UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 Accession No. b\/ & Class No. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE, 
 
THOUGHTS 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE 
 
 BENJAMIN WILLS NEWTON. 
 
 <f Mta, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HOULSTON AND SONS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 
 1853. 
 
'**" Of TOT 
 
 [uzuv: w] 
 
 in Setonir dMiott. 
 
 THE time that has elapsed since the publication of the first 
 edition of this work in 1843, has afforded the author oppor- 
 tunity carefully to reconsider its statements, and the principles 
 of interpretation that were then adopted. He may be per- 
 mitted to say that such re-examination has strongly confirmed 
 his conviction of the correctness of the radical principles of 
 his former work, and (although very sensible of many imper- 
 fections) he feels increased confidence in commending the 
 same general conclusions to the solemn attention of all, who, 
 through faith in the blood of the Lamb, are entitled to regard 
 the Book of the Revelation as emphatically theirs. <( I Jesus 
 have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the 
 churches" 
 
 In the present edition the author has endeavoured, in some 
 slight degree, to obviate one objection made to his former 
 work, viz. that it stated conclusions without sufficiently 
 communicating the reasons on which those conclusions were 
 founded. He has not, however, added much in the way of 
 explanation, because he found that it would be impossible to 
 do this, without altering the general character of the work 
 and increasing very materially its size. He would, there- 
 
Vi ADVERTISEMENT TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 fore, request those who desire to consider these subjects in a 
 more elementary form, to refer to three other works which 
 he has published within the last five years, and which will 
 be found to detail the reasons of many statements which are 
 assumed as true in the present volume.* 
 
 The Greek text followed in this work is that of Dr. Tre- 
 gelles ; the value of whose labours in having edited a cor- 
 rected text of the Apocalypse, and in preparing a critical 
 edition of the whole Greek New Testament, it would be 
 difficult to appreciate too highly. If Dr. Trcgelles' Greek 
 text has anywhere been departed from in the present work, 
 it has been done inadvertently. 
 
 The author may be permitted to add, that as years roll on 
 and events unfold themselves, he feels more and more deeply 
 the necessity of closely cleaving to those great foundation 
 truths of our holy faith, which (however practically departed 
 from) are still preserved in the creeds and confessions of 
 Protestant Christendom. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, 
 the Eternal Sonship of the Lord, His essential Deity, His 
 true though sinless humanity, the perfect and present justi- 
 fication of all believers through His blood, the authority of 
 Holy Writ, its being written in " words taught of the Holy 
 Ghost" these and other connected doctrines are to the 
 
 * The works referred to are these : 
 
 " Aids to Prophetic Enquiry. First Series." 
 
 " Ditto ditto Second Series." 
 
 " Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms of the Roman Empire." 
 
 To be obtained at the Publishers. See advertisement at the end of this 
 
 volume. 
 
 The author would also recommend the perusal of " Remarks on the 
 
 Prophetic Visions of the Book of Daniel," by S. P. Tregelles, LL.D. 
 
 (Bagster and Sons), and " Development of Antichrist," by Andrew Bonar, 
 
 Esq. (published by Partridge and Oakey). 
 
ADVERTISEMENT TO SECOND EDITION. Vll 
 
 author dearer, he trusts, than life. It is in the conviction 
 that attention to "the sure word of prophecy" will not lessen 
 but deepen our value for these foundation truths of our com- 
 mon faith, that he again ventures to solicit the attention of 
 his brethren to these pages, which he now commends to the 
 blessing of Him whose grace is able to pardon their imper- 
 fections, and to prosper whatever is of His truth in them, 
 
 London, October 18, 1853. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS 
 
 I. ON REVELATION I. . . . . . . .10 
 
 II. "SEVEN CANDLESTICKS OF GOLD." , . . .23 
 
 III. NOTES ON REVELATION I. ...'... 33 
 
 IV. ON REVELATION IV. AND V. . . . . . .47 
 
 V. ON REVELATION V. ....... 66 
 
 VI. NOTES ON REVELATION IV. AND V. , ... 72 
 
 VII. ON REVELATION VI ........ 81 
 
 VIII. NOTES ON REVELATION VI. . . . . . .96 
 
 IX. ON REVELATION VII ....... .. HO 
 
 X. ON REVELATION VIII., IX., AND X ...... 119 
 
 XI. NOTES ON REVELATION VII., VIII., AND IX. . . 127 
 
 XII. ON REVELATION X. ....... 136 
 
 XIII. ON REVELATION XI ........ 140 
 
 XIV. NOTES ON REVELATION X. AND XT. < 146 
 XV. ON REVELATION XII ........ 157 
 
 XVI. NOTES ON REVELATION XII. . . . . . .169 
 
 XVII. ON REVELATION XIII ........ 184 
 
 XVIII. NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. ..... 199 
 
 XIX. ON REVELATION XIV. / 215 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I-AOK 
 
 XX. NOTES ON EEVELATION XIV. ...... 232 
 
 XXL ON REVELATION XIV. AND XV 242 
 
 XXII. NOTES ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI 253 
 
 XXIII. ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. . . . .263 
 
 XXIV. ON REVELATION XVIII 288 
 
 XXV. NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. ... . 304 
 
 XXVI. ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI 330 
 
 XXVII. NOTES ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. . . . 344 
 
 XXVIII. ON REVELATION XXI 354 
 
 XXIX. NOTES ON REVELATION XXI 366 
 
 APPENDIX A . . . . . . . . . . 374 
 
 APPENDIX B . 376 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 28, line 30, for "hich " read " which." 
 
 Page 151, line 16, eorwree should have a mark of reference to the foot-note. 
 
 Page 169, line 2, for " their outward " read " in their outward." 
 
 Page 179, line 32, for " ripTraaOri " read " r/pTraorffy." 
 
 Page 198, line 34, for " if you will " read " if thou wilt." 
 
 Page 201, line 18, for " appeared has " read " appeared had." 
 
 Page 206, line 22, for " On his heads" read On his horns." 
 
 Page 209, line 2, for " definite of " read " definite or." 
 
 Page 209, line 4, for "that or" read that of." 
 
 Page 210, line 13, for " (eTTTjyev) " read " eV^er." 
 
 Page 219, line 33, for " irapfj.o\r]v " read " 
 
 Page 225, line 22, for " (KaQrivevoig) " read 
 
 Page 227, line 32, /or " follow with them " read " follow them." 
 
 Page 236, line 23, for " r/yopaa-^ueVoi " read " r/ 
 
 Page 240, line 27, /or " actions " read " action. 
 
 Page 279, line 29, omi " (o av0pwn-oc 
 
 Page 301, line 34, /or " the dominion " read " the abomination. 
 
 Page 322, line 15, for " 6 cupwv " read " 6 
 
 Page 374, line 21, /or " VTTOTTO^IOV " read 
 
IT seems wonderful, that any, who reverence the Scripture 
 and know what true Christianity really is, should be able to 
 persuade themselves, that the history of the world has been 
 one of progress in righteousness and in the knowledge of 
 God. What period in the earth's history has not been 
 marked with the plainest evidences of disastrous failure? 
 Paradise was created, and man was placed in it innocent 
 and happy. But man sinned, and ruin entered. After the 
 fall, God introduced new light, unfolded his promises of 
 grace, and granted also many natural mercies. But evil 
 instantly put forth its energies ; the arts of civilization apart 
 from God were spread by Cain and his descendants through- 
 out the earth; wickedness reigned; and the flood came. 
 
 When the flood departed, eight persons descended from 
 the ark, all of them acquainted, at least outwardly, with 
 the true God. They had seen His judgments ; and, being 
 themselves delivered, were ushered into a new world, sup- 
 plied with new knowledge and fresh covenanted mercies. 
 It was promised that while the earth remained, " seed-time 
 and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and 
 night should not cease; and God blessed Noah and his 
 sons." Thus, not in darkness and misery, but with light 
 and blessings consciously received from God, mankind com- 
 menced their new existence in a recovered earth. Yet only 
 
 B 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 a few years passed, before their confederation at Babel 
 evinced their determination to attain greatness apart from 
 God. Scattered under His hand, yet not repenting, they 
 gave themselves over to idolatry, which so rapidly and so 
 universally prevailed, that even Abraham's kindred, when 
 God called Abraham, had begun to serve other gods. So 
 early commenced that night of heathenism under which 
 more than two-thirds of the world is at this moment buried. 
 The separation of Abraham and of Israel was a bright 
 spot in the midst of the darkness. To Israel were (( com- 
 mitted the oracles of God." But Israel failed (as they will 
 one day themselves confess) to work any deliverance in the 
 earth. Their light became dim at its centre, and was at 
 last turned into darkness, so that the name of God was 
 blasphemed among the Gentiles because of them / and now 
 special wrath, or, to use the words of our Lord Himself, 
 " days of vengeance " have come upon them, and will rest 
 on them " until the end." The Church dispensation fol- 
 lowed. The Church, when it first appeared in the earth, 
 maintained its testimonies not unworthily of Him whose 
 name it bore. It was the pillar and ground of Truth ; salt 
 that had not lost its savour ; a light set on a hill. For a 
 season, the Pentecostal Church in Jerusalem shone brightly. 
 The Gentile Churches succeeded ; and, for a while, shone 
 also as true lamps of the sanctuary. But even before the 
 Apostles died, decay was, in them too, visible. The Epistles, 
 especially the later ones, were full of warning and reproof. 
 If, said the Apostle, ye Gentiles, who have been graffed 
 into Israel's olive tree, become disobedient and (f continue 
 not in God's goodness, ye also," like Israel before, " shall 
 be cut off." They did not continue in God's goodness 
 worldliness and corruption reigned; until at last Chris- 
 tianity, perverted Christianity, casting off the likeness of 
 Nazareth, deliberately assumed the garments of earth, and 
 sought to reign as if enthroned, apart from Christ and His 
 Truth; even whilst that Truth and its servants were yet 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. O 
 
 suffering. Constantino and the Roman. Empire were not 
 unwilling to accept the alliance of a body that was ready 
 to consecrate the world's energies, and to bless evil in the 
 name of Christ. The results speedily followed. Moham- 
 medanism, superstition, infidelity, soon spread their wings 
 of darkness over the very regions in which the Apostles 
 laboured ; and up to this present hour, those nations pecu- 
 liarly sleep the sleep of a double death. 
 
 There have, indeed, been periods, when God has interfered 
 to rekindle some light, that His Truth might be preserved 
 from utter extinction. But these periods of revival have not, 
 in result, proved exceptions to the general rule. The light 
 given (though individuals have received it and been blessed) 
 has, as to its general reception, been perverted or quenched. 
 The stream, of evil, checked, perhaps, for a moment, has only 
 gathered strength by the delay ; and has either overflowed 
 the barrier, or, else, forced for itself some new channel, in 
 which it rolls on more proudly and destructively than before. 
 
 The Protestant era affords a marked example of the 
 merciful interference of God. Protestantism found existing 
 in the earth, a body that professed to be the unfallen Church 
 of God. The Church of Rome claimed to be what the 
 Apostolic Church once was "the pillar and ground of the 
 Truth." It claimed also to have (what no Church in this 
 dispensation ever can have) that place of supremacy and 
 rule over the nations, which is reserved exclusively for 
 Israel and for Jerusalem, when the day of their repentance 
 and forgiveness shall at length have come. This claim, 
 Protestantism rejected. The pretended Church and its 
 Traditions were disowned, and the Bible only recognised as 
 speaking with the infallible authority of God. 
 
 If Protestantism had adhered to the Scriptures only ; if 
 it had diligently sought out Teachers really qualified for 
 their service by the Holy Spirit; if it had abandoned 
 ritualism, and faithfully maintained that all who are " of 
 faith" are " sanctified" and, as regards acceptance, "perfected 
 
 B 2' 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 by the offering of the body of Jesus once ;" if it had distin- 
 guished between those who made credible confession of the 
 Gospel., and those who manifestly were servants of the world ; 
 we should have seen in its history, a spectacle far different 
 from that which it now presents. There are, indeed, among 
 Protestants, many whom God has reserved unto Himself men 
 who have not bowed the knee to Baal ; but what are the 
 Protestant nations as a whole? Popery rages on the one 
 hand, and Infidelity on the other ; whilst the voice of the 
 true Church of God has waxed so feeble, as to be heard 
 little more than the wail of a child in the midst of the fury 
 of the midnight storm. 
 
 When Protestantism, in striking off the shackles of super- 
 stition, leads those whom it has freed, immediately and only 
 to the word of God, its work is blessed. But if, careless of 
 Truth, or shunning conflict, it disown or hide the distinctive 
 doctrines of the faith ; if, for the sake of conciliating others, 
 and effecting the union of men as men, it consent to unholy 
 compromise; if natural conscience dark, deadened con- 
 science, be pronounced man's sufficient rule ; if they who 
 receive the Scripture, and they who mutilate or add to it, 
 be deemed equally worthy of positions of moral influence in 
 society and in. government ; if the mind of man, apart from 
 the guidance of revelation, be judged competent to give 
 right moral order to the earth ; if, as has been of late af- 
 firmed, the regulations of government are to be independent 
 of Scripture and all regard to revealed truth if such be the 
 principles by which the chief of Protestant nations (aided 
 too in these efforts, not unfrequently by real Christians) is 
 striving to stamp a new character on the earth, it is evident, 
 that success in these efforts will effect a more radical subver- 
 sion of Truth, and a more effectual rejection of Scripture, 
 than has ever been known since the light of Christianity was 
 first kindled in the earth. The formalism of the Pharisee 
 may be easily exchanged for the liberalism of the Sadducee ; 
 but the yoke of superstition is in vain broken, if the only 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. O 
 
 liberty gained be the liberty of the unregenerate mind of 
 man. The liberty of self-will is not the liberty wherewith 
 Christ maketh free.* 
 
 Few, I suppose, can seriously meditate on that which is 
 now passing around them, without some misgivings as to the 
 future. Yet if the mind be possessed with the thought of 
 the dignity and perfectibility of the nature of man ; if it be 
 ignorant alike of the corruption of the human heart, and of 
 the presence and power of Satan ; it can easily deceive itself 
 into the belief, that society has within itself the elements of 
 its own rectification; and with that thought, it will satisfy 
 itself and silence every apprehension. Others again, who 
 have some reverence for the Scripture, knowing that it 
 speaks of a season when the knowledge of the Lord shall 
 pervade all nations, hastily assume that all things are happily 
 tending towards that end ; and refuse to examine what the 
 Prophets have written respecting the conclusion of this pre- 
 sent age of evil. Indeed, until of late, the almost universal 
 belief of Protestant Christians has been, that they had well- 
 nigh passed through the great and terrible hour of Anti- 
 christianism that the final judgments appointed to Jerusa- 
 lem and the nations were almost exhausted, and that the 
 course of events was rapidly tending towards the peaceful 
 
 * It may perhaps seem strange, that in speaking of Protestantism, we 
 should have to refer so exclusively to its national and governmental as- 
 pect. If Protestantism had discerned the sin of the day of Constantine, 
 and had steadily drawn the line of separation hetween the Nations and 
 the Church, we should have been able to trace its history in the separate 
 path which the family of faith would have trodden, and should have 
 sought within that family, and not in the world, for the results of its 
 labours. But even spiritual Protestantism early sold its energies to the 
 nations and their governments. In fleeing from Popeiy, it rushed into 
 the courts and camps of those, who (however they may for their own 
 purposes resist certain ecclesiastical forms of evil) have ever hindered the 
 developments of truth, and will finally seek to crush them altogether. 
 Yet even now, Protestant ChristiaDs seem little aware of the path which 
 the nations secularly are about to tread, and the end to which that path 
 is tending. 
 
 
 
 ": 
 
D THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 rest of the millennial day. Recently, however, many have 
 been awakened from this fatal dream. Turning more simply 
 to the Scripture, they have found, that although the promised 
 kingdom of peace shall at last surely come; yet we have^rs 
 to consider the testimony of that roll long since given to 
 Ezekiel, but not yet exhausted, whereon is written both for 
 Israel and the nations, " lamentation, and mourning, and 
 .woe." The book of the Revelation enlarges on and confirms 
 the testimony of that roll. 
 
 One of the chief hindrances, perhaps, to understanding 
 the book of Revelation, has been a neglect of Old Testament 
 prophecy. The prophecies of the New Testament, are, of 
 course, supplemental to those of the Old ; and should be con- 
 sidered first. The wickedness and blasphemies of Antichrist 
 and the nations that follow him, at the period so often termed 
 in Scripture " the time of the end," the unequalled season 
 of tribulation that is to fall on Israel in Jerusalem, immedi- 
 ately before their final deliverance by the appearing of the 
 Lord in glory these and kindred subjects were familiar to 
 the early disciples, (for they were Jews who had received 
 the testimonies of the prophets,) and they were therefore 
 prepared to receive the additional instructions of the Lord 
 and His Apostles instructions expressly intended to com- 
 plete the outlines that had been before given. 
 
 One part of the Old Testament Scripture which has been 
 especially neglected, is that which speaks of the now ap- 
 proaching hour, when, hardened and impenitent, Israel shall 
 be regathered to Jerusalem, there to receive the last terrible 
 inflictions from the hand of their God. " Son of man, the 
 house of Israel is to Me become dross : all they are brass, 
 and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace ; 
 they are even the dross of silver. Therefore thus saith 
 the Lord God : Because ye are all become dross, behold, 
 therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 
 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and 
 tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 7 
 
 melt it ; so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, 
 and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will 
 gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and 
 ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is 
 melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in 
 the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have 
 poured My fury upon you." How little has this solemn 
 passage been considered ! Yet this is the period so often 
 mentioned in Daniel, as f< the last end of the indignation" 
 against Jerusalem. It is the period also, of which the book 
 of Revelation, in all its visions of judgment, mainly treats. 
 
 If we consider the present condition of the Jews, we can- 
 not marvel at the sore judgments which are yet to be sent 
 upon them. Nationally, they still remain under the weight 
 of those awful words, " His blood be upon us and on our 
 children :" and although many are breaking the bonds with 
 which Rabbmism has bound them, yet it is only to gain the 
 liberty of Sadducean liberalism. Thus we find a recent and 
 influential writer among them, exultingly anticipating the 
 time, when Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians^ assembling 
 around Mount Zion, shall with like acceptance, " all waft 
 their orisons to that Heaven, where sits in Divine majesty, 
 the Lord of Hosts and the God of Israel." Yet what is this 
 but Deism ? Men admire it and call it charity. Multitudes 
 even of those who profess the name of Christ, in their anxiety 
 to escape the responsibilities of definite truth, welcome and 
 applaud the thought. A point of union for men as men is 
 desired ; and this, negation of Truth and the pursuit of some 
 common earthly good, most readily supply. Around such a 
 centre, the indifferentism of Pagan, Mohammedan, Jewish, 
 and Christian scepticism can gather. Such will be the road 
 by which men will enter on their last great confederation 
 against Jehovah and His Christ, until they shall openly say, 
 " Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their 
 cords from us." 
 
 The rising importance of the Eastern or Greek division of 
 
8 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the Roman Empire, can hardly have escaped the observation 
 of those who have noted what is passing among the nations. 
 Greece, Egypt, Syria, the coasts of Asia Minor, and, in part, 
 Jerusalem, are becoming more and more connected with the 
 arts, civilization, and commerce of Western Europe. The 
 provinces which these and other such names represent, 
 formed the Eastern or Greek part of the Roman Empire 
 an empire which we know from the Scripture will again 
 re-appear in a corporate, though divided, form, before the 
 closing events of "the end of the age" are ushered in. 
 Throughout all the changes of the middle ages, the distinct- 
 ness of the Latin and Greek divisions of the Roman Empire 
 have been discernible God having preserved them, because 
 they are appointed, together with Israel in Jerusalem, to form 
 the mainspring of the world's energies during the last hours 
 of its evil history. Greek, Latin, Hebrew, were the lan- 
 guages written over the Cross ; and the nations which those 
 languages represent, will yet again be found in terrible con- 
 federacy against Jehovah and against Christ. At the Cross, 
 men were allowed to accomplish their purpose no judg- 
 ment was sent forth against them it was the time of long- 
 suffering mercy there was then One who said " Father, 
 forgive them, for they know not what they do :" but the 
 coming day of apostasy will have to be met, not by mercy, 
 but by vengeance. God has not in reserve any other sacri- 
 fice for sins ; and if that which He has provided and pro- 
 claimed be rejected if despite be done to that Spirit of 
 Grace which now bears witness to that sacrifice, nothing can 
 remain but <( judgment and fiery indignation which shall 
 devour the adversaries." 
 
 The Revelation, in its prophetic parts, belongs to the closing 
 hour of human history. It does not profess to record the 
 progressive steps by which, during the last 1800 years, men 
 have advanced toward their final greatness for in that case 
 it must have been a history of the world ; it seeks not, there- 
 fore, to detail the means by which the final point of human 
 
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 9 
 
 greatness is reached; but it teaches us the character of that 
 greatness, and reveals its doom. The manner and the place 
 in which the combined apostasy of man, of Israel, and of a 
 large section of professing Christendom, will be finally de- 
 veloped; the mode of the interference of God in chastise- 
 ment, and then the mission of His Son in judgment, are 
 declared in the Revelation. It presents to us the world 
 already standing in full possession of its last prosperity ; and 
 then reveals the manner in which the Almighty hand of out- 
 raged goodness interferes to crush the proud power of evil, 
 and to bring in everlasting righteousness. It reveals also, in 
 various visions, the different aspects of the glory of those 
 who, after having known the tribulation and endurance of 
 the kingdom of Jesus during the period of the Truth's suffer- 
 ing, will share their Master's risen glory and reign with 
 Him in life, when the time comes for Truth to be exalted. 
 
 The Revelation assumes the path of human progress to be, 
 at present, evil ; it assumes the failure of the Church's testi- 
 mony ; it assumes that Christ's servants will never behold 
 the establishment of Truth in the earth, until judgment shall 
 first have wrought its work, and they have themselves been 
 taken to their heavenly mansions of glory. This the prophets 
 had declared ; this the teaching of the Lord Jesus had con- 
 firmed; and to this the captivity of John in Patmos bore 
 testimony. They, consequently, who are unprepared to 
 admit these things, are unprepared to understand the Revela- 
 tion. A film is on their inward eye which needs to be re- 
 moved before they can receive the instructions of this Book. 
 
10 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the great object of the Revelation is to commu- 
 nicate instruction respecting the future, especially concerning 
 the Nations and their evil, yet before it enters on these things, 
 it first directs our attention to the condition of those to whom 
 this instruction was addressed. It was addressed to the 
 Churches " I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto 
 you these things in the Churches." The Churches were 
 numbered among " the things which are," respecting which 
 John was commanded to write. "Write therefore the 
 things which thou hast seen and the things which are, and 
 the things which shall be hereafter." Accordingly, the 
 Churches and their condition, especially in relation to Him 
 who was seen walking in the midst of the candlesticks of 
 gold, is the subject of the chapter before us, and of the two 
 that follow. 
 
 The Church in Jerusalem the first that had been con- 
 stituted on earth, had disappeared before the Revelation was 
 given. Its light had early waned ; and the destruction that 
 fell on Jerusalem finally scattered it. But the Gentile 
 Churches, among which St. Paul had chiefly laboured, yet 
 remained; still holding, although in diminished power, a 
 place of united and separate testimony. Left in a world 
 teeming with evil, and which Satan was leading into in- 
 creased distance from God, they were experiencing the 
 dangers and trials of that which is emphatically termed in 
 
ON REVELATION I. 11 
 
 Scripture " the evil day." Called into a path of Nazarite 
 separateness in the Truth, they had peculiar laws, peculiar 
 principles. Subjects of a heavenly Head, taught and sus- 
 tained by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, they had 
 heavenly laws, heavenly prospects, heavenly testimonies. 
 Whilst Israel was blinded, and whilst the nations were, 
 (what they will be to the end,) fierce and devouring monsters 
 destroying the earth, they the church were set as a pecu- 
 liar people in the midst of peoples, a peculiar kingdom in 
 the midst of kingdoms, having Christ risen and glorified 
 as their Priest and King ; set to confess Him thus, whilst 
 He is yet rejected in the earth; to own their union with Him 
 in glory, and to seek likeness to Him in suffering obedience 
 here. The place which grace had given them above, was 
 one of union with Christ in unearthly glory. They were 
 seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, their risen Repre- 
 sentative and their Head ; and therefore a place of corres- 
 ponding excellency was assigned to them in the earth, 
 corresponding, I mean, as to its separateness, heavenliness 
 of principle, and power of testimony. 
 
 Up to the time when the Revelation was given, the Gentile 
 Churches had continued to hold their separate place of united 
 testimony. They were still separate from the world ; were 
 still united one with the other ; were still shining as lights 
 in the darkness. Each Church that had been anywhere 
 gathered throughout the earth was deemed worthy of being 
 represented before God by "a candlestick of gold;" and 
 seeing that they had a collective brightness too (for the 
 catholic unity of the one body was as yet unbroken) that 
 collective brightness was fitly represented by seven* candle- 
 
 * " Seven " is here used as the number that symbolizes completeness. 
 These churches therefore, selected by the Lord in order to afford a com- 
 plete representation of the practical condition of Gentile Cliristianity at 
 that time, are to be regarded as representing all Gentile Christianity 
 Gentile Christianity, as it then was, in the aggregate ; when it possessed 
 local unity and catholic unity too. The first was symbolized by each of 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 sticks shining together. In their several localities each 
 Church separately shone ; but they had also unity one with 
 the other : they spake the same things, they walked in the 
 same paths ; and therefore their light, as it shone on the 
 world around them, shone in the power of collective bright- 
 ness. That brightness indeed was beginning to wane ; in 
 some of the Churches the light was becoming very dim; 
 nevertheless as yet their honoured place of united testimony 
 was not forfeited : they could still be represented by candle- 
 sticks of gold before God a symbol which He had Himself 
 appointed to express His sense of their high calling in the 
 earth. 
 
 To one, like John, instructed in the Scriptures, a candle- 
 stick of gold was a well known symbol. A candlestick of 
 gold had stood in the inner court of the Temple (that court 
 which represented "heavenly places not made with hands," 
 Heb. ix.) and had there typified that which the redeemed 
 shall finally be, when, in union with their risen Lord, they 
 shall for ever shine in the sanctuary of God. The prophet 
 Zechariah too, when taught in vision respecting the millen- 
 nial glory of Israel in the earth, was shown ' f a candlestick all 
 of gold" a symbol of that which Israel will be, when they 
 shall manifestly become the light of all nations. But what 
 Israel will be, that, as to light, Churches gathered from 
 among the despised Gentiles already were. They were 
 
 the candlesticks regarded individually ; the second by all the seven col- 
 lectively. At Ephesus for example, all the saints who dwelt in that city 
 were gathered into visible communion with each other. All light was 
 with them; everything else in Ephesus was darkness; and therefore one 
 candlestick fitly represented their condition. There was one point of 
 concentrated light. But what each Church was in its own locality, that 
 all the Churches unitedly were to the world around them. They were 
 together separated ; had a common calling and service ; were alike one to 
 the other; were ordered and nourished by the same hand. This was 
 catholic unity, symbolized by the seven candlesticks standing together 
 with the Lord in their midst. The proper unity of the Church is gone, 
 if either of these be wanting. 
 
ON REVELATION I. 13 
 
 already candlesticks of gold. Forestalling, as to this, the 
 blessing of millennial Israel, they were already shining in 
 the power of that heavenly light, which, if it had been sus- 
 tained, would have met and mingled with the brightness of 
 the millennial day. That future hour, indeed, when it shall 
 at last be said to Israel, " Arise, shine, for thy light is come," 
 circumstantially differs widely from this present hour of 
 darkness, for the Truth will no longer then be found in suf- 
 fering and reproach the time of its triumph will have 
 come. Its light shall then no longer struggle with darkness 
 that comprehends it not; but set in a sphere of kindred 
 purity, it shall go forth in its brightness and prevail " For 
 Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's 
 sake, I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth 
 as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
 burneth." Yet, although the light with which Israel will 
 lighten the earth in that future day, may be in brightness 
 more excellent, and be more abiding (for it will never wane 
 nor be scattered, as it has waned and been scattered in this, 
 our dispensation of failure) yet, these are but circumstantial 
 differences ; they affect not the essential excellency of that 
 light, which is the same light, whether it shine in the midst 
 of the brightness of the millennial day, or in the darkness of 
 this present hour of evil; whether it shine to be maintained 
 in its purity and lustre, or to be marred by unfaithfulness 
 and failure. The same kind of symbol, therefore, which de- 
 notes the place of millennial Israel, is here applied to the 
 Churches gathered from the Gentiles. Not, indeed, that they 
 were so estimated in the judgment of man : they were not 
 regarded in the earth as candlesticks of gold; it was only 
 the expression of their value as estimated before God. 
 
 John had been conversant with the Churches as to their 
 practical circumstances in the earth. He had been with 
 them as their " brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation 
 and kingdom and patience in Jesus." He had laboured 
 among them and watched over them, as one who had learned 
 
14 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 from the great Shepherd to love and care for the sheep. 
 But now, removed for a season from the practical sphere of 
 thought and action, he was taken as into a heavenly sanctuary, 
 where the Churches which he had known on earth were 
 symbolically represented by seven candlesticks of gold. He 
 was not taken in vision to the seven cities in which the 
 Churches locally were, there to see a separate candlestick 
 in each city : but the golden candlesticks were seen to- 
 gether; not in the several cities, but in a hidden and heavenly 
 sanctuary a symbolic Holy Place. There they stood, as 
 representatives of that which was external and distant, the 
 value and excellency of which, they were intended to express 
 as that value was estimated before God. The Lord, the 
 candlesticks, and the stars, were seen out of earthly con- 
 nexion; but that which the candlesticks and the stars de- 
 noted, namely, the Churches and their ministry, was found 
 amidst the scenes of earth external to that symbolic sanc- 
 tuary. 
 
 It was the part of the Churches to discern and to value 
 their high calling, and to seek to maintain themselves in 
 practical correspondency with their heavenly pattern. They 
 were set to shine with the light of God in a dark world 
 which Satan ruled ; and though the place of their service and 
 testimony might locally vary, yet their light was one ; it was 
 kindled from the same source ; it belonged to the same sanc- 
 tuary. They were together the pillar and ground of God's hea- 
 venly Truth ; and the maintenance of that Truth among men, 
 was made mainly dependent on the faithfulness of their testi- 
 mony. Unity hadbeen given them. Although locally separate, 
 they were practically one. He who walked in their midst, 
 holding, as He himself said, the stars in His right hand, was 
 the unseen centre of their union; and another bond was 
 supplied by the presence of those, who, like Timothy and 
 Titus and St. -Paul whilst they yet lived, remained unlo- 
 calized, " having no certain dwelling place," and exercised a 
 general authoritative superintendence over all the Churches ; 
 
ON REVELATION I. 15 
 
 whereby a practical bond of union (invisible perhaps to the 
 world, but cognizable by those who had the eye of faith) 
 was drawn around all who were gathered in the name of 
 Christ.* The calling of the Churches was, no doubt, high 
 and difficult ; but it was not too difficult for Christ to have 
 sustained them in, for Almighty power was in His hand 
 power ready to become the servant of their need. He was 
 able to minister all needful strength ; and He would have 
 ministered it, if only there had been found in them the ear to 
 hear. 
 
 In this vision, He is seen walking in His sanctuary, in 
 the midst of the golden candlesticks, as one acquainted with 
 the state in which the Churches, thus symbolized, practi- 
 cally were, and prepared to pronounce on their condition. It 
 was His place to determine (and He had determined) 
 whether they were proving themselves worthy of their high 
 calling. He was there to declare His sentence ; willing, 
 indeed, to admonish, and to correct, and to supply the 
 needful grace, wherever His correction was heeded ; but 
 prepared also, if faithfulness to God and to the Truth should 
 require it, to remove them from their place of honour, if they 
 
 * The ministerial relation which Timothy, Titus, and others who 
 laboured with and under St. Paul, held to the Churches, was different 
 from that of those, who, as elders or bishops (for elder and bishop were 
 different names of the same office) exercised a stationary oversight over 
 the various Churches in their several localities. The elders or bishops 
 were always localized; the specific sphere of their pastoral rule being 
 the Church with which they themselves were locally connected. Thus, 
 the Churches at Philippi and at Ephesus, had each their own localized 
 elders. But the ministry of Timothy, Titus, &c., was not localized. 
 Their's was a circulating ministry extending over all the Churches; and by 
 them elders were appointed. (See Titus i. 5.) If false doctrines threatened 
 to come in at Ephesus, Timothy was to stay there to check it. (See 
 1 Tim. i. 3.) If evil appeared in Crete, Titus was desired by the Apostle 
 to remain there and restrain it. (See Titus i. 11.) The ministry, there- 
 fore, that they exercised, was of a special kind. It had an authority that 
 was peculiar to itself and drew around all the Churches a practical bond 
 of union which prevented their being independent one of the other. 
 
16 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 proved unfit to be represented in His sanctuary by candle- 
 sticks of gold. 
 
 Few things are more important than to remember this 
 relation of our Lord to His Churches here. We speak of 
 Him as planting the Churches, and as cherishing and pre- 
 serving them by His shepherd care; but \ve often forget 
 that He must also, in faithfulness to God, examine that 
 which has been set in the earth to bear the name and main- 
 tain the principles of God. He can be patient and pitiful, 
 but He cannot own any thing as being what really it is not, 
 for then He would Himself cease to be " The faithful and true 
 witness." 
 
 It was one of the functions of the Priests of Israel, to put 
 a difference between clean and unclean, and to judge between 
 holy and unholy. Discriminative judgment was., therefore, 
 a part of the priestly office ; and it is in the exercise of such 
 discrimination, that the Lord Jesus is, in this vision, seen. 
 There was no diadem upon His head, (for He was not now 
 come to rule the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords) 
 but " His head and His hair were white, as white wool, as 
 snow," like the head of " the Antient of Days," as one who 
 had seen the course of everlasting ages, well suited, there- 
 fore, calmly and wisely to discriminate and to judge " with 
 the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days is understand- 
 ing ; with him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and 
 understanding," (Job xii. 1.) suited qualifications for 
 One, who had come to pronounce on the condition of His 
 Churches. " His eyes were as a flame of fire" able, there- 
 fore, according to the searching power of Divine holiness, to 
 prove and examine all things. (( His feet were like unto 
 fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace" unsusceptible, 
 therefore, of corruption or taint, even though obliged to 
 tread amidst that which is defiled or defiling. te His voice 
 was as the voice of many waters " one of the characteristics 
 of the Almighty God of Israel, which will be manifested, when 
 He shall return to take possession of Jerusalem His city and 
 
ON REVELATION I. IT 
 
 of Israel His people. (See Ezekiel xliii. I, 2.) " Out of His 
 mouth went a sharp two-edged sword;" for the word of de- 
 stroying judgment, as well as of grace, can issue from His lips. 
 Thus, He was about to fight against those who were defiling 
 His Churches. (See Eev. ii. 16.) Thus, too, He will finally 
 smite the earth, and destroy the Wicked one. (See Isaiah 
 xi., and Rev. xix.) " His countenance was as the sun shin- 
 ing in his strength," the source of light and warmth and 
 vivifying power to those on whom it rests for blessing ; but 
 leaving in darkness, and misery, and death, all those from 
 whom it is turned away. The ministry also of the Churches 
 (whether to give, or to withhold), was entirely subject to 
 His control; for He held the stars in His right hand. Such 
 were the attributes of His divine person. He, whom Israel 
 had rejected, was thus known by the churches as living and 
 acting towards them, in the power of these attributes of the 
 God of Israel. His vestment also was equally expressive of 
 Divine and heavenly character ; it was a robe reaching to 
 the feet (TroSr/prjc, probably the priestly robe of the ephod), 
 " girded with a girdle of gold."* 
 
 It was with these characteristics, all of them distinctively 
 heavenly and divine, that He came to pronounce on the con- 
 dition of His Churches. He could use, as regarded the facts 
 of their condition, no untrue standard : those facts must be 
 pronounced on, as being what they really were ; although, 
 after they were determined, He could exercise all fulness of 
 grace towards the persons. The great question was, whether 
 
 * Gold was the metal used in the Holy and Most Holy courts of the 
 Tabernacle, to typify the nature and offices of Christ, as known and 
 estimated in Heaven. " Girded with a girdle of gold " is, therefore, an 
 expressive indication of one, who comes forth in the full power of heavenly 
 excellency, to act according to that excellency. If, as is commonly sup- 
 posed, the garment reaching to the feet (?roBr;p^c) is the same as the blue 
 rohe of the ephod (see the Ixx. of Exodus xxviii. 4, and Exodus xxix. 5), 
 that also would be equally expressive of heavenly excellency, as well as 
 of priestly office, blue being tho heavenly colour. 
 
 C 
 
18 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the Churches were, or were not, preserving the place in 
 which He had set them whether they were still worthy of 
 being represented by candlesticks of gold. There was no 
 necessary discrepancy between them and His holy standard ; 
 He would not require impossibilities " His yoke is easy ;" 
 if anything needed to be remedied, He could remedy ; if 
 anything needed to be given, He could give. His visitation, 
 although judicial, was priestly. It was the judgment of 
 enquiry for rectification ; not the judgment of condemnation 
 for destruction. Grace follows, or, as it were, walks by the 
 side of, judgment such as this : only, there must be confes- 
 sion and submission. He could give space to repent. He 
 could supply " gold tried in the fire," or give fe eye-salve 
 that they might see :" but He required obedient attention to 
 His word. " He that hath an ear let him hear." 
 
 We are now so accustomed to think of the Church (I 
 mean the true Church of God), in its present condition of 
 disruption, and to see it in its amalgamation with the world, 
 that we find it difficult even to conceive in thought what 
 once it was, when it was really one, and stood forth before 
 men in living practical testimony to the same Truth. Whilst 
 the Apostles yet lived, their authority so effectually main- 
 tained the executive agency of the Churches in a condition 
 to repress and control evil, that the corporate testimony of 
 the whole Christian body was sustained in its integrity. 
 There was real catholic unity, and that in the Truth. The 
 condition of the early churches was not one in which no 
 evil was present (on the contrary, evil was sometimes strong 
 and threatening, as the epistles to the Churches in Corinth 
 and Galatia testify), but the evil was met so promptly and 
 efficiently met, by godly discipline enforced by the Apostles, 
 or by those who, like Timothy and Titus, laboured with them, 
 that the Churches still remained " epistles of Christ," prac- 
 tically reflecting His mind, and preserving an unity that the 
 world recognised as real. The doctrine and the practice of 
 the Church was then, not in name but in truth, apostolic. 
 
ON REVELATION I. 19 
 
 As a body it was avowedly separate, not merely from the 
 grosser forms of the world's evil,, but from the systems of 
 the world as such. The authority of Caesar's courts it 
 sought not ; and false ecclesiastical authority in a corporate 
 form, pretending to the sanction of the name of Christ, was 
 as yet unknown. Their ministry was supplied, not by 
 human contrivances, but by Christ. Truth was not esteemed 
 a vague uncertain thing, unknown and undiscoverable : 
 it was seen in its comprehensiveness, seen as something 
 definite and fixed ; and they who saw it, loved it loved it 
 because it was of God and led to God, and, therefore, as 
 knowing its preciousness, they longed and they laboured 
 to impart it to others. Such was the early love of the 
 Churches of Christ. While it continued, they shone as 
 lights of the world, and were worthy of being represented 
 by te candlesticks of gold." 
 
 But it was only for a moment that the light of Gentile 
 Christianity thus shone. It was fast waning when the Lord 
 thus appeared to John in Patmos. Even the Church at Ephe- 
 sus, that Church over which St. Paul had so anxiously 
 watched that Church whose " works and labour and pa- 
 tience " the Lord Himself praised, had lost its first love. 
 Wearied, probably, by struggling against the tide that 
 ran so strongly against the Truth of Christ ; finding failure 
 where they had expected strength, and barrenness where they 
 had hoped for fruitfulness ; seeing weakness in others, and 
 discovering it in themselves, they had flagged, and lost 
 their first energy and zeal. When iniquity abounds, love 
 towards the service and truth of Christ soon waxes cold, 
 even in Christ's own people. They forget the value that 
 Truth in itself has, apart from the condition of its servants, 
 and apart from its successes. Their apprehensions, too, 
 of grace, under such circumstances, are apt to become 
 weakened. Insensibly making their own practical con- 
 dition the ground of their hope towards God, they forget 
 that they are loved, and washed from their sins, and made 
 
20 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 priests and kings unto God, apart from their own service, 
 its successes, or its failures. Energy, under such circum- 
 stances, soon decays, and, as a consequence, testimony fails ; 
 and when the light of testimony dwindles, one essential 
 characteristic of the " candlestick " condition ceases. In 
 some of the Churches, such as those at Sardis and Laodicea, 
 evil had assumed a more positive form of development ; and 
 now John was commissioned to address them all, for the last 
 time in their corporate and collective standing. The warn- 
 ings were sent, but they were unheeded ; even the Churches 
 that were most vigorous, declined. The threatened infliction 
 came ; and the " candlestick " condition of the Gentile 
 Churches for ever ceased. 
 
 In saying this, it is not meant that Christianity no longer 
 existed in those places, or that Christians ceased to be 
 gathered there, and that, in a corporate form.* The hour when 
 the Lord finally pronounced the Churches unworthy of being 
 represented before God by candlesticks of gold, was one 
 known only to himself. In the earth, it would be dis- 
 covered gradually, by its consequences. The Churches 
 would for a time meet, and apparently act and worship 
 
 * When the Lord said to the Church at Ephesus, " I will remove thy 
 candlestick out of its place, except thou repent," these words have been 
 thought by some, to refer to the removal of Christianity out of Ephesus. 
 But the Lord is not threatening the City of Ephesus. He does not say 
 to Pagan Ephesus, " I will remove thy candlestick ;" as if the Church was 
 its candlestick; nor does he say to the Church in Ephesus, " I will re- 
 move thee out of Ephesus ;" but He says to the Church in Ephesus, " I 
 will remove thy candlestick from its place among the seven, where it is now 
 standing in my secret sanctuary." Consequently as to numbers, and 
 individual names, the Church at Ephesus might have continued just 
 what it was, and yet its candlestick have been removed. After this 
 threatening, true Christianity did continue in Ephesus for a long period ; 
 but in a state of such declension, that unless we say that Christ was un- 
 true to the word of His message, and that He did not remove the candle- 
 stick, we must admit that the extinction of Christianity in a city, and 
 the loss of Church-standing by Christians in that city, are very different 
 and distinguishable things. 
 
ON 11EVELAT1ON I. 
 
 as before ; but the strengthening and preserving care 
 of Christ being withdrawn, and the power of the enemy 
 allowed to come in, effects would soon be manifest, which all 
 who had the eye of faith (except indeed that eye had become 
 dim through unfaithfulness) would readily recognise. " The 
 poor of the flock" (said the prophet, speaking of a remnant in 
 Israel similarly circumstanced) " the poor of the flock 
 who waited upon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord." 
 There were, however, but few such. The majority, boasting 
 themselves in evil, and speaking great swelling words re- 
 specting Church authority and the like, and finding in the 
 withdrawal of Christ's present power, freer scope for their 
 own evil energies, went on to pervert and prostitute His 
 principles, and to construct the fabric of their greatness out 
 of the ruins of His Truth. Unless the corporate forms 
 of Christianity, such as they have been seen in the East and 
 in the West, during the last 1800 years, are to be defended, 
 we must admit these things. 
 
 What wonder, therefore, when the corporate testimony of 
 the true Church ceased, and when the corporate testimony of 
 false Christianity became the ally of the world's worst 
 energies, that Satan should have prospered in advancing his 
 evil plans among the nations ? Nothing has been a more po- 
 tent instrument than false Christianity, in helping on the na- 
 tions to the present point of their progress; and what is yet be- 
 fore them, the Revelation declares. It speaks of deep and wide 
 apostasy, the like to which has never yet been ; yet vast 
 and extensive as that apostasy may be, there shall be even 
 then a remnant who shall overcome " because of the blood 
 of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, 
 and who shall not love their lives unto death." (See Rev. xii.) 
 We may be very sure that the testimony of this Book, which, 
 in more quiet seasons of the Church's history, has been 
 sometimes hidden, sometimes perverted, will be valued and 
 maintained in its integrity, by those who shall testify in that 
 closing day of evil. We may hope too, that the attention 
 
22 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 that is now being redirected towards the prophecies of this 
 Book, may tend to the sowing of some seed that shall pro- 
 duce its harvest in that day of the Church's last conflict 
 with the power of evil. 
 
THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cmitb of f ok"* 
 
 I AM unwilling to quit these words, without considering 
 somewhat further, the instruction they convey respecting 
 the primitive order of the Gentile Churches. If we have in- 
 considerately assumed that the Scriptures are on this subject 
 silent if we have imagined that the question of Church order 
 is one undetermined by God, and left to be decided, according 
 to our own judgment, on mere principles of expediency ; 
 these words, so few and simple, may be sufficient to convince 
 us of our mistake. It is true, indeed, that the position once 
 occupied by the Gentile Churches is irrevocably lost. Local 
 unity is gone ; Catholic unity is gone. Nevertheless, this 
 will not render a regard to the past useless. There is always 
 a value in honest retrospect: and at the present moment 
 there are perhaps few things more practically important to 
 individual Christians, than that they should remember whence 
 Gentile Christianity has fallen. They may thus learn to 
 avoid things that are inconsistent with their primitive posi- 
 tion, even though they know that they will never recover it 
 again ; and they will be able to detect the false claims to that 
 position, and to the authority connected therewith, which 
 have ever fearfully abounded in the Professing Church. 
 
 * Those who may not feel interested in this subject, and who desire to 
 consider the Revelation in its prophetic parts only, may pass on to the 
 next chapter. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 When the Lord Jesus was personally on earth, the Church 
 was not yet ordered, according to the form which he intended 
 it to assume among men. He was engaged in collecting, 
 rather than in arranging, the materials for His spiritual 
 house ; in preparing the living stones, not in building them 
 together. Accordingly, all who were thus gathered, were 
 quickened with new and heavenly life, and were brought into 
 living and everlasting union with Him who was " the Life" 
 Life that was with the Father, heavenly and divine : never- 
 theless, although thus made " living stones," they were not 
 until after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord, or- 
 dered, or, to use the words of the Apostle, " builded to- 
 gether for an habitation of God through the Spirit." 
 
 But on the day of Pentecost, the Church, brought into the 
 intelligent apprehension of the blessings with which it was en- 
 dowed in Christ risen ; and enabled, through the Spirit, to act 
 in the power thereof, was constituted as a visible body on the 
 earth. It was thus constituted at Jerusalem, and was, like 
 the Gentile Churches afterward, heavenly in its standing, its 
 hopes, its laws.* Its hopes were heavenly, for the Lord had 
 said unto them, " in my Father's house are many mansions ; 
 I go to prepare a place for you." Its standing was heavenly ; 
 for they had been quickened together with Christ and raised 
 up together, and made "to sit together in heavenly places 
 in Christ Jesus." Its laws were heavenly, for they were 
 those of the sermon on the mount. Their practice was hea- 
 venly; indeed far more heavenly than that of the Gentile 
 Churches afterward, for even the privileged Levite sold his 
 land ; neither said any that ought he possessed, was his own. 
 They had received also the Spirit sent down from heaven ; 
 the earnest of their future glory, and the witness of their 
 adoption as children of the Father. In these things, there- 
 fore, there is an essential resemblance among all the Churches 
 of God. But since the Church at Jerusalem was intended 
 
 * It may seem strange that it should be needful to dwell on a truth so 
 self-evident, as that the Pentecostal Church, and the Apostles. " full of the 
 
THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 2 
 
 for a season, to be the centre of light and control to other 
 Churches, its order was peculiar, being one of singular dig- 
 nity, pertaining to the Church at Jerusalem alone. 
 
 This order was what has since been called metropolitan. 
 The Church at Jerusalem, like a sun in the centre of its sys- 
 tem, had other Churches, like so many planets, revolving 
 around it. It was strictly a mother and a ruling Church ; 
 and, therefore, when the Church at Antioch was in dimculty, 
 it sends to Jerusalem for direction, and receives an authorita- 
 tive reply ; " It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us." 
 This then was a relation that could not be fitly symbolized 
 by two separate candlesticks, equal and alike : one candle- 
 stick with many branches and many lamps would have been 
 a more appropriate emblem ; and such is the character of 
 the symbol employed to represent Jerusalem, when she shall 
 nationally assume her metropolitan position in the mil- 
 lennial earth. To her alone that position belongs, and for 
 her it is reserved by God.* 
 
 But when Jerusalem had rejected the testimony of the 
 Church, St. Paul was raised up to carry the truth among 
 the Gentiles. He preached the same Gospel; but a new 
 order was established among the Churches which he gathered. 
 This order was not metropolitan Seven Gentile Churches 
 are represented by seven candlesticks of gold, all equal, all 
 alike ; belonging indeed to one and the same sanctuary, but 
 connected by no such visible bond as revolution around a 
 common metropolitan centre would have supplied. They 
 
 Holy Ghost and of power," were heavenly in their hopes, &c. in a word, 
 that they had all the full distinctive blessings of Christianity. Yet of late 
 an ingenious, but most false and dangerous system, has been invented by 
 some, by which all these things and others, no less important, are 
 denied, and the Pentecostal Church been supposed to be earthly and 
 Jewish in its standing and its hopes. 
 
 * See Zecharias iv. 2. " And he said unto me, what seest thou? and I 
 said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon 
 the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, &c., &c." Such is the symbol 
 of the millennial position of Jerusalem. 
 
26 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 were in that sense independent one of the other ; but not 
 independent of Him who invisibly walked among them, and 
 who was able to preserve that likeness to Himself and to one 
 another which His grace had given them ; to keep them 
 what He had made them, alike in faith, manners, and testimony. 
 To this end, He had given them the same truth and the 
 same Spirit, and had also provided them with a superintending 
 unlocalized ministry (such as I have above described) where- 
 by a practical bond of union was drawn around all the 
 Churches. It was indeed, in one sense, an invisible bond; 
 for men would not recognise in the ministry of a few 
 strangers who had " no certain dwelling place," the au- 
 thority connected with a constituted body set avowedly in 
 metropolitan position ;* nevertheless the unity that hence 
 resulted was not invisible. Christians, as they journeyed 
 from Ephesus to Thyatira, found at Thyatira what they had 
 left at Ephesus ; and moreover the world was conscious that 
 it was so. They knew that in the several Gentile Cities, 
 there were those gathered, who, in faith and doctrine and 
 manners, were emphatically one. The whole of the Gentile 
 Churches, although locally separate, together constituted one 
 body, alike in every essential characteristic, and as such were 
 known and recognised among men. 
 
 The thought of one candlestick only being found in each 
 of the cities in which Christians were gathered together, 
 will probably be regarded by some, as a strange, and per- 
 haps questionable, notion. The views entertained by many 
 require, that there should have been several candlesticks for 
 each city. They think that Christians may be rightly 
 gathered around their respective points of difference ; that 
 they may worship separately, teach separately, act separately, 
 
 * Such was the light in which Timothy, Titus, and St. Paul himself 
 must have been regarded in the Gentile Cities. They were regarded as 
 wandering strangers seeking to introduce for their own purposes, new 
 things. " Some said, what doth this babbler say ? other some, He 
 seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods." Such was the estimate 
 formed of St. Paul at Athens. 
 
THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 7 
 
 and yet claim the unity once possessed by the Churches of 
 God. Not a few vindicate the present divisions of Chris- 
 tianity as not inconsistent with the mind of God, and say 
 that they are appointed by Him to afford an opportunity for 
 the exercise of forbearance and charity. But is this what 
 we learn from the Revelation ? We there find one candle- 
 stick representing the gathered saints of one city ; and seven 
 candlesticks standing side by side,, in one sanctuary, repre- 
 senting the catholic unity of all the Churches. This is the 
 only standard by which Gentile Christianity is at liberty to 
 test its condition. That Christianity among the Gentiles has 
 long since ceased to answer to this pattern is plain ; but it 
 makes no little difference in the sight of God, whether we assign 
 as the reason for the want of correspondency, that no fixed 
 pattern has been given, and that there has been no failure ; 
 or, whether we are willing to confess, that there is variation 
 from the standard once appointed, and that the cause of that 
 variation is our own evil. To neglect the pattern that God 
 has given is in itself a sin ; but it is a sin that may be aggra- 
 vated by a vain attempt at extenuation. It is very plain 
 that our not being "perfectly joined together in unity of 
 mind and of judgment " incapacitates us for concurrent ac- 
 tion ; for we cannot act together, if our doctrines be different 
 and our principles various. We must needs remain, in that 
 case, more or less in separation from (it may be in opposition 
 to) each other. Such separation may be necessary,, for we 
 must not compromise the Truth for the sake of apparent 
 union; but is it a necessity to be gloried in, or to be 
 deplored ? Shall we quietly acquiesce in it ? or, shall we 
 do all that in us lies towards the rectification of such a con- 
 dition, by seeking after Truth and union in it 9 
 
 The false pretensions of the Church of Rome, have, no 
 doubt, rendered the thought of visible unity distasteful to 
 many minds and caused them to suspect it, as if it were 
 a notion necessarily connected with evil. But it is not 
 necessary to reject the visible unity of which the Scriptures 
 
 0* THl ^ 
 
 
8 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCA'LYPSE. 
 
 speak, because the wickedness of Rome has falsely ascribed 
 that unity to herself. We may separate the precious from 
 the vile, and reject the evil, without at the same time casting 
 away the good. Indeed it is so plain that the early Churches, 
 as described in Scripture, were visibly one, that we are 
 bound by every principle of reason and truth, either to show 
 that we have such unity, or else to account for its absence. 
 That we have it not, is too plain to need a proof ; the account- 
 ing for its absence may involve an humbling confession of 
 past sin and present weakness, which we would gladly be 
 spared the necessity of making ; but such confession is the 
 place of truth, and truthful confession is a means to the 
 blessing of God. The present reaction against the truths of 
 Protestantism in this country, is doubtless a judgment from 
 the hand of God ; but it may partly be accounted for, by our 
 having so neglected what the Scripture has said respecting 
 the proper unity of the Church of God ; whereby a weapon 
 from His armoury has been abandoned to the almost exclu- 
 sive use of the enemies of His Truth. 
 
 The Church of Rome and every other body which has 
 sought to occupy a place of centralized authority, have, as 
 might be expected, all scorned to imitate the lowly order of 
 the Gentile Churches, and have all assumed the dignity of 
 metropolitan position. Whether it be a pontiff or a patriarch 
 surrounded by his priestly counsellors, or a king surrounded 
 by his convocation, or an assembly of ruling delegates in 
 either case, a place of centralized authority is assumed. An 
 effort is thus made to govern other (so called) Churches, just 
 as the Apostolic Church in Jerusalem governed the Church 
 at Antioch ; and the order hich God assigned to the Gen- 
 tile Churches is despised. Now if this had been done by 
 those who were really Christ's, He would never have sanc- 
 tioned the presumptuous sin : but when we remember what 
 the Church of Rome and other ruling Churches have, for the 
 most part, been, we may well tremble ; for they have walked, 
 as it were, hand in hand with the world, sanctioning its 
 
THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 9 
 
 plans and stimulating its energies, during the darkest and 
 most ungodly periods of its course, as the history of all 
 Christendom too plainly testifies. 
 
 We indeed, at the present hour, have not to do with the 
 primary occupancy of this position ; we find it already oc- 
 cupied. Others have placed themselves there ; we may, or 
 we may not, recognise their claim. By tacit acquiescence 
 however, we may easily connect ourselves with the evil and 
 become partakers of other mens' sins. The true Church- 
 position is a high and holy place ; and if it behoves us to 
 beware of false Christs and false prophets, it no less con- 
 cerns us to repudiate the pretensions of any body which 
 falsely claims the reverence and regard due to a Church 
 of God. 
 
 A test by which all pretensions to Church position may 
 be tried, is found in the message of the Lord to the Church 
 at Ephesus. That Church was faultless in all its developed 
 ways. It was chargeable with no worldliness nor with any 
 corruption. Its labours were abundant and they were 
 praised, " For my name's sake thou hast laboured and 
 hast not fainted ;" yet-it had declined as to the energy of 
 its first love, and for this only, it was to lose the standing of 
 a Church of God, unless it should quickly repent. Such 
 is the strict and holy test which Christ must apply. We 
 may, if we please, refuse to acquiesce in His sentence. He 
 may remove the candlestick ; and men may presumptuously 
 pretend to raise up another, and may speak loftily about ordina- 
 tion, successional order, and the like : but the Lord will 
 laugh at it, for He seeth that its day is coming. 
 
 I scarcely need say that it is idle, and indeed sinful, to 
 pretend to a Church-standing when unity has ceased to 
 exist ; for it is neither found locally nor generally. Indi- 
 vidual saints and companies of saints do indeed remain, and 
 will remain until the Lord Jesus shall return : but as to 
 unity the proper and once realized unity of the Gentile 
 Churches, it is gone, and gone for ever. The Reformation, 
 
30 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 blessed as it was in restoring (at least nominally) the recog- 
 nition of the paramount authority of the Holy Scripture, 
 and in reviving the doctrine of salvation " by grace through 
 faith," yet neither did, nor could, restore " the candlesticks 
 of gold." It did not even restore local, much less catholic, 
 unity. Indeed, it rather commenced a period, when division 
 has multiplied on division. In many cases the false ecclesi- 
 astical headship of Rome was exchanged for the equally 
 false headship of the secular power ; nor has there appeared 
 any body that could bear the holy scrutiny of Him, who 
 once " walked among the golden candlesticks," or answer 
 to the test which He applied to the Church in Ephesus. 
 Indeed, truth constrains us to confess, that the history of 
 Protestantism has manifested features of deadly evil, as dark 
 and as determined as that of Popery itself.* Gentile Chris- 
 tianity no longer answers to its pattern, and consequently 
 the messages of the Lord to the Churches can be, by us, 
 only indirectly used. He that hath an ear may still hear 
 what the Spirit once said unto the Churches : but we cannot 
 hear it as holding the place which the Churches in the Re- 
 velation held. The unity, the power, the order are gone. 
 The Church is no longer seen collectively as the pillar and 
 ground of the Truth. The saints of God are a scattered and 
 divided remnant ; whilst their adversaries are lively and 
 strong. 
 
 Yet, however much there may be in the aspect of the pre- 
 sent hour, many things that might discourage, we have never- 
 theless, the consolation of knowing, that there shall be, even 
 at the very moment when Antichristian blasphemy shall be 
 at its height, some, who shall be rejoiced over, even in Hea- 
 ven, as honoured testifiers to Jesus in the midst of that dark- 
 est hour of evil. We are taught also to expect, that there 
 shall be some, who, as wise servants over households, shall 
 be found distributing to each their portion of meat in due 
 
 * The neology of Germany ; the Socinianism and Infidelity of Swit- 
 zerland ; the condition of the United States also, are proofs. 
 
THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 31 
 
 season preaching to the world the Gospel of Grace, and 
 nourishing the saints by food convenient for them, even up 
 to the very moment of the Lord's return. " Who then is 
 that faithful and wise servant whom His Lord shall make 
 ruler over His household, to give them their portion of 
 meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant whom His 
 Lord when He cometh shall find so doing." (Matt, xxiv.) 
 By these means, some union and that in the truth (which 
 indeed is the only union that can answer the purposes of 
 God) shall be secured. If we have grace and wisdom so to 
 unite, as to maintain the testimonies of the Scripture, and to 
 declare what is there written, our union will not be without 
 some results of blessing. Sanctifying effects ever follow the 
 reception of truth. But if we meet to speak our own thoughts 
 and if pastors and teachers competent to edify according 
 to the Scripture, be withheld; or if, when given, they be 
 despised, nothing can be expected then but confusion and 
 sorrow.* 
 
 We must however carefully remember that the most 
 perfect union now possible, would, if we could attain it, be 
 something very different from that union which once flowed 
 from the unity of the unfallen Churches. The remnant who 
 followed Moses when the rest of Israel were gathered around 
 
 * There are few texts, which it is more needful to consider at the pre- 
 sent moment, than Eph. iv. 11; "And he gave, some, apostles; some, 
 prophets; some, evangelists'; some, pastors and teachers, for (TTJOOC with 
 reference to) the perfecting of the saints unto (els) the work of minis- 
 tration, unto (els) the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come, &c." 
 From this passage we learn, first, that the body of Christ will not be edi- 
 fied, unless the saints, individually, in their own private spheres, are ener- 
 getic and bear healthfully on each other ; secondly, that in order to this, 
 pastors and teachers, and the due ministry of the Word through such, is 
 needful : otherwise the saints individually will not be prepared to aid 
 each other, and will not while they love one another, remember also the 
 interests of the Truth aXrjdevovres kv ay airy. Few in the Church of 
 God are called to the " ministry of the Word ;" but all believers are called 
 to some act of " ministration" one to the other it may be merely in giving 
 the cup of cold water, or speaking the word of kindness or consolation. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the calf; or the remnant who with Elijah had not bowed the 
 knee to the image of Baal ; or even the more happy remnant 
 around Haggai or Nehemiah, who were privileged, in some 
 feeble measure, to recover and manifest the lost principles of 
 Israel's worship and of Israel's order, would have sinned, if 
 they had thought or spoken of themselves as Israel once did, 
 when triumphing at the Red Sea, or rejoicing under Solomon. 
 A time of apostasy is generally a time of pride, and it is 
 no little blessing to be preserved from the high words 
 and exaggerated pretensions of the present hour to 
 be preserved from those who speak of being what the 
 unfallen Church once was; and from those also, who mis- 
 take civilization for Christianity, and bless in the name of 
 Christ the very things that are leading to Antichrist. And 
 although, as I have already said, the indirect application, of 
 the addresses to the Churches is all that now remains to us, 
 yet that application will be found to involve most precious 
 instruction to all who remember that no change of circum- 
 stances can ever deprive us of our right to obey God; and 
 His commandmeat still is, that we should never cease from 
 separating the precious from the vile, and from seeking " to 
 gather together in one the children of God that are scattered 
 abroad ;" but this is something very different from pre- 
 tending to the place of " the seven candlesticks of gold," or 
 to the Pentecostal standing of the Church in Jerusalem. A 
 knowledge of this difference is essential to a right under- 
 standing of the Revelation ; for its testimony is, in great part, 
 the consequence of the lapse of Christianity; and we can 
 have little perception of what that fall really is, if we ima- 
 gine that anything yet remains in earth that answers to the 
 symbol of <f the candlesticks of gold." 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION I. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 $4rtts 011 
 
 "THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, which 
 God gave unto him, to show unto his servants the things 
 which must come to pass speedily ; and which, having sent by 
 Ms angel, he signified unto his servant John; who hath testi- 
 fied the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ 
 what things soever he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and 
 they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things 
 which are written therein ; for the time is at hand" 
 
 The Revelation of Jesus Christ} These words mean, 
 either the Revelation possessed by the Lord Jesus ; or, the 
 Revelation communicated by Him. It was He who received 
 this book from the Throne ; He also opened its seals. In 
 either of these senses, therefore, the Revelation is His. 
 
 That these words cannot refer (as some have supposed), 
 to the personal revelation of the Lord in glory, is evident 
 from the words which follow, viz. : " which God gave unto 
 Him, to shew unto his servants the things that must come to 
 pass, &c." Such words would be totally inapplicable to the 
 revelation of the Lord in glory. 
 
 Nor is the personal revelation of the Lord the distinctive 
 subject of this Book. His personal manifestation is not 
 described until the end of the nineteenth chapter. The 
 nations will be visited by terrible chastisements first, from 
 the hand of God, before His Son is sent to inflict the final 
 
 D 
 
34 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 blow; just as the plagues on Egypt, which admitted of re- 
 pentance, preceded the finally destroying judgment at the 
 Red Sea, which admitted of no repentance. It is to these 
 preceding chastisements that the visions of wrath in the 
 Revelation refer, until the nineteenth chapter; so that its 
 special subject is not the personal manifestation of the Lord 
 Jesus, but events which precede and usher in that mani- 
 festation. 
 
 Indeed, in reading the Revelation, few things are more 
 important than to remember, that all its descriptions of in- 
 flicted judgment until the nineteenth chapter, belong, not to 
 the next, but to the present dispensation. When the Lord 
 Jesus returned to the Father, after having been rejected on 
 the earth, Jehovah said unto Him, " Sit thou at my right 
 hand, until / shall have set thy foes, a footstool for thy 
 feet."* This remarkable verse, quoted more frequently 
 than any other in the New Testament (because so peculiarly 
 characteristic of the dispensation to which the New Testa- 
 ment belongs), describes the Lord Jesus as seated for a 
 season on the Throne of Jehovah, waiting : and speaks of 
 the power of that Throne as acting on His behalf Jehovah's 
 Throne acting for Christ. As regards the earth and its con- 
 dition, there is no characteristic of the present period more 
 essentially distinctive than this ; none which stands more 
 decidedly in contrast with the period when Christ will 
 assume the authority of His own peculiar kingdom. As 
 soon as this verse ceases to apply, that is, whenever the 
 Lord Jesus quits His present place on the Throne of the 
 Father, the present dispensation ends and the new age begins. 
 
 It is true indeed that Christ (for He is God and one with 
 the Father) is able to exercise, and does exercise, all the 
 power of the Throne on which He is now called to sit. It 
 was His before He was incarnate, for " all things were 
 created by Him," and "all things upheld by the word of 
 
 f.K tiov fjiov, f 
 wv ffov. See Appendix. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION I. 35 
 
 His power;" and now He is "the Lamb having seven horns 
 and seven eyes," i.e., He has all plenitude of power and 
 almighty control; even as He Himself said, "A.H power is 
 given unto me in Heaven and in earth." But the power of 
 the Throne of God which He thus exercises, is carefully to 
 be distinguished from the authority which, as soon as the 
 appointed hour comes, He will receive from that Throne, as 
 the minister thereof ; and which He will exercise, sitting 011 
 His own Throne and on the Throne of His Father David. 
 Authority now delegated by the Throne of God itself, will 
 then be resumed : and with it Christ will be invested. 
 
 The nature of the power which Christ will formally as- 
 sume when brought before the Antient of Days (see Dan. vii.), 
 is that kingly government of nations which, when taken 
 from Israel and the throne of David, because of their sin, 
 God delegated to the king of Babylon and to the Empires 
 that were appointed to succeed him, till the time for the 
 forgiveness of Israel should come. This power, as described 
 in Psalm Ixxii., Christ inherits as the true Solomon, Heir to 
 the throne of David. At the same time also, He will be 
 manifested in that glory which pertains to Him as " Son of 
 Man," all creation being put in subjection under Him in the 
 title of that name. (See Ps. viii.) 
 
 As yet Christ is still seated on the Throne of the Father, 
 " waiting" It has not yet been said unto Him, " Rule thou in 
 the midst of thy enemies." The footstool has not yet been 
 formed, that He might go forth and plant His foot in wrath 
 upon it. But everything is tending thereunto. As regards 
 the Roman nations and the unrepentant in Israel, the pre- 
 paration of the footstool is the end to which all the superin- 
 tending power of the Throne is directed. " This is the pur- 
 pose that is purposed on the whole earth, and this is the 
 hand that is stretched out over all the nations." (Isa. xiv.) 
 As soon as it is prepared, and the great gathering at Arma- 
 geddon shall have taken place, Christ will quit the Throne 
 of the majesty in the heavens, and will return in glory. 
 
36 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The book of Revelation therefore,, until the 19th chapter, 
 does not belong to that future period when Christ comes 
 forth in the power of His own peculiar kingdom : on the 
 contrary, it belongs to the present dispensation of suffering, 
 during which Christ is seated at the right hand of God, 
 exercising the power of the Father's Throne, but not seated 
 as yet on His own Throne. It treats of events which pre- 
 cede the mission of Christ and " the setting of the footstool." 
 It leads on indeed to the period when Christ is revealed in 
 His glory, but this, as I have already said, is not described, 
 until the 19th chapter. It forms the conclusion, not the 
 subject of the book. Christ hidden with God Israel blinded 
 the nations of the Roman world supreme and glorious 
 the Church scattered and suffering these are the charac- 
 teristics of this present dispensation, and they are the charac- 
 teristics of the period of which the Revelation treats. The 
 neglect of this distinction would introduce hopeless perplexity 
 into the interpretation of this Book. 
 
 Which God gave unto Him.] These words show how 
 peculiarly this book is to be regarded as coming from God 
 as God. It is not the instruction of the Father to His chil- 
 dren, viewed as children in the bosom of the family ; but it 
 is God on the Throne of His government, instructing the 
 servants of Jesus. Although John had been so peculiarly 
 conversant with those truths, respecting the Father and the 
 Son, which his gospel and epistles unfold, yet in this vision, 
 he is evidently himself brought into strange and hitherto 
 unknown circumstances. He felt as a creature before God. 
 
 It is important to observe how continually the name 
 " Jesus" is used throughout this book. No Jewish con- 
 fession of Messiah as about to come ; nothing, in short, but 
 the Spirit, as the promised Comforter, giving communion 
 with the Father and the Son, would entitle any to be re- 
 garded as " servants of Jesus." " I, Jesus, have sent mine 
 angel to declare these things in the Churches" They con- 
 sequently, not Jews, are the persons commanded to keep the 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION I. 37 
 
 sayings of the prophecy of this Book. John represents those 
 who are regarded as the servants of Jesus throughout this 
 Book ; and was not John one of the Church of God ? How 
 strange that this should be doubted by any ! 
 
 To show unto His servants.] Some have ventured to 
 affirm that the Revelation is not addressed to us, because 
 it is addressed to the " servants of Jesus ;" and we (say 
 they) are not servants but sons. But is sonship inconsistent 
 with servantship ? If it were, the Eternal and only begotten 
 Son of God could never have become a servant. Yet does 
 not God call Him " my righteous servant " (Is. liii.), and 
 again, "Behold my servant whom I uphold." (Is. xlii.) 
 Does not the Apostle Paul also, again and again call himself 
 " the servant of Jesus Christ ?" Does not this very chapter 
 speak of John as the servant of Jesus ? He " signified it by 
 His angel unto His servant John." And are not all who 
 now believe in Jesus, called " servants " both here and even 
 hereafter in the glory. See parable of Talents and Rev. 
 xxii., 3. 
 
 If, in reading the Scripture, we contract the habit of 
 neutralizing one relation by another, we shall soon make 
 the word of God of none effect. The method of Scripture 
 so invariably is to present the subjects of which it treats in 
 a variety of aspects, that if we nullify one of these aspects 
 by another, we shall find, not only that we learn nothing 
 aright, but that we become destroyers of Truth. And why 
 should we be so anxious to prove that this precious Book is 
 not addressed to us ? Is it that we wish to avoid the prac- 
 tical power of its instructions ? Do we wish not to see the 
 things around us in the light in which this Book sets them ? 
 
 We can well understand why the children of God should 
 be here addressed in their character of servants. It is only 
 when they seek to be " soldiers of Christ " and to uphold 
 the banner of His Truth, that they either value or are pre- 
 pared to receive the instructions of this Book. Whenever 
 they have made themselves merely the centre of their in- 
 
38 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 terests, and fixed their thoughts exclusively on their own 
 acceptance or comfort as saints, this Book has been neglected; 
 but whenever they have had more vigour of faith or have 
 been forced by circumstances into a place of active testimony 
 or service, they have used the Revelation. When the Church 
 forgets what the world is, and what Satan in it is, it will not 
 value the Revelation. 
 
 Things that must come to pass speedily .] The events here 
 referred to begin to be described in the sixth chapter ; for 
 there the prophetic part of the Revelation (to speak strictly) 
 commences. These words teach us, that the time for the 
 fulfilment of this prophecy is always to be regarded by the 
 Church as near at hand ; in the same sense as we say, " The 
 Lord is at hand." 
 
 And he signified it, having sent by His angel, unto his ser- 
 vant John.] It may seem strange that one to whom the 
 Holy Spirit had been given as the Comforter and who was 
 moreover an Apostle, should be instructed through an angel. 
 We find it otherwise, when the knowledge communicated, 
 pertained to the family of God in respect of their own 
 present blessings. St. Paul and St. John were not instructed 
 through angels in feeding and ordering the Churches. But 
 since the subject of the Revelation is God on the Throne 
 of His government in His relation to the nations, John, and 
 the Church as represented by him, are placed in comparative 
 distance. He stands as a man and a creature before God ; 
 as one redeemed indeed, but yet in felt distance from the 
 glory of the Throne. At present, the Holy Spirit does not 
 give the power of fellowship with God in the glory of His 
 government. The saints have not yet been admitted into 
 any participation of that power which is represented by 
 " the seven spirits of God." That secret power of divine 
 control, by which all things beneath are watched and 
 ordered, is held and exercised by the Lord Jesus alone. 
 (See Rev. v.) As to this, we have still to say, " His way 
 is in the sea and His path is in the deep waters and His 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION I. 39 
 
 footsteps are not known." It will be otherwise when we 
 shall " see Him as He is/' and " know even as we are 
 known." 
 
 Who hath testified (that is, in this Book) the Word of God 
 and the testimony of Jesus Christ what things soever he saw.] 
 This may be considered the Apostolic superscription of this 
 Book. The Apostle states that all that he has written in this 
 Book; viz., " what things soever he saw,," is to be regarded 
 as " the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ ;" 
 in other words, that it has the character and authority of 
 other prophetic and apostolic writings. Such is the authority 
 which the Book of Revelation claims for itself. 
 
 Blessed is he that readeth.] The word " readeth," is here 
 to be understood as denoting instruction or reading to others. 
 Thus it is said to Timothy, " Till I come give attendance to 
 reading, exhortation, &c." By this we learn that this Book 
 should be made the subject of constant ministerial instruction 
 in the Churches. 
 
 And they that hear the words of the prophecy and keep the 
 things written therein] These words strongly mark the prac- 
 tical use of the prophetic parts of this Book. The practical use of 
 those parts which are not directly prophetic, would, of course, 
 never be doubted. The word translated " keep," or " ob- 
 serve," is frequently used in this meaning, e.g., " Teaching 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you." tf If a man love me he will keep my words." The 
 charge given to the Churches to observe the things written 
 in this Book, shows that we are interested in the events pre- 
 dicted, in a sense, different from that in which we are inter- 
 ested in some other prophecies, such, for example, as the 
 millennial descriptions of Isaiah, which do not pertain to 
 the present dispensation ; but are to be fulfilled, after we, 
 "the Church of the first-born," have passed into another 
 condition of being above the heavens. 
 
40 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 4, 5. 
 
 John to the seven Churches which are in Asia : Grace be un- 
 to you, and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who 
 is to come ; and from the seven Spirits that are before His 
 Throne ; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the 
 first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the 
 earth. 
 
 These words of benediction appear peculiarly adapted to 
 the circumstances of those to whom they were addressed. 
 The Church was about to enter on a period that is to end 
 in atheistic blasphemy, when the whole Roman world under 
 Antichrist, shall avowedly reject God and Christ, and say, 
 " There is no God." As we are advancing towards this con- 
 summation, and whilst men apparently are allowed to follow 
 out their own thoughts and to prosper, it is no little comfort 
 to remember the unchangeableness of the everlasting God 
 whose benediction is here pronounced upon His people. 
 
 " The seven Spirits that are before His Throne" represent 
 a peculiar agency of the Spirit of God, which He exercises 
 in subordination to the Throne ; and therefore, they are said 
 to be " before" or "in the presence of" (i>w7rtoi>) that Throne. 
 Thus the altar in the Tabernacle is said to have been " be- 
 fore" God; and Aaron to minister "before" God; and Ga- 
 briel to stand " before" God ; and the false prophet by and 
 by to minister " before" Antichrist. 
 
 The seven spirits as thus seen "before" the eternal Throne 
 do not represent what the Holy Spirit is, as one with the 
 Father and the Son ; nor what He is, as the Comforter, 
 abiding with and in the saints. As God, one with the 
 Father and the Son, He quickens; as the Comforter, He 
 instructs and leads into all Truth ; as symbolized by the 
 seven Spirits, He watches over and controls all things, 
 subserving the government of the almighty Throne. In 
 this character He presides over the course of all things 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION I. 41 
 
 angels, devils, men, both wicked and good, and all the 
 various agencies through which they operate, being under 
 His controlling power. If, whilst beholding the mighty 
 fabric of man's evil greatness arising around us, we should 
 be tempted to feel as if all things were being allowed to take 
 their own course ; or if we should shrink from the thought of 
 impending conflict, we are here taught to remember the 
 seven spirits that are " before the Throne." Their power 
 has not ceased to be supreme; they have not ceased to 
 watch, and that for us, the course of events ', and benedic- 
 tion from them has been pronounced over us. 
 
 He who is on the Throne and the seven Spirits which are 
 before His Throne stand, as it were, apart from humanity, 
 in a sphere of being which is simply Divine. But Jesus who 
 is next mentioned holds a human place as well as a Divine, 
 and is fitly mentioned last, as being in proximate relation to us ; 
 He forming that link in the chain of divine love which 
 reaches us. His co-equality however with God is shown 
 from His being mentioned as the source of benediction 
 " AND from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness &c." 
 
 " The faithful witness" was a name well earned by Him 
 on earth, affording thus an example to the Churches, 
 although an example which they have refused to follow. If 
 they, in their lesser sphere, had been faithful witnesses, their 
 candlesticks would not have been removed. Nevertheless as 
 " the first-begotten of the dead," He is the pledge of the 
 Church's final glory ; for the blessings secured in Him risen 
 are inalienable and sure. The visions of the saints' heavenly 
 glory in the revelation, are founded on the fact of His being 
 this ; their title to glory depending entirely on what He has 
 undertaken and accomplished for them. " Prince of the kings of 
 the earth " is that which Jesus now is in right, and that which 
 He will soon be manifested to be, when He shall come forth 
 wearing the many diadems, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 
 By remembering Christ as the " Prince of the kings of the 
 earth," the Church has a test of the present condition of 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 kings and nations. His return also in the right of this title, 
 is the object of their own hopes and one great subject of their 
 testimony to others. " I, said the Apostle, testify (before 
 God and Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the 
 dead) His appearing and His kingdom*." 
 
 The progress of human infidelity appears to be in the re- 
 verse order to that in which the Divine Persons are here 
 presented. It begins by determinately rejecting that which 
 is proximate to itself, that is, Jesus in the condition and 
 character here revealed. The effort, for example, now being 
 made in this country, is to dissociate its governmental in- 
 stitutions, as much as possible, from the name of Jesus. Next 
 will follow the rejection of the superintending government of 
 God, and lastly, God will be asserted not to be. When God 
 has been thus fully rejected, the end will come. 
 
 5 6. 
 
 " Unto Him that loveth us, and hath freed (Xvo-an-t) us from 
 our sins by His own Hood ; and He hath made for us ( fyulv) 
 a sovereignty -priests unto His God and Father, to Him be 
 glory and dominion for ever and ever." Amen. 
 
 Nothing perhaps is more necessary in reading the Reve- 
 lation, than that the soul should be established in grace. 
 It reveals so much of the holiness and glory of God and 
 of the terrors of His power so much of the ruined condi- 
 tion of the Church and of the prosperity of the world's 
 evil, that our souls require to be settled in the peace which 
 the blood of the Lamb gives, and assured as to the unchange- 
 ableness of His love, before we can read calmly and with 
 profit, either the visions of glory or the visions of judgment 
 
 * Aia^djorvpoyucu (tvwiriov TOV Qeov, Kat'lrivov XpttrTov, TOV 
 Kpiveiv uivrae KCII veKpovg) KCII rrfv eTri^arftav CIVTOV KCII TYJV fia<ri\eiav 
 CIVTOV. Such is the right reading. See Tregelles. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION 1. 43 
 
 which this Book contains. Hence, the value of these words 
 of thanksgiving and of the benediction that precedes. The 
 very persons whose failure was about to be disclosed, and 
 who were about to be chastened and put down from that 
 high position of honoured service which they had been cor- 
 porately holding, are yet instructed to say, " Unto Him that 
 loveth us," &c. Individually they were thus loved, though 
 as servants of Christ, especially in their corporate character, 
 they were to be stricken. So necessary is it to distinguish 
 between blessings which are preserved for us by and in 
 Christ, and blessings which are made dependent on our 
 abiding in His testimonies here. 
 
