"""— -^'— "-
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 L 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 rjji'
 
 THE 
 
 BOOK OF REVELATION
 
 THE BOOK OF REVELATION 
 
 A SERIES OF EXPOSITIONS, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN BROWN, B.A., 
 
 Minister of the Bunyan Church, Bedford. 
 
 ILontion : 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON. 
 
 lEbt'nburrjf} : 
 
 MACNIVEN AND WALLACE. 
 
 MDCCCLXVI.
 
 :??; 
 
 (^ Oc::- ^J 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 These lectures were projected, and more tlian half of tliem 
 delivered to the people it is my happiness to serve in the 
 Grospel, before I had any thought of their seeing the light 
 in their present form. It was only after many entreaties 
 on the part of others, and much hesitation on my own, that 
 I consented to their publication. And this, not because of 
 misgivings as to the soundness of the views advanced, but 
 rather from a deep and imaffected consciousness of my 
 unworthiness to deal adequately with so exalted a theme. 
 Yet even a little help may be welcome to some ; and I was 
 anxious that those who had heard these lectures should be 
 able to review, as a whole, that exposition which had, of 
 course, been brought before them in separate parts, and at 
 intervals extending over several months. 
 
 To choose the Apocalypse as the subject of a series of 
 lectures is in these days rather perilous to a man's reputa- 
 tion for common sense. The book has furnished occasion 
 for the display of so many wild vagaries, that he who again 
 attempts to unfold its meaning lays himself open to the 
 suspicion that he has abandoned wholesome teaching, and 
 in moonings about seals and vials, trumpets and dragons, 
 is wasting time that might be better employed. Yet, who 
 that believes that the evidence for the genuineness and 
 authenticity of this book of the Revelation is equal to that 
 of any other part of the canon does not regret that it has 
 become the special hunting-ground of fanatics and day- 
 
 197^222 «
 
 vi Preface. 
 
 dreamers ? Who that believes that in it we have a veri- 
 table portion of the mind of the Spirit does not wish to do 
 something, however little, to roll back its reproach, and to 
 excite the search of a more reverent inquiiy ? "With this 
 hope, I have sought to interpret this part of Scripture by 
 the light of the rest, and have especially sought to bring 
 out the spiritual lessons which all have found therein, 
 however wide apaii; they have been in their views of its 
 general structure. 
 
 Among those who may read these pages, there will be, of 
 course, difference of opinion as to the views here adopted. 
 I am happy to say that they do not now seek for accept- 
 ance for the first time. The scheme of the book of Reve- 
 lation, and the general principles of interpretation I have 
 followed, were set fferth in a series of articles that appeared 
 about twenty years ago in the Biblical Review. Some 
 parts of the scheme had been suggested long before. For 
 example — Andreas of Csesarea, in his commentary on the 
 Apocalypse, written between a.d. 450 and 500, speaking 
 of the dire portents at the opening of the sixth seal, when 
 there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as 
 sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the 
 stars of heaven fell to the earth (vi. 12), says that there 
 were those in his time " who applied this passage to the 
 siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus." Arethas, 
 his immediate successor, also wrote a commentary on this 
 book, which is valuable as a catena from different authors. 
 Writing upon the vision of the seven seals, he says, " Here 
 there were manifestly shown to the evangelist what things 
 were to befal the Jews in their war against the Romans." 
 Hentenius, in his preface to the Latin version of Arethas 
 (Paris, 1547), hinted at a further division of the book, 
 which applied it to the Jewish enemies of the Christian 
 Church, to heathenism, and to the worldly powers with
 
 Preface. vii 
 
 which the Church would have to contend. The latter part 
 of the book Avas referred to the final conquest, rest, and 
 ultimate glorification of the Church. These views were 
 further developed by Alcassar, in a book published in 1G14. 
 Herrenschnei^er, in his work on the Eevelation (1786), 
 also found therein the overthrow of Judaism and heathenism, 
 and the universal triumph of the Church. But while there 
 have been many feelings after a simpler and more spiritual 
 interpretation of this important part of Scripture, I have 
 found nowhere such help and satisfaction as in the anony- 
 mous articles I have mentioned, and which too soon shared 
 in that forgetfulness which is the usual fate of the onflowing 
 stream of periodical literature. 
 
 Ten years ago there appeared a metrical translation of 
 the Apocalypse, with Scripture references, by Professor 
 Grodwin, of New College. I have frequently availed my- 
 self of that translation ; and as it is manifestly from the 
 same pen as the articles I have mentioned, I would express 
 to its author my most grateful sense of obligation. 
 
 I have received help also in translation and exposition 
 from "Lectures on the Eevelatiou of St. John," by Dr. C. J. 
 Yaughan, of Doucaster. These lectures he has avowedly 
 based on Hengstenberg's scheme entirely, and so far they 
 are to me unsatisfactory ; but his translation is that of a 
 scholar ; his exposition has all the characteristic excellences 
 of his writings ; and the work is a welcome addition to 
 the libraries even of those who are unable to accept the 
 scheme he has chosen. 
 
 I have tlu'oughout addressed myself necessarily to a 
 mixed congregation, and have therefore passed by many 
 questions of interest to some. But there is one matter on 
 which I wish here to say a word or two. It will be seen 
 at once that the scheme adopted assumes that the Apostle 
 John received the Revelation before the destruction of
 
 viii Preface. 
 
 Jerusalem. There is, however, a veiy generally received 
 tradition that he was banished to Patmos, under Domitian ; 
 and this would give as the date of the book, a.d. 96, or 
 twenty-six years after the overthrow of the city. It is 
 neither possible nor desirable for me to enter into the 
 whole question here. I will merely refer to one or two 
 arguments, based on the internal evidence, which have had 
 great weight with me in favour of the earlier date, a.d. 
 68. The apostle wrote both his Grospel and the Apocalypse 
 in the Grreek language, while his native tongue was that 
 form of the Hebrew known as the Aramaic. In the Apoca- 
 lypse there are very many Hebraisms, and in the Gospel 
 very few. Now if an Englishman were to write two books 
 in the French language, one of them in good idiomatic 
 Trench, and the other with very many Anglicisms in its 
 style, it would be fair to conclude that the latter had been 
 written at an earlier period than the former, and clearly 
 marked a shorter acquaintance with the foreign language. 
 It seems to me that the argument applies in the case of the 
 apostle, inspiration notwithstanding, and necessitates a 
 much earlier date for the Apocalypse than for the Gospel, 
 which was written in a.d. 97. The differences in style 
 were pointed out very early, and are universally admitted. 
 Even Dean Alford, who is in favour of the later date, says, 
 they " mu.st be freely acknowledged," and states that the 
 difficulty thus occasioned "has never yet been fairly 
 solved." 
 
 Then again it seems to me that those writers have made 
 out their case, who, by a minute comparison of various 
 passages in the earlier chapters of the Eevelation, have en- 
 deavoured to show that as yet the Jewish power was un- 
 broken, and Jerusalem not yet destroyed, when John 
 beheld the visions in Patmos. 
 
 The opinion in favour of the later date rests almost
 
 Preface. ix 
 
 entirely on the testimony of Ireua^us, and I freely admit 
 that that testimony is explicit enough. He says plainly 
 that John was exiled under Domitian. But Irenajus did 
 not directly receive the account from Polycarp, the friend 
 of the apostle. He was only a boy when he saw him, and 
 appeals to what others had heard from him. But even at 
 that early time there was great uncertainty on small points 
 of tradition ; and if it be said that Irenrcus plainly mentions 
 the exile of John as taking place under Domitian, it is per- 
 haps sufficient to answer that he as plainly appeals to the 
 testimony of all the presbyters in Lesser Asia, who had 
 been in the society of the apostle, that Jesus was about 
 fifty years old. In the words of Neander, " We cannot 
 acknowledge his account (of the time of the apostle's 
 banishment) as sufficiently accredited. It is, indeed, pos- 
 sible that it proceeded only from a peculiar interpretation 
 of this obscure book, and not from any historical testimony. 
 X.^ And if the Apocalypse contains certain marks of having 
 been written before this time, this opinion would at once 
 cease to be tenable. As this is realhj the case, the A^jocahjjjse 
 must have been written soon after the death of Nero.'''' 01s- 
 hausen also gives it as his opinion,* that " the internal 
 characteristics of the book show that it was written in the 
 early part of John's life, before Jerusalem was destroy ed^ 
 Equally decided is Stier, when he says, " Shortly before 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, which was one of the comings 
 of Chi'ist, almost simultaneous with it, and yet beholding 
 beforehand what he afterwards survived, St. John received 
 the Eevelation, in which the Lord sajs, ' Behold I come ! ' 
 Not under Domitian, but under Nero, was the apostle 
 banished to desolate Patmos, for the word of God and the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ." I may further mention that 
 Dr. Davidson, in his "Introduction to the New Testament," 
 published in 1851, contended strongly for the later date of
 
 X Preface. 
 
 Domitian's reign ; but in an article from Lis pen on the 
 Eevelation, in tlie third volume of Kitto's Cyclopsedia, 
 issued this year, he abandons that view and contends for 
 the earlier date. And, having said thus much, I must now 
 leave the matter to the judgment of my readers. 
 
 No one can be more painfully aware of the grievous 
 defects of this little work than I am myself. It has been 
 prepared amidst the constant demands and inevitable inter- 
 ruptions of a minister's life. StiU it is the result of an 
 honest endeavour to reach the truth, and to give it to 
 others ; and I would humbly commend it to the blessing 
 of the good Lord who mates use of the feeblest instru- 
 ments to strengthen the life of His Church. 
 
 Bedford, November Brd, 1866.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE PALACE OF YISION 
 
 THE SEVEN SEALS 
 
 THE SETEN TEUMPETS . 
 
 THE TWO WITNESSES 
 
 THE WOMAN AND THE DEAGON 
 
 THE TWO BEASTS AND THE IMAGE 
 
 THE HAETEST AND THE VINTAGE 
 
 THE SEVEN VIALS 
 
 GEEAT Babylon's doom 
 
 THE BEIDAL AND THE BATTLE 
 THE MILLENNIUM . 
 THE GEEAT WHITE THEONE 
 JEEUSALEM THE GOLDEN 
 THE PASTING WOEDS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 34 
 
 48 
 
 63 
 
 77 
 
 93 
 
 107 
 
 121 
 
 135 
 
 147 
 
 1G9 
 
 182 
 
 195
 
 THE BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE PAL AC H OF VISION. 
 Revelation i.-iv. 
 
 How grandly a man may rise above tlie sorrowful sur- 
 roundings of this world when God comes down upon him ! 
 John Bunyan, being cast into Bedford jail for the word 
 of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, was yet never 
 more at large than when prisoner there. His sanctified 
 genius-, like the angel that came to Peter, led him forth 
 from prison to a more than earthly liberty. With Christian 
 he gazed on the wondrous sights of the Interpreter's house, 
 or went to the Palace Beautiful, where together they slept 
 in the chamber of peace that looks towards the sun-rising. 
 Sometimes, it is true, a solemn di-eadfuluess was upon him 
 when his pilgrim was fighting with Apollyon or trembling 
 in the valley ; but glory alternates with gloom, and by 
 and by he was upon the Delectable Mountains or in the 
 land of Beulah. Or perhaps he was lingering by the river 
 that has no bridge, hearing from afar the music of harpej-s 
 harping with their harps, and gazing on the open gates of 
 the celestial city, watching the waves of glory as they come 
 surging to and fro through the portal. We need not 
 wonder that he could sing, as sing he did, — 
 
 " For though men keep my outward man 
 Within their locks and bars, 
 Yet, by the faith of Christ, I can 
 Mount higher than the stars." 
 
 Let us now step back, not two centuries only, but 
 eighteen, and we shall behold a yet more illustrious prisoner
 
 2 The Book of Revelatioti. 
 
 for conscience sake, and yet Diviner visions tlaan tliese. In 
 tlie old Eoman times the Isle of Patmos, in the Icarian 
 Sea, was a convict settlement, and hither was banished the 
 apostle John, that disciple whom Jesus loved. It was 
 then, what it is now, a scene of uttermost desolation. 
 One solitary palm-tree, a few poor olives and cypresses 
 alone relieve its inland dreariness, while round its rocky 
 shores there is something cheerless in the moan of the 
 waves, and the cry of the sea-birds as they sweep before 
 the gale. 
 
 A man whose joy depended upon outside pleasant con- 
 ditions would soon find this storm-tossed island a miserable 
 place. But hither to the beloved disciple came the Master 
 Himself, and that changed everything. "When He came, 
 the place was no longer desolate, but radiant with a 
 brighter glory than ever rested on the palace of the 
 Caesars. John has described for us the wondrous trans- 
 formation. It was the Lord's day, the day held sacred as 
 a festival of the disciples because of the resurrection of 
 their Master, the day of special breaking of bread in 
 communion. 
 
 The apostle was in the spirit. Divine inspiration was 
 beating down upon him. His whole being was in com- 
 munion with the spiritual world. To that alone he was " all 
 eye, all ear, all soul." Thus borne out of himself, in a condi- 
 tion ecstatic, so that whether in the body or out of the body 
 lie could not tell, he saw once more that Lord Jesus whom 
 he had not seen since the memorable day of the ascent 
 from Olivet. Now His form was far more glorious to be- 
 hold than even on that mount where, at a still eai'lier time, 
 John had seen His transfiguration. His garment was the 
 long ample robe of judicial and kingly power, and it was 
 girded with a golden girdle. The hair of His head was 
 white with the blinding splendour of His holiness and His 
 glory ; His eyes were as a flame of fire, so searching, so 
 consuming ; His feet were like fine brass, burning in a 
 furnace, the very symbol of unwearied endurance and ir- 
 resistible strength; while His voice was as the sound of many 
 waters, so impressive, so majestic, so all pervading. In 
 His hand were the seven stars of the seven Churches ; out 
 of His mouth went the sharp sword of the Spirit, which
 
 The Palace of Vision. 3 
 
 pierces through the soul, and finds the spirit within ; and 
 His face was as the sun when he shineth in his strength, 
 so dazzling, so confounding to the gaze of man. IVTienhe 
 saw the Saviour thus glorified, John fell at His feet as dead. 
 But, with the right hand of strength, the Lord lifted up 
 the prostrate disciple, and said, " Pear not, I am the first 
 and the last : I am the living One ; I became dead, and, 
 behold, I am living unto the ages of the ages ; and I have the 
 keys of death and of hades." Thus in might and majesty- 
 stands the Prince of life before His astonished servant, to 
 wdiom He entrusts His commissions. He gives to him the 
 searching, judging, consoling epistles to the seven Churches, 
 among whom, as in the midst of the seven golden candle- 
 sticks. He, their great Head, was for ever walking. 
 
 These being given, the vision widens. Through an 
 open door there comes a beckoning voice, and John follows 
 into a magnificent chamber of audience. The sight within 
 is wonderful. On a throne of dazzling light, before which 
 there gleams a crystal sea, the King Eternal is seated. 
 The canopy over Him is a rainbow, like unto an emerald. 
 Eound about Him are lesser thrones, on which are seated 
 crowned oflicers of state. Grolden lamps burn brightly in 
 His presence ; thunders, lightnings, and voices proceed 
 from His throne, while unheard-of forms of living creatures 
 bow before Him. 
 
 In His hand there is a scroll having seven seals. The 
 Lion of the tribe of Judali comes forth and takes posses- 
 sion of that scroll ; and, as one by one He opens the seals, 
 the vision increases in interest and sublimity to its close. 
 That close is marked by a solemn silence which prevails 
 for the space of half an hour. 
 
 Then the awful stillness is broken by the sounding of 
 seven trumpets ; and another section of the Revelation re- 
 volves before us, and reaches its end. 
 
 Still the visions are continued. In striking symbol there 
 is enacted that one mighty conflict of all the ages ; the 
 war of righteousness against sin. Tierce and prolonged 
 is the struggle ; but as the smoke of battle clears away, the 
 victory is seen to be with the right, and the kingdoms 01 
 this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His 
 Christ. Nor even yet does the vision tarry. We behold the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 dawn of tlie day appointed. The great wliite throne is 
 there ; the dead arise and come to judgment ; the solemn 
 awards are given ; the heavens are gathered together as a 
 scroll, the earth and the things that are therein are burned 
 up. But, while we look and wonder, there rise from the 
 purging fires new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells 
 righteousness. The New Jerusalem comes down as a Divine 
 thought from Grod out of heaven, wonderful in its glory. 
 We gaze on its streets of gold and its gates of pearl, its 
 massive foundations and its marvellous extent, its crystal 
 *;iver and its tree of life. Thus we come to the end, crying, 
 ci8 we close the book, 
 
 " Jerusalem the golden, 
 
 The joy of the elect ! 
 dear and future vision, 
 
 Which eager hearts expect ! 
 Even here hy faith I see thee, 
 
 Even now thy walls discern ; 
 To thee my thoughts are kindled. 
 
 And strive and pant and yearn." 
 
 To the sublime visions and lofty teachings of this book 
 of the Eevelation I purpose to call your attention for 
 some few Sabbath evenings to come. The Lord granting 
 me strength and light, I should count it an unspeakable 
 joy to be enabled to make more plain to you the meaning 
 of a book which is the close and fitting climax of Holy 
 Scripture, on the reading and understanding of which a 
 special blessing is promised, and which is endlessly fascina- 
 ting, while it is intensely bewildering to many Christian 
 hearts. As I read this book, it is most truly practical. It 
 concerns our nearest dangers and our dearest hopes; it is 
 full of Christ from beginning to end — His power and glory, 
 His faithfulness. His conflict with sin, and His idtimate 
 victory. In a field so vast, in a region of thought where 
 good men have diftered so widely, there must be many 
 difiiculties in our path. Still I do not doubt that the 
 good Spirit who abides for ever in the Church will grant 
 His blessing to honest, prayerful search. May He enable 
 me in all sobriety of mind, in all prayerfuluess and modesty 
 of spirit, to speak to you of the deep things He has here 
 revealed to us in His Avord.
 
 The Palace of Vision. 5 
 
 The interpretations of this book liave been very varied 
 and conflicting, but upon their respective merits I cannot of 
 course enter now. Not that I have the dread of contro- 
 versy some men seem to have, for by the conflict of opinion 
 truth often wins lier victories. But it would be quite be- 
 side my purpose, and not very conducive to your spiritual 
 good, to point out at eveiy turn where it seems to me that 
 others have failed to seize the mind of the Spirit. My 
 wish is rather to build up, if I may, than to cast down. 
 And, even on this simpler plan, I must leave out much that 
 I feel is needful to completeness, in order to keep within the 
 limits necessity has laid down for me. Yet I may be allowed 
 at the outset a few sentences of general remark on schemes 
 of interpretation other than the one which commends 
 itself to my own mind. Some scholars, and very eminent 
 ones too, believe the greater part of this book of the Reve- 
 lation found its fulfilment in the overthrow of the E-oman 
 empire, and is therefore a thing of the past, save as one 
 judgment of God may contain in itself the germ or pro- 
 phecy of other judgments in later days. The resurrection, 
 the great assize, and the other visions of the closing chap- 
 ters are of course assigned to the future ; but the central 
 thought of the book they take to be the overthrow of 
 heathen Eome and the destruction of its great world 
 power. This appears to me to be altogether too narrow a 
 view to satisfy the requirements of the case, and it neces- 
 sitates some conclusions that are altogether untenable. 
 For example, the commencement of the millennium, accord- 
 ing to this scheme, was " the Christianization of the Grer- 
 manic nations after the fall of Rome ; and the millennium 
 itself was (to speak roughly) identical with the German 
 empire, which lasted a thousand years."* If this view be 
 correct the millennium is a thing of the past, and we are 
 now in that short space of time during which Satan is 
 loosed again. But it is hard to believe the golden age is 
 over and gone, and that it was to be found in the days when 
 the Inquisition wrought its deeds of blood, when Waldenses 
 and Huguenots perished by thousands for their faith, and 
 when the awful massacre of St. Bartholomew disgraced 
 humanity. This is but one of the many difiiculties that 
 
 * Hengstenberg.
 
 6 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 beset this Freeterist scheme, as it is called, and prevent me 
 from accepting it. 
 
 At the other extreme from this is the Futurist, in accord- 
 ance with which the whole of the book, except the epistles 
 to the seven Churches, has yet to receive its fulfilment in 
 the future. This seems to me to fall by its own weight, and 
 to need no refutation. 
 
 Midway between these two, and far more widely received, 
 is the Historic or Continuous scheme of interpretation. To 
 give it in Luther's words, the mode in which this is carried 
 out is to "put together from the annals of history the past 
 history and troubles of Christendom, and to put them be- 
 side the symbols of the Revelation and compare them with 
 the words. Then, wherever these would nicely fit and co- 
 incide, there we might depend on obtaining a sure and in- 
 controvertible interpretation." This is not so easy as at 
 first sight seems. We might as soon expect that two men 
 would see the same faces in the fire as the same coinci- 
 dences between mystical symbols and definite historic 
 facts. Moreover, it proceeds upon the assumption that as 
 we have the whole of Revelation we have also the whole of 
 the world's history wherewith to compare it ; whereas some 
 part of that history, and it may be a most important part, 
 is certainly in the unknown future and beyond our ken. 
 
 The very numerous writers of this Historic school regard 
 the visions of the Apocalypse as consecutive, and as receiv- 
 ing their fulfilment in chronological order and in definite his- 
 toric facts. The first six seals, for example, are held to set 
 forth the history of the temporal glory and decline of pagan 
 Rome, the sixth reaching to the adoption of Christianity by 
 the Emperor Constantino in the fourth century. The first 
 six trumpets are thought to symbolise the desolation of 
 Christian Rome by the Goths, the Saracens, and the Turks. 
 After the fifth angel had sounded, the star that opened the 
 bottomless pit was Mahomet, the smoke was Mahometanism, 
 and the locusts let loose were the Saracens, who burst in in- 
 numerable hordes upon the length and breadth of Europe. 
 The tenth chapter, it is said, points to Luther and the great 
 Reformation, and the two witnesses to faithful men in the 
 eastern and Avestern Churches. The woman in the wil- 
 derness represents the apostate Church of Rome. The
 
 The Palace of Visiojt. y 
 
 first beast from tlie abyss meant the pope, the second the 
 Jesuits, while the image of the beast pointed to the general 
 councils. Then the first six vials embody the events that 
 occurred after the great European revolution which broke 
 out in 1793. The first received its fulfilment in the French 
 Revolution ; the second in the destruction of the naval force 
 and fleets of Prance by such victories as those of the 
 Nile, Cape St. Vincent, and Trafalgar ; the third pointed 
 to the desolation caused by the French wars throughout 
 Euroi^e ; the fourth depicts the career of Napoleon I. ; 
 the fifth prefigures the humiliation inflicted by that great 
 warrior upon the pope ; while the sixth refers to the 
 wasting away of the Turkish power. AVe are supposed to 
 be living under the seventh vial now, and may almost at 
 any moment expect the second coming and personal reign 
 of our Lord. * 
 
 Many and weighty are the objections to this scheme, 
 which has found favour so long. Not the least of these is 
 the fact that it is below the spiritual tone of the rest of the 
 New Testament Scriptures. Even in the Old Testament, 
 with the most important exception of the Hebrew people, 
 we have not the history of this nation or that, but the re- 
 cord of the development of great spiritual principles which 
 belong to all nations alike. The doings of Egyptians, 
 Phoenicians, and Assyrians are the subject of history and 
 prophecy, but only so far as those doings affected the 
 course of the development of the kingdom of God in Israel. 
 The history even of the Hebrews themselves has to do with 
 them mainly as a covenant nation, and as the appointed 
 channel of that salvation which in the fulness of time was 
 to be manifested to all the nations. A German scholar has 
 pointed out the significant fact that the sjtcred writers 
 " have recorded chiefly such points in the life and conduct 
 of the nation, and its more prominent members, as affected 
 advantageously or otherwise the Divine kingdom in Israel. 
 Whatever had no inward connection with this higher aim 
 and peculiar calling of Israel, was, as a rule, passed over al- 
 together, or at all events was only touched upon and men- 
 tioned so far as it served to exhibit the attitude of the 
 nation generally, or of its rulers and leaders towards the 
 Lord and His kingdom." If there be, as there assuredly
 
 8 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 is, tliis spareness of historic detail in reference to Israel, 
 the one chosen, the typal Bation, it is most improbable, to 
 say the least, that in the first century there would be 
 given the political history of the different nations of Eu- 
 rope and Asia, and a programme of events, in cypher, many 
 of which appear to have little to do with the kingdom of 
 Christ. 
 
 With his characteristic insight and profound penetration 
 into the spirit of the sacred writings, Isaac Taylor spoke 
 words worthy of careful pondering when he said, " Assur- 
 edly I am liable to no such overweening delusion as this, 
 that I should sit down with the pages of Isaiah, Daniel, and 
 St. John before me, and should attempt to write the 
 newspapers ten years in advance. This is a folly which has 
 stood in the way hitherto of a warrantable use of the pro- 
 phetic writings." 
 
 The destruction of Jerusalem was the Divine boundary- 
 line of strict historic reference ; and, if we go beyond that, 
 we violate the spirit of that Christian dispensation which 
 concerns itself not so much with this or that fact of his- 
 tory, but with those great principles and spii'itual laws 
 which underlie and run through all the facts of that human 
 life with which history has to do. 
 
 And not only is such a scheme foreign to the genius of 
 the New Covenant, and therefore antecedently improbable, 
 but its practical adoption involves enormous difficulties and 
 uncertainties. "We are thrown back on arbitrary dates and 
 fanciful giiesses. Great events in national history are 
 passed over in silence, because there can be found for them 
 no fitting place in the scheme ; while the most trivial cir- 
 cumstance is spread out into a thing of magnitude, to meet 
 the requirements of the interpreter. And the readjustment 
 of the different parts is endless. Time is constantly en- 
 larging the scroll of history ; new events demand a new 
 arrangement of plan ; and the last writer overthrows what 
 his predecessor in the same school had laboriously built up. 
 Moreover the whole scheme proceeds upon the assumption 
 that not only definite facts, but definite dates are given. The 
 mystical numbers in the Apocalypse are added to those in 
 the Book of Daniel ; an arbitrary starting point is taken ; 
 and by a mode of calculation, which is simply ludicrous, the
 
 The Palace of Vision. 9 
 
 time wlien the world shall reach its end is fixed. Again 
 and again the world perversely outlasts the time thus fixed 
 for it. Yet still, again and again, with unabated confidence, 
 other years are named as the time of the end. Against all 
 this we may set the declai'ations of our Lord Himself. 
 When the disciples asked Him, " "Wilt Thou at this time 
 restore again the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, " It is 
 not for you to know the times or the seasons which the 
 rather hath put in His own power." Speaking of His 
 second coming, He said, " For as the lightning cometh out 
 of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall the 
 coming of the Son of man be." If possible, still more de- 
 cisively He declares, " Of that day and that hour knoweth 
 no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the 
 Son, but the Father." In the face of assertions so express 
 as these, the fixing of dates must be abandoned, and with 
 that the whole scheme of historic interpretation. 
 
 But we need not at the same time abandon all hope of 
 comprehending this Divine and wonderfid book. It seems 
 to me we may take a point of view more accordant with 
 the spiritual character of the New Testament dispensation, 
 and we shall soon trace a marvellous unity and beauty run- 
 ning through the whole. Soul-stirring revelations will rise 
 before us, and there will be given new strength to that 
 faith which is the victory that over cometh the world. 
 
 Let us conceive of the Apocalypse as a symbolic repre- 
 sentation of the course of Christ's kingdom on the earth. 
 Thereby it is very possible that spiritual conceptions, hopes, 
 dangers, and conflicts may stand out far more vividly than 
 they could be made to do by simple statement. In illus- 
 tration of my meaning, I may again refer to the visions of 
 the " Pilgrim's Progress." Lord Macaxilay has truly said 
 that Bunyan's genius was shown by his giving to the abstract 
 the interest of the concrete, while other writers too often 
 did the reverse. When Bunyan would set before us, for 
 example, the many fears and doubts and discouraging appre- 
 hensions of the soul under a sense of guilt and without the 
 hope of the gospel, he represents a man floundering through 
 the miry Slough of Despond, being grievously bedaubed 
 with the dirt, and, because of the burden on his back, begin- 
 ning to sink in that hopeless swamp. He declares the
 
 10 The Book- of Revelation. 
 
 reality of the Spirit's illumination, not by argument, but by 
 taking the pilgrim througb the house of the Interpreter, 
 where he sees things rare and profitable, things pleasant, 
 dreadful, things to make him stable in what he has begun 
 to take in hand. We are not merely told in so many words 
 that if a man will come forth to the Lord's side he must 
 face and fight with difiiculties and opposition ; but there, 
 outside the Palace Beautiful, are crouching two lions, and 
 we feel as well as see their meaning at once. When he 
 would describe the awfulness of that conflict with the 
 powers of darkness, the reality of which every man has felt 
 who has resolutely striven to be better than he is, Bunyan 
 gives us no mystic introspect, but an outward scene. He 
 presents Christian fighting for dear life, and to the last 
 gasp, with Apollyon, a monster hideous to behold, clothed 
 with scales like a fish, having wings like a dragon and feet 
 like a bear, out of whose belly came fire and smoke, while 
 his moutli was as the mouth of a lion. The awful results 
 to which ignorance leads on one side, and sinful presump- 
 tion on the other, are graphically portrayed by a valley of 
 the shadow of death, through which there runs a pathway 
 exceeding narrow ; on the right hand of whicli there is a 
 very deep ditch, into which the blind have led the blind in 
 all ages, and there botb miserably perished ; while on the 
 left hand there is a very dangerous quag, into whicli King 
 David once did fall, and from which he had a very narrow 
 escape only through the good mercy of God. We need no 
 further statement of the worse than utter emptiness of all 
 merely lip knowledge of the Divine life, after we have met 
 with brave Talkative. Nor can there be a more withering 
 exposure of a trimming, middle-steering, worldly policy 
 than the picture of By-ends, of Fair-speech. No mere abs- 
 tract description of the despondency to which sin surely 
 leads, even in Christian men, could produce anything like 
 the vivid impression conveyed by the vision of that Doubt- 
 ing Castle and Giant Despair, to which By-path meadow 
 leads the pilgrims to their sorrow. These are but a few 
 illustrations out of many, and taken almost on the instant, 
 out of a book which, for generations has been laid next to 
 the Bible as the guide both of gentle and simple in the 
 Christian life. Its inexpressible charm and value, for every
 
 The Palace of Vision. i ( 
 
 cast of mind, seems to me to arise from tlie fact tliat Enn- 
 yan has, eitlier consciously or unconsciously, followed the 
 Divine model in this book of the Revelation, and has, in 
 symbols that appeal with great power to the imagination, 
 unfolded the deep spiritual truths of the kingdom of God. 
 
 At all events, let us seek to read the Divine visions on 
 the principle on which we have read the human to so much 
 advantage. Let us further be very careful to take, as the 
 basis of interpretation, the history and teaching contained 
 in the other books of Scripture ; thus finding, within the 
 rest of the sacred writings, the explanation of this the 
 crown and climax of the Avhole. In this way, I think, we 
 may obtain the golden clue to these wonderful visions, 
 catch joyful glimpses of the coming glory, and enter into 
 the benediction, at the very threshold of the book, — 
 " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words 
 of this prophecy." 
 
 Taking these thoughts with us, let us now turn to the 
 Eevelation of St. John the Divine. Already have we seen 
 the beloved disciple overcome with awe at the feet of his 
 glorified Lord, and have seen him lifted up with the right 
 hand of strength. When thus lifted up, there was given to 
 his charge the epistles to the seven Churches of Asia. The 
 whole book was for them also, and to be understood by 
 them ; but these epistles were especially theirs. And their 
 exposition ought, as a matter of order, to precede that of 
 the rest of the book. They are fraught with lasting value 
 for the Church of all time, and are richly laden with spiri- 
 tual truth. But they have more frequently been the basis 
 of public instruction, and are better understood than the 
 rest of the Apocalypse. It would greatly enlarge my 
 scheme to dwell upon them as they deserve ; and, though 
 at a sacrifice of symmetry, I must for the present pass by the 
 FiEST Part or section, which ends with the third chapter 
 of the book before us. "We therefore at once advance to 
 the Second Paet, which begins with the fourth chapter, 
 and introduces us to the heavenly Palace of Vision. 
 
 The epistles to the seven Churches having been duly re- 
 corded, " After these things," says the apostle, " I looked, 
 and lo ! a door set open in heaven, and the voice, the first 
 which I heard, as of a trumpet speaking to me, said, (that
 
 12 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 is the same voice he heard as soon as he began to be in the 
 spirit, he now hears again, saying), Come up hither, and 
 I will show thee the things which must come to pass after 
 these." Immediately he became in the spirit again, passed 
 into that condition of being in which the revelation of Grod 
 could most effectually play upon his soul. In a moment he 
 seems to be in a magnificent royal chamber, which he pro- 
 ceeds to describe first of all; before telling us what took 
 place therein. The great central object was the King 
 Eternal seated upon His throne of light. The glory that 
 flashed all around Him was most like to the brilliance of a 
 jasper and sardine stone, bespeaking His unsullied purity 
 and holiness. Around the throne was a rainbow, like in 
 sight to an emerald ; the sign that He who sits upon that 
 throne is a covenant-keeping Grod. When the wickedness 
 of the old world reached its end in the weary desolation 
 of the flood, the Lord set His bow in the clouds, and made 
 it to Noah and his sons the symbol of mercy mingling with 
 judgment, and of faithfulness to promise which should never 
 fail. The splendour of the throne was softened by this 
 beautiful veil cast over it, this veil of emerald green which 
 may be looked upon when no human eye can penetrate the 
 glorious light which is all around ; even as the heart can 
 evermore rest on the truth that His is an everlasting cove- 
 nant, ordered in all things and sure, when all beside is 
 inscrutable and unknown. 
 
 Round about this central throne were four-and-twenty 
 lesser thrones, as for the highest ofilcers of state ; and on 
 these were seated four-and-twenty elders. These are the 
 representatives of the spiritual Israel, the true priests. 
 They are twenty-four in number, either as representing 
 both the Old and New Testament Churches, the twelve 
 patriarchs and twelve apostles ; or, as is more probable, 
 this is their number, because David divided the priests of 
 Israel, the sons of Levi, into twenty-four courses. These 
 elders are thus suggestive of the entire Levitical priest- 
 hood, and thus of the whole people of Israel whom that 
 priesthood represented. They are clothed in white raiment, 
 to show the moral purity of the priests, and they wear 
 crowns of gold ; for all the Lord's people are both kings 
 and priests. Having derived their royalty from the King
 
 The Palace of Vision. 13 
 
 of kings, tlie elders wear their crowns in His presence. 
 Before the throne were seven lamps of fire burning. 
 Tongues of flame represented the descending Spirit on 
 the day of Pentecost; and these seven lamps indicate 
 the mighty energy of the Holy Grhost, His wide-spread 
 influence and convincing power. He went forth and 
 brooded over the dark depths of the waters at first, 
 and brought forth life, order, and beauty. He garnished 
 the heavens. He is the Creator of natural life every- 
 where ; on mountain height and in ocean depth, in waving 
 meadows and tangled hedgerow, in rippling stream and 
 leafy woodland ; but, more than all, He is the Creator of 
 spiritual life in the souls of men. He convinces of sin ; 
 He leads to Christ ; He renews after the image of Christ. 
 He is the source of all spiritual grace ; and His ever active, 
 ever enlightening power is fitly symbolised by the seven 
 lamps burning before the throne. Out of the throne, 
 before which these lamps are burning, proceed lightnings, 
 and voices, and thunders. These suggest to us those mani- 
 fold and wondrous agencies by which God executes His 
 will. All things animate and inanimate are made to serve 
 His mighty purposes. Some consciously, others uncon- 
 sciously, and some even unwillingly, fulfil His infinite coun- 
 sels. He makes even the wrath of men to praise Him. 
 "Wind and storm, lightning and thunder are His mes- 
 sengers ; and He will execute all His purposes. 
 
 We look again, and beneath the throne and far around it 
 there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal. Representa- 
 tion this of the unfathomable depths of the Divine nature — 
 depths where all our thoughts are dro^vned. Representation, 
 too, of that unsullied purity which marks every act of Him 
 who is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. 
 
 We come now to another symbol of great importance to 
 the completeness of the scene. It is thus described : — 
 
 " In front of the throne and roxind the throne 
 Were four creatures, full of eyes before and behind. 
 And the first creature was like g, lion ; 
 And the second creature was like a heifer ; 
 And the third creature had the face of a man ; 
 And the fourth creature was like an eagle flying. 
 And the four creatures had each of them six wings ; 
 Witliin and without they were full of eyes :
 
 14 The Book of Revelatio7i. 
 
 And they cease not day and night, saying, 
 
 ' Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God the Almighty, 
 
 Who was, and who is, and who ■ftill be.' " 
 
 Man is the noblest creature of God on eartli, and has 
 dominion over the rest. Yet, though by his intellectual 
 and spiritual powers he surpasses the other creatures, there 
 are those among them that in some respects surpass him. 
 The lion is his superior in strength, and the eagle in power 
 of flight. The Jews had a saying to this effect : " Jowr are 
 the highest in the world : the lion among wild beasts, the ox 
 among tatne cattle, the eagle among birds, vian atnong all 
 creatures^ Keeping in the spirit of this saying, let us try 
 to conceive of a being the noblest that could live on the 
 earth. We will leave out of consideration its form, and 
 simply suggest the qualities it would possess. There would 
 be a man's power of mind and afiection, and a lion's majesty, 
 strength, and dauntless energy ; added to these there would 
 be the patient power and productive energy of the ox, the 
 most useful animal on the farm of the ancient Jew, that 
 ploughed and harrowed his land, and trod out his corn ; 
 finally there would be the eagle's power of flight, as it soars 
 aloft and looks on the sun with undazzled eye. This ideal 
 being would be as a man in thought and feeling, as a lion 
 in majesty and strength, as an ox in patient labour and pro- 
 ductive power, and as an eagle in lofty flight and motion. 
 He would combine the highest qualities possible in an 
 earthly being, and we can readily see that a perfect man- 
 hood might be symbolised in this chapter by these four 
 creatures together. 
 
 The symbol here employed is found again and again in 
 the Old Testament Scriptures. When on an evil day man 
 was banished from paradise, we read, " So He drove out the 
 man, and placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, 
 and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the 
 way of the tree of life." The cherubim were the same with 
 the liviug creatures before us. The flaming sword was the 
 symbol of God's righteous anger against sin, and the token 
 of the fact that paradise was not by man to be entered 
 again until the Son of man had re-opened the way in right- 
 eousness. The cherubim were there, not to keep man out 
 of Eden, the flaming sword did that ; but, as the symbol of
 
 The Palace of Vision. 15 
 
 a pure and perfected mauhood, they are represented as tak- 
 ing possession of that paradise in man's name, until in 
 Christ it should be by man regained. In after years the 
 figures of the cherubim were embroidered in gold on the 
 hangings of the tabernacle and temple, and on the separat- 
 ing vail of blue, purple, crimson, and white, which hung 
 before the holiest. They were also, in carved form, repre- 
 sented as bending over that mercy-seat of gold on which 
 the glory of God rested in the most sacred place. They 
 were there as a beacon of hope and promise, assuring us 
 that man Avas not for ever cast oft' from Grod as the angels 
 were, but that one day, when perfected in Ciirist, he should 
 again stand in that presence and live. Then the symbol 
 reappears in the visions of Ezekiel (i. 5-14), " Out of the 
 midst of the cloud came the likeness of four living crea- 
 tures. And this was their appearance : they had the like- 
 ness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every 
 one had four wings. As for the likeness of their faces, 
 they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on 
 the right side ; and they four had the foce of an ox on the 
 left side : they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus 
 were their faces, and their wings were stretched uj)ward : 
 two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two 
 covered their bodies. And they went every one straight 
 forward : whither the Spirit was to go they Avent ; and they 
 turned not as they went. As for the likeness of the living 
 creatures, their appearance was like burning coals, and like 
 the appearance of lamps ; it [that is the flashing flame] 
 went up and down among the living creatures ; and the 
 fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth litrhtnino-. 
 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appear- 
 ance of a flash of lightning." 
 
 Eeading these passages from Ezekiel's prophecies, and 
 reverting to the other occurrences of the cherubim in 
 Scripture, there can be no question that in the liviug crea- 
 tures seen by John we have the repetition of a symbol 
 a long time before consecrated to the service of truth. 
 The form of the cherubim is of course strange to us, and 
 almost inconceivable ; but it is not upon the form so much 
 as upon the lofty powers and the perfect glory of manhood 
 thereby symbolised, that we are \o fix our thoughts. " It
 
 i6 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be," but glorious indeed 
 shall be the ultimate destiny of redeemed souls. Multi- 
 form developments of varied power and excellence shall be 
 found in the perfected man. Heaven will not be complete 
 without him, and the cherubim are in the vision to declare 
 it in symbol before it is accomplished in fact. 
 
 Returning once more to the chapter before us, it is said 
 that these living creatures were full of eyes without and 
 within ; that is, they were full of that spiritual life which 
 comes from God, — the token of life being the flashing eye. 
 The abundance of that life is further indicated by the fact 
 that they rest not day nor night. 
 
 " And when tlie creatures give glory and honour and thanks 
 To Him who is seated on the throne, 
 To Him who liveth for ever and ever, 
 The four-and-twenty elders fall down 
 Before Him who is seated on the throne, 
 And worship Him who liveth for ever and ever. 
 And they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
 Thou art worthy, Lord our God, 
 To receive the glory and the honour and the power ; 
 Because Thou didst make all things, 
 And for Thy puqjose they are and were made." 
 
 Such is the ojiening scene of glory in that splendid 
 audience chamber of the King of kings, into which the 
 apostle John was permitted to gaze. All this description, 
 I repeat, was but preparatory. Here, in this stately palace, 
 the Eternal is about to unfold those visions of the future 
 of His Church in which we are all interested, and to which, 
 in subsequent lectures, I must call your thoughts, if we are 
 spared. What shall be there unfolded will be the som'ce 
 of unfailing consolation to those who wait and watch for 
 their Lord. We^Vshall see that, for a time, darkness and 
 conflict must be the heritage of those who follow their Sa- 
 viour. The servant is not above his Master, nor the disciple 
 above his Lord. In our measure we must drink of the cup 
 of which He drank, and be baptized with the baptism 
 wherewith He was baptized. This is part of the eternal 
 counsel, and we are not to start back as though some 
 strange thing had happened to us when it comes. Yet this 
 chequered condition is but for a while. He that shall
 
 The Palace of Vision. ly 
 
 come, will come, and will not tarry. The Divinely kindled 
 hopes of every Christian heart shall surely be fullilled. 
 Not always shall sadness darken our sunshine. Not al- 
 ways shall this body of sin and death baffle our loftier aspi- 
 rations, and keep us where we would not be. 
 
 " A few more suns shall set 
 
 O'er these dark hills of time, 
 And we shall be where suns are not — 
 
 A far sereuer clime. 
 
 A few more storms shall beat 
 On this wild rocky shore, 
 And we shall be where tempests cease. 
 And sm-ges swell no more. 
 
 'Tis but a little while. 
 And He shall come again 
 Who died that we might live, who lives 
 That we with Him may reign. 
 
 Then, my Lord, prepare 
 My soul for that glad day ; 
 Oh wash me in Thy precious blood, 
 And take my sins away ! " 
 
 s
 
 II. 
 
 TEU SEVEN SEALS. 
 Eevelatiok v.-viii. 1. 
 
 Thus far we liare merely looked upon tlie splendour of 
 the lieavenly palace, and are now awaiting further dis- 
 closures. 
 
 The rapturous burst of praise recorded in the previous 
 chapter having passed away, the apostle saw in the right 
 hand of Him that sat upon the throne a book, or scroll of 
 parchment. Like Ezekiel's roll, it was written within and 
 without, for the Divine purpose admits of no addition, and 
 it was sealed with seven seals as containing the secret 
 things of the Lord. While John was musing on this 
 scroll and its meaning, his attention was called to a mighty 
 angel who stood forth and with strong voice uttered the 
 cry, " Who is worthy to open the roll and to loose the seals 
 of it ? " To this universal challenge, rejoinder there was 
 none. Not one of all the creatures of God gave back 
 reply. " No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under 
 the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look 
 thereon." Por that book is the scroll of the future ; and 
 the future no man knows, save as God unfolds it. The 
 morniug comes, but no man has strength to uplift the cur- 
 tain that separates the rest of the day from his view. AYe 
 stand in the mysterious present, and turn our faces wist- 
 fully towards that which is rising out of the abyss of the 
 future ; but no eye of flesh is keen enough to pierce the 
 darkness. No man was able to open the book, neither to 
 look thereon. Because of this the beloved disciple tells 
 us he wept much. And these words, it has been well said, 
 can only be understood by those who have lived in great 
 catastrophes of the Church and entered with the fullest
 
 The Seven Seals. 19 
 
 sympatTiy into licr sufferings. "Without tears the Eevela- 
 tion was not written, neither can it without tears be under- 
 stood. The apostle was comforted however by an asisur- 
 ance given to him by one of the elders, that though no 
 created being could know the times and seasons, could 
 solve the mysterious future, yet One mightier than the sons 
 of men — the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Christ 
 Himself — had conquered so as to open the book and to 
 loose its seven seals. Instantly One came forth out of the 
 glory of the throne, and stood in the midst of the circle. 
 He was like a Lamb that had been slain. We know 
 who was meant by that. A Lamb for gentleness and 
 jjurity, a Lamb as a sacrificial victim for lost men, the 
 Lamb of Grod that takes away the sins of the world. Yet 
 was He the lion as well as the lamb — a lion in kingly 
 majesty and strength, the very Prince of David's line, the 
 Lion of the tribe of Judah. We must look at both, the 
 gentleness and the strength, the sacrificial off"ering and 
 the kingly power. As a Lamb He had seven horns to 
 indicate His universal dominion, for the horn is ever in 
 Scripture the symbol of strength and rule ; and He had 
 seven eyes, for the penetrating life of the Spirit was given 
 without measure to Christ. Our Lord, thus symbolised as 
 the Lamb of God and Judah's Lion, came and took the 
 scroll out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the 
 throne. Then it was that ihere burst fo7'th a mamificent 
 strain of adoration of the Son, even as there had been of 
 the Father; for Grod hath highly exalted Him, and given 
 Him a name which is above every name, that at the name 
 of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and 
 things in earth, and things under the earth : and that every 
 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
 glory of Grod the Eather. When He took the book, the four 
 living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders fell down 
 before the Lamb. They had each of them both a harp and a 
 golden vial — the harp betokening praise, and the vial send- 
 ing forth perfumes or prayers. They have the harp because 
 they have the vial ; they praise because they pray. There is 
 no praise Avithout prayer, and there ought to be no prayer 
 without praise to crown it. Both with harp and vial, the 
 four creatures and the four-and-twenty elders fell down 
 
 c 2
 
 20 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 before tlie Lamb, as He took the scroll into His hand, and 
 they sang a new song, saying, — 
 
 " Thon art worthy to receive the scroll 
 And to open the seals thereof. 
 
 For Thou wast slain, and didst redeem to God by Thy blood. 
 From evei7 tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. 
 And madest them a kingdom and imests. 
 And they have dominion upon the earth." 
 
 Higher and higher rose this new, this rapturous song of 
 
 worshipping praise and love. As soon as the voices of the 
 
 living ones and the elders had ceased, lo ! the strain was 
 
 taken up by multitudes of angels hovering o'er the throne. 
 
 The stately roof was hidden, and the surrounding expanse 
 
 peopled, by angel-forms clustering there. The number of 
 
 them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. 
 
 They knew uothing by experience of redeeming love, for 
 
 they had never fallen ; but they were deeply interested 
 
 spectators, and their hearts beat with holy sympathy and 
 
 joy as they too caught up the song, saying with a loud 
 
 voice, — 
 
 " Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. 
 To receive the jjower, and riches, and wisdom. 
 And strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." 
 
 And now the grand ascription which the cherubim and the 
 elders had passed on to the myriad multitude of the angels 
 was caught up by a still wider circle as it fell from them. 
 Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
 under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and aM that are 
 in them joined their chorus to the angels' song, saying, — 
 
 " Unto Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, 
 '/The blessing, and honour, and glory, and strength 
 Be for ever and ever." 
 
 Thus the wide compass of creation was filled with the 
 Redeemer's praise, and then the refrain which had been 
 passed on from the cherubim and the elders to the angels, 
 and from the angels to the uttermost bounds of the uni- 
 verse, came back to the centre from which the waves of 
 song first flowed. " And the four creatures said, Amen. 
 And the four-and-twenty elders fell down and worshipped 
 Him that liveth for ever and ever."
 
 The Seven Seals. 2i 
 
 Tims this magnificent responsive hymn of adoration 
 sanlf to stillness, and a hush of" expectation pervades tlie 
 scene. The Lord Jesus had taken to Himself His kingly- 
 power on the ground of His perfect and accepted sacrifice, 
 and He was now about to administer in part the govern- 
 ment of His Church and to send forth judgments against 
 His enemies. He proceeded to open the seals and to de- 
 clare the mystery. As the first seal was loosing, one of the 
 four creatures cried as with a voice of tlmnder — Come !* 
 AVith silent wonder and awe John beheld a white horse 
 obeying the call, and coming forth with stately step. In 
 the rider's hand was that weapon of war, the bow ; and then 
 and there, while all looked on, there was given to him a 
 crown, and he went forth conquering and that he might 
 conquer. Here we have the symbol of Victory — conquest 
 over enemies. What enemies are specially meant, and in 
 what way the triumph shall be won, cannot be known by 
 us till the various parts of the vision have passed in review. 
 Thus far we have simply the idea of victory. 
 
 Then was the second seal opened, and the second crea- 
 ture cried as did the first — Come ! And there went out 
 another horse, that was red. And he that sat thereon rode 
 into the midst of the group. Power was given him to take 
 peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; 
 in token Avhereof there was put into his hand a great sword. 
 Thus have we the unmistakable symbol of War added to 
 that of victory. Victory by means of war is the idea as 
 thus enlarged before us. 
 
 The third seal was then broken, and the third creature 
 cried aloud — Come ! In obedience to this summons there 
 appeared a black horse, whose rider held in his hand a pair 
 of balances. Here was Tamine stalking forth, black Famine, 
 during the prevalence of which such should be the scarcity 
 of food that it would be needful to weigh out rigorously 
 to each one his portion There is light thrown upon the 
 symbol by that passage in Ezekiel where Grod said to the 
 prophet, " Son of man, behold I will break the staff of bread 
 in Jerusalem : and they shall eat bread hy tveijM and with 
 care : and they shall drink water hy measure and with as- 
 tonishment." As this gloomy shape of dread appeared, a 
 * Not " Come and see," as iutbe English version.
 
