiness is separation. The consecrated or 
 hallowed person or thing is separated to the service of God. Thus 
 the tabernacle and its vessels, and the robes of the priests, and the 
 altar were all hallowed, as separated, by the very fact of their 
 dedication, from all profane uses. So that the creatures nearest to 
 God proclaim in their ceaseless anthem the infinite separation in 
 essence between themselves and God ; so that, so close as He has 
 put them to Himself, He is yet infinitely above them. 
 
 9. "And when those living ones give glory and honour and 
 thanks." " Give " is in the future tense, *' shall give," and implies 
 
€2 THOU' ART WORTHY, LORD. [Revelation. 
 
 10 ' The four and twenty elders fall down before him that 
 "• ch. V. 8, 14. sat on the throne, * and worship him that liveth for 
 b ver. 4. ^^^^ ^^^ ever, ^ and cast their crowns before the 
 
 throne, saying, 
 c ch. V. 12. 11 *^Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory 
 
 d Gen. i. 1. and honour and power : '^ for thou hast created 
 
 Acts xvii. 24. 
 
 Eph. iii. 9. all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were 
 
 Col. i. 16. , -, 
 
 ch. X. 6. created. 
 
 10. "Fall do^Ti "—" shall fall down." " Sat "— " sitteth." " Worship"— "will 
 worship," H, A., B. " And cast "— '* will cast." 
 
 the eternal repetition of the act ; whenever they give praise then 
 their praise is seconded by the elders, for we read : 
 
 10. •* The four and twenty elders [shall] fall down before him 
 that sat [sitteth] on the throne." Note the lowliness of the adora- 
 tion of these exalted ones. They fall down, that is, they prostrate 
 themselves. 
 
 "And cast their crowns before the throne." Tacitus ("Ann.," 
 XV. 29) tells how Tiridates cast down his diadem {insigne recjnum) 
 in homage before the effigy of Nero; so also Dion Cassius (lib. 
 xxxvi.) tells how Tigranes cast down his diadem before Pompeius 
 (A-rchdeacon Lee in " Speaker's Commentary"), so that this was 
 not an unusual sign of homage to the supreme power. 
 
 11. *' Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory and honour and 
 power: for thou hast created all things." This is an act of praise 
 to God the Creator. In the next chapter the praise is to the 
 Redeemer. In the succession of time creation comes before re- 
 demption, for things must have existed and been brought into 
 being before they could be redeemed, 
 
 " And for thy pleasure they are and were created." t^, A., &c., 
 read " they were," meaning they existed and were created. This 
 seems to mean, " No sooner didst Thou will their being than they 
 were, and by the contemporaneous act of creation they took forms 
 and were manifested." 
 
 Such was the act of praise to God as the Creator. And now the 
 book of God's providence is unrolled. 
 
Chap. V.] SEALED WITH SEVEN SEALS. 63 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 AND I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the 
 throne * a book written within and on the * Ezek. ii. 9, 
 backside, ^ sealed with seven seals. b isa.xxix.ii. 
 
 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a 
 loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and 
 to loose the seals thereof ? 
 
 Dan. xii. 4. 
 
 1. " And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne." 
 The appearance or form of Him that sat on the throne is not de- 
 scribed by St. John. Of course, because it was unlawful to make 
 any image or figure of the Father, and so there could be no 
 description given of Him. Still, out of the excess of light in which 
 God was, His right hand was to be seen, and on this (not in it) 
 lay a book or roll written on both sides — both within — that is, in 
 the usual place of writing, and without, on the back side ; so that 
 every part of the book was covered with writing. 
 
 " Sealed with seven seals." This implies that the roll or scroll 
 was made up of seven pieces of parchment. The outer one the 
 first, the innermost the seventh. 
 
 Were, then, all the seven seals visible ? It would seem that 
 they were ; and so there was a thread — or something of such a 
 kind— which was sealed in each seal, and the end of which reached 
 to the outside of the whole roll, so that one could immediately 
 tell where each part of the roll began. 
 
 What were the contents of each part of the roll ? We cannot 
 tell. It may have been the events that occurred at each opening 
 of the successive seals, or, which is more probable, the interpreta- 
 tion of their mysteries. 
 
 2. "And I saw a strong angel." Supposed to be Gabriel, be- 
 cause his name signifies mighty or strong God ; but if it was so 
 well known a messenger of God I think his name would have been 
 recorded a^ that of Michael is. 
 
 " Proclaiming wiih a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the 
 
G4 I WEPT MUCH. [Revelation. 
 
 3 And no man Mn heaven, nor in earth, neither under 
 c ver. 13. the earth, was able to open the book, neither 
 to look thereon. 
 
 4 And I wept much, becp.use no man was found worthy to 
 open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. 
 
 5 And one of the elders saith unto me. Weep not : behold 
 
 4. "And to read" omitted by s, B., P., forty Cursives, Vulg., Copt., SjTiac, Arm., 
 JEth. ; retained by only two or three Cursives. 
 
 book, and to loose," &c. Who is able to make known the myste- 
 ries of God's providence ? Who is able to unfold the book of His 
 secret counsels ? 
 
 3. "And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the 
 earth," &c. " No man," i.e. no one ; man is not expressed. 
 
 *' Was able to open the book." This seems to mean " was 
 worthy." No created intelligence, no mere creature was worthy. 
 This is one of those almost innumerable places which set forth the 
 Divine Nature of the Eternal Son, and, so far as that Divine Nature 
 is concerned, the gulf between Him and every creature. No living 
 creature, no elder on his throne, no angel, no saint, had virtue 
 enough to open the book. 
 
 4. "And I wept much, because no man was found worthy," &c. 
 It has been supposed that St. John wept because of the contents 
 of the roll, which in some unexplained way he was supposed to 
 know before the book was unrolled ; but it cannot be so. He 
 wept because the mystery of God's dealings was apparently not 
 capable of being disclosed. Amongst creatures in heaven, in 
 earth, and under the earth, there was no one who could unfold 
 the Divine secrets. 
 
 5. "And one of the elders saith unto me. Weep not." Was 
 St. John then permitted to be close to the throne of God, in the 
 very circle of the elders, so that one of the elders could speak 
 to him, as to one standing close to him ? We are to remember 
 that in such a vision of God as this, the Apostle is raised above 
 the limitations or conditions of space and time. All that ap- 
 peared before him was vast and illimitable, and yet he was close 
 to all. 
 
Chap. V.] THE ROOT OF DAVID. 65 
 
 "^ the Lion of the tribe of Juda, ^ the Eoot of ^ Gen. xiix. 
 
 David, hath prevailed to open the book, ^ and to vh. u. 
 
 loose the seven seals thereof. ^JjJ; ^y ^2!^' 
 
 6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the 
 
 ch. xxii. 16. 
 f ver. 1. ch. 
 
 throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of ^i- 1- 
 
 the elders, stood ^ a Lamb as it had been slain, John'i. 29, 36. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 ch. xiii. 8. 
 
 ver. 9, 12. 
 
 5. "To loose" omitted by A., B., P., fifty Cursives, Vulg. (Amicat.), &c. ; retained 
 only by K. 
 
 6. " Stood a Lamb as it had been slain." Lit., " a Lamb standing as slain." 
 
 "The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Eoot of David." The 
 figure of the lion is taken from Jacob's prophecy respecting Judah 
 in Gen. xlix. 9 : '* Judah is a lion's whelp : from the prey, my son, 
 thou art gone up : he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as 
 an old lion who shall rouse him up ? " The lion represents the 
 force, the activity, the courage of the Messiah, whilst the root ("Root 
 of David ") signifies the source of life — the all-sustaining grace — 
 the richness of the Second Adam. " The name Root of David pro- 
 claims that Christ is more than a Branch or Rod from out of the 
 stem of Jesse (Isaiah xi. 1) ; it declares that He is the origin of 
 David ; He is the Rod or Branch because He is man ; He is the 
 Root because He is God " (Wordsworth). 
 
 " Hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals 
 thereof." How did He prevail? What was His weapon? He 
 prevailed by weakness. His weapon was submission to death, 
 and so the Evangelist goes on : 
 
 6. *' And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the 
 four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had 
 been slain " (or, a Lamb standing as though it had been slain). 
 "Standing," as being alive, and "as it had been slain," with all 
 the marks of death. Standing as the great High Priest, as it had 
 been slain, as the all-sufficient Victim ; standing as ready to open 
 the books, and as slain, to sanctify and bless with His all-pre- 
 vailing Atonement ; standing as life-giving, slain as reconciling. 
 The most wonderful association — one might almost say identifica- 
 tion — of life and death conceivable. There seems to me that there 
 is no such figure embodying the two great opposites in all Scripture. 
 
 The "Lamb" (diminutive, little Lamb) is the Lord Jesus — " as it 
 
 F 
 
(j6 seven horns and seven eyes. {Revelation. 
 
 having seven horns and ^ seven eyes, which are 'the seven 
 ^ zech. iii. 9. Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 
 
 & iv. 10. ^ 
 
 * ch. iv. 5. 
 
 had been slain " refers to the wounds in His adorable Body, from 
 which the blood flowed which redeemed the world, purchased the 
 Church, and washes from sin each soul who applies for its cleansiug 
 virtue. 
 
 During the remainder of this book the usual name given to the 
 Redeemer is the Lamb. 
 
 Now may it be permitted to us to ask why the Redeemer is 
 presented to us under the figure of a Lamb ? He appeared, after 
 His Resun-ection, to His disciples as a man. They recognized His 
 form and features. They were sure that He was not a spirit be- 
 cause of the wounds in His hands and feet and side. Why should 
 not St. John have seen Him and described Him as when he saw 
 Him on the day of His Resurrection ? It must be because He 
 mediates through His past Death. His Sacrifice, though once for 
 all endured, is eternal in its Divine Efficacy. We have to look 
 upon Him as our Passover ; His Sacrifice is not a thing of the 
 past. It was endured but once, and cannot be repeated ; but it 
 abideth ever, as His Priesthood abideth ever. In heaven He pre- 
 sents it because He presents Himself a Lamb standing as slain, 
 and this corresponds to His memorial on earth. Both in heaven 
 and in earth His Sacrificial memorial is not a whole Body, but a 
 broken Body, a wounded Body. 
 
 "Having seven horns and seven eyes." The horn of a living 
 creature denotes its strength just as the eye signifies its observation 
 and consequent knowledge. That the Lamb has seven horns 
 implies the perfection of His power — in fact, that He is Almighty ; 
 and the seven eyes the perfection of His knowledge, which He has 
 through the operation of the Divine Spirit Who is first in Him, 
 and these proceed from Him conveying to Him the truth of all 
 that exists and takes place. 
 
 The question now presents itself— did St. John see the Lord 
 under this figure under which he describes Him here, or did he 
 see the Lord as he saw Him on the first Easter Day, as the Risen 
 Jesus with wounds in His hands and His side ? Unquestionably 
 the former : because it was the will of God that His Church through- 
 out all ages should look upon His Son not as the Eternal Word 
 
Chap. V.] HE CAME AND TOOK THE BOOK. 67 
 
 7 And he came and took tlie book out of the right hand 
 * of him that sat upon the throne. ^ ch. iv. 2. 
 
 8 And when he had taken the book, ^ the four » ch. iv. 8, 10. 
 beasts and four and twenty elders fell down be- 
 fore the Lamb, having every one of them ^ harps, 2 '^-v' ?^' ^' 
 and golden vials full of || odours, "^ which are the 11 Or, incense 
 
 £ • X n Ps. cxli. 2. 
 
 prayers 01 samts. ch. vm. 3, 4. 
 
 only, nor as the Mediator simply, but as the Mediator through His 
 Past Death, the power of which Death is never separated from Him, 
 and abides with Him as if it were a part of His Essence. 
 
 If it be objected that it is impossible thus to represent the Lord, 
 we answer that it may be impossible to us thus to represent the 
 Lord in picture or in marble, but that does not undo the fact that 
 St. John, for God's purposes, saw the Lord under this appearance, 
 and though we may not be able to represent the Lord thus, or even 
 to imagine Him like this Lamb, yet being in the midst of the 
 throne it must have been an image of surpassing glory and beauty, 
 Just as the four living ones are of inconceivable grandeur, and yet 
 unimaginable by us who are not in the Spirit. The figure com- 
 bines innocence, patience, sacrifice, life in death, death in life, 
 omnipotence and omniscence all combining in One Person to 
 unfold the counsels of God. 
 
 7. " And he came and took the book out of the right hand," &c. 
 
 8. " And when he had taken the book, the four living ones, and 
 four and twenty elders." He took the book, it was not given to 
 Him by the hands of Him that sat on the throne. He took it out 
 of the open hand as being worthy to take it, as if it were His 
 own. 
 
 As soon as He had done this He received the worship of the 
 highest existences in heaven ; they fell down before Him as they 
 would before God ; they took their harps wherewith to accompany 
 their hymn of praise, and they took golden censers full of incense ; 
 an act of worship offered to God in the most holy place. 
 
 They could not go beyond these things in worship, for they 
 prostrate themselves, they sing His praise to Himself with the 
 anusic of harps, and they burn incense to Him. 
 
 ** Which are the prayers of saints." Does this mean that the 
 
68 THEY SUNG A NEW SONG. [Revelation, 
 
 Ps. xi. 3. 9 And *^ they sung a new song, saying, ^Thou 
 p ch. iv. 11. art worthy to- take the book, and to open the seals 
 ! I^!' ^' ^o thereof : "^for thou wast slain, and 'hast redeemed 
 
 «• Acts XX. 28. ' 
 
 fc™' "^•' It' ^® *^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ blood ^ out of every kindred, and 
 & vii. 23. Eph. tongue, and people, and nation ; 
 
 Hei). ix. 12. ' 
 
 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. 
 
 2 Pet ii 1 
 
 IJolini. 7. ^- "Redeemed us to God." "Us" omitted by A., but retained 
 
 ch. xiv. 4. by U, B., P., and most Cursives. 
 
 » Dan. iv. 1. 
 
 vii^ 9.^& xi*^^9 incense actually is, or that it signifies, the prayers of 
 & xiv. 6. saints ? We cannot say absolutely. The prostration, 
 
 the hymnod}'', the instruments of music must be taken literally, 
 and it would seem that the incense must be also. How could 
 the actual prayers of saints be burnt as incense ? but the heavenly 
 incense might be taken to represent the prayers of saints in two 
 particulars — their sweetness and their acceptableness to God. 
 
 We must remember that there is a revelation of heavenly things 
 throughout this book, but how far this revelation of such things as 
 the living creatures, the elders, the songs, the incense is, so to 
 speak, objective or material we cannot say. I think we must 
 accept it, if possible, in the sense in which St. John discloses it, 
 for in most of these things no two human expositors are agreed 
 as to what their inner or spiritual significance is. 
 
 9. " And they sung a new song, saying. Thou art worthy, .... 
 for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed (us) to God." "Anew 
 song," for whereas the old song of iv. 11 only contemplates the 
 glories of creation, this is a song of praise to the Lamb for the 
 Eederaption wrought by His Sufferings and Death. 
 
 There is a remarkable difference of reading in this and the next 
 verse, for whereas the Authorized Version reads, " And hast re- 
 deemed us unto God by thy blood," the Revised reads, " Thou hasfe 
 redeemed (men) unto God by thy blood out of every kindred," &c., 
 and in the next verse, instead of " hast made us ... . kings and 
 priests," it is read " and hast made them unto God .... and they 
 shall reign." t^ and B., however, support "redeemed us " in verse 9. 
 The difiiculty is that if the four living ones are angelic, or super- 
 angelic natures, they should join in the song of those redeemed by 
 the Blood of Christ ; but we are to remember the words of the Apostle 
 where he says that God *' has by Christ reconciled all things to 
 
Chap, V.] WORTHY IS THE LAMB. 69 
 
 10 ^ And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: 
 and we shall reign on the earth. ' Ex. xix. 6. 
 
 11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of ch. i.'e.&'xx. 
 many angels "round about the throne and the uch. iv. 4,6. 
 beasts and the elders : and the number of them 
 
 was ^ ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- '^^Ps. ixviii. 
 sands of thousands ; lo.' Heb.' xii'. 
 
 22 
 
 12 Saying with a loud voice, ^ Worthy is the Teh. iv. ii. 
 Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, 
 
 and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, 
 and blessing^. 
 
 10. "Us." The preponderance of authority by far is for reading 'them." So N, 
 A., B., most Cursives, Vulg. (Amiat.). 
 
 " Kings and priests." " A kingdom and priests." So ti. A., Vulg., Copt. 
 
 himself, whether things on earth, or things in heaven " (Coloss. i. 
 20, also Ephes. i. 10). So that in some way not fully revealed all 
 creation participates in the Atonement. 
 
 10. " And hast made us [them] unto our God kings and priests." 
 Bather, " a kingdom and priests." The elders seem to have exer- 
 cised the ofifice of priests, for they were clothed in the white sacer- 
 dotal garment, but how we are not told. It must be by the 
 priestly act of intercession, for such sacrifices as those of the law 
 cannot be thought of, and the Eucharist seems only to be till the 
 Lord comes (1 Cor. xi. 26). 
 
 *'And we shall reign [or they shall reign] upon the earth. '^ 
 This seems to refer to the millennial reign. It is said by some that 
 it should rather be translated "over the earth" — their place of reign- 
 ing being not on earth, but in heaven. Pious attempts are made 
 to get rid of this. It is said, for instance, that they shall reign 
 over themselves which, it is added, is the best of all rules — but can 
 the writer of this believe that such is the meaning of these words 
 of the song ? 
 
 11. "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
 about the throne and [round about] the four living ones and the 
 elders." 
 
 12. *' Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was 
 slain." Here is the whole angelic host joining in the worship of 
 
70 EVERY CREATUEE. [Revelation. 
 
 13 And 'every creature which is in heaven, and on the 
 
 ^- Phil. ii. 10. earth, and under the earth, and such as are in 
 
 a 1 Chr. xxix. the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, 
 
 5^'& ^s\!ki^' "* Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, fee 
 
 1 Tim. vi. 16. 
 1 Pet. iv. 11. 
 
 unto him ^ that sitteth upon the throne, and unto 
 
 & V. 11. ch. j^^ Lamb for ever and ever. 
 
 b ch. vi. 16. 14 " And the four beasts said, Amen. And the 
 
 & vli. 10 
 
 c ch. xix. 4. four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped 
 
 d ch. iv. 9, 10. jjjjjj d ^^4^ liveth for ever and ever. 
 
 14. "Him that liveth for ever and ever" omitted by N, A., B., C, P., most Cur- 
 sives, most Versions. No authority for retaining these words. 
 
 the Lamb, but, it is to be remarked, not on the ground of His 
 essential Godhead, but on the ground that in the human nature 
 which He had assumed He had suffered an All-atoning Death. So 
 that He is worshipped as man, as the Sinless Sufferer as well as 
 the Son of God. God and man is one Christ Who thus receives 
 the worship of angels. 
 
 13. " And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,'* 
 &e. This is the song of all creation — in heaven, i.e., the angels ; 
 on the earth, i'.e., men ; under the earth, i.e., in Hades, or the 
 unseen place ; in the sea, i.e., whose bodies are in the deep, or it 
 may be in ships, for it is on the sea. 
 
 *' Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, to him that sit- 
 teth upon the throne." That is, God the Father, and to the Lamb, 
 Who here receives the same united praise which all creation renders, 
 betokening His essential equality in Nature with the Father. 
 
 14. " And the four living creatures said. So be it." Some MSS. 
 have the article— the Amen — as if it were a recognized part of the 
 ritual of both heaven and earth. 
 
 *• And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped." 
 The concluding words, " him that hveth for ever and ever," have 
 no Greek authority. The more sublime ending is " fell down and 
 worshipped," leaving it to be inferred that they prostrated them- 
 Belvee before God and the Lamb. 
 
Chap. VL] THE LORD AT HAND. 71 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 We now enter upon that part of the Eevelation which has been 
 called the historical (vi.-xx.). It is supposed by the preterists (see 
 Introduction) to describe the events immediately following upon 
 the ComiDg of Christ, or the imprisonment of St. John in Patmos. 
 By those who hold to the continuous interpretation all this part is 
 supposed to be a series of visions describing the continuous fortunes 
 of the Church from the New Testament times to the Second Coming, 
 and by the futurists it is held to be events which are yet future, 
 and which will immediately precede the Second Advent. Before 
 entering upon the exposition of this part — if that may be called 
 an exposition of a book, or large portion of a book, of which 
 I verily believe that God has not given to any man the key to its 
 interpretation — I desire to put on record the enunciation of a 
 great principle, which is this : that from the departure of our Lord 
 at the moment of His Ascension to the moment of His Second 
 Advent, it is not lawful for us to assume that any definite lapse of 
 time intervenes. At the moment after our Lord's disappearance at 
 His Ascension, two angels in white apparel appeared to the 
 Apostles, who were straining their eyes heavenward, with this mes- 
 sage from God : '* Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
 heaven, this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, 
 shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." 
 If we did not know the history of the Apostolic Church we 
 should, I think, gather from this that the return of the Lord was 
 to be expected in the life- time of the Apostles. And this the Lord 
 Himself assumes when He bids the Apostles watch and wait for 
 His second appearance : thus in Mark xiii. 33 : " Take ye heed, 
 watch and pray : for ye know not when the time is. For the Son 
 of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and 
 gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and com- 
 manded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore : for ye know not 
 when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight, 
 or at the cock crowing, or in the morning : lest coming suddenly 
 he find you sleeping." Now reading this it is impossible to 
 
72 THE JUDGE AT THE. DOOR. [Revelation. 
 
 suppose that more than 1,800 years were to be counted upon by 
 the Church as intervening between the disappearance of the 
 Lord and His reappearance. We know that such time has inter- 
 vened, but it was not to be counted upon. On the contrary, any 
 day between the Ascension and the Second Coming might, as far 
 as man could know, be the last. All through this long series 
 of ages the Judge was standing at the door as He is now, and it 
 is a part of our probation to be watching and waiting for His 
 appearance. 
 
 But are we not compelled by the succession of visions in the 
 Eevelation to suppose that a long time must intervene ? No, 
 we are not ; for it is a most noticeable fact that in these appa- 
 rently successive visions there are no less than seven visions of 
 the end, or of the consummation, and they are these : 
 
 1. At the end of the vision of the opening of the seals, at the 
 opening of the sixth seal there is a catastrophe which from the 
 description of it, compared with the description of the Last; Day by 
 the Lord Himself, can only be that of the end. The sun becomes 
 " black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon as blood " (Matt, xxiv.), 
 the stars of heaven fall, and all the wicked of every degree 
 call on the moimtains to fall on them, and the rocks to cover 
 them (Rev. vi.). 
 
 2. At the end of the next chapter there is a vision of the glories 
 and beatification of the elect, as occurring then, which is precisely 
 parallel to the visions of the end in the last chapter, see particularly 
 xxi. 4. 
 
 3. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet in chap. xi. we read: 
 " Thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned 
 .... and the time of the dead, that they should be judged," &c. 
 (xi. 18). 
 
 4. At the end of chap. xiv. there is a vision of the last judg- 
 ment under the image of the Son of man seated on a white 
 cloud reaping the earth, and immediately succeeding it a vision of 
 the reaping of the vine of the earth. 
 
 5. In xvi. 17 there is another vision of the end at the pouring 
 out of the seventh vial, where a great voice out of the temple of 
 God says, " It is done " {yh/ove), and every island fled away, and the 
 mountains were not found. 
 
 6. In xix. 11 the Son of man appears again on the white horse 
 and ushers in what, from the judgments on the beast, and the false 
 
Chap. VI.] A WHITE HORSE. 73 
 
 prophet, and on all the people of the world who fought against God, 
 we cannot but account to be a vision of the end. 
 
 7. And the final vision, after the millennial period as it is called, 
 when the great white throne appears, and the dead were judged 
 out of those things which were written in the books. 
 
 So that these visions from chap. vi. to chap. xix. cannot form one 
 continuous history, for the Lord cannot come seven times to such 
 final judgments as are here described. 
 
 CHAP. YI. 
 
 AND ^I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, 
 and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, * ^^- y- ^i^''^- 
 
 b ch. IV. 7. 
 
 * one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. c zech. vi. s. 
 
 2 And I saw, and behold "^ a white horse : '^ and I ps ^^iv 4 5 
 
 LXX. 
 
 1. "One of the seals." N, A., B., C, and most Cursives, Vulg., Syr. ^th., read, 
 *' one of the seven seals." 
 
 "Come and see." "And see" omitted by A., C, P., Vulg. (Amiat.), Arm., &c. ; 
 retained by ^f, B., and many Cursives. 
 
 1. "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and 
 I heard, as it were .... Come." It is not said which of the four 
 living ones thus cried, so that it is beyond measure futile to guess 
 that it must have been the one with the face of the lion or of the 
 man. 
 
 The preponderance of authorities is in favour of reading simply 
 " Come," and omitting " see." In this case the living creature must 
 be supposed to address, not the Evangehst, but the horse-rider, bid- 
 ding him come, for all is ready for His work. 
 
 2. "And I saw, and behold a white horse : and he that sat on 
 him had a bow." It is difiicult to believe how any commentator, 
 unless he has some continuous system to maintain, can fail to inter- 
 pret this as the Son of God riding forth in the power of His Gospel. 
 The colour of the horse, which in each of these visions of the horse- 
 riders is especially noticed, is the same as that on which the Word 
 
74 CONQUEKING AND TO CONQUER. [Revelation. 
 
 he that sat on him had a bow; ^and a crown was given 
 e Zech. vi. 11, unto him : and he went forth conquering, and 
 
 to conquer, 
 f ch. iv. 7. 3 And when he had opened the second seal, ' I 
 
 heard the second beast say. Come and see. 
 g zech. vi. 2. 4 ^ And there went out another horse that was 
 
 3. " Come and see." " And see " doubtful, as before. 
 
 of God — the King of Kings and Lord of Lords — appears in chap, 
 xix. It is always throughout this book considered as the emblem 
 of purity and holiness. The bow is the instrument of the warfare 
 of the Messiah, as in Ps. xlv. : " In thy majesty ride prosperously 
 because of truth and meekness and righteousness ; and thy right 
 hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in 
 the heart of the king's enemies ; whereby the people fall under 
 thee." This exactly describes the conquests of Christ: the arrows 
 of His Word reach first one and then another ; it is not so much 
 a warfare of one mighty host against another, but as one in which 
 a single warrior picks out first one and then another from amongst 
 his enemies, and by his sharp wound, piercing each one's heart, sub- 
 dues him to Himself. 
 
 " A crown was given to him." This is given to Him in token that 
 He shall rule over those whom He has subdued. So far from their 
 being destroyed, a new life is given to them, even an eternal one. 
 
 *' And he went forth conquering and to conquer." There will be 
 no cessation of His conquering progress till He has put all enemies 
 under His feet. He is going forth conquering, and to conquer now 
 not in the same parts as those in which He first won His conquests* 
 but in other regions where He displays His subduing powers quite 
 as conspicuously. Now if this be so, seeing that He has begun His 
 career of victory, must there not be a reign of universal blessed- 
 ness. If the Prince of Peace has set forth on His career of spiritual 
 conquest what place can there be in future for war and its attendant 
 miseries ? We shall see. 
 
 3. " And when he had opened the second seal .... Come." The 
 words *' and see " are doubtful as in verse 1. 
 
 4. "And there went out another horse that was red : and power 
 was given to him that fat," &c. We are not to suppose for a 
 
Chap. VL] THEY SHOULD KILL ONE ANOTHER. 75 
 
 red: and power was given to him tliat sat thereon to take 
 peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another : 
 and there was given unto him a great sword. 
 
 moment that the rider of the first horse had finished His career of 
 conquest ere the second horse rider had begun to ride. On the 
 contraiy, the interpretation which I shall present is that all the four 
 ride simultaneously. 
 
 Now this vision of the second — the blood-red horse — corrects the 
 idea which we might have entertained from the fact that the Prince 
 of Peace had begun His reign. We should have supposed that the 
 progress and triumphs of the Gospel would at least have assured 
 to the earth a deliverance from the miseries of war, but it is not so. 
 Since the time of the first preaching of the Gospel to the present 
 moment there has not been twenty years of continued peace 
 amongst the nations and people with which, as we suppose, 
 the various visions in this book have to do. And this history of 
 war is not occupied with the wars of Christians against heathen, 
 but with the wars of professing Christians against one another. 
 Before the so-called Reformation, when all the Christians of Europe 
 professed to belong to one Church, there was a constant state of warfare 
 amongst them. Since then the state of war has been quite as con- 
 tinuous — not Protestants with Papists only, but Protestants among 
 themselves. Thus in this country on the murder of Charles I. 
 an ultra-Protestant republic was established, and the very first 
 thing it did was to go to war with the only Protestant republic 
 then existing — the Dutch. In our own time also we have seen the 
 most powerful republic in the world, a republic more Protestant or 
 Evangelical than any other, engaged in a long and sanguinary civil 
 war. So that we have before us this most remarkable fact, that for 
 1,800 years the Gospel of Christ and the Demon of War have ridden 
 side by side. 
 
 For the rider on the red horse does not himself war or fight. He 
 is apparently engaged in stirring up strife in which he personally 
 takes no part. He is no human tyrant or general, but, as it were, 
 the embodiment of the Spirit of War, who has power given to him 
 to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one 
 another. 
 
76 A CLACK HORSE. [Revelation. 
 
 5 And wlien lie had opened the third seal, ^ I heard the 
 i> ch. iv. 7. third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, 
 i zech. vi. 2. and lo ^ a black horse ; and he that sat on him 
 had a pair of balances in his hand. 
 
 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four 
 
 5. "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third 
 living one say, Come. And I beheld, and lo a black horse ; and he 
 that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand." The black 
 horse rider is universally taken as betokening scarcity. The 
 balance in his hand is for the purpose of weighing corn. 
 
 Now corn, Le.^ wheat and barley, would even in times of only 
 moderate plenty be measured by the bushel, but in times of very 
 great scarcity, verging on famine, it would be measured by weight 
 as if it were a drug ; thus in Ezekiel iv. 16 : " Son of man, behold, 
 I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem : and they shall 
 eit bread by weight and with care," &c. ; and so in the next 
 verse, 
 
 6. "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living ones 
 saying, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures 
 of barley for a penny." The measure of wheat mentioned here is 
 that which would just sufi&ce for the daily sustenance of a common 
 labourer ; and the penny (the denarius), ranging between 9d. and 
 llcL, would be his day's wages, so that the whole of his day's wages 
 would be taken up in procuring one day's food. This would be 
 severe scarcity, almost reaching famine, but if the lower price of the 
 clioenix of barley be taken into account matters would be much 
 altered for ihQ better, for he would get three times the amount of 
 food though of a coarser quality. The barley bread would be that 
 which vast numbers of the poor fed upon (witness the miracle 
 of the five barley loaves and two fishes), so that this horse- 
 rider would by no means betoken famine, but rather poverty, 
 and, as far as I can judge, not grinding unendurable poverty either. 
 
 The vision has been explained in two ways, naturally and 
 spiritually, and either yields a tolerably good signification. 
 
 Both explanations are consonant with what we gather from the 
 rest of the seals, which is, that much in the time of the Messiah's 
 triumphal progress is not such as we should have expected. 
 
Chap. VI.] A MEASURE OF WHEAT FOR A PENNY, 77 
 
 beasts say, 1| A measure of wheat for a penny, ii The word 
 
 choenix signi- 
 
 fieth a mea- 
 sure contain- 
 
 For instance, we should have expected that the lu^artlVndthe 
 times of the Gospel would have been times of almost tuWthpartof 
 
 •■^ a quart. 
 
 universal prosperity. It was prophesied that in the 
 future thus it should so be. Thus Ezek. xxxvi. 30 : " And I will 
 multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that 
 ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen." 
 Thus Hosea ii. 22: "And the earth shall hear the corn, and the 
 wine, and the oil," &c. And Joel ii. 19 : " Behold, I will send 
 you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith." 
 
 And we should the rather have expected this because the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel does much to discourage many vices which 
 occasion distress and ruin in this world, such as intemperance, 
 drunkenness, wastefulness (John vi. 12), gambling, immorality ,^ 
 and such things. But it has not been so. From the first preach- 
 ing of the Gospel there has been just the same hard struggle for 
 sustenance as there was before. Of course there have been coun- 
 tries in which the poor have not suffered from comparative scarcitj", 
 as in newly-planted colonies, but the tendency of things has been 
 always to bring about, sooner or later, the universal struggle for a 
 bare subsistence. 
 
 But the riding of this horse-rider has been interpreted spiritu- 
 ally to mean this, that in the day of Christ's power there has not 
 been, nor will be, that plentiful supply of the wholesome and 
 nourishing Word of God which we should have expected. The 
 more thoroughly we examine the history of religion, I do not mean 
 of the Church, but of individual religion, the more we shall discover 
 the truth of this. 
 
 For, for wellnigh 1,500 years the Word of God — meaning the 
 Book — has been altogether out of the reach of the vast majority of 
 Christians. Till the invention of printing each copy of the Word of 
 God had to be written fully and fairly out. And look also at the 
 comparative fewness of those who if by chance they possessed a 
 copy could read it. 
 
 But we must not for a moment limit this scarcity of the whole- 
 some nourishing Word to the scarcity of Bibles. The nourishment 
 of the vast body of the Church is through teaching and preaching, 
 and there may be a vast circulation of Bibles, and yet these Bibles 
 
78 HURT NOT THE OIL AND THE WINE. [Revelation. 
 
 and three measures of barley for a penny; and ^ see thou 
 it-^h. ix. 4. hurt not the oil and the wine. 
 
 remain unread and their contents undigested. Now it is the first 
 duty of the ministers of the Church " rightly to divide " the Word 
 of Truth. If the bread of life is what God intends it to be it is very 
 multiform. There is first of all the life and example of the Lord 
 Himself; His teaching, His parables, His miracles, each one an 
 acted parable. There is the teaching respecting the mystical body of 
 which the Epistles of the blessed Paul are so full— there is the 
 teaching of grace — and the responsibility laid upon us for using 
 that grace and growing in it. There is the doctrinal teaching re- 
 specting the Incarnation and the Atoning Death, and the teaching 
 of Sacramental truth so intimately connected with it. There is 
 the teaching of good works, what they are and the Spirit which 
 they spring from. Now all these must have their places if 
 the bread of life is to be the good wheaten flour, and not the 
 barley chaff, husky and unnourishing. So that very seldom indeed 
 has the pure Word been doled out compared to the unnourishing, 
 unwholesome teaching. Preaching may be so-called Catholic and 
 yet devoid of almost all the leading features of Catholic truth. 
 Preaching may be so-called Evangelical and yet devoid of some of 
 the leading good tidings which God designs for the edification and 
 •consolation of believers. 
 
 "And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." On either 
 principle of interpretation, the natural or the spiritual, this is a 
 Tery difficult clause. 
 
 If interpreted naturally it would seem to signify that the same 
 .supernatural power which condemned mankind to " eat their bread 
 by weight," still kept the wine and the oil from being injured, so 
 that all through the dark years of scarcity the vineyards and the 
 ■oliveyards yielded their wonted crops. 
 
 We are to remember that oil and wine are necessaries, or at 
 least bordering thereon ; thus God gives " wine that maketh glad 
 the heart of man, and oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and 
 bread to strengthen man's heart," and the widow who was com- 
 missioned to sustain Elijah had a handful of meal in a barrel, and 
 a little oil in a cruse wherewith to bake the bread. 
 
 The voice from amidst the four living ones appears to have 
 
Chap. VI.] A PALE HORSE. 79 
 
 7 And wlien lie had opened the fourth seal, ^I heard the 
 voice of the fourth beast saj, Come and see. i ch. iv. 7. 
 
 8 ^ And I looked, and behold a pale horse : ^ Zech. vi. a. 
 and his name that sat on him was Death, and 
 
 spoken in mercy when it said, *' A choenix of wheat for a penny, 
 and three choenices of barley for a penny." It was a restraining 
 voice, restraining the evil genius of hunger and scarcity within 
 hounds, and so God did not add to the miseries which afiflicted the 
 earth by diminishing that which contributes to the gladness and 
 cheerfulness of man. 
 
 If, however, this place is to be taken spiritually, it may point to 
 a very remarkable fact in the history of spiritual things, which is 
 this, that the consolations of religion have been [in the darkest 
 times preserved to the (trae) people of God. Thus in what we call 
 the dark ages, that which is the most comforting doctrine to the 
 (true) people of God, that God has chosen them to be His servants, 
 and will uphold them in the ways of true religion, was proclaimed 
 by men like Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, Peter Lombard, Brad- 
 wardine, St. Bernard, and many others, and no doubt was exten- 
 sively preached to those who could not read by the friars, who in 
 their early days, before they become corrupted, were the evange- 
 lical preachers of those times. Then some of our sweetest hymns 
 came from those ages, or were used all through them, and such a 
 work of devotion as the " Imitatio Christi " comes from a time when 
 the barley-meal, rather than the nourishing wheaten bread, was 
 the food of the multitude. 
 
 This may sound fanciful, but there must be some adequate inter- 
 pretation of " See thou hurt not the oil and the wine," and if any- 
 one can suggest one more likely, by all means let him do so. 
 
 7. " And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice 
 of the fourth living one saying, Come (and see)." 
 
 8. " And I looked, and behold a pale horse : and his name that 
 sat upon him was Death, and Hell [Hades] followed with him. 
 And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, 
 to kill with sword, and with hunger . . . death .... beasts of 
 the earth." The great difficulty to me in the interpretation of this 
 seal is this, that under the second and third seals men are slain 
 with the sword and (as is supposed) by famine, aui here the two 
 
80 HELL FOLLOWED WITH HIM. [Revelation, 
 
 Hell followed witli him. And power was given || unto them 
 II Or, to him. over the fourth part of the earth, " to kill with 
 21. ' ^^' sword, and with hunger, and with death, ^and 
 p^Lev. xxvi. ^i^]^ ti^g hQ2iSi^ of the earth. 
 
 first evils are repeated, and the fourth horse-rider slays with the 
 sword, and with hunger, and added to these with death, in all 
 probability meaning pestilence, and with the beasts of the field. 
 The latter seems to be the effect of the want of population occa- 
 sioned by the former three, the land becomes uncultivated, and is 
 covered with jungle or brushwood, the haunt of wild beasts. Now 
 in the destruction or desolation occasioned by the united effects of 
 these four plagues, it appears to me, is the interpretation of the 
 fourth horse rider. It cannot be through accident that the means 
 by which the fourth horse rider destroys men are the same exactly 
 as the four sore judgments which God threatens by the mouth of 
 Ezekiel (xiv. 2), which teach' us that the holiness of gfreat saints, 
 such as Noah, Daniel, and Job, will not exempt the sinners 
 in the Church from the severest judgments which God can inflict. 
 It will be true of the greatest saints of apostate Christian times 
 that such holy men shall deliver neither son nor daughter, they 
 shall only deliver their own souls in their righteousness. So that the 
 famines and plagues and pestilences and desolating wars of a fallen 
 Christendom are not due to mere natural causes, but to the anger of 
 Almighty God upon those who break the new and the better covenant. 
 
 And if the threatening of Almighty God in bringing upon 
 Christendom these desolating plagues is to be received and accepted 
 by His faithful ones, so is the consolation in the very words of the 
 old prophet : " Yet behold therein, in these darkest times of terror 
 and desolation, shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, 
 both sons and daughters : behold they shall come forth unto you, 
 and ye shall see their ways and their doings, and ye shall be com- 
 forted concerning the evil that' I have brought upon Jerusalem, 
 even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall 
 comfort you when ye see their ways and their doings, and ye 
 shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done 
 in it, saith the Lord God.'' 
 
 Death shall mow down his victims as if he had a commission 
 to destroy mankind, and Hades shall follow him as his hearse, or 
 
Chap. VI.] I SAW UNDER THE ALTAR. 81 
 
 9 And when lie had opened the fifth seal, I saw <j ch. vm. 3. & 
 
 , .- ix. 13. & xiv. 
 
 under ^the altar '"the souls 01 them that were is. 
 slain 'for the word of God, and for Hhe testi- [ehiTg.*' 
 mony which they held : '2 Tim. i. 8. 
 
 J -f ch. xu. 17. & 
 
 xix. 10. 
 
 death cart, wherein to receive the slain, but the gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against the Church ; on the contrary, '* when thy judg- 
 ments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn 
 righteousness " (Isaiah xxvi. 9). 
 
 9. " And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the 
 altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and 
 for the testimony," &c. What is this altar, and what is the mean- 
 ing of the souls of the martyrs being under it ? It has been said 
 that the altar is the altar of burnt-ofifering, and that by the souls 
 under it we must understand the " blood which is the life " of these 
 martyrs which is poured out at the bottom of this heavenly altar, 
 just as in the Jewish tabernacle the blood of the creatures which 
 were slain was poured out at the foot of the earthly altar. It is 
 just possible that there may be some allusion to the blood of Abel, 
 the first martyr, crying for vengeance, but we must endeavour to 
 see whether there cannot be an interpretation consonant with that 
 of the first four seals, which is this : the first seal betokened the 
 triumphant progress of the Gospel. From this we should have 
 anticipated a millennium of peace and plenty, both temporal and 
 spiritual, but it has not been so. The progress of the Gospel has 
 been accompanied with a state of almost continuous war, and a 
 scarcity of the means of subsistence, and even at times the four 
 sore judgments of the prophet seem to be let loose upon the earth, 
 and now under this seal the just vengeance of God upon those who 
 have persecuted His Church, and poured out like water the blood 
 of His saints, is suspended till the time of the end. 
 
 The key to the interpretation of this seal seems to be the Lord's 
 words in Luke xviii. 7, 8 : " Shall not God avenge his own elect, 
 which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with 
 them ? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." We should 
 have thought that the blood of the martyrs would have been 
 avenged on the ungodly at once, seeing that the rider on the white 
 horse has gone forth conquering and to conquer; but it is not so. 
 The triumphant progress of the Gospel seems to be the occasion of 
 
82 HOW LONG, O LORD. [Revelation. 
 
 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, " How long, 
 
 "SeeZech. i. Lord, "holy and true, ''dost thou not judge 
 
 » ch. iii. 7. and avenge our blood on them that dwell on 
 
 &xV2^^' the earth? 
 
 fresh martyrdoms, for each martyr in his sufferings and death is 
 a most acceptable offering to God. 
 
 The triumph of the Gospel then has not done away with martyr- 
 dom. On the contrary, in every age of the Church there have 
 been martyrs as true to Christ, and as heroic in their endurance 
 for His Name, as in the first ages. In our own day — and late in our 
 own day, even as it were as yesterday — there have been men like 
 Bishop Pattison and Bishop Hannington, and Romanist martyrs 
 in Cochin -China, and Congregationalist martyrs in Madagascar, 
 and many who have lived martyrs' lives, as well as those who 
 attained to a martyr's death, as Father Damien amongst the lepers ; 
 so that every age from the first to the nineteenth has contributed 
 some martyrs to the noble army. 
 
 10. "And they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, 
 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood," 
 &c. The Prince of martyrs when He was nailed to the Cross 
 prayed for His enemies. His protomartyr prayed with his last 
 breath : " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." How is it that 
 the souls of the martyrs call for vengeance ? We are to remember 
 that there are two ways of looking at a martyrdom. It is the 
 greatest triumph of Divine grace, and yet it is the greatest of 
 crimes in those who inflict this death. If any crime deserves to be 
 punished this does, for they who put the martyrs to a cruel death, 
 inflicted this death because of their goodness. The goodness and 
 holiness of their lives was never, I think, taken into any account 
 by way of mitigation. Their persecutors hated goodness itself, so far 
 as it could be embodied amongst men, as the Lord said: *' Notv 
 have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." 
 
 Then there is another way of looking at this. Tliey who are in 
 the unseen world throw themselves into the mind of God, so that 
 they say their Amen to every intimation of His will. When His 
 will is for an extension of mercy they pray accordingly, but when 
 His time for vengeance has come they acquiesce. Venerable Bede 
 has an admirable comment on this place. " The great cry of tho 
 
Chap. VI.] WHITE ROBES. 83 
 
 11 And 'wliite robes were given unto every one of them; 
 and it was said unto them, * that they should ^ ch.. m. 4, 5. 
 rest yet for a little season, until their fellowser- a Heb. xi. 40. 
 vants also and their brethren, that should be ^^' ^^^' ^^' 
 killed as they were, should be fulfilled. 
 
 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth 
 
 souls is their great desire for those things which they know that 
 the Lord wills to do. For it is not right to suppose that they wish 
 for anything against the good pleasure of God when their desires 
 are dependent upon His will. They ask not ' How long ? ' in 
 hatred of their enemies, for whom they made supplication in this 
 life, but in a love of justice in which, as they who are placed near 
 to the Judge Himself, they agree with Him ; they pray for the' 
 coming of the day of judgment when the reign of sin will be de- 
 stroyed, and the resurrection of their Ufeless bodies will ensue. For 
 we also in the present time, when we are commanded to pray for 
 our enemies say, nevertheless, when we pray to the Lord. * Thy 
 kingdom come.' " 
 
 11. " And white robes were given unto every one of them ; audit 
 was said unto them." What signify these white robes ? Some com- 
 mentators who say that these martyrs lived and suffered only in 
 the Old Dispensation, say that this signifies a fuller and more 
 perfect justification than that which was accorded to sinners under 
 the Old Law, but we have no warrant for restricting the suffer- 
 ings of these souls to Jewish times. The white robes are prob- 
 ably robes of priesthood, and betokened that they would do far 
 more than call down vengeance on their enemies, but would inter- 
 cede for the Church, and the progress of the cause of God. 
 
 " Eest yet for a little season." This seems to me to set forth the 
 significance of the opening of this seal. Some of these martyred 
 brethren are not called upon to suffer till near the time of the con- 
 summation, and till these be perfected they are to rest and wait. 
 It may be a long time, and yet it is but a little season compared 
 with the eternity of bliss in store for them. 
 
 12. "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo» 
 there was a great earthquake." There seems to be but one inter- 
 2)retation possible of the opening of this seal, which is that it is a 
 
84 A GREAT EARTHQUAKE. [Revelation, 
 
 b ch. xvi. 18. seal, ^ and, lo, there was a great earthquake ; and 
 3i.&iii.'i5.' ''the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and 
 Acts ii\?o.' ^' the moon became as blood ; 
 
 prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ to judgment. Thus Christ 
 Himself describes it : " Immediately after the tribulation of those 
 days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
 light, and the stars shall fall from heaven . . . And then shall 
 appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all 
 the tribes of the earth mourn " (Matt. xxiv. 30). 
 
 It has been said by interpreters of opposite views, some of whom 
 (the preterists) desire to make out that all the Apocalypse was 
 fulfilled 1,800 years ago ; and others, as Mr. Elliot, that it is now 
 being fulfilled in the present course of things — that we need not 
 understand these signs as precursors of the Second Advent. Thus 
 one says, "There is not one of these metaphors which is not 
 found in the Old Testament prophets, and in them they refer 
 in every instance to the destruction of cities, and the establishment 
 of new covenants, or to other earthly revolutions ; " and another 
 says that we cannot understand this of the Second Advent because 
 many things which will certainly occur then are not mentioned 
 here. But, in answer to the latter, we can only say that there 
 are seven references to the Advent and final consummation in this 
 book, in not one of which do we find collected together all the great 
 and terrible things which will accompany it, and with respect to the 
 former, the Second Advent will gather up into itself a number of 
 partial fulfilments. It will be the day of days. Other days may have 
 been days of judgment, of wrath, of vengeance on God's enemies, 
 of triumphs to those on His side, but all these were but small, 
 partial, and insignificant, compared to the terrors of the great day. 
 
 This expression, " calling on the mountains to fall upon them, and 
 the rocks to cover them," was, no doubt, proverbial, and really 
 meant that the destruction which accompanies the wrath of the 
 Lamb will be so great and terrible, that every other form of 
 destruction will be welcomed by the wicked in comparison of it. 
 They would rather be crushed to death than that He should look 
 them in the face. 
 
 " There was a great earthquake." See xvi. 19, which identifies 
 the latter as revealing the time of the end, or its very near approach. 
 
Chap. VI.] THE STARS OF HEAVEN FELL. 85 
 
 13 ^And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even 
 as a fig tree casteth her || untimely figs, when ^cb. vUi. lo. 
 she is shaken of a mighty wind. H or, green 
 
 14 ^ And the heaven departed as a scroll when ^^^ ^,.j .,g 
 it is rolled together; and ^ every mountain and Seb^f'^^gili 
 island were moved out of their places. * Jer. Ui. 23. 
 
 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great xvi. 20. 
 men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, 
 
 and the mighty men, and every bondman, and 
 
 every free man, * hid themselves in the dens and ^ ^^^- "• ^^' 
 
 in the rocks of the mountains ; 
 
 *' And the moon." According to the best MSS. " the whole moon 
 became as blood," which she would do if she were partially deprived 
 of the light of the sun. 
 
 13. " And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth." "Which they 
 would appear to do if the earth were suddenly stopped in her orbit 
 round the sun. 
 
 14. " And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled to- 
 gether." This seems (looked at from a human point of view) to be 
 a reproduction of Isaiah xxxiv. 4. 
 
 "And eveiy mountain and island were moved out of their places." 
 Alford here has a most suggestive remark. " The whole earth is 
 broken up by a change as total as any of those previous ones which 
 have prepared it for its present inhabitants. If geology teaches us 
 any one fact it teaches us that there have been catastrophes on 
 the surface of our globe which have extinguished all animal forms 
 then existing, and the earth has been re-peopled with new forms of 
 life, none of them exactly of the old types." 
 
 15. " And the kings of the earth, and the great men, .... every 
 bond man, and every free man." Pains are taken by the writer of the 
 Apocalypse to include all classes of men unreconciled to God ; the 
 kings, the powerful magnates, the generals, the rich, the powerful, 
 and every slave, and every free labourer, all will be overwhelmed 
 with terror, all will call for annihilation. Death in its most 
 terrible form will be chosen rather than a life of punishment in 
 which they will be rewarded according to their deeds. 
 
86 THE WRATH OF THE LAMB. [Revelation. 
 
 16 ^ And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and 
 h Hos. X. s. hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the 
 
 Luke xxiii. 30. , . , _ . 
 
 ch. ix. 6. throne, and irom the wrath of the Lamb : 
 
 &c^^'zeph.\ 17 'For the great day of his wrath is come; 
 xti*i4. '^" '^ and who shall be able to stand ? 
 
 k Ps. Ixxvi. 7. 
 
 16. " The wrath of the Lamb." This is, perhaps, the most fearful 
 saying in all Scripture. " The wrath of the Lamb " is the wrath of 
 Incarnate Mercy. " He is our only refuge in heaven and on earth 
 against all other wrath. Be it either the wrath of evil spirits lying 
 in wait to destroy us, or of good and holy beings, drawing back 
 from us ; or of the Most Holy God Who is of purer eyes than 
 to behold and bear with our iniquity; Christ crucified for us, 
 and joining us to Himself, is the one only shelter and help 
 against it. He binds the devil and his angels that they may not 
 tear us to pieces, as they long to do every moment. He fills the 
 angels and saints in heaven, and all good Christians here in His 
 Church on earth, with tender, anxious care for His sinful creatures, 
 causing them to pray for us more and more earnestly, and obtain 
 for us those blessings which in a mysterious and wonderful manner 
 He has made to depend on their prayers. And what is more than 
 all He in His Own Person intercedes with the Father for us. He 
 stands at the right hand of God to succour all who mourn earnestly 
 for their sins " (Pusey). 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 ND after these things I saw four angels standing 
 on the four corners of the earth, * holding the four 
 
 • Dan. vii. 2. 
 
 1. "And after these things I saw four angels standing," &c. 
 "After these things" may have one of two meanings. It may 
 mean after the events which are signified by these visions, or it 
 may mean '* after these visions had been displayed before me I saw 
 other visions," which he proceeds to describe. I believe the latter 
 to be the true meaning, because the last vision is evidently a visioD 
 
Chap. VII.] THE WIND SHOULD NOT BLOW. 87 
 
 winds of the earth, ^ that the wind should not blow on the 
 earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. ^ ch. ix. 4. 
 
 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having 
 
 of the end. Only at the time of the end will it be said, " Hide us 
 from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the 
 wrath of the Lamb : for the great day of his wrath is come." 
 
 I beheve that there is no time allotted to the world or to the 
 Church between the disappearance of Christ on Mount Olivet and 
 His return. During the whole of these 1,800 years and more He 
 might have been expected at any moment ; so that I think that it 
 is not permitted to us to make the history of the events which have 
 occurred since the visions of the Apocalypse to be the subject of 
 these visions, so that so many centuries should elapse between the 
 time in which St. John saw them and the present time. Where 
 there appears to be visions of successive events it is only in 
 appearance. This I have shown to be the interpretation of the seal- 
 openings ; the four horse-riders do not succeed one another, but ride 
 together. All the time during which the first rider rides conquering 
 and to conquer, the second rider pursues his career of bloodshed, 
 and the third his career of scarcity or famine. It is to be remem- 
 bered that but one such vision can appear at one time to any- 
 human being, so that if St. John is bidden to recount such visions 
 he must recount them as coming into his horizon successively, 
 though they are in reality simultaneous. 
 
 " I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth." 
 That is, at the four points of the compass, north, south, east and west. 
 
 " Holding the four winds of the earth." That is, a destructive 
 storm, it may be of human opinion, threatening the entire desolation 
 and destruction of society, or it may be of causes issuing in deso- 
 lating wars, or it may be even of physical calamities which God 
 treasures up in the store-house of His vengeance with which to 
 overwhelm a world which has braved His wrath to the uttermost. 
 
 " That the wind should not blow on tho earth, nor on the sea,, 
 nor on any tree." This looks to the perfect restraint under which 
 these powers of vengeance are kept. So far from overwhelming 
 the earth they do not even lash into fury the sea, they do not even 
 agitate the trees. 
 
 2. " And I saw another angel ascending from the east," i.e., from 
 
88 THE SEAL OF TUE LIVING GOD. [REVELATION. 
 
 the seal of the living God : and he cried with a loud voice 
 
 to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth 
 
 and the sea, 
 
 c ch. vi, 6. & 3 Saying, *= Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, 
 
 •1 Ezek. ix. 4. nor the trees, till we have ** sealed the servants of 
 
 e ch' xxU. 4 ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^ their foreheads. 
 
 'ch. ix. 16. 4 ^And I heard the number of them which 
 
 the quarter from which light comes, i.e., the most glorious quarter 
 of the heavens. 
 
 " Having the seal of the living God." Who is this angel and 
 what is his seal ? Some say that it can be no other than the Lord 
 Jesus Himself ; some the Holy Spirit. But it cannot be the latter, 
 for He is the seal which is impressed upon the souls of Christians ; 
 according to the words of the Apostle, " Grieve not the holy Spirit 
 of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" 
 (Ephes. iv. 30). Neither, according to the teaching of this book, 
 can it well be the Lord Himself : for the characteristic of this book 
 is that God works all the workings of His providence through His 
 servants the angels. It seems to me to be one of the main designs 
 of this book to bring out the universality of angelic ministrations. 
 If men are commissioned to seal their brethren either in Baptism 
 or in Confirmation with the Holy Spirit, and yet it is God alone 
 Who baptizes, and God alone Who confirms, why should He not, 
 if he chooses, seal through the ministration of angels ? Whatever 
 the means which this angel or his feUows employ, it is God Who 
 uses their hands and directs them in making every single impres- 
 sion of the Divine Seal. 
 
 3. " Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees," 
 &c. Why is the loosing of the four winds and their all-destroying 
 influence postponed till after the sealing of the elect ? We cannot 
 tell. Perhaps the calamities will be such that it requires a special 
 putting forth of the power of God in each individual case to preserve 
 the faith of the elect from being in danger. 
 
 4. " And I heard the number of them which were sealed : and 
 there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all 
 the tribes," &c. A large number of questions arise out of this to 
 which I ask the reader's devout and prayerful attention. 
 
Chap. VII.] THE NUMBER OF THE SEALED. 89 
 
 were sealed : and there ivere sealed ^ an hundred and forty 
 a7id four thousand of all the tribes of the chil- e ch. xiv. i. 
 dren of Israel. 
 
 5 Of the tribe of Juda ivere sealed twelve thousand. Of 
 the tribe of Keuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the 
 tribe of Gad ivere sealed twelve thousand. 
 
 Were these the whole number of the sealed ? It is not said to 
 be so by any means, only that these were sealed (out) " of all the 
 tribes of the children of Israel." 
 
 When, as related in verse 9, the Apostle saw a great multitude, 
 which no man could number, out of all nations, had these been 
 sealed in the same way as the one hundred and forty -four thousand? 
 surely this must have been if they were amongst the number of the 
 saved, if they had made their calling and election sure, if they had 
 washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 "Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the 
 tribe of Eeuben were sealed twelve thousand." Who then were 
 these one hundred and forty-four thousand? Were they actual 
 Jews, or were they of the spiritual seed of Jacob only according to 
 the words of this Apostle respecting some who said that they were 
 Jews and were not, and as another Apostle witnesses, " He is not 
 a Jew which is one outwardly " ? 
 
 Now it is quite possible that, no matter what the seeming 
 improbability, they might be Jews by birth. The difficulty is that 
 so many belong to what are called the lost tribes. But though 
 these tribes are lost to us are they lost to God ; can we limit the 
 knowledge of God ? cannot He keep in His eye every soul of the 
 descendants of the Patriarchs, and preserve him or his posterity 
 till the sound of the Gospel comes to him with power? 
 
 Let the reader remember that this sealing of each one may be 
 a profound secret, known only to God and the soul whom He 
 seals. 
 
 The reasons given why we are to understand this one hundred 
 and forty-four thousand as being the spiritual Israel seem to me 
 very absurd. One is because the tribe of Dan is omitted ; but we 
 have abundant reason to believe that this tribe had become extinct ; 
 another that Levi is included ; another that the tribe of Ephraim js 
 
90 SIMEON — LEVI — ISSACHAR. [Revelation. 
 
 6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of 
 the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the 
 tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 
 
 7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of 
 the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe 
 of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 
 
 put down as the tribe of Joseph, but why should not this be, for 
 God gave Ephraim the right of primogeniture ? 
 
 I do not, however, say that these were actual Jews by descent, 
 but that it is quite possible they may be such ; we know that in the 
 Prophets there are many predictions of the restoration of the tribes 
 of Israel as distinguished from Judah. The subject is of course 
 mysterious, but nothing like so mysterious as many others of God's 
 providential dealings. 
 
 Two other matters require a very short notice. 
 
 If this one hundred and forty -four thousand signify the spiritual 
 seed of Abraham, why should they be classed under the names of 
 the twelve tribes ? Simply to emphasize the fact that the spiritual 
 seed, the seed of faith, enters into the inheritance of all the 
 promises. 
 
 If, however, they signify Israelites by descent then it may be 
 that they are specifically mentioned here in order to console the 
 remnant of Jacob by assuring them through the mouth of the 
 Apostle that God has not cast away His people " whom he fore- 
 knew." 
 
 And now we ask, when did this sealing take place, and what was 
 it in its reality ? It is impossible to suppose that such a thing as 
 the sealing of the elect body takes place at but one definite period, 
 for it pertains to each faithful soul in every age that he should be 
 sealed. It appears to me that tlie two things represented in these 
 two visions, these sealed ones and the palm-bearers, describe what 
 is taking place throughout the whole time covered by the opening 
 of the seals. Notwithstanding the judgments with which God will 
 afflict the world by wars, famines, and pestilences, there will go on 
 without intermission the sealing of the elect and their gathering 
 into paradise. The horse-rider judgments will in no respect 
 hinder this. During the centuries of woe and judgment, of war. 
 
Chap. VIL] ZABULON — JOSEPH — BENJAMIN. 91 
 
 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. 
 Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of 
 the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. 
 
 famine, and pestilence, God has been accomplishing the number of 
 His elect, and after they are fully prepared they are drafted one 
 by one into paradise, and take their place amongst the spirits of 
 just men made perfect. 
 
 But what is the actual sealing ? It is, of course, the work of the 
 Holy Spirit, perhaps rather a work of God by the Holy Spirit ; but 
 what is it, what does it accomplish in the soul ? I am thankful that 
 other words which I have found, and which I will give to the 
 reader, will express this far better than any of my own, " On whom 
 did St. John see the angel impress the seal of the elect ? on the 
 servants of God ; that is, on those which were found faithful, each 
 one in his place fulfilling his Master's work. The parable of the 
 talents is a key to the name 'servant.' It is the title of those 
 who having received the grace of their Lord to lay out in His 
 service, use what is entrusted to them with care and diligence ; 
 it describes the state of the regenerate, and the law of their 
 probation." 
 
 After years well spent in faithful service, when the will and 
 heart are ripened by trial into steadfast faith and love, then, in His 
 mercy, God bestows a crowning gift upon His servants, the gift of 
 perseverance. 
 
 There is an interior ministry of the Spirit, ever working, sealing 
 by an inward and Divine Seal the proved servants of Christ, not by 
 a capricious or mechanical predestination, but by an election 
 founded on the moral attributes of God, and on the moral nature 
 of man. What is the seal of the living God but the image of 
 God renewed in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost ; the 
 likeness and the mind of Christ stamped upon us by a perfect 
 regeneration ; the inward reality of a saintly spirit wrought in us, 
 either by a life of steadfast obedience or by a true repentance, by a 
 persevering grace, or by a perfect conversion ? 
 
 This work of grace is now, by the ministry of the Church, fulfilling 
 all around, and will work on unseen unto the end. Then, when 
 the mystical number is accomplished, and every soul foreknown 
 has received the seal of God, the seventh and last seal of the book 
 
"92 CLOTHED WITH WHITE ROBES. [Revelation. 
 
 9 After this I beheld, and, lo, ^ a great multitude, which 
 t Rom. xi. 25. no man could number, ^ of all nations, and kin- 
 i ch. V. 9. dreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the 
 k ch. iii. 5, 18. throne, and before the Lamb, ^ clothed with white 
 11. "ver. 14." robes, and palms in their hands ; 
 
 shall be opened, and the scourges of God, long pent up, come down 
 upon the world. Ask yourselves, therefore, whether or no you are 
 of this secret number, or whether or no you have received the seal 
 of God. 
 
 What else is worth living for ? Though you should have all and 
 uot this what shall it profit in the day of judgment ? Though you 
 have nothing else but this alone, what shall you then desire ? " 
 
 9. •' After this." I think immediately following it, because in 
 .€ome of its principal features in strong contrast to it. 
 
 "I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could 
 number." Mark the contrast. The number of the sealed was a 
 great number, but it could be numbered ; it was quite within the 
 power of man to count it though multiplied many times over, but 
 this was innumerable ; only within the ken of that God Who 
 numbers the grains of sand and the drops of dew. 
 
 " Of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." Mark 
 the contrast here also. The former vision was of one nation, the 
 people of Israel; one tongue, the Hebrew, though they might 
 speak different dialects all holding one language to be their mother, 
 their national, their sacred tongue. 
 
 "Stood before the throne, and before the Lamb." Are these 
 supposed to be in paradise or in heaven? It is no matter. If they 
 have not yet attained to the highest bliss— that of the Resurrection 
 state — they are sealed for it and are as certain of its possession as 
 if they had passed the judgment. 
 
 " Clothed with white robes." That is, white robes signifying spot- 
 less innocence : not natural innocence, of course, but innocence in the 
 twofold sense that no former sin which they may have committed 
 shall be imputed to them. It is all forgotten through their repen- 
 tance, and their true faith in the atoning power of the Blood of Christ. 
 And innocence in another sense, that no stain is left on their souls ; 
 the memory of past sin only remains to keep alive in them the sense 
 
Chap. VIL] SALVATION TO OUR GOD. 93 
 
 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, * Salvation to our 
 God ™ whicli sittetli upon the throne, and unto ' Ps. iii. s. 
 