 He hath made for us a sovereignty.] Such is the right 
 reading ; although " He hath made us a kingdom" would not 
 be untrue. The thought conveyed however is different ; in 
 the latter case we should be spoken of as governed ; whereas, 
 in the former we are spoken of as ourselves holding sovereign 
 power. It should be observed that the sovereignty thus 
 prepared for us is spoken of as a collective or united inheri- 
 tance. The words are not " He hath made us kings" but 
 " He hath made for us a sovereignty," whereas when our 
 calling as priests is referred to the thought is individualized. 
 For the use of |3acrtXaa in the sense of <f sovereignty," (see 
 Rev. xi. 15.) " The sovereignty of the world has become 
 the sovereignty of our Lord and of His Christ." 
 
 The thought however of our being also a kingdom legis- 
 lated for and governed by Christ our Lord is not, in itself, 
 untrue. Many Scriptures speak of our being this now. 
 Thus in Matt, xiii., we are spoken of under the emblem of 
 wheat as forming together with intermingled tares the king- 
 dom of the Son of man, who, it is said, when He cometh 
 shall gather " out of His kingdom all things that offend, &c."* 
 
 * It will not be true that He will gather out of the world, when He 
 returns, all things that offend, &c. : on the contrary, He will spare and 
 convert multitudes both of the Jews and also of the Heathen. Neither 
 Jews nor Heathen form part of His kingdom now ; for they own Him 
 not even professedly. 
 
44 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 All therefore who profess the name of Jesus, whether feign- 
 edly or truly, form at present His kingdom, which He will 
 purify when He comes. Thus we are called " a kingdom " 
 (Matt, xiii.), a people (Xao e , 1 Peter ii.), and a nation (1 Peter ii.) 
 The Church would have proved itself this, if it had car- 
 ried out the laws and principles of its heavenly Master and 
 Lord. It would then have been seen to be a peculiar king- 
 dom in the midst of kingdoms. But in this it has entirely 
 and thoroughly failed. Dragged down by the false pro- 
 fessors within it, and by the earthly tendencies of real saints, 
 it has willingly adopted the principles of the nations of earth 
 and amalgamated itself with them, stimulating often their 
 worst passions. 
 
 r. 
 
 Behold, He cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see 
 Him, and they who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the 
 land shall mourn at Him. Even so, Amen. 
 
 The three preceding verses have declared the Church's 
 own blessing. In this verse, we find one material part of 
 their testimony to others. Having ourselves been loved and 
 washed from our sins in His blood, we ought, throughout 
 the whole course of this Dispensation, to have looked at 
 the world and all that is passing in it, through the medium 
 of this solemn verse. We should not then have spoken of 
 the gradual spread of light and truth we should have spoken 
 of the Lord's coming to an unprepared earth, which will wail, 
 not rejoice, at His appearing. If we had remembered this 
 verse, we never could have said that the progress of this 
 Dispensation would be progress in blessing. 
 
 When it is said, " Every eye shall see Him," mankind 
 generally, including the heathen, are to be understood ; but 
 the next clause, "they which pierced Him," is more 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION I. 45 
 
 limited, and refers to those particular Gentile nations and 
 wicked Jews who once combined against Jesus personally, 
 and w r ho will again combine in the last apostasy " against 
 Jehovah and against His Christ." The languages written over 
 the cross, which were, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, sufficiently indi- 
 cate the nations intended. The Roman world, in its Greek 
 and Latin divisions, and the Jews in association therewith, 
 during the period of their coming apostasy, form the special 
 subject of this Book. 
 
 It is the manner of Scripture to speak of those who 
 pierced Jesus, as if alive at the hour of His return. The 
 generation that rejected Him is considered as not having 
 passed away. " This generation shall not pass away till all 
 these things be done," for the present generation being made 
 up of the same kind of persons, is in God's estimate the 
 same as that which stood around the Cross of Jesus. The 
 millennial age is that which is first to present us with the 
 new generation, called therefore " the generation that is to 
 come" (Ps. cii. 18.), " the people which shall be created" 
 (Ps. cii. 18.), "a people that shall be born" (Ps. xxii. 31.), 
 and similar appellations. The Church is in like manner 
 spoken of as living on to the end. " We which are alive 
 and remain unto the coming of the Lord, &c." " I am with 
 you alway, even unto the end of the age." The identity 
 of persons is, in the estimate of God, determined by their 
 likeness in spiritual and moral characteristics. 
 
 And all the Tribes of the Land shall ivail at or against 
 Him."] Here, as well as in Matthew xxiv. 30, and where- 
 soever else "Tribes" and "Land" are connected, I consider 
 the reference to be to Israel. One object of the Revelation 
 is to show, that during the whole period previous to the 
 appearing of the Lord, Israel remains unconverted ; and 
 therefore the Tribes, being unprepared to receive Him, 
 wail. The wailing here mentioned must not be confounded 
 with the penitential sorrow of the spared remnant spoken of 
 in Zech. xii. 
 
46 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 / ivas in the Spirit on the Lord's dayJ] That is, not in 
 any ordinary state even of Apostolic inspiration ; but in a 
 trance, or, like St. Paul when taken up into the third heavens 
 his visual and hearing powers being supernatural whilst 
 in this condition. The first day of the week, the day of the 
 Lord's resurrection was fitly chosen as the period of com- 
 munication, because the Church, being one with Christ, is 
 regarded as belonging to the resurrection day the day on 
 which it is by and by to know God fully, and to enter into 
 all the secrets of His government and glory. 
 
 I may add (though it is a subject not immediately con- 
 nected with that before us) that the Lord's Day is one not 
 of rest merely (for that the seventh day or sabbath was), 
 but of life, together with rest from such toil as has been 
 entailed on man by the fall. During the other six days we 
 are subjected to labour and to the sweat of the brow ; on the 
 Lord's day we are free, and may live only to God. 
 
 It has been a strange mistake of some to suppose that " the 
 Lord's day" (/cupiaicjj V>a) here means the millennium, 
 and that John was carried in vision into the millennium ; for 
 in the first place the millennium is not described in the Re- 
 velation until the nineteenth chapter the Revelation in all 
 its descriptions of earthly scenes up to that chapter, being 
 concerned with events that precede the millennium, for surely 
 the Beast and the Harlot, and the great merchant City of 
 the 18th chapter will not be found in the millennium ; nor 
 will the witnesses of God prophesy in sackcloth during the 
 millennium. Secondly, the expression Kvpiaicri iijuspa 
 " Lord's day," is a different expression from, and is never to 
 be confounded with, ^ -h/Litpa TOV Kvpiov, " The Day of the 
 Lord." 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ion IV. anfr V. 
 
 IN these two chapters, which should be read as one, we find 
 John, for a season, altogether withdrawn from the earth and 
 from the contemplation of everything therein. "A door 
 was opened in Heaven," and a voice said to him, ff Come up 
 hither." Every thing in the earth had become marked with 
 ruin. Mankind at large had given themselves over to idola- 
 try : Israel was judicially blinded : the Church in Jerusalem 
 was scattered : the Gentile Churches were about to be chas- 
 tened : and the united corporate testimony of Christianity 
 was to cease. It was under the consciousness of these things 
 that John was called, in vision, to enter through (f the door 
 opened in Heaven ;" not indeed to abide there : the time of 
 the Church's militancy was not yet past, and John was soon 
 commissioned to testify in the earth again " Thou must testify 
 again against many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and 
 kings." (Chap. x. 11.) He was taken into Heaven, not 
 that he might abide there, but that he might be instructed 
 there, and learn for us the resources that are in God re- 
 sources adequate to cope with all the plenitude of human 
 evil for the vindication of His own truth, and the establish- 
 ment of the kingdom of His Son. 
 
 John had the feelings and sympathies of one who had 
 learned to contemplate what was passing among men, in the 
 
48 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALPYSE. 
 
 light of God, and of His truth. There is a philanthropy 
 a false philanthropy, which is the mere result of the mis- 
 guided feelings of nature undisciplined by truth ; but there 
 is also a philanthropy which is according to God and guided 
 by His Word ; and this, John possessed. He had not ceased 
 to feel as a man, and as an Israelite, because he had become 
 a Christian. He was not insensible, either to the travail of 
 creation (( groaning in the bondage of corruption," or to the 
 fallen condition of Israel, over which Daniel, and a greater 
 than Daniel had wept. He knew that darkness had been 
 judicially sent upon their hearts, and that until that was re- 
 moved, the long-promised morning of joy "the morning 
 without clouds," could not arise either on them or on the 
 nations. He understood how the destinies of the earth were 
 bound up with those of Israel, and that evil would continue 
 to mark the course of human things, until Israel should 
 " convert and be healed." His human, his Jewish, and his 
 Christian sympathies had long been exercised on the earth ; 
 and they had cost him many a sorrow. He carried those 
 sympathies with him into Heaven ; but there they were met 
 with the suited comfort ; there, he afresh learned that God 
 had not forgotten the earth, nor abandoned His purpose of 
 triumphing over evil and of glorifying His people and His 
 Truth. 
 
 John saw ff and behold there was a throne set in Heaven." 
 Being " set," or firmly established, it stood in contrast with 
 the mutability and failure of every thing he had known be- 
 low. There "the foundations of all things were out of 
 course ;" all was becoming more and more like the troubled 
 sea whose waters cannot rest : but in the throne, " set" in 
 the Heavens, was seen stability stability of present super- 
 intending power stability also of purpose, securing the ac- 
 complishment of all that is promised in ages yet to come. 
 "And on the Throne there was One who sat, like in appear- 
 ance to a jasper and a sardius stone." The jasper and the 
 sardius were stones familiar to the eye of an Israelite ; for 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 49 
 
 they were the first and last* of the twelve that once shone 011 
 the breast-plate of the high priest of Israel, when~ministering 
 in his garments of glory and beauty ; and on them were en- 
 graved the twelve names of the tribes of Israel names, 
 therefore, which, so engraven, could not but shine with the 
 self-same lustre as the stones that bore them. 
 
 The lustre of a precious stone is stedfast and abiding. 
 Other lights may nicker or be extinguished ; or their bright- 
 ness may be lost in a splendour more excellent than their 
 own. But the light of a precious stone flickers not; its 
 power of radiancy cannot be taken away; and increase or 
 concentration of light around it, or on it, only adds to its 
 effulgency. It constitutes therefore a fitting emblem of that 
 grace and glory, inward and outward, which will finally 
 characterize all the redeemed family of God ; when, per- 
 fected in the likeness of their risen Lord, they shall receive, 
 as their united inheritance, ts new heavens and a new earth" 
 wherein righteousness shall dwell. This full consummation, 
 indeed, will not be until after the millennial age shall have 
 passed away, and " the dispensation of the fulness of times" 
 shall have come : nevertheless, the hope suggested and 
 pledged in this typical emblem, will be accomplished, in no 
 little measure, when " the church of the first-born," as the 
 heavenly part of the Israel of God, shall, at the commence- 
 ment of the millennial reign, inherit that heavenly city which 
 hath for its light the glory of God and of the Lamb ; and 
 when, of the earthly Jerusalem also, it shall be said, that 
 " her righteousness shall go forth as brightness, and the sal- 
 vation thereof as a lamp that burneth." As regards the 
 sphere and the degree of their shining, the two Jerusalems 
 will, indeed, greatly differ. The sphere of the one will be 
 earth a fallen earth ; the sphere of the other will be above 
 the heavens perfect and incorruptible. The light of the 
 one will be obstructed by the presence of the flesh, and the 
 
 * And therefore may be considered as inclusively representing the 
 whole series. 
 
 E 
 
50 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 feebleness of the creature; the other will shine in all the 
 unhindered perfectness of God. These differences, however 
 great, are nevertheless circumstantial and not essential ; 
 for the light in which both the heavenly and earthly city 
 will shine, is from, and because of, one Christ, and in the 
 power of one Spirit. Nor will the difference continue. As 
 soon as the millennium shall have passed, and " the dispen- 
 sation of the fulness of times" have come, all the distinctions 
 necessary to be maintained whilst this first- Adam earth exists, 
 will be abolished, and all the redeemed shine together in the 
 light of the perfect day. Such are the blessings which the 
 stones of the breast-plate, as they once shone in the light of 
 the presence of the glory of God in Israel's sanctuary, had 
 of old betokened : and although the covenant seemed not to 
 grow, though no brightness answering to the jasper and the 
 sardine stone was found in Israel and little in the Churches, 
 yet the moral excellency and the outward glory, as of the 
 Church, so also of Israel, were, in this vision, seen alike 
 secured in the person of Him who sat upon the throne Him 
 in whom the life and the glory and every blessing of all the 
 redeemed are treasured, for we are " IN HIM that is true, 
 even the true God." Well, therefore, might the colours of 
 the jasper and the sardine stone (lost, as they had been, on 
 the earth) be presented to the eye of John, as the likeness of 
 Him who sat upon the throne. There they are preserved 
 for us ; there maintained in their excellency. Union with 
 the person of the Son of God is the great characteristic 
 blessing of the whole family of the redeemed ; and therefore, 
 whatsoever moral lustre or light of outward glory may, in 
 the ages to come, be possessed by men, it will flow to them, 
 only because it is first found in Him in whom all fulness 
 dwells, and out of whose fulness they receive " grace corres- 
 ponding to (avri) the grace that is in Him." That bright 
 excellency of character and of glory which is now found in 
 Him who sitteth on the throne, is in Him, preserved for us, 
 in whom it is soon to be manifested in like radiancy of 
 
. 
 
 ON REVELATION IV. A] 
 
 
 beauty. And therefore we read of the heavenly city, the 
 bride of the Lamb, that "her light is like unto a stone 
 most precious, even like a jasper stone clear as crystal :" and 
 of Jerusalem, the earthly city, it is said, " O thou afflicted, 
 tost with tempest and not comforted, behold I will lay thy 
 stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires; 
 and I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of car- 
 buncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones : all thy chil- 
 dren shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the 
 peace of thy children : in righteousness shalt thou be estab- 
 lished. Thou shalt also be a crown .of glory in the hand of 
 the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." 
 Such are the results of His being as the jasper and the sar- 
 dine stone who sitteth upon the throne : for He is the pre- 
 server now, even as He will be the communicator then, of 
 all this exceeding grace and glory.* 
 
 The earth is next remembered. The rainbow, the ancient 
 pledge of the earth's covenanted blessings, was seen in all 
 its freshness green as the emerald round about the Throne. 
 Evil men were then, as they still are, "destroying the earth;" 
 and John was about to see how God would destroy them. 
 (Rev. xi., 18.) He was to be taught, in vision, respecting 
 
 * It must not be supposed that what has been here said respecting 
 " union" at all interferes with the value of the eternal priesthood of Christ. 
 The priestly presentation of the whole family of God by the ministry of 
 the anti-typical Aaron, is an essential and everlasting part of their bless- 
 ing. But this is not the subject of the passage we are now considering. 
 The jasper and sardine stone are not here connected with the priest 
 ministering before the throne, but with the Person who sitteth on the 
 Throne. It reveals the cause or source of that perfectness of beauty of 
 which presentation before God is a result. When the breast-plate was 
 presented before God, Israel, in the person of their Priest, advanced, as it 
 were, a claim to being bright and excellent as the stones on which their 
 names were engraven. If the breast-plate when thus presented and in- 
 spected, was allowed to continue in the Divine presence, the claim was 
 sanctioned. Hence, I suppose, it was called the breast-plate of judgment. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the consummation of evil in those latter days on which we 
 are now about to enter. He was to see the nations of the 
 earth made drunken by the Harlot and reigned over by the 
 Beast. He was to behold the wickedness and the glory of 
 the earth's " merchant-princes ;" and he was to witness their 
 doom. He was to see in vision the heavens and the earth 
 shaken ; stars falling ; mountains and islands moved out of 
 their places : but before all these things, before he was 
 called to consider that fearful period of sin and judgment 
 which is now drawing so nigh, he was permitted to behold 
 the rainbow the covenant-sign of the earth's blessing en- 
 circling the eternal Throne. It taught him and it teaches 
 us that the faithful power of the God of Israel, true to 
 the covenant made with His servant Noah, will watch 
 over and preserve the earth and that for blessing, till " the 
 wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the 
 desert rejoice and blossom as the rose." The sun and 
 the moon, though for a short season to be darkened, shall 
 resume their light, and the light of the sun shall be seven- 
 fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord 
 bindeth up the breach of His people [Israel] and healeth the 
 stroke of their wound. " Then shall the earth yield her 
 increase, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." This 
 may teach us in part to understand the connexion of the 
 rainbow with the Throne of the Lord God of Israel.* 
 
 * The earth has never yet duly prospered under the Noachie covenant. 
 God has faithfully given, according to His promise, " day and night, 
 seed-time and harvest :" but the earth still remains, for the most part, 
 sterile and waste ; and even where it is not neglected through idleness, 
 or devastated by war and oppression, or smitten by Divine judgment, the 
 free circulation of the gifts, of God is so interfered with by misrule or 
 covetousness, that the nations that are most civilized often afford the 
 direst examples of penury and need. Hence the necessity for the estab- 
 lishment of a righteous system of government among all nations, through 
 Israel and Israel's King, in order to give effect to God's earliest promises 
 of blessing. 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 53 
 
 Around the Throne, extending apparently in a semi-cir- 
 cular form on either side, were other thrones, in all twenty 
 and four, twelve on this side and twelve on that side of the 
 supreme Throne in the centre. " And on the thrones I saw 
 four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and 
 on their heads I saw crowns of gold." Here we find the 
 first mention of the official glories of " the Church of the 
 first-born;" although still, as we shall see, in connexion with 
 Israel. By " the Church of the first-born "* I mean all those 
 who shall rise "in the first resurrection," and share in 
 heaven, as well as on earth, the millennial glories of the 
 Lord Jesus. We know from the rest of Scripture what the 
 distinctive characteristics of this body are. In the first 
 place, they are redeemed redeemed not from Israel merely, 
 but " out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and 
 nation." We know also that as " saints of the high places," 
 their prospective name in Daniel (fljrtjf ^ >r |p)^ they are to 
 reign with Christ above the heavens. Know ye not, said 
 the apostle to the Corinthians, that the saints shall judge the 
 world? Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels? 
 Moreover, their calling is priestly as well as kingly they 
 are " a royal priesthood." They are also said " to have the 
 
 * "Church of the first-born" is an expression that includes all the 
 saints of every dispensation, who shall be brought into the family of faith 
 previously to the coming of the Lord. Christ is now called " the first- 
 born from the dead." (Rev. i.) In the millennium, all those who rise in 
 the first resurrection will be known as the glorified " Church or assembly 
 of the first-born ones" (eK/cX^erta T&V TrpwroroKwy], for they will rise or 
 be born out of death, at the commencement of the millennium ; whereas 
 millennial Israel, and the millennial nations who are saved, will not enter 
 into the resurrection-state until after the millennium has passed, when 
 the new heavens and the new earth are to be created. 
 
 Whenever, in these pages, I use the word "Church," in contrast with 
 millennial Israel, I wish it to be remembered that I mean " the Church 
 of the first-bom." 
 
 As regards the form of expression, compare Col. iv. 16, EKK\r)ffia ruiv 
 Aaoc>iKwj' church or assembly composed of Laodiceans See also 
 1 Thess. i. 1. 
 
54 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 mind of Christ" (1 Cor. ii. 16.), and although now knowing- 
 only in part, yet finally they are " to know even AS also they 
 are known " whence their capacity to share the counsels of 
 God. Such are the characteristics of the Church's calling, 
 as revealed in other parts of the Scripture ; and such are 
 the glories symbolically presented to us here. Royal power 
 is indicated by " the thrones" the elders were seen seated 
 " on thrones." Their redemption is taught us by the words 
 of their own thanksgiving thus recorded in the fifth chapter 
 " Thou hast redeemed US to God by thy blood, out of every 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Their priest- 
 hood is taught by their employment for they offer golden 
 vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints 
 (ch. v. 8). Their eldership and near proximity to the Throne 
 of the Most High are sufficiently plain indications of their 
 being called into the participation of His counsels. Their 
 white robes and crowns of gold identify them with the 
 " overcomers," that is, those who "hear what the Spirit 
 saith unto the Churches," and keep Christ's works unto the 
 end (ch. iii., 6), for to such the white raiment and the 
 crown are promised (see ch. iii. 5, and ch. ii. 10). " Be 
 thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of 
 life." Their number twenty-four connects them with the 
 number of Israel's priests : for Israel is not forgotten of the 
 Lord even during the time of their blindness and desertion. 
 Their priesthood is being from day to day prepared, and 
 when the vail shall at length be taken from their eyes, they 
 will find that in " the Church of the first-born," they have 
 a risen and glorified priesthood, belonging to the heavenly 
 places not made with hands, who, as the antitypical children 
 of Aaron will minister with Christ, the great High Priest, 
 in garments of glory and beauty on the eighth or resurrection 
 day. No question, therefore, need remain in any heart as 
 to who they are whom the throned elders symbolize. They 
 represent the Church of the first-born in one aspect of that 
 heavenly glory which they shall share with their Lord, when 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 55 
 
 at length, the sovereignty of the world shall become His, 
 and all things be put in visible subjection to His power.* 
 
 The vision of the throned elders may be regarded as re- 
 vealing the highest manifested glory of the risen saints ; for 
 we cannot conceive of the creature being brought into nearer 
 approximation to supreme wisdom and power. But never- 
 theless, this vision, complete as it is in the revelation of 
 glory, does not declare our highest blessing. It makes 
 known the glory of God in government, but it does not reveal 
 those secret unmanifested blessings which will also pertain 
 to us as children, of the Father. The Sovereign, whilst 
 displaying " the riches of his glorious kingdom, and the 
 honour of his excellent majesty," may call around his Throne 
 his ministers and the high estates of his kingdom persons 
 who may be the very pillars of his power ; but he may not 
 love them nor count them worthy of his intimacy and 
 friendship. In the bosom of his family, and the retirement of 
 his palace, he may have other associates and other friends. 
 David had many Joabs but few Jonathans. Jonathan he 
 loved : Joab, though honoured because of his courage and 
 
 * If Leviticus ix. be referred to, it will be seen that the sons of Aaron, 
 the priests, after having been fully consecrated during seven days, entered 
 on their ministration on behalf of Israel on the eighth day, and then the 
 glory of the Lord appeared. The eighth day, answering to the first day 
 of a new week, always in typical Scripture, has reference to resurrection. 
 When the Church of the first-born really enter on their resurrection- 
 services, the glory of the Lord will of a truth appear to all the congrega- 
 tion of Israel, who will then stand in the earth as God's reconciled and 
 forgiven people. 
 
 As regards the number twenty-four, the sons of Aaron were divided 
 into four and twenty orders, " to come into their service into the house 
 of the Lord according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the 
 Lord God of Israel had commanded him." (1 Ghron. xxiv. 19.) They 
 also who were for song in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, psalteries, 
 and harps for the service of the house of God were twenty-four courses. 
 (1 Chron. xxv.) It will be observed how both these services are held by 
 the elders they present the vials and incense: they also praise and sing. 
 
56 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 his power, David could neither confide in nor love. In- 
 consistencies or deficiencies have, in human life below, sadly 
 marred the characters of those in whom some qualities of 
 excellence have shone with distinguished brightness. Even 
 Jonathan lacked the decision that caused Joab to follow David 
 to the cave and to the wilderness. But with the Church in 
 glory it will be otherwise. To them perfectness according to 
 God will in all things pertain. They will not only share in 
 the majesty of the kingdom and be glorious in power, they 
 will, as children, be brought into the family of the one Father 
 as those perfected in love. Thus knowing the Father, they 
 will be able to go forth into the Courts of His government 
 and to serve Him worthily as their God. They will realize 
 the full value of the words of their master then : " I ascend 
 unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your 
 God." 
 
 All the symbols that we have as yet considered in this 
 chapter have been indicative only of blessing. But this 
 peaceful order is for a moment interrupted by a sight of 
 terror. " Out of the Throne proceeded lightnings and 
 thunderings and voices." If Israel and the earth had been 
 reconciled to God ; if they had been brought under the blood 
 of sprinkling in other words, if this chapter had been 
 describing the millennial relation of the Throne to things 
 below, and not its present relation, we should not have seen 
 it marked by this Sinai- character of terror. When the hour 
 really comes for the innumerable company of the glorified, 
 to which we by faith already belong, to be manifested on 
 Mount Zion, thunderings and lightnings and sights of terror 
 will no longer characterize the Throne in its relation to the 
 things below. On the contrary, we read of a river of life 
 then, pure as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and 
 of the Lamb. He will open His hand and satisfy the desire 
 of every living thing. At present however, though our faith 
 may be cheered and strengthened throughout this present 
 dispensation of sorrow by seeing the Eternal Throne sur- 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 57 
 
 rounded by symbols of our future glory, yet the " thunder- 
 ings and lightnings and voices" stand to us as an abiding 
 memorial that the glory indicated is future, and that all below 
 (the suffering Church alone excepted) remains as yet unre- 
 conciled to God. 
 
 But the " thunderings, lightnings, and voices" are the only 
 symbols of terror, and we quickly return to those of blessing. 
 The likeness of the jasper and the sardine stone attaching to 
 Him who sat upon the Throne, has taught us the source of all 
 our excellency and glory. The elders represent one form 
 under which that glory will be exhibited : the living crea- 
 tures or cherubim, which remain to be considered, symbolize 
 another. But before they are mentioned, we find two other 
 symbols one indicating not the form of exhibition, but the 
 nature of a power with which we are to be invested the 
 other indicating the perfectness of purity that will attach to 
 our new condition of being. The first of these is represented 
 by " the seven lamps of fire burning before the Throne which 
 are the seven spirits of God :" the latter by the sea of glass 
 like unto crystal. These two symbols stand to the Throne, 
 just in the same relation as the Golden candlestick and the 
 Laver did to the Mercy-seat in the Temple. 
 
 Of the seven spirits I have already spoken in the notes on 
 the first chapter. They do not represent the Spirit of God 
 in any character in which he has been possessed by, or mani- 
 fested in, the Church. They do not represent Him as the 
 Spirit who quickeneth, nor as the Comforter abiding in those 
 whom He has quickened : they represent Him in another 
 office, that, namely, in which he subserves the providential 
 government of the Throne of God. They are described 
 therefore as " the spirits of God sent out into all the earth," 
 (see chap. v. 6.) and again, as " the eyes of the Lord, which 
 run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself 
 strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward 
 Him." 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, amongst all the attributes of God, is 
 
58 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 more wonderful than this universality of omnipresent control; 
 all the merely executive agents of His government being 
 subordinate thereunto. And when we remember how the uni- 
 verse teems with living agency; good men and bad men, 
 angels and devils- all acting with unceasing energy, and 
 some in professed independence of God and opposition to 
 God's holy will ; and that there is not an action, nor even 
 a word, that proceeds from this infinity of agency that is 
 without result ; but that each produces its effect and needs 
 therefore to be watched, lest it should not fall into its fitting 
 place in the vast machinery which is working steadily on to 
 an appointed end when we consider, I say, that the uni- 
 verse, morally as well as physically, is under a superinten- 
 dence that controls the consequences of action both human 
 and angelic, as certainly and effectually as the revolutions of 
 the planets in their spheres, it gives a view of almighty and 
 omnipresent power, more wonderful, perhaps, than the ori- 
 ginal power of creation, or that whereby the things that have 
 been created are, from age to age, upheld. 
 
 This power is at present possessed and exercised by the 
 Lord Jesus. We are distinctly told in the fifth chapter that 
 He hath "the seven spirits of God sent out into all the 
 earth;" but to His saints no such power of control is at 
 present communicated. At present " His Divine power has 
 been given to us" only so far as is necessary for present 
 purposes of life and godliness. (2 Peter i.)* We reign not 
 as yet. But since it is said in the Scripture that we are 
 " the fulness of Him who filleth all in all," and also that we 
 are to be made "like Him," and "joint-heirs with Him," 
 and since the Lord Jesus has Himself said, " the glory which 
 thou hast given me I have given them that they may be 
 one even as we are one," how can it be doubted that the 
 
 * " According as His Divine power hath heen given us 
 fyulj') in all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the 
 knowledge of Him who hath called us by His own (tta) glory and 
 virtue." (2 Peter i. 3.) 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 59 
 
 Church will participate in this branch also of His glorious 
 power ?* 
 
 Next in order., and also standing in front of the throne, 
 was seen a sea of glass like unto crystal. This was in the 
 fore-ground, in front of all that has yet been mentioned ; so 
 that the Throne, the elders, the seven lamps, and even the 
 cherubim, were within it, and could only be reached from 
 without by passing the sea of crystal which was placed before 
 them. It stood therefore to all that was within it, just in 
 the same relation as the laver of the Tabernacle, or the molten 
 sea of Solomon's Temple, did to the Holy Place. No priest 
 could enter the sanctuary without first passing and washing 
 at the laver : but when he had received the cleansing of that 
 holy vessel, he was a person typically separated from all the 
 impurities of earth, and fit for the heavenly courts. He 
 was typically, what we are actually, as regenerated by the 
 resurrection of Jesus Christf born again out of the old 
 into the new creation of God. Such is the blessed truth 
 taught by "the sea of glass like unto crystal." Like the 
 brazen sea of the Temple, it shows, though in brighter ex- 
 
 * The possession of this power as regards external action in the earth, 
 or rather in the universe, appears to he indicated by the eyes which cover 
 the living creatures within and without. The eyes as connected with the 
 cherubim must be interpreted in harmony with " the seven eyes" as seen 
 in the Lamb. In Him this power essentially and inherently is ; to us it 
 will only come by communication. It is seen in Him personally, in the 
 same sevenfold completeness as when represented by the seven lamps 
 burning before the throne ; and therefore the number seven is applied to 
 Him only, not to the cherubim. The multitude of eyes, is, I apprehend, 
 the emblem of diffusive agency : the seven, of that which is possessed in 
 all completeness and in perfectness of concentration. 
 
 f The Laver, of old, imparted to the priests a typical cleanness that 
 entitled them to enter into the sanctuary of God. It typically cleansed 
 them from everything that was unfit for His holy presence. Such is 
 Christ to the believer. God through Him cleanses us from all that per- 
 tains to us and to our nature, as children of the first Adam that sinned ; 
 and gives us a new condition of being, similar in purity to that possessed 
 by Him through whom we are cleansed. In Him we are cleansed not 
 
60 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 cellency, the nature of that purity which has been given in 
 Christ, for He is the true laver and the true sea of crystal, 
 and unless we had that purity, God's free gift to us in Him, 
 unless we had a title to go within that sea, as possessors of a 
 purity worthy of being represented by the pure and trans- 
 parent crystal, we never could even approach that Throne, 
 much less be made partakers of its glorious power. 
 
 But there is yet another character of power, which the 
 Church is to exercise in the hour of its glory. Admission 
 into the counsels of God is represented by the throned elders, 
 omniscient power of superintendence by the seven spirits ; 
 but the execution of the will of God, and the power necessary 
 to its execution, is also committed to the redeeemed. This is 
 a third aspect of their glory. They are in this represented 
 by " the living creatures" or cherubim. 
 
 That the cherubim symbolized the redeemed is manifest 
 from their own ascription of praise to the Lamb. They, as 
 well as the elders say, " Thou hast redeemed US unto God 
 by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people 
 and nation." (chap, v.) Nor is it conceivable that the saints 
 should be joint-heirs with Christ, without being invested 
 with this character of power. 
 
 only of our sins but of ourselves ; and, accordingly, they who were washed 
 at the Laver stood typically regenerated, and fit to receive that holy 
 anointing oil of which it was said that, " on man's flesh it should not be 
 poured" (Exodus xxx. 32.) as if to indicate, that they who had been 
 washed were typically divested of the flesh. Thus in the Ephesians and 
 Colossians all believers from the simple fact of their union with Christ in 
 death and resurrection, are said " to have put off the old man." (cnrodeffdat.} 
 It is remarkable that the Laver was made from the mirrors of the 
 women of the congregation. Moses was commanded to melt the mirrors 
 and from them to form the Laver. The mirror is that which reflects 
 ourselves, We see our own natural features there. If we are satisfied 
 with our own likeness, by all means let us keep the mirror and gaze on it 
 for ever: but if not if we find reason to abhor ourselves and to shrink 
 _from the sight of our own deformity, how shall we thank God for taking 
 away the mirror, and substituting in its stead a Laver tliat cleanses us from 
 all that is unfit for His presence, and separates us from our natural selves. 
 
ON UEVELATION IV. AND V. 61 
 
 The vision of Ezekiel affords the fullest description of that 
 power which the cherubim denote. They are there described 
 not as in the Revelation, in rest above the heavens ; but in earth, 
 surrounded with all the attributes of their agency, in strict 
 adaptation to the circumstances of their earthly service. 
 " The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of 
 a flash of lightning. Now as I beheld the living creatures, 
 behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, 
 with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their 
 work was like unto the colour of a beryl : and they four had 
 one likeness : and their appearance and their work was as it 
 were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, 
 they went upon their four sides, and they turned not when 
 they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they 
 were dreadful ; and their rings were full of eyes round about 
 them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels 
 went by them : and when the living creatures were lifted up 
 from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever 
 the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go ; 
 and the wheels were lifted up over against them : for the 
 spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When 
 those went, these went ; and when those stood, these stood ; 
 and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels 
 were lifted up over against them ; for the spirit of the living 
 creature was in the wheels." What can be more significant 
 of the resistless course of Almighty power ? These terrible 
 wheels, combining the movements of four, without losing the 
 unity of one each one advancing swift as the lightning, in 
 its straight-forward course, not to be resisted by any strength 
 or checked by any impediment each going upon its sides 
 and yet none revolving moving at once northward and 
 southward and eastward and westward, and yet being but 
 as one wheel nowhere absent but everywhere present in 
 the perfectness of undivided action, afford the mysterious, but 
 fitting, symbol of the Omnipotent agency of the power of 
 Him, " before whom all the inhabitants of the earth are re- 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 puted as nothing : and He doeth according to His will in the 
 army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and 
 none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" 
 
 In the Revelation, however, the cherubim are not, as in 
 Ezekiel, acting in the earth. In Ezekiel, they were seen be- 
 low the firmament of crystal ; but in the Revelation, they are 
 withdrawn from the earth into the presence of the Throne, 
 within the sea of crystal ; and this, because of Israel's sin. 
 " I will go and retire into my place, till they acknowledge 
 their offence." But the deliverance of Israel at the Red 
 Sea, the fall of Jericho, the deliverance of Elisha when mul- 
 titudes of unseen hosts surrounded him, the destruction of 
 Sennacherib, and many other like interventions of the om- 
 nipotence of God, are proofs of what this power was able to 
 effect, and what it once did effect, on behalf of Israel and 
 Jerusalem. But the vision of this power was shown to Eze- 
 kiel, only that he might bear witness to its withdrawal. He 
 saw it gradually depart, until at last it was hidden in heaven; 
 and accordingly, in the Revelation, we find it there ; but no 
 wheels were seen, only cherubim, and they in rest, save 
 only toward God ; for their agency in the earth has for the 
 present ceased ; nor will it be restored until the order of the 
 millennium begins. The restoration of this power is the 
 subject of the conclusion of Ezekiel's vision.* 
 
 And when we consider what the state of the earth will 
 be when that period arrives Antichrist having just filled 
 the world with wickedness, and Israel with desolation 
 darkness covering the earth and gross darkness the peoples 
 when to Israel it is said " according to the days of thy 
 coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him mar- 
 
 * In the Revelation no wheels were seen, only cherubim, because 
 " wheels" denote the course of this Divine agency as acting in the earth. 
 Accordingly, in the seventh of Daniel, where the Session of the Antient of 
 Days is described and Christ is invested with the power of earth, " wheels" 
 are mentioned; because this agency will at that time be introduced into 
 the earth again. 
 
ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 63 
 
 vellous things ; the nations shall see and be confounded at 
 all their might ; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth ; 
 their ears shall be deaf; they shall lick the dust like a ser- 
 pent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the 
 earth ; they shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall 
 fear because of thee," when this hour at length arrives, 
 we may well see the necessity for cherubim-strength, and 
 the high calling of the Church in being entrusted with its 
 application to the circumstances of a terrified but rescued 
 earth an earth stricken, that it might be healed. 
 
 The various characteristics of this power are denoted by 
 the forms of the four living creatures. But the human figure 
 does not predominate as in Ezekiel, for here they are 
 abstracted from human things into the immediate sphere of 
 divine existence. The first living creature was like a lion 
 the symbol of power in its majesty, terribleness and strength. 
 " A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not 
 away from any." (Prov. xxx. 30.) " The king's wrath is as 
 the roaring of a lion." (Prov. xix. 18.) Two lions stood by 
 the side and twelve lions on the steps of Israel's Throne 
 ( Chron. ix. 18) ; and Israel's king is (( the Lion of the 
 Tribe of Judah." 
 
 But the second living creature was like a calf, for power 
 should have other characteristics besides majesty and terror. 
 Strength that surrenders its neck to the yoke and its shoulder 
 to the burthen, in patient ministry to the need of others, is a 
 characteristic of power less dazzling indeed, but perhaps 
 more blessed than any display of the majesty of its glory. 
 Hence, He who is to be known as the Lion of Judah, is again 
 and again typified in Scripture by the ox. In Leviticus, the 
 bullock stands as the highest type of Jesus, in patient, self- 
 denying labour. We need not wonder, then, that this 
 patient character of strength, and ready subjection to the 
 burthen, (in Him the result of willing love) will still attach 
 to the power with which his saints will, through and under 
 Him, be invested in the glory. 
 
64 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 " The face of a mail," which characterized the third of the 
 living creatures, represents not, I think, intelligence, (that 
 appears to be symbolized by the eyes found in all the che- 
 rubim alike) but it indicates that sympathy with humanity and 
 acquaintance with its condition, which will adapt the exercise 
 of this power to the circumstances of men.* Quickness of 
 sight and rapidity of execution are the characteristics of the 
 eagle ; and this closes the description of the attributes that 
 will attach to the ministers of the executive power of God. 
 They will have the strength and majesty of the lion ; the 
 patient endurance of the ox ; the sympathies and reflective 
 character of man ; the keen perception and rapid execution 
 of the eagle ; and as such will apply to the earth and to the 
 universe the wisdom of the elders and the Throne. 
 
 And although the symbols of this chapter might almost 
 seem to exalt the creature into co-equality with God, yet we 
 find His due supremacy most carefully maintained. The 
 glorious power of the cherubim does not prevent their 
 giving all glory, and honour, and thanks, to Him that sat 
 on the Throne ; nor does the higher exaltation of the elders 
 prevent them from falling down before Him that sat on the 
 Throne, and, as creatures, worshipping Him that liveth for 
 ever and ever, and casting their crowns before the Throne, 
 saying, " Thou art worthy, O our Lord and God, to receive 
 glory and honour and power : for thou hast created all 
 
 * Power therefore and strength as represented by the lion and the ox, 
 will in the redeemed be associated with human sympathies and feelings. 
 Symbols significant of strength might be applied to that which is simply 
 Divine ; but Christ has also been made " like unto His brethren in all 
 tilings," sin excepted ; so that human sympathies are connected with the 
 Lord in His glory, as they will be with the saints in theirs. 
 
 We must remember too, that when the millennium begins, there will 
 remain in the earth, much to be borne with and to be dealt with patient- 
 ly. The subduing of all things to Christ, will not be the work of a 
 moment, but of the whole millennium. " He must reign till he hath 
 put all things under his feet." In the exercise therefore of Divine power 
 to this end, patience and sympathy will find their place. 
 
ON REV. IV. AND V. 65 
 
 things, and for thy pleasure they were and have been 
 created." 
 
 Thus, then, there will be a time when the possession of 
 wisdom and power, even by man, will no longer lead away 
 from God ; but, whilst making him blessed in himself and 
 the channel of divine blessings to others, will yet leave him 
 humble and obedient still conscious that he has nothing 
 but what he has undeservedly received ready, therefore, 
 to take the place of lowliest worship, and to render homage 
 to Him from whom all things proceed. The moral perfect- 
 ness, therefore, which naturally falls into this position and 
 enables us to say, in truth and in understanding, " Holy, 
 holy, holy," will be an exhibition of the result of redemp- 
 tion, no less wonderful than the gift of this exceeding glory. 
 
()G THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WE have seen how fully the high and distinctive glo- 
 ries of " the Church of the first-born " are revealed in 
 the preceding chapter. The Throne surrounded by the 
 symbolic glories we have been considering, is intended, 
 throughout all this present period of the Church's suffering, 
 to stand before us as a sure and sustaining object of faith. 
 We are not yet reigning in life, and therefore the sight 
 of our future exaltation is presented to us only in symbols ; 
 but the glories indicated are not strange to the expectation 
 of those who walk in the Truth. The excellency of the 
 symbols teaches us the exalted character of the promised 
 glory; their being seen in association with the Throne, 
 is the pledge that they are unchangeable and sure. 
 
 But the object of the Revelation is not merely to present 
 to our faith these pledges of future glory. There is another 
 object yet more immediate, and more directly concerned 
 with our present testimony. That object is, the communica- 
 tion of prophetic instruction respecting things shortly to 
 come to pass in the earth instruction as essential to our 
 testimony and service, among men, as the vision of the glory 
 to our comfort and the confirmation of our hope. The im- 
 mediate object of Him who sat upon the Throne, was, to con- 
 vey a book (the symbol of precise and definite instruction) to 
 John, and, through John, to the Churches on the earth. " I 
 
ON REVELATION V. 67 
 
 saw in the right hand of Him who sat upon the Throne a 
 roll written within and on the back side, firmly sealed with 
 seven seals." 
 
 John was standing before the Throne in the weakness of 
 the creature. He saw the book ; he believed its instruction 
 to be precious ; yet neither he, nor any other creature in 
 earth or heaven, dared to draw nigh and take it. " I wept 
 much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, 
 neither to look thereon." 
 
 But hidden in the Throne, had been One, who now 
 appeared and assumed a new relation to Him who sat upon 
 it. The words of the angel announced Him as the Lion of 
 the Tribe of Judah the Root of David a title familiar (at 
 least in part) to the ear and to the thoughts of an Israelite : 
 for Israel was expecting One who should arise in the majesty 
 and terror of power, who should " cry, yea, roar and prevail 
 against His enemies." They also believed what the Prophets 
 had written respecting the glory of the House of David, 
 through which judgment and righteousness should be ex- 
 ercised in the earth, and f( Judah be saved and Israel dwell 
 safely ;" they believed that this glory had not departed for 
 ever, though not one branch appeared to flourish on the 
 withered stock of Jesse. They knew that Jehovah had 
 made with David an everlasting covenant, ordered in all 
 things and sure, and so far would readily recognise that 
 there was yet a root to the stem of Jesse : but further than 
 this, mere Israelitish knowledge could not go. They had 
 not yet learned (what John and the Church had learned) 
 to explain the mystery of the oneness of David's Lord and 
 David's Son.* 
 
 * Yet, though John had learned to recognise many things that Israel 
 knew not, he had not, on that account, forgotten nor rejected the " old 
 things " that, as an Israelite, he knew, because new things had since been 
 added to the store. " A scribe well-instructed unto the kingdom of 
 heaven bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." John 
 remembered the old things which the prophets had spoken ; he knew 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE 
 
 " The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David," 
 advanced and took the book ; but He did not appear as the 
 Lion, neither as Jehovah in His glory, but fe as a Lamb that 
 had been slain." It was thus John had known Him. He 
 had seen Him led to the slaughter ; had seen Him pray 
 for His murderers and die ; had heard Him say in like 
 gentleness and meekness, " All power is given unto Me 
 in heaven and in earth ;" and now John beheld the 
 symbolic representation of that power, for the Lamb had 
 e f seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of 
 God sent out into all the earth." He had all plenitude of 
 glorious power ; He was standing in the midst of the elders 
 and cherubim and all the glory of the Throne ; He exercised 
 all the power of that Throne yet He was still the Lamb. 
 Neither did any of these things whether His investiture 
 with the power of the Almighty Throne, or His title, yet 
 unasserted, of Lion of the Tribe of Judah, or His own 
 essential and now acknowledged Deity, as the Root of 
 David and all David's blessings, withdraw Him from the 
 place which He loves to take, of being " one that serveth." 
 He had served His disciples in humiliation; He now showed 
 that He could serve them in glory. He saw the tears of 
 John ; He knew their cause ; He went therefore and took 
 the book, and supplied the needed link of communication 
 between the creature and God, and opened the designed 
 instruction, not in the terror of the Lion, but in the meek- 
 ness and gentleness of the slain Lamb. 
 
 Yet it is not difficult to see the reason why He should be 
 here introduced as the Lion of Judah. In the first place, 
 
 that they were not nullified, but only enlarged and confirmed by the 
 things that had since been spoken by the Lord. In the vision, therefore, 
 that he was now beholding, though he saw and heard as a Christian, 
 yet he had not divested himself of the knowledge which he had received 
 as one of that people " to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and 
 the covenants and the giving of the law and the promises, whose are the 
 fathers and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over 
 all, God blessed for ever. Amen." 
 
ON REVELATION V. 69 
 
 the majesty and terror connected with that name enhances 
 the preciousness of His gracious love. But not only so 
 whilst Israel (blinded as to the Person) has yet held fast 
 the hope of Judah's Lion and David's Son, the Church 
 has well nigh forgotten both. The very fact that the Lamb 
 has been clothed with power, and the consequent long-suffer- 
 ing that has been exercised towards all nations whilst the 
 Gospel is being preached the patient grace so abundantly 
 traceable in the history both of the Church and of the world 
 during the past eighteen hundred years all this has blinded 
 our Gentile minds to the ancient hope of the fathers, and we 
 have lost the knowledge of the Lion, in an imperfect know- 
 ledge of the Lamb. It was needful, therefore, that in such 
 a book as this, the Church should be aroused to the meaning 
 of this blessed yet awful name ; for it is the contrariety of 
 all things in the earth to His title as the Lion of Judah, and 
 the consequent necessity of enforcing this title by Almighty 
 power, that will bring on the coming judgments of the 
 Throne, and the day of the wrath of the Lamb. The book 
 taken from the Throne reveals the manner in which God is 
 about to enforce the title of His Son as the Lion of Judah, 
 and to manifest that He is indeed the root of David ; and 
 therefore He may well be thus announced, even when taking 
 the book as the Lamb ; not that He might fulfil the judgments 
 therein written, but that He might communicate instruction 
 respecting them to the Churches, The Lamb <( came and took 
 the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the 
 Throne." 
 
 For a moment, the Lamb (whose proper place during the 
 present dispensation is the Throne) quitted the Throne and 
 assumed an intermediate place between it and the creature ; 
 for John occupied the place of the creature. It was indeed 
 only for a moment that this mediate place was taken ; but 
 Heaven, or they who had the intelligence of Heaven, observed 
 it and understood its meaning. They saw in it the earnest 
 of that coming hour, when the Lamb shall be seen to come 
 
TO THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 from the Throne (in the glories of which He is now hidden) 
 and, taking abidingly His place betwixt the Throne of the 
 Almighty and a needy earth, become the effectual communi- 
 cator of the blessings which will then flow from the Throne of 
 " the Most High God, possessor of Heaven and earth" to His 
 redeemed and rescued creatures. As soon as the Son abidingly 
 assumes the mediate place between the Throne and the crea- 
 ture, the millennial age begins. In anticipative faith there- 
 fore (for faith always regards the earnest as the substance) 
 Heaven sings the millennial song. The elders and the 
 cherubim as representing the redeemed those, that is, 
 who rise in the first resurrection, sing it first; next the 
 angels sing ; and lastly every living creature gives thanks 
 and praise ; for the Lamb had taken a mediate place between 
 the Throne and the creature, as the connecting link of blessing, 
 and the sight was hailed as if the hour of final triumph had 
 fully come.* 
 
 * That this song is anticipative is manifest for various reasons first, 
 creation is not yet brought under the applied power of redemption, but 
 is still " groaning in the bondage of corruption." (Rom. viii.) Therefore 
 neither at the time when the Revelation was written, nor now, could 
 every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth 
 and in the sea," " sing, rejoice, and give thanks," except anticipatively . 
 
 Secondly, the redeemed themselves will not sing the song of redemp- 
 tion and say, unitedly, Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, &c. 
 until they are themselves perfected in resurrection. But none of them 
 are as yet raised ; their spirits are with Jesus ; their bodies in the grave. 
 
 Thirdly, the risen saints are here represented as giving thanks for 
 others, and those others are described as " made a kingdom and priests unto 
 God and reigning on the earth." This is precisely the relation in which 
 the risen saints will stand to Israel on the earth, as soon as the millennium 
 begins. 
 
 We cannot be too careful in remembering the corrected reading of this 
 
 passage. " Thou hast redeemed US unto God by thy blood, &c 
 
 thou hast made THEM unto our God a kingdom and priests, and they 
 reign on the earth." See Appendix. 
 
 Until the saints who sleep are raised, and Israel is forgiven and reigning, 
 and all creation released from its present groan, this song can only be 
 sung anticipatively. 
 
ON REVELATION V. 
 
 71 
 
 Nevertheless that burst of joy was only for a moment. 
 The notes of triumph soon died away, and visions of woe fol- 
 lowed. But the remembrance of that song thus anticipa- 
 tively sung, is intended to abide with us always >to accom- 
 pany us through the dark scenes of present or future sorrow 
 such as this book reveals, and to comfort the Church during 
 the whole period of its militancy. We are as those who 
 have already heard and already sung, representatively, the 
 millennial song. And let it be remembered, that the same 
 love from the same throne, that will by and by pour forth 
 blessing upon the millennial earth, is the cause of our present 
 possession of this Book. Instruction will by and by flow to 
 the millennial saints, and no sorrow withal our portion on the 
 contrary is instruction with sorrow ; but if it will be a bless- 
 ing then to receive rest, protection, and peace, it is no less a 
 blessing now, to be counted worthy of suffering with Him, and 
 to share His reproach. Divine wisdom about human things 
 is communicated through this Book, given from the Throne, 
 and it leads into present sorrow ; but it supplies us with sub- 
 jects of present testimony, in the midst of the glory and de- 
 ceivableness of Satan, more precious than fine gold to him 
 who remembers that even in the midst of all our present 
 weakness, we have a title to rejoice and leap for joy, if, by 
 walking in the truth, our names are cast out as evil for the 
 Son of Man's sake. Jeremiah was ordained a prophet against 
 the nations, and his place was a dungeon ; John was appointed 
 to prophecy against (firi) peoples and nations and tongues 
 and kings (See Rev. x.), and his place was Patmos. 
 Yet it is from the dungeon and from Patmos, that that voice 
 has gone forth which shall yet (in some cases at least) break 
 the spell which has so long paralysed even God's own people, 
 and shall arouse them from that evil slumber, by which Satan 
 has succeeded in nullifying the instructions of this book ; and 
 shall cause them again to give a living testimony to the things 
 which Prophets and Apostles have, in sorrow and in rejec- 
 tion, spoken. 
 
78 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ts on Jtiiektiun IV. aitb V. 
 
 Behold, a door opened in Heaven.] " A door opened in 
 Heaven" is to be distinguished from Heaven being opened, 
 as in Rev. xix. and elsewhere. The first is a sign of entrance 
 being granted into Heaven ; the second of something revealed 
 in or from Heaven. After John beheld the " opened door," 
 he heard a voice saying " Come up hither." 
 
 And the first voice ivhich I heard was, as it were, of a 
 trumpet speaking with me.] This is in accordance with the 
 character of this Book, which carefully maintains the sense 
 of distance between the creature and the glory of God. The 
 trumpet is the symbol of distant communication. It was a 
 very different character of communication from that which 
 John, in other circumstances, had known, when learning 
 from the lips of the Lord Jesus, or subsequently from the 
 Holy Ghost, the comforting truths of redemption. We cannot 
 but be sensible of this distant voice in reading the Revelation. 
 
 Come up hither, fyc.] These words do not refer to the be- 
 ing (( seated in heavenly places in Christ," as taught in the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians. In that sense, John had been in 
 Heaven ever since the ascension of Him who had risen as 
 the Head and Representative of His people. Nor is this 
 temporary withdrawal of John from the earth, in vision, a 
 symbol of the future translation of the Church ; for, in that 
 case, we should neither have seen John retaining, as he did, 
 the weakness of the creature ; nor would he have been re- 
 quired to eat a " bitter" book (see chap, x.) ; nor would he have 
 been sent back again to earth to testify " against peoples and 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 73 
 
 nations and tongues and kings" (Chap. x.). Such will not be 
 the portion of the Church in resurrection. Moreover, it will 
 be above angels and will not be tempted, as John, to fall 
 down and worship them. 
 
 John was taken through " the door opened in Heaven" 
 only to be instructed. " Come up hither, and I will show 
 thee things that must be hereafter." He was introduced 
 into a measure of the thoughts and knowledge of Heaven, 
 but not into its glorious power of life and action. The Church 
 as represented by John, may be said to have entered also ; 
 at least, it is our title and privilege, to enter ; though prac- 
 tically, we may despise our blessing, and linger outside 
 this open door, listless or slumbering, on to the very end of 
 our days of service. 
 
 / will show thee things that must be hereafter.] The future 
 things here spoken of as about to be shown to John, are 
 found in the sixth and following chapters ; their revelation 
 being consequent on the reception of the book from the 
 Throne and its being opened by Jesus. The fourth and 
 fifth chapters must therefore be regarded as introductory to 
 that which is distinctively " the Revelation ;" and which 
 commences with the sixth chapter. The vision of the 
 Throne (although the symbols of the Church's future glory 
 by which it was surrounded gave it indirectly a prophetic 
 character) was in itself a present thing. The Lamb was 
 then (as He still is) in the midst of the glory of that Throne ; 
 and from that Throne He rules. From that Throne also, 
 He took the Book which He has opened. Eighteen hundred 
 years ago He took the book ; eighteen hundred years ago 
 He opened the seals ; the Throne being a then present thing. 
 One reason, indeed, why the Throne was shown to John was, 
 that he might see whence this most precious Book came, 
 and be able to say, " the Revelation of Jesus Christ which 
 God gave unto Him." 
 
 [Great care must be taken not to confuse the scene de- 
 scribed in this chapter, with that described in Dan. vii., 
 
74 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 where the " Ancient of Days " is prophetically seen sitting 
 to judge and sentence the Antichristian nations ; or with 
 that described in Rev. xx. when the final judgment of 
 the dead takes place at the close of the millennium. The 
 Throne described in the chapter before us is the eternal 
 governmental Throne of the Lord God Almighty ; shown to 
 John that he and the suffering Church might be instructed 
 and comforted; but both the Throne on which the An- 
 cient of Days will sit, and the great white Throne on which 
 the Lord Jesus will sit at the final judgment, are judicial, 
 not governmental, Thrones ; and are set for a special and 
 temporary purpose only. The period to which this chap- 
 ter belongs, is that at which the " Revelation was given, 
 eighteen hundred years ago : the period to which the 
 Session of the Ancient of Days belongs, is the end of 
 the Times of the Gentiles when Antichrist and the ten 
 kingdoms that follow him are to be destroyed : the period 
 of the great white Throne of Rev. xx. is the end of the 
 millennium.] 
 
 I saw a Throne.] The Throne should be regarded, first 
 as it is in itself, apart from the symbols which surround it : 
 secondly, as it is in connection with those symbols. Con- 
 sidered by itself, it was the Throne of Him " who liveth for 
 ever and ever" the eternal Throne of Jehovah-Elohim- 
 Shadai, the Lord God Almighty the covenant God of 
 Israel. As such, it was the same as was seen by Isaiah 
 and Ezekiel unchanged and unchangeable throughout all 
 dispensations. 
 
 But in this chapter, it is not revealed by itself, but in 
 connexion with certain circumstances and symbols which 
 will not, in the same manner., attach to it when the present 
 dispensation terminates. For example, as soon as " the 
 sovereignty of the world shall become the sovereignty of 
 our God and of His Christ," the Lamb will cease to be 
 hidden in the Throne ; He will be known in the majesty 
 of His own distinctive kingdom. The cherubim will be 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 75 
 
 no longer seen at rest within the sea of crystal, without 
 wheels wheels being the sign of agency in the earth ; on 
 the contrary, they will again act in the plenitude of their 
 power, as once seen by Ezekiel, below the firmament of 
 crystal. The Sinai-character of the Throne, marked by 
 the thunderings and lightnings and voices (a character 
 which it may well retain whilst Israel and the earth remain 
 unreconciled by the blood of sprinkling), will no longer be 
 found, when the time comes for the accomplishment of all 
 those blessed promises to Israel and to the nations, " which 
 God hath spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets 
 that have been since the world began." 
 
 The fact too, that the book received by Jesus from the 
 Throne was both given and opened eighteen hundred years 
 ago, chronologically marks these two chapters as pertaining 
 to those past, and yet passing, years of the Church's militancy 
 and sorrow. No such book ever will or can be given or opened 
 again. Indeed, the Church in glory will not need it. We 
 shall no longer need then to keep the sayings of the prophecy 
 of this Book. 
 
 The vision of the Throne therefore, must be regarded, as 
 peculiarly belonging to our present dispensation, and is only 
 indirectly prophetic, when the symbols are abstractedly con- 
 sidered, as indicating glories by and by to be possessed by 
 those who shall reign, with Christ. 
 
 It should be observed, that many of the symbols of these 
 two chapters, as indeed of the Revelation throughout, are 
 derived from the Temple and its service. The jasper and 
 sardine stone; the seven lamps of fire, analogous both in 
 number and position to the lamps of the candlestick ; the 
 sea of crystal, answering to the brazen sea or laver ; the pre- 
 sentation of" the golden vials full of odours, indicating the 
 priestly presentation of the prayers of Israel ; and the num- 
 ber of the elders, are examples. 
 
 But it is the adaptation of these things to the Court of 
 Government and not to the service of the Temple, that is 
 
76 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the predominant thought in these chapters. It is true, that 
 the cleansing of the same Laver is alike required in those 
 who stand in the Holy place of the Temple, and those who 
 are associated with the Throne of the Almighty King. 
 They to whom is communicated a measure of that power 
 of superintending wisdom indicated by " the seven lamps 
 of fire burning before the Throne," must, according to the 
 Divine appointment, be also capable of being represented by 
 the lamps of that candlestick which burns in His presence 
 in the Holy Place. According to the order of the Melchis- 
 edek kingdom, he who sits upon a Throne of government 
 as an elder, must also be a Priest. The rule of the 
 saints is priestly ; but the Court of government and the 
 Temple of priestly service suggest different thoughts, and 
 are carefully to be distinguished. In these two chapters, 
 the Throne, the thrones of the elders (the name elder being 
 derived from those appointed to assist Moses in his govern- 
 ment), the cherubim, and the seven spirits sent forth into the 
 earth, are evidently intended to direct our thoughts to the 
 royal court of government. 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Revelation are re- 
 markably analogous in their testimony. Whilst Israel is 
 without a Priest, Temple, and Sacrifice, the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews reveals that there is a Priest, a Temple, and a 
 finished Sacrifice above the heavens for all the family of 
 faith. The Revelation shows, that although the Throne of 
 Judah is overthrown, and Jerusalem desolate or trodden 
 down, yet, that the government of the God of Israel is not 
 suspended ; but that He is still silently ordering all nations, 
 and that, with the view of establishing His King upon His 
 holy hill of Zion. Government is the predominant thought 
 in the Revelation. 
 
 And round about the Throne were thrones twenty and four 
 and on the thrones twenty-four elders seated.] " Thrones" 
 and not " seats," should be given as the translation. When 
 elders were appointed to assist Moses in the government of 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 77 
 
 Israel, they were in number seventy. We might have ex- 
 pected, perhaps, to find the same number here, instead of 
 "twenty-four" which is the number of priests. But the 
 change is, I think, intentional, and designed to teach us, 
 that all government is, by and by, to be cast in the mould of 
 priesthood. Formerly, the elder was not a priest; by and 
 by, every elder will be a priest. David was not a priest; 
 only a king : the Lord Jesus will be a Priest upon His 
 Throne. He is Melchisedek. Finally, all government will be 
 seen in the priestly form ; and the court of Divine govern- 
 ment become virtually identical with the Temple. " The 
 Lord is in His holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence 
 before Him." 
 
 With respect to the number " twenty-four," it should be 
 further observed, that it denotes orders or classes of priests, 
 and not individuals. This makes the twenty-four elders a 
 more fitting symbol for the whole priestly body. 
 
 Four living creatures] Zwa. I scarcely need observe 
 that " living creatures" and not "beasts" is the right transla- 
 tion. Qripiov the word rightly translated ff Beast" in the 
 thirteenth and other chapters, is a word perfectly different 
 from this. In the first of Ezekiel we find the corresponding 
 Hebrew word, and it is there rightly rendered by our 
 translators " living creatures." That the " cherubim" 
 and <f living creatures" are identical, may be seen from a 
 comparison of Ezekiel x. 
 
 There are few more unfortunate translations than that of 
 " beasts" for Zwa " living creatures." No thoughts can be 
 more contrasted than those which are suggested by " beasts," 
 and " living creatures" or " cherubim." " Beast" is a word 
 of well known evil meaning, both in Daniel and the Reve- 
 lation. When the beasts of Daniel were permitted to 
 establish themselves in the earth, and to tread down 
 Jerusalem, that holy and blessed agency represented by the 
 living creatures of Ezekiel and the Revelation was with- 
 drawn from the earth; and as soon as those beasts have 
 
78 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fulfilled their course, the " living creatures" will return. One 
 of the great objects of the Revelation is to contrast the con- 
 dition of the earth whilst under the last great " Beast," with 
 its condition when it shall be again brought under the 
 heavenly agency of the Cherubim. 
 
 It is important to observe, not only that the cherubim 
 sing the song of redemption, saying together with the 
 elders, " Thou hast redeemed US by thy blood &c ;" but 
 that they, as well as the elders, act as priests in presenting 
 the prayers of others ; so that the Church, even in ita 
 executive character of power, is regarded as priestly. 
 
 We may find some difficulty, perhaps, in attaching sym- 
 bols so different as those of the elders and of the cherubim, 
 to the same body the Church : but it is a difficulty 
 necessarily consequent on the blessed truth, that the Church 
 is " the fulness of him who filleth all in all." No symbols 
 and no language that did not suggest thoughts infinitely 
 various, and sometimes apparently contradictory, could 
 possibly describe the condition of those who are called into 
 fellowship with divine glory. So is it also with the Lord Jesus 
 Himself. What symbols not seemingly contradictory could 
 describe His attributes and being, as one with Him who 
 sitteth on the Throne ; and also those offices which He holds 
 as Man, or as the King of Israel ? A symbol which may 
 describe Him as on Mount Zion surrounded by angels and 
 risen saints ; or as in Jerusalem on the Throne of His father 
 David, must not destroy another symbol which may declare 
 His glory as God. He is at once the altar, the sacrifice, the 
 laver, the mercy-seat the candlestick the Priest. Infinity 
 of relations concentrated in one Person, is His characteristic ; 
 and to a certain extent, it will characterize the Church too. 
 Even here they are the brethren, the servants, the friends, 
 the attendants, and the spouse of Christ. We are not to 
 negative one relation by another, but to unite all. 
 
 It is interesting to observe the difference between the 
 cherubim as mentioned in Genesis and in the Revelation. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION IV. AND V. 79 
 
 In Genesis, they are described as entrusted with the exe- 
 cutive, power of God, wielding the flaming sword against 
 man and shutting him out from Paradise into a ruined earth. 
 Such was man's first acquaintance with this executive power 
 of God. In the Revelation, we again see the cherubim ; but 
 to teach us what ? To teach us, that, through redemption, 
 man is to be made the possessor of the very same glorious 
 power, which, after his sin, presented to him the first sight 
 of terror. 
 
 They sung a new song, fyc.] New because in character 
 millennial. The words cannot be used, except anticipatively , 
 until the new age begins in the earth ; for if the Church 
 were at this present moment to be taken into glory, it could 
 not say of Israel, " Thou hast made THEM kings and 
 priests; nor could every creature give thanks and sing 
 now ; for at present, " all creation groans." 
 
 It is plain that Israel are meant by the saints whose 
 prayers are presented by the elders and cherubim, because 
 of none other than Israel could it be said, that they are 
 distinctively kings and priests reigning on the earth. We 
 indeed, are ff kings and priests," but at present we suffer 
 instead of reigning on the earth ; and in that day we shall 
 be above the heavens, acting as the risen priesthood of 
 Israel. 
 
 Some have conjectured that the Church may be raised 
 and sing this song above, during the period of Antichrist's 
 reign and the divine judgments on Israel and the earth; 
 but how then could creation sing when the earth and all 
 things in it will be in their furthest distance from God ? 
 How could Israel be spoken of as made priests and kings, 
 and reigning, at a moment when they will be in the very 
 extreme hour of their direst tribulation and judgment ? 
 
 Besides, what was the occasion of this song being sung ? 
 It was because the Lamb had taken the book from the 
 Throne, and was about to open its seals. This can never 
 be done again. The book has been received and the seals 
 
 
 M 
 
 
80 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 opened for eighteen hundred years ; and, as a consequence, 
 we have the Revelation as our guide. 
 
 The taking the book was a sign that there was One who 
 was worthy to receive from the Throne : the acknowledged 
 right of the Lamb to open the book was a sign that there 
 was some one worthy to communicate blessing also. Thus, 
 in vision, the Lord Jesus ostensibly assumed for a moment 
 a mediate place mediate between the creature and the 
 Throne ; and hence this anticipative song. When such a 
 place is abidingly assumed, Israel and the earth will be 
 reconciled, and the song be applicable to circumstances 
 actually existent; and we shall no longer be obliged to 
 contrast the words we sing in faith with the sad realities 
 around. 
 
 The vials (^)iaXai) answer to the " bowls " or " basons " 
 of gold which were placed in the holy place, near the golden 
 altar. (See 2 Chron. iv. 22.) 
 
 There is a remarkable chapter in Leviticus, which should 
 be read in connexion with the present passage. After the 
 priestly family had been consecrated during seven days, on 
 the eighth day, they entered with Aaron on their priestly 
 service in the sanctuary on behalf of Israel ; and as a con- 
 sequence, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 
 Moses also, and Aaron unitedly blessed the people. See 
 Lev. ix. This is a typical scene. Aaron was a type of 
 Christ in His Priesthood, and Aaron's sons were typical 
 of that priestly family of faith, who, through and with 
 Christ, as soon as the eighth day (i. e. the day of re- 
 surrection) comes, will enter into " heavenly places not 
 made with hands," there to pray and to minister on behalf 
 of others, around and with their risen Lord. Thus the 
 prayers of redeemed and forgiven Israel will be presented 
 through Christ; and as a consequence, Israel's blessings 
 will come. The passage before us may therefore be con- 
 sidered as an antitypical accomplishment of the scene in 
 Leviticus. 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 81 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 VI. 
 
 WE now enter on that part of the Revelation which may be 
 strictly called prophetic. The sealed roll is here opened. 
 But before we consider the specific statements of this chapter, 
 it may be desirable to state some of the principles that are to 
 guide us in our general interpretation. 
 
 The Revelation, from the sixth chapter onward, is, as I 
 have already said, to be distributed into two great divisions. 
 The first of these, extending from the sixth to the eighteenth 
 chapter inclusively, treats of the period during which the 
 Lord Jesus is seated, not on His own, but on His Father's 
 Throne ; whereas, the second division, extending from the 
 nineteenth chapter onwards, treats of events that occur after 
 Christ is sent forth in the exercise of His own millennial 
 power, as " King of Kings and Lord of Lords." The first of 
 these periods precedes the hour, when (as revealed in Daniel 
 vii.) the Son of Man shall be brought before the Ancient of 
 Days and definitely invested with the sovereignty of earth : 
 the second is subsequent to that investiture, and is the period 
 when he applies the power with which He has been so in- 
 vested. The former of these divisions is that which we have 
 first to consider. It treats of the time during which the 
 Throne of Jehovah acts for Christ, while Christ waits, be- 
 cause rejected by Israel and the earth, "until His enemies be 
 set as a footstool for His feet."* 
 
 * At Armageddon they are gathered in order that they may be set 
 (see Rev. xvi) ; at the end of the nineteenth chapter we see them set as 
 a footstool and His foot planted on them in wrath; even as Joshua 
 planted his foot on the necks of the conquered kings of Canaan. 
 
 G 
 
8 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The subject of this part of the Revelation is threefold. It 
 describes, with much precision, the forms under which human 
 evil will for the last time raise itself up against God : first, in 
 the Harlot whilst Antichrist is her servant (Chap, xvii); then, 
 in Antichrist and the false Prophet who ministers in his pre- 
 sence, after Antichrist and the ten kings with him shall have 
 destroyed the Harlot.* (Chap, xiii.) Secondly, it describes 
 the manner in which God (as when of old He sent plagues 
 on Pharoah and Egypt) will again direct His judgments 
 against these confederacies of evil, in preparation for the 
 final mission of His Son. Thirdly, it reveals various aspects 
 of the glory, which, as soon as the hour of Satan's triumph is 
 over, will attach both in earth and in Heaven, to those who 
 share, in resurrection, the power of the Lord Jesus. Such, 
 to speak generally, are the subjects of the Revelation, from 
 the sixth to the eighteenth chapter inclusive. 
 
 As regards the order of arrangement, two things should 
 principally be noticed. This part of the Revelation consists 
 of several separate visions, each complete in itself; none 
 commencing previously to the time when God begins to visit 
 the nations in anger, but each terminating as soon as it arrives 
 at the period appointed for the manifestation of the Lord 
 Jesus in glory. Many times in this part of the Revelation, 
 are we led on to the moment when Christ's glory is to be 
 made manifest ; but as soon as that point is reached, the 
 vision closes. His mission in glory, although referred to, is 
 not described ; nor the events which follow thereon declared : 
 the narration ceases, and a new vision begins ; in which new 
 vision, we find the same period retraced and presented in 
 fresh aspects. In this respect, the Revelation, in its struc- 
 ture, closely resembles the prophecy of Daniel; that also 
 consisting of many separate visions, each complete in itself. 
 
 * " And the ten horns which them sawest AND THE BEAST these 
 shall hate the Harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall 
 eat her flesh and burn her with fire." Such is the right reading. See 
 Tregelles. 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 88 
 
 The early visions are wide and comprehensive ; the later 
 more specific ; all belonging (to speak generally) to the same 
 period, but presenting different features of that period : the 
 wide and general statements of the earlier visions, leading to 
 enquiries which the more specific descriptions of those that 
 follow, answer. It is thus that these two books of prophecy 
 may be made in great measure exponents of themselves. 
 
 Nothing can be more important in interpreting the Scrip- 
 tures than carefully to observe this habit of recurrence. It 
 is found throughout the whole of the Sacred Writings. In- 
 deed in all narration, whenever the subject treated of has 
 various branches, it is necessary, after we have brought one 
 part of our narrative to its conclusion, to return again and 
 pursue the subject through another of its divisions; for, in 
 no other way, can all the various features of a complex sub- 
 ject be fully and distinctly given. The same period there- 
 fore may thus be many times retraced ; and the successive 
 divisions of our narrative become, as to time, concurrent, 
 and not chronologically subsequent to each other. The very 
 earliest part of Scripture affords an example of this. The 
 first chapter of Genesis brings us to the seventh day of rest, 
 when all creation had been finished and God rested from 
 all His work which He had created and made. The creation 
 of man, both male and female, had been on the sixth day. 
 This is mentioned in the first chapter ; yet nothing there is 
 said respecting the peculiar manner in which Eve was 
 created. The description of her creation is not found until 
 the second chapter, which consequently returns, and retraces 
 the same period that had previously been considered. No 
 one would think of reading the second chapter of Genesis 
 throughout, as chronologically subsequent to the first ; for, 
 in that case, it would be necessary to say that Eve was 
 created after creation had been finished. Yet mistakes no 
 less strange have been made in reading prophetic Scripture, 
 from neglect of this obvious principle. Again, the first 
 chapter of Isaiah leads us through the whole scene of Israel's 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 evil, on to the hour of God's millennial interference, when 
 He " will turn His hand upon them and purely purge away 
 their dross and take away all their tin ; when He will restore 
 their judges as at the first, and their counsellors as at the 
 beginning." Thus, the end is reached even in the first 
 chapter ; consequently, the subsequent chapters do but 
 retrace, and variously illustrate different parts of the same 
 period. The Book of Zechariah, in like manner, consists of 
 many separate visions not chronologically successive. So 
 likewise the Book of Daniel. The first vision, which is that 
 of the Image, leads us on to the time when the Image is 
 smitten, ground to powder, and the stone which smites it 
 becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth. No 
 subsequent vision in Daniel describes anything beyond this 
 limit. They all retrace, and develope other features belong- 
 ing to the same period. The Revelation is written on the 
 same principle. The chapter before us, which is the first in 
 the series of prophetic visions, brings us to that final hour, 
 when men shall call " upon the rocks to hide them and on 
 the mountains to cover them," because the great day of the 
 Lamb's wrath will have come. The subsequent visions, on 
 to the nineteenth chapter, do but retrace ; until, in the end 
 of that chapter, we find the manifestation of the Lord in 
 glory and the actual inflictions of His wrath described. Yet 
 the Revelation has been constantly expounded, as if each 
 vision followed, in order of time, that which had preceded ; 
 and hence hopeless perplexity has been the result.* 
 
 * That the Eevelation, in neither of its two divisions, is a consecutive 
 history of events in the order of fulfilment, may be proved again and 
 again, by a reference to the Book itself. The seventeenth chapter, for 
 example, which describes the condition of Antichrist and his power be- 
 fore the Ten Kingdoms agree to destroy the Harlot, and to give their 
 authority to him, is, in point of time, earlier than the thirteenth chapter, 
 which describes the condition of Antichrist after he has received that 
 power. 
 
 Again, the wickedness described in chapters xii., xiii., and xiv. can- 
 not be subsequent to the period referred to in the sixth chapter, when 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 85 
 
 Another rule carefully to be remembered is, that in every 
 vision,, the consummation, which is one of blessing, is re- 
 corded first, prior to the events of evil and of judgment by 
 which it is preceded and introduced. This arrangement 
 could not have been adopted, if the Revelation were a his- 
 tory of events in the order of fulfilment ; but it is an order 
 which the considerateness of love would suggest to any one 
 who desired to relieve the anxiety of another to whom he 
 was about to tell a tale of sorrow. He would speak of the 
 end first, silencing the awakened apprehension by the assu- 
 rance that however great the preceding sorrow, the conclu- 
 sion would be one of certain joy. He would do this, even if his 
 tale respected things that were past; but how much more 
 if he were prophetically narrating things to come. This, 
 
 Heaven and earth are shaken, and all the mighty men and the chief cap- 
 tains, and every bondman and every freeman call upon the rocks to hide 
 them, because the great day of the Lamb's wrath has come. Babylon 
 and Antichrist do not flourish after this ; on the contrary, their abomina- 
 tions are the cause of that day of wrath. These are instances taken 
 from the first division of the prophetic part of the Revelation. An ex- 
 ample no less plain occurs in the second division also. The first eight 
 verses of the twenty-first chapter describe the condition of the new hea- 
 vens and the new earth, after the millennium, when the Heavenly City, 
 New Jerusalem, descends into the new earth, where there is no longer 
 any pain or sickness or death all former things having passed away. 
 But when the first eight verses of the twenty-first chapter have thus de- 
 scribed the ^osMnillennial dispensation, the subsequent verses of the 
 same chapter, and the connected verses of the twenty-second, return to 
 the millennium, and describe the relation of the Heavenly City to the 
 earth during the millennial age ; for when the leaves of the Tree of life 
 are spoken of as being " for the healing of the nations," the millennial 
 nations must be referred to, seeing that in the new earth there will be no 
 nations that need, either physically or spiritually, any cure. These in- 
 stances are sufficient to show that the Revelation, like other books of 
 prophecy, is written, not in the order of fulfilment, but of narration. If, 
 then, these examples prove that the Revelation is not a consecutive his- 
 tory, it follows that any system of interpretation that treats it as a 
 consecutive history (whether of events future or past) must be essentially 
 erroneous. 
 
86 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 consequently, is the order which. God has chosen in the 
 visions of the Revelation an order worthy of His goodness, 
 and in strict consistency with the character He bears towards 
 His children. Thus also fitting prominence is given to the 
 great final object of faith ; for to faith the end, however 
 remote, is intended always to be the proximate object of 
 apprehension. 
 
 The practice of noticing the closing event of blessing 
 Jirst, is common throughout the whole of Scripture. In the 
 second chapter of Isaiah, for example, the glory of Zion in 
 the latter day, when all nations shall flow unto it, and learn 
 of God, and walk with Israel in the light of the Lord, is 
 mentioned first; and then follows the description of that 
 awful hour of visitation which is to precede and introduce 
 the day of glory. In the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus 
 a chapter which recites the feasts of Israel, we find the 
 Sabbath, the type of that final rest which remains for the 
 people of God, mentioned first, before the Passover and the 
 other feasts are spoken of; although the full sabbatic rest is 
 evidently the ultimate point of blessing, to which the 
 Passover, and other such provisions of grace, lead. In the 
 Revelation, if the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters be ex- 
 amined, it will be found, that they form one connected 
 vision. But the former of these chapters reveals a scene of 
 triumph which cannot be reached, until all the dark circum- 
 stances of the succeeding chapter have first been fulfilled. 
 
 The fifteenth chapter (drawing its symbols from the cir- 
 cumstances of Israel's triumph on the safe and happy side of 
 the Red Sea, where they sang with Moses their song of 
 victory) describes the final condition of God's delivered 
 people when the hour of Antichrist shall have passed : 
 whereas the chapter that follows describes the hour of his 
 blasphemies, and the plagues sent by God on him and on his 
 kingdom. The fifteenth chapter speaks to us of God's holy 
 habitation and the triumph of His people there ; the six- 
 teenth recites the tale of the house of bondage. Another 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 87 
 
 example may be found in the relation which the fourth and 
 fifth chapters bear to the rest of the Book that follows. Those 
 chapters preface and introduce the Revelation. Yet the 
 glories symbolized in them and the anticipative millennial 
 song of the fifth chapter will not be realized, until all the 
 woes of which the succeeding chapters treat, shall have 
 passed for ever. 
 
 And now let us apply these principles to the chapter 
 before us. Its chief subject is the infliction of Divine chas- 
 tisements* on the earth, until they are consummated by the 
 Day of the wrath of the Lamb. But neither the manifesta- 
 tion of the Lord in glory nor the judgments which suc- 
 ceed that manifestation are here described. The description 
 of the manifestation of the Lord, and of the judgments that 
 follow that manifestation, is reserved for another portion 
 of this book. The consternation indeed produced by the 
 sense of the arrival of the day of the Lamb's wrath is 
 described ; Heaven and earth are, in the vision, shaken, and 
 men's hearts fail them for fear and looking after the things 
 that are coming on the earth; but the subject is not pursued 
 to its conclusion. Suddenly the vision closes, and a new 
 vision begins. Such is the character of this first prophetic 
 chapter of the Revelation. Like initiatory visions in other 
 books, this chapter is brief and general, and suggests many 
 enquiries which find their answer in a subsequent chapter : 
 but, if it were the only portion of the Revelation that had 
 been given, it would teach us, with sufficient distinctness, 
 what the conclusion of this present age is to be. We 
 should never have deluded ourselves and others by the 
 
 * It will be remembered that I distinguish ''chastisements" from" judg- 
 ments." This, as to words, may be said to be an arbitrary distinction ; 
 but it is a distinction very important as to the things denoted. The 
 plagues on Egypt, seeing that they allowed of repentance, were very 
 different from the totally destroying judgment which fell upon Pharoah 
 in the Red Sea ; for tJuit admitted of no repentance and was inflicted by 
 the hand of the Lord himself, present in visible glory. 
 