 22 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 voice from the midst of the four creatures cried—" A mea- 
 sure of wheat for a peuuy, and three measures of barley for 
 a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The 
 lioman denarius, unfortunately translated by our English 
 word penny, was an ordinary labourer's day wages, a choenix, 
 or measure of wheat, was the quantity usually allotted 
 as sufficient food for one man. Therefore the meaning 
 of this cry was, that a time of scarcity should come when a 
 man's wages would only be sufficient to obtain food for one 
 person, while upon those wages a whole household might 
 depend. A man's labour should suffice only for himself, 
 and only for one even of his wants, his food. The famine 
 would strike the articles of commonest necessity. The 
 luxuries, the wine and oil, were not to be hurt, but the 
 products on which human life most urgently depended were 
 to be distressingly scarce. The opening of the third seal 
 betokens that the war which should issue in victory would 
 be attended by straits of famine. 
 
 Then at length was the fourth seal opened, while the 
 fourth creature cried, as did the other three — Come ! And 
 there came a pale horse, with wan Death sitting thereon ; 
 while a w^eird shape, the personification of Hades, or the 
 grave, followed after. To this dread being " power was 
 given to take away the life of a fourth part of the people, 
 to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and 
 with the beasts of the earth." The war that should lead to 
 victory, and be attended with famine, would be fatal to mul- 
 titudes, who should perish and lie in heaps in their name- 
 less graves. 
 
 And for what cause should all this desolation come ? 
 "What great sin had provoked vengeance so dire ? The 
 opening of the fifth seal supplies the answer. The apostle 
 goes on to say, " When He had opened the fifth seal, I saw 
 under the altar the souls of them that w^ere slain for the 
 word of God, and for the testimony which they held ; and 
 they cried with a loud voice saying. How long, Lord, 
 holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood 
 on them that dwell on the earth ? And white robes were 
 given unto every one of them ; and it was said unto them 
 that they should rest yet for a little season, until their 
 fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be
 
 TJie Seven Seals. 23 
 
 killed as they were, should be fulfilled." All this reminds 
 me stroBgly of what 1 have read before. The finger points 
 more and more steadily to the destruction of the city and 
 nationaKty of that people to Avhom Jesus said (Matt, xxiii. 
 34 — 38), " Whcreibre, behold, I send unto you prophets 
 and wise men and scribes : and some of them ye shall kill 
 and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your 
 synagogues, and persecute them from city ta city, that upon 
 you may come all the righteous blood shednipon the earth, 
 from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of 
 Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the 
 temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you. All these 
 things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them 
 that were sent unto thee, how often would I haA^e gathered 
 thy children togetherj even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not ! Behold, your house is 
 left unto you desolate !" AVhen the seals were opened one 
 by one, more and more clearly we seem to see the outlines 
 of those judgments that were coming upon that rebellious 
 house of Israel, who had cast out their Saviour and dyed 
 theii- hands with the blood of His followers. Nor is this 
 mere conjecture. Tor consider : this book of the Reve- 
 lation is wholly concerned with the Church of Christ, her 
 enemies, her conflicts, her victory, and final glory. Upon 
 one of her enemies it is clear the outpouring of judgment 
 is betokened in the vision before us. And it is probable, to 
 say the least, that the first enemy thus dealt with would 
 be the first enemy with which the Church comes into con- 
 flict. Most assuredly that first enemy was the Jewish 
 nation, which had crucified the Lord and was filled with 
 bitterness agaiust all who bore the name of the Kazarene. 
 A merely casual glance through the book of the Acts of the 
 Apostles will serve to show how intense was the hatred of 
 perverted Judaism to Christianity. Our Lord had not long 
 left His disciples, before the Jewish rulers thrust Peter and 
 John into prison, after they had healed the lame man at the 
 temple gate. Other tokens of Divine power were mani- 
 fested, and again the high-priest rose up and all that were 
 with him, and were filled with indignation, and put them in 
 the common prison. Eemember also what a fierce spirit
 
 24 TJie Book of Revelatio7i. 
 
 burst forth when Stephen was murdered, calling on Grod as 
 he fell ; and how the fires of persecution, thus kindled, 
 blazed against the whole Church. The multitude of the 
 disciples had to flee from the city for their lives. Nor even 
 in strange cities had they rest. Letters of authority from 
 the high-priest were given to ardent persecutors, who went 
 forth to places far and near, haling men and women and 
 casting them into prison. In the madness of their hate 
 they even compelled the more timorous to blaspheme that 
 holy name by which they were called. Herod stretched 
 forth his hands to vex the Church, and slew James with the 
 sword. With the Jews this stroke of tyranny gained him 
 great popularity, and, still further to please them, he seized 
 upon Peter and thrust him into prison. When Saul con- 
 verted became Paul the preacher, and set forth on his 
 great missionary work, almost everywhere he met with des- 
 perate resistance from the Jews. At Antioch in Pisidia, 
 they stood up in the synagogue contradicting and blas- 
 pheming, and at length roused such a spirit against Paul 
 and Barnabas as to expel them out of their coast. At the 
 very next town to which these apostles came, Iconium, the 
 same thing was repeated. A fierce assault was made, and 
 they had a narrow escape from being stoned to death. The 
 persecutors followed them to Lystra, and so excited the 
 populace there that they actually did stone Paul, and he 
 was taken up for dead. At Thessalonica again they sur- 
 rounded the house of Jason, who had received the apostles 
 to be his guests, and such was their violence that Paul and 
 Silas had to be sent away by night. Again they followed 
 them to Berea, and again compelled them to flee. I need 
 not further dwell upon the manner in which a furious mul- 
 titude rushed upon Paul in the temple, their murderous 
 purpose being only frustrated by the chief captain and im- 
 perial troops who came to the rescue from the fortress of 
 Antonia close by ; nor can I do more than refer to the forty 
 assassins who bound themselves by solemn oath that they 
 would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And 
 these were only a few instances out of many. The cases 
 of the Christian men who suffered loss, punishment, or 
 death either at the hands of the Jews themselves, or by 
 those Eomans whom the Jews perpetually instigated
 
 The Seven Seals. 25 
 
 against tliein, ^vere almost innumerable, and were to bo 
 found in nearly every city between Jerusalem and Rome. 
 Now, recalling these facts and remembering that the judg- 
 ments here described in vision were shown, at the opening 
 of the fifth seal, to come at the cry of the martyrs whose 
 souls are represented as taking refuge under God's altar ; 
 and remembering also that our Lord Himself had expressly 
 declared that upon the Jewish people, yea upon that gene- 
 ration, should come all the righteous blood shed upon the 
 earth, their house being left unto them desolate ; — I feel 
 impelled to the conclusion that in the vision of the seven 
 seals we have a representation of the breaking of the 
 Jewish power, which the overthrow of Jerusalem brought 
 about. Then was there a victory gained over the bitter 
 enemies of the truth — a victory which was accomplished 
 by means of war, attended by sore straits of famine, fol- 
 lowed by the death of multitudes. The red horse of War 
 pawed the ground when the legions of Titus encamped 
 round the walls of Jerusalem. Upon his black horse Fa- 
 mine rode forth, when within those walls men and women, 
 degraded by hunger to the level of beasts, fought with each 
 other, and even with their own children, for a morsel of 
 bread. And as in the sore straits of that awful siege the 
 people perished by thousands, w^ell might it be said that 
 Death on a pale horse rode through the land, and the Grave 
 followed after. 
 
 To confirm the impression that the vision of the seven 
 seals has especially to do with the Jewish nation, there is 
 the fact that the allusions throughout are intensely Jewish. 
 Eor example the scenery of the vision, in some things, 
 recalls the temple to our minds. There is the glory, 
 the cherubim, the burning lamps, and the four-and-twenty 
 elders, suggestive of the four-and-twenty courses into 
 which the sons of Aaron were divided in their priestly 
 work. Jesus is here set forth as the Lion of the tribe of 
 Judah, and the Lamb that had been slain. In the next 
 chapter, the seventh, which forms part of this same vision, 
 we find the twelve tribes mentioned by name, a certain 
 number out of each tribe being sealed for deliverance. 
 Nor must it be overlooked that our Lord, on His way to 
 crucifixion, declared that the very exclamation of this six-
 
 26 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 leenth verse should be wrung from the miserable dwellers in 
 the city at Jerusalem's overthrow. " Daughters of Jerusa- 
 lem," said He, turning to the weeping women that followed, 
 " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for 
 yourselves and for your children. For behold the days 
 are coming in the which . . . they shall begin to say to 
 the mountains, Fall on us : and to the hills. Cover us." 
 Taking all these points together, there is very much to 
 confirm us in our views of the vision before us. 
 
 And if the interpretations thus far be Avell-founded, we 
 shall not have much difhculty in arriving at the meaning of 
 the sixth seal, which was opened immediately after John 
 had seen the souls of the martyrs, and heard their cry from 
 beneath the altar. " And I looked when He opened the 
 sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun 
 became black as sackcloth of hair; and the moon all became 
 as blood ; and the stars of heaven fell to the eai'th, as a fig- 
 tree casts its winter figs when shaken by a strong wind ; 
 and the heaven passed away, as a scroll rolled up ; and 
 every hill and island from their places were moved. And 
 the kings of the land, and the nobles and the chieftains, 
 and the rich and the mighty, and every one, bondman and 
 freeman, hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the 
 hills. And they say to the hills and to the rocks, " Fall 
 upon us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon 
 the throne, and from the vengeance of the Lamb : for the 
 great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand ? ' " 
 The soul-stirring and magnificent imagery of these verses 
 must be interpreted as we seek to interpret the whole book. 
 We must turn to Scripture itself, and try to find the mean- 
 ing there. These symbols have often been used before, and 
 they have a recognised meaning. The heavenly bodies are 
 significant of the rulers of nations, and the description of 
 the darkening of the sun and the moon, and the falling of 
 the stars, is not to be taken literally, but as a highly 
 wrought form of imagery, depicting the overthrow of 
 national governments and the powers that wield them. 
 Let us take an instance from the Old Testament, where this 
 meaning is perfectly obvious. Clearly it is not an actual 
 darkening of the heavenly bodies, but a national overthrow, 
 of which Isaiah thus speaks in the thirteenth chapter of
 
 The Seveji Seals. 27 
 
 Lis propliecy. " The burden of Babylon, wliieli Isaiah, the 
 son of Amoz, did see. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, 
 cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land 
 desolate ; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of 
 it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations there- 
 of shall not give their light : the sun shall be darkened in 
 his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to 
 shine ... I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall 
 remove out of her place . . . And Babylon, the glory 
 of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall 
 be as v.'hen God overthrew Sodom and Gromorrah. It shall 
 never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in, from 
 generation to generation ; neither shall the Arabian pitch 
 tent there ; neither shall the shepherds make their fold 
 there." More that is confirmatory might have been given ; 
 but we cannot have a moment's doubt, as we read all this, 
 that the prophet was describing the overthrow of a nation, 
 when he snoke of fallincr stars and constellations, of darken- 
 mg sun and withdrawing moon. Treading upon ground so 
 sure therefore, we may safely interpret the symbols seen by 
 John, at the opening of the sixth seal, to mean that a great 
 nation is to be utterly broken up, and its rulers cast 
 down. We may do this all the more safely, because Christ 
 Himself, when foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 makes use of the very symbols here employed. It is 
 true the magnificence of the imagery may shadow forth a 
 still greater day than that of Jerusalem's doom — the day 
 of final judgment. In our Lord's words, the one event 
 seems to melt away into the other. The language is not 
 exhausted by one application. Thei'e is a nearer event and 
 a more remote, and the two are inseparably intertwined. 
 He tells of a near end, for the individual and the generation; 
 He tells, also, of a far end, which shall surely come for time 
 itself, and for the world. Each separate downfall of evil 
 becomes a prophecy of the next and of the last ; and the 
 destruction of Jerusalem becomes in itself a new warrant 
 for the Church's expectation of the second advent, and of 
 the day of judgment. But now we are only concerned to 
 know that the primary reference of our Saviour's words, 
 in St. Matthew's gospel, was to the overthrow of that 
 Jewish nation which had fallen from its spiritual glory ;
 
 28 TJic Book of Revelation. 
 
 which, having become a dead and corrupt thing, displayed 
 only malignity against the kingdom of Christ. And, also, 
 that the symbols John witnessed at the opening of the 
 sixth seal bear the same meaning and reference. 
 
 It does not fall within my purpose to show how com- 
 pletely this vision was fulfilled. Within two or three 
 years after John had beheld, in vision, the opening of the 
 seven seals, the judgment hastened to its accomplishment.* 
 The scenes of conflict were at first in the distance. The 
 waters of the Galilean lake were reddened with human 
 blood. Almost every northern town and village had its 
 dreadful story of disaster to tell. There were wars and ru- 
 mours of wars on every side, and then the fated stream of 
 woe flowed on to the chosen city itself. The three famous 
 Eoman legions — the fifth, the tenth, and the fifteenth — 
 under the command of Titus, encamped round the city, 
 and brought its day of doom. Sti'ife was within the walls, 
 and the enemy without. Already have we seen how the 
 red horse of war went first, the black horse of famine next, 
 and both followed by grim death and the grave. Valour 
 the most desperate could not avert the overthrow. By one 
 successful attack after another, the foe came nearer and 
 nearer. "Wall after wall crumbled to ruins before them, 
 till at length, on the never-to-be-forgotten tenth of August, 
 in the seventieth year of our Lord, the devouring flames, 
 kindled by a soldier's torch, sent up their glare to heaven 
 from the temple itself. Then, when that sacred place was 
 utterly blotted out, not one stone left upon another, when 
 the last sacrifice had been offered there, when the remnant 
 of the people — crushed and spirit-broken — were sold into 
 slavery, or to be butchered in gladiatorial shows, when 
 their nationality was utterly trodden out, and their land 
 given to strangers, it seemed as if the historian could only 
 fitly describe this great national catastrophe by such ima- 
 gery as this before us. " Lo ! there was a gi-eat earthquake : 
 the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon 
 became as blood. The stars of heaven fell upon the 
 earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when she 
 is shaken of a mighty Avind. And the heaven departed as 
 
 * On the important question of the date of the Kevelation, see the 
 Preface.
 
 TJlc Seven Seals. 29 
 
 a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and 
 island were moved out of their places." 
 
 But for a moment stay. Through that awful thunder- 
 cloud of vengeance there are streaming rays of heavenly light. 
 The Lord knoweth them that are Ilis; and before the desola- 
 tion comes in all its fierceness, lie will take care of His 
 own wlio are faithful to Him. The destroying angel swept 
 through the laud of Egypt, but he invaded not the homes 
 of Israel, came not within the doors whose posts and lintel 
 wei'e sprinkled with blood. And when, in later times, the 
 doom of sin came upon the chosen race for their idolatry, 
 Ezekiel had this vision : " Behold, six men came from the 
 way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and 
 every man a slaughter weapon in his hand ; and one man 
 among them was clothed with liuen, with a writer's inkhorn 
 by his side. And the Lord said unto him. Go through the 
 midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set 
 a mcirlc upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for 
 all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 
 And to the other He said in my hearing. Go ye after him 
 through the city, and smite ; let not your eye spare, neither 
 have ye pity ; but come not near any man upon tohom is the 
 marJc.''' All this will prepare us to understand the striking 
 scene which John now beheld between the opening of the 
 sixth and seventh seals. Four angels were seen standing 
 at the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds 
 of the earth, that the wind might not blow on the earth, 
 nor on the sea, nor on any tree. In other words, they are 
 represented as keeping back the storm until the safety of 
 all believing souls is secured. While these four angels thus 
 hold in check the coming tribulation for a while, John saw 
 another angel going up from the east, ascending from that 
 point in the heavens whence the dayspring comes, and he 
 had in his hand the seal of the living God. As he rose up, 
 he cried with a loud voice to the four angels who were to 
 be the executioners of vengeanye, to whom it was given to 
 hurt the earth and the sea, and this was his cry, " Hurt not 
 the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed 
 the servants of our God in their foreheads." Then John, if 
 he did not witness the mystic sealing, heard the number of 
 them that were thus sealed. A hundred and forty and
 
 J 
 
 o 7 he Book of Revelation. 
 
 four tlioiisand received the tolvcn of safety, twelve thousand 
 out of every tribe of Israel. We are not, of course, to take 
 these numbers literally. The number twelve belongs to 
 both dispensations, — the old and the new. There were 
 twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve apostles of the Lamb. The 
 number sealed is the number twelve multiplied by itself 
 first, and then by thousands. It thus simply denotes that 
 a large multitude, having completeness, and all known to 
 Grod, were saved from the coming woe. When our Lord 
 foretold Jerusalem's overthrow. He gave clear dii'ections to 
 His disciples, by following which they might secure their 
 personal safety. The Christians, thus forewarned of the 
 approaching storm, made good their escape to the cities east 
 of the Jordan, and especially to the city of Pella, where 
 they dwelt in comparative security till the storm was over- 
 past, and more peaceful times returned. 
 
 Now you will not have failed to mark that in the closing 
 verses of the sixth chapter, the paralysing fear of those who 
 fell with the downfall of Jerusalem darkens and deepens till 
 it suggests the anguish of the lost ab their dread account. 
 In terror shrinking, they call 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?" 
 In like manner, on the other hand, the multitude of the 
 Christians who were sealed and saved at the destruction of 
 the city seems to suggest and to melt away into the greater 
 multitude of all the saved, gathered from every land and 
 age. With a ravishing picture of their final blessedness in 
 our Father's house, the curtain falls : " And after this I be- 
 held, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could num- 
 ber, of all nations, and kindi-eds, and people, and tongues, 
 stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with 
 white robes and bearing palm-branches in their hands ; and 
 cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our Grod 
 who sitteth upon the throng, and unto the Lamb. And all 
 the angels were standing round about the throne, and the 
 elders and the four living creatures, and they fell before the 
 throne on their faces, and worshipped Grod, saying, Amen : 
 Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and 
 honour, and power, and might be unto our God for ever
 
 TJie Seven Seals. 31 
 
 .ind ever." Then the silent wonder rose in the apostle's 
 heart, and one from among the elders answered, the in- 
 ward thought by uttering for him the unspoken question, 
 " These who are clothed in the white robes, wlio are 
 they, and whence came they? And I said unto him. My 
 Lord, thou knowest : I know not, tell me. And he said to 
 me. These are they who come out of the great tribulation, 
 and they washed their robes and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne 
 of Grod, and serve Him by day and by night in His temple, 
 and He that sitteth upon the throne shall tabernacle among 
 them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, 
 nor shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat ; because 
 the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne tends them, 
 and leads them to life-springs of water, and G-od shall wipe 
 away every tear from their eyes." This bright vision of 
 heavenly compensation for earthly sorrow needs no com- 
 ment from me. One feels that comment would almost mar 
 its rare beauty, and rob it of that lustre which times un- 
 told has brought back light to eyes that were dimmed with 
 tears. Muse on every line for yourselves. 
 
 The seventh seal is still unbroken ; and this fact may 
 be overlooked by us, through the unfortunate arrangement 
 which places the account of its opening at the beginning 
 of the eighth chapter instead of at the close of the seventh. 
 That opening is too solemn and impressive to be omitted 
 here. " And when he had opened the seventh seal, there 
 was silence in heaven as it were for the space of half an 
 hour." In that royal chamber where on the uplifted 
 throne was the King Eternal, in the midst thereof the 
 Lamb that had been slaiu, and round about the elders and 
 the living creatures and the myriad multitude of the angels,, 
 there was a solemn silence. All were wrapt in mute awe. 
 Full half an hour went slowly on, and the tide of revelation 
 was arrested. No further visions came to view. It was not 
 the pause that comes from listlessness, but it was as when 
 men in the presence' of some dread fact or mystery look 
 into each other's faces and dare not speak — dare not speak, 
 for the whole being is quivering with emotion. Heaven, 
 all heaven, seems to stand in awe at the unveiling of the 
 judgments that should come upon that once highly favoured
 
 32 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 nation of Israel. Tliat silence, so still yet so eloquent, 
 seems to betoken that now the great preparatory dispensa- 
 tion of Judaism lias readied its end. The old and decayed 
 kingdom has vanished away, giving place to a spiritual 
 realm which cannot be shaken, and of which Judaism was 
 but the type and shadow ; an undying kingdom not for one 
 nation only, but for all the nations. It was the silence of 
 reverence. Tlie mysterious ways of Him who is wonderful 
 in counsel and mighty in working had been unfolded. It 
 was the silence of awe. Jerusalem was overthrown. In 
 vision they had seen it all. The city of the great King, on 
 which the light of heaven once shone so steadily, in the 
 midst of which prophet after prophet from God had in 
 His name stood and pleaded with His people, where even 
 the Messiah Himself had appeared, speaking as never man 
 spake — that world-renowned, that heaven-favoured city — 
 had reached its doom. It was not heathen Babylon, or idola- 
 trous Tyre and Sidon, that had fallen with a fall so fearful. 
 It was Jerusalem, and there was silence ; the silence of awe 
 and amazement at the sight. May it not foreshadow the 
 feeling with which we are to regard the doom of those who 
 have had gospel privileges and abused them, to whom Grod 
 has spoken, but their ears were stopped ; on whom His 
 light shone clearly, but they closed their eyes and walked 
 in darkness ? Alas ! what a spectacle rises before us — a 
 lost soul — a soul self-ruined — a soul that might have been 
 saved and would not. At such a sight there may well be 
 silence in heaven. 
 
 " ' And who art thou that mournest me ? ' 
 
 Jerusalem may say, 
 ' And fear'st not rather that thyself 
 
 May prove a castaway ? 
 I am a dried and abject branch ; 
 
 My place is given to thee : 
 But woe to every barren graft 
 
 Of thy wild olive-tree ! 
 
 ' Our day of grace is sunk in night, 
 
 Our time of mercy spent ; 
 For heavy was my children's crima, 
 And strange their punishment :
 
 TJie Seven Seals. 33 
 
 Yet gaze not idly on our fall, 
 
 But, sinner, warned be ; 
 Who spared not His chosen seed, 
 
 May send His wrath on thee ! 
 
 ' Our day of grace is sunk in night, 
 
 Thy noon is in its prime ; 
 Oh, turn and seek tliy Saviour's face 
 
 In this accepted time. 
 So, Gentile, may Jerusalem 
 
 A lesson prove to thee, 
 And in the New Jerusalem 
 
 Thy home for ever be.' "
 
 III. 
 
 THE SEVEN TBUMFETS. 
 Eetelation viii. 2-xi. 
 
 The vision of the seven seals readied its end in tlie pre- 
 vious chapter. It closed in such a Avay as to show us that 
 while it is a connected part of the whole book, it is yet 
 com])lete in itself; it stretches away to th'e end of all 
 earthly things. We hear the cry of dismay from the lost, 
 and look upon the blessedness of the saved. A deep pause 
 and solemn silence intervene between that vision and the one 
 that follows. We are not to suppose therefore that there 
 is any chronological sequence between them. Each separate 
 vision, as we shall see, reaches on to the time of the end. 
 The lines of thought are parallel rather than consecutive. 
 In each new vision we enter upon a new subject, and see 
 the unfolding of God's judgments upon enemies of 
 another kind than those with which we have hitherto had 
 to deal. 
 
 The silent awe which filled the chamber of vision at the 
 opening of the seventh seal seemed to the apostle to last for 
 half an hour, and then preparations were made for a further 
 revelation. We here enter upon a new section. The vision 
 of the seven trumpets forms the Thied Part of the book 
 before us, and extends from the second verse of the eighth 
 chapter to the close of the eleventh. We have already 
 seen the overthrow of apostate Judaism. But this was not 
 the only enemy with which the Church had to enter into 
 conflict. There were other foes ahead, and it seems 
 natural to expect that they too would be shown in vision, 
 and most likely in the order in which they would arise 
 in fact. If so, the next vision will have to do with 
 heathenism. Beyond the Jewish people, this was the dark
 
 TJic Seven Tnnnpcts, 35 
 
 shape that brooded over all the world; and beneath its awful 
 shadow every nation crouched in degradation. Already, as 
 a preacher of the Cross, John had dwelt in Ephesus, and 
 there was one of the proudest monuments of idolatry. In 
 stately magnificence the temple of Diana glittered in the 
 sun. The making of little silver shrines cf the goddess, to 
 be sold to worshippers from far and near, created great 
 wealth for Demetrius and the fellow-craftsmen of his 
 powerful guild. At Lystra, where they healed the lame 
 man, Paul and Barnabas were taken for Jupiter and 
 Mercury. At Athens Paul's spirit was stirred within him ; 
 for that proud, intellectual city was full of idols, temples 
 and altars and images were to be seen at every turn. Still 
 further westward, the same thing was true of Eonie. 
 Wherever we look, the darkness of heathenism covers the 
 earth, and gross darkness the people. At that very hour 
 India and China were under the curse of the superstitions 
 there prevailing unto this day. Our Saxon forefathers 
 were worshipping Thor and "Wodin in the northern forests. 
 Africa was under the desolation of idolatry, and so were 
 the islands of the Southern Sea. There can be no question 
 that, when the Christian faith had gone beyond the Jewish 
 persecution, its one great work was to storm the citadel of 
 heathenism and to plant the standard of Emmanuel on the 
 towers of this fortress of darkness. It is probable, there- 
 fore, to say the least, that to this great enemy the next 
 vision after that of the seven seals will significantly point. 
 
 If we turn to the vision itself this probability becomes 
 something like certainty. We shall see presently that the 
 eighth and ninth chapters describe certain plagues that are 
 the judgments of God on the men with whom the vision 
 has to do. The twentieth verse cf the ninth chapter is 
 tolerably decisive as to who these men are. Let us turn 
 and read : " And the rest of the men who w^ere not killed by 
 these plagues yet repented not of the Avorks of their hands, 
 that they should not icorship devils, and idols of gold, and 
 silver, and Ir ass, and stone, and of icood : which neither can 
 see, nor hear, nor icalk.'^ This plainly points to heathen- 
 ism as the enemy against which the judgments of God 
 had been unfolded in vision. If any confirmation of this 
 were needed, it is found in the fifteenth verse of the 
 
 D 2
 
 36 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 eleventli chaptei- ; for, as I have said, this vision goes on to 
 the end of that chapter. It is there said that when the 
 last of the seven trumpets is blown, " when the seventh 
 angel sounded there were great voices in heaven saying, 
 The kinirdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
 onr Lord and of His Chi^ist : and He shall reign for ever 
 and ever." It is plain that the vision described in these 
 four chapters has been in process of fulfilment ever since 
 Christianity attacked the heathenism of the Roman em- 
 pire and shook it from the throne of the Csesars. It is in 
 process of fulfilment now in these days of missionary en- 
 terprise. It will be completely fulfilled when the idols are 
 utterly abolished, when heathen temples are all levelled to 
 the earth, when all the dark forms of superstition have 
 vanished, and Christ has seen of the travail of His soul and 
 is satisfied. 
 
 If what I have advanced thus far seem reasonable, let 
 me ask you to turn now to the second verse of the eighth 
 chapter, where the vision of the seven trumpets begins. 
 
 The apostle still stood in that royal chamber in which 
 the opening of the seven seals took place. "When the 
 lengthened silence that followed that opening had come to 
 an end, another spectacle of deepest interest awaits his at- 
 tention. He saw the seven angels who stand in the pre- 
 sence of God ; for it is not merely the seven angels who at 
 that time stood in the presence of Grod. There is dignity 
 and gradation of rank implied. When Grabrici appeared to 
 Zacharias in the temple, he said, " I am Gabriel that stand 
 in the presence of God." The seven angels who stand in 
 the presence of God are to be distinguished therefore among 
 the many angels round about the throne, whose number we 
 have been told is myriads of myriads and thousands of 
 thousands. To these seven angels were given seven trum- 
 pets, the significance of which a moment's reflection will 
 show. To Israel of old Jericho was the typal heathen city 
 of the Canaanites. It was the first city which opposed 
 them after their passage of the Jordan. Sui-rounded by high 
 walls, guarded, and full of armed men, this accursed city 
 of the plain may well be suggestive of that grim fortress of 
 idolatry which is to be stormed and taken by the spiritual 
 Israel. Tet the shattering of those lofty walls was not the
 
 Tlic Seven Trumpets. 37 
 
 worlv of man but of Grod, and von will remember at once 
 how that work was accomplished. The city was compassed 
 for six days, and on the seventh was compassed seven 
 times. Before the ark, seven priests bore seven trumpets 
 of rams' horns. Seven times the trumpets sounded ; and at 
 the seventh blast the people shouted and the walls fell down 
 flat, so that the warriors went up into the city, every man 
 straight before him ; and they took the city. The symbol 
 of this vision recalls that ancient story, and therein gives us 
 presage of a more glorious triumph over a more deadly foe. 
 
 While the seven angels were preparing to sound, there 
 was an introductory scene we must not omit. 
 
 Another angel came and stood near the altar, having a 
 golden censer. As he stood there, there was given to him 
 much incense, that he might give it to the prayers of all 
 the saints on the golden altar, which was before the throne. 
 And this sweet-smelling incense went up out of the hand 
 of the angel, along w:"i:h the prayers of the saints, into the 
 presence of God. As prayer and incense go up together, 
 the great truth lives before us that prayer, the effectual 
 fervent prayer of the saints, availeth much in the carrying 
 out of Grod's great purposes in the heathen world. We 
 learn, tiO, that prayer is thus made availing by being 
 mingled in the golden censer with the much incense of 
 merits that are not ours, but His who died for us. AVe, 
 who cannot ourselves go forth to the heathen, must re- 
 member this scene. In the overthrow of the false, and 
 the establishment of the true, prayer is seen to be a mighty 
 spiritual force. The trumpets were not sounded till the 
 prayers and the incense had gone up before God. 
 
 And now the angel took the censer again, and filled it 
 from the fire of the altar, and cast the contents thereof 
 upon the earth ; and there arose thunderings, and light- 
 nings, and voices of an earthquake. The prayer of faith 
 has gone up, and the answer of fire now comes down ; 
 and the Divinely appointed agencies, signified again by 
 thunders, lightnings, and voices, begin to do their work. 
 Then, after this preparatory scene, the seven angels raised 
 their trumpets, and stood ready to sound the blast. 
 
 " And the first sounded ; and there followed hail and fire 
 mingled in blood, and it was cast upon the earth ; and the
 
 38 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 tliird part of the cartli was burned up, aud tlie third part 
 of the trees was burned uj), aud all green grass was burned 
 up." By this I understand that heathenism has acted like 
 a blight upon the very fruits of the earth. Nor is it 
 difficult to see how idolatry has degraded men ; and over 
 vast regions of territory, having rich and fertile soil, they 
 have been content to live in the poorest fashion from hand 
 to mouth. Our modern books of travel describe to us lands 
 capable of almost boundless production ; but, being left in 
 wild uucultivation, they are nearly valueless. The dwell- 
 ers on the soil take what it spontaneously gives, with small 
 endeavour after more. Debased and narrow-minded, they 
 live precariovisly by the chase and on wild fruits, while 
 harvests of richest produce are within their reach. It is 
 among Christian nations that agriculture has received its 
 wonderful impetus, and the earth has been made to yield its 
 riches for the benefit of man. In some parts of heathendom, 
 it is true, the land has been under tillage ; yet it is also true 
 that, taking heathendom as a whole, it seems as if hail and 
 fire mingled in blood had been cast upon the earth, and a 
 third part of the trees burnt up, and all green grass 
 consumed. 
 
 "And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great 
 mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the 
 third part of the sea became blood ; and the third pai"t of 
 the creatures that were in the sea and had life, died ; and 
 tlie third part of the ships were destroyed." If the 
 fruits of the earth have received check and blight from 
 heathenism, so also, we are here taught, have the maritime 
 interests of nations. AVith the excej)tion of the ancient 
 Phoenicians, no heathen people has been really a great 
 maritime power. Idolatry debases manhood, and cripples 
 enterprise. As in the case of China and Japan, it makes 
 a people narrow, jealous, and exclusive, shutting them up 
 within their own territories. The ocean, as the great in- 
 ternational highAvay, is fully appreciated only by the 
 peoples that are enlightened and free. The vessels that . 
 plough the deep, binding distant lands together, bear on 
 the mast-head the flags of the Christian nations of the 
 north and west. The Nile was rendered useless to Egypt 
 by being turned into blood, and the idea of destruction
 
 The Seven Trumpets. 39 
 
 was conveyed to the prophet Jeremiah under the figure of 
 a burning mountain ; and therefore these symbols are re- 
 produced as the second angel blew his blast. 
 
 " And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great 
 star from heaven, burning like a torch ; and it fell upon the 
 third part of the rivers, and upon the springs of waters ; 
 and the name of the star is called "Wormwood ; and the 
 third part of the waters became as wormwood ; and many 
 men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." 
 In other words, the social and civil life of nations has been 
 poisoned and painfully embittered by idolatry. Civil wars 
 and intestine strife and discord have been its miserable 
 fruit. That we are warranted in thus explaining these 
 verses is plain, I think, from the fact that rivers and 
 fountains have, in this book, the meaning of states and 
 nations. For example : in the first verse of the seventeenth 
 chapter, the gi'eat harlot is represented as " sitting upon 
 many waters ; " and the fifteenth verse of the same chapter 
 explains it thus — ^" Tlie umters which thou sawest Avhere 
 the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, 
 and tofigues." So that when the star Wormwood fell upon 
 the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of 
 waters, we have the symbol of those cruel internecine wars 
 that everywhere have followed grimly in the train of 
 heathenism. Need I remind you of the long and deso- 
 lating conflicts of opposing dynasties in China, in these 
 our days, or of the battles between tribe and tribe in the 
 heart of Africa, and in the islands of the sea ? Eival 
 chiefs, with rival bands of followers, have laid waste vast 
 tracts of country, their inhabitants falling by a cruel 
 death, or into the more fearful doom of slavery. Whole 
 districts have been depopulated, and entire tribes ceased to 
 exist, even in name. The waters of civil life became worm- 
 wood, and it might truly be said that many men died of 
 the waters because they were made bitter. 
 
 Now the fourth angel sounds — " And there was smitten 
 the third part of the sun, and the third part of the moon, 
 and the third part of the stars, that the third pai-t of them 
 might be darkened, and the day might not display its third 
 part, and the night likewise." Already have we seen, in 
 the last lecture, that the sun, moon, and stars signified the
 
 40 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 ruling powers, tlie government of a people. In tlie sixtli 
 chapter, the turning of the sun to darkness, and the moon 
 to blood, and the falling of the stars from heaven, was 
 shown to mean the down-coming of the Jewish govern- 
 ment, and the denationalization of Israel, at the destruction 
 of Jerusalem. So that by the blighting of the third part 
 of the sun, and moon, and stars, under heathenism, we are 
 taught what we recognise at once to be the truth, that 
 heathen governments have too often been a curse rather 
 than a blessing to the people under their sway. The 
 duties of rulers — wise legislation, just administration, and 
 the protection of the subject from violence and wrong — 
 these have been lightly held. Rights have been violated, 
 and blood wantonly shed, in mere freak and whim. Reck- 
 less tyranny, oppression in its most odious forms has pre- 
 vailed ; property has been rendered insecure ; and human 
 life held as little sacred as that of the brutes. It is but too 
 sadly true that, through the ruling power, heathenism has 
 proved an awful curse to every land where it has prevailed. 
 Four trumpets have sounded, and we have seen idolatry, 
 that great enemy of God, working out its evils for man. 
 We have seen it acting like a blight upon the fruits of the 
 earth ; keeping back its victims from the full blessing of in- 
 tercourse and traffic with other nations ; proving a fruitful 
 source of civil war and bloodshed, and turning that govern- 
 ment, which was intended as a means of protection, into an 
 instrument of tyranny. The vision of all this misery being 
 preceded by the sounding of the trumpets, seems to indi- 
 cate that it has come upon idolatrous nations as the out- 
 working of the judgments of God. This is true ; but it is 
 also true that it has come to them as the natural outwork- 
 ing of their own sin. You look upon a man who has been 
 living a wild life of excess ; you see that his indulgence has 
 ruined his health and shattered his constitution ; and you 
 might with equal truth say that his sin has brought him to 
 this wretched state, or that he is suffering the judgment of 
 heaven upon his sin. Both would be true ; for in point of 
 fact the judgment of God shows itself in the outworking of 
 natural laws. It is seen in the punishment that sin of 
 itself always brings. And God's dealings with the heathen 
 have been judgments, in the sense that He has left them to
 
 TJie Seven Trumpets. 41 
 
 the natural results of those delusions which they themselves 
 embraced. 
 
 Thus far, however, we have only marked those results as 
 they are seen aifecting man's merely temporal interests. 
 Yet these are the least part of the curse. We are to look 
 for still greater evils ; for man has higher interests than 
 those which belong simply to this world. He is a spiritual 
 being. His chief glory is there, and his greatest dangers 
 lie near to his chief glory. We are not surprised, therefore, 
 when John tells us that after four of the seven angels had 
 sounded there was a premonition of still darker sorrows. 
 Through the mid-heaven, on mighty pinion, there flew an 
 eagle,* and to it was given a voice of evil omen, crying, 
 
 " Woe, woe, woe 
 Unto the inhabitants of the land, 
 Because of the remaining blasts of the trnmpet, 
 Of the three angels ■who are now to sound ! " 
 
 After this preliminary cry of warning, the fifth angel 
 sounded. No sooner had the blast filled every ear, than 
 John saw a messenger descend from heaven ; and, as he 
 swept through the rether, his track seemed like that of a 
 falling star. When he reached the earth, it was seen that 
 he had in his hand a key — the key of the bottomless pit. 
 With that key he opened the fearsome gate of the fiery abyss, 
 and instantly through the dread portal there rose a dense, 
 blinding smoke, like the cloud from some terrible furnace. 
 The very sun and air seemed all darkened with the thick 
 fumes that came rolling up. As John's eyes became more 
 used to the darkness, he saw that the smoke was filled with 
 a vast multitude of creatures, the like of which he had never 
 seen before. They resembled a cloud of locusts more than 
 anything else ; yet they were more terrible : the idea of 
 the locust was there, but it was expanded into a monstrous 
 shape of terror. They were like horses prepared for battle ; 
 but upon their heads they had crowns, to indicate their 
 power. Their faces were as the faces of men, and they had 
 long, streaming hair, like a woman's dishevelled locks ; 
 fierce teeth had they, like lions, and the overlapping folds 
 on their bosoms seemed like breastplates of iron. They 
 
 * The English version has " an angel," but " an eagle " is the better 
 reading.
 
 42 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 resembled scorpions in that tliey had long tails, in which 
 were deadly stings. Such a multitude were they, that the 
 flapping of their wings was as the sound of a mighty army 
 of horses and chariots rushing to the battle. What a por- 
 tentous symbol have we here ! What shapes of terror rise 
 before the mind ! And what a dread conception they give 
 us of all those fearful superstitions which have come forth 
 out of hell, and fastened upon the minds and hearts of the 
 heathen ! For this seems to be the idea intended here to 
 be conveyed. If you permit the mind to dwell on those 
 superstitions, as they have been described to us by our 
 missionaries ; if you think of their vast multitude, their 
 dreadfully degrading character, their ruinous influence upon 
 human peace and happiness, you will the more readily ap- 
 preciate the striking image which vividly represents them 
 as a vast swarm of monsters, led forth out of hell by the 
 fierce king of darkness, Apollyon himself. 
 
 You will observe that they are commanded not to hurt 
 the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, nor any 
 tree. Their influence is not so much upon nature or upon 
 man's possessions as upon man himself They hurt " those 
 men who have not the seal of Grod in their foreheads." 
 And mark how expressive is the description of the sufter- 
 ings they cause. Their power is over man, but not to kill. 
 They do not take away human life : they torment it ; they 
 deprive it of peace, honour, and blessing. Their torment 
 was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man. 
 They are said to prevail five months, because that is the 
 full term over which the ravages of a swai-m of locusts ex- 
 tend ; and this signifies that the worshippers of idols shall 
 endure the full effects of their debasing superstitions. 
 These superstitions shall embitter life, and yet cause men 
 to dread death— make them wretched in this Avorld, yet 
 afraid to face the world to come. "In those days _ shall 
 men seek death, and shall not find it ; and shall desire to 
 die, and death shall flee from them." 
 
 It would be easy to show what terrible suiferings super- 
 stitions have caused and must cause— suffering of mind, 
 which is infinitely worse than sufi'ering of body. Perhaps a 
 reference to our own history will furnish the most vivid illus- 
 tration. Time was when our fathers feared the baleful
 
 The Seven Trumpets. 43 
 
 influence of what they called witchcraft. We smile at it 
 now ; but men of education believed in it once, audits story 
 forms one of the darkest chapters of our annals. There is 
 scarcely a jail record in the kingdom tliat does not tell of 
 some poor creatures hurried into eternity by violent death, 
 simply because of the silly fears and absurd beliefs of their 
 neighbours. This cruel fate was dreadful enough ; yet it 
 was but a small part of the misery generated by this de- 
 grading superstition of the past. Some simple villager, 
 from age, natural infirmity, or deformity, became the object 
 of suspicion. At her approach, her neighbours grew mise- 
 rable beyond expression, from the belief that a witch's bale- 
 ful eye of evil was upon them and their cattle. The poor 
 wretch herself was hounded out of the circle in which she 
 had lived. The superstitious fears of her neighbours about 
 her would alriost certainly fill her own mind with a name- 
 less dread. Sufferings too acute to be described, sufferings 
 that can only be fitly compared to the torment of a scor- 
 pion when it' striketh a man, must thus have been endured 
 over and over again, through this absurd and baseless 
 superstition of witchcraft. It ravaged the peace of hiunan 
 hearts, as a locust ravages the fields. And this grew up on 
 Christian soil and in Christian light. What then must have 
 been, what must be stiil, the direful effect of the vast mul- 
 titude of similar and even more degrading superstitions, 
 growing up in the darkness of heathenism ! An indefinite 
 shape of dread always strikes more terror than a real evil. 
 The groundless superstitions of the idolater embitter his 
 life. He is filled with restless fear, even when he walks 
 in safety. Those who play upon that fear hold him in 
 their power, and he becomes tlio victim of tyranny and 
 priestcraft. His relations with his feilow-men are em- 
 bittered, and he becomes craven or suspicious. His concep- 
 tions of God are distorted ; and the great Father, in whom 
 the Christian may trust so tenderly, becomes to him a 
 monstrous shape of terror that darkens his life. He dreads 
 Him as long as he lives, and dreads Him still more as he 
 comes to die. Life is a scene of suffering, and death a 
 leap into the dark. These superstitious come forth out of 
 the bottomless pit ; and Abaddon, the destroyer, is their 
 leader and king.
 
 44 TJic Book of Revelation. 
 
 "We have, thus far then, seen the effects of heathenism 
 upon idolaters in every part of tlieir life. It blights the 
 fruits of the earth, keeps men back from the free inter- 
 course of nations, smites them with civil wars and discord, 
 and turns their governments into instruments of tyranny. 
 We have seen too that not only does it affect all man's 
 material interests, but it goes into the very centre of his 
 being and debases his soul. It can only go two steps far- 
 ther. It may stand by his dying bed, and it may darken 
 his future in the world beyond. Eemembering this, we ]:)ass 
 to the twelfth verse and read, " One woe is past ; and be- 
 hold there come two woes more hereafter." 
 
 These words uttered, the sixth angel sounds. Then John 
 heard a voice, which seemed to come from the midst of the 
 four horns of the golden altar which was before the throne ; 
 and it cried, " Loose the four angels that are bound at the 
 great river Euphrates :" set free the appointed agents of 
 the Divine purposes, who have been hitherto kept back. 
 And there were loosed the four angels who had been made 
 ready unto the hour and day and month and year, — that 
 they should slay the third part of mankind. These angels 
 represent Grod's power over human life, and they are said 
 to be prepared for the time, whenever it may be — the hour, 
 the day, or month, or year, fixed in the Divine counsels as 
 the appointed time. In carrying out the work assigned 
 them — the ending of human life — -they are represented as 
 calling into operation an exceeding great army of horsemen, 
 who seem to be set loose from the neighbourhood of the 
 great river Euphrates. Their number, as John was told, 
 was two myriads of myriads ; for death can enter by ways 
 innumerable. On those fierce horsemen came, with breast- 
 plates that seemed like fire, or mail of purple hyacinth, or 
 glowing sulphur. Their horses had heads like lions; and, as 
 they swept over the plain, they breathed forth fire and 
 smoke and brimstone. Weird indeed were they ; for their 
 very tails were like writhing serpents, and with them they 
 could wound. The form of this symbol receives its explana- 
 tion when we remember that at one period of Hebrew 
 history, the object of Israel's intensest fears was that ai'my 
 of fierce horsemen who came against them from the cities 
 on the Euphrates. Again and again did they invade and
 
 The Seven Trumpets. 45 
 
 desolate tlie land ; and tlic very mention of tliem aroused 
 such feelings in an Israelite as did the mention of Napo- 
 leon I. and his armies in the breasts of our fathers some 
 sixty years ago. Mark the thrilling Avords in which the 
 prophet speaks of them, as from God : " Lo, I raise up the 
 Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who shall march 
 through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling- 
 places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful, 
 their judgments and dignity shall proceed of themselves. 
 Their horses are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce 
 than the evening wolves : and their horsemen shall spread 
 themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far ; they 
 shall fly as the eagle hasteth to eat. They shall come all 
 for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and 
 they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall 
 scofii" at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto 
 them : they shall deride every stronghold ; for they shall 
 heap dust and take it" (Hab. i. 6-10). Since the world- 
 renowned cavalry of the East were thus regarded, their 
 forms, exaggerated to fearful shape, might well become the 
 symbols of the forces that should end the unrepentant lives 
 of idolaters. They thus become the impersonations of the 
 fierce diseases generated by heathenism itself, and which 
 sweep away the lives of men. They point to those exter- 
 minating; wars which attain and again have desolated lands 
 " where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile. ' 
 They are significant of that awful sacrifice of human life, 
 which superstitious worship has demanded in every age. 
 Beneath the mighty wheels of the idol's car have lives in- 
 numerable been crushed out. Blood, in streams, has flowed 
 that the spirit of the king might have its convoy of subjects 
 into the realm of the shades. The life of the child has 
 been taken in the temple as atonement for the parents' sins, 
 and the widow has perished on the burning pile that con- 
 sumed the body of her husband. These dread horsemen 
 may indeed symbolise the fearful shape in which death 
 always comes to the miserable idolater. To the Christian 
 death comes as the kindly messenger, to lead him home. 
 His ear is alive to the music from afar; his glazing eye grows 
 bright ao-ain, at the A'ision of his Father's house ; and his 
 lips, ere they stifien into eternal silence, utter the conse-
 
 4-6 The isook of Revelation. 
 
 crated words of triumpli, " O death, where is thy sting ? 
 grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin, 
 . . . but thanhs be unto God which giveth us the vic- 
 tory through our Lord Jesus Christ ! " But the heathen 
 sits in the shadow of death all his life ; and, when the 
 dread shape itself appears, it is robed in terror. 
 
 " Hark ! what mean those lamentations, 
 Eolling sadly through the sky ? 
 'Tis the cry of heathen nations, 
 ' Come and help us, or we die.' 
 
 He9,r the heathens' sad complaining; 
 
 Christians, hear their dying cry : 
 And, the love of Christ constraining, 
 
 Join to htlp them ere they die." 
 
 Here we must pause for the present. This vision of the 
 seven trumpets goes on to the end of the eleventh chapter, 
 and the remainder of that vision is occupied with the ex- 
 tension of the kingdom of God among the heathen. The 
 consideration of that we must leave to another occasion. 
 But, before we separate, mark the solemn significance of the 
 closing verses before us. We have seen how heathenism 
 curses men, both body and soul, curses them both in life 
 and in death ; yet, sad to say, the survivors go on as if it 
 did not. Suffering does not necessarily issue in repentance. 
 " The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, 
 yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they 
 should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and 
 brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor 
 hear, nor walk ; neither repented they of their murders, 
 nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their 
 thefts." It is a sorrowful and suggestive thought, that men, 
 by a sort of fascination, often go on in their sins long after 
 those sins are felt by them to be degrading and ruinous. 
 We need not go to heathen Lands for proof of this. Around 
 us, too often within us, there is proof demonstrative. A 
 man falls into sin ; and even before the pleasure is past and 
 the reaction fairly come, he begins to despise and loathe 
 himself for his weakness. Yet, before long, he goes forth 
 and commits that very sin again. Oh what a reality there is 
 under that expression, "the bondage of evil." It is a bondage
 
 The Seven Trumpets. 47 
 
 indeed, a binding of tlie man's soul, against the protest of 
 liis better nature. It cannot be right with us when we 
 are thus divided against ourselves, when conscience has so 
 often to rise up and lift its solemn protest against the 
 doings of the wall and the passions. Nor can we right our- 
 selves ; neither is there any natural halting-place in sin, 
 reaching which we shall surely pause. The world of 
 darkness is spoken of as the bottomless pit, because, once 
 yielding to sin, ever dow^nward and still downward a man 
 may sink in baseness, degradation, and misery. The pos- 
 sibilities on both sides within us are overwhelming ; the pos- 
 sibilities of nobleness and blessedness, and the possibilities 
 of ruin and wretchedness. My heart is stirred within me 
 as here I stand before God and think of the ascending or 
 descending scale on wdiich every soul in His presence is 
 passing, either to perfect light or outer darkness. The 
 thought gives intense force and meaning to the message of 
 the Gospel we bring to you in Christ. If the bondage of 
 sin is real, the salvation of Jesus is just as real. And 
 it is offered most freely. Oh turn not from Him who is 
 your truest friend — He waits to save. Yield your life to 
 Him, and He will set you free. Whosoever committeth 
 sin is the slave of sin. But if the Son shall make you free, 
 ye shall be free indeed.
 
 lY. 
 
 THi: TWO WITNESSES. 
 
 EEVELATIOIi X., Xi. 
 
 I MUST a^ain remind you, that we are still to be occupied 
 with the TiiiED Part of this book of the Eevelation ; for 
 we do not read of the sounding of the last of the seven 
 trumpets till towards the close of the eleventh chapter. The 
 scene of the two witnesses is a portion of the same vision 
 with which we dealt in the last lecture. 
 
 As yet, we have only looked upon the evil effects of 
 idolatry on its votaries. There has been nothing said of 
 the spreading of the kingdom of God among the heathen. 
 Yet we may expect that something will be said ; for when 
 the seventh trumpet sounds, there are heard great voices 
 in heaven, saying, " The kingdoms of this world are become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ ; and He 
 shall reign for ever and ever." We shall be told something 
 of the course of events ere these kingdoms are won for the 
 Eedeemer. But before we turn to that which is told, let 
 me ask you to notice the similarity of construction between 
 the visions of the seven seals and the seven trumpets. 
 In each case, the first four go together and follow closely ; 
 the fifth and sixth are more special. When the sixthseal 
 was opened, there was a pause, during which the spiritual 
 Israel were sealed and preserved. In like manner, after 
 the sounding of the sixth trumpet, the kingdom of God 
 comes to view, the two witnesses prophesy, they are 
 overcome and slain, and then they rise again. The heathen- 
 ism that was not subdued by judgments shall yet be 
 overthrown by the power of the Spirit and the truth 
 which the Spirit wields. 
 