 ■ -I T -, Isa. xliii. il. 
 
 the Lamb. jer. iii. 23. 
 
 11 '^ And all the angels stood round about the ch"xix!"i/' 
 throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, "" *;^'7- ^^• 
 
 ' n Ch. IV. 6 
 
 and fell before the throne on their faces, and 
 worshipped God, 
 
 12 ** Saying, Amen : Blessing, and glory, and o ch. v. 13, i* 
 wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, 
 
 and might, he unto our God for ever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 13 Ajid one of the elders answered, saying unto me. What 
 
 10. "And cried with a loud voice." "And they cry with," &c. So V, A B 
 C, &c. 
 
 of the greatness and thoroughness of their redemption. They are 
 not tormented with the evil lusts which it has left in them. 
 
 '* And palms in their hands." In token of victory which they 
 have achieved (John xii. 13), not because they are keeping the feast 
 of tabernacles, which they are not. 
 
 10. " And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God 
 which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." " Salvation to 
 our God," Who orders all things, and brings about all that is in the 
 council of His will. 
 
 "And unto the Lamb." As the Instrument, the Victim, the High 
 Priest, the Mediator. That salvation should be thus ascribed to 
 God and the Lamb, shows how the Lamb fully shares in the glory 
 and honour of God. 
 
 11, 12. "And all the angels stood round about the throne . . . 
 and fell before the throne on their faces . . . , and might, be unto 
 our God for ever and ever. Amen." The angels are our fellow- 
 worshippers, and in some sense partake of the blessings of Christ's 
 Eedemption, for it is written, " by him to reconcile all things unto 
 himself ; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things 
 in heaven " (Coloss. i. 20). 
 
 13. "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me." It may- 
 be that he read the thoughts of the Seer respecting whom these 
 
94 WHENCE CAME THEY ? [Revelation. 
 
 .are these which are arrayed in ^ white robes? and whence 
 p Ter. 9. came they ? 
 
 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. 
 q ch. vi. 9. & And he said to me, "i These are they which came 
 r isa. i. 18. out of great tribulation, and have "^ washed their 
 1 johii^i. 7.' robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
 
 ch. i. 5. See t „_^-i^ 
 Zech. iii. 3, JjamD. 
 
 *'^ 15 Therefore are they before the throne of Grod, 
 
 and serveifhim day and night in his temi3le : and 
 
 14. "Sir, thou knowest." Rather, "My Lord, thou knowest." 
 
 white-robed ones might be, and so gave him an opportunity of 
 asking the question : anyhow the repetition of the account of the 
 vision shows its importance. 
 
 14. " These are they which came out of great tribulation." 
 Literally out of *' the tribulation the great one." Does this mean 
 out of some specific tribulation, or that the whole period in which 
 Christians have suffered from the enmity of the world is from the 
 time of St. John to the present one of great tribulation, as it is said 
 in the Acts, " that we must through much tribulation enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven." The great and last tribulation is that of the 
 last days — the time of the end — foretold by our Lord in Matt. xxiv. 
 21, '* Then shall there be great tribulation, such as was not since 
 the beginning of the world." 
 
 It is impossible to say. The words in the Greek seem to imply 
 a particular tribulation, to the time and circumstances of which we 
 have no clue, but all Christians should remember that all suffering 
 borne patiently for the sake of Christ is accounted to be suffering 
 with Him, and it is a faithful saying, " If we suffer with him, we 
 shall also reign with him " (2 Tim. ii. 12). 
 
 " And have washed their robes, and made them white in the 
 blood," &c. See on verse 9. 
 
 15. " Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him 
 day and night," &c. *' Therefore," i.e., because they have endured 
 patiently, and in the power of Christ, the great tribulation, and 
 have been cleansed and quickened with the Blood of Christ. 
 
 "And serve him day and night in his temple," i.e., as His 
 
Chap. VII. ] THE LAMB SHALL FEED THEM. 95 
 
 lie that sittetli on the throne shall ' dwell anionp^ ' isa. iv. 5, 6. 
 
 , , ^ ch. xxi. 3. 
 
 them. 
 
 16 * They shall hunger no more, neither thirst » isa. xiix. 10. 
 
 any more ; ** neither shall the sun H^ht on them, " ps. cxxi. 6. 
 
 •^ , ' ° ch. xxi. 4. 
 
 nor any neat. 
 
 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the ^ pg ^^iii 1 
 throne ''shall feed them, and shall lead them fohn^x ^ii' i4 
 
 priests. How is it that they are said to " serve God in his temple " 
 and yet in the final vision St. John sees no temple in the New 
 Jerusalem ? Because the temple of God is everywhere. "Where 
 God and the Lamb are there is the temple. 
 
 " He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." 
 Properly shall tabernacle them, shall spread His tabernacle over 
 them. He shall be so visibly overshadowing them that they shall 
 not need a temple. 
 
 16. " They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore." This 
 implies a totally different condition to that in their present state. 
 .The fear of hunger is now the incentive to industry. Men labour 
 for their bread, and by that labour are kept from almost infinite 
 moral evils. Then the curse will be removed and other motives 
 will keep them in the most incessant and yet the most blessed 
 employment. 
 
 "'Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." This is 
 taken almost verbatim from Isaiah slix. 10, " They shall not 
 hunger nor thirst ; neither shall the heat nor sun smite tliem : 
 for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the 
 springs of water shall he guide them." 
 
 17. " For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed 
 them." Is this a reason why they shall neither hunger nor thirst ? 
 We must look somewhat higher. Apparently all finite creatures 
 require food ; and that with which the Lamb supplies these blessed 
 ones abundantly, is suited to their glorified frames or to their 
 intellectual nature. 
 
 Mark, it is the Lamb which does this, and yet throughout the 
 Old Testament it is God Who is the One Feeder of the peopb, '* I 
 the Lord will feed them." 
 
96 LIVING FOUNTAINS OF WATERS. [Revelation. 
 
 unto living fountains of waters : ^ and God shall wipe away 
 y isa. XXV. 8. oil tears from their eyes. 
 
 ch. XXI. 4. -^ 
 
 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The 
 memory of past grief shall not be painful. They shall only 
 remember what they have passed through in order evermore to 
 glorify God for having brought them through all. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ND *when he had opened the seventh seal, there was 
 silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 
 » ch. vi. 1. 2 ^ And I saw the seven angels which stood 
 
 i» Matt, xviii. 
 
 10. Luke i. ___ 
 
 19. 
 
 1. " And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence 
 in heaven about the space of half an hour." What is this silence ? 
 who is silent ? The last sounds we have heard is the cry with a 
 loud voice of the great multitude, " Salvation to our God," and the 
 worship of the angels. " Amen : Blessing and glory .... be unto 
 our God." Can it be that these are hushed, and the voices of the 
 liviBg ones which cry incessantly, *' Holy, holy, holy." 
 
 I think it must rather mean the silence of expectation. The 
 breathlessness of the creatures in expectation of the fearful judgments 
 that are impending ; or, inasmuch as there is to be an incense-ofifering 
 in the sight of all heaven, it may be a silence answering to that of 
 the worshippers when the priest was offering his incense before the 
 veil, and the people were all in prayer till he came and gave the 
 blessing, when the full choir of the Temple burst out into song and 
 music. Some have even thought this silence was what fulfilled 
 the opening of the seventh seal, but this cannot be, almost all (as 
 "Williams says) speak of it as an awful interval, the dead silence 
 which precedes the thunderclap. 
 
 2. " And I saw the seven angels which stood before God." " I am 
 Gabriel," says one of these angels at the time of the Incarnation, 
 
Chap. VIIL] MUCH INCENSE. 97 
 
 before God ; * and to tliem were sriven seven <= 2 chron. 
 
 ° xxix. 25-28. 
 
 trumpets. 
 
 3 And another angel came and stood at the 
 altar, having a golden censer; and there was 
 given nnto him much incense, that he should to^le prayers. 
 II offer it with "^ the prayers of all saints upon ^the •* ^^^- '^- §• 
 golden altar which was before the throne. 1. ch. vi.*9.' 
 
 " that stand in the presence of God." Almost all commentators with- 
 out exception refer to certain words in the Apocryphal book of Tobit, 
 " I am Eaphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the 
 prayers of the saints." "Why should there not be mighty angels 
 before God, and why should they not be seven in number, and why 
 should not God Who made them and placed them where they are, 
 employ them when He sees it fit so to do ? 
 
 " And to them were given seven trumpets." Trumpets sound to 
 the battle and must signify something veiy different to the opening 
 of the seals of a book. Almost all expositors explain the visions 
 which succeed the sounding of these trumpets as betokening some 
 outpouring of the wrath of God upon His enemies. They cannot 
 well signify the use of trumpets in calling to solemn assemblies or 
 festivals, for the visions which take place are the opposite of these. 
 
 3. "And another angel came and stood at the altar." Literally, 
 above, or over it, so that his form appeared above it; but the 
 Vulgate translates ante, before it. 
 
 "Having a golden censer; and there was given unto him/' &c. 
 ** Golden," corresponding with the golden altar of incense. 
 
 " That he should offer it with." Eather, taken literally, give it to, 
 that is, I suppose, add it to. Incense is not prayer, but is assumed 
 to be added to prayer to make it acceptable : so that, if any thing 
 earthly can do, it typifies the merits of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is not improbable that this offering of incense with the prayers 
 is the principal thing for which we have this particular vision 
 vouchsafed to us. There must be something along with our 
 prayers to make them acceptable. " No man cometli unto the 
 Father but by me." What are these prayers — what is their 
 subject matter ? It would seem that we must go back to chap. vi. 10, 
 " They cried with a loud voice. How long, Lord, holy and true ? " 
 
98 THE ANGEL TOOK THE CENSER. [Revelation. 
 
 4 And ^the smoke of the incense, icliicJi came with the 
 
 f Ps. cxii. 2. prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out 
 Luke i. 10. -^ / V -u . 
 
 of the angel s hand, 
 
 II Or upon ^ -^^^ ^^^ angel took the censer, and filled it 
 
 g ch. xvi. 18. with fire of the altar, and cast it \\ into the earth : 
 
 8."' lings'"" and ^ there were voices, and thunderings, and 
 
 fv.^31.^' ^""^^ lightnings, ^ and an earthquake. 
 
 Is then the sounding of these trumpets and the consequent jud^:- 
 ments an answer to their calls for vengeance ? It would seem so ; 
 but we must remember that God's vengeance is not only for punish- 
 ment, but as a call to repentance (ch. ix. 21). 
 
 4. " And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers 
 of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." 
 Implying that on account of the incense mingled with it the 
 prayers of the saints ascended because accepted. The incense of 
 course contained no element of merit in itself, but typified that 
 which has abounding merit. 
 
 5. " And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the 
 altar." It has been made a matter of dispute whether there were 
 two altars, that of burnt-offering and that of incense. I believe 
 there could be but one ; the function of the altar of burnt-offerings — 
 which was the showing forth of the One all-sufficient Atonement 
 by bleeding and dead victims— was over and out of place in the 
 presence of the all-atoning Victim ; whereas the function of the 
 altar of incense — the perfuming of the prayers with the incense 
 of the infinite merits of the Mediator — was always necessary. 
 
 *' Filled it with fire of the altar [i.e., of incense] and cast it into 
 the earth : and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings," 
 &c. Of what was this casting of fire upon the earth a figure ? It 
 seems to be one of coming vengeance, not postponed, as in chap. 
 vi. 11, but close at hand. 
 
 May it be permitted to say a word respecting the sacerdotal 
 action of this angel. He conducts or presides over the ritual of 
 heaven. Now, allowing to the utmost that what he does in this 
 sublime worship is spiritual or figurative, unquestionably the 
 outward form of it is very distinctly ritual. He does not content 
 himself with standing or kneeling and offering up silent prayer. 
 
€hap. VIIL] hail and FIRE WITH BLOOD. 99 
 
 6 And tlie seven angels wliicli had the seven trumpets 
 prepared themselves to sound. 
 
 7 The first ano^el sounded, ' and there followed • Ezek. 
 
 " xxxviii. 22. 
 
 hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were 
 
 cast '^ upon the earth : and the third part ^ of trees ^ ch. xvi. 2. 
 
 vras burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. ch^ix"*. 
 
 7. "The first angel." "Angel" omitted by H, A., B., P., four Cursives, Syriac. 
 "Mingled with blood." "In blood" in s, A., B., P., forty Cursives, Vulg., &c. 
 " And the third part of the earth was burnt up." So ^f, A., B., &c. 
 
 He uses, in the face of the inhabitants of heaven itself, symbolic 
 ritual. Would he have been permitted to do this if outward forms, 
 such as the use of an altar, standing at that altar and mingling 
 incense with what betokens prayer, were abominable in the sight 
 of God and were indications of the worship of Antichrist or of the 
 beast rather than of the worship of God. The whole principle of 
 ritual worship seems to me to be involved in such action of 
 heavenly beings in the presence and before the throne of God. 
 
 6. "And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets pre- 
 pared themselves to sound." As if they waited for the signal from 
 the Almighty, knowing well that on the sounding of their trumpets 
 terrible judgments would fall upon the earth. 
 
 7. "The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire 
 mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth : and the 
 third part of trees was burnt up." I confess that I write upon these 
 plagues following on these first four sounding of trumpets with much 
 reluctance. I had hoped to have found something analogous to the 
 opening of the first four seals which seem to usher in influences or 
 states of the world not successive, but contemporaneous. Thus the 
 first seal, introducing the Eider of the white horse, sets forth the 
 preaching of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace ; and the second, 
 introducing the rider of the blood-red horse, a continuous state of 
 war side by side with the proclamation of the Gospel — thus pre- 
 paring the Church for what it would not naturally have expected. 
 I cannot find, however, anything in human history which can with 
 any probability be identified with the four visions at the sounding 
 of the first four trumpets, so I must content myself with giving the 
 
100 A GREAT MOUNTAIN. [Revelation. 
 
 8 And the second angel sounded, ™ and as it were a great 
 m jer. li. 25. mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea : 
 
 Amos vii. 4. _ ^ 
 
 ■^ ch. xvi. 3. ° and the third part of the sea ° became blood ; 
 
 o Ezek. xiv. 
 
 19 
 
 interpretation of various expositors, not one of which I can accept 
 
 as the undoubtedly true meaning. 
 
 Expositors of such opposite views on Church questions as Elliot 
 and Wordsworth consider that these four first visions (or at least 
 the two first), were fulfilled in the breaking up of the Roman 
 Empire under successive incursions of the Goths, Huns, and 
 Vandals at the beginning of the fifth century. Elliot interprets 
 the first trumpet vision as the invasion of Italy, and taking and 
 sacking of Rome by Alaric ; the second, the conquest of the maritime 
 provinces and the islands by the Vandal Genseric, " Invited by 
 Count Boniface, governor of the province of Africa, he transported 
 thither his Vandals from Spain across the African sea." But the 
 correspondence between Genseric and his Vandal hordes, and such 
 an infliction upon the sea as could be symbolized by a burning 
 mountain cast into the sea, and a third of it becoming blood, and 
 a third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, 
 dying, is, to me, beyond measure slight and unsatisfactory. Now this 
 third part consists of the whole of the Mediterranean between Italy 
 and Spain. Were the whole of the fish destroyed in it ? Let the 
 reader notice that the creatures in the sea and the ships, as distin- 
 guished from the creatures inhabiting the sea, are destroj^ed. The 
 only account of destruction of ships is that of the Roman navies in 
 the harbours of Carthagena and Bona, which were set on fire by 
 fire-ships driven in amongst them. With all this is mixed up an 
 eruption of the mountains of Auvergne, very far from the sea, in 
 the middle of France ; and in a note the account of an eruption of 
 Etna which covered the sea near that part of Sicily with small ashes, 
 not a thousandth part of the area of the west of the MediteiTanean. 
 
 I will reserve remarks on Elliot's third and fourth trumpet vision 
 till I have noticed Bishop Wordsworth on the first two seals. 
 
 He makes them both to refer to the Gothic or Hunnio invasions 
 from the north, without taking, apparently, any notice of the 
 extraordinary difference between a hailstorm mingled with blood 
 destroying the land, and a burning mountain cast into the sea 
 and turning it into blood. He makes the mountain cast into the 
 
Chap. VIIL] THE THIRD PART OF THE SHIPS. 101 
 
 9 P And the third part of the creatures which were in the 
 sea, and had life, died ; and the third part of the p ch. xvi. 3. 
 ships were destroyed. 
 
 sea and turning it into blood to be the uprooting of Eome, " the 
 great imperial mountain," by the assaults of the Goths, Vandals, 
 and Huns, and "the mighty empire dismembered and decomposed, 
 and its solid mass dissolved and melted away into a swelling sea 
 which was long agitated by the winds and waves of revolutionary 
 storms and political hurricanes." 
 
 Mede also explains these two first trumpet visions of the incursions 
 of barbarians breaking up the Eoman Empire, the first trumpet vision 
 relating to Alaric ; the second of Goths and Vandals to Genseric. 
 
 Bengel says, " The trumpet of the first angel befittingly assails 
 the Jews, and comprises the Jewish wars under Trajan and Adrian,'* 
 and of the second trumpet vision he writes, " A mass of barbarian 
 nations is meant, concerning the migration and irruption of wliich, 
 attended with the greatest injuries from the third century, history 
 is so full that it is needless to quote particular authors." 
 
 The above remarks will suffice for the historical interpetations. 
 
 Alford, Williams, Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, Lee, in " Speaker's 
 Commentary," and Milligan, deprecate our understanding any his- 
 torical fulfilments, but none of them seem to be agreed what 
 mystical, or allegorical, or symbolical, or spiritual, or moral 
 fulfilment is to be given to any one vision. 
 
 Cornelius a Lapide cites Irenaeus and Lactantius as agi'eeing 
 with Aretas and Eibera that these predictions are to be understood 
 literally, but that they will only be fulfilled at the end, "inchoa- 
 bunt et fieri incipiunt ante judicium et ante Antichristum." I 
 have not been able, however, to verify the reference to Irenseus. 
 
 Archdeacon Farrar, as representing the preterists, says, "The 
 language is obviously that of daring symbolism. Taken literally, 
 the fall of the burning mountain resembles no event ever seen or 
 known in the history of the world. Taken metaphorically, it may 
 be meant to depict great calamities connected with the sea and 
 ships, deaths by drowning and massacre which ' incarnadine the 
 multitudinous seas.' The times of Nero furnished abundant 
 instances. Such were the inundations which devastated the 
 
102 WORMWOOD. [Revelation. 
 
 10 And the third angel sounded, ^ and there fell a great 
 q isa. xiv. 12. star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, 
 rch.^xvi. 4. "^a^i^ it fell upon the third part of the rivers, 
 
 and upon the fountains of waters ; 
 ^ Ruthi. 20. 11 * And the name of the star is called Worm- 
 
 coasts of Lydia, and the destruction of fleets, and the waves 
 reddening with the blood of men, as at Joppa and on the coasts of 
 the Dead Sea, and on the lake of Galilee." " At Joppa the sea was 
 bloody a long way, and the maritime parts were full of dead 
 bodies, and the number of dead bodies that were thus thrown out 
 of the sea was four thousand two hundred." A large number, it is 
 true, but scarcely enough to warrant the third part of the sea as 
 turned into blood and all the fish dying. 
 
 "With respect to this third part which is referred to in each 
 trumpet vision, Elliot understands it of the western part of the 
 Eoman Empire and its adjacent seas, and gives a map describing 
 exactly what he means by the third part, which comprises Britain, 
 Gaul, Spain, Italy, and the parts of Africa opposite to Spain and 
 Italy. But Alford responds that all special interpretations seem 
 to him utterly to have failed, and of these none so signally as that 
 of Mr. Elliot, as he says, and apparently rightly, that it is not said 
 that the hail, &c., was cast upon a third part (of the earth), but that 
 the destruction occasioned by them extended to a third part of the 
 earth on which they were cast, and he would take the third part 
 {to rpiTov) as signifying "that though the'judgment is undoubtedly, 
 as to extent, fearful and sweeping, yet that God in inflicting it 
 spares more than He smites — two-thirds escaping in each case." 
 
 10-11. "And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star 
 from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, .... and the name of 
 the star is called "Wormwood: and the third part of the waters 
 became wormwood." This is interpreted historically by Elliot, 
 Mede and Wordsworth. Elliot considers it to have been fulfilled in 
 Attila, whose campaigns were principally by the banks of rivers. 
 " • The Huns,' says Gibbon, ' were masters of the great rivers.' But 
 it is specially the river-frontier of the same western third of the empire, 
 to which the other tinimpets refer, that I suppose is chiefly intended 
 in the present. Accordingly, about a.d. 450, in fulfilment of a 
 
Chap. VIII.] THE THIRD PART OF THE WATERS. 103 
 wood : ^ and the third part of the waters became ' Exod. xv. 
 
 ^ 23. Jer. ix. 
 15. & xxiii. 15. 
 
 treaty with Genseric, he moved against the western provinces 
 along the upper Danube, reached and crossed the Ehine at Basle, 
 and thence tracing the same great frontier stream of the west 
 down to Belgium, made its valley one scene of desolation and woe, 
 burning the cities (of which Strasburg, Spires, "Worms, Mentz, 
 Audernach, Treves, Tongres, Maestricht, are specially particu- 
 larized), massacring the inhabitants and laying the country waste. 
 After sustaining a severe defeat at Chalons, he fell on another 
 destined scene of ravage, the European fountains of waters, in the 
 Alpine heights and Alpine valleys of Italy. Then Aquileia, Pavia, 
 Verona, Mantua, Milan, Turin felt his vengeance. ' From the 
 Alps to the Apennines,' says Segovius, ' all was flight, depopula- 
 tion, slaughter, slavery, and despair.' But what of his course of 
 devastation. Surely with all Italy defenceless before him one 
 might have expected that, like his predecessor, Alaric, it would have 
 continued on to Rome. Instead of this, behold an embassy from 
 the Western Emperor Valentinian, accompanied by tJie venerable 
 Romish Bishop Leo I., was successful in deprecating his wrath, 
 and having granted them peace, he repassed the Alps and retired.' 
 Wherefore a result, humanly speaking, so unlikely ? Methinks we 
 see the reason. The prediction had expressly marked the term of 
 Attila's devastating progress. Already Attila had made bitter the 
 river line of the upper Danube and Ehine and the Alpine fountains 
 of waters." But surely all this is very unsatisfactory ; to massacre 
 the inhabitants and bum the cities on the banks of a river is not, 
 I should think, to make the waters bitter ; to sack Pavia, Verona, 
 Mantua, Milan, is not to make bitter the fountains of their rivers 
 in the far off Alpine heights. 
 
 Mede interprets the third trumpet of Odoacer, but, unlike Elliot, 
 with little or no attempt to account for the connection of the vision 
 with fountains of waters becoming bitter. 
 
 Wordsworth interprets the falling star and the embittering of 
 the waters as being heresies ; and certainly if the Scriptures be 
 the fountains of the water of life, then, in a sense, the reception of 
 heresies makes bitter the very fountains of life, for he who has 
 received the heresy turns the Scriptures themselves into bitterness. 
 Instead of ^'eceiving them submissively he puts his own interpre- 
 
104 MANY DIED OF THE WATERS. [Revelation. 
 
 wormwood ; and many men died of the waters, because they 
 were made bitter. 
 
 tation upon every place which does not suit his views. This is 
 particularly the case with the first of the great heresies, the Arian. 
 The man who holds it goes through the New Testament, systemati- 
 cally giving a low and inadequate interpretation to every place 
 which sets forth the Divine Nature and Attributes of the Eternal 
 Son. 
 
 I cannot help saying that this appears to me far more consonant 
 with the figures in this vision than the interpretation connecting 
 it with the ravages of Attila by the banks of certain rivers. 
 
 Bengal also interprets it of heresy. " The name of the star is 
 called Wormwood" — Arianism, "full of bitterness." 
 
 Williams, '* The star may include Arius, Eutyches, Apollonaris, 
 Sabellius, Nestorius. 
 
 Bishop Boyd-Carpenter seemingly interprets it of the fall of the 
 great ones of the earth before the advance of the Gospel, but he 
 adds, " their fall will bring misery to mankind." 
 
 Alford avoids any particular or historical interpretation, but as 
 an illustration notices the evils arising from the use of ardent 
 spirits. 
 
 So also apparently Cornelius a Lapide, " Vocatur absinthium: 
 quia amaricabit aquas, idque in pcenam sceleratas voluptatis ac 
 X)raesertim gulae et crapuloe impiorum, ut qui biberunt vina dulcis- 
 sima et sapidissima iisque ventrem ingurgitarunt, jam bibant ab- 
 sinthium, eoque crucientur et enecentur." 
 
 Milligan interprets it spiritually. " They represent the bitterness 
 of that water with which, instead of the water of life, the world 
 seeks to quench the thirst of its votaries." 
 
 Archdeacon Farrar, as representing the preterists, "As stars are 
 the images of rulers, and fallen stars of rulers flung down from 
 heaven, the symbol may dimly express the bitterness and terror 
 caused by the overthrow of Nero, and the ominous failure of the 
 Julian line. The details of the image may have been suggested 
 by the wicked habit of poisoning the waters of which an enemy 
 was to drink. The Romans excused their cruelty at Jerusalem by 
 asserting that the springs and fountains had been poisoned by the 
 Jews." 
 
Chap. VIIL] THE THIRD PART OF THE SUN. 105 
 
 12 "And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part 
 of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the ^^^j^^ ^l^-g^' 
 
 12. '* And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the 
 sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part 
 of the stars .... and the day shone not for a third part of it, and 
 the night likewise." The sun, moon, and stars constantly in the 
 language of prophecy are taken to represent sovereign princes, 
 emperors, and kings. In accordance with this Elliot interprets 
 this as the extinction of the Roman emperor in the west, i.e., in the 
 third part of the Roman empire (according to the boundaries traced 
 out in the map to which I have before alluded). " The glory of 
 Rome had long departed .... little remained to it but the vain 
 titles and insignia of sovereignty ; and now the time was come 
 when these, too, should be withdrawn. Some twenty years or more 
 from the death of Attila .... Odoacer, chief of the Heruli — 
 a barbarian remnant of the host of Attila left on the Alpine 
 frontiers of Italy — interposed with his command that the name 
 and office of Roman emperor of the west should be abolished : the 
 authorities bowed in submission to him. The last phantom of an 
 emperor, whose name Romulus Augustus (or Augustulus) was 
 singularly calculated to bring in contrast the past glories of Rome 
 and its present degradation, abdicated. . . . Thus of the Roman 
 imperial sun that third which appertained to the western empire 
 was eclipsed and shone no more. The senate, however, still 
 continued to assemble ; the consuls were appointed yearly. 
 Odoacer himself governed Italy under a title (that of Patrician) 
 conferred on him by the eastern emperor : and as regards the 
 more distant western provinces, or at least considerable districts of 
 them, the tie which united them to the Roman Empire was not 
 altogether severed. There was still a certain, though often faint, 
 recognition of the supreme imperial authority. The moon and the 
 stars might still seem to shine in the west with a dim reflected 
 light. In the course of the events, however, which rapidly followed 
 one on the other in the next half century, these, too, were extin- 
 guished. Theodore the Ostrogoth, on destroying the Heruli and 
 their kingdom at Rome and Ravenna, ruled in Italy from a.d. 493 
 to 526 as an independent sovereign. Soon after the senate and 
 consulship were abolished." 
 
106 THE THIRD PART WAS DARKENED. [Revelatiox. 
 
 moon, and the third part of the stars ; so as the third part 
 of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third 
 part of it, and the night likewise. 
 &xVi7^' ^^ ^^^ ■'- l^eheld, '^ and heard an angel flying 
 
 13. "An angel." K, A., B., thirty-five Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Syr., .^th. read, 
 "eagle." Only P. and a few Cursives read, "angel." 
 
 Mede considers that the fourth trumpet vision was fuljfilled in 
 the ravages of Totilas, whereby Rome received its last desolations. 
 
 Bengel has a very short note : " That [the smiting of the sun, 
 moon, &c.] was done in the fifth centuiy, when Italy and Rome, 
 the seat of empire, were occupied and obscured by foreign nations." 
 
 Wordsworth remarks : " Here we see a prophecy of a great 
 prevalence of errors, defections, apostasies, and confusions in 
 Christendom such as abounded in the seventh century." 
 
 Of non-historical interpreters Alford gives us not the least hint 
 of what he thinks it means. 
 
 Bishop Boyd- Carp enter suggests the chaos which precedes the 
 new creation. 
 
 Milligan gives no word of definite meaning. 
 
 Williams remarks: " These emblems [sun, moon, stars] under the 
 sixth seal betokened the fall of Jerusalem, but now the defection of 
 the Christian Church ; yet only partial, in eclipse, not fallen, for 
 they are still in heaven." 
 
 Archdeacon Farrar, representing the preterists : " In accordance 
 with the recognized imagery of Apocalypse and Prophecy, ruler after 
 ruler, chieftain after chieftain of the Roman Empire and the Jewish 
 nation was assassinated and ruined. Caius (Caligula), Claudius 
 Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius all died by murder or suicide. Herod 
 the Great, Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa and most of the Herodian 
 princes, with not a few of the leading high priests of Jerusalem 
 perished in disgrace, or in exile, or by violent hands. All these 
 were quenched suns and darkened stars." 
 
 Cornelius h Lapide, citing Ribera, refers to the Lord's prediction 
 that at the end "the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not 
 give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven," &c., but the 
 Lord seems to set forth a far more terrible infliction of darkness 
 than is here signified. 
 
 13. '• And I beheld, and heard an angel [one single eagle] flying 
 
Chap. IX.] A STAR FALL FROM HEAVEN- 107 
 
 through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, ^ Woe,, 
 woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason y ch- ix. 12. 
 of the other voices of the trumpet of the three 
 angels, which are yet to sound ! 
 
 through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, 
 woe, woe," &c. I cannot help thinking that this angel or 
 eagle makes a marked difference between the preceding and the 
 succeeding visions, and seems to indicate that compared to the 
 inflictions impending under the three last trumpets, the past 
 inflictions were as nothing. Now taking these four trumpet visions 
 to signify the breaking up of the old Eoman Empire by various 
 incursions of Goths and others, it is quite certain that though 
 certain parts of Italy were rendered desolate, yet the remainder 
 must have been pretty nearly the same as they always were. 
 Supposing that an immense invading army crossed over a large 
 country, France, Spain, Germany, it could, as far as I can see, ravage 
 or render desolate a comparatively small part, and in the remainder 
 the operations of agriculture must go on as usual. And then an 
 effete empire would be displaced by several strong smaller kingdoms 
 which, even taking into account fierce wars between them, must 
 have been an immense advantage to the western Eoman world. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ND the fifth angel sounded, ^ and I saw a ^ Luke x. is. 
 star fall from heaven unto the earth : and 
 
 1. "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from 
 heaven unto the earth : and to him was given the key of the 
 bottomless pit." Eespecting the interpretation of what took place 
 under this fifth trumpet tbere is mianimity among expositors who 
 usually do not agree with one another. Mede, and after him 
 Elliot, Bishop Wordsworth, Williams, explain it of the rise and 
 
108 THE KEY OF THE ABYSS. [Revelation. 
 
 h Luke viii. 31. to him was ffiven the key of ''the bottomless 
 
 oh vvn 8 X^. O '' 
 
 ch. xvii. 8. & 
 
 11 
 
 XX. 1. ver. 2, pit. 
 
 early progress of Mabomedanism ; Elliot devotes to it above eighty 
 pages; Mede more space than he gives to apparently far more 
 important visions ; Wordsworth one of his longest notes. 
 
 I will first take the twelve verses seriatim. 
 
 "I saw a star fall from heaven." Eather, "fallen (TrfTrrwKora) 
 from heaven." This more grammatical interpretation is far more 
 difficult. Was the star lying on the ground ? The Lord says, " I 
 saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven." 
 
 *' Star " by some is interpreted as a ruler dethroned ; by others 
 as a Christian teacher fallen from the true faith into heresy, and 
 those who uphold this opinion say that it was through the divisions 
 of Christendom, occasioned by the heresies, that Mabomedanism as 
 a military power was able to make such rapid progi-ess. Elliot, 
 however, shows that Mahomet was by birth of the noblest tribe in 
 Arabia. " Mahomet was by birth of the princely house of the 
 Koreish, governors of Mecca. Originally the principality had been 
 in the hands of another tribe. But one of the Koreish had bought 
 from them the keys of the Caaba, and that which went with the 
 keys, the principality of Mecca, which from him descended lineally 
 to Mahomet's grandfather, and was in fact in his hands at the time 
 of the grandson's birth. Now this principality and government 
 was one of no small eminence among the Arabs." 
 
 Some, however (as Mede) seem to think that this star was Satan 
 himself, and no doubt both the errors of Mabomedanism and its 
 ferocity were alike the work of the enemy of mankind. 
 
 "And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit." By 
 whom we are not told, and, in fact, it is idle to inquhe, for the pit 
 was not, of course, a local pit existing somewhere on the surface of 
 the earth; but the vision teaches us that an evil influence from 
 hell, which had before been restrained, burst out now on the earth. 
 Mabomedanism is from beneath : its denial of the essential Father- 
 hood of God alone would prove this. The bottomless pit is literally 
 the well of the abyss— the abyss is the abode of the powers of evil — 
 in which the devils cast out by our Lord prayed Him that they 
 should not be shut (Luke viii. 31). 
 
 2. "And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke 
 
Chap. IX.] A SMOKE AROSE OUT OF THE PIT. 109 
 
 2 And he opened the bottomless pit ; ^ and there arose a 
 smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great <= joei ii. 2, 10. 
 furnace ; and the sun and the air were darkened 
 
 by reason of the smoke of the pit. 
 
 3 And there came out of the smoke ^ locusts ^ Exod. x. 4. 
 
 Judg. vii. 12. 
 
 upon the earth : and unto them was given power, 
 
 ^ as the scorpions of the earth have power. « ver. 10. 
 
 4 And it was commanded them ^that they vu. 3."'^' 
 
 out of the pit, as the smoke of a great farnace ; and the sun and the 
 air were darkened." This betokens some evil teaching darken- 
 ing the light of heaven. It could not have been any natural dark- 
 ness, for any obscuration of the natural heavens such as this has 
 never taken place in the world's history, though we are assured on 
 the authority of Christ Himself that there will be such before the final 
 catastrophe. 
 
 ' 3. "And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth.'" 
 Assuming for the time that this trumpet vision refers to Maho- 
 medanism,then the imagery is parallel to that in the book of Joel, 
 where immense armies desolating all in their progress are com- 
 pared to flights of locusts. The spread of the Gospel and of Islamism 
 are in the greatest possible contrast ; the one was by the preaching 
 of the Gospel, and the conquests of its soldiers were by preaching ; 
 the other was by the sword, for there was, comparatively speaking, 
 little or no proselytism by word of mouth. 
 
 It has been noticed that the locusts did not come out of the 
 abyss itself, but out of the smoke which arose from it. This was 
 what engendered them, as it were. In the case of every other 
 irruption of destroying men, it only need be said that they came 
 out of some region or other at the instigation of their own blood- 
 thirstiness or love of plunder, but not so with the Mahomedan 
 Arab hosts. They came out of the obscm'ing smoke of false doctrine, 
 which itself came from hell. "Without it they would have had no 
 impelling, no overpowering fanaticism, which was the real secret of 
 their success. 
 
 "And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth 
 have power." 
 
 4. " And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the 
 
110 THEY SHOULD NOT HUKT THE GRASS. [Revelation. 
 
 should not hurt ^the grass of the earth, neither any green 
 g ch. viii. 7. thing, neither any tree ; but only those men 
 See\xod.\ii. "which have not ''the seal of God in their fore- 
 
 23. Ezekix.4. j^p^^g^ 
 
 grass of the earth, neither any green thing." They have power, 
 not as the natural locusts, whose power is to ravage the crops 
 and green fields, but as the scorpions of the earth ; that is, they 
 have power of poisoning by their stings. As Williams writes : 
 ** They are ' as scorpions,' not merely as an armed multitude* 
 but leaving behind the insidious poison of the second death in 
 that ever-enduring part of man, the soul. . . . Not devouring only, 
 but they had tails like unto scorpions, and stings in their tails, 
 planting after their devastations a sting worse than death, as found 
 in the undying spirit of man, which in vain, when bitten by that 
 serpent, wishes to die; for this scorpion again is no scorpion, but 
 partakes of the undying worm. Thus clear it is that this plague 
 cannot be merely of devastating armies, nor of any spread of 
 infidelitj' alone, but must be of both combined, and that too 
 under very peculiar circumstances, such as attended the progress 
 of the prophet-conqueror of Islam." 
 
 *' But only those men which have not the seal of God in their 
 foreheads." A question arises upon this, " What is the signification 
 of this hurting?" It would seem that it is injury in a moral or 
 religious point of view, for such is the hurting which is ascribed to 
 these scorpion locusts. Their hurting as locusts, i.e., by ravages of 
 the countries which they conquer and overrun, is very subsidiary 
 indeed to their hurting as scorpions. It is clear that this scorpion 
 injury must be taken as symbolical of soul-poisoning, and if so, 
 then the sealed of God were preserved from it by the impression of 
 the Divine Seal. But such irruptions as those of the Saracens 
 must have been attended with much human physical misery, and 
 were the elect of God preserved from this? Alford lays it down 
 that they could not have been so preserved, and he adduces this as 
 the reason why we are not to understand the fifth trumpet vision 
 of the irruptions of the Saracens, which he assumes to have been 
 ])erfectly general in their injurious ravages — affecting good and 
 bad alike. But surely God, Who could preserve His own from the 
 evil represented by the scorpion stings, could equally preserve them 
 
CiiAP. IX.] THE TORMENT OF A SCORPION. Ill 
 
 5 And to them it was given that they should not kill 
 em, 'but that they should be ton 
 )nths : and their torment was as t' 
 of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 
 
 them, 'but that they should be tormented five 'ch. xi.7 
 
 ver. 10. 
 
 months : and their torment was as the torment 
 
 from the evils signified by their mouths armed with formidable 
 teeth. 
 
 5. "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, 
 but that they should be tormented five months : and their torment 
 was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man." This 
 has been interpreted, with some show of reason, that the Christians 
 were not to be massacred, but put under tribute, and if they sub- 
 mitted to this and some other signs of subjection they should have 
 the free use of their religion. 
 
 The following were, according to Elliot, the degrading condi- 
 tions under which they were granted life. "Deprived of the use of 
 arms, like the Helots of old, and with tribute enforced as their 
 annual life-redemption tax ; with a different dress enjoined them 
 from their masters, and a more humble mode of riding ; an obliga- 
 tion to rise up deferentially in the presence of the meanest Moslem, 
 and to receive and gratuitously entertain for a certain time whoso- 
 ever (Moslem) of them when on a journey might require it. They 
 were prohibited from building new churches, or chiming the bells 
 in those retained by them, and to refuse no admittance into them 
 to the scoffing Moslem." I can scarcely think that such conditions 
 can be described as men seeking death and not finding it. 
 
 " That they should be tormented five months." This place has 
 given much difficulty to expositors. Taking the interpretation of 
 the vision to be the Saracenic inroads, it would seem that the 
 infliction on each person stung would be five months of acute pain, 
 because this five months' torment is evidently contrasted with death. 
 Those punished were not to be killed, butto be tormented five months. 
 
 What were these five months ? Were they five months' pain to 
 individual persons under the wrath of God, or was the duration of 
 the plague from first to last five months? It could not be so 
 short a time or it would scarcely have been worthy of such a place 
 in this book of prophecy, and so it has been explained, as by 
 Elliot, on the year-day principle, i.e., three times five prophetic 
 days, or one hundred and fifty years. 
 
112 DEATH SHALL FLEE FEOM THEM. [Revelation. 
 
 6 And in those days '^ shall men seek death, and shall 
 k Job iii. 21. not find it ; and shall desire to die, and death 
 jer. viii. 3. shall flee from them. 
 
 ch vi 16 
 
 1 joeiii. 4. ^ -^T^^ ^ t^^e shapes of the locusts were like unto 
 
 m Nahum iii. j^orses prepared unto battle ; "" and on their heads 
 
 6. "Shall flee." So B. and most Cursives. A. P. read, "fleeth." 
 
 But the baleful ascendancy of Mahomedanism must have been 
 longer than this. In fact, when can it be said really to have ended ? 
 The degradation and persecution of the Christians was carried on 
 by the Turks professing the same religion. 
 
 It has been said that the "five months" is to be explained by 
 the fact that the period of locusts is five months, and after that 
 they perish, but this is no explanation whatsoever, though each ex- 
 positor duly records it. The fact that a natural locust only exists 
 five months does not undo the fact that eveiy year they are re- 
 newed, and fresh myriads succeed them in their depredations. 
 
 6. "And in these days shall men seek death, and shall not 
 find it ; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." 
 Notice is drawn by many to the article, the "men shall seek 
 death," &c., i.e., the men who have not the seal of God on their 
 foreheads, but inasmuch as such have been in all ages, to all appear- 
 ance, the great majority, it seems that it is best to understand 
 this of men in general, the plague will be almost universal on the 
 godless world. 
 
 7. " And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared 
 unto battle." Elliot gives an ingenious picture illustrative of the 
 appearance of these locusts, which, however, can by no means be 
 made to agree with the account given by the Evangelist. He 
 draws a locust with a man's head and a scorpion's tail, but the 
 two most salient points, the appearance of the horse ready to battle 
 and the lion's teeth do not appear. A single glance at the picture 
 and at the Apocalyptic description is sufficient to prove the futility 
 of any such attempt. Every part of the description must be taken 
 as symbolical. The horse prepared unto battle betokens vast 
 armies of cavalry such as would be furnished by Arabia— said by 
 naturalists to be the native country of the horse. 
 
 "And on their heads were as it were crowns of gold." This has 
 
Chap. IX.] THEIR FACES THE FACES OF MEN. 113 
 
 were as it were crowns like gold, ° and their faces ivere as the 
 faces of men. " Dan. vu. s. 
 
 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and 
 
 ** their teeth were as the teeth of lions. ° Joel L 6. 
 
 9 And they had breastplates, as it were breast- 
 plates of iron ; and the sound of their wings was 
 
 P as the sound of chariots of many horses running p Joel u. 5, 
 to battle. 
 
 been said by Mr. Elliot to be the turbans of the Arabs, but a turban 
 cannot possibly be put for a crown. Wordsworth, with more likeli- 
 hood, understands these crowns as betokening victory. They were 
 not kingly diadems. 
 
 " And their faces were as the faces of men." That is, they were 
 not unreasoning creatures, whether locusts or horses, but had all 
 human intelligence which is expressed by the human countenance. 
 It may also mean that, though warlike and rapacious, they were 
 not devoid of human feelings, they did not destroy or massacre 
 indiscriminately. 
 
 8. '• And they had hair as the hau* of women." This may imply 
 effeminacy. It is, however, actually true of the Arabs. The 
 Arabians and Saracens are described by ancient writers as wearing 
 their hair " long and flowing, and sometimes plaited, like women " 
 (Ammian., Marcellin., xxxi. 18), where Valesius says " such was 
 the costume of the Saracens, wearing their hair long and braided, 
 hanging down on their backs, * crinitis vittatisque capitibus ' " 
 (note in Bishop Wordsworth). 
 
 "And their teeth were as the teeth of lions." It might have 
 been supposed that having been likened to locusts they would 
 devour the crops, as do locusts, but, on the contrary, they have 
 teeth wherewith to ravage and destroy all living things. They are 
 withheld, it is true, from hurting those who are sealed with the 
 seal of God, but all others which are not thus miraculously pro- 
 tected they may slay without mercy. 
 
 9. " And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron.*' 
 That is, they were fully armed with defensive armour as weU as 
 with offensive weapons. 
 
 " And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of 
 
 I 
 
114 STINGS IN THEIR TAILS. [Revelation. 
 
 10 And tliej had tails like unto scorpions, and tliere were 
 q ver. 5. stings in their tails : i and their power was to 
 
 hurt men five months. 
 '■ Eph. ii. 2. 11 '"And they had a king over them, which is 
 
 B ver. 1. 'the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in 
 
 10. "And there were stings in their tails." Perhaps, "And stings, and in their 
 tails is their power," ^f, A., B. 
 
 many horses running to battle." This is a reminiscence of Joel 
 ii. 5, *' Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall 
 they leap." It seems another indication of the hosts of cavahy on 
 which this scourge of man would mainly rely. 
 
 10. "Andthey hadtailslike unto scorpions, and there were stings," 
 &c. They not only slew and ravaged, but they left a poison behind 
 them. This must have been some infidelity or heresy, for there is 
 nothing in the outward or physical world that at all resembles it. 
 Now in this the Saracenic irruptions were in contrast with others. 
 The ravages of the Goths, for instance, were those of professing 
 Christians, or who shortly became such, but the Saracens imposed 
 their false religion on those whom they conquered (always excepting 
 those who had been sealed by God). And their spiritual venom 
 was the denial of the Divine Nature and Sonship of Jesus, and the 
 Fatherhood of God. Worse errors could not be ; Christ as a prophet 
 was, in their eyes, very inferior to Mahomet, and the future hopes 
 of men were fixed on a sensual paradise. 
 
 "And their power was to hurt men five months." Here again 
 we have the five months' injury. I confess I have seen no explana- 
 tion in the least degree satisfactory. 
 
 11. "And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the 
 bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon. . . . 
 Apollyon." In contrast with the natural locusts these multitudinous 
 hordes have a king, and the king has the name of an evil angel. 
 This is not said, as far as I can remember, of any other marauding 
 hosts; showing that these hosts are not simply plunderers, but 
 under demoniacal control, agents of the evil one. Antichrists, 
 supernatural in their evil work, for that work is,if Mahomedanism, 
 the denial of the Son of God. 
 
 *' ^Yhose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon." In the Greek 
 
Chap. IX.] ABADDON. 115 
 
 the Hebrew tonsrue is Abaddon, but in the Greek II That is to 
 
 say, A de- 
 tongue liath his name || ApoUyon. stroyer. 
 
 " Apollyon." This seems to fix his personaHty as one well known. 
 If, as we gather from the book of Daniel, various angels of God 
 have committed to them the guardianship of different kingdoms, 
 it seems only natural that so marked an agency of evil as Maho- 
 medanism should have its directing and informing evil spirit. 
 
 With respect to other interpretations Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, 
 without speaking confidently, seems to lean to the same interpreta- 
 tion as that of ElUot, and Mede, and Wordsworth. 
 
 Alford seems to consider these locusts as something in the future : 
 *' The most that we can say of their import is that they belong to a 
 series of judgments on the ungodly which will immediately precede 
 the Second Advent of our Lord : that the various and mysterious 
 particulars of the vision will no doubt clear themselves up to the 
 Church when the time of its fulfilment arrives : but that no such 
 clearing up has as yet taken place a very few hours of research 
 among histories of Apocalyptic interpretation will serve to convince 
 any reader who is not himself the servant of a preconceived 
 system." 
 
 Milligan writes : " All application to the host of the Mahomedans 
 may be at once dismissed. The woe fell upon the whole world, 
 not merely upon a part of it, and it is not permitted to affect the 
 redeemed Church. At the same time it cannot find its fulfilment 
 in mere war, or in the calamities which war brings. The woe is 
 obviously spiritual. It issues from the abyss of hell ; the smoke 
 of it darkens the air; the torment which accompanies it is not one 
 that brings death, but that makes the soul weary of life. These 
 circumstances point to a great outburst of spiritual evil which 
 shall aggi-avate the son'ows of the world ; make it learn how bitter 
 is the bondage of Satan, and teach it to feel, even in the midst of 
 enjoyment, that it were better to die than to live." 
 
 Archdeacon Farrar, as representing the preterists, is very vague as 
 to whether in this general picture of the hosts of hell swarming out 
 of the abyss there is any direct allusion to the Idumeans, Zealots, 
 and Sicarii stinging themselves to death with untold anguish, like 
 scorpions encircled by a ring of fire ; or again, in the tumults, blood- 
 shed and agonies of Rome, the frequency of suicide, and the many 
 
116 TWO WOES MORE HEREAFTER. [Revelation^ 
 
 12 * One woe is past ; andy behold, there come two woes 
 * ch. viii. 13. more hereafter. 
 
 13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from 
 the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 
 
 13. " Four." So B, ; but omitted by Nc, A. 
 
 tales of those who seemed to long for death in vain, cannot be 
 affirmed. " The description of the scorpion-locusts evidently recalls 
 the Egyptian plague, and the language of Joel, and the fancifal 
 allusions to locusts which abound in the songs and proverbs of the 
 East. The five months may point to the summer period, which is 
 the time of locust plagues. But two circumstances seem to show 
 that we are here dealing not with human avengers but with 
 invisible demons of the aii'. One is, that the leader is the Demon 
 Destroyer ; the other is, that Christians, and Christians only, are 
 expressly exempted from their power to hurt." 
 
 12. " One woe is past ; and, behold, there come two woes more 
 hereafter." By these words there seems to be signified that the 
 incursions of the Arabs and their devastations have come to an 
 end ; but there is this difficulty about this interpretation, that 
 though the Arab or Saracen conquests have come to an end, their 
 tyranny over the subject races continues as before. 
 
 13. " And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the 
 four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the 
 sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels," &c. 
 There is a great contrast between the first effects of this sixth trum- 
 pet and that of the fifth. In the fifth a star falls from heaven, to 
 whom is given the key of the abyss. This seems altogether an 
 evil agent, whereas here the voice from the four horns of the altar 
 which is before God must be holy and good. 
 
 And it commands the angel which sounded the sixth trumpet to 
 "Loose the four angels which are bound." Mede, and after him 
 Elliot, explains this as the Turkish woe following close upon the 
 Saracenic. 
 
 Mede considers that the four angels are four Turkish sultanics, 
 Bagdad, Caesarea, Aleppo, and Damascus, between which the 
 Turcoman power was at first divided. Elliot, however, holds that 
 there was no such fourfold division acting for e\al on the Greek 
 
€hap. IX. LOOSE THE FOUR ANGELS. 117 
 
 14 Saying to tlie sixth angel which had the trumpet. 
 Loose the four angels which are bound "" in the " ch. xvi. 12. 
 great river Euphrates. 
 
 15 And the four angels were loosed, which 
 
 were prepared || for an hour, and a day, and a II Or, at. 
 month, and a year, for to slay the third part of 
 men. 
 
 Empire, but that the action of the angel in loosing these four is to 
 be considered as one; no reason being assigned for the angels 
 loosed being numbered as four except, perhaps, as representing the 
 four quarters of the globe, north, south, east, and west. 
 
 He considers that the Turcoman power dated its commencement 
 from the time that the Caliph of Bagdad called Togrul Bey to his 
 assistance in quelling some intestine factions, and from this time 
 the Turcomans took the lead as the head of Mahomedan powers, 
 superseding altogether the Arabians or Saracens. He endeavours 
 to show that from this time to the taking of Constantinople the 
 Turks may well be represented as one people, united in one para- 
 mount design of humbling Christendom. 
 
 15. " And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for 
 an [the] hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the 
 third part of men." This hour, day, month, and year are calcu- 
 lated on the year-day system (a year for a day, 365 years + 30 
 years) to constitute a period of about 395 years (roughly) ; I say 
 roughly, because there is a difiference amongst expositors whether we 
 are to take the year to be 360 or 365i ; and the period between 
 this assumed commencement of the Turkish power and the taking 
 of Constantinople is about 395 years. The siege began on January 
 18th, A.D. 1453, and the city was taken May 29th of the same 
 year. 
 
 " To slay the third part of men." This seems to me to upset, or 
 to render beyond measure uncertain, the whole of the preceding 
 calculation ; for how could the taking of Constantinople, even if every 
 human being in it was massacred, be the destruction of the third 
 part of men. Elliot falls back upon the division I have before 
 alluded to, of the Eoman Empire being divided into three parts, 
 the Eastern empire constituting one of them ; but surely one must 
 ask, " Was Constantinople inhabited by a third of the whole Greek 
 
118 I HEARD THE NUMBER OF THEM. [Revelation. 
 
 16 And the ^ number of the army ^ of the horsemen were 
 ^ Ps. ixviii. 17. two hundred thousand thousand : ^ and I heard 
 
 Dan. vii. 10. 
 
 y Eze. xxxviii. the number or them. 
 
 2 ch vii 4 ^^ And thus I saw the horses in the vision, 
 
 and them that sat on them, having breastplates of 
 
 isa. v.^2^^9. ' fii'e, and of jacinth, and brimstone: "" and the 
 
 part of the Roman Empire ? " "We have no right to say or to assume 
 anything of the sort. 
 
 16. "And the number of the army of the horsemen were twa 
 hundred thousand thousand : and I heard the number of them.'* 
 Two hundred thousand thousand would be two hundred millions. 
 There is now not an army in the world, except, perhaps, the 
 Russian, that reaches a million. There must be some mistake in 
 the figures if it is a human army whose numbers are asserted to be 
 so great, for the population of the world was far less then than it 
 is now.^ 
 
 17. " And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat 
 on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone : 
 and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions." Were 
 these what is usually understood by breastplates ? It would seem 
 so from the Apostle's account ; but Mede, and those who follow 
 him, understand by these breastplates of fire, smoke, and brim- 
 stone the mouths of the huge cannon which were brought to bear 
 upon the devoted city of Constantinople, by which breaches were 
 made in its hitherto impregnable walls, and the Turks entered 
 
 1 Elliot, citing Danbury, thinks that there may be probably an allusion also io 
 the form of expression to the Turcoman custom of numbering by tomans or myriads. 
 For though not unused among other nations, yet there is probably none with whom 
 it has been from early times so prevalent as with the Turcomans and Tartars. Thus 
 in the Seljukian age, if I remember right, the population of Samarcand was rated 
 at seven tomans because it could send out 70,000 horsemen warriors. Again, the 
 dignity and rank of Tamerlane's father and grandfather was thus described : " that 
 they were the hereditary chiefs of a toman of 10,000 horse." So that it is not without 
 his usual propriety of language that Gibbon speaks of the myriads of the Seljukian 
 Turks ; Turkish horse overspreading the Greek frontier from the Taurus to Erze- 
 roum ; or of the cavalry of the earlier Turks of Mount Altai "having both men ami 
 horses proudly computed by millions." But all this is beside the mark, for St. John 
 says that he heard the number as 200,000,000, and afterwards repeats it as it were, 
 " And I heard the number of them." 
 
Chap. IX.] FIRE, SMOKE, BRIMSTONE 119 
 
 heads of the horses were as the heads of lions ; and out of 
 their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 
 
 18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by 
 the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which 
 issued out of their mouths. 
 
 19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails : 
 
 19. " For their power ; " or, " the power of the horses," H, B, C. 
 
 through the breaches and took the city. These of course pom^ed 
 out of their mouths fire, smoke, and brimstone. 
 
 " And the heads of the horses were as the heads of Uons." Elliot 
 notices that some of the first Turkish leaders or generals took the 
 very name of lions, thus " Oluf (or Olf) Arslan " signifies valiant lion ; 
 but taking such a name scarcely seems a fitting accomplishment of 
 the prediction, "the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions," 
 we should rather look for an analogy in the account of i\ie preced- 
 ing woe-trumpet, " their teeth were as the teeth of lions." 
 
 " And out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone." 
 Not, as in the preceding verse, jacinth and brimstone, but smoke 
 and brimstone ; but the jacinth seems to indicate the blue flame of 
 the sulphur. 
 
 Such is the meaning of this vision according to the historical 
 interpreters, at least the principal, as Made and Elliot. I cannot 
 help regarding it as exceedingly unsatisfactory. For consider, the 
 four angels unloose an army of two hundred millions of horse- 
 men somewhere near Bagdad. Their mission is to take the city 
 of Constantinople. They make use of artillery which vomits fire 
 and brimstone at this siege, not during the four hundred years of 
 their previous ravages. So that this figure of the horsemen and 
 these riders is only true of the last days of their career (I mean so 
 far as the Apocalyptic vision is concerned). They thus fulfil their 
 commission in destroying the third part of men ; but is it likely 
 that the city of Constantinople should symbolize the third part of 
 men? 
 
 19. *• For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails ; for 
 their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads." If this refers 
 to artillery, then the tail is that part to which the fire is applied, 
 and the head is, of course, the orifice from which the ball is 
 
120 TAILS LIKE SERPENTS. [REVELATION. 
 
 ^ for their tails ivere like unto seri^ents, and had heads, and 
 b isa. ix. 15. with them thev do hurt. 
 
 propelled by the fire and brimstone, but this is exceedingly unsatis- 
 factory. 
 
 ** For their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads," &c. 
 I confess that I do not see in the least what this means. Looking 
 to the analogy of the last plague (locusts with the poisonous 
 stings of scorpions in their tails), it would seem to indicate some 
 moral or religious poison ; and if the Saracens diffused the poison 
 of false religion, so would the Turks, rather much more. 
 
 I cannot gather from Bengal's *' Gnomon " what are his views. 
 The only clue that I can find is that the hour, day, month, and 
 year is " a period of about 207 years, from a.d. 629 to 836, or 
 from A.D. 634 to 840, that is from the last time of Abubeker to the 
 death of Motassem." 
 
 Williams, without giving anything definite, rejects the usual 
 historical interpretation : *' Indeed the mere number (two hun- 
 dred millions) would preclude any private interpretation, for it 
 could neither be the early persecutors, with Berengardus, nor the 
 Roman army, with Dr. Hammond, nor the Turkish, with Mede. 
 ' I heard their number,' says St. John, as he had also that of the 
 Redeemed, but that number is put for what is almost without 
 number, two myriads of myriads." 
 
 Bishop Boyd-Carpenter makes some good, but very general re- 
 marks: " We have these horses, which are mighty, malicious, and 
 relentless, and which are bidden forth against mankind for their 
 sins and worldliness (see verses 20-21). It is not once only in the 
 history of the world that such powers have been let loose. The 
 desolations wrought by invading hordes ; the force and ferocity of 
 Turkish power establishing itself in Europe, and threatening the 
 powers of Christendom ; the widespread terror and slaughter pro- 
 moted by the outbreak of the spirit of unrestrained violence in 
 France, followed by reckless war, may illustrate such a vision as 
 the present ; but the main teaching of it is the never-failing truth 
 that the spirit of worldliness provokes its own punishment, wher- 
 ever it may exist ; and its retribution is in a form which serves to 
 reveal what latent power of destruction lurks behind every sin, 
 
Chap. IX.] BP. WORDSWORTH's EXPLANATION. 121 
 
 a,nd what hidden spiritual foes there are to intensify human 
 passions and to increase human misery." 
 
 There is nothing definite in the remarks of Alford or of Milligan. 
 Todd, however, has a remark that deserves notice : " Again it 
 must be observed that the four angels are said to have been bound 
 at or in the river Euphrates, and we are therefore probably to look 
 to that region as the scene of this great judgment ; inasmuch as 
 the prophecy seems distinctly to assert that from thence shall issue 
 the great multitude of horsemen who are to be the instruments of 
 the predicted massacre, wherein the third part of men shall be 
 slain. This conclusion is in exact conformity with the inference 
 to which, in a former course of lectures, we were led from a con- 
 sideration of the prophecies of Daniel, namely, that the countries 
 in the region of the Euphrates, once the seat of such mighty 
 empires, are destined at some future period to recover their poli- 
 tical power, and to become the scene of the last great struggle 
 between the princes of the world and the people of God " (pp. 151, 
 152). 
 
 I have reserved to the last what appears to me by far the 
 strangest exposition, and that by one of the most learned and 
 godly of commentators. Bishop Wordsworth. Comparing this 
 vision of the sixth trumpet with the opening of the fifth, he says 
 that the comparison necessitates that this trumpet-vision should 
 foe from God, not in the same way in which all things are from 
 God, the good directly from Him, and the evil controlled by Him 
 so as to bring about the fulfilment of His purposes, but from God 
 in the sense in which the preaching of the Gospel itself is from 
 God. He compares the fifth woe-trumpet as involving evil, or, 
 indeed, diabolical agency, being a star fallen from heaven, and 
 opening the mouth of the bottomless pit with this trumpet- vision, 
 which is inaugurated by a voice from between the four horns of the 
 golden altar which is before God commanding these angels to be 
 loosed. The angels which were bound he considers to be the Word 
 of God (represented by the four Gospels), each angel representing 
 a Gospel, which was bound by being shut up in dead languages. 
 He holds the unloosing to be the translation of the Scriptures into 
 all the languages of the known world, and its diffusion (as it might 
 be by the agency of the Bible Society, though he does not mention 
 such an agency). He answers the objection that an army from 
 God could not be represented as killing men by fire, and smoke, 
 
122 THE REST REPENTED NOT. [Revelation, 
 
 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by 
 
 c^Deut. xxxi. these plagues *= yet repented not of the works of 
 
 ci Lev. xvii. 7. their hands, that they should not worship *^ devils, 
 
 17. Ps. cvi. ^ and idols of erold, and silver, and brass, and 
 
 37. 1 Cor. X. ^ -, ,, T i . i 
 
 20. stone, and ot wood: which neither can see, nor 
 
 e Ps. cxv. 4. -1 n 
 
 & cxxxv. 15. hear, nor walk : 
 
 Dan. V, 23. 
 
 and brimstone proceeding out of their mouths to destroy men, by 
 citing the words of Ps. xviii. : " There went up a smoke out of his 
 nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured : coals were kindled 
 by it." When it is objected that the Word of God could not well 
 be compared to a serpent, he appeals to the fact that Moses's rod — 
 which might well be taken to represent the Bible, Moses having 
 written its first five books — was changed into a serpent : *' The 
 very badge of office of the Hebrew legislator, the instrument by 
 which Moses wrought his miracles, by which God punished His 
 enemies and delivered His people, was changed into a serpent. 
 This was its first appearance, and it is added ' Moses fled from 
 before it ' (Exod. iv. 3). But God commanded him to take hold of 
 it by its tail [the italics are Bishop Wordsworth's], in which is the 
 serpent's sting (? ?), and which is nottJd in this vision as noxious to 
 God's enemies (v. 19) ; and Moses ' put forth his hand, and caught 
 it, and it became a rod in his hand.' Thus it was shown that God's 
 faithful servants (Heb. iii. 2-5, ' Moses was faithful in all his 
 house ') can take hold of and handle that which is destructive to 
 his adversaries, and that they can work wonders with it. This 
 was a very significant emblem of Holy Scripture, the first books of 
 which were written by him who bore the rod of power which 
 became a serpent." 
 
 And with respect to the trumpet being a woe-trumpet, he adds, 
 "This vision inculcates an important religious and moral truth. 
 It reminds us that the present diffusion of the Scriptures may be 
 a terrible woe to those who do not attend to them." 
 
 20, 21. "And the rest of the men .... nor of their thefts.'* 
 These verses show that this second woe must take place before the 
 time of the end, because after it had been inflicted there was time 
 for repentance, which, however, was not acted upon : those 
 plagued continuing as impenitent as ever. This woe of the 
 
Chap. X.] NEITHER REPENTED THEY. 123 
 
 21 Neither repented they of their murders, ^nor of their 
 sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their f ch. xxii. 15. 
 thefts. 
 
 Turkish invasion was one inflicted on the East, and yet Mr. Elliot 
 considers that it was intended for the West, because the thefts 
 were the robbing of men by rehgious delusions such as the sup- 
 posed sanctity of the bones of saints, and the miracles falsely 
 supposed to be performed by their means. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ND I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,, 
 clothed with a cloud : * and a rainbow was * Ezek. i. 28. 
 
 1. "And a rainbow." H, A., B., C. read, " And the rainbow." 
 