88 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 expectation of days of increasing light and blessing, if we 
 had remembered that the scenes of judgment described in 
 this chapter, followed by the Day of the Lamb's wrath, are 
 to precede the final victory of righteousness and Truth, 
 
 That final triumph, although last to be accomplished, is 
 nevertheless the first subject of announcement in this chapter. 
 I say of announcement, because the Lord Jesus opened the 
 seals, not that He might accomplish the events indicated 
 under them, but that He might, as directed of God, pro- 
 phetically instruct us concerning them : else, the seals could 
 not have been opened, as they then were before the eyes 
 of John, and the events remain (even as they still do) un- 
 accomplished. The great end, therefore, is first announced, 
 before those events are spoken of, which, by God's appoint- 
 ment, are necessary to the attainment of that end that end 
 being the mission of the Lord Jesus in majesty and glory, 
 that He may go forth " conquering and to conquer." " I 
 saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had 
 a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth 
 conquering and to conquer." " Conquering and to con- 
 quer " are words capable of being applied to One only ; for 
 they imply eternal, never ending victory. Men of the earth 
 wicked men, and especially the last great Antichrist, may 
 be allowed to triumph gloriously for a season ; but it cannot 
 be said of them, that they go forth conquering and to con" 
 quer. Such words belong only to One. They describe the 
 Lord Jesus in the exercise of His millennial power, includ- 
 ing its earliest display in those judgments wherewith Chris- 
 tendom, and Jerusalem, and the ten apostate kingdoms of 
 the Roman world, will be severally visited ; but referring 
 mainly to that continued extension of His sovereign rule 
 which shall end finally in the subjugation of all enemies. 
 " He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river 
 unto the ends of the earth. They that dwelt in the wilder- 
 ness, shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the 
 dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 89 
 
 presents, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts : yea, 
 all kings shall fall down before Him ; all nations shall serve 
 Him." (Ps. Ixxii.) 
 
 The forty-fifth Psalm is perhaps the best commentary on 
 that which the opening of the first seal discloses. That 
 Psalm is clearly millennial. It is to be read as the medi- 
 tation of some father or elder in Israel, who sees before him 
 the King in His beauty. " Thine eyes shall see the King 
 in His beauty." When Israel last beheld Him, though He 
 was even then ee the Son of God and the King of Israel," 
 He was without form or comeliness in their eyes ; they saw 
 no beauty in Him that they should admire Him; they 
 thought that He was " stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." 
 The tongue of Israel, therefore, was dumb ; their mouth 
 was closed at Him, or, if opened, opened only in reviling. 
 But in this Psalm, the tongue of the Elder and instructer of 
 Israel has become like the tongue of a ready writer ; and he 
 speaks his meditations touching the King. We hear no 
 longer of the <f visage marred more than any man, and His 
 form more than the sons of men ;" but of His being fairer 
 than the children of men of grace being poured into His 
 lips of His being blessed of God for ever. " Gird thy 
 sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and 
 thy majesty ; and in thy majesty ride prosperously, because 
 of truth and meekness and righteousness and thy right hand 
 shall teach thee terrible things." Such is the address to 
 Israel's King, when, like the symbolic rider on the white 
 horse, He shall go forth " conquering and to conquer." But 
 these are not words whereby we can address Him now. It 
 is now the time of " the foolishness of preaching," (f the weak- 
 ness of God," a time when truth and righteousness are 
 allowed to suffer, and God interferes not for their vindication; 
 but pursues, in patient grace, the ministry of reconciliation, 
 " preaching peace by Jesus Christ." The sword of righteous 
 vengeance is not yet girded on; neither does He as yet 
 " ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and 
 
90 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 righteousness." The goodly things of nature " the myrrh, 
 the cassia and the ivory," are not yet consecrated unto the 
 Lord ; neither is He as yet surrounded by the risen Church 
 of the first-born as His " fellows/' the partakers of His glory. 
 The daughter of Jerusalem does not as yet stand as fe the 
 Queen at His right hand arrayed in gold of Ophir," i.e., in 
 the full excellency of a heavenly calling manifested and 
 maintained on the earth ; neither as yet are the daughter of 
 Tyre and " the daughters of the famous nations " ready to 
 follow in the train of the daughter of Zion, as they shall by 
 and by follow her, when the hour comes for her to be led 
 with rejoicing into the palace of the Great King. 
 
 All these things are future. They are the results of the 
 rider on the white horse going forth " conquering and to 
 conquer." Very different is the condition which the Reve- 
 lation discloses as now about to be among the nations. 
 Jerusalem is soon about to become the seat of such aban- 
 doned wickedness as " spiritually to be called Sodom and 
 Egypt." The moral character of the Gentile nations, at the 
 same period, may be learned from the character of the sym- 
 bol employed to indicate the system which will then sway 
 them and direct all their energies. That system is sym- 
 bolized by a woman <{ arrayed in purple, and scarlet colour, 
 and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having 
 a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness 
 of her fornication." (Rev. xvii. 4.) The nations thus cha- 
 racterized and Jerusalem will together fall into the toils of 
 Antichrist, and (rejecting God) will worship him ; until at 
 last, when the whole world teems with the prosperity of 
 evil, and Satan seems to have effectually triumphed, God 
 will interfere, as against Pharoah of old, to vindicate His 
 own outraged holiness. Hence the mission of the red, the 
 black, and the pale horses.* War as an immediate infliction 
 
 * A horse is a symbol frequently used in Scripture (see Zechariah) as 
 the emblem of divine power employed or to be employed in the earth. 
 Power intended for Heaven, would not be represented by this symbol. 
 
ON KEVELATION VI. 91 
 
 from God, famine, and then, multiplied destruction by 
 sword, by hunger, by death, and by the beasts of the earth, 
 are successively predicted forming a series of divine visi- 
 tations reaching on to the period, when He shall come, who, 
 by one final blow, shall terminate the empire of evil and 
 establish the everlasting reign of righteousness. 
 
 Yet in the midst of all this abounding iniquity and the 
 inflictions consequent thereon, there will be found some 
 faithfulness to God and to His Truth. There will be some 
 who will lay down their lives, "because of the Word of God 
 and because of the testimony which they held." Their souls 
 were, in the vision, seen under the altar. That altar the 
 golden altar of incense, symbolizes the place of the priestly 
 intercession of Christ. It represents the place where the 
 risen priesthood the Church of the first-born glorified, will 
 by and by be gathered, clothed in their garments of glory and 
 beauty, returning thanksgiving for men below, and seeking 
 new blessings for them from the covenant God of Israel. 
 But here they are seen, not standing in glorified bodies 
 around the altar, but their souls under it, as in the place of 
 the ashes, crying for vengeance ' ' How long, O Master, holy 
 and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on 
 those who dwell on the earth :" so entirely, during the mys- 
 terious period of Israel's blindness is the holy place turned 
 into a place of judgment to them and not of blessing. The 
 
 It is manifest that these horses of woe indicate Divine power directed 
 against human things, for none else but God could " take peace from the 
 earth," or " destroy with famine, pestilence and the beasts of the earth." 
 As regards the extent of this destructive agency, it is universal through- 
 out the whole sphere contemplated, which cannot be more narrow than 
 the Roman world. Moreover, there is evidently no restoration or revival 
 from the blows given. They follow one on the other, and continue in 
 operation until the great consummation in the day of the Lamb's wrath. 
 The very fact that the kingdoms of the Roman world are not at the pre- 
 sent moment under such inflictions, is a proof that the whole chapter is 
 future; for, I repeat, when once these inflictions commence they will 
 never terminate until the great final end. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 cry was not unheeded, although, the answer to the petition 
 was for a while delayed. A white robe, the sign of their be- 
 ing numbered among "the overcomers " (see Rev. iii. 5) was 
 given unto them ; and they were told that " they should rest 
 yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and 
 their brethren that should be killed as they were should be 
 completed " another evidence that some faithfulness to God 
 and to his testimonies was yet remaining in the earth. 
 
 The sixth seal is next opened, and the concluding scene of 
 this first vision is given. We behold the signs which imme- 
 diately precede the manifestation of the Lord in glory. The 
 Lord Jesus had before said, " There shall be signs in the sun, 
 and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress 
 of nations with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring ; men's 
 hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things 
 which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven 
 shall be shaken." Such are the signs which are seen in the 
 vision here. Men recognise them and tremble. They say 
 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?" Thus far this vision leads 
 us : but no more is revealed. It is not the intention of this 
 part of the Revelation to describe the manifestation of the 
 Lord in glory, or to speak of the events which follow that 
 manifestation. Accordingly the vision closes, and in the 
 next chapter a new vision begins. 
 
 In reading therefore this chapter, we must endeavour to 
 realize the condition of the Roman nations at the time of the 
 end, when the habits and civilization of Western Europe 
 will be planted in Jerusalem and the connected Asiatic 
 regions. That those regions will form the great theatre on 
 which the closing events of this dispensation are displayed, 
 the whole of Scripture declares ; and existing circumstances 
 have at last awakened in the world at large the expectation 
 of these countries becoming again the centres of commerce, 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 93 
 
 civilization, and refinement. Egypt is arising before their 
 eyes. The cities of Asia Minor and various parts of the 
 Turkish Empire are becoming seats of commercial energy and 
 wealth. Palestine awaits the return of Israel. Missionaries 
 of the religious principles of Europe and political emissaries 
 are spread over the districts of Nineveh and Babylon ; 
 and plans are being formed for re-opening the navigation 
 of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The concentration of 
 European resources and wealth in India on the one side, 
 and the vigorous energy of Western Europe on the other, 
 have already caused Syria and the Euphratean districts to be 
 placed, as it were, between two mighty levers, which must, 
 if permitted to continue their action, infallibly raise these 
 central regions into a prosperity as great (indeed, as we learn 
 from Scripture, greater) than that of the countries employed 
 to elevate them. The rise of spurious and adulterated 
 Christianity and of worldly civilization in those Eastern 
 regions, will doubtless dispel the cloud of barbarism that has 
 so long covered them with desolation, and will spread a fair 
 and delusive brightness over the renovated scene. Men, 
 and even Christians, are already snared by the expectation, 
 and are anticipating the happy consequences of the spread 
 of European light and knowledge in the favoured countries 
 of the East. The establishment of modern European prin- 
 ciples in those countries will unquestionably be an era in 
 the history of the world an era no less important than the 
 sudden profession of Christianity by Constantine and the 
 Roman world, although perhaps more silently and gradu- 
 ally effected. But what darkness and error has flowed from 
 regarding that change under Constantine as the real work of 
 the Spirit of God ! Just so, I believe, will even deeper 
 darkness settle in upon those, who shall be content to 
 welcome the coming prospects of the East, as being the 
 work of God in blessing. Those Eastern nations and their 
 cities are declared in the Word of God to be under His 
 most special curse. They cannot be raised except in open 
 
94 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 contravention of His declared resolve. The attempt to 
 raise them may for a moment succeed : but it will be the 
 commencement of a manifested collision between man and 
 God ; and which is the stronger of the two ? 
 
 The attempt to elevate these nations will infallibly bring 
 the ways of man into direct collision with the counsels of 
 God ; but it is an attempt that will be persevered in ; for 
 those countries are the field in which,, according to the 
 express declarations of Scripture, the harvest of human evil 
 will be allowed to ripen. The long continued progress of 
 human greatness (which, though occasionally checked, has 
 nevertheless steadily advanced from the Flood on to the pre- 
 sent hour) is to attain in those regions of the East, the final 
 point of its development. Itwas around the Tower of Babel 
 in the land of Shinar, that those principles commenced which, 
 after a growth of four thousand years, will be developed in 
 their maturity in the land of Shinar again. (See Zech. v.) 
 What delusion, then, can be more deep than that which 
 assigns to the Spirit of Christ those agencies, which now, 
 under the name of civilization, are bringing in the consum- 
 mation of the mystery of iniquity in the completed apostasy 
 of the latter day ? 
 
 Whether the visitations of Divine wrath, which the horses 
 in the sixth chapter of the Revelation symbolize, extend 
 beyond the ten kingdoms of the Roman world, I do not 
 undertake to say. Perhaps they may reach those countries, 
 which, attracted by the blaze of these nations' greatness, 
 may covet their honours or their gain. Speaking generally, 
 however, I consider the sphere of the Revelation to be the 
 Roman world, with Jerusalem and Babylon for its centres. 
 The same principles of evil, indeed, may work and are 
 working elsewhere ; but it is in the Roman earth only that 
 their full maturity will be seen. The mercy of God has set 
 bounds to the last great development of human evil. Of 
 this, also, He has said, " Hitherto shalt thou go and no 
 further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 
 
ON REVELATION VI. 95 
 
 It is not the object either of the Revelation or of any other 
 part of Scripture, to write the history of the world ; nor even 
 to trace, step by step, the gradual development of evil in 
 those countries which are assigned as the special sphere for 
 the manifestation of the great apostasy. It gives us the 
 history neither of Popery nor Mahomedanism nor of any 
 other similar systems, however wide or numerous the chan- 
 nels they may have opened to help forward the streams of 
 iniquity into their final gathering place ; but it confines 
 itself to a description of the end. It places us between 
 two contrasted periods, commencing with the time when the 
 Gentile Churches were yet worthy of being represented by 
 candlesticks of gold ; and then passing on to the close of the 
 dispensation, it describes the moral and the outward cha- 
 racteristics of Babylon and of Antichrist, and so teaches us 
 to judge of the character of the end. In describing the 
 former period it shows what we have lost ; in speaking of 
 the latter, it shows us the tendency of the principles that are 
 now working around us, and warns us as to the dangers we 
 have to shun. This manner of instruction is brief and 
 simple ; and when undertaken by God is perfect and sure. 
 The danger of floating down the tributary streams will soon 
 be understood, when once we have apprehended the cha- 
 racter of the vortex at the close. 
 
 It is to these things that God in His mercy is now 
 awakening the attention of many. The scattered and for- 
 saken principles of truth, which once formed the strength of 
 the Church's separation in its unearthly calling, are being 
 recognised ; and some of them are being recovered. And 
 thus while the dispensation, as a whole, is advancing with 
 increased rapidity in its downward course, a place is found 
 by some of security and peace and of waiting for the Lord 
 from heaven. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 011 |ltfeelathii VI. 
 
 THE following may be given as a division of the Revelation 
 from the sixth to the eighteenth chapters inclusive. 
 
 The sixth chapter is a vision complete in itself. Its 
 preface of blessing is in the second verse. 
 
 The seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters form one series, 
 and should be read together. The tenth contains the pre- 
 face of blessing, the three chapters which follow it referring, 
 in separate narratives, to the same evil period, viz., the 1260 
 days, during which the two Witnesses of God bear their 
 sackcloth testimony in Jerusalem (see chap, xi.), and during 
 which the woman clothed with the sun sojourns in the wil- 
 derness (see chap, xii.), and during which Antichrist reigns 
 supremely (see chap. xiii). 
 
 The fourteenth chapter should be read by itself. Its 
 preface of blessing is found in the five commencing verses. 
 
 The fifteenth and sixteenth chapters form one vision. The 
 preface of blessing is in the fifteenth chapter. 
 
 The seventeenth chapter must be read by itself. It 
 describes Babylon morally, and shows that Antichrist first 
 sustains, but afterwards destroys, the peculiar governmental 
 system which will give to Babylon its distinctiveness 
 morally. The first verse contains the announcement of 
 destruction, previous to the description of that which is to 
 be destroyed. 
 
 The eighteenth chapter describes Babylon physically, as 
 regards its outward wealth and greatness. As in the former 
 chapter, the announcement of the destruction is given before 
 the description of that which is destroyed. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 97 
 
 " And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, 
 and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with 
 a voice of thunder, Come. And behold a white horse" Sfc. 
 
 Nothing can be more important in interpreting the Reve- 
 lation, than to remember that the seals have been opened, 
 and are never to be opened again ; the result of their having 
 been opened, being, not the fulfilment of the event predicted, 
 but the communication of prophetic instruction concerning it. 
 
 The sealed Roll which the Lord Jesus took from the 
 Throne God's gift to Him, was opened and read by Him- 
 self alone. No one else opened its seals or looked into it ; 
 and no one ever will. That Roll pertains to Jesus alone. It 
 appointed the subjects respecting which He was to instruct 
 His servants ; and by the directions therein contained, He 
 guided Himself as to the instruction communicated. He 
 chose, however, His own means of making the communi- 
 cation ; using chiefly the instrumentality of an angel, by 
 whom, visions, in accordance with the directions of the sealed 
 book, were shown to John. This shows us the relation of the 
 sealed book to the Revelation as a whole; for thus the whole, 
 not part merely, of the Revelation, will be included under 
 one or other of the seals. Under the seventh seal, the com- 
 mission to reveal embraced an infinitude of subjects all in 
 fact that is contained from the eighth chapter to the end of 
 the Revelation. 
 
 One of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of 
 thunder " Come"~\ The word " Come" was addressed, not 
 to John, but to the horse and its rider, who instantly came 
 forth that John might see and be instructed. " Come," 
 and not " Come and see," is the right reading through 
 out this chapter. 
 
 As the symbolic " living creature" is here seen engaged 
 
 H 
 
98 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 in communicating instruction to John ; so, during the mil- 
 lennial reign of Christ, when the risen saints shall occupy 
 that place in glory which is here symbolically held by the 
 "living creatures," they (the saints) will no doubt be em- 
 ployed in teaching others who will still be in the flesh, as 
 John then was, the things appointed for them to know 
 respecting the ways of God in government. There is a 
 propriety, therefore, in one of the living creatures being so 
 employed in this vision ; for in virtue of the saints holding, 
 by and by, that place in glory which the living creatures in 
 this vision hold, they will be empowered to instruct respecting 
 such things. The "voice of thunder," just as " the trumpet" 
 in the preceding chapter, maintains the sense of distance 
 between John as a creature and the glory of God. 
 
 Behold a white horse, $*<?.] This symbol has been com- 
 monly understood to signify the triumphant progress of the 
 Gospel, as now preached. The error of such interpretation 
 must be manifest to any careful reader of the Scriptures, for 
 
 I. The Gospel, as now preached, is not and will not be 
 triumphant: it is rejected. It is preached " for a witness." 
 
 II. This verse refers not merely to the progress, but to 
 the primary sending forth of that which it describes ; and 
 since the Gospel was sent forth many years before this vision 
 (for the apostolic preaching of the Gospel, which of all 
 preaching had been the most triumphant, had not only 
 commenced but had ended), that " sending forth" cannot be 
 referred to here ; for the symbol is professedly prophetic, 
 informing John of something that was to come to pass 
 hereafter. 
 
 III. The symbol of "a rider on a white horse," &c., would 
 not be used to designate a ministration like that " of the 
 foolishness of preaching," a ministration too that is despised 
 and set at nought. "A sower going forth to sow," is a more 
 appropriate emblem ; and is accordingly used in the chapter 
 which describes the history of Christianity in this present 
 dispensation. (See Matt, xiii.) 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 99 
 
 IV. The Revelation must be interpreted in consistency 
 with itself. As a whole, it is not intended to describe the 
 patient ministration of God in grace ; but, on the contrary, 
 the enforcement of His will by power. It describes the 
 enforcement of the title of Christ, " as the Lion of the Tribe 
 of Judah." 
 
 And here I must again repeat, that the E-evelation is not 
 a history of the world. It does not profess to record the 
 events that have occurred either in the earth at large, or in 
 the Roman world, during the last 1800 years. We need 
 not therefore ransack secular history, in order to find fulfil- 
 ments for the predictions either of Daniel or the Revelation. 
 No such continuity of historic instruction is attempted in 
 either of these prophecies. That of Daniel is divided, as 
 to time, into two great divisions the first extending from 
 Nebuchadnezzar to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, 
 a period of about 600 years : the second commences at a 
 period yet future, when Jerusalem, in unbelief, will again 
 assume a national existence, and have a history of woe and 
 iudgment until its final forgiveness at the Advent of the 
 Lord in glory. The interval between these two divisions 
 is, as regards detailed history, silently passed over in all the 
 visions of Daniel. 
 
 Nor does the Revelation supply the history of the pro- 
 phetic nations during these 1800 years. It describes their 
 condition at the close of the dispensation, when Jerusalem 
 shall have again assumed a national position ; but it does 
 not describe the steps whereby that position is attained. If 
 it had done this, not only must it have been enlarged into 
 a history of the world, but it must have done the very thing 
 which it purposely avoids, viz., have detailed the progress 
 of plans of men, instead of confining itself to the declaration 
 of what God does against those plans when consummated. 
 Nothing can be more distinct than the history of a process 
 of construction, and a description of Divine judgments 
 poured out upon that which has been constructed. The 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 nominal conversion of the Roman Empire under Constan- 
 tine, and the invasion of the Roman world by the Gothic 
 nations and others, have been supposed by many to be the 
 subjects of the sixth and following chapters of the Revela- 
 tion. But these two events (both permitted by the Pro- 
 vidence of God) have been made, under the hand of Satan, 
 the means of advancing, not destroying, that system of human 
 greatness which he is constructing for the latter day. New 
 vigour has been infused by these events into the Roman 
 earth. They are steps in the onward progress of evil ; not 
 destructive agencies from the hand of God finally and for 
 ever prostrating its power. The subject of the Revelation 
 is these final agencies of God in judgment. 
 
 It has been supposed by some, who have not fallen into 
 the error of regarding the Revelation as being a history of 
 the Roman nations, but who have rightly judged that the 
 sending forth of the rider on the white horse indicates the 
 future going forth of the Lord Jesus as the Joshua of His 
 people, it has been strangely supposed that all that follows 
 in the Revelation, both in this chapter and in the rest of the 
 Book, is subsequent to this going forth of the Lord in majesty 
 and glory. 
 
 Such have not observed that the Revelation is written in 
 the order of narration, not of fulfilment. How could it be 
 possible that the cry of the saints under the altar saying 
 " Lord, how long dost thou not judge, &c." should be 
 uttered after the Lord has begun to judge and to help all 
 the meek upon earth ? No saint will be slain for the testi- 
 monies of Truth after the Lord Jesus has gone forth 
 te conquering and to conquer ;" and all who have been so 
 slain, previously, will be raised to meet Him and to be with 
 Him, when He goes forth in glory. How then could such 
 cry, saying, Lord, how long ? Moreover will the wickedness 
 of the Harlot, and of Antichrist, and of Jerusalem flourish 
 after the Lord has been sent forth conquering and to con- 
 quer ? Will the Ten kingdoms of the Roman world unite 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 101 
 
 to give their power and glory for three years and a half to 
 Antichrist, after that event ? Will the witnesses prophesy 
 in sackcloth after it ? When the Lord Jesus thus goes forth 
 in the majesty of His glory, neither the saints nor the Jews 
 will be allowed any longer to be afflicted or trampled down. 
 The saints will be taken to Him ; the Jews (i. e. those who 
 are spared among them) will be converted and forgiven. 
 Moreover, the Lord Jesus will not come forth in the exercise 
 of His own power, until after He has been formerly invested 
 therewith. But He will not be so invested until the Ancient 
 of Days sits, as in Dan. vii.; and the Ancient of Days does 
 not so sit, until the whole course of the Gentile Empires has 
 been run ; for it is their final blasphemy that causes His 
 session. " I beheld then because of the great words which 
 the Horn spake, &c." 
 
 A chcenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of 
 barley for a denarius s fyc.~\ This indicates severe famine. 
 It is said by ancient authors, that ee four chcenixes of barley 
 meal were sold at Athens for one obolus " 'Aftnrgai S*<rt 
 'Y^oii'iACEc TGGap Q Twv a\(j)iT(jt)v ooAou djvioi and since there 
 are six oboli in one denarius, it follows that a denarius ought 
 to have procured twenty-four chcenixes, whereas it would only 
 purchase three. This, being more than twenty times the 
 ordinary price, indicates of course extreme scarcity ; yet not 
 such as to put it beyond the reach of the more wealthy ; for 
 whose sake apparently " the oil and the wine " were spared 
 when " the staff of life " generally was broken. There can 
 be few conditions of human life more terrible, than when 
 refinements and luxuries are found in the possession of the 
 few, whilst famine is preying upon the mass around them. 
 Human selfishness is not accustomed to resign its " wine and 
 its oil" in order to minister bread to the perishing. 
 
 And Hades followed with him.] Since the souls of 
 departed saints do not now go to Hades, but are with 
 Christ, it follows that all who are now sent to Hades die in 
 their sins. The mention, therefore, of Hades in this place, 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 appears intended to teach, us, that those on whom these 
 desolating judgments come, are swept off, unrepentant, and 
 unconverted, and that no saints are destroyed by them, 
 though they may sink under the persecuting power of man, 
 which is mentioned in the next verse. 
 
 And I saw under the altar the souls, fyc.] It has been 
 supposed by some, that the gift of " a white robe " (for such 
 is the right reading) to these martyrs, indicated their resur- 
 rection. If resurrection had been signified, the saints spoken 
 of would have been seen arrayed in white garments, as in 
 Rev. vii., whereas the symbol is the gift of one white robe 
 to the whole company, and they are commanded to wait, i. e. 
 to remain, as disembodied souls, under the altar. The con- 
 trary to resurrection is here implied. How very different 
 is the language employed in Rev. xx., where resurrection is 
 indicated. After the disembodied souls were seen, it is 
 added, " They LIVED and reigned, &c., but the rest of the 
 dead LIVED not (ou/c afoo-ai/), &c. This is the first resur- 
 rection." The omission of any such language in this place, 
 would be sufficient of itself to show that resurrection is not 
 intended here. 
 
 Moreover, if resurrection were here supposed, it would be 
 needful to say, that they who share in the first resurrection 
 rise at various periods ; but such a statement would be 
 directly opposed to the instruction respecting "the order" 
 of resurrection given in 1 Cor. xv. We are not at liberty 
 to speculate concerning many different periods of resurrec- 
 tion, because the crder of resurrection has been definitely 
 revealed in the Scripture. The passage in 1 Cor. xv. is as 
 follows : "So in Christ shall all be made alive" (i.e. in re- 
 surrection). But every one in his own ORDER : Christ, 
 the first-fruits ; afterward (fVara) they that are Christ's at 
 His coining ; next (air a) cometh the end "- when, as we 
 learn from Rev. xx., the final resurrection occurs of those 
 who are written in the book of life. Consequently, all who 
 are Christ's (i. e. manifestly His) at the time of His appearing 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 103 
 
 will rise then ; whereas, they who are not Christ's at His 
 coming, but who enter His fold at or after His appearing, 
 will not rise until the last resurrection at the end of the 
 thousand years. If the words, " first, second, third " had 
 been used, they could not have fixed the order of the resur- 
 rection more definitely than it is fixed by the words airapyji 
 first-fruits; iirtiTa aftertvard ; and ara then or next. 
 Some, who have not attempted to deny that these words 
 are equivalent to " first, second, third," yet seek to avoid 
 the necessary conclusion (a conclusion, indeed, that would 
 overthrow all their system), by reference to another passage 
 in the same chapter, where we find the same words used to 
 indicate successive periods. The passage is as follows : it 
 speaks of the order in which some saw Christ after His 
 resurrection : " He was seen of Cephas, then (etra) of the 
 twelve, afterward (cTrara) he was seen by above five hundred 
 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this 
 present, but some have fallen asleep. Afterward (tVctra) 
 he was seen of James, then (TO) of all the Apostles, and 
 last of all He was seen of me also," &c. In this passage 
 (say they) we find the same words (ara and iirsira) used, 
 and we admit that they mark order of time, but even as all 
 who saw the Lord after His resurrection are not included in 
 this passage, for many others saw Him at periods not here 
 referred to ; so, the passage respecting the order of the re- 
 surrection in verse 22, describes the order in which some 
 will rise, but is not to be regarded as including every period 
 of resurrection. Such is their argument, and it seems plau- 
 sible ; but it will not bear a moment's examination. The 
 answer is this the two cases are not parallel. In treating 
 of the order of the resurrection, the Apostle is avowedly 
 speaking of the resurrection of all who shall ever arise in 
 the resurrection of life, for he distinctly prefaces his state- 
 ment by these words, " So in Christ shall ALL be made 
 alive ; EVERY ONE in his own order," &c. None there- 
 
104 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fore can ever rise in the resurrection of life who are not 
 included in the order herein mentioned. The other passage 
 has no such preface. The Apostle does not profess to speak 
 of ALL who saw the Lord ; but only to tell us the order in 
 which some saw Him. If he had first said that he was about 
 to instruct us as to the order in which EVERY ONE of 
 those who saw the Lord, were permitted to behold Him, and 
 we then found that some had seen Him at other periods 
 and in a different order, we might well marvel. But it is 
 not so. 
 
 There is another very important passage in which the 
 order of the resurrection of the saints is no less clearly re- 
 ferred to, viz., John v. 24 to 29. The subject of this 
 passage, as a whole, is the authority committed unto the Son 
 by the Father, whose will is that il all men should honour 
 the Son, even as they honour the Father." Accordingly, 
 the twenty-fourth verse speaks of the quickening power con- 
 nected with the word preached by the Son, personally, 
 during His season of humiliation. " Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him 
 that sent me, hath life everlasting ; and cometh not into 
 judgment,* but hath passed from death unto life." 
 
 But not only had the Lord Jesus the power of thus 
 secretly and inwardly quickening the souls of those who re- 
 ceived His word, He had power also to quicken as to the 
 body. This is declared in the next verse : " Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the 
 dead (ot vzicpol, those dead as to the body) shall hear the 
 voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." 
 The great period when the truth of this verse will be mani- 
 fested will be that " coming hour " when He shall descend 
 with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the 
 trump of God, and call all His saints from their graves by 
 
 * "E^et wriv cuwviov /ecu etc Kpiviv OVK tp-^ercn etXXa yucra^t^/j/cfv, &C. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 105 
 
 His authoritative word. But at the moment He spake this 
 verse, He could truly add, " the hour now is ; " for the 
 power to quicken the bodies of His saints was even then 
 His, and He proved this when He stood at the grave of 
 Lazarus, and "cried with a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, 
 come forth." It was the display of the same character of 
 power that will be manifested more widely and fully, but 
 not more truly, at the time of "the first resurrection." 
 
 The next two verses direct our thoughts to the time of the 
 first resurrection and to the millennial reign. "For even as 
 the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son 
 to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to 
 exercise judgment also, because He is the Son of Man." It 
 is at the commencement of the millennium that the Son, by 
 raising His saints, will give the great manifested proof of 
 His having life in Himself; and during the millennium He 
 will exercise the judgment or kingly rule here spoken of, as 
 the Son of Man glorified. 
 
 But this is not all. Not only does He quicken the souls 
 of His saints (verse 24), not only will He quicken their 
 bodies at the time of the first resurrection (verse 25), not 
 only will He exercise the authority of the millennial king- 
 dom (verse 27), He will do more, He will also call 
 ALL the dead out of their graves at the close of the 
 millennial reign ; that is, all the wicked dead of all 
 ages and the righteous who have died in the millennium. 
 This is taught us in the next verse, " Marvel not at this, for 
 the hour cometh in which ALL that are in the graves shall 
 hear His voice (in the former case some only hear) and shall 
 come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of 
 life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of judg- 
 ment." Two periods of resurrection for saints (and only 
 two) are as plainly taught in this passage as in that we have 
 before considered in the Corinthians. 
 
 It has been asked by some, whether the word " coming " 
 might not have an extended meaning, so as to be 
 
106 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 prolonged over a lengthened period ? But how would such 
 prolongation suit such passages as these ? 
 
 f( As the lightning cometh out of the east, &c., so shall the 
 COMING of the Son of Man be." 
 
 " In the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His 
 COMING." 
 
 " I was glad of the COMING of Stephanas." 
 
 " Comforted by the COMING of Titus." 
 
 " By my COMING to you again." 
 
 These passages afford examples of the sense in which the 
 word COMING (iropoverto) is always used when applied to 
 the return of the Lord. It emphatically denotes a definite 
 and limited period, which terminates at the moment when 
 the person spoken of ceases to be absent and has come. In- 
 deed, nothing can be more clearly revealed than the incon- 
 ceivable rapidity of the resurrection. So far from being pro- 
 longed, it is so momentary as to be incapable of being mea- 
 sured by time f( In an instant (aro^w) at the twinkling of an 
 eye, at the last trump." Such are the words which describe 
 the resurrection of those fe who are Christ's at His coining." 
 
 An attempt has been made by some to establish a differ- 
 ence between COMING (irapovaia) as applied to the return 
 of our Lord, and other expressions, such as " Epiphany " 
 (tTn^ctya'a), or "revelation" (cnroKaXvifji^, which the Scrip- 
 tures apply to the same event. It has been said by such 
 that the " Coming " of the Lord will be secret, having for its 
 object the secret removal of His saints ; but that His 
 Epiphany or revelation will be considerably subsequent, 
 and that His saints will, at that time, be no longer on 
 earth. This assertion however is altogether unfounded, and 
 will not bear a moment's examination by the Scripture. 
 
 For, if the "Coming" (wapowia) of the Lord be secret, 
 how is it that we find His " Coining " said to be like light- 
 ning, " As the lightning cometh out of the east and shmeth 
 even unto the west, so shall also the COMING (wapowrta) 
 of the Son of Man be." 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 107 
 
 Again, if we are to be removed from earth before the 
 Epiphany and revelation of the Lord, how is it that the 
 Scriptures continually speak of us as being on the earth till 
 then. See the following passages : 
 
 " Waiting for the REVELATION (airoKaXvi^iv) of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. i. 7.) 
 
 " Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, 
 until the APPEARING (tTntyavdao) of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, &c." (1 Tim. vi. 14.) 
 
 " And to you who are troubled, rest (aveviv) with us 
 when the Lord Jesus shall be REVEALED from Heaven." 
 (2 Thes. i. 7.) 
 
 Such is the consistent testimony of the Scriptures. 
 
 It is also important to remember, that there is no re- 
 demption apart from union with the person of the Son 
 of God. All the redeemed, in whatsoever dispensation 
 they may have lived, will rise, in virtue of their union 
 with Christ as the Second Man the last Adam. Christ 
 has risen, as f ' the first-fruits of those who have fallen 
 asleep " (rtav K^KOI^^V^V^ 1 Cor. xv.) Are not Abel, 
 and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Old 
 Testament saints included under the description " those 
 who have fallen asleep ?" Is it not as true of them as of 
 Paul, that they shall be made alive IN Christ, and bear the 
 image of the Heavenly Man, as surely as they have borne 
 the image of the earthly ? They of whom it cannot be said, 
 "ye are IN Him that is true, even IN His Son Jesus 
 Christ " (the word IN implying union), have no part or lot 
 in the new creation of God. But, however much this all- 
 important truth may be gainsayed by many, it remains writ- 
 ten for ever, that all the redeemed, however they may dispen- 
 sationally vary on earth, as to light, knowledge, and the like, 
 are united with Christ risen, and shall finally be changed 
 into His likeness, so as to have thereby an essential and 
 everlasting identity of condition paramount to all circum- 
 stantial varieties of official employment or position. 
 
108 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Jtora 12. 
 
 "And I saiv when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a 
 great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of 
 hair, and the whole of the moon became as blood," fyc. 
 
 Such were the sights presented to the eyes of John, as 
 soon as the sixth seal was opened. The events indicated 
 were unquestionably future to him. Are they or are they 
 not future to us ? Is it true (as has been so often said) that 
 these things were all fulfilled in the days of Constantine ? 
 Was the sun then darkened and the earth shaken ? If, in 
 such passages, the sun be understood to indicate (what indeed 
 it does not) imperial power or those who hold it, was not 
 Constantine the sun of that period ? And was he darkened ? 
 Was the brilliancy of his glory obscured when he chose to 
 make himself the patron of Christianity? Did not it 
 (his imperial power) shine forth in greater lustre than 
 before ? 
 
 But it is not true that the darkening of the sun, moon, 
 and stars, and the shaking of heaven and earth, as described 
 in such passages as these, mean anything else than the true 
 literal convulsion of heaven and earth when the Day of the 
 Lord shall come. Nor is the permissive action of Christ in 
 allowing false Christianity, under Satan, to glorify itself, as 
 in the days of Constantine, to be looked on as analogous to 
 that direct agency of His hand which will be made manifest 
 when He shall put forth His own glorious power in order 
 to subvert all evil, and to establish His own kingdom of 
 righteousness and peace. The character of these two periods, 
 instead of being alike, are contrasted ; the agencies are dif- 
 ferent ; they cannot be classed together, and are therefore 
 incapable of being comprehended under the same descrip- 
 tions in Scripture. The obstinate perversion of the testimony 
 of the word of God on this and kindred subjects is fast 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VI. 109 
 
 leading on to that condition which the Prophet describes, 
 " when the vision of all becomes as the words of a book that 
 is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying : 
 Read this I pray thee ; and he saith I cannot, for it is sealed. 
 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, 
 Read this I pray thee ; and he saith, I am not learned." If 
 the plainest facts and the plainest Scriptures have long ap- 
 pealed to our consciences in vain, what wonder if j udicial 
 blindness should at last be sent ? 
 
110 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 n ItMdioit VII. 
 
 " EVERY scribe instructed unto the kingdom of Heaven is 
 like unto a man that is an householder, that bringeth forth 
 out of his treasure things new and old." Such were the 
 words with which the Lord Jesus finished His prophetic 
 history of professing Christianity in the parables of the thir- 
 teenth of Matthew. The Prophets had ministered "the 
 old things ;" the Lord Jesus, whilst confirming their testi- 
 mony, added also things that were " new." How greatly 
 the admonition to neglect neither the new nor the old has 
 been needed, is proved by the manner in which Gentile 
 Christianity has despised the warning. The nature of the 
 blessings promised in the latter days to Jerusalem and the 
 earth ; the doom of those proud Gentile nations which now 
 rule the world ; the necessary connexion between the Earth's 
 blessing and Jerusalem's supremacy under the Messiah of 
 Israel in His manifested glory these and other of the an- 
 cient promises to Israel would not have been annihilated (as 
 amongst us they virtually have been) by the new things 
 ministered by the Lord and His Apostles, if this admo- 
 nition had been heeded. The exaltation of the Church of 
 the first-born into heavenly places, their union with Christ 
 risen, the future manifestation of their heavenly glory both 
 in Heaven above and in the earth below all these and other 
 such things, so far from being inconsistent with, are, by the 
 
ON REVELATION VII. Ill 
 
 appointment of God, necessary to, the destined blessing of 
 Israel and the earth. The Temple would have been imper- 
 fect if either of its Courts had been taken away. The outer 
 and the inner were alike needful to the worship of Israel : 
 nor will it be otherwise, when, in the coming day of millen- 
 nial glory, Jerusalem occupied by Israel on the Earth, and 
 " the heavenly places not made with hands " occupied by 
 risen and glorified saints, shall respectively form the earthly 
 and the heavenly courts in the anti-typical Temple of the 
 great King. We may therefore safely say, that no right 
 order of Truth can be found in any mind that persists (as 
 the Jews have persisted) in regarding only the earthly part 
 of the promises made to Israel, or that ventures (as many 
 Christians have ventured) to despise prospects in which 
 Abraham and David and Paul rejoiced as part of their own 
 and of their Lord's glory. Yet this last is the sin into which 
 Gentile Christians have fallen. Before the Apostles died, they 
 were becoming " wise in their own conceits," and had begun to 
 boast themselves against the natural branches of the very tree 
 to which they owed all their own fatness. Instead of blending 
 the promises to Israel into harmony with the new and fuller 
 hopes unfolded by the Lord and His Apostles, they either cast 
 those ancient promises aside, or else, rending them from 
 Israel, appropriated them to themselves. Impatient of suf- 
 fering and reproach, they wished to reign as kings, and 
 therefore coveted the place which the Scripture has reserved 
 for Zion and for Jerusalem when the time for the triumph 
 and supremacy of Truth shall have come. The consequence 
 was, that Gentile Christianity soon became useless for God's 
 purposes of practical testimony in the earth. The mani- 
 festation of the glory of the Messiah of Israel was denied ; 
 the subjugation of the earth to truth and righteousness 
 through converted Jerusalem was forgotten ; that blessed 
 task was transferred from Israel and Israel's Messiah to 
 ungodly nations whose symbol, as given in the Scripture, is 
 " a beast dreadful and terrible," whose body is to be "given 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 to the burning flame " ignorance as to all these revealed 
 purposes of God reigned and the light of Christendom 
 became turned into darkness. Popery, and every other form 
 of Ritualism, are but the excrescences which have naturally 
 sprung from the vitiated doctrines and vitiated practices of 
 the period that immediately folio wed the death of the Apostles. 
 It was the union of the things " new and old " that gave 
 such power and energy to the testimony and service of the 
 Apostle Paul. Indeed, whilst Christianity lingered in and 
 around Jerusalem, and whilst the sight of " the twelve tribes 
 instantly serving God day and night " maintained the re- 
 membrance of Jewish hopes before the very eyes of the 
 disciples of Jesus, there was a kind of security against the 
 ancient hopes of Israel being forgotten. Moreover, the 
 Gentile Rulers were yet standing out in marked contrariety 
 to God, and had not yet seduced the Church into a willing- 
 ness to invest them with the garments of the spouse of 
 Christ; consequently, the promises of Israel's millennial 
 glory were little likely to be transferred to those, who were 
 so clearly manifesting their hatred to God and to Christ. 
 Gentile Christianity, however, has since made this transfer 
 and is now exulting in the deed. But God has not altered 
 the testimony of His Scripture. He has not cancelled the 
 words of His servant Daniel, nor substituted another symbol 
 for " the beast dreadful and terrible." He has not repre- 
 sented the Pagan Roman Empire by this beast and the 
 Christianised Roman Empire by a lamb ; but the symbol He 
 chose for the beginning, that symbol He continues to the 
 end. It is Gentile Christianity that has sought, from the 
 days of Constantine to the present hour, to falsify the word 
 of God, and to put the blessings of the " new things " and 
 the glories of the old on the head of that monster which God 
 has avowedly doomed to curse and destruction. 
 
 Whether the late revival of prophetic light amongst us 
 Western Christians, will effect the severance ot any from the 
 general condition of Christianity, as exhibited in Christen- 
 
ON REVELATION VII. 113 
 
 dom, remains perhaps undetermined. But this we may 
 confidently affirm, that when Christianity is again found 
 amidst Israel in Jerusalem, and when Antichristianism has 
 begun to draw back the kingdoms of the Prophetic Earth 
 into their former place of avowed opposition to God, and 
 when Jerusalem shall have joined the confederacy, then, if 
 not before, the declaration of the coming of the Lord Jesus 
 as the Messiah of Israel, and warning as to the judgments 
 that will accompany His return, shall again form part of the 
 testimony of Christianity in Jerusalem. 
 
 That Christianity will again exist in Jerusalem before the 
 Advent of the Lord in glory, is manifest from several parts 
 of Scripture. Thus in our Lord's own prophecy in the 
 twenty-fourth of Matthew, He speaks of His disciples as 
 destined to witness in that City the great hour of Anti- 
 christian triumph. "When YE " (the words were addressed 
 to His disciples who had followed Him without the gate 
 bearing His reproach *) ' ' when YE shall see the abomination 
 of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet," &c., &c. 
 He speaks of His disciples as holding fast at that period the 
 expectation of His coming ; warns them against being be- 
 guiled by deceiving rumours ; speaks of that hour as one of 
 
 * I mention this, because some have confused the " YE " of the 23rd 
 of Matthew (last verse) with the "YE "of the 24th chapter; whereas 
 the two bodies respectively denoted by these words stand in the most 
 complete contrast to each other. The " YE " of the 23rd chapter is ad- 
 dressed to the national representatives of Jerusalem " Ye shall not see 
 me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh," &c. They 
 who shall by and by say, "Blessed," &c. are the spared remnant of Israel 
 in Jerusalem. As soon as Jesus had pronounced these words He quitted 
 Jerusalem, left those to whom He had spoken within its gates and retired 
 with His disciples to the Mount of Olives. To them He spoke, in the 
 24th chapter, not as representatives of Jerusalem, but of His Church. 
 The representatives of the remnant of Israel stood within the gate ; the 
 representatives of the Church without. For further observations on 
 Matthew xxiv. See "Aids to Prophetic Enquiry first Series." See 
 advertisement at the end of this volume. 
 
114 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 unequalled tribulation, the like to which never has been nor 
 will be, and declares that unequalled tribulation to be the 
 immediate precursor of His own return in glory. " Imme- 
 diately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be 
 darkened, &c." The Revelation also again and again refers 
 to some who hold fast " the faith of Jesus and overcome " 
 " because of the blood of the Lamb/' in the midst of cir- 
 cumstances, similar to those which the twenty-fourth of 
 Matthew describes. Indeed, Christianity, so far as it is 
 made the subject of prophetic record in this Book, may be 
 almost said to be identified with these few persecuted ser- 
 vants of the Truth. They stand as the last representatives 
 of the Church of the first-born on earth, just as Stephen 
 and those who suffered with him represented it at the Pente- 
 costal period. The character and ways of these last sufferers 
 for Christ are, indeed, alluded to rather than described ; but 
 enough is said to show that they are THE faithful ones of 
 the earth at that evil hour, and in the visions of glory they 
 are so prominently referred to, that (if it were not for other 
 definite Scriptures) we might almost have thought that to 
 them alone those glories would belong. The Church, how- 
 ever, is one, and its glory catholic. We must not, therefore, 
 consider ourselves as dissociated from their final triumph, but 
 see in the visions of their glory our own joy. " If one 
 member be honoured all the members rejoice with it." 
 " Faint not," said St. Paul, " at my tribulations for you 
 which is your glory" 
 
 It is true, indeed, that neither the twenty-fourth of Mat- 
 thew, nor the Revelation, expressly teach that they who 
 witness the final scenes therein described and hold fast " the 
 faith of Jesus " in them, are converts from Israel. The 
 general tenor of the description, however, would lead us to 
 infer that they are not Gentile Christians. Indeed, we can 
 hardly suppose that the Jews should nationally congregate 
 in Jerusalem again, without their being a remnant gathered 
 out from among them into the fold of Jesus ; for what hour 
 
ON REVELATION VII. 115 
 
 has passed in which there has not been some remnant saved 
 according to the election of grace ? Besides, when we con- 
 sider the past and present condition of Gentile Christianity, 
 it is hardly credible that the closing testimony to Christ, in 
 and around Jerusalem, should be entrusted to them. But 
 however this may be, whether they be converts from Israel, 
 or from the Gentiles, or from both, one thing is certain, that 
 they will be freed from the darkness which now broods over 
 Gentile Christianity: otherwise, they never could be rejoiced 
 over in Heaven as " overcoming because of the blood of the 
 Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony." That 
 testimony will doubtless again combine the new things of 
 the kingdom with the earthly promises to David's throne. 
 
 But however important the reference thus made in the 
 Revelation to Christianity (and it is most important, for the 
 knowledge of the relation of Christianity to the kingdoms of 
 the prophetic earth is thus supplied, whereby we learn the 
 great practical principles which should determine our con- 
 duct now) yet the Revelation has to do not merely with the 
 fruits of the present dispensation, whether for good or evil. 
 In treating of the closing hours of this dispensation, it neces- 
 sarily treats of the period in which are found the seeds of 
 the dispensation that is to follow. Those who were gathered 
 around Jesus, as the first fruits of this present dispensation, 
 were brought first under the ministry of John : in like 
 manner, another voice, calling to repentance in Israel, 
 shall be made the means of awakening some, who shall form 
 the nucleus of the Lord's millennial people. 
 
 The Revelation could not complete the sad history of Je- 
 rusalem in this dispensation, unless it spake of some who 
 shall testify therein, and of others whom God shall choose 
 for preservation therein, after the testimony of the Gospel, 
 as given by the disciples of Jesus, has been withdrawn. 
 " When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, &c. . . . 
 then let them that be in Judea flee." * This is a command- 
 
 * For evidence as to the future establishment of idolatrous worship by 
 
 I 2 
 
116 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 merit too definite and too express to be disobeyed by any 
 who value the authority of Him who gave it. The planting 
 of that abomination will be to the disciples of Jesus the con- 
 stituted sign that the day of their testimony in Jerusalem is 
 over ; and they flee that they may escape that season of dire 
 visitation from the hand of God, which shall instantly come 
 upon the land of Israel/as soon as the Idol of the great 
 Destroyer has been established in their midst. They will 
 see, like their Master before them, the sphere of their earthly 
 service hopelessly closed; and will wait, in suffering and 
 trial, for the hour, then fast approaching, of final deliverance 
 into their heavenly rest. 
 
 If Jerusalem had not been Jerusalem, the chosen City, the 
 mercies of God toward it would have ended here. But Israel 
 is beloved for the Fathers' sakes ; and, therefore, God Him- 
 self begins to deal with them by judgments and by a 
 testimony the sackcloth testimony of His two witnesses, no 
 less terrible than the judgments : and thus in the very hour 
 of Jerusalem's deepest tribulation, the heart of the fathers 
 shall be turned towards the children, and the heart of the 
 children towards their fathers in other words, repentance 
 shall be wrought in some and moral order restored, though 
 it be but in a little remnant ; and thus the foundation is laid 
 for that new dispensation, in which the preserved of Israel 
 shall enter on their sphere of earthly service in the kingdom 
 below, when the Church of the first-born shall be called into 
 their mansions of glory in the kingdom above. 
 
 The vision, therefore, of those here mentioned as sealed 
 from among the Tribes of Israel, I regard as having reference 
 to the preserved remnant of Israel that remnant which after 
 having been made to pass through the fires, and refined as 
 silver is refined, shall be made, in the millennial earth, " a 
 strong nation." In their being sealed during the season of 
 
 Antichrist in Jerusalem, see " Aids to Prophetic Enquiry," and " Pros- 
 pects of the Ten Kingdoms of the Eoman Empire." 
 
ON REVELATION VII. 117 
 
 Israel's last woes, we find, in part, the fulfilment of that pro- 
 mise, ft when thou passest through the waters I will be with 
 thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; 
 when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." But this vision 
 of some preserved in the midst of the judgments which fall 
 upon their people and their land, is succeeded by another, 
 which leads us from earth to heaven, and reveals the final 
 triumph of the Church of the firstborn in heavenly glory 
 before the Throne. " A great multitude which no man 
 could number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
 and tongues, stood before the Throne and before the Lamb, 
 clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, 
 and cried with a loud voice, saying, " Salvation unto our 
 God which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb." 
 Such is the song of the Church of the first-born of all those 
 who having " washed their garments and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb," are found " Christ's at His 
 coming." They are all described as having come out of 
 " great tribulation. All from Abel down to the very last of 
 those who shall te keep the commandments of God, and the 
 faith of Jesus " (Rev. xiv.) during the final struggle between 
 light and darkness under Antichrist all will have known 
 tribulation. The path of the Patriarchs and Prophets is 
 marked in the eleventh of the Hebrews. They were those 
 of whom the world was not worthy " afflicted, destitute, tor- 
 mented." The Apostles were set forth as persons "appointed 
 to death, made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of 
 all things." John in Patmos, knowing " the tribulation, and 
 kingdom, and endurance in Jesus," indicates the place of 
 faithful Christianity, when the Scripture closed. They who are 
 spoken of as " overcoming because of the blood of the Lamb 
 and because of the word of their testimony, and not loving 
 their life unto the death," during the coming hour of And 
 christ, indicate the character of this dispensation at its close. 
 The whole period of the testimony and service of the re^ 
 
118 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 deemed, hitherto, has been an (t evil day ;" and the intensity 
 of sorrow at the end is but the amplification of what, 
 in principle, it has ever been. The Church of the firstborn 
 therefore, looked at in its unity as one body, may well 
 be spoken of in the world to come, as that which has 
 passed through and out of great tribulation. It will be 
 known as born out of night and sorrow and darkness 
 the child of tribulation, contrasted therefore with the 
 saints of the millennium, who will pass unto the new 
 Heaven and new earth after an earthly season of light and 
 joy and triumph. Accordingly, the main feature marked in 
 this vision of glory is the fact of transition from sorrow to 
 joy. The cause of the joy is not so much triumph over 
 enemies or escape from conflict with the foe, as release from 
 tribulation and the sorrows of a weary wilderness. It is 
 transition from hunger, and thirst, and the scorching of the 
 sun, and tears, into other regions where they shall hunger 
 no more nor thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on 
 them nor any heat. It is the heavenly Israel with the wil- 
 derness behind them, entering on the rest of the heavenly 
 Canaan and keeping their feast of tabernacles above. 
 
 Such I conceive to be the instruction afforded in this 
 chapter. It reveals the two great acts of God in mercy, 
 which come in close connection with His work of judgment 
 011 the earth. The one is the preservation of a remnant in 
 the midst of the fires ; the other the admission into heavenly 
 mansions of those, who, because they have washed their 
 garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, 
 go out of all tribulation into the inheritance of the saints 
 in light. 
 
ON REVELATION VIII. AND IX 119 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 it JRtWdhm VIII. anir IX. 
 
 THE seventh, chapter having thus supplied us with the as- 
 surance that the coming plagues should not hurt those who 
 had the seal of God in their foreheads, and having also 
 shown us how all the present flock of Jesus shall, as soon 
 as the last tribulation has past, together rest from sorrow 
 and crying in their heavenly fold for ever, we enter, thus 
 instructed, upon one of the darkest scenes of judgment that 
 the Scripture anywhere records. 
 
 The seventh seal was opened, and there was silence in 
 heaven for the space of half an hour a silence which, to 
 the ear of John, must have stood in strange contrast to the 
 loud cry of the countless multitude which had just before 
 been ascribing salvation to God and to the Lamb ; in con- 
 trast also with the "voices, and lightnings, and thunderings," 
 and sounding of the trumpets of woe which were about to 
 follow. The half-hour, however, was not unemployed. 
 The trumpets were silently given to the angels who were 
 to sound. Another angel having a golden censer came, and 
 silently took his stand at the golden altar, and receiving 
 much incense, silently sprinkled it upon the prayers of the 
 saints upon the golden altar before the throne. It was a 
 season of still preparation for that which was about to follow. 
 Just as when some mighty army is about to enter on the 
 conflict the debating of councils is over the resolve of the 
 
120 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 commander is taken the plans are fixed soldiers stand in 
 their respective positions the word of command alone is 
 waited for. The pause allows us time to contemplate the 
 preparations and the order. So likewise in this vision the 
 hour was come ; the resolve had been taken ; there is a sus- 
 pension of action only till the last connecting link is fitted to 
 its place in the train of ruin. 
 
 But this period of silence in heaven had not been a period 
 of silence on the earth. The cry of its iniquity had come 
 up before God grievously ; and the cry of His saints also 
 had been heard imploring His righteous interference. That 
 cry was not unheeded, yet it was not answered until the 
 place of intercession at the altar was assumed by the angel, 
 and sanction of the name of Christ was added to the inter- 
 cession that was heard from below. Much incense was 
 given* by the angel who held the priestly censer to the 
 prayers of the saints, and then the answer was granted. 
 
 The character of the answer determines the nature of the 
 petition that had been offered. The answer was this " the 
 angel took the censer, and filled it from the fire of the altar, 
 and cast it into the earth : and there were thunderings, and 
 lightnings, and voices, and earthquake." This is what we 
 have to look for as regards the earth. Nothing was more 
 holy than the fire upon the altar : it is the great expression 
 of that holiness before which nature cannot stand, and which 
 the perfectness of Christ, and that as a sacrifice, alone could 
 satisfy. It is this searching holiness which is to be brought 
 into contrast with the unreconciled earth and things in it. 
 The casting into the earth fire from the altar, was, as it 
 were, the introduction of a new element amongst human 
 things. It brought the character and ways of God into 
 direct collision with the character and ways of man. What 
 the character of those ways is, must be learned from sub- 
 sequent visions in this Book, for there we shall find delinea- 
 
 * Such is the right translation. 
 
ON REVELATION VIII. AND IX. 
 
 tions of the Harlot and the Beast, and Satan's glory by 
 means of them. It is into the earth as ordered by them that 
 the claim of God will come in the unsparing inquisition of 
 His own pure holiness ; and therefore we need not marvel 
 that voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earth- 
 quake, were the symbols that indicated to John and to us, 
 the nature of the result that was about to follow. The 
 silence in Heaven was terminated thus, and the seven angels 
 who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 
 
 And here we should again remark how closely the imagery 
 is drawn from the holy instruments of Israel's service. We 
 have already seen the altar, the censer, the priestly interces- 
 sion, and the incense, but all directed against Israel and the 
 earth all their blessings being turned into a curse. The 
 voice of the trumpet also was once to them the happy token 
 of security and joy. Silver trumpets were sounded by the 
 the priests, either to gather Israel in solemn assembly before 
 the Lord ; or to arouse them to the journeyings of the camp, 
 as they moved onward towards their rest ; or to be for re- 
 membrance before the Lord, that they needed when entering 
 into the conflict, His help against the enemy ; or as a memo- 
 rial before Him, to remind Him of the excellency of the 
 offerings presented upon his altar " in the day of their glad- 
 ness, -and in their solemn days." (See Numbers x.) 
 
 But now Israel's ear is no longer open to the appeals of 
 God, and His ear also is closed towards them. We therefore 
 read not of two silver trumpets blown in happy concord by 
 the priests of Israel, but of a seven-fold series of successive 
 trumpets of woe, blown by angels of God, in order to awaken 
 against Israel and the earth, the messengers of his wrath. 
 The earth, the sea, the fountains, with the rivers, and the 
 heavens, are (as to the third part of each) successively 
 smitten ; and when we consider how dependent human life 
 is in all its arrangements and for all its joys, upon these 
 various parts of the creation of God ; when we remember too 
 that it will be the hour of nature's jubilee in the earth's 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fairest regions ; when Carmel and Bashan and Lebanon will 
 stand in full luxuriance of strength and beauty ; and when 
 Tyre and Jerusalem and Babylon shall be the gathering 
 places of the wealth and glory of all nations, we may well 
 conceive how men's hearts will fail them for fear, when they 
 shall behold the beauty of the earth in its fairest portion 
 wither ; when the sea shall cease to supply its riches, and the 
 hand of destruction be stretched out upon its surface ; when 
 the waters shall change their refreshment into bitterness, and 
 the heavens in their revolution begin to minister darkness 
 instead of light. It needs only that God should stop the 
 course of nature and wither its powers, in older to throw all 
 human life into confusion and bitter woe ; and this, under 
 the first four trumpets, is revealed as about to be. The two 
 which follow lead us to other agencies more positive in their 
 character, and more terrible in their development agencies 
 which operate, not so much by the withdrawal of blessings 
 that have been given, as by the positive infliction of new 
 and strange curses, adding an unknown bitterness to the 
 already stripped and desolate condition of human life. 
 
 The powers of darkness and the pit are under the hand of 
 God as much as any other of His creatures, and He can use 
 them just as He uses wicked men to work the counsels of 
 His own will. I understand the locusts which issue from 
 the abyss, to be, like the heavenly cherubim, symbolic 
 representations of a character of power with which certain 
 living agents will be clothed. They seem to bear to the pit 
 a relation analogous to that which the cherubim bear to 
 heaven. The cherubim represent the power over which 
 Christ is supreme; the power wherewith the servants of 
 God and of Christ will be clothed for purposes of life, and 
 glory, and blessing. The scorpion-like locusts, more complex 
 in their shape even than the cherubim themselves, are under 
 Apollyon as their Prince, and represent, I think, the power 
 wherewith his servants are invested, for their permitted and 
 appointed work of hellish torment. The shapes of the 
 
ON REVELATION VIII. AND IX. 
 
 locusts were like horses prepared for trie battle. " Hast 
 thou given the horse strength ? hast thou clothed his neck 
 with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grass- 
 hopper ? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in 
 the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : he goeth on to 
 meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not 
 affrighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The 
 quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the 
 shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and 
 rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the 
 trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he 
 smelleth the battle v afar off, the thunder of the captains, 
 and the shouting." On the heads of these scorpion-horses 
 were crowns of gold emblems of their victory and triumph, 
 for God permits them to prevail. Their having the faces of 
 men indicates not sympathy (that is never found apart from 
 God: Satan knows it not), but it marks such acquaintance 
 with the feelings and circumstances of humanity as would 
 qualify them the better for their work of torment as would 
 teach them where and how to inflict the wound. The long 
 flowing hair, like the hair of women, indicates, I think, that 
 it will be to them no task of sorrow (for the close shaven 
 head is the token of the mourner *) but rather one of revelry 
 and joy. Their power for destruction is marked by the 
 teeth of lions ; their immunity from harm by their breast- 
 plates of iron ; their rapidity of execution by the sound of 
 their wings, for " the sound of their wings was as the sound 
 of chariots of many horses running to battle." Yet over all 
 these characteristics there is one predominant feature thrown 
 by the closing words of the description. The scorpion- 
 character predominates. They were not sent forth to over- 
 
 * See Isaiah iii. 24. "Instead of well-set hair, haldness." And 
 Jeremiah vii. 29. " Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, 
 and take up a lamentation on high places ; for the Lord hath rejected 
 and forsaken the generation of his wrath." " The Lord did call to 
 weeping and to haldness." " Poll thee, enlarge thy baldness." 
 
124 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 run or trample down as the war-horse, nor to devour as the 
 lion, nor to consume as the locust. Their commission was 
 not destruction, but torment. They were to leave in their 
 victims their scorpion sting. " They have tails like unto 
 scorpions, and stings ; and their power in their tails was to 
 hurt men five months." We have read of instances, from 
 time to time, in which hellish torments of body, as well as of 
 conscience, have seized upon dying infidels. The torments 
 of another world have been allowed, in measure, to fall upon 
 them here. Tormenting spirits have been permitted to put 
 forth their power against them. Such appears to me the 
 character of this infliction upon a nation or nations, of blas- 
 pheming infidels. It is like a foretaste of the torments of 
 the pit, administered, I suppose, by invisible but real agents, 
 even wicked spirits from beneath. " In those days shall 
 men seek death, and not find it ; and shall desire to die, and 
 death fleeth from them." The Church is thus taught to 
 know the meaning and cause of these agonies, when they 
 come, and can anticipate and warn of them before they are 
 brought to pass. 
 
 Yet terrible as this plague is, it is not destructive. But 
 when the sixth angel sounded, and the angels bound at 
 (fTrt) the Euphrates are commanded to be loosed, we find 
 an army, as it were, of fiends, quickly prepared under their 
 hand for the work of destruction. We read in other parts of 
 Scripture, of legions of holy angels being employed to watch 
 over and protect the servants of God. ' ' When the servant of 
 Elisha, the man of God, was risen early, and gone forth, 
 behold an host compassed the city both with horses and 
 with chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my 
 master ! how shall we do ? And he answered, Fear not ; for 
 they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 
 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his 
 eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of 
 the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain 
 was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 
 
ON REVELATION VIII. AND IX. 
 
 Such, is the secret ministry of holy power, that silently effects 
 the purposes of God for blessing. But here we read, not of 
 the chariots of a heavenly host, but of horsemen with 
 " breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and like brimstone ; and 
 the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions ; and out 
 of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. By 
 these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by 
 reason of the fire, and the smoke, and the brimstone, which 
 proceed out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is 
 in their mouth, and in their tails : for their tails were like 
 unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt." 
 Such were their characteristics, as seen by the servant of God 
 in heaven. The symbols are too plainly expressive, to need 
 explanation. The exact character of the power denoted by 
 the horses and chariots of fire which compassed Elisha, by 
 whom it was exercised, and how applied, it may be difficult 
 to describe ; but its effects were manifest. Blindness fell 
 upon all the enemies of Elisha. So is it, I believe, in the 
 case before us. The mode in which the power of this army 
 of demons may be applied, and how far it may be indepen- 
 dent of, or connected with secondary agency through men, 
 I suppose no one could venture to affirm. But I see no 
 reason to think that the power wielded by these four angels 
 of destruction, will be more manifest to the eyes of men, than 
 the horses and chariots that surrounded Elisha. But the 
 operation of their hand will be evident from the ruin that it 
 spreads ; and faith that has received this testimony of God, 
 will be able to recognise whence it comes. The consciences 
 of men also will bear witness to its being the work of God in 
 vengeance ; yet they repent not. " The rest of the men who 
 were not killed by these plagues, 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 wood ; which 
 neither can see, nor hear, nor walk : neither repented they 
 of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornica- 
 tion, nor of their thefts." Such is the manner in which the 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 flesh ever hardens itself against the inflictions of God. We 
 might have expected the final scene instantly to follow. But 
 the Church is to be yet further instructed. Here, therefore., 
 as in the sixth chapter, this vision closes, and in the next 
 chapter a new vision begins. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VIT. VIII. AND IX. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 fote 0tt peMon VTL, VIII, anJr IX. 
 
 Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we 
 have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.] 
 These words, which occur in the seventh chapter, prove its 
 connection with the two chapters that follow; for in them 
 the smiting of the earth, sea, and trees is described, as well 
 as the exemption of those who were sealed for preservation. 
 (See chapter ix. 4.) If we turn to the Old Testament pro- 
 phets, we find repeated descriptions of the tribulation and 
 destructive judgments that are to fall just before the coming 
 of the Lord upon Jerusalem and Israel, especially that part 
 of Israel which is in the Land ; and these judgments are dis- 
 tinguished from those that are sent upon the Gentiles, even 
 though they are inflicted at or about the same time. 
 
 A similar distinction appears to be preserved in the Reve- 
 lation. The family of Israel and their land is referred to 
 first, and the Gentiles last. The vision of the trumpets and 
 the chapters immediately connected therewith, seem as cha- 
 racteristically Jewish in place and circumstances of develop- 
 ment, as the sixteenth and two following chapters are charac- 
 teristically Gentile. In these last named chapters, the cha- 
 racter of the vision is taken from the Red Sea, Pharaoh, and 
 Egypt. Armageddon, also, where the Gentiles are gathered, 
 and Babylon, are the subjects ; whereas, in the vision of the 
 trumpets, the circumstance of none being sealed except some 
 
128 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 from the tribes of Israel, the reference in chap. ix. 6., to the 
 words of the eighth of Jeremiah, viz., that " death shall be 
 chosen rather than life, by all the residue of this evil family," 
 &c., and the knitting in of the eleventh chapter (where the 
 scene is expressly said to be Jerusalem) under the series of 
 the trumpets (for the seventh trumpet does not sound till the 
 end of the eleventh chapter), all these things appear to mark 
 these chapters as distinctively concerned with Israel. Of 
 cour?e I do not mean that Israel can suffer without the 
 nations being more or less affected, or that the Gentiles can 
 be plagued, without Israel also being reached: I speak 
 merely of the general scope of the chapters. 
 
 I regard the trumpets, therefore, as being against Israel 
 and the land ; the vials as being against Antichrist and the 
 Gentiles : both comprised within that period marked by 
 Daniel and by our Lord, as a time of tribulation, " such as 
 never was since there was a nation even to that same time." 
 
 The words of the witnesses will probably be the cause of 
 many of the plagues indicated under the trumpets and the 
 vials, for it is said that they have " power to smite the earth 
 with every plague as often as they will." 
 
 " Till we have sealed the servants of our God."} The 
 history of the Jewish remnant is a wide, but interesting and 
 important subject. A sense of the wickedness of Antichrist 
 and the Antichristian Jews, and of the darkness and deser- 
 tion of Israel, are among the first symptoms of their souls 
 being dealt with by God. At this time, however, their 
 words, as gathered from the Psalms, imply much ignorance 
 of their sin, and much self-confidence and self-righteousness. 
 After the abomination of desolation has been set, and the 
 unequalled season of tribulation commenced, they appear 
 to become gradually humbled and at last (under the 
 testimony probably of the witnesses) thoroughly broken 
 conscious of the truth respecting the past, and correctly 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VII. VIII. AND IX. 
 
 anticipating the future, expecting the return of the Lord 
 Jesus, assured of preservation through the fires that will 
 burn against Israel, and of subsequent blessing but not as 
 yet sprinkled with the blood of reconciliation, nor possessed 
 of the spirit of peace. Yet they will cry and sigh for all 
 the abominations ; their name will be hated and cast out as 
 evil; and the goodness of God, both in Isaiah and here, owns 
 them as His servants. The condition of the disciples of 
 John the Baptist before they were brought to Jesus, may be 
 referred to as more nearly illustrative of the condition of 
 this remnant before the manifestation of the Lord, than any 
 other. Repentance, moral order, (see Luke iii. 10,) and 
 knowledge of coming events, was all that John could lead 
 them to, till they were brought to Jesus. 
 
 "Hurt not the earth) nor the sea, nor the trees till"] This, 
 as I have already said, connects the seventh chapter with 
 that which follows it, for there we find the earth, sea, and 
 trees smitten. I doubt not that these several parts of nature 
 will be literally smitten, in indication that the hand of God 
 is stretched out against all the natural blessings which He 
 has hitherto so bountifully given, even to the unthankful 
 and to the evil. Israel has worshipped natural things and 
 forgotten God, and on the subjects of their idolatry His 
 hand will fall. The rivers and fountains of waters are men- 
 tioned afterwards as parts of the earth that are smitten. I 
 do not regard these as emblems of spiritual blessings. The 
 streams of truth have never flowed yet so as to be received 
 either by Israel or the world. As to this, the Church has 
 been as a " spring shut up, a fountain sealed." A flowing 
 river which men have used and valued (and this is the 
 emblem here, for men are sensible of its being a plague 
 when the rivers, &c. are smitten) such an emblem can never 
 be used to represent the relation of Truth to the world at 
 present, for Truth is not to them as a flowing stream. Such 
 
 K 
 
130 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 emblems may suit the Millennium, but not the present age. 
 The two great subjects of the Revelation as to judgments 
 sent upon things are, the gifts of God in creation, and the 
 artificial constructions of man. The trumpets of the eighth 
 chapter lead us to the first subsequent chapters to the last. 
 Nature and art are the two great pillars the Jachin and 
 Boaz of the human system. 
 
 "An hundred and forty-four thousand"] I regard this 
 as a number indicative of completeness. Many of the num- 
 bers appear to have a kind of symbolic meaning attached 
 to them in many parts of Scripture. Two represents con- 
 cord and companionship. " Two are better than one : if 
 they fall, the one will help up his fellow." " If one prevail 
 against him, two shall withstand." The disciples were sent out 
 " two and two." Animals are placed by twos under the yoke. 
 
 Three indicates completeness in the way of repetition, and 
 is applied to any action or course of conduct that has been 
 sufficiently repeated. " Three times in the year Israel ap- 
 peared before the Lord." " Thou hast smitten me these 
 three times." " Thou hast mocked me these three 
 times." " David arose, and bowed three times." " So- 
 lomon offered three times a year." " Elijah stretched 
 himself on the child three times." " David kneeled on his 
 knees three times a day." " This was done three times, and 
 the sheet was drawn up again into heaven." 
 
 Four, being two multiplied into itself, represents perfect- 
 ness of combination. Thus when perfectness of concurrent 
 operation is mentioned, we find four angels on the four 
 corners of the earth, holding the four winds. The square or 
 the cube represents the greatest perfectness of combination 
 that can be found in form. The altar was four square ; the 
 breast-plate four square ; the court of the Temple four 
 square ; the holy oblation four square ; the heavenly city 
 four square every way, or a perfect cube. Ttrpuywi/oc 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VII. VIII. AND IX. 131 
 
 u (a faultless cube) was an expression used among the 
 Greeks, to represent a person whose character was supposed 
 to combine the various qualities of moral excellence. 
 
 Seven is the number of rest, especially after labour. It 
 indicates completeness that can be rested in ; the mind in 
 this case being directed, not to any consequences that may 
 follow, but simply to the completeness and perfectness of 
 that which is presented before us. The seventh day, the 
 seventh year, and the seventh seventh year, were periods of 
 rest and satisfied joy. The candlestick had seven lamps. 
 " Prepare me seven bullocks, and seven rams." Indeed 
 seven may properly be called the number of completeness. 
 When man by his sin ruins that which God had made per- 
 fect, and it becomes necessary for Him to make all things 
 new, then we read of an eighth day. 
 
 Twelve is the number employed when agency is spoken of, 
 intended to act instrumentally on others. The mind is 
 directed, not as by seven, to the finished completeness of the 
 object presented, but rather to the results that are to be pro- 
 duced by or through it. Agency towards others in blessing 
 is specially the character of the heavenly city, and conse- 
 quently the number twelve is again and again connected with 
 it. Its provisions of blessedness are not intended to end 
 within itself. The patriarchs, from whom the tribes were to 
 spring, are twelve ; the Apostles, who were to gather and 
 form the Church, are twelve ; the tribes, through whom 
 will be brought to bear upon mankind the earthly agency 
 whereby the nations will be blessed, are twelve. 
 
 Such agency, if prospered, necessarily acts in the way of 
 accumulation, and is capable of producing other agency 
 similar to itself. Hence, I think, the number 144,000 
 twelve multiplied into itself would be applied where the 
 persons spoken of are at once the result of instrumental 
 agency, and are suited for similar agency themselves. Com- 
 bination and multiplication of blessing is a happy principle 
 in the hand of God. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The application of numbers thus used to denote complete- 
 ness, does not imply the identity of the persons or things to 
 which they may be applied. The 144,000 of this chapter, 
 are clearly to be distinguished from the 144,000 seen upon 
 the Mount Zion around the Lamb. The omission of the 
 article in the fourteenth chapter, would be in itself sufficient 
 to show that they were not the same company. We do not 
 find ' AI 6/caroy TtaGapaKovra rkciGaptQ ^iXmocc ', yet there is 
 a resemblance between the two, for the first are an earthly 
 the second a heavenly company ; both prepared for the pur- 
 poses of God touching the earth the one, His earthly; the 
 other, His heavenly agents. 
 
 " After these things I saw, and a great multitude" fyc.] 
 We might expect to find, as we here do, a record of God's 
 two acts of mercy at the period of His final judgments : one 
 in preserving a remnant in the earth, the other in taking all 
 who have " washed their robes, and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb " into their heavenly rest. 
 
 I have before alluded to the variety of symbols that are 
 needed, to give us any notion of the varied glories and office 
 of the Church. In the fifth chapter we find the elders and 
 the cherubim saying, " Thou hast redeemed us out of every 
 tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation." In this chapter 
 we find it said, that the countless multitude are gathered 
 "out of every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues." 
 Here then we find the same body symbolized in two very 
 different positions. We find the same thing in the four- 
 teenth chapter, only there they are represented on Zion 
 in their earthly service here in their heavenly. None but 
 apparently contradictory symbols can explain the fulness of 
 the Church's blessings. Even Christ who is One with Him 
 that sitteth on the Throne will serve and praise before it. 
 
 " And the first angel sounded" fyc.] The instruments of 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VII. VIII. AND IX. 133 
 
 the divine action, as detailed in the two following chapters, 
 appear to be as follows : 
 
 I. The application of the destructive powers of nature in 
 their ordinary way. The vision of fire, hail, &c., is symbolic 
 of the application of God's destructive power against the 
 pleasantness and beauty of the earth in a manner to which 
 men have been frequently accustomed. I speak of the 
 manner, not of the degree. Blood mingled with the hail 
 shows its destructiveness unto death. 
 
 II. The alteration of the ordinary course of nature by 
 bringing the elements into collision in a manner as yet 
 unknown ; symbolized in the vision, by a burning mass like 
 a mountain of fire cast into the sea. 
 
 III. -The bringing superhuman agency, now operating 
 in another sphere and subserving the arrangements of the 
 Divine order in the created heavens, into destructive appli- 
 cation to the earth. 
 
 IV. The withdrawal of blessings heretofore ministered 
 through the heavens. 
 
 V. and VI. Hellish and superhuman agents, capable of 
 employing an infinite number of subordinate agencies under 
 them. These are directed, not against the earth, but upon 
 men themselves. 
 
 The third of these divisions is symbolized by a star falling 
 from heaven to the earth. Stars appear to be used in Scrip- 
 ture, to symbolize beings who exercise a superintending 
 control over the things of earth, from an unearthly and 
 superhuman sphere above. Thus they are continually em- 
 ployed to represent the saints in their resurrection glory, 
 when, as during the Millennium, they will rule over the 
 world. At present, however, evil spirits, as well as holy 
 angels, are allowed to act in this high sphere, controlled, of 
 course, by Him who has the seven spirits of God, and ulti- 
 mately subserving the purposes of His will. Thus we read 
 of the prince of the power, or authority, of the air ; of " the 
 host of the high ones that are on high," (Isaiah xxiv. 1 ;) of 
 
134 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the angel connected with Persia, resisting the angel of God. 
 We cannot doubt that such evil angels are often employed 
 by God to guide the hurricane, or the earthquake, in their 
 appointed course of destruction ; as when the lightnings 
 and the winds brought destruction on Job's household. 
 What occupancy such evil ones may have in the created 
 heavens above, it is not for us to inquire, because God has 
 not revealed it. We know that all that is described in 
 Genesis, as created for and with this earth is brought, more 
 or less, in subjection to the power of evil. In the case 
 before us, an evil power from above, symbolized by a star 
 falling to the earth, becomes connected solely with this earth 
 in order to bring bitterness and death into its waters. 
 
 It will be observed how frequently " the third part " is 
 mentioned in these chapters. The precise extent of this 
 expression will of course be determined by the sphere 
 spoken of whether that sphere be considered to be the land 
 of Israel, or be extended to the prophetic earth generally. 
 The " host of the high ones that are on high," is a name that 
 continues to belong to evil spirits, until the time that they, 
 and the great ones of the earth, are together punished. The 
 exclusion of Satan from access to the presence of God in 
 heaven as the accuser of the brethren (see chap, xii.) must be 
 carefully distinguished from his ceasing to be " the Prince 
 of the power of the air." He will not lose this latter branch 
 of his power until he is bound. 
 
 "And I saw, and heard an eagle flying" $<?.] This is the 
 correct reading. An eagle is frequently connected with the 
 exercise of divine judgments. Thus in Hosea viii: " Set 
 the trumpet to thy mouth : he shall come as an eagle against 
 the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my 
 covenant, and trespassed against my law." 
 
 " Loose the four angels that have been bound at the great 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION VII. VIII. AND IX. 135 
 
 river Euphrates."] I understand that the angels here spoken 
 of are literally angels ; that they are really imprisoned ; and 
 that the Euphrates means the Euphrates. We read in Jude 
 of there being other " angels reserved in everlasting chains, 
 under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." Why 
 these are bound at the Euphrates, or how, it is not for us to 
 say. But when Babylon and the Euphrates, shall have again 
 become the highway and centre of the world's greatness, 
 faith will have to remember, that in the midst of all the 
 splendour of the pageant scene, there are unseen angels 
 bound, and only waiting for the hour of being unloosed in 
 vengeance. 
 
 " Having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and like unto 
 brimstone."] The jacinth was of a deep blue colour, similar 
 to the blue which we see in flame or burning brimstone. 
 The blue flame of the pit is indeed a widely different thought 
 from the blue of heaven : but it is the result of the holiness 
 of the same God the one seen in brightness and serenity ; 
 the other in darkness and destruction. As connected with 
 these horsemen it is of course the blue of the pit. Their 
 " breastplates were of fire, jacinth, and brimstone." Heavenly 
 blue was seen in the breastplate and robes of the Priest of 
 Israel their names shining there on the stones of memorial. 
 But now all this was gone, and these breastplates from the 
 pit flamed against them. 
 
136 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 X, 
 
 WE are now arrived at a part of the Revelation in which 
 the scene becomes more narrow, and the descriptions more 
 definite, than in any of the chapters that we have hitherto 
 considered. The sixth chapter was, as we have seen, wide 
 and comprehensive ; the eighth and ninth chapters, though 
 in some degree more definite, yet do not distinctly specify- 
 either place or time. But in the eleventh and two following 
 chapters (to all of which the tenth may be considered as a 
 preface) we find the descriptions more minute, and the limi- 
 tations more marked, both as to the places, time, and persons 
 spoken of. 
 
 The special subject of these three chapters, x., xi., and xii., 
 is the period which immediately precedes that hour in which 
 the Lord " takes to Himself His great power and reigneth," 
 the sovereignty of the world having become His : a pe- 
 riod during which the power of the devil, through man, 
 is allowed to be paramount in the earth ; " the sea, and the 
 dry land, and the strength of the hills," appearing to be fast 
 and finally held in the grasp of the great enemy : Jerusalem 
 and the nations of the prophetic earth being alike mad in 
 blasphemy ; drunk with the wine first mingled by the Har- 
 lot, and finally ministered through the Beast. 
 
 But before we have the description of the earth thus ruled 
 over by evil, we find in the tenth chapter, a vision telling us 
 
ON REVELATION X. 
 