 The dark swarm of hellish superstitions has vanished.
 
 The Tivo Witnesses. 49 
 
 The apostle no longer sees those fierce liorsemen wlio are 
 tlie dread messengers of death. The scene has changed. 
 John beholds now a mighty angel, very different in appear- 
 ance from the angels of destruction. He appears with all 
 the indications of Divine benignity, power, majesty, do- 
 minion. His vesture is a luminous cloud of glory, and 
 round his head is the rainbow of promise and faithful 
 covenant-keeping. His face is like the sun. His feet, 
 like pillars of fire for majesty and strength, rest one on 
 the sea and the other on the land, as though he would 
 assert the right of Him who sent him to unbounded domi- 
 nion over both. He holds in his baud a little book, and he 
 speaks with royal voice as when a lion roareth. When ho 
 had thus spoken, the seven thunders uttered their own, 
 their distinctive voices. Thunder is emblematical of the 
 voice of Grod ; and what the apostle now heard was some 
 utterance of the mind and will of God. The selection of 
 the number seveu, as a complete and sacred number, wo 
 have frequently noticed already. Probably these seven 
 loud voices described the actual course of the world's 
 evangelization. They may have set fortli in what order, 
 by what means, and at what particular times the difler- 
 ent heathen nations would become Christian. As these 
 seven voices gave the story of missionary work in its 
 grand outline, John was proceeding to write the same 
 for the Church's enlightenment. But at once a ban was 
 placed upon the mystery. He heard a voice from heaven, 
 saying unto him : " Seal up those things whick the seven 
 thunders uttered, and write them not." It is not for 
 the Church to know beforehand the course of events ; for 
 this would interfere with the free agency of Christian 
 workers. As to the plan to be pursued, the lands to be 
 first evangelized, the means to be employed, the sort of 
 men to send forth — in all these things she must be guided 
 step by step as the path of duty opens before her, as the 
 course of Providence unfolds, and as the living Spirit that 
 ever dwells in her midst shall direct. 
 
 After this prohibition to reveal what he had heard, the 
 apostle turned to look again on the angel that stood both 
 on sea and land. That glorious being solemnly lifted up 
 his hand to heaven, and sware " by Him that liveth for ever 
 
 E
 
 50 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein 
 are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the 
 sea and the things which are therein, that there should 
 be time no longer." That is, that there shall be loss of 
 time no longer, delay, postponement, " but that in the days 
 of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to 
 sound, the mystery of God should be finished," fully ac- 
 complished, " as He hath declared to His servants the 
 prophets." 
 
 But may nothing be told concerning the great evan- 
 gelistic work of the future ? Can nothing be revealed to 
 strengthen faith, hope, and confidence, without interfering 
 with the freedom of Christian action ? Yes, most surely ; 
 and all that can be told, consistent with due regard to the 
 fact that here we walk by faith, shall be told. Too much 
 knowledge would interfere with the use of our own under- 
 standings, would cripple forethought and free choice of 
 mode and expedient. But, on the other hand, too little 
 would paralyse us by uncertainty. Both extremes there- 
 fore were to be avoided ; and the same voice which had 
 forbidden the apostle to record what the seven thunders 
 had uttered now speaks to him again, saying, " Gro, take 
 the little roll which is opened in the hand of the angel, 
 who stands on the sea and on the earth." To that angel 
 John therefore went, and asked him for the papyrus roll in 
 his hand. And the angel gave it to him, and said, " Take, 
 and eat it up ; and it shall make thy inward part bitter, 
 but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey." It was as 
 the angel had said ; the taste of the papyrus leaf in his 
 mouth was sweet as honey, but after he had eaten it he 
 had a strange sensation of bitterness. This passage re- 
 ceives illustration from God's dealings with Ezekiel. To 
 that prophet also a mysterious hand held out a scroll 
 which he was commanded to eat ; and this was the ex- 
 planation of the symbolical act — "All my words that I 
 shall speak unto thee, receive in thine heart, and hear with 
 thine ears ; and go, get thee to them of the captivity, 
 unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them and 
 tell them, Thus saith the Lord God." John also was to 
 eat — to receive, and then declare. The revelation was to 
 CAter into the soul's inmost being, to be turned into the
 
 The Tzvo Witu esses. 5 i 
 
 very blood of the inner life ; and then he must prophesy 
 tvith regard to — not " before " — peoples, and with regard to 
 " nations and tongues and kings many." 
 
 Both Ezekiel and John ate the scroll, and with both the 
 first taste was sweet as honey ; for to the faithful, wlio 
 love Grod, it is always a joy to receive a communication 
 from God, a joy to hear His voice at all. They know that 
 what He says will be sure to be holy, just, and good. It 
 may sometimes seem even stern ; yet it cannot but be lov- 
 ing and kind. Even when the necessity for judgment comes, 
 they know that it is a necessity determined by Him who is 
 " the Lord, the Lord merciful and gracious, slow to anger, 
 and plenteous in mercy and truth." All that they compre- 
 hend, they clearly see to be just and right ; and that which 
 they see not, they are confident is the same. Therefore 
 Grod's word commands the truest loyalty of their nature, 
 and they feel that though the heart be even torn with an- 
 guish at its message, yet it is better thus. And thus with 
 anguish the heart is often torn by God's communications to 
 the soul : when Ezekiel had eaten the scroll, he went in 
 bitterness, in the heat of his spirit ; and when John had 
 inwardly digested the message of the Lord, the after-taste 
 was bitter. It was God's message : therefore was it sweet 
 and pleasant ; but perchance it spoke of man's neglect of 
 his day of grace, of those to whom the gospel came, tram- 
 pling under foot the Son of God. To some men the mes- 
 senger is a savour of death unto death ; and how can he 
 but feel the burden of the Lord, and grieve, and be in bit- 
 terness for the folly and sin of those who despise and perish ? 
 His whole being may approve the message ; yet, in the pen- 
 sive sadness of all deeply thoughtful natures, he drinks the 
 cup of truth and eats the bread of Divine knowledge. That 
 which John thus received from the angel could not but have 
 to him many after-elements of sorrow : for, ere the victory 
 was won, there were to be days of tribulation, when faith- 
 ful men would be trodden down. The conflict would end 
 triumphantly ; but the way to the end was the way of the 
 cross. There would intervene days of sorrow, when the dis- 
 ciple would be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. 
 Therefore, though the first taste of the roll was sweet as 
 honey, yet afterward there came the feeling of bitterness. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 "When lie has told iis this, he gives the message I have 
 quoted, in which the angel says that he must prophesy with 
 regard to many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. 
 The eleventh chapter contains the substance of his deliver- 
 ance. A temple rises in vision before him. It seemed to 
 be the temple with which he had been familiar, as a Jewish 
 worshipper, in Jerusalem. There was the sacred building 
 itself, and the outer courts around it. As the apostle 
 looked on this fair structure, a measuring-reed was put 
 into his hand, and the angel said to him, " Rise, and mea- 
 sure the temple of Grod, and the altar, and them that wor- 
 ship therein. But the court which is without the temple, 
 leave out, and measure it not ; for it is given unto the na- 
 tions ; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty 
 and two months." The temple itself, as well as the Jewish 
 ritual, had its place and meaning in the Divine scheme of 
 truth. It symbolised the Christian Church, the kingdom 
 of Grod on the earth ; and the glory in the most holy place 
 showed that the Lord was constantly present in the midst. 
 We are familiar with this thought in such passages as these: 
 " Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, 
 but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of 
 Grod; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
 prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner- 
 stone ; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, 
 groweth into a holy temple in the Lord : in whom ye also 
 are builded together for an habitation of Grod through the 
 Spirit. The temple of God is holy ; which temple ye are." 
 Head in the light thus afforded, the passage before us indi- 
 cates that there should be a manifestation of Grod's kiugdom 
 in the heathen world. That kiugdom, when measured, would 
 conform to the Divine standard. But its outer court should 
 be trodden down by unholy feet — it should be profaned for 
 forty and two months. Nothing vital should be lost ; but 
 in most heathen lands the gospel would be resisted, and its 
 followers j^ersecuted. The Church should, in part and for 
 a definite period, be trodden under foot of the nations. 
 During this time of conflict, however, Grod would raise up 
 His faithful witnesses, who should prophesy in sackcloth, 
 that is, in sorrow, for a thousand two hundred and three- 
 score days. They should even be killed, but should rise
 
 The Two Witnesses. 53 
 
 again. The Spirit of life from God should enter into them ; 
 and, amidst the fear of their enemies, they should be trans- 
 lated to heaven in a cloud of glory. 
 
 We thus come into the region of those mystical numbers, 
 by the assistance of which many have ventured to predict 
 the precise year of our Lord's second coming. Assuming 
 that a prophetic day means a natural year, they take the 
 time here mentioned to mean 12G0 years ; and, fixing upon 
 some arbitrary starting-point, about twelve centuries ago, 
 they come down to our own times. 
 
 In putting another explanation before you, let me remind 
 you that twelve hundred and sixty days is the same thing 
 as forty and two months. They each amount to three years 
 and a balf. This is a simple matter of arithmetic. These 
 three years and a half are, both in this book (xii. 14) and 
 in the Book of Daniel (xii. 7), spoken of, poetically, as a 
 time, times, and half a time. Now, whichever of these 
 forms of expression is used, it always refers to a time of 
 great trouble, a time when evil powers are triumphant. In 
 this eleventh chapter, for instance, the holy city is said to 
 be trodden under foot forty and two months, and the two 
 witnesses are to be clothed in sackcloth a thousand two 
 hundred and threescore days. Again, in the next chapter, 
 it is said, " The woman fled into the wilderness a thousand 
 two hundred and threescore days." It is also said that she 
 should be "nourished in that wilderness for a time, times, 
 and a half, from the face of the serpent." In the thirteenth 
 chapter, again, it is said that "power was given to the beast 
 to continue forty and two mouths." And when Daniel 
 speaks of the same period, — the time, times, and a half, — he 
 says, " It shall be a time of trouble such as never was since 
 there was a nation." If, therefore, you will bear in mind 
 that the twelve hundred and sixty days, the forty and two 
 months, the time, times, and a half, and the three years and 
 a half, are only different ways of speaking of the same time, 
 and that that was a time of special sorrow, we shall have 
 taken a very important step towards the solution we seek. 
 
 I thiuk we shall find that while both Daniel and John 
 refer to this time thus variously described, Daniel is point- 
 ing forward, with prophet's finger, to actual facts that did 
 take place in Jewish history, — and John is looking back on
 
 54 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 the same facts, and using tliem to symbolise future times of 
 sorrow for tlie Church of Grod. They speak of them differ- 
 ently, just as the tabernacle and the sacrifices are spoken of 
 differently in the Book of Leviticus and the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. But you will understand me more easily if I first 
 refer to the actual history which is the basis of the symbol. 
 Between the Old Testament and the New there is an 
 interval of no less than four centuries. Malachi was the 
 last prophet, and Nehemiah the last national leader of 
 Israel, spoken of in the Old Testament. After the death 
 of Nehemiah a curtain falls on the history of the Jews, 
 through the thick and impenetrable folds of which we 
 catch but rare and doubtful glimpses for two centuries 
 and more. In the year 175 b.c, the curtain is uplifted : 
 that year, Antiochus Epiphanes rose to power, as one of 
 the kings of northern Syria. As Daniel tells us he would 
 (xi, 21), he gained the kingdom by flatteries and bribery, 
 for he was not the lawful heir to the throne of the Seleu- 
 cida?. Along with other possessions, there came to him 
 the kingdom of Judisa, as a tributary province ; and for 
 some years he ruled it in peace. Seven years after his 
 accession, he went down into Egypt on a military expedi- 
 tion. While there, it was falsely reported he was dead. 
 The rumour reached Jerusalem, where it produced an in- 
 surrection and an attempt to throw off" the Syrian yoke. 
 By the time that tidings of the insurrection reached Antio- 
 chus, it was magnified into a deliberate revolt of the whole 
 nation. Greatly incensed, and without delay, he marched 
 against Jerusalem, and in three days, it is said, he put to 
 death 40,000 of the inhabitants. Nor did this suffice him. 
 He proceeded to wanton outrage against the religion of the 
 people. He entered into every court of the temple, and 
 pillaged the treasury. He seized all the sacred vessels, 
 the golden candlestick, the table of shewbread, and the 
 altar of incense, carrying away booty to the amount of 
 1800 talents of gold. He then commanded a swine, the 
 unclean animal of the Jews, to be sacrificed on the altar 
 of burnt offering. Some of its flesh was boiled, and the 
 liquid was sprinkled over every part of the temple. Thus 
 with the most odious defilement he desecrated the holy 
 place of the Most High.
 
 TJic Two Witnesses. 55 
 
 Time passed on, and brought reverses to liim. He was 
 driven forth from Egypt by the Komans. His way back 
 borne lay through Judaea. Maddened by defeat, he revenged 
 himself by greater atrocities on Jerusalem. One Sabbath 
 day, when the people were unsuspecting, the soldiers were 
 let loose upon them ; and before that day's sun had set, the 
 streets ran down with blood. Even before this, the public 
 services of the sanctuary had ceased. No songs were heard 
 within the courts of Zion. No offerings there were brought. 
 Nor did the cessation of the old religious services satisfy 
 Antiochus. He strove to force the heathenism of Grreece 
 upon the Hebrew people, issuing an edict for uniformity of 
 worship throughout his dominions. He prohibited every 
 observance of the Jewish religion. He compelled the people 
 to profane the Sabbath, to eat swine's flesh and other un- 
 clean food, and expressly forbade the great national rite of 
 circumcision. Even farther than this he went, in his daring 
 impiety. He set up an image of Jupiter Olympius on the 
 altar of burnt offering ; and there, in the place sacred to the 
 Lord of hosts, was sacrifice offered to the heathen god. 
 In the language of the chapter before us, the court of the 
 temple was given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city was 
 trodden under foot. As a last insult, the festivals of the 
 bacchanalia were substituted for the national feast of ta- 
 bernacles, and the reluctant Jews were compelled to join 
 in these riotous orgies, and to carry the ivy, the insignia of 
 the god. " ^0 near was the Jewish nation, so near the ivorship 
 of Jehovah to total extermination.'''' * 
 
 But at this crisis the Most High Himself interfered. In 
 this time of such sorrow as had never been known before, 
 He raised up a little band of brave men, whose patriotism 
 would do honour to any nation. By their adventurous 
 valour, their sagacious soldiership, and their generous self- 
 devotion, they won back from the spoiler their city and 
 their laud. In the town of Modin lived the aged Mattathias 
 and his five sons. The old man summoned all who were 
 zealous for the law to his standard, and their numbers 
 rapidly increased. But, before the work was consummated, 
 the brave veteran had gone to rest. With his dying hand 
 he passed on the banner of the good cause to his famous 
 * Milman's " History of the Jews," vol. i.
 
 56 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 son, Judas Maccabseus. After many a gallant struggle for 
 independence, the brave Maccabee gained a decisive vic- 
 tory at Hebron, and in triumph marched on to Jerusalem. 
 The holy city was a heart-rending sight. Grass, and even 
 shrubs, were growing in the courts of the temple ; every 
 part of the sacred edifice had been profaned, and the cham- 
 bers of the priests thrown down. At the painful sight 
 these brave men wept like little children. But they brushed 
 away their tears, and the work of restoration went on apace. 
 The temple was repaired, and every part of it purified from 
 the profanation of the heathen ; a new altar was con- 
 structed, and out of the spoil taken from the foe the sacred 
 vessels were replaced. Then, when as much preparation 
 had been made as was required for the service, for eight 
 days they celebrated the feast of dedication; and those 
 eight days have been sacred ever since in the calendar of 
 the Jews. But the great fact of special importance to us 
 in our inquiry is this : from the time when Antiochus first 
 defiled the temple and stopped tlie daily sacrifice, to the 
 time when the Maccabees restored the temple and cele- 
 brated the feast of dedication, was forty and two months, 
 or 1260 days, or three years and a half, or a time, times, and 
 a half. 
 
 Nor is this a time of sorrow singled out arbitrarily, 
 because it meets the needful condition as to duration. 
 Daniel is distinctly pointing to Antiochus and the out- 
 rages he committed, when he first refers to the mystic 
 period, a time, times, and a half. Eeading from the twenty- 
 first verse of the eleventh chapter of his book, we have the 
 course of Antiochus clearly described beforehand in the 
 spirit of prophecy. Driven from Egypt (verse 30 et scq.), 
 he should return in indignation against the holy covenant. 
 He should band with traitors against that covenant. " They 
 shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take 
 away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomina- 
 tion that maketh desolate ; " that is, they shall place the 
 image of Jupiter on the altar of God. " Such (from among 
 the Jews) as do wickedly against the covenant shall be 
 corrupt by flatteries," which was the fact ; " but the people 
 that do know their God," the Maccabees and their faithful 
 followers, " shall be strong and do exploits." In the next
 
 The Two Witnesses. 57 
 
 cTiapter one is represented as asking the man clotlied in 
 white linen, who had made these revelations — " How long 
 shall it be to the end of these wonders ? " And the man 
 clothed in white linen, solemnly lifting up both hands to 
 heaven, " sware by Him that liveth for ever that it shall 
 be for a time, times, and a half." Daniel says that he heard 
 this reply, but could not understand it, and he asked 
 anxiously, " my Lord, what shall be the end of these 
 things?" But no clearer message was given, "for the 
 words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." 
 He can merely know further that the period referred to 
 should be a testing time when it came. The righteousness 
 of good men, and the wickedness of bad men, shall come 
 out more clearly, as indeed they do in every time of crisis. 
 " And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken 
 away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, 
 there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." 
 A time, times, and a half, that is 12G0 days, should elapse 
 between the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the 
 celebration of the feast of dedication by Judas Maccabseus. 
 But thirty days more would be required for entire recon- 
 struction, which would make the interval 1290 days. It is 
 then added, " Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the 
 thousand three hundred and five-and-thirty days;" for then, 
 at the end of these additional forty-five days, Antiochus • 
 Epiphanes, the tyrant who had desolated the holy place, 
 lay a dying man, perishing miserably of a fearful disease. 
 The time of complete deliverance came, when the words of 
 the prophet (xi. 45) were fulfilled, " He shall come to his 
 end, and none shall help him." 
 
 Now it is plain, I think, that both Daniel and John refer 
 to the same dreadful, never to be forgotten, time in Jewish 
 history. Till Jerusalem's final overthrow there was no 
 other such period as that under Antiochus, when the sacred 
 fire went out on the altar, and the daily sacrifice ceased. 
 With the finger of the seer, Daniel ^q\m\.q.^ forward to that 
 time of unparalleled sorrow, and prepared his counti-ymen 
 for its coming. In vision, John looks haclncard to it, and 
 sees therein an illustration of the course of the kingdom of 
 God in heathen lands in coming time. His meaning was 
 plainly this : the ancient people of God had once to pass
 
 58 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 through 1260 days of awful depression, when the religion 
 of Jehovah was iTampled under foot by the heathen. 
 There shall be something like it again and again in the 
 history of the kingdom of Grod. We need not, of course, 
 press the actual number of 1200 days, and say that every 
 period of persecution will be of the same length, neither 
 more nor less. The bitter experiences of that awful time 
 made those days a symbolic period, symbolic of all future 
 times, both long and short, when the Church should be 
 veiled in sorrow. It pointed to such tribulations as when 
 the Christians were hidden away in the long, winding gal- 
 leries of the catacombs of Eome, and when many a brave 
 martyr spirit went through the wild beasts' den to his 
 crown of glory. Passing by a long interval, with the many 
 illustrations it might furnish, and coming to our own times, 
 that symbolic period also pointed to and in its manifold 
 reference included such sufferings as those lately endured 
 in the island of Madagascar. May we not say that the 
 Church there had her 1260 days of sorrow, when her 
 children were burdened with irons, sent into exile, or 
 speared, or poisoned with the tangena water, or dashed to 
 pieces over that Tarpeian rock at Antananarivo ? Truly, 
 then did God's witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, and the 
 holy city was trodden under foot of the Gentiles. 
 
 But, to return to the chapter more immediately before 
 us, even in such dark days as these, God should have His 
 faithful witnesses. They are spoken of as two in number, 
 because so many were required for legal proof in any 
 important matter. They are clothed in sackcloth, as mourn- 
 ing over the desolation of the Church. They are the two 
 olive-trees. Zechariah used the same figure to denote 
 those filled with the sacred oil, the Spirit of God. As the 
 lights of a dark world, they are the two candlesticks stand- 
 ing before the God of the earth. As the olive-trees, they 
 are full of life ; as the lamps, they are full of light. More- 
 over, they are the objects of the Divine care. " If any man 
 desires to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, 
 and devoureth their enemies ; and if any man desires to 
 hurt them, tlms must he be slain." This signifies that he 
 who toucheth them touches the apple of God's eye, and 
 for the persecutor the day of reckoning will come. These
 
 The Two Witnesses. 59 
 
 witnesses " have power to shixt heaven, that it rain not 
 in the days of their prophecy ; and they have power 
 over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth 
 with all plagues, as often as they will." That is, the 
 same Grod is with them who was with Moses, when rising 
 up against the heathen power of Egypt, and demanding 
 Israel's freedom, he turned the Nile into blood, and smote 
 the land with terrible plagues. The same Grod is with 
 them who was with Elijah when he delivered his testimony 
 against the heathen abominations of Ahab and Jezebel, and 
 when in answer to his prayer the heaven was shut up and 
 there was no rain for three years and a half. The power 
 which was in these men was God's power ; therefore in all 
 ages He can put it forth in new forms, and with ever- 
 varying application. 
 
 When these witnesses have finished their testimony — 
 when God has no further need of their service here — when 
 their death shall be more fruitful of blessing than their life 
 — then " the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless 
 pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, 
 and kill them." This beast we shall see hereafter to be 
 worldly power, animated by the spirit of the wicked one. 
 It shall seem as if their cause is hopeless for a while. Their 
 dead bodies lie exposed to scorn, unburied. The place of 
 their fall is the street of that world which is called Sodom, 
 for its wickedness ; Egypt, as the scene of Israel's bond- 
 age ; and Jerusalem, for its murder of the Lord. In all 
 ages the world is the same ; its form and mode may change, 
 but its dislike of the condemning holiness of Christ is 
 unchanged. 
 
 There shall be great rejoicings among the wicked, as they 
 come from far and near to mock the down-trodden hope of 
 the Church. Now that the witnesses are gone, they will 
 make merry and send gifts one to another. They congratu- 
 late themselves they are well rid of the truth that has 
 troubled them. " Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? " 
 cries Ahab to Elijah,. The truth is a torment to a guilty 
 conscience, because it finds an echo within ; for the word 
 of God and the heart of man were made for each other, and 
 He who made the heart never leaves Himself without 
 witness therein. His word comes to man in no uncertain
 
 6o The Book of Revelatmi. 
 
 guise. Ifc is quick and powerful, going straight to the con- 
 science. Therefore, however feeble the witnesses may be 
 ill themselves, they have Grod's power with them. Their 
 removal brought back disturbed peace, " because these two 
 prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth." 
 
 But the merry-makings and rejoicings were premature. 
 After three days and a half, that is after a short time, the 
 spirit of life from Grod comes into them again. The men 
 die, but their principles live ; the witnesses are mortal, but 
 the truth itself is undying. Others rise and take their 
 p)laces. There is a resurrection of their principles in the 
 hearts of those who come after them. Amidst the fear 
 of those who rejoiced before, " they stood upon their 
 feet." The time of the glorification of faithful souls comes 
 at length, and their heavenward destiny is manifest to all. 
 " They heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, 
 Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a 
 cloud ; and their enemies beheld them." At the same 
 time there is also made manifest the disastrous, the final 
 consequences to their enemies of their wicked opposition 
 to the Church of God. " 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 ; and 
 the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of 
 heaven." 
 
 We have now reached the end of the long parenthesis 
 which began with the tenth chapter, and we must connect 
 this fourteenth verse in our thoughts with the conclusion 
 of the ninth chapter. After the fourth trumpet had 
 sounded, you Avill remember an eagle was seen flying 
 through the midst of heaven, crying three times, " Woe, 
 woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the 
 other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are 
 yet to sound." Then, after the fearful host of dreadful 
 superstitions like a swarm of locusts had issued from the 
 bottomless pit at the sounding of the fifth angel, it was 
 said, " One woe is past ; and behold, there come two woes 
 more hereafter." Then, as the sixth angel sounds, the 
 agents of death are let loose like a multitude of horsemen ; 
 and, passing over the episode of the two witnesses we have 
 just considered, we come to the fourteenth verse of the
 
 The Two Witnesses. 6i 
 
 eleventh chapter, where it is written, " The second woe is 
 past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly." "We 
 have seen heathenism smiting man's temporal interests 
 with blight, making him the victim of debasing superstitions 
 and arraying death with fearful terror. There remains only 
 one other woe we can think of further, the woe which 
 eternity brings. But some may ask, Will eternity bring 
 woe to the idolater ? Will the heathen be lost at last F 
 Will they who have had so little light, who from childhood 
 have been hemmed in by the environments of idolatry, will 
 they be cast into hell ? On this subject we may not over- 
 pass the solemn reserve of Scripture. There shall be dis- 
 tinctions of doom. He who w'ill be our Judge has Himself 
 affirmed that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Go- 
 morrah than for the unrepentant in Jerusalem ;. more 
 tolerable for those who have lived in darkness than for those 
 who have scorned the light. But, while clinging to the 
 larger hope, let us not overlook a solemn fact which too 
 often is overlooked. It is this : to be given up to the do- 
 minion of sin is to be lost ; to be the slave of bad passions, 
 to be in love with cruelty, vice, treachery, and uncleanness, 
 to be estranged from Grod, the Father of our spirits, this is 
 to be lost. The soul, morally corrupt to its inmost core, 
 needs but to become further conscious of Grod's frown as 
 eternity reveals it ; and hell is there. 
 
 When the course of the conflict of God's truth and Spirit 
 with idolatry has been wholly revealed, " 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; and He shall reign for ever 
 and ever.'" The glorious visions of the futiu'e vouchsafed 
 to seers of old have all been realized. The gospel has been 
 preached to all the nations for a witness ; the idols are 
 utterly abolished; Christ sees of the travail of His 
 soul and is satisfied ; the book of time is closed, eternity 
 begins. As the great voices sounded, "the four-and- 
 twenty elders who sat before God on their thrones fell 
 upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, 
 
 We give thanks to Thee, Lord God, 
 
 The Ahuighty who is, and who was, 
 
 That Thou hast taken Thy great power and reigned.
 
 62 The Book of Revclatmt. 
 
 And the nations were enraged, and Thy vengeance came, 
 
 And the time for the dead to be judged, 
 
 And to give the reward to Thy servants the prophets, 
 
 And the holy, and those who fear Thy name : 
 
 Unto the small and unto the great : 
 
 And to destroy the destroyers of the earth." 
 
 When tlie vision of tlie seven seals readied its end all 
 heaven paused in solemn silence. This vision of the seven 
 trumpets comes to a close amid signs that show that an im- 
 portant revelation from Grod has now been made. " And 
 the temple of Go/1 was opened in heaven, and there was 
 seen in His temple the ark of His covenant." The holiest 
 of all in the temple was the sacred presence chamber of the 
 Lord. Of all living men the high-priest alone was permit- 
 ted to enter, and he only once a year, and that with great 
 solemnities. There, in that holy place, veiled from common 
 eyes, was the ark of the covenant. But now, as John looks, 
 the shrine is opened and the ark is seen. There is no longer 
 an enclosing wall, no longer a concealing curtain. The 
 secret of the Lord is made known, and His counsels de- 
 clared. Therefore is His glory manifested, and when it was 
 seen " there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, 
 and an earthquake, and great hail." 
 
 So falls the curtain again upon the great di*ama. Again 
 have we looked upon symbols that stretch on to the judg- 
 ment day, and are complete in themselves therefore, while 
 forming part of the greater whole. When next we look, 
 another line of thought will open before us, and upon other 
 fields we shall enter. Meanwhile thus much we have surely 
 learned: the great work of the missionary is no doubtful en- 
 terprise. Many of the kingdoms of this world are groping 
 in heathen darkness now, but they shall become the king- 
 doms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign 
 for ever and ever. As part of His Church, let us thank 
 God and take courage. 
 
 " Kings shall fall down before Him, 
 
 And gold and incense bring ; 
 All nations shall adore Him, 
 
 His praise all people sing : 
 For He shall have dominion 
 
 O'er river, sea, and shore, 
 Far as the eagle's pinion 
 
 Or dove's light wing can soar.
 
 V. 
 
 THE WOMAN AND THE DRAG ON. 
 Eevelation xii. 
 
 Thus far we have seen, in vision, the power of apostate 
 Judaism broken, and heathenism overthrown. Now we 
 enter upon the Fourth Paet of the book of Eevelation, 
 and other aspects of the kingdom of God will come before 
 us. We have looked at dangers threatening the Church 
 from without ; our attention will now be called to those ris- 
 ing up from within. The corruption of Divine truth, de- 
 partures from the simplicity of the faith, decline of spiri- 
 tual life, unholy alliance with the power and wealth of this 
 world ; upon these things judgment is now about to be de- 
 clared. These are even greater perils than the opposition of 
 Judaism or heathenism. For while the Church remained pure 
 of faith and simple in life, she stood strong, and enemies 
 from without only drove her more closely to the side of her 
 crucified but risen Lord. While the witnesses prophesy 
 among the heathen, they are as olive-trees full of life, as 
 golden lamps full of light. But when once the Church's 
 hfe and light decline, the salt has lost its savour, and 
 wherewith shall it be salted ? 
 
 This Fourth Part is very differently arranged from the 
 Second and Third Parts. It extends over no less than nine 
 chapters, as you will see from the fact that while the dragon 
 rises before us in this twelfth chapter, his judgment is not 
 declared till the twentieth chapter. The really central 
 idea of this Fourth Part is the outpouring of the seven 
 vials, — the manifestation of judgment upon corrupt adul- 
 terated forms of the religious life, as described in the six- 
 teenth chapter. But other thoughts gather round this ; and 
 the four chapters that precede the sixteenth are prelimi-
 
 64 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 nary, and the four that follow supplementary. There is an 
 organic unity, however, running through the whole, which 
 we shall be able to trace as we proceed. 
 
 The kingdom of heaven on earth has not only to struggle 
 against human foes, but also against superhuman. Indeed, 
 the hatred, the prejudice, the ignorance and superstition of 
 man are stimulated from behind by those whom the eye 
 sees not. On this matter we know only what we are told. 
 But He whose heart is set on our salvation has not left us 
 in total darkness. The curtain is lifted, not enough to 
 satisfy curiosity, but enough to excite us to vigilance. The 
 spiritual conflict is deepened in solemnity, " for we wrestle 
 not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, 
 against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
 world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Dark 
 and portentous shapes flit to and fro in the background of 
 human life and destiny ; and the fact is here displayed in 
 vision before us. This twelfth chapter is descriptive of the 
 bitter malignity of the dread prince of evil against Christ 
 and His Church. His dark doings are presented in their 
 threefold aspect. We have first, his determined attempt to 
 crush the work of Christ before it was finished ; secondly, 
 his desperate endeavours to impugn its worth and validity 
 when it was finished ; and thirdly, wheu both these were un- 
 successful, his unwearied attempts to keep back from Christ 
 those who have not yet come to Him, and to separate from 
 Him those vrho have. 
 
 First, there is described tlie resolute attempt of the eneim/ 
 of souls to crush the ivork of Christ hefore it tons finished. 
 On that same heavenly stage on which John has already 
 seen so many wondrous things enacted, he now beholds a 
 new portent. There appeared there a great wonder, or 
 rather a great sign ; for it does not merely create astonish- 
 ment, it has a meaning and an object. A woman stood 
 forth, having the sun for her vesture, the moon beneath her 
 feet, and upon her brow a glittering crown of twelve stars. 
 This woman is the Church, the bride of the Lord. Sun, 
 moon, and stars — all earthly powers and governments — are 
 subordinated to her welfare. For her completion and bless- 
 ing, and on her behalf, God rviles, overrules, and continues 
 the world. " And being with child, she cried, travailing
 
 The Woman and the Dragon. 65 
 
 and pained to be delivered." Foi' in the midst of tlie true 
 Israel should the Messiah be born. Out of her should 
 Shiloh come, the long expected Deliverer. The Eedeemer 
 was the one hope of humanity, the desire of all nations ; 
 but for His coming the true Israel especially looked long 
 and anxiously. Therefore it is said that, " she being with 
 child, cried, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered." 
 But another sign challenged the attention of the apostle. 
 Behold there was a great red dragon — red, the colour of fire 
 and blood — red, as the symbol of the waster and the des- 
 troyer. He had seven crowned heads to indicate his wide- 
 spread dominion, and ten horns to show the manifold forms 
 in which his malignant energy is displayed. This ravaging 
 monster is the fit emblem of the god of this world, — the devil, 
 or Satan. He is described in such a way as to show that 
 he is not an enemy to be despised, but rather to be guarded 
 against with holy fear. " And his tail drew the third part 
 of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth." He 
 dragged with him into rebellion, and therefore into ruin, 
 some who had been the sons of God and the stars of the 
 morning. He is represented as waiting to devour the ex- 
 pected Child as soon as it should be born. Unto us that 
 Child was born, that Son was given, and He was to rule all 
 nations with an imperishable sceptre, a rod of iron, and the 
 government was to be upon His shoulders. Against Him 
 the hatred of the dragon prevails not. The Child was 
 caught up unto Grod, and to His throne. The woman, the 
 Church, the bride, goes for discipline into the wilderness, 
 where she must pass through her conflict, her 1260 days of 
 sorrow, during which, however, she is Divinely sustained ; 
 for in the wilderness she hath a place prepjired of God. 
 There, like Israel of old, she has bread from heaven and 
 water from the stricken rock. The symbolic "scene thus 
 described points to solemn and mysterious aspects of the 
 Saviour's life on earth. His purpose here was to destroy 
 the works of the devil, to break the chain of the bondage 
 of corruption, and to set the captive free. The strong man 
 armed seemed to keep his spoils in peace till the stronger 
 than he appeared. Then came the bitter conflict. The 
 appearance of Emmanuel was the signal for the gathering 
 up of all the forces of the kingdom of darkness. With
 
 66 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 deadly tate Satan resisted the mission of tlie Son of God. 
 "We are not to content ourselves by explaining all Scrip- 
 tural allusions to the evil one as merely figurative modes of 
 speaking of evil principles. The language throughout^ is 
 simply bewildering, unless it refers to a real personality 
 having actual existence in the unseen world — to a living 
 spirit of evil, the bitter enemy of God and man. He 
 tempted man to his ruin at first, and his resolute endeavour 
 was to keep the ascendancy he had gained. "When the Sa- 
 viour came to take the prey from the mighty, he confronted 
 Him from the hour of His birth to the day of His ascen- 
 sion, when He was caught up to God and His throne. _ He 
 sought to end His bodily life, and to frustrate His spiritual 
 mission. He instigated Herod to the massacre of the inno- 
 cents. Then the dragon seemed literally to seek the life of 
 the Child as soon as it was born, and the flight into Egypt 
 preserved the infant Saviour from the malice of hell, as dis- 
 played in the hatred of the king. In after-days, Satan 
 nerved the arms of those who took up stones to stone Him. 
 He animated Avith bitterest dislike the chief priests and 
 rulers of the people. It is distinctly af&rmed that it was he 
 that led Judas on to his aw^ful crime. After the sop, Satan 
 entered into Judas, and then it was that Jesus said, " "What 
 thou doest, do quickly." The betrayal, the false sAvearing, 
 the cruel mockery and scourging, the dark deed on Calvary 
 ^all these had a human side. But they had another aspect 
 also : they were the outgoings of the hate of the prince of 
 this world : they were the fiery breath of that red dragon 
 which John beheld in vision. Nor Avas this the only form 
 the conflict took. Into a spiritual realm it went, where we 
 have to look on it from afar, for the ground is too shadoAvy 
 for us to tread. Before our Lord began His public minis- 
 try. He was fiercely tempted of the devil. The evil one 
 first urged Him to satisfy His loAver wants at the expense 
 of His higher nature, to obtain a laAvful blessing in a Avay 
 contrary to the will of the Father. He sought to lead the 
 Saviour to rest in the enchanted land of an unjust and 
 measureless abundance, and to crave after a glory of the 
 flesh which should overpower the spirit. Then, changing 
 his line of attack, the enemy urged Him to an act of pre- 
 sumption, on the strength of the promise, " He shall give
 
 The Wo7na7i and the Drag07i. 6y 
 
 His angels clim'ge concerning Thee, and they shall bear 
 Thee up in their hands, lest at any time Thou dash Thy 
 foot against a stone." " Show Thyself to Israel," he seems 
 to say, " in a way that shall at once win Thee the kingdom. 
 Throw Thyself down from this lofty cornice of the temple ; 
 the promise about the angels shows that Thou mayest do it 
 safely, and these people in the court below shall at once re- 
 cognise Thee as the Lord, of whom it is said, ' He shall 
 suddenly come to His temple.' " This temptation failed 
 also, and finally the enemy urged Him to a worship of evil 
 for the sake of success. " Fall down and worship me, and 
 all these kingdoms of the Avorld shall be Thine. Without 
 waiting to tread the slow but appointed way, without the 
 suffering and obedience and death, Thou shalt have the 
 crown. Worship me, and at once I, the god of this world, 
 will let go my hold, and all shall be Thine." But the Sa- 
 viour, at every turn, met and vanquished the enemy by the 
 sword of the Spii'it. Tet, in after days, that enemy returned 
 again and again to the charge. Especially did he put forth 
 his power in the last mysterious agony. It is described as 
 the hour and power of darkness. It was then at the end, 
 even as at the beginning of that atoning life, the fierce 
 dragon gathered up all his forces in the contest. Feeling 
 it was now or never, he sought to crush the work of salva- 
 tion, foreseeing that it would surely be the ruin of his 
 kingdom. All throu2;h the Saviour's life there overshadowed 
 Him a dark and baleful influence, whose presence even we 
 can faintly see and feel. It enters into the Saviour's very 
 soul, and pierces Him with keen distress. It enters into 
 the souls of His enemies, and drives them on madly to their 
 daring sin. The conflict all through was most real, though 
 most mysterious ; and it conies before us again as we behold 
 the great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, 
 and seven crowns upon his heads, standing before the wo- 
 man, ready to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 
 
 Secondly, Satan having failed to prevent the accomplish- 
 ment of the work of salvation, next soiight to render it un- 
 availing. 
 
 The Child was caught up unto God and His throne. The 
 Saviour's work was finished, and then accepted. The 
 heavenly gates lifted up their heads, and the King of glory 
 
 r 2
 
 68 The Book of Revclatiofi. 
 
 passed through. — passed tlirougli to that joy for which He 
 had endured the cross, despising the shame. There seated 
 at the right hand of the majesty on high, He was restored 
 to the glory He had with the Father before the world was. 
 And now we have a symbolic representation of the stability 
 and unimpeachable character of the work He had accom- 
 plished. On the same stage as before, in that royal cham- 
 ber which is called heaven, there was enacted a great and 
 terrible conflict. There was war in heaven. The forces 
 on both sides were superhuman. The hosts of light were 
 led to the fray by Michael the archangel, and the dark 
 forces of their enemies followed the dragon's command. 
 Fiercely the warriors met in deadly strife. G-randly the 
 celestial armour threw off each fiery dart and rendered 
 harmless each mighty blow. Never on earthly battle-field 
 was there a shock of arms like this. Never was the prize 
 contended for of such vast moment. Never was a victory 
 more complete or more glorious. The dragon and his crew 
 were utterly beaten back. " The dragon fought and his 
 angels, and prevailed not ; neither was place found any 
 more for them in heaven. And the great di'agou was cast out, 
 that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiv- 
 eth the whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and 
 his angels were cast out with him." Then as the van- 
 quished foes were hurled over the battlements, there rose 
 one glad pgean of victory ringing through the azure vault, 
 " Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of 
 our God, and the power of His Christ : for the accuser of 
 our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our 
 God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood 
 of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ; and they 
 loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye 
 heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabit- 
 ants of the earth and of the sea ! for the devil is come down 
 unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he 
 hath but a short time." 
 
 Now what is the meaning of this Holy War, and what 
 the victory that w^as won ? 
 
 We must not forget that bpth the battle and the victory 
 are symbolic ; we are not therefore fo look in this passage 
 for the actual history of Satan's first fall from God and
 
 TJic Woman and iJic Dragon, 69 
 
 heaven. There is very little indeed on that subject plainly 
 declared in Scripture. The popular notions about Satan 
 and his fall are derived more from IMilton's poem than 
 from the word of Grod. And while the poem is a great 
 work of imagination, it is an unsafe guide through the 
 mysteries of the unseen world. The fiill of the angels is 
 veiled in all but the deepest silence. Beyond the fact we 
 know scarcely anything. At all events, we have not even a 
 reference to that first overthrow in the symbolic passage 
 before us. The war took place after the Child was caught 
 up to Grod and His throne, — that is, after the ascension of 
 Christ, — and therefore could not refer to an apostasy which 
 took place before the creation of man. 
 
 We shall have some clue to the meaning of the mystic 
 battle here described, if we first ask who was this Michael 
 who led the hosts of light to conflict ? The name signi- 
 fies — " who is like God ?" and in itself seems a very chal- 
 lenge to the enemies of God. Elsewhere we find him 
 referred to. The apostle Jude calls him Michael the arch- 
 angel. This will help us a step in our inquiry. There are 
 various passages in Scripture which intimate the exist- 
 ence of ranks and gradations of diguity among the angelic 
 hosts. We read of thrones, dominions, principalities, and 
 powers. High above the rest is one who towers in state, 
 dignity and might. He is called the archangel, and, so far 
 as we know, is the only one ; for we never read of arch- 
 angels. He will be the precursor of judgment. " The 
 Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
 the voice of the arcliangel, and with the trump of God." 
 There is one archangel then, and Michael is his name. 
 
 Now this Michael was regarded as the special champion 
 of the Church, the guardian of the spiritual Israel. This 
 thought is clearly expressed in the book of the prophet 
 Daniel. We have already seen that the closing chapters of 
 that book set forth the times of trouble that would come to 
 Israel after their return from captivity. Daniel teUs us 
 that in the third year of Cyrus he was beside the great 
 river Hiddekel, and there appeared unto him a glorious 
 form. He was clothed in lin^n, and his loins were girded 
 with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, 
 and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes
 
 70 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to 
 polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of 
 a multitude. At his appearance a great quaking fell 
 upon the men wlio were with Daniel, so that they fled to 
 liide themselves. Daniel himself was overwhelmed, and 
 there remained no strength in him. Placing this description 
 side by side with that in the first chapter of the Eevelation, 
 we cannot doubt they describe one and the same being — 
 the Son of God Himself. He appears to Daniel to make 
 him understand what shall befal his people in the latter 
 days. He represents Himself as fighting against the 
 enemies of Israel, and He says (x. 13) " The prince of the 
 kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days : but, 
 lo, Michael, the first of the princes, came to help me." He 
 says again (ver. 20, 21), "now will I return to fight with 
 the prince of Persia . . . and there is none that holdeth 
 with me but Michael your prince." And the twelfth 
 chapter thus begins — " At that time," that is at the time 
 when Antiochus Epiphanes should try to crush out of 
 existence the Hebrew people, in the manner I have 
 abeady described, " at that time shall Michael stand up, the 
 great prince ivMch stanchth for tlie children cf Thy people.'''' 
 Heading these passages together, and in their connection, 
 we seem to have the idea of a nation having its guardian 
 angel, who in times of great crisis appears on its behalf. 
 Under Emmanuel, Michael stands forth as the great cham- 
 pion of ancient Israel, that Israel which was the type of 
 the Church of God. The symbol of this vision before us 
 has for its basis the idea so plainly implied in the Book of 
 Daniel, and we must interpret the one by the other. 
 
 This war, enacted on that heavenly stage, was waged 
 between Michael, the great champion, and Satan, the great 
 enemy of the Church of God. It was no literal battle, of 
 course. It was a highly figurative mode of showing us, 
 that when the evil one had failed to hinder the completion 
 of Christ's work on earth, he carried his hostility into 
 the unseen world. Ho sought to rob the Church of the 
 benefits of Christ's death. In what precise form he did 
 this, it is of course difficult to say. The opposition of the 
 dragon to the work of Christ, before it was finished, 
 was most real ; this further endeavour must be just as real.
 
 TJie Woman and the Dragon. yi 
 
 But in what form it was put forth, is, I repeat, not for us to 
 affirm distinctly. The aspects of the great atoning work 
 that look away from us, into the world useen, must remain in 
 a mystery while we are here. That there are such aspects I 
 do not for one moment doubt; and it is impossible to have 
 a true theory of the atonerq,ent without admitting their 
 existence. But, without seeking to dogmatise in a region 
 where dogmatism must be peculiarly out of place, we may 
 gather some few rays of light from this and other portions 
 of the word of God. 
 
 Satan is here called the accuser of the brethren — he 
 accused them before our Grod day and night. He is the 
 devil, Diabolus, because he is the accuser, the slanderer. 
 He slanders God to man — so he gained the victory over 
 our first parents. He also slanders man to God. Thus 
 he slandered Job. In the beginning of the book that 
 bears the patriarch's name, Satan is represented as pre- 
 senting himself before the Lord among the sons of Ggd. 
 In the world of spirits, where all the mysteries of existence 
 are brought to light, Satan, the accusing augel, threw out 
 a charge against Job, in the sneer : " Doth Job fear God for 
 nought? Put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he 
 hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." His bitter ac- 
 cusations and assaults are also strikingly set forth in 
 vision, in the book of the prophet Zechariah (iii. 1 — 7). 
 After the return of the exiles from Babylon, their patriotic 
 endeavours to rebuild the temj^le of the Lord stirred up 
 the malice of their enemies. Joshua, the high-priest at 
 that time, was singled out especially as the object of their 
 attack, and, probably, formal charges were laid against him 
 at the Persian court. In vision, the prophet sees him 
 summoned before a higher tribunal. " He showed me 
 Joshua, the high-priest, standing before the angel of 
 the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to 
 resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord 
 rebuke thee, Satan ; even the Lord that hath chosen 
 Jerusalem, rebuke thee : is not this a brand plucked out of 
 the fire?" Despite the charges of the adversary, Joshua 
 was solemnly acquitted. And this was done with the 
 forms still usual in an Eastern court. The filthy gar- 
 ments, in which the accused was expected to stand, were
 
 72 TJic Book of Revelation, 
 
 taken away, and tlie robe of honour was put upon him, in 
 token that his innocence had been established. Acquitted 
 at that bar, therefore, he need not fear any earthly accuser. 
 These readings from the Old Testament will help us to a 
 right understanding of these symbols in the New. Satan 
 accuses the people of Grod in the presence of God. He 
 brings up all their sin and unworthiness, shows their im- 
 perfection of motive, their defection of life. He accuses 
 them to Grod day and night. He says they are not worthy 
 to be saved ; not worthy to be exalted to the glories of 
 heaven. All this is too true ; and yet the accuser uttei'ly 
 fails. The accuser of our brethren is cast down. And 
 here is the secret of their victory — " they overcame him 
 by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testi- 
 mony." The Church does not take her stand upon her 
 own worthiness, but upon the worthiness of her Lord. 
 Believing souls hope to enter the kingdom of life, not 
 because they have deserved it, but because He won it for 
 them. Each one says, " What things were gain to me, 
 those I counted loss for Christ ; yea, doubtless, and I 
 count all things but loss for the excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." All defilement are we ; 
 but God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 
 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
 truth is not in us ; but, admitting the charge, the blood of 
 Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ail sin. This is 
 our only plea ; but we need no other, for this is mighty and 
 all-prevailing. They overcame the accuser by the blood 
 of the Lamb. This description of the battle in the skies 
 is only another way of saying, that none shall ever pluck 
 out of the Saviour's hands those who have fled for refuge 
 to Him. The enemy takes his charges into the highest 
 court of all, tlie only court we need care for, the court of 
 heaven ; and even there they utterly break down. Michael, 
 the Church's champion under Christ, drives back on her 
 behalf the dragon and his angels. Satan is ignomiuiously 
 driven from the place of testimony, and hurled out of 
 heaven. For the atoning work is complete, and avails for 
 the darkest and deepest sins that ever man committed. 
 Jesus is able to save to the uttermost them that come
 
 TJie Woman and the Dragon. 73 
 
 unto God by Ilim. Brctliren, this vision is not a mere 
 picture to please tlie fancy, but a grand unfolding of ti-utli 
 to comfort the heart. Our bitterest enemy is seen trying 
 his utmost to ruin us, and he signally fails. And be sure, 
 if he fails, no one can succeed ; for we have not another 
 foe so powerful, so unrelenting as he. Let us look at this 
 mystic war in heaven again ; and, seeing on which side the 
 tide of victory turns, let us then open the Book elsewliere 
 iand read those grand utterances which have filled with 
 heavenly joy many a desponding heart — " AVhat shall we 
 then say to these things ? If God be for us, who can be 
 against us? Who shall lay anything to the charge of 
 G-od's elect ? It is God that justifieth. "Who is he that 
 condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is 
 risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who 
 also maketb intercession for us. Iviio shall separate us 
 from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or 
 persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? 
 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors 
 through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
 us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." 
 