 "We are yet under the sixth trumpet, as the account of the 
 seventh trumpet sounding is in verse 15 of the eleventh chapter % 
 but the tenth and the first part of the eleventh chapter contain 
 two episodes, as they have been called, rather they should have 
 been designated intermediate visions — the mighty angel holding 
 the little book, and the two witnesses. 
 
 The first of these has been described as the inauguration of St. 
 John to deliver prophecies of a (supposed) more sacred character, 
 having to do more especially with the fortunes and conflicts of the 
 Church, and not judgments on the outer world. 
 
 1. " And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, 
 clothed with a cloud : and a rainbow was upon his head." Very 
 many expositors (perhaps the majority) consider this angel to be 
 the vision of the Lord Jesus Himself. They say how csu such 
 glories as are here ascribed to Him be said without blasphemy of 
 any creature. 
 
 " Clothed with a cloud." Reference is made to the cloud of the 
 Shechinah ; to the words of the Psalmist, '* clouds and darkness are 
 round about him ; " to the Lord appearing to the Israelites under 
 
124 HIS FACE AS THE SUN. [Revelation. 
 
 upon his head, and ^his face was as it were the sun, and 
 I ^^ch^i'^re'' "" ^^^ ^^®* ^^ pillars of fire : 
 
 c ch. i. 15. 
 
 a pillar of cloud by day; to the Lord on His Ascension being 
 received by a cloud out of the sight of the Apostles. 
 
 " And a rainbow was upon his head." " Can any created angel,'* 
 they ask, "have such a thing about his head seeing that the 
 throne of God is said lo be encompassed with a rainbow like unto 
 an emerald?" (iv. 3). 
 
 And again, " His face was as it were the sun." They remind us 
 of the Transfiguration, when the Lord's face shone as the sun, but 
 they forget what the Lord said of the glorious appearance of His 
 people in the future state, " Then shall the righteous shine forth 
 as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. xiii. 43). 
 
 " And his feet as pillars of fire." We are reminded of Eev. i. 15, 
 *' And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." 
 
 But, notwithstanding all this, I cannot conceive that this is a 
 vision of the Lord, for could He possibly be designated as another 
 mighty angel. It may be conceivable that He should be desig- 
 nated as an angel in the words, " The angel of the covenant," but 
 not as another angel— one out of many. Then there is, to me, 
 another overwhelming reason. When St. John in the first vision 
 of this book saw the Lord, it is said that "he fell at his feet as 
 dead " (i. 17), though he had lain in His bosom, but nothing of 
 this extreme awe is hinted at here. Without the least intimation 
 of fear the Apostle goes up to this angel and asks him for the 
 book in his hand, which is given him to eat. Alford rightly, I 
 think, says, " Such a supposition (that the Lord Himself was the 
 angel) entirely breaks through the consistency of Apocalyptic 
 analogy. Throughout the book . . . angels are the ministers of 
 the Divine purposes, and the carriers out of the Apocalyptic course 
 of procedure, but are everywhere distinct from the Divine Persons 
 themselves. In order to this their ministry with such symbols 
 and such delegated attributes as beseem in each case the particular 
 object in view ; but no apparent fitness of such sj'mbolic investi- 
 ture to the Divine character should induce us to break through 
 the distinction. When St. John means to indicate the Son of God 
 he indicates Him plainly, none more so." 
 
 There is, however, much to be learnt from what is said of this 
 
Chap. X.] A LITTLE BOOK OPEN. 125 
 
 2 And he had in his hand a little book open : ^ and he 
 set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot ^ Matt, xxvili. 
 on the earth, 
 
 3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion 
 roareth : and when he had cried, ® seven thunders e ch. viii. 5. 
 uttered their voices. 
 
 angel. His appearance and attributes seem to be Divine, but 
 after all he is but a creature, and, as other holy creatures do, he 
 swears by his Creator. In such a vision as this we learn the 
 power of God. What creatures He can make to serve His purposes. 
 In the almost seeming Divine attributes of this exalted being there 
 is but a faint reflection of the attributes of God. No matter how 
 Divine all about him seems, he is at an infinite distance from 
 God. 
 
 2. " And he had in his hand a little book." Why a little book ? 
 This book is a little one (so many hold) as compared with the 
 sealed roll in the hand of Him Who sat on the throne. It contains 
 only a part of what is written therein, which St. John had now to 
 make known (verse 11). 
 
 "And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the 
 earth." That is, as one taking possession of the whole globe — sea 
 and land. Bishop Wordsworth writes : " His feet are fully planted 
 in the sea, the third element, denoting nations in a state of turbu- 
 lence and agitation, for He will tread beneath His feet the swelling 
 surge of human pride and passion as He walked on the waves of 
 the sea of Galilee in the storm ; and His feet are set on the earth, 
 the emblem of worldly power opposed to the kingdom of God." 
 
 3. " And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth." As 
 it is not recorded what the purport of this loud cry was, it has been 
 supposed, with some appearance of reason, that his cry, like the 
 sound of the trumpet, was a summons to the thunders to utter their 
 voices. 
 
 The thunders seem to utter their voices in response to the voice 
 of this mighty angel. 
 
 The article should be translated, *• The seven thunders uttered 
 their voices," as if they were seven well-known thunders, or as if 
 they were part of the consecutive visions of this book (seven seals, 
 
126 WRITE THEM NOT. [Kevelatiox. 
 
 4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, 
 I was about to write : and I heard a voice from heaven 
 f Dan. viii. 26. savinsf unto me, ^ Seal up those things which the 
 
 & xii. 4, 9. , , T ^ . , 
 
 seven thunders uttered, and write them not. 
 6 And the angel which I saw stand upon the 
 g Exod. vi. 8. sea and upon the earth ^ lifted up his hand to 
 
 Dan. xii. 7. , ^ ^ 
 
 heaven, 
 
 4. "Their voices" omitted by K, A., B., C, P., Cursives, and most versions. 
 
 5. "His hand." H, B., C, P., most Cursives, &c., read, "his right hand." 
 
 seven trumpets, seven vials), only what they uttered is not 
 recorded. 
 
 4. " And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I 
 was about to write : and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto 
 me, Seal up those things," &c. That these thunders were not like 
 ordinary thunders, but voices uttering articulate sounds, and com- 
 municating to the Apostle a revelation, which was perhaps a 
 necessary part of his preparation for the prophetic office, is evident 
 from his having been about to write what they made known unto 
 him, and from the voice which said unto him, '* Seal up those 
 things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not." 
 
 They were intelligible because St. John was on the point of 
 writing them, but he was forbidden by a voice from heaven to 
 write them because men were not prepared to receive them. And 
 yet they are not lost. They are sealed up now, but the seal will 
 be broken in God's good time, and they will then be revealed. 
 
 It seems incredible to think what a devout Christian man has 
 written about these thunders : that they were the anathema of the 
 Pope Leo X. in Luther's time ; that they were sevenfold because 
 Kome is the city built upon the seven hills, and he even draws 
 attention to the seven thunders uttering their own voices {rag 
 iavTuiv (pwvdg) as being their own and not God's. It seems 
 wonderful to me that any man should have written such an inter- 
 pretation, then having written it should have corrected the impres- 
 sion, and then published five or six editions of it. 
 
 5, 6. '* And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the 
 earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for 
 -ever and ever, who created heaven, and the tilings that therein are," 
 
Chap. X.] TIME NO LONGER. 127 
 
 6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, ^who 
 created heaven, and the things that therein are, ^ Neh. ix. e. 
 and the earth, and the things that therein are, xiv. 7.' 
 
 and the sea, and the things which are therein, 
 
 *that there should be time no lono^er : i Dan xH. 7. 
 
 ° en. XVI. 17. 
 
 7 But ^ in the days of the voice of the seventh i^ ch. xi. 15. 
 angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery 
 
 of God should be finished, as he hath declared to 
 his servants the prophets. 
 
 7. "The mystery of God should be finished." Rather, "Tlien is finished the 
 mystery of God." 
 
 &c. This oath has been supposed to refer to what was said to the 
 souls of the martyrs, that they should " rest for a little season " (vi. 
 11). But why should it be given to the angel to take this solemn 
 oath ? Perhaps for this reason, that the consummation had been 
 long delayed, but now it was near at hand ; an end was to be put 
 at last to the weary conflict between sin and evil on the one side, 
 and between righteousness and truth on the other. 
 
 The angel seems to swear as the representative of the Divine 
 Being. He recounts the mighty empire of that Being, heaven and 
 all that is therein, angels, principalities, and powers ; the earth and 
 all that is therein, its kings, generals, armies, senates, every bond- 
 man and every free ; the sea which seems to swallow up all that are 
 engulfed in it, but they are all known to God, and the sea shall 
 give up its dead. 
 
 " That there should be time no longer." 
 
 7. " But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel." This has 
 been explained by some as if he sware that time was coming to an 
 end, and eternity now beginning to set in ; but we should rather 
 understand it as if there should be no more delay, but in the days 
 of the seventh angel the mystery of God should be finished. The 
 account of the sounding of the seventh trumpet is undoubtedly the 
 account (or rather one account, for there are seven in this book) of 
 the final consummation (see xi. 15). 
 
 " The mystery of God." Everything that God is, not only His 
 existence as a Trinity in Unity, but His Omnipotence, Omniscience, 
 His Omnipresence, and all His doings. His jilans, His toleralion of 
 
128 TAKE IT, AND EAT IT UP. [Revelation. 
 
 8 And ' the voice which I heard from heaven spake untO' 
 1 ver, 4. me again, and said, Gro and take the little book 
 
 which is open in the hand of the angel which 
 standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 
 
 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto 
 
 him, G-ive me the little book. And he said unta 
 
 m jer. XV. 16. me, ^ Take it, and eat it up ; and it shall make 
 
 iii. i,'2,'3.' thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth 
 
 sweet as honey. 
 
 evil, His making evil which He hates work out His own purposes 
 of grace — all are mysteries ; but inasmuch as it is said here that 
 when the seventh angel sounds the mystery of God shall be 
 finished, it is more than probable that the mystery of God here is 
 His toleration of evil, and His making it subservient to His 
 purposes. 
 
 As He hath declared unto His servants the prophets, particularly 
 we may say in Daniel xii., where the "man clothed in linen .... 
 held up his right hand and his left unto heaven, and sware by him 
 that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an 
 half," &c. 
 
 8. " And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me 
 again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the 
 hand of the angel," &c. This little book is open, not sealed, as was 
 the roll of ch. v. 1, which seems to show that its contents were 
 known to the Apostle. We shall afterwards have to consider what 
 it contained. 
 
 9, 10. " And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me 
 the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up ; and 
 it shall make thy belly bitter .... my belly was bitter." There is 
 but one place in Scripture parallel to this, Ezekiel iii. 1, but there is 
 this seeming difference, that in Ezekiel the prophet, as he is com- 
 manded, eats the roll, and tastes only its extreme sweetness, but 
 here the Apostle finds it sweet in his mouth but bitter in his belly,, 
 but it has been noticed tliat when the prophet went forth to fulfil 
 his commission he went " in bitterness, in the heat of his spirit " 
 (Ezek. iii. 14). 
 
 It seems agreed upon by most commentators that the contenta 
 
Chap. X.] SWEET AS HO^s'EY. 129 
 
 10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and 
 ate it np ; ° and it was in my mouth sweet as ■» Ezek. m. 3. 
 honey : and as soon as I had eaten it, ° my belly « Ezek. ii. 10. 
 was bitter. 
 
 of this little roll in the angel's hand are the succeeding prophecies. 
 St. John is commanded to eat them ; that is, to make them his 
 own, to thoroughly digest them, to assimilate them, as the modern 
 expression is. 
 
 But how is it that the after-effect of the words eaten is bitter, 
 though at first sweet. Bishop Boyd-Carpenter seems well to express 
 this. " The flaming zeal to emancipate mankind from thraldoms 
 to other and ruinous sins may stir the soul with a holy joy, but 
 there come moments when men are almost tempted to turn back, 
 and to think that they have undertaken a hopeless task, when they 
 find how slow is their progress, and what new and unexpected 
 difficulties arise. Such was the bitterness which Moses felt. ' Why 
 is it that thou hast sent me, for since I came to Pharaoh to speak 
 in thy name, he hath done evil to this people, neither hast thou 
 delivered thy people at all.' The most enthusiastic souls, who love 
 their fellow-men, and who feel how sacred and high is their calling, 
 perhaps feel most of this bitterness. Their very love makes all 
 failures bitter to them, yet it is through this martyrdom of failure 
 that the noblest victories are won." 
 
 We have now to consider an interpretation of this vision widely 
 differing from any I have mentioned— which is that of Mr. Elliot. 
 He interprets this vision of the mighty angel as predicting the 
 Lord Himself appearing at the time of the Keformation to make, as 
 it were, a new beginning of Christianity. He considers the little 
 book in His hand to be the Bible, or, at least, the New Testament, 
 which began then, as he (Mr. Elliot) supposes, to be studied for the 
 first time. He considers the Apostle St. John to represent the 
 Eeformed Ministry, especially Martin Luther, the head of it all. He 
 looks upon Luther in prison in a lonesome castle of the Wartzburg 
 forest as the fulfilment, as it were, of St. John's imprisonment in 
 Patmos. " Indeed, Luther himself has unconsciously, and in a 
 somewhat singular manner, marked the resemblance. In his 
 correspondence, the appellation by which he was wont to designate 
 this his place of imprisonment and exile was that of his Patmos." 
 
 K 
 
130 THOU MUST PROPHESY AGAIN. [REVELATION. 
 
 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again 
 before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. 
 
 11. "He said." N, A., B. read, "they said" (>^'you<r<y). 
 
 It follows, '* ' And the voice said, Go, take the little book out of the 
 angel's hand.' This signifies that the chief occupation of Luther 
 during his year of exile was the translation of the New Testament 
 into the vernacular German." 
 
 But, further than this, Mr. Elliot considers that the angel having 
 the little book in his hand, and giving it to St. John, was a sort of 
 presentiment of the change made in the Office of Ordination at the 
 period of the Eeformation. He allows that in the pre-Eeformation 
 rite the volume of the four Gospels was given in the Ordination of 
 Deacons, but this seems to be undone by the deUvery at the Ordi- 
 nation of Priests of the chalice and paten into the hands of the 
 person ordained. This being now superseded in the Reformed 
 bodies by the delivery of the Bible, marks the significance of the 
 change between the Old and the New Ordination. Christ personally, 
 under the appearance of the angel, sets aside all mere Apostolic 
 succession, and now Himself ordains the Reformed ministers, just 
 as He ordained the Apostles at the first. In fact the Reformation 
 was not only a new departure, but a supersession by Christ Him- 
 self of all historical Christianity, everything before Luther's time 
 having become Antichrist: not only Antichristian, but Antichrist 
 himself. 
 
 I do not think I have misrepresented the views of Mr. Elliot. I 
 have compressed, and I think without exaggeration, the substance 
 of what he writes respecting this vision in vol. ii. of his *' Horse 
 Apocalypticae."^ I shall further on treat at some length the 
 reference of the Apocalypse to mediaeval Christianity. 
 
Chap. XI.] MEASURE THE TEMPLE OF GOD. 131 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 ND tliere was given me ^ a reed like unto a rod : and 
 
 tlie ansfel stood, saying, ^ Eise, and measure » Ezek. xi. 3, 
 
 ^ » J &' ' ^,g Zech. ii. 
 
 the temple of Grod, and the altar, and tliem that 1. ch. xxi. 15. 
 
 -I • , -I . i> Numb, xxiii. 
 
 worship therem. is. 
 
 A 
 
 1. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the 
 angel stood, saying, Kise, and measure the temple of God, and the 
 altar, and them that worship therein. But the court .... 
 tread under foot forty and two months." We are now entering 
 upon what has been pronounced by many expositors, as Alford, to 
 be the most difficult vision of this book. The details of the pro- 
 phetical revelation are so circumstantial that I do not see that, 
 having reverence for the Word of God, they are to be expounded 
 in a general way, as if they meant general moral or evangelical 
 truths, and yet nothing has hitherto occurred in the history of the 
 world or of the Church which seems in the least degree to cor- 
 respond to them. I will, God helping, take three expositions 
 which make a fair attempt to particularize the various incidents 
 in the vision, as relating to things which may occur, or have 
 occurred, in this outward world of time and sense, and set them 
 before the reader. 
 
 The first is that of Dr. Todd in his " Donnellan Lectures," 
 preached before the University of Dublin. 
 
 The second that of Bishop Wordsworth in his commentary. 
 
 The third that of Mr. Elliot in his "Horge Apocalypticse." 
 
 Dr. Todd considers that the interpretation of this vision (xi. 
 1-15) lies in the future, and before I had read his lecture I had 
 made up my mind that such a view was most probably the true 
 one, because much in the vision indicates that its fulfilment will 
 take place '* near the end," as immediately upon the conclusion of 
 this vision the end comes, and is said to come quickly {i.e. " the 
 third woe cometh quickly "). 
 
 The vision is founded upon one in the prophecy of Zechariah, 
 
132 MEASURE IT NOT. [Revelation. 
 
 c Ezek xi. 17, 2 But ^ the court wliich is without the temple f 
 
 20 .... 
 
 t Gr. cast out. leave out, and measure it not ; ^ for it is given 
 
 L^ke xxf V' ^^^^ *^^ Gentiles : and the holy city shall they 
 
 e Dan. viii. 10. ^ tread under foot ^ forty and two months. 
 
 f ch. xiii. 5. 
 
 which it may be well to give in full (Zech. ii. 1), " I lifted up mine 
 eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in 
 his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou ? And he said unto 
 me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and 
 what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked 
 with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him. 
 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jeru- 
 salem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude 
 of men and cattle therein. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto 
 her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst 
 of her." 
 
 Now this remarkable vision teaches two things. First, that 
 Jerusalem shall not be circumscribed by walls, that is, it shall be 
 illimitable. There are to be no hindrances to its extending itself on 
 every side, as a circumscribing wall would be, and yet it will be 
 infinitely better protected without walls, for " the Lord will be 
 unto her a wall of fire round about." If we are to be guided by 
 this vision, then the part measured will be also immense, capable 
 of holding all that will take refuge in it ; in fact, in the highest 
 sense Catholic, and yet, notwithstanding this, there will be a part 
 unmeasured by the Apostle, because profane ; it is given to the 
 Gentiles. And so the holy city will be trodden under foot. 
 
 Now what is this Jerusalem, and what are the Gentiles which 
 will tread it under foot. It has been supposed to be the Church 
 with its two kinds of members, sincere Christians who have 
 through faith access to the presence of God, Who dwells in the 
 Holy of Hohes between the Cherubim, and have access to the-, 
 altar at which through the same faith they offer up spiritual sacri 
 fices of praise and intercession, but who in the latter days will be 
 afflicted by the per^' ^ions of false apostate Christians who will 
 be under the rule cr',christ : or it has been supposed to be the 
 
 restored temple , H <» q. which we have reason to believe will be 
 lebuilt in Jerusaicxii itself before the Second Advent and the oon« 
 
Chap. XL] MY TWO WITNESSES. 133 
 
 3 And II I will give power unto my two ^ wit- II Or, iimii 
 
 . give unto my 
 
 nesses, ^ and they snail prophesy ' a thousand two uoo witnesses 
 hundred and threescore days, clothed in sack- prophesy. 
 
 ^l^j.1 K ch, XX. 4. 
 
 cloth. , ^^ ^.^ ,0^ 
 
 4 These are the ''two olive trees, and the two ' ch.xii. 6. 
 candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, jer.^xi^ie." 
 
 Zech. iv. 3, 
 xi. 14. 
 
 4. "God." a, A., B., C. read, "Lord." 
 
 summation, and in this case, i.e., on this explanation, the court 
 which is without, which is to be left unmeasured, will be the court 
 of the restored temple, which will be under the power of Anti- 
 christ. 
 
 If the 'vision had ended with verse 2, I think we should have 
 unhesitatingly classed this description of the temple and its 
 measuring with those many intimations of Scripture which speak 
 of the divided state of the visible Church, but the difficulty is in 
 the remainder of this vision, beginning : 
 
 3. " I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall 
 prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, [forty and 
 two months] clothed in sackcloth." Now these two witnesses have 
 not been mentioned, and yet they are brought on the scene as if 
 they were well known {rolg oval ^dprvcti /xov). But we are imme- 
 diately referred for some account of them to another part of the 
 prophecy of Zechariah : " These are the two olive trees and the 
 two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." When we 
 turn to Zechariah iv., we find that he sees a " candlestick all of 
 gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, 
 and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top 
 thereof. And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the 
 bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof." And, when he asks 
 the meaning, a message is sent to Zerubbabel, " Not by might, nor 
 by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." And when 
 he further asks the meaning of the two olive trees, and the two 
 olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the 
 golden oil out of themselves, he is answered, " These are the two 
 anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth " 
 (Zech. iv. 14). 
 
 It is clear, then, that we must look to the older prophecy in 
 
134 POWER TO SHUT HEAVEN. [Revelation. 
 
 5 And if any man will hurt them, ^ fire proceedeth out 
 
 1 2 Kings i. of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : 
 
 10,12. Jer. 
 
 i. 10. & V. 14. ™ and if any man will hurt them, he must in 
 
 Ezek. xliii. 3. ^. . '' ^ -, .^^ -, 
 
 Hos. vi. 5. this manner be killed. 
 
 29. ^^ ' ^^* 6 These ° have power to shut heaven, that it 
 
 xvii^!'^ jlmes ^^^^ ^^* ^^ ^^^ ^^J^ ^^ their proj)hecy : and ° have 
 
 V. 16, 17. power over waters to turn them to blood, and to 
 
 o Exod. vii. -^ . , T . -, -,, n 
 
 ly. smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they 
 will. 
 
 Zechariah, and we get no assistance from it to enable us to 
 identify the persons, if they are persons, here mentioned; but 
 we are taught this, that these two witnesses are not two earthly 
 witnesses, but two heavenly ones which enlighten the innermost 
 Church with supernatural light. The olive trees which stand 
 alongside of these two candlesticks are evidently supernatural 
 beings. They supply the candlestick which lights the sanctuary 
 of God with a never-failing supply of that which by means of the 
 candlestick gives light — evidently enlightening grace. And they 
 do this in a way evidently miraculous. Who ever heard of an 
 olive tree yielding its oil without the intervention of the olive 
 press. So that the power by which these witnesses instruct, or 
 enlighten, or edify the Church, is in the highest sphere of the 
 supernatural. 
 
 In this respect they are not ordinary witnesses, even such as 
 St. John the Baptist, or an Apostle might be. 
 
 But we now proceed to what more distinctly witnesses to their 
 supernatural place as instruments of God. 
 
 5. " If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their 
 mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and if any man will hurt 
 them, he must," &c. We are here, of course, reminded of Elijah^ 
 whose voice called down fire from heaven, and destroyed the mes- 
 sengers of the idolatrous king. 
 
 6. " These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the 
 days of their prophecy : and have power over waters to turn them 
 to blood." Here we have another power which Elijah exercised 
 — the power of stopping the rain from heaven, and bringing on a 
 long and grievous famine ; and another power exercised by Moses^ 
 
Chap. XL] THE BEAST SHALL KILL THEM. 135 
 
 7 And when they p shall have finished their p Luke xiii. 
 
 32 
 
 testimony, "^ the beast that ascendeth "" out of the q ch. xiii. i, 
 bottomless pit * shall make war against them, and J^^if ix^" ^" 
 shall overcome them, and kill them. ^ Dan. vii. 21. 
 
 Zech xiv. 2. 
 
 the greatest of Jewish prophets, over waters, to turn them into 
 blood, '* and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they 
 will." 
 
 No prophets since the times of Moses and Elias have so acted in 
 the power of God. These were works of protection or of vengeance, 
 but the mighty works done by the Apostles were not of this kind, 
 or done with this intent. They were all done for the purpose of 
 commending the Gospel to men's notice by mighty deeds exem- 
 plifying the power of the Gospel to heal and restore rather than 
 to destroy its enemies, or to deliver its preachers out of the hands 
 of those that sought their lives. 
 
 I repeat, no witnesses of God have had such powers for such 
 purposes, and the explanations given of the exercise of these 
 powers have been utterly inadequate. They have been more or 
 less rationalistic. When it is said, for instance, in the Apocalypse, 
 that " fire proceedeth out of their mouths and destroyeth their 
 enemies," and that this only means that God will visit with the 
 fire of His anger those who neglect His word by ^vhomsoever 
 spoken, it is clear that there is nothing peculiar in the enforce- 
 ment of this threat more than what accompanies any threat 
 against those who disobey the "Word, written or preached. All 
 men, everywhere, who resist the Gospel, do it at the peril of their 
 eternal well-being. We proceed : 
 
 7. " And when they shall have finished their testimony." This 
 surely cannot mean their testimony to the truth of the ordinary 
 Gospel proclaimed by its thousands upon thousands of pieachers. 
 It must, I think, be some message peculiar to these two prophets. 
 Hitherto their lives have been by God's special power preserved 
 in the midst of a society or kingdom very hostile. Now they seem 
 to be deprived of the special miraculous protection, and take their 
 place for a very short time amongst the ordinary servants of 
 God. 
 
 " The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make 
 
136 SODOM AND EGYPT. [Revelation. 
 
 t ch. xiv. 8. 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in tlie sti-eet 
 
 & xviii. 10.' of ^ the great city, which spiritually is called 
 
 i2!^^ch.Tviii. Sodom and Egypt, "^ where also our Lord was 
 
 ^*" crucified. 
 
 war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." That 
 so fearful an evil power as the wild beast — the " therion " — should 
 make war against these two witnesses, as if they were two mighty 
 kingdoms, shows their extremely high place in the spiritual 
 world. 
 
 8. " And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great 
 city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our 
 Lord was crucified." What is signified by the " dead bodies " of 
 these witnesses ? It must be that which was once instinct with 
 
 life a life worthy of being the Ufe of two such witnesses for God — 
 
 but now deprived of it. In this they are in contrast with the first 
 martyrs, whose remains were eagerly sought and treasured up, and 
 perhaps in later times entombed in the altars of churches. No 
 explanation has been given of all this but that which is utterly 
 inadequate, as we shall see when we come to the two other exposi- 
 tions which I have promised. 
 
 " In the street of the great city," i.e., in the broad street or broad- 
 way. 
 
 " The great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt." 
 Sodom on account of its debasing wickedness, and Egypt because 
 of its oppression of the true people of God. 
 
 ""Where also our Lord was crucified." This seems to identify 
 the city with Jerusalem. If the crucifixion is the literal crucifixion, 
 then, of course, no other place can be meant ; if, however, we are 
 to interpret this place in the light of that saying of St. Paul where 
 he says of fallen Christians, " that they crucify the Son of God 
 afresh," then, wherever in the whole world there are churches 
 which contain mere nominal Christians as well as true ones, our 
 Lord is there crucified. It is in this sense quite as true of London 
 as it is of Rome, or any Jerusalem which may be built on the site 
 of the old one. 
 
 9. "And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and 
 nations shall see their dead bodies." This enumeration of " people 
 
Chap. XL] THEY STOOD UPON THEIR FEET. 137 
 
 9 '^ And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and 
 
 nations shall see their dead bodies three days ^ ch. xvU. 15. 
 
 and an half, ^ and shall not suffer their dead 7 Ps. ixxix. 
 
 2, 3. 
 bodies to be put in graves. 
 
 10 ^And they that dwell upon the earth shall ' ch. xu. 12. 
 
 *' ^ & xui. 8. 
 
 rejoice over them, and make merry, ^ and shall » Esth. ix. 19, 
 
 send gifts one to another ; ^ because these two Teh. xvi. 10. 
 prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. 
 
 11 *^ And after three davs and an half ** the <= ver. 9. 
 Spirit of life from Grod entered into them, and xxxvii.'s, 9, 
 they stood upon their feet ; and great fear fell 
 
 upon them which saw them. 
 
 9. "Shall see"—" shall not suffer." s, A., C. read in the present tense—" see " — 
 ■" do not suffer "— " rejoice "— " send gifts." 
 " Three days." " The three days," A., B., C. 
 
 and kindreds and nations " looking upon these dead bodies seems 
 to imply more than the dwellers in a single city, but we must 
 remember that the great city of the prophecy may be a sort of 
 metropolis, and that if the fulfilment of this prophecy is in the 
 future, and that the means of transit go on improving, one city may 
 contain representatives of all tribes of the earth. 
 
 "And shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.'* 
 This was done evidently by the special providence of God, that the 
 actual death and resurrection of these witnesses might be known 
 by all their enemies. 
 
 10. " And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over 
 them .... and shall send gifts one to another ; because these two 
 prophets tormented," &c. They spoke so plainly to the consciences 
 of ungodly men, and foretold such terrible things of their future 
 doom, that they could not abide their presence and warnings. 
 
 11. " And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God 
 entered into them, and they stood upon their feet," These three 
 days and a half could not be a time of great length, for, if so, the 
 greater part of those who had seen these prophets would have died 
 or been dispersed, and it seems a part of the teaching of the vision 
 that their death and resiirrection should be seen at once by all ; for 
 
138 COME UP HITHER. [Revelation. 
 
 e isa. xiv! 13. 12 And they heard a ^reat voice from heaven 
 
 ch. xu. 5. . *^ ^ 
 
 f Isa. ix. 8. saymg unto them, Come up hither. ^ And they 
 
 g 2 Kings ii. ascended up to heaven ^ in a cloud ; ^ and their 
 
 1, 5, 7. enemies beheld them. 
 
 it is said " great fear fell upon them which saw them," and that 
 this fear was beneficial and so inspired by God for pm-poses of 
 mercy is evident from the last clause of verse 13, " and the remnant 
 . . . gave glory to the God of heaven." 
 
 12. "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto 
 them, Come up hither. And they ascende"'. up to heaven in a 
 cloud ; and their enemies beheld them." In these witnesses we 
 see a fulfilment — if so it may be called — of what happened to the 
 Lord Himself. As He was crucified, killed, raised again, and 
 called up to heaven, so were they, but there is this difference 
 between their resurrection and that of the Lord, that the Lord's 
 Eesmi-ection was seen by no one, and His Ascension only by His 
 friends and faithful followers, and the ascension of these witnesses 
 is seen by all, especially by their enemies. 
 
 I will now give Dr. Todd's futurist explanation. " The act of 
 measuring the temple denotes its restoration to the worship of 
 God and to the offices of Divine service. The testimony which 
 this prophecy, literally understood, has given us is clearly this, 
 that, at the time predicted, Jerusalem shall be inhabited again, and 
 the temple rebuilt ; that after this restoration the city shall be 
 taken and sacked by the Gentiles, the outer court also of the 
 temple seized and profaned, but the sanctuary itself and a remnant 
 of them that worship therein graciously preserved in the midst of 
 the surrounding desolation, which desolation shall be of very limited 
 duration, three years and a half." 
 
 Now it is to be remembered that all this may be if God continues 
 in the future to take an interest (to use a very inadequate expres- 
 sion) in Jerusalem as He has done in the past. As Dr. Todd says 
 " There is nothing impossible, nothing inconsistent with faith or 
 reason, nothing which can furnish the smallest justification to us 
 for departing from the natural meaning of the words." 
 
 And now we turn to the prophecy of the two witnesses. These 
 have been supposed or pronounced to be the resuscitation of Enoch 
 
Chap. XL] MOSES OR ENOCH. 13^ 
 
 and Elijah, or of Moses and Elijah. The explanation of our Lord 
 in answer to the Apostle's question (" How say the scribes, that 
 Elias must first come ? ") by no means limits the reappearance of 
 Elijah to the mission or person of the Baptist as His forerunner. 
 We must remember that the Second Coming much more naturally 
 accords with the words "the great and terrible day of the Lord" 
 than the First Coming, and that if before the First Coming there was 
 an antitypical forerunner, much more before the Second Coming 
 may there be a forerunner who may fulfil to the letter the very last 
 words of the Old Testament. 
 
 With respect to the other witness it has been supposed to be 
 Enoch, because he was " translated without seeing death ; " but it 
 appears much more likely to have been Moses, for the miracles 
 which one of the witnesses performed were those which Moses 
 alone performed — he turned the water into blood, and he smote the 
 earth with all plagues — which is more true of Moses than of Enoch or 
 Elias. Dr. Todd writes : " There is therefore nothing impossible, 
 nothing inconsistent with faith or reason in supposing that, under the 
 great affliction which is foretold, the same miraculous powers will be 
 committed to the two witnesses: that, like Elijah when the Jewish 
 Church was groaning under the tyranny of her idolatrous kings, 
 and like Moses when Israel was bowed under the bondage of 
 Egypt, they shall be sent for the support of the Church in that 
 bitter day of trial in which the Holy People shall be delivered over 
 into the hand of him who shall speak great words against the Most 
 High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High " (p. 186). 
 
 " In the ancient Church the opinion was almost universal .... 
 that in the times of Antichrist two prophets should appear with 
 
 miraculous powers On a subordinate question, viz., who the 
 
 two prophets will be who are foretold under the name of the 
 witnesses, some discrepancy certainly prevailed. Many thought 
 
 that Moses and Elias would again be sent But by far the 
 
 greatest number of the ancient Christians were of the opinion that 
 the witnesses are Enoch and Elijah, who having both been received 
 into heaven without tasting death were believed to be reserved for 
 this very purpose, that they may come again in the end of the 
 world to prepare the Church for the Second Advent, and being now, 
 and ever since their translation, in the presence of God, they may 
 fitly be described as the two olive trees and the two candlesticks 
 which stand before the God of the earth." With respect to what 
 
140 TENTH PART OF THE CITY FELL. [REVELATION. 
 
 i>ch. Ti. 12. 13 And the same hour ^was there a great 
 
 i q\\ xvi 19 
 
 ■f Gr. 7iames earthquake, ' and the tenth part of the city fell, 
 
 ui!T.^^' ^^^' ^^^ ^^ ^^^ earthquake were slain f of men seven 
 
 k Josh, vii 19. thousand : and the remnant were affrighted, ^ and 
 
 ch. XIV. 7. & o y 
 
 XV. 4. gave glory to the Grod of heaven. 
 
 is alleged respecting the difference between Enoch and Moses in 
 that Enoch was translated without seeing death, and Moses i 
 actually dying and being buried by God Himself, it is to be 
 remembered that we are led to infer that because Moses appeared 
 with Elijah his body was in the same pondition as that of Elijah 
 in order that he might be seen by mortal eyes on the Mount of 
 Transfiguration. 
 
 And now a word or two respecting the resurrection and ascension 
 of these witnesses. We gather from the whole passage that it 
 occurs at a time when God will have resumed that supernatural or 
 miraculous action of His which has been long suspended. During 
 the periods in which He has thus acted He has raised the dead at 
 the prayers of His servants, and more particularly at the time of 
 His Son's First Advent, when He raised Him from the dead and 
 called Him up to sit at His Right Hand. 
 
 If these events, the measuring of the temple and the testimony 
 of the two witnesses, occur just before the Second Advent, at which 
 everyone will be raised again in his body, then it is only an 
 anticipatory miracle of what will occur to all mankind, and may be 
 intended to prepare them for it in a way that no mere preaching or 
 teaching could possibly do. 
 
 13. "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the 
 tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men 
 seven thousand." God in His judgments remembers mercy. Of 
 this great and apparently wicked city only a tenth part was 
 destroyed, and only seven thousand perished. 
 
 2. Bishop Wordsworth explains the vision of the measuring and 
 the witnessing as signifying what is now and always going on in 
 the Church. The rod or measuring reed is the canon of Holy 
 Scripture, and the two witnesses are the Old and New Testament, 
 The measuring reed is put into the hands of St. John because he 
 was the last of the Apostles, and as being such he is supposed to 
 
Chap. XL] TDE CANON OR REED. 141 
 
 close the canon of the books of the New Testament. The canon is 
 supposed to measure the church in the sense of dividing or separat- 
 ing the wheat from the tares — the bad from the good — the true 
 members of the Church from the hypocrites or false members. This 
 is true of the contents of Scripture, but not of its canon. The canon 
 is the list of books which are held to be canonical, but the word is^ 
 as far as I can ascertain, never applied to the contents of such 
 books as means of measuring the faith of the members of the Church, 
 or dividing the good from the evil. The Bishop writes, " The reed 
 — the Hebrew Kaneb, or reed, whence the word canon is derived — 
 represents the canon, or rale of Holy Scripture, completed and 
 sealed by Christ. This reed is said to be like unto a rod — the rod 
 of iron frequently mentioned in the Apocalypse. Holy Scripture^ 
 though it measures as a reed, yet is not frail and quivering as 
 a reed. It is not shaken by the wind of vain doctrine (Matt. xi. 7 ; 
 Ephes. iv. 14). It is not, as some Eomish writers have ventured to 
 call it, a Lesbian rule, or rule of lead, which may easily be bent and 
 twisted in different ways. . . . No, it is a rod of iron, which cannot 
 be bent or broken, but will break all its foes to pieces like a potter's 
 vessel. And yet by this reed Christ is said, Troifiaiveiv, to do 
 the work of a shepherd (Kev. ii. 27 ; xii. 5) for by the pastoral staff 
 or reed of His Word all faithful shepherds under him .... guide 
 the sheep of His pasture." 
 
 *' The court outside the sanctuary is given to the Gentiles and 
 they will tread down the holy city forty and two months. This 
 vision, therefore, represents a corrupt state of Christianity. The 
 outer court of the temple is given to the Gentiles and they will tread 
 the holy city. Many enemies of God will domineer there. And 
 the line of demarcation between them and the true worshippers 
 is to be drawn by the measuring reed like unto a rod. The reed of 
 Holy Scripture measures the Church and it draws the line between 
 true Israelites and those who in the Divine Eye are like heathen 
 mien and publicans." 
 
 Bishop Wordsworth explains the two witnesses as being the 
 two divisions of the Word of God — the Old and New Testament. 
 This seems scarcely feasible, for the reed is, according to him, Holy 
 Scripture. It seems not right to explain the reed and the two wit- 
 nesses as being the same thing. 
 
 He explains the fact of fire coming out of their mouths and de- 
 stroying their enemies as the woes that fall upon all who despise 
 
142 THE SCRIPTURES ARE A BOOK. [Revelation. 
 
 the Scriptures. *' They can shut heaven, like Elias, and exclude 
 all who reject them. The dews of Divine Grace are withheld from 
 all who scorn them. The heavens are brass and the earth is iron 
 under their feet. The waters of salvation become blood to revilers 
 or scoffers of Scripture. To them the blessing is a bane, the Scrip- 
 tures a scourge, preaching a plague, the Word a woe." 
 
 Now it is to be remembered that the Scriptures are a book, and 
 so cannot act personally. Persons, i.e., personal preachers, may 
 denounce woe against those who do not believe the Scriptures and 
 obey the words contained in them, but even they can do nothing in 
 carrying out these threats. God must do it in all cases according 
 to His good pleasure. But the words of the Apocalypse have to do 
 with persons who themselves (of course by the power of God) shut 
 heaven and turn the waters into blood. Bishop Wordsworth en- 
 tirely ignores the signs of distinct personal action inherent in this 
 vision. Then it is said that the beast out of the bottomless pit shall 
 make war upon them, but has he not always done so in the sense of 
 instilling infidelity into the minds of men so that they should not 
 believe the testimony of the Scriptures. 
 
 And what meaning can possibly be attached to the dead bodies of 
 the Scriptures lying unburied in the broad street of the city ; but 
 only for the very limited period of three days and a half. Have not 
 the Scriptures in the very nature of things always been a dead 
 letter to unbelievers, and a living life-giving thing to believers ? 
 
 Then, has there ever occurred anything in the history of the world 
 answering to the dwellers in the earth rejoicing over the death of 
 Scripture, and the Spirit of God, after a very brief space of time,^ 
 entericg into the dead body, or bodies, of Scripture again, and 
 making it in the sight of the whole unbelieving world stand on 
 its feet, and then being called to ascend into heaven in the sight 
 of their enemies : so that by the very fact of this removal the two 
 Testaments cease to bear witness in the world where they are most 
 wanted. 
 
 As far as I can see, the good Bishop gives no explanation of the 
 murder of the witnesses or of their dead bodies lying exposed 
 
 1 I say a vor>' brief space of time as compared with other periods of time men- 
 tioned in the Apocalypse. This three days and a half must, if words have any 
 meaning, be very short compared to the forty and two months of verse 2 of this 
 •chapter, and the thousand two hundred and threescore days of verse 3. 
 
Chap. XL] LUTHERAN REGULATIONS. 143 
 
 in the street, or of their resurrection, or of their ascension. The 
 only reference that I can find is the following: " Something of the 
 Spirit described in this vision is seen in those of the Church of 
 Rome who, on the plea of obscurity in Holy Scripture, withhold it 
 from the people, and so virtually kill it, and when they have done 
 80 will not allow it to be committed to those enduring momiments 
 of literature, such as editions and vernacular translations by which 
 its words may be engraved on the memory of man 'in perpetuam 
 rei memoriam.' " 
 
 But the excellent and learaed Bishop seems to have some 
 doubts of the soundness of his exposition of this vision when he 
 writes the words : " The complete accomplishment of this part 
 of the prophecy seems to be reserved till the last days of the world, 
 for it is said, * When they shall have finished their witness ' (v. 7) 
 which will not be till the eve of the end, and this prophecy is im- 
 mediately succeeded by the third woe or Last Trumpet, the Trum- 
 pet which will call all men to judgment." 
 
 Mr. Elliot explains the measuring of the naos of the temple and 
 the non-measurement of the outer court to be when " Luther and 
 his fellow reformers would, as the sequel of their resumption of 
 prophesying or Gospel preaching, be directed to the regular con- 
 stitution of the Reformed Church (that which might now alone be 
 rightly deemed Christ's Church visible, for the measuring impUes 
 the edification and constitution of what is measured" (vol. ii. 
 p. 517). " The difficulty of providing for the instruction and edifica- 
 tion of the Lutheran Churches began to be more and more ap- 
 parent. It was not possible that public worship, and the adminis- 
 tration of the Sacrament could be conducted decently and in 
 order without some plan of ecclesiastical discipline. The great 
 personal authority of Luther seemed to be the only cement 
 among those that loved the Gospel " (p. 519). " The accounts 
 follow in history of the execution of this most important commis- 
 sion assigned them, of measuring or ecclesiastically constituting 
 what was called the Evangelic Church, the mystic temple ; of the 
 authorization and introduction throughout the Saxon Churches of 
 new formularies of public worship drawn on Evangelic principles 
 by Luther and Melancthon ; of the removal from the Church and 
 Church worship of Eomish images and superstitions ; of the ap- 
 propriation of the ecclesiastical revenues of the Electorate to the 
 support of the Reformed parochial clergy and schools; and of the 
 
144 THE EEED LIKE A ROD. [REVELATION. 
 
 ordination, independently altogether of the Romish Hierarchy, of a 
 fresh supply of ministers of the Gospel. All this was effected in 
 the autumn of 1525 " (p. 521). 
 
 Strange interpretation indeed, and altogether unlike what the 
 measuring line of Ezekiel or Zechariah can possibly mean 
 (Ezek. xl. 3 ; Zech. ii. 1, 2). " The reed Hke unto a rod," Mr. Elliot 
 makes to signify the temporal power of the German princes on the 
 side of the Reformer, and the Reformers themselves exalted to higli 
 positions as magistrates in the civil government. Now when one 
 reads the history of these times it is absurd, indeed, worse than 
 absurd, to identify the measuring of the temple of God and the 
 altar, " and them that worship therein," with the favour or protec- 
 tion of God accorded to Lutherans as the true saints of God. I mean 
 as a body, for there was from the first the same difference to be 
 found in them as in all other professing Christian bodies. The 
 many, the bulk, were but nominal Christians. Luther himself 
 bewails the fearful spread of immorality from the very first 
 amongst those professing his doctrines, and no wonder, when we 
 read his Epistle to the Galatians. For in his earnest zeal to com- 
 mend the atoning merits of Christ, he preaches at times the grossest 
 Antinomianism, and this, notwithstanding his protests, was taken 
 to the letter by his hearers, " Pecca fortiter " was taken in fearful 
 earnest. 
 
 And now we pass to his (Elliot's) exposition of the meaning of 
 the two witnesses. There was a large number of sects who, in the 
 times before the Reformation, protested against the prevailing 
 superstitions of the dominant Church. Mr. Elliot classes these 
 under two heads. He is bound to make two^ because the Apostle 
 says, speaking in the Name of Christ, " I will give power unto my 
 two witnesses." And how does he make out the two ? Why by 
 taking certain as of Eastern, and certain others as of Western 
 origin. He takes the origin of the Eastern witnesses to be the 
 Paulicians who were the disciples of an Armenian named Con- 
 Btantine, who named his followers Paulicians because they pro- 
 fessed to derive their teaching wholly from St. Paul's Epistles. 
 They were afterwards headed by a teacher named Sergius, and in 
 the year 970 they were removed in a body by the Eastern emperor 
 across the Bosphorus, and their history from that time, as Mr. 
 Elliot tells us, is European. He traces the sect down the middle 
 ages to their persecution at the Council of Orleans, when two of 
 
Chai'. XL] TWO LINES OF WITNESSES. 145 
 
 the canons of Orleans were converted by them and afterwards 
 burnt alive. He connects the celebrated name of Berenger with 
 them, and Peter de Bruys, whose followers were known as Petro- 
 bmssians. He considers that some reputed heretics who were dis- 
 covered and burnt at Cologne in 1147 were their successors. 
 
 He considers that the witnesses of Western origin, the Waldenses, 
 though they are named after Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, 
 A.D. 1160, had existed, as protesters against the dominant supersti- 
 tion, long before in the remote valleys of Dauphine and Piedmont, 
 and so there were from very early times Protestant sects in the 
 valleys of the Cottian Alps who derived their evangelical teaching 
 from the disciples of Augustine. He takes great pains to prove 
 that the Waldensian protest existed from very ancient times, 
 because unless it did there could scarcely be accounted tivo lines 
 of witness existing through the middle ages till the time of the 
 Reformation. Mr. Elliot's account of the testimony of these two 
 lines of witnesses is exceedingly interesting. Nothing can be 
 conceived more heroic than their endurance in the face of 
 massacre, imprisonment, and the stake ; but what I want the 
 reader to understand is, that it altogether fails in the matter of its 
 likeness to this Apostolical prophecy in the most conspicuous 
 feature of that prophecy, which I am sure every one will agree 
 with me to be that "fire proceedeth out of their mouths and 
 devoureth their enemies : and if any man will hurt them, he must 
 in this manner be killed." In this these witnesses differ from all 
 other martyrs, that they have supernatural power given them by 
 God wherewith to defend themselves and slay their enemies ; but 
 this was not the case with Mr. Elliot's two witnesses (or lines of wit- 
 nesses) during the period of their testimony. They suffered death 
 under the same forms of persecution as the martyrs of New 
 Testament times and of the succeeding ages underwent. Mr. 
 Elliot in the whole 220 pages and more of his account does not 
 attempt to give even the most far-fetched fulfilment of this part of 
 the prophecy. In p. 698 he speaks of Saxons and Lombards, 
 Saracens and Seljukian Turks ; but in no way were these con- 
 nected with the mouths of the witnesses, nor in fact were they 
 scourges inflicted on the men living in the neighbourhood of those 
 witnesses, but upon those living at a vast distance. No instance 
 is given of God withholding rain from heaven at the word of these 
 witnesses, and it surely is impossible to suppose for a moment that 
 
 L 
 
146 THEIR ASCENSION. [Revelation. 
 
 the servants of God, as these witnesses were, would pray that God 
 would withhold the rain of His Spirit from those who had hitherto 
 rejected their testimony. 
 
 The death of these witnesses Mr. Elliot accounts to be the entire 
 cessation of all witness for Christ during the few years preceding 
 the Reformation ; their bodies lying unburied he holds to be the 
 denial of Christian burial in later Papal times to heretics ; and their 
 resurrection to be the revival of Gospel preaching by Luther and 
 his associates. 
 
 But the most marvellous of all is Mr. Elliot's exposition of the 
 ascension of these witnesses. The heaven of Mr. Elliot is not the 
 holy heaven of God into which Christ ascended but (what does the 
 reader suppose ?) why the heaven of political power ! I will give 
 his explanation in his own words. "After the defeat of the Protes- 
 tants at Miihlberg the Protestant cause was itself in jeopardy 
 throughout Germany. But in this case, as so often in others, 
 through God's gracious overruling, the epoch of depression did only 
 precede and introduce that of more conspicuous elevation. New 
 and unexpected agencies were now brought into operation. The 
 betrayer of the Protestant cause in the war just ended, Prince 
 Maurice, was led to espouse it (let it be remembered that it is with 
 the political bearing of the subject that I am now dealing). Then 
 followed the surprise of the Emperor Charles at Innspruck, and the 
 consequent Peace of Passau, concluded August 12th, 1552, that 
 celebrated peace confirmed in 1555 at Augsburg, whereby in the 
 fullest measure toleration was accorded to Protestantism ; and Pro- 
 testants, equally as Romanists, admitted to sit as judges in the 
 Supreme Imperial Chamber. In short it was the fulfilment of the 
 Apocalyptic figuration of the witnesses' ascent into the political 
 heaven in Germany — Germany the originating locality, under 
 God, of the great revolution . . . . ' And their enemies beheld them.' 
 This pre-intimated the presence of enemies, on occasion of the 
 witnesses' ascension, just as before of their resurrection : as if the 
 result would be accomplished in the face of their enemies, and in 
 spite of them. And so it was. At the passing of each decree by 
 which the Protestants rose into ascendancy their enemies were 
 present in the Diets and Councils " (page 141). 
 
 13. " And the same hour was there a great earthquake." This 
 predicted the great schism occasioned by the preaching of the Re- 
 formed doctrine by Luther and others. 
 
Chap. XL] THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE. 147 
 
 •* And the tenth part of the city fell." This is interpreted by Mr. 
 Elliot as the falling away of England from the Papacy. 
 
 "And in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand." 
 This is interpreted of the falling away from the Papacy of the 
 seven united Provinces, i.e., Holland. 
 
 "And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God ot 
 heaven." " Penal enactments were passed against the Eomanists 
 not in Spain, Italy, France, and Austria, but in the very limited 
 part which includes England and Scotland, and (I suppose) 
 Holland." 
 
 I would conclude the account of the exposition of Mr. Elliot with 
 two remarks : 
 
 1. I have hitherto not noticed that the witnesses for God, at 
 least the Eastern branch of them, undoubtedly were deeply tainted 
 with the Manichean heresy — the error of holding two co-equal 
 principles, one light and the other darkness. The reader will see 
 ample proof of this in a pamphlet written in 1845 by the late Rev. 
 T. K. Arnold, in which he quotes largely in proof of this from 
 Oiessler, a Lutheran ecclesiastical historian. I have not noticed 
 this for this reason, that granting that the Pauliciaus were as good 
 and holy and orthodox men as Mr. Elliot would have them to be, 
 this does not in the least degree undo the fact that they in no 
 respect correspond to the most characteristic feature of these two 
 witnesses, which is, that they were supernaturally protected by 
 God from being slain — which, on Mr. Elliot's own showing, they 
 -were not. All through their career they suffered as ordinary 
 martyrs for the truth till the beast made war upon them, and 
 then their dead bodies were exposed unburied for a comparatively 
 ;short time. 
 
 2. The second remark shall be this : that the key to the Apoca- 
 lypse is not to be found in its protest against Romish corruption. 
 No matter how gross such corruptions are, the Apocalypse was 
 not written specially to oppose them, but other forms of evil as 
 well. 
 
 18. " And the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the 
 tenth part of the city fell. . . . The second woe is past ; and, behold, 
 the third woe cometh quickly." The 13th verse, then, evidently 
 irelates what is supposed to be an awful calamity, as an earthquake 
 in all circumstances must be, but if the tenth part of the city 
 ?f ailing, and the seven thousand men perishing means the passing 
 
148 THE SEVENTH ANGEL SOUNDED. [Revelation, 
 
 1 ch. viii. 13. 14 ^ The second woe is past ; a7id, behold, the 
 
 third woe cometh quickly. 
 
 15 And ™the seventh angel sounded; ''and 
 
 there were great voices in heaven, saying, ° The 
 o ch. xii. 10. kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
 PDan ii.44. ^f ^y^ ]^()i,(j^ and of his Christ; ^and he shall 
 
 CZi Vll. X4) -Loj 
 
 27- reign for ever and ever. 
 
 v.8!&Vx.*4. 16 And qthe four and twenty elders, which sat 
 
 XV. 1. 
 m ch. X. 7, 
 n Isa. xxvii. 
 13. ch. xvi. 
 17. & xix. 
 
 15. "Tlie kingdoms of this world." H, A., B., C. read, "The kingdom" in the 
 singular. 
 
 over of England and the seven united Provinces to the side of the 
 Eeformation, then, according to the ultra-Protestant view, the 
 being shaken to pieces by this earthquake and the consequent 
 destruction was the best thing that could possibly have happened 
 to those that were involved in the ruins. In such absurdities does 
 the anti-papal historical view land us. 
 
 " The third woe cometh quickly." For the woeful nature of thi? 
 woe we must look to chap. vi. 15, 16, where the fearful side of 
 the Second Advent appears. Here, as we shall see, it is described 
 only on its glorious and happy side— as it will be experienced by 
 the righteous. 
 
 15. "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great 
 voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ." This is no doubt the 
 general judgment and the consummation ("He shall reign for ever 
 and ever "). As I have said, there are no less than seven accounts 
 of the general judgment in this book. The account in chap. vi. 
 12-17 describes it as the exhibition of the wrath of the Lamb. 
 Here it only appears as the Advent of His glory, and the final de- 
 liverance of His elect ones. Its terrific side being passed over at 
 present. 
 
 He shall reign in every kingdom, in every family, in every 
 heart. 
 
 16. *' And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God .... 
 fell upon their faces .... Saying, we give thee thanks, O- 
 Lord God Almighty .... because thou hast taken to thee thy 
 
CiiAP. XL] THY WRATH IS COME. 149 
 
 before G-od on tlieir seats, fell upon tlieir faces, and wor- 
 shipped God, 
 
 17 Saying, We give tliee thanks, Lord God Almighty, 
 '^ which art, and wast, and art to come; because "■ ch. i. 4, 8. 
 thou hast taken to thee thy great power, 'and xvi. 5. ' 
 hast reigned. ^ch.xix.e. 
 
 18 ^ And the nations were angry, and thy wrath » ver. 2, 9. 
 is come, " and the time of the dead, that they '^ Dan. vii. 9, 
 should be judged, and that thou shouldest give 
 
 reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the 
 
 17. " And art to come " omitted by N, A., B., C. 
 
 great power." They thank God that he has put an end to the 
 weary warfare between sin and holiness. The mystery of God (as 
 the great angel swore it would be at the blast of the seventh angel) 
 is finished. *' Thou hast taken (to thee) thy great power," that is, to 
 exercise it in the restraint or abolition of evil, and the establish- 
 ment of truth and righteousness. "We give thanks to thee " re- 
 minds us of the words in the Gloria in Excelsis, " We give thanks 
 to thee for thy great glory." 
 
 " And hast reigned." This is put in the past tense, as if it were 
 already accomplished. What God has begun may be considered 
 as already done. 
 
 18. " And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come." It is 
 nnfoi-tunate that the translation of " anger " is not the same in 
 both clauses. " The nations were angry, and thine anger is come," 
 or "the nations were wrath and thy vrrath. is come." The two 
 wraths are in contrast — the one, that of the nations, impotent ; 
 the other, that of God, irresistible. 
 
 *' And the time of the dead, that they should be judged." Not 
 only the living, but the dead — those in Hades. This shows us 
 very plainly that this is the time of no inferior, but the general 
 judgment. " I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God " 
 <xx. 12). 
 
 "And that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the 
 prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small 
 
150 THE ARK OF HIS TESTIMONY. [Revelation. 
 
 saints, and them that fear thy name, "^ small and great ; ^ and 
 shouldest destroy them which || destroy the earth. 
 19 And nhe temple of God was opened in 
 heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark 
 of his testament : and * there were lightnings, and 
 voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, ^ and 
 great hail. 
 
 X Ch. 
 
 xix. 
 
 5. 
 
 y ch. xiii. 
 & xviii. 6. 
 
 10. 
 
 II Or, corrupt. 
 z ch. XV. 5, 8. 
 
 a ch. Viii. 
 
 & xvi. 18. 
 
 5. 
 
 boh. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 21. 
 
 and great." As in Rev. vi. 12-17, under the sixth seal there was a 
 revelation of punishment, so here of reward. 
 
 "And shouldest destroy them which destroy [or corrupt] the 
 earth." This is the only intimation of " woe " in this vision of 
 judgment, but it is a very terrible one. All the tribes of the earth 
 mourn. 
 
 19. "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was 
 seen in his temple the ark of his testament." The ark of the cove- 
 nant was the most remarkable type of Jesus Christ. It contained 
 the tables of the Law — in Him is the law of perfect righteousness. It 
 originally contained the pot of manna — in Him is the true manna. 
 It contained Aaron's rod of the priesthood — in Him is the succession 
 of the true priesthood. Perhaps it may mean what Hengstenberg 
 says : " The ark of the covenant is made visible in order to signify 
 that the covenant has received its most signal accomplishment. 
 God has now remembered His holy covenant, and His people 
 may now serve Him without fear." 
 
 " And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and 
 an earthquake, and great hail." This, in substance, occurs twice 
 in this book, once in chap. viii. 5, when " the angel took the censer 
 and cast it into the earth," and once in xvi. 18, when the seventh 
 angel poured his vial into the air, " and there were voices, and 
 thunders, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake." As 
 Alford writes, " The solemn salvos, so to speak, of the artillery of 
 heaven, with which each series of visions is concluded," 
 
Chap. XII.] THE GREAT WARFARE. 151 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 In this chapter we seem to have an account of the great warfare 
 between good and evil in the world. The key of it seems to 
 be the primeval prophecy, "I will put enmity between thee and 
 the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." All the visions 
 in this book of the great struggle between the two antagonistic 
 forces have their root in this original enmity. They are not 
 natural developments of evil so much as the actual conflict between 
 the author of evil and the good which has been introduced into 
 the race by the coming amongst us of the Son of God. 
 
 1. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman 
 clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon 
 her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child 
 cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . . And 
 she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a 
 rod of iron : and her child was caught up unto God, and to his 
 throne." Who was this child thus brought forth, thus destined to 
 rule all nations, and caught up unto God, and to His throne. It 
 seems blasphemy to suggest any name but One, and that the Name 
 of Jesus. But who then is the woman ? He had but one mother, 
 and that a lowly virgin, but richly endowed with the highest grace 
 which God can bestow — that which shone most conspicuously in 
 His own Son — the grace of humility. It was a great thing for her 
 to be clad with the sun, to have the moon under her, and to be 
 crowned with twelve stars ; but what was all this, multiplied ten 
 thousand times over, to what God brought about in her that she 
 should have the unspeakable glory of being the bearer in her womb, 
 as being His mother, of the Only Begotten Son of God. In her that 
 took place to which the creation of the brightest sun was as nothing. 
 In her the Word was made flesh. In her sin and evil were 
 already conquered, for if God had begun in her so wondrous a 
 mystery of grace He would bring all to a glorious conclusion. It 
 is a great thing to be clothed with the sun ; but is it not said cf 
 all the righteous, that they shall shine forth as the sun in the 
 glory of their Father ? But does this agree with a later part of the 
 
152 SHE SEEMS TO DISAPPEAR. [REVELA.TIOIf. 
 
 vision; for after her Son is raised to the throne of God she seems 
 to disappear, and her place — not only her place, but her very person 
 to be taken by the Church. Well, this is the fulfilment of the 
 prophecy, " I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
 hehveen thy seed and her seedy The enmity was not to cease when 
 the woman was delivered, neither was the enmity to cease when 
 the woman was removed by death. It was then to be directed 
 against the Church. Now what is the Church? It is called the 
 body of Christ. It is called the bride of Christ. It is the Lamb's 
 wife. But is the Church anything to the Virgin ? Is the Virgin 
 anything to the Church ? The answer is, that if the Incarnation 
 had not taken place in this blessed woman, the Church would 
 have been non-existent. The Church was not an offshoot of the Law 
 nor of the Jewish Church — which, in comparison with Christ's, was 
 no Church at all— but the Church was the offshoot of the Incarna- 
 tion. All the good in the Church which God regards with 
 unspeakable favour is the product of the new nature of the 
 second Adam, which began to exist in the womb of this blessed 
 woman, and which came forth when He was born, and which was 
 renewed when He received life again from the dead that He might 
 communicate it to us. But is not the Church the creation of the 
 Holy Spirit ? Certainly ; but that Holy Spirit uses means for the 
 diffusion of the new Nature of the Virgin-born. He works not 
 only in the written or preached Word, but in the Sacraments, 
 which have rightly been called extensions of the Incarnation. 
 
 There are multitudes of good men, good women — true children 
 of God, true followers of Christ— but where does all this goodness 
 come forth ? From Him Who was born of the Virgin Mary. If it 
 had not been for the Incarnation there would have been no holi- 
 ness, no goodness in the Church. But was there not true holiness 
 and goodness in the elder Church ? Yes, but it pleased God that 
 there should be a new beginning in the Second Man, " conceived 
 by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 But does not the supposition that this woman is thus crowned 
 -u-ith glory, and resplendent with light tempt us to worship her. 
 Only those I answer who are " inexpressibly foolish." In this vision 
 not only the woman but the dragon are represented as they are in 
 the moral and spiritual universe ; the one all resplendent with 
 grace, the other all fearful and hideous, because the author and 
 sustain er of all evil, all enmity to God, all hatred to the image of 
 
Chap. XII.] THE CHURCH IN THE INCARNATION. 153 
 
 God in man. The Virgin, then, rightly represents the Church in 
 its origin as founded in the Incarnation, but she does not continue 
 to do so, because she does not continue in the world. And so the 
 Church, which is in a sense derived from her, takes her place and 
 flees into the wilderness. 
 
 We shall know at some time or other that the enmity of the 
 dragon to the woman is because of the Incarnation — because of 
 the infinite grace of God displayed in it and communicated to us 
 through it ; so that the enmity of the dragon to the woman is 
 enmity to God in the highest form of His grace, and so the per- 
 secution of the woman is continued to the Church, to those in it 
 who bear the fruits of grace. Now, these as long as they are in 
 the world are alwaj^s in the wilderness, and in them is fulfilled 
 the Apostolic word, " All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must 
 suffer persecution." Such are the true brethren of Christ, born 
 again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 ND there appeared a great || wonder in II Or, sign. 
 heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun. 
 
 1. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman 
 clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet." In the 
 introductory remarks I showed that it was but right to understand 
 this literally of the most favoured of the human race, even of her 
 in whom " the manhood was taken unto God." The glory surround- 
 ing her is beyond measure transcendent, but it is far below that 
 which took place in her. If we only try to realize how God magni- 
 fied her by making her the human channel and means in which 
 the Eternal Word was made flesh, we shall not think it strange 
 that she was arrayed in such splendour. 
 
 " In heaven." It has been said by those who consider this woman 
 to represent primarily the Church (excluding all thought of the 
 Virgin) that she is seen in heaven because heaven is the home of 
 
154 A CROWN OF TWELVE STARS [Revelation. 
 
 and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
 
 twelve stars : 
 
 a isa. ixvi. 7. 2 And she beinsr with child cried, * travailing 
 
 Gal. iv. 19. . , . , -. • n -. -. T 
 
 m birth, and pamed to be delivered. 
 II Or, sign. 3 And there appeared another || wonder in. 
 
 the Church, but when the woman is persecuted by the dragon 
 she evidently is seen on earth. Why should she be represented as 
 descending to earth to be persecuted ? Must we not rather under- 
 stand that St. John being in the spirit sees all things in heaven. 
 Heaven is the scene before him in which all takes place. Thus in 
 the fifth chapter he sees what goes on in heaven, and in the sixth 
 he sees what goes on on earth at the opening of each seal, without 
 the least hint of any change of point of view. 
 