 137 
 
 of that hour when One mightier than Satan will come in the 
 glory of Almighty power, and plant His foot upon this 
 ruined earth, and claim it for His own. " I saw another 
 mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud : 
 and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it 
 were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire ; and having in 
 his hand a little roll opened ; and he set his right foot upon 
 the sea, and the left on the earth, and cried with a loud 
 voice, even as when a lion roareth." Here, as in the seventh 
 chapter, we find an angel used in the vision to symbolize the 
 Lord of glory. A cloud (the angel was clothed with a 
 cloud) is the emblem of Divine majesty. In a cloud God 
 led Israel out of Egypt. In a cloud He had dwelt in their 
 Tabernacle above the Cherubim of glory. In clouds He will 
 again come at that future hour of which it is said, " He 
 made darkness His secret place, His pavilion round about 
 Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." 
 (Psalm xviii.) The rainbow which had before been seen 
 encircling the Throne of the divine majesty in the heavens 
 was here seen around His head ; for He will come to bring 
 the earth under the effectual power of that covenant, whose 
 results are now hindered because of the wicked who "destroy 
 the earth." " His face also was, as it were, the sun, and His 
 feet as pillars of fire." Here are similar attributes to those 
 which mark His relation to the Churches in the first chapter ; 
 but now the earth is the object, not the Churches. A time 
 is coming when He will be as the sun even towards this 
 earth. The Earth needs the light of His countenance. It 
 needs the rise of the Sun of righteousness ; and when the 
 time comes for this vision to be fulfilled, as the Sun of 
 righteousness He will arise with healing on His wings. 
 Bright and blessed will be the rise of that morning without 
 clouds the result shall be joy and gladness. Truth shall 
 spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down 
 from Heaven. Nevertheless, He cannot tread this earth 
 save in the pure power of holiness. His feet are ever as 
 
138 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fire, and here they were seen as pillars of fire ; for His stand 
 when once it shall have been assumed, shall be one of ever- 
 lasting firmness never to be shaken. His visitation must be 
 the visitation of holiness ; the unprepared earth must hear 
 His voice in judgment; it will tremble and be still. " He 
 set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the earth, 
 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth." 
 
 The Church knows by faith the power of this coming 
 hour : and in the strength of this knowledge has to watch, 
 testify, and endure many days. The light of this vision, to 
 the eye of faith, shines over and through the darkness which 
 the following chapters reveal. We know the proud display 
 of Satan's coming greatness in the earth, and see its strength 
 already gathering : but we also know the manner of the 
 interference of our God. We know that Jesus has a title to 
 all things in earth, as well as heaven, and we own Him as 
 the earth's rightful Lord the Lion of Judah " who shall 
 cry, yea roar and prevail against His enemies." If the time 
 had come for this vision to be actually fulfilled if He who 
 shall come, had come, and really taken possession of the 
 things below, we should not have found the voices of the 
 seven thunders concealed : for His cry was followed by the 
 voices of seven thunders : (c When he had cried, the seven 
 thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thun- 
 ders had spoken, I was about to write : and I heard a voice 
 from heaven saying, " Seal up those things which the seven 
 thunders had spoken, and write them not." When the time 
 comes for the saints to know even as they are known, they 
 will themselves be in the secret place of thunder and will 
 have communion with the ways of the Most High, even in 
 His judgments, and the terrors of His Almighty power. 
 But, at present, we are not to know the voice of the thunders, 
 but only the instruction of the little book which was open in 
 the hand of the angel. Just as in the fourth chapter, the 
 vision of the throne, although the pledge and evidence of 
 our coming glory, yet for the present communicates no gift, 
 
ON REVELATION X. 139 
 
 save only the roll of sorrowful instruction ; so is it also here. 
 The bright vision of the angel is the witness of our future 
 glory together with the Lord, but its present result is only 
 the communication of a book in which sorrow is. " The 
 voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking 
 with me, and saying, " Go, take the little roll which is 
 opened in the hand of the angel." It was a little roll, and 
 accordingly we shall find that the instruction which follows 
 is greatly limited, both as to time and circumstances. It 
 becomes, consequently, easy to be grasped, or incorporated, 
 as it were, into the soul's knowledge, and so may well be 
 symbolized by a book eaten. The angel said unto me, 
 " Take and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter." 
 It was " as sweet honey " to the taste, for all knowledge 
 which God communicates to His saints is in itself pleasant ; 
 but in its results it is bitter ; for all knowledge that so acts 
 upon the soul, as necessarily to place it in sorrowful testi- 
 mony " against peoples, and nations, and tongues, and 
 kings " cannot be otherwise than bitter to the heart of man. 
 So was it with Him who had " His ear opened morning by 
 morning to hear as the learned;" and so will it be with all 
 those who, after being instructed in Heaven, are sent to 
 digest and use that knowledge in the midst of a ruined and 
 transgressing world. Jesus was One who had been in the 
 bosom of the Father before the world was He had clothed 
 the heavens with blackness, and made sackcloth their cover- 
 ing ; yet we find Him in the place of suffering testimony, 
 feeding on the truths of God; and prophesying only to be re- 
 jected. So also is it with the Church. In Christ we see it 
 exalted and seated in heavenly places ; but as known here, 
 as represented by John in Patmos, it is still in the place of 
 sorrowing service, learning bitter things, and prophesying 
 to be rejected. The instruction is heavenly, but the effect 
 is earthly : " He said unto me, Thou must prophesy again, 
 against many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." 
 
140 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THEKE are two cities (and in cities we find the expression of 
 the moral character of man) there are two cities around 
 which the activities and interests of the world .will be con- 
 centrated just at its closing hour ; and those cities are 
 Babylon and Jerusalem. The secular greatness of men, the 
 refinements of luxury, and the splendour of sovereign rule 
 will be found in chief abundance in the first ; but religious 
 associations, and the design of Satan to glorify himself in the 
 very place that God has chosen to set His name there, will 
 give to the latter attractions no less seductive, and preten- 
 sions perhaps more arrogantly wicked. 
 
 The interests of men are being already awakened towards 
 Jerusalem. Civilization is already commencing in that city, 
 and in the Land of Israel, a work which the self-interest of 
 politicians and the energy of her own returning people will 
 finally mature. The restoration of Jerusalem and the East 
 will soon attract the interests of the world. It is a sorrowful 
 and bitter thing to stand alone, as it were, in the midst of 
 the busy throng, joined as it is by many of the true children 
 of the kingdom, and proclaim that that which they are so 
 eager to restore is, by God, " spiritually called Sodom and 
 Egypt ;" that the re-gathering of Israel in Jerusalem is but 
 the result of the restless energy of that unclean spirit, which 
 after having long wandered, seeking rest and finding none, 
 
ON REVELATION XI. 141 
 
 is about to return with seven other spirits more wicked than 
 himself, and dwell in that miserable race who are about to 
 re-people Jerusalem. 
 
 The chapter before us supplies us with the history of 
 Jerusalem, during the period which immediately precedes 
 its final visitation by the Lord in glory. When the 1260 
 days of sackcloth testimony terminate, the seventh angel 
 sounds ; and when he sounds, the strange mysterious dealing 
 of the hand of God, which has so long delayed the blessings 
 promised to and by His prophets, and allowed clouds of 
 darkness from the pit to settle in upon that city where light, 
 and joy, and peace, should be visible before the eyes of all 
 nations this mystery of God will terminate, and other 
 scenes open, that shall be enveloped in mystery no longer. 
 In reading this chapter therefore, we must imagine Jerusalem 
 again restored to seeming dignity and greatness : its temple 
 rebuilt; its worship re-established; itself become a centre 
 for the busy concourse of many nations ; her own people 
 resting under the shadow of the great chief of the Gentiles, 
 who for a little season practises on them by his flatteries, and 
 then suddenly grasps them for destruction. During the 
 whole period of the smoothness and deceit of Antichrist, 
 Christians and Christian testimony remain in Jerusalem. 
 The message of the gospel, "Believe, and thou shalt be 
 saved," will still be sounded in the ears of that disobeying 
 and gainsaying people. But when the last period arrives, 
 and the 1260 days of Antichrist's supremacy commence by 
 the planting of the idol of the desolator, we find Christianity, 
 not indeed extinguished in the earth, but withdrawn from 
 Judah and Jerusalem, and Israel left to fall alike beneath 
 the power of the great destroyer and the superadded inflic- 
 tions of the wrath of God : " for then shall be great tribu- 
 lation, such as hath not been since the beginning of the world 
 to this time, no, nor ever shall be." 
 
 This, however, is the hour which God has selected for the 
 mission of a new character of testimony into that most evil, 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 yet beloved city. " I will endow my two witnesses, and 
 they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score 
 days, clothed in sackcloth." It will be like the cry of Jonah 
 in Nineveh, a cry of woe and of judgment. The Witnesses 
 will be able to turn back the thoughts over the whole course 
 of Israel's evil history; they will be able to speak of the 
 law broken of restoration granted, only to be forfeited 
 again by aggravated transgression of prophets sent to be 
 rejected of the Son of God slain and hanged on a tree of 
 the message of forgiveness through His blood despised, and 
 now withdrawn of the day of His glory with all its judg- 
 ments being nigh, even at the doors of the summer being 
 past, the harvest ended, and they not gathered. 
 
 Such will be the primary character of the testimony of 
 the Witnesses. They will speak of judgment, not of grace 
 of destruction, not of salvation.* The rage of blaspheming 
 infidels, more hardened than Pharaoh, and more wicked 
 than Ahab and Jezebel, will be around them. But they 
 cannot be overthrown, neither can their testimony be stayed, 
 until their course is fully run; for power from God for 
 protection will visibly be granted to them. Fire will wait 
 upon the word of their lips, and will consume their enemies. 
 They will have power also to turn the waters into blood, 
 and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they 
 will. 
 
 We can easily conceive how strangely such a testimony 
 will sound in the ears of the great Pharaoh of the earth, just 
 at the very moment when he is exalted into the plenitude 
 of his glorious power, and how he will meet it in hatred 
 and scorn. The apostates of Israel, like so many Ahabs, 
 will scorn it likewise, though perhaps they may in secret 
 tremble ; but Satan's seven- fold power will be upon them, 
 and they will hate it the more, because they believe it to be 
 of God : and thus when these servants of God shall have 
 
 * I am speaking now of the character of their public testimony. See 
 Notes at the end of this chapter. 
 
ON REVELATION XI. 143 
 
 finished their testimony, the wickedness of earth will again, 
 though for the last time, be allowed to lift itself up and 
 prosper. " When they shall have finished their testimony, 
 the heast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make 
 war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." 
 
 That the Witnesses are two individuals, is as certain as 
 that Antichrist is an individual. Their miracles are those 
 of Moses and Elijah, and this, together with the promise in 
 Malachi, " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, 
 before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the 
 Lord ;" the declaration of John the Baptist, that he was 
 not Elijah; his mission being described as being 
 <f in the spirit and power of Elijah ;" the appearance of 
 Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration ; the 
 translation of Elijah in an unchanged body, and the remark- 
 able peculiarities connected with the body of Moses, these, 
 and other such circumstances, have led many to believe that 
 they are the two servants selected for this last place of 
 sorrowful and dishonoured testimony as also destined to 
 stand hereafter as " the two anointed ones " by the side of 
 (f the Lord of the whole earth." But, however this may be, 
 whether they be Moses or Elijah, or no, it is certain that 
 their testimony and service will be, in its character, that of 
 Moses and Elijah. The matured vigour of man's natural 
 energies, his intellect and his skill, assisted by all that he 
 has been able to borrow from the various revelations of God's 
 truth, and even from Christianity itself, will soon present 
 the nations of the Roman World, with Jerusalem in their 
 midst, as one vast Egypt ; and it was in Egypt, when the 
 maturity of its iniquity had been reached, that Moses stood. 
 The Egyptians were learned and wise, unrivalled amidst the 
 nations of the earth. But their wisdom and their learning 
 were apart from God. Their country was unequalled in its 
 resources. What river was like unto their river ? But they 
 said, (f their river was their own." They held this likewise 
 apart from God. Joseph also and Israel had been there, 
 
144 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 and what would Pharaoh and Egypt have been without 
 Joseph and Israel. Through them they had builded up 
 their greatness, but still apart from God, and, therefore, all 
 ended in a proud and impious defiance of His will. But yet 
 Pharaoh and Egypt were never chargeable with the direct 
 guilt of apostasy ; such apostasy, I mean, as was found in 
 Israel, when Elijah stood forth among them, because they 
 had forsaken God, and consented to bow down and worship 
 Baal. It was before the king of Egypt that Moses stood : 
 but Elijah was in the midst of corrupted Israel. Their sin 
 was deeper and more debased, though it lacked the energy 
 of the sin of Egypt. But combine the two, and nothing 
 will be wanting ; and it is these two characters of evil that 
 will be combined in Jerusalem. The great Head of the 
 Gentiles who will glorify himself in Jerusalem, will be alike 
 the centre of the godless energy of nature, and of the corrup- 
 tions of apostasy. He will be Pharaoh and Ahab in one 
 person ; and those who are around him, whether Jews or 
 Gentiles, will be like their king. The Witnesses of God 
 will testify in the midst of them, but their testimony will be 
 in vain. They will complete their testimony and fall. For 
 three days and a half, their bodies shall lie unburied in the 
 street of that same city in which " their (avrwv) Lord was 
 crucified," and they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice 
 over them, and shall send gifts one to another. But it will 
 be the world's last jubilee, for the hour will have come for 
 the Lord to arise to judgment, and to help all the meek of 
 the earth. He will put on the garments of vengeance for 
 clothing, and clothe Himself with zeal as with a cloak. 
 
 The three days and a half during which the Witnesses lie 
 silent in death, is a period of death-like stillness touching all 
 agency from God. His hand appears to be driven from the 
 earth, and the cry of exulting blasphemy is all that is heard 
 amongst the men who have so lately witnessed the greatness 
 of its power. Testimony ceases on the earth, but power 
 does not cease to dwell in heaven. It is in heaven that 
 
ON REVELATION XI. 145 
 
 thrones of judgment will be set, and the Ancient of days will 
 sit, His " garment white as snow, and the hair of His head 
 like the pure wool ; His throne like the fiery flame, and His 
 wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came 
 forth from before Him : thousand thousands ministered unto 
 Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before 
 Him." 
 
 The time has come for the Son to quit the throne of the 
 Father, and to be brought before the earth's Almighty Judge, 
 and to be invested with the power the long delegated power 
 which now is finally taken from the hands of man. The 
 times of the Gentiles finish, and with them the mystery of 
 God. 
 
 Whether this scene this secret scene in heaven, takes 
 place during, or at the close of, the three days and a half of 
 man's triumphant revelry, I do not say. One thing is cer- 
 tain, that when the seventh trumpet sounds, this scene has 
 past in heaven ; for " there were heard great voices in heaven 
 saying, " The sovereignty of the world hath become the 
 sovereignty of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall 
 reign for ever and ever." In Heaven the day of Christ 
 thus begins. 
 
 The seventh trumpet awakened this song of praise in 
 Heaven, but on earth it was a trumpet of woe, the last and 
 greatest of the three trumpets of woe. f( Woe, woe, woe, to 
 those who dwell upon the earth, by reason of the rest of the 
 voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are about to 
 sound !" The seventh is the last of these three trumpets, 
 and will bring alike upon Israel and on the Gentiles,, the 
 final blow ; administered by the Son of Man Himself, re- 
 turning in the glory of His power. But the time for 
 revealing the manner of this was not yet come. Here there- 
 fore, as in previous chapters, the vision closes, and a new 
 vision begins. 
 
I 
 
 146 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 on $efalsii0n X. sjifc XL 
 
 to t. 
 
 "There should be no longer delay ; but in the days of the 
 voice of the seventh angel, when he should be about to sound, 
 the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath evangelized 
 (given glad tidings to) His servants, the Prophets."] God's 
 servants, the prophets, had to behold (and it was to them a 
 sight of sorrow and anguish see Jeremiah and Daniel) the 
 light of joy and blessing that had once rested on Israel, 
 withdrawn, and succeeded by a darkness which has gone on 
 steadily increasing, until it shall at last end in the black 
 night of Antichristian apostasy. The stream of blessing 
 has disappeared, like a lost river that suddenly entering 
 some deep chasm hides itself beneath the earth's surface and 
 there pursues its secret way, until in some far distant region 
 separated by vast and burning deserts, it suddenly re-appears. 
 The mystery here spoken of commenced when the stream 
 of Israel's blessing vanished ; it will terminate when it re- 
 appears. 
 
 During the progression of this " mystery of God," the 
 children of faith are made acquainted with many "mysteries " 
 which are, by God's appointment, necessary to the develop- 
 ment of the great end. Thus, the blindness which has fallen 
 on Israel in part, until all the appointed number that are to 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION X. AND XI. 147 
 
 be gathered from the Gentiles by the gospel as now preached, 
 have been gathered, is a mystery which we understand. 
 Another mystery (of which the great Apostle to the Gentiles 
 was the especial minister) is the calling of the Gentiles who 
 are now converted, into strict fellowship with believing 
 Israelites " as fellow-heirs and of the same body" with them 
 in Christ risen. Another mystery now revealed is the union 
 of all believers with Christ in heavenly places and again 
 that Christ is IN His people here, even though they be 
 Gentiles " Christ IN you (Colossian Gentiles) the hope 
 of glory." 
 
 It should carefully be remembered (though strong asser- 
 tions have been made to the contrary) that neither the 
 " Church of the first-born," nor the Church in its totality, 
 is called by St. Paul " the mystery," nor " a mystery," nor 
 any thing equivalent thereunto ; although many things con- 
 nected with the Church's calling and position are called 
 mysteries see the examples just given. 
 
 The Church as known in eternity will be composed, not 
 of part of the redeemed, but of all the redeemed of every dis- 
 pensation. Abel, Abraham, David, Paul, and the millennial 
 saints will finally form part of the one redeemed body in the 
 new creation. Dispensational differences of light and know- 
 ledge, however important here, must not be transferred into 
 Heaven, so as there to separate those whom God has indis- 
 solubly united in the unity of Christ risen. Every saint 
 who has borne the image of the first man who was earthly, 
 shall equally bear the image of the Second Man who is 
 heavenly, and therefore being all equally like Christ, shall 
 have like powers, like understanding, like knowledge, like 
 affections ; and shall be equally near in love to the Father 
 and to the Son. These things depend, not on what we are 
 in the Spirit here (that would indeed alter the very ground 
 of salvation) they depend simply and only on what Christ 
 is. They are the gift of God in His Son. 
 
 L g 
 
148 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 [That which had been stated in the Old Testament Scriptures, but 
 which had been allowed to remain t'.iere, as it were, silent, without being 
 unfolded and explained, is called by St. Paul, " a mystery." Thus we 
 find him saying, in the Romans " Now to Him that is able to stablish 
 you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according 
 to the Revelation of the mystery kept silent since the world began, but 
 now made manifest, and by means of the prophetic Scriptures made 
 known, &c." (dta re yjoa^wi' irpo(f)r)TiKit)v yvwjOt<70TO.) That which 
 was not TN the prophetic Scriptures, could not have been made known 
 by means of them. "A mystery," therefore, is not necessarily afresh 
 truth, i. e., a truth never before stated. To state a mystery is something 
 different from unfolding it. The first was done by the Prophets, the latter 
 by the Apostles. 
 
 The Apostle Paul continually referred to the Old Testament Scriptures 
 in confirmation of that which he ministered. See for example Romans 
 i. 1. " Separated unto the gospel of God which He had promised afore 
 by His Prophets in the Holy Scriptures ;" and again, " but now the 
 righteousness of God apart from the Law is manifested, being witnessed by 
 the Law and the Prophets." Nothing can be more strict than the unity 
 of testimony that is found in the writings of the Prophets and the Apos- 
 tles. Peter distinctly says that the Prophets " prophesied of the grace 
 that should come unto us;" though they were not allowed to fathom, and 
 become the ministers of that which they prophetically declared. 
 
 Nothing can be more untrue than to say, that New Testament prophets 
 were empowered to write Scripture. Prophets, in the New Testament 
 sense of that word, had a subordinate ministry; being such as spoke 
 " to edification, exhortation, and comfort," but not infallibly, seeing that 
 their fellow-prophets were directed " to judge" their ministry. (1 Cor. 
 xiv. 29.) But they were not inspired to write Scripture, and therefore 
 the words, " Prophetic Scriptures," cannot apply (as some have said) to 
 their writings, which indeed do not exist.] 
 
 "Arise, and measure the sanctuary of God, and the altar, 
 and them that worship therein : but the court that is without 
 the sanctuary leave out and measure it not," cjfc.] It should 
 be observed that the word which I have here translated 
 sanctuary, is vaos, not itpnv. The latter denotes the whole 
 sacred inclosure, and is commonly translated " temple ;" 
 whereas the former, vao<;, which is here used, signifies the 
 inner courts only, i. e. the Holy place and the Holy of 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION X. AND XT. 149 
 
 Holies. The altar here mentioned is the altar of incense in 
 the Holy place. The two inner courts, into which priests 
 alone could enter, are typical of those heavenly places not 
 made with hands into which Jesus has already gone. The 
 two inner courts and they that worship therein, are therefore 
 used to symbolize those who worship in the name of Jesus ; 
 whereas the outer court and those that worship there, repre- 
 sent those who seek to maintain their standing as Israelites, 
 and reject Jesus. The inner courts represent the place and 
 service of the Church; the outer courts symbolize Jerusalem 
 and her rejected people. Accordingly, the inner courts and 
 those who worship there were alone " measured." (f Mea- 
 suring" is the sign of appropriation. We measure that 
 which we claim or recognise as our own. The Temple, as 
 seen in the vision, was of course symbolic ; quite as much 
 so as the seven candlesticks which represented the seven 
 Churches. 
 
 The period at which Christian worship is to be thus owned, 
 and Jewish worship to be thus disowned, in Jerusalem, is 
 that which immediately ushers in the last 1260 days of 
 Jewish tribulation. Many, when they see Jewish worship 
 restored in Jerusalem by the Jews returning in unbelief, 
 will be disposed to say (indeed they have already said it), 
 that God will favour the attempt, and accept the worship. 
 This verse alone might have taught them that He will give 
 it up to the fury of the enemy, who shall take away the daily 
 sacrifice and plant the abomination that maketh desolate and 
 shall tread down Jerusalem and her people. As to Christian 
 worship it will be owned and continued. It may indeed be 
 driven from Jerusalem and Judea, but it is not dependent on 
 an outward Temple, nor any outward circumstances. It can 
 live in deserts, or mountains, or dens, or caves of the earth. 
 
 " The holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two 
 months, and I ivill endow my two witnesses, and they shall 
 prophesy 1260 days" fyc.] I suppose no one will deny the 
 
150 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 identity of the forty- two months and the 1260 days in this 
 passage. Its being said that the Gentiles tread Jerusalem 
 down for the definite period of forty-two months, proves 
 that they do not tread it down after this definite period is 
 over. Consequently the sackcloth testimony of the Witnesses, 
 and the reign of Antichrist in Jerusalem, must end simul- 
 taneously. 
 
 The three days and a half, during which the Witnesses lie 
 dead, must be included in the general period of their testi- 
 mony ; just as if speaking in general terms of our Lord's 
 sojourn on earth, we should include the whole period from 
 His birth to His ascension, and not except the three days 
 during which He was in death. Indeed this is proved to be 
 so, by the identity of the forty-two months of Jerusalem's 
 subjection to the Gentiles and the 1260 days of the Wit- 
 nesses' testimony, as already shown ; for no one will say that 
 the period of exultation over the bodies of the two Witnesses 
 can be after Jerusalem has ceased to be trodden down. 
 
 That the Witnesses are to be two individuals who shall 
 testify in Jerusalem during the reign of Antichrist, was 
 taught by a succession of writers from the first to the twelfth 
 century. See quotations in " Prospects of the Ten King- 
 doms of the Roman Empire," pp. 237, 263. 
 
 " These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks that 
 stand before the Lord of the earth."] This is an evident 
 reference to Zechariah iv. It is a remarkable instance of 
 the manner in which titles or offices of glory which at pre- 
 sent can attach to the saints only ^respectively ', are ascribed 
 to them now. Thus in Daniel vii. and viii., the suffering 
 saints are prospectively called <f saints of the high places" 
 " stars, " and " host of the heavens," even during the time 
 of their deepest sorrow and degradation. Nothing can be 
 more contrasted than the place of the persecuted and dis- 
 honoured Witnesses, and that of the olive trees as described 
 in Zechariah, standing by the side of the Lord of the whole 
 
NOTES OF REVELATION X. AND XI. 151 
 
 earth. Yet such, is to be the place of the Witnesses in the 
 glory ; and faith knows this and will recognise it during the 
 time of their sackcloth testimony. 
 
 The petition of the mother of James and John was doubt- 
 less founded on this passage in Zechariah. She with the 
 rest of the disciples expected that the kingdom of God would 
 immediately appear. She had seen her two sons stand by 
 the side of the Lord during the time of His humiliation, 
 and she hoped that they might be the persons who should 
 stand the one on His right hand, the other on His left when 
 He should be manifested in His glory. Hence her petition. 
 It was no ordinary faith to own Jesus of Nazareth as one 
 who could grant such a request. She was not rebuked ; but 
 told merely that this place of honour could not be given ex- 
 cept to those for whom it was prepared of the Father. 
 
 " Which stand (eorwrf c) beforethe Lord of the earth"] It 
 is important to notice both in Greek and in Hebrew the use 
 of the present participle in denoting abstract relation. The 
 Witnesses whilst prophesying in sackcloth, will not be ac- 
 tually standing as olive trees, according to the vision of 
 Zechariah, before the Lord of the whole earth. Neverthe- 
 less their designation for that place in glory being fixed by 
 the unalterable appointment of God, they are spoken of, ab- 
 stractedly from time, as being in possession thereof. For 
 further remarks on the use of the present participle in this 
 abstract sense, see the notes at the end of the seventeenth 
 chapter. 
 
 " And if any man desireth to hurt them, Jlre proceedeth out 
 of their mouth and devour eth their enemies"] This would 
 
 In Greek the perfect middle is sometimes used in the same way as in 
 the present instance. Eorwrfe has been by some mistaken for the per- 
 fect active, but this is a grammatical error. The perfect active is earrjKa, 
 and means "/ have set;" the perfect middle is eoraa, and means "I 
 stand," perf. m. tarcta, perf. part. m. corawe, cont. eorwc, pi. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 be a character of power ill-suited to those " who were sent 
 to preach the gospel of peace/' but well adapted to that 
 awful character of testimony which the Witnesses will be sent 
 to bear after the gospel has been withdrawn from Jerusalem. 
 They will be able to lay bare all truth before the consciences 
 of men, without being commissioned to preach forgiveness 
 of sins. Peter might have said all that he did say when 
 they that heard him were pricked at the heart, and yet 
 might not have been permitted to add the message of pardon 
 through the blood of the Lamb. We have heard of infidels 
 who have on their death-beds been convinced of the truth 
 about Jesus, without being allowed to believe. 
 
 The testimony of the Witnesses therefore may be re- 
 garded in two aspects ; first, in its wide and general charac- 
 ter as addressed to the infidel multitudes around them ; and 
 secondly, as to the more secret instruction given to the few 
 who may tremble and bow before their word. In neither 
 case, however, will they preach the present remission of sins. 
 As regards the first, it will be exclusively a testimony to the 
 coming of the Lord in judgment, and an exhibition of the 
 past and present sin that causes that judgment to fall. But 
 if any be humbled, and say, " Men and brethren, what shall 
 we do ? " the Witnesses will no longer be able to say what 
 Peter said, " Repent, and be baptized for the remission of 
 sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ;" nei- 
 ther will they be able to promise deliverance from the 
 coming fires, though they may promise protection through 
 them, and acceptance in Jesus after He shall have returned 
 and removed ungodliness from Jacob. Such anticipation 
 of the future, founded on the word of others, is something 
 very different from present faith and joy in the Spirit. The 
 Spirit is not poured out from on high, until after the Lord 
 Jesus has returned. Accordingly, I do not find the strongest 
 expressions that are used in the Psalms, as belonging to this 
 remnant, going beyond the expression of hope for the future. 
 There is no expression of present rest in God, during their 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION X. AND XI. 153 
 
 season of oppression and distress no ability to say, what 
 they who have the Spirit of Jesus can say, " The Lord is my 
 shepherd, I shall not want ; He maketh me to lie down in 
 green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters." This 
 draws a strong line of distinction between the Psalms which 
 pertain to the Christian remnant, and the remnant preserved 
 in Israel, who go, in the power of expected blessing, through 
 the fires. 
 
 After the Lord has come and finally delivered them, and 
 they have been enabled to believe, some time elapses before 
 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them, and the nation. 
 During all this period the Psalms ascribed to them express 
 great imperfectness of knowledge, especially as regards 
 redemption. Like Paul after he had believed they will 
 remain in much darkness until the unction from on high 
 is given. During this time the Lord appears to have retired 
 to heaven with His risen saints, and to leave them for a 
 season as a mourning but forgiven remnant, in the midst 
 of the desolations that His hand will have wrought. 
 
 It should be observed also, that the history of the remnant 
 spared amidst that part of Israel which is scattered up and 
 down throughout the earth, is, in many respects, circumstan- 
 tially different from that of the remnant spared in the Land. 
 
 The ministry of the Witnesses, therefore, is of a character 
 entirely peculiar. No previous ministry that has been sent 
 to Jerusalem, not even that of John the Baptist, which is 
 most nearly analogous, is like it. The instructions of John 
 were able to bring into distinct deliverance from the judg- 
 ments of which he warned ; but it will be otherwise with 
 the remnant of Israel. They will have to pass through the 
 fires to be refined as silver is refined, and to be tried as gold 
 is tried. 
 
 " The great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and 
 Egypt"] These words should be well considered by every 
 saint who is being involved in any of the present schemes for 
 
154 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 reviving Jerusalem. I do not say that individual Christians 
 may not be sent thither by the Lord to save individual souls 
 by the foolishness of preaching ; but this is a widely different 
 thing from seeking to establish there the power of Gentile 
 nations, or of national churches who give their energies to 
 that monster, " dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, 
 whose body is to be destroyed and given to the burning 
 flame." Jerusalem has already been called by the name of 
 Sodom " Hear ye this, ye rulers of Sodom !" It has been 
 in time past a sink of moral iniquity. But the intellectual 
 greatness and refinements of Egypt have not yet been found 
 united to its moral abominations. Now, however, the un- 
 changed Jewish heart is beginning to be moulded by Euro- 
 pean wisdom, and what else than Sodom and Egypt can be 
 found in result ? 
 
 It is a fearful thing to see Christians rejoicing in what has 
 been lately done in Jerusalem. Have they never read or 
 heard of the wickedness, superstition, and idolatry of the 
 so-called Christian Churches of the East ? Can it give them 
 any joy to think that a Bishop should be sent to Jerusalem, 
 charged by his ecclesiastical superior in this country not to 
 interfere with those Churches, nor with their prelates, nor 
 with any others bearing rule in them, but on the contrary, 
 to show them all due regard in their office, and to request 
 " their holinesses to accept this testimony of our respect and 
 affection?" &c. (See Charge of the late Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury to the Bishop of Jerusalem.) Is this testimony for 
 Christ? Or is it the woman silently leavening the mass, 
 until the whole be leavened ? 
 
 " Where also their Lord was crucified"] These words 
 should be noted, because they so distinctly mark the scene 
 of this awful chapter as being Jerusalem. The next verse 
 shows how much Jerusalem will, at that time, have become 
 one of the world's centres the gathering place of ' { peoples 
 and kindreds and tongues and nations." What is there done 
 touches the whole earth. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION X. AND XI. 155 
 
 " The breath of life from God entered into them. 9 '] This 
 appears to be merely a revival of their natural bodies. It 
 does not say that they were changed and glorified. Elias 
 also, and Moses , on the mount of transfiguration must have 
 been in their natural bodies, for Jesus only is risen the 
 first-fruits in resurrection. Glory attached to the natural 
 face of Moses at Sinai so also to Stephen at his death. 
 
 " Gave glory to the God of heaven"] This does not neces- 
 sarily imply repentance unto life. It was said to Achan, 
 when about to be stoned, " My son, give glory unto God." 
 
 " There were great voices in Heaven saying, e The so- 
 vereignty of the world hath become the sovereignty of our 
 Lord and of His Christ. 7 "] The rendering of this passage 
 should be carefully noted. These words may be regarded 
 as spoken immediately after the Ancient of Days has sat and 
 the Son of Man has been brought before Him to be in- 
 vested with the power of earth. The Day of Christ will 
 then commence in Heaven. The first notification to the 
 earth of its having commenced, will be signs in the' Heaven, 
 and the descent of the Lord into the air where His saints 
 will meet Him. He comes from Heaven into the air with 
 angels only. 
 
 1 ' We give thee thanks .... because thou hast taken 
 thy great power"} This is the time for the resumption 
 of the power which God had delegated to the Gentile 
 monarchs the time of the destruction of the image seen 
 by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 " And the time of the dead to be judged."] The first re- 
 surrection is the first act of manifested discriminative judg- 
 ment on the Avorld of the dead. The righteous and the 
 wicked alike drop into the grave, and apparently no dif- 
 
U>6 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fercnce is made between them. But when the righteous are 
 raised in the first resurrection, and the others left in the 
 grave, it will be a distinct and intelligible act of discrimi- 
 native judgment. 
 
 "And there was seen the ark of His covenant" 8fc.] There 
 was seen, not a sprinkled mercy-seat, but the ark surrounded 
 by Sinai terrors ; an evidence that Israel and the earth are 
 yet unreconciled at the period of which this chapter treats. 
 
ON REVELATION XII. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 <Dn t&tlaii0n XII. 
 
 THERE have, from time to time, appeared in what is called 
 the civilized world, certain ruling systems of evil whereby 
 Satan and the wicked Spirits against whom we wrestle, have 
 commanded the energies of unregeiierate men, and fashioned 
 their characters. These systems have in different ages 
 varied. Sometimes they have been secular, at others 
 religious ; sometimes fierce and destructive, at others more 
 peaceful and refined. Indeed it is necessary that they 
 should be variously shaped and moulded, in order to meet 
 the varying degrees of light vouchsafed by God, as well as 
 the varying degrees of power allowed at different periods 
 to the Prince of this world. But each system in its turn 
 develops a wise and skilful adaptation of moral and intellec- 
 tual principles to the circumstances of the hour. It adapts 
 itself to the tastes and habits of the day, and thereby secures 
 an influence that effectually subjects society to its directive 
 power. 
 
 From the time of Constantine, when the Roman Empire 
 first assumed the profession of Christianity, on to the 
 present hour, the system which has most successfully 
 struggled for supremacy has been in form ecclesiastical. 
 The fullest development of this system has been seen in 
 Romanism. There, we who live in the West, are wont to 
 turn for the proof of what debased and adulterated Chris- 
 tianity is able to effect, when its principles are systematized 
 
158 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALPYSE. 
 
 and its influence concentrated. The emblem under which 
 professing Christianity is presented to us in the Scripture 
 after it had attained its evil pre-eminence in the earth, is that 
 of a woman, who, having taken meal, leavened it, and so 
 stood prepared to feed those who came to her for food.* 
 It is an emblem not to be confined to Romanism alone : it 
 belongs to every system, which, professing to act in the 
 name of Christ, mingles with Truth, corruption. 
 
 But men have widely discovered that corruption has been 
 mingled with that on which they were wont to feed as 
 Truth, and have long begun to make that corruption the 
 excuse for rejecting the Truth itself. Another system is 
 rapidly arising which professes its willingness to recognise 
 and to cherish all forms of religious faith or observance, 
 without definitely accepting any as true. No system, of 
 course, can be more comprehensive, none more conciliatory, 
 than one which is willing to sanction and to shelter all 
 totality of error. This system, it is true, is not yet fully 
 formed. Yet it would not be difficult to enumerate its 
 leading principles, and to point out the sphere in which 
 those principles are at present chiefly found. On this sub- 
 ject, however, we will not now dwell. We must return to 
 it, when we come to that chapter, which speaks of " Babylon 
 the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and the Abominations 
 of the Earth." 
 
 But besides the systems by which Satan sways the nations, 
 there is another system of which the servants of God are 
 cognizant. God also has His system His own divinely 
 ordered system of grace and truth. He has already fully 
 revealed its principles in His holy word : He has promised 
 also finally to give effect to those principles, and to make 
 them paramount in the earth. If the Scripture teaches us 
 respecting the Woman who feeds the nations with her 
 leavened meal ; if it warns us also against her, not yet 
 
 * See Parables of Matt, xiii., considered in "Prospects of the Ten 
 Kingdoms of the Eoman World." 
 
ON REVELATION XII. 159 
 
 apparent, who bedecked with gold and precious stones and 
 pearls, shall hold a golden cup wherewith she will make the 
 nations drunk with the wine of fornication ; we read like- 
 wise of another woman " clothed with the sun, and the moon 
 under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" 
 emblems sufficiently indicative of the intrinsic excellency 
 of that system before which at last all other systems shall 
 bow, however little it may be at present manifested in the 
 likeness of such glory. 
 
 The children of the Truth will have little difficulty in 
 recognising this as the proper glory of the system to which 
 they belong. Truth is their parent ; to her they owe the 
 homage of their hearts, however much she may be at present 
 like the widowed Naomi, wandering in the land of the 
 stranger. To the eye of man she has at present no form, 
 no comeliness. She is either unknown, or, if known, 
 hated : but faith knows her, not as seen in the light of the 
 day of man, but as she is recognised above, when viewed in 
 the light of the Day of God. This vision of her glory was 
 seen by John in Heaven. It is Heaven's estimate of that 
 which the kingdoms of the prophetic earth, under Satan, 
 will finally cast out from among them in infamy and scorn. 
 But as soon as the night is spent, and the shadows flee away, 
 and the morning without clouds has come, Truth in all its 
 fulness will stand forth before the nations in the power of 
 the presence of the glory of Christ, and of His risen saints. 
 They whom she has nurtured during the hours of her mourn- 
 ing shall then be her " crown of rejoicing." If we consider 
 what is written in the Scripture respecting that future period 
 " when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in 
 Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously" when Zion, 
 the Mountain of God's government, shall become the centre 
 of His Truth, we shall not wonder at the symbols here used 
 to describe that Truth's future glory. All its principles 
 will be developed then, and not only developed, but applied 
 according to the power and perfectness of Him from whom 
 
160 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 it emanates. Men will then at last learn what Christianity 
 (for Christianity is but another name for Truth) really is. 
 They will recognise it then as indeed the system of God, 
 embodying every principle of wisdom and knowledge, every 
 rule that is helpful to lead to the attainment of blessing, or 
 to guide in the use of good. 
 
 Zion, as I have already said, is the place in which 
 this system of God shall be displayed in its manifested ex- 
 cellency. " Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the 
 word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Zion will be the moun- 
 tain of God's manifested glory; but it will only be this, 
 because it is the mountain of Christ's Truth ; it is that 
 which will give to Zion its highest dignity; and all the 
 brightness of Zion's outward glory will be but as a halo en- 
 compassing that which gives to it its moral excellency. Zion 
 outwardly may be glorious, but it is in Zion morally that the 
 true power of blessing will be found. At present, however, 
 we see not these things. Now is the hour of sorrowful 
 separation between her who shall be enshrined in Zion, and 
 Zion. Truth, which will, in that day, give to Zion its highest 
 dignity, has been scorned and rejected there. Therefore 
 " doth Zion sit desolate;" "the Lord hath poured out His 
 fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath 
 devoured the foundations thereof." Zion has seen and 
 rejected Him in whose lips Truth dwelt; nevertheless, al- 
 though rejected, He has introduced into the world the ever- 
 lasting system of God -that system to which every other 
 system shall finally bow, as surely, as every knee shall bow 
 to Him. We do not, therefore, wait for the introduction of 
 Truth ; though we wait for its establishment in its appointed 
 glory. We wait not for the introduction of the system of 
 God, though we wait for the manifestation of its excellency. 
 We are no strangers to Zion morally, though we wait for her 
 association with that place, which, by God's appointment, 
 is indissolubly connected with her rest, her strength, and 
 her glory. 
 
ON REVELATION XII. 161 
 
 In the sixty-sixth of Isaiah (a chapter to which it is neces- 
 sary to turn, because some of the expressions found in the 
 twelfth of Revelation are thence derived) in the sixty-sixth 
 of Isaiah we find the description of that future hour when 
 Zioiiwill at last become identified with the Truth her own 
 proper, though long-rejected system, and when they that are 
 born to the Truth shall be born to Zion. Then fruitfulness 
 will return unto Zion. Then she shall bring forth her 
 children, and that for blessing, without travail, and without 
 sorrow. " Before she travailed, she brought forth ; before 
 her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath 
 heard such a thing ? who hath seen such things ? Shall the 
 earth be made to bring forth in one day ? or shall a nation 
 be born at once ? for as soon as Zion travailed she brought 
 forth her children." A male child (Zachar, a male) is the 
 emblem of strength. It denotes a position of vigour, and 
 energy, and power, as pertaining to those to whom this sym- 
 bol is applied. Accordingly, we read of those thus symbolized 
 being nurtured, cherished, comforted in Jerusalem of their 
 heart being caused to rejoice, and their bones made to flourish 
 like an herb of peace being extended to them as a river, 
 and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Such 
 shall be the condition of those who shall be born to Zion in 
 the day when Truth and her interests shall at last prevail, 
 and a standing of strength, and vigour, and power, be granted 
 to her children and maintained. 
 
 How contrasted with this picture is the scene described 
 in the twelfth of the Revelation ! We see, indeed, her who 
 will by and by be manifested on Zion, described, according 
 to Heaven's estimate of her intrinsic excellency by symbols 
 which well beseem her final exaltation : but what are her 
 actual circumstances ? Can it be said of her as seen in the 
 vision before us, that as soon as she travaileth she bringeth 
 forth, and that, for peace and joy and present blessing ? No! 
 " She being with child crieth out, travailing, and pained to 
 be delivered." And what awaits her child ? The strength of 
 
 M 
 
162 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Zioii and the peace of Jerusalem ? No ! A great red dragon 
 having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon 
 his heads (that is, Satan wielding the power of all the ten 
 kingdoms of the Roman world, which will then be fully 
 formed), stands ready to devour the child as soon as it 
 it is born. And the child, instead of being strengthened like 
 the man child in Isaiah, and having the glory of Jerusalem 
 and the nations gathered around it as a flowing stream, is 
 placed beneath the shelter of God's Throne in Heaven, and 
 Satan is allowed to triumph for a season, and to persecute 
 the woman and the remnant of her seed. 
 
 In a wide and general sense, every child of faith in every 
 dispensation, whether Abel, or Abraham, or Stephen, or the 
 millennial saints, are the children of this glorious parent. 
 All such belong to that system which finally shall be mani- 
 fested in this majesty of glorious power ; and, with the ex- 
 ception of the millennial saints, all are partakers of her 
 present sorrows in the earth. But in this chapter, we ' are 
 constrained to a more definite interpretation; for the time 
 and the circumstances are specific, and fix the chronology of 
 this vision as belonging to a period yet to come. The ten 
 horns of the dragon, which indicate the existence of the ten 
 kingdoms of the Roman world kingdoms as yet undeve- 
 loped ; the expulsion of the Dragon from Heaven which 
 immediately follows the birth of the man child, and the flight 
 of the woman into the wilderness during the 1260 days of 
 Antichrist's power, are chronological marks, which give a 
 definite future interpretation to the events predicted in this 
 passage. 
 
 In order to understand this chapter, we must go on into 
 the future, and imagine Christianity again found in the 
 midst of unbelieving Israel in Jerusalem, at the time when 
 the ten kingdoms of the Roman world will just be attaining 
 the plenitude of their greatness. That Christianity will, at 
 that period, be found in Jerusalem, is evident from the 
 twenty-fourth of Matthew and various other passages. Many 
 
ON KEVELATION XII. 163 
 
 (I doubt not they will be principally, if not exclusively, from 
 Israel) will there be found obedient to the faith of Jesus. 
 They will be born unto God in Jerusalem, just at the very 
 moment when Christianity (especially such Christianity as 
 testifies to the near coming of the Kingdom of God), will be 
 the great object of the Devil's hatred and dread. He will 
 be holding the full control of the authority of the Roman 
 Earth; for he is seen in the vision having ten horns and seven 
 heads, and on his heads seven crowns (seven being the num- 
 ber of completeness), and clothed with this power, he will 
 anxiously watch the travailing of Christianity in Jerusalem, 
 found, as it thus will be, in the midst of the very centre of his 
 dominion. He had seen it there before, when he persecuted 
 Stephen and the Pentecostal saints and scattered them; and 
 when he finds it there again, combining the testimony of 
 the Prophets with that of the Apostles of Jesus, and by its 
 mighty voice penetrating his kingdoms to their very centres, 
 and that just at the very moment when he is about to make 
 his last effort to blot out all Truth, he will hate it with aggra- 
 vated hatred, and will persecute it again. The thought of 
 Christianity attaining anything like a position of strength 
 and consolidated influence in Jerusalem would be, almost of 
 all thoughts, the one most hateful to him. He prevented 
 this of old, and he will once more prevent it again. God 
 did not interfere to protect His servant Stephen in the earth, 
 so as to sustain him and those who were with him in their 
 place of testimony here ; neither will He so interfere in this 
 future struggle. There is an appointed hour of Satan's 
 rule ; and until that hour is passed, that destined place of 
 strength and power, in which they will finally encounter 
 and overcome all opposing influences, shall not be granted 
 to the children of the Truth here. God owns them, indeed, 
 as worthy of that place of dignity and strength which shall, 
 by and by, be given to the children of Zion in the day of 
 their glory ; for he calls them Zachar, a male a name that 
 marks them out as worthy of a standing of strength 
 
164 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 triumphant and glorious, and such a standing he will 
 preserve for them in the heavens ; but they will not, like 
 the child of Zion in Isaiah, be comforted in Jerusalem, 
 neither will peace be extended to them like a river, nor the 
 glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream ; on the 
 contrary, they will be like Stephen and the Pentecostal 
 saints, rejected, persecuted, and destroyed. Yet though no 
 standing of strength will be attained by them in the earth, 
 another standing of strength, of greater excellency and 
 of higher glory, shall be preserved for them above. They 
 shall finally share His glory, who shall rule all nations with 
 a rod of iron, and shall reign from Heaven. They will be 
 numbered among the overcomers, to whom it is said, " He 
 that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him 
 will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them 
 with a rod of iron .... even as I have received of my 
 Father." Nothing can more distinctly show, how all the 
 features which marked the morning of our dispensation in 
 Jerusalem continue unchanged on to its dark closing hour. 
 " This generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled." 
 We find Christianity still bringing forth with sorrow in 
 Jerusalem, still watched against by the same great enemy, 
 and her children not allowed to grow up and prosper in the 
 earth ; yet having their inheritance preserved for them above, 
 even where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.* 
 
 And how needful, as we look on through the vista of the 
 future, to mark well the instructions of this Book ! To make 
 us noiv partakers of the thoughts of God, is the object of the 
 Revelation. Who would have thought, if judging according 
 
 * Great care must be taken in interpreting Scripture, to distinguish be- 
 tween expressions or symbols that apply to any person or persons simply 
 as such, or that apply to them in virtue of any office or position that 
 they may be holding, Thus the symbol of a golden candlestick did not 
 apply to the saints in Ephesus simply as such (which is proved by the 
 fa 't that they continued in Ephesus after the candlestick which repre- 
 sented them was removed) ; it was a symbol that applied to them solely in 
 
ON REVELATION XII. 165 
 
 to the sight of the eye and the hearing of the ear, that a few 
 poor Christians, by and by to be the object of Satan's rage in 
 Jerusalem and having no strength save the word of their tes- 
 timony, could be the children of a parent so glorious ? Who 
 would see in the movement of the ten governments of the 
 Roman world to persecute these Christians, Satan directing 
 and controlling the power of those haughty kingdoms ? Or 
 who would recognise, in the immediately subsequent persecu- 
 tion, notmerely of Christians, but of Christianity, the result of 
 Satan's exclusion from Heaven and the sign of his last hour 
 being come ? Yet these things are made known to us, that 
 we might read the circumstances of earth in the light of 
 Heaven. And what comfort for those who shall live and 
 
 virtue of a certain position in the earth which they were holding before 
 God, and which ceased to apply to them as soon as they lost that position. 
 
 If therefore we had seen in the vision the golden candlestick which 
 denoted the standing of the saints in Ephesus caught up into Heaven, 
 we should not have understood that the saints in Ephesus were personally 
 translated, but simply that that condition or standing which the candle- 
 stick denoted was to be preserved for them above. In like manner the 
 symbol of the man child does not apply to the saints in Jerusalem simply 
 as such, but it belongs to them in virtue of a certain standing which, 
 though rightfully theirs, is denied to them on earth, but is preserved for 
 them in Heaven. 
 
 We have in this chapter to distinguish between the woman which 
 denotes Christianity; the woman travailing, &c., which represents Chris- 
 tianity in certain special circumstances yet to be in Jerusalem; the 
 male child representing those born to Christianity in Jerusalem in respect 
 of that standing of strength of which they are the rightful heirs; and the 
 remnant of the woman's seed who may be Christians anywhere and in 
 any circumstances. 
 
 We must remember too, that although symbols denoting earthly posi- 
 tions of privilege may be limited, yet it is otherwise with those that refer 
 to heavenly blessings. The Zachar of Isaiah is limited to those who 
 shall be comforted in Jerusalem ; the Zachar of the Revelation as soon 
 as seen in its heavenly exaltation, is a symbol that embraces all who have 
 been, or shall be, born to the Truth during the period of her sorrows. 
 It comprehends Abel, Abraham, David, Paul, ourselves, and all who 
 shall be gathered to Christ before the hour of His glory comes. 
 
166 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 act for Christ in these coming scenes, to see, in this chapter, 
 the record of their condition, and to learn how they are 
 rejoiced over with songs of thanksgiving above ! 
 
 It is this deed of Satan in bringing the power of the ten 
 kingdoms of the Roman world against the saints in Jerusalem, 
 that causes the first act of Divine vengeance grounded on the 
 title of Christ's redemption to be executed on Satan. Human 
 sin has given to Satan a title drawn from the righteousness 
 and holiness of God against man whereby, standing as it 
 were on the side of Justice and assuming the garb of an 
 Angel of Light, he enters into the presence of God and there 
 accuses even the brethren. Thus we read in Job, that " there 
 was a day when, the sons of God came to present themselves 
 before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." He 
 came and accused Job. In this chapter we read, " And I 
 heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now hath come the 
 salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and 
 the authority of His Christ, because the accuser of our bre- 
 thren hath been cast out, who accused them in the presence 
 of (i>w7rioi>) our God day and night." It is the sufficiency 
 of Christ's redemption alone, that enables God, in consistency 
 with His holiness, to screen the guilty, and to assert His title 
 in gnace to treat them as " brands plucked from the burning." 
 The power thus held in virtue of the sacrifice of Christ, He 
 has not yet put forth in acts of vengeance, not even against 
 Satan himself. Towards sinners He has acted in long-suffer- 
 ing mercy and in the ministry of reconciliation ; and, as to 
 Satan, He has borne his presence and accusations against 
 the brethren of Christ, even in Heaven. All this God has 
 done, and kept, as it were, silent. But now the time will 
 have come for Him to put forth His power destructively ; 
 and he against whom it will be first directed will be Satan, 
 and the first results of its exercise against Satan will be his 
 everlasting exclusion from Heaven, and from all power of accu- 
 sation there. Angelic power, directed against the Accuser 
 in virtue of Christ's redemption, will dispossess him of the 
 
ON REVELATION XII. 167 
 
 station which righteousness had, till then, permitted, and will 
 cast him out of Heaven with his angels. This will be the 
 first step towards the manifested salvation of Christ's people 
 the first step in freeing Heaven itself from something that 
 has entered there inconsistent with the perfectness of its 
 joy. Heaven will be relieved from his presence ; for we 
 can easily conceive how the souls of the righteous (and such 
 are, in chapter vi. as well as here, represented as being 
 cognisant of circumstances in Heaven), how they and holy 
 angels must be sensible of the sorrowful fact that the voice 
 of the Accuser is not silenced in Heaven, but that the tale of 
 sin is ever heard before God, proceeding from the lips 
 of the enemy of His people. Even the knowledge that 
 there is also an Advocate there who ever liveth to make 
 intercession, cannot banish the thought that one of the 
 bitter results of human sin yet remains manifested even in 
 Heaven. But though the Heavens be relieved, when the 
 Accuser is cast out, yet earth has a season of aggravated 
 woe thereby. ff Woe to the earth and to the sea, because 
 the devil hath come down unto you, having great wrath, 
 knowing that he hath but a short time." He goes down to 
 exalt his servant Antichrist, and to persecute the Woman. 
 He persecutes not merely Christians, but Christianity, and 
 seeks to drive the remembrance of it from the earth. Truth, 
 and not merely the servants of the Truth, will be the first 
 object of his rage. " When the Dragon saw that he was 
 cast out unto the earth, he persecuted the Woman who 
 brought forth the man child." But Christianity shall never 
 be driven from the earth. It may be driven from what men 
 will look upon as the world's Eden into the distant desert 
 like Elijah when he fled from the fury of Ahab, or Paul 
 when he escaped from Damascus and for three years was 
 sheltered in the Arabian wilderness. The refined and 
 polished regions of the Roman world will allow Christianity 
 no home with them : it will have to seek its refuge amongst 
 other nations it may be in the bosom of uncivilized dark- 
 
168 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 ness : but a refuge it will somewhere find, for God will have 
 prepared it. Nations for their own sake, probably, in order 
 that they may preserve their institutions and their laws, will 
 arise and shield it from destruction ; and the ten-horned 
 Dragon will in this be baffled. But in his own Ten king- 
 doms he reigns supreme ; and therefore, having failed in 
 destroying the outcast Woman, he turns his fury on the 
 remnant of her seed, even all <e who keep the commandments 
 of God and have the testimony of Jesus." His instrument, 
 in this, is a man whose history the thirteenth of Revelation 
 supplies. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Bit $*hlati0n XII. 
 
 " A Woman"] The works of men may be viewed, either 
 their outward or physical, or in their moral aspect. The 
 outward condition of a city or country, as exhibited in its 
 armaments and wealth and physical greatness, is to be 
 distinguished from the system of laws, government, religion, 
 and the like, which give to such places their moral aspect. 
 In the eighteenth chapter of the Revelation, Babylon is 
 spoken of physically, and there it is represented by a city : 
 in the seventeenth chapter, it is described morally, and there 
 it is represented by a Woman. 
 
 It is obvious that any given system, whether of evil or 
 good, may not only be contemplated apart from the place of 
 its location, but may become absolutely separated therefrom. 
 Thus the system of Rome was once driven from Rome, and 
 found a refuge in France. We read in Revelation xvii., 
 that the Harlot, that is to say, the system of Babylon 
 Babylon morally, will be at last hated and destroyed by those 
 who, instead of destroying, will cherish the City in which 
 that system was collocated. Babylon physical, will outlive 
 Babylon moral. Thus, too, the system of Zion Zion morally 
 is at present separated from Zion. 
 
 One great object of the Revelation, in its visions of glory, 
 is to speak of glories to be manifested in the earth, or to be 
 held in connexion therewith. The Woman, so gloriously 
 
170 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 symbolized in this chapter, expresses the glory of that 
 system which is, by and by, to be the earth's system, 
 through, and in Jerusalem. It has ever stood thus before 
 the Divine mind ; and faith can so recognise it now. 
 
 It is important to observe that this glorious symbol 
 cannot be referred to the Church, though it belongs to that 
 with which the Church is inseparably connected. The 
 Church had its own proper symbol, viz. " candlesticks of 
 gold ; " but, because of its failure, that symbol has been 
 withdrawn ; nevertheless, Truth never fails nor alters, how- 
 ever its servants may change. It retains its excellency, 
 whether the candlesticks be, or be not, removed ; and thus, 
 at the end of this dispensation of failure, it is represented by 
 a symbol of as bright excellency as originally pertained to 
 it, when its children stood in strength as its pillar and 
 support. 
 
 When we shall at last see the doctrines, precepts, govern- 
 ment, and order of God in a word, Truth, in all its appli- 
 cations, brought to bear upcn human life and when the 
 glory of Christ, and of the Church of the firstborn, and of 
 Israel, will be alike connected with this heavenly system, 
 we shall find little difficulty in appreciating the symbols 
 which are in this chapter used to indicate its glory. 
 
 The presence of the personal glory of the Lord will be 
 the great characteristic of this system, in the coming hour of 
 its exaltation. " The woman was clothed with the sun." 
 
 The sun when used to symbolize the millennial glory of 
 Christ, uniformly, I believe, denotes that kind of glory 
 which is prepared for, and adapted to, the circumstances of 
 the earth ; and therefore stands in contrast with the distant 
 and comparatively unearthly glory of " the star." The glory 
 of the star belongs to distant and unknown worlds ; but the 
 sun is a part of our own system, and is specially set to 
 nourish and enlighten it. Consequently when Christ first 
 appears in the fulness of Divine glory, in " His own glory 
 and in His Father's, and of the holy angels," He is symbol- 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 171 
 
 ized by the star, tf I am the bright and morning star." " To 
 him that overcometh I will give the morning star," i. e. 9 
 association with Himself in that high character of glory. It 
 is to flesh and blood terrible glory, and in it He will exer- 
 cise the destructive judgments whereby the Day of the Lord 
 will be ushered in. But when He introduces that gracious 
 and benign display of glory, whereby Israel and the earth 
 are to be peacefully and abidingly blessed, we find Him 
 symbolized by the sun, " Unto you that fear my name shall 
 the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing on His wings." 
 te He shall be as the light of the morning when the Sun 
 ariseth, even a morning without clouds ; as the tender grass 
 springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain." On 
 the Mount of Transfiguration also, where we see the special 
 type of that glory in which He will appear amongst men 
 and have intercourse with them, " we find that His face did 
 shine as the Sun." 
 
 The glory of the Woman, however, is not confined to her 
 being clothed with the sun. " She had on her head a crown 
 of twelve stars." We have seen how frequently stars are 
 used to signify the resurrection glory of the saints. " The 
 wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they 
 that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and 
 ever." The distant and unearthly glory of the heavenly 
 city, and those who are therein, will be one great part of the 
 glory of that system whereof we speak, and will be its 
 " crown of rejoicing." Truth will be able to point to the 
 exaltation of her glorified children reigning in life, and 
 appeal to it in attestation of her excellency. The employ- 
 ment of the inhabitants of the heavenly city, with its twelve 
 gates, will be to give effect to that holy system of Truth and 
 power, which will then be paramount in the earth. Hence, 
 perhaps, the crown of twelve stars twelve being the number 
 of instrumental agency. 
 
 That authority which hitherto has been so eagerly coveted 
 by men, and made almost the supreme object of their ambi- 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tion Church authority falls into the shade in comparison 
 with the greater glories to which we have referred. But it 
 will not be wanting. There is a mild, peaceful character of 
 light connected with the shining of the Church in its moon- 
 like, reflected, brightness, that makes it very precious to the 
 need of men who are yet in the flesh, and have, therefore, sin 
 dwelling in them. All, therefore, that men have sought 
 after in Catholicity, Church-unity, and the instruction and 
 guidance thence resulting, will be fully afforded, as soon as 
 Israel in Jerusalem shall take the earthly standing of the 
 Church of God, and become the metropolitan centre of the 
 earth. Israel may well be symbolized by the moon then, for 
 no symbol could more appropriately indicate the character 
 of light in which they will then shine. But Israel will be 
 under the control of Truth, and will be fully subject to the 
 system of God. The moon was under the Woman's feet. 
 Hitherto, in her brightest days, she has shone only in the 
 reflected light which the moon symbolizes. That, indeed, 
 will not be wanting ; but there will be a greater light, a 
 greater glory there will be the light of the presence of the 
 glory of Christ, and the glory of the risen saints. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that this glory of the 
 "Woman and the hideousness of the Dragon, her enemy, was a 
 vision seen in Heaven. In the judgment of earth the Woman 
 will be without form and comeliness ; and the ten horns of 
 the great red Dragon will be delighted in, for they will be 
 concealed under the splendour, refinement, and glory of the 
 sovereigns of the Roman world. 
 
 Stars* 3. 
 
 " And there was seen another wonder in Heaven ; and 
 behold a great red Dragon, having seven heads and ten horns 
 and seven diadems upon its heads"] 
 
 The ten horns indicate, what they always indicate both in 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 173 
 
 Daniel and the Revelation, the ten sovereigns of the ten 
 final divisions of the Roman world, both in its Eastern or 
 Greek, and in its Western or Latin parts ; the Euphrates 
 being the Eastern, and England the Western limit. These 
 ten divisions will be fully developed when the time for the 
 accomplishment of this vision arrives. But when first deve- 
 loped, we do not find the diadems resting on those who 
 severally hold the regal power. The seven heads were 
 crowned, not the horns. 
 
 It can scarcely have escaped the observation of those who 
 have considered such subjects, that in modern representative 
 systems, the monarch is but the functionary of the will of 
 others. In the days of Nebuchadnezzar or Alexander, it 
 was the individual who ruled. The diadem was upon his 
 head. He was not the mere representative of systems, 
 which, though professedly subordinate to, were, in reality, 
 more powerful than himself. But as soon as the principle 
 was introduced, not only of the sovereign deriving his 
 authority from the people as its source, but also of his being 
 directed and controlled in the exercise of that authority by 
 a legislative power emanating from the governed, sovereignty 
 ceases, properly speaking, to vest in him, and he becomes, to 
 use the symbol of Scripture, a horn without a crown. Such 
 will be the condition of all the sovereigns of the Roman 
 world, when it shall first reach its tenfold division. 
 
 Yet we must not expect the rise of pure democracy 
 throughout these kingdoms. That will never be. Asso- 
 ciations are arising, especially in England, which, though 
 they spring from among the people, are not ruled by the 
 people at large, but by classes, and those classes increasingly 
 composed of men to whom commerce has given wealth. 
 " Capital," or influence derived from services rendered to 
 those who have capital, is fast becoming the centre power of 
 the great " interests" of the day; and into the hands of these 
 " interests," as they are called, governmental power is 
 rapidly passing. Ecclesiastical systems, educational systems, 
 
174 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 military systems, social systems all bow to wealth ; and they 
 will yet bow more. The sovereignty of these " interests" 
 is especially characteristic of the whole Babylonish period, 
 which precedes the Antichristian. All the plenitude of the 
 power of these ruling f( interests" will be found in the hand 
 of the Dragon, for he had seven heads, and on them the dia- 
 dems rested. That "heads" represent centres or concentra- 
 tions of authority, is proved from the seventeenth chapter. 
 
 As soon as Antichrist arises into his final greatness, he 
 will sweep away these ruling systems and establish indivi- 
 duality again. Consequently, in the thirteenth chapter, the 
 heads are no longer crowned, but the horns. The ten kings 
 receive authority as kings ; in other words, they become 
 really sovereign, when Antichrist is elected by them as their 
 Head. 
 
 Let it not be supposed, however, that the Scriptures teach 
 that despotic power in the hands of man, is better than other 
 forms of power. How can they teach this ? when they teach 
 that Antichrist, in the fullest form of his evil, is a despot. 
 The Scripture tells us that power, in none of its forms, when 
 left in the hands of man, can end in any thing else than 
 misery and ruin ; and hence, the necessity of One being pro- 
 vided, perfect in love, and perfect in holiness, on whom alone 
 the government shall rest. (f His name shall be called Won- 
 derful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, 
 the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and 
 peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and 
 upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judg- 
 ment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The 
 zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." 
 
 "His taildraweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and 
 did cast them to the earth."] I have already remarked on the 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 175 
 
 use of prospective names in application to the saints. " Stars" 
 is a symbol, which, in this passage, can only be applied to the 
 saints prospectively, inasmuch as Satan will have no power 
 wherewith to reach those who have already entered their 
 heavenly rest and glory. They who may be called to suffer 
 under this fell sweep of the Dragon's power, will feel the 
 value of the encouragement thus afforded by the goodness 
 of God, in calling them by these prospective names. It is 
 only for a season, however, and within a limited sphere, that 
 Satan is invested with this destructive power. " Third" 
 gives the same kind of limitation as is given in the eighth 
 and ninth chapters, to the plagues there described. The 
 language in Daniel viii., "And it (the horn) waxed great, 
 even to the host of Heaven (the prospective name of the 
 saints), and it cast down some of the host and of the stars 
 to the ground, and stamped upon them," affords another ex- 
 ample of titles prospectively applied. See also Daniel viii. 
 " Saints of the high places." 
 
 "A. man child."] Zachar, literally, <( a male" as opposed 
 to a female, and therefore indicative of energy and strength. 
 Like "the golden candlesticks," it is a symbol, not of indivi- 
 duals, per se, but it symbolises them in respect of the position 
 they hold. As used in Isaiah, this symbol is confined to 
 converted Israel in Jerusalem ; nor would it, as a symbol 
 of earthly position, be used of Christians out of Jerusalem ; 
 nor of Christians in Jerusalem except in peculiar circum- 
 tances, both as to unity, power of testimony, and bearing 011 
 Israel. It is only in Jerusalem that the child of Zion can 
 attain its proper standing of strength. 
 
 Although prophecies, from the very circumstance of their 
 being prophecies, cannot be accomplished in events anterior 
 to themselves, yet seeing that most of the occurrences of the 
 latter day have been foreshadowed in events that have al- 
 ready been, it is useful to refer to such past events in the 
 way of illustration. Thus, although the events of the chap- 
 ter before us are distinctly future, yet they are clearly 
 
176 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 illustrated by events that have already been. We have 
 already seen Christianity travailing in Jerusalem, and at 
 Pentecost bringing forth. Those whom she brought forth 
 were worthy of being named by this name of strength 
 Zachar ; and if the early testimony given to Israel in Jeru- 
 salem had been received, and they had nationally been con- 
 verted, the man child born to Christianity in Jerusalem 
 would have grown up and attained the maturity of its 
 strength. But this was not so to be. Satan was permitted to 
 bring the ruling power of Israel and of Rome against it ; no 
 standing for the child of Truth was attained in Jerusalem ; 
 it was denied to it on earth, but it is reserved for it in 
 Heaven. 
 
 Events similar in character I expect again to occur in 
 Jerusalem. I do not indeed look for Pentecostal power, or 
 unity, or miracles, (that we are forbidden by Scripture to 
 anticipate ;) but I do expect that a testimony to Christ will 
 again be given to Israel in Jerusalem, which (though un- 
 accompanied by miracle) will, in virtue of the personal 
 grace of those who give it and their knowledge and use of 
 Truth, go forth with a power of moral influence that shall 
 shake Israel, and disturb the slumber of the civilized earth. 
 Against this the Dragon will move the Ten accordant king- 
 doms of the Roman world ; it will be crushed, dissipated, 
 and will be, as regards the earth, as though it had not been. 
 But its record will be in Heaven. 
 
 Out of Jerusalem no Zachar-place on earth is possible. 
 It is reserved for that City. Yet those who were born to 
 Christianity after the Pentecostal Church were scattered, 
 whether they were Jews or Gentiles, were children of the 
 same glorious parent that gave birth to the Zachar. They 
 may be called, what the scattered children of faith prophe- 
 sied of in this chapter are called, after the testimony in 
 Jerusalem is extinguished "the remnant of the woman's 
 seed." It is a name that belongs to us now. 
 
 I have already observed how much it is the object of the 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 177 
 
 New Testament to connect us with the names and associa- 
 tions of Israel ; to show that although the outward Israel is 
 rejected its temple and worship and services gone, yet 
 that an unseen Israel exists who have an unseen temple 
 and altars and sacrifices and services. The very moment 
 when God was ahout to cast off for ever the mere outward 
 Israel, was the time He chose for saying, " When Israel 
 was a child, then I loved him, and called my Son out of 
 Egypt ;" and again, " Thou art my servant, O Israel, in 
 whom I will be glorified." Jesus was that Israel. With 
 Him commenced the history of the new but real Israel of 
 God. None but those who either have been or shall be 
 gathered unto Him belong to the true Israel of God ; and 
 now, seeing that He hath made propitiation and is gone into 
 the heavenly places not made with hands, we have a priest 
 and a sacrifice, a temple and an altar we ourselves being 
 priests of the sanctuary who are to be manifested by and by 
 in the heavenly courts of Israel's temple as the sons of 
 the true Aaron ; and thus whilst outwardly Abraham 
 appears to have no children before God, we are Abra- 
 ham's children the true circumcision and part of the 
 Israel of God. It is true, indeed, that the outward Israel 
 will by and by be received back into the favour of God ; 
 but not as the mere outward Israel. They will not stand 
 under God in blessing, save as identified with those prin- 
 ciples which will make them what we now are the spiritual 
 circumcision. Now inasmuch as these principles are, in the 
 estimate of God, of far higher moment, far more essentially 
 characteristic of the calling than the mode of their outward 
 development, He is pleased, as far as may be, to attach to 
 those who now have the principles, the same names of dig- 
 nity which pertain to those who, in the millennial age, will 
 have the outward circumstances of glory as well as the 
 principles. Thus we are at present called, " A chosen 
 generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
 people," forestalling thus the titles of Israel's future glory. 
 
178 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 It is, therefore, in strict consistency with the universal 
 habit of Scripture, that Christianity (which, not indeed in 
 the forms in which it has practically been exhibited among 
 men but as it is revealed in the Scripture, is God's ever- 
 lasting system of Truth) should be here presented to us 
 under emblems that will not manifestly attach to it until 
 it becomes identified with Zion. Christianity cannot have 
 her rightful pre-eminence, until " the mountain of the Lord's 
 house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and 
 be exalted above the hills" (mountains and hills symbolise 
 concentrations of governmental power), when many people 
 shall go and say, " Come ye, and let us go up to the moun- 
 tain 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, for 
 out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord 
 from Jerusalem." That holy and blessed system of truth 
 and power, for which we and all saints have from the 
 beginning suffered, and which now we name Christianity, 
 will then assume its destined supremacy in the earth, and 
 become identified with Zion, when Zion shall arise in the 
 moral grace and in the glory of its high calling in the earth. 
 Even now, therefore, we may be called the children of Zion, 
 i. e. of Zion morally, while Zion outwardly is desolate. The 
 woman is Zion morally. In this sense we may say 
 
 " O Zion, afflicted with wave upon wave, 
 Whom no man can comfort, whom no man can save." 
 
 (( A man-child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron "~\ 
 These words are to be read in contrast with the words in 
 Isaiah. The man-child there mentioned is not, during the 
 millennium, admitted into association with the heavenly glory 
 of Christ, but is nurtured, " borne on the sides and dandled 
 on the knees " of Jerusalem in the earth. Thus, when the 
 millennial glory commences, there will be two positions of 
 strength and power held by the two divisions of the Israel 
 of God one in heaven, the other in earth; the first sym- 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 179 
 
 bolized by the man-child of the Revelation ; the second by 
 the man-child of Isaiah. Thus we read of two Jerusalems, 
 the heavenly and the earthly. We read also of Mahanaim 
 two hosts, as characterizing the condition of Israel as the 
 Shulamite, *. e. the bride of Solomon in that day ; Solomon 
 being here the millennial name of Christ, as the Head of Israel. 
 " What will ye see in the Shulamite ?" (i. e. as distinguish- 
 ing her condition.) (< Mahanaim, two hosts." The name was 
 first used by Jacob, when, surrounded by his own earthly 
 band, he was met also by the angels of God a heavenly 
 host; and he called the place Mahanaim, i.e. two hosts. 
 So will it again be with the daughter of Zion, when she is 
 known as the Shulamite. Compare Genesis xxxii. and 
 Canticles vi. 
 
 The ' t ruling all nations with a rod of iron " is a promise 
 made by Christ to those who overcome, in His message to 
 the churches. "And he that overcometh, and he that 
 keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power 
 over the nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, 
 as the vessels of a potter are broken to shivers, even as I 
 have received of my Father." 
 
 What servant of God would not rejoice (if it were God's 
 will) to see the nations, as nations, that is, as to all the insti- 
 tutions that give them consolidation as national bodies, at 
 this moment dashed in pieces, that the new order of God 
 might succeed ? 
 
 "And her child was caught away unto God and to His 
 throne"} The scene of this part of the vision was in hea- 
 ven, not on earth; consequently, translation is not indicated 
 in this passage. Preservation is taught by these words, and 
 designation for glory. There is no idea of " up " in the 
 word iipTraaOrj was caught away. 
 
 A thousand two hundred and sixty days."} This period 
 
 N 2 
 
180 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 is sometimes expressed in Scripture by " a time, times, and 
 half a time (see Daniel vii.) ; sometimes by " forty-two 
 months " (see Rev. xi. 2 and xiii. 5) ; and sometimes by " 1260 
 days," as in this passage. In either case the s-ame period is 
 denoted, viz. three years and a half. During this period 
 the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth in Jerusalem ; Chris- 
 tianity is banished from the Roman world ; and Antichrist 
 reigns despotically over the Ten kingdoms. 
 
 The notion that " day " in Scripture means, not a day 
 but a year, is a fabrication of comparatively modern days. 
 The word " day " is never put for " year " in the Scripture. 
 The passages that have been commonly quoted to prove this 
 extraordinary notion, prove very distinctly the contrary ; 
 for when God appointed to Israel forty years of wandering 
 in the wilderness, as a punishment for forty days of sin, 
 " years " emphatically mean years and " days " days. So, 
 also, when Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his side forty 
 days, in order typically to bear the sins which Israel had 
 committed for forty years " days " mean days, and " years " 
 years, in this passage also. Moreover, if the word " time " 
 means not a year but a year of years, then seeing that Nebu- 
 chadnezzar was to eat grass as oxen for t( seven times," he 
 must still be in that condition for seven years of years 
 would be 2520 years. I do not enter further on this subject, 
 because it has been sufficiently considered elsewhere. See 
 " First Series of Aids to Prophetic Enquiry," and " Dr. 
 Tregelles on Daniel " (Bagster's) ; also " Prospects of the 
 Ten Kingdoms of the Roman Empire." 
 
 " And there was war in heaven."] This verse commences 
 a fresh paragraph in the chapter ; and, as is common in such 
 cases, the narrative recurs to a period prior in time to the 
 event which is last mentioned in the preceding verse, viz. 
 the flight of the woman into the wilderness. 
 
 The conflict above, and the final exclusion of Satan and 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 181 
 
 his angels from heaven, is evidently consequent on his inter- 
 ference with the progress of Christianity in Jerusalem. His 
 successful effort to extinguish, by means of the Ten king- 
 doms, that rising light, brings on him the first blow of the 
 Divine hand -I mean, the first inflicted 011 him in the title 
 of Christ's redemption. 
 
 In thus casting Satan out of Heaven the Throne of God 
 is still acting for Christ Christ not having assumed as yet 
 His millennial power. It is the first exercise of destructive 
 power from God against Satan founded on the title of Christ's 
 redemption. Hence it is regarded in Heaven as the assertion 
 of the authority that pertains to Christ in virtue of that 
 redemption an authority which when enforced is able to 
 deliver His people from the pressure of Satan's accusations 
 (even though those accusations may in themselves be just) ; 
 and yet more, to eject the Accuser from the courts of God, 
 and to take from him all power of entering again. Hence 
 the song, " Now hath come the salvation and the power, and 
 the sovereignty of our God, and the authority of His Christ, 
 for the Accuser of our brethren hath been cast out he that 
 accuseth in the presence of our God day and night." But 
 this freedom from the presence of Satan was as yet for 
 Heaven only. Heaven was delivered from the presence of 
 the Accuser, and was commanded to rejoice; but it was 
 otherwise with the earth : " Woe to the earth and to the 
 sea ! for the devil hath come down to you, having great wrath, 
 because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." The 
 accused brethren being still on earth (otherwise Satan's ac- 
 cusations against them could have had no place) had still, as 
 to the earth, sorrow, though in Heaven increase of joy. 
 
 Angelic power will be used thus to eject Satan. "Michael 
 and his angels fought against the Dragon." Michael the 
 Archangel is unquestionably an angel and not the Lord. It 
 would not be said of the Lord Christ, as it is of Michael, 
 that he " durst not" bring a railing accusation against Satan, 
 but said " the Lord rebuke thee." Besides which, a com- 
 
18% THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 parison of Peter and Jude clearly shows that they are both 
 speaking of the same circumstances ; and Peter expressly 
 ascribes to angels what Jude ascribes to Michael. Compare 
 2 Pet. ii. 10, 11, 12, with Jude 8, 9, 10, observing the identity 
 of the expressions in the Greek. 
 
 The words of our Lord, " I saw Satan as lightning fall 
 from Heaven," must not be supposed to apply to the same 
 event that is spoken of in this passage. Our Lord referred 
 to an event already past, viz. the original casting down of 
 Satan from Heaven at the period of his first sin. The occa- 
 sion on which our Lord used these words was when the 
 disciples returned to Him amazed at finding even the devils 
 subject to them through their Master's name. They ex- 
 pressed their surprise in a manner which they would not 
 have done, if they had duly considered who their Master 
 was as the Eternal God. Accordingly He reminded them of 
 this, saying, "/saw Satan as lightning fall from Heaven." It 
 was an event that had occurred before the world was ; and 
 therefore His words involve a claim to eternal and divine 
 existence, just as when he said, " Before Abraham was I am." 
 
 The original casting down of Satan was not merely his 
 exclusion from the courts of God ; when cast down, he was 
 deprived and deprived for ever of that glorious condition of 
 heavenly being which, as an unfallen angel, he had possessed 
 above. After man had sinned, and when it pleased God to 
 permit evil in man and evil in Satan to do its worst, Satan 
 was permitted, not indeed to resume his glorious place above, 
 but to enter as the Accuser the courts of God's government ; 
 professedly upholding the claims of righteousness, and urging 
 the action of justice. But there is an Advocate who is able 
 to say, " The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; Is not this a brand 
 plucked from the burning ? " 
 
 It should be carefully remembered that the Priesthood of 
 Christ will not cease to be exercised, and that in intercession, 
 when the Accuser is cast down. If there were no Accuser, 
 our flesh and its sins, whether knowingly or ignorantly com- 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XII. 183 
 
 mitted, would require intercession. Even the millennial 
 saints, seeing that they will be yet in the flesh, will need in- 
 tercession, although Satan will then he bound : how much 
 more they who will live during the short period that inter- 
 venes between his exclusion from heaven and his being cast 
 into the pit ! That wrestling against evil spirits of which the 
 Scripture speaks, will not cease when Satan is no longer 
 permitted "to accuse. Although he and his angels will not 
 have access to the heavenly places, yet this will not lessen 
 the necessity of their being wrestled against by the saints of 
 God who are on earth ; for earth is always the sphere of such 
 wrestling not Heaven. The Scripture does not say that 
 we wrestle in heavenly places against evil spirits, but that 
 we wrestle against evil spirits who are (at present) in 
 heavenly places. There will be urgent need to wrestle 
 against them when they are cast down, for they will have 
 great rage and great power for a little season. Satan will 
 still continue then to be the Prince of the power of the 
 air, and in the Ten kingdoms he will be supreme, with Anti- 
 christ as his instrument. 
 
 " He persecuted the Woman"'] The persecution of the 
 Woman is the persecution, not of Christians merely, but of 
 Christianity. The history of the Roman world has several 
 times afforded instances of the persecution of Christians ; but 
 seldom of the persecution of Christianity as such. During the 
 period, however, when Infidelity was established in France 
 at the Revolution of 1792, we see an instance of Christianity's 
 being cast out. It found an asylum in other countries such 
 as this. The institutions of England were averse to the re- 
 pudiation of Christianity, and it defended it. This is but an 
 imperfect illustration ; for the liberality of the day tempered 
 even the attack upon Christianity then ; but when this last 
 assault of Satan comes, it will be in all the fury of his power. 
 
184 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 THERE is a wonderful energy in unregenerate man, stimu- 
 lated, doubtless, and aided, I might perhaps say given, by 
 Satan, which pursues its own plans with a constancy and 
 vigour that nothing but the power of God can effectually 
 hinder. We might have thought that the complicated 
 miseries that had fallen upon Cain his separation from his 
 parents his rejection by God his solitary wandering in 
 the land of his exile, would have quenched the vigour of his 
 and of his children's spirit, and subdued them into inactivity. 
 But instead of this, we find them immediately beginning to 
 open the fair paths of civilization and refinement to the steps 
 of men. They build cities, and handle the harp and the 
 organ, and instruct every artificer in brass and iron, (see 
 Gen. iv.) All this was man's desperate effort to make a 
 ruined world happy apart from God. The end was judg- 
 ment at the Flood. 
 