 The vision goes on, thirdly, to show bow Satan, driven 
 out of heaven, puts forili all his strength on the earth. We 
 have seen how, in two things, he was foiled. He strove 
 to turn Christ from the work of salvation ; but the Saviour 
 went on, faithful even to death. He next strove to hinder 
 the work of atonement from taking due effect on behalf of 
 the sinner ; in this also he failed. There is yet one other 
 hope. He will bring all his malignity to bear upon them 
 that dwell upon the earth. By wile and stratagem, by force 
 and fraud, he will strive to keep from Christ those who are 
 seeking, and to tear from Christ those who have found. 
 This is why the loud voice that John heard, cried, " Woe to 
 tbe inhabiters of the earth and the sea ! for the devil is come 
 down unto you, having great wrath, because he knowetb 
 that he hath but a short time." The outcast dragon, find- 
 ing himself upon the earth, began to persecute the woman,
 
 74 TJie Book of Revelatio7i. 
 
 began to vent all his rage upon tliose who were following 
 Christ on the earth. But the Lord bears the Church as 
 upon eagles' wings. " To the woman were given two wings 
 of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into 
 her place," — the place where she is to be disciplined and 
 meetened in sorrow for the heavenly joy. There, though it 
 is a wilderness, she is Divinely sustained through her season 
 of tribulation, for a time, times, and half a time, from the 
 face of the serpent ; but, though Divinely protected, she is 
 constantly assailed. " 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." Elsewhere we read of the 
 enemy coming in like a flood. It is a graphic way of describ- 
 ing the vehemence, the multitude of hostile influences he sets 
 at work. But they come to nothing. " The earth helped 
 the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed 
 up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." The 
 lies, the slanders, die out in the natural course of things. 
 They have no vitality of their own, and they perish af- 
 ter a while, as though the earth had opened her mouth, 
 and swallowed them up. The enemy is utterly unable to 
 destroy the corporate life of the Church. That lives on, 
 whatever comes and goes. Ever since Jesus gathered round 
 Him that first little band of disciples. He has had a Church 
 on the earth, and ever will have till the end. There have 
 been days of darkness and decline, when the true seed of 
 Israel seemed all but gone ; but He Avho sees in secret has 
 had His hidden faithful ones, who have kept up the holy 
 succession. Even then thei^e were more who had not bowed 
 the knee to Baal than the prophet who was jealous for the 
 Lord of hosts could see. The Church of Christ, meaning 
 by that the great spiritual community which rises above all 
 the narrow bounds of sect and party, and embraces all faith- 
 ful souls who live in Christ, this the one true Church has 
 had a wonderful vitality these eighteen centuries and more. 
 Political and social institutions have ceased to be ; great 
 dynasties have passed away ; there has been one continued 
 process of upheaval : yet the Church that met in the upper 
 room at Jerusalem is with us still. This is a marvellous 
 fact, if you think of it. The flood has been strong and 
 fierce, yet the foundation on which the Church is built has
 
 The Woman mid the Dragon. 75 
 
 withstood the storm. Against that rock, the gates of hell 
 could uot prevail. 
 
 But Avhen the dragon could not destroy the woman, he 
 was very wroth. Then he went to make war with the 
 remnant of her seed, w^ho keep the commandments of God 
 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. That one exist- 
 ence, which we call the Church of the living God, shall 
 never die. But the many that make up that one are frail, 
 erring souls, who are open to attack at this point and that. 
 The enemy will make war against the seed of the woman 
 in detail. He will divide ; and, perchance, then he may 
 conquer. These have been his tactics, and are still. And, 
 alas ! too often they have seemed to be successful. There 
 Peter falls grievously ; and Judas, in desperation, goes to 
 his own place. Here, upon the rocks, lies Demas, who has 
 forsaken the good way, having loved this present world. 
 It is a sorrowful story that is here hinted at in these last 
 words of the chapter. They point to the long line of those 
 who once ran well and then were hindered. I have not 
 seen as much of life as some of you, but I have seen enough 
 to wring my heart with sorrow. I have seen those who 
 once stood among the champions of the Cross, who took 
 their place in the ranks of our teachers, whose voices were 
 heard and heard with pleasure at our meetings for prayer : 
 I have seen them fall before the wiles of the enemy. Some 
 secret sin gradually gained ascendency, and they grew more 
 and more infatuated. It was easy to glide down the steeps, 
 and downward they went. Prayer was abandoned ; one 
 link to goodness after another was snapped. Ah me ! it 
 was sad to see the wreck floating on the stream to the dark 
 ocean beyond. Character, happiness, usefulness, all life's 
 greatest prizes gone ! I could but hope that our merciful 
 Lord would find more beneath the ruins than man could 
 see. I have turned me away mournfully at the sight, with 
 the prayer rising from my heart, " Hold Thou me up, so 
 shall I be safe." 
 
 Brethren, there are those who point to these fallen ones 
 with a smile on the lip, and a meaning we cannot mistake. 
 Let us rather learn another lesson. Let us rather say. If 
 these have fallen, who may presume that he will always 
 stand ? If these have fallen, how strong the tide, how fierce
 
 76 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 the dagger ! " Take "heed, lest there be in any of you an evil 
 heart of unbelief, in departing from the living Grod." Be 
 sober, be vigilant, and watch unto prayer; 
 
 " There is much need ; for not as yet 
 
 Are we in shelter or repose ; 
 The holy house is still beset 
 
 ^Vith leaguer of stern foes ; 
 Wild thouglits within, bad men without, 
 All evil spirits round about, 
 Are banded in unblest device. 
 To spoil Love's earthly paradise. 
 
 Then draw we nearer day by day. 
 
 Each to his brethren, all to God; 
 Let the world take us as she may, 
 
 \Ye miist not change our road ; 
 Not wondering, though in grief, to find 
 The martyr's foe still keep her mind ; 
 But fixed to hold Love's banner fast, 
 And, by submission, win at last."
 
 YI. 
 
 trFj two beasts and tre image. 
 
 Keyelation xiii. 
 
 Still in the spirit is the apostle, and still in heaven. Eut 
 at this point the vision embraces in its scenery the restless 
 ocean, as he had seen it many a time round that isle of Pat- 
 mos. "While he looks on, there rises out of the deep a beast, 
 a monstrous shape, having seven heads and ten horns. Upon 
 each horn there is a crown, denoting dominion, and upon 
 each head the name blasphemy. This beast has the pan- 
 ther's form, with the paws of the bear, and a lion's mouth. 
 I have no doubt that in its peculiar shape we have a refer- 
 ence to the symbolism of the Book of Daniel. Ah'eady 
 have we seen that the desolation which Antiochus inflicted 
 upon the temple and city of Jerusalem is iised in the 
 visions of the Eevelation to typify future ravages of evil 
 upon the Church of God. A definite' historical event was 
 predicted by Daniel, and it became the foundation of an 
 indefinite foreshadowing of evil in the visions of John. 
 In the chapter before us we have another instance of the 
 same kind. Daniel saw the Babylonian power under the 
 similitude of a lion, the Medo-Persian empire under the 
 similitude of a bear ; the kingdom of Alexander the Great 
 was represented by a leopard or panther, while Alexander's 
 successors were described under the figure of a fourth beast, 
 dreadful and terrible, and stroug exceedingly. This fourth 
 was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it 
 had ten horns. These beasts foreshadowed riding powers 
 of the earth, and they are brought into prominence simply 
 because they would oppress the Hebrew nation, the chosen 
 people of Grod. It is matter of history now, that, in the 
 order given, these empires did arise and dominate over the
 
 7 8 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 * 
 land of Israel. Stretcliing from Nebuchadnezzar to Anti- 
 ocLus Epiphanes, as these visions of Daniel did, they re- 
 ceived their fulfilment in actual Jewish history. Again, 
 therefore, — as before, in the case of Antiochus, — in John's 
 vision, the symbol of the ruling powers of the earth, as 
 arrayed against the Church of Grod, takes up the figures of 
 Daniel's prophecy, and fuses them together. We have, in 
 this one beast of the Eevelation, the different characteristics 
 of all the four that Daniel saw. It has the leopard's form, 
 the paws of the bear, the lion's mouth, and the ten horns. 
 It is, therefore, not the symbol of any one king or power, 
 but of all kings and powers, in so far as they rise up to 
 persecute the Church of Grod, in any age, and in any land 
 whatsoever. In the seventh verse of this thirteenth chap- 
 ter, it is said that it was given unto him to make war with 
 the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given 
 him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. Clearly 
 there is here no merely single, local reference to this or 
 that king or nation, but an all-comprehensive symbol, de- 
 scriptive of hostile civil persecuting powers everywhere. 
 It points to that interference of the civil ruler in the realm 
 of conscience, which is utterly without warrant ; for 
 
 " Consciences and souls were made 
 To be the Lord's alone." 
 
 This unlawful intrusion, on the part of the temporal power, 
 is animated by the spirit of evil ; for the dragon gave to 
 this beast his power, and his throne, and great authority. 
 John saw that one of its heads was, as it were, wounded to 
 death ; and its deadly wound was healed. For already, in 
 vision, he had seen the destruction of the apostate Jewish 
 power which had persecuted the Church. But, though this 
 power was broken, civil rulers .in other ages and in other 
 lands also would persecute the Church. The deadly wound 
 of the beast was healed ; still should the kings of the earth 
 stand up, and the rulers gather together against the Lord 
 and against His Christ. The usurpation by the temporal 
 power should have its limited time of ascendency, even as 
 heathenism was seen to have. Power Avas given to the 
 beast to continue forty and two months. " And he opened 
 his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His
 
 The Two Beasts and the Image. 79 
 
 name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." 
 Tor when kings and rulers step out of their lawful province, 
 and take upon themselves to dictate the religious belief of 
 their subjects, they are invading rights that belong only to 
 the King of kings. It is theirs to cast the protection of 
 the state over all their subjects alike, so long as the civil 
 laws are obeyed. Standing before the law, no man should 
 receive either favour or disfavour because of his religious 
 opinions. To determine by state enactment what is false 
 in religion, and what is true ; to seek to put dow-n by force 
 that which a God-fearing man believes the Spirit has taught 
 him, is to do a perilous thing. For, as Milton has said, " If 
 it comes to prohibiting, there is not aught more likely to 
 be prohibited than truth itself, whose first appearance to 
 our eyes, blurred and dimmed w4th prejudice and custom, 
 is more unsightly and implausible than many errors." The 
 kings and governors of nations may be, and often are, ut- 
 terly unspiritual men ; and when they proceed to determine 
 matters of conscience, to use force where conviction alone 
 can prevail, to deal compuLsorily with the sacred thoughts 
 and feelings that are between the soul and its Maker, then 
 do they rush with unhallowed step into a region where no 
 mortal has a right, where even angels fear to tread. They 
 encroach upon the high prerogatives of Him, before Avhose 
 judgment -bar even kings themselves are amenable. Inter- 
 ference with conscience is a sin against man, it is a greater 
 sin against God. In these solemn words is that sin de- 
 scribed : " He opened his mouth in blasphemy against 
 God; to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle,"- — for 
 man's soul is the temple of God—" and them that dwell in 
 heaven." 
 
 Yet, blasphemous as worldly power arrayed against the 
 conscience is held to be in beaven, there are multitudes 
 who are bewitched by it on earth. "All the world won- 
 dered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, 
 which gave power unto the beast, saying, Wbo is like unto 
 the beast ? who is able to make war with him ? " ' The sy- 
 cophants and time-servers, the men who go with the stream, 
 the men with whom a little temporal good is infinitely pre- 
 ferable to the richest spiritual blessing, the men who have 
 no conscientious convictions of their own, are always ready
 
 8o The Book of Kev elation. 
 
 to hand oyer tlie consciences of others to the power of the 
 civil ruler. The worldly-hearted cry, " Who is like unto 
 the beast ? "What is better than wealth and power, ease 
 and comfort?" The faint-hearted chime in, and ask, " What 
 is the use of making a stand on behalf of principle ? The 
 power against us is overwhelming; let us go with the stream, 
 even though it be with a misgiving heart ; for who is able 
 to make war with the beast ? " And so, as of old, the mul- 
 titude fall down and worship the image of gold. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar chose a religion for his subjects ; and, either from fear 
 of royal displeasure or from desire of royal favour, they fell 
 in with it. The way to place and power was along the path 
 of compliance. The effect of the worship of that colossal 
 image of gold, and the pageant connected therewith, was 
 most striking; the senses were charmed by display of pomp 
 and by the burst of music from cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, 
 psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of instruments ; and there- 
 fore they fell down, as multitudes have done since for no 
 better reason, and worshipped the beast — all but those true 
 and stout hearts who were still loyal to Jehovah. They 
 conferred not with flesh and blood, neither tampered with, 
 conscience. They asked not. What is interest ? but, What 
 is duty ? And thus the fear of Grod overcame the fear of 
 man. These were noble exceptions, such exceptions as 
 John implies when he says, "All that dwell upon the earth 
 shall worship the beast, whose names are not written in 
 the book of life of the Lamb slain li-om the foundation of 
 the world." These G-od-enlightened souls shall refuse the 
 unrighteous homage. With a manly firmness, which is as 
 far removed from scornful insolence on the one hand as 
 from cringing subserviency on the other, they refuse to 
 worship at royal bidding. Though the fiery furnace con- 
 front them, they say, " Our Grod, whom we serve, is able to 
 deliver us from the fiery furnace, and He will deliver us 
 out of thine hand, O king. But if not, if the worst should 
 come, be it known unto thee, king, that we will not 
 serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou 
 hast set up." This is not an easy path to tread, but it is the 
 path of principle ; moreover, it is the path of ultimate suc- 
 cess. For God will smite the persecutor. " He that lead- 
 eth into capti-vity shall go into captivity: he that killeth
 
 The Two Beasts and the Image. 8i 
 
 with the sword must be killed with the sword." There is 
 a time of retribution coming. Ye men of God, stand fast, 
 and wait. Though He tarry long, the Lord shall surely 
 appear for the truth. " Here is the faith and patience of 
 the saints." 
 
 Blending illustration with exposition, I have been all the 
 while striving to throw light on the vision before us ; and, 
 as I take it, it is no mere fancy sketch. Ever since the 
 days of Constantine, the interference of j)rofessedly Chris- 
 tian rulers with the consciences of men has been a most 
 serious hindrance to the Church of Christ. I can appre- 
 ciate the beautiful dream of good men who have wished to 
 see Church and nation co-extensive, and, in legislation, to re- 
 gard them as one. I will even grant that in dark days of 
 wild upheaval and transition, the State power, in alliance 
 with the Church, may have held in check stormful elements 
 that were fraught with peril. But this partial gain has 
 been dearly bought. If it had not been for this unholy 
 union of the temporal and spii'itual power, more than half 
 the political complications that have embarrassed the na- 
 tions and issued in warlike strife and bloodshed, would 
 never have been known. Par simpler, and I believe far 
 happier, would have been the history of the Europe of the 
 past. There would also have been fewer divisions, and less 
 of that separation between them that are brethren, which 
 is the sorrow of Christendom to this day. The story of 
 the Church is a most movu'nful record. All sides have 
 shared in the sin. Both Papist and Protestant, Puritan 
 and Episcopalian, have, by their doings, clearly proved that 
 it ought not to be in any man's power to compel the con- 
 science. Instead of seeking to produce unity by oneness 
 of conviction, the sword, the stake, the gibbet, social ban 
 and exclusion, have been employed to force men to a uni- 
 formity which their consciences condemned. Then it was 
 that the best men were the men who suffered most ; worth- 
 less formalists will bend any way. - It is the high-minded 
 alone who hold sacred the voice of conscience. The noble 
 army of martyrs were the very salt of the earth; yet it 
 was against them that the sword of the civil power was 
 arrayed. 
 
 Time would fail me, were I to attempt to describe the
 
 82 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 ravages of the beast that rose out of the sea in the visions 
 of John. There were the AValdenses in the valleys of Pied- 
 mont, whose awful sufferings for conscience' sake, from 
 generation to generation, led our own Milton to pray, — 
 
 " Avenge, Lord. Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 
 Lie scattered on tlie Alpine mountains cold ; 
 
 Even them, who kejit Thy truth so pure of old. 
 When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 
 Forget not. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
 
 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 The triple tyi'ant ; that from these may grow 
 
 A hundi-ed-fold, who, having learned Thy way. 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 
 
 "Who can think without a shudder of the dread cruelties 
 of that which, in bitter irony surely, was called the Holy 
 Inquisition ? Or who does not blush for our common hu- 
 manity, as he recalls the atrocities the power of Spain per- 
 petrated in the Netherlands, in the sacred name of Jesus ? 
 It was avowedly on a religious errand that that fiendish 
 wretch, the Duke of Alva, went through the laud, leaving 
 nothing but tears and blood, execration and desolation be- 
 hind him. It was in the supposed interests of the Christian 
 faith that the civil power lit the fires of Hmithfield, and sent 
 through the flames to their martyr's crown, a Latimer, a 
 Ridley, and a host of others of whom the world was not 
 worthy. Two centm'ies ago, it held John Bunyan in Bed- 
 ford jail for twelve weary years. It sent two thousand of 
 the noblest preachers England ever had, to want and poverty. 
 By Conventicle Acts and Five Mile Acts, it harassed them 
 still more. It sent good men by hundreds to rot in jail, or 
 to die as transported felons in the plantations of Virginia. 
 These things it has done ; and, though the spirit of our 
 times forbids a repetition of the grosser forms of evil, yet the 
 interference of the civil power in matters that are spii'itual, 
 is and ever must be most mischievous. Those who see 
 not with us, would deprecate, I am sure, as much as we 
 should, a return to the violence of the past. Yet we are by 
 no means free to-day from the evils produced by the beast 
 that rose fi'om the abyss, as John stood by the sea. There 
 has never been a session of Parliament within my memory, 
 without a religious struggle between two great parties in
 
 TJic Two Beasts and the linage. 8 
 
 ■6''' "J 
 
 tlie nation. A dominant Church, rendered unreasoning by 
 her connection with the State, has resolutely striven to fix 
 or fasten, on the necks of those who could not conscien- 
 tiously conform, some irritating badge of inferiority. Im- 
 patient tolerance has been supposed to be a proof of gene- 
 rosity, when religious equality was the righteous claim of 
 justice. And if those who are without the pale of the 
 Church established by law have suffered indignity and ex- 
 clusion from national rights, that Church herself also has 
 suffered grievously from the same cause. Hampered with 
 golden fetters, she has been often and painfully embarrassed 
 by a position for which she finds no warrant in the word 
 of Grod. In ways innumerable, her most faitliful sons are 
 more and more beginning to feel this. The rising tide of 
 spiritual life in the Church is fretting and dashing against 
 the barriers to her freedom on every side. And they are 
 not violent and revolutionary, but her most faithful friends, 
 who would seek to free her from the trammels of the State. 
 Grand as her work has been, it will be grander still when 
 she goes forth owning no allegiance but that to her risen 
 Lord and Head. The principles for which our Noncon- 
 formist fathers contended, on purely spiritual grounds, are 
 rising marvellously into the ascendant with the foremost 
 statesmen of ovir time, on grounds entirely independent of 
 these. But while we may fah-ly prove our ease on the his- 
 torical and philosophical basis, we prefer to keep to the sim- 
 ple testimony of our fathers. Theirs were spiritual reasons, 
 so are ours. We maintain that the laws of the Saviour 
 for His kingdom are sole and sufficient- — that the mighty 
 truths of the Book of God, and the great verities of the 
 Unseen, are most powerful when they come down in all 
 their simple, native grandeur upon the hearts and con- 
 sciences of men. God's truth and God's Spirit need no 
 help from the princes of this world, save that which they 
 can render in common with all Christians by a holy life. 
 Other help only embarrasses and hinders. It is as Saul's 
 armour to David ; and the stripling can slay the giant of 
 evil more readily with the simple stone slung by the hand 
 of faith. " If any man have an eai*, let him hear." 
 
 Again the vision of the apostle proceeds. A second 
 beast rises up, this time from the earth. He has two horn's 
 
 G 2
 
 84 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 like a lamb, but lie spake as a dragon. He is outwardly 
 meek, but inwardly ravenous. By false representations 
 and deceitful signs, " 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." This is 
 the symbol of every form of religious deception, and espe- 
 cially of a corrupt ministry or priestJwod. A moment's 
 reflection will show that great evils have arisen from this 
 source also. Very early there began to be departures from 
 the simplicity of the faith. A priesthood, allied with 
 worldly states, became worldly in itself. It received ho- 
 nours and grandeur from the civil power, and in return it . 
 gave support to all the measures which that civil power 
 adopted. Not in bitterness, but in sorrow, let us call to 
 mind that Satan has often turned the ministry of the gos- 
 pel, which was set for the guidance of men's souls, into the 
 instrument of their deception. Ceremonies and sacraments 
 have been substituted for true spiritual religion in the 
 heart. And this falls in with the current of man's nature. 
 Even under a ministry that speaks out faithfully, how prone 
 men are to substitute outward forms for inward life. It is 
 very difficult, under the most favourable circumstances, for 
 these weak hearts of ours to realize that God is a Spirit, 
 and that they that worship Him must worship Him in 
 spirit and in truth. How serious then may we expect the 
 results to be, when the guides themselves are deceived and 
 deceiving ! If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both 
 fall into the ditch ? If we turn back over the centm-ies of 
 the Christian era, we see traces on every side of the deso- 
 lations thus occasioned. Human inventions have taken the 
 place of Divine appointments. The sacraments have been 
 put in the place of the Saviour. The simple trtith of Grod 
 has been overlaid by empty forms and ceremonies. Thus 
 its healthful power has been withdrawn, and human pride 
 and passion have run riot in the Church of God. Another 
 gospel has been proclaimed, which is yet not another. The 
 truest life, the truest Church, has often been found outside 
 that Church which claimed to keep the power over men's 
 souls. The most earnest Christians have too often been 
 those who were compelled to turn round and face the 
 stream, commencing a reaction which had for its purpose a
 
 The Tiuo Beasts and the Image. Z$ 
 
 return to tlie central source of trutli. The evils arising 
 from false teaching have not been confined to one 
 Church. It is not sufficient to say that the book of Reve- 
 lation denounces Eomanism. It does denounce that most 
 surely. It is in that communion that superstition has been 
 developed in its darkest shapes. But it denounces corrup- 
 tion by whatever name it is known. This book sets forth 
 as the enemy of God everywhere that false teaching which 
 puts human errors in the place of Grod's truth. The second 
 Ijeast has risen up in England as well as in Rome. When 
 I point Avith sorrow to the extraordinary growth of Popish 
 practices in the English Church, I know that my sorrow is 
 shared deeply by many holy and devout men who love that 
 Church and remain in her communion, bitterly deploring 
 that which they cannot deny. Who that loves the gospel 
 can look without concern at the rapid strides which empty 
 ceremonialism has made in this land, where the blood of 
 Protestant martyrs has been shed? I know the ground 
 taken by those clergymen, now to be counted by thousands, 
 whose avowed object it is to set up a pompou.s ritual in the 
 churches of England. I am not insensible to the lofty 
 thought of a one holy catholic and apostolic Church, but I 
 am certain it is not found where they are seeking it. I 
 know what they say about the decent observance of Divine 
 worship, and their principle I admit ; but their practices I 
 denounce. That which they are seeking to set up is not 
 worship. It is the merest sensationalism, which will de- 
 prave the taste rather than elevate it. These emblazoned 
 banners, this smoking incense, these lighted candles in broad 
 day, this priestly millinery of alb, chasuble, dalmatic, and 
 the rest of it, what is it all but the merest trumpery in His 
 sight who seeks the contrite heai-t as His chosen temple ? 
 If He had desired this sort of thing. He would have told 
 us so. But where is the warrant for all these gauds and 
 pomps in the written word ? The worship of Grod is de- 
 graded to a theatrical spectacle, and men are invited to 
 church as to an entertainment. Christian verities are re- 
 ferred to, it is true ; but the great attractions are the pro- 
 cessions, the incense, the music, the decorations, the dresses, 
 and the mummeries of these men who call themselves 
 priests. Baptismal regeneration is taught in its strongest
 
 86 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 form, the doctrine of tlie real presence, is openly declared, 
 and the people tauglit to bow at the elevation of the host. 
 Eapturous hymns are composed in honour of the Virgin. 
 The name of Protestant is spoken of with bitterest con- 
 tempt, and it is hard to know wherein these men do really 
 differ from the Church of Eome. There is about them the 
 pretence of great learning, and their ecclesiastical jargon is 
 almost endless. But their learning is as remote from New 
 Testament teaching, as the empty disputes of the school- 
 men were from common sense. Wliat all this will come to 
 it is very hard to say. "What it has come to in past ages, 
 the world knows too well. For it is not a new thing in the 
 earth. Europe has already groaned beneath this corrup- 
 tion. By their fi-uits ye shall know them ; and what has 
 this sensuous ritualism done in the past ? It has raised up 
 and aggrandized a proud and worldly priesthood ; it has led 
 to traffic with the souls of men ; it has thrust out of men's 
 hands and hearts the word of Grod, and given them tradi- 
 tions and superstitions in its place. It has raised up men 
 to fraternize with tyrants, and to conspire against the civil 
 and religious liberties of the nations. Through a long 
 night some of the nations have been groaning in bondage, 
 and envying the liberty which we enjoyed, and which the 
 word of Grod has given to us. While here among us, these 
 benighted men, on the other hand, dealing with a generation 
 who undervalue liberty because they have not had to fight 
 for it, would have us abandon that liberty, and go back 
 into the darkness of the past. One thing is very certain 
 to my mind : if priestcraft thus goes on to captivate the 
 people, the word of Grod will have to go ; and if that goes, 
 our religious liberty will go too, and when religious liberty 
 falls civil liberty falls with it. If there be a successful re- 
 action in favour of priestcraft, there will follow an eqvially 
 successful reaction in favour of despotism. In native 
 darkness they flourish together. It may seem improbable 
 now that our political liberties will be shaken. Twenty 
 years ago, it seemed equally improbable that there would 
 be the sacrifice of the mass in the Protestant churches of 
 the land. Yet we have lived to see that. Wliat the next 
 twenty years may develop, it is hard to say. This genera- 
 tion has grown up mainly under Protestant teaching \ the
 
 The Two Beasts and the Image. Z7 
 
 next generation is growing up, surrounded by all these 
 mummeries of superstition. There will be less and less 
 resistance. What are mere tendencies now will be deve- 
 loped courses of action then. The poisonous fruit is ripen- 
 ing, but not yet ripe. No spurious charity should prevent 
 our speaking out on this matter. Because tke men who put 
 forth error are amiable and excellent in private life, error 
 is not less deadly, but often more. Their very excellence 
 often finds for that error a passport to the hearts of those 
 who would repel it if it came from an open enemy. Mis- 
 direction, as to the way of life, will be ruinous in its results, 
 come from whence it may. They are not the words of a 
 narrow-minded sectarian, but of an inspired apostle, which 
 runs thus : — " There be some that trouble you, and would 
 pervert the gospel of Christ. But, though we or an angel 
 from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that 
 which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." He 
 reiterates, that he may impress : — " As we said before, so 
 say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto 
 you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." 
 
 On turning again to the chapter before us, we read 
 further of the doings of the second beast — "He doeth 
 great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from 
 heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth 
 them that dwell on the earth by the means of those 
 miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the 
 beast." We have here, of course, a reference to those 
 pretended miracles by which priestcraft has, in past ages, 
 gained an ascendancy over men's minds. Its " coming is 
 after the working of Satan with all power and signs and 
 lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteous- 
 ness in them that perish ; because they received not the 
 love of the truth, that they might be saved." 
 
 Priestcraft also says, " to them that dwell on the earth, 
 that they should make an image to the first beast," or 
 worldly persecuting power. " And it had power to give 
 life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the 
 beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would 
 not worship the image of the beast should be killed." 
 Witli great propriety, as it seems to me, this image has 
 been taken as a representation of corrupt public opinion,
 
 S8 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 the nearest resemblance that exists to a corrupt civil 
 government. In both cases, the fear of man leads some to 
 defer to their power, even when they support the wrong. 
 We all feel the pressure of the opinion around us. It 
 may and often does aflect men more than the civil power 
 can. A persecuting ruler may now and then single out 
 from the community a man or a body of men, and then 
 there will come intervals, when, from weariness or careless- 
 ness, he will cease from oppression. But there slowly 
 grows up a power in the community, the power of public 
 opinion, that is always at work. This shapes men more 
 than they are aware. It is often more tyrannical in its 
 demands than even kings themselves. It is an image of 
 the first beast ; and the second beast — that is false teaching 
 —causes it to speak, gives it power and force. We may 
 take the meaning of this image in its widest sense, as 
 including whatever is believed around us contrary to the 
 teaching of Holy Scripture. In every community there 
 grow up opinions and usages that have their foundation 
 in the maxims of men rather than in the truth of God. 
 In every Church there is an admixture of human error, 
 in practice and doctrine. And one of the bravest things 
 a man can do, is to resist this, when it is found in 
 his own party. Custom and fashion demand many things 
 of us. Some of these demands are trifling and unim- 
 portant, and it is no great matter whether we yield or 
 resist. But this is not the case with all. Grievously 
 wrong things are sometimes done for no better reason than 
 that others do them. And it is always easier to go with 
 the stream than against it. Tet, if we would be true men 
 and hold our liberty, there are occasions when we must 
 turn round and breast that stream. It has been said by a 
 clear and vigorous thinker of our own times,* " Like other 
 tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is 
 still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the 
 acts of the public authorities. But reflecting persons per- 
 ceived, that when society is itself the tyrant — society col- 
 lectively — over the separate individuals who compose it, its 
 means of tyrannizing are not restricted to the acts which 
 it may do by the hands of its public functionaries. Society 
 
 * John Stuart Mill.
 
 The Two Beasts and the Image. 89 
 
 can and does execute its own mandates ; and if it issues 
 wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in 
 things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a 
 social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of poli- 
 tical oppression ; since, though not usually upheld by such 
 extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, pene- 
 trating much more deeply into the details of life and 
 enslaving the soul itself Protection, therefore, against the 
 tyranny of the magistrate is not enough : there needs 
 protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing 
 opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to 
 impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas 
 and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent 
 from them; to fetter the development, and, if possible, 
 prevent the formation of any individuality not in harmony 
 with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion them- 
 selves upon the model of its own. There is a limit to the 
 legitimate interference of collective opinion with indi- 
 vidual independence ; and to iind that limit, and maintain 
 it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good 
 condition of human affairs as protection against political 
 despotism." 
 
 Public opinion then may become a powerful image of 
 the first beast. A man may find it very hard to withstand 
 this, when he has resisted that. And if" he does, he sufters 
 for his hardihood. The second beast " causes that as many 
 as would not worship the image of the first beast should 
 be killed." This may be literally true in extreme cases. 
 But a man may suffer very grievously even when his life is 
 not taken away. His reputation may be slain, as well as 
 his life ; and his prospects may be blasted, even though he 
 be not tlii-ust into jail. " And he caused all, both small 
 and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark 
 in their right hand or in their foreheads : 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." This is plain 
 enough ; or if explanation is necessary, it is given when a 
 man is refused a farm or turned out of one, because of his 
 conscientious convictions ; or when his business suffers, and 
 he may not buy or sell freely, because it is known that he 
 thinks difierently from the majority of those around him.
 
 90 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 But it requires discernraent and insight to distinguish 
 the false from the true. The worse is often made to appear 
 the better reason. Satan appears not unfrequently as an 
 angel of light ; therefore it becomes us to take counsel 
 continually at the oracles of the living God. Men may be 
 worldly hearted in various degrees. The worship of the 
 god of this world, by some men, is as plain to see as the 
 mark which the Hindoo paints on his forehead, to denote 
 the idol he has taken for ,his god. But other men are 
 not so open ; the mark, or the number of the name 
 of the beast, is in the hand rather than on the forehead, 
 and therefore not so manifest, though it is there. It 
 is added, " Here is wisdom," herein a man shows whether 
 he walks in darkness or in light. " Let him that hath 
 understanding count the number of the beast ; for it is the 
 number of a man." It is within the power of a man to 
 find it out, to separate the chaff from the wheat, if he is 
 resolved to do it. " And his number is six hundred three- 
 score and six." We here come to a difficulty, the solutions 
 of which have been legion. "Without entering upon these 
 at large, let me put before you an explanation which is a 
 very old one, if not the oldest of all. 
 
 Throughout the writings of the apostles there runs an 
 undertone of warning to the Christian men of that genera- 
 tion. It was again and again intimated that there would 
 rise up an antichrist more formidable than any that had 
 yet appeared — more formidable than Judaism or heathen- 
 ism, because more subtle and deceptive. That enemy was 
 called the mystery of iniquity, and already had it begun to 
 work in the days of the apostles. Every man had need to 
 be on his guard, lest he be overcome by the insidious foe. 
 We beseech you, brethren, by the most solemn considera- 
 tions, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by 
 our gathering together unto Him. Let no man deceive 
 you by any means. The end is not yet. It will not come 
 until there has been developed the most blasphemous form 
 of antichrist. The evil has begun ; for the mystery of 
 iniquity doth already work. It shall be an evil that arises 
 from assumptions of power, where Grod alone ought to rule. 
 They who have no right will sit in the temple of Grod. 
 The coming is after the working of Satan with aU power
 
 The Tzvo Beasts and the Image. 91 
 
 and signs and lying wonders, and witli all deceivableness of 
 unrigliteousness in tliem that perish. The victims of this 
 evil shall be under strong delusions, that they should believe 
 a lie, for they had pleasure in unrighteousness. These 
 significant hints are pressed home again and again, both by 
 letters and the living voice. Eemember ye not that when 
 I was yet with you I told ye these things ? It is almost 
 impossible to overlook these references to latent dangers, 
 and to the mystery of iniquity, when we read in this book 
 (xvii. 5) that John saw a wanton harlot sitting upon the 
 scarlet coloured beast, and upon her forehead was a name 
 written, " Mystery." We shall see hereafter that, under 
 the double figure of a city and an abandoned woman, we 
 have in this the representation of the entire community of 
 those who worship the beast, as distinguished from those 
 who follow the Lamb. The name upon her forehead we 
 have just seen is " Mystery." The corresponding word in 
 Hebrew is " S'thur," the secret, the hidden. Now the 
 Hebrew letters, like the Grreek and Eoman, are iised as 
 numerals, and the letters in the word " S'thur," together, 
 make up the number Q'oQ. In a book where there are such 
 strong Hebraistic elements in language, thought, and sym- 
 bols, I am not surprised to find such a mystic reference to 
 an equivalent Hebrew word. "Wlien it is said the num- 
 ber of the beast is six' hundred three-score and six, the 
 meaning seems to be this : — Tou have been prepared for a 
 portentous form of evil. That form is embodied in her 
 upon whose forehead is the name " Mystery." But she is 
 only an aggregate symbol, representing all those who wor- 
 ship the beast. Wlioever renders that homage to force and 
 fraud, which belongs only to right and truth, is part of the 
 mystical Babylon. The number of the name belongs to him. 
 It may be found written on his hand, or engraven on his 
 forehead. He, too, belongs to the kingdom of darkness or 
 secrecy. Grod sees the sign that identifies him with Baby- 
 lon, And men may find out the name, too, and its num- 
 ber, "for it is the number of a man." It is within the 
 reach of human insight to distinguish and separate. If we 
 are right, then, this mysterious language is meant to set us 
 on our guard, to lead us to be diligent in self-examination, 
 lest we too be deceived, worshipping force and fraud
 
 92 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 rather tlian the living God. Times have changed, and each 
 new generation sees different phases of life. But while the 
 form has changed, the spirit of evil and worldly compliance 
 is unchanged. The warning voice is not unneeded. Still, 
 as of old, men are striving to serve two masters — God and 
 mammon ; but still, as of old, their service is irreconcile- 
 able. The solemn question of our Lord has lost none of 
 its significance. " What shall it profit a man, if he gain the 
 whole world and lose his soul ? or what shall a man give in 
 exchange for his soul ? "
 
 yii. 
 
 THE EAEVUST AND THE VmTAGE. 
 Eeyelation xiv. 
 
 Thtjs far we have been called to look at the darker side of 
 the Church's history. But happily there is another side. 
 Knowing the malice and craft of Satan, the pressure of 
 the ruling worldly power, and the insidious effects of false 
 teaching and corruj)t public opinion, we might fear that 
 the faithful would be few indeed. Belief is often deter- 
 mined by what is fashionable, or politic, or pleasant, rather 
 than by what is true or spiritual. It is not every man 
 that looks beneath the surface, and tests the opinions and 
 practices of his time by the law and the testimony. It is 
 not every man that prefers reality to appearance, the 
 things that are unseen and eternal to the things which are 
 seen and temporal. To do this demands earnestness of 
 search and firmness of conviction, and therefore the crowd 
 chooses the broader and easier path. Still, notwithstanding 
 these unfavourable influences, God has had His own faith- 
 ful followers, even in the darkest times. The gallant spirit 
 of Elijah broke down in the day of desertion and disappoint- 
 ment, from forgetting this. He thought his Hfe had been a 
 failure and a mistake, and that he had struggled in vain 
 against the wickedness and folly of his countrymen : " The 
 childi'en of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown 
 down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword ; 
 and I, even I only, am left." Poor troubled heart, thus 
 uttering some of the most sorrowful words history ever 
 recorded ! so it seems, but so it is not. Deep down in the 
 heart of the nation, hidden aw^ay in the caves of Carmel, 
 are seven thousand who have never bowed the knee to 
 Baal. There are two sides to the kingdom of Grod, and we
 
 94 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 in our cTespondency may see only one. We may realize 
 the significance of the previous visions : we may behold 
 Satan struggling might and main against the Church of 
 the living Grod ; the civil power of kings arrayed against 
 the faithful ; false teaching supported by State influence, 
 and working on to the deception of men's souls ; perverted 
 pu.blic opuaion, seeking with its hundred hands to drag 
 down truth and righteousness, and with its hundred 
 tongues to assail the reputation of those who feel that, 
 come what may, they must obey God rather than man : 
 we may see all this, and the view is disheartening enough. 
 But there is another side on which to look, and the aspect 
 is truly inspiriting. John saw the multitude both small 
 and great, rich and poor, free and bond, with the mark of 
 the beast in their right hands, or on their foreheads. But 
 now a new vision sets forth the brighter side : " I looked, 
 and lo ! " — a very consolatory spectacle. On the mount 
 Zion, the typical place of Divine service and manifestation, 
 he saw the Lamb, the risen Redeemer and Head of the 
 Church; and with Him a hundred and forty and four 
 thousand, the faithful found among the faithless. They 
 had kept themselves free from the mark of the beast. 
 They had preserved their loyalty and fidelity to the King 
 of kings. They had the Lamb's name (for such is the 
 best reading), and the Father's name written on their 
 foreheads. Eich and poor, small and great, bond and free, 
 have yielded to the force or the blandishments of the 
 beasts and the image ; but these hundred and forty and 
 four thousand have gone through the world's Vanity-fair 
 with that heavenly name plainly manifest. The pressure 
 against them was keen and strong, yet they remained in- 
 corrupted and incorruptible. He who stood with them 
 in glory on mount Zion, had been with them in conflict 
 upon the earth. Their Lord was Avith them ; therefore 
 they were in a great majority, though all kings, and priests, 
 and peoples were against them ; and here they stand, 
 having triumphed through Him. 
 
 In their number we see a reference to the first vision. 
 Tou will remember, that before the final ruin fell on Jeru- 
 salem, a hundred and forty-four thousand were sealed 
 out of every tribe of Israel and saved. They were the
 
 TJie Harvest and the Vintage. 95 
 
 spiritual Israel in the raidst of the apostate Jewish nation, 
 and Grod watched over and kept them as the apple of His 
 eye. Now in this chapter they appear again, and as part 
 of a different vision. Here they are regarded, not so 
 much in relation to the nation to which by birth they 
 belonged, and from the wreck of which they were saved, 
 but rather as the first-fruits of the entire Church of Christ ; 
 that Church in which all distinctions between Jew and 
 Gentile are done away for ever. They stand upon mount 
 Zion as the pledge and assiu-ance of all those who in every 
 age and land shall be faithful to principle and to God. In 
 olden time the Hebrews took of the first-fruits of their 
 land, and offered them unto God. The offering on their 
 part was a token of thanksgiving ; the reception on His 
 part was a pledge that the rest of the harvest should be 
 gathered. A sheaf was carried to the temple, to mount 
 Zion, and there waved before the Lord. Then, and not till 
 then, the harvest might be gathered. What that first sheaf 
 waved before the Lord was to the rest of the harvest, 
 these one hundred and forty-four thousand are to the rest 
 of the faithful, who shall be found in every generation, 
 even to the end. They are therefore representative men ; 
 representative of a multitude which no man can number. 
 " These were redeemed from among men, being the first- 
 fruits unto God and to the Lamb." 
 
 Here they are in vision before the throne of God, in the 
 midst of the scene which John beheld at the besfinning of 
 his visions ; the throne, and the elders, and the living 
 creatures, symbolic of man's perfected powers. They are 
 there in triumph, and whatsoever triumphs sings. They 
 sing a new song, the song of redemption by the blood of 
 Christ. They are the first-fruits of those redeemed from 
 among men, and therefore the first to utter the praise that 
 comes from souls redeemed. John heard their song, as it 
 rose with mighty swell in that heavenly world. So rich 
 and full was it, that it seemed like the voice of many 
 waters leaping from rock to rock of some lofty cascade ; 
 so majestic was it, that it reminded John of the thunder 
 as it reverberates among the mountains ; yet so sweet 
 withal, that the sound was as of harpers harping on their 
 harps. It was a new song ; the theme, the joy was new.
 
 96 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 Angels, standing there in tliat bright presence, could not 
 enter into all the fulness of its rapture. None can feel the 
 joys of deliverance, like those who have been drawn from 
 the burning house or rescued from the sinking ship ; and 
 no man could learn that song but those who had been 
 lifted by the strong hand of a Saviour out of sin and 
 death into eternal life. Angels had bent with songs of 
 joy over the manger of Bethlehem, and with wondering 
 awe over the cross of Calvary. Into the mysteries of 
 redemption they had desired to look. Tet this new song 
 was not for them. It could rise only from the lips of 
 men, who had once been rebels but had been received as 
 sons, who were once nigh unto perishing, but they " were 
 washed, they were sanctified, they were justified in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spmt of our Grod." 
 
 These redeemed ones have kept themselves from spiritual 
 adulteries. They were obedient to the heavenly voice, and 
 followed the Lamb whithersoever He went. They followed 
 their Lord in spirit, in life ; striving to be like Him in 
 patience, devotion, and generous love to the lost. They 
 followed the Lamb whithersoever He went. It has been 
 well said, " Some of us are willing, it may be, to follow the 
 Lamb a certain way, or in a certain direction. There are 
 some things which He requires of us which we are willing 
 to give. A gentle temper is ready to yield meekness ; a 
 vigorous frame is ready to give diligence. But try the 
 gentle temper, by proposing to it some work of courage ; 
 try the vigorous frame, by laying upon it not something 
 to be done, but something to be suffered, some task of 
 irksome charity, or some season of wasting sickness ; and, 
 perhaps, you will find that the word wheresoever has 
 applied a test fatal to many professions and severely 
 trying to all." But though the path of the Christian dis- 
 ciple is steep, yet it is so because it leads to the heavenly 
 heights. They that follow the Lamb in suffering shall 
 also follow Him in joy. Whithersoever amid the glories of 
 eternity the Lamb goeth, they shall follow Him. In the 
 expressive language of Scripture, they shall enter into the 
 joy of their Lord. 
 
 This triumphant scene, where our ears are filled with 
 songs of victory, is meant to be set over against the sor-
 
 The Harvest and the Vintage. 97 
 
 rows wliicli faithful conscientious men endure, when they 
 refuse to bear the mark of the beast or the number of 
 his name. The world has its victories and its enjoyments ; 
 but so has the faithful soul. The easy and compliant and 
 unprincipled gain their ends, and verily they have their 
 reward. They bear the mark, and therefore can buy and 
 sell and have the good things of the present. But these 
 are short-lived. On the other hand, he who follows His 
 Lord whithersoever He goeth, through scorn and sorrow 
 and suffering, meekly bearing the appointed cross, has joys 
 of which the world knows nothing. He will not bow the 
 knee to the god of this woi'ld ; he will not give to man 
 what belongs only to the Lord of lords ; and he has to 
 face the consequences of resistance. But he has also his 
 compensations. A peaceful conscience, the approving 
 smile of his Father, the abiding presence of his Saviour — 
 these are more than the worldling's treasures. And they 
 are only the beginning of good things. He shall stand 
 before the throne, and strike the harp, and raise the song 
 of victory. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the 
 things which Grod hath prepared for them that love Him. 
 
 So far, then, we are permitted to look at some of the 
 issues of the conflict w^ith the dragon, and with the beasts 
 animated by the spirit of the dragon. Some will be over- 
 borne ; but others wiU continue faithful unto death, and 
 receive the crown of life. And now a further thouirht 
 opens before us. Grod's kingdom shall not only hold its 
 own, but shall spread. The Divine purposes shall march 
 on to their completion, though the gates of hell resist. At 
 this point the apostle sees " another angel fly in the midst 
 of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto 
 them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kin- 
 dred, and tongue, and people." This angel represents to 
 us all those servants of the Lord who go forth to sow the 
 good seed of the kingdom. Every minister who preaches 
 at home, every missionary who labours abroad, every Sun- 
 day-school teacher who gathers the young to his side and 
 speaks to them of Jesus, every Christian that stops to 
 tell his neighbour about the love of Christ ; the pulpit, the 
 press, the friendly word, the friendly letter, every agency 
 
 H
 
 98 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 tliat man's ingenuity may devise, and God's blessing follow 
 — all are symbolised by the angel flying through the midst 
 of the heaven. He is a messenger sent of God, and his 
 message is glad tidings, the everlasting gospel. It is 
 gospel, having for its burden the news that God so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in Him might not perish but have everlasting life ; 
 that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Him- 
 self, not imputing unto men their trespasses. It is a 
 gospel in very deed and truth, proclaiming glad tidings of 
 atonement, forgiveness, renewal, and complete redemption. 
 It is the everlasting gospel. It shall outlive every form of 
 opposition. The sword cannot cut it in sunder, the fire 
 cannot burn it, the Avaters cannot drown it. It will shake 
 off iron fetters, and fly through prison walls. The frown 
 of the tyrant, the laugh of the frivolous, the sneer of the 
 sceptic are alike powerless to stay its course. It seems to 
 go back sometimes, but only as the waves of the on-coming 
 tide go back when preparing to rise higher than before. 
 Its friends die ; but it lives on. The first disciples bound it 
 to their hearts, and spread it as with the tongue of fire ; 
 they departed to their rest nearly eighteen centuries ago, 
 but the gospel is here to-day, the glory and joy of more 
 souls than ever. Heaven and earth may pass away, but 
 God's word of good shall not pass away. All flesh is as 
 grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The 
 grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away : but 
 the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the 
 word which by the gospel is preached unto you : 
 
 " Our little systems have their day — 
 They have their day, and cease to be ; " 
 
 but God's message of love is needed by every age alike, 
 and to every age it comes. It is for them — all them — that 
 dwell on the earth. " Power was given" unto the beast "over 
 all kindreds and tongues and nations." And the remedy 
 shall reach as far as the disease. The angel flies through 
 the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach 
 to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. 
 
 But the first note of that gospel is one of alarm and 
 warning. The world is summoned to repent as well as
 
 TJic Harvest mid the Vintage. 99 
 
 believe. "We fear before we tope. The gospel proclaims 
 the love of God to a sinful world ; it also declares the dan- 
 ger of going as that world goes. The angel cries Avith a 
 loud voice, " Pear God, and give glory to Him ; for the 
 hour of His judgment is come ; and worship Him that 
 made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of 
 waters." When Christ is lifted up, the judgment of the 
 prince of this Avorld begins. The drawing and the casting 
 out proceed in parallel lines. The Judge of quick and 
 dead is no unconcerned spectator ; even here and now the 
 judgment goes forward, the hour of His judgment is come. 
 So declares the first angel. Then follows the second angel, 
 with the cry, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 
 because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath 
 of her fornication." And the third angel followed these 
 two, and with a loud voice he cried, " K any man worship 
 the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his fore- 
 head, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of 
 the wrath of God, which is poured out unmixed, undiluted, 
 in the cup of His indignation ; and he shall be tormented 
 with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, 
 and in the presence of the Lamb : and the smoke of their 
 torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." They who gave 
 up so much, from fear of man, find there is another fear 
 beyond — the fear of Him who can cast both body and soul 
 into hell. " And they have no rest day nor night, who 
 worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth 
 the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints : 
 here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the 
 faith of Jesus." 
 
 In the cry of the second angel we come to a point re- 
 quiring a moment's consideration before we proceed, al- 
 though it will come before us again hereafter. Babylon 
 here referred to has usi;ally been interpreted in a figurative 
 sense. I suppose no one refers it to the actual city of 
 Babylon on the river Euphrates, for that had fallen long 
 before the time of these visions. It is very commonly 
 taken to mean Eome, some applying it to ancient heathen 
 Eome, and some to modern papal Eome. It certainly ap- 
 plies to modern papal Eome in so far as in that Church 
 the force of civil power has been put forth to persecute, 
 
 n 2
 
 lOO TIic Book of Revelation. 
 
 in so far as false teacliing has supported worldliness, and 
 in so far as corru])t public opinion has perverted the minds 
 of men from their obedience to Grod. I believe that all 
 these evils have been manifested, grossly manifested, in 
 that Church. But, unhappily, they have not been coufined 
 to it ; and therefore we must give a wider interpretation 
 to the meaning of mystical Babylon. It is the symbol of 
 the entire community of those who worship worldly power 
 and success, who put the fear of man in place of the fear 
 of Grod, and walk by expediency rather than by principle. 
 These are found everywhere in Christendom, and wherever 
 they are found they are included in the community sym- 
 bolised as Babylon the great. 
 
 Sometimes that community is known as Babylon, and 
 sometimes as the great harlot, the mother of abominations. 
 In the Old Testament, as well as in this book, both ideas 
 are found together, as when the prophet cries, " How is 
 the faithful city become a harlot ! " This double figure, 
 describing the same persons now under the similitude of a 
 base woman and now under the similitude of a city, has its 
 exact parallel in the way in which, on the other hand, the 
 followers of the Lamb are spoken of. Frequently the 
 sacred writers speak of all believers together under the 
 figure of a bride. The apostle, referring to the closeness 
 of the marriage relation, says. This is a great mystery, but 
 I speak concerning Christ and the Church. The future 
 coming together of the Saviour and His redeemed ones is 
 compared to a bridal. Whenever two plight their troth 
 together at Grod's altar, surrounded by the interest and 
 good wishes of those who look on at their espousals, we 
 have a foreshadowing in human relations of that bright 
 bridal day when Christ shall present all the saved to Him- 
 self — He the bridegroom, and they the bride ; a glorious 
 Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 
 Yery often, I need not say, the Church is represented 
 under the figure of a chaste bride : she is also represented 
 under the figure of a city. And what I wish especially to 
 point out is the fact that both these figures are blended 
 together in one passage. In the twenty-first chapter of this 
 book (verses 9 and 10), John says, " There came unto me 
 one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of
 
 The Harvest and the Vinta^s'e. loi 
 
 <b' 
 
 the seven last plagues, and talked witli me saying, Come 
 hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." Tet, 
 while offering to show the apostle the bride, the Lamb's 
 wife, he did actually show him a city. Mark what follows : 
 " And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and 
 high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy 
 Jerusalem, descending; out of heaven from Grod." So he 
 proceeds to describe a city with walls and gates and golden 
 streets. It is plain that the two symbols mean one and 
 the same thing. There can be no doubt that the bride, the 
 Lamb's wife, means the collective Church of the redeemed; 
 and there can be as little doubt that the bride and the city 
 here described are one and the same. 
 