 " And the moon under her feet." It has been explained as if 
 the woman were above the changes in this sublunary state, but 
 may it not be by way of addition to her glory? 
 
 "And upon her head a crown of twelve stars." By those (and 
 there are such) who explain the woman to be the Jewish Church, 
 the stars are the twelve patiiarchs or twelve tribes. By those who 
 represent her as signifying the Christian Church, they are of 
 course the twelve Apostles. But may they not be simply additions 
 to her glory. 
 
 2. "And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and 
 pained to be delivered." This has been applied to the Jewish 
 Church, which existed in constant expectation of the coming of the 
 Messiah. It cannot be referred, except in a most circuitous way, 
 to the Christian Church after the time of Christ. It can only be 
 primarily so applied by a tacit ignoring of the coming of Christ 
 into the world " born of a woman." To say that the Cliurch is the 
 mother of Christ, and bears Christ, is only true in a very secondary 
 sense, and there must be an antecedent mystery, which is that the 
 Son of God is born of a Virgin. Unless Christ had been thus bom 
 no human being could have had Him within him either mystically 
 or spiritually. 
 
 3. "And there appeared another wonder in heaven ; and behold 
 a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven 
 crowns upon his heads." This is the old serpent who deceived 
 
Chap. XIL] SHE BROUGHT FORTH A MAN CHILD. 155 
 
 heaven ; and behold ^ a great red dragon, *^ having »> ch. xvii. 3. 
 
 seven heads and ten horns, ''and seven crowns 10^ ■^^"' * 
 
 upon his heads. dch.xiii.i. 
 
 4 And ^ his tail drew the third part ^ of the stars f ^h. xVii. is. 
 of heaven, ^ and did cast them to the earth : and the ^ i>an. viii. 10. 
 dragon stood ^ before the woman which was ready ^ ver. 2. 
 
 to be delivered, ' for to devour her child as soon i Ex. i. le. 
 
 as it was born. k Ps. u. 9. 
 
 5 And she brought forth a man child, ^ who xix.^is^ ' 
 
 Eve, and to whom God said, " I will put enmity between thee and 
 the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." 
 
 *' Having seven heads." Seven being the number of perfection 
 denoted his almost superhuman, infinite intelligence. 
 
 "And ten boms." Denoting the greatness of his power. 
 
 "And seven crowns upon his heads." Denoting his almost uni- 
 versal dominion as the prince of this world. I am well aware, of 
 course, that the wild beast of the next chapter has seven heads and 
 ten horns, and seven crowns, but these heads and horns, and 
 crowns cannot have, it appears to me, the same significance as 
 they had when attached to the therion. Satan could not have had 
 them originally, because if they were dynasties or monarchies he 
 existed long before them. 
 
 4. "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and 
 did cast them to the earth." "Williams (and many others) suggests 
 that " the third part of the stars " are the angels whom Satan drew 
 down with himself into perdition. In fact it seems by far the 
 most likely interpretation. 
 
 " And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to 
 be delivered." Almost all, even those who ignore the reference in 
 the star-crowned woman to th« Virgin, interpret this part of the 
 vision as of Herod endeavouring to destroy the Lord as soon as He 
 was born ; and certainly no act of wicked men was ever more 
 fiendish, more worthy of the direct inspiration of Satan, than 
 this. 
 
 5. "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all 
 nations with a rod of iron : and her child was caught up unto God, 
 and to his throne." This can be only true of the Lord : for though 
 
156 WAR IN HEAVEN. [Revelation. 
 
 was to rule all nations witli a rod of iron : and lier cliild 
 
 was caught up unto God, and to liis tlirone. 
 
 ' ver. 4. 6 And ^ the woman fled into the wilderness, 
 
 where she hath a place prepared of G-od, that 
 
 " ch. xi. 3. thej should feed her there ^ a thousand two hun- 
 dred and threescore days. 
 
 2i^&"xii'i^* 7 And there was war in heaven: "" Michael and 
 
 the Lord promises that to him that overcometh He will give 
 power over the nations to rule them with a rod of iron, yet this 
 would only be true of His people who should overcome, because it 
 was true of Him, and no one was received up to God's throne but 
 Himself. 
 
 6. "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a 
 place prepared of God." Does this in any way signify or allude 
 to the flight of Mary into Egypt, which, compared with the worship 
 of the true God in Jerusalem, might be called a wilderness. It 
 took place at the time when Herod, at the instigation of Satan, 
 attempted to destroy the life of Jesus; and the flight, and the 
 place to which the Holy Family fled, was prepared by God : but 
 there is this against it, that according to the received chronology 
 the sojourn of the Holy Family in Egypt was only a few months, 
 not three years and a half; and this also, that the flight of the 
 woman into the wilderness is assumed to be posterior to the 
 Ascension. 
 
 7. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels 
 fought against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels." 
 When did this take place? Under the guidance of Milton (a very 
 unsafe guide indeed) we are to imagine it took place before the crea- 
 tion of the world, but according to our Lord's words it seems not to 
 have taken place till immediately before the Crucifixion (John xii. 
 31). And, according to St. Paul, Satan and his hosts had in some 
 sense access to heaven many years afterwards (Eplies. vi. 12, 
 " wicked spirits in heavenly places "). 
 
 It may be that it was a part of the triumph of the Divine Inter- 
 cessor that about the time of His Ascension the accusers were 
 cast out. 
 
 "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon," &c. Who 
 
Chap. XII.] THE GREAT DRAGON WAS CAST OUT. 157 
 
 his angels fought ° against the dragon ; and the dragon 
 
 fought and his angels, ° ver. 3. 
 
 8 And prevailed not ; neither was their place 
 found any more in heaven. 
 
 9 And P the great dragon was cast out, '' that p Luke x. is. 
 old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, ^ which q Gen. iii. 1, 
 deceiveth the whole world : ^ he was cast out into t' , ^^^' ^^' ^' 
 
 r Cll. XX. 3. 
 
 the earth, and his ansrels were cast out with him. ^ ch. ix. 1. 
 
 8. "Neither was their place found." "And not so much as their place wa» 
 found." So N, A., B., C. 
 
 is Michael ? He is assuredly only the archangel, he is not the Son 
 of God. The Son of God not having taken upon Him the angelic 
 nature would certainly not be called angel or archangel. How 
 could there be war in heaven ? If there were two characters in 
 heaven ; if there were in heaven good and evil spirits, then 
 assuredly there would be war. Would this war be physical or 
 spiritual only ? If the good sjDirits have physical power, and if the 
 evil ones lost not their physical power when they fell, then there 
 assuredly would be war something like the war which men wage 
 one with another in any place in which they could meet with 
 one another. 
 
 8. " Neither was their place found any more in heaven." Alford 
 renders, "nor was ever their place found anymore in heaven." 
 This implies that they had access before to heaven which they now 
 ceased to have. Thus Job i. 6 and 1 Kings xxii. 21. 
 
 9. "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called 
 the Devil, and Satan." What old serpent ? that ancient serpent, so 
 designated because at the beginning of the human race he de- 
 ceived Eve ; called "the devil/' i.e., the accuser; and " Satan," i.e.y 
 the adversary. 
 
 " Which deceiveth the whole world." Which he did once for all 
 in our first parents, and which he has done ever since in his attacks 
 on the faith of individual souls. 
 
 " He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out 
 with him." Whatever the reality of this was it certainly signifies 
 that through the Incarnation and Ascension of Jesus Christ the 
 devil lost the place of power which he once possessed. Thus St* 
 
158 REJOICE YE HEAVENS. [Revelation. 
 
 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, *Now is 
 
 •t ch. xi. 15. come salvation, and strens^th, and the kino^dom 
 
 A xix. 1. o ' o 
 
 of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the 
 
 « Job i. 9. & accuser of our brethren is cast down, " which 
 
 iii. i. ^^ ^' accused them before our God day and night. 
 
 3tRom.viii. 11 And ^ they overcame him by the blood of 
 
 xv'i. 20. ' the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ; 
 
 T Luke xiv. 26. ^ and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
 
 is?xTS^'i3^' -^^ Therefore ^ rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that 
 
 ch.xviii.2o. ^^^11 -jj ^^Q^ a^^g ^Q ^-^Q inhabiters of the 
 
 a ch. viii. 13. 
 
 ,& xi. lu. earth and of the sea ! for the devil is come down 
 
 12. " To the inhabiters." a, A., B., C. omit. 
 
 Paul speaks of a great triumph of Christ at His Ascension over 
 Satan, " Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show 
 of them openly, triumphing over them" (Coloss. ii. 15). 
 
 10. " And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come 
 salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the 
 power of his Christ." We should have thought that a single word 
 ifrom God would have annihilated all the power of Satan, but it is 
 not so. The free will of man must be respected. Men must use 
 their own will and the means which God has given them. The 
 Blood of the Lamb must be pleaded by them, and the power of His 
 Word received by them must be manifested in their holding not 
 their lives dear unto them. We cannot say how all this actually 
 took place. It would seem as if the war in heaven depended not 
 merely on the prowess of the angels, but on this being followed up 
 by the pleading of the Cross by men and the manifestation of God's 
 Word in the life of men. Perhaps these two things went before the 
 angelic warfare and victory. 
 
 12. " Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.*' 
 It seems as if the inhabitants of heaven receive an addition to their 
 bliss by the casting out of Satan, and consequently there is greater 
 danger to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea (we should 
 think those who dwell in the isles of the sea) because, 
 
 " The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because 
 .he knoweth that he hath but a short time." In what way does he 
 
Chap. XII.] HE HATH BUT A SHORT TIME. 159 
 
 •unto you, having great wrath, ^ because he knoweth that he 
 hath but a short time. ^ ch. x. 6. 
 
 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast 
 
 unto the earth, he persecuted ^ the woman which " ver. 5. 
 brought forth the man child. 
 
 14 ** And to the woman were given two wings ^ ^^- ^'^' *• 
 
 ^ * o e ver. 6. 
 
 of a great eagle, ^ that she might fly ^ into the ^ ch. xvu. 3. 
 
 14. "Two wings." A. and C. read, "the two wings." 
 
 show his wrath ? Is it by the greater violence and subtlety of his 
 temptations? This can scarcely be, because he has always from 
 the first been able to tempt men. May it not be because he has now 
 more power to persecute ? thus he acts now through the beast re- 
 vealed in the next chapter, giving him ** his power, and his seat, 
 and great authority." It appears, both from our Lord's words and 
 other intimations of Scripture, that the persecutions and woes 
 when the end is approaching will be far more bitter than ever 
 before. 
 
 13. " And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, 
 he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child." 
 Here the original woman, Whose Child was caught up to the throne 
 of God, seems to disappear. Is then all between verses 7 and 12 by 
 way of episode, and does the action of the 13th verse follow on that of 
 the 7th ? Is the account of the war in heaven interjected, as it were, 
 to account for the further fury and violence of the dragon ? I think 
 so. The woman now appears as the Church, and properly so, if, 
 as we all believe, the Church is the product of the Incarnation. It 
 is not mere virtue which Satan hates and would destroy, but the 
 holiness which results from the New Nature. The dragon at first 
 would destroy the New Nature itself; now, as he cannot do that, he 
 seeks to destroy that Church which communicates it. 
 
 14. " And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle 
 that she might fly into the wilderness." I think that there is here 
 a manifest allusion to Exod. xix. 4, " Ye have seen what I did unto 
 the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought 
 you unto myself." We are not to look into any circumstances of 
 history to explain the meaning of these eagle's wings, but simply 
 to see in them the power of God in bringing His Church into a 
 
160 THE EATwTH HELPED THE WOMAN. [Revelation. 
 
 wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished ^for a time, 
 c Pan. vii. 25. and times, and half a time, from the face of the 
 
 & xii. 7. 
 
 serpent, 
 h isa. lix. 19. 15 And the serpent ^ cast out of his mouth 
 water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her 
 to be carried away of the flood. 
 
 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened 
 her mouth, and sw^allowed up the flood which the dragon 
 cast out of his mouth. 
 
 state of safety. To convince us of this we have only to look at 
 some of the explanations of expositors. Wordsworth, for instance, 
 considering them to be the two Testaments ; Mede explaining 
 them as the Roman Empire under its two successions of Caesars, 
 Eastern andWestern, protecting the Church ; Elliot as the two wings 
 of the Roman Empire united under Theodosius. 
 
 ** Unto her place," i.e.f not so much a local place as a state of 
 comparative safety. 
 
 ** A time, and times, and half a time." This is the same period 
 as the thousand, two hundred, and threescore days of verse 6. I 
 shall advert to these and other periods in my introduction. 
 
 In no case do we know at present when these periods begin. 
 
 15. "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood [or 
 river] after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away 
 of the flood." There has been considerable unanimity among 
 commentators that the river or flood signifies the incursions of 
 hostile nations, which, in some cases heathen (as the Assyrians or 
 Babylonians), or, in later ages, the Goths and Vandals, threatened 
 the existence of the Church. This shows that the dragon had 
 power not only to tempt men to heresy and sin, but to stir up 
 strife among nations, excited, of course, by the love of plunder and 
 desire to enlarge their territories. 
 
 16. "And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her 
 mouth," &c. This is remarkably true of the incursions of the 
 barbarians at the time of the extinction of the Western Empire, 
 for the invading Gothic hordes, instead of uprooting Christianity 
 were themselves with marvellous rapidity converted to the religion 
 of those whom they subdued. 
 
Ckap. XIL] THE DRAGON WAS WROTH. 161 
 
 17 And tlie dragon was wrotli with the woman, ' Gen. m. 15. 
 * and went to make war with the remnant of her xm. 7. 
 
 Thus Lange (quoted in Lee), " The earth, i.e., consolidated 
 ecclesiastical and political orders, devoured the stream (of the 
 German nations) and amalgamated with itself the wild tribes." 
 
 17. " And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to 
 make war," &c. Hitherto the dragon had persecuted the woman only. 
 Now, for the first time, her seed appears in fulfilment of the original 
 prophecy, *' between thy seed and her seed." Apparently the 
 woman is now in safety and her seed only is exposed to the wrath 
 of the dragon. I cannot give any explanation in the least degree 
 satisfactory of the woman being safe, or disappearing from view, and 
 her seed being exposed to the fury of the dragon. Owing to the 
 earth helping the woman she undoubtedly appears now to be in 
 safety, and yet her best and truest children, "the remnant of her 
 seed which keep the commandments of God " aremade war upon by 
 the dragon. Here, apparently, the true believers are considered as 
 separate from, i.e., as not identical with, the Church. 
 
 Alford has a singular way of getting over the difficulty. He 
 considers that the woman represents the true visible Church, which 
 in the contentions and declensions and false doctrine of the middle 
 ages disappears from view. What then is the seed of the woman — 
 to what body do they belong ? I am afraid that Alford would have 
 said that this is quite a secondary matter — if worth attention at all. 
 My own opinion respecting the difficulties of this place is that they 
 will be greatly minimized if we look upon the whole as given to us 
 to impress upon us that the whole conflict, from beginning to end, 
 in the Church itself as well as in the world, arises out of the original 
 enmity which reaches its culminating point in the attempted destruc- 
 tion of Jesus Christ, as soon as He was born, by Herod, the instrument 
 as well as impersonation of the dragon ; and in the latter part of the 
 vision the seed of the woman takes the place of the Virgin and of the 
 Church, which she represents, and culminates with the godly seed 
 only suffering the brunt of the enmity. 
 
 "Why is the woman, the Virgin, brought in at all ? Because she 
 was the means by which God brought about the Incarnation. Why 
 does she afterwards appear as the Church, or rather disappear in 
 her offspring? Because the enmity continues to the end, and will 
 
 M 
 
162 A BEAST RISE OUT OF THE SEA. [Revelation. 
 
 k ch. xiv. 12. seed, ^ which keep the commandments of God, 
 1 John v"'io! and have ^ the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
 
 ch. i. 2, 9. & 
 
 vi. 9. & XX. 4. 
 
 be found at the last to be an enmity not against human virtue but 
 against the true reconciliation to God, and the diffusion of His 
 grace by the renewal of His image in mankind which was in Christ 
 in virtue of His having been " conceived by the Holy Ghost and 
 bom of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 a Dan. vii. A ^^ I stood upou the sand of the sea, and 
 
 ^♦^' Xjl saw ^a beast rise up out of the sea. 
 
 1. "And I stood." So B., P., and most Cursives; but a, A., C, two Cursives, 
 Vulg., Syriac, Arm. read, "he stood." 
 
 1. " And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise 
 up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his 
 horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." 
 We now enter upon by far the most difficult vision of the Apoca- 
 lypse — the vision of the beast having seven heads and ten horns 
 (usually called the first beast). But with this beast is inseparably 
 joined by the Apostle a second beast, of a somewhat different 
 character in appearance, •' another beast coming out of the earth" 
 (the first comes out of the sea) verse 11 ; the second had " two horns 
 like a lamb," but he was in fact of the same evil character as the first 
 beast, for " he spake as a dragon." This second beast is never alone, 
 but always acts with reference to, and in the sight of, the first. 
 
 The interpretations which it will be necessary to take notice of 
 are three or perhaps four, and are the following : 
 
 Ist. The historical — these of Bishop Wordsworth and Mr. Elliot 
 — that the first beast is the Roman persecuting or anti-Christian 
 power, at first heathen, then transformed into nominal Christian, 
 under the ecclesiastical rule of the Popes. The second or lamblike 
 
Chap. XIII.] SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS. 163 
 
 ^ having seven heads and ten horns, and upon ^ ^^- ^"- ^- * 
 
 ° ^ xvu. 3, 9, 12. 
 
 beast being the Papal clergy as laying themselves out to uphold the 
 authority of the Papal See. 
 
 2nd. That of Dean Alford, who considers the first beast to be the 
 secular persecuting power, in fact heathen Eome, and then merging 
 into secular Christendom ; and the second, sacerdotalism, first in 
 heathenism and then in Christianity. 
 
 3rd. Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, and, I think, Dr. Lee, of Dublin, 
 explain the first beast as the brutal world-power, and the second 
 beast as the refined, intellectual, cultured world-spirit which, just 
 as much as the former, is antagonistic to Christ. 
 
 " I stood upon the sand of the sea." The authorities are in 
 favour of " I stood " {hTdOijv). Those who adopt the reading hrdOTj 
 suppose that this refers to the dragon of the last vision who stood 
 on the sand summoning the first beast to whom he might give his 
 power and authority to persecute the seed of the woman. 
 
 " The sea." According to Wordsworth, " From a confused and 
 tumultuous element." The power of the beast is thus represented 
 as due to a confused and restless condition of civil afi'airs and as 
 emerging therefrom. 
 
 " A beast rise up out of the sea." The word for beast is Orjpiovy 
 a wild beast, savage and ferocious ; an apt illustration of a 
 kingdom regardless of human life, and advancing by sanguinary 
 wars. 
 
 *' Having seven heads and ten horns." In the explanation given 
 of this in chap. xvii. 10, by the angel, the seven heads are seven 
 mountains, and then immediately following, as seven kings, *' five 
 are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come." 
 
 These seven kings are explained by Elliot, who says that he adopts 
 with the most entire satisfaction " that generally received Protestant 
 interpretation which, following the authoritative statements of Livy 
 and Tacitus, enumerates kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and 
 military tribunes as the five first constitutional ruling heads of the 
 Koman Empire ; then, as the sixth, the imperial head commencinf^ 
 with Octavian, better known as Augustus Caesar." Now if the 
 reader will turn to any Eoman history written for children, or to 
 any respectable dictionary, he will find, which probably he learned 
 when in his grammar school, that the dictators and decemvirs were 
 
164- THE XAME OF ELASPHEMY. [Revelation. 
 
 is horns ten crowns 
 name of blasphemy. 
 
 II Or, names, his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the' 
 
 ch. xvii. 3. 
 
 in BO sense heads as the kings or consuls were, because they were 
 only temporary governors elected for particular emergencies. 
 
 Bishop Wordsworth does not commit himself to any such a» 
 notion, but directs attention to the seven hills which, as he thinks^ 
 are absolutely decisive as to the fact that Eome is meant ; but Con- 
 stantinople — the new Eome, the rival of Eome — is built upon seven 
 hills, and these hills I believe far more defined, far more con- 
 spicuous than those of old Eome. Bishop Wordsworth explains. 
 the seven heads as meaning kingdoms which the last one — the 
 Eoman — absorbed into itself : 1, the Babylonian ; 2, the Medo- 
 Persian ; 3, the Greek or Macedonian ; 4, the Syrian ; 5, the 
 Egyptian ; 6, the Eoman Heathen Imperial. This seems mora 
 likely than the former exposition. 
 
 " And ten horns." These horns are explained by the angel in 
 chap. xvii. 12 as ten kings. Bishop Wordsworth does not say who 
 these ten kings are but refers his readers to chap. xvii. On turning 
 to this place, however, we find no list of these kings, only that 
 they were Papal at the first and yet gave their power to the beast, 
 and then turned upon the harlot and hated her and ate her flesh. 
 
 Mr. Elliot describes these horns as ten kingdoms which the 
 Gothic invaders created, who all became the subjects or vassals of 
 the Eoman See. He gives two lists. One between a.d. 486 to 490, 
 Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Allemans, Burgundians, Visigoths, Suevi^ 
 Vandals, Heruli, Bavarians, Ostrogoths. Then in a.d. 532, the list 
 of kingdoms still remained ten, Anglo-Saxons, Franks of Central 
 Alleman, Franks of Eastern, and Burgundic Franks of South- 
 eastern France, the Visigoths, the Suevi, the Vandals, the Ostro- 
 goths in Italy, the Bavarians, and the Lombards, ten in all^ 
 and he adds, "At certain long subsequent epochs of time . . . the 
 number ten will be found to have been adhered to from time te 
 time as that of the Western Eoman or Papal kingdoms." Now I 
 cannot see how with any truth this can be asserted : take the 
 Eeformation period. The kingdoms then were England, Scotland, 
 France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, three (Naples, Eoman States^ 
 Savoy), Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Poland^ 
 
Chap. XIII.] HIS MOUTH AS OF A LION. 165 
 
 2 '^ And the beast which I saw was like unto a <= i>an. vIL 
 leopard, ^ and his feet were as the feet of a bear, « ©an vii 
 * and his mouth as the mouth of a lion : and ^the ^ ch xu. 9. 
 
 Paissia, in all fourteen. And why is Turkey to be excluded ? If it 
 was anti-Papal so were England and Scotland. 
 
 "And upon his horns ten crowns." Eather" ten diadems." Bishop 
 Wordsworth takes no notice of the diadems on these heads, whereas 
 Elliot makes very much of them. He asserts that the Gothic 
 kings who divided the old Eoman Empire between them received 
 at their investiture not the crown, but the diadem which had been 
 worn from Diocletian's time by the emperors, thereby asserting 
 their absolute sovereignty. 
 
 *' And upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Perhaps " names 
 of blasphemy." If this describes the beast in his heathen state the 
 name (or names) of blasphemy consist in the divine titles and con- 
 sequent idolatrous worship which was accorded to the emperors, 
 the heads of the heathen Eoman state. 
 
 2. " And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his 
 feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a 
 lion." This seems to identify this fourth beast as the great world- 
 power which Daniel saw in the likeness of three beasts which are all 
 united in this beast. The first, the Babylonian, was like a lion ; 
 the second, the Persian, like a bear ; the third, the Grecian, like a 
 leopard; but the fourth one, "dreadful and terrible and strong 
 <?xceedingly," was not likened by the prophet Daniel to any 
 particular wild beast; but the ten horns out of his head seem to be- 
 token identity with this Apocalyptic beast. 
 
 Now it will be necessary to note that this description of St. 
 John's therion as following so closely upon that of Daniel can only 
 refer to a great heathen world-power, or a world-power which, though 
 nominally Christian, was entirely heathen in its antagonism to God 
 and Christ. We cannot for a moment suppose that this describes a 
 nominal Christian power rising up out of the sea. We shall have then 
 to look carefully to this, how a beast, not only originally heathen but 
 the evident successor of certain idolatrous world-powers, becomes 
 Christian without losing its character as a therion, becomes the 
 successor of Daniel's three beasts, or rather four beasts. The 
 heathen Eoman Empire may be the embodiment of these four 
 
166 HIS DEADLY WOUND WAS HEALED. [Revelatioi^, 
 
 dragon gave him his power, ^ and his seat, ^ and great 
 6 ch. xvi. 10. authority. 
 
 *ver.i2 14. ^ "^^ ^ ^^^ ^^® ^^ ^^^ heads 'as it were 
 
 t Gr. slain. f wounded to death ; and his deadly wound was 
 
 3. "I saw" omitted by a, A., B., C, P., forty Cursives, most versions. 
 
 beasts of Daniel, but a Christian, or even professedly Christian 
 power, I think, cannot. If the originally heathen beast becomes 
 converted to Christianity, some mention would surely have been 
 made of so surprising a change. 
 
 " And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat [throne], and 
 great authority." The dragon (that is the devil, " that old serpent^ 
 called the Devil, and Satan ") "gave him (the beast) his power, and 
 his seat, and great authority." When did this take place ? Taking 
 the beast to be the Eoman Empire, it might have taken place when 
 the Eoman state was first founded, in which case the evil one must 
 have had some sort of prescience that the new-founded civitas 
 would be in its whole career inimical to God ; or was it given when 
 the ten Gothic kingdoms came into being ? but they came inta 
 being as kingdoms within the bounds of the old Roman Empire 
 when they Christianized themselves : in such a case this enormous 
 difficulty would have to be met, that when these ten kingdoms 
 became Christian they would be fitter to be the instruments of 
 Satan than in their heathen state. 
 
 3. " And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death ; 
 and his deadly wound [the wound of his death] was healed." This 
 is explained somewhat diversely by the two historical, or anti-Papal 
 commentators. Wordsworth represents it as signifying this : " The 
 head that was first wounded, after the age of St. John, was the 
 imperial head of Rome. It was wounded in a.d. 476, when Romu- 
 lus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor, abdicated the imperial 
 dignity, and the Roman Empire ceased to be. It is not said in 
 this prophecy that the head was restored, but that the wound of 
 the death of the beast was healed, and he lived." The Bishop 
 considers that the life was restored, and so the wound of his death 
 healed in the Papacy. 
 
 Elliot considers that the deadly wound was inflicted by the sup- 
 pression of the heathen worship, especially by the action of the 
 Emperor Theodosius, who would not allow even toleration for the 
 
Chap. XIIL] WHO IS LIKE UNTO THE BEAST f 167 
 
 healed : and ^ all the world wondered after the ^ ch. xvii. s. 
 beast. 
 
 4 And they worshipj^ed the dragon which gave 
 power unto the beast : and they worshipped the 
 beast, saying, ^ Who is like unto the beast ? who • ch. xviii. is. 
 is able to make war with him ? 
 
 4. "Which gave power unto the beast." So N, A., C, P., several Cursives, Vulg. 
 (Am.), Syriac, ^th., &c. 
 
 heathen worship. *' We read that in a full meeting of the Senate 
 the Emperor proposed, according to the form of the Eepublic, 
 whether the worship of Jupiter or that of Christ should be the 
 religion of the Eomans ; and that, on a regular division, Jupiter 
 was condemned and degraded by a large majority " (Gibbon quoted 
 in Elliot). And then we read that " the Bishops of Eome began to 
 be a new head of empire to it, and that in the rise of the Papal 
 superstition to supremacy the deadly wound of its last ruling 
 pagan head was healed." 
 
 Wordsworth quotes the words of Bishop Andrews. " The seven- 
 headed beast is the Koman power in its different successive forms, 
 first as it was under the pagans, and next as it is under the Popes. 
 That power received a deadly wound in the Empire, and revived 
 under the Papacy." 
 
 " And all the world wondered after the beast." 
 
 4. " And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto 
 the beast : and they worshipped the beast, saying. Who is like unto 
 the beast, who is able," &c. Bishop Wordsworth, who is anxious 
 to show that this refers to the Papacy, quotes several passages in 
 which TrpoaKvviiv is used in a lower sense than as indicating the 
 worship due to the Supreme Being amongst men (Matt. iv. 10), 
 but it is quite evident that St. John is describing what he considers 
 a very great sin for which no palliation or excuse can be made. It 
 is evidently worship of the most idolatrous character which is here 
 offered to the dragon, and knowingly and of set purpose, because 
 "he hath given his authority to the world-power." The very 
 words in which this worship is embodied are given : "Who is like 
 unto the beast," reminding us of the words of Micah (vii. 18, " who 
 is a God ") and to the words of the Song of Moses in Exodus, 
 
1G8 A MOUTH SPEAKING BLASPHEMIES. [Revelation 
 
 5 And there was given unto liini ™ a moutli speaking 
 m Dan. vii. 8, great things and blasphemies ; and power was 
 \\OT,tomake given unto him || to continue ''forty and two 
 nTh.xi.2.& months. 
 ^"- 6- 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy 
 
 "Who is like unto thee, Lord, among the gods?" (Exod. 
 XV. 11). 
 
 *' All the world wondered after the beast .... and they wor- 
 shipped the dragon," &c. No worship of the evil one has as yet 
 occm'red like this in any part of the world known to us. No men 
 that we have ever heard of have ever worshipped the evil one be- 
 cause he has set up another power of evil to whom he has made 
 over his own power and authority. It reads like a worship of evil 
 as such, and of this the Church of Eome has not been guilty, 
 neither has heathen Eome, whose worship, we are taught, sprung 
 out of that of the powers of nature, as the sky, the sea, the powers 
 of reproduction. 
 
 5. "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great 
 things and blasphemies ; and power was given unto him to con- 
 tinue forty and two months." 
 
 6. "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God .... 
 and his tabernacle." If these blasphemies are what are usually 
 called blasphemies, that is, words impugning the majesty, the 
 sovereignty, the goodness of Almighty God, and if to " blaspheme His 
 tabernacle (and) them that dwell in heaven " be to speak evil of the 
 departed saints and the angels, then assuredly no dynasty, or epis- 
 copal succession, or any kingdom, or any ten kingdoms, singly, or 
 united, or divided, have done this. The Turks who took Constanti- 
 nople, and put an end to the Greek Empire, may have done some- 
 thing like this with respect to Jesus Christ, when they affirm, as 
 all Mahomedans do, there is no God but the one God (Allah, the 
 representative of the Hebrew Elohim) and Mahomet is his pro- 
 I^het : but there was no blasphemy of the name of the Supreme 
 Being as such till the time of the French Revolution. If the beast 
 represents the pagan Roman Empire then, as I said, the Name of 
 Jesus may have been blasphemed, in comparison with Gods 
 bupposed to represent the variousfunctionsof nature, but after this, 
 
Chap. XIIL] BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD. 16^ 
 
 against God, to blaspheme his name, ° and his tabernacle, 
 and them that dwell in heaven. Co^l i'l 9! ^*' 
 
 when the Empire became Christian, there was no blaspheming of 
 the name of the Trinity, or of any Person in the Trinity ; but the 
 words of St. John imply with certainty that there was. Bishop 
 "Wordsworth attempts to draw a distinction between (iXaacpnpLtlv 
 Trpdg Tov Qeuv and (Skaacpmi^iv rbv Qebv, but both are used in this very 
 passage. 
 
 What can be blasphemy against the na^ne of God, but blas- 
 phemy against Him as the Author of good, or the Father of the 
 Son, or the Judge of all. Mr. Elliot accuses the Bishop of 
 Piome of blasphemy because he claims to be the Vicar of Christ. 
 But surely if we read the New Testament we shall see that Christ 
 evidently desires very strongly that His ministers should consider 
 themselves as representatives of Himself. "He that heareth you 
 heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me." "As 
 my Father sent me, so send I you." Now the Bishop of Eome in 
 assuming to be the perpetual representative of Christ may be 
 very wrong, but exaggerating certain features of Christ's own 
 Christianity is not blasphemy. In page 362 of his third volume of 
 *' Horse Apocalypticee," note 3, Mr. Elliot gives us a specimen of 
 the blasphemy of certain atheists at the time of the French Eevolu- 
 tion. " Three of the leaders of the municipality," says Alison 
 (ii. 18) "publicly expressed their determination to dethrone the 
 King of Heaven, as well as the monarchs of the earth. The 
 comedian Monort cried in the Church of St. Eoque : ' God, if you 
 exist, avenge your injured name. I bid you defiance. You remain 
 silent. Y^'ou dare not launch your thunders. Who after this will 
 beheve in your existence ?' " Now if it be blasphemy for a man to 
 assume to represent Christ, even as a perpetual Apostle, what name 
 can be given to this ? 
 
 It appears to me that St. John in his words in verse 6, desires to 
 express no modified form of blasphemy, but the very extremity 
 of it. 
 
 " And power was given to him to continue forty and two months." 
 If forty and two months be actual months, i.e., three years and a 
 half, then, in God's infinite mercy, such a scourge of men has but a 
 comparatively short time, but if it means, on the year-day system, 
 
170 OVER ALL KINDREDS. [Revelation. 
 
 7 And it was given nnto him ^to make war with the 
 p Dan vii 21. saints, and to overcome them: ^ and power was 
 
 en. XI. 7. & ^ 
 
 xii. 17. given him over all kindreds, and tonsrues, and 
 
 q ch. xi. 18. , . 
 
 & xvii. 15. nations. 
 
 1,260 years, then ihe history of European religion, at least of Western 
 Europe, has been, at least during the greater part of it, one continued 
 blasphemy against the name of God and His saints and His angels, 
 if the body followed at all the leading of the head. I for one do 
 not believe this. 
 
 7. " And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and 
 to overcome them." Who are these saints ? According to the 
 New Testament meaning of saint they are those who are baptized 
 into the Church of Christ, and continue in its fellowship and make 
 a credible profession, but, according to Mr. Elliot, they are the 
 Paulicians, the Waldenses, and Albigenses, who were destroyed as 
 heretics. In fact it was improper, indeed sinful, to give the name 
 of saints to any persons in communion with the Church of Rome. 
 The most godly self-denying priest, if he was in communion with 
 the Church of Rome, and upheld the Papal supremacy, was a 
 follower of Antichrist. St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anselm, St. Ber- 
 nard were none of them saints of God, the adherence to the Papal 
 system turned their religion into blasphemy. The war with the 
 saints meant the persecutions of those who, in the middle ages, 
 opposed the corruptions of the Church of Rome. Now I would desire 
 to give every honour to these noble-hearted men who, even though 
 they held some errors, and were imperfect in their Church organiza- 
 tion, and their views of the Sacraments, protested in the name of 
 God against the Papal tyranny, but it seems to me absurd to the 
 last degree to confine the term '* saints " to them, good men though 
 they undoubtedly were, and cruelly treated, not for their goodness, 
 but for their opposition to the pretensions of the Papacy. 
 
 " And to overcome them." If by "them " is meant the oppo- 
 nents of the Papacy, then that was by no means all through the 
 period of its domination. At and after the Reformation, in many in- 
 stances, the Protestants asserted their rights and liberties, and 
 overcame the Papists, as in this country and in the United Pro- 
 vinces, and in a large portion of Germany, Switzerland, and else- 
 where. 
 
Chap. XIII.] ALL SHALL WORSHIP HIM. 171 
 
 8 And all tliat dwell upon the earth shall wor- "■ Ex. xsxii, 
 
 ,.,.,, , . . , 32. Dan. xii. 
 
 ship him, '^ whose names are not written m the i. pmi. iv. 3. 
 
 book of life of the Lamb slain * from the f ounda- xx. if, I's. & 
 
 tion of the world. s di.'xvii. 8. 
 
 " And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and 
 nations." Mr. Elliot is very particular in impressing upon us that 
 the Papal domination must be sought for only in the area of the 
 kingdoms of Western Europe, which are supposed to be represented 
 by the ten horns of the beast. His words are : " It seems reason- 
 able to me that we should seek the ten kingdoms on the territory 
 not of the whole Koman Empire, but of the Western only [italics 
 Mr. Elliot's] . For the separation of the Koman world into Eastern 
 and Western — a separation first sketched out and prepared by Dio- 
 cletian's formation of the beast's seventh head, and one by which 
 the latter division came alone to be attached to the capital of the 
 Seven Hills — I say this separation and division was effectually 
 carried out in the interval between the first wounding of the 
 seventh head, and the rise of the eighth, or Papal. Further it was 
 over this part only of the Eoman world that the Gothic flood swept 
 away the old imperial government, and made room for new king- 
 doms to arise." 
 
 But surely it is manifestly wrong to interpret the power 
 *' over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations " as power over ten 
 only. And from these ten we are told we must exclude Constanti- 
 nople, and Ephesus, the seat of St. John's Apostleship, and Judaea, 
 where he was born, and the great historical kingdoms of Egypt and 
 Persia and Mesopotamia and Arabia. 
 
 8. " And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose 
 names are not written," &c. By worship we suppose (if the allu- 
 sion is to the Bishop of Eome) is meant reverence to his sacerdotal 
 powers, but are we really to suppose that the acceptance or denial 
 of the Papal pretensions is in every human being a test of the 
 secret and eternal election of God. Surely no man, unless he is 
 utterly blinded by Orange partizanship, can say such a thing. 
 
 *' The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In the pur- 
 pose of God, Who designed to save all men that would be saved by 
 the Blood of the Lamb, slain first in type in the sacrifices ordained 
 in the first family, and in due time immolated on the Cross. 
 
172 I BEHELD ANOTHER BEAST. [Revelation. 
 
 t ch. ii. 7. 9 ^ If any man have an ear, let him hear. 
 
 w Is. xxxiii. 1. 10 *" He that leadeth into captivity shall go into 
 
 ^1 Gen. ix. 6. captivity : "" he that killeth with the sword must be 
 
 Matt. XXVI. 52. . ^ \ 
 
 y ch. xiv. 12. killed with the sword. ^ Here is. the patience and 
 
 the faith of the saints. 
 
 » ch. xi. 7. 11 And I beheld another beast ^coming up out 
 
 10. The readings here are very confusing. Alford reads and translates, "If any. 
 is for captivity into captivity he goeth : if any to be slain vrith the sword he must 
 be slain with the sword." I adhere to the sense contained in the Vulgate, " Qui in 
 captivitatem duxerit in captivitatem vadet. Qui in gladio occiderat, oportet cum 
 gladio occidi." 
 
 9. " If any man have an ear, let him hear." Taking up the 
 words so often uttered by the Lord, that besides the outward ear 
 there is a circumcised ear, the organ of an understanding heart. 
 Is it possible, then, that a man may have his ear spiritually opened, 
 and turn a deaf ear ? It may be possible. 
 
 10. *' He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity : he 
 that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword." There 
 is a reference to, or rather quotation from, Jeremiah xv. 1, &c. : 
 *' Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood 
 before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people : cast 
 them out of my sight, and let them go forth. And it shall come 
 to pass, if they say unto thee, "Whither shall we go forth? then thou 
 shalt tell them. Thus saith the Lord ; Such as are for death, to 
 death ; and such as are for the sword to the sword." But this is 
 a declaration of vengeance, and seems not to be applicable in this 
 place. It seems to me that the key to it is in the Lord's words to 
 Simon Peter, " Put up thy sword into its sheath, for all they that 
 take the sword shall perish by the sword." The saints are not to 
 resist with carnal weapons. If they take the sword they seem at 
 this juncture to lose their patience in following the footsteps of 
 Christ, and their faith in the protection of God (Matt. xxvi. 52). 
 
 11. "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; 
 and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." 
 This beast is called elsewhere the false prophet, thus cliap. xix. 20, 
 where he is, as here, described as doing miracles in the sight of the 
 first beast. 
 
Chap. XIII. ] HE SPAKE AS A DEACON. 173 
 
 of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he 
 spake as a dragon. 
 
 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before 
 him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to 
 worship the first beast, ^ whose deadly wound was * ver. 3. 
 
 ■hpnlp/l ^ I>eut. xiii. 
 
 neaiea. 1^ 2, 3. Mati.; 
 
 13 And ^he doeth great wonders, "so that he 2TheS.'ii. 9. 
 maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth ^^' t/-^' ^'^^ ... 
 
 <= 1 Kin. xviii. 
 
 in the sisrht of men, 38. 2 Kin. i. 
 
 =• 10, 12. 
 
 His horns like a lamb betoken that he does not exhibit the same 
 ferocity as the first ; but his speaking as a dragon implies that he 
 dissembles and deceives like the old serpent, or dragon, M^bo 
 deceived Eve through his subtleties. It does not imply ferocity of 
 speech so much as malignity and plausibility. 
 
 12. "And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before 
 him [that is, in the presence of the first beast] , and causeth the 
 earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose 
 deadly wound," &c. Apparently this second beast exists only for 
 the sake of the first. There has been as yet no separate institution, 
 or monarchy, or dynastj^ in the history of the world which has 
 acted thus, and so it has been taken by ultra-Protestant expositors, 
 as Wordsworth and Elliot, to signify the Papal clergy, but there is 
 to me an enormous objection to this in the very nature of thino-?, 
 for the Papal clergy are part and parcel of the system of the 
 Papacy. They are an integral and necessary part of the same whole. 
 A bishop is powerless without the clergy of his diocese. A metro- 
 politan cannot be such without the bishops and clergy of his pro- 
 vince. I cannot believe, then, the Apostle intended to make two 
 institutions of what is palpably but one, 
 
 13. "And he doeth great wonders [(TrjfiHa fxeydXa, the words 
 used by the Lord in Matt. xxiv. 24], so that he maketh fire to 
 come down from heaven," &c. Are these false or true miracles ? 
 Are they mere jugglery or imposture, or are they real miracles 
 done by evil supernatural power ? The Lord's words in Matt. xxiv. 
 24 certainly imply that the miracles done before the time of the 
 end will be real. They will deceive, if possible, the very elect. 
 And I cannot help thinking that the widespread denial of the 
 
174 DECEIVETH BY THOSE MIRACLES. [Revelation. 
 dch.xiL9. 14 And '^deceiveth them that dwell on the 
 
 & XIX. 20. 
 
 e 2 Thess. ii. earth ® by the means of those miracles which he 
 
 •9, 10. "^ 
 
 reality of the miracles of the Bible will prepare the way for the 
 ready acceptance of the^e miracles of Antichrist. Men will have 
 given up all idea that what they call the laws, but which they should 
 rather call the routine of nature, can be set aside or interfered with. 
 They find that it is set aside, and they fall down and worship him 
 who by the power of the evil one sets it aside, even Antichrist. 
 
 It is absurd to suppose that such miracles as we read of in 
 the "Lives of the Saints" can be the fulfilment of such a pro- 
 phecy as " He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire to come 
 down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Mark these 
 words, "in the sight of men." Mr. Elliot considers that tliis refers 
 to Transubstantiation, which he likens to calling down fire from 
 heaven, but how can this be said to be *' in the sight of men.' 
 Transubstantiation is a hidden thing. Though a fanatic (as 
 Loyola) may have imagined that he saw it, no congregation has 
 ever seen the change take place. Elliot also refers to the ceremony 
 of an excommunication, of lighting candles and casting them down ; 
 hut he must be playing with the understanding of his readers in 
 putting such a thing in writing as the fulfilment of this jDrophecy. 
 There is not, that I am aware of, any miracle of the agents of the 
 Papacy which has found its way into history, and has been treated 
 by respectable chroniclers as serious enough (on account of the 
 evidences for it) to be gravely discussed. 
 
 Alford, in noticing an allusion of Victorinus to some lying 
 wonders permitted to the pagan priests to try the faith of God's 
 people, writes: "We cannot help, as we read, thinking of the 
 moving images, and winking and speaking pictures so often em- 
 ployed for purposes by their far less excusable Papal successors." 
 But any serious thinking upon this point would convince us that 
 such follies cannot be mentioned as the arjfiela jxEydXa of our Lord 
 and St. John, or of the anomos of St. Paul, whose coming is after 
 the energizing of Satan, 'in all power, and signs, and wonders of 
 falsehood ' (2 Thess. ii. 9). 
 
 14. "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth." Those that 
 dwell on the earth cannot well be only the ten kingdoms, of which 
 three were irretrievably lost to the Papacy. Those that dwell on 
 
Chap. XIIL] AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST. 175 
 
 had power to do in the sight of the beast ; saying to them 
 that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to 
 the beast, which had the wound by a sword, * and ^ 2 Kin. xx. 7. 
 did live. 
 
 15 And he had power to give f life unto the t Gr. breath. 
 image of the beast, that the image of the beast 
 
 the earth, are not to include, we are told, such empires as Turkey 
 and Eussia, and the enormous bodies of men in Asia, India, China. 
 
 " Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make 
 an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did 
 live." This image is interpreted by Elliot as signifying the work of 
 the general councils held under the Papacy. It is difficult, however, 
 to see how this could be. The general councils when assembled upheld 
 or asserted the doctrines of the Papacy, and initiated proceedings 
 against heretics, but this is a very indirect way of describing the 
 making an image of the Papacy and making men worship it. To 
 8ay that the Papal councils were themselves an image of the Papacy 
 fieems still more wide of the mark. 
 
 Bishop Wordsworth has a very different interpretation. " The 
 first beast is the Papacy, and the eUajv or image of it, is the 
 personification of the Papacy in the visible form of the Pontiff for 
 the time being." But every succession of rulers, whether in Church 
 or State, must be represented by the ruler for the time being, or 
 it would as a power, either of the world or of the Church, cease to 
 exist. The second beast, in Papal matters, does not make an 
 image of the first. By election the succession is continued, and 
 each Pope inherits the powers and prerogatives of his predecessor. 
 
 15. *' Atid he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, 
 that the image of the beast should both speak," &c. Wordsworth 
 remarks on this : " The Papal hierarchy first consult together and 
 frame decrees, or prepare rescripts, either in councils summoned 
 by the Pope, or by some other means prescribed by him, and when 
 this preliminary process has been gone through, then they submit 
 their decrees to the Pope, and desire him to ratify their verdict by 
 his authority. This is supposed to be the fulfilment of the prophecy 
 'that the image of the beast should speak.' Till, therefore, these 
 formalities hftve been gone through he is supposed to be speechless." 
 
176 A MARK IN THEIR RIGHT HAND. [Revelation. 
 
 shoiild both speak, ^and cause that as many as would not 
 ? ch. xvi. 2. worship the image of the beast should be killed. 
 XX. 4.' ' 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, 
 
 & xix'^20 & ^^^-^ ^^^ poor, free and bond, ^ f to receive a mark 
 ^^- *• . , in their right hand, or in their foreheads : 
 them'. 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he 
 
 ch. xiv. 11. that had the mark, or ' the name of the beast, ^ or 
 the number of his name. 
 1 ch. xvii. 9. 18 ^ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath under- 
 
 16. " To receive a mark "— " that they give to them." 
 
 "And cause that as many as would not worship the image of the 
 beast should be killed." This implies an almost universal massacre 
 of those who, if this second beast is the Papal clergy, do not acknow- 
 ledge the Papacy. 
 
 16. "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, 
 free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their 
 foreheads." Bishop Wordsworth explains this mark as the pro- 
 fession of the Papal Creed, particularly the articles appended at the 
 Council of Trent to the Nicene Creed. Mr. Elliot applies it to the 
 cross which Crusaders against heretics were to wear on their 
 vesture. He also explains it as the sign of the cross on their fore- 
 heads received at confirmation, as well as attendance at mass, &c. 
 
 17. •' And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the 
 mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." If 
 this is to be taken Hterally, then in the domain of the Papacy it 
 has been very laxly observed indeed. Mr. Elliot cites the decrees 
 of but two or three councils or synods, one the third Lateran, a synod 
 at Tours, and a decree of the Constance Council. Certainly it has 
 made no mark in the commercial history of this country. If it is 
 to be taken spiritually that no one is to teach or to administer the 
 Sacraments but those who have received the Apostolical succession, 
 then it is true of all countries possessicg the Roman obedience, 
 but I need scarcely say that buying and selling is a very unlikely 
 way of describing spiritual intercourse. 
 
 18. "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count 
 the number of the beast : for it is the number of a man ; and his 
 
Chap. XIII.] THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. 177 
 
 standing count ™ the number of the beast : ° for it is the 
 number of a man ; and his number is Six hun- "" ch. xv. 2. 
 dred threescore and six. " ^ " ^^^' ^ * 
 
 number is Six hundred threescore and six." An immense number 
 of conjectures have been hazarded as to the significance of this. 
 All readers capable of understanding a treatise on the Apocalypse 
 know that in Greek and Eoman times the letters of the alphabet had 
 each a numerical value, and these values of the letters of any particu- 
 lar name when added together make the number of the name. A 
 number of names have been expressed in Greek letters, and their 
 letters added up, Mahomet, for instance, Napoleon Buonaparte, 
 and even Luther. A Father of the Church (Irenaeus), living within 
 one hundred years after the writing of the Apocalypse, mentions 
 three names. He says : " The name Evanthas {YivavQaq) contains 
 the required number, but I make no allegation regarding it. Then 
 also Lateinos {KaruvoQ) has the number six hundred and sixty-six, 
 and it is a very probable solution, this being the name of the last 
 kingdom (of the four seen by Daniel). For the Latins are they 
 who at present bear rule." He gives, however, but hesitatingly, the 
 preference to the word Teitan. Taking the Roman Empire to be 
 the fourth beast of Daniel, this name Lateinos is by far the most 
 likely of all. The solution is as follows : 
 
 X = 30 
 a = 1 
 T = 300 
 e = 5 
 t = 10 
 V = 50 
 = 70 
 e = 200 
 
 666 
 
 It will now be necessary for me to recapitulate my reasons for 
 not believing that these two beasts are two different aspects of the 
 Papacy : the one, the first, the individual for the time being holding 
 the Papal See, and the other, his clergy. 
 
 In order to this let us go back to the former vision (in chap, xii.) 
 
 N 
 
178 THE BARBARIAN FLOODS. [Revelation. 
 
 the vision of the woman bringing forth the man child, then this 
 woman, as representing the Church, fleeing into the wilderness, 
 and there being persecuted by the dragon who casts out of his 
 mouth floods of water to destroy her. 
 
 In this is described the origin of the Church. The Church of the 
 New Testament has its origin in the Incarnation, at least so far as 
 this, that it would not have existed unless the Son of God " for us 
 men and for our salvation had come down from heaven, and had 
 been incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and had 
 been made man." 
 
 The origin of the Church was not out of the sea. It did not come 
 into existence because " the four winds of the heaven strove upon the 
 great sea." Nor, as Bishop Wordsworth says, "From a confused and 
 tumultuous element — a confused and restless condition of civil 
 affairs." It was the kingdom of heaven upon earth. Its birthday 
 was the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost worked in men the 
 new nature of the God-man. When it established itself upon earth 
 it attracted to itself the fiercest enmity of the evil one. When it 
 existed only in its Head he stood ready to devour it, and when it 
 had increased and multiplied, and had subdued to itself the great 
 world-power by Christianizing the Empire, there was a second 
 crisis brought on by the dragon which (humanly speaking) 
 wellnigh annihilated it. The dragon cast out of his mouth floods 
 of water, which almost all interpreters agree as signifying the 
 incursions of northern barbarians which overwhelmed as by a flood 
 the western part of the Roman Empire. It did not destroy 
 Christianity, however, as it threatened to do, for the barbarians 
 were absorbed in the populations of the various countries which 
 they overran, and became Christians and even orthodox Christians.^ 
 
 1 " But God had his own means of preserving the Church visible, and within it His 
 true Church— the Christian. The Trinitarian faith had been so inwrought into the 
 national minds and habits, as well as institutions and laws, especially from the 
 effects of Tlieodosius' reign, that to sweep Christianity away it needed to sweep 
 away the Roman population itself .... Superstitious and earthly though the Roman 
 population had become, yet thus far they did service to Christ's Church in her 
 present exigency. In those continuous and bloody wars, of which the Western 
 world had been the theatre, the barbarous invading population was so thinned, so 
 absorbed as it were into the land they had invaded, that it needed their incorpora- 
 tion as one people with the conquered to make up the necessary constituency of 
 kingdoms. ... At first indeed it was for the most part Arian pseudo-Christianity. 
 Such was their profession in France, Spain, and Africa. But after a century or 
 
Chap. XIII.] THE BLASPHEMY OF THE BEAST. 179 
 
 These Gothic conquests became the ten kingdoms into which we 
 learn the Eomano-Gothic Empire subsided. Now these (according 
 to the anti-Papal interpreters) constituted the body of the first 
 beast. We are told very expressly that we are to look for them in 
 Western Europe, and we are expressly told nowhere else. But if 
 this be so, then unquestionably the bringing forth the body of the 
 beast out of the tumultuous sea of nations was the act of God. It 
 was because these ten kingdoms adopted orthodox Christianity that 
 the Papal beast (or beast in its Papal aspect) had existence. The Pope 
 being considered to be the head of the Church in Western Europe 
 would be accepted as such along with all the other parts of Latin 
 Christianity, as the confession of the Trinity, and the Incarnation; so 
 that it is astounding to think that the greatest misfortune to the 
 Church was the conversion of these nations to Christianity,forif they 
 had continued either heathen or Arian, the greatest evil that ever 
 befell Christianity, the rise of Antichrist, would not have been. 
 
 Verse 4. There has been hitherto no such thing in history as 
 this united worship of the evil one and of the beast. All men, by 
 a sort of straining of words, may be said to worship the author of 
 evil when they commit any sin whatsoever, but this worship is 
 described as something very different from following ordinary sinful 
 inclinations. It is saying " Who is like unto the beast ? Who is able 
 to make war against him ? " It seems as if those who said this had 
 deliberately chosen evil to be their good. They desired in so many 
 words the downfall of good and the future triumph of evil. 
 
 Verse 6. " And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against 
 God." What would be blasphemy against the name of God? 
 Surely it could only be to deny His Attributes, His Eternity, 
 His Goodness, His Justice, His Eternal Fatherhood, as being the 
 Father from all eternity of one Eternal Son. The pretensions of 
 the Bishop of Eome have been quite different from this. They 
 have been, in so far as they or some of them are evil, in a different 
 sphere of evil so to speak. 
 
 Verae 7. " And power was given him over all kindreds, and 
 
 more of the flux and reflux of the invading flood, this too was abandoned for the 
 more orthodox Trinitarian Christianity. The influence of the Roman See, which 
 was gradually more and more operative with the barbarians, powerfully tended to 
 this result."— Elliot, vol. iii. p. 63. The candid reader will readily acknowledge that 
 this was a good work for the See of Rome to do, on the very eve of its becoming 
 Antichrist. 
 
180 THE ANTICHRIST OF ST. PAUL. [Revelation, 
 
 tongues," &c. No words can more fully describe the aggregate of 
 all human beings inhabiting the surface of the earth, and yet we 
 are strictly enjoined (by Mr. Elliot) to limit this expression to the 
 inhabitants of ten kingdoms — some of them very small ones ; the 
 sphere of the ministrations of the Apostle not being among them, 
 but 500 miles away from the nearest. 
 
 Verse 8. "All that dwell upon the earth," &c. So that there is,, 
 according to this statement, no elect Christian amongst those who 
 accept the Papacy. Every evil man will sooner or later adore 
 him. 
 
 Verse 12. " And causeth the earth and them that dwell therein 
 to worship." This can only have even a semblance of fulfilment 
 in history by making one institution into two, and accounting 
 the Church or Bishop of Rome to be the first beast, and its clergy the 
 second. The worship here, too, is not worship as used in verse 4 of 
 this chapter, but simply an acknowledgment of Papal infallibility in 
 matter of doctrine. 
 
 Verse 13. "And he doeth great wonders," &c. No one 
 since the Apostle's time has performed the semeia here described. 
 The supposed miracles, such as the liquefaction of the blood of St. 
 Januarius, have been obstacles in the way of the hearty reception 
 of Papal pretensions rather than commendations of them. 
 
 We have now shortly to consider what anti-Papal interpreters 
 consider the strongest point in the proof of the identification of the 
 Papacy with the Antichrist. They lay down that the beast of 
 Bevelation xiii. is the man of sin of St. Paul, and one of their main 
 points is this, that there is a certain let or hindrance, foretold by 
 St. Paul, to the appearance of the man of sin which must be taken 
 away before he is permitted to appear, and this they affirm to be 
 the Roman Empire, which in its western phase disappeared with 
 the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, when the "Western Empire 
 fell to pieces and the Gothic kingdoms, Franks, Burgundians, and 
 others took its place. The Fathers almost universally understood 
 that this hindrance {to Karkxov) was the Roman Empire, and that 
 when that Empire would be destroyed they conceived that the 
 hindrance to the development of the anomos (lawless one or man 
 of sin) would be removed, and that he would immediately be 
 revealed. 
 
 Now what was the hindering principle in the Roman Empire, 
 
€hap. XTll] THE PAULINE ANTICHRIST. 181 
 
 and when was it removed ? This is important, because npon the 
 answer to this depends whether the restraint exercised by the 
 hindering power was an arbitrary matter, as if, for instance, a 
 certain dynasty continued in the world till another dynasty of 
 much the same character as itself took its place, or whether the 
 restraining power embodied a principle which naturally, as it 
 were, restrained the outbreak or revelation of a contrary principle. 
 No doubt the latter. If the man of sin, the Antichrist, be the 
 lawless one, what must restrain him except law [nonws). Now 
 this was the spirit of the Roman power. It was law — cruel, iron, 
 inflexible law, but still law so far good that the Apostle could speak 
 of those who ministered it, even though they persecuted him and 
 his fellow-Christians, as the minister of God to men for good 
 (Rom. xiii. 4). 
 
 And the due consideration of this will serve to show that the 
 cessation of any Roman dynasty need not at all be the cessation of 
 Roman rule, considered as a principle. 
 
 "When was that which *let,' or 'hindered,' or 'restrained,' 
 taken out of the way ? If this restrainer be any dynastic succes- 
 sion of Roman emperors, it must have been removed at one of two 
 times. The Roman Empire in the east collapsed in 1453, and the 
 Empire in the west nominally ceased under Romulus Augustulus 
 in 476, and was succeeded in part by such an empire as that of 
 Charlemagne, which was afterwards divided into the German and 
 French Empires. Now I have nothing to do with the history of 
 these or any other divisions of the great Roman Empire except this, 
 that these empires and kingdoms maintained law. None of them 
 for a moment attempted to act the part of an Anomos — least of all 
 that bishop whom so large a portion of the Protestant world has 
 united in dignifying with this title. Granting fully that during this 
 period, whilst the old Roman Empire was breaking up, the Bishops 
 of Rome gained temporal sovereignty over the middle of Italy, and 
 consolidated a system of ecclesiastical supremacy over the Western 
 Church, this may have been very tyrannical and bad, but to say 
 that such a Papal system was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the 
 Apostle, that it was the revelation of the man of sin who opposeth 
 and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or worshipped, and 
 who is to be revealed suddenly, not by a gradual progress of growth, 
 and is to be destroyed, not by a lingering atrophy, but as in a 
 moment by the brightness of the Lord's Coming, seems to me an 
 
182 THE RESTRAINING POWER. [Revelation. 
 
 interpretation of a prophecy as opposite to the terms of the pro- 
 phecy itself as any two things can be." 
 
 The above is taken with but little alteration from an excursus on 
 the Anomos, or Man of Sin, at the end of my remarks on the 
 Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. Alford makes some good ob- 
 servations : "The Karkxov and Karix^^v, the one the general hindrance, 
 the other the person in whom that hindrance is summed up, are in 
 this view very plain. All the Fathers understood them of the 
 Roman Empire and Emperor, standing and ruling in their time, 
 repressing the outbreak of sin and enormity ; so have we been 
 taught by history to widen this view, and understand them of the 
 fabric of human polity, and those who rule that polity, by which the 
 great upbursting of ungodliness is kept down and hindered. I say 
 we have been taught this by history ; seeing that as often as these 
 outbursts have taken place their course and devastations have been 
 checked by the knitting up again of the fabric of temporal power ; 
 seeing that this power, wherever the seeds of evil are most plen- 
 tiful, is strictly a coercive power, and that there only is its re- 
 straining hand able to be relaxed where the light and liberty of the 
 Gospel are shed abroad ; seeing that especially has this temporal 
 power ever been in conflict with the Papacy, restraining its preten- 
 sions, modifying its course of action, witnessing more or less against 
 its tyranny and its lies " (Alford, " Prolegomena to 2 Thessa- 
 lonians "). 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 a ch. V. 6. A ND I looked, and, lo, ^ a Lamb stood on the 
 
 b ch. vii. 4. IX. mount Sion, and with him ^ an hundred 
 
 1. " And I looked, and, lo, a [the] Lamb stood on the mount Sion, 
 and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's 
 Name [His and His Father's Name] written in their foreheads." I 
 think we may safely give to this vision an exposition analogous 
 to that of the 144,000 who were sealed, of which we read in 
 chap. vii. 4-8. We explained this as referring to the fact that 
 
Chap. XIV.] A NEW SONG. 183 
 
 forty and four thousand, "^ having his Father's name written 
 in their foreheads. ^ ch. vii. 3 & 
 
 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, ^ as the a ch. i. 15. & 
 voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great 
 thunder : and I heard the voice of ^ harpers harp- « ch. v. 8. 
 ing with their harps : 
 
 3 And Hhej sung as it were a new song <"ch v. 9. & 
 before the throne, and before the four beasts, and 
 
 1. "His Father's name." Rakher, "His and his Father's," N, A., B., C. 
 
 during all the troubles indicated by the vision at the opening of 
 each seal, the work of the sealing of the elect would be going on 
 without intermission. During these ages of war, famine, persecu- 
 tion, and pestilence, the work of God in perfecting the number of 
 his elect would not be intermitted ; and so with this vision. Not- 
 withstanding the tyranny of these two wild beasts, and their 
 massacre of all who would not worship the image of the beast, 
 the work of God would proceed. Whilst the beast was impressing 
 his name and mark on the children of the world, the Lamb was 
 impressing His on the children of the kingdom. 
 
 The Lamb was standing on the mount Sion, not sitting to re- 
 ceive worship, but standing to help and defend. 
 
 "The mount Sion." As the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 says : " Ye are come unto the mount Sion." The mount Sion is the 
 Church of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem. It signifies 
 the Church in its heavenly aspect, and these 144,000 have not only 
 come to it, but are abiding in it. 
 
 " Having his Father's name." The best MSS. read, " His name 
 and his Father's." 
 
 " And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters." 
 Whose is this voice ? From chap. i. 15 we should judge it to be 
 that of the Lamb Himself. 
 
 "And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps." 
 These were inhabitants of the mount Sion who accompanied the 
 song of the 144,000. 
 
 3. "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, 
 and before the four living ones." A new song, because of the 
 victory over Satan, and over the wild beast to whom he had 
 
184 THEY ARE VIRGINS. [Revelation. 
 
 the elders : and no man could learn that song ^ but the 
 hundred and forty and four thousand, which 
 ■were redeemed from the earth. 
 
 4 These are they which were not defiled with 
 women ; ^ for they are virgins. These are they 
 ' which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. 
 These f ^ were redeemed from among men, ^ being 
 the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 
 
 g ver. 1. 
 
 
 h 2 Cor. xi. 2. 
 
 i ch. iii. 4. 
 
 & 
 
 vii. 15, 17. 
 
 & 
 
 xvii. 14. 
 
 
 + Gr. were 
 
 
 bought. 
 
 
 k ch. V. 9. 
 
 
 1 James i. 
 
 IS. 
 
 given his power and authority. The new song is new because 
 of the new deliverance. 
 
 " And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty," 
 &c. Does this signify that they were the most holy souls of the 
 whole company of the redeemed, or that they had bad a special con- 
 flict with the evil one, and had achieved a special victory. I can- 
 not help thinking that it means the latter. 
 