 Again, the waters of the Flood had scarcely retired from off 
 the earth, when we find the energies of men, and that in 
 direct contravention of the command of God, again develop- 
 ing themselves in the plains of Shinar. God then interfered; 
 confounded their speech, and scattered them ; but from that 
 moment forward, there has been, in one part of the earth at 
 least, a steady onward progress of human greatness, which 
 God, though He may have sometimes checked it, has never 
 yet interfered effectually to hinder. 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 185 
 
 I have said, " in one part of the earth." I mean that 
 which is commonly called the Prophetic or Roman world. 
 Situate, geographically, around " the Great Sea,"* which 
 washes the fairest coasts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, it seems 
 made to he, what practically it has been, the centre of the 
 world's energies. Connected by the Atlantic with the far 
 distant West by the Indian Ocean with the East by the 
 Black Sea and the Danube with the North, it seems natu- 
 rally suited to be the highway of nations, and the depository 
 of the earth's riches. And this, under Satan, it is, and will 
 yet be more abundantly for a little period ; and then, when 
 that season has passed, Emanuel's land, which is the centre 
 of this centre of the earth, will be, under God, the place 
 where the riches and glory of the whole earth shall be conse- 
 crated unto the Lord. " The multitude of camels shall cover 
 it, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah : all they from 
 Sheba shall come : they shall bring gold and incense, and 
 they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." 
 
 But it is not in geographical position that the kingdoms of 
 the Roman world have their chief distinction. The provi- 
 dence of God has caused, that everything that has abidingly 
 acted upon man so as to give a character to human life and 
 a direction to its energies, should arise and be matured in 
 these regions. The native energy of Nimrod, the beginning 
 of whose kingdom was Babel ; the early greatness of Egypt, 
 Jerusalem, Tyre, Nineveh, and Babylon; the more sys- 
 tematic greatness of the empires successively constituted in 
 Chaldea, Persia, Greece, and Rome ; the instructions of 
 Moses and the Prophets ; and, afterward, of the Lord Jesus 
 and His Apostles, all these influences, all tending in the 
 use that man has made of them, to consolidate the fabric of 
 
 * " The Great Sea" is the name given in the Old Testament to the 
 Mediterranean. If we take a map of the whole world, and mark by a line 
 the boundaries of the Prophetic or Roman earth, in which the Ten king- 
 doms are to be, they will appear little more than the coasts of the Medi- 
 terranean. 
 
186 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 human greatness, have been found within the limits of the 
 Roman world. It has been their birthplace and their centre. 
 
 From the days of Nimrod to the present hour, God (as I 
 have already said) has never interfered to hinder the on- 
 ward progress of human counsels. One generation has added 
 to the wisdom of another. The fresh skill which has devised 
 for itself new inventions has not scorned to profit by the ex- 
 perience of former ages. Pride even has been subjected in 
 the eagerness of pursuit ; and thus the swollen tide of human 
 greatness is flowing onward with a rapidity and strength that 
 baffles all human calculation as to the result. But the word 
 of God has marked its history, and faith is able to read it and 
 understand. It is no marvel, then, if the Ten kingdoms of 
 the Roman earth, which form the gathering-place of this tide 
 of greatness, should become, as it were, the Eden of the 
 world : it is no marvel if lie should be esteemed great, to 
 whom individually and exclusively the glory of these evil 
 kingdoms shall finally be given. 
 
 Four mighty empires have, as I have said, successively 
 borne sway in the prophetic earth. But although these 
 empires have been each in their turn glorious, yet there has 
 been no completeness, no perfect concentration of glory in 
 any. That which had been present to one has been found 
 lacking to another; and the diversity thus created has afforded 
 perpetual occasion for depreciatory contrast. The second 
 had not the majesty of the first, nor the first the fierce and 
 warlike prowess of the second. The Roman had not the 
 elegance of the Grecian, nor the Grecian the stern consoli- 
 dated strength of the Roman. The lion was different from the 
 bear ; each different from the leopard ; and all different from 
 the iron leviathan that succeeded. Yet there were qualities 
 in all these which men have wondered at and loved. The 
 majesty and splendour of sovereign rule was found chiefly in 
 the empire of Babylon ; and this men have always honoured. 
 The fierce prowess of the Medo-Persian empire, the elegance 
 of the refined yet warlike Greece, and the stern strength of 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 187 
 
 the Roman monster, have all exercised a fascinating power 
 over the human heart. "We may well conceive, therefore, the 
 resistlessness of their influence when seen in combination to- 
 gether ; especially when attended by the results which the 
 exercise of such powers must necessarily produce. They 
 will be idolized in themselves ; idolized also because of the 
 effects which flow from their development. 
 
 But marvellous as such concentration of greatness must 
 ever be, yet the power of its attractiveness will be tenfold 
 increased by its being found, not in an empire, not in a sys- 
 tem, but in an individual man. It is the intention of God 
 soon to manifest a man, even THE man who is His fellow, as 
 the centre and channel of all majesty, knowledge, might, 
 glory, and power. Satan also will glorify with his glory an 
 individual man, and men will rejoice in it; not only because 
 it is the will of that mighty spirit that worketh in them, but 
 because they delight in seeing one of themselves exalted. 
 If then we can conceive, not merely the majesty and outward 
 glory of ancient empires, but also all that has characterized 
 those empires in intellect, knowledge, arts and arms if we 
 can imagine the splendour of Oriental monarchs, such as 
 those of Nineveh and Babylon ; the valour of conquerors 
 such as Cyrus, Alexander, and Csesar ; the intellect of states- 
 men, poets, and orators, such poets, for example, as have, 
 in this our own age, spread (inspired doubtless by Satan) the 
 power of their fascinating but pestilential influence over un- 
 numbered souls if we can thus conceive all varieties of 
 intellectual power, and all diversities of outward greatness, 
 combined in a man, we may form some conception of the 
 glory of this great one of the earth. The combination of 
 the symbols of empires can alone symbolize him. The lion 
 of Babylon, the bear of Persia, the leopard of Greece, and 
 the fourth or Roman beast are united to represent him. 
 The hitherto divided power and scattered intellect of all 
 former ages will be in him so centred, that he may be almost 
 said to personify the past, and that in him the mighty dead 
 will live again. 
 
188 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 His character, therefore, will present no new or strange 
 features of terror to the eyes of men. It will only be the 
 fuller and more matured development of what they have 
 long learned to honour and admire. If the genius of such 
 men as Voltaire, and Byron, and Buonaparte, have hitherto 
 been their delight ; if these, and other such men less openly 
 godless, have been able (guided, doubtless, and sustained by 
 unclean spirits dwelling in them, for fallen man is but a poor 
 weak thing apart from Satan), if, I say, such men have long 
 been accustomed to soothe the hearts and fascinate the minds 
 of the children of disobedience, how should it be otherwise, 
 when the glories of intellect and taste, of war and conquest, 
 of the genius as well as the majesty of sovereign rule, are 
 found for the first time in perfect and harmonious combi- 
 nation ? The very cities and regions over which he rules, 
 will add to the delusion of that fearful hour ; for where have 
 the thoughts of men so fondly lingered, as in Rome, in 
 Greece, in Egypt, in Babylon, and in Jerusalem ? The as- 
 sociations of enterprize, taste, learning, and religion, are all 
 bound up with these places ; and these are the very places 
 that are to rise, as it were, from the tombs, in the semblance 
 of the glories of the true hour of restitution from the hand 
 of God. 
 
 But in addition to all this natural attractiveness, it will be 
 the hour of Satan's peculiar power. He has the command of 
 all the glory of the earth, wherever he is allowed to work 
 unhindered ; and he will be allowed to act without restraint 
 in the Ten kingdoms then. His object will be to exalt this 
 mighty monarch. " The Dragon gives him his power, and 
 his throne, and great authority." The hearts, the tongues, 
 and all the energies of men (and on this human glory hangs), 
 will soon be directed by Satan, around this object of his 
 choice. God also will " send strong delusion, that they 
 should believe a lie." (2 Thess. ii.) Deceiving miracles 
 likewise will be given : so that all the tendencies of nature, 
 all the energies of Satan, in addition to the direct mission of 
 the spirit of delusion from God, will concur in riveting the 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 189 
 
 hearts of men upon him who will thus mock the glory of the 
 Christ of God. Such is the ruler of the Roman earth, during 
 the time that the two Witnesses of God are prophesying in 
 sackcloth, and whilst the Woman is seeking an asylum in dis- 
 tant lands. This is he, through whom the Dragon makes ' ' war 
 with the remnant of her seed, even those who keep the 
 commandments of God, and have the testimony to Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 I have already observed that it is in the seventeenth, not in 
 the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation, that we find the 
 most early history of Antichrist. He is there seen as a beast, 
 fe with seven heads and ten horns;" i. e. he is the virtual pos- 
 sessor of all the power of the Roman earth ; but neither his 
 heads nor his horns are crowned for the crowns are on the 
 Dragon then (chap, xii.), and Antichrist is seen in the some- 
 what humble place of the sustainer of the harlot ; in other 
 words, when he first appears he is virtually her servant, and, 
 subordinately to her, holds the authority of those systems by 
 which the kingdoms are regulated during the time that the 
 political and moral system of Babylon prevails. He sustains 
 this system for a season, and therefore the woman is seen 
 riding upon his strength. How long he remains as the pillar 
 of this system which he afterwards destroys, I do not know 
 to be anywhere revealed. But it is doubtless during this 
 period that he first becomes known among men. The ten 
 kings would not concur to give their glory to a stranger. His 
 intellect, his taste, his leopard grace, and his fitness for the 
 majesty of power, will have been sufficiently proved before 
 they give him their crowns, and before the Dragon resigns to 
 him his throne and great authority. Satan does not act care- 
 lessly. He exercises due caution in meeting the wants and 
 tastes of men, and therefore when we read that the Dragon 
 went and stood upon the sand of the sea, it was not to call up 
 thence an unknown stranger, but one already fitted for the 
 place in which he and Satan were together to act, in parity 
 of glory, for a little season. 
 
190 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 When it is said that he (the Dragon) stood * upon the sand 
 of the sea, I see no reason to doubt that it is that same sea 
 from which Daniel before beheld the Gentile empires arise, 
 and which is there expressly said to be " the Great," or Me- 
 diterranean Sea. The Dragon had just been acting in Jeru- 
 salem and the land of Israel : it was there that he had perse- 
 cuted, and thence that he had driven, the "Woman. He now 
 goes down to the Great Sea, the sphere and the represent- 
 ative of Gentile power, and standing on the shore with the 
 countries of the East behind him, he calls up from the 
 Western Sea into the great countries of the East, one whom 
 he is about to make lord of the East and of the West toge- 
 ther. (f I saw a beast arising out of the sea, having ten horns 
 and seven heads, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon 
 his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw 
 was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as those of a bear, 
 and his mouth as the mouth of a lion ; and the Dragon gave 
 him his power and his throne, and great authority." Such is 
 his description in the word of God. The ten horns show him 
 to be the possessor of the same strength and extent of domi- 
 nion that pertained to Rome. But it is not the number of his 
 kingdoms, nor the firmness of his power, that will give to 
 this great monarch his prominent or most attractive feature. 
 " The beast that I saw was like unto a leopard." The leopard 
 was the Grecian beast ; and it was in Greece, and in Greece 
 alone, that the refinements and elegancies of civilization have 
 found their birthplace and their home. Grandeur of power, 
 greatness of resources, and costly luxuriousness, have been 
 found chiefly in the East. In the feast of Ahasuerus we 
 read of ' f white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords 
 of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble; 
 the couches were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, 
 and blue, and white, and black marble. And they gave them 
 drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from 
 another), and royal wine in abundance, according to the state 
 
 , is the right reading. 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 191 
 
 of the king." Such is Oriental splendour ; but intellectual 
 greatness and triumphs of mind have been principally found 
 in the Western nations. Intellectual greatness, and not only 
 that but intellect, associated with the beauties and refine- 
 ments of cultivated taste, is necessary in order to secure the 
 full homage of the human heart. Let us imagine any one 
 surrounded by all the magnificence of Oriental greatness, and 
 all the reality of power ; he would fail to secure the worship 
 of the hearts of men, unless he connected therewith the graces 
 and fascinations which intellect and taste alone can give.* 
 Hence the predominant form in this complex beast is, not 
 the lion or the bear, or the Roman monster, but the leopard of 
 Greece. As such he arises into the regions of the East. But 
 the spirit of all former empires is in him. As the lion of 
 Babylon (for " his mouth was as the mouth of a lion"), he 
 has the majesty and dignity of Oriental power : like the bear 
 of Persia (for " his feet were as the feet of a bear"), he will 
 be marked by the fierce savageness of conquest; taste, intel- 
 lect, refinement have no power to hide footsteps tracked in 
 blood : his sway, as regards both its iron strength and its geo- 
 
 * This association of intellect and taste has been found almost exclu- 
 sively in Greece. In modern Europe it is increasingly otherwise. It has 
 been frequently remarked (and it is the subject of lamentation to many) 
 that utility is the alone idol of the present day. Taste is obliged to suc- 
 cumb to usefulness, and even intellect is chiefly valued so far as it sub- 
 serves " useful purposes." Mechanical science supersedes literature, and 
 the creations of fancy give place to the realities of practical invention. 
 Such, probably, will continue to be the case during the whole Babylonish 
 period. 
 
 We see Western Europe at this moment acting most influentially on 
 the East: but it is not with the view of restoring the beauty and refine- 
 ment of those cities, wherewith Greece once covered the shores of the 
 Archipelago ; but they are seeking for ports and havens quays and store- 
 houses rivers, canals, and roads, for their traffic. These are the objects 
 of modern pursuit. But when Babylon's system ceases, and Antichrist 
 rises as the leopard, he at once gilds the scene, and without destroying 
 the utilities, restores the fascinations of human life. He is not seen as 
 the leopard in the seventeenth chapter. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 graphical extent will resemble Rome, for the ten horns of the 
 fourth monster were seen upon his head. 
 
 We may conceive of his adaptation to his appointed work, 
 by the readiness with which the Devil assigns to him his 
 throne. " The Dragon gave him his power, and his throne 
 and great authority." Other monarchs have been the Devil's 
 servants, but Antichrist will be, in aR especial sense, his 
 delegate. He will occupy the Devil's throne ; the diadems 
 before seen on the Dragon's heads, are now seen on the 
 Beast's horns ; and men, it is said, will worship him and will 
 worship the Devil too. The Dragon, the Beast, and the 
 False Prophet seem to mock the Trinity of Heaven. The 
 two first, at any rate, appear to be presented, as claiming 
 co-equal honour ; the third is the power through whom that 
 honour is given. And when we consider how long men 
 have been accustomed to ascribe to God what the spiritual 
 eye sees clearly to be the work of Satan ; when we see wicked 
 and worldly ecclesiastical systems, and wicked conquests, and 
 wicked writings assigned to the Spirit of God or to God's 
 providence, and thanksgiving professedly returned to His 
 name for them; when we see a Christian, and, as we trust, a 
 real Christian, consenting to become the high priest of hea- 
 then ceremonies in the name of Christ and of God;* when 
 we see Christian ministers f( consecrating" (as men say) in the 
 name of Jesus, the bloody standards of destroying armies, and 
 speaking of the progress of mere human civilization, as if it 
 were the progress of Christ's Truth, do we not see Satan 
 mistaken for God? I will not say that he is worshipped 
 
 * I allude to the present prelate of the Order of the Garter, who offi- 
 ciates at the installation of the knights of that order. The ceremonies 
 fully merit the name I have given them. They seek to sanctify in the 
 name of Jesus, not only the sceptre and crown of the monarch, but the 
 spur and sword of the knight. We all know what chivalry has been ; 
 and it is this that men thus dare to consecrate. The guilt of such iniquity 
 rests not merely on the individuals who are more immediately engaged in 
 it, but on the system that thus consents to serve the world in its vices. 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 193 
 
 but can we wonder if conscience should become so hardened 
 by deeds like these, as gradually to reach such a distance 
 from God, as that God should at last give men up to believe 
 a lie, and send delusion upon them, and allow them to sub- 
 stitute Satan for Himself?* Miracles also will be wrought, 
 " his coming shall be after the working of Satan, 
 with all power, and signs, and prodigies of falsehood " 
 
 One marvellous feature in the vision of the Beast as seen 
 arising from the sea, is that he arises with one of his heads 
 wounded,! apparently unto death. But the wound was sud- 
 denly healed, and men marvelled the more. The Scripture, 
 it is true, does not in express words reveal what the wound 
 is, or what its healing ; yet it may, I think, with much cer- 
 tainty be inferred : for when we remember that Antichrist 
 had previously to this, during all the period of which the 
 seventeenth chapter treats, been possessed of all the influ- 
 ence of the systems by which the ten kingdoms had been 
 ruled his heads representing those systems as centres of 
 concentrated power ; and when we consider further, how 
 decidedly the element of ecclesiastical influence is blended 
 into the arrangements of all the kingdoms of the prophetic 
 earth, forming one of their chief instruments of rule ; and 
 
 * I do not mean to include real children of God in this. I speak gene- 
 rally. When speaking of Satan as being thus worshipped, we must not 
 think of him in the hideousness of his character as known to faith. He is 
 able to transform himself into an angel of light, and will probably be 
 spoken of by Antichrist, not under the name of Satan, but as the being 
 from whom, conjointly with himself, all the power, and glory, and pro- 
 sperity in which men will be rejoicing, emanate; even as the Lord Jesus, 
 when seated on the Throne of His father David, will acknowledge the 
 Father, and direct the hearts of men to Him. 
 
 f Eo^ayjuEvrjv, in the past tense, implying that he first met the eye 
 of John in this woxinded condition. This symbol does not imply that 
 Antichrist personally will be wounded. It is a symbol that applies to 
 him only governmentally. It indicates that he is smitten as to a certain 
 branch of his power. 
 
 O 
 
194 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 consequently how great the shock will be to the whole social 
 and political fabric when all religious influences are suddenly 
 swept away, we can easily understand how Antichrist, when 
 he destroys the Woman, purchases his place of solitary great- 
 ness by forfeiting one of the chief centres of his former in- 
 fluence ; and therefore he may well be described as rising 
 into his power with one of his governmental heads wounded 
 as unto death. When, at the close of the last century, 
 ecclesiastical influence fell in Paris, government fell with it; 
 the bonds of society were dissolved,, and men were nigh be- 
 coming " like the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things 
 that have no ruler over them." So would it be again if man 
 had nothing to worship; and therefore Satan will have 
 in readiness another system, to be substituted for that which 
 perishes, when the former falls. It will indeed be a system 
 of blasphemy against God, and against all heavenly beings. 
 It is the entire rejection of them, for " he opens his mouth in 
 blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and taber- 
 nacle, even those who dwell in heaven," but it is not the 
 rejection of all worship and of all religion ; Antichrist and 
 his image are to be the new visible centre of religion, and a 
 high priest suited to the system is prepared by the same 
 energy of evil that produced its head. Its head is secular ; 
 he is the great monarch of the Roman world. Its priest is 
 described in the verses that immmediately succeed. 
 
 "/ beheld another beast arising from the earth"*'] The 
 former beast had arisen from the sea. He through whose 
 energy the Monarch of monarchs had been called up from 
 the Great Sea of the Gentiles, now raises another instrument 
 
 * Or land, as opposed to sea. " God called the dry land, earth; and 
 the gathering together of the waters, called he, seas." Here, it appears 
 to be a particular part of the dry land; as connected with a particular 
 sea. If in the vision, the Dragon takes his stand on the sea-coast of the 
 land of Israel, and one heast is seen arising from the sea, and another 
 from the land, we cannot he in much doubt as to the interpretation. 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 195 
 
 of his power who arises from the earth. And if the sea be 
 the Great Sea, i. e. the Mediterranean, and the scene in all 
 these three chapters (xi., xii., xiii.), the land of Israel, there 
 can be little reason to doubt that the part of the earth here 
 spoken of and contrasted with the Great Sea of the Gentiles, 
 is the land of Israel. At any rate, it is in Jerusalem 
 and the East that the last idolatrous system of this evil age 
 will find its home, and there are many reasons that would 
 lead us to say that the land of Israel will be its birth- 
 place too. 
 
 The Greek or Eastern part of the Roman empire, where 
 Israel has been and will be, is a sphere in which those 
 modern principles of progress which have long been nurtured 
 in our island are finding one of the chief spheres of their 
 development. Multifarious systems are found in operation 
 there all antagonistic to each other, but none sufficiently 
 strong to have exclusive potency. The ecclesiastical system 
 of the Greeks has waned and is divided; Mahomedanism 
 has become enfeebled j Romanism has only a measure of in- 
 fluence ; Protestantism, at present, has even less. Israel 
 will soon appear on the scene, and then another neutralizing 
 element will be added. But all this facilitates the progress 
 of a system that is willing to ignore Truth, and seeks to con- 
 ciliate and patronize any thing, and every thing, for the 
 sake of influence and gain. England favoured Protestant 
 England, at present, best understands and most efficiently 
 uses this system. England probably will have the privilege 
 of teaching it to Israel, who will be acute to see, and wise to 
 avail themselves of, its advantages. In their hands and in 
 the hands of the subtle Greeks it will prosper still more, and 
 develop itself in those long-desolated regions of the East 
 which are waiting for the impress of some new vivifying 
 power. We may well expect, therefore, that the last and 
 crowning system of apostasy should appear in the regions 
 where these wickednesses will have been chiefly perpetrated. 
 
 The energy of this last religious system will, as I have 
 
 o g 
 
196 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 said, be centred in an individual, who will instantly supply 
 to the king his master, all, and more than all, that had been 
 lost through the head wounded seemingly unto death. " He 
 exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his presence, 
 (WUTTIOV avrou), and he causeth the earth and those who 
 dwell therein to worshipr the first beast, whose deadly wound 
 was healed." It will be the first time in the world's history, 
 when the ecclesiastical Head of the religion of the earth 
 will act in strict concurrence with, and in subordination to, 
 the secular Throne. We have hitherto seen Emperors and 
 Kings contending with Patriarchs and Popes. We have 
 seen each in their turn aiming to possess themselves of the 
 other's seat: but we have never yet seen throughout the 
 Roman earth, the thoroughly harmonized combination of 
 civil and religious power. It will be seen, however, then ; 
 and thus the headstone is placed upon the mighty fabric of 
 Anti- Christian strength. Man is not happy without a religion ; 
 and he will have a religion then, adapted, doubtless, to his 
 taste and suited to his propensities. It will be idolatrous, 
 sustained by miracles, and dignified by power. Its minister, 
 though he will speak as a dragon, yet in appearance will be 
 as a lamb " he had two horns as a lamb " and will " say to 
 those that dwell on the earth, that they should make an 
 image to the beast, who hath the wound by a sword, and did 
 live." Miracles also will wait upon his word. He will 
 have power to " make fire to come down from Heaven in 
 the sight of men." * 
 This is not the first time in which the image of Antichrist 
 
 * The efficacy of such a miracle in deceiving the Jews is very obvious. 
 There is at this moment a controversy being carried on among them, 
 whether, in case they should return to Jerusalem, it would be possible 
 for them to offer sacrifice without fire sent down from Heaven some 
 holding the necessity of this, others pleading that God would permit the 
 use of ordinary fire. On the day when the Priests of Israel were first 
 consecrated, fire came down from Heaven, and consumed the sacrifice ; 
 and so when Elijah pleaded the cause of Jehovah against the priests 
 of Baal. 
 
ON REVELATION XIII. 197 
 
 is spoken of in the Scripture. Both Daniel and our Lord 
 speak of the abomination (i. e. idol, for in Hebrew the word 
 is the same) of desolation, and say that its place will be the 
 temple of Jerusalem. It is to stand in the holy place. The 
 prophet of Antichrist will have power to give life, or breath 
 (irv^vfjia) to this, his image, " that the image should both 
 speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the 
 image of the beast should be killed. And he caused all, both 
 small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a 
 mark on their right hand, or on their forehead ; 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." The self- 
 will of man will be effectually, though, I suppose, willingly, 
 controlled then. 
 
 It is surely an awful scene ; but it will be limited both as 
 to time, and as to place. The time is 1260 days ; its place 
 the Roman world, and more especially the land of Israel. 
 God might have allowed, if it had so pleased Him, the whole 
 earth to be full of this maturity of evil. The seeds of it, 
 doubtless, are sown everywhere, wheresoever the mind of 
 man under Satan has put forth its powers ; but the merciful 
 providence of God has checked, and will check, their growth 
 in other regions; so that it is in the Ten Kingdoms only that 
 the full harvest will be found. There the vine of the earth 
 will bring forth its ripened clusters ; there Satan's deceiving 
 fires of heaven-like brightness will be kindled. Yet others 
 who dwell without the enchanted circle may be dazzled by 
 the blaze of glory, and rush into the toils of the great fowler; 
 others will be providentially restrained ; others will be wise 
 and understand the signs of the times. " The wicked shall 
 do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; 
 but the understanding ones shall understand." 
 
 We who are dwelling in these western limits of the Roman 
 world, should of all men most peculiary beware ; for we live 
 in the very countries from which the principles which are 
 especially forwarding this mystery of iniquity are deriving 
 
198 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 their impulse and their power. Many of these principles are 
 fascinating in their aspect, and fruitful of prosperity in result; 
 they breathe of amity, and good-will, and brotherhood ; their 
 fruits are seen in the taste, the literature, the commerce, and 
 the decorated religion of the day. Education too, for the 
 most part, is made to foster the tendencies of the hour, for 
 what is there that we are ordinarily taught to admire and to 
 cultivate that does not fall under the symbol of the lion, the 
 leopard, or the bear ; so that, thus far, there will be no strange 
 features of hideousness in Antichrist to terrify into separation 
 from evil, those who refuse to be separated from it by the 
 Truth now. 
 
 Blessed are they who learn by the Spirit of Christ to walk 
 with Him, among the proud and stately scenes of Gentile 
 power. " Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me 
 from Lebanon ; look from the top of Amana, from the lions' 
 dens, from the mountains of the leopards." Such is the 
 place of the Church's present sojourn. The land of Im- 
 manuel, which shall by and by be the joy of all lands, is 
 deserted the proud mountains of Gentile glory are around 
 us we are in the midst of lions' and leopards' dens ; we 
 may see their form and hear their roar, but we shall not fear 
 them if in companionship with Him. They will not remain 
 for ever ; other scenes will quickly open, when the moun- 
 tains of the Gentiles shall be brought low, and " Lebanon 
 shall fall by a Mighty one ;" and instead thereof the Lamb 
 shall stand upon Zion, the mountain of God, and the new 
 centre of the earth's government arise that mountain of 
 which it shall be said, the " Lord bless thee, O habitation of 
 justice and mountain of holiness." This is referred to in the 
 succeeding chapter ; but the thirteenth chapter speaks not of 
 these things ; its subject is the day of the glory of man un- 
 der him who hears and welcomes that word, spoken though 
 it be by the Devil, " ALL THIS will I give thee if you 
 will fall down and worship ME." 
 
KOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 XIII, 
 
 o 
 
 ATTENTION to the detail of prophetic description is needful, 
 not only for enabling us to form a correct estimate of the 
 future, but also for guarding against that error which has for 
 ages been the bane of truth, viz. the application of prophecy 
 to wrong objects, and thereby the assertion of its accomplish- 
 ment long before the real subjects of description have arisen. 
 This error will always be fallen into, when the specific facts 
 of Scripture are neglected, and we satisfy ourselves with 
 general resemblances merely and remote analogies. 
 
 The modern habit of referring this chapter to the Head of 
 the Papal system, is a memorable example of this culpable 
 carelessness of interpretation. I say, modern habit, because 
 during all the darkness of the first thirteen centuries, and even 
 later, we find a series of writers concurrently asserting that 
 this dispensation at its close is to bemaiked by the develop- 
 ment of a secular, despotic, and (as regards the Roman world) 
 universal, system of blasphemous infidelity, and that its Head 
 is described in the chapter before us.* But in the Protestant 
 conflicts with Popery all this has been forgotten, and prophetic 
 Scripture has been throughout interpreted as if Popery were 
 the one sole subject of its denunciations. That an influen- 
 
 * For quotations from writers of the first thirteen centuries, see 
 " Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms of the Roman Empire." 
 
200 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tial worldly system, like Popery, will have many principles 
 of evil in common with another influential system like Anti- 
 christianism, is certain ; especially when the first has been 
 for ages acting on, and morally forming, some of the leading 
 countries out of which Antichristianism is to arise. Popery 
 is no doubt a chief channel towards Antichrist. But this is 
 no more than can be said of many other worldly systems that 
 are cast in a different mould from Popery, and are in many 
 things antagonistic to it, such as Mahomedanism ; the Greek 
 Churches of the East ; Socinian, Neologian, and other forms 
 of Nominal Protestantism ; and Judaism. 
 
 Attention to one simple fact is sufficient to prove the 
 futurity of this chapter. It describes the whole Roman 
 world, throughout all its extent, as brought completely under 
 one resistless despotism. Now inasmuch as neither the 
 whole, nor a half, nor a third, nor a tenth, of the Roman 
 world is at present under the sole control of any one individual, 
 or any one system, (for it is emphatically an hour of the 
 division of power,) it follows that this tyrannic system of 
 successful despotism must yet be future. That it cannot 
 have appeared and waned, or passed away, is manifest from 
 this that the power of the Beast and of the ten kingdoms 
 who are to be with him, never wane ; but, when once they 
 have appeared, will continue in the full vigour and pleni- 
 tude of power, until they shall suddenly be swept into de- 
 struction by the glory of the coming of the King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords. See Rev. xvii. 12, &c. 
 
 Again, one of the most remarkable and characteristic 
 features of this chapter is, that it marks the SECULAR as 
 taking precedence of the ECCLESIASTICAL power. The 
 second Beast, who is to direct the worship of all over whom 
 Antichrist will rule, takes the secondary place in the presence 
 of (SVWTTMW) the mighty secular monarch on whom the ten 
 diadems rest. Subordination to the crown, which Popery 
 hates, will be the very principle in which the False Prophet 
 who ministers in the presence of Antichrist will glory. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 201 
 
 Indeed if we examine the specific descriptions of this 
 chapter we shall find that Popery answers to none. 
 
 I. The Beast with ten horns is distinctively a secular power : 
 Popery is distinctively ecclesiastical. 
 
 II. The Beast from the moment of his appearance in this 
 chapter on to the end of his course has his ten horns crowned 
 with diadems ; but Popery has never worn the diadems of 
 the Roman world. Even ecclesiastically it has never reigned 
 continuously over the Western division of the Eoman em- 
 pire ; much less over the East and West together. 
 
 III. The Beast had seven heads. When did all the ruling 
 systems, commercial, educational, religious, military, political, 
 &c., throughout the whole prophetic earth, fall under the 
 exclusive control of Popery, or of any other system or indi- 
 vidual, that yet has been ? 
 
 IV. The Beast when it first is seen in this chapter, has 
 all its horns crowned. How could this be said of Popery ? 
 
 Y. The Beast when it first appeared has one of its heads 
 already wounded. How could this be interpreted of 
 Popery ? 
 
 VI. The Beast was like a leopard. The leopard was the 
 Grecian Beast. Has not Popery been distinctively Latin, 
 and not Greek, both in origin, territory, character, and every- 
 thing else that can, under this head, be mentioned as a point 
 of contrast? The influence of Popery has been remarkably 
 obstructed in the Eastern part of the Eoman empire, where 
 Antichrist will be chiefly dominant. 
 
 VII. The whole prophetic earth is not only subject to, but 
 wonders after and worships the beast. When has the Pope 
 been thus worshipped ? 
 
 VIII. The Beast continues forty and two months. Is 
 this the limit of the duration of Popery ? 
 
 IX. Another, and he distinctly a minister of religious 
 power, exercises the power of the ten horned Beast in his 
 presence. When has the Pope ever had such a minister ? 
 
 X. All, except those whose names are written in the 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Lamb's book of life, consent to worship the Beast. In other 
 words, every servant of Satan throughout the whole Roman 
 world will unite himself to Antichrist. Have there never 
 been any wicked men who have stood aloof from Popery ? 
 
 XI. An image of the Beast is made, endued with life, 
 caused to speak, and to command that whosoever would not 
 worship it, should neither buy, nor sell, but be put to death, 
 and this throughout the whole extent of the Roman world. 
 Where do we find anything in the history of Popery answering 
 even remotely to this ? 
 
 It would have been well if Protestants, instead of 
 branding the Pope only with the name of Antichrist, had 
 sought out the tokens of Antichristianism that are to be 
 found among themselves. Infidelity, (such, for example, as 
 that which now abounds in Germany and Switzerland,) the 
 willing enslavement of Protestantism in many places to the 
 secular power, and the necessary consequences thence result- 
 ing, will be found to stamp on Protestantism, in many of its 
 forms, marks as characteristically antichristian as any that 
 can be found in Popery. Besides which, Protestantism has 
 done what Popery has not done, denied the rise of a future 
 Antichrist and the consequent apostasy of the secular power 
 from God. Yet I doubt not this has been done by many a 
 Protestant in ignorance, not in wilfulness, and that it is 
 among the Protestants and those converted to Protes- 
 tantism that God is granting repentance and the acknow- 
 ledgment of the truth. His blessing will never be entirely 
 withdrawn, wherever the authority of His written word is 
 honestly maintained. 
 
 " And he stood on the sand of the sea."] " He stood," 
 not " I stood," is the right reading "he " referring to the 
 Dragon. These words should properly commence the thir- 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 03 
 
 teenth chapter, which, is in fact the sequel of the twelfth, and 
 should be read with it. 
 
 All the four universal empires the Chaldaean, Persian, 
 Grecian, and Roman are said in Daniel to arise from te the 
 Great Sea," which is the name of the Mediterranean in the 
 Old Testament. Neither of these empires are recognised in 
 Scripture as established in their proper supremacy, until 
 they had reached the Mediterranean, and incorporated that 
 sea within their rule. Antichrist also will have that sea as 
 the basis of his dominion. The scene of the preceding 
 chapter is clearly the land of Israel ; and this would of itself 
 lead us to say that the sea spoken of is the Mediterranean. 
 The countries of the Roman empire over which Antichrist 
 will reign, if marked by any distinctive colour in a map of 
 the world, appear to be nothing more than the coasts of the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 <f A Beast."'] This name in its Imperial meaning is de- 
 rived from Daniel vii., where the four successive universal 
 empires are denominated "Beasts"* Such is Heaven's 
 estimate of Kingdoms that have been by men wondered 
 after and adored. Hitherto (except indeed when some great 
 type or forerunner of Antichrist has for a moment crossed 
 the scene) men have been accustomed to associate thoughts 
 of imperial greatness with empires rather than with indivi- 
 duals. We hear of the Chaldaean empire, the Roman 
 empire, and the like. But when Antichrist arises, all 
 thoughts connected with imperial power and glory will be 
 concentrated on him. Accordingly the symbol which Scrip- 
 ture had before employed to denote " empires," is now 
 appropriated to him. He is emphatically THE Beast. 
 
 * I have already remarked on the error which, in our version of 
 the Revelation, has confused between wa and Srjpia, and instead of 
 giving to the heavenly cherubim their proper name of " living creatures," 
 has ascribed to them the name of those evil empires whose characters 
 are at last concentrated in Antichrist. 
 
204 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALPYSE. 
 
 Thus Napoleon, when some one spoke to him of the power 
 of France, said, " France ? what is France ? /am France." 
 
 "Having ten horns."] This is the Roman characteristic, and 
 is the more important, because it marks the territorial extent 
 of the rule of Antichrist. We have only to mark out the 
 territorial extent of the dominions of Rome, and we have 
 then before us that part of the earth out of which the ten 
 prophetic kingdoms are to arise, and over which Antichrist 
 is to rule. 
 
 The Roman empire in its widest extent, during the reign 
 of Trajan, included the following countries : 
 
 In Western and North-western Europe. 
 
 England, and Scotland. 
 
 Spain and Portugal. 
 
 France and Savoy. 
 
 Belgium and parts of Holland west of 
 
 the Rhine. 
 Luxembourg. 
 
 Rhenish Prussia, west of the Rhine. 
 Baden, Wirtemburgh, and most of 
 
 Bavaria. 
 Switzerland. 
 
 In Southern and South-eastern Europe. 
 
 Italy. 
 
 Greece. 
 
 All the islands of the Mediterranean. 
 
 Turkey in Europe south of the 
 
 Danube. 
 Austrian Provinces north of the Alps 
 
 and south of the Danube. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 05 
 
 North of the Danube ( That P art of Hungary which lies east 
 and answering to the] of the Roman Vallum.* 
 
 ancient Dacia. Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia, 
 Bessarabia. 
 
 In Asia. 
 
 The Turkish dominions, taking the Euphrates as the 
 south-eastern limit and the north of Arabia as the 
 southern ; this division including Palestine and 
 Asia Minor. 
 
 In Africa. 
 
 Egypt and the whole northern coast, viz Libya, Tripolis, 
 Tunis, Algeria, and Fez. Salle, a little outside the 
 Straits of Gibraltar, was their most westerly city. 
 
 Such are the countries indicated, when we speak of the 
 Roman world, or prophetic earth the "Orbis Terrarum," or 
 riaaa 17 oiKov/uwri, of the Romans. We shall gradually see 
 these countries brought into closer and closer union. Simi- 
 lar governmental principles (viz. those of limited monarchy 
 indicated by the clay -iron of the image seen by Daniel) will 
 finally prevail throughout them all, and the rising latitudi- 
 narian system represented in the Revelation by the harlot of 
 the seventeenth chapter, will form the centre of their union. 
 At the time when this system shall have become fully de- 
 veloped, the territories above enumerated will have been 
 divided into ten kingdoms, answering to the ten toes of the 
 image of Daniel and to the ten horns of the fourth beast. 
 
 * The remains of the Roman Vallum are still visible. It left the 
 Danube a few miles east of Belgrade, and running by Temesvar, con- 
 tinued its northern course until it met the Upper Theiss, which there 
 runs from east to west. Dacia was retained as a Roman province for 
 upwards of 160 years. For further remarks on the subject, see " Pro- 
 spects of Ten Kingdoms of the Roman Empire, chapter ii." 
 
206 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 These after being first reigned over by the harlot, will, after 
 her destruction, concur to give their glory and power unto 
 Antichrist, <f until the words of God shall be fulfilled." 
 
 Half of the territory above described was conquered by 
 the Romans from the Greeks, and from the earliest period 
 was strongly contrasted in manners, language, and civiliza- 
 tion with that which they conquered in the West, where, for 
 the most part, barbarism reigned. The distinction, there- 
 fore, between the Greek and Latin divisions of the Roman 
 empire is not to be founded on the mere arbitrary arrange- 
 ments of the later emperors ; it was a distinction that 
 subsisted from the beginning. The distinction is still 
 visible ; and will become more so, as the influence of the 
 Greek name is revived in the East. The Greek or Eastern 
 division of the Roman empire answers, very nearly, to the 
 countries that are, or have been, under the rule of the 
 Turks. 
 
 "Seven heads."] This is a characteristic that attaches to no 
 imperial power except Antichrist. He is the first person 
 who will have complete control of all the influential systems 
 that sway society. 
 
 ' ' On his heads ten diadems "~\ I have already remarked on 
 the difference between the monarch who holds the executive 
 power being subject to the legislative direction of his sub- 
 jects, and his being independent of such control. In the 
 latter case, the horn (for that symbolizes the holder of the 
 executive power) is crowned : in the former case the horn 
 is not crowned. We are now entering on a period in 
 which " the great interests," as they are called, will 
 virtually rule the monarch. Hence, in the twelfth 
 chapter, the diadems are on the heads, not on the horns. 
 In the thirteenth chapter, on the contrary, "the interests" 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 07 
 
 being then thoroughly subjected to the monarchs, the diadems 
 are transferred to the horns. 
 
 "And on his heads names of blasphemy"] This is impor- 
 tant, because, it shows how thoroughly society will have 
 become leavened by the principles of Antichrist. There 
 have been periods when society has resisted the impulses of 
 the governing power, and refused to follow it in its course of 
 evil; but here the very associations by which the mind of 
 society will be chiefly expressed will be given over to 
 blasphemy. 
 
 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard."] 
 The leopard is used in Daniel vii. to symbolize Greece. 
 Subtility as well as elegance marks the leopard. Antichrist 
 will not only have the moral and intellectual characteristics 
 of Greece, he will also arise from the Greek, not the Latin, 
 part of the Roman empire. This we learn from Daniel viii. 
 See that chapter considered in " Prospects of the Ten King- 
 doms of the Roman Empire." 
 
 " His feet were as the feet of a bear"] " Feet" is an em- 
 blem continually used in Scripture as a moral symbol. Thus 
 of the Lord, it is said, " His feet were as fine brass, as 
 though they burned in a furnace;" and the saints are ex- 
 horted to have their " feet shod with the preparation of the 
 gospel of peace." 
 
 The savage character of Antichrist is frequently referred 
 to in the Scripture. " Is this the man that made the earth 
 to tremble, that did shake kingdoms ; that made the world as 
 a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not 
 the houses of his prisoners ? " (Isaiah xiv.) 
 
 In Daniel, we find him called " a king of fierce counte- 
 nance who shall destroy wonderfully ;" (Dan. viii. 3), and 
 
208 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 in Daniel xi. 41, we have an account of his triumphant 
 warfare. 
 
 In Zechariah too, where he is described, not as a warrior, 
 but as the pretended shepherd of Israel, we find still the 
 characteristics of the bear. ft Lo ! I will raise up a shepherd 
 in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, 
 neither shall seek the young one,nor heal that that is broken, 
 nor feed that that standeth still ; but he shall eat the flesh of 
 the fat and tear their claws in pieces." (Zech. xi. IT.) 
 
 5. 
 
 (( And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great 
 and blasphemous things ; and authority was given unto him 
 to act forty -and-two months"'] I have already spoken of the 
 forty-and-two months as identical with the 1260 days else- 
 where mentioned and " the time, times, and half-a-time" of 
 Daniel; "time" being the expression used in Hebrew to 
 indicate the period between one set annual feast of the Jews 
 and another, as from Passover to Passover, or Pentecost to 
 Pentecost. 
 
 The subject of this chapter is not the history of Anti- 
 christian principles (they were working before the Reve- 
 lation was written) ; it is the history of THE Antichrist. 
 It could be said of none other than an individual person, that 
 he shall be ff cast alive into a lake of fire burning with 
 brimstone." (See Rev. xix. 20.) 
 
 Moreover, though the principles of Antichrist have existed 
 in their scattered form from the Apostle's days to our own, 
 yet they are not brought into that systematized form in which 
 they will be presented to the world when he himself arises 
 into his proper power. His system is coeval with himself 
 indeed he is even obliged to destroy another system which he 
 had previously sustained, in order to make way for his own. 
 Consequently, if this chapter were the history of Antichris- 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 09 
 
 tianism as a system, instead of that of Antichrist as an 
 individual, the interpretation would not be less definite of 
 less restricted. The history of his system could not be 
 extended over a lengthened period, any more than that or 
 his own personal existence. 
 
 There are three references to Daniel vii. in this chapter 
 which should be noticed, as showing that the little horn of 
 Daniel, and the Beast of this chapter, symbolize the same 
 person. 
 
 Dan. vii. 8. A mouth speaking great things. 
 Rev. xiii. 5. A mouth speaking great and blasphemous 
 things. 
 
 Dan. vii. 21. The same horn made war with the saints 
 and prevailed against them. 
 
 Rev. xiii. 7. And it was given unto him to make war 
 with the saints and to overcome them. 
 
 Dan. vii. 25. They shall be given into his hand until a 
 time, times, and the dividing of time. 
 
 Rev. xiii. 5. Authority was given unto him to act forty 
 and two months. 
 
 " To blaspheme His name and His tabernacle" &c.] 
 Heaven is the tabernacle or dwelling-place of God. Heaven 
 even the heaven of heavens is the Lord's ; and seeing that 
 Antichrist, though he may rule the earth, cannot attain unto 
 the dwelling-place of God; the only thing that he can do is 
 to revile it, and those that dwell therein. 
 
 We must remember that although aKr\vri (tabernacle) is 
 often applied to a moveable habitation, yet that it does not 
 necessarily imply transitoriness. We find it sometimes ap- 
 plied to things which are expressly said to be everlasting. 
 
 Thus in Luke xvi. 9, " That they may receive you into 
 everlasting habitations." It was the desire of David that the 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 ark of God should no longer dwell in curtains (2 Sam. vii.), 
 but have a stationary habitation. In. Acts vii. 46 this is 
 referred to, and it is said that he desired to find a tabernacle 
 (OK^V^JJLCL) for the God of Jacob. The corresponding He - 
 brew word is used in Psalm cxxxii. 5, and is there translated 
 habitation: "Until I find an habitation for the mighty God 
 of Jacob." See also Isaiah xxii. 16, " That graveth an habit' 
 ation for himself in a rock." T^ese instances are sufficient 
 to show that both in the Old and New Testaments this word 
 is often used in a sense quite opposed to transitoriness. 
 
 If we turn to the Hebrews, we there find that Jesus is said 
 to be the minister of the true tabernacle which the Lord hath 
 framed (sTr^yey), and not man; and again, it is said to be a 
 ' e greater and more perfect tabernacle (i. e. than the first), not 
 made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;" and 
 immediately after, this tabernacle is said to be the heavens. 
 In this case, therefore, an eternal sense strongly attaches to 
 " tabernacle," for His place of ministration is as enduring as 
 Himself. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, after reading the ninth of Hebrews, 
 feel any difficulty in saying that heaven is, in a very peculiar 
 sense, the tabernacle of God. Whilst the outward Israel 
 have no tabernacle, we have ; and it is heaven the place 
 where our Priest ministers, even as in the holiest of all. At 
 present, the inner court of this heavenly tabernacle alone 
 exists, but the second, i. e. the heavenly city, will be added 
 in due time, and that too is called the tabernacle of God. 
 (See Rev. xxi.) Transitoriness does not attach here. 
 
 Whether, therefore, we understand tabernacle in this more 
 specific sense, or whether we take it in the general sense of 
 "habitation," it equally designates heaven: and the sense of 
 transitoriness is in either case to be excluded. 
 
 (( To make war with the saints" $*<?.] These are they who 
 are mentioned in the concluding verse of the preceding 
 chapter, as " the rest of the woman's seed." In Daniel they 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 
 
 are called "saints of the high, places" (]^V^) their pro- 
 spective name of glory. In the Revelation, they are described 
 as those "who keep the commandments of God and have the 
 testimony of Jesus;" and again, as those "that keep the 
 commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Rev. xiv.) 
 Some have strangely endeavoured to explain the words, 
 "having the testimony of Jesus," as meaning something short 
 of proper Christian testimony. Will they similarly explain 
 the words of 1 Cor i. 6, " Even as the testimony of Christ 
 hath been stedfastly maintained amongst you?" ( 
 
 The saints here mentioned are afterwards described as 
 standing on the sea of glass, singing the song of Moses and 
 the song of the Lamb ; and again, as reigning with Christ a 
 thousand years (ch. xx.). Yet some, who maintain the false 
 doctrine of a plurality of resurrections at the commencement 
 of the millennium, exclude these saints from the Church of 
 the first-born ; and take from the Church her highest earthly 
 honour of bearing testimony for her Lord during the hour of 
 Satan's chiefest triumph. Hence their effort to depreciate 
 these saints whom it is one especial object of this book to 
 honour. 
 
 "And authority was given him over every kindred, and 
 people, and tongue, and nation"] This language of univer- 
 sality is, in the Scripture, always used of, or by, the four 
 empires and their monarchs. Indeed we are always accus- 
 tomed to speak of the Chaldsean, Persian, Greek, and Eoman 
 empires as " Universal " empires, not as meaning that they 
 absolutely ruled every nation on the earth, (for of the greater 
 part of the earth they knew nothing,) but as meaning that 
 they possessed a power with which no other nations on the 
 earth could successfully compete. Their power was para- 
 mount till their appointed course was run. 
 
 Examples of universal expressions thus used may be seen 
 in the following passages : 
 
 p 2 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 I. Of Nebuchadnezzar it is said, " Thou, O king, art a 
 king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a king- 
 dom, power, and strength, and glory ; and wheresoever the 
 children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls 
 of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made 
 thee ruler over them ALL." (Daniel ii. 37.) 
 
 And again, "Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all peoples, 
 nations, and languages, that dwell in ALL the earth." 
 (Daniel iv. 1.) 
 
 II. Cyrus of Persia says, " The Lord God of heaven 
 hath given me ALL the kingdoms of the earth." (Ezra i. .) 
 
 III. Of the Grecian empire it is said, "A third king- 
 dom of brass which shall bear rule over ALL the earth. 
 (Daniel ii. 39.) 
 
 IV. Of the fourth or Roman empire, it is said, " that it 
 should devour the WHOLE earth." (Dan. vii. 23.) And 
 again, " there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that 
 the WHOLE WORLD should be taxed." 
 
 We cannot wonder, therefore, that similar expressions of 
 universality should be applied to Antichrist as the last in- 
 heritor of the power of these mighty empires. That his 
 power will not be absolutely universal, is shown by the ex- 
 press statements of Scripture itself; for Moab, Edom, and 
 the chief of the children of Ammon (see Dan. xi.), and the 
 vast Gog and Magog nations mentioned in Ezekiel xxxviii., 
 although so closely bordering on his dominions, are not to be 
 brought under his control : besides which, he would not be 
 symbolized by a ten-horned beast, if his authority were more 
 extensively established. The Ten Kingdoms, however, will 
 be the world in miniature, and hence another reason for the 
 universality of the expressions. 
 
 "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him he 
 whose name hath not been written, from the foundation of the 
 world, in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain."] 
 In what sense could these words be applied to Popery, or 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIII. 
 
 any other system, or individual, that yet has been ? It should 
 be observed that the words, " from the foundation of the 
 world," are connected with " written," and not with " the 
 Lamb that hath been slain." Compare Rev. xvii. 8: "Whose 
 names were not written in the book of life from the foundation 
 of the world." Christ is called " the Lamb fore-ordained ;" 
 but it is not scriptural to say, that he hath been slain from the 
 foundation of the world. 
 
 " If any one be for captivity, he goeth away (i. e. into 
 captivity); if any one will kill with the sword, with the 
 sword must he be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith 
 of the saints."] The saints will be greatly tempted, no doubt, 
 to resist Antichrist by violent means. But they must remem- 
 ber these words. If any one be appointed for captivity, into 
 captivity he must surely go ; and it is well for him to submit 
 his neck meekly to the yoke. But if any shall say, Nay ! 
 but I will resist with the sword, such an one by the sword 
 shall fall. God will not sanction such resistance. Christ 
 was the impersonation of good, and He was not to be 
 defended by the sword : Antichrist will be the impersonation 
 of evil ; nevertheless, he is not to be resisted by the sword. 
 The feet of the saint must be shod only with the preparation 
 of the gospel of peace. Well may it be said of such circum- 
 stances, "here is the endurance and the faith of the saints." 
 
 " He had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a 
 dragon."'} This is said of the second beast who ministers 
 in the presence of (^WTTIO^) the great secular monarch. 
 "Coming events," it has been said, "cast their shadows 
 before ;" and this is peculiarly true in the progress of evil. 
 The Papacy has often assumed the form of lamb-like gentle- 
 ness, and pretended to be the messenger of peace and love ; 
 yet who that has had the ear of faith, has not been able to 
 detect under its smoothest pretensions, the voice of the 
 Dragon ? And as the system of latitudinarian liberalism forms 
 
14 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 itself, we shall see this still further exemplified. It will 
 speak abundantly of philanthropy, brotherhood, peace, ces- 
 sation from ungainly strife, and the like ; it will assiduously 
 imitate the lamb, but the voice of the Dragon will be there, 
 full of all enmity to the distinguishing truths of Christ and 
 to those who uphold them. 
 
 " And cause that whosoever would not ivorship the image 
 of the Beast should be killed"] Although this will be the 
 behest of the miraculous image, endowed with breath that it 
 might speak and issue this command, yet it by no means 
 follows that its decree will be successfully carried into effect. 
 Daniel was not harmed by the decree of Nebuchadnezzar ; 
 nor could Jezebel destroy all the prophets of the Lord. 
 Obadiah hid a hundred; and when Elijah thought he was 
 alone, there were yet seven thousand others who had not 
 bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 
 
 As regards the number of the Beast, which his servants 
 will bear as his device, I see no reason to doubt that it is 
 literally 666 six units, six tens, six hundreds, or six thrice 
 repeated. Seven is the number of God's perfectness ; six 
 the number of human effort. For six days, men labour. 
 When the end of their thrice repeated efforts shall be seen, 
 and they shall have done all they can do, a world groaning 
 under the power of Antichrist and the devil, and madly 
 worshipping an idol, shall be the result. 
 
ON REVELATION XLV. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter we have seen the mighty nations 
 of the prophetic earth (those nations which from the day that 
 the throne of David was overthrown in Jerusalem (Dan. i. 1) 
 to the present hour have, by the appointment of God, been 
 pre-eminent in the earth, supreme in power, and supreme in 
 glory, even as they will be till the Son of David shall re- 
 turn j we have seen them in the preceding chapter subject, 
 gladly and willingly subject, to the power of evil, worship- 
 ping the dragon and worshipping the beast, saying, " who is 
 like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him?" 
 In the thirteenth chapter no interference on the part of God 
 is mentioned. Evil appears to reign, as if God had forsaken 
 the earth, and allowed the throne of wickedness to be estab- 
 lished in undisturbed supremacy. 
 
 But it is far otherwise. God will plead with men both in 
 testimony and judgment, and this the fourteenth chapter 
 reveals. It tells us how the clusters of the vine of the earth 
 will be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God the 
 doom of apostasy. It speaks also of the harvest to be reaped 
 from those countries where professing Christianity will yet 
 be found. But before it makes mention of these things, true 
 to the manner in which Scripture is ever wont to speak of 
 the concluding blessing before it declares the sorrow that 
 precedes, it reveals the earthly seat of that new and heavenly 
 
16 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 power whereby the earth and all things therein will be 
 ordered, when the reign of wickedness and the hour of 
 judgment shall have passed away, and the mountain of God 
 be established in holy supremacy over all nations. 
 
 " I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion." No words 
 can contrast more strongly with all that the preceding 
 chapter had revealed. It is no longer the ten-horned beast 
 with the form of a leopard, and the feet of a bear, and the 
 mouth of a lion, holding by the dragon's gift the dragon's 
 throne; but it is the Lamb upon Zion, the mountain of God's 
 power, the mountain of God's holiness ; the same Lamb that 
 had before been seen in the midst of the throne, the Lord 
 of all its glory the same who is to feed the flock of God 
 in their heavenly fold, and to lead them unto living fountains 
 of waters ; even at that same moment when " they who 
 worship the beast and his image shall drink of the wine of 
 the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into 
 the cup of His indignation. And the smoke of their tor- 
 ment ascendeth up for ever and ever ; and they have no 
 rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, 
 and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." 
 
 It requires but little knowledge, either of the world or 
 of Jesus, to be able to contrast Him and His character 
 with the ways and character of that Wicked one who precedes 
 Him in the throne of the earth's glory. The Roman world 
 with all its greatness will willingly wait upon the great 
 destroyer ; but when Jesus came into the midst of it, meek, 
 lowly, and having salvation, it gave Him nothing at first, 
 not even a place where to lay His head ; and when at length 
 it did open its hand to give, it gave the scourge, the thorns, 
 the vinegar, the gall, and the cross. But He came to be 
 the heir of suffering. The leopard's graceful' form could 
 not symbolize Him, whose visage was more marred than any 
 man, and His form more than the sons of men ; the mouth of 
 the lion of Babylon could not be an emblem for Him, who 
 was " meek and lowly of heart," who did not " strive nor 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 17 
 
 cry, neither did any hear His voice in the streets ; " the feet 
 of a bear could not symbolize the good Shepherd, who said, 
 " Feed my lambs, feed my sheep ; " " who came not to 
 destroy men's lives, but to save." To make self his idol 
 to depreciate God and man, that he may exalt himself 
 to be deaf to the general groan of creation, and heedless of 
 the cry of the widow and the fatherless, the sigh of the 
 oppressed and of the prisoner to lay the foundation 
 of his greatness in the miseries and sins of men, and to 
 draw the halo of glory around his single brow, is the object 
 of Antichrist. He comes from beneath ; his origin is from 
 the pit (chap. xi. 7) : and yet he says, " I will ascend into 
 heaven ; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ; I 
 will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides 
 of the north ; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds ; 
 I will be like the Most High." But Jesus whose home 
 was in the Father's bosom, seeking Another's glory and 
 others' blessing, came into this living mass of corruption 
 and suffering to find in it for Himself sorrow and death, 
 that He might be to others life. The acuteness of His 
 sensibilities, and the liveliness of His sympathy, which 
 were necessary to His perfectness as man (for it pertains to 
 man to feel), added poignancy to His sufferings. They made 
 Him like a tender plant, beneath a rude and inclement sky. 
 But He lived not lor Himself. He came " not to be minis- 
 tered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom 
 for many." His life has been taken from the earth ; but His 
 memorial is blessed for ever. And when the time shall 
 come for Him to return from the pavilion of God, in which 
 He is now hidden, and to stand upon Zion in possession of 
 the government of earth, it will be as no unknown stranger, 
 but as One who has been known, and proved, and found 
 worthy, known in His eternal glory before the world was 
 known in suffering and in death known in the present 
 exercise of the power of the Almighty throne. He has been 
 known by God, known by the Spirit of God also in His 
 saints, and we are able to say that " He is worthy." 
 
18 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The purpose of the Lamb in again visiting the earth is to 
 bring into it, and finally to establish in it, the glory and the 
 holiness, and the happiness of heaven. He has finished the 
 work of atonement, and has sat down on the throne of the 
 majesty in the heavens ; but we wait for His return, in order 
 that we may behold what the full manifested results of re- 
 demption are to be. The love which God hath to us is at 
 present little evidenced by the things around us ; little, 
 I mean, in comparison with that hour when all things shall 
 be heard giving thanks because He shall have opened His 
 hand to satisfy the desire of every living thing. We know 
 His love inwardly ; it is " shed abroad in our hearts 
 through the Holy Spirit," and inwardly we are comforted and 
 strengthened. To our hearts secretly it is like dew upon 
 the thirsty ground, or like ointment poured upon the burn- 
 ing wound. But these effects are hidden. They are secret 
 in the heart, whilst everything around us groans ; and we 
 ourselves, in unredeemed bodies, eat our bread with the 
 sweat of our brow, from a ground that the Lord hath cursed. 
 Thus, to the Spirit, it still is what it was to Jesus, the valley 
 of the shadow of death, and all the fires that men kindle, 
 that they may warm themselves in the sparks of their kind- 
 ling, and say, "Aha, I am warm, 1 have seen the fire," only 
 add, to the eye of faith, new terrors to the scene. Never- 
 theless it is in this world that the glory and holiness, and 
 happiness of heaven is to be manifested and established. 
 Finally, its establishment will be universal, for He will 
 make ALL things new. But even in the millennium, whilst 
 the present framework of this fallen creation remains, there 
 is one spot in the earth, where the righteousness, and joy, 
 and blessedness of heaven will be perfectly found, and that 
 spot is the height of Zion. 
 
 That Mount Zion, in connection with the earthly Jeru- 
 salem, which will be builded around it, will become the 
 centre of the earth's legislation and government, and will be 
 so acknowledged by all nations, is again and again declared 
 in the Scripture. " And it shall come to pass in the last 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 19 
 
 days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be es- 
 tablished in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted 
 above the hills ; and all nations shall now unto it. And 
 many people shall 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 ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word 
 of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among 
 the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall 
 beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into 
 pruning hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 
 neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, 
 come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." (Isa. ii.) 
 
 But it is not its connection with God's earthly city, nor 
 even its connection with the earthly throne of the Son of 
 David, nor its recognised supremacy among the nations, that 
 will give to Zion its great and distinguishing attribute of 
 glory. It will be the place where heavenly glory will be 
 made visible before the eyes of men. It will be the strong- 
 hold of Jerusalem's strength, because it will be the citadel* 
 of the risen saints the place of the presence of divine glory 
 and omnipotent power. 
 
 When Israel came out of Egypt they were gathered 
 around Mount Sinai. They were not indeed allowed to 
 touch the mountain, but they were gathered at its foot. Their 
 tents, clustering around it, sought, as it were, the shelter of 
 its protection ; and God, as their Lawgiver and King, ap- 
 peared in glory on it. " And it came to pass on the third 
 day, in the morning, that there were thunders and light- 
 
 * I use the word " citadel" designedly, because it is the expression 
 used in Revelation xx. in order to denote the place occupied by the risen 
 saints, in its relation to the earthly Jerusalem. " They compassed the 
 citadel (7rajO/uoXr/>) of the saints about, and the beloved city." It is 
 the same word used in Acts xxii., where it is said, that the chief captain 
 commanded Paul to be brought into "the castle" (Traps ^oXrjr). This 
 castle was built upon Zion, and was in fact " the citadel of David " 
 
220 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 nings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of 
 the trumpet exceeding loud ; so that all the people that were 
 in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people 
 out of the camp, to meet with God, and they stood at the 
 nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether 
 of a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire : and 
 the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and 
 the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the 
 trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses 
 spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came 
 down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount : and the 
 Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses 
 went up." Here indeed was the manifestation of Divine 
 glory upon the earth, quite as truly as when it shall again 
 be manifested on the height of Zion. But there was no 
 mediator of the new covenant there, no blood of sprinkling 
 speaking peace, and therefore Israel found it to be the place 
 of sorrow and of death. The ministration of death was 
 there, though they knew it not. But though Israel has 
 been disappointed in that shelter, and are now driven in 
 confusion from it, it nevertheless reminds us of that happy 
 and abiding refuge which Israel, and the nations too, will 
 finally find under the true mountain of God that mountain 
 to which by faith we are already come, on which, as on Sinai 
 of old, heavenly glory, but benign and blessed, because in 
 the power of the accomplished redemption of Jesus, will again 
 be made manifest. " The hill of God (Zion) is as the hill 
 of Bashan ; an high hill, as the hill of Bashan. Why leap 
 ye, ye high hills ? This is the hill which God desireth to 
 dwell in, yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. The 
 chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of 
 angels : the Lord is among them, as in Sinai in the holy 
 place." Here is sufficiently plain evidence that Zion, like 
 Sinai, will have the presence of something more than mere 
 earthly glory ; and in the twelfth of Hebrews also, after Sinai 
 had first been mentioned as the place where God once rnani- 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 
 
 fested Himself in glory, Zion is next spoken of as the place 
 of manifestation of the better and abiding glory. tf We are 
 not come unto Sinai, but we are come unto Mount Zion, and 
 unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 and to an innumerable company of angels, a general as- 
 sembly and to the Church of the first-born enrolled in 
 heaven," &c. 
 
 It will doubtless be the place over which heaven will be 
 opened. The Lord has said, that we shall see heaven 
 opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending, as 
 if the ladder of Jacob were abidingly and visibly resting upon 
 this earth. We read of the heavenly city at the commence- 
 ment of the millennium,* so descending as not to be in 
 heaven (for it descendeth from God out of heaven) ; neither 
 on the earth, for it does not descend to earth until the new 
 heavens and the new earth are formed ; yet we read of its 
 glory being so manifested, that " the nations shall walk by 
 means of the light thereof, and the kings of the earth do 
 bring their glory and honour unto it." In other words, it 
 will be intermediate, as the holy place (to which it anti- 
 typically answers) should be, between the holiest of all, i.e. 
 Heaven, and the earthly court, which is the earthly Jeru- 
 salem. But Zion, miraculously exalted above the hills, as if 
 to meet the heavenly city, which will rest over it in the 
 heavens above, will be the place where heavenly glory will 
 first be brought into real connection with this earth. It 
 will be the citadel of the holy ones the place where the 
 foot of the ladder of Jacob may be said visibly to rest. 
 
 It is this earthly and yet heavenly condition of Zion, that 
 
 * The first eight verses of the twenty-first chapter describe the heavenly- 
 city in its relation to the earth after the millennium, when the new 
 heavens and new earth are created. The rest of the twenty-first chapter 
 describes the relation of the heavenly city to the earth during the mil- 
 lennium, whilst nations who yet need healing will be found upon it. A 
 new chapter, therefore, should be commenced at the ninth verse of 
 chap. xxi. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fulfils the promises of the Scripture, and harmonizes truths 
 belonging to the earth with other truths referring to heavenly 
 and unearthly glories. We cannot read the promises to Zion 
 and to Jerusalem respecting their earthly supremacy in the 
 latter days, without seeing that an earthly people shall dwell 
 there, and earthly blessings be given there. " The sons of 
 strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall 
 minister unto thee : for in my wrath I smote thee ; but in my 
 favour have I had mercy on thee. . . . The glory of Lebanon 
 shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box 
 together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary ; and I will 
 make the place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them 
 that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee ; and all they 
 that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of 
 thy feet ; and they shall call thee The city of the Lord, The 
 Zion of the Holy One of Israel Beautiful for situa- 
 tion, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides 
 of the north, the city of the great king. Walk about Zion, 
 and go round about her ; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye 
 well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it 
 to the generation following." These are descriptions of the 
 earthly condition of this mountain of God : whereas when 
 we read of the Lord being there, as in Sinai in the holy 
 place, with thousands of angels of the Lord dwelling in 
 Zion blessing out of Zion strengthening out of Zion 
 of Saviours coming up out of Zion to judge of those who, 
 going from one grade of glory to another, appear in Zion 
 before God and finally, when we here read of some stand- 
 ing with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, able to learn the song 
 of those who sing before the throne in heaven (unspeakable 
 words, doubtless, which it would not be possible for a man 
 to utter), we have sufficient proof, that he who can in this 
 sense say that he has come unto Zion, must mean that he 
 belongs to those whose glory is not of earth merely, but who 
 can follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, whether in the 
 heavens above, or in the earth beneath. So was it with 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 
 
 Moses and Elias. On the Mount of Transfiguration they 
 stood by the side of the Lord Jesus. They stood upon an 
 earthly mountain, they were seen by earthly eyes, they 
 spoke of earthly things. But they were not limited to earth, 
 they entered into the bright cloud of glory, and departed 
 into the heavens, and Jesus and His disciples were left upon 
 the earth alone. Here is a clear intimation therefore that 
 heavenly feet will tread this lower earth, yet able to follow 
 the Lamb whithersoever He goeth ; and this is the scene 
 here revealed upon Mount Zion. 
 
 But in this passage our thoughts are directed to the per- 
 sons manifested, and to their holy and blessed character, 
 more than to the place or circumstances of manifestation. 
 However excellent the offices and places of glory which God 
 has appointed for the development of the coining blessings, 
 yet such offices and places have in themselves no living 
 power. Their efficacy for blessing depends upon the cha- 
 racter and condition of the living persons to whom they are 
 committed. What value would there be in kingship, unless 
 held by Him who is " worthy of all power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and bless- 
 ing ; " or what would priesthood be, apart from Him who 
 brings into it the excellency of His own eternal person 
 the Son consecrated for evermore. Zion may be the appointed 
 centre of government and power of all nations : but living 
 men are needed to guide that power, and use it for its 
 appointed end. And therefore the Lamb surrounded by 
 a hundred and forty and four thousand (the complete num- 
 ber of instrumental agency), and they through Him made 
 pure and holy as Himself able to worship and able to 
 serve according to the perfectness of heaven, fulfilling in 
 earth the will of their Father, as it is done in heaven, were 
 seen standing upon Zion, occupying the height of the earth's 
 new centre of authority and power. We read no longer as 
 in the former chapter, of those dwelling upon the earth 
 worshipping the beast; but of those redeemed from the 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 earth, able, though standing on the earth, to repeat the song 
 of heaven ; bearing not the name of the beast, nor the num- 
 ber of his name ; but having the name of the Lamb,and the 
 name of His Father, written in their foreheads ; " and in 
 their mouth was found no falsehood, for they are without 
 blemish." Such are the new persons into whose hands the 
 authority of the earth is transferred such are they, whose 
 character and whose power will thenceforth fashion the ways 
 of the inhabitants of earth. Yet though holy, they will not 
 be devoid of the knowledge, and sympathies, and experience, 
 which they have had as men they will remember that 
 they have suffered being tempted ; they will be mindful of 
 it in their dealings with those who will still be dwelling in 
 sinful bodies of fallen flesh. They have gentleness, and 
 holiness, and the knowledge of redemption in the blood of 
 Jesus, they stand around the Lamb. In such we find the 
 new and living centre of the earth's power. Thus it is that 
 righteousness and praise shall spring forth before all the 
 nations, and " the work of righteousness shall be peace, 
 and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for 
 ever." 
 
 But this is an anticipated scene, true indeed and faithfully 
 to be accomplished in its season. But the night is not yet 
 spent : the morning is not yet come : we must turn back 
 again for a season to "the lions' dens and the mountain 
 of the leopards," the proud seats of ungodly Gentile power, 
 and see the earth in its darkness and distance from God. 
 We must revert to the dark scenes which this book also 
 unveils, in order to see the condition of those, in the midst 
 of whom God begins to make manifest His power. 
 
 This is the principal subject of the fourteenth chapter, from 
 the sixth verse inclusive to the close. Its object is not to 
 detail the condition of the nations, but to describe the man- 
 ner in which God begins to act in the midst of them, first in 
 testimony, and then in judgment, when the cup of their 
 iniquity has been filled to the full. Its statements, or rather 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 
 
 intimations (for they are little more), from the sixth verse to 
 the end, are consecutive, but brief; and, as to time, inde- 
 terminate, the period being not fixed either as to its com- 
 mencement or duration. But the character of the events 
 is clear, and their order. It is an outline merely ; but it 
 is drawn by the hand of God, and is only the more clear 
 because unencumbered by detail. A preaching of the 
 everlasting gospel among the apostate nations* a testi- 
 mony against Babylon and a declaration of its doom,f 
 a testimony against 'the beast and his worshippers J 
 an intimation that the time is come for the saints to 
 enter into their rest and to receive their reward the 
 reaping of the harvest || and then the gathering of the 
 vintage^! these are the subjects of the chapter from the 
 sixth verse to the end : and in all the instances which imply 
 active interference on the part of God, these events may be 
 regarded as following each other, just in the order in which 
 they are mentioned. 
 
 The first is evidently an act of peculiar long-suffering 
 mercy. " I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven having 
 the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who were settled 
 (icaOiit-itvois) upon the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, 
 and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear 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." 
 
 Such is the merciful intervention of God, when men 
 (throughout the prophetic earth at least) are either denying 
 or are about to deny even the creative power of God : when 
 the heaven, and the earth, and the things that are therein, 
 will cease to be regarded as the works of His hands. But 
 being gracious, and merciful, and slow to anger, and not 
 
 * From verse 6 to 7 inclusive. f Verse 8. 
 
 I From verse 9 to 12 inclusive. Verse 13. 
 
 || From verse 14 to 16 inclusive. U From verse 17 to end. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 desiring that any should perish, but rather that they should 
 come to repentance, He sends this warning and not only 
 this warning, but the message of the everlasting Gospel too, 
 even into the midst of His enemies. It is called " everlasting," 
 because throughout every age, and in the midst of this age's 
 darkest evil, it continues unshaken and unchanged ; still 
 opening, in all the freedom of exhaustless grace, the door of 
 mercy to him who shall repent and believe. (e Men and 
 brethren, through this man is preached unto you the forgive- 
 ness of sins, and through Him all who believe are justified 
 from all things." The sphere into which this message will 
 be peculiarly sent will be the prophetic earth.* The time, 
 the period which immediately precedes the full development 
 of Antichristian blasphemy; and the means, though sym- 
 bolized in the vision by an angel, will be living men, whose 
 mouths will be open to make known throughout the ap- 
 pointed sphere this final declaration of mercy. 
 
 Another warning still more specific follows. It is a de- 
 claration of the doom of Babylon. Babylon has not yet 
 been mentioned in the Revelation. This, her first mention, 
 is the declaration of her fall. " Babylon hath fallen, hath 
 fallen, (7ro-i>), that great city, because she made all nations 
 drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Her skill 
 will minister joy to the nations. It will make them glad as 
 with sweet wine ; but it will turn out in the end to be the 
 wine of wrath, and she who has given it shall fall, never to 
 rise again. This is the testimony which the servants of 
 Jesus will have to bear, whilst the cup of her pleasures 
 is yet being ministered by her hand, even while she is 
 
 * The words are nearly the same as those which describe the extent 
 of Antichrist's power in the preceding chapter. " Every tribe, and 
 people, and tongue." (chap.xiii.) " Every nation, and tribe, and tongue 
 and people." (chap, xiv.) There must be certainly some limitation to 
 this testimony ; because it is distinctly said, that when the Lord cometh 
 there are " some in the isles afar off who have not heard His fame nor 
 seen His glory." (Isaiah Ixvi. 6.) 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 
 
 saying, " I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no 
 sorrow." The word of faith will be, " Babylon hath fallen." 
 It speaks of the future as if it were the past, and calls the 
 things that be not as though they were. Such will be the 
 testimony of the children of the kingdom then ; such ought 
 it to be anticipatively now, if perad venture some ears may 
 be opened to hear and understand. 
 
 But the fascinations of Babylon are but the means of 
 alluring onward into those deeper chambers of enchantment, 
 wherein Satan will exult over his victims as enclosed within 
 a fortress whose bars can never be broken. A third angel 
 followed, saying with a loud voice, " If any man worship the 
 beast and his image, and receive his mark on his forehead, or 
 in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath 
 of God, poured out without mixture into the cup of His in- 
 dignation," &c. It will be the place of highest honour to 
 worship the earth's great king, and to bear the insignia of his 
 name: it will be the place of reputation and glory to refuse 
 it will be dishonour and ruin. It will be a hard thing for 
 one who has already drunk deeply of the cup of Babylon's 
 joy, to withstand the fascination of the yet more glorious 
 scene that follows. It will be hard even for saints ; never- 
 theless they shall be strengthened to resist the seductions of 
 that fearful hour, and to meet the penalties of their resist- 
 ance ; for it is written, " Here is the patience of the saints ; 
 here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the 
 faith of Jesus." It will be a season of bitter trial ; but it 
 will be for the last time, for immediately a voice is heard 
 from heaven, saying, " Blessed are the dead, that die in the 
 Lord, FROM HENCEFORTH ; yea, saith the Spirit, that 
 they may rest from their labours ; for their works do follow 
 with them : " in other words, the time had now come for 
 Jesus " to take unto Him His great power, and to reign ; 
 and the time of the dead, that they should be judged; and 
 that He should give reward to His servants the prophets, 
 
 Q 2 
 
2 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 and to them that fear His name, small and great, and that 
 He should "destroy them who destroy the earth." 
 
 Accordingly, as soon as the voice saying, " Blessed are the 
 dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth," as soon as 
 this voice had passed, a white cloud is seen ; and " upon the 
 cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a 
 crown of gold, and in His hand a sharp sickle." He comes 
 in glory and in divine majesty, seated on the clouds, and 
 with the crown of victory 011 His brow ; but He comes still 
 as the servant of the Most High God ; and therefore an 
 angel comes forth from the temple that was seen in heaven, 
 the symbol of the place of God's government towards the 
 earth, and cried with a loud voice 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 that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, 
 and the earth was reaped." We are not here taught as to 
 the means employed by the Son of man to give effect to that 
 power here symbolized by the sickle. But from another 
 part of Scripture, we learn that the reapers are the angels. 
 " In the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather ye 
 together, first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn 
 them, but gather the wheat into my barn." (See Matt, xiii.) 
 
 The wheat field, mingled though it be with tares, does 
 not include either idolatrous heathen or blaspheming Jews. 
 They are not wheat ; neither have they, as tares, ever been 
 sown among the wheat. Neither will the wheat field repre- 
 sent those who will, when the Lord returns, be found in the 
 open rejection of the name of God and of Christ, and wor- 
 shippers of a man. Mahommedans, at this present hour, 
 though not arrived at the height of Antichrist's blasphemy, 
 are neither tares nor wheat. The symbol for such infidels is, 
 " thorns which cannot be taken with hands ; but the man 
 that shall touch them must be fenced with iron, and the 
 staff of a spear ; and they shall be utterly burned with fire 
 in the same place " such is the symbol of apostate infidels ; 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 
 
 but they are not represented by wheat or tares of the harvest 
 field. The harvest field is an emblem that belongs to Chris- 
 tians alone. Blades of wheat, it is true, may be seen here and 
 there springing up among the thorns and briars that are now 
 covering Egypt and the East, and tares may be found there 
 also ; but this does not give to Egypt and to Turkey, even in 
 the estimate of man, the character of Christendom. They 
 are known as apostate nations, having a responsibility and 
 judgment peculiar to themselves. 
 
 So will it be when the Lord returns. The nations of the 
 prophetic earth, the great and civilized and prospering nations 
 of the earth, will be no longer bearing the name of Christian. 
 They will have willingly rejected it, and taken upon them- 
 selves the name of another. Infidelity, like a flood (for the 
 sluices of iniquity will suddenly be opened, even as in a 
 moment), will spread over the whole face of the Roman 
 world. Thorns, more stout and more terrible than ever 
 have been seen in those parts of the prophetic earth which 
 have already apostatised from Jesus, will be found spread 
 over these nations from end to end. And even though 
 blades of wheat and scattered tares may here and there be 
 seen amidst the mass, yet, even in the estimate of men, these 
 nations will have changed their character, and have ceased 
 to bear the name of Christendom among men. They will 
 have a responsibility and a judgment of their own. 
 
 Profession of the name of Jesus is that which, to the eye 
 of man,* marks the extent of the harvest field of wheat and 
 
 * I say to the eye of man ; because J doubt not that there are many 
 within the limits of baptized Christendom who are as ignorant of what 
 the truth of God really is, as if they had been born in heathenism. 
 They who have never had the opportunity of gaining, either from the 
 Scripture, or from faithful preaching, any knowledge of truth, so as for 
 their consciences to apprehend it, will not, I think, be judged as tares, 
 even though found within the limits of professing Christendom. Multi- 
 tudes for example in Russia and various parts of Europe are in as deep 
 ignorance as if the Bible had never been given, and a preacher never 
 sent. 
 
30 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tares. The vast districts which are now bearing the name 
 of Christ in India, America, Australia, Africa, and in the 
 north and east of Europe, will still be retaining, when the 
 Lord returns, the profession of His name ; and doubtless 
 each day will add something to the progress of supposed, it 
 may be of real, Christianity. God will sow good seed, and 
 Satan will continue to intermingle tares. But the founda- 
 tion of God standeth sure, having this seal " The Lord 
 knoweth them that are His." His eye will be able to dis- 
 tinguish between the unenlightened heathen, the wheat, the 
 tare, and the thorn ; and even as it is ever His principle, that 
 judgment should begin with that which bears the responsi- 
 bility of the name of God, so, as soon as He descends into 
 the air, and the earth is spread before Him to receive the 
 hour of its visitation, His first act will be to judge that 
 which is bearing His name. " Judgment begins at the 
 house of God." Christendom will be the first subject of 
 His visitation. He will send forth His angels, and they 
 will separate the tares from the wheat. The wheat shall 
 be gathered into His garner, but the tares will be cast into 
 the burning. 
 
 But after the harvest is over, the vintage yet remains. And 
 where are we to look for the vine of the earth where but 
 in those countries in which, from the days of Nimrod to the 
 present hour, the energies of man have been put forth to 
 train something, which the fostering hand of Antichrist will 
 at last mature : but when it is matured, its ripened clusters, 
 which will be many, will be found suited only to the wine- 
 press of the wrath of God. I have said enough of what the 
 great king of the earth will be, in the preceding chapter. 
 The vine of the earth may be judged of from what he is, for 
 it is h : s plant, the object of his care, and the minister of his 
 joy; nor can it surprise us (if we remember what man is) 
 that they, who in the estimate of God are thorns, fit for the 
 burning, should by the eye of man be wondered at, as the 
 beautiful clusters of the earth's fairest plant. 
 
ON REVELATION XIV. 31 
 
 The place of the wine-press was without the city. It is 
 to " the Valley of Jehoshaphat " "the Valley of Decision " 
 that the kings of the earth and their armies, who will first 
 have been gathered to Armageddon, will finally be led. 
 (f Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of judgment, for the 
 day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment." It will 
 doubtless be the fairest scene of collected glory that the 
 earth has ever witnessed : for what kings so mighty as the 
 last ten sovereigns of the prophetic earth, and what monarch 
 so glorious as that monarch of monarchs under whom and 
 around whom they serve ? But they, and all who follow in 
 their train, will be but as clusters that have ripened for the 
 vintage. " Their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields 
 of Gomorrah ; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters 
 are bitter : their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel 
 venom of asps."* There is One who will gather them and 
 tread them in the wine-press of the wrath of God. But 
 neither the manner of their being trodden, nor the person 
 who treads them is here described. The time for the de- 
 scription of this has not yet come ; and therefore here again, 
 as in former chapters, the vision closes, and in the next 
 chapter a new vision begins. 
 