 Now, as the entire company of the faithful are thus set 
 forth under the double figure of a chaste bride and a holy 
 city, so also the entire company of those who worship 
 worldly power and success, and are the dupes of false teach- 
 ing and corrupt public opinion, are set forth under the 
 double figure of a wanton harlot and a wicked city. Ee- 
 membering this, and returning to the chapter before us, 
 we read it thus — The first angel, having the everlasting 
 gospel, announces also that judgment is declared as well as 
 mercy. The second angel declares that that judgment is 
 to fall upon Babylon. And the third angel explains this 
 by saying that judgment falls upon any and every man who 
 worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark in 
 his forehead or in his hand. Though the immediate results 
 of worldly compliance seem to be pleasant, they are of 
 short duration. The man wins the world, but loses his 
 soul. He shall drink of the wine of the wrath which is 
 poured out, undiluted, into the cup of indignation. He 
 shall suffer even in this world; and the spiritual sorrows of 
 the world to come shall be as when the body is tormented 
 with fire and brimstone. And these sufterings shall be 
 intensified, because endured in the presence of the holy 
 angels, who would have rejoiced over his repentance, and 
 in the presence of the Lamb, who died to save the world, 
 and offered salvation freely to him. " And the smoke of 
 their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever : and they 
 have no rest ; " they who sacrificed principle and con- 
 science to ease and comfort: "they have no rest day nor
 
 102 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 nio^lit, who worsliip the beast and his image, and whosoever 
 receiveth the mark of his name." Such is the close of the 
 solemn warning, intensified more and more as one angel 
 after another takes up the burden of Divine judgments. 
 
 And now we are to turn to those who are faithful to 
 Grod in successive generations. Already, at the beginning 
 of the chapter, have we seen the first-fruits of the Church, 
 on mount Zion, raising their song of triumph. But we have 
 been told nothing yet of those who should come after them, 
 of those who should hold on their way during the forty 
 and two months of darkness and conflict. It is to these 
 therefore our thoughts are turned, when John says, 
 " Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that 
 keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
 Their constancy may be tried, their principles may be ridi- 
 culed, their sorrows may be multiplied ; but it shall not 
 always be thus with them. The night may be long, but 
 the morning cometh. Time is but the threshold of eternity. 
 Success and failure may be reversed when the light of the 
 future is thrown upon them. The end is not yet ; but when 
 it comes, and we have the full materials for judgment, it 
 will be seen that uncompromising fidelity to principle and 
 to God is the only path to enduring honour and undying 
 blessedness. For the apostle goes on to say, " Blessed are 
 the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith 
 the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and 
 their works do follow them." Twelve times in the course 
 of this book is the apostle commanded to write that which 
 he hears and sees, and each time it is something of deeper 
 interest than ordinary, to which attention is thus specially 
 called. The command is also solemnly endorsed by the 
 Holy Ghost—" Yea, saith the Spirit." Let this be known 
 wherever the gospel of the kingdom is preached : blessed are 
 the dead which die in the Lord. Blessed from henceforth. 
 There will be no long night of gloomy unconsciousness. 
 To die is gain. To depart, and to be with Christ, is far 
 better. When the eye has gazed its last fond look, and the 
 heart given its last throb, from henceforth blessed are they. 
 They rest from their labours. From the fretting, anxious 
 toils of life, from the wear and tear of doubt and fear, from 
 disappointment and fruitless labour frustrate of its hope,
 
 The Harvest and the Vintage. 103 
 
 from all that gives the lines of care to the face and the 
 feeling of sadness to the heart : from all this they rest. 
 They leave behind them the briers and thorns, they bear 
 with them their imperishable treasures. Their works do 
 follow them. Our Lord is a gracious Master ; He gives 
 strength for service, and crowns that service with blessing. 
 That which is done in His name, though it be but the giv- 
 ing of a cup of cold water to a disciple, shall in no wise lose 
 its reward. They who serve God with fidelity are always 
 garnering up treasure for that world where no destructive 
 influence can touch it. They are always radiating an in- 
 fluence for good. That which is the deepest principle 
 within a man must of necessity breathe forth. They are, 
 therefore, evermore working their lives for good into the 
 lives of others ; and, long after they have reached home 
 themselves, their works do follow them. 
 
 After these words had been spoken — words which have 
 long been a sacred possession to Christian mourners weep- 
 ing over their dead — words which, times without number, 
 have been uttered over the paUid face and written on the 
 tomb — after hearing these, John beheld a striking symbolic 
 description of the gathering in of successive generations of 
 faithful men. Already have we seen, I must again remind 
 you, those standing with the Lamb on mount Zion who 
 were the first-fruits of the harvest. We now see the har- 
 vest itself in course of reaping. From generation to gene- 
 ration the Lord is gathering the wheat into His garner. 
 From age to age tliere are those who are brought to their 
 Father's house, like as a shock of corn cometh in in its 
 season. " 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." He 
 holds the keys of death and the grave; on His head is the 
 crown, symbol of His sovereignty over the unseen world. 
 But still He works in harmony with the Father's will ; 
 therefore we are told that a messenger came out from the 
 innermost sanctuary, crying to Him that sat on the cloud, 
 " Thrust in Thy sickle and reap : for the time is come for 
 Thee to reap ; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And 
 He tliat sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth ; 
 and the earth was reaped." There is a beautiful thought
 
 104 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 here wliicli we must Bot overlook. The Saviour Himself 
 gathers in His own. The Reaper of the wheat is the Son of 
 man. It was the Saviour whom Stephen saw, when in 
 dying agony he looked upward : He was standing at the 
 right hand of God, as though He had risen to welcome 
 His servant as soon as the last enemy had done his work. 
 Blessed token this, that all His people shall find Him near 
 in the hour when heart and flesh are failing. When the 
 shadows thicken, when the feet set forth on the unknown 
 journey, then is He the nearest to His own. At sight of 
 Him all fear departs ; and they go, singing as they go. Tea, 
 though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
 I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy 
 staff they shall comfort me. 
 
 But there is another ingathering. Out of the temple, 
 the very sanctuary of God's presence, comes a second angel 
 having a sharp sickle in his hand. He is met by an angel 
 who comes out from beneath the altar as the minister of 
 wrath, for he has power over fire, and he cries with a loud 
 cry to Him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in Thy 
 sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the 
 earth ; for her grapes are fully ripe. The angel obeyed the 
 command, gathering the vine of the earth, and casting it 
 into the great winepress of the wrath of God. " And the 
 winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came 
 out of the winepress, even to the horse bridles, by the space 
 of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." 
 
 An explanatory word is needful here. The length men- 
 tioned — 1600 furlongs, or rather 1600 stadia (for this is the 
 right word), a stadium being rather shorter than a furlong 
 — is a little more than 180 miles, and this is the length of 
 Palestine from Dan to Beersheba. Now the land of Pales- 
 tine is used as the symbol of the whole earth in some 
 places, and is so used here. The expression in the last 
 verse, therefore, is a symbolic way of saying that God's 
 wrath shall be executed to the full over all the earth 
 against His enemies. Wherever the beast has triumphed, 
 there shall judgment come. But the city itself — the type 
 of the heavenly city — must be kept undefiled as the place 
 of life. Therefore is the winepress trodden without the 
 city. The treading of the winepress is to be set over
 
 TJie Harvest and the Vintage. 105 
 
 against the reaping of the wheat. It is the appointed 
 symbol of vengeance. "I have trodden the winepress 
 alone, and of the people there was none with me : for I Avill 
 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. For the day of vengeance is 
 in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." Again, 
 " The Lord hath trodden the daughter of Judah as in a 
 winepress." And again, " Let the heathen be wakened, 
 and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat : for there will I 
 sit to jiidge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the 
 sickle, for the harvest is ripe : come, get you down ; for the 
 press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is 
 
 great 
 
 Both sides have been placed before us. Look on this 
 picture, and on that. There is a ripening of character, both 
 for glory and for judgment. There is the solving, the shoot- 
 ing up, the maturing. Side by side they grow ; but at the 
 end tljtey are widely different. God gave to two men life, 
 with all its grand possibilities, and said, " Occupy till I 
 come ; time is yours, eternity may be yours also." They 
 went their way. The one man walked in softness and self- 
 sparing. It was hard, battling against evil tendencies ; and 
 he gave- it up. It was unpleasant, making sacrifices for 
 truth and principle ; and he would rather not make them. 
 Christ's words about taking up the cross were a hard say- 
 ing, and he could not hear them. So he crushed the better 
 hope, stifled the holier voices, and destroyed the very strength 
 of his manhood. Alas for the coming vintage ! The time 
 of the end appeared, and there was heard the voice of the 
 angel crying unto his fellow. Thrust in Thy sharp sickle, 
 and gather the clusters of the vine of this soul ; for its 
 grapes are fuUy ripe. 
 
 The other man went a diflerent way. Caring more for 
 righteousness than for comfort, struggling against the tide 
 rather than going with it, he was bent on keeping his soul 
 to life eternal. He followed his Lord to the judgment-hall, 
 the garden, the cross, and the sepulchre. There was a 
 steady growth of character, a ripening for the kingdom. 
 Taith became stronger, and equal to the greater demands 
 made upon it. Conscience became more tender. Love
 
 io6 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 steeped the soul to a riclier mellowness, and communion 
 with Grod filled the spirit with the fulness of God. Life 
 had its shocks and storms, its biting winds and its beating 
 tempests ; still the ripening went steadily forward, and at 
 length the voice was heard as before, " Thrust in Thy sickle, 
 and reap : for the time is come for Thee to reap : because 
 the harvest of this soul is ripe." 
 
 Again I say, Look on this picture, and on that ; and may 
 our good Lord bear home to your hearts the solemn lesson 
 the contrast gives.
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE SEVEN VIALS. 
 
 Eevelation XV., xvi. 
 
 "We have looked upon the harvest and the vintage of the 
 earth. "VVe have seen that the end of life proves the wis- 
 dom of the choice of Grod-fearing men. The righteous are 
 gathered home, as the wheat is gathered into the garner ; 
 the worldly-minded give glory to Grod, as the vintage is 
 made profitable by being crushed and broken. But not 
 merely at life's end shall it be made apparent that the wor- 
 ship of worldly power, as opposed to the spiritual service of 
 God, is destructive. Even here it works detrimentally to 
 all the interests of man. This important truth the next 
 vision unfolds to us. The apostle saw another sign in hea- 
 ven, in that same palace of vision where already so many 
 marvels had been witnessed. He saw seven angels having 
 the seven last plagues ; for with these the wrath of Grod was 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Before the harvest and vintage, John saw the first-fruits 
 of the faithful standing with the Lamb on mount Zion, 
 where they sing, as it were, a new song before the throne. 
 In like manner also, before the outpouring of the seven 
 vials, he sees the triumph of all those who had gotten the 
 victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his 
 mark, and over the number of his name. They have the 
 harps of God ; and standing, as did ancient Israel, by the 
 shores of the sea, they sing the song of Moses the servant 
 of God, and the song of the Lamb. It is not a song of 
 victory, sung on mount Zion, and within the promised 
 land, as was the last ; it is raised while they have the wil- 
 derness yet to pass through ; it is a song for earth, and not 
 for heaven. A great deliverance is behind them, but long
 
 io8 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 wanderings are before them ere the borders of Canaan are 
 reached. 
 
 There is frequent reference in this vision to the bondage 
 of Israel in Egypt, and the mode of their deliverance from 
 its yoke. There is very much in these two chapters that 
 will become plainer to us if we bear in mind the position of 
 God's people in that land, the judgments iipon their op- 
 pressors, and the mighty deliverance wrought by Jehovah 
 on their behalf. Eor example, when the first vial was out- 
 poured, a grievous sore fell upon men, reminding us of the 
 boils and blisters that formed one of the plagues of Egypt. 
 The second vial was poured upon the sea, which became 
 blood, as did all the streams and pools of Egypt at the smit- 
 ing of Aaron's rod. The first-born of the Egyptians through- 
 out the land were laid low by the destroying angel, and thus 
 were the slaughtered sons of the Hebrews avenged ; even as 
 it is said when the third angel had poured out his vial, 
 " They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and 
 Thou hast given them blood to drink ; for they are worthy." 
 And once more, when the fifth angel had executed his com- 
 mission, pouring out his vial upon the throne of the beast, 
 his kingdom was full of darkness, reminding us of that 
 darkness which was over all the land and which might be 
 felt. It is, of course, quite in keeping with this, that at 
 the outset of the vision John saw a sea of glass mingled 
 with fire, symbol of the glittering purity and righteous 
 judgments of Grod ; and on the shore of this sea there stood 
 those who had gotten the victory. And they had the harps 
 of Grod, and they sang the song of Moses and of the Lamb. 
 They rejoiced, as did the great lawgiver and the people of 
 Israel, when, standing by the shore of that lied Sea where 
 the flower of Egypt's strength had perished, they sang 
 unto the Lord who had triumphed gloriously. This pro- 
 minent reference to Egypt is worthy of note. Egypt was 
 the type of the world-power that oppresses the spiritual 
 Israel. So was Babylon ; but there was a difference be- 
 tween Egypt and Babylon. Babylon came from afar 
 against the chosen nation, and presents the ideal of an 
 active, hostile force making inroads upon the Church. 
 But Israel went down into Egypt, and Egypt's oppression 
 comes from the surfeit of worldliness. It seeks to make
 
 The Seven Vials. 109 
 
 men content to be bondsmen, if only they can have the 
 fleshpots and those other sensual indulgences the land 
 yields so plenteously. It keeps its slaves at low, debasing 
 pursuits, and robs them of. the high aims of a true man- 
 hood. Yet, in spite of its tyranny, its spell is powerful. 
 Even when God was in their midst, the manna all around, 
 and Canaan before them, Israel hankered after Egypt 
 again. It is the type of that world which holds out its bait 
 to men, and tells them that high principle may be good, but 
 comfort, easy-going, the gratification of the sense, these are 
 better. It bids them be silent on topics that are \inwel- 
 come, to be supple and compliant, taking care of self, leav- 
 ing principle to do the same. But the spiritual Israel 
 know that the highest regard to principle is the truest care 
 for self They cannot stay in Egypt. Their hearts are 
 weary of the gross fleshly delights of a life that rises but 
 little above the sense. They thirst for the sight of God in 
 His glory on the mountain summits of life. They would 
 go forth and worship Him, though there be no fleshpots in 
 the wilderness. Simpler and more severe the life there is, 
 yet grander ; and the end of it is Canaan. It is a great vic- 
 tory to break away from this Egypt in which we are all in 
 danger of tarrying ; and John sees those who have reso- 
 lutely left it standing on the margin of their Eed Sea of 
 deliverance, singing the song of Moses the servant of God, 
 and the song of the Lamb, saying — 
 
 " Great and awful are Thy works. 
 Lord God the Almighty : 
 Just and faithful are Thy ways, 
 Sovereign of the nations : 
 Who shall not fear, Lord, 
 And give honour to Thy name ? 
 For Thou only art holy ; 
 
 For all nations shall come and worship before Thee, 
 For Thy righteous judgments are manifest." 
 
 Thus they come out of Egypt, not with craven hearts that 
 are ready to turn back, but with heroic feeling that bursts 
 forth into song. As one has well said, " The Christian life, 
 as it progresses, rises into song. Eor the essential princi- 
 ple of Christian life is self-sui'rendering love to God, and 
 that can bring thanksgiving out of sorrow. Self-surrender
 
 no The Book of Revelation. 
 
 has not reached its highest form until a man can give up 
 his all to God, and feel blessed even then because Grod's 
 love is infinite. He has not learned to say ' Thy will be 
 done ' in the noblest sense, v^ho says it only in sorrow. 
 This is the test of a progressive life — a progressive spirit of 
 song. Just as we go on conquering the evil that is in us, and 
 evincing the heavenly spirit which strives for its conquest, 
 shall we see how all life becomes musical with Grod's love. 
 Ton see this in the Book of Psalms. It presents the truest 
 picture of life in its falls, and its struggles, and its faithful 
 struggling on after defeat. At first it tells of suffering 
 and strife and sorrow ; but as it draws to a close, the sorrow 
 ceases, and it ends in one chant of praise. ' They sing the 
 song of Moses and the Lamb.' The dispensation of Moses 
 and the dispensation of Christ — there is a ground of union 
 between the men of all the ages, and they unite in one song. 
 For the same spirit is against Grod which manifested itself 
 to the men of the past : the same spirit of evil — in differ- 
 ent shapes it may be — against which Moses, the prophets, 
 and the faithful in the old time fought, has been confront- 
 ing Grod's heroes through all the ages. Thus the one con- 
 flict of life makes the conquerors one in song." 
 
 When the song was ended, the apostle looked and behold 
 the holy tabernacle of witness was opened in heaven, and 
 there came out of the sanctuary the seven angels who held 
 the seven last plagues. They came out of the innermost 
 shrine ; out of the place where stands the mercy-seat 
 proceeds judgment. For judgment and mercy are one. 
 Judgment is mercy in another form, and the overthrow of 
 sin is tenderness. The Lord thy God is a jealous God — 
 jealous because He loves. He would keep back evil fi-om 
 men and destroy it, as you would jealously keep a low- 
 minded man from your child. There is nothing harsh in 
 that. It is the highest form in which affection can show 
 itself. Ton will not fail to mark that one of the four living 
 creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full 
 of the wrath of God. For perfected man fully acquiesces 
 in the judgments of God. These seven angels were clothed 
 in pure and white linen, and had their breasts girded with 
 golden girdles ; for in righteousness they went forth to 
 execute judgment. Man too often meets sin by sin, but
 
 TJie Seven Vials. 1 1 1 
 
 Grod never does. He meets it and overcomes it by right- 
 eousness. Tet, whenever He shows Himself, it is an over- 
 whelming sight. When the tabernacle was finished, " 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, and the glory of the Lord filled the 
 tabernacle." And again, at the solemn dedication of the 
 more gorgeous temple, " the house was filled with a cloud, 
 even the house of the Lord ; so that the priests could not 
 stand to minister by reason of the cloud." In like manner, 
 also, it is said in this chapter that when the seven angels went 
 forth to execute the judgments of God, " the temple was 
 filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His 
 power ; and no man was able to enter into the temple till 
 the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled." 
 
 Out of that glory which was blinding by excess of 
 brightness, there was heard a great voice, saying to the 
 seven angels, " Go your ways and pour out the vials of the 
 wrath of God upon the earth." In following out the 
 course of this vision we cannot fail to note the analogy be- 
 tween the sounding of the first four" trumpets and the out- 
 pouring of the first four vials. At the sounding of these 
 trumpets, we saw the outworking of judgments upon hea- 
 thenism in its destructive influence upon man's temporal 
 interests. It was seen cursing the earth, the sea, the social 
 life, and the governments of the nations. In like manner 
 also the first four vials are poured out on the earth, the 
 sea, the fountains and rivers of waters, and upon the sun. 
 We are thus taught that man's earthly interests suffer by 
 worldliness, even as they do by idolatry ; that what is op- 
 posed to the word of God is also opposed to the prosperity 
 of man even as a citizen of time. Wherever there is an in- 
 fraction of the Divine command there must be correspond- 
 ing loss. It may not be seen at once, it may take time to 
 work out its results ; but those results will surely come. 
 Whether we look at individual life or the course of nations, 
 we see that in the long run there can be no evasion of the 
 action of those spiritual laws under which the human race 
 is placed in the moral government of God. The meaning 
 of the symbols here employed is simply this : if men forego
 
 112 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 principle and yield to softness and self-sparing ; if there be 
 an interference on the part of rulers with the consciences 
 of their subjects ; if a perversion of truth be taught by a 
 corrupt priesthood for truth itself, and if this intrusion of 
 the ruling power and this false teaching be supported by 
 the tyranny of a public opinion which has grown out of 
 them both, then shall direful consequences surely follow. 
 And what is of special importance to notice is that these 
 consequences will result not to those who resist but to 
 those who conform to these evil principles. Every one 
 knows that those who have resisted the dictation of rulers 
 in spiritual things, and the insolent assumptions of priest- 
 craft, have suffered again and again. They laid their ac- 
 count with this, and were not surprised when it came. 
 They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in 
 themselves that they had in heaven a better and an endur- 
 ing substance. That tliey suffered is perfectly well under- 
 stood. But the vision goes beyond that. It shows that 
 the power of the civil ruler exercised in the spiritual realm, 
 the influence of priestcraft in false teaching, and the 
 result of a low tone of public feeling on the Saviour's 
 claims, will be more destructive to those who yield to and 
 support them, than to those who resist them. And that de- 
 structive influence will be felt affectiug earthly interests as 
 well as heavenly. If you place the outpouring of the first 
 four vials beside the sounding of the first four trumpets, 
 and recall the explanation already given, you will see that 
 in the same order the earth, the sea, the fountains and 
 rivers of water, and the sun are smitten ; every department 
 of life suffers when men yield to evil principles and corrupt 
 affections. 
 
 This could easily be shown to be true, even when these 
 principles and affections are kept in check by better influ- 
 ences, and are only partially supreme ; but perhaps the 
 lesson of the vision will be all the more forcible, if we take 
 instances where both causes and effects are clearly acknow- 
 ledged. It will be difficult to find a more striking case in 
 illustration than that of the Netherlands, during the sway of 
 Philip II. of Spain. When his father passed on to him the 
 rule of the empire, there were, in the Low Countries, thou- 
 sands of God-feariiig men, who held to the purer faith. In
 
 The Seven Vials. 113 
 
 days when there was a fair measure of liberty of conscience, 
 their cities were among the most prosperous on the face of 
 the earth. Busy artisans and flourishing traders swarmed in 
 their streets, and the sails of their merchantmen whitened 
 almost every sea. But the moody, narrow-minded Philip 
 resolved, though he perished in the struggle, he would 
 compel all his subjects to conform to the faith that to him 
 seemed right. I need not repeat the dreadful story of his 
 doings. What good men suffered thi-ough those weary 
 years will never be fully known till the revelations of the 
 great day. But they were not the only sufferers. They 
 who bowed to the king's will, who worshipped the beast, 
 who bore his name on their foreheads, they had their losses 
 and sufferings too. Philip's persecution of the Protestants 
 was not only a crime ; it was a blunder. Trade and com- 
 merce forsook the land. The religious exiles carried with 
 them various branches of industry, and established them 
 elsewhere. Not a little of England's wealth to-day has 
 risen from these good men, to whom she gave an asylum 
 in the hour of their need. The persecutor crushed out the 
 Reformed faith, but he crushed out temporal prosperity 
 with it. The streets were silent where busy merchants 
 once did congregate ; and poverty, like an armed man, seized 
 on some of the wealthiest cities of the world. 
 
 And we may go a step farther. Let there be little or no 
 persecution, but let superstition and priestcraft be domi- 
 nant; and the same results will follow. A priest-ridden 
 nation is generally a nation steeped in poverty. Look at 
 Spain, at the Papal States, at Ireland ; and contrast their 
 condition with that of Protestant nations. It is plain that 
 if men surrender the right of private judgment at the bid- 
 ding of a dominant caste ; if they believe no matter what, 
 because they are told to believe it, and for no better rea- 
 son ; if they crouch before a priest, instead of bending 
 reverently before God, they grow superstitious and narrow- 
 minded, and lose that enlightened enterprise by which 
 national prosperity is gained and kept. 
 
 It is said in this chapter that the third angel poured his 
 
 .vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, — that is, upon 
 
 the social city life of those who worshipped the beast and 
 
 his image ; and the waters became blood. There was the 
 
 I
 
 1 14 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 outworking of retribution. And sometimes this comes in 
 signal forms. Who can forget the dreadful massacre of 
 St. Bartholomew, in Prance ? Within a few hours, thou- 
 sands of unsuspecting Protestants were murdered in cool 
 blood. The righteous men, the holy seed, who were the 
 substance of the nation, perished as by a blow. Slowly, 
 but surely, they were avenged. An interval of two cen- 
 turies passed by. At its beginning is the massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew, — at its close the French Eevolution. Nor 
 is it mere fanaticism that connects the two events. Leave 
 evil principles and influences unchecked by good men's 
 lives, and corruption must ensue. The handwriting is 
 upon the wall, and it is only a matter of time when the 
 doom shall come. The actors in that dreadful tragedy 
 thought only of smiting down those who had the misfor- 
 tune to differ with them. They did far more. They cut 
 down the plants our heavenly Father had planted, and the 
 only hindrances to the growth of poisonous weeds were thus 
 removed. Rank and strong these grew, and at last their 
 fruit was ripe. And when the ingathering came, it might 
 well bring out, strong and clear, the words before us : 
 " And I heard the angel of the waters say. Thou art right- 
 eous, Lord, who art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou 
 hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints 
 and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink, for 
 they are guilty," 
 
 It is said that when the fourth angel poured out his vial 
 upon the sun, power was given to it to scorch men with 
 fire. That is, the ruling power in the land became destruc- 
 tive even to those who bent before it or supported it. A 
 very slight review of the past will verify this. The power 
 that plays the tyrant over conscientious men will very 
 soon play the tyrant over those who have no regard to 
 conscience. Herod will slav James, and thrust Peter 
 into prison, to please the Jews ; yet let not those Jews be 
 too elated, for it will be their turn next. The wanton 
 cruelty they have hounded on against others will grow more 
 wanton by indulgence, and turn round upon them. The 
 cause of freedom is every man's cause. They who wor- 
 shipped the beast found that when the vial was poured out 
 upon the sun, power was given to it to scorch men with
 
 TJic Seven Vials. 1 1 5 
 
 fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blas- 
 phemed the name of God, who hath power over these 
 plagues, who ruleth in the kingdom of men, and appointeth 
 over it whomsoever He will ; and they repented not to give 
 Him glory. 
 
 It will be still within your recollection that after the 
 first four trumpets had sounded, tlie influence of idolatry 
 upon the temporal interests of men was seen. And, then, 
 when the fifth trumpet sounded, the more spiritual effects 
 of idolatry were to be traced in the swarm of suj)erstitions 
 that rose from the pit and fastened not upon the property 
 or the bodies of men, but upon their souls. In like manner, 
 at the outpouring of the fifth vial, we pass into the region 
 of man's inner life. " And the fifth angel poured out his 
 vial upon the throne of the beast : and his kingdom was 
 full of darkness ; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 
 and blasphemed the Grod of heaven, because of their pains 
 and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." The 
 throne of the beast is the soul of the world- worshipper, for 
 it is there that his authority is established. And when he 
 rules there, his kingdom is full of darkness — full of wretch- 
 edness, too, for the worldly heart is ever weary and un- 
 satisfied. The spii'itual misery of Dives was expressed in 
 the cry — " Let Lazarus dip the tip of his finger in water, and 
 cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." So they 
 who rest in this world, and bow to unlawful authority, 
 gnaw their tongues for pain. The burdened spirit finds 
 no resting-place. The world cannot satisfy the heart ; 
 false authority cannot satisfy the conscience. Both were 
 made for God, to Him they should bow, and in Him they 
 must rest. 
 
 I need hardly point out the analogy between the sound- 
 ing of the sixth trumpet and the outpouring of the sixth 
 vial. " And the sixth angel poured out his "vaal upon the 
 river, the great one, the Euphrates ; and the water thereof 
 was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might 
 be prepared." Here we have the beginning of the end of 
 that Babylon, which, as we have seen, is the figiu'e under 
 which the world-worshippers, as one community, are set 
 forth. And the manner of its overthrow receives its mean- 
 ing from the way in which the real, historical city of 
 
 I 2
 
 ii6 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 Babylon was destroyed. Long had Cyrus, witli liis eastern 
 forces, laid siege to the city, and at length victory was won 
 by stratagem. He dug a new channel for the river Eu- 
 phrates ; and on the night of Belshazzar's feast the waters 
 were diverted, and along the river's bed the warriors poured 
 on into the city. " The waters of the Euplirates were dried 
 up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared." 
 It is merely a symbolic way of telling us that the means of 
 defence by which evil principles are upheld, and in which 
 their votaries trust shall be taken from them, as was 
 Babylon's strong stay on that fatal night. The river in 
 which they trusted, as an obstacle to the foe, gave its bed as 
 the path of their progress ; and thus was the way of the 
 victors prepared. 
 
 The hour of crisis and overthrow draws nearer. Tet 
 those who are to be destroyed see not whither all things are 
 tending. They are the subjects of strong delusions that 
 they should believe a lie. Deceiving influences, set forth 
 under the figure of ft-ogs coming forth out of the mouth of 
 the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of 
 the mouth of the false prophet, lead them on to their ruin. 
 They who are destitute of good influences and holy inspira- 
 tion are the abiding place of unclean spirits. By these 
 they are infatuated— impelled forward to the day of deci- 
 sion and manifestation, when all masks shall be stripped 
 away, and when that which is worldly and unspiritual shall 
 be openly seen and felt to be hostile to the truth of Grod. 
 The day shall declare it, that great day of God Almighty. 
 It is Grod's day, though lying spirits have gathered the 
 kings of the earth and of the whole world to the battle, to 
 the last conflict of great principles. To the crisis all things 
 are steadily converging, and in this fact there is solemn 
 warning. The manifestation will be complete, and it will 
 burst upon the world when men little dream that such a 
 thing is near. "Behold I come as a thief, suddenly, and 
 by sui'prise, at the darkest hour, in the time of sleep and 
 unconsciousness. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keep- 
 eth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his 
 shame." Blessed is he whose loins are girt about, and his 
 light burning, when the great day of God Almighty shall 
 dawn.
 
 The Seven Vials. 1 1 7 
 
 It is again said that God gathered together those who 
 are thus worldly and deceived, gathered them together 
 unto a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon, or, 
 more properly, Harmagedon. The very sound of this word 
 suggests a host of cui'ious speculations about unfulfilled 
 prophecy. It is associated in one's mind with pamphlets 
 of startling purport, pointing to the siege of Sebastopol, 
 the war in Italy, or to battles elsewhere, as the fulfilment 
 of the conflict here foretold. Time after time have these 
 appeared, furnished a subject of momentary excitement 
 to the crowd of readers always on the out-looli for such 
 things, and then have quietly floated down the stream to 
 forgetfulness. Up to this point we have again and again 
 seen that in Scripture itself we have the surest clue to the 
 interpretation of the symbols of Scripture, and that we 
 need not go crying Lo here ! or lo there ! to find out the 
 meaning. The mystic battle of Harmagedon is no excep- 
 tion ; as a reference to the Old Testament I think will show. 
 
 Harmagedon means the city or mountain of Megiddo. 
 It rises from the famous plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel, 
 which was the great battle-field of Palestine. This great 
 plain is sometimes called the valley of Megiddo, from the 
 city which stood on its southern border. Dean Stanley 
 has pointed out the analogy between this plain and the 
 plain of Stirling.* Both are sitviated at the opening of the 
 highlands, and both have been the scenes of the most de- 
 cisive battles in the history of their resjjective countries. 
 The valley of Megiddo is all the more significant for the 
 purpose of the vision before us, because the battles on this 
 plain were those to which the Israelites were forced by 
 hostile or invading armies. Wlien they could choose theii* 
 own ground, they preferred to fight in their mountain 
 passes. " Two kings perished on its soil ; some of Israel's 
 chief victories were won here ; and also two of the saddest 
 dirges of the Jewish nation were evoked by the defeats of 
 Gilboa and Megiddo." It was hard by " the waters of 
 Megiddo " that Deborah, that mother in Israel, and Barak, 
 with the chiefs of Issachar, overthrew the Canaanitish 
 host of Sisera, which Jabin led. It was on this plain that 
 Grideon and his three hundred trusty men scattered to the 
 * " Sinai and Palestine," p. 337.
 
 1 1 8 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 winds the army of the Midianites. It was on that bleak, 
 grey ridge, dividing the plain eastward, on mount Gilboa, 
 that Grod-forsaken Saul came to his sad end, and " the 
 beauty of Israel was slain upon the high places." Here, 
 at a later day, when Shalmauezer came against Hosea, " the 
 bow of Israel was broken in the valley of Jezreel ;" and 
 here, also, Judah's power went down when the Egyptian 
 archers shot at king Josiah, and, sore wounded, he was car- 
 ried to Jerusalem to die. And there is yet one other 
 event we must not pass by. At the western apex of the 
 plain, on the overhanging brow of Carmel, there was a 
 conflict more momentous than any of these. It was there 
 that the solitary and commanding figure of Elijah, the pro- 
 phet of the Lord, confronted the prophets of Baal and 
 Astarte. It was there that he cried to the apostate nation, 
 " How long are you to halt and totter, first on one knee, 
 and then on the other ? If Jehovah be your God, Avalk 
 straight after Him ; if Baal, walk straight after him ! " 
 Here the lying prophets did their utmost to prove their 
 lord to be the Grod. In frenzied state they tossed to and 
 fro the swords and lances which formed part of their fan- 
 tastic worship, and gashed themselves and each other till 
 they were smeared with blood. When their ravings were 
 ended, Elijah wath his own hand raised the ruined altar of 
 the Lord, and, as the hour of the evening sacrifice drew 
 near, he sent up to heaven four short cries to the God of 
 his fathers * : — 
 
 " Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hear me : 
 
 " Jehovah : hear me this day in fire, and let all this people know that 
 Thou art Jehovah the God of Israel, and I am Thy servant, and through 
 Thee I have done all these things : 
 
 " Hear me, Jehovah : 
 
 " Hear me, and let this people know that Thou., Jehovah, art the God, 
 and that Thou hast turned their hearts back again." 
 
 On the open mountain-top, and in a moment, there fell 
 fire from the Lord out of heaven. So complete was the 
 proof, that even that wavering multitude cried " Jehotah 
 HE is God ! Jehovah HE is God ! " There, prostrate 
 before the prophet, they lay on the mountain-side. " He 
 was now the ruler of the nation. His word was law. In 
 
 * Stanley's " Jewish Church," Second Series, pp. 303, 304.
 
 The Seven Vials. 119 
 
 that sudden revulsion of feeling ' the wheel had come full 
 cycle round.' The persecutors became the victims. The 
 prophets of Baal were seized ; they were swept away by 
 the wild multitude. Elijah himself led them down the 
 mountain-slopes to the gorge of the Kishon. As Phiuehas, 
 as Samuel, before him, so Elijah now took upon himself 
 the dreadful office of executioner. Sword in hand, he 
 stood over the unresisting prophets, and in one swift and 
 terrible slaughter they fell by the sacred stream, by the 
 waters of Megiddo."* 
 
 Take all these references together, and let me now ask 
 what place could be more significant as the symbol of the 
 world's great battle-field, whereon should be fought the 
 final conflict between the hosts of good and evil ? No 
 material warfare is here intended by the battle of Harma- 
 gedon, no conflict between armies of flesh and blood. It 
 is to a spiritual strife, it is to that decisive issue to which 
 all principles, good and bad, are tending, that our thoughts 
 are turned in the vision before us. It is as when in 
 ancient days the Lord said to His people by the mouth of 
 Ezekiel, " I will gather all nations, and will bring them 
 down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with 
 them there for my people and for my heritage. The day 
 of the Lord cometh. For I will gather all nations against 
 Jerusalem to battle. Then shall the Lord go forth and 
 fight against those nations." 
 
 Returning to our exposition, we find that after the 
 apostle had seen the gathering of the mystic hosts to Har- 
 magedon, he was called to behold the conclusion of this 
 part of the vision. " The seventh angel poured out his 
 vial into the air ;" upon the empire at large of him who is 
 the Prince of the power of the air; "and there came a 
 great voice out of the innermost shrine, from the throne, 
 saying. It is done." The work of the seven angels is fin- 
 ished, and the mystery of Grod is accomplished. Awful 
 portents attend the consummation. " There were voices 
 and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earth- 
 quake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so 
 mighty an earthquake and so great." The handwriting on 
 the wall has been interpreted, and the doom is come. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 305.
 
 I20 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 " The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities 
 of the nations fell," all lesser forms of corruption shared in 
 the overthrow ; and she who had sat as a queen, who had 
 sinned with impunity so boldly and so long, she, " great 
 Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto 
 her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." 
 The signs of the final judgment are everywliere manifest, 
 for the end is come. " And every island fled away, and the 
 mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a 
 great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a 
 talent : and men blasphemed God because of the plague of 
 the hail ; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." 
 
 " Awake ! again the Gospel trump is blown : 
 From year to year it swells with louder tone ; 
 
 From year to year the signs of wrath 
 
 Are gathering round the Judge's path, 
 Strange words fulfilled, and mighty works achieved, 
 And truth in all the world both hated and believed. 
 
 Thus bad and good their several warnings give 
 Of His approach, whom none may see and live : 
 
 Faith's ear, with awful still delighf, 
 
 Counts them like minute bells at night. 
 Keeping the heart awake till dawn of morn, 
 "While to her funeral pile this aged world is borne. 
 
 But what are Heaven's alarms, to hearts that cower 
 In wilful slumber, deepening every hour. 
 
 That draw their curtains closer round, 
 
 The nearer swells the trumpet's sound ? 
 Lord, ere our trembhng lamps sink down and die, 
 Touch us with chastening hand, and make us feel Thee nigh."
 
 IX. 
 
 GBEAT BABYLON'S DOOM. 
 Eevelation xvii., xviii. 
 
 In the fourteenth chapter of this book John tells us that 
 he saw an angel flying in mid-heaven, having the everlast- 
 ing gospel to preach to the dwellers on the earth. " And 
 there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is 
 fallen, that great city, because she made all nations di'ink 
 of the wine of the WTath of her fornication." Again, at 
 the outpouring of the sixth vial the great river Euphrates 
 was dried up, and we were thus taught that mystical Baby- 
 lon's defence was gotie, and her end was near. And finally, 
 when the seventh vial had been emptied " the great city 
 was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations 
 fell ; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, 
 to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of 
 His wrath." 
 
 The burden of these two chapters now before us, then, 
 has been again and again anticipated in the course of our 
 exposition. What we are to look for now is a fuller de- 
 scription of the overthrow thus repeatedly and solemnly 
 announced. 
 
 In a previous lecture I have endeavoured to show that 
 the gi'eat harlot and the city Babylon mean one and the 
 same thing — the false Church which has grown up in the 
 midst of the true ; just as the bride the Lamb's wife, and 
 the holy city New Jerusalem both represent the same 
 thing- — the community of the real followers of the Lord 
 Jesus. That this is the case can hardly be doubted after 
 the reference I made to the twenty-first chapter. One of 
 the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven 
 last plagues, appeared to the apostle, saying to him, Come
 
 122 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. But, 
 instead of showing him a woman, he showed him that great 
 city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from 
 God. Thus they are set over against each other, the chaste 
 bride and the adulterous harlot, the worldly Babylon and 
 the holy Jerusalem. And I think you will see that by the 
 blending of the two figures together the thought to be 
 conveyed is materiall}^ enlarged and strengthened. For 
 example, when truly believing souls, the living members of 
 Christ's body as one community are compared to a chaste 
 bride, the principal idea is that of their moral purity, 
 spirituality of mind, and faithfulness to their Lord. But 
 when we pass from the figure of a bride to that of a great 
 city, we think rather of the Church's stability, wide-reach- 
 ing extent, and grandeur. So, also, on the other hand, with 
 the false Church. When it is comj^ared to an adulterous 
 harlot the prominent idea is that of the worldly principles 
 and compliance, the unspirituality of mind and unfaithful- 
 ness to Christ, which mark those who worship the beast. 
 And when that false Church is compared to the great city 
 Babylon, we think not so much of the impiety as of the 
 numbers, wealth, and power which the worldly -hearted have 
 on their side. Thus, in each case, when the two comparisons 
 are taken together, there is a completeness and vigour of 
 conception which one alone could not give. In the chapter 
 to which we now proceed, both are found. We have first 
 the figure of the great harlot, and then that of the great 
 city, Babylon. 
 
 In proceeding with the exposition of this seventeenth 
 chapter, I may point out in passing that as one of the 
 seven angels, having the seven vials, offered to show John 
 the bride the Lamb's wife, so one of these same angels is 
 there represented as saying to him, " Come hither, I will 
 show thee the judgement of the great harlot that is seated 
 upon the many waters ; with whom the kings of the earth 
 committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth 
 were made drunken out of the wine of her fornication." 
 
 In the ecstatic condition so often described in this book 
 as being " in the spirit," John was borne by this angel into 
 the desert. Here he beheld a sight which caused him great 
 astonishment. He saw the same beast that he had before
 
 Great Babylon's Doom. 123 
 
 seen rising out of the sea, scarlet coloured as the ravager, 
 and having seven heads and ten horns, indicating his wide- 
 spread dominion and manifold forms of power. He was 
 covered with titles of blasphemy, signilicant of his many- 
 assumptions of that authority which belongs to Grod alone 
 and to which no earthly power has or can have any right. 
 Upon the beast, and therefore supported by him, there sat 
 a voluptuous woman, arrayed in purple and scarlet, and 
 decked with gold and jewels and pearls. In her hand she 
 held a golden cup, teeming with abominations and with the 
 unclean things of the fornication of the earth. Upon her 
 forehead was this name written, — A Secret: Babylon 
 
 THE GrREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND ABOMLNA- 
 
 TiONS or THE EARTH. As there she sat, she was drunken 
 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the 
 martyrs of Jesus. 
 
 The apostle beheld all this with great astonishment, and 
 not without reason. Into that desert he had seen the 
 Church, the woman who gave birth to the man child, flee 
 from the face of the dragon. Thither he follows her now, 
 and to his amazement she is no longer what she was. She 
 has become a worldly, degraded, luxurious woman. She is 
 not clothed with fine linen, clean and white, which is the 
 righteousness of the saints, — but in purple and scarlet, the 
 colours of the kings of this world, the tokens of transient 
 pleasure as opposed to eternal blessedness. She is decked 
 with gold and jewels and pearls, the best, no doubt, of 
 worldly attire, but all the perishable things of earth. The 
 dragon no longer persecutes her ; there is no need, for now 
 they are one in spirit. The scarlet beast, to whom the 
 dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority, 
 supports the woman. The worldly power and the Church 
 no longer caiTy on war to the death. They are in friendly 
 alliance. The woman is seated upon the scarlet beast. 
 The Church has sunk down to the world's level ; she leans 
 on worldly confidences, and is ambitious of power in the 
 worldly sphere. She claims to be robed with royal autho- 
 rity, but she is no longer the bride the Lamb's wife. 
 When the vision opened, in the twelfth chapter, there was 
 but one woman ; henceforth there are two, the chaste bride 
 and the adulterous harlot. For, henceforth, there are in
 
 1 24 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 literal fact two great parties, botli claiming tlie name 
 Clii'istian, botli avowedly folloivers of Christ, but having 
 aims and principles widely different. It is with the Church 
 of Christ as with the ancient chosen nation. They were not 
 all Israel which were of Israel. Bearing the same name, 
 and enclosed within the same boundaries of Canaan, there 
 were the followers of Baal and the followers of Jehovah. 
 So has it ever been. Man sees many divisions in the 
 Church ; Grod sees only two. Man talks of the Church. 
 Eastern or Western, Grreek or Roman, Papal or Protestant, 
 Episcopalian or Congregational, Conformist or Noncon- 
 formist ; God simply divides them all into the spiritual and 
 the unspiritual. And these are both found in all the 
 Chu.rches I have named. 
 
 The true Israel, the followers of the Lamb, are they who 
 lean upon spiritual life and power. They say, " Not by 
 royal edicts, not by parliamentary enactments, not by 
 wealth and lands, the smiles of the noble, the patronage of 
 the great ; not by these do we stand strong, not in these 
 do we trust. ' The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 
 but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds ; casting down imaginations, and every high thing 
 that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and 
 bringing into captivity every thouglit to the obedience of 
 Christ.' We believe in the power of truth to arrest the 
 conscience and free the heart. We lean upon the constant 
 presence of Christ in His Church. Our strong arm of 
 confidence is that Divine Spirit who was given at Pente- 
 cost, and who has been in faithful hearts ever since. We 
 believe that when we lean upon worldly power we are 
 weaker for it and not stronger. We at once become 
 blinded to the real issues of our warfare, we turn away 
 unbelievingly from the only strength that can win the vic- 
 tory, and we trust to a weapon that pierces our own hands 
 in the day of battle. When we cease to identify ourselves, 
 both, in sorrow and in joy, with Christ our risen and living 
 Lord ; when we cease to aim at the same objects after 
 which He strove ; when we no longer seek to tread in the 
 path over which He travelled before us ; then our mission 
 to the children of men is an utter failure. The lights of 
 the world are quenched in darkness, the salt of the earth
 
 Great Bahyloiis Doom. 125 
 
 has ' lost its savour, and is thenceforth good for nothing 
 but to bo cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.' " 
 On the other hand, they who are of Israel, yet not Isi-ael, 
 — the unspiritual — have groAvn up a large and powerful 
 party, having other watchwords and different weapons of 
 warfare. They are described under the figure of the harlot, 
 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, 
 and who made the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the 
 wine of her fornication. She is the Church become worldly. 
 " promising to those who imbibe her spirit a crown with- 
 out a cross, a pathway to glory without suffering in the 
 flesh and ceasing from sin ; presenting to them, not the 
 Lord's cup of manifold temptations and resistance unto 
 blood against sin, but the golden cup of fleshly indulgence 
 and foul abominations." " Her rightful Lord and Husband, 
 Jehovah- Christ, and the joys and goods of His house are 
 no longer her all in all ; but she runs after the visible and 
 vain things of the world in its manifold manifestations. 
 This whoredom appears in its proper form where the 
 Church wishes to be itself a worldly power, uses politics and 
 diplomacy, makes flesh her arm, uses unholy means for holy 
 ends, spreads her dominion by sword or money, fascinates 
 the hearts of men by sensuous ritualism, allows herself to 
 become ' mistress of ceremonies ' to the dignitaries of this 
 world, flatters prince or people — the living or the dead, 
 in short, where the Church, like Israel of old, seeks the 
 helj) of one worldly power against the danger threatening 
 from another. In these cases, the charge of spiritual 
 adultery most strongly applies. Eut not in these alone. 
 "Whenever the Church forgets that she is in the world even 
 as Christ was in the world, as a bearer of the cross and 
 pilgrim, that the world is crucified to her and judged; 
 whenever the Church regards in her heart the world as a 
 reality, and acknowledges her as a power whose anger she 
 endeavours to avoid, with whom she tries to make some 
 compromise, whose pleasures and enjoyments seem to her 
 desirable, with whose wisdom, education, science, spirit, 
 though opposed to God's truth, she coquets ; whenever 
 such is the case, adultery is committed in essential reality. 
 Eor its essence consists in leaning and listening and con- 
 forming to, and relying on the world. And her judgment
 
 126 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 is great, because lier sin is great. Grod, who lias shown to 
 the Church the fulness of His grace and purchased her 
 with the blood of His Son, can and must require of her 
 pure and perfect surrender. Hence, in proportion as His 
 love was great, His wrath is great ; as liberal and generous 
 as His mercies are, even so severe and aAvful are His judg- 
 ments. Sin appears more sinful in God's eyes than in 
 ours ; but the most heinous of all sins is the sin of those to 
 whom Grod has shown His saving grace, who have G-od's 
 word and know it, and who are called to serve Him. The 
 worldliness of the Church is the most worldly and profane 
 of all worldliness."* 
 
 At sight of this adulterous woman seated on the scarlet 
 beast, John marvelled with great astonishment. And well 
 he might ; for it was not a power heathen in its origin, but 
 spiritual, and still claiming to possess a spiritual character, 
 that had sunk so low. " Be astonished, O ye heavens, at 
 this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the 
 Lord. For my people have committed two evils ; they have 
 forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them 
 out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." 
 
 Yet it is not plain to every one that this corrupt thing 
 is not Christian life. Upon her brow is the name, "A Secret." 
 Her real character is not discovered by the merely natural 
 apprehension. It requires the wisdom that comes from 
 spiritual life, from union with Christ, to discern the empti- 
 ness of her pretensions. 
 
 She is further described as the mother of the harlots and of 
 the abominations of the earth ; for a worldly Church is the 
 prolific source of indifferentism and scepticism. Men look 
 at her as if she and the Christian faith were one and the 
 same thing, and judge that faith accordingly. Thus judged, 
 its claims are soon dismissed ; and men, resolved not to be 
 imposed upon by thnt which seems repugnant to their 
 common sense, cast ofi" fear, and pursue the dreary journey 
 of life without God and without hope in the world._ This 
 is how men beyond her pale are affected ; while within that 
 pale no superstition is too gross to find harbour in the 
 darkness, and no corruption too fearful to fester there. 
 
 Seeing the apostle's great astonishment, the angel said 
 * " Aiiberlen on the Prophet Daniel," etc., pp. 286 et seq.
 
 Great Babylon s Doom. 127 
 
 unto liiin, " "Wlierefore didst thou marvel ? I will tell tliee 
 tlie mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth 
 her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns." He pro- 
 ceeds to say that " the beast was and is not ; and shall as- 
 cend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." 
 This corresponds to what John observed when the beast 
 first appeared. He saw one of the beast's heads as it were 
 wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed. This 
 means that Jewish persecuting power, once so rampant, had, 
 in the vision of Jerusalem's overthrow, been seen to be 
 broken. He was, and is not. There is a respite for a time ; 
 but the beast shall again ascend out of the bottomless pit, 
 shall again incite other powers against the true Church. 
 And for a while he shall succeed. But his triumph shall be 
 short-lived ; and when his hour is come, he shall again go 
 into perdition. During that time of transient success he 
 shall bear the harlot to such power and authority that all 
 who dwell in the earth, who are unspiritual, who are de- 
 ceived by appearances, whose names are not written in the 
 book of life from the foundation of the world, — all these 
 shall wonder when they behold the beast that was, and is 
 not, and yet is. 
 
 Then, passing from one figure to the other, from the idea 
 of an adulterous woman to that of a proud, luxurious, and 
 powerful city, the angel goes on to say, " Here is the under- 
 standing that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven 
 mountains, and upon them the woman is seated." That is, 
 what the seven heads of the beast were to the harlot, her 
 strength and support, — that the seven mountains are to the 
 city, to which the false Church is also compared, giving an 
 idea of its great extent, and the firmness of its foundations 
 so far as worldly influence is concerned. Thus, the figure 
 being changed from a harlot to a city and from the seven 
 heads of the beast to seven mountains on which that city 
 rests, there is further added the thought of the empire that 
 bears sway within that city, and of its kings. Seven 
 sovereigns also are they. To the woman they are seven 
 hills on which the city rests ; to the beast they are seven 
 kings, or successive forms of manifestation of the worldly 
 principle : the change in the one figure requiring a change 
 in the other.
 