 4. " These are they which were not defiled with women ; for 
 they are virgins." Is this to be taken literally, that they are in 
 the actual sense virgins, or are they pure and holy though they are 
 or have been in the holy estate of matrimony ? I think the fact 
 that they are specifically mentioned as virgins indicates that they 
 were like the Apostle, and had continued unmarried ( 1 Cor. vii. 8). If 
 they lived in chaste wedlock there would be no need to mention 
 them, for all Christians, by the mere fact of their being true Chris- 
 tians, are assumed to have their hearts "purified by faith." 
 
 Bishop Wordsworth explains the fact of their not being defiled 
 with women as meaning that they were not corrupted by the spiri- 
 tual harlotries of Babylon, the false Church which is seated on the 
 beast, i.e., the Church of Rome. They have not defiled themselves 
 with any spiritual fornications, such as that of the woman Jezebel, 
 the false teacher already described (Rev. ii. 20-22). But such an 
 interpretation should be energetically protested against. 
 
 " These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
 " If he goes to Gethsemane they follow him thither ; if he goes to 
 Calvary they take up their cross and follow Him thither ; and, 
 therefore, since He is gone to heaven, they will be with Him there 
 also." 
 
 " These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto 
 
€hap. XIV.] THEY ARE WITHOUT FAULT. 185 
 
 5 And "" in their mouth was found no guile : ^ Ps. xxxii. 2. 
 for ^ they are without fault before the throne of « Eph v 27 
 ■God. '"''''''•' 
 
 6 And I saw another angel ° fly in the midst of <> ch. viii. 13. 
 heaven, ^ having the everlasting gospel to preach l^^f^- ^^^' 
 unto them that dwell on the earth, ** and to every ^- ^■ 
 
 T 1 • T 1 T J 1 1 I ch. xiii. 7. 
 
 nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. 
 
 5. "No guile." " No lies," i*, A., B., C. 
 «< For" omitted in some MSS. 
 
 God and to the Lamb." These were redeemed, not to be ordinary 
 followers, but as firstfruits. This does not mean, of course, that 
 they were the first converted, but they were redeemed to be the 
 •choicest of the fruits of redemption. 
 
 5. " And in their mouth was found no guile : for they are with- 
 out fault (before the throne of God)." The Apostle has here in his 
 mind the words of Psalm xv. These 144,000 were on the mount 
 Sion, and the Psalmist describes the character of those who shall 
 sojourn in God's tabernacle, and shall dwell in His holy mountain. 
 *' He that walks blameless, who hath not spoken craftily with his 
 tongue " {Uopevofxevog dfi(jijfiog"OQ ovk l^okujcrav iv yXwacry dvTOv). 
 
 6. "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, .... and 
 tongue, and people." Here it may be asked what is the significance 
 of these three angels, one proclaiming the everlasting Gospel, the 
 second the fall of Babylon, and the third the judgment of those 
 who have the mark of the beast ? We are to remember that at the 
 conclusion of this chapter there is another revelation of the end, 
 and before that *' end " comes the Gospel must be preached to all 
 nations. *' This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the 
 world for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come" 
 (Matt. xxiv. 14). Before the end, immediately before, is the fall 
 of Babylon (xviii. 2 and 21), and immediately after is the judg- 
 ment on the beast and the false prophet (xix. 20). 
 
 Elliot supposes that this was fulfilled somewhere at the be- 
 ginning of this century, when the Church Missionary Society, the 
 Wesleyan Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society, and 
 the Bible Society took their beginning, and older societies, as the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, received new life ; but it 
 
186 BABYLON IS FALLEN. [Revelation. 
 
 &?v.^4.''^^* ^ Saying with a loud voice, '"Fear Grod, and 
 
 s Neh. ix. 6. give glorj to him ; for the hour of his judgment 
 
 & cxxiv. 8. & is come : * and worship him that made heaven, 
 
 cxlvi. 5, 6. 1 1 T -, HI 
 
 Actsxiv. 15. and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of 
 
 & xvii. 24. 
 
 t isa. xxi. 9. waters. 
 
 ch.'^ xvii?.' 2. ^ And there followed another angel, saying, 
 
 ch*^x^i'8'& 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, "that great city, 
 
 xvi. 19. & xyii. because she made all nations drink of the wine 
 
 2, 5. & xviii. 
 
 3, 10, 18, 21. of the wrath of her fornication. 
 
 & xix. 2. 
 
 8. "Another angel." Rather, "Another second angel.'" So tt^, A., B., C. 
 
 "City" omitted by S, A., B., C. 
 
 " Because she made "—"which made." 
 
 is probable that this vision points to a far more universal diffusion 
 of the Gospel than has yet taken place. 
 
 7. " Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him." 
 Remarkable this proclamation of the angel, " Fear God," as if there 
 could be no proclamation of the true Gospel which would not re- 
 sult in the fear of God. 
 
 " And give glory to him." The acceptance of the true Gospel 
 must give glory to God in the life and conversation of all who 
 embrace it. 
 
 "And worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, 
 and the fountains of waters." This is a call upon all men to 
 worship God as the Creator Who has made all things at the first 
 to be "very good," and will, on the completion of His redeeming 
 work, restore them to their original goodness. It has been noticed 
 that the seas, and the rivers, and the fountains of waters are distin- 
 guished. Peculiar judgments or plagues have been inflicted upon 
 them, and now every curse shall be removed, and all God's works 
 shall glorify Him. 
 
 8. " And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, 
 is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the 
 wine," &c. We shall see what this Babylon is when we come to 
 chap. xvii. I would notice that there is nothing whatsoever said 
 of the punishment of her inhabitants, or of her citizens, or of those 
 connected with her. 
 
Chap. XIV.] THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED. 187 
 
 9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud 
 voice, ^ If any man worship the beast and his ^ ch. xm. 14, 
 image, and received his mark in his forehead, or 
 in his hand. 
 
 9. "And the third angel." "Another third," sc, A., B., C. 
 
 9-11. " And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud 
 voice, If any man worship the beast and his image .... The same 
 shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God .... and he shall be 
 tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels 
 .... And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and 
 ever,'' &c. I said that there is no punishment said to be inflicted 
 on those who are seduced by the harlot, that is by Babylon, but 
 here the most tremendous punishment which God can inflict is 
 pronounced not only against the beast, but against those who have 
 anything to do with him in the way of receiving his mark. It 
 seems to me clear from this tbat they who have received the mark 
 of the beast have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. And 
 a little consideration will make this clear, so far as it can be made 
 clear. The sin against the Holy Ghost is ascribing the works of 
 God, or Christ, to Satan. It can scarcely be committed in its ful- 
 ness except by those who are not what are commonly called 
 infidels, for these do not believe in Satan, but by those who 
 knowing what Satan is, the author and director of moral evil, 
 choose Satan to be their God, who say to evil, " Evil be thou my 
 good." Now it is said in chap. xiii. 4, that all the world who wondered 
 after the beast ^* worshipped the dragon icMch gave power unto the 
 least." What is this but a part of the same intensely evil mind 
 which ascribes the adorable works of Christ to Satan. The wor- 
 shipping, then, of the beast is worshipping him because he is evil, 
 and the active representation of him who is the author of evil 
 (xiii. 2). If it can be asked how can such things take place in this 
 world of God's, we answer that that is the very thing against which 
 the Book of the Eevelation is written to warn us. Not against 
 some form of evil which can be held with some acknowledgment 
 of the Incarnation and Atonement, but against an incarnation of 
 the evil one to which ail other powers of evil are as nothing. 
 
 Another word upon this. The second of these angels proclaims 
 the fall of Babylon, and the third the punishment of those who 
 
188 THE PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS. [Revelation. 
 
 10 The same ^ shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
 5 Ps. ixxv. 8. God, which is ^ poured out without mixture into 
 
 Isa. li. 17. 
 
 Jer. XXV. 15. * the cup of his indignation ; and ^ he shall be 
 «ch. xvm 6. tormented with *^fire and brimstone in the pre- 
 
 a en. xvi. 19, ^ 
 
 b ch. XX. 10. sence of the holy angels, and in the presence of 
 
 * ch. xix. 20. .1X1- 
 
 the Lamb : 
 d Isa. xxxiv. 11 And "^ the smoke of their torment ascendeth 
 10. ch. XIX. 3. ^p £^^ ^^gj. ^^^ g^gj, . ^^^ ^YiQj have no rest day 
 
 nor night, who worship the beast and his image, 
 and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 
 « ch. xiii. 10. 12 ® Here is the patience of the saints : ^ here 
 f ch. xii. 17. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ kee-p the commandments of Grod, 
 and the faith of Jesus. 
 
 12. "Here are they" to be omitted with ^f, A., B., C. "Here is the patience of 
 the saints who keep," &c. 
 
 worship the beast and receive his mark. Now taking it for granted 
 that the Babylon is the harlot sitting upon the scarlet beast, the 
 harlot and the scarlet beast cannot both be Romanism, because the 
 rider and the animal ridden cannot possibly be the same. Ultra- 
 Protestant commentators, as Wordsworth and Elliot, and to a 
 great extent Alford, take no notice of this extraordinary incon- 
 gruity. They all interpret the beast, and the two-horned beast, 
 and the harlot as Romanism. One of them also (Elliot) interprets 
 one of three frogs as the Romanist spirit. Well, if the Apocalypse 
 is written with one purpose, to warn men against the errors or de- 
 lusions of the Church of Rome, then they are right ; but if it be 
 written to warn men against a far more stupendous evil which is 
 yet to come, then they fail utterly in making a corrupt church to 
 be the Antichrist, and those who Hsten to them are not warned. 
 
 12. " Here is the patience of the saints : here are they that keep 
 the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." *' He that 
 endureth to the end the same shall be saved." " Companions of 
 those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." The 
 patience of the saints is their patience under temptation and in 
 tribulation. 
 
 There are two marks of their perseverance. They keep the 
 
Chap. XIV.] THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM. 18^ 
 
 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying s Eccies. iv. 
 
 unto me, Write, ^Blessed are the dead ^ which die h'lCor. xv. 
 
 in the Lord || from henceforth: Yea, saith the iv.'ie.^^^"'' 
 
 Spirit, Hhat they may rest from their labours; \^ceforth 
 
 and their works do follow them. saith the 
 
 Spirit, 1 ea. 
 
 i 2 Thess. i. 7. 
 
 " Heb. iv. 9, 10. 
 
 ch. vi. 11. 
 
 13. "And their works." S, A., C. read, "for their works," 
 
 commandments of God, as for instance, that under no pressure of 
 persecution they should worship the beast — that under no tempta- 
 tion should they swerve from the faith once for all deUvered unto 
 the saints. 
 
 The saints have two marks — not one only — they keep the com- 
 mandments of God, and keep the faith of Jesus. 
 
 13. "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, 
 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea 
 saith " &c. Nothing can be plainer than this enunciation, nothing 
 more comforting, and yet scarcely any commentators agree as to 
 what is meant — what time, that is, is indicated by the words "from 
 henceforth." Some suppose it to refer to the time of judgment 
 now about to be ushered in, but death will cease at judgment, and 
 apparently these words seem to imply a continuance of death. The 
 words seem to teach a change in the condition of those who now 
 pass into the unseen world, but as to what the nature of that 
 change of condition is we are told nothing. Some conjecture that 
 it dates from the time when our Lord offered up His Sacrifice ; but 
 why should the fruit of that Sacrifice be represented as if it were 
 something new ? 
 
 Perhaps the words may betoken some very severe tribulation im- 
 pending which would make death preferable to life. The words, 
 however, are true of all times, and so they are embodied in our 
 Service for the Burial of the Dead. 
 
 "In the Lord." That is in union with Him ; in union with His 
 Body. 
 
 " Even so saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours ; and 
 their works," &c. The words "what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches " are frequent in the first chapters. Underlying all the 
 words of angels in this book there is the word — the Eevelation of 
 
190 IN HIS HAND A SHARP SICKLE. [Revelation. 
 
 14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon 
 kEzek.i. 26. the cloud 0716 sat ''like unto the Son of man, 
 ch. i'. 13." " ' having on his head a golden crown, and in his 
 1 ch. VI. 2. iiand a sharp sickle. 
 
 m ch. xvi. 17. 15 And another angel "^ came out of the temple, 
 crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the 
 
 the Holy Ghost. They die that they may enter into rest from 
 their labours ; no more weariness, no more painfulness, no more 
 watching against enemies, no more conflict either within or with- 
 out. And yet the time spent in labour and conflict is not lost. 
 " Their works follow them," not precede them as the ground of 
 their justification, but follow them — not merely in memory, but as 
 adding to their bliss. The cup of cold water only, in the name of a 
 disciple, shall not lose its reward. 
 
 14. " And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the 
 cloud one sat like unto the Son of man." This is another of the 
 visions of the end or last judgment, which teach us that this book 
 is not a book of consecutive history. It is not a connected history 
 of events from the First to the Second Coming, but the Apostle 
 throughout it reiterates the teaching of his Master, that He is to 
 be expected at any time. He comes at the end of the vision of the 
 seals ; at the end of the witnessings of the two witnesses ; and now 
 at the end of the times of the beast and false prophet. 
 
 *' Behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud." We are constantly 
 told that He will come in the clouds of heaven. Thus Matt, 
 xxiv. 30 : " They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
 heaven." " Behold He cometh with clouds," 
 
 This vision, rather these two visions, set forth the judgment as 
 an act of reaping, as the harvest of the world, just as Rev. vi. sets 
 it forth in its aspect of terror and vengeance, and Rev. xi. 15, as 
 the commencement of the eternal kingdom and personal rule of 
 God. 
 
 15. *' And another angel came out of the temple, .... Thrust 
 in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap," &c. 
 At first sight it seems somewhat strange that the Son of man 
 ehould receive His commission to reap, that is, to judge the world 
 through an angel, but it is in strict accordance with what we learn 
 
Chap. XIV.] THRUST IN THY SICIvLE. 191 
 
 cloud, " Thrust in thy sickle, and reap : for the time is come 
 for thee to reap: for the harvest °of the earth is " Joeiiii. 13. 
 
 ^ Matt. xiii. 39. 
 
 II ripe. o jer. li. 33. 
 
 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his f'^"""!- ^^: 
 
 II Or, dned. 
 
 sickle on the earth ; and the earth was reaped. 
 
 17 And another angel came out of the temple 
 which is in heaven, he also having a sharp 
 sickle. 
 
 18 And another angel came out from the altar, 
 
 P which had power over fire ; and cried with a loud p ch. xvi. 8. 
 
 cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, 
 
 •^ Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the <i Joel Ui. 13. 
 
 clusters of the vine of the earth ; for her grapes 
 
 are fully ripe. 
 
 elsewhere, that the Son of God knows not the moment when He is 
 to come to judge, but receives the intimation of it from His Father. 
 As Wordsworth writes : " The angel is only the bearer of the 
 message. The commission comes from the vabg of God — that is 
 from the inner shrine of the heavenly temple — from the oracle of 
 the heavenly Holy of Holies, in which the Godhead dwells in in- 
 effable glory, and it comes to Christ as Son of man. ' The Father 
 judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son ; and 
 hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is 
 the Son of man ' (John v. 22.) And the hour appointed for the last 
 judgment is determined by the Father." 
 
 Because of the use of the word IKepdvOr] (translated " is ripe ") it 
 has been supposed that both these acts of judgment are on the 
 wicked, but inasmuch as the second act of judgment is upon the 
 wicked, it is not likely that this is too. All grain that is fully ripe 
 is withered in appearance. If it had any green colouring it would 
 not be fully ripe. 
 
 17, 18. " And another angel came out of the temple which is in 
 heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came 
 out from the altar, which had power over [the] fire .... Thrust 
 in thy sharp sickle," &c. There is a remarkable difference between 
 this second vision of judgment and the former one. In the former 
 
192 THE ANGEL THRUST IN HIS SICKLE. [Revelation. 
 
 10 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and 
 gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into ' the great 
 «■ ch. xix. 15. winepress of the wrath of God. 
 liS'/A"!*^* 20 And Hhe winepress was trodden * without 
 ci?xi " s"^' ^^' *^^ ^^^^' ^^^ blood came out of the winepress. 
 
 one the Son of man only performs the function of judgment. In 
 the latter He does not appear personally, but an angel having, as 
 He had, a sharp sickle, seems to take His place. In our Lord's 
 explanation of the procedure at the general judgment, in Matt. xiii. 
 39, He says distinctly that the reapers are the angels. As then 
 in the first vision the Son of man alone seems to reap, yet this is 
 not to exclude the subordinate agency of the angels, so here angels 
 alone are mentioned, though the Son is all the while sitting on the 
 throne of His glory. None of the visions of this book describe the 
 whole procedure of what is going on, only certain features which 
 God requires us to take notice of. 
 
 The angel which had power over the fire seems to be the same 
 as the one in chap. viii. 5, which filled his censer " with fire from 
 the altar and cast it upon the earth." He was the angel of 
 vengeance, and so here he takes part in the judgment of wrath. 
 
 19. " And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered 
 the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the 
 wrath of God." The treading of a winepress is in one of the most 
 remarkable of Messianic prophecies associated with the vengeance 
 of the Redeemer: "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and 
 thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have 
 trodden the winepress alone ; and of the people there was none 
 with me : for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in 
 my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, 
 and I will stain all my raiment " (Isaiah Ixiii. 2, 3). 
 
 By the " vine of the earth " one cannot help being reminded of 
 the true vine, Jesus Christ, of John xv., which bears fruit not to 
 sin or to Satan, or to the world, or to self, but to God. 
 
 20. "And the winepress was trodden without the city, and 
 blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by 
 the space," &c. This is an exceedingly difficult place, both theo- 
 logically and otherwise. It seems to be a vision of the final 
 
Chap. XIV.] UNTO THE HORSE BRIDLES. 193 
 
 ''even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand 
 and six hundred furlongs. ^ ch. xix. u. 
 
 judgment and condemnation of the wicked, and answering to the 
 gathering in of the righteous into the garner of God of the former 
 vision ; but there are two features of this last vision which almost 
 forbid us to think that it indicates an eternal recompense of woe. 
 First the winepress is trodden without " the city." No place could 
 well be mentioned by St. John as " the city," except as meaning 
 Jerusalem, the earthly rather than the heavenly. And, secondly, 
 the vengeance seems to be confined to the slaying of the bodies of 
 those judged, so that their blood should be shed in appalling pro- 
 fusion. Now this, though very terrible, seems very different to 
 being shut up for ever in the lake of fire. We have the same 
 difference in the account of the judgment on the beast and on the 
 false prophet and their followers in chap. xix. 20, 21, " And the 
 beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought 
 miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received 
 the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. 
 These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brim- 
 stone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that 
 sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and 
 all the fowls were filled with their flesh." This last, inflicted on 
 the followers or army of the beast, is very difi'erent indeed from 
 that inflicted on the beast himself, and is strictly analogous to that 
 inflicted in this second vision of judgment. 
 
 Scarcely any commentators agree upon the meaning of these 
 furlongs or stadia. Some, as Bishop Wordsworth, take it as 
 emblematical of all space. Others, who have respect to the city 
 being Jerusalem, consider it to be approaching to the length of the 
 Holy Land ; others, having respect to Eome as the city, notice that 
 it is about the breadth of Italy. 
 
194 A SEA OF GLASS. [Revelation. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 a ch. xii. 1, 3. 
 
 AND * I saw another sign in heaven, great and 
 ^^^'^^^^^^®' ^ seven angels having the seven 
 e ch. xiv. 10. last plagues ; ^for in them is filled up the wrath of 
 
 God. 
 d ch. iv. 6. & 2 And I saw as it were "^a sea of glass ^mingled 
 e Matt. iii. 11. with fire : and them that had gotten the victory 
 
 1. "And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvellous." 
 As the former chapter ended with two visions of the last judgment, 
 one the reaping of the good, the other of the wicked, it is clear 
 that the Apostle here goes back to some former point, and com- 
 mences afresh with judgments affecting the whole earth, concluding 
 with another vision of the time of the end (xvi. 20). 
 
 " Another sign in heaven great and marvellous," &c. There was 
 something which we are not told which must have constituted the 
 marvellousness of this vision. Perhaps it was the majesty of these 
 ministering spirits ; perhaps the severity of their appearance ; per- 
 haps that, on beholding them, the fearful nature of the infliction of 
 which they were about to be the instruments was manifest. 
 
 " Having the seven last plagues." This should rather be rendered 
 the " seven plagues, the last ones," for in them, as being the last, is 
 finished (because filled up) the wrath of God. 
 
 2. *' And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire." This 
 has been taken by most expositors as betokening mingled mercy 
 and judgment : mercy signified by the beautifully clear sea, un- 
 ruffled by any agitating winds, and yet mingled with fire, as 
 betokening the wrath of God as yet not finished. 
 
 Mr. Elliot's explanation is very singular. He supposes that 
 '* Eome will be destroyed by a volcanic outburst from beneath — that 
 the glassy sea, mingled as it were with fire, which was presented 
 to John's eye in vision, being a flood of vitrified rock and lava, 
 spreading in destructive inundation over the territory of the anti- 
 Christian beast, and with the fire that fused it breaking forth con- 
 
Chap. XV.] HAVING THE HARPS OF GOD. 195 
 
 over the beast, ^ and over his image, and over his ^ ch. xm. 15, 
 
 mark, and over the number of his name, stand on g ch. v. 8. 
 
 the sea of glass, ^ having the harps of G-od. I^exxv 
 
 3 And they sing ''the song of Moses the servant Sf^xiv?''^^" 
 
 of Grod, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ' Great • i>eut. xxxii. 
 
 4. X S. CXI. ^« 
 
 & cxxxix. 14. 
 
 2. " And over his mark " omitted by S, A., B., C, &c. 
 
 tinually from the mass, as from the glowing lava of Vesuvius, 
 whilst the harpers, escaped triumphantly from out of his Egyptian 
 domination, stood with their harps unharmed upon its edge" 
 (p. 471, 3rd vol.). 
 
 " And them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over 
 his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name." 
 If the beast is the embodiment of infidelity, or of superstition, we 
 can understand what is meant by getting the victory over him ; 
 but what is meant by getting the victory over his image, and over 
 his mark, and over the number of his name ? God has not as yet 
 revealed it to us. 
 
 ** Having the harps of God," the harps consecrated to the praise 
 of God, and of Him alone. 
 
 3. " And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and 
 the song of the Lamb, saying." The song of Moses is doubtless that 
 which was sung by the Israelites on the shores of the Ked Sea when 
 they saw their enemies overwhelmed in the sea. It has been asked 
 whether they sang the very words. Why should they not ? The 
 words, understood spiritually, are appropriate enough. They lend 
 themselves to the glorification of a greater deliverance than that of 
 the passage of the Eed Sea. In fact, a very large portion of the 
 Psalms are used by us Christians in a higher sense than that in 
 which they were first composed. When we repeat them we under- 
 stand by David the Spiritual David ; by the enemies with which He 
 contends, and over which God gives Him the victory, our spiritual 
 enemies ; by Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the Jerusalem 
 which is above, which is the mother of all believers. 
 
 " And the song of the Lamb." What is this song of the Lamb ? 
 Must it not be that of chap. v. 9, " Thou art worthy to take the 
 book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast 
 redeemed us unto God by thy blood out of every kindred and 
 
196 WHO SHALL NOT FEAR THEE ? [Revelation. 
 
 k Ps. cxiv. 17. and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Al- 
 
 Hos. xiv. 9. . , . 
 
 ch. xvi. 7. might J ; just and true are thy ways, thou King- 
 
 II Or, nations, p w • • 
 
 or, ages. Ot ||saints. 
 
 15^16 ^^jer' ^ ^ Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify 
 
 ^- '7- thy name? for thou only art holy : for "" all nations 
 
 m Isa. Ixvi. 23. "^ J J 
 
 3. " King of saints," or " of nations," or " of the ages," N*, C. 
 
 tongue and people and nation. And hast made us unto our God 
 Eings and Priests, and we shall reign upon the earth." 
 
 "Saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God 
 Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints " (or, 
 thou King of the nations or of the ages). These words do not ex- 
 clude the words of such a song as that of the four living ones 
 and of the elders to the Lamb; they rather supplement them. 
 One writes : " The song is one and the same, and the expression 
 which characterizes it betokens, as do so many other notices and 
 symbols in this book, the unity of the Old and New Testament 
 Churches." All very well, but why should not Redemption by the 
 infinitely precious Blood be particularly mentioned? And it is if 
 we consider that by the song of the Lamb is meant the song sung 
 by the living ones and elders when He took the book and began to 
 open the seals. 
 
 4. "Who shall not fear thee, Lord? " This question is asked in 
 Jeremiah x. 7, in a similar context. 
 
 '* For thou only art holy." This is not to be taken as denying 
 holiness in the creature, but such holiness is derived, whereas the 
 holiness of God is one of His essential attributes. In the *' Gloria 
 in excelsis " the Church ascribes this to Christ : " Thou only art 
 holy : Thou only art the Lord." 
 
 " For all nations shall come and worship before thee, Lord." 
 This is also taken from the Old Testament, from Isaiah Ixvi. 23^ 
 and from Psalm Ixxxvi. 9. It seems as if before the infliction of 
 the plagues there is a declaration that, though the plagues will be 
 very terrible, they will be partial in their operation : " All the ends 
 of the world shall remember themselves, and be turned unto the 
 Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him" 
 (Ps. xxii). 
 
Chap. XV.] THE SEVEN ANGELS. 197 
 
 shall come and worsliip before thee ; for thy judgments are 
 made manifest. 
 
 5 And after that I looked, and, behold, °- the "^ ch. xi. 19. 
 temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven 50. 
 
 was opened : 
 
 6 °And the seven angels came out of the temple, ° ver. 1. 
 
 having the seven plagues, ^ clothed in pure and p Ex. jxvui. 
 
 white linen, and having their breasts girded with x'liv 17, is. 
 
 i;i • ^1 ch.1.13. 
 
 golden girdles. 
 
 7 "^And one of the four beasts gave unto the <i ch. iv. e. 
 
 6. " Clothed in pure and white linen." Some (A., C.) read, " stone," Xi9oy, instead 
 ■of x»vov, "linen." 
 
 " For thy judgments are made manifest." This may be said in 
 anticipation of the effect produced by the pouring forth of the 
 vials, or by the preaching of the gospel to every nation and kindred 
 and tongue and people (xiv. 6). 
 
 5. " And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the 
 tabernacle of the testimony," &c. The temple here is naos, and sig- 
 nifies that the monument, shrine, or dwelling-place of God ('* Thou 
 that dwellest between the cherubims "') was opened. This was not 
 as betokening very full access to God for all, but rather that the 
 impending judgments came direct from God, — more so, perhaps, 
 than any previous judgments. 
 
 6. " And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the 
 seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their 
 breasts girded," &c. This is not said of the angels which bore the 
 trumpets, nor indeed of any of the heavenly ministering spirits 
 except these, and it is much emphasized if we adopt the reading 
 of A. and C, stone, XiOov, i.e., their garments were arrayed, 
 ornamented, with stones most costly, adding to the shining and 
 glistening nature of their appearance. 
 
 " And having their breasts girded with golden girdles," as our 
 Lord Himself was when St. John saw Him in the opening vision of 
 this book. 
 
 7. " And one of the four living ones gave unto the seven angels 
 seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and 
 
198 SEVEN GOLDEN VIALS. [Revelation. 
 
 seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, 
 ' 1 Thess. i. 9. ^ who liveth f or ever and ever. 
 6. ' ' ' " 8 And * the temple was filled with smoke ^ from 
 1 Kin.Viii. 10. the glory of God, and from his power ; and no 
 isal^vi.^i"^*" i^^ii "^^s able to enter into the temple, till the 
 * 2 Thess. i. 9. seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. 
 
 ever." This plainly indicates that the Zoa were not impersonations, 
 but real beings instinct with life. They were nearer to God than 
 the seven angels, and so they gave the vials from God to these 
 angels. 
 
 *' Seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for 
 ever and ever." These vials were not what we commonly call 
 vials, but rather censers in which incense was burnt ; but now 
 instead of incense they were full of its opposite, for with respect to 
 those on whom their contents were to be poured the time of 
 acceptance denoted by the sweet-smelling savour of the incense 
 was over, and the time of judgment was come. 
 
 8. " And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, 
 and from his power ; and no man was able," &c. This is evidently 
 a reminiscence of Exod. xl. 34 : *' Then a cloud covered the tent of 
 the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 
 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation 
 because the cloud abode thereon." Also 1 Kings viii. 11. So also : 
 "Clouds and darkness are round about him, righteousness and 
 judgment are the habitation of his seat." Wordsworth remarks, 
 *' The vials are to the empire of the beast what the trumpets are to 
 the whole body of God's enemies, with this difference, that the 
 trumpets announce judgments, the vials execute them." 
 
Chap. XVI. ] A NOISOME AND GRIEVOUS SORE. 199 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. XVT 
 
 ND I heard a great voice out of the temple saying * to 
 the seven angels, Gro your ways, and pour ^ ch. xv. i. 
 out the vials ^ of the wrath of Grod upon the earth. & xv',?^' 
 2 And the first went, and poured out his vial " ^^' '^^' '^^ 
 
 ^ d Ex. ix. 9, 
 
 * upon the earth ; and ^ there fell a noisome and lo, ii. 
 grievous sore upon the men ^ which had the mark i7*J ' ^^^' ^^' 
 of the beast, and uj>on them ^ which worshipped ' ^^- ^^^- ^*- 
 his image. 
 
 1. " And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the 
 seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of 
 God upon the earth." As no one, i.e., no living being, was able to 
 enter into the temple because of the smoke of God's wrath, this 
 must have been the voice of God Himself, and such is in accord- 
 ance with all the awful circumstances of these visions as coming 
 more directly from God Himself than any previous inflictions. 
 
 2. " And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth." 
 As I believe that the fulfilment of these visions are all in the future 
 I will not attempt to explain them. The explanations of other 
 commentators will serve to convince the reader of the futility of 
 suggesting guesses, some of which, I am afraid, bring the book 
 itself into contempt. 
 
 " And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which 
 had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his 
 image." Taking, as all the anti-papal historical commentators do, 
 these that had the mark of the beast to be Eoman Catholics, no 
 plague or infliction has ever come from God by which they have been 
 smitten, and fr5m which the Protestants living along with them or 
 among them have escaped uninjured. Elliot considers that this sore 
 or boil {e\Kog) was the spread of infidelity among the Eomanists in 
 Spain, France, and Italy ; but surely the men who continued 
 Komanists escaped this, and the people who disavowed Romanism 
 were thus punished. 
 
200 TIIOU AET RIGHTEOUS, LORD. [Revelation. 
 
 3 And the second angel poured out his vial ^ upon the 
 sea ; and ^it became as the blood of a dead man : 
 ^ and every living soul died in the sea. 
 
 4 And the third angel poured out his vial 
 ''upon the rivers and fountains of waters; 'and 
 they became blood. 
 
 5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, 
 ^ Thou art righteous, Lord, ° which art, and 
 wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 
 
 g ch. 
 
 viii. 
 
 ,8. 
 
 h Ex 
 
 20. 
 
 . vii, 
 
 .17, 
 
 i ch. 
 
 viii. 
 
 9. 
 
 k ch. 
 
 Tiii. 
 
 ,10. 
 
 1 Ex. 
 
 vii. 
 
 20. 
 
 m Ch 
 
 . XV. 
 
 3. 
 
 n Ch. 
 
 &iv. 
 
 17. 
 
 i. 4, 
 
 8. & 
 
 8. 
 xi. 
 
 5. "O Lord" omitted by ^o, A., B., C, P. 
 " And shalt be." N, B., C, read " holy." 
 
 3. " And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea ; and it 
 became as the blood of a dead man : and every living soul died in 
 the sea." In interpretation of the plagues of this vial, "Wordsworth 
 writes : ** The sea in the Apocalypse represents nations in a restless 
 state, tossed about by winds and storms of passion like the sea to 
 which the wicked are compared by Isaiah : ' The wicked are like 
 the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire 
 and dirt,' " &c. (Ivii. 20) ; but this is universally the case, and what 
 we want is some direction as to the time when this particular in- 
 stance of judgment occurred. Alford believes that these vial 
 plagues will occur shortly before the final consummation, and so 
 does not profess to give any explanation. Elliot explains the sea 
 turned into blood of the naval victories of England under Lord 
 Nelson, by which the maritime power of the nations continuing 
 attached to the Papacy — Spain, Portugal, and France — was utterly 
 destroyed. It is hard to see how such victories as Trafalgar 
 brought about that every living soul should die in the sea. Words- 
 worth takes the word soul {-^vxn) to designate the carnal mind, 
 and the word living is added to show that while alive in name they 
 are in fact dead. He quotes the saying of Christ to the Church of 
 Sardis: "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" 
 (iii. 1). 
 
 4-6. "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers 
 and fountains of waters ; and they became blood. And I heard 
 the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, Lord, .... 
 because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of 
 
Chap. XVI.] THEY ARE WORTHY. 201 
 
 6 For «^ tliev have slied the blood ^ of saints and ° Matt, xxiii. 
 prophets, *i and thou hast given them blood to xiii. i5. 
 drink ; for they are worthy. & xviii.'2o.' 
 
 q Isa. xlix.26. 
 
 6. " For (they are worthy)." " For " omitted by A., B., C, P., forty Cursives. 
 
 saints and prophets," &c. Alford, considering the fulfilment of 
 this vision as yet in the future, gives no explanation. Wordsworth 
 writes : " The rivers and wells are the channels and springs of the 
 prosperity and health of the power which is here punished. The pro- 
 phecy contained in this vial has also already been in part fulfilled. 
 It foretold calamities to be inflicted on the resources of the Papacy, 
 and announced that those very things which were once tributary 
 to it, and supplied it with the means of greatness, would be turned 
 against it, and become occasions and instruments of its sufifering 
 and shame." 
 
 Elliot refers back to his explanation of the fulfilment of the third 
 trumpet. He supposes that the third trumpet was fulfilled in the 
 ravages of the Goths and Huns on the banks of certain rivers, notably 
 the Upper Danube and Rhine, and that the embittering of those 
 waters by the ravages predicted under the star Wormwood was the 
 desolations on the banks of these rivers by the barbarian forces, and 
 that afterwards Attila desolated the mountain valley from which 
 the rivers of the valley of the Po took their rise. Now under this 
 vial poured on the rivers he sees *' the commencement of the judg- 
 ment of war and bloodshed on the countries watered by the Rhine 
 and Danube, and on the sub-Alpine provinces also of Piedmont and 
 Lombardy." He says that on consulting the chronicles of the French 
 revolutionary wars we shall not fail to discover the fulfilment of 
 the prediction, which fulfilment he supposes begun by the declara- 
 tion of war by the French National Assembly against the German 
 Emperor; on the September following against the King of Sardinia; 
 and ere the close of that year it resulted that both the Rhine began 
 to be noted as one fateful scene of the outpouring of this vial of 
 blood, and that advance was made by the French towards a second 
 scene destined to suffer under it, the Alpine streams of Piedmont and 
 Lombardy. Three pages are taken up with notices of the desolating 
 wars on the banks of the Rhine and Danube, and two more (386 and 
 
202 POWER TO SCORCH MEN WITH FIEE. [Revelation, 
 
 7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, 
 ' ch. XV. 3. "" Lord God Almighty, ^ true and righteous are thy 
 
 » ch. xiii. 10. . -, , 
 
 &xiv. 10. & judgments. 
 
 ^^' ^' 8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial 
 
 ^ ch. viii. 12. t ^pQj^ iy^q g^j^ . u ^^^ power was given unto him 
 
 18. & xiv. 18. to scorch men with fire. 
 
 387) with the reasons for these desolations, in the horrible massacres 
 and cruelties inflicted on the Protestants, or rather upon all those 
 who denied or resisted the extreme claims of the Church of Rome. 
 To these the angel of the waters and the voice of the altar are sup- 
 posed to allude when one said, " They have shed the blood of saints 
 and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink ; " and 
 when the other said, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and 
 righteous are thy judgments." 
 
 This may have been so. "We are to remember that the profes- 
 sion of an imperfect form of Christianity does not put men out of 
 the pale of humanity ; that if a Protestant holding low views of 
 the ministry and sacraments is murdered, God will most assuredly, 
 sooner or later, require his blood at the hand, not of the generation 
 perhaps, but at the hand of the nation which murdered and tor- 
 tured him. 
 
 I have not the least belief that the ravages of Napoleon on the 
 banks of the Rhine and Danube were, as Elliot thinks, the fulfil- 
 ment of the pouring out of this vial on the rivers and fountaijis, 
 but it may have been, notwithstanding, the judgment of God on a 
 guilty people who had murdered in times long past their fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 8. "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun ; and 
 power was given unto him to scorch men with fire." This is the 
 exact contrary to the painful effect of the sounding of the fourth 
 trumpet. By it men were deprived of the third part of the light 
 of the sun. Here, under the fourth vial, whilst nothing is said of 
 the light, the heat is intensified so as to become insufferable. 
 Alford, as was to be expected, gives no suggestion. Wordsworth 
 writes that this has been already partly accomplished : " The tem- 
 poral splendour of the Papacy has already had an effect similar to 
 that which is here described. The earthly grandeur of the Romisb 
 
Chap. XVL] TIIEY REPENTED NOT. 203- 
 
 9 And men were 1| scorched with great heat, II Or, burned, 
 and ^ blasphemed the name of God, which hath ^ ver. ii, 21. 
 power over these plagues : ^ and they repented 23. ch. i'x^ 20. 
 not ^ to give him glory. & xiV^T. 
 
 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial 
 
 hierarchy, its profuse expenditure in pompous pageantries and in 
 sumptuous edifices, its prodigal profusion in the aggrandizement of 
 Papal families, and in their luxurious affluence of palaces, equipages, 
 pictures, statues, demesnes, and gardens, have made themselves 
 felt by those under its sway in galling exactions and oppressive 
 burdens entailed upon them for the maintenance of the solar splen- 
 dour of that brilliant magnificence. The meridian glory of this 
 spiritual empire has scorched the people of the Romagna and of 
 Italy by the glare of its rays." 
 
 Elliot, still more anti-papal, takes a different view. He holds 
 the Emperor of Austria, as the inheritor of the glories of the old 
 Roman empire, to be the sun, and he looks upon the total eclipse of 
 that sun to be the despoiling of the Emperor of Austria of his pres- 
 tige as the heir of the dignities of the old Roman empire by 
 Napoleon. In 1806, the year after the battle of Austerlitz, we read 
 of the German Emperor's solemn renunciation, on Napoleon necessi- 
 tating it, of his title of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and of 
 Germany. But how an empire which was, if one may use the ex- 
 pression, snuffed out, was empowered to scorch men we are not 
 told. Later on, however, it appears that Mr. Elliot considers it 
 not unlikely that the scorching men as with fire is an allusion to the 
 artillery used by the French Emperor to an extent beyond all 
 former example in military annals. So that the sun on whom the 
 vial is poured has nothing to do with the scorching of men, but they 
 are scorched by an altogether different agent raised up for the 
 purpose. 
 
 9. " And they repented not to give him glory." This is the first 
 intimation which we have that these plagues were not designed for 
 vengeance only, but to bring men to repentance. 
 
 10. " And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the 
 beast ; and his kingdom was full of darkness ; and they gnawed 
 their tongues," &c. The last angel, the fourth, had poured his vial 
 on the sun, but instead of being darkened, his rays were made more 
 
204 THEY GNAWED THEIR TONGUES. [Revelation. 
 
 * ch. xiii. 2. ^ upon the seat of the beast ; ^ and his kingdom 
 « ch.' xi.' ii>. was full of darkness ; ^ and they gnawed their 
 
 tongues for pain, 
 ■d ver. 9, 21. 11 And ^ blasphemed the Grod of heaven be- 
 
 e ver. 2. cause of their pains and ^ their sores, ^ and repented 
 
 not of their deeds. 
 
 12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial 
 -s ch. ix. 14. ^ upon the great river Euphrates ; ^ and the 
 38. & li. 36. water thereof was dried up, ^ that the way of the 
 25. ' ' ' kings of the east might be prepared. 
 
 12. " The kings of the east," literally, " the kings which are from the rising of 
 the sun." 
 
 insupportable. Here, however, under the fifth angel, there is dark- 
 ness upon the throne of the beast, which seems to imply the with- 
 drawal of the sun's rays. 
 
 Now what is this darkness ? It may be either a natural or a 
 spiritual. There is a precedent, as it were, for a natural darkness 
 in God's dealing with Egypt, when there was a thick darkness 
 in all the land of Egypt three days (Exod. x. 22). A spiritual 
 darkness would not occasion pain, it would rather be the benumb- 
 ing of men's spiritual faculties. 
 
 Elliot explains this darkness of the spoliation of the Popedom of 
 all its temporal power under Napoleon, but how can this be pro- 
 phesied of as an infliction of darkness. The teaching of Catholic 
 doctrine, with little intermission, went on in each diocese, one may 
 say in each parish, much the same as ever. No one single act of 
 Napoleon made the Church in the least degree more or less scrip- 
 tural or more or less evangelical, i.e., according to Mr. Elliot's view 
 of matters. 
 
 12. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river 
 Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the 
 kings of the east," &c. There is here a manifest reference to the 
 taking of Babylon by Cyrus, when the waters of the Euphrates, 
 which passed through it, were diverted by canals and the Persian 
 army entered under the gates. It is impossible to say what this 
 manifestly unfulfilled prophecy refers to ; and the same may be said 
 
Chap, XVL] THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS. 205 
 
 13 And I saw three unclean ^ spirits like frosrs ^ Uohniv. 
 
 12 3 
 
 come out of the mouth of ^ the dragon, and out of i 'ch. xii. 3, 9. 
 the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth "* ch. xix. 2u. 
 
 & XX 10 
 
 of ^ the false prophet. 
 
 of the remainder of this chapter. The most opposite opinions are 
 entertained by expositors. 
 
 Thus, Bishop Wordsworth considers the kings from the sun-rising 
 to be the army of Christ. Bishop Boyd Carpenter, on the contrary, 
 explains " the kings of the east " or of the sun-rising, as the forces 
 of rude and open evil which have been long restrained. As the 
 four barbarian tyrant kings (Gen. xiv. 1-24) from the east invaded 
 the land of promise in Abraham's days, so the leaders of open and 
 violent hate of right, purity, and Christ have the way of their advance 
 prepared. 
 
 Alford also considers it a prophecy of evil. " To suppose the con- 
 version of eastern nations, or the gathering together of Christian 
 princes to be meant, or to regard the words as relating to any 
 auspicious event, is to introduce a totally incongruous feature into 
 the series of vials, which confessedly represent the 'seven last 
 plagues.' " 
 
 Elliot considers the drying up of the Euphrates to be the 
 wasting away of the Turkish power in the former part of this 
 century. 
 
 13, 14. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the 
 mouth of the dragon .... For they are the spirits of devils, 
 working miracles which go forth unto the kings," &c. What these 
 spirits are it is utterly impossible to say. Alford writes : "We can 
 only explain the similitude from the uncleanness and the pertina- 
 cious noise of the frog." Bishop Wordsworth : " They are called 
 frogs and unclean spirits. They are strangers to the clear light and 
 fresh streams of divine truth, and dwell in the slime and quagmire 
 of sordid cogitations, loving the slough of debasing lusts, or the 
 misty glimmerings of false philosophy and worldly policy, and yet 
 are puffed up with pride, and speak swelling words, and come forth 
 in the evening of the world's existence and make it ring with their 
 shrill discord." Bishop Boyd Carpenter writes : *' We must con- 
 sider their origin. The world-power would have us worship the 
 things seen. It sends forth the spirit of earthliness ; the spirit 
 
206 I COME AS A THIEF. [Revelation. 
 
 JanSi/^is^' ^^ ° ^^^ *^®y ^^® *^^ spirits of devils, ° working 
 
 o 2 Thess ii. miracles, which ero forth unto the king's of the 
 
 9. ch. xiii. ^ ^ 
 
 13,14 &xix. 20. earth ^and of the whole world, to sralher them to 
 
 P Luke u. 1. 
 
 q ch. xvii. 14. 1 the battle of that great day of G-od Almighty. 
 
 XX. 8. 15 ' Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he 
 
 43. 1 Thess.' that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, ® lest he 
 
 iii. io. ch.' walk naked, and they see his shame. 
 
 iii. 3. 
 
 s 2 Cor. V. 3. 
 
 ch. iii. 4, 18. 
 
 14. "Of the earth and of the whole," omitted by ^f, A., B., &c. 
 " That great day," " the great day," N, A. 
 
 which works in the voluptuous, the ambitious, and the avaricious ; 
 •*the spirit which makes earthly things its end ' (Phil. iii. 19). The 
 world culture (lamb-like beast) sends forth its spirit of intel- 
 lectualism, which denies the spiritual nature of man, and substi- 
 tutes taste and culture for spirituality. The dragon sends forth the 
 spirit of egoism, of proud self-sufficient independence, which culmi- 
 nates in an utter hatred of the Creator." 
 
 " Spirits of devils, working miracles." No doubt the miracles 
 of the latter days effected by the power of Satan, " so as to deceive, 
 if possible, the very elect." Many prophecies converge to assure us 
 that, before the second coming, Satan will be permitted to put forth 
 all his power as the prince of evil spirits. 
 
 It is to be remembered that these evil beings come forth, not to 
 reign over men, but to gather them against the good and the right 
 in the final conflict, 
 
 Elliot, who alone gives or attempts an historical explanation, 
 holds that this going forth of evil spirits took place in the former 
 part of this century, and considers them to be the spirit of revived 
 infidelity, of revived Romanism, and of sacerdotalism, having its 
 origin in the Tractarian movement. 
 
 15. " Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth," 
 &c. This interjection by our Lord Himself of the suddenness of 
 His second Coming, and how it will find the world, nay even the 
 Church, unprepared, is in remarkable accordance with all the rest 
 of this book, in which, in the midst of its visions, there are so many 
 intimations of the sudden Coming of the Lord. The second Coming 
 — at least, the intimation of its very near approach— is not to be 
 
Chap. XVL] ARMAGEDDON. 207 
 
 16 *And he gathered them together into a tch. xix. 19. 
 place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 
 
 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial 
 into the air ; and there came a great voice out of 
 
 found once at the end of the whole series of visions, but all through 
 them, so that the student of the book never knows how close he may- 
 be to the consummation (see particularly page 72, where these inti- 
 mations are enumerated). It is to be remarked and remembered 
 that six times does our Saviour say that He will (when He comes 
 agaiu) come as a thief (Matt. xxiv. 43 ; Luke xii. 39 ; 2 Thess. v. 
 2; 2 Pet. iii. 10; Eev. iii. 3, xvi. 15). 
 
 16. *' And he gathered them together into a place called in the 
 Hebrew," &c. This place is celebrated in the Old Testament as the 
 scene of various conflicts and defeats. It is the place where 
 Gideon and Barak conquered the enemies of Israel. At Megiddo 
 two kings of Judah, Ahaziah and Josiah, were slain. It has been 
 questioned whether this Armageddon is a locality. Whether the 
 war or battle waged here was not a war of principles. *' The pro- 
 gress of the spiritual struggle in individual men must lead us the 
 same way to a mountain of decision, where the long wavering heart 
 must take sides and the set of the character may be determined. 
 But may it not be both together ? The principles are good and evil, 
 and at this last period of the world they do not fight only and merely 
 by harangues and debating, but by actual warfare. Why may not 
 a war of principles issue in fierce and bloody engagements ? It has 
 been so — witness the wars of the French Eevolution — and it will be 
 so again." 
 
 17. " And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air." 
 This has been supposed to have taken place, because Satan is called 
 *'the prince of the power of the air" (Ephes. ii. 2). 
 
 It may, as some have supposed, be because the air encompasses 
 every thing, and so the vial which is poured upon it is not local in 
 its infliction, but affects everything, and so it is immediately 
 followed by a great earthquake which shakes to pieces every 
 city. 
 
 " And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from 
 the throne, saying, It is done." 
 
208 IT IS DONE. [Kevelation. 
 
 « ch. xxi. 6. the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, " It 
 
 is done. 
 
 * ch. iv. 5. & 18 And "" there were voices, and thunders, and 
 
 viii. 5, & xi. . 
 
 19. hsrhtnino^s ; ^ and there was a erreat earthquake, 
 
 y ch. xi. 13. ^ ^ ^ ' ^ ^ ' 
 
 2 Dan. xii. 1. such as was not since men were upon the earth, 
 
 » ch. xiv 8. so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 
 
 b ch. xviii. 5. 19 And ^ the srreat city was divided into three 
 
 <= Isa. li. 17, ., , . . ^ , 
 
 22. Jer. xxv. parts, and the cities of the nations fell : and great 
 
 xiv. lb. " Babylon * came in remembrance before God, ^ to 
 
 17. " Of heaven," omitted by ^•, A., &c. 
 
 **It is done." It is doubtful to what these words — evidently 
 spoken by God Himself— refer. They may be an anticipation of 
 the end of all things, which is certainly imminent : or they may 
 refer to the conclusion of the seven plagues, I cannot help think- 
 ing the latter. The word is again spoken by God in chap. xxi. 6, 
 where it refers to the conclusion of the great contest. 
 
 18. " And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; and 
 there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men," &c. Was 
 this an actual earthquake, or a shaking to pieces of the foundations 
 of human society ? We are tempted to explain it as the latter ; but 
 we are to remember that we gather from our Lord's predictions of 
 His second coming, that external nature itself will give evidence of 
 the near approach of the personal presence of its Creator. The earth 
 will be moved, the heavens will be rolled up as a scroll, and, as we 
 read (v. 24), " the very islands will be as if they took to themselves 
 wings. The mountains will disappear and will not be found." 
 
 19. " And the great city was divided into three parts." What 
 city this is we are not distinctly told, but the last verse of the next 
 chapter seems to imply that it is the harlot — the mystical Babylon. 
 It may allude to some great centre of human society, and not 
 a city of walls and towers. At the first French Kevolution all the 
 bulwarks and foundations of human society were, as it were, razed 
 to the ground. 
 
 '* And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give 
 unto her." This would seem as if great Babylon were an actual 
 city ; but it is clear that she will incur punishment, not as a mere 
 
Chap. XYIL] EVERY ISLAND ELED AWAY. 209 
 
 give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his 
 wrath. 
 
 20 And ^ every island fled away, and the ^ ch. vi. i4. 
 mountains were not found. 
 
 21 ^And there fell upon men a great hail out ecii. xi. i9. 
 of heaven, every stone about the weight of a 
 
 talent : and ^ men blasphemed God because of ^ ver. 9, ii. 
 ^ the plaerue of the hail : for the plasrue thereof g See Exod. 
 
 ^ °^. , ^ ^ ix. 23, 24, 25. 
 
 was exceeding great. 
 
 city of walls and. stones, but as an active centre of evil diffused 
 throughout the world, or that part of it which is the scene of the 
 Apocalyptic visions. 
 
 21. " And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every 
 stone about the weight of a talent," &c. A plague of hail similar 
 to this occurred at Beth-horon, when the children of Israel were 
 warring at Gilgal (Josh. x. 11). 
 
 It seems also that this last of the plagues of the seven vials was 
 sent, if possible, to reclaim sinful men, but without effect, for, 
 instead of turning to God Who manifested Himself in so terrible an 
 infliction, they blasphemed God. So that this crowning judgment 
 was ineffectual. It seems rather to have hardened those who sur- 
 vived. So that no judgment, no matter how severe, will cause 
 men to repent unless God bruises and breaks the heart with the 
 sense of sin. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 ND there came ^ one of the seven angels * ch. xxi. 9. 
 which had the seven vials, and talked with b ch. xvi. 19. 
 me, saying unto me, Come hither; ^I will shew ^^^^^-^^'i^' 
 
 A 
 
 1. " And there came one of the seven angels which had the 
 seven vials," &c. This chapter and the next form one episode, and 
 should be taken as one. For this angel says to the Apostle 
 
 P 
 
210 THE GREAT HARLOT. [Revelation. 
 
 c Nahum iii. unto thee the iuderment of ^ the srreat whore '^ that 
 
 4. ch. xix. 2. . , •' ^ ^ 
 
 d jer. li. 13. sitteth upon many waters : 
 
 e ch. x'yiii. 3. 2 ^ With whom the kings of the earth have 
 
 ch. xiv. 8.''& committed fornication, and Hhe inhabitants of the 
 
 xviii. 3. 
 
 " (Come) hither ; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great 
 harlot." But the judgment of God inflicted upon her because of 
 her sins forms the subject of the eighteenth chapter, to which the 
 seventeenth is preliminary. The question arises, when did the 
 things described in this vision take place ? We are told that one of 
 the angels which had the seven vials called the Apostle aside — 
 Stvpo, hither, come hither. Which of the angels it was we are not 
 told, and it is evidently not intended for us to know. We cannot 
 but gather, however, that he bad poured out his vial, whichever it 
 was, and was now standing ready to fulfil any behest of God, and 
 be could hardly have given such an account to the Apostle except 
 at the express command of God. 
 
 The great harlot had been mentioned twice before as Babylon ; 
 once in xiv. 8, " And there followed another angel saying, Baby- 
 lon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all 
 nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication," and 
 again xvi. 19, " And great Babylon came in remembrance before 
 God." 
 
 *' That sitteth upon many waters." This is the first description 
 of the harlot — that she sitteth upon many waters. The many 
 waters. These can scarcely be explained as meaning about five or 
 six kingdoms, two of them small ones. 
 
 2. " With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica- 
 tion." This seems to forbid us to interpret the harlot as pagan 
 Rome — the Rome of St. John's time— for there were no kings then 
 existing, except at Parthia, reigning at the outskirts of the 
 Empire. 
 
 "Have committed fornication," i.e., they must have been se- 
 duced by her into some idolatry, or some other form of declension 
 from God. This can scarcely mean that they *' fell away of their 
 own lusts and were enticed." It must mean something which in- 
 volved their religious belief or practice. 
 
 " And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk." In 
 ancient Rome there was a remarkable connection between 
 
Chap. XVIL] THE WINE OF HER FORNICATION. 211 
 
 earth have been made drunk with the wine of her forni- 
 cation. 
 
 3 So he carried me away in the spirit ^ into the « ch. xu. 6, 
 
 wilderness : and I saw a woman sit ^ upon a ^^ ch. xu. 3. 
 
 scarlet coloured beast, full of ' names of bias- * ch. xiii. i. 
 
 ver. 
 
 phemj, ^ having seven heads and ^ ten horns. ' ver.'i2. 
 
 drunkenness and fornication ; the low pothouses were in very many 
 cases kept by depraved women, to which no doubt there is here 
 (as well as in verse 4) a covert allusion. 
 
 3. " So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness.'' 
 What wilderness is this ? The only wilderness which has as yet 
 been mentioned in this book is that into which the woman of 
 chap, xii., when pursued by the dragon, fled. Now it is not impos- 
 sible that these wildernesses may be the same ; for if the woman, 
 though at the first representing pure religion, declines from God, 
 then, in the language of the prophets, she becomes an harlot. Thus 
 Isaiah i. 21, " How is the faithful city become an harlot ! it was 
 full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers " 
 (also Jerem. ii. 21). 
 
 " I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names 
 of blasphemy." This is, no doubt, the first beast of chap, xiii., for 
 though this one is distinguished by his colour, scarlet, yet there is 
 not likely to be in one book of visions two beasts each with seven 
 heads and ten horns. He is supposed to be coloured scarlet because 
 of the blood which he has shed. 
 
 "Full of names of blasphemy." Of the beast of chap. xiii. it is said, 
 " upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Here he seems to be 
 covered with these names. What are they ? They would seem to 
 be blasphemous titles, by the use of which he arrogates to him- 
 self the names and attributes of God. Alford gives as specimens of 
 this blasphemy such names as " most Christian and most faithful 
 king," given to Louis XIV. and Philip II., or " defender of the 
 faith," given to Charles II. and James II. ; but surely this is trifling 
 with a most serious matter. It is to be remarked, and we shall 
 have more than once to repeat the remark, that these names of 
 blasphemy are not upon the woman, but upon the beast on which 
 she rides. 
 
 " Having seven heads and ten horns." This the angel explains 
 
212 HAVING A GOLDEN CUP. [Revelation. 
 
 m ch. xviii. 4 ^j^^ the woman "" was arrayed in purple and 
 
 " ban. xi. 38. scarlet colour, ° and t decked with srold and 
 
 iGr. gilded. . i ^i • n 
 
 o Jer.ii. 7. precious stoues and pearls, ° having a golden cup 
 p ch. xiv. 8. in her hand ^full of abominations and filthiness of 
 
 q 2 Thess. . 
 
 ii. 7. her lormcation : 
 
 xiv. 8. &xvi. 5 And upon her forehead tvas a name wi'itten, 
 
 19. & xviii. 2, q ]y[YST j.^Y^ BABYLON ^ THE GEE AT, « THE 
 
 s ch. xviii. 9. 
 
 & xix. 2. 
 
 in verses 9, 10, and 11. We shall reserve our remarks till we come 
 to these verses. 
 
 4. " And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, 
 and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls." Assuming 
 that the woman represents a fallen Church, are these — this purple 
 and scarlet and gold — to be accounted parts of her fall. Are they, 
 that is, unlawful, and constitute the Church which uses them, un- 
 faithful to Christ ? Why, we find that they were enjoined in the 
 ritual of the Old Testament (not to mention a vast number of other 
 things) that they should be in the breastplate of the high priest. It 
 is impossible to suppose that, if devoutly used, they could help to 
 make the Church which so uses them a filthy harlot. Then, too, as 
 has been noticed, the foundations of the walls of the New Jenisalem 
 were of precious stones, so that their sacred use is claimed for God,, 
 and if it is lawful to use any ornament in the service of God, such 
 should be as rare and costly and beautiful as can be procured. We 
 may be sure that the Lord who accepted costly offerings from the 
 Magi would not spurn such things, however He might inspire His 
 servants the prophets to warn men lest they put the slightest trust 
 in them. 
 
 "Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and 
 filthiness," &c. This, as I said before, alludes to the brothels 
 being kept by abandoned women who sold wine. They were, in 
 fact, low taverns as well as what are now designated as houses of 
 ill-fame. What was the abominable mixture in the cup ? It may 
 have been the worship of saints and angels ; and it may equally 
 have been Antinomianism, or denial of the Incarnation, or some 
 aspect of infidelity. 
 
 5. "And upon her forehead was a name written, Mysteiy. 
 Babylon the great." Here there seems an allusion to the words 
 
Chap. XVII.] THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS. 213 
 
 MOTHER OF || HARLOTS AND ABOMINA- \\pr,fornica- 
 TIONS OF THE EARTH. *'''""• 
 
 written on the plate on the forehead of the high priest, which was, 
 *' Holiness to the Lord," but here it is " Babylon the great, the 
 mother of harlots," &c. 
 
 "Mystery." "The name is * mystery.' Not a mere figure or 
 allegory, but some deep device of Satan, that cannot be understood 
 or explained, in corrupting the Church of God " (Williams, 
 p. 325). 
 
 *' Mystery." As someone has well said, this seems to forbid us 
 to explain this woman of heathen Rome, for wickedness was, as it 
 were, natural to her, being a heathen city. It was only natural to 
 her to inherit the name of the great heathen city which preceded 
 her in ruling the world and persecuting the people of God. 
 
 " Babylon the great." As I go on I shall answer, or at least take 
 notice of, questions which are suggested by the text. Now here 
 with respect to Babylon. It is very remarkable that the term 
 harlot in the Old Testament is not applied to heathen cities, but to 
 such cities as Jerusalem and Samaria, once worshipping the true 
 God, and then fallen from Him into idolatry. Thus Babylon is 
 actually called in one place a virgin, " Come down, and sit in the 
 dust, virgin daughter of Babylon " (Isaiah xlvii. 1). 
 
 " The mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." " Har- 
 lots." Are these harlot churches, or are they actual harlots? 
 If harlot churches, which are they ? Are they the national 
 churches of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Austria, which in- 
 voke in worship the mother of the Lord, and His foster-father, and 
 St. Peter and St. Paul ? But take the eastern churches. They 
 are involved in the same saint-worship, and yet they are not 
 usually accounted part of Antichrist, and the Church of Rome can 
 scarcely be said to be the mother of them, for they invoked saints 
 at least as early as she had done. But the Apostle may allude to 
 a totally different state of things, not a religious one, which most 
 certainly, from the luxury which it has caused, may be the mother 
 of those vices which luxury never fails to engender. 
 
 Again, as Williams remarks, " The generation [His own genera- 
 tion] against which our Lord testified as ' adulterous,' had no idol 
 worship, but was worse in His sight than that of their forefathers, 
 
214 THE WOMAN DRUNKEN. [Revelation. 
 
 t ch.syiij.24. Q ^Jid I saw Hhe woman drunken "with the 
 
 1 ch. xiu. lo, 
 
 & xvi. 6. blood of the saints, and with the blood of ^ the 
 
 3 ch. VI. 9, 10. 
 
 & xii. 11. 
 
 which had been called adulterous by the prophets on account of 
 actual idolatry." 
 
 6. " And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, 
 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." No church or body 
 of Christians has persecuted with such rancour, with such bitter- 
 ness, on such a scale, with such determination to stamp out all that 
 she characterizes as heresy, as the Church of Eome. Now in what 
 I say I trust that it will not be taken in palliation, for there cannot 
 be the shadow of palliation for such an institution as the Inquisi- 
 tion, but the question must be asked, how is it that the Church of 
 Eome stands out amongst all churches as the persecuting church? 
 I answer, simply because she has had the power. She has>been, in 
 time past, the directress of certain despotic governments who have 
 regarded all differences of opinion in religious matters as dangerous 
 to the state, as dividing it, and so weakening it. Besides this, abso- 
 lute monarchs, such as those of France and Spain, regarded those 
 who diffeiBd from the established religion as differing from them- 
 selves, and this of course they would not tolerate ; but it is to be 
 remembered that every body of Christians has persecuted when it 
 has had the power. The religious history of this country has, for 
 a century and a half, if not more, been a history of persecution. 
 The Church persecuting Puritans, then when they got the power, 
 Puritans persecuting the Church. 
 
 Let the reader get any biographical dictionary and glance over 
 the lives of Calvin, Servetus, and Grotius, and he will get some faint 
 idea of how Protestants could persecute one another, 
 
 With respect to this matter of religious persecution, especially at 
 the hands of the Inquisition, Llorente, who wrote with calmness, 
 and had access to the archives of the tribunal, gives an approximate 
 estimate of the number executed under each inquisitor-general, 
 from which it results that the total amount in Spain is about 32,000 
 persons burnt, either alive or after being strangled, 17,000 burnt in 
 efi&gy, and 291,000 condemned to various terms of imprisonment, 
 to the galleys, or subjected to other penalties. During the eighteen 
 years of Torquemada's inquisitorship alone, about 8,800 persons 
 were burnt. This calculation does not include the Spanish colonies. 
 
Chap. XVIL] I WONDERED. 215 
 
 martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw her, I wondered with 
 great admiration. 
 
 nor the Islands of Sicily and Sardinia which were long subject to the 
 Spanish Inquisition. 
 