 * These words are from Moses' prophetic song in Deuteronomy, when 
 describing the condition of Israel in the latter day. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 lutes 0n UMitiicu XIV, 
 
 "And I saw, and befiold, the Lamb standing on the Mount 
 Zion, and with Him a hundred forty and four thousand 
 having His name and His Father's name written on their 
 foreheads."] I have already remarked on the diversity of 
 symbols by which the various glories of the Church of the 
 first-born have been expressed in preceding visions. In the 
 fourth chapter, for example, one part of their glory is 
 represented by the throned elders ; whilst another is sym- 
 bolised by the living creatures or cherubim. Again, in the 
 seventh chapter, one of their places in glory is represented 
 by the elders and cherubim around the Throne ; another 
 by the countless multitude praising before the Throne. 
 Again, in this chapter, the elders and cherubim around the 
 Throne ; the harpers harping with their harps before the 
 Throne ; and the hundred forty and four thousand on Mount 
 Zion below, able to learn the song sung in Heaven above, 
 are three varied expressions of the Church's manifold glory. 
 Indeed, when cur present condition in earth is described, 
 language is almost exhausted to express the various relations 
 in which we stand to the Lord, even here, before the scene 
 of our suffering militancy is closed. We are called brethren, 
 children, servants, wife, sister, guests at the marriage supper, 
 virgins, a kingdom, kings, priests, an offering, a temple, 
 temples, &c. &c. So also with the Lord Himself He is 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIV. 33 
 
 Priest, King, Temple, Altar, Victim, Mercy-seat, everything. 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that various and apparently con- 
 tradictory symbols should be used to express the various 
 positions of the Church, when manifested in glory as " the 
 fulness of Him that filleth all in all." The Lord may and 
 will occupy the throne of His father David in Jerusalem ; 
 but He will not therefore cease to be one with Him who 
 sitteth on the Throne of the Majesty of the heavens. On 
 that Throne He has taken his seat for ever (Heb. x.), and 
 He will ever be regarded as the possessor of its glory, even 
 though He may be pleased to occupy other positions of 
 inferior excellency in the heavenly city, and on the height 
 of Zion, and in Jerusalem. Unless, therefore, we should 
 deny that the Church would hold power on the earth at all, 
 the very place which we should expect them to occupy would 
 be the height of Zion, for Zion is confessedly to be made the 
 centre of the earth's government. Angels accompanied God 
 to Sinai angels and saints will surround Christ on Zion. 
 See Psalm Ixxviii. 15, &c. 
 
 It is true that the condition of Israel in Jerusalem will, 
 as to every thing that is essential, closely resemble that of 
 the saints in glory. Peter, and John, and James on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration were heirs of the very same glory 
 as Moses and Elias, although the latter were standing in 
 circumstances into which the disciples had not yet entered : 
 and the dissimilarity would have been still less if the 
 disciples had received the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. 
 Converted Israel in the millennium will no doubt be en- 
 titled to bear many of the names which are in this passage 
 applied to the Church of the first-born in their heavenly 
 glory. For example, they may be called " virgins ; " as 
 washed in the blood of the Lamb they will be regarded as 
 "without blemish;" and of them it is peculiarly said, that 
 " they shall come and sing in the height of Zion." These 
 resemblances have led some to ask, whether Israel may not 
 be represented by the 144,000 here seen around the Lamb. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 But it must be remembered, that although some of the ex- 
 pressions of this passage may apply to saints whilst yet in 
 the flesh, yet this is not true of every part rf the description ; 
 and that even those expressions which admit of such appli- 
 cation must, if so used, be used in a moderated sense, and 
 not in that fulness of meaning, which attaches to them in this 
 passage. When we speak of any here being pure and 
 without blemish, we speak of them as they are regarded in 
 the judicial estimate of God, because of the blood which has 
 sanctified them ; but there are further thoughts connected 
 with these words, when we speak of the full results of redemp- 
 tion to be attained in glory and such are the thoughts to be 
 connected with them, when used, as they are in this passage, 
 of those who are not merely redeemed out of (tic) but away 
 from (OTTO) the earth, and who are able to follow the Lamb 
 WHITHERSOEVER He goeth; words which could not 
 be applied to millennial Israel. Besides, those who are here 
 described are termed "firstfruits" the very thing which 
 Israel are not. The church of the first-born who rise in the 
 first resurrection are, during the millennium, the firstfruits 
 unto God and to the Lamb ; and Israel follow, as later fruits 
 from the same harvest field. Moreover, if the manifestation 
 of heavenly glory on the Mount of Transfiguration is to be 
 regarded as indicating the manner in which intercourse is 
 hereafter to be established between God and the earth on 
 Zion, we find, it is true, persons who were yet unglorified 
 admitted to that holy mountain, but it was to behold others 
 admitted into a glory into which at that time they could not 
 enter. Just so will it be with Israel. They will come to the 
 height of Zion and will worship there ; but they will not be 
 able, as the 144,000 who are redeemed from the earth, to 
 learn the unspeakable words of the song that is sung in the 
 presence of the Throne above ; neither will they be able to 
 follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. 
 
 The application of the number 144,000 to Israel in the 
 earth, and to the Church above, is just what we might 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIV. 35 
 
 have expected to indicate the completeness of agency that 
 will then be found, not merely in an earthly, but in a 
 heavenly body likewise. Thus also the number tivelve is 
 applied to the earthly and to the heavenly city ; but this 
 does not prove identity between the two, though it may 
 prove resemblance. The usage of the article also is very 
 strict in the Revelation. When a new person or object, not 
 mentioned before, is spoken of, it is omitted ; but if identity 
 is to be marked with that which has been mentioned before, 
 it is inserted. Thus when the Lamb is mentioned for the 
 first time in chapter v. it is omitted ; but in every other 
 place where He is afterward spoken of (in all twenty-six) it 
 is inserted; but where the word is otherwise used, as in 
 chapter xiii., it is omitted. So also when the twenty-four 
 elders are first mentioned in the fourth chapter, the article is 
 omitted; whenever they are subsequently mentioned it is 
 inserted. The same may be said of the living creatures. 
 Another remarkable instance is, that when the throne is 
 first mentioned in the fourth chapter, the article is omitted, 
 but whenever afterwards that throne is referred to, the 
 article is inserted; but when another throne is mentioned, 
 viz. the great white throne in chapter xx., the article is 
 omitted. The same is the case as to the lesser thrones on 
 which the elders sit. When first mentioned the article is 
 not found ; when referred to, it is inserted ; but when after- 
 wards other thrones are mentioned, as in chapter xx., it is 
 omitted. It is not likely therefore that a rule so carefully 
 observed, should be departed from in this instance. If 
 identity with the previously mentioned 144,000 were in- 
 tended, the article would have been inserted. 
 
 A heavenly as well as an earthly character is thus given 
 to Zion, and this enables us to explain many parts of Scrip- 
 ture which otherwise would be inexplicable, as well as to 
 meet that universal feeling of Christians, which has ascribed 
 heavenly rest and glory to Zion. I scarcely need refer to 
 the multitude of hymns which crowd our hymn books in 
 
236 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 evidence of this, " O Zion, when we think of thee," &c. It 
 is quite true that it is one of the spheres of the Church's 
 glory, though by no means the highest. The system of 
 Zion also, represented by the woman in the twelfth chapter, 
 is now on the earth suffering, and therefore we are also able 
 to sing, " O Zion, afflicted with wave upon wave," &c. It 
 is important to add to our previous store of truth, but in 
 doing this we should be careful not to detract from, or deny, 
 that which we already have. 
 
 "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many 
 waters, and as a voice of great thunder."'] The mention of 
 this in connection with the voice of the harpers harping with 
 their harps, invests their song with a character altogether 
 superhuman and heavenly, and would not allow us to think 
 that they who could learn this song, could be any longer in 
 the body. The glorified saints on Zion will first evidence 
 what it is for God's will to be done on earth as it is done in 
 Heaven. 
 
 " For they are virgins.^] The Church is continually 
 represented by feminine symbols: as, for example, "the bride 
 of the Lamb." The 144,000 are represented as a female 
 company, but the use of masculine adjectives, etc., such as 
 01 r/yojoao/iEPoc, gives them a mystic character. 
 
 They must not be confounded with "the virgins" men- 
 tioned in Psalm xlv. In that psalm, some seer of Israel in 
 the millennium is describing the earthly state and glory of 
 the Messiah the King ; and also the beauty and excellency 
 of the daughter of His people the daughter of Jerusalem 
 who stands by the side of the great King, as His Queen, in 
 gold of Ophir. He exhorts " the daughter of His people" to 
 forget her father's house and everything that is past, and to 
 remember only her new dignity. He describes the state and . 
 dignity of her nuptial train ; attended by virgins, such as the 
 daughter of Tyre and the " daughters of the famous nations," 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIV. 37 
 
 (Ezekiel,) who as so many princesses (" kings' daughters") 
 shall enter into the palace, and become " honourable women" 
 to the King and to herself. In other words, the great nations 
 of the earth will wait upon Jerusalem and her King. The 
 Church is only once mentioned in this psalm, and that in the 
 seventh verse, as being " His fellows" " Thou hast anointed 
 Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows." 
 
 "Before the throne"} These words should be omitted. 
 They are clearly an interpolation. (See Tregelles.) 
 
 " Worship Him that made the Heaven" fyc.] This warn- 
 ing is given when even the creative power of God is being, 
 or about to be, denied. After the Lord has come and forgiven 
 Israel, we find them in one of their earliest songs of praise, 
 singing to God as the Creator. " The Lord is a great God 
 and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep 
 places of the earth : the strength of the hills is His also. The 
 sea is His, and He made it, and His hands prepared the dry 
 land. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel 
 before the Lord our Maker." This is a song well suited 
 to the lips of those who are just emerging from the hour of 
 Antichristian blasphemy. 
 
 "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from hence- 
 forth" fyc.] I have elsewhere noticed the abstract force of the 
 present participle. Oi airoOvricrKovTfs does not mean those 
 who are dying, or those who have died, but is used in an 
 abstract and collective sense as denoting the whole class of 
 those to whom " falling asleep in Christ" attaches as their 
 characteristic. The Church as a whole is here spoken of. 
 Individually each saint may be said to be blessed in a mea- 
 sure, and to rest from his labours when his spirit departs 
 hence to be with Christ; but the whole Church does not 
 receive its blessedness, nor rest from its labours, until the 
 
238 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 time comes for these words to be uttered, " Blessed are 
 they from henceforth.' 9 
 
 " Like unto the Son of man."] The Lord had before been 
 termed the Son of man in connection with the churches, 
 when walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. 
 It is a name, in the title of which He executes judgment in 
 the earth. In the former case, when judging the churches 
 as to their condition on the earth, His garment was priestly, 
 and no crown was on His brow. But now that He comes in 
 power to enforce His title over the earth, he is seen with 
 the cloud as the emblem of divine majesty and power, and 
 with the crown of victory on His head. 
 
 This verse, which describes the reaping of the harvest 
 field, may be said to be the only place in which Christendom 
 is distinctively referred to in the prophetic part of the 
 Revelation ; for it is Christendom, and Christendom alone, 
 that constitutes " the harvest field" in this present dispen- 
 sation. See parable of the wheat and tares, in Matthew xiii. 
 
 The earth at the period of our Lord's return into it may 
 be thus divided : 
 
 I. Christendom; that is, those countries which retain the 
 profession of the name of Christ. 
 
 II. The Apostate or Antichristian nations ; i. e. the nations 
 of the Roman world, which, after being acquainted with 
 the names of God and of Christ, will deliberately reject 
 both, and worship Antichrist. 
 
 III. Heathen nations. 
 
 IV. Israel, who will be partly in their own land, partly 
 scattered.* 
 
 * To these divisions might be added probably a fifth, viz. the Mahom- 
 medan nations. I say probably, because we do not know from the Scrip- 
 ture that the Mahommedan nations will continue to the end; but we do 
 know this respecting the four divisions just given. Arabia, however, is 
 to continue separate from the Roman nations under the descendants of 
 Ishmael, and will probably continue Mahommedan. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIV. 239 
 
 To give a general view of the difference between the three 
 first of these divisions, it would be sufficient to take a map 
 of the world, and if the nations of the Roman earth be 
 coloured red, the rest of the nations now professing the 
 name of Jesus Hue, the heathen Hack, and the Mahom- 
 medan yellow, it would indicate the difference that will exist 
 between these several portions of the earth. It would not, 
 however, do more than give us a general view ; because the 
 real extent of Christendom is determined, not by fixed 
 geographical limits, as in the case of the Ten kingdoms of 
 the Roman earth, but by moral limits, which necessarily 
 fluctuate. Nevertheless, as regards the condition of nations, 
 this general view is sufficiently precise. It is not likely that 
 many more nations will profess Christianity before the Lord 
 comes ; so that where the black shade of heathenism now 
 rests, there we may suppose it to remain; and therefore, if we 
 mark the nations of the Roman earth with the mark of 
 apostasy, and regard the rest of the professing nations as 
 remaining in the condition in which they at present are, we 
 shall have before us very nearly the condition of the nations 
 when the Lord returns. Individual Christians, wheresoever 
 placed locally, may be said to belong to the division of 
 Christendom : the followers of Antichrist, wherever settled, 
 to the Antichristian division : and heathens, to the heathen. 
 The measure of the responsibility of individuals among 
 these, God only can and will judge. 
 
 The object of the Revelation is not to treat of Christendom, 
 but of that part of the earth which will have become apos- 
 tate, both from God and from Christ, including Jerusalem. 
 The Gospels, especially the Gospel of Matthew, is the part 
 of Scripture in which we learn the state of Christendom 
 when the Lord returns. The thirteenth and twenty-fifth 
 chapters of Matthew are especially devoted to the history of 
 Christendom; the latter especially describes its close. 
 When it is said in Matthew xiii. that the Son of man shall 
 
 OF 
 
40 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 gather out of " His kingdom all things that offend," &c., 
 this must be referred to Christendom only, which alone 
 at that time professes to be His kingdom. He will not 
 gather out of the world generally all things that offend, 
 inasmuch as He will spare multitudes of the heathen, and 
 many of the Jews, and bring them to a knowledge of His 
 grace. 
 
 The vine remains after the harvest (i. e. both wheat and 
 tares) is gathered from the earth. The vine of the earth is 
 the name of the earth's fairest and choicest plant. Its roots 
 will be in Jerusalem and the East, its branches will spread 
 over all the nations of the prophetic earth. Its clusters will 
 be fair and many ; but they will afford no drink-offering 
 fit for the sanctuary of the God of Israel. An angel was 
 seen in the vision, coming from the altar, who had autho- 
 rity over fire fire, especially that of the altar from which 
 the angel came, being the great expression of the Divine 
 holiness. As being conversant therewith he views the clus- 
 ters of the vine of the earth, and commands that they should 
 be gathered for the wine-press of wrath. Another angel 
 (not the Lord) gathers them and casts them into the 
 wine-press. 
 
 The gathering the nations to the Valley of Decision, the 
 place of the wine-press, is clearly mentioned in Joel as being 
 the result of the providential agency of God, an agency 
 which in the Revelation is indicated by angels; Christ's 
 actions against these apostate nations commences when He 
 cometh forth ff to tread the wine-press." God, by agency 
 similar to that which He now employs, gathers them to 
 Armageddon, and afterwards to the Valley of Jehoshaphat ; 
 and then Christ is sent forth to trample them in wrath. The 
 result of that trampling is referred to in this chapter ; but 
 no description either of Him who treads the wine-press, nor 
 of the manner of treading it, is here given. That is reserved 
 until the nineteenth chapter. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIV. 241 
 
 " The wine-press was trodden without the city"~\ That is, 
 Jerusalem ; for the Valley of Jehoshaphat is immediately 
 under the walls of that city. There the river of blood will 
 go forth; there "the fats will overflow, because the wicked- 
 ness is great." Read the last of Joel as the description of 
 this awful hour. So the times of the Gentiles will end. 
 
242 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 B $t&eldiott XV. an* XVI. 
 
 THESE chapters should be read as one. They form one 
 vision, and reveal those last inflictions of the wrath of God, 
 which are immediately to precede the still more terrible 
 hour of the wrath of the Lamb. The dealings of God (for 
 the Throne of God is, as I have before said, at present 
 acting for Christ rejected, and seated at God's right hand) 
 these specific dealings of God with a hardened and unre- 
 pentant earth will cease when the plagues of this chapter 
 have been fulfillc d. The seven vials are expressly said to 
 be full of " the seven last plagues ;" because in them is 
 completed the wrath of God ; not however the wrath of the 
 Lamb. Commission to act is given to Christ as soon as the 
 ministration of the vials ends. He will then quit the throne 
 of the Father ; the rod of His power shall be sent out of 
 Zion, and He will rule in the midst of His enemies. Ac- 
 cordingly in this chapter, as soon as the secret power of the 
 Almighty throne had completed the gathering of Christ's 
 enemies to Armageddon those enemies who are to be 
 made His footstool, we find Him saying, <f Behold, I come 
 as a thief ; blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his gar- 
 ments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." The 
 day of Christ begins when the vials terminate. Here how- 
 ever, as in all former visions, we find the revelation of the 
 final blessing previous to the description of the judgments 
 
ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 243 
 
 that precede. We hear the song of praise sung by the 
 Israel of God on the safe and happy side of the sea that 
 separates them from Egypt, before we read of the great 
 Pharaoh of the earth, or of the vials of wrath poured out 
 upon his kingdom. 
 
 The symbols of the sixteenth chapter are evidently drawn 
 from Egypt. The plague of the great and noisome sore, 
 and the turning the waters into blood, are clear memorials of 
 the inflictions on Egypt; and the mad daring of those 
 mighty hosts, who, after being gathered at Armageddon, im- 
 piously rush into conflict with the manifested glory of Christ 
 (see chap, xix.), has once only, throughout the whole history 
 of man, found its counterpart, when Pharaoh and the pride 
 of Egypt's strength rushed deliberately into the waters in 
 pursuit of those who were protected by the visible presence 
 of the glory of God. These are the two occasions, and these 
 alone, on which man has dared knowingly and deliberately 
 to rush " upon the thick bosses of the buckler of the Al- 
 mighty." 
 
 The earliest type also that we have of the redemption of 
 the people of God of their redemption by price and their 
 effected redemption by the outstretched arm of power, is 
 placed in Egypt. They were found there when the visita- 
 tion on Egypt came. It came when the strength and glory 
 of Egypt were at their height, and the people of God were 
 in dishonour and suffering when " the iron had entered into 
 their soul." We might expect therefore that in such" a 
 vision as that which we are now considering, which describes 
 the condition of the great nations of the earth, the places 
 where intellect, and science, and refinement, and wealth, at 
 the closing hour of the times of the Gentiles, will be bearing 
 their fairest fruits we might expect to see the impress of 
 Egypt marked upon it all. Egypt has indeed enlarged her 
 limits. She has ee lengthened her cords, and strengthened 
 her stakes." The name of Egypt, as well as the name of 
 Sodom, is expressly given by God Himself to Jerusalem at 
 
44 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 that hour, and it may well be extended to all those countries 
 over which will reign that second Pharaoh, whom God will 
 raise up, that in him He may show His power, and that His 
 name may be declared throughout all the earth. 
 
 But before the inflictions on Egypt are described, we have 
 a vision of the glory of the heavenly part of the Israel of 
 God, persons who have been indeed as in the midst of the 
 furnace, but who have overcome. " I saw, as it were, a sea 
 of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the vic- 
 tory over the beast, and over his image, and over the number 
 of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of 
 God." They sang again the song of Moses ; they sang also 
 a new song the song of the Lamb. 
 
 When Israel of old was called out of Egypt, part of their 
 high calling in the earth was to be for and with the Lord 
 against His enemies. The earth was teeming with cor- 
 ruption. The iniquity of the Amorites was full. There was 
 not only the Egypt which they had left behind them, but 
 there was before them also Edom, and Moab, and Amalek, 
 and Philistia nations who denied the earth by their ini- 
 quities, and Israel was to be with the Lord, on the Lord's 
 side, His host, against all His enemies. This was their 
 calling this, their proposed blessing. And accordingly, in 
 the fervour of their early love the love of their espousals, 
 they sang with unhesitating readiness, " The peoples shall 
 hear and be afraid, sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants 
 of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed ; the 
 mighty men of Moab trembling shall take hold upon them ; 
 all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away." Blessed 
 words indeed, yet to be accomplished in their season ; but 
 under other circumstances than Israel had then learned for 
 they had not yet learned themselves, they had not yet 
 learned what man and the flesh is. They had not yet known 
 that they who bear the vessels of the Lord, or fight His 
 battles, must be themselves clean ; and how can that be clean 
 which is born of woman. 
 
ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 45 
 
 Accordingly they sang the song, and failed. The bright 
 prospect has not been realized. The inhabitants of Pales- 
 tina, and the mighty men of Moab, and the dukes of Edom 
 have been many times strong against Israel, and will be 
 stronger than ever yet. Like Adam in Paradise, or Aaron's 
 family in the beautiful robes of their early priesthood, or 
 Solomon in his glory, they tasted of the joy of their high 
 calling just for a passing moment, and then it vanished, and, 
 as far as man's eye can see, has vanished for ever. 
 
 But "the gifts and calling of God are unrepented of." An 
 hour is coming when God will again assert His title, as King 
 of nations. " Just and true are thy ways thou King of the 
 nations (ra>v tOvwv) ; who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and 
 glorify thy name ; for thou only art holy, for all nations shall 
 come and worship before thee, for thy judgments have been 
 made manifest." Such is the song sung by them who stand 
 upon the sea of glass. It is not in dissociation from them 
 that God makes Himself known as u the King of the nations." 
 They are the people whom He has redeemed whom He 
 hath guided by His strength into His holy habitation ; and 
 they shall live to show forth His praises. He will have 
 gathered them into a separation from the earth, of which 
 Israel's separation from Egypt was but an imperfect shadow. 
 It will be a separation dependent on nothing earthly, on no 
 mere outward barrier of laws or ceremonies, or distinct posi- 
 tion in the earth; but an eternal separation, wrought in 
 virtue of that mighty power which raised Jesus from the 
 dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly 
 places.* 
 
 * I am here confining myself to the heavenly part of the Israel of God; 
 for they alone will be actually separated into heaven. But in principle 
 these things will be quite as true of the earthly part of the family of 
 God; just as we at this moment have secured to us the same blessings, 
 and the same heavenly position, which belong to Him who has risen for 
 us, and ascended into the heavens. The place of the risen saints in the 
 millennium, will be the sample of the kind of glory in which finally all 
 
246 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 I have already remarked on the symbolic meaning of 
 being within the sea of crystal. It indicates the possession of 
 that heavenly purity, which we receive through Him who 
 hath died and risen for us a possession already ours in 
 Him, though we are not yet personally entered into the 
 heavenly places, and have not in this sense the harps of God 
 yet committed to our hand. A similar meaning attaches to 
 the " standing thereupon." Whether the figure be taken 
 from the place of Israel, standing on the brink of the sea 
 which they had passed, or whether it refer to a superhuman 
 standing on it (just as Ezekiel saw the throne of glory set 
 upon the firmament of crystal), in either case it supplies the 
 type of separation ; for the sea, on the shores of which Israel 
 sung, had severed them from Egypt ; and the crystal firma- 
 ment separated from everything beneath, the throne that 
 rested on it. In either case, the purity of that sea of glass 
 mingled with fire marks the character that will attach to all 
 the circumstances and condition of our being then ; for we 
 shall stand in the full personal possession of all that purity 
 and holiness, in the power of which, as found in Christ our 
 Saviour, we are separated unto God : for it is He who, being 
 pure as the sea of glass, and holy as the fire of the altar, will 
 have communicated to us of His own perfections, and made 
 us partakers of His holiness. 
 
 It is thus that we, the risen Church of the first-born the 
 heavenly part of the Israel of God, separated into the pos- 
 session of the same purity as that by means of which, as 
 found in Christ, we are separated unto God, shall, emerging 
 from that last abyss of Egyptian darkness, again awaken, after 
 the dark night of thousands of intervening ages, the song of 
 Moses, and again say, " The Lord hath triumphed glori- 
 ously ;" and again hail Him as the King of nations. " Who 
 
 the redeemed will be made to share ; and therefore what is here spoken 
 of the heavenly part of the family of God, will virtually describe the cha- 
 racter and power of the separation which will attach to Israel on the 
 earth, and they will be brought into it at the same time. 
 
ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 247 
 
 shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou 
 only art holy, for all nations shall come and worship before 
 thee; for thy judgments have been made manifest." 
 
 The earth in which these His judgments will have been 
 made manifest will be before us stricken and terrified, and 
 in many parts, I suppose, desolated by destruction. The 
 Wicked one, that mighty monarch of the earth, will just have 
 been consumed with all the proud array of his strength 
 around him. It will again be sung, " Thy right hand, O 
 Lord, is become glorious in power ; thy right hand, O Lord, 
 hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of 
 thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up 
 against thee : thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed 
 them as stubble. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the 
 gods ? Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in 
 praises, doing wonders ?" But the earth will still teem, with 
 nations ; for though the Church be gone, and false professors 
 be gone, and Antichristianism be gone, yet many peoples, 
 and kindreds, and tongues, and nations will yet remain : 
 Ethiopia, and Tarshish, and Pul, and Lud, and Javan, and 
 isles afar off all of them as to their national arrangements, 
 and systems, and laws, to be smitten by the rod of power ; and 
 many an individual among them to be cast down or even 
 destroyed. But though this will be an hour of vengeance 
 an hour when it will be truly said, " Great and marvellous 
 are thy works, Lord God Almighty!" yet it will be an 
 hour that will end in the manifestation and triumph of grace. 
 As redeemed, and having the mind of Christ, we are ac- 
 quainted not only with the works, but also with the ways of 
 the Most High God ; and therefore, though we shall say that 
 justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne (and a 
 desolated earth will abundantly witness thereunto), yet we 
 shall add also, that "mercy as well as truth shall go before His 
 face." It would indeed be a bitter and sorrowful thing if 
 judgment and truth were to go forth unto victory, and mercy 
 were not to follow as handmaid in the train ; for what heart 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 will not be stricken in that day ? What heart, that is spared 
 from destruction, will be proof against the manifested terrors 
 of the Almighty ? But there will be balm in Gilead then, 
 and a physician there ; and He shall speak peace to the 
 afflicted people, though "He will bring down the high 
 looks;" and thus, because of mercy rejoicing against judg- 
 ment, princes shall come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia stretch 
 out her hands unto God, and " Israel shall be the third with 
 Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the 
 earth ; whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed 
 be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, 
 and Israel, mine inheritance." It is with these prospects that 
 we shall look down from the sea of glass, the place of our 
 sanctuary, and contemplate the results of the power of Him 
 whom we shall then salute as ec the King of the nations." It 
 will be an hour when Israel's history in earth shall commence 
 anew, when separated unto God, not by fleshly ordinances, 
 but by the life-giving power of Him who is the Son of the 
 living God, they will never again find words of triumph die 
 upon their lips, nor disappointment blight their expectations. 
 It will be the hour when the heart of widest philanthropy 
 will see its desires answered. It is a right and happy thing 
 to have the true philanthropy of God. It gives Him no joy 
 to see the dark places of the earth full of the habitations of 
 cruelty, nor to see the wickedness of man multiply and aug- 
 ment the ceaseless groan of creation. He loveth rather " to 
 open His hand," as yet He will, and " satisfy the desire of 
 every living thing." But He has reason for all His ways, 
 and wisdom will finally be justified of all her children. The 
 rejection of Christ and of His truth will, as well as its coming 
 exaltation, be for His glory ; and the time of the rejection of 
 Christ in His people is not yet passed. He can still say, 
 " Why persecutest thou me ? " The feet shod with the pre- 
 paration of the gospel of peace are ever beautiful in His 
 sight, but they are not beautiful in the sight of men. They 
 are cast out of the synagogue, and in the street despised. But 
 
ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 49 
 
 a time is coming when even men will say, " How beautiful 
 upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good 
 tidings, that publisheth peace" when they shall be honoured 
 in the city, and honoured in the field, blessed both in their 
 going out and in their coming in. They will still be the feet 
 of the meek and poor in spirit, for blessing cannot be where 
 meekness is not; but they shall be connected with, and 
 watched over by power, visibly glorious both in the heaven 
 above, and in the earth beneath. They shall themselves 
 belong to Zion the earthly inhabitants of an earthly city ; 
 but they shall be watched over and be in spirit one with 
 those who stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 
 It will be an hour when heavenly and glorified saints will 
 watch over and protect the ministration of truth in the earth, 
 and then nations shall bow. But to forestall that hour 
 to anticipate the counsels of God to seek to will into ex- 
 istence what God hath not willed to ascribe to kingdoms 
 whose diadems are resting, or will rest, upon the dragon's 
 head, that power of diffusing blessing which God has reserved 
 exclusively for those who here stand upon the sea of glass, 
 having the harps of God what is this but wilfulness, dis- 
 obedience, and sin ? The generation of wickedness has not 
 yet passed away. Herod has not yet ceased to speak in the 
 council hall, nor Caiaphas in the Sanhedrim ; and these 
 are not the voices that are likely to call the powers of 
 earth into obedience to the King of nations. The 
 most sincere philanthropy will work no work of blessing if 
 it leads us to mistake between man and God ; between the 
 armies of the pit and the armies of the God of Heaven. We 
 ought indeed to love man we ought to do good to all men 
 to be kind to the unthankful and the evil to preach the 
 word to be instant in season and out of season to carry 
 the gospel, if we can, into all nations : but this is quite 
 consistent with remembering what the end shall be, and with 
 waiting for that promised agency from above, without which 
 God's name will not be exalted above the nations, nor praised 
 in the firmament of His power. 
 
250 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Accordingly this vision, as it proceeds, calls us from the 
 heavenly scene with which it commences, to consider also 
 the hour of the world's strength, and of the world's judg- 
 ment, out of which they come who stand upon the sea of 
 glass mingled with fire. The symbolic temple is again seen 
 in the vision. It is the place of God's worship, and of God's 
 government, unto which Israel and the earth would long ago 
 have been brought, if Jerusalem and its rulers had heard the 
 voice of Peter when he said, " Repent, and be converted, 
 that (OTTWC ) the times of refreshing may come from the 
 presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus." If 
 Jerusalem had listened to these words, the Lord Jesus would 
 have come, and God would have been known (as He yet 
 will be) in visible glory in His own holy temple not made 
 with hands, the Governor and Lord of the whole earth. But 
 though Israel has not obeyed, and therefore God has not 
 manifested His glory, He nevertheless retains His title to 
 act (and it is this that the presence of His glory in the temple 
 symbolizes), to act when He pleases, and as He pleases, 
 towards Israel and the earth, on the title of the accomplished 
 redemption of Jesus. But since He is not now owned, nor 
 His lordship acknowledged, the temple, instead of being the 
 place where happy and accepted worship ascends before the 
 great King, and whence He dispenses His blessings, and 
 sends forth the messengers of His mercy, becomes, instead 
 thereof, the place in which He will prepare to resume the 
 immediate governance of the earth, by sending forth the holy 
 ministers of His righteous vengeance. Angels clothed in 
 linen vestments, clear and bright with whiteness (/caflapoy 
 /cat Aa^iiTrpo)/), in token of their holy purity, and girded with 
 golden girdles because strengthened for their work by divine 
 excellency of power, are seen to issue from the temple with 
 golden bowls in their hand. These bowls had surrounded 
 the golden altar, they were destined for the services of the 
 sanctuary for offerings and libations to the God of Israel; 
 but being useless as to this (for neither Israel nor the nations 
 have been sanctified through faith in Jesus into the place of 
 
ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 251 
 
 worship), the things which should have been for blessing are 
 turned into a curse, and the bowls which might have been 
 filled with the offerings of thanksgiving unto God are, in 
 default thereof, filled by Him with wrath, and the angels 
 bear them forth from the sanctuary, and pour them out upon 
 the people of His judgment. 
 
 Of the nature of these judgments little need be said. I 
 doubt not that the declarations of this chapter will be mi- 
 nutely fulfilled. I doubt not that " a noisome and grievous 
 sore shall fall upon the men who have the mark of the beast, 
 and upon them who have worshipped his image," that the 
 sea throughout the appointed sphere will become " as the 
 blood of a dead man" that the sun will "scorch men as 
 with fire" that the kingdom of Antichrist will be full of 
 darkness and anguish, so that men will gnaw their tongues 
 for pain, and ( ' blaspheme the God of heaven because of their 
 pains and their sores," though they will not repent of their 
 deeds. I expect also that the Euphrates the river which 
 is the strength and the boast of that great city which will 
 then be the centre of the earth's resources I expect that 
 that river will be visited, its strength smitten, and its streams 
 dried up, in order that the way of those fierce Eastern 
 nations might be prepared who are to give the first blow to 
 the greatness of Babylon (see Jeremiah), and to commence 
 that work which is never staid again until she is fully swept 
 with the besom of destruction. I expect also that unclean 
 spirits even the " spirits of devils, working miracles," by 
 the immediate bidding of Satan, and Antichrist, and the False 
 Prophe acting by and in those systems which they three 
 will then be sustaining in the earth, will go forth (commis- 
 sioned by God also), throughout the length and breadth of the 
 prophetic earth, that is, from the Euphrates to England, and 
 will thence gather the kings of the earth and their armies, 
 first to Armageddon, and then " to the battle of that great 
 day of God Almighty." 
 
 We can picture to ourselves the barbarous myriads of 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Central Asia clustering around Babylon, and marking it for 
 their prey. We can see the hosts of the West and of all the 
 prophetic earth, summoned around their mighty and indig- 
 nant leader, and resting for a short moment, in all the proud 
 consciousness of hitherto undisputed greatness, at Arma- 
 geddon. Like two dark thunder-clouds, they are gathered 
 against each other. The one rolls on and covers Babylon ; 
 the other Jerusalem. Both cities quail before them; but 
 here the terribleness of the terrible ends. They move no 
 farther, for the day of man is past. The last angel pours 
 forth his vial, and then came a great voice, saying, " It is 
 done." The earth is shaken; great Babylon comes in remem- 
 brance before God ; the cities of the nations fall ; and the 
 day of the Lord comes. But its manifestation is not described. 
 Here, as in former chapters, the vision ends ; and in the 
 next chapter a new vision begins. 
 
KOTES ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ftotts on gUhlatiffn XV. miV XVI, 
 
 " Seven angels, having the seven last plagues ," fyc.] When- 
 ever angels are mentioned as being the agents, it is a sign 
 that the present dispensational period in which God is acting 
 for Christ, has not yet terminated, and that the saints are 
 not yet exalted into the place of power. The outpouring of 
 the vials will accomplish the wrath of God: then will follow, 
 though it will be but for a brief season, the wrath of the 
 Lamb ; after which Jesus will reign in peace. He will sit 
 down "upon His own throne /" and then, instead of angels 
 being sent forth from the temple to minister plagues, saints 
 attended by angels will issue thence the ministers of joy 
 and gladness to the whole creation of God. 
 
 The plagues of this chapter pertain to the 160 days of 
 Antichrist's power, and will commence probably near the 
 conclusion of that period. They doubtless follow one 
 another in quick succession, just as the plagues of Egypt, 
 which they resemble. The plagues of Egypt commenced a 
 very little while previous to the final visitation of Egypt 
 and the final deliverance of the people of God. 
 
 That none of the vials are poured out before Antichrist 
 has established himself in his glory, is manifest from this, 
 viz. that the first vial is directed towards those w'ho had the 
 mark of the beast and those who worship his image. The 
 image therefore must be seen before the Jtrst vial can be 
 poured out. 
 
54 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 fe A sea of glass, mingled ivith fire" fyc.] In the fourth 
 chapter, where the purity of heaven and of those in heaven 
 is intended to be symbolized, and where our thoughts 
 are directed not so much to what we shall be in action 
 towards the earth, as to what we shall personally be, when 
 brought into the rest and purity of heaven, we find the sym- 
 bol to be a sea of glass like unto crystal. But here, where 
 the divine holiness is mentioned as brought into direct con- 
 trast with the iniquity of earth, and where we are symbol- 
 ized as about to act in the power of that holiness towards 
 the nations, we find not only the emblem of purity, but of 
 consuming holiness too. The sea of glass is " mingled with 
 fire." 
 
 The waters of the sea are used in Scripture as the emblem 
 of destructive power from God, blotting out from the land 
 of the living ; and also as the emblem of purification unto 
 life. In the Red Sea, the former thought predominates ; in 
 the molten sea, or laver of the temple, the latter. 
 
 When we, the heavenly part of the Israel of God, shall 
 actually be separated by resurrection in glory (according to 
 the life-giving power of Him who is the quickening Spirit, 
 the Lord from heaven), into our heavenly habitations, we 
 shall realize not only all that of which Israel sung when 
 they found themselves separated by the waters of destruc- 
 tion from Egypt, its terrors and its defilements, but also all 
 that the priest was conversant with, when sanctified by the 
 waters of the holy laver, for the ministrations of the sanc- 
 tuary. Priesthood and kingship are united in the saints. 
 
 " Thou King of the nations" fyc.] This is the right read- 
 ing. It is the very title we should expect to find in the song 
 of Moses, for its subject is the manner in which the Lord 
 had triumphed, and would triumph, over the nations. It is 
 important to observe how in this chapter, as indeed through- 
 out the whole of Scripture, there are symbols or expressions 
 employed to designate the Church of the first-born, which 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 255 
 
 prove it to be a constituent part of the Israel of God. In 
 the millennium, the Church of the first-born will be known 
 as having been (what they are now recognized by faith to 
 be) children of Abraham children of the free-woman, i.e. 
 Sarah partakers of the paschal feast branches in the 
 Abrahamic olive tree sons of Aaron, ministering in gar- 
 ments of glory and beauty children of the Jerusalem which 
 is above. All these types or titles are Israelitish ; and it is 
 obvious that some of them, such for example as the minis- 
 tration of the sons of Aaron on the eighth day (see Lev. ix.), 
 imply a certain relation to Israel yet dwelling in the earth. 
 
 Yet although Israel will then be dwelling in the earth, 
 they will not be of the earth, any more than the Church of 
 the first-born. The moment when the Church of the first- 
 born receives, at the coming of the Lord, its actual deliver- 
 ance from all that is of the old creation, will be also the 
 period when the redeemed of Israel will receive their virtual 
 deliverance from all that is of the old creation ; for Israel 
 in the earth will as certainly and really be brought into the 
 power of the new creation through and in Christ risen, as 
 their brethren who have gone before them into glory. The 
 difference between Moses and Elijah, and Peter and John, 
 when they stood together upon the holy mount, was appa- 
 rently very great ; but it was temporary only. They were 
 heirs together of the same glory. So also in the millennium. 
 The heavenly Jerusalem, and they who dwell therein, will, 
 as to actually-attained condition, as far excel the earthly city 
 and those who dwell therein, as heaven excels earth. Yet 
 they will have one centre, even Christ (for all things have 
 been headed up in Him), and also one Spirit. They will 
 stand in diverse courts of the same glorious temple. Each 
 would be imperfect without the other ; and when the dis- 
 pensation of the fulness of times has come, and the millen- 
 nial arrangements ceased, Israel and all others of the re- 
 deemed people of God will join their brethren in the new 
 heavens and new earth, all alike bearing the image of the 
 heavenly man, the Lord from heaven. 
 
56 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 We find therefore (as might be expected) a strong corre- 
 spondency between the language of the heavenly and earthly 
 part of Israel in the songs they sing touching the earth (in 
 whose government they are together engaged) and touching 
 their knowledge of the ways of God therein. When they 
 who stand upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God, 
 sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, Israel too 
 on the earth is able in words not very dissimilar, to make 
 mention both of the works and ways of the Almighty King 
 of nations : " O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord 
 like unto thee ? or to thy faithfulness round about thee ? 
 Thou rulest the raging of the sea ; when the waves thereof 
 arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Eahab in pieces 
 as one that is slain ; thou hast scattered thine enemies with 
 thy strong arm. Thou hast a mighty arm ; strong is thy 
 hand, and high is thy right hand." This is just what the 
 saints have said above "Great and marvellous are thy 
 works." But the psalm proceeds, " Justice and judgment 
 are the habitation of thy throne ; mercy and truth shall go 
 before thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful 
 sound, they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy counte- 
 nance; in thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy 
 righteousness shall they be exalted." Here is the appre- 
 hension of the ways of the Almighty. They will be able to 
 understand His ways then, for they will have been brought 
 unto the sprinkled blood of Jesus, and will have the Holy 
 Spirit and the mind of Christ. 
 
 In all essential blessings, the calling of Israel then so 
 nearly resembles that of the Church of the first-born now, 
 that they may be truly said to be its successors. We are 
 the first-fruits they the lump ; and " if the first-fruits be 
 holy, the lump is also holy." If the root on which we are 
 now growing, gives holiness to us, they will be graifed in again 
 on the same root, and made partakers of the like fatness. 
 
 Accordingly we find the resemblance between ourselves 
 and them, carefully traced in the Scripture. We are chil- 
 dren so are they " In the place where it was said unto 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 257 
 
 them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called 
 children of the living God." (Hosea i.) We call Him Father 
 so will they; " Thou shalt call me, my Father : and shalt 
 not turn away thy face from me." We are IN Christ so 
 are they ; for in the fifteenth of Corinthians, all who ever 
 come into resurrection unto life, are said to be IN Christ. 
 " As in Adam all die, even so IN Christ shall all be made 
 alive." They are baptized by the same Spirit; for we fore- 
 stall them in receiving that promise in Joel, which is really 
 made to them. The same olive tree communicates sap and 
 richness to both. We are married to the Lord so will 
 they : " I am married unto you, saith the Lord." " Thy 
 Maker is thy husband." We look for the new heavens and 
 new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness so will they. 
 
 The use of the symbol of the man-child is, as I have else- 
 where observed, another remarkable instance of resemblance. 
 It is clearly an Israelitish symbol, for he is born from Zion. 
 (See Isaiah.) It is used to symbolize the people of God in a 
 certain position of strength and power, and is used twice 
 once to represent the place which the risen part of the Israel 
 of God will occupy in heaven (Rev. xii.), and once to repre- 
 sent the place which Israel on the earth will occupy in 
 Jerusalem. Nothing can more strongly mark the corre- 
 spondency of the two positions. I do not say, there will be 
 no difference; there will be great differences, but they will 
 be circumstantial and official, not essential. 
 
 The language., types, and symbols of Scripture are so 
 constantly founded upon this similarity, that it becomes 
 impossible to understand the Scripture, if it be neglected. 
 This dispensation is secretly preparing Israel's heavenly and 
 glorified priesthood part of which (and this is the great 
 mystery) is gathered from the Gentiles. 
 
 " They sing the song of Moses . . . and the song of the 
 Lamb.' 9 ] " The Law was given by Moses, but GllACE 
 
258 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 and Truth came by Jesus Christ." In the song of Moses, 
 we read of the nations hearing and being afraid ; of sorrow 
 and trembling taking hold of them; of the leaders of Edom 
 being amazed ; of the inhabitants of Canaan melting away ; 
 of fear and dread falling upon them ; of their being still as 
 a stone ; we read of all this, but nothing is said of all na- 
 tions being brought nigh " to worship " before the God of 
 Israel. That, it is reserved for those who sing the song of 
 the Lamb to mention. The nations will draw nigh in that 
 day, not to be mute with terror, but to rejoice and to give 
 thanks. See for example the 177th psalm. ff O praise the 
 Lord, all ye nations : praise Him all ye peoples : for His 
 merciful kindness is great towards us, and the truth of the 
 Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord." 
 
 " Thou only art 'O2IO2."] Such is the right reading 
 o<7ioe not aytoc. It is not easy to find a suitable word by 
 which to translate otrtoc when applied to the Lord. It is 
 answered by the word Tpn in Hebrew : ^V"T|3 answer- 
 ing to ay toe, holy. When Tpn (oatoe) is used of the 
 Lord (as it frequently is in the Old Testament), it implies 
 mercifulness, loving-kindness, sanctity. (See Jer. iii. 12.) 
 " Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will 
 not cause mine anger to fall upon you ; for I am merciful, 
 (Tpn), saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever." 
 Also Isaiah Iv. 3, quoted Acts xiii. 34, " I will give you the 
 sure mercies (Hpn oo-ta) of David. As used in the passage 
 before us, we may understand this word to imply the ascrip- 
 tion to the Lord of those attributes and characteristics of 
 which the " sure mercies of David " will be the manifested 
 result to Israel and to the earth. Israel will then at last 
 recognise that all those qualities and characteristics which 
 are necessary to human happiness and blessing are to be 
 found in Jehovah alone. As learning this the nations will 
 come and worship before Him, when His righteousnesses 
 S/K-atwuara) shall hare been made manifest. Hence the 
 psabn. " Jehovah is righteous in all His ways, and "1DJ1 in 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 259 
 
 all His works ; Jehovah is nigh to all them that call upon 
 Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." 
 
 " Clothed in pure bright linen."] That is, linen of resplen- 
 dent purity. Whenever the possession of purity is intended 
 to be that to which attention is peculiarly to be directed, 
 " linen" (in Greek \ivov, in Hebrew "Q) is the type em- 
 ployed. But when the possession of a beauty and excel- 
 lency of character recognised and declared, is intended to 
 be the prominent thought, then we find not Xti>oi> but fivvvivov. 
 The last word which is commmonly in our version rendered 
 " fine linen," answers to the Hebrew y^, and, according to 
 the Septuagint, to ttfttf. When the armies of heaven in the 
 nineteenth chapter are seen following Christ in the hour of 
 His glory, they are clothed, not in Ati>oi> but (3v<T<rivov. The 
 former, when spoken of as the clothing of the ministers of 
 Divine power, marks their agency as peculiarly pertaining 
 to the present dispensation ; whereas the pvaaivov is com- 
 monly connected with that which is to come. 
 
 The manner in which fivavivov, y-12, is connected with 
 scenes of triumph and glory in the Old Testament, may be 
 seen from the following passages. When David brought 
 home the ark of God in triumph, he was clothed with " a 
 robe of fine linen; and all the Levites that bare the ark, 
 and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song, with 
 the singers." (1 Chron. xv ) Also, at the dedication of the 
 Temple, " the Levites which were the singers, all of them 
 of Asaph, of Heman or Jeduthun, being arrayed in white 
 linen,* (fine linen y^), having cymbals and psalteries and 
 harps," &c. It was fivaaivov also, (if we follow the Septu- 
 agint, which gives it as the translation of $$,) which was used 
 
 * y-"Q is used eight times in the Old Testament and is always by our 
 translators rendered "fine linen" except in this passage where it should be 
 so rendered, no word signifying " white " being appended in the Hebrew. 
 Not that it was not white, but that was not the especial point to be made 
 prominent. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 in the highpriest's garments of glory and beauty ; AII>OI>, 
 on the contrary, was used in the garments of the Day of 
 Atonement. When \ivov was used with PVGGII>OI> it partook 
 of the character of the latter. 
 
 "And I heard the angel of the waters," <^*c.] This either 
 means the angel who was appointed to pour out his vial 
 on the waters, or else some particular angel to whom the 
 superintendence of this part of creation is specially com- 
 mitted. Holy angels are more frequently employed than we 
 think, not only in watching over and ministering to the 
 heirs of salvation individually, but also in the providential 
 control of kingdoms, and in superintending the course of 
 nature, both in the heavens and on the earth. " Are they not 
 all ministering spirits sent forth for ministration, because 
 of those who shall inherit salvation ? " (Heb. i.) All their 
 ministration, therefore, is for the elect's sake. "All things 
 are yours." 
 
 " / heard the altar say"] Such is the right reading. 
 The cry from the altar proceeded, no doubt, from those 
 mentioned as being under it in the sixth chapter. It shows 
 that the saints are still in their disembodied state, and that 
 the hour of resurrection had not yet come. 
 
 <f That the way of the kings FROM the East might be 
 prepared."] Such is the right translation. Some have sup- 
 posed that the title, (l Kings from the East," refers to Israel 
 and their triumphant return ; but Israel are no where called 
 " kings from the East ;" nor is the hour here spoken of, an 
 hour of blessing to them, but rather of judgment and sore 
 rebuke from the hand of the Lord their God. Moreover, 
 when they are regathered by the Lord, it will be not from 
 the East merely, but from every land. 
 
 The gathering of Eastern nations against Babylon (and 
 it is to the drying up of the Euphrates, the river which 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XV. AND XVI. 261 
 
 represents the strength of Babylon, that the passage hefore 
 us refers), the gathering of nations from the East against 
 Babylon is thus described in Jeremiah : " Set ye up a 
 standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, 
 prepare the nations against her, the kingdoms of Ararat, 
 Minni, and Ashchenaz ; appoint a captain against her ; 
 cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars." 
 (Jer. li. 27.) 
 
 It is plain both from Isaiah and Jeremiah, that the nations 
 gathered by the secret providence of God against Babylon are 
 allowed to capture it ; but before they have settled themselves 
 into the enjoyment of their conquest, the day of the Lord 
 supervenes, and destruction falls upon the conquerors and 
 the conquered alike. In the thirteenth of Isaiah, these two 
 distinct but consecutive acts of visitation are clearly distin- 
 guished. " The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like 
 as of a great people ; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms 
 of nations gathered together : the Lord of hosts mustereth 
 the host of the battle." Here is the providential gathering of 
 the nations, as the first instruments of the Lord's vengeance ; 
 but this is followed by a visitation far more terrible 
 a visitation of distinctly supernatural power. ef The stars 
 of Heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give 
 their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, 
 and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will 
 punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their 
 iniquity, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, 
 and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make 
 a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the 
 golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the hea- 
 vens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath 
 of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger." 
 This two-fold visitation exactly accords with the testimony of 
 the Revelation. 
 
 "Armageddon"] The gathering of the Eastern or 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 barbarous Asiatic nations against Babylon (which probably 
 is the tidings out of the East and North which troubles the 
 great sovereign of the Roman world, when warring in Egypt, 
 see Daniel xi.), is nearly cotemporaneous with the gathering 
 of the nations of the Roman world to Armageddon. Indeed, 
 I regard the gathering at Armageddon as the result of the 
 threatened confederacy against Babylon. 
 
 There is no " battle of Armageddon," as is sometimes 
 erroneously said; neither is there any destruction there. It 
 is the place of gathering, not of conflict. The wine-press is 
 trodden without the city, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat ; for 
 there the day of the Lord comes upon them, as they are 
 surrounding Jerusalem. (See Joel ii. and iii.) 
 
 " The kings of the whole oiKou/ii>r?."] That is, of the 
 whole Roman world. The words, "of the earth," should be 
 omitted. 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 n ^(relation XVII. anfc XVIII. 
 
 IT has been already remarked, that it is the habit of pro- 
 phecy first of all to develop the end. It describes the con- 
 summation first ; and if in subsequent visions the same sub- 
 ject be retraced, we find ourselves led further back as to 
 time, and earlier circumstances are pourtrayed. He who has 
 valued and given heed to the earlier lesson, will desire fur- 
 ther knowledge and he is worthy to receive it. We find 
 a remarkable instance of this enlarged instruction in the 
 chapter before us. The thirteenth chapter had, as we have 
 seen, revealed the great Monarch of the prophetic earth in 
 all the plenitude of his glorious power. We see him there 
 in his last estate, with all glory centred in himself all re- 
 cognised as proceeding from him, and all returning to him : 
 for he glorifies himself as God. 
 
 But this chapter treats of a preceding period. It ends 
 where the thirteenth begins. We find here the initiatory 
 steps of his glory. And although that glory is even here 
 exceeding great, for " the beast had seven heads and ten 
 horns" the emblems of concentrated authority over the 
 whole "Roman earth, yet he holds this glory from and with 
 another, fairer and more attractive than himself; for he sus- 
 tained a ee woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked 
 with gold, and precious stones, and pearls." 
 
 The path, therefore, of Antichrist into power will not be 
 dissimilar to that which has hitherto uniformly been trodden 
 
264 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYFSE. 
 
 by those who have exalted themselves into greatness. They 
 who have hitherto risen from obscurity into glory who 
 have founded new sovereignties, and given their name to 
 empires, have first been the servants of some existing system 
 which they have served, and under whose favours they have 
 grown, until they have become strong enough to despise and 
 spurn its patronage. And hence it is that none, no, not even 
 saints (except indeed they watch and keep the testimonies of 
 the prophecy of this book) will feel surprised or scandalized 
 at the course upon which Antichrist enters. He will merely 
 be the friend and the supporter of a system already known 
 and already honoured a system that will have been long 
 existent and long valued. And they who have seen no de- 
 formity therein whose eyes and whose thoughts have been 
 habituated to rest in it with complacency, if not with joy 
 who have seen in it no "mystery" of iniquity will find 
 little to offend them in the ways of that mighty One who will 
 arise to be its champion and its shield. Indeed it cannot be 
 doubted, that many an individual, admired and idolized by 
 men, is even at this present hour occupying a place that 
 resembles, in the estimate of God, this early place of Anti- 
 christ. Few resemble him in his final place of individualized 
 power : but all who have thrown their energies into the sup- 
 port of any systems whereby the truth of God has been dis- 
 credited, or wickedness sanctified by the name of Christ, do 
 virtually stand in a place that answers, in measure, to the 
 symbol here given, and have, like the beast, names, though 
 not all names, of blasphemy written on them. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, be surprised that this chapter has 
 frequently been applied by the servants of God, in different 
 ages, to those ruling systems which they have severally 
 recognised in their own day as hostile to the people and to 
 the truth of Christ, whilst perhaps blasphemously assuming 
 His authority and name. Nor were they altogether wrong 
 in this ; for what ecclesiastical body, I might add, what secu- 
 lar body, has yet arisen in the earth, that has set itself to 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 265 
 
 order the ways of men either in their relations toward 
 Christ or in their natural relations toward God, that has not 
 run counter to His will, dishonoured His Scripture, opposed 
 His saints, and arrogated to itself a place which God never 
 gave it ? And how can any be the sustainers of such things, 
 without names of blasphemy being written on them, the 
 more in proportion to the energy and devotedness of their 
 labour ? Many a defender of Romanism and such like sys- 
 tems, must be regarded as marked with names of blasphemy 
 for falsehood cannot be thrust into the place of Truth, 
 without Truth being rejected and reviled; and false assump- 
 tion, and the consequent reviling of God's Truth and people, 
 is blasphemy in His sight. " I know the blasphemy of those 
 who say they are Jews, and are not ; but are the synagogue 
 of Satan." 
 
 But the exactness of prophetic statement must not be 
 destroyed by applications, which, however valuable as appli- 
 cations, must never be substituted for direct and exact inter- 
 pretation. Our first duty always is to inquire what the 
 event which God is pleased to reveal, definitely and specifi- 
 cally is. It may be with godly and upright intention that 
 many have sought to turn the edge of the testimony of the 
 seventeenth of Revelation sometimes on Rome, sometimes 
 on national assumptions of Christianity ; but the cause of 
 Truth will not ultimately be served hereby, if in doing this 
 they have unconsciously narrowed the testimony of God, 
 and refused to see in this chapter the definite picture of that 
 closing system to Avhich Romanism and every thing else that 
 successfully sways the unregenerate heart will finally lead 
 a system the more important to be watched, because it is 
 future, and may be (I fear not to say, is) at present rising ; 
 and because, by the terms of this prophecy, it will extend 
 its influence over regions which the ecclesiastical systems of 
 Rome, or Greece, or England, have never swayed ; and be- 
 cause its adaptation to such a mass of nations, for they are 
 described as " peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and 
 
66 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tongues," shows that it must be constructed on principles 
 wide as the heart of man ; and therefore that all, whatever 
 their creed or whatever their nation, are in danger of its 
 seductions, whose path is not simply ordered by the Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 It cannot be doubted by any who seriously examine this 
 chapter, that its fulfilment is altogether future. The beast 
 by whom the woman is sustained has ten horns, which 
 indicate a sphere not less extensive than the whole Roman 
 earth : and when, since the power of secular Rome crumbled, 
 have we seen any system that has thus borne sway over the 
 West and East together, or when have we seen any indi- 
 vidual like him that is described, sustaining such a system ? 
 Moreover, the seven mountains occupied by the woman is 
 the symbol that all and every form of concentrated govern- 
 mental influence in a word, all authority belongs to her; 
 and, as we might expect, her sustainer and instrument is 
 invested with the same in him, symbolized by seven heads 
 in her, by seven mountains on which she sitteth. This 
 complete possession of all authority has never yet been found 
 in any system that has heretofore acted in the earth. Many 
 have coveted it, but none have attained it : power has 
 conflicted with power, system with system, and the jar of 
 opposing interests has hindered the progress of any into 
 undisputed supremacy. And when we consider what it 
 means to have the control of all the influence of the reno- 
 vated Roman earth, its political, military, civil, religious, 
 commercial, educational, systems to have the control of 
 these things in and throughout the many and now differing 
 nations within its scope ; to have the jarring elements of the 
 human mind touching these things brought under effectual 
 control a control wonderful, if exercised only in one nation, 
 but how much more wonderful in all ; when we consider 
 this, we cannot but confess that such a spectacle has never 
 yet been presented in the history of human things. It is 
 the marvellous exhibition of a power yet to be ; the more 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 67 
 
 marvellous, because it will be the power not of an individual, 
 but of a system, which, though long prepared in secret (see 
 Zechariah v. 5), will suddenly burst in development upon the 
 eyes of men. " When I saw the woman," says the apostle, 
 " I wondered with a great wonder." 
 
 The very fact that the long-lost unity of the Roman world 
 should in any sense be restored, is in itself wonderful. When 
 we consider how entirely it has been broken, first by the 
 inroads of the barbarous Northern nations then by the 
 successive triumphs of the Saracens and the Turks, and how 
 the last bonds of union which still kept the Western states 
 of Europe in some degree together under the emperor and 
 the pope, were finally broken by the revolutionary war, it is 
 wonderful that fragments so shattered nations so dissimilar 
 as those of Asia Minor, and Palestine, and Greece, and 
 Barbary, and England, should again be united so as to be 
 symbolized by the ten horns of the same beast, or the ten 
 toes of one image. 
 
 Yet so is it determined by the word of God; and if we 
 watch the signs of the times we may see the symptoms of 
 returning union. We see nothing like the restoration of 
 one undivided empire, neither the appearance of any one 
 universal monarch ; for the time of the last monarch of the 
 Gentiles is not yet come. We see, on the contrary, kingdoms 
 broken into distinctness we see Greece and Egypt separated 
 from Turkey and from one another ; and other divisions of 
 this kind there must be, for the last unity of the Roman 
 earth is a unity of distinctness ; yet whilst these things are 
 silently progressing, we may equally observe the rapid rise 
 of a peculiar system which is beginning to give to these 
 kingdoms a likeness one to another, and to unite them, not 
 by arms or by religious uniformity, but by the influence of a 
 moral and political system as extensive and as certain as the 
 covetousness and pride of the heart of man. 
 
 Limited or, as it is called, constitutional monarchy ; com- 
 mercial enterprise; the consequent subjection of everything 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 art, science, taste, to utility (the standard of utility being 
 productiveness of wealth); the control of ecclesiastical by 
 civil power, and, what is still more remarkable, the increas- 
 ing control of governments by capitalists, manufacturers, 
 and merchants ; the gradual yielding of the aristocracy of 
 birth and station to the aristocracy of wealth these and 
 other connected principles have marked a character so dis- 
 tinctive upon the present period, as to be recognised even 
 by those who have never thought of reading these things in 
 the light of the testimony of God. And if facts prove to us 
 that these are the principles that are beginning to spread a 
 moral unity throughout the Roman earth, we could scarcely 
 avoid concluding upon this ground alone, that this is the 
 system represented in this chapter as dominant over the 
 prophetic earth at the time of the end. But when we also 
 find that these are the very features which the Scripture 
 notes as characterizing the Babylon of the latter day, it 
 remains no longer an undetermined question; and what 
 features can be more clearly marked as attaching to the 
 Babylonish period than commercial greatness, the supre- 
 macy of wealth, and the mixing of iron and miry clay in the 
 government of the kingdoms ? 
 
 The supremacy of commercial wealth is an unusual feature 
 in the history of men. I do not mean that there have never 
 been cities like Tyre, or Corinth, or Carthage, or Venice, 
 that have flourished commercially ; but their influence has 
 been little felt beyond their own immediate sphere, nor have 
 they by their institutions ever imparted a character to the 
 general system of the nations. Commerce was not supreme 
 either in the early native monarchy of Nimrod, nor in the 
 Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, or Roman empires. None of 
 these empires were distinctively commercial. They all would 
 have emblazoned the sword rather than the ephah on their 
 banners. The ruling power in each depended for its sup- 
 port, sometimes on the nobles or the aristocracy of birth ; 
 sometimes on the aristocracy of merit such as successful 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 
 
 generals; sometimes on the people; but never on an aris- 
 tocracy of merchants. But when, in the history of the 
 declension of monarchic power, the sovereign began first 
 to lean upon his nobles, then upon his generals, then 
 upon the people ; and when at last, in modern Europe, the 
 ecclesiastical system, which for a long time had checked the 
 progress of democracy, was itself enfeebled, and the cry of 
 democracy was on every lip, we have seen suddenly arise 
 another barrier more potent and more firm than any that has 
 yet existed in the history of man the aristocracy of wealth. 
 It is in England that this has chiefly been exhibited. It is 
 no longer the nobles, nor the Church, nor the people ; but 
 the exchanges of our great commercial cities that secretly 
 guide the wheels of government here. " Capital " is power ; 
 and men of wealth are becoming the chief guardians of 
 society and the firmest pillars of the throne. 
 
 The place occupied by England has been for ages one of 
 singular responsibility. When the last remnants of Eastern 
 civilization were finally swept away by the fierce inroad of 
 the Turks, and when the Western provinces of the Roman 
 world groaned under the heavy yokes of despotism and 
 superstition, it pleased God to allow this country, placed as 
 it is on the remotest limit of the Roman world, to become 
 the repository of those mighty' but godless principles that 
 are to re-animate the Roman kingdoms, and strengthen them 
 for their last hour of proud defiance of God. The great 
 events of modern days have been the invention of printing; 
 the Reformation ; the maritime discoveries of Vasco di Gam a 
 in the East, and of Columbus in the West ; and scientific 
 and mechanical inventions. A new era in the history of 
 mankind has been marked by these things, and where have 
 their effects been felt as in England ? They have concen- 
 trated their power on England, I might almost say on 
 England alone. As to the results, I must ask the con- 
 sciences of those who know Christ and who fear God, to 
 judge. Influence enough has gone forth from England, and 
 
270 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the whole world is feeling its effects; but what evil under the 
 sun does it not foster for the sake of gain ? Hindooism, which 
 is natural idolatry; Mahommedanism, which is apostasy; 
 and Popery, which, professedly in the name of Christ, leads 
 back the Gentile world into the same idolatry and corrup- 
 tion whence the gospel was sent to take them, and which 
 by idolatry violates not merely the revealed, but even the 
 natural relations of man to God all these and such like 
 things are protected, and honoured, and paid by England for 
 the sake of commercial rule. She has found in her Indian 
 and in her colonial possessions, a school in which she has 
 well learned to adapt herself to the varying condition of the 
 human family, whatever their blasphemies, and whatever 
 their sins, and has thus become the mainspring of the new 
 system that is arising in the earth. 
 
 It has been said, however, by one well qualified to pro- 
 nounce a judgment on such subjects,* that France is the 
 great artery of the social system ; and that nothing whereso- 
 ever it may be originated, no principle of government, no 
 invention of science, ever becomes European without first 
 passing through France. Accordingly, we are now seeing 
 these principles of which we have been 'speaking infused 
 into the system of France : and by France and England they 
 are being disseminated ; but specially in those countries 
 (Greece, Turkey, and Algeria, are examples) which fall with- 
 in the limits of the Roman earth. They are obviously 
 principles well calculated to cement into closest union. 
 Similarity of political institutions, especially when those 
 institutions stand in contrast with, and in danger from, the 
 institutions of a near and powerful rival, such as Russia, are 
 in themselves no slender bond.f Of old, democrats were 
 
 * M. Guizot. 
 
 f These remarks were written upwards of ten years ago. It may be 
 thought that the recent changes in France have in some degree falsified 
 the expectation here expressed. But the change in France is more 
 apparent than real. After the violent democratic outbreak in 1848 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 71 
 
 wont to assist democrats, and despots to aid despots ; but 
 when in addition to this men have found a new and more 
 efficacious centre of union in their commercial interests, and 
 when they feel themselves mutually dependent upon each 
 other for the preservation as well as the increase of their 
 riches when the ruin of one involves the danger of all 
 men in such circumstances become wonderfully careful of 
 each other's interests. This is the kind of dependence into 
 which nations are being brought one on the other. Not 
 only are the inhabitants of the commercial nations interested 
 in the maintenance of order and tranquillity in their own 
 countries (for commerce diffuses wealth, and gives to mil- 
 lions an interest in the prosperity of the common weal, 
 which they never had before) ; but when the wealth of one 
 nation becomes embarked in the undertakings of another, 
 or when one nation lives by selling to another, they become 
 dependent on each other, and soon becoming aware of their 
 mutual dependency, they understand that common interests 
 involve common prosperity or common ruin. 
 
 That peace may be promoted hereby that the quiet 
 pursuits of industry may be substituted for the bloody 
 triumphs of destroying armies and the crowded manu- 
 factory with all its secret history of sin and misery, be in 
 the social system what the baronial castle or the camp once 
 was, no one can doubt. The sword is not mentioned in all 
 
 which threatened to annihilate the "iron" of government, and to leave 
 only " clay," it was likely that there would be some violent reaction in 
 order to preserve the " iron." The results of that reaction we have yet 
 to see. The principle of representative government is still found in 
 France, and its necessary interests preserve it in political connexion 
 with England. But what is of far more importance, there is silently 
 growing up in France a strong " commercial interest," and this hody is 
 soon likely to be to the throne in France what it is to the throne here 
 its main support. The interests of England and France will then be 
 conclusively one. We know from the Scripture that the clay-iron prin- 
 ciples of government must finally prevail in all the Ten kingdoms of the 
 Roman earth. (See Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms.) 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the detail of the greatness of Babylon ; but te merchandise of 
 gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine 
 linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyme wood, 
 and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels 
 of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 
 and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, 
 and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and 
 sheep, and horses, and chariots, and bodies and souls of men." 
 Such are the fruits that the soul of Babylon loveth, and they 
 flourish beneath a sky that is to the eye fair and serene. 
 The rude jarring of former ages has passed away. It seems 
 as though men had at last learned that it is best for their 
 own interests to cease from biting and devouring one another. 
 The disturbance and dissension that was once caused by God's 
 own Truth is gone. Men respect the opinions of their neigh- 
 bours, and charity hopeth well of all. Every one shall be 
 fostered, and loved, and valued, who subserves the interests 
 of the common weal, and does not interfere with the ways 
 or doctrines of others. Such are the rules of Babylon, such 
 the principles on which human society is beginning to be 
 organized throughout the Roman earth. Such rules indeed 
 will not bring the sword into the household, yet Christ in 
 His faithfulness may, (for Truth is a sword and He will not 
 permit it to be banished from the earth,) and then there will 
 be the opportunity for Babylon " to drink of the blood of 
 saints, and of the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ;" but, with 
 this exception, the moral atmosphere will be untroubled and 
 serene, and little indicate the coming storm. 
 
 For man to be proud of any thing is a sin, or to lean upon 
 any thing, or worship any thing, save God ; but how pecu- 
 liarly hateful must that sin become when the idol is that which 
 God has so expressly named " filthy lucre." Yet money is 
 everything in the system of which we speak : its foundation 
 and its pillar the mainspring of all its energies. For men 
 to spread over the earth and subdue it to produce wealth 
 by supplying food and necessary clothing by the sweat of 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 73 
 
 their brow to exchange one with another on principles 
 fairly remunerative of the time and labour spent in the pro- 
 duction, all this is according to the natural arrangements of 
 God. But this is not the commerce of Babylon. It deals 
 in luxuries rather than in necessaries ; in other words, it 
 ministers to the lusts, rather than to the need of man " the 
 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, pride of life, and vanity- 
 of spirit." But not only so ; heedless of every thing, except- 
 ting gain, its avowed principle is " to buy at the cheapest, 
 and to sell at the dearest." The misfortune of another may 
 constrain him to sell his all that misfortune is welcomed, 
 if it cheapens the object of my search. Poor distant bar- 
 barous nations may be ignorant of the real value of what 
 I bring, and I scruple not to take a price a hundred times 
 greater than the value of that which I sell. But did God 
 prescribe these principles to regulate the mutual supply of 
 the need of those who found themselves together the inha- 
 bitants of a ruined earth themselves born to sorrow, as the 
 sparks fly upward ? Were these the principles on which 
 Abraham dealt with Lot, or with the sons of Heth ? or are 
 they the principles of him who loves in this and every other 
 way to add to the miseries and sins of men, and deepen the 
 groan of creation ? 
 
 We cannot, therefore, wonder at the result. Unscru- 
 pulous avidity, endowed with every superiority that skill, 
 and art, and science, and courage, and commanding influ- 
 ence can give, going forth to ransack the whole earth for 
 treasure, is sure to prosper, now that God hath ff withdrawn 
 Himself into His place," and is fc still, and refrains Himself." 
 But what is wealth what is prosperity without Him and 
 His blessing? It ministers joy. But what joy? I saw in 
 her hand " a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness 
 of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name 
 written, Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of the 
 harlots, and abominations of the earth." Such is the sym- 
 bol. Who would desire such joy ? Yet men do desire it, 
 
 T 
 
74 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 and will desire, and will drink of it till they are drunken ; 
 for conscience has become dead. The Reformation itself 
 (sent as it was in mercy) has been one innocent cause of this. 
 Before that, men were sinning, comparatively in th'e dark ; 
 but since, they have been sinning in the light. Worldly 
 and designing men have availed themselves of the truths of 
 the Reformation ; they have struck off thereby the fetter of 
 superstition from many a hand ; but their wish has been to 
 set it free for worldliness, not for God ; and they have 
 succeeded. 
 
 But this system, it must be remembered, is in the fullest 
 sense to be a ruling system ; that is, it will not be merely a 
 morally influential system which kings and governors may 
 be glad to use ; but it will be a system that will use them, 
 and make them subservient to its will. The beast having 
 ten horns carries the woman. This willing subjection of 
 the executive organs of government is a peculiarly dis- 
 tinguishing feature in the Babylonish period. The Papal 
 system struggled for ages to reduce the crowns of Western 
 Europe into this kind of subserviency to itself; but the at- 
 tempt signally failed, even in the limited sphere in which 
 it was made. But here we find the ten horns of the Roman 
 earth in willing and complete subjection. And this subjec- 
 tion has begun, at least in the country in which we dwell ; 
 for what minister would in England hold the reins of govern- 
 ment for an hour, who should refuse to be the servant of 
 that half- popular half-monarchic commercial system with 
 all its latitudinarianism and infidelity, which is already para- 
 mount here, as it soon will be throughout the prophetic 
 earth ? 
 
 And this very fact of governors acting, not as individuals, 
 not on the unbiassed judgments of their own minds, but as 
 the organs of a system, invests their actions with the greater 
 importance as signs of the moral character of the times ; be- 
 cause the actions of the representative of a system indicate 
 not the condition of a mere individual mind, but the habi- 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 75 
 
 tual moral condition of millions before God. I say habitual 
 because caprice may determine an individual, but it can- 
 not influence the actings of a deliberately planned and settled 
 system. And although that system is as yet but partially 
 formed, and is only partially influential, yet the character of 
 policy and legislation at home and abroad is strongly enough 
 marked with new peculiarities ; and those peculiarities we 
 shall, I doubt not, find to be retained when it is developed 
 in its perfectness. If, for example, we could now transport 
 ourselves to the council-chambers at Constantinople (I name 
 that place, because there the affairs of the Eastern and 
 Western branches of the Roman, world are necessarily in 
 question), and were permitted to hear the plans of England 
 and France developed, we should soon be able to form an 
 estimate of the political and religious character of Babylonish 
 government. Mahomedanism, Arminianism and all the 
 other corrupted forms of Eastern Christianity, Judaism, and 
 the heathenism of the Druses, all fall within the East ; whilst 
 Judaism, Mahomedanism, the Greek, Roman, and Anglican 
 churches, together with various forms of Protestantism and 
 Infidelity divide the West; and all have to be considered. The 
 plan adopted must be such as to suit them all none are to be 
 pre-eminent no, not even if the fulness of God's own Truth 
 should be in them ; but all are to be not merely protected 
 but fostered in their own proper sphere, and no question of 
 " what is truth " must be allowed for a moment to interrupt 
 the harmony of this Satanic concord. 
 
 I have said that this system is not as yet developed, so 
 that we must not expect at present to be able fully and accu- 
 rately to trace its details. Its manifestation before the eyes 
 of men (when it will assume a form as definite and palpable 
 as Popery, Mahomedanism, or any other system that has 
 heretofore appeared) its manifestation will not be until it 
 shall be set up in the land of Shinar on its own base ; for this 
 woman represents not a system merely, but a system con- 
 nected with one especial city, and that place is Babylon, the 
 
76 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 Euphratean city in the land of Shinar. " The woman which 
 thou sawest, is that great city which reigneth over the kings 
 of the earth." Such are the concluding words of the 
 seventeenth chapter ; and in that which immediately succeeds, 
 the outward circumstances of that great city are described. 
 The land of Shinar, whence civilization first proceeded, is the 
 place to which it will again return, and in which it will be 
 concentrated. There also it shall find its grave. The pit 
 shall suddenly open its mouth upon it. The silent progress 
 of the mystery of iniquity is advancing secretly now so 
 secretly, that even they who are expecting something to 
 arise, are expecting anything except the right. The lid of 
 the ephah, however, is lifted for the servant of God, and he 
 is allowed to glance at that which is contained within it. 
 To him it is given to understand the truth, whilst others are 
 lost in conjecture. Some, for example, fear lest the hordes of 
 the North from Russia should again pour down upon the 
 plains of Europe, and again establish an universal monarchy 
 upon the ruins of Western civilization. Others hope for the 
 rise of some great conqueror, who, like Napoleon, may again 
 individualize power, and give the sword pre-eminence over 
 the sceptre. Others expect, some with fear, some withhope, 
 that a dominant religious system will be revived, and Ro- 
 manism, or modified Romanism, be again supreme. Others 
 desire that the government of the whole Roman world should 
 depend upon religious systems, but that those systems should 
 be all the Churches of Christendom that can pretend to (so 
 called) apostolic lineage, linked together in a catholic union ; 
 " the German sects of the Reformation " (I use their own 
 words) being alone excluded. I merely mention these things 
 to show how utterly unconscious men are of the real nature 
 of the system which is being silently prepared ; and whilst 
 some are exclaiming against one form of evil, and others 
 against another, the literature, the philanthropy, the govern- 
 ment, and often the real Christianity of the day, is in the 
 meanwhile advancing, and that with most successful efforts, 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 277 
 
 that system which. God has named f< Babylon the Great, the 
 Mother of the harlots and abominations of the earth." 
 
 It is well that we should consider carefully that remark- 
 able passage in Zechariah to which I have alluded, respecting 
 the ephah and its " going forth." When the prophet was 
 taught where the influence would dwell which, in the latter 
 day, should " go forth" with pervading sovereign power over 
 Israel and the nations of the prophetic earth, there was 
 shown to him not a sword, nor a mitre, nor a diadem, but an 
 ephah the emblem of commerce. ( ' Then the angel that 
 talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now 
 thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, 
 "What is it ? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. 
 He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the 
 earth." Such was the vision ; and how truly is it beginning to 
 be verified ? Is not commerce the sovereign influence of the 
 day ? If we wished to inscribe on the banners of the leading 
 nations of the earth, an emblem characteristically expressive 
 of their condition, could we fix on any device more appro- 
 priate than an ephah ? Will not Israel, when they shall con- 
 centrate their unsanctified energies, and gather together their 
 wealth, and resettle themselves in the land from which they 
 have been driven, glory in assuming some such symbol as 
 this ? " This," said the angel, " is their resemblance through- 
 out all the earth."* The commencement of the reign of 
 
 * The word translated resemblance, ]^, means literally eye. Thus 
 the Vulgate, " Heec est oculus eorum in universa terra." "Eye" may 
 either mean aspect, appearance, as in Numbers xi. 6, where it is said of 
 the manna that the colour or appearance thereof was as the colour of 
 bdellium ; or " eye" may mean that to which we look for guidance, favour, 
 or any supply of blessing. If the eye of a father or a friend rest benignly 
 on us, we look to its kindness as a source of supply to all our require- 
 ments. Hence eye is continually used of fountains in the wilderness, 
 and wells of water. See Genesis xvi. 7 ; also Deut. xxxiii. 28 : "Israel 
 then shall dwell in safety alone : the fountain (literally eye) of Jacob shall 
 be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew." 
 Thus we have to contrast " the eye" of unbelieving Israel and the 
 
878 THOUGHTS ON THE AFOCALYPSE. 
 
 commerce is already recognised, and men welcome it. We 
 have suffered enough (say they) from the sword of the con- 
 queror, and from the mitre, and from the crown. We wish 
 not that society should fall beneath the sway of either. Let 
 commerce be supreme. Its influences are benign and gentle. 
 It gives scope to the energies of man. It ennobles and en- 
 riches. It cherishes science; it encourages art; it stimu- 
 lates research. It diffuses wealth and banishes penury. It 
 breathes of peace and concord. It is the panacea for our 
 ills. Who, then, will condemn commerce ? Who will say 
 that the ephah can be the harbinger of anything but good ? 
 
 The material interests of commerce for the most part 
 absorb the attention of those who are occupied therein, and 
 they care little respecting the moral principles which the god 
 of this world may be silently connecting with the exaltation 
 of their idol. Yet it is very manifest, that the inauguration 
 of this rising age of commercial greatness is accompanied by 
 the introduction of new principles new governmental 
 principles which, although not yet fully systematised, are 
 silently operating on society and gradually casting it in a 
 new mould. For governments openly to ignore Truth, and 
 avowedly to cherish all the varieties of falsehood, is, in the 
 history of Christendom at least, something new. Society 
 apart from God, and from His Truth, is but a many-tongued 
 monster that gives utterance to voices that all emanate from 
 the pit. Yet we are taught that it is the duty of government 
 to be the exponent of the mind of society, and to give effect 
 to the expressions of its will ; that it should honour falsehood, 
 sustain its emissaries, conciliate all by pleasing all, and op- 
 pose none except those who maintain that the Truth of God 
 is unchangeable and eternal that it is clear, precise, and 
 definite that it cannot bend to the wilfulness and per- 
 versity of man, nor confound darkness with light, nor call 
 
 nations, viz. the ephah in the land of Shinar, with " the eye" of forgiven 
 Israel in the land of Immanuel, when Jehovah shall be their strength and 
 their song. 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 279 
 
 evil good. But the steadfast inflexibility of Truth ill suits 
 the designs of those who need pliant principles principles 
 that can accommodate themselves to all circumstances, and 
 adapt themselves complacently to all forms of superstition, to 
 all varieties of evil. If the {f solidarite" of nations is to be 
 sought on such principles as these, and if the "material" 
 interests of the human family are to be made the supreme 
 object of pursuit, it is no wonder that God and revealed 
 Truth should be excluded from such consolidation. Such 
 will be the result of the now germinant principles of this 
 rising age of commercial greatness. Few y however, care to 
 analyse them. They are hidden in the ephah. 
 