 128 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 These seven kings set forth the complete and countless 
 efforts of the worldly, persecuting power against the spiri- 
 tual government of (xod ; for this is here, as elsewhere 
 in this book, the idea of the symbolic number seven. 
 These eiforts of the civil power pure and simple are nearly 
 exhausted. Five kings, said the angel, are fallen : one is 
 the Jewish persecuting rule, which thou hast seen smitten 
 in vision, although for a little while it exists in fact ; and 
 the other, the purely heathen opposition to the kingdom of 
 Christ, is not yet fully come ; when he cometh, he will have 
 his time, — he must continue a short space, corresponding 
 to the Church's 1260 days of sorrow. " And the beast that 
 was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, 
 and goeth into perdition." The climax is reached when 
 this beast, the eighth, one more than could reasonably have 
 been dreamt of or looked for, born of all the seven and 
 containing all the dangerous elements of the past, — when 
 this enters into unhallowed alliance with the Church her- 
 self. This is a form of peril that could hardly have been 
 anticipated, arising from a union of purpose between the 
 Avoman and the beast. Tet even this, fearful and unex- 
 pected as it might well be, shall not always prevail. It will 
 have a long run, and be very disastrous ; but its end also 
 shall come,^ — the eighth goeth into perdition. 
 
 Now, while the beast and the woman together shall do 
 their utmost against the true Church, the civil power urged 
 on by the ecclesiastical, the seven heads supporting the 
 woman and doing her bidding, the civil power, by itself and 
 for its own end, shall also carry on hostilities against the 
 kingdom of Grod. The beast has not only seven heads, but 
 also ten horns. It will not perish till it has put forth 
 marvellous energy. While supporting the false Church, it 
 will put forth its ten (that is its indefinite but many) forms 
 of power, against the followers of Jesus. It shall do this ; 
 for these forms of power are not yet put forth, and when 
 they are they shall be shortlived. " They shall be as kings 
 one hour with the beast." Amidst all political changes the 
 world will find new means for attacking the Church of 
 Christ, though its heads be destroyed. '• These have one 
 mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the 
 beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the
 
 Great Babylon's Doom. ' 1 29 
 
 Lamb sliall overcome them : for He is Lord of lords and 
 King of kings : and tbey that are with Him are called and 
 chosen and faithful." 
 
 As if to prevent any interpretation of the symbols of 
 this chapter which should narrow them down to one corrupt 
 Church, the angel now explains, The waters "vvhich thou 
 sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, 
 and nations, and tongues. Her dominion is wide spread, 
 the corruption is in directions manifold. Tet, vast as that 
 dominion is, it shall be overthrown. And retribution shall 
 work out in quarters whence it might be least expected. 
 " The ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these 
 shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and 
 naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For 
 God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, 
 and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the word of 
 Grod shall be fulfilled." To the carrying out of the pur- 
 poses of Grod, all men are subservient. They accomplish 
 His designs, even when they are opposing His will ; and the 
 temporary prevalence of evil and its final destruction are 
 under His control. The very power on which the worldly 
 Church has leaned shall prove her overthrow ; the very 
 horns of that scarlet beast on which the harlot was seated 
 shall turn against her, and make her desolate. These horns 
 we have seen represent the civil and political power of 
 states, as distinct from the seven heads which represent the 
 politico-ecclesiastical. The secular power supported the 
 ecclesiastical in its arrogant assumptions, and the secular 
 power will turn round and strip oiF the worldly glitter it 
 gave. In these our days there are not wanting signs and 
 tokens of this reaction. I have again and again guarded 
 myself from speaking of any one Church as being the one 
 and only one referred to in these symbols. In the most 
 corrupt communion, truly godly men have been and are 
 still found ; and in the purest communion, on the other 
 hand, unspiritual hearts have place. But in so far as even 
 good men lean on worldly support, or any Church, however 
 noble in other respects, trusts to the secular arm, they shall 
 experience this reaction. It is part of Grod's counsels, and 
 must be fulfilled. AYe may regard the events of the last 
 few years in Italy in illustration. The kings of the earth 
 
 K
 
 130 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 enriched the Papal Chtireli witli worldly spoil, and we have 
 lived to see the same power strip away her possessions. 
 They have made her desolate and naked in so far as her 
 temporal grandeur is concerned, and the separation has 
 been like the tearing of her flesh. She chafes, and frets, 
 and denounces as blasphemous the spirit of the age. But 
 she fulminates in vain. Still the ten horns turn against 
 her, and make her desolate. And I am much mistaken if 
 this generation will not live to see something analogous in 
 the history of the State establishment of our own land. 
 "We honour and love the Episcopal Church as we recognise 
 the piety and learning of her sons, and their eminent 
 services to the cause of humanity and the kingdom of Grod. 
 But we denounce, and must to our latest breath, her 
 alliance with the State. It is an adulterous bond ; and if it 
 is not broken, worse things will follow. But broken it will 
 be ; if not in our days, in those of our children. The 
 parliament that made will unmake. The state power that 
 gave her her political prestige, will, as in the past, by enact- 
 ment after enactment, take it away. I may not live to see 
 it, but it will come. The army of those whose watchword 
 is " Eeligiovis Equality " is increasing, and showing a firmer 
 front day by day. The voice with which they demand the 
 rights of Christian men is not loud, but deep and resolute. 
 And it will be a great day for the English Church herself 
 when those rights are granted, when the only distinctions 
 recognised are those conferred on learning and piety, on 
 zeal and fidelity, on experience and weight of character. 
 When that day comes she will be free from shackles by 
 which she is now hampered, and she will be open to the 
 outpouring of Grod's blessing as she has never yet been.* 
 
 * I cannot refrain from giving, in a note,i;he frank and manly words of 
 one, who speaks not as a Dissenter but as a Chm-climan, and a Churchman 
 who, till lately, held with honour the chair of Modern History at Oxford. 
 I mean Professor Goldwin Smith. In a speech at Denbigh, on the 21st 
 of September, 1866, after avowing himself ' ' a member of that party, 
 which, though not regularly organized, is actively working for liberation 
 and equality within the Established Church," he adds : — " I dare say 
 there are some who will say, ' Yes, there are traitors within the walls of 
 the Establishment, co-operating with the enemy without.' To this, I 
 answer, there are two things — the English Church and the estabUsh- 
 ment, and it is because I am a faithful son of the English Church that
 
 Great Babylon^ s Doom. 131 
 
 "We have now reached the eighteenth chapter, which we 
 shall find to be simply the fitting eliniax to what has gone 
 before concerning Babylon. After the apostle had seen the 
 symbol of the volu])tuous woman enthroned on the scarlet 
 beast, and heard the further statement of the angel who 
 showed it to him, he then saw another angel come down 
 from heaven, having great power ; and the earth was light- 
 ened with his glory. This shining one cried mightily with a 
 strong voice, saying, " Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 
 and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every 
 foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bii'd ;" 
 just as it was said of the literal Babylon after its over- 
 throw, " Wild beasts of the desert shall be there ; and their 
 houses shall be full of doleful creatures ; and owls shall 
 dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there ; and wild beasts 
 of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons 
 in their pleasant palaces." The doleful doom of the actual 
 city should have its counterpart in the doom of the figura- 
 tive Babylon. " For all nations have drunk of the wine of 
 the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth 
 have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of 
 the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her 
 delicacies." 
 
 I am the hearty and avowed enemy of the establishment. Unless the 
 establishment dies, the English Church cannot live ; for no Christian 
 institution can possibly live when it is identified, as the EstabHshed 
 Church is, with flagrant injustice. Even in England I see a large body, 
 perhaps now not far from half the population, dissenters from the creed 
 of the establishment, yet forced to contiibute to its endowments, and, 
 till lately, forced to imdergo poHtical disabilities, in order that the Estab- 
 lished Church might preserve its domination. I cross to Ireland ; there 
 I find a people miserably poor, yet compelled, out of their poverty, to 
 pay tithes to an alien Church. I come then to Wales ; and there, again, 
 I find that Church of which I am a member endowed with everything 
 except with the hearts of the people, estabhshed in everything except 
 that in which alone a Christian Church should be established. And I 
 ask you to look within the Chm-ch also at the results of the establish- 
 ment — desperate quarrels and scandalous litigation, \hich not only are 
 weakening the Church, but tend to degrade Christianity itself in the 
 eyes of the people. The remedy for all this, the simple remedy, is freedom. 
 More than once an estabUshmeut has all but wrecked religion, and free- 
 dom has restored it to life. Free Christianity, in two centuries, against all 
 disadvantages, won the ancient world ; an establishment has all but lost 
 the modern world ; freedom will restore the modern world to Christianity." 
 
 K 2
 
 132 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 So spake tlie mighty augel, wlio liad ligliteued tlie earth 
 with his glory. And when he had vanished, there was 
 heard a mysterious voice crying out of heaven, saying, 
 " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of 
 her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." All her 
 worldly joy and triumph shall have its night of awful dark- 
 ness. It shall be said to her as to Dives and to every 
 earth-bound soul, " Thou hast had thy good things." " For 
 her sins have reached unto heaven, and Grod hath remembered 
 her iniquities. Eeward her even as she rewarded you, and 
 double unto her double according to her works ; in the cup 
 which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath 
 glorified herself, and 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 sorrow. Therefore shall 
 her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and 
 famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for 
 strong is the Lord who judgeth her." 
 
 This voice from heaven then describes, in high poetic 
 strain, the scene of Babylon's overthrow. As, when God 
 destroyed Sodom and Gromorrah, Abraham looked toward 
 these cities, and toward all the land of the plain, and be- 
 hold and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke 
 of a furnace,— so mystical Babylon is described as a city in 
 flames ; and as the lurid glare goes up to heaven, both on 
 sea and land there are awe-stricken spectators of the cata- 
 strophe. 
 
 The KINGS OF THE EARTH, with wliom slio had formed 
 corrupt alliances, looking on at the smoke of her burning, 
 but standing afar ofii' for the fear of her torment, cry, 
 " Alas, alas, that great citij Balijlon, that miglity city ! for in 
 one hour is tlty judgment come^ 
 
 The MERCHANTS OE THE EARTH, who have Carried on traf- 
 fic in this city, Aveep and mourn over her. Within her they 
 have had their merchandise. There was no buying of the 
 truth there, none of the merchandise of wisdom ; but the 
 merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones, of costly 
 garments and articles of luxury and adornment, of all that 
 was dainty and goodly, and that ministered to earthly delight. 
 But all is over now, and this trafiic for ever at an end ; and 
 the merchants of these things, that were made rich by her,
 
 Great Babylon's Doom. 133 
 
 shall stand afar oif for tlie fear of her torment, weeping 
 and wailing, and saying, " Mas, cdas, that great city ! that 
 was clothed in Jine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked 
 with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one hour so 
 great riches is come to nought /" 
 
 And the mariners, who had traded in her port, every 
 shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and 
 as many as trade by sea, stood afar olf, and cried when 
 they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, " What city is 
 like unto this great city!" And casting dust on their 
 heads, they cried, weeping and wailing, and saying, " Alas, 
 alas, that great city ! wherein were made rich all that had ships 
 in the sea, hy reason of her costliness. For in one hour is she 
 made desolate /" 
 
 But when the world's joy is turned to weeping, the 
 weeping of the true Church is turned to rejoicing, for the 
 mysterious voice concludes with these words of exultation, 
 " Eejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and 
 prophets ; for God hath avenged you on her !" 
 
 And now that heavenly voice is silent ; but the vision of 
 the city's overthrow is not even yet complete. A mighty 
 angel appeared on the scene, and, lifting a stone that was 
 like a huge millstone, he hurled it into the sea ; and as the 
 waters seethed and foamed, he cried, " Thus with violence 
 shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be 
 found no more at all." The voice from heaven had first 
 described the city's overthrow to be as when the spires of 
 flame shot up from Sodom and Gomorrah, and cast their 
 awful glare on all the plain. Now this mighty angel 
 deepens the impression by describing the after desolation 
 to be as when the traveller looks on the ruined cities of the 
 East as they lie in heaps and mounds, and steeped in the 
 silence of death. 
 
 Never again shall the sounds of merry-making and glad- 
 ness rise within thee. " The voice of harpers and musicians, 
 and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all 
 in thee." Never again shall the prosperous work of peace- 
 ful industry be plied within thee. " No craftsman, of what- 
 soever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee." 
 Neither with cheerful noise shall the bread of the house- 
 hold be prepared again. " The sound of a millstone shall be
 
 134 I^Ji^ Book of Revelation. 
 
 heard no more at all in thee." And it shall not be as of old, 
 when the day's work was done, and the whole household 
 met with gladsome looks round the pleasant hearth and the 
 cheerful light ; for " the light of a candle shall shine no 
 more at all in thee." Never again shall marriage-bells be 
 heard within thee, as loving hearts plight their troth and 
 become in the midst of the generations a link between the 
 future and the past. " The voice of the bridegroom and of 
 the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee." 
 
 Thus utter and complete shall be the city's desolation ; 
 thus utter and complete shall be the overthrow of every 
 evil system that opposes the truth of Grod, and that rests 
 upon the power of this world. " For lo, Thine enemies, 
 Lord, for lo, Thine enemies shall perish ; all the workers of 
 iniquity shall be scattered. Let them be confounded and 
 troubled for ever ; yea, let them be put to shame, and 
 perish : that men may know that Thou, whose name alone 
 is Jehotah, art the Most High over all the earth."
 
 X. 
 
 TKE BBIDAL AND THE BATTLE. 
 Eevelation xix. 
 
 The mysterious voice that described great Babylon's over- 
 throw with such gi'aphic power represents the kings> the 
 merchants, and mariners of the earth bemoaning her dread- 
 ful fall with strong cries of sorrow and with tears. Yet 
 that voice finishes its utterance with these words of exulta- 
 tion, " Eejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy ajiostles 
 and prophets ; for Grod hath avenged you on her." Then 
 the mighty angel hurled the millstone into the deep, and 
 described the desolation that would follow the overthrow. 
 Immediately there was a response to the voice that called 
 for joy and rejoicing at the doom of the adulterous city. 
 " After this, I heard as it were the loud voice of a great 
 multitude in heaven, saying — 
 
 "Hallelujah! 
 The salvation and glory and power of our God ; 
 For trae and righteous are His judgments ; 
 For He has judged the great harlot,, 
 Who corrupted the earth hy her whoredom ; 
 And avenged the hlood of His servants at her hand." 
 
 And a second time they said — 
 
 " Hallelujah ! and her smoke ascends for ever and ever." 
 
 And the four-and-twenty elders and the four creatures 
 fell down and worshipped Grod, who sits on the throne, 
 saying— 
 
 " Amen, hallelujah ! " 
 
 Thus, while some men weep, heaven rejoices. Yet heaven 
 does not rejoice at that which brings misery to man ; 
 heaven would destroy that which is man's bane and curse,
 
 136 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 aud that alone. Salvation is the key-note of this cry of 
 exultation. Men pray to be delivered from judgments, 
 whereas judgments are meant to be deliverances, — deliver- 
 ances from that which has defiled the earth and filled it 
 with misery. It is far more noble and righteous to wish 
 that the world should pass through the fires that will 
 cleanse it, than that it should be allowed to go on in its 
 wickedness. By His judgments, Grod is working to bring 
 us into our true state ; and every overthrow of evil is a step 
 towards it, and therefore a cause for rejoicing. It has been 
 significantly asked, " How do men rise out of the mire into 
 which they are daily sinking more and more deeply ? All 
 would say, not by acquiescence, but by protest. They 
 affirm that mire is not the element in which human beings 
 were meant to live. Though a hundred wish to abide in it, 
 one or two continue to affirm for themselves, and for the 
 rest, that that is not their state ; if they can" see no other, 
 they can see that there must be another. This protest and 
 afiirmation become prayer." That prayer, when answered, 
 becomes deliverance ; and that deliverance comes by the 
 overthrow of the oppressing evil. " We, who accept Jesus 
 Christ as Grod's own Son, believe that the world's Creator 
 is the world's Deliverer. Whatever makes the earth cor- 
 rupt, whatever makes human beings corrupt, we believe to 
 come, not from His order, but from a breach of His order. 
 We are bound, by our allegiance to Him, not to accept 
 anomalies as laws, but to strive against them. We are 
 bound to believe that He is stirring us to strive against 
 them. We have a 'right to pray against them, whatever 
 they be, our prayers being merely the response to His in- 
 spiration, — cries for the triumph of His will over that 
 which opposes it." And when the answer to such Grod- 
 inspired prayer is given, according to a man's spiritual 
 nature does He rejoice or weep. If he be blind aud worldly, 
 he will weej). But if he be God-enlightened, and long for 
 nobleness and purity, — if his hopes are the onward reach- 
 ing hopes of humanity, then with all his heart he will re- 
 joice. And when Babylon, in any form, is overthrown, he 
 will join his voice to that of the heavenly multitude, crying, 
 " Hallelujah ! The salvation and glory and honour and 
 power of our God." And though the smoke of the city
 
 The Bridal and the Battle. 137 
 
 ascends for eA^er and ever, a second time will lie cry, and 
 that louder than before, " Hallelujali ! " 
 
 Praise for the overthrow of evil is now followed by praise 
 for the final establishment of good. The Church, robed in 
 purity and crowned with glory, is to be espoused to her 
 Lord. A voice came out of the throne, saying — 
 
 " Praise our God, all ye His servants, 
 And ye who fear Him, both small and great." 
 
 To this call for praise there was at once a grand and stirring 
 response. Again the aj^ostle heard the voice of a great 
 multitude, even as the voice of many waters, and as the 
 voice of loud thunders, saying — 
 
 " Hallelujah ! 
 For the Lord reigneth, God the almighty. 
 Let us rejoice, and let us exult, 
 And we mU give the honour unto Him ; 
 For the marriage of the Lamb is neai-. 
 And His Bride hath prepared herself." 
 
 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine 
 linen, shining, undetiled ; for the fine linen is the righteous- 
 ness of the holy. Then one said to the apostle, " Write, 
 Blessed are they who are invited to the marriage feast of 
 the Lamb." And with emphasis he adds, " These are the 
 true declarations of Grod." 
 
 Let us strive to enter into the spiritual truth here sym- 
 bolised by the bridal of redeemed souls-. We are candi- 
 dates for spiritual scenes and relationships we as yet 
 imperfectly realize. But we have helps, in things that are 
 seen, to the right understanding of things that are not seeu. 
 Thoughtful minds, in eveiy age, have felt the mysterious 
 harmonies between the two worlds, and mused on the ques- 
 tion which Milton brings from the angel's lips — 
 
 " What if earth 
 Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein 
 Each to other like, more than on earth is thought ? " 
 
 It may be but a fugitive fancy, yet, as I have looked on the 
 exquisite beauty of the sunlight dancing among the forest 
 leaves, or gazed on the stately grandeur of the mountains, 
 receiving delight, indeed, from any of the myriad forms of 
 life and loveliness that nature takes before us, I have
 
 138 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 clierished the feeling that there is something on the other 
 side of the veil of which all this is the earthly counter- 
 part ; stripped of its weaker elements, that which I love 
 here shall be permanent there. Between what God has 
 made here in the material world, and what He will show 
 ns hereafter in the spiritual world, subtle and far reach- 
 ing correspondences there may be, I am inclined to think 
 there will be. However, without pressing this feeling be- 
 yond our warrant, we are certainly taught in Scripture 
 that some things in both worlds are linked together by 
 inward necessity and by the law of a secret affinity. 
 Earthly relations are often only a lower form of heavenly. 
 Human fatherhood, for example, is something more than 
 a mere illustration of the Divine ; and the status of the 
 child in the household is a profound foreshadowing of the 
 sonship of the children of Grod. Marriage, again, when it is 
 what G-od meant it to be, does not merely happen, but was 
 intended to suggest the union between believing souls and 
 Christ and the strong formative influence on character that 
 follows. I need scarcely remind you how this thought is 
 found in Scripture again and again. In a psalm of striking 
 beauty, the royal Bridegroom is thus addressed, "Thy 
 throne, O Grod, is for ever and ever : the sceptre of Thy 
 kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and 
 hatest wickedness : therefore Grod, Thy God, hath anointed 
 Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. All Thy 
 garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the 
 ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad. Kings' 
 daughters were among Thy honourable women ; upon Thy 
 right hand did stand the queen, in gold of Ophir." Then, 
 turning to this royal consort, the psalmist says, " Hearken, 
 O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget, 
 also, thine o^vn people, and thy father's house ; so shall the 
 King greatly desire thy beauty : for He is thy Lord, and 
 worship thou Him." Thus he describes this spiritual bride, 
 " The King's daughter is all glorious within ; her clothmg 
 is embroidered with gold. She shall be brought unto the 
 King in raiment of needlework ; the virgins, her com- 
 panions that follow her, shall be brought unto Thee." 
 The prophets, also, speak of this Divine espousal. Isaiah 
 says to Israel, " Thy Maker is thine Husband ;" and " As
 
 TJic Bridal and the Battle. 139 
 
 the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy Grod 
 rejoice over thee." The idolatrous nation shall return from 
 its wanderings, and, saith the Lord, " I will betroth thee 
 unto me for ever ; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in 
 righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, 
 and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faith- 
 fulness ; and thou shalt know the Lord." The New Testa- 
 ment takes up and expands the same idea. The kingdom 
 of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his 
 son ; the ten virgins of the parable go forth to meet the 
 bridegroom. ' The apostle Paul, watching over the spii'itual 
 life of the Corinthian Church, says, " I am jealous over you 
 with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one Hus- 
 band, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 
 In another epistle, speaking of the marriage relation, he 
 says that " we are members of Christ's body, of His flesh, 
 and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his 
 father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and 
 they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery ; but I 
 speak concerning Christ and the Church." On this high 
 ground he enforces conjugal afiection : " Husbands, love 
 your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave 
 Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with 
 the washing of water by the word, that He might present 
 it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle 
 or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without 
 blemish." 
 
 E-everent hearts will joyfully ponder the truths here em- 
 bodied in symbol. The closest relationship of human life is 
 used to typify the union of the Saviour and the believing 
 soul. In tenderest forms the fellowship of eternity is thus 
 presented. For now is the time of betrothal only ; when the 
 bride is ready, the bridal day will come, and beyond that, the 
 joyful wedded life of which the marriage feast is but the pre- 
 lude. To the loftiest minds this symbol will be most sugges- 
 tive. A thoughtful essayist* has pointed out that the poets, 
 for the most part, have sung of love and its joys before, rather 
 than after, the bridal day. He shows that there is no ne- 
 cessity for this, because " the emotional and truly human 
 life of a man and woman, so far from being over when from 
 * The late George Biimley, of Cambridge.
 
 140 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 lovers they become husband and wife, then only begins to 
 attain its full growth and capacity of bearing fruit and 
 flower, of perennial beauty and fragrance." And because 
 this is so, the truest fellowship between the soul and its 
 Saviour will be beyond the bridal day, and not now, in the 
 mere time of betrothal. "Wlio has not marked the elevating 
 influence of wedded life, where it is in some measure in 
 conformity to the Divine ideal ? In true fealty of heart, 
 two travellers set forth on the journey of life together. 
 Henceforth there is oneness of interest, such as there is in 
 no other relationship of life. There is constant play of 
 feeling, and interaction of influence in the formation of 
 character. Love deepens, and becomes more tranquil, if 
 less demonstrative, as the years roll by. The husband 
 grows dearer than the lover ; and, time having oft and again 
 proved her tender fidelity, the wife is more cherished than 
 the bride. Satirists and cynics have said a good deal on 
 the other side ; but who has not found marriages which 
 
 " Have wrought 
 Two spirits to one equal roind, 
 With blessings beyond hope or thought, 
 With blessings wliich no words can find ? " 
 
 " With the humblest and most sordid cares of life are inti- 
 mately associated the calm delights, the settled bliss of 
 home ; upon duties, in themselves, perhaps, often wearisome 
 and uninteresting, hang the prosperity and the happiness 
 of wife and children ; there is no mean hope, because there 
 is no hope in which regard for others does not largely 
 mingle, — ^no base fear, because suff'ering and distress can- 
 not aifect self alone ; the selfishness which turns honest in- 
 dustry to greed, and noble ambition to egotistical loveof 
 power, is exorcised ; and life becomes a perpetual exercise 
 of duties which are delights, and delights which are duties." 
 Such, ofttimes, is the lower, earthly type ; what, then, 
 shall be the heavenly antitype ? "What tender confidings, 
 what sweet interchange of aff'ection, what wondrous^ de- 
 velopment of spiritual grace and power are shadowed forth 
 as we read of the marriage of the Lamb with the Church He 
 has chosen for His Bride ! The life beyond is negatively 
 described wh^n we are told that there shall be no pain, or
 
 The Bridal and the Battle. 141 
 
 sorrow, or deatli, or cryiug ; no uiglit, no curse. But here 
 we have something more positive. As the dearly loved 
 wife is in the home of the husband to whom she is all the 
 world, so shall redeemed souls dwell with their Lord. His 
 joys shall be theirs, and their dower shall be the riches of 
 glory treasured up in Him. Anywhere with Him would 
 be heaven, and they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever He 
 goeth. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath 
 it entered into the heart of man to conceive" what that 
 wedded life shall be to which the bridal day is the intro- 
 duction. Well, then, might the voice from the throne cry 
 out, "Let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the 
 Lamb is come." The day of earthly espousals is a day of 
 joy. Two young hearts plight their troth before God and 
 man ; and, as they come forth from the altar, henceforth one 
 till death shall part them, flowers are strewn before them, 
 and overhead — 
 
 " Begins the clash aucl clang that tells 
 The joy to every wandering breeze ; 
 The bUnd wall rocks, and on the trees 
 The dead leaf trembles to the bells. 
 happy hour ! and happier hours 
 Await them." 
 
 But the brightest marriage day of all has yet to come, and 
 its joy shall know no after sorrow. Here, the funeral often 
 treads close on the heels of the bridal, and in life's cup of 
 joy "there floats the fennel's bitter leaf." But so shall it 
 not be hereafter. The sun that shines on the Bride of the 
 Lamb shall have no setting, and in the paradise of her 
 future home no serpent's trail shall come, nor thorns or 
 briers grow. And the voice said, " Write, Blessed are they 
 which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." 
 
 John heard all that the voice proclaimed, and was over- 
 whelmed by its communications. He lost Lis self-control, 
 and at the feet of the angel who was his guide he fell to 
 worship. This may show us that beyond a certain point 
 we are unable to receive the revelation of future glory with- 
 out injury to ourselves. " I have many things to say unto 
 you, but ye cannot bear them now." The veil of reserve 
 cannot yet be removed but at our peril. Too much light 
 may blind us, so that we fall into sin, as did the apostle
 
 142 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 when lie worsliipped the angel. That worship of the 
 creature would have been treason against the Creator. 
 Belated superstition may teach men to pray to angels, or 
 the sainted mother of Jesus, or to the spirits of just men 
 made perfect. In a moment would they check the daring 
 impiety, and cry, " See thou do it not ; I am a fellow-servant 
 with thee and thy brethren, who hold the testimony of 
 Jesus. "Worship Grod : for the testimony of Jesus is the 
 spirit of the prophecy." 
 
 It may not be out of place to remind you at this point 
 that we are stiU occupied with the fourth part of the book 
 of Revelation, and that the central vision of this fourth 
 part is that of the seven vials of plagues. But, before we 
 reached that, we found there were some preliminary visions, 
 exhibiting the dragon, and the two beasts, and the image. 
 Now, having seen the overthrow of those who were blinded 
 and deceived by this dragon and these beasts and the image 
 set up, it is natural that we should expect some manifestation 
 of judgment against these enemies themselves, who thus led 
 others to their doom. Such manifestation is given. As 
 there were three preliminary visions, so there are three 
 sujDplementary. The first sets forth the doom of the two 
 beasts ; the second, that of the di^agon ; and the third de- 
 scribes the last great judgment. Thus there is a Divine 
 order manifest throughout this section of the book. The 
 character and power of the evil agencies that assail the 
 Church are first presented. The condemnation of those 
 who follow them is then set forth ; and now, as we might 
 expect, there is described the doom of the adversaries 
 themselves. And having this, the representation is com- 
 plete. John now beholds, in vision, the destruction of 
 those who have destroyed others, for " Christ must reign 
 until He has put all enemies under His feet." 
 
 John again saw the already opened heaven, the scene of 
 vision, and behold there came forth a rider, on a white 
 horse, not as before the mere symbol of victory, but our* 
 Lord Himself. He that sat upon that horse was called 
 Paithful and True — faithful inasmuch as every promise He 
 makes He surely fulfils — and true also, for He is the truth 
 itself — He is real in a world of shadows, not merely testi- 
 fying to what is true, but being Himself in nature all His
 
 TJic Bridal and the Battle. 143 
 
 name implies. Man may be faithful, yet not true ; from 
 policy or selfishness lie may keep his word, yet be false at 
 heart. In a world where the soul may misplace its confi- 
 dence, taking shadows for reality, mere professions for 
 genuine friendship, and glozing smiles for true heart- 
 love, it is a blessed thing to have a Saviour, who is both 
 faithful and true. Then, " in righteousness He doth 
 judge and make war ;" not meeting wrong by wrong, as 
 when men in war let loose their darkest passions. He 
 goes forth in righteousness, and on behalf of righteousness. 
 This is the great need of humanity, and He shall not fail 
 nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth, 
 and the isles shall wait for His law. " His eyes were as a 
 flame of fire," there flashed from them a light that fllled the 
 beholder with awe. So full of heavenly lite and power were 
 they as to unmask the most plausible disguises, so piercing 
 as to discern the precious from the vile, the chaff from the 
 wheat. 
 
 He is a royal conqueror. As the vesture, stained with 
 the blood of His foes, fell over his form and rested on His 
 thigh, there was seen written upon it the name, Klng of 
 KINGS KSD LoED OF LORDS. " On His head were many 
 crowns," or rather, " many diadems." For of old the 
 crown was the emblem not of royalty, but of highest joy 
 and gladness, of glory and immortality. The diadem, which 
 was a narrow fillet bound round the brow, was the indica- 
 tion of kingly rule ; and the monarch had as many diadems 
 as there were countries under his sway.* Our Saviour is 
 also our King, and, as the Euler of many provinces, on His 
 head are many diadems. His state is right kingly, for He 
 is King of kings and Lord of lords. By inheritance as the 
 first-begotten of the Father, by the anoiutiug of gladness, 
 and by proclamation. He is King in Zion. As a king. He 
 sends forth ambassadors, receives petitions, and dispenses 
 
 * Archbishoi5 Trench (" New Testament Synonyms"), on the distinction 
 between crown and diadem, quotes from Selden's " Titles of Honour" these 
 words : " However those names have been from ancient time confounded, 
 yet the diadem strictly was a very different thing from what a crown now 
 is or was ; and it was no other than only a fillet of silk, linen, or some 
 such thing. Nor appears it that any other kind of crown was used for a 
 royal ensign, except only in some kingdoms of Asia, but this kind of 
 fillet, until the beginning of Christianity in the Koman empire."
 
 144 ^^^^ Book of Revelation. 
 
 pardon. lu many realms He rules : Lord of creation is 
 He, " Por by Him were all things created, that are in 
 heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether 
 they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : 
 all things were created by Him, and for Him." He is 
 supreme governor of life, and has the keys of hades and of 
 death. He rules and overrules in providence, having all 
 other powers under His control and at His command. He 
 is Lord of angels as well as men. When the First-begotten 
 appears, the Father says, " Let all the angels of God wor- 
 ship Him." His messengers and retinue of state are they. 
 They hailed His coming to earth, they welcomed Him back 
 to heaven. " Thou art the King of glory, Christ ; to 
 Thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers 
 therein." He is Lord paramount in His Church; head 
 over all things to her — the source of love, and the fountain 
 of blessing. There is wondrous variety among His subjects. 
 He rules over the hearts of learned scholars, as well as over 
 the hearts of simple cottagers, who " know, and know no 
 more, their Bible true." To Him bows age with snowy hair, 
 and He puts His hands on little children, and says, " Of such 
 is the kingdom of heaven." The impetuous and the cautious, 
 the reserved and the demonstrative, the critical and the 
 credulous, are, amidst all their diversity, found acknowledg- 
 ing His rule and crowning Him Lord of all. " On His head 
 are many diadems." 
 
 He has a name written, which no man knew but He 
 Himself. The name is expressive of the nature, and His 
 nature in its fulness is incomprehensible by any save Him- 
 self, as that which He is, and as all that He is. But He 
 has another name by which He is known. He is called 
 The "Word of GtOd, for He is the revealer of the Father, 
 and the very utterance of His mind and heart. As Captain 
 of a great host He goes forth, followed by heavenly armies 
 upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 
 Out of His mouth there goeth a sharp sword, that two-edged 
 sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God ; and with this 
 power of truth He smites the nations. The rebellious He 
 rules as with an iron sceptre, and in judgment against sin 
 He goes forth treading the wine-press of the fierceness and 
 wrath of Almighty God.
 
 TJic Bridal and the Battle. 145 
 
 SucTa was tlie roval moiiarcli that Jolin belield, and as 
 lie goes forth to the spiritual conflict against evil princi- 
 ples, there is given beforehand the presage of victory. 
 There was now seen an angel standing in the sun, — in the 
 place of power. So certain was the overthrow of the 
 enemy, that already he proceeds to gather the vultures to 
 their banquet after the battle. He cried with a loud voice, 
 saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, 
 " Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of 
 the great God : that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and 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 
 men, both free and bond, both small and great." It is a 
 spiritual conflict, but the description is taken from the 
 actual carnage and horrors of a field of battle. Ezekiel 
 predicted that barbarian tribes should invade the land of 
 Israel. But God would fight against them, and their 
 carcases should furnish a feast to the vultures and wild 
 beasts of the mountains. Foretelling this utter destruction, 
 the Lord spake to the prophet thus (xxxix. 17), " And thou, 
 son of man, thus saith the Lord God ; Speak unto every 
 feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field. Assemble 
 yourselves, and come ; gather yourselves on every side to 
 my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacri- 
 fice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and 
 drink blood. Te shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and 
 drink the blood of the princes of the earth. Thus shall ye 
 be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty 
 men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God." With 
 these words before us, so like to those we have already heard 
 spoken by the angel who stood in the sun, we can hardly 
 doubt that again the history of the past became the basis 
 of the symbol of the future. But in the symbol we have 
 to do with false principles, and not with living beings. 
 John saw the battle, but merely tells us that the victory 
 was with the right. Worldly powers were gathered against 
 Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. But 
 their onslaught was vain. The beast was taken, and with 
 him the false prophet, the second beast that wrought mira- 
 cles before him, with which he deceived them that had re- 
 ceived the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
 
 146 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 imao'e. Never more shall worldly civil power strive to 
 sway tlie conscience, — never more shall blind guides mislead 
 the unwary to their ruin, — never more shall the tyranny of 
 a base, public opinion be a hindrance to the service of dod. 
 These all were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with 
 brimstone. Their overthrow was as complete as that of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, over the ancient sites of which, 
 after fire and brimstone had come down from heaven, there 
 fl.owed the waters of the Dead Sea, which, at its southern 
 extremity, is " veiled with a deep haze, that to earlier ages 
 gave the appearance of the smoke going up for ever and 
 ever." * 
 
 " And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him 
 that sat upon the horse." For there were other enemies 
 beside the beast and the false prophet. Selfislmess, looking 
 at everything as it may affect its own narrow interests. 
 Unbelief, cold and shivering, yet glorying in its weakness, 
 as it keeps on shouting the everlasting IN'o. Indifference, 
 lookinof on the ground for its satisfactions, instead of up to 
 the heavens. Superstition, blear-eyed, and trembling with 
 fear, in darkened bondage, and bereft of all joyful confi- 
 dence. Sensualism, bartering its heavenly birthright for a 
 mess of pottage. These are the foes of man and Grod, and 
 these also shall one day be " slain with the sword of Him 
 that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his 
 mouth." 
 
 " Awake, awake, put on thy strength, arm of the Lord : 
 awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. 
 Art thou not it that hath cut Eahab, and wounded the 
 dragon ? " 
 
 " Awake, awake ; put on thy strength, Zion , put on 
 thy beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city : for 
 henceforth there shall no more come unto thee the uncir- 
 cumcised and the unclean. . . . Break forth into joy, 
 sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem : for the Lord 
 hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. 
 The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all 
 the nations ; and all the ends of the earth shall see the 
 salvation of our Grod." 
 
 * " Sinai and Palestine," p. 293.
 
 XI. 
 
 THE MILLEJSTMIUM. 
 Eeyelatiox XX. 1-6. 
 
 "Mei^ have nowhere given up hoping; nor acquiesced 
 in the world's evil as the world's law. Everywhere they 
 have had a tradition of a time when they were nearer to Grod 
 than now — a confident hope of a time when they should be 
 brought nearer again." Amidst the conflicts and toils of 
 the present, humanity has looked both to the past and the 
 future for comfort. The poets have simg of a golden age 
 gone by, and there has been a vague belief that the former 
 days were better than these. And this dream of a better 
 time in the past is not wholly a dream, but has its basis in 
 fact. It is the unspent echo of sweetest music from the 
 bowers of Eden, and it finds a response in human hearts 
 because it recalls that state of iunocence when there was 
 nothing to hurt or destroy. And while men have thus 
 glanced backward with regret, they have also looked for- 
 ward with hope. In the darkest days they have seemed to 
 see the beacon-fire of promise on the hill-tops of the future. 
 Again and again have the hands that were hanging down 
 been lifted up, in the confident expectation of a good time 
 coming. 
 
 Is this expectation true and well-founded? Or is it 
 merely a poet's dream ? A poet's dream it may be, for this 
 is often deeper and truer than the historian's facts. But it 
 is not merely a dream ; it is a good hope, founded on the 
 assurance of Him who is not a man that He should lie, or 
 the son of man that He should repent. The Lord not 
 only sustains this hope, but was the first to give it birth. 
 Scripture is jubilant with the expectation that "there 
 shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the 
 
 L 2
 
 148 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 mountains : the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and 
 they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." As 
 the ancient prophet turned his face towards the future, it 
 became bright with the light of coming glory. He declares 
 that " the little one shall become a thousand, and the small 
 one a strong nation, the Lord will hasten it in His time." 
 In words of cheer he says to the Church, " The Grentiles 
 shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy 
 rising." He bids her " lift up thine eyes round about and 
 see all they gather themselves together, they come to thee : 
 thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be 
 nursed at thy side. Thy sun shall no more go down, nei- 
 ther shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be 
 thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall 
 be ended." In that blessed time of peace the nations shall 
 not vie with each other in building the most powerful ships of 
 war, or in forging the most destructive artillery; for "they 
 shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears 
 into pruniug-hooks : nation shall not lift up sword against 
 nation, neither shall they learn war any more." " The 
 wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopaixl shall 
 lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion and 
 the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. 
 And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones 
 shall lie down together : and the lion shall eat straw like 
 the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of 
 the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
 my holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the know- 
 ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 And the glory that lit up the face of psalmist and pro- 
 phet makes radiant the visions of the beloved disciple in 
 the isle of Patmos. Having told us of that royal victor 
 who went forth on the white horse, and who overthrew one 
 enemy after another, he then describes what next he saw. 
 On mighty wing there descended an angel from heaven, 
 having in one hand the key of the bottomless pit, and in 
 the other a powerful chain. And he laid hold of the 
 dragon, that ancient serpent whose trail was in Paradise, 
 that serpent which is the devil or the accuser, and Satan 
 or the adversary, and bound him a thousand years, and cast
 
 The Millennium. 149 
 
 him iuto tlie bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a 
 seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more 
 till the thousand years shall be fulfilled. The saints are 
 glad and triumph, reigning with their Lord. Thus Scrip- 
 ture throughout rings with the joyful promise that the 
 earth shall have its golden age again. 
 
 In this general belief all Christian men agree and rejoice 
 together. But when we come more closely to the question, 
 there is very considerable diversity of opinion as to when 
 and liOAv that golden age shall dawn. One section of the 
 Church believes that the millennial time of blessedness will 
 be before the second coming of our Lord : while the 
 other section contends that that second coming w^ill usher 
 m the millennium, that our Lord will appear in person, and 
 reign on the earth with His saints. 
 
 In the course of these lectures, I have intentionally said 
 as little as possible about the other interpretations of the 
 book of Revelation that have been given, preferring rather, 
 as I stated at the outset, to give only that which commends 
 itself to my own judgment. In dealing with the millennium, 
 however, I can hardly do so to any purpose without refer- 
 ring to the various opinions that are entertained concerning 
 it. I have never been able to see my way to the millenarian 
 belief in the " personal reign " of Christ on earth; but in 
 speaking of it, I hope I shall not forget that it is the belief of 
 some very devout and prayerful men whose Christian excel- 
 lence wins my respect, even when their interpretation of 
 Scripture fails to do so. I believe that they are in error, but 
 in error that is based on a truth that was in danger of nes:- 
 leet, and which they have brought into prominence. They 
 have lifted the eyes of the Church from the dust and conflict 
 of the present, and directed her gaze more steadily to the 
 great hope of Christ's second coming. For this we thank 
 them, even while we part company with them ; and let me 
 say also, that if I reject theii* belief, it is not because it is 
 too bright and too glowing, but because it is not bright and 
 glowing enough. If my conception of Christ's kingdom 
 were lower than theirs, I should feel at once that that was 
 a fatal objection to it, and should abandon it for that reason 
 alone. If I am not looking for that for which they are 
 looking, it is because I am firmly persuaded " God has pro- 
 vided some better thing for us."
 
 150 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 The history of the millenarian doctrine falls into three 
 peiiods. The early Christians, suffering bitterly from the 
 persecution of the heathen, looked for the near approach of 
 Christ and the righting of their wrongs in an earthly king- 
 dom, where the saints should have power. The blood of 
 the martyrs was the seed, and the kingdom of Christ was 
 to be the harvest. There was diversity of opinion, but the 
 views of many of the early Christians were of a very sen- 
 suous sort, and extremely objectionable. In the Alexan- 
 drian Church Origen resisted this chiliasm, as it was then 
 called — chilias being the Greek word, as mille is the Latin, 
 for a thousand — and its influence began to decline. In 
 the Eoman Church it maintained a longer hold. But with 
 Augustine arose the idea that the Church is the kingdom 
 of Grod upon earth ; and this teaching, together with the 
 altered political position of the Church, led to the downfall 
 of the doctrine. When persecution ceased, and Christi- 
 anity came to sway the civil power, this was thought to be 
 the victory promised, and men accepted this as the mil- 
 lennium for which they had waited. The end of the world 
 was looked for at the end of the first thousand years after 
 Christ, and there was little, if any, expectation of a visible 
 earthly reign of the Messiah. 
 
 But with the Reformation there came a revival of the 
 millenarian hope. The persecution by the papal power 
 took the place of that l3y the pagan so many centuries 
 before, and the martyrs looked for a speedy coming of 
 Christ, and a speedy redemption of His Church. Many 
 minds found signs of His coming in the wonders that were 
 taking place among them, and a thousand tokens in heaven 
 and earth were interpreted as heralding that coming. The 
 Beformers cherished these expectations. But the Ana- 
 baptists and others had such gross views of the millennium, 
 that the Protestant Church, in both its branches, was obliged 
 to denounce their caricatures as Judaizing fanaticism. The 
 Lutherans denounced them in the Augsburg, and the Ee- 
 formers in the Helvetic Confession.* These denunciations 
 settled the matter for the whole Church for a time, though 
 there were a few here and there who continued to put forth 
 the doctrine. 
 
 * Semisch in Herzog's " Real EncyklopacTie."
 
 The Millennium. 151 
 
 The learned and devout Bengel introduced, iu Germany, 
 tlie third period of uiillenarianism. In 1740 he published 
 his explanation of the Apocalypse. By calcula+^ious, 
 of the truth of which he was very confident, he fixed 
 1835 as the date of the end of the world. In_ England, 
 Joseph Mede had a century before revived the interest of 
 the Church in millennial studies. By his book on the 
 Apocalypse, he became really the father of the modern 
 school of continuous historic interpretation, and ever since, 
 more or less, there has prevailed the belief in Christ's 
 personal reign with His saints on earth. 
 
 Those who hold this belief, trusting to certain calcula- 
 tions based on prophetic Scripture, say that we have reached 
 the time of the end, and that we may almost any moment 
 expect the second advent of our Lord. They trust to this 
 for the conversion of the world, saying tliat the present 
 agencies are only intended to spread the Gospel for a wit- 
 ness to all nations, and so to gather out an elect few. They 
 say that the word and the Spirit, working through Chris- 
 tian institutions, are insufiicient for the conversion of the 
 world. Edward Irving, in his "Lectures on Prophecy," says : 
 — " It will be shown to you from the word of God, I trust, 
 that it is not by the progress of society, or the march of 
 intellect, or the advancement of science ; that it is not by 
 the spread of modern opinions, or the rise and growth of 
 liberal institutions ; that it is not by means of scliools, 
 and hospitals, and peace societies, and temperance societies ; 
 no, nor even by means of Sunday-schools, and tract socie- 
 ties, and missions to the heathen, however good in their 
 place these may be (and we have reason to thank God in 
 many respects for these) ; it is not by these means that 
 Satan's kingdom will be overthrown, that the world will be 
 delivered from his dire oppression, and the universal reign 
 of righteousness and peace be introduced ; but ' by the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Cln-ist from heaven.' " In con- 
 formity with this view they continually show that the world 
 is growing worse and worse. In this boasted nineteenth- 
 century light, superstition of the grossest kind, say they, 
 grows rank, and the uprising and rapid spread of Mormonism 
 and Spiritualism present prodigies so monstrous that we 
 should regard them as impossible if we had not seen them. 
 Then, loolting upon the Church as it is as well as the world,
 
 1 5 2 The Book of Revelation, 
 
 tliey note " the great and rapid spread of scepticism wffh- 
 in its borders ; the very limited extent to which Scripture 
 is now, hy Christians, read, studied, and heartily accepted ; 
 the feebleness of our faith generally ; the all but complete 
 obliteration of old distinctions between the Church 
 and the world ; the very low estimate formed by outsiders 
 of the spirituality, disinterestedness, and general moral 
 elevation of believers ; and the unscriptural idea of Chris- 
 tianity which now dominates in religious society. Looking 
 at these things in the Church, they see iu them signs, not 
 of advancement, but of an approaching catastrophe." They 
 say there are special reasons for believing that the finger of 
 prophecy points to 18G6 or 1867 as the time of the second 
 coming, when a very different state of things will be brought 
 about. Then, at Ilis coming, the dead saints shall be raised, 
 and the living shall be changed, rising to meet Him in the 
 air. To use their own words, " instantly on this, the earth's 
 internal fires shall burst forth at a thousand orifices, the 
 gases that compose our atmosphere shall ignite, the hea- 
 vens and the earth shall melt with fervent heat, and the 
 world, with the living wicked on it, and the dead wicked 
 buried in it, shall be burned up." According to the pro- 
 phecies of Zechariah, say they, our Lord shall appear, 
 " and His feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives, which 
 shall cleave beneath Him in the midst thereof." He shall 
 then establish His court at Jerusalem, and shall, with the 
 risen saints, reign there for a thousand years. The Jews, 
 having been brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles, shall 
 dwell in their own land, and thus Jesus shall literally sit 
 upon the throne of His father David. According to the 
 projihecy of Zechariah xiv., just referred to, it is said that 
 the rest of the nations of the earth shall come up, either 
 personally, or by deputy, to worship the King, the Lord 
 of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles at Jerusalem. 
 Some even maintain that the ancient sacrifices will be re- 
 vived for the instruction of the Church. But the main 
 hope of their belief is that the Saviour shall literally sit 
 upon His ancestral throne in the glory of His kingdom. 
 
 This is, on the whole, a fail' statement of millenarian 
 belief. There are perplexing differences among them, being 
 almost as many variations of opinion as there are writers,
 
 TJte Millcnniicm. 153 
 
 "but in substance I think I have presented the main features 
 of the school to which they all belong. Let me now say a 
 word or two on a few of the principal points thus advanced. 
 
 And first on the matter of the dates that have been fixed. 
 I do not hesitate to say that these have not a particle of 
 evidence from Scripture on which to rest. It has been a 
 favourite belief, that as the work of creation is represented 
 as being completed in six days, the seventh being a Sabbath, 
 and as it is said that one day is with the Lord as a thousand 
 years, the world would last seven thousand years, the last 
 thousand j^ears being the Sabbath of the millennium ; and 
 as the world, according to the calculation of some chrono- 
 logists, has lasted about six thousand years already, we are 
 therefore on the eve of the seventh millenary period. But 
 no one will surely maintain that this is a fair application of 
 Peter's words, when he said that with the Lord a thousand 
 years are but as one day, and one day as a thousand years. 
 I need hardly say that he was then sublimely affirming that 
 all periods are equally present to the Infinite mind. This, 
 and nothing more than this, was intended. It seems to me 
 vastly more probable — for, when Scripture is silent, proba- 
 bilities are all that any man can advance — that the world 
 will continue for many thousands of years yet. It must be 
 remembered that before Christ came, the work of prepara- 
 tion for His coming lasted four thousand years ; and it is 
 very likely, to say the least, that the period prepared for 
 will be longer than the period of preparation. But on both 
 sides this is mere guessing, without much ground to go 
 upon ; and we must leave it. 
 