 It is to be remembered, however, that by far the most cruel 
 tribunals were those of Spain, and it is to be remembered also that 
 in many cases the atrocities perpetrated were not done by the 
 authority of the Pope, but even against his will.^ 
 
 1 A very remarkable instance of this is to be found in the famous ti-ial of Carranza, 
 Archbishop of Toledo, in the reign of Philip II., who had attended Charles V. in 
 his last moments, and whom neither the briefs of the Pope, Pius IV., nor the remon- 
 strances of the prelates assembled at the Council of Trent, could save from being 
 confined in the prisons of the Spanish Inquisition for more than seven years without 
 a termination of his trial ; and when at last the Pope, Pius V., demanded of the 
 Spanish inquisitor and of the king, under pain of excommunication, that the arch- 
 bishop and the papers of his trial should be sent to Rome, all sorts of obstacles were 
 thrown in the way of his departure and his final acquittal by the Pope. After the 
 death of Pius V. new proceedings were set on foot in Spain to prove him guilty of 
 heresy ; and on the information being transmitted to Rome, Gregory XIII., who had 
 succeeded Pius V., was, though ■with evident reluctance, induced to declare on the 
 14th of April, 1576, that the Archbishop of Toledo was strongly suspected of believing 
 sixteen propositions qualified as Lutheran. He was then sentenced to five years 
 confinement in a Dominican convent and other canonical penances. A few days 
 after this sentence the archbishop, who was then seventy-two years of age, was 
 taken dangerously ill, and before receiving the sacrament, on the 30th of April, he 
 solemnly declared, in presence of several witnesses, " that he had never fallen into 
 the errors with which he had been charged ; that his expressions had been distorted 
 to express meanings totally different from his own ; that he, however, humbly sub- 
 mitted to the judgment pronounced by the sovereign pontiff, and heartily forgave all 
 those who had taken part against him in the trial, and would pray for them before 
 the throne of grace." On the 2nd of the follo\\ing May the archbishop died in the 
 convent of La Minerva at Rome, in which he was detained and where he was buried. 
 An inscription was placed over his tomb by order of Gregory XIII., in which he 
 was described as "a prelate illustrious for his birth, his life, his doctrine, his 
 preaching, and his charity." Llorente gives a copious account of this celebrated 
 trial in chapters xxxii., xxxiii., and xxxiv. of his " History of the Inquisition." 
 
 The above is from an article entitled "The Holy Office," in Knight's (Penny) 
 " Cyclopaedia." I give another short extract from the same article showing that the 
 early Church till the end of the fourth century was exceedingly adverse to temporal 
 punishments for heresy. "The first person on record who was juridically con- 
 demned and put to death for heresy is Priscillianus, the leader of a sect in Spain 
 in the latter part of the fourth century. Two Spanish bishops, one of whom was 
 called Idacius, accused Priscillianus, with two other priests or bishops, before a 
 Council held at Bordeaux, a.d. 3S5. Priscillianus appealed to the Emperor Maximus, 
 who had assumed the imperial purple in Gaul, and who was then residing at Treves, 
 whither Priscillianus and his friends were taken, being followed by their persecutor, 
 
216 WHY DIDST THOU MARVEL? [Revelation 
 
 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou 
 marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of 
 the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and 
 ten horns. 
 
 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; 
 & xiii. 1. ' and ^ shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and 
 ver/ii!"* ' ^go into perdition: and they that dwell on the 
 
 But the question arises, could the cruelties and murders on behalf 
 of Catholicism be said to be a fulfilment of the words, "drunken 
 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of 
 Jesus ? " Were the multitudes condemned by the Inquisition and 
 other tribunals martyrs in the sense in which the original Apostles 
 were martyrs ? They might not have been ; but their deaths were cer- 
 tainly foul and cruel murders, and have to be repented of and con- 
 fessed ; and, if not, the wrath of a just God must abide on any system 
 which vindicates and upholds them, no matter on what plea. 
 
 It is said that when St. John saw the harlot drunk with the blood 
 of saints and martyrs, he was astonished with a great astonishment. 
 He could not have wondered at the blood of saints shed by Domi- 
 tian,for he was accustomed to that, but to see a Christian Church 
 shedding blood so as to be drunk with it, that was so contrary to 
 all his ideas of the institution of Christ, that his astonishment was 
 unbounded. 
 
 7. " And the angel feaid unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? 
 I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that 
 carrieth her .... The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and 
 shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." 
 Why does the angel apparently reprove the Apostle for mar^ 
 veiling ? It may be because the Apostle marvelled at what was 
 plainly a mystery, which, though human nature prompts us to 
 marvel at it, yet is to be accepted at the mere word of God. 
 
 Iclacius. Martin, Bishop of Tours, interceded on their behalf, but after his depar- 
 ture from Treves, Maximus entrusted Evodius, the prefect of the Prwtorium, with 
 the trial of the accused, and upon his report Maximus condemned them to be 
 beheaded. This cruelty was generally censured, and Ambrose and Martin of Tours 
 strongly reprobated the part wliich Idacius had acted, and which they characterized 
 as unbecoming tlie episcopal cliaracter. The consequence was that Idacius was 
 excommunicated, and died in exile. 
 
Chap. XVIL] IS NOT, AND YET IS. 217 
 
 earth ^ shall wonder, ^ whose names were not written in the 
 book of life from the foundation of the world, » ch. xiu. s. 
 
 . b ch. xiii. 8. 
 
 when they behold the beast that was, and is 
 not, and yet is. 
 
 8. *' The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and shall ascend 
 out of the bottomless pit." The only plausible interpretation which 
 is given by commentators is this : " The beast is not so much the 
 Eoman Empire as the world-power underlying and acting through 
 all the succession of empires which have in turn dominated in the 
 world and oppressed the people of God. This world-power first 
 was unloosed in Egypt, then in Assyria, then in Babylon, then in 
 Persia and Greece, and lastly in Rome." 
 
 But when Rome became Christian, then as a world-power con- 
 trary to God it became as if it were not. " Its peculiar power and 
 essence seem suspended while the empire is Christian by profes- 
 sion. The beast (though he is not) is not actually put out of 
 existence, but has only received a deadly wound which shall 
 be again healed." This is the only plausible explanation of the 
 *' was, and is not," but the reader will observe that this Christian 
 phase of the beast takes place at least two hundred years after St. 
 John's time, two hundred years after the angel has told him that 
 the beast is not. So that the " is not " is in the comparatively far 
 future. This, to me, is exceedingly unsatisfactory, but I have no 
 other explanation to give. 
 
 Some explain as if the deadly wound which was healed was 
 the destruction of the beast's power by the Death and Resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ. Thus the Lord says, " of judgment because 
 the prince of this world is judged," and again, "now is the 
 judgment of this world ; now shall the prince of this world be cast 
 out." 
 
 " And shall ascend out of the abyss." This may be when, as we 
 read in chap, xiii, the beast rises out of the sea, and apparently 
 there and then the dragon " gave him his power, and his seat, and 
 great authority." 
 
 "And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names 
 were not written in the book of life," &c. This wonder means the 
 wonder of admiration. They are, in the great warfare between sin 
 and hohness, secretly on the side of the beast, and their wonder is 
 
218 THERE ARE SEVEN KINGS. [Revelation. 
 
 9 And ^ here is the mind which hath wisdom. ^ The seven 
 c ch. xiii. 18. heads are seven mountains, on which the woman 
 d ch. xiii. 1. sitteth. 
 
 10 And there are seven kini^s : five are fallen. 
 
 aptly expressed in the words of chap. xiii. 4, " Who is like unto the 
 beast ? who is able to make war with him ? " 
 
 9. " And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads 
 are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." Almost all 
 expositors of this book consider this passage as undoubtedly identi- 
 fying the city (verse 18) with Rome. Thus Horace is quoted, " De 
 quibus septem placuere colles ; " and Propertius (iii. 10), " Septem 
 urbs alta jugis, quse toti praesidet orbi." Another writer, " No one 
 acquainted in the slightest degree with ancient literature can doubt 
 that Rome is the place to which this description points. The seven 
 heads of the beast denote, with regard to the woman, that her 
 capital is the city of the seven hills " (Dean of Llandaff in loco). 
 But may I, notwithstanding such confident assertions, be permitted 
 humbly to ask this question : If it undoubtedly fixes the beast to 
 the city of Rome, why should St. John have prefaced what he is 
 about to say with the words, "Here is the mind which hath 
 wisdom," whereas it requires no divine wisdom to see the city 
 of Eome on the seven hills, for it is described as such in some of the 
 best-known heathen authors, as will be seen in such commentaries as 
 those of Alford and Wordsworth ? 
 
 Evidently by the words, "here is the mind which hath wisdom," 
 the Apostle must allude to something more secret and more 
 mysterious. Now the numeral seven is itself a deeply mysterious 
 one, and may signify here divine completion and may indicate 
 something far more extensive than Rome. The " many waters " are 
 not literal waters, but, as explained in verse 15, " peoples, and mul- 
 titudes, and nations, and tongues," and so the seven hills (mountains 
 they are not, but mere elevations) may signify something more 
 approaching to the signification of very widespread dominion than 
 we have been led to suppose. Thus, in Isaiah ii. 2, " It shall come 
 to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall 
 be established in the top of the mountains," &c. 
 
 10. "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one Is, and 
 the other is not yet come." These kings arc explained as not indi- 
 
Chap. XVII.] HE IS THE EIGHTH. 219 
 
 and one is, and the other is not yet come ; and when he 
 cometh, he must continue a short space. 
 
 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the 
 eighth, and is of the seven, ^ and goeth into per- « ver. s. 
 
 dition. f Dan. vii. 20. 
 
 ..^A-,*--. -1 1-iji . Zech. i. IS, 19, 
 
 12 And ^the ten homs which thou sawest are 21. ch.xm.i. 
 
 vidual kings, but seven empires in which the wild beast (represent- 
 ing the power of the world as opposed to Christ and God) is, as it 
 were, incarnated. The first, by Alford and others, is supposed to 
 be Egypt, the second Assyria, the third Babylon, the fourth Persia, 
 the fifth Greece — these five have fallen, fallen from their high estate 
 as leading kingdoms of the world-power— one, that is Imperial 
 Kome, is, and the other is not yet come. When*he comes he will 
 not be one kingdom, but ten, which will exercise a sort of 
 joint dominion, but all as one world-power opposed to Christ. 
 
 " And when he cometh, he must continue a short space." Short, 
 that is, compared to the duration of the whole world-power, though, 
 in reality, perhaps many centuries. If, however, this king is Anti- 
 christ, then he may continue but an actual short space ; being 
 destroyed by the appearance of Christ, Who shall destroy him with 
 the spirit of His mouth. 
 
 11. " And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, 
 and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." He is not the 
 seventh, but the eighth, coming after the reign or power of the 
 seventh is finished. This seems as if the world-power in its last 
 stage would not act through some empire, but directly through 
 Antichrist himself. 
 
 " And is of the seven." Meaning not one of the seven, for he is 
 expressly declared to be the eighth, but " of" in the sense of from 
 them — derived from them— concentrating in himself all their power 
 and all their evil. 
 
 " And goeth into perdition." He does not simply fall like 
 Egypt or Babylon fell, by losing power and place among the 
 nations, but his perdition is described in chap. xix. 20, " And the 
 beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought 
 
 miracles before him These both were cast alive into a lake 
 
 of fire burning with brimstone." 
 
 12. " And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which 
 
220 THESE HAVE ONE MIND. [Revelation. 
 
 ten kings, whicli have received no kingdom as yet ; but 
 receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 
 
 13 These have one mind, and shall give their j^ower and 
 strength unto the beast. 
 
 13. " Shall give ;" rather, "give," N, A., B. 
 
 have received no kingdom as yet." These, taken roughly, seem to 
 be the ten kingdoms into which, so far as western Europe is con- 
 cerned, the western Roman Empire was broken up by the incursions 
 of the barbarians. The exact number of ten, as I have noticed, 
 cannot be made out. If we take them to be independent kingdoms 
 there are more than ten, in fact nearly double that number.' 
 
 " No kingdom as yet," i.e., in St. John's time, had appeared, 
 much less ten. 
 
 " But receive power as kings one hour with the beast." If this 
 refers to the modern kingdoms of Europe into which the Roman 
 Empire was divided, it is a very awful prophecy respecting them. 
 They share power with him to whom Satan has given *' his power, 
 and his seat, and great authority." Are they then utterly godless ? 
 Apparently in the eyes of God they are. Is England one of them? 
 Well, we must remember that her amazing works, missionary, 
 philanthropic. Christian, these are not the works of the nation, but 
 of a very small minority of the nation. When God looks down 
 upon London, and regards the mind of that enormous multitude of 
 human beings, can He regard them as on His side ? What is the 
 spirit of the vast mass? Is it holy, just, and good, or is it money- 
 making, pleasure-seeking, carnal, sensual, earthly ? We cannot 
 answer : He only knows. 
 
 13. " These have one mind, and shall give their power and 
 strength," &c. What is this mind ? what is the meaning of their 
 having one mind ? Is it one mind upon Romanism or Protestantism ; 
 upon the rule of faith and the ministry and the Sacraments ? or is 
 it one mind upon self-interest, upon the accumulation of wealth, 
 
 1 Take the time of the Reformation : 1. England ; 2. Scotland ; 3. France ; 4. 
 Spain ; 5. Portugal (always distinct from Spain) ; 6, 7, 8. Italy (Turin, the States 
 of the Church, South Italy and Sicily); 9. Switzerland ; 10. The United Provinces; 
 11. Germany ; 12. Austria ; 13. Poland ; 14. Hungary ; 15. Turkey ; 16. Russia, 
 then beginning to be a power ; 17. Scandinavia and Denmark. 
 
Chap. XVII.] THE LAMB SHALL OVERCOME. 221 
 
 14 ^ These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb 
 shall overcome them : ^ for he is Lord of lords, g ch. xvi. 14. 
 and King of kings : ^ and they that are with him ^ Deut. x. 17. 
 are called, and chosen, and faithful. ch. xix. I'e. 
 
 15 And he saith unto me, '' The waters which ch 
 
 Jer. 1. 44, 45. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, ^ are peoples, ver. 1. 
 and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. ^ ' ^"^' * 
 
 above all upon the permanency, may we not say on the eternity, 
 of the present course of things ? Have they not all one mind, or 
 are getting to have one mind upon such things as a superintending 
 Divine Providence ; upon the Second Coming, and upon the 
 judgment of all men according to the deeds done in the body? On 
 these things they have one mind, they believe in the world. And 
 so naturally they give their power and strength to the world-power, 
 i.e., to the therion. 
 
 14. " These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall 
 overcome." What the nature of this warfare is we cannot tell. 
 There is always a state of war between Christ and the world, 
 between Christ and Satan, and He always overcomes, because all 
 power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. Even when his 
 forces receive a reverse or a check, it conduces to the ultimate 
 victory of the truth. 
 
 It seems incredible that men should gather themselves together 
 and fight against Christ Himself appearing personally; but men 
 opposed Him when He came the first time. He gave them every 
 proof, consistent with His continuing in a state of humiliation, that 
 He was the Christ, and yet they rejected Him and crucified Him. 
 Why may they not go a step further and fight against Him when 
 He rides on the white horse leading the armies of the saints ? 
 
 •' And they that are with him are called, and chosen, and 
 faithful." He does not conquer without allies. In whatever war- 
 fare He is engaged, whether simply spiritual or more outward 
 and visible, He will have His saints with Him and will lead them 
 to victory. 
 
 We are called, and chosen, let us see to it that we are faithful. 
 Let it be our one business to make our calling and election sure. 
 
 15. " And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest. 
 
222 THESE SHALL MAKE HER DESOLATE. [Revelation. 
 
 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, 
 ^ Jer. 1. 41, "' these shall hate the whore, and shall make her 
 12! ' * desolate ^ and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and 
 37-44^ *ch. " ^ burn her with fire. 
 
 ^ch.' xviii. 8. 17 ^For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil 
 v2 ess. 11. -j^^g ^^j-^^ ^^^ ^^ agree, and give their kingdom 
 
 16. " Upon the beast." N, A., B., &c., read, " and the beast." 
 
 where the whore sitteth." These seem to comprise the multi- 
 tudinous inhabitants of the whole world. It seems to me next to 
 impossible to understand them of the four or five nations which 
 have hitherto supported the pretensions of the Papacy. Can Italy, 
 Italy which has made Eome the capital of its secular kingdom : 
 .and can France be reckoned amongst these people, and nations, 
 and tongues ? hardly, for a whole century past. The thread which 
 fieems to bind her to the Church of Eome is of the slenderest. 
 
 Connected with this prophecy there are questions which I cannot 
 answer. Thus the harlot is said (verse 3) to sit upon the scarlet 
 beast, and yet she sits upon the waters. Has the beast thrown 
 her off? The seven mountains are, in verse 9, expressly said to be 
 the seat of the woman, but here she sits upon the waters of peoples 
 and tongues. Her original seat seems to be on the waters. Then 
 she apparently temporarily sits on the beast, then she sits on the 
 seven hills, but five of these are fallen. It is clear that God has 
 not yet revealed the key to all this. 
 
 16. " And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these 
 shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and 
 shall eat," &c. By anti-papal interpreters, such as Wordsworth, 
 this is said to mean the despoiling of the papacy of her temporal 
 possessions. But the words of the prophecy require a more severe 
 interpretation by far, " shall eat her flesh," followed by " burn her 
 with fire," imply her utter destruction. This destruction seems to 
 be at the hand of man, though it undoubtedly takes place through 
 the providence of God, Who, as we read in the next verse, puts it 
 into the hearts of these kings to fulfil His will, whilst they imagine 
 they are carrying out their own or rather the will of the therion, 
 to whom they have surrendered their own individual wills. 
 
Chap. XVIIL] THAT GREAT CITY. 223 
 
 unto the beast, "i until the words of God shall be ful- 
 filled, q ch. X. 7. 
 
 18 And the woman which thou sawest ' is that •" ch. xvi. 19. 
 great city, ® which reigneth over the kings of the ' ^'^^ ^"- *• 
 earth. 
 
 17. •* Until the words of God shall be fulfilled." This may mean 
 the whole purpose of God with reference to the world which is 
 given to us in part in this book of visions, or it may mean His 
 special prophecies respecting the harlot and the doom awaiting her. 
 
 18. " And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which 
 reigneth over the kings of the earth." This is all in the present — is 
 {hrlv) that great city which hath dominion (txovaa fiamXeiav). Does 
 the harlot mean the then existing city of Kome, or does it mean 
 that Rome which will be converted to Christianity, and which, in 
 course of time, will fall from her purity and become unfaithful to 
 God, and so of whom it may be said, as of Jerusalem of old, '* How 
 has the faithful city become an harlot" (Isaiah i.)? Or does it 
 signify not one particular city, or the Church of one particular city, 
 but the Church universal which in each and all its branches has 
 declined from God. This we shall be better able to see when we 
 have come to the end of the next chapter. 
 
 CHAP. XYIII. 
 
 IN'D ^ after these things I saw another angel come down 
 from heaven, havings c^reat power ; ^ and the * ch. xvu. 1. 
 
 T -. \ - ^ ^■ ^ ^ Ezek. xlui. 
 
 earth was lightened with his glory. 2. 
 
 A 
 
 1. ''And after these things I saw another angel come down from 
 heaven, having great power ; and the earth was lightened with liis 
 glory." This is previous to the actual destruction of Babylon. 
 The fall or destruction is represented as already taken place, 
 whereas its actual place in the Apocalyptic series or events is 
 after the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next. In 
 
224 BABYLON IS FALLEN. [Revelation, 
 
 2 And lie cried mightily with a strong voice, sayings 
 &Si "d'^'jev ' B^^jloii t^e great is fallen, is fallen, and ** is 
 us. ch.xiv 8. become the habitation of devils, and the hold of 
 
 d Isa. xui. 21. 
 
 & xxi. 8. & every foul spirit, and ^ a cage of every unclean 
 1. 39. & li. 37. and hateful bird. 
 
 c Is. xiv. 23. 
 
 & xxxiv. 11. 
 
 Mark v. 2, 3. 
 
 chap. xiv. the same angel is represented as appearing in heaven, 
 and uttering the same prediction of the fall of Babylon. 
 
 2. *' And he cried mightily with a strong voice .... and is 
 become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, 
 and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." This account of 
 her debased and degraded state is taken from the prophets Isaiah 
 and Jeremiah. In Isaiah xxxiv. 14, 15, it occurs in a prophecy of 
 Idumsea, " The satyr shall cry to his fellow ; the screech owl also 
 shall rest there and .... the great owl make her nest .... there 
 shall the vultures also be gathered," &c. And in Jeremiah xli. 39, 
 the same is predicted respecting Babylon, 
 
 What is the reality of this ? It was fulfilled literally in the case 
 of Idumsea and also of Babylon. With respect to the city of Rome 
 it never has been fulfilled literally. Rome (the city) never has 
 been rendered desolate as Edom was. The history of Rome 
 ecclesiastical was this. About two centuries after the death of St. 
 John it became Christian. Then, though it retained every article 
 of the faith, its Christianity became corrupted by Mariolatry and 
 saint-invocation, and unwarrantable assumption of supremacy on 
 the part of its bishops over all other bishops. Then at the time of 
 the Reformation it, in a certain measure, reformed itself. Then it 
 passed through the tremendous crisis of the first French Revolution, 
 and emerged from it in much the same state as before. As far as 
 we can gather from history it has never so fallen from the faith or 
 the morality of the Gospel as that its leading bishops or priests 
 could be characterized as " unclean and hateful birds," i.e.f of 
 course, so far as the eye of man can see. The present Bishop of 
 Rome could not weU be so named ; neither, notwithstanding his 
 wrong-headedness, could the last. Two of its late cardinals, brought 
 up in the English Church, were particularly holy men : so that it 
 seems difi&cult to pronounce this prophecy as anything but an 
 hitherto unfulfilled one. Isaac Williams remarks on this : " (These 
 
Chap. XVIIL] COME OUT OF HER. 225 
 
 3 For all nations ' have drunk of the wine of the wi-ath 
 of her fornication, and the kins^s of the earth have ^ ch. xiv. 8. 
 committed fornication with her, ^ and the mer- g ver. ii, 15 
 chants of the earth are waxed rich through the 11 Or, pmver. 
 
 II abundance of her delicacies. 20. & iii. 11. 
 
 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, ii. e, 45.' 2 
 saying, ^ Come out of her, my people, that ye be 
 
 words) are doubtless to be accomplished in spiritual senses. It is 
 even now seen in places where an adulterous church has been, and 
 is removed : we see infidelity, licentiousness, and ' the unclean and 
 hateful bird ' of heresies — ' unclean,' as external to God's Church ; 
 'hateful,' for our Lord says the 'doctrine of the Nicolaitanes 
 which I hate.' " " The woman," says Aretas, " does not mean any 
 particular city, but the time of Antichrist." 
 
 3. " For all nations have drunk .... and the kings of the 
 earth .... and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich 
 through the abundance of her delicacies." "All nations" and 
 " the kings of the earth " have been mentioned previously, but the 
 mention of the merchants of the earth imports a new feature into 
 the whole matter, which we shall have carefully to consider. It 
 infuses, as we shall see, an element of extraordinary difficulty into 
 the reasoning of those who would have us look upon this whole 
 prophecy as fulfilled in Eome, Papal or ecclesiastical, and in 
 nothing else. 
 
 4. " And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out 
 of her, my people." This, of course, will not come as an audible voice 
 fromheaven but it will be a secret, yet universal intimationto all that 
 are in the mystical Babylon, that they are to leave her society, her 
 fellowship, and it may be, as of course it was in the case of the 
 Babylon of old, to leave the city, if it is Eome or any other city. 
 
 Now assuming for a moment the truth of the anti-Papal inter- 
 pretation, it is perfectly clear that this voice has not as yet come 
 to the ears of God's elect dwelling in the mystic Babylon, for if 
 God's voice were now to sound within their ears, " Come out," we 
 ask it with all reverence, where are they to go ? God would not 
 call them out unless He had provided a place for them. Now, one 
 of the most remarkable things in the history of Christianity has 
 
226 DOUBLE UNTO HER DOUBLE. [Revelation. 
 
 not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
 
 plagues. 
 
 i Gen. xviii. 5 ' For her sins have reached unto heaven, and 
 
 li.'g. " Jonaii ^ God hath remembered her iniquities. 
 
 k cii. xvi. 19. 6 ^ Reward her even as she rewarded you, and 
 
 8. Jer^'i^'i"' double unto her double according to* her works : 
 
 29. & li. 24, 49. 
 
 2 Tim. iv. 14. ^ 
 
 ch. xiii. 10. 
 
 6. " Rewarded you." " You," omitted by N, A., B., C. 
 
 " Double unto her," omitted by N, A., B., C. 
 
 been the utter failure, on the part of the various Protestant bodies 
 which have existed since the time of the Reformation, to provide a 
 home for the true people of God. The Protestantism of Germany 
 and Holland and France and Switzerland has become honey- 
 combed with Rationalism. They have no daily service, no creeds 
 in which the fundamental mystery of Christianity — the Incarnation 
 — occupies its proper place. They disclaim one of the chief features 
 of the Catholic Church — continuity of orders and ministry from the 
 first. Their view of the sacraments, at least that of the most of them, 
 is essentially Zwinglian. It is true we of the Church of England 
 can offer them a Church formed on the primitive model, but those 
 of the Roman communion dwelling here are the merest handful, 
 Wlien this voice of God, then, reaches the ears of devout and 
 faithful Romanists He will have provided a suitable place of shelter 
 for them, and He has certainly not done so as yet. 
 
 4, 5. " That ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye 
 receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto 
 heaven, and God hath remembered," &c. Those who belong to 
 any organization or city or kingdom or state which God regards 
 with just anger on account of its sins will, if they have neglected 
 the warning to leave her, be accounted as if they belonged to her 
 — they will have cast in their lot with her and must take the con- 
 sequences. 
 
 6. " Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her 
 double according," &c. This seems to be said to the people of God 
 who are commanded to come out of her. There is a fearful phase 
 of God's dealings revealed in the Scriptures, in which the righteous 
 are said to be the executioners of God's wrath, and even to rejoice 
 in their work of vengeance. Thus Psalm Iviii. 10, " The righteous 
 
Chap. XVIIL] I SIT A QUEEN. 227 
 
 *" in the cup which she hath filled "^ fill to her "^ ch. xiv. lo. 
 
 , , , ^ " ch. xvi. 19. 
 
 double. 
 
 7 "How much she hath glorified herself, and oEzek.xxviu. 
 lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow 
 
 give her : for she saith in her heart, I sit a 
 
 ^ queen, and am no widow, and shall see no p is. xivu. 7, 
 
 8. Zeph. ii. 
 
 sorrow. 15. 
 
 8 Therefore shall her plagues come ''in one verf'io.^"* 
 
 shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance : he shall wash his foot- 
 steps in the blood of the ungodly." The sentiment in the text is 
 taken from Jeremiah iv. 15, " Take vengeance upon her, as she 
 hath done do unto her," and in verse 29, *' Recompense her accord- 
 ing to her work, according to all that she hath done do unto her." 
 This was also said to the harlot Jerusalem, " I will even deal with 
 thee as thou hast done." 
 
 *' In the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double." So in the 
 thanksgiving of the third vial, " They have shed blood, and thou 
 hast given them blood to drink." 
 
 But who are the ministers of this vengeance ? We should gather 
 from xvii. 12, that it is the ten horns of the therion who hate 
 the harlot and shall make her desolate, but from this chapter 
 the kings of the earth bewail her and lament for her (verses 9 and 
 10). Evidently the key is not yet given. 
 
 7. " How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, 
 .... she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow." 
 Williams has a beautiful comment. *' ' She hath glorified herself,' 
 whereas the faithful Church says, God forbid that I should glory, 
 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. ' And lived deliciously,' 
 but she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. In the ex- 
 pressive account of the Babylon of old, ' I shall be a lady for ever, I 
 shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.' 
 She feels not herself a widow from the absence of her Lord, nor 
 fasts on the days wherein the bridegroom is taken away, whereas 
 *she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and 
 continueth in supplications and prayers night and day ' (1 Tim. v. 
 ^, 6)." 
 
 8. " Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and 
 
228 ALAS, ALAS THAT GREAT CITY. [REVELATION. 
 
 day, death, and mourning, and famine; and ""slie shall be 
 T ch. xvii. 16. utterly burned with fire ; ^ for strong is the Lord 
 
 oJer. 1. 34. />,.-,.■, ^i i 
 
 ch. xi. 17. (jrod who judgeth her. 
 
 t Ezek. xxvi. 9 And * the kings of the earth, who have com- 
 xvii. 2. ver. 3. mitted f ornication and lived deliciously with her, 
 " Jer. 1. 46. " shall bewail her, and lament for her, "^ when they 
 xix. 3. ' ' shall see the smoke of her burning, 
 
 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, 
 7 Is. xxi. 9. saying, ^ Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that 
 2 ver. 17, 19. mighty city ! ^ for in one hour is thy judgment 
 come. 
 
 mourning, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire,'* 
 &c. The fall of old Babylon came suddenly in one night, whilst they 
 were impiously feasting, and drinking wine to the honour of their 
 gods from the sacred vessels of the Temple. The enemy having 
 diverted the course of the river came suddenly under the river 
 gates, and in the graphic words of the prophet, " One post shall 
 run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show 
 the king of Babylon that his city is taken " (Jer. li. 31). 
 
 8-10. "And she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong 
 is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth 
 who have committed fornication and lived deUciously with her. 
 .... Standing afar off for the fear of her torment." Elliot has 
 a very ingenious suggestion here. Looking to the situation of 
 Rome as built on volcanic soil, he supposes that at the bidding of 
 the Almighty the pent up internal flames will break out again and 
 consume the city, and so her paramours, the kings and merchant 
 princes, shall stand afar off when they see the smoke of her con- 
 flagration, which they could scarcely be represented as doing if 
 they themselves, or the armies of their neigkbours, had kindled it 
 by the ordinary means used in war for the destruction of hostile 
 cities, " Were the mere burning of Rome by human agency the 
 thing intended, whence all the terror and standing afar off of the 
 kings, merchants, and shipmasters ? " 
 
 He supposes that this fire will never be quenched, but con- 
 tinue eternally burning, and so in this destruction of the Papal 
 
€hap. XVIIL] the MEECHANTS OF THE EARTH. 229 
 
 11 And Hhe mercliants of the earth shall weep and 
 mourn over her ; for no man buyeth their mer- » Ezek, xxvu. 
 chandise any more : '^^' ^^^' ^' 
 
 12 ^ The merchandise of gold, and silver, and ^ ch. xvii. 4. 
 precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and 
 purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all || thyine ii Or, ^eet. 
 wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all 
 manner vessels of most precious wood, and of 
 
 brass, and iron, and marble. 
 
 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, 
 
 and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine 
 
 flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and 
 
 horses, and chariots, and || slaves, and *= souls of II Or, bodies. 
 men. ^^Ezek. xxvii. 
 
 city there will be at least a partial fulfilment of Isaiah Ixvi. 24, 
 *' And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men 
 that have transgressed against me : for their worm shall not die, 
 neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhor- 
 ring unto all flesh." 
 
 "And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over 
 her ; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more." Can this 
 be true of any inland city — having no trade worth speaking of, no 
 ships, no commerce, no manufactures, no colonies? We must 
 surely look in some other direction than that of Eome for the 
 interpretation. And this becomes still more certain as we 
 proceed. 
 
 12, 13. **The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, 
 and of pearls. . . . And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and 
 frankincense . . . souls of men." Not one of these commodities can 
 be connected particularly with any ecclesiastical state of things. It 
 is impossible, as regards the greater part of them, to interpret 
 them spiritually. And it is to be remembered that they are not 
 merchandise in which the city (or supposed city) traffics, but 
 which she buys. She does not purchase them to sell them again, 
 but to enjoy them, so we cannot but gather from verse 14, the 
 next verse. 
 
230 EVERY SHirMASTER. [Revelation. 
 
 14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed 
 from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly 
 are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more 
 at all. 
 
 d ver. 3, 11. 15 "^ The merchants of these things, which 
 
 were made rich by her, shall stand afar of£ for 
 the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 
 e ch. xvii. 4. 16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, ^ that 
 
 was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, 
 and decked with gold, and precious stones, and 
 pearls ! 
 f ver. 10. 17 ^For in one hour so great riches is come to 
 
 g Is. xxiii.i4. nought. And ^ every shipmaster, and all the 
 29. company in ships, and sailors, and as many as 
 
 trade by sea, stood afar off. 
 
 17. " And all the company in ships." '* Everyone who saileth to a place," so S, A., 
 B., C, &c. 
 
 Now there happens to be one iniquitous species of traffic with 
 which the history of Eome is associated — that which nearly four 
 centm-ies ago was on the eve of bringing about the destruction of 
 her whole system, the sale of indulgencies — but by no possibility- 
 can any one of the species of merchandise recounted here with 
 such particularity be imagined to typify or signify spiritually any 
 such traffic. They are each and all the sort of commodities which 
 would be gathered for sale in any great port of some great luxu- 
 rious empire, and nothing else. The cinnamon, and odours, and 
 incense, and ointments are necessary articles of oriental luxury, as 
 are the precious stones and the vessels of ivory, and to say that 
 the destruction of an inland city would make all the merchants 
 of the earth lament (evidently as a body) because no man buyeth 
 their merchandise any more, seems as inapplicable to a city of 
 priests and monks as any perversion of prophecy can well be. 
 
 And yet this is nothing to what is coming in the 17th verse. 
 
 17, 19. "And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and 
 sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off. . . . And they 
 cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, sayings 
 
Chap. XVIIL] THEY CAST DUST ON THEIR HEADS. 231 
 
 18 ^ And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, 
 saying, ' What city is like unto this great city ! ^ Ezek. xxvii. 
 
 19 And '' they cast dust on their heads, and * c'h. xiii. 4." 
 
 . -, . o •!• • * 1 1 ^ Josh. vii. 6. 
 
 cried, weeping and waiiing, saying, Alas, alas i sam. iv. 12. 
 that great city, wherein were made rich all that Ezek!'xxvu. 
 
 30. 
 
 had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness 
 
 ^ for in one hour is she made desolate. ^ ver. 8. 
 
 Alas, alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had 
 ships," &e. Now we would ask, with all reverence, what is the 
 purpose of Almighty God with respect to prophecy ? Is it not to 
 warn His people respecting coming judgments which they are to 
 be aware of, and so " flee from the wrath to come." But if this 
 be so the prophecy must present features which are recognizable. 
 The traffic of Papal Kome has been in the sale of indulgencies, in 
 fees at institution to bishoprics and other dignities, in mortuary 
 masses, in exactions, in exemptions — not in anything which can 
 enrich merchants, shipowners, sailors, and such like. There are 
 features, as for instance, the sitting on the seven hills, which 
 would seem to lead us to believe that the Church of Rome is in- 
 tended, and when one comes to look at her unwarrantable preten- 
 sions, based upon gross frauds, her persecution by torture and 
 burning of all who differ from her, her saint worship and 
 Mariolatry — such things have made men like Isaac Williams say, 
 " It must be allowed that the prophecy does in some awful 
 manner hover, as with boding raven wing, over Rome." And 
 even when deprecating the reference to Rome he writes : *' There 
 would be no reason, according to the analogy of the Apocalypse, 
 to conclude that Rome is here Uterally intended, were it not from 
 the fact of there being a Church there of so wonderful and myste- 
 rious a character." 
 
 I agree with all this, but it seems to me that these references to 
 cargoes (yojuov), to freights, to ships, shipowners, &c., must be 
 intended to lead us to look in another direction — in fact to a 
 collapse of a great commercial system — not of a political, or of a 
 social, or least of all, of an ecclesiastical, but of a commercial system, 
 and apparently, to me, of nothing else. It is as if London and 
 Liverpool and Glasgow and New York were all amalgamated 
 
[Revelation. 
 
 20 ""Eejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles 
 m Is. xiiv. 23. and prophets ; for ° God hath avensred you on 
 
 & xlix. 13. , -^ -^ » ^ 
 
 Jer. li. 48. her. 
 
 49, 50. ch. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a 
 
 great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, 
 
 o Jer. li. 64. ^ Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon 
 
 p ch. xii. 8. be thrown down, and ^ shall be found no more 
 
 & xvi. 20. i. n 
 
 at all. 
 
 20. "And ye holy apostles and prophets." "Ye holy ones and ye apostles," H, 
 A., B., &c. 
 
 together and involved, as in a moment, in one common and 
 irreversible ruin. 
 
 If it be asked, can a commercial system be so evil in the sight of 
 God as that He should prophecy that its overthrow should delight 
 the angels in heaven ? I answer, has anything else revived in the 
 cities of Christian Europe the worst sins of heathenism ? Look at 
 the vice, the misery, the prostitution, the fraud, the overreaching, 
 the gambling, the drunkenness which is rife among the populations 
 of the huge cities of Europe and America ; the direct result of their 
 commercial prosperity, which seems to suck up as in a vortex the 
 iniquity and misery of the world. 
 
 If the Almighty had intended (primarily) to put us on our guard 
 against a great ecclesiastical centre, would He have made the 
 collapse and ruin of such a metropolis the occasion of wailing to 
 shipowners, because no persons could be found any more to buy 
 their cargoes? Impossible. As Alford has written, " The details of 
 this mercantile lamentation far more nearly suit London than 
 Eome at any assignable period of her history." 
 
 20. " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and 
 prophets." The Rome of old, heathen Rome, actually destroyed 
 such holy Apostles as Peter and Paul by putting them to death. 
 Rome Papal can only be said to persecute them by corrupting their 
 teaching. 
 
 21. " And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, 
 and cast it into the sea, saying. Thus with violence." As we 
 should say, *' Thus with a rush." It combines the idea of violence 
 and suddenness or swiftness. 
 
Chap. XVIIL] THE VOICE OF HARPERS. 233 
 
 22 lAnd the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of 
 pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more ^ is. xxiv. 8. 
 at all in thee ; and no craftsman, of whatsoever & xvi. 9, & 
 craft Tie he, shall be found anj more in thee ; and Ezek. xxvi. 
 the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more 
 
 at all in. thee ; 
 
 23 ""And the light of a candle shall shine no >• Jer. xxv. lo. 
 more at all in thee ; ® and the voice of the bride- » Jer. vii. 34. 
 
 & xvi 9 & 
 
 groom and of the bride shall be heard no more at xxv. io.'& 
 
 xxxiii 11 
 
 all in thee : for ^ thy merchants were the great « is. xxm". 8. 
 
 men of the earth ; "^ for by thy sorceries were all u 2 Kings ix. 
 
 nations deceived. C ch.\vii"* 
 
 24 And ""in her was found the blood of pro- x'ch. xvii. 6. 
 phets, and of saints, and of all that ^ were slain ^ Jer. u. 49 
 upon the earth. 
 
 22, 23. ** And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers 
 .... and no craftsman .... sound of a millstone .... light 
 of a candle .... voice of the bridegroom and the bride." None 
 of these are specially connected with such a capital as Kome. It 
 has not had in its ecclesiastical times the reputation of being a 
 joyous and light-hearted city, as Paris or Naples. Not a city of 
 craftsmen, if we except the copying of pictures, nor a city of 
 bridegrooms and brides. That the light of candles should not be 
 seen there, and the sound of millstone should not be heard, seems 
 to point to a ruined city, not one destroyed from the foundations in 
 a moment by such natural causes as are suggested by Mr. Elliot. 
 
 No one can read these verses over without being struck with 
 their extraordinary subhmity and beauty. It is as if the Apoca- 
 lyptic seer lamented with all his heart the desolation which it was 
 laid upon him to foretell. 
 
234 APPLICATION OF THE PROPHECY. [Revelation. 
 
 EXCUESUS ON THE APPLICATION OF THE 
 PKOPHECY TO ROME. 
 
 What then are we to understand by the great harlot. It has 
 been said : 
 
 1. That it means the Church and city of Rome ; or that 
 
 2. It signifies not Rome only, but universal Christendom, every 
 part and branch of which has been guilty of compromising more 
 or less with the world, and so has been guilty of spiritual fornica- 
 tion ; or 
 
 3. That it means heathen Rome, and not Christian Rome or a 
 Christian system at all. 
 
 (1.) With respect to the first it has been till some years past the 
 almost universal opinion of Protestant interpreters, and so has got 
 thoroughly rooted in not only our religious prejudices, but almost, 
 one might say, in our literature. 
 
 That the figure of a harlot represents an apostate Church we 
 gather from the Old Testament, " How is the faithful city become 
 an harlot! it was full of judgment ; righteousness lodged in it; but 
 now murderers" (Isaiah, i. 21) ; so also Jeremiah ii. 20, 21 ; Ezekiel, 
 xxiii. (Aholah and Aholibah) ; Hosea ii. 2. 
 
 Now for men who regarded the Apocalypse as an historical sketch 
 of the fortunes or vicissitudes of the Church from St. John's time 
 till the second Advent, and who were intensely embittered against 
 the Church of Rome for her persecutions of all who opposed her 
 pretensions, it was only natural to regard this church as exclusively 
 the harlot. " Not a few of the darkest traits of ' Babylon ' apply to 
 her with a closeness of application which may not unnaturally lead 
 us to think that the picture of these chapters has been drawn from 
 nothing so much as her. Her idolatries, her outward carnal 
 splendour, her oppression of God's saints, her merciless cruelties 
 with torture, the dungeon and the stake, the tears and agonies and 
 blood with which she has filled so many centuries, these and a 
 thousand circumstances of a similar kind may well be our excuse 
 if in Babylon we read Christian Rome. Yet this interpretation ia 
 false" (Milligan). 
 
 Now in looking over the counts of accusation against her, there 
 
Chap. XVIIL] WHO IS THE HARLOT ? 235 
 
 is, first of all, her enormous pretensions — pretensions which simply 
 amount to this, that to have fellowship with Christ men must have 
 fellowship with the Bishop of Eome ; and these pretensions based 
 partly upon such absurdities as Eome being the burial place of the 
 Apostles Peter and Paul, and partly upon the most impudent and 
 baseless forgeries. This pretension is expressed in Kev. xviii. 7» 
 *' how much she hath glorified herself , . . she saith in her heart, I 
 sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." It 
 would take me far too long to go over, even very summarily, the 
 history of these pretensions ; suffice it to say, that in their present 
 state they mainly depend on what are called the false decretals, 
 the forged letters of Popes from Clement of Eome to the middle of 
 the eighth century. They were first published by one Isidore 
 Mercator, about the year 850, and were at once accepted by Eome, 
 i.e., by the Bishop of Eome, though he must have known that there 
 were no such letters or decretals in the archives of Eome, where, of 
 course, they would have been if they were genuine. The reader, 
 if he chooses, will see the account of these letters in a note on them 
 at the end of Dr. Littledale's " Petrine Claims." Now considering 
 that the late origin of these forgeries is allowed on all hands, is it 
 not due to the truth of God, rather, to the God of truth, to disclaim 
 them, and to acknowledge that the present Papal pretensions as set 
 forth at the last Vatican council are based upon falsehoods. 
 Without asserting that the putting forth of such claims, based on 
 such untruths, of itself constitutes her to be the harlot, it most 
 certainly makes her a rebel against the truth of God, and will sooner 
 or later bring her under the judgment denounced against every one 
 who "loveth and maketh a lie." 
 
 (2.) Then, in the next place, men have nf turally held her to be 
 the harlot because of her idolatrous invocation of the Blessed Virgin 
 and saints. I subjoin the following from a well-known writer, the 
 Eev. E. F. Littledale, who cannot be accused of the smallest leaning 
 to ultra- Protestantism. "It is not true, as is often alleged in defence 
 [of prayers to the Virgin and saints] that the prayers of the 
 departed saints are asked only in the same sense as those of living 
 ones, with the added thought that they are now more able to pray 
 effectually for us. The petitions are not at all limited to a mere 
 * Pray for us,' but are constantly of exactly the same kind and 
 wording as those addressed to Almighty God, and are offered 
 Imeeling and in the course of Divine Service, which is not how we 
 
'236 MARIOLATRY. [Revelation. 
 
 ever ask the prayers of living friends. A few specimens are here 
 «et down from the * Eaccolta ' (Engl. Translation, Burns and 
 Oats, 1873), a collection of prayers specially indulgenced by the 
 Popes, and therefore of indisputable authority in the Roman Church. 
 
 " ' Hail, Mary, Queen, Mother of Mercy, our Life, Sweetness, and 
 Hope, all hail ! To thee we cry, banished sons of Eve, to thee we' 
 Bigh, groaning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, our 
 Advocate, thy merciful eyes to us, and after this our exile show us 
 Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy womb. merciful, loving, sweet 
 Virgin Mary.' 
 
 V. " ' Make me worthy to praise thee, sacred Virgin.' 
 
 B. " ' Give me strength against mine enemies.' 
 
 2. *' ' We fly beneath thy shelter, holy Mother of God, despise 
 not our petitions in our necessities, and deliver us always from all 
 perils, glorious and blessed Virgin.' 
 
 8. "'Heart of Mary, Mother of God .... worthy of all the 
 
 veneration of angels and men Heart full of goodness, ever 
 
 •compassionate towards our sufferings, vouchsafe to thaw our icy 
 
 liearts In thee let the Holy Church find safety, shelter; 
 
 protect it and be its sweet asylum, its tower of strength Be 
 
 thou our help in need, our comfort in trouble, our strength in 
 temptation, our refuge in persecution, our aid in all dangers * 
 
 4. ** ' Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.' 
 
 5. " * Leave me not, my Mother, in my own hands, or I am lost. 
 Let me but cling to thee. Save me, my hope ; save me from hell.' 
 
 6. " * Michael, glorious prince, chief and champion of the heavenly 
 host .... vouchsafe to free us from all evil, who with full con- 
 fidence have recourse to thee.' 
 
 7. "'Benign Joseph, our guide, protect us and the holy Church.' 
 
 8. " ' Guardian of virgins, and holy father Joseph, to whose faithful 
 keeping Christ Jesus, innocence itself, and Mary, virgin of virgins, 
 were committed, I pray and beseech thee by these two dear pledges, 
 Jesus and Mary, that, being preserved from all uncleanness, I may, 
 with spotless mind, pure heart, and chaste body, ever most faith- 
 fully serve Jesus and Mary. Amen.' 
 
 " It may, perhaps, be argued, that expressions of devotion, even 
 if somewhat unguarded, are not to be rigidly weighed and judged. 
 Some extracts from a formal theological work, Liguori's ' Glories 
 of Mary,' are therefore added here : ' Queen Mother and Spouse 
 of the King, to her belong dominion and power over all creatures. 
 
Chap. XVIIL] PERSECUTION. 237 
 
 She is Queen of Mercy, as Jesus is King of Justice.' ' In the 
 Franciscan chronicles it is related that brother Leo saw a red 
 ladder, on the top of which was Jesus Christ ; and a white one, on 
 the top of which was His most holy Mother ; and he saw some who 
 tried to ascend the red ladder, and they mounted a few steps and 
 fell; they tried again, and again fell. They were then advised to 
 go and try the white ladder, and by that one they easily ascended ; 
 for our Blessed Lady stretched out her hands and helped them^ 
 and so they got safely to heaven.' " 
 
 If this (as observes Dr. Littledale) which Liguori twice uses as 
 proof of the tenet it involves, be not blasphemy against the Lord 
 Jesus, and a formal denial of His power to save, and His being the 
 way to heaven, there are no such sins possible. 
 
 I might have filled this whole volume with such instances, but 
 I take these from Dr. Littledale's book because of his known High 
 Church opinions. They are not taken from Orange tracts against 
 Eomanism, but from the writings of a learned man who would 
 carefully weigh every word that he wrote on such a subject. 
 
 Then a third count against her has been her diabolical persecu- 
 tions. I have entered fully upon this in my notes on chap. xvii. 6, 
 and must direct my reader back to this. Suffice it now to refer 
 to authorized documents asserting her right to extirpate heresy. 
 Thus in the catechism of the Council of Trent : " It is not to be 
 denied that heretics and schismatics are within the power of the 
 Church, and may be called to trial by her, be punished, and con- 
 demned by anathema ; " and, by the third canon of the fourth 
 council of Lateran, accounted a general council by the Eoman 
 Church, it is ordered that " all secular princes do extirpate every 
 heretic in their states ; and in the event of failure to comply with 
 this injunction, such princes are to be excommunicated, their 
 subjects released from their oath of allegiance, and their terri- 
 tories to be given to Catholics, who are to destroy the heretics 
 and possess the country as their reward." 
 
 And this was so faithfully carried out that in Spain alone 32,000 
 persons were burnt, either alive or after being strangled, 17,000 
 burnt in effigy, and 291,000 condemned to various forms of im- 
 prisonment, to the galleys, or subjected to other penalty. It is 
 appalling to think of the amount of misery represented by these 
 statements, and that in one Eoman Catholic country alone. 
 
 One would think that these three counts alone, her pretensions 
 
238 ROME uniOLDS ORTHODOXY. [Revelation. 
 
 based on gross misconception and fraud, her creature worship and 
 her persecutions by fire, stake, and steel, would have been sufficient 
 to brand her as the harlot, and yet there is much in history that is 
 overwhelmingly (I may say) against it. 
 
 For first of all this (so-called) harlot Church has been the pillar 
 of the truth of our Blessed Lord's Incarnation, or at least of His 
 Godhead. This is very fully acknowledged by such a prejudiced 
 writer as Mr. Elliot. In speaking of the Gothic invasions under 
 the figure of the river cast out of the dragon's mouth : " The suc- 
 cessive tribes, whether of Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Heruli, Huns, &c., 
 abandoned their Paganism for Christianity. At liret sight indeed 
 it was for the most part Arian — pseudo-Christianity. Such was 
 their profession in France, Spain, and Africa. But after a century 
 or more of the flux and reflux of the invading flood, this, too, was 
 abandoned for the more orthodox Trinitarian Christian faith. The 
 influence of the Ivomau See, which was gradually more and more 
 operative with the barbarians, powerfully tended to this result." 
 
 Now this defence and promulgation of the true faith on the part 
 of the Church of Rome was done by her when, according to ultra- 
 Protestant interpreters, she was fast becoming Antichrist. By the 
 years COO or 700 she had become Antichrist, and this flood of the 
 barbarians took place at diflerent times in the two preceding 
 centuries. But did she continue to hold this faith? Let us take 
 her at the time in which she was supposed to be at her worst, the 
 time, say, of the Council of Trent. In the catechism of the 
 Council of Trent Question Fourteen is, '*AVhat advantages and 
 blessings are cliiefl}* bestowed upon the human race through the 
 Passion of Christ ? " Answer : *' It alone remains that the blessing 
 and advantages which flow to the human race from the Passion of 
 Christ be accurately explained by the pastor. In the first place, 
 then, the Passion of our Lord was our deliverance from sin ; for 
 as St. John says, * He hath loved us and washed us from our sins 
 in His own Blood.' * Ho hath quickened you together with Him,' 
 says the Apostle. ' having forgiven you all trespasses,' >SlC. In the 
 next place, it hath rescued us from the tyranny of the devil, for our 
 Lord Himself says, ' Now is the judgment of this world : now shall 
 the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from 
 the earth will draw all unto me.' He hath also discharged the 
 punishment due to our sins. And next, as no sacrifice more 
 grateful and acceptable could have been oflered to God, He hath 
 
Chap. XVIIL] ROME UPHOLDS SAIXTLINESS. 239 
 
 reconciled ns to the Father, appeased His wrath, and propitiated 
 His Justice. Finally, by taking away our sins, He opened unto us 
 heaven, which was closed by the common sin of the human race, as 
 the Apostle doth signify in these words, ' Having therefore, 
 brethren^ a boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of 
 Jesus.' Nor is there wanting some type and figure of this mystery 
 under the Old Law, for those who were prohibited to return into 
 their native country before the death of the high-priest, typified 
 that until that Supreme and Eternal High-priest, Christ Jesus, had 
 died, and by dying had opened the gates of heaven to those who, 
 purified by the Sacraments, and gifted with faith, hope, and love, 
 become partakers of His Passion, no one, however just and piotis 
 his life, could have gained admission into the heavenly country." 
 
 Anyone who knows anything of Roman devotional writing will 
 confess that, no matter what their errors in other respects, God 
 has not withheld from them the faith and the confession of Christ 
 crucified. 
 
 Then, in the next place, more than any Western Church, or 
 Christian body in "Western Europe, the Eoman Church has set 
 forth the Apostohc life of self-denial and absolute poverty. There 
 have been numerous bodies of men, Dominicans, Franciscans, 
 Passionists, &c., who have given up all worldly goods and devoted 
 themselves to missionary work, in preaching, teaching the young, 
 tending the sick in hospitals, visiting the poorest of the poor, 
 reclaiming criminals, shutting themselves up among lepers, in 
 fact, devoting themselves to every conceivable work of mercy and 
 rehgion. 
 
 Then, in the next place, she has nourished a number of saints 
 who have exhibited to men the highest types of unworldliness and 
 devotion. Amongst a multitude of others we name Aquinas, 
 Bernard, Anselm, Charles Borromeo, Francis Xavier, Theresa, 
 Francis de Sales, and in our own days. Father Damien, One 
 brought up in Presbyterianism has confessed that the Church of 
 Eome has nurtured the noblest types of devotion that the world 
 has ever seen ^MOligan, '" On Eevelation/' Baird Lecture, page 184). 
 With respect to the Eoman Church being the Apocalyptic harlot, 
 it is to be remembered that every church or body of professing 
 Christians has, in some very important particular, fallen from 
 Ciod. Thus the Greek Communion has been equally tainted with 
 creature worship, especially in respect of Mariolatry, as the 
 
240 ROME HEATHEN. [Revelation. 
 
 Eoman. Then look at the declension of the continental Protestant 
 bodies in France, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany from the 
 confession of the Godhead of Christ. Which, if it may be allow- 
 able to suggest such a comparison, must be the worst error in the 
 eight of God, an undue honour of the Virgin, so as even to wor- 
 ship her, because of her having been ordained by God as the 
 instrument of His Son's Incarnation ; or a scornful denial, through 
 Eationalistic principles, of any Incarnation at all : and then if the 
 decline of the Romish Church be owing to worldliness, what could 
 exceed the secularity of the Church of England in the last century ? 
 Considerations like these have made many good men think that the 
 harlot represents not a fallen Church, but a fallen Christendom. 
 
 Some, however, as Dean Vaughan, have interpreted the harlot 
 of heathen Rome, and not Christian [i.e. Papal) Rome at all: 
 *• Against the Empire of Rome St. John was instructed to lift up 
 the voice of prophecy : that was the foe then predominant ; the foe 
 which invaded the sanctuaries, and desolated the homes of the 
 Church. Cold and scanty had been the comfort for those days if 
 St. John, as some have dreamed, had been directed to keep silent 
 on the present, and to promise deliverance from an enemy not yet 
 arisen. Prophecy would have been wanting to her chief duty, and 
 neglectful of her noblest office, if she had overleaped the Empire 
 and sought out the Papacy ; if she had disregarded the calamity 
 that was, and spoken only of a corruption not yet operative. Those 
 who interpret the mystic Babylon as descriptive of the errors and 
 vices of the Papacy, forget how the same thing would have pre- 
 sented itself to them under Nero or under Domitian ; how barren 
 and unpersuasive would have been the word of prediction which 
 regarded only the sufferers under a Hildebrand or a Borgia." 
 
 This reasoning does not seem to me just. It is only true if the 
 Apocalyptic visions only refer merely to the time of the Apostle. 
 If they have any reference to further and more distant evils, then 
 such evils may, by the Holy Spirit, be brought within the horizon of 
 the Seer. 
 
 But it is to be remembered that it by no means follows that if 
 the Church of Rome be not the harlot, God will not visit her, because 
 of her unwarranted pretensions to universal dominion based on 
 forgeries, and also because of her gross Mariolatry and creature 
 worship, and because of her centuries of murder and cruelty in 
 upholding her pretensions. 
 
Chap. XIX.] ALLELUIA. 241 
 
 If any Church, just as any Christian man or woman, has com- 
 mitted a sin, that sin has to he lamented and confessed, and if it 
 be an open sin known to all mankind has to be openly confessed, 
 ere the all-atoning Blood can be applied ; or else what truth is 
 there in the Apostolic declaration, " If we confess our sins he is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sins " ? 
 
 And this, because of its claim of infalUbility in all times and 
 places, applies more directly to the Church of Eome than to any 
 other Church. She claims an absolute identity throughout the 
 ages. If so, she is bound to confess the murders and cruelties 
 committed by her, and sanctioned by the express authority in past 
 ages of her chief pastors. It is no excuse to say that in past times 
 governments universally sanctioned such modes of defending the 
 truth. Being infallible, she ought to have known better, and 
 ought to have made her voice heard in reprobating such scandals 
 on the religion of Christ. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 AND after these things * I heard a great voice of much 
 people in heaven, saying, Alleluia ; ^ Salva- * ch. xi. 15. 
 tion, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the & vij. 16, 12. 
 
 Lord our God : 
 
 & xii. 10. 
 
 1. " And honour," omitted by N, A., B., C. 
 " Are our Gods," n, A., B„ C. 
 
 1. " And after these things I heard a great voice of much people 
 in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, 
 and," &c. This is in strong contrast with what we have read in 
 the last chapter. There we had lamentation of kings and mer- 
 chant princes and shipmasters and sailors over the fall of 
 Babylon. Here we have the rejoicing of the multitudes in heaven, 
 who see things as God sees them, over the same catastrophe. For 
 "just and true are his judgments, for he hath judged the great 
 whore." 
 
 Whatever secondary causes may have brought about the 
 destruction of Babylon, it is all God's doing altogether. His arm 
 
 E 
 
242 AGAIN THEY SAID, ALLELUIA. [Revelation. 
 
 2 For '^ true and righteous are his judgments : for he hath 
 «: ch. XV. 3. judged the great whore, which did corrupt the 
 d Deut. xxxii. earth with her fornication, and '^ hath avenged 
 &'xviii! 2o". ' the blood of his servants at her hand. 
 2 isa. xxxiv. 3 And asain they said, Alleluia. And ^ her 
 
 10. ch. xiv. n \ 
 
 11. & xviii. 9, smoke rose up for ever and ever. 
 
 i- ch. iv. 4. 6, 4 And ^ the four and twenty elders and the 
 
 10. & V. 14. *^ 
 
 has wrought the salvation ; to His power it is altogether to be 
 ascribed. 
 
 2. "For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath 
 judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her for- 
 nication." *' True and righteous are his judgments." For He 
 hath condemned the harlot because of her evil — because of her 
 corrupting the earth. Again I repeat, it seems impossible to 
 understand the earth here of a few kingdoms in the West of 
 Europe, important though those kingdoms may have been in the 
 history of the world and of the Church. The earth must mean 
 far more than what remained to the Papacy of the ten kingdoms 
 of mediaeval Europe. Though the Alleluia was heard in heaven, 
 yet if the lamentation took place upon earth, upon earth it must 
 have been heard; but no such lamentation of kings and nobles 
 and merchants has as yet assailed the ears of men. 
 
 If the avenging of the blood of God's servants be punishment 
 exacted from the harlot in this world, then no such infliction has 
 as yet taken place. 
 
 3. " And again they said. Alleluia. And her smoke rose up," 
 &c. Is this the smoke of the everlasting burnings of lost souls, or 
 is it to be understood of perpetual desolation as if by fire, as in 
 the last chapter (xviii. 18), where not souls in Gehenna, but the 
 shipmasters and all the company of sailors stood afar off when they 
 saw the smoke of her burning, saying, *' What city is like unto 
 this great city " ? And in Isaiah xxxiv. 10, which was evidently 
 before the eye of the Seer, it is spoken of the perpetual desola- 
 tion of Edom, not in the future world, but in this. 
 
 4. " And the four and twenty elders and the four living ones," 
 &c. It is evident from this particular mention of the worship of 
 the highest of created existences, tliat by the vengeance executed 
 
€hap. XIX.] AMEN ; ALLEUIA. 243 
 
 four beasts fell down and worsliipped Grod that sat on the 
 
 throne, saying, ^ Amen ; Alleluia. s i chron. 
 
 5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, v. 13. & viii. ' 
 ^ Praise our G-od, all ye his servants, and ye that ^'Ps. cxxxiv. 
 fear him, ' both small and great. i'ch. xil^il' ' 
 
 6 ^ And I heard as it were the voice of a great k Ezek. i. 24. 
 multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and di^xiv. 2. 
 as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying. Alle- 
 luia : for ^ the Lord G-od omnipotent reigneth. 1 ch. xi. 15, 
 
 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour &'xxi. 22. 
 
 '5. " And ye that fear him." " And ye," omitted by S, C, but retained by A., B. 
 
 on the harlot some great way unknown to us was opened for the 
 final glory of God and the triumph of His Church. 
 
 Amen and Alleluia are both Hebrew words, and it has been 
 thrown out that this betokens a Jewish or Hebrew element ; but 
 this is absurd, for we learn from 1 Corinthians xiv. that the repe- 
 tition of Amen formed a recognized part of the Eucharistic service. 
 *' In these days," says St. Augustine, "throughout the world the 
 Amen and the Allelujah is sung." And Jerome also confirms 
 this : " The Amen and Allelujah in likeness of the heavenly 
 thunderings." 
 
 5. " And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, 
 all ye his servants," &c. This voice from the throne is not the voice 
 of Christ, who in John xx. distinguishes Himself from the creatures 
 of God, " I ascend to my God and your God," but probably is the 
 voice of one of the living ones, or of one of the elders. 
 
 6. "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude . . , 
 the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." He reigneth without a 
 rival. Hitherto He had allowed Satan, the world power embodied 
 in the beast and the false prophet to usurp His place, now He 
 puts them aside, and destroys them. This is spoken in anticipa- 
 tion of what is brought about in verse 20 of this chapter. The 
 Apocalyptic Seer, as is his wont, speaks of things hereafter to 
 take place as if they were already accomplished (see xiv. 8 ; and 
 xvi. 19). 
 
 7. " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him, for the 
 
244 FINE LINEN, CLEAN AND WHITE. [Revelation. 
 
 to him : for ™ the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his. 
 °» Mat. xxii. ^ife iiath made herself ready. 
 
 2. & XXV. 10. -^ 
 
 2 Cor. xi 2. 8 And ^ to her was e^ranted that she should be 
 
 Eph. V. 32. ° 
 
 ch. xxi. 2, 9. arrayed in fine linen, clean and 11 white : ^ for the- 
 " ps. xiv. 13, ^ *;. . , . I » . 
 
 14. Ezek. fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 
 
 iii. 18. ' ' 9 And he saith unto me. Write, ^ Blessed are 
 
 - Ps.'cxxxii!9. they which are called unto the marriage supper of 
 
 2, 3. Luke 
 
 xiv. 15, 16. 
 
 marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself 
 ready." The marriage supper of the Son of the great King is 
 represented in the Gospels as the consummation of this dispensa- 
 tion (Matt. xxii. 2). At the close it is brought before us as ten 
 virgins going forth to meet the bridegroom. From St. Paul we 
 learn that the work of grace in the hands of Christ's ministers is 
 an espousal to one husband, that each and all may be presented a& 
 a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. xi. 2), and further and more 
 explicitly in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the husband is the 
 head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and He 
 is the Saviour of the mystical body, and we His people are not 
 only His servants, not only His brethren, but members of His 
 body, of His flesh and of His bones, and will, if we continue in the 
 faith, be presented by Himself to Himself, as a glorious Church, 
 not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and 
 without blemish (Ephes. v. 25-27). This marriage of the Lamb 
 is not described, only in a future chapter an angel says to the 
 Apostle, " Come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb'a 
 wife," and he proceeds to show him an unspeakably great and 
 glorious city. 
 
 8. " And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine 
 linen, clean and white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of 
 saints." Not without Christ, for they have washed their robes 
 and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. And yet it is 
 their own. The whiteness of their garments corresponds with the 
 purity of their souls. It is impossible even to imagine that 
 amongst the realities of heaven there should be such an incon- 
 gruity as a robe of righteousness thrown over a polluted soul to 
 hide its defilement. 
 
 9. ** And be saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are 
 
€hap. XIX.] I FELL AT HIS FEET. 245 
 
 the Lamb. And he saith unto me, '^ These are the true sayings 
 
 of God. I ch. xxi. 5. 
 