 Zechariah was not restricted to the sight of the outward 
 form of the ephah only. He was also commanded to look 
 within, and there he saw a woman seated in the midst of 
 the ephah. " A woman," as we have already seen, is a 
 symbol continually used to designate a moral system. Thus 
 then we are taught in this vision just what we learn from 
 present facts, that an attractive moral system is associated 
 with that which, if viewed in its physical aspect merely, 
 would be but as the bare form of an ephah. The prophet 
 looked again, and he saw the angel cast something into the 
 ephah with the woman, saying, " This is wickedness." 
 And he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and he cast 
 the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. " Wickedness," 
 or, as it is interpreted by St. Paul, " lawlessness" (a^o^ia), 
 is a word that specifically designates that peculiar form of 
 evil which makes Antichrist what he will be as the man 
 of lawlessness, (o avQpwTroq rr/ avofjua^,^ or the wicked 
 one()ttn, Isaiah xi., o ai>ojuoc, 2 Thess. ii.). The principles 
 therefore of "lawlessness" in their earliest form of concen- 
 tration will be found connected with the ephah. But they 
 remain hidden, and continue to be the " mystery of lawless 
 ness," until the ephah is translated to the land of Shinar, 
 and there established. With its establishment in the land 
 of Shinar (and can any words more plainly mark locality) 
 
80 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the vision of Zechariah, touching the ephah, closes. Can 
 there be any difficulty in understanding these things ? In 
 the land of Shinar the woman hidden in the ephah will be 
 manifested, and known as Babylon the Great, fe wondered 
 after " by men, but in the estimate of God, " the Mother 
 of the harlots, and the abominations of the earth." 
 
 It is this system, then, that Antichrist will, in the early 
 period of his history, espouse. All plenitude of authority 
 and influence, indicated in the vision by seven mountains, 
 will, at the period of which this chapter treats, be possessed 
 by the woman. But power, if it is to be used, requires of 
 course some form of executive agency, and this is supplied 
 in him. He for the time being becomes the executive 
 agent of all her power ; making this his last step onward 
 into the eighth final form of executive government, or 
 " kingship," which concludes the evil history of authority 
 delegated to man. " There are seven kings five are fallen, 
 and one is, and the other is not yet come ; and when he 
 cometh he must continue a short space. And the beast that 
 was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of [f K] the 
 seven." 
 
 This passage (which is parenthetic*) is evidently intended to 
 direct our thoughts to the various forms of executive govern- 
 ment or kingship that have existed, or shall exist in the pro- 
 phetic earth, until the hour when the sovereignty of the world 
 shall become the sovereignty of the Lord and of His Christ. 
 We might expect to find such a reference in a chapter which 
 professedly treats of him who is to close the history of 
 human government by the introduction of a new and mar- 
 vellous form of power a form new as to its mode of ad- 
 ministration and development, yet not unconnected with the 
 past, for it will be constructed upon principles drawn from 
 the experience of preceding ages, and will have the founda- 
 tions of its greatness laid by the primeval efforts of mankind. 
 He will be the eighth ; but he is of [**:] the seven. 
 
 * See Notes. 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 81 
 
 The native energy and intrepidity of him who is said to 
 have been a mighty hunter before the Lord an energy 
 essential to men who were settling in a forlorn and unsub- 
 dued earth, surrounded by beasts of the forest and countless 
 other difficulties and dangers, very naturally gave the first 
 form to kingship, and hence its parentage may be said to 
 spring. " The beginning of his kingdom was Babel." The 
 supremacy of Nimrod was not derived from any previously 
 existing system. He neither inherited his power from 
 others, nor did he, like Nebuchadnezzar afterwards, receive 
 it as a gift from God. He earned it for himself by the force 
 of his own individual character but it was without God. 
 Great progress was made in the kingdom which he founded 
 in the land of Shinar, in civilization and refinement; for we 
 early read of the goodly Babylonish garment, and of the 
 skill and learning of the Chaldees ; but their dominion was 
 repressed and kept, as it were, in abeyance by the hand of 
 God, until the trial of Israel, His people, had been fully 
 made, that it might be seen whether they would prove them- 
 selves worthy of supremacy in the earth. 
 
 The form of government in Israel was a theocracy ; as was 
 seen in the reigns of David and of Solomon, who were types 
 (imperfect types indeed) of Him that is to come. The mon- 
 arch was independent of and uncontrolled by those whom 
 he governed, but he was dependent upon God, who dwelt 
 in the temple, ever near to be consulted, and whose law was 
 given as the final standard of appeal. He stood between 
 God and the people, not to be their functionary and slave 
 not to be the expression of their judgments and the reflection 
 of their will ; but as set over them by God, his office was to 
 mould them and to fashion them by principles which he him- 
 self had received from above. But the possession of power 
 like this, held in companionship with God, required a holi- 
 ness that was not found in man in the flesh, and therefore it 
 was soon forfeited. Divine sanction, however, has many 
 
82 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 times since been coveted, and the name of "the Lord's 
 anointed" assumed. The last great king of the Gentiles, 
 indeed, will do mpre than this, for he will take the place of 
 Divinity itself, and sit upon the mount of the congregation 
 on the sides of the north, saying that he is like the Most 
 High. But all this is unauthorized assumption. God has 
 never connected His name with Gentile power, save as 
 declaring that He is the source from which it flows ; nor has 
 He ever granted the title of "the Lord's anointed "to any 
 Gentile king, in the sense in which it once attached to the 
 occupant of Israel's throne. It is a title reserved for Him 
 who shall soon come to fill that throne, and to bear the 
 glory ; and then we shall again behold the theocracy, sus- 
 tained for ever in holiness and in blessing. 
 
 The third form was developed when the Gentile dynasty 
 was formally constituted by God in the person of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. He, like the monarchs of Israel, had absolute sove- 
 reignty granted to him but God was not with him in it. He 
 and his successors received it as delegated power, to be exer- 
 cised according to their own pleasure, though in final respon- 
 sibility to God. It is not necessary here to pursue the painful 
 history of the Gentiles. It is sufficient to say, as regards the 
 history of power, that the Gentile monarchs from the begin- 
 ning, not knowing God so as to lean upon Him, and too weak 
 to stand alone ; exposed to the jealousy and hatred of those 
 whom they governed a jealousy not unfrequently earned by 
 their own evil, found it necessary to lean upon something 
 inferior to themselves : and thus the character of power has 
 been deteriorated from age to age, until at last the monarchy 
 of these latter days has consented not only to own the people 
 as the basis and source of its power, but has also submitted 
 to be directed in the exercise of that power by given rules 
 prescribed by its subjects. The authority held by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar is represented by fine gold ; that of the constitu- 
 tional monarchies of this present hour by iron mixed with 
 
ON KEVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 283 
 
 miry clay. There never was a declaration of Scripture more 
 distinctly verified by facts than this.* 
 
 The native monarchy of Nimrod, the theocracy of Israel, 
 the despotic authority of Nebuchadnezzar, the aristocratic 
 monarchy of Persia, and the military monarchy of Alexander 
 and his successors, had all passed away when John beheld 
 this vision. All these methods had been tried none had 
 been found to answer even the purposes of man ; and now 
 another had arisen, the half military, half popular monarchy 
 of the Csesars the iron empire of Rome. " Five have 
 fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come ; and when 
 lie cometh he must continue a little space." 
 
 That other (though it cannot yet be said to have come so 
 as to fulfil this verse )f has nevertheless appeared and is found 
 in the constitutional monarchy of this present hour. This 
 is the seventh, and, with one brief exception, the last form 
 that is to be exhibited before the end shall come, and it is 
 under this form that the system of Babylon is matured. It 
 is obvious that a monarchy, guided not by the people 
 numerically, but by certain classes of the people, and 
 those classes determined by the possession of property, must 
 be the form best adapted for the accumulation of wealth, 
 and the growth of commercial power ; for it gives (which 
 pure democracy has ever failed to do), the best security 
 for property without unduly fettering the liberty of indivi- 
 dual enterprise. 
 
 * The great difference between the iron power of Rome and the clay- 
 iron power of present constitutional monarchies is this. The emperor at 
 Rome, although professedly elected by the people or senate, was, after he 
 once possessed the power, absolute : whereas the monarch now not only 
 owns the people as the source of power, but is directed and fettered in 
 every action he performs. He is, in fact, merely the executive agent of 
 his subjects' will. For further remarks on the deterioration of power, see 
 " Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms." 
 
 f It will not have come in the sense of this verse, until it pervades the 
 Roman world. When all the ten kingdoms have been constitutionalized, 
 it may be said to have come. 
 
84 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 A system, however, like that of Babylon, will ill suit the 
 individual ambition of Antichrist. He will not submit to 
 be legislated for by the classes of the wealthy, nor any other 
 classes. He will spurn even the laws of God, and will do 
 according to his own will. The ten kings of the ten kingdoms 
 will gladly own him as their lord. The yoke of the Baby- 
 lonish system is a hard yoke upon them ; besides which the 
 democratic pressure, which is perpetually increasing in 
 strength, could scarcely be finally resisted even by the 
 system of Babylon itself. They will gladly, therefore, take 
 refuge under the arm of one whom Satan strengthens for 
 dominion, and join in destroying a system which has really 
 made them its slaves, and, in many things, left them less 
 liberty than the meanest of their subjects. " They shall 
 hate the whore, 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 words of God shall be ful- 
 filled." The system of Babylon will be destroyed; but the 
 city with all its wealth and greatness will for a time continue, 
 and Antichrist will reign over it for a season, until the hour 
 of his doom and its doom together comes. He will hate its 
 system, but he will not hate it; for its resources, its palaces, 
 its ships, and its merchandise, will be among the chiefest 
 objects of his desire the sinews of his strength, and the 
 adornment of his glory.* 
 
 * In the seventeenth chapter, the symbol is a woman in the eigh- 
 teenth, a city. The former represents the city Babylon, as to its own 
 peculiar system of law, government, &c.; the latter represents the same 
 city, as to its physical resources, wealth, merchandize, &c. 
 
 If a stranger were to visit this country, he would first be shown, pro- 
 bably, its arsenals, its storehouses, manufactories, and the like; the symbol 
 of all this would be " a city :" and when he inquired respecting the sys- 
 tem, moral, educational, political, and so forth, under which all this 
 greatness had been matured, he would be furnished with a sketch of 
 England's peculiar system of law, religion, government, &c. This would 
 be England as the woman. 
 
 Babylon's peculiar system ceases as soon as Antichrist becomes 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVtII. 85 
 
 We have not, therefore, to watch so much against Antichrist 
 himself, as against that system which precedes Antichrist, 
 which he adopts, and by which he rises into his glory 
 a system whose principles are already operating, and every- 
 where spreading their destructive influence, and yet dis- 
 cerned by few, neither judged according to the light so fully 
 given in this chapter. The system of Babylon will not be 
 an ecclesiastical system on the contrary, it will be distinc- 
 tively secular ; but ecclesiastical systems may be dragged in 
 its train, as every system will be that is not simply ruled by 
 the Spirit of Jesus : neither will any but they who are con- 
 tent " to go without the gate bearing His reproach," be free 
 from its evil influence. 
 
 It has been the practice of some, and especially of those 
 who have been lately labouring to revive the darkness and 
 abominations of Popery in this country, to speak much of 
 Antichrist. If, say they, such an one is to arise (as he surely 
 will) full of all wickedness and blasphemy, and if he will set 
 himself to destroy all institutions, human and divine, that are 
 contrary to him, let us only consider what he will destroy, 
 and then we shall learn what we should cherish. Ac- 
 cording to this we may, nay, we ought to, nourish the Harlot 
 and all her abominations, because Antichrist will be her 
 destruction. 
 
 This is strange counsel ; and yet it is virtually accepted 
 
 supreme. He, from that time forward, is to the city what the system 
 of that city had been. It must he remembered, however, that the woman, 
 which represents Babylon as to its system, and the city, which represents 
 Babylon as to its physical greatness, are both feminine symbols. This is 
 evident from the language of the eighteenth chapter throughout. And 
 although Babylon loses, as soon as Antichrist becomes supreme, its pecu. 
 liar system, by which every thing in the Roman earth had till then been 
 regulated; yet it does not lose, and cannot lose, until it ceases to exist, a 
 peculiar moral character. It must have a moral character of its own. 
 The destruction of its own specific system does not alter that, and it con- 
 tinues to be one of unchanged badness. Fornication, deliciousness, &c. 
 as much attach to it under the lordship of Antichrist, as when its own 
 system ruled. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 by all who justify their position, not because it will answer 
 to the requirements of truth, but because it is obnoxious to 
 some more palpable form of wickedness that may be at hand. 
 It is an easy thing to speak against Antichrist, and yet to 
 sustain those very things that cause God to send him in 
 judicial infliction upon a transgressing world. 
 
 The alarm which has lately been excited as to the revival 
 of Popery, has concentrated the attention of God's children 
 upon one corner of the camp, and diverted their attention 
 from that point where Satan is making his real and 
 triumphant assault. I do not say that the deadly doctrines 
 which are being spread around us ought not to be resisted, 
 even unto death. I do not say that they may not yet more 
 widely spread ; but another system is being prepared, which 
 is not religious, and it is the system to be really feared, for 
 it will reign supremely in the nations among whom we 
 dwell. 
 
 It is being secretly prepared, and therefore men do not see 
 it : but its establishment will be sudden. (e I saw," says the 
 prophet, " and behold there came forth two women, and the 
 wind was in their wings ; for they had wings like the wings 
 of a stork ; and they lifted up the ephah between the earth 
 and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with 
 me, Whither do these bear the ephah ? > And he said unto 
 me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar : and it shall 
 be established, and set there upon her own base." The stork 
 is a bird of strong and rapid flight their wings were 
 spread, and no adverse influences resisted, but all influences 
 were in their favour, even all influences from God ; for " the 
 wind was in their wings."* Such will be the rapidity and 
 the success with which these principles, which are now being 
 
 * We cannot certainly say what the two women represent. Perhaps 
 they represent the secular and ecclesiastical systems of the Roman world, 
 uniting their energies to establish the ephah. When once the secular 
 and ecclesiastical systems unite in subserving the latitudinarian com- 
 mercial system of which I speak, the end will not be far distant. 
 
ON REVELATION XVII. AND XVIII. 287 
 
 prepared in these "Western regions, will be suddenly esta- 
 blished in the East. The nations will be suddenly knit into 
 this harmony of evil they will have one mistress, and one 
 cup, from which they will all drink, until they are together 
 drunken. Antichrist, in all the attractiveness of his glory, 
 will then arise in their midst ; the power of delusion will be 
 on them; they will worship the dragon, and worship him; 
 and then the end will come. 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 I HAVE already referred to the early mention which is made 
 of the city Babylon in the first book of the Scripture. Its 
 foundation by Nimrod, and its being made, immediately after, 
 the scene of the first proud attempt at human confederation 
 by those who said they would make themselves a name in 
 the earth, is there recorded ; and then it is left. More than 
 a thousand ages rolled away before it is again referred to in 
 the Scripture, during all which period it was little known. 
 Assyria and Nineveh flourished ; but, until the days of Ne- 
 buchadnezzar, Babylon was comparatively insignificant. It 
 was Nebuchadnezzar who said, " Is not this great Babylon, 
 that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might 
 of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" 
 
 But this was not its earliest mention. Its earliest mention, 
 after Genesis, is in a prophecy which describes at once its 
 greatness and its doom.* Nearly two hundred years before 
 Nebuchadnezzar raised it from obscurity, whilst it was as yet 
 the object neither of admiration nor of dread, Isaiah prophe- 
 sied both of its glory and its fall ; and after this Jeremiah,, 
 when its glory was at its height, detailed, with still greater 
 minuteness, the circumstances of its final destruction. These 
 
 * The reference to the " goodly mantle of Shinar," in the Book of 
 Joshua, I do not esteem an exception, nor any casual reference similar 
 to this. 
 
ON REVELATION XVI II. 289 
 
 prophecies have been read carelessly. A destruction has 
 fallen upon Babylon, as on other cities of the East ; and we 
 have hastily concluded that this is the destruction of which 
 the prophets speak ; and have never, until lately, thought of 
 inquiring whether it may not yet again rise from its de- 
 pression, and again be known as the golden city the enemy 
 of God's truth, and the subject of His vengeance in the great 
 day of His wrath. 
 
 It would be strange if Babylon were to be excepted from 
 the general rule as to the renovation of the East. We know 
 from the Scripture that Jerusalem, which has similarly been 
 brought low under the incipient judgments of God, will be 
 revived by human agency re-established by her people 
 whilst yet remaining in unbelief, and therefore be " visited 
 by the Lord of hosts, with thunder, and with earthquake, and 
 great noise, with storm, and tempest, and the flame of de- 
 vouring fire." We know also that Egypt, which has been 
 desolated by divine judgments, is at this present moment 
 arising from her depression by the aid of Western Europe 
 still however evil and unreconciled to God, and therefore 
 amenable to His wrath. " Behold the Lord rideth upon a 
 swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt 
 shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall 
 
 melt in the midst of it In that day shall Egypt 
 
 be like unto women ; and it shall be afraid and fear because 
 of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He 
 shaketh over it. And the land of Judah shall be a terror 
 unto Egypt;* every one that maketh mention thereof shall 
 be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of 
 hosts which He hath determined against it." The like may 
 be said of Edom, Tyre, Antioch, and other cities of Syria. 
 They are more and more becoming the objects of European 
 interest, and plans have been proposed for reviving some 
 of them from their desolation. We should, therefore, re- 
 
 * These words clearly prove the futurity of this prophecy; for when 
 has the land of Judah been a terror to the land of Egypt? 
 
 U 
 
90 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 quire some express authority from the Scripture, if Babylon 
 is to be excepted from the general system of Eastern re- 
 novation. 
 
 The situation, also, of Mesopotamia (for that is the name 
 of the district in which Babylon is), and its wonderful fer- 
 tility, seem to mark it as the place on which men, if they go 
 on pursuing their present course, must necessarily fix as one 
 chief sphere of their operations. " Owing," says a recent 
 writer, who is describing the Euphratean regions, " owing 
 to the prodigious fertility of their great alluvial plains, and 
 the unbounded riches of nature which there spring up, 
 almost unbidden, to the hand of the husbandman, the pro- 
 gress of opulence has always been much more rapid in the 
 Eastern than in the Western world. In the great plain of 
 Mesopotamia, one-half of which is composed of a natural 
 terrace, sloping down with a gradual declivity from the 
 Euphrates to the Tigris ; and the other of a similar slope, in- 
 clining the other way from the Tigris to the Euphrates, the 
 means of irrigation are provided, as it were, ready-made by 
 nature to the hand of man ; and nothing is required on his 
 part but to convey away into little channels the beneficent 
 stream, which thus descending in perennial flow from the 
 Armenian snows, affords the means of spreading continual 
 verdure and fertility over a soil where vegetation ripens 
 under the rays of a tropical sun."* Such, even now, is the 
 fertility of the Mesopotamia!! district; and when, in addition 
 to this, we remember that this fair and fertile region is situate 
 in the very centre of Eastern and Western civilization (for 
 India is becoming another Europe in the East), and that its 
 river, stretching very nearly from the Indian Ocean to the 
 
 * Alison on French Revolution. Colonel Chesney says, " Diwaniyeh, 
 the next station to Hillah, is a date-encircled, walled village, with ex- 
 tensive gardens. It is approached through a continued country of date 
 trees, forming groves of exceeding heauty, and a fiinge of verdant co- 
 lumns, whose uniformity seldom palls upon the eye." (Journal of Royal 
 Geographical Society, vol. vii. p. 428.) 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 291 
 
 Mediterranean,* seems to offer a natural canal for the com- 
 merce of the whole Eastern and Western worlds ; we should 
 marvel if advantages like these should be overlooked or re- 
 jected. It would contradict all that experience has taught us 
 of the sharp-sighted covetousness of the heart of man. And 
 lastly, when Israel with all their wealth and commercial 
 energy shall return to Palestine and there form the great 
 connecting link between the Mediterranean and the East, 
 they will need the Euphrates as much as Germany needs the 
 Danube, or Egypt the Nile, or London the Thames. 
 
 But we have not to reason merely on antecedent proba- 
 bilities. The question is to be determined from Scripture, 
 and the question is, Whether the circumstances which the 
 Scripture connects with the destruction of Babylon have or 
 have not come to pass ? The answer must be, that they have 
 not. 
 
 For, in the first place, I suppose that nothing is more cer- 
 tain than that the song recorded in the fourteenth of Isaiah 
 as about to be sung by Israel over the fallen king of Babylon, 
 has never yet been sung by them. What king of Babylon 
 has yet appeared, of whom it can be said, that he hath "sat 
 upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, 
 saying, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will 
 be like the Most High;" and after " making the world as a 
 wilderness, and destroying the cities thereof, is himself cast 
 out of his grave, like an abominable branch, like a carcase 
 trodden under foot?" All this has never yet come to pass; 
 and it is expressly said, that the time when the Lord rises up 
 against him and his children, is the time when he will sweep 
 Babylon with the besom of destruction. " I will rise up 
 against THEM (i. e. the children of this wicked one), saith 
 the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and 
 
 * The distance from the navigable point of the Orontes to the navigable 
 point of the Euphrates is not 150 miles ; and it has been proposed to con- 
 nect these points by a railroad or canal; in which case the Indian Ocean 
 and Mediterranean would be united. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also 
 make it a possession for the bittern, and I will sweep it with 
 the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." Unless, 
 therefore, we can prove that this king of Babylon has run his 
 course, we must admit that the destruction of Babylon, as 
 here described, is yet future. 
 
 Moreover, Israel is not to sing this song over the king of 
 Babylon until they themselves are not merely delivered, but 
 rule over their oppressors. " The Lord will have mercy 
 upon Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in 
 their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, 
 and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the 
 peoples shall take them and bring them to their place ; and 
 the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the 
 Lord, for servants and handmaids ; and they shall take them 
 captives whose captives they were ; and they shall rule over 
 their oppressors. And it shall come to pass, in the day that 
 the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and thy fear, 
 and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 
 that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Ba- 
 bylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased the golden 
 city ceased ! " When, since the days of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 to the present hour, has Israel been thus carried back to 
 their land by the nations ? When have they taken them cap- 
 tives whose captives they were ; or when have they ruled 
 over their oppressors ? A remnant of Israel were restored 
 by Cyrus, but they were strictly ruled over by him, instead 
 of being rulers over him ; and the rest of Israel continued 
 dispersed among the nations. It is evident, therefore, that 
 the whole scene of this chapter is future, and that Babylon 
 is yet again to be the golden city, has yet to practise oppres- 
 sions, and is yet to be made to cease from them. 
 
 Indeed the period of the final destruction of Babylon is 
 universally identified in the Scripture with that of the final 
 forgiveness and restoration of Israel. Thus the 50th chapter 
 of Jeremiah, after describing the blow that is to fall upon. 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 93 
 
 Babylon adds "In those days and in that time, saith the 
 Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children 
 of Judah together, going and weeping ; they shall go and 
 seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion 
 with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join 
 ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not 
 be forgotten." Again, in the 18th verse of the same chapter: 
 f( Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 
 Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as 
 I have punished the king of Assyria.* And I will bring 
 Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and 
 Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim 
 and Gilead. In those days and in that time, saith the Lord, 
 the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be 
 none ; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found ; 
 for I will pardon them whom I reserve." If, therefore, the 
 final blow had been inflicted on Babylon and its land, Israel 
 would have been forgiven. 
 
 Moreover, in the immediately connected passage in the 
 thirteenth chapter (for the thirteenth and fourteenth of Isaiah 
 should be read as one,) we find that Babylon receives its 
 final visitation at the coining of " The day of the Lord." 
 No one can seriously read the second chapter of this prophet, 
 and doubt what " The day of the Lord " means. It is the 
 day " when the lofty looks of men shall be humbled, and the 
 haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone 
 shall be exalted in that day .... and the idols He 
 shall utterly abolish .... and men shall go into the 
 clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for 
 fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He 
 ariseth to shake terribly the earth." None of these things 
 have yet been. The haughtiness of men is not bowed down 
 
 * This refers to the period when Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. 
 It was taken by Nebuchadnezzar's father. After this Babylon became 
 the head of Assyria, and, therefore, the last king of Babylon Anti- 
 christ, is called the Assyrian. 
 
94 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the idols are not abolished the earth has not been 
 shaken the Lord is not alone exalted ; and, therefore, The 
 day of the Lord, and consequently the visitation of Ba- 
 bylon, has not yet been. 
 
 But the thirteenth chapter does not merely mention the 
 day of the Lord as being the period of Babylon's final visit- 
 ation, but it also describes some of the accompanying signs. 
 " The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not 
 give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going 
 forth ; and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And 
 I will punish THE WORLD for their evil, and the wicked for 
 their iniquity ; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud 
 to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I 
 will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man 
 than a golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the 
 heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in 
 the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce 
 anger." Unless, therefore, it can be shown that the stars 
 have thus been darkened and that the world has thus been 
 punished and that the heavens and earth have thus been 
 shaken ; it follows that the visitation of Babylon here spoken 
 of is yet to come. And if any should doubt whether it be 
 the literal Babylon or no, it is defined in a subsequent verse 
 as being, " Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the 
 Chaldees* excellency." 
 
 Again, we find it prophesied by Jeremiah, that at " the 
 noise of the taking of Babylon, the earth is moved, and the 
 cry is heard among the nations" and also that "Babylon 
 is suddenly fallen and destroyed." There never, perhaps, 
 was an event that affected the world less than the taking of 
 Babylon by Cyrus. All that is said of it in the Scripture is, 
 " In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldseans 
 slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom." (Daniel 
 v. 31.) It was no destruction upon the city. It was the 
 quiet occupation of the throne of Babylon by one person 
 instead of another. And Babylon for ages prospered under 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 95 
 
 the change. It was anything rather than suddenly de- 
 stroyed. Ages after, in the days of Alexander the Great, 
 who died at Babylon, we find it one of the chief cities of the 
 East. St. Peter writes his epistle thence ; and long after the 
 establishment of Christianity, the patriarch of Babylon was 
 one of the great ecclesiastical rulers of the East. Recently, 
 a bishop of Babylon was consecrated by the Pope ; a city 
 named Hillah, containing upwards of 10,000 inhabitants, at 
 present stands on the very site of the ancient city, and the 
 Arabian is still accustomed to pitch his tent in the midst of the 
 scattered ruins.* How then is it possible that the prophecy 
 of the thirteenth of Isaiah should be fulfilled ? 
 
 Seeing, therefore, that the world has not been visited by 
 
 * For further observations on the past history and present condition 
 of Babylon, see " Aids to Prophetic Enquiry, Second Series," as adver- 
 tised at the end of this volume. I have there given a sketch of the plain 
 of Babylon, which shows not only that Hillah, but that many flourishing 
 villages also, stand on the site of Babylon. This plan I submitted to the 
 approval of Colonel Chesney, previous to its publication. Colonel Chesney 
 states, that an Arabian tribe were encamped in the very midst of the 
 ruins of Babylon, during the whole time of his being there. 
 
 It is stated by Mr. Bich, who also personally examined the plain of 
 Babylon with great care, that the ruins of the eastern quarter of Babylon 
 commence about two miles above (i. e. north of) Hillah (page 17), and 
 that the most stupendous ruins of all are about six miles to the south- 
 west, i. e. below Hillah (page 34). This, of course, places Hillah in the 
 midst. Speaking of Hillah itself, he says, " In the foregoing remarks I 
 have taken for granted what indeed appears to be now the general belief, 
 that the ruins AT Hillah are those of Babylon. I have myself no doubt 
 of the fact." (page 21, second part.) 
 
 Mr. Rich further says, " The gardens of Hillah on each side the river 
 are very extensive ; so that the town itself, from a little distance, appears 
 embosomed in a wood of date trees." (page9.) " The air is salubrious, and 
 the soil extremely fertile, producing great quantities of rice, dates, and 
 grain of different kinds, though it is not cultivated to above half the 
 degree of which it is susceptible. The grand cause of this fertility is the 
 Euphrates, the banks of which are lower, and the stream more equal than 
 the Tigris." (page 13.) He then goes on to describe how the toils of 
 agriculture are almost superseded by the annual overflowing of the 
 Euphrates. 
 
296 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the predicted judgment that Israel has not been restored, 
 so as to reign over their enemies that the pride of man 
 has not been finally humbled that no sudden destruction 
 has fallen upon Babylon that the nations have never 
 trembled at its fall that its name is still held as a name 
 of honour that men have not ceased to dwell there that 
 the Arabian has not ceased to pitch his tent there, we con- 
 clude that, like all other similar prophecies, whether respect- 
 ing Egypt, Tyre, Edom, or Jerusalem, the desolation that 
 has taken place is only a warning and forerunner of that 
 which is yet to be, and that the real fulfilment of the pro- 
 phecy will be when the day of the Lord shall come. 
 
 And when we turn from the Old Testament to the New, 
 we find the evidence yet more strengthened ; for it cannot 
 be denied that the Revelation describes the fall of a city, 
 and that the time of its fall is at the end of this dispensation. 
 " And the seventh angel poured forth his vial into the air, 
 and there came a great voice out of the temple in heaven, 
 from the throne, saying, It is done. And 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. And 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. And every island fled away, and the mountains were 
 not found." This is in close accordance with the testimony 
 of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The mention of the Euphrates 
 in the sixteenth chapter of the Revelation, as well as the 
 name Babylon, sufficiently marks the locality of the city 
 that is thus to be destroyed. And when we add to this the 
 predicted establishment of the ephah in the land of Shinar 
 a prophecy long after the taking of Babylon by Cyrus it 
 appears strange scepticism to doubt that the Babylon of the 
 Revelation is the same as that of the Old Testament pro- 
 phets. 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 97 
 
 Moreover, Babylon was not characterised by commerce 
 and traffic by sea, as the Babylon of the latter day will be. 
 The description of the eighteenth of Revelation would ill 
 suit the city of Nebuchadnezzar ; for neither he nor his 
 nobles were merchants. But what city would flourish now 
 that was not a city of merchants ? Accordingly we find it 
 written of the future Babylon, c< Thy merchants were the 
 great men of the earth." "The merchants of the earth shall 
 weep and mourn over her ; for no man buyeth their mer- 
 chandise any more." " The merchants of these things, 
 which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the 
 fear of her torment, weeping and wailing." ff And every 
 shipmaster, and every passenger (o ETTI TOTTOV TrXsow), and 
 sailors, and all who trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried 
 when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city 
 is like unto this great city. And they cast dust on their 
 heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas ! alas ! 
 that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in 
 the sea by reason of her costliness ; for in one hour is she 
 made desolate." Costliness will be the great characteristic 
 of Babylon. It is not so much the refinements of taste and 
 learning, it is not painting, nor poetry, nor architecture, nor 
 sculpture, neither the sound of the trumpet, nor the voice of 
 the warrior, that we find within her walls.* It is the place 
 of utility, rather than of taste of luxurious enjoyment, not 
 of hardship and war. Other nations and other ages have 
 indulged their tastes, and been content, like Athens, with 
 refinement and poverty ; or have lived, like Rome, in the 
 camp, and been satisfied to buy glory by the sacrifice of 
 rest. But this city will grow up under a system which 
 teaches to value the utilities of wealth. Things dainty, and 
 things goodly, which cause to live deliciously, are the fruits 
 
 * I do not mean that she will have none of these things for she 
 will, and that in abundance ; but the omission of them from the list of her 
 greatness, shows that they are not the characteristics of her condition. 
 
298 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 after which Babylon lusteth. She is "tender and delicate" 
 "the lady of kingdoms." (Is. xlvii. 1, 5.) 
 
 The list of Babylon's merchandise contains little that is in 
 itself evil with two exceptions, nothing. The merchan- 
 dise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, 
 and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all 
 thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner 
 vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and 
 marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frank- 
 incense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and 
 beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, these and such 
 like things are not in themselves evil. They are most of 
 them a part of the creation of God, which Jesus will in due 
 time gather around Himself, to the glory of God and the 
 joy and blessing of His saints. We read of myrrh, and 
 aloes, and cassia, and ivory palaces, as constituting, in the 
 age to come, part of the glory of the great King ; and the 
 gates of that city, on the bells of whose horses holiness will 
 be written, will by and bye be crowded with the merchan- 
 dise of the whole earth. " The multitudes of camels shall 
 cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they 
 from Sheba shall come ; they shall bring gold and incense, 
 and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. The glory 
 of Lebanon shall come unto thee ; the fir tree, the pine tree, 
 and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; 
 and I will make the place of my feet glorious." But it is 
 otherwise now, even as it was when the Lord Jesus was here ; 
 for now the world is without God, and these things are in 
 the hand of him who worketh in all the children of disobe- 
 dience. He who habitually felt, when in this world, that He 
 was walking as if through the valley of the shadow of death, 
 could have little desired to clothe Himself with its ornaments : 
 and even if it had been otherwise, if He had felt this earth 
 less fearful and less strange, His very pity and tenderness 
 would have made Him poor ; for how could He be rich 
 who spent His days in ministering to others, and said, " It 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 299 
 
 is more blessed to give than to receive." But it is the habit 
 of Babylon to receive and not to give. The riches of the 
 world flow into her treasuries, and she accumulates, not 
 sparing the bodies of men, and trafficking even in their 
 souls.* 
 
 And now, if the storehouses of this country and of India 
 could be suddenly transferred to the fertile banks of the 
 Euphrates, if ships and passengers in ships from every 
 country were congregated at Babylon as the mart of nations, 
 if the merchants who crowd the exchanges of our great 
 cities, where Jews, Mahomedans, Socinians, and nominal 
 Christians forget their differences in the eager pursuit of a 
 common interest, if such as they were established in the 
 East, as the centre of the religious, intellectual, and moral 
 habits, that should characterize the last great merchant city, 
 would not the picture of this chapter be accomplished? It 
 would be, doubtless, in one sense, a quiet scene. There 
 would be, for a little while, the appearance of fraternity, 
 union, and peace, instead of war and bloodshed ; there would 
 be the quiet tolerance of every lie against God's truth together 
 with schools, and hospitals,f and pleasant pictures, and parks, 
 and gardens, and everything that can solace nature apart 
 from God. Let all this be exhibited in Babylon, as it is now 
 being exhibited elsewhere, and the description of God in this 
 chapter would be fully answered. 
 
 There was a late occasion! in which a great mercantile 
 army supplied with all the resources that Western skill and 
 
 * The state of our manufactories bears witness to the first. As to the 
 second, perhaps England is at present the only country in which the cure 
 of souls is sold at the auction mart, on the same principle as shares in 
 banks or railways. The same office that will give you information as to 
 the one affords information for the most eligible investment of money as 
 to the other. 
 
 f I do not mean that these things are in themselves evil but when 
 philanthropy confines itself to meeting the natural wants of men merely 
 it is most evil. 
 
 I In Afghanistan. 
 
300 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 civilization could give, was resting in fancied security amidst 
 wild hordes of barbarians in the East. They were suddenly 
 assailed by this despised and unsuspected foe a panic, I 
 suppose, from God, fell upon them. "Theyforebore to fight" 
 and were destroyed ; and one only escaped to tell the 
 tale. Events of this kind do not happen without God : 
 they afford to us a warning ; they teach us of that coming 
 hour, when God will again give it in charge to nations of 
 barbarians, to make the city of Eastern and Western civil- 
 ization their prey. " Set ye up a standard in the land, 
 blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations 
 against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, 
 Minni, and Aschenaz ; appoint a captain against her ; cause 
 the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars. Prepare 
 against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the cap- 
 tains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his 
 dominion. And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for 
 every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Ba- 
 bylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an 
 inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have foreboriie to 
 fight they have remained in their holds : their might hath 
 failed they became as women : they have burned her 
 dwelling-places ; her bars are broken. One post shall run 
 to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show 
 the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end ; and 
 that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have 
 burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. For 
 thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the daughter 
 of Babylon is like a threshing-floor ; it is time to thresh 
 her : yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall 
 come." But although its destruction commences thus by the 
 assembling of these nations by the secret providence of God, 
 yet a more terrible visitation follows from the Lord Himself, 
 for the capture of Babylon by these barbarous nations 
 merges into the day of visitation from the Lord. And 
 therefore the same words which commissions some upon the 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 301 
 
 earth to assemble their earthly armies saying, e< Lift ye up 
 a banner upon the high mountains, exalt ye the voice unto 
 them, shake ye the hand that they may go into the gates of 
 the nobles," speak also of another unearthly host whom the 
 Lord Himself assembles, "I have commanded my sanctified 
 ones, / have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, 
 even them that rejoice in my highness." These are they 
 who give the final blow to Babylon, when " the Lord shall 
 punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their 
 iniquity; when He shall cause the arrogancy of the proud 
 to cease, and lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." They 
 will be the hosts of heaven, not of earth. 
 
 We cannot wonder at the severity of the Lord's judgments 
 upon Babylon, when we remember that she commenced in 
 the beginning that course of wickedness, the maturity of 
 which she concentrates at the close. The building of the 
 tower of Babel was the first act of proud defiance of God, 
 that the earth witnessed after the flood. It was the work of 
 men who determined to make themselves great in the earth 
 apart from God; and when she recovered from the blow 
 then inflicted, and was allowed under Nebuchadnezzar to 
 arise into supremacy, the course of that monarch, who glori- 
 fied himself and destroyed the people of God, became the 
 great ensample of the character of Babylon to the end. 
 (f Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, 
 he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he 
 hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly 
 with my delicates, he hath cast me out. The violence done 
 to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant 
 of Zion say ; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, 
 shall Jerusalem say." This relation to Israel, Babylon will 
 retain when held under the dominion of the last great 
 monarch e< who shall take away the daily sacrifice, and plant 
 the dominion that maketh desolate ;" and therefore when 
 Israel begin to sing their song of deliverance, they say, 
 " How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased." 
 
302 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 This, it is said, is their song over the king of Babylon. And 
 we kr,ow from many parts of Scripture that it is not Israel 
 merely that Antichrist will persecute, but also they " who 
 have the faith of Jesus." (Rev. xiv.) 
 
 Before also her subjugation to Antichrist, and whilst her 
 own characteristic system yet prevails, whilst " the woman 
 rides upon the beast," we find her te drunk with the blood of 
 the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." And 
 we cannot wonder at this ; for when we remember the dark 
 death-like night of silence, as to God's truth, that will pre- 
 vail under the system of Babylon, a silence valued because it 
 does not disturb, we may easily suppose that the aggressive- 
 ness which love to souls, as well as a regard to the command- 
 ment of God, must give to faithful Christianity, would neces- 
 sarily bring upon itself the full hatred of a system that is 
 resolved, at whatsoever cost, to obtain for itself repose. Some 
 faithful Christianity will be found, especially in a few who 
 will be called out for the Lord in Jerusalem, in the very 
 heart of the prophetic earth. They will testify of the coming 
 of the Lord of the grace that is in the blood of Jesus 
 of the condition of the nations of the character of the 
 Church, as " the pearl," pure and separate from the defile- 
 ments of the earth ; and their testimony will be with power, 
 and Satan will come to crush it and he will crush it, by 
 means of the kingdoms over which the woman rules, and 
 will then exalt Antichrist unto the throne. (See chap, xii.) 
 We need not wonder, therefore, that it should be said of Ba- 
 bylon, that in her was tf found the blood of prophets, and of 
 saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth." 
 
 Such are the present prospects of the earth. The saints 
 have to wait patiently, and keep the word of the endurance 
 of Christ. Endurance is just the opposite habit to hers 
 who saith, " I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see 
 no sorrow." Gold, and silver, and scarlet, and purple, and 
 fine linen, are spread for the saints, not in Babylon, but in 
 the sanctuary of God. There they know these things, as 
 
ON REVELATION XVIII. 303 
 
 types of heavenly excellencies, which already surround their 
 risen High Priest for them. Yet a little while, and they will 
 go to dwell in that city whose gates are of pearl and its streets 
 of gold, as it were transparent glass, themselves pure as the 
 gates through which they pass glorious also and excellent 
 as the streets on which they tread : there to become the centre 
 of the new and everlasting system of God, when Babylon 
 shall be cast as a millstone into the waters, to fall and to rise 
 no more. 
 
304 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE, 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Boies on gefrtlatian XVII. 
 
 <f And there came one of the seven angels who had the 
 seven vials, and talked with me, saying, f Come hither; I will 
 shew unto thee the judgment of the great harlot,' " fyc.] 
 This is another instance of recurrence to that which had 
 been spoken of before. In preceding chapters, the destruc- 
 tion of Babylon had been mentioned, whereas in this 
 and in the following chapter, we find her described during 
 the time of her exaltation and glory. The same angel that 
 had before been seen as the administrator of the vial of 
 wrath, now comes to teach John respecting the nature of the 
 wickedness that merited so great destruction ; for God is 
 pleased to justify His ways to us. He seeks that we should 
 understand and appreciate the reasons of His judgments. 
 Yet our negligence may in this also frustrate the desires of 
 His goodness. 
 
 " The great Harlot that sitteth upon many waters"] The 
 " many waters " are said to symbolise " peoples, and mul- 
 titudes, and nations, and tongues." See verse 15. This 
 shows the wide extent over which the influence of this evil 
 system will spread. Its influence will not be less extensive 
 than that of Antichrist when he shall have arisen into the 
 height of his individual power. 
 
 The mere circumstance that there is at present no one 
 system, or one individual dominant over the countries indi- 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 305 
 
 cated by the ten horns of the Beast, is a fact alone sufficient 
 to prove the futurity of this vision. We must remember, 
 too, that there is no gradual waning of the power either of 
 the Harlot or of Antichrist. Both are SUDDENLY destroyed 
 the Harlot, by Antichrist Antichrist, by the coming of 
 the Lord. If the Harlot were reigning now, all the Roman 
 world, eastern and western, would be at this present moment 
 entirely subject to her dominion. If she had perished, the 
 whole Roman world would be now under the fell power of 
 Antichrist, as described in Revelation xiii. If Antichrist 
 had perished, we should be now in the millennium. For 
 further evidence of the futurity of this chapter, see " Aids 
 to Prophetic Enquiry, second series." 
 
 " The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with 
 the wine of her fornication ."] This would not have been 
 said of a warlike system, nor of any system that worried and 
 oppressed the nations, or galled them with a religious or any 
 other yoke. But it is a description that well suits a system 
 that enriches the nations by commerce, causes them to live 
 deliciously, studies the comforts and interests of men as men, 
 and takes care that even the claims of truth should not 
 disturb the general tranquillity. 
 
 John was taken into the wilderness in order to see this 
 vision. If we forsake the city of man's greatness, and go 
 without the camp bearing the reproach of Jesus, and 
 morally dwell in the wilderness, we shall find little difficulty 
 in understanding this vision and appreciating the truthful- 
 ness of its description. 
 
 " And I saw a woman"} This woman, who sat "upon a 
 scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy," herself arrayed 
 " in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious 
 stones and pearls, having a cup of gold in her hand full of 
 abominations, and the filthiness of her fornication," will be 
 
 x 
 
306 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 to Babylon the city of man, what the woman "clothed 
 with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her 
 head a crown of twelve stars," will be to Jerusalem "the 
 City of the great King." 
 
 I have already remarked that {f a woman" is a moral 
 symbol. See notes on chapter xii. It is the symbol of the 
 characteristic moral system of the place or people spoken of. 
 A city may exist without its own characteristic system, and 
 may derive its regulations elsewhere, as Babylon will during 
 the time of the individual supremacy of Antichrist ; and as 
 Jerusalem will at that same period : or they may co-exist, as 
 Jerusalem and its own glorious system will, when the millen- 
 nium comes ; and as the Harlot and the city Babylon do in 
 this seventeenth chapter. Consequently, during the time of 
 which the seventeenth chapter treats, it can be truly said, 
 that the Harlot represents " that great city which reigneth 
 over the kings of the earth" for the Harlot and the city are 
 united then she is the city morally : but after the Harlot 
 has been destroyed, and the city of Babylon has lost its own 
 distinguishing system, and gains its formative principles else- 
 where, i.e. from Antichrist, these words could no longer be 
 used. A city will then cease to rule over the kings of the 
 earth ; Antichrist being raised into supremacy. The moral 
 condition of the city of Babylon, and of the nations whose 
 head Babylon will be, will not be improved, but rather made 
 worse by losing its own system, and receiving the fulness of 
 Antichristianism instead. 
 
 The history, however, of the system of God's city Jeru- 
 salem, is blessedly contrasted with that of Babylon's system, 
 in this when Babylon's system is separated from its city, 
 it perishes, and perishes for ever. But when Jerusalem's 
 system is separated from its city, as it even now is, it does 
 not perish. It is indeed outcast in the earth no eye but 
 the eye of faith recognises its beauty; but it exists, and 
 there are some eyes that see it, and some hearts that love and 
 cleave to it ; and they shall continue to cleave to it until the 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 307 
 
 hour comes for it to be united to its own city, and to be 
 exalted in the earth. Then, "all nations shall flow unto it." 
 
 f( Having seven heads and ten horns."] The horns, which 
 represent the kings, are not crowned whilst the Beast carries 
 the Harlot. The crowns will be at this period on the heads 
 of the Dragon, i.e. on those systems by which Satan will 
 order (just as he is now beginning to do) the affairs of the 
 Roman earth. The diadems may well be said to be on the 
 systems, while the monarchs are merely the servants and 
 functionaries of those systems. But when the monarchs 
 " receive authority as kings at one hour with the Beast," 
 the diadems are on the horns. See Rev. xiii. After this it 
 would be impossible for any one who wears one of the ten 
 diadems to be saved. 
 
 "And upon her forehead a name written) MYSTERY, BABYLON 
 
 THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND THE ABOMI- 
 NATIONS OF THE EARTH."] This passage might be translated, 
 <f a name written, a mystery ;" but a subsequent verse, viz. 
 " I will show thee the mystery of the woman," &c., seems to 
 show that the term " mystery " pertains to the woman, and 
 not merely to her name. 
 
 The various " mysteries" mentioned in the New Testa- 
 ment are not allowed to remain unexplained to the children 
 of faith. To them they are unfolded and made known. " To 
 you," said our Lord, C( it is given to know the mysteries of 
 the kingdom of heaven." So also here, (( Iwill tell thee the 
 mystery of the woman," &c. 
 
 When the world shall behold tha.t skilful and attractive 
 system which the Harlot symbolises, extending its wondrous 
 influence over the civilised world when they shall see it 
 also sustained and administered by an individual like Anti- 
 christ, who will then first appear, distinguished, intellectually 
 and otherwise, by powers such as men have never before 
 
 x 2 
 
308 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 beheld, they will little think such a system and such an 
 individual to be what this chapter declares. They will 
 understand this ec mystery" as little as they understand "the 
 mystery of godliness." 
 
 But there is yet another reason why the word " mystery" 
 should be applied to this system. The Apostle Paul in 
 2 Thess. ii. had spoken " of the mystery of lawlessness " 
 as even then secretly working. He had spoken of a period 
 when this mystery, then hidden, should appear " out of the 
 midst," (/c ^i<rou 5 ) and become developed, and that, at the 
 time when Antichrist likewise should appear. The Prophet 
 Zechariah also prophesying of a time subsequent to the Apostle, 
 had described the woman as " shut up" in the ephah to- 
 gether with " wickedness." Thus we have three stages marked 
 in the history of the mystery of iniquity first, when it was 
 secretly working in the midst of society in the Apostle's 
 days; secondly, when it becomes secretly connected with 
 the ephah ; thirdly, when it ceases to be hidden and be- 
 comes developed, as described in this chapter. Seeing then 
 that that which in its two previous stages had been a mis- 
 tery hidden, had now become a mystery developed, the word 
 mystery might well be written on the woman's brow. It 
 identified her as that of which prophets and apostles had 
 spoken once having her principles hidden, but now mani- 
 fested and applied. 
 
 The passage to which I have referred in 2 Thess. ii. is, 
 strictly translated, as follows : " And ye know that at present 
 there is that which restraineth, in order that he, i. e. Anti- 
 christ, might be revealed in his appointed season (and not 
 before). For the mystery of lawlessness is already working 
 (only there is at present one that restraineth) until it become 
 developed out of the midst, and then shall the Lawless one 
 be revealed," &c. It is important to observe the translation 
 which I have given of the words fwc tK /Lieaov yci^rat, donee 
 E mediojiat, not DE medio ; until it (that is, the mystery 
 of iniquity, which is now secretly working in the midst of 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 309 
 
 society) become developed. When we speak of a person 
 who had been hidden in a crowd appearing " out of the 
 midst" of that crowd or when we speak of a horn springing 
 (f out of" the head of an animal, there is in neither of these 
 cases any thought of removal or taking away, but simply of 
 manifestation. So is it in the. present instance. That which 
 is now working secretly in the midst of men, is soon to come 
 forth in palpable development, and then it will cease to be a 
 hidden mystery any longer. 
 
 There is nothing in the words EK JLIZGOV to signify removal 
 or taking away. They mean simply e medio out of the 
 midst. In other passages they are connected with the words 
 apirafroj to snatch away (Acts xxiii. 10) ; or with at/>w, 
 to take away (1 Cor. vi. 17) ; and in these cases there is, 
 of course, the sense of separation or removal a sense de- 
 rived entirely from the word which is appended to K ^i<rou, 
 and not from /c yu<rou itself. The word with which it is 
 connected in the Thessalonians, viz. y^r/rat, has not at 
 all the sense of removal, but rather of origin or existence. 
 See also fc&Xflcre EK /UEVOV in 2 Cor. vi. 18. 
 
 If the translation be thus corrected, " the mystery of 
 iniquity" becomes the nominative to ytvi)Tai. The words, 
 11 only there is at present one that restraineth," are in a 
 parenthesis TO yap /nvGTrjpiov rjcrj EvtpytiTai Trig avo/uLiag 
 (JJLOVOV o Kar^(tu> apTi) G>f; /c /i<rou ytvijTai /cat ror, &c. 
 for the mystery of lawlessness is already working (only 
 there is at present one that restraineth), an d will so continue 
 to work until it be developed out of the midst, and then 
 shall that Lawless one be revealed, &c. For further re- 
 marks on the whole of 2 Thess. ii. see ff Prospects of the 
 Ten Kingdoms of the Roman Empire," page 176. 
 
 ' " Drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the 
 Hood of the martyrs of Jesus," fyc.] These words clearly 
 show that this rising system will become a fierce perse- 
 
310 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 cutor before its course is run. Protestantism, even in its 
 best days, sought refuge in the secular arm rather than in 
 God. It has wished that " congresses should supersede 
 councils," and it will have its desire : but congresses are 
 not God. "A bishop (says Cranmer) may make a priest 
 by the Scripture, and so may princes and governors also, 
 and that by the authority of God committed to them." 
 Can we wonder at the failure of Protestantism after this? 
 Nevertheless God's truth is among the Protestants and 
 through that truth there will arise some who will refuse 
 to have the voice of their testimony silenced, and whose 
 aggressiveness will disturb the quiet of the Babylonish 
 system, and so furnish an excuse for its persecutions; and 
 thus many a Protestant will be made to prove that they who 
 lean upon any thing instead of God, lean upon a broken 
 reed, which is sure to run into the hand and pierce it. The 
 proud secular power, after having long struggled with and 
 at last effectually subdued into obedience the great eccle- 
 siastical systems of the whole earth, will ill brook the 
 interference of a few despised saints. The irreligion too 
 of liberalism has never disliked that real Christianity should 
 be restrained and punished. 
 
 (i The beast which thou sawest, was and is not" *c.] Se- 
 veral explanations have been given of this passage. 
 
 Some have supposed that it implies that Antichrist is a 
 person who has already lived, and will be raised again from 
 the dead; but this notion, although very prevalent in the 
 early centuries, as indeed it still is, appears to have no suffi- 
 cient warrant from Scripture. 
 
 Others consider that it refers to Antichrist, not as an 
 individual, but in his official capacity as Imperial Head of 
 the Roman world. In this sense he may be said to have 
 existed, to cease to exist, and to exist again. He is Caesar 
 revived. If this interpretation be adopted, it is necessary to 
 
iSTOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 311 
 
 regard the words, e( was, is not, &c." as having no specific 
 chronological reference, but as a general expression denoting 
 possession of existence, cessation of existence, and existence 
 recovered. 
 
 The difficulty in the way of giving a definite chronological 
 interpretation to the words '" IS NOT " is this if the time 
 were supposed to be that at which John beheld the vision, 
 the Imperial Head of the Roman Empire had not then ceased 
 to exist. If, on the other hand, as is common in prophecy, 
 we are supposed to be in the midst of the scene prophesied 
 of, the words IS NOT would be scarcely applicable in a 
 chronological sense to Antichrist, when possessed of that 
 measure of power which is ascribed to him in this chapter ; 
 although it is undoubtedly true that he will not have reached 
 the full development of his imperial character, nor attain, if 
 I may use the expression, his Csesar-standing, until he has 
 passed through the condition described in this chapter. 
 In that sense his rise into his distinguishing greatness is 
 certainly described in this chapter as future. 
 
 Another interpretation is, that the words " was and is not," 
 are not to be taken in any chronological sense, but as a 
 formulary expressive of transitoriness of existence ; opposed, 
 therefore, to the words who " was, and is, and is to come," 
 as applied to the Eternal One. In this sense, faith, placing 
 itself forward at the hour of the great consummation, would 
 say of Antichrist, even at the time of his most established 
 glory, " he was, and is not." " Behold, at evening-time 
 trouble ; and before the morning, he is not. This is the 
 portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that 
 rob us." 
 
 If we adopt this last interpretation, the passage would be 
 translated and punctuated as follows : " The Beast that thou 
 sawest was, and is not. And he is about to ascend out of 
 the bottomless pit and to go into perdition. And they that 
 dwell upon the earth shall wonder, whose names were not 
 written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 when they behold the Beast which was, and is not. And he 
 shall be present." 
 
 Another explanation, unattended by any of the diffi- 
 culties which attacn. more or less to all the interpretations 
 already given, is this that Antichrist is here regarded as 
 about to be a second Nebuchadnezzar, or a revived head of 
 Babylon, which he becomes as soon as he has destroyed the 
 woman. Accordingly, Antichrist in the Old Testament 
 prophets is continually called the king of Babylon, and the 
 Assyrian. See, for example, Isaiah xiv. 3 : " It shall come 
 to pass when the Lord shall give thee (Israel) rest from thy 
 sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage 
 wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up 
 this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How 
 hath the oppressor ceased? " &c. 
 
 In the same chapter he is called the Assyrian, as being 
 the last head of Assyria : " The Lord of hosts hath sworn, 
 saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass : 
 as I have purposed so shall it stand; that I will break the 
 Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him 
 under foot : then shall his yoke depart from off them, and 
 his burthen depart from off their shoulders. This is the 
 purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is 
 the hand that is stretched out over all the nations." See 
 also Isaiah x. 5, 4 ; Isaiah xxx. 31 and 33. See also 
 Jeremiah 1. throughout. 
 
 We can easily suppose how all the earth will wonder when 
 they see not only Babylon and Assyria but a king of Baby- 
 lon restored and reigning over the whole Roman world. If 
 this interpretation, which I doubt not is the correct one, be 
 received, the passage will read thus : " The beast that thou 
 sawest, was and is not, and is about to ascend out of the 
 abyss and to go into perdition ; and those who dwell on the 
 earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book 
 of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold 
 the beast, because he was, and is not, and will be present." 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. SIS 
 
 The history of Nebuchadnezzar is necessarily related to 
 that of Antichrist. Nebuchadnezzar was the first king of 
 that Gentile dynasty which Antichrist concludes. Antichrist 
 inherits that power which was first committed to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar as the golden head of the image shown to Daniel. 
 Nebuchadnezzar was the first "treader down" of Israel 
 Antichrist the last. Nebuchadnezzar raised an image, and 
 caused it to be worshipped, destroying those who refused 
 so will Antichrist. Nebuchadnezzar was the spring of 
 Babylon's energies so will Antichrist. The offences which 
 Nebuchadnezzar commenced against Israel and Israel's God, 
 are said in Jeremiah to be finally punished when the last 
 king of Babylon Antichrist, is smitten. 
 
 It is worthy of note too, that the power of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, after he had conquered Tyre, touched almost all the 
 countries of the Roman world over which Antichrist will reign. 
 The commercial energy of the Phenicians had reached and 
 planted colonies in almost every country of the Roman 
 world. Nebuchadnezzar succeeding to their power, thus 
 foreshadowed the dominion which, in its Roman shape, will 
 finally accrue to his last great heir.* Well, therefore, may 
 Antichrist be considered as the monarch of Babylon revived. 
 He was he is not but he will again be present. 
 
 " Seven mountains"^ " Seven mountains " are to the 
 woman, i. e. Babylon morally, what seven heads are to the 
 Beast. In either case, completeness of governmental influ- 
 ence is symbolised possessed by her as the mistress by 
 him as the executive servant. 
 
 " Mountain" is continually used in Scripture in connec- 
 tion with the thought of legislative or governmental autho- 
 rity. Mount Sinai was the place on which God descended 
 
 * See " Note on early Diffusion of Commerce and the Hebrew Language, 
 in Aids to Prophetic Enquiry. Second Series," p. 135. 
 
314 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 when He first legislated for Israel. When the Lord Jesus 
 legislated for His disciples He went up into a mountain. 
 Mount Zion is mentioned throughout the Psalms and the 
 Prophets as the seat of divine authority and rule in the mil- 
 lennial day. ef It shall come to pass in the last days, that 
 the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the 
 top of the mountains [i. e. in supremacy over all other seats 
 of authority] and shall be exalted above the hills. . . . For 
 out of Zion shall go forth the law/' &c. (Isa. ii.) Again, in 
 Psalm ii. : " Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of 
 Zion." In Psalm Ixxii. it is said, " The mountains shall 
 bring peace to the peoples, and the little hills } by means of 
 righteousness," i. e. in the reign of the Lord Jesus, the 
 greater and the lesser seats of authority shall minister peace 
 to all peoples, because righteousness shall be there. Again, 
 in Psalm Ixxv. : " Lift not up your horn on high : speak not 
 with a stiff neck, for promotion [literally mountains, D^f?] 
 cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from 
 the south ; but God is the judge ; he putteth down one, and 
 setteth up another." 
 
 The woman being said to sit on seven mountains, indicates 
 that Babylon moral (in other words, the system which makes 
 Babylon what she will be, governmeiitally) will be sovereign 
 mistress of everything that could be deemed a seat or centre 
 of governmental influence in the earth. 
 
 In this chapter Babylon moral (or Babylonianism, in the 
 same sense as we say Romanism) is said to be seated 
 
 I. On many waters. 
 II. On the Beast. 
 III. On seven mountains. 
 
 Now inasmuch as we are not accustomed to say because of 
 this, that Babylon physically is builded on many waters, or 
 on the Beast, (which would be impossible and absurd,) so no 
 proof could be drawn from this, that Babylon physical would 
 be builded on seven hills. 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 315 
 
 Whenever Babylonianism is the mistress of all the seats of 
 governmental influence, ecclesiastical, military, monetary, 
 legislative, educational, and the like, she will sit (to use the 
 symbolic language of this chapter) on " seven mountains." 
 
 It is true, indeed, that there were in Babylon of old, 
 artificial piles made to resemble mountains of greater height 
 than any of the hills of Rome. It is possible that such may 
 again exist in Babylon, and be made the seats of those struc- 
 tures that will form the centres of Babylon's governmental 
 influence. This may be, but it is not necessary to fulfil the 
 words of this chapter. 
 
 Rome has chosen to style herself the e< seven-hilled city :" 
 but it is mere assumption. No seven hills are there. Peaks 
 of the same hill are made hills ; in other words, the same 
 hill is reckoned twice over in order to make out the number. 
 Babylon had far more reason to boast of her mountains than 
 Rome. For further observations on this subject, see " Aids 
 to Prophetic Enquiry, second series, p. 85." 
 
 All completeness of authority, at the period of which this 
 chapter treats, is possessed by the mighty system that will at 
 that time be established in Babylon. Babylonianism will 
 rule. But this system will have for its executive agent the 
 individual here described. Of course all the authority that 
 is possessed by a system subordinately, attaches to the person 
 who gives effect to that system. Hence -the Beast who 
 carries the woman, has in his " seven heads" the symbol of 
 the same completeness of authority as is represented, in 
 relation to the woman, by the "seven mountains." This 
 concentration of all authority is found in no present system 
 in no present individual. 
 
 "A.nd tliere are seven kings ; the Jive are fatten, the one is, 
 the other is not yet come ; and when he shall have come, he 
 must continue a short space."'] This is a parenthetic, or, to 
 speak perhaps more correctly, an epenthetic or additional 
 
 0* TH1 
 
 'WVERSITY; 
 
316 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 verse, treating of a subject entirely distinct from that of the 
 previous verse, where the " seven mountains " are men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Authority is one thing ; the mode of its exercise is another. 
 The latter has been a subject of as much contention among 
 men as the former; for when power exists, the next question 
 always is how, and by whom it is to be exercised. The men- 
 tion of the Beast through whom the authority is exercised 
 during the reign of the Harlot, and by whom it is exercised 
 afterward during the period of his sole dominion,, had neces- 
 sarily introduced the subject of executive power. The history 
 of executive power must in part be retrospective. Accord- 
 ingly, this verse referring to the first and last forms in which 
 executive authority is exercised in the prophetic earth, treats 
 of successive forms of kingship exercised through a series of 
 ages, and closed by Antichrist ; whereas the former verse, 
 (under the symbol of " the seven mountains," and " the seven 
 heads of the Beast") treats of that which forms the basis of 
 the Harlot's and the Beast's power, and which, so far from 
 extending through successive ages, exists only during the 
 comparatively brief period of her and his dominion. 
 
 As regards executive power, God has allowed it to be 
 exhibited in seven different forms in the prophetic earth, and 
 there will yet be another before the end comes. The history 
 of executive power or kingship in the prophetic earth, com- 
 mences with Nimrod, and ends with Antichrist ; the first and 
 the last whose names stand connected with Babel. 
 
 The native monarchy of Nimrod the theocracy of Israel 
 the systematic despotic monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 which was, in a peculiar sense, established by God the 
 aristocratic monarchy of Persia the military monarchy of 
 Alexander the empire of the Caesars, which arose out of 
 democracy and the clay-iron or constitutional monarchies 
 of modern Europe, are the seven forms which have already 
 appeared. The sixth, viz. that of the Caesars, was existent 
 when the Revelation was given ; the seventh, though it has 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 317 
 
 appeared, has -not yet been perfected; the eighth, which is 
 reserved for Antichrist, closes the scene. 
 
 It should be observed that the periods at which the Scrip- 
 ture recognises these monarchies as formed, are the periods 
 in which they assume their full and proper characters. For 
 example, Greece is not known in Scripture until Alexan- 
 der; nor Rome until Augustus Caesar; consequently, the oli 
 garchic, aristocratic, and democratic contests in Greece, out 
 of which Alexander's military monarchy sprung, are not 
 mentioned, neither the similar contests at Rome, which ended 
 in the supremacy of the Cassars and their successors ; neither 
 the feudal and democratic struggles of Europe which are 
 still being continued, and will finally end in establishing (as 
 has long been the case in England) popular monarchic or 
 constitutional governments throughout the ten kingdoms 
 of the Roman world. This we know from the express 
 statement of Daniel ; for all the toes of the image were ( ' iron 
 mixed with miry clay." The countries where at present the 
 principle of representative government is more or less re- 
 cognised, are England, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, 
 Piedmont, and Greece. 
 
 Some have endeavoured to alter the translation of this 
 passage, and, instead of reading this verse as epenthetic, have 
 attached it to the foregoing thus : " the seven heads are 
 seven mountains on which the woman sitteth, and are seven 
 kings." But it should have been remembered that " the 
 mountains "or " heads" are cotemporaneous , not successive; 
 whereas the seven or rather eight kings are emphatically 
 successive. " Five have fallen, the one is, the other is not 
 yet come" the Beast is the eighth. Besides which the 
 Beast, who is the eighth of these successive kings, cannot 
 symbolise the same thing as one of his heads, which would 
 be the case if the proposed translation were adopted. Some 
 also have spoken of an (( eighth head :" but that is altogether 
 a mistake. There is no such thing as an eight-headed 
 beast ; in that case there would have been eight mountains 
 
318 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 too. The Beast has seven heads, and the woman sits on 
 seven mountains heads and mountains symbolising the 
 same thing, viz. seats of governmental power, of which he, 
 as representing the eighth and last form of executive power 
 (in other words, being the eighth king) becomes finally the 
 sole possessor. 
 
 " And the'Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth 
 and is of (*K) the seven, and goeth into perdition"} All 
 who remember the use of this word (eighth) in Leviticus and 
 elsewhere will know, that whilst it implies the commencement 
 of something new, yet that it represents that new thing as 
 connected with and springing out of that which has pre- 
 ceded. There could be no resurrection without previous 
 existence no eighth day unless seven had preceded. The 
 era of Antichrist will pretend to bring to the world just 
 what the day of resurrection will really bring to the saints 
 satisfying and enduring blessing. Antichrist will be "the 
 day-star " of their hopes. He will profess to be the " son of 
 the morning." But their new day will soon set in the black- 
 ness of darkness for ever. 
 
 " And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which 
 have not yet received a kingdom"] These must not be con- 
 fused with the seven or rather eight kings of the preceding 
 verse. Those seven kings were not co-existent, but the ten 
 will be ; neither were they seen as part of the vision, for 
 they are represented by no symbol. They represent classes 
 of governors in the history (for the most part the past his- 
 tory) of executive power, and nothing is said of their own 
 individual history : whereas this verse contains the future 
 history (future even at the period when the woman shall 
 have been manifested) of the ten cotemporary kings who, 
 during the period of which the seventeenth chapter treats, 
 are uncrowned in other words, have no proper ro'yal 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 319 
 
 authority ; but receive it as soon as Antichrist receives his 
 supreme authority, viz. at the moment when he and they 
 together concur in destroying the woman. These are they 
 who, gathered around their lord of lords and king of kings, 
 (the eighth king of the preceding series,) will actually defy 
 the true "Lord of lords and King of kings," when His 
 saints and Himself shall be manifested in their glory. (See 
 chap, xix.) 
 
 It should be observed that the right reading of the six- 
 teenth verse is as follows : " And the ten horns which thou 
 sawest AND THE BEAST these shall hate the harlot," 
 &c. (See Tregelles.) 
 
 Some have objected to the translation, " they receive 
 power as kings at one hour (fjiiav wjoay) with the Beast," on 
 the ground that the accusative is used to signify duration of 
 time, and not point of time. This, however, is not true as 
 regards the New Testament. It is used to signify both. See 
 Acts x. 3: OKT upav zvvarriv "about the ninth hour" 
 Also Acts x. 30 : " At the ninth hour I prayed" 
 
 " The woman which thou saivest is that great city which 
 is sovereign over the kings of the earth"] This verse iden- 
 tifies the reigning city here spoken of with the woman and 
 her greatness. The city is spoken of not merely as reign- 
 ing, but as reigning after the manner symbolised by the 
 woman. Will any say that this was the condition of Rome 
 when the Apostle wrote ? If this had been the condition of 
 Rome then, it would be her condition now ; or else Anti- 
 christ would have destroyed her, and be himself supreme 
 over the whole Roman earth. 
 
 Moreover, Imperial Rome never held the kind of power 
 here described. The special characteristic of the woman's 
 power is, that it is supreme over all the executive instruments 
 of her government, even over the beast on whom she rides. 
 Was this the relation of the Csesars to Rome ? Did Rome, 
 
320 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 or Rome's system, rule over them ? Just the reverse. 
 Ecclesiastical Romanism has sought to reign thus, but it has 
 never succeeded, even in its own limited sphere, much less 
 throughout the whole Roman world. Latitudinarian Baby- 
 lonianism will attain a greatness that Romanism has sought 
 in vain. 
 
 This verse, therefore, was not true at the time when John 
 saw the vision. It is a prophetic verse, true when the 
 woman shall have been manifested, and not before. 
 
 The following note on the words " which reigneth " is 
 transcribed from (( A.ids to Prophetic Enquiry " second series, 
 page 141. 
 
 In commenting on this passage, some have insisted that 
 the words " which reigneth " should be taken in a strictly 
 present sense ; and thence have argued that the city must be 
 Rome Imperial Rome which was supreme when the 
 Apostle wrote. 
 
 But they seem to have forgotten that in a prophetic vision, 
 which avowedly directs the mind to something that is future, 
 every word that speaks of that future thing as present 
 must, by the necessity of the case, begin to apply only when 
 that future thing is developed. Thus, in the twenty-first 
 chapter, it is said " the first heaven and first earth have 
 passed away (cnrrjXOov^, and the sea no longer is." (tori) 
 The last word is strictly in the present tense ; yet no one 
 would think of applying it to any but a future period. See 
 also the second verse of chapter xii., where " crieth" (fcpacf) 
 and the rest of the verbs are in the present tense, although 
 belonging to a future period. 
 
 In the seventeenth chapter the vision is not concerning 
 the woman alone. It also has reference to the beast that 
 carries her. This fixes the chronology of the vision as 
 future ; for tl^e Beast is said to be the eighth of that line of 
 kings of ^ which John was living under the sixth. Besides 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 
 
 which, I have already shown that it is impossible that either 
 the woman or the Beast should symbolize Imperial Rome. 
 (See page 82 of " Aids to Prophetic Enquiry.") 
 
 Even then, if the present indicative (^ric; jSacriAeua) were 
 here used in its strictly present sense, the chronology of the 
 vision would still render the reference future. But the 
 present indicative is not used. It is the present participle ; 
 a tense, appropriated, I may almost say, in the Greek Testa- 
 ment, to the expression of ideas that are abstract and 
 independent of any particular time. In Hebrew also it is 
 continually used for the same purpose. 
 
 In every language it is necessary that there should be 
 some means of expressing abstract notions. In English 
 they are commonly signified by one form of our present 
 indicative ; the forms of that tense being three, e. g. I walk 
 am walking do walk. The first of these is used to 
 convey the abstract thought. If it were said to me, " Do 
 you walk or ride ?" and my reply were, " I walk," no one 
 would understand me to mean that I was at that moment 
 engaged in the act of walking. I might perhaps be sitting 
 still when I said it. I should have used the present tense in 
 an abstract sense, without reference to time my meaning 
 being that it was my habit to walk and not to ride. 
 
 The tense that peculiarly implies this in Hebrew is the 
 present participle (Pohail) in Greek, the present participle, 
 or perfect middle participle. The present indicative is also 
 frequently used, as in English, in the abstract sense ; but in 
 such cases the sense is marked as being abstract, either by 
 the use of the present participle in connection therewith, or 
 by the nature of the subject. The Epistles of John and his 
 Gospel afford abundant instances of this. 
 
 The following are examples of the use of the present 
 participle in this abstract sense, and will show how in- 
 dependent it is of fixed time. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 " They are dead the seekers of the young child's life" 
 Ot farowTtG. We cannot translate this present participle 
 as if it were the past nor could we say of dead persons 
 that they are seeking the life of another. The abstract form, 
 therefore is used, independent of time, denoting that the 
 persons referred to were so inherently characterised by 
 hatred of that holy child, that even when dead they are 
 marked as (e seekers of his life." 
 
 "The Son of man, o wi>, not OCSOTI, in heaven." 
 As regarded His personal presence, the Son of man was 
 on earth, not in heaven, when these words were spoken. 
 But in consequence of that which He essentially was as 
 Divine ; He was the I AM, the Being-one in heaven. 
 
 "Behold the Lamb of God, o aipwv, the sin of the world" 
 
 O aiQuv neither means who is taking away (o at>i), nor 
 ivho hath taken away (oe #/>?KCI/). In that case all the world 
 must be saved. It denotes that He, of whom these words 
 are spoken, is One to whom the title or office of being the 
 taker-away of sin is appropriated. Even when there is not 
 the same strict sense of appropriated office, as in the instance 
 now given, the abstract form of expression is used. Thus 
 we say: " the King, the conquering One;" or "the King, 
 the conqueror " expressions which convey a thought 
 different from that which is implied by saying, the King 
 who is conquering, or the King who has conquered. 
 
 " This is my body, TO K\M^vo}>,for you" 
 The Papists, or Puseyites, argue on this word as if it were 
 o K\arai } which is being at this moment broken. If it were 
 so, it would prove nothing on their behalf; but even the 
 semblance of an argument is taken away when the proper 
 abstract force of the participle is apprehended. His body 
 was one to which, by necessity of Divine appointment, 
 " breaking " attached. It had become a characteristic attri- 
 bute of that holy body. 
 
 Instances are equally abundant in the Hebrew. 
 
NOTES ON -REVELATION XV1T. 
 
 "Thou that art the dweller between the cherubim" 
 
 not the relative and indicative. The words occur 
 in one of the repentant Psalms of Israel, after the temple 
 had been forsaken. Yet Jehovah is still addressed, not as 
 one who is dwelling there at that moment, hut as one who 
 has, through His faithful grace, that inalienable relation to 
 His land and people. (Ps. Ixxx.) 
 
 "Behold, I creating or the Creator of (N*VO) new heavens and 
 a new earth" (Isa. Ixv. 18.) 
 
 He thus addresses Israel at the commencement of the 
 millennium, a thousand years before the new heavens and 
 earth are made. Indeed, even in cases where the action is 
 present, the abstract form is used in Hebrew in addressing 
 Jehovah, or in addressing kings, because it is more reverential 
 seeing that it assigns lasting and not transitory attributes. 
 
 In the passage before us it is not difficult to apprehend the 
 meaning of r/ /Sao-iAeuouo-a ee who hath sovereignty over 
 the kings of the earth." The force of the expression is 
 titular and ascriptive, implying far more than "who is reign- 
 ing" The very distinctive characteristic of the city spoken 
 of will be, that through its system it will be, avowedly and 
 by acknowledgment, sovereign over crowns. She will hold 
 and exercise sovereignty as if by inherent right over the 
 kings of the Roman earth. 
 
 Revelation xviii. 1. " Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great"] 
 These words refer, not to the destruction of the woman, but 
 of the city itself. I have already said that the woman repre- 
 sents the city morally, i. e. as to its characteristic system, 
 which is destroyed, not by the nations that capture Babylon, 
 but by Antichrist, three years and a half before the city 
 falls. 
 
 That the symbol is changed in the eighteenth chapter 
 from a woman to a city, (though a city is still a feminine 
 
 Y 2 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 symbol,) is evident from the language employed ; for if the 
 symbol had been still a woman, it would not have been said, 
 " Come out of her, my people," &c.; nor that she had become 
 the "habitation of devils, and the hold of every unclean 
 spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Com- 
 pare with this the conclusion of Isaiah xiii. It would seem 
 that Babylon is to remain, whilst Immanuel's land teems 
 with blessing, a memorial, throughout the whole millennium, 
 of the judgment which God's hand has executed on the 
 works of man's evil in former generations. 
 
 The preface of this chapter, as in other visions, is in time 
 later than the verses that succeed. In the second verse it is 
 said, "Babylon hath fallen," "hath become," c.; whereas 
 in the third and seventh verses we go back to present 
 time "She saith in her heart," &c. The preface continues 
 to the end of the third verse. Faith has always to view the 
 city of man's greatness according to this testimony of her 
 final judgment. 
 
 " Come out of her, my people" 8fc.~\ In a former edition, I 
 regarded these words as addressed to a remnant of Israel 
 who are to be delivered when Babylon falls : but, on further 
 consideration, they appear to me to have a wider and more 
 important application, as being addressed to those who have 
 wisdom and grace to discern the signs of the times and to 
 quit the sphere of moral danger and temptation, before (like 
 Lot in Sodom) they are driven out by the actual intervention 
 of judgment. The delivered remnant of Israel are plainly 
 referred to in such a passage as this : " The voice of them 
 that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon to declare in 
 Zion, the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of 
 His temple." Such "flight and escaping" will not pertain 
 to those who give heed to the previous warning. 
 
 There seems to be a remarkable analogy in the circum- 
 stances connected with the final visitation on Babylon, and 
 that on Jerusalem. It appears from Zechariah xii. and 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 
 
 Joel ii., that when the hostile armies of Gentiles are on 
 the point of seizing on Jerusalem for the last time, not only 
 does the Lord Himself visibly interfere, but He also causes 
 a remnant of Israel to become strong, like Gideon of old, 
 with the strength of God, and employs them against His 
 and their enemies. Part of the tribe of Judah, which is 
 without the walls of Jerusalem, leagued with the invading 
 Gentiles in fighting against Jerusalem,* will be first saved 
 and strengthened and made like "a torch of fire in a 
 sheaf;" and next the house of David and the inhabitants 
 of the city in Jerusalem, will be made strong in the strength 
 of God, and they shall destroy their enemies. 
 
 At Babylon also we find that, after the city has been cap- 
 tured, and the visitation of the Lord supervenes on the 
 capture, Israel is strengthened by the Lord, and becomes 
 one of the weapons of His indignation against His enemies. 
 Hence the words of Jeremiah, " Thou (Jacob) art my battle 
 axe and weapons of war : for with thee will I break in pieces 
 the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms. And 
 with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider, 
 and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his 
 rider : with thee also will I break in pieces man and woman, 
 and with thee will I break in pieces old and young, and 
 with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the 
 maid. I will also break in pieces with thee, the shepherd 
 and his flock, and with thee will I break in pieces the hus- 
 bandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee will I break in 
 pieces captains and rulers ; and I will render unto Babylon 
 and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they 
 have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord." 
 
 The progressiveness of the judgment will account for the 
 merchants, &c. standing afar off and witnessing her destruc- 
 
 * See Zechariah xii., which literally translated is as follows : " Be- 
 hold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the peoples round 
 about ; and also against Judah shall it (the cup of trembling) be in the 
 siege against Jerusalem." 
 
326 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tion: but another visitation soon follows which includes 
 them also, and a man is made more precious than fine gold, 
 even a man than a golden wedge of Ophir so great and 
 universal is the destruction from the hand of the Lord 
 Himself. 
 
 11 And the kings of the earth," $'<?.] The influence of 
 Babylon will doubtless be felt widely throughout the 
 world: but it will be the metropolis of the Roman earth. 
 The countries included within the Roman earth have been 
 already enumerated, see Notes on Rev. xiii. 
 
 It is not at this moment possible to say -exactly how these 
 countries will finally be distributed so as to form Ten king- 
 doms : nor can we tell the means whereby it may please 
 God to effect it, whether by war, or by more peaceful and 
 silent methods, 
 
 That part of the Roman empire which the Romans con- 
 quered from the Greeks will form the Eastern branch, and 
 that which the Romans subdued in the west will form the 
 Western or Latin branch. Each of these parts may be ex- 
 pected to be divided into five parts, according to the 2nd of 
 Daniel, where the two legs of the image ending in the 
 ten toes represent the Roman empire five toes being on 
 either foot. 
 
 The separation of Greece, and the virtual separation of 
 Egypt, have been two of the most remarkable events of our 
 own days : for these countries have now, for the first time since 
 Augustus Caesar, been separated into the distinctness which 
 the Scripture speaks of their possessing at the time of the 
 end. (Dan. viii. and xi.) The unexpected and almost se- 
 cret manner in which the change has been effected, especially 
 in Greece, is very remarkable, and strikingly indicates the 
 overruling hand of God. A constitutional government, 
 necessary to give the clay-iron form to that kingdom, has 
 now been formed there the king has submitted; and, what 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 
 
 is still more remarkable, the Greek Church, has submitted, 
 and consented to fall into a kind of subordinate alliance to 
 the crown just as Popery is being obliged to do in France,* 
 and the Establishments in Scotland and England. For it 
 must be remembered that popular monarchy is not more 
 characteristic of this Babylonish system, than is the alliance 
 of ecclesiastical with the secular power the latter being 
 supreme. In Spain and in Portugal, efforts have been made 
 to discard the state religion, but in vain : and in both those 
 countries, the attempt now being made is, as in France, to 
 rule ly, and not without, the religious system of the people. 
 I doubt not it will succeed. 
 
 Italy, Austria, and the Turkish empire are evidently 
 the districts in which the greatest changes have to be 
 effected ; but Italy is at this present moment convulsed from 
 end to end, and Austria has just begun to enter the great 
 commercial system of Europe. The appearance of its first 
 trading vessel in India has lately been hailed with great 
 delight. 
 
 But whilst we learn from all this the characteristic prin- 
 ciples of the day, we must take heed not to suppose that 
 events will always proceed slowly and gradually as they are 
 now doing. The preparation and secret spread of prin- 
 ciples is one thing their establishment in power is another. 
 The channels are, I believe, ready in every kingdom of the 
 prophetic earth ; and as soon as the system of which we 
 speak is established in the land of Shinar on its own base, 
 we shall find the reservoir opened of these mighty waters, 
 whereby those channels will be filled, even as in an instant; 
 and waters, very different from those healing streams which 
 shall by and by flow from the holy city, shall be effectually 
 diffused throughout all the appointed sphere. 
 