 The more common mode of calculation with the millena- 
 rians is this : it is said that a prophetic day sometimes 
 means a year, and that when John, in the Apocalypse, 
 speaks of the wilderness state of the Church as 1260 days, 
 he means really 12G0 natural years ; and as the Papacy was 
 established in GOG, when the Emperor Phocas declared the 
 pope the head of all the Churches, and sole universal bishop, 
 we thus reach 1866 as the time when this wicked one shall 
 be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's appearing. Or 
 thus Dr. Cumming reaches his famous conclusions. In a 
 letter published a few years ago he says, " I have collected, 
 from a comparison of the prophetic dates of Daniel and the
 
 154 T^^c Book of Revelation. 
 
 Apocalypse with liistoric facts, that the first great period of 
 1260 years began in a.d. 530, or when the civil power in- 
 vested the Roman pontiff with imperial and civil as well as 
 hierarchical jurisdiction. It ended in 1790, as it began in 
 530, at which period the Papacy ceased to be an absolutely 
 dominant power. Daniel tells us that two distinct periods 
 of time are to be added to this last— one of thirty years, 
 and another of forty-five. Adding thirty, we find that we 
 land at the beginning of the drying up of the Euphrates, or 
 wasting of the Mahometan dynasty in Europe ; viz., a.d. 
 1820. Add to 1820 the second period of forty-five years 
 specified by Daniel, and we arrive at 1865, at the end of 
 which Daniel says, He that cometh is blessed." As we are 
 now in 1866, and nothing very special has yet happened, I 
 presume this calculation will require, and may possibly have 
 received, revision. But mark how utterly Avorthless is the 
 whole process of calculation from beginning to end. I will 
 say nothing now of the sufficiency of what I take to be the 
 more scriptural explanation of the 1260 days already given 
 in the fourth lecture. I will simply deal with the mode of 
 reckoning here adopted. And, first of all, it is by no means 
 probable, much less is it certain, that a prophetic day means 
 a natural year, and that therefore the 1260 days are 1260 
 years. Eor what is the proof advanced? The spies sent 
 forth to Canaan searched the land forty days, and Israel, 
 for their unbelief, were to wander in the wilderness as 
 many years. " After the number of the days in which ye 
 searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, 
 shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years " (Num. xiv. 
 34). Again, Ezekiel was bidden of the Lord to lie on his 
 left side 390 days, and bear the iniquity of Israel. " Eor I 
 have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to 
 the number of the days, 390 days ; so shalt thou bear the 
 iniquity of the house of Israel" (Ezek. iv. 5). It is said 
 that in each of these passages a day represents a year ; to 
 which I answer, Tes, a day represents a year, but in each 
 case "a day" means a day, and not a year. Because in 
 these instances a day is openly stated to typify a year, it is 
 surely a long step to take when it is assumed that therefore 
 everywhere in prophetic Scripture, without any such state- 
 ment, we are to conclude that a day means a year. But
 
 TJlc Millennium. I55 
 
 perhaps tlie strongest proof in favour of the year-day theory 
 is the passage in Daniel ix. 2-1), Avhere it is said, '■'■ Sevoity 
 weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy 
 city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, 
 and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in 
 everlasting righteousness." Now it is admitted on all 
 hands that a period of 490 years is here signified by the 
 seventy weeks, and therefore it is said a day stands for a 
 year, seventy weeks being 490 days. But the reply is that 
 the original words are simply these, " Seventy sevens are de- 
 termined," etc. Wo happen to know that seventy sevens 
 of years are meant ; but, in fact, neither days nor years are 
 mentioned. To show that the word for " seven" does not 
 always imply a week of days, there are passages where the 
 word " days " is added when a week is intended. There are 
 two instances in the second and third verses of the very 
 next chapter. It seems to me that the proof that a day 
 means a year utterly breaks down. 
 
 It is sheer guessing, then, to say that the 1260 days mean 
 12G0 years ; and even if it were not, no one seems to know 
 when we ought to begin to count them. The starting-point 
 is a purely arbitrary one. We have seen that Dr. Gum- 
 ming chooses 530 a.d., because he says the pope was then 
 invested with civil atid imperial power ; Eaber, Seiss, and 
 others prefer GOG, when the Emperor Phocas declared the 
 pope to be head of all the Churches ; while Newton could 
 not make up his mind between 727, 755, 774, and 787. 
 Between the first and last date there is a difierence of more 
 than two centuries and a half! And even if they were all 
 agreed, there remains what seems to me the absurdity of 
 supposing that the Divine dispensations would be arranged 
 to count from the formal decree of a Roman emperor, or 
 from the time when the pope broke away from the Eastern 
 emperor, or obtained the exarchate of Ravenna. The Divine 
 counsels are far more deeply rooted in the nature of things 
 than that. 
 
 I cannot now dwell upon the unwarrantable and un- 
 philosophical plan of lengthening out the 12G0 days, as Dr. 
 Gumming does, by adding to them the additional thirty 
 days and forty-five days mentioned by the prophet Daniel. 
 The book of Daniel and the book of Revelation, while they
 
 156 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 occasionally use tlie same symbols, have a widely different 
 purpose, and bear on totally different events. The one is 
 concerned with Jewish history, and, as we have seen, has 
 been literally fulfilled ; the other describes, in symbol, the 
 spiritual future of the Church of Grod. But I must now 
 leave this question of the dates and calculations of the 
 miUenarians, and in doing so can only express astonishment 
 that they have found acceptance so long. 
 
 Let me now advert to the statement that GJirisVs second 
 coming ivill he for the conversion of the ivorld. It has been 
 said, as we have seen, that the means at work during the 
 present dispensation are wholly inadequate to this end, and 
 that in fact both the Church and the world are growing 
 worse instead of better. On the present spiritual condition 
 of the race, as compared with the past, we none of us have 
 accurate data for judgment ; and therefore there will be 
 differences of opinion. To the Lord alone all hearts are 
 naked and open, and He alone knows perfectly the ebb 
 and flow of spiritual life among men. But, looking at the 
 facts as far as we can reach them, I come to a more cheer- 
 ful conclusion than the one I have mentioned. I admit 
 that our age has its special spiritual dangers, from the in- 
 crease of activity, of wealth and luxury. But no age of the 
 Christian Church has been without its peculiar perils and 
 discipline. I see also that there are deadly errors ripen- 
 ing, and serious conflicts coming. But, on the other hand, 
 there are features of the times that are intensely hopeful. 
 I hold that even the sceptical books that have appeared 
 and made a stir through the land are not tokens of a de- 
 clining, but of an increasing spirit of inquiry as to the 
 things of Grod. They are signs that the tide of truth is 
 rising, and flooding those bays of human thought where for 
 so long there has been a mere stretch of foul and barren 
 beach. Christianity is certainly not retiring from our 
 literature, our legislation, or our social life ; but rather 
 under its influence society is growing more just and more 
 humane. It is more resolutely bent on grappling with the 
 dreadful evils that were gnawing at its heart. Moreover, the 
 Church is, with an energy hitherto unparalleled, carrying 
 out schemes for meeting the spiritual wants of the people ; 
 and there are many things done and doing for which every
 
 TJie Millennium. 157 
 
 Christian heart will be devoutly grateful to God. It 
 is very possible that some old modes of life and action 
 which have been regarded as part and parcel of Christi- 
 anity, but which were, in fact, only part and parcel of our- 
 selves, will pass away. But the Spirit of God is a creative 
 Spirit, and the life that He implants will have its own 
 mode of development. There are very many things about 
 our religious societies, and much that is human about our 
 Churches, that might vanish away without any very great 
 cause for regi'et. I think we are on the eve of losing a good 
 many things, the loss of which will be a great gain to the 
 true life of the Church. We may have less reverence for 
 human inventions, but we shall have all the more for 
 God's great verities aftervvards. These external matters I 
 hold lightly ; but I do maintain tliat God's Spirit, working 
 through God's word, as it is read or spoken, is with ever- 
 increasing power bringing sinful men within the sphere of 
 His influence who is the Life of the world. The Divine 
 working in these days does not show itself precisely in 
 the forms of the past ; but it is mighty and living, and, 
 after all, life is the grand thing. In coming to a right 
 judgment on the efficacy or otherwise of the present means 
 employed for the conversion of the world, let us not forget 
 that 4000 years rolled away ere Christ appeared, and 
 scarcely half that period has gone by since. Let lis not 
 overlook the manifest preparation going on slowly but 
 surely in the heathen world. Men have begun to doubt 
 the truth of the superstitions of their fathers ; ancient 
 systems of darkness are tottering to their fall. By-and-bye 
 it may not be an exaggeration to speak of a nation being 
 born in a day. So it may seem when the event comes, 
 and yet the greater part of the work may have been silently 
 going on out of sight, in the midst of a generation that 
 believed there was little or nothing doing for the salvation 
 of the world. I am not at all prepared to admit the work 
 to be so hopeless at present that we can expect nothing for 
 the world till Christ shall, in bodily form, appear on the 
 earth again. "We have Him with us now, — with us by the 
 Spirit, — -with us in the form He Himself declared to be 
 most for our advantage. He said to His disciples, " It is 
 exjpedient for yoii, that I go au-ay.'''' He speaks of great
 
 158 TJic Book of Revelation. 
 
 spiritual works being accomplislied, not through His bodily 
 presence, but through His mediation and the descent of 
 the Spirit which He would shed forth. Pointing to His 
 miracles, He declares of the believer, " Greater works than 
 these shall he do, hecause I go xinto my Father ^ Moreover, 
 it is nowhere said that Christ's coming will be for the con- 
 version of the world, except in such passages as this, "They 
 shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall 
 mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son," words 
 that, without any straining, admit of a purely S2:)iritual 
 interpretation. But on the contrary, Christ's second com- 
 ing is distinctly stated to be for very different purposes. 
 So far from the Church being then at its worst state, and 
 the world needing to be converted, the Church shall then 
 be complete, and shall be presented to Himself a glorious 
 Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 
 He shall then " come to be glorified in His saints, and to 
 be admired in all them that have believed." He will then 
 come, not to commence the salvation of His people, but to 
 complete it. " Our citizenship is in heaven, whence also 
 we look for the Saviour, who shall change the body of our 
 humiliation, and fashion it like to the body of His glory, 
 by that energy with which He is able to subject all things 
 to Himself." All this is quite in the spirit of the rest of 
 Scripture. "When Christ comes again it will not be to 
 convert, but to judge. " Wlien the Son of man shall come 
 in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall 
 He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall 
 be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one 
 from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the 
 goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, 
 but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto 
 them on His right hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
 of the world. . . . Then shall He say unto them on 
 His left hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." "The Lord 
 Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Grod ; and 
 the dead in Christ shall rise first." " The hour is coming in 
 the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and
 
 The Millennium. 159 
 
 shall come fortli ; they that have done good, unto the re- 
 surrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the 
 resui-rection of damnation." So runs the strain ; and 
 whether the means now in operation be sufficient or in- 
 sufficient to convert the world, it is manifest that Scripture 
 says nothing of Christ's personal presence accomplishing 
 that end. When He comes again, it will not be as at first 
 to seek and save the lost, but to be glorified in His saints, 
 to wake the sleeping dead, and to execute judgment upon 
 a Avorld which has reached its end. 
 
 It may be said, it has been said, " If the world is to be 
 converted before Christ come, if, ere He appear, the earth 
 shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, 
 as the waters cover the sea, and the kingdoms of this 
 world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, 
 then His coming cannot be near ; and yet men are bidden 
 to watch for it as if it were." I can only answer that the 
 first disciples were as urgently commanded to watch for 
 His appearing as are we ; still 1800 years have rolled by, 
 and His second coming is not yet. They also were bidden 
 to watch, I repeat, though His personal advent was not 
 near ; for in truth there are other and nearer forms of His 
 coming, for whicli we are all to be prepared. He comes in 
 life. He comes in death ; He comes in mercy. He comes in 
 judgment ; yet too often He passes by, and blind eyes be- 
 hold Him not ; therefore it is said, " Watch, for ye know 
 neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh." 
 It has been well said, " When brighter light breaks on the 
 world's darkness, — when old errors die, and old wrongs are 
 abolished, — when the spirit of fervid piety gains full sway 
 of Christian hearts, and the Church is wholly consecrated 
 in time, talent, purse, and purpose to the Lord, — all this will 
 be in answer to that inspired prayer, ' Come, Lord Jesus, 
 come quickly ! ' " 
 
 Let me now, as briefly as I can, refer to that other im- 
 portant aspect of millenarian belief — the personal reign of 
 Christ on earth. 
 
 I have abeady said that there are some who take literally 
 those words in the book of Zechariah, " And His feet shall 
 stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is be- 
 fore Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall
 
 i6o TJic Book of Revelation. 
 
 cleave in tlie midst thereof, toward the east and toward the 
 west, and there shall be a very great valley ; and half of the 
 mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it 
 toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the 
 mountains ; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto 
 Azal : yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the 
 earthquake in the days of TJzziah, King of Judah ; and the 
 Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." It 
 is believed that He will thus establish His court at Jeru- 
 salem, and with His risen saints reign there for a thousand 
 years. Thus shall He literally sit upon the throne of His 
 father David. With respect to the words of Zechai'iah, (chap, 
 xiv.) I may just say that we can hardly insist upon inter- 
 preting a book so full of visions and symbols quite literally. 
 Or, if we thus literally understand one part of this chapter, 
 we must take the rest literally too, and we shall then meet 
 with insuperable difficulties. There is, perhaps, some light 
 given in a passage from the prophet Micah (i. 3, 4), where 
 he says, " Behold the Lord cometh forth out of His place, 
 and will tread upon the high places of the land. And the 
 mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall 
 be cleft." These words relate to the Assyrian invasion, 
 and were then fulfilled. Jehovah did not, however, literally 
 " tread upon the high places of the land," nor were the 
 " valleys " literally " cleft." Without going more fully into 
 this 14th chapter of Zechariah, which is beside my purpose 
 now, it seems to me that its purport is sufficiently de- 
 scribed when it is said that the prophet declares " that as 
 the result of the advent of Messiah there should be a re- 
 moval of the obstacles that prevented the accession of the 
 Grentiles to the Church ; that the gospel should then be 
 diffused among all nations ; and that the time should even- 
 tually come, when, to use the language of Isaiah, ' Many 
 people would go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the 
 mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, 
 and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His 
 paths.' " * But — to pass by this to the main question — it 
 is said that Christ will come to establish His kingdom ; to 
 which I reply that kingdom is already established, and a 
 very serious evil flowing from millenariauism is that it dis- 
 * " What saith the Scripture ? " By W. P. Lyon, B.A.
 
 The Millennium. i6i 
 
 putes this. It is not because tlie kingdom is limited in its 
 influence, that they say it is not as yet set up. Dr. Leask 
 says, " Let us imagine the issue of Christian ministry — a 
 Christiauised globe, every land basking in the Suu of riglit- 
 eousness, ever}'^ language sending up its daily anthems of 
 adoration to the Saviour, and every form of idolatry, super- 
 stition, injustice, oppression, and moral wrong abolished 
 from the rising to the setting of the sun. I ask, What 
 then ? Would not this satisfy the royal rights of the Lord 
 Jesus ? Would not this fulfil all the predictions on the 
 pages of both Testaments regarding His kingdom and 
 dominion? And would not this entirely supersede the 
 doctrine of the ^^;-(9-millennial advent, and prove conclu- 
 sively that those who had taught it had all along laboured 
 under a mistake ? I answer. No ! — emphatically, earnestly, 
 No I " It is maintained that " the visible presence of the 
 King "is essential to "the proper character of the kingdom 
 of Christ." And because He is not visibly and bodily pre- 
 sent, they say His kingdom is not yet set up. But, on the 
 other hand, Scripture most plainly declares that by His re- 
 surrection and ascension Christ was exalted to be king. 
 It is said that God the Father " raised Christ from the 
 dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly 
 places, 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 : and hath put all 
 things under His feet" (Eph. i. 20-22). Peter, speaking 
 of Christ, says, " Him hath God exalted to be a Pr-ince and 
 a Saviour." And, on the day of Pentecost, the drift of his 
 argument was strongly in the same direction. He shows 
 that the promise to David was that Christ should sit on his 
 throne, and that that was fulfilled at the resurrection of 
 Christ. " Being a prophet, and knowing that God had 
 sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, 
 according to the flesh. He would raise up Christ to sit on 
 his throne : He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ." Peter then goes on to say that " this 
 Jesus hath God raised up," that He is already " by the 
 right hand of God exalted." He argues that David is not 
 ascended into the heavens : " but he saith himself. The 
 Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until 
 
 M
 
 1 62 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 I make Thy foes Thy footstool." So far from the second 
 coming of our Lord being the time when He shall enter 
 upon His kingdom, it is rather the time when He will de- 
 liver it up to God, even the Father. " Then cometh the 
 end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, 
 even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule, 
 and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He 
 hath put all enemies under His feet." And mark this — 
 " The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Believe 
 me, Christ is already king, and His kingdom will for ever 
 grow in grandeur and power as the years roll on. 
 
 The notion of the personal reign has always seemed to 
 me to ■ degrade the relation of Christ with His followers. 
 It is not merely, as I think, contrary to the letter of 
 Scripture, but vastly more opposed to its loftier spirit. 
 There are many who believe it will be vastly better for the 
 world and the Church when Christ shall live again on 
 earth in a body, and be visible as in body. They know not 
 what manner of spirit they are of. Let them ponder the 
 words of Dr. Bushnell. If Christ come in the body, " He 
 will of course be here or there in space, a locally present 
 being at some particular geographic point — Jerusalem, or 
 London, or Eome — or going about in all places by turns. 
 Hearing now that He is here or there, we shall think no 
 more of seeing Him by faith, and begin to think of seeing 
 Him with our eyes. Every ship that sails will be crowded 
 with eager multitudes pressing on to see the visible Christ. 
 Thronging in thus, month by month, a vast seething crowd 
 of pilgrims, curious and devout, poor and rich, houseless 
 all and hungry, trampling each other, many of them sick, 
 not one of them in the enjoyment truly of God's peace, 
 not one of a thousand getting near enough to see Him, 
 still fewer to hear Him speak, — how long will it take, 
 under such kind of experience, to learn what Christ in- 
 tended, and the solid truth of it when He said, ' It is 
 expedient for you that I go away ? ' Nothing would be 
 more inexpedient, or a profoimder aiSiction, than a locally 
 descended, permanently visible Saviour. . . . There is 
 nothing, I must frankly say, that would be so nearly a dead 
 loss of Christ to any disciple who knows Him in the dear 
 companionship of faith, as to have Him come in visible
 
 The Millennium. 163 
 
 sliow ; either setting up His reign at some geograpliic 
 point, or reigning ai'riaily in. some liitting and cursitating 
 manner whicli cannot be traced. How beautifully access- 
 ible is He now everywhere, present to every heart that 
 loves Him ; consciously dear, as friend, consoler, guide, and 
 stay, in all conditions ; close at hand in every sinking ship 
 in the uttermost parts of the sea ; the sweet joy of dungeons 
 underground, where there is no light to see Him in a body ; 
 immediately and all diffusively present, to comfort every 
 sorrow, support every persecution, and even to turn away 
 the tempting thought before it comes." * 
 
 And, overwhelming as are these difficulties in the path to 
 a belief in a literal personal reign of Christ on earth, they 
 are not the only ones. Some of the millenariaus — for there 
 is perplexing diversity among them here — first state that 
 the present constitution of things will be wholly changed, 
 and then unconsciously assume that it will continue as 
 it is. "We are told that when Christ comes in the 
 clouds of heaven, " The earth having given up the silent 
 dust of the saints, then the fire that is treasured up in the 
 very centre of the earth shall burst forth at ten thousand 
 crevices, — ' the elements shall melt as with fervent heat,' — 
 the solid rocks shall blaze as if they were wax, and the 
 rivers as if they were oil ; and the weary old earth, having 
 undergone the oi-deal of the last fire, shall regain its pris- 
 tine purity, and become fit for the immediate presence of 
 the descending Saviour and His risen saints." So writes 
 Dr. Cumming ; and in this he is borne out by the apostle 
 Peter, who tells us, in a book which is simply didactic and 
 not symbolic, that " in the day of the Lord the heavens 
 shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
 melt with fervent heat ; the eai'th also, and the works tliat 
 are therein shall be burned up." Yet, after such stupendous 
 changes as these, it is quietly assumed that Jerusalem will 
 be w^here it was, that Palestine will continue as before, and 
 the Jews go up to dwell in their own land ; and, since we 
 are to take the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah literally, 
 thither will all the nations of the earth repair to keep the 
 feast of tabernacles ! The earth and all its works shall 
 be burned up : yet we are told of the amazing facilities 
 * " Christ and His Salvation," pp. 298 et seq. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 for modern intercourse whicli Palestine -will still possess 
 after tlie kingdom is there established ; and we are told 
 that " it is not easy to estimate the commercial grandeur to 
 which a kingdom may attain, planted as it were on the very 
 apex of the Old "World, with its three continents spreading 
 out beneath its feet, and with the Eed Sea ou one side 
 to bring in all the golden treasures and spicy harvests 
 of the East, and the Mediterranean floating in on the 
 other side all the skill and enterprise and knowledge of 
 the West." 
 
 In all that is said about the earthly kingdom, it is also 
 forgotten that a change shall pass on man as marvellous as 
 that which shall pass over the earth at Christ's second 
 coming. In the course of his sublime argument on the 
 resui-rection, in the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, the apostle shows that man will hereafter 
 have a spiritual body. Just as there are different kinds of 
 flesh in the natural bodies of earthly creatui-es, so there 
 are bodies terrestrial and bodies celestial, and the glory of 
 the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is an- 
 other. Man will have his natural body first, and his spiritual 
 body after. Elesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 
 of G-od. Therefore these must be laid aside, and there will 
 be a resurrection. Every man in his own order, Christ the 
 firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming. 
 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as the trumpet 
 sounds that heralds His approach, shall the spiritual body 
 be assumed. At His coming shall the vital change be 
 made, and then all the affinities of man's bodily nature 
 shall be with a spiritual state. Yet, according to the 
 millenarian theory, the risen saints are to live and reign in a 
 world still fitted to an earthly body, for the Jews are to live 
 in the literal Palestine, Jerusalem is to have its " commer- 
 cial grandeur," and " golden treasures and spicy harvests " 
 will come by way of the Eed Sea for her use. Moreover, 
 if the saints only are to rise and reign, those yet to be con- 
 verted will still be in fleshly bodies. Thus there will be 
 two orders of beings living together in the same world ; 
 one order having bodies of flesh and blood, and bound by 
 earthly conditions, and the other order having spiritual 
 bodies, and raised above those conditions.
 
 TJie Millennium. 165 
 
 Then, again, there is yet another difficulty in the mille- 
 narian's path. According to Scripture, as we have seen, at 
 Christ's second coming the dead will rise and judgment 
 will be declared. Thus the final spiritual state of mankind 
 will have commenced. And if Christ's coming be before 
 the millennium, then the millennium will be the beginning 
 of the perfect spiritual state and blessedness of believers. 
 And yet this twentieth chapter of the Revelation says that 
 after the millennium has reached its end there will be a 
 relapse. " When the thousand years are expired, Satan 
 shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive 
 the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth." 
 If, then, pre-millennialism be true, sin shall prevail even 
 after the old world is burned up and the new world has 
 come ; there shall be another foil, even after the spiritual 
 body is assumed and the glorified state has come. The 
 utter hopelessness which such a belief brings in, no words 
 can describe. 
 
 I have at such length spoken of the difficulties of pre-mil- 
 lenarianism, that I fear I shall have very little time indeed 
 for reference to the positive aspects of the chapter before us, 
 to which we must now return. John saw Satan bound, and 
 shut up in the abyss for a thousand years. With what sort 
 of chain he shall be bound, Ave are led to see when it is said 
 that he should deceive the nations no more. When 
 worldly power is overthrown, false teaching checked, and 
 public oj)inion purified, then shall there come to every land 
 a long and blessed period when the powers of darkness 
 shall be crippled. I trust that we have already entered too 
 deeply into the spirit of this symbolic book to suppose that 
 a thousand literal years are meant by the millennium. The 
 Church has her 12G0 days of sorrow ; but her time of peace 
 and victory shall be as a thousand years to these 1260 days. 
 For a vast and lengthened period shall the malignant spirit 
 of evil be deprived of his power to hurt or destroy. 
 
 During this time when truth shall be victorious, those 
 who lived before the millennium, having risen to the hea- 
 venly state, shall there live and reign with Christ during 
 the long interval before His second coming. John " saw 
 thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given 
 unto them : and I saw the souls of them that were be-
 
 1 66 TJic Book of Revelation. 
 
 headed for the witness of Jesus and for tlie word of Grod, 
 and whicli had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, 
 neither had-received his mark upon their foreheads, or in 
 their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ a 
 thousand years." In blessed fellowship with their Lord, 
 they waited for His second coming to the earth. This is 
 the first resurrection — a rising to be with Christ. "Blessed 
 and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection ; on 
 such the second death hath no power, but they shall be 
 priests of Grod and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a 
 thousand years." Taking these words as they stand, there 
 is nothing in them to indicate a descent of Christ to the 
 earth, but rather an ascent of faithful souls to live and 
 reign with Him. These witnesses of Christ, who had tried 
 to better the earth when they were on it, and had often 
 seemed to try in vain, shall, as their reward, exercise upon 
 it an influence they have not had before. They shall live 
 with Christ, and with Him they shall reign. The rest of 
 the dead lived not* through all that lengthened period of 
 the thousand years. Existence had they, but not life in its 
 high and blessed sense. Their life, in so far as life means 
 enpyment, was earth-bound, and had vanished away. 
 
 For saintly souls who depart in the faith, then, there 
 shall be a triumphant reign with Christ ; and for the earth, 
 which they leave behind, there shall be a millennial rest 
 from the inroads of the enemy, though not, it may be, an 
 absolute freedom from the power of sin. Drawing nearer 
 and still nearer is that better time. It will, most probably, 
 be ushered in by fierce conflicts. Even now the hosts are 
 gathering to the field, and it is time for every man to gird 
 his sword upon his thigh. But after the storm there shall 
 come a calm, deep and tranquil, — blessed foretaste of the 
 rest of heaven. The golden age shall retui'u with the dawn 
 of the millennial day. 
 
 " Once the welcome light has broken, 
 
 Who can say 
 What the nnimagined glories 
 
 Of the day ? 
 What the evil that shall perish 
 
 In its ray ?" 
 
 * Not "lived not again."
 
 The Millennium. 167 
 
 I will not attempt to paint, in all its glowing colours, the 
 picture of the millennial future. Its merest outlines I can 
 suggest only in part. 
 
 1 can imagine that man will have regained his lost su- 
 premacy over nature, that pain will, be mitigated by the 
 further discoveries of science, that many of the inroads of 
 disease will be arrested, and that poverty and pauperism will 
 flee the earth. 
 
 It is surely not chimerical to hope that then the fearful 
 social evils which are the reproach of our modern civiliza- 
 tion will have ceased for ever, that business will be puri- 
 fied so as to be no longer the enthronizatiou of self, and 
 that thus common life will become sacred, having inscribed 
 thereon " Holiness to the Lord." 
 
 "We are told that ignorance shall flee the earth ; men's 
 minds shall be enlarged by the growth of knowledge ; best 
 of all, they shall become spiritually enlightened. The 
 earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of 
 the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. " In the last days it 
 shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the 
 Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and 
 it shall be exalted above the hills ; and people shall flow 
 unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and 
 let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house 
 of the G-od of Jacob ; and He will teach us of His ways, and 
 we will walk in His paths ; for the law shall go forth of 
 Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 
 
 Then also shall Israel be bi-ought in with the fulness of 
 the Grentiles. "Whether they shall or shall not go back to 
 Palestine is a matter of very small import ; but " they shall 
 look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn," and 
 that is of mighty moment. The veil shall be taken from 
 Israel's heart, and the Deliverer shall turn away ungodli- 
 ness from Jacob. Now if the fall of them be the riches of 
 the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the 
 Grentiles, how much more their fulness ? And if the cast- 
 ing away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall 
 the receiving of them be bvit life from the dead ? 
 
 The wide world o'er also there shall be lasting peace, and 
 the true brotherhood of the nations. Nation shall not lift 
 up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
 more.
 
 1 68 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 And, to crown the whole, there shall be a rich outpour- 
 ing of spiritual power and glory. Universal holiness there 
 may not be, for tares and wheat shall both grow together 
 until the harvest, and the harvest is the end of the world. 
 Absolute perfection belongs to the heavenly, not to the 
 earthly state. But extraordinary times of revival may 
 cease to be extraordinary, and the tide of Divine life flow 
 through the midst of the nations full and strong. The 
 Church shall have her joy in the Lord, in measure such as 
 she has never had it yet. Not the few, but the many shall 
 seek their all in Grod. The day of liberty for which weary 
 watchers, like sentinels of the night, have long looked, shall 
 dawn at length. The sad miserere of a sin-stricken world 
 shall I'ise to notes of gladness. The earth shall yield her 
 increase, and the Saviour shall see of the travail of His soul 
 and be satisfied. " He shall come down like rain uj^ou the 
 mown grass ; as showers that water the earth. In His 
 days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace 
 so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion 
 also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of 
 the earth." 
 
 " It was not then a poet's dream, — 
 An idle vaunt of song, 
 Such as beneath the moon's soft gleam 
 On vacant fancies throng, — 
 
 Which bids us see in heaven and earth. 
 
 In all fair things around, 
 Strong yearnings for a blest new birth, 
 
 With sinless glories crowned ; 
 
 Which bids us hear, at each sweet i^ause 
 
 From care and want and toil, 
 When dewy eve her curtain di'aws 
 
 Over the day's turmoil, 
 
 In the low chant of wakeful birds, 
 
 In the deep weltering flood, 
 In whisijering leaves, — these solemn words — 
 
 ' God made us all for good.' "
 
 XIT. 
 
 TRE GBUAT WHITE THRONE. 
 Eetelatiok XX. 7-15, 
 
 In our recent meditations on this book, we liave been as 
 tbey that watch for the morning — the morning of the mil- 
 lennial day. We are now to look at the gathering clouds, 
 as the day sinks into darkness and the midnight cry is 
 heard, " Behold, the Bi'idegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet 
 Him." After the millennial day has dawned, there shall 
 be a long reign of rest and peace for the weary earth. 
 Eight shall be triumphant over wrong. God's way shall be 
 known upon earth. His saving health among all nations. 
 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the 
 desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blos- 
 som abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. 
 And yet through all this the element of sin shall never be 
 wholly wanting. Long centuries shall pass away, and 
 many generations live on earth in the sunlight of Grod's 
 countenance ; but at length the reaction of evil shall begin 
 to work. Even in paradise the tempter whispered his dark 
 suggestions, and ere the end shall come he shall make one 
 struggle more. "And when the thousand years are expired, 
 Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to 
 deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the 
 earth, Grog and Magog, to gather them together to battle : 
 the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they 
 went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the 
 camp of the saints about, and the beloved city : and fire 
 came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." 
 
 Let me first explain the allusion to Gog and Magog, and 
 then we shall the better understand the symbolic language 
 here employed.
 
 I/O TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 lu tliese clays, wlien speaking of tlie world's civilization, 
 we are in the habit of contrasting the East and the West. 
 We think of the West as the centre of enterprise, wealth, 
 and power. We regard the East as a dull and lifeless 
 world, out of which the grander elements of national great- 
 ness have died away. But, in centuries far gone by, the 
 great contrast was not between East and West, but between 
 North and South. The great mountain barrier stretching 
 from the Alps to the Himalaya, and embracing the Hsemus, 
 the Taurus, and the Caucasus, formed in the ancient world 
 the grand separating line between barbarism and civilization. 
 South of that line there were the great empires of Eome, 
 Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Babylon, and Nineveh — all the 
 great political powers of those times. But north of that 
 line, stretching away over the vast plains beyond, there 
 were barbarian tribes that every now and^ then stood on 
 that mountain line, gazing on the wealth and comfort of 
 the sunny south. Ofttimes, too, bow and spear in hand, 
 they came on like a swarm of locusts, finding a garden be- 
 fore them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. Fierce, 
 uncouth, fur-clad forms, and fierce as their own wolves or 
 bears, they were the terror of the South. All the world 
 knows that about 1400 years ago they thundered at the 
 gates of Eome, and that proud city fell before them. But, 
 long, long before that, these savage hordes had more than 
 once rushed down upon the seats of luxury and power. 
 From Herodotus and Strabo we learn that, some five-and- 
 twenty centuries ago, one division of them broke into Syria. 
 They penetrated, on their way to Egypt, as far as the south- 
 ern frontier of Palestine, and were then bought oiF by 
 Psammetichus, and retired, after sacking the temple of As- 
 tarte at Ascalon. But this was not the last inroad they 
 made upon the land of Israel. There was another in the 
 interval between the Old and New Testament times, which 
 was attended with tei-rible consequences to themselves. It 
 was beheld by Ezekiel beforehand, and it is in the thirty- 
 eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of his prophecy that we 
 have the fullest intimations concerning it. The second 
 verse of the thirty-eighth chapter reads thus : " Son of man, 
 set thy face against Grog, the land of Magog, tlie cldef prince 
 of Mesecli and Tubal, and prophesy against him." In the
 
 TJic Great White TJirone. 171 
 
 margin tliere is this amended translation given : " Set tliy 
 face against Gog (the prince of) Magog, the prince of Bosh, 
 Mesech* and Tubal." So that the words translated " the 
 chief prince " should be translated " prince of Eosh." The 
 Eosh were known to the Arabians as the RCis, and are un- 
 doubtedly the fathers of the modern Russian nation ; while 
 Mesech and Tubal are the Moschi and Tibereni who occu- 
 pied territories near the Caucasus. Now the prophet first 
 sees, in vision, the revival of Israel's power, and then, ui 
 their time of security, a terrific inroad upon them of these 
 barbarian tribes, vmder the leadership of Gog, their prince. 
 " Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus 
 saith the Lord God ; In that day, when my people of Israel 
 dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it ? And thou shalt 
 come from thy place out of the north parts, thou and many 
 people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great 
 company, and a mighty army : and thou shalt come up 
 against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land." 
 Then, after the prophecy of then* coming, there follows a 
 description of their overthrow. These shepherds of the 
 north, a wild host, with bow and spear, should come with a 
 shout like the voice of a stormy sea>. But God should 
 meet and repel them. Their overthrow should be terrible. 
 The glens of the Dead Sea should be piled up with the 
 slain ; vultures and wild beasts should be glutted with hu- 
 man flesh. It would seem as if they were to be stricken by 
 lightning, accompanied with fearful storm, and, in their 
 consternation, each man should turn his sword against his 
 fellow. " Every man's sword shall be against his brother, 
 and I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood: 
 and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the 
 many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and 
 great hailstones, fire and brimstone." As when the angel 
 of death swept past, and left the army of Sennacherib stif- 
 fened corpses on the field, so this overthrow should be ac- 
 complished by the special interposition of Heaven. All 
 that Israel had to do was to stand still and see the salvation 
 of God, and then go forth out of their cities, and gather the 
 spoil. With javelin pole and shaft of spear, with bows and 
 arrows, and with chariots of war left useless by that army 
 of the dead, they should make their fires full many a year.
 
 1/2 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 " So tliat they shall take no wood out of the field, neither 
 cut down any out of the forests ; for they shall burn the 
 weapons with fire." It should take months to bury these 
 vast hordes of northern warriors. They should come against 
 Israel, but only to find a grave in her land. In the place 
 appointed, " there shall they bury Gog and all his multi- 
 tude ; and they shall call it the valley of Hamon-gog." 
 
 This, then, is the historical basis of the symbol of Gog 
 and his subjects of Magog in the vision of John. It is 
 true we have no reference to this inroad except in the pages 
 of Ezekiel ; but this need not surprise us when it is re- 
 membered that after Nehemiah we have scarcely a glimpse 
 of Hebrew history for centuries. I have not a shadow of 
 doubt that as Daniel, in vision, saw the devastations of 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, so, in vision too, Ezekiel saw the 
 oncoming storm of northern warriors who in after years 
 should appear in the laud. Thus both events were used to 
 furnish symbols for the future history of the Church of 
 God. 
 
 These barbarous tribes should appear when least expected, 
 and should overrun a land that was dwelling in security, 
 never dreaming of danger — " Thou shalt say, I will go up 
 to the land of unwalled villages ; I will go to them that 
 are at rest, that dwell confidently, all of them dwelling 
 without waUs, and having neither bars nor gates " (Ezek. 
 xxxviii. 11). As it was in those days in Israel, so shall it be 
 in the last days. The long reign of truth and righteousness, 
 the long millennial rest will have made the Church unsuspi- 
 cious of danger. " She will dwell confidently, without walls 
 of defence, and having neither bars nor gates." Yet the 
 evil that has never been wholly destroyed will be gathering 
 force. While good is in the ascendant it will scarcely dare 
 to show itself. It will bend reluctantly, with hate in the 
 heart ; but yet it will bend. But after a time it will grow 
 bolder ; Satan will be loosed from his prison, and go forth 
 to deceive those that have lived outside the Church's bor- 
 ders, separated from her life by hard and stony heai^ts, as 
 the northern tribes were separated from the southern civi- 
 lization by mountain barriers. He shall deceive them, and 
 gather them together to battle. This outbreak shall come 
 after a time of reaction and declension in the Church her-
 
 T]ic Great White Throne. 173 
 
 self. Tliere shall be a great multitude of tliese enemies, 
 and tliey sLall go up on the breadth of the earth, and com- 
 pass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. 
 
 It is not in this chapter alone that we read of this terri- 
 ble reaction after a long reign of spiritual peace and bless- 
 ing. Again and again we are forewarned that there shall 
 come a falling away first, ere the day of Christ arrive. 
 And possibly out of this last apostasy there shall be brought 
 to the front "that man of sin, the son of perdition" — 
 the great Antichrist of all, of whom Paul wrote in his 
 epistle to the Thessaloniaus. "When he wdio now letteth is 
 taken out of the w^ay, when the restraining influence is 
 gone, and Satan let loose again, "Then shall that A¥icked 
 be revealed, w^hom the Lord shall consume with the spirit 
 of His mouth, and shall destroy with the hriglitness of His 
 coming.''' When Christ shall appear the second time, it 
 shall be to a scoiEng world that has begun to ask jeeringly, 
 Where is the promise of His coming ? " When the Son of 
 man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ? Yourselves 
 know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a 
 thief in the night. Tor when they shall say Peace and 
 safety, then sudden destruction cometh uj)on them, as tra- 
 vail upon a woman with child ; and they shall not escape." 
 Thinking of anything rather than of His appearing, the tribes 
 of the earth shall mourn as they see the sign of the Son of 
 man in heaven. In the midst of sensual delights shall the 
 apostate earth be found at the dread hour of doom. " As 
 it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of 
 the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married 
 wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe 
 entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed 
 them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot : they 
 did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, 
 they builded ; but the same day that Lot went out of 
 Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and de- 
 stroyed them all. E\'en thus shall it be in the day that 
 the Son of man is revealed." Then shall the great foe of 
 man and Grod enter upon his final doom — " And the devil 
 that deceived the earth was cast into the lake of fire and 
 brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and 
 shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
 
 174 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 Behold He cometli witli clouds, and every eye sliall see 
 Him, and tliey also which pierced Him ; and all kindreds 
 of the earth shall wail because of Him. At His appear- 
 ing shall be held the great assize. "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 was found no 
 place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, 
 stand before Grod ; and the boohs were opened ; and ano- 
 ther book was opened, which is the book of life ; and the 
 dead were judged out of those things which were written 
 in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave 
 up the dead which were in it ; and death and the grave* 
 delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they were 
 judged every man according to their works. And death 
 and the grave* were cast into the lake of fire — this is the 
 
 * The authorized version translates " death and 7«cZZ," taking hades 
 to mean hell. " Grave " gives a far better meaning, and is quite in ac- 
 cordance -with Scripture usage. I may here say that never in Scripture 
 do scheol or hades mean the common separate state of departed spirits 
 both lad and good. Scheol, which is the precise equivalent in Hebrew 
 for the Greek' hades, occurs 64 times in the Old Testament. By the 
 LXX. it is translated in 58 places by adr]s, in 4 places by Bduaros, and 
 in the remaining two there is a considerable variation from the Hebrew 
 text so that nothing can be inferred. In the English version sclieol is 
 rendered 31 times by " grave," 29 times by " hell," three times by 
 " pit," and once by "death." I have tabirlated all these passages, and 
 they may be divided thus — (1) The gi-eat majority of them, from their 
 connection, can only mean the grave, the literal local grave. (2) There 
 are a few passages closely related to these, and yet shghtly different, 
 since they do not so much refer to the actual local gi-ave as to the 
 state of bodily death in the abstract. (3) In some few places scheol 
 seems to give the idea of intense mental or bodily suffering in this life. 
 And (4) in a very few instances the idea that scheol contains of the dark- 
 ness of the grave deepens into fearful intensity, and the word then ap- 
 plies to the place of lost souls — Gehenna itself. 
 
 In the New Testament, hades occurs eleven times, the twelfth instance 
 in the Textiis receptus — " hades, where is thy victory?" ha^ing very 
 decisive manuscript authority against it and in favour of reading Sdvare 
 twice. Of these eleven passages, four refer undoubtedly to the world of 
 the lost, or to the powers of darkness ; the remaining seven referring to 
 the grave as the receptacle of the dead. Nowhere is the .spirit of the 
 pood man spoken of as being in hades. The common idea that hades 
 is the genei-al abode of disembodied spirits, both r/ood and bad, may be 
 classical, but it is not scriptural ; and there is a wide diiference between 
 these two things. In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles,
 
 The Great White Throne. 175 
 
 second death. And wliosoever was not found written in 
 the book of life was cast into the Lake of fire." 
 
 We thus come to the great events of the greatest day in 
 human history. Those events had a prominent place in 
 the teaching of the first preachers, and were described both 
 to serious listeners and scornful mockers. Felix, in the 
 midst of his sins, is told of a judgment to come ; and 
 Athenians on Mars Hill are urged to look at life in earnest, 
 because " Grod hath appointed a day in the which He will 
 judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath 
 ordained, whereof He hath given assurance imto all men 
 in that He hath raised Him from the dead." The course of 
 earthly life shall have a strange interruption and ending. 
 With a rallying signal shout the Lord shall suddenly de- 
 scend, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the living 
 shall be changed and their natural bodies transformed into 
 spiritual. Nor shall the living alone respond to the shout 
 of the archangel. All that sleep in the dust of the earth 
 shall awake. The dead shall come forth, they that have 
 done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done 
 e^"il unto the resurrection of condemnation. The new body 
 shall be an outgrowth from the old, as the stalk and ear of 
 wheat are from the grain which was buried in the earth 
 and rotted there. The sea shall yield up its dead, and the 
 graves their long silent tenantry, that all may give in their 
 life account before the great white throne. • 
 
 Peter's argument about Christ's descent into hades is fully met by refer- 
 ring this to the burial of our Saviour's body. Peter shows that the 
 original passage in the sixteenth Psalm — •" For Thou wilt not leave my 
 soitI in hell ; neither wilt Thou sufler Thine Holy One to see corruption " 
 — could not apply to David, for he says, " He is both dead and buried, 
 and his sepulchre is tvith us unto this daij." All that Peter is insisting 
 on is that God had raised iip Jesus from the dead. If it be objected 
 that it is said that our Lord's soul {-^vxri) '"•as not left in hades, I an- 
 swer that in the LXX., from which Peter quoted, yj/vxr] in several i^laces 
 can only mean the hody, and not the spiritual nature at all; e.r/., in 
 Numbers vi. 6, it is said of the Nazarite, " All the days that he sepa- 
 rateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body ;'" in Levi- 
 ticus xxi. 11, it is said, " Neither shall the high-priest go in to any dead 
 body ;" and in Haggai ii. 13, it is asked " If one that is unclean by a 
 dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ?" In each of these 
 passages yp-vxn is the original word, and " body " is manifestly the cor- 
 rect translation.
 
 1/6 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 " When the trumpet's thrilling tone, 
 Through the tomhs of ages gone, 
 Summons all hefore the throne, 
 
 Death and time shall stand aghast, 
 And creation at the blast 
 Eise to answer for the past : 
 
 Then the volume shall be spread, 
 
 And the writing shall be read 
 
 Which shall judge the quick and dead." 
 
 "We are awed as we think of that wliicli is before us all ; 
 and we are bewildered as niucli as we are awed. On that 
 one day of final account how can there be an examination 
 of each man's life, of all the myriads that have peopled the 
 earth ? It is clear that the procedure at that great assize 
 will be something very different from that of any earthly 
 tribunal. Every man's spiritual history will pass under 
 review as in a moment, and the verdict will be perfect in 
 its justice, final, and decisive. But how will judgment be 
 given ? 
 
 Perhaps the great facts of our present life may help us 
 with some guiding thoughts ; for in truth every day is a 
 day of judgment, and that last great day of all will be as 
 the consummation of what has gone before. A man never 
 does anything, either good or bad, without receiving in him- 
 self instant judgment. It tells back upon him, and shapes 
 his being. The.judgment of others may be very false. But 
 the judgment recorded by the act itself is true and un- 
 erring. We bear about with us to-day the result of bygone 
 days. Our present feelings, our strength or weakness, our 
 present modes of dealing with the duties of life are in 
 some sense the retributions of the past. God's judgment 
 upon our life is not a mere winding-up at last. There is a 
 daily balancing, and each day shows itself in the one that 
 follows. The most solemn fact that I know, and yet per- 
 haps the one most overlooked is, that a man becomes the sin 
 he commits or the good he does. It enters into his being, 
 and is Grod's jvidgment for good or evil then and there. On 
 the one hand the children of light are changed into actual 
 light ; and on the other the children of darkness become 
 the darkness they have chosen. You see every day how 
 when a man has yielded to sin it follows him. If he would
 
 The Great White TJirone. 177 
 
 stop it will not let liim. It drives him on and down. It 
 becomes part of his life, and entangles him more and more 
 at every step. So far as a man has yielded to sin, so far 
 does his spiritual nature bear the mark upon it. And on 
 the other hand, precisely the opposite is the case with good- 
 ness. God's judgment upon man then is not the mere 
 pronouncing of a verdict either one way or the other, as 
 man's judgment upon man may be. Human tribunals may- 
 judge a guilty man innocent, or an innocent man guilty ; 
 therefore it is a small matter to be judged of man. But 
 Grod's judgment is the actual moral condition itself— the 
 wretched weakness which sin has brought, or the joyful 
 Strength which obedience gives. 
 
 Now the day of judgment will be a day of open declara- 
 tion of what a man is. The apostle says, " "We must all 
 appear at the judgment seat of Christ," or rather, as the 
 word he uses implies, we must all be manifested — seen to be 
 what we are. There is something of this also met with in 
 this world. A man goes on indulging in some sensual vice ; 
 and little by little the awful fact begins to be written in 
 the lines of his face. However careful he may be, there is 
 no such thing as perfect concealment. Selfish cunning on 
 the one hand, and generous frankness on the other, sensual 
 indulgence and high-minded self-restraint, impurity of mind 
 and purity, meanness and honour — how these sooner or 
 later show themselves in the life. They are revealed in the 
 most unexpected ways — ^by the glance of the eye, the expres- 
 sion of the face, the dropping of a word, the gait of the 
 body. In the long run, most men are revealed to others by 
 themselves, and i-ighteously judged. Now if that be the 
 case here, the revelation hereafter will be more perfect. 
 If the spiritual nature can sometimes be discerned through 
 a body of flesh and blood, how much more may this be the 
 case when the spirit shall have a spiritual body the exact 
 counterpart and expression of itself ? Truly, in that great 
 day, that which is hidden now shall be plainly revealed, and 
 that which has been done in darkness shall be proclaimed 
 upon the housetop. The whole life-story shall be known 
 at a glance. 
 
 The judgment shall be set, and the books shall be opened : 
 not literal books I need hardly say, yet a register that is
 
 178 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 indestructible. There is a faculty in man wliicli becomes 
 tlie book of account ; the soul is its own unfailing register. 
 What a marvellous power -is that of memory ! It holds the 
 past in its storehouses, and connects Divine things by subtle 
 links of association. Years may roll away, and this event 
 or that may seem to have passed out of its keeping, when 
 the glance of a face, the sight of a tree, or the tones of a 
 voice may suddenly recall the whole thing to the mind. 
 However far a ma^ goes in the journey of life, he never 
 goes far enough for the past to die out of him. Nay, it 
 seems as if a long interval only displayed all the more the 
 power of memory's grasp. The old man, the farther he 
 leaves the days of his childhood and his youth, the more 
 clearly can he recall them. The things of yesterday have 
 already gi'own shadowy, but the events of half a century 
 ago are distinctly present to the mind. " Of this at least 
 I feel assured, that there is no such thing as ultimate 
 forgetting ; traces once impressed upon the memory are in- 
 destructible ; a thousand accidents may and will interpose 
 a veil between our present consciousness and the secret 
 inscriptions on the mind. Accidents of the same sort will 
 also rend away this veil. But alike, whether veiled or un- 
 veiled, the iuscrijDtion remains for ever ; just as the stars 
 seem to withdraw before the common light of day, whereas, 
 in fact, we all know that it is the light which is drawn over 
 them as a veil, and that they are w-aiting to be revealed 
 whenever the obscuring daylight itself shall have wdth- 
 drawm." * 
 
 * De Quincey's " Confessions," p. 261. This writer, in -whose pages I 
 first met with Coleridge's idea that the human soul itself " perchance is 
 the dread book of judgment, in the mysterious hieroglyphics of which 
 every idle word is recorded," gives a remarkable case in illustration of the 
 power of the memory not only to reproduce the past, but to reproduce it 
 all at once. The case is that of a lady, a near relative of his own, and 
 he had the experience from her own lips. " Playing by the side of a soli- 
 tary brook, she feU into one of its deepest pools. Eventually, but after 
 what lapse of time nobody ever knew, she was saved from death by a 
 farmer, who riding in some distant lane had seen her rise to the surface, 
 but not until she had descended within the abyss of death, and looked 
 into its secrets, as far, perhaps, as ever human eye can have looked that 
 had permission to return. At a certain stage of this descent, a blow 
 seemed to strike her, phosphoric radiance sprang forth from her eyeballs, 
 and immediately a mighty theatre expanded within her brain. In a
 
 TJic Great White Throne. 179 
 
 There, in the soul, is the book of account ; and on 
 the great day it shall be opened, and the past shall all 
 stand forth lor judgment. An accident, a fever can open 
 its pages even now ; but another power shall open it then, 
 when the great white throne is uplifted. The unveiling of 
 Grod's presence has been a revelation of man to himself 
 many a time and oft. "When Isaiah beheld the Lord high 
 and lifted up, His train filling the temple, his own dark 
 and sinful past rose up before him amid the rushings of 
 celestial light, and he cried, " "Woe is me ! for I am un- 
 done ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in 
 the midst of a people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have 
 seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Again, in later times, 
 when the Lord turned and loolced on Peter, the awful sin 
 of his denial rose up before him, and he went out and wept 
 bitterly. So shall memory turn over its pages when the 
 Judge of quick and dead shall come in the clouds of heaven 
 with power and great glory. The very sight of His face 
 shall open the books of account. Then shall all the past 
 rise up before us and before Him, and then and there shall 
 sentence be declared — 
 
 " Opened book ! all eyes engages. 
 Bearing record of all ages 
 Blazoned on its burning pages. 
 
 Whence the Judge strict doom is sealing, 
 Every hidden thought revealing, 
 None escaping, none appealing. 
 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, every act, every design of her past 
 life Uved again, arraying themselves not as a succession but as parts of 
 a co-existence. Such a light fell upon the whole path of her life, back- 
 wards into the shades of infancy, as the light perhaps which wr-apt the 
 destined apostle on his road to Damascus. The true point of astonish- 
 ment is not the simultaneity of arrangement under which the past events 
 of life, though in fact successive, had formed their dread line of revela- 
 tion. This was but a secondary phenomenon ; the deeper lay in the re- 
 surrection itself, and the possibility of resurrection for what had so long 
 slept in the dust. A pall, deep as obli-vion, had been thrown by life over 
 every trace of these experiences ; and j'et suddenly, at a silent command, 
 at the signal of a blazing rocket sent up from the brain, the pall di-aws 
 up, and the whole depths of the theatre are exposed. Here was the 
 greater mystery. Now this mystery is liable to no doubt ; for it is re- 
 peated, and ten thousand times repeated, by opium, for those who are 
 its martyrs." 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o The Book of Revelation. 
 