 & xxu. 6. 
 
 10 And ' I fell at his feet to worship him. ' ch. xxii. 8. 
 
 '^ ' Acts X. 26. 
 
 And he said unto me, ® See thou do it not : I am & xiv. u, is. 
 
 cli. xxii. 9. 
 
 thy f eliowservant, and of thy brethren * that have ' i John v. lo. 
 
 -' 'J ch. xii. 17. 
 
 called unto the marriage supper," &c. "What does this calling 
 ^ean ? Does it mean that they are effectually called, so that they 
 cannot resist the invitation ? The Lord's own parable in Matt, 
 xxii. seems to forbid such a view. All God's calls have to be 
 responded to and accepted and continued in. Or does it mean 
 some caUing at the last ? Amongst the Jews there was a second 
 calling. •' All things are now ready, come to the marriage." This 
 calling may be restricted to those who are known by God to be 
 worthy. 
 
 "And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." 
 Interjected as it were, so that we may pay the more reverent atten- 
 tion to them. It is like the Saviour's twofold Amen before some 
 of His more important sayings. 
 
 10. " And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto 
 me, See thou do it not." Temptations are according to the nature 
 of the minds to which they present themselves. This was a 
 temptation to no other than an Apostle. In order to see its force 
 we must enter somewhat into the glory of the angelic nature and 
 into the unspeakable greatness of the revelation set before him by 
 the ministry of that angel. Ordinary religious minds will wonder 
 at the Apostle being tempted, even for a moment, to do such a 
 thing, but this wonder arises from their utter inability to realize 
 what the Apostle saw. An angel is to them an ordinary fellow- 
 creature, perhaps very ordinary, because they have never set before 
 themselves the ministrations of these exalted ones, as Hooker did 
 a little before he was called hence to join their company. 
 
 *' I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the 
 testimony of Jesus," i.e., of thy brethren the prophets, for the 
 ability to set before our fellow-creatures the person and work of 
 Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 The highest prophets can say nothing greater or so great as the 
 glory and grace of Jesus. 
 
246 WORSHIP GOD. [Revelation. 
 
 tlie testimony of Jesus : worship God : for the testimony of 
 
 Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, 
 u ch. xy. 5. 11 ^ And I saw heaven opened, and behold *a 
 
 white horse ; and he that sat upon him was called 
 y ch. iii. 14. y Faithful and True, and ' in righteousness he 
 
 » Isa. xi. 4. . ' o 
 
 doth judge and make war. 
 
 '• "Worship God." He only is worthy to receive the worship of 
 His creatures. They must not only not worship saints and angels, 
 but they must worship Him with all concentration of mind and 
 with all lowliness of body. 
 
 11. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse ; and 
 he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in 
 righteousness," &c. Where does all this occur, and what is the 
 nature of this warfare ? Now St. John saw heaven opened, and 
 there is the rider on the white horse, and it is said that "the 
 armies which were in heaven followed him on white horses." This 
 betokens a warfare in heaven, but what is the manner of this war- 
 fare ? He slays His enemies with a sharp sword proceeding out of 
 His mouth, and it is noticed that the armies which follow Him 
 have no arms, offensive or defensive, and yet it seems evident 
 that His enemies are destroyed, as men are destroyed in human 
 warfare, for all the fowls are filled with their flesh, so that this 
 warfare is a mystery. We might have thought that, owing to the 
 fact that the sword proceeded out of His mouth, this warfare was a 
 spiritual warfare, and that His enemies were not actually slain, but 
 brought over to His side by conversion effected by His word ; but 
 this seems not to be so. Again, a remarkable emphasis is laid upon 
 His Name. He is said to have four names. He is called (verse 11) 
 Faithful and True. Again, He has a Name written (apparently on 
 His diadems) which no one knoweth but Himself. Again, His Name 
 is called the Word of God ; and lastly, on His vesture and on His 
 thigh there is a Name written, " King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." 
 
 Let us take the things said of Him in their order. 
 
 "And in righteousness he doth judge and make war." This is 
 said, apparently, with reference to his name of " Faithful and 
 True." His judgment and his warfare is not like the judgment of 
 man, having always much imperfection mixed up with it. H© 
 
Chap. XIX.] THE WORD OF GOD. 247 
 
 12 *His eyes were as a flame of fire, ^ and on his head 
 were many crowns ; ^ and he had a name written, * ch. i. i4. 
 that no man knew, but he himself. b cii. vi. 2. 
 
 13 ^ And he was clothed with a vesture dipped ver.ie." ' 
 in blood : and his name is called ^ The Word of 2, 3. * 
 
 ^ T e John i. 1. 
 
 CrOa. 1 John V. 7. 
 
 14 ^And the armies which were in heaven fol- f ch. xiv. 20. 
 lowed him upon white horses, ^ clothed in fine g Mat. xxviii. 
 linen, white and clean. & vu. "9. 
 
 maketh war always in righteousness, so that He may rid the earth 
 of those who destroy it. 
 
 12. •* His eyes were as a flame of fire." Fire, because of its hght, 
 searching, piercing, before consuming. This is the account of Him 
 in the opening of this book (chap. i. 14). 
 
 •' And on his head were many crowns." In chap. vi. 2 it is said 
 that a crown {stepha7ios), the crown of victory, was given to Him 
 because He was to go forth conquering and to conquer. Here the 
 crowns are the diademata, and, being many, betoken universal rule. 
 
 " And he had a name Written, that no man knew, but he himself." 
 This is the new name of chap. iii. 12. This name the Apostle saw 
 written (according to Alford) but knew not its import. Some 
 suppose that it was the " Word of God " of the next verse, of which 
 no human understanding can fathom the deep significance, but we 
 had better take it as unknown to any creature, and leave it in the 
 mystery in which God has shrouded it. 
 
 13. " And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood." Does 
 this signify His own Blood or the blood of His enemies? It is 
 evidently a reference to Isaiah Ixiii. 2, 3, " Wherefore art thou red 
 in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the 
 winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone : and of the people 
 there was none with me," &c. And yet it would be most appro- 
 priate if the garment was stained with His own Blood. 
 
 *' And his name is called the Word of God." Only in the Gospel 
 of this Evangelist is this name given to the Lord. A very strong 
 proof, amongst many others, that the two books are written by the 
 same author. 
 
 14. " And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon 
 
248 KING OF KINGS. [Revelation. 
 
 15 And ^ out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that 
 
 h isa. xi. 4. with it he should smite the nations : and * he 
 
 2 Thes. u. 8. 
 
 ch. i. 16. shall rule them with a rod of iron : and ^ he 
 
 ver. 21. Til- 
 
 ips.ii. 9. treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and 
 
 xii'. 5.' ' wrath of Almighty Grod. 
 
 ch. xi'v.*i9, 20. 16 And ^ he hath on his vesture and on his 
 
 '''Dan.\47. thigh a name written, '"KINa OF KINGS, 
 
 1 Tim. vi. 15. 
 
 AND LOKD OF LOEDS. 
 
 white horses," &e. Are these the angels ? We should gather from 
 chap. xii. 7 that they were, and yet from the mention of tbeir 
 clothing, fine linen, clean and white, they seem rather glorified saints 
 (verse 8). Fine linen (hussmon), which is the righteousness of saints. 
 
 15. " And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he 
 should smite the nations." We are told that we are not to connect 
 this sword with the converting power of Christ's word, but solely 
 with the exercise of His wrath and vengeance, and unquestionably 
 all the other figures are of war and slaughter. Still tbe figure is 
 remarkable. We cannot help thinking of the " Word of God, 
 quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
 piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit," of 
 Hebrews iv. 12. 
 
 " That with it he should smite the nations : and he shall rule 
 tbem with a rod of iron." This is equally applicable to a rule of 
 unswerving rectitude as well as to one of force, but the next clause 
 seems to confine all this to His wrath and judgment. 
 
 " And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of 
 Almighty God." The heaping up of words of judgment is very 
 striking, " the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty 
 God." He is set forth as treading the winepress in chap. xiv. 
 19, 20. 
 
 16. '* And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name 
 written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." This name is given 
 in 1 Tim. vi. 15 to God the Father. That it is here given to the 
 Son of God, the Word, is an irrefragable proof of his Godhead and 
 equality with the Father. 
 
 Some expositors explain *' upon His vesture and His thigh " ae 
 
€hap. XIX.] AN ANGEL STANDING IN THE SUN. 249 
 
 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried 
 with a loud voice, saying ^ to all the fowls that »» ver. 21. 
 flj in the midst of heaven, ° Come and gather <> Ezek. xxxix. 
 yourselves together unto the supper of the great 
 
 God; 
 
 18 ^That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and pEzek. xxxix. 
 the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty 
 
 men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit 
 on them, and the flesh of all me7i, both free and 
 bond, both small and great. 
 
 19 "J And I saw the beast, and the kins^s of the <i ch. xvi. le. 
 
 _ - . . Ill & x^ii- 13, 14. 
 
 earth, and their armies, gathered together to 
 make war against him that sat on the horse, and 
 asrainst his armv. 
 
 17. " The supper of the great God ; " perhaps, " the great supper of God." So s, 
 A., B. 
 
 thejplace where the sword was, but His sword proceeds out of His 
 mouth. 
 
 17, 18. •• And I saw an angel standing in the sun ; and he cried 
 with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls .... both free and 
 bond, both small and great." This is a close reproduction of 
 Ezekiel xxxix. 17-20, and signifies the utter destruction of those 
 who gather themselves together against God and Christ. The call, 
 as many other things in this book, is anticipatory. It anticipates 
 what is said in verse 21, 
 
 19. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their 
 armies," t&c. Is the therion then to be distinguished as one 
 personal entity from the kings of the earth and their armies ? It 
 would seem so, and yet where all is so involved in mystery it is 
 impossible to speak certainly. Many things in this book would 
 lead us to believe that he is not a mere figure, a mere impersona- 
 tion of the world power. He cannot be any kingdom, for the kings 
 and kingdoms are distinguished from him. What is he, and what 
 the false prophet ? The latter seems to be the Antichrist. But 
 who is this therion who is below Satan, for Satan gives him his 
 
250 THE BEAST WAS TAKEN. [REVELATION. 
 
 20 '"And the beast was taken, and with him the false 
 r ch. xvi. 13, prophet that wrought miracles before him, with 
 which he deceived them that had received the 
 mark of the beast, and Hhem that worshipped 
 his image. * These both were cast alive into a 
 lake of fire " burning with brimstone. 
 
 21 And the remnant ^were slain with the 
 sword of him that sat upon the horse, which 
 sword proceeded out of his mouth : ^ and all the 
 fowls ^ were filled with their flesh. 
 
 • ch. xiii. 
 15. 
 
 t ch. XX. 
 See Dan. 
 
 12, 
 
 10. 
 vii. 
 
 u ch. xiv. 
 & xxi. 8. 
 » ver. 15. 
 
 10. 
 
 y ver 
 
 .17, 
 
 18. 
 
 «ch. 
 
 xvii 
 
 .16. 
 
 power and his seat and great authority — and yet he is above the 
 second therion who causes his image to be worshipped? 
 
 20,21. "And the beast was taken, and with him the false 
 prophet .... And the remnant were slain with the sword of 
 him that sat upon the horse." I desire with all humility and 
 submission to the will of God to call attention to the different 
 fates of the deceivers and the deceived. The deceivers were cast 
 into Gehenna. The deceived were simply slain ; their bodies were 
 consumed by the vultures, and nothing more is said of them. I 
 do not think it is right and in accordance with the will of God 
 to say that their souls were irretrievably lost, and when once 
 out of their bodies, to share the punishment of the two deceivers. 
 God evidently makes an unspeakable difference between the two 
 fates — the two are sentenced to Gehenna, the remnant are not. It 
 seems just that deceivers and deceived should not be dealt with 
 alike. 
 
 It is of very great importance in respect of our setting forth 
 of the character of God that we should not make Him out as 
 having but one punishment, and that an eternity of torment in 
 the lake of fire. 
 
Chap. XX.] HE LAID HOLD ON THE DRAGON. 251 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 AND I saw an angel come down from heaven, * having the 
 key of the bottomless pit and a great chain f ch. i. is. & 
 in his hand. 
 
 2 And he laid hold on ^ the dragon, that old ^ ch. xii. 9. 
 
 See '' Pet ii 
 
 serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound 4. Jude 6. ' 
 him a thousand years, 
 
 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and 
 
 shut him up, and ^ set a seal upon him, ^ that he <= Dan. vi. 17. 
 
 . <! ch. xvi. 14 
 
 should deceive the nations no more, till the thou- 16. Ver.'s. 
 sand years should be fulfilled : and after that he 
 must be loosed a little season. 
 
 1. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the 
 key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand." 
 
 2, 3. " And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which 
 is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years .... 
 that he should deceive the nations no more," &c. In entering 
 upon the consideration of this most difficult and most controverted 
 of prophecies, we have first to consider briefly the probable time 
 of its fulfilment. This has been said to be in the future, and it 
 has also been said to be now in the course of accomplishment. 
 
 Now it seems to me quite clear that in respect of the binding of 
 Satan, that he should not deceive the nations, that this is evidently 
 in the future. Ever since the times of the Apostles to the present 
 Satan has unceasingly deceived the people of the earth. Till the 
 time of Constantine he deceived the great Roman world and its 
 rulers by persuading them that Christianity was false. Imme- 
 diately after the time of Constantine he deceived a large part of 
 Christendom by the Arian heresy. Then we are told by such 
 commentators as Bishop Wordsworth and Elliott, and multitudes 
 of others, that for many centuries he deceived the foremost nations 
 of the world (the ten kingdoms) by the pretensions of the Bishop 
 
252 I SAW THRONES. [Revelation. 
 
 4 And I saw ^thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
 *2^.f?- ^^ij:^^' 'judgment was given unto them : and I saw ^the 
 xxli % ^"^^ souls of them that were beheaded for the witness 
 
 f lCor.\i.2,3. 
 
 « ch. vi. 9. 
 
 of Rome. Then he deceived the Eastern parts of Christendom by 
 Mahometanism, and he deceived the most populous nations of the 
 world — the Chinese and Hindoos — by upholding their ancient 
 unbelief and idolatry ; and within this century he has perverted 
 multitudes from the faith by Infidelity, Rationalism, Comtism, 
 Agnosticism, and other forms of evil doctrine. 
 
 It has been said by many — amongst them Bishop "Wordsworth — 
 that the binding of Satan took place at the first, because our Lord 
 asks, " How can one enter into a strong man's house except he 
 first find the strong man ? " but if anyone will look at the place he 
 will see that this is a short parable simply setting forth that if the 
 grace of God enters into a soul it first dislodges the former evil 
 ■occupant. It has nothing to do with such a binding of Satan as 
 is here described. Satan is dislodged from particular souls, but 
 this does not prevent him going about " as a roaring lion seeking 
 whom he may devour." 
 
 The account of the binding of Satan here is exceedingly circum- 
 stantial. He is first laid hold of, then bound, then cast into the 
 abyss, then shut up, then sealed down, that he should deceive the 
 nations no more till the end of a definite period. 
 
 What can be the meaning of such a series except to show that 
 he is absolutely restrained from going about exercising his arts of 
 deception as he had done in times past. Now let the reader 
 remember that no matter what meaning — spiritual or literal — we 
 give to this " sealing " and this " chain," yet, if we are to be guided 
 by Scripture, the abyss is evidently a real, actual place (Luke viii. 
 31). With respect to his deceiving the nations no more, this can- 
 not signify that sin is put an end to, because the nations have not 
 yet risen again in their sinless bodies : so that in each person there 
 yet remains original sin (and sin must involve deception), but 
 there is no longer that combination on the side of evil which it is 
 the especial prerogative of Satan to bring about. 
 
 4. "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judg- 
 ment was given unto them: and (I saw) the souls of them that 
 
Chap. XX.] THEY LIVED AND EEIGNED. 25S 
 
 of Jesus, and for the word of Grod, and ''which had not 
 worshipped the beast, ' neither his image, neither |» ch. xm. 12. 
 had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in 16. " 
 their hands ; and they lived and ^ reierned with ^ Rom. viii. 
 Christ a thousand years. 12. ch. v. 10. 
 
 were beheaded .... hved and reigned with Christ a thousand- 
 years." The first inquiry respecting this prophecy of the millen- 
 nium is as to what it does not contain . So much imagination arising 
 out of former extravagances of interpretation has been brought to 
 it, that we must consider what is not in it, and first of all it is 
 clear that it does not imply a personal coming of Christ to this 
 world before His coming to judge, and by consequence it does not 
 imply a sitting of Christ in glory on a throne in this world in the 
 midst of His saints. This is particularly noticed by that great 
 millennial interpreter Mede. While Mede considers that the saints 
 are to reign on earth with Christ during the millennium, yet he is 
 careful to add *' that he does not dare to imagine (as some of the 
 ancients did) that Christ will Himself reign upon earth." This takes 
 away the insuperable difi&culty that Christ will come to reign 
 visibly before the great day of His appearing, and the equally 
 insuperable difficulty that at the end of the thousand years Christ 
 will leave the world for a short time to Satan, for it seems un- 
 imaginable that the nations will environ the Holy City whilst He 
 is dwelling in it in glory. 
 
 In the next place, in this account of the millennium there is 
 nothing whatsoever said of the time of the thousand years being 
 one of perfect felicity to all the inhabitants of the world, much less 
 of the state of nature being changed and becoming paradisaical. 
 If the nations of the world are yet more or less imder the do- 
 minion of sin, the worst thing which could happen to them would 
 be that they should Uve in unmixed prosperity. 
 
 And this leads us to consider what is meant by the reign of 
 Christ, and what by the reign of the saints. 
 
 The reign of Christ. Surely Christ is reigning now. He began 
 to reign when He took His seat at the right hand of God, and His 
 reign has continued ever since. He has reigned thus all through 
 this present state of discipline just as much as if it had been & 
 sinless and paradisaical state — nay, more ; for His power has been 
 
254 THE REST OF THE DEAD LIVED NOT. [Revelation. 
 
 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the 
 thousand years vrere finished. This is the first resurrection. 
 
 most conspicuous in His adapting the evil of the present state of 
 things to the perfecting of His people. 
 
 The reign of the saints. This surely must be what St. Paul 
 alludes to when he writes to the Corinthians : " I would to God 
 that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you " (1 Cor. iv. 8). 
 It is quite clear that the saints will not reign in any shape or way 
 independently of Christ : that their reign will be subordinate is 
 manifest from its being described as the exercise of a priesthood, 
 *'they shall be priests of God and of Christ." Their office will be 
 angelic. They will be as the angels, and will be employed as they 
 are. Now for anything that we know they may be reigning now : 
 not, of course, so visibly and perfectly as they may at the time 
 indicated, but it seems to me beyond everything absurd to suppose 
 that they have been since the time of their dissolution only em- 
 ployed in singing, or much less in mere resting. Our Lord speaks 
 of the reward of the saints as the exercise of dominion, when He 
 says that He will say to His faithful servants, " Well, thou good 
 servant, have thou authority over ten cities," and "be thou ruler 
 also over five cities " (Luke xix. 17-19) ; and " Thou hast been 
 faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many 
 things " (Matt. xxv. 11) ; and He promises to the Apostles that 
 they shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel 
 (judgment was given to them). When our Lord thus indicates 
 that the reward of His servants will be the exercise of rule. He 
 tells us in effect that it will be an employment bringing into 
 exercise the highest faculties of intelligent creatures. Will the 
 saints thus ruling be visible on earth ? We cannot tell. An 
 expression we find in verse 9, that besides the beloved city there 
 was a camp (7raps/i/3oX>}) of the saints, seems to imply that there 
 would be a visible centre for them, but these two were, according 
 to Alford, one and the same. 
 
 Many other questions should be noticed, though they cannot be 
 answered with any certainty. 
 
 Who are these saints or souls sitting on thrones ? It would ap- 
 pear that they are in the first place the souls of the mai-tyrs, 
 those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, the beheading 
 
Chap. XX.] BLESSED AND HOLY. 255 
 
 6 Blessed anJ holj is he that hath part in the first resur- 
 rection : on such ^ the second death hath no power, ^Jf 'g"- ^^' * 
 
 being taken to represent any form of violent death, and then those 
 who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not 
 received his mark, and here the account stops. Are we to suppose 
 these souls to be those of all real Christians who have died in the 
 Lord (" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord"), or only of a 
 selection from them? The whole passage seems to imply a selec- 
 tion. There is not only an anastasis but an ea;anastasis, at least, 
 according to St. Paul, where he writes (Phil. iii. 11), "If by any 
 means I might attain unto the resurrection out of the dead, not as 
 though I had already attained or were already perfect." 
 
 Then are these souls clothed with their resurrection bodies ? It 
 would seem that they must be, or how could this be called the first 
 resurrection ; and yet the Apostle says that he saw the souh, and 
 in the only place in which such an expression is used (Kev. vi. 9) 
 it certainly means the disembodied souls. And yet there are some 
 who tell us that all we are to understand by the first resurrection 
 is a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness, and that 
 the second resurrection is of the unconverted alone. 
 
 With respect to the second, or general resurrection, if it is to be, 
 as some say, only a resurrection of the lost, what will become of 
 those who have been born and have lived during the thousand 
 years ? They cannot partake in the first resurrection. They are 
 bom too late. Will they be all lost ? Impossible. 
 
 When I said that there is nothing to lead us to consider that the 
 state of the earth during the thousand years will be a state of 
 paradisaical fertility and blessednesss, there is no doubt whatsoever 
 that there is such a state in store for the earth, but whether this 
 will take place during the time of the thousand years seems to me 
 more than doubtful. The prophecies more probably point to the 
 new heavens and the new earth as the scene of the restoration of 
 the whole creation (Isaiah xi. 5, 9, and Ixv. 17-25). 
 
 An immense number of questions can be raised respecting the 
 first six verses of this chapter of which the answers can only be 
 the merest conjectures. The difficulties of the opposing views, the 
 literal and the (so-called) spiritual, seem equally insuperable. The 
 greatest of all difficulties seems to me to be this, that no matter 
 
256 A THOUSAND YEARS. [Revelation. 
 
 but they shall he " priests of God and of Christ, "^ and shall 
 Tpef "ii'^g ^' ^^i&^ "^^^ ^^^ ^ thousand years. 
 
 cb.i.6. &V.10. 
 
 " ver. 4. 
 
 how we understand the thousand years, a very long period is sup- 
 posed to intervene between the first and the second comings of 
 Christ. Now all the rest of Scripture, all the rest of this very book 
 of the Apocalypse, is against this. The Lord is supposed to come 
 suddenly, at any time, and when He does come, He comes not to 
 reign and then to judge and then to reign again, but at once to 
 judge and then to reign for ever without intermission. Now this 
 difficulty is inherent, not in the reign of Christ, unless it be a visible 
 one, of which nothing is said, nor in the reign of the saints, but in 
 the binding of Satan, so that he should no longer deceive the 
 nations. It is quite evident that the grossest deceptions, the most 
 Antichristian, the most absurd, the most derogatory to the glory 
 of God and the truth of the Gospel, have prevailed for nearly 2,000 
 years. 
 
 With respect to the reign of the saints, it may, for anything we 
 know, have been going on for nearly nineteen hundred years. It 
 may be difficult to conceive of, but surely it cannot be anything 
 like so difficult as to imagine that men like St. Paul or St. John 
 have been for these wellnigh two thousand years merely resting — 
 shut up in heaven, so far as their influence in this world is con- 
 cerned, as effectually as Satan was shut up in the abyss. Let us 
 remember that the vast majority of Christians (Roman, Greek, and 
 others) believe that the saints (some of them) are and have been for 
 centuries reigning, only they have done to them what they have had 
 from Holy Scripture no warrant to do, i.e., invoked them and prayed 
 to them almost as if they were reigning independently of God and of 
 Christ. We are assured by the words of the most Apocalyptic 
 book of the Old Testament that angels take a part, of course under 
 God, in the direction of kingdoms (Daniel x. 6, 7, 13, 20, 21 ; xii. 1). 
 They or, if not angels, at least powers of the unseen world, actually 
 oppose one another, as if, though under the rule of the Supreme, they 
 know not His whole will. And if angels, why not glorified saints ? 
 In the few places in which the Son of God speaks of the future state 
 of the saints He speaks of it, as I have shown, as a state of rule, and 
 nothing can better bring into exercise the whole intellectual, moral, 
 and spiritual powers of redeemed man than such a state. It is the 
 
Chap. XX.] GOG AND MAGOG. 257 
 
 7 And when tlie thousand years are expired, p Satan shall 
 be loosed out of his prison. p ver. 2, 
 
 8 And shall go out "^ to deceive the nations 1 ver. 3, 10. 
 which are in the four quarters of the earth, ' Gog >■ Ezek. 
 and Magog, ^ to gather them together to battle : l^xixix. i. 
 the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 
 
 only one in harmony with the future state of blessedness being 
 called a kingdom — not a temple, or a garden, or a hall of assembly, 
 but a kingdom. 
 
 7-8. " And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be 
 loosed out of his prison. And sliall go out to deceive the nations 
 which are in the four quarters of the earth," &c. Who are these 
 nations which are in the four quarters of the earth ? Evidently 
 those who have lived under the rule of the saints, and have been 
 outwardly restrained by them from running into the grosser forms 
 of evil, but are not living in their renewed bodies, in which they 
 will not be raised till the Second Coming of Christ in glory. Con- 
 sequently, they are yet open to solicitations from the Evil One. 
 However some of them may have been converted and made true 
 Christians, the bulk of them are yet in the flesh, and so are 
 amenable to the temptations of Satan. 
 
 We now come to the great difficulty of this prophecy. The 
 Apostle seems very absolutely to identify the subject of this 
 prophecy of the insurrection of the nations against Christ with the 
 invasion of certain Scythian hordes which is said to have taken 
 place within the years 633 and 605 B.C. This is altogether 
 passed over in silence by the writer or writers of the Book of 
 Kings. Ezekiel, however, devotes two chapters to the invasion of 
 (as is supposed) a horde of Northern nations. From all that we 
 can gather from the words of Ezekiel, the incursion was a most 
 formidable one. It threatened the very existence of the Jewish 
 nationality ; whereas this supposed invasion of the Scythians 
 was, according to all accounts, a matter of little or no danger to 
 the Jews under Josiah. The Scythians, instead of threatening, 
 much less ravaging Judaea, kept to the sea coast, and ravaged 
 the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Philistines. They were on 
 their way to Egypt, and were turned from their purpose by 
 
258 FIRE CAME DOWN FROM GOD Revelation. 
 
 9 ^ And. the J went up on the breadth of the earth, and 
 « Is. viii. 8. compassed the camp of the saints about, and the 
 
 Ezek. xxxviii. ,,,. ,7, , „ ^t 
 
 9, 16. beloved city : and fire came down from Grod out 
 
 of heaven, and devoured them. 
 " ver. 8. 10 " And the devil that deceived them was cast 
 
 ^ ch. xix. 20. into the lake of fire and brimstone, * where the 
 7 ch. xiv. 10, beast and the false prophet are, and ^ shall be tor- 
 mented dav and nis^ht for ever and ever. 
 
 9. " From God " omitted by A., and a few Cursives. 
 
 Psammetichus. Herodotus relates this in his second book. Thoy 
 went thence towards Egypt, and when they were in Palestine and 
 Syria, Psammetichus, King of Egypt, meeting them, turned them by 
 gifts and entreaties from going further ; and when, on their return, 
 they were in Ascalon, a city of Syria, whereas most of the 
 Scythians passed by without harming aught, some few of them 
 being left behind, plundered the temple of Venus Ourania. It 
 appears that before they got back to Scythia they were destroyed 
 at a banquet — first intoxicated, and then murdered by Cyaxares, 
 King of the Medes — all which seems to show how utterly unlike 
 such an invasion was to that prophesied of under Gog and Magog 
 in Ezek. xxxvii. and xxxviii. 
 
 There can be no doubt, then, that what Ezekiel foretells is in 
 the far future, and has had as yet no fulfilment worthy of the 
 name, and the Eabbinical interpreters consider this prophecy to 
 refer to the last outbreak against the rule of the Messiah. Two 
 quotations to this effect are given by Alford. One from the Jeru- 
 salem Targum on Numb. xi. 27, in Wetstein : " At the end of the 
 last days Gog and Magog, and their armies shall come up to 
 Jerusalem, and by the hands of King Messiah they shall them- 
 selves fall, and seven years shall the children of Israel burn their 
 arms." And again (from Avoda Sara, i.), " When they shall see the 
 war of Gog and Magog, the Messiah shall say to them, ' For what 
 purpose have ye come here ? ' And they shall answer, ' Against 
 the Lord, and against his Christ.' " 
 
 A question now presents itself of much interest. It is said in 
 the Apocalyptic account that fire came down from God out of 
 
Chap. XX.] A GREAT WHITE THRONE. 259 
 
 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on 
 it, from whose face Hhe earth and the heaven «2Pet. m. 
 fled away : ^ and there was found no place for x'xi. i. 
 
 , T a Dan. ii. 35. 
 
 them. 
 
 heaven and devoured them. Is this fire the Spirit of tlie Lord's 
 mouth, and the brightness of His coming, which shall consume 
 and destroy the Anomos — the man of sin, the wicked one of 
 St. Paul's second Epistle to the Thessalonians ? The man of sin, or 
 personal Antichrist, has been by many identified with the second or 
 two-homed lamb-like therion, which " makes an image of the first 
 therion, and compels men to worship it (xiii. 14), and this on 
 account of his performing miracles — making fire to come down 
 from heaven in the sight of men, and deceiving them that dwell 
 on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power 
 to do." The fire which comes down from God is certainly the final 
 catastrophe on the rebels, and it seems synchronous with the 
 coming of the Lord as the Judge ; but there is nothing said of the 
 personal Anomos, and of the miracles by which he deceives men. 
 The matter must be left with God. Isaac Williams has a very 
 long note upon it, in which he considers that the three years and 
 a half is the time of Antichrist, i.e., the personal Anomos or Anti- 
 christ, so that the little season is the three years and a half, taken 
 literally. 
 
 11. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, 
 from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there," 
 &c. I would have much preferred to treat this most sublime, 
 most blessed, and yet most terrific description as Bishop Words- 
 worth has done — left it uncommented upon, except by the prayer 
 from the Burial Service : " Lord God most Holy, Lord most 
 mighty, O Holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into 
 the bitter pains of eternal death." 
 
 But there are features in it which require to be realized by all 
 readers. Some such are the following. 
 
 This is an universal judgment. It is the general judgment. 
 The dead, small and great, will stand before God ; all will stand, 
 all the righteous, as well as all the wicked, from the Apostles down- 
 wards. St. Paul is very express upon the fact that he himself will 
 he judged, " lie that judgeth me is the Lord " (1 Cor. iv. 4). 
 
260 THE BOOKS WERE OPENED. [Revelation, 
 
 12 And I saw the dead, ** small and great, stand before 
 
 bch. xix.5 God; '^and the books were opened: and another 
 
 c Dan. vii. 10. ' ^ 
 
 d ps. ixix. 28. d boot ^as opened, which is the hook of Hfe : and 
 
 Dan. xu. 1. ^ ^ 
 
 Phil. iv. 3. the dead were iudsred out of those thincrs which 
 
 ch. lii. 5. <fe JO r) 
 
 xiii. 8. & xxi. were written m the books, ^ accordinor to their 
 
 27. , ' o 
 
 e Jer. xvii. 10. WOrks. 
 
 Matt. xvi. 27. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were 
 
 ch. ii. 23. & in it ; ^and death and || hell delivered up the dead 
 
 13. ■ ' ' which were in them : ^ and they were judged every 
 
 II Or,7Ac ' man according to their works. 
 
 grave. 
 
 e ver. 12. 
 
 ** Who will render to every man according to his deeds : to them 
 who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and 
 honour and immortality, eternal life " (Rom. ii. 6, 7). " For we 
 must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ ; that every one 
 may receive the things done in his body" (2 Cor. v. 10). Again, 
 Rom. xiv. 10, " We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ." " The Lord Jesus, who shall judge the quick and dead 
 at his appearing, and his kingdom" (2 Tim. iv. 1). 
 
 Taking such declarations into account, it seems a monstrous 
 thing for some in these latter days (and some of them I grieve to 
 say dignitaries of our own Church) to say that believers are raised 
 into a sphere above judgment. I have come across many believers^ 
 men of smooth tongues and voluble utterance, unquestionably 
 believers, but who as unquestionably, if God is a just God, require 
 to be judged ; and no matter what is urged to the contrary, they 
 will be. The diversity of reward asserted by the Holy Spirit — 
 " Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own 
 labour" (1 Cor. iii. 8) — seems to necessitate this. 
 
 Then there is another feature of this final judgment that requires- 
 to be universally realized — that the judgment will be according to- 
 men's works. Thus in the vision of judgment in Matt, xxv., the 
 Lord expresses it as a judgment which takes into account but one 
 kind of works, works of benevolence, or one kind of such works,. 
 " Come ye blessed, inherit, for I was an hungred and ye gave me- 
 meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : naked, and ye clothed 
 me, sick and in prison, and ye visited me." 
 
Chap. XX.] THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH. 261 
 
 14 And ^ death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. 
 * This is the second death. ^ i Cor. xv. 
 
 26 54 55. 
 
 15 And whosoever was not found written in ^ ver.'e. "ch. 
 the book of life ^ was cast into the lake of fire. ^ ch. xix. 20. 
 
 14. To " This is the second death," add, " even the lake of fire." So N, A,, B., &c. 
 
 But that all works, good and bad, will be taken into account, is 
 clear from the Word of the Lord ; that a cup of cold water shall 
 not lose its reward, and " that every idle word that men shall speak, 
 they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy 
 words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be 
 condemned " (Matt. xii. 36). 
 
 Again, thoughts are works. Many works, both good and evil, 
 are acted, and so resolved upon, in the heart before they are seen 
 in the life. 
 
 Again, Who is He on the white throne ; Who is He Who judges ? 
 *' The Father," it is said, *' judgeth no man, but hath committed 
 all judgment unto the Son ; " and " The Son of man shall sit on 
 the throne of his glory, and all the holy angels with him," and 
 yet in this book of the Apocalypse, whenever the Divine Throne is 
 mentioned, it is implied that the Father sits upon it. The two 
 are one : as in love, as in power, as in wisdom, so in judgment. 
 
 Again, what are the books ? They are the histories of souls. 
 Each soul has its history, not only of its dealings with its fellows, 
 but of God's dealings with it, and the account in the book of each 
 righteous soul is a record of God's mercy and grace, and how it 
 has responded to it ; and the account in the book of each wicked 
 soul is of God's mercy and grace, and how it has rejected it. 
 " God is infinitely merciful to every soul ; and no one has been, or 
 ever can be, lost by surprise, or trapped in his ignorance, and as to 
 those who may be lost, I confidently believe that our Heavenly 
 Father threw His arms round each created spirit, and looked it 
 full in the face with bright eyes of love, in the darkness of its 
 mortal life, and that of its own deliberate will it would not have 
 Him " (Faber, quoted in Dr. Pusey's " What is of Faith as regards 
 Eternal Punishment.") 
 
262 A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH. [Kevelation 
 
 CHAP. XXL 
 
 • Is. ixv 17 A ND ^ I saw a new heaven and a new earth : 
 
 & Ixvi. 22. 2 / \ 
 
 Pet iii. 13. jr\. for the first heaven and the first earth were 
 
 » ch. XX. 11. 
 
 passed awav ; and there was no more sea. 
 
 The last two chapters of the Apocalypse are upon the future of 
 the blessed after the Day of Judgment. They contain many 
 revelations of things to come of which it seems impossible for us 
 to form any conception. If we understand them (or rather I should 
 say) if we take them at all we must take them literally, for there is 
 no other way open to us. The reader will see this clearly enough as- 
 we go on. 
 
 1. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first 
 heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and there was no 
 more sea." This is a very old promise. We learn it in Isaiah 
 Ixv. 17 : " For behold I create new heavens and a new earth : and 
 the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind ; " and in 
 Isaiah Ixvi. 22 : "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which 
 I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your 
 name remain." This is taken up in the New Testament: "We,, 
 according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness^' (2 Peter iii. 13). This does not 
 mean that the planet is annihilated and another put in its place. 
 The ancients had no idea of any earth except as to its surface. 
 They had no idea of a globe 8,000 miles in diameter, and if the 
 Apocalyptic writer had proceeded on any such assumption, it 
 would have generated unbelief, or at least gross misapprehensions. 
 All that we have now to do with is the mere surface. But what is 
 the new heaven ? Evidently not the angelic heaven, or the starry 
 heaven, but that of which we have mention made at the opeuing 
 of the Bible : " God made the firmament, and divided the waters 
 which were under the firmament from the waters which were 
 above the firmament : and it was so. And God called the firmament 
 Heaven." 
 
 If the earth is to be renewed as to its surface, the heaven must 
 
Chap. XXL] NEW JERUSALEM 263 
 
 2 And I Jolm saw "^ the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of heaven, prepared *^ as a <= is. Hi. i. 
 bride adorned for her husband. Heb. xi. 16. 
 
 & xii. 22. & 
 xiii. 14. ch. 
 
 iii. 12. ver. 10. 
 
 d Is. liv. 5. & 
 
 2. " John " omitted by S, A., B. Jjj-g^^' ^ ^^''• 
 
 also be renewed, if the earth is to be the fitting habitation of the 
 regenerate. For a great part of our discomforts, a great part of 
 our toil and labour, and a very great part of our diseases arise 
 from the state of the air and the influences of the heavens. Some 
 parts of the world are burnt up, and even uninhabitable, because 
 there are no clouds and no rain. In other vast tracts during the 
 greater part of the year the atmosphere is so inclement as to add 
 very sensibly to the miseries of poverty. That God should create 
 new heavens simply means that He will re-adapt His air. His sky, 
 His clouds and sunshine to the new state of things : so that in the 
 graphic words of the Psalmist, " The sun shall not strike by day, 
 neither the moon by night," so that there shall be no more bitter 
 cold, tempest, hurricane. Above all no more pestilential vapours 
 breathing disease and death. 
 
 " And there was no more sea." The sea occupies above three- 
 quarters of the surface of the globe, so that this means (what- 
 ever else is involved in it) that by far the greater part of the 
 earth's surface shall be no longer barren and uninhabitable by man. 
 Some divines, as Wordsworth, consider the sea here to represent 
 the turbulent state of the nations, but the sea is mentioned as 
 in part making up the visible surface of the globe. 
 
 2. " And I (John) saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned," &c. 
 How is it said that the holy city comes dotcn from God out of 
 heaven? Why are not the nations of men lifted up to heaven? 
 This is but one of the extraordinary marks of difference between 
 the idea of the future state as set forth in these two chapters and 
 the popular ideas of the day. Some have said that she comes 
 down from heaven because Christ ascended up to heaven to prepare 
 a place for His people there. The glories of the new Jerusalem — 
 her adornment for her husband — are described further on in verses 
 12-24 of this chapter. 
 
264 HE WILL DWELL WITH THEM. [REVELATION. 
 
 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saving, Be- 
 « Lev. xxvi. hold, ^ the tabernacle of God is with men, and 
 
 11 12. Ezek. 
 
 xiiii. v. 2 he Tvill dwell with them, and they shall be his 
 ch. vii.'i5.* people, and God himself shall be with them, 
 and be their God. 
 
 3. " Out of heaven." So B., but N and A. read, " out of the throne." 
 
 3. " And I heard a great voice out of heaven [or out of the 
 throne] saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and 
 he," &c. This is almost a reproduction in the same words of a veiy 
 old promise in Levit. xxvi. 11: "And I will set my tabernacle 
 among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk 
 among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people ; " so 
 also in Ezek. xliii. 27. " Son of man, the place of my throne and 
 the place of the soles of my feet when I dwell in the midst of the 
 children of Israel for ever, and my holy name shall the house of 
 Israel no more defile." There are four successive degrees of 
 dwelling of the Lord God amongst His people. 
 
 First, in the tabernacle and temple. This has been called a 
 symbolic dwelling ; still, the Lord desired His people to realize 
 that He dwelt among them, and so met them in prayer as He did 
 in no other place on earth. 
 
 Secondly, through the Incarnation. " The Word was made 
 flesh and tabernacled amongst us," And the Lord also said, " He 
 that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." 
 
 Thirdly, He dwelt among men by the Holy Ghost. So mean 
 His words, " I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to 
 you." 
 
 But there must be a dwelling above and beyond these. The 
 Lord Jesus Christ will then visibly manifest the presence of God, 
 and being raised up in our resurrection bodies we shall be able to 
 bear the sight. 
 
 " God himself shall be with them," He shall be with them not 
 as He is with all His creatures, for all things are in Him, but He 
 shall be with them as a father with child, a husband with wife, a 
 friend with friend. 
 
 *' And be their God." God will be to them all that He is to His 
 
Chap. XXL] I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW. 265 
 
 4 ^ And God sliall wipe away all tears from their eves ; 
 and ^ there shall be no more death, ^ neither f is. xxv. 8. 
 sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any g i Co'r. xV. 
 more pain : for the former things are passed away. xx. li. 
 
 5 And ' he that sat upon the throne said, & ixi. 3. &' 
 * Behold, I make all things new. And he said i^h. iv. 2, 9. 
 Tinto me, Write : for 'these words are true and fi"'^' ^^' 
 faithful. It^i^- 
 
 1 ch. xix. 9. 
 
 intelligent creatures : as He said to Abraham, " I am thy shield, 
 and thy exceeding great reward." 
 
 4. *' And God shall wipe away all tears," &c. So in Isaiah xxv. 8, 
 *' He will swallow up death in victory ; and the Lord God will wipe 
 away tears from off all faces." He will not only console, but con- 
 sole with love and tenderness, as a mother with her own hands 
 wipes gently away the tears from her child's face. 
 
 " And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying." 
 Because there is no more sin, for death and sorrow and crying are 
 the effects of sin. 
 
 *' Neither shall there be any more pain." For the redemption will 
 be completed by the bodies of the saints having been raised up, 
 incorruptible, glorious, in eternal youth — in never-decaying 
 strength. 
 
 "The former things are passed away." The former things — 
 corruption, weakness, the old nature of sin and death. This 
 corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal, 
 immortality. 
 
 5. " And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all 
 things new." This is the voice of the Creator Who now re-creates 
 all things new. New heavens, new earth, new bodies and souls of 
 men. All things now are again as they were at the first, " Very 
 good." 
 
 "And he said unto me. Write: for these words are true and 
 faithful." As certain as God created the first creation so certainly 
 will He create the new. If He is faithful He will be faithful to 
 this. This is the third time that St. John is emphatically com- 
 manded to write. In chap. xix. 9: "Write: Blessed are they 
 which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb;" and xiv.13. 
 
266 IT IS DONE. [Revelation. 
 
 6 And lie said unto me, ™ It is done. ° I am Alpha and 
 n» ch.xvi. 17. Omega, the beginning and the end. °I will give 
 xxii. 13. unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the 
 
 o Is. xii. 3. & o fo o 
 
 iv. 1. John water of life freely. 
 
 iv. 10 14. & 
 
 vii. 37. ch. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit 11 all 
 
 xxii. 17. ' 
 
 II Or, these 
 
 things. 
 
 6. " It is done," or " Tliey are clone," " All is done " (viyovav). 
 " I am Alpha and Omega,' " the Alpha," &c. (Some omit ilfxi). 
 
 "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." It seems 
 as if these three commands to write were inseparably connected 
 together. They that die in the Lord are called to the marriage 
 supper ; they that are called to the marriage supper are called to 
 the new creation and all its blessedness. 
 
 6. "And he said unto me, It is done." This was said before 
 at the pouring oat of the seventh vial ; there it seems to signify 
 that all the vials of the wrath of God were poured forth ; now that 
 the new creation in all its parts was completed. All is come to 
 pass — the word is probably in the plural {yiyovav). 
 
 " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." The 
 latter sentence is put in as the explanation of the first. As He is 
 the beginning from which all created things spring, so He is the 
 end to whose glory they all converge. Isaiah wrote, " I am the 
 first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God." This is 
 said by the Lord — the Second Person — because it is He who has 
 promised so emphatically to give men of the fountain of the water 
 of life. 
 
 " I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water 
 of hfe freely." This is explained by the EvangeHst as signifying 
 the Holy Spirit, "Living water." "But this spake he of the 
 Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive : for the Spirit 
 was not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified " 
 (John vii. 39). 
 
 " I will give unto him that is athirst." No other condition but 
 that he should desire it and be athirst for it. This is free grace. 
 It is the highest of all grace and yet it is given freely. 
 
 7. " He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be," 
 &c. Here, however, is a condition : " He that overcometh," i.e.. 
 
Chap. XXL] HE SHALL BE MY SON. ' 267 
 
 things ; and ^ I will be liis God, and he shall be my 
 
 con P Zech. viii. 8. 
 
 ^^"' . . Heb. viii. 10. 
 
 8 '^ But the fearful, and unbelievinc^, and the *i i Cor. vi. 9, 
 
 ° lU. Gal. V. 19, 
 
 20,21. Eph. V. 
 6. 1 Tim. i. 9. 
 
 Heb. xii. 14. 
 
 ch. xxii. 15. 
 
 that persevereth to the end. The water of life is given to refresh 
 in the Christian conflict. The water of life — the Spirit of God— is 
 given freely, but it is given for a purpose, and that purpose is that 
 men should fight the good fight — should finish their course — should 
 keep the faith. 
 
 " Inherit all things." St. Paul almost seems to go beyond this 
 when he says : " All things are yours. ... ye are Christ's ; Christ is 
 God's "(1 Cor. iii. 21). 
 
 " I will be his God, and he shall be my son." This is the 
 crowning sonship. When God by His creative powers brought 
 Adam into existence he was His son (Luke iii. 38). When one 
 is baptized into Christ, and so puts on Christ, he becomes in a far 
 higher way a son of God because a member of Christ. When a 
 man is led by the Spirit then this latter sonship is perfected so 
 far as this world is concerned ; and at last when he is raised up 
 in his glorified body he is the child of God, being the child of the 
 resurrection (Luke xx. 36). Each of these four senses are real, 
 they lead up one to another, but the last which is given to him 
 that overcometh is the culminating one. 
 
 8. " But the fearful, and unbelieving," &c. Different explana- 
 tions are given of these "fearful." Williams speaks of them as 
 those that fear men rather than God. " Woe be to fearful hearts 
 and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways. This fearful- 
 ness is by the son of Sirach opposed throughout to the fear of God." 
 
 Dean Vanghan writes, " The fearful are not those who fear God ; 
 not those who have trembled at His word and served Him on earth 
 with reverence and godly fear. It is not an excess of reverence 
 which is here spoken of. The fearful are the opposite of him that 
 overcometh. They are those who behave cowardly in the face 
 of God's enemy." Similarly Alford, *'But to the cowardly (the 
 contrast to viKiuivreg, the aTroaTsWofievoi of Hebrews x. 38), those who 
 shrank timidly from the conflict." Similarly Bishop Boyd- 
 Carpenter, Dr. Milligan, and others. 
 
268 THE SECOND DEATH. [REVELATION. 
 
 abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sor- 
 cerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in 
 >• ch. XX. 14, ' the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone : 
 
 15 
 
 which is the second death. 
 » ch. XV. 1, g ^^^ there came nnto me one of * the seven 
 
 " And unbelieving." Those who have had some time or other la 
 their Uves the truth in all its purity and in all its fulness presented 
 to their minds, and have turned away from it. 
 
 " And the abominable." Alford understands these as partakers 
 in the abomination of idolatry. 
 
 " And murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, 
 and all liars." Sorcerers may be those who pretend to magic or 
 who actually have intercourse with evil spirits. Both are equally 
 guilty. The wickedness is equally great whether there is only a 
 pretence to a thing so wicked, or whether God permits it to be 
 carried into effect. Let those who play with such things as 
 spiritualism beware. They are, as far as lies in their power, laying 
 themselves open to the most evil of all influences. All attempts 
 at intercourse with the world of spirits is unlawful, and they who 
 engage in it are sure to be deceived. 
 
 " All liars." They who lie in matters of religion by the circula- 
 tion of false opinions, or by hypocrisy, as well as those who lie 
 in business transactions, or in political matters, or in the matter 
 of the character and conduct of those about them, are all liars, all 
 workers of deceit and falsehood. 
 
 " Shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and 
 brimstone: which is the second death." With this we must take 
 the words of the Saviour and Judge, " All sins shall be forgiven 
 unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they 
 shall blaspheme " (Mark iii. 28). The Eternal Father, who regards 
 each soul as if there were none other than Himself and that soul 
 in the universe, will not permit any one to be lost in so terri^c a 
 gulf of agony and misery until He has tried every means to bring 
 that soul to repentance and faith. This must be our faith in God 
 just as much as it must be our faith that whatever punishment 
 He inflicts is necessary for the moral order and well-being of the 
 universe. 
 
 9. " And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had 
 
Chap. XXI.] I WILL SHOW THEE THE BRIDE. 269 
 
 angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, 
 and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee 
 *the bride, the Lamb's wife. * ch. xix. 7. 
 
 ver. 2. 
 
 10 And he carried me away " in the spirit to a " ch. i. lo. 
 great and high mountain, and shewed me ''that ^ Ezek. xiviii. 
 
 ver 2 
 
 great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
 heaven from God, 
 
 10. " Great" omitted by a, A., B. 
 
 the seven vials," &c. Why one of these seven angels? It has 
 been supposed because they were the last on the Apocalyptic 
 scene, or it may be because the vials of wrath were exhausted, and 
 now there remained only the pouring out of the love of God on a 
 reconciled world. 
 
 "Come hither, I will sbew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." 
 This is exactly parallel to the action of the angel who called him 
 aside to show him the harlot. Each one is intended to illustrate 
 the other. Both are women : but the one a virgin, the other a 
 fallen woman. Both are cities : one is Jerusalem as contrasted 
 with Babylon. Both are churcbes : but the one is corrupt and 
 idolatrous ; the other, now presented by Christ Himself, "not having 
 spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and 
 without blemish" (Epbes. v. 27). 
 
 10. "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high 
 mountain." When he was carried away to see the harlot, he was 
 carried away to ihe wilderness : now it is to " a great and high 
 mountain," otherwise he could have had no view of the descent of 
 a city which covered what was equivalent to the area of a largo 
 kingdom. 
 
 " Descending out of heaven from God." He had seen something 
 of this before — in the second verse ; now he is brought more abreast 
 of it, as it were, and is enabled to distinguish its parts and its 
 materials. 
 
 Let the reader again notice that he is not transported to a dis- 
 tant heaven, but to a place on earth. We cannot but gather from 
 this that the scene of conflict — of six thousand years of conflict in 
 which Christ and His people have got the victory — is the scene of 
 the glory and of the reward. The earth, on which such events as tho 
 
270 A STONE MOST PRECIOUS. [Revelation. 
 
 11 ^ Having the glory of God : and her light was like unto 
 Te?"2?"' ^' ^ stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, 
 clear as crystal ; 
 
 12 And had a wall great and high, and had 
 31-34. " ^ ^"^* * twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and 
 
 Incarnation and the Atonement have taken place, is not abandoned, 
 but is continued as the place of Him Who is above all place, and 
 the habitation of Him in whom space itself exists. 
 
 11. *' Having the glory of God." Having, that is, the Shechinah 
 within her, which illuminated her through and through : or rather, 
 perhaps, having the Son of God within her Who shines not only 
 with His own glory, but with that of His Father and of the Holy 
 Ghost — the glory of the whole Godhead. 
 
 *' Her Hght was like unto a stone most precious, even like a 
 jasper stone, clear as crystal." This stone cannot be that which 
 we commonly know as jasper, which is not by any means one of 
 the most precious of stones. It is also opaque, and not clear as 
 crystal. It has been supposed to have been the diamond, the 
 most precious as well as the most transparent of stones : for it is 
 to be remarked that the diamond is not mentioned amongst the 
 other stones which contribute to the glory of this city. 
 
 12. " And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and 
 at the gates twelve angels." How is it that the city appears 
 strongly fortified, seeing that with all other evils war will be 
 banished from the new creation ? A wall is a sign of separation, 
 and surely there will be no separation in the future kingdom. 
 The wall has been understood by some to surround the city in 
 order to call to remembrance tlie state of warfare from which the 
 just have emerged ; but this seems unsatisfactory. May it not 
 signify something of this sort? The city being nearly 400 miles 
 both in breadth and in length will be enormous — larger than a great 
 kingdom — and yet it will not be illimitable. Immense as it is it 
 would contain, if they were crowded into it, but a small proportion 
 of the inhabitants of the renewed earth. The city then will not be 
 for all the saved, but for those who have won an abundant entrance. 
 If to some of my readers this is unsatisfactory, I would put it to 
 their common sense, what is an expositor to do who desires to deal 
 honestly with the word of God ? The localitv of the blessed is not 
 
Chap. XXL] THE TWELVE TRIBES. 271 
 
 names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve 
 tribes of the children of Israel : 
 
 13 ^ On the east three gates ; on the north ^^Ezek. xiviu. 
 three gates ; on the south three gates ; and on the 
 west three gates. 
 
 14 And the wall of the citj had twelve foun- 
 
 31-34. 
 
 14. " The names ; " rather, " The twelve names." 
 
 described as a boundless plain, but as a circumscribed city, immense, 
 but circumscribed — not boundless. There are walls and there are 
 also gates which, though they are open, are made to be shut (at 
 times at least). All such particulars must be noticed. If they 
 cannot be explained they must be noticed if we care to deal honestly 
 with the Bible. 
 
 "And at the gates twelve angels." Evidently as keepers of the 
 gates. To keep them open so that no one should shut, or it may 
 be to keep them shut so that no one should open. 
 
 " And names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve 
 tribes," &c. The names of the Patriarchs occurring here startle us 
 seeing that in the King and citizenship of this city there is neither 
 Jew nor Greek — all are one in Christ, and so we should have sup- 
 posed there would be in such a city no remembrance of Reuben oi 
 Simeon, or Levi or Judah, but God's thoughts are not our thoughts. 
 In some way unknown to us, and which all will acknowledge to be 
 just and right, there will be an association of the Israel of God 
 with the former Israel. So that through eternal ages Abraham 
 will be the father of the faithful, and Christ Himself will be the 
 root and offspring of David, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah. 
 
 13. " On the east three gates ; on the north three gates ; on the 
 south three gates ; and on the west three gates." Mark the extra- 
 ordinary circumstantiality of all this. It is as circumstantial as the 
 description in Ezekiel xlviii., with the difference that the names of 
 the tribes are not associated with the several gates. Isaac Williams 
 says beautifully, " So wonderfully is the figurative pattern of the 
 temporal Jerusalem fulfilled in the heavenly and eternal. 'I 
 know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever ' (Eccles. 
 iii. 14)." 
 
 14. "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations," i.e., as 
 
272 A GOLDEN REED. [Revelation. 
 
 dations, and * in them the names of the twelve apostles of 
 fe Matt, xvi, the Lamb. 
 
 18 Gil ii 
 
 9.' Eph.'ii.' 15 And he that talked with me ^had a golden 
 
 c Ezek. xi. 3. reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, 
 ch. xi. i. * and the wall thereof. 
 
 16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length 
 
 we suppose, a stone of immense length reaching from gate to gate 
 and supported the wall ; on them the names of the twelve Apostles 
 of the Lamb, signifying that the Church in regard of doctrine and 
 fellowship rested on the Apostles. One expositor, Lee, however, 
 says, *' It is far more consistent with the grandeur of the whole 
 description to understand that the wall rests on a basis of twelve 
 courses of stones, each course encompassing the entire city, and 
 constituting one foundation." 
 
 We cannot help noticing that when Abraham, in Hebrews xi., is 
 said to look for the glorious future, he is said to look for the city 
 *• which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God." 
 
 15. '• And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure 
 the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof." On three 
 other occasions is a messenger of God said to have a reed where- 
 with to measure that which God reveals. First, in Ezek. xl. 3, 
 *' a man with a line of flax in his hand." Again, in Zech. ii. 1-2, 
 *'a man with a measuring line in his hand .... to measure 
 Jerusalem." Again, in Rev. xi., where, however, the reed is given 
 to the Apostle, and the angel commands him to rise and measure 
 the temple of God. What is intended by this elaborate measuring ? 
 Evidently, I think, to impress upon us that the things revealed are 
 not spiritual visions, beautiful dreams, signifying some spiritual 
 grace or moral character in those who being pure spirits need no 
 local habitation, but the exact contrary : measuring and measure- 
 ments, and golden reeds, and furlongs, and cubits, pertain to the 
 outward visible world rather than to the inward and spiritual, 
 and we must, so far as we can, treat them as such. The outward 
 and visible may be purified, sanctified, sublimated, but by these 
 processes it is not resolved into mere thought, much less 
 imagination. 
 
 16. " And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large 
 
Chap. XXL] HE MEASURED THE WALL. 273 
 
 is as large as the breadth : and he measured the city with 
 the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the 
 breadth and the height of it are equal. 
 
 17. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and 
 forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that 
 is, of the angel. 
 
 as the breadth." Aristotle is quoted as speaking of a perfect 
 man being " tetragonos," as if the city was built square in order to 
 set forth the virtue of those who dwelt in it ; but if sufficient land 
 was available any fortified city which was built upon it would be 
 square. Such a city would afi'ord straight streets, intersecting one 
 another so as to give spaces for immense gardens planted with all 
 natural products for the use or delight of the inhabitants. I do 
 not for a moment say that St. John saw this in the New Jeru- 
 salem, but it is much more in accordance with the fitness of things 
 than that he should use an Aristotelian metaphor to set forth a 
 virtuous population. 
 
 '*And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand 
 furlongs. This, no doubt, must be taken as signifying the length 
 and breadth of the great square, 3,000 furlongs each way, each 
 side of the enormous square being above 350 miles. 
 
 " The length and the breadth and the height of it ai-e equal." It 
 can scarcely be supposed that the city is in the form of a cube, 
 because in such a case the height of each house would be above 
 350 miles ; and we are also told in the next verse that the walls 
 are only 144 cubits, of course in height. Now in such a case the 
 walls would not be observable, and there would not be even 
 the appearance of protection ; so that we must perforce understand 
 the length and breadth to be equal, and the height uniform all 
 around. Alford and others understand the height of the rock on 
 which the city is supposed to be built to be taken into account, so 
 that with the rock it is 350 miles high, but this is equally contrary 
 to the description. 
 
 The highest mountain in the world is Httle more than five miles 
 in perpendicular height. 
 
 17. " And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty 
 and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the 
 
 T 
 
274 THE CITY WAS PURE GOLD. [Revelation. 
 
 18 And the buildiDg of the wall of it was 0/ jasper: and 
 the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass, 
 d isa. liv. 11. 19 •* And the foundations of the wall of the city 
 were garnished with all manner of precious stones. 
 
 angel." This can only mean that the an2;el adopted a human 
 standard of measurement. It is important as evincing the cir- 
 cumstantiality, and so the reality of the description. It is the 
 description not of what is shadowy and invisible, but of what is 
 material and visible. 
 
 18. "And the building of the wall of it was of jasper." The 
 word "building" [Ivdofirjaig) is explained as the superstructure. 
 The word occurs in Josephus, "Ant.," xv. ix. 6, who there applies 
 it to the superstructure of a mole of a harbour. It is that part of 
 the walls which is built on the foundations, i.e., immediately above 
 them. 
 
 " Was of jasper." Probably the most precious of stones, the 
 diamond. 
 
 " And the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass." How are 
 we to understand this? Gold is not transparent. Why is it 
 described here as transparent? Bishop Wordsworth takes no 
 notice of it. Bishop Boyd-Carpenter writes : " Gold has an 
 inalienable reference to the sun itself; consequently to the symbol 
 of the face of God or Christ, i.e., to the manifestation of God's 
 love." Dean Alford writes, "Ideal gold, transparent such as.no 
 gold is here, but surpassing it in splendour." MilHgan, "Pure 
 gold, the most precious metal known, but in this case transfigured 
 and glorified, for it was like unto pure glass." This latter is, so 
 far as we can judge, the interpretation most directly pointing to 
 the truth. The Divine architect lavishes upon this city the most 
 beautiful and costly of materials, but by His power renders these 
 more beautiful still. I. W^illiams quotes the holy spiritualizing of 
 St. Gregory : " By gold and glass we understand that heavenly 
 country, that society of blessed citizens where the saints in the 
 supreme brightness of bliss are as a city constructed of gold ; and 
 as that brightness is reciproodlly open to them in each other's 
 breasts, this very gold is described as like pure glass." (Gregory 
 on Job xxviii. 17.) 
 
 19. " And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished 
 
Chap. XXL] THE FIRST FOUNDATION JASPER. 275 
 
 The first foundation was jasper ; the second, sapphire ; the 
 third, a chalcedony ; the fourth, an emerald ; 
 
 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, 
 chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl ; the ninth, a topaz ; the tenth, 
 
 with all manner of precious stones." This does not mean, as we 
 learn from the context which follows, that the foundations were 
 merely ornamented with smaller stones, but that the foundations 
 themselves were composed of such stones. 
 
 " The first foundation was jasper" {iasiJis). This is the same in 
 Hebrew, and is the last stone of the twelve in the high priest's 
 breastplate. By the Septuagint translators it is rendered onyx. 
 It is the stone of which the walls (upper part) were built. Bishop 
 Boyd-Carpenter speaks of it as dark opaque green, but in verse 11 
 it is supposed to be " clear as crystal." 
 
 " The second, sapphire." Bishop Boyd-Carpenter describes its 
 colour as opaque blue, said to be lains lazuli. It is the second 
 stone in the second row of the high priest's breastplate. 
 
 "The third, a chalcedony." This name is difficult to identify 
 with any precious stone which we know. It is said to be a sort 
 of emerald or an agate, brought from Chalcedon (Alford). 
 
 " The fourth, an emerald." The same as that now called by 
 that name. 
 
 20. "The fifth, sardonyx." Probably the same as the second 
 «tone in the fourth row of the Aaronic breastplate. Sardonyx, or 
 onyx, so called from its resemblance to the human nail. Its 
 colour white and red, according to Boyd-Carpenter, and so also 
 "Wordsworth. 
 
 *'The sixth, sardius." Supposed by some to be the ruby, by 
 ■others the carnelian. It is the first, according to our translation, 
 in the Aaronic breastplate. 
 
 " The seventh, chrysolite." Is described by Pliny as translucent 
 with gold lustre ; very probably the topaz. 
 
 " The eighth, beryl." The same (according to King) in compo- 
 sition with the emerald. 
 
 " The ninth, a topaz." Or, according to some writers, peridot, a 
 sort of topaz, but not the more valuable one, in colour yellowish. 
 :green. 
 
276 THE TWELVE GATES PEARLS. [REVELATION". 
 
 a chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an 
 amethyst. 
 
 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every several 
 
 " The tenth, a chrysoprasus." Something akin to our aquat 
 marina. 
 
 "The eleventh, a jacinth." Our sapphire, not the same as the 
 second foundation stone which is called by this name. 
 
 "The twelfth, an amethyst." Perhaps the same as the last 
 stone in the third row of the Aaronic breastplate. In colour 
 violet, and in all probability the same as the stone now called by 
 the same name. 
 
 The reader will see from tbe above how impossible it is to 
 attempt to give a separate spiritual or moral meaning to each of 
 these foundation stones, though we may be sure that they repre- 
 sent every spiritual grace bestowed upon God's faithful servants. 
 In the variety and beauty of the precious stones is symbolized the 
 TroXvTToiKiXog ao(pia of God (Ephes. iii. 10), and His multiform love 
 in supplying all the x^P^<^H'^'''^i gifts and graces vouchsafed by Him 
 to the several Apostles. 
 