 # Recent events may seem to require a modification of this state- 
 ment; but we have only to wait, and we shall finally see Babylonian- 
 ism conquer Romanism in France and every other country of the 
 Roman earth. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 " And the merchandise of bodies and the souls of men."] 
 A memorable example of the manner in which the lust of 
 commercial gain leads men to sacrifice principles which they 
 themselves have vaunted and extolled, is now seen in Amer- 
 ica. Some years ago there was no country in which slavery 
 was more abhorred than in America. What then has caused 
 the wondrous change? It was this the wants of England 
 demanded cotton. England was able and willing to pay for 
 it liberally. It was soon found that cotton could not be 
 raised remuneratively without the labour of slaves. The 
 temptation was too strong for covetousness to resist. The 
 darling principle of America was abandoned, and slavery 
 was established in a form which outrages the coarsest feel- 
 ings of humanity. Commerce requires commerce encour- 
 ages, the perpetuation of the iniquity. As to " the souls of 
 men" they are sure to be sacrificed where their bodies are 
 uncared for. The sympathies of humanity may be enlisted 
 on behalf of the latter, when the former are uii thought of; 
 but when the body of a fellow-man is made the victim of 
 remorseless cruelty, what regard would be shown to the 
 soul ? Yet America is supposed to be a great, a happy, a 
 prosperous nation. It so thinks of itself. What will it 
 become when it drinks more deeply of the harlot's golden 
 cup? 
 
 " And in Tier was found the blood of prophets and of 
 saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth"] La- 
 titudinarianism, which will have made Babylon the place in 
 which its plans will be perfected and developed, will neces- 
 sarily bring on that city this totality of guilt. Do not they 
 who sustain and encourage malefactors make themselves 
 partakers in their guilt ? And what ancient or modern sys- 
 tem of evil is there that will not be cherished by Babylon ? 
 Judaism, Paganism, Romanism, Mahomedanism, will all be 
 sheltered and patronised by Babylon, and therefore the 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XVII. 329 
 
 blood-guiltiness of these systems must necessarily attach to 
 that city, which only ceases to be their protector when she 
 gives herself over to the lawless one the consummate!* of 
 all iniquity the fiercest of all persecutors. 
 
 *"" Lawlessness" is the term by which Scripture designates 
 this last and chief development of evil. And with reason. 
 They who, through temptation or otherwise, violate laws 
 which their consciences approve and which their lips out- 
 wardly honour, are not indeed to have their guilt palliated ; 
 yet their hearts are not so hardened as theirs who refuse to 
 recognise any law of God as binding, who spurn every pre- 
 cept, and break every yoke. Such is " lawlessness." 
 
 When men have learned to say, like Pilate, <f What is 
 truth ? " and justify their carelessness by saying that it is 
 impossible to determine what God approves and what He 
 condemns, they are only one step removed from the state 
 described in Scripture as " lawlessness :" for why should 
 the limits which God has drawn between truth and false- 
 hood be respected, if it be impossible to determine what 
 these limits are ? The question of Pilate was widely in the 
 lips of educated Pagans when the Lord was on earth. Edu- 
 cated Judaism was beginning to re-echo the cry. " The 
 mystery of lawlessness" had thus far worked when the 
 apostles lived. But its development has been hindered until 
 the same infidel cry should be heard from the midst of pro- 
 fessing Christianity too. It is being heard. The triple 
 cord of Satanic union will soon be formed betwixt Heathen, 
 and Jewish, and Christian apostasy. Such union is neces- 
 sary to the schemes of a commercial age. As soon as these 
 schemes have been systematised and avowed, we shall learn 
 what the establishment of the ephah with the woman and 
 "lawlessness" in her, means. 
 
 When these things are confessed, there is hope ; but what 
 hope can there be when they are gloried in and defended as 
 right ? 
 
330 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 it $Ui)ddi0tt XIX., XX., JIH& XXL 
 
 TO EIGHTH VERSE INCLUSIVE. 
 
 THE conclusion of each of the visions which we have been 
 considering, from the sixth chapter onwards, has led us to 
 the period, called in Scripture, " the end of the age " (Matt, 
 xiii. 39, and xxviii. 20), when the Lord Jesus will come 
 from heaven with His angels, and take His saints to meet 
 Him in the air. Each of the several visions has reached 
 thus far, but has there ended; and it is not until the chapter 
 now before us, that we find the results of the Lord's coming, 
 and of the resurrection of the saints, unfolded. 
 
 I say the results of His coming, and of the resurrection, 
 because neither of these events are themselves described : 
 for the sphere of this chapter is the prophetic, or Roman 
 earth. If it had been otherwise ; if its object had been to 
 describe the condition of Christendom at this period, that is, 
 of those nations which will, during the time that Antichrist 
 is reigning in the Ten kingdoms, be retaining the profession 
 of the name of Christ, we should have found His coming with 
 His angels, and the gathering together of His saints care- 
 fully described ; and accordingly these events are not passed 
 over in those parts of Scripture which do give the history 
 and the end of Christendom. (See Matt, xiii.) But this is 
 not the object of the Revelation. It teaches the condition of 
 a certain part of the earth, which after having passed through 
 all the advantages of light and knowledge which attend on 
 
ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 331 
 
 the profession of the name of Christ, will have gone on into 
 direct and positive apostasy both from Christ and from God, 
 an end indeed to which all Christendom would come, if 
 the principles there working were allowed time and oppor- 
 tunity to ripen into their full maturity ; but one to which 
 part only of Christendom is allowed to come, because God 
 is merciful, and sets bounds to this great overflowing of 
 iniquity which it shall not pass. A limited sphere is suffi- 
 cient to test the character of men, and to make manifest the 
 result of their counsels. 
 
 The history, therefore, of that part of the earth which is 
 allowed fully to apostatise from God, and to bear the name 
 of Antichrist, is very different from that of those nations 
 which will retain the acknowledgment of God and of Christ 
 until the end. The tares, for example, which represent 
 neither Jews nor heathens, nor apostate infidels, are never 
 guilty of any act of blasphemous rejection of God. They 
 remain until the end quietly growing by the side of the 
 wheat, seeking, as part of the harvest-field, admission into 
 the garners of heaven ; and when the hour of the reaping 
 comes, they are not like the apostates, left for a season to be 
 visited by an act of special judgment in the earth, but are 
 taken away by angels out qftlie earth, to an unseen place of 
 torment; whereas the apostates, after the earth is reaped 
 both of tares and wheat, are found ee gathered together " 
 against Him that sitteth on the horse, and against His army; 
 and in addition to the punishment which elsewhere awaits 
 them, are visited also by direct visible judgment in the 
 earth being trampled down in the place where they are 
 assembled, by Him who " treadeth the wine-press of the 
 fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God." The nineteenth 
 chapter of the Revelation, therefore, commences after the 
 history of Christendom, as elsewhere given, has ended. 
 
 Accordingly this chapter opens with one of the great re- 
 sults of the resurrection of the saints. They are evidently 
 recognised in the commencement of this chapter as being 
 
SS2 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 above with the Lord in glory. "I heard, as it were, the loud 
 voice of a great multitude, saying, Alleluiah ! the salvation, 
 and glory, and power of our God; for true and righteous 
 are His judgments," &c. This cry of triumph immediately 
 follows the destruction of the great city; and this is in close 
 accordance with the vision in the sixteenth chapter ; for 
 there we find the words, "Behold I come as a thief; blessed 
 is he that watcheth" quickly followed by the pouring out 
 of the seventh vial, under which Babylon is destroyed. The 
 moment when the Lord terminates the history of Christen- 
 dom, and takes His saints to meet Him in the air, is the 
 moment when He likewise gives His final blow to Babylon. 
 It would seem as though the very first subject of their 
 thanksgiving above, is the judgment of her whom they have 
 so long known as corrupting the earth by her fornication, 
 and shedding the blood of His servants. They had seen 
 and experienced what the earth had been whilst occupied 
 by Babylon and Babylon's mighty king ; they are now to 
 behold it under the Lamb and under the heavenly city, the 
 Bride of the Lamb : for " the time for His marriage had 
 come, and His wife had made herself ready." 
 
 But before any thing more is revealed, either respecting 
 her, or the sphere of her future glory, we have another 
 dark scene to contemplate : for the great transgressor still 
 remained unpunished. The great monarch of the prophetic 
 earth, surrounded by his kings and his armies, those armies 
 which have already been mentioned as gathered at Arma- 
 geddon, was still existent; and like another Pharaoh, un- 
 dismayed by all that he had witnessed, was ready still to 
 dispute the title and dare the vengeance of the Xing of 
 kings and Lord of lords. " I saw the beast, and the kings 
 of the earth, and his armies, gathered together to make war 
 with Him that sat on the horse, and with His army." 
 
 But the hour of the accomplished glory of Jesus had 
 come. " I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse ; 
 and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and 
 
ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 333 
 
 in righteousness He doth judge, and make war: His eyes 
 were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems ; 
 and He had a name written that no man knoweth, but He 
 Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in 
 blood : and His name hath been called the Word of God. 
 And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon 
 white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And 
 out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He 
 should smite the nations : and He shall rule them with a rod 
 of iron : and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of 
 the wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture 
 and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord 
 of lords." 
 
 Such is the description of the glorious power with which 
 the heavenly Bridegroom will be invested, in order that He 
 may prepare this earth, filled though it be with enemies, for 
 the habitation of His Bride. He will ' ' go forth conquer- 
 ing, and to conquer." The saints have joined Him, and fall 
 into the train of His glory. He is described in the verses I 
 have quoted, not as in the actual exercise of this power (for 
 the vision is seen in heaven), but as invested with it in order 
 that it might be exercised : and presently afterwards it is 
 exercised, first upon Antichrist, then upon Satan, and then 
 upon those nations which, as given to be His inheritance 
 and possession, are to be broken with the rod of iron, though 
 not destroyed by the sword of His mouth. It is not a 
 description either of the place or circumstances in which the 
 power is exercised ; but it is a vision showing the character 
 of power with which He is invested for the government of the 
 earth, and which, in one or other of its forms, He continues 
 to exercise from the beginning to the end of the millennium : 
 I say in one or other of its forms, for though He will not 
 always be treading the wine-press of wrath, yet He will not 
 cease throughout the millennium to employ towards the earth 
 the agency of these heavenly hosts, nor to hold the rod of 
 iron : nor is it until the millennium has finished, that the 
 
334 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 earth, is prepared for the formal introduction of His Bride 
 into it : for as we shall presently see, she is not introduced 
 into the millennial earth, but into the new earth, after the 
 first heavens and the first earth have passed away. 
 
 There is something very awful in the cry that summons 
 to the supper of the great God. " I saw an angel standing 
 in the sun" (for it is, as it were, the eye of heaven), " and he 
 cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in 
 the mid-heaven, Come, be gathered together unto the great 
 supper of God : that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the 
 flesh of chief-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 
 this scene that gives us the true measure of human glory. 
 Every day that passes brings us nearer to the hour in which 
 all who thus serve the world and its glory will find them- 
 selves (and we know not how soon) taken in the snare, and 
 supplied as food for this last great supper. It is the evening 
 of the day of man. How will its sun set in the blackness of 
 darkness for ever ! The energy of man is great, especially 
 when sustained by the immediate indwelling power of Satan, 
 as in that day it will be; but it cannot stand before Him who 
 comes as "King of kings and Lord of lords, and who treadeth 
 the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of God the Al- 
 mighty." " The beast was taken, and with him the false 
 prophet he that wrought the miracles in his presence, 
 wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of 
 the beast, and them that worship his image. These both 
 were cast alive into a lake of fire which burneth with brim- 
 stone. And the rest were slain with the sword of Him 
 that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His 
 mouth; and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." 
 
 But the greatest of all enemies remains even after Babylon 
 and Antichrist have fallen ; for Satan as yet continues un- 
 bound. From the day when he first deceived Eve by his 
 subtilty, and induced her to mistrust the kindness of God. 
 
ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 
 
 335 
 
 and to trust in him, the history of mankind has been mainly 
 the history of the triumph of his deceptions. The words 
 which describe the result of his imprisonment in the pit, 
 sufficiently indicate what the previous condition of the 
 nations is, whilst under the influence of his power. ee He 
 shall deceive (it is said) the nations no more, till the thou- 
 sand years have been fulfilled." And if we could only see 
 the hearts that he has tempted and beguiled into destruction, 
 and trace the workings of his hand in making man and all 
 God's creatures miserable, we should be able to form some 
 estimate of the relief which will be felt to extend from one 
 end of creation to the other, when his prey is at last taken 
 from his grasp, and he bound in his prison. Even we who 
 believe have never yet experienced what freedom from his 
 terrible power around us and in us is ; and therefore feebly 
 appreciate the blessedness of that hour when there shall be 
 no longer any " lion in the path of the redeemed of the 
 Lord." And since the period which immediately precedes 
 the intervention of the Lord Jesus is peculiarly an hour of 
 strong delusion and of the full energy of Satan's power, the 
 change will be the more marvellous when all the systems by 
 which he has wrought so efficaciously, together with all the 
 unclean, spirits which have animated them, will suddenly be 
 swept away, and truth, and grace, and peace, be established 
 instead, in the full unquestioned power of God and the Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
 During the whole time that the system of Babylon was in 
 operation, Satan had worn the crowns of the Ten kingdoms ; 
 and after he had himself been ejected from heaven, and es- 
 tablished Antichrist on his throne, as the centre of his con- 
 centrated power, his sway throughout the prophetic earth 
 had been undisputed. His ejection from heaven might have 
 lessened his power as the Accuser (Ata/3oXoc) ; but it had 
 not lessened his power as the Adversary, (Sarat'ac). He 
 had arisen as the Adversary, in more mighty power than 
 ever, and caused the kings of the earth and the rulers to 
 
336 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALPYSE. 
 
 rise up with, him " against the Lord, and against His Christ, 
 saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away 
 their cords from us." He, and the man, his instrument, 
 had practised and prospered. But the hour of his visitation 
 was now come the hour for the Lord to arise unto judg- 
 ment, and to help all the meek of the earth. Whatever he 
 had done as the Serpent by his subtilty, or as the Devil 
 (the Accuser), by his malice, or as Satan (the Adversary), 
 whether by secret or developed power, was ended now ; and 
 the earth freed from his presence (with the exception of a 
 little season,) for ever, was now to experience the conse- 
 quences of another's rule, even His, in whose presence is 
 life, who will " open His hand and satisfy the desire of every 
 living thing." fe Say among the heathen that the Lord 
 reigneth: the world also shall be established, that it shall 
 not be moved; He shall judge the people righteously. Let 
 the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ; let the sea 
 roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and 
 all that is therein : then shall all the trees of the wood re- 
 joice before the Lord ; for He cometh, for He cometh to judge 
 the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and 
 the peoples with His truth." Such will be the song and the 
 exhortation of that day. 
 
 It is to the Old Testament, rather than to the Revelation, 
 that we must look for a description of the millennial period. 
 It is not the object of the Revelation to detail the nature of 
 the earthly blessings in result, so much as to declare the 
 heavenly instrumentality by which that result is produced, 
 for this the Old Testament had but dimly and imperfectly 
 revealed. Nor is the millennium itself, in the Revelation, 
 regarded as anything more than a step onward into that more 
 blessed period, called in Scripture " the dispensation of the 
 fulness of times," when sin, and the flesh, and death, shall 
 be finally abolished, and the heavenly city be established in 
 a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The heavenly 
 instrumentality which is to give effect in the millennial earth to 
 
ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 337 
 
 those things " which God hath promised by the mouth of all 
 His holy prophets," is found in the heavenly exaltation of 
 Christ in association with His risen saints. The Revelation 
 is the book which describes the nature of the power by 
 means of which they are to act upon the earth in blessing : 
 and accordingly each vision that we have been considering 
 has shown us some one of their manifold glories. But al- 
 though associated with the Lord in power that is strictly 
 heavenly and divine (for else they could not be symbolised 
 by crowned elders sitting on heavenly thrones, nor be as the 
 cherubim) yet they also share with Him His lower glories, 
 as when seen standing around Him on Mount Zion ; or in 
 a yet lower sphere, as in this chapter, sharing the authority 
 which He will exercise in the earth, as Heir of the throne 
 of David in Jerusalem. To His apostles who followed Him, 
 His promise was, that <e in the regeneration," i. e. the times 
 of restitution, "when the Son of man should sit-on the throne 
 of His glory, they also should sit on twelve thrones, judging 
 the twelve tribes of Israel ;" and in accordance with this 
 promise, we find in this chapter the vision of some, who, 
 after having died under persecution, were raised to share 
 the millennial power which Christ will exercise below the 
 heavens, in the regulation and government of earth ; and 
 thus we are taught another feature of glorious power which 
 attaches to the first resurrection, and consequently to all 
 who share in it. " Blessed and holy is he who hath part in 
 the first resurrection : on such the second death hath no 
 power, but they are priests of God and of Christ, and shall 
 reign with Him a thousand years." They who are counted 
 " worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the 
 dead," are freed from all earthly characteristics and are 
 made like the angels in heaven. They will be strictly un- 
 earthly persons \ but unearthly persons may act upon the 
 earth ; and this will be the secret of the earth's blessing in 
 that day. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and of Immanuel's 
 land will be strictly in an earthly condition they all will 
 
 z 
 
338 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 have bodies of flesh and blood, and so had Peter and John 
 when they saw Moses and Elias on the mount of transfigura- 
 tion : but the Spirit will be poured out from on high ; and 
 therefore the terror which mere human nature would feel in 
 communication with such will be taken away, and the rulers 
 of God's earthly city, and the princes of Israel will be able 
 to govern the earth in righteousness and in wisdom, because 
 heavenly persons will direct, and counsel, and aid them. 
 Angels also will be there. " Hereafter shall ye see heaven 
 opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending 
 upon the Son of man." 
 
 The prophets of the Old Testament are full of vivid and 
 glorious descriptions of the blessings of Israel, and of the 
 land of Israel in that day. " For Zion's sake will I not hold 
 my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the 
 righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salva- 
 tion thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall 
 see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt 
 be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall 
 name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of 
 the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 
 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken : neither shall thy 
 land any more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be called 
 Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth 
 in thee, and thy land shall be married." But however fair 
 this scene however blessed the moral peace and outward 
 rest of Immanuel's land, where the lion shall feed with the 
 kid, and none hurt nor destroy, where the nations also shall 
 learn to beat their swords into ploughshares, and be taught 
 the knowledge of God howsoever great these and similar 
 blessings may be, or howsoever widely diffused, yet the mil- 
 lennium will not satisfy the desires which the Spirit of God 
 will give, even to those who being as yet in earthly bodies, 
 may be supposed to find in such a scene a sphere of gladness 
 peculiarly adapted to their condition : yet even they will 
 look for " new heavens and a new earth," when the former 
 
ON REVELATION XIX. , XX., AND XXI. 339 
 
 shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Their being 
 glad and rejoicing in that which is then before them, (for 
 Jerusalem will be even then a rejoicing and her people a 
 joy,) will not take from them the more blessed anticipation of 
 another and yet future hour, when they who will be as yet 
 bearing the image of the earthly will be changed, and bear 
 the image of the heavenly. 
 
 They will need the joy of anticipation for though the 
 earth will then be freed from the curse which now immedi- 
 ately rests upon it from God though the sun will no longer 
 scorch, nor the dry wind from the wilderness blight, nor the 
 tempest destroy though man will no longer faint, toiling 
 with the sweat of his brow though creation will no longer 
 groan, as it now does, in the bondage of corruption, yet 
 neither the earth, nor they who dwell in it, will as yet be 
 brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
 And although Satan will be bound, and will no longer stim- 
 ulate the evil of the flesh, yet the flesh will still exist even in 
 the regenerate, whilst yet in bodies of sin and death, and 
 will still, as ever, lust against the Spirit. And although the 
 mighty power of God will be put forth in order to check 
 the progress and manifestations of corruption and death, 
 both in men, and trees, and plants, and animals ; yet death 
 and corruption, how much soever repressed and concealed, 
 will still be there. They will be hidden under every form 
 of beauty, and will manifest themselves at last, and be known 
 as the consequences of sin, even till the hour comes when 
 He who hath said that " new wine cannot be put into old 
 bottles," will act upon this truth, and say, " Behold I make 
 all things new." 
 
 The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his 
 spots, neither can the intrinsic evil of the flesh, nor the cha- 
 racter of the unredeemed body, be removed, even if placed 
 in the very midst of God's own blessings. Sin and corrup- 
 tion must be sin and corruption everywhere; nor can re- 
 pression satisfy the desires of the new man, which is l ' created 
 
 z 2 
 
340 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 according to God;" for not only does the necessity of re- 
 pression imply imperfectness and evil; but it is in itself 
 painful, because necessarily connected with resistance, 
 watchfulness, and trial. We need not wonder, therefore, 
 that so little is said in the Revelation respecting the mil- 
 lennial period. It is rapidly passed over in one or two 
 verses ; the period of sorrow that follows it is almost made 
 more prominent than the millennium itself ; and the Bride 
 of the Lamb, instead of being ushered into the scene, is kept 
 apart from the millennial earth, and is not brought from her 
 heavenly elevation into the sphere below, until the millen- 
 nial earth and heavens have finally passed away. 
 
 It would seem, indeed, as though the millennium were the 
 dispensation which is intended more than any other to teach 
 us the hopelessness of the evil of the heart of man. For 
 although Paradise has taught us one lesson of the evil of 
 the human heart, and the antediluvian age another, and the 
 Noahic another, and Jerusalem another, and the Christian 
 dispensation another, yet which of these exhibitions of evil 
 can be compared with that which is to be developed at the 
 close of the millennial age ? The earth will then be peopled 
 from pole to pole they who inhabit it will be the children 
 of persons who perhaps all of them will have known and 
 feared the Lord; for, I suppose, there will be some one 
 period in the millennium in which "the knowledge of the 
 Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas;"* 
 they will still have before their eyes the bright glory and 
 excellency of Immanuel's land ; for its excellency will never 
 fail, neither will its people ever fall from their integrity 
 the glory of the risen saints upon Zion, and the brightness 
 and holiness of the heavenly city above, will be before them 
 also all the experience of past ages, all the displayed 
 excellency of God's power and goodness, as made known in 
 the millennium, will have been opened to their souls ; and 
 
 * I regard this and similar promises, as having their full completion 
 in the new earth. 
 
ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 341 
 
 yet what is the result ? Not being really quickened by the 
 Spirit of God, nor sprinkled with the blood of the new 
 covenant, as soon as ever Satan is again loosed and tempts 
 them, they fall away and dare to compass the beloved city, 
 and " the citadel of the saints " on Zion. " They went up 
 on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the citadel of the 
 saints about, and the beloved city ; and fire came down from 
 God out of heaven, and devoured them." Satan himself is 
 the immediate head and director of this last and greatest of 
 all apostasies. 
 
 With this event the history of this fallen earth ends. The 
 millennial saints, so far as this earth is concerned, will have 
 no other prospect than this. Living waters may go forth 
 from Jerusalem, and the waters of the earth may be healed, 
 and the mountains rejoice, and the valleys be glad, and the 
 pastures be clothed with flocks and sing, and many hearts 
 be made happy ; yet still over all this fair and blessed scene 
 a thought of sadness will hang ; for these very hills and 
 valleys are again to be trodden by the foot of evil ; and men, 
 as many as the sand of the sea in multitude, are again to 
 gather there in confederacy against God. Flesh will again 
 corrupt its way, even on the millennial earth, and then at 
 last God will cease to deal with the flesh any longer, and 
 all things will be made new. " I saw a great white throne, 
 and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
 Leaven fled away ; and there was found no place for them. 
 And I saw the dead, the small and great, stand before the 
 throne (Spoyov, not BEOV) ; and the books were opened." 
 After the dead have been judged, and death and hades cast 
 into the lake of fire, " He that sitteth upon the throne saith, 
 Behold, I make all things new;" and the new heavens and 
 earth are created, and the heavenly city, which had been 
 apart from the earth during the millennium, descends into it, 
 still retaining the title of the Bride of the Lamb, and as such 
 introduced into this new portion of His and her inheritance. 
 " I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coining down 
 
34:2 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
 husband." 
 
 " Bride " is a temporary " Wife," an enduring name. 
 At the commencement of the millennium she had been spoken 
 of as a wife. " The marriage of the Lamb (it is said) had 
 come, and His wife had made herself ready." During the 
 whole of the millennium she retains her bridal estate ; and at 
 the close of it (for "a thousand years is with the Lord as one 
 day ") she is introduced into the new earth, still bearing the 
 name of fe Bride." Her relation to the earth during the mil- 
 lennium is described in the subsequent part of the twenty- 
 first chapter, and in the commencement of the twenty-second. 
 It is in this description the description of her condition 
 during the millennium, that we alone learn the nature and 
 excellency of her glory. Of the condition of the new earth, 
 and her relation to it, little is said. A veil is drawn over this 
 in the Scriptures. They lead us on to the period when the 
 Son of God shall have subdued all enemies and all things 
 be made new and God be all in all ; but we know little 
 of those eternal ages in which God, it is said, " will show 
 the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness towards 
 us through Christ Jesus." We know not what new worlds 
 may be created what new spheres may be opened for the 
 exercise of the power of those who shall reign in life. But 
 the new earth made meet for the glory of Him who is " the 
 Second Man, the Lord from Heaven," will be the centre of 
 the economy and order of creation ; and it is as directing 
 this economy, and as mistress of this order, that the Church is 
 symbolised by this city, and named " Wife of the Lamb." 
 It will not lose the glories of heaven the glory which 
 Jesus had with the Father before the world was because 
 occupation in the power of blessing is found for it in another 
 and a lower sphere ; and, therefore, this symbol of the holy 
 city, great and blessed as it is, and even the name of the 
 Bride, is but one presentation, in one especial sphere (and 
 that not the highest) of the manifold glories of them who 
 
ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 343 
 
 are also children in the Father's house with Him who is the 
 first-born amongst many brethren. He who " ascended up 
 far above all heavens that He might fill all things," will not 
 be restricted to a glory that is below the heavens ; and He 
 has associated His Church in His own glory, having made 
 it " the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." He who is 
 " God over all, blessed for ever," will not be confined to 
 this earth, however glorious, as His dwelling-place, neither 
 will the redeemed family of God. The new heavens and 
 earth may be the special sphere of glorified humanity, for 
 the earth, it is said, hath been ff given to the children of 
 men," the centre, perhaps, of all the manifested government 
 of God the place, perhaps, where angels will peculiarly 
 learn what the wisdom of God in the redemption of man is ; 
 but the inheritance of earth will not exclude from the heaven 
 of heavens those who are also made sons of the Father 
 ee children of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." 
 
 The first eight verses of the twenty-first chapter carry us 
 further into the future than any other part of the Revelation, 
 or indeed any other part of the Scripture. They alone treat 
 of the new heavens and new earth. In the subsequent part 
 of the chapter we again recur to a preceding period, and 
 are taught the relation of the heavenly city to the earth 
 during the millennial reign 
 
344 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXVII. 
 
 0n Qtfahtm XIX., XL, mfo XXI. 
 
 THE nineteenth chapter commences the last division of the 
 Revelation. In the preceding chapters, from the sixth to 
 the eighteenth inclusive, the subject has been, the chastise- 
 ments from the throne of God, which immediately precede 
 the mission of the Lord Jesus in glory. But now the time 
 has come for Christ to occupy His own throne, and to be 
 manifested in the exercise of His own glorious power. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no part of the Scripture which needs 
 more a new division of chapters. The first ten verses of the 
 nineteenth should form a chapter by itself. It is a kind of 
 introduction to the chapters which succeed, and stands to 
 them just in the same relation in which the fourteenth stands 
 to those which immediately follow it, viz. xv. xvi. xvii. and 
 xviii. Both the fourteenth and these ten verses of the nine- 
 teenth consist of references, rather than descriptions ; but 
 these references are elucidated in the chapters which respec- 
 tively succeed. Babylon is first alluded to in the fourteenth; 
 but it is an allusion merely the description is given after. 
 The wife of the Lamb is similarly alluded to in the seventh 
 verse of the nineteenth ; but the description of her glory is 
 postponed to a subsequent vision. 
 
 The twentieth chapter should commence at the eleventh 
 verse of the nineteenth chapter, beginning, ff I saw heaven 
 opened," and be continued to the end of the eighth verse of 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 345 
 
 the twenty -first chapter : for the subject of all this passage is 
 strictly consecutive. It begins by a vision of the state and 
 glory of the heavenly Bridegroom, prepared to go forth 
 against His enemies, and to subdue the earth next the 
 destruction of Antichrist and his armies then the binding 
 of Satan the millennial reign the concluding apostasy 
 the passing away of the first heavens and earth the judg- 
 ment of the dead the creation of the new heavens and 
 earth, and the descent of the heavenly city into the new 
 earth. These events are spoken of consecutively, as they 
 will really happen ; and therefore the passage which treats 
 of them in unbroken continuity should be read as one 
 chapter. 
 
 The twenty-first chapter should begin at that which is 
 now the ninth verse of the twenty-first chapter, and may be 
 continued to the end of the book, although the special 
 subject of this passage, viz. the condition of the heavenly 
 city during the millennium, properly closes at the end of the 
 fifth verse of the last chapter. The succeeding verses form 
 the conclusion of the whole book. 
 
 I have already referred to the manner in which the Scrip- 
 ture teaches by recurrence, i.e. by carrying on a subject to 
 its very end, and then returning to the same subject, and 
 adding new particulars, or filling up the outline that had 
 been given. A remarkable example is afforded in the pre- 
 sent instance ; for here we find the introduction of the 
 heavenly city into the new earth described previous to the 
 description of its millennial relation to the old. 
 
 The following is the summary of the division proposed : 
 
 The first ten verses of chap. xix. form chap. xix. 
 
 Thence to end of 8th verse of chap. xxi. form chap. xx. 
 
 Thence to end of 5th verse of chap. xxii. form chap. xxi. 
 
 The rest forms the conclusion of the Book of Revelation. 
 
 " The marriage of the Lamb is come" <'c.] The marriage 
 itself is not described: for it is not the object of the Kevela- 
 
346 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 tion to describe that which, is secret from the earth, hut 
 that which is developed before men. 
 
 In the descriptions given in the Old Testament prophets, 
 of the glory of the earthly Jerusalem in the latter day, we 
 find her sometimes spoken of as a city, sometimes as a 
 woman. Isaiah Ix. affords an instance of the first : " The 
 sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings 
 shall minister unto thee j for in my wrath I smote thee, but 
 in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy 
 gates shall be open continually ; they shall not be shut day 
 nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the 
 Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought." Isaiah lii. 
 is an instance of the latter. ' e Shake thyself from the dust ; 
 arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem : loose thyself from the 
 bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." In either 
 case it is a corporate or collective symbol or title, and admits 
 of being indefinitely extended in comprehensiveness. So 
 also the risen saints, as inhabiters of the heavenly city, are 
 represented in a two-fold manner first, by a woman 
 arrayed in fine linen, clean and white ; and, secondly, by 
 " a city descending from God out of heaven, having the 
 glory of God." Both are corporate symbols. 
 
 The linen (fivavivov not \ivo\>} was the same as was found 
 in the priest's garments of glory and beauty; and was used 
 when the claim to righteousness was supposed to be estab- 
 lished, and when the possibility of contamination was not 
 in question. 
 
 ft Blessed are they who have been called to the marriage 
 supper" fyc.] It is important to observe that the past tense 
 is here used 01 KKAr^uyot, not those who are being called, 
 but those who have been called, and whose calling continues 
 such being the proper force of the perfect tense. " Guests 
 at the marriage supper " is one of the dispensational names 
 which now attaches to the saints. They, as well as those 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 347 
 
 who merely profess the name of Jesus, are " guests at the 
 marriage supper." (see Matthew xxii.). The guests are 
 being now collected : " Behold I have prepared my 
 supper, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, come unto 
 the marriage." Such are the words of present invitation, 
 and those who accept them become ff guests." 
 
 The blessedness of these " guests " those of them at 
 least who are duly arrayed (for there was one who had not 
 on a wedding garment) is to be manifested when the time 
 comes for these words to be spoken, " Blessed are they who 
 have been called." I have before observed how continually 
 the Scripture is wont to use opposed or contradictory sym- 
 bols in application to the same person or persons. This 
 chapter supplies some remarkable examples. The saints are 
 here represented, first as those who have been guests at the 
 marriage supper ; secondly, by one clothed in white raiment 
 the Lamb's wife ; thirdly, by riders on white horses, fol- 
 lowing the King of kings ; fourthly, by persons raised from 
 the dead, reigning on thrones ; fifthly, by the heavenly city, 
 the Bride. 
 
 " And I fell before his feet to worship him" $*c.] This, 
 with the exception of the one similar, but worse, because 
 repeated instance, in the last chapter, are the only recorded 
 examples of this apostle's failure after he had received the 
 Holy Spirit. It was, of course, a sin to worship a creature. 
 The strangeness and greatness of these things that he had 
 seen and heard respecting God and His secret government, 
 seemed to have overpowered even John, and to have taken 
 from him the peaceful calmness of love with which he had 
 rested on the bosom of Jesus, and heard and spoken of the 
 Father. Perhaps we, with our more feeble apprehensions 
 both of the Father and of God, may sometimes have ex- 
 perienced an effect not dissimilar. 
 
 The reason assigned by the angel for forbidding the wor- 
 
348 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 ship of John was this that he (the angel) was only a 
 fellow-servant of John, and a fellow-servant of John's 
 brethren, who had committed to them the testimony to Jesus 
 that all that he (the angel) had done, was to bear testi- 
 mony to Jesus by means of the Spirit of prophecy ; and see- 
 ing that that Spirit came only from God, that God, and not 
 he, was to be worshipped. 
 
 " And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse," 
 8fc.] I have already observed that it is the great object of 
 the Revelation not to treat of the <( harvest-field" (Christen- 
 dom) whence Christ's saints are to be gathered ; but it treats 
 of the nations the apostate nations and of the manner in 
 which Christ as King of Kings will confront them by His 
 own glorious power. Accordingly, these verses from the 
 eleventh to the sixteenth inclusive, are not a description of 
 the Lord coming from heaven, but a vision seen in heaven, 
 teaching us abstractedly the character of power with which 
 the heavenly Bridegroom will be invested in order to subdue 
 His enemies, and to control the earth. Nothing can prove 
 more clearly the abstract nature of this passage than the 
 mention of the Lord's vesture as " dipped in blood." This 
 will not be so when He first descends from heaven into the 
 air it will be the result of the infliction of the very ven- 
 geance which this chapter subsequently describes ; yet it is 
 an emblem well suited to teach us the character in which 
 He will meet and act towards the nations when they first 
 behold Him as King of kings, and Lord of lords. Again, 
 if it had been the object of this passage to describe the man- 
 ner in which the Lord will descend from heaven into the 
 air, we should not have seen the saints following Him, for 
 they will not join Him until He reaches the air; but they 
 will form a part of His glorious train when He confronts the 
 nations, and are therefore necessarily mentioned in a passage 
 which specifically describes the glory with which He is 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIX., XX., AND XXI. 349 
 
 invested for that purpose. " Horses " are symbolical of 
 power intended for the earth ; they would not be used to 
 represent power to be exercised only in heaven. He that 
 sat upon the horse " was called Faithful and True ; and in 
 righteousness He doth judge and make war." This is 
 the personal character of Him who was thus prepared to 
 cast down the throne of wickedness, and to wear the diadems 
 that had been resting on the head of the great destroyer. 
 His eyes, which were as a flame of fire (the great emblem of 
 the searching power of the divine holiness) and with which 
 He had before tried the Churches, were now fixed upon the 
 world and its wickedness. Many diadems not ten merely, 
 but many were upon His head ; for He comes to rule all 
 nations. " The armies which are (ra ovra abstract, not a 
 tort) in heaven followed Him upon white horses." Angels, 
 I suppose, as well as saints are included in this description. 
 In Luke we find this title applied to angels. " Immediately 
 there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts." 
 It is perhaps as leading alike saints and angels that Jesus 
 will be known as Jehovah of hosts. The sword proceeding 
 out of His mouth, symbolical of the destructive power of 
 the word of His lips (for He speaks and it is done), is 
 used only destructively all against whom it is directed 
 being destroyed whereas the rod of iron breaks, but it 
 does not necessarily destroy. It may become the shepherd 
 rod of governance. It will break up the systems of the 
 nations throughout the earth; for what tribe or nation is 
 there from one end of the earth to the other, whose laws and 
 order are not contrary to God and to Christ ? But " tfce 
 nations are given to Him for His inheritance, and the utter- 
 most parts of the earth for His possession," and therefore 
 howsoever widely the destructive power of the sword may be 
 exercised howsoever the rod of iron may dash the nations 
 in pieces, as to all their systems and confederations, yet it 
 will be found a shepherd rod at last ; and nations in bowing 
 to it shall find their blessing. 
 
350 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them," fyc.] The 
 first object here presented to the apostle in vision was 
 thrones occupied by certain persons to whom authority to 
 rule was given. But this alone did not teach him either 
 who the persons thus seated on thrones were, nor the 
 nature of their power. Accordingly he beheld something 
 more he saw first the souls of the martyrs and sufferers 
 for the truth's sake, specially those who had resisted Anti- 
 christ he saw first their souls in a disembodied state, and 
 then saw these souls " live," i. e. become reunited to their 
 bodies ; and then it is said, " This is the first resurrection;" 
 and the nature of the power with which they were invested 
 is described, viz. to be " priests of God and of Christ, and to 
 reign with Him a thousand years." 
 
 I think there can be no doubt that martyrs alone are 
 spoken of in this passage just as in the fifteenth chapter - 
 they only are spoken of as singing the song of Moses and the 
 Lamb, who have testified against Antichrist. In all these 
 cases, I regard those spoken of as representative bodies, in- 
 dicating by their position some one of the many spheres of 
 glory to be occupied by the one body of Christ. Thus also 
 the seven Churches represent all Churches. 
 
 The Scripture is continually accustomed to connect the 
 mention of certain peculiar promises with certain practical 
 conditions of suffering ; not thereby necessarily indicating 
 that none except those in that condition have the final bless- 
 ing spoken of, but because they who are so circumstanced 
 best appreciate such promises, and most need the comfort 
 they impart. "We know certainly from other passages that 
 all the saints who have fallen asleep will rise in 
 resurrection. 
 
 " Gog and Magog" fyc.] This must not be supposed to 
 be the same as the gathering against Israel mentioned in 
 Ezekiel xxxviii. ; for that is clearly at the commencement of 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIX., XX. , AND XXI. 351 
 
 the millennium after the appearance of the Lord and the 
 conversion of the remnant in the land of Israel as described 
 in Zechariah xii. ; but previous to the establishment of the 
 full millennial glory in Zion and in Jerusalem. The period 
 between the day of visitation from the Lord on Jerusalem, 
 and the establishment of His throne there in peaceful bless- 
 edness in other words, the period between His manifest- 
 tion as the morning star, and as the sun arising with healing 
 on His wings, is of considerable duration. Many nations 
 are rebuked and judged during this interval ; Moab, for 
 example, and Edom, and the nations mentioned in Ezekiel as 
 in confederacy with Gog : I believe these to be the nations 
 which are now occupying the districts in the centre of Asia 
 north-east of Persia Bokhara for instance. I do not re- 
 gard Eussia as coming within the description. I believe the 
 right translation of Ezekiel xxxviii. 3, to be " chief prince," 
 as given in our version ; nor do I recognise any affinity 
 between Meshech, and Tubal, and Muscovy and Tobolsk. 
 Here, however, Gog and Magog are expressions evidently 
 denoting generally all nations, and are not used so speci- 
 fically as in Ezekiel, where the enumeration of the nations 
 confederate with. Gog is minute. 
 
 "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before the throne" 
 fyc.] " Before the throne," is the right reading ; not " be- 
 fore God." The throne is the same as is mentioned in the 
 preceding verse. " 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." It is a 
 judicial, not a regal throne ; and one set not abidingly, but 
 for a special object, viz. the judgment of the dead. It is not 
 the eternal throne of God, as seen in tne fifth chapter, nor 
 the millennial throne of Christ. Nevertheless, it was a throne 
 occupied by Christ ; for it is written that " the Father hath 
 committed all judgment unto the Son." The judgment of 
 
352 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the dead is one of the branches of power attached to the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 There are evidently some who stand before the throne 
 whose names are written in the book of life : and they will 
 doubtless be very many ; for we may regard the millennium 
 as the great harvest-time of the earth, when millions will 
 be converted to God. An appeal to the book of life would, 
 of course, prevent all whose names are written therein from 
 being judged as criminals, or being in any sense put on their 
 trial ; and thus it would still remain true that f< he that 
 believeth shall not come into judgment." (fcpio-tc.) There 
 may, however, be a reference to their works in the way of 
 praise, or the contrary just as is the case with respect to 
 the saints of the present dispensation. 
 
 " There was no more sea," 8fc.] This marks a very decided 
 difference between the millennial and the new earth for in 
 the millennial earth the sea is frequently mentioned. The 
 thoughts connected with it are barrenness separation 
 and the power of death. 
 
 It is not until the new heavens and the new earth that 
 creation, as a whole, will be brought into the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God. We know not what that creation 
 may then contain neither the nature of the beings, ani- 
 mate or inanimate, that may be comprehended in it ; but 
 whatever shall then be known as " creation" will be enjoy- 
 ing " glorious liberty," founded on redemption, similar to 
 that which the heavenly city will be enjoying as soon as the 
 millennium commences. 
 
 There are two reasons why "creation," which is now 
 groaning, is said to be waiting with, earnest expectation for 
 the con mencement cf the millennium first, because, though 
 not at that time brought into glorious liberty, it will never- 
 theless be freed from its present " bondage to corruption ;" 
 and secondly, because it will behold in the heavenly city, 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XIX., XX , AND XXI. 353 
 
 and in the redeemed bodies of the glorified saints therein, a 
 specimen and earnest of its own future glory. Throughout 
 Scripture the millennium is to be regarded, not as a final 
 state, even to those who are enjoying its full blessedness ; 
 but merely as an instrumental link, a step onwards into that 
 blessed period when the flesh shall cease to be, and all be 
 brought into suitability of condition to Him who is the 
 Second Adam the Lord from heaven. 
 
354 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 
 grinning at Jta 9. 
 
 IT has been already observed, that it is not the object of the 
 Revelation to describe in detail the condition of the earth 
 during the millennium. That, the Old Testament had 
 already done ; and accordingly the twentieth chapter, in 
 which (if any where) a description of the millennial earth 
 would have been found, rapidly passes over that period, and 
 hastens on to the consummation, when all things are made 
 new. 
 
 But although the Revelation cannot be said to describe 
 the millennial condition of the earth, yet there is no part of 
 the Scripture that opens to us so full a view of what the 
 millennium is ; because there is none that similarly reveals 
 the heavenly glories of the saints, and shows the instrument- 
 ality which is prepared above, in order to effect God's pur- 
 poses of blessing in the earth. 
 
 When we read of the risen " Church of the first-born," oc- 
 cupying that sphere of glory represented by the elders seated 
 by the side of the Almighty throne or as invested with the 
 power of the cherubim or as standing around the Lamb 
 upon Zion or as singing the song of Moses upon the sea of 
 crystal, we see, in all these diversified presentations of their 
 manifold glory, the symbols of a power whereon the earth 
 will be made dependent for its blessing. 
 
ON REVELATION XXI. 355 
 
 But however necessary these high glories of the saints 
 may be to the government and blessing of the millennial 
 earth (and they are all necessary all links in the chain of 
 the appointed order), yet in none of the previous visions do 
 we find Heaven brought into such close, and, if I may use the 
 word, systematic relationship to the earth, as in that which 
 we are now about to consider. It is the vision of the hea- 
 venly city that shows us the glory of the saints brought into 
 its closest adaptation to the need of a fallen earth. It is 
 under this aspect that they are first called the Bride of the 
 Lamb ; and although the heavenly city does not descend into 
 the millennial earth, yet it is the Bride of the Lamb through- 
 out the millennium, and as such partakes in the interests and 
 employments of her Lord ministers to those to whom He 
 ministers, succours those whom He succours, is arrayed in 
 the excellency of His glory, and shares in the homage ren- 
 dered to Him. 
 
 A city is the emblem of associated and ordered life. It is 
 the place where character is developed, and where habits of 
 thought and action are displayed. If a metropolis, (as in 
 this case it is,) it becomes, throughout its appointed sphere, 
 the centre from which and through which all vivifying in- 
 fluence is diffused. The habits of the saints, their relations 
 one to another and to God ; the results of their being what 
 they will be in understanding, affection, and feelings all 
 this must be developed somewhere, and it will be developed 
 there ; and it will be developed in such excellency, that this 
 city will be the home of the affections of Christ. It will be 
 His spouse He will trust in her, joy in her, and find her 
 one who responds to His affections, enters into His thoughts, 
 and adorns Him by her excellencies even in the courts of 
 His highest glory. 
 
 She is, however, described in this chapter chiefly, I might 
 perhaps say entirely, in relation to the earth ; and therefore 
 the description must be regarded as only partial. She is 
 looked upon as seen from below, rather than as known 
 
356 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 within herself; and although the excellency of the symbols 
 which denote the character of her glory in her displayed 
 relation to the earth, teach us much of her dignity and 
 beauty, yet we learn it as in the distance ; we are instructed, 
 as it were, without the walls. The vision supplies us with 
 the aspect which she will bear to those without, rather than 
 with the knowledge that will pertain to those who dwell 
 within. John saw externally and afar ofT. We must there- 
 fore regard this vision as teaching us what she will be in the 
 apprehensions of the millennial saints who dwell upon the 
 earth, rather than as a full revelation of all the secrets of her 
 excellent glory. 
 
 Her chief characteristic is her heavenly origin. She is 
 not of the earth. She is that city " whose maker and 
 builder is God." ee He carried me away in the spirit to a 
 great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, 
 Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the 
 glory of God her light like unto a stone most precious, 
 even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." She descended 
 out of heaven from God, not indeed as yet to be on the 
 earth, but to become over the earth, from the heavens above, 
 the earth's new centre of light and influence in the stead of 
 that city which had made all nations drunk with the wine of 
 the wrath of her fornication. That city had been emphati- 
 cally from beneath. She had been the great result of the 
 wisdom of ages, stimulated and assisted by the skill and 
 energy of Satan ; and together with the beast had ruled the 
 earth for a season. But now she who had been prepared by 
 God His gift to the earth His gift also to His own be- 
 loved Son the Bride of the Lamb, was come to minister 
 to the earth heavenly blessings, and to shine toward all 
 nations in the true light of the holiness and glory of God. 
 "Her light was like unto a stone most precious." I have before 
 spoken of the symbolic meaning of precious stones. We 
 have seen them once 011 the breast-plate of the high priest 
 of Israel, the type and the pledge of the moral grace and 
 
ON REVELATION XXI. 357 
 
 outward glory which finally will attach to all the Israel of 
 God. It is no unintelligible emblem to have one's name 
 written on that whose lustre is as enduring as itself, and 
 which shines most when brought into nearest connection 
 with the light of God. But, howsoever blessed this type 
 howsoever clearly it indicates the final condition of the whole 
 family of God, yet it fails in teaching us the full secret of our 
 blessing. The high priest, as ministering before God, stood 
 separate from, and contrasted with, the glory of Him before 
 whom he served. There was nothing that spoke of union 
 with God. But when we read in this book of the bright- 
 ness of the jasper stone, first seen in the person of Him who 
 sat upon the throne, and then read of the same bright lustre 
 attaching to the heavenly city, it teaches us, not merely the 
 nature of that brightness, but also the source from which it 
 flows, and where it is preserved for us, and why it will be in 
 us, even because we are t( IN Him that is true, that is, the 
 true God." " The Church of the first-born," when the 
 time comes for the heavenly city to descend, will have been 
 brought into full realized union with Him, and been made 
 recipients of His fulness; and will, therefore, shine according 
 to His excellency. He who is Light will be there; and 
 there will be nothing in her to hinder, nothing to dim, the 
 pure effulgence of His glory. Nothing can be more trans- 
 parent than crystal nothing more bright than the jasper 
 nothing more resplendent when fully illumined by the light 
 of God. Such will be the light of her glory then. "The 
 nations," it is said, " shall walk by means of the light there- 
 of." She will be the temple (Vaoc) of the whole earth. 
 
 But it was not glory merely that made Christ the light of 
 this world when He was in it, in the midst of its darkness. 
 We read indeed of light connected with glory, but we also 
 read of " the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day- 
 spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them 
 that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death to guide 
 our feet into the way of peace." Light would be a sorrow^ 
 
358 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 ful tiling to such a world as this, unless it could come as a 
 light of gentleness, and love, and peace, as well as of holi- 
 ness and glory. And it will. " God is love." Love has 
 been manifested in Jesus, as it yet again will be, and in others 
 also made like unto Jesus in His glory. And, therefore, the 
 hour of the manifestation of this glory will be no hour of 
 destructive and consuming brightness; but it shall be as 
 "the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a 
 morning without clouds ; as the tender grass springing out 
 of the earth by clear shining after rain." Such will be the 
 effect of the dawning of the light of the holy city, the Bride 
 of the Lamb, upon a stricken and terrified earth, to which, 
 as brought at last under the applied power of redemption, 
 she will minister together with Him the pure blessings of 
 goodness. 
 
 Nor will her ministry be that of love only it will also 
 be the ministry of grace. Her very name teaches this ; 
 for she is not called the Bride of Christ merely, but the 
 Bride of the Lamb. Love was known in paradise, but re- 
 demption has brought in grace ; it has caused grace to 
 abound where sin abounded. Accordingly we read of the 
 heavenly city having, not the throne of God merely, but 
 " the throne of God and of the Lamb" And it is from 
 this throne, thus established in the supremacy, not of 
 power only, but of grace, that the river of life issues on 
 either side of which grew the tree of life, whose leaves, it is 
 said, "were for the healing of the nations." Nothing can 
 more plainly mark the relation of the heavenly city to 
 another sphere external to itself, in which sorrow and sick- 
 ness, as the consequences of sin, still linger. Being itself 
 under the shelter of the power of God in redemption, and 
 having itself tasted of the blessedness of grace (for they who 
 inhabit that city will have been sinners, once dead in tres- 
 passes and sins), it will not be slow to apply the ready 
 instrumentality so graciously provided to meet the need of 
 those still dwelling in the unredeemed and sinful body below. 
 
ON REVELATION XXI. 359 
 
 The ready hand of love will be put forth from the heavenly 
 city to stop the avenues of sorrow in the earth beneath ; and 
 the workings of death, when it yet lingers, will be checked 
 by the ministration of a more abundant power of life. And 
 although she from whom and through whom these blessings 
 will be ministered, will never enter upon a fallen earth so as 
 to dwell therein, but keeps herself apart in pure and hea- 
 venly separation until her heavenly Bridegroom has subdued 
 every enemy and made all things new, yet the ministration 
 of blessings from her is unceasing from the moment that 
 she becomes the Bride of Him who will then be known as 
 the Lord of the whole earth ; for how could it be otherwise 
 where there is love that yearneth to give, and need crying 
 to receive and stores inexhaustible to be given and grace 
 that has removed every hindrance ? And accordingly we read 
 that her twelve gates (which were all of pearl, for it is the 
 holy city) were ever open towards all the four winds of 
 heaven : " on the east three gates ; on the north three gates ; 
 on the south three gates, and on the west three gates." And 
 even as blessing emanated thence throughout all the earth, 
 so also was the grateful homage of the nations returned, as 
 if in recognition of its goodness. tf The nations shall walk 
 by means of the light thereof, and the kings of the earth do 
 bring their glory and honour unto it. And the gates shall 
 not be shut at all by day : for there shall be no night there. 
 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations 
 unto it." 
 
 They will bring it, no doubt, mediately. For, as of old, no 
 offering could be brought by the worshipper further than 
 the outer court of the temple, and the priests alone could 
 minister at the altar, or enter into the sanctuary ; so here, 
 likewise, none but the priests of Israel, i. e. the risen Church 
 of the first-born, will be able to enter into this city whose 
 gates are of pearl, and her streets like unto fine gold. But 
 there will be another city on the earth the earthly Jerusa- 
 lem the " beloved city," whose " gates also shall be open 
 
360 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 continually ; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men 
 may bring there the forces of the Gentiles, and that their 
 kings may be brought." It is the earthly city that will form, 
 as it were, the exterior court of the temple of God ; and 
 whilst itself owning the better glory of the heavenly city, will 
 yet be the place where the nations can resort to own the supre- 
 macy of the city of God, and to render homage to Him who 
 dwelleth therein. Accordingly, the names of the twelve 
 tribes of the children of Israel were severally written on 
 the twelve pearl gates of the heavenly city, as if to indicate 
 that it stood in a special relation to them that it was their 
 sanctuary and that their priesthood alone, that is to say the 
 risen saints, could enter within its walls ; so that, although 
 the twelve gates did look east, and west, and north, and south, 
 and did embrace the scope of the whole earth for blessing, yet 
 it was not apart from Israel. The gates, guarded by angels, 
 were specially their gates and they were made the mediate 
 link between the nations and the city of God. The remark- 
 able words of Moses, that ' ' when the Most High divided to 
 the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of 
 Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the 
 number of the children of Israel," are thus perhaps ex- 
 plained. God, when He undertakes the government of this 
 earth, will return to His own original principles when He 
 first divided the sons of Adam. He had His own intentions 
 respecting Israel even then and they will be fulfilled in their 
 season so that the arrangements of the nations shall be 
 adapted to the arrangements of that princely people from 
 whom, and through whom, their order, and dignities, and 
 regulations shall flow. 
 
 But whilst the faithfulness of God to His earthly people, 
 and the honour reserved for them, is indicated by the inscrip- 
 tion of the names of their patriarchs on the gates of the 
 heavenly city, yet a different and far higher honour is as- 
 signed to those who have followed Jesus ; for the foundations 
 of the wall of the city bore " the twelve names of the twelve 
 
ON REVELATION XXI. 361 
 
 apostles of the Lamb." Their labour has not been in vain 
 in the Lord. It was by means of the truths which the 
 apostles ministered, that the people of God were first sepa- 
 rated into their heavenly separation on the earth; and whilst 
 girt about thereby, as by a wall, the Church was strong 
 against its enemies without, and separated to God and bless- 
 ing within. Those truths, indeed, were not recognised in the 
 world as beautiful, or glorious; they little shone in the 
 eyes of men like clear jasper ; nor did the Church itself 
 long value its separation, or keep with holy foot within the 
 sacred inclosure. The walls have been cast down, and there 
 is " burning instead of beauty." Nevertheless the truths 
 so ministered are eternal for they are the word of God : 
 " Sanctify them by thy truth : thy word is truth ; " and they 
 will one day be recognised in their preciousness and beauty, 
 when the city of God shall appear. The same blessed truths 
 by which we now seek to fortify the weak and fainting heart 
 the same truths that we press as involving separation from all 
 that is simply of the earth, are the truths which will be then 
 fully recognised by those within, and those without, that city, 
 as having given it its everlasting strength its everlasting 
 separation also unto God, His holiness, and His glory. The 
 symbol sufficiently expresses His estimate of their precious- 
 ness a resplendent wall of pure jasper. 
 
 I have said separation unto the glory and holiness of God ; 
 for the city and the street of the city were alike of pure gold, 
 like transparent glass. We read of gold in the inner courts 
 of the tabernacle. It was the emblem of divine excellency 
 
 the type of the divine nature of Christ, in its full excel- 
 lency, as appreciated in heaven ; and, therefore, found only 
 in the inner courts. The priests ministered in a golden 
 sanctuary; the altar the table the vessels the boards 
 
 and the mercy-seat were all golden. But they did not 
 stand on gold neither did they dwell in mansions of gold. 
 They stood with unshod foot upon the earth, surrounded in- 
 deed by what was heavenly and divine ; but not themselves 
 
362 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 standing in the power thereof, nor in competency of action 
 according thereunto. But they who belong to this heavenly 
 city, seeing that they are to dwell with Him who hath said, 
 ' ' Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh " with Him who 
 is to inherit all things His spouse and His companion, ar- 
 ranging with Him and for Him the things of His household 
 exhibiting the character, and habits, and order, which 
 beseem the palace of the great King must be able to live 
 where He liveth, and to walk where He walketh, even with 
 a foot that fears no contrast with the transparent purity on 
 which it treads. It is a condition too great to be compre- 
 hended by any save those who have powers of apprehension 
 and appreciation derived immediately from God. The city 
 could only be measured by a golden rod. But when this 
 was applied, it was found to be perfect ; it was a cube the 
 emblem of entire perfection. 
 
 Such is the place designed for the development of that 
 economy which distinctively belongs to the redeemed. We 
 know not what new worlds what new things may be 
 dependent thereon, or how angels may learn therein the 
 manifold wisdom of God. It will be the place in which they 
 who have known sin and the curse, who have seen failure in 
 others, and failure in themselves, and learned the value of 
 grace and the need of Almighty power to strengthen and to 
 uphold, will find themselves consciously set as a seal upon 
 the heart and a seal upon the arm of Him who loved them 
 with a love stronger than death, and commissioned them to 
 act in the power of the same love towards others. 
 
 Such are some of our prospects. " He said unto me, 
 These words are faithful and true : and the Lord God of 
 the spirits of the prophets hath sent His angel to show unto 
 His servants things which must come to pass speedily. And 
 behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the 
 words of the prophecy of this book." The prospects of the 
 world, as given in this book, are, Babylon, Antichrist, judg- 
 ment: of the Church, the Throne, the Heavenly City, and. 
 
ON REVELATION XXI. 363 
 
 sovereignty together with Christ. Faith recognises both ; 
 the latter as its own portion the former as that which 
 affords to it the occasion of watchfulness, service, and testi- 
 mony. He to whom it was given to see these visions of 
 glory, ate also the book that became in his belly bitter. 
 The former was for his comfort in hope ; the latter supplied 
 him with the subject of his testimony " against (ETTI) many 
 peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." 
 
 There is an awful fixedness given to the condition of the 
 world by the words, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust 
 still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Strictly 
 taken, they would unchangeably determine the condition of 
 men, from the moment that the Lord uttered them ; in which 
 case, for the last eighteen hundred years, conversion would 
 not have been, and the Bride would have ceased to say, 
 " Come." But it has not been so. The Spirit and the 
 Bride have said, even as they still say, " Come;" and they 
 who have heard, have said, " Come;" and many have come, 
 and taken of the water of life freely. But the fact of these 
 words having prophetically passed the lips of Jesus, not 
 only marks the time when they will be fully ratified, as 
 being very nigh, when the sentence shall finally go forth, 
 and the doom of each be irrevocably fixed, according as his 
 work shall be ; but they may be understood also as intimating 
 that from that hour forward, even till the day of His ap- 
 pearing, there should be no change in the general aspect of 
 mankind ; but that they should remain in all essential fea- 
 tures what at that hour they were. " The generation was 
 not to pass away." Its moral characteristics were to con- 
 tinue and become deepened. Already the mystery of ini- 
 quity had begun to work already there were many Anti- 
 christs. The Churches also had begun to fail in their 
 testimony ; He knew the consequence, and that nothing now 
 remained but the interference of His own Almighty hand. 
 
 Yet in testifying to the Churches, He cannot but speak 
 words of comfort ; for He hath loved them, and freed them 
 
364 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 from their sins by His own blood, and He hath made them 
 a kingdom priests unto His God and Father ; and there- 
 fore we find Him speaking of Himself, and saying, " I am 
 the Eoot and Offspring of David, and the Bright and 
 Morning Star." Sweet words of comfort, which the 
 Churches, whether fallen or unfallen, have to treasure 
 during the period of their sojourn here, as the pledge of 
 the earthly and heavenly blessings, which, in the title of 
 His redemption, He will yet cause to arise like the 
 morning light, upon a disordered and ruined world. 
 
 He has been planted in the earth as the root to David 
 and to David's house of all those blessings promised in the 
 covenant " ordered in all things and sure," although as yet 
 it hath seemed not to grow. Dishonoured and despised as 
 <e a root out of a dry ground," and even uprooted from the 
 earth, He nevertheless liveth hidden with God, being the 
 Root of David still. And in due time He shall be mani- 
 fested again, and then "the branch of the Lord shall be 
 beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be 
 excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." 
 But He is " the Offspring " as well as " the Root of David." 
 Experience has taught us that, however sure the source, 
 however excellent the blessings given, yet that they are 
 originated in vain for such as we, unless there be also pro- 
 vided as a depository, one fitted to preserve that which is 
 given a nail driven in a sure place. And such is Jesus. 
 Being the offspring, and therefore the heir, of David's house, 
 on Him, as such, all the glories of that house by inheritance 
 devolve ; in Him they find their safe resting-place, and are 
 secured for ever. 
 
 But He is not merely a root planted in the earth, nor the 
 heir merely of an earthly house. He has other essential 
 glories of His own. " Before Abraham was, I AM." He 
 is " the Root and Offspring of David, AND the Bright and 
 Morning Star." I have already spoken of the star as the 
 symbol of distant and unearthly glories derived from high. 
 
ON REVELATION XXI. 365 
 
 and unknown spheres, into which the eye of man, as man, 
 can never penetrate. It is in such glory, strictly unearthly 
 and divine, that Jesus will come. It will be the true light 
 of God's own glory and holiness arising suddenly on the 
 deep darkness of the world's night. It will not be at first 
 "the sun arising with healing on his wings" (for the day- 
 star precedes the sun) ; but it will be the sudden visitation of 
 strange and distant glory, suddenly breaking in upon the 
 abyss of darkness beneath. He will come as the Son of God 
 " in His own glory and in His Father's glory, and in the 
 glory of the holy angels," and it is into such glory that 
 " they who are His at His coming " are to be taken ; for 
 His promise is, " To him that overcometh will I give the 
 morning star." 
 
 Such are our expectations ; all resting upon the suffici- 
 ency of the redemption that is in His blood ; for His own 
 words are, "Blessed are they that wash their robes,* that 
 they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
 through the gates into the city." It is not difficult to con- 
 ceive the joy with which they who have been made person- 
 ally like their Lord, and shared in the brightness of His 
 glory as the morning star, and seen the earth quail before 
 His judgments, will enter on the arrangements of that hea- 
 venly city, which shall spread over the ruined scene, peace, 
 and joy, and blessing. May our souls then be settled in the 
 grace of this redemption ! May we see the darkness around 
 us in the light of the testimony of this book, and in the 
 light of the glory also, which is ready to be revealed ; and 
 then we shall be able, with chastened and understanding 
 hearts, to rejoice in His appearing, and to say, " Come 
 quickly, Lord Jesus." 
 
 * Such is the true reading. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 llotts an gtfrtlathnt XXI, 
 
 AT this verse (verse 9) a new chapter should commence. 
 The preceding eight verses had described the introduction of 
 the Heavenly City as the Bride of the Lamb into the new 
 earth which the heavenly Bridegroom had created for her. 
 During His millennial reign over the old earth, He subdues 
 every enemy, and afterwards, causing all former things to 
 pass away, by His almighty power as God, He makes all 
 things new. The first eight verses of the twenty-first chap- 
 ter describe the Heavenly City ushered into the new earth 
 thus created as an inheritance. 
 
 But in the ninth verse the subject changes. We go back 
 to a previous period, and learn the relation of the Heavenly 
 City to the old earth during the millennium. The 
 Heavenly City commences to exist at the beginning not 
 at the close of the millennium. We might therefore be 
 expected to inquire what its relation to the earth during 
 the millennium will be ; and this inquiry is answered in the 
 passage before us. 
 
 It must carefully be observed that the descent of the 
 Heavenly City mentioned in the tenth verse is different from, 
 and in time prior to, the descent which is mentioned in the 
 second verse. In the latter case it descends into the new 
 earth ; in the former case it descends towards, but does not 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XXI. 367 
 
 enter the millennial earth. During the millennium its posi- 
 tion is intermediate between Heaven and earth ; just as the 
 Holy Place in the Tabernacle where the priests ministered 
 (to which it is the antitype) was intermediate between the 
 Holy of Holies which represented Heaven itself, and the 
 outer court where Israel worshipped on the earth. There 
 was contiguity and connection between the various courts of 
 the Tabernacle ; but they were different, and had different 
 services. Accordingly, throughout all the millennium there 
 will be a careful distinction maintained between the heavenly 
 places with all pertaining thereunto, and the earth and the 
 things therein. The inhabitants of the Heavenly City will 
 minister to the sickness and need of the millennial nations; 
 (see Rev. xxii. 2), but the Heavenly City itself will never 
 enter this fallen earth. It will wait until all things have 
 been made new and suited to Him who is the Second Adam 
 the Lord from Heaven. Then, and not before, it will be 
 said fi the Tabernacle of God is with men." 
 
 The contrasts are very marked between the millennial and 
 the new earth. In the millennial earth there will be the 
 possibility of disobedience (Zech. xiv. 17), and consequent 
 plague (Zech. xiv. 18) j there will also be death (Isaiah Ixv. 
 20), that last enemy not being destroyed till the close of 
 Christ's millennial reign and not death only, but destruc- 
 tive judgment, as is seen when fire comes down from Heaven 
 to devour those who apostatise at the close of the millennium. 
 None of these things can occur in that new creation of which 
 it is said, " there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
 crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former 
 things have passed away." Rev. xxi. 4. 
 
 Our knowledge of the millennium, as to the earthly blessings 
 then to be granted to Israel and the nations, is gained almost 
 exclusively from the Old Testament. We there learn how 
 glorious the name of the Lord God of Israel will be made 
 throughout all the earth ; but we should know little of that 
 glory which is to be set above the heavens, if we had not 
 
368 THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 the visions of the Revelation. If holiness, peace, and joy 
 are to be maintained in Israel and Jerusalem ; if they are to 
 be made " a praise in the earth," it is because they will be 
 subjected to the supervision and control of those whose un- 
 earthly glories the visions we have been considering in the 
 Revelation are intended to unfold. The glories of the risen 
 61 Church of the first-born " are given there. 
 
 We must carefully remember, however, that the highest, 
 because everlasting, blessings of the millennial saints are not 
 found in those parts of Scripture which describe their 
 earthly prosperity and glory ; nor even in those which declare 
 the majesty and excellency of the glorified beings who will 
 watch over and minister to them from above. The parts of 
 Scripture from which we derive our fullest knowledge of the 
 essential and eternal blessings which will pertain to millennial 
 Israel, and to all who, like them, shall be " sanctified by 
 faith," are the Epistles those same parts of Scripture 
 which now teach us our essential blessings. This has been 
 strangely overlooked by some who, because Israel do not 
 belong to " the Church of the first-born " have therefore ex- 
 cluded them from the Church, and have written as if there 
 were two gospels two ways of salvation two kinds of 
 Christianity; one for us now, another for Israel in the 
 millennium. 
 
 But all this is delusion. When the Apostle says that " in 
 the flesh no good thing dwelleth" that " they that are in 
 the flesh cannot please God " that " flesh and blood cannot 
 inherit the kingdom of God," he states eternal principles of 
 truth, which will be as true in the millennium as now. So 
 likewise, when he says, that all in whom the Spirit of God 
 dwells are (as estimated by God) " in the spirit and not in 
 the flesh that all such are " children," " heirs of God and 
 joint heirs with Christ" and that all who receive the gift 
 of righteousness through faith shall finally " reign in life ; " 
 he states great and eternal principles of blessing, which will 
 be as true of the millennial saints as of ourselves. Any truth 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XXI. 369 
 
 that is founded on what man is in the first Adam as fallen, or 
 on what redeemed man is in the second Adam, must be ail 
 eternal truth. There is no saintship, either in the millen- 
 nium or now, apart from regeneration; and all who are 
 regenerate are united with Christ risen ; and all who are 
 united with Him will be like Him, and will see Him .as 
 He is, and will bear His heavenly likeness in the new 
 creation. It is not merely " the church of the first-born" 
 that Christ has loved, He has loved " the Church;" and 
 the Church is a name that comprehends all the redeemed. 
 " The Church of the first-born " will be complete when 
 the Lord returns ; they will have a peculiar compen- 
 sation for their peculiar sorrows, for they will share the 
 glories of their Lord's millennial reign; but the Church 
 will not be Complete until the millennium ends, and 
 they shall share the glories of their Lord's eternal reign, 
 when the new heavens and new earth shall be made, 
 and when all the redeemed " shall reign in life through One 
 Jesus Christ." It is observable too, that, up to the hour 
 when the new earth is created, the Heavenly City to which 
 the Church belongs retains the title of Bride of the Lamb, 
 and, as such, is introduced into the new heavens and new 
 earth. The fact of the Heavenly City being formed at the 
 commencement of the millennium, no more prevents indi- 
 viduals from being afterwards added thereunto, than the 
 fact of the earthly Jerusalem being spoken of as (( married 
 to the Lord " at the beginning of the millennium, prevents 
 individual Israelites from being afterwards born into its 
 blessings. The symbols which denote the Church are cor- 
 porate symbols ; and corporate symbols always admit of 
 being indefinitely enlarged in comprehensiveness. 
 
 Circumcision, the early " sign and seal " of the covenant 
 of grace, when it was first formally made with Abraham, is a 
 type pre-eminently Israelitish. And what does circumcision 
 indicate ? Not the improvement of the flesh, as some have 
 said; but abscision of the flesh, and consequent separation 
 
370 THOUGHTS OX THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 from it. And how is this antitypical circumcision effected ? 
 It is effected by God through the death and resurrection of 
 Christ, with whom God has united all the redeemed. In 
 Christ they are brought into that new condition of being 
 into which nothing that is of the flesh enters. In Him risen, 
 they are " circumcised with the circumcision made without 
 hands." Such is the explanation of the type of circumcision 
 as given by the Apostle in the Colossians. So early was it 
 indicated that the great distinctive blessing that attaches to 
 all, who are, by faith, children of Abraham (whether they 
 may live in the millennium or before) is separation into that 
 new condition of heavenly being, into which union with 
 Christ in resurrection brings all the redeemed. 
 
 It would indeed be a bitter and sorrowful thing (how 
 would the Apostle Paul have felt it so) if Israel, because of 
 their present blindness, had for ever lost the great distinctive 
 blessings of redemption. But God "hates putting away." 
 (Malachi ii. 16.) " His gifts and calling are unrepented 
 of." (Rom. xi.) He loves to enlarge, not to narrow, the flow 
 of the streams of His blessing. He purposes not that the 
 blessings which He has now given through His Son (such 
 for example as the eighth chapter of the Romans reveals) 
 He purposes not that such blessings should be confined to a 
 small remnant from among the Gentiles, who have not only 
 feebly appreciated them, but have failed and dishonoured 
 God whilst using them. God's purpose is that these self- 
 same blessings should, in " the age to come," flow down on 
 the head of Israel, who when the veil is rent from their eyes 
 will see in " the Church of the first-born " those who have 
 preceded them indeed, but not supplanted them, in the 
 possession of blessings which are Israel's proper inheritance. 
 To them " pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the 
 covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, 
 and the promises ; whose are the father's, and of whom as 
 concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed 
 for ever. Amen." (Romans ix. 4, 5.) Our blessings flow 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XXI. 371 
 
 from a root which properly belongs to them, we being en- 
 grafted branches. If we are f( the first-fruits " they are 
 " the lump ;" and " if the first-fruits be holy the lump is 
 also holy." Our acceptance as first-fruits implies the suc- 
 cession of Israel into similar blessings. 
 
 Blessings such as those that are indicated by " sonship " 
 and " citizenship " in the heavenly city, which is "the Bride 
 of the Lamb," are not, be it remembered, mere official dis- 
 tinctions. Children of a monarch may hold different posi- 
 tions under the government of their parent. One may 
 command an army, another a province, and the like ; and 
 such distinctions would be esteemed official. But if some 
 of the children were admitted into their father's house as 
 children, and others excluded if some were permitted to 
 love him as their parent whilst the others were only allowed 
 to serve him as their sovereign, would such distinctions be 
 deemed official ? To be admitted into the same nearness of 
 love, and to be endowed with the same powers of loving, is 
 necessary to the perfectness of the redeemed, and cannot be 
 wanting to those who rise inwardly and outwardly changed 
 into the likeness of Christ. " I shall be satisfied when I 
 awake up in thy likeness." 
 
 Nothing can be more important than to guard carefully 
 the unity of the redeemed. Dispensationally, the redeemed 
 from Abel to the last millennial saint will be found to have 
 differred widely here. But dispensational differences, how- 
 ever important here, are not transferred into heaven. 
 Heaven is not to be a transcript of earth. There is a power 
 of unity in Christ paramount to all distinctions here, where- 
 by all the redeemed will finally be brought into a unity of 
 which we shall never understand the real power, till we 
 know even as we are known. 
 
 It is in the new earth that I look for the full accomplish- 
 ment of the promise that " the knowledge of the Lord shall 
 cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas;" nor till then 
 do I expect the complete fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, 
 
 O T> O 
 
 A D A 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 that he should be " the heir of the world " or of that to 
 the meek, that " they shall inherit the earth." Angels have 
 no special place assigned to them as distinctively theirs. 
 They dwell in the heaven of heavens which is God's ; but 
 men have a peculiar inheritance "the earth hath He given 
 to the children of men." Indeed, so peculiarly is it esteemed 
 theirs, that when the heavenly city enters it, it is said, te the 
 Tabernacle of God is with men" as if He had become a 
 visitor to their abode. Yet it will be a new and, if I may 
 so say, a heavenly earth; nor will its possessors, because they 
 receive it as an inheritance, be excluded from heaven as 
 their home. All the redeemed will bear the heavenly like- 
 ness of Christ (1 Cor. xv.), and will inherit heavenly glory. 
 The new earth may be the assigned place for the redeemed 
 to manifest what they are, as men in glorified humanity ; 
 whilst in another sphere, even in the heaven of heavens, it 
 will be shown what they are, as united to Him who is (f God 
 over all blessed for ever." 
 
 " The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished 
 ivith every precious stone ."] The twelve precious stones are 
 the emblem of all completeness and all variety of lustre. 
 What a wonderful character is marked hereby as attaching 
 to the truths ministered by the Apostles of the Lamb : how 
 precious and excellent in beauty. Such are the truths with 
 which we are now conversant, and have to bear them 
 through a rude and sin-defiled world, which knows not, 
 and cares not for, their loveliness. It gives us a striking 
 view of what the new earth will be, to think that the foun- 
 dations thus garnished will rest in it, appreciated and uii- 
 defiled. 
 
 " I saw no temple therein"] In the temple God was ap- 
 proached mediately through priests, altars, &c., which 
 
NOTES ON REVELATION XXI. 373 
 
 implied a distance from the perfect knowledge of Himself. 
 But the inhabitants of the heavenly city know immediately 
 Himself. Nevertheless, the heavenly city is itself as a temple 
 towards the earth, and therefore we read that we shall serve 
 Him day and night in His temple. 
 
 " They sliall bring the glory and honour of the nations unto 
 it. 99 ] Eig is either " unto" or " into" according to the na- 
 ture of the object spoken of. It implies access into the 
 nearest proximity possible or permitted. 
 
 "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come."} Here is 
 another remarkable instance of a name applied to us pro- 
 spectwely ; for we are not as yet f< the Bride," save in the 
 knowledge of faith. But even as we shall doubtless say, 
 " Come," when standing in our glory, and when the pure 
 river of water of life, in appreciated excellency, shall flow 
 from the throne of God and of the Lamb ; so now also, 
 knowing through faith, that the stream of life is silently and 
 secretly flowing through the wilderness, we, as new crea- 
 tures, and the Spirit also who dwelleth in us say, ee Come," 
 and they that hear are to catch the sound, and spread it far 
 and near throughout the wide earth. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 pie on fsalm ex. i. 
 
 THE Psalms, in referring to the Lord Jesus, for the most part confine 
 their descriptions to that which He once was when manifested in humilia- 
 tion, or to that which He will be, when again manifested in His millen- 
 nial glory. They seldom refer to His present condition whilst seated, as 
 He now is, on the Throne of the Father withdrawn (because rejected) 
 from the earth and hidden with God. The first verse of this Psalm, 
 however, is an exception. " JEHOVAH HATH SAID UNTO MY LORD, SIT THOU 
 
 AT MY EIGHT HAND, UNTIL I SHALL HAVE SET THY FOES A FOOTSTOOL FOR 
 
 THY FEET."* This verse refers specifically to the present relation of 
 Christ to Israel and to the earth below ; and therefore, as bearing so pecu- 
 liarly on this present dispensation, is quoted more frequently than any 
 other by the Lord and His Apostles. It teaches us that howsoever long 
 God may bear with evil, yet that the power of His Throne will finally be 
 put forth to gather Christ's enemies that they might be set as a footstool 
 for His feet.f " This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, 
 and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations." The 
 gathering of Antichrist's hosts, first to Armageddon and then to the 
 valley of Jehosaphat (Joel iii.) " unto the battle of that great day of the 
 Almighty God," will fulfil this Psalm. Then the footstool will have been 
 set then the rod of Christ's power will be sent out of Zion then it 
 
 ffov 
 
 + Aben Ezra, commenting on the latter part of this verse, explains it thus, " But the 
 right hand of the Lord shall fight on thy behalf ; and He shall set thy enemies the stool 
 for thy feet, who shall be brought before thee that thou mightest trample on them." 
 
APPENDIX A. 375 
 
 will be said unto Him, " Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies" then 
 His earthly people Israel, who have so long refused Him during the day 
 of His weakness and of " the foolishness of preaching," shall at last be 
 willing in the day of His POWER the first-born of the millennial day 
 fresh in the youth-time of that morning of joy. 
 
 The words, " until I shall have set Thy foes a footstool for Thy feet," 
 have an apparent verbal similarity to the words of another Psalm, " Thou 
 hast put all things under His feet." Accordingly they have not unfre- 
 quently been confused, although they should very carefully be distin- 
 guished one from the other. 
 
 The words of the 8th Psalm, " Thou hast put all things under His 
 feet," could be used of Christ, as soon as He ascended into glory, and are 
 so used in the Ephesians, "which He wrought in Christ when He 
 raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the 
 heavenly places .... and hath set all things under His feet" These 
 words are now true of Christ, in virtue of His personal exaltation high 
 above all heavens, and of the title of supremacy already granted to Him 
 by God. He is exalted, and God hath put all things under His feet in 
 title, though we do not as yet, as the Apostle says elsewhere (Heb. ii.) see 
 all things actually subjected to Him. The long-suffering which post- 
 pones " the setting of the footstool," is one reason why we do not as yet 
 see this. 
 
 The words therefore of the 8th Psalm are true of Christ now, and have 
 been true ever since His ascension. They became true at the moment 
 when Jehovah said unto Him, " Sit thou at my right hand." The session 
 at God's right hand, arid God's " having put all things under His feet," are 
 coincident past truths: but the setting the footstool is future the 
 result of the former two. It is in consequence of God's having in title 
 put all things under Christ's feet, that God will, when the appointed hour 
 comes, set the footstool. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 w Ilcklaiioit v. 9. 
 
 c TU 9ew ////etc. 
 
 " Thou hast redeemed US to God." 
 
 THE word r//tag (us) which has been rejected by some critics, is very 
 properly retained by Dr. Tregelles on grounds which he thus states: 
 
 " This word (fyuae) is omitted by the Codex Alexandrinus ; and also in 
 the loose paraphrase given by the ^Ethiopic version it does not appear." 
 
 " On the other hand it is read in all other MSS* and versions : so that 
 as to MSS ft is the Codex Alexandrinus against all others, and that too 
 when the MSS are supported by versions of great value and variety. 
 These are the Latin, Coptic (or Memphitic), and Armenian; to say 
 nothing of the Syriac, which is in the Eevelation comparatively modern, 
 or of the Arabic and Slavonic, which accord with the rest in inserting 
 rtyict, but which are in themselves of no importance in criticism." 
 
 Yet important as this verse is, we are not exclusively dependent on it 
 for determining that the elders and the cherubim symbolise the redeemed 
 in certain aspects of their future glory. In cases where the context does 
 not immediately explain the symbols employed, a safe method of inter- 
 
 * Of these one only B (i. e. Codex Basilianus in the Vatican not the Vatican MS. 
 which does not contain the Eevelation) is in uncial letters ; for C (the Codex Ephraemi 
 at Paris) is here defective. 
 
APPENDIX B. 377 
 
 preting them is this. Ascertain what other parts of Scripture which 
 are not symbolic reveal respecting the subjects in question. Then 
 seek to express in Scripture-symbols the truths thus ascertained. If 
 we find the symbols we so select, to be similar to those which the 
 passage we are considering employs, we need feel no hesitancy as to 
 the interpretation. 
 
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