 Who that now His coming feareth, 
 Who shall stand when He appeareth, 
 When the righteous scarce He cleareth?" 
 
 K'eed I utter one word more to press home on your 
 hearts the solemnities of that great day ? We shall not 
 be spectators merely of its mighty events. We who are 
 here now shall all be there, not to look on, but to receive 
 judgment, and to enter upon our final destiny. The day 
 hastens to its close, and night gathers round it the curtains 
 of darkness, and then again the morning cometh. But day 
 and night, as they succeed each other, bear us all on to 
 the great tribunal, the account to render there. Even if 
 there were no day of judgment coming, one would think 
 that the bare idea of such a day would be as a trumpet- 
 blast in the soul. But I am not now speaking of that 
 which maij be, but of that which will be. I am not now 
 trying to rouse you to thought by a fancy, but by a fact. 
 Eound about me here there may be those who are casting 
 off fear. To them the voice of temptation comes, pleadiag 
 for indulgence ; and only too readily they listen and follow 
 on. The sweet enticements of iniquity are multiplying 
 sorrowful memories. The dark things are done in secret — 
 are done in spite of better resolutions and the earnest 
 pleadings of conscience. Evil deeds are done, and because 
 no angel-presence rends the heavens and comes down — no 
 voice of warning breaks the silence of eternity — the sinner 
 grows bold in sin. Blind eyes do not see that the thing 
 done is registered on the doer. The world enthralls thee, 
 and Satan tempts thee, and lust impels thee, and thy heart 
 inclines thee ; but know thou that for all these things God 
 shall bring thee into judgment. " When the Son of man 
 shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, 
 then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory ; and before 
 Him shall be gathered all nations ; and He shall separate 
 them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
 from the goats : and He shall set the sheep on His right 
 hand, and the goats on His left. Then shall the King say 
 unto them on His right hand. Come, ye blessed of my 
 Eather, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world. Then shall He say also unto 
 them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
 
 The Great White Throne. i8i 
 
 everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and liis angels. And 
 these shall go away into everlasting punishment ; but the 
 righteous into life eternal." 
 
 That day of decision will be the day of the Lord Jesus. 
 Blessed then will they be whose one purpose in life has 
 been to win Christ, and to be found in Him. With meek- 
 ness, and yet with boldness, shall they come before their 
 Lord, and He will welcome His own. Their one plea will 
 be His love and sacrifice, and that plea shall be all-pre- 
 'vailing. Holy Greorge Herbert put their case as they 
 would have it, when thus he put his own : 
 
 " Almighty Judge, bow shall poor wretches brook 
 
 Thy dreadful look, 
 Able a heart of iron to appal, 
 
 When Thou shalt caU 
 For every man's pecuUar book? 
 
 What others mean to do I know not well ; 
 
 Yet I hear teU 
 That some will turn Thee to some leaves therein, 
 
 So void of sin 
 That they in merit shall excel. 
 
 But I resolve, when Thou shalt call for mine, 
 
 That to dechne, 
 And thrust a testament into Thy hand ! 
 
 Let t}\at be scanned : 
 There Thou shalt find my faults are Thine."
 
 XIII. 
 
 JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN. 
 Eevelatiok xxi. 
 
 Theough storm and conflict we have reached the haven of 
 peace at last. The judgment has been set, and is over. 
 Each man's destiny has been declared. The vast multitude 
 have parted company before the great white throne, and 
 gone their several Avays. The old world has reached its 
 end ; and now before us there rise in vision the new heaven 
 and the new earth. We thus enter upon the Eiftli and 
 last Part of the book of Eevelation — that which sets before 
 us the eternal state of the righteous after resurrection and 
 judgment. 
 
 When man fell, the curse lighted upon his habitation 
 as well as upon himself. The whole creation groaneth 
 and travaileth in pain together until now. In nature, as 
 in man, we have " everywhere the same appearance of 
 something that beclouds and darkens, everywhere the same 
 traces of aberration from appointed ends, the same hints of 
 perverted tendencies, the same tokens of frustration and 
 decay." The creature was made subject to vanity, not 
 willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the 
 same in hope. Creation fell with man its lord, and with 
 him it shall rise again. Its earnest expectation waiteth 
 for the manifestation of the sons of Grod. And it shall not 
 wait it vain. Christ will undo to the uttermost the deadly 
 work of sin. God has " made known to us the mystery of 
 His will, according to the good pleasure which He pur- 
 posed in Himself, in regard of the dispensation of the 
 fulness of times, to sum up again (for Himself) all things 
 in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon 
 the earth, — even in Him, in whom we were also chosen for 
 His inheritance" (Eph. i. 9-11).
 
 Jerusalem the Goldejt. 183 
 
 Thus shall Divine power prepare the final home of 
 Christ's redeemed ones. We, according to His promise, 
 look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell 
 righteousness. We are not told much more ; but the few 
 hints that are given are bright with glory. It may be that 
 a change shall pass upon the earth analogous to that which 
 shall pass upon man at the resurrection. It seems an un- 
 likely thing that a spiritual body, with all. its marvellous 
 power and glory, should rise up out of the natural body, 
 which seems to pass to corruption almost before it can be 
 buried out of sight. Yet He who knows what wondrous 
 powers He has implanted in these mortal bodies has 
 plainly declared that so it shall be. Except the body die, 
 it cannot live its noblest life. By the very process of cor- 
 ruption which seems to be its ruin, there is disengaged the 
 germ of a glorious nature, which is only awaiting the sound 
 of the archangel's trump to receive its full development. 
 May it not be with the earth as with man ? May it not 
 be that that which seems to be its overthrow, by fire, shall 
 in truth be the process by which it passes from corruption 
 to glory ? The earth, as it is now, is fitted to man's bodily 
 needs and nature, as he is now ; and the earth, as it shall 
 be, shall be fitted to man as he shall be. And as man in 
 his spiritual body shall excel man in his natural body, so 
 shall the new world, in its spiritual glory, excel the earth as 
 we have it now, fair as it is. What that new world will be, I 
 dare not undertake to say. We may speculate, but we must 
 wait to know. Yet we can hardly refrain from the belief 
 that the present types of power, and beauty, and strength, 
 and glory we see around us, shall appear in more exalted 
 and perfect form. That undefinable thing which we call 
 expression, and which constitutes the beauty of nature as it 
 constitutes the charm of the face of man, is not a material 
 thing, however it may play round and light up that which 
 is material. I believe that it shall re-appear in a brighter 
 world, when the material has vanished away. Everything 
 beautiful and good shall be found again in our new home ; 
 and there it shall have lost every trace of imperfection and 
 decay. The old world was stricken with sin, and this dark 
 heritage filled it with tears and sorrow, with bloodshed and 
 death. There was always an under-tone of sadness and a
 
 1 84 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 wail of distress to be lieard by those who would stop and 
 listen. But in the new heavens and the new earth shall 
 dwell righteousness ; and when we are told that, our minds 
 may be set at rest about everything else. With sin, all 
 that sin begets shall pass away for ever. 
 
 John describes for us the glory of that new spiritual 
 world. As he stood gazing with holy joy upon the new 
 home prepared for the righteous, in the place of vision he 
 hears a mighty voice, saying, " Behold the tabernacle of 
 God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and 
 they themselves shall be His people, and God Himself shall 
 be with them as their God." The Lord was their joy here, 
 and He shall be their gladness there. In no passing way 
 shall the light of His countenance fall upon them ; but 
 His delights shall be with the sons of men, and He shall 
 dwell among them. "We cannot tell all the glory there will 
 be in that new creation ; but we can speak confidently of 
 some things that will not be there. Tears shall be wiped 
 away for ever ; no more shall they fall at the disappoint- 
 ments and bereavements of life, or at the sense of sin or 
 the sight of iuiquity : a Divine hand shall wipe them, and 
 shall wipe them away. There shall be no more fain : wear- 
 ing toil and weariness, wasting disease and feebleness shall 
 be at an end for ever. Here the mind has its pain as well as the 
 body, its anxieties, its carking cares ; but there, there shall 
 be no more sorrow. Neither shall death come in again and 
 mar the scene ; never again shall it waste the home, de- 
 solate the heart, or bring to the ground the purposes of 
 man. The former things are passed away. Lest a hope so 
 bright should be deemed delusive, the apostle heard Him 
 that sat on the throne say, " Behold I make all things new." 
 And, to strengthen the poor, wavering faith of men whose 
 experience of life had bitterly taught them not to expect 
 too much, " He said unto me. Write : for these words are 
 true and faithful. And He said unto me. It is done," for 
 the future is as the present with the Eternal. " I am Alpha 
 and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto 
 him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life 
 freely. He that conquereth shall inherit these things ; and 
 I will be to him God, and he himself shall be to me a son. 
 But for those who are cowardly, and unfaithful, and defiled
 
 Jerusalem the Golden. 185 
 
 with abominations, and murderers, and fornicators, and 
 sorcerers, and idolaters, and for all the false, their share is 
 in the lake which is kindled with fire and brimstone ; which 
 thing is the second death." The faithful shall be crowned ; 
 but those who have been cowardly in the face of the 
 enemy, those who have had no faith, surrounded with ter- 
 rible companionships of evil, shall be cast out. He that 
 hath an ear, let him hear ! 
 
 After these solemn declarations John is called to behold 
 a wondrous sight. He has seen the land of inheritance, 
 he must now look at the sublime symbol of the inhabitants 
 themselves. " And there came unto me one of the seven 
 angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last 
 plagues, and talked with me saying. Come hither, I will show 
 thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." In the spirit the apostle 
 was borne away to the top of a mountain great and high, 
 and there opened to his view — 
 
 ' ' Glory, beyond all glory ever seen 
 By waking sense or by the dreaming soul ! 
 The appearance, instantaneously disclosed, 
 Was of a mighty city — boldly say 
 A wilderness of building, sinking far 
 And self-withdrawn into a boundless depth. 
 Far sinking into splendour — without end ! 
 Fabric it seemed of diamond and of gold, 
 With alabaster domes, and silver spires, 
 And blazing terrace upon terrace, high 
 ' Uplifted ; here, serene pavihons bright. 
 
 In avenues disposed ; there towers begirt 
 With battlements that on their restless fronts 
 Bore stai-s — illumination of all gems ! 
 Oh, 'twas an unimaginable sight ! " 
 
 It came down from God out of heaven — a Divine concep- 
 tion. The plan of no earthly architect, it was wrought in 
 silence, and appeared to the apostle's vision in its magnifi- 
 cent completeness, beautiful for situation, the joy of the 
 whole earth, the city of the great King. It was resplen- 
 dent with the Divine glory, its light like that which flashes 
 from precious stones, clear as crystal. For its defence 
 there was a mighty wall of jasper, which had twelve gate- 
 towers ; three of these were towards the sun-rising, three 
 towards the north wind, three towards the south wind,
 
 1 86 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 and three towards the sun-setting. At each gate-tower 
 there was an angel-sentinel keeping watch and ward, and 
 over the gate a shield, with the name of one of the tribes 
 of Israel engraved thereon. This mighty wall of defence 
 had twelve massive foundation stones, and upon each was 
 inscribed the name of one of the twelve apostles of the 
 Lamb. These foundation stones were themselves most 
 precious*, like those which flashed from the breastplate of 
 the high-priest. The city stretched hundreds of miles in 
 length and breadth, and rose towards heaven as high as it 
 spread wide on the earth. Terrace over terrace, it spread 
 upwards in glory, till the length and the breadth and the 
 height of it were equal. The street of this gorgeous city 
 was gold, pure as transparent glass. And this was the 
 holy city. New Jerusalem, a city without a peer in 
 grandeur or extent. The Hebrew of the old time had a 
 patriotic pride in the city of his fathers, and with exulta- 
 tion would bid the nations " walk about Zion, and go round 
 about her : tell the towers thereof. Mark ye weU her bul- 
 warks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the 
 generation following." But here is a city, before which the 
 earthly Jerusalem sinks into insignificance. The city of 
 the great king, which David built, was, after all, but a poor 
 type of the grander city which Grod is building, — the Jeru- 
 salem which is from above. 
 
 Stripped of its symbolic description, what is that city, 
 and what is the Divine thought which it embodies? It 
 will not escape you that it is at once spoken of as the holy 
 city, and as the bride, the Lamb's wife. This blending_ of 
 figures is not new to us, and here it helps us. In carrying 
 out the idea of a city, there is necessitated the idea of its 
 inhabitants walking in the light of it. But, without press- 
 ing this part of the figure, we are to thinlc of all faithful, 
 redeemed souls, not as dwelling in that city, but as them- 
 selves composing it. The New Jerusalem is also the bride, 
 the Lamb's wife ; and the bride is the Church which the 
 Saviour has redeemed with His own blood, and which, one 
 day, He will present to Himself in perfect purity. We 
 thus come upon a thought far grander than that of a beau- 
 tiful city where the saints shall have their habitation. 
 
 Let us, with deep reverence of heart, go back a step or
 
 yerusalem the Golden. 187 
 
 two. Just think for a moment how God has been express- 
 ing Himself in His works through all the past. The pur- 
 pose of creation does not respect the creature alone, or 
 even primarily. All things were created by the Lord, and 
 for liim. In the depths of the infinite nature alone can 
 be found the explanation of creation's mystery. Grod is 
 under no necessity to express Himself in His works, but 
 He delights to do this. One of the keenest pleasures of 
 life is to find something growing under your hand, and in 
 this respect I conceive man is the image of God. The 
 Creator did not make this world, and clothe it with beauty, 
 for our sakes alone. Age after age He was working in the 
 heart of tropical forests : the rich vegetation, the luscious 
 fruits, the gay beauty of the flowers, the gorgeous plvimage 
 of the birds, the teeming wealth of life in every form,- — all 
 were put forth there for centuries while human footstep 
 never came near, and human eye ne'er looked on. You 
 think of all this, and can only say that in these thousand 
 forms of richest beauty and life it was a pleasure to the 
 infinite Mind to display and disport itself. And my plea- 
 sure in God's works — one of the purest pleasures given to 
 man in this world — arises from the fact that there my 
 mind meets with and touches His mind ; just as my plea- 
 sure in a picture arises, not from the mere colour or can- 
 vas, but from the mind of the painter there embodied, and 
 with which mine comes into contact. 
 
 In creation, then, God has given us an expression of 
 Himself. The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and 
 the firmament showeth His handiwork. Yery grandly in 
 the Book of Psalms is this idea repeated in every form. 
 "With the psalmist, nature is not God, but God is in and 
 through nature displaying Himself. It is His voice in the 
 wind and storm that bends the trees ; it is His strength that 
 is seen in the mountains ; it is His love of beauty that is seen 
 in every tangled dell, and leafy wood, and ri])pling stream. 
 
 But not in the mountains, forests, and valleys of earth, 
 or in the firmament of the heavens alone, will the Infinite 
 express His nature. There has been a grander utterance 
 than that by the coming of Him who is the Word of God, 
 the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image 
 of His person. As no mere after-thought, or expedient to
 
 1 88 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 meet an unforeseen evil, but as a purpose from everlasting, 
 Grod was manifest in the flesh. The Lord who redeemed 
 us is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 
 Not in the heart of time, but in the depths of eternity, is 
 to be found the explanation of redemption. Long ere the 
 morning stars sang together, or the sons of Grod shouted 
 for joy at creation's birth, the great Father prepared to 
 give such an expression of Himself as had never yet been 
 given. And, in the fulness of time, the mystery that had 
 been hid from ages and generations was made known, — the 
 "Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. 
 
 But stupendous as was this event in itself, it is not done 
 with yet. It has only begun to work out its issues. It is 
 a central fact, around which others are to cluster and form 
 one glorious unity. We are not to think of Christ alone, 
 or ^of the Church alone, but of Christ and the Church 
 together. It is His body, the fulness of Him that fiUetb 
 all in all. He is the Head, " from whom the whole body, 
 fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every 
 joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the 
 measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the 
 edifying of itself in love." He, the Grod-man, is the Divine 
 pattern after which the Father works in the restora- 
 tion of sinful man. We are predestinated to be conformed 
 to the image of God's dear Son. Nothing less will 
 satisfy His love, nothing less will satisfy our aspira- 
 tions. Each man, according to the power of his nature, 
 shall reflect some aspect of the glory of Christ's nature. 
 Each believing soul, according to the capacities of its 
 being, shall be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus. 
 But no one human soul can ever fully represent the Son 
 of God. Every aspect of holy human nature is seen in 
 Him, and He is truly in the grandeur of His nature " all 
 mankind's epitome." There are passages of Scripture that 
 indicate that a perfect Church will be a perfect reflection 
 of the Lord Jesus. Eor the preparation of such a Churcb 
 all helps and means of grace were provided. He, our Head, 
 when He ascended up on high, gave some apostles, and 
 some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and 
 teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints unto their work 
 of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, tiU we
 
 Jerusalem the Golden. 189 
 
 all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of 
 the Son of God, unto a j^erfect man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fulness of Christ. The whole Church was 
 to form one perfect man ; the Church as a whole was 
 to grow to the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ. Christ is the express image of the Father ; and the 
 Church, when complete at last, shall be together a perfect 
 reflection of its Lord and Head. 
 
 This is a grand conception, not to be lightly taken up or 
 laid aside. That the human race is tending to one living 
 unity is a thought that has often been put forth. There 
 are dim feelings after it on every side. All the experiences 
 of life show us that it is not good for man to be alone, 
 show indeed that he cannot be alone. However proud and 
 self-sufficient he may be, he is joined by links to the com- 
 munity around him, which he cannot sever. In the family 
 there is a unity made up of several parts. The strength of 
 the father, the tenderness of the mother, the varied cha- 
 racters of brothers and sisters, all go up to make a whole 
 which would be incomplete with fewer parts. There is a 
 unity in the city again, which there is not in the family ; 
 and there is a unity in the state and nation there is not in 
 the single city. But the grandest conception of all is that 
 Christ will gather into one all God's children from remotest 
 ages and lands. The whole multitude of the redeemed 
 shall form but one community at last. Our fathers caught 
 this idea from theii* Bibles, and spoke of the elect number 
 of the saved. The redeemed are spoken of under various 
 figures to show their completeness and their oneness ; they 
 are the many branches of the one vine, the many members 
 of the one body ; together they make up the bride, the 
 Lamb's wife. And here, in the book of Eevelation, John 
 sees that Church under the symbol of a stately city. Some 
 parts are for strength, and some for beauty. All are of pre- 
 cious materials. But wall, and tower, and spire, founda- 
 tions, gates, and palaces are very varied in structure and 
 appearance. Every part is needful for the completeness of 
 the whole, and it forms one grand whole, each stone lend- 
 ing strength and beauty to the rest. There is here pre- 
 sented to us then a vivid representation of the vastness, 
 the glory, the many-sidedness of the Church of the re-
 
 1 90 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 deemed at last. It stall be multiform, yet one — a perfect 
 man, and that perfect man of tlie stature of tlie fulness of 
 Christ. Taken together, the Church will be a complete re- 
 flection of the perfect human nature of its Lord. There will 
 be the expression in living form of the wisdom, purity, and 
 glory of Grod, such as the universe had never seen before. 
 "We see Him faintly in the visible glory of this outer world, 
 but not as He will be seen reflected by a multitude which 
 no man can number of conscious, intelligent, voluntary, and 
 redeemed souls. They were made to be in His image, and 
 to that image they are restored. Then, as in ransomed 
 bumanity He is reflected in all His glory, the Saviour shall 
 see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. 
 
 As I think of this grand unity which shall be seen at last, 
 I come to understand why we are so different one from 
 another, and why we go through such different experiences 
 in the discipline of life. Man gets unity in uniformity ; 
 G-od secures unity in variety. The unity that He seeks is 
 unity produced by life, and life cannot be bound down to 
 fixedness of shape. While precisely alike in the elements 
 of their life and the principle of their growth, no two trees 
 of the forest are precisely alike in the form of bough and 
 branch and twig. Life luxuriates in freedom, and disports 
 itself in endless variety of form. So it is in the kingdom 
 of Christ. While holding to the Head, how different are 
 the members of His body ! They differ in structure of 
 mind, in grace of character, in opinion and modes of wor- 
 ship. One man's soul is untouched by an appeal whicb 
 rouses another to the very depths of his being. One man 
 would be grievously fettered by modes of worship that 
 seem to his brother absolutely essential to the vigour of his 
 life. We have one man all gentleness, and his fellow- 
 Christian all firmness and strength. " We see, in those 
 around us, that each one has some characteristic feature ; 
 in the mind of one we see a deep wisdom, of another a 
 saintly meekness, of another an angelic contemplation, 
 of another a burning charity, — each one being a law, a 
 pattern to himself. We see, too, that this characteristic 
 feature is ever coming out into a fuller shape, drawing 
 towards its one perfect idea. So may we believe that in 
 the kingdom of the resurrection all the gifts of God, all
 
 jfcriisalem the Golden. 191 
 
 graces of tlie lieart, aud all endowments of tlie sanctified 
 reason shall tlien be made perfect ; witliout doubt, all 
 that constitutes tbe mysterious individuality of eacli several 
 man, all the inscrutable features by which his spiritual 
 being is distinguished, without being opposed to or divided 
 from the spirits of other men, shall be perpetuated here- 
 after ; and then shall all differences be harmonized in the 
 perfection of bliss, as all hues are blended in the unity of 
 light."* 
 
 And not only does that unity demand variety of charac- 
 ter among those living in the same generation, but it will 
 also embrace men from widely sundered generations, sub- 
 jected to different training in the course of providence. 
 Abraham, dwelling in his tent amidst the calmness of that 
 far-off eastern life, must present different aspects of charac- 
 ter from the godly man trained in the midst of these busy 
 nineteenth-century days. Faithful souls, to whom it was 
 given to follow Christ in times of peace, can scarcely esti- 
 mate aright the man who was formed in a time of tran- 
 sition and upheaval. George Herbert, singing sweetly in 
 his west-country parsonage, could know little of the con- 
 flict, fierce and terrible, through which the spirit of a 
 Luther was made like its Lord. There have been times of 
 reaction, when the work of faithful men has been to throw 
 down the human inventions that would obstruct the path 
 to the fountain of life, — times of witness-bearing, when the 
 duty of sealing her testimony with her blood has been laid 
 on the Church, — and times of evangelistic work and ag- 
 gressive w'arfare, when she had to plant the standard of her 
 Lord on the high places of the field. Each of these difier- 
 ent periods has developed different elements of character. 
 But we can see the meaning of it all when we think of 
 these thus wide apart brought together at last, and "form- 
 ing a vast, world-wide, heaven-high image and reproduction 
 of Christ's person and character, redeemed out of every 
 kindred, and people, aud tongue, by the blood of the Lamb." 
 
 Thus also this glorious vision of the holy city throws 
 light on the varied experiences and seeming inequalities of 
 human life. How often have we said that there appears 
 to be a kind of predestination in the diversified lot of those 
 
 * Manning.
 
 192 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 around us. Some seem to have a smooth and easy path, 
 free from the heavier sorrows of their neighbours. They 
 have neither had overjoying strokes of good fortune, nor 
 overwhelming tempests of calamity. While there, at the 
 very same table of the Lord, is a Christian brother who has 
 gone through one sharp trial after another, has been smit- 
 ten in his tenderest place and wounded in his deepest 
 affections. Some men live all their life under the same 
 set of influences, in the same town, and, for the most part, 
 in the same relations with the same neighbours. Others, 
 again, are tossed about in the world, and are called to win 
 their bread in places far asunder. There are those who 
 begin life in straits and hardships, and leave it at last 
 surrounded by affluence and comfort ; while some at their 
 side, starting in wealth and ease, come down to feel the 
 bitter pangs of that poverty which is all the keener to them 
 because of its strangeness. One man scarcely ever knows 
 what it is to feel out of health, while his neighbour scarcely 
 ever knows what it is to feel well. One man's life is 
 passed amid stirring activities, while another passes years 
 of what should have been the prime of his manhood upon 
 the bed of helplessness. How very diff"erent is G-od's 
 providential dealing, even with His own people! But 
 when we come to see that He is fitting them all for their 
 various places in that city of gold, flashing with jasper 
 light, we can trace a purpose of wisdom running through 
 all this diversity. The sort of training and discipline that 
 would fit one man for his place in that living city would 
 scarcely touch or influence another. Therefore, with a 
 wisdom and love which we shall appreciate better by-and- 
 by when we see the glorious result of it all, He appoints 
 our several places and diversifies our discipline wdth our 
 lot. The great Architect wdth unerring skill is fitting all 
 for their true places. "With " afflictions sorted," with in- 
 strument and circumstance as varied as the purpose they 
 are meant to serve, He is carrying on His w^ork, and 
 " through the ages one increasing purpose runs." There is 
 wonderful help, it seems to me, in these thoughts. Meekly, 
 and even joyfully, can I bend to His will when I see that 
 all things work together for good, that all painful experi- 
 ences are meant to fit me the more for reflecting His glory
 
 Jerusalem the Golden. 193 
 
 wlio redeemed me. I am more tliaii submissive wlieu I 
 find that He is seeking to give me elements of character 
 wliicli others do uot possess in precisely the same form, so 
 that through me there shall be nothing lacking to the full 
 reflection of the grace and beauty of my loving Lord. 
 
 The whole universe is waiting until the stately structure 
 is complete. Stone by stone the city of God is rising, and, 
 at the time fixed in the eternal counsels, the last stone 
 shall be brought with shoutings of Grace ! grace ! unto it ! 
 Then shall there be a manifestation of the glory, the wisdom, 
 and the power of the Lord, such as has never been seen 
 before. It shall be at once the admiration and instruction 
 of the whole creation of God. Then unto the principalities 
 and powers in heavenly places shall be made known by 
 the Church the manifold wisdom of God. Nor shall these 
 angels of light, the church of the first-born, alone look on 
 this wondrous sight. The process of creation may fill all 
 the future, as it has filled all the past. Other beings in 
 other worlds may come forth to gaze on the glory of the 
 Lord, as it is reflected from the Church thus redeemed and 
 perfected through the blood of Christ. "For God, who is 
 rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He hath loved 
 us, (even when we were dead in sins,) hath quickened us to- 
 gether with Christ, and hath raised u.s up together, and made 
 us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus ;" and lor 
 this sublime purpose, " that in. the ages to come He might 
 show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness 
 toward us, througii Christ Jesus." Far dowu the stream, 
 not of time only but of eternity, shall new creatures of 
 God gaze upon the blood-bcfhght Church. And they shall 
 see it, not torn and shattered, but perfect in its unity, and 
 complete — a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, 
 or any such thing. They shall see it as the city of the 
 great King ; its walls of jasper, its streets of gold, and its 
 gates of pearl, built upon the foundation of the apostles 
 and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner- 
 stone. As with holy rapture they gaze on each palace and 
 citadel, on each tower and spire, bathed in the light of the 
 Sun of righteousness, they shall take up the cry, first 
 uttered long ages before, — " O the depth of the riches both 
 of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable 
 are His judgments, and His ways past finding out ! " 
 
 o
 
 1 94 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 " strive, man, to -win that gloi^ ; 
 
 Toil, man, to gain that light ; 
 Send hope before to grasp it, 
 
 Till hope be lost in sight ; 
 When He whom now we trust in 
 
 Shall then he seen and known. 
 And they that know and see Him 
 
 Shall have Him for their own. 
 Then all the halls of Syon 
 
 For aye shall be complete. 
 And in the land of beauty 
 
 All things of beauty meet. 
 
 mine, my golden Syon ! 
 lovelier far than gold ! 
 
 With laurel-girt battalions. 
 
 And safe victorious fold : 
 Oh, none can tell thy bulwarks. 
 
 How gloriously they rise ; 
 Oh, none can tell thy capitals. 
 
 Of beautiful device ; 
 Thy loveliness oppresses 
 
 All human thought and heart ; 
 And none, peace, Syon, 
 
 Can sing thee as thou art ! 
 Jerusalem Exultant, 
 
 On that securest shore, 
 
 1 hope thee, wish thee, sing thee, 
 
 And love thee evermore." 
 
 that we all may be living stones in that fair city of 
 God. Into it shall come the glory and honour of the 
 nations. Thither will all noblest gifts and graces, all purest 
 light and life, all loftiest glory of humanity be gathered at 
 last. In very truth it will be Jerusalem the Grolden — the 
 realm and home 6i life. '
 
 XIV. 
 
 TRE PARTING WORDS. 
 Eevelation xxii. 
 
 The stately city of Grod, tlie New Jerusalem, descending 
 out of heaven, was presented in vision to the joyful gaze of 
 the apostle, as we have seen already. It was the symbol 
 of the wide comprehensiveness, the spiritual grandeur, and 
 the complete unity of the Church of the redeemed. The 
 thought was not new in Scripture, but had never been 
 given with such fulness of beauty before as in the vision of 
 John. We bad read of believers as living stones, built up 
 a spiritual house. Elsewhere had we fouud the most pre- 
 cious materials of earth used to set forth the most exalted 
 and enduring elements of character. The Christian preacher 
 is charged to build upon Christ, the foundation, only such 
 materials as will stand the testing fires of eternity. The 
 spiritual elements of the Church are as gold, silver, and 
 precious stones, contrasted with wood, hay, and stubble. 
 Costly jewels, that glow with subtle light, burning without 
 fire, and yet with a brilliancy that is ever living and un- 
 changed, are chosen to represent the imperishable glories 
 of Christian character. And now the company of sancti- 
 fied men, resting for life in the Lord Jesus Christ, is com- 
 pared to a glorious city of light, encomjmssed by walls 
 built upon imperishable foundations, and flashing forth 
 with a glory that never grows dim. 
 
 As the apostle gazed upon the city, he saw no temple 
 therein ; for the Lord Grod Almighty and the Lamb are 
 the temple of it. The helps by the way will be no longer 
 needed, for the Divine Presence will be felt without a veil 
 between. We shall no longer direct our prayers to an 
 unseen Lord, in the exercise of faith. We shall see Him 
 
 o 2
 
 196 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 face to face. The contact of sjiirit with spirit will be 
 direct and immediate. Grod's plan is that we should 
 steadily advance from and through the material to the 
 spiritual. First, there was the one temple on the hill of 
 Zion. Then there appeared that Saviour, whose coming 
 broke down the special sacredness, even of Jerusalem, with 
 the words, " The hour cometh and now is, when the true 
 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth : 
 for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. Grod is a 
 Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in 
 spirit and in truth." Throughout the wide world should 
 these temples for worship be erected. Wherever they 
 make their habitation, men should mark off the sacred 
 enclosure where they and their children might worship 
 the Father of their spirits. And these places shoiild be 
 held sacred, not as by contrast with their own homes. The 
 Christian temple is separated from the rest of the city, to 
 show what the rest of the city is intended to be — all con- 
 secrated to the Lord. The sanctuary does its work best 
 when it helps men to make all places and all 'duties sacred. 
 There is to be no gulf fixed between the house of Grod and 
 the world outside; but life-giving streams, flowing forth 
 until the life outside shall rise to the level of the life within. 
 Then, when " Holiness to the Lord " is written everywhere, 
 the temple is needless, for every place is hallowed ground ; 
 therefore in that golden city John saw no temple : the Lord 
 Grod Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. The 
 redeemed will be so encompassed by the Divine Presence, 
 that Grod Himself will be, as it were, the shrine in which 
 man shall then adore Him. Grod Himself is the temple of 
 the city. And as He is its temple, so is He its light. All 
 earthly channels of blessing may be dispensed with. " 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." In high and holy fellowship the 
 nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of 
 it. There shall be perfect security from every foe without, 
 and perfect freedom for every dweller M'ithin. By day 
 the gates shall not be shut at all, and night there shall not 
 be. There is no fear of evil, and tributes of glory shall 
 always be coming in. They shall bring the glory and
 
 The Parting Words. 197 
 
 •honour of the nations into it. All that is noble and good 
 shall be free of the city ; all that is evil shall be under an 
 everlasting ban. Thez-e shall in no wise enter into it any- 
 thing that defileth, nor he that maketh an abomination and 
 a lie, but only they who have been written in the Lamb's 
 book of life. 
 
 So stood in stateliness and grandeur, in perfect security 
 and unfading blessedness, the city of the great King as 
 John beheldlt in vision. There it rose " in royalty of pile 
 and tower, brightening beneath an unsetting day." But 
 glorious as was this sight, it was not all. The vision widens, 
 and embraces other aspects of blessedness. The beauty of 
 a paradise fairer than that of Eden is joined to the splen- 
 dour of a city more magnificent than Jerusalem. " Erom 
 beneath the throne of Grod and of the Lamb, there poured 
 forth a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal." And 
 on the banks of this stream there is not merely, as in the 
 first paradise, one tree of life ; but it is so multiplied that 
 it stands on either side along the river, so fruitful that it 
 bears every month the whole year round, and it is fitted, 
 at the same time, for the needs of every man, for it bears 
 twelve manner of fruits. Its leaves as well as its fruit 
 have the virtue of immortality, and are for the healing of 
 the nations. This tree of life is no longer guarded by 
 the flaming sword, turning every way ; it is free to every 
 man ; it is in the most open place that can be found, in 
 the midst of the street ; there is no enclosure, no restric- 
 tion, but free and unfettered use and enjoyment. 
 
 These two symbols, of the river, and tree of life, have a 
 recognised place in the book of Grod, and are of deep 
 sio-nificance. Through the first Eden a river flowed, and 
 in" the midst stood the tree of life. So shall it be with the 
 second ; and we are not without help to the meaning both of 
 the river and the tree. The river symbolises the Divine 
 Spirit, the very life of God that flows through the channel 
 of faith into man's soul. Our Lord Himself taught us 
 this. " In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus 
 stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come 
 unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the 
 Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
 living waters." These are Christ's own' words, and the
 
 198 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 apostle John, in the next yerse, explains them thus : " But 
 this spake He of the Spirit, Avhich they that believe on 
 Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; 
 beeause that Jesus was not yet glorified." In Ezekiel's 
 vision there appeared a stream of water, flowing forth from 
 under the threshold of the temple, and it rose and rose 
 from the ancles to the knees, from the knees to the loins, 
 and from the loins till the waters were risen, waters to 
 swim in, a river that could not be passed over. " And it 
 shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which 
 moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live." 
 So shall it be with paradise regained. The redeemed of 
 the Lord shall receive of the Spirit without measure. Like 
 a river flowing forth in rich abundance and crystal purity, 
 shall the very life of God enter the spirits of the saved, 
 and everything shall live where that comes ; as Buuyan says 
 of this river : " This is soul life, life against sin, life from 
 sin ; life against the curse, life from the curse ; life beyond 
 hell, beyond desert, beyond thought, beyond desires ; life 
 that is pleasing, life that is profitable, life everlasting." 
 
 But there is a tree of life as well as a river. In the 
 garden of Eden this was found a literal fact. It seems to 
 me they are right who hold that the fruit of that tree con- 
 ferred the blessing of deathlessness on the body of man. 
 It had power to transform the earthly nature into the 
 spiritual. An earthly body cannot be essentially immortal. 
 But God gave a power to the fruit of the tree of life, 
 whereby the bodily tabernacle of the spirit would have 
 been gradually developed into a spiritual tabernacle, like 
 tha^we shall have at the resurrection. Man would have 
 passed into the glorified state without tasting death. 
 There is great probability that the lives of the patriarchs 
 were prolonged as they were by the transmitted influence 
 of the tree of life, of which man had partaken before he 
 was banished from the bowers of Eden. After the first 
 race of men, who lived their hundreds of years, human life 
 gradually became shorter, until the power of the tree of 
 life had spent itself, and the days of our years settled down 
 to the average of threescore years and ten. In mercy as 
 well as in wrath, " The Lord God sent man forth from the 
 garden of Eden, lest he put forth his hand and take also of
 
 Tlie Parting Words. 199 
 
 tlie tree of life, and cat and live for ever." For the out- 
 ward body is but tlie expression of the inward nature ; and 
 for tbat body to become immortal, while the spirit is cor- 
 rupt and sin-stricken, would be a curse rather than a 
 blessing. Therefore now, through the gates of death the 
 body must pass, and by resui'rection attaui to immortality. 
 So by one stupendous act of Divine power, instead of by a 
 process of gradual development, shall the natural body pass 
 into the spiritual body. But, after the resurrection, man 
 shall eat of the tree of life again, and it shall be for his body 
 immortal sustenance, even as the water of life shall be to 
 his spirit unfailing refreshment : to him that overcometh 
 will be given to eat of the tree of life that is in the midst 
 of the paradise of God. Blessed are they that do His com- 
 mandments, that they may have right to the ti-ee of life, 
 and may enter in, through the gates, into the city. 
 
 Into the first paradise there entered the curse, and 
 blighted all human life. It fell upon the ground, which 
 theii brought forth briers and thorns freely, and wholesome 
 fruits only at the price of toilsome labour. It fell upon 
 man himself, and made him liable to disease and pain, to 
 tears and disappointment. Everywhere there are traces of 
 sorrow, frustration, decay, and death, because everywhere 
 the curse has been working. But there shall be no more 
 curse in that new world of righteousness. There shall be 
 no more curse, for there shall be no more sin. All shall 
 be loyal obedience to the one holy will. The emblems of 
 Divine sovereignty and rule are there ; the throne of God 
 and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and His servants shall 
 serve Him. And they shall be sons as well as servants, 
 and shall see His face, walking all the day in the light of His 
 countenance. It shall no longer be matter of doubt, either 
 to themselves or others, whether they are the Lord's chil- 
 dren or not. The sign shall be plain and unmistakable. 
 His name shall be in their foreheads. Gloom and darkness 
 shall be known no more, ignorance and danger shall vanish 
 away ; there shall be no night there. The helps by the 
 way, the dim lights of time, shall no more be needed than 
 the light of the stars at noonday. In the splendour and 
 efiulgence of the Divine glory shall they walk, — they need 
 no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God
 
 200 ■ The Book of Revelation. 
 
 givctli them light ; and they shall reign for ever and ever. 
 Thus at length shall perfect blessing be what it has never 
 been through long centuries — the portion of the sons of 
 men. Holy loyalty shall dwell safely and breathe its native 
 air. " Only the faultless stand before the throne ! The 
 holy are renewed and confirmed in indefectible purity ! 
 They cannot sin ! They adorn those heavens, shining as 
 the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever 
 and ever ! They enrich that earth, rising as pillars on 
 which is written the name of GTod, and the name of the city 
 of their Grod, and added to all is inscribed by the Saviour, 
 His ' new name.' Happiness, in all thy forms, thou art 
 there ! Love, in all thy ties, thou art there ! Devotion, in 
 all thine ardours, thou art there! Melody, in all thy chords, 
 thou art there ! But ye follow in the train of that which 
 is greater than you all. Eighteousness shall go before 
 you, and shall set you in the way of its steps ! Eight- 
 eousness has there built its dwelling-place, and throws 
 open the portals for all that is kindred to it ! Like Him, in 
 whom it only perfectly and necessaril}^ exists, it shall in- 
 habit eternity ! " 
 
 And now, having shown us the purpose of God in 
 the world's redemption, the course of the incarnation, 
 obedience, suffering, and death of the Son of God, — the 
 onward path of the Church, through conflict to glory,- — the 
 voice of Revelation is about to be hushed into silence, for 
 all that needed to be told now has been told. But ere the 
 voice dies away, three times are declared to us the Divine 
 origin, the absolute certainty, and the speedy accomplish- 
 ment, of the predictions of this book. 
 
 First, the angel who has been the apostle's guide through 
 the wonders of vision, says, "These sayings are faithful 
 and true ; and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent 
 His messenger to show unto His servants the things which 
 must shortly be done." Speaking in the name of his Lord, 
 he adds, '"Behold I come quickly : blessed is he that keepeth 
 the sayings of the prophecy of this book." Scripture hath 
 many parts, but only one great source of inspiration. He 
 who gives to His messenger this closing part is the Lord 
 God of the holy prophets, by whose Spirit they were 
 moved and spake. Like all that went before, the declara-
 
 The Partinsr Words. 201 
 
 ^C5 
 
 tions and visions of this book are stamped witli Divine 
 authority. We are tokl who says it, as well as what He 
 says. The matter is urgent, for the beginning of the fulfil- 
 ment is near. The clouds are gathering over Jerusalem. 
 In its overthrow, the Lord's appearance is at hand. By 
 His messenger He cries, " Behold, I come quickly : blessed 
 are they who watch and stand strong ; blessed is he that 
 keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." 
 
 Having affirmed the Divine origin of his visions, the 
 apostle gives us his solemn assurance that by him they 
 Avere beheld. On matters of such moment there must be 
 no uncertainty ; and that there may not be, here is the sign- 
 manual of the witness : " And I John saw these things and 
 heard them. They are not the mere fancies of a heated 
 brain, but solemn verities, clothed m Divinely chosen 
 symbols, which to me were shown. They are not my 
 opinions, but Divine revelations." When the apostle 
 speaks of Christ, he is bent on making it plain that he is 
 setting forth facts and not speculations : " That which was 
 from the beginning, which we have heard, whic^ we have 
 seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our 
 hands have handled of the Word of life : that which we 
 have seen and heard declare we unto you." In like man- 
 ner, also,- when speaking of the conflicts and victories of 
 Christ's Church, he gives us the testimony of an honest and 
 competent witness : " I John saw these things and heard 
 them." 
 
 But the revelations, so glorious and momentous, were 
 almost more than flesh and blood could endure. Again, as 
 before, he who heard and saw was overwhelmed, and was 
 in danger of falling from the pinnacle of vision into the 
 depths of sin. " And when I had heard and seen, I fell 
 down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed 
 me these things." But that homage which Jesus accepted 
 from an apostle as His lawful right, an angel dare not 
 receive. Again, as before, and as if the sinful tendency to 
 creature-worship in the Church must have frequent warn- 
 ing, the angel cried at once, " See thou do it not ; I am 
 but a fellow-servant of thee and of thy brethren the pro- 
 phets, and of those who keep the sayings of this book : 
 to God pay thy worship." When Daniel had beheld the
 
 202 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 vision of Israel's future, he is charged to " shut up the 
 words and seal the book, even to the time of the end," for 
 the end is not yet. On the other hand, the angel said to 
 the apostle. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, 
 for the time is at hand, — the season of fulfilment is near. 
 And the revelation of the Divine mind and will is drawing 
 to a close. All that is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
 for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the 
 man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all 
 good works, — all this has been given. Sublime truths have 
 been declared, stirring motives have ' been plied ; if a man 
 can and does resist all the appeals that have been made 
 already, he can resist anything. The grave might give up 
 the dead to go forth among the living, and reveal the 
 secrets of doom or the ravishing joys of glory ; but all that 
 would soon become common-place, and cease to startle. If 
 they hear not Moses and the prophets, — if they disregard 
 Christ and His apostles, — neither would they be persuaded 
 though one rose from the dead. If a man will resist the 
 light, and cleave to sin, in spite of warning and entreaty, 
 it must be so. God has sent His message, but He will 
 not secure its acceptance by violence. Men may make 
 either a wise or a fiital use of their liberty; but God will give 
 no further revelation of His will till the day of account. 
 " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he that is 
 filthy, let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let 
 him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him be 
 holy still." The Lord goes away for awhile, saying unto 
 His servants, " Occupy till I come." But here He says, 
 " Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
 give back to every man according as His work shall be." 
 
 Thus the angel's message is closed, and Christ Himself 
 stands forth, declaring, as at the opening of the book, I am 
 Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and 
 the last. Having declared His royal right to judge. He 
 speaks of the separation that will follow upon judgment, 
 and the diverse lot that separation will bring. Blessed are 
 they that do His commandments, that they may have right 
 to the tree of life, and may enter in openly and by the law- 
 ful way, through the gate-towers into the city. Blessed are 
 they in actual condition — blessed also by solemn contrast.
 
 TJic Parting Words. 203 
 
 Por outside tlie lieavenly city, in outer darkness, are those 
 wlio have no part or memorial in Jerusalem : without are 
 dogs, the rapacious and unclean; and sorcerers, those who 
 have wickedly practised on the credulity of mankind ; and 
 whoremongers, the licentioi^s and impure ; and murderers, 
 any who have manifested or cherished the spirit of hatred 
 against those around them ; and idolaters who have in any 
 form bent to the creature rather than to the Creator, who 
 is over all, God blessed for ever ; and whosoever loveth and 
 maketh a lie, the false, unreal, and empty, — these, all these 
 shall be gathered, a ghastly multitude, without the city. 
 This solemn warning given, the Lord endorses the testi- 
 mony of His servant, — I, Jesus, have sent mine angel, or 
 my messenger, to testify unto you these things in the 
 Church — I, who am the strength and flower of Jesse's rod, 
 the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning 
 star of an unsetting day of glory. 
 
 And now that which the angel had declared, and the 
 Lord confirmed, the Church repeats. The Spii-it and the 
 Bride say. Come ! And let him that heareth say, Come ! 
 And let him that thirsteth come. And whosoever will, let 
 him take the water of life freely. Evermore the Spirit 
 stirring in the Church's heart leads her to pray that Christ 
 would come to her, and also that perishing men around 
 may come to Him. The two things run together. He 
 comes to the Church, as thirsty, perishing souls come to 
 Him. The very longing for her Lord leads her to long for 
 them that shall be to Him as the travail of His soul. He 
 that hears for himself and lives, must pass on the watch- 
 word of hope, and cry. Come ! Judgment has been declared 
 against sin, but there is the Divinest compassion for the 
 sinner. God, our Saviour, will have all men to be saved, and 
 to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Let him that is 
 athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him take the water of 
 life freely. 
 
 When Israel had reached the end of their long wilder- 
 ness wandering, and were on the verge of Canaan, Moses 
 first reviewed the past dealings of the Lord with them, and 
 then solemnly charged them, when they entered their new 
 home, to keep, in all their simplicity and integrity, the 
 statutes and judgments of God. Said he, " Ye shall not
 
 204 The Book of Revelation. 
 
 add uuto tlie word wliicli I command you, neitlier shall ye 
 diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the command- 
 ments of the Lord your Grod which I command yovi." Thus 
 solemnly also, ere this book is closed, are men charged that 
 they may neither add to nor diminish the utterance of the 
 Divine purpose : " For I testify unto every man that hear- 
 eth 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 from the words of the book of this pro- 
 phecy, Grod shall take away his part out of the book of life, 
 and out of the holy city, and from the things which are 
 written in this book." Warning and impressive check have 
 we here, on the one hand, against the presumption that 
 would overlay the commandments of God by the traditions 
 of men ; and on the other, against that indolent indifference 
 which takes away from the book of the prophecy by neg- 
 lect. God's truth is the one bulwark against error, the one 
 weapon that will be victorious in the Avar against wrong ; 
 therefore with holy jealousy must it be guarded from loss 
 or harm. Every utterance of the Divine Spirit is to be to 
 the faithful as thousands of gold and silver. God's truth 
 is the sanctifying power in the Church ; and not even an 
 angel from heaven may be permitted to make an addition of 
 his own, or to preach another Gospel. As the chemist per- 
 mits no tampering with the sensitive balance which is his 
 testing power, neither may we suffer any created being to 
 bring us new revelations, or to rob us of those which are 
 given in that law and testimony which tries all things, and 
 to the final tests of which nothing but truth will conform. 
 
 The parting words are growing few. He who testifieth 
 these things, the Lord Jesus Himself, saith to His Church, 
 Surely I come quickly ; and that Church, from her heart, 
 replies, Amen. Even so come. Lord Jesus. His coming in 
 every form is the object of hope and the crown of desire. 
 A longing Church, a suffering world, watch for the morning 
 — Even so come. Lord Jesus. 
 
 And now, last of all, softly as the dew of heaven, falls 
 the benediction of the disciple whom Jesus loved, " The 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." 
 This is the closing utterance, and it gathers up all that has
 
 The Parting Words. 205 
 
 been said before. He, who is our Lord, as Sovereign over 
 life ; who is Jesus, as the Son of man, here living and dying 
 to put away sin ; who is Christ, as the anointed of the 
 Father ; He is the source of all grace and blessing to men. 
 The apostle says not. My blessing be with you, but the 
 grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, I may say, 
 with another apostle, " Ye know the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes 
 He became poor, that ye, through His poverty, miglit be 
 rich." Herein is the meaning of the benediction unfolded 
 — the love displayed to dying men, by the incarnation, the 
 sufferiusr, the wondrous sacrifice and death of the world's 
 Saviour, is the measure of the blessing, for which still we 
 may look. Far up in the past you may sound the depths 
 of that stream of life which is flowing round you now. 
 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Clu-ist, — the grace that 
 first contrived the way of deliverance, and that made the 
 needful sacrifice for its accomplishment, — the grace that has 
 been the very life and strength of Grod's Church, its shield 
 and defence in the hour of storm, its renewal in the day of 
 decline, — the grace that has been life to the dead, joy to 
 the moimier, strength to the weak, and hope to the down- 
 cast : — may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with 
 you, — with you who are now in the midst of the genera- 
 tions, bearing the responsibility of the living, who have 
 present trials to endure, present temptations to face, pre- 
 sent duties to discharge, — with you all : — with the aged, 
 that as the shadows of life's evening grow thicker, 
 the lights on the farther shore may grow brighter, and 
 the thought of home more welcome, — with those in life's 
 midday, that this fleeting world may not be all in all, that 
 earth's clamour may not drown the spirit's voice, nor time's 
 possessions in one scale outweigh the soul in the other, — 
 with the young, that weak feet may walk circumspectly in 
 slippeiy places, and the great Creator be constantly re- 
 membered in the heyday of youth ; — the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ be with you all, and with you all to the end. 
 To gather up the spirit of the whole, in other and better 
 words than mine, let me say, " Friends, and brothers, in 
 the midst of your work, when yon are trying to be honest 
 and faithful, and finding how hard it is to be honest and
 
 2o6 TJie Book of Revelation. 
 
 faithful ; in your family circles ; as English citizens ; in 
 lonely hours, when you are struggling with temptations, 
 which only the Searcher of hearts knows ; when you are 
 trying to pray, and cannot pray ; when all things in heaven 
 and earth seem unstable ; when you are crushed with the 
 remembrances of failures ; when you are looking in vain 
 for faces that once comforted you ; in your tribulation, as 
 . in your wealth ; in the hour of death ; in that day of judg- 
 ment, which shall show us how closely we have been related 
 to each other, and what a Divine power has been using 
 even the feeblest instrument to draw us to itself, — may the 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." 
 
 V. Pitman, 20, Paternoster Row, London, E.G.
 
 3 1158 00537 17 
 
 
 i 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIL 
 
 AA 000 616 998 i