 Equally impossible is it to assign to each of these stones the 
 name of an Apostle. Thus Cornelius k Lapide, speaks of the 
 first, the jasper, being inscribed with the name of St. Peter; the 
 second, the sapphire, with St. Paul, or, as some suppose, with 
 St. Andrew; the third, the emerald, St. John; but not a single 
 valid reason can be given for such assignments. The one thing to- 
 keep in mind is that these stones are the most precious things of 
 the earth ; they are as rare as costly, and are assigned as the 
 foundations of the city in order to illustrate how God builds it up 
 with what must be new creations of His power. 
 
 Mark also the variety of the precious stones. " The precious 
 stones," says Bede, " are adapted each severally to the foundations, 
 because although all are perfect, shining with the light of spiritual 
 grace, yet " to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, tc 
 another the word of knowledge, to another faith," and so on. 
 
 21. "And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several 
 gate was of one pearl." "Gates" are rendered by most "gate- 
 towers," not being the doors of the gates which are hung upon 
 hinges, and which open and shut, but the gate-towers which com- 
 
Chap. XXI.] I SAW NO TEMPLE THEREIN. 277 
 
 gate was of one pearl : ^ and the street of the city was pi\re 
 .gold, as it were transparent glass. « ch. xxU. 2. 
 
 22 *' And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord ' Johniv. 23. 
 Ood Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 
 
 luand them. Some consider that all these entrances are one. 
 Christ is alone the door of the entrance, and all enter through 
 Him. This is true ; but if this eternal city is local, so as to be a 
 fitting habitation for the glorified bodies of the saints, then we must 
 be careful to adhere as far as possible to those outward and sensible 
 conditions of it which God reveals. 
 
 . "And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were trans- 
 parent glass." See remarks on verse 18. It is noticeable that 
 for the word clear or pure, KaOapog, is here substituted a word 
 meaning more unmistakably transparent, Siacpavrjg (or Siavyyjg). 
 
 22. " And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty 
 and the Lamb are the temple of it." The significance of the 
 Jewish tabernacle or temple was that it was the house of God. 
 But in the New Jerusalem God and Christ will be universally 
 present, and will manifest their presence everywhere, so that there 
 will be no temple, because all is temple. It must have been 
 beyond measure astonishing to a Jewish believer to be told that 
 in the perfect Jerusalem — the Jerusalem of which the former 
 JeiTisalem was but a shadow — there would be no temple. It 
 would be Jerusalem without its one surpassing glory. In the 
 eyes of a godly Jew Jerusalem existed for its temple. Even in 
 Pentecostal times — in the full blaze of the light of the Holy Spirit — 
 the Christians, and especially the Apostles, worshipped in the 
 temple; but now St. John himself would understand that the 
 Jewish temple betokened imperfection in access to God. God, 
 instead of shining forth, was behind a veil ; the sacrifices be- 
 tokened imperfect and uncompleted atonement. No sacrifice 
 imparted life. They all pointed to Him Who was to come. Now that 
 He had come He had made a perfect reconciliation. And now the 
 prayer was being fulfilled. " Father, I will that they also, whom 
 thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold 
 my glory " (John xvii. 24). Even in our churches the presence of 
 Christ is veiled ; then it will be unveiled. Not only spiritually, but 
 sensibly, we shall worship in God and in Christ. • 
 
278 THE CITY HAD NO NEED OF THE SUN. [Revelation. 
 
 23 ^ And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the 
 « isa. xxiv. moon, to shine in it : for the srlory of God did 
 
 23. & Ix 19 G J 
 
 20. cii.xxii. lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 
 
 h* Isa. ix. 3, 5, 24 ^ And the nations of them which are saved 
 
 11. & Ixvi. 12. 
 
 23. " Is the light ; " rather the lamp. Greek is not <|)2f, but x^xvo?. 
 
 24. "Of them which are saved" omitted by n, A., B., &c,, and read, "and the 
 nations shall walk in the light of it." 
 
 23. " And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, 
 to shine in it : for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
 is the light thereof." This was very clearly predicted in Isaiah Ix. 
 19, "The sun shall be no more thy hght by day; neither for 
 brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : but the Lord shall 
 be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." 
 
 All this is in strict accordance with the fact that God and 
 Christ will be manifested in this glorious place. If in this city 
 there is the effulgence of His presence Who dwelleth in the light 
 which no man can approach unto ; Whom because of that exceed- 
 ing brightness no man hath seen or can see — if in this city of 
 walls, transparent as glass, His presence is manifested of Whom 
 it is said that " His countenance is as the sun shining in 
 his strength," then it is plain that such light would extinguish 
 that of our material sun — all other created light would be as dark- 
 ness before it. And in this light we hope to live. If this be so, 
 then assuredly it is the very truth that every one that hath 
 this hope in Him '* purifieth himself, even as he is pure " 
 (1 John iii. 3). 
 
 *' The Lamb is the light thereof." It is again to be noticed that 
 the emblem of the Lamb is used to describe our Lord in this verse 
 and in the last, as it is also in verse 14. The memory of Christ's 
 work on earth is never obliterated. In the intense splendour 
 and joy of that city of light, the remembrance of Him Who was 
 led as " a lamb to the slaughter," gives depth and fulness to its 
 
 joy- 
 
 24. "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in 
 the light of it : and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
 honour," &c. The reader will see that almost all authorities omit 
 the words, "Of them which are saved," and read "the nations 
 
Chap. XXL] THE KINGS OF THE EARTH. 279 
 
 shall walk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth do 
 bring their glory and honour into it. 
 
 shall walk by means of its light." Who are these nations ? 
 Whence sprang they ? What was their origin ? For we were led to 
 suppose, by the last verses of the previous chapter, that none would 
 in future be living upon earth except the saints in their state of 
 reward ; but it seems from this Divine declaration that the earth 
 is peopled with nations who are not dwellers in the New Jeru- 
 salem, and yet are permitted to enter into it to bring, through 
 their kings, their glory and honour into it. This, however under- 
 stood, is one of the most remarkable revelations of this wonderful 
 book, and it is repeated in the 26th verse : " And they shall bring the 
 glory and honour of the nations into it." And we learn from the 
 next chapter, verse 2, that these nations will require, and apparently 
 continue to require, healing : " The leaves of the tree [of life] were 
 for the healing of the nations." How came these nations to exist ? 
 They must have been survivals of the general judgment, and yet 
 in what condition did they survive ? Not as saints raised up in 
 their glorified bodies, for in such a case they would have belonged 
 to the New Jerusalem as its citizens, which they evidently do not. 
 They are in some sense, if we may reverently use the term, out- 
 siders, and yet friendly, evidently holy, fearing God, and believing 
 in Jesus. 
 
 An immense number of questions may be asked about them. 
 If they are human beings they must be descended from Adam, 
 and yet do they partake of original sin ? They require in some 
 sense healing, for it is expressly said so. It is disappointing to 
 find commentator after commentator passing this extraordinary 
 revelation over as if there was nothing extraordinary, nothing 
 worthy of deep thought or questioning in it. Wordsworth, for 
 instance, refers to such places as " The Gentiles shall come to thy 
 light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising " (Isaiah Ix. 3). 
 But how did these kings or nations survive the passing away of 
 the old earth and heaven, and appear in the new.P So Bishop 
 Boyd- Carpenter, " All nations and peoples flock within the 
 walls ; " but how did they exist before they flocked in ? I mean 
 on the renewed earth. They could not be the offspring of those in 
 the city, for the Lord so expressly declares " that they who attain 
 
280 NO NIGHT THERE. [Revelation. 
 
 25 * And the gates of it shall not be shut at all bv day : for 
 i isa. ix. 11. ^ there shall be no night there. 
 
 k Isa. Ix 20 
 
 Zech.'xiv. 7.' 26 ' And they shall brinor the glory and honour 
 
 ch. xxii. 5. ... 
 
 1 ver. 24. of the nations into it. 
 
 8. &iii."i.'&" 27 And "" there shall in no wise enter into it 
 
 iii". 17*. ch. any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh 
 
 n ^Phii. 'iv.°3. abomination, or maketli a lie : but they which are 
 
 xiii."8 & XX. written in the Lamb's ^ book of life. 
 
 12. * 
 
 27. " Tliat defileth ;" rather, " unclean," xo.vov instead of ko^voZv. 
 
 " Whatsoever worketh abomination ; " rather, " He that worketh " (Mosc). 
 
 to the Resurrection life neither marry, nor are given in marriage, 
 but are equal to the angels." Alford writes, " If, then, the kings 
 of the earth and the nations bring their glory and their treasures 
 unto her, and if none shall even enter into her that is not written 
 in the book of life, it follows that these kings and these nations are 
 written in the book of life. And so, perhaps, some light may be 
 thrown on one of the darkest mysteries of redemption. There may 
 be — I say it with all difi&dence — those who have been saved by 
 Christ, without ever forming a part of His visible organized 
 Church." But this does not answer the question, how did these 
 nations or their ancestors survive the judgment and the passing 
 away of the old heavens and the old earth, to make way for the 
 new state of things ? 
 
 25. *' And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day : for 
 there shall be no night there." If, then, the gates shall never be 
 shut — never in the day, and not at night, ** for there shall be no 
 night," why are there gates at all ? Evidently to keep out of it 
 anything which might defile ; aught that worketh abomination. I 
 cannot imagine any other reason. 
 
 26. " And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations 
 into it." This is a repetition of part of verse 24. It seems in- 
 credible that they should bring gold into a city of gold, or precious 
 stones into a city whose very walls are of jasper and emerald, and 
 amethyst. Must not this glory and honour be the relations or 
 memories of good deeds, for which, mysterious though it be to us, 
 there will be ample scope on the renewed earth ? 
 
 27. "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing tliat 
 
€hap. XXL] DOES SIN REMAIN? 281 
 
 defiletb," &c. This a shortened repetition of verse 8. But the 
 question arises, if the whole earth is purged and renewed, and 
 there is "a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," there 
 seems an impossibility of conceiving any thing unclean or abomin- 
 able as dwelling in it. Yet it would seem that original sin yet 
 remains among those that dwell in the earth outside the city. 
 
 I cannot help drawing attention to the words, bearing upon 
 and, I think, elucidating the whole contents of this chapter, 
 of one who has made a considerable mark on the sacred litera- 
 ture of the Church of England : " In the first place, none can 
 deny that after the Resurrection and the final judgment, the just 
 made perfect will not be, as angels, simply spiritual essences, but 
 be endowed, as when on earth, with material bodies. Now mate- 
 rial beings necessarily presuppose a material locality: material sights 
 would be simply useless unless there were material substances to 
 see ; material hearing, unless there were material sounds to hear. 
 This obviates one great objection to what I am saying, that the 
 whole Apocalyptic description is only the lowering of heavenly ideas 
 to earthly minds. If a mere spiritual state were being described, 
 doubtless it would so be ; but when, to say the least, much that is 
 material must be mixed up with it, the argument vanishes. 
 Consider, again, the remarkable terms in which the abode of the 
 elect is mentioned, after the final doom : ' A new heaven and a 
 new earth.' And lest anyone should think that this is a mere 
 casual expression of St. John's (granting that such things might 
 be), St. Peter also and Isaiah speak of ' new heavens and a new 
 earth.' If, now, there were no analogy between the old and the 
 new, between the first and the second earth, to what purpose this 
 particular and thrice repeated expression ? And most remarkably 
 it is said, 'There was no more sea.' There is, therefore, so 
 strong a resemblance between the two earths that the absence of 
 the sea in the second is thought a point worthy of notice. There- 
 fore, all the varieties of natural beauty, besides this, it may be 
 presumed, still will exist. If of one thing in a series it is 
 recorded that it is abolished, the natural presumption about the . 
 others is that they remain. And in the mystical descriptions of 
 heaven with which Holy Scripture abounds"^ we find frequent 
 references to other most remarkable components of earthly scenery. 
 To trees, for there is the tree of life ; to mountains, for there is the 
 
282 A RIVER OF WATER OF LIFE. [Revelation. 
 
 utmost bound of the everlasting hills ; to lakes, for there the 
 glorious Lord will be a place of broad streams ; to rivers, for there 
 is the river of the water of life. Surely it is impossible to believe 
 that these things are purely metaphorical ; nor can it be even said 
 that the expressions are used in a sacramental sense" (From 
 •' The Unseen World," by the Rev. J. M. Neale). 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 1 ^sfe^'h^xiv A -^-^ ^® shewed me ^ a pure river of water of 
 
 ^' Ijl life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the 
 
 »> Ezek. xivii. throne of Grod and of the Lamb. 
 
 21! ^ ■ ^^^' 2 ^ In the midst of the street of it, and on either 
 
 1. "Pure" omitted by ^f, A., B., D., most Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Syr., .^th. 
 '* Pure " read by only twelve Cursives. 
 
 1, 2. "And He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear 
 as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was 
 there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits," &c. It 
 is very difficult here to distinguish between what is spiritual and 
 what is outward and physical, if one may use such words. A river 
 of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb seems to signify the Holy Spirit and Him alone. For, as 
 we believe, He proceeds from the Father and from the Son. What 
 can proceed from the throne of Deity except the Lord, the Life- 
 giver. And yet it may not personally be the Holy Spirit, but be 
 typical of Him ; for if the city be a real city it cannot be accounted 
 perfect except it has a river. In the visions of the New Jerusalem 
 vouchsafed to Ezekiel we read (xlvii. 1), " Afterwards he brought 
 me again unto the door of the house ; and, behold, waters issued out 
 from under the threshold of the house eastward." Then as he 
 followed their course the waters increased till they became a river 
 impassable by the prophet; waters to swim in, a river that could 
 not be passed over, and that this was the river of life ; he further 
 asserts that these waters healed the waters of the sea. "And 
 
Chap. XXII.] THE TREE OF LIFE. 2S3- 
 
 side of the river, was there ^the tree of life, which bare 
 twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit " Gen. a. 9. 
 
 •^ *^ ch. ii. 7. 
 
 it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which 
 moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live," but of 
 course with a new and better life. And this also is a river ; and 
 it may be ordained for the physical needs of the inhabitants of the 
 New Jerusalem. It may be to them a sacrament of eternal life ^ 
 an outward and visible thing ordained to communicate or increase 
 life both of body and soul. 
 
 Now we cannot dissociate this river of the water of life from the 
 tree of life which grows on each side of it, and whose roots are fed 
 by this water of the river of life. This tree of life is apparently 
 not a spiritual but a real tree — answering to the tree of life of the 
 garden of Eden — the tree of which if Adam had tasted, even after 
 his fall, he would have lived for ever : which tree was not de- 
 stroyed but fenced round about with cherubim and a flaming sword. 
 According to all analogy of God's dealings the various forms of 
 life have to be sustained by nourishment, and here God provides 
 the water of life as well as the fruit of the tree of life to sustain the 
 eternal life of His people. 
 
 How are we to understand, " In the midst of the street of it, and 
 on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare 
 twelve manner of fruits." The river of life is evidently one, but the 
 tree of life seems evidently more than one — manifold ; because it 
 is on either side of the river, which a single tree cannot be. The 
 trees would be all the same, of one kind, but it seems impossible to 
 suppose that one single tree would supply so immense a city as one 
 river might. All the attempts to explain the fact that there is but 
 one single tree, and that on either side of the river, seem to me to 
 fail utterly. Williams writes : "It certainly seems more natural 
 to consider ' the tree of life ' to be but one ; it is more suitable to 
 the whole description, where all is returning to the unity of God, 
 more agreeable to our Lord's words, ' To him that overcometh 
 will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the 
 paradise of God ' (Eev. ii. 7)." Then he proceeds : " But the con- 
 struction of the Greek would very well allow it to be understood as, 
 ' in the midst of the river which flowed on this side and on that 
 
284 NO MORE CURSE. [Revelation. 
 
 every month : and the leaves of the tree ivere ^ for the 
 d ch. xxi. 24. healing of the nations. 
 
 ^ Zech. xiv. 11. 
 
 1 Ezek. xiviii." 3 And ^ there shall be no more curse : ^ but the 
 
 35. 
 
 side of it.' " And thus it is taken by Dean Woodhouse, '* The 
 river which was on one side and on the other." 
 
 But this is dividing the river. It seems impossible and contrary 
 to the nature of things that one single tree should supply the 
 inhabitants of so immense a city. So we must acquiesce in the 
 fact that the tree of life being on each side of the river of the 
 water of life must be manifold. 
 
 "Which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit 
 every month." These twelve manner of fruits are explained as 
 being " the manifold rewards of the righteous," but why should 
 they not be for the sustenance of the glorified bodies of the saints ? 
 They seem to be brought forth for that. Bishop Wordsworth 
 seems to understand these trees as the Cross merely because this 
 tree and the Cross are both ^vXov. This description of the tree ot 
 life with its variety of fruits seems to be taken from Ezek. xlvii. 
 That is, the Holy Spirit first inspired Ezekiel to write it, and then 
 inspired St. John to repeat it, " And by the river upon the bank 
 thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for 
 meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be 
 consumed : it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, 
 because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary : and the 
 fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medi- 
 cine" (verse 12). In St. John we learn, "And the leaves of the 
 tree were for the healing of the nations." 
 
 Who are these nations (see xxi. 26, 27). We assume that the 
 inhabitants of the city are all the saints of God ; but who are the 
 inhabitants of the earth ? They walk in the light of the city ; their 
 kings bring their glory and honour into it ; but — deepest of mysteries 
 — they require healing ; and they receive it from the tree of Ufe and, 
 doubtless, through the ministrations of the glorified dwellers in 
 the city. We cannot explain all this. The words are there as we 
 have written them, and we must leave their interpretation to the 
 good time of God. 
 
 3. " And there shall be no more curse : but the throne of God 
 and of the Lamb shall be in it." In the next few verses there 
 
Chap. XXIL] THEY SHALL SEE HIS FACE. 285 
 
 throne of God and of tlie Lamb shall be in it ; and his 
 
 servants shall serve him : e Matt. v. s. 
 
 , . 1 Cor. xiii. 12.^ 
 
 4 And ^ they shall see his face : and ** his name i John iii. 2. 
 
 ,„,,:„,, ^^ ch. iii. 12. 
 
 shall he m their foreheads. & xiv. 1. 
 
 is a repetition of what has been described in the foregoing chapter. 
 " There shall be no more curse," or, as we are told that we ought 
 to render it rather, " no accursed thing : " but an accursed thing 
 depends upon a curse. This seems a repetition of xxi. 4 : " And 
 there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither 
 shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed 
 away." 
 
 But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. The 
 throne of God is also that of the Lamb. " I have overcome and 
 am sat down with my Father on his throne." Where God reigns 
 in Person there can be no more curse. It is because He reigns in 
 His glory in heaven that there is supreme blessedness there. 
 
 "And his servants shall serve him." This seems to be a 
 repetition of the words in xxi. 3 : "He will dwell with them, and 
 they shall be his people." Being like the angels, they shall serve 
 Him as do the angels. God's will will be done on earth — on the 
 renewed earth — as it is in heaven. 
 
 4. " And they shall see his face ; and his name shall be in their 
 foreheads." Does this mean that they shall actually see the face 
 of God the Father, or will it be perfectly fulfilled by their seeing 
 Christ in His glory, as He said, " He that hath seen me hath seen 
 the Father " ? And yet the Lord says of the guardian angels 
 of little children : "In heaven their angels do always behold the 
 face of my Father which is in heaven " (Matt, xviii. 10). 
 
 " And his name shall be in their foreheads." Christ promises 
 to those who overcome, in the Church of Philadelphia, " I will 
 write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of 
 my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of 
 heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name" 
 (iii. 12). And the 144,000 who were with the Lamb on Mount 
 Sion had His Father's name written on their foreheads. This, 
 whatever be its literal interpretation, indicates that, as no other 
 creatures did, they absolutely belonged to God. There may also 
 
286 THEY SHALL REIGN FOR EVER. [Revelation. 
 
 5 ' And there shall be no night there ; and they need no 
 ■i ch. xxi. 23, candle, neither light of the sun ; for '' the Lord 
 k Ps. xxxvi. 9. God giveth them light : * and they shall reign 
 
 1 Dan. vi'i. 27. f or ever and ever. 
 
 2 Tim. ii. 12. 6 And he said unto me, "" These sayings are 
 m ch.'xix. 9. faithful and true : and the Lord God of the holy 
 
 & xxi, 5. 
 
 5. "There any more" (eVi), with s, A., P., Vulg., Syriac, but a few Cursives 
 have fxfi. 
 
 " Need." " Shall need," A. " Giveth." " Shall give." 
 
 6. "Of the holy prophets;" rather, perhaps, "of the spirits of the prophets," 
 N, A., B., P., thirty -tive Cursives, Copt,, Syriac, &c. 
 
 be an allusion to the writing on the forehead of the High Priest 
 indicating their high-priestly functions and honours. 
 
 5. " And there shall be no night there ; and they need no candle, 
 neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light : and 
 they shall reign," &c. This is difficult for us to realize, for night 
 is the season of refreshment. 
 
 As Williams says, *' There shall be no more night; for there is 
 no frailty of body. The night is often taken as betokening the 
 withdrawal of the light of God's countenance for a season ; this 
 shall be no more, and God will always shine upon them : they 
 shall ever rejoice without weariness in His Light." 
 
 And if they need not the light of the sun, they shall need no 
 lesser light. The uncreated Light will shine everywhere, and 
 extinguish all created lights. 
 
 " They shall reign for ever and ever." *' Not," as some one has 
 flaid, " as the saints reigned in the thousand years, whatever that 
 signifies, but for ever, with no intermission." 
 
 Over whom shall they reign? Perhaps over countless worlds 
 which God has created, and will create. Again, let us remember 
 that the one great distinctive employment of those who have over- 
 come will be reigning. An employment which will exercise 
 throughout eternity their highest and best faculties. 
 
 6. "And he said unto me. These sajdngs are faithful and true: 
 and the Lord God of the holy prophets [or * of the spirits of the 
 holy prophets '], sent his angel to shew unto his servants the 
 things which must shortly be done." This is a similar message 
 from God to what we read in chap. xix. 9, "Write, Blessed are 
 
Chap. XXIL] I COME QUICKLY. 287 
 
 prophets ° sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things 
 which must shortly be done. " ch. i. i. 
 
 7 ° Behold, I come quickly : ^ blessed is he that ° ch. m. ii. 
 
 ^ '^ ver. 10, 12, 20. 
 
 keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book, p ch. i. 3. 
 
 they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." And, 
 again, chap. xxi. 5, " And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, 
 I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write : for these 
 words are true and faithful." They are faithful and true sayings 
 then that there shall be no more curse ; that they shall see God's 
 face, that there shall be no night in the New Jerusalem, and that 
 they shall reign for ever and ever. 
 
 *' And the Lord God [of the spirits] of the holy prophets hath sent 
 his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly 
 be done." And yet, whatever plan of interpretation we give to 
 the contents of this book, they have occupied well-nigh two 
 thousand years. " Shortly," then must be understood in the light 
 of the saying, one thousand years is with the Lord as one day ; or, 
 ••shortly," must be taken as compared with the ages of eternity. 
 Amazing as the events are which are contained in these visions 
 they are as nothing to that eternity which God inhabits. This 
 verse the reader will remember is a repetition of the first verse of 
 this book, " The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto 
 him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to 
 pass ; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant 
 John." 
 
 7. ** Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the 
 sayings of the prophecy of this book." Three times in this chapter 
 is this repeated; in verse 12, "Behold, I come quickly: and my 
 reward is with me," and in verse 20, "He which testifieth these 
 things saith. Surely I come quickly." 
 
 " Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this 
 book." "What are the sayings of this book which men are required 
 to keep ? They have by some been supposed to be the words to 
 the Seven Churches, which are all the moral and practical instruc- 
 tions of this book which are capable of being Icept. The rest of the 
 book is mostly composed of visions which cannot well be kept as 
 moral precepts can be. Now in what I am about to say respecting 
 
288 SEE THOU DO IT NOT. [Kevelation. 
 
 8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when 
 q ch. xix. 10. I had heard and seen, ^ I fell down to worship 
 
 hefore the feet of the angel which shewed me 
 
 these things. 
 •• ch. xix. 10. 9 Then saith he unto me, ^ See thou do it not : 
 
 for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren 
 
 8. " Saw these and heard ; " perhaps, rather, " heard and saw.' 
 
 this, I confess I can scarcely name any one who seems to agree 
 with me ; nevertheless, I think it is worthy of some consideration. 
 It is that these words from verse 7 to 21 are not only the conclu- 
 sion of this book of the Apocalypse, but the concluding chapter of 
 God's whole Eevelation. In the Greek, Latin, and Syriac Bibles 
 this chapter forms the conclusion. I cannot help regarding this 
 as brought about by the good providence of God, and so I 
 conceive that the sayings of this book are the sayings of God 
 throughout the whole Bible. If the visions of this book are only 
 meant, no two commentators agree in their interpretation, but if 
 the whole Bible be meant by the sayings of this book, then it 
 agrees with what has been the fact, that every copy of the whole 
 word of God concludes with this chapter. I do not say for a 
 moment that the whole order of the books as contained in our 
 copies is inspired, but this I say, that this chapter is a fitting con- 
 clusion to the whole sacred volume, and not only to a book of 
 visions. I may have more to say on this when I come to verses 
 18 and 19. 
 
 8, 9. " And I John saw these things, and beard them. And when I 
 had heard and seen . . .the sayings of this book: worship God." This 
 is the second time that the blessed and holy Apostle was exposed to 
 this temptation and all but succumbed to it, and as it is twice re- 
 corded, it is evident that God intends us to take notice of it and 
 dwell upon it. 
 
 Some expositors out of a desire to acquit so great an Apostle of 
 anything approaching to idolatry have hazarded the conjecture 
 that St. John thought that the angel who had showed him these 
 things was Jesus Christ Himself, but St. John at the commence- 
 ment of these visions saw the Lord surrounded with such wondrous 
 glory that it overwhelmed him — he " fell at his feet as dead." It 
 
Chap. XXIL] WORSHIP GOD. 289 
 
 the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this 
 book : worship God. 
 
 never then could have entered into his mind that the angel which 
 showed him these things, bright and glorious though he might be, 
 was the Lord Himself. Again, another commentator says that 
 St. John intended merely an act of civil honour or homage, and 
 the angel declined it out of humility and in order to give occasion 
 to no scandal. The lookers-on might have misunderstood the 
 meaning of the act as being one of Divine worship, whereas the 
 Apostle merely meant to honour the angel with the honour which 
 in the east men pay to their superiors in rank. But this cannot 
 be allowed as an explanation, for the angel evidently supposes 
 that the Apostle intended to pay him some unlawful honour, 
 and so he directs him to pay his adoration to the only Being 
 worthy of it — "worship God." 
 
 This incident is very decisive against any thing approaching 
 to saint or angel worship, but it yields a still deeper lesson 
 suited to our times, which is this, that the best, the most devout, 
 the holiest of men may be betrayed into thus falling. When 
 we consider the state of things in the modern Church of Eome, 
 and we are called upon to do this in some way or other almost 
 daily, two things strike us with astonishment. The first of these 
 is the length to which this Church goes in encouraging the 
 invocation of angels and departed saints. This is an increasing 
 evil. It is greater now than ever it has been before. In Eomish 
 countries the worship of the Virgin in the way of Invocation far 
 exceeds that of the worship paid to any Person in the Ever Blessed 
 Trinity. Theologians, it is true, make a distinction between the 
 worship paid to the Virgin and saints and that paid to the Persons 
 in the adorable Trinity, but the vast mass of worshippers know of 
 no such distinction. 
 
 This, then, is the first thing ; but another matter which fills us 
 with astonishment, and some even with misgiving, is this, that 
 notwithstanding this idolatry, so many devout minds have been 
 won to this corrupt Church, and have themselves gone very far in 
 this direction. How can it be, we ask, that men who know Scrip- 
 ture, and who unquestionably have their souls alive to the things 
 of God and of Christ, can yet pay this idolatrous worship. This is 
 
290 SEAL NOT THE SAYINGS. [Revelation. 
 
 8 Dan. viii. 26. 10 * And he saith unto me, Seal not the say- 
 it xii. 4, 9. 
 ch. X. 4. 
 
 staggering to some, but not if we read aright this very place of 
 Scripture. For here we have an Apostle, full of the Holy Ghost, 
 called and taught by Christ Himself, one of those who had drank 
 in His profoundest teaching. Here we have him twice needing 
 the reproof, " See thou do it not : . . . worship God." If he was 
 exposed to the temptation, and was actually beginning to yield to 
 it, and would have unquestionably committed sin if he had gone a 
 step further, is it anything wonderful that in the nineteenth 
 century men infinitely his inferiors in the possession of the Spirit 
 and knowledge of the will of Christ should yield to it ? 
 
 So that the fact that men of very deep devotion and knowledge 
 of the mysteries of God have yielded to the seduction of a system 
 plainly idolatrous in some of its main features is no proof of the 
 truth of the system. All of these put together, multiplied many 
 times over, are not to be compared to St. John, and yet he twice 
 required to be told, " See thou do it not." 
 
 Now let us ask for a moment in passing, How could St. John 
 have been exposed, even for a moment, to such a temptation? ^ 
 I suppose none of you have ever been tempted to do such a thing 
 as worship an angel, or a saint, or the Blessed Virgin ? It is the 
 very last temptation you are likely to be troubled with. You are 
 tempted to do other things bad enough. You are tempted to do 
 dishonest things, base things, unclean things, spiteful things ; you 
 are tempted to be proud, to be envious, to be untrue ; none of 
 which temptations touched the Blessed Apostle, and yet you think, 
 perhaps, you can look down upon him, even if it be only for a 
 moment, because he was tempted to fall down at the feet of the angel. 
 
 How, then, was it possible that this temptation should assail an 
 Apostle ? Because, I answer, he had a revelation granted to him 
 such as you or I are not likely to have, because we are utterly 
 unworthy of it. He had the unseen spiritual angelic world set 
 before him in all its glories, and it was set before him through the 
 instrumentality of one of these heavenly beings, and so the temp- 
 tation assailed him. 
 
 1 This is taken from a .sermon preached to a large middle-class congregation, and 
 is reproduced verbatim. 
 
Chap. XXII.] THE TIME IS AT HAND. 291 
 
 ings of the prophecy of this book : * for the time is at 
 hand. * ch. i. 3. 
 
 11 " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: « Ezek.iii. 27. 
 and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and 2 Tim. iii. 13. 
 
 11. "Let him that is unjust, let him commit injustice still: and he that is 
 polluted, let him pollute himself still : and he that is righteous, let him still do 
 righteousness." 
 
 It is not for us who have never been so favoured, who, perhaps, 
 some of us, have never believed in an angel at all — who have never 
 realized or tried to realize our companionship with angels, or how 
 God works by them — it is not for us to judge this Apostle ; but it 
 may be well for us to learn somewhat from him. How grand 
 then, beyond expression, must these visions of the New Jerusalem 
 and its inhabitants have been if they could so afiect an Apostle 
 who had lain in the bosom of Jesus Himself. 
 
 And who was this angel ? What was his dignity ? He tells us. 
 '• I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and 
 of them which keep the sayings of this book : worship God." 
 
 Here *is a mighty angel claiming to be the fellow-servant, not 
 only of an Apostle, but of all those who obey the word of God. 
 All those who obey God, no matter what their position in the 
 universe, are His servants. And the highest and the lowest are 
 fellow-servants. This bond unites them all as one family, one 
 household, and the Son of God is their chief in service. He Who 
 left His throne not to do His own will, but the will of Him that 
 sent Him. 
 
 10. '• And he saith unto me. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy 
 of this book, for the time is at hand." When (in chap. x. 4) the 
 seven thunders had uttered their voices he was told to seal up 
 those things which the seven thunders had uttered, i.e., they were 
 not to be divulged, they were to be like a book which being sealed 
 cannot be read ; now he is told not to seal them up, for the time of 
 their fulfilment is at hand. Men have but a short time to prepare 
 — so short that it is no time at all for so great a work, and they must 
 continue as they are. 
 
 11. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is 
 filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is righteous, let him be 
 
292 MY REWARD IS WITH ME. [REVELATION. 
 
 he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is 
 
 holy, let him be holy still. 
 
 » ver. 7. 12 "^ And, behold, I come quickly ; and ^ my 
 
 y Isa. xl. 10. 1 . -x-u zx • 3- 
 
 &ixii. 11. reward is with me, to give every man according 
 
 & xiv. 12." ch. as his work shall be. 
 
 XX. 12. 
 
 righteous still," &c. This has been explained as said in a sort of 
 solemn irony, as if it were the reflex of that written in the book of 
 Proverbs : " They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of 
 the Lord. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my 
 reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways.'* 
 Were then those to whom these words are addressed shut out from 
 repentance by God ? No ; they had shut themselves out. They 
 had become incapable of repentance. As the saying is, they are 
 become Gospel hardened. As Alford says, '* The lesson conveyed is 
 •Change while there is time,' to which we may add, change 
 while you can, before you become incapable of changing — before 
 your habits of ungodliness have become hardened into settled 
 character." 
 
 But what then must we understand by " He that is righteous, 
 let him be righteous still : and he that is holy, let him be holy 
 still "? In connection with the announcement that the time is at 
 hand, it seems to be this : — No matter how short the time is, 
 slacken not in your efforts to preserve righteousness and holiness. 
 The Lord has not come yet ; take care that when He comes you 
 may be found of Him as He would have you to be. 
 
 12. " (And) behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with me, 
 to give every man according as his work shall be." When the 
 Lord comes He will not postpone the rewards of His servants to 
 the far future, but will at once say to them on His right hand, 
 •' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
 you from the beginning of the world." He brings with Him the 
 New Jerusalem. At His voice men rise up in their glorified 
 bodies. He then says to each faithful servant, " Enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 " To give every man according as his work shall be." Again the 
 judgment according to works ; again the assertion, " Every man 
 shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." Again 
 
Chap. XXIL] I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA. 2do 
 
 13 * I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, 
 the first and the last. ^ i^a. xii *. 
 
 & xliv. 6. & 
 
 14 ^ Blessed are they that do his command- ^i^i"- 12- ch. 
 
 •^ 1. 8, 11. & 
 
 xxi. 6. 
 
 b Dan, xii. 12. 
 
 1 John iii. 24. 
 
 13. "And " omitted by it, A., B., &c. 
 
 14. "That do his commandments." So B., most Cursives, Clopt., Syr., Arm. ; but 
 ^f, A., Vulg., JEth., read, " who wash their robes." 
 
 the truth, " He that soweth little shall receive little, and he that 
 soweth plenteously shall reap plenteously." No truth of God 
 is more insisted upon both by Christ and His servants than this. 
 
 13. " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the 
 first and the last." Before this seems to be said by God the 
 Father. Now it is said by God the Son. "We confess the co- 
 eternity of the Son with the Father when we say in our creed, 
 "The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost 
 Eternal." And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. 
 Some have thought that here it has reference to the eternal reward. 
 " My reward is with me, and it is an eternal one, as I myself am 
 eternal." 
 
 " The beginning and the end, the first and the last," are ex- 
 pansions of the Alpha and Omega. 
 
 14. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 
 may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
 gates into the city." There is a very important difference of 
 reading here. Some MSS., as B., read as in authorized ; others, as 
 A., read, "Blessed are they that have washed their robes [in the 
 Blood of the Lamb]." Both these readings taken together repre- 
 sent the whole truth. None can enter into eternal happiness 
 except those who have kept the commandments of God (" If thou 
 wilt enter into life keep the commandments ") ; and none can enter 
 into eternal happiness except those who have washed their robes 
 in the Blood of Christ. How are men to wash their robes? 
 Evidently by applying to God both by word of mouth and through 
 the means of grace. What commandments are men to keep? 
 Not merely "thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit 
 adultery ; thou shalt not steal ; " but believe in Me ; abide in Me ; 
 come to the Father through Me ; take up thy cross and follow 
 Me. " If thy hand, thy foot, thine eye offend thee, cut it off, or 
 
 u2 
 
294 RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE. [Revelation. 
 
 ments, that they may have right ^ to the tree of life, ^ and 
 c ver. 2. ch. may enter in through the gates into the city, 
 d'ch. xxi.27. 15 For ^without are 'dogs, and sorcerers, and 
 10. Gal. V. ' whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and 
 
 19 20, 21 
 
 Coiriii. 6. whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 
 
 ch. ix. 20, 21. 
 
 & xxi. 8. 
 
 » Phil. iii. 2. 
 
 15. " For without." " For" omitted by N, A., B. 
 
 pluck it out, and cast it from thee." " Receive me, even to the 
 eating of my flesh, and drinking of my blood, that thou mayest 
 have my life in thee." 
 
 His commandment is, " Come unto me, look unto me, follow 
 me." His commandment is, *' lay up for yourselves treasures in 
 heaven," " Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrigh- 
 teousness," " Forgive and ye shall be forgiven," " Eat ye my flesh 
 and drink my blood, that ye may have my life in you." 
 
 If He washes us with His Blood, He washes us with no mere 
 external washing ; He washes us from all filthiness of spirit, from 
 all selfishness, from all unbelief, from all disobedience of will, 
 from all that is contrary to His own and to His Father's will. 
 
 '* That they may have right unto the tree of life." A strong 
 expression to signify the privilege of being able to eat of the tree 
 of life. A man can only have the power over a fruit tree th^t he 
 may eat its fruit. It is as if there was added, no man forbidding 
 him — no one able to hinder him. 
 
 " And may enter in through the gates into the city." 
 
 15. " For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers^ 
 and murderers," &c. The gates have angels stationed at them to 
 guard them, and keep out everything that would defile. We 
 should have thought, from chap, xxi., verse 6, that all here said 
 to be excluded, would have been shut up in Gehenna; but it seems 
 not to be so. This bears upon the deep mystery that the nations 
 outside of the city, as distinguished from the citizens, have sin yet 
 lingering among them. 
 
 " Dogs." Taken as the type of all that is unclean and lecherous. 
 Thus St. Paul writes (Phil. iii. 2), '* Beware of dogs, beware of evil 
 workers." "The allusion to the dogs outside the city is hardly 
 appreciated by Westerns. In the East, however, troops ol 
 
Chap. XXII.] THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR. 295 
 
 16 ^ I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify nnto you 
 these tliin2:s in the churches. ^ I am the root s ch. i. i. 
 
 h ch. V. 5. 
 
 and the offspring of David, and ^ the bright and » Nu' x'xiv. 17. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ Zech. ^•i. 12. 
 
 momms' star. 2 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 ch ii ''8 
 
 17 And the Spirit and ^ the bride say, Come. ^ ch.'xxi. 2, 9. 
 
 hungry and semi- wild dogs used to wander about the fields and 
 streets of the city, devouring dead bodies and other ofifal, and thus 
 became such objects of dislike that fierce and cruel enemies are 
 poetically styled dogs in Ps. xxii. 16-20 " (Bishop Boyd-Carpenter.) 
 
 16. "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these 
 things in the churches." Thus the angels of God, the angels of 
 heaven, are the angels of Jesus. He is " far above all principality, 
 and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is 
 named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come " 
 (Ephes. 1. 21). 
 
 " I am the root and the offspring of David." " I am the root," 
 because He is from everlasting, and all existence is derived from 
 Him. " Without him was not any thing made that was made." 
 
 " And the offspring." Because he was made of the seed of David, 
 according to the flesh. Note how He expresses His eternity and His 
 human nature in words which must have been so peculiarly 
 grateful to a child of Israel. 
 
 " And the bright and morning star." The star which ushers 
 in the morning, which knows no evening. This day-star has not 
 only to arise on the mystical horizon, but in each of our hearts, as 
 St. Peter writes, "Until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in 
 your hearts" (2 Pet. i. 19). 
 
 17. "And the Spirit and the bride say. Come." It is only the 
 Holy Spirit of God which can inspire the bride — the Church — 
 throughout all the world to desire and to pray for the coming of 
 the Lord. It is the very mark of the bride to desire the coming 
 of the Bridegroom. The bride is the blessed company of those 
 who love his appearing (2 Tim. iv. 8) ; of those who look for and 
 haste " unto the coming of the day of God " (2 Pet. iii. 12). 
 
 " Let him that heareth say, Come." Let this word " come " be 
 taken up by all who have within them the voice of the Spirit, and 
 who hear the voice of the Church. It is the Advent cry. It is 
 
296 LET HIM THAT IS ATHIRST COME. [Revelation. 
 
 And let him that heareth say, Come. ^ And let him that is 
 
 I isa. iv. 1. athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take 
 ch. xxi. 6. ' the water of life freely. 
 
 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth 
 m Deut. iv. 2. the words of the prophecy of this book, ^ If any 
 Prov. XXX. 6. man shall add unto these things, God shall add 
 
 unto him the plagues that are written in this 
 book : 
 
 19 And if any man shall take away from the 
 n Ex. xxxii. words of the book of this prophecy, "^ Grod shall 
 
 33. Ps. Ixix, A J. ./ 
 
 28! ..ch. iii. 5. take away his part 1| out of the book of life, and 
 
 II ol, from the out of ° the holy city, and from the things which 
 «'^ch!'xxi.^'2. are written in this book. 
 
 19. " The book of life ; " rather, " from the tree of life." K, A., B., most Cursives,. 
 Vulg. (Amiat.), &c 
 " Which are written" omitted by ti, A., B. 
 
 the cry of those who say aright, and in the Spirit, Christ's own 
 prayer, *' Thy kingdom come." 
 
 " And let him that is athirst come." One thing only is requisite 
 on our part — desire. " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it 
 is that saith to thee, Give me to drink ; thou wouldest have asked 
 of him, and he would have given thee living water " (John iv. 10). 
 
 We must not wait till the last time to receive this water at 
 the hands of Christ ; we must receive it now, " Whosoever will, let 
 him come — not wait, but come." 
 
 18-19. " For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of 
 the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, 
 God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book : 
 And if any man shall take away .... God shall take away his 
 part out of the book of life," &c. Like a vast number of sayings 
 in this book, this is a repetition of what we find in the Old Testa- 
 ment, in the book of Deuteronomy, " Ye shall not add unto the 
 word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from 
 it " (Deut. iv. 2). Are these words applicable only to the visions 
 in the twenty-two chapters of the Apocalypse, or are they the 
 fitting conclusion to the words of all Scripture. I cannot help 
 
Chap. XXII.] COME, LORD JESUS. 297 
 
 20 He which testifieth these things saith, ^ Surely I come 
 quickly. "^ Amen. ^ Even so, come, Lord Jesus, p ver. 12. 
 
 q Jolmxxi.25. 
 r 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
 thinking the latter. It is equally, we should have thought, a sin 
 against God to add to any of His words, no matter in whose book 
 they are written, whether the book of a Jewish prophet, or of an 
 evangelist, or of an apostolical letter. So that these words, 
 though especially true of the Apocalypse, form a fitting conclusion 
 to the whole Bible. How are men in danger of adding to the 
 words of Scripture ? I answer, by unauthorized traditions. These 
 traditions may be traceable to remote ages as Mariolatry, or they 
 may be traceable only to the Swiss Reformation, to Calvin and 
 others, as that Christ died for a few, and the way of salvation is 
 open only to a very small proportion of the whole race of 
 mankind. 
 
 And where now is the danger of taking away from the words of 
 the book of this prophecy. I answer, by criticisms, falsely so 
 called. There are persons who tell us that St. Paul wrote only four 
 of the thirteen Epistles reckoned as his in the canon. If he was 
 inspired by God to write many more, and the Universal Church 
 has believed from the first that he was, what a sin against God, the 
 Inspirer of Scripture, for men to say, relying only on self-will, and 
 what they consider right for him to have written, that such 
 letters, or even Gospels, are no part of the inspired volume, and 
 consequently not profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
 tion, for instruction in righteousness. 
 
 As Isaac Williams has noticed, the severity of the curse against 
 taking away from the Word of God (or of this prophecy) is much 
 greater than that of adding to it. If a man adds, certain plagues 
 are added to him : if a man takes away from them, his part in the 
 book (or tree) of life is taken away. 
 
 20. " He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come 
 quickly." No matter when I come, I come quickly, for I come 
 unexpectedly. I take all by surprise. Even on the waiting 
 Church I come when all slumber and sleep (Matt. xxv. 5). On 
 the wicked I come on a day that he looketh not for Me, and at an 
 hour that he is not aware of. And no matter how I hasten, or 
 how I delay, I come quickly. 
 
 And the answer of the renewed and ready soul is, ** Come when 
 
298 GRACE. [Revelation. 
 
 21 *Tlie grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you all. 
 
 » Rom. xvi. 20, Atripn 
 
 24. 2Thess. ^^en. 
 
 iii, 18. 
 
 21. " Be with you all." " Be with all the saints." 
 
 Thou wilt. Come in Thine own good time, for notwithstanding its 
 terrors, it will be a good time. For Thou doest all things well. 
 Thy time is the fulness of time. When Thou comest, if Thou givest 
 us grace, we will say, * Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for 
 him, and he will save us ; this is the Lord ; we have waited for 
 him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation ' (Isaiah xxv. 9)." 
 21. " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all (or 
 with all the saints) Amen." This is the conclusion of most of the 
 Pauline Epistles. Nothing can be fitter; for all the power and 
 will to keep the Word of God, and do what is written therein, is 
 through the grace of Jesus. And so especially is the grace to wait 
 for Him, and look for His appearing, the grace of Jesus. Assigned 
 to us by the love of the Father, and sealed to each one by the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 THE END. 
 
CHURCH COMMENTARY ON THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 WITH NOTES, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL. 
 
 By the Eev. M. F. Sadler, 
 
 Late Rector of Honiton and Vrchendary of Wells. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW. 
 
 Sixth edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK. 
 
 Fourth edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE. 
 
 Fo2t7'th edition. Crown 8i'o, 95. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN 
 
 Sixth edition. Crown Svo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES. 
 
 Fourth edition. Crown %vo, 7s. %d. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Third edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 Second edition. Crown Svo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE GALATIANS, 
 EPHESIANS AND PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 Third edition. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, 
 THESSALONIANS AND TIMOTHY. 
 
 Second edition. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO TITUS, PHILEMON, AND 
 
 THE HEBREWS. Second edition. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF SS. JAMES, PETER, 
 
 JOHN, ANDJUDE. Second edition . Crown Svo, 6s. 
 
 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE 
 
 DI VI N E . Second edition. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 THE GOSPELS. 
 
 From The Church Quarterly, Octoher, 1883. 
 "It is far the best practical Commentary that we know, being plain- 
 spoken, tearless, and definite, and containing matter very unlike the milk 
 and water which is often served up in [so-called] practical Commentaries. 
 . . . For solid Church teaching it stands unrivalled. Nothing could be 
 better than the notes on the Sermon on the INIount, and the practical lessons 
 drawn with convincing clearness from our Lord's words on the subject of 
 Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting. Throughout the whole book the writer 
 is ever on the watch for general principles and teaching applicable to the 
 wants of our own day, which may legitimately be deduced from the Gospel 
 narrative." 
 
 From The Church Times, February 2Srd, 1883. 
 " The question of the origin of the Four Gospels is well treated, and a 
 more succinct account of the real standing of the Evangelists with respect to 
 each other, or to a supposed original document from whicii all copied, could 
 scarcely be found than that contained in these few pages. Some few pages 
 introductory to the critical portion of the volume, and explaining the 
 elements of textual criticism, bring us to the text of the Commentary itself 
 Throughout the whole of its pages the same evidence of scholarship and 
 critical acumen, which distinguishes all the author's work, is apparent ; 
 while the faculty of conveying such knowledge to the minds of the least 
 learned in a simple and forcible manner, is abundantly preserved, and will 
 procure for this work the position of one of the best of popular commentaries. 
 Many of the notes extend beyond the scope generally implied by the term, 
 and become full explanations of doctrinal subjects such as will prove of 
 immense value to the student as well as to the general reader. We may 
 cite as an instance of this exhaustive pi'ocess the lengthy note on St. Matt. 
 xvi. 18, and those notes on the Parables, which, severally treated in their 
 entirety, present a more intelligible meaning than when explained in short 
 disjointed notes. Finally, it remains to mention the fact, which, however, 
 goes without saying, that the tone of the Commentary is thoroughly 
 Catholic, so that the reader will find here a firm defence of the supernatural 
 and divine character of the Gospel story, which never condescends to the 
 tone of much of modern criticism, but remains true to primitive Catholic 
 teaching." 
 
 From Church Bells, November ISth, 1882. 
 " It is written in a clear and sensible stylo, with a healthy tone ; and its 
 practical portions are devout without being wearisome or ' goody,' " 
 
 From The Church Eeview, November, 1883. 
 " A valuable and substantial contribution to the literature of the New 
 Testament is made by Mr. Sadler in the volume now before us. ... It 
 might be said that every page of the work lights up the grand historical 
 character of the Church as the one supreme authority for tlie authmticity 
 and interpretatirm of the books of Scripture.'' 
 
From The Church Times, December 21st, 1883. 
 " We have much pleasure in announcing the issue of ' Tlie Gospel according 
 to St. John, with Notes, Critical and Practical,' by the Rev. M. F. Sadler 
 (George Bell and Sons), a companion volume to his gloss on St. Matthew, 
 and a redemption of the pledge he gave therein to carry on his labours 
 to the remaining Gospels. This is admirably done, being exactly what 
 is wanted for that large and increasing class of readers who need the results 
 of genuine scholarship and sound vigorous thought, but who are repelled by 
 any surface display of erudition, and still mure by dryness of treatment, 
 
 The admirable lucidity, which is the distinctive quahty of Mr. 
 
 Sadler's style, comes out markedly in his annotations, whether they take 
 the form of yhhy clearings up of verbal difficulties or more elaborate 
 dissertations on important points of doctrine; and he is a good judge in 
 selecting the best matter supplied by his precursors, such as Olshausen, 
 Stier, Godet, and, above all, St. Augustine, whose commentary on St. John 
 is one of that Father's ablest works. This is much loss of a mere 
 grammatical inquiry than Professor Westcott's volume in the ' Speaker's 
 Commentary,' but it is much more of a theological explanation, and that of a 
 far sounder and deeper school." 
 
 From The Literary Churchman, December 7th, 1883. 
 '•' . . . Apart from these longer and more continuous glosses, the reader 
 constantly meets with single pithy notes, which by their clear common 
 sense solve a difficulty at once, and satisfy the understanding promptly, 
 so that this is quite the best popular commentary on S. John we know, 
 without implying by that epithet that even advanced students of Biblical 
 literature will not find ample profit in consulting it." 
 
 From The Church Times, October Srd, 1884. 
 " We gladly chronicle the thiixl instalment of Prebendary Sadler's clear 
 and sensible Commentary on the Gospels, which exactly meets the needs 
 of that large and increasing class, which, without pretending any interest 
 in the more abstruse problems of scholarship in connection with the Greek 
 Testament, is desirous of having in its hands a trustworthy guide to the 
 actual meaning of the sacred writers, and some plain statement of the 
 results accepted by that calmer type of scholars who understand the nature 
 of evidence, and are not disposed to admit the validity of unsupported con- 
 jecture, however original and brilliant, as proof. .... The notes, as 
 always with Mr. Sadler, are singularly lucid, pithy, and to the point." 
 
 Frovi Church Bells, November 22nd, 1884. 
 "■ This is a work of a veteran scholar and divine to whom the Church 
 owes much. Prebendary Sadler's writing is characterized by great clear- 
 ness of style, and he has a remarkably persuasive way of putting things. 
 His sermons, as well as his ' Church Doctrine Bible Truth,' &c., have done 
 much towards furnishing the parochial clergy with materials for feeding 
 their flocks. In this commentary he aims at a yet more important object, 
 the instruction of the educated classes. He has carefully compared the 
 original Scriptures with the authorized and revised versions, and has set 
 himself to meet objections of scientific sceptics, and he has achieved great 
 
 success The volume is full of thoughts and suggestions for preachers 
 
 as well as for general readers."' 
 
From The Saturday Review, February 21st, 1885. 
 " We can recommend his book to devout and cultivated Churchmen who 
 want to read the Gospels for instruction as well as for edification." 
 
 From The Church Quarterly, January, 1885. 
 " The Notes are, like all Mr. Sadler's works, straightforward and to the 
 point. The difficulties are not shirked, but are fairly stated and grappled 
 with, so that the volume forms a welcome addition to the literature of the 
 Second Gospel. In reading the notes upon the text, the feature which 
 strikes us most in their intensely practical character. Mr. Sadler has a 
 remarkable faculty of bringing the teaching of the incidents of our Lord's 
 life on earth to bear upon the circumstances of our own time. Even where 
 the points brought out are well worn and familiar, there is a freshness in 
 his manner of treating them which adds greatly to the charm and value of 
 the Commentary." 
 
 From The Church Times, July Srd, 1886. 
 '• Indeed, one great mei'it in this commentar}' and its companion volumes 
 is the frequency with which notes are found, which are capable of being each 
 expanded into useful sermons. They are like very strong essences or tinc- 
 tures, which will bear considerable dilution before being employed medically, 
 though for convenience they are usually kept in the more portable form." 
 
 From The Church Quarterly, July, 1886. 
 " We must begin our notice of this volume by offering Prebendary Sadler 
 our hearty congratulations on the completion of his work on the four 
 Gospels. The previous volumes were all reviewed in our columns as they 
 appeared, and we have no hesitation in extending the welcome which we 
 gave to them to their present companion. It is no slight distinction for a 
 writer, after having made his reputation by what is confessedly the best 
 popular work on Church doctrine, to have produced what we hold to be the 
 best popular commentary on the Gospel narrative. There is no other 
 occupying quite the same ground, and we cordially recommend these four 
 volumes, in the now familiar blue binding, as for practical purposes the 
 most useful to the general reader." 
 
 From Church Bells, July 2nd, 1886. 
 
 " Mr. Sadler's excellent qualities as a theological writer and expositor 
 are so well known that we need only introduce the reader to this, his last 
 Commentai-y on the Gospels, completing the series, by saying that it 
 presents the same features as its predecessors. It is somewhat longer than 
 any of the other three, a circumstance quite intelligible to those who con- 
 sider how a commentator's view of his responsibility must enlarge as he 
 proceeds with his work. To begin at the beginning, the Introduction is 
 excellent, clear, concise, and full. In short, it says all that need be said on 
 the authorship of the Gospel, and says it well." 
 
 From The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, Nov. 6th, 1886. 
 
 '♦ Originality of treatment, depth of insight, and thorough grasp of the 
 )iractical side of Divine truth characterize these commentaries of Mr. Sadler 
 on the four Gospels." 
 
THE ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES. 
 
 From The Guardian, Juhj, 1887. 
 
 " We find, however, in the notes on St. Luke and the Acts the same 
 freshness in thought and style, the same direct and independent considera- 
 tion of the themes brought up on the sacred pages, the same knowledge of 
 what has been said by others, the same masterly use, alike without sub- 
 servience and witliout neglect, of the great and varied stores which our 
 ])redecessors have left to us of these days who study the New Testament. 
 The result is that Mr. Sadler's Commentary is decidedly one of the most 
 unhackneyed and original of any we have. It will often be found to give 
 help where others quite fail to do so, and its special value will be to the 
 preacher or teacher who has to give oral and practical instruction ; Mr. 
 Sadler's strong point being decidedly in pointing the application to con- 
 temporary thought and to life, its trials and its duties, of the divine words 
 with which he has to deal," 
 
 From Church Bells, July Sth, 1887. 
 
 " We can hardly imagine a commentary better adapted than Mr. Sadler's 
 for giving to the reader an antidote to that unsettling influence which is 
 now going about in the world, making people have a different set of 
 religious opinions every month or so." 
 
 From The Church Quarterly Reyiew. 
 
 " There is vigour and freshness about his writings which makes it 
 a pleasure to read them, while there is certain to be much that is in- 
 structive, and their tone and tendency are equally certain to be sound and 
 edifying. This short commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is no 
 exception to the rule, and it well supports the established reputation of its 
 author." 
 
 From The Church Times, August 2Qth, 1887. 
 
 " Prebendary Sadler's useful commentary on the New Testament is 
 advanced another important stage by the issue of this volume on the Acts 
 of the Apostles, a part of Scripture whose interest and value seems to 
 increase daily, as investigation into the beginnings of the Christian Church 
 are pressed on with fresh vigour, alike by those who wish to prove 
 Christianity a mere human evolution out of materials lying to hand in 
 the Augustan era, and those who accept it as a divine revelation. Much of 
 the work which has been done of late years in connexion with the Acts and 
 other Pauline i-ecords has been devoted chiefly to the externals of histor}', 
 geography, antiquities, and the like, rather than to the religious teaching 
 which they contain ; and this fact makes a gloss from a theologian like 
 Mr. Sadler all the more welcome." 
 
THE EPISTLES. 
 
 From Church Bells, May ISth, 1888. 
 
 " Mr. Sadler carries on his work with unabated vigour, and now we have 
 some hope of his being able to give us a commentary on the whole of the 
 New Testament. Undoubtedly such a work when completed will be of 
 great value, as giving a well-thought-out exposition of the whole of the 
 sources from which we derive the history of the founding, as well as the 
 doctrines, of the Christian Church, and this, too, an exposition which sup- 
 plies, not the mere personal opinions of its writer, although it is everywhere 
 tinged by his individuality, but the historical meaning of the teaching of 
 individual writers and of the Church at large. The ' introduction ' to the 
 present volume is excellent, giving all the requisite information without 
 any unnecessary waste of words." 
 
 From The Church Times, June, 1888. 
 
 " There are three excursuses at the end of the volume, on Justification, 
 on Election, and on the Christology of St. Paul, all carefully written, but 
 with most pains bestowed upon the second. Wc do not know a better book 
 than this Commentary to put into the hands of an intelligent Evangelical 
 who is beginning to doubt the soundness of the system he has heretofore 
 accepted, and is striving to find his way out and up into a higher and 
 clearer atmosphere." 
 
 From The Church Quarterly Review. 
 
 " We hail with pleasure this addition to the Commentary on the New 
 
 Testament We think this volume will certainly sustain the high 
 
 position which Mr. Sadler has gained as a practical interpreter of Holy 
 Scripture." 
 
 From The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, April ISth, 1890. 
 
 " Incomparably the best Commentary on the New Testament extant." 
 
 From The Banner, May 23rd, 1890. 
 
 " Ordinary readers could hardly have a better exposition of the sacred 
 books." 
 
 From The Literary Churchman, February Gth, 1891. 
 
 *' This volume will be found to present all the characteristic excellences 
 of Mr. Sadler's method ; and it would be hard, indeed, to find any points of 
 objection to these terse, thoughtful, Cburch-likc notes." 
 
Uniform ivitli the Church Commentar// , 
 Second edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. 
 
 SEEMON OUTLINES 
 
 FOE THE CLEEGY AND LAY-PEEACHEES. 
 
 321 Outlines arranged according to the 
 Church's Year. 
 
 This book, a book of suggestions rather than of mere divi- 
 sions, or skeletons as they were formerly called, has been 
 composed with a view to meeting the objection heard on all 
 sides that sermons at the present day are very deficient in 
 setting forth Christian doctrines. 
 
 From The Guardian, April 12th, 1893. 
 " It is easy to prophesy a considerable sale for this volume. . . . We 
 meet here all the well-known characteristics of his writings. The style is 
 straightforward and vigorous. There is never any doubt about his meaning. 
 His remarks are always pointed, and the arrangement of his material is 
 excellent."' 
 
 From The Church Times, February 17th, 1893. 
 '•'This volume differs in three respects from most similar volumes: (1) 
 It aims, primarily, at supplying sketches of sermons on Christian Doctrine, 
 couched in clear, definite language. (2) It is a book of ' suggestions, rather 
 than of mere divisions or skeletons.' (3) It includes lists of texts and 
 subjects for courses of Lenten and other sermons. The well-earned reputa- 
 tion of its author will be a sufficient guarantee for the soundness and 
 usefulness of the work." 
 
 From Church Bells, December 16th, 1892. 
 
 " They are adequate, and they are helpful ; they set forth the elementary 
 teaching of the Church's seasons, the redemption, salvation, and sanctifica- 
 tion of mankind. Each Sunday of each Church season has several appro- 
 priate texts and heads of discourses, and these are rich in wise suggestions 
 as to helpful teaching. There is much simplicity and strong meat for 
 learners. Prayer-book lines are made the rule throughout — the best rule 
 of all." 
 
 From The Eock, November 4th, 1892. 
 
 " We should think that it would be difficult to find anywhere such a real 
 help for preachers as these outlines afford. . . . Such depth of spiritual 
 teaching is seldom to be found." 
 
 F^'om The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, Nov. 11th, 1892. 
 
 " This should be among the most popular and useful of Prebendary 
 Sadler's writings." 
 
 From The Clergyman's Magazine, December, 1892. 
 " These outlines are both Evangelical and doctrinal. They occupy 
 exactly one page of the book, and tlferefore afford ample opportunity for 
 the preacher's own powers of expansion." 
 
WORKS BY THE REV. M. F. SADLER, 
 
 Rector of Honiton and Prebendary of Wells. 
 
 ■i9ih Thousand. 
 CHURCH DOCTRINE— BIBLE TRUTH. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 "Mr. Sadler takes Church Doctrine, specifically so called, subject by subject, and 
 elaborately shows its specially marked Scripturalness. The objective nature of the faith, 
 the Athanasian Creed, the Baptismal Services, the Holy Eucharist, Absolution and the 
 Priesthood, Church Government and Confirmation, are some of the more prominent sub- 
 jects treated. And Mr. Sadler handles each with a marked degree of sound sense, and 
 with a thorough msistery of his subject."— Guardian. 
 
 Thirteenth Edition, completing Foriy-si.vth Thousand. 
 THE CHURCH TEACHER'S MANUAL OF CHRISTIAN IN- 
 STRUCTION. Being the Church Catechism expanded and explained 
 in Question and Answer, for the Use of .Clergymen, Parents, and 
 Teachers. Price Is. 6d. 
 
 " Far the best book of the kind we have ever seen."— Literary Giurchman. 
 
 Confirmation : An Extract from the " Church Teacher's Manual." IMh 
 Thousand. Price Id. 
 
 lUh Thousand. 
 
 THE ONE OFFERING : a Treatise on the Sacrificial Nature of the 
 Eucharist. Price 2s. &d. 
 
 "A treatise of singular clearness and force, which gives us what we did not really 
 possess till it appeared."— CAwrcA Times. 
 
 Second Edition, Revised. 
 JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE : its Nature, Antecedents, and Results. 
 
 Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 12th Edition. 
 THE SECOND ADAM and THE NEW BIRTH ; or, The Doctrine of 
 Baptism as contained in Holy Scripture. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 " The most striking peculiarity of this useinl little work is that its author argues almost 
 exclusively from the Bible. We commend it most earnestly to Clergy and laity, as con- 
 taining in a small compass, and at a trifling cost, a body of sound and Scriptural doctrine 
 respecting the New Birth, which cannot be too widely circulated." — Guardian. 
 
 1th Edition. 
 THE SACRAMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY; or, Testimony of tlu- 
 Scripture to the Teaching of the Church on Holy Baptism. Price 2s. Cil. 
 Cheap Edition. 9th Thousand. Price 6d. 
 
 Il4th Thousand. 
 THE COMMUNICANT'S MANUAL; being a Book of Self- Examina- 
 tion, Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving. 32mo. Price Is. 6^/. 
 Cheap Edition for Distribution. Price 8d. 
 A Larger Edition. Red rubrics. Fcnp. 8vo. Price 2s. Od. 
 
 SI:RM0NS. Plain Speaking on Deep Truths. 8th Edition. Price &s. 
 Abundant Life, and other Sermons. 2nd Edition. Price iJs. 
 
ISmm mAn^l , Seminary Libra 
 
 illllll 
 
 1 1012 01245 